Do I Need a Personal Website?

“The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity I need. My name in print. That really makes somebody. Things are going to start happening to me now!”

Steve Martin, as “Navin R. Johnson” in The Jerk (1979)

This is extremely apropos as we think about an individual’s online identity management in 2010.

Job Seekers, recruiters, human resource professionals and even venture capitalists, continually ask me about the value of a personal website in 2010. Folks have trouble grasping the value of a centralized platform that they control.  Perhaps this is understandable, given the market reach of LinkedIn, Google Profiles, Facebook and a cadre of other social media.  Folks simply cannot accept that a personal website is still of extremely high value.

I ask…Do you think if you are a graphic artist or marketing professional that having a personalized web address to showcase your work has value?

…Is there value to password protecting work samples, white papers etc…?

…Why limit yourself to a template and compete with all the other folks with the exact same name?

… Where do companies spend the most money and time highlighting their service and value proposition on the Web? Why is personal marketing different?

…. Is there a competitive advantage for jobseekers to fully express themselves with graphics, color, navigation and depth?

My weekend case study:

I am active on the web.

• I have a Google profile.
• I have a Zoom Info profile that I manage.
• I have a robust LinkedIn profile.
• I have a Twitter account.
• I have plenty of personal content on the web, including this blog.

This weekend I decided to “search me” using Bing (Microsoft). I did this because I am a Google junkie and never tried searching myself with Bing. It is also important to note that Bing now has 12% of the search market and is the fastest growing of the major search engines.

When I searched myself on Bing, nothing appears on page one for me accept one entry, my personal website.

Not my Blog, not my LinkedIn account, not my businesses.  Just the personal website I built using Site in 60.

I now have another reason to tell all the folks asking me, why individuals in career transition should have a personal website.  Bing me.

via careerbrander.wordpress.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

What Would Dad Say » The Basics of Job Interviewing. Again.

Most of the time, I hate the condescending tone of the career pundits.  It’s always “Sally, you idiot, here is how you should do your resume.”  Or, “Billy Bob, here is how to answer these typical interview questions.”

But I thought you knew better.  Come to find out there are a lot…I mean a LOT…of job seekers who are clueless about the basics, of how a business operates and recruits.  This is Interviewing 101: The Class Everyone Thought You Took, But You Didn’t.  It is a lecture.

Please pardon my bluntness, but some of your friends, NOT YOU, need this direct approach.

1. When you send out a resume, send a cover letter too. Make both perfect.

2. Keep track of what company and to whom you send your resume and cover letter.  You do this so when you are called by the company’s recruiter, you don’t say things like “how did you get my resume,” or “who are you and why are you calling me?”

3. Google each company. Read and remember just a little bit about the company.  This is so when you are called for the initial interview you are NOT completely in the dark about the company.  You want to avoid comments like “mmmm, I have never heard about your company, what do you do?”

4. Before the interview, study more about the company; granted, this is a lot like homework.  Find out as much as you can about the company and industry.  What do they do?  What else can you find out about them?

5. Arrive early for the interview.  If necessary, scout it out beforehand.  Dress appropriately.  The easy rule is to dress one level up from the normal workplace attire for the business.  If you are a guy and you have found it is business casual during the workday, wear a tie.  Simple.

6. Everyone you meet is important.  Quick story: I know a young guy who was being interviewed by a large health care company here in Minneapolis.  The woman who took him back to the interview area was like Hilda the Hun, came across almost mean-spirited.  The young guy treated her nicely and made small talk.  She then went out of her way to make sure he was interviewed first, and even gave him a tip on how to handle the interviewer, her boss.

7. Make eye contact and have a bounce in your step.  I can’t tell you how many people shuffle, eyes-down on the way to and from the interview, and the small talk is a series of near-grunts, “yep, nope, ummm.” Act interested, engaged and a bit vibrant.   Attitude trumps most skills in this first setting.

8. Use your manners. Take notes during the interview.  Ask questions.  Be nice.

9.  After the interview, send a note to the interviewer.  We have interviewed over 200 recent graduates for some sales positions.  Guess how many sent a follow up note? One. 1. No kidding.

10.  After about a week, make contact again, via email and with a call.  If you are smart, you will have sent a note to the person who took you back to the interview, too.  Remember the young guy who met Hilda the Hun.  Well, he even sent her a note.  On his subsequent interview, he met her again.  Here is what he said, “she was so happy to see me, I thought she was going to kiss me in the recetion area.   As we walked past her desk, I noticed that she had a picture of her kids, her dogs and my note was propped up against one of them.”  Is there any wonder he got the offer?

Class dismissed.

A great place for research is LINKUP.com, it is one of the job search engines, but it is somewhat different because it only gets jobs off company websites.  Just looked there are over 416,000 jobs up on it right this moment.  And most are never advertised.  So, you will have the inside track on these jobs.

via blogs.jobdig.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

How to Avoid Internet Job Fraud | EmploymentDigest.net

With unemployment at the highest rate since the early 1980’s record numbers of people are desperately searching for work. The Internet is the medium most job seekers turn to today as do con artists who use the Internet for fraud by preying on the unsuspecting. In today’s economy, employment scam has become one of the fastest growing categories of fraud.

Fraud practitioners use Internet marketing and email scams to lure unsuspecting individuals who are looking for work. Employment is advertised on legitimate job placement sites and message boards or the “supposed” job offers arrive to the individuals by email. The typical guise is an international company needs to hire U.S. citizens as “agents” to perform certain services. The Internet scam is simple: The lure of a home-based job that requires very little work and pays big dividends, drawing “applicants” who then become victims of the scam. Not only do they become the unwitting victim of fraud, they end up losing money they could ill afford and in many cases they themselves become victims of identity theft and sometimes even unwilling accomplices to crime.

The too-good-to-be-true positions include payroll clerks, customer service representatives, shipping managers, mystery shoppers, craft assemblers and many more variants-all promising hefty salaries, benefits and huge commissions. For many victims, the hook is the promise of immediate, advance payments to the applicant. The company obtains personal and banking information from the new hire and checks are sent with instructions to wire a portion of the funds to a third party to cover expenses. In some cases, packages immediately arrive with instructions on re-shipping merchandise to international destinations. Once the checks are deposited and packages shipped, the dream job quickly becomes a nightmare. The checks the victims deposited into their personal accounts are fake. The duped “employee” is out their own money which was subsequently wired and they are now liable for the balance of the funds which can run into thousands of dollars. Usually the scam victim has lost all of their personal, scant funds previously deposited in their own bank account as well. In many cases they have also unknowingly re-packaged and shipped stolen merchandise, often purchased with stolen credit card information, and the “new hire” has unknowingly participated in money laundering crimes and other fraud.

Spam has become the advertising tool of choice for many of the con artists. AIS Media, an Atlanta-based Internet Interactive company that monitors Internet fraud, reports a dramatic increase in these scam emails. Unsolicited emails are received by individuals featuring subject lines such as “Immediate Placement”, “We Received Your Resume“, “Business Request”, “Our Job ID 95313″, “We’re Pleased to Offer Your Job” “HR Department Announcement”, etc. Thomas Harpointner, CEO of AIS Media, says “many of these scams are just newer twists on an old fraud. Today’s scam artists have learned to streamline the fraud using the Internet. It has become the newest arena for scam artist to easily reach desperate people. The scammers appeal to the desperation of the unemployed, who in many cases have been out of work for more than six months.”

The Internet scams have caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which launched a crackdown on job con artists who prey on unemployed Americans. Labeled “Operation Bottom Dollar”, the FTC-in cooperation with other federal agencies such as the FBI, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service-has begun targeting individuals and groups marketing deceptive and illegal jobs as well as work at home and other phony Internet scams.

Along with email scam, the con artists place bogus employment ads on legitimate Internet job placement sites. The recruitment industry has stepped up its fight against the scam as well. Job portals such as Monster.com, Craigslist, CareerBuilder and others, as well as search engines like Bing have become proactive in attempting to reduce these scams by entering into partnerships to display FTC consumer information to educate job seekers in recognizing job scams. Recruiting sites, portals, message boards and other Internet services are quick to remove the scams as they are discovered, but with the fast pace of the Internet, the ads are posted as quickly as they are taken down. Caution and prudence by job seekers is the primary defense to avoid being a victim of a job scam.

AIS Media’s Harpointner warns that if the posting appears too good to be true-it probably is. “Desperation should not cloud common sense” says the AIS Media CEO. “As job seekers scour the Internet and their email inbox anxiously looking for ways to generate much-needed income, they should always maintain a wary eye for scam. Avoid responding to emails from unknown sources and take the time to go online to research the company to see if credible information is available from legitimate news agencies. It should be obvious that companies are not paying big money for someone to do basically nothing from home. Red flags for job seekers include requests for personal information like social security numbers, mother’s maiden names and cash payments from the applicant during an application process.”

It is a well known fact among con artists that people are more susceptible to greed during difficult financial times. Job seeks should protect themselves by recognizing the fraud by avoiding con artists who have learned to streamline their scam using the Internet to line their pockets with money from people who are already suffering.

Rick Ellis has an MBA in eCommerce and is director of Channel Partner Development with AIS Media; an Atlanta based Internet Interactive Company. AIS Media is dedicated to stamping out Internet scam and fraud.

via employmentdigest.net

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

Movin' On Up: What Do Your Social Media Sites Reveal About You?

Did you know that 53% of all hiring managers use social networks to perform background checks on employees? So, if you interviewed for a job and end up being one of the top candidates, some employer may search your online references, such as Facebook and LinkedIn to learn more about you. If they looked at your Facebook profile, what would your pictures tell a potential employer about you? 

An estimated 80% of employers want employees and job candidates to know how to use social networking tools.

via blog.expresspersonnel.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

Interview Tip: Applying the Seven Elements of Storytelling | Seattle Interview Coach

Storytelling is an important technique for any successful job interview candidate. Stories are engaging, easy-to-understand, and easy-to-remember.

Many corporations offer storytelling classes that help employees develop stories for presentations, media pitches, and online campaigns. I came across the storytelling checklist below. Use it to develop career stories for your next interview.

Step 1: Forge Foundation

• What is your story's goal?
• Who is the target audience?
• What is the target vehicle and rationale?
• Who is the messenger or spokesperson?

Step 2: Grab Attention

• Can you lead with credible data or research?
• Do you have a news hook?
• Can you tie-in your story with a current event or trend?

Step 3: Establish Setting

• What is the business or industry environment?
• What's the mood of your customers and employees?

Step 4: Humanize

• Describe the hero or opportunity of story.
• Introduce other characters tied to hero or opportunity including villains, obstructionists, or partners.

Step 5: Build Tension

• Describe potential negative outcome(s).
• Highlight any obstacles or problems.

Step 6: Deliver the Turning Point

• What significant change occurs?
• What is the impact on customers and partners?
• Is there any shift in industry that results?

Step 7: Communicate the Outcome

• What was the end result?
• What is the call to action for the listener?

via blog.seattleinterviewcoach.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

20 Questions to find out the corporate culture before you accept the job

1. Is the environment fast paced, slow or somewhere in between? What seems to be driving this pace?
2. Does the culture dictate that the average work day is 8 to 5 or longer? Why is that?  If it’s longer, is there always more work to be done than can be done in an 8 hour day or do people just stay so they “look good”?  Is the work day flexible or rigid?  Do most employees come early and stay late, or do they come late and stay late, etc?  How would you characterize work/life balance?
3. Does it seem like a “fun” place to work, or does the group seem more serious? Perhaps they have a lot of fun together, yet work very, very hard.
4. Does this group do things together outside of the office where participation is expected in order to become accepted as a team member? This might include evening occasional dinners together, occasional office parties, working on civic projects together, etc.
5. Are the employees a well-knit, close team?  Are they openly receptive to new team members? Do they trust easily, or do new members typically take a long time to be accepted?  Do team members respect and value everyone? Do the team members hold themselves accountable, taking responsibility for their actions and their effect on others?
6. Does the department/company encourage open dialogue (really), but with the understanding that you have to be able to prove your point if you have a different idea or disagree with the way things are done?
7. Are the work processes well-defined or unclear? Do the employees of that group/team/department embrace the way it is?  Or are they open to change?  Do they (really) want to have best practices?
8. Is creativity valued more highly than conformity, or is it the other way around? Think of real examples to prove your conclusion.
9. What part does risk play in the department/company? Are the employees risk takers or do they typically play it safe? Is there a readiness to try new things?  Would you characterize the group as one who cherishes new information and ideas?  Is change embraced, or avoided?
10. How are important decisions made? Are these decisions typically made quickly, or does it seem to take forever? Do the employees have lots of freedom to make choices and decisions, or does virtually everything have to be run through management before action is taken?  How are these decisions communicated?
11. Is there (really) a commitment to excellence? Is great customer service (internal and external customers) actually a part of the everyday environment, or does it only get lip service?
12. Do the employees have all of the resources they need to do a first-class job, or do they have to get by on less than ideal? Will they have to work in an environment that is a significant “work-in-progress” (recognizing that culture and environment are dynamic, not static).
13. Do the employees have pride in their work, their department and the company? If so, is (really) pride “in a job well done”, or would others likely see it as less humble and more like arrogance?
14. What are the personality traits of those that get rewarded for a job well done? What types of achievements get public attention and reward?
15. What is the physical layout of the work area (cube, office, large, small, windows, etc)? Will they fit the new employee?
16. What does the dress code say about the environment?
17. Could something be learned by just looking at what’s on the office area walls as well as on the walls and shelves of the team members’ office/cube? What would that be?
18. Where does honesty and integrity fit in? Does the team walk the talk, consistently following a code of conduct that reflects high ethical, personal, and professional standards?
19. Do managers encourage open communication (really) and encourage new ideas and opinions? Do they “walk the talk”?  Do the managers hold themselves accountable, taking responsibility for their actions and their effect on others?
20. Can the group values be documented in a meaningful way, or would you find it hard to determine whether group values even exist? If these are difficult to pin down, expect trouble.

via theemploymentguy.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

6 Ways To Reduce Irrelevant Results On Google Search

The internet is not your library and if you thought a ton of books was an overwhelming amount of information, think again.

The internet doesn’t contain just a few dozen or hundred relevant sources, no, it contains millions or billions or even more. To make things worse, there is no friendly and intelligent librarian to help you sort through all this information. It’s only you and a stupid search engine. You better act smart.

The challenge when searching online is to find only relevant information or – in other words – avoid irrelevant results on Google search. In this article I will show you 6 ways to reduce these false hits, so that you get better overall search results.

Surprisingly, the most effective way to reduce irrelevant results on Google search, may be not to use Google’s search engine in the first place. Read on to understand why.

1. Use Multiple Keywords

Use multiple keywords to receive more specific results on your first search engine results page (SERP).

2. Use Google Suggest

When you enter the first letters of a keyword into the search bar, Google will suggest popular keywords other people have used in their searches. Follow these suggestions and see whether they can help you gain better results.

3. Use Operators to Properly Connect Keywords

This is a whole article of its own and fortunately it has already been written. Please have a look at my article on Google Operators for an overview. You can use each of these “commands” to improve your search results. Here I will mention only the three most helpful ones.

• Use Negative Keywords

If you’re seeing irrelevant results, identify a keyword that has nothing to do with what you’re looking for and make it your “negative keyword”. Simply add it to your search query with a minus symbol in front of it, for example if you were looking for the band Gossip, you would search for [gossip -celebrity] (without the brackets).

• Use Quotes

This is most commonly used to find an exact match. Since Google already uses the AND operator to connect single keywords per default, you won’t need quotes to find exact matches in most cases.

However, if you find that Google returns results with highlighted keywords that are spelled completely different from what you entered, try to put these single words into quotes and try again. This will prevent Google from “finding” more popular keywords that are only vaguely similar to your search term.

• Search Within a Specific Website

If you don’t want to search the entire internet, but instead a specific URL, this operator is of great help. Type [site:URL "your search query"], for example [site:http://wikipedia.org "brandenburg gate"].

This MakeUseOf Poll compiled by Aibek features some more Best Google Search Tips & Operators.

4. Use Advanced Search

If you can’t be bothered with manually typing operators, you can use Google’s Advanced Search. It allows you to exclude words, search for results in a specific language or specific files, and search within a site or domain. As you enter the details, the search query is automatically composed for you.

5. Use Google Chrome With Quick Scroll

One of the most annoying parts of following a search result is finding the relevant part within the page that opens. The Google Chrome extension Quick Scroll helps you tackle this issue as it provides a quick way to scroll to the parts in that website that are relevant to your query.

We have profiled Quick Scroll in the MakeUseOf Directory.

In Firefox you could simply use Quick Find, i.e. “find in text as you type” to quickly find the keywords again. However, if you’re into Google Chrome, you should check out these 8 Cool Google Chrome Extensions for Google Services, an article written by Tim earlier this month.

6. Ditch Google

Google is the most popular search engine and as such it has a lot of power. Google naturally has full control over its search algorithm. This in turn has a great impact on what results you will see, i.e. those you actually want to see or those that Google wants you to see.

There are two major variables that determine which results are recognized as relevant for your search: Link Authority (a.k.a. PageRank) and Keyword Relevance. Keyword relevance is straight forward. How well do the keywords you entered match the result, how often do they appear throughout the website, are they included in links pointing to that site, etc? Actually, this is all that you’re looking for when using a search engine.

Google, however, is biased towards link authority. The number of links pointing to a certain page determines its “authority” or PageRank. The more, the better. Unfortunately, this means that keywords only remotely related to a high PageRank site may cause this site to appear on your SERP, no matter how relevant it really is. The advantage is that you’ll see a lot of results from reputable high impact pages like Wikipedia or MakeUseOf. On the other hand you may miss out on many more relevant results from smaller pages. That’s not necessarily what you want.

So what can you do? You cannot change Google’s algorithm. However, if you keep seeing irrelevant search results, no matter how well you tune your search, there is one more thing you can do to get better results: don’t use Google’s search engine in the first place.

Yahoo’s search engine, for example, is less biased towards link authority and will thus provide you with much better search results. For a detailed analysis and examples, please see Troy Philis’ article on More Irrelevant Google Search Results.

What are your experiences with Google search and what has helped you to get the most relevant results?

Image credits: garytamin, bizior

(By) Tina has been writing for MakeUseOf since late 2007.

via feedproxy.google.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal