de Stricker

Who are We? In Whose Eyes? Career Identities or Brands

As I'm looking ahead to an upcoming SLA Toronto event focusing on determining the type of professional role and work that is most suited to our innate abilities and preferences, material dealing with professional niches and "brands" for information professionals naturally gets my attention.  Here are two samples:  Stephen Abram's "We are a Profession that Makes a Difference" in the January 2009 issue of Information Today and Tracey Caldwell's "Professional associations stand up for librarians" in the March 9, 2009 issue of Information World Review.  Stephen recounts the successes of colleagues who had a significant impact on their constituents by innovating and reaching way beyond their formal roles; Tracey has several professional association leaders comment on the evolving roles of and challenges for today's specialist librarians.

In those and similar articles, the underlying question is "who are we - and who do we want and need to be in future - to our direct clients and employers, to those who may be impacted indirectly by what we do, and to our peers?"  In preparation for another upcoming event, I took the liberty of asking a couple of colleagues for a reality check:  What is the "brand" that comes to mind when you think of my work as an information professional?  (Much to my relief, the answers corresponded to what I had hoped - or half expected, as in the case of the "whirling dervish" part.)

Before we communicate about our services to various stakeholder groups, we may want to establish what perceptions already exist about the function and role we have.  We are likely to find a wide range of impressions depending on the interaction we may have had with any respondent or on the experience he or she may have had with other information professionals - and it would be surprising if some of those impressions didn't differ from what we ourselves thought.  Brands are powerful carriers of connotation for products, services, and organizations - in building ours, we want to make sure it's the "right one".  Are we seen as steadfast partners in success, last-minute miracle workers pulling the impossible out of a hat - or something or everything in between?  Or are we respected but not really relevant?  Yes, the exercise may at first appear to have some tinge of the "how much on a scale from 1 to 10" I always recommend against - but that is handled by focusing on the role, not on ourselves as persons.

Crafting the work related brand we want to have vis a vis our various stakeholder groups is a challenge for many reasons familiar to information professionals.  One of them is the relatively short time frame we have at our disposal - the luxury of nurturing our brands over decades is not available the way it has been, say, for some iconic manufacturers.  For us, it's imperative to work effectively with our clients in ways they find directly beneficial in strategic ways (and yes, it's true we may never have the opportunity to share how much effort was involved in the enabling work we perform in order to deliver stunning results very quickly from time to time).

The catchy theme song in the TV series Crime Scene Investigation is named "Who are you?".  I "hear" it every time I think about how our professional roles are perceived.  We could all benefit from a bit of investigative digging now and then:  We know who we are ... but what brand do we really have - in the eyes of those we strive to serve?

Social Capital: Invest in It

On the evening of March 10, the Toronto Chapter of the Special Libraries Association launched its 2009 Career Development event series (see http://units.sla.org/chapter/ctor/events/default.asp for the events on April 21, September 8, October 6, and November 10).  Our first event dealt with resumes - that brief document with such a huge impact. Judging from the questions raised, I stand confirmed in my belief that a resume is the most difficult document we may ever need to construct.  (At  http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/seminar_page.php?sid=96 you may view a public version of the slides.)

During the evening, the concept of social capital came up, reinforcing that it deserves deliberate attention in the context of careers.  Looking back, I see how building social capital paved the way for the evolution of my own career - a key factor was an innate tendency toward assistance to colleagues and association activities over and above the responsibilities of work. Now, I am in a position to advise younger career builders:  "Invest in your social capital - it will pay off, if not tomorrow, then later throughout your working life."

By social capital I mean the reputation we build as we contribute to the communities in which we move professionally and personally and the "brand" or "label" we attach to ourselves through those contributions.  It also involves the "bank account" of trust and rapport we draw on when we need support for an idea or outright help in a specific situation.  We may not think of it as social capital building when we respond to a request with "of course I can do that for you" - but that is the cumulative result.

Here is a sampling of what I tell career builders:

• Sign up:  Offer to perform a task or role in a relevant group or association.  Even better, run for office. Serving in an official capacity looks good on the resume.

• Write up:  Tell the editors of a newsletter / bulletin / blog that you will contribute a piece ... or four.  Summarizing key points from a conference session may be a good beginning ... later, add pieces arising from your own professional pursuits.

• Show up:  Come to the local events put on by your professional associations and engage in speaking to attendees you don't already know.  In so doing you easily broaden your reach and visibility in the community. 

• Link up:  Use the professional tools such as LinkedIn to stay within reach of those who may be needing your skills.

• Pick up:  Consciously endeavor to earn a reputation as someone who picks up the phone, the challenge, the lead.

As those activities accumulate, they earn a rightful place on the resume.  Potential employers may not think "social capital" when they read it, but they do appreciate seeing how, on top of employment achievements, candidates volunteered their skills for the benefit of others. 

I'd like to think I have done for decades as I advise.  But I'm not done yet:  If you feel your resume could use some work, you know where to go:  To the SLA Toronto Chapter Career Committee Chair at ulla@destricker.com.