Branding
LIVE your “brand” more than you SAY it
Word count: 429; time to read: just over 1.5 minutes
Everyone knows that ACTIONS speak louder than WORDS. But why???
There may be many reasons, but near the top of the list is that we are bombarded by brand promises…most of which are not true or never proven.
Today, however, I heard an exception…and it REALLY stood out.
While listening to the car radio, the announcer gave the Wall Street update. He said, “…the Dow Jones average is up 3 points this morning…wait…no…actually, it just took a jump up…so it’s now up THIRTEEN points for the day.”
Wow! If this station wants me to think of them as having the most up-to-the-minute financial news, then this was powerful. My mental image as they shared this stock report was of them having a live feed from Wall Street and glancing at it in MID sentence…to make sure the news they delivered wasn’t even 2 minutes old.
Are you maximizing the effectiveness of referrals?
Word count: 825; approximate time to read: just over 3 minutes
In a post titled, “Referrals: when to use them…and when to pass”, I wrote about a helpful guideline for deciding when to use a referral source, and when to bypass the referral and make the contact yourself as a “cold call.”
Because of the importance and prevalence of referrals in the hiring process, you may want to make sure you’re up on a few other important aspects that were not covered in the previous post.
The giving and receiving of referrals has inherent risks for all parties that I won’t dwell on. Suffice it to say that you need to choose a sponsor that will help your cause more than hurt.
Do Others Recognize Your Value?
Word count: 423, approximate time to read: 2 minutes
Are you GREAT at what you do? I mean one of the top 10% in your field?
If not, you may want to take a closer, more realistic look at how you add value to a business and why they should pay you the money you want. But even if you really ARE great, do you think people will want to hire you quickly…and pay you what you’re worth?
The answer is yes…and no.
It’s not that companies don’t want to hire you and pay you what you’re worth…but if you leave it up to others to understand the value you bring to the table, they will always so no and/or pay you less.
BUT, if the value is really there, then you will be in-demand and paid what you’re worth. The catch is you need to properly POSITION yourself…and you need to TARGET the right audience.
How Using Your Resume May Actually Hurt Your Job Search
Word count: 1,058; approximate time to read: 4 minutes
By far the most common and costly mistake I see executives making with their resume has nothing to do with the format, the wording or the length. It has to do with WHEN they share it!
The powerful principle is, “Your resume can’t GET you the job…but it can ELIMINATE you.”
The simple but unconventional solution? DO NOT SEND A RESUME!
Note that I did not say, “don’t WRITE a resume.” CREATING your resume is a valuable and important exercise. And most executives should even enlist the help of a good resume writer. Portions of the content you create will serve as strategic “bait” for your successful job search.
But if your entire resume is perfectly polished and you share it at the wrong time…you might as well be rearranging deck chairs on the proverbial Titanic.