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My Personal Brand

12 September, 2009 in The Story, Web 2.0 tips | 14 comments

My personal brand has been made so much easier with the help of many people. I have to say a big thank you to The Face for producing a fantastic campaign, to Raz Chorev, My Personal Marketer, for all his support, to Louise Pope and Kim Seeling-Smith for pointing me in the right direction and a ‘Big Cheers’, :-) , to my colleagues and friends for all their support and feedback over the years otherwise there would be no personal brand for the Business Analyst.

My personal brand has slightly changed since JobCAMP as I have been discovering the BA but that is all part of the journey.

My Personal Brand…

1. Headliner
Who am I? What is the first thing I want people to think about me? True to me so my friends and colleagues can automatically identify as Colleen Chan. My second attempt at the headliner was again a very poor effort as noted by the same person who mentioned it the first time, :-| . The headliner is the attention grabber as recruiters scan through many profiles of potential candidates.

Colleen Chan, ‘Colleen’ in Irish means girl then ‘Chan’, Chinese. People who meet me for the first time or I know as a connection, ask how long have I been in the country and where I am from originally. If they have only heard my voice over the phone, then I am Anglo-Saxon with a strange surname or I did not keep my maiden name. This happens often, doesn’t matter who or which continent, it puts a smile on my face. I am unexpected.

One of the hardest myths to overcome is the stereotype of a boring Business Analyst sitting in front of a computer looking at their numbers or being pedantic about some process flow. When recruiters advertise for roles they ask for personality, interpersonal skills and you have to put that through a cover letter and resume. I have a very Australian sense of humour and I like to share my thoughts and sometimes it puts a smile on a face. I like telling stories like this one I am sharing now. Experiences are there to be shared so we all can learn and funny ones are there so we can have a smile.

Raz, introduced me as the Business Analyst with a Difference to his twitter followers.

So here I am,

Business Analyst with a Difference.

2. Elevator Pitch
The one statement that describes what I can do for a business.

I can measure and understand an organisation’s ambiguous and complex data so they can make concise decisions for the business.

This statement is not seen on my profile but if I had only a brief moment to impress somebody, what would I say to them so they would not forget me.

3. Target Audience
Who do I want to work for? I think back at the jobs in the past and find the people I enjoyed working for were C-level executives. I learnt from these people and discovered different views that allowed me to understand the business and added to my knowledge base making me more qualified for my job.

I have a unique career DNA, statistician meets business analyst. This means I am the go-to person for C-level executives who need data transformed into insightful advice right across their business.

What makes me stand out? I have a “Unique Career DNA” as I am a statistician with post graduate education in accounting & finance and have a good business acumen working in the corporate environment.

What can I do for them? “Insightful advice right across your business.” I provide quality information for decisions to be made in all areas of the business.

4. Sell items
Why would a company want to hire me? Will I fit into their organisational culture? The people that know me should be able to see the person they work with on a day to day basis in my personal brand. How do these people perceive me? When I have been given a problem, my conclusions and approach to my work?

I’m a logical thinker and have a heightened awareness. I’m about details and am results driven. I’m smart, confident, nice and personable. My style maybe a bit left-of-centre but I am great to be around and you’ll really like working with me!

How do I consider a problem? “I’m a logical thinker and have a heightened awareness”. As a business analyst I have to understand the data flows where the data begins and where data flows intercept. The end point of the data flow is management where I have to understand the decision they are trying to achieve.

My conclusions are “about details and results driven”. Decisions can be made through the data with the knowledge the analysis can be understood and is motivated to attain business goals.

How do I deliver my work? “I’m smart, confident, nice and personable”. I am an Excel master with a ”Unique Career DNA”, I am logical and detailed so I am confident of my conclusions, I am nice and personable as I am approachable and modest when understanding or explaining the data.

How do my colleagues perceive me as a work mate? “A bit left-of-centre but I am great to be around and you’ll really like working with me!” I am not a typical business analyst but my traits are not a reflection of my work or who I am, you will enjoy working with me.

5. Creative Proposition
What can I do for your business?

I can take complex problems and make them simple. I can understand and measure the ambiguous!

Data problems may come from any number of sources, not digestible in its current format and appears to have no solution. I can take the ambiguity out of the data so precise decisions can be made.

6. Creative work
Why should your business have me as a part your team?

I am a visual person so I can take all kinds of complex data and make it understandable not only to financial people but to everyone in the business. That makes me a critical part of every decision making process.

In fact, no organisation should do business until they…Check with Chan

I have worked in many areas over my career and many different people with different types of education, engineers, accountants, sales and even doctors so everybody has been taught differently how they perceive the numbers. I can visualise the data in all aspects of the business so everybody can understand, that is why nobody should make a decision until they… ;-)

7. Check with Chan
The online campaign would click through to the full page ad which was also the one that appeared on page 4, Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday 23rd May. The online campaign ran from midnight Friday night to midnight Tuesday night on the home pages of MyCareer.com.au and TheBigChair.com.au

Check with Chan

8. Is it Me?
Can I achieve all that I have stated above? Do I have the personality that is expressed in my personal brand? My resume, my profile on LinkedIn, my connections and the recommendations I have from my colleagues prove my experience and who I am.

Am I bragging? Yeah, I’m bragging, :-o . But I have to demonstrate I am the best candidate. My personal brand has to describe who I am, what I have accomplished and what I can accomplish. I am competing against other candidates.

My Personal Brand is an important part of my identity. I must be able to maintain my identity not only to find work and at work but also my friends and my connections must be able to identify with me.

But now I am an occasional blogger and not just a business analyst, :-| . There are two “About” pages, a page for the business analyst, which is why I am here, to find a job for the BA and a page for the blogger with a different profile picture. Hmm… I am sure my personal brand will change over time as my journey into web 2.0 continues. I know if I keep real and true to my personal brand then I will continue to enjoy my social networking experience and all that it has brought me :-) .

 

Next post in The Story -> The Campaign

 

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The Campaign Begins

2 September, 2009 in The Story, Web 2.0 tips | 2 comments

I’m getting ready for my week ahead, listing all the things that have to be done.

  1. My headliner has to be changed.
  2. Daily status updates on my LinkedIn profile.
  3. New head shot as my profile photo was the only recent one I had and had been cut out from a distant sisters’ shot. (Thanks Jai for sneakily taking that photo at Chinese New Year otherwise I would have had none).
  4. Posting discussions on all my group boards.
  5. My Personal Brand.

1.  Headliner
Currently my headliner is boring, Business Analyst seeking Opportunities. I have to make the title so it attracts people to my profile. I take slices out of the introduction that The Face had produced for the advertisement. “Analyst, can take complex problems and data, making them understandable to financial people and to everyone in the business”.

2. Daily Status Updates
I can be a very talkative person but I am not the type of person who is likely to tell all my connections what I am doing on a daily basis. It is to remind my connections that I am around and something is about to happen. So I do daily update status reminding my connections I have won a personal branding campaign and that it will be launched on Saturday in the SMH.

3. Profile Photo
Isn’t it always the way it goes. I am so stressed about the campaign I have a giant pimple in the middle of my cheek! I can’t even remember the last time I had a pimple on my face and it has to come up the only time when I don’t want one to! Photographer, Paul Kennedy, whom I met at JobCAMP, made the session fun. I usually feel very self conscious when posing for photos but we had laughable moments. Ok, I admit to photoshop but only the pimple was removed and now longer exists :-) . Paul would not photoshop anything else as he said it would take the character out of the photo. Oh, so I can’t remove the bags under my eyes and my freckles… ok… :-(

4. Group Discussion Boards
I’m ready to be a content creator, not really. Then I realise there is only an ad in the local paper therefore only the essence of the personal brand campaign will be in my LinkedIn profile and not the complete campaign with the ad. Thought I could get away with it but it was confirmed that MyCareer.com.au who were sponsoring the ad were also going to include an online campaign on their homepage and the homepage of TheBigChair.com.au.

Now I have to create a discussion. I am very scared. I see all the discussions on the group boards, sometimes the discussions get heated and sometimes there are no comments at all. What do I write about so I can get people’s attention and not be beleaguered or left feeling unnoticed.

Below, my very first posting on a discussion board.

Personal Branding. What is it? How does it apply to me?

These are the exact questions that have been haunting me since the GFC. All the recruiters are talking about it, now it is not good enough just to have a good resume but now you need a Personal Brand! But how?

So off I headed to JobCamp, “Getting Australia Working”. JobCamp is the idea of Luke Harvey-Palmer, to inspire people to think differently when it comes to career and work.

The conference was fantastic with speakers including Iggy Pintado, author of “Connection Generation”, Laurel Papworth also known as SilkCharm and the most connected in AP, Stan Relihan.

So what does this all have to do with personal branding? I won my own personal branding campaign by The Face!

So how will The Face give someone in my line of work a personal brand? My job title isn’t the most exciting job title in the world, business analyst.

To see what The Face can do for my personal brand stay tuned, my campaign will begin on the 23rd May.

I was overwhelmed by the response. I received at least one comment online or offline from each group and more than 5 in some, some 50 responses. I had never posted anything on the internet before and did not know what to do with it all. Comments were all very heartening, with good advice, requiring deep thought, asking friends and knowing oneself. I had not thought about my personal brand other than the flurry at JobCAMP. I replied the best I could and very poorly at that, I know now.

There were 2 comments that stood out though. One person sent me a link to Gary Vaynerchuk, Building Personal Brand within the Social Media Landscape at the Web 2.0 Expo. First thing I thought was check out his last name out I am never going to forget that. I watch the video and was left in awe with his enthusiasm, he was so passionate about personal branding and building a business with a good brand. I do occasional go back to watch this video when I need some inspiration.

The other comment mentioned my headliner which was my first attempt at my personal brand. Hmmm, first attempt not very successful :-(   The person said the title appeared as if I was bragging that I was smarter than management as I could talk to everybody in the business about their business. This is not what I am like at all and actually had a chuckle when I read the comment. I can understand the numbers for you to make the right decisions for your business. Have to redo my headliner before the launch. I suppose without the rest of the personal branding, it didn’t work.

Last thing to do before the launch is My Personal Brand…

 

Next post in The Story -> My Personal Brand

 

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The Story Begins

15 July, 2009 in The Story | 8 comments

I was enjoying my job at Lenovo the work was complex and I could use my modelling skills in Excel. I knew my time was coming up as the hyperion system was going online in the following quarter. I was sent over to Malaysia for 3 weeks, the guys over there were really nice I was able to train them and also enjoy the shopping as well. :-) Though I was sick for the whole 3 weeks and could not enjoy the food as much as I would have liked to :-( .

When I came back, it was nice to have a break. I had been working 60 – 70 hours a week trying to get these models out and was happy to let my brain have a rest and had not had a holiday in a long time. I don’t usually take notice of what is really happening in the economy, all I knew was we were having a mining boom and China would keep the Australian economy buoyant.

Then the GFC. I started looking for work but by that stage the market had already decided to shut down. Summer came along, nothing happens in the summer, everybody is on holidays and the feedback from recruiters now is that it was one of the quietest summer’s they have ever seen. My resume was being presented to prospective employees but that is as far as it got.

I received a break when I got through to the interview stage with a Telco company. I got excellent feedback from my recruiter, Louise Pope, and from the interviewees but realised at the end of the interview that I was not going to be offered the job. The line was “we used the agent as only a backup as we have done our own advertising internally, you will hear if you get a second interview”. I knew then that was the end of that prospect.

My recruitrer ask how all other prospects had gone so I told her my story, she told me that I should be working and it was because my resume was not “cutting it“ when it got to the managers stage. So she introduced me to a career consultant, Kim Seeling Smith, who had already seen my resume due to previous applications to the agency and her response was that my resume was “ok”. She re-did my resume and introduced me to LinkedIn, which was at the end of March.

I had never social networked before, I did not see not see the benefits of joining any social network of any sort. I am a very private person and did not want to loose my privacy into the public domain. I had not even joined Facebook even at the request of many friends. Joining LinkedIn would mean I would have to tell everybody what I did for a crust. My friends at work did not know what I did or even my education. I am not one to brag. :roll:

So I join LinkedIn. I only put a summary of my role at Lenovo and I include all my other jobs. I start inviting people who I thought knew my work and me, I was omitting people who knew me, those who knew my work and those who had been at the end of many conference calls. I invited my Mr.P and Mr.VP but then withdrew the invitations as I had not met them in person eventhough I had received many emails and pings directly from them, I don’t know what I was thinking. And even sent a couple of I don’t knows as LinkedIn said only to accept inviations from people you know.

One of my ex-managers from Lenovo did not want to join LinkedIn to give me a recommendation. I thought that only managers could give you recommendations. My career consultant came to the rescue, she told me I had to connect with everybody I knew and recommendations were only a bonus. I also had to load everything on my profile but I didn’t want everybody to know about me. She told me that everything was in the public domain anyway so I had nothing to fear. I was reluctant but agreed with her.

So off I went connecting to everybody I knew. I wrote back to my ex-Mr.P and Mr.VP apologising for withdrawal as I just didn’t know how it worked. I recieved sincere replies from both of them and invitations to their networks. I appreciated their genuine responses. And sent back invitations to the people I sent ”don’t knows” and they kindly accepted.  It is amazing to see the support network you have out there without knowing it. Just having the small network I had, made me feel that I was not alone in my quest to find my dream job.

The next thing was to get my recommendations. So I looked at how LinkedIn had setup the recommendations. I thought this is pretty easy, just choose from the list, maximum 50, and see what you get back. I received a great response from my ex-colleagues at Lenovo and the recommendations were so nice, I did not know my work had received the acknowledgment it had. :-)

My profile is complete, I have connected to as many people as I can without having their email addresses, have recommendations and have started joining groups to connect to more people with the same interest and backgrounds. But what now?

 

Next post in The Story ->  Being Proactive

 

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