Career Goddess

What Could You Do If You Only Dared?

Proactively managing your career, as I recommended in Business Trends and Your Career Future, means not waiting until you are laid off, unemployed, or desperately unhappy in your job.  It’s about making a serious commitment to your career on a daily basis. But this is where it begins to get difficult. What exactly does ‘proactively manage your career’ really mean?

William Arruda, personal branding pioneer, and CEO Coach Deb Dib have co-authored Ditch. Dare. Do!, the definitive and easy-to-digest guide to proactive career management for the 21st century. As a member of the select group of Team 3D Reach-Certified Personal Branding Strategists, I have eagerly awaited this book. My excitement and enthusiasm for Ditch.Dare.Do! abounds for many reasons:

- Brief but powerful actions (66 branding strategies and 9-minute-a-day action plans) that anyone can fit into their busy lives

- Bold, entertaining content written in a cheeky yet insightful style that acknowledges that we can have fun while we learn

-  Simple 3D approach encompassing a “ditch” (mindset that must be shattered), a “dare” (challenge to get out of your comfort zone), and a “do” (individual actions that add up to career empowerment)

- Quick-start guide to get you up and running fast plus deep-dive manual for more thoughtful exploration and insights.

- Nine-minute-a-day brand plan that will boost your brand communications consistently and constantly with your target audience

- Endorsed by Dick Bolles, author of the ever-popular What Color Is Your Parachute? Series.

There is much more of course, but I want to get to the best news of all. You can access special book bonuses valued at more than $3000 when you purchase Ditch.Dare.Do! on Launch Day, April 23, 2013 today (and ONLY on Launch Day). Go to http://amzn.to/10BgBIW to order your book. Then, after you receive your Amazon order information, visit http://360rea.ch/3dgifts to gain access to your special gifts. This page will only be visible on the official Launch Day of April 23, 2013 between 12:01 a.m. Eastern-US and 11:59 p.m. Eastern-US. Read the buzz about the book.

I am absolutely delighted to recommend this book to my clients and anyone who is intent on achieving their career goals. With special Team 3D coach training, I will be ready to guide you through the Ditch.Dare.Do! process. It promises to be an incredible journey!

Business Trends and Your Career Future

The behemoth companies of the corporate world are not as secure in their top-ranked positions in the Fortune 1000 as we may think. And the pace at which they are being toppled from those ranks is increasing.  So asserts Brian Solis in What’s the Future of Business? “Over 40 percent of the companies that were at the top of the Fortune 500 in 2000 were no longer there in 2010.”

This is what Brian Solis calls ‘Social Darwinism’ and it has been around for decades. For example, between 1973 and 1983, the number of companies new to the Fortune 1000 was 35%, with 65% carry-over companies from the previous decade. By contrast, between the years of 2003 and 2013, the percentage of new entries is projected to rise to more than 70% with less than 30% repeats from the previous 10 years.

Do we see indications that these trends may be having an impact on highly visible Fortune companies? Here is a smattering of news within the past week:

IBM’s rare miss crushed the Dow today

One of three bidders drops out of Dell buyout race

Apple stock tanks on indications of weak demand

So, how could the business trends that Brian Solis speaks about impact your career future?

1. Expecting your career to be insulated just because you are with a Fortune 500 company is tenuous at best. Career longevity is no longer company based, but instead based on how well you proactively manage your career.

2. Start-ups and mid-growth companies are moving into the Fortune 1000 ranks faster than ever before. They are the companies to consider carefully for their potential in growing your career.

3. Brian Solis emphasizes the importance of branding and social connectedness for businesses in this new age of Digital Darwinism. If these concepts are going to be so critical to business success, then why would you want to ignore them for your career success?

The future of businesses, big and small, and your career future are intertwined. They always have been. But change is accelerating on all fronts, so keeping your eye out for your career interests needs to be ongoing.

Many Americans already are doing this. The Jobvite Social Job Seeker Survey 2012 reported that 75% of all Americans, employed and unemployed, are looking for or say they are open to new jobs. Are you in that group of 3 out of 4 Americans in job-search mode?

Trends in Careers and Work

Career management is more than angling for the next promotion or salary raise. It’s about keeping your head up and catching a glimpse every now and then of where the future of work is trending. Those trends within the next decade may be your best crystal-ball-prediction of the career opportunities within your reach.

Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Labor keeps abreast of career trends. In the Bureau of Labor Statistics Economic News Release of February 1, 2012 (the latest release), career information abounds including:
- The 30 occupations with the largest project employment growth,
- The 30 occupations with the fastest projected employment growth,
- The 30 occupations with the largest project number of total job openings (2010-2020),
- The 20 industries with the largest projected wage and salary employment growth, and much more.

For a broader overview of career and workplace trends, read the Future of Work 10-part series in Time Magazine online. This forward-thinking article, published almost 4 years ago, pinpointed many of the trends that have already emerged in careers and in the workplace. The top 10 trends cited are:

1. High Tech, High Touch, High Growth
2. Training Manager to Behave (ethics in the business world)
3. The Search for the Next Perk (how benefits are changing)
4. We’re Getting Off the Ladder (career paths are no longer ladders)
5. Why Boomers Can’t Quit
6. Women Will Rule Business
7. It Pays to Save the Planet (green jobs and more)
8. When Gen X Runs the Show
9. Yes, We’ll Still Make Stuff (manufacturing trends)
10. The Last Days of Cubicle Life (telecommuting, virtual teams, and project work).

My top-pick books on this topic:
The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop, and Keep Tomorrow's Employees Today by Jeanne C. Meister and Karie Willyerd (May 2010)

Future Work: How Businesses Can Adapt and Thrive In the New World of Work by Alison Maitlin and Peter Thomson (November 2011)

Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger and Kenneth Cukier (March 2013)

We all know change is happening rapidly in the world of work. Invest in yourself and your career by staying informed about career and work trends. You will then be ideally positioned to leverage your motivated skills, talents, experience, personal brand, passions, and character strengths into jobs you can love!

Personal Branding - 5 Key Nuggets

Social media has become a top-of-mind strategy in job search and career advancement on the job.  In order to use social media successfully, you need first to understand your message of value to your target audience and your points of differentiation from your competition. This is where authentic personal branding, based in the reality of who you are, comes into play.

Leadership consultant Glenn Llopis struck a chord with me in his post Personal Branding Is a Leadership Requirement, Not a Self-Promotion Campaign.  The following 5 key points particularly stand out:

1. “Developing your personal brand is essential for the advancement of your career and development as a leader”. It is true. Knowing, leveraging, and living your personal brand will do more to positively distinguish you from your job competition or professional colleagues than a myriad of other job search or job development activities. Since your personal brand is unique to you and you alone, it becomes the ‘killer app’ in your success arsenal.

2. “Your personal brand should represent the value you are able to consistently deliver to those whom you are serving”. Employers and customers, whom we serve in our jobs, gravitate to people who can demonstrate consistent value.  That is at the heart of the communications and supporting activities that express our personal brand.

3. “View your personal brand as a trademark; an asset you must protect while continuously molding and shaping it”. Google your name (put your name in quotation marks first) and review the results. What do your Google results say about you? Do you barely exist online? If so, your personal brand (like your ‘light’) is hiding under a bushel basket! Are there many others with your same name? Then your personal brand may be confused with others, some of whom may not be the most exemplary characters. Is it any wonder that employers may not be calling you for an interview?

4. “Every time you are in a meeting, at a conference, networking reception or other event, you should be mindful of what others are experiencing about you and what you want others to experience about you”. Other people can only form opinions about your personal brand based on what you do and what you say. Fortunately, that is completely under your control!

5. “…focus on being more of who you naturally are and want to be so that you can perform and serve at optimal levels”. Throw off the ‘fake front’ at work or trying to blend in with everyone else.  Show commitment to your career growth via your ever-evolving personal brand. Your current personal brand, as viewed through the eyes of others, can develop into your aspirational brand. It starts with awareness and a bit of personal courage.

One final point: personal branding is not just for managers, directors, and executives. We are all the leaders of our own careers, we already have a personal brand (whether we know it or not!), and we can all utilize it for career success. So go for it!

 

Be Your Own Superhero - Practice Career Courage!

Hate your job? Floundering in a career that is boring or toxic to your mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being? Are you waiting to be rescued…by someone else, fate, or a big lottery win?

Perhaps it’s time to try something different. Perhaps it’s time for you to be your own superhero.

In the current issue of Training Mag, Bill Treasurer (founder of a courage-building company) writes about Building Career Courage. Here are his 3 tips followed by my observations and how-to suggestions.

Tip 1: Strike Out Fear – assess the times in your career when you acted with courage. 

My how-to: create a career timeline and mark your pivotal courageous moments. Go one step further – what were the outcomes of those moments of career courage? Even what appear to be negative outcomes on the surface often have hidden positive lessons. Remind yourself that you do have the capacity for game-changing courage in your own life.

Tip 2: Anti-brownnosing Agreement – Gain permission from your boss to speak out and not be a brownnoser. Set the ground rules.
 
My how-to: diplomatic assertiveness is a much-needed requirement in just about every aspect of career (and personal) life. Ask for feedback from others and give your feedback to them if they agree. Mutual respect grows when honesty is tempered with social and emotional awareness.  If you do not make your opinions and ideas known, no one else will do it for you.

Tip 3: Do Your Lead-ups – little acts of career courage lead up to bigger acts of courage.

My how-to: When did you last feel brave and courageous about your career? Consider it a lead-up to the acts of career courage you can begin today. Flex your courageous muscle…exercise it daily in little and big ways so it will grow. Understand that I am not advocating reckless risk-taking. Get informed, have some solid ground beneath your feet, and then LEAP.

As Douglas Wood says in Prescriptions from the Dock (one of my favorite books), “Look before you leap. But leap!”

 

Personal Branding and Your Skype Interview

Video interviewing via Skype has increasingly become the preferred mode for an employer or recruiter to vet a potential candidate. It saves time and money – that would be enough to make it a no-brainer for just about every employer! But, more importantly, it allows careful scrutinizing of the candidate’s "best-fit" characteristics for the job in a more natural setting…one where they might be more apt to show their "real’ self"!

So, how can you avoid this natural tendency to let your guard down in an interview conducted in front of your personal computer at home?

Anita Bruzzese’s post 6 Ways to Wow an Interviewer via Video sheds light on the must-have basics to come across as a candidate to be taken seriously:

1. Be enthusiastic
2. Dress professionally
3. Check the background
4. Sit tall
5. Be a bit spontaneous
6. Do your homework

How can you stand out from other similar candidates who have read the above list and put those tips into practice?  Here are some ideas to put the "icing on the cake":

• Know your authentic personal brand. Weave your personal brand attributes and strengths into your interview answers as they relate to the prospective job. This will establish the perception you want to drive home – that you are a unique and not merely a commodity.
• Know your accomplishments. What are the results you have obtained in your past jobs that relate to this job? Learn how to convey these accomplishments concisely (less than one minute) while also emphasizing your signature personal brand.
• Know your personal brand value. What has been the overall impact of your attributes, strengths, and accomplishments for your previous employers? This impact statement goes to the heart of what all employers seek – justification for the return-on-investment (ROI) of hiring you.
• Know how to appear memorable. What is your personal brand color? Be savvy and consistent is using it in both your professional attire and background. Cement a mental image of BrandYOU with your interviewer so that yours is the image that stays at the top of their mind.
• Know Skype technology intimately. Practice ahead of time. You do not want to be fumbling and apologizing to the interviewer for technical glitches that you could have avoided. What does that lack of tech skills and preparedness say about you as a candidate?
• Know how to use your time wisely. You have a limited amount of time in a Skype interview to address the interviewer’s most critical expectations...and sell them on moving you to the next round of interviews. Determine the hiring manager’s foremost, non-negotiable job requirements. There is a lot of information in a job posting or job description, but it is not all equally important. Ask questions...whatever you do, don’t guess!
• Know how to be likeable. Listen and connect with the interviewer quickly. This is not easy. We all have different personality types, including interviewers. You do not want to be eliminated simply because you appear to be lacking in interpersonal skills.

Must-Read Tips for Your Job Search

The first 2013 YOUnique newsletter issue came out last month. In case you missed it, here are some archived must-read articles:

- Ditch.Dare.Do! for YOU by William Arruda

http://www.reachpersonalbranding.com/ditch-dare-do-for-you/

- Digital Identity Essentials by Robin Bramman

http://www.reachpersonalbranding.com/tag/digital-identity-essentials/

- Top 10 Tips for a Branded Resume (Part 1) by me (Susan Guarneri)

http://www.reachpersonalbranding.com/career-reinvention-dream-big-top-10-tips-for-a-branded-resume-part-1/

Get Bold About Your Job Search and Career

One of the top New Year’s resolutions 
(for many years) has been landing a new
job. But for many folks, that resolution 
hits the skids about three to four weeks 
into the New Year. 

Why? Often it is because we keep on doing the same job-
search stuff we did in the previous year, but expect to get 
different (better) results.

That is a loosely worded rendition of Einstein’s definition 
of insanity! 

The New Year can be your fresh start to better results by 
trying something new and different…perhaps even out of 
your comfort zone.

Michael Bungay Stanier (one of my favorite authors) asserts 
in his video Beyond the Timid Middle that we can make the 
Shift to the Bold Choice via 5 steps:

1. Change where you stand…and discover new paths
2. Change your routine…and find new connections
3. Change the game…and play to win
4. Change your heartbeat…and relish the moment
5. Change your attachment…and commit to an adventure 

If you are maintaining a low profile online for your job 
search or keeping your head down at work thinking you can 
play it safe, think again. 

The new world of work is not only about performance, 
excellence, and ROI value, but also about visibility. In other 
words, being Bold!

Commit to the out-of-the-timid-middle Bold Change, take 
action, and watch your results climb!

Job Action Day 2012 - Job Search Resources Galore!

You may have missed the official 
Job Action Day 2012 yesterday. But 
no worries…you can still learn from 
the in-depth articles and short tips 
submitted by resume, personal 
branding, career coaching, and job 
search subject-matter-experts. 

I have been contributing to JAD for several years. This year 
my article is about communicating your personal brand via 
Branded Career Communications. It goes beyond the 
expected Branded Resume to include many more options 
that will expand your ability to make a great first, and 
lasting, impression.

You will also want to check out 
Personal Branding Advice from Top Career Experts and 
read JAD tips on Twitter (use the search term #JAD2012).  

Social Job Search Is Coming on Strong!

What have you done to ramp up your job search to meet the surge in social recruiting?

In my blog post Social Recruiting Grows – Are You Ready? in July 2012, I referenced statistics gleaned from Jobvite’s Social Recruiting Survey 2012 of recruiters. Those stats clearly showed that recruiting via social media and social networks has jumped from 82% to 93% of recruiters (internal recruiters within companies and external recruiters). That’s nearly all of them!

Are you conducting your job search to take advantage of this important trend? If not, you may want to reconsider. According to the recently released Jobvite Social Job Seeker Survey 2012:

• 75% of the American workforce is comprised of job seekers, up from 69% in 2011. These include both active job seekers, as well as the employed who say they are open to a job change. That’s a hefty amount of competition for jobs!

• 61% of job seekers say finding a job’s gotten harder in the past year. Obviously, there are many variables involved in seeking employment. But, could one of the critical factors be that job seekers are not using important social networking/social media methods?

• 40% of job seekers credit a referral from professional/personal contacts OR an online social network for directly leading to their current job. Interestingly, the biggest percentage of recruiters (52%) said (in the Social Recruiting Survey 2012) that the highest-rated candidates come from referrals. Actively engaging in social networking means you can build your referrals. That increases the likelihood of not only appearing on a recruiter’s radar screen, but also being considered a high-quality candidate.

• 88% of all job seekers have at least one social networking profile; 64% have two profiles, and 44% have three. The three mentioned most are Facebook (85%), Twitter (51%), and LinkedIn (44%). Referring back to the Social Recruiting Survey 2012, 86% of recruiters said they are likely to look at social profiles when reviewing candidates. But here’s the kicker: 89% of recruiters have hired through LinkedIn vs. 26% via Facebook and 15% via Twitter.

In a nutshell: there is heavy competition for jobs. The majority of job seekers have one to two social networking profiles (Facebook tops as the most-used social network). 

But while recruiters are overwhelmingly (89%) hiring via LinkedIn, it is the least-used social network (of the top three) by job seekers. This is a golden opportunity for you - the astute job seeker – to outshine your competition by having a powerfully branded, keyword-rich LinkedIn Profile. Go for it!