Personal branding and corporate branding are both based on similar concepts, and when executed correctly, both can help capture and retain audience attention long enough to deliver a set of key messages. Just as companies use a carefully cultivated brand to help them stay at the forefront of customers minds, you can use the concept of personal branding to stand out to potential employers and gain an edge in your search for the perfect job.

Personal branding means attention to minute detail. The way you look, sound, and come across on paper all contribute to the impression you leave behind. Weave all of these scattered impressions together into a coherent and appealing story, and your potential employers will want to read on. Consider the following elements of a finely tuned personal brand:

Personal Branding: Color

Don’t tamper with the colors you use on your resume or CV. Both of these documents should be presented in black and white with no fancy formatting or playful fonts. But pay attention to color in every other impression you have an opportunity to make.

Start by choosing a signature color scheme for your job search. Slate blue and tan, for example. Or bright red. Work your color scheme into your interview outfits and design your business cards around it. Wear a red tie with your suit or a red blouse under your blazer. When you send handwritten thank you notes after an interview, send them on red stationary.

Choose a color that works for you, meaning one that matches your skin tone and also represents your personality. Bright yellow is sunny, green is creative, dark blue is serious, grey is traditional, and red suggests intensity, ambition, and boldness.

Personal Branding: Style and Consistency

Like your color, your overall style should reflect your true personality. But in order to do that effectively, it needs be consistent. If you choose red, make sure red represents the way you carry yourself, the way you walk into a room, and (this may sound silly, but it works) the music you listen to get yourself into the right frame of mind before an interview.

Personal Branding: Theme

What’s your story? You’re a person looking for a job, certainly, and you have an adequate background and education, for sure…But who are you? The story that underlies your cover letter, your resume and your conversation during interviews should follow a coherent theme.

For example, if you worked as an electrical engineer for years before deciding to leave the field and go to culinary school, that’s a key underlying theme of your story. Now that you’re looking for work in the food industry, your unique background has had a shaping effect on who you are and what you’ve become, and these things represent a defining aspect of your personal brand. The events of your life and the details of your personality are more memorable when they’re delivered as stories. It might sound dramatic, but if you don’t write and control the novel of your own life, who will?

For more advice on building a personal brand and using your brand to support your job search, contact Expert Staffing.