Your Career Is Like a Tree – From Thom Singer

I get Thom Singer’s blog posts via email (you can do that on JibberJobber’s blog – just go to the top right of the blog and you’ll see a place to put your email addy) and almost always read them entirely.  Thom is a sharp guy with a sassy attitude about relationships – he says stuff that networking folks don’t (for example, here’s his Twitter Etiquette Rant, and in his Carry Business Cards post he calls people out for being a poser, lazy and a liar :p)

A recent post he wrote that I thought was just brilliant is titled Your Career Is Like A Tree.  You should read the whole post, but I wanted to share why I liked it so much.

A tree has roots.

Thom says the roots are “your education, reputation, and experience. They are vital, but they are hidden underground.”  He ends that with “Nobody cares.”

I don’t think that nobody cares, but for me, as a hiring manager, these roots are more of a given.  You say you are a PHP programmer?  You better be a dang good PHP programmer!  Your ability to do your job is a GIVEN.  Your roots are a given.

A tree has a trunk and leaves and branches.

This is the more visible part of YOU.  This has a ton to do with your “personal brand.”  Personal branding has gotten a lot of commentary in the last couple of years – whether you hate it or love it, you can’t ignore it.  I’ve heard of people who go to work and just do their job, but when it’s time to move on they are unknowns — because they’ve neglected their personal brands (and their relationships).

Anyway, brilliant post and analogy – go check out Your Career Is Liked A Tree.