2017 Theme Healing

2017 Theme Healing I know, I know, the timing, right? If youve followed my blog these last couple of months, you know that two months and one day ago I kicked a kickbag (aka, heavy bag, aka cinder block wall) the wrong way and broke a bone in my ankle.  I didnt know that you could kick a kickbag wrong. I certainly didnt know that you could do it wrong enough to break a bone. Alas, I did (kick it wrong) and it is (broken).  Today, two months later, I can bear weight, which means put some pressure on it. Its still in a splint (which is smaller and lighter than a boot). I still walk with a walker (the kind you dont think youll use until you are 90 but so much better than crutches).  Ive been enduring a very long healing process, and know that I have months to go before I can walk normal.  All because of a little bone fracture. Frankly, Im an impatient person. In my mind I was supposed to be walking mid-January. This is like, in my job search, I was sure that I would be employed in four to six weeks. In some of my close relationships, where healing needed to be done, sometimes the healing has been going on for years. In each of these cases, healing did not happen fast.  And, in every case, there was pain. What I want to focus on this year is allowing the healing to happen.  Imagine you have a nasty, deep gash on your arm, and it is bandaged.  You cant take the bandage off every few hours to see if its done healing, or if its made a lot of progress since last time.  That can be harmful, and demoralizing (aka, depressing). If you are in a job search theres a good chance that you need to heal. I certainly did. I had strong emotions of anger and bitterness, and during my job search I struggled with feelings of inadequacy and depression.  Those were just a few of the things I had to heal from. So heres to 2017, a year we focus on healing ourselves.  That will mean different things to different people, but lets heal. 2017 Theme Healing I know, I know, the timing, right? If youve followed my blog these last couple of months, you know that two months and one day ago I kicked a kickbag (aka, heavy bag, aka cinder block wall) the wrong way and broke a bone in my ankle.  I didnt know that you could kick a kickbag wrong. I certainly didnt know that you could do it wrong enough to break a bone. Alas, I did (kick it wrong) and it is (broken).  Today, two months later, I can bear weight, which means put some pressure on it. Its still in a splint (which is smaller and lighter than a boot). I still walk with a walker (the kind you dont think youll use until you are 90 but so much better than crutches).  Ive been enduring a very long healing process, and know that I have months to go before I can walk normal.  All because of a little bone fracture. Frankly, Im an impatient person. In my mind I was supposed to be walking mid-January. This is like, in my job search, I was sure that I would be employed in four to six weeks. In some of my close relationships, where healing needed to be done, sometimes the healing has been going on for years. In each of these cases, healing did not happen fast.  And, in every case, there was pain. What I want to focus on this year is allowing the healing to happen.  Imagine you have a nasty, deep gash on your arm, and it is bandaged.  You cant take the bandage off every few hours to see if its done healing, or if its made a lot of progress since last time.  That can be harmful, and demoralizing (aka, depressing). If you are in a job search theres a good chance that you need to heal. I certainly did. I had strong emotions of anger and bitterness, and during my job search I struggled with feelings of inadequacy and depression.  Those were just a few of the things I had to heal from. So heres to 2017, a year we focus on healing ourselves.  That will mean different things to different people, but lets heal.

Personal Branding Weekly and Email Still Matters - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Weekly and Email Still Matters - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career PERSONAL BRANDING WEEKLY Do you know how to prepare for an interview now?   How do you feel about the importance of cultural fit and your VPs (theyre just as important as VPs are to a business)? These are just some of the topics covered in this week’s Personal Branding Blog articles along with a couple of stellar articles and insights from the Young Entrepreneur Council. You are a Company, Even as a Job Seeker by Henrieta Riesco Obsolete Information Brands Job Seekers as Obsolete by Phil Rosenberg Personal Brands: What Does Complaining Cost You? by Nance Rosen Preserving Your Personal Brand During a Power Outage by Heather Huhman How to Become the Preferred Vendor by Elinor Stutz Tips for Personal Brand Building Success with SlideShare by Roger Parker Keep Your Brand Name Intact When a Reporter Calls by The Young Entrepreneur Council How to Build a Powerful Resume by Jun Loayza Making Sense of All the Recent Changes on LinkedIn by Skip Freeman Parent Entrepreneurs: When the Personal Crowds Your Personal Brand by Manoush Zomorodi Should Working from Home be Banned? by Jeff Shuey Cultural Fit and Your Personal Brand by Peter Sterlacci 9 Lesser-Known Strategies for Building Your Brands Credibility by The Young Entrepreneur Council Visualize Your Success and It Will Come! by Beth Kuhel 5 Ways to Prepare for an Interview by Ken Sundheim Join us next week as Dan shares his latest podcast; we cover the 5 resume mistakes that are career killers; we focus on how the brand is about the person and some great tips on how to become an expert at anything.   We look forward to your comments! EMAIL STILL MATTERS Social sites, blogs, and even video have become a primary focus point for brand marketing, email is still one of the most important and should be addressed with equal etiquette. Junk mail   Annoying your readers by overfilling their inbox is perhaps one of the most common problems when it comes to email. It’s easy to send out message after message, hoping that they’ll read the content. But the truth is that getting stuck in the “spam” folder is the worst social nightmare. Once you’re here, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever get out. Best practice is to use email in moderation, such as regular updates and specific topics (direct customer replies). Be careful what is in your auto-reply or automatic content, such as newsletters. These can be helpful, but when used inappropriately, they can become a burden on the recipient’s inbox and leave your content dumped in the trash. This leads to the importance of watching the “reply all” button. This should be used only when necessary and only when it’s going to the right individuals. This can be an easy way to confuse other correspondents within your lists. Always be aware of who is getting what, such as carbon copies. Simply said Another issue is an extra email can be one too many. Cover your bases when generating your email content and think about what you want to say before you hit the send button. Have you addressed all the important topics? Sent the appropriate links? You don’t want to have to generate multiple emails to cover the same subject. It’s cumbersome and can quickly leave everyone working harder to get the same message that could have been accomplished in just one email. Short and sweet sends the best message. But that doesn’t mean you should take shortcuts. The message should still have good content and most importantly, clarity. Cover the topic and focus on it to not distract from the actual topic. A clear subject This comes second to “who sent it” as to whether an email will be even opened.   Does your subject line address something of value and relevant to the person you’re sending it to? Timing Sending an email early Monday morning is the worst time for one that you want read, for helpful information, or replied to.   Think of what your Monday mornings are like and what it’s like to open your inbox with a landslide of emails to delve through.   I send things like reports that I know will be kept and read at the reader’s discretion on Monday mornings. Anything else, I wait for a little bit later in the day when there’s a better chance that they’ve cleaned their inbox and will see my email right away. Do you have any email best practices that have served you well? Author: Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of  buzz2bucksâ€"  a word of mouth marketing firm, and a professional speaker and trainer on developing social networks that work. She provides workshops, webinars, seminars and direct services that help create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand.   Maria Duron is founder  and moderator of  #brandchat   a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of  branding  that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.

Publishing is no longer an industry, its a function!

Publishing is no longer an industry, it’s a function! John Bond, Warwick Graduate, co-founder of whitefox  and former MD at HarperCollins visited Warwick earlier this year to talk with students attending a LitBiz event. The title of this blog is shamelessly taken from Mike Shatzkin via John as it offers a new way of looking at a career area which remains  incredibly popular,  particularly with arts students.  Publishing  has always had  a reputation for being tough to crack career-wise, with only the lucky few managing to succeed.  And given the recent spate of mergers in publishing, it would seem that it’s going to get even tougher. Or is it?  Well, theres no question that youll still be fighting off the competition if you want to work for a big name, but cast your net a little wider and you may find theres room for cautious optimism. Interesting times lie ahead for authors, content writers and those looking for their first break in publishing. Publishing: whats the forecast? As we heard at the 2014 publishing and journalism sector event, graduates who want to enter careers in these industries need to be attuned to the impact of the digital era.   On leaving his position as Managing Director at HarperCollins, John Bond co-founded whitefox  based on the very principle defined in this blog title, of positioning publishing as a range of functions which anyone can benefit from.  whitefox describes itself as “a publishing services provider who works with writers, publishers and corporate clients to create bespoke, innovative publishing projects”. As a Careers Consultant speaking to students on a regular basis about opportunities in publishing and writing, it was very encouraging to hear John talk so enthusiastically about the future of publishing. Here are his 12 reasons to  be cheerful: If you want it, you have control put yourself in the driving seat. Theres no such thing as out of print with print on demand a natural part of the publishing process. The supermarkets are coming -Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s are making the most of opportunities to sell e-books online to offer more alternatives to Amazon, the giant in this space. Publishing is still not a science  despite more and more decisions being driven by algorithms, books continue to come out of a creative left field and take consumer markets by surprise. Will there really be fewer publishers? the very people who are being “let go” by merging publishing companies will soon be setting up their own twenty-first century publishing companies.   Exciting times lie ahead, as the newer companies will have the freedom to create whatever business models they want. Learning to love book craft there is a value in good editing!  If you unbundle publishing and create a recognisable value, you can charge for this by the hour. There is no reason even if you are operating outside of a mainstream publisher, not to have access to good book craft. Going global international rights can be exploited, giving authors additional royalty streams. The new agent  given the fact that books can now be successful without having a retail presence, agents need to think carefully about where they add value to the writer and the more innovative agents are now running events, creative writing workshops and are thinking laterally about rights. Embrace your hybrid a  hybrid author uses a diverse approach to get their work out to readers, using both the traditional system of publishing and also acting as an author-publisher in order to retain control, self-publish their own work and make more money. Speed to market the beauty of anyone being able to publish is that you can do this much more easily. Writers who write more than their publisher can handle, now dont have to wait years for an appropriate ‘slot ‘, they can go down the self-publishing route. You are not alone there are downsides to making uncurated content publicly accessible to anyone but there is also power in the community. The power of endorsement by a community and the idea of a collective endorsing something can be very powerful.   Authors can also take advantage of crowd sourcing their editing too, something which has been done by people who are self-publishing successfully like Polly Courtney. We are only at the beginning  and it is fascinating to watch this unfold.   Ok, so big publishers can benefit from economies of scale when it comes to media buying and distribution but they are also bound by what they have got. Large publishers find their costs are still being sunk into large fixed costs when the days of huge physical print runs are long gone. If you work in a more innovative way, you can rent space by the hour and be flexible. The road to success So, if we are only at the beginning it makes perfect sense for soon-to-be-graduates with publishing and writing aspirations to keep on top of developments and watch industry trends by reading relevant blogs, The Bookseller (available to Warwick students through the library catalogue) and attending industry events such as the London Book Fair. Attendees  at this year’s fair could hear from industry experts at free seminar sessions on ‘The Changing Face of Publishing’, ‘The War for Talent’  and ‘Futureproof Your Career’ where HR directors talked about bringing in talent from other industries and the challenges involved in being the last industry to embrace digital. If the ability to be enterprising, flexible, adaptive and digitally savvy are important attributes for careers in publishing and content writing, you need to think carefully about how to showcase your skills and talent. And nurture the right mindset. Its also important to keep an open mind and consider  opportunities offered by smaller companies. Dont just focus on the big names youll only limit your career horizons. With the ability to interpret trends and data becoming increasingly important, why not make the most of available IT training   free to all Warwick students. Also watch out for future  sessions from guest  speakers involved in content production and publishing at Warwick LitBiz.

Whats Temp To Hire How Does It Work (+Tips) - Algrim.co

What's Temp To Hire How Does It Work (+Tips) - Algrim.co When you see a job listing online that says temp-to-hire, what does that mean? How does it work? What should you know about the job opportunity? Everything you need to know about temp-to-hire positions is going to be found in this guide. Ready? Let’s get started. Table Of Contents What Does “Temp To Hire” Mean? How Does “Temp To Hire” Work? How Can I Increase My Odds Of Full-time Employment? Important Aspects To Remember About “Temp To Hire” Positions What Does “Temp To Hire” Mean? A temp-to-hire position is an arrangement that an employee has with their employer that defines your employment term. Your employment term is a temporary position. But the stipulation is that you have the opportunity to be hired full-time. This doesn’t guarantee that you will be hired full-time. But it mentions to you, the job seeker, that the opportunity is there. A temp-to-hire position may be posted because the employer either isn’t sure they will need a full-time staffer for the position. Or maybe they don’t know if they will budget for the position. Or lastly, that they see you as a good fit for the position. A company may choose to go this route when they’re unsure of those circumstances. In unique cases, it is because the position is difficult to hire for and they’re seeking an opportunity to start small with an employee. How Does “Temp To Hire” Work? Temp-to-hire positions are fairly similar to full-time positions. Though, the terms of your employment may be defined in your employment offer. The terms could be something like 6-months or even less, 3-months. After that term is finished, you would leave the company. Though, at the end of your term, the employer has the ability to transition you into a full-time role if they see it fit. In many ways, this is like having a part-time position. But instead, you are working inside of a business in a temporary fashion. This is often seen within contract staffing agencies. And staffing agencies which deploy consultants. How Can I Increase My Odds Of Full-time Employment? Ideally, you want to gain full-time employment. If you don’t, simply finish out your term and move on. But if you want to increase your chances of full-time employment with this company, the first tip is to treat the arrangement as though it’s a full-time position. Don’t lose respect for the position simply because it’s temp-to-hire or limited employment. Perform to your highest ability. Secondly, always be asking how you might be able to do more for the business. Gain a great relationship with the employees and leadership team. Then enlist yourself to do more jobs. A third tip is to be sure that you’re trying to stand out. Be a team player. Help as many of your colleagues as you can. Be selfless in your approach to work. Try to comprehend everyone’s desires and see if you can move the needle forward. Be result-oriented if you can. Show your colleagues that you can deliver. And show leadership that you’re work with the extra budget. Learn the business's values and objectives, follow them closely. This includes aspects like dress code, collaboration morals, and any work environment ethics that the company may enforce. Spend time speaking with your colleagues. Build relationships and try to get work done by gaining the trust of your fellow coworker. Important Aspects To Remember About “Temp To Hire” Positions There’s a few important parts to remember about temp-to-hire work. The first is that you should always be prepared to move onto your next position. While giving your full attention not the opportunity is the right thing to do. You should have a backup plan. Towards the evenings, spend time ensuring that you are either looking for your next position or working with the staffing agency to make sure they have something lined up for you. You can’t fully trust the fact that you’ll get offered full-time employment. And you need to consider your income and well-being. Don’t let this distract from your performance on the job. But spend 10% to 15% of your time ensuring you have another path to go down if things don’t work out.

The Impact of Lifelong Learning on Your Success CareerMetis.com

The Impact of Lifelong Learning on Your Success Success takes work. If you want to succeed, you need to develop four basic, but very important, competencies.You need to know how to:create positive personal impact;become a consistently high performer;display dynamic communication skills; andbecome interpersonally competent.evalIn this post, I want to focus on high performance.High performers have several things in common. They have mastered their technical discipline; and stay current in their field. They are excellent at managing large projects. They are well organized and manage their time well. They never settle for good enough. Most important, high performers are lifelong learners.Lifelong learning is an important, but often overlooked, component of life and career success. The other day, I came across a great quote from Louis L’Amour, the great American writer of stories about the old west. It captures the essence of lifelong learning…“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the begin ning.”I know a lot about life and career success. I’ve written several books on it. I give lots of talks about it. I’ve coached hundreds of people â€" helping them build the life and career success they want and deserve. I write a blog. I mentor college students and young professionals. At one point, I thought I knew it all.And you know what? Every time I write about life and career success, every time I speak about it, every time I coach someone offering my career advice, I gain a deeper understanding of what it takes to create life and career success.I begin anew every day, doing whatever I can to learn about life and career success so I can pass on this knowledge and wisdom to others. I choose to keep learning. So should you. I’ve learned that if you don’t keep learning, you don’t stand still â€" you fall behind in the game of life. I’ve also learned that what I learned after I thought I knew it all was some of the best and most important of my learnings.evalIn toda y’s fast-paced world, if you don’t keep learning, you’re not standing still, you’re falling behind.One of my favorite quotes from Gandhi nails it when it comes to lifelong learning. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”He’s right. None of us should ever quit learning. I have a thirst for knowledge and do my best to quench it through learning. I try to learn something new every day. Sometimes my learning is trivial, sometimes it is profound. Regardless, I keep on learning.On days when I feel as if I haven’t learned anything, I turn to a little book that I have called, Live and Learn and Pass It On. The subtitle is, “People ages 5 to 95 Share What They’ve Discovered About Life, Love, and Other Good Stuff.” I usually find something in there that satisfies.evalHere are a few of the learning in the book that have helped me…I’ve learned that if you wait until all conditions are perfect before you act, you’ll never act.I’ ve learned that if you want to get promoted, you must do things that get you noticed.I’ve learned that 90% of what happens in my life is positive and only about 10% is negative. If I want to be happy I just need to focus on the 90%.Thomas Carlyle once said, “What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.” Even though I’m a college professor, I agree with him.Carlyle lived in the 19th century. If he were alive today, he might have amended his statement to say, “Books and the Internet are the greatest university of all.” Today, so many of the great books, as well as other life and career success information, are available on line. The Internet is a great way to access this information. One of my friends is fond of saying that, “Our phones give us access to all of the accumulated wisdom of the world, but we use them to watch stupid cat videos.” That’s true â€" but it do esn’t have to be this way. You can use your phone to educate yourself. The important thing is to keep learning â€" how you do it and where you get your information is secondary.I admit that I’m a book guy. I have a huge collection of books on a variety of subjects: business, success, careers, history, biography, politics and fiction. Detective novels are my secret pleasure. These books are the first place I turn when I am looking for information to post on my blog, when I am working with my career success coaching clients, when I am preparing a speech, when I am designing a training program, and when I’m preparing one of my University of Denver courses.Even though I’m a book guy, I find myself increasingly searching for information on line. I’ve found that the information in books has a somewhat limited shelf life, so I find myself using on line resources more and more these days. I get more up to date information that way.Reading is key to becoming a lifelong learner. Don ’t just read books. Read technical journals. Read trade magazines. Read business publications like “The Wall Street Journal,” “Business Week,” “Fortune” and “Forbes.” If you think they’re too stodgy, read “Fast Company.”Read your company’s annual report. Read your competitors’ annual reports. Read your local newspaper and “The New York Times.” Read news magazines like “Time.” Read business and industry blogs. Read ezines and eBooks. Reading is the best way to stay up with what’s happening in business, in your industry and in the world.evalThere are other things you can do to keep learning. Attend seminars. Join the major groups or trade associations for your industry. Attend their meetings and participate. Volunteer for committee work. Become known locally in your field. Take a class at your local university. Use your company’s tuition reimbursement program to get a free undergraduate or graduate degree.Your education doesn’t stop when you g raduate from college or get an MBA, it begins anew. There are many ways to keep learning. Decide which ones work for you, and then follow through. Outstanding performers stay competent because they are lifelong learners.Albert Einstein, who most would agree was a pretty smart guy, said, “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong learning attempt to acquire it.”Finally, all of the people I know who are committed to lifelong learning have several traits in common. They all…Are humble. They admit what they don’t know. This is the first step in learning what they need to know.Question the status quo. They realize that because something is right today, it may not be right tomorrow. They know that doing things “the way we’ve always done them” is not good reasoning.Are intellectually curious. They truly want to learn and find learning fun, interesting and stimulating. They see life as a journey in which they are constantly learning.Are willing to try new stuff. They experiment and see what works. When things work, they use them.Are not afraid to fail. They see failure as an opportunity to learn. Just as they incorporate what works into their repertoire, they use failures as stepping stones to other experiments.Are tolerant of ambiguity. Learning creates ambiguity. These people are willing to let go of past ways of doing things in order to come up with new ways of doing things in the future. The gap between the past and future can make for an uncomfortable present.Focus on staying ahead of the pack. They are early adopters â€" of new technology and new ways of thinking. They realize that knowledge has a short half-life today. They keep learning to stay ahead.How many of these traits do you have? What will you do to develop them?evalThe point here is simple common sense. Successful people are lifelong learners. They treat each new day as an opportunity to learn.They stay open to new people and new ideas. If you do this, you’ll come to rea lize that you are never finished learning â€" and that what you learn after you think you know it all is the most valuable knowledge you’ll develop.Begin your lifelong learning journey by focusing on your strengths and working to improve them every day. Building on your strengths is easier than overcoming your weaknesses.When you build on your strengths you can make incremental improvements that will lead to quantum improvements over time.Remember what Ben Franklin had to say about lifelong learning, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

LinkedIn Resources for College Students

LinkedIn Resources for College Students Did you know, only a small percent of college students use LinkedIn?! And did you know that over 90% of recruiters are using LinkedIn?! Lets build a bridge! I want to arm you with official LinkedIn resources to help educate and inform college students on how to get the most from LinkedIn. Ready? I think its time to help bridge the gap and convert more job seekers, especially college students, to LinkedIn. Now is the time to begin building a network of professional contacts and connections. Official LinkedIn Resources for Colleges/Universities Students Do you need help creating your brand or pimping your profile? How about how to network? Youll find tip sheets and videos and more  here! Career Services First of all, if you are a college or university career services office, youll want to know about this page on LinkedIn: University  Youll know you are there when you see this You will find tip sheets, videos and customizable presentations for both career services and students to use.  This is page provides help on how to help students get the most from LinkedIn (and the career services department too) The  alumni tool  is very cool. You can see where alumni live, work and what their titles are.   Career Services Webinars and Groups From the same university home page, continue to scroll down so you dont miss information about the webinars and LinkedIn groups for career services.  Job Search Webinars LinkedIn has webinars on how to use their tool for job search. You have to dig deep to find them because they are located within the Premium user portion  here is the link to the no-cost live and pre-recorded webinars. You do not need to be a premium user to access this information. The majority of it applies to any user! Job Seeker Tip Sheet Who knewLinkedIn has this tip sheet. And there are more ideas and resources for getting noticed, getting connected and getting ahead here. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have questions or ideas for future posts!

The Right Format For Your Resume

The Right Format For Your ResumeResume format your letter of application should be a reflection of your professionalism. If you come in without an introduction, your letter of application will appear unprofessional. If you have a well-written letter of application, you will look like a professional. If you come in with a poorly written letter of application, you will look like a person who does not care about their career.A well-formatted letter of application always includes the applicant's name at the top, followed by a brief opening statement that introduces yourself and briefly states why you are applying for the position. 'I am applying for the position of sales associate' is not enough. What makes a good introduction is a well written statement such as: 'Over the past three years I have gained experience in all areas of sales as an hourly associate and will be seeking employment in customer service as a professional,' or 'My strengths include skills in the sales area as well as several other areas including project management and financial reporting.' If you write too much in the introduction paragraph and leave the job opening open, people will question if the opening is still open or if you are interviewing elsewhere.The letter of application should never become long. This is an invitation to get too detailed. Use a two-paragraph format where you begin with your name and your title and end with your job responsibilities. Never go into great detail about your job duties, because then the employer will wonder what your other responsibilities are. When a candidate resumes with a long letter of application, it is often a sign that they are looking for an opportunity that does not exist.The best letters of application are those that use paragraphs with clear and concise sentences. You should write your resume in a neat but simple manner. If you make a mistake while writing your resume, it is more difficult to correct later. Remember that a resume format is a lways a reflection of your personal style and personality.You will not achieve professional results if you use the same resume format throughout your career. Make sure that your resume is always in a professional appearance so that you look like you care about your job.Do not hesitate to change your resume format when you feel it is necessary. You may want to rework the introduction section for a month or two, and then change back to your original format. If you have been downsized from your previous position, this will help to clarify your skills. Be flexible and creative. Don't be afraid to try different formats, because resumes are one of the most important tools in building your professional image.The most common resume format is chronological. When you send in your resume, a recruiter should receive all information about you, including your personal details, education, work history, educational history, hobbies, and interests. Your resume will consist of bullet points that indi cate the activities you completed during your schooling, when you started working, and how many years you have worked. The resume will list your employment information.Before sending in your resume, make sure that you have included the personal statement in the letter of application. It should be short and include only your highest accomplishments. The personal statement should only be two or three sentences. Give a glimpse into your interests, including some hobbies that may interest the employer. In general, the letter of application should only contain information relevant to the position that you are applying for.