Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from the most recent session with Kim Batson, The CIO’s Coach, and Deb Dib, head of Executive Power Brand.
This week’s Coach call included a lot of discussion of personal brand and how to differentiate yourself, especially when it’s difficult to quantify your experience and value in term of ROI for prospective employers. For example, one caller started his own business after 17 years in the corporate world, building his operation from scratch and successfully merging with another company. Now that he is ready to re-enter corporate work, how does he make the most of his entrepreneurial background?
Deb and Kim suggested he go through a process of discovery. He needs to develop a strong value proposition, identifying what he can do better than anyone else. In the case of this entrepreneur, he has done so many things – hiring, managing P&L, building departments, updating existing systems, etc. The challenge is to find the pieces he really enjoys and he is really good at and building a brand around those successes.
The career coaches suggested he indentify his top five or six career accomplishments and use the CARSS method:
· Challenge – what was the challenge?
· Action – what action did you take to address the problem?
· Results – what was the return on investment?
· Strategic value – what was the importance to the company?
· Strengths – what strengths were shown to accomplish the goal?
For every career accomplishment, apply the “so what?” test – why should a company care? Did the achievement increase production, decrease inventory, increase sales? Keep asking yourself “so what” until you can get no further with the answers. You also have to be able to show why the accomplishment was important to the company, in context with deliverables, to tie it all together.
Remember, the hiring managers and recruiters will all be applying the same “so what” test to your credentials. Your success in personal branding is what will get you the interview. Deb provided an example where a decision had to be made between two CMOs. One had a hardnosed brand, tracked everything, and looked very professional and by the book. The other had a brand as an out-of-the-box thinker, not a micromanager, and autonomous. The hiring company was able to look at these traits and choose the candidate that best fit its culture.
