By Javier Vinsome, CPA Alberta Career Advisor
A successful job search involves differentiating your brand from your peers and identifying your strengths and the ways you can add value to an organization. Even if you are looking to work for an established organization in a full-time permanent role you can benefit by becoming a “careerpreneur”.
What is a ‘careerpreneur’?
Careerpreneurs:
- manage their careers like a small business. That means, for example, continuing to stay current in their field and tracking important market trends to identify both current and future in-demand skills.
- identify skills gaps and seek out formal and informal training to expand their marketable skills. They are open to new opportunities and new fields and actively seek out experiences that will help get them where they want to go, such as strategically volunteering for a board of directors.
- build and maintain a network of contacts. They develop their own ‘personal brand’ and maintain an active online presence.
- track goals, document successes, and record new learnings which is useful for performance evaluations or interviews.
- always keep their resume updated with significant milestones or project successes.
What does branding do for me?
Ultimately, as you build your personal brand, you develop career capital (skills and evidence of your successes) that enables you to pursue promotions or career changes. Managing your reputation so that your brand remains untarnished is part of “careerpreneurship”. Having a well-established brand enables you to articulate precisely what value you bring to future employers (or for clients if you work independently).
What skills are in demand?
Careerpreneurship involves being aware of current in-demand skills, in order to remain competitive. A recent presentation by Robert Half Accounting and Finance showed the areas identified by employers where its hardest to find skilled professionals. By focusing your branding on any of these areas you could enhance your demand in the open market.
For more details and advice on how to develop your brand and become a careerpreneur, view our recorded workshop on Building Your Brand and other topics on the CPA Alberta Career Services Vimeo channel!
Additionally, you can visit our career website to book an appointment with a Career Advisor at calendly.com/jvinsome or email us at careerservices@cpaalberta.ca..
