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Obnoxious Career Branding-The Job Search Killer

If anyone thinks career branding is a trend, they are living in the job search past.  Career Branding is the thing in the 21st century job market that distinguishes one job seeker from another or it tells employers why one Administrative Assistant, Business Analyst, Banker, or Underwater Basket Weaver is better than another. Definitions aside, career branding is important to a job search and every expert and in the career coaching, counseling, and workforce development business has an idea on how to best do it.

Just like all the above people that have ideas on career branding, I do too. I think that there are key things that you can do to stand out from the other candidates, but this post is not about how to career brand yourself, it is more of a what not to do in career branding.  For workforce development professionals in reader land, below are the red flags of a career branding gone wrong.   

Commercial for what? – Have you ever seen a commercial and while watching it you are not sure what the product is for, only to find out at the end, it is for jeans, a car, or perfume? If there are marketing students in reader land, they probably have courses at colleges of these notorious examples and how it ruins a product. Same is true for job seekers. If an employer is confused about what the applicant offers, there will not be a job offer. Like real marketing, if you are selling a car, the buyer better know that the product is a car.

Selling Baby Food in a Pet Store- Another career branding mistake is that the job seeker spends all that time developing who they are, but they never figure out where they belong. The analogy of the baby food advertisement in the pet store are examples of wrong product placement. Job seekers need to learn that there is a time and a place for their brand. The real job is for the job seeker to find the correct time and place for the brand being offered. This is where the rubber meets the road and the brand meets the research necessary to use the brand successfully.

Used Cars- A brand is great, but what is the reputation of the brand. There are many people that are great at developing and articulating their career brand, but it comes across like a creepy used car sales person, selling a lemon. New or used, when purchasing a car, at minimum, a buyer wants a car that runs. The buyer is seeking reliability and dependability. People do not want a car that dies the moment it is driven off the lot. Employers are the same. Once the offer is made, they want production. Type of production will vary, but employers want people that get the job done. Many job seekers go on about how their unique brand will benefit an employer only to leave the most important part out, the production that will be completed. Employer do not want to hire a shiny brand that sits at the desk and never gets anything done. In the end, talk is cheap.

Extreme Marketing Ploys- Since so many have become desperate to distinguish themselves from other job seekers the birth of the extreme has hit the market. For the average job seeker, not only are these not necessary, but over the top and obnoxious to many employers. Again this is a “know your audience thing”. Maintenance Mechanics may not need a billboard, a tee-shirt with their résumé, a headshot on their résumé, etc.  For those seeking creative marketing positions, these may show creativity, drive and passion to an employer. The average employer does not need a gift of a coffee mug with the applicants face and résumé on the side or a visit from a singing telegram about the applicant as an interview follow up.

It is the job of the workforce development professional or other career professional to ensure that their particular client does not cross over the line to obnoxious.  This will vary from person to person, but the message is clear.  Not only should a person receive assistance to develop a career brand, but to clearly and articulately learn to use it wisely to its fullest potential. In the words of the most famous philosopher and workforce development professional, Yoda from Star Wars, “Do. Or do not.  There is no try.” ~Karen Cirincione- kcirincione@gmail.com

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