Linked Out Link In. - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Linked Out Link In. - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The job is tedious. Below you. Boring. Ridiculous. Worse than ridiculous when you consider your degree, stage of life, needs, self-image, friends’ careers … the litany is long, when it comes to why you are better than your job. What you don’t know is that your miserable job is a link in the chain that pulls the world in the right direction. Or not. Destination or part of the journey Before I got on-air â€" before I thought I could get on-air, I went to a broadcast program at this small jewel of a program at Chapman University in Orange County, California. Leo Green, my first instructor and mentor had been in charge of news or features for seemingly every major (and minor) program, network or station that I’d watched or heard about. I thought I might become a news reporter.  So I went to see if I could. Short answer: yes. Before I completed the program, I began doing pieces for KOCE, the public television station in Orange County, among other local stations. Short story? Reporting is very, very boring. It is tedious. It is silly. You spend hours learning about a tree ordinance and then hunt down people who cry on camera because the city cut down their trees. All that effort gets you maybe 180 seconds of a news package. Suddenly, in my ear a producer’s voice said, “Smile, when you say cocaine bust,” as I sat at an anchor desk talking about what the police did in Hemet: a scorching little dot on the map near Palm Springs, California. And, the point is? I found out that local news reporting is the least, best use of me. There’s more to tell, and worse, but that will do. I love business. I love being a business pundit in media. Totally different gig, which I would not have gotten if I hadn’t happily congratulated Hemet’s finest for their haul: exactly as I was instructed to do. Leo taught me something more valuable than learning to read prompter without moving my eyes. Something I believed, even when it was raining and I was doing a standup in high heels on a hill that was coming down during a mudslide. Which for me, looks dumb, feels dumb and is dumb. Dumber than dangerous. “Everything matters.” I don’t care if you like it or feel like you’re being actualized by it. Whether you are delivering flyers, entering data, collating, photocopying, using a scissors, braiding hair or doing brain surgery: everything matters. All the very small and miserable things you and I do to earn a living matter â€" because we are responsible for some link in some chain that pulls some company in, God-willing, the right direction. And, that’s how commerce, media, government or charitable organizations work, and how the world goes around. And, your career with it. LinkedIn? Yes, but first link in. You matter. Author: Nance Rosen is the author of Speak Up! Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name: nancerosen

What are Your Natural Talents and How to Find Them [Updated] - Career Pivot

What are Your Natural Talents and How to Find Them [Updated] - Career Pivot Natural Talents? A quandaryI find many people have is identifying their natural talents. They can tell you all about the skills that have acquired. We are paid to exercise our skills, which may or may not be built on top of our natural talents. If you are not sure of the difference between talents and skills read my postTalents versus Skills â€" Do you know the difference? I have been taking myself through a few exercises. I have found it quite interesting and thought-provoking. What did you love to do as a kid? Reflect back on your childhood and what did you do that once you got started you could not stop. It may not be something you did very often but it was intoxicating once you got started. It took me a while but the one thing I could do for hours and hours as a child was to assemble jigsaw puzzles. My mother did not buy them very often. When she did they were very addictive. Dig out a piece of paper and ruminate on this for a while. I developed a method for solving jigsaw puzzles. The borders came first and then I would find distinctive patterns in different sections of the puzzle to work on. Slowly but surely the sections would start to flow together or attach to the edges. I am a natural with patterns. I now can see that whenever I had manageable puzzles to solve in my career I was successful. By the way, I wanted to solve the entire puzzle and not just one piece! Listen to the most recent episode What did you love to do as a kid? What do love to do as an adult? You may have to go back to when you first became an adult. Look for a common theme in your career when you have been really happy. What was really enjoyable? Dig out that piece of paper and ruminate again. This might even take you longer! The common theme for myself is helping people. Whether it was running a help desk for mechanical engineers, developing and delivering technology training, presenting product plans to customers, teaching Algebra to high school students or providing career direction to baby boomers, it has always been around teaching, training or coaching. An exercise I have my clients work on is to ask 3 people you know from work and 3 people you know in your personal life and ask: “Please give me 3-5 words or phrases that describe me.” You may also want to ask, “What am I good at?” You will have to listen to their responses and differentiate between talents versus skills. Most of the time they will tell you about your skills. What are your natural talents? What skills have you acquired to complement your talents? For many of us, we acquired a lot of skills that did not complement our natural talents. I know how to program in a lot of different programming languages. All of those skills, although valuable, I have not exercised in years and really do not want to use. I was paid very well early in my career for those skills but quickly burned out. Programming requires working intensely for long periods of time but I have a very short attention span. I can do that but …. it sucks the life out of me. Just because you CAN do something does not mean you SHOULD do something! I have acquired a lot of skills in the area of training development and delivery and I am excellent in both. However, developing training is much more aligned with my natural talents than delivering the same training. I am an excellent presenter and trainer but it does not come naturally. I am a closet introvert. My full-time job for IBM for almost 10 years was as a public speaker and trainer. I honed that skill such that I spoke to audiences of all sizes 100-200 times a year. I can now see that when I made a career pivot to be a high school math teaching in my late forties it was ordained that I would eventually burn out. My teaching skills are not tied to my natural talents. I was phenomenally good at it and it was incredibly rewarding but it sucked the life out of me. What are your skills? Take out that piece of paper again. Once you have completed the list answer the following question. Which of those skills complement your natural talents. I previously wrote a blog post titled â€" Larry Bird, Winners, Talents and Skills I quoted the great basketball player, Larry Bird â€" A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals What goals have you attained in this manner? What skills do you have that are not aligned with your natural talents? Which of these skills do you want to leave behind in your 2nd half of life? If you are not sure, please read What Skills Will You Use in the 2nd Half of Life? 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 ...

Tips to get your Resume Noticed!

Tips to get your Resume Noticed! Tips to get your Resume Noticed! Tips to get your Resume Noticed! November 5, 2009 by Career Coach Sherri Thomas 5 Comments Dont worry if there is a product nobodys heard about or is difficult to explain on your resume. You want the hiring manager to be curious about you. Thats why they have interviews so they can get more information about your qualifications. Be brief. Be specific. And give them enough information that will leave them wanting more. * Highlight leadership and teamwork. Hiring managers look for candidates who are strong leaders, AND strong team contributors. Someone who can lead, as well as be led. So highlight your leadership skills and what the results were with the projects and teams that youve led. If youre just started out in your career and havent led any projects or teams, then highlight any leadership experience you may have had in professional organizations, a sports league, in church, or any other extra-curricular activities. Also, list projects in which you were a strong team member in terms of what your role was, and what the team accomplished. * Be specific and clear. Dont waste your resume space (or the hiring managers time) by using filler words or vague overarching comments like, received awards for various contributions, or launched several products. List the specific awards you received, or the names of the products youve launched. This gives your resume substance and credibility. For more juicy tips and help from our resume writing pro(!) to make your resume stand out from your competition, visit our resume tips page!

How to Succeed at HR Resume Writing

How to Succeed at HR Resume WritingLike all other forms of job hunting, writing a compelling HR resume can take quite a bit of time. This is especially true if you want to create a resume that gets you noticed by your potential employer. Thankfully, many writers of resumes are now learning the proper approach to professional resume writing.Resumes today must be more than just an application. They must stand out from all of the rest, because the only way to get the employer's attention is to offer something unique. This means you need to be creative when you create your resume.One easy route to go in is to write an outline for your resume. Start by listing your qualifications in an ordered fashion and see how the skills match up with what you've done in the past. Once you have an outline, you can begin the process of putting together your resume. The outline will give you a list of career steps and events to include on your resume.Another key to a successful resume is to make sure you do not include information that is irrelevant. You do not want your prospective employer to have to read through multiple pages just to find out that you left out several important details. Many times you can tell where the job posting came from by the way it was formatted. If the headline isn't super catchy, chances are it's coming from a place of desperation.Sometimes a resume may read too much like a textbook. Sure, you want to show your abilities and accomplishments, but you don't want to go overboard with too much information. Even though your skills are very valuable, you don't want to overwhelm them with too much detail. It is best to leave some space for your resume to breathe and set apart itself from the crowd.In order to write a resume that is truly worth the attention of your employer, you will need to constantly tweak your resume and experiment with different versions. The goal is to write a resume that matches the position and skill set you are looking for. This takes a lot of time and dedication, but it will pay off in the end.The HR resume writing process can take a lot of work and will never be easy. Even with all of the tools available, it is possible to do it wrong. It is only when you do it right that you get the results you want.If you need help with your resume, find a reputable professional writer. Using professional resume writing services will allow you to focus on your job search instead of having to deal with the the resume writing process.

Resume For Writing Staff - How to Write a Writing Staff Resume That Works

Resume For Writing Staff - How to Write a Writing Staff Resume That WorksA resume for writing staff is really one of the best strategies that you can use to effectively make yourself known in this ever-evolving field. Since there are so many new applicants who are now applying for this career field, the marketing of your skills has also become a very important topic that you need to pay attention to.No one can say whether the job that you hold is appropriate for your current work and the company's needs. You must first know the possible fields that the company you are applying for may be looking for. Knowing these before making the resume for writing staff is very beneficial since it will help you narrow down your search significantly.Whether you intend to work as a manager or as an administrative person, you need to make sure that the employee's resume speaks for itself and sets you apart from the thousands of other applicants. So while creating the resume for writing staff, you nee d to consider all of the factors mentioned below. From here, you are then in a position to write a resume that perfectly fits the requirements of the company.The content of the resume for writing staff should also reflect the needs of the company and what the employees are able to do. Writing resumes is actually about conveying your skills and capabilities to the potential employer. This can be done easily if you take into consideration the field that you are likely to apply for.Of course, the choice of the font used in your resume is also significant. There are some common fonts that you can use to capture the attention of the reader, which would most likely land you a higher chance of getting hired. You can consider using Microsoft Word's spell check function which can be accessed through the File menu.You should also take note of the fact that the resume for writing staff should also have some benefits attached to it. This would help you to convince the employer to hire you and g ive you the necessary points to show that you're ready for the position. Some of the most common advantages that you can include in your resume are your background, your education, and also your personal attributes. These are all ways of establishing yourself and showcasing your personality.If you are already a firm believer in the idea of creating a resume for writing staff, you might also want to create a resume template to keep you on track. Resume templates will help you get a fresh set of ideas on how to build a resume that really reflects your talent and abilities.

Who Else Wants to Learn About What Do Employers Look for in a Resume?

Who Else Wants to Learn About What Do Employers Look for in a Resume? Open up your mind and realize that it's all up to you to adapt and change to satisfy the growing demands of a computer based world along with employment marketplace. There are lots of courses available online, along with at your regional colleges and universities. Find out more about the job which you are applying for, identify industry difficulties. So as to break through the six-second barrier, and direct additional attention to your application, you want to effectively sell yourself and create an awareness of urgency surrounding your present employment availability. The What Do Employers Look for in a Resume Stories Employers appreciate candidates that have a very clear set of goals and a very clear awareness of direction. Knowing what other forms of positions they're interviewing for will enable you to know if they're seeking to remain in their field, make a career change or only attempting to find wor k. Deficiency of time is the largest reason they say it can take awhile to contact you. What Do Employers Look for in a Resume - the Conspiracy Over the past ten years or so, using keywords in resumes has gotten a good deal of buzz. Writing a winning resume isn't practically putting your very best foot forward, it's about putting the right details onto the webpage. Your resume can offer you a considerable edge, but nevertheless, it can be a little double-edged sword. You need your resume to stick out among a hundred other resumes so that's a very good method to become noticed. Don't make the employer get rid of interest in the very first paragraph, make them want to learn more! Boldly highlight what you've done for your former employers, and show the reader what you can do to help a new firm. Just remember that employers like to observe a clear resume that is simple to follow along with. Employers like to find applicants that have a predictable, focused resume. The Hones t to Goodness Truth on What Do Employers Look for in a Resume In reality, there are a number of exclusive skills an employer looks for in the candidates. You're able to show employers that you've got the necessary hard skills through your qualifications and experience. Begin by matching your qualifications to the job if employers are looking for a person who is detail-oriented, be certain your organizational abilities and capability to manage a lot of projects without mistakes is on display. Getting responsible is a vital crucial skills employers will search for in resume for fresher in future Independent mean you're able to work independently. So as to predict what the recruiter is searching for in a candidate, reread the work advert and observe any attributes they are trying to find in the opening. Chronological resumes are usually considered the simplest to screen, clearly revealing past work experience and duration of employment. Employers want to see if it's possible to compile a presentable document. When they say they want someone they can rely on, they're looking for commitment, says Robinson. Want to Know More About What Do Employers Look for in a Resume? Bear in mind, it's still your responsibility to present your business, the position and advantages in the most positive light to capture the most suitable candidate over your competition. It's never recommended to attempt to be someone who you aren't in order to have the job. Previously, you could matriculate v by just attending as an observer, which you may list on your resume too. Whenever you sit down to prepare a cover letter and resume, take some time to get within the head of the individual doing the very first screening.

What Are Boomerang Candidates (And How Do You Handle Them) - Work It Daily

What Are Boomerang Candidates (And How Do You Handle Them) - Work It Daily The Benefits Of Boomerang Candidates Over the past few decades, the employment landscape has changed dramatically. Few employees now spend their entire career with a company, advancing within the same organization. Instead, they change employers frequently and are constantly searching for a better position, often with a competitor. Related: Top 3 Character Traits To Look For In Your Next Hire In fact, today’s average employee stays at each of his or her jobs for just 4.4 years. And this environment is a breeding ground for boomerang candidates. What exactly are boomerang candidates? They’re employees who leave one company for another job, only to eventually return to their former workplace. And boomerang candidates offer both benefits and challenges to employers considering re-hiring them. Below, we discuss some of the reasons you should consider boomerang employees, as well as tips for interviewing, hiring, and reintegrating them into your company. The Benefits Of Boomerang Candidates Boomerang candidates bring several unique benefits to the table. In fact, many recruiters actually prefer re-hiring old employees to finding and training new employees. They’re a known entity. First, boomerang candidates have a well-known track record with your company. You know what to expect from them. Their former managers and co-workers are familiar with their strengths and weaknesses, and you already know that they’re a good cultural fit. And you have built-in, reliable references â€" fellow employees who will be able to speak to their work ethic and their past performance. They’re easier to train. Second, boomerang candidates cost less and are easier to train. They’re already familiar with your company's operations, as well as any unique processes or programs. Much of the basic onboarding and training can be skipped, so they can start contributing and producing sooner. Their turnover rate is lower. Third, the employee turnover rate is lower among boomerang candidates than it is for typical new hires. Just as your company knows what to expect from them, they know what to expect from you and your company. They’re already comfortable with the culture, and have succeeded in it previously. More significantly? Knowing what else is out there, they chose to come back. They provide a competitive advantage. In some cases, boomerang candidates may provide one more unique benefit: a competitive advantage. They may have built relationships with customers who will follow them to your company, or they may have gained significant insights from their time working at another company in the industry. As long as they’re not violating any type of legal contract, these insights could provide a valuable competitive boost. Pre-Hire Precautions While there are a number of benefits to hiring boomerang candidates, there are also precautions that companies should take during the interview and hiring process. The biggest concern? What happened between the time the employee left your company and the time he or she reapplied. The exit interview Successful boomerang hires begin with an interviewâ€" but not the kind you’re thinking. Sure, the return interview is important. But so is the exit interview. Conducting an in-depth exit interview with every employee who leaves your company gives them an opportunity to share why they’re leaving â€" an important think to know, should they ever want to return. It also lets both parties â€" your company and the employee â€" lay out how they would like to approach their future relationship. Staying connected You should also try to stay in touch with employees who may want to return later, or who you think would be good candidates for rehiring down the line. The most successful boomerang hires are the ones who stay connected with their former employers, whether it’s through the HR or recruiting departments or through friends or colleagues still working there. A close relationship will also help former employees reintegrate themselves more quickly into your company's culture. Cover all your bases Finally, before making a decision, you need to consider two things: why they left in the first place, and why they want to return. It’s fine if they left because they simply wanted a different position or different experience. But if it was because of an underlying issue like a managerial problem or cultural conflict, that could present a problem. Also be sure to reach out to the employee’s most recent managers and references to get their read on the employee. A lot can change in a short period of time, so it’s important to make sure the employee you’re considering rehiring is the same one you were sad to see leave. Reintegration Into The Workplace Boomerang candidates rarely come back to the same situation they left. Maybe they’re coming back to a new position, or company policies have changed. It’s likely they’ll be working under â€" or over â€" a new team of people. In order to successfully integrate a former employee into a new company environment, expectations need to be clearly set. The best way to do this? Have well-written job descriptions for the boomerang candidate, as well everyone they work with â€" and make sure that everyone is on the same page prior to their start date. As long as there are clear roles in place and clear expectations set, your company should be able to benefit from many of the advantages of boomerang candidates. Be sure to maintain a relationship with your best former employees, and do your research when you’re considering rehiring them. Hiring boomerang candidates isn’t easy, but it can have big payoffs (and savings) in the end. Have you ever hired a boomerang candidate? What was your experience? This post was originally published at an earlier date. Related Posts 5 Ways To Attract (And Keep!) The Best Employees Why You Should Hire For Personality, Not Just Experience How To Manage Without Being Mean (Is It Possible To Not Be Pushy?)   Photo Credit: Shutterstock Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!