Finding Your Differentiator

In my work with job hunters, I often find myself helping the other person to confront the ultimate employer question:

Why should we hire you?

The best answer is to say, "You should hire me because I can do X for you and your company."

But how do you figure out what X is?

I call it, Finding Your Differentiator.

And the way to discover it is by working, really working, on your resume.

As the job hunter works on their professional summary, their accomplishments, and the identification of key capabilities, they get closer to their differentiator(s).

As an example, one of my clients was a bank branch manager from a well-known bank. After several one-on-one meetings to delve into her experiences, accomplishments, and skills, it dawned on her that her differentiator is:

~ She takes under-performing branches and transforms them into award winning branches.

She not only had an aha moment, but she seemed to shift into a higher gear of feeling positive about herself.

So how did she learn that about herself?

By really digging into her resume:

- opening up each work experience and going beyond "responsible for" statements

- finding and mining the accomplishments that demonstrate what she is capable of doing

- writing each one, using the Action/Target/Result format (e.g. “Trained all employees at 15 branches, on new operating model of customer service, increasing Net Promoter Score in the first year.”)

The process of working on the resume helped her examine the Challenges that she faced, the Actions that she took, and the Results that she achieved.

And in doing that, she was able to discern her Story, her Brand, her Differentiator.

Bottom Line: When it comes to your resume, it's not a cut and paste exercise. Don't rush it. Don't ask someone else to write it for you.

Writing your resume can be a process of self-discovery.

Originally posted by Terrence Seamon, July 25, 2009 at Here We Are. Now 

Authentically You

Do you know what your personal brand is? Does it matter?

Last year, an anthropologist named Ilana Gershon published the findings of her study on what job hunters experience. What she learned seems to suggest that personal brand does not make a difference.

In an interiew, Gershon said: "And (job hunters are) told: ‘Everything’s about personal branding.’ But they’ve been in hiring situations where personal branding never came up."

So is all this focus on personal brand a big waste of time and effort?

I don't think so.

Actually, I think we may be getting it all wrong. Here's how I see it:

Personal brand and networking go hand in hand.

Let me explain. In networking, you are connecting with other people for conversations that matter to you. This applies to anyone, not just to job hunters.

In the case of a job hunter, the conversation is about their career objective.

What do we mean by a career objective?

Almost every day, in my work as a career transition consultant, I engage with my clients around what they want to do next in their careers. What will bring them a sense of fulfillment, as well as a paycheck?

A fundamental starting point for making this decision is the Client. The client must look within and ask questions such as Who am I as a professional? Where do I want to go in my career? What is calling me?

For me, this is the personal branding space.

This is where the Client figures out who they are, what they want, and what they have to offer.

I recently came across a model from the Gallup organizations that asks five questions as a simple guide through this discernment process:

1 Yearning: When it comes to work, what "pulls" or attracts you?

2 Satisfaction: What sort of work do you do that, once completed, you say to yourself, "I can't wait to do that again?"

3 Rapid & Natural: What sorts of activities do you pick up quickly and do smoothly without much training or instruction?

4 Perceived Excellence: What have others told you that you are very good at doing?

5 Flow: What sort of work are you doing when time seems to to fly by?

Using a method such as this, you will find your way to your personal brand, that is, the core of who you are as a professional in your chosen work.

When we find our way to work that is close to this core process within us, we are very likely to find career happiness.

You have become Authentically You.

Terrence Seamon helps his clients to reach their goals. Follow him on twitter @tseamon