Tell your compelling story

Everyone has a story. It’s the account of who you are. Your story is unique to you and sets you apart from all others. It’s the history of your life: your career journey. It reflects your experience, accomplishments, and what you have learned along the way.

Your story is communicated through a variety of channels, both verbally and written, including through your resume, online profile, cover letter and other career marketing materials. It is the underlying theme to marketing yourself and the basis for expressing your Value.

It’s the story you share when you meet a new acquaintance and the story you lead off with in a job interview. It’s the reliable go to message you return to, in part or whole, time and time again throughout a job interview, and the one you tell over and over in different ways throughout your career.

The VITAE Exercise empowers you to develop your compelling story.

Once you have written your compelling story, the Exercise empowers you to develop it into your MVP (My Value Proposition) Statement for expression to the world. We created the concept of your professional MVP; and have so far advocated the concepts and processes behind building them to more than 50,000 people.

In our unique experience, those that have the most developed MVP, can clearly express their value proposition and are well branded (Resumes, Cover Letters, Project Lists, etc.) are the most successful professionals.

They are also seemingly “propetually employable.”

That is, they are normally gainfully employed, but should they face the unforseen layoff due to circumstances beyond their control, they are normally the first to be recruited back into the workforce.

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New to VITAE?

START WITH THE BEST SELLING I – INVENTORY MINI-BOOK!

Take inventory of your brand. What do you need to effectively market yourself? Explore the assorted professional brand marketing materials associated with successful career planning, management, and job search efforts. Walk through the process of performing an inventory, assembling the information, and conceptualizing the groundwork for establishing the materials that will enable you to build and polish your brand.

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What’s Inside?

The Sequence VITAE Exercise is our true, time-tested personal assessment process and development tool we believe will greatly aid and empower you in your career.

icon-1VALUE

Examine and assess your value

inventoryINVENTORY

Take inventory of your brand

targetTARGET

Take aim of where you want to go and people you want to know, determine how you will get there, and target those destinations and individuals

achieveACHIEVE

Take action and execute your plan with focus and vigor

evolveEVOLVE

Just as our lives evolve, so do our careers

Inside the full VITAE BOOK

VITAE in Latin literally means “life.”

  

Our lives are a series of actions and events traced in order by time. It’s a sequence. It’s a particular order in which related acts and events follow each other. Thus, our Sequence VITAE Exercise is a powerful five-step orderly process designed to help you define your Value, Target your goals, take Inventory, establish, build, polish, and market your career materials and professional brand.  We have developed a series of activities to Achieve these aims and to create your compelling story which lies at the center of all of your plans, dreams, and aspirations. We will then help you express that value and brand with your MVP (My Value Proposition) Statement and consistently Evolve it throughout your career.

  • VALUE

    Examine and assess your value. Take a self-assessment examination and inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. What is your value, worth, importance, and usefulness? Define your knowledge, aptitude, experience, skill set, expertise, competencies, specialties, proficiencies, talents, gifts, key attributes and characteristics, abilities, capacity, capabilities, and “ go to” purpose. Compare these to your chosen occupation to get a greater insight into your profession and as a foundation for the path of expressing who you are.

  • INVENTORY

    Take inventory of your brand. What do you need to effectively market yourself? Explore the assorted professional brand marketing materials associated with successful career planning, management, and job search efforts. Walk through the process of performing an inventory, assembling the information, and conceptualizing the groundwork for establishing the materials that will enable you to build and polish your brand.

  • TARGET

    Take aim of where you want to go and people you want to know, determine how you will get there, and target those individuals and destinations. Chart a plan of action. Summarize your goal(s), objectives, plan, timeline/schedule, and start the process of thinking about your future. This is targeting your career as a foundation for developing your compelling story, building your MVP (My Value Proposition) and creating a focused brand.

  • ACHIVE

    Take action and execute your plan with focus and vigor. This is the process of constructing, marketing and expressing your brand. You have developed a concrete vision and mission statement, goals and objectives, and a career timeline and professional schedule. And of course, took inventory and put your professional brand marketing materials in order. It’s time now to develop your compelling story. Everyone has a story. It’s the account of who you are. Your story is unique to you and sets you apart from all others. It’s the history of your life: your career journey. It reflects your experience, accomplishments, and what you have learned along the way. Once you have written your compelling story, you will develop it into your MVP (My Value Proposition) Statement for expression to the world. Your MVP Statement is the key to verbally communicating your story and value proposition and adaptable for use in every circumstance and situation in one form or another. It’s three-dimensional and the essential tool used for expressing your value as a powerful professional brand.

  • EVOLVE

    Just as our lives evolve, so do our careers. The path in which our career moves along is often commonly referred to as career development. Our career evolution is a lifelong process of change and adaptation to new environments, situations, and circumstances; luck (both good and bad); unexpected opportunities as well as setbacks; increased awareness, knowledge, and education; and in balance or harmony with personal life.

    Career development is “...the total constellation of psychological, sociological, educational, physical, economic, and chance factors that combine to influence the nature and significance of work in the total lifespan of any given individual,” 9 as once defined by National Career Development Association. This powerful statement encompasses and acknowledges the length of lifelong professional progression and factors impacting each of our careers.

    Our career evolution is complex and in order to understand where we are headed we need to look back to see where we have been. What has evolved, or changed, since you first put forth your vision and mission statement; goals and objectives; dreams and aspirations? Are you progressing? What’s working and not working? This is an introspective and ongoing look at your professional evolution, particularly as it relates to your career plan.

value

VALUE

Examine and assess your value. Take a self-assessment examination and inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. What is your value, worth, importance, and usefulness? Define your knowledge, aptitude, experience, skill set, expertise, competencies, specialties, proficiencies, talents, gifts, key attributes and characteristics, abilities, capacity, capabilities, and “ go to” purpose. Compare these to your chosen occupation to get a greater insight into your profession and as a foundation for the path of expressing who you are.

inventory

INVENTORY

Take inventory of your brand. What do you need to effectively market yourself? Explore the assorted professional brand marketing materials associated with successful career planning, management, and job search efforts. Walk through the process of performing an inventory, assembling the information, and conceptualizing the groundwork for establishing the materials that will enable you to build and polish your brand.

target

TARGET

Take aim of where you want to go and people you want to know, determine how you will get there, and target those individuals and destinations. Chart a plan of action. Summarize your goal(s), objectives, plan, timeline/schedule, and start the process of thinking about your future. This is targeting your career as a foundation for developing your compelling story, building your MVP (My Value Proposition) and creating a focused brand.

new-vitae-image

ACHIVE

Take action and execute your plan with focus and vigor. This is the process of constructing, marketing and expressing your brand. You have developed a concrete vision and mission statement, goals and objectives, and a career timeline and professional schedule. And of course, took inventory and put your professional brand marketing materials in order. It’s time now to develop your compelling story. Everyone has a story. It’s the account of who you are. Your story is unique to you and sets you apart from all others. It’s the history of your life: your career journey. It reflects your experience, accomplishments, and what you have learned along the way. Once you have written your compelling story, you will develop it into your MVP (My Value Proposition) Statement for expression to the world. Your MVP Statement is the key to verbally communicating your story and value proposition and adaptable for use in every circumstance and situation in one form or another. It’s three-dimensional and the essential tool used for expressing your value as a powerful professional brand.

evolve

EVOLVE

Just as our lives evolve, so do our careers. The path in which our career moves along is often commonly referred to as career development. Our career evolution is a lifelong process of change and adaptation to new environments, situations, and circumstances; luck (both good and bad); unexpected opportunities as well as setbacks; increased awareness, knowledge, and education; and in balance or harmony with personal life.

Career development is “...the total constellation of psychological, sociological, educational, physical, economic, and chance factors that combine to influence the nature and significance of work in the total lifespan of any given individual,” 9 as once defined by National Career Development Association. This powerful statement encompasses and acknowledges the length of lifelong professional progression and factors impacting each of our careers.

Our career evolution is complex and in order to understand where we are headed we need to look back to see where we have been. What has evolved, or changed, since you first put forth your vision and mission statement; goals and objectives; dreams and aspirations? Are you progressing? What’s working and not working? This is an introspective and ongoing look at your professional evolution, particularly as it relates to your career plan.

What people are saying about the VITAE Exercise

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I have to say, you've changed my life.

Michael B.

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In just two weeks I was offered two jobs. One at another company and one internal in a different department at my current company. I chose the internal and was paid 15% more.

Anne K.

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I wish someone would have taught me what you have taught in college. There is no resource like this. I was completely unprepared for job seeking in the workforce. This VITAE exercise has already given me the knowledge to do what I need to do to get my career on track.

Daryian R.

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This showed me everything I have been doing wrong in my job search. This isn't just a tool. It branded me and empowered my career. Just wish I would have had this sooner.

Wayne H.