Bullet-Proof Your Executive Career in the New World of Work - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Bullet-Proof Your Executive Career in the New World of Work (An edited version of this article was originally posted on Quintessential Careers as part of the fourth annual Job Action Day initiative, celebrated this year on November 7.) Finding a job and staying employed today â€" two separate challenges â€" require more effort and strategic planning than ever before. Maybe you think that finding a job in the digital age means posting your resume to as many job boards as possible, then sitting back and waiting for the interview offers to come flooding in. If that’s how you spend most of your job search time, youre setting yourself up for failure, and building a false sense that youre working hard on finding a job. The fact is, most jobs are not posted on job boards. The majority of jobs that are filled are not advertised anywhere and not posted on a job board. Yet, most job seekers only pay attention to that small percentage of jobs that are advertised and visible. Launching a targeted personal marketing campaign, with purposeful networking to uncover the goldmine of hidden jobs, and strategically positioning yourself, leads you into the huge pool of unadvertised jobs. What is the hidden job market? Positions created to accommodate specific candidates, once they connected with and spoke with companies’ hiring decision makers. Existing positions that open up when an incumbent is replaced with someone better. An open position that isn’t advertised outside the company. Only insiders know about it. Jobs that, for whatever reason, are not advertised or visible, and can only be uncovered and accessed through networking. But understanding where to find jobs won’t bullet-proof your career. Understanding how to stay employed will. Gone are the days, for the most part, when you could expect long term employment (5-7 years or more) with the same company. Employer loyalty rarely exists these days. No job is permanent and everyone should expect to be in perpetual passive job search. Savvy careerists continuously market themselves, always anticipating job transition. Career situations can change at any time, and everyone must be prepared. Flexibility is key. Some viable strategies include temp to perm and portfolio careers (multiple part-time jobs or consecutive short term consulting positions, including temporary jobs, freelancing, and self-employment). Creating income security, instead of job security, is the new wave. As Quintessential Careers Randall S. Hansen said: Portfolio careers are usually built around a collection of skills and interests, though the only consistent theme is one of career self-management. With a portfolio career you no longer have one job, one employer, but multiple jobs and employers within one or more professions. What many job seekers today don’t understand is that staying employed is very much like running a business. You need to think of yourself as the CEO of your own start-up company â€" BRAND YOU â€" and continuously market, network and strategically position yourself, just as a business does. To insure you’re ready for the many inevitable shifts and moves your career is likely to make over your work life, you need to change your approach, whether or not you’re currently facing a job search. Dive in right now, with this checklist: 1. Define your personal (or career) brand. Personal branding is a method to uncover and differentiate the personal attributes and hard strengths you possess that outdistance your competition for good-fit jobs with your target industry and employers. Branding is no longer optional. Employers want to see hard skills linked to your softer ones â€" indicating who you are, what you’re like to work with and how your strengths and expertise will translate to $$$ for them. Ive written a 10-step personal branding worksheet that will help you. 2. Get your resume, biography and other career documents together as the foundation for all your personal marketing (or Brand You) communications. Gone are the days when all you needed to land a job was a one-size-fits-all resume outlining your comprehensive skill sets and qualifications. These days, you need to first have a clear career target so that you can build your career marketing documents around content and messaging that showcase your ROI (Return on Investment) and resonate with a specific audience. 3. Move your Brand You communications online with and other social media. Being on and having a strong online presence are also not optional. You may not feel comfortable putting yourself out there, but without an online identity, you may be completely invisible to recruiters and hiring decision makers who source and assess candidates through and other search engines. Transform your portfolio of career documents into a profile that’s a magnet for these people. Beyond , build a diverse online footprint across multiple channels, monitor it regularly for digital dirt or incorrect information, and make adjustments when possible. Show that you’re social media savvy by networking through , Twitter,