Internet Your Way To A New Job (3rd Edition)

Internet Your Way To A New Job (3rd Edition) I got an announcement on Alison Doyles LinkedIn Group (this link might work) about the THIRD edition of her book on using the internet in your job search. Alison is an expert in all-things-job-search.  She is the job search expert at about.com, and has multiple books.  Im excited to see this third edition come out since this topic is guaranteed to need updating regularly. You can get the book from Amazon (Kindle) or Happy About, or you can save quite a bit and buy the ebook. Heres a link for a free excerpt. Heres information from her blog post announcing this new edition: The new edition includes  all the latest job search sites, tools, trends, including how to use Twitter,  Facebook,  and LinkedIn to job search,  job search apps for your phone and iPad,  video interviews, career networking, and the best sites for job seekers and career changers. In addition, theres a new chapter full of advice from leading job search and career experts. I appreciate all the suggestions and advice provided by job seekers and career professionals who were kind enough to share their expertise and their job search stories with me.   Thanks so much to you all. Go get it:  Amazon (Kindle) or Happy About Internet Your Way To A New Job (3rd Edition) I got an announcement on Alison Doyles LinkedIn Group (this link might work) about the THIRD edition of her book on using the internet in your job search. Alison is an expert in all-things-job-search.  She is the job search expert at about.com, and has multiple books.  Im excited to see this third edition come out since this topic is guaranteed to need updating regularly. You can get the book from Amazon (Kindle) or Happy About, or you can save quite a bit and buy the ebook. Heres a link for a free excerpt. Heres information from her blog post announcing this new edition: The new edition includes  all the latest job search sites, tools, trends, including how to use Twitter,  Facebook,  and LinkedIn to job search,  job search apps for your phone and iPad,  video interviews, career networking, and the best sites for job seekers and career changers. In addition, theres a new chapter full of advice from leading job search and career experts. I appreciate all the suggestions and advice provided by job seekers and career professionals who were kind enough to share their expertise and their job search stories with me.   Thanks so much to you all. Go get it:  Amazon (Kindle) or Happy About

Networking is Recycling

Networking is Recycling Donna Fisher, author of Power Networking, writes that “Networking is a form of recycling. Think about all the information that comes across your desk in a given week.   Instead of using things up and throwing them away, take the value that is there for you and think ‘Who else would be interested in this information?’”   In a world filled with millions of messages and opportunities, it can be almost impossible to keep up.   Wouldn’t it be nice if you had other people looking out for something of interest to you? When you get a flier for a workshop, an invitation to a meeting, or see a blog post that interests you, do you pass it on?   Networking is the art of connecting people with information, resources, or other people.   To become skilled at it, you’ll need to practice every day.   Take a look around your desk, inbox, or home office right now.   What do you have that someone else could use?   If it’s paper, send it off (an investment of almost fifty cents, of course, but still a small price) with a handwritten note.   If it’s electronic, even better â€" include a quick note that says you’re thinking of the recipient and her success. Better yet, invite someone to attend the event with you.   Event organizers will be delighted to increase their expected attendance, and you’ll get the benefit of connecting more deeply with someone while you’re meeting new people and learning something. Malcolm Gladwell, in his groundbreaking book The Tipping Point, calls some people “Connectors.”   He says that there really are a few people who seem to “know everybody.”   These people tend to meet and connect to more people than the average person, and they seem to take pleasure in connecting others as well.   Gladwell says that the number of people you “know” (he defines the term very broadly, to include not just friends, but people you might only be able to name) should roughly double for you between the ages of 20 and 40.   But some people have a network of acquaintances that is four or five times the average person’s. These are one of “the Few” that Gladwell talks about â€" the Connectors.   One of the ways in which they connect with people is to be thinking often â€" if not always about their network.  What do people need?   What do they want?   Who told me last week that he was thinking about moving to Cincinnati? Was it Jamie’s daughter that just graduated from Harvard and was looking for an internship?   You get the idea. Being a Connector might not be a natural fit for you, but it is a skill that can be acquired and improved. Gladwell says that most of us cultivate acquaintances for the purpose of finding out if they will become a friend.   If you think of them simply as a piece of your valuable network, you cast a different light on their relationship to you.   Gladwell talks about how Connectors are made: “…their ability to span many different worlds is a function of their personality, some combination of curiosity, self-confidence, sociability and energy.” Sounds like something everybody could use more of. Are you a Connector?   Malcolm Gladwell provides a quick online test of your network here.

8 Reasons Your LinkedIn Messages Get Ignored

8 Reasons Your LinkedIn Messages Get Ignored You are spending lots of time messaging people on LinkedIn.But it seems like no one cares enough to write you back.Has the entire LinkedIn database stopped caring about helping others?No, that is not likely the case.People feel inclined to ignore your LinkedIn messages due to your actions.Here are 8 reasons why your messages never get a reply.8. You Do Not Clarify Why You Are MessagingAre you saying this simple phrase in your messages?“I work in [industry] and I am reaching out to you because [reason].”Simple, right?Yet many people forget to do it and send LinkedIn messages like this instead.“Please connect. I look forward to networking with you.”Why are you networking on LinkedIn?Do not expect others to figure it out for you; they will not take the time to do so.7. You Say Too Much in Your MessagesThere is also such a thing as explaining too much in your LinkedIn messages.Unfortunately, very few people will read long messages on LinkedIn.Try to keep your communications under 75 characters.Never ramble on in your LinkedIn messagesor you will have people wondering:“Why is this person revealing so much information on LinkedIn?”How do you know if a LinkedIn message is too long?Simple.If people have to scroll down several times to finish reading, it's too long.6. You Don't Know the Purpose of LinkedInLinkedIn is a social network that helps people network to find jobs.Its purpose is to provide an opportunity to grow a career and/or find work.However, some may try to use it for reasons other than finding work.These messages are the easiest to ignore because it appears someone is making the mistake of using LinkedIn as a dating website or Facebook account.For example, see the image below of a LinkedIn message:How can you honestly reply to a message like that?Personally, I chose to ignore it. LinkedIn is not a dating website.5. Your Messages Are Not TargetedEveryone should be optimistic during their job search.It is mandatory for career survival!However, ap proaching your job search with the mindset, “You never know,”leads to you send LinkedIn messages that get ignored, like this one:A person may glance at this message.They may think about it for a second.But ultimately, the LinkedIn message will be ignored because it has been sent to a person in an unrelated industry in another country.Sending messages without a targeted industry, person, or job in mind is time wasted in your job search.4. Your Grammar and Profile Are a MessUsing unprofessional photos of yourself and sending messages with poor grammar are two quick ways to get your LinkedIn message ignored.In fact, they trigger the same thought that a profile must be spamming.Some of the most well-established professionals still make the mistake of creating profiles on LinkedIn, only to ignore them completely.They fail to focus on creating a professional-looking photo, summary, headline, job experience, or description of education.In addition, if/when they start messaging people o n LinkedIn, they use text-speak and poor grammar.This all combines to sends a message that the person may not understand what defines professionalism on LinkedIn.3. You Do Not Seem Connected to AnyoneLinkedIn is celebrating its 17th anniversary in May 2020.Whether you started using LinkedIn yesterdayor 15 years ago, there has got to be someone in your school or company that you can connect with.Do not ignore your 2nd and 3rd-degree connections on LinkedIn.If your LinkedIn profile shows that you are not connected to more than 500+ people, your messages will get ignored for a simple reason.People think you are not using LinkedIn enough.Why should they bother networking with you?Bring your profile to life by talking to people and being more open with profile visibility settings.2. You Never Offer Anything to AnyoneDo you create LinkedIn posts? Do you comment or like any posts? Are you offering information to others about their careers? What do you know? Who can benefit from what you kn ow?If you are offering nothing on LinkedIn to the community, the community seems to return the favor.1. You Forget the Golden Rule of LinkedInLinkedIn success is usually the result of “how much you give to others” through articles and posts about real workplace topics.It is not about “getting what you want when you ask.”Try giving back to people in your profession and watch how quickly people reply to your messages!

Ask John and Anna Anything How We Balance and Plan Out Our Crazy Busy Lives - Classy Career Girl

Ask John and Anna Anything How We Balance and Plan Out Our Crazy Busy Lives Welcome to the John and Anna show! This is Johns first live. So were going to do a little Q and A because you guys always ask me questions about working with John, how we manage our day to day, how we set our goals, and how we plan out the day. There are not very many times that I can get him live here. So this is like a very special occasion. It happens (like) once every three years. So you are witnessing something very special right here now. Subscribe  on  your favorite platform below: iTunes Google Play Music Stitcher Radio TuneIn iHeartRadio Sound Cloud How We Balance and Plan Out Our Crazy Busy Lives I consolidated a bunch of questions that I always get about John. And we will be answering your questions in todays podcast! Do you set goals as a family? Yes, absolutely we do. And the goals are typically what Anna says the goals should be. I like to hear what Annas goals are and then I like to adopt those goals as my own. We usually talk about it, so usually talk, its a joint effort. How do you plan out your days? I would say the night we really need to talk about tomorrow. we usually just knock it out the night before and say, Hey, whats going on tomorrow? When do you need to have focus time? Thats exactly what we do. The difference is we have a shared Google calendar, so we know if each other has appointments on the calendar.   What do you think that I do to stay focused? When Im using my planner?   You only focus on the priorities. So you do like the top three things, which is super helpful. Everybody has a million things. There are a million things on everybodys list. And so I think the common thing, and I find I fall into this, is just looking at that and getting overwhelmed and not ready and then you dont do anything. Its a really good habit that Anna has into just focusing on the priority and focusing on what needs to get done. What is it like to be married and work together? I dont think we would have done it if we were newly married. Right? I think that was big. We had already had a pretty long track record of being together and kind of knowing, like knowing how each other works and knowing each others strengths. And so that decision was like, yeah, I think this could actually work. Like we, we complement each other in our strengths. We had to kind of see what are the things we really enjoy doing. And then once we figured that out, we focused on what we really enjoy doing that gravitates towards the business. Once you just started doing that stuff, then our business started growing too because you found the things that you were super excited and passionate about and that helps the business take off.   Whats a typical day in your life? Anna gets woken up by the baby. Anna feeds her, usually puts her back to bed, but today she was up and then Mila was up at like 6:15. They were both up. Im not a morning person. So I have coffee and I make eggs and then eggs are done. The girls come downstairs and they eat eggs and we are ready for school. Yup. And we listen to a podcast. We listen to the Daily Audio Bible for Kids, which Mila really likes and then we start getting ready for the school process. Let me tell you about the getting ready for the school process. Here it is. Ready. Brush teeth, go potty, pack your lunch, get your backpack, get dressed, all of that takes like 10 minutes. And then its getting your socks and shoes on and getting your socks and shoes on. It takes one hour and 15 minutes. It really does every day and it makes you late, like you werent late, and then all of a sudden youre late. And so we usually walk to school but some days it literally takes so long that we cant walk to school because well be late. So then we have to get in the car and that bugs me because we live close enough to walk so we might as well take advantage of it. But our five-year-old just, for some reason, the socks and shoes is the tough part to get out the door. We finish lunch. First nap time. At 2:55 pm, one of us has to go pick up Mila. And so the other one will work, which goes back to the talking at a time of whos picking up, who has a lot to do that day. Sometimes Mila has gymnastics and sometimes they come straight home and then dinner and then time for bed. And then the kids go to bed between 6:30 to 8:00. And then at 8:00 is when I try to have like 15 minutes of quiet time where I actually go through my daily habits. Then we shut it down at 9:00. Yeah. We usually try and watch some shows. Its mom/dad/husband/wife time. What would you say to someone who wants to get their husband on board with their dream? I think having a vision is a really important piece to it. Like if you can cast the vision, which Anna did a really good job, and so it was really interesting to kind of see and be like, wow, thats actually a really great vision, like career fulfillment for all women. And so I was on board with the vision. So that was a big piece of it. So then it comes down to the actual numbers and monetizing and seeing what you have to bring in the business in order to replace your current income and just breaking that down. Thats a very simple calculation. So vision and numbers, vision and then the actual numbers to back up that vision. And if those two things line up then it would be crazy not to be on board because this is way more fun than going to a job you dont like for eight hours a day.   Other Podcast Episodes You Might Like: 5 Business Lessons I Learned in 2019 How To Stay Consistent How to Get Clarity on Business Goals For 2020

Tutorial For Resume Writing - Why You Need One

Tutorial For Resume Writing - Why You Need OneA tutorial for resume writing is one of the best tools to help with your career or business. The majority of people out there are struggling to get noticed for their qualifications and skills. As a result, they are getting confused as to what career path to take.Resume writing can be quite difficult especially if you have no experience or knowledge in this area. So how do you know if you should just write the information you have written on your previous job application. Well if you have just had a promotion, then you need to be careful with the way you portray your skills and accomplishments. The very fact that you have recently been promoted means that you have had a lot of experience already and it is easy to make the mistake of overusing your experience when presenting your credentials.The most important thing when preparing a resume is to make sure you have all the relevant information. This means taking the time to read your resume and cross check everything. If something is missing from your resume, then you need to contact your HR department immediately. You may not know what exactly you are missing, but most likely your potential employer will know.A tutorial for resume writing is an excellent resource that will show you the proper way to present yourself in your resume. Your resume needs to show that you are serious about the position you are applying for. Too many people tend to focus only on the positive side of their qualifications instead of focusing on the benefits that they can bring to an organization.Most potential employer is not looking for a person that is only good at one thing. They want someone that is good at a number of things. If you can list all of the qualifications that you have that make you stand out from other applicants, you will stand a much better chance of getting hired. On top of this, you will also be more comfortable and confident when presenting your resume.A tutorial for res ume writing will help you come up with a resume that will be perfect for a potential employer. Some of the most common mistakes that people make include not giving them the correct name of the organization you worked for before. Remember, you are being hired to help get the organization's goals and objectives accomplished. So this means giving them the right name of the organization.The organizational section should be included on your resume as well. It needs to tell what type of positions you held before. It also needs to tell them what you learned during your last job and any additional experiences that you have had.Now that you know the basics of resume writing, you need to make sure that you make the most of the tutorial for resume writing you are reading. You may not even know everything that is on your resume. The best thing to do is to start brainstorming and searching for more information. If you can make a few different changes to your resume and it looks good to you, then you have a much better chance of getting the job you have applied for.

This is how I make myself happy at work - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

This is how I make myself happy at work - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Two weeks ago I had a day that I was NOT looking forward to. I had two speaking gigs on a Saturday (which is great!) but they were in opposite ends of Denmark. I had to get up disgustingly early to make the drive to the first one and then there was barely enough time to finish that and drive 350 km to the next one. After that, it was another 300 km drive home. Its starting to get cold here, so there was no way I could ride my motorcycle that day. That meant renting a car, and I was not looking forward to driving that far in some anonymous Ford or Toyota. Which made me think of a question I often get: So Alex you make other people happy at work. What do you do if you have a bad day? And of course I have bad days too everyone does. Happiness at work does not mean being utterly ecstatic every moment of every day. As Emma Thompson says in my favorite movie: There was always going to be a totally shit moment. But in this particular case, I found the perfect solution. One that transformed the long drive from a chore to a pleasure. To something I almost couldnt wait to do. Heres my trick: Yes I went and rented myself a Mini Cooper. Theres a rental car company in Copenhagen called Rent A Mini where you can rent only two different kinds of car: Minis and Mini convertibles. And let me tell you, those things are a blast to drive. I dont own a car, and I dont want to own one, but if I did, Id get myself one of these. It feels fairly comfortable, but it drives more like a go-cart! Plus it looks really spiffy :o) Renting one of these is no more expensive than renting any run-of-the-mill anonymobile, but it made my Saturday a lot of fun. Oh, and I had two great gigs too :o) Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Business lessons from the Nintendo Wii - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Business lessons from the Nintendo Wii - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog The new Nintendo Wii game console that just came out breaks the mold. Where the competing Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3 machines are just more of the same (only faster and with better graphics) the Wii has broken new ground both with the product itself but also in the development process and in their marketing. Nintendo are on to something here and the buzz right now seems to favor them over the competition, which of course begs the questions How did they do it? and What can other businesses learn and steal borrow from them? Read on to see my favorite business lessons from the Nintendo Wii. 1: Its not the specs, its how the customer feels Too many companies compete and innovate almost only on product features and specifications. Make that car a little bigger, the PC a little faster, the mp3 player memory a little larger. This article in Seed Magazine argues that the real innovation in the Wii is how it makes the players feel while they play, and that the users emotions are not necessarily affected by improved specs. The Wii game controller can sense movement, so that a baseball game is played by swinging the controller like a bat and a boxing game is played by actual punching and ducking. From the article: This is the Wiis real innovation. While Nintendo argues that the wireless controller makes game play more intuitive?you no longer have to remember arcane sequences of buttons?it actually does something much more powerful: By involving your body in the on-screen action, the Wii makes video games more emotional. In a further innovation, many Wii games will allow you to put your own face on the game character you control, in an effort to get you even more involved emotionally. Genyo Takeda of Nintendo says this: This may sound paradoxical, but if we had followed the existing Roadmaps we would have aimed to make it ?faster and flashier.??? In other words, we would have tried to improve the speed at which it displays stunning graphics. But we could not help but ask ourselves, ?How big an impact would that direction really have on our customers???? This rocks. The best games are not necessarily the ones with the best graphics, but the ones that get you involved emotionally. That you can even do this completely without graphics or sound, is evidenced by this story. 2: Highlight your customers, not your product Taking a further step in this direction, the Wii website has a videogallery that features the players, not the games. You get to see them duck, swerve, puch, swing, smile and grimace you dont see the game itself. In other words, you see what the game makes them feel which is really what matters. 3: Dont blindly give customers what they ask for The pressure was on Nintendo to come out with a console that was more powerful than the competing ones. They chose to buck this trend. Takeda says: There is no end to the desire of those who just want more. Give them one, they ask for two. Give them two, and next time they will ask for five instead of three. Then they want ten, thirty, a hundred, their desire growing exponentially. Giving in to this will lead us nowhere in the end. I started to feel unsure about following that path about a year into development. Making the Wii less about great graphics means they could focus on making it small, quiet and energy efficient. Mike Wagner talks about the same thing in this great blogpost that sometimes you need to dig into what the customers say they want, to find out what will actually make them happy with the product. 4: Be open On the Wii website, Nintento president Satoru Iwata interviews some of the people who were involved in developing the Wii in a feature called Iwata Asks. This is both a great way for Nintendo to learn from their own development process, and also a great way to showcase and appreciate the people behind the product. These people often get little credt, at least publicly and now theyre featured in a very prominent way. They can even be honest about the tricky parts in the interviews. Kou Shiota says this about the decision not to compete with xBox and PS3 on raw power: To be honest, I even felt quite anxious about it. After all, it takes a lot of courage to divert from the Roadmaps. I was especially concerned when it was still not very clear to me what could be done with such a machine. 5: Involve many people in innovation The Iwata Asks features clearly show that Nintendo is great at involving many people in generating and developing ideas. Here are som various quotes: Wiis one-handed controller is not the great idea of a single person, but a fantastic fusion of ideas from all kinds of people. I first asked a lot of employees for their opinions regarding the hardware. We had to rely on the know-how of Nintendos handheld gaming device team. A number of years ago I created somewhere between ten and twenty teams, each consisting of around three people. These teams were given free rein to couple a dedicated controller or peripheral with a GameCube title, and then see whether or not the end result was marketable. This project gave rise not only to the Donkey Konga Bongos and the Dancing Stage Mario Mix Action Pad, but to a number of ideas and designs that would find their way into the Wii Remote. This is excellent. Some companies take the approach that innovation is the responsibility of the RD guys and everybody else should just do their jobs. Nintendo obviously tries to involve as many people as possible in the creative process. The upshot Nintendo obviously need to be technologically innovative, but with the Wii theyve moved the innovation to other areas. Rather than competing in one area only (raw power), theyve moved their efforts to where it really matters: User experience. Predictably some people love this while others hate it which, according to Kathy Sierra, is exactly where you want to be. If you enjoyed this article, Im sure youll like these: Top 5 business maxims that need to go Part I Part II 10 seeeeeeeriously cool workplaces Top 5 reasons why The customer is always right is wrong Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related