Personal Branding to Prevent Career Suicide - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding to Prevent Career Suicide - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Two days ago I read an article on CNNMonday.com about how many people are afraid that taking a survival job to make ends meet now will destroy their career when the economy picks up again. Thats very understandable.   When youre forced into a lower-level job than you were currently doing, or find yourself doing a job that is different from what you want to do its scary because youre been shoved off the linear career path youve always thought youd have.   Its no longer get a degree, get a job in your field and advance steadily up the ranks. Its especially scary if youve spent your entire life trying to get a job in one field, even getting an MBA or a field-specific degree and then (as one of the guys in the article did) find yourself something as unrelated as dog-walking to make ends meet! But that doesnt mean walking Fido is career suicide. Three years ago, I found myself in a very similar situation to those job-seekers who are working far out in left field.   I had just finished my Masters degree in Business Innovation, and had wrapped up a stint working for a big-time creativity expert.   And then I decided to move to Germany for some months to study German and learn to communicate with my German boyfriends family and friends. Sidetracked executives Obviously this was a huge sidetrack from the career I wanted to create for myself and I was lucky in that taking this sidetrack was my choice but it was still completely different from what I wanted to do with my life. Since I was in high school, Ive dreamed of working for an innovation consultancy and moving halfway around the world to do something completely unrelated was probably not the smartest thing to do for my future.   Especially since there are only a few innovation consultancies in the world and competition for jobs is fierce. But that move to Germany didnt prove to be career suicide.   It actually was the push I needed to set myself up for my dream job! Because I was so far away from any possible contact with the companies I wanted to work for, I knew I needed to figure out a different way to reach them.   So, I spent a ton of time reading about my dream companies and figuring out what it would take to get their attention.   Then, shortly after I arrived in Germany, I launched getFreshMinds.commy creativity blog that was specifically targeted to help me get the attention of decision-makers at my target companies. After my German class, Id come home to write on my blog and reach out to other innovative people.     Even though no one was talking about personal branding then, that was what I was doing.   And it worked.   Because of the blog I started when I was AWOL in Germany, Ive connected with many, many people in my chosen field and Im in a much, much stronger position that I would have been if I had simply looked for a job after I finished my MA. To be perfectly honest, I wouldnt have been motivated to put so much effort into branding if I hadnt found myself light-years away from the work I wanted to do.   But because I couldnt just gradually advance through the ranks in my chosen field, I had to carve a place out for myself in my chosen field.   And doing that has really paid off. Necessity the mother of invention So, to those job seekers who are worried that theyll destroy their future if they head in a different direction for a while, dont worry so much.   You just need to figure out a different way to demonstrate that you belong in the job you want. Walking a dog or tending bar will only keep you from your dream job if all you do is work and go home. If you put the effort into branding yourself, you can come out of a tangent job just as strong as before, or in an even better position. Author: Katie Konrath writes about creativity, innovation and “ideas so fresh… they should be slapped!” at www.getFreshMinds.com.