One of The Most Common Positive Trends Among Job Seekers Today

One of The Most Common Positive Trends Among Job Seekers Today 6 During a recession when few jobs are available, there's one tactic that many job seekers are trying: starting their own business. There are lots of reasons for a job seeker to try starting a business now. Why starting a business can be a good idea for you You will learn a lot. If you choose the right business, many of the skills you learn can also benefit your professional career. You might find a job. By taking action and networking with like-minded people, you increase the chances of meeting someone who needs a skilled person like you that understands their business.eval You will feel better about yourself. By learning a new business and aiming towards measurable goals, you will feel more in control of your life than when on a job search that's dragging on, where it seems like you're at the mercy of every hiring manager who invites you for an interview. You will earn more money. If your new business is a success, it will end your job search by becoming your new job. At the minimum, you can generate extra income that continues to grow even after you find a “real” job, so that eventually you will earn enough to no longer feel locked in to any job.eval Most enterprising job seekers tell me that they either got fed up with job searching, or they had a business idea they wanted to try, or both. And I completely understand, because I've been there too. Freelancers and small business owners Join 4 million freelancers who use Payoneer’s payment solutions: Lower fees Faster payment Greater flexibility Sign up and get $25* The first days of my own business My last job search started in June of 2006. Still living in Paris at the time, my job search was nevertheless focused on continuing my high tech career, but back in Israel. After 3 months of interviews, including two round-trip flights to Tel Aviv, the idea for a blog to help other job seekers started to take shape. Initially, my main goal was to share my own job search highs and lows for the benefit of others and it still is. I also liked the idea that no one else in Israel was blogging about job search (that is, until I actually started blogging and realized how much harder that fact made my blogging life at the time). Ironically though, one of the reasons I started blogging about job search was to spend less time in job search. As you know, spending 8 hours a day looking for a job is tough work. Working on this blog became a chance to learn something new that could help in my professional career, and not just by helping me find a new one. It was refreshing to work on a new project for the first time in over a year and it didn't take long until I was excited about the possibilities. Then people started asking me The Question. The one question job seekers hesitate to ask me most… …but then do so anyway. And that question is: “How do you make money?” This question used to really frustrate me. I remember saying to someone, “we're here at a job fair. Wouldn't you rather ask me for help about your job search?” I didn't yet understand how the answer to their question could actually help their job search by inspiring them to do something similar to what I was doing, for all the benefits I mentioned above. Another reason the money question annoyed me early on was because at that time, I wasn't making any money. I didn't originally have the intention to make a business out of JobMob, but as I learned, applied and tested what I learned, I started to make a little bit of money, so I kept going and I made a little more, and so on. So now let me answer your question. I currently make money with JobMob 3 different ways: Advertising â€" mostly banner (image) advertising on the website itself. Consulting â€" I consult about job search/recruitment, personal branding, blogging, social media, e-commerce, community building and almost any topic related to the Internet. Affiliate marketing â€" earning commissions from the sales of other people's products. One key to success with affiliate marketing is to only promote products that you can vouch for. There are many products coming out all the time but I'm very picky and only willing to talk to you about the rare products that are must-sees, the ones where you get so much more value than what you pay for. Usually, these are also products that I've used myself, like the OnlineProfits.com online business training course. A terrific starter course for the enterprising job seeker I've known Daniel Scocco, creator of OnlineProfits.com and one of the most successful bloggers ever, for a few years. After completing the first edition of his course in 2009, Daniel asked me for a testimonial and this is what I told him: “OnlineProfits is a terrific starter course for the Internet entrepreneur. I liked how a typical lesson is short enough to go through in one sitting but long enough to give you the insight needed to start getting results in the topic covered. Also, some of the tools provided are great time-savers. I plan to recommend the course to my blog readers.” And that's why OnlineProfits is the perfect course for the job seeker (0r anyone) who'd like to start a business. Together with other top-level web experts that he gathered from around the world to mentor OnlineProfits students, Daniel's lessons take you by the hand in covering all the major facets of running an online business and explain how to do it effectively, wasting the least amount of time and effort, which means you can continue with your job search in parallel. I asked Daniel: what do you think is the most compelling reason to start an online-based business right now? He replied: “Despite having revolutionized the world already, the web is still in its infancy. We can't even imagine the things that are coming. But one thing is certain, the people working online are the ones who will be catching the biggest opportunities. “ This goes back to the benefits I mentioned earlier. If you start building a business now and keep at it, eventually you will be able to take advantage of opportunities that can lead to you not needing any other jobs except the ones you create. JOIN ONLINEPROFITS.COM TODAY

Brand Advocate Numero Uno - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Brand Advocate Numero Uno - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career I’m often asked in workshops, “who needs to be my number one brand advocate?” The guesses range from my current supervisor, a trusted mentor, a current client or a leader in the industry.   Some, even after going over the ”18 Critical Connections You Need to Know” still ask, “is there one that stands out as more important than anyone else?” The answer is yes. Yet, it’s not one of the ones on the list nor is it any of the really good guesses.   Simply put â€" it’s you.   The biggest sale we make on any given day is the sale we make to ourselves â€" we either sell ourselves on our strengths and our great “you can do it attitude” or we sell ourselves short and buy into the many weaknesses, obstacles, should-ofs, would-ofs and could-ofs. Where people fall short is in HOW to be your best brand advocate.   It doesn’t mean getting really good at spouting your unique value or promise (although that doesn’t hurt). And, it doesn’t mean being so promotional that all you do is talk about yourself. (I’m reminded of Bette Midler in the movie, Beaches, whenever I broach that subject where she states to someone who has been listening to her drone on and on about herself, “well I’ve talked enough about me; now it’s your turn â€" tell me what you think about me?”) Here are three things you can do immediately to be your best brand advocate: 1.   Ask for documentation. What I mean is start asking for documentation of your strengths and your great accomplishments.   When you volunteer for an organization, while the plaque or t-shirt is nice or even a mention in a newsletter is appreciated,   you must be proactive and ask for a letter documenting what you did.   I’ve worked with many organizations and have even declined them creating a plaque for me and encouraged them to save the money and put it towards the “cause or cure” by just sending a letter on the organization letterhead to me that thanks me for helping them with their walk, event, gala, board of directors, volunteer team â€" basically whatever I assisted with.   Why? Because I cannot put a plaque or cute mug, into my personnel file.   I cannot flow the comments onto my blog, or include it in an online bio or a LinkedIn profile.   A letter, however, can be reproduced, excerpts can be used for quotes on website, blogs, profiles or brochures and it can be rev iewed at evaluation time. Be sure to keep the original and then you make copies for your immediate supervisor and one for the personnel department so they can place it in your permanent personnel file. That is your job to do â€" not to hand off to the personnel department or supervisor for if they lose track of the original then you lose a valuable piece of documentation.     If you’re an entrepreneur, keep it in your testimonial file, use it on your blog, website and any online portfolio. It’s your job to be your best brand advocate and this includes documenting all of the great things you’ve done â€" from volunteering with the boy scouts, belonging to a Rotary club and providing a quick speech or walking for a cure.   Asking for a letter is a relatively easy document to ask for and to retrieve.   Look into your calendar for the past year or on your desk/bookshelf and see what other forms of recognition you’ve received that would serve you best in letter form.   Then ask! In the nine years I was employed by non-profit organizations, only once did anyone ask for a letter documenting their service.   I would of gladly written hundreds of letters instead of having to peruse promotional catalogs for days looking for paperweights or cool framed certificates to give.   And, worse yet, expending the hard raised funds on ‘thank you’s’ that could go towards eradicating, alleviating or advocating for the cause. 2.   Create an “I love me” wall. I know how narcissistic that must sound!   Yet, when people walk into your office, cubicle, space, store front or any place you conduct business this wall speaks volumes to them without you ever having to say a word.   Now, while I call it a wall â€" it can be a bookshelf or a counter top or even the flimsy press-board of a cubicle privacy separator.   What it showcases are all those certificates and plaques that you’ve already received BEFORE you started asking for written documentation.   (Understand that even as you start asking for letters and declining any plaques or framed gifts â€" there will still be organizations that give you that â€" regardless.) 3.   Collect your documentation. A little different from the “ask” recommendation â€" this is collecting all the “atta-boys, kudos, good jobs and gold stars” you’ve ever received and put them all together.   Some companies have slips like “catch them doing something right slips” or they have a “suggestion box” or some other types of employee recognition programs.   Collect those documents.   Make sure you have copies of each of those and that the personnel department has copies of them. Did you make period sales three months in a row?   Do you have that documented or was it merely applause and an announcement during a staff meeting? Did you help reduce expenses or eliminate a line item?   Make your evaluations, whether it is an employee evaluation or someone evaluating hiring or doing business with you.   more than just discussion about â€" what have you done for me lately.   Give   a full and complete rendition of brand you! (*Note: also if you’re saving some of these documents in scans or in word format be sure to also same them in PDF format.   Nothing reflects worse on you than you sending a perfectly formatted testimonial that someone has written about you in a word document and it converts to the receiver’s margins and specifications and now looks â€" sloppy.   Preserve your hard work and convert it to PDF format. CutePDF is a great free program that can be installed and show up like an additional printer for you so when you would like to convert a document it’s as easy as selecting the ‘PDF printer’) Only you You are responsible for your own personal brand â€" why would you let anyone else manage it? Managing your personal brand takes time yet yields great dividends.   I’m anxious to hear how each of you are your “brand advocate numero uno”. Author: Maria Elena Duron is chief buzz officer, coach and speaker with buzz2bucks.com. Buzz2Bucks | a word of mouth firm serves as the community manager around your personal or business brand online and offline, and coaches community managers on how to be buzz-worthy. Buzz2Bucks is known for the talk that yields profits. She is author of the book “Mouth to Mouth Marketing” and the ebook “Social I.R.A.” She’s been quoted as a marketing and word of mouth expert by Entrepreneur Magazine and contributes to several publications and is the creator of #brandchat, a weekly twitter conversation about all aspects of branding. She broadcasts weekly as the business coach with CBS7. Duron will speak at the 2009 Massachusetts Conference for Women.

The Summer Presents Unique Workplace Challenges

The Summer Presents Unique Workplace Challenges The summer months often present unique issues for employers when it comes to telecommuting, flexible schedules, seasonal hires, summer interns, time off and summer vacations. These are among the key workplace challenges an employer should consider. Summer may be a time when employees are more interested in telecommuting and flexible schedules to help them spend more time with family, watch children home from school, enjoy the summer weather and longer days and otherwise improve work-life balance. An employer may provide support by allowing employees to work remotely and implementing flex-time policies. However, if an employer permits this, it should be sure to establish comprehensive policies and procedures. An employer should ensure that employees record the time spent working and outline the employers guidelines and expectations regarding productivity and deadlines. An employer still may be liable for any unpaid wages or overtime for time spent working and thus should make sure to compensate employees adequately based on time records. Many companies ramp up their hiring over the summer. When hiring any seasonal workers or temporary workers to assist during the summer months, it is essential for an employer to utilize the same hiring practices and background checks as the employer uses for all full-time workers. Further, an employer must comply with all relevant discrimination, harassment and child labor laws. Summer is also a time when employees take time off to enjoy vacations and special time with loved ones in the beautiful weather. Therefore, an employer should make sure that its policies regarding vacation or paid time off (PTO) are communicated to all employees and placed in an employee handbook. Further, such policies should be applied uniformly to prevent discrimination claims. An employer may require employees to provide advance notification of time off and schedules so that the employer may properly plan concerning scheduling and coverage. During the summer, it may be common for an employer to hire interns to provide exposure and insight into the business and, potentially, prepare them for future employment. However, an unpaid intern may claim that he or she is an employee and should be appropriately compensated and provided with workplace protections. An employer considering unpaid internships should be sure the intern realizes most of the benefit. An employer should take the following actions to help limit the legal risks of an unpaid internship: Make sure the employer and the intern both clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation, ideally with a written acknowledgment from both the intern and the company; Provide training that would be similar to what would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions; Tie the internship to the interns formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit; Accommodate the interns academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar; Ensure the intern continues to learn during the entire duration of his or her internship; Make the interns work complement, rather than displace, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern; and Understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the course. A prudent employer should take note of the challenging issues the summer may present and develop a set of best practices for handling these issues to make the workplace more productive and efficient, as well as minimize the risk of employer liability. About the author: Beth Zoller covers topics related to discrimination and harassment, diversity, employee privacy, employee handbooks and workplace conduct for XpertHR, an online employment resource. Beth has been quoted in numerous publications such as the Huffington Post, Fast Company and Switch and Shift. She has also been a guest on Marketwatch Radio and Wall Street Journal Radio and has been a speaker at New York State SHRMs Go for the Gold Conference and HR Houstons Gulf Coast Symposium.

3 Common Causes for Recruiter Job Seeker Disconnect

3 Common Causes for Recruiter Job Seeker Disconnect Few interactions are as potentially fraught as that between job seeker and recruiter. For the job seeker, everything is on the line. The recruiter has the ability to connect the job seeker with the next opportunity which will provide income, benefits, experience, and contribute to the job seeker’s sense of self-regard, career development and accomplishment. But a lot is riding on the recruiter, too. He wants to match the right person to the right position; hopefully, he is motivated to avoid the high cost of employee turnover. A successful match can lead to a beautiful long-term relationship: the job seeker fits perfectly within the organization, contributes to the company mission and bottom line, and both employee and company grow as a result of the partnership. That’s what recruiters are aiming for. Right? Not always. I know this because I’ve spoken to many recruiters who have yet to find the real purpose and meaning of the organizations they represent. This impacts how the recruiter portrays the company brand, his loyalty to the company, job performance, and how he shows up with recruits. Whether or not the recruiter has a proper understanding of the company’s purpose, there are numerous ways that recruiter/job seeker communication can break down: 1. Ineffective communication of recruiter contributes to poor employer brand experience Stacy Caprio of Accelerated Growth Marketing responded to an email from a company recruiter because of how attractive the company looked in the advertisement. Stacy was excited about the new opportunity. She went through three phone interviews and one in-person interview with the recruiter’s manager. Stacy got the job. . . or so she thought. One week later, Stacy received a form email rejection from the company’s application site. The recruiter did not even use her personal email, through which she and Stacy had communicated previously. This impersonal rejection, combined with several other negative experiences Stacy had while interviewing, left a bad taste in her mouth. The Solution: It’s impossible to know exactly what happened to cause this breakdown. Perhaps the unprofessionalism Stacy witnessed during the interview process is endemic to the organization; maybe the recruiter wasn’t confident to be transparent with the candidate throughout the cycle; or, perhaps the recruiter wasn’t fully informed by the hiring managers and was unable to provide transparency due to her own lack of knowledge. The recruiter could have alleviated the situation with common courtesyan apology from her personal email at the very least. Her embarrassment over getting it wrong needlessly contributed to Stacy’s bad experience with the brandâ€"which she readily shared with me and, one can assume, her own network. 2. The candidate has unrealistic expectations or inaccurate understanding of his own competencies Sarah has over twenty years of experience in her field and received positive reinforcement concerning her job performance from friends and family. She was excited when, after a layoff, she was contacted by an enthusiastic recruiter via LinkedIn. After two phone interviews, an in-person interview in which she was told she “could” do the job and would be “perfect” for the role, Sarah left the interviewnever to hear from the recruiter again. Next, Sarah contacted the VP of a major tech company via LinkedIn and said she was “desperate” for work. She was given an interview, then disappointed to be told she wasn’t a good fit for the organization. Sarah came away from both interviews feeling disillusioned and “used” by LinkedIn advertising process. The Solution: Leadership assessment thought-leader, Ulrik Juul Christiansen from Area9 would consider Sarah to have something called ‘unconscious incompetence’. She does not have a realistic grasp on her strengths and areas of growth. This unconscious incompetence led Sarah to go straight to the VP of a major tech company without an introduction rather than take a more measured approach to finding her next position. Sarah could benefit from a coach to provide a thorough review of her resume and competencies; this would help to ground her and give her a more accurate picture of her unique, valuable skill set. However, what can recruiters do to help here? Recruiters can learn how to outline the recruitment process and gently provide feedback to candidates when necessary. This will help manage candidates’ expectations. In addition, if candidates feel disillusioned by the LinkedIn recruiting process, recruiters can provide disclaimers noting the size of the talent pool and encouraging the candidate to further educate himself/herself regarding a particular employer brand. Managing expectations is key. 3. Recruiter seems uninterested in the job seeker Nate Masterson of Maple Holistics said that working with a recruiter made him feel “cheap.” The recruiter was third-party, not a member of the organization’s team. Nate said that this resulted in the recruiter viewing potential employees as game pieces to be sorted into their proper places rather than people. Nate also reported that the recruiter was unable to answer in-depth questions about the organization for which he was head-hunting. The Solution: Whether or not the recruiter is on the company payroll, he should have a detailed knowledge of its workings before attempting to communicate to a candidate. Developing emotional intelligence is key here to manage stress, have a learn-it-all mindset and proceed with genuine confidence. The recruiter must get in the simple habit of putting himself in the job seeker’s shoes. ‘If I were considering working here, what would I want to know?’, ‘How would I want to feel after a conversation with a company representative?’ A recruiter should ask himself these questions and be equipped to engage in a meaningful conversation with job seekers. Such an exchange is ultimately for the good of the job seeker and the organization. When things go right: Kenton Kivestu is an ex-Googler who founded RocketBlocks, which helps students prepare for case interviews with top companies. He’s contacted by recruiters all the time; mostly, he ignores them as the pitches aren’t relevant to him. But two years ago, Kenton was approached by an executive recruiter for a leadership position within a startup. The recruiter told Kenton about his background, gave a brief summary of the company, and then asked lots of questions. He wanted to know what types of products Kenton had experience with, what he valued as a people manager, and what products he would gravitate toward. Kenton was so impressed with the process that he was happy to speak with the COO after the first round. The recruiter’s pitch was too good for Kenton not to take a second look. Why? It’s not because the recruiter had a golden tongue. He didn’t use a special “pitch formula” or rely on flattery or false promises. Rather, the recruiter shared deep information about the opportunity and paved the way for a two-way dialogue. He asked targeted questions which opened Kenton up to exciting new possibilities. That’s what recruiters who develop and strengthen their emotional intelligence have the power to do: put good people â€" employer and talent, or talent and employer towards the best outcomes and possibilities. Recruiter/job seeker communication can easily fall apartâ€"at any stagebut it doesn’t have to. When job seekers own their unique offerings and recruiters maintain the right balance of enthusiasm and empathy, communication can be authentic, respectful, and full of truly exciting potential. About the author:  Caroline Stokes  is the  Founder of  FORWARD.  She is an executive career coach and headhunter. She is also the host of the Emotionally Intelligent Recruiter podcast.

How to Find the Best Resume Writing Service Using Yelp Reviews

How to Find the Best Resume Writing Service Using Yelp ReviewsBest Resume Writing Service is a new kind of services provided by the internet. It makes use of online reviews to get a better idea of the services that other writers are offering. This will help you a lot to hire a quality service provider.This is one of the main reasons why Yelp was founded. To make more people aware about quality services, Yelp has launched their service called 'Yelp Users Guide', which contains the basic information about various companies and organizations available in your local area.By reading this guide, you can also find a list of services provided by Yelper companies. This will give you an idea about what the service offered by Yelp is like and where to get the most efficient service providers.Apart from reading about the services provided by other users, Yelp also allows its users to post reviews and ratings about a particular service provider. These reviews are offered by real Yelpers to prove that the reviews are honest and real. This will help you to choose the most reliable company in your area.It is very important for you to hire a professional resume writing service. Most of the time, individuals think that they can handle the job on their own. But, this will result in poor quality results.In order to avoid all these problems, it is very important for you to read and follow the necessary tips about how to improve your work effectively. Moreover, following these tips will also make you manage your time and save your energy.To hire the best resume writing service is not very hard at all. All you need to do is just fill up the application form with your details and all the agencies that you will be hiring will do the rest of the work for you.Hiring this kind of service is not an easy task, because you have to choose the right service provider. You will need to make sure that the best resume writing service is giving their best to the job.

This May Be the Easiest Way to Get Started in Your Job Search - Sterling Career Concepts

This May Be the Easiest Way to Get Started in Your Job Search This May Be the Easiest Way to Get Started in Your Job Search Have you been thinking or talking about beginning a job search but haven’t done it yet? You are not alone. It’s easy and all too common to feel stuck or stalled in getting a job search off the ground. The concept of a job search can seem intimidating. It’s much easier to absorb in small doses. By working through it a little each day, you’ll avoid that feeling of overwhelm and will start to make progress. And progress begets progress. Once you start, you’ll want to keep moving forward. It’s time to stop dragging your heels and start working through manageable pieces of the bigger project to get started and begin to gain clarity on what you need to do first and next in your job search. I’ve developed an online program, Job Search Jumpstart: 30 Day Challenge, that does just that, and because everyone learns and works differently. I’m offering you two options on how to best tackle it. The Basic level allows you complete everything on your terms and on your own schedule â€" and at one incredibly low introductory price. The Expert Advice level offers you one month of email access to a sought-after career expert to receive personalized feedback on each of your action items in the program â€" and all for the less than one hour of private job search coaching. What are you waiting for? I’m here to help you get started in finding the job of your dreams. You have nothing to lose, and progress to gain. Let’s do this!

How You Can Start Earning More Money In Your Current Job - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

How You Can Start Earning More Money In Your Current Job Earning more money in your current job might seem like a stretch to some out there. Maybe you’ve been in your job for a while, and you think there’s no way you’re getting a pay rise anytime soon. There are a few things you can do to start earning more money in your current job, without having to switch positions or even start up something on the side. Ask For A Meeting With Your Boss Asking for a meeting with your boss can be scary, but necessary if you would like to start earning more money in your current job. You need to let them know that you’re looking to get a pay-rise. They can then give you feedback to help you in the future. You need to have evidence to back up the fact that you’re an indispensable member of staff, so don’t walk in there and expect them to pay you more just because you’ve had the guts to ask. Get To Work On Your Feedback Your boss will have likely given you some feedback you can work on. Make sure you get to work right away implementing these things. Make sure the work you do is up to the highest quality, and that you’re making yourself an irreplaceable member of the team each day. You can then set up another meeting with your boss a few months down the line, and you might just get your pay rise. If there really is no chance of you getting a pay rise in this role, it could be time to look for a new job. The infographic below can help: Credit to here