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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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