Career Builder丨我要我的个人品牌！

Personal Branding in Career Development Ruben Van Den Boer of RMG Selection - a leading Asia focused executive search business. Today we will ask Ruben about job opportunities for expats, and what issues they should be mindful of. Q1.What is personal branding? Personal branding is developing a mark around yourself and your career. It is intentionally creating a way for people to think when hearing your name. For example, I want people to think "professional specialist recruiter for Greater China" when they think of my name. Q2.Why is personal branding important? Building a brand around yourself is becoming increasingly important for a number of reasons. First of all, the times that people work in just one or two companies during their whole career is over. Except if you work In an awesome organization like CRI or RMG, it is becoming pretty normal to work in a new environment every 3-5 years, especially when working in smaller organizations. With the development of IT the speed of life has increased dramatically. Thus, a company brand is having a shorter life cycle, and your personal brand is becoming more valuable as an employee during your working life. Second, especially in a country like China, it has become very likely that people will become a (semi) entrepreneur at some stage of their career. May it be fulltime, or often as a part time side project for interest or extra income. There are so many opportunities out there and it gets normal to have more than one stream of income. Thus, it is wise to start building your personal branding soon so it gets easier to start up new things by yourself. Third, as I experienced myself, business in China and other Asian countries is taking a much more personal approach than in Western countries. Clients tent to be more focused on the person they do business with, instead of the company. Often clients follow the sales person when the sales person is moving to a new company. Especially for foreigners in China it is important to understand the value of a personal brand over the name of your employer or job title. Q3.How to do personal branding? •Start with the end in mind – What do I want people to call me / remember me ? And why do I want that? •Selling points: what makes me special and what are my unique selling points? •Start creating your brand – work hard, recommendations, awards, achievements, relevant skills, pictures, videos, articles etc. •Spread your name – social media, social networking, name cards, let people talk about you. Q4.What are the mistakes that people usually make? •Keep private and work separated. •Positive emotions are good, avoid negative emotions. •Be fact based, don't show off, don't be full about yourself. •Stay true to yourself, don't try to be somebody you are not. •Be consistent. Portray one brand to all.