1. 13 Ways to
Professionally
Brand Yourself
Lasya M

2. Define Yourself
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3. Define yourself
• What I am?
• What I can do?
• What I need to do?
• What I am supposed to do?
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4. What value can I add to my
future employer
• Things I do well
• Things I like to do
• Things I can do all day and it doesn’t
feel like “work”
• Things I don’t mind going the “extra
mile” for
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5. What value can my employment
bring me
• A “foot-in-the-door”
• A stepping stone for something greater
• A great learning experience to broaden
my skill set
• A comfortable place to earn a living
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6. What you need to do
• Understand yourself
• Realize your strengths and weaknesses
• Map strengths with what you are supposed
to be doing
• Understand how others view you
• Take opinions about you ( you may not like it though)
• Review and grade yourself on the growth
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7. Attitude
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8. Attitude
Stay Put Progressive
Fear Conflict 8
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9. What you need to do
Open Mindset.
•
Seek Responsibility
•
Control Egos
•
Understand Yourself / People
•
Be optimistic yet cautious
•
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10. Identify Target Jobs
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11. Identify target jobs
• You are the architect of your own future
• You decide what you need to be
• You are what you do
• You mould your life
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12. Take a long, HARD look at
yourself and be realistic
• The first job is rarely the ideal job
• Your qualification might not be a perfect
fit
• Break the “lack of experience” vicious circle
• Do your due diligence
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13. What you need to do
• Learn about various opportunities.
• Know what people do behind their designation
tag to achieve it.
• Know what made the “D person” learn, to get
into your target job
• Review and grade yourself on the growth
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14. Marketing plan
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15. Sketch your life
• Its your life and YOU decide how to
market the brand YOU
• Understand where you stand and
sketch your path
• Stick to it
Good - Bad - Ugly
Your niche - The difference between success and failure
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16. Create your own “marketing plan
• Define your goals
• Define your target audience
• Efficiently communicate the value of
your product
• Become visible to your audience
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17. What you need to do
Understand yourself.
•
Improve and seek
•
Work on YOUR plan instead of copying others.
•
Review and grade yourself on the achievement
•
of your plan
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18. Learn and Seek
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19. Learn and Seek
• Lifeis all about experiences
• Experiences count – yours and theirs too
• Everybody has an invaluable story to tell
- get to know a few
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20. What you need to do
• Read Read and Read - From Harry potter to
Harold Robbins
• Listen to people - Its boring but valuable
• Self Learn - Learn how to learn
• Get a mentor - Learn from experienced individuals
• Volunteer - Gain invaluable experience
• Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know
• Its okay to be unsure
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21. Network
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22. Networking
• A lifelong relationship-building process that develops
a wide range of interpersonal connections
•Useful where the skills of the introvert are valued
higher than those with extrovert soft skills.
•Networks act as a kind of informal, highly
customized, personal ‘knowledge business
yellow pages’, providing a handy expert to fill in
the brain-powered workers knowledge gap.
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23. quot;More business decisions occur over lunch
and dinner than at any other time, yet no
MBA courses are given on the subject.quot;
-Peter Drucker
Know People - most importantly use resources appropriately
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24. Making contacts work
Very Precious
Contacts with large networks
can be very useful to launch
your career in high gear
Never burn Bridges!
Even if some of your contacts
do not possess an extensive
network, they could be great
mentors and advisors.
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25. The Do’s and Don’ts of Networking
DO’s Don’ts
• Use your contacts. quot;So‐and‐ • Don't wait for someone to
so suggested I call you.” call you.
• Ask for referrals to others • Avoid sounding like a
who might give you advice. telemarketer.
This helps to develop your • Don't let rejections stop you.
network. • Don't ask for a job—it
• Learn to cold call. quot;I'm from frightens people.
X university and I
understand you graduated
from there.”
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26. The Do’s and Don’ts of Networking
DO’s Don’ts
• Ask for three things: • Avoid talking about
yourself too much. It’s not
1. Information
all about you, it’s about
2. Advice
the relationship.
3. Referrals
• Use a low‐key approach and • Never abuse the process. If
70% to 80% of those you you sincerely ask for
contact are likely to help. information, advice and
referrals, the conversation
• Develop electronic
is usually rewarding.
networking skills.
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27. The Do’s and Don’ts of Networking
DO’s Don’ts
• Perfect telephone skills. • Try your best to talking in
Don’t take more than 10 to person, but email and
15 minutes. Then follow phone is better than
with a thank‐you letter. nothing.
• Don't stop networking
when you get a job. The
job you have today may
disappear overnight.
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28. Science Prjt
1997
2002
10th Grade
2004
12th Grade
2006
A course
Use Appropriately
2007
Graduation
Job ☺
2009
2012
Next Job
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29. What you need to do
Keep your contact database.
•
Mail people at least once a year.
•
Don’t ignore your previous Hari Sadoo boss
•
Be passionate, and communicate that
•
passion, go the extra mile
• Be genuine, be honest and never burn bridges
• Be mature, reputation is much easier to loose
than to gain
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30. Elevator Pitch
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31. Elevator Pitch
• The Elevator Pitch is the key in order to
get a message across in a clear, short
and organized manner
•The 2 minutes that you spend might
change everything.
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32. When to say
• When you introduce yourself
• When you’re speaking on the phone
• When you leave a voice mail
• On your outgoing message
• On your website / blog
• On your business card, email signature
• On any marketing collateral
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33. What to say
• Who I am
• What I do and what I want to do
• Why I am so great, my experience
• (Subtle) name’s dropping
• End with a specific question
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34. How you need to do
Prepare lines mentally
•
Communicate Clearly
•
Show the passion and the drive via expressions
•
Make sure you have his contact for further
•
correspondence
• Seek for a suggestion
• Have a broad smile
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35. Resumes
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36. Résumé and Curriculum Vita
• The résumé is a snap shot in time which is
constrained by a page limit imposed by
tradition
• The CV is the academic equivalent to the
resume with the major exception that the
CV has no page limit
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37. Difference between CV and a Resume
Curriculum Vita Resume
• Education • Objectives
• Research Interests • Qualifications
• Honors • Experience
• Awards • Education
• Experience • Technical Skills
• Books • Business Skills
• Publications • Achievements
• Patents • Miscellaneous
• Service
• Associations
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38. What you need to do
• Create a metadata of your professional life so
far.
• Sex up resume’s according to the organisation
• Update . . Update . . Update . . Every 3 months
•Your Resumes
•Your profiles everywhere
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39. Public Speaking
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40. Public Speaking
• Definitely one of the hardest things for most
•Every professional conference is looking for
speakers with a story to tell.
•The hardest step is simply putting together 20
slides that tell that story and submitting it.
•Theory, products, and research are great, but when
you have a story to tell, the world will beat a
path to your door.
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41. Opportunities
• Local Civic Groups
• Professional Conferences
• Academic Conferences
• College Seminars
• Communities of Interest
• Toast Masters
• Chapter Meetings
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42. What you need to do
• Practice, Practice, Practice. There is no substitute
for this.
• Give presentations with passion and to improve
yourself and not merely to showcase.
• Every professional speaker spends an enormous
amount of time working out the session and
it never comes in naturally.
“It takes me three weeks to put together a good
impromptu speech.quot; - Mark Twain.
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43. Publications
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44. Publications
•Every industry has a trade journal or a magazine.
•We have a magazine for just about every genre of
technology.
•Each month, these magazines produce mounds of
information contributed by people just like you.
•Not to mention the growing number of online
magazines where folks are begging for contributed
content.
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45. Opportunities
• Newsletters
• Magazines
• Journals
• Book Reviews or Editing
• Monthly Columns
• Academic Journals / University Journals
• Online Magazines / Journals
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46. What you need to do
• The key is to generate an inventory of publishable
material that you can use.
• Use, reuse and reuse
• Never put all of your eggs in one basket. A balanced
portfolio would ensure that you focus on the
many different levels as well as different
categories.
• Professional articles are great but academic ones are
just as important.
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47. Trademarks
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48. The Real You
The choice of the trademark over the conventional term
branding is by design.
The new world of business is built around
ambiguity, collaboration, networks, distributed
leadership, loosely coupled processes, and a dispersed
workforce.
The trademark is a physical representation of who you are
as opposed to the concepts of branding which are more
metaphysical.
Information workers are more receptive to the hard elements
of a trademark versus the emotional elements of a brand
which has roots in sales and marketing. 48
Lasya M

49. What you need to do
Volunteer Efforts
Degrees and Education Classes
Roles and Responsibilities
Patents and Trademarks
Past Positions
Professional Affiliations
Programs and Projects
Consulting
Industry Awards and Designated Honors
Certifications
The You, The Your way, The Your style
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50. Social Networks
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51. Social Networks
•Use your social network effectively
•Sources like Linkedin, Orkut, and
Facebook may prove to be invaluable
• They provide the ability to create, manage
and maintain your online identity
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52. What you need to do
• Maintain a semi formal / smart profile.
• Do keep your professional part of your profile
updated.
• Showcase your hobbies/ interests in your albums
• Keep meeting new people.
• Participate in professional communities
• Lookout for people from your dream organization
• Browse profiles
• Keep a smart and an attractive display picture
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53. Professional Weblog
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54. Professional Weblog
Weblogs or blogs have become so ubiquitous that
its synonymous for a “personal web site”.
Blogs offer the ability for the non-programmer to
communicate on a regular basis.
Today, with the ability to publish content and
allow readers to become content providers It
proves to an invaluable resource to showcase
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55. What you need to do
• Showcase your ability in a subtle manner.
• Put in pictures / or mention every single
achievement.
• Publish your presentations and give in links to
even the presentations presented in class
• Showcase your hobbies and interests and write
something which the rest don’t know about.
• Keep it tweaked and updated
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56. Survey from
the trenches
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57. Factors for Success
Effective Planning
Taking Risks
Luck and Timing
Intellect
Networking
Leadership
Drive and Passion
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58. Factors inhibiting success
Dishonestly
Taking Focus
Lack of Passion
Greed and Ego
Procrastination
Poor Communication
Fear of Risk
Lack of Belief in Self
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
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59. Know what
you really
want.
Have
Know how to
realistic
get it
expectations
Differentiate Get people
yourself to help you
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60. Thank You
Lasya M
lasyam@gmail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lasya