Petra ter Doest

Coach in developing a professional identity online, also LinkedIn expert

A history degree and a career in journalism first shaped me professionally. Although I have altered my career path in a major way by becoming a coach in developing a professional identity online, there are some fixed elements. Such as my endless curiosity in everything that happens behind the scenes and in all big and small issues of our time. I find it fascinating to delve into a world I do not know. I want to know all about the experiences of people in various professions and like to project their stories against the larger context of our society. Where do come we from and where do we go?

A Nobody

But to become a coach in professional identity, I first had to become a nobody. In 2007, I left the Dutch weekly Elsevier, where I had worked with great pleasure for over 10 years, as head of the foreign affairs desk and later as head of a series of supplements and member of the editorial board.

What beckoned were the digital transformation and a need to see if I could reinvent myself. Well I learned about reinventing: it took me three years, including a major economic crisis, before the current path became a little bit more clear. Meanwhile, I experienced what it is like to be a ‘nobody’. What to tell at parties? Or how to reach out to an unknown manager if you can’t first drop a well-known brand name in whose name you are calling?

My explanations about me and my purpose were far too long. People yawned. Functioning without a professional identity proved to be difficult

My explanations about me and my purpose were far too long. People yawned. Functioning without a professional identity proved to be difficult

The bigger picture

So I became a stacker, someone who does more things at the same time, as you often see these days. I became a freelance magazine maker, guest lecturer and developer of journalistic software. To generate a steady income, I also started helping people with social media. Stacking is great if you do not want or can not choose but it burdens you with communicating about these different roles and purposes. It becomes harder to do something really well.

Luckily, lucky breakes are part of a proper career story. Mine was being hired by Transitium Group, a major Dutch agency for career guidance in the public sector. The managers discovered my journalistic background makes me a good LinkedIn advisor for people on the verge of a new job. What do you tell on LinkedIn when you are out of job? When unpleasant things about you can be found on the Internet? When you don’t know what your next step will be? My ability to continue asking questions and see the bigger picture in another persons life, even when this someone does not see this self yet, proved useful.

Inspiration

Although I found the label ‘Mrs LinkedIn’ quite limiting at first I discovered that I enjoyed myself immensely. Conversations with people who are at a crossroads in their professional lives give inspiration: life stories, drives, ambitions, skills, setbacks, experiences, illnesses and windfalls. It is the mix of all this that makes someone personal and unique. And from that mix a professional identity can be developed and expressed. I learned I can be of help with that. And that my help makes my clients happy and gives them in turn the inspiration to continue developing their professional identity. It gives direction.

I also rediscovered my critical eye, which was trained in journalism. Will readers understand at once what the intention of a profile, a blog or post is? That critical eye now helps me to assess profiles and personal communication online. It enables me to show others how their photos, visuals and texts will impact their public. And how it relates to their greater goals.

Identifying yourself

What started as a side-job became a new profession. New clients came in, entrepreneurs, the self-employed, business administrators and professionals such as lawyers and consultants. They, too, want and need to discover their professional identity. Parents started sending their children in their 20s. Looking for internships and jobs they, too, have to be able to express the beginning of their professional identity.

My work still often starts with a request for help with LinkedIn but is about creating a clear, professional identity online. About keeping in contact with your existing network and developing it further. About expressing yourself in a way that helps you to achieve your primary goals. About how to be interesting to those you really want to reach. And about how to keep adapting to changing circumstances.

Identifying and expressing oneself online has become an essential professional skill

Identifying and expressing oneself online has become an essential professional skill. Employers no longer provide careers, we have to map out the path ourselves. This is a continuous process because the labour market never stands still. New fields, requirements and forms of work emerge while old ones fade away. You need your new skill throughout your working life.

And thus I found my new destination. One which I did not see in the beginning. As it happens so often. And it is wonderful, thanks to my own unique mix of experiences and skills, to be able to strengthen others in their professional identity. To see and express what they are good at and where they want to go.

For more information on my services and prices, feel free to contact me by email

You can follow my publications in english on Medium