We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carol Kaemmerer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Carol, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?
In my prior position as a marketing communications consultant for a Fortune 500 company, I learned the importance of consistency in brand messaging. Having worked on many product launches, I learned all the steps, from naming the product to developing taglines to developing key messaging for each audience.
Today, I employ these same methods for my executive clients when building their online brands. Having learned the power of consistency and repetition, I set the stage in their headline, repeat the themes in their About section, and ensure that the top skills in their Skills Inventory support those themes.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am an executive branding coach, professional speaker, and author who works with executive leaders and organizations to improve their visibility and influence and engage with their right audiences through LinkedIn. After a surprise downsizing in the Fortune 500 company I served as a consultant, I found that my 20 years of marketing communications experience provided the perfect set-up for helping professionals build their online brands. The 2nd Edition of my award-winning book LinkedIn for the Savvy Executive was published in 2021; in 2022, I was named one of the top 6 personal branding experts by The American Reporter.
Clients come to me for one-on-one work with their online brand for various reasons: business owners realize that they may be losing business because they’ve not presented themselves and their business effectively on LinkedIn; executives realize that they need to sharpen their online brand to prepare for promotion; executives who have lost their position need to prepare for job search; leaders who are no longer challenged need to pivot for a greater sense of meaning and impact in their next role. Whatever the reason, I listen actively and with empathy to discern their personal brand essence and voice to represent their brand effectively online. I help each client present their best self online to attract opportunities that are ideal for them. Even top professionals over 50 will have difficulty finding a new job without a compelling LinkedIn profile.
I speak professionally about personal brand to business audiences, as how we present ourselves in person and online is integral to our career success.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Yes. My purpose during this part of my career is to enable senior leaders to use LinkedIn effectively to attract their ideal opportunities: new customers, board positions, new employees, new jobs, etc. This purpose stems from encounters with executive colleagues who lost their position during the recession of 2008 — three years before I lost my 20-year consulting arrangement with a Fortune 500 company in 2011. Here’s the backstory:
Three of my executive friends (age 50+) from different companies lost their positions in 2008. Many people did. I saw each of these friends individually about 9-12 months post-job loss and inquired enthusiastically of each, “So where are you working NOW?” Each of them met my question by staring at their shoes for an excruciatingly long time, clearing their throats, and sheepishly responding “I guess that I’ve retired.”
Retired?! These people still had kids to put through college; how could they accept that their careers had abruptly ended? It troubled me that the world of work had lost the wisdom and leadership my friends could add.
It was not until I lost my consulting arrangement in 2011 that I understood why my friends had failed to gain traction in their job search. They had prepared nicely formatted resumes, but recruiters had already begun vetting candidates via LinkedIn, a platform my friends were not using well.
Helping senior leaders use the LinkedIn platform well became an important mission for me so that a job termination at 50+ would no longer signal the end of a career. Having a great LinkedIn profile does not prevent job loss. But it does make it possible to be hired for a new position.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn the myth that “I am my job.” Because I accepted this dangerous myth as fact, when my 20-year consulting relationship ended because of a company decision to downsize, I was beyond devastated. And of course, along with the “I am my job” myth, I also bought the myth that I could have done something to prevent the loss of my position. It took a while to work through those issues so that I could move on.
I know that many people are experiencing job loss now, and many of them will make it harder on themselves because they, too, have bought into the falsehoods that they and their jobs are one and that if they lose their position, it is because of something that they did or failed to do.
As an executive branding strategist, professional speaker, and author, I often caution against this wrong-headed thinking because it only compounds our misery.
Here is some wisdom I would like to pass on to people who are part of a company downsizing: the action taken by the company was not about you. It’s about making the numbers come out better or boosting the stock price. You just fit into a category of people slated for elimination. Job loss during an economic downturn is not shameful and does not reflect your competence. And because you are more than the job you held, you can find a new position that may even be more engaging than your last one. You’ll need a stellar LinkedIn profile to attract your next position, especially if you are over 50. Because writing about yourself is challenging under the best of circumstances, I urge you to seek some assistance from trusted friends and professionals.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://carolkaemmerer.com
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/carolkaemmerer
- Youtube: http://youtube.com/carolkaemmerer
- Other: Speaker profile on e-Speakers: https://bit.ly/3qLfX33 My book, LinkedIn for the Savvy Executive: Promote Your Brand with Authenticity, Tact and Power-2nd Edition: from Amazon: https://amzn.to/2VZGyqy; from author with author-inscribed message: https://carolkaemmerer.com/books My online course: How to Be Found on LinkedIn: Key Strategies for Attracting Ideal-for-You Opportunities: https://carolkaemmerer.com/onlinecouse
Image Credits
Grace Stillman of KeliComm Headshots Jasmine Brett Stringer Video My Story