If You Want to be More Enterprising, Think Plural!

This is a guest post by Ian Sanders, a business & marketing consultant based in the UK. Ian is the author of “Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life” and “Leap! Ditch Your Job, Start Your Own Business & Set Yourself Free.”

How do you answer that dinner party question ‘what do you do?’ Do you have a simple one word answer or do you find it difficult summing up your job, because you do more than one thing?

Many of us are carving out plural work lives where we juggle more than one role. Whether you work for yourself, for an employer or you’re seeking a career change, jugglers are busting the old myth that specialism rules!

Throughout our education we were always encouraged to do one thing, to specialise in a narrow range of subjects and choose a singular trade or profession. I never liked that. So when I left school, I relished the ability to mix things up, working at a radio station, for a music business and taking a class in photography all at the same time. That gap year before I went to university was when I learnt to juggle and throughout my life, both working for organisations and for myself I have continued thinking and acting plural, juggling writing books with running a business. Working for a fashion brand one day, a rock band the next.

If you carve out a work life that reflects your multi-dimensional talents you can be more fulfilled and also more enterprising. My book ‘Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life’ advocates that we bust those myths about what you should or shouldn’t do so that we can go beyond a fixed job title to create a role juggling our talents and passions. Kevin Roberts features in my book. Kevin is CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world’s largest creative organisations, but he also blogs, writes, sits on the boards of other companies and guest lectures at business schools. He’s carved out a unique role driven by his passions – the ‘Work Kevin’ is the ‘Real Kevin’. And that juggling philosophy informs the company’s approach to recruitment:

“This whole notion of specialization vs. generalization I believe is a crock. It limits people. In my experience, people are much more capable than their specialty might suggest. Indeed to only focus on specialization leaves a good deal of man’s potential unrealized”

But juggling is not only for successful CEOs. Jan is an HR manager 3 days a week and makes handmade jewellery the rest of the week. Dave juggles being a photographer with working in a camera store. Sam is a sales executive working for a media company, but has a web-based hobby business he runs in his spare time. In a recession, juggling can prove to be a good survival strategy; if you have more skills to offer the job market or an employer, you can be more of an asset.

So if you’re stuck in a job you don’t like, try juggling; start by reframing your role to take on a new responsibility or task. Or if you have a desire to start your own business, a recession might not be the best time to quit your job, so try a hobby business in your spare-time.

Here are 5 tips to creating a Juggle-based career:

1. Be Flexible: Forget a rigid career plan, be flexible to embrace opportunities that fit with your talents and desires. Change your mindset and start thinking plural.

2. Stay Focused: being a good juggler is not about being a ‘jack of all trades and master of none’. It’s about being committed and dedicated in all you do. Manage time well to deliver on all fronts.

3. Shout about your talents: develop a personal brand and use social media to communicate your talents to clients, recruiters and employers.

4. Be Passionate: put passion at the heart of all you do. If you love what you do, work is less of a chore.

5. Go beyond a job title: carve out a unique you-role. Do it your way, be authentic. Let the Work You be The Real You!

Happy Juggling!

Ian Sanders is ‘Chief-Juggler.’ He’s a writer, ideas-producer and business & marketing consultant based in the UK. He’s author of ‘Juggle! Rethink Work, Reclaim Your Life’ and ‘Leap! Ditch Your Job, Start Your Own Business & Set Yourself Free’. Follow him on Twitter @iansanders Videos, blog and links http://www.iansanders.com/ Video of him talking about Juggle http://tinyurl.com/ianjuggle Change This ‘Juggle’ Manifesto http://changethis.com/55.01.JuggleLife

What not to wear (or do) at MBA admissions fairs

I’ve been accused over the years of having unrealistically high expectations of people and I’m sure in some cases it’s true. However, the preponderance of things that really make me get hot under the collar are so low on the expectations spectrum, they really are hard for me to wrap my mind around. Which brings me to what not to do/wear to an MBA admissions fair.

If you’re not familiar with graduate school fairs, the idea is simple enough–colleges and universities send representatives to key cities around the world to meet with prospective students. Some fairs attract hundreds of students and institutions of higher learning. Admissions representatives are trying to stand out from all of the other schools to reel in the best and brightest students. Prospective students are trying to gather information about target schools, present themselves well, and also to get a feel for each program’s culture. Given the goals of the event, it shouldn’t come as a shocker that both groups want to put their proverbial best foot forward. But that doesn’t always seem to be the case for some attendees. Following are some random observations.

Don’t bring a Teacup Chihuahua. I was going to specify graduate school fair, but I think this should be a universal rule for any fair (job fair, state fair, renaissance fair, health fair, etc.) Would you be taken by surprise if you saw a guy carrying a Teacup Chihuahua as he went from table to table? Are my expectations too high on this one?

Blue jeans, by any other color, are still blue jeans—and blue jeans are generally bad when you want to present yourself as an aspiring business professional. I specify color as I’ve had conversations with students on guidelines for business professional dress and they try to find a loophole by wear black jeans because I mentioned that blue jeans weren’t acceptable. I wonder if those students end up working as attorneys??

It’s generally a good idea to tuck in your shirt. I know that might come as a shocker, but I think people want to know you are willing to put in that little extra effort required to tuck in your shirt…especially if you’re wearing jeans. I’m no fashionista (or would that be fashionisto? So much for four years of high school Spanish), but I’m going to say I think it looks bad at a graduate school fair.

Stiletto heels. As with the previous point, you won’t be seeing me as a judge on Project Runway, but I’m pretty sure stilettos are a bit on the high side at recruiting functions.

If you’re only there to grab free stuff, at least try to be subtle about it. I actually watched a guy come up, reach in front of someone who was in the middle of a conversation with a representative from one of the schools, so he could grab a handful of free pens. I can see making a mad dash if they were giving away Mont Blancs, but the pens were probably 50-75 cents each. Was that really necessary? It’s just a hunch, but I don’t think that guy was there to make friends and influence people…I think he was there for the schwag.

I often find myself wondering where common sense has gone and if it’s ever going to make its way back into the mainstream. If it’s gone for good, maybe I’ll adopt myself a Teacup Chihuahua, un-tuck my shirt, throw on some black jeans, put on some heels, grab a handful of free pens, and ride off into the sunset.

Personal Branding vs. Personal Grooming

This is a guest post by Chris Perry, founder of  Career Rocketeer, the Career Search and Personal Branding Blog.

It has always been said that you should not judge a book by its cover.  Appearance isn’t everything, or at least, it shouldn’t be.  In your career search and development, the substance of your personal brand and the promise of the unique and differentiating value you consistently deliver in any given situation are inevitably most important. 

However, presentation can make or break your personal brand and can be one of the deciding factors in your career progression.   The following results from a recent survey of over 500 HR professionals (commissioned by Gillette and conducted by Harris Interactive®) on the topic of personal grooming among male job candidates and male employees provide some valuable personal branding insights for all job seekers, both men and women:

• Nearly two-thirds (66%) of HR professionals believe that a candidate’s physical appearance is very important or important in distinguishing them from other job candidates.
• More than 9 in 10 (92%) HR professionals agree that a candidate who takes the time to be well-groomed exudes confidence.
• Nearly 9 in 10 (87%) HR professionals agree that the more well-groomed the job candidate, the better impression they get of him.
• More than 8 in 10 (81%) HR professionals agree that they take special note of job candidates who are well-groomed.
• A majority of HR professionals (52%) believe that being clean-shaven is an extremely important or important aspect of personal grooming in making a good first impression when meeting a job candidate for the first time.
• Other aspects of grooming—besides a clean shave—that are also extremely important or important to most HR professionals, include the absence of body odor (91%) and hair that is well-cut and styled (60%).
• One in four (25%) HR professionals believe facial stubble is one of the biggest red flags when meeting a job candidate for the first time.
• Other red flags, according to a majority of HR professionals, include body odor or sweat stains (93%) and wrinkled, ill-fitting, or inappropriate clothing (73%). 
• The top three aspects of physical appearance that men often neglect, according to HR professionals, are their fingernails (59%), clothing (27%), and shaving/body odor (23%).   
• If a candidate comes to a job interview unkempt, 71% of HR professionals conclude that he is unprofessional and more than half (55%) conclude that he is not seriously interested in the position.

The results from this survey should not deter any of you from keeping your facial hair or from creating and developing your own unique style or look to go with your personal brand.  I would not recommend to anyone that they change the essence of who they are by altering how they want to look in front of others.  We were not all made from the same cookie cutter, and thus, we should not all have to conform to looking exactly the same to achieve career success.

However, keeping yourself well-groomed and maintaining higher levels of personal hygiene should not limit the evolution of your own unique personal brand and look.  In the end, whether you know it or not, a clean shave, a good hair cut and clothes that fit not only make you look good, but feel good, too.  This leads to a subconscious confidence that will come across in your interviews and networking and help enhance your personal brand.

It’s also important to present yourself well once you have your job, too.  According to the survey, more than 8 in 10 HR professionals (84%) agree that well-groomed male employees climb the corporate ladder faster than those who are not well-groomed and two-thirds of HR professionals (66%) conclude that an employee is not professional if he regularly comes to work looking unkempt.

Don’t change who you are; just build your personal brand to be the best and most effective it can be!

Chris Perry is a Gen Y Brand and Marketing Generator, a Career Search and Personal Branding Expert and the Founder of Career Rocketeer, the Career Search and Personal Branding Blog.

Brazen Careerist Launch: Twitter meets Facebook meets LinkedIn meets Gen Y…and it’s about time.

The folks at Brazen Careerist realize college students and young professionals aren’t always able to pull from years of previous work experience when marketing themselves to potential employers. And that often puts them at a competitive disadvantage. So, instead of sticking with the status quo, they decided to turn existing traditional online career management tools on their ear.

With the launch of the new Brazen community, members can now showcase their intellectual horsepower (or potential) through their ideas…ideas that can lead to creative solutions to complex problems. And if there’s one word that describes today’s business landscape, it’s complexity.

But it’s not just about individual success. Brazen was founded by a team of bloggers. Collaboration was, and is, at the core of what they do. The new site encourages collaborative career management through the use of fan and idea feeds. Members of the Brazen community can now keep up with recent blog posts and status updates of their fellow Brazenites with a clean, colorful, easy to scan dashboard—a great way to exchange ideas and information with other young professionals.  

As someone who works in the career management space on a college campus, I know I have benefited greatly from the Brazen community. From keeping tabs on Dan Schawbel (which is no small feat given the fact that he’s a super nova of information), to having a chance to write a duet blog post with Ryan Paugh, Brazen’s Community Manager extraordinaire, the site keeps me continuously up to date on the challenges faced by today’s young professionals.

Interview Attire: Looking Like a Million Bucks, For Significantly Less

Looking to overhaul your interviewing wardrobe on a tight budget? Check out this week’s guest post from Laura Knepper, fashion guru and owner of LKc Style.

Wool Suit $150 @ Kohl's

It used to be a handful of people interviewed for a job and the most talented person was clearly ripe for picking. With today’s scary unemployment figures, the pool of competition is now vast. It is possible that there are many equally talented people all interviewing for the same job. Anyone interviewing right now is, or should be attempting, to differentiate, or personally brand, themselves from the crowd. One piece of personal branding is style. Although the economy has our pocketbooks thinner, there are some great ways to personally brand yourself via style specifically for your next interview:

1. Decide what you need.

• Suit: A charcoal grey or navy suit is superbly classic and professional. It will stand out more than a regular black suit that most people will choose for an interview. Both colors are versatile and can be worn for many other occasions in the future. Ladies, skirts can still be worn for interviewing, but consider it in the context of the job for which you are interviewing.  
• Shirt: Crisp, classic white. Never opt for anything showy in your interview. Ladies, choose something with a slight embellishment around the neck or a subtle pattern. You probably already have this; if not, it’s easily found for under $25 at Target, Kohl’s (check out their Arrow Fitted Dress Shirt for $21) or any department store. 
• Tie: A bold but not distracting tie will be best for interviewing. Some of my favorite and least expensive ties can be found at topman.com—all below are only $20.
• Shoes: Black will coordinate best with the charcoal suit and a very dark chocolate brown or black will coordinate best with the navy (avoid lighter browns for interviewing, they are too casual looking). Best deals and biggest variety can usually be found at DSW Shoe Warehouse. Shine your shoes before the interview if you don’t buy new; they’ll appear new.
• Accessories: consider belts, watches, cufflinks and pocket squares as additional but not always necessary for interviewing. Choose one or two quality accessories that may already be in your wardrobe. Avoid anything looking worn or faded. Ladies, wear jewelry that is classic and not distracting; pearls are almost always the best choice.

2. Preview two to three stores and look for sales.

• Target and Kohl’s have suits at very low cost. They will probably have blended fabrics which isn’t optimal, but you can still have a look without paying for the high quality fabrics.
• Department stores like Macy’s and Boston Store can have decent brand name suits at moderate cost and are having huge sales frequently due to recent tanking retail sales. Tell a sales associate your budget and ask for the best quality suits in that range.
• Men’s Wearhouse has a huge variety and most sizes. Sales abound frequently here too. The sales associates here will be most knowledgeable. Their costs can range from moderate to high. Be upfront about your budget and they will be able to pinpoint your needs.

3. Try Suits On.

• I think this is a given, especially for bigger ticket items or items that will be worn frequently—but I know a few of you that might walk out of a store without a test drive first. A suit that meets your financial and aesthetic needs on the hangar may or may not fit your body in the dressing room. You must try on any suit you are seriously considering purchasing. There may be slight areas that need tailoring (see #4), but overall, it should appear to flatter your body.

4. ALWAYS get tailored.

• Find a trustworthy tailor. Some department stores and Men’s Wearhouse will have their own tailors for a quick fix. Your drycleaners might even have a spiffy and spendthrift tailor. Look on Yelp.com for reviews in your area. Consider this person similar to your doctor—they will get to know your body and what it needs over time—try to find someone you like, that has reasonable prices, and is convenient.
• Some consider a tailor a luxury. It shouldn’t be. Especially if you are saving money on purchasing a less expensive suit, a tailor is the BEST and least expensive way to make the suit look more expensive!

Good luck in the interview process. Wear your suit and a sincere smile with confidence. For more tips on business attire, casual wear and other style do’s and don’ts, visit me at www.lkcstye.com/blog.