If you already have a voice, a style and a market it might make sense to vary the “instrument” you use for your professional career. Whether you can speak or not you project your voice into everything that you do. A coach mimics a great voice coach for those that know about voice training. Even great singers need voice coaches. You need a coach for your brand and your career.
A voice you hear on the radio, on TV, in an opera must have a foundational talent before you invent the sound around it. People who have championed auto-tune like T-Pain and others can pull it off. Take a peak at any outtake interview with the random American Idol contestant. I hear that a whole lot of them think auto-tune will help the judges send them to Hollywood and to stardom.
In the career world just about everybody does have multiple talents.
Here are things that can damage your career voice:
- Beat Down – many clients including executives don’t necessarily go from peak to peak in their career. Often we see people who are facing challenges at work and who must make a break from even a high performing position for personal, professional or other reasons. Even if they have a job their voice seems to be broken and they want to use it more effectively, in a healthier environment. It’s a “voice hit” too if you get laid off or let go. If your voice has been a bit broken up then work on defining your next career move, the environment and the impact you need to make to ensure you get up from a beat down.
- No Shortcuts – for most people the network they relied on for most of their career cannot be counted on to provide the referral base to transition properly. Many jobseekers whip out a resume, ask for networking contacts, talk to recruiters but they rarely sift through their accomplishments an build a marketing and PR strategy for their career. They cannot measure their goals. There are no metrics to what they do. It’s a jumbled rush to the next thing. They slap up bios on Linked In, network and meet people but they don’t possess the skills to savvily market themselves.
Start with examining how to improve your own brand, your distinctive voice and create a plan to achieve your work life vision and mission. But work on what makes your voice unique and display your value proposition with a rocker’s passion.
If circumstances have “distorted your voice” don’t add to it by shortcuts. Work on every aspect of how you communicate your distinctive voice.