Saturday, May 30, 2020

Holiday Job Search Tips

Holiday Job Search Tips Jacob Share, a friend and colleague, has a great post about searching for jobs during the holidays: Holiday Weekend Job Search Do’s and Don’ts Coming off of yesterdays post about what you can do in December for an awesome job search in January, I thought it would be nice to share tactics for THIS month with you, if you are an active job seeker Holiday Job Search Tips Jacob Share, a friend and colleague, has a great post about searching for jobs during the holidays: Holiday Weekend Job Search Do’s and Don’ts Coming off of yesterdays post about what you can do in December for an awesome job search in January, I thought it would be nice to share tactics for THIS month with you, if you are an active job seeker Holiday Job Search Tips Jacob Share, a friend and colleague, has a great post about searching for jobs during the holidays: Holiday Weekend Job Search Do’s and Don’ts Coming off of yesterdays post about what you can do in December for an awesome job search in January, I thought it would be nice to share tactics for THIS month with you, if you are an active job seeker

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Why We Should Still Practice the 70-20-10 Rule Marla Gottschalk

Why We Should Still Practice the 70-20-10 Rule Marla Gottschalk We all need a viable strategy to stretch ourselves and hopefully, reach our potential. However, its unlikely that weve committed to a firm strategy to do so. Implementing a guiding philosophy to remain on the cutting edge could help, allowing us to see the innovative paths that may exist in our own work lives. Personally, I find it difficult to spark change (and follow through) in my work life. (Old habits die hard, dont they?) I make promises to spend more time exploring new work life territory â€" but it seems that without fail, I miss that mark. I also needed a concrete plan to sustain momentum toward that goal. I hoped that with measured practice, changing things up would become second nature. But why reinvent the wheel? To that end, I am all for borrowing established (and successful) strategies that can provide structure â€" tried and true methods that can be adapted to our own careers. Thats exactly why I chose the 70-20-10 rule, made popular by Google.   The 70-20-10 rule is simple, yet remarkably powerful. It prescribes that you spend 70% of your time in the core areas of your work, 20% of your time on tasks related to your core and 10% devoted to tasks that are completely off-road. (The secret sauce.) The rule can be readily applied to many, many types of roles and functions, including those that focus on sales and process improvement. Try it on for size and see what it does for your work. A couple of ways to apply it: Staffing a team. The larger part of the team (70%) should include those directly related to the work at hand at hand. However, 20% could be in areas or functions related to the issue or project at hand, and 10% of team members could be composed of those in unrelated functions â€" those that could offer an entirely fresh perspective. Sales efforts. If you sell for a living, take another look at your potential customers. Of course, your core target group would include potential clients with a profile very similar to your current clients. However, go the extra mile and identify 20% that are somewhat different, but still may find a fit or use for your products. The other 10%? These are customers that may require you to develop an innovative product application or service packages to win their business. Explore this path, as there is no telling what will be discovered. Networking. We all have a tendency to gravitate towards the familiar â€" however this can limit us. Make a concerted effort to build relationships with people in new functional areas, that are still tangentially related to your core. (For example, if I exclusively networked with other psychologists, I wouldnt learn nearly as much about HR tech.) You may not have the language mastered in these off-road functions, but you can certainly develop a working vocabulary. You may also happen upon a very worthwhile collaboration. Here are a just a few reasons to try the method: Ideas dont develop themselves. If we dont designate time to explore new paths, our thoughts cannot cross-pollinate â€" an innovation basic. Many interesting developments seem to develop through serendipity. Serendipity doesnt occur in a vacuum. Our brains need a change of pace. Have you read The Eureka Phenomena? Asimovs classic article, helps us understand that the brain works on more than one level. Changing gears for a period of time, can actually help your mind settle and solve problems. We all need real challenge. The 70-20-10 can help gamify work, and make it novel.   I place the off road 10% in that category. That somehow works for me. Have you applied the 70-20-10 in your line of work? Tell us how. Dr. Marla Gottschalk is a Workplace Psychologist. You can also find her on Twitter and Linkedin.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

How to Upgrade Your Resume, Part 2 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How to Upgrade Your Resume, Part 2 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Having  a full-time career coaching business for 12+  years, I have reviewed  thousands of resumes and rewritten hundreds of professional and executive resumes. I believe  I have seen all of the typical  resume writing shortcomings. In this series of articles, I want to help you  upgrade your resume to get better career and job search results. My  earlier article  examined Seven Reasons Your Resume Is Hurting Your Career and offered some initial resume writing advice. More recently, Part 1 of this series  discussed the importance of your resume passing the  15-Second Skim Test  and  specific suggestions were made  to avoid being instantly rejected by recruiters and others. In this article, lets address the beginning parts of your resume the header and (if desired) objective sections. The Resume Header The header section appears at the top of the first page. It typically contains the candidate name and contact information. Here is a list of typical header contents and a recommendation for each: Your name Provide your name as you prefer to be addressed, such as Will Smith rather than C. William Smith. Use a font 4 to 6 points larger than the font of the body. Your mailing address Unless there are extenuating reasons, omit this. Everything you need will come via email, and your location can be used to screen you out. Your email address This is a must have. If you are currently employed, assume your email can be read by your employer and use a personal address. Dont use @aol.com as it is this that dates you. Your phone number(s) A  cell number is best.  Leave all others off, unless there are extenuating reasons to include  them. Your LinkedIn profile hyperlink If you have a common name and there are lots of you in your metro area, then include it. Otherwise, assume readers can find you and leave it off. Your personal website or similar hyperlink If you have a quality personal website that presents you professionally, consider including it. Most such websites are NOT well done and should be omitted. Your Resume Objective Now that you have an appropriate header, lets turn to a controversial topic providing a job or career objective. Most candidates  feel it is  risky and limiting to include an objective in their resume. If  done poorly, I agree. If  done right, I disagree. Two  reasons to omit an objective are  (1)  you want to do a variety of things but are using only one resume and (2) you dont know how to include  an objective that is appropriate without it being overly  limiting.  I recommend you include an objective because it will make your resume stronger. For situation (1),  you should narrow your focus to 2 or 3 general career objectives and have a separate resume (with an objective) for each one. For situation (2), having separate resumes with appropriate objectives will solve some of the problem. Additionally,  consider these  recommendations to create a desirable one: Avoid an overly limiting  objective, such as a specific job title like Java developer, unless you are customizing the resume for a specific job submission. Software developer is likely to attract more attention and still be accurate. Avoid a non-specific object that is too broad, such as Developer. There are many types of developers and such an objective forces the resume reader to work to clarify this. If desired, use a compound  objective such as Software Developer / Web Applications to clarify with liming your options too much. I utilize these strategies in my resume writing for clients and have found them received well by recruiters and others. What do you think?

Monday, May 18, 2020

Social Selling Strategies for Personal Brands - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Social Selling Strategies for Personal Brands - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career When it comes to making sales, we often don’t consider using social media. While this is a marketing tool used mainly for building relationships and visibility, there are several ways to attract loyal buyers to your niche. Social media marketing by itself is not enough to attract buyers to your brand’s products or services. It’s important to seek out and engage with your fans and followers in order to build a trusted community through meaningful interactions. There are many ways to gain the attention of your personal brand’s prospects starting with knowing their pain points and answering their questions. To build a robust community on social media, you need to understand how to effectively execute the right strategy. How to find attract sales on social media In order to stand out from the rest in your market, you need to know which social networks are going to be the most effective tools for your brand. Here are several ways to leverage these networks: • Pay attention to public response How active are you on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn? There may be conversations taking place that are a golden opportunity to respond, even if it’s a negative comment or tweet. When your brand is able to relate to its audience and is ready to respond you increase your chances of building and preserving your customer base. • Make it easy for interested buyers to make a purchase Once you have created a pattern of good conversation on social media, the next step for your personal brand is to make a sales page either on your website or through a service like LeadPages. Share the links on your networks, and direct your leads and customers to a simple and easy to understand invitation to buy your products or services. • Create quality and original content for your niche After getting to know your market online your brand will be able to better understand their needs and how to meet them. When taking a look at the competition you can determine how to create content that answers your market in a fresh, and insightful way that solves your customers’ problems. Try a mix of content like infographics, videos, presentations, and tap into large social networks like Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube to promote your posts. When your brand is an active participant with its audience the interest in what you have to offer will soon grow. Leave the sales pitch for your website, and provide something of value such as helpful tips, a free report, how-to videos, ect. As you put people first in your social media strategy the sales will naturally follow.

Friday, May 15, 2020

The Advantages Of A Resume Writing Service For Those Who Are Looking For A New Job

The Advantages Of A Resume Writing Service For Those Who Are Looking For A New JobThose who are currently in the job market need to get good aspirations resume writing service for them to show up in the interview process. This can be done by using a freelance service or a company that hires those who have qualifications and credentials to write a resume for you. The first thing to consider when considering which option to choose is how much money you want to spend on this service.Many people choose to go with a service that does all of the work for them and it is free. This is what many companies do, and this is often the cheapest option, but there are some disadvantages to this. You will not be able to have the company you use to create a stunning resume for you that reflects who you are and what you are all about.Having the person write the resume for you, could cost as much as $250 to have a person sit down and write your resume for you. That can be a hefty price tag that could re sult in no one even getting a call back when applying for a job. This is why it is better to use the professional services that offer a professional resume writing service for a very low price.In today's job market, there are many job openings and when people get interviewed, they do not get a lot of calls back from their potential employers. It is not good when you are an average person and you get interviewed, not one person takes the time to contact you after the interview. That is why you need to have a great, impressive resume and to have it professionally written.This is important for young people who are just starting out in the world. It is also very important for people who have been out of the work force for quite a while. You would not want to be laid off and have a great job with your aspirations resume in place, so the idea is to have a professionally written one in place to get you prepared.Hiring someone to write the resume for you may cost too much for your budget, b ut there are services that offer lower fees for hiring them for you. This is a great option if you are trying to find a job and don't have the money to hire a professional. You will have the job you need and want for a very reasonable price.When researching companies offering aspirations resume writing service, you will want to make sure that they provide a complete package and not just the resume. You will want to see that they take care of all of the needs of the job seeker. If the service does not handle your resume then you will not get hired, and there are many companies that can offer great resumes.You can find full service aspirational resumes that include a cover letter, cover letter template, resume letter, personal statement, cover letter sample, and more. This all will be delivered to you in a nicely wrapped package. This will help you get everything you need to create a stellar resume and to get you hired.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

10 Tips To Tap Into Your Career Strengths - Hire Imaging

10 Tips To Tap Into Your Career Strengths - Hire Imaging Describing your skills can feel like an ill-fitting label. What does “excellent communication skills” really mean? Job candidates are often too vague and generic regarding their skills. You are being hired because you can solve particular problems; not because you are a generic Jill or Jack of all trades. Skills come alive when you describe them as strengths. This means implanting them in a story that is not about the skill but about you. The best resume contains assertions and evidence, and the best kind of evidence of your skills is contained in defined achievements. As mini-narratives, they are also useful to answer interview questions. Here are 10 tips to remembering how you used your strengths in action. Start with supportive friends and colleagues. Ask them to remind you of things you did well, where you have made a difference, and what you are like when you are performing at your best. Collect tangible evidence of achievements â€" numbers, percentages, margins and timescales help, but your evidence might also be an email or letter from a happy customer, coworker, or boss. Look for times when you faced problems or obstacles. How did you go about solving the problems? What were your strategies, actions, and the end results? Look at the job description for your last job. In what ways did you redefine or expand that job? Think back on times when you delivered more than people were expecting, or went the extra mile to achieve the optimum result. Look at projects or tasks where there was a clear outcome, or where something changed. Review all documentation of your past work. Think about the projects in detail. What did you actually do? What were you capable of doing at the end that you couldn’t do at the beginning of the project? Where have you learned something very quickly in order to get something accomplished? Think about times when you brought in new ideas or adapted something creatively. Identify moments when you snatched victory from the jaws of failure. Build stories that demonstrate your strengths, and dig out the achievements within those stories. Remember times when you used these strengths and how you felt. The more you think about them, the more clearly you can articulate them orally and in writing. You will then be selling something you believe in â€" you! Not an obscure skill that doesn’t impress. I always love to hear from you! Please comment below.

Friday, May 8, 2020

Giving it Away for Free

Giving it Away for Free Do you feel like you are selling out? Caving in? Giving it away? Perhaps youll need to in order to land your next job. While unemployment insurance in NY state is 72 weeks, that can provide a false safety net. It isnt getting people back to work and in many cases it is encouraging people to not make some tough decisions- take less money for your next job. No one says that that the next job you take has to last forever. When you get a job doing something that immediately provides you with a feeling of being productive and valued in some way. This can lead to increased confidence, which is a good thing. Oneoption is to volunteer doing what you love or are at least interested in. Going back to school develops skills and relationships. It might also be a way to get an internship or work with employers on a case study. RITs EMBA program has Capstone Projects in which students provide analysis and solutions for employers who have submitted their projects/cases. Changing industries, from for profit to not for profit, can provide fulfillment and satisfaction with work. Working in temporary or contract jobs is also a short term solution and can be a great way to get a foot in the door with a target company. Onceemployers begin to think differently about you and the service you can provide, it could, possibly, lead to something more. To get a better idea of salary ranges for alternative jobs, use multiple resources: salary.compayscale.comNYS Dept of Labor (for Rochester/Monroe county, select Finger Lakes Region)and most importantly, speak with people doing this kind of work.