Professional Branding – Career Materials Development

Every major company and organization we know has branding. Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have distinctive brands. So do Apple, Google, Louis Vuitton, and even car makers like GM and Toyota. These brands are an expression of value and organizations strive to make them known in less abstract but more conceptual ways.

Just as branding applies to organizations, products, and services, it also applies to you as an individual in today’s professional environment.

There is an array of professional brand marketing materials, or tools, which you will need to use to convey the message of your brand.

These include the use of a résumé — or curriculum vitae/CV in some instances — cover letters, project lists, professional profile/bio, follow-up/thank you letters, webpage content, blogs, etc.

Each of these has a distinct purpose. And, while they each will communicate a message a bit differently they must be cohesive, provide a consistent brand image, and complement one another.

The VITAE Exercise takes you through an introspective inventory of these materials and teaches you the important things you need to know to create and develop each one in today’s vastly competitive job market.

In specific, the I-INVENTORY SECTION, which we have broken out into a stand alone printed and audio book with supporting webinar, is the tool we utilize on a regular basis when helping individuals think about themselves as a professional brand and develop their professional career marketing materials.

woman-1

smaller-smaller-vitae-book

New to VITAE?

START WITH THE BEST SELLING I – INVENTORY MINI-BOOK!

Take inventory of your brand. What do you need to effectively market yourself? Explore the assorted professional brand marketing materials associated with successful career planning, management, and job search efforts. Walk through the process of performing an inventory, assembling the information, and conceptualizing the groundwork for establishing the materials that will enable you to build and polish your brand.

BUY NOW
hands_ball_graphic (1)

What’s Inside?

The Sequence VITAE Exercise is our true, time-tested personal assessment process and development tool we believe will greatly aid and empower you in your career.

icon-1VALUE

Examine and assess your value

inventoryINVENTORY

Take inventory of your brand

targetTARGET

Take aim of where you want to go and people you want to know, determine how you will get there, and target those destinations and individuals

achieveACHIEVE

Take action and execute your plan with focus and vigor

evolveEVOLVE

Just as our lives evolve, so do our careers

Inside the full VITAE BOOK

VITAE in Latin literally means “life.”

  

Our lives are a series of actions and events traced in order by time. It’s a sequence. It’s a particular order in which related acts and events follow each other. Thus, our Sequence VITAE Exercise is a powerful five-step orderly process designed to help you define your Value, Target your goals, take Inventory, establish, build, polish, and market your career materials and professional brand.  We have developed a series of activities to Achieve these aims and to create your compelling story which lies at the center of all of your plans, dreams, and aspirations. We will then help you express that value and brand with your MVP (My Value Proposition) Statement and consistently Evolve it throughout your career.

  • VALUE

    Examine and assess your value. Take a self-assessment examination and inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. What is your value, worth, importance, and usefulness? Define your knowledge, aptitude, experience, skill set, expertise, competencies, specialties, proficiencies, talents, gifts, key attributes and characteristics, abilities, capacity, capabilities, and “ go to” purpose. Compare these to your chosen occupation to get a greater insight into your profession and as a foundation for the path of expressing who you are.

  • INVENTORY

    Take inventory of your brand. What do you need to effectively market yourself? Explore the assorted professional brand marketing materials associated with successful career planning, management, and job search efforts. Walk through the process of performing an inventory, assembling the information, and conceptualizing the groundwork for establishing the materials that will enable you to build and polish your brand.

  • TARGET

    Take aim of where you want to go and people you want to know, determine how you will get there, and target those individuals and destinations. Chart a plan of action. Summarize your goal(s), objectives, plan, timeline/schedule, and start the process of thinking about your future. This is targeting your career as a foundation for developing your compelling story, building your MVP (My Value Proposition) and creating a focused brand.

  • ACHIVE

    Take action and execute your plan with focus and vigor. This is the process of constructing, marketing and expressing your brand. You have developed a concrete vision and mission statement, goals and objectives, and a career timeline and professional schedule. And of course, took inventory and put your professional brand marketing materials in order. It’s time now to develop your compelling story. Everyone has a story. It’s the account of who you are. Your story is unique to you and sets you apart from all others. It’s the history of your life: your career journey. It reflects your experience, accomplishments, and what you have learned along the way. Once you have written your compelling story, you will develop it into your MVP (My Value Proposition) Statement for expression to the world. Your MVP Statement is the key to verbally communicating your story and value proposition and adaptable for use in every circumstance and situation in one form or another. It’s three-dimensional and the essential tool used for expressing your value as a powerful professional brand.

  • EVOLVE

    Just as our lives evolve, so do our careers. The path in which our career moves along is often commonly referred to as career development. Our career evolution is a lifelong process of change and adaptation to new environments, situations, and circumstances; luck (both good and bad); unexpected opportunities as well as setbacks; increased awareness, knowledge, and education; and in balance or harmony with personal life.

    Career development is “...the total constellation of psychological, sociological, educational, physical, economic, and chance factors that combine to influence the nature and significance of work in the total lifespan of any given individual,” 9 as once defined by National Career Development Association. This powerful statement encompasses and acknowledges the length of lifelong professional progression and factors impacting each of our careers.

    Our career evolution is complex and in order to understand where we are headed we need to look back to see where we have been. What has evolved, or changed, since you first put forth your vision and mission statement; goals and objectives; dreams and aspirations? Are you progressing? What’s working and not working? This is an introspective and ongoing look at your professional evolution, particularly as it relates to your career plan.

value

VALUE

Examine and assess your value. Take a self-assessment examination and inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. What is your value, worth, importance, and usefulness? Define your knowledge, aptitude, experience, skill set, expertise, competencies, specialties, proficiencies, talents, gifts, key attributes and characteristics, abilities, capacity, capabilities, and “ go to” purpose. Compare these to your chosen occupation to get a greater insight into your profession and as a foundation for the path of expressing who you are.

inventory

INVENTORY

Take inventory of your brand. What do you need to effectively market yourself? Explore the assorted professional brand marketing materials associated with successful career planning, management, and job search efforts. Walk through the process of performing an inventory, assembling the information, and conceptualizing the groundwork for establishing the materials that will enable you to build and polish your brand.

target

TARGET

Take aim of where you want to go and people you want to know, determine how you will get there, and target those individuals and destinations. Chart a plan of action. Summarize your goal(s), objectives, plan, timeline/schedule, and start the process of thinking about your future. This is targeting your career as a foundation for developing your compelling story, building your MVP (My Value Proposition) and creating a focused brand.

new-vitae-image

ACHIVE

Take action and execute your plan with focus and vigor. This is the process of constructing, marketing and expressing your brand. You have developed a concrete vision and mission statement, goals and objectives, and a career timeline and professional schedule. And of course, took inventory and put your professional brand marketing materials in order. It’s time now to develop your compelling story. Everyone has a story. It’s the account of who you are. Your story is unique to you and sets you apart from all others. It’s the history of your life: your career journey. It reflects your experience, accomplishments, and what you have learned along the way. Once you have written your compelling story, you will develop it into your MVP (My Value Proposition) Statement for expression to the world. Your MVP Statement is the key to verbally communicating your story and value proposition and adaptable for use in every circumstance and situation in one form or another. It’s three-dimensional and the essential tool used for expressing your value as a powerful professional brand.

evolve

EVOLVE

Just as our lives evolve, so do our careers. The path in which our career moves along is often commonly referred to as career development. Our career evolution is a lifelong process of change and adaptation to new environments, situations, and circumstances; luck (both good and bad); unexpected opportunities as well as setbacks; increased awareness, knowledge, and education; and in balance or harmony with personal life.

Career development is “...the total constellation of psychological, sociological, educational, physical, economic, and chance factors that combine to influence the nature and significance of work in the total lifespan of any given individual,” 9 as once defined by National Career Development Association. This powerful statement encompasses and acknowledges the length of lifelong professional progression and factors impacting each of our careers.

Our career evolution is complex and in order to understand where we are headed we need to look back to see where we have been. What has evolved, or changed, since you first put forth your vision and mission statement; goals and objectives; dreams and aspirations? Are you progressing? What’s working and not working? This is an introspective and ongoing look at your professional evolution, particularly as it relates to your career plan.

What people are saying about the VITAE Exercise

testim-8

I have to say, you've changed my life.

Michael B.

testim-2

In just two weeks I was offered two jobs. One at another company and one internal in a different department at my current company. I chose the internal and was paid 15% more.

Anne K.

testim-1

I wish someone would have taught me what you have taught in college. There is no resource like this. I was completely unprepared for job seeking in the workforce. This VITAE exercise has already given me the knowledge to do what I need to do to get my career on track.

Daryian R.

testim-4

This showed me everything I have been doing wrong in my job search. This isn't just a tool. It branded me and empowered my career. Just wish I would have had this sooner.

Wayne H.