Good question. It is a really valid question; and while I used to dread this question, I find that I am glad you asked. As someone seeking a potential fit for your content creation needs, you need to know why you should invest in me when I don’t seem to have the “content & branding” experience required to do the job.
I am a professional with over 15 years of experience specific to Human Resources and Administration for education and research companies. I am going through a mid-career transition due to a shift in the industry that no longer fits my long-term goals. Or or gives me purpose. Am I good at what I do? Absolutely! But that doesn’t necessarily mean I find passion in it, anymore. It happens – sometimes professionals learn different skills and gain experience in things that may not necessarily fit the current career path; and those skills learned can quite often contribute to an interest in a different field. I don’t think professionals with various talents should be overlooked for positions just because it is not the career from where they began. #wordy
My personal shift in interests includes my passions for writing, creating content, creative research & analysis, photography, branding, and social media content creation. I am happiest when I’m creating, and quite content when I can write about it!
All throughout this website, I’ve peppered all my work, from the actual photography to graphic design to the video production to the writing behind the posts and images.
It is all my original work. My social landscape is diverse, and so are my methods for sharing those interests.
I take great pride in my work, and I hope you will see that as you explore my little content corner of the world.
Here’s the thing about my past HR experience: The common belief is that Human Resources is all policies, benefits, and paperwork. And it is, even to many HR professionals who just aren’t doing HR right.
And yes, I do have strong opinions about the role of HR in these times and why HR is doing HR all wrong. But let’s save that for another day, another blog post!
…but true HR professionals are actually marketers and branding experts – when done right. They have to constantly market the company to potential applicants and employees; they work with marketing professionals to keep the business brand relevant and fresh, not just for potential customers, but for applicants, recruiting companies, and current employees; they lean into these honed marketing skills to project the employer brand so those on the outside can visualize themselves as part of the team; and so those on the inside continue to see themselves growing with the business as relevant and contributing members of their current team.
Think really hard about your own HR professionals. If they aren’t marketing your business so that you find the right people for the right jobs – well, you have the wrong HR people in your corner.
#strongopinions
Sounds fancy, doesn’t it??
But in reality, it was my job to create pay and equity branding to help improve the overall hire-outlook and applicant interest through the implementation of a new compensation plan and job title redesign. I was brought in to create an entirely new department from the ground up, working in the face of a negative company culture, and tasked with helping to create a more positive company culture for existing employees.
Having been a career HR professional has been quite a lot of policies and benefits and paperwork. But my specific role within HR during the course of my career has included quite a bit of marketing and branding as it pertains to the employment side of the businesses under which I’ve been employed.
Specifically speaking, of course, I have had direct experience creating social media plans, videos, websites, print and digital brochures, ads, and similar mediums so that we could portray a culture and brand that applicants and future employees could visualize for themselves.
I hope my many years of experience in HR is not a deterrent for considering me for this position; and that the fact that I have not directly worked as a content manager for a company will not be a reason for you to overlook my skills. My experience comes from real hands-on work and is the result of my curiosity and hunger to know more about social media, content creation and management, and how to best represent myself and others using the mediums that are out there. Think about it this way – HR is definitely a branding job if done correctly. A true HR professional sets and controls the employer branding for the company they represent, and has to create ways to deliver service that is consistent with that branding to employees. In turn, the employees can properly represent the company to customers, which is consistent with the company branding, as well.
