Stand Out: Tips for Being Competitively Different
In today's competitive job market you must be strategic in projecting your value
By Rodger Dean Duncan
In my previous post (“Reinventing Yourself: What Future Can You Imagine for Yourself?”) I visited with career and marketing strategist Dorie Clark. We discussed getting clarity on your personal brand, how to enlist others in your pursuit of new possibilities, and how to expand your learning in your current job to help you prepare for a bright future.
We continue the conversation here, exploring the use of a mentor and how to differentiate yourself in the marketplace.
Rodger Dean Duncan: What issues should one consider in finding—and benefitting from—a professional mentor?
Dorie Clark: One of the biggest challenges is actually finding a mentor, because the most successful people are often the busiest and they may not have time to help you (or the many others who would like their assistance). So the question becomes: how can you get noticed and “talent spotted” by the kind of people whom you’d like to be your mentor?
The Center for Talent Innovation has an interesting perspective on this. In their research on mentorship (and sponsorship, which is a kind of “mentorship-plus” in which the senior person also expends political capital on your behalf), they discovered that one of the best ways to attract a sponsor is to have a strong personal brand. The reason for this is two-fold: first, being known and respected in your company and in your field means they’re more likely to hear about you in the first place, a precondition to becoming your mentor or sponsor. Second, even the most altruistic leaders can’t agree to mentor everyone while receiving zero benefit for themselves. It has to be a two-way exchange.
You may not be able to offer more obvious benefits: they probably have more power, or industry knowledge, or connections than you do at this stage in your career. But one thing you can give them is a reputational glow, because if they’re seen as being the patron of the next generation of rising talent, that marks them as both smart and influential. In short, your brand redounds to their benefit. So taking the time to think strategically about your brand and cultivate a reputation you can be proud of is worth the investment.
Duncan: In positioning themselves in the marketplace, professionals must be differentiated from others competing for the same jobs. What are the keys to doing this successfully?
Clark: In my book Stand Out and the subsequent online course I developed based on it, I suggest three ways professionals can distinguish themselves from others. They are content creation, social proof, and one’s network.
Here are the reasons my research indicates these are the three critical ingredients:
