Expat & International Careers: When Was Your Last Brand, Career & Job Search Check Up?

I'm a member of the Career Collective, a group of top career coaches and resume and CV writers who blog monthly on a designated topic for careerists and job seekers. This month's topic is "Mid-year Job Search Check up". Our Twitter hashtag is #careercollective. Here's my contribution to this month's topic.

WHEN WAS YOUR LAST CHECK UP?

Doing regular check ups for your personal brand, career management and job search is important. First and foremost, check ups allow you to see what is working and what is not.  You can make adjustments and stop wasting time with things that are not supporting your brand, career or job search goals.

Secondly, taking the time to revisit your strategy and goals based on current accomplishments is also critical for being able to successfully search out and capitalize on opportunties when they arise. Depending on how much time and energy you are dedicating to your brand building, career management and/or job search, your strategic plan can remain much the same or change almost entirely.

I recommend doing check ups quarterly for your personal brand and career management and monthly or even biweekly for someone in active job search. If you have not done one before, starting off with a biannual check up for brand building and career management is still a good start.

I invite you to create a brand, career and/or job search health checklist. Once it's done it's important to define what "health" means to you. Definitions can vary wildly. Being very specific allows you to accurately measure and assess progress in your pursuit of career health and job search success.

Some of the questions you could include:

Are the following updated quarterly?

• Personal Brand and Career Management Plan & Goals 
• Personal Brand Identity System
• Branded bio collection 
• Branded resume or CV 
• Branded social media & online network profiles 
• Branded communication tools
• Personal website, blog and other online presences 

Have you met your quarterly numbers for networking:

• In person network meetings/events attended
• Follow ups calls/emails from networking meetings
• New contacts made
• Online networking outreach on Linkedin? Facebook? Twitter?
• Follow up messages/emails from online networking
• New online contacts made
• Reconnecting with current contacts locally? globally?

Applied your quarterly designated brand building strategies to:

• Better leverage your top skills, strengths and brand attributes? 
• Increase your visibility on and offline (what's google saying about you now)?
• Build your thought leadership on and offline?
• Strategically grow and strengthen your network?
• Brand all your communications and projects? 
• Assess impact of your brand building activities of last quarter?

Have you met your quarterly numbers for the job search:

• Hours to conduct research in your target market(s) and culture(s)?
• Taking strategic actions related to target employers on and offline?
• Submitting applications for right fit jobs on and offline?
• Conversations with current network?
• Securing referrals from your network?
• Connecting with a new or known recruiter?
• Informational interviews?
• Interviews?
• Job offers? 

In each of these cases, ask yourself: If not, why not? If not, what can you do to insure next quarter you will?

If you are consistently not meeting a number, you might consider redefining what "health" is for that particular topic. For example, is attending 4 networking meetings or events a month realistic? Would reducing certain activities allow you some additional free time with family and reduce stress? Would increasing certain activities increase my visibility online, chances of getting more interviews or growing my network at rate I need at the moment?

 

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE

An additional section I'd add to your check list is related to quality of life at work.  I feel often - especially when someone is in active job search - that one's quality of life at work can get deprioritized in favor of more focus on job search or performance. It's important to maintain a high quality of life in all areas so that you can perform at your best and enjoy your life and work abroad. 

Some suggested questions include:

Quality of work life assessment:

• What have you been most passionate about in your job this quarter? How can you do more of that?
• What has been most draining in your job this quarter? How can you do less of that?
• Are you making daily choices aligned with your values, passions & desired lifestyle?
• Do you have time to spend with friends, relax and have fun outside of work?
• What have you done to nurture your physical and emotional well being and deal with stress?
• What have you learned that has been both enriching and helped you perform better at work?
• What was your biggest accomplishment? How did you recognize or reward yourself?
• What was your biggest mistake and what did you learn from it?

I suggest taking the answers to many of these questions and choose specific actions to commit to doing to improve your quality of work life in the future.

 

EXPAT AND INTERNATIONAL CAREERS SUCCESS TIP: Whether you are a expat professional in search of a new job abroad or just focused on building your personal brand and managing your international career, I suggest creating a brand, international career and job search health checklist. You can use the checklist above as a starting place.  

Be sure to define what "health" or success looks like for each topic and adjust those defintions as you go. Use this check list quarterly and make adjustments to your personal brand, career management and job search goals and plans based on what you discover from the check up.

I strongly recommend that you include a quality of work life check list like the one above. Quality of work life will ensure you are enjoying your life and work abroad while growing your career at the same time.

 

Here are what my fellow Career Collective Members have written on the subject of the "Mid Year Job Search Check Up": 

4 Summer Strategies to Step Up Your Job Search, @DebraWheatman, #careercollective

Putting Your Job Search Up On The Rack For Inspection, @dawnrasmussen, #careercollective

Mid-Year Job Search Checkup: Are you wasting your time? @GayleHoward, #careercollective

What is your unique value proposition? @keppie_careers, #careercollective

It is Time for Your Check-up Ms/Mr Jobseeker, @careersherpa, #careercollective

Mid-Year Career Checkup: Are You "On Your Game?" @KatCareerGal, #careercollective

How to Perform a Mid-Year Job Search Checkup, @heatherhuhman, #careercollective

Reposition your job search for success, @LaurieBerenson, #careercollective

Mid-Year Job Search Checkup: What's working and What's not? @erinkennedycprw, #careercollective

Mid-Year Job Search Check-Up: Getting Un-Stuck, @JobHuntOrg, #careercollective

Mid-Year Check Up: The Full 360, @WalterAkana, #careercollective

5 Tips for Fighting Summer Job Search Blues, @KCCareerCoach, #CareerCollective

Are you positive about your job search? @DawnBugni, #CareerCollective 

Where Are The Jobs? @MartinBuckland, @EliteResumes, #CareerCollective

Mid-Year Job-Search Checkup: Get Your Juices Flowing, @ValueIntoWords, #CareerCollective

Is Summer A Job Search Momentum Killer? @TimsStrategy, #CareerCollective

Is It Time for Your Resume Checkup? @barbarasafani, #CareerCollective

 

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Comments

[Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter (Career Trend)]

Hi Megan,
What a vigorous checklist for one's career and personal 'health!' I love all of the questions you pose. A reader can simply print those off or cut/paste into a Word document and use them as a guide every quarter when they are 'taking their temperature.'

I like how you not only talk about brand/career/job search health but also the importance of work life quality. The delicate balance between all can make the difference between general well being and collapsing from exhaustion and burnout!

Thank you also for your constant wisdom and detailed sharing of your valuable expertise in the careers and personal branding arena. Your blog posts are gems! Love sharing with you in the Career Collective.

Jacqui

[Megan Fitzgerald]

Thanks Jacqui.

I find in the throws of life, work and especially when someone is in active job search finding the time to stop, take a breath and reflect on what's working and what's not can be lost.

Our personal brand and career need tending to to stay healthy, just like ourselves.

It's fantastic to be a part of such a great group of experts in the Career Collective!

[Tim Tyrell-Smith]

Hi Megan -

Love that you included "personal brand" in your post. Actively managing the evolution of our brands is so important!

And love the checklist - those are really helpful for people still learning what their brand is all about!

[Megan Fitzgerald]

Thanks Tim - indeed managing your career and your personal brand are one in the same. In today's competitive global marketplace we cannot afford not to do everything we can to stand out! Great to see you as a new member of the Career Collective!

[Dawn Bugni]

Megan -

What an information packed post! And those checklists; they're worth their weight in gold. Definitely bookmarking this post to share with future clients.

Excellent! Thank you.

[Susan P. Joyce]

A quarterly checkup on your personal brand and career is an excellent idea. I'm adding it to my to-do list immediately.

And the checklists are fabulous! Just the kind of concrete help most of us need, particularly in a job search but also to manage our careers.

Thank you, Megan!

Great post!
Susan

[Walter Akana]

Wow, Megan! Great post!

I absolutely love the idea of a quarterly brand, career, and job search check up! And while some elements should be an automatic part of living one’s brand, there is always a need for a regular review!! As well, I think the areas you suggest for examinations are right on target – especially for long-term career management!

Frankly, though, I think your quarterly work life assessment is absolutely the most brilliant part of your post! As I see it, just about everything else is tactical while this is truly strategic!!

Ultimately, it’s the answer to these quality questions that will drive everything else. In the end, the best careers are the ones that create fulfillment across all parts of one’s life – and that’s what we should all strive for!!

[Megan Fitzgerald]

Thanks Dawn, Susan and Walter for the positive feedback!

I find that without such tools not only does the day-to-day tend to lead us away from consistently working towards our career or business goals, but we can't assess progress and course correct as necessary to realize our goals as quickly and effectively as possible.

Great to be a part of such a great team of career experts!

Megan

[Free Career Test]

Great posts posted here i read it through out
and found it very useful and I love to read this blog in future also. I wish you for your good work.

Thanks,