Making Yourself Stand Out

Penelope Trunk has a great write-up on personal branding over on Yahoo Finance. She points out that people who specialize tend to get better job offers, because they develop a reputation for certain areas of expertise. (She also points to a good definition of personal branding, authored by blogger Dan Schawbel of Personal Branding Magazine.

Personal branding describes the process by which individuals and entrepreneurs differentiate themselves and stand out from a crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether professional or personal, and then leveraging it across platforms with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal. In this way, individuals can enhance their recognition as experts in their field, establish reputation and credibility, advance their careers, and build self-confidence.

Trunk's foundation for building a personal brand are pragmatic: know what you're very good at, know what people think of you, and meet the right people. But her most important point might be in a simple sub-head: "Admit It - You're Special."

For some reason, a lot of people toiling in the financial trenches don't like to face the fact they bring a lot to the party. Even if you regard yourself as nothing more than an "average" accountant who shows up on time and checks his work, don't kid yourself about how much bosses like those things. My worry is too many people won't think about personal branding because the term sounds too "aggressive." But it's not. Personal branding is simply a way for you to position yourself as someone who's worth hiring

Three Steps to Building Your Brand [Yahoo Finance]