3 Branding Tips For Your Cover Letter

The cover letter is important for a variety of reasons. Not only does it provide more details for the information in your resume, it also allows you to showcase your personal brand.

One of the most common misconceptions about cover letters is that they are about you. As a matter of fact, they are really more about what you can do for the employer. When crafting your cover letter, you need to make sure you highlight your brand in a way that matches what the organization is looking for in an ideal candidate.

Here are three ways to accomplish that important goal:

• Craft a creative opening to your cover letter instead of relying on standard introductions. A good way to do this is to use narrative techniques show how your skills will help the employer (i.e., telling a story of how your abilities were able to help at your previous job).
• Focus on a few of the skills you listed in your resume and expand on them in greater detail. Explain the results you accomplished with them and how they fit the position for which you are applying.
• A poor closing can hurt an otherwise strong cover letter. Wrap up by letting the reader know when you intend to follow up and link them to your social media profiles and, if applicable, your online portfolio.

These three tips will make sure that employers, when they read your cover letter, will connect your brand to the needs of their organization. Make sure to use some variant of them when you start writing. 

What Makes You Unique?

One of the best ways to impress an employer is to show them something you can do that separates you from other job seekers.

Your career skills are what makes up the core of your personal brand. They are what make you attractive to an organization, so it's in your best interest to emphasize them whenever possible. When thinking about these skills, you should try to frame them around the following question: What can you do that no one else can? This seems like an unanswerable question. After all, is anybody truly unique in this age of specialization?

The answer to that question is no, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to paint yourself as someone who can bring unique skills to an organization. It's unlikely that you are the only person in the world who is great at fundraising, but maybe you have a trait in that field that very few others have. Those are the kind of things you need to talk about when you write your cover letter or go in for a job interview.

Here are some other examples of how to make your skills more attractive for specific jobs:

• Marketing: Mention specific a project you have been involved with, and how your efforts led to increased visibility for it.
• Public Relations: A big part of PR is diffusing a crisis as cleanly as possible. Emphasize how you are able to stay cool under difficult circumstances by telling an anecdote from a situation like that.
• Management: Tell your potential employer how you are able to command respect from those that work for you through your actions. You know what they say: Actions speak louder than words.

Quick Branding Tips To Get Noticed

Every job seeker is looking for that one edge that will help get them noticed by employers.  Whether it's overhauling their Facebook page or attending more networking events, job seekers will try just about anything to give themselves an edge.

Now that we are in the new year, there are some personal branding trends that are making the rounds.  These are not guaranteed to be the savior you need for your job search, but they will give you a better chance of getting noticed by prospective employers.  So without further ado, here are four branding techniques that will help your job search in 2012:

• Headshots: Spice up your social network profiles by getting a professional headshot to replace your current profile picture.  You always want to look your best when going for a job interview, why wouldn't you want to do the same before?  If you don't already have a profile, it's imperative you put one up, even if you don't yet have your headshot ready.  Employers are less likely to view a profile with no photo.
• Testimonials: What are people saying about you?  Certain social media sites allow you to answer this question.  For example, LinkedIn has a tool that allows you to get testimonials from your contacts.  You should take full advantage of this so you can use these recommendations in your resume or cover letter.
• Video Bio: A good way to stand out from the crowd is to create a video bio.  Videos allow you to communicate a lot more than simple text, and it can help solidify your name as a brand.  Creating a video that is worth watching can be very difficult and time-consuming, but it is ultimately worth the effort.  When you are done, upload the final product to YouTube and other video sharing sites.  Make sure to make proper use of keywords when during the uploading process.
• Stay Active: An employer is more likely to hire someone who stays active during unemployment.  Start doing volunteer work or get involved with a project that you are passionate about.  Staying active when you are out of work will tell employers that you are a person that can be relied upon to work hard all the time.

4 Skills For The Modern Day Job Seeker

Living in a modern society has its ups and downs.  While all the new technology is great, it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming.

Modern life can also be unkind to job seekers.  It used to be that all the skills you needed to impress an employer were great attention to detail, good listening skills, and the right characteristics for the job.  These days, employers expect a lot more from applicants.  You will have to adapt if you want to stay ahead in today's competitive job market.

Here are four skills to master that will help you advance your job search:

• Intuitive Thinking: Think outside the box when searching for jobs.  For example, when you see an opening for a position, think about the reasons the nonprofit is looking to hire.  Do some research and see if you can find out if the organization has been having trouble in that area.  You can use this information to market yourself as the solution to their issues.
• Storytelling: Employers want to hear good anecdotes when they interview an applicant.  Being able to weave a good story (provided it's true, of course) will show your communication abilities and put more weight behind your claims.  For example, replace "Greatly increased web traffic to our website" to "Visitors to our website increased from X to Y during my tenure."
• Be Human: Avoid corporate lingo with easy-to-understand language.  Employers are looking to hire human beings, not robots, so don't try to be overly fancy with your resume writing.  Provide concrete examples of your work instead of using generic statements.
• Prove Your Worth: Highlight the appropriate accomplishments in your resume and cover letter.  A hiring manager for a technology position is not going to care about your success as a swim teacher at a local college.  If you don't tailor your application to the job, you're chances of being considered are going to fall.

Personal Branding Rules

Communicating your value to an employer is half the battle of getting a nonprofit job.  That's why personal branding is a handy tool for job seekers.

The success of your personal branding can make or break your job search.  If you do it right, employers will see the value you could bring to their organization.  If you don't, they will be left wondering why they should bring you into the fold.  Your brand should leave employers with no doubt about your abilities.  It should encompass the types of problems you solve, how you solve them, and the situations in which you excel.

How do you go about spreading your personal brand?  Here are some rules to get started:

• Your personal brand is not about you.  Kind of blows your mind, right?  You should be conveying to the employer how your skills will be of value to the organization.
• Your brand should change with every new opportunity you are presented.  The strengths that you emphasize must change based on your audience.  For example, you would highlight your people skills at an organization that works extensively with the local community.
• It's not what you want to hear, but you're going to have to do all the heavy lifting.  A nonprofit doesn't have time to figure out your value.  It's up to you to communicate your worth clearly and concisely.  If it takes more than one reading to see your value, you will have to go back to the drawing board.

Personal Branding Techniques

Here's a question for the job seekers: How strong is your personal brand?

Personal Branding is a description of the process that job hunters go through to brand themselves and their careers.  If an employer reads your resume and immediately associates your name with a set of career skills, you will have accomplished your goal.  To get the most out of your branding efforts, you are going to have to make extensive use of social media.  Here are some techniques to help you increase your virtual visibility:

• Tweet, Tweet, Tweet: Twitter is going to be your best friend during your branding efforts.  The ability to send out quick, and to-the-point messages to your followers will help solidify your expertise.  You can also use it to link to any articles or blogs you have written.  Make sure to use sites like bit.ly to track how many clicks you get.
• Write Articles: There are a lot of article writing sites out there, so take advantage of them.  These sites can help improve your visibility on search engines.  This will be a great help if employers Google your name during the screening process.  You should also consider starting a blog in addition to writing articles.
• Track Your Efforts: The Internet contains plenty of tools to help track your efforts.  I already mentioned bit.ly as way to see how many people are clicking your links, but you can also use programs like TweetBeep to track who is mentioning you on Twitter.   You should also sign up for Google Alerts for your name.  Google Alerts send you e-mails when your name shows up in search engines.  It's a great way to see what people are saying about you.

Personal Branding: How To Market Yourself

Did you know that you can be a brand? You will find much more success in your job search if you market youself just like a product. Before you start breaking out the film cameras and filming a commercial, let me explain a little more. Take a look at all the things that represent you, both online and in your appearance. What does your Facebook page say about you? Does it paint you in a good light, or is it embarrassing What about your e-mail address? Are you still using that funny username you made when you were younger? If there is any doubt in your mind about these questions, you need to start changing them to improve your personal branding.

Nonprofits go through many qualifications when hiring a new employee. They will want to know not only whether the individual has the right skill setfor the job, but also whether they are a quality person. These organizations are not going to want to soil their image by hiring people who don't seem professional. That's why you must clean up your image immediately to make yourself marketable. Let's start with your Internet presence. Whether it's fair or not, your online personais fair game for potential employers. This doesn't mean you have to make your Facebook or Twitter into sterile environments, but it doesn't mean you need to think twice about what you write or share. Here are some things you should avoid:

*Refrain from using profanity in your status updates or tweets

*Before you share a link, make sure it doesn't contain anything that can be offensive. If you really want to share it with friends, send it in a private message.

*Everything you write should be free of typos or grammar mistakes. You should also avoid the use of common Internet abbreviations. The fast-paced world of the web may have made these things commonplace, but it doesn't mean an employer will judge them any less harshly.

*Use a separatee-mail address from your personal one. This is even more important if your personal e-mail uses a silly username. You're not going to get a high level position if your e-mail is "thecowgoesmoo@yahoo.com."

*Make sure your LinkedIn profile is completely up-to date. It will look really bad if your employment history doesn't match what's on your resume.

Personal appearance is also important. Shave before you go into an interview, even if you're thinking of growing a beard. Women should avoid wearing flashy jewelry or revealing clothing. For both sexes, make sure your clothes are well ironed. There's nothing more embarrassingthan walking into an interview with wrinkled clothes.

Personal branding is a fine art, but it's one that is vitally important to your career success. If you can associate your name with professionalism and skill, you will be well on your way to getting a great job.