10 Cognitive Distortions to Strictly Avoid in Your Job Search

Here are ten cognitive distortions – habitual negative or “twisted” thinking habits that can plague our job search, career development and professional relationships.

I’ve modified these from author and cognitive behavioral training expert David Burn’s book, “Feeling Good.” It’s important to be aware of these, and to realize if you get trapped in one of them as you continue your job search. So as I describe each of the ten cognitive distortions, I also provide specific examples of how they can negatively impact your job search. It’s even more important to learn how to break free of them. So I also explain how to get yourself back on track and stay motivated toward both your job search and longer-term career goals.

Ten Cognitive Distortions – #1 – All-or-Nothing Thinking

The first of our ten cognitive distortions is all-or-nothing thinking. When we mistakenly adopt all-or-nothing thinking, we look at things in absolute, black or white categories. For instance, if we don’t find a job right away or within a certain arbitrary period of time we feel like complete failures. A middle manager who’s been out of work for a few months and “down on her luck” might think often to herself, “Either I find a job that pays $50,000 or my whole job search is a waste of time!”

A friend or family member who learns about this would be able to see that she’s putting way too much pressure on herself. Perhaps it’s due to impatience or severe financial stress but either way, it’s creating a “mental trap” within her job search. The solution is for her to realize that job searching takes time – often more time than we hope or expect. In fact, it can take up to 6 months or more to find well-suited professional positions such as middle management, and that’s if we’re doing everything right and treating the job search like a full-time job.

No job search is a waste of time, and there’s no shame in taking a job that pays less than we’re used to for a while if that’s what it takes to make ends meet – so long as we continue our job search and stay motivated until we ultimately succeed in finding a better job within our chosen career. I’ve worked many “transitional jobs” over the years and it’s not unusual for people of all occupations and walks of life to have to do this from time to time – quite often at least once in their long career.

Ten Cognitive Distortions – #2 – Overgeneralization

The 2nd or our ten cognitive distortions is overgeneralization. When we over-generalize, we view a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of failure. An example is, “I performed poorly in my last job interview. I’ll never find a suitable job!”

Of course, this isn’t true. There are so many reasons why we might perform poorly in an interview on any particular day with any particular employer. Just because it’s happened once doesn’t mean that it will happen the same way the second and third times. Some factors are outside our control, like the mood and “energy” of the interviewers, our physical and emotional health on that particular day – even the weather and how that sometimes affects all of us.

However, many more factors are within our control – the greatest being our ability and willingness to review and learn from what happened in the interview so that we can improve our performance and come back stronger when our next opportunity comes along.

Job interviewing skills are not innate. They require practice, and if we haven’t attended a job interview for a while then the first one is likely to be a little rusty or unpolished. We may feel like “a fish out of water.” But with practice, we get better. The more we prepare and practice in advance, the better the end result for our job search.

Ten Cognitive Distortions – #3 – Mental Filter

The third or our ten cognitive distortions is the mental filter. When we use a “mental filter,” we tend to dwell on one negative detail, so that our vision of the entire situation becomes dark and cloudy like the drop of ink that discolours the entire beaker of water.

Interviews are also a good example of this type of twisted thinking. We might come out of an interview dwelling on one or two things that we did wrong, but fail to remember and give ourselves credit for all the other things that we did right! Many times in my career, a client has predicted that they failed an interview because he couldn’t answer one or two questions well – only to find out a few days later that the employer decided that he was the best candidate and offered him the job. It’s important to remember that we don’t have to be letter-perfect in the interview. No interview is perfect in that sense – it’s always a little uncomfortable, a little awkward at the best of times.

When I’m coaching clients on their interview skills, I always start by asking them what they did well in their last interview. And I continue asking them about these strengths until they run out of compliments for themselves. I do this to help them change their “mental filter” about their interview skills and performance.

Ten Cognitive Distortions – #4 – Discounting the Positive

When we discount the positive, we insist that our positive qualities or accomplishments don’t count. But we can’t afford to do this in our job search. Job searching is different from daily life because it requires that we speak highly of ourselves in a consistent, balanced and gently assertive way. Because many of us aren’t used to doing this, we can struggle with accepting compliments and remembering what our strongest skills, most helpful knowledge and greatest career accomplishments are. With more job search practice and experience, we can learn to make this important adjustment to accepting, celebrating and accurately describing our many strengths.

Ten Cognitive Distortions – #5 – Jumping to Conclusions

There are two common ways that we can jump to conclusions during our job search: Mind reading and “fortune telling.”

Mind Reading

When we engage in mind reading, we assume that people are reacting negatively to us even though there’s no definite evidence to support this thought. This can easily happen during many stages of your job search, especially in interviews and during networking events such as nerve-wracking job fairs.:-)

Or perhaps you don’t hear back right away after sending your resume and cover letter, or after completing your interview and you automatically assume the worst. My best personal examples of this come from when I attended panel interviews. I’ve attended three panel interviews over the years, and in two of them I found it tough not to engage in “mind reading” because all of the interviewers refused to be friendly or even to crack a smile.

In one of these panel interviews I answered questions in front of more than 20 people! In the other one, I was interviewed by a group of co-workers who I’d been working with for the better part of a year. In retrospect I knew that the interviewers’ seeming coldness was really just their way of trying to remain objective and fair to all candidates, but at the time I felt isolated and a little intimidated by their responses.

Fortune Telling”

When we engage in fortune telling, we arbitrarily predict that things either can’t change or will turn out badly.

This is common even before we start our job search. Perhaps this kind of negative thinking prevents us from even starting to look for new work, keeping us trapped in a job that is actually below our level of ability or expertise. Uggh! The whole job search process takes on a negative tone, and we detest it.

Again, I think that a large part of the answer is to increase confidence through building stronger job search skills. How to write a better cover letter, resume and thank you letter. How to build and maintain a strong reference list. How to ace a job interview. Rather than “fortune telling,” we can get on with our job searches and careers by developing job search skill expertise.

Read 6 - 10

Did you use one of these 10 most overused buzzwords in your LinkedIn profile this year?

Wonder what really makes people cringe when they look at your LinkedIn Profile? It’s those clichéd words and phrases. You know what they are — those ambiguous ones that really don’t tell you anything.

As we head into 2011 our Analytics Team decided to take a crack at finding the most clichéd and overused phrases for the past year using over 85 million LinkedIn profiles. Here are our 2010 top 10 buzzwords used in the USA.

Top 10 overused buzzwords in LinkedIn Profiles in the USA – 2010

1. Extensive experience
2. Innovative
3. Motivated
4. Results-oriented
5. Dynamic
6. Proven track record
7. Team player
8. Fast-paced
9. Problem solver
10. Entrepreneurial

Given the broad reach of LinkedIn across the world we went a step further and took a look at how overused terms are reflected around the world. While members from the USA, Canada and Australia tend to emphasize their “extensive experience”, Brazilians, Indians and Spaniards identify themselves as “dynamic” professionals. Members in the UK call themselves more “motivated” and the French, the Germans, the Italians and the Dutch see themselves as “innovative”.

Here’s a chart we put together that shows you the #1 most overused LinkedIn profile buzzword in each of those countries.

34 New Social Media Resources You May Have Missed

Mashable’s back with another round up of new social media tools and resources from the past week or so. With all the holiday madness, we understand if you somehow missed one or two of these great posts, so read on for the full list.

Our Social Media section dives into the top viral video ads of 2010, an early screening review of TRON: Legacy, and stats on what the world Googled this past year. Tech & Mobile highlights 10 Chrome (Chrome) web apps worth checking out, tips for backing up your Tumblr (Tumblr) blog, and how Operation Payback executes its DDoS attacks. Business rounds out the list with lessons businesses can learn from entrepreneurs, how social media is changing television, and — most importantly — how to keep your business running through the holidays.

Get All 34 Resources @ Mashable

Help! I’m boring. What would I tweet about?

By jamessnider

I lead social media labs for job seekers in the Dallas – Fort Worth area. After we have spruced up their LinkedIn profile, we frequently move on to Twitter as the next social media platform of interest. I often hear the same objection, “My life is boring….my job is boring…I am boring….what would I possibly have to tweet about?”

Let me introduce myself to you, “Hi. I’m James Snider, semiconductor marketer.” You know, I can not remember the last time I saw an action movie where the main character was a semiconductor marketer. It is just not that interesting.

So what am I going to tweet about? I could talk about the cost of through-hole vias or applications where gallium arsenide makes sense. I would probably put together a network of about 5 super geeky followers. However, it is not the super geeks who are going to hire a marketer. It is upper management I am after.

I am going to tweet about where semiconductor production is ramping up. Hint, think “southeast asia” as in “Viet Nam.” How did I find this information? I went to a Happy Hour with a bunch of my former bosses (and boss’s bosses). They are all VPs, CEOs, angel investors and the like. I just asked the question and then tweeted what they told me.

Which semiconductor companies are starting to make money or held their own during the terrible 2010 market? I stumbled across a great list on the Yahoo! financial web site. I was checking to see if my shares of Google were making any money (getting closer…maybe in 2011) and read an article about what stocks are set to pop…and why. I tweeted it.

Which semiconductor companies are starting to hire aggressively? I read it on Twitter. Retweets are fair.

What sorts of people are interested in this sort information? CEOs, CMOs, VPs Marketing, Directors….all the sorts of people whose attention I would like to attract. By making myself a source of good information…the sort of information people in my segment would like to know about, I build a good reputation and make myself a “person of interest” to people who might like to hire me.

James Snider
Global Business Development and Social Media Marketing
jsnider1394@gmail.com
817-905-1394
Anyone can give you social media. I make sure it’s marketing.

Original Post

2 Tips to Being More Referable

In spite of all the advice out there on how to network, I’m still seeing lots of people failing at two basic, yet vital elements to networking success.

The goal of networking is to get people to refer you. So, the big question is: Are YOU referable?

The way to increase the chances of getting referred is to do the following:

TIP #1 – Make it Easy

Your network members are busy. And quite frankly, getting you a job is not top on their list. So, if you want people to help you, you must make it simple for them to take action. It’s your job to research their LinkedIn connections to see if they know someone at the company you want to land an interview with. It’s also your job to create a short list of ideal employers that you can circulate so they can get a clear sense of what kind of organization you want to work for.

Watch this video to learn more PLUS tip #2

Three Ways to Connect with Online Influencers

By Entrepreneur Staff at Entrepreneur.com


Over the past five years, connecting on social networking sites has rocketed from a niche activity into a phenomenon that engages millions of internet users. In fact, “member communities” are now visited by more than two-thirds (67 percent) of the global online population, including social networks and blogs, according to The Nielsen Company, a global research firm.

In today's networking space, you need to be efficient with your time and even more effective with whom you choose to connect with. There are two types of networkers online: the posters and the seekers. Your business is a poster, which means you actively post valuable information, resources, tips and offers. The seekers are your customers. They're actively seeking your products and/or services. You'll find seekers in discussion areas, forums, groups and engaging on fan pages.

Connecting with these seekers is a vital element to your small business's overall marketing plan. Here are three ways to connect with them.

Finding the 'High-Level Networker'
The top three social sites to first consider are LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Xing, a business networking for professionals, is another. These sites are massive online communities filled with potential high-level networkers. To get started, set up your profile and navigate to get familiar with the sites' offerings.

When searching for quality contacts to network with online, you'll want to look for high-level networkers (HLN). They're active online, have at least 500 connections and have filled out their profiles completely. Make sure these contacts have at least one of the three criteria before you connect with them online.

Some examples of HLNs would be decision makers, executives, the media and people you know as the movers and shakers in your industry. Don't let the fact that you don't yet know the person hold you back from sending an invite to connect. Whether you're offering help, sending them a resource, or introducing them to one of your connections, make sure your invite is about how you can help them, not how they can help you.

Target Your Connections
Target market connections (TMC) are a group of consumers at which your company aims its products and services. They're found by using keywords in the search section on social sites as well as in groups and discussion areas in your area of interest or focus. TMCs are mostly seekers that chat and seek out information by posting questions online.

The key is to join the groups and discussions where your target market is talking and engage with them. You can also send them an invite to connect. Make sure to let them know that you sent them the invite because you have similar interests and you're looking to expand your professional network.

Another way to find your target market is to investigate competitors' marketing methods. See where another business that offers the same or similar products and services advertises their links and posts on social sites. Searching in your field will often turn up places where your audience goes when they're looking for something in your industry.

Engage in Groups and Discussions
Even the most unsociable entrepreneur can interact on message boards and blogs. Groups and discussion areas on social sites are all over the internet and social media sites. It's important to find a dozen or so of these areas and not only join and monitor them but engage in the conversations as well.


Full Article With Additional Tips

What Twitter Chats Can Do For Your Job Search

If you’re on Twitter, you’ve likely at least heard about Twitter chats before. You may have even lurked in on one or two before. But until you actually participate in them, you’re not likely to get much out of a chat besides more job search or career advice—which you likely don’t need at this point because you already regularly read blogs and books on this very topic.

You may be wondering: What else can I get out of an online chat?

Connections. People to add to your professional network and create mutually beneficial relationships with. As you know, networking is still one of the most effective ways to land a job, and that’s because other people can introduce you to key influencers and inform you about unadvertised openings. Career chats involve all types of students and professionals that can benefit from building a relationship with one another.

Specific advice from people who do the hiring or recruiting. In many of the chats focused on the job search, you can submit questions for the experts to answer formally during the chat. Because it’s in real-time, you can ask for clarifications or specific tactics to go along with their advice. You can also talk directly to the experts during the chat. Where else do you get opportunities like that?

Visibility. When you regularly participate in a chat, other regulars take notice of you. Many even have Twitter lists dedicated to different types of job seekers they’ll add you to. Also, if an employer looks for you online, they will see that you’re serious about your job search.

Dedication. Just like blogging shows dedication and professional growth, a Twitter chat can do the same. With the tens or hundreds of different experiences or opinions flying around during the scheduled time, you’re likely to learn something new each time. You may even realize that you can improve some aspect of your search in order to better yourself as a professional.

Twitter Chat Schedule Plus Original Career Rocketeer Article

Are you a passive candidate?

I wanted to clear something up because there seems to be some confusion out there about active versus passive candidates. Surprisingly, the confusion is often from candidates themselves regarding their own status as active or passive. There is also quite a bit of confusion from the folks that work for the job boards about the difference between an active and passive candidate. It’s a pet peeve of mine, so I decided it was time to write about it.

What is a passive candidate?

One thing everyone seems to understand is that, deserved or undeserved, passive candidates are the most desirable to employers. Employers pay headhunters large fees to find the elusive passive candidate. Company recruiters pay top dollar to attend training to learn how to find passive candidates. All of this buzz about passive candidates has created an elite status for anyone who holds that label. Everybody wants a passive candidate so everybody wants to be a passive candidate.

And this has led job seekers to refer to themselves as passive candidates. Read that last sentence again for me: this has led job seekers to refer to themselves as passive candidates. By definition, if you are seeking a job, you are not a passive candidate.

If you tell me, “I’m a passive candidate,” then your resume should not be in my system. If it is in my system, it’s not because you put it there, it’s because I put it there after spending a significant amount of time tracking it down. In fact, if you are truly a passive candidate, you may not even know I have your resume; and honestly, I may not even have a resume that you created, it may be more of a profile of you that I’ve cobbled together from the little pieces of information that I could find on you while doing my research. If you are a passive candidate, your resume can’t be found in databases like Monster or CareerBuilder. If you are a passive candidate, you are not interviewing with other companies at the same time you are interviewing with me. Frankly, if you are a passive candidate, you are not reading this blog post (or any other blog about job searching).

Just because passive candidates are desirable does not mean that active candidates are undesirable

I am NOT saying that active candidates are bad. The reality is, the large majority of people who get hired in any economy are active candidates. They have a few advantages over the passive candidate – they are more readily available, much easier to find and more agreeable to work with. Generally speaking, active candidates return my phone calls, they are usually polite, and they have one thing going for them that you almost never find in a passive candidate: they are eager for the job.

With passive candidates, you have to twist their arm, plead with them, and woo them; hiring managers find this absolutely annoying. Conversely, hiring managers love it when they find someone that is genuinely excited about their job, and this level of excitement is often found in active candidates. So rather than pretending to be a passive candidate (which is pretty transparent by the way), embrace your active status and let your enthusiasm, passion and excitement for the job shine through. That is your secret weapon.

Let’s be honest

Be careful when you use the term “passive candidate” with me. Don’t tell me you’re a passive candidate because you think I’ll like you better because of it. Don’t tell me that your friend told you about my job posting, because of course you weren’t looking for a job and would have never known about my job posting unless someone else brought it to your attention. Don’t wait a few days before returning my phone call because you think it makes you look busy or more interesting. I’ve been doing this a long time, I can see through it, and frankly, it’s insulting to my intelligence when you try to play me like that.

You can be (and should be) selective in your job search. People often tell me, I’m only willing to make a move for the right opportunity. And that’s wise. But, let’s be clear, being selective and smart about your search still does not qualify as being a passive candidate – it simply means that you are looking for the right opportunity. Passive candidates are not looking at all; this is why they are so hard to find and so difficult to recruit. That is why headhunters get paid such big fees to do the hard work of finding and recruiting them.

And for the job board companies who claim to target passive candidates, I get what you’re saying. You place advertisements in places where a person who is not actively looking for a job might see it. That person is then compelled to click on your link, and then the next thing you know, they are on your website and then the next thing you know, they are registering with your database. And you think you just snagged a passive candidate and now you can go market your product to people like me and charge me money to access your database that is chock full of these passive candidates.

It’s funny how, once I’m in your exclusive database, I’m finding candidates who are also in Monster, CareerBuilder, and even my own system. Access to your database is expensive, so you can only imagine how irritated I am when I look around and find a bunch of people I already know about, when you told me there would be passive candidates there. If you really think you have something special, give me some kind of trial – whether it’s a free peek or a big discount to take a closer look inside. If it’s as great as you say it is once I’m able to look under the hood, I’ll buy more.

Personally, I think we’ve all given too much weight to the value of the passive candidate, and this focus has given active candidates an undeserved lower status. I’m interested in great candidates, whether they are active or passive. Great candidates are always hard to find, but I’ll save that topic for another post.

As a contract recruiter, I am actively looking for great candidates (both active and passive) for my Washington DC based client. Visit my LinkedIn profile to learn more about my recruiting work: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriebartolo

Orignal "An Honest Day's Work" Posting

Create Your Own Brand

By GLORIA LAU

Recently, PricewaterhouseCoopers' Paula Loop was at an event talking to MBA students trying to get noticed. "Those who had unique stories and personal brands still stand out in my mind," Loop, the U.S. and global talent leader for PwC, told IBD. "Everybody else ... a recruiter might not remember at all."

People at any point in their careers, not only those just finishing their master's in business, should develop a professional identity and use it to promote themselves, she says. Loop, based at PwC headquarters in New York City, and Ignacio Gallardo, associate director of career services at the University of California, Santa Barbara, share tips on building such an identity.

• Craft an elevator pitch. "Being able to do this well is invaluable," Loop said. Draft five sentences. The first two should highlight your background. Your middle sentence should cover what you've done recently and show your interests. If you spent the summer managing an orphanage in Thailand, mention it. The final sentences should address what you're seeking in a job and career. Keep it succinct, persuasive and memorable.

Loop suggests this approach: "My background is in consumer products. I've always worked in industries where I sell products to children. Recently I went to an innovation conference and saw all the great toys coming out. I want to join one of those companies to help bring their products to market."

• Highlight desires. "Passion is attractive to recruiters and demonstrates traits such as commitment, well-roundedness and enthusiasm," Loop said. "Do some soul-searching. What excites you when you work? ... What made you feel good about your job this week? These are your passions. When you walk out the door, they're still running through your head."

• Maintain links. Your network begins with family and friends, old schoolmates and folks from prior jobs. Schedule an hour every week to call, e-mail or meet contacts. Force yourself to do this regularly.

• Manage your online brand. Having an appropriate online presence can give colleagues and potential employers a good impression. Google yourself to see what pops up and put together a thoughtful profile, including what you've accomplished, on career networking sites such as LinkedIn, the privately held Mountain View, Calif., company. Keep it updated and invite others to join your network. Said Gallardo: "When I go to networking events, I collect business cards, look the names up on LinkedIn and invite them to connect. I customize the invitation to include something we discussed. ... I also use LinkedIn to connect to people I haven't spoken to in a while."

page 2 and the original article

Top 20 Inconvenient Career Truths

Posted by Christine Scivicque

This post was inspired by Charlie Gilkey’s recent (genius!) post 20 Inconvenient Business Truths. I read it and realized that, in career coaching, I share inconvenient truths with my clients on a regular basis. I know it’s sometimes hard to hear these things but, in the end, they make you stronger.

1. Almost everyone starts at the bottom. Regardless of what you think you deserve, you probably will to.
2. There are no “right” answers for finding career fulfillment. Every path is different; every destination unique.
3. It’s not enough to be good at what you do. Talent and skill will only take you so far.
4. Work is not separate from the rest of your life. Compartmentalization is a myth.
5. Professional growth requires discomfort.
6. If you’re unhappy with your career, it’s up to you to change it. No one else controls your situation.
7. Almost every job has a tradeoff. You’ll probably never get everything you want in one place.
8. Achieving long-term career goals requires sustained effort and deliberate action. It’s no accident or coincidence.
9. Your career is about YOU.
10. A successful job search should take anywhere from three to six months. It’s not something that happens overnight.

Truths 11 - 20 and original Forbes post

Snag A New Job This December While Your Competition Is Slacking Off

We hear the same complaint every year:

“I can’t get candidates on the phone. I can’t get candidates in for interviews. I can’t even get a response.”

We hear it from Fortune 1000 recruiters, HR departments, executive search firms, and agencies. We even hear it from our own recruiters at TheLadders!

And I suppose it’s a very good explanation that, of course, at the end of the year, with all the holiday parties, end-of-the-year budgeting exercises, and vacation planning going on, professionals can find themselves with too much to do and not enough time on their hands to be responsive to the companies looking to hire them.

But my advice is…

Don’t let this happen to you.

Candidates, i.e., your competition, get very distracted during the holidays with all the family and friends and festivities to enjoy.

Turn this to your advantage.

Rather than allowing your holiday schedule to get in the way of your search, double down and make an extra effort to be proactive this December.

You see, for every candidate who misses a phone call, an interview, a job opportunity, there’s a frustrated recruiter on the other side. And if you can be that golden ticket — the responsive candidate who makes life easier for the recruiter or HR department — you’ll be that much more likely to land a gig before the end of the year.

Companies’ needs for professionals don’t slow down during the holidays. Recruiting budgets don’t shrink in December — if anything, there’s actually a push to get headcount in before the annual budget expires. And HR people and recruiters are still coming to work full-time every day and need to keep performing for their clients and hiring managers.

Make their lives easy and they’ll make your job search come to an end more quickly. Return their call the same day. Work hard to juggle your schedule to make it convenient for them to interview you. Follow up with your thank you notes the same day.

If your competition is half as responsive, and you’re doubly as active as normal, you’ll be four times more likely to get the interview, get the offer, get the job!

I know it’s a challenge during the holiday season, but the best gift you can give yourself and your family is a new position that sees you happy, productive, and content in the New Year.

Good luck with your search this December, Readers! I’ll be doubling my rooting for you!

This post originally appeared at Marc Cenedella's blog


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/snag-a-new-job-this-december-while-your-competition-is-slacking-off-2010-11#ixzz16gzy1jde

Marc Cenedella is the Founder of TheLadders.com, the #1 source for $100k+ jobs in the world.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/snag-a-new-job-this-december-while-your-competition-is-slacking-off-2010-11#ixzz16h02dhP5

10 LinkedIn Tips For Job Seekers And Career Shifters

1. Stop focussing on the numbers

Networking is not a numbers game, but a relationships game.

It's not about ‘how many’ LinkedIn connections you have. But instead, the quality of the relationships and the level of interaction you have with people in your LinkedIn network that counts.

Plus, of course, the size and relevance of the network that those people are in turn connected to. Which means that someone with 50 highly relevant contacts (who they interact with frequently), will often be much more successful whilst using LinkedIn than someone with 500+ connections to people they hardly know or ever interact with.

2. Remember the 5 second rule

When most people visit your LinkedIn profile for the first time, on average, they’ll scan it for 5 seconds before choosing to take a closer read or simply click away.

So your profile needs to be clear, succinct and unique so as to make the right impression and make visitors read the profile.

Take a quick glance at your own profile – do you pass the 5 second rule?

3. Be careful about the headline title

Your headline title on LinkedIn is one of the most important parts of your profile.

The headline title must convey 3 things:

- What you do

- What you want

- What you want to be known for

I appreciate that if you're currently employed and passively looking for work, not all of these are possible.

But if you are not working then your headline title should make it clear that you're in the market for new opportunities ("Financial Controller seeking fresh opportunities in XYZ")

4. Avoid having a half empty LinkedIn profile

When people Google your name to “check you out” and come across a half completed LinkedIn profile – you’ve just missed a golden opportunity to give them a good first impression of you.

So regardless of whether you’re working, job searching or taking a career break – update that profile now!

5. Be different

"Passionate, innovative, hard working etc ....”

Many profiles start with this type of generic , cliché packed sentence without any kind of back up.

It sounds good at first – but when everyone is saying similar things, you’re unlikely to stand out.

So ask yourself: - What unique skills or experience do I have? What results do I have a track record of delivering? What is my value proposition? Who or what am I targeting right now?

Now incorporate some of your answers into your profile so as to make you a little different from the standard profiles which most people use.

Tips 6 -10 and Complete Article

Twitter Personal Branding Checklist

by Pete Kistler


You have a Twitter profile that strengthens your personal brand. And your bio and background image exude your core values and align with your career goals. You’re growing your Twitter network – but how do you turn followers into evangelists for your personal brand?

One of the documents we pass around the office is our Twitter Engagement Checklist. It’s a set of actions that ensures our management team and interns are effectively engaging with relevant people on Twitter, growing their personal networks and building brand awareness. You may benefit from the streamlined process we’ve come to rely on. I’d like to share it with you.

Why a checklist?

Twitter is a global networking party, and you should approach it like one – with a goal and a strategy. Your overarching strategy should be to give before you even think about receiving. People are not interested in what you ate for lunch. They are interested in tweets that yield a positive impact on their day. Here’s how we do it at @brandyourself.

Twice a day…

Tweet a blog post relevant to your field. Our followers want to know about the latest trends, controversies and ideas in our space. We keep them in the loop so they know what’s going on. If you aren’t following blogs in your field, find them by searching for industry keywords on top tier blog directories like Technorati and Alltop. Tweet posts that catch your eye to establish yourself as a source of knowledge for your followers.

Once a day…

Tweet a news article about your field. We do a Google News and New York Times search for keywords in our industry. Scan headlines of online industry publications and tweet out news relevant to your followers to become a trusted source of news and updates.

Tweet a tip based on your experience in your field. We tweet personal branding, online reputation management, career development and job search tips based on real experiences we’ve had hiring, finding jobs and building our own brands. What can you tweet about based on personal experience? For example, if you’re in graphic design, tweet a daily Photoshop tip. You’ll soon build your credibility in your field.

Tweet an inspirational quote. We love bite-sized sayings that impact how we think about life and work. Head over to a directory of quotes like BrainyQuote and tweet a quote that might resonate with your followers to become a source of happiness.

Tweet something personal. We try to keep things as human (read: non-spammy) as possible. Tweet stuff related to your life: let people know that you’re planning on going to a big concert next week. Since strictly following a checklist may decrease your tweeting creativity (I recommend a mix of checklist plus your own strategy), I require a certain number of “personal” tweets from my team. Do this on a regular basis to connect on a deeper level with your followers.

Answer a question related to your field. Use Twitter search or a Twitter management app like TweetDeckor Hootsuite to search for people asking questions about your area of expertise. Type a keyword followed by a question mark to filter results, such as “graphic design?” or “civil engineer?” Answers questions and lead people back to your blog (you have one, right?) if your posts have more detailed answers. This is a great way to attract more followers, and establish yourself as an authority in your line of work.

Once a week…

Read the rest of the Brand-Yourself Article

Top 10 Career Moves Even The Happily Employed Should Make

Posted by Caroline Ceniza-Levine

People who seek out career advice are probably dissatisfied with some area of their current job. But even if you’re content with your job, not interested in a promotion, totally satisfied with your pay and 100% secure nothing will change, here are 10 career moves you should make anyway to maintain your blissful situation:

Set aside your lunch hours. Take your 2011 calendar and block out one lunch hour per week. At the very least, you build in a reserve of time for emergencies. Ideally, you use these to catch up with people you normally don’t – think old friends, former colleagues, people outside your immediate department.

Return recruiter phone calls. You’re not looking for a job so these calls don’t seem important. It’s always good to hear what’s on the market – you confirm your value, and you may be able to help a friend who is looking. Recruiters love candidates who aren’t looking but return calls anyway.

Find a mentee. You must be doing the right things to be in your situation. Sharing what you know is a great way to reinforce all these good habits.

Find a mentor. There is always more to learn. While you may not feel the urgency for a formal class, you can learn on your next break. Seek out people you admire (not just for professional reasons, but maybe it’s the colleague with an amazing sense of humor). Hang out with them even occasionally. You take on the habits of people around you, so surround yourself with successful people.

Review your company perks. I worked at a company that was part of a program to get free or dramatically reduced admission to almost all of the museums and cultural venues in the area. A separate program gave over 50% off movie tickets and free popcorn. These benefits may not be life-changing, but they certainly are quality-of-life changing, and they might mean dollars saved.

Review your org chart. If your company has an internal phone directory, how many people do you know? If you work for a very large company, it might be a small fraction but you should at least know people in the departments that impact your job. Roles turn over frequently, and if you don’t pay attention there could be more and more people you should know but don’t. Get to know your coworkers. At the very least, you may find new lunch partners.

Review your resume. No, you don’t need to send your resume anywhere – you’re not looking for a job. But your resume is a great audit tool for your career. Do you have anything to add from the last six months? If not, this could be a sign of stagnation. At the very least, you’d rather update your resume every few months when you’re relaxed and happy, rather than have to cram several years of job memories when the need to job search is urgent.

Review your online brand. Same reasons as above, except that your online profile is separate from your resume. Your online profile is even more important for the content employee than for the active jobseeker because it is your gateway to passive opportunities.

Get some exercise. Career bliss doesn’t last forever. There will be crunch times ahead – it doesn’t have to be a major restructuring but it could be a project with a tight deadline or a difficult client. Being fit gives you the energy to power through these difficult times. While you’re in a stable career phase, build in good exercise and self-care habits now.

Go public. Get quoted in the press about your expertise. Contribute to your local newspaper or your industry trade journal. Speak at a conference or even your alma mater. Media mentions and public speaking are helpful with any career. While you’re feeling good and confident about your career, step out and get noticed.

Full Forbes Blog

How To Job Search Over The Holidays

Jean Baur, 11.15.10, 03:00 PM EST
People in career transition frequently throw in the towel once Thanksgiving hits. Why?


I didn't do very well in algebra, so I am the last person to write convincingly about equations. However, as a career counselor who has partnered with thousands of job seekers over the past 16 years, when I'm asked, "What will happen to my job search over the holidays?" I'm tempted to say: That depends upon what you put into it.


Here's the challenge: Intelligent, highly motivated people in career transition, frequently throw in the towel once Thanksgiving hits. Why? I have asked many of my clients if they went into hibernation while they were still working between late November and the New Year. Their answers were always no.


Nevertheless, the myth persists that it's difficult to get interviews or job offers during the holidays. My advice is to turn that myth to your advantage. What can you do if you're in transition and want to take advantage of the holiday season?


Network. Recognize that this is one of the best networking times of the year, as the holidays can make people more relaxed, open and generous. For those who are working, the holidays may be a somewhat slower period, which translates into more time they have to help you.


Be visible. Take advantage of holiday parties and other gatherings to be visible. Your message is a positive one: You've got great skills and abilities and are excited to be looking for a new opportunity to use them. And if you're not excited, say you are anyway as it motivates others to help you.


Send cards. Use e-cards as an easy way to connect or reconnect with your network. In addition to wishing your friends a good holiday, you can update them that your job search is going well, but that you're still looking for a position that uses your talents.


Be proactive. Invite neighbors over for coffee and dessert or create an event that will be fun for your children. Parents have a strong network that they often ignore--the parents of the children their child knows.


Get into the spirit. Get into the holiday spirit and do something nice for someone else. This could mean baking cookies for an elderly neighbor or volunteering at the local soup kitchen.

Page 2 of Forbes Article

Don’t Make this Mistake when Working with a Recruiter!

I’m a recruiter. Unfortunately, I’m not a mind reader. Sometimes, I wish I could read minds because it would help candidates avoid the one big mistake they make when partnering with recruiters. Always be completely honest and upfront with your recruiter.

How Holding Back Information Can Hurt Your Job Search

Let me give you two examples of how holding back can hurt your job search. First, job seekers sometimes fail to tell their recruiter when their company, position, or compensation preferences change. Second, job seekers hurt themselves by not telling recruiters about personal obligations and other things that might interfere with their job search. Let’s talk about these issues so you don’t cost yourself a job by making the same mistakes.

Changed Preferences Mean a Changed Job Search

Recruiters try to match the right candidates with the right job. I’m not going to waste your time by talking to you about positions that don’t fit your personality, skills, and compensation preferences. When you tell me that making a certain salary is important to you, I’m not going to send you jobs below that compensation level. For example, I spoke with one of my job candidates the other day about his job search. We reviewed his preferences, and he informed me that he decided about month ago that he could take a lot less in compensation. The result? A month worth of job opportunities had passed him by. When things change, tell your recruiter first. Why? If you don’t tell me first, you might miss out on opportunities that fit your new preferences. The same lesson is true about your personal obligations.

Read The Rest Of The CareerRocketeer Article



Katy Keogh is a Principal of Winter Wyman’s New York Financial Contracts division. Katy blogs to provide strategic job search advice for candidates as they make their next career move. To Learn more about Katy and the contract finance and accounting jobs she is working on visit www.winterwyman.com. Winter Wyman is one of the largest and most recognized staffing firms in the Northeast, currently serving clients in the New England and metropolitan New York job markets.

Don’t Be a LinkedIn “Collector” or “User”

By CAREEREALISM-Approved Expert, Dawn Rasmussen

One of the most valuable career assets any of us can possess is a high quality business and professional network composed of people we’ve worked/collaborated with (or connected to) at some point in our careers.

By taking this approach, there’s something at stake with this LinkedIn approach: the people we choose to connect with have integrity and quality, we know them and they know us, and we feel comfortable helping them out if they ask for assistance.

Let’s take this one level deeper: these people are also the ones with whom we have meaningful relationships and a general level of mutual respect from personal knowledge/connection.

One of my biggest personal pet peeves includes receiving a request from a random person I don’t know…and especially when this person doesn’t even bother to take a moment to let me know why they would like to connect.

You know the types…they cruise LinkedIn looking for people to add. Frequent criteria for these folks include looking for potential connections who have a lot of contacts in their network…or are a mover and shaker with whom they would like to be associated. So the LinkedIn cruiser sends a request to connect…with nary a courtesy introduction as to why they would like to do so in hopes that the recipient just simply clicks “accept invitation.”

Bingo! “Another connection added,” thinks the LinkedIn cruiser. Then they move on to the next contact target.

I call these people “collectors” – it seems their request is all about the number count and getting another notch on their belt to boost their network size.

But what they are actually doing is creating a pretty flimsily-assembled group of people with whom they have no real meaningful connection.

Fortunately, most of us don’t operate that way. And we don’t like being someone else’s statistic, either, if you know what I mean.

Most business people are probably actually quite open to connecting to new contacts, but if a unknown person wants to be a part of your network, having a basis for which to establish a relationship is critical to establishing a meaningful connection.

And when someone doesn’t even take the time to write a short introductory note, then this kind of request screams: “Collector!”

And the sad part is anytime someone sends a request, they are actually missing a true opportunity. A short note explaining how they found you or the reason why they would like to connect is a genuine basis to start a conversation and business relationship. The personalized note acts to authenticate the connection request.

And these days, it’s not so much about the quantity as much as it is totally about quality.

But even after that point, some people simply don’t get it.

An example just from today: I received an e-mail from a stranger without any mutual connections that was nothing more than the basic:

“I would like to connect with you on LinkedIn.”

Sigh.

So, I emailed back:

“Thanks for your request to connect- I only accept invitations with people I know…can you help me by providing some information on where we might have met before? Thanks for understanding!”

This person then e-mailed back and told me to go visit their company website which should be a compelling enough reason for us to connect. Additionally, they mentioned their company has had a ‘surge in clients worldwide’…yet at the same time they told me they had ‘decided to use LinkedIn as a means to find and connect with potential associates around the world who might be able to help me service their requirements.’

Yeah, right.

How motivated would I be to help this person? I basically got hit up with first an anonymous request, then a follow-up one asking me to help someone I don’t know find people to help them with their marketing efforts…and the kicker was this person was too lazy to even make a compelling reason in the personal message to me why I should help them…they simply told me to go to their website!

Ouch. Way off the mark, and totally ineffective.

We all gain something from cultivating strong relationships with our colleagues, co-workers, and professional contacts. Maintaining a quality and personal connection to each one of these people is critical to our mutual success and builds the synergy that composes the give-and-take cycles of healthy relationships.

But when it comes to adding meaningless connections just to ‘get numbers,’ strangers can’t simply just show up to take, and even more so when they offer to give nothing in return. This isn’t an effective use of one’s time nor effort, and ends up missing the critical benefit of LinkedIn.

Simply put: We do business with people we know and trust.

There is no ‘easy’ button in establishing relationships, but an effort needs to be made to personalize a request. It takes time and social skill to define and develop those relationships, and by being a collector or user, you are cutting yourself out of working with a beneficial tool that could make the difference in your career advancement through people motivated to help you by virtual of personal association and knowledge of who you are.

Choose your connections carefully- and when they connect, that means that they have chosen you, and there is weight in their trust of your integrity and personal relationship…and that they have voted ’yes’ by connecting to you.

Original Careerealism Article

5 Job Interview Questions We Love To Hate

Inevitably in any job search you will be asked many questions. Some are better than others and some are despised more than others. If you have prepared yourself properly for your interview you will better navigate some of the tougher questions you will face. Below is a list of five of the most hated job interview questions.

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5. Are you a team player?

What I think:

Not particularly. I tend to bully and isolate anyone who doesn’t agree with me. I like to be feared rather than be respected, it lasts longer.

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What you should probably say:
The interviewer is looking for an answer that shows how well you work with your coworkers. You should use an example of how you have performed well completing tasks as a member of a team project at work, team leader, or how you helped solve some issue that you were not directly assigned to complete. No employer wants to hire an employee with TNMJ (That’s Not My Job) syndrome.

4. Have you ever had a conflict with a boss or superior? How did you handle it?

What I think:

Yes, I have. I called in sick to come to this interview.

What you should probably say:

This one is a little tricky but you can still navigate this mine field. If you answer no, the interviewer will automatically assume that your not being truthful. If you answer yes, depending on the circumstances you may be viewed as a problem employee. What you should illustrate here is some minor disagreement (such as working late)between yourself and your boss and what solution (coming in early) you came up with. I would probably stay away from any incidents that involved formal HR complaints or lawsuits.

3. Do you work well under pressure?

What I think:

Yes, I’m actually guaranteed up to 200psi.

What you should probably say:

Here the interviewer wants to hear what you consider being under pressure at work and what steps you took to still deliver results. Do you often work under short notice time sensitive deadlines? Are you calm and focused? Or do you stress out and hinder positive results? Most employers who ask this in the interview do so because they usually work under tight deadlines and need employees who will not crack under pressure.

�

2. If I were to ask your friends or former co-workers to describe you, what
would they say?

What I think:

They would say please hire me so I can stop asking them for loans I can’t repay.

�

What you should probably say:

Another tricky one. Under no circumstances do I want my friends having any input on my career advancement potential. Most of my friends I met when I was in college and trust me I would have been pickier if I knew my career was riding on those choices. So you should focus on your coworkers and the ways you have helped them out of a jam in the past. Your answer should display your willingness to go the extra mile and put in effort that is not outlined in your job description.

1. What is your greatest weakness?

What I think:
Weakness? Oh yeah. Raspberry filled Krispy Kreme doughnuts are like kryptonite to me.

�

What you should probably say:

Under no circumstances should you make the all too common error of framing a strength as a weakness (i.e. I’m a workaholic or stickler for details to a fault.). There are enough self absorbed narcissists in the world and employers are not trying to add another to their payrolls. What the employer wants with this question is to hear a real work related weakness. It shows that you are not another ‘flawless’ egomaniac. So you state a real weakness such as time management but also provide the steps you take to keep that from affecting your performance like keeping a detailed scheduled on your smartphone.

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Although I would love to see how an interviewer would respond to how I think the questions should be answered, it is probably better if you prepare the more appropriate suggestions for your interview. The job market is too competitive to just casually show up for an interview and think you will get the job offer. Remember that if an employer calls you in for an interview it is because they are interested in hiring you. The purpose of the interview is to screen out candidates that are not a good fit for the company. If you put in the proper preparation you will be evaluating job offers and not wondering why you are not getting called back.

About the Author Leslie Drew has over five years experience interviewing job applicants, reviewing and evaluating thousands of resumes and job applications. Leslie provides free job interview tips to people searching for a job in this tough economy. Visit www.unemployedhelp.net for more information.


Original Article

The true cost of being your own boss

By Amelia Ross, producer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Millions of Americans are out of work despite a long, dedicated job search. And some of those job hunters are choosing to go freelance -- essentially becoming their own bosses. About one in nine American workers are self-employed, according to Bureau of Labor statistics from 2009 and the trend is rising.

In taking that first step to go out on their own, many choose to start their businesses in their own home. But "free office space," has costs -- often hidden -- and it's important to understand these costs before you decide to start out on your own.

Some of the obvious costs of working from home include:

* Longer hours. If your home is your office, you never really leave work.
* No paid vacation days.
* No paid sick days.
* Paying for your own health insurance.
* Funding your retirement plan.
* Paying the half of the Social Security tax that your employer paid for.
* Paying for office equipment, perhaps upgrading your computer, printer and smartphone.
* Buying office supplies.
* Membership in industry organizations.

"The biggest costs are personal. It's very difficult to separate your life especially if you are working from home. Every minute you are not working you could be," said Carmen Wong Ulrich, author of "The Real Cost of Living," to be published in December. "You need to make 20% more, if not more than that, to have the same comfort level you had when on a salary."

And you will have marketing expenses beyond the cost of printing business cards and setting up your website.

One of hardest choices is determining where to put your energy.

"Learn how to price yourself. Know that you have to both do the work and develop the work. Honor your energy stream but never rest on your laurels," said David Holloway, career development coach. "Over time, costs steady and drop a bit. You learn what you need to do. You may not need to belong to all the organizations you need to. But education expenses are ongoing. A freelancer by definition is an expert and you need to maintain your expertise."

You won't have an infrastructure of support personnel and you just might need someone else to fix broken technology. You will need to do your own bill collection, which can be difficult. Your utility bills might increase; certainly look into calling plans. If you are selling goods, and not services, you will need to build inventory.

"Do a constant analysis of where you're at in the short term and keeping cash flow up. Use your contacts to find out what are the new markets, demographics, segments, products," said Tim Haft, president of Punk Rope.

And once you've landed the assignment, don't take a breather. "Go to three to four coffees or lunches a week. If you aren't, you are not creating a pipeline," said Beth Temple, digital business consultant freelancer since 1998. If you don't know who you should be asking to meet you for coffee, ask your existing contacts 'who I should talk to get to know me.'

"If you make it through the first two years, you can make it full time," Temple added.

Tips on starting your own business:

* The best way to develop your own business is to do it while you still have a job.
* Build up as much as you can in cash savings.
* Live below your means -- you will have good months and bad months.
* Always get deals in writing -- contracts are better. Include a payment schedule and try to get an upfront payment to start the project.
* Remember, to maintain the same lifestyle as you had with your last salary you will need to earn 33% more.
* Get medical coverage ASAP. The national option doesn't go into effect until 2013.
* Don't go longer than six months without starting your retirement benefits.
* Hire a lawyer to look into a LLC, S-Corp or a sole proprietorship to protect your personal assets.
* Hire an accountant.
* Keep track of your customer contact with a spreadsheet.
* Use LinkedIn actively for marketing. Get past testimonials on your LinkedIn profile.

Original Money CNN article

14 ways to make LinkedIn work for your career

By Louisa Veidelis



Whether you’re happy in your job or are itching for new opportunities, signing up to LinkedIn and exploring its features can open up many opportunities for your career down the track.

LinkedIn was launched as a professional networking site 2003 and has become an essential networking tool, with 875,000 users in Australia, more than 50 million worldwide and many employers using the site to recruit staff.

So it’s time to stop ignoring all those invitations, and get linked in now.

1. Starting out: promote yourself
Admit it – do you Google yourself? Well, prospective employers will be sure to check out your online baggage too. Interestingly, an effectively built LinkedIn profile will appear above your Facebook page in search results, which gives a better first professional impression.

Once you sign up, change your profile to public in the ‘edit profile’ options. You can also customise your URL to make it more user friendly, featuring your first and last name. You can now include that URL on your resume and on your personal business cards.

2. Reconnect with old contacts
Finally, here’s a way to reconnect with old colleagues and people you meet at networking events. Better that industry contacts see your amazing work history rather than those embarrassing Facebook pics of you on a pub crawl.

Any less than 30 connections can look a little lonely but don’t go crazy adding every Tom, Dick and Harry – limit your connections to those people you truly want to stay in touch with.

And if any undesirables request you as a contact, you can simply archive their request to avoid awkwardness.

You also have the opportunity to view the connections of your connections (or, ‘second-degree connections’). If you would get in touch with one of them you can simply ask your contact for an introduction.

3. Connect your websites
LinkedIn provides a central hub to connect all the various websites displaying your ideas and skills – including Twitter, blogs, your portfolio and company websites.

4. Include a photo
While the jury’s still out on adding a photo to a traditional resume, including your headshot in your LinkedIn profile is a good way to add your personality to your profile. Make sure it’s a professional-looking shot – it’s not the place to show off your latest designer bikini.

5. Get headhunted – use keywords
LinkedIn recently revealed that over 1000 companies in Australia use LinkedIn Talent Advantage to hire. Companies advertise jobs on the site and search users to find people with the exact skills they need. Promoting your skills effectively could the difference between being noticed and missing out.

People can search the database using keywords. Search results are displayed by keyword relevance, with the most important words being those included in a user’s headline and summary. Keyword density is also a factor, so try to repeat your main keywords a few times throughout your profile.

6. Create a strong headline
LinkedIn will make your current job title your headline by default, but you can change this to something more impressive or eye-catching. For example, if you are a freelance proofreader, you could make your headline ‘Independent Editorial and Proofreading Professional’.

7. Write a good, meaty summary
Your summary expands on your headline and gives a brief overview of your professional background. You can limit this to a succinct couple of sentences or go into greater detail if you wish.

Specialties are a feature under summary. Enter areas of expertise here (for example, tax auditing, business development, MYOB), and don’t be afraid to overlap keywords in both sections.

8. Include achievements for each job
LinkedIn can act as your online resume. Include all details about your education and work history that are relevant to your current industry. Most importantly, include measurable achievements for each role.

Here are some example achievements:

* Produced a 55 per cent improvement in on-time, accurate shipment of stock to customers.
* Raised $6000 over two years by securing sponsorships from two local businesses.
* Increased brand recognition and product placement in the Asia Pacific that helped to achieve 45 per cent profit growth.
* Secured a national retail promotion with Starstruck Video stores to the value of $1 million.


9. Ask for recommendations
Add authority to your profile by getting recommendations from past bosses, colleagues or business associates. Sending a recommendation request through the site may be considered less obtrusive than emailing them out of the blue.

10. Join groups and associations
You can also connect with people with similar interests through LinkedIn Groups. This is a great way to add colour and pizzaz to your profile, showing which areas you’re passionate about.

11. Ask or answer questions
LinkedIn Answers is a new function that allows members to submit questions about any topic. Other members can then choose to submit answers. Asking or answering is another way to interact with people on the site and show your enthusiasm and/or expertise. The questions you ask or answer will appear on your profile so make sure your answers are intelligent so they present you in the best possible light.

12. Be honest
This is not the place to bend the truth. Due to the interconnected nature of the site, it’s very easy to contact people who worked with you to verify your claims.

13. Research companies and people
Find out more about companies by browsing the profiles of people who have worked there – how long did they stay at the organisation and what types of tasks did they perform?

And if you’ve got an interview coming up, check out the page of the person who will be interviewing you to find out a little about their history.

14. Keep active
Once you have built a strong LinkedIn profile, keep it updated and check back regularly for new connections to add. Interact with your connections to keep your relationships fresh, help them out with recommendations or introductions when you can and ask them for help when you need it.

Original Article

The Job Search Grind

In March, 2008, the national unemployment rate was 4.8%. By January of 2010, it had risen to a high of 10.6% and in September of 2010 still hovered at 9/2%. In Nevada, the state I live in, unemployment is above 14%. Because of such high unemployment, most of us know someone that is currently looking for a job.
A recent study entitled “The Job Search Grind” published in The Academy of Management Journal sheds some light on the experience of people involved in the job search process. This well designed study followed 233 unemployment insurance recipients that were actively seeking work every day for three weeks.
One of the most interesting findings for me was that 44% of the job seekers in this study spent less than 10 hours a week on their job searches. Only 20% spent at least 25 hours a week searching for a job. There are a number of explanations for individuals spending little time searching for a job, including discouragement, perceived progress, and simply using the time to pursue other interests. The study had four additional findings that I found interesting:
1.      When individuals reported lower job search progress on any given day, it affected their mood (more negative, less positive) and lowered their confidence about their chances of finding a job.
2.      The ability to manage negative thoughts matters. Lower mood on any given day was related to more effort the following day only for those that could disengage from negative thoughts. For individuals that could not disengage from negative thoughts, lower mood on any day resulted in less search effort the following day.
3.      Individuals with financial hardship experience the job search process differently. The study found that financial hardship strengthened the negative effects of low search progress and weakened the positive effects of high search progress.
4.      The more (less) progress people made on any given day, the less (more) time they invested in job search the next day.
Being unemployed and looking for a job is not only hard work, it’s can also be a roller coaster ride of emotions. People that have high financial hardship and have a hard time managing their emotions will experience the job search process the hardest.
Setting realistic goals for daily time spent in the search process, and sticking to those daily goals regardless of the perceived progress on any given day should help. Making job search a daily routine won’t alleviate the roller coaster of emotions, but it should help with the management of those emotions, especially for those that have a harder time with negative thoughts.
Learn to treat perceived daily progress, either good or bad, as noise in the process and not a signal.
Bret L. Simmons, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Management in the College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), where he teaches courses in organizational behavior, leadership, and personal branding to both undergraduate and MBA students. Bret blogs about leadership, followership, and social media at his website Positive Organizational Behavior. You can also find Bret on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.


Original Article

A LinkedIn Profile That Works! Tips From A Recruiter

By Harry Urschel

image As I’ve said many times before, LinkedIn is a game changer when it comes to an effective job search in today’s online world. There has never been a resource that made it as easy to find the critical information you need when you’re looking for a new job… Companies, Contacts, Interview Prep information, Comparative Job Histories, and venues to discuss topics and challenges related to any job, field, or industry. It’s incredible… and that’s no overstatement.

As much as LinkedIn can be used proactively to gain the information needed, it sure is nice to be “found” once in awhile and pursued for potential opportunities as well. The key to being found, is having a profile that works!

What gets attention, what gets read, what improves your chances of getting a call or an email?

As a recruiter, I look at hundreds of LinkedIn profiles. It’s one of the most powerful and effective tools I have in finding qualified candidates for positions I’m trying to fill. What makes me move on and what gets me to reach out? Here are some key points…

Keywords – Keywords – Keywords!!! The only way anyone is found is by someone entering some keywords in the search box for what they are looking for. Generally, it’s not practical to “browse” 80 MILLION profiles in the hopes of stumbling across the right person. They will enter some words to find people with that specific background. Here’s the tough part… there is no dictionary of terms used to find certain skills. Anyone running a search has to figure it out for themselves.

So… take the time to think about “what are all the possible search terms someone might use to find someone like me?” Then make sure all those words are somewhere in your profile. If someone is looking for a “Payroll Manager”, and your were a “Payroll Supervisor”, they may not find you if you don’t have the word “Manager” in your profile. Incorporate the different terms in your job descriptions if you can. Otherwise, it’s perfectly fine to simply have a list of additional keywords somewhere at the bottom of your profile. Be honest about your background, but make sure you turn up in the appropriate searches!

Short Substantive Sound-bites! Like a resume, a LinkedIn profile will typically only get scanned for a few seconds before the reader decides whether you are worth pursuing further or not. In that quick scan, short phrases will get read and long sentences and paragraphs will not. A paragraph may make a powerful argument why you’re a dynamite prospect, but if it never gets read, it has no impact at all.

Figure out what things in your background are the most important, most marketable, and most in demand in your field, and make those experiences pop out in your profile. Take long descriptions and figure out what are the most important points to get across from each sentence. Make those points in a few words in separate bullet points. Each bullet does not have to be a complete sentence, and will have more impact in a few well chosen words.

* 4 consecutive years of 15% or greater sales growth

will more likely get read, and has more impact than…

* Sales production increased by 15% or more in year-over-year growth in each of the last four fiscal years due to increased efforts and new strategies.

The first example has more impact and gets more results, however, the second example is the norm because it seems more complete. In your LinkedIn profile as in your resume, it’s better to be effective than it is to have complete explanations!

“Call me!” Unless you are directly connected as a first level connection in LinkedIn, your contact information is not visible to the reader. If you are hoping to be contacted, make it easy for them to contact you! Put your phone number and email address in the Summary section at the top of your profile. Don’t make them have to send an introduction through another user, or use up one of their “In Mails”, or have to scroll to the bottom of your profile, or try to look you up in some other way. The easier it is, the more likely they will connect.

When I’m hunting for a good candidate for a position I’m working on, and find someone that seems like they might be qualified, but can’t tell for sure from their profile… I will likely call if their contact information is easy to find. If it’s not in their profile and I can’t easily find it otherwise, I will generally simply move on to another candidate… there are plenty to look at. If your profile is on the bubble in their mind, you’d rather get a chance to make your case rather than just have them move on… make it easy to for them to connect!

Make yourself real! Pictures have an interesting effect on LinkedIn. While I would not recommend that anyone put a picture on their resume, having a picture on LinkedIn often sways me to make a call rather than move on. When someone’s profile looks like they might have relevant experience for the position I’m working on, but it’s not crystal clear… I will often connect with them to find out more if they have a professional looking picture displayed. It personalizes it, and makes them more of a real person than a faceless listing.

The picture must be a professional headshot. A vacation picture, or a picture of your boat, or pet, or kids tells me that they don’t understand that LinkedIn is a Professional networking site, not equivalent to Facebook or MySpace. The profile pictures are tiny, a full body shot or even a half body shot will not allow anyone to see your face well enough to make it personal. Get up-close, wear professional clothing (at least on the neck), and smile!

“They LIKE me!” Get recommended! When looking at a profile, I usually look to see if anyone had recommended them. Since LinkedIn allows you to choose which recommendations are visible on your profile and which aren’t, I always assume they are positive so I almost never take the time to read what the recommendations actually say. However, the fact that someone was willing to write something positive about them creates a good impression.

The easiest way to get recommendations… is to give them. Write recommendations on LinkedIn for previous managers, co-workers, customers, or vendors. Usually, at least half the time, they will return the favor. Three or four are good, it’s not necessary or even particular helpful to have 10 or more.



LinkedIn is a great place to have more information than your resume. It’s not necessary to limit yourself to two pages as you should in your resume. However, although you can have more overall length, each line should be shorter. Include all the appropriate keywords you can, include your contact information, include a professional picture, and get recommendations. You will greatly improve your chances of getting found.

Original Post

Do you really know me? 20 Tips to learn about your audience.

Social media provides the opportunity to connect with millions of people that we would normally not have access to. We have people following us from every walk of life, numerous countries and the list goes on.

What do we really know about our audiences? Have you taken the time to know them, understand them or connect with them.

We talk about social media being a relationship, a conversation. However, I think very few take the time required to build a meaningful conversation, let alone a real relationship! How can we build a relationship with someone we haven’t taken the time to know anything more than what their Twitter handle is?

I encourage my clients to take the time to truly understand and know their audience. Take them time to follow a group of them. Listen to them and better connect with them.

The more we know about our audience the better we can inspire and connect with them!
20 Tips to Get to Know Your Audience

1. Listen to them. This one sounds simple because it is! However, many don’t take advantage of this simple and first critical phase of social media. Listening should be the first step when engaging in social media. It should also be something you do on a regular basis. Listen with an intent to understand. Listen to the meaning of what you audience is saying. How are they engaging with others? How are they engaging with you? What is the tone? What questions are they asking?

2. Join conversation. The best way to learn how your audience will respond to you is well of course seeing how they respond to you. Don’t sit on the sidelines for months while you learn about social media tools. Engage. Join conversation. You don’t always have to be the initiator of a conversation. Comment on other blogs, respond to other tweets and comments.

3. Ask questions. I love asking questions. Often times I’ll ask simple questions on Twitter. I am always amazed at how many answers I receive. I love asking both serious and fun questions.

4. Create a poll. Creating a poll easy. Use Poll Daddy to create a simple poll. You will be provided with a link that you can share on any social or web platform. Poll Daddy also has a widget for WordPress websites as well as Facebook. Again, I love creating both serious and simply fun polls.

5. Implement an email program. If you do not currently have an email program you are missing out! Subscribe to an email program such as aWeber, iContact, Constant Contact, MailChimp or Infusionsoft. We use Infusionsoft as it has more advanced features than some of the others. If you want something simple start with one of the others. If you want something that includes an integrated shopping cart, affiliate program, and advanced nurturing then I vote for Infusionsoft.

6. Create call to actions on a regular basis. Action is the social currency of social media. Create meaningful ways for your audience to take action. This needs to be more than just clicking on a link you place in a tweet to someone else’s website! Give your audience a reason to engage with you. Create something that they want and need. Then place this content or the action they need to take on social platform or website. Encourage them to move from an email program to your website or from your website to one of your social platforms. A call to action could be an invitation to buy something, answer a poll, answer a question, share something about themselves. Anything that will get them to take action.

7. Integrate a fun call to action with an email communication and an online platform. Integration of marketing across mediums is key to return on investment (ROI). Don’t be afraid to have fun with your audience. I frequently ask questions at the very bottom of my email newsletters and updates. I like to do this to measure how many people are actually reading my email to the bottom of the email. I will frequently ask questions that are funny and off the wall. They usually will align with our brand but in a fun way. It always amazes me how many people will respond. One example is I recently asked subscribers in a p.s.s. what their favorite nut was. Many of our subscribers answered the question on our Facebook page as well as a Tweet response.

8. Follow them. This sounds simple but it’s more than just a simple follow. What I am suggesting is really following them. For example if you find an interesting follower on Twitter or on your Facebook fan page then check them out online. Follow their tweets. Follow where they are sending people via links, announcements, blog posts. Where do they comment? What social platforms do they hang out on? How are they engaging on each platform differently? What can you learn from their online behaviors that will help you better provide them with useful information to draw them closer into your tribe?

9. Check out their following. Check out who is following your audience. This is basically who are your followers followers? Is it the same or different audience who follows you? Are there new people, new demographics maybe you should also check out and possibly target? How is their following responding to them? What can you learn from their engagement with other audiences?

10. Check out their Twitter lists. This is a great way to learn what interests the user has as well as how people view them. I love seeing the Twitter lists people put me on. My favorite of course is any list with the word geek on it because at heart I am a tech geek. I have to laugh at many of the lists people put me on. It has helped me connect with people I would have never met had they not put me on a list. Do the same for your audience. You can often tap into new audiences from taking time to build and view other people’s lists. When joining a new market niche other people’s lists can save you weeks of time.

11. Run a Tweet Reach report. This is a simple measurement tool that will tell you how far your most recent tweets travel. You can see total reach of your last 50 tweets. It also details the reach of your tweets via the people who retweeted your tweets. For each Twitter user who retweeted you it provides the reach of that user with your tweet. It’s a great way to see what influential followers and supporters you have. Note, it only shows the last 50.

12. Run a Klout report. Klout is a great measurement tool to measure your influence. It looks at your following, who you follow, the ratio of followers to the number you are following. It provides you pointers to influential people you could be following but aren’t. It will show you tweeters who influence you and also who you influence. It measures the amplification of your message and the depth to which your brand and content is being shared online. It recently even incorporated Facebook into the measurement. Remember social media is not just about numbers. The key is to have a loyal following who is engaged with you. You want a tribe that loves your content, loves you and at the end of the day takes action! Action = social currency!

13. Read their blogs. This one is also simple. Read other people’s blogs. Not rocket science. Read them with a goal to learn and understand. Not just scan them to cross this item off a list.

14. Read the comments they leave on other blogs. This is another great way to see how they engage with others. What comments are they leaving for others? Are they leaving as thoughtful comments on your blog? If not, why? Why are they engaging on other blogs? What is different than yours?

15. Encourage them to share and comment on your blog. Invite people to comment. I include an invitation at the end of every blog post for people to comment. Don’t be afraid of comments and opinions that differ from yours. When people start to listen to what you have to say you will hear differing opinions. Opinions are good. You should welcome them. You can also include WordPress plug-ins that encourage engagement via comments. I include a recent comments plug-in on the side bar of all of our blogs and websites.

16. Set you favorite social friends comments to be automatically approved. This is a great way to encourage commenting and engagement. There are a few people who comment on our blog regularly. I set their comments to be automatically approved. That way they don’t have to wait for any approval. They simply are live the minute they hit submit.

17. Engage them on your Facebook page. Ask questions. Share content. Encourage them to share their urls, Facebook Fan pages, information about what they do and how they can help your audience. Include polls, trivia and simple questions to get them to engage! Be inspiring, real and have fun! Chances are if you only speak in business speak you will get little to no engagement.

18. Start a group on Facebook. Facebook just launched a new group feature. Start a group around your business or one of your favorite topics. Invite people you would like to know better in combination with people you already do.

19. Start a group on LinkedIn. I love LinkedIn groups. Start a group around your business or favorite topic. Similar to Facebook encourage others to engage. Ask questions. Ask people to introduce themselves. Make it a place for sharing of self and business.

20. Start a question and answer session on LinkedIn. This is last on this list but one of my favorites! Asking questions on LinkedIn is a great way to get to know your following in a deep way. You can learn what they are thinking about a certain topic you are struggling with. It’s a great tool to meet new people with common interests as well. I have met many great social friends from LinkedIn Q&A sessions. If you haven’t checked it out, do it!

About the Author @PamMktgNut Half marketing, half geek, social media addict, CEO and Founder of FruitZoom, Inc., entrepreneur, speaker, trainer, coach. Lover of strategy, ROI, Brand, God, Family, Friends, Beach & Life! 15+ years of experience helping small startups to Fortune 100 companies, budgets teeny tiny to big in both B2B and B2C markets build brand awareness, grow new markets, develop communities and master ROI across all mediums! Industries of expertise include high technology, non-profit & fundraising, green eco-friendly, enterprise data storage, professional services and storage management, real estate and home building, natural lighting, database analytics & modeling, online marketing, as well as web 2.0 ecommerce for online retailers.

Original Article

5 Questions About Personal Branding

By Kimberly Palmer


Dan Schawbel is a master of personal branding: He runs a popular website on the topic and just released a new edition of Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future. He says almost everyone can use his branding techniques to improve their careers and boost their earning power. I recently spoke with Schawbel about his ideas and advice. Excerpts:


How did you first start to realize the importance of personal branding?
I realized the true power of personal branding when I became my own case study. It took me eight months, meeting fifteen people, and getting rejected twice to get my first job out of college at a Fortune 200 tech company. Then, after several months working full-time, I established personalbrandingblog.com, as well as Personal Branding Magazine. I also published articles in the media, started an online TV series called Personal Branding TV, and launched the Personal Brand Awards.
Fast Company wrote about my six-month personal branding journey, and my company hired me internally to be the first social media specialist back in 2007. This title is fairly common in both large enterprises and small firms now. Instead of going through a rigorous interview process, I was being recruited for a job I got to co-create based on my hobby outside of work. My personal brand communicated my expertise and passion to my employer indirectly through a single press article. From that moment on, I was convinced that other people could replicate what I had done for myself and I wrote a book proposal for Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future.

What exactly is personal branding?
Personal branding is the process by which you identify what makes you special, and then communicate that to the world. Your brand is a celebration of who you are, what unique promise of value you can deliver to your employer or clients, and your personality. Everyone in the world has a personal brand, from Oprah to a random doctor in New York City.
Personal branding forces us to take a hard look at ourselves and decide how we want to be positioned in the marketplace and what we want to be known for. You can’t be everything to everyone, which means that you need to have a focused approach so you target a specific audience that would be interested in your services. As a brand, you should have a platform by which you connect with your audience, such as a blog, or a TV program. This way, you can let your audience know you exist and what purpose you serve in their lives.

What’s the single most important thing people wanting to establish their brand need to do?
You need to brand yourself for the career you want, not the job you have. Your entire branding strategy needs to be focused on your long-term aspirations. This way, you will only attract the opportunities that you’re interested in, and filter the rest out. By commanding your online presence, using keywords, a tag line, written content, and a professional picture of yourself, you can tell the world how you want to be judged and what you’re looking for. I’ve never bought into the “law of attraction,” but the internet has allowed us to use our online presence as a magnet to pull the right people in and repel the wrong people.
Are there common mistakes people make?
People make a lot of mistakes when it comes to personal branding, namely because they want overnight results. Too many rely on Twitter as a branding platform, yet it is increasingly becoming ineffective, since 71 percent of Twitter posts are ignored. One tweet isn’t going to make you famous, or get you a job either. I see a lot of people who over-promote because they don’t understand the most important principle of relationships: providing value before asking for anything in return. I also see a lot of people who spam blog comments, and who are careless about their online profiles. You wouldn’t believe the amount of people who don’t even fill out their entire LinkedIn profile.

Does everyone need to think about personal branding, or only those in certain types of professions?
Everyone in the world needs to think about personal branding, from the gardener to the senator. There are certain professions that need to be more concerned about branding, such as real estate agents, politicians, doctors, lawyers, and others in the service industry, where they are selling themselves before any product. Everyone already has a brand, but few people take the time to unlock their unique abilities, and even fewer put their face online for the world to judge.
Everyone is capable of doing great things, but you need to put in the effort in order to be a successful long-term brand that people remember and care about. An unexpected profession where personal branding is important: plumbers. If a plumber comes over and is friendly to you or stays for an extra fifteen minutes without charging you, you will tell your friends about them and they will build their brand and business.

Kimberly Palmer is author of the new book Generation Earn: The Young Professional’s Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back (Ten Speed Press).


Original Article