Author, speaker, and certification expert Pamela Slim covers the contentious topic of whether or not switching jobs and companies regularly REALLY makes a difference to your appeal in the job market, and towards your goals overall.Hear Pamela's full interview in Episode 44 of The Action Catalyst.
Salespeople are kind of classically known for switching companies. What is your opinion on that? Do you think it's negative to be switching all the time? Yeah, I think there's two things. The first is, for my definition of body of work, it's really as you look at the course of your life, what are all the things that you really want to create, contribute, affect, and impact?
That's the one decision that you would make is really what is that body of work that you want to create based on things that are really important to you using your skills and your strengths.
And so with that as a definition, I don't just mean concrete things like helping to build organizations through sales, which is a hugely important skill set which salespeople have, but it's also in what are the intangible ways in which you affect the world? How are you as a parent, as a community member, as a spouse, you know, what are you really contributing?
What's your emotional wake that you leave as you really walk through the world? And is it something that you feel proud of and that you really leave as a legacy? So when you think about it from that perspective, to move around or not move around, to me, it's really addressed by why. And sometimes you can be pursuing what seems to be the next great opportunity. I really was fortunate.
I spent about three years with a client who had a sales training business. So I've worked with hundreds and hundreds of salespeople who I think happened to be some of the most interesting, flexible, positive people. I really like it. I love the skill set. I love the fact that the skill set is really flexible and that you do have to get enthusiastic and care about what you're doing.
Really infuse yourself in a culture, in a company, in order to be able to really sell effectively. And so it is the kind of skill set of any, I think, that are out there. that can be really effective to be moving in different places. But my question would be, are you just jumping to what seems to be the next great opportunity because of maybe a financial outcome?
Or are you conscious about what it is that you want to create? Are you giving yourself enough time in each role to really be building that which you want to build? And there's always you always have the capacity, I think, to tell a compelling story.
But the reality is, you know, in terms of how you might sell yourself to somebody or you might explain your history and how it is that you've moved through many different positions. I think the important thing to remember is that your work really does speak for you.
So if you truly have had integrity in your roles, you've done a great job, you've developed really powerful relationships, and you move on, that's the kind of enduring legacy that your work really speaks for. And that can't be spun. That's what other people are going to be talking about, you know, when they talk about you. And
In today's job environment, I think that is how people get jobs is based on your reputation of what you've actually built and done. How are you being conscious about that work that you actually want to do in the world? What organizations do you want to support? You know, what problems do you want to solve? And then you do that through your skills and strengths.
But yes, the way that you help people understand who you are and what you do is by the story you tell. It is the meta skill of the 21st century, which by the way, has always been the meta skill, right? Storytelling is the way that we all relate to each other. We have since the very early days. And the good thing is that's actually what good salespeople understand, right?
But I think there's two parts to the story. There's what is the story you're telling yourself? Are you saying, oh my gosh, You know, my work history sounds really sketchy. I'm desperate. I need to get a job. Oh, my gosh. In which case, it's hard then to create a compelling, authentic story to somebody else. Right. Versus where you say, I, you know, I may not have had a perfect past.
Everybody has challenges, you know, in your life and your work. But this is the meaning that I've really gotten from it. And these are the kinds of projects that I've really thought about that I want to contribute to. And here's why my specific skills fit. And so, yes, that is personal branding.
I think the thing I want to underline is it's really based on deep integrity with yourself and with the work that you want to do. And then that just has natural positive impacts in terms of the opportunities that open up for you.