I have been fascinated with Justin Timberlake’s media takeover in the past few weeks as he prepared for the release of his new album The 20/20 Experience. Not only because catching a glimpse of his charming, smiling face always makes me blush but also because of this marketing mind of mine. The campaign he has been on is an example of branding at its finest. He has gone from frosted tips and gold chains to suit and tie, creating a luxurious, slightly more refined image for himself. Much like most things, obviously this reminded me of the job search.
As a job seeker I am technically trying to sell myself (NOT LIKE THAT, PEOPLE) and convince people that I would be a good fit for a job. In order to do well in interviews I’ve found it is important to know yourself pretty well. How can you benefit the company? What do you do really well? This is where “personal branding” comes in. I realize it may sound a little pretentious, but that is what it’s called. Not to get too psychological, but to successfully market myself, my personal brand to a company, I need to be sure that the way I perceive myself is the same way that other people do. It’s about knowing your passions, goals, hopes, and special attributes that make you your beautiful self. Once you know those things it’s all about being able to communicate them in your interviews, your resume, your LinkedIn profile, whateva. It can even extend to your Facebook profile—if you were to look at mine right now you’d see that I’m obviously a skiing FANATIC who enjoys skiing and après-skiing celebrations near my current home of Lyon, France…………….
Justin Timberlake’s new album image does make him out to be a refined guy, but when you see him on shows like SNL or Jimmy Fallon you can see he’s someone who doesn’t take himself too seriously, and that is relatable to a lot of people. And okay, I don’t really know JT personally. I’m only judging based on what I’ve seen in interviews and on my bias toward him due to how handsome I think he is. ANYWAY my point is that defining your “brand” too narrowly can be detrimental. Yesterday I had an interview where my interviewer noted that I had spoken to the point of how I enjoyed the analytical part of marketing but didn’t speak much about the creative side. WHOOPS. That caught me off-guard because the creative part is what got me into marketing in the first place, but I had been mostly describing the analytical stuff I had experience in because it applied more to the position. I did clear that up pretty quickly to the interviewer and then he said great, when can you start? Just kidding.
So what is my brand? I have definitely been able to develop that through the past months of my job search, and it has been a great learning experience—at each interview I feel more and more confident in how I am conveying myself to potential employers. cHeCk iT oUt:
And just because, please enjoy this video.
If it were up to me I would begin all of my job interviews being revealed from behind a glittery red curtain.
À la missy 
