How You Are Like Shampoo for Job Seekers. Brenda Bence

market again. But once he began to investigate companies and target his search more carefully, he started to feel more excited about the possibilities. He decided to try and use this job change as an opportunity to get an entry-level position in management. He had dabbled in management at Axion but never held a manager title; nonetheless, Jamie felt he was up for the challenge.

      A search of the Internet for “DVD design expansion” and “DVD design services” led Jamie to an article and a press release about a company that was expanding its DVD department into the 3D area. He felt it would be a good fit for him because of the company’s plans for expansion and because Jamie had solid education and experience in this area.

      While PreLife hadn’t yet placed an ad for any jobs related to the new 3D department, one of Jamie’s connections on LinkedIn.com gave him an introduction to someone who works in a related department. That person was able to offer Jamie some helpful information about the company’s culture. Jamie found press releases about recent hires and looked those employees up on LinkedIn.com and Facebook.com, too. As a result, he found out the following information about the company:

      Jamie’s new contact at the company was able to give him some inside information about the company’s culture and about some of the challenges PreLife was facing.

      Based on the information Jamie found, he sent an unsolicited cover letter and resume to PreLife and was excited to get a call a week later from HR, asking him to come in and interview for the new position of Assistant Manager of the 3D DVD department. While on the phone, he asked who he’d be interviewing with and found out that he’d be meeting with his potential boss — the Manager of the new 3D DVD department, Tom Brunnell. Jamie typed Tom’s name into Google.com and also looked Tom up on LinkedIn.com.

      Case Study – Marcia Jenkins

      At 32 years of age, Marcia had been working as an Accounting Manager for a large multinational corporation in the fast-moving consumer goods industry. Her goal was to be promoted to Accounting Director, but she had already been passed over twice for the director job. Given her company’s “up or out” policy — where you either keep moving up or you have to move on — she felt the writing was on the wall: Clearly, she would eventually have to find a new position outside the company. While she enjoyed the culture of her current employer, she didn’t feel her contributions were valued enough. She was frustrated and wanted to find a company that would truly appreciate what she had to offer. Marcia felt she was ready for an Accounting Director position — one that would excite and challenge her.

      Marcia had already had one interview with her target Audience, another large multinational that manufactured a wide range of food products and had divisions on three continents. The corporation was healthy, its stock price was doing well, and she discovered through speaking to colleagues that the company offered its employees more perks than her current firm. While attending a charity cocktail party, Marcia found out about an opening as Accounting Director in the Snacks Division at this target company. Marcia had to follow up twice with the HR department after submitting her resume, but she finally got an interview. In her first interview, she met with a representative from Human Resources, and that meeting went well. Marcia created this Job-Seeker Personal Brand Positioning Statement as she was preparing for her second interview with Bina Tilak, the Vice President of Finance for the Snacks Division.

      During her first interview, Marcia liked the fact that everyone she saw in the office was dressed in professional business attire. Just like her current employer, the atmosphere was fairly “buttoned-down,” which was just what Marcia liked. Employees appeared really motivated and driven — working hard — as they walked through the office when Marcia was there for her first interview.

      The HR rep that Marcia met in her first interview was up front with Marcia about the fact that, about a year ago, the corporation had actually promoted someone from within the company to the position of Accounting Director – Snacks Division. However, that person hadn’t worked out as the company had hoped. So, they began looking outside the company to fill the position. During this same first interview, Marcia found out from the HR rep that Bina Tilak is “known for her attention to detail and desire to be kept up-to-date on a regular basis as to what’s going on in the Division.” Marcia got a strong sense that the former Accounting Director who had been promoted from within failed to keep Bina up-to-date on what was happening.

      Now, you’re ready to complete the Audience portion of your own Job-Seeker Personal Brand Positioning Statement. If you have more than one target company, you will want to do separate Audience definitions for each target.