Great Occupations

I've addressed this topic of skills versus talents before in the Daily Career Blog, but yesterday one of my clients emailed me asking for additional clarification. It's a critical to know who you are and what you bring to the table, so I want to give you this important piece of information. Yes, it's a fact. Prospective employers do care about your skills when you apply for their positions. However, you will encounter a lot of competition in the job market for those same skills. You have x skills and so does the other candidate who's vying for the same job. What could set you apart though is your... Read the rest of this entry »

1st: Research yourself. If you’re preparing for an interview, you spend time researching the company. You will look at LinkedIn and Google to find info on the person who’s interviewing you, you will look at Yahoo Finance to find out the company’s financials, etc. This is great to do, and, of course, you should do this, but before you even put yourself out there for the interview process, you need to know a few very important things about yourself first... Read the rest of this entry »

Whether you’re looking for a job, getting ready to ask for a promotion or preparing to explore new career directions, you need to have clarity about what your career assets are. How can you sell someone on why they should hire or promote you if you can’t articulate the reasons, and how can you journey into a new direction without knowing your starting point?

So in case you’re wondering what I mean by career assets, here you go… Your career assets are a summation of your passions; your gifts, talents & skills; and your value as demonstrated by how you’ve made an impact.

Tom Peters, well-known marketing and branding guru, authored a terrific article called The Brand Called You in which he suggests that you should look at yourself as the CEO of your own company, “Me Inc.” He says that “Me Inc.” is a brand and that you’re the one in charge of that brand. I think this is very empowering. I mean wouldn’t you rather be in charge of your brand and how it gets defined? If you’re like most of us, you’d rather NOT have someone else define it for you!

Now you know what career assets are, how do you identify yours?

• Take assessments like DISC, MBTI, Strong, Clifton StrengthsFinder, etc.
• List the gifts and talents you’ve always had, the credentials and skills you’ve acquired, and things you’ve accomplished.
• Source details from past performance reviews, and ask trusted colleagues, friends and families for specific feedback.

Get clear about what you want, what you bring and what the market (or your current or prospective employer) wants. At the point where these intersect… that’s where the magic is.

Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, therein lies your vocation. - Aristotle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and career coach. Along with partner, Jay Markunas, she helps people gain clarity and develop successful strategies for career transition. Through their company, Great Occupations, they help job seekers and career shifters by offering seminars, webinars, tele-coaching events and individualized coaching services. Listen to them on The Job Search Boot Camp Show on Blog Talk Radio. Check them out at www.jobsearchbootcamp.net & www.careerfindermethod.info.