Our guest today was Phyllis Smith.   Senior Advisor, Client Services Center, CVS/Caremark.   The main topic of today’s conversation with our ‘Life Skills’ class and Phyllis was

how best to create, use, then protect a great personal brand.

Joan Tueros introduces himself to Phyllis Smith during the networking part of today’s Life Skills class. Richard Quinilla Gonzalez awaits his turn behind Joan to network with Phyllis Smith.

Ms Smith shared with our class how she hopes people perceive her personal brand and then asked the class how each student hoped others perceived their brand.  She encouraged students to reflect on this concept.  “A person’s brand represents each person’s path to the future.  If our brand is perceived with negative qualities, our path to success will be more difficult than the person with a positive perceived brand.  Ask yourself – ‘how do you want people to perceive you? What adjectives and skills do you want people to associate with you?’  It’s in every person’s best interest to have a positive brand.  Once you’ve got it, protect it!  A positive personal brand is essential for getting the job we dream about.”

Phyllis then went on to explain the relationship between personal brand and LinkedIn, a business-oriented social networking service with more than 259 million users all over the world.  Professional people who have jobs, those looking for new jobs, students recently graduated from school and those students still in school use LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a resource for adding people to our personal network, promoting our present personal brand and to position ourselves for a potential new job opportunity in the future.

LinkedIn is like a big highway billboard PROMOTING YOUR BEST QUALITIES.  LinkedIn’s distinction is its highway is intercontinental; it runs all over the world.

LinkedIn is also a resource for finding information about people in a company we’re considering applying to for a job.  Phyllis showed students how to research information about CVS Health’s Vice President of Workforce Strategies and Chief Diversity Officer, David Casey.   We connected to Mr Casey’s LinkedIn page to observe his presentation of his personal brand and a list of accomplishments supporting it.

Today’s class ended with our scheduled ‘networking’ time.  Students spoke with Ms Smith at the end of class to exchange business cards, ensure she left the exchange with a positive perception of their personal brand and an opportunity to re-connect with her in the future.

Jennifer Quenes exchanges business cards with Phyllis Smith during the Life Skills class networking session.