(Don’t Skate to the Puck) Skate to Where the Puck is Going To Be

August 31, 2010 in Uncategorized

Dan Schawbel, personal branding guru and managing partner of Millenial Branding, LLC posted a blog today that is heavy on facts and untypically lighter on innuendo.  You should read this if you are anyone who has any kind of relationship with a job (have one, want one, looking for better). Link is below. 

I’ve grabbed a few of the facts that jumped off the page for me.  None of this information or what I am about to comment on is new news.  I guess I’m hoping that facts like these hit harder than suggestions that you’ve heard made time after time.  The good news is that you can start today making one small step towards discovering and landing your purpose fit/perfect fit job. 

 The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 60% of all new jobs in the twenty-first century will require skills that only 20% of current employees possess. You need a sense for what skills are important in your industry, and which ones might be significant in the future. By keeping yourself relevant, you’re keeping yourself employed. For instance, if you’re in the marketing world, you can’t avoid online advertising, and mobile applications.

Being in a confident state of knowing about what you do that uniquely creates value in your work is essential.  If you can’t communicate a Value Mission Statement that is connected to your purpose, you sound like every other qualified candidate for the job you seek and you have stacked the odds against you for getting to the interview.

 As you progress in your career, networking becomes more important because it’s almost 100% a hidden job market when you’re an executive job seeker. Only 22% of positions paying $200,000 or more are being posted on job boards. Your best bet is to focus on building an enormous Rolodex throughout your career, giving value to them, and then asking for help when you need it.

Whoa.  There are a couple of things to be done first before you go walking through your Rolodex.  After you have created a Value Mission Statement (this can be your personal brand, but it needs to communicate how you create value in your work), and can articulate your perfect job, researching 20 to 30 companies of interest that hire for the job you seek will help you engage your network/weak ties to know exactly how to help you.  Asking to be connected with a specific hiring manager at a company for a specific job delivers a capable and confident message that you are the best candidate for the job.   

You need to be known for something and don’t try to be everything to everyone. Being a generalist will help you adapt to new jobs because the market changes all the time, but specializing will make you more desirable to hiring managers. In fact, 71% of hiring managers are looking to fill “specialized positions” while 61% of job seekers considered themselves to have “broad skill sets”. Companies are looking to hire experts in their fields to solve real business problems. Become an expert in an in-demand field and you will have leverage over the recruitment process, make more money, and securing a stable position.

This reflects back to two critical components of your search: A Value Mission Statement that spells out exactly what you do (as an expert) to create real value; Focus on the job, the companies of interest v. blindly sending one of three resumes in to see if something sticks.   

A brand requires a personality if it’s going to be distinctive. Your personal brand needs to be personable and attract positive attention. Organizations are starting to place a higher value on interpersonal skills (communication, teamwork, organization) and cultural fit, instead of technical skills and experience. Technical skills and experience are easily replaceable in most fields, but it’s harder to replace people who fit perfectly in your organization and work well with your current employees. A new survey by Right Management shows that 31% of companies feel that organizational culture and motivation fit is important, while only 12% are for technical skills, and 11% are for relevant experience.

These are the intangibles that heretofore haven’t been named – it’s called Spiritual Capital.  It’s well-being, confident, positivity, collaboration, commitment, engaged, loyalty, etc. 

http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/10-reasons-why-you-should-care-about-personal-branding/

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