Spokeo is the New Creepy People Search Engine | Smarterware

Spokeo is the new people search engine that's freaking users out, because when you "spokeo" yourself there's a good chance you'll find your home address, phone number, interests, gender, occupation, wealth level, marital status, photos, and more. The search engine compiles information from public records and public social media network pages to put together a pretty complete profile of individuals. My local news station ran a piece on Spokeo and profiled a user, and the lower third of the screen described her as "weirded out by web site" (which amused me enough to take a screenshot).

My Spokeo search results were mixed in the accuracy department. It listed a few old home addresses of mine, but not my current one; it also missed the mark on a few other details, like saying my occupation is "retired" and misidentifying my spouse's ethnicity.

Creepy people search engines aren't new. Back in 2005, ZabaSearch was the tool of choice for stalkers. There's also Pipl, Wink, ZoomInfo, and hell, Facebook and Google. But if you don't like the idea of people finding out how much your house is worth on Spokeo, just click on the Privacy link at the bottom of a page of Spokeo search results to request that the engine remove your listing. You will have to enter an email address to do so. How accurate are Spokeo results for your name?

via smarterware.org

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

7 Ways Your Resume is Just as Boring as Everyone Else’s | Career Rocketeer - Career Search and Personal Branding Blog

The economy seems to be picking up a little, and more and more job seekers are coming to us and letting us know about internal opportunities within their organization that they would like to apply to. But even as more opportunities open up, the competition is as strong—or stronger than ever before. Here are seven ways your resume isn’t quite cutting it. So take it out, brush it off, and let’s kick it up a notch.

It’s still sporting that outdated objective.

If your resume is utilizing an objective, you really should trash it and start all over with a fresh, powerful introduction that incorporates a personal branding statement. A tailored career summary and polished personal branding statement will catch the employer’s attention and give him or her the best information up front—the information he or she needs to make a decision to call you to schedule an interview.

The design/format is generic or elementary for your professional level and experience.

There is a strategy behind resume formatting and design. If you are an executive, yet you are using an entry level resume format, you will look unprofessional and under-qualified.

It’s missing important keywords

Omit keywords and the software system scanning your resume can’t find you. The recruiter giving your resume a quick once-over is looking for specific keywords as well. Leave them out and you’ll be left out of the interview process.

Generic and/or vague statements.

Avoid using the same old terminology that everyone else uses in their resumes. Yes, we know you can problem solve. But instead of telling me you’re a problem solver, show me the result of a problem you solved.

Soft skills vs. hard skills

And the championship goes to … hard skills. I used to be a full-time recruiter, and I used Monster and CareerBuilder to search for candidates. Not once did I ever enter the search terms: great communicator, excellent verbal skills, detail-oriented. These are universal statements that millions use to describe themselves. Give me something tangible and relevant to the position I am trying to fill.

Duties and responsibilities

Instead of wasting valuable real estate on your resume providing me with a rundown of your job description (the same one I’ve read a million times as a hiring manager), show me what you achieved, what you accomplished, and what you contributed in the past. WOW me with something other than the predictable, mundane job description. I want to know the challenges you faced in your previous roles, how you addressed them, and the results you obtained. This makes you different from everyone else. No two people will have the exact same experiences. Your experiences are what make you outshine your competition—USE THEM TO YOUR ADVANTAGE.

Are you passive or active?

Using terminology that is passive is boring and lacks action. Instead of using phrases like ‘served as’, ‘duties included’, ‘promoted to’, ‘worked with’ … choose strong action verbs. Action verbs do just what they say: they convey action and, ultimately, results. The hiring manager is interested in results you can provide about what you did along the way. Choose terms like: Launched, Catapulted, Spearheaded, and Pioneered. These terms tell me something. They show me the action you took and captivate my attention so that I want to read on to discover the results you achieved.

Your resume needs to do two things: It needs to capture the hiring manager’s attention—and it needs to motivate him or her to pick up the phone and call you for an interview. If you look and sound like everyone else, you have no competitive advantage. And therefore, you’ve provided the HR person with zero motivation to pick up the phone, call you, and schedule an interview. Stop creating a ‘same old, same old’ resume that looks and feels just like everyone else’s. Start today by adding some variety and focusing on your accomplishments.

View professional resume samples or submit your resume via e-mail to info@greatresumesfast.com for a free resume analysis.

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Guest Expert:

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 1.877.875.7706.

via careerrocketeer.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

5 Tips When Working With Recruiters | EmploymentDigest.net

As you probably already know recruiters usually have the best jobs in the market, the ones that are not posted. The ones only the recruiter can get because of his or her relationship with the client.

A good recruiter can be worth more than GOLD to a client company. Most CEO’s will tell you they are only as good as their people. Ever get frustrated with recruiters not calling you back or following up after you have submitted your resume? Want to get noticed?

The facts are that recruiters are commission driven and they work on what they think can close fast. It’s just the nature of the business; if recruiters don’t get people hired then they don’t eat. Sure some companies pay base salary’s but that is for rent not food.

If you want to get the attention and get noticed then you haft to be willing to help the process along.

1. Tailor your resume to fit the jobs you are applying for, make sure not to embellish your skills or experience but do highlight those things that are relevant to the job you are seeking.

2. Be a squeaky wheel but not annoying. Supply reference and recommendation letters without being asked.

3. Create a capabilities statement (sell yourself).

4. Give the recruiter a list of companies that you would like to work for or at least the type of companies that have the job you seek.

Recruiters are well connected and you might trigger a past contact by mentioning the company. The more information you supply the better, the recruiters may have the client contacts but you have the knowledge and skill set.

5. Bottom line: make the recruiters want to represent you. Recruiters want someone who can get the job and will not waste their time on candidates that don’t have their act together; most of them will tell you if they don’t have anything that fits your background.

These are just 5 tips you can use when working with recruiters. If you would like to speak with one of our recruiters please contact us.

Avery Partners provides affordable knowledge and expertise in the IT, Finance / Accounting, and Healthcare sectors. Services include: Project Management, Human Capital Outsourcing, Management Consulting, and Staff Augmentation. The company has national capabilities and currently operates in over 20 states. We can reduce costs, eliminate hassles, increase service levels, and add value to each function we touch. We have a proven process of best practices for consulting and outsourcing opportunities. Avery Partners provides a unique business model that delivers your company and project the specific industry veterans at a lower cost – representing a much higher value.

via employmentdigest.net

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

Under Pressure to Pick a Major and a Career - The Career Doctor Blog

I am a college student. I recently have been getting pressure from my family to pick a major and a career, but I’m still taking classes and learning about new subjects, and while I realize the importance of choosing these things, I really have no clue what I want to do. I mean, isn’t this what college is supposed to be about? Why can’t I just enjoy the learning and not worry so much about the major and the career?

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The Career Doctor responds:

One of the raging debates in academic circles is how early students should be locking into career choices and whether college (and even some high schools these days) should be so vocational or focused more on the appreciation of learning and acquisition of knowledge.

That said, you also do not want to be like that 30-something college student — I believe in Minnesota — that still has not graduated and now plans a study-abroad term to extend his graduation even further.

I think college is the perfect time in life to begin the first phase of focusing on self-assessment. I say the first phase, because you will most likely change careers several times over the course of your adult life.

The most important thing you can do for yourself (and perhaps for your family too) is to find time over the summer to do some self-assessment and career exploration. There are all sorts of ways to do the assessment, but I suggest a combination of tests and self-reflection. You can find online assessment tests (both no-cost and fee-based) as well as at your college’s career office; that’s the easy part. The harder part is the self-reflection, where you should examine your likes and dislikes, your strengths and weaknesses, and the activities and classes you enjoy the most.

The goal from all these exercises is to learn more about yourself and your interests. Once you have discovered these things about yourself, the next step is exploring careers that fit you. There are lots of books and Websites that give information about careers, though one of the best sources is the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook. I would suggest also talking with people in your network (including your professors) about careers — and perhaps even conducting some informational interviews once you have narrowed your prospective career paths.

via careerdoctor.org

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

FIRED? The Interview Solution - PART 1 | Career Rocketeer - Career Search and Personal Branding Blog

So you were fired? Now what? How will you explain it when you interview?

There are many questions that plague job seekers. “What salary are you looking for?” is a big one. “Why should we hire you?” is another. And “Why did you leave your last job?” can leave you spluttering and on the defensive if you were fired and don’t know how to answer.

And most people don’t! After they’ve stumbled through a few answers—trying in vain to phrase it in an acceptable way—and are not invited back for a second interview, their fears are confirmed. No one will hire them because they’ve been fired.

Except that’s not what’s really happening. The problem is not that they were fired, but how they answered the question.

We don’t stay at a job our entire lives like most of our grandparents did. Not only is it common to change jobs, some believe it's the best way to leverage salary and career. While most of the changes may be of your own volition, odds are a few will involve being fired or laid-off.

Companies are bought out, merged, and consolidated, which means inevitably there’s a duplication of staff. It can be as simple as the new president wanting to bring in his own team. He probably didn’t even look at your capabilities; he just decided you were …outta there.

These departures aren’t as difficult to explain. You can say:

• “Our company was bought and the entire department was eliminated.” (It’s not me; a bunch of us were asked to leave.) Safety in numbers.
• “The new president wanted to bring in his own guy. I lasted about a week.” (It’s not me; the president didn’t even take the time to find out if I was good at what I do.) A prospective company can’t possibly hold something against you that’s so… impersonal.
• “The company was losing money and downsized.” (It’s not me; if the company had been profitable, I’d still be there!)

The common thread is, “It’s not me.” Therefore, I am not flawed, unwanted, performing poorly, or any other reason you can think up or worry about. But these types of partings, while they seem impersonal, can still have a detrimental effect. We’ll get to that in a minute.

The instances that cause real damage feel very personal, even when they aren’t. You are the only one who was dismissed, and what’s more, you know they’ll replace you. You’re caught off guard, angry, and frightened, too. In an instant, you’re on the defensive, which is usually where people remain. And that’s exactly what causes the problem.

Firing isn’t always about the individual, even though that’s who’s impacted the most. Sometimes it’s about the boss—especially bosses with issues. It might be about poor performance, but that’s not always negative. It could be the result of having different philosophies. For instance, the company may value those who work weekends, nights and holidays. You prefer to balance your life.

Once you’re fired, you can’t change the circumstances. But you can control how you view them. While departmental or company-wide layoffs are easier to explain, they can also cause damage. You wonder, “If I’d been really good, wouldn’t they have found another spot for me?” In addition, you’re in an insecure place that sometimes is difficult to adjust to.

Take time to clear some tears or anger. If you’re tempted to recoil, rehash, threaten revenge or otherwise communicate with your previous employer, don’t. Remember one word: reference! Don’t burn your bridges. Leave the company gracefully.

Most importantly, detach yourself from the event and honestly examine what happened. That’s the only way you’re going to get any insight and begin adjusting your thoughts and perspective.

PART TWO: I’ll tell you how to handle it, so that you can answer the question with grace, rather than fear.

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Guest Expert:

Judi Perkins, the How-To Career Coach, was a recruiter for 22 years, consulting with hundreds of hiring authorities throughout the hiring process. She’s seen over 500,000 resumes, knows how hiring authorities think and how they hire. As a result she understands and teaches what other coaches don’t: why the typical strategies in finding a job so often fail, what to do instead, and why. She’s been on PBS’s Frontline, will be in the May issue of Smart Money magazine, and has been quoted frequently in numerous articles for CareerBuilder, MSN Careers, Yahoo Hot Jobs, and the New York Times, among others. She’s also been featured as an expert in numerous career books. Sign up for her free newsletter at http://www.findtheperfectjob.com/!

via careerrocketeer.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

How to Maintain Connections Online When it’s Just Not in Your DNA | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

People like Dan Schawbel and Shane Mac impress me daily with their sheer connection determination and ability to follow up with people on a daily basis.

I, like many of you, don’t have this ability.  Sure I can try to do it, but I will quickly burn out; the sheer energy required to stay constantly connected to people would wear me out, leaving me useless to conduct more important, revenue generating projects.

My good friend asked me the other day, “Jun, I don’t have time to write 2 blog posts per week, comment on 1o blogs, and Tweet 10 times per day.  I have to spend time making money to feed and house my family.”

Understandable.  After all, we see a direct correlation between client work and money, but an indirect connection between blog posts and getting clientele.  The act of building a reputation, maintaining connections, and establishing expertise is very difficult indeed.

So what are we supposed to do?  After all, we can’t all be Dan Schawbel’s… or can we?

Here is I stay connected with people, while maintaining a focus on revenue-generating work:

1. Make it easy but difficult for people to get in touch with you

I love chatting with people on Gchat and Skype; however, I dislike getting disrupted when I’m busy doing work.  When I’m hardcore on a project, like writing this blog post for example, I will turn off Gmail and Skype.  However, when I’m doing less intensive projects or browsing online, then I’ll stay online but Red – busy or occupied.

Why I do this:

1. If someone messages me while I’m red, I know that it’s something important (automatically weeds out unimportant messages that can wait for later)
2. If I don’t want to speak with you, I can reply with an “I’m busy,” and you’ll understand because technically, I’m busy
3. I can keep conversations short and to the point

“Jun, you’re an awful for doing this.”  Maybe so, but this strategy ensures my productivity, keeps me happy, and allows me to focus on the most important tasks while maintaining availability to the important people in my life.

2. Use Comment Relish to generate an email back

There has been some back and forth online about whether Comment Relish is good for a blog or not.  Personally, I love the plugin because it has worked extremely well to build great relationships online.

If you’re a first-time commenter on my blog, then you will receive an automated message from me with the following:

1. A thank you for commenting on my site
2. Links to other things that I’m doing online
3. A message welcoming you to email me or @ me on Twitter to start a conversation

Like most of you, I get very busy and I’m not able to reply to my blog comments within 24 hours.  I therefore use this auto-email to message people immediately in case I forget to message them back.

3. Create email templates for events and other happenings

My good friend Yu-kai taught me this one.

I have some email templates that I use for many different things in life.  For example, I have an email template that I use to message people that I met during an event.

I used to come home after events, lay down my huge stack of business cards, and ignore them until I felt it was too late to message these people – yeah, complete waste of an event.

I therefore have a template that I can copy and paste (change certain keywords of course) that I send IMMEDIATELY after an event.  It has worked great with me and I’ve built many relationships because of it.

Note: I can already hear some objections now, “But that’s so un-authentic Jun.  You can’t just treat people without care by sending a template email.”

I completely disagree with you, and here’s why: I understand my DNA (as Gary Vaynerchuk would say).

I understand that I’m not going to spend hours writing a custom email for each person.  It’s impossible for me to do so, and dare I say, not an effective use of my time.  I will of course send a custom email if I built a strong relationship with you at the event, but if I look at the business card and I don’t remember your face, then I’m going to send you my template email with care.

4. Tungle to be effective

“Hey Jun, can you meet Wednesday night at 8pm EST?”

“No I can’t.  Can you meet Thursday morning at 11am PST?”

“No, I’m busy then too.  How about…”

Yes, this happened all the time for me, and I’m sure it happens to you too.

I now use Tungle to schedule all of my meetings (I sync it with my Google Calendar).  I no longer have to go back and forth 10 times via email just to set one Skype meeting.

5. Use downtime to do all the rest

At the risk of sounding like a weirdo, I will let you know how I do it.  This is my secret to staying connected with the internet world: I do all of my social Tweeting and commenting on the “John“.

Lets be honest with each other.  I don’t have the time to Tweet all day and read all of my friends’ blogs.  There is just not enough time for me when I have to produce good content online and run two companies.  Therefore, I keep my day effective by using my iPhone during my down times.

There are other moments of downtime as well:

1. Shopping with the girlfriend

   

2. Watching the Laker’s game
3. Waiting in line

I’m serious guys.  Try it for yourself 

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Don’t change who you are. If you’re not someone who likes to spend hours online commenting, Tweeting, and connecting with people who you haven’t spoken to in a while, then create systems that will make your life more effective.  Reach out to me and I promise, one way or another I will get back to you

Guest Author:

Jun Loayza is the President of Social Media Marketing and the Co-Founder of Viralogy – Ecommerce Intelligence.  He writes about his personal experience with love and entrepreneurship at his blog.  Feel free to reach out to Jun to chat about philosophy, entrepreneurship, love, and physical fitness.

via personalbrandingblog.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal

Want To Attract The Attention Of Recruiters?

OK.  I can’t stand it any longer.  I have this song that will not stop playing in my head.  Does this ever happen to you?  I’m not talking about the song that someone hums in the AM and lives with you for a few hours.  I’m talking about a song that has been lingering upstairs for nearly four weeks now.

It is a Beatles song which is unusual.  Because although I like a lot of the Beatles music, I feel like it is dramatically overplayed on the radio.

And the only way I can think to remove it from my consciousness is to write about it.  There must be some reason that it has not left me.  Kind of like that TV show called “Medium” where Alison gets haunted in her sleep by people who need their help.  I hope this isn’t the case with me because I really like my sleep!

Well, I feel pretty confident that Ringo Starr is not in need of my advice, so the song’s presence must have another purpose.

The song is Octopus’s Garden and you can read the lyrics here.  Maybe there’s a secret message for job seekers there.  Let me know if anything hits you.

The song was written by Ringo for the 1969 album, Abbey Road.  He was inspired, it seems, by a trip on a boat where he was told that the octopus likes shiny objects and goes around the sea bed collecting them to build a small garden around their “front porch”.  Perhaps to attract a mate?

Well, you may know that I love music and that I see music as a powerful influencer to help manage your psychology during job search.  So maybe that’s it.

But I don’t think so.

I think it has more to do with this idea of “shiny objects”.  You see, during job search one of the hardest parts is determining how to attract others to your candidacy.  Getting the attention of recruiters, hiring managers and the staff of an HR group.

We try a lot of different ideas, don’t we?  A few interesting examples I’ve heard of:

1. Interviewing with a restaurant company?  Walk in the door wearing a chef’s hat.
2. Send your resume inside a really big box sent via fed ex to the hiring manager.
3. Use shiny or colorful resume paper.  Maybe they won’t file it if the paper is really pretty.
4. Write a cover letter that overuses formatting to highlight every third sentence.
5. Put your face on the cover of Time magazine using PhotoShop and add the headline “The Greatest Salesman on the Planet”

The reality though is that while the initial attraction may work, grabbing long term interest and engagement is what you really need.  If you simply walk outside with a small mirror and shine it in the eyes of a recruiter, you will attract attention.  But what will you use to keep that attention once their vision comes back?

I guess my point here is that shiny objects generally don’t work.  The job search community is not like the animal kingdom.   Not like an Octopus’s Garden and certainly not like the mating dance of an exotic Bird of Paradise.  You really need to click on getting attention for your resume.  Does this look like you or anyone else you know in their job search or networking effort?

So what DOES work?

Well, I hate to make it sound so simple, but it is.  You have to create compelling marketing materials that are less shiny.  Materials that clearly and confidently identify your unique skills and experiences.  Ones that can help someone imagine you doing all those great things you describe.  In their company.

So, have a SoloSheet.  And a FlashCard.  Build a compelling resume.  If you need help to pull your greatness out of your career history, go get it.

And to Ringo Starr, I hope that’s what you were looking for.  When you first decided to haunt me with that song of yours.  Now, can I get some sleep?

via timsstrategy.com

Posted via web from AndyWergedal