I’ve blogged about Kate Herrick before, and I’ve blogged a bunch of time about her husband’s stuff, Scot Herrick (create of CubeRules).
I have a list of people in the queue to consider for the You Get It awards, and Kate has been in there for about a month, but last night I got Scot’s monthly e-mail and it had some stuff in there that sealed the deal:
Interestingly, the last four interviews have been for positions she has not applied for; rather, recruiters actually recruiting her for positions from her resume on a few job boards and her web site at https://kateherrick.com. It is very unusual in today’s market to have your own career web site and the proof is in the pudding with recruiters calling wanting to find out about this person who has her own site.
The idea behind having a brand online is to get results, right? Kate had four interviews because of her website? Recruiters are knocking on her door?? Geesh, I had none of this in my job search. I’m not sure I even interviewed at four companies total!
I’ll do a quick run-down of my thoughts and observations, from a technical/design/content perspective. But I want to start 2008 off right, and recognize Kate’s efforts for the RESULTS! Here are miscellaneous thoughts on what went into getting this far:
NO LONG TERM COMMITMENT. Kate is NOT a blogger, at least, this site doesn’t have the long-term commitment that a blog has. I like bloggers, and think it’s a great tool, but Kate is getting the results without a blog. I bet YOU could put something together like this for yourself in a few hours.- KateHerrick.com. She owns her own domain name. Do you?
- The Menu is all signal, no noise. Check out the image on the right – this is all the navigation that she gives. You can spend all of 10 minutes on her website, if you have that much time, and get a good idea what she has to offer.
- Her writing is personal, familiar, comfortable. When you are done reading her profile, and the information about her accomplishments, you walk away feeling that she is a very nice person, but also extremely professionally competent.
- Her profile pictures reinforce her tone and message. She has two different profile pictures, both of them reinforce my impression that she’s a very nice person. Even so, her professionalism jumps out at me, as she has the right information (jargon, etc.) on her website.
- Her message and strengths are front-and-center. Want to know what she brings to your organization? It’s right on the front page, spelled out pretty clear. Here are two images showing that:
and
Again, it’s about results. And Kate is getting them.
Kate Herrick, congratulations! You join a special group of professionals and have earned a coveted link from my monthly winner’s blogroll area (on the left), six months of premium JibberJobber (you can transfer/award this to someone else 
), and a cyber-high five! Feel free to post the You Get It award on your site!
Here are the past winners:
- September 2006 – ClickDave – my review
- October 2006 – Kent Blumberg – my review
- November 2006 – Heather Henricks – my review
- December 2006 – Adelino de Almeida – my review
- January 2007 – Rob Humphrey – my review
- January 2007 – Ariel Meadow Stallings – my review
- February 2007 – Mike Schaffner – my review
- March 2007 – Susan Johnston – my review
- April 2007 – Thomas Clifford – my review
- May 2007 – Rob Frankel – my review
- June 2007 – Trent Hamm – my review
- July 2007 – Katie Konrath – my review
- August 2007 – Robb Hecht – my review
- September 2007 – OOPS! I took this month off and didn’t realize it! Lucky me
- October 2007 – Tanya Ferrill – my review
- November 2007 – Sean O’Donnovan – my review
- December 2007 – Andy Shaindlin – my review
While Kate doesn’t maintain a blog, she did put in some very good effort into this site and continues to update it. Her references are from LinkedIn, she has her web site on all applications for positions, and she also refers to it during interviews. The site is used to reinforce her strengths throughout the interviewing process. That effort supports results in moving to the next stage in the interviewing process as well.
Thanks, Jason — she really does get it and prospective managers have no idea how lucky they would be to have her on their team.
Whoa! Imagine my surprise when I climbed out of the shower this morning and heard my husband Scot shout an expletive from the living room!
Thanks for this award, Jason. While I’ve never been a devotee of the notion of personal branding, I knew that I needed to establish an online presence outside of the job boards and social networking sites. The site was modeled on Heather Henricks’ site, which won your award in November 2006. While mine is nowhere nearly as professional looking, it attempts to convey similar concepts, to wit: I have a value proposition, and I have the goods to back it up.
As Scot mentioned above, my website is drawing attention. One recruiter who called me last week (and with whose organization I have a second-round interview coming up) actually asked me to speak to my brand as it’s articulated on the front page. I was floored, but I’ve also found that having the site helps me to refine myself better when speaking to my experience and value proposition both in interviews and in the application process.
Much of the thanks for what the site has drawn my way goes to people like you, Jason, and to Scot, who’ve linked to the site one way or another. I have no intention of blogging….it takes too much discipline and I need to find a paying gig first….but I think the site is a valuable tool for people who are looking for quality talent in their respective workplaces.
What a great post – and so ironic, I just purchased my name yesterday. I have a site for my business (www.jamiespnd.com) but now I am starting to license my art – and needed another site. As the artist, and the creator of my work it seemed like such a simple idea – one I should have done years ago. Oh well, better late than never I guess.
Go maire tú an lá Kate!! You are my hero now more than ever! Your dedication and persistence has really displayed your true colors (and I don’t mean the cheesy Green and Yellow pride that is near and dear to your heart. GO PACKERS!!!)
I hope you find an awsome job. Again congradulations, and ‘go n-éirà an bóthar leat’!
Take care, Helen.