Are You a Part of Someone’s Upturn Plan?
By Kaplan Mobray

It’s true, in case you have not heard that the “Great Recession” is about to become the “Great Awakening” — as economic conditions continue to show signs of recovery, companies and businesses all around the world are bracing for what is now called “The Resume Tsunami.” Companies that were once quick to cut workers loose are instead loosening their purse strings to ensure their organization is opportunity-ready. Skilled candidates who were once sidelined by the loss of job prospects are now lining up to be a part of someone’s upturn plan. Is this YOU? Have you secured your place in line? And have you made yourself just as marketable during the recession as you hope to be during the recovery?

If you have not focused on your brand, now is the time to create your online sound-bite so that you will be sought after. The very best companies are already looking for people who can fill immediate demand and deliver immediate results to help them catch up during the upcoming growth spurt. Here are five things you can do to make yourself upturn-ready.

Your Upturn Readiness Plan – Five Things You Can Do To Make Yourself Upturn Ready

1. Re-Key Your Online Career Profile with Upturn Keywords
During an economic recovery top candidates will be found through keyword searches. Make sure your profile is posted on professional networking sites like linkedin.com, amightyriver.com, and facebook that can be easily found in a three word search. For example, Computer-Technical-Analyst, Marketing-Sales-Professional, or Healthcare-Administration-Specialist. Your keywords will put you at the front of the line when they come searching for you.

2. Build an Inventory of Professional References for Jobs you have not yet Applied to Fill
References will become more important during the recovery because jobs will be filled more quickly, through referral sources. So don’t wait until the interview to ask for a reference. Build your reference yellow pages now. When you ask for a reference you automatically put yourself in someone’s mental rolodex which makes you more memorable when an opportunity becomes available.

3. Research Your Sector to Understand How You Fit into the Recovery Plan
The upturn in hiring across sectors will be driven by immediate needs that prompt an opening. This means that companies will take fewer risks and select candidates who already have a track record in a particular area. So position yourself and your elevator pitch as a solution to a specific issue, crisis, or current opportunity that a company is dealing with, that can be met with your capabilities.

4. Let Your Contacts know You are Available
It seems obvious but the reality is many candidates do not make it known that they are available. Instead, they wait for the opportunities to trickle their way into their email inbox. In an upturn, waiting puts you at the back of the line. Make yourself a commodity by asking others in your network for the opportunity to make a contribution. Devote at least one hour a day toe-mailing your professional contacts. Let them know you are taking your career to the next level and that you want to make a difference, perhaps with their company. Your attitude in the recovery should be driven by the confidence you have in your skill.

5. Ask an Influential Executive to Represent you for Future Opportunities
Business relationships are often predicated on the mutual exchange of value. Did you know that you can help someone just by letting them represent you to other influential contacts in their network? When you are referred for an opportunity that helps improve the relationship someone has with one of their contacts because of your capabilities, you become a gift from one business partner to another. So ask someone to represent you and use the upturn to turn yourself into a “gift” not just a “find.”

by Kaplan Mobray

From Wall Street to WalMart, Banker to Baker, Tech Worker to Teacher and Lawyer to Landscaper, the recession has forced millions of Americans to reinvent themselves as a means of survival. According to the Labor Department about 45% of the 6.5 million Americans who became unemployed in this downturn lost their jobs permanently.  Furthermore, online career site CareerBuilder.com reports that 71% of those who have been laid off are looking for jobs outside their fields.  This shift has created a revolution of personal brand reinvention like never seen before. But I am often asked the question how does reinvention lead to recovery?

If you have lost your job or are contemplating how to reinvent yourself in this recession there is some good news.  First, when you can bring your skills to impact another industry or sector you build your portfolio of transferable skills which enhances your career prospects. Secondly, studies show that job movers who have traded in status-only positions for purpose-driven positions achieve a greater sense of life fulfillment and satisfaction.

So if you can define your recovery as the ability to be satisfied, using skills that allow you to transfer your success, irrespective of the economic environment, then you will find a way to reinvent your brand as a means to recover from this recession.

So here are five tips on reinventing your brand.

1.  Match Your Skills With a Job Outside Your Field

You should always have a “Plan B” even if your job is secure.  Start by creating a profession-to-skills matrix that matches each of your skills with a job in another field you could do today if you were laid off.

2.  Take on a Volunteer Project in a Sector you Want to Explore

It is always easier to reinvent yourself after having some practice.  Volunteer your time with an association or not-for-profit organization that will allow you to explore a new sector. It will be a free internship and great way to get some exposure to how you would perform in a new environment.

3.  Create a Survival Based Budget

The most difficult part of recovering in the recession is often getting used to a new lifestyle and spending patterns.  Create a survival budget that details your expenses on the top 10 items you purchase per week.  Find an equivalent product, generic brand, or substitute frequency of use for each of those items. By doing this you will free up additional funds to adjust to your reinvented lifestyle.

4. Spend more time on the Internet Becoming an Expert

The greatest thing about the Internet is that it allows you to become an expert and to be known for something quickly without having to spend years studying a chosen discipline.  To reinvent yourself online, make a plan to respond to 10 online blogs a week in the new field where you are looking to enter. You will become a known authority in six months and be able to assemble a portfolio of knowledge, articles, and insight that will make you marketable in your new environment or help you in your quest for a new job.

5. Invite yourself to Networking Events Where You Have No Prior Affiliation

Reinventing yourself sometimes means becoming a “new fish” in a “new pond”.  Seek out networking opportunities that will allow you to meet new people, talk about new topics, and learn about new opportunities.  When you create these types of opportunities you will become much more comfortable reinventing yourself and discover that your skills are just as relevant, your brand is even more marketable and you are on your way to a full recovery.

Do You Have A Pink Slip Protection Plan?  By Kaplan Mobray

As the nation continues to struggle with a challenging economy there has been much talk about people losing jobs in this recession and much focus on helping the “job-seeker”.  But what about people who still have their jobs and are dealing with the daily stress of doing “double-time” to remain employed.  For this group, whom I call “job-keepers”, the stress of trying to keep a job can be just as daunting.  In fact, stress levels may even be higher.

Today if you have kept your job it’s most likely that you have inherited the jobs of one or more of your colleagues who were let go due to the downturn.  All this, while trying to focus on your own professional responsibilities and delivering results.  So what does it really take to keep your job? And how can you build a pink-slip protection plan to insure that you are kept in this uncertain economy.  Here are some tips to protect yourself from the slip.

Learn to Compete
The first line of offense in the pursuit of pink slip protection is to compete.  Learn to compete by asking for challenging assignments, volunteer for unpopular or mundane tasks, and offer to be the first one to accept staying one hour later to make sure the job gets done.

Build Skill and Recognition
To protect your job you must build your reputation for delivering skill and recognition.  In other words, you must build a personal brand that allows people of influence to see you as “necessary” and “needed”.  First ask yourself, are you an expense or an asset? Then make a list of tangible examples of how you are driving growth for your organization or group.  Find five key influencers in your company and ask them for advice on how to share the best practices of your accomplishments to help other divisions grow.

Your Attitude will Drive your Destiny
It is harder for an employer to terminate the office cheerleader. When you are asked the proverbial question “how are things going?” make sure your reply projects positively that you are a part of a positive solution.  For example, instead of saying I’m so busy doing three jobs in one, say “We’re making some great things happen”.  Your positive attitude in a time of despair will help you to be known for helping to keep the culture of your office focused on forward progress.

Ask For The Opportunity To Keep Your Job
You would be surprised to know that most people looking to keep their job do not ask for the opportunity to be kept.  It’s a bold move on your part but one that will show your commitment and dedication.  If you want to avoid the pink slip be the first one to ask your employer to keep you.

10 Ways to Work Yourself Back To Work by Kaplan Mobray

1.    Filter Your Dreams through the funnel of Reality. Make a list of what jobs you would be willing to do at the lowest salary that you would be willing to accept.  And what jobs you simply will not seek under any circumstances.

2.    Set up a Dating service for your skills.  Match a specific skill you possess to a specific human contact who you will flirt your credentials in front of.

3.    Take a Financial Gymnastics Class.   Understand how much capital you need to survive, how much you have to invest in your search, and at what point canned tuna gets added to your shopping list.

4.     Run for Office.  Make yourself a public figure by campaigning your platform on all the job boards, company job sites, help-wanted ads, linked-in.com, facebook.com, and by attending professional networking events.

5.    Make a Withdrawal from the Google ATM. Build a one page personal website that displays your picture, credentials, contact information, a statement of something you did to drive value for someone or something else and a referral of your work from a former boss or supervisor.

6.    Go Back to Your First Love.  Track down all your former bosses or people who know your work value and ask them to write you an online appraisal that you can post to your site or if they will take you back to reunite the union.

7.    Get a Personal Brand Makeover.   Get someone to evaluate your personal appearance, professional network, value-based skills, mindset, external reputation, and repackage you as a product worth buying.

8.    Find Your Lifeline. Get Security for Your Blanket.  Call home, phone a friend, identify your fallback source so you know where you would end up if your supply of financial resources runs dry.

9.    Find a Cause.  Be the Cause.  Find a charity, or cause-related association and volunteer your time to help someone who is just fighting to live.  It will give you needed perspective to understand the opportunity of temporary unemployment vs. the certainty of terminal illness.

10.    Start a Therapy Practice.  Set up a newsletter, a blog, self-publish a series of articles to create an official means by giving others advice on a subject you have an expertise in.  The more people who think you are the authority the easier it will be to break through the clutter and get hired for your expertise.