How You Are Like Shampoo for Job Seekers. Brenda Bence

of your life as your work, how can you be completely fulfilled in the remaining hours? I knew something was wrong with this picture, and I began to think about what part I could play in helping to change that.

      Think about it for a minute: What would the world be like if everyone loved their work as much as I do? We would be more content, more satisfied at work, and more fulfilled as a whole. As a result, our relationships would be better, and our family lives would be happier. What a difference it would make.

      Maybe you’re thinking, “Give me a break — that’s a pipe dream!” But why not? If I can do it, why can’t everybody else? Why can’t you? I fundamentally believe we’re all entitled to that kind of work fulfillment.

      It has become a dream of mine that everybody should be genuinely happy and fulfilled at work. This includes you — finding yourself not only in a good job, but in a great job. This kind of life is within your reach. It just takes a bit of effort to achieve it. And that’s where How YOU™ are like Shampoo for Job Seekers comes in.

      I created the How YOU™ are like Shampoo series of personal branding books with this dream in mind. Based on the personal branding system that I have used for years with my professional and executive coaching clients, I have witnessed firsthand how powerful this personal branding process can be. So, a while back, I decided to put the system down on paper to be able to share it with more people. Then, I customized the system to work for job seekers like you who are ready to put job dissatisfaction behind you and find a job you truly love.

      So, Who Am I Anyway?

      You already know that I have spent quite a few years coaching clients to develop their personal brands. But let me share a little bit more about me and how I came to write the How YOU™ are like Shampoo personal branding book series.

      In addition to working as a professional coach, I’m also an international branding and marketing trainer and professional speaker. Coaching and branding for corporations and individuals across the world has allowed me the wonderful fortune of living in, working in, and visiting almost 70 countries. As a result, I’ve met thousands of people from various walks of life all around the globe.

      What is my main observation after meeting so many “different” kinds of people? That we are all fundamentally the same. From Switzerland to Sri Lanka to South Africa, we all ultimately want the same things: To earn a good living, enjoy our work, stay healthy, have a happy family life, enjoy meaningful friendships, and ultimately make a difference in some way.

      So, if we’re all alike, why would I write a series of books about personal branding? Because while we’re all fundamentally the same, we also each have specific gifts and talents that are as unique to us as our individual DNA. It’s a bit of a paradox, isn’t it? We’re the same, and yet, we’re unique. And it’s up to each of us to learn how to use our specific gifts and talents to make our lives and careers the best they can be — to make that difference in the world that we hope for. This is where personal branding comes in.

      You’ve heard of serial killers? Well, think of me as a “serial brander” — I just can’t stop branding! As a name brand marketer, I have worked for Procter & Gamble and Bristol-Myers Squibb on four different continents, where I was fortunate enough to manage many well-known brands like Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Vidal Sassoon, Ariel, Cheer, and Enfamil.

      I spent years defining, launching, and building brands all around the world using an established process and framework that name-brand marketers have used for a long time to craft and communicate brands. You may not have known that such a process exists, but trust me: Great brands don’t become great brands by accident! It’s only because of a powerful process put into place by good, strategic marketers that these brands make millions. And it’s only because of this process that successful brands continue to survive and thrive through economic ups and downs.

      A few years ago, when I began actively coaching people to reach their goals and develop their individual personal brands, I started to experiment and apply these same principles of corporate branding to personal branding. I took the elements and framework used by name brand marketers and adjusted them to fit personal brands, so that all of us — as individuals — could thrive in our careers the same way those great name brands that you love so much have thrived in the market. Over time, I perfected this approach until it evolved into the unique personal branding system I’m about to share with you in this book — a system that walks you through the process of building your personal brand step by step by step, helping you to craft and effectively communicate YOU™. That’s right — the trademarked you.

      Today, you — or YOU™ — can apply the same system in your job search that big-company marketers have used for years to build enormously successful corporate brands. Can you see now “how YOU™ are like shampoo?” Just as a corporate marketer uses this proven process to build the mega-brand of a shampoo like Pantene or Vidal Sassoon or Head & Shoulders, you, too, will build the brand of YOU™.

      Taking the Mystery Out of Personal Branding

      Since the advent of personal branding about ten years ago, several books have been written on the subject. What makes How YOU™ are like Shampoo for Job Seekers different is that it offers you a complete system that covers every possible aspect of how to use personal branding to sail through your job search with a successful result — the job you want. This book goes beyond the various theories that surround personal branding to bring you practical, tangible tools for your brand that you can apply immediately as you look for the best possible job.

      My hope is that this book will:

      •Open yourself up to the power that comes from successfully branding you.

      •Show you how your job search can not only be manageable, but can actually be energizing and fun.

      •Expand your vision of the kind of job and career you deserve and are capable of achieving.

      •Offer you empowering tips and tools you can use before, during, and after your interviews so that you’ll feel confident and fully ready to wow your interviewers.

      •Bring you the kind of career enhancement you have always wanted but weren’t sure how to get.

      •Put more money in your pocket when it’s time to sign on the dotted line for that great new job.

      •Give you the satisfaction of knowing you’re reaching your full potential and living the gratifying, happy life that will put a smile on your face every morning.

      It’s exciting for me to share with you my personal branding system customized specifically for job seekers looking for a new, fulfilling position. I hope you’ll have fun with it, too, as we move through this process together.

      

      Introduction

      Your Job Search —

      How Are YOU™ Like Shampoo?

      It’s better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.

      — Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic Gold Medalist

      Alfred Nobel was a very successful and wealthy Swedish industrialist in the late 1800’s. He was widely credited with inventing two things: dynamite and the detonator, the apparatus that causes dynamite to ignite from a distance. He had made millions with these inventions, and he was living a wonderful millionaire’s life.

      His brother, Ludwig Nobel, who was also a well-known wealthy businessman, died in 1888. The obituary that showed up the next day in the newspaper, however, was switched, and it was Alfred’s obituary that appeared, not Ludwig’s. So, Alfred Nobel had