Position Yourself for the Career You Want Not the Job You Have - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Position Yourself for the Career You Want Not the Job You Have - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career I prefer the term career over the term job. A job is a single occurrence, while a career is something built over the course of your life.   A career is typically made up of many jobs.   Sometimes they are interrelated and other times there is no real direction, therefore there are multiple careers leading to nowhere.   Im not into the word job or job searching because I believe they are old terms and an old way of thinking.   The new terms are people and people searching and weve realized the change in purpose and career path due to the accessibility and connections made through the web.   Ive been thinking a lot about positioning lately, which is why today I want to direct your attention to something I both believe in and hold to be mandatory in a world where the future is uncertain. Position yourself for the career you want not the job you have. This big idea will change the face of how people brand themselves online and how they position themselves for success.   My belief is that most people arent breakout stars or experts.   A network isnt built overnight either.   Also, you cant have everything you want today, which is where sacrifice and dedication come in. Your goal is to command your career and create your future. Its not where you are, its where youre going I tend to examine a lot of online profiles to see whose doing things right and who is less forward thinking.   Most people seem to be caught up in the moment, without really think about where they are heading in their careers.   When this occurs, they tend to stay exactly where they are, without much progression.   Of course, many people have different aspirations, but from most surveys Ive read, 80% of people hate their jobs. If you want to be able to make money doing what you love, you have to (and I repeat) have a future plan or destination.   Whether youre a consultant, entrepreneur, youre currently employed or youve been laid off, the same idea applies: position yourself today to become a player in that area tomorrow. Forget your job title and focus on your brand I want you to examine the picture on the right. Youll notice that there are two LinkedIn profiles, but both are positioned very different.   What most people dont know about LinkedIn, is that the headline in your profile is the single most important element.   If youve filled our your LinkedIn profile information, your last job title and company appear in your headline automatically, unless you revise it manually. If you dont update this field, then your title and company become your brand.   This is terrible for a few main reasons. When someone goes to search for someone with your expertise, they wont find you.   No recruiter or hiring manager is goin to type in Senior Account Executive.   If they type in sports and LinkedIn, they may find Lewis though. Do you think Mike really wants to be known as a Senior Account Executive for Eclipse Financial, Inc.?   Do you think he wakes up every single day with a smile and he wants to be in that position for the rest of his life?   I would say theres an 80% chance hes doesnt!   I could be wrong though. You wont get any opportunities that reflect your passion and others will, causing you to stay stagnant in your career. This LinkedIn example is just one.   Most people arent thinking about their futures so all of their online properties and offline ones, such as   business card, arent positioning them for success. Your turn How are you positioning yourself online and offline?