Valerie picture 
VALERIE GONYEA
CAREER ENCOURAGEMENT OFFICER
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Choices Yes, it has been far too long since my last post, but I have to tell you that my absence was due to all of the right reasons! My last post extolled the “magic” of making a commitment to ourselves to go to networking events. Well, I am here to tell you that I am living proof of that magic!
In the month of January alone, I attended 15 networking events. Given that the first day of the month was a holiday and that 9 days of the month were weekend days you can see I was CA-RAZY busy during the 21 business days remaining in January. Also, during the month of January I was fortunate enough to do 3 separate presentations. All of this led to a significant stack of follow up items from each event.
Here are the results of my recent networking efforts:
- I had my first corporate speaking gig with a local group of distributors from the network marketing company, Visalus Sciences. The presentation had to be customized to incorporate the website and social networking toolset that the company has provided the distributors.
- I have done 2 presentations at a major outplacement firm which have lead to further talks about additional strategic consulting services.
- I am working with a cutting-edge, well-positioned startup to be a content provider on a major national website.
- I have initiated conversations with a regional recruiting firm to provide strategic consulting services.
- I have initiated a proposal to setup a social media environment for a startup (well, actually, 2 but one is too early to count, really).
- I have secured what I consider to be a couple of the best possible mentors I could imagine.
How’s that for magic? Pretty cool, huh?
Now, I know that the economic news is depressing to listen to, night after night after night. So then why don’t you do yourself a favor? Why don’t you choose to skip the news a couple of nights a week and go to some networking events instead? I strongly believe that if you make this commitment to yourself, you will start to pull your own rabbits out of your hat. Just try it, you’ll see.
Networking I have always loved to network. Yes, it is in my blood somehow. But sometimes even I have to push myself to go to more events.
Last year I made a very mild goal of attending a minimum of two networking events every month. Within 4 months, I had attended enough events to cover my “quota” for the rest of the year.
The thing about going to networking events is that they are magic!
Do you remember when you were a small child and the excitement you felt about your upcoming birthday? It seemed like it would NEVER happen. But eventually it did…after months and months of telling people you were 5 ½ and then 5 ¾ years old. And then, on that day, wrapped gifts of different shapes and sizes would “appear”. The unknown contents of those packages just seemed magical.
Consider a networking event to be one of those wrapped gifts. Seriously! You don’t know what the event holds for you, but the possibilities are endless! It may sound corny but it is very true.
It is easy for us to sit at our computers everyday and “network” using all of our very cool tools like Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn and online forums, but nothing replaces that face-to-face connection. The smile, the handshake, the opportunity to see the passion in someone’s eyes when they answer the basic networking question “So, what do you do?”
The funny thing is that it is usually the events that I have to force myself to attend, maybe because I am too busy or just not feeling very well or I don’t want to spend the money, where I discover the most amazing new connections!
There is one important thing to keep in mind, especially with regard to my gift analogy. Please remember that while there are gifts at these events for you to obtain, you are also a potential gift to someone else. We need to remember this for two reasons:
- We don’t want to act like we are only there to meet people who are beneficial to us, such as potential new clients, etc. and come off as selfish
- I believe in “networking karma” which happens when you offer your own gifts to others. “Gifts” could include information about a cool group or another upcoming networking event or even just a contact name for one purpose or another.
So, as my dear pal, Irene Koehler http://almostsavvy.com/ says…Step Away From the Computer http://www.eventbrite.com/event/242377959) and get out there in-person! Give yourself a goal of how many events you will attend each month and then blow it out! You will benefit in the end, I promise!
Career Planning & Strategy This is a very exciting week for me! I recently took on a big challenge and taught myself how to use Adobe’s Dreamweaver software to build my own webpage. I have now officially launched the Career Courageously site.
The process of building a webpage is much more than learning code and picking colors. It actually forces you to crystallize your offers and build a cohesive brand around those offers. It was in this process of defining several offerings that I created The Complete Career Campaign ™. My approach includes a complete suite of tools and strategies to help professionals design their career the way they want to, in order to achieve the goals they hope to reach.
Fundamentally, all professionals should be actively engaged in their own career campaign, REGARDLESS of their current state of employment. As the old saying goes, be sure to build your well before you are thirsty (or, something like that). The very cornerstone of such an approach is networking, both in-person and online.
What makes a career campaign “complete” is that the professional has thoughtfully designed and implemented an online presence across multiple platforms which highlight their skills and expertise. We then leverage that online presence to enrich their “live” networking activities. THAT is what I offer my clients.
By creating The Complete Career Campaign ™ I have now begun to address my own professional goals and I am designing my life around what I want to accomplish. In other words, I am following my own advice! I am now work out of my home and go to as many networking events in the Bay Area as I can physically attend. I have accepted several speaking and seminar engagements for January which is very exciting!
So, what can YOU be doing NOW to achieve your own career goals in 2009? Please don’t wait until you get laid off to start considering your next steps. Begin by defining your goals and do so with the understanding that a career campaign is a lifelong commitment. With the new year on the immediate horizon, this is the perfect time to get clear on what you hope to achieve during 2009 and beyond.
Events This week I attended a seminar titled “Blogging Your Way to Employment” hosted by Susan Hanshaw and Dean Guadagni, co-founders of Inner Architect.
The message was simple. If you are in a job search and you are not spending at least SOME of your free time working on a blog you are just running in place with everyone else.
Here’s the deal. Your resume is a static document that represents what you SAY your expertise is and what you SAY you can do for a potential employer. Blogging, on the other hand, provides an avenue for you to express your subject matter expertise in a more “action-oriented” manner. The very process of writing posts demonstrates your adeptness on the topic, far beyond standard textbook knowledge. It allows you to give employers a taste of what you have to offer and how you think about your work; which can be significantly more compelling than a resume!
Blogging also provides a tool for those of us with a more…ahem… “eclectic” background, as we are able to demonstrate how our array of skills come together in a meaningful way. People who fall into this group often assume that employers will just be able to discern and understand the connections between all of our skill sets. This is (typically) not true. It is up to each of us to draw the lines between the dots so that potential employers get a picture of our total value. This is very challenging to accomplish on a standard resume but blogging does it by default.
Another potential benefit of blogging for employment could be access to what is commonly referred to as the “hidden job market”. Opportunities that are not posted – for whatever reason – but still need to be filled. A reader could come across your blog and realize that you have the exact blend of skills that he or she is looking for might reach out to you directly; thereby completely bypassing all of the other competition out there. How cool would that be???
I am sure that many of you reading this post already have your own blog; but for those who may not, the experts at Inner Architect are hosting two seminars on this topic, here in the San Francisco Bay Area. One in the North Bay and one in the South Bay. The workshops promise to be true “hands-on” sessions which will coach attendees on establishing your expertise and value and then creating your own free WordPress blog…..with wireless internet and all. You’ll want to sign up early in order to be properly prepared for this session.
And look! They’ve already inspired me to get back on target with my own blog. Darn! These guys are GOOD!
COURAGEOUS Careering! This week I attended two networking events. One of the groups hosting an event has my membership listed under my own company name, Career Courageously. The content of the presentation, as it turned out, was about networking….a topic near and dear to my heart.
During the presentation, I found myself spontaneously responding and participating in the presentation, encouraging a more interactive discussion. Afterward, I immediately went up to the presenters, two partners from a prestigious national accounting firm, and introduced myself. Since my name tag said I was with “Career Courageously” instead of my day job, I introduced my strategy for my company….a plan still in the works, but becoming more and more crystallized each day.
I explained to them that I was in the process of putting together a plan to do one-on-one, real-time networking coaching….wingman style. It was, in fact, the first time I had introduced the idea to a complete stranger.
Their very first reaction to this:
“Do you need any referrals?”
Dang! This idea has legs! So, now I am going on record that I am going to finish putting these plans together. Here are some thoughts I’ve had about the idea so far:
Pros: I’ll get paid to network and (ideally) within circles I wouldn’t normally be engaged. This would, then, result in more potential clients! My experiences from doing this will give me the basis for my first book.
Cons: I am only one person and I can only attend one event at a time.
I would love to hear any other comments on this idea…what do you think?
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