Career Advice

The Enlightened Job Seeker

 
It certainly is no secret to anyone reading this that there is a new “normal” in the process of personal career management.  More than ever, professionals of all skill levels-- and within all industries-- have been tasked with the complicated process of managing their careers in transition.  You know what’s scary?  Not very many of us know how to navigate the labyrinth of the new economy. Take care! We now inhabit a career minefield.  An old marketing concept from 1961 has re-emerged at the center of professional branding and…it makes perfect sense.  Each of us as professionals must now understand our Unique Selling Proposition (USP).  It’s simple.  What about our professional brand makes us desired as a sought solution to our respective organization’s problems?  Can we assess ourselves?  Are we in touch with our professional wins?  Does our body of materials demonstrate our worth?  Can we count on our network to help us solve problems?  The new imperative is the job seeker who can answer these questions--- the Enlightened Job Seeker.

Assessment is required to reach the state of career enlightenment and the job seeker must know herself better than ever before.  She is willing to do the cathartic assessment to understand strengths, weaknesses, personality type and desired work.  She knows however that too much “thinking” is probably not a good thing.  When faced with mistakes her instinct is to act with purpose to correct professional flaws and continue the evolution.  Because the enlightened job seeker knows herself she does not make desperate career management decisions.  The right behaviors produce the right results, time after time.  She knows it!    

Winning in all types of situations makes sense.  For individuals managing a career, not having a list of quantifiable accomplishments is suicide.  Being able to demonstrate a solid track record of quantifiable accomplishments bolsters buyer confidence.  And guess what?  From a talent perspective--it’s a buyer’s market.  Professional contributions must be presented to show bottom-line numerical impacts.  If there are no numbers, there probably aren’t any results.  This reality is tough but absolutely true.  Our enlightened job seeker understands that documenting a lifelong inventory of professional accomplishments IS their career.  Action oriented behavior makes it all possible.

Materials of all types demonstrate a linkage between the enlightened professional and their total body of work.  And yes, this means solid search documents like a resume.  More importantly the simplistic word “materials” is used here to represent an investment in professional brand (time, money, sweat equity) that the enlightened job seeker understands---really well.  Social media is used responsibly and with forethought.  Even the business “suit” becomes a part of the cadre of tools used by our new age career management guru.

Network your way to a successful career?  You better believe it!  The enlightened job seeker gets a tremendous “kick” out of their competitors who treat networking events like a drive by shooting!  A collection of 2,123 “contacts” on LinkedIn is not a network---it’s a list of names.  Making deposits into “relationship accounts” ensures that we get reciprocal benefits for the long run.  Fully aware professionals prepare for every event and informational meeting with a purpose in mind.  They go the extra mile to ensure that the most influential players in their network are not overleveraged.  Getting out of the office pays big dividends for the enthusiastic practioner of enlightened career teachings.  Post and pray?  NEVER!  Action conquers fear.  Period.