Who Is Your Professional Catalyst?
Each of us have a few people in our lives who got us started down the paths we’ve followed. It could have been an English teacher who encouraged you to write that started you down the path to being a writer, or a supervisor at work who put you on a project that led to …
Use Your Personal Brand to Overcome Horrible Bosses
I recently watched the movie “Horrible Bosses,” a comedy about three friends that inadvertently stumble upon the idea to…well, kill their bosses. While the premise hopefully isn’t realistic for you, I was intrigued by one scene that I believe shows how important personal branding is.
In the beginning of the movie, Jason Bateman’s character Nick …
‘Barbara Walters’ Job Interview Questions – They’re Back!
In her heyday on TV, Barbara Walters nearly always ended an interview with some famous (or infamous!) personality by asking them some inane question like this: “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?” If the person being interviewed was prepared for the question, then his or her answer wouldn’t be …
8 Ways To Brand Yourself As A SME
(even if you’re a Generalist)
As I discussed in earlier articles, branding yourself as a generalist doesn’t work in today’s search driven market of job shortages and mass competition.
Today’s employers don’t even hire generalists for jobs requiring a generalist. Employers hire subject matter expertise first, then choose the subject matter expert who also has …
Is Your LinkedIn Headline Killing Your Personal Brand?
If your LinkedIn headline is like most, it’s actually doing your personal brand more harm than good. Here are 4 ways your LinkedIn headline can destroy your perceived value:
Your headline is UNORIGINAL. Phrases like “Outside-the-box thinker” or “Problem-solver” or “Strategic Visionary” mean absolutely nothing and will not impress or intrigue anyone. If your headline…Top 5 Reasons You Never Hear Back After Applying for a Job
People often wonder why they never hear anything back after they hit ‘send’ on the email with a resume attached or on the on-line job application. If you’re very lucky, you might have a preliminary email exchange with a recruiter and then never hear from them again. It’s a depressing experience, and one which also …
Want to get hired? Find an Internal Sponsor!
While there certainly is no “silver bullet” for finding a job in today’s challenging job market, one approach that works about three out of ten times is finding an internal sponsor at a company that has an opening you would be interested in and a job for which you would be fully qualified. Today, that’s …
4 Common Resume Personal Branding Mistakes
As we discussed in my 7/16/12 column, your resume brands you, whether you like it or not. Don’t let it become one of your personal branding mistakes .
As TheLadders.com recent eye mapping study so clearly showed us, resume readers make a decision within the first 4 – 6 seconds if your resume bears further …
3 Reasons Why Networking Leads To Easier Interviews
Networking makes the interview process easier.
No employer will admit this or agree with this publicly because every employer wants you to think its hiring and HR practices are uniform for all applicants and employees. Based on my own experience and some “off-the-record” conversations with employers and hiring managers, that’s a load of garbage.
Without …
Want to Stand Out? Surprise & Delight Your Audience!
The purpose of your personal brand is to stand out.
You want to differentiate yourself, be memorable and make their decision easy (“YES! We want to hire this guy!”)
So, today is all about standing up and standing out. We’re about to learn the oh-so fun art of engaging your audience in a way that …