Some industries tolerate a lot more colorful language than others. But even in fields known for cursing, having a foul mouth can cost you big time. Pro football’s Rex Ryan, coach of the Jets, was recently “stunned” that the NFL fined him $100,000 for profanity toward an official. He says he didn’t expect what he thought was a private conversation to result in such a big penalty.
The Things You Say Have An Effect
Probably the language Rex Ryan used was to emphasize what he wanted to say. Then again, maybe he talks like that all the time because he hears it all the time. That old saying, “garbage in, garbage out” definitely comes into play when it comes to our words. So how do we discern when the cost of letting it fly is too high?
Figure out if you have a tendency to use words like the F-bomb without thinking about it. If you don’t realize what your language is like, you already have a problem because your brain isn’t in gear when your mouth is in motion. While it can be argued that an occasional curse word will emphasize a point, that same word littering your sentences is meaningless pollution.
Listen to the way upper level management speaks. If your industry doesn’t condone salty language, your saltiness will keep you from advancing. Swearing around the boss is far more offensive when the boss doesn’t ever swear at work. There might be lots of it tossed around the cubicles, but if management doesn’t do it, then you shouldn’t either.
How do you express frustration or anger to a colleague? A raging rant full of expletives might be a venting mechanism, but it isn’t solving any problems. If all you do is curse the darkness, your contribution is negative. But lighting a candle — working on a solution — shows you have something valuable to offer.
The language we use is part of who we are, but it can give the hearer a negative impression of how you will be in a higher-level position. That false impression is why the language of our lifestyle can ruin a career opportunity. It would be a shame to let it happen to you.
Did you know you can set up your day to have a quick opportunity to improve yourself? One of the nicest things about the internet is the opportunity to learn, and improving your language is going to make a difference in your career.
Here’s why language is important: the things you write online stay there. The impression you make with your speech and writing doesn’t fade too fast, either. If you are consistently using language the way that “everybody” uses language online, then you are automatically closing the street to opportunity.
Learn A Little Every Day
I like Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips because they are funny, memorable, and short. You may prefer another source, and there are certainly plenty out there. I also use the Gregg’s Reference Manual. It’s the bible for grammar geeks. What you need is a regular reminder of common mistakes and how to avoid those mistakes that you will enjoy reading. I’m always surprised at the things I learn. Something new every day!
That small, daily dose of language skills is a regular reminder of the importance of language. It might not seem like much, but the proper use of language moves you past barriers that keep your career from flourishing. It might be true that a top executive dictates letters to a secretary instead of writing them personally, but it’s also true that the executive still has to use language competently.
Learning a little every day is part of being a leader. Looking for life-long learning opportunities keeps your brain active and your attitude flexible for the challenges of being an influence both today and in the future. If your language skills are inadequate, you may have the greatest ideas in the world, but you can’t communicate those ideas very well.
Adding something like a daily grammar feature takes less than five minutes to read and enables a lifetime of opportunity.
Networking is one of those activities that gets shelved because you are busy. Unfortunately, it’s also one of those activities that needs to be consistent in order to do any good to your career. This is because the nature of networking is relationships, and if you only connect with people when you need them, you are viewed in a negative light. You also miss out on a lot of positive things when you don’t connect, so it’s a good idea to put it on your schedule.
If LinkedIn Is A Garden, It Has Weeds
One of the most productive professional networking sites available today is LinkedIn, but that success means that there’s spam — the weeds of the web. It gets overwhelming if you don’t do a little maintenance every day. Since the average professional on the site gets far more stuff sent to them than they want, your contact attempts can get lost in the spam weeds.
Use the tools available to you and start with your profile. How do you rank? Who’s looking at your profile? Do you share any interests other than a career category? Think hobbies, non-profits you support, and anything that you share with those names and reach out on a personal level to turn the name into a person for both of you. This connection keeps you from being seen as one more weedy spam item choking their inbox.
Cultivate Connections For Growth
People are living things; they grow and change and need regular maintenance. Since networking is all about people, it makes sense that there’s a need for regular maintenance in this area. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on this, but even 10 or 15 minutes a day checking your LinkedIn page and deliberately reaching out to one person in your network on a personal level will keep that connection healthier.
As you develop these professional relationships by becoming acquainted personally, you lay the groundwork for a mutually beneficial networking experience.
If you are an executive, then you should be on LinkedIn. Don’t think of it as just another social media website because it is not. It is a networking site for business professionals, and simply having a presence can improve your visibility tremendously. Many executives are finding that out the easy way. Here are 5 solid reasons you should be on LinkedIn right now:
Many professionals find their next job through contacts they meet on LinkedIn. The social network used to be considered the place to go when you wanted to find a job. Today, it’s much broader than that, but the networking possibilities are endless. And they often lead to better employment prospects.
It’s a great place to generate leads for your business.
You have the ability to share your content with your target audience seamlessly. If you are a blogger or routinely craft content on third party websites, you can share it on LinkedIn and reach your professional audience easily. No fighting through the noise on Facebook and Twitter.
You can publish your articles on LinkedIn and give them wider visibility. You own all your content and can take it with you when you leave–if you ever leave.
LinkedIn profile page acts like a professional online CV. Every time you make a career move–whether you change jobs, receive a certification, take a career enhancement class, get published, or earn an award for your professional achievements–you can add that to your LinkedIn profile. People do read them, and they do take notice.
Every executive should have a presence on LinkedIn, from CEO down to the middle manager who wants to be CEO.
The Top Reason Professional Resume Distribution Works
Is anybody in your family interested in your family history? My mom is our family historian. She has our family tree going back to the 1600’s! It’s pretty amazing what she’s found out and who she has met along the way. One thing most genealogists will tell you is that researching a family tree is a lot like networking. Many families will have one person in the generation who is willing to keep all the photos and letters and information, and finding that person is like finding a treasure trove. Instead of laboriously working on finding one branch, suddenly you discover that they’ve got the connections to a whole bunch of branches and they know the people who are the keepers of the photos and letters and information for all of them.
If you are interested in finding the connections in your ancestry, you need to find the people who are already doing the research. They have already made connections you have no access to until you contact them. For example, if you never meet Great Aunt Irma, then you won’t get to see all the letters your grandma sent to her dad with the pictures of your dad as a baby.
Networking
Companies use recruiters to fill executive positions and many other types of openings. A professional resume distribution service has carefully maintained connections with many professional recruiters so that a resume goes to the right recruiters for that job seeker. The connections have already been made: These are professionals who rely on networking for their career and carefully maintain the connections between them. Instead of Great Aunt Irma keeping your dad’s baby pictures, they’ve got first knowledge of job openings, and you won’t find out about it unless you connect to the right one.
This networking is the reason professional resume distribution works so much better than a blind email blast to every company in the phone book or a hopeful query out of nowhere. If your resume is presented by a reputable distribution service, that reputation enhances your resume by association. Recruiters get untold numbers of resumes all the time. It makes sense to filter them for efficiency. The fact you recognized quality and respected professional standards weights your submission with authority.
If Nobody Knows You Are An Expert, You Are Invisible
One of the assumptions about executives and those higher on the career ladder is that they have expertise in their field. The problem is, people have to realize you have that expertise. Your plan for your business, career, or any kind of future acknowledgement really needs to include ways to show the world you know what you are talking about. Fortunately, it is easier today than it’s ever been to establish yourself as an authority: an expert in your field.
Ways To Establish Your Authority As An Expert
Write a book. This is so easy with e-books because you can self-publish right away and update as needed. And the benefits are huge: you “must be an expert” because you wrote a book or two. It’s also a good way to let potential employers know what your expertise is, and it looks impressive on an executive resume.
Be a great blogger. Writing consistent and useful content builds up an audience of readers who welcome your next post because it helps them somehow. If you are sharing your insights and making a difference in your reader’s lives, you are building a reputation for expertise. You are proving your expert status with every post.
Utilize online networks. Whether it’s LinkedIn profile development and posting regularly, guest blogging, Google+, or taking thoughtful part in online discussions, there’s an impression being made about who you are. Make it a positive and authoritative impression and there will be lots of good reasons to see you as an expert in your field.
Curate content carefully. Link to authoritative sites or articles and share your expert opinion on the information. Create a reputable source for research in your industry.
When you think about it, this is marketing. You are in the business of selling yourself as a well-deserved expert in your field by getting the message out to the people who need what you offer. Anyone who aspires to become an executive or any type of professional needs to be seen as an expert, or nobody sees them at all.
Did you know that anybody can enhance their life, and thus their career, by improving some simple, basic skills? Once you have a handle on these skills, there’s no telling what can happen but you have to apply them consistently: everybody needs to learn how to learn and learn how to teach.
Learn How To Learn
Learning is essentially acknowledging that you don’t know everything and being open to expanding your horizons.
If you are always reading a novel, try reading some non-fiction regularly.
If you never do fiction, start with some short stories and work up.
Take a class in something that appeals and intimidates you.
Play games on your phone or computer that are not in your comfort zone, like words for a math whiz and numbers for the linguist.
Learn how to use your hands or your body a different way, like dancing or knitting or soccer or anything fun.
I bet you thought I’d be telling you to work on a career skill, and that certainly is a good idea. But for many of us, we need to start developing the ability to learn first. When you start with what you like and stretch your mind a little bit, you are learning how to learn.
Learn How To Teach
Teaching is not being a windbag standing in front of suffering students and talking to hear themselves. Good teachers listen to their students and try to understand how they perceive things so the facts being communicated get through to the brain. A teacher needs to have a good grasp of the subject in order to explain it effectively.
Offer to explain something you are good at to a friend who wants to know how.
Show a newbie some tips about a skill you have.
Write instructions just to see if they make sense when you follow them.
Improve your writing skills so you can communicate better.
Rewrite things that are confusing to make the meaning clearer.
Research the styles of learning and figure out how to explain to each style.
The truth is that we all teach, whether we realize it or not. The goal is to be a teacher of good, helpful things who passes on all you have learned. When a person continually is learning, and is also continually sharing their knowledge, it completes the circle of intelligent growth. It also keeps you in a positive stance for whatever your career is doing and enhances any job.
Searching for executive jobs in today’s world can be tougher than ever. It’s imperative that executive-level job seekers stand out from their competition and prove to their potential employer that they offer a high return on investment. To do this, job seekers need certain tools, including the essential job-search documents needed to effectively market oneself in the job hunt: executive resume, cover letter, career biography, reference dossier, etc.
If you are a part of the executive job hunt remember that personal branding is important to strategically position you ahead of the crowd. It links your key personal attributes, passions and strengths with your value proposition. Does your resume brand you? What about your LinkedIn profile? Does that let the reader know that you are the leader their company needs? If done right this will translate into a crystal clear message that differentiates your unique promise of value that will resonate with your target audience. By showcasing your expertise and unique personal brand in the best possible light, you’ll open doors that others can’t and be in charge or your career destiny.
Make sure you do your research! Tap into the hidden job market by taking advantage of all that’s available online in the way of targeted industry and company research. Check out websites of companies that interest you and start by identifying the challenges they’re facing, learning about the company culture and attempt to track down warm leads at those companies. It’s important to pinpoint how you can have a positive impact and help those companies reach their goals. Save time by identifying and connecting directly with top decision makers at companies through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or other online social networks when possible. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people you’ve never met. LinkedIn is known for its members welcoming connections from unknown contacts. The point is to expand your network and make new connections.
A good executive resume will be the backbone of your job search. It’s important to identify exactly what you want your resume to convey before you get started. Remember, every resume is a one-of-a-kind marketing communication that should tell your story. In order to do that it’s imperative that you make sure your executive resume is well designed and executed. There are a lot of DIY resources and resume writing tips available on the internet that you should take time to review, but in the end it may be better to hire a professional to convey your personal brand. Either way, with a good executive resume in hand that translates your unique attributes you are sure to be on your way to the executive job of your dreams!
