'Beating the Commodity Trap with Richard D'Aveni - FREE webinar 2/10, 2 PM East'

'Beating the Commodity Trap with Richard D'Aveni - FREE webinar 2/10, 2 PM East'

A consultant's personal brand: critical or overrated?

The term "personal brand" is getting a lot of attention lately, and it's beginning to sound a little hackneyed. Nevertheless, It can be very empowering to condense and express your core attributes and desires. As an executive recruiter, I know how important it is to define peoples' capabilities quickly, in order to keep them in mind for future searches.

The most glaring and most common mistake that consultants make when looking for a job is to define themselves too broadly. Consultants develop the ability to function in diverse, challenging situations and act as an expert, even when they have not worked in a particular area for very long. Consultants must project an image of adaptability in the course of their everyday professional lives.

This approach has serious drawbacks when it comes to looking for a new position or in having discussions with executive recruiters. Hiring managers and recruiters respond quickly to what they can identify, define, understand and use. They are all trying to put you in a box. Wouldn’t you rather define it yourself, rather than let others take your presentation and draw their own conclusions?

You have been building your capabilities, and your brand, for your whole career. The question is, “How do you communicate it?”

What is more important, your firm’s unique value proposition, your company’s brand or your personal relationships?

Almost all consulting firms differentiate themselves by stating their specific value proposition. In competitive sales situations, can that value prop trump a rival’s existing relationships, or overcome a stronger brand name? I have heard numerous stories of how excellence triumphed over incumbency or trademark. However, I think relationships and brands more frequently push even outstanding messages aside, and generally win the day.

A value prop is nothing to ignore, since a weak message may put you at a serious disadvantage. A consultant with deep relationships or strong brand backing may still lose and RFP, if they cannot articulate a believable value prop. This is a fairly low hurdle to clear, though, with the right relationships and the right brand.

On the other hand, a compelling message and a clear demonstration of business value may open new doors. Marketing your differentiator in the right places will help build needed relationships, and may even lead to a strong brand presence. In addition, a unique proposition creates confidence, and makes conversations and presentations that much easier.

I conclude that a strong brand message is essential, even though it may come in third in importance behind relationships and brand. Ignoring this fact puts you further back as a challenger, and weakens your position as an incumbent.

Here is an article about creating a strong value prop that you may find helpful as you think about your evolving brand message:

http://www.equiteq.co.uk/equiteq/documents/Consulting_Sales_Growth_White_Paper.pdf

Using LinkedIn for a job search. My best advice so far……

At this stage in its development LinkedIn is a very powerful job search tool. I will write a more detailed article soon. For now, I’d like to share high-level observations, and welcome input from others about possible uses.

1. Make sure your profile is up to date, and searchable by recruiters. Recruiters search LinkedIn using keywords, so length is not important, but terminology is.

2. Link to many people in your area, but try to stick with people who you know. Have a policy like, “I must have spoken with them once,” or “I must have had three face-to-face meetings with them.” Inviting people you do not know is intrusive, and may be counterproductive

3. Surf for jobs. There are job listings, and suggestions to other similar jobs that you view.

4. Surf for people. Check out your second level contacts and ask for introductions. It may be worth getting a paid LinkedIn account so that you can send InMail and contact people directly.

5. Join the right groups. Look for the ones in your area. Look for alumni and industry groups. You may want to start out with a lot of applications, but prune them to a reasonable number once you get a feel for the good ones.

6. Contribute to groups, but do it smartly! People do not like spam, they like content. Contribute your thoughts, articles and questions to groups, so that you grab the attention of others like you. Build your brand and your network at the same time. It exposes you to others and may lead to opportunities.

7. Put in your contact information, or make yourself Openlinked (Those colorful circles you see next to some profiles indicate that you can contact them directly without InMail credits). Without an email address or a phone number, recruiters must exert extra effort to contact you. Make it easier on them, and indicate your interest in being contacted at the same time

I recently spoke with a senior level consultant, who secured three job offers in just over two months, so the opportunities are out there! Let me know what you find.

Would you hire a candidate with a video resume?

I have a friend, who helps his clients build online portfolio's, which include short video clips that they can send to potential employers. http://www.corporatewarriors.com/articles/careerbuilder/Portfolio.cfm

There are also websites devoted exclusively to the online resume: http://webzume.com/

I have spoken with some HR people, and generally they do not like the idea. They think that a video clip introduces too much bias, and potential exposure to law suits. They worry about EEO laws and the possibility that they may be accused of discrimination.

On the other hand, line managers seem to think this is a great idea. It gives them a third dimension that you just can't get with a resume. They argue that services like LinkedIn are making access to information much more available. This includes pictures of potential candidates, and maybe even personal information from sites like Facebook. Many believe that the value of receiving a video resume outweighs the concerns that HR may have.

I do not receive video resumes very often, but I seem to always watch the ones that I do get. Perhaps the novelty will wear off, but for now I think it is a clear differentiator. Even if I prefer a standard resume for reviewing a candidates background, I think it would be great to have that brief video, if I can get it.

How would you view a candidate that uses a video resume? Would you use one yourself?

How useful is Visual CV?

I just ran across a new service being offered by one of the major executive search firms. In case you have not heard, many of them are looking for way to diversify their offerings. Many of us think that retained search needs to adapt to some significant changes in our market.

In an case, the new service being offered is called Visual CV.

If you have signed up, please let me know. I am currently investigating this service and would welcome any input!

Job search tips you will not find anywhere else

The market is cluttered with job searching advice. Not all of it is useless, but most of it won't help very much.

Below is a link to the best advice that I have seen yet. It reveals some hard truths about looking for a job, and a does of reality about working with recruiters. But take heart, there is some very helpful information about executing an effective job search.

I have sent this link to a few friends on a very limited basis. It took me a while to get over making this information public, but here it is. My thanks to Harry Joiner:

97 Job Search Tips

On a related topic, think about this before you begin networking:

Robert DeNiro on Interviewing