Tammy Mullin

Tara Orchard, MA., is a Career Transition and Performance and Social Networking Coach. For over 20 years she has provided tangible and actionable insights and perspective to individuals and organizations seeking to develop strategies to adapt and grow.

Tara was advising on Social Networking and personal branding a long time before it was in vogue. She is a freelance writer featured in two business magazines and a member of the Advisory Board for the Career Professionals of Canada. She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Psychology and is certified in numerous career, personality and psychology assessment tools.

As a career coach Tara brings over 20 years of experience working with thousands of individuals in different industries and careers, from around the world, at different stages of their career. She challenges people to ask themselves questions about who they are and what they want and need. Tara believes in Career Agility and finding an intersection between what is possible and what is realistic today as a part of the process for navigating an ongoing Career Journey. Tara has developed a 4 step career navigation process, "Discover, Prepare, Build, Actualize' and a 5 step psychologically infused social networking strategy for career and business success 'Ready, Set, Go, Focus and Flow" and is always looking for new ways to help people build and actualize their personal career journey.

What one piece of core advice would Tara share with job seekers in today’s market?“

Always remain aware and open. A successful career is not built in a day but over time through a series of events, opportunities and decisions requiring smart and proactive navigation. By constantly staying aware, which includes self-awareness, industry, career and economy awareness people can position themselves to be ready when an opportunity presents itself or are capable of creating an opportunity when needed or desired.

Part of the awareness process for career building includes understanding your career brand, a tool useful for both career direction and career marketing. An effective brand is built on awareness and then showcased through your words, content and materials (resumes, social profiles) and actions. All the pieces of the career building and navigation puzzle are more likely to come together when awareness remains on your radar.”

‍As a career coach Tara helps facilitate the process of gathering information and gaining insight to build awareness, identify new opportunities and help develop tangible and actionable strategies that can help someone move along the next phase of their career journey.

For more career coaching advice from Tara, follow her on twitter at @CareerChatter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

For a limited time, job seekers can visit us at https://nextjobcom.webflow.io/nextjob-scholarships-recent-grads for free access to our jobseekers toolkit where they can create their own job search plan.

Find extra hours for your job search:

• Shut off all notifications on your smart phone and your computer. (Gains 2.5 hours minimum)
• Unsubscribe from newsletters. Or at least get these out of your main email account. (Gains 3.25 hours per week)
• Set up job search processes and systems to streamline your time. (Gains 1.25 hours)
• Set up job alerts to have the right jobs forwarded to you. Do not troll the job boards. (Easy 2 hours/week of time savings)

Learn how to say “no” to commitments that are not supporting your ability to create time for your job search.

For a limited time, job seekers can visit us at https://nextjobcom.webflow.io/nextjob-scholarships-recent-grads for free access to our jobseekers toolkit where they can create their own job search plan.

When talking with people about your job search, they’ll naturally ask about your background and what you’re looking for. These can be tough questions to answer because you might not know what the person wants to hear or how long your answer should be. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is taking too long to tell your story. That’s why you should write and memorize a 30-second and a 60-second “commercial” about yourself.

‍Remember: The key is to keep it to the point and highlight your strengths

Include these points in your commercial:

1. Your brand: a snapshot of your focus, philosophy and core deliverables
2. Your background: education and work experience
3. Your skills, strengths and accomplishments
4. Your job focus and future –what type of work you like to do and your career goals

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Other Uses for Your “Commercial”‍

You can also use the same information from your 30 or 60-second commercial:

• At job fairs, when talking to employers
• In an interview when an employer says: “So, tell me about yourself.” And the same information can help you answer other questions, such as:
• Tell me about yourself?

• Why should I hire you?
• Why are you qualified for this job?

• Why do you want this job?

To learn more about how you can build your personal brand, create your own 30 or 60 second commercial and enter for a chance to win free job coaching, visit https://brandofyou.53.com/build-your-brand.

For a limited time, job seekers can visit us at https://nextjobcom.webflow.io/nextjob-scholarships-recent-grads for free access to our jobseekers toolkit where they can create their own job search plan.