Everyone’s so busy trying to land a job – any job – that they’ve forgotten one of the cardinal rules in the hiring process: If you aren’t a fit with the company’s culture, it’s not going to work out in the end.
While personal branding has been a career strategy for a while now, employer branding is just beginning to hit mainstream. And you should be paying attention.
Quality over quantity
I implore you, get off the job boards! Well, not completely, but don’t use them as a crutch in your job search. Create a plan. This plan should include identifying the top 10 organizations for which you would like to work in a particular city. (If you have the option to choose an additional city within which to work, your list would contain 20 organizations.)
These days, it doesn’t help much to blast your résumé to every organization with open positions for which you might qualify. It’s all about networking, recommendations, and yes, branding. Quality, not quantity.
Do your homework
With these 10 (or 20) organizations, it doesn’t matter if their career page says they’re hiring. What matters is you respect their brand. You’ve researched them beyond their corporate Web site and found them to be organizations for which you would be proud to work.
Become an avid reader of the news – and I don’t just mean the New York Times. As we all know, where news comes from is changing rapidly, so be sure to identify who is talking about your organizations and add their feeds to your Google Reader.
Outline your position in writing
Continually perform S.W.O.T. analyses (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) on each. How are their customers perceiving their brand? In what areas does their brand shine and in what areas has it lost its luster? When you feel comfortable putting forth a plan in which you can adequately help the organization achieve its goals, put your proposal in writing and set up a meeting. (It’s important to note you need to be networking with key decision makers well before putting your plan in front of them.)
Companies today want employees who bring results. Focus on how your brand can improve theirs.
What happens if your brands do not align?
It’s often said your job search is a marathon, not a sprint. Think long-term, not short-term! Sure, you’d likely be able to get along just fine in the short-term if you didn’t see eye-to-eye with the organization and its values. But what about the long-term?
You’ll likely leave in a relatively short period of time, and this is a bad thing. First, you’ll obviously be hunting for a job again, and no one likes doing that more often than necessary! Second, you’ll likely be experiencing a bit of burnout – perhaps even doubting your career choice altogether. Finally, you’ll be seen as a job hopper on your résumé by future hiring managers. Is it worth it?
