General Careers Articles

Article / Updated 08-10-2022

Your unique promise of value and your personal brand statement are closely linked; the statement is an expression of the promise. Both of them focus on what your target audience expects from you; they create an expectation of what you can deliver. These pieces of your personal brand profile are probably the most important (no pressure!), so you want to take your time and get them right before you start to communicate with your target audience. Identifying your unique promise of value Your unique promise of value is a promise that you make to your target market that your brand will fulfill. It’s the personal aspect of your brand that is aligned with your mission and values. Your promise of value is the essence of what you have to offer and guides you in how you live your personal brand. It clarifies and communicates what makes you special — what makes you different from other people. Crafting this promise requires understanding your values, interests, strengths, and personal qualities and using them to distinguish yourself. Lida Citroën, in her book Reputation 360 (Palisades Publishing), offers this advice when crafting your brand promise: Your brand promise should look something like this: “In order to be known for (your desired brand qualities), I will hold myself out to others in this way: (your behavior, actions, attitude); and I will demonstrate authenticity in this way: (how you will let people see you as real, genuine). I will know my brand promise is working when I see this: (benefits, goals you hope to achieve).” You must be able to live up to your promise of value. You’re always better off under-promising and over-delivering to those you serve. Your brand promise is what you want to be known for. It can be the promise of value of who you are today or it can be written as who you aspire to become. Here’s an example of a unique promise of value: I am known for my creativity, enthusiasm, and intelligence by serving each client with respect, giving them individual attention, and treating them with unconditional positive regard. I am an expert in my field and use my knowledge to help my clients and students excel. My clients appreciate my solid, grounded approach during times of transition and trust my guidance through the process. Move from your promise to your personal brand statement After you’re satisfied with what you’ve developed as your unique promise of value, you can turn your attention to writing the all-important personal brand statement. When you work on your own statement, keep in mind the central themes that emerge and think about your attributes. Then, envision your best self! To begin your thought process on what your brand might include, answer the following questions: What three or four keywords describe your essential qualities quickly and clearly? What is your essence factor, the core of who you are? “I know I am in my element when __________.” What is your authority factor, the knowledge that you hold and skills that you possess? “People recognize my expertise in _________.” What is your superstar factor, the qualities that set you apart? (This factor is how you get things done or what you’re known for.) “People comment on my ability to ___________.” Pepper your statement with “wow” words When writing your personal brand statement, you want to use words that best describe what you offer. The words you use should highlight your emotional attributes and motivate you so that you can deliver that brand to your target audience. Then, to communicate the action in your message, add key verbs like the ones listed here. Accomplish Analyze Articulate Budget Calculate Capitalize Classify Close Collaborate Communicate Conceptualize Conclude Decrease Demonstrate Distribute Educate Empower Engineer Enhance Examine Exceed Generate Identify Influence Integrate Listen Manufacture Mastermind Maximize Navigate Network Organize Pilot Pioneer Prospect Rebuild Redesign Reengineer Rehabilitate Simplify Slash Sold Strategize Supervise Systematize Teach Transition Upgrade Drafting your statement To give you a sense of what a personal brand statement could look like, here are examples: I am passionate about the development of people and am able to lighten the mood with my humor. I enjoy bringing that competitive spirit to solving my clients’ key advertising problems. The continuous challenge to learn fuels my love of accumulating knowledge. Driven by the energy of connections to others, I apply my solid intelligence as the interpreter of complex issues to create practical solutions while bringing a sense of fun into every situation. Grounded in my core beliefs, I identify the patterns and am able to look strategically into the future with a global perspective. Analyzing the DNA blueprint for my clients, I act as the bond between science and business to find opportunities by joining people and businesses through unique value-added insights. Acting as the conductor to the orchestra of people that I lead, I bring the pieces together to close I am the visionary sales leader of the South American practice. my customers count on me to navigate the complexities of multinational business. I am admired for not only how I lead my high-growth business but also for my work in the community in creating pathways out of poverty for those that I serve. My own statement reads this way: I bring creativity and enthusiasm into the lives of professionals using my expertise in career development and personal branding with an intelligent, customized approach. Gather keywords to use as a starting point for writing your statement, and then let it simmer until you know how you want to express yourself.

Article / Updated 07-19-2022

Why not infuse your portfolio with your personal brand? A portfolio is a collection of documents that validate your accomplishments and professional achievements when you go on a job interview (or when you meet with a new client). This tool helps you remember all that you have done in your past to build your personal brand. Portfolios provide evidence of your credibility. Having possession of your documents not only provides proof of your work to use as a marketing tool but gives you the confidence to speak to your brand. Your portfolio may be compiled in a section of your file cabinet, scanned into an electronic file on your computer, or put into a file box. These days, portfolios are often saved to online repositories — such as Espressowork.com/ and, for creative work, Behance.net — that provide electronic access to all these documents. Follow the steps at Wikihow to create your own portfolio. But even as society moves away from paper and toward the computing cloud, it’s a good idea to create a portfolio binder that contains paper copies of documents that demonstrate who you are. Sharing such a binder with a prospective employer or new client is an impressive way to highlight and prove that you have done what you have said you could do on your resume. This printed portfolio is especially helpful for people who need to show writing samples or visual representation of their work. Credit: Courtesy of Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Here are some things to include in your portfolio: Your branded resume Your branded biography Letters of recommendation, at least one or two of which are current Sample projects Articles that you have written Past business cards Academic degrees Certifications and licenses Employee reviews A list of key successes from your work A list of awards you have received Volunteer service documents A list of professional contributions, such as committees you have chaired or evidence of how you have contributed to your profession Thank-you notes you have received Social networking site profiles Print copies of multimedia presentations you have created

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-08-2022

The secret is out: Working from home can be a sustainable, successful option for professionals in today’s global economy. As you jump into working from home, be sure to follow a few pieces of important advice, as well as some virtual meeting etiquette.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-07-2022

Wouldn’t it be nice to boost your productivity and performance at work without having to put in extra hours or break your back in the meantime? Being effective at what you do takes a little bit of planning, some basic tools, and a lot of positivity.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-25-2022

Whether you want to know how to succeed in life or how to succeed in business, you need to create habits for success. Success, or excellence, is always created by establishing positive, repetitive habits. Unfortunately, almost anything we do repeatedly can lose its luster, passion, and energy. Without doing something repeatedly, you won’t establish it as a habit. When you focus on repeating the actions that lead to success, you create habits. So, repeating and success are like peas and carrots: They go together.

Article / Updated 03-07-2022

Women want to be given the same opportunities to succeed as men, but often they want to succeed in a different way. The generalization goes that women (more than men) tend to embrace the desire to want to live more authentically, and that translates into being more of who they are in the workplace. Be your authentic self Personal branding is about living your authentic self and building on natural talents and strengths. In general, some of the following characteristics may be more true for women as a group than for their male counterparts: Collaborators Connectors Socially oriented Focused on community Natural multitaskers Awareness of visual identity Strong verbal communicators Empathetic and intuitive Engaged in stories Builders of deeper relationships When a woman works on her personal brand, she needs to let go of the fear that these characteristics are bad things in the workplace (especially if she’s in a male-dominated work environment). Often, male coworkers don’t see these qualities as intellectual or as worthwhile as the characteristics of individuality, facts, and logic. These are the complex subtleties that women face every day in the workplace. As you refine your brand, you continually need to be true to yourself and to know how to play the game in your particular workplace. In rapidly changing work environments, the rules aren’t as clear for women about how to be who you are, what you should wear, and what qualities are acceptable. Building a female personal brand means focusing on your best self within the variables that you can control and not being afraid to be seen for your uniqueness. Be confident in what you know The story goes that there was a dinner with a group of partners in a professional services firm. The event was equally comprised of men and women. One of the men at the table was a senior leader in the firm. There was a lot of talking, laughing, and sharing of stories. One of the women was telling a work story when the male senior leader said, “Do you know what is wrong with women?” The table gasped and all turned to him. He continued with, “You are at least as smart as the men in the workplace, and probably smarter, but you wait until you know how to do something at least 80 percent before you say, ‘I can do that.’ Most men will say we can do something when we know it 25 percent. We are confident enough to know we will figure it out. If you want to get ahead in business, have the confidence to say that you know how to do something much sooner.”

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-03-2022

Making the most of your time at work means learning to make productive decisions quickly and asking effective time-saving questions at meetings. Save time on the road by keeping a list of your important travel details with you so you can get to them easily. Before you call it a day at work, take a few steps to prepare for tomorrow so you can start your day off on the right foot.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-25-2022

Personal branding is a marketing strategy focused on your most important product: you. Developing a personal brand requires figuring out who you really are (your skills, values, passions, and personality), who you want to serve (your target market or audience), and how you differ from the competition (your unique niche). A successful brand creates a consistent, targeted impression that helps you achieve your personal and professional goals. It also allows you to live authentically because a great brand is always honest; you can’t fake your way into a successful brand.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-25-2022

Choosing your career can be daunting, not to mention the training for it, landing a good job, and succeeding in your career. That’s darn hard and, okay, even overwhelming. This cheat sheet can make it easier.

Article / Updated 09-01-2021

Listen, we've all been there. Sometimes it feels as though your career path is simply not for you, not fulfilling or challenging you in all the right ways. You can try to work around these doubts but if you've already decided on a career change — whether by choice or necessity — give yourself plenty of time to plan ahead. Consider the following before making that jump. Connect with others in your intended field When your change is voluntary, at least six months in advance of your leap, join a professional association of members in the career field or industry where you want to go. When your change is involuntary and you’re suddenly left high and dry, assemble a personal network of people who can guide you into your intended field. Find out who’s who and what’s happening with professionals who can connect you with employment. Ask what you should read and what workshops you should attend. Ask if you can visit a professional’s workplace as an observer. Educate yourself Seek out short-term certificate programs and workshops offered during industry conferences, as well as those available locally. If you study online, get the scoop on the pluses and pitfalls of distance learning. Here's one valuable resource to get you started: GetEducated.com. Bone up on the industry Do some extensive research on your proposed destination. Those greener pastures sometimes bleach out when something about the work isn’t what one realistically expects or can do well. Also, learn to talk the talk. Study the lingo of prospective new colleagues and you’ll seem like one of them already. Brace yourself for interview pitfalls When you find yourself trapped in a behavior-based interview setting and you’re coming up short trying to answer a question about what you have done that’s relevant to the new career, answer quickly. And then reframe your response segueing from behavior-based interviewing (the past) to situational interviewing (the future), such as: "That’s a good question. And here’s what I would do if we decide I’m the right person for this position. I would . . . ." Make the experience connection The bridge you use to join the old with the new must be rational and reasonable. Your qualifications have to come from somewhere — skills you already possess, volunteer work, part-time jobs, training, hobbies, and so forth. Strive to present a believable relationship between your qualifications and the career you’re targeting. Accentuate the positive Don’t say you hope to change careers because there are no more jobs in your field. An exception might be when a condition is well known, such as real estate agents who got out during the recent downturn in home sales. Even then, add that you’d been thinking about making a change for a couple of years and have decided to redesign your life for a better fit with your priorities and goals. Tell true stories Expect to be asked the same kinds of questions that new graduates often face, such as some version of “Why shouldn’t we hire someone more experienced in this line of work?” When you work out your answers, remember to tell your story — that is, back up your claims of superior qualities with true examples of achievement. Otherwise, what you claim will likely be blown off as hot air. You must be believable. Inventory your core skills and knowledge Sort through to see which will crossover to a different industry or career field. Push them to the front of your memory where you can find and translate them as needed.