How to Build a Personally Branded Career — Petra Zink // impaCCCT

Quotes

• “When I was with a company, I was always the one who did all the work, delivered the project and raised the hand for any kind of responsibilities because I thought this is the way I can get promoted. In the first ten years of my career, it worked. I was a hard worker. My last work, it all fell apart. It was exhausting.” - Petra“I was feeling drained and at the same time, my confidence went downhill from there. I took on more roles to prove my worth. When I got called to my manager’s office, I thought I was getting promoted and I didn’t see what was coming because I didn’t have a Plan B. I built my network in this one small industry.” - Petra“Long-term short, I got into recruitment because I just got tired of the industry. What I realized is that those professionals couldn’t sell themselves either. They’re good but they struggle to sell their point of difference.” - Petra“This is when I realized that in a second, you can tell your story and communicate your point of difference. You can communicate it confidently and in a way that resonates with the decision makers. Then, guess what? You can commercialize it.” - Petra“I always say perception is re-editing. People can only see how you interact with them and they put you in boxes whether we like it or not but we are in control of which boxes they put us. My senior leadership team didn’t see my leadership skills because I was a doer. I just had the perception because this proves my worth and that wasn’t the case because I need to delegate more.” - Petra “You need to work on your communication skills and that comes down to what you can bring to the table. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. When you are in a high-performance mode, you can build a team around it that complements your strengths and also your weaknesses.” - Petra “If you put a fish on a tree and expect it to climb, it will feel dumb because it’s not their element.” - Petra“We always talk about in general, the practice of marketing as both a science and an art. When you’re building a brand, my advice is to always talk to the customers and ask them about the problems they’re facing and what solutions they’re looking for.” - Ben “So many people get stuck in their field because they have a progression there but then they get drained afterwards because they’ve never experienced what it actually means to be in flow state.” - Petra “You don’t want to be a great “marketer” because there’s no quality, there’s no distinction. This is why I say you want to build a brand rather than a career or a business because brand is the emotional connection. It is what sticks with people. If you’re a great accountant, you’re replaceable. You want to be known for something particular and this is where your story comes in.” - Petra“It’s also about being clear what your style is, what your interests are because you need to become the expert in it. You need to live and breathe it. You need to learn everything about this industry and this field. You want to talk about it and learn about it even if you don’t get paid. Your passion is self-driven. If you’re not providing value to somebody else, it gets hard to get paid.” - Petra“I’ve got a diverse interest. What I had realized that actually saved me when I made my first career transition is that to always have two different jobs. One is my hobby and one that pays the bills. What I realize is when you’ve developed a portfolio career, this is the way you can get better skills that you want to get better at and fast track your progression to the field that you actually want to be in or it makes it easier to transition.” - Petra“In reality, when you’re making a decision on how to position yourself it’s not a single variable decision.” - Ben “I used to have this app called ChoiceMap. Essentially what it was is you could put in variables. Say, ‘I’m looking for a job and the things that I think are my decision criteria are compensation, role, title, authority, work-life balance. Then I have to rank the variables in a one to five scale and how I care about it and for each individual role I was appointed for, then I go and assign a number value 1 out of 5 to how that role participates. So if the comp is great and it’s a five variable, I essentially get 25 points for compensation. But if the location is terrible, I give it a one point. If location is something I don’t really care about it’s only a 2 out of 5 that means I get 10 out of possible 25 points on compensation. I’m walking to basically make a decision-making algorithm here.” - Ben “When you are deciding on positioning yourself, it is not something that is a one-time, one-factor decision. Something that you need to put a lot of thought into and it is not only what you enjoy doing, what you have career perspectives for, where you can make money, what has the biggest growth opportunity, what’s the lifestyle. All of those things factor to how you make a decision on how to position yourself.” - Ben “That’s the beauty of the future of work concept. Researchers already said we have an average of 5 to 7 different careers and not just jobs, thanks to technology and thanks to automation that replace a lot of tasks in certain professions. Whatever you’re doing, you probably won’t be doing in the next few years so this is the best time to turn it around and create your own opportunities and match it with market demand.” - Petra“Try to get insights rather than just information. Insights meaning, connect with people who are already within that company in the profession you’re considering.” - Petra“The proximity principle, how can you apply it? Can you mirror somebody? It’s all about getting somebody’s insights and forming a decision around it. You want to build around the quality, especially the soft skills.” - Petra“You want to let people know you from multiple angles. From a personality point of view, from a professional point of view and when they see those qualities that you are a good communicator, that you are very creative, simply by showing up and providing value and examples, they will come with opportunities to you.” - Petra“This is why LinkedIn is so important because it’s a good platform to demonstrate and show rather than just tell about your goals, aspirations, and strengths.” - Petra