Visibility isn't something that just happens.
We often forget this. We assume that if we do a good job, or just work harder, people will automatically recognize it and we will progress rapidly in our careers. And if our networking efforts and job searches aren't working out, we should just work harder.
Life doesn't work that way. You have to first learn how best to create the visibility that you need, and then work at creating it.
Often it's not even that we don't know a lot of the right things to do, it's just that doing them involves stepping out of our comfort zones.
We get comfortable with certain patterns and routines that we've convinced ourselves are good enough, and then carefully avoid doing different things that take much more mental energy, and that are the keys to really creating powerful visibility.
For example, what do you say when someone asks you what you do?
If you are like 99% of people out there, you tell them your job title or category, perhaps expanding upon it with example of your duties. "I'm an actuary." "I'm a finance professional." "I project manage large scale IT infrastructure projects in the pharmaceutical industry".
Unless you are one of the small percentage of professionals with a sexy job title, or in a very 'hot' company, that's a horrible way to answer the question, and you will have blown a terrific opportunity to create engagement. Yet it's what almost everyone does.
For the rest of the article, just drop me a note at John@JHACareers.com, or you can visit my website to check out the contents of past issues and selected articles at www.JHACareers.com/Newsletter.htm
(Another topic I covered in this most recent issue was an interesting position someone took on networking, that has generated a number of insightful responses from readers.)
John
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John West Hadley Career Search Counselor (908) 725-2437
"Land The Job And Pay You Deserve"
