Personal brand Archives - The Voice of Job Seekers

10 Ways to Create Demand for Your Work —And Career

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Remember Bo Jackson? He was one of few professional athletes to play and excel in his career at two different sports – baseball and football.

What does Jackson have to do with your career? It’s simple, really: His example teaches us what it means to be in demand. Jackson so proved and maintained his excellence that teams in both the MLB and the NFL wanted him on their rosters.

Staying in demand is the key to a successful career. If you want to stay in demand, you need to take a page from Jackson. Your strongest skills must be evident in all that you do. You must exploit their value, showcase them to the world, and create demand for yourself. In 2023, there are only a few areas more important than creating standout work people can find and realize they can get it from you regularly.

Here are some steps to take in order to create – and sustain – demand for the value you produce as a professional:

1. Stay Focused on the Value of Your Work

Most of us need to be reminded occasionally of what our work means and how it impacts others.

Find out how your work improves other people’s lives and keep this in your sights at all times.

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2. Keep Proof of Your Best Work Close By

You will have to show others your best work – not to brag, but to illustrate your value. Share proof of your best, most recent work on your social channels. Use the channels where your work is most likely to reach its intended audience.

3. Know Who Appreciates Your Work and Why

You may have to do a little schmoozing in order to better understand whom your work reaches and whom it serves, but that’s okay.

Over-delivering is more than just an extra scoop of ice cream – it’s a way to build intimate pathways between your work and the people it affects, not to mention the additional brand loyalty it yields.

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4. Reward Constructive Direction

Informational interviews are one of the most effective job search tools and under-utilized strategies most job seekers miss. I explain in this article what can come from what I call “constructive direction” you can receive from someone who is interested in seeing you win. Constructive feedback can be tough to swallow, but it’s necessary. Most importantly, pay attention to the source of the criticism. Can you accept constructive feedback from someone who may not care about the outcome? If you can, and you can respond positively to that feedback, you can stay ahead of your competition. Thank people for their critiques. Doing so will build goodwill and show others you are serious about what you do.

5. Engage in Meaningful Conversations

Good networking isn’t about getting things from people. Good networking is an exchange of value. When you make connections, look for ways to build trust – not just for now, but for the long term. Also, give as much as you’re getting – if not more.

6. Anticipate Your Professional Peaks and Valleys

All careers have periods of thriving and periods of decline. Layoffs and terminations happen to even the best people. Stay connected to the meaning of your work. Respond quickly and appropriately to both good and bad news.

7. Become Your Own Master Publicist

Your future employers and business partners want to know you. The more people rave about you, the easier it is to build trust.

When you have people bragging about the value you deliver, new opportunities will come to you.

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Why not lend your voice to a podcast, magazine, or television interview? Get your message out there and get other people spreading it for you. Since 2020, the average person (not a network star, journalist, or media personality) can reach media outlets.

8. Share Your Stories

Your message, voice, and delivery matter to the people in your network. People want to know how you got to where you are. Part of why people invest emotionally or financially in anything is because they understand the journey and want to be part of it. Get your message out there through relevant, engaging stories. People will listen.

9. Connect with Experts

Whom you meet matters. It is essential to forging relationships with hiring managers and executives. They may not hire you, but they can certainly help you on your journey in some way or another. Employers who offer insights into their hiring practices on LinkedIn and other platforms are valuable. If you’re bold and tactical, you can engage them.

10. Give Without Expecting to Get

Word spreads when you give more than you take. People care more about your generosity than your skills. If you prove you are personally driven to create value for others, people will be impressed – and they’ll want you on their side.

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People won’t demand you if they don’t know or trust you. You must create demand. It won’t show up at your door. Put your work out there. Connect with employers, referrers, and other people in your industry. Make yourself available to others – the people who want you in their network, the employers who could use your skills, and the people who need your help.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

Your Brand is More Than Titles

I want to share my annual thoughts on job search trends slightly different this year. Instead of one list where I share a list, I want to take a deeper dive into each one I share and then write a round-up linking to each article.

Let’s start by stating the obvious. You’ve heard me say that job search is a lifestyle. You’re going to need to market the brand you have. It’s more than titles, acronyms, and letters behind your name unless it’s an M.D., JD., and a few others. Even MBA letters behind a name has lost it’s essence. It won’t evolve into anything significant until it’s visible with applied knowledge.

If you’re differentiating yourself from your peers and competitors, you’ll lump yourself in with everyone else. It would help if you wanted to stand out, but listening to many folks who are telling you a brand is something you create. If you’re making a persona instead of exploiting the one that markets yourself, you’re doing it wrong.

Yep. I used “markets.” Get used to it as of right now. We’re all trying to get some visibility. It’s not magic. It’s intention.

Let’s talk about the title with the letters behind it. Many experts will say on LinkedIn it doesn’t matter. Titles are marketing if they’re useful and universally known. Labels are marketing if you do something, only 50 people in the world do. Titles are helpful when you are professionally involved in an industry where you’re paid to have those skills, and everyone knows what it is. OK, so maybe I’m wrong about this. It may get you some helpful LinkedIn SEO.

But it’s not your brand.

I’ll argue if you can’t capture your brand in fewest words as possible, then you’re thwarting your marketing efforts. It’s work well spent if you want your brand and work to be its referral engine. People need to scan and click. Take their thinking from them, and infuse it wherever possible, with as fewest words as possible.

We’re remote, and we’re online. Present yourself as a gold mine, not a land mine:

How are you valuable?
What do people need from you (what have you been told)?
What solutions are you known for?

You have to explain a title, and if you have three inexplicable titles, people may not ask anything of you.

For many years, my wife and I contracted our electrical work to George. Whatever electrical job we needed doing for our two-flat, George has been our go-to guy. We thought that’s all he did, and in fact, we also enjoyed his company. We know that he also owned several pieces of property.

We didn’t know he retired from the government after 32 years of finding hidden money as a tax accountant. We didn’t realize this until this year about George.

If we’d known, it wouldn’t change our relationship with him. But he only wanted us to understand what is relevant to us. George solved one problem for us. He has received a plethora of referrals from us just for his work he’s done for us. George created the demand for his work only as an electrician for us.

Be like George.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

The new economy is here — and so is Job Search 3.0

As the great recession and social media have defined a chapter in the new economy, COVID-19 and the incessant use of technology marks the midst of “Job Search 3.0!” Successful career advancement means your job search becomes a lifestyle. To disengage from any career advancement efforts for more than four to six months creates a career chasm. It puts you light years behind your competition, who are always ready to move, shift, or find an additional job. It’s lethal to your livelihood and you want to avoid it like the Corona Virus.

The merge of technology, business, and reliance on resumes and job sites in short, but not entirely, describes “Job Search 1.0.” The defining moments of “Job Search 2.0,” in my view, coincides with Web 2.0 where web traffic is generated by content and social media. Job seekers had a new way to stand out if they adapted to these social tools and generated content to show their value in order to get hired.

COVID-19 has disrupted every industry in one way or another. But it shouldn’t disrupt your focus to find a new job, change a career, or bounce back from a forced separation (being fired).

The time to advance career your career is NOW!

What you need to know, if you don’t know already, is that your job search needs to be a lifestyle. Perhaps we should call it “Job Search 3.0.” This is not just something you say you’re starting to do, it’s a perpetual engagement in the war against mindless meme posting and incessant entertaining videos.

You’re already swiping up, down, left or right a dozen times a day. It’s the shift from a technology novice to an intentional job seeker. You’re always connected, even if you’re just using text. You’re communicating with others outside of your work meetings, church services, and fellow travelers. “Job Search 3.0” simply means you’re always in a job transition, transformation, and career advancement mode. You’re one decision away from a job move or career change.

The role needs to change to adapt to the mindset of a consultant:

Always listening for industry pain points to solve
Assembling a portfolio of your work demonstrating a range of results, solutions, and innovation
Knowing which companies would benefit from your value

Even passively looking and entertaining advancement opportunities is part of “Job Search 3.0.” I had a mentor who practiced interviewing once a year just to remain on the cusp of her career. You may want to adopt this spirit by grasping your current or new industry’s innovation trends moving towards new or away from old technology, delivering results, and new positioning.

Here are 16 actions and strategies for your immediate consideration:

Exchange value with your network and give more than you get.
An active and engaged network will bring you opportunities and visibility to employers/recruiters.
Stay on top of the changing technology trends.
Sharpen your negotiating skills (compensation packages).
Promote yourself on social media, and keep those who boast about you in the front view of you and your followers.
Maintain quick access to relevant references, mentors, and sponsors in your industry.
Understand the short life of your skills.
Do not fear job separation nor allow the myths associated with it to penetrate your goals.
Career transformation is a necessity, preferably to have it occur seamlessly but that might not always be an option.
Young careerists (30 and under) should have a wealth of informational interviews under their belt.
Who is on your team?
Engage in industry organizations, online groups, and committees.
Create a robust LinkedIn presence with a convincing profile.
“No” is a valuable asset, but also the drive behind motivated discontent.
Building a personal brand that creates a demand for your work.
Choosing your employer is more important than who is your employer.
The best career tool for high school, college, trade, apprentice students are informational interviews.
Serving is the new networking.

Some of you are thinking (but you’re really resisting) about the challenge of changing from your comfort zone:

Is this going to be more to add to my to-do list for each day?

We already do this. According to a recent Vox article, the average American smartphone user had an average of three hours and thirty minutes a day on their phone. If you have more than two hours of screen time, I’m sure there are 45 minutes a week for you to comment on LinkedIn a couple of times, watch a free YouTube DIY (Do-It-Yourself), or participate in an industry organization call or video conference.

How are we supposed to remain in “job search mode”?

Your mobile apps are tools. I’ve written several articles over the last three years that the apps we can download allow our phone to be a job search hub and a lifeline. Our mobile phones empower our ability to learn, connect, research, and apply. The right mobile apps are the power supply to engage in a continual job search without extra equipment or expenses.

Why can’t I focus on my job now and look when I don’t have one like I always have?

It takes too long to gear up. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in fall of 2019 that the average time of unemployment is nine weeks. Since the BLS does not report underemployment numbers, the true extent of an effective job search is immeasurable. Nine weeks is not an eternity, even in a job seekers market where it’s assumed jobs are plentiful. Another report from the BLS shows the amount of people quitting are twice as high as separations (layoffs and terminations). Conclusion: no one wants to be without a job in any economy, recession, or even in a job seeker’s market.

Why are some many people emphasizing the use of LinkedIn?

You’ll be more attractive as a job candidate to recruiters. Job seekers making the best use of LinkedIn are treating it as a living and breathing, online document. They are updating their status, engaging in conversations, and offering original thoughts. If you’re not active on LinkedIn, recruiters will not find you. Recruiters have explained to me that they’re checking out a target candidate’s activity more than once before engaging them with a potential opportunity. Treating your activity as a passive tool doesn’t serve your job search as an asset.

There is so much to unfold in the upcoming months as we find out the industries that will take hits from COVID-19. We can also expect technology will disrupt our lives in a major way because our lives will be changed forever. Will the healthcare and insurance industries experience another crippling blow? How will small businesses survive the challenges of working remotely or brick and mortar businesses completely closing? If you haven’t already built your own expertise in an industry that will drive your career, you’ll probably need to take the time to decide where your current skills are most needed. If you’re deciding to take any job that crosses your path, you may be waiting a long time.