LinkedIn and Personal Branding What the Experts Say

LinkedIn and Personal Branding What the Experts Say We’ve all had the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” repeated to us constantly while we were growing up. But as much as we hate to admit it, we all make judgments about people we don’t know. They aren’t necessarily negative, but we still assume things based on a person’s appearance and demeanor. As a professional striving to  grow a business, the last thing you want is for people to make a mistaken assumption about who you are. LinkedIn is the one platform where your posts are meant for people to gather information about you professionally, such as what makes you the kind of person they would want to do business with. Perfecting your personal brand on LinkedIn can be simple, as long as you devote a few minutes to it from time to time. Below you will find highlights from expert articles about how to enhance your profile for business, how to make your profile best reflect your image and how to make your profile SEO-friendly. Many thanks to Fiore Communications for putting this infographic together based on the following articles: How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for Job Search How to Create a Brilliant Personal Brand on LinkedIn How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Professional Headline SEO-Friendly

What to Consider When Writing Your Resume

What to Consider When Writing Your ResumeDo you know the difference between writing your resume on word documents and using the word processing software on the computer? Do you know what the difference is? Of course, if you are not familiar with how a resume is written, you might consider learning how to do it the right way.When applying for a new job, resume writing is usually the first thing a prospective employer will check when checking resumes. You should take advantage of this opportunity. If you are unsure about what your resume will look like, look at someone else's resume. You can then see what things need to be addressed and make sure they are.A resume is your opening statement. You want to make sure that it contains the information that is most important to the employer in order to get the job you want. The problem is that you can't always tell what kind of resume to write; it really depends on the circumstances.How to Write a Resume That Will Stand Out As a Candidate For the Job You Want Most? Are you employed in an entry-level position that has been waiting for someone to fill the position for a while? The problem can be alleviated by addressing some of the issues that a professional candidate would address when he or she was still in school or college. Your resume needs to catch the employer's eye before they actually take the time to go online and search for the position.You also need to be careful not to miss any of the information on your resume, however, because if you do, you will show up as a candidate that is not qualified for the position. The most important part of your resume, if you are going to be a candidate for a position, is your contact information. This is the only part of your resume that will be checked when they are going through the search engines.Your contact information is the entire information required to contact the potential employer once you have been hired. By including your cell phone number, you can give your potenti al employer proof that you are available for an interview at a moment's notice. It is also a good idea to include the area code, too. You can make sure that you are sending a complete contact list and also give yourself enough time to get a hold of the boss before an interview.You must also realize that your resume is a reflection of you and your skills and talents as a job candidate. By making sure that your resume will not only impress the employer, but that it will stand out and be an asset to them as well, you will have less stress on how to write a resume on word documents. If your resume will be seen, by using the proper type of resume, there is a greater chance that it will bring in the appropriate amount of interviews.Using the correct font, heading, and color, you will be able to present the right type of resume. In fact, your resume needs to be one of the first things that is examined when potential employers are searching through the job search options available. It can m ake or break the entire search.

The Power of Expectation Management - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Power of Expectation Management - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career My wife and I arrived at a very popular resort restaurant without a reservation last summer while on vacation. Our names were put on a list, we were given a pager and told the wait would be about 15-20 minutes. With time to kill, my wife and I decided to visit the restrooms. On my way out of the restroom after only 10-12 minutes of waiting, my pocket began to vibrate. Our table was ready. I never had an experience like that. I began to immediately feel betrayed and misled, wondering if this restaurant had sandbagged the process to set themselves up for success. Typically, in my experience restaurant waiting is second only in frustration to waiting rooms in doctor’s offices and motor vehicle departments. During our lunch I questioned my wife if she thought the restaurant had purposely set the expectation for a longer wait so that we would be pleasantly pleased when our pager went off sooner than expected. So, what? I figured it’s not a bad way to operate, if you are consistently exceeding people’s expectations, is it? Even better if you are consciously running your business to always exceed expectations. Managing expectations is the key to many things in life, especially our own personal happiness. Most upsets, conflicts, mis-understandings come from unmet expectations. For that reason it’s best to manage expectations as directly as possible. The only way to do so is on the front end of the situation. One of the biggest causes of disappointment in the workplace is around unmet performance expectations. This is mainly because expectations are not managed at the outset of the employer-employee relationship, or at the beginning of an employee’s performance period. If expectations are clearly articulated and agreed upon at the outset, it’s easier to measure progress and discuss the actual observable performance that occurred without upset or hurt feelings. Another example of managing expectations is around change management. People resist change because of the false expectation and desire that change not occur. Yet, if one expects change to be the norm, it ceases to be an issue and the change can be managed more effectively with less stress. If the expectation is that change isn’t the norm and shouldn’t be expected, resistance arises. I’ve found it extremely useful in business and personal life to be proactive and manage my expectations in a way that always sets me up for a positive emotional experience. I recommend you do the same.

Breaking the perfection habit

Breaking the perfection habit Im not a perfectionist. In fact, when I painted my walls I didnt paint near the windows because I didnt want to do the detail work. When I accidentally address an envelope upside down, I dont get a new envelope. You know what? Doing those things hasnt made my life any worse. It hasnt made me unhappy, and its freed me up to do other things besides worry about if what I do is perfect. I have a good eye for how well something has to be done in order to accomplish what I need to accomplish, and its one of my favorite traits about myself. The good that comes from a lack of perfection is that I can set a lot of goals for myself because I get them done. Here are the reasons I cant stand perfectionists: Perfectionists procrastinate because theyre scared of not being perfect. Perfectionists are hypercritical to the point that they cant support people around them. Perfectionists cant finish a project because they can always think of a way to improve it. Perfectionists are phony, because no ones perfect and they cant handle showing that in themselves. Here are four things to think about if youre letting perfectionism dictate your life: 1. You get more done if you dont sweat the details. My disdain for details started when I looked around at all the people who are disappointed with their lives. For the most part, these are people who wish theyd done something that they didnt do for fear of failure. In the worst cases, these people have whole lists of such things. Then I saw a bumper sticker that read, What would you do if failure were not an option? When I went through my own list of what I would do, I decided that if I stopped worrying about failure Id be able to do a lot more. So I started focusing on just getting stuff done instead of getting it done perfectly. Details fell by the wayside. I also noticed that once I stopped worrying about doing something perfectly, I didnt have nearly as much reason for procrastination. Its easy to start something if you tell yourself that getting it done 70 percent perfect (as opposed to 100 percent) is OK. Believe it or not, in most cases 70 percent perfect is fine for what we do. The trick is to balance fearlessness with attention to detail and understand when you need to concentrate on each. 2. You do better work if you arent worried about perfection. Heres a story I heard from Alexander Kjerulf, who was talking about David Bayless book Art Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking: A ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of the work they produced. All those on the right would be graded solely on their works quality. His procedure was simple: On the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the quantity group; 50 pound of pots rated an A, 40 pounds a B, and so on. Those being graded on quality, however, needed to produce only one pot albeit a perfect one to get an A. At grading time, the works with the highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the quantity group was busily churning out piles of work and learning from their mistakes the quality group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of clay. Think about this in your own life, even if youre not using clay. The more you practice, the better youll get. But you cant practice if you think only of perfection. Practice is about making mistakes; perfection comes from imperfection. 3. Working the longest hours doesnt mean youre doing the best work. Usually, the hardest worker in an office is a perfectionist. This begs a few questions: Why does this person need to work harder than everyone else? Is she slow? Is she stupid? Is she avoiding her home life? The people working the hardest are usually stuck on getting all the details perfect, but theyve lost sight of one of the most important things which is that you look desperate if you work more hours than everyone else. The person working the hardest looks incompetent, either at managing their workload or at managing their family life. Of course, you dont want to work the least number of hours, either. But you want to fall somewhere in between. People who work very long hours are inefficient and sometimes get so little sleep that theyre performing at the level of a drunkard at work. So cut back your hours, and even if you do things with less attention to detail in order to get them done faster, they might actually get done better because you have a better handle on the time in your life. 4. Stop procrastination by stopping perfectionism. One of the biggest productivity problems is procrastination. And one of the biggest contributors to procrastination is the feeling that we need to do something perfectly. The key to ending procrastination in your life is to be honest about what youre really doing with your time and energy. Look closely at why youve made the bar so high that you cant even start. Procrastination can only flourish in a situation where perfection is so clearly demanded and so intrinsically impossible that inaction seems preferable to action. So be honest with yourself about why being perfect is so important to you. Perfectionism doesnt make people happy, and often makes them nutcases. And remember those clay pots they represent all the creativity and excitement you could unleash if youd let the attention to detail slip a little.

The Volunteer Work Resume - How to Help Employers See What You Can Do

The Volunteer Work Resume - How to Help Employers See What You Can DoThe Volunteer Work Resume should be a simple one-page document that helps you to showcase your best skills. They are also a great way to help other employers see what you can do.Many people enjoy volunteering and many others want to volunteer but have no idea where to go for their next job. A good job for someone who wants to volunteer is in the fast food industry. You will work directly with customers and get to see how the staff treats them. It is a great way to get to know the customers and understand what they want.One of the most important skills that you will need for a job like this is excellent customer service. You need to listen carefully to what customers are saying. These customers may have had a bad experience at a business somewhere else, so it is important that you take their comments seriously. It is important that you give them as much information as possible. You will need to be able to find out ex actly what they ordered, how much it was, and how long it took.When you work in this industry you will also be doing some research and proper training. This will help you to know the different customers, how to handle them, and make sure that they are happy. You will need to be knowledgeable about this industry so that you can find out what needs to be changed and fixed. You should be well versed in customer service and any other vital aspects of the industry.You will also be making some meals and in some cases cleaning the restaurant. This is important because many people like to come to a place for a meal and then to relax afterwards. You will also have to be on hand to clean up after meals. It is a very important skill to have. You will not want to waste food and have them throw it away and buy more just to make sure that it gets cleaned up.Once you have your job experience and you have a good understanding of what you are doing you will be asked to go beyond. You will be asked t o start working as a manager or coordinator. This can be a great opportunity to learn more about customer service and what goes into serving the public.Once you have had some experience in the industry you will be able to take on a new boss. The people that work for these managers can be hired for various positions depending on the company. You can make an individual sales order for your boss and that would be your first real job. As you advance you can advance up the ladder and get promoted.The Volunteer Work Resume is the best way to help other people find the right work. It should be easy to read and allow the employer to easily assess your skills. This is an important document that will help you to get the job you really want and also to make yourself an asset to the company.

What are Employment Tests [and How do They Work] CareerMetis.com

What are Employment Tests [and How do They Work] Employment tests, talent assessments, pre-employment testing… the tests used to find new employees go by many names. However, they all describe the same thing â€" a selection of tests designed to help employers find the right people for each available job role. They come in many guises and can all reduce would-be interviewees to a bag of nerves.What many job applicants don’t realize is that skills testing can be just as beneficial to them as to an employer. But how? We explain this here in 3 simple steps on how Employment Tests are essential in the hiring process.1) They put time on your sideevalevalThere is usually limited information contained within a job advert so how do you know if the position is for you? As we spend a third of our lives at work What’s more, if you are unsuccessful due to mark from the test it allows you to consider whether you need to look at ways to help improve that skill.3) They give you a head start Skills testing usually takes place before an interv iew. Therefore, if you get through the tests you are required to take, you know you have the skills the employer is looking for. This should give you confidence when you’re called for an interview.Chances are, you have already surpassed many others who have applied for the same position as you.evalBefore you attend the interview, think about the tests you completed: Which areas were focused on? Which responses did you give? What did the employer seem to be looking for in those tests? Knowing you must undertake such tests is often daunting. Interviews are anxiety-inducing at the best of times. If you know you will be faced with pre-employment tests as well, you would be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed.However, there are some tips you can follow that will help you perform to your best ability. Read on to find out more.a) Do your researchMost employers will give some indication of what you will be required to do ahead of time. Check your email, letter or invitation to find out as mu ch as you can. You could also ask for further information â€" this shows a keen approach and one that demonstrates your willingness to prepare for what lies ahead.Most people will not prepare, so by doing some work ahead of time like this, you may already be increasing the odds in your favour.b) Be honestYou are probably used to taking exams or tests that require a specific answer to be given for each question. Thus, there are right and wrong answers you could give that will affect your final score.That is sometimes not the case with employment tests. In some instances, the tests are designed to help find out more about you as a person. Don’t try to cheat the test or to give the answers you think they might be looking for.evalThe best approach is to be honest about your answers. Give the information you think is correct and relates to the way you would deal with a situation. For instance, you might be asked to choose a course of action from several given, following a description o f a scenario you might encounter at work.The employer may be happy for one of two answers to be given. However, your performance in the test will likely be down to how you perform over the entire test, rather than by giving one or two ‘wrong’ answers.c) Relax and stay calmTest anxietyis something many people will be familiar with. You want to perform well, so you focus on preparing as much as you can. Your mind focuses on nothing else.Unfortunately, this can make you feel more anxious. In turn, you are less likely to sleep, which makes anxiety worse. Make sure you prepare by practising deep and controlled breathing from your belly, something you can adopt during the tests themselves if you need to.evalMake sure you practice these techniques well ahead of the testing process. By remaining calm, you will find it easier to focus and to perform to the best level you can.d) Head onlineOnce you know which tests you will be asked to complete, you can search online for examples of these tests. You won’t find a perfect match, but it will enable you to get an idea of what you should expect. This alone can reduce pre-test anxiety.f) Take your timeYou will be told how much time you have available to complete your test before you begin. This applies to group testing, online testing, and in-person testing. If you encounter a question you are uncertain of and you can go back to it later, do so.If not, give the best answer you can and move on. If you take too long answering a question you are unsure of, you could miss giving answers to easier questions later.g) Read all information carefullyThis applies to tests taken on paper and online. Many people are so keen to get the testing over with, they rush through it without properly reading the instructions on how to complete the test. Make sure you don’t make this crucial mistake.No one enjoys any kind of tests, regardless of whether they are connected to employment or not. However, employment tests are designed to help find the best people to fill employee positions. If you fail, it may well be the role would not have fitted you to begin with.As such, a failure to pass might indicate a rethink of your employment position and aspirations. Conversely, if you pass the testing process and you are offered the job, you could be stepping into a role and a company you will be part of for many rewarding years. This demonstrates the power and advantages of employment testing â€" for both the employer and the employee.

College Grad Job Search - References - CareerAlley

College Grad Job Search - References - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Graduation may be just around the corner. Or maybe youve already graduated and are looking for a job. Whatever the reason, you should be prepared to have everything you need for yourjob search. Job search for recent college grads is a bit more challenging than those who have several years of experience. Any help you can get that puts your application to the top of the pile certainly helps. This post focuses on Referencesand Thank You letters, both of which are key components of any job search. source References Most, if not all hiring managers will ask for references during the hiring process. Your references should be pre-screened. This means that your references are on board with providing positive references. The worst thing you can do is to give a reference without speaking with them first (or knowing what they will say about you). Any advice you can get during your job search that puts your application to the top of the pile certainly helps. Tweet This What you need to understand about references: Most, if not all, employers ask for and check references. Ensure youve asked your references if it is okay to use them as references. Do you know if they will say positive things about you? This is obviously key. Ensure your references know when youve given out their names as well as the detail on the company and position. Your references should preferably be former managers/supervisors or other individuals who are familiar with the work you do. Keep a list of references (5 or more would be ideal). While a company generally asks for two or three references, you may want to pick and choose based on the opportunity. Have all of the details on your references handy. This includes title, the company where they work, their phone number as well as an email address. Job search by divine intervention generally doesnt work and, at the end of the day, its all about getting things done. You can be an expert on a topic or have the best resume and experience in the world but if you dont execute it doesnt really matter. College Grad Job Search Are You Prepared? Suggested Reading Job Search: Job Search: The Total System The 2-Hour Job Search: Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster Thank You Letters You may think that thank you notes are old school, but they are not. While a generic thank you note is a waste of time, a targeted thank you note can make all of the difference in you getting to the next round in your interview process. What, exactly, is a targeted thank you note? A targeted thank you note is a note that lets the interviewer(s) know that you listened during the interview (by repeating some of what you discussed) and its your opportunity to remind the interviewer why you are the best person for the job. Why you should send a thank you note Demonstration that you have social skills. Its the opportunity to showcase a skillset (writing) that is important for most jobs. It provides an opportunity for you to express your interest in the position It allows you to show appreciation for being considered. You can use your Thank You note as an opportunity to add something you may have forgotten to say or ask. Following up with the hiring manager keeps your name current. Its important that you remind the hiring manager that you are interested in the job. Photo by Nathaniel Shuman on Unsplash Thank You Letter Examples: Free Sample Job Interview and Career Thank-You Letters This article provides a list of sample thank you letters. The list includes General letters, letters that stress fit, letters that focus on damage control (yes, there are letters for almost every occasion), job fair interviews and more. Job interview thank you letter examples This article is from monster.com and shows an example of a thank you letter format. source Suggested Reading Thank You Letters: 5 Ways to Ensure Your Thank You Letter is Noticed Protecting Your Identity and Privacy While Job Hunting What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to land your first job. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search

How to Get a Job When No One Is Hiring

How to Get a Job When No One Is Hiring The most popular misconception when the economy is less than outstanding is that no one is hiring. Its actually almost never true that no one is hiring. What is true is that companies tend to streamline when times are tough and while they may not officially be hiring, there is always room for someone with a proven track record. Most job seekers are fully aware that its easier to get another job when you already have one and that is never more true than when the economy is down. The problem is that when you suddenly find yourself without a job it can be tough to both deal with the emotional shock and hit the ground running to find another job as quickly as possible. There is where your previous networking skills as well as an updated resume come into play. You can immediately start looking and contacting people letting them know that you are looking for a job change (think: networking LinkedIn). Its also important to remember that you have a proven record of success and you have been in the business world for a number of years. This immediately places you ahead of many candidates that are recent graduates with no real-world experience. Unfortunately, many young people today do not have the appropriate business skills, and as a result many hiring managers are reluctant to interview them. They have a large pool of seasoned applicants to choose from so they opt for experience. This works in your favor if you have practical experience. The best way to get a job when no one is hiring is to remember that there is always room for someone who is energetic, driven and has a resume that shows them to be an asset to their employer.