Blog
Debra Wheatman, President of Careers Done Write, provides expert insight to the job search process that puts your career in gear with tips for interviewing, networking, job search strategies and how to create a winning resume and cover letter.
SEO, Branding, and Your Career
As a personal branding consultant, I frequently field questions about what branding is and how to effectively execute a personal branding strategy. Branding embodies the captivating experience you curate and the lasting impression you leave upon every interaction. It becomes a powerful essence that defines your identity in the minds of those with whom you engage. Why is it so important to have a strong brand? In this ever-evolving world of work, the paradigm of lifetime employment with a single company has shifted. Embracing this new reality, it becomes imperative to adopt the mindset of a CEO for your own career, strategically marketing your most vital product—YOU. By taking charge of your professional journey and proactively shaping your personal brand, you pave the way for limitless opportunities and extraordinary growth.
Creating a successful personal branding strategy has three main components: Content, Context, and Consistency….
Doing Networking Right
Networking. You know that you should be doing it. But you’re a bit unclear on what it actually is and how you build and manage your network. When I advise clients on the importance of networking, their responses tend to go something like this: Oh yeah, I’ve got a network, but I don’t want to bother anyone until I need something. It is astounding, and I hear this All The Time….
Candidate, Know Thy Worth
One of the more frustrating aspects of searching for a new role is knowing what kind of compensation rate is fair and equitable. This is because there is a culture of secrecy around compensation information in North America. Job seekers are regularly (and incorrectly) counseled not to ask about salary ranges until the very end of the interview process. Some interviewers even regard such questions about remuneration as rude or overbearing, as if people go to work for reasons other than the primary one of providing for themselves and their families….
Up Your LinkedIn Game for 2022
You know you need to have a LinkedIn profile—if you’re not on the platform, you don’t exist. LinkedIn remains the most important digital networking site. LinkedIn currently has more than 800 million members and continues to grow. However, only a small fraction of those members maximize the platform’s capabilities and reach. If you are not getting the desired results you want from your LinkedIn experience, you may be making the following mistakes….
Help! My job search is going nowhere!
Probably the question that I am asked most frequently is this one: “Why am I not getting interviews/callbacks/offers when I’m putting in all this effort?” I know that job seeking can be frustrating; the process is often lengthier than candidates would like. To make it less frustrating, you need to be strategic and precise in how you execute your search. Most job seekers go about executing their search in ineffective and inefficient ways. Here are some things that might be making your job search more arduous than it needs to be….
Why your employer’s reputation should matter to you
Reputation and brand are critical imperatives for businesses. Companies that make concerted efforts with their brands and reputations reap many benefits, including more revenue opportunities, lowered marketing costs, decreased employee attrition, and public trust. Being associated with such a company through employment helps your brand, too. Here are a few tips to help you with your research….
Become a great listener and people will LOVE talking to you
You may have noticed that many, if not most, people are not very skilled communicators. This puts the onus on you, as the listener, to untangle the meaning of what is being conveyed. This can be difficult and arduous. Even if the speaker is clear and cogent, there may be concepts that are still hard to grasp. We tend to think of listening as a passive activity, but nothing could be further from the truth. Good listeners know they must listen intently and actively and ask questions when they need clarification. Here are some tips to help you become a great listener….
5 easy ways to increase engagement with your content
Whether you are a job seeker, a product marketer, or promoting your brand, you must be a content creator. But creating content alone is just a small part of the process. You also need your audience to consume your content….
Job seekers: Stop apologizing
It is ingrained in us that the employer/employee relationship is inherently unequal, founded on uneven footing, in which the employer holds the cards. The proliferation of this fiefdom/serf myth is precisely why so many job seekers feel the need to apologize for their backgrounds. Here is a list of things that many job seekers regard as negatives, and for which they unnecessarily apologize….
Make decisions with confidence
We talk a lot about data-driven decisions and how it differs from an emotional or gut-level decision. But for all of the data we have at our disposal, the fact is that people, not being robots, primarily make decisions based on feelings, not on facts….