With rapid advancements in technologies that now have people competing on a global playing field, an aspiring executive, thought leader or senior-level professional has to be far more proactive in his/her career management strategies if he/she wants to position him/herself as a must-hire candidate.

Here are five must-do career management strategies that everyone should be implementing, especially executives and professionals.

1. Strive for expert (thought leader) status: identify your strengths

While you may demonstrate general skills across a number of areas, to gain expert and thought leader status among your peers you’ll want to avoid being labelled as ‘the jack of all trades and the master of none’.

Instead, try focusing on one of your areas of strength (one that you have a motivated interest in too) and continue to expand your profile and your reputation within this area. After you’ve mastered this and built a solid reputation of success in this domain you can continue to expand your profile in other value-added areas.

To uncover your strengths and motivated interests, consider the following questions:

• What are you truly passionate about?
• What topics of conversation do you typically become involved in?
• What motivates you to action?
• What activities do you participate in and lose all track of time, because you become so engrossed in what you’re doing?
• What successes have you been integral in achieving that your peers often struggle with?

Another helpful exercise is to question people around you (including colleagues, friends, suppliers, clients etc.) to see what strengths and talents they believe you possess. Quite often people around us recognise things we don’t readily identify ourselves and which we can often take for granted.

2. Elevate your reputation (brand): become visible both in the market and your workplace

To strengthen your credibility and recognition as an expert and thought leader in your field of interest, it’s important that the work that you’re doing, along with your in-depth knowledge, is visible both within your workplace and out in the marketplace. This could include the following:

• Write a whitepaper to showcase your expertise
• Develop your own website, which can showcase your achievements and other contributions
• Author regular blog posts (which can be incorporated into your website) allowing you to communicate up-to-date information to your followers
• Develop a presentation and share this on your website or other social network sites such as Slideshare

Within the workplace:

• Write articles or stories of interest in your corporate newsletter
• Become involved in cutting-edge projects
• Put your hand up for more difficult assignments, particularly where colleagues can see your strengths in action
• Become a mentor for less experienced colleagues

These are just a few things you should be doing to start elevating your reputation within your field of interest. Whatever you choose, it’s important for you to be consistent in your activities. If you can’t see yourself writing a minimum of 3 blog posts a month, then this is probably not going to be the best option for you.

3. Maintain your ‘expert’ or ‘thought leader’ status: don’t let your skills become stagnant

Once you have achieved credibility and expert status, it’s important to keep up with what’s happening in your field. Consider the following:

• Regularly read online/offline publications to keep at the forefront of the industry
• Subscribe to newsletters on the internet or RSS feeds, industry blogs
• Attend ongoing professional development courses

Constantly-evolving technologies and changes within the market mean that continuing education, knowledge and skill expansion is a must.

4. Continue to build and nurture your circle of influence

You’ve heard me say it once and no doubt you’ll hear me say it again – your circle of influence and the connections you have are vital to your overall career management plan. Don’t neglect to maintain contact with them on a regular basis.

• Connect with them on LinkedIn and write a recommendation for someone you’ve had the pleasure of working with
• Send someone a link to an article of interest
• Make a pleasant comment on someone’s LinkedIn status
• Contact someone in your network who you haven’t seen in a while and invite them to catch up for a coffee

The list on how to maintain your relationships is endless. So what are you going to do to reach out to someone in your network?

5. Sustain your ‘expert’ or ‘thought leader’ status through key on-brand communication strategies

Your words, actions, the activities you are involved in that have the potential to be read, heard or seen by other people must always be on-brand – otherwise you run the risk of tarnishing your reputation. If you wouldn’t want a prospective boss, client or stakeholder to read or hear it – don’t write or speak about it. Remember, be on-brand with all your brand communication strategies.

So, which of the above 5 strategies will you implement today to begin building your reputation and your brand as an expert?

If you’re totally confused about how to start building your online profile, you may be interested in participating in my Social Media Virtual Workshop coming up this month. Find out more here

Perhaps you spent countless hours developing your résumé only to have been greeted by a ‘Thank you, but-you-were-unsuccessful-at-this-time’ letter? Or, after sharing your wealth of experience and achievements with the interviewer for a job you just knew you were an ideal candidate for, the job offer went to someone else? Or perhaps, a regrettable situation occurred in the workplace that now requires you to start the entire job search process again?

Unfortunately, even though you may set out with the best intentions and have given the situation your complete attention and commitment, things just don’t turn out the way you would have liked.

So whatever situation you currently find yourself in, it’s important that you don’t get (or remain) locked in bitterness, regret or self-doubt, as this will certainly prevent you from moving closer to your dreams and goals.

Here are five must-do tips to get you back on track and working towards your goals – FAST!

1. Don’t take it personally

Looking at the situation as a negative reflection on you personally will only lead to increased feelings of doubt, insecurity and low self-esteem, which will ultimately make it extremely difficult to move forward with confidence and optimism. And, optimism and confidence are two qualities that you should be reflecting, particularly as you continue interviewing with prospective employers.
Recognise that this situation wasn’t a direct reflection on ‘you’ and that this doesn’t mean that you are unworthy of being hired. It only means that this time around, someone else’s skills and experience had a slightly better match with the organisation’s requirements.

2. Don’t choose to play the victim

Where you put your attention and energy is what you’re going to continue to attract – it’s as simple as that. And choosing to play the victim and having the mindset of “Why me?” or “It’s not far” is extremely disempowering. You have a choice as to whether you are going to let this situation dampen your spirits and have you continue feeling despondent and miserable. Or alternatively, you can choose to look at this as a learning opportunity so that you can move forward with renewed confidence and optimism. 

Which option will you choose?

3. Don’t leave negative feelings and thoughts unaddressed

It’s easy to focus continually on negative feelings and thoughts by constantly talking about how unfair things are. Or worse yet, you may bottle up your feelings of disappointment and hopelessness and not acknowledge them at all. Both of these situations can seriously undermine your ability to move forward.

It’s important to talk about your disappointment, however not to continue focusing on this. Doing so will only serve to keep those feelings of disappointment close by, which brings me back to what I mentioned in point 2 about keeping in check about where you put your attention and energy. Who wants to continue feeling disappointed and hopeless?

Rather, how would you like to feel? How would you like to continue moving forward towards your goals? How do you want to represent yourself to organisations and key decision makers? So, my coach’s challenge would be for you to concentrate exactly on how you want to feel and how you want to move forward AND ensuring your actions are aligned with the positive intentions you are now setting yourself.

4. Don’t do the same thing over again and expect to get a different result

There’s an old saying I want to share with you. ‘What’s the definition of stupid? Doing the same thing twice – AND expecting to get a different result.’ Now while the saying is quite blunt it really does have merits, doesn’t it. I’m certainly not suggesting that you’re stupid – far from it. However what I do want to do is encourage you to look at ways you might change your approach, your focus or your action steps so that you can start generating the outcomes that you do want.

Do you need to tweak and tailor your résumé more specifically to the needs of the organisation? Does your résumé focus too much on accountabilities and not enough on measurable achievements? Do you need to hire a qualified interview coach to help you hone your interview responses so that you continue to position yourself as an ideal candidate?

What changes will you make?

5. Don’t continue the journey alone

Having a positive support and accountability partner who is one hundred percent behind you, can certainly make all the difference in not only how quickly you move forward but also how quickly you see your goals come to fruition.
This person can be your coach, your mentor, and your confidante as you continue working towards your goals, while later becoming your cheer leader to celebrate alongside you as you finally reach your destination.

Who will you select to be your support and accountability partner?

So, the next time life throws you a curve ball, ensure you follow the above 5 steps to ensure you get back on track – FAST!