How to Communicate Your Personal Brand

Climbing the leadership ranks and ready for your next role? The first step towards making it happen is to develop your messaging. When asked, are you able to clearly articulate how you help organizations succeed? Most people can’t. But you do need to have a concise introduction ready because you never know when an opportunity may present itself.

It all starts with your personal brand. Many people come to me confused about personal or professional branding. Simply put, it’s your reputation and what you’re known for — or would like to be known for. It’s also called your unique selling proposition (USP) or unique value proposition (UVP). It’s the value you offer an organization and how you stand out from your peers.

How would you describe what you bring to the table that other people don’t? Have you developed specific expertise or specialized in a certain area? Do you have a unique background or perspective that differentiates you from your competitors? Your personal brand is the foundation for how you’ll market yourself to potential employers. It’s your superpower. Continue reading →

How to Create a Masterpiece Resume

I absolutely love the art and science of writing resumes — combining the well written word with data-driven insights into today’s complex employment marketplace to tell a compelling story. Crafting a masterful resume is more than just the right words. It’s the precise balance of content and context, structured for visual appeal. I enjoy the strategic component of collaborating with my clients on their personal brand and determining how to best position them for their next role.In resume writing, less content is almost always better than more. It is important to make your point succinctly and then move on. But brevity poses its own challenge. You must be very intentional with your language and carefully consider every word choice. That is where my professional training and years of writing resumes come in.

Using a design-led approach, I tell my clients’ stories with powerful career narratives written in their own voice. Before I can do that, I need to get to know my clients’ personality traits, values and qualifications. Many people take their strengths and accomplishments for granted and don’t add them to their resume. Over the years, I have developed a highly effective coaching process that draws out the most important resume material. I won’t rush this information gathering phase, because I have learned that what transforms a resume from average to stellar is the “resume gold” that comes out of our conversations. Continue reading →

There Is a Fine Line Between Effective Interview Follow Up and Being A Pest

Job search experts tell you to follow up immediately after an interview with an email or hand-written thank you note to each of the interviewers. This very important step of the interview process is skipped by so many job seekers because they don’t think it is worth their time. Well, quite a few hiring managers and recruiters have told me that no follow up helps them weed out the less motivated candidates.

How to Do It

Because email is the go-to method for business communication these days, actually taking the time to send a hand-written note just might nudge you above the other candidates. It does not need to be a long note, but make sure it doesn’t look like a canned, generic message that you send every interviewer. The most effective approach is to mention something relevant to your skills or experience that you discussed during the interview and express your eagerness to join their team. Continue the conversation and keep yourself in the running. Continue reading →

How Do I Find the Best Career Coach for Me?

As we emerge from the COVID shutdown and workers are required to return to their offices, many people are reevaluating their employment. They want jobs that do more than just pay the bills; they are seeking meaningful work that aligns with their values, personal priorities and lifestyle. For a good number of employees that means working remotely. As they consider their work/life options, many successful professionals are contacting career coaches for the first time.
Whether you are trying to transition into a new career or looking for a similar role that is a better fit, a career coach can help you land your next job faster than you typically would on your own. But how do you find the right one for you? I recommend starting with a quick Discovery Call.

What Is a Discovery Call?

A Discovery Call is a complimentary (free) call between a coach and a prospective client to discuss the possibility of working together.

Because the coaching relationship itself is vital to client success, many career coaches, including myself, hold Discovery Calls with potential clients to determine if we are a good fit. This first conversation allows both parties to get to know each other, and to make sure they connect on a personal level. Some coaches do charge for these calls, but I do not believe you should have to pay to interview a future service provider.

A Career Coach Can Support Your Career Advancement in a Variety of Ways:

Continue reading →

Is It Time to Add a Trained Professional to Your Job Search Toolkit?

This whole process of looking for a job is just one more thing that’s changed drastically over the last few years. It’s hard to keep up, isn’t it? It used to be easy to find and land a new job, but today’s digital job search is so much more complicated. The job market is crowded and super-competitive because digital platforms like LinkedIn have expanded the candidate pool. To gain an employer’s attention in our highly connected world, you need to rise above the online noise to stand out among your competitors. To do so takes strategic action and a willingness to let go of outdated ideas that may no longer serve your interests. Is there a job search 2.0 tool that can help? You bet.

Unsplash

Take a minute to see what Certified Career Transition Coaches do. As trained professionals, they help you apply industry best practices so you can avoid the hassle of learning by trial and error. Offering an impartial view of your career goals and personal branding, a career coach can help you gain the competitive edge so you can get in front of decision makers at your target companies. Continue reading →

What Does a Career Coach Actually Do?

Do I need a career coach? Where do they fit into my job search?

If you’re wondering about the difference between a career coach and a recruiter, it’s actually pretty clear-cut. A recruiter works for the employer – a career coach works for YOU. When it comes to helping you reach your career goals, that’s a big difference. As your career coach, I have your best interest at heart. I will make sure you are prepared for success and will guide you along your journey.

Now you’re thinking, “Okay, so you work for me. But what exactly do you do?” I’m so glad you asked. My role is to help you gain a competitive edge in a crowded job market. I do this by helping you establish realistic career goals, articulate the incredible value you offer an organization and actually get in front of decision makers.

As a Certified Career Transition Coach, I can help you identify your career drivers and preferred communication style as well as the work environment in which you thrive. When you are in a role that aligns with who you are as a person and how you operate, you are generally happier and more successful.

As a leader, you drive success by filling your team with experts. Why should your approach to managing your career be any different?

Career coaching is a truly collaborative process through which I help you determine what you’d like to see in your next role and where you would like to work. We develop a branding strategy and then a step-by-step action plan to get you into that new role.

Want more? As a professional resume and LinkedIn profile writer, I also help you position yourself as an expert in your field. Through our conversations and coaching exercises, I will pull all the important content from you, and weave it into a compelling career narrative written in your voice. Describing your own career accomplishments is difficult for many people, but the objective viewpoint of a trained coach facilitates this process. Another bonus? A professionally written resume does so much to boost a job seeker’s confidence, which in turn, promotes success!

Can a career coach really help?

How many times have you thought: “Why should I hire a career coach? I have always written my own resume.” It’s a common question. Let’s look for answers. Continue reading →

Are You Ready for the Post-COVID Hiring Blitz?

In today’s competitive job market, the difference between advancing your executive career and spinning your wheels is leveraging the strength of technology to promote your professional brand.

You’ve embraced technology in nearly every other aspect of your life, so why not to advance your career ? New job search rules require new tools.

Executives need to be on LinkedIn too

As a group, executives have been resistant to the digital job search, but most are now finding that it cannot be ignored. Case in point: my client Ambrose, who was looking to make the jump from Sr. VP into the C-Suite. For nearly five years, he had been passed over for internal promotions and could not make any headway at his target company. After working with me for only three weeks, he was asked by his Board of Directors to consider a newly created leadership role and received a meeting invitation from the CEO he’d been pursuing at his company’s biggest competitor. We clarified his goal, mapped out a strategy to enhance his professional image and made it happen using a combination of LinkedIn and online industry resources.

Everybody and everything is online these days, including career management. From recruiters locating and screening candidates online to job seekers expanding their professional network using social media, finding your next opportunity is firmly entrenched in today’s technology. You know that exposure and reputation management are crucial to career advancement. Here’s how you can use technology to expand your reach beyond your immediate sphere of influence through strategic planning and consistent, intentional effort.

Technology and Your Job Search

Before online technology, a job search consisted of Continue reading →

Finding the Career That Fits Your Personality

Since we spend the majority of our waking hours at work, career satisfaction is key to our overall happiness. Yet, until we are mid-career, many of us do not pause to consider our level of personal satisfaction. We push forward to earn the accolades, annual raises and the next promotion. Day after day; year after year. Then one day, we wake up and realize we really do not enjoy our jobs. You know you deserve to be happy and feel the urge for a more rewarding career. But where do you start? The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^®personality inventory is a very useful tool to help you identify your ideal role – one that aligns with your strengths and how you operate best.

Who Should Take the MBTI^®

As a Certified Career Transition Coach and MBTI^® practitioner, I work with many mid- to late career professionals looking for more career satisfaction. The good news about us baby boomers working longer is that there is time to build a successful second act career. In fact, I reinvented myself at age 48 and have never been happier. I want everyone to have the same career satisfaction and work tirelessly to help my clients achieve it!

The MBTI^® offers:

Increased self-awareness
More job satisfaction
Healthier interpersonal relationships

Continue reading →

Why You Should Never, Ever Use a Functional Resume

I have covered this topic before, but am frequently asked about functional resumes by jobseekers, so I figured I’d address them again here. I strongly advise against using a functional resume. Ever. Period. No matter what.

Most recruiters and hiring managers dislike functional resumes. They are more difficult to read and immediately raise a red flag. The reader asks him/herself “What is the candidate trying to hide by grouping together their competencies and not showing me what they did where? A gap in employment, excessive job jumping or lack of experience?” Regardless of your reason for using a functional resume, you are doing yourself a disservice. The last thing you want to do is cause any negative feelings — and confusion is a negative feeling. You want the reader of your resume to feel nothing but positive feelings about you and your professional accomplishments.

The goal of your resume is to pique the interest of the reader and entice them to invite you in for an interview, right? So, don’t annoy them. Make it easy for them to see the value you would add to their team. I will help you connect the dots between the results you deliver and their business needs. Packing your resume with specific career achievements provides proof that you are a valuable asset.

Your Functional Resume Is Probably Hurting Your Job Search

Continue reading →

5 Quick Resume Fixes To Improve Your Job Search

If your resume is not winning you frequent interviews, then it is not doing its job. Here are some quick fixes to turn that around.

Quick Resume Fixes to Improve Your Job Search

I recently met a woman at one of my local LinkedIn workshops who was frustrated in her job search. She had applied to many, many jobs, but had not landed any interviews.

I quickly reviewed her resume and could tell in an instant why it was not impressing employers. I suggested a few improvements that she could quickly implement and share these with you here. (Her revised resume worked! She landed an interview the next week and is now working at a job she enjoys.)

1. Address the employer’s needs

Change the focus of your resume to address the employer’s needs not yours. How can you help them achieve their goals? Position yourself as the solution to their problem and highlight your differentiators.

2. Target a specific role

These days, companies are looking for specialists, not generalists. Focus your resume on a specific role, so the reader can quickly see where you’d fit within their organization. They won’t guess – if unsure, they will move on to the next resume and you just missed out on the opportunity.

3. Make sure your resume is age-neutral

Employers are concerned that as a seasoned worker, your skills may not be as sharp as they used to be or you are too set in your ways. Show them that is not true. Don’t include any work history prior to 2000 and play up your tech skills. And please, lose the AOL email address! That screams “Dinosaur!”. Continue reading →

How LinkedIn Can Help You Advance Your Career

With 740 million worldwide users, LinkedIn can help you establish a wide professional network. It is also a powerful marketing tool that can boost or derail your job search. A reported 93% of recruiters source passive job candidates on the social network for busy professionals.. So, if you are a jobseeker and not on LinkedIn – you are basically invisible.

The keys to leveraging the strength of LinkedIn? SEO, KLT and TOM

Continue reading →

How to Survive WFH With Kids

Deep Breathing Games for Kids

Typically, this would be a helpful post I’d share on social media, but I feel this message is one that will stand the test of time and provide ongoing value to my readers. So, blog post it is.

With the additional pressure of this extended COVID-19 isolation, today’s parents of young children are the new “Club Sandwich Generation” who deserve the highest Medal of Honor. Not only do they have to care for their family and possibly their aging parents, they now have to do it while trying to do their job at the same time. There is no more separation of day job and personal life. Gone are the days when the kids were ushered off to school and the parent could focus on their work duties for 8 hours before morphing back into Super Parent at the end of the day.

The New Balancing Act

Parents working from home are asked to juggle a lot, adapting to new ways of doing their jobs with many learning new technology as they go. On top of all this, they had to assume the huge responsibility of enabling their kids to keep up with their school work. Not knowing if we must maintain this pace for two more weeks or until the end of summer in nerve-racking. And none of this will work if the kids are bouncing off the walls consumed by their own anxiety and pent up frustration.

While I love my children dearly and miss them now that they are grown and out on their own, I feel extremely fortunate that I do not have to endure this extended home quarantine with the added responsibility of caring for young kids. After 8 weeks of isolation, I can barely keep myself sane, productively working and trying to maintain some semblance of a normal routine.

The Silver Lining?

Your isolation experience can be fantastic resume material. You can use it as an example of how you persevered and overcame obstacles, adjusted to a new, unpredictable environment and kept business moving forward.

How to Help Children Cope

When life gets crazy, deep breathing can help us feel calmer. Many adults practice some sort of deep breathing exercises, through yoga, mindfulness or meditation. It is a great life skill to teach our children, but how do you convince them to give it a try?

Here are some simple techniques from Shelley M. Greggs, NCSP, a nationally certified school psychologist and adjunct faculty at Florida SouthWestern State College. In her School Smart article in the April 24^th Island Sun newspaper, Shelley shares ways to include fun and motion to engage children. The Feather Breathing looks fun to me. Who says games are just for kids? Continue reading →

Today’s Resume is Ideal for Mid-Career Reinvention

Because today’s resume is a forward-facing document that positions you for your next job, it has never been easier to reinvent yourself professionally.

I work with many mid-career professionals looking to reinvent themselves. Their industry may be contracting, job outsourced or they may simply want a change. Many want to pull back from the responsibilities and headaches that can accompany upper management roles and, once again, become individual contributors. The prospect of leaving your job behind at 5 pm and enjoying a personal life can be pretty attractive.

Until recently, I do not think many of us actively managed our careers. Sure, most of us were told by our parents that we could be anything we wanted to be, but how many of us followed our dreams? I doubt many people wanted to be stuck in an 8’ by 8’ beige cubicle, eating lunch at their desk under glaring fluorescent lights. Yet, that is where many of us Baby Boomers find ourselves. The time to restore your work/life balance and live a purpose-driven life is NOW!

Continue reading →

What Transforms a Resume from Average to Stellar?

As a Career Coach, I guide people through professional transitions to help them build more satisfying lives. Most of my conversations with prospective clients start with a request for a new resume. They call me because they are frustrated, their job search is stalled and they can’t win interviews. We discuss their goals, what they have tried so far and I explain how a few key changes can improve their results. Many times the problem is not simply a weak resume – they may also lack a focused goal or are using outdated job search strategies (for example, not active on LinkedIn).

The resume development process itself is the foundation for a successful job search.

Continue reading →

How to Do It

What Is a Discovery Call?

A Career Coach Can Support Your Career Advancement in a Variety of Ways:

Do I need a career coach? Where do they fit into my job search?

As a leader, you drive success by filling your team with experts. Why should your approach to managing your career be any different?

Can a career coach really help?

Where Do Recruiters Fit in Job Search?

Executives need to be on LinkedIn too

Technology and Your Job Search

Who Should Take the MBTI®

Your Functional Resume Is Probably Hurting Your Job Search

1. Address the employer’s needs

2. Target a specific role

3. Make sure your resume is age-neutral

The keys to leveraging the strength of LinkedIn? SEO, KLT and TOM

The New Balancing Act

The Silver Lining?

How to Help Children Cope

The resume development process itself is the foundation for a successful job search.

Who Should Take the MBTI^®