What Would You Tell The Younger You? [SLIDESHOW]

Each week, the members of Connect: Professional Women’s Network, Powered by Citi start hundreds of new professional conversations. They’ve discussed everything from work/life balance to leaving a job to start a business. After months of getting great advice from each other, group members turned the advice inward, asking what they wish they’d had known when they were beginning their careers. Group members had a lot to tell their younger selves,  from dressing for success to finding mentors and dealing with failure. Here are some of the best tips. What piece of wisdom do you wish you had when you were starting out?

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The Most Effective Way to Target Your Resume - Part II

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November 28, 2012The Most Effective Way to Target Your Resume - Part II

Hopefully you completed the last assignment. If not, hop back and read The Most Effective Way to Target Your Resume-Part I, before continuing below:

 Now that you have your professional headline completed, you’re going to do your sub-headline. It goes right below your professional headline, slightly smaller font but still larger than the main body. It’s a 6 -10 word sentence that effectively encapsulates what you’ve figured out as the most important skill the hiring manager is looking for. Continuing the C.P.A example, it may become clear to you that cost savings are the most important thing to this employer. So your sub headline will say, “Successfully reducing costs by eliminating redundant expenditures and renegotiating existing contracts.” Your sub-headline needs to have some basis in reality, but even if the priority skill they’re looking for is something you’ve spent minimal time on it is still the skill you want to lead with.

Once you’ve done that you are ready to go into the bulk of the resume.

Layout your job history (names, dates, job title, and location) as you normally would, but for now just put one bullet beneath each experience (and always use bullets not paragraphs).

Write just one first bullet from each job experience going backward in time. Each bullet should be a progression towards that sub-headline. Think “what is the logical precedent to this experience, what did I need to do or know at my previous job in order to be successful at the next job?”

Studies have shown that the vast majority of HR people and recruiters only read the first bullet of each experience, if they read anything at all. Studies have also shown that recruiters will look at your most recent experience first and then go to the bottom of your resume and read up. Recruiters want to see a logical progression from your first job to where you are today, so give them what they want. 

I’ll take a moment here for the naysayers. I can hear some of you muttering, “But I wasn’t successful at every job, or I’ve changed careers, or I’m not very good at xyz…” It’s for you naysayers that I recommend starting this blank document; to force yourself to rewrite your sense of your job history. It’s not actually about what you’ve done; it’s about how you describe what you’ve done. For example, let’s say at your first job you managed 10 bank accounts, and every other C.P.A. in the firm was managing 30. You’ve always thought of that job as a failure because you didn’t do as well the others; however the HR people don’t know that 10 wasn’t a terrific number. So if you’re first bullet for that job experience starts off as “effectively managed 10 accounts…” it sounds like you did well, while still being honest.

Let’s say your next job you managed less accounts but they were higher value or had more transactions. All you do is switch the emphasis to the better quantifier. So your first bullet for your next job might be “Consistently oversaw $500,000 in weekly transactions….”

You see both these sentences are strong and make you appear successful but are only giving out selective pieces of information that make you sound good without giving the reader enough information to make a negative judgment despite the fact that you may consider those experiences failures.

 Give this a whirl tonight and come back tomorrow when I help you finish up your re-worked, excellently targeted resume.

Think you have an awesome bullet point in your resume?

Sean Weinberg is the COO and co-founder of RezScore, a free web application that reads, analyzes, and grades resumes – instantly. Also the founder of Freedom Resumes, Sean has dedicated his career to helping job seekers write the best possible resumes.

Posted at 09:13 AM in Advice, Applying, Career | Permalink

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Comments The Most Effective Way to Target Your Resume - Part II

Hopefully you completed the last assignment. If not, hop back and read The Most Effective Way to Target Your Resume-Part I, before continuing below:

 Now that you have your professional headline completed, you’re going to do your sub-headline. It goes right below your professional headline, slightly smaller font but still larger than the main body. It’s a 6 -10 word sentence that effectively encapsulates what you’ve figured out as the most important skill the hiring manager is looking for. Continuing the C.P.A example, it may become clear to you that cost savings are the most important thing to this employer. So your sub headline will say, “Successfully reducing costs by eliminating redundant expenditures and renegotiating existing contracts.” Your sub-headline needs to have some basis in reality, but even if the priority skill they’re looking for is something you’ve spent minimal time on it is still the skill you want to lead with.

Once you’ve done that you are ready to go into the bulk of the resume.

Layout your job history (names, dates, job title, and location) as you normally would, but for now just put one bullet beneath each experience (and always use bullets not paragraphs).

Write just one first bullet from each job experience going backward in time. Each bullet should be a progression towards that sub-headline. Think “what is the logical precedent to this experience, what did I need to do or know at my previous job in order to be successful at the next job?”

Studies have shown that the vast majority of HR people and recruiters only read the first bullet of each experience, if they read anything at all. Studies have also shown that recruiters will look at your most recent experience first and then go to the bottom of your resume and read up. Recruiters want to see a logical progression from your first job to where you are today, so give them what they want. 

I’ll take a moment here for the naysayers. I can hear some of you muttering, “But I wasn’t successful at every job, or I’ve changed careers, or I’m not very good at xyz…” It’s for you naysayers that I recommend starting this blank document; to force yourself to rewrite your sense of your job history. It’s not actually about what you’ve done; it’s about how you describe what you’ve done. For example, let’s say at your first job you managed 10 bank accounts, and every other C.P.A. in the firm was managing 30. You’ve always thought of that job as a failure because you didn’t do as well the others; however the HR people don’t know that 10 wasn’t a terrific number. So if you’re first bullet for that job experience starts off as “effectively managed 10 accounts…” it sounds like you did well, while still being honest.

Let’s say your next job you managed less accounts but they were higher value or had more transactions. All you do is switch the emphasis to the better quantifier. So your first bullet for your next job might be “Consistently oversaw $500,000 in weekly transactions….”

You see both these sentences are strong and make you appear successful but are only giving out selective pieces of information that make you sound good without giving the reader enough information to make a negative judgment despite the fact that you may consider those experiences failures.

 Give this a whirl tonight and come back tomorrow when I help you finish up your re-worked, excellently targeted resume.

Think you have an awesome bullet point in your resume?

Sean Weinberg is the COO and co-founder of RezScore, a free web application that reads, analyzes, and grades resumes – instantly. Also the founder of Freedom Resumes, Sean has dedicated his career to helping job seekers write the best possible resumes.

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Celebrating Diwali at LinkedIn on Culture inDay [SLIDESHOW]

Editor’s Note: Once a month, we set aside a Friday for employees to focus on investing in themselves and their community. It’s a day our employees spend outside their daily task list and transform. Check out other inDay posts.

At LinkedIn, we have a vibrant company culture that celebrates customs and traditions from around the world. This November’s Culture themed inDay was a reflection of just that.

From Mountain View to Toronto to Mumbai, we celebrated the Indian festival Diwali. Diwali is also known as the Festival of Lights and is celebrated in India by lighting small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. Since I was a child, my family members have gathered on this day every year to celebrate with Indian sweets and fireworks. I was given the opportunity again this year to organize our annual Diwali celebration at LinkedIn headquarters.

At our Mountain View headquarters, we danced to a few Bollywood numbers and my musically talented colleagues sang melodious Bollywood songs. We also had incredible performances by professional Bollywood dance groups ‘‘Nach ke Dekh’ and ‘Jhankaar Beats’. The highlight of the evening was definitely LinkedIn’s version of KBC, the Indian version of “Who wants to be a Millionaire”, where employees were given the opportunity to answer questions about Indian culture and history like “Which of these is a Hindi name for a yellow colored flower?” The correct answer? Surajmukhi. We also stuffed our bellies full of Indian delicacies, sweets and snacks like kulfi (milk dessert).

Diyas, small clay lamps filled with oil, lit the way for our Toronto team. They started the festivities with a video about the significance of Diwali, then took part in singing and dancing to Bollywood songs. They also ran a Saree tying contest, taught everyone to dance “garba” style and played a game of cricket. The celebrations ended with a great Indian meal followed by Indian sweets.

It was truly amazing to see so many of my colleagues dressed up in traditional sarees and kurtas. The atmosphere on inDay was so full of life and energy. I am thankful to have had another opportunity to share Diwali with LinkedIn colleagues from around the world.

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The Most Effective Way to Target Your Resume - Part I

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November 26, 2012The Most Effective Way to Target Your Resume - Part I

The most critical thing when writinga resume is to write the resume the HR person wants to read. Every person who has ever posted a job or everwritten a job description has an idea of the perfect resume for that role. Theproblem, as I’m sure you’re aware for the job seekers, is that the hiringmanagers get so many applications that they need to know that this is the rightresume within 30 seconds. I’ve written before many times about the black holeof resume submissions and I have no doubt if you’re reading this blog you’refamiliar with that experience; sending out countless resumes but getting noresponse.

I’m going to give you the best way to get the hiring managerto say yes the second they see your resume. But I warn you it’s very timeconsuming and of course won’t always work. It’s four simple words: Reverse Write Your Resume.

Here’s what you do:

On half your screen put up a blankword document, and on the other side of the screen pop open a job description.You’re going to write your resume over from scratch forgetting everythingyou’ve ever done before; you’re going to ignore all the rules of resume writingyou’ve learned; You’re going to delete from your memory bank all your favoritesentences from your resume; you’re going to stop and truly read this jobdescription.

Think about it! How often do youreally read a job description? How often do you take the time to analyze themindset of the person writing the job description? Do they use long sentencesor short sentences? Do they use a lot of adjectives or are they terse? Do theyemphasize culture, performance, past experience, or future goals?

Don’t get bogged down in the psychobabblebut start making assumptions about the person who wrote this job description.Now be a sales person and write your resume in a similar tone. If they use longsentences, use long sentences. If they use short sentences, use short sentences.Pick up on the cues.

Once you have a sense of themindset of your targeted reader, you are going to do something very simple andit is going to take you 50% of the way there. Put down your first line of yourprofessional headline in big bold font and make it the job title of the jobyou’re applying for. If the job is a certified public accountant, you want “Certified Public Accountant” to be themost prominent line on your resume. Just by doing that you’ve made it so easyfor the hiring manager to decide that your resume is worth reading.

You’re well on your way now!  I understand this first step is timeconsuming so I’ll give you some time to complete it before we move on to attackthe oh so sneaky ‘sub-headline.’ Be sure to post some killer headlines below inthe comment section.

Sean Weinberg is the COO and co-founder of RezScore, a free web application that reads, analyzes, and grades resumes – instantly. Also the founder of Freedom Resumes, Sean has dedicated his career to helping job seekers write the best possible resumes.

Posted at 09:15 AM in Advice, Applying, Career | Permalink

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Comments The Most Effective Way to Target Your Resume - Part I

The most critical thing when writinga resume is to write the resume the HR person wants to read. Every person who has ever posted a job or everwritten a job description has an idea of the perfect resume for that role. Theproblem, as I’m sure you’re aware for the job seekers, is that the hiringmanagers get so many applications that they need to know that this is the rightresume within 30 seconds. I’ve written before many times about the black holeof resume submissions and I have no doubt if you’re reading this blog you’refamiliar with that experience; sending out countless resumes but getting noresponse.

I’m going to give you the best way to get the hiring managerto say yes the second they see your resume. But I warn you it’s very timeconsuming and of course won’t always work. It’s four simple words: Reverse Write Your Resume.

Here’s what you do:

On half your screen put up a blankword document, and on the other side of the screen pop open a job description.You’re going to write your resume over from scratch forgetting everythingyou’ve ever done before; you’re going to ignore all the rules of resume writingyou’ve learned; You’re going to delete from your memory bank all your favoritesentences from your resume; you’re going to stop and truly read this jobdescription.

Think about it! How often do youreally read a job description? How often do you take the time to analyze themindset of the person writing the job description? Do they use long sentencesor short sentences? Do they use a lot of adjectives or are they terse? Do theyemphasize culture, performance, past experience, or future goals?

Don’t get bogged down in the psychobabblebut start making assumptions about the person who wrote this job description.Now be a sales person and write your resume in a similar tone. If they use longsentences, use long sentences. If they use short sentences, use short sentences.Pick up on the cues.

Once you have a sense of themindset of your targeted reader, you are going to do something very simple andit is going to take you 50% of the way there. Put down your first line of yourprofessional headline in big bold font and make it the job title of the jobyou’re applying for. If the job is a certified public accountant, you want “Certified Public Accountant” to be themost prominent line on your resume. Just by doing that you’ve made it so easyfor the hiring manager to decide that your resume is worth reading.

You’re well on your way now!  I understand this first step is timeconsuming so I’ll give you some time to complete it before we move on to attackthe oh so sneaky ‘sub-headline.’ Be sure to post some killer headlines below inthe comment section.

Sean Weinberg is the COO and co-founder of RezScore, a free web application that reads, analyzes, and grades resumes – instantly. Also the founder of Freedom Resumes, Sean has dedicated his career to helping job seekers write the best possible resumes.

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JibberJobber, Unemployment Insurance, Staying Organized in a Job Search

November 26th, 2012

Check out this very cool email I got from Carolyn in Minnesota:

[JibberJobber] is wonderful. It helped me organize my job search quickly and I was ready when summoned to the unemployment office to show that I’m doing everything I can. She said no one ever comes in having done so much in just four weeks. I brought my jobs report and told her about JibberJobber.

JibberJobber users… more organized, more productive.  That could lead to a bit of “peace of mind,” don’t you think?

If you aren’t using it yet, or don’t feel like it’s a significant part of your job search, sign up for the next user webinar (we do it every Wednesday).

While there, sign up for the Ask the Expert webinars - they are all free, and all awesome!

(Please tell your workforce services person about JibberJobber… many don’t know about it, but they should!)

Posted in Job Search Strategies, Job Search Technology, Job Search Tools, Joe Job Seeker, Testimonials | Permalink | TrackBack |

JibberJobber is a powerful tool that lets you manage your career, from job search to relationship management to target company management (and much more). Free for life with an optional upgrade.

Sign Up Now! »

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Job Search Discrimination Exists – Now What???

Want to read something disgusting?  Check out this article: Unemployed Black Women Pretends to Be White, Job Prospects Dramatically Increase

From the article:

“Two years ago, I noticed that Monster.com had added a “diversity questionnaire” to the site.  This gives an applicant the opportunity to identify their sex and race to potential employers.  Monster.com guarantees that this “option” will not jeopardize your chances of gaining employment.  You must answer this questionnaire in order to apply to a posted position—it cannot be skipped.”

Monster guarantees the option will not jeopordize the chances of getting a job?

How can they guarantee that?  And, if it cannot be skipped, it’s not an option!

This is maddening.  It’s crazy that it is anywhere on Monster’s page.  It should not be on there.  I’m guessing some HR knowitall asked for the breakdown in races for their equal opportunity reporting.

Monster should have stood up and said NO.

Alas, where does this leave us?  Folks, discrimination exists EVERYONE.  In your job search, in careers, in education, in stores, in parking lots, … everywhere.

How do people discriminate?

Let’s reword that.  How do people judge you?  How do people decide if they want to (hire, be around, recommend, etc.) you?

HeightBody shapeHair (lack of, color, style)Tattoos (which is more your choice than many of the others on this list)ClothesHandicaps (not sure what the latest PC way to say that is) – limp, canes, wheelchairs, blindness, etc.ReligionRace (of course)Language (accent, stutter, slur, lisp, etc.)Ability to spell (sucks for dyslexics, doesn’t it?)Work history (job hopper?)Voice (too deep, to high, etc.)Age_____

There is no end to how people will make a 1/2 second judgement about you.

Because the person who does it is, well, human.  Susceptible to mood swings, prejudices from parents and community, misinformation (the media is a horrible advocate of racism and prejudice, in my opinion).

It is illegal, of course.  But tell that to people on the comments where I found the story.  They say the Justice Department is just as prejudice as companies are.

It is not right.  But it might be one of the worst problems in job search, career management, our life.

So then, what do you do?

Can you fight it?  How?

Can the issue ever go away?

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You’ve Got InMail: Possible Trip to Rome

The last time I was in Rome, I was 20.  I arrived on Good Friday. I spent my first night in a park because I could not find an empty room. Easter weekend is not the best time to be a tourist in Rome. The museums, stores, shops were all closed. I went to the Vatican hoping to see the Sistine Chapel but it too was closed. So I stood with the thousands gathered in Vatican Square and was there when the Pope came out and blessed the crowd. That was cool, but I left a few days later feeling as if I hadn’t really seen Rome.

So when I received an InMail on LinkedIn with the Subject: “Possible Trip to Rome” from Susannah Gold, a person I had never met I was intrigued. She asked if I’d be interested in an all expense paid trip to cover the International Balzan Foundation Prize Ceremony for the sciences and humanities.

Interested?  You bet I was interested. I write about science and medicine as my profession The Balzan Foundation Prize is a very prestigious award with a cash prize of  $750,000 Swiss Francs (approximately $790,000 USD.) that have been given to people such as Pope John XXIII, the writer Jorge Luis Borges, and Shinya Yamanaka who won the Nobel prize in Medicine this year.

So last week, I went to Rome. And it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

I realize most Americans are not familiar with these prizes. I certainly wasn’t. I learned that The International Balzan Foundation was founded in 1957 by the daughter of Eugenio Francesco Balzan, who was a journalist  born in 1874 in Italy. He fled Italy for Switzerland to escape prosecution by the Mussolini regime who did not like his politics. He became quite wealthy and when he died his daughter Lina started the Foundation in his honor.

The prizes were given at a ceremony at the stunning Palazzo del  Quirinale, the home of Giorgio Napolitano, the President of the Republic of Italy.  I was the only American journalist/science writer there. All of my colleagues were from Europe.  As I watched the ceremony, I thought of my grandparents who were emigrants to the United States from Russian and Poland.

I am alive because they decided, like Balzan, to leave their homes and take their chances in a new country where they would not be prosecuted for their beliefs. And I thought how proud they would be that their grandson was invited to the Presidential Palace to watch the President of Italy, who helped to establish Democracy in Italy hand out prizes to great men of science and the humanities.

Having just witnessed the devastation of Hurricane Sandy weeks ago, I was especially pleased that one of the winners was Kurt Lambeck (Australia), a climate scientist and immediate past president of the Australian Academy of Science.

The next day, the prize winners spoke about their work at the Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei, the oldest Academy in the world. Galileo was a member. This is where he laid the foundations of  modern astronomy with his observations of the moon, sunspots, the phases of Venus and the moons around Jupiter. I imagined him presenting his findings to his colleagues and thought of my father who was one of the founders of NASA.and assembled a team of physicists that figured out how to get man to the moon. I called to tell him I was walking up the very steps that Galileo did to the Assembly room. “I wish I was there with you,” he responded.

As a journalist who writes about science and medicine, this was truly a dream come true. My possible trip to Rome became a reality. And as I walked up the steps that Galileo once walked on all I could think about was how lucky I was…all thanks to an InMail from LinkedIn.

Photo Credit (Bottom Right): Balzan Prize 2012

Editor’s Note: Do you have a success story to share? Leave a comment on our LinkedIn Company Page. If you need more inspiration, check out our Member Stories blog series.

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7 tips to stand out in an interview

During an executive’s career, one might expect to be interviewed dozens of times. “Your job at the interview is to be as helpful as you can,” states Claudio Fernandez-Araoz, a seasoned search consultant and author of Great People Decisions.  He comments that most interviewers focus too heavily on experience and not enough on competence, and that it is the executive’s job during the interview, to demonstrate he or she has what it takes to be a perfect fit for the position.

1.         Prepare for the interview

It doesn’t matter how many times you have heard this, it is worth repeating – do your homework! Changing jobs is vitally important to an executive’s current lifestyle and future potential. So, before the interview, dedicate a reasonable amount of time to research important factors about the company you are interviewing with, such as industry trends, company culture, products, highs and lows of company history, etc.

2.         Create your story

People generally have a higher level of engagement when information is relayed in story fashion. It keeps the listener’s attention if the story is interesting and succinct. Consider putting together 10-12 stories that showcase your talents, skills and career-defining initiatives using the CAR formula (Challenge, Action, Result). Lead with the result to grab the interviewer’s attention and then weave in the challenge and how you achieved the results. These stories are valuable when you can use them to answer an interview question.

3.         Focus on fit 

It is rare that any executive is the exact fit in every way for a new position. Clearly indicate how your potential makes you a top contender for the job. Explain how your leadership, management style, ability to influence, and operational expertise (name a few characteristics) mirror the requirements they are looking for.

4.         First impressions counts

I’d be remiss if I didn’t emphasize that people don’t pay attention to how you speak, body language, clothes, and facial expressions. Similar to capturing the reader’s attention in the first 15 seconds with your resume, you need to present the best impression that will clearly fix you in the mind of the interviewers – so that they’re thinking of you in that context as they conduct the remainder of the interview. Most importantly, project confidence as you draw attention to details you want to share. 

5.         Present the best “you”

Employers (and recruiters) can be suspicious of executives that oversell themselves. Whenever possible, I recommend relating “context” information in your responses to help interviewers understand your value. What was going on at each company when you took the assignment? Why were you hired or promoted? What goals were you given, what challenges did you face, what obstacles did you encounter? A rich context lets the interviewer better understand and absorb what you did and how you can apply those skills and talents to their company.

6.         Prepare for zinger questions

The interviewer’s job is to ask questions that will reveal what they want to know. Perhaps the resume showed a gap in employment, incomplete education, or frequent job changes – how do you explain those situations to your advantage? A reasonable 3-prong approach might be: 1) prepare a straightforward answer that is short and to the point; 2) prepare a more detailed response that describes the circumstances in more detail; 3) if the interviewer pushes for more, be ready to go into a deeper level of information that will satisfy the interviewer while substantiating your motives. Being prepared is key so the interviewer does not catch you off-guard. 

7.         Use radar perception

Apply the same strategies you rely on in business to your interview. When a business meeting is going “south”, how do you save or change the outcome? Think about how you can use similar tactics to turnaround an interview. Individual dynamics play a big part in interviews and following interview protocol may or may not always work. Be flexible and adapt to the situation.

These seven tips can help you be more successful in your interviews and ultimately lead to the job offer. Good luck!

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Get Help From Gatekeepers

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Get Help From Gatekeepers

This example is near and dear to my heart – it’s how I landed a job with a marketing communications firm back in the 1990s, when I use to work for other people.

 

After mailing in my resume, I was called by a receptionist to schedule an interview. During our conversation, I asked if she could send me back issues of their corporate publications. I explained that I wanted to research the writing styles of the magazines and newsletters I would be editing if I got the job.

 

She immediately agreed, and had a nice package of materials couriered over to me the same day.

 

It turned out to be a gold mine.

 

I found three typos in one back issue of a magazine I would be proofreading in the position I was interviewing for. Here was proof I could do the job.

 

Two days later at the interview, the subject of proofreading skills came up. I pulled out the magazine (with post-it notes marking the typos) and said: “I’ve been researching your publications and found these three errors. I can improve your image by preventing this kind of thing from happening again.”

 

They hired me.

 

 

Action Step: do whatever you can to research your target company and “start working” for them before the first interview. It’s one thing to claim you can do the job. It’s quite another -- and much more powerful -- to prove it.

Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.

Posted by David Perry aka The Rogue Recruiter on 26/11/2012 at 14:01 in Interviewing | Permalink

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This example is near and dear to my heart – it’s how I landed a job with a marketing communications firm back in the 1990s, when I use to work for other people.

 

After mailing in my resume, I was called by a receptionist to schedule an interview. During our conversation, I asked if she could send me back issues of their corporate publications. I explained that I wanted to research the writing styles of the magazines and newsletters I would be editing if I got the job.

 

She immediately agreed, and had a nice package of materials couriered over to me the same day.

 

It turned out to be a gold mine.

 

I found three typos in one back issue of a magazine I would be proofreading in the position I was interviewing for. Here was proof I could do the job.

 

Two days later at the interview, the subject of proofreading skills came up. I pulled out the magazine (with post-it notes marking the typos) and said: “I’ve been researching your publications and found these three errors. I can improve your image by preventing this kind of thing from happening again.”

 

They hired me.

 

 

Action Step: do whatever you can to research your target company and “start working” for them before the first interview. It’s one thing to claim you can do the job. It’s quite another -- and much more powerful -- to prove it.

Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.

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Ask The Expert: Karen Huller: I Have a Resume – Now What???

JibberJobber is a powerful tool that lets you manage your career, from job search to relationship management to target company management (and much more). Free for life with an optional upgrade.

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Employers look for executive personality traits before hiring

Research indicates that over 80% of employers look for the cultural fit of an executive over skills. That’s huge! In data collected from 1,200 of the world’s leading companies, there are five top personality traits sought after by these employers.

Professionalism (86%)

Most people reach executive level through career achievements, leadership skills, and crafting a professional persona. Generally, executives are a step up on the professionalism scale. A candidate’s professionalism is judged from the first interaction to the clothes they wear to the interview, to how they handle difficult interview questions and everything in between.

High energy (78%)

In the first 30 seconds of meeting, a recruiter can determine if an executive is high energy. It could be expressed in their body language, tone of voice, or other subtle distinctions. Whatever clues the recruiter is looking for, be aware that you are being observed, and need to demonstrate your enthusiasm and high energy in a fitting manner to your personality and position.

Confidence (61%)

Confidence is the highest trait that companies think is missing in employees. If you don’t show confidence in yourself, how do you expect a potential employer to have confidence in your abilities as an executive? First impressions are critical for employers, and even the smallest adjustments in your presentation, handshake, posture, etc. can have a big impact.

Self-monitoring (58%)

This trait is best showcased in resume language that calls attention to working independently or figuring out solutions to challenges without help or guidance of direct leadership, and working through to a successful completion. During an interview, this trait can be implied with challenge/action/result stories that reveal how you improved, increased, saved, or achieved the desired outcome, and how your self-motivation was critical to your success. Even if you don’t have a lot of successes to share because of extreme/adverse situations or sliding economy, being able to point out how you overcame potential failures to maintain ground is important.

Intellectual curiosity (57%)

Two key pieces are vital to demonstrate intellectual curiosity. One is the ability to solve problems, and the other is the ongoing dedication to learning, whether it is new technologies or solutions to streamline advances in the ever-changing workplace. The employer is very interested in your analytical process and problem-solving abilities, and how it can integrate with current employee thinking and actions.  Not being satisfied with status quo, and showing passion for continued professional development will elevate you as a highly attractive candidate to a potential employer. 

Being aware of the top personality traits that employers are looking for should give you a leg up on the competition, and help you to position yourself better for the next step in your career.  

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How To Get A Mentor

The first mistake most people make when seeking out a mentor is asking a role model to take on that responsibility. Mentoring is an enormous chore. Don’t underrate the undertaking of it. You are asking someone to take a personal interest in your development.

It reminds me of a first kiss. At least, that’s when a first kiss was a first kiss (and the US dollar was backed by the gold standard).

Ideally, you didn’t ask for your first kiss. It just came naturally, arising from the circumstances you found yourself in. In other words, better at a beach party bonfire filled with excitement when your team won the big game, than during a middle school spin-the-bottle moment in the basement (AKA you have to kiss me because the bottle is pointed at you and I spun it).

When you ask for mentoring, you are asking to be important, worthy and interesting.

You are asking to siphon off some of your mentor candidate’s natural resources. You are inquiring if this other person would like to take a chunk of time away from their business or personal interests – time that they can never get back once they spend it – and concentrate on moving you forward.

There’s a huge difference between someone who might have an interest in giving you some good counsel from time to time versus agreeing to a “going steady” relationship.

Agreeing to answer a question is easy. Committing to a regular routine is hard.

In fact, that’s the secret of getting a mentor. Like most good and lasting relationships, it starts with your asking a question. That question isn’t, “Would you be my mentor?” It’s more like, “Would you mind giving me advice on a challenge I’ve run into starting my career in the green energy sector?”

Everyone likes to give advice. A lot of people like to ask for advice, which should be good. But it isn’t. Because a lot of good advice gets squandered.

So surprise your would-be mentor. Take the advice and act on it. Then call or email the result of your actions. Ask your next question and repeat until you have a steady dialogue going.

Then, instead of asking to be mentored, you’ve actually gotten ahead and made a special someone the patron saint of your career. At some point, write them a nice handwritten note and thank them for mentoring you.

Still stuck on getting time with your role-model? You can ask to shadow someone once you’ve struck up a relationship. You might ask if you can sit in on a project planning meeting. Or an advertising strategy meeting. Or when new vendors are being interviewed. Or whatever real life experience would be really valuable for you to witness.

Make sure to report the results when you put into action what you have learned or observed. And send those handwritten thank you notes.

Author:

Nance Rosen is the author of Speak Up! & Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name: nancerosen

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Branding Years Of Experience

Age 40+ job seekers can face ageism when they apply for positions at many companies. One of the triggers for age discrimination is the personal brand a candidate chooses on their resume.

The changed reality of today’s job market is that years of experience aren’t as valuable as they used to be. When experience loses value, all that’s left is the perception of age … and for many employers today, that isn’t such a positive perception.

It’s not that you mean to brand yourself as old … you just don’t know a different way.

You don’t know a different way because you are used to using traditional resume techniques. These traditional techniques were fine when there were shortages of candidates. In today’s job market of job shortages, hiring managers make different decisions using different hiring processes.

So the old familiar resume techniques you’re used to using … yeah, those ones that worked in your last job search … aren’t effective today.

Worse, those old familiar resume techniques are likely adding to the very ageism you’re trying to avoid.

Here are some of the ways candidates brand themselves as old (without realizing it):

1. Focusing The Reader On X Years Of Experience: When you focus your reader on your 20+ years of experience, you think it’s a positive. It used to be a positive, because it meant that you can remember how to deal with many situations. However, it’s no longer positive because that memory isn’t as valuable … it’s been replaced by Google’s collective memory. It’s less expensive for today’s employers to hire someone with 5-10 years of experience, who they can Google the answers they don’t know. Sure, it’s shortsighted, but it’s today’s hiring reality of doing more with less and corporate profits driven by cost reductions rather than increasing demand

2. Excess Detail About Early Jobs: When you include a lot of detail on your earlier jobs, you make 2 critical mistakes:

Give Irrelevant Detail: This shows hiring managers that you don’t separate important information from irrelevant detail very well. It demonstrates poor communications skills, poor decision making and gives the impression that you’ll waste the hiring manager’s time with the unimportant. The detail of what you did 20 years ago probably isn’t relevant today, is it?Your Best Days Are Behind You: I had a client who had branded himself as the creator of McDonald’s Happy Meal, because he actually came up with the idea… 35 years ago. I explained that while he had a right to feel proud of inventing the Happy Meal, it makes readers ask “What have you done since then?” If you can’t answer with examples of strong follow up work since your home run many years ago, it can work against you – branding you as someone who’s best days are in the past.

3. Listing Obsolete Technology Or Issues: Listing that you implemented a new mainframe-based accounting system in the ’80's isn’t helping your job search 30 years later. Instead, it makes your technology skills look dated – sure you could learn updated skills, it’s just that almost no employer wants to train an experienced new hire. Employers look for experienced new hires who have already solved similar issues to what the hiring manager faces today, and who have already used the employer’s technology.

The good news is there are ways to demonstrate your experience while still blunting negative perceptions that trigger ageism. While your experience may be less valuable (thanks to Google), that doesn’t mean that your experience carries zero value.

Most of us are used to expressing our value to employers based on the number of years of our experience. At best, this was always just a proxy to give employers a hint that in all your years of experience you might have already solved problems that the hiring manager might be facing. After all, the more years of experience, the greater chance you might have solved the right problems. This was a holdover from the days of paper resumes, when you couldn’t customize for an individual reader.

Since you can (and should) customize your resume to address your individual hiring manager’s needs, you don’t need a proxy. Why give employers only a hint that you’ve solved relevant problems? Instead, why not bang your target hiring manager over the head by clearly demonstrating that you’ve solved problems similar to priority issues?

Of course, this means a little upfront work to learn the hiring manager’s problems and priorities. This might even mean (Gasp!) actually talking to people who work at the company.

In this way, your age or years of experience never enter into the picture. Rather than taking a broad brush approach, you’ve laser targeted the hiring manager’s unique needs, demonstrating that you’re a superior candidate because you’re the specific solution to priority problems.

Author:

Phil Rosenberg is President of http://www.reCareered.com, a leading job search information website and gives complimentary job search webinars at http://ResumeWebinar.com. Phil also runs the Career Central group, one of Linkedin’s largest groups for job seekers and has built one of the 20 largest personal networks on Linkedin globally.

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Practical Online Writing Tips for Personal Branding Success

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The second edition of Ginny Redish’s Letting Go of the Words is good news for recent graduates, career-builders, or job hunters looking for online writing tips to build successful personal brands.

Letting Go of the Words is likely to forever change the way you plan, write, and format your personal brand on the Internet.

Ginny Redish’s Letting Go of the Words offers a clear, concise presentation of proven principles for writing and web usability, ideas backed-up by reams of research data and endorsed by today’s leading web usability experts.

Subtitled, Writing Web Content that Works, Ginny Redish’s Letting Go of the Words communicates proven strategies and best practices for improving the effectiveness of everything you write for online readers.

With the exception of the first edition of this book, no book comes as close to providing an in-depth, detailed, guide to the best practices involved in writing for online readers.

Letting Go of the Words could also have been subtitled, A Visual Guide to Web Content. It’s a book about writing that doesn’t have to be “read,” in the conventional sense of starting at the beginning and moving forward, reading page after page of text.

If you’re in the middle of a task, like redoing your home page for your website, posting a press release, or creating a landing page for your next information product or event, you can go directly to the chapter and get immediate help.Visual storytelling and teaching. Letting Go of the Words is a visual guide because the annotated examples and before and after illustrations tell the story. Each page contains at least one, and often, several real-world illustrations that reinforce the lessons, best practices, and mistakes to avoid. Illustrations are accompanied by smiley-faces and call-outs describing best practices and mistakes to avoid.

One of my examples is an illustrated Chapter 3 Case Study titled, Revising a Poorly Designed Web Page. The series of 5 illustrations show the major improvements in readability that take place as a series of simple changes in type and layout.

One of the themes that resonates through Letting Go of the Words is the importance of viewing your blog and website as a conversation, rather than a podium to communicate your view of things.

Online writing success and strong personal brands begin with analyzing and understanding your website visitors, and anticipating the “questions” they’re going to ask. Often, these “questions” relate to specific tasks, i.e., How do I book a flight to Baltimore? or perform a task or achieve a goal in a field where you’re an expert.

If your website visitors are looking for personalized assistance, or are potential employers, they will be asking, How do I know you’re the best qualified to help me? By creating personas describing your blog or website visitors, and predicting the questions they’re likely to be asking, you can pave the way for better online writing and an improved personal brand.

Throughout Letting  Go of the Words, the emphasis is always on maintaining the conversation, keeping it moving forward, by organizing your ideas, breaking your ideas into easily-read and easily-remembered chunks of information, and providing compelling reasons to believe your message.

For me, the two most useful parts of Letting Go of the Words were Chapter 8, Announcing Your Topic with a Clear Headline and Chapter 9, Including Useful Headings. In these chapter, Ginny Redish describes the importance of using a combination of nouns and verbs to write the way you talk.

Usually, headings are simply placeholders, nouns used to indicate the end of one topic and the beginning of the next topic. With a little thought, however, again–viewing the headings as parts of a conversation–you can create significantly better headings.

In Letting Go of the Words, headings within chapters are called Guidelines, which turn ideas into action. Chapter 8's Guidelines include:

Use your site visitor’s wordsBe clear instead of cuteThink about your global audienceTry for a medium length (about eight words)Use a statement, question, or call to actionCombine labels (nouns) with more informationAdd a short description if people need it

If you’re looking for a concise, comprehensive, and visual guide containing hundreds of practical online writing tips for personal branding success will everything needed to take your writing to the next level in Ginny Redish’s Letting Go of the Words. Take a few minutes to use the Look Inside! feature of Ginny Redish’s Letting Go of the Words on Amazon.com. This could be the most important Holiday Gift book you give–or receive–this year.

Author:

Roger C. Parker invites you to ask your questions about writing for brand building success. Submit your questions as comments, below, or use my online form.  

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How NOT To Introduce Yourself

Throughout the course of EVERY day, people you know will ask you, ”How have you been?” and “What’s new?”  Your answers to these “small-talk” questions will have a profound impact on the way people respond to you.

While there is value in being humble and being vulnerable, that does not mean that you should completely devalue yourself.

I recently attended an engagement party for a friend and his fiancé. Midway through the night, I ran into another acquaintance who I had not seen for about a year and a half. Naturally, I asked him how he was doing and what was new.

His response?

“Well, I’m one year older and even fatter.” He said this with a smile, but it didn’t make his comment any more attractive.

While it’s endearing to be self-deprecating, it’s a huge turnoff when you belittle yourself. I wonder what his wife was thinking as he introduced himself to me, especially since they had their first child since the last time I saw them.

Why didn’t he say something like, “I’ve been doing great. We just had our first child last year. Our lives are completely different these days, but we have never been happier.”

How much easier would that introduction have made it for me to follow-up with another question?

Instead, I was forced to play along with his “fatter/older” comment.

If he had just met me for the first time, there is no way he would have introduced himself to me as “one year older and even fatter.” Why should he downgrade himself (and unintentionally embarrass his wife as well) just because we know each other?

Most people aren’t this bad at introducing themselves, but it’s amazing how depressing most responses are to  “What’s new?” or “How have you been?”

Have you ever responded to these questions by saying something like, “well, I’m surviving” or “can’t complain” or “same old” or “plugging along.”

If so, stop doing that immediately!

How are people supposed to respond when you utter a boring/depressing comment like that… or something even worse?

Do you want people to be excited when they see you? Then, give them a reason to be excited to see you.

Next time someone you know asks you “What’s new?” or “How have you been?,” be positive. Mention something that you are excited about, such as a new work project, an upcoming or recent trip/event, or some other positive development from your personal or professional life.

Author:

Pete Leibman is the Founder of Dream Job Academy and the Author of the new book titled “I Got My Dream Job and So Can You” (AMACOM, 2012).  His career advice has been featured on Fox, CBS, and CNN, and he is a popular Keynote Speaker at career events for college students and at conferences for people who work with college students.

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Ask The Magic Networking Question

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Powered by FeedBlitz November 2012SunMonTueWedThuFriSat    123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930 Leadership BooksJim Collins: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

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Ram Charan: The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company

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Ask The Magic Networking Question

If your network is smaller than you'd like, think of it as a yeast cell, with the power to expand from its tiny origin until it produces something wonderful. In this case, a new job!

 

Tell everyone you know that you're looking for a job. Call or e-mail every single person in your address book. Now, here's the magic question -- at the end of every conversation, ask:

 

“Who else do you know that I should be talking to?”

 

This is how you expand your network by leaps and bounds! If everyone you talk to gives you two more names, and those people give you two more names, your network will explode like crabgrass in July -- try it and see.

 

Eventually, someone should be able to put you in touch with a decision maker who can hire you.

 

Even former employers can help. If you parted on good terms with your last boss, he or she might be able to refer you to hiring managers in other companies.

 

 

Action Step: Stop thinking that your network is only as large as the people you know. It’s not. It’s FAR bigger and more valuable. When you ask: “Who else do you know that I should be talking to?” the sky is literally the limit – you could be only one or two phone calls away from talking to the CEO of General Mills, the owner of your dream company down the road … or Kevin Bacon. But you’ll never know unless you ask.

Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.

Posted by David Perry aka The Rogue Recruiter on 19/11/2012 at 13:46 in Networking | Permalink

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If your network is smaller than you'd like, think of it as a yeast cell, with the power to expand from its tiny origin until it produces something wonderful. In this case, a new job!

 

Tell everyone you know that you're looking for a job. Call or e-mail every single person in your address book. Now, here's the magic question -- at the end of every conversation, ask:

 

“Who else do you know that I should be talking to?”

 

This is how you expand your network by leaps and bounds! If everyone you talk to gives you two more names, and those people give you two more names, your network will explode like crabgrass in July -- try it and see.

 

Eventually, someone should be able to put you in touch with a decision maker who can hire you.

 

Even former employers can help. If you parted on good terms with your last boss, he or she might be able to refer you to hiring managers in other companies.

 

 

Action Step: Stop thinking that your network is only as large as the people you know. It’s not. It’s FAR bigger and more valuable. When you ask: “Who else do you know that I should be talking to?” the sky is literally the limit – you could be only one or two phone calls away from talking to the CEO of General Mills, the owner of your dream company down the road … or Kevin Bacon. But you’ll never know unless you ask.

Compliments of David E Perry and Kevin Donlin. For more creative job search tactics, go to the Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters blog and download the free audio CD.

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