Media, Message, and Personal Branding

I’m looking forward to a social gathering and speech tonight where Dan Schawbel will talk about “personal branding”–how you market yourself to other people. I’ve had an amazing amount of interest in my story of using social media in my search for work, including a number of media interviews, most recently a front-page story in the Boston Business Journal.

I’ve expanded my network greatly, but I recognize I am still not very narrowly-defined…people send me job listings I’m way under or overqualified for and they are surprised when I talk about my involvement in local issues. The “mash-up or blended life” is not a great “closer” for an interview. And pursuit of starting my business Dave Atkins Media! is confusing–am I looking for a job or work or both?

Update:

I’m including the raw video footage below from Dan’s talk. This will not win any awards for production quality, but the content is worth listening to…