Top Posts of November 2007

Top Posts of November 2007 4 These were some of the most-read articles on JobMob during the month of November 2007 according to Google Analytics: From the JobMob Archives- Funniest Rejection Letter Ever This rejection of a rejection letter is from a humor site. It would be fun to try it. 150 Funniest Resume Mistakes, Bloopers and Blunders Ever People write the strangest things on their resumes, sometimes downright hysterical. Why should only recruiting managers get to laugh at these? The Top 10 are at the bottom. Enjoy! 8 Creative Ways to Use Social Media for Your Job Search Social media websites have made the Internet more fun to use for networking than ever before. Here's a list of suggestions to make the most of the top social media websites for your job search. How Else Can Social Media Be Useful for Your Job Search? Social media websites have become mega-popular in the past few years, and can be very useful for networking with people who share your interests or are in your profession. The Social Media group writing project had some terrific articles among a long list, so I categorized them for you here below.eval Remember to check the new Best Of tab in the upper right-hand corner of JobMob…

Podcast #9 Yahoo!s Policy, Personal Mission Dan Black - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Podcast #9 Yahoo!s Policy, Personal Mission Dan Black - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Welcome to the ninth episode of the  Promote Yourself Podcast  (Subscribe on iTunes). It is a weekly show airing every Monday, giving you the best career advice, the latest workplace trends and access to todays brightest stars in business. Download the podcast here. Sponsor:  Moo.com is an online printer offering premium business cards, MiniCards. stickers and more. For listeners of this podcast, if you go to  Moo.com/podcast  you will save 10% on your next order! Now its time for the show. This weeks show Segment #1: My top 3 workplace trends of the week Do you need an MBA? Yahoo! bans employees from working at home? Older workers arent retiring. Segment #2: QA This weeks question comes from Robert Erich. She asks: Whats more important in life, a career or a mission? How do you determine which one to follow? To ask a question for a future show, send me a tweet at  @DanSchawbel. Segment #3: Guest interview This week I speak to Dan Black, Americas Director of Campus Recruiting at Ernst Young. Ernst Young is a leading global professional services organization providing audit, tax, transaction, and advisory services. Dan is also a member of the firm’s Recruiting and Mobility Core Leadership Team. Dan focuses on developing and executing campus recruitment strategy for the Ernst Young Americas area. He works with a team of over 100 recruiting professionals to solidify the firm’s position as a market leader at colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada. He currently services on the Board of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). In July, he will begin his term as the 2013-14 NACE President. In this interview, Dan talks about the positive aspects of Gen Y, major hiring trends, how companies are reviewing social media profiles and how to get ahead in your career. Author: Dan Schawbel  is the Founder of Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm. He recently made the  Forbes Magazine  30 Under 30 list and his second book called Promote Yourself: The New Art of  Getting Ahead  is due out in the Fall of 2013 by St. Martin’s Press. He is offering an online course called “Build Your Personal Brand in 4 Easy Steps.”

The Brooklyn Bridge is For Sale. Wanna Buy - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Brooklyn Bridge is For Sale. Wanna Buy - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Every morning when I get to my computer, I’m amazed at how many companies have targeted me as someone in need of their products or services. I take it in stride, though, because in 99 percent of the cases, I’m of course not interested, and I know that the e-mail has been sent to a vast audience. Usually, I read at least some of the content because I’m intrigued not by the content but by the company’s marketing tactics. I do get puzzled, though, by the reason that all of these marketing gurus advocate the overwhelming of their audiences. We know that the average person’s span of attention is 20 seconds, yet a read of the entire document would probably take more than 10 minutes. So, my questions are, How many people are turned off by an e-mail’s sheer size? How many read at least a portion of the message? and, How many become convinced that the product or service is exactly what they need and in the end, buy it? I for one am the type of person who needs information summed up quickly and who must be kept intrigued; otherwise, I delete without remorse, block the sender and move on. Specifically what caught my eye this morning was an e-mail about “winning, job interview answers.” The Web site link led to listed several potentially difficult interview questionsâ€"designed of course to work on the reader’s emotions. It reminded me of a common question that life insurance salespeople like to ask: “What happens to your loved ones once you die?” Further, the site promised to build your likability. And your confidence. Oh, really? That easily? And all this by downloading a bunch of PDF files and buying books that, if done by tonight(!), would be discounted 40%. And to build a reader’s confidence, there’s also a wealth recommendation. What seemed scary to me was the insinuation that by reading the answers to such questions, “you will get hired.” But I’m in fact a practicing professional career coach specializing in training people for interviews. And after 11 years of such practice and after 700 clients, I can say with confidence that the insinuation about getting hired is an exaggeration. Interview preparation is a complex task, involving more than just memorization of canned answers. I wonder if anyone believes that reading a book on, say, how to dance makes one ready to jump onto the dance floor and do a demonstration in front of an audience of critical judges. The only way I know of to train people for interviews is by demonstrating for them, practicing with them, providing constructive critiques, and then doing it again and again till perfect.   Please share your opinion.   The value of these blogs is in others’ comments.

Curve Ball Interview Questions What Your Answers Say About You

Curve Ball Interview Questions What Your Answers Say About You A few generations ago, interview scripts for professional jobs followed a straightforward format. According to the logic of the times, either the candidate had the skills necessary to accept the position, or she didn’t. So to find out, interviewers would simply ask. In a 30-minute session, most questions resembled the ones below: “Have you done this kind of work before?” “Are you a responsible person?” “This job will involve leadership and public speaking. Do you like those things?” “What are your greatest strengths?” Smart candidates quickly caught on and learned how to manipulate the system. So at this point, employers are abandoning this predictable dialogue in favor of behavior-focused and curve ball questions, which allow candidates to speak in an open-ended way about their personalities and philosophies. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'i59obypZRlxTHSRFou2Okw',sig:'_8OR4gEA7PXeUDKFDIQHvv7abhRPlimDLSnv-ar3kW4=',w:'505px',h:'339px',items:'168991348',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); For example: “can you explain to me how you would build a bicycle?” or “how would you train a buffalo to walk backwards?” or even “how many peas could you fit inside the Empire State Building?” If you encounter curve ball questions during your interview, recognize that your answers will provide your interviewers with volumes of useful information about who you are and how well you’ll fit in with this company. And as you field each question, keep these considerations in mind. 1. Your reaction matters. Before you answer, your interviewers will note your reaction to the question. Do you panic, sputter, get angry, demand more information, or burst into tears? Or do you smile, relax, appreciate the challenge, and retain your sense of humor? A candidate who can keep the big picture in mindâ€"one who stays flexible instead of rigidâ€"will probably be a better bet than one who feels mocked, trapped, or put on the spot. 2. Speak, don’t give up. If you’re asked how to build a bicycle, don’t assume that you have nothing to offer because you’ve never built a bicycle before. Candidates often think they’ll gain points for honesty if they just shrug and say “I don’t know.” But if you do this, you’ll miss an important opportunity. So instead of throwing up your hands, exercise your imagination, get out your mental calculator, and get to work. What do you know about bicycles? Where would you start? What experts would you call upon for help? 3. It’s just a conversation. Don’t be afraid to get your answer wrong. Your interviewers aren’t interested in literally procuring the exact number of peas it will take to fill a building. This isn’t about peas. This is about finding the kind of employee who can live in the moment, accept a challenge, and exhibit grace under a mild amount of pressure. 4. Let your problem-solving approach speak for itself. These employers may want the kind of worker who will take a mathematical approach (divide the height of the building by the height of each pea and calculate volume as a function of height times area) or a leadership approach (enlist the help of a team of people to gather peas, fill the building, and then start counting) or a philosophical approach (find out why this number needs to be determined and then find a more efficient way to reach the same goal). Your answer will help them make this assessment. Just complete your part of the scenario and allow them to complete theirs using any method they choose. LiveCareer, home to America’s #1 Resume Builder, connects job seekers of all experience levels and career categories to all the tools, resources and insider tips needed to win the job. Connect with us on  Google+  and  Youtube  for even more tips and advice on all things career and resume-related.

Does Your Personality Mesh with Your Career - Career Pivot

Does Your Personality Mesh with Your Career - Career Pivot Personality Mesh with Your Career? Your personality is a key factor in finding happiness in your career. Unfortunately, when we make our initial career choices, we may ignore certain key traits or just focus on where we can make the most money. Kinetic Programmer I learned to program computers in high school in the early 1970s. Yes, they had computers back then! I decided to study computer science at the Northwestern University Technological Institute, which is now the McCormick School of Engineering. Solving problems was a challenge Writingprograms in a variety of languages, even assembler code was fun. I would often find myself writing programs for a couple of hours at a time. After Graduation I graduated in the late 1970s and went to work for IBM. My job was to program the latest trendâ€"word processors. I was supposed to sit in my office for eight hours a day with a coding pad and write assembler code. This kind of code is directly translatable into computer instructions (it is very tedious to program and hardly anyone does it anymore). Once I was done writing a significant amount of code, I would sit at my desk and review it. Then my team would get together and perform code reviews. The problem with this is that I am a very high-energy guy where sitting at a desk for more than an hour at a time is painful. Being around people is important. My personality was not suited to just sitting behind the desk and programming for 6-8 hours a day. I spent six years being miserable before I moved into a new role where I no longer wrote programs but supported Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems. Working with people, solve problems, and working with my hands was much more enjoyable. I was not genuinely happy until I moved into a training function where I taught the latest technologies developed at IBM. That transition took over ten long years. Listen to the most recent episode My personality with the need for high activity was in direct conflict with sitting at a desk for long hours as a computer programmer. My personality did not mesh with my career choice. Structured Anarchist I have a client who has been a finance guy in the non-profit sector for most of his career. He appears to be very structured and orderly. After graduating from college with a liberal arts degree, he became a non-profit executive director. He decided to get an MBA from a prestige business school because they had a non-profit track in their curriculum. When he started the program and was sitting with his advisor, he asked when he would get to take the non-profit courses. After a few perplexing questions, his advisor said: “We should have removed those from the course catalog years ago.” Despite this, he stuck it out and finished his MBA in Finance. He appears to structured and orderly, but he only works well when it is his structure. Creating order out of chaos is his talent, but once he finishes, he gets bored. He then wants another problem to solve. His career progression had been going from one nonprofit organization to another, fixing the problems, then getting bored and leaving. He is now building sales programs but he is not selling.His product is creating sales systems and then training sales partners on how to implement them. He creates the structure and gets to interact with people to implement that structure. Not your typical finance guy. His personality told everyone that he was very orderly, but his need for very little outside structure caused people to place him in positions where there was already a lot of structure…that he could not change. Therefore, he was often unhappy. It was only after he sought out a role that was compatible with his personality, rather waiting than being placed in a role, that he was happy. He became proactive and not reactive. The Challenge Just because you are good at something does not mean you will want to do it for a career. We are often pushed into career paths because we appear to have certain traits. I wrote previously a post titled Are You Your Authentic Self at Work. Just because we have certain talents does not mean you can apply them in the business world. Just ask artists and musicians about applying their talents in the business world. This is why it is important to try a career before you fully commit. Try before you buy! This post is part of a weekly series on the Personal Branding Blog. You can read the original post on the Personal Branding Blog. Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

Is It Time You Make The Right Investments In Your Business

Is It Time You Make The Right Investments In Your Business It all starts with an idea. It can hit you at any moment. Eating your breakfast, being out with friends in an evening, a Sunday morning reading the papers, the idea will come and it will feel like a switch has gone off in your head. For some, the idea can sit there patiently waiting for you to find the right time to take action. For others the idea can consume you quite quickly and you may find that you end up taking action quicker than you would expect. Starting your own business can be hugely exciting, especially if you feel so passionate about your idea and business venture. But there are certain aspects of your business that you may need to take some time to consider. Investment in your business is essential, and sometimes it isn’t always monetary related. Investments into your idea can come from your thoughts, your consideration and even your time, as well, of course, is the investment in terms of money, be that from savings or investment options. I wanted to share with you some of the investments that you could make for your business. I hope it gives you the confidence you need to move forward. A business location One of the first things to consider will be where you work from. One of the obvious choices for a new start up business is to consider working from home. This gives you great flexibility. You can dedicate any free time to your business idea, nurturing it and growing it, as well as having low overheads in terms of costs. However, you may also need to consider, at some point, moving into an office or finding a business location that will work for you. It might be that you want a shop, or perhaps you like the idea of holding more stock to meet demands, so a bigger location with that sort of flexibility could be the answer. However, you also need to consider the overheads incurred with a retail premises or office location. Leases can be pricey, so finding the right one for you is essential to ensure that you keep profits in your business ready to be reinvested. The website So much is done online these days. We buy our groceries and have them delivered to our door, buy clothes and expect next day delivery on all sorts of times from online retailers. We share our lives online through social media, communicate and keep in touch with people on all sides of the world. We even look to search engines for advice, answers to questions and recommendations. So a website for your business is an essential aspect and one that will need your time and your investment to make it right. The website needs to be responsive, quick loading, but eye catching. It also needs to be visible online, so you may want to take into account keywords you use in the main body of the text, as well as investing in search engine optimization. Investing in your time Your time is just as important as the money aspects of the investment into your business. After all, you are the main cog that keeps the business running and heading in the direction that you want. It is important for you to invest your time carefully. This is when outsourcing could be a potential way to ensure that your time is spent doing the things that will have the most benefit to your business. Time blocking and other time management techniques could really help you make more of your business. Making investments for future profits Sometimes you really need to be a forward thinker with your business. Making investments for your future profits as well as making decisions that will affect the here and now. This is when investing abroad could be the answer for your business and websites like https://www.propertyguru.com.my/resources/buy-property-guide/the-complete-guide-to-purchasing-a-property-in-the-subsale-market can advise on some of the best considerations you need to make. Future investments could also be thought over in terms of your business location and what you may invest in terms of growth. Could a smartphone application be the answer? A future idea that might be worth thinking about now in terms of investing in your business is some of the digital tools you will have. A smartphone application is definitely one to consider. So many people spend time on their apps on their phone, and they can sometimes find navigating an application far easier than a mobile friendly website. So you may want to invest in this sort of development for your business. Whether it will be an application as another shopping tool or purely informative, it could really benefit your business for the future. Investing in your logo and your brand Let’s face it, your logo and your brand is one of those things that are going to be remembered the most when it comes to your business, alongside the products you sell and the services that you offer. So investing in your thoughts when it comes to this is essential. You want to portray the right message and for you to be memorable, without over complicating it. After all, some of the most iconic brands are the ones we remember the most in terms of simplicity. A color, an image, a particular word. Follow the same process to developing your brand. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Websites like https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/71902 could have some great tips and advice to get you started. Thinking about different marketing techniques Finally, marketing is one of the ways that you can get your business seen and many businesses are now seeing the power of social media and what it can potentially do for your business. A strategy can be a great way to help you remain consistent with your messages. But you may also want to improve your game in terms of the images you share, the video content you have and even taking advantage of in-house tools like Facebook lives or Instagram stories to give you another depth of advertisement and insight. Humanizing your business and giving it a voice can really help you to attract more customers, and social media is one of the easiest ways to do it. I hope these tips help you to make the right investments for your business and the future.

Resume Writing Marketing Ideas

Resume Writing Marketing IdeasIt's quite easy to understand why you should be doing resume writing marketing ideas. When you have an online business you are doing the same thing that you would do if you were in the physical world. This means that you need to present yourself as an expert in your field.Marketing is a series of techniques that will help you stand out from the crowd. If you want your resume to be picked up by recruiters and others that have an interest in you, then you should be thinking about what your resume says about you. Many times the best way to do this is by picking up marketing ideas.You want to make sure that you do not do the work for your resume alone. You need to think about how you can build it up with enough content to get the attention of your potential employer. Of course, this can take a lot of time. That is why you need to have marketing ideas to do this for you.If you do not have much experience writing resumes or if you are looking for some extra he lp, you may want to consider hiring a professional to do this for you. The reason you want to do this is because there are many ways to market your resume. There are some that are more efficient than others and you should pick one that is most effective for you. You want to know that this is something that is going to be effective in getting the attention of your potential employer.There are many different ways that you can market your resume. You may want to create a new cover letter and go from there. Of course, this is not necessary if you have a copy of your resume that you can use.You may also want to incorporate other types of marketing into your resume. This can include using links on your resume or online. You may also want to include images and videos on your resume. These are just a few of the ideas that you can use.The idea is to be creative with your resume. You can focus on the benefits that you offer, the skills that you have and even the employment history that you ha ve had. The main objective is to show your strengths and make sure that they are highlighted in your resume.Just remember that you do not have to do all of the marketing yourself. You can ask for help from someone else. If you feel that you cannot handle marketing yourself, then you can hire someone else to do this for you. When you do this, make sure that they have good marketing skills to be able to put together this marketing strategy.