In my
last entry, I referenced
Lisa Barone’s terrific post,
It’s Not the Recession, You Just Suck. After admitting that I sometimes want to say to people “maybe it
is you,” I provided my own career transition reality check with a list of five common short falls.
As promised, in this post, I give you five ideas, with links to resources which can help you exercise more personal responsibility for your career. Here they are:
Take an entrepreneurial mindset to managing your career. It’s always been the case that successful people are proactive in managing their careers – and today that’s more important than ever. If you’re not sure about how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, start with
Lisa’s post. There is plenty of career management advice
here; and of course, there are plenty of career management books.
Invest some time figuring out what differentiates you. You need to have a clear idea of your
unique promise of value; that is, your
personal brand. If you’re not sure how to discern your personal brand, a good place to start is with
Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand by
William Arruda and
Kirsten Dixson. You can also find a wide array of personal branding information on the web
here,
here, and
here. Or, just google it!
Figure out who needs to know about you and connect with them. From a personal branding perspective, you can’t stand out if you don’t know among whom you need to stand out. Your success is ultimately supported by the people you serve and their key influencers. To cultivate mutually beneficial relationships, get involved with a professional group,
community of practice, or even a
brand community. As a community member you can gain access to information, help others, become known, and earn the kind of trust that can lead to opportunities.
Develop your online presence. Start with a strong
LinkedIn profile – and then build a profile at other sites such as
ZoomInfo,
Spoke,
Ziggs, and others. You can also put up a dynamic resume at
VisualCV. And with great clarity about your area of expertise, you may also consider blogging, commenting on blogs, or writing book reviews. You can find more than 50 tactics for branding yourself on line
here.
Work on polishing your networking skills. There is no lack of great information on networking – and all you have to do is google it. Still, if you want to learn how to network in a way that is efficient and effective you would do well to buy and read
Smart Networking: Attract a Following In Person and Online by my friend
Liz Lynch; and visit her
blog for a wealth of information. You can also learn a great deal about networking and building relationships and community from my friend
Carol Ross at
A Bigger Voice and at
Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Living.
I’m hoping that you’re inspired to work on your skills in these areas – and that you have a sincere desire to get even better at taking the steps that will have a long-term impact on your career and your life.
Cross-posted at
The Personal Branding Blog
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