Feed Your Career

I recently met with a mid-career nutrition professional who wanted some advice on the direction she should go.  She had narrowed her search to three different directions she could go with her career. She was mapping out her career road map out for the next several years.  I commend her on reaching out to me to ask for help.  I enjoyed meeting her and as usual, gleamed some new things from our encounter.

A hard thing for me is to ask for help on my behalf.  I have no trouble asking on behalf of others (kids, coworkers, friends, family).  But when it comes to my own requests — where did you get those fabulous shoes, can I get your help on a project I am working on, can I have a copy of your recipe for the mushroom risotto, or can I have a few minutes of your time to help you reach cutting edge nutrition professionals.

I usually opt for the research route and find answers myself online or in books.   I am from the stubborn stock of people that believe they can do or find whatever they need themselves.  I mislead myself by telling myself I can do it all alone.

Famous Words from Robin Plotkin

Recently, I had the honor of interviewing Robin Plotkin, culinary and nutrition communications consultant. She is an awe-inspiring entrepreneur.  Be sure to listen to the entire interview.

One point she made during the interview that really struck me was “if you don’t ask, you don’t get.”  This is also a famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi.  Robin was advocating  people ask for help/ advice.  She employed this ask philosophy herself to find the dream work she is now doing.  She used the career exploration techniques informational interviewing and job shadowing. I am sure the people she reached out to found they received from the experience.   Additionally, years later, these kind professionals have made a great contact for themselves – the successful Robin Plotkin.

Receive More Than You Ask For

As Feed Your Career grows and gains more recognition I am seeing how the art of asking is far more than a question and answer exchange. When you ask someone you are opening the door for opportunities that never could exist by doing a search in Google.  When asking people for help often times you get back more than you requested – a high dividends payout!

When I met with the nutrition professional I gave her two contact names and  I gained a sense of helping someone.  No frequently asked questions webpage page can replace these perks.

The other day I received a LinkedIn request to connect.  Instead of blindly pressing the “Accept” button, I sent a personal message.  After a couple exchanges with this nutrition professional I was offered a review copy of his soon to be released book.  If I had not reached out to him, I would have missed out on the opportunity to review his book and he would have missed a valuable PR opportunity for his book.

A recommendation I made to the nutrition professional mapping out her career was to conduct informational interviews with professionals in jobs she is interested in.  The goal would be to find out the experience, skills and credentials she needs and determine which direction matches her personality, talents and passions.  I am betting if she reaches out to these professionals she will gather more than information, she may find answers and opportunities she never knew were there.

If I look back over my past I can think of many times where I stubbornly chickened out from asking for help.  I vow to step out of my old comfort zone and “ask for advice or help” with a passionate heart in the future.

Mandi and I gave a talk at the Texas Dietetic Association this weekend in Dallas called Social Internet Highway: Get On or Be Left Behind. We had a great audience. In talking to participants, many knew they needed to be involved in social media in some way but were having a hard time making the plunge. Well, I can relate. I have been setting up blogs for my clients in my company Webnoxious for several years . I knew I needed to get started with a blog but just never did. I never seemed to carve out the time. Yes, the time old excuse ‘no time’ for it. Well, I am here to tell you, MAKE THE TIME!!

I have finally faced my fears and am here now before you blogging and have a support partner setup to help me keep blogging now several times a week. What pushed me over finally? In preparing for the presentation the dots finally connected together. There are two messages that keep pounding at my mind. One is:

People do want to connect with YOU – they want you to lead them

Mandi and I are am very passionate about Feed Your Career and helping professionals discover themselves and use this to find work they love and will allow them to live out their life purpose. We want professionals to be competitive in the marketplace, advance their career to places they dreamed about once and now know how to get to. It hit me, I have a voice and there are people that do want to hear it. I don’t have to be perfect, just authentic. That agrees with me. So here I am doing it – blogging and blogging. It feels good and feels right.  The second message that got through to me is:

Lifetime job security.

The workplace is vastly different than it was when I graduated from college. Now, graduating students entering the workforce are expected to have more than 15 jobs by the time they retire. At first that sounds scary, but if you are outstanding at what you do, then no worries. If you are remarkable at your work, then you will be recruited from one job to the next without ever being out of work. This is the new mentality in the marketplace.

The intent is to brand yourself as the expert in what you do well. Be remarkable, get known for what you do.

Mandi and I are setting out now to be remarkable at guiding professionals to find work that they soar at, work they feel value and purpose doing. This blog is part of our journey in branding ourselves. At the same time we understand it is important that we guide you to branding yourself for lifetime security. Part of that means helping you get on the social internet highway now, not tomorrow, but today.

Watch our website and this blog, Mandi and I will be offering free webinars on social media. We want to help you get over that hump and start branding yourself in whatever you do well. There are plenty of people out there waiting to hear your voice. Just do it!!

Secret is what you do when you are NOT looking for a job, not to wait until you are looking for a job.  Path to lifetime job security – brand yourself now and be remarkable at what you do –professionally you are a product.   You may not ever have thought about it that way, but it is reality.  Even more so with the exponential marketplace.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today’s students entering the job market will have 10 – 14 jobs by the age of 38.  Job hunting is not anymore a process you do when out of a job, it is part of what you are doing all the time, branding yourself so you are valuable, remarkable and well-known in the circles that matter.  Do what you do remarkably.

If you are looking for a job, take the time now to find work that you can do remarkably so you never have to worry again about looking for a job again.

I recommend you focus on 3 key areas for job security:

a.  Be remarkable at what you do
b.  Personally brand yourself
c.  Network – always grow your base of contacts