Great Job Search Strategy Or A Powerful Imagination?

I am influenced by movies.  Always have been.  I get provoked to act or think about how my life is going when I have another example for comparison.

The most recent movie that played this role for me was Crazy Heart starring Jeff Bridges as a washed up old country singer.  He’s trying to keep a career going by playing in some pretty small clubs and bowling alleys across the U.S.

I’m also a lover of music.  I think it can be a great driver and companion to life experiences.  Music can also play a strong role in your job search psychology.  And the music in Crazy Heart is excellent.  So I bought the CD and have now over-played like i do every new piece of music.

One of the songs on the album reminded me of a post I wrote many months back about optimism.  The danger of optimism in job search.  And you might ask:  “Is there still optimism out there?  Really?  And what’s wrong with optimism?”

Well, nothing.  As long as optimism doesn’t lead you to feeling complacent.  And keep you from taking action to build a great strategy.

The song is called Fallin’ & Flyin’ and the key line is:

“It’s funny how fallin’ feels like flyin’ for a little while”

In job search, career and life it may mean that you are not paying attention as closely as you should.  Or that you are distracted by false signs of momentum.

As I said, it’s not that I don’t believe in optimism.  I do.  But I worry about people who believe they are doing everything they need to be doing.  When they are not.

So this week I am presenting about job search strategy in Huntington Beach.  If you are local, would love to have you there.  I am bringing to life a post I wrote a few months back called One Day In Job Search.  It identifies each of the days that lead up to your eventual job offer.  So there is optimism in that post but it is framed in a strategy to enable each of those days.  Instead of simply hoping for them.

Do you have a solid strategy for your job search?  Are you sure?

The way to be sure is to write it down. If you can’t write it down in detail, well, is it really there?  For example:

1. What are your job search objectives?
2. Who are your target companies?
3. How are you using networking to create new relationships in your industry?

You also need to be paying attention to signs that your job search is on the right track.  Or not.  Measuring the success of your effort allows you to replace optimism with planned and effective action.

So my call to action for you.  For this Monday.  Is to ask yourself the question:

Do you have a great job search strategy or a powerful imagination?

If you say yes to strategy, prove it.  To yourself.  If not, is it time to build some real structure into your effort?

via timsstrategy.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

Personal Brands: The Audition | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

From the time you leave your home, consider that you are being auditioned for the job you are seeking.  Your personal brand starts to get its early morning workout when you cross the threshold of your door.

How coherent is your personal brand promise, given what you actually deliver?

The person you brushed by without apology, your sitting steadfastly on the train when an elderly person could have used your seat, the meager tip you left at the diner: that is your real personal brand.

Your prickly reaction when you make a mistake, the indifference you show the speaker when you talk during a presentation, the lack of planning that leaves you to blow a deadline: that is your real personal brand.

Without thinking too much, pick just one:

1. Would you rather be right?

2. Would you rather be loved?

3. Would you rather be the best?

If you would rather be any of these, given who you really are, consider what you must do to change from the inside out.

It’s not just that your future boss or client may be sitting on the train or glance by your check and change at the diner booth: it’s that you are going to be you in every situation that lasts longer than a first job interview.

Anything you want is yours to lose or win

There is no magic threshold. You can’t suddenly become a better person because now it’s work and not home, or it’s work and not friendship. You are who you are with a very thin layer of veneer to chip and reveal your real personal brand.

Stop with the cheap disguises. Stop telling yourself that you deserved the job. That your co-workers are wrong. That you could do so much better if you owned the business instead of doing your job.

In the USA, we are heading toward the day we celebrate as Independence Day. Make this more than a vacation day. Figure out what you want to shake off – what chip on your shoulder you’d like independence from.

Let the July 4th fireworks be a metaphor for your breaking through your dark side and lighting up the world.

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.

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100+ Free Salary Surveys and Resources From Around the World in 2010 | JobMob

How to use this list

• The list only includes sites that are credible or that explain where their numbers come from.
• Compare results across multiple sites for best results. Salaries are always changing and many of these sites are based on employee-submitted information.
• If you know of any other 2010 salary resources that aren’t in the list, please suggest them in the comments below.

What’s in this list?

• Salary surveys – created by surveying readers about their salaries.
• Salary databases – readers contribute information about their jobs, sometimes in exchange for access to the rest of the database.
• Salary reports – a salary report can be written from a company’s own data or compiled from a combination of salary surveys, government statistics, company disclosures, etc.
• Salary or wage search – search on a profession and the results will show typical earnings.
• Salary calculators or checkers, wage/worth estimators - you fill out a form of questions about your profession and the calculated result is an estimate of the salary you should be earning. If you’re employed, this a good way to judge how fair your pay is.

2010 Global Directory of Salary Surveys

Click your flag to jump to the links for your country:

(International)

If your country isn’t among these flags, check the other resources in the International section at the end.

Australia

1. ARN Salary Calculator – professional and academic jobs
2. LiveSalary – “a free community-based website where people exchange salary data”
3. Robert Half Salary Guides – free but requires giving contact information.
4. 2010 IT Skills & Salary Report – requires free signup
5. 2010 SEO/SEM Salary Survey Australia & New Zealand

Canada

1. Wowjobs.ca’s Canada Salary Search – lets you search on specific keywords, and even compare among different job titles.
2. Yahoo! HotJobs Salary – they actually use PayScale.com for information, but Yahoo’s interface is nicer.
3. SalaryExpert Salary Search
4. APEGS 2010 Salary Survey (pdf) – engineers and geoscientists (in Saskatchewan)
5. IAB Canada’s 2010 Interactive Advertising Salary Guide (xls)

India

1. TDS on Salary Calculator 2010 (xls) – for lawyers, requires free signup.
2. India FRESHERS – IT/Software Salary Survey
3. SalaryMap – all kinds of industries
4. Paycheck.in – general purpose for private sector, public sector and not-for-profit.
5. Google groups India Salary Trends – general, uses information from Payscale.com (see below)

Ireland

1. Salesjobs.ie’s 2010 Salary Survey Guide – sales, business development, account management
2. Accounting Technician Salary Guide 2010 – financial positions such as accountants, finance & payroll managers, etc.
3. Irishjobs.ie Salary Surveys
4. CPL Salary Guide 2010 (pdf)
5. Hudson 2010 Ireland Salary Guide (pdf)
6. Brightwater Salary Survey 2010 (pdf)
7. Sigmar Salary Survey 2010 (pdf)

Israel

1. Computer Jobs in Israel 2010 Salary Survey
2. CPS’s Hitech Salary Surveys (Hebrew)
3. Nisha Group’s Salary Table (Hebrew) – hitech, sales, marketing
4. Check Compare (Hebrew) – “the people’s salary survey”, where anyone can share their salary. Mostly hitech.
5. Dialog Hitech Salary Survey (Hebrew)
6. Maskorot (Hebrew)
7. Jobinfo (Hebrew)
8. Ethosia (Hebrew) – focused on hitech, but lists many non-hitech jobs in that industry, such as marketing and finance

Philippines

1. JobStreet Salary Report – numbers for many professions.
2. Salary, Salaries and Wages in the Philippines
3. Careerjet.ph – job listings with specified salaries

Singapore

1. Salary.sg – Your Salary in Singapore – a blog about salaries & income in Singapore where you can search for results by position
2. 2010 Hudson Salary Information 2010 – pdf downloads for different industries
3. Ministry of Manpower Wage Search
4. Ambition Market Trends & Salary Reports – Accounting & Finance, Sales & Marketing, Banking & Executives (covers Hong Kong too)
5. The 2010 Hays Salary Survey & Guide – PDF salary guides for 17 industries & professions in Singapore
6. Michael Page International’s Singapore 2010 Salary & Employment Forecast (pdf)
7. Kelly Services Singapore Employment Outlook & Salary Guide 2009/2010 (pdf)

South Africa

1. EDM Recruitment Salary Survey Results for 2010 – engineers
2. Mba.co.za Salary Survey – MBAs
3. Ad Talent Salary Survey 2010
4. EDM Recruitmernt Salary Survey Results for 2010
5. Accountants On Call Salary Survey Accounting & Finance 2010 (pdf)

United Kingdom

1. Paywizard.co.uk – will tell you what other people are earning for doing your job
2. Reed.co.uk’s Salary Calculator – a salary search engine, you can search by position and location
3. Jobs.ac.uk Salary Checker – check the salary of a specific type of job
4. ITJobsWatch tracking system – track salary trends per position
5. CWJobs’ Salary Checker
6. Michael Page International Salary Surveys
7. MSN Money UK’s Salary Centre – salary information by industry, easy to read
8. Workhound.co.uk Salary Tracker – salary search engine, nice interface
9. MajorPlayers.co.uk Salary Survey 2010 – content & editorial, creative & design, marketing, PR, and many others
10. Reed HR Salary Survey 2010 (pdf)

United States

1. AIGA|Aquent Survey of Design Salaries 2010
2. AACSB International US Salary Survey Report (pdf) – deans, professors, other academic positions by faculty
3. Glassdoor – salary details about specific jobs for specific employers or company
4. ComputerJobs.com Salary Ticker – programmers, developers, etc.
5. Salary.com Salary Checker
6. Indeed.com Salary Search
7. SalaryExpert Salary Search
8. Jobnob Salary Search – find salaries by position at specific companies
9. Job Search Intelligence Salary Calculator
10. Global Knowledge 2010 IT Skills and Salary Report (pdf) – requires free signup

International

1. PayScale – salary information for 94 countries
2. GISjobs Salary Survey – salary information from GIS professionals around the world
3. Internet Engineering Center – Salary Survey for engineers in the USA, India, UAE, Canada, Malaysia, UK, Australia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Qatar, Egypt, Italy, South Africa, Philippines, Nigeria, Kuwait, France and Japan
4. 2010 Hays Salary Guide for Asia (pdf) – covers Singapore, Japan, China and Hong Kong
5. SalaryExpert (international version) – only one position at a time can be checked.
6. Robert Walters 2010 Salary Surveys – pdf downloads for Australia, Belgium, China, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States

Subscribe to JobMob via RSS or email and follow me on Twitter to learn how salary surveys can help you get the highest pay you deserve.

--Jacob Share

via jobmob.co.il

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Are You Making These 5 Personal Branding Mistakes? | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

There are plenty of “must-dos” for personal branding — things like how Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook can help you land a job or grow your business when used correctly. But are you aware of the “don’ts” you might be doing?

Over-communicating

Not every platform is the right one for communicating your message. Sending inappropriate or unnecessary updates leaves your audience irritated. Choosing the appropriate platform includes following or “friending” the right audience in conjunction with your goals. Keep in mind your audience’s interests when you communicate with them.

Using interactive communication for advertising

The goal of social networking is not to advertise a product or service. In order to successfully use social media, be social! Reply to tweets, status updates, and discussions, and update your personal page frequently. Be personal and personable. Automated messages diminish the intended use of networking sites and should not be used.

Inconsistency

Personal and professional networking profiles should not be separate; therefore it is important to strike a consistent balance between the two. A personal brand is a full-time job, both online and in person – it should not be dropped once you land the job. Your brand should be consistent throughout all forms of communication, so checking them often and linking them together can help with this goal. It’s typically against the networking sites’ terms of service (such as Facebook) for one person to maintain more than one profile – so consolidation is key.

Being selfish

Employers don’t only want to hear about what you want, they want to know how you can further their interests with your skills and experiences. How are you unique? What do you bring to the table? Why should you be hired? Highlight your achievements and success stories, connecting them to a common goal.

Negativity

Speaking negatively about current or former employers is a flashing red warning sign. Not only does it look bad to potential employers and tarnishes your reputation, but it always has the ability to get back to the person. Anything that you post online is essentially public and should be treated as such.

What other personal branding mistakes would you add to this list?

Author:

Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder & president of Come Recommended, an exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers. She is also the author of #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), national entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com.

via personalbrandingblog.com

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How to Conduct a Passive Job Search | EmploymentDigest.net

It’s true; most employers prefer passive candidates. A passive candidate is a gainfully employed professional who is open to hearing about career opportunities and would actually accept a new job if it made sense to them and their family.

Employers believe that a person is employed because they are the top of crop. When I say employers I refer to specific managers who maintain this mindset. I don’t personally know of any managers who think this way, but I have come across hundreds who feel this way.

Infinity Consulting Solutions conducted a study in 2009 where 400+ job seekers in the New York City area were asked whether employers preferred employed candidates over unemployed candidates, 59% believed that employers indeed preferred employed candidates.

To most of us this is no secret. So today I am going to show you how to conduct a passive job search. Once you are done reading this article, you will have learned the art of changing jobs when you want to, not when you have to!

Phase I – Things you can start doing now:

1. Take your resume off all of the job boards. You don’t want to be seen as someone who is always looking. Sure job boards are a good way to attract every recruiter on the planet, but is that what you want? My advice is to focus on quality not quantity.

2. Make a list of the following information:

1. target companies
2. target job titles
3. target salary, compensation
4. target geographic location
5. any if/then scenario (i.e. if the salary offered is above $300k, then I will take a job in Siberia)

3. Look within your own organization for opportunities that fit your criteria. This is a very important step. It also should always be your first, second and third option. Always give your current employer more than a fair shot to meet your needs and to ensure that you are compensated at market value.

Don’t wait to engage your employer after you have accepted another offer. That is bad business and its called a counter-offer. For more information on why that is career suicide, read here: http://akajohnsanders.com/?p=752

4. Keep your ears open for any opportunity that you hear about. You will be surprised what you hear after you really start paying attention. Also, conduct targeted searches on sites like Indeed & Simply Hired and look for opportunities that fit your criteria. Remember the objective here is to build on your current career.

5. Go to the career sites of companies that you are interested in working for and submit your resume to openings that they have. If there are no openings, don’t apply. Let a recruiter do that for you. I will have to explain ”why” in another article, but for now just take my word for it.

Phase II – Find a specialized recruiter to help:

1. Ask your trust worthy peers if they know of any recruiters that they can recommend. Or look online for a specialist recruiter in your field. Notice I said specialist recruiter. Believe it or not, most good recruiters only recruit for one or two areas of specialization. A do it all recruiter will probably be spread too thin to help you in the long run. Just like you would not let your plumber pull your teeth, don’t let any recruiter find your next job. Only work with a specialized recruiter from your industry.

2. Once you have identified your recruiter, interview that recruiter. If they are good, they will gladly share their information & accomplishments with you. If they are out to make a quick buck, they will be a lot less patient with you. Learn how they protect your privacy, what companies do they currently work with. How do they plan on helping you? These are all valid questions to ask.

3. After you have selected your recruiter(s), share your list of requirements with them. And tell them that this is your criteria for entertaining any opportunity. Let them give you feedback on whether you are being realistic or not. If all is well then sit back and let your recruiter go to work for you.

4. If there are target companies on your list that do not have any external openings, then ask your recruiter to try and work the inside track. A lot of the top jobs never make it to the public job sphere. If your recruiter is really good, they will be well networked within your industry and will be able to get your name in front of the right people.

5. Most importantly be as open and honest with your recruiter. The more accurately you explain your requirements the easier it will be for them to help you.

Now that you understand the 2 Phases of setting up your passive search. Here is a bonus. Use LinkedIn until something better comes out. Update your professional profile and link to other professionals within your industry. The more visible you are on LinkedIn, the better it is for your passive job search.

If you continuously invest a few hours a week into these activities while remaining fully engaged at work, you will eventually build an opportunity pipeline that will benefit you in the long run. And at some point through these efforts a great opportunity will present itself.

After all, good things happen to those who are in the right place at the right time!

If you have any additional questions on how to conduct a passive job search, you can contact me directly at: john.sanders@jobisms.com

via employmentdigest.net

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

Find the right career in the right way - Career blog - Position Ignition - taking you to the next step in your career

Whether you’ve just left school or university, have been made redundant, or resigned from a role you’ve been in for ten years, finding a shiny, new, perfect career can seem like an impossible task. This is mainly because there’s no such thing as a perfect career, so of course it’s impossible to find one. Whilst you won’t be able to find a career that ticks all your boxes, it is possible to find one that ticks the boxes that matter most to you. Is it important for you to be meeting lots of different people in your line of work? Are you determined to work outdoors? Do you want to commute as little as possible? Are you looking to spend more time with your family? By working out your priorities, you’ll be able to work out what career to opt for.

There are a number of practical ways to work out your priorities. The method that you use should be one that’s particularly suited to you. Just as there is a career out there that’s right for, there’s a way of finding it that’s right for you. If you’re a wordsmith who responds well to ink on paper, make a list of your priorities and rearrange them until you know what you primarily want out of your career. If you’re more of a ‘visual’ person, get help in making a collage of your ideal visions for the future. Visionboards are just one of the tools we here at Position Ignition use to help you decide what career is right for you. Drop us a line to find out more about them. Of course, another effective way of thinking through your priorities is to talk them through. Our guides are here to listen and offer guidance without making your decisions for you.

Once you’ve decided what you want the most out of your career, you can set about finding the career that will give you those things. Are you flexible about what type of work you want to do, so long as you can see more of your family?  Look into careers that allow you to work from home, or that offer flexitime roles as a matter of course. Do you want to cut down on the commute? Start by researching local organisations to see if they have any roles you can see yourself doing. If you just want to work outdoors, match your skills to a suitable job: If you’re a natural born sales person who also enjoys self-autonomy, you could become your own boss as a market trader. If you’re naturally sporty and athletic, you might look into becoming an activities leader at an adventure holiday camp.

If you feel like you’re not thinking of some obvious options and need some perspective, bounce ideas off others and see what they can come up. After working with you to identify your priorities, our Guides are in a great position to suggest ideas you may not have come up with alone.

There’s no such thing as a perfect career, but out there is a career that’s right for you. We can help you find it in a way that’s right for. The personalised nature of our careers services means we don’t offer a ‘blanket’ approach to finding careers. Each person is unique, each career is unique and so we believe that each career finding approach should be unique too.

via positionignition.com

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3 Resume Mistakes Most Job Seekers Make | Career Rocketeer - Career Search and Personal Branding Blog

I think I’m beginning to sound borderline preachy with my resume and cover letter advice. But I also feel I have a duty to share with job seekers the blunders and mistakes they make that prevent them from getting the interview and ultimately the offer. After ten years of working as a human resources manager and recruiter I’ve seen my fair share of job seeker mistakes. So here’s my list of the three biggest mistakes job seekers make on their resumes.

MISTAKE #1: Outdated formatting

The first impression your resume gives is critical. How do you want the hiring manager to perceive you?
Professional and accomplished? Or sloppy and disorganized? Old and outdated formats only reflect poorly on you as a viable candidate for the position. Not sure what a professional resume format looks like? Try reviewing samples developed by a certified resume writer.

MISTAKE #2: Using an objective

If your resume has an objective, please remove it. That is an outdated practice that is no longer relevant in today’s job market. Objectives will only land you in the “bland, just like everyone else” pile—not the “oh yeah, don’t let me forget to call them today” pile. Replace the old objective with a personal branding statement. Including a personal branding statement is one more way to stand out.

MISTAKE #3: Forgetting important keywords

Don’t forget to use industry specific keywords. Also, make sure you know where to place them. The top section of the resume is the best place because that’s where the hiring manager’s eyes will be drawn.

Short keywords are a great way to tell the employer about your expertise. Don’t forget to also place them strategically throughout the resume so you continue to catch the employer’s attention and communicate that you have the skills and experience they need.
Are you making any of these mistakes on your resume? Submit your resume to info@greatresumesfast.com for a free resume analysis, or compare your resume to those designed by certified advanced resume writers at http://www.greatresumesfast.com.

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Author:

Jessica Holbrook is an expert resume writer, career and personal branding strategist, author, speaker and President/CEO of Great Resumes Fast. She creates high-impact, best-in-class, resumes and cover letters that win interviews. For a free resume analysis visit http://www.greatresumesfast.com/ or for a free phone consultation call 1.800.991.5187.

via careerrocketeer.com

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Writing a Resume = Writing a Press Release « Courting Your Career

This is a guest post by Jessica Dickson Goodman, Communications Manager with the start-up Careerimp.

No matter how many resumes you have written, the writers’ block that accompanies a fresh Word document (or Pages template) titled “Resume” is horrifying. Whether you’re starting with a blank slate because this is your first resume, you’re shifting careers, or you just need a change in your job search strategies, the following may help you think differently about your resume-drafting.

Your resume is a press release on your qualifications for a given job.

Like resumes, press releases have strict formats, clear requirements for refined language, and a well-defined audience. And like resume reviewers, the reporters who read press releases are extremely time-bound. Effective press releases have a single message, a headline which showcases that one important idea. The body clarifies the who-what-where-why-when-how, constantly reinforcing the message. Struggling for a message? I find “I am competent and have the skills listed in the job description” is a good place to start. Finally, a good press release “not only informs but also teases.”

Resumes are the same. If you had magic potion that embedded a single impression of you in your resume’s reviewer’s mind, what would it be? What if you got three impressions? Those impressions should be implied by every line-item on your resume.

Then, once you’ve proven you are competent with easy-to-skim formatting and classy grammar, you can tease. Include  information they could ask about in an interview. Mention your cricket club so they can ask: “What was it like to found a Cricket club in Pittsburgh?” Include your summer teaching English for “Did you speak Spanish before living in Chile?” Contrast your major and extracurricular interests to get “How do your graphic design skills and your Statistics major fit together?”

Catching your reviewer’s attention by providing them genuinely interesting information is the only way to tease in a resume. Do not risk appearing deeply silly (in a bad way!) by forcing odd fonts or formatting upon your busy reviewer–remember, above all, time is king.

Once you’ve decided on a message (or three), chosen the experiences to highlight, quintuple-checked your grammar and spelling, and added in that sexy twist at the end, chill out. There is no value in suffering over an application. The press release is sent; the resume is submitted. Do your best on the task at hand, and move on.

De-stressing the resume-creation process is a goal I share with my colleagues at Careerimp. If you are interested in other ways to think about creating your resume, check us out at http://careerimp.com.

Jessica Dickinson Goodman works for the Pittsburgh, PA-based start-up, Careerimp. Careerimp is developing a way to automatically generate optimized resumes, thus making all this stressing and strategizing irrelevant. For more on Careerimp, check out http://careerimp.com.

via courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com

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Knowing When to Throw in the Towel: Making a Career Transition | CareerAlley

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” – Isaac Asimov

So maybe you’ve been stuck in the same gig for awhile. You’ve gotten to the point where every move you make, ever task you complete, gives you absolutely no satisfaction whatsoever. What used to be challenging and energy-generating now has the opposite effect–each day is challenging only because you cannot wait to get through it.

If you’ve been working for awhile, then you’ve certainly encountered this particular brand of work ennui blues. While the feeling is completely normal, if it persists, then your gut may be telling you that it’s time for a change. Here are some tell-tale signs that the time to throw in the towel has arrived:

1. There’s no room for improvement.

Ostensibly, in any job worth doing, there’s always room for improvement. In a job that grants you satisfaction, you are constantly being given work that stretches just a little beyond your current capabilities. If you’re bored, then ask your boss if you can take on more rigorous work. If that doesn’t work and you’ve exhausted all opportunities for continued challenge, then you may need to find something different.

2. The stress in your daily workload costs more than the salary you earn.

It’s sometimes difficult to compare apples and oranges, especially when it comes to something as ambiguous as “satisfaction” or “happiness”. However, just because such qualities cannot be quantified doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still consider them when conducting a cost-benefit analysis. Ask yourself, is the money I’m earning really worth the toll it’s taking on my physical and mental well-being? While some will dismiss “happiness” in career decision-making, its importance cannot be stressed highly enough. If you aren’t happy, your job performance will plummet, and you’ll negatively affect everyone in your life–both friends and family. Some salaries are simply not worth this sort of cost.

3. You find yourself daydreaming about a different future too often.

Everyone daydreams, and it’s perfectly reasonable for you to be wishing you were somewhere or someone else when sitting in the office. We’ve daydreamed since we were children, so it doesn’t logically follow that a little desire for escape necessitates a career change. However, when daydreaming becomes an activity that you engage in constantly, then perhaps this is a signal that you should listen to your mind’s wanderings. It may be time to act.

These aren’t, of course, comprehensive tips for knowing when to quit your current job and move on to another. All they do is suggest the mindset that may be ready for a change. After all, change is almost always a good thing, whether or not it takes awhile to adjust to. Many people self-impose barriers in making drastic changes in their lives, while they usually blame others. For example, when asking a typical person who hates his job why they don’t try something different, the usual response is something akin to “I just can’t” or “I have XYZ to worry about”. Most of the time, these are excuses that seek to cover up a deep-seated fear of change. Don’t be a typical person. If the time is ripe, then take the plunge and pursue a job that makes you happy.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Tim Handorf, who writes on the topics of best online colleges.  He welcomes your comments at his email Id: tim.handorf.20@googlemail.com

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Best of Branding: Top 5 This Week | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

Here are the Top 5 This Week – @andywergedal

Keep the faith, things will turn around. The light is the end of the tunnel. The steps towards getting a job are easy to follow (just read the websites linked in this article). The hard part is keeping the faith throughout the process. Remember, everyone else has done the same at some point. You are not alone. Just hang in there another minute, hour, day, week, month, year and things will turn around.

The Top 5 This Week

1. Job References: Don’t Lose at the Finish Line – [Career Rocketeer]

The purpose of providing references is to close the deal. It isn’t to discover if you are telling the truth about your dates of employment, verify that you’ve demonstrated the proper skills for the job, or even to assure the hiring authority that he’s making the right decision to hire you — though each reason contributes.

2. Are You A Resistor? – [Career Rocketeer]

In one of my recent classes, one of the participants came had an epiphany about half way through. She said she realized that she had been resisting anything new so strongly that it was certainly hindering her from getting a new job she so desperately needed. For her, it was simply a matter of coming to the realization of how much she was fighting it that finally caused her to decide to apply some of the ideas we had been discussing.

3. Five Mistakes Job Seekers Make on Their Resumes – [Great Resumes Fast]

After ten years of working as a human resources manager and recruiter I’ve seen my fair share of job seeker mistakes. So here’s my list of the five biggest mistakes job seekers make on their resumes.

4. Succeeding in the New Economy Starts with Values – [Secrets of The Job Hunt]

When it comes to knowing yourself, you have to start with values. The values you espouse are vital to the choices you make and ultimately dictate the way you live. Values can be thought of as the principals you hold near and dear. Your values are the code you live by. They are the rules you follow and the ethics you adhere to when dealing with others.

5. Personal Brands: Craziest Advice Ever – [Personal Branding Blog]

Employers are actively seeking employees who can help move their companies in a direction of growth (or stability). They want sincere, straightforward communicators with integrity.

Photo Credit

Andy’s primary professional role is the communication bridge between technology and executive staff. An expert in project management methodologies Andy excels as the agent of change. In his spare time, he has a passion for helping people find jobs. Checkout his blog at 40×50.com and on twitter @andywergedal.

via blog.brand-yourself.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

Which Interview Personality Are You? | Career Rocketeer - Career Search and Personal Branding Blog

Rather than offer a generic opinion on how YOU should act during an interview, let’s look at the various personalities and attitudes that different people actually portray during a job interview. Then using common sense, you can figure out how to use this information to help you improve your ability as an interviewee; and if you have any questions, don’t be shy, you can email or call me and I will try and help you as best I can.

So let’s have some fun and look at the different personalities and how they may be perceived.

The Desperados – You know the pressure you are under and how desperately you need this job and the income it offers. However you must control your emotions during an interview. When I interviewed candidates as a recruiter and HR manager, I was turned off by the Desperados and usually did not hire them or pass them on to the next level. And how do I identify a Desperado? Some make it easy by coming right out and asking for the job more than once and telling me how wonderful getting this position would be for them! Most however show their desperation in subtler ways that a trained recruiter can pick up on such as body language, extreme nervousness, their cadence and tone of voice, the way they answer questions, and especially from the timing and relevance of the questions they ask. The biggest tell is a candidate focusing on the health and vacation benefits and employee policies more than on learning about the company and the job they are interviewing for.

The Chatterboxes – Some people love to hear the sound of their own voice, lecture others, show off their subject knowledge, and prove to you that they are great communicators. The first two are definite no-no’s in an interview. The next two need to be controlled. What an interviewee needs to understand is an interview is like a time bomb and you don’t know how long it will take for the bomb to explode or be disarmed. Going in you don’t know how
much time the person on the other side of the desk will allow you to get your message across, so every minute counts and the first five minutes count the most. This is when interviewers determine if you are worth getting to know or if you are relegated to a perfunctory, courtesy interview. I find chatty people are nice and qualified but they waste my time because they fail to understand what information is important to a decision maker and what is not.
These are not the type of people you want to be around day to day. Another thing I found is people who come into an interview unprepared are often chatterboxes and will try and compensate by rambling on until they arrived at the point they want to make; and being prepared is high up on the list of things I look for in candidates during an interview.

The Thespians – Whereas it is helpful to polish up on your acting skills for an interview, there is no substitute to showing your true colors. In other words don’t pretend to be someone you are not. If you’re not innovative don’t give the impression you are. The same holds true for any character trait or skill set an employer places great value on. If you do not feel you will perform well under certain circumstances or work conditions such being a small cog in a big machine, working independently or with limited supervision, being asked to lead or mentor others, or if the job requires extended travel, don’t hide or mask these feeling because this is what you think the interviewer wants to hear. Sooner or later the truth will come out. On the other hand actors spend much more time rehearsing their role than they do on stage. Emulating an actor in order to deliver your lines smoothly, get your timing down, control your emotions and body language, and have someone critique your performance are all positive things you should do to
prepare for an interview.

Charlie Rose – The purpose of most interviews is to have the interviewer ask the questions and the interviewee responds. You may want to ask for clarification of a point before you offer an answer, this is Ok. What I and most interviewers find most disconcerting are people who answer our questions with a question of their own. It is true that an interview is a two-way conversation, but it is not a debate and there are no rules that demand equal time. This is especially true on the phone interview and initial first interview. The golden rule is to stay on point and talk about what is important to the person asking the questions and not offer useless information. Think of an interview like this, the interviewee is the host and you are his or her guest. Their job is to ask the questions and your job is to answer them. As you go further into the interview process the rules will change slightly and there is more room for give and take. But always try to save questions for the end, and tell the interviewer “I have a question about this,
but it can wait until the end of the interview.” If they want to hear the question now they will ask you what it is, if not they will know that there is something that needs to be discussed and will leave some extra time at the end of the interview for this question.

Seinfeld – Some people try and mask their nervousness, anxiety or lack of confidence with a prepared joke or two or some other attempt at humor to begin an interview, and with some people act this way all the time. With very few exceptions being a comedian is not a great idea on an interview. You can lighten up the mood just as easily with a firm handshake and a warm smile, and by looking around the office and sizing up the interviewer to find a way to offer a sincere compliment or find something of mutual interest that can be used as an ice-breaker and to set a positive tone.

Rodin – The Thinker is a bronze and marble sculpture by Rodin of a man in sober meditation battling a powerful internal struggle. While some people are flippant and do not take an interview seriously there are many people who are serious, never smile, over analyze every move, and place too much importance on the outcome of an interview before it even begins. They sit in the waiting room mulling theoretical questions and answers as if their life
depended on it, and by the time they enter the interviewer’s office they are wound up tight like a spinning top. If this is you try to keep in mind a cardinal rule of interviewing - avoid getting too high (literally and physically) or too low before, during and after an interview. Just relax and be yourself; and no matter what the outcome, remember it is just a job interview it’s not the end of the world.

Mary Richards – We just met Rodin ‘The Thinker’ who never smiles. On the flip side of this coin is Mary Richards the quintessential Miss Congeniality. This person is always smiling; there is nothing she or he can’t do, and nothing that will turn them off. This is a great attitude as long as you don’t take it too far on an interview because you may be looked as being a phony, or naïve and these are not the type of personality traits most employers desire. So keep the smile but take a more professional approach; and leave the laughs and the giggles in the waiting room.

Catbert – I find this attitude more from interviewers in this buyer’s market, but there are some candidates who still act superior and are full of themselves on an interview. This often occurs with professionals and executives who are interviewing for positions and in companies that they deem are below what they are accustomed to; when they interview with someone who has less experience than they do, or are interviewed by someone who in better times would be reporting to them, not vice versa. There are ways to strut your stuff, being arrogant is not one
of them. Even if the interviewer is condescending to you, it is important not to act in kind and sink to their level.

Peter Griffin / Homer Simpson – You come to the interview five minutes late, make up a lame excuse why, and proceed to take off your jacket, sit before the interviewer sits, and act like you’re the King of his castle. Being casual and comfortable in an interview is an art form not many people have perfected. Unless you are a veteran at interviewing others, I suggest you begin the interview acting by professionally and take your cues on how to act from the person on the other side of the desk.

Now that we discussed these different personality profiles, and there are more, let me tell you that most people are not one but a combination of many. I suggest you go over this blog with someone who knows you and can tell you which profiles define you the most, and then work on making improvement from there.

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Author:

Perry Newman, CPC CSMS is a nationally recognized executive resume writer, career coach, AIPC certified recruiter and SMMU certified social media strategist known for his ability to help his clients get results. You can view his sample resumes at http://www.perrynewman.com/, and email him your resume at perry@perrynewman.com for FREE resume critique.

via careerrocketeer.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

What is a Career Brand? | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

People who create content and put it out online, either intentionally or unintentionally, create their personal brand. That is a fact.

However, there is some thought that one can intentionally create a personal brand or decide, instead, to create a career brand. Personal brand meaning, it’s about “me” and career brand meaning it’s more about your company or career and more about “we”.

While this can be true (if you are intentional about it), I would argue that you can and may have a personal brand and a career brand, online, and that if you have a job (or are looking for one), you most definitely already have a career brand – even if you don’t own a computer.

A career brand is not about all the unique things you do and say online that create your online image – as stated, those are the elements that make up your personal brand.

A career brand is you positioning yourself at the center of your career interests, passions, talents and strengths, and building a strong presence where you are showcasing your expertise and gaining interest and trust from employers and clients.

If you are actively doing those things, then you are creating your career brand.

How Do I Create a Career Brand?

Your career brand is a combination of content you create online and everything you do and say during your job search and in the workplace.

However, it is important to note that your online career brand and your online personal brand cannot operate separately from each other. The success or failure of one brand can and will create the success and failure of the other. Your online career brand is a part of your total personal brand.

You can create an online career brand around your current job and company or you can create one around the career niche you are trying to obtain (ex: creating a leadership brand if you are trying to become a manager).

If you are unemployed, you can create a online career brand around the distinct type of position you are trying to obtain. All this can be done by utilizing the different social media venues – LinkedIn being a key one here.

With that said, you can have an online image that is only a personal brand, a combination of a personal and career brand or only a career brand.

If your online image is “only a personal brand”, then your brand may consist of things like: a blog about a hobby, your Facebook page which is mostly personal in nature, and articles about a cause you promote. But, you don’t typically write anything online about your career interests.

If your online image is a “only a career brand” then you have built up a brand (likely intentionally) around your career/niche and you don’t have any personal content online that is viewable to the public.

If you have a combination of a personal and career brand, online, that simply means that you created a career brand but you also have content online that is completely unrelated to your career brand (blog about a hobby, articles about a charity you like, pictures of your kids).

Remember, you must manage the content or it will manage you – a weak personal brand will definitely kill a strong career brand.

Why is My Career Brand So Important?

As an employer, my interest in you (as a candidate) starts with Google where I assess your online career and personal brand. But then, it moves on. I then talk to you on the phone, interview you, hire you, and for the remainder of your employment you will be assessed in regards to your overall performance. It ends when you leave employment.

Any time you are being assessed and evaluated,(and you most definitely are at work!) your words and actions build your brand. It doesn’t matter if it is online or offline. You must always be working on your brand.

But the most important reason why a career brand is very important is because your online career brand is only one of 10 components of what I believe is your career brand.  You just can’t create an “online career brand” and get away with it. Your actual work matters.

I created the following model, which I believe contain all the components that make up your total career brand:

• Online Career Brand (your intentional efforts to brand yourself into your career niche)
• Online Personal Brand (the combination of everything that Google can find out about you online)
• Job Search Strategy
• Resume and Cover Letter
• Interview Skills
• Personal Appearance
• Work Style (how you plan, implement, and execute; how well you work with others, leadership skills)
• Attitude (beliefs, behaviors, morals, and values)
• Education and Training
• Groups and Associations (where you are or should be a member, including any speaking engagements that may result)

A good career brand is authentic, strong, and creates awareness about you. The key to your success is finding the right brand for you and building it. You then must actively and continuously strive to make it stronger and better as you gain new skills and experience.

You must keep this in mind, at all times – from the minute you start your job search, when you create content online, and in everything you do and say in the workplace.

Jessica Simko is a seasoned senior level Human Resources professional with over 15 years of experience in all facets of Human Resources Management. She is a Career Coach and Consultant specializing in helping all levels of career professionals create, build, and maintain a strong career brand in the corporate work culture. She strives to help people connect their passions with their jobs and then to leverage their brand to maximize their potential throughout their careers. She offers a wide variety of career branding articles and tips at Career Branding Guide where she also offers coaching and consulting services based on the Career Branding Guide model. Feel free to connect with her on:

Twitter
Linked In

via blog.brand-yourself.com

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A Bit of Wisdom from “The 4-Hour Workweek” | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

Are you feeling burned out, lacking energy and less efficient than you used to be? Has your workday become a practice in managing dozens of distractions while trying to find time to accomplish your priorities? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you need to read “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss. In this book, Ferriss gives readers step-by-step instructions on how to join the “New Rich.” The New Rich work less while maintaining their previous levels of income and find other meaningful activities (i.e. family, online business ventures, travel and volunteerism) to fill their newly-created free time.

I could write pages about this book’s principles, how they can be applied and the steps necessary to create this lifestyle and join the New Rich. But you should read this stuff for yourself. So instead, I will quickly highlight a few of the principles that Ferriss asserts can make you more productive in your workday, by eliminating unnecessary demands and distractions.

Productivity vs. “Being Busy”

Oftentimes people (myself included) say, “I need to keep myself busy, if I’m not I’ll go nuts.” A fundamental question you must ask yourself is, are you “busy” with tasks that aren’t important? And how often do these tasks eat up time in your day? Ferriss cites Pareto’s Law, which states that “80% of results come from 20% of the effort and time” when he first changed his work habits. Ferriss applied this law at a time when he was working 15-hour days, seven days a week. He recognized that of his 120 wholesale customers, a mere 5 were bringing in 95% of the revenue. After shifting his energy to these top-performing customers, Ferriss increased his monthly income two-fold in only four weeks and cut his hours worked from 80 to 15. Although this may seem like an extreme example, hundreds of others have adopted these principles and seen immediate and marked results.

Managing Your Daily Distractions

What do you really DO while sitting at your desk? Surf Facebook and check out the latest activity on your newsfeed? Check your personal email account, while monitoring your Twitter feed and LinkedIn connections? Take these distractions that consume parts of your day and add them up. I have, and I’m astounded at how much I peruse these social networking sites and other websites that, at the end of the day, add very little value to my work.  Ferriss suggests using free time-tracking software called RescueTime. RescueTime alerts users when they spend more than an allotted time on a website that one assigns as “time wasters.” A simple note attached to your computer screen with a message saying, “Are you inventing things to avoid the important?” is another method of reminding you to stay on task.

“Batching” Your Time Consuming Activities

Studies have been conducted across the board to show that lapses in productivity occur when workers multitask, especially when they allow interruptions to remove them from a particularly large task.  An individual can take up to 45 minutes to resume working on a major task once he/she has been interrupted. How can this be resolved? The first step is to begin batching. Set specific times in your day to check email and turn off the auto-responders that interrupt you every few minutes. Check sales at the beginning and end of the day, but most importantly, earmark times for this activity. To finish, estimate how much time you are saving by batching similar tasks and calculate how much you have earned based on your hourly rate (how much you value your time).

These are just a few of the principles that you can apply to your daily life to make you more efficient and productive in less time. In an age where texting and checking emails with clients present in the room has become commonplace and often acceptable, now is the time to reclaim your focus and your etiquette by following these basic principles. And by the way, read this book! You’ll soon recognize why it has become a #1 New York Times bestseller and been published in 35 countries.

via blog.brand-yourself.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

Single Mom Seeks College and Career - The Career Doctor Blog

Barbara writes:

I am a single mother of three in my late 20s. I have very few job skills and no formal education. I am eager to attend college and begin a career so that I may support myself and my children. My dilemma is that I have never wanted to be anything other than a wife and mother.

I have hobbies, likes, and dislikes just like everyone, but how do I turn them in to a career?
I desperately want to go back to school because I know that without an education I will not be able to get any kind of employment that will provide enough income for my children.

The Career Doctor responds:

First let me assure you that you are doing all the right moves — you realize you need to attend college to make a better living for yourself and your children and you want to take the time to find the right career for you.

One of my favorite things to do is help people discover their career passions — because when you are passionate about your career, you tend to love your job, and success follows. You will also be healthier and happier because of the fulfillment you receive from doing a job you enjoy.

We have a whole tutorial on Finding Your Career Passion on QuintCareers.com and I encourage you to get more depth on the subject than I can provide here, but let me give you at least an outline for what you need to do to move forward.

First step: Take some assessment tests. There are a number of good assessment tests (online and in print) that can give you some valuable career feedback based on your responses.

Second step: Assess yourself. You have already started this process — examine your likes, favorite activities, lifelong interests, hobbies, volunteering. Make a list. Then look for common threads among all these things and develop a list of core attributes.

Third step: Examine your life goals and research ideal career paths. Review what you want to accomplish in your life, and along with the results from step 2, begin researching careers that will use your skills and help you achieve your goals.

Fourth step: Identify college majors and minors that will assist you in entering your ideal career path.

via careerdoctor.org

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And the Census Jobs Bubble Bursts - Careers Articles

We all knew it was coming: that big Census employment bubble that was inflated by 411,000 new jobs and sent the unemployment rate down to 9.7 from 9.9 was only temporary. It reached its peak in early May, when a whopping 585,729 people were employed by the Census Bureau. By mid-June, that number had dropped to 330,737. You can keep track of the layoffs city by city at the Census Bureau website.

This could have a huge impact on the entire nation, let alone the 254,992 people who are now jobless again, after working only a few months ... or a few weeks. "A couple week's work--that's about all I got," says "Colleen," a temporary hire who scored well on the Census Bureau's test and spent the last two months waiting to be called in for service. She was recently told she would no longer be needed by the Census Bureau, but didn't want to give her real name for fear that potential employers might perceive her as a complainer.

These layoffs will doubtless have a big effect on next week's June employment report, which will be released Friday. The previous month's report always comes out on the first Friday of the proceeding month. A preliminary Reuters poll found that economists are expecting an overall June payroll decline of 70,000 jobs, even though they expect the private sector to add 113,000 positions.

Census jobs count in the government sector, which is factored separately from the private sector. But those same economic experts predicted a Census drop of about 180,000 jobs in June, which is well short of the actual 254,992, whose numbers were, released after the economists made their predictions.

Which makes one wonder what do the experts actually know? Last month, economists predicted the private sector would add more than double the 41,000 jobs that actually came into being. They were surprised by the weakness and sluggishness of the supposed recovery.

"I'd still rather hear overly positive predictions than overly negative ones," says Colleen, who has added Census Bureau work to her résumé and has renewed her job search. "I'm hoping the people who do the hiring will see my Census Bureau experience and realize that I'm very motivated and skilled enough to land even a temporary job in this highly competitive environment." They should also appreciate her ability to make lemonade out of lemons.

via jobs.aol.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

Features and Benefits Are So 2009. Sell To Driving Emotion

A famous marketer once said said, “sell the hole, not the drill.”

Translation—for the most part, people don’t care a whole lot about the vehicle that gets them the benefit they want…they’re simply looking for the faster, easier, most enjoyable way to their desired end.

So, if you were selling drills, you could focus in on the features of the drill or you could focus on the fact that this bad-boy will let you bore a monster hole through concrete in 8.2 seconds. If you were a golfer, it’s not so much the graphite shaft, carborundum head and Corinthian leather grip you’re selling, it’s the 300 yard drive.

Except…that it’s not…in either case.

The hole and the drive are the benefits. They sell better than the features.

But there’s something that sells 10 times better than both…driving emotions.

If you can ferret out, then sell to the driving emotions, you make a beeline to the part of the brain that says, “OMFG, if I don’t have that NOW, I just might die!”

In the drill example, the driving emotion isn’t the hole, that the benefit. The driving emotions might be the pride or ego fulfillment that comes from all your other workers and supervisors seeing you banging out massive amounts of work in less time. It might be the sense of empowerment that comes from a bigger, badder tool. Maybe it’s the fact that it lets you get home to your family faster and be less wiped out at the end of the day. Or, oddly enough, it might even be a proxy for a lack of power in other parts of your life.

In the golf example, the driving emotion isn’t the 300 yard drive, it’s the feeling of glory you get when you stand at the tee on the first hole, the one right in front of the clubhouse where everyone’s watching, and bang the ball straight to the green while everyone around you says, “whoaaaahhhh!!!” It’s the respect that comes from being known as the guy with the 300 yard drive. And, yes, just like the drill, it may even be a proxy for a lack of respect and connection in other parts of your life.

So, if you really want to sell, don’t sell the feature, don’t even sell the benefit…sell the driving emotion.

BUT, there’s a big caveat…you’d also better be able to deliver on your promise.

Because if you don’t, you’ll end up with a whole lot of clients and customers with buyers remorse, anger, returns and bad will.

Sell to the soul, then deliver…

via jonathanfields.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal

The Age of Resistance is Upon Us | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

We are living in a very different world than we were a few years ago. We are now inundated with so much content and advertising, across so many media streams, that we’ve started to become resistant.  We are opting out of email newsletters, unsubscribing to magazines and newspapers, unfollowing on Twitter, de-friending on Facebook, and putting emails in a spam folder. Name brands, such as Lady Gaga and Coca Cola will be sought out by fans and their messages will continue to spread, since they are differentiated, have high brand equity, and an extremely large foundation of fans.Lady Gaga has over nine million Facebook fans, while Coca Cola has almost six million Facebook fans.

For the average person or company, it has become much more challenging to cultivate a fan base and become well-known, despite the global population of social network users, and the amount of communities one can join. It is true that if you started building your online identity years ago, and kept with it, then you have a major competitive advantage now because people already know who you are, what you do, and are familiar with your logo or your face.

Noise is hurting our ears and our eyes

If you’re reading this, then I bet you’re following thousands of people on Twitter, you skim a hundred blog posts per day or week, and you watch twenty advertisements per day, sometimes without even noticing. We aren’t built to intake the amount of information provided to us, and with the sheer volume, that is increasing by second, we’re becoming smarter about what we read and what we ignore.

These statistics show how much time we use, and possibly waste, in the online world:

• 90 trillion emails sent on the internet in 2009 (Hubspot)
• 500 billion minutes per month people spend on Facebook (Facebook)
• 14.6 billion YouTube videos watched in May (comScore).
• 2 billion tweets per month on Twitter (Mashable).
• 200 million blog posts have been published on WordPress.com blogs (Mashable).

We are starting to build a strong resistance against companies and people that we’ve never heard before. We are also questioning blog authors, social network users, and other online personalities that don’t already have social proof and influence. Trust, credibility, history (how long you’ve been around) and a strong relationship (if you’ve previously interacted with a brand and enjoyed the experience), are now the most important factors when someone decides to read your content or do business with you.

Don’t be fooled by the low barriers to entry for online branding

You can build an online business for a very low cost because there are no real barriers to entry. All you need is a host, a domain name, some HTML skills, and a creative idea. The real cost is your time, or so it might appear. The benefit to having no barriers to entry is that talented people, who aren’t millionaires, can be successful online (and can potentially become millionaires). It gives everyone a chance to make a difference, whether they succeed or fail. The negative aspect of having no barriers to entry is that EVERYONE becomes your competitor, whether they are in the same industry as you or not. People are fighting for attention, and attention is harder to obtain than ever before.

The changing competitive landscape

• Two years ago, it was safe to say that you didn’t need money to break through the noise, establish your brand, and turn your passion into a business.
• Today, we’re living in a very different environment and the rules are starting to change fast.

How to lower resistance in the most competitive market in history

You aren’t going to be able to compete by publishing two posts in a week anymore. That simply doesn’t cut it in a world where there are million of status messages and posts being published every second. So, how on earth do you stand out?

1. Become a talent scout. You can’t scale yourself or your time, therefore, it’s a wise idea that you find other people that share the same passion as you. By pairing with others that are looking for a platform to share their voice, you can expand, grow, and break through the noise. Conduct a search through Google blog search, Technorati.com, Twellow.com, and other search engines in order to find people that you can partner with in some fashion.
2. Invest money in web design. I would never recommend that someone starts a WordPress.com, Typepad.com, Blogger.com or any other blog that you don’t completely own. I advised people to use these services years ago, but now it’s a major disadvantage if you do. You can’t completely customize any of these services. The day’s of just having a place to store content are over. You need to step up your game! By investing in a custom design for your site, including a logo, you have a shot at breaking through the resistance. Otherwise, you are still just another blogger. People trust others that invest money in their brands.
3. Hire a personal branding expert. It’s extremely valuable to have a third party help you in your branding endeavors, especially for those with no marketing backgrounds. I’m being really bias here, but you should really considering paying for online branding support. People, such as myself (and my company Millennial Branding, LLC) know how to analyze your current situation, help you figure out what makes you special, then position you in your market, and finally provide you with marketing support to increase your visibility.
4. One-to-one relationships instead of one-to-many. Just like a job seeker shouldn’t blindly apply to one hundred job openings for the sake of it, you shouldn’t go spam everyone and add to the noise. Instead, become as specific as you can with who your audience is and work as hard as you can to form relationships with influencers in that market. This way, you save time, energy, and will achieve greater results in less time.
5. Long-term instead of short-term thinking: A brand isn’t built overnight. As I stated before, you want to find a topic that you can write about for years, instead of months. This way, people knows that you’re serious and will potentially commit to reading your work. It takes a long time for people to recognize you as a serious online participant.
6. Get an industry influencer to sponsor you. What we’re going to see more of over the years is brand association, partnerships, and sponsorships. New bloggers are going to be seeking mentorship and promotional support from the veterans in different markets. This way, people that aren’t well-known can become well-known faster, and have a shot of breaking through the resistance.
7. Become more exclusive. When you create scarcity, you create demand. If you can prove the value of what you have to offer, then you can charge for it. For instance, I read an article about how someone created a premium network for chefs. Chefs are hard to reach, so the value of the network is worth people paying for it. If you can find a niche that’s hard to target, such as college students, then this exclusivity actually breaks through the noise because people will seek you out.

Brand matters more than ever

Branding will always become more important because a brand creates a sense of trust, loyalty, and overall experience that’s hard to replicate. Those who are already established in their fields will become even more successful over the coming years because it’s easier to build upon a foundation, rather than from scratch. Those who aren’t established will need to become established using the above seven strategies I’m offering.

Brands have leverage, control, and prestige. They lower resistance  by providing evidence of previous successes, and a commitment to maintaining quality and service.

via personalbrandingblog.com

Posted via email from AndyWergedal