Themes discussed in this episode

• Consistency is key
• Dress for success
• Be ready for the next opportunity with an updated resume and LinkedIn bio
• Increase your LinkedIn presence
• Stay up to date with industry news and trends
• Personal websites are SEO gold

Episode Highlights

Timestamped inflection points from the show

1:40 – Consistency is key: Consistently working hard and doing your job to the best of your ability will help you outperform most people.
4:55 – Dress for success: While how you look isn’t the ONLY important part of your reputation, it’s still an essential aspect of your personal brand. Why? Because your personal presentation affects how others perceive you.
7:40 – Update your resume and LinkedIn bio: Always keep your resume and LinkedIn bio updated because you never know when that next opportunity could present itself.
10:20 – Active social media presence: You don’t have to be a social media expert to effectively use LinkedIn to grow your network and find new opportunities.
11:30 – Referrals are your best friend: If your friends and connections know what you do, they can refer you to your next great position, and those referrals are infinitely stronger than applications to help wanted listings.
15:00 – Pay attention to industry happenings: Staying on top of industry trends and news helps you be a better networker because you can contribute to the conversation and leave a better impression.
16:00 – Create a personal website: A personal website not only gives you space to show your work but it also gives Google more to show in search results other than your social profiles and old information.

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Top Quotes

4:25 – “You will rise through the ranks if you are consistent in your behavior and develop a strong reputation for working hard, being kind, and being gracious.”
5:15 – “Do you present yourself in a way that amplifies the impression you’re trying to make or one that detracts from the impression you’re trying to make? You know which side I’m on. Always try to be on the side that is going to enhance the person’s perception of you.”
6:30 – “Personal presentation is part of what they call your personal brand, and your personal brand is your reputation, how you present, and how you perform all wrapped into one.”
8:50 – “You are more likely to advance through the ranks with a new job than at your current job. Your current employer knows your strengths, and they know your weaknesses. They may not choose to promote you to the next position you want until you’ve addressed those weaknesses. A new employer or recruiter looking for somebody may give you the promotion to get you to join their team, and all they see are your strengths.”
13:40 – “Those kinds of referrals are always meaningful when you come to a new or an open position through a referral and someone who knows the person hiring. It’s a lot stronger than trying to answer an ad on Indeed or Linkedin or a help wanted ad.”
15:10 – “Make sure that you know what’s happening in your field, so that when you go out there and network, you have something interesting to say. You’re aware of what’s happening in your industry.”
17:40 – “Is there anything out there on the internet that Google can find that paints a not so good picture of you? If that’s the case, you want to do blog articles and have a website so that that kind of information is pushed down to the second or third page of the Google search results, where all those kinds of things go to die.”
19:20 – “Yes, you want to look good. Yes, you want the things you put out in the world to look good. But you want some depth to your reputation, to the content that’s out there about you on social media. You want some depth, and you want to make sure that you are presenting yourself as a person with integrity, with moral character. “

Links

Check out our LinkedIn episode for more ways to effectively grow your network and get that next opportunity.

Connect with me on LinkedIn. Order my book!

Transcript

00:00.31 – Lori Jo Vest

Hello and thank you for joining me for Work Mom Says Don’t be An Idiot. I’m your host for this podcast, Lori Jo Vest, and I am here to help you learn to play the emotional contact sport of business. You’ll hear me say that often. It’s something that needs reinforcing. Business is an emotional place to go. It might not feel like it all the time, but there will be those times when someone says to you ‘I’m disappointed in what you just did’ or maybe they’ll just snark at you, make fun of you, or send you a nasty email and CC your boss. It happens. I see you, and I’m here to help. 

So today we’re going to talk about marketing yourself, and marketing yourself means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. So I’m going to of course convey what I believe about marketing yourself and a big part of it in my opinion is your reputation matters more than you know. 

01:25 – So one of the things that I will tell you to focus on, and it might take a while for you to get there, but focus on being consistent in your behavior. One of the ways that you create a reputation is with consistency. Work hard. Be kind to other people that’s pretty much all there is.

If you work hard and you do your job to the best of your ability at the moment you will be outperforming most people. It’s surprising, I know. 

My son Kyle is 24, and he went to a lot of high performing schools, where you know there are a lot of people competing. They all want to get A’s, and they’re the kind of schools you had to test to get into, always very college-oriented, science-oriented, and technology-oriented. And he always felt like he was a little behind like you know, “Mom I go to school with these people that are so much smarter than me. What’s it going to be like out in the world?”

I told him, “No, everybody’s not smarter than you. They may have better work habits than you. They may be better able to retain technical information or have other talents that you don’t have, but odds are most of the people you meet are pretty much in a similar education level.”  

So when he went out into the work world after graduating from University of Michigan, what he discovered is yeah all you have to do is work hard and be kind to other people, your coworkers and your customers, and you will be more successful than the people around you because so many people aren’t doing their best. They fall into a routine or it’s comfortable to do the same thing. So maybe they’re not in a continuous improvement mindset or they’re not in learner mode or they’re just not consistent. They let their emotions run away with them. 

Consistency in your behavior will serve you incredibly well. As you build your reputation and market yourself. It’s a huge part of um, making sure that you are employable and that you’re able to climb the career ladder.

03:30 – Kyle is now in the service department at a dealership, doing really well and kind of at the top of the food chain there. He’s the service advisor that serves the people that drive the wagoners, you know the $100000 vehicles. He’s 100% commission-based and doing really well financially, which I didn’t even know was possible in a service department at a dealer. 

But what’s important in all business relationships, including a service department at a dealer, is professionalism, strong positive connected relationships, kindness, and hard work. He’s doing that, so it’s paying off for him just a few years in. Those are the kind of things to remember: you will rise through the ranks if you are consistent in your behavior and develop a strong reputation for working hard, being kind, and being gracious. So my number one point is work on your reputation. It does precede you um people will um, talk about you out there in the world if you’re exceptional in the workplace and that will help you get that next job.

04:50.51 – Number 2 on the list of ways to market yourself is your personal presentation. What do you look like when you get onto that Zoom call if you’re working remotely? Is your hair done? You know, do you dress nicely? Do you have the camera on? Do you smile? Do you participate actively when the opportunity arises? When you’re in person, you are dressed nicely with your shoes not worn out and dull. Do you take care of your hair? Cosmetics aren’t mandatory, but if you do wear them, are you wearing them in a tasteful fashion? Do you present yourself in a way that amplifies the impression you’re trying to make or one that detracts from the impression you’re trying to make? You know which side I’m on. Always try to be on the side that is going to enhance the person’s perception of you.

One of the things that I got out of one of the old style for business books, and this was back in the 80’s, and there was a gentleman, John T Malloy, who wrote a book called “Dressed for Success.” And the only thing I took out of that was to really look at how you’re being perceived. How you dress determines how you’re going to be perceived and that you might want to consider dressing just a notch above someone else in the same situation. 

So if you’re meeting a client for lunch, don’t wear jeans that day or put a jacket over your t-shirt. Do something that elevates your look just a little more than expected. I mean you’re not going to wear a formal gown to a lunch meeting, but you may throw a jacket over your really cool funky t-shirt and your jeans and wear some nice black boots or some heeled sandals if you’re a woman, something that will make the impression that you thought about how you presented yourself, how you put yourself together that morning because personal presentation is part of what they call your personal brand and your personal brand is your reputation, how you present, and how you perform all wrapped into one. 

Some people will say personal brand is you know what colors you wear, what you look like on Linkedin, but there’s so much more to it. If you just focus on what it looks like, you won’t be successful. You’ve got to have some meat and that’s where your reputation comes in.

07:30.75 – Lori Jo Vest

The third most important part of marketing yourself for career success is to make sure that you have an up to date resume and an up to date Linkedin bio. You want to make sure that you are always ready for that next opportunity. Or the next time you get fired and trust me, you will get fired. People get fired, and it’s not necessarily for performance. People get let go because you know the economy and that industry you know took a dip, and the boss got a little freaked out and let a bunch of people go. 

You may work for a large company, and they may lose a client. They lose the client on Friday; you don’t know anything about it until Monday morning. You get an email to go into an eight o’clock meeting with 10 other people and you’re all let go that day. It happens and the reality is  if you don’t know when it’s going to happen. You can’t predict when it’s going to happen. 

The other thing is if you’re on Linkedin, and you have an up-to-date resume that looks good, you may get a call from a recruiter. I’ll tell people this frequently as you’re growing your career: you are more likely to advance through the ranks with a new job than you are at your current job.I’ll tell you what I mean by that. Your current employer knows your strengths and they know your weaknesses.

08:58.80 – They may not choose to promote you to that next position you want until you’ve addressed those weaknesses, and a new employer or a recruiter that’s looking for somebody may give you the promotion to get you to join their team, and all they see are your strengths. So don’t be distressed if you don’t get promoted where you currently are because it may be because you have some weaknesses to work on. It’s going to take you a little bit longer. 

But if you want to move through the ranks quicker, make sure your resume is ready to go. Make sure your Linkedin profile is up to date. So if a recruiter does a search and kind of stops by and looks at what you’re up to, they’re seeing really current information. I don’t care how long you’ve been at your job. If you’ve been at your job for 5 years and you think you’re going to be there for another 10, still make sure that your Linkedin and your resume are up to date. It’s just good form. 

10:00 – Let’s see number 4 on our list is to make sure that you are out there on social media regularly talking about what you do. So if you are not yet on Linkedin, get over there, build a profile, and go at least 3 times a week. 

You can take 10 minutes with your morning coffee or after work when you’re kind of sitting around, you got Tv going in the background, take 10 minutes to go over to Linkedin and engage with your people. If you don’t have a lot of people there, start looking people up past coworkers, business friends, past clients, past bosses, people you went to college with, people you went to high school with, people that you met at a networking event., etc.

When you go to networking events, take your phone. When you meet someone new say hey, let’s connect on Linkedin and connect with them right then. And that will help you grow that following that’s going to be really important to your future success.

The other thing I would tell you to do, and this can be a little intimidating, is to create original posts of your own. You don’t have to be a social media guru. You can be someone who you know looks through entrepreneur magazines or Forbes or the New York Times or The Atlantic and you see a really interesting article that applies to what you do, what your industry is, or you know things that people in your industry would be into. Share the article and share your point of view on it. 

I do social media for a living. I have a small agency that does social media as our primary focus and I will often share things that I see on you know, social media today. There’ll be some really interesting articles about new ways of using Linkedin and how the algorithm has changed, and I’ll share just a quick sentence or 2, a couple of hashtags and the link and then people know what you’re into and what industry you’re in. They also know that you are paying attention to the media. You’re keeping up to date in your field. Share an interesting inspirational quote that expresses who you are. There’s a lot of different types of content. 

We have a Linkedin episode that we recorded last summer of 2022 that you can look up and it gets into a little bit more detail. Make sure you are on Linkedin at least 2 to 3 times a week, comment on other people’s posts, go in and create your own posts. When someone comments on your content, answer their comments. Say “hey thanks for sharing that. That’s really interesting” or you know further the conversation in some way. And that will keep that post appearing in the Linkedin algorithm so that you’ll be getting more attention and more people will see it so make sure you’re on Linkedin. 

The other thing I would say is to make sure that once in a while on your other social channels mention what you do. Some of your friends may be a source of referral or the source of your next great job, and if they know what you do, they’re a lot more likely to mention to you “hey you know I know somebody who’s hiring for someone to do exactly what you do.” Those kinds of referrals are always meaningful when you come to a new or an open position through a referral and someone who knows the person hiring. It’s a lot stronger than trying to answer an ad on Indeed or on Linkedin or a help wanted ad. 

So you always want to be thinking ahead in terms of referrals and potential future employment opportunities when you’re on Linkedin. You don’t have to say “hey I’m looking for a job” because sometimes that can be hard to do when you have a current employer. You don’t really want them to know that you are just making sure you’re ready in case you decide you want to go. But they should understand that as a business professional or a career professional, you are interested in what’s happening on the social platforms in your field. So you want to follow other companies that are doing what you do you might follow your competitors so you can see what they’re up to. 

14:58.12 – That goes into number 5: part of your reputation, your brand, your marketing of yourself is to make sure that you know what’s happening in your field, so that when you go out there and network, you have something interesting to say. You’re aware of what’s happening in your industry. You may have just seen an article about one of the big companies and how they had some trauma drama and you want to be able to talk about it. You want to be able to say to someone that you met at a networking event, “Hey, did you hear what happened at Volkswagen? Did you hear what happened at this big HR firm? They had a big problem with a new accountant and wow that’s crazy” It just shows people that you, as an industry professional, are paying attention to what’s happening out there and again it elevates your personal reputation, your personal brand.

15:58.15 – Lori Jo Vest

My next tip and this one isn’t as hard as it sounds: make yourself a website if you do anything in the creative fields, if you are an editor or a writer or an artist designer or customer service professional. It depends on your field, but I would advise just about everybody to buy the url that is your name and put a one pager up that introduces you. I had one up for a long time and it was just a one pager that talked about who I was, what I was up to, the different projects I was involved in, and my resume. That gives Google something to search for besides your Linkedin profile.

If you’re not about having your own website because that seems like a huge lift, then I would suggest you find someone to help you buy the url of your name and let that be something that forwards directly to your Linkedin profile. That’s what mine does right now. If you put in lorijovest.com, it takes you right to my Linkedin profile where you’re going to find all the things that I do and all the different projects I’m involved in. That’s another way to give Google some juice to want to show more in a search for your name than just your social profiles.

Google yourself. It’s important that you know what’s out there because your employers will be doing that. I can tell you most of us do go in and take a peek at what’s out there because some people have really strange hobbies. I’m not saying strange hobbies are bad but you know there are some people that might have some things on the internet that would indicate that they might not be a good fit for your company. That’s something to think about. Is there anything out there on the internet that Google can find that paints a not so good picture of you, and if that’s the case, you may either try to get it removed or you want to do blog articles and have a website that kind of thing so that that kind of information is pushed down to the second or third page of the Google search results which is where all those kinds of things go to die. People don’t usually go past the first search window on Google, so if you do have something you want to kind of you did something you did in high school or something that’s out there that you don’t want to have seen, fill up the Google search with relevant current things through a website and a blog.

18:40 – I think that is basically it for marketing yourself. There are a lot of things you can do. We’ve talked about networking. There’s a lot of little you know little tips I could give you but I think the things we’ve talked about in this episode are the big things that are going to help you market yourself up the career ladder.

If you want a personal brand, I would say hire a personal branding expert but don’t let them tell you that it’s all about how it looks. It really isn’t. It’s more about who you are and how you show up. Yes, you want to look good. Yes, you want the things you put out in the world to look good. But you want some depth to your reputation, to the content that’s out there about you on social media. You want some depth and you want to make sure that you are presenting yourself as a person with integrity, with moral character. You can do that with your social content, believe it or not, depending on what you share with a strong work ethic. 

That will help you with referrals and people who know you are more likely to recommend you for a position if they move on to a new job. They might say hey, “My new employer wants somebody just like you, are you ready? and help you jump.

What I’ve said in this episode really will help you maybe over the long term and help you get a reputation that precedes you. Five or six years in an industry, if you’re out there networking and meeting people, you will create a name for yourself. It’s really not that hard to do. It’s just a matter of putting the effort in, so put the effort in to do what needs to be done. Get out there on social media, attend remote events, attend live events, in person events, and just be there. Be where the people in your industry are and then present yourself with the tips that I’ve shared in this episode. 

So that’s all I’ve got for you today. I would like to know what you would like me to talk about. I am an open networker on Linkedin, and you can find me there under Lori Jo Vest. The company I own is called PopSpeed Digital Marketing, so you’ll know it’s me.Connect with me there and send me a message that you were listening to the podcast and you have a suggestion for a guest.

21:02.54 – Lori Jo Vest

 We also have on our web site at workmomsays.com a contact form so you can go in there and suggest guests you’d like us to have on. We also have our book Work Mom Says: Don’t Be an idiot! Thirty-Eight Lessons You Don’t Want To Learn The Hard Way. It was just released on Amazon a few weeks ago. So I really do hope you’ll go there and pick up a copy. I’m getting really great feedback about it. 

Think about it, this time of year is great for graduation gifts for recent high school and college graduates. If you know someone who is struggling in the workplace and having difficulty at their job, there’s some really great advice in this book. It’s called  Work Mom Says: Don’t Be an idiot! Thirty-Eight Lessons You Don’t Want To Learn The Hard Way. I would love to have you pick it up. Give me a review. Um I need book reviews. 

If you love this podcast, please throw me some stars on some of these podcast platforms: Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It’s out there on all the different platforms, so whichever one is yours, do me a favor and throw me some stars. It makes a difference in the people that will see  podcast and have the opportunity to listen. So again thank you so much. My name is Lori Jo Vest. I am here to help you play the emotional contact sport of business and I wish you the very best and I’m here for you. I see you. I’ll talk to you again soon.

Who is our ideal listener?

This podcast is for young professionals, so they can learn to play the emotional context sport of business and experience less drama and more success.

The ideal listener is anyone struggling on an emotional level in the workplace. Work Mom Says it helps you learn to be strategic at work. This means you can look at the big picture without getting lost in the weeds. How can you be more logical and less emotional? Be strategic, and Work Mom Says can help you.

“I tell people to back up, put down the magnifying glass, and look at the big picture when you’re responding to something,” said Lori Jo Vest, Work Mom. “In doing this, you will understand that what’s really upsetting you right now will be something you don’t even remember next week.”

 

What value can people get from listening to this podcast?

Listening to Work Mom Says can help you grow your mood management skills, grow your ability to reframe situations, and look at things from a strategic point of view. This makes it easier to go into a work situation and get the most positive results.

On Work Mom Says, we also offer tips and tricks for creating connected positive relationships that last over time. People will want you on the team if you can create connected positive relationships and work environments. You become an asset, and you will be more successful when you’re an asset.

“I also like to talk about developing traits like optimism, persistence, tenacity, stick-to-itiveness, sticking with things, and approaching every project with a curious mind instead of a fearful mind,” said Lori Jo Vest, Work Mom

                                                                                                     

Why do I do this? A few more words from Work Mom

I do this because I naturally fell into the Work Mom role when I worked in the ad agency business and had so much fun with it. I also realized I had made just about every mistake there was to make. I don’t hold myself as a stellar example of truth and how you should be. I hold myself out there as someone who has been bruised, battered, and beaten up and learned some important lessons. I’d love to share these lessons with young people, so they don’t have to make those same mistakes or be the idiot I was.

I also want to help young professionals realize that many things our culture prioritizes aren’t really important. We talk a lot about what should be important and how to present your best face at the office so that you can succeed.

I’ve learned so much throughout my career, and it’s gratifying to share that with young professionals and help them avoid some of those mistakes and get to that success sooner.

Episode 26 – “The Origin of Work Mom Says (Plus a Sneak Peek at My Upcoming Book)” appeared first on Work Mom Says.