3 Ways to Make Your Career Distinct

If you’re looking for an exciting and ambitious job, you cannot rely on a single page CV and a couple of references. Executive headhunters aren’t looking for someone who’s doing the same as everyone else. They are looking for passion, a unique take on things and a determination you can’t fake on a cover letter. This isn’t about ticking boxes, anymore, if you want to make your career stand out, you’re going to have to do something totally different, and we tell you how.

Be Visible
If you want to be headhunted, you have to be visible; your days of hiding behind your computer screen and barely whispering ‘morning’ to your colleagues is over. You have to start talking and building your network. Being visible happens online and offline. Setting up a LinkedIn profile and posting is a good start but attending networking events will bring you closer to people in your industry and in your local area. You must push out of your comfort zone and learn to network on your own terms. Remember, networking is just like meeting someone at a party - you’re not obliged to give a sales pitch, just be nice! And if you want some 4 tips on how to make networking easier check out this post!

Be Bold
There is nothing worse than getting stuck in a rut and if you want to make waves in your career, you need to be bold with every decision. It’s easy to sit in a job you can do with your eyes shut - what’s not easy is pushing for new challenges all the time and expanding your comfort zone as you go. Being bold is about looking for new ways to expand your career. A bold employee will give their opinion, even when it goes against what has gone before. A bold career is made up of a range of exciting projects. A bold person is someone who goes for their goals and pursues things that other people haven’t bothered with. 

Be Open Minded
Being open minded is really tough - especially when you know what you want and you have a plan to get there. However, being open minded will give you a chance to spot new opportunities and could lead to great things. The best thing you can do to open your mind is to explore and research as many different topics and ideas as possible. And that means reading. Read as much as you can, all the time. Read articles, novels, poetry, critiques, reviews - read it all. The more you read, the more connections you will make and the more interesting your ideas will become. And if you really want to stand out, you need to be able to dazzle any interviewer with your ability to communicate, which is what reading is all about. 

A stand-out career can be formed in many ways but with these 3 principles, you should be able to build a firm foundation to launch your career and land that dream job.