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 …
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 …
Build Your Brand on a Shoestring Budget
How can you build your brand when you’re on such a thin shoestring budget that you don’t even have a smartphone, and having an Internet connection at home is difficult. Is it even possible to establish your brand online? You bet. Here are a few ways you can do some personal branding while you’re keeping …
Think Globally: Get Outside of Your “Four Walls”
With the Olympics in London underway, there is a wave of global consciousness that seems to run through many of us. Whether it is being inspired by the stories of the Olympians competing from all corners of the globe, or it’s being exposed to new cultures and ideas, a rare level of consciousness is in …
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 …
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 …
Expect the Unexpected: Good Interviewers Ask Follow Up Questions
As an interviewer, it always amazes me how often I trip people up by asking follow up questions. It seems all of these interview prep books and websites like to just list out questions and canned answers but they don’t prepare job seekers for the possibility that the person conducting the interview is going to …
Some Hiring Managers Are Doing It Wrong
As someone who has been on many a job search, I can tell you that the way people in this country are hired is broken. And the parts that aren’t broken, are needlessly rude and disrespectful.
1. Hiring managers insist on receiving paper résumés in the mail.
Paper résumés?! Seriously?! Who the hell still uses …
Video Tips and Ideas for Small Businesses and Brands
“It’s too expensive,” or “It’s takes too much time!” These are the reasons I usually get from people as to why they haven’t made a video about their business. And I agree—producing a video never goes as quickly as writing a blog post or a tweet. For some, just uploading a video will require a …