A common theme for my executive clients is a resume and LinkedIn profile lacking tender loving care. Why? Every one of their career opportunities has been a result of networking or promotions. Unfortunately, if you’re in your 40s or 50s, those opportunities tend to be few and far between. Alas, we age.
Times have changed regarding your career brand. For the better, in some cases, with simplified global communication. On the other hand, your online image is now an open kimono that anybody can view.
If you’re at a crossroads in your career, here are 5 ideas to make a change.
Career Vision
When was the last time you had a 1:1 with yourself regarding how you envision the next decade of your career? Now is a good time. You’re a successful person who has created product roadmaps, so let’s develop one for yourself. If you’re ready, time to type or scribble in your journal responses for the following:
- What makes me happy?
- If I could swap places with a person, who and why?
- What’s best for my family?
- What are my values, including non-negotiables?
- What inspires me?
- What’s the legacy I want to leave behind?
- What does financial security look like?
Skills Assessment
When clients onboard with me, I send them a custom questionnaire. For the skills assessment, I ask them to provide their top 5 hard skills and 5 soft skills. Next, I have them list 3 job postings of interest. Based on those two data sets, I map their LinkedIn profile skills to create a quantifiable assessment of their brand position. Ironically, their top skills typically only align with 80% of the job postings. The lesson learned is to align your skills with a company’s requirements using their terminology to have the optimal business match.
Job Search Tools
- LinkedIn: Since over 85% of recruiters and hiring managers use LinkedIn, I highly recommend that you join the club. An “All-Star” profile provides you higher profile visibility as a thought leader; hence, you’re an attraction magnet for recruiters. It’s as simple as delivering that smiling headshot, career summary, job positions with responsibilities and metrics, and skills along with a background photo, skills endorsements, and colleague recommendations. Think like a recruiter; would you hire a ghost with no online image? One quick setting to check is that you’ve selected the “Public Profile” and toggle all the subcomponents to “Show.”
- Applicant Tracking System (ATS): Resumé up to par? One ATS tool I use daily is available at Jobscan.co. It’s your job search editor when it comes to prioritizing keywords. You can sign up with zero commitment and receive 5 scans of your current resume against specific job postings. I have a premium $90 prepaid quarterly account, while month-to-month accounts are well worth the $50 monthly. Bonus, your first month is free.
Networking
It’s who you know. Or who you need to seek out and get to know. People hire people. Make a monthly commitment to reach out to 4 colleagues, a mere 1 contact per week. And, don’t limit it to who you know. Reach out to people you admire. I’ve grown my connections by 33% in the past year through new clients and fellow career consultants. Don’t limit networking to your company; reach out to others at companies you would like to work for in the future.
By all means, send a personalized note explaining why you’re reaching out and what you admire about the person. Yep, that’s networking.
Volunteer
There are two ways to do this. First, you can join a not-for-profit to share your passion with like-minded people. Every volunteer group can benefit from your leadership and tech-savvy.
Second, become a mentor. I’ve mentored 5 people within the past year. I’m like a proud mom seeing my adult children grow and flourish without paying their college tuition! It’s a win-win since they are seeking your advice and you’re giving back. It does the heart good.
Here’s to landing your dream job in 2021; you deserve it!
