Tuesday 31 May 2011

Resume Writing - 3 Quick Tips to Get You Noticed

Resume writing is as much an art as it is a skill. If you wanted to and needed to, you could pay a professional hundreds of dollars to write your resume (with no guarantees of increased effectiveness). Since most of us probably have other priorities for our discretionary cash, picking up resume writing tips can be very beneficial. With that in mind, here are some tips that can improve your resume and help get you noticed.
#1. Customize, it is a Best Practice
If you want to hook the attention of a potential employer or recruiter within a couple-of-seconds, you should customize your resume to reflect the job you are seeking. Your objective here is to market your work experience and skills in a way the targeted employer/recruiter can relate to and relate to quickly. Well-presented accomplishments, skills, education and job titles will not only earn you more interview calls, but it could possibility help you in the final offer negotiations.
Noteworthy tips regarding customizing your resume:
- Research the company and industry you are targeting and add relevant terminology
- Google search various profiles/resumes of individuals currently in the position you are targeting to use as a reference and foundation
- Have a minimum of two resumes: a general resume that can be sent to anyone and another that is industry specific
#2 Format does Matter
Always remember that when it comes to short-listing candidates for an interview, recruiters, on first review, usually do not read resumes thoroughly - they literally receive hundreds of inquiries. They just give a glance at the resume and make snap judgments by looking at accomplishments, education, skills, work experience and the overall presentation in the resume. Hard to read or understand resumes are tossed very quickly. Even if you are qualified for the job, if you are unable to convey your qualifications through a quick glance of your resume, the recruiter will assume that you are not qualified and move on. Therefore, it is important that you highlight the most significant parts of the resume: accomplishments, education, skills, and work experience. Also, watch your grammar, spelling and subject-verb agreements; it could cost you a great interview.
Noteworthy tips regarding format:
- Indent major accomplishments or use bullet points to set them apart
- Bold headings that highlight accomplishments, major skills and education
- Provide a summary near the beginning to give the recruiter/employer a good first impression and entice them to read further.
#3 The Resume Must Have Quality Content
Once resumes are short-listed, interviewers go through the content in more detail. Therefore, make sure that you are using content that sells. The number of interview calls and hopefully an eventual offer will depend completely upon the content of your resume.
Most of the time, candidates just provide the list of the skills that they are well versed in. However, what can really make the difference are descriptions that sell the benefits of those skills to the potential employer by describing how these skills were beneficial in achieving productivity for the companies where you previously worked.
Noteworthy tips regarding content - General vs. Quantified Content:
In our busy world, general statements are likely to be overlooked. On the other hand, when you use quantified statements with numbers, rankings, percentages or savings, you easily win the employers attention.
General Statement: Led market launch of major product
Quantified Statement: Project lead of a team of six responsible for LAX product that reached 16 million in revenue within first quarter after launch, ranked 2nd among 11 revenue products.
Reading the latter statement creates a vivid image in the reader's mind and leaves a lasting impression; leaving the employer wanting to know more on how you achieved the results and how that experience would add value to their organization. Therefore, it is always better to be as specific with quantified descriptions while describing your achievements and work experience.
Whether you are seeking your first position or next, these three quick resume writing tips should help put you ahead of the pack. All the best as you pursue your career goals.

Friday 27 May 2011

How to Achieve a Better Career Decision

Don't you just know when you're at a point that's just crying out for a decision? You begin to recognize it's coming when you start getting cranky, tense and easily irritated. You know something's gotta give soon, because you're just not happy or comfortable with what you're feeling. On the other end, some people experience a "stalling out" unable to move forward or backwards to where they last had good momentum.
What is common is the need to examine what is holding you back, i.e. fear and why it's happening. This isn't easy. That's why there are so many books on facing your fears, dealing with fears, pushing through fears, etc. But in order to break through the block that's holding you in place, you have to admit to yourself that there is a block or fear. You don't have to tell the world, but just like the power of forgiveness, telling yourself will set you free. Here's an example of what I mean...
A friend was on the verge of marrying a man she had been dating for two years. She was concerned that he wasn't taking control of his career so that they could move to another part of the country, where they would be surrounded by friends and family. So she talked with me over many lunches about "how" she could get him to talk to his boss about moving. Since she was a friend, I was gentle - at first.
After listening to her concerns and challenging her to talk with him and listen to what his real desires were, I realized she was blocked with her own "stuff". So, I shifted the discussion to focus on her and what she was afraid of and why. Of course, her response was she wasn't afraid of anything they had talked about moving, but he wasn't willing to do anything about it. I coached her to recognize where the truth really lay. That she had to open to the possibility that he was perfectly happy where he was and it was she who feared not being with friends and family. Reconciling this was between herself and her heart. Not with him and certainly not with me.
This story had an interesting ending - which I'll share another time, but I will say they did marry and they are still in the area. When I see her, she seems happier that this is the way it is. I think there was a little "fear busting" as a result of some truth-telling.
So if you don't have a trusted friend, mentor or coach to help you work through your "stuff", marinate. Give yourself time, as you need, to work through whatever may be trying to breakthrough. Recognize that it's just marinating something tender and flavorful for your life.
Let it help you move through the fear and bring you something juicy!

Tuesday 24 May 2011

Computer Resume Objectives - Tips For Writing A Technical Resume Objective

Before explaining the computer resume objectives, I would like to describe you what actually a computer job is. A computer engineer operator is responsible for controlling and monitoring the phases of software development. He is the only person who ensures the quality of deliverable services and products, direct he staff members for several hardware issues, and check the efficiency and effectiveness of the soft ware and operating system. For the job explanation mentioned above, you would need to make some perfect resume objectives as written below.
Your career objective shows how you are going to achieve your goals and how you can grab the attention of an interviewer. You might have so many career goals in your mind, but you should know how to write them perfectly in your resume. With the help of an effective career goal you will be able to get your dream job. For example:
I want to use my managerial and technical skills for accomplishing the predefined targets. I also want to deliver my best efforts and performance in the organization. Seeking for a post where I can use my progressive experience, creativity, skills and innovative ideas for achieving several projects.
Some skills based computer resume objectives
As a new job seeker in this industry, I would try to understand the working on projects with the help of my seniors. Whatever I have the knowledge; I will try to implement it and also share it with my seniors.
I will try to learn many new things which are required for my job. I will learn how to work with new projects so that it will give me a good opportunity to enhance my skills.
Some future based computer resume objectives
My goal is to become a good software engineer. I will try to bring my knowledge and skills into the practical and also I will bring my ideas into reality. I want to use my skills and knowledge for the benefit of the company and people.
I would like to focus on understanding the whole information technology system. I want to learn how to exit in this tough competition. I will give my 100 5 effort to my company.
Business based career goal
I want to work for the development of an organization and want to use my skills and knowledge for better outcomes. I will share all my new ideas and concepts with my senior.
So these are few resume objectives. Try one of them to create a sudden impression on interviewer.

Monday 23 May 2011

How to Write an Objective Statement For a Resume


Many job seekers include a short reference on career objective in the resume. Adding a career objective statement helps to reflect the position you are applying for, the type of company you prefer, the experience and qualification you have and the value you can offer to the company at a glance. Usually this power statement reference is only with one to two lines of texts.
Having a clear career objective reference in the resume will greatly improve the result of getting an interview. By providing a reference of your qualifications and profession identity, the hiring manager will be able to quickly match an appropriate position for you.
How to write an objective statement for a resume? Here are some guidelines you can follow when working on your career objective summary.
1) To improve the effectiveness of your resume, you need to consider how much you want to customize your resume to match with a particular job requirement. If you are responding to a specific position in the advertisement, you should integrate the exact job title and keyword phrases used in the ad into your resume power statement.
2) Being as specific as possible with the career objective reference and offer a high-impact summary of what you can offer to the potential employer.
3) Avoid the common mistakes made by many job seekers. The most usual mistake made in writing an objective statement is being too general and vague. You can avoid falling into this same trap.
  • Don't use general statement such as "looking for challenging and rewarding position." The hiring manager will need to think hard to figure out which positions will be able to give you a challenging and rewarding opportunity.
  • Don't focus on your career ambitions and aspirations. You should avoid using phrases such as "position that will grow my career and skills." You need to change it to "position to add values to operations" in order to show your values to the company.
  • Avoid the use of personal pronouns such as "I" or "me," and only with very minimal use of articles such as "a,"" an" or "the." You should use simple sentence structure and straightforward language. For example if you write "I like to seek a technician position in ship welding," you should change it to "seeking technician position in ship welding."
  • Don't waste any precious space in the career objective summary for unnecessary particulars. Only include those very specific items that will create high-impact results.
  • Make very sure that your resume and its objective power statement is free from punctuation, spelling and grammar errors. Get someone to proofread it if you do not want your resume to end up in garbage.
4) Here are some samples of resume objective statements. For entry level engineer position Engineer, seeking position in manufacturing engineering where excellent troubleshooting and technical knowledge can add values to operations
For experience accounting position Senior Accountant, position in auditing field where 12 years of experience in accounting skills and management can enhance efficiency and profitability to company
Conclusion: Adding a reference on career objective in your resume will not land you any job interview automatically. However it will provide the potential employer a high-impact summary of your background quickly. If you tailor your career objective summary according to a particular job requirement as posted in the advertisement, the hiring manager will perceive that you have a perfect match with the job requirement. This will tremendously improve the opportunity to be called for an interview.

Sunday 22 May 2011

Top 10 Job Interview Strategies That Guarantee Success in Your Interviews

Job interviews can be a mystery. But you can find success if you follow the right job interview strategies. The following 10 tips are the best job interview strategies to follow if you want to ace your next interview.
10 Best Job Interview Strategies
1. Study the company
One of the best job interview strategies that most candidates ignore is to study the current events of the company. Knowing what the current events of the company is important so that you can ask pertinent questions. Doing so will show the interviewer that you have done your homework, and also have a genuine interest in the company. This strategy will definitely help your job interview.
2. Know your resume
As a candidate, you should be very familiar with your resume. In any job interview, anything on your resume is at the interviewer's disposal. Implementing this job interview strategy will help build credibility with your interviewer. Speaking intelligently about each of your previous positions will help do this, and is one of the best job interview strategies to follow.
3. Prepare an interview emergency kit
Many candidates don't properly prepare for a job interview. Getting together a "job interview kit" is a great job interview strategy to follow. Suggested items for the kit include extra copies of your resume, directions to the office, a bottle of water, eye drops, pens, and notepad. But you should only bring the extra copies of your resume into the office with you, preferably in a portfolio.
4. Study job description
After landing an interview, you need to study the job description to truly understand what the interviewer is looking for. If the description calls for attentiveness to detail, you will want to tailor the discussion accordingly. Knowing this, you can navigate the interview and discuss examples from previous jobs that will exemplify this trait. Do this for all significant traits or qualities that you identify in the job description. This is one of the best job interview strategies I have used, and know that it can bring you success.
5. Build rapport
You know the saying, "There's never a second chance to make a first impression/" That holds very true in the case of job interviews. That is why building rapport is such an important job interview strategy. Shake hands, make eye contact, and smile. Put those three together when you first meet your interviewer and it will set a positive tone for the rest of the interview.
6. Make eye contact
Making positive eye contact is one of the best job interview strategies to follow. Eye contact is one of the strongest forms of nonverbal communication. A person's qualities and personality can be detected simply based on eye contact. Making direct eye contact communicates confidence and high self-esteem, two key qualities employers look for in candidates.
Thus, it is very important that you make eye contact when you first meet interviewer and shake hands. And during the interview, it is important to make eye contact, not only when you talk, but also as you listen. Simply doing this job interview strategy will greatly help your chances of success in an interview.
7. Body language
Just as eye contact speaks volumes about you, so does your body language. Proper body language conveys confidence and high self-esteem. During the interview, things like sitting up straight with your chest out and keeping a pleasant demeanor on your face will project confidence. The interviewer will be aware of this, and it will help you stand out in his/her mind.
8. Display your skills with concrete examples
When it comes to discussing their skills, many candidates make the mistake of "telling" instead of "showing." One of the best job interview strategies is to use concrete examples to demonstrate their skills to the interviewer. For example, if one of your skills is successfully handling multiple tasks at once, providing an example of how you do that will help paint a picture for the interviewer. It also gives the interviewer something to "hold on to" once the interview is over, and helps him/her remember you when it comes to decision time.
9. Be yourself
A common mistake that many candidates make is not being themselves. Some feel that they need to fit a certain mold and act accordingly. This will only end up hurting both parties in the end when your "true" personality comes out. You will be surprised how easy it is to detect insincerity during an interview. Thus, it is important to be professional, but also maintain your true essence. When you do this, your sincerity will be picked up by the interviewer. This is one of the best job interview strategies to implement, and will go a long way in determining your success.
10. Follow up quickly
After the job interview, send a thank you note to the interview. These days, an email is fine, but traditionally a handwritten card is sent. Whatever method you choose, do it promptly after the interview. The correspondence should be sent the next day after the interview. Many hiring decisions are made quickly these days, so timeliness is very important.
You now have 10 of the best job interview strategies to follow. There are many aspects of a successful job interview, but if you implement these 10 best job interview strategies listed above, your chances of success will skyrocket!

Saturday 21 May 2011

How to Improve Your Skills While Out of Work

Unemployment is a scary and negative experience for most people. People struggle with being unemployed for many reasons, including the normal bills that still show up, the embarrassment of being let go and the uncertainty of their future. It important to recognize that unemployment can also be a time to improve skills and better your chances of climbing up the professional ladder. Job experts claim that the average amount of time it takes to find another job is seven months. There are many things you can do in these seven months to improve your skills in regards to your profession.
1. Volunteer
Take the free time off of your hands and give back to the community. This can be a satisfying experience. Looks for volunteer opportunities in the industry in which you used to be employed. Finding place to volunteer is not difficult because everyone is always looking for a helping hand. You can add your volunteer experience to your resume and even use the person you volunteered for as a reference. This will make your resume even stronger when applying for new jobs.
2. Side Jobs or Gigs
Is there always a profession that you wish you would have gone in to? If so, look on community job boards for short-term gigs. These are usually low-paying jobs that last anywhere from a few hours to a few days. You can either learn new skills that interest you or sharpen your current skill set further. Participating in these side jobs can also be a form of networking. Get to know the people you are working for and question them about potential job opportunities.
3. Start a Hobby
A hobby doesn't have to be something like building model cars or collecting baseball cards. A hobby can be anything you do for enjoyment on a regular basis. If you want to stay connected to the industry in which you used to work- start a blog about the industry. Get people talking and visiting your blog for news, reviews and any other relative information. You can also start a club or hobby group. Find people with the same interests as you and turn it into a social event. There are thousands of things that you can do to get your mind off of your unemployment and on to things that will make you a better employ next time around.
These are just a few ways to improve your skills while being unemployed. It is easy to get discouraged when unemployed and you may have no motivation to sharpen your skills. If this is the case, you should accept your current situation and better yourself so that you can land an even better job in the upcoming months. For some people, unemployment is inevitable - especially in today's economy. Use this time, that you might not have otherwise gotten, to do something that you never had the time to do. A few years down the road you will look back and smile thinking about it.

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Avoid the Wrong Career With These 10 Tips

Before discussing how to avoid the wrong career objective, lets mention the #1 mistake we make when choosing a career. We don't do our homework! Americans take less then 3 hours when choosing a career objective, less time than most of us take when choosing a new car! A career will affect your entire life, and everybody in it, so take adequate time to research your new career. You should also research all the amazing opportunities available to you and across different industries. And what about creating your own position, one that you would love and know it could help employers? Employers are so stretched, they often do not have the time to develop new job descriptions and career objectives for their own staff, even if it would pay to do so.
If you are not happy with your current career objective or job, I will be the first person to encourage you to change. Many of us are taught by parents and others that it's not wise to change careers just because we're unhappy. Many of us are taught that if we bring in a paycheck, that is enough. NOT SO. Unhappiness in your career can lead to relationship problems, increased stress and health problems, increased conflict with coworkers (due to unhappiness), financial stress from overspending, searching for that quick fix.....etc. But the real key is, when you are not being authentic and doing work you dislike, you are blocking your energy, your creativity. The 'Law of Attraction' has been around for centuries and when it comes to energetics you can't defy physics. Thoughts and feelings have energy, just read Dr. Matura Emoto's book - The Hidden Messages in Water. A physicist that has documented the power behind our thoughts and words. So if you want to prosper in your career, you'd better find something that resonates with your body, mind, spirit and emotions.
Changing career objectives, or choosing your first one, is a decision you should take your time with. If family and friends pressure you to hurry your decision, run.
Here are a few considerations before you jump ahead.
1. Even if you know what your next profession will be, have you reviewed your 'likes' and favorite hobbies to see how they could be transformed into a new career objective?
2. Have you spent 20-30 hours investigating your new career objective, including interviewing employees and employers within your next position or profession?
3. Have you researched demand projections for that position/profession for the next 5-10 years?
4. Is it possible to volunteer or shadow someone for a short time before changing to your new career? Write up a paper on the experience and send it to the person with favorable highlights about your mentor and experience. People love this.
5. Have you thought about creating podcasts of prospective employer interviews in your new career that you can use along with your resume? This not only helps you discover more about the position but demonstrates your creativity.
6. Have you reviewed what the new career objective will do for your mind, body, spirit, emotion connection?
7. Enroll in membership to an association or club within your new profession. See what it will take to get a position of responsibility. This will help your job search and put you in front of key people.
8. Identify your ideal lifestyle, personality, your skills, and likes/dislikes thoroughly before selecting a career. I often have to remind clients that if they are night owls waking up at 5:00 am to get to work by 7:30 am goes against their ideal and they might become resentful toward the job.
9. If you've noticed, I haven't mentioned anything about the $ behind the position/profession. This should NOT be a reason to choose a career. The reason to choose the career should be your passion and interest for that type of work. If you love what you do, the money will come. You might need to go beyond employment to start a little business but if you love your field, you will think of a bunch of ideas how to make money with it.
10. Have fun with this process of looking for your next career. It should not be stressful but fun. Take lots of notes on your experience and who knows maybe it'll bring you some humor someday or you might publish a book on your life and will need them.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope it has helped clarify how to begin looking for a new (or your first) career. On a personal note, I am on my fifth career after choosing the first 3 for their financial rewards......MISTAKE. The last 2 have come from my heart and have changed my life. I became a Horticulturist at 48 yr. old and love it so its never too late. I am now teaching, coaching and counseling people (my fifth career) and loving it, so don't stop. There are no limits to how many careers you can have, except you.

Career Planning: The 10 Minute Solution!

Career planning for a successful future takes time. Yet this is precisely what too many people cite as why they don't have a robust career plan. And if they have a career plan it languishes in the closet gathering dust. Why, because somehow they do not have the time to take proper steps to turn their career plan into action.
Are you taking enough time to properly build your career plan. Taking only about 10 minutes a day to build your career plan will mean you'll save additional time over the life of your career.
Proper planning will make the implementation of any project go smoother, with fewer surprises and a greater chance of reaching the project's goals. The same can be said for a career plan. Still think you don't have the time?
Here are some ideas to get your career planning on track-at only 10 minutes a day.
Let's look at the price you'll pay for not spending the time in planning. You'll spend an inordinate amount of time going from crisis to crisis putting out fires, things will be out of control, deadlines will be missed or things will not be completed as well as they could. Not a pretty picture.
Without a well thought out career plan in place your ability to change things plummets to close to zero.
It's clear that planning is critical both for your career success and more efficient use of your time. How about if you believe you just don't have the time?
Is this the real reason or is something else holding you back? Perhaps you think it will take additional time or you've observed others spending way to much time in planning the most mundane activity.
What it boils down to is not the length of time required in your planning but making it as useful as possible. A smaller length of time, say 10 minutes a day, with the purpose of building the best planned career you can will pay long-term dividends.
Once you get in the habit of setting aside a little as 10 minutes a day you'll find yourself making progress. Don't look upon building a career plan as a huge project, but take it step by step and you'll find by adding information to one area that you'll naturally open avenues to consider other options.
Your planning does not have to follow some formal progression but can move from point to point. Start with a notebook to jot down ideas and thoughts.
With 10 minutes a day set aside to plan your career let's look at a productive technique to get you started. Ask yourself a series of questions to get the thought process working. Write down your thoughts and the answers to the questions, possible additional questions, and options to resolve the questions.
Your answers to the questions will be added to your career plan. At 10 minutes a day you'll soon find a list of ideas that you can prioritize and then build out the most important ideas.
If, for example, you ask yourself, "What career related skills do I need to improve to move ahead in my career?" If your answer is the most critical skill to improve is developing and make more effective presentations, you can start from the beginning.
Plan to improve your power point design skills by attending a workshop or short course at a local college or reading several relevant books. Add to your speaking skills by reading and studying and taping your presentations and having others critique you. Perhaps joining a group like Toastmasters would be productive.
Measure your progress against a planned timetable and in a relatively short period of time others will be coming to you asking for your help in improving their presentation skills.
Asking yourself probing and challenging questions does not take a great deal of time and will lead you developing a range of career building solutions.
Here's some additional questions you can ask yourself to get you started in the planning process:
"What are the top three job related things do I need to achieve this week, this month and this year?"
"What obstacles are keeping me from achieving my career related goals? How do I overcome them?"
"How can I better prioritize my activities every day?"
"How can I improve my time management (people, leadership, etc.) skills?"
With 10 minutes a day budgeted for this activity, one question may take several days to work out a best answer. Don't be concerned as you will be spending 10 minutes a day, every day on this productive activity.
In a relatively short time your career plan will take shape, with an action plan implementing your ideas. You'll find the 10 minutes a day will be time well spent.

Tuesday 17 May 2011

The 8 Most Important Elements of an Effective Resume

There are many great resume writing websites and software packages. This article will not give you all the specifics on how to write a great resume but rather will hit on some of the major design considerations you need to keep in mind.
The single objective of a Resume is: To secure an interview.
As such, it is primarily an advertisement of you to the employer. What you are advertising is that you embody all of the skills and capabilities the employer is looking for. That means you have what it takes to:
1. Make the company money
2. Act responsibly
3. Minimize risk. In order to do this you must know what specific skills and capabilities the company values most for the position you are applying for (see skills & capabilities below). Leverage your networking and a careful reading of the application and job description for clues to this.
When in doubt ask the hiring manager directly - before the interview!
The following are the Top 8 most important elements of a great resume:
1. It must be concise, easy to read, eye catching. Trust me, if this is not the case, it WILL NOT be read.
2. The average scan time for a resume is less than 30 seconds. Write and rewrite it, sharing it with others for feedback until you are sure this is the case.
3. It should clearly state your career objective up front which must match the job you are interviewing for. For example, "To work as a market research manager for a major apparel company", or "to work as a manufacturing operations manager for a major automobile company".
4. It should focus most of the page on your relevant skills and experience and link those to what the company is looking for. Be specific on the skills and capabilities you have acquired and the accomplishments you've delivered. With each example, state the experience, what you gained from it and what you accomplished. Accomplishments are business and organizational results such as: sales goals, team development, accounts secured, products launched, etc. Think in terms of money you made for the company.
5. Civic leadership roles/positions should only be included if they specifically support the career objective.
6. Job experiences and education are secondary to skills and capabilities. List the chronology last.
7. Personal interests are only relevant if they present skills or capabilities that support the career interest. If not, leave them off.
8. References should be listed as "on request". But, have some ready if requested!
Skills & Capabilities all Great Companies Look For
Leadership - You direct, motivate and even inspire others to do things they could not or would not do without your influence. You set the vision for your organization and then enroll and enable to team to deliver on it. This is the single most valuable capability. If you are not a 'born leader' take time to study it and get better at it.
Strategic Thinking - You understand the overall objectives/goals of your company, division, etc. and are able to develop choices for what your team will focus on to deliver against them. You then develop specific tactics to bring the strategies to life. You think in terms of fiscal years vs. day to day.
Innovative Thinking - You are able to think "outside the box" and create concepts and products that go beyond the obvious. You make relevant connections between situations you or the team have encountered before.
Creative Problem Solving - You are able to properly identify problems and then organize yourself and the team to develop solutions and put them into action.
Collaboration/Team Work - You understand what an effective team is and bring people together to deliver great results. You understand diversity and leverage it in your day to day affairs. You treat others with respect.
Communication - You are an effective written and oral communicator. You are open and honest and give and receive feedback frequently and effectively.
Flexibility - You are able to accept change, adapt to new conditions and surroundings. You view change as an opportunity to learn and grow vs. a distraction to be avoided.
Mastery - You understand the technical aspects of your work, the processes and data used. You are able to learn new information and technologies and quickly adapt them to your work. You constantly seek to improve your level of mastery.
Reliability - You get work done in a quality way every time. You show up on time, participate actively, are responsive to requests and follow through on your commitments.

Monday 16 May 2011

Tips to Become the Best Employee at Any Job

Tip #1 - Emulate Your Superiors
Your superiors have been promoted for important reasons. If you want to be promoted, too, don't be cynical about the reasons for their promotion, but instead try to emulate their behavior.
Tip #2 - Always be Available
If you don't own one already, get a smartphone that allows you to easily check and write emails. This will make it possible for you to always be on call for your boss, so you can become someone that he or she relies on.
Tip #3 - Keep Your Boss in the Know
If there is something important that your boss needs to know, be the first to let her know about it. You will become someone that she can rely on for information, which will make you indispensable to the company.
Tip #4 - Apply for Within Company Jobs
Don't just passively wait for a promotion. Instead, do what the successful do and apply for within company jobs. Be aggressive about getting that promotion.
Tip #5 - Learn New Things
One way to make you indispensable to your company is to learn new things about your job. Work through a reference manual. Spend time learning how to use the company's proprietary software optimally. Do something that makes you better and more useful.
Self-Promotion Tips to Find a Better Job
Tip #1 - Look for a Job Elsewhere
Find jobs outside of your company that look promising. At a minimum, you might be able to get a better job elsewhere. At most, you might be able to leverage that offer into a promotion within the company.
Tip #2 - Practice Self-Promotion
As painful as it might be at first, get in the habit of self-promoting (but in ways that don't make you look desperate or stupid). Get others to notice you and to appreciate what you do within the company.
Tip #3 - Always Maintain a Positive Outlook on Life
No matter what line of work you're in, you're likely to run into a few bumps on the road. When you do, try to maintain a positive outlook on life. Often, this simple difference in mindset will determine the success or failure of a venture.
Tip #4 - Make Yourself Known at Conferences
In addition to making yourself known within the company, make yourself known outside of the company. Go to the relevant conferences for workers in your industry; and try to make a reasonable showing, so that people remember your name.
Tip #5 - Think Like a Leader
Instead of thinking like a worker who will never be promoted, think like a leader. Reflect this in your decisions and in your aura of confidence. Demonstrate to others that you can think on your feet and make important decisions; and you will be rewarded with promotions.

Saturday 14 May 2011

Tips To Improve Your Job Search Campaign!

Tips to analyze your job search campaign and improve your job hunting results.
Your car won't start or your dishwasher quits working what's the first thing you do? Right, you begin troubleshooting. Sometimes it's easy to fix-maybe your car is out of gas or the circuit breaker is tripped to the dishwasher. All solved through carefully examining the simple and obvious before we call in the experts. Here are some simple and obvious job hunting problems that you can probably fix yourself.
If your job search has been going on for some time with unacceptable results maybe it's time to do some critical thinking and analysis of your job hunting efforts. First, you have to discover where your job search is not working and fix what is wrong, or develop additional options and perhaps move in another direction. Further, some of your job seeking efforts may need to be analyzed to find out what specifically you can do to improve results.
Here are four job hunting problem areas you can start to examine so you can properly analyze and improve your job search efforts:
1. Problem: Not generating enough viable job openings. Usually this is caused by career and job goals that are too broad or you are restricting your job search to a narrow geographical area or an industry where there are few job openings.
Take a careful look at your career objectives. Focus your job hunting efforts that closely match you skills and qualifications. If you are changing careers work hard on finding transferable skills that match the qualifications for the new career.
Work more on uncovering job leads by networking. Make sure everyone in your network is crystal clear as to your job objectives.
Spend more time researching possible job opportunities. Reject possible dead-end careers and industries.
2. Problem: Few good results compared to effort. Probably no job search plan, with measurable daily job hunting effort. May be not spending enough time on productive job hunting efforts.
Build a job search plan with daily, weekly and monthly goals. Make you goals measurable and celebrate each milestone. Get off the job boards and spend the time in more productive pursuits like networking and appropriate research.
Plan on working full-time on your job search campaign. After a medical check-up add some regular physical activity goals to your job hunting plan. Watch your diet. This combination will add to your self-confidence and job hunting is all about self-confidence.
3. Problem: Little or no telephone or face-to-face job interviews. Probably caused by a too general a resume and a cookie-cutter cover letter and few job leads from you network.
Focus you resume and cover letter on the specific requirements and qualifications required to do the job.
Re-energize you network. Work harder to add more people to your network.
Since it's been said that up to 75% of all positions are in the "hidden" job market plan to do more, make more contacts, ask for referrals and widen you network to generate more interviews.
4. Problem: Interviews but no job offers. May be caused by too little interview research and preparation.
Improve you interview communication skills by video taping mock interviews. Practice both telephone interview techniques and face-to-face interviewing skills. Work hard to eliminate annoying habits. Practice good answers to tough questions. Research the employer, the industry and the interviewer. Have questions ready to turn the interview into a conversation.
Search your network to learn more about the open position and possible employees currently working for the employer.
Sell yourself as a problem solver who can resolve the challenges facing the job, department and possibly the company.
If any of these job search problems match what may be wrong with your job hunting efforts, hopefully we've got you started in the right direction. At a minimum it should spark an examination of your job search campaign and motivate you to upgrade your activity in areas that you can improve. Taking daily action on these upgraded methods should help you find the right job sooner rather than later.

5 Ways to Improve Your Career

Set goals
Setting career based goals sounds as if it's common sense but it's easy to overlook. Setting goals - both for the short and long term allows you to plan how to get where you want to be.
First of all identify where you want to get to. Then break this down into exactly what you need to do in the next year in order to get there. Now you know what you need to do in the next year, what about the next month or even next week?
By breaking it down like this what may seem like an impossible dream now becomes more manageable and easier to achieve. It also allows you to see exactly what steps you need to take in order to achieve your goal.
Procrastination - Why and how
Procrastination is something we all do. This is obviously a big barrier in our careers, the first step to overcoming this is to figure out how you procrastinate and how. For instance if you work at home do you often get distracted by the television, if you work in an office do you often find smaller jobs that you claim 'need' doing in order to avoid doing the larger, more daunting jobs?
Once you've worked out how you procrastinating, the next step is working out why you procrastinate. Is it, for instance, because you find the harder tasks more off-putting, is it because you feel you have too much to do and so find procrastinating the "easier" option? Finally, start overcoming your procrastination. Whatever the reason you're doing it for - find ways to stop.
To-do list
To-do lists are wonderful things. They can seem like a waste of time to start with but making a list of exactly what you need to get done allows you to firstly ensure everything gets remembered and secondly provides a sense of satisfaction when you tick things off the list.
Don't be tempted to get all the big jobs done first, the smaller jobs can be a good way of breaking up the more mundane tasks just be careful not to use this as a way of procrastinating!
Ask for a promotion or pay rise.
Your boss isn't a mind-reader. If you think you need a promotion or a pay raise then you need to ask for one. The trick behind asking is to point out your strengths over your employees without putting the other staff down. Instead of being critical of others be positive about what you've done for the company. This can be difficult to see at first and so try rewriting your CV as if you had had a career change every year. What extra tasks have you taken on or been given? It may be that you're doing a lot more now then you were when you started that job. Point this out to your boss and explain that this is why you're asking for the pay raise or promotion.
If they say no ask why. It may be that there isn't enough money spare yet, in which case you can ask again in a few months to a years time or it may be that there is more they need to see before they can give you your raise, in which case you know the goals you need to achieve in order to get what you want.
Take care of yourself
Finally, remember to take care of yourself. Eat healthily, get enough sleep and take breaks. Your career is important but you're no good to anyone, including your employer, if your health is suffering. Don't fall into the trap of not taking breaks in order to get more work done. The old saying "quality not quantity" is important here. You will have more time available if you work through your breaks but you'll be more productive and therefore make better use of the time available if you plan and take regular breaks in your working day.