This YouTube video by my friend, @animal about how to get popular on Twitter has some very good points, but the best point of all is painfully obvious. You have to be original in order to stand out. Recruiting Animal is well-known in the recruiting industry because of his brash sense of humor. He is quick to provide extremely honest feedback even if it hurts. People in the industry have come to expect his zaniness, and respect the Recruiting Animal for his individuality.

The video begs the question–what’ s your online differentiation strategy? Is it working?

Photo Credit Kamran Web.

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If you’re a busy professional like I am, you do a lot of emailing. In job search, you’re probably emailing even more than usual.  This increased traffic of professional correspondence begs the question:

How can I best sign my email messages?

If you’ve just been signing your name, you’re missing a golden opportunity to reinforce your executive personal brand and further market your unique promise of value.

Take the time to put together an email signature that will leave a lasting impression and also lead people to all the on-brand information they need to know (and you want them to know) about you.

It’s fairly easy to configure your email account with an automatic signature for outgoing messages. Once you’ve created one, you can easily insert, adjust, or remove your signature depending upon the recipient.

When creating your signature, assume that the email recipient will know nothing about you, but will want to know about you. Keep it brand-evident and on-point – don’t bog them down with clutter and an overly long laundry list.

Definitely do the following to brand your email signature:

Use your full name, not a nickname. Even if you know the recipient well, your email may be forwarded to someone else who will have no idea who “Bobby” is.

Include your current title and employer. If you’re not employed, include your professional title, such as “Global Business Operations Leader” or “Senior Turnaround Management Executive”.

Provide the best phone number to reach you at any time. Don’t confuse with several numbers. Your cell phone is probably the best bet (you won’t need to worry about having someone at work, or or anyone besides yourself, intercept the call).

Send a clear value message with an abbreviated version (1-2 lines) of your personal brand positioning statement. Haven’t worked on your brand statement? Then invest some thought in a short brand tagline that showcases your strengths while differentiating the value you offer over your competition in the job market. Make your tagline, and therefore yourself, memorable.

Use your personal email address.  No reason to take the risk of job-search-related emails popping up in your inbox while your current boss is sitting at your desk talking to you.

Include a link to your personal blog or website “About” page, if you have one (if not, sign up now!). This is the portal to all of your personal branding efforts!

Include your LinkedIn profile badge (instructions here) or URL, or a link to your Google Profile. Either of these can stand in if you don’t have a website.

Include your VisualCV badge or URL.

Include the phrase “Follow me on Twitter” with a link, if you’re active there.  You should be!

You may also want to include these in your email signature, especially if you don’t have some of the above essentials:

Relevant certifications and credentials

A recent noteworthy publication of yours (book, e-book, white paper, etc.)

A link to a professional video of you

Some caveats:

It’s best to use plain text without special characters, to be sure everything will appear at the receiving end just as you sent it. Only use what’s on your keyboard, such as pipes ( | ) or colons ( :: ), to separate the text, and tildes ( ~ ), hyphens ( – ), or asterisks ( * ) for bullets.

Write out URLs instead of using hyperlinks. They may not show up in your recipients’ email message.

Skip your home mailing address. You don’t want security-sensitive information floating around out there.

Avoid including a legal disclaimer notice, unless you’re required to for some reason.

An expanded, branded email signature will mark you as up-to-date and savvy to the new world of work. It will help decision makers vetting candidates like you learn what differentiates the value you offer over others.

Design your signature to resonate with your target audience and entice them to want to open your attachments and consider you.

Related posts:

10 Steps to an Authentic, Magnetic Personal Brand

Want Personal Brand Health Insurance? Follow the 3 Cs

An Executive Personal Branding, Online Identity and Job Search Strategist, Meg is a 20-year careers industry professional and one of only a handful of people worldwide to hold the Reach Certified Personal Branding Strategist and Master Resume Writer credentials, both gold standards.

“I love my work collaborating with savvy senior executives and entrepreneurs who know where they’re going, but need help differentiating their unique promise of value in the new world of work and executive job search, and positioning themselves to work their passion. My clients are typically c-suite, senior-level executives and rising stars.”

Find out more about Meg at Executive Career Brand, and by viewing her LinkedIn profile and following her on Twitter.

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I have a major pet peeve and it’s probably high on your list as well.  You know exactly what I am talking about; it’s those people that you follow that bad mouth and trash talk about their company or manager or co-workers… and it is almost always during the business day and they are probably using company computers to post the message!  How does this reflect on you and your personal brand?

If you would like to see how much this is discussed, just do a Twitter search for #ihatemyjob and see all the messages that pop up.  The results are astounding., considering that not all of the whiners even put the #ihatemyjob hash into their messages about work.  But if you follow your stream at any time during the day, you are bound to see one or two (or more!) tweets sharing something negative about their day and the people involved.  Seriously?

I don’t care if you have a “private” Twitter account or not.  As a recruiter there is nothing worse than seeing a tweet with a negative message about your employer, manager or coworker.  Below are just a few helpful reminders as to what not to do and what you should do on Twitter for your personal brand:

Don’t: Tweet anything negative about your job, manager or coworkers.

Do: If you are not happy, do a Twitter search for #jobs and another hashtag that is in the field you are looking (#marketing #finance #accounting #sales #java #helpdesk just to name a few).

Don’t: Tweet anything negative during the workday, from either your work computer or your mobile device.

Do: Keep your messages during business hours conversational and engage on a topic of value to your followers

Don’t: Pretend to be something you are not.

Do: Be yourself, simple and sweet! Whatever your passion, this is the best way to tweet and add your own authentic value.  If you are a complainer by nature, maybe Twitter isn’t the best outlet for you (think about it).

Here’s a rule which you hopefully have picked up from this blog already: Don’t post something online, under your own name or pseudonym, that you wouldn’t feel comfortable saying in an interview.  Because odds are, your interviewer will find what you say online, and you will be held accountable for it.

It may seem simple and common sense, but it is something important to remember and definitely the best recommendation you will receive for what you put online and how you work to manage your personal brand.

—-

Keith McIlvaine is a Social Media Strategist within HR and Recruiting for a Fortune 500 company.  When he is not focused on leveraging social media and networking, Keith is also a personal branding coach and social media mentor.  He is passionate about his family and is a major soccer fanatic.  Connect with Keith on Twitter and LinkedIn.  The statements I have posted on this site are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

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It’s no secret that times are tough, and one way employers have found to save time and money is to do initial job interviews over the phone. But just because you won’t be sitting across the desk from Mr. Interviewer yet does not mean you can chill in bed watching TV while half your brain takes the call and the other half plays Cash Cab. Although a phone interview can be less stressful for you and the recruiter in many ways, you still have to work extra hard to impress on the phone because you can’t send or receive visual clues.

This week, I compiled five of the best posts on the web about how to perform better in phone interviews.

1. Telephone Interview Secrets by hiremyparents

In this post by hiremyparents support, the author makes a phone interview sound a lot like method acting. The post suggests dressing in business attire for the interview so you will be in professional mode, practicing interview questions aloud before the call and smiling during the call. In a way you will be putting on a performance, one starring you as your best possible self.

2. Five Ways to do Better in Phone Interviews by Penelope Trunk at Brazen Careerist

Ms. Trunk’s post points out that standing up and walking around during the call can make you project a more natural and therefore more likable persona. She likens the interview to selling oneself and reminds the reader to close the sale by politely trying to get an in-person interview scheduled before the end of the call.

3. Win in Telephone Job Interviews by JobsDFW Blog

Blogger Julia Penny reminds us that the job candidate in a phone interview must overcome the lack of visual cues. For example, you must concentrate even more intensely on what the interviewer is saying so you can tell whether he or she is engaged in the conversation and you can act accordingly.

4. Don’t Say Hello in a Phone Interview by Interview Angel

Brent Peterson’s bluntly funny post underscores the importance of a professional demeanor from the first instant of the call. Answer the phone, he says, by identifying yourself . Act as though you are the receptionist for the corporation of you.

5. Telephone Interviews are as Easy as 1-2-3! by BullsEyeResumes Career Blog

BullsEyeCareers posts about what they believe are the three most important components of the phone interview: energy, tone and clarity. Especially striking is the blogger’s warning to limit sarcasm and negativity because, since you can’t see the interviewer, you don’t know how they are coming across. Remember, you won’t be able to use emoticons here.

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