Securing a job by branding yourself

The Art of Branding – Customized to job searching
Inspired by the article “The Art of Branding” by Guy Kawasaki

I recently read the article “The Art of Branding” by Guy Kawasaki. As I am currently unemployed I found myself curious to explore the idea if his bullet points could be applied to branding yourself as a job applicant. I think all point, but one (Cascade the message), work brilliantly. I will personally attempt to incorporate these points in my upcoming applications. Let’s see if it works.

Use them, share them, criticize them – do as you please. Here they are.

• Seize the high ground. Do not try to go after the job by simply focusing on beating the competition e.g. “I am the best candidate you could wish for”. Instead aim to establish yourself on positive conditions by emphasizing what it is about you that make you stand out as a great candidate for the job.
• Create one message. The employer will read perhaps 100s of applications. Most likely 80 % of those will try to squeeze in as many adjectives as humanly possible. Let’s face it! The employer will probably not remember a single one of those. In the attempt to try to tick off all the desired personality traits listed in the ad, your own message will get muddled up and remembered by no one. Don’t be afraid to be niched – tell the employer who you are with a few short statements.
• Speak English. Doesn’t have to be English, but avoid lingo which the recipient may misinterpret. Spell check and proof read. Bad grammar and silly spelling mistake are a turnoff. Furthermore, keep it simple. Sometimes we go through unneccessary lengths to sound clever. While doing so we lose that certain touch which puts the "Personal" in the Personal Letter. 
• Take the opposite test. Imagine that you are the employer. When going over applications, how many times do you think you will read “I am time efficient, reliable, well organized and ambitious”? Unless you think the other applicants will write “I am inefficient, unreliable, can’t organize for shit and completely without ambition”, your description is useless in making you stand out.
• Examine the bounce back. While you know what messages you send, you can’t know for sure what messages are being received by people unless you ask them. Ask someone who you trust to be painfully honest, to read through your CV and Personal Letter. Does their interpretation of your messages coincide with what you intended?
• Focus on PR, not advertising. I think we all know (suspect at least) that a lot of jobs are given to people who know someone who knows someone. Why? Simple. Recommendations sound better coming from someone else but yourself.  At the end of the day, your CV and Personal Letter is your way of advertising yourself to companies. Sometimes it doesn't matter how many CVs you send, the only reply you seem to get is “Thank you for your application. However, we regret to inform you that we have chosen to go forward with other applicants”. Instead of sitting around waiting for these messages to enter you inbox, network! There are a lot of different options: job fairs, breakfast meetings, recruitment agencies, friends and family. Instead of only having you CV and Personal Letter telling your story, broaden your opportunities to land a job by getting people to talk about you.
• Strive for humanness. Guy Kuwasaki writes that “Great brands achieve a high level of humanness”. I would like to say that the same goes for job applications. Let the employer know something about you as a person. Sure – they want you for your skills. But imagine they share your lunch table. I am sure they would appreciate to know who you are besides e.g. “Microsoft Office proficient”.