Articles - Page 172 of 260 - The Voice of Job Seekers

The Signature Look for Your Career Brand with Aaja Corinne

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Over the years, I have written and spoke about the importance first impressions at job interviews and the opportunities that come through providing a great presentation. Dressing, looking, and becoming the part is a necessity to compete in any job market. That is why I wanted to have Aaja Corrine, an image branding strategist, on the show to explain how important for a job seeker’s image and brand to be complete.

For this episode, Aaja Corinne and I talk about how to impact your audience by the way you dress. Aaja is an image consultant whose client list includes Babyface (yes, the singer/songwriter/producer) and Bianca Golden, America’s Top Model Contestant. Aaja’s media features include WVON in Chicago, JET magazine, and Today’s Chicago Woman Magazine.

What are some of your challenges in dressing for interviews or networking events? Does your wardrobe fit your professional image or personality? I would love your feedback on these questions or anything that you’ve heard on any of our shows in one of the three ways:

1) Leave a voice mail or text message at 708-365-9822. Let me know if I can share it on future shows
2) Email me: mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com
3) Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com and press the “Send Voicemail” button to leave a message online

If you are a career coach or professional and would like to contribute advice or voice your opinion, leave a message along with your name and website. I will include both on the show and show notes on the blog.

Here are some of the highlights of what Aaja and I discussed:

1. Aaja coaches people to shape his or her brand perception through presentation – it affects your movement through the marketplace.

2. She helps people to brand through “signature” not “trends.” She works to understand the person’s job, everyday role, and company culture. She strives to get more information about the person’s personality and what makes them comfortable. Aaja says, “You should always wear the clothes – the clothes should never wear you.”

3. Aaja explains how a negative or a positive image affects your brand from her point of view. She says that your overall package should be as good as the professional substance. When you come to the table, and you don’t look prepared, people start to make assumptions about your capabilities, preparedness and credibility.

4.Your resume is no longer the sole factor in being hired, so you must look like a “brand ambassador” for the prospective company. She asks her clients,”What are your three words that you want to be perceived as?”

5. Aaja says that being adaptable is important to your image and brand. She suggests that you should take your cues from management to emulate their attire on regular workdays and casual days. It’s better to be a tad over-dressed than under-dressed.

6. Professional does not mean boring. You should have “staple” pieces and “statement” pieces. Listen as Aaja offer suggestions for her “power pieces.” There is a part where she says she can find a way to wear a white shirt with pajamas and make it look stylish!

Have you subscribed to this show on iTunes? If you haven’t, please do so. This is also a great place to write an honest review. Enjoy listening to the show. Let us know what you think.

Do you need help with resume writing or career direction? Do you need coaching or instruction? Then start here.

Also, join our community on Linkedin! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Here’s Why Your Linkedin Profile Should Be Like John Urschel’s

In watching ESPN,

I found out about John Urschel’s expertise is not only an offensive guard but a mathematician. What I didn’t know is that news outlets everywhere such as NPR talks with him about football and math. Well, later that day I went to see if he had Twitter and Linkedin profiles. His Twitter handle…perfect as @MathMeetsFBall. He even displays some humor that makes you smile:

So, @BillPrady , when is my @BigBang_CBS cameo going down? The team needs a mathlete! #ready pic.twitter.com/CjiHsmkIV1

— John Urschel (@MathMeetsFball) March 24, 2015

But his Linkedin profile was substantive and revealing at least to my delight.

It seems that John Urschel cut out the noise and fanfare from the rest of the world to unveil what is most relevant on his Linkedin Profile. After all, he could have his own website that promotes his football career (by the way, if he does, it’s listed on the first three pages of Google) followed by his profile captivating some possible commercial or entrepreneurial opportunities. No. Let’s do the math. He’s looking to change the world by the numbers. Somebody’s got to, right?

It is so not sexy, right?

I even made this observation in “The Voice of Job Seekers” Linkedin group:

“Here is a lesson in sound and effective branding. Go look at John Urschel’s Linkedin page and it will show you that it doesn’t have to be flashy or flowery. The keyword selection is appropriate, near perfect grammar and clearly niche. It doesn’t replicate any keyword phrases from anyone else’s page, or try so hard to be unique. So when we see an article below about you such as the one about Urschel, we’re not surprised.”

There are many takes on what a Linkedin profile should look like, but I encourage you to look at John Urschel’s Linkedin profile. This is the everyman’s (every woman’s) profile where less is more, and originality (not authenticity) compels more than it sells. It’s an example of the message sent and inferred and not marketing.

1. Football is what I do, but math is my love. Note that his passion for both is inferred and not overwhelming the reader with his intent. It is simple in language and tells the facts. He could overwhelm the reader with his football knowledge, or inundate us with formulaic rhetoric.

Instead, his keyword selection has functionality giving it meaning and substance right from the beginning:

“I have general expertise in all areas of numerical analysis and numerical linear algebra. My specialty lies in the numerical solution of PDE’s (specifically Finite Element and Multigrid Methods). “

Your headline and summary (note he doesn’t have a headline that matches the rest of his profile) should tell readers the problems you address or solve. If it doesn’t, then you will likely disengage readers who mean the most: Your prospective business partners or employers.

2. This is what I’ve done to ONLY whom it matters. This is simpler to say than it is to write, but Urschel’s profile speaks to a few people. We may say that they’re nerds, but it makes all the sense in the world. He doesn’t have to state what his goal is nor does he have to convince readers his intentions. Most of us cannot measure the impact or understand what he is publishing. What we can glean is his mission to find mathematical solutions that maybe 1% of people who will ever read will understand. The point: Your profile cannot be effective if it’s speaking to everyone. Narrow your focus to the audience that will understand if you. You will say more by speaking to fewer people. If you’re not solving a problem, or presenting an argument for us to engage, then at least intrigue us in a brief itinerary of your journey.

3. Nor am I trying to impress all of you. Urschel’s audience on his Linkedin profile is not football fans. It is not written for the general public. The problem with my Linkedin clients (and frankly 80% of Linkedin users) is you want your profile to mirror, sound like, or yes plagiarize someone who put in the real work. If you want to impress an employer to look at you, shrink your target and INTENT. If your experience is originally yours, then tell your story with your experiences and work.

I am not pointing to Urschel’s Linkedin profile as a perfect one. His content is clear storytelling without trying so hard to get the reader to do something right now (better yet, he sounds far from desperate). He is simply beginning the chapters to a career trajectory to become decades long. We can argue whether his headline says enough or if his Summary is too short or that he could use and afford a higher quality photo. We care less (and perhaps forget) that he smashes 300 pound guys for a living, but rather intrigued (at least those of us who are math unabled) that he’s a genius.

Marketing self by not marketing is the best marketing. I broke some grammar rules, but I’ll bet you will remember it.

What does your Linkedin profile say? Do you think it has your voice? Love to hear your thoughts.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Stress Less, Achieve More in the Workplace and Job Search

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Pressure is good. Stress should be avoided according to Aimee Bernstein, author of Stress Less Achieve More: Simple Ways to Turn Pressure into a Positive Force in Your Life. She states that, “…all us feel we’re always under pressure because of our constant accessibility.”

What makes you the most stressful about the job search process? I would love to hear what you think. There are three ways you can tell me:
1) Leave a voice mail or text message at 708-365-9822. Let me know if I can share it on future shows
2) Email me mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com
3) Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com and press the Send Voicemail button to leave a message online

My guest, Aimee Bernstein is the President of Open Mind Adventures and coaches, consults, and trains senior leaders and teams within creative and high-pressure environments. Her past clients include Dolce & Gabbana and other large entities. Here are some highlights from our discussion:

The level of stress has gone up incrementally–everyone is under pressure these days. The internet has made us accessible 24/7 through mobile devices, and we feel that we always have to be doing something
It’s part of Work-Life these days where you are expected to have all of the right answers, have them in a way that is calm and collected, and to be able to do everything
It’s best to create boundaries for yourself, but it is not a popular philosophy in business.
To shift stress, businesses need to shift their culture, but until they do, people need to know how to shift their pressure
With many terms to throw around, press and stress are the new good stress and bad stress
Pressure is defined as strength and energy depending how you related to it. It is the energy of change
If you are open to the energy of change, you will experience liveliness and high performance.
Pressure is a helper and a bit of intelligence to expand your capacity
To do well at job interviews you have to be as big as the job–How cool can you stay under pressure?
Aimee differs from the notion that we need to handle stress. We need to handle the pressure and AVOID stress.
Most people live in their cognitive minds
Look at the clues –How are we when by ourselves?

Have you subscribed to this show on iTunes? If you haven’t, please do so. This is also a great place to write an honest review. Enjoy listening to the show. Let us know what you think.

Do you need help with resume writing or career direction? Do you need coaching or instruction? Then start here and I can help.

Also, join our community on Linkedin! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!