I’m going to put this on the line today – if you cannot answer my question above in a meaningful way, you are putting your future career and even your current job at risk. Most of us know that the old system of employment for life passed away decades ago. But today employment, period, is morphing into an entirely different animal. I don’t think we know fully yet what that new world will look like, but it is shaping up to be a very different cycle of job deaths and rebirths than we have seen before.
What I mean is that there is a strong case that we are not simply going through a particularly bad recession but rather a fundamental redefinition of the very nature of “employment”. This new world is likely to be one where jobs simply come and go, more frequently and more unpredictably. Why? Because layoffs have become a fundamental cost-management strategy used by corporations, whenever it makes sense to the short-term bottom line – economic recession or not. So odds are, even the best and brightest among us will likely end up working in and out of corporate jobs for significant periods of times during a 30-40 year career.
As a result, if your career management strategy is to periodically “dust off” your resume and post it on the big job boards (the spray-and-pray technique), you are already headed down the dinosaur path. Or, if you are counting on your manager to shepherd your career or put you up for that plum promotion, you need to think again. Because bottom line, you are going to have to sell yourself – repeatedly — if you want to advance your career or land/keep a good job. And you can’t do that if: a) you don’t know yourself – your core values, your strengths, your weaknesses, and what you bring uniquely to a team or organization; and b) can’t articulate and communicate that effectively to others.
So back to my opening question: what value do YOU add? You need to find the answer to that question early in your career, and make it a habit to ask that question again, regularly. But first take a little time to articulate your answer to yourself and get your story straight, before you start telling everyone you know why you are so good. In my coming blogs, I will tell you about an on-line tool that can help you answer that question and start to craft your selling story. It is easy, fun and free.
