What’s Your Best Friend’s Personal Brand? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Think about your closest friends, or just your very best friend. What is it about their personality that drew you to them, and keeps you close to them?

A project my dear friend Marie Bernegger recently completed led me to consider the parts of her personal brand.

She has struggled with Type 1 diabetes for more than 40 years, and found comfort and a way to fuel her passion to elevate diabetes awareness through the online community TuDiabetes.

An avid quilter for more than 30 years, Marie has won numerous awards, taught many classes and is currently President of a very active quilting guild.

Her two passions came together when she was asked by the Diabetes Hands Foundation, which runs TuDiabetes, to create the quilt she’s holding in the photo here.

Find out how I define Marie’s brand in my Executive Career Brand post, My Best Friend’s Personal Brand.

Related posts:

Even Quilters Are Tucking Into Personal Branding

Executive Branding Strategy for a President-CEO-COO Manufacturing Operations

10 Steps to an Authentic, Magnetic Personal Brand

The True Measure of Your Personal Brand

Is it Too Late to Work My Passion in My Executive Career? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Are you thinking about transitioning your executive career away from a job or industry that just doesn’t cut it for you anymore? Have you been unhappy for quite some time, and wonder where it all went off track?

Maybe you’re a baby boomer, in the later stages of your worklife and concerned that you can’t afford to shift gears now.

But if you don’t start working towards re-igniting your passion in your career, it may never happen, and you may always regret not trying.

Besides, passion is one of the most important investments you can make in your career.

Find out why in my Executive Career Brand post, Can You Work Your Passion in a Lousy Executive Job Market?

Related posts:

Would You Rather Be a Baseball Team COO Than a Telecomm COO?

Considering an Executive Career Reinvention?

FREE Guide on Boomer Encore Careers

Boomer Career Trends: The Graying of America’s Work Force

Sundays Without Social Media? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Are you semi-addicted to social media like I am? Can’t seem to disconnect for even one day a week?

You know how it is. Portable devices like netbooks and Blackberries make it so easy to happily stay connected . . . endlessly.

But is it really necessary to check emails on Sunday, when you know you won’t respond until Monday . . . or keep up with social networking, when nothing happening there will be so critical it can’t wait until Monday?

Read about the goal I set for myself at Executive Career Brand.

Boomer Career Trends: The Graying of America’s Work Force is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

We’ve all been hearing lately that boomers are staying in the workforce longer because their retirement accounts took such a hit recently, and that we can expect the trend to continue well after the economy recovers.

According to one government estimate, 93% of the growth in the U.S. labor force from 2006 to 2016 will be among 55 and older workers.

But you may be surprised to know that the majority of those over 55 stay at work beyond retirement age because they want to stay active into their later years, not because they need the money.

According to a September 2009 nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project:

“A majority (54%) of workers ages 65 and older say the main reason they work is that they want to. Just 17% say the main reason is that they need the paycheck. An additional 27% say they’re motivated by a mix of desire and need.”

The reasons older workers gave included:

• “to feel useful”
• “to give myself something to do”
• “to be with other people”

Conversely, younger adults are staying out of the workforce longer.

Of Americans aged 16 to 24, 57% are in the labor force today, compared to 66% in 2000.

Two factors impacting the youngest working group:

• Instead of diving into full time jobs, they’re getting a college education under their belts to get ahead, and
• Discouraged by dwindling opportunities in this economy, they’re dropping out of the job market entirely.

The Pew report is based on analysis of long-term trends in survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Pew Research’s own survey of a representative national sample of 1,815 people ages 16 and older conducted from July 20 to Aug. 2, 2009.

Other key findings:

• Security trumps salary.
• Despite tough times, job satisfaction remains high.
• Older workers are the happiest workers.
• Retirement is not always voluntary.
• Even so, retirement gets high marks.
• The public is skeptical about full-time working moms.
• Most working moms would rather have a part-time job.

You can grab the full report here: Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer.

Related posts:

Baby Boomer Career Reinvention: Moving Toward Working Your Passion

Baby Boomer Executives Afraid of LinkedIn and Social Media

Baby Boomers Are Career Transitioning. The World of Work After 50

Saturday, November 14 is World Diabetes Day is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Join the good people at TuDiabetes, a rapidly growing online community of people touched by diabetes, in raising diabetes awareness by participating this Saturday, November 14, in The Big Blue Test.

On that day, at 14:00 hours (local time), thousands of people with diabetes will test their blood sugar, do 14 minutes of exercise, test again and share their results on TuDiabetes or on Twitter.

In support, Niagara Falls and the Empire State Building will be lit blue on that night. And over 700 corporate and public buildings across the globe will also shine in blue.

My connection to diabetes is through my dear friend Marie Bernegger, who has sometimes triumphed over, but mostly struggled with Type 1 diabetes for over 40 years.

About 2 years ago, at a low point and feeling overwhelmed by too many highs and lows, she got involved with TuDiabetes.

Instantly welcomed and comforted by the group which, at the time, had only about 2,000 members, but now boasts nearly 12,000, Marie (Marie B on TuDiabetes) quickly became a source of comfort for new members, many of whom were recently diagnosed.

She searches the site and reaches out to those who are afraid and need information and support.

Discussion groups chat about everything involved with living with diabetes — from which meters and insulin pumps are the best to dealing with insurance, and just trying to make sense of diabetes.

Marie and other supportive experts on the site know first-hand how devastating the illness can be from day to day.

TuDiabetes is a safe place to freely discuss all the issues. The site is closely monitoried to stay PG-13 and to keep it free of spam, snake oil salesmen, and flame-throwers. It’s a place where’s there no blame and no shame.

If you or someone you know needs help navigating a life impacted by diabetes, become a TuDiabetes member and feel better right away. And say hello to Marie!

Best FREE E-Books on Personal Branding, Job Search, Social Media, Career Marketing is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Think you can’t get something for nothing? Not so. Many subject matter experts publish free e-books offering a wealth of information and advice. Take advantage of them.

I’ll be adding to this list, as more come my way. Please send me links to your favorite relevant free e-books and, if they’re good, I’ll include them.

Here’s what I have so far:

♦  My own e-book: Executive Branding and Your LinkedIn Profile: How to Transform Your Executive Brand, Resume, and Career Biography Into a Winning LinkedIn Profile

♦  The Best Career Strategies of 2009: How to Get Hired or Get Ahead, Even When the Economy is Getting Worse, by Bonnie Lowe – a compilation of advice and tips from subject matter experts

♦  Using the Social Web to Find Work, by social media guru Chris Brogan

♦  Personal Branding for the Business Professional, by Chris Brogan

♦  20 Free eBooks About Social Media, Chris Brogan did the research to compile this solid list

♦  Guide on Boomer Encore Careers – “Looking for an encore career? The guide to finding work that matters”, by encore.org

♦  How to Really Find a Job Online, by job search expert Alison Doyle

♦  30 Ideas: The Ideas of Successful Job Search, by Tim Tyrell-Smith of Tim’s Strategy

♦  Green Careers Advice Guide: Practical Advice for Advancing Your Personal Brand in the Green Industry, by Reach Certified Personal Branding Strategists

♦  15 Minute Guide to Layoff Self-Defense: Six Steps to Protect Yourself and Your Income, by Susan P. Joyce, Online Job Search Expert and Editor/Publisher of job-hunt.org.

♦  Using Craig’s List to Find a Job, by Susan Joyce

♦  Successful Interviewing: What Candidates Need to Know, by Jeff Lipschultz, founding partner of recruiting firm A-List Solutions

♦  Winning Negotiation Strategies for Your New Job, by Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers.

♦  Job Search Networking for Introverts, by Wendy Gelberg, author of The Successful Introvert

♦  Top 25 Free eBooks on Social Media, compiled SocialMediaToday

♦  Road to Me 2.0: Free 52 Page Complete Blogging Guide! by personal branding guru Dan Schawbel

♦  Top 10 Free E-books For Bloggers (2007), by Palin Ningthoujam at Mashable

♦  The New Rules of Viral Marketing: How Word-of-Mouse Spreads Your Ideas For Free, by marketing strategist David Meerman Scott

♦  Thriving on Less: Simplifying in a Tough Economy, by Leo Babauta, founder and simplicity blogger at zenhabits.net

♦  The MarketingApple eBook by former Apple marketing executive Steve Chazin

♦  Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing: The next-generation Internet’s impact on business, governance and social interaction, by Socialmedia.biz founder J.D. Lasica, for the Aspen Institute

FREE eBook Thriving On Less By Leo Babauta is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

With job security still iffy in this shaky economy, people are naturally worried about paying their bills and staying afloat.

Leo Babauta, founder and simplicity blogger at the excellent Zen Habits blog, offers his free e-book Thriving on Less: Simplifying in a Tough Economy.

“Tough economic times do not have to be a time of struggles! If you look for the opportunity in the middle of difficulty, as Mr. Einstein suggested, then tough economic times become an opportunity to transform your life.”

The e-book covers a lot of ground. Here’s the table of contents:

1.  A Simple Lifestyle
2.  Focus on the Essentials
3.  Thriving on Less, Not Struggling
4.  Focusing on Enough, Not More
5.  Make Small Financial Changes First
6.  Look at Large Expenses for the Long Term
7.  Changing Your Spending Habits
8.  A Guide to Getting Out of Debt
9.  Tools for a Frugal Life

His list of resources includes these terrific blogs:

Get Rich Slowly – Leo’s favorite blog about personal finances and frugality.

The Simple Dollar – All about frugality, simplicity, and common sense.

Wisebread – Relies on a group of excellent writers to cover a wide range of financial topics focusing on living large on a small budget.

Unclutterer – Packed with articles on living a simple, uncluttered lifestyle.

Related posts:

When Depression Hits With a Lay Off

C-Level Job Search: 9 Ways To Move Forward After a Layoff

Baby Boomer Career Reinvention: Moving Toward Working Your Passion is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

I mostly work with boomer executives who have a job.

They come to me to revive their executive resume, career bio, and other career marketing tools because either they foresee a possible layoff, or they haven’t revisited these documents in a long time and know they need to keep them up to date and at the ready.

Some of these employed clients of mine are considering a career transition. They feel mired in careers that aren’t fulfilling. Somehow, their career paths didn’t lead them where they had promised. They find themselves asking “Where and when did it all take the wrong turn?” They feel that if they don’t get into something soon that will feed their passions, it will be too late to even try.

In a recent teleseminar through Reach Personal Branding, Brian Kurth, founder of VocationVacations, spoke about how to plan and actualize a career transition.

He said that before embarking on your dream job, you need to identify just what your passions are so that you can match them with a job that will ignite them.

Sounds obvious, but what you hold up as your dream job may not actually fulfill your passions. You may have an unrealistic idea of what that job entails.

Many people dream of being a bed and breakfast owner. But they may have no conception of the daily grind – rising very early to greet and feed strangers their breakfast, dealing with drunken guests who stumble in loudly at all hours of the night, being available 24/7, etc.

Given the chance to work the job for a day or two, they may determine that their goal is not a good fit after all.

That’s why I love the concept of VocationVacations. The program connects career transitioners with mentors working in the exact job they want, so they can test drive the job of their dreams. They have over 300 experts on board representing over 125 careers, with whom you can partner and receive 2 days of shoulder-to-shoulder mentoring.

Here are some interesting career mentorships available through the program:

Alpaca Rancher
Antique Dealer
Archaeologist
Baseball Announcer
Boat Captain
Chocolatier
Comedian
Fishing Guide
Flight Instructor
Landscape Architect
Pit Crew Member
Shoe Designer
TV Producer
Vineyard Owner
Voice-over Artist

In the teleseminar, Brian discussed the 8 steps to career change:

1.  Define What a “Great Job” Is

Define where your strengths are, whether or not you use them every day now. Create a list. You may not have been honing them lately, but they’re still there, waiting for you to tap back in and fortify. Don’t focus at all on your weaknesses.

Create a vision board – go to an art store, buy supplies, and create a collage of your interests. If you can’t figure out what they are, do some reading and researching. Find anything that defines who you are and what you want to become. This will help you define your core strengths and core interests. Suddenly everything starts coming together. When you put it out there, things start coming at you. There’s science behind the fact that focusing on what you want will help make the vision a reality.

2.  Address Fear

Fears never go away. We live and breathe them every day. But we can cope with them. The 3 fear factors are:

➤ Fear of loss of identity. You’re a doctor, or you’re a corporate CEO, or maybe you’re a teacher. Now you’re thinking of being a baker, or non-profit director, or brew master. How do you tell your family and friends about what may be a “step down” and keep them from dampening your excitement?

➤ Fear of failing family and friends. They’ve supported you along the way. What if you fail them? Or maybe you don’t have the support of those closest to you. They may not want you to make the change. An external resource may be necessary to get you over the fear.

➤ Most prevalent by far is fear of financial insecurity. What if you lose it all and never make it back? What’s the worse case scenario – bankruptcy? Plan how you’d deal with it, if it did happen. Turn around the negativity and say “I will be successful. It will work.”

3.  Create an Action Plan with a Timeline and Goals

Finding the ideal career requires following a series of the right small steps to advance you toward your goal. Make a list of what you’ll need to learn to get there. Your transition plan will impel you to keep moving ahead.

4.  Find a Mentor

Mentorship is a critical part of reinvention. You need hand-holding. Find someone who is doing exactly what you want to do or close to it. Research until you find the “best of” in that vocation, then reach out to them. Prepare a short elevator pitch to use when approaching them. Flatter them by saying something like, “You’re the top in your field. That’s where I hope to be some day, too.” Tell them you’re not looking for a job, just their advice.

A good mentor in your desired vocation is all of these things – inspirational, experienced, realistic, forthcoming, and optimistic. You need to ask the right questions when assessing a possible mentor, and build a mutually beneficial relationship with them.

5.  Test Drive a New Job or Career

We all know the best way to learn is by doing. Test driving is your due diligence – an opportunity to see what happens day to day in that job, how you like it, and what it takes to succeed.

6.  Create Your Professional Brand

Branding sets you apart and above your competitors and colleagues. Branding is a way to maximize your unique combination of passions, attributes, skills, strengths, and values, and use them to differentiate yourself from others.

7.  Network, Network, Network

You’ve had your test drive with reinvention. Now you’re ready to get out there. Network online and offline with people with similar interests and goals – LinkedIn (especially), Yahoo!Groups, Facebook, and Twitter. One-on-one, in-person networking is just as important. Don’t forget your professional and alumni associations (also research them for possible mentors).

8.  Establish Thresholds

Know how much risk, challenge, and uncertainty you can tolerate before your goal becomes blurred. How much money will you need to invest? How long can you afford to give it to work? How will your family feel about relocating, if necessary?

To be realistic, when you transition you’ll probably have to (and should) start at or near the bottom and work your way up. This means a drop in income. Find out what your new income will be and be sure you can live on it.

Related posts:

C-Level Executives Look For Second-Act Careers Focused on Social Change

Personal Branding Lessons From the World of Rock and Roll: Work Your Passion

Blog post photo by Meg Guiseppi

Give Peas a Chance – Back to the Garden is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

photo by Meg Guiseppi

I’m an avid organic gardener. Growing up, I loved working with my Dad in our little garden. Early in my career, I owned a garden center specializing in exotic herbs and vegetable plants.

These days I feed my passion on a very small scale, with select varieties grown in containers on my enclosed deck, fairly well-protected from the bears and other critters around here.

The beginning of May always holds such promise for success in the garden. Dreams of a bountiful yield sparkle everything. There’s not a hint yet of the devastation various insects and small rodents can and probably will cause. None of that happens until the vegetables are just ready to pick. That’s the heartbreak of gardening – all my hard work obliterated overnight.

Still with me in May are all the joys of gardening and the anticipation of getting back to favorite recipes that just don’t make it without my fresh, homegrown herbs. I can’t wait to once again make that super-easy Thai vegetable curry loaded with my own spicy Thai basil. Or chicken enchiladas with a green sauce made with my own roasted poblanos. Or even a simple green salad loaded with fragrant chopped fresh mint.

For the next 5 or 6 months, most of my cooking will be based on what looks good in the garden or needs to be picked. I love the home economics of it.

Last Friday, the first warm day in May, I made an initial round of visits to local garden centers to see what specialties they’re offering this year. With limited space, I can only try a few new things each year and still have room for the essentials – a few tomatoes, cukes, poblano and jalapeño peppers, a large variety of herbs (basic and exotic), and some flowers – mostly red ones to attract hummingbirds.

Although it’s a little early to trust there won’t be a frost here, as always, I took a gamble and put everything out. If I hear a frost is likely, I’ll drag all the pots close the house. The heat from the house and the overhang seem to be protection enough.

I know some of my readers are as crazy about gardening as I am. I’m not the only one who loves the feel of rich soil under their nails. This post is for my fellow green thumbs, to share the pleasure of planning and digging into this year’s gardening experience. Let me know how your gardens grow.

By the way, Johnny’s Seeds is a great place for lots of hard to find organic and heirloom seeds along with organic fertilizers and pest controls. And go to Penzey’s for cooking spices, herbs, seasonings, etc.

If you’ve never tried gardening, think about giving it a go. It’s one of those simple, quiet pleasures that actually have therapeutic benefits. With minimal commitment, it’s a rejuvenating break from the pull of social media – soothing your eyes from too much screen-viewing and refreshing your energy and focus.

Let me know if I should share some of my favorite recipes, as the growing season progresses???

C-level Career Management: How 9 CEOs Manage Stress is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

photo by Meg Guiseppi

With stress a given in their worklives, CEOs rely on diverse remedies. Some run marathons. Some turn to food. Some clear their minds by doodling.

According to a recent Forbes article:

“CEOs have three unique areas of stress that can exceed other people’s. Those are the pace of their work life, the pain of downsizing (in today’s economy) and social isolation.”

Daily critical decision-making challenges impacting their teams take a toll. And CEOs are on-call all day and accessible non-stop through their Blackberrys and cell phones.

Instead of filling their schedules each minute, experts suggest taking back control by having their assistants schedule them “out” for at least an hour each day. Carving out time to quiet the mind through meditation seems to work, too.

Advice also includes watching and learning from other CEOs who manage stress well.

And they can take their cue from President Obama, who has the ability to “neutralize threats by stretching them out over long timelines, making them part of a strategic landscape to ultimately detoxify them.”

Everyone faces stress, in their work and personal lives. I’m not convinced that CEOs feel more stress than the rest of us. But, in a job that’s all about sound decision-making, their bad choices probably impact a lot more people than mine do.

CEOs owe it to themselves and everyone around them to learn how to do it better.