Today we’d like to introduce you to Carol Kaemmerer.
Hi Carol, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I took what seemed to be shockingly bad news, and turned it into an amazing opportunity.
After a surprise downsizing in the Fortune 500 company I served as a consultant, I found my 20 years of marketing communications work provided the perfect experience for helping professionals build their online brands. LinkedIn, I realized, is an integral part of that brand-building. But many brilliant leaders are unable to communicate their brand effectively on LinkedIn. That is a weak link in their online reputation.
Since 2011, I have focused my communications expertise on helping c-suite executives and senior leaders use LinkedIn powerfully, creating positioning and messaging that reflects their business passion with authenticity. My book, LinkedIn for the Savvy Executive, was first published in 2016; the book was revised and published in its Second Edition in 2021 and has received top awards from BookAuthority, International Book Awards, and The C-Suite Network. This year, The American Reporter named me one of the top six personal branding experts. I am a professional member of the National Speakers Association, a Certified Virtual Presenter, an Advisor to The C-Suite Network and a member of LeadHERship Global.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Job loss can be traumatic, and that was certainly the case for me. Although the downsizing of the company had absolutely nothing to do with me, I felt personally rejected and tossed away. None of the realities – that the people making the downsizing decision didn’t even know me, that all the internal staff also lost their positions, that it was purely an economic decision – could penetrate my despair.
Also, there was the AGE thing. I was in that dangerous period of life when job loss could mean the end of one’s career, but I knew I had more to give to the world of work. While studying how LinkedIn worked so that I could make it work for me, I responded to former colleagues who asked me to help them improve their online brand as well. They were so impressed with how I helped them that they began sending their friends to me, and I realized that people were recognizing me for a new area of subject matter expertise.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Your personal brand is the impression others have formed about you. Today, it is increasingly the case that first impressions about you as a professional are made online via your LinkedIn profile and your interactions on that platform. My purpose during this part of my career is to enable people to use LinkedIn effectively to attract ideal-for-them opportunities: new customers, board positions, new employees, a new job, etc.
I do this in three distinct ways: through my writing about my personal brand and LinkedIn (my book, online course, monthly articles and weekly posts), my professional speaking, and my one-on-one executive branding coaching services. The executive coaching came first, but I realized that while nearly every business professional could use some help understanding how to make LinkedIn work for them, I could not reach them all through a one-on-one business model.
How does your personal journey affect your work?
Some of the executives with whom I work have experienced job loss due to factors beyond their control (mergers and acquisitions, corporate downsizing, etc.) and are in need of personal branding to enable them to move forward to a successful job search. Some are so traumatized by their job loss that they have a hard time recalling why they were great. It has been said of me that I can put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I reconstruct their business story so that they can re-hear it, re-believe it – and heal by re-telling it.
Some of my clients know they’d like to begin something new before they retire. I am a role model for using my core skills (active listening, the ability to make complex things understandable, and world-class business writing) in a new context. With these clients, I use the analogy of a kaleidoscope. The same pieces are in each picture, but when we turn the scope, the image created is new – and perhaps even more exciting than the last.
Increasingly, business owners and c-suite executives are realizing that the impression a skeletal profile makes on LinkedIn is disadvantageous not only to themselves, but also to their business. I view my job as creating an online profile that aligns with their presence in person so that opportunities that are right-for-them can find them.
Where can our readers learn more?
My website, https://carolkaemmerer.com is filled with resources. There, you can purchase an author-inscribed copy of my award-winning book and my self-paced online course, read my articles, listen to podcasts in which I was the guest, and sign up for my monthly e-letter. You can also use my website to contact me for advice about defining and effectively communicating your personal brand. I’m ready to help. Choose the option that’s right for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://carolkaemmerer.com
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/carol.kaemmerer.7
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/ckaemmerer
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/carolkaemmerer
- Other: https://www.espeakers.com/s/nsas/profile/30830?btsc=1
Image Credits
Professional headshot: Grace Stillman of Kelicomm Headshots
Shot with microphone: by Jasmine Brett Stringer
Shot with Marty Rasmissen and Carol holding book: Davis Ackerman
Graphic with book and awards: Chilo Ursal
Carol in pink jacket speaking to National Speakers Association-Minnesota
Chapter: Tim Johnson, Positive Light Media
Presenting to The Ohio State University Minnesota Buckeyes: Bill Kaemmerer
Speaking on KARE-11: KARE-11 staff member
At Barnes & Noble Book signing event with client Mike Whitescarver and his
wife: by Bill Kaemmerer
