personal branding

Will Today be Trump or Clinton’s Best Day at Work?

by paulcopcutt
November 8, 2016November 16, 2016

By the end of the day, one of the candidates may well be looking back to today as one of their best days at work, at least so far. Of course, the work for the successful President of the United States is only just beginning, some future days maybe best days and some may be the worst, it’s not an easy job for sure. The best and worst seems to be how many of you look at your own jobs and careers.

Presenteeism, time spent at the workplace while not productively engaged in work, is the new absenteeism

The conclusion of a 2015 Canadian study, The True Picture of Workplace Absenteeism, with 1,300 people including just over 1,000 employees, found that 80 percent of respondents self-reported experience with presenteeism. 81 percent indicated that they had gone into work while they could not perform as well as they would have liked.

The reasons for doing so included physical sickness (47 percent), stress or anxiety (40 percent) and workplace issues and/or problems with co-workers or managers (22 percent). Depression was specified as the cause by 15 percent of respondents.

A quick Google search of #BestWorkDay uncovers plenty of top 10 lists on ways to ensure you have your best days at work. The common advice to these problems seems to fall into two camps.

Can LinkedIn Tell You What Your Salary Should Be?

by paulcopcutt
November 4, 2016November 4, 2016

There are a lot of changes happening with LinkedIn right now, and more to come, so watch this space! The latest new feature to roll out in the US, Canada, and the UK is a salary calculator called LinkedIn Salary. “Earlier this year, LinkedIn emailed members asking them to anonymously disclose their salaries”, said Ryan Sandler, a product manager. “In exchange, they were given insight into what peers in their fields are… Read More »Can LinkedIn Tell You What Your Salary Should Be?

3 Critical Personal Brand Lessons From the Closing of Vine

by paulcopcutt
October 31, 2016October 31, 2016

All Hallows Eve is the time of the year dedicated to remembering the dead. It seems fitting that on Halloween we reflect on the personal brand lessons from the news last week that Twitter will be closing down their 6-second video app Vine. It may have come as a surprise to many of you, however, the ‘Vine Personal Brand Stars’ that it helped to create have already been moving on… Read More »3 Critical Personal Brand Lessons From the Closing of Vine

Are Skills Endorsements on LinkedIn Really Worth Anything?

by paulcopcutt
October 28, 2016

Many believe that the endorsements, given by others, of your skills on your profile, are next to worthless. Following several acquisitions of companies in the artificial intelligence (A.I.) space, LinkedIn has been incorporating some of the technology into upgrades of its platform. This includes looking to make the endorsements of skills more relevant to those viewing your profile. We all appreciate the value of a solid recommendation from a colleague or client.… Read More »Are Skills Endorsements on LinkedIn Really Worth Anything?

10 Ways LinkedIn Can Help Build Your Local Business

by paulcopcutt
October 7, 2016October 7, 2016

Imagine standing at a local networking event and every second that passes, two more new people walked in the door. It would soon get packed!

This is exactly what is happening 24 hours a day on LinkedIn as 7,200 new members join ever hour. As the world’s largest professional network, with over 450 million members, LinkedIn offers a huge global business opportunity.

But can it be useful on a local level and can it help you build new relationships and grow your business or career? Yes!

LinkedIn is business focused unlike Facebook or Twitter where the lines are blurred. On LinkedIn it is understood that you are connecting for business purposes. Around 40% of LinkedIn’s 12 million Canadian members live in Ontario. A simple postcode ‘Advanced Search’ can connect you with people as close as a 15 km radius to your location or target area.

You can also search by industry, company, job title and specific keywords to accurately pinpoint the connections your business needs. It is important for you to be very clear about who you want to connect with and why.

With that in mind, here are my TOP TEN ways to use LinkedIn effectively;

Don’t Leave Your Personal Brand to Chance – 5 Tips for Success

by paulcopcutt
September 28, 2016September 28, 2016

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” – Bob Dylan

The Fall is a busy time for everyone. Many companies view the last 4 months of the year as an opportunity to spend the years budgets, or individuals look to make that all important career move, ready to start the new year in a new opportunity.

Recruiters are also very active, between now and the end of the year can make or break their commissions or bonus, and for some those payments can be significant. Unfortunately that can sometimes mean they lose sight of what is best for the candidate.

A word to the wise when you get that next headhunters call!!

I am reminded about a certain recruiter who I think only ever worked for one client and therefore when he was contacting people to talk about a great new opportunity he could really only have one ‘sales pitch’.

One September he called a friend of mine who had, to that point, a successful career in sales in consumer goods and proceeded to tell him that industry was dying, no future, consolidation was happening everywhere – to an extent it was true. He went on to say Now if you want to get in to a growth industry do I have the opportunity for you – I’m thinking of you and I’m thinking – aluminum extrusions, was how he described it – we knew it was double glazing!

Three years later, again in September, my friend, who had by then switched to the medical industry, had a call one evening from the same recruiter – his opening line after finding out what my friend was doing was “That’s a dying industry, lots of consolidation – now if you want to get in to a growth industry do I have the opportunity for you – I’m thinking of you and I’m thinking – aluminum extrusions……..!!!!!!”

You should not be leaving your next career move to the whims of anyone else, it’s up to you to own the definition of who you are.

Here are 5 ways to ensure you have better control of your career;

Is Your Personal Brand Like the iPhone 7 or More Like the Galaxy Note 7 ?

by paulcopcutt
September 20, 2016September 26, 2016

In recent weeks we have seen two very different brand stories when it comes to the latest smartphones.

The launch of the iPhone 7 has been accompanied by all the pre-launch build up that Apple does so well and that leads to increased demand. We have seen images of the ‘Apple Junkies’, who have already secured their new phone by pre-order, but still queue up overnight to be one of the first to physically have their phone.

Contrast this with the total product recall of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7. There have been reports of a risk of it exploding and airlines have even advised passengers not to get on the plane in possession of one.

These events are accompanied by Apple dropping the price of its ‘older’ models, Samsung having to dispose of whole technology divisions to pay the expected $1 billion+ in compensation, and of course Apple’s share price rising.

Until the next launch or product recall.

After all, it seems like never a week goes by without another new phone hitting the market. Apparently the lifespan for a smartphone, before it becomes ‘obsolete’ and overtaken by a faster, sleeker, more buttons and gadgets phone from someone else, is between 3 and 6 months.

Is this same risk of obsolescence happening for you in your career?

How to share content directly from a LinkedIn Pulse article

by paulcopcutt
September 18, 2016September 16, 2016

Pulse is one of the most useful areas on the LinkedIn platform to read longer form articles, thought leaders and find useful insights and information. For some bizarre reason LinkedIn decided a few weeks ago to ‘hide’ the Pulse channel and I shared how to now find it, – read Are You Getting the Full Story on LinkedIn? Hopefully you are now regularly reading various articles (including mine 🙂 –… Read More »How to share content directly from a LinkedIn Pulse article

The Good & Bad About Gwyneth Paltrow’s LinkedIn Profile

by paulcopcutt
September 11, 2016September 9, 2016

Time magazine gushingly reported this week that “Gwyneth Paltrow Has a Seriously Extensive LinkedIn Profile”. But on closer examination her profile may not even reach ‘All Star’ status, which is the ideal minimum that you want your profile to be. You can view her profile by clicking here. There are several good things to notice; Well taken headshot, interestingly using black and white which is different. Good use of a custom header… Read More »The Good & Bad About Gwyneth Paltrow’s LinkedIn Profile

5 Back to School Lessons for Your Personal Brand

by paulcopcutt
September 6, 2016September 5, 2016

Children are returning to school in Canada this week. It brings a mixture of excitement, trepidation and relief, and that is just the parents!

I am sounding like my Dad, but in my day it used to be all about learning the 3R’s. Reality for children today is the world they end up in after school will offer many more options and challenges. They will need to learn more than reading, writing and arithmetic!

Understanding and developing their personal brand is going to be a key skill that the students of today must have.

September is often viewed as ‘a start to a new year’ for adults too and it gives you an opportunity to take a moment to check in on your own personal brand.

Is your personal brand following the 5R’s lessons?

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