Career Advisory postgraduate studies – after the tenth weekend
Whether you are aware of it or not, you have your own personal brand. What shows up on Google when you search for your full name? The question is: will you get a second chance for a first impression? Additionally, ask yourself: do you want your online reputation to live its own life? Or maybe it’s worth controlling the narrative? With the social media spread and the development of technology, it is essential to adopt a personal branding strategy, as personal branding has never been so important. But how do you build it consciously? This question was answered by Anna Zadrożna during 10th weekend of the Career Advisory Postgraduate Studies. Another issue that we focused on during the weekend was outplacement, discussed by Justyna Przybysz.
Personal branding
The power of a personal brand – “Executive Identity” – is the difference between “Who are you?” and “Thank you for being here” in your career. Executive Identity influences the way you stand out from the “competitors”, as well as your money-making abilities, the kinds of offers you’ll receive from the market, or how long it takes you to find a job. Executive Identity is influenced by:
- your level of competencies = what you are good at
- your communication skills = in person, online (incl. writing emails)
- your visibility on the market = network, reputation, online, media
Anna pointed out how important it is to evaluate yourself (and/or your client) objectively when it comes to competencies. Why? Because a survey of over 3 600 leaders who held various positions in different industries showed that – relative to lower-level leaders – higher-level leaders significantly overestimated their competencies (in comparison with the perception of others). In fact, this pattern was used for 19 of the 20 competencies tested by the researchers, incl. emotional self-awareness, appropriate self-esteem, credibility, and managerial productivity. Only 10-15% of the respondents correctly assessed themselves!
Personal Branding Model
Since 2010, more than 9 000 people have contacted Career Angels – thanks to this, we have access to:
- a very large amount of data
- numerous “behind the scenes” stories that headhunters / recruiters / HR will never find out due to the nature of their relationship.
40% of our customers come back to us after 2, 7 or 10 years.
Thanks to this, we have a unique opportunity to observe career development of people who have achieved “success”. We added quotation marks because everyone defines success differently! For almost 3 years, the Career Angels team has analysed career paths of people who achieved success (or failed) to understand what exactly contributes to success or lack of it – this is how the Personal Branding Model was created; it consists of the following areas:
- goals and strategies
- competencies
- public speaking
- written communication
- online presence
- reputation
- savoir-vivre
- network
Building a coherent personal brand doesn’t happen overnight. During the weekend, students not only worked on their own assessment and strategy, but also saw how to work in these areas with their clients. Anna also shared the “Personal Branding Kit”.
Outplacement
On Sunday, our students also had an opportunity to learn more about outplacement from an HR consultant with over 25 years of experience (as well as a career coach, mentor and business trainer at Human Project Sp. z o.o.) – Justyna Przybysz. Topics covered included: differences between the programs of various outplacement providers, benefits for the participant and the company, discussing the role of the consultant and the participant, and formal issues along with logistics.
Reflections after the tenth meeting
“This meeting made me realize that consistency is important both at the level of private life and the professional one – it allows you to remain authentic”
“All elements of personal branding are parts of a larger puzzle”
“I understood that fine feathers make fine birds; we have an impact on how we are perceived by others”
“The personal branding model is a very useful tool thanks to which we can work on our personal brand”
“I really enjoyed the fear setting exercise”
“I have a feeling that each subsequent class is a supplement to the previous one. Thus, during our discussions we can activate the knowledge from the previous classes and create a bigger picture of career advisory”
“I realized how beneficial it is to talk to people who have a different perspective – their experiences allow you to see different situations in a new light”
“I appreciate that we can practice everything ourselves – it makes it so much easier to understand and remember things”
“I really like the coaching tools and techniques that were presented during the classes”
“I find the personal branding tool very useful and comprehensive. I’m glad we got the chance to test it out on ourselves”
“While discussing outplacement, I really liked the way in which the process of working with a client and aspects of the offer’s cost valuation were described”
“The outplacement presentation was very substantive and comprehensive”
“I really liked the emphasis that was put on managing emotions and the emotional side of the outplacement process”
“I had an opportunity to learn a lot of valuable information related to outplacement, incl. the stages of the process of working with a client and tools useful at different stages”
PS. Read more about the previous weekends:
Are you interested in this field and you don’t want to wait for the next edition? Follow information about our courses – including in-house – on this page:
https://careerangels.eu/pl/zostan-c certified-konsultantem-kariery/
