Has Your A/E Firm Taken Over Your Identity?

Are you known as a civil engineer, architect, landscape architect and planner OR are you known as an employee of your employer?

Recently an outstanding executive engineer was set to interview with my client. This engineer had worked as a leader in his firm for 20 years. At the start of the process, he told me had participated in a three-month long interview process for another opportunity only to not receive an offer. He was informed that he was not hired in the previous firm because they thought he was known as “Bill Smith, ABC Engineers.”

In other words, he was no longer “Bill Smith, PE, well respected leader in the ACEC engineering community.” Instead he was known as “ABC Engineers’ Bill Smith.” The firm told him that they were concerned that he had been with his employer (and successful) for so long, that his identity with municipalities and agencies was too intertwined with his firm’s identity.

This made me wonder: Can a firm take over your professional identity? Do you become the “brand” of your firm?

A “personal” or “professional brand” is an identity built around you personally. It is in basic terms, who you are and how you want the world to see you. Personal brands can be flexible and are becoming helpful for use in your career – at all levels.  A “business brand” is an identity built around a company or business. These brands are usually not flexible and can be critical to a firm’s success or failure.

Many of us are taught to be aware of our behavior when we attend business functions as we are representing our firms. We typically introduce ourselves by our name and our company affiliation. To separate your professional identity from your company’s is tricky. That is where your personality and relationships come in. You are representing your company, but remember you are also your brand.

LinkedIn and other professional social media outlets are helping many of us develop our own “personal/professional brand.” Blogs, participation in technical associations, published technical papers, LinkedIn profiles and published writings (like this one you are reading) are great avenues to have people learn who you are and what you do. For example, after reading this, it would be my hope that when someone asks “Do you know anyone who is an architecture or civil engineering recruiter/headhunter?” that you would reply “Yes. Carol Metzner does that.” 🙂

 

Carol Metzner President, The MetznerGroup Managing Partner, CivilEngineeringCentral.com

View Carol’s profile & connect with her on LinkedIn

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5th Annual Best Civil Engineering Firm Logo Contest

THE BEST LOGOS ARE WORTH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS…OR RECOGNITION FROM CIVILENGINEERINGCENTRAL.COM!

WE ARE EXCITED TO BRING TO YOU THE 5th ANNUAL

THE GIST

1. All nominated logos (tag lines should be included if you have one) must be from civil engineering firms who operate within the United States.
2. If the logo has a story behind it, we would like to know about it.
3. Logo nominations can be submitted via:

EMAIL: info@CivilEngineeringCentral.com
DIRECT TWEET: @civilengineers
LINKEDIN: By responding directly to our announcements you see on any LinkedIn groups

CRITERIA

Logos will be judged on a sliding scale based on the following criteria:

1. Does the logo make an immediate impact by grabbing one’s attention right off the bat?
2. Is the logo memorable? Is it uniquely applicable to what the firm does – enough so that it will positively embed itself in the memory of clients, employees, peers, etc?
3. Is the logo appealing to the eye?
4. Does the logo accurately represent the company and its services?
5. Does the nominated logo accurately represent the firm’s corporate and employment branding initiatives?
6. How well is your logo represented in your social media campaign?

RETURNING JUDGES

1. Ron Worth
   Chief Executive Officer
   Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS)
   http://www.smps.org
2. Matt Barcus
   Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com
   
3. Carol Metzner
   Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com

WINNER

Contest winner will be notified by CivilEngineeringCentral.com during January 2014. Winner will receive:

1. Corporate logo prominently displayed on CivilEngineeringCentral.com‘s website for 3 months.
2. One month as sponsor on ourLinkedIn Groupe-update, “The LinkedIngineer.” This e-update goes out twice a month to all 10,000 (and growing!) members of the Civil Engineering Central Group on LinkedIn.
3. 10 free job postings on CivilEngineeringCentral.com + Featured Employer upgrade.
4. Bragging rights until next year 🙂

DEADLINE

All entries must be received by March 7th, 2014

NOTE

Gist, Criteria, Judges, Prizes & Deadline are subject to change without notice as determined by A/E/P Central, LLC, home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com

civil engineering jobs :: civil engineering resumes :: civil engineering blog :: civil engineering discussion