Self Branding or career branding is an often over-looked important party of the job search. The biggest mistake that people make is to assume that their past accomplishments and career experiences will speak for themselves.

Often, job seekers can fail to take a proactive approach to creating and marketing their reputations. Branding is setting yourself apart from other job seekers. If an employer sees "productive," or "self-motivated" basically stamped on your forehead he / she is going to stop and take notice. The blame lies entirely on you if you choose not to be active in asserting your reputation.

It is so important to market and manage your reputation in this manner. Start by determining what your strengths and assets are. What have other employers complemented you on? Are you dependable? Do you show good leadership? Or maybe you have good analytical qualities?

Whatever your best feature is, you need to identify it, and then go about highlighting it to potential employers. There are many different ways to market your brand. Begin including your brand in emails and letters. When you describe to people your job functions, include your brand. This can be done effectively and tastefully in a manner such as, "I work for company X to create new software; my work is completed on time and on budget."

Another example from a manager's standpoint could be, "I lead others to follow my example and work efficiently without sacrificing quality or integrity." The first example provided highlights the candidate's respect for deadlines and good money sense. The second showcases the employee's leadership qualities and values. Once you establish your brand you can use it in many situations to remind your potential employer what it is that you bring to the table.

The bottom line is that if you do not brand yourself, others will. Nobody wants to see bad qualities like these present in a potential employee. You might have accidently given a bad first impression without even knowing it, and words like these might cling to your name.

Much of this could have been avoided had you mentioned in early email correspondence that you have responsibly performed your duties with other employers and that you possess such and such qualities. Obviously if you claim punctuality as a selling point, then are late to an initial interview, your actions discredit your claims. Generally, however, you can shape the opinion that others will take towards you, by effectively marketing your brand.
You can be active and establish and market a reputation which showcases qualities such as:

Dependable, Leadership skills, Motivated, Supportive of co-workers, Hard-working

These are all great characteristics with which you should aim to be associated. An employer will brush aside others in an effort to take a better look at you if you present yourself as possessing any of these qualities. It's critical in the job market to set yourself up above the rest of the crowd. Career branding is a great way to do just that. …

Just like any other profession, whether or not being a chef is a career or a job depends large on you. Of course, if your chef-dom is mere a job for you, do not be surprised if it does not take long to burn out. Fifty to 70-hour work weeks, high stress, and the creative brain drain all take their toll fairly early on those not strictly indebted to their paycheck-maker.

Successful chefs are like other creative types – they will be found "playing with their food" even if no money was involved. Like writers who write because they love to express themselves this way, and singers who belt out tunes anywhere they can get away with it, chefs are "chefs to the bone." A true chef considers the money involuntarily a "bonus" to what he or she loves to be doing anyway.

While a job is just a means to an end (as in paying the bills) with 40 hours dutifully put in every week and the occasional overtime blessing (or curse, depending on your situation), a career is like a marriage: You have an unspoken commitment to yourself that you will love, cherish, and even obey this voluntary calling 'til death do you part. If you ever get to know a successful professional chef, you'll immediately realize this "marriage" is a forever thing – part of his or her personality that's so ingrained there is essentially no difference between that person and what they do for a living.

Chefs live, breathe, eat, and dream about – guess what? Food. Although there are many other duties associated with "cheffing," such as management, personnel, accounting, and other responsibilities, the core of a chef's livelihood is the preparation and presentation of food.

When someone approaching their living comes home from work complaining of the tiredness of their feet and back, the heat of the kitchen, or the endless stream of meals that had to be prepared, it's obvious this is just a job to him or her. The career-minded chef is not even aware of being career-minded; their mind is on what went wrong, what was successful, and how could they improve on anything that happened in "their" kitchen that shift. The chef in the former state of mind wonders how to get out of his current situation; the chef in the latter mindset wants more and relishes the next opportunity to express him- or herself with food.

So when you ask if being a chef is a career or a job, no one can answer that except you. If coming home smelling like barbecue or fish or Limburger cheese appalls you, consider the fact this is often the case with chefs. You may want to save your cooking skills to the occasional at-home masterpiece that wows your friends and family. But for those of you reading this that are saying to themselves, "Yep, that's me, all right," then do not wait any longer – the world's taste buds impatiently await …