Increasingly, we have to "sell" ourselves to potential employers, clients, customers and work colleagues. We can quickly run into trouble if we over-promote ourselves and then cannot deliver and at the opposite end of the scale we can continually sell ourselves short. So what is the best way to describe what we can offer?
We often use a personal profile or curriculum vitae (cv) to describe our abilities and strengths. In the past curriculum vitae contained very precise information, personal details, schools attended, qualifications including grades and the examining board, previous job experience and referees who would vouch for our good character and work ethic. However, the tone and content seems to be changing over time. I read a number of cvs and the same layout even the same font seems to appear again and again, it is though the applicants have been formulated to fit the template rather than the cv designed to promote the person. There are often huge unexplained gaps, off travelling perhaps, or a job that the applicant doesn't really want to talk about?
Within the personal profile you often find the series of bullet points on the benefits and character traits the applicant will bring to an organisation. The same words seem to circulate, everyone is committed, ambitious, energetic, strategist, always delivering and meeting targets, hardworking, conscientious. Certain character traits such as calm, focused, empathic, able negotiator, team builder, mentor, coach, enabler rarely appear. Why is this? Is this because the people developing their personal profiles do not believe these skills are worthy, or because they don't believe their potential employers or clients consider them important? Will the personal blog eventually supersede the cv because with this medium the client or employers could gain a greater insight into the thoughts of the person?
So have another look at your personal profile, what does your self-branding actually say about you, what skills are you promoting and are they those that your "market" needs?
http://thehumanimprint.typepad.com/the_human_imprint/2007/07/putting-yoursel.html
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