Considering a career change or actively looking for a job? Just brushing up your resume isn't going to get you where you want to be, most likely. Even if you are not on an active job hunt, creating a personal brand for yourself that highlights your strengths and expertise can help you get to where you want to be. In addition, using a variety of mediums or avenues to market yourself is important. In the days of googling everyone and everything, you need to have a web presence.
I have one client who TOTALLY gets this. While we spent time working on revising her resume to reflect the experience she had related to the career transition she wants to make (from technical writing to an HR or administrative role) she already had domain names purchased and spent time over the holidays honing her own website to highlight her strengths and create an avenue to showcase the work that she has done. The website is her portfolio. She also focuses on blogging about issues related to the field she wants to be in because she has a passion for these topics. Reading and writing about these issues is fun for her as it should be for anything a person has a passion for doing. You can check out her site here: www.stephaniewhitlow.com
Her website also shows that she has the technical and creative ability to create and manage a website. It also shows initiative. Although you can hire people to do a website for you without a whole lot of expense, I would recommend trying to create one on your own. Its a learning experience and a skill that you can add to your resume.
Not ready to create your own website or start blogging? At least be sure that you have a LinkedIn profile and it reflects your brand. For certain professions, having a hardcopy portfolio and an electronic copy of it saved on a jump drive is beneficial.
Interested in reading more about this topic? Here's another good read from the Working Wisdom blog.
What do you need to do to take your personal brand to the next level?
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