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By admin, April 21, 2009 3:24 pm

Don’t be afraid to discover your true identity

DIGITAL JOB SEARCH AND PERSONAL BRANDING

Installment number four

Are you Clark Kent or Superman?  Both have viable identities; each with a different niche.  How can you determine your own brand identity?

One of my more successful clients, we will call him Sam, believed his brand was, “Technology savvy product development executive.”  He was proud of his knowledge and that he was able to lead his teams to create technologically complex products with scarce resources and impossible deadlines.

While any employer would be interested in someone with a track record releasing products on time, I believed he could distinguish himself further; create a real brand.

Here are just a few questions we used to discovered his real brand:

1. What are your long term career goals?
2. What are you most proud of in your last four years of work?
3. What were the obstacles?
4. What resources did you use to over come those obstacles?
5. What tools did you employ?
6. What do people say about you within your department?
7. What do people say about you in other departments?
8. What topics are you most likely to be asked to discuss?
9. What do other departments invite you to teach them?
10. How did they affect the corporate bottom line?

At first, Sam was horrified at the idea he could not lead with his vast knowledge and deep technical education.  Once he understood his objective was marketing his brand for career development, he understood his brand is more effective as something employers needed but rarely found in technology executives. Sam wanted to be seen as a technology leader, not just another successful software development manager.  He aspired to “C” level responsibilities.

Ultimately, Sam’s brand is defined as, “A technology executive who builds corporate success through collaboration and unrelenting commitment to stated priorities.“  His brand identity is “Collaboration creator.’”

How does Sam promote his brand?  He is ever vigilant of his corporate presence.  As Shivonne Byrne, Director of Brand and Content for Microsoft advises, “Every encounter, every phone conversation, every meeting, every report, every PowerPoint, every email – basically every interaction – is an opportunity to build or deconstruct your personal brand.”

Sam makes a concerted effort to maintain strong connections across all departments to keep the products for which he is responsible visible and on point to meet corporate and customer goals.  Sam updates departments throughout the company and invites comment. He attends and hosts internal discussions and forums to foster communication about his department’s mission and how it relates to other departments and the corporate mission.  He demonstrates collaborative, ethical behavior, and encourages the same of his team; especially between the development staff and the quality assurance team members.

Externally, he attends networking events and conferences to learn from others.  He participates in the question and answer sessions of seminars and presentations and is never shy about contributing comments on Blogs relevant to his area of expertise.

Sam writes a Blog on Agile software development implementations (tools which facilitate collaboration between marketing, development and users to create products customers actually want), insights on the benefits of collaborative work for the SaaS/cloud computing software delivery method and general advice on managing for quality. There is no doubt of his technical expertise as expressed in the blogs and venues, and he is branded with the over-riding concept of collaborative software development.

He dresses well, attends seminars and writes white papers.  Sam uses social networking sites to engage both his internal and external networks to promote his point of view, publications and successes. He knows how to brag about relevant accomplishments without appearing braggadocios.

Sam has made managing his brand part of his every day activities.  It appears to be working.  His employer of five months invited him to create a first-of-year outlook based on Sam’s own plan plus input he was to obtain from other departments.  He has also been asked to undertake a major project that affects several departments to vet and hire a new vendor critical to the success of several product lines.  Only someone known for his collaborative successes would be invited to accomplish such a sensitive goal.   Sam is not looking for a job, but he keeps notes to incorporate examples that prove his brand for any future job interview.

He will be sure to journal and blog about how he accomplishes tasks that demonstrate collaboration and problem solving using collaborative techniqes.

Sam manages his brand well because he knows what it is. His brand informs him of where his time is best spent and with whom to expand his network.  Sam frequently searches the Internet to monitor how the world sees him and he comments on complimentary blogs to keep his name in the Agile-world radar.  He is often delighted to find himself quoted or his papers mentioned.  Sam’s brand is “Collaboration expert.”  What is yours?

Click here to learn why your brand is critical to your job search Installment One

Click here for installment two on Digital Job Search and Branding.

For discussion of how to discover how the world sees you: installment three.

Click here for installment four to discover your current identity.

Click here to start your branding efforts for your job search installment five

Click here for more resources

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By admin, November 19, 2008 8:38 pm

DON’T TRAP YOURSELF WITH NON-BELIEF

Reports indicate over 160,000 jobs lost nationally to date this year and a forecast by outplacement professionals, Challenger Gray and Christmas, declares a projected loss of over 180,000 tech jobs for 2009.  The question, “Will I be laid off?” is inevitable.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know one way or the other?  Unfortunately, this is one time in your life when you simply can’t get the information you need to see what your future holds.  You can only make a “best guess.”   It is to no company’s best interest to let people know about layoffs before they actually occur.  So instead, we engage in wishful thinking; arranging reality to prove the outcome we want.  Some examples:

I can ask: How can you know?  You can’t ask your boss; by definition, managers can’t reveal what is not yet made public.  It is a breach of ethics and a cause for firing.  If they say anything, it will be a flat out denial. The work you and the team are doing still needs to be done until other arrangements are made.

It’s just a rumor: If you heard a rumor, for instance, of a 10% cutback in force, where did the rumor originate?  Companies often “leak” this information to soften the blow with the press and investors when the hammer falls.  If you heard the rumor, it is probably true.

I am safe because I survived the layoff. The first wave of layoffs left your job in tact; does that mean your job is safe?  Probably not.  If your team has been reduced significantly, you can expect to be laid off in the next wave.  Layoffs usually come in threes.  Companies typically stage layoffs giving as much as 60 days notice or severance and the expense is huge.  Conducting layoffs in stages is one way to manage the bottom line consequences of massive layoffs.

The company has never had a layoff so I feel safe. Every company has had layoffs, they just don’t always call them that.  Projects are canceled, reorganizations occur and functions are sent off shore. Sure you are often given time to find a new job within the company, but that typically works only sometimes in the soundest of business climates.  When there are project cuts throughout the corporation, it is doubtful you will find a new spot internally.  You weren’t laid off but you are out of a job.

My function is too critical to the company to drop me: No such thing.  While you are thinking logically, you don’t have all the information.  Layoffs are often instigated by the Board of Directors.  Their agenda and that of the CEO are very different from the rank and file.  They are concerned with shareholder value and equity.

Most “C” level executives and certainly the Board, focus on the bottom line AND the stock price.  The triage they do is simple; what is absolutely necessary to shore up and/or maintain the stock price.  Each project/department and product is vetted against rule one; will keeping this team in tact generate revenue and contribute to the bottom line right now?  If there is any doubt about the necessity of your project/product in that vein, you are vulnerable for a layoff.

If yours is a long range or research project, you are vulnerable.  If you are an evangelist or if you are working on projects that keep the company in the public’s eye but do not actively generate attributable revenue, your job is at risk.

I am friends with my boss, he won’t fire me:  Marching orders are marching orders.  While many executives have discretion over who will get a pink slip, business trumps friendship every time.  Do you honestly believe your boss will put her job on the line to save yours?

And the real error in this thinking is that just because your boss is friendly, doesn’t mean he is your friend.  An efficient work environment is lubricated with friendly behaviors.  The best managers know a convivial work culture tends to be a productive one.

Don’t mistake that trip to your boss’s cabin with BFF.  In fact, if you really are friends, it is likely yours will be the first position to be cut so he won’t be accused of favoritism.  And don’t think for one minute that your boss whom you believe to be your friend will warn you if you are at risk.  She will only say what she is allowed to say; which is no one is in jeopardy of a layoff, or I haven’t heard one way or the other.

For advice on protecting your self from a layoff:  Can you protect yourself from unemployment?

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