Executive Power Brand ~ Deb Dib, The CEO Coach

Ten Tips for Executive Rebranding to Win in Volatile Markets

The market as changed - fast - thoroughly - like an earthquake. 

This seismic shift has left even the most accomplished top talent feeling a bit lost in the present and thoroughly uneasy about the future.

In this volatile climate it's tempting to change who you are - to meet what you think the market needs - so you can protect your current job or secure a new position.

But changing your personal brand is a "no can do" – it’s intrinsically who you are!

However, you can change your executive brand - what you are known for; what your personal brand looks like when you take it to work - and the perceived value attached to that executive brand. 

To retool your executive brand you need clarity, passion, and focus. 

Clarity is about the market and your brand - what the market needs now and what in your executive tool kit of ROI contribution intersects with that need. 

Researching the market and new paradigms in business is hard - but once you have that clarity passion is inevitable because you'll be in your zone, in your sweet spot. 

Focus is about staying on your new course every day and doing what needs to be done to build your new executive brand presence.

Here are ten "Deb Dib" rules for rebranding to win in volatile markets...

1. Do the homework you need to do to know what the market needs, how you can help, and what you now want to be known for. 

2. Make sure your new executive brand value is comfortable and authentic to you.

3. Make sure it's valuable to an employer and/or market. Make sure you can prove the ROI of your executive brand through stories of previous accomplishments.

4. Try and be as niched (specialized) as possible to increase your value. Scarcity value sells!

5. Get passionate about evangelizing your new message. If you can’t be passionate about it you may not yet have reached the clarity of a deeply visceral and valuable brand - keep working for that “eureka” feeling that tells you you’re there.

6. Create a strategic plan and time line for maximizing your exposure as your new brand. If you are employed, don't forget that you need to do this within your company as well as in the marketplace.

7. Don’t forget to include re-building or establishing your new branded on-line presence via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Namz, VisualCV, etc.

8. Make all decisions brand decisions – ask yourself, “Is the answer on brand or not?” “Will this decision strengthen my brand presence, or weaken it?”

9. Have very good reasons for doing something that is off-brand. A muddy brand dilutes rather than strengthens. A muddy brand confuses and erodes confidence – your own and that of the marketplace.

10. Educate your "personal board of directors" as to your new direction - get some passionate advocates working with you.

Bonus tip: Give to get - be open and generous with “on brand” knowledge and help – the "career karma" William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson talk about in Career Distinction doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

Bonus rule: Embrace the knowledge that building, strengthening, and refining an authentic and valuable executive brand never ends - it's an evolving and exciting continuum that helps you land faster, earn more, have fun, and even change the world a bit!

Fifteen Tips Executives Need to Know NOW to Make a Career Transition in a Volatile Market

1.    Start with the known -- If you've been laid off, excessed in a merger, or just want out of your current field it often helps to pursue companies, industries, and functions that have some connection to your field. These are often the most productive targets. Examples might be healthcare to biomediclal; teaching to educational sales; consumer products brand management to B2B marketing; banking to corporate finance; engineering to green technologies; software development to new media.

2.    Seek growing fields -- New, growing, and emerging fields like green technologies, clean energy, social media, and others, will have fewer job applicants trained in those precise areas. They are looking for the best, but know that the best will often have to come from somewhere else. If your value and experience speaks to their needs, your transition is assured. But it's your job to build the bridge to them and make your case. Barbara Safani's Career Solvers research department can help you with comprehensive job search research services. Mark Hovind's Job Bait site has terrific stats on employment and market trends by industry and region.

3.    Leverage volatility -- When mass layoffs occur, smaller companies that could not compete for top-talent rush into to fill the gap and gobble up superior performers. If you are laid off, don't limit your search to your industry or function, an unrealistic salary, or a geographic location. This is the time that companies are thinking creatively and are more open to speaking with "non-traditional" hires with a great track record. And they will be directing their recruiters to do so too.

4.    Concentrate on unique transferable value -- A transition (indeed any hire) depends on value not skills. Determine the value you bring -- value that transcends the boundaries of industry or function and underlies all your successes. Examples might be an ability to 1) consistently deliver growth no matter what the circumstances, 2) always find the one thing within an already good process that make s it deliver even more productivity or revenue, or 3) motivate a team to gel and excel in difficult circumstances.

Your resume probably sucks – here’s why, and how to fix it!

Just about anyone can write a “job graveyard” document (also known as a chronological “responsible for” resume). But NOT everyone can write a career marketing brief. (Also known as a branded resume.) The resumes brand-aware top resume pros write today look very different than the job graveyard resumes of ten years ago—and that's because they adapt to new market conditions, and the new ways resume information has to be communicated.

The Internet has changed the resume dramatically--and not just because resumes are submitted electronically, although that's a big thing. One of the things the Internet has done is taught people to read in short bursts--short paragraphs with white space around them. Concise writing, quick reads, critical content mapped exactly to the target employer / industry is what the best resumes of today have become.

That kind of resume can't be done by an outplacement firm or volume shop because it takes so much time to get it right. A short pithy resume is deceptive. It can be read in less than a minute--it probably took 20+ hours on the part of the client and writer (it has to be a partnership, BTW!) to research and strategize, and write and edit and polish and review and re-edit and set.

Great resume writers are pros at helping their clients identify strengths, personal brand, value proposition, and accomplishments. (And then dumping the ones that won't work to make a case for employment in the client's target industry). The process is as important as the deliverable (the resume) because the resume intake process has a hidden but valuable benefit--it preps the client to be able to interview knowing all of the above.

To me, that's the price of admission for a great client-resume professional partnership. Will the client come away knowing their value, the accomplishments that prove it, and be able to talk about it in networking and interview terms?

What, that's not a resume? Darn right--that's better than a resume! But guess what, a resume comes along with it! That's the value of using a real pro to help market your into your next job.

Most people find it difficult to have the insight and clarity needed to do this themselves. And unless they are in the careers industry they certainly don’t have the understanding of the latest changes in resume styles or job search. The professionals I know who are great at what they do go to one or more conferences a year, present at conferences, teach classes, write, and are in general, thought leaders who are at the cutting edge of this profession.

And they never, ever stop learning and teaching. And it’s real world, not academia. They’re in the trenches doing this work with their clients every day—and inventing new and better ways of “selling” their clients into their next great jobs. They are dedicated, and smart, and absolutely ethical. And worth the investment of working with them in more ways than one!

Having said that I will say something radical: You can get a great job without a resume, and you can get a great job with a terrible resume.

If you understand your value proposition (and know how to dollarize it), if you have a suite of accomplishments that illustrate it and you can speak of them clearly without rambling, if you are an excellent networker, or use a succinct value proposition letter sent to the right targets (check out JobBait.com for a great service to do this), if you do a bunch of other things right, you can get a job with a lousy resume, or no resume at all.

But that’s a big “if.” Everything has to fall into place for that to happen.

And even if it does, you still miss the value of the resume prep process—those value insights that position you to be your own best PR firm when you interview and speak! And guess what? A great resume is a leave behind that keeps on giving—especially when it comes to reviewing candidates on the short list ad determining compensation. Might not be such a good idea to give that up!

So consider having your resume professionally created. But be careful when choosing a resume professional. Ask the right questions and understand that as in any profession, you often get what you pay for. Meaning that generally a lower investment will not get you the level of service and value I’ve just discussed, and a lower investment will likely not get you a highly certified or experienced resume professional.

When choosing a writer, ask about certifications, years of experience, type of specialty, intake process, etc. to get a feel for how the writer fits your needs, budget, and target job. Many writers today have multiple certifications, and not just in resume writing. They may also be certified coaches and/or certified personal brand strategists. Having someone who knows the full spectrum of career development and job search is very helpful—jobs aren’t found in a vacuum!

Some certifications you might look for are Master Resume Writer, Credentialed Career Master, Nationally Certified Resume Writer, Certified Professional Resume Writer, Certified personal Brand Strategist, Certified Career Management Coach, and others. Organizations of resume and career professionals exist—some of the best are The Career Management Alliance, The National Resume Writers Association, The Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches, and Career Directors International.

There’s an industry of dedicated career professionals out there waiting to help you—and your investment will be recouped the first week of your new job—especially if you get it faster and it pays better and you love it—what a deal!