Career Book Review "101 Ways To Successfully Market Yourself" by Jay Miletsky

In today's marketplace, your career is 100 percent your responsibility, including marketing your strengths. Unfortunately, marketing can be maligned, especially when you're the product being marketed. Honest attempts can appear boastful, so we hesitate to do so. Yet, if people aren't aware of your strengths, how will they know when, where, and how to use them?

The best self-marketing centers around building relationships and having fun doing so. Successful self-marketing can, among other things, enhance your job search, promote your own company, grab a piece of the spotlight (i.e. become a thought leader/industry innovator), and make new friends.

Following is the second of three articles summarizing "101" career books published by Course Technology. A different author highlights what it takes to achieve professional success in the 21st century for each book. Here, it's businessman and marketing expert, Jason Miletsky. His new book is entitled 101 Ways To Successfully Market Yourself."

Miletsky is CEO and executive creative director for a leading marketing communications agency in New York City. He's a featured speaker for numerous companies and seminars and guest lectures for universities.

"101 Ways To Successfully Market Yourself," is a short read of 88 pages, long on self-marketing tips. You're bound to learn some new applications to advance your career. Use Miletsky's ideas to gauge how many techniques you currently incorporate to promote yourself, and decide which ones best suit your needs.

The book reads in three easy parts. The first is entitled, "27 MYM (Marketing Yourself Mandates);" and establishes the foundation of your self-promotional efforts. Miletsky's tips include:

Understand Your Personal Brand. Your personal brand is your personal reputation. It's key to successfully market yourself and sustain relevant long-term connections. People will decide to befriend or distance you based on your personality, sense of style, unique qualities, what and how you say it, commitment follow through and what you potentially bring to the table.

22. Do Something Specific to Stand Out. Accomplish something that separates you from the crowd, and you'll find yourself in more demand. Suggestions include write a book, or articles for popular print/online publications, record a series of Web videos, and hold a seminar.

27. Don't Give Up-It Won't Happen Overnight. "Marketing yourself is a process," says Miletsky. It takes time to meet new people and build a following. Persevere.

Part II is titled, "Make The Most of The Web." Miletsky emphasizes that to effectively market yourself today, you need to include the Web. "Social networking may die down a bit over time, but it's here to stay," he says. For space interest, Miletsky assumes you have a basic knowledge of the three big social networking sites: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. If not, he advocates learning their attributes as soon as possible. Highlights include:

28. Make Social Networking Part of Your Daily Routine. Social networking does take time and effort. It can take a while before you see results. "This can be frustrating, because thanks to the speed of the Web, most people have lost their patience to allow things to happen over time," says Miletsky. Incorporate social networking into your daily routine, using the Big 3 sites. Send an e-mail blast once a month to your contacts. Inform them of your new blog posts and other information.

63. Get Your Name in a URL. Make sure you secure your name as a URL. It's good marketing for any of your online activities you engage in. Defensively it prevents someone else from cashing in on your name, as you become better known.

69. Broadcast What You Write. Get the URL for any blog post you write or comment you leave on someone else's blog (shorten the URL through bit.ly or some other shortening service). Broadcast it on Twitter, use it in LinkedIn conversations, and post it on relevant Facebook groups and your Facebook wall.

"There's Life Offline-Get Out and Meet Real People," is Miletsky's third message. Among his suggestions are:

78. Become a Regular. Frequent various places. Over time, people will recognize your face, making connections easier.

82. Seek Out Public Speaking Opportunities. Meet numerous people all at once. Be a featured speaker in a room full of people listening. Speakers command attention, are focal points for attendees; and many will want to befriend you afterwards.

101. Make Follow-Up a Ritual. Make sure you follow up with each new contact within 24 hours after your initial connection. Send a quick e-mail to remind new contacts who you are, how you met, and conversations had. Suggest a future meeting when you sense mutual benefits.

Six appendices enrich the book; with the first listing Miletsky's top 30 Twitter tools. "Twitter is one of the absolute best ways to get people to notice you," he says. Endorsements include:
Tweetdeck. Provides numerous columns to allow simultaneous monitoring of people you follow, tweets mentioning you, direct messages and any other keyword/group you choose. Twitterholic. Checks your relative ranking and graphs your followers over time. Nearby Tweets. Enhances local marketing by entering desired geographical location/keyword. Site shows the people within that radius that fit the description.

The " Who You Should Follow On Twitter" List is Appendix B, and details 31 active links to find good people to follow on the site. Included are:

25 SEO Gurus. 50 Users to Follow for Job Searching. Top 237 People to Follow on Twitter Who Will Follow You Back.

The most comprehensive appendix, titled, "Strategies for Success," specifies how to maximize your achievements at work. Its nine tips include "Visualize Success," and "Learn How to Advance within the Company;" which features 30 soul-searching questions pertaining to seeking a management position. Those queries include:

Are you decisive? Can you see yourself calmly and objectively handling crisis situations? Do you do your best work all the time?

Other appendices highlight LinkedIn groups, networking events and additional social networking sites.

Marketing yourself is no longer an option. To enjoy long-term career success, learn and hone a process that works for you; and have fun doing it.

Complement Miletsky's message with Rashika Fernando's "101 Career Success Tips," and Carol A. Silvis's "101 Ways To Make Yourself Indispensable at Work," to jump-start your career, whether employed, unemployed, seasoned or novice.

You can follow the author on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jaymiletsky.

Timothy Zaun is a blogger, speaker and freelance writer. Visit him online at http://timzaun.com/.

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Career Book Review - 101 Ways To Make Yourself Indispensable at Work by Carol A Silvis

Today's workplace continues to evolve, becoming more mobile and individualized. Employers are looking for savvy professionals with a can-do attitude, determination and motivation to meet their needs. Tighter job markets require you to have a plan for career accomplishments.

Following is the last of three articles summarizing "101" career books published by Course Technology. A different author highlights what it takes to achieve professional success in the 21st century for each book. Here, it's businesswoman and educator, Carol A. Silvis. Her book is entitled 101 Ways To Make Yourself Indispensable at Work.

For over two decades, Silvis has trained adults in how to get a job, keep and enjoy it and get ahead. She has a master's degree in Adult Education and is an associate director and department chair at a prominent business institute. She also gives talks and workshops to organizations on a variety of business topics.

Opening, Silvis lists all 101 ways to make yourself indispensable at work, for easy reference. Nine chapters categorize her tips with their succinct, important message.

Chapter 1 is entitled "Surpass the Competition." Among its eight pointers are:

Gain a Competitive Edge. You need a competitive edge to keep your job and earn a promotion in a tough economy. If you're not getting the results you'd like from your job, consider your output. Do you stand out among company employees in a positive way? Do you need to make any changes in your behavior, work habits, and productivity to become an outstanding employee?Be Self-Reliant. Self-reliant employees free up the boss so they can tend to other matters. Once you're trained, know your duties, and how to complete them, do the work with minimal supervision. Trust your own judgment and skills. "Having the ability to work independently sets you up for promotions by demonstrating your self-reliance and confidence," says Silvis.

"Build Positive Work Habits" is Chapter 4. Here, sixteen tips comprise its message.

They include:

Give a Good Day's Work. While you are at work, do your work, and give it your full attention and effort. Complete assigned tasks with efficiency, accuracy and expediency. Observe others who do similar jobs and compare your productivity to theirs. Is there a way to measure your output against workers in similar jobs? Do you accomplish more than they do? Are you as accurate as they are? There will be days you may feel tired, irritable, or bored. The professional moves past these feelings to continue performing his job to the best of his ability.Do Not Complain. Enthusiasm is contagious; unfortunately, so is complaining. If you do have a legitimate problem or complaint, you should try to propose a solution when you bring it to the attention of someone who can do something about it. Avoid constant complainer mode by searching for the positive aspect of any given situation. Fear of layoffs or company closings during economic downturns can place undue stress on employees who are concerned about keeping their jobs. Negative comments and complaints only heighten the anxiety and worsen the situation. Therefore, it is critically important to maintain a positive, upbeat attitude.

Jay Miletsky, author of "101 Ways To Successfully Market Yourself," credits Silvis's Chapter 8; "Strategies for Success," which he uses in its entirety as Appendix F. Key tips include:

Learn How to Advance within the Company.Be a Representative for Excellence.

Chapter 9 concludes the book and is titled "Have a Plan." Its eight tips include:

Set Personal Goals. What do you want to accomplish in your life? What is your motivation for what you want? Without clearly defined goals, your path of success will be uncertain. Set short-term goals that start from the day you create them through the first year or two, and set long-term goals that cover from five years through your entire lifetime. Set the bar higher than where you are now and surpass what you have already achieved. When you set personal goals that work toward increasing your job satisfaction and advancement, be sure they align with your career aspirations.Be Aware of Office Politics. Anywhere people gather together, politics will come into play, which is especially true of the workplace. It is the way people interact. "Many people try to avoid "playing office politics," but it is nearly impossible to do it, because they are dealing with people," says Silvis. There is a good and bad side to office politics. To stay on the "good side" be sincere, honest, reliable, helpful and agreeable.

Exercises and self-evaluation forms throughout the book promote critical thinking, stimulate creativity and identify areas where improvement will enhance your career success.

With 101 tips, it's inevitable that you'll see your own work behaviors reflected, both good and bad. Read Silvis's book, and you'll finish with a renewed perspective on the workplace and your role in it.

"101 Ways To Make Yourself Indispensable at Work"" is an invaluable read for both novice and veteran workers. Conjoined with Course Technology's "101 Secrets To Career Success," by Rashika Fernando, and "101 Ways To Successfully Market Yourself," by Jay Miletsky, they make an influential triad of career-based reading. One or all three books would make great gifts during the approaching holidays, birthdays or graduations.

Employers could benefit by bulk purchasing Silvis's text for employee distribution. Or, consider starting a business book library/book talk at work, and include Silvis's text in the collection. Open discussion among workers could spark a rejuvenated awareness and approach to the workplace.

Challenging times or not, "101 Ways To Make Yourself Indispensable at Work," emphasizes the workplace agreement to be compensated for an honest day's work.

To view all Course Technology books, including Professional, Technical and Reference, visit http://courseptr.com/.

Timothy Zaun is a blogger, speaker and freelance writer. Visit him online at http://timzaun.com/.

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Promoting Yourself

One challenge that most employees face in the workplace is how to boost their chances of getting promotion. Most of them adduce different (wrong) reasons for their inability to get promotion. I think such people need to read this book entitled "Promoting Yourself", with the subtitle "52 Lessons for Getting to the Top... and Staying There". It is written by Hal Lancaster who spent more than 30 years at "The Wall Street Journal" as a reporter, bureau chief, editor and columnist.

I am reviewing this book because I know how people feel when they are not promoted, although, I did not experience career stagnation throughout my period as an employee. In short, my first promotion at "Financial Standard" newspaper, Lagos, Nigeria was quadruple. I was promoted to the post of a desk head/line editor and given "Study Right", one of the inserts of the paper to edit. The promotion came within one year and three months that I joined the newspaper. In spite of my "luck", I still know that career stagnation is not a palatable experience. That is why in the last ten years, I have been running a column on career management in the Nigerian mass media.

Now back to this book. From 1994 to 1999, Lancaster wrote the journal's weekly "Managing Your Career" column as well as "Career Corner", a bi-weekly column for CareerJournal.com, the journal's acclaimed website for executives, managers and professionals.

He reveals that today's workplace requires you to pit your competitive fire against a horde of ambitious bosses, peers and subordinates, all seeking the brass ring of success. Lancaster shows you how, with tough and savvy answers to the fundamental questions, such as How can I find the right job?, How can I improve my job?, When should I leave?, How do I survive my boss's foibles?, etc. He assures that this text offers readers the street smarts and insight needed to tackle the highly political and often unjust reality of corporate life.

Structurally, the text is divided into seven parts of 52 chapters. Part one is generically christened "selling yourself", and contains the first eight chapters. Chapter one is interrogatively entitled "whither goest resumes?" Here, Lancaster says when he first started writing on career management he vowed that he would not waste much time on the intricacies of curriculum vitae (called "resume" in American English).

"After all, there was already a surplus of weighty tomes on the subject. These books professed to reveal the secrets to penning resumes that would 'knock' 'em dead', 'knock your socks off', be 'trashproof', or just be 'damn good'. Besides, I grumped one morning at the breakfast table, what's the magic in writing a good resume? Be clear, truthful, and brief, and sprinkle liberally with evidence of your accomplishments," explains Lancaster.

The author says in truth, even the greatest curriculum vitae is not likely to get you a job, and the best it can do is to get you in the door and even in that task it is frequently supplanted by a good company contact. He expatiates that in the ultimate hiring decision, your interview and references carry far more weight. Lancaster adds that though a really- bad curriculum vitae can indeed cost you a job, by eliminating you from contention before you get a chance to dazzle.

He educates that job-hunting may not even be the best reason for maintaining an updated curriculum vitae, adding that at its best, a curriculum vitae is a flexible marketing tool that will not only aid your job search, but will help you to manage your career between searches. According to Lancaster, writing one forces you to define your career goals.

Chapter two is based on the subject matter of highlighting hidden skills. Here, this author says you can sift through the thousands of volumes written about career management. He adds that you can pay small fortune for psychological testing and career counselling. The author educates that you can schmooze and work your contacts until your tongue falls out. Lancaster says even then you may not be able to fathom that wondrous and miraculous little thing that finally nudges a hiring manager into hiring you. He explains that this is because sometimes, what finally wins the day is something so well hidden, the power of which you are not even yet aware of. The truth of the matter is, when you're putting together a resume, you can't always tell what will seal the deal," illuminates Lancaster.

He says it is necessary to keep an inventory of all your experiences and skills, adding that one of them may someday land you the career of your dreams. The author asserts that it is equally important to keep updating that inventory with new experiences such as projects taken on, conferences attended, training and education received. Lancaster says this is because over time, those memories will surely fade. "Quick, can you remember every project, seminar, or class you took even ten years ago?" submits this author rather rhetorically.

In chapters three to eight, Lancaster examines subject matters such as promoting yourself online; how to tell good schmoozing from bad; being wary in job-hunting; who is likely to get a job; acting the interview and getting what you are worth.

Part two is based on the eclectic concept of getting ahead, and has seven chapters, covering chapters nine to 15. Here, the author discusses concepts such as taking the road less travelled; hunting the elusive mentor; leading when you are not the leader; promotion; breaking out of your pigeonhole; chasing the MBA and dunning your boss for a raise.

Part three is generally summarised as "into the management maelstrom" and contains five chapters, covering chapters 16 to 20. Chapter 16 is entitled "Avoiding those first-time manager blues". Here, Lancaster says, "There you are, footloose and fancy-free, a successful role player in your organisational hierarchy. You're making pretty good money, and you actually know what you're doing! After all, it's what you trained and studied for all those years. Then suddenly there's a phone call, and in the time it takes you to get to your boss's office, it's all over. You're now a manager, and may the good Lord protect you."
He adds that it no longer matters how good you are at your job or how much you know because your future hinges on your ability to organise and put a charge into a "group of malcontents, slackers and Machivellian schemers". You have now got a bunch of higher-ups perched on your shoulder, just waiting for you to screw up, reveals Lancaster.

He says making the leap to a managerial position is not quite that traumatic, but it is close to that. According to him, "Most get thrown into the arena under-trained and under-armed, uncertain how much authority they really have and just how to wield it without alienating this gaggle of needy humans they've been asked to lead."

In chapters 17 to 20, the author analytically X-rays concepts such as who said techies cannot manage?; managing techies when you are not one; managing a hostile crew; and the art and craft of being a good number two.

Part four has the eclectic subject of making midcourse corrections, and covers nine chapters, that is, chapters 21 to 29. Chapter 21 is entitled "Turnarounds and careers: Even a lemon has juice". Here, Lancaster says if you want to make a name for yourself as a can-do manager, find something broken that needs to be fixed. He stresses that turnaround managers must always stay calm and think clearly in the midst of turmoil and be able to envision both short- and long-term goals.

Lancaster adds that they must be able to pull together, an emergency business plan and get it into operation at the flank speed. Turnaround managers also need to know more about finance than the average managers, since that is a critical part of any decision in a turnaround, educates the author. He stresses that turnaround managers must be extremely persuasive and be able to inspire confidence in order to cope with the almost-constant conflict and tension.

In chapters 22 to 29, the author discusses concepts such as avoidance of crisis; learning from failure; adapting to continual turmoil; return of the living dead; and job-hopping. The remaining concepts are how to survive your middle crisis; going home again and using a job hiatus to build a new career.

Part five is based on the metaphorically generic subject matter of swimming in a sea of change and contains seven chapters, that is, chapters 30 to 36. Here, Lancaster analytically X-rays concepts such as high-anxiety, low-esteem blues; reinventing your job; creating your own new job; taking a buyout and going bye-bye; wielding the broom; post-merger trauma; and chasing the start-up pot of gold.

Part six is summarily woven together as "Office politics: Playing well with others", and contains seven chapters, covering chapters 37 to 43. Here, the author examines concepts such as mastering office politics without becoming a jerk; getting noticed without being pushy; learning to negotiate in your career; and living with bad bosses. Others are: surviving a new boss; going over the boss's head; and teaching an old boss new tricks.

Part seven, the last part has general thematic focus of alternate paths to glory, and covers chapters 44 to 52. Here, he beams his analytical searchlight on concepts such as the perils and promise of turning your hobby into a career; alternative work arrangements; living life as a pilot fish; women that break the mold; and living La Vida free agency. Others are: getting branded for life; life as a corporate Samurai; building a parallel career for fun and profit; and importance of where you end your career.

Stylistically, this text is an embodiment of success. The language is standard and simple while the presentation is superb. By segmenting the text into 52 chapters, Lancaster is able to make it easy for readers to read. He lends credibility to the text by illustrating with stories of real-life professionals. Through this strategy, he is able to inspire readers to take action. What's more, the outer front cover design is visually suggestive of the overall subject matter of the text. This author also uses archaism, e.g., "Whither goest resumes?" (page three) to create linguistic attraction. Note that the book is written in American English, which is why "resume" is used instead of the British English version "curriculum vitae".

However, the layout of the inside pages needs to be improved upon to make them more eye-friendly, especially that graphics are not used. There is an error of punctuation on page four where the -ing compound noun "job hunting" is used without the normal hyphen so that it can be something like "job-hunting". Also chapter one that is based on curriculum vitae needs to be made clearer and more definite. I am a curriculum vitae consultant and know that chapter one needs to be beefed up.

Finally, this text is fantastic and is thus highly recommended to those who want to bid career stagnation farewell.

GOKE ILESANMI, Editor-in-Chief/CEO of http://www.gokeilesanmi.com/ and Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is a Certified Public Speaker/Emcee, (Business) Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker, Career Management Coach, Renowned Book Reviewer, Corporate Leadership Expert and Editorial Consultant.
For business discussion, reach him on +234(0)8055068773; +234(0)8056030424
Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com

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