On June 26, 2024, the Alberta Mentorship Program (AMP) held an online Community Champion Mentorship Circle about Your Personal Brand in Job Interviews.
This discussion, moderated by Doug Piquette from the Edmonton Region Immigrant Employment Council (ERIEC) and Cheryl Whitelaw from AMP, introduced our expert for the session, Lynette Trembley. Lynette is the founder of Iconoclast Solutions and co-founder of Stay Spicy Inc. Stay Spicy was created to empower everyone to be more courageous, more authentic, and more their spicy self.
Lynette has also worked as an executive in investment services and strategic innovation in Edmonton, Alberta. She is a mentor at ERIEC and volunteers on multiple boards, including the Alberta Women’s Entrepreneur AWT, Compassion Foundation, and Society 5.0.
Lynette and her cofounder, Sheri Doyle, started Stay Spicy to help people find their authentic selves and develop their personal brand to put out into the world. Through their podcast, one-on-one guidance, and group workshops, Lynette and Sheri encourage everyone to be confident in themselves.
In this Community Championship Circle, Lynette discussed:
- Job value propositions
- Brand statements
The event can be viewed online at:
Background of Stay Spicy
When Lynette was younger, she was a natural performer, but over time, she received continual messages and comments from society and professionals that her natural energetic ability was not professional. She listened to these comments and became less—less colourful and less energetic. She got into a career where she helped others create their personal brands for the public, but in doing so, she began convincing herself that she was meant to be behind the scenes.
A few years ago, she recognized that she had lost herself. She then made the intention to recapture and embrace her true self. She still dealt with a lot of opinions and critiques from others, but she recognized that she wasn’t for them and that she didn’t need to be. She understood that by putting her authentic self into the world, she would attract people who wouldn’t critique her but fully embrace her.
Personal and professional branding are the same thing—you are who you are, and you should consistently present yourself in all aspects of your life.
When a company told her that she was good at building the “Lynette” brand but not the company brand, she and Sheri were inspired to create a podcast called "Demystifying Brands.” Their goal was to break down brand myths and help others build their brands. They also wanted to create a supportive community that would encourage and amplify others to put themselves out there.
From the podcast, Stay Spicy was formed.
Background of Stay Spicy
When Lynette was younger, she was a natural performer, but over time, she received continual messages and comments from society and professionals that her natural energetic ability was not professional. She listened to these comments and became less—less colourful and less energetic. She got into a career where she helped others create their personal brands for the public, but in doing so, she began convincing herself that she was meant to be behind the scenes.
A few years ago, she recognized that she had lost herself. She then made the intention to recapture and embrace her true self. She still dealt with a lot of opinions and critiques from others, but she recognized that she wasn’t for them and that she didn’t need to be. She understood that by putting her authentic self into the world, she would attract people who wouldn’t critique her but fully embrace her.
Personal and professional branding are the same thing—you are who you are, and you should consistently present yourself in all aspects of your life.
When a company told her that she was good at building the “Lynette” brand but not the company brand, she and Sheri were inspired to create a podcast called "Demystifying Brands.” Their goal was to break down brand myths and help others build their brands. They also wanted to create a supportive community that would encourage and amplify others to put themselves out there.
From the podcast, Stay Spicy was formed.
How Would You Describe a Leader?
A leader may be elected to a position and show specific qualities of being a team player, encouraging, respectful, and talented, but each leader brings their own brand to a team and leaves a different impression on others.
Their acts influence how people view them and how people think of them.
When you think about the people you’ve worked with or people you know, they might have the same job, but you view them as different because of their personal brand and how they approach the job.
What Is a Personal Brand?
“It’s how you make people feel, it's how you show up in a room, it's how you introduce yourself. It’s about who you decide to be and how you decide to show up.” – Stay Spicy
Some people think it’s a logo, a tagline, or a fancy ad campaign, but your personal brand is what you leave with people. It’s how you show up every day and the impact and impression you make on everyone around you; that’s your personal brand. It’s not just your reputation; it’s a mix of how you show up, what you put out there, and how it's received by others.
How you show up is important, as it’s a feeling that recruiters are looking for. This year, Forbes magazine wrote an article about how 2024 is the year of personal brands.[1]
According to Forbes, recruiters consider personal brand important when evaluating job candidates. Recruiters go online and Google candidates, and what comes back is part of the candidate's brand—your brand. Your brand is important not only for your career from a recruitment perspective but also for your network, references, clients, and everything else related to how you’ve shown up.
Your brand:
- Helps you stand out from the crowd
- Makes you memorable
- Builds trust through authenticity
- Demonstrates value
In a job search, you need to be memorable and stand out as a professional. People can sense when you’re being authentic and when you’re not. When there is a lack of authenticity, the brain can identify that it doesn’t trust the individual. Authenticity/branding demonstrates your value—you have to be able to identify your strengths and talk about them to communicate what you value.
“Don’t tell us the what, tell us the so-what,” Lynette and Sheri state.
The so-what is your differentiator. If you say, “I did these tasks,” it doesn’t tell people anything about you.
As a professional and as a person, what is unique to you is your value proposition.
What Is a Value Proposition?
A value proposition is the value you bring to any relationship and any role. It comprises of:
- Who you are, and your values: What is your guiding light? Your North Star?
- What drives you? Your purpose; your reason for being.
- What are you great at? This is not just your skills.
- How you do what you do: What's different about your approach?
- What you want: Your vision for yourself and for your life. It could be a vision for your career, the kind of life you want to lead, or just your work environment.
Being able to articulate these things in your brand is critical in communicating effectively with a prospective employer and even in your current role. You must advocate for yourself, for your role, for promotions, recognition, and raises.
Value propositions are the components of your brand. Stay Spicy holds workshops to help people figure that out. Through our process, we provide attendees with a list of questions that we go through to help them figure out what their value proposition is. Your value proposition is your present to someone, and your brand statement is the packaging.
Exercise
Need help determining what your brand is? Use the Johari Window exercise.[2]
In this exercise, pick five characteristics from a list that best describes you. Then, ask coworkers or friends to pick five characteristics they think of when they think of you. Once complete, compare what they picked versus what you picked.
The ones you both picked are your strongest characteristics. The ones you picked but your coworkers/friends didn’t are the ones you feel are innate to yourself but are not bringing forward in your life. The ones they picked but you didn’t are your blind spots, or how you’re showing up to the world that you were unaware of.
Everything is neutral—there’s no negative aspect to this exercise, as it’s a good way to get a snapshot of your life.
What is a Brand Statement?
A brand statement is the content you put out into the world to tell people who you are and to entice them to learn more.
When crafting your brand statement, keep in mind the one question that will always be asked at networking events and interviews: “Tell me about yourself.” When someone asks this, it’s because they want to know who you are, not only what you do. You can provide your work background and volunteer information in your value proposition, but with a brand statement, you want to express your professional values.
Tip: When crafting a statement, create one that reflects you. Don’t create one that reflects someone else’s, or a company’s, values.
How to Use Your Brand Statement
In interviews and networking, remember that your introduction/first impression is often your online presence. Weave this statement throughout your interview to express how your values fit in with the company.
Remember Your Whole Self
What you want is to be in a work environment that is a good fit for you. Often, people look at a job posting and try to pretzel themselves into fitting into that role they think they want. They don’t start the job search by taking a moment to think about what they actually want.
If you are a fun-loving person who likes to bring the lighter side to your work environment, while communicating professionally, bring that forward. If they don’t respond well to who you are, it’s not a good fit. If you try to fit yourself into that environment, how long will you last in that position? And how fulfilling is that position going to be for you? Yes, you could get the job, but is it worth it?
When you put your whole self out there, it will attract opportunities and people that align with you, and it’s a good way of weeding out the things that won’t.
The Alberta Mentorship program is sponsored by the Edmonton Region Immigrant Employment Council (ERIEC).
The Alberta Mentorship Program is appreciative of the funding from the Government of Alberta through Labour and Immigration, Workforce Strategies. Our program is here to provide information and support to help organizations start mentorship programs.
Sources:
[1] Bachmann, P. (Feb. 6, 2024). “Why 2024 Is the Year to Build Your Personal Brand.” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2024/02/06/why-2024-is-the-year-to-build-your-personal-brand/
[2] Razzetti, G. (March 11, 2022). “The Johari window exercise – increase self-awareness and team awareness.” Fearless Culture. https://www.fearlessculture.design/blog-posts/the-johari-window