Top Exec Blog (Web Log)

Taking a chance in life means doing what it takes to stand out from the crowd. Finding your passion on the Career Path Expressway™ is something that requires leadership and courage, so that you not only land that opportunity (a top priority), but that you also establish your brand and make your name known, individually and collectively, to those whose career openings mean something to you.

Essentially, all parts of the career path, search or transition require the use of sales and marketing tactics. The fundamentals are:

* Establish and promote a "product"

* Explain and articulate a "value proposition"

* Justify to the hiring (buying) manager the advantages and benefits that he or she will gain by hiring your skills and talent

* Ask for the business (I want this job!)

In order to make this happen, you cannot just wait for the resume you sent to have a favorable impact at "Bull's Eye, Inc." Even with the power of the Internet and Job Search Engines and other technology, you have to find a way to stand out! It's as basic as a warm smile and a hearty handshake when you're at a networking meeting or job fair, or as impressive as a website or blog that highlights your skill set and career offerings.

It's acting the role of "host" at a meeting or networking event; it's taking a leadership role in an industry association; it's writing an op-ed piece for a trade magazine or local publication. Fundamentally, it's using creativity and ingenuity to be "out there" above and beyond the crowd that is chasing the same career openings that you're after. Given the amount of information overload that we all suffer, this is no small feat, but it's something that the successful Career Path Express™ driver (not rider) must do.

Thanks for reading and look forward to seeing you "out there" on the Career Path Expressway™ driving your product to ever better destinations.

© Daniel A. Cabrera, all rights reserved, 2007.