Getting Fired? Laid Off? What About Your 401 K?

Original Post Here [thejobboard]

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In the past, I’ve written about what you should do first if you get fired or laid off.

Over the weekend, over at the WiseBread blog, I saw a new strategy that had never occurred to me before.

Essentially, it boils down to remembering to ask the HR folks if they’ll give you the unvested portion of your 401 (k).

A lot of companies have 401 (k) matching plans. It’s basically free money: they contribute x dollars to match every y dollars you contribute. The catch is, you have to stay with the company long enough for that to “vest.” If you leave too soon, they don’t have to make good on that money.

But if they fire you before the vesting can happen… well, that’s not your fault!

But a lot of employers are willing to give you the unvested portion of your 401(k) account if/when you’re being let go.

Especially if it’s not performance related and they just need to downsize. It’s not that big of a deal to them and in an effort to make these kinds of moves as painless as possible, there is a good shot you’ll get this money.

The worst thing that can happen? They say no.

Hmmm. I don’t know. If they’re in the saving money downsize mode, I’m not so sure they’ll be so sanguine about handing over the money.

But then again, this is one of those I suppose it can’t hurt to ask situations. I mean, they are going to give you (hopefully) some sort of severance package. So why shouldn’t the “free money” be a part of it?

Most of us, when we’re in the frenzied moment of being handed a pink slip, don’t tend to think clearly. So, make a mental note now. If you’re ever facing the proverbial firing squad, don’t forget to ask if you can take your “free money” with you.

It’s better than leaving money on the table.

And as always, if you find yourself suddenly laid off, it might be time to hire professional help.

Why You Still Need Business Cards

Original Post Here

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As a web worker, I handle most of my communications online. My first contact with many of my clients is via email or, sometimes, phone. But I still have a big box of business cards sitting on my desk, and I think they come in handy. I’m willing to pay to get professional business cards printed regularly.

Networking

Just because most of my clients contact me online doesn’t mean that that’s how they find me. I ask every new client how they found me and, more often than not, it’s because someone I know recommended me. What’s surprised me, though, is that it isn’t always past clients passing along my email address. More than a few times, it’s been someone that I met at a networking event passing my card along to someone who they thought could use it. These aren’t people who know me well; without that business card in their hands, they would have been hard-pressed to even remember my name. But having that convenient little piece of paper in their pocket led to me landing a new client.

Of course, I’ve landed clients just by heading out to networking events and handing out my business cards in person, as well. There’s a reason that business cards have become standard for business — and why many tools that allow you to share information via smartphone and other gadgets have been slow to catch on outside of technologically-oriented industries.

Professionalism

There are times when even the most web-oriented among us have to meet with people face-to-face. Being able to hand out a business card does more than guarantee that they have your contact information and even goes beyond making it easy to pass it along. It can help establish your professionalism. Depending on the type of work you do, there can be some difficulty in reminding your contacts that you’re a professional — after all, you spend most of your day at home or the coffee shop. But little touches like a professional business card can really help remind clients and colleagues that you are a professional, no matter where you’re working at.

Connecting

I’ve got a couple of business cards in my bag that don’t actually belong to me. I hand them out when I’m handing my own out, though: I have certain people that I work with on a regular basis and if I’m talking about a project they’d be involved in, I like to help them out with a little promotion while I can. They’ve got a stack of my cards, too. The system works out pretty well. We don’t routinely attend events (networking or otherwise) together, but each of us still gets an opportunity to get our cards in the hands of people who might like to work with us. A business card may not be the perfect substitute for your ability to win new clients or projects in person, but it can definitely help in situations where you wouldn’t have been able to be there anyhow.

Do you still use business cards?

Image by Flickr user bargainmoose, licensed under CC BY 2.0

Deliver a Better Presentation by Reminding Yourself It's Not About You [Mind Hacks]

Original Post Here [LifeHacker]

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We all give presentations in our work and lives, whether it's a one-on-one meeting with your boss or a lecture to a room full of people. Psychology Today offers a great guide to giving a successful presentation.

Photo by James Jordan.

I'm presenting a panel at SXSW this year, and the fact is, as is the case with many people, public speaking still rankles my nerves. Psychology professor Nancy Darling offers some great suggestions for giving a good presentation, and reminds us nervous speakers that it's really not about us:

There are five main components to pulling together a good presentation:

1. Choose a goal;
2. Find a storyline that will help the group reach that goal;
3. Develop a series of activities or a method of presentation that allows you to develop your storyline. Don't let your media determine your storyline!
4. Remember that your role is to facilitate the group reaching its shared goal. This is your primary responsibility!
5. Remember that it's not about you. All that matters is the experience of the other people in the room.

It's easy to get caught up in nerves when you're giving a presentation, but try to remember that the focus of the presentation is really on the information you're trying to get across, not on you. If you're confident in your information, let that boost the confidence you've got in your presentation.

Even if you're not a nervous presenter, I'd recommend giving Darling's guide a read through. It's full of solid suggestions for improving your presentations.

How to Give a Presentation Part I: It's Not About You [Psychology Today]

Top 5 Posts About How Your Facebook Profile Affects Your Job Search | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

Original Post Here by Erin Lashley • March 4, 2010

When I think of employers using Facebook to screen applicants, I admit the subject automatically brings back negative memories of things I have read about people getting in trouble at work for online indiscretions. But my next thought is that since everyone knows now that social media communication is always potentially public information, there really is no more excuse for negative outcomes to Facebook interactions as they relate to your job. If you haven’t been already, you should now officially consider yourself warned.

These five bloggers all have something important to say about the pros and cons of employers using Facebook:

1. The Facebook Snatchers: Could Your Employer Hijack Your Account? by Andrew Moshniria, The Citizen Media Law Project
Moshniria posts about the city of Bozeman, Montana’s failed attempt to get all its employees’ social networking usernames and passwords. The city had to change its policy on internet privacy because overt spying on employees goes against Montana’s state constitution. But, Moshnira points out, the US Constitution does not provide for a right to privacy, so other employers may try imposing similar rules.

2. What If a Prospective Employer Doesn’t Look at My Facebook Page? by Mike Dover, Creative Class

Dover takes an optimistic approach to the subject of employers on Facebook. Dover suggests that since we know people have lost opportunities because of inappropriate online behavior, why not use Facebook to help your career, instead of as a place to let it all hang out? Thoughtful posts and relevant link sharing add to your credibility and allow you to show people what you are like instead of trying to describe yourself on a cliche-riddled resume.

3. More Employers Use Social Networks to Check Out Applicants by Jenna Wortham, The New York Times
Jenna Wortham’s post advises us to accept the fact that employers are going to try to look at your Facebook page. Besides the obvious drinking references and provocative photos, you may be harming your career by posting seemingly harmless pictures of your beach vacation or a controversial Halloween costume. She suggests that it’s best to keep your privacy settings very tight.

4. Use Facebook Ads to Make Employers Hunt You Down by Willy Franzen, One Day One Job
Willy Franzen of One Day One Job challenged his blog’s readers to make Facebook ads to advertise themselves to employers! Although placing an ad is not free, Franzen says that the ads are inexpensive and the cost is worthwhile given the potentially wide reach.

5. Ten Ways to Use Facebook to Find a Job, The Sirona Says Blog
Blogger and HR consultant Andy gives us more than enough reasons to believe that employers and Facebook are a good combination. My favorite of his tips is “don’t be boring,” although making sure your profile photo is you “in a non-stupid pose” is a close second. His light hearted approach reminds us that the right job should make the best use of your abilities, so shouldn’t your job search do so as well?

The internet and its social networks continue to present us with new challenges regarding our online behavior and how it relates to our professional lives. The only thing certain is that technology probably won’t be regressing; however, we can learn how to protect our professional lives from being intruded upon by our social lives. Best of all, we can use social networking to improve our careers if we can find a way to make our unique online personas set us apart from all the other job seekers in our fields.

Taking a Job Search Personally

Original Post Here [TheWiseJobSearch]

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Riding the roller coaster of emotions in a job search can be emotionally draining! Even the most even keeled personality can often feel like the ups and downs of a search are affecting the positive attitude they are trying to maintain in the process.
Why?
Obviously because a job search is so personal!
Even professional sales people, who are used to handling frequent rejection in their jobs, are often deeply affected by inevitable rejections that come in the job search process. When you’re selling an external product or service, it’s easier to be objective and level headed when getting a ‘No Thanks’. When the product is yourself, it feels more like a rejection of who you are.
So what do you do?
Here are 3 things that can help…

Decide what makes you, you! Many people, when asked about who they are, lead off with their occupation (i.e. “I’m an Accountant” or “I’m a Carpenter”). When your occupation is what defines you most in your own mind, it can be devastating to your self-image when you’re unemployed. Even more so when you can’t seem to find someone willing to hire you in that occupation. Is your career really who you are?
Everyone wears multiple hats. Which ones really matter to you most? Perhaps you are a devoted husband, wife, father, or mother. Perhaps you’re a grateful son, daughter, follower of Christ, or child of God. Maybe you’re a loyal friend, a talented athlete, musician, or writer. What things define you outside of your employment? Your employment status doesn’t change your identity in those areas. Those are the things you need to recognize, define, and focus on.
If, in your mind, what you are primarily is your career, any rejections or setbacks in that career will throw you off track. Decide what really makes you, you.
Realize that it’s a business decision, not a personal one. Although a personal connection with a hiring manager and ‘chemistry’ certainly play a role in who they hire, the final decision ultimately is a business decision. They will hire the person with the best combination of relevant technical / functional skills, track record, attitude, communication skills, and personality that matches their culture. You may have had an interview that felt like it was a home run, however, you have no idea who the other candidates were. Someone else may have hit the ball out of the park. They don’t see it as being opposed to you personally, they are simply choosing who they viewed as the best fit. Understanding that helps you accept it as well.
Envision yourself as a Sales and Marketing professional! The more you realize that as a job seeker, you have a full-time job as a Sales person, you will approach your job search more professionally, more fervently, and more objectively. You are selling, and your products are the services you offer that fulfill a companies requirements and wants for a particular position.
If you view your product as external, you can approach the task with greater objectivity. Examine how you approach your ‘customers’ and what message you want them to grasp. If they don’t buy / hire you, it’s not against you personally, they just haven’t seen how you are the best solution for their need. It will make you a better candidate, as well as help you keep the right personal perspective when you understand your role, and that you are not necessarily THE solution for every open position.
Taking rejection too personally in a job search is natural, and yet can be a challenge when trying to maintain a positive attitude. Examining how you view yourself and your search can help you overcome the difficulties and help you achieve the success you are seeking.

Employers are using social media to learn about you

Just a few months ago, CareerBuilder found that 45% of employers in the USA were using social networks to research candidates. It only takes a few seconds for a recruiter to copy and paste your name into a browser to see what Google finds about you, and often enough, results from social media will appear in the first page of results.

If employers are using social media to learn about you, are you using social media to learn about them?

If you liked this article, you’ll find useful my 8 Creative Ways to Use Social Media for Your Job Search.

-- Jacob Share, Job Search Expert and Professional Blogging Consultant

image by webtreats

How to Create OCR Scannable Business Cards

Original Post Here

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More and more business people are using some form of business card scanner with OCR technology to transfer business cards into their contacts database. Whether with an iPhone app or a scanner like NeatReceipts (Mike previously reviewed the Mac version), OCR can drastically simplify the process of transferring contacts from paper to your contact management database.

But even the best OCR business card reader technology has limitations. And while adding over 100 business cards to my contact files this week using my NeatReceipts for Mac, I discovered many of them. Cards with certain design features simply didn’t scan well. And as scanning becomes more common, this is something that business card designers should keep in mind. That contact was important enough for you to give your business card to; you need to make sure you make it easy for them to accurately add you to their contacts list — or you risk your card ending up in the trash.

Here’s my list of do’s and don’ts for creating a scannable business card.

Don’t:

Use fancy fonts. These easily confuse OCR software, especially on letters like “c” and “e”. A clean font like Helvetica may seem boring, but it is easy for OCR to translate.

Combine your name and title. Names and titles separated by a comma on a single line (such as “Nancy Nally, Editor”) didn’t translate correctly in the OCR I was using.

Overlay text on a pattern. This is too confusing for OCR.

Angle text. My scanner’s OCR couldn’t translate text that wasn’t parallel to the edges of the card.

Mix orientations. Keep all the text oriented in the same direction (preferably horizontally, since my scanner had trouble reading vertically-oriented cards).

Do:

Keep it big. If you get squinty looking at your card, so will OCR software.

Give text breathing room. Keep letters nicely spaced so that the OCR can distinguish them easily from each other.

Keep it light. Cards with dark backgrounds seem impossible to scan (even those with high-contrast white text).

Put your company name somewhere in text. OCR can’t translate stylized logos, so make sure the company’s name is in text somewhere too.

Keep it on one side. Scanners only read one side of a card, so keep all the critical contact information on one side.

This last issue was a very common problem with the batch of cards I just scanned. Double-sided printing is becoming very affordable so more people are creating business cards that are printed on both sides. This creates the temptation to spread the critical contact information on both sides of the card, which makes it inaccessible to card reading technology. Ideally, you should have contact information on only one side of the card, and then use the other side for a logo or mini sales brochure. A printer like Moo.com, with its ability to print a different back on each card in a set, offers the ability to get very creative with a card back’s promotional uses. Meanwhile, the front of the card can hold all of the traditional contact information in a clean and simple (scannable) format.