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Why Listen: 
In addition to having an extremely rich career in marketing at multiple brands that you will have heard of, my guest today, Tom Kent is distinguished for another reason. And that is that after nearly a decade of being Chief Marketing Officer and VP of Marketing, etc. He started his own company called CareerNerds. And it was really born out of his own experience of having difficulty in job searches, explaining his backgrounds, interviewing, and landing the job of his dreams. And so what he's done with CareerNerds over the last several years, is help hundreds of other people and Veterans craft their online persona polish up their LinkedIn profile figure out how to explain their story in an interview and communicate it in a resume. And there is so much rich tactical advice in what Tom presents today. In fact immediately after our interview I reached out to him to work with him in polishing up my LinkedIn presence for my own company. And, you know, I've been doing sales for over 10 years as an entrepreneur. I've landed deals with 35 different fortune 500 companies - I'm pretty good at it. And some of the stuff that Tom mentions here about reaching out to people to network, I'd never heard before. It's really shifted my own thinking in how to approach some of this stuff.

About Tom:
Tom Kent is the Founder & CEO of CareerNerds, which has held over 200 executives advance their careers with personal branding and networking. A 1995 graduate of West Point, Tom served as a Military Intelligence Officer for five years. Since his military service, Tom has had a prolific career in marketing, with work at Intel, IBM, Expedia, Vayama, Avast and ZenMate, holding roles including Chief Marketing Officer, VP of Marketing, Director of Marketing and more.

Selected Resources: 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaskent/

• CareerNerds

Transcript & Time Stamps:

5:15

Joining me today from Dallas, Texas is Tom Kent. 

How do you describe what you do for a living?

Over the past two years, I’ve built a coaching business that helps people get better access to a valuable network. 

We have a three phased approach at CareerNerds:

1. Increasing career focus in a very specific area

2. Improving your LinkedIn profile and resume

3. Strengthening your networking and interview skills

About 80% of the people we work with are at the mid or senior levels of their career. Often, they struggle to bring together all of their experience into a concise pitch. We boil down your career into a focused 60-second bite. 

I tell people that the purpose of networking is to convince another person to take action to help you. You need to arm them with just enough but not too much information in a way that will overwhelm them. 

10:22

What was your transition out of the Army like? 

I was stationed in Korea for two years and then did a tour in Italy. After that, I separated from the military and moved back to Dallas. I thought that it was going to be very easy to get a job. My brother worked at Texas Instruments and I felt like he was just going to be able to connect me with a role. However, I realized that I couldn’t just rely on my military background to get a job. 

After that I became more focused on branding myself and telling recruiters how my background would be a good fit for various roles I was interested in. Throughout the next 18 years of my career, I got very good at this process. 

Networking is not only about helping you get your next job but is a tool that will help you throughout your career. For me, networking is a game. It’s an opportunity to meet new people and hear about their experiences. 

16:40

What led you to start Career Nerds?

I realized that my career was up to me. And yet there were people with skills and expertise in a particular field willing to help. I’ve been helped by so many people throughout my career. 

I had researched the coaching market before I started Career Nerds. I had learned that over 90% of career coaches are not able to make a living off of it. So I knew that I was going to have to network and market myself better than everyone else. It took me 2 months to find my first client and another 2 months to find my second client. But after that, I started to build momentum. Right now, I average about 18 new clients a month. 

22:15

Can we revisit the three stages of a job search we talked about before?

The first phase is the focus phase. It’s vitally important that you know what you want and are willing to go after it. You need to know what your chosen destination is in order to get yourself on the right path to get there. 

The second phase is all about personal branding. You need to take the best bits of your experience and highlight those in your resume and on your LinkedIn profile. It’s like a greatest hits list. 

Finally, the third phase is thinking about the interview and how you can present the best version of yourself.

When you think about your LinkedIn profile, keep in mind the phrase “something about me, something about you, what I do for you”. Think about a recruiter coming to your profile. You want to tell them who you are in a clear way and what you will do for their company in a way that makes sense to them. 

27:55

Do you think people are able to do this work independently?

Over the past two years, I’ve hired 7 coaches in various areas to help me. I think having someone on your team that has an outside perspective is invaluable. You can work on your profile independently but to really provide deep insight, you need someone there to provide feedback and a fresh perspective. 

31:10

For veterans, selling themselves is often a concept they’re not comfortable with. Do you have any advice on how veterans can effectively network in this way?

People often feel that their work should speak for themselves. They aren’t comfortable selling themselves. 

But what it comes down to is being willing to communicate what you have to offer. I think it’s important to be comfortable with rejection too. Over 80% of the people that contact me don’t end up becoming clients because it’s not the right fit for them. It’s not anything personal. I think people fear rejection so putting yourself out there can be a real mental block. You will get rejected in your job search. That’s okay. That means you’re getting outside your comfort zone. 

35:10

What kind of structure do you recommend for networking?

Your first outreach should be no more than 3-4 sentences. Point out something you have in common with that person. Show interest in that person by citing something specific on their profile. And then finally ask for a specific call to action such as a phone call. 

I also recommend primarily reaching out to people through LinkedIn. That way, the people you’re reaching out to can view your profile and get a better idea of who you are.

41:00

If listeners want to engage with you, how can they do that?

The best thing to do is find me on LinkedIn or go to www.careernerds.com. 

41:50

What mistakes to veterans make most often during the job search process?

I think veterans are too hesitant to speak about themselves. Don’t be afraid to share your accomplishments. 

Also, get comfortable having conversations with people you’ve never met. Throughout your career, you need to continue expanding your network. That’s what really gets you results during a job search process. You need to be comfortable connecting with someone and share what you’re looking for in a short amount of time. Networking is about sharing information not asking for a job.