The other day my friend Grant wrote a post about Humpty Dumpty and LinkedIn. Read it here.
I liked Grant’s take on Mr. Dumpty, but there is a larger career branding lesson we can take from it.
My first question is what does Humpty Dumpty do?
He sits on walls.
His tragic fall is beside the point. His job is a professional wall sitter. Let’s imagine he used up his worker’s compensation, did rehab to build up his bones and now he is ready to enter the job market.
His LinkedIn headline could be:
Wall-sitting Professional ǀ Patient ǀ Great Balance
He’ll write a spiffy profile like:
I am a professional wall-sitter. People hire me to sit on walls, I like high walls, wet walls, soft walls, and even those new indoor climbing walls. My career started when I was a child. On Halloween Night, I was dressed like my favorite character – a scarecrow. My mother brought me to my uncle’s house as a surprise. She sat me on a wall by his front door, rang the doorbell, and hid in a bush. My uncle came out and saw me on the wall. He was delighted. At the same time, some crows that had been eating his cherry trees saw me and flew away. That Autumn he paid me to sit on his wall to scare the crows away every Saturday.Word traveled that I was a pretty great wall-sitter. And my career was born.
I am a great wall sitter. If you need someone to sit on your wall of any height and depth, I’m your guy. See my recommendations below.
I’d love to sit with you and discuss our next opportunity to work together.
This would all be considered on-brand.
Behind the scenes more could be happening. Humpty Dumpty could be saying, “ You can’t define me in a single job title! I am more than a wall sitter, I can also paint, design walls, train others to sit on walls, throw surprise parties.”
But once he starts to market himself will ALL those other things, his skills get muddled together and he gives a confusing message. It looks like he might be desperate. He looks unsure of what is ideal job is. So he needs to choose one. He doesn’t need to be a wall-sitter for all time. But, if he is looking to get a job and the market wants wall sitters, and he’s pretty passionate about sitting on walls, it is great for his branding to just commit to the wall sitting idea. If he does this, anyone who needs a wall-sitter will think about him right away.
If you are in a job search or career transition – that’s what you might want to start thinking about doing. The more specific you can be about what you do and want, the more likely someone will pick up on it.
Look at all your skills, experience and interests. Look at what there is demand for in the market. Review your “need to work by” date. Strategize from there.
The clearer you can be about what you do and are looking for right now, the more consistent your brand is. Your brand is what people consistently say about you.
Specificity does well. It oozes confidence.
I had a call with a client today and he said, “but can’t they just read everything I have done and tell me what I would be good at in their company?” I said, “no, that is your job. This is your career.”
What do you want to get hired to do? Why are you the best one for the job?
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