Reach Branding Certification Moves to Career Thought Leaders

Just announced, the Reach Personal Branding certifications will now be under the auspices of Career Thought Leaders.

CTL already offers its own certification, the Academy Certified Resume Writer (ACRW) and took on the administration of the Master Resume Writer (MRW) and Credentialed Career Manager (CCM) after the dissolution of the Career Management Alliance.

The Reach Personal Branding process was developed by William Arruda. As part of the transition, Arruda -- as well as Reach collaborators Deb Dib and Susan Chritton -- will present a series of webinars to introduce CTL members to the personal branding process.

The first webinar will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 8 with Arruda presenting.

Learn more and register at http://bit.ly/BrandTrends17CTL

In addition, Reach certified professionals will be invited to attend the CTL conference in Baltimore in April. Because of this, CTL has extended the early registration discount until Feb. 15.

Learn more at http://bit.ly/ctlconf2017

Marie Zimenoff, CEO and owner of CTL says, "The CTL Board and I are excited about this transition and the richness personal branding can bring to your practice – from graduating students differentiating themselves in the marketplace to executives building a distinctive leadership brand."

Today's Reach Personal Branding Interview Series: William Arruda and Deb Dib!

Reach Personal Branding Interview Series Today's Guests: Deb Dib and William Arruda

REGISTER NOW for the call-in details
http://360rea.ch/HLufUn

======================================
Guest Deb Dib & William Arruda – April 19, 2012
======================================

The world is experiencing an increasingly
volatile marketplace forcing significant change
for both employees and employers. What could
possibly offer both executives and those they lead
the sense of stability, empowerment,
value-creation, and recognition in this
environment?

Personal Branding.

Most executives and employers, who are serious
about building their careers, have accepted this
truth but they may find themselves struggling with
how to live the power of their personal brand.
They need a relevant, actionable, fun and fast
career success guide that teaches them how to live
their brand.

Look no further…your troubles have been solved!

Ditch. Dare. Do! is the quick-start guide and
deep-dive instruction manual every executive and
employer needs to leverage the power of personal
branding. Deliberately bold and brief, Ditch.
Dare. Do! is a series of powerful stand-alone
two-page vignettes that create a comprehensive
roadmap for career success and fulfillment in the
new and exciting world of work.

Usually William Arruda, founder of Reach Personal
Branding, is the one asking all the tough
questions. But this interview will be a bit
different. The Reach Personal Branding Interview
taking place Thursday, April 19, 2012 at noon EST,
William will be the one answering the questions!
He and Deb Dib, co-authors of Ditch. Dare. Do!
will share with us some personal branding secrets
from their soon-to-be-released book: Ditch. Dare.
Do! Personal Branding GPS for 3-D Executive
Success.

In this interview, which will be recorded, you
will learn:

-How adopting a "Ditch. Dare. Do!" mindset drives
3-D executive success.
-Why continuous mind-shifting is so necessary for
career success today—and how 3-D branding can
help.
-Why "Ditches, Dares, and Dos!" are career
propulsion for all executives—from innovation
leaders to risk-averse traditionalists.
-Strategies even the busiest executives can use
to create and execute a 3-D brand plan as their
personal GPS for executive success.
-Why 3-D branding is good business for companies
and teams.
-How coaches can use these concepts to help their
clients increase success.

Deb Dib

Deb Dib, often called the career industry's
Resident Trend-spotter and Chief Innovation
Officer, is an unabashedly 'disruptive' and
passionate personal branding and career
communications expert.

A Reach Certified Personal Branding Strategists
since 2004, Deb pairs proven Reach methodology
with her innovative 'bold, brief, and branded'
career-comm to help colleagues and clients answer
today's mantra: 'So what? Make me care! Do it
fast!'

Deb is the co-author (with William Arruda) of
Ditch. Dare. Do! 3D Branding for Executives, the
first recipient of the Dick Bolles/Career
Management Alliance Parachute Award, and winner of
Career Directors International's Career Innovation
award (for co-authoring The Twitter Job Search
Guide). She is the co-creator (with Susan
Whitcomb) of The Academies' Get Clear. Get Found.
Get Hired! Coach program (The G3) and Why-Buy-ROI™
branding. She is the founder of C-Suite Career
Catalysts, a consortium of top career pros
focusing on C-level careers and issues.

Deb holds nine certifications and is featured in
30+ career books. Her advice has appeared in
articles in The Washington Post, The New York
Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily News,
Newsday, Forbes.com, Money.com, and
BusinessWeek.com among others.

William ArrudaDubbed the Personal Branding Guru by Entrepreneur
magazine, William Arruda is the founder and
President of Reach, the world’s leading personal
branding consultancy with representatives in 30
countries. He is credited with turning the concept
of personal branding into a global industry. One
of the most sought-after speakers on career
management and executive success, he has delivered
hundreds of keynotes to audiences of five to five
thousand throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia and
Africa.

His corporate clients include Adobe, BP, British
Telecom, IBM, L’Oreal, JPMorgan, Microsoft, Morgan
Stanley and Starwood Hotels. His private clients
include some of the world’s most influential
leaders. As a thought-leader, William is a
spokesperson on personal branding and social
media. He has appeared on BBC TV, the Discovery
Channel and Fox News Live and he has been featured
in countless publications, including Forbes,
Strategies (France), Time Magazine, Veja (Brazil),
the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
William is the author of the bestselling book,
Career Distinction, and the upcoming book, Ditch.
Dare. Do! He has lived in Boston, London and Paris
and now calls New York City home.

================================================
Topic: 3D Personal Branding: Your GPS for
Executive Success
Guest: Deb Dib & William Arruda
Date: Thursday, April 19, 2012
Time: 12:00 Noon – 1:00 pm Eastern (NYC Time)
Register for dial-in number:
http://360rea.ch/HLufUn

Why I Can't Recommend Tony Beshara's Book, "Unbeatable Resumes"

Today's Reach Personal Branding Series Interview call was with Tony Beshara. I now regret mentioning his free teleseminar, "The Changing World of Resumes" on the BeAResumeWriter.com event listing, or further promoting it on my Resume Writers' Digest Facebook page and Twitter feed.

First off, I guess I don't understand why William Arruda would select Tony as a guest for the interview series. Resume writers -- and career coaches -- have been some of the most loyal proponents and brand ambassadors of the Reach Personal Branding system. Yet in Beshara's book, "Unbeatable Resumes," he specifically denigrates the work of resume writers:

I personally don't know a lot of resume writers who would choose a functional format for their clients. Occasionally, yes. Chrono-functional formats can be useful. As resume writers, we understand the #1 principle that Beshara communicated on the call: The purpose of the resume is to get the interview. We write resumes that will accomplish that purpose. That's our only objective. If our clients don't get interviews with the resumes we wrote, we're not going to get many more clients, are we?

We know that. We design resumes that get past the 16-year-old temp named "Jennifer" who is the resume "screener." But we ALSO write resumes (and cover letters, dammit!) that get READ by hiring managers. Beshara said that the average American company has just 16 employees. In those companies, the hiring manager is often the business owner...or one step removed.

Resumes are like car ads in magazines. They're designed to capture your attention and deliver the 'benefits' of experiencing the car (or candidate) in person. The point of the magazine ad is to get you in the door for a test drive; the purpose of the resume is to trigger an interview.

Would THIS "Unbeatable Resume" get your client an interview?

I mean, I get it. Recruiters have different needs for a resume from hiring managers. Beshara even admitted as much on the call. But he's doing a disservice to job seekers with his "Unbeatable Resumes" platform -- because the reality is: You can tell job seekers all you want that they need to quantify their accomplishments on the resume (On the call, he put this as, "Stories sell, but numbers tell.") -- but most of our clients are really good at their jobs, but not so great at writing about it. That's a fact.

That's like giving me a book on "Refund-Winning Tax Returns" and expecting me to do my own taxes. Just because I have the knowledge of how to do it doesn't mean I can do it effectively ... or want to (or that it's a good use of my time!).

Some recruiters have a chip on their shoulder about career coaches and resume writers. They say, "We only get paid when we place the candidate." Beshara thinks resume writers should be compensated the same way:

But the reality is, recruiters screen out dozens -- sometimes even hundreds of candidates -- who they won't work with, because they don't fit the mold (or, as Beshara put it in the call, they are a "risk").  Resume writers and career coaches take the time to work with these folks and help them position their skills, experience, and accomplishments more effectively. Yes, we get paid to do that. We are performing a service for them. (Bashara isn't a pro-bono recruiter, is he? He gets paid for what he does too, because it provides a benefit for his client, the employer.)

When we help a client get a $50,000 a year job, we might get $500. (The average resume cost was $509.36 in the 2010 Resume Writers' Digest Industry Survey). If Bashara helps a client get a $50,000 a year job, he might get $10,000 (20% recruiter commission).

I guess most of us are a bargain, then, if we're helping our clients get an interview -- much less a job -- for "double the asking price" (of the resume) or, in other words $1,000. How about resume writers who get their clients interviews but only charge $150, or $200? That, in a word, is "unbeatable." (It's also not a strategy for making six figures a year, but I digress.)

To be fair, Beshara did have some good "resume 101" basics that he shared on the call:

• Resumes that are read online are read completely differently than resumes read in print.
• The resume needs to communicate who you (job seeker) worked for, what you did, and how well you did it.
• Prospective employers are looking for a clear definition of who the job seeker worked for (with 7.5 million business establishments out there, you need to tell them what kind of company you worked for).
• The initial resume "screener" is usually trying to screen out candidates, not identify the "perfect" candidate.
• "People are looking at your 'risk factors' on the resume as much as they're looking at your qualifications." (Risk factors include switching jobs too often, not switching jobs often enough, job gaps, and being out of work for longer than 7 months.) (Why 7 months, and not 5 months or 6 months, he didn't say.)
• "The best way to secure an interview is to pick up the phone and call the hiring manager."
• "Sell the best attributes you can on the resume."

Good advice. A lot of it is the same advice we give our clients. The difference is, we help them figure out how that translates into an interview-winning resume. From what I've heard of Mr. Beshara, and read in his book, his resumes are designed to make his job as a recruiter easier... not necessarily help the "average" job seeker develop a document that will secure the interview.

Is this the type of document that will capture attention in a stack of resumes?

Not in my opinion.

Ultimately, I can't recommend "Unbeatable Resumes" because it's not a great book.
And because it has a foreword by Dr. Phil. (That should have tipped me off right away.)

But mostly because it doesn't value the work that a professional resume writer can add for job seekers -- and I don't recommend books that denigrate our profession.

What's Next?

There are a couple of natural, built-in times each year for resume writers to re-evaluate themselves. And re-evaluation of yourself and your professional life/business are essential. The first is New Year's. Just as our clients make New Year's resolutions, so should resume writers. You already know how important goal-setting is to your personal and professional development, so I won't harp on it.

The second is the Fourth of July holiday. Coming mid-year, this is an ideal opportunity to you to evaluate your progress thus far ... and to take another look at those New Year's resolutions.

The third is the Labor Day holiday. Summer is ending, and you get that last chance to re-evaluate your progress and chart a plan to meet your goals for the year. That's what I'm doing this weekend, and I came across a great list of questions from branding expert William Arruda in the Reach Personal Branding newsletter. (Sign up for your free subscription on their website.)

Here are the three questions he advises you answer:

• What's my next move for my career?
• Which of my greatest strengths is most differentiating for me, and how can I integrate that strength into everything I do every day?
• What one energy-zapping activity can I stop doing when I return to work?

All great questions -- and ones that I advise that you take just a few moments to consider.

Are You Digitally Distinct?

After reading Career Distinction by Kirsten Dixsen and William Arruda, I became interested in digital distinction and online branding. Then, on Kirsten's Facebook page earlier this week, she posted a link to an Online Identity Calculator.

The results of the calculator matched the results of my assessment when reading Career Distinction: I'm digitally distinct!

Digital distinction is a measure of your online profile at any given point in time. As Kirsten and William define it, "The online identity calculator measures the effectiveness of your online identity and places you on our digital scale. Knowing where you stand today will help you determine exactly how much work you have to do and your next steps."

They go on to say that, "Where you fall on the digital scale is based on a combination of volume and relevance. How many results do you get? How many of those webpages actually pertain to you? Do the references to you on the Web communicate a positive, negative or neutral image of you? How consistently do those results communicate what you want to be known for?"

Here are my results:

The majority of results that come up for me are aligned with my personal brand -- primarily my work with Resume Writers' Digest. This is the area of my business that I want to continue to focus on growing, so it's encouraging to me to see how my online brand profile appears.

Woman Sues Alma Mater for Not Finding Her a Job

Thanks to Barbara Safani for the heads-up about Trina Thompson, the recent college graduate who is suing her alma mater because they haven't "done enough to find her a job."

The story also lends a cautionary tale to professional resume writers: Manage your client's expectations as part of the career development process.

Ms. Thompson thought that paying $70,000 to Monroe College would guarantee her a job … and job seekers who pay anywhere from $49 to $4900+ for career services from you might think the same ... and, in fact, might expect you to do most of the the work for them. ("After all, that's what I'm paying for, right?")

I was reminded of this myself last week, when I received an e-mail from a client who wanted a customized cover letter for a position opening he had identified online. Following the link provided, I couldn't find the position listed online anymore. I e-mailed the client back, requesting that he contact the company and find out if the opening was still available.

The response I received back: "Can't you call them and find out?"

Ugh.

So be careful when you describe the services that you provide ... make sure that clients know that they are still ultimately responsible for the job search ... just as they're responsible for doing the job once they get it!

And be sure to read Barbara's commentary about the client's online brand profile ("digital dissing.") I just finished reading William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson's book, "Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand" (highly recommend it, by the way),

and I have to agree -- it's doubtful that Ms. Thompson is going to win her lawsuit ... and in the meantime, she's created an online brand profile that is whiny and negative ... not exactly traits that companies are looking for in employees today.

Reach Telecall: "Test-Drive Your Dream Job"

I'm always glad when I take an hour to participate in the Reach Branding Club's Interview Series. William Arruda and Susan Guarneri consistently line up some of the best and brightest minds in the world to share their thoughts about career topics. And, best of all, it's free! Be sure to get on their e-mail list.

Today's call was with Brian Kurth, author of "Test-Drive Your Dream Job -- A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding and Creating the Work You Love." He's also the founder of Vocation Vacations, which allows job seekers to pay to "job shadow" folks in the career field of their choice for a few days, and see whether they'd like it.



The interview was fabulous. Kurth outlined an eight-step process for facilitating a successful career transition -- built heavily on the use of mentors and participatory research to find the right next job. It reminded me of a program in high school that I participated in -- "job shadowing" -- where the high school students would be paired with a businessperson in their desired career field that they could follow around for a day or two.

Kurth has extended this idea to make it part of your "vacation" -- you follow someone in another city or state and they allow you to see what that career path is all about.

A couple of key points:
* Discover/rediscover your strengths
* Create a vision board (a collage of your interests -- buy magazines, newspapers, and print stuff out online -- quotes, pictures -- "Who you are and who you want to become.")
* Confront your fears ("Fear never goes away -- it's how you handle it.")
* Create an action plan (and constantly tweak it)
* Find your mentor(s) -- 1-5 folks -- they should be in the field you want to go into.
* Branding is about EMOTIONS and creating emotional connections
* Establish your thresholds (boundaries or your comfort zone areas you won't cross)

All in all, well worth the hour! I'll let you know when I find out when the next Reach Branding Club Interview Series is.

Free Teleseminar with Dr. Lynn Joseph

The Reach Branding Club is offering a free May teleseminar from the author of "The Job-Loss Recovery Guide: A Proven Program for Getting Back to Work -- Fast!" Dr. Lynn Joseph's strategy is designed to help individuals get jobs faster. The program, "Self Leadership: Achieve Career Transitions and Goals More Quickly and Powerfully with Advanced Visualization Techniques" will be Thursday, May 22 from Noon to 1 p.m. EST. There are only 200 spaces available on the call, so register with the Reach Branding Club. If you can't make the live call, the teleseminar will be recorded, and the recording will be sent to all who register.

Also, the next Reach Personal Branding Certification Program is starting soon. The registration cut-off date is Friday, May 23. Learn more here.

Free Teleseminar: Eight Ways to Enhance Your Personal Brand

How do you correctly apply personal branding to two of the hottest online networks (LinkedIn and Facebook)? This teleseminar -- scheduled for Thursday, March 13, 2008 at Noon Eastern time -- will give you the information you need to get up to speed quickly.

The one-hour teleseminar will be lead by William Arruda, founder of Reach, the leading global personal branding organization. The presenter will be Jason Alba, author of "I'm on LinkedIn- Now What?" He also co-authored "I'm on Facebook-Now What" and is CEO of JibberJobber.com.

There is no cost to attend -- but enrollment is limited to the first 200 participants. Register here.