Career Tools The Lady

Career Tools The Lady For the last 5 years Ive been on the road quite a bit.   Before my trips I get all the necessary documentation ready, printing out itineraries, hotel information, rental car information, and maps and directions. As prepared as I was, I usually would kind of get lost.   Im good with directions, but if there was a road closure, or if I missed an exit, Id get anxious and frustrated. A few months ago when I was in Orlando I had a packed trip.   I was doing a number of presentations from Orlando to Tampa, and had a lot of driving to do.   I thought I was smart by saving the Google maps and directions to my laptop, but when I tried to open the file without an internet connection I couldnt see what I was hoping to see.   Major frustration. It was on that trip that I decided to buy a GPS system.   My first GPS experience was on my Silicon Valley book tour trip, driving around that area with my publisher for a week.   I thought it was wierd that he needed a GPS since he lived there, but I was very impressed with the technology.   I asked him if he wanted me to turn The Lady on when it looked like we needed help finding our next address.   Mitchell remarked its worth it (the $300ish price tag) if it helps you get to one meeting ontime. Fast forward a few weeks I landed back home from my Orlando trip and before I even went home I bought a GPS system.   I absolutely LOVE it.   I dont use it much in Utah, because of the street system here (dont usually need it), but EVERY time I go somewhere else I bring it and HEAVILY rely on it.   In fact, this week in Nashville I had the thought what would I need more, my wallet (with ID and credit cards) or my GPS?   At that time I figured I needed my GPS more.   I actually found my GPS for about $175 (discontinued floor model).   It is a 4 wide Magellan, and I wonder why it took me so long to make this investment.   This one tool has significantly changed my stress level and my ability to go to diferent places when I travel.   I affectionately named her The Lady. I wonder, what are the tools that we should have for managing our careers, or a job search (two different sets of tools, Id argue)?   Are we trying to do without the tools, instead of paying $50 here or $200 there?   Im not suggesting that you go out right now and stockpile tools and resources, but going without the right tool will hinder your progress.   Just ask a tradesman what their opinion of expensive vs. bargain tools is.   The plumbers and carpenters I know invest in their tools, because that helps them do their jobs better, faster, and with higher quality.   Are you investing in your career tools, or are you skimping to save a buck now? This post is brought to you by Dennison Career Services, reducing stress for job seekers for 19 years. Perhaps you only need a resume written, or you may need help with the search process. Christine Dennison The Job Search Coach offers a wealth of practical advice from her previous experience as a headhunter and as a corporate HR manager, trainer, operations and marketing professional.   Christine Dennison is a JibberJobber Career Expert Partner. Career Tools The Lady For the last 5 years Ive been on the road quite a bit.   Before my trips I get all the necessary documentation ready, printing out itineraries, hotel information, rental car information, and maps and directions. As prepared as I was, I usually would kind of get lost.   Im good with directions, but if there was a road closure, or if I missed an exit, Id get anxious and frustrated. A few months ago when I was in Orlando I had a packed trip.   I was doing a number of presentations from Orlando to Tampa, and had a lot of driving to do.   I thought I was smart by saving the Google maps and directions to my laptop, but when I tried to open the file without an internet connection I couldnt see what I was hoping to see.   Major frustration. It was on that trip that I decided to buy a GPS system.   My first GPS experience was on my Silicon Valley book tour trip, driving around that area with my publisher for a week.   I thought it was wierd that he needed a GPS since he lived there, but I was very impressed with the technology.   I asked him if he wanted me to turn The Lady on when it looked like we needed help finding our next address.   Mitchell remarked its worth it (the $300ish price tag) if it helps you get to one meeting ontime. Fast forward a few weeks I landed back home from my Orlando trip and before I even went home I bought a GPS system.   I absolutely LOVE it.   I dont use it much in Utah, because of the street system here (dont usually need it), but EVERY time I go somewhere else I bring it and HEAVILY rely on it.   In fact, this week in Nashville I had the thought what would I need more, my wallet (with ID and credit cards) or my GPS?   At that time I figured I needed my GPS more.   I actually found my GPS for about $175 (discontinued floor model).   It is a 4 wide Magellan, and I wonder why it took me so long to make this investment.   This one tool has significantly changed my stress level and my ability to go to diferent places when I travel.   I affectionately named her The Lady. I wonder, what are the tools that we should have for managing our careers, or a job search (two different sets of tools, Id argue)?   Are we trying to do without the tools, instead of paying $50 here or $200 there?   Im not suggesting that you go out right now and stockpile tools and resources, but going without the right tool will hinder your progress.   Just ask a tradesman what their opinion of expensive vs. bargain tools is.   The plumbers and carpenters I know invest in their tools, because that helps them do their jobs better, faster, and with higher quality.   Are you investing in your career tools, or are you skimping to save a buck now? This post is brought to you by Dennison Career Services, reducing stress for job seekers for 19 years. Perhaps you only need a resume written, or you may need help with the search process. Christine Dennison The Job Search Coach offers a wealth of practical advice from her previous experience as a headhunter and as a corporate HR manager, trainer, operations and marketing professional.   Christine Dennison is a JibberJobber Career Expert Partner. Career Tools The Lady For the last 5 years Ive been on the road quite a bit.   Before my trips I get all the necessary documentation ready, printing out itineraries, hotel information, rental car information, and maps and directions. As prepared as I was, I usually would kind of get lost.   Im good with directions, but if there was a road closure, or if I missed an exit, Id get anxious and frustrated. A few months ago when I was in Orlando I had a packed trip.   I was doing a number of presentations from Orlando to Tampa, and had a lot of driving to do.   I thought I was smart by saving the Google maps and directions to my laptop, but when I tried to open the file without an internet connection I couldnt see what I was hoping to see.   Major frustration. It was on that trip that I decided to buy a GPS system.   My first GPS experience was on my Silicon Valley book tour trip, driving around that area with my publisher for a week.   I thought it was wierd that he needed a GPS since he lived there, but I was very impressed with the technology.   I asked him if he wanted me to turn The Lady on when it looked like we needed help finding our next address.   Mitchell remarked its worth it (the $300ish price tag) if it helps you get to one meeting ontime. Fast forward a few weeks I landed back home from my Orlando trip and before I even went home I bought a GPS system.   I absolutely LOVE it.   I dont use it much in Utah, because of the street system here (dont usually need it), but EVERY time I go somewhere else I bring it and HEAVILY rely on it.   In fact, this week in Nashville I had the thought what would I need more, my wallet (with ID and credit cards) or my GPS?   At that time I figured I needed my GPS more.   I actually found my GPS for about $175 (discontinued floor model).   It is a 4 wide Magellan, and I wonder why it took me so long to make this investment.   This one tool has significantly changed my stress level and my ability to go to diferent places when I travel.   I affectionately named her The Lady. I wonder, what are the tools that we should have for managing our careers, or a job search (two different sets of tools, Id argue)?   Are we trying to do without the tools, instead of paying $50 here or $200 there?   Im not suggesting that you go out right now and stockpile tools and resources, but going without the right tool will hinder your progress.   Just ask a tradesman what their opinion of expensive vs. bargain tools is.   The plumbers and carpenters I know invest in their tools, because that helps them do their jobs better, faster, and with higher quality.   Are you investing in your career tools, or are you skimping to save a buck now? This post is brought to you by Dennison Career Services, reducing stress for job seekers for 19 years. Perhaps you only need a resume written, or you may need help with the search process. Christine Dennison The Job Search Coach offers a wealth of practical advice from her previous experience as a headhunter and as a corporate HR manager, trainer, operations and marketing professional.   Christine Dennison is a JibberJobber Career Expert Partner.

Is Your Website Helping You Attract Talent

Is Your Website Helping You Attract Talent Websites have been around as long as emails, and have been declared dead as many times. But they still hang in there and every company still  needs to have one. Nowadays, people will search the net for information before  making most decisions just look at the popularity of review websites like Tripadvisor and Glassdoor! It goes further than though when people want to move jobs, they are certain to browse  a companys presence online to decipher whether theyd like to work there. In addition, an attractive careers page  is often the funnel for  engaged  candidates to express their interest and apply.  How do you design and build an effective website for your organisation? Ive had a chat with Keren Lerner  to get some answers. Have a listen to the interview on iTunes, SoundCloud or keep reading for a summary. With social, mobile and apps why do we still need websites? Well, I guess two reasons. First of all, assuming that your website is well-planned and well-designed, and youve written really great succinct copy, your website is where you can express whats unique about your business. And you can divide up the information in a way that makes sense for how you want other people to experience it. Its where you can have complete control of how you are perceived. When it comes to social media like Twitter and LinkedIn and Facebook, they complement the online presence that you have, but they are not something you can completely control. You cant control the interface. You cant control if theyre going to shut it down one day, and the content thats on those websites is not really owned by you or hosted by you. Its on their servers, so anything could happen. In comparison to social, websites can be seen as very static. How do you drive engagement on a website? If you have well-written headlines, that will be the reason why people will arrive at your website because youve got a blog and youve shared your blog articles with well-written headlines, and then once they are there, they will be able to explore, look around, and see what else you do. The other ways to drive engagement on a website and make it less static is by having compelling messages where you ask thought-provoking questions, you highlight links to pages that answer the biggest questions that people have. And you can always build in the commenting feature that you have on social media sites into websites. Youve probably seen comments on blogs and on some websites. Theres quite a lot of conversation that happens between people after theyve read a particular blog post within a website. And you can host videos as well. Videos give a lot of movement and enticement to websites. What are some of the common mistakes you see that companies make with their sites? One of the biggest mistakes people make Im sure everybody is guilty of this in some respect is just putting it up and forgetting about it, thinking that your work is done once youve launched the website and then not thinking about your website very often.  Another one is thinking that you can do it yourself, make your own website when you dont have any sense of design or attention to detail. You have to be quite honest with yourself on how good you are at that sort of thing. How long does it normally take to build and launch a new website? From the first briefing meeting where we know everything we need to know to get started on the design, its between one and two weeks to start to show initial designs, and then for tweaks on those designs, a couple of days. Once those are decided, inner pages between one or two weeks again, and then the coding part, two to three weeks to coding and content entry. If the client is really efficient, then we can get most average-sized websites 15 to 20 pages with a blog and WordPress launched within about two months. But sometimes delays occur because people need to ask around or they are not sure about something or they need time to write the content. Theyre not sure about outsourcing it to a copywriter. Those are the things that delay projects. So two to three months is average. What is  the structure of a good and effective company website? I  like to always have Home, About, Blog, and Contact as main links. Although you could vary the name of the About page to About Us, About and the company name or Who We Are, that sort of thing. I like to have a Meet the Team page, if there is a team. I think its important to show the people who are in the business because thats one of the things most people are curious about when they visit websites. They click on the Team page, and they want to see the person that they know. And then when it comes to services that the company has, it depends on how many there are, but if you can group them into categories and put them into the main navigation, it gives more of a sense of what the company does rather than just having a generic word Services. So for example, if the company is a consultancy company and they specialise in investment banks, instead of just saying Consultancy, they could say Consultancy for Investment Banks. How can you show the return on investment on a website, and what are the metrics for it? I meet many people who go, Dont look at my website. Its terrible. Dont have a website youre embarrassed by. So thats the first measurement.  I guess the second would be traffic. So you can measure whether theres an increase in traffic to your content, to your website, to your website pages in your blog posts through Google Analytics which is a free tool from Google. And then the next way to measure it is your conversion. So how many people are responding to the calls to action you have on the website? How many people are getting in touch via the contact form on your contact page or going to your most important case study or reading the blog post you want people to read or just picking up the phone and calling you? What are the best website technology platforms? Well, we really do like WordPress. We specialise in WordPress. I suppose if you speak to different coders and developers, theyll all say their favourite is the best one but from our clients point of view, when weve had clients whove come to us with websites that were coded in some bespoke system or on Joomla or Drupal, theyre always complaining about how difficult it is to update. So WordPress is not that way, though theyll be people wholl say, For me its really annoying to update. You have to learn a few skills to do that, but once you learn the ins and outs of it, its not difficult at all. Its very flexible. Follow Keren on Twitter @TopLeftDesign  and be sure to subscribe to the Employer Branding Podcast. Top  image: Shutterstock

3 Ways to Prepare Your Resume for Your Post-Grad Job Search

3 Ways to Prepare Your Resume for Your Post-Grad Job Search Graduation is right around the corner for many college students. You may feel as if the weight will finally be lifted off your shoulders once you’ve completed all of your coursework, but then the job search begins. Unfortunately, although obtaining a bachelor’s degree is certainly commendable, it won’t make you stand out as a job candidate in today’s tough market. In fact, for each open job, you will not only be competing with other recent graduates, but also experienced professionals, older  jobseekers, and career changers. You’ll need more than your education to convince employers you’re the best candidate for the job. Here are some things to start doing now to prepare your resume: 1. Volunteer Not every piece of experience you list on your resume needs to be a full-time, paid position. Volunteer experience, such as working with a student group, holding a leadership position on-campus, or assisting a local non-profit are also valuable to potential employers. It’s likely that you’ve learned new skills during these volunteering positions, and you may have even gotten a chance to put your classroom knowledge to work on occasion. Haven’t volunteered throughout your college career? Now is the time to join a club that interests you or search for volunteer opportunities through your college volunteer center. This shows employers that you were active on-campus during college and can provide pieces of work to display in your professional portfolio. 2. Keep track of accomplishments/awards/honors If you’ve held a job during school, been a leader in a group, or completed volunteer work, you should keep track of accomplishments you’ve had at each position. Employers no longer want to see your job responsibilities (if you were a cashier, we all know that you handled cash and worked with customers). They want to know why you excelled in that position and what skills you learned while working there. Same goes for awards or honors you obtain keep track of these and list them on your resume, space permitting. If you received an award for journalism and you’re hoping be to a writer, it just might be the edge you need to beat out another candidate. Haven’t been keeping track of these things? Start a document listing every position you’ve held in the last several years and think back to what you accomplished at each one. Look through important papers to record awards and honors you’ve received or search your college website for articles that may have listed your name. 3. Learn new skills Since your degree might not be enough to set you apart, you should look into learning outside of your program in order to obtain skills others likely won’t have. For instance, if you’re going to work in public relations, it might be beneficial to know graphic design or learn how to manage social media accounts. Look into free webinars or low-cost classes that you can take to become proficient with these skills and then list them on your resume. Haven’t learned any new skills yet? There are plenty of free webinars every day that can help you learn something new. Search your favorite industry blog to see when they’re holding their next webinar, browse LinkedInevents, or do a Google search to see what comes up. You can also look into local events at a nearby community college or workshops held on-campus. What other job search tips would you provide to soon-to-be graduates?   Kat Krull is the Marketing Manager of Resunate, the world’s only automatic resume tailoring tool. You can find Kat and Resunate on Facebookand Twitter. Related articles

The Gig Economy

The Gig Economy Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'52MYlycQQ6FjMqjyYjYQ6g',sig:'VFBTFfi_5U72dDx-QaJCLKgcvQ1QBPbUa3oAMzn22B8=',w:'502px',h:'342px',items:'508441575',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); I’ve been speaking and writing about gigs for years, so when I heard someone choose “gig” as his word of the year, my ears perked up. This thoughtful essay by linguist Geoff Nunberg on NPR’s Fresh Air  examines how the word “gig” has evolved since its origins in the 20th century. Nunberg describes the “Gig Economy” as “last chapter in the life of a little word that has tracked the rise and fall of the great American job.” Nunberg writes that “Gig goes back more than a century as musicians slang for a date or engagement.”  But it eventually took on the opposite meaning: “But the word didnt have any particular glamour until the 1950s, when the hipsters and the Beats adapted it to mean any job you took to keep body and soul together while your real life was elsewhere.” He goes on to say (referring to Jack Kerouac) “For the hipsters, calling a job a gig was a way of saying it didnt define you. A gig was a commitment you felt free to walk away from as soon as you had 50 dollars in your pocket.” Here’s where Professor Nunberg and I part ways. He feels that calling gigs “gigs” is simply a way to make temporary work sound cool, a luxury for people who can afford to pretend they don’t need a job  to survive. Mr. Nunberg believes that the rise of the gig economy (also called the On Demand Economy and Free Agent Nation) signals the end of jobs as we know them.   He may be right. But I argue that the change has been long overdue.   We’re exchanging the security of employment for the uncertainty of work. It feels less secure (it is) and scary (yes) because it’s based in reality, instead of in a stubborn belief in fairy tales. When I speak about the Gig Economy, I often talk about how musicians get it right. When the gig is over, they don’t spend time agonizing. If they’re good, they already have another gig lined up.   They are constantly focused on the present (doing a good job) and the future (lining up the next job.) In contrast, workers tend to think of their employment as a right, separate and somehow unrelated to issues the owners face, like profitability, changing markets and advancing  technology. When stores close or jobs end, workers are often caught flat-footed; they don’t realize that they’re responsible for their next gig. They often get stuck in the past, grieving for what they had instead of looking forward to whats coming next. Here’s how musicians (and of course other artists) get it right â€" and how workers could re-imagine their careers. Artists know they must be original to stand out. Yes, you can make a decent living covering other people’s songs. There are even people who make a living pretending to be a super star, but no one remembers their name after the show. In order to become a star, you’ll need to do your own writing, and create a style that’s remarkable. If your work isn’t recognizable as yours, an employer can hire anyone (usually at a lower price) to take your place. Artists know they’re only as good as their last gig. Money invested in entertainment is a luxury; we usually give an artist just one chance to connect with us before we move on to another form of entertainment. There’s no phoning in a gig; you must perform  and wow the crowd  or the venue has no choice but to book someone else. Unlike workers, artists’ Artists are always working toward the next gig. They know that they must improve their skills, add new songs to their repertoire, and follow what’s hot and what people are listening to. They’re in charge of marketing themselves (unless they have an agent) and must always be selling themselves to the next venue. They know that they alone are responsible for their job security. I have heard that the great seventies duo Loggins and Messina got their start because they were available to fill in for a band that didn’t show up for a gig. They the house and caught the attention of a promoter who happened to be in the audience. Proving once and for all that there are no small gigs, only small performances. Make sure you rock your next gig in 2016.

Achieving an Effective Employee Advocacy Program - CareerMetis.com

Achieving an Effective Employee Advocacy Program Companies have a variety of tried and true methods forbuilding brand visibilityand value to prospective clients and employees â€" from public relations and advertising to content marketing and other techniques.One of the least understood of these methods is a relatively new approach known as employee advocacy.evalThis strategy relies on an underutilized One of the key takeaways of our study was that firms have various levels of adoption of this strategy.As shown in Figure 2 â€" 3 out of 10 respondents to our survey said their firms were not currently considering employee engagement on social media, while 53% were either piloting such programs or considering them. Meanwhile, 1 in 6 had implemented formal, comprehensive programs.Another key finding of our survey was that employee advocacyworks because of the person-to-person connections it creates. This is critical, because even as our society continues to undergo a major digital transformation, most people still have a natural impulse to seek out and value human contact. What does this mean for businesses?For one thing, it means that clients and prospects tend to put more trust in a face than a corporate logo. As a result, people are looking for businesses and people who not only have the expertise and thought leadership they need, but just as importantly, are entities they can trust.Social media to the rescueevalThe findings of our study make it clear that prospective clients and employees are finding and researching organizations through social media.That’s very good news for marketers, because social media is the perfect medium for companies and their employees to persuasively demonstrate their expertise and corporate culture.Why is it important to be able to demonstrate your firm’s corporate culture? For many firms, the answer comes down to basic survival. Our research results show that finding and keeping good people is the next-to-most important priority for most organizations Nearly ¾ of respondents to our survey said that they had not been given any formal training on how to use social networks to engage professionally. But we also found that more than half of firms that are conducting formal employee advocacyprograms also provide social media training.When we asked respondents what type of training would be most beneficial, they named using social media to create engagement as the most important topic, followed by training on specific social channels, strategies for content marketing, methods for generating and nurturing leads, and ways to motivate employees to become brand advocates on social media.To accomplish such goals, respondents said that explaining to employees the importance of social media provided the biggest incentive to participate.More tips for effective employee advocacyKeep in mind that using social media for employee advocacygoes far beyond merely creating accounts and profile pages on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Let’s look at two of the most popular platforms:LinkedIn â€" By far the most popular social media choice among business professionals, LinkedIn is an ideal platform for demonstrating thought leadership. To do so, the key is to identify and join relevant LinkedIn groups. Have every expert in your organization do this, based on their own particular areas of expertise on topics that are relevant, and with which your firm seeks to be associated. Then, to build credibility, your individual employees should post appropriate content of value to their various LinkedIn groups on a regular basis.Facebook â€" You’re probably quite familiar with the content that dominates the Facebook pages of friends and family, such as animal videos, comical memes, and so on. But Facebook is also an ideal platform on which to demonstrate your organization’s culture and to display its fun, even quirky, aspects. To be clear, your company’s Facebook page is not where you want to get into serious discussions of business issues. Instead, keeping it interesting and lively is the way to quickly gather friends and followers.Keep your eyes on the prizeIn case you’re still on the fence about whether employee advocacycan help, consider one more set of data from our survey. Over 96% of our respondents said they were reaping benefits from employees’ engagement on social media.evalAs shown in Figure 4, increased visibility and brand recognition were at the top of the list, followed by other measurable benefits such as increased web traffic, better rankings on search engines, more content downloads and reduced marketing costs.Perhaps even more important is the potential for attracting new business and faster growth. Our study found that high-growth firms (organizations with revenue growth greater than 20%) were more than two times as likely as other firms to have employee advocacyprograms.High-growth firms are also more likely to say that their employee advocacy efforts are helping to shorten sales cycles (27.1%). In addition, 6 4% of high-growth firms credited their employee advocacyprograms with attracting and developing new business, and nearly 45% said their programs had helped create new revenue streams.Some final thoughtsIf there’s one key to success in employee advocacy, it’s having a content strategy and sticking to it.Maintain a balance of promotional content (posts about new positions, events attended, or key partnerships and/or awards) along with thought-leadership pieces (educational, informative blogs for example).Share links to other companies’ relevant posts, and they will very likely return the favor by promoting yours. Try to encourage your employee experts to maintain a consistent, steady stream of high-value content.Creating an employee advocacyprogram is not quick or easy … but the benefits to your firm and your employees make it well worth the effort. Best of luck on the journey!

Are You Really Prepared for Job Search

Are You Really Prepared for Job Search How prepared are you for job search? Do you have the skills, confidence and network to help you to hit the ground running? 76% of job seekers admit they dont have the necessary skills for job search Lee Hecht Harrison, a  talent mobility consulting firm, conducted an online survey of 645 U.S. job seekers which asked, “In preparing for your job search, what area is in need of most improvement?” Results of Lee Hecht Harrison 2013 online survey of 645 job seekers. What exactly do these numbers mean? What I think this points out is that the majority of people are not proactively managing their longer-term careers. This points out that perhaps they have been caught flat-footed- or at least out of date with many of the techniques necessary in todays job search. It has been my observation working with job seekers that the majority are uncomfortable and avoid networking at all costs. Additionally, while some have a LinkedIn account, most just use it to search for jobs. Therefore, my  interpretation of these data is that the job seekers surveyed are underestimating the importance of networking and social media as indicated by the low percent who think their skills are ok in this area. The Move To Social Recruiting Jobvite, developers of a recruiting platform, reported that over  90% of companies use or plan to use social media to recruit. What this means for job seekers (active or passive) is that you must have a professional social media presence if you want to be ready for job search. What does this mean? And DO NOT overlook Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and other social networks. Armed and Ready for Your Job Search You will want to hit the ground running as you embark on your job search! You really dont want to waste time trying to figure stuff out! Start today- no matter what your employment status. Dont underestimate social media. According to the LHH study, only 7% of the respondents thought they needed help with their social media skills, while 33% percent believed their resume needed help. According to Peter Alcide, the firms president and chief operating officer, Many of us lack the self-awareness to understand which skills we need to improve and how to improve those skills. Dont discount the importance of a professional, on-brand social media presence. Begin increasing your familiarity with LinkedIn first. Take advantage of its portfolio-like features and group discussions, and maximize the keywords in your title, summary and experience sections. LinkedIn is the go-to hub for recruiters and hiring managers, however, they are searching for information online too. Establish an active presence on LinkedIn- Read Is Your LinkedIn Profile Awesome?   Learn how to improve your profile- Read Make Your LinkedIn Profile Media Rich Engage on LinkedIn, dont just lurk- Read Joining Groups Can Expand Your Network  and LinkedIn Features You Dont Want to Overlook Take control of the information you provide online and build a strong professional presence to ensure the best information is discovered first. Social media isnt just about what you had for breakfast, it is strategic marketing and relationship building rolled into one. Proactive Prospecting If you were launching a new product in the market, you would have a detailed plan outlining how you would introduce it to potential customers. Heres the scoop: You are that new product, so ask yourself: Who are my potential customers and how will I make them aware of my services? In other words, who are the companies that need you to solve their problems? When you identify companies that need your skills, it enables you to proactively market yourself to hiring managers and inside connections instead of waiting for a job to become posted. Initiating outreach efforts before a job is publicly announced also gives you greater exposure because you arent competing with hundreds of applicants for the hiring managers attention. Read How to find Target Companies for Your Job Search Time Management and Expectations Setting a realistic time frame for landing your next job helps prevent frustration and sets the pace. Employers are taking longer to fill vacant jobs, some even claim they are having difficulty finding the right talent. Theres an old rule of thumb that suggests it takes one month for every $10,000 you made to find your next job. If you made $60,000, a conservative estimate is that it would take approximately six months to secure a new job. This should help you budget and plan for the long haul ahead. Treating your job search like a full-time job requires more than just going through the motions of filling out online applications and submitting resumes. It means using a calendar to schedule your activity every day. It also means creating a project timeline and developing a system to ensure important follow-up actions dont slip through the cracks. You are building a new routine and habits that require you to stick with this often uncomfortable new system for at least 30 days. Read: 7 Tips for Using Your Job Search Time Wisely Dont Fly Solo If you think you can search for a job alone, the answer is, you cant. Job seekers struggle in their job search because they lack the guidance and support needed to be effective. Because your job search is likely to take longer than you want, youre going to need a wingman or two for ideas, advice and the occasional pep-talk. Joining a job club or enlisting the help of a coach can make all the difference to your securing a job quickly. Read: Job Search Is Social Networking: The Number 1 Skill To Master Networking is not sending an email blast to all your contacts informing them of your quest for a new job. Only 11% of the respondents to the survey admitted they needed more help in this area. Could this be because networking is one of the most misunderstood concepts? Maybe its because more than one-third of the U.S. population is made up of networking-adverse introverts. Networking isnt a one-time transaction â€" effective networking has to begin before you need a new job. It is establishing trusting, long-lasting relationships and this happens when you exchange mutually beneficial information. The take-away here is dont overestimate your networking prowess. Read:  Networking Is a Waste of Time Or Is It? Job Search Isnt Rocket Science You dont need an advanced degree in a job search, but you do need to understand proactive techniques and understand what is expected by recruiters and hiring managers today. You will need to put forth more effort than ever before. It would be wise to conduct a quick self-assessment of your job search preparedness and be sure to measure your strengths in time and project management, proactive marketing and learning more about social media. Luckily, there is no shortage of information online. Read:  Is It Time For You Job Search Check-Up? Portions of this post originally appeared on US News Report On Careers

Resume Writing - How to Present Yourself As Relevant Experience and Education

Resume Writing - How to Present Yourself As Relevant Experience and EducationResume writing for employment purposes is all about showing relevant experience and education that will help the employer to evaluate you as a better candidate. In this article, I'm going to discuss some easy and effective resume writing that can help you show your relevant experience and education.Make sure you list everything relevant to the different company's job responsibilities in your resume. This includes references, resumes, academic degrees, volunteer work, and certifications. All of these should be included in your resume.Examples are usually included in resumes. These examples can be your publications or public speaking engagements. Simply state the most recent example that you are familiar with and that your employer would want to see. Be careful not to include examples that may not be suitable for the position you are applying for.List all of your specific skills and abilities in your resume. W hile an employer wants to know what you can do for them, they don't want to hear how skilled you are at doing certain things. Your specific ability must be stated directly on your resume.For information about your education, lists your educational achievements such as honors, certificates, and degrees. Include any work experience that you may have in your educational background. Experience should be listed first, then skills, and then education.Experience and education should not be listed together. This is common sense. Putting both experiences and education on one resume will confuse the reader, and show your employer that you are not educated or experienced enough to do the job.When writing a resume, it is crucial to ensure that you present yourself as a knowledgeable and relevant experience and education. It is important to focus on your experiences and not necessarily onthe skills you have.In summary, always remember to do your research before beginning to write your resume. By doing so, you will find that you will have a higher chance of landing the job you're looking for.