Blogging in a Job Search

Blogging in a Job Search Last month I wrote about How to Blog Without Blogging. Ive also created a video series on how to use blogs in a job search. When I speak, its one of the tactics I always talk about, but I dont spend much time on it.  Its scary for a lot of people. My friend, James Dean in East Bay, finally started his blog, though!  Check out his first post, titled Im on LinkedIn Now What? He writes: the real answer to the Now What question is the web application that Jason wrote. LinkedIn is for building your profile and connecting with others. But once you do that â€" now what? The answer is  Jibber Jobber. It’s a great tool to assist with a job search, should you be looking for one, but it’s really so much more. It’s a contact relationship management tool for maintaining relationships between contacts, jobs and companies in your network, as well as some other important things. Isnt that awesome? I love that Jim has been teaching JibberJobber classes in the East Bay area for a while.  He knows LinkedIn, and he knows JibberJobber, and Im flattered he chose to wrote about JibberJobber on his new blog! Should you use a blog in your job search?  In most cases, YES.  You just have to figure out how to do it right and well Blogging in a Job Search Last month I wrote about How to Blog Without Blogging. Ive also created a video series on how to use blogs in a job search. When I speak, its one of the tactics I always talk about, but I dont spend much time on it.  Its scary for a lot of people. My friend, James Dean in East Bay, finally started his blog, though!  Check out his first post, titled Im on LinkedIn Now What? He writes: the real answer to the Now What question is the web application that Jason wrote. LinkedIn is for building your profile and connecting with others. But once you do that â€" now what? The answer is  Jibber Jobber. It’s a great tool to assist with a job search, should you be looking for one, but it’s really so much more. It’s a contact relationship management tool for maintaining relationships between contacts, jobs and companies in your network, as well as some other important things. Isnt that awesome? I love that Jim has been teaching JibberJobber classes in the East Bay area for a while.  He knows LinkedIn, and he knows JibberJobber, and Im flattered he chose to wrote about JibberJobber on his new blog! Should you use a blog in your job search?  In most cases, YES.  You just have to figure out how to do it right and well Blogging in a Job Search Last month I wrote about How to Blog Without Blogging. Ive also created a video series on how to use blogs in a job search. When I speak, its one of the tactics I always talk about, but I dont spend much time on it.  Its scary for a lot of people. My friend, James Dean in East Bay, finally started his blog, though!  Check out his first post, titled Im on LinkedIn Now What? He writes: the real answer to the Now What question is the web application that Jason wrote. LinkedIn is for building your profile and connecting with others. But once you do that â€" now what? The answer is  Jibber Jobber. It’s a great tool to assist with a job search, should you be looking for one, but it’s really so much more. It’s a contact relationship management tool for maintaining relationships between contacts, jobs and companies in your network, as well as some other important things. Isnt that awesome? I love that Jim has been teaching JibberJobber classes in the East Bay area for a while.  He knows LinkedIn, and he knows JibberJobber, and Im flattered he chose to wrote about JibberJobber on his new blog! Should you use a blog in your job search?  In most cases, YES.  You just have to figure out how to do it right and well

How to Build a Successful Community For Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How to Build a Successful Community For Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Today, I spoke with Seth Kahan, who is a speaker, author, Fast Company blogger and extremely knowledgeable when it comes to building communities.   I think this topic is extremely important because you can be very successful in todays world if you own a community based on your area of expertise.   Its not enough just to have a traffic to a site anymore; you need to lead a tribe and have that tribe interact with each other AND you.   This is just as important for a business, as it is for your personal brand. Seth, why is building community so important, not just in the blogging world, but with discussion boards and beyond? Community is the fundamental human learning system. We need each other to test and apply what we know, surface new ideas, transfer our experience to current circumstance. We are social creatures at our core, and rely on the connections and synergies that arise in community to make sense of life, survive, and thrive. What companies have built successful communities and which have failed and why? One company that did an outstanding job with communities was British Petroleum. They were fortunate to have Geoff Parcell and Chris Collison on their side. These two wrote the book, Learning to Fly: Practical Knowledge Management from Leading and Learning Organizations. It is an excellent primer, both practical and explanatory. The second edition documents their experience applying knowledge management within BP plus insights from a range of other organizations that have applied the techniques they outline, going into organizational community and how to cultivate it in some detail. Another was the World Bank under the guidance of Steve Denning from 1995 2000. I was a member of the small team that introduced Knowledge Management to the organization. It was during that initiative that we realized community was, as President Jim Wolfensohn said, the heart and soul of developing and applying knowledge. 1996-1998 we cultivated over 100 communities that successfully delivered on the strategic priorities of the institution. Of those that fail, there is a lack of respect for the living nature of communities. Many organizations try to assemble or mandate them. Both approaches are doomed to failure. I have been brought in to help resuscitate failing community efforts. The three ingredients for healthy business communities are: (1) strong business benefits a clear business case for the organizational investment. (2) attention to community concerns ensuring that the common causes which unite the members are cared for. (3) participant payoffs that speak to the needs of the individuals participating. A short case study from the World Bank is available on my website illustrating these three ingredients here. Many other relevant documents can be downloaded for free on my website. You call communities beehives. What are your 10 famous ways to build better beehives? Building beehives requires a new way of looking at the world. The main task of management, when working with a community, changes from supervising subordinates to enabling colleagues. To bring this know-how to bear on organizational needs, managers need to cultivate relationships built on trust and healthy growth. Here are the ten techniques to building better beehives: 1. Share the idea with all who have a stake in success. This includes those who will gain from the business benefits being achieved, such as managers, members, clients and stakeholders. . 2. Interact with potential bees. When you are talking with people who may participate, ask for ideas, suggestions, and the names of others who would benefit by taking part. Listen to understand their perspective and concerns, especially if different from your own. 3. Identify a coordinator This is one of the two most important roles in the beehive. Responsibilities include identifying important issues as they arise, planning and facilitation of events, linking members of the beehive, and fostering professional development. 4. Identify resident experts. This is the second most important role in your beehive. These people will have “deep” knowledge of the community concerns. 5. Invite people to participate. Communicate to people through their preferred media. Tell them what you are hoping to accomplish and ask them to be part of the effort 6. Make it easy for members to contact each other. As soon as the beehive forms, publish a directory with phone numbers, email addresses, and expertise. 7. Invite open discussions. Allow divergent ideas; dont push consensus. If small groups form in your community to champion an alternative perspective, help them explore further. This multiplicity of perspective bolsters the work. 8. Communicate, Communicate, And Communicate! Do everything you can to keep people in the loop. 9. Stay open to continued suggestions. The community will evolve. This is normal. A community is a living thing and changes over time. Create ways for new ideas to be reviewed and processed easily without derailing progress. 10. Develop presentation toolkits. Make it easy for members of the beehive to share their work with colleagues and other interested people. Do you think a company will survive the next decade without establishing a beehive? Successful companies today require a social component to succeed. In the early stages a company may be able to get by with only command-and-control running operations. But, as soon as success starts to take place, knowledge sharing which operates outside the traditional hierarchical org chart becomes critical. Companies that prefer to isolate their members by keeping their noses to the grindstone, focused only on their work program lose valuable competitive advantage. I dont know of a company today that can operate that way and succeed. How can building communities help individuals build personal brand reputation and career success? Communities are essentially social networks with a common focus. They represent high leverage opportunities to establish expertise, judged in the light of informal peer evaluation. They are highly trusted and if you can succeed within a given community, news will travel fast about the quality of your results. Research has shown that weak ties are the most effective at job networking. Individuals who know how to work their communities will be able to quickly navigate to those positions and opportunities that represent the highest returns on their effort including the building of personal brand and career success. I invite people to stay in touch with my work by sending me an email at Seth@VisionaryLeadership.com. Seth Kahan blogs on Change Leadership for Fast Company. He has been selected by the Center for Association Leadership in Washington, DC to serve as a Business Visionary for his pioneering work in organizational community development and storytelling. He is the author of Building Beehives: A Handbook for Creating Communities that Generate Returns and is currently is working on a new book entitled Face-to-Face. Seth has over 25 years leading people to the frontier of collaboration and organizational performance. He has worked with more than 250 executives and more than 60,000 professionals.

Personal Branding Interview Nancy Ancowitz - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Interview Nancy Ancowitz - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Today, I spoke to Nancy Ancowitz, who is the author of Self-Promotion for Introverts ®: The Quiet Guide to Getting Ahead and a business communication coach specializing in career advancement and presentation skills.   In this interview, Nancy explains what the advantages and disadvantages of being introverted are, gives self-promotion tips for introverts, shares some advice from Bill Clinton and Warren Buffet and more! When it comes to job searching, are introverts at a disadvantage? Introverts have at least as many advantages as disadvantages in the job search arena. So for each disadvantage Ill mention, Ill counter it with an advantage. Disadvantage: Were not big schmoozers. Since were energized by quiet time rather than people time, were less inclined to work the room at social events. By meeting fewer people, we may gain access to fewer opportunities. Advantage: Since we prefer conversations with one person at time, if we choose carefully who we speak with and ask to get introduced to, we can land some great leads. Since were often good writers, we can also rely more on online social networking to establish initial contacts. Disadvantage: Introverts like to think things over before we take action (or speak). So we could lose opportunities while were pondering and our more action oriented colleagues race ahead. Advantage: Were sharpshooters once weve done our homework and weve thought things through to target our prospects with information and ideas theyll value. Disadvantage: Since were best when we think before we speak, the rapid-fire volley of tough questions on some interviews can knock us off our feet. Advantage: Our hidden weapons include all that reading and researching were inclined do in our quiet time. Were on our game when we prepare and practice. What are three self-promotion tips for introverts? Arrive early at networking events to avoid getting lost in the crowd. Before you go, prepare a few upbeat conversation starters and aim to speak with a few people â€" rather than papering the room with your business card. Position yourself as an expert. Since introverts tend to know a lot about a few things, get your name connected to a specific niche by writing and speaking about it. Also be sure to let your managers, mentors, and other key supporters know about what youre up to so they can help spread the word. Public speaking is a vital skill for getting ahead in your career because it positions you not only as an expert on your subject matter, but it also allows you to deliver your message once to a lot of people all at the same time (whew!). Since introverts often speak slower and more quietly, you might want to take voice lessons, join Toastmasters International, or hire a public speaking coach. Preparation and practice are essential for building our confidence and skill as public speakers too. What advice do Bill Clinton and Warren Buffet give in your book? First, I was impressed that Bill Clinton really knew what an introvert was and he didnt confuse introverts with shy people. Next, the advice he gave was to just throw yourself out there, like mud against a wall. He said that we should just get out there and make it happenâ€"and keep at it. I understood that to mean that for introverts its particularly important to not only allocate our social time wisely, but also to be persistent. We also need to allow ourselves downtime to catch our breath and then go for more! Warren Buffett embraced my question about how introverts can raise their visibility in their careers. He said that the ability to communicate both in writing and orally is enormously important and that most schools wont teach it because they consider it too simple. However, he said that if you can communicate well, its a big advantage. Buffett said that he would get physically ill even thinking about public speaking when he was in high school and college. He relayed his story about how he signed up for a Dale Carnegie public speaking course when he was a student at Columbia and he gave them a check for $100. Then he went back to his room and stopped payment. Some time later when he went back to Omaha, he signed up again and this time he took $100 in cash. He completed the course and subsequently taught investment courses at the University of Omaha. Through his mastery of investing and communicating his message, its no accident that hes transformed himself into the Oracle of Omaha. Can you name some of the quiet gifts that you mention in your book and why they are significant? Many outstanding networkers are introverts. They listen carefully and form strong bonds with people. They follow through with useful information, ideas, and introductions. They make themselves invaluable with their expertise. And since theyre often adept at writing, they can write targeted résumés and cover letters as well as punchy and relevant e-mails, blog posts, and articles, which get circulated and the buzz spreads. How does one promote themselves without bragging? You could blab about how you hang out with Madonna, Rihanna, the Donald, and the Dalai Lama! (See the above video referencing them.) Or you could say something useful and relevant to your conversation partners. Ask them about the kinds of people theyre looking to connect with and offer them introductions. Thats positioning yourself as a connector, which is something we can do well as introverts. Promoting yourself doesnt have to mean wasting your energy trying to impress people or talking at them about your wares. Instead, you can interact in a way thats appealing, authentic, and consistently helpful. When you do get to talking about your wares, just state the facts. Say what you can do that your conversation partners and stakeholders care about. And always look to be helpful rather trying to sell yourself. However, also keep in mind that theres nothing wrong with spreading the word about what you do that others need. How else will they find out? Nancy Ancowitz is the author of Self-Promotion for Introverts ®: The Quiet Guide to Getting Ahead (McGraw-Hill) and a business communication coach specializing in career advancement and presentation skills. Her clients range from CEOs to emerging leaders in the business and creative worlds. She has spoken at New York University, Columbia University, the 92nd Street Y, and the Smithsonian Institution. Ancowitz is a blogger for Psychology Today, and shes also appeared in CareerJournal.com, CNN.com, Monster.com, the New York Times, Newsday, WABC-TV Eyewitness News, Self, Womans Day, Marie Claire and Gotham magazines. Previously, Nancy managed marketing communications for a multibillion-dollar business as a vice president at JPMorgan Chase Co. More at www.selfpromotionforintroverts.com.

How To Change Jobs Advice For An Underemployed English Major - VocationVillage

How To Change Jobs Advice For An Underemployed English Major - VocationVillage Dear Dr. Civitelli:I live in the Seattle area. I have worked at a bookstore for four years, since I graduated college with an English major. Retail has become more and more stressful for me, and I have told myself many times over the past few years that I should try to find some other job, maybe in copy editing or proofreading. But I do want to go to graduate school in the fall, probably for environmental sciences, so I would not be able to stay at whatever job I take for more than six or seven months. How can I get a non-retail job for that amount of time that is satisfying and hopefully not too stressful?Signed, HesitantDear Hesitant:Perhaps instead of thinking of a job as temporary for six months, consider which jobs would work well for transitioning to part-time status when you are in school. You could work full-time until school starts and then ask to go to part-time hours. Your employer may decline your request but if they do approve it, you could end up working somewhere for a year or more rather than six months.Regarding your search for a job that isnt too stressful, my response is that stress happens when a job is a poor fit between your characteristics and the requirements of a job. So what is stressful for someone else might not be stressful for you and vice versa. For example, I know paramedics who would be completely stressed out by a boring desk job but they love the adrenaline rush of helping people in emergency situations. By contrast, many people would find it stressful to be a paramedic! To find a job that is not stressful to you, you first have to know yourself well and to d esign an action plan for how to build a career that fits your unique interests, personality, strengths, and values.The same job change principles apply whether you are seeking work in copy editing, proofreading, or environmental services. Job search involves matching what employers want with what you have to offer. If you already have experience in copy editing or proofreading, you may already be marketable for what you want to do and then the task is to persuade employers that you have skills that they need. In that case, you would need to develop a resume that highlights your most relevant experience and education while de-emphasizing the experience you have that isnt as relevant. Seattle resume writers can assist with creating this type of resume and Seattle employment agencies may be helpful for finding jobs in copy editing or proofreading. Kristen Fifes blog is also a terrific source of information.If you dont already have previous accomplishments in the fields you want to purs ue, your best first step would likely be to gain some experience by doing volunteer work for a Seattle nonprofit or taking small freelance jobs while you build a track record. VolunteerMatch.org is another way to find organizations for whom to volunteer so you can gain experience. Volunteering can be done while you remain employed in retail if you cant afford to quit your current job and focus on the new ventures full time. (Most people have to build bridges between current employment and future employment in this way as most of us cant afford to quit a job until we have lined up a new source of income).Also to increase marketability and to network, consider joining relevant professional associations. Examples are the Editorial Freelancers Association, American Copy Editors Society, Northwest Independent Editors Guild, and Society of Professional Journalists. The people at these organizations can also help you with identifying the areas in which demand is highest and steer you away from areas where demand is low or the competition is stiff. (Before you invest in graduate school education, it is a good idea to evaluate environmental sciences in this same way).Please dont fall into the trap of staying underemployed and stuck because making change happen seems too difficult. Even if you are starting from scratch, building a track record does take time but eventually the experience will add up to make you sufficiently competitive to land a job in a new field.Hope this helps!

10 Unnecessary Things Job Seekers Keep Putting On Their Resume - CareerMetis.com

10 Unnecessary Things Job Seekers Keep Putting On Their Resume A professional, well-written resume is key to a successful job search. Generally, the resume should highlight your skills, experiences, work history, and achievements that are relevant to the role you’re applying for.However, many job seekers commit the mistake of including things that are not only unnecessary but can also break the deal.evalWhat you leave off your resume can be just as essential as what you include.If you’re polishing your resume for future job seeking opportunities, here are 10 things you should not include to increase your chances of getting the job.1. A Flowery Career ObjectiveBeginning the resume with a flowery two-sentence career objective might cost you a lot of great opportunities.According to Wendy Enelow, co-author of Modernize Your Resume: Get Noticed…Get Hired, a career objective gives the employer the notion that you put emphasis on what you want from them when the focus should be put on what the company needs.If you’re applying for a role that d oesn’t exactly meet your objective, you are promptly stating that it isn’t the right job for you, thinning your chances of getting hired.Instead of being straightforward about what you expect the company to do for you, let them know what you can do for the company. Replace a “i with a “career summary.”2. A List of Soft Skills Next to work history and relevant experiences, one of the most significant parts of a resume is the skills section. Here, you should only talk about the hard skills â€" the list of equipment and software you can operate â€" not soft skills.evalSoft skills are vital. You’d want to let the hiring manager know how excellent you are as a leader, how solid your communication skills are, or how good you are with solving problems. However, these details aren’t the kind of information you enumerate with bullets.Instead, soft skills should be weaved seamlessly into the work experience portion to drop the employer some hints about your character. Another ef fective way to flaunt your soft skills is by writing a cover letter.3. Preschool to High School EducationYour education section shouldn’t reach too far back. If you have a college degree, it’s a given that you have graduated high school so you may not include the details of when and where you attended high school and previous academic years.There are exceptions, however. If you’d want to feature an event or an achievement from your high school years that may be relevant to the job you’re applying for, then do so.evalFor instance, if you happened to run a small business when you were in high school and you received recognitions for it, include it in your experience section.4. Complete Home AddressIn a period when every employer can immediately contact a qualified candidate via text, phone call, or e-mail, putting your full address on your resume is not necessary. It would pose a threat for your security and privacy as well.5. Unprofessional e-mail addressThe employers are con vinced with how great your credentials are. All is well until they saw your e-mail address.[emailprotected]That 10-year old e-mail address you used for your Friendster account can be a deal breaker. It only takes less than 15 minutes to update it. Use your real name or your initials.6. Character ReferenceWriting contact information for character references at the end of your resume is simply a waste of space. Putting “references upon request” is just as bad.Hiring managers are aware that you have references, such as your previous college professors or former employers. They will ask for these details if needed at an appropriate time.7. Stylized FontsThe presentation of the paper matters, but that doesn’t mean you’ll go overboard with the font styles, colors, symbols, and overall page design.Ditch thy love for fancy yet distracting fonts and go for professional and clean-looking ones. Calibri, Helvetica, Verdana, and Arial are good sans-serif fonts.evalIf you love serif fonts , you may elevate your old-school Times New Roman with fonts like Georgia, Garamond, or Cambria. Use clean lines and symbols when segmenting information.8. Text OverloadIt is suggested to limit yourself to a one-page resume, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to fit everything on that single page by using a 0.5 margin and an eight-point font.Don’t overload your resume with texts. Make sure to use lots of white space to make it more readable and interesting. Don’t fill your paper with bullet points either. Bullets are intended to place emphasis on the most important details.If you “bullet” everything, then you’re implying everything is important, which means nothing really stands out.9. Company-Specific JargonsRuffa used to be a web content writer for Company X, an online marketplace for tours and activities. Her job was to write 10 Merchant Profiles and 10 Activity Profiles which include high-volume keywords for SEO.evalChances are that not all hiring managers are familia r with the terms mentioned. In a nutshell, her job was to provide written materials for the marketplace’s retailers, including their company profiles and product/service descriptions, then optimize them in a way that would appeal to search engines.When writing for your work history section, make sure you don’t use acronyms, job titles, and other company-specific lingos that may confuse current hiring managers. Use terms that are universal to the industry. If it’s necessary to mention an unfamiliar term, at least provide a brief description.10. A Picture of YourselfI know you’re proud of your graduation picture but unless you’re in broadcast journalism, performing arts, and other industries where physical appearance is one of the things you sell, it might be better not to include a photograph in your resume.According to Jacqui Barret- Poindexter, the owner of Dallas-based coaching firm Career Trend and an executive resume writer, a photo on your resume can potentially lead to discrimination. It would be better to insert a photo on your social media profiles and personal blog where it’s expected by recruiters and hiring managers.

Tags Are you sending the right message

Tags Are you sending the right message It is funny how we put labels on people and things, isnt it.   OK, maybe not everyone does it and maybe it isnt all that funny, but it is an interesting phenomenon. When you meet someone new, do you give them a tag or a label, mentally?   For example: Jills Mom, Cashier at Wegmans, Job seeker, Prius Driver Physicist?   Maybe you do this and dont realize it.   Why do we do this?   I think it may be to serve as a memory jogger.   Everyones brain works a bit differently, true? I wrote a post about categorizing your network to make it easier to reference for you. (Categorizing Your Network for Maximum Impact).   I realize that might not be the way everyones brain works, however, it d0es provide a context for how you know this person and who they are. We sometimes get labeled as something we arent.   For example, people frequently tag me as Human Resources, but I am not really HR.   I get tagged as a coach, but I dont consider myself   a coach.   So what is it that I want to be known for?   Jeez, maybe thats hard to put a tag on. I want to be known for career guidance and management.   But you know what, that doesnt make a lot of sense to most people.   So I will have to dig deeper. We have so many ways to spread the message about what we want to be known for, inside and outside of our company.   Lets start with LinkedIn.   You determine the words and phrases that appear here.   Make sure youve used the correct combination to send the right message.   When you introduce yourself, again, use the right combination of words to create the image you want to project. Another example of tagging/labeling occurred for me when I opened a bank account and they asked what kind of business I was.   The choices were archaic, manufacturing, construction, retail and many other buckets that didnt quite fit.   Eventually, I settled on Education I dont think there is a way to clearly wrap up this post, other than to help you realize that tags exist and well need to pay attention to how that helps or hinders up. What do you want to be known for?

Ejemplos De Resume En Ingles - The Importance Of Learning About This Technique

Ejemplos De Resume En Ingles - The Importance Of Learning About This TechniqueThe reasons why you need to learn about ejemplos de resume en ingles are obvious. It is after all the first thing that will be read by any employer who wants to hire you. While it may seem easy enough to design your own, if you are not up to the challenge it is best to get in touch with a professional resume writer.It is not easy to come up with quality documents but it is far from impossible. In fact, the ability to create something extraordinary is your right and your privilege. When you want to impress your future employer then it is your job to find out what information will be necessary to get them interested. When you read this article, you will be able to grab the next piece of this puzzle.If you are confused about ejemplos de resume en ingles, it is best that you remember that you have the power to determine how you present yourself. There are many things that you can do right from the start and a g ood candidate for a job will be attracted by these factors. Let us take a look at some of the ways you can begin to shine.Now the first step to mastering this technique is to put some important points together and make them look fantastic. It is important that you know exactly what it is that you want to convey to your employer. There is no point putting effort into writing about a subject if you do not know what you want to achieve. You can find a lot of material on the internet about ejemplos de resume en ingles that you can read through and get a good idea of what the format should be. To learn more about the style, you can try to search for some information in Spanish or in French.Leave out nothing that is essential. Some people may not believe in the process of creating content because they do not know how to write properly but this is a myth. You cannot succeed in ejemplos de resume en ingles without understanding the most basic of writing skills.One big mistake is when people attempt to rush their projects without giving the time to put in the effort that it takes to get right. Getting it right the first time is very important. Once you get it wrong you will never get it right again so be confident in yourself and in your project.In the UK, there are employers who state in their requirement letters that if you do not have a degree from a course you will not be considered for the job. This is why it is vital that you ensure that you put in the time to learn more about the field that you wish to work in. If you fail to get in touch with a professional company that offers ejemplos de resume en ingles, it is best that you use the resources of the internet.When you learn about ejemplos de resume en ingles, there is no way that you will look down on this technique. In fact, when used correctly it can help to enhance your skills and understanding of the language. Now that you know that there is more to ejemplos de resume en ingles than meets the eye, try getti ng in touch with a professional who can teach you how to master this simple yet important skill.