Hooray, yet another Year!
It means a chance for a fresh start.
And letting go of the past too, after careful learning and reflection. But, just a few days into the new year, a little bit of gloom begins to set in. A touch of reality, of being stuck in place… nothing-really-feels-different.
Getting unstuck in This Year.
How are things going to be different in Your Career this year?
I've worked with a number of individuals at every level of their career and most have come to me only after exhausting other avenues. That's human nature. We live in denial that somehow things in the future will just organically change and somehow the people around us will ‘see’ the value that we add to the company (and, of course reward and promote us in kind). If the world worked that way.
In the real world, we rarely get what we do not go after. Yes, on occasion, magical things happen and somebody may win the lottery or the door prize or get that certain promotion, but those are slim odds that aren't very good when planning your future.
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Career Branding, taking the full responsibility and control of presenting yourself as a ‘desirable product’ to your industry, is the game changer that has helped many careers catapult to new heights.
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I’ve worked with and taught individuals that have landed their first job after being out of the marketplace for several years; with those that have gone on (within a year or two) having doubled their salaries; with those ‘so tired’ of what they have done, but without a vision to see what else they can do to open up new worlds of opportunity.
Everything you have done; everything you have experienced; and everything that you have produced (both in your life and non-work life) adds potential value to you as a product –If it’s told the right way.
Rarely can we tell our own story ourselves. We are so ‘emotionally close’ to our own story that we cannot see with clarity how to take the valuable nuggets from our experience and put it into a cohesive Career Branded Presentation that flows across a Resume and across a fully 3-dimensional LinkedIn Profile.
Your materials are ‘Sales Materials’.
It’s their job is to ‘position and sell you’ –not simply be a place-holder for your name or your career.
There are number of articles on my SelfRecruiter.com Advice Blog that will help you in producing better branded materials. Here are a few items to focus on as you start to Control Your Story:
CAREER BRANDING Steps
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1. Start with your Target Audience in mind so you will be able to craft a narrative that appeals to your desired audience (Hiring Managers / Recruiters / HR in your desired niche).
2. Rediscover Your Own Story, both the work and non-work parts by doing a ‘deep dive’ interview being sure to search your memory for all those lost nuggets, or even incidentals that you may have dismissed.
3. Assess the Assets that you have developed through your varied experience in work and non-work challenges, and begin to highlight those that would be of most interest to your Target Audience.
4. Redevelop the Way You Tell Your Story on the Resume. We are in a world where no one wants to read. That's very unfortunate, but if they're not going to read, do not include sentences on your resume. Check out my, “Resume Renovation” lecture for additional details how to do this.
5. Take your refined New Narrative from the Resume as the ‘backbone’ to your LinkedIn profile. Add back all the interesting detail that could not fit on that single-page resume, and of course this includes non-work life items to showcase ‘how you work’ and ‘what makes you tick’. You can see my full-length LinkedIn Lecture Video for free (half way down my homepage, on my SelfRecruiter.com website).
6. Take Your Brand even Further. Be sure to check out my Career Social Media Marketing Strategies (SMM) for LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter & more (on my blog & in my lecture, “Career Evolution: Preparing for Your Career’s Next Leap with Social Media Marketing”).
It’s another Year: don’t stay stuck any longer!
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John Crant
Author, Career Coach & Speaker on Job Search and Career Management
Featured Speaker for
The New York Public Library's JOB SEARCH CENTRAL
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In the Media: As Seen As Featured in
amNY, Time Out New York, The Wall Street Journal (and its FINS.com), CRAIN'S New York Business, Forbes, CNN, BBC, FOX News (on Social Media Marketing), AriseTV, New York Post, The Huffington Post, Essence magazine, CareerBuilder and The Ladders
On the Radio: As Guest: WHCR 90.3 FM "The Voice of Harlem"
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As an industry manager, executive recruiter, recruiting & sales trainer, event speaker, and as VP of a nationwide system of recruitment offices, I have seen most every aspect of the hiring process and this varied insight is what provides the clarity you will find in this book.
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