Don't mix your identity with your employer's

Neville Hobson, Tom Foremski and Mitch Ratcliffe are dispensing advice you should run, not walk, to heed immediately if you work in an organization.

The message: Guard your identity and don't mix it up with your company's identity. Otherwise, you risk being "disappeared" if you leave your job or get fired.

For example:

• Carry and use your own cell phone/number for business. If you rely on a corporate cell phone, you'll just be a disconnected number when you leave.

• (to that I would add: always give the cell phone number, not your desk number, to contacts -- it won't be your desk one day)

• Carry and use your own email address at work. I believe this one is a harder nut to crack... employers want clients to know you work @acmeexplosives.com. Still, when I was an employer, I let employees put personal email addresses on their business cards, in addition to their work email -- it can't hurt to ask. Naturally, you should never rely on your corporate email address for anything other than corporate email.

• Create a blog and establish your personal presence in the new marketplace. Required... if only because the blogless professional indicates he/she has nothing to say.

I've just scraped the surface of these three posts, so go read them all.

I have some additional rules:

• Own your books and subscriptions. If you use  books and trade journals as you should, you know these are the intellectual ballast for your work and career. Make them your own. When you are at professional conferences, buy your own books and manuals.
• Own your professional network. Enlightened companies recognize the value of professional networks and associations and often offer to spring for memberships. Just make sure it's your network, not theirs. IABC, for example, openly states that memberships are personal, even if paid for by the employer. Insist on it.
• Own your side of the game. Were I going back into corporate life, I'd tell my employer that a) I have a blog that I intend to continue and that is equipped with my CV and personal contact information and b) my LinkedIn profile will continue to say I am seeking inquiries about opportunities.

Hat tip to Neville.

Technorati Tags: employment, career management, brand of you

Posted by Allan Jenkins on November 22, 2005 at 12:35 PM in Career management | Permalink

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Comments

And that's a fact!
How important this will become in the future, and how much it will be a fact of life for employers, I don't know.
I believe that top talent will have more clout, and be able to set their own terms if hired.
Also real top talent will become increasingly "non-employable" - meaning that employers will not be in a position to lure people into their companies. There'll be a whole new ecosystem around self-employed, small-bussiness, free agent types of business, and contract work will become much more attractive, as it should be.
So being an employee will become more and more like having your own company. I sometimes bragg that I do as I please. I don't ask permission. The worst thing that they can do is fire me, and how bad would that be?

Reminds me of a former coworker who once stated about the company we both worked for at the time: "my brand is bigger than yours". He had a bigger footprint in the business than his employer had.

Let it stay that way please.

Posted by: Gunnar Langemark | Nov 22, 2005 1:56:02 PM

Sounds like someone we both know, Gunnar. At any rate, I heard that line around the place where we both worked.

Posted by: Allan Jenkins | Nov 22, 2005 4:49:04 PM

Buy your own Rolodex is another one that's very important. I've seen companies take those away - with the cards - saying it's the property of the agency.

Sad, actually.

Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | Nov 23, 2005 2:49:35 AM

From what a lawyer told me, the employer has a right to keep business cards you received while on the job if you wrote any notes on it. If you didn't write notes on it, apparently you have a right to keep them (in California).

I like your LinkedIn idea (I'm one of the co-founders)--I'd add that it's best to connect with colleagues and business partners while you are employed rather than when you need a job. We saw that most PeopleSoft employees joined LinkedIn, but only when the Oracle deal was sealed.

I can relate to such procrastination, but I think the best time to get your existing network linked to you on LinkedIn is when you don't have a need to ask for favors and introductions, but can accumulate some social capital by helping others.

Posted by: Konstantin Guericke | Nov 23, 2005 7:03:38 AM

So Peoplesoft employees joined LinkedIn "after the fact"!?
That small piece of information holds so much knowledge, that someone should do a writeup of that alone.
Let's teach the gospel here.You need to build your network - for your personal use - while employed!

Posted by: Gunnar Langemark | Nov 23, 2005 10:27:14 PM

Because of different cultures, and how they react to business cards, I was always taught never to write on them at all. It's insulting in the Japanese business culture, so why risk offending anyone else?

But, an interesting take and piece of information.

Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | Nov 26, 2005 4:21:46 PM

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