Product Description

Praise for Career Distinction

"Hands down, this book is the bible on branding for your career!"
-- Susan Britton Whitcomb, author of Job Search Magic

"As a professional resume writer and career coach, I have extolled the concept of personal branding for my clients for years. Now, for the first time ever, I have an outstanding resource to recommend--Career Distinction by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. This book details the concept of personal branding in a magnificent and easy-to-digest presentation that is a must-buy for every serious job seeker."
-- Wendy S. Enelow, CCM, MRW, JCTC, CPRW Executive Director of the Career Masters Institute

"Arruda and Dixson are widely respected in the global career coaching community as gurus who not only teach but live the personal branding model, and their expertise and passion show through on every page of this practical, indispensable book. I highly recommend it to all who want to distinguish themselves from the competition."
-- L. Michelle Tullier, PhD, Vice President of Right Management and author of The Unofficial Guide to Landing a Job

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10212 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From the Inside Flap

As a professional, your reputation is your most valuable career asset. Whether you're climbing the ladder at your current company or seeking a new job, in today's fast-paced work environment, you must proactively and continuously position yourself for success. Your credibility, visibility, personality, and personal style all make up your brand. Build and nurture your personal brand and you'll make yourself a must-have, can't-fail professional—and you'll do it without having to be someone you're not.

Career Distinction outlines the proven personal branding process and provides case studies of successful professionals that will help you not only survive, but thrive, in today's dynamic and ultracompetitive workplace. You'll learn to manage your brand with innovative tools that enable you to differentiate yourself and stand out from your peers.

In this definitive step-by-step guide, career and personal brand management experts Arruda and Dixson show you how to:

• Brand yourself for career success

• Determine how others perceive you

• Develop your unique value proposition

• Define your target audience

• Tell your brand story

• Express yourself clearly and consistently

• Build and manage your online identity

• Stay on-message and on-brand every day

• Increase your "career karma"

The increasing pace of change in the business world gives you less time than ever to make your professional mark. Career Distinction demonstrates how to express who you are and the value you bring to your organization—branding you as an indispensable, memorable, and unique professional. Success takes more than just hard work; brand yourself and watch your career soar.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Career Distinction

"Hands down, this book is the bible on branding for your career!"
— Susan Britton Whitcomb, author of Job Search Magic

"As a professional resume writer and career coach, I have extolled the concept of personal branding for my clients for years. Now, for the first time ever, I have an outstanding resource to recommend—Career Distinction by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson. This book details the concept of personal branding in a magnificent and easy-to-digest presentation that is a must-buy for every serious job seeker."
— Wendy S. Enelow, CCM, MRW, JCTC, CPRW Executive Director of the Career Masters Institute

"Arruda and Dixson are widely respected in the global career coaching community as gurus who not only teach but live the personal branding model, and their expertise and passion show through on every page of this practical, indispensable book. I highly recommend it to all who want to distinguish themselves from the competition."
— L. Michelle Tullier, PhD, Vice President of Right Management and author of The Unofficial Guide to Landing a Job

About the Author
William Arruda—dubbed the "Personal Branding Guru" by media and clients alike—combined his international branding expertise with his passion for people to found Reach, the world's first human branding consultancy. A sought-after global spokesperson on personal branding, he counts many of the Fortune 100 companies as clients. He has appeared on the BBC, Discovery Channel, Fox News Live, and in Time magazine.

Kirsten Dixson is a career management consultant who is an authority on building credible online identities for career success. She founded Brandego® and is a partner in Reach, where she established an online identity training program for personal brand strategists. She delivers keynote speeches and serves as a media resource on career technology topics.

Customer Reviews

A great book for improving your brand and career prospects
I've been contemplating switching jobs and industries. A friend recommended this book to me and I just finished it. This book will change the way you think about yourself and how to approach your career. In a world where employers can "google" any prospect, everyone needs to think about their career identity as they climb the corporate ladder. This book allows you to create and control your business identity and will teach you how to : brand yourself, build your online business identity; create your own story and goals. A must read for anyone looking for a new job-- or improving the way their current employer views them.

THE instruction manual for building a satisfying and successful career today.
Career Distinction is really the bible of career branding for today's increasingly portable worker. I love the focus on proactivity -- and the step-by-step instructions on how to build a brand presence in one's niche (and how to niche!) Understanding and leveraging personal branding and value is going to be the difference between panic and power in today's job market -- where stability is gone and we're more likely to become serial freelancers than long-term hires. And heck, it lets us have more fun at work because the clarity of branding gives us a great shot at getting hired to do what we love to do, with people we love to do it with. Not bad!

The New Standard for Career Management
Way back in 2001, when I and other career professionals were conducing career workshops for outplaced individuals, it was often a useful exercise to ask participants to consider themselves as their own unique "Brand You." Taking tips from Tom Peters' work, we found ways to enhance traditional job search approaches and tools to help our clients stand out. Still, we lacked a comprehensive system to make personal branding a completely effective career management strategy.

Interestingly, in that same year, William Arruda founded Reach Communications Consulting, and got to work establishing a highly-effective personal branding process called 1-2-3 Success! In this new book, after dispelling branding myths, the authors discuss the phases of this process, offering practical advice on extracting, expressing, and exuding one's brand. As well, the authors support using the process with a downloadable workbook, and with access to the online 360Reach Personal Branding Assessment.

The value of having access to this process and these tools easily exceeds the price of the book. Yet, there is so much more in this remarkable volume. First, the authors make a compelling case for the role of branding in their examination of radical changes in the world of work. They then go on to establish four principles of the career distinction mindset. Taken together, these principles further support the case for personal branding as the most effective approach to career management and success...

... but wait, there's more!

Given recruiters' increasing use of Google to identify prospective talent or to make decisions on job candidates, the authors leverage Kirsten Dixson's expertise to help the reader begin to take steps to manage his or her career online. "Assessing Your Online Identity" walks the reader through the steps of determining his or her digital profile. Then, "Building Your Brand in Bits and Bytes" discusses practical and accessible ways to create an on-brand, online presence using blogs, web portfolios, and online networking.

Overall, I believe this book will become the career management standard. Everything in it is fresh, relevant, and thought provoking. Best of all: it works! Whether you begin applying its lessons on your own, or (ideally) invest in working with a certified Personal Branding Strategist, you will put yourself squarely on the path to more career distinction and to owning your success!