Career

What’s Your Future Job?

Are you thinking about a career change?

Have you considered productivity counselor, curiosity tutor or digital detox therapist?

3 tombstones

If you want a job of the future – such as a digital death manager – you should enhance your skills now. (Photo by Cynthia Price)

These are jobs of the not-too-distant future and some companies already have them.

Sparks & Honey, which operates a data-driven advertising newsroom that helps synchronize brands with culture (so says its website), compiled a list of 20 jobs of the future.

“More often than not, our work life will be made up of a portfolio of micro-careers,” Sparks & Honey notes in its presentation.

Very few of us will work for one company. Almost everyone I know is on their second or third company, which often leads to a reinvention or a reimagining of skill sets.

And that is what intrigues me about the jobs envisioned for the future. Whether you think you will ever have a job as a corporate disorganizer, digital death manager or privacy consultant, you will probably need to know a bit about each of those areas.

Do you know how to protect your privacy? How are you at developing content? Are you prepared to interview for a job via Skype?

If you answered “no,” it might be time to enhance your skills.

Creating a Personal Brand Tool Kit

Tool Kit

You will need several tools to create your brand identity. (Photo by Cynthia Price)

How do you make yourself stand out from the crowd? The key is to have your own personal tool kit or brand identity. It’s a way to create personal elevation for yourself, says Jennifer Ransaw Smith, CEO and Chief Brand Strategist of Brand ID.What should your tool kit include?

Bio: Almost everyone has a bio that they can submit, but do you have both a long one and a short one? This is critical because a longer one may be needed to introduce you, but a shorter one will be used in marketing materials. You don’t want to leave your bio – think reputation – in the hands of someone who doesn’t know you. Be sure you have both written. The short one should be about 75 words. I recommend having a colleague review it because I’ve always found the short one the most challenging to write and invariably I leave out the one thing that my colleagues say should be included because it’s the differentiator.

Professional Headshot: It’s worth the money to get someone to take your photo. And you can write it off as a business expense. Then use the photo on your LinkedIn profile or anytime someone requests one of you.

Speaker’s Sheet: If you do any public speaking, keep a list of the organizations to which you have spoken. If you give a major presentation to the office include that on your list. If yours is a short list you may have it included on your resume, but when you are trying to secure additional speaking roles, organizers want to only see the list and not everything else on a resume. Include the organization, title of speech and location. If you have it, also note the audience size.

If you are looking to gain speaking experience, start with local professional associations, including business and civic groups. They often are seeking expert advice on topics and would be delighted to have you speak. While there is no speaker’s fee or honorarium, you will gain invaluable speaking experience for your portfolio and the group learns from your expertise.

Speaker’s Reel, Media Reel, Thought Leadership Reel: Have you been quoted by the media? Have your speaking engagements been captured on video and shared on a website or through YouTube? Create a sheet that includes links to media quoting or interviewing you. Create a video clip that demonstrates your speaking prowess. It’s no longer enough to say that you are an expert on a particular topic, you must demonstrate it. TED Talks, for example, require nominees to submit a short video to demonstrate their speaking style.

Because of my role as a spokesperson, I’ve been quoted in publications and been interviewed by the media more times than I can count. It’s part of my job and I don’t think twice about it. Nor have I kept track of the interviews. Then one day I was asked for examples. Fortunately, Google made it possible to find some of them, and I’ve now started a list with links.

Client Testimonials: When you speak somewhere and receive positive comments, ask the person if they would provide you with a written testimonial that you can use going forward. I used to do a lot of media training, and I always asked participants for feedback and permission to use their comments. It’s helpful to have several of these to share if asked by someone who is considering you as a speaker.

6 Steps to Overcome Procrastination

I don’t typically think of myself as a procrastinator. I am decisive, meet deadlines and use lists to track long-term items. However, if I really look at how I work, I have to admit that sometimes I let things slide.

Clock

When you procrastinate, deadlines can be missed. (Photo by Cynthia Price)

Unfortunately, I’ve done that a lot in the past few months. That’s when it hit me – I’m tired. So it was easier to not do the things on my list and to not respond to emails. Instead I’d mindlessly watched TV and became lost in a good book.And now I realize I’m really behind on several commitments. What to do?

As “they” say, the first step is admitting you have a problem. Okay, check. Now what?

I made a list of what I needed to do and then broke each item into smaller pieces because often what was stopping me was the fact that one item actually was four or five items and I didn’t have that much time or energy.

I was inspired to do this after a friend shared with me about her inspirational speech she gave at Toastmasters. The speech was built around five quotes, and this one really resonated with me: By the inch, it’s a cinch. By the mile, it’s a trial.

Writing everything down, although daunting, also was helpful. I then divided the list into reasonable chunks and set deadlines.

Next, I tackled the first chunk. I set aside most of a Saturday and made myself complete the items. It was a mix of home repairs and commitments to organizations so I went back and forth until that chunk was completed. I rewarded myself with a movie rental and crossing off all those items from the master list.

Suddenly, I could see progress and the items didn’t seem so overwhelming.

Inch by inch, you can overcome the procrastination. Here’s how:

  1. Admit you are procrastinating.
  2. Make a master list breaking each item into smaller pieces.
  3. Create chunks on which to work.
  4. Set deadlines.
  5. Tackle the first chunk.
  6. Celebrate.
  7. Repeat steps 1 through 6 until you are back on track.

Audit Your Job

Are you in a rut with your job? Are you thinking about a change, either within your company or outside of it?

Before you do, take the time to audit your current job. Doing so will tell you what you like and don’t like in a job and may help guide your future choices.

Start by listing everything you love about your job. Is it the flexible work hours? If so, you don’t want to work for a company that requires you to be in the office during set hours. Perhaps, it’s the ability to serve on committees that allow you to learn about other functions within the organization. Whatever the reasons, list them.

Sometimes just reminding yourself about what you enjoy about your job makes it easier to handle the frustrations. I frequently speak about my job to civic groups, and I always get so excited when I talk about the work. It reminds me how much I enjoy it, even with challenges.

What would you change about your job? I started my career as a newspaper reporter. Every day was a new story pursued outside the office. That remains one of my biggest frustrations – feeling cooped up inside an office. To alleviate that feeling, I leave the office at least once a week to meet someone for lunch. That dose of fresh air and a different environment work wonders for me. I’ve also been known to hold team meetings at Starbucks.

What goals do you have for the coming year? Do you want to learn something new? Have you spoken with your supervisor about it? Maybe it’s taking a class after hours and you need to leave an hour early. Don’t assume your supervisor won’t accommodate you.

Once you have set your goals – both the ones you agree to with your supervisor and the extra ones that you may have – be sure to track them.  Create a folder to capture your accomplishments. This helps you track your progress and also prepares you for performance reviews. If you’re in the communications field and enter contests, it’s also a great way to prepare your entries.

I set aside time once each quarter to review my progress and adjust my course as needed.

Once you’ve completed your audit, you’ll have a better idea of what is working for you and what isn’t.

Ensuring Success for Team Members

I recall in my last position I wrote a press release because it was just easier for me to do it.

How wrong I was. Yes, the release was written and distributed quickly, but I didn’t allow someone on my team whose job was PR to handle it. And this person easily could have.

I need to provide opportunities for individuals on my team to perform their jobs and to grow in them.

I see this happen all too often with committees, too. You volunteer to help but the committee organizer ends up doing all the work. It’s not always because committee members can’t do the work, it’s often because the chairman thinks it will be easier to do the work himself. Invariably, the chairman gets frustrated because he’s doing all the work, and the members get frustrated because they aren’t contributing.

The challenge in both situations is that the person isn’t able to develop. Instead, it’s best to provide the guidelines and let the person do the job for which they signed on. It may not be exactly the way you would have done it, but it’s still done. And if it was done poorly, step back and see if your parameters were clear enough.

As one of my former bosses used to say, “At the end of the day I just want to get to 5. I don’t care if you do that by 2+3 or 4+1, just get us to 5.”

Giving people the flexibility to complete an assignment their way is sound advice no matter how you add it.