Developing Your Employment Toolbox

Wednesday, September 30
Benedictine University
Krasa Student Center, second floor

5:00-6:00 p.m. - Registration
6:00-7:00 p.m. - Speed Networking Session
7:00-9:00 p.m. - Panel Discussion

Human Resources professionals and job seekers
will discuss the importance of...
• Networking with professionals
• Marketing yourself effectively
• Pro-active job search strategies
• Researching companies and organizations
• Making connections in your field of interest
• Innovative resume writing and interviewing techniques

$5 registration fee for Benedictine Alumni.
$10 registration fee for community members.

Pre-register by going to
www.ben.edu/EmploymentToolbox.

For more information, contact
Lindsey Fritz,
Office of Career Development
5700 College Road
Lisle, IL 60532
(630) 829-6040

Me 2.0

Dan Schawbel is an accomplished marketing professional and a leading personal branding expert. In his new book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, he defines your Personal Brand as your total perceived value, relative to competitors, as viewed by your audience. The elements of your personal brand include:

• Personal Appearance - Including clothing, hygiene and attractiveness.
• Personality - Your values, goals, identity and behavior.
• Competencies - cognitive, business, communication and technical skills that enable you to perform your job responsibilities.
• The Differentiator - Offering a unique value proposition or benefit to your target audience.

After developing a personal brand that contains these elements, you must construct a message that will resonate with your audience. Personal branding must be a continuous effort. As your experience, competencies, physical and emotional attributes grow, your brand will enhance, much like in a product lifecycle. Creating, maintaining and evolving your brand will help you command your prospective audience and positively communicate your perceived and unique message. The bottom line is to treat yourself as the product and sell it!

Tips To Build Your Personal Brand

• Solicit feedback from business associates about who you are professionally and how you are perceived. If the two aren't in sync, develop a strategy for bringing them into alignment. This might begin with rewriting your resume.
• Use various means to promote your brand. Create a personal Web site and blog that reflects your style, describes what you do, details your background, and effectively communicates your unique value. Include your credentials, experience, skills, and personal attributes that differentiate you from your competitors. Give your readers a compelling reason to seek you out.
• The old adage says that a picture is worth a thousand words. By using visuals that reinforce your verbal message, you can create powerful, positive impressions for your readers
• Reinforce your personal brand in all your interactions with others. Mention your key qualities and special skills every chance you get, whether in voicemail messages, your email signature, or when you speak with current or potential clients in person.
• The development of your personal brand is an ongoing effort. Try different approaches to see what ultimately works best and achieves the results you desire.

Benefits of a Personal Brand

• Increases self-awareness. You develop a deeper self-understanding about what constitutes your unique value, which helps optimize your strengths.

• Clarifies your goals. You become focused on what to achieve and what goals you must set to get there.

• Creates visibility and presence. Once you know what is unique and compelling about you, you can use that information to communicate to your target audience.

• Differentiation. You gain the ability to differentiate yourself from everyone else who has your job title or who says they are in the same business as you.

• More control. Your personal brand puts you in control of your career, the projects you work on, and how you want to deliver services.

• Creates wealth. Strong brands charge a premium for their products and services, and differentiated job seekers who know their value can command higher salaries.

• Staying power. Strong brands are successful despite challenges and downturns in the economy because they stand for something unique and are differentiated.

Five Big Lies About A Job Search

• Always State an Objective on Your Resume
  Telling a prospective employer what you want is a waste of words and not important to them. Rather, use a concise, specific, well crafted (no boilerplate language or clumsy clichés) profile or summary statement to communicate your personal brand and tie together your career experience. An employer will be compelled by your unique value proposition.

• Job Boards are the Best Leads
  It’s fine to check online and search postings, but relying solely on Monster, Career Builder and Hot Jobs is like playing a slot machine and hoping for a big payoff. Consider the odds and spend your time where your efforts have the highest probability for success.

• There is no Hidden Job Market
  Many jobs are never posted. Your network is the best source of leads. Make sure people know about your search. They can’t help you if they don’t know you’re looking. Work diligently to constantly expand your network. Consider who might be able to help you – even if it’s someone you don’t know yet – and figure out how you can go about meeting that person.

• Recruiters will find you a job
  You are ultimately responsible for finding a job. A recruiter is only interested in filling an open position with the best candidate – as specified by their client, the hiring company. If you’re the right match, then the recruiter will try to close the deal and get you placed. Remember, the client company is paying the recruiter’s fee, you’re not.

• Social Networking is a Fad
  Social Networking is here to stay and must be a key part of a job search strategy. By connecting with people and sharing something of value (an article, blog post, or other contacts), you will see doors begin to open. The more quality connections you make, the more opportunities will surface. The most important factor in social networking is trying to help others first. What can you bring to a networking relationship? Find people that you can help and start by giving. The principle of it’s better to give than to receive is especially pertinent in social networking. What you can give to others will come back to you.

Change Up Your Job Search Plan

If you are you struggling to find a job despite all the time and effort you're expending, Sital Ruparelia, founder of 6 Figure Career Management writes that there are 10 ways to change the world and land a job.

His basic advice - stop looking.

Having gained your attention with that shocking statement, he goes on to explain. Rather than spending your whole week job searching, spend part of your week doing something completely different. And he is not suggesting watching TV or 'doing lunch' with friends.

Instead, he suggests doing something of value, something that would make a difference to someone else. By spending more time helping others, and less time on your own search, you'll paradoxically find that you improve your chances of finding work.

Of his 10 suggestions, 4 directly correlate to your job search activities and should be incorporated into your job search plan.

• Start a blog and share your opinions on a topic or subject you care about
• Give a talk at a college or university on a subject where you have some expertise
• Share everything you're learning about job searching with other job seekers who are out of work
• Volunteer your time and skills to a charity or non-profit

These efforts cost nothing, other than some part of your time, yet some important benefits accrue including:

• An increased sense of purpose and achievement
• Increase in self esteem
• Meeting new people and widening your network
• You'll have a unique answer to that interview question: "So what have you been doing with your time since you finished your last job?"
• You'll develop some new skills (e.g. speaking, writing, mentoring, teaching) which can give you another edge in the job market
• Good karma. What goes around, comes around.

Write A Twitter Résumé

In a recent post, John Walker, a job search expert, explained how to write an effective Twitter resume. Elements to be considered include:

Job Title - this is the title of the position you are currently seeking.

Location - use the #tag or Hashtag of the location where you want to work or where you want to relocate.

Link to Resume - you can link to your personal website, online resume or a social networking profile. Use a URL shortening service like Bit.ly or TinyURL to stay within the 140 character limit.

Use Hastags - hastags are a way for Twitter users to classify tweets and group them together. Examples of hastags that you should include in your Twitter resume are #needajob, #laidoff, #jobangels. A great resource for looking up hashtags being used is Hashtags.org.

TweetMyResume - post your resume on Tweetmyresume.com for added exposure.

ReTweets - ask your Twitter following to retweet your Twitter resume making it very viral!

Taking Your Personal Brand To The Market

Personal branding is about differentiating yourself from the competition. It’s about self packaging and presenting your unique value proposition to your target audience. Projecting a consistent and indelible image that fits who you really are is important. Taking your brand to market means that you:

• Establish yourself as a subject matter expert
• Build a solid reputation within your industry
• Increase your perceived value in the marketplace

Building trust and credibility are the keys to success in any marketing effort. As people begin to see your name and become aware of the benefit and knowledge that you offer, you will become known as someone whose expertise is valued. Your brand will make a permanent impression and YOU will be remembered.

Whether you are looking for a new job or striving for career advancement in your present job, your personal brand and how you market it will create the gap between you and your competitors. Remember YOU are the product. Its time to go to market and sell it!

Personal Branding Defined

Allison Tibbs, an eXaminer.com contributor, has created her own definition of Personal Branding and broken it down into its component parts to give a better understanding of the term.

Personal Branding – Achieving personal and professional goals by differentiating yourself by articulating your unique value through a consistent message.

• Achieving personal and professional goals - Everyone has or should have goals that they set, whether they are personal or professional. There is no benefit to setting goals if you do not reach them. It is important that your Personal Brand gives you the extra step needed to reach those goals.

• Differentiating yourself by articulating your unique value – Your Personal Brand can be the deciding factor on whether you are chosen, promoted, hired, or believed. If your Personal Brand is not viewed as valuable and unique, there is no real reason for you to be the chosen one. Therefore, it is important to create a brand that stands out and proves to be valuable and successful.

• Through a consistent message – A successful brand is one that is consistent, because if it is not, you will begin to confuse your target audience. Once confusion sets in your credibility falters and you will not be taken seriously. If you confuse your audience, you lose your audience.