Q&A talks about building your personal brand with Julie Jansen, author, trainer and coach. She is a one-woman conglomerate. From her base in Stamford, she is also a speaker, facilitator and business consultant to Fortune 500, privately held companies and nonprofits. She writes for various websites and maintains her own career blog. Reach her through her website at http://www.juliejansen.net.
Q: You spoke recently before the Fairfield County chapter of The American Marketing Association on what’s needed to stand out to your network, prospective clients or potential employers. What was the overall focus of your talk?
A: The necessity of being memorable in a positive way. As people become more senior, they can tend to blend in to whatever group it is, whether it is being a business owner, job seeker or employee. The focus was developing increased self-awareness about how you come across to others, improving your communication skills or breaking bad communication habits, developing a brand or value proposition through various vehicles including, of course, social media and enhancing your image. It’s not memorable to say that you can write brochures, newsletters and website copy. It is memorable to say that you wrote copy for a brochure that elicited 80 percent more of a response rate than any other brochure the company sent out.
Q: Which one is the hardest to stand out in? Does it depend on the makeup of the network, group or potential employer?
A: I believe that it is hard to stand out in any homogenous group and easier to stand out in a heterogeneous group. For example, joining a group of procurement and supply chain management professionals when you are a consumer insights specialist is recommended because you will automatically stand out.
Q: One of the topics you focused on in your talk was maximizing social media, especially LinkedIn. Does LinkedIn work in the professional community or is it a huge time suck?
A: I am a big fan and active user of LinkedIn. It can be a time suck like anything else in the world if you don’t have a focus, goals and limit your time. In my opinion, it is an important place to spend some time every day or so.
Q: You also discussed how to increase your self awareness. What are some simple steps to accomplish this? Why is it important?
A: There are three ways:
1. Elicit specific feedback from others on a regular basis.
2. Watch reality TV, YouTube videos, read magazines, a newspaper, etc. Everyone you see and hear about is a prospective role model for you, whether positive or not.
3. Tune into yourself by developing a mantra, meditating, looking in the mirror, watching a videotape of yourself, etc.
Q: Along those same lines, you also talked about enhancing your image. How can you accomplish this without appearing insincere? Or does one work on image enhancement for new employers?
A: Image is comprised of:
1. Your physical presentation — your eyes, body, approach and carriage, cleanliness, energy, mannerisms, gestures, clothing, hair, etc.
2. Your oral presentation — your voice, tone and mood.
3. Your writing — the content and your organization style.
4. Your content — your objectives, knowledge and ability to read yourself and others.
In the mind of another person, you are what he or she thinks you are. Often, your psychological presence is what influences the many aspects of your image. This involves your self-awareness, confidence, empathy, respect and humor. No matter how old you are, it’s important to continually be working on these things. As I said in my presentation, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a nice saying in theory but isn’t reality.
Q: You’ve written two books — “Don’t Know What I Want, But I Know It’s Not This: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Gratifying Work” and “You Want Me to Work With Who?” The latter sounds intriguing. What is its focus?
A: The focus is that in order to be more comfortable with the myriad of difficult behavior you will encounter in the workplace (and personally), it is important to change your behavior first. The foundation of the book is about using my 11 keys which are:
1. Confidence
2. Curiosity
3. Decisiveness
4. Empathy
5. Flexibility
6. Humor
7. Intelligence
8. Optimism
9. Perseverance
10. Respect
11. Self-awareness
