When Was Your Last Personal Brand, Career & International Job Search Check Up?
Without conducting regular check ups on your personal brand, career management and international job search activities, you run the risk of wasting time, energy and resources doing things that are not in support of (or even worse working against) you achieving your professional goals.
Building your personal brand to support your efforts to land new work abroad without the luxury of in person engagement or feedback makes it much easier to feel uncertain about which strategies you are employing are actually effective.
And rarely does anyone develop a personal brand, career management or international job search plan which does not need some tweaking along the way. Without setting up some metrics to assess your efforts from the start, it's extremely difficult to know what's working and what's not.
Taking the time to revisit your strategy and goals based on current accomplishments is also critical to successfully searching out and capitalizing on opportunities when they arise.
And your ongoing intelligence gathering has much less value if you don’t take the time to make strategic course corrections or take action when the right situations arise. Depending on what industry or marketplace changes are afoot at any given moment, your strategic plans 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.
Your Personal Brand, International Career and/or Job Search Health Checklist
I also invite you to create a personal brand, career and/or job search health checklist. That process includes defining 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 in your checklist:
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, Viadeo, Xing, ApnaCircle and/or Tianji
- Follow up messages/emails from online networking
- New online contacts made
- Reconnecting with current contacts locally or globally
Have you 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 Your Work Life
An additional section I'd add to your checklist 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:
- 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 and 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 wellbeing 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: If you are an expat professional in search of a new job abroad or just focused on building your personal brand and managing your international career, when will you schedule time to define what the health of your personal brand, career or job search looks like to you? When will you commit time to creating a personal brand, international career and/or job search health checklist?
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.
Taking time to take action today will lead to more effectively and efficiently accelerating your international career goals now and into the future.
Would you like to use this article in your newsletter or website? Permission will be given to those who include this information: Author: Megan Fitzgerald, expat and international career coach, helps forward-thinking expats become highly visible, sought after experts and leaders and succeed abroad. Sign up for her free international career success tips: www.careerbychoiceblog.com
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ career by choice can help you...become an expat and experience a global lifestyle ~ explore international career options and find work abroad ~ understand your Brand DNA and how you can perform at your best ~ clarify your personal brand to stand out and be sought after for top jobs overseas ~ develop branded tools and strategies to communicate your unique expertise in a differientiating, compelling way ~ strengthen and manage your online reputation to attract employers and clients worldwide ~ leverage your expert status to become highly visible, recognized and well compensated for the value you create ~ leverage social media to build your global online network ~ develop a global mindset ~ manage transitions and overcome challenges during international assignments ~ provide an international career coach and experienced guide to help you think.live.work.global ~ optimize your career choices and discover success abroad on your terms by being your best self ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
Posted by: Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter (Career Trend) | July 2011 at 21:40
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!
Posted by: Megan Fitzgerald | July 2011 at 22:00
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!
Posted by: Tim Tyrell-Smith | July 2011 at 01:37
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!
Posted by: Megan Fitzgerald | July 2011 at 01:46
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.
Posted by: Dawn Bugni | July 2011 at 19:40
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
Posted by: Susan P. Joyce | July 2011 at 08:24
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!!
Posted by: Walter Akana | July 2011 at 05:32
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
Posted by: Megan Fitzgerald | July 2011 at 07:56
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,
Posted by: Free Career Test | August 2011 at 20:22
This is a great post. I am 100% sure that this will be useful for anyone's career - not just those looking for jobs overseas.
Posted by: Chris | April 2012 at 15:25
Thanks for the feedback Chris. Getting regular checkup for career health is indeed something everyone can benefit from!
To your success abroad,
Megan
Posted by: Megan Fitzgerald | April 2012 at 17:08
Hi Megan,
Great post!
I am a huge fan of the idea of this job search check up. Very well organized, easy to follow checklist. This is priceless. I agree with many of the other comments here that the ultimate goal should be happiness in one's career and that this checklist will be useful for anyone's career - not just those looking for work overseas.
Posted by: Shannon Sachvie | April 2012 at 11:02
Hi Shannon,
I'm glad to hear you found the checklists helpful.
Please feel free to share with others if you think they would benefit as well.
My best,
Megan
Posted by: Megan Fitzgerald | April 2012 at 16:05