education The modern job market is changing faster than ever before. With COVID-19 catalyzing a global shift to remote work, members of the international community now rely on the internet more than ever before to perform their jobs.
The unknown can be scary, and our ever-growing dependence on technology continues to usher in one wave of digitization after another. Fortunately, maintaining a strategy for staying professional relevant can help you navigate whatever the job market throws at you.
Ryan Rhotenany, a University of Phoenix alumnus, now owns the company CareerBrand. CareerBrand seeks to provide storytelling for brands, and its services navigate clients through the online marketing strategies available to them and their career goals. From his work with creating and launching his own company, Rhoten has become an expert on how individuals can design a recognizable brand for themselves.
Rhoten’s advice on personal branding and online presence may surprise you because of how genuinely make-or-break digital marketing has become. The first step is to ask yourself what you want others to recognize about you. The more that you understand what you want to be known for, the more you will conceive an authentic brand for yourself.
Rhoten notes that “once you know what you want to be known for, the next thing you need to think about is integrating your brand online.” Suppose you do not integrate your brand online. In that case, Rhoten believes that your peers will not “be able to find you and opportunities could go to someone else.”
His cautious attitude toward foreboding digital marketing implies that even the most qualified candidates do not reach their potential when they fail to integrate their brand online. Considering how the modern job market relies on the internet to match talent with relevant opportunities (i.e. LinkedIn), anyone looking to stay relevant in their professional field of interest needs to know how to use the web before it is too late.
Thankfully, there are new strategies you can learn to optimize your brand recognition. LinkedIn works, but having a website of your own will take you the extra mile. Rhoten suggests that you purchase “your own domain, preferably with your first name and your last name so that you can begin to stand out online.” This can give your network direct insight and access into your career and what you bring to the table. Since you purchase and create the domain yourself, this digital marketing strategy puts you in the driver’s seat. It can help empower you to take control of how others perceive you online, helping you take charge of the narrative surrounding your credentials before you even get your foot in the door with a potential new employer.
University of Phoenix alumna Lametra Off now works as a career and life transition coach. In this role, she advises clients on how to pursue professional opportunities that speak to their passions. Off defines upskilling as “learning new skills and developing the skills you have for the organization that you’re in.” On the other hand, reskilling entails learning new skills that can empower you to transition into a new professional function.
Off’s work confirms that a willingness to adapt to today’s job market will have a direct impact on whether you remain relevant in your professional field of interest. She believes that “to be relevant in the world today, you need to not only say that you use technology. Rather, you need to show you use technology,” which one can demonstrate via upskilling and reskilling efforts.
She also affirms that professionals need to learn more about themselves to stay relevant. Off believes that “to know your career brand or to know how to best network for you, you need to know who you are.” Take networking, for example. While some people may “love to go to conferences because they are social butterflies,” others who identify more as introverts may have a more positive networking experience by meeting with someone one on one. Upskilling and reskilling categorize the intentions we have when embarking on a professional development journey. But we may fail in both of these endeavors if we do not play to our strengths and stay mindful of our weaknesses.
University of Phoenix is a post-secondary education provider offering over 100 online programs aligned with more than 300 professional occupations. Popular areas of study include business, nursing, education, technology and cybersecurity. The University prides itself in offering flexible, interactive learning modules taught by practitioners-focused instructors who prepare their students for careers in a changing global job market.
