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Who Is In Your Sphere of Influence?

Posted by Career Coach Sherri Thomas on September 7, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

Now that we’ve discussed what a Sphere of Influence is, let’s talk more about who’s in your sphere of influence. Think locally, nationally and globally. Perhaps there is someone you want to meet who is an author or a conference speaker. Perhaps she is someone in the media, a political figure or a business owner. Think about who might be a good connection, role model or perhaps even a mentor – someone who can help advance your career (or introduce you to others who might advance your career).

As you think about your network of career influencers, analyze your current work environment. Include managers and colleagues who have specific areas of expertise and those who can provide guidance and share information.

Every company has an inside network of influencers who are well positioned within the company. Influencers are easy to spot. They are well respected and usually well liked within the organization. They are movers and shakers, constantly helping to move the organization forward. Others seek out their advice and ask for their suggestions. These are career influencers you should add to your target audience list.

Now think bigger. Who are the influencers in the industry? Attend professional association meetings, industry conferences and business networking events. Meet the members, speakers and those on the boards of directors. Join a committee or the board of directors of an association. The idea is to meet people who are successful in your chosen position or industry. Add them to your target audience list. Find ways to make connections with them to learn about their career paths, obstacles they had to overcome, best practices and key lessons they learned.

The universe is truly amazing. Once you begin identifying these career influencers, you will notice that you begin connecting with all kinds of people who can help advance your career. I really can be supportive and positively influence my career, the universe has connected me with the right people at the right time. I also have many clients who believe they were connected with me in the same way at just the right time.

Please feel free to share in the comments who your career influencers have been throughout your career.

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What Is Your Sphere of Influence?

Posted by Career Coach Sherri Thomas on August 30, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

Let’s start by looking at your sphere of influence. Picture three rings – one big, one medium, and one small. The three rings fit inside each other. You are represented by a single dot in the center.

Sphere of InfluenceEach ring symbolizes a target audience. The ring closest to you symbolizes the people you connect with on a regular basis and know you fairly well. They can include your manager, co-workers, peers, clients, family, close friends, etc. They are people whom you associate with directly, who could impact your career. Conversely, you can influence their perceptions through your messages and actions.

The medium-sized ring symbolizes others who may have some influence on your career. They are people you know, but may not see you on a regular basis. They could be managers from other departments, senior managers, past employers or clients, externals suppliers, or people whom you’ve met at professional associations, civic organizations, or trade shows.

The big ring symbolizes your wish list – those whom you want to meet and add to your sphere of influence. Is there someone who impressed you, whom you would like to get to know? Write down her name. Is there someone you admire for his knowledge, skills or career success? Expand your mind to think big. I love what Donald Trump said, “If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big.”

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Do you have a strong support system of career influencers?

Posted by Career Coach Sherri Thomas on August 27, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

If you want bigger promotions, better clients, and a richer, more meaningful career, you must work with people who value you and your professional strengths, talents and accomplishments. Otherwise, you will be living in a frustrating world, spending time and energy to accomplish things, yet receiving very little in return.

So what you need to do is put together a strong support system of career influencers. A key step in building a powerful personal brand is to identify those in your professional network who value you. People with an appreciation for your professional strengths and talents can pave the way for you to achieve the career of your dreams. They can help expand and accelerate your career. They can hire you, help you get promoted and recommend you to potential clients or employers.

Identify those managers, clients, peers, colleagues, and potential employers who you feel value your talents and strengths, as well as those you want to value you. These are successful professionals who can give you the strategies, insight, and inspiration to advance your career. They are people who can support you, teach you, inspire you, and influence others.

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PARADE Update: You Got The Interview! Now What?

Posted by Career Coach Sherri Thomas on July 13, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

PARADE Update: You Got The Interview! Now What?

One hour after Meghan sent her hot-off-the-press professionally updated resume to a hiring manager, he called to see if she could come in for an interview the next day!

Interviewing is intimidating, nerve wracking, and can make you feel like you’re two beats away from a heart attack. But preparing for the interview is much simpler when you realize that there are just five key questions going through your interviewer’s mind.

Here are three of them:

Can you do the job? You need to be able to talk about the skills, knowledge, and training you have that will help you perform the job successfully. My recommendation is that you walk into your next interview with 3-4 “personal career stories” that showcase a career success. Your stories should include: what the goal was, what the challenge was, and what the result was.

What “extras” do you bring? For most job openings, about 90% of the work has been defined but not the remaining 10%. This means you have a terrific opportunity to flaunt any bonus talents that may be of value. For example, if you’re going for a job as a Pubic Relations manager, you may have some experience in marketing or desktop publishing that is not required for the job, but might be valuable to the company.

Where are you a risk? Every new employee is a risk to a company, whether it’s a job requirement that you don’t meet or a skill you don’t have, or the potential that you’re overqualified for the position. I recommend that you beat the interviewer to the punch by stating where you a risk and then reassuring him why it won’t be a problem. If you’re asked what weaknesses you have, respond by bringing up an area that could improvement but quickly add what you are already doing to strengthen that area.

For a complete discussion of all five question, see my best-selling eBook, “Interviewing Smart: Insider Secrets to Getting the Job“

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5 Tips to Make a Faster Career Change as a Professional or Executive

Posted by Career Coach Sherri Thomas on July 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment 

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Have you been thinking about making a career change? Avoid the attitude that you will do it tomorrow, next week, next month, when your bonus arrives, etc. Be aware that “not now” soon becomes never.

Here are my 5 tips to make a faster career change as a professional or executive.

  1. Power up your confidence. Managers hire those who are passionate about their job, and confident they’ll perform it successfully. If you don’t have confidence in yourself, hiring managers won’t either. Let go of any career setbacks. Take pride in all of your strengths, talents and career successes – and go after those jobs that you know you can do well! (Confidence is a must, but arrogance is a showstopper!)

  2. Think up, down and sideways. A lot of people get stuck in a rut looking for the same job title as their last job. But you can double your options by looking at smaller and larger companies. The smaller company may have the same job role listed but with a bigger title (like a Director of VP-level), and the larger company may have a smaller title (like a manager or specialist) – but it’s the same major responsibilities.

    Also, apply for jobs outside of your industry. There are a lot of job roles that you can do in just about any industry. For example, if you’re in a marketing role, or finance role, or sales – they need these types of employees across all industries!

    So start reading trade publications and the Business Journal to learn which industries are hiring, what the hot jobs are, and where you can fit in.

  3. Leverage your transferable skills. If you’re finding that there are very few job openings for the kind of job role you want, then expand your scope. You can switch into a different job role by leveraging your transferable skills (those are skills that transfer from job role to job role.) For example, managing clients, managing teams, managing projects – a lot of these skills can transfer into different roles.

    So start reading job descriptions for a variety of jobs – and determine which roles are a good fit for you! This is a terrific way to get your foot in the door at a new company and make a start fresh in your career!

  4. Create a job search plan. So many people post their resume up on Monster.com, or they register with a headhunter and then sit back and wait for the phone to ring! It doesn’t happen that way! With this tight job market, you need to have a plan that includes:
    1. Your wish list of companies that you want to work for and check out their website every week.
    2. A list of on-line job boards like CareerBuilder.com and Career Journal.com that you check every week. A lot of these job boards have different niches that they serve best (such as a specific job industry, or salary level.) So you want to do some research and google, the job role, industry and location that you want, such as “Radio Sales in Phoenix.” Then, search through the first three or four pages of results and bookmark those job boards that meet your criteria. Those are the job boards that you’ll want to check back with every week for job openings.
    3. LinkedIn.com – joining different industry groups so that you can keep current on hot topics, network with influencers in those groups, and learn about job openings.
    4. 2-3 Networking events that you attend every week. Those could be industry conferences, association meetings, training seminars, and business networking events. These are events you go to meet people in the same industry, or they type of company where you want to work. Statistics show that 70% of jobs are going to people who have referrals within an organization – so networking with other professionals and executives is critical to changing your career. Stay away from job fairs – they tend to target lower end jobs and have too much competition.

  5. If you’re stuck – get professional help! You never want your career to be sitting on shelf longer than it has to – it means thousands of dollars every month in missed income that you should be making! So if you’re not getting results, then invest in some professional advice wherever you need it -
    1. A Professional resume writer, or
    2. An interview coach, or
    3. Or a career coach

    These are professionals who can accelerate your career change and help you get into a new job faster!

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