Hot off the press! LinkedIn milestone!

Hot off the press! LinkedIn milestone! I just got an e-mail and on one of the forums Im on (a Yahoo Group) there was a message sent from a LinkedIn insider that they busted right through the 8 million member mark. I think it was around May, when I first signed up for LinkedIn that they were about 5.5 million. This is significant, obviously. Here are a few misc. thoughts: How come they havent grown as fast as MySpace? Understand the demographics MySpace was/is flooded with a ton of teenies that havent a clue what they are doing (or, I should say, what lasting footprint they are leaving for their future employer to review). Lots of me too in that group, and a propensity to embrace the viral buzz in LinkedIn there are lots more professionals that are busy or want to analyze whether they should sign up or not. Do you want to sign up for another account on something?? I think its a way harder sell, and Im very impressed with their progress. They have a ton of buzz (more on that below). How helpful is this, really, for my networking and job search efforts? I dont know it depends on where you are at in your transition (pre, post or right in the middle?). I joined right in the middle of my job search (I had never heard of it before) and was uber-lonely I couldnt seem to get past 10 connections. I didnt try really hard, but I didnt think I would be able to get value out of these virtual connections that early in the game. Should I get an account now, and really beef up my networking? Well, I personally think the jury is still out I dont think it is for everyone. There is a super-useful way to use LinkedIn (Ill blog on that in a later post, after Mondays carnival), there are annoyances, there is the ettiquite issue, and of course there is the question of whether the connections you make will really be quality connections. etc. My advice right now is yes, go get an account, especially if you dont need it. More and more folks are signing up and its more likely that you get an invitation its better to begin to build this virtual world now than when you really need it (and may look desperate). When I get an account, Im done, right? Not really, part of the strategy is that you invite others and have the ability to tap into their network. Let me give you a simple example lets say you have a target company. This applies whether you are in a job search or in a sales capacity, and I did this very thing twice this week. Go into your account and search for the company (for example: JibberJobber). The search results will show you anyone in your network that has that in their profile whether it is one of your contacts or one of your contacts contacts. You should be able to quickly figure out their title/role in the company, etc. Or you might find someone that doesnt work there anymore but might have some great information (for a job seeker, ask what the problems are that you may be able to solve!). But this magic only happens if you can build your network and according to the brains over at LinkedIn, this happens when you have about 30 1st degree contacts. What about the others?? Yep, there are others. Spoke, Ryze, MySpace (dont get a MySpace account to develop yor personal brand, or do networking if you are a professional) I just read something about there being around 200, and I see more and more pop-up. Back in April, before JibberJobber was live, I sent it to a buddy in Malibu to get feedback. He wrote back and said he didnt see the value in JibberJobber unless tons of others were on it, and even then, how was I going to differentiate from LinkedIn and MySpace (???). Obviously he had stuck JibberJobber into the same pot as all of the social networking sites and it isnt even close. Babara Safani gave a presentation where she picked apart a bunch of business social networking sites and at the end said and if all of this gets confusing you can use JibberJobber to keep track of it all nice job Barbara! I didnt intend for it to be the keeper of your social networking efforts but it certainly can do that! I guess the question be comes, how much time do you want to spend getting new connections, updating your profiles (on each site), etc. Food for thought: on all of the recruiting blogs I read, LinkedIn is the only one talked about so if you want to be visible to recruiters, have your LinkedIn profile optimized, and get to work on those 30 connections. You know that Im all about the real relationship and tools are great but no substitute for the relationship. I wonder if any of these sites will follow JibberJobber and provide real CRM-like tools to manage and drive this relationship? I hope not but one interesting thing is that JibberJobber would be uniquely positioned to be the customer relationship management tool that crosses boundaries, whereas I dont see these social networking sites opening up to manage relationships from other sites. Well see! Congratulations to LinkedIn for maintaining growth and hopefully maintaining profitability. If all this intrigues you, dont lose sight of what networking really is (social networking, unsocial networking, all that jazz) my buddy in Austin, Texas put together a quick little networking test to see how savvy you really are. Spend a few minutes and go take his test here. Hot off the press! LinkedIn milestone! I just got an e-mail and on one of the forums Im on (a Yahoo Group) there was a message sent from a LinkedIn insider that they busted right through the 8 million member mark. I think it was around May, when I first signed up for LinkedIn that they were about 5.5 million. This is significant, obviously. Here are a few misc. thoughts: How come they havent grown as fast as MySpace? Understand the demographics MySpace was/is flooded with a ton of teenies that havent a clue what they are doing (or, I should say, what lasting footprint they are leaving for their future employer to review). Lots of me too in that group, and a propensity to embrace the viral buzz in LinkedIn there are lots more professionals that are busy or want to analyze whether they should sign up or not. Do you want to sign up for another account on something?? I think its a way harder sell, and Im very impressed with their progress. They have a ton of buzz (more on that below). How helpful is this, really, for my networking and job search efforts? I dont know it depends on where you are at in your transition (pre, post or right in the middle?). I joined right in the middle of my job search (I had never heard of it before) and was uber-lonely I couldnt seem to get past 10 connections. I didnt try really hard, but I didnt think I would be able to get value out of these virtual connections that early in the game. Should I get an account now, and really beef up my networking? Well, I personally think the jury is still out I dont think it is for everyone. There is a super-useful way to use LinkedIn (Ill blog on that in a later post, after Mondays carnival), there are annoyances, there is the ettiquite issue, and of course there is the question of whether the connections you make will really be quality connections. etc. My advice right now is yes, go get an account, especially if you dont need it. More and more folks are signing up and its more likely that you get an invitation its better to begin to build this virtual world now than when you really need it (and may look desperate). When I get an account, Im done, right? Not really, part of the strategy is that you invite others and have the ability to tap into their network. Let me give you a simple example lets say you have a target company. This applies whether you are in a job search or in a sales capacity, and I did this very thing twice this week. Go into your account and search for the company (for example: JibberJobber). The search results will show you anyone in your network that has that in their profile whether it is one of your contacts or one of your contacts contacts. You should be able to quickly figure out their title/role in the company, etc. Or you might find someone that doesnt work there anymore but might have some great information (for a job seeker, ask what the problems are that you may be able to solve!). But this magic only happens if you can build your network and according to the brains over at LinkedIn, this happens when you have about 30 1st degree contacts. What about the others?? Yep, there are others. Spoke, Ryze, MySpace (dont get a MySpace account to develop yor personal brand, or do networking if you are a professional) I just read something about there being around 200, and I see more and more pop-up. Back in April, before JibberJobber was live, I sent it to a buddy in Malibu to get feedback. He wrote back and said he didnt see the value in JibberJobber unless tons of others were on it, and even then, how was I going to differentiate from LinkedIn and MySpace (???). Obviously he had stuck JibberJobber into the same pot as all of the social networking sites and it isnt even close. Babara Safani gave a presentation where she picked apart a bunch of business social networking sites and at the end said and if all of this gets confusing you can use JibberJobber to keep track of it all nice job Barbara! I didnt intend for it to be the keeper of your social networking efforts but it certainly can do that! I guess the question be comes, how much time do you want to spend getting new connections, updating your profiles (on each site), etc. Food for thought: on all of the recruiting blogs I read, LinkedIn is the only one talked about so if you want to be visible to recruiters, have your LinkedIn profile optimized, and get to work on those 30 connections. You know that Im all about the real relationship and tools are great but no substitute for the relationship. I wonder if any of these sites will follow JibberJobber and provide real CRM-like tools to manage and drive this relationship? I hope not but one interesting thing is that JibberJobber would be uniquely positioned to be the customer relationship management tool that crosses boundaries, whereas I dont see these social networking sites opening up to manage relationships from other sites. Well see! Congratulations to LinkedIn for maintaining growth and hopefully maintaining profitability. If all this intrigues you, dont lose sight of what networking really is (social networking, unsocial networking, all that jazz) my buddy in Austin, Texas put together a quick little networking test to see how savvy you really are. Spend a few minutes and go take his test here. Hot off the press! LinkedIn milestone! I just got an e-mail and on one of the forums Im on (a Yahoo Group) there was a message sent from a LinkedIn insider that they busted right through the 8 million member mark. I think it was around May, when I first signed up for LinkedIn that they were about 5.5 million. This is significant, obviously. Here are a few misc. thoughts: How come they havent grown as fast as MySpace? Understand the demographics MySpace was/is flooded with a ton of teenies that havent a clue what they are doing (or, I should say, what lasting footprint they are leaving for their future employer to review). Lots of me too in that group, and a propensity to embrace the viral buzz in LinkedIn there are lots more professionals that are busy or want to analyze whether they should sign up or not. Do you want to sign up for another account on something?? I think its a way harder sell, and Im very impressed with their progress. They have a ton of buzz (more on that below). How helpful is this, really, for my networking and job search efforts? I dont know it depends on where you are at in your transition (pre, post or right in the middle?). I joined right in the middle of my job search (I had never heard of it before) and was uber-lonely I couldnt seem to get past 10 connections. I didnt try really hard, but I didnt think I would be able to get value out of these virtual connections that early in the game. Should I get an account now, and really beef up my networking? Well, I personally think the jury is still out I dont think it is for everyone. There is a super-useful way to use LinkedIn (Ill blog on that in a later post, after Mondays carnival), there are annoyances, there is the ettiquite issue, and of course there is the question of whether the connections you make will really be quality connections. etc. My advice right now is yes, go get an account, especially if you dont need it. More and more folks are signing up and its more likely that you get an invitation its better to begin to build this virtual world now than when you really need it (and may look desperate). When I get an account, Im done, right? Not really, part of the strategy is that you invite others and have the ability to tap into their network. Let me give you a simple example lets say you have a target company. This applies whether you are in a job search or in a sales capacity, and I did this very thing twice this week. Go into your account and search for the company (for example: JibberJobber). The search results will show you anyone in your network that has that in their profile whether it is one of your contacts or one of your contacts contacts. You should be able to quickly figure out their title/role in the company, etc. Or you might find someone that doesnt work there anymore but might have some great information (for a job seeker, ask what the problems are that you may be able to solve!). But this magic only happens if you can build your network and according to the brains over at LinkedIn, this happens when you have about 30 1st degree contacts. What about the others?? Yep, there are others. Spoke, Ryze, MySpace (dont get a MySpace account to develop yor personal brand, or do networking if you are a professional) I just read something about there being around 200, and I see more and more pop-up. Back in April, before JibberJobber was live, I sent it to a buddy in Malibu to get feedback. He wrote back and said he didnt see the value in JibberJobber unless tons of others were on it, and even then, how was I going to differentiate from LinkedIn and MySpace (???). Obviously he had stuck JibberJobber into the same pot as all of the social networking sites and it isnt even close. Babara Safani gave a presentation where she picked apart a bunch of business social networking sites and at the end said and if all of this gets confusing you can use JibberJobber to keep track of it all nice job Barbara! I didnt intend for it to be the keeper of your social networking efforts but it certainly can do that! I guess the question be comes, how much time do you want to spend getting new connections, updating your profiles (on each site), etc. Food for thought: on all of the recruiting blogs I read, LinkedIn is the only one talked about so if you want to be visible to recruiters, have your LinkedIn profile optimized, and get to work on those 30 connections. You know that Im all about the real relationship and tools are great but no substitute for the relationship. I wonder if any of these sites will follow JibberJobber and provide real CRM-like tools to manage and drive this relationship? I hope not but one interesting thing is that JibberJobber would be uniquely positioned to be the customer relationship management tool that crosses boundaries, whereas I dont see these social networking sites opening up to manage relationships from other sites. Well see! Congratulations to LinkedIn for maintaining growth and hopefully maintaining profitability. If all this intrigues you, dont lose sight of what networking really is (social networking, unsocial networking, all that jazz) my buddy in Austin, Texas put together a quick little networking test to see how savvy you really are. Spend a few minutes and go take his test here. Hot off the press! LinkedIn milestone! I just got an e-mail and on one of the forums Im on (a Yahoo Group) there was a message sent from a LinkedIn insider that they busted right through the 8 million member mark. I think it was around May, when I first signed up for LinkedIn that they were about 5.5 million. This is significant, obviously. Here are a few misc. thoughts: How come they havent grown as fast as MySpace? Understand the demographics MySpace was/is flooded with a ton of teenies that havent a clue what they are doing (or, I should say, what lasting footprint they are leaving for their future employer to review). Lots of me too in that group, and a propensity to embrace the viral buzz in LinkedIn there are lots more professionals that are busy or want to analyze whether they should sign up or not. Do you want to sign up for another account on something?? I think its a way harder sell, and Im very impressed with their progress. They have a ton of buzz (more on that below). How helpful is this, really, for my networking and job search efforts? I dont know it depends on where you are at in your transition (pre, post or right in the middle?). I joined right in the middle of my job search (I had never heard of it before) and was uber-lonely I couldnt seem to get past 10 connections. I didnt try really hard, but I didnt think I would be able to get value out of these virtual connections that early in the game. Should I get an account now, and really beef up my networking? Well, I personally think the jury is still out I dont think it is for everyone. There is a super-useful way to use LinkedIn (Ill blog on that in a later post, after Mondays carnival), there are annoyances, there is the ettiquite issue, and of course there is the question of whether the connections you make will really be quality connections. etc. My advice right now is yes, go get an account, especially if you dont need it. More and more folks are signing up and its more likely that you get an invitation its better to begin to build this virtual world now than when you really need it (and may look desperate). When I get an account, Im done, right? Not really, part of the strategy is that you invite others and have the ability to tap into their network. Let me give you a simple example lets say you have a target company. This applies whether you are in a job search or in a sales capacity, and I did this very thing twice this week. Go into your account and search for the company (for example: JibberJobber). The search results will show you anyone in your network that has that in their profile whether it is one of your contacts or one of your contacts contacts. You should be able to quickly figure out their title/role in the company, etc. Or you might find someone that doesnt work there anymore but might have some great information (for a job seeker, ask what the problems are that you may be able to solve!). But this magic only happens if you can build your network and according to the brains over at LinkedIn, this happens when you have about 30 1st degree contacts. What about the others?? Yep, there are others. Spoke, Ryze, MySpace (dont get a MySpace account to develop yor personal brand, or do networking if you are a professional) I just read something about there being around 200, and I see more and more pop-up. Back in April, before JibberJobber was live, I sent it to a buddy in Malibu to get feedback. He wrote back and said he didnt see the value in JibberJobber unless tons of others were on it, and even then, how was I going to differentiate from LinkedIn and MySpace (???). Obviously he had stuck JibberJobber into the same pot as all of the social networking sites and it isnt even close. Babara Safani gave a presentation where she picked apart a bunch of business social networking sites and at the end said and if all of this gets confusing you can use JibberJobber to keep track of it all nice job Barbara! I didnt intend for it to be the keeper of your social networking efforts but it certainly can do that! I guess the question be comes, how much time do you want to spend getting new connections, updating your profiles (on each site), etc. Food for thought: on all of the recruiting blogs I read, LinkedIn is the only one talked about so if you want to be visible to recruiters, have your LinkedIn profile optimized, and get to work on those 30 connections. You know that Im all about the real relationship and tools are great but no substitute for the relationship. I wonder if any of these sites will follow JibberJobber and provide real CRM-like tools to manage and drive this relationship? I hope not but one interesting thing is that JibberJobber would be uniquely positioned to be the customer relationship management tool that crosses boundaries, whereas I dont see these social networking sites opening up to manage relationships from other sites. Well see! Congratulations to LinkedIn for maintaining growth and hopefully maintaining profitability. If all this intrigues you, dont lose sight of what networking really is (social networking, unsocial networking, all that jazz) my buddy in Austin, Texas put together a quick little networking test to see how savvy you really are. Spend a few minutes and go take his test here.

Creating Job Postings That Attract a Diverse Range of Candidates

Creating Job Postings That Attract a Diverse Range of Candidates Job Adverts are key to attracting the top talent to your organisation. But how do you make sure youre not alienating one section of the community? Ultimately you want the best man or woman for the job, but you also want to invite applications from people from across the spectrum regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexuality or disability. And it can be easily done thanks to these tips from our panel of diversity and inclusion experts. Natasha Broomfield-Reid I often talk about organisations having a ‘If we post it they will come’ philosophy towards attracting diverse talent, which is unlikely to yield a successful response. There are two key reasons why adverts fail to attract diverse talent: 1. They are not inclusive   Subtle language can dramatically increase engagement from diverse groups, with issues such as: gender coding, masculine wording, and disability or age related wording all having an impact on diverse candidate applications. 2. The attraction strategy is not targeted   While diverse candidates look for jobs in traditional places, advertising roles on inclusive job boards, organisations can increase diverse candidate applications. Natasha Broomfield-Reid, Head of Development at Equal Approach. Caroline Stokes Language is crucial within the copy of the advert as well as a company diversity statement to demonstrate a companys commitment to diversity. From a job description copy perspective, gender neutral language is important. I saw an advert distributed on Facebook yesterday where the social media manager said they were looking for a rockstar. Similarly, looking for a ninja or guru will discourage women from applying. I’d encourage every company to revisit their corporate language brand guidelines to become more empowering and gender neutral for everyone. Caroline Stokes, Executive Headhunter Coach. Founder of FORWARD. Nicola Crawford The recruitment process can be a varied and complex process. It can often be an opportunity to maintain a representative demographic staff profile or address any imbalance that might exist within the organisation. However, despite some best endeavours on the part of employers and recruitment agencies, minority groups are still disadvantaged through many recruitment campaigns. Many organisations overtly state on job advertisements that applications are welcomed from a broad range of applicants â€" this is sending out a positive message to encourage people to apply. Nicola Crawford, CFIRM, Chair of the Institute of Risk Management. Joanna Abeyie Consider the language you use; is this inclusive, welcoming and accessible? Ensure the advert is in  readable formats for those who are visually impaired and use imagery that represents the individuals you are open to hiring. Ensure you consult with experts who do specialise in supporting the kinds of individuals you would like to attract into your business. I once heard a very insightful phrase at a diversity conference, nothing for us that doesnt involve us so if youre a business and want to know how to engage with diverse talent? speak to talent that you havent typically hired. Make sure that the advert doesnt include a feature within the application process that would eliminate people from a range of varied backgrounds where it’s not a skill that is completely necessary for the job. Joanna Abeyie, Managing Director, Hyden, SThree.  Suki Sandhu There are a few simple things you can do to ensure your open vacancies attract a diverse set of candidates. If you advertise in places that appeal to a wider group than those you traditionally employ, you’ll automatically increase the range of candidates that apply Taking on board the advice and insights from third-party specialists is crucial. Engaging with diversity networks and diversity focused talent specialists, like Audeliss, will improve your success in finding more diverse talent. Don’t be afraid of sharing diversity credentials within job postings. If you show that diversity is part of the fabric of your organisation, you’re more likely to attract a diverse range of candidates. Suki Sandhu, CEO and founder of  Audeliss. Charlotte Sweeney There are a number of actions you can take to get your job advert right and in front of the people you would like to attract. These include, insuring that inclusive language is used within the job advert. Software such as Textio will guide you in using inclusive language that doesn’t switch some people off. Promote the availability of flexible working for the role you are advertising â€" this goes a long way to attracting a diverse group of people who are looking for progressive employers that take it seriously. Promote the adverts in a wide array of publications and places â€" think about the visuals that are used and ensure they mirror the demography of the people reading the publications. Promote different aspects of the business. Different parts of the business attract different generations. For example, school leavers recently told us that the décor of the office environment was a selling point to them. Charlotte Sweeney, Managing Director of Charlotte Sweeney Associates Ltd. Sarah Nahm Rather than running classic job descriptions, write impact descriptions that focus on what the individual will accomplish in the role. Men apply for jobs when they meet only 60 percent of the outlined qualifications, but women don’t feel confident to apply unless they meet 100 percent. Doing away with the “requirements” section and checklists that keep women and minorities from applying broadens your access to talent. Also, just say it! It’s okay to state your commitment to diversity and inclusion in your job descriptions. A simple sentence can go along way. Sarah Nahm, CEO, Lever.

Finding Your Fit Why Company Culture is More Important More Than Ever.

Finding Your Fit Why Company Culture is More Important More Than Ever. Landing a job is a huge accomplishment, but even more so, a huge commitment you’re about to add to your life. Although this new job title may be everything you have imagined, you may be entering a company without knowing if it is a good fit for you. More than ever, your workplace should reflect your personal values and agenda; you should never feel like you’re sacrificing your standards for a paycheck. A company’s culture should be something you research and know before making the commitment to work there. While visiting a high-tech start-up in London this past spring, the company environment seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. At first, the co-founder and employees agreed that the job was great, until I was able to speak to one of the women working there in private. Without this conversation, away from her boss, I would have never though that the company not only pays her less, but that she was one of only five women employed since the company was started. This is why one-on-one talks and research is imperative before accepting a job offer. Take note when you start to see red flags. A high salary or good benefits can seem enticing, but company culture may leave you feeling dissatisfied with your new position. These are some things do look out for when you are looking into the company culture of a potential employer: 1.) Employees talk about the company culture. If you want to love your job, you have to love the culture first. The first sign of a positive company culture is how passionate employees are about it and why they feel that it’s important that you contribute the existing culture. 2) Co-workers socialize outside the workplace Would you want to spend time with your potential co-workers outside of work? If the answer is yes, it is a good indication that you’ll like the company culture. You can always ask an employee or interviewer how much time they spend with their coworkers outside the office. If you love the people you work with, you’ll be more excited to come to work in the morning. 3) Too much leadership is a bad sign If only executives have nice offices and you have no clue who your senior management would be, it is likely that the company is very hierarchal and will be hard to grow internally. The effect of a company’s leaders can always be seen in one way or another, do your research and find out who these people are. 4) There’s no metaphor behind clutter. Being at work should not emulate your messy room. If a company doesn’t value the environment, then there is likely a reason behind why. 5) Internal competition While office productivity is important, employees should focus on competing with competitors, not each other. Internal competition causes high stress levels and can become unbearable. Playing as a team, not as enemies, should always be at the heart of a company. By Annie Kim and Michael McKay, Jozii College Jobs Made Easy

An Introverts Guide to Interview Success - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

An Introverts Guide to Interview Success - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Interviews can be scary for any job seeker, but mix in an introverted personality type and they’re sure to warrant an inexplicable amount of stress and anxiety. In the current competitive job climate, a successful interview is essential to getting hired. For many introverts, the thought of being compared to an extrovert can be daunting especially in such a highly social exchange. Due to their personable and forward nature, extroverts are often the candidates of choice for many employers. But with the right kind of personal branding, any introvert can utilize their unique personality traits to make themselves stand out to potential employers. Here are a few steps for introverts looking to showcase their personality and skills to employers, without changing who they are: Prepare Strong research and preparation efforts can do wonders in easing your nerves prior to an interview. Focus on familiarizing yourself with everything there is to know about the company and the position, as well as memorizing your resume and talking points. The day before your interview, put together your interview attire, practice answering general questions, and organize any materials you’ll be bringing to your interview. Taking the initiative to prepare in advance will cut down on some of your stress. Assess Yourself Spend time exploring your qualifications, skills, and personality traits to define what you want to express to potential employers. As an introvert, this activity is especially important due to employers potentially making assumptions about your innate personality traits. If you know that your quietness could be seen as being shy or aloof, look for ways to address this during the interview. Sell Your Strengths Many introverts struggle when it comes time to effectively sell themselves to employers. After your self-assessment, you’ll be able to piece together a variety of strengths to help you better market yourself to hiring managers during an interview. For example, explain how your exceptional listening skills have helped you in previous projects or with customer service successes. Speak About What You’ve Been Praised For Since it isn’t in an introvert’s nature to brag about their successes, introverted candidates should reiterate the praise they’ve received in previous positions. Interviewees will be more apt to show confidence when reporting factual statements, rather than speaking off the cuff about their personal successes. Focus On Your Body Language An interview is a time for hiring managers to get a feel for a candidate in a variety of different elements. Body language is one make or break area of an interview that introverts might find themselves struggling with. For better interview body language, develop a firm handshake, maintain strong eye contact, and focus on looking pleasant. Have Confidence In Your Interview Style Instead of focusing on what you could be doing better and over-analyzing before, during, and after your interview, show confidence in your interview approach. Take a step back and realize that your attentive style will set you apart from extroverted candidates who may be too chatty and lack the ability to make a connection. Don’t let your introverted personality hold you back in interviews. Focus on branding yourself in a way that will leave employers wondering how they ever managed without you. Are you an introverted job seeker? Share your interview tips below! Author: Heather R. Huhman  is a career expert, experienced hiring manager, and founder president of  Come Recommended, a content marketing and digital PR consultancy for job search and human resources technologies. She is also the instructor of  Find Me A Job: How To Score A Job Before Your Friends, author of  Lies, Damned Lies Internships  (2011) and  #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle  (2010), and writes career and recruiting advice for  numerous outlets.

Our Perceptions of Ourselves and Others and Their Impact [Updated] - Career Pivot

Our Perceptions of Ourselves and Others and Their Impact [Updated] - Career Pivot Our Perceptions Our perceptions of who we are is our reality! Our perceptions of others is our reality! That is some pretty heady stuff. What about others’ perceptions? How others perceive you is their reality. Do you know how others perceive you? If you think you know how others perceive you, where do you derive that from? Did you ask them? When our perception of ourselves is different from others’ perception of us, we run into problems at work. More than likely, it will cause us stress. How Do Others Perceive Us? I recently updated a post Do Others Prejudge You Based on Your LinkedIn Profile? [Updated]where I talk about how people prejudge us for a whole variety of reasons. Their perception is based on our profession, family, race, gender, education, social standing and social media presence or lack thereof. This is even more true in our connected society where people’s perceptions are based on what media channels they listen to or watch. No matter what you think, people perceive you differently than you think. I like to tell peopleyou do not see yourself as others see you. Roger Birkman and Perceptions I wrote this post originally several years ago after attending the Birkman Next Generation Conference in Sugarland Texas. The conference was attended by hundreds of Birkman consultants who use theBirkman Assessment to help individuals and companies reach peak performance. This was the first conference not attended by Dr. Roger Birkman, who passed away at the age of 95 earlier this year. Dr. Roger Birkman, a World War II pilot, was fascinated by the impact that perceptions had on pilot and crew performance. Dr. Birkman went on to study psychology in the war and later developed the Birkman Assessment. The Birkman Method, as it is formally known, is a personality, social perception, and occupational interest assessment used to identify behavioral strengths, motivational needs, stress behavior, and occupational interests. I have been using the Birkman Assessment for six years on hundreds of clients. I am still fascinated by what it reveals and how there can be major disconnects between our perceptions of ourselves and how others perceive us. The science behind the assessment is how we perceive other people is how we want to be treated. The latest version of the reporting structure presents how we perceive others and compares it to how we perceive ourselves. This is probably as close to measuring emotional intelligence that you can get. Itdoes not measure EI but it does give you a framework to explore how our perceptions of the world and ourselves and how they differ. Deep stuff!!or Example #1 â€" Introvert Who Likes Crowds I am currently working with a gentleman who you could describe as an introvert. In the Birkman Method, he is referred to as low acceptance. He likes working by himself or with a small group of close colleagues. Many would assume he would want to work from home. Does he want to work from home? NO! In fact, %^$ NO! He very much needs to be around people. He does not necessarily want to interact orwork projects with others, but he needs to be around people. You would never know this unless you talked with him about his need. The world of coworking spaces has arisen just for these kinds of people. Example #2 â€" Structured Anarchist I have written before about my client that I refer to as a Structured Anarchist. Bob appears as a very orderly person. He loves rules and structure, or at least that is how he appears. In the Birkman Method, he is referred to as High Structure. What Bob really loves is creating rules and structure. By the way, he is phenomenally good at creating systems. He just does not want any rules or structure placed on him when creating these systems. Others’ perceptions of Bob did not align with Bob’s own perception of himself. He kept being placed in very orderly roles, but what he really wanted was to be placed in total and complete chaos where he could create order. It was not until we worked through the Birkman Assessment that we identified this disconnect and he could articulate this strength. He no longer waits to be placed into a role, but he actively seeks out opportunities where he gets to create order out of chaos. Example #3 â€" Closet Introvert I admit it, I am a closet introvert. You would never know it from seeing me present or work a room. I am highly social, however, my need is to spend lots of time by myself. When I am done working a room or presenting I am exhausted. I am toast. People look at me and think I am an extrovert. I am not! I have learned to behave like an extrovert but I do not get energy from being around people. The reality is being around people consumes massive amounts of energy. I like being around people but it is a giant energy suck! You can read more about being a closet introvert in my post 3 Signs You Are a Closet Introvert and What to Do! [Updated] We Are Actors at Work When most of us went off to start our careers we became actors. We go to work and play roles. We learn to play these roles and if we stay in character long enough we may start believing we are that character. We learn skills that will pay us an income. Some of those skills pay us a lot of money but with a cost. I learned to be quite a good presenter. When I worked for IBM, I spent 10 years as an articulate techno-weenie or a geek that could speak. The cost was it exhausted me. I would cycle through periods of back problems that would send me to bed, then I would take a break, get better and go back at it. You can read more about this in my post Search actor Are You Your Authentic Self or an Actor at Work? [Updated]. How Are Your Perceptions of You and Others? If you would like to learn more about Birkman Assessment, watch this excellent video below! This video was created back in 2014 and it charged me up. I wanted to share this video with you. Do you see the impact that perceptions have in the workplace? Feel free to reach out to me through my contact form if you want to discuss the Birkman Assessment any further. Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

College Job or Stepping Stone - CareerAlley

College Job or Stepping Stone - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. A stepping-stone can be a stumbling block if we cant see it until after we have tripped over it. Cullen Hightower When we discuss the process of looking for your first job out of college, what we usually mean is looking for your first real job out of college. Most college grads have actually been in the working world for a while in one way or another, even if its just what many consider unskilled work in fast food, waitressing, bartending, working a register, lifeguarding or dog-walking. Its important that you view your current jobas well as your past college jobsas stepping stones toward your future career. When filling out job applications, many people do not include some of their college jobs because they believe it might make them look bad (wearing a chicken costume for a fast food restaurant?) or that the job experience gained is not relevant to the job you are applying for (how does working a cash register relate to the entry-level accounting job youre applying for?). But you may want to rethink these ideas. Why? First of all, because employers like to see that you remained consistently employed for a long period of time. If you leave out that infamous chicken suit job from your resume, the person looking over your resume may wonder why you were not working during the blank time period. Secondly, there are ways you can make even the most embarrassing work look golden on a resume. Instead of writing I wore a chicken suit for six hours a day, you can write, I creatively promoted and raised awareness for my company, helping to boost sales. That doesnt sound so bad now, does it? While the chicken suit may be an extreme example, the important thing to remember is to look over every single college job youve had, scouring it for the job skills you acquired that a future employer would find valuable. For instance, the employer at the accounting job youre applying for may not care that you worked a cash register, but they do care that you have experience handling money and that you helped train new cashiers (that shows leadership skills). Your education and college job experience together is a powerful combo. In the education section of your resume, you can emphasize courses you took in communication and professional writing, for instance. In the job experience section, you can write that you demonstrated excellent communication and conflict management skills while waitressing or working with customers in another capacity. After all, didnt you get quite adept back in the day at pacifying even the crankiest of customers? The point to remember in all of this is that it is far better to list your college jobs than to strip your resume bare when applying for your first real job out of college. Sure, extracurricular activities, volunteering and GPA may look good on a college application, but they wont do you too much good all by themselves on a job application. Be creative in the way you include your college job experience, and think long and hard about the skills youve gained because of them. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+ Visit Joeys profile on Pinterest. Job Search job title, keywords, company, location jobs by What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to land your first job. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search

How Does a Resume Writer Work? Simple Tips For Hiring the Best Resume Writing Service

How Does a Resume Writer Work? Simple Tips For Hiring the Best Resume Writing ServiceHow does a resume writer work? Simply put, a resume writer's job is to craft and turn a person's resume in a way that makes it more likely to get a hiring manager's attention. A good resume writer understands that the more text he or she can squeeze into a two-page document, the better job the person will do.Some writers go the extra mile and get all kinds of fancy techniques and tricks up their sleeves, such as adding certain key words or including specific details about an applicant's career. This, of course, would not help the applicant since the goal is to get the hiring manager's attention. There are so many other more subtle things you can do as well, but the bottom line is to not use words that would cause a hiring manager to lose his or her attention.Any potential employer is going to ask themselves several important questions about an applicant when they begin reading a resume. These questio ns should include: Why did you leave your previous job?What makes you special? Do you have skills that make you uniquely qualified for this position? Have you been through an exhaustive search process to find the right job?What do you think you have to offer this company? If you have any experience related to the job description, put it in there. No one wants to hire someone who has no experience.Every resume writer that we've ever hired has had a track record of consistently writing quality resumes for our clients. The only thing that gets them hired is their writing ability.Resume writing service is just one way to bring quality resumes to the employer. One of the best ways to get resumes out there is to spread the word via social media. LinkedIn is one of the most popular social media networks with a lot of people using it, so if you want to be known and featured in those circles, be sure to create a profile on LinkedIn.And finally, if you're hiring a resume writer, make sure tha t they have a website or blog. Make sure that they do not require payment upfront for a resume, and make sure that they have lots of content ready to go. If you are hiring someone on an as-needed basis, you don't need a lot of work on your part.