The Business Card Is Alive and Well After All

Original Post

Earlier this week we asked if you still carried business cards, pointing out that the business card feels more and more outdated in a digital age. Your response: Digital age be damned! Around 70 percent of you still carry business cards—37 percent carrying them wherever you go, 33 percent making sure they're on hand where people commonly exchange them. Only 13 percent of you have gone the "who needs 'em" route, while 14 percent of you have them but don't carry them often.

Photo by boblet.

New Twitter Tools for Job Seekers

Last week, my post featured a short video by my friendthe Recruiting Animal about how to stand out on Twitter. This week I thought I would go more in depth about how Twitter can be used in your job search.

Being in the job search is tough, and as a job seeker you are not alone (especially with the more than 15 million who are out of work and in the job hunt). People don’t always prepare adequately for the job search, although they should be giving themselves a solid six months to get everything in order before they can expect results. This provides the opportunity to grow and build your network using both traditional (face to face networking) and non-traditional methods (social media networking). Keep in mind that this can all be done while you’re still employed. Don’t wait until you’re actively looking to build your network!

One non-traditional networking tool is Twitter. Think of Twitter as a virtual cocktail party with more than 27 million people in attendance. Like any traditional cocktail party or networking event, there are conversations (known as your twitter stream) that happen all around you. Twitter is no different. If your goals for Twitter are primarily business-based, it is extremely important to selectively join and be present for key conversations among decision makers or influencers in the industry in which you are looking for work.

These tips will help you turn Twitter into the ultimate networking tool:

• Follow People. Following others and retweeting or reposting their tweets is a great way to begin to build a relationship. Use Twitter directories which are essentially online yellow pages to search for influencers in your target industry, location, or by keyword like Twellow, and We Follow. Here are 15 more great Twitter directory sites courtesy of Mashable.

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Be found by making sure to include keywords that are searched by recruiters and hiring managers in your Twitter bio. Consider words including industry specific software programs, certifications, and words that are repeatedly listed in job board advertisements. Recruiters use keywords within your tweets and your bio to find you. Make it easy to be found including key words and a link to your blog or profile.

• Hash Tags (#). Hash tags are used in Twitter as a way to sort and search by topic. Some common hash tags for job seekers including #jobs, #jobhuntchat, #jobsearch, and #jobadvice. Using your iGoogle account, you can set up an RSS feed of common keywords and hash tags in Twitter Search. Setting up your RSS feed is a great time saving tip!

• Find Recruiters. I almost always suggest that job seekers take an aggressive approach to their job search. Just as recruiters source and search for you, job seekers can seek out and connect with recruiters, human resource professionals, or hiring managers using social media search tools. Twitter directories are a great start, but there are more advanced tools like Follower Wonk andTwitter Search which can help you further focus your search. Both of these offer advanced search options, allowing you to search by keyword and even zip code. Follow Wonk provides advanced bio search options.

• Building Relationships. Chris Brogan provides a crude yet effective example of social media networking and how to build relationships. He likens immediately asking for a job or sale just after meeting someone to sticking your tongue down someone’s throat just after meeting them. Basically, don’t ask for the sale until you have an established relationship. Social media is undoubtedly a great way to connect, but can be somewhat superficial. Networking takes time! Make sure you establish a meaningful relationship with someone before asking them to help you.

Brand-Yourself.com is an award winning toolset that helps you proactively manage your online reputation and promote yourself across the social web. Create an account today to see how we can help you win new opportunities, jobs and clients online. It’s easy and it’s fun!

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is an author, new mother, and human resources professional with a passion for recruiting and all things social media. She has over 10 years of experience in human resources & recruiting.

Her company, Xceptional HR provides businesses with social media, recruitment, and human resources strategy and consulting. Jessica’s book, Tweet This! Twitter for Business was released January 2010. Follow Jessica on Twitter, LinkedIn, & FaceBook.

Best Jobs In America

[focus.com]

What Font Size Should I Use For My Resume?

Link to post [theJobBored]

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Previously, I discussed what fonts are generally acceptable to use for your resume.

But what about font size? What are the font sizes you should use for your resume?
Pretty simple: keep it between 10pt. and 12pt. font. 13pt. maybe. But nothing bigger than that.

If you go smaller than 10pt. it’s probably too small to read comfortably. If you go bigger than 13pt., you’re looking cartoonish, and worse, it might look like you’re trying to make up for not having much of a career history to put on a resume. In other words, if you have crazy big font sizes, that might say to the reader: this guy has so little experience he can’t even fill out one page.

Really, your sweet spot is the 10pt. to 12pt range. Don’t be afraid to try 11pt. if it works! You really just want to adjust the font size to fit the pages as fully as possible. If 10pt. gives you 3/4th of a page of text but 12pt. fills the page, then go with 12pt.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

By 10 – 12pt., the text I’m talking about is the body of your resume. But, and this is important:

DON’T USE ONE FONT SIZE FOR YOUR ENTIRE RESUME.

We’re not in the age of typewriters, people. You should use different font sizes for section titles like “Education” “Career History” “Profile” and things like that. And your name at least should be big and bolded at the top.

Off the top of my head, I’d suggest something like this:

12pt. for the body of your resume

14pt. for the section headers

16pt. for your name at the top of every page

That’s not written in stone. It’s just a thumb guide for a strategy you could take. But play around and try different sizes to see what looks good to you.

And as always, remember that professional resume help is out there.

The Ability to Learn is Your Most Important Skill

Original Post Here


image by Steve Punter


When employers talk about desirable skills they look for in new hires, they usually mean things like marketing, IT, budgeting, and project management. But what about the ability to learn?

I’m not kidding. Let’s say a 20-something employee, we’ll call her Amy, starts a new job as a sales representative at a Fortune 500 software company. She graduated from college fairly recently and has never done sales before, so her boss expects her to have lots of questions as she proceeds to develop her first client relationships. He guides her through the process patiently, explaining in detail how to communicate the product’s value proposition, and how she should go about getting a meeting with a decision maker.

After all the time he spends, the boss hopes that Amy can take what he told her and apply it to her next sales situation. But the boss is taking for granted the fact that Amy has the ability to assimilate new information, and that she instinctively knows how to harness it in a variety of circumstances. However, this is actually a pretty rare skill. Most people will need to hear similar instructions repeated time and time again, just because the scenario is slightly different than last time.

Employers frequently test for this skill during the hiring process, often in the form of behavioral interview. This type of interview demonstrates how a candidate acted in past job situations. How should you prepare for it? First, think of a project with which you were tasked in a prior job.

Consider the details, including the type of assignment and the expected result. Next, create a list of the steps you took to complete the task and solve any problems that came up during the course of the task. Finally, practice explaining your results and what you learned from the initiative. This last part is the most important because employers want to know that you can put all your terrific experience to use for them and dive right in on your start date.

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