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Will Volunteering Boost Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn?

by paulcopcutt
July 31, 2016July 22, 2016

Adding volunteer experience can be a great way of communicating your personal brand to your professional network. Three benefits to you of being able to see other peoples volunteer experience; You can see who in your industry, voacation or network has similar interests to you. Particularly if you are looking to connect with that person, it is another area of commonality in which to make that first approach. You can search by… Read More »Will Volunteering Boost Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn?

Get Noticed And Appreciated By Your Boss With These 7 Personal Brand Exercises

by paulcopcutt
July 20, 2016August 15, 2016

It is critical to your success that others know about your personal brand and what it stands for, here are 7 ways to help you do that.

Jane was a Senior VP at one of the banks. She had been there for 15 years with regular career moves and promotions. Now she was frustrated because her last performance review made her realize that her desired promotion to the C-suite was blocked.

She came to me for coaching and we soon determined the reason why she was not being considered for this key move. She was invisible. Not to her colleagues or boss in the local office but to the people making the C-level decisions in New York. The solution was clear. We had to raise her profile in New York even though she was not based there.

We put in place an action plan to raise her credibility and visibility with the decision makers. Within 9 months she was promoted to the CFO role.

This was a classic case of the right people not knowing about Jane and her personal brand. This may be the very reason that you too are not progressing in your career or getting invited to join the latest project or team. More of the ‘right’ people need to know about your personal brand.

Here are 7 key things about your personal brand that you need to ensure everyone (who matters) knows about you;

How to Be a Conference Guerrilla – Part 1 – Pre-Conference

by paulcopcutt
June 21, 2016June 27, 2016

Recently I was the keynote speaker at the HR Leaders Conference taking place on a boat on the River Danube in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was a great conference and of course the location was pretty unique!

In our time crunched lives and with the option of virtual events, physically attending conferences can be a hard decision. I consider the speaker line up, the networking sessions or in some cases the professional development credits. I also consider the cost, both in terms of dollars and ‘lost production’.

However very few people actually measure the ‘return on investment’ of attending a conference. This is important because ‘getting out there’ adds value to your organization and your personal brand.

There is a lot more to it than showing up. Here’s how to plan like a conference guerrilla.

Pre-Conference

The meetings and conference industry runs into the $100’s of billions each year, so there are always plenty of conferences to choose from. With so much latest research and information available to access and use at the click of a mouse, going to a conference to hear the latest leading edge speakers should not be at the top of your priorities.

The true value of attending a conference are the relationships that you develop.

What is your goal? Is it to find new business for your company, network to find your next job or are there certain industry contacts you want to make? Are there less expensive ways you can accomplish this goal other than conference attendance?

You might also want to review where your personal brand stands right now with a Personal Brand Audit

Review & Research

First step is deciding which conference to attend. There can be a number of factors worth taking in to account;

What the LinkedIn Acquisition by Microsoft Might Mean to You

by paulcopcutt
June 14, 2016June 14, 2016

There had been rumours in the past of LinkedIn seeking strategic partners or an acquirer, with several technology companies being the possible ‘one’. Yesterday saw the news that the successful one will be Microsoft.

My initial thought is I hope this has positive results for many of the areas that LinkedIn seems to be falling short on with technology and that Microsoft does not allow this purchase to squander or suffer like it has with Skype and other poor past acquisitions.

The challenge with any merger, big or small is the merging of leadership styles and cultures. Everything said initially is for the benefit of the stakeholders – investors, employees and users. The reality rolls out differently over the coming months, after all the deal does not close until the end of 2016, so don’t expect any wholesale changes until well in to 2017.

Naturally this was big news in the business world and a lot has been said, with much more to be said over the coming days and weeks. I have collected a few thoughts from the main parties involved as well as some social media, social selling and LinkedIn experts, here is what they had to say;

Lead, Be Free, Find Success at Work

by paulcopcutt
June 14, 2016June 14, 2016

If you feel like a square peg in a round hole at the office, like the person who believes collaboration will lead to more success than competition, like people and passion come before transactions, and that your experience at the office can be different, then keep reading.

I’ve been invited to join an amazing lineup of experts who have come together to share their knowledge and strategies for how work can be done differently – both for you as an individual and for your company.

The Corporate Rebel Series is free interview training series for professionals who want to lead, be free, and find success at work – all at the same time.

It all kicks off tomorrow (June 15th) And guess what? (This is the awesome part!)

It’s free to join. Grab your spot here.

This training series is for you if…..

It’s Not What You Know, its Who You Know on LinkedIn

by paulcopcutt
June 11, 2016June 10, 2016

New Enhancements to the LinkedIn Job Board Experience Despite the increased amount of business development, networking and relationship and the many recommendations now to build a profile that is more than just a cut and paste of your resume, for many users of LinkedIn it is still predominantly used to help them find their next job. Even with lower unemployment numbers having the upper hand with some more insights can… Read More »It’s Not What You Know, its Who You Know on LinkedIn

17 Steps to Ensure You Ace Your Next Video Interview

by paulcopcutt
June 7, 2016June 7, 2016

This past week I was a guest for an experts interview series called Corporate Rebels. It was a Skype video interview and half way through the connection was lost, my hosts picture was frozen and I was talking away to myself (which can happen at other times occasionally!).

Luckily we were able to reconnect, finish the interview and with the wonders of editing the end result will hardly show a cut. But it struck me how many steps I had to take to ensure that the 30 live minutes were the best they could be.

I thought this experience would be useful to help you the next time you are getting ready for a video job interview or podcast;

SET-UP

It is important to have everything set up way ahead of time. The last thing you want to be doing, when you are trying to get ready for an interview is stumbling and fiddling and not thinking about the task in hand.

Light Source

Natural light is ideal. If not, then ensure that there are lights casting enough illumination on you from more than one angle. You do not want only one side of your face showing or to find that the sun is shining right behind or across you, and the interviewer cannot see you. Windows or any source of light should be in front of you. If they are behind you, the viewer may only see your silhouette.

Backdrop

You want your interviewer to be focused on you so do not have anything like last weeks laundry hanging up in the background that could distract them. Stark blank walls are too bare. Plan for a pleasing backdrop like, perhaps a plant or tidy book case.

Set Design

You might use this set-up for future interviews or business meetings. Use set up marks for your computer, lighting, and chair or standing position. That way for the next call, you can set up quickly.

10 Personal Brand Tactics to Ensure That Next Promotion

by paulcopcutt
May 31, 2016June 7, 2016

30 years ago you were told to expect to work for one employer for life,
20 years ago you were told to plan for extra leisure time because of automation, 10 years ago one quarter of the new jobs being created had never existed previously.

Now graduates are told to expect to be back at school every decade to retrain.

NEWSFLASH: The world of work is changing. Forever. Always.

We have been hearing human resource, organizational development and career guru’s telling us that for years. Gone are the days when ‘Personnel’ came and tapped you on the shoulder and told you about your next career move.

“You can no longer rely on anyone for your career, except YOU”
Paul Copcutt

Once you make it to the next promotion, there are on-boarding programs, online courses and books, like “The First 90 Days” to help.

But what about before all that happens?

Do You Connect Like a Real Human Being?

by paulcopcutt
May 27, 2016June 1, 2016

It was at a senior executives networking event a number of years ago that I first heard Dave Howlett speak. His subject and approach intrigued me and even now I can clearly remember his power of 3 philosophy.

What was interesting to me, before that day, on three separate occasions from three different people I had been recommended to hear his talk. This is at the heart of what Dave talks about, the value of someone recommending you, talking highly of you when you are not in the room. As he says “Remember you can’t call yourself a good guy or an amazing woman (only other people can) but you can always act like one.“

7 Steps to Making Your Personal Brand Irresistible

by paulcopcutt
May 19, 2016June 1, 2016

My Dad had a huge love of genealogy and, tracked down distant family members, wrote letters and, visited local churches for old records of births, baptism’s marriages and deaths. He did it all the old fashioned way without the internet. His legacy is that I have his handwritten, 42 foot long , family tree.

He loved nothing more than to welcome a visitor to his home village and, take them to meet all the relatives – in the local graveyard! Then he would invite the visitor back for a strong cup of English tea, pulling out the family tree and recall stories of Aunt Edith’s love of a shot of gin or the size of Uncle Bert’s nose, which I swore got bigger every time the story was told!

He was telling their stories, who they were, what they did and what they stood for. If someone were to do the same about you, what would they say?

Your challenge is that you may not be the best person to tell your personal brand story.

If I were to ask you right now to tell me what your personal brand is, how confident would you be of doing yourself justice?

7 Steps to Building Your Personal Brand Story

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