We are seeing clear examples of why personal branding is important in this job market. A good way to think of your brand is to ask yourself, “Why would an employer buy me or my value proposition over a competitor for the same position?”

We use the term “personal brand” to communicate a fundamental concept related to job searching or career changing. Basically, your brand is another way of expressing your unique and personal value proposition.

How do you define your brand? First – think about what you do best, and a great way to figure that out is to answer this question. What stories do you most want to tell during an interview? For these stories, identify:

1. What motivated you in the situation?
2. What did you enjoy most about the outcome or actions you took?
3. Are there any recurring themes across several “first choice” interview stories?

For instance, maybe all of your best stories revolve in some way around building relationships or solving customer service problems. You most enjoyed the feeling you got from seeing rough relationships smoothed over. From these elements, you might be able to start fashioning a personal brand around being a world class client relationship professional who is the “go to” person for the most difficult customer and client issues and problems.

Let me use myself as a possible example. I really get a charge out of seeing that “ah-ha” moment when I explain a new concept to someone and they get it. I enjoy trying different things, and I like to be a part of start-up projects and initiatives. From this snippet of information, we could start building a brand around driving new concepts into implementation.

Once you get a solid handle on your “brand,” the next challenge is to get that brand out there. Take a look at the post here about what to do when traditional networking stalls and the pages on job searching issues facing baby boomers for some ideas about how to get that part of the process off square one.

We are seeing some progress – albeit slow – in the job market. Yes – the broader economy keeps shedding jobs, and most experts agree that we are likely to see several more months of significant job loss. But – there are glimmers of hope, and we are seeing many of our clients getting interviews and fielding job offers.

How are they doing that? In a word — networking.  They are building and utilizing connections and contacts to personalize their interest in the positions they are targeting.

But there is also a lot of frustration building out there. Some of our clients are seeing “many people are overworked . . .  too busy or too self-absorbed” to offer a lot of help. I met with another individual – a networking meeting, by the way, late last week. And he told me he was totally frustrated with traditional “networking.”  He’s finding people are generally very busy and don’t know anything about jobs openings.

So – what do you do when traditional networking no longer works? The answer is – keep networking, but try something different and don’t ignore social media.

First, quit thinking about locating jobs.

Wait – isn’t that what I’m looking for? Maybe.

Try instead to identify work you can do, and then you have to be able to explain the value your work can generate. The client I mentioned whom I met last week has a great background in an interesting niche. He is a redevelopment tax credit professional. Redevelopment – along with the whole construction industry – is more than a little flat. But – once again – there are people and organizations involved in current and on-going redevelopment projects. He’s going to approach a few targeted organizations with this proposition – the work of identifying and then successfully pursuing tax credits can be time consuming – especially if you are not an expert – so he can generate value for the organization by performing that work for them. He is willing to take a percentage of any tax credits earned.

So think about how this approach changes the “job/employment” equation. The target organizations don’t have to find money for additional payroll. They realize a gain, and share the gain with the person bring this added value to them. So you’re not approaching somebody about additional payroll expenses. You’re offering to add value.

Look for work, not jobs, and identify the “why” for organizations to use you to do this work.

Second, dive into social media. Yes, it can feel a bit overwhelming for those of us not used to Linked In, Twitter, texting and Facebook. But – guess what? The current world is rapidly moving in that direction. It’s not a fad. In fact, it’s going to become more and more theway people and organizations interact and communicate. There are 35 million+ people using Linked In today. Millions use Twitter. Millions more use Facebook. How many people used these tools 10 years ago? Zero. None. Not one person. They didn’t exist. We don’t know what will be next, but rest assured the “next thing” will build upon the current thing. So you’d better get involved in social media right away.

But it’s not enough to simply be “on” Facebook or Linked In. You need to be “in” those communities, because that’s what they are. These sites collect people into communities based upon mutual interests and needs. That means you need to make a commitment to participate in these communities by asking questions, answering questions, offering value and advice and not just out there asking about jobs. Once you are a trusted member of these communities, you are likely to reap the benefits that come with trusting relationships – opportunities and referrals.

I’d love to hear your networking horror stories and what you’re doing about it.