Building Your Career: 5 Key Secrets of Success (Presentation)

1. A.             Greeting/Introduction

 

• Slide 1: Maurice Gilbert, Conselium Personalized Search Solutions, Building Your Career: 5 Key Secrets of Career Success

 

 

1. B.             Tell them About Yourself (Establish yourself as an expert).

 

• Who you are
• What you do
• Who your clients are (people like those in the audience)
• How long you’ve been doing it, etc.

 

 

1. C.             Audience Questions (Be walking around the room and nodding, making eye contact with several people).

 

• “How many of you have been in your job for 3 years or less?”

 

• “How many of you have been with the same company for 3 years or more?”

 

• Would you be surprised if I told you that the average professional changes jobs every 3 years?  Changes companies every 4 years? Changes industries every 5 years?

 

• Who can take a guess about what the average tenure is for a CEO? (2.6 years) Call on people until you get close or until someone gets it.

 

• Let me ask another question: In 1970 the average employee’s skills became obsolescent in 12 to 15 years. Who can guess what that number is today? Call on people until get close or until someone gets it. (30 months)

 

 

1. D.             Today’s Job Picture

 

• Job security is nonexistent in today’s world.

 

• Global competition is sending many accounting and audit jobs abroad to places like India.

 

• The world is changing at a dizzying pace.

 

• How many of you have called a company’s help line and talked to someone in India? Show of hands.

 

• AND YET: Click to Next Slide Most professionals spend more time planning a vacation or doing their tax returns than planning their careers! (Slide 2)

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

• Slide 3: New Yorker Cartoon: I was in acting until I got bitten by the accounting bug

 

 

1. E.             5 Key Secrets of Career Success

 

• So … how can your ensure that your career develops amid so much change?

 

• How can you keep your skills current?

 

• What can you do to increase your chances of success?

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

• These are the questions we are going to answer today with my five secrets of Career Success (Slide 4).

 

• First I’ll tell you what the 5 secrets are.

 

• Then, I’ll show you how to use these secrets to build your career.

 

• Finally, I will give you a personal 5 week success challenge.

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

 

1. F.              Secret Number 1 – Make a Career Plan (Slide 5)

 

• Where do you want to be career-wise in 5, 10, 20, 30 years?

 

• What will your day look like?

 

• Who will you be communicating with?

 

• What will you be doing?

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

 

1. G.             Make your goals SMART: (Slide 6)

 

• What does SMART stand for?

 

• Specific – For example, I want to be a controller of a Fortune 1000 company in 5 years.
•  Measurable – concrete criteria for measuring success. Ex. Attend 2 educational seminars by Jan. 1^st.
•  Action-oriented – What specific actions are you going to take to help achieve your goal.
• Realistic – a goal that stretches you, but isn’t too far out of your reach so that you are motivated to stick with it.
• Timely – set a timeframe for the goal so you have a clear target to work towards. This is part of being specific.

 

 

• Question: How many of you have ever written out a career plan for yourself?

 

• If you have no vision for the future you may find yourself in 15 years wondering how you got off track.

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

 

• As the legendary department founder J.C. Penney once said:

 

• “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I will give you a man who will make history. Give me a man without a goal, and I will give you a stock clerk.” – J.C. Penney (slide 7)

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

 

1. H.            Secret Number 2 – Excel at Networking (slide 8)

 

1. I.                 What is networking?

 

• Networking is a lifestyle of cultivating and maintaining relationships. It is not selling! It is not asking for a job!

 

1. II.            Networking ideas:
   1. 1.   Invite people you don’t know well to lunch.
   2. 2.   Ask to pick the brain of someone you admire.
   3. 3.   Meet others at your house of worship.

What other ways are there to network?

Possible Answers:

1. 4.   Join professional associations
2. 5.   Attend company-sponsored social functions
3. 6.   Go to lunch meetings like the one you’re at today.

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

 

• It’s Who You Know: Personal relationships are key to career success. (Slide 9) As the old saying goes: “Network or Not Work!”

 

• Activity: How many of you know every person at your table? Ok, we’re going to take 3 (5 if need to take up time) minutes.

 

• Pick one person at your table that you don’t know and go over and introduce yourself.

 

• Find out the person’s name, where the person works and what the person does.

 

• Ask what their favorite part of their job is.

 

• And at the end of today’s meeting, I want you to go over and tell them, by name, that it was nice to meet them.

 

• If there would be any mutual benefit, exchange business cards and follow up with the person in the next week.

 

 

• After the activity: Now, lets have a show of hands. Who thought that was easy? That was easy, right? Networking is easy!

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

 

1. I.                 Secret Number 3 – Have Great Communication Skills (Slide 10)

 

• 62% of CEO’s said Communication Skills got them to the top

 

• In order to successfully form and keep personal relationships, you must have great communication skills.

 

• Powerful communications skills can make the difference between a successful career and a stagnant career.

 

• I want everyone to think of someone you know who you think is a great and/or powerful communicator.

 

• What does that person do when talking?

 

• What kinds of gestures does that person make? What kind of body language?

 

• Ask the audience and see what answers you get. Add the answers below if needed.

 

• Uses powerful words:
• Never begins with “I think ….”
• Uses confident phrases such as “Research shows ….” Or
•  “In my experience ….”
• Smiles
• Is Concise: Makes his point and then stops to listen to others.

 

• What does that person do when listening?

 

• Makes eye contact and holds it at least 80 percent of the time. (Talk directly to one person as you say this to demonstrate).

 

• Doesn’t interrupt. Allows the other person to speak fully and freely.

 

• Asks open-ended questions that require more than a yes or no answer. For example, “When you say that, what exactly do you mean? Are you thinking about something specific?”

 

• Shows that he has heard others: Begins speaking with something like “You all have shared some great ideas and after listening to them, here are my thoughts …”

 

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

1. J.               Secret Number 4 – Market The Brand Called You (Slide 11)

 

• Hold up branding iron for audience to see.
• Say something like “I know we’re in Texas, but when I say branding, this is not the type of branding I’m talking about!”
• What is a Brand?
• What do you think of when you see BMU?

Ultimate Driving Machine

 

• Walmart?

Lowest Prices Everyday

 

• We market products, services and companies, but we fail to market ourselves.

 

• New Yorker cartoon: “I yam what I yam.” (Slide 12)

 

• Popeye had his brand, but unfortunately it didn’t cover the 3 essential components of your own brand.
• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

• Your brand should be able to be reflected in a 10-15 second introduction of yourself that tells someone:

 

 

• Who you are
• What your area of expertise is
• The value your expertise adds to your company.

 

• Some people call it an elevator speech – something you can say when you meet someone on a ride in the elevator.

 

 

• Activity: Lets talk about some popular brands

 

 

• Let’s take a 3 minutes and have everyone brand themselves. Use a pen and paper if you need to and decide who you are, what your area of expertise is, and how it adds value to your company.

 

• Does anyone want to share his or her brand?

 

• Give an example of your own brand.

 

• Ask: What some good ways to market yourself after establishing your brand?

 

• Volunteer to train a new employee

 

• Request high profile assignments

 

• Volunteer for committees or task forces

 

• Write articles for a company newsletter or start one yourself

 

• Network at all levels (secretaries, janitors, vice presidents, CEOs)

 

• Public Speaking

 

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

 

1. K.            Secret Number 5 – Do Your Boss’ Job (slide 14)

 

 

 

 

Why?

 

• Getting the skills required for your boss’ job puts you in position for a promotion to that level.

How?

• I don’t mean to have you step on toes, but by learning to do some of the things your boss does and offering to do them for your boss, you free up your boss to do the same thing for his boss.

 

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

1. XII.    Now I’ll answer your questions. Does anyone have any questions? (Slide 15)

 

• CLICK TO NEXT SLIDE

 

 

1. XIII.                        Handouts in your folders (Slide 16)

 

1. A.  5 Week Personal Success Challenge: I want you to go in order and do one thing each week for the next 5 weeks.

 

1. Make a Career Plan for Yourself, mapping out the next 20 years in 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 year increments.

 

1. Make Networking a Priority – Invite a colleague you don’t know well to lunch. And follow up with the person you just met at your table.

 

1. After your next meeting, ask a trusted colleague for feedback about your communication skills.

 

1. Practice a 10-15 second introduction, i.e. brand yourself.

 

1. Think of one thing you could do to make your boss’ job easier (and give you some valuable skills, information or exposure in the process).

 

 

1. B.  Career Resources

 

Books

1. 1.   Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty: The Only Networking Book You’ll Ever Need. By Harvey MacKay.

 

Websites

1. www.careerbuilder.com
2. www.theladders.com
3. www.conselium.com

 

C. Career Matrix

 

Click to Next Slide

The Last Word – New Yorker Cartoon: “The Reverend Mr. Gunderson is here for the annual blessing of the audit.” (Slide 17)

 

Thank you very much. You’ve been a wonderful audience! In your folder you’ll find a very short survey about my presentation. If you would take 1 minute to fill that out, I would really appreciate it. Anyone turning in a survey will get a Hershey’s Kiss (or other small candy you want to offer). I swear this works!