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My prayer for this Christmas season, is that you find what you are seeking. -- Andy

Original Post: Here Is your LinkedIn profile as effective as it could be? While you can see your “profile completeness” score on your profile page, it doesn’t measure profile effectiveness — how good your profile is at attracting contacts, generating leads and showing off your skills. Use this checklist to ensure your profile is thorough, effective and updated. Use the name you’re known by . Perhaps your name is Robert, but most people know you as Rob or Bob. Or, for women, perhaps you worked under a maiden name for years. Use the name that most people know you by professionally. Cover all your bases by using your main name in your basic information and mention any other names elsewhere such as in the “Professional Headline” field, or in your recommendations. Upload a professional photo . It’s worth the price to use a professional photographer. Create an effective Professional Headline . Add a “Professional Headline” in the “Edit My Profile” pag...

Originally Posted Here: [ The Funniest Article About Job Interview Tips Ever ] Steinar Skipsness created a fake office so he could understand how to succeed in job interviews. He filmed the whole thing, and the funny results led to 20 great job interview tips that are true anywhere in the world. 1) Where did you get the idea for the project? The idea sparked from seeing a friend of mind go on a few unsuccessful interviews. I consider him a really outgoing sharp guy, he was getting interviews, which is half the battle, but for whatever reason he wasn’t getting hired. It made me curious to what makes certain candidates stand out. I thought, if I could experience the interview from the other side of table, I’d have the ultimate perspective to what makes a candidate an attractive hire. I could then take that knowledge and cater my behavior in any future job interview to give myself the best chance of getting hired. 2) How much did it all cost? It cost roughly $2000 to execut...

Original Post: Here A group of experts discuss the best ways to tell your family about your unemployment. Here are some of their insightful replies. My own layoff story I was last laid off in early 2006. At that time, I had 2 kids aged 3 and 2. To me they seemed too young for the layoff to have much meaning in their eyes, but I was wrong. Before the layoff , my kids barely saw me each weekday. I would leave for work early and come home as they were getting ready for bed, or later. After the layoff , they saw me all the time. My new job - the job search - gave me the flexibility to take the kids to school and pick them up afterward while still networking, getting interviewed, etc. My wife and I didn’t make a big deal of the change, and to be honest, we didn’t really spend much time thinking about whether that was the best way to react. We just told the kids that I would working from home from now on and they took it in stride. Or “Yay!” as they put it. Looking back recen...

Original Post: Here When I hear about the processes companies are using to engage in social media-based conversations and communities, I’m a bit surprised that many lack any kind of strategy or written plan. While I’m a firm believer in the need for both spontaneity and frequency in social media-enabled communications, I also believe that whenever a company decides to adopt new communications tools, they need to start with the basics of Marketing and Communications 101: What are your business objectives? Who is your audience (target market)? What do you hope this communication will help your company achieve? How will you measure your efforts? Once you think through the business basics, the next steps are identifying the right tools to reach the right audience(s) in the right ways, and then determining what your company is going to do once you stick start participating in social networks, on blogs, and in other online communities. Editorial Calendars for Blogs My compan...

Original Post: Here Once More With Feeling Or Should I Just Stick To The Script? Posted by James Seetoo on December 21, 2009 at 4:22pm View James Seetoo's blog Isn’t it great when an interview goes according to the script? The interviewer asks the list of question he has and the candidate feeds back the perfect answers. Everyone comes away from the encounter happy and the right candidate gets the right job. That’s of course, when the everything goes right. Whether you know it or not, if you’re preparing for an interview – whether you’re the interviewer or the candidate, you’re scripting. You’re going over the questions in your mind and preparing the answers you want. It’s a great tool as long as you don’t get too tied up in it. Remember, it’s your script and you haven’t exactly passed it out to all concerned. How many of you have ever gotten a phone call with someone reading a script trying to sell you something? No matter what you say, they just seem to kee...

Original Post from Seth Godin: The problem with cable news thinking Uploaded on July 21, 2009 by artour_a Not only the networks of all political persuasions that come to mind, but the mindset they represent... When I was growing up, Eyewitness News always found a house on fire in South Buffalo. 'Tonight's top story,' Irv Weinstein would intone, '...a fire in South Buffalo.' Every single night. If you watched the news from out of town, you were sure that the city must have completely burned to the ground. Cable news thinking has nothing to do with fires or with politics. Instead, it amplifies the worst elements of emotional reaction: Focus on the urgent instead of the important. Vivid emotions and the visuals that go with them as a selector for what's important. Emphasis on noise over thoughtful analysis. Unwillingness to reverse course and change one's mind. Xenophobic and jingoistic react...

Original Post:  Here Many cities have job clubs or support groups where people can meet, network and share tips. You already know that. But don't forget the Internet -- there are loads of great Web sites with message boards and chat rooms devoted to networking. Here are two of the best places where you can build and leverage a network of other job hunters, to share job leads and tips: www.vault.com www.wetfeet.com Both of these Web sites have message boards that you can read and post questions on for no cost. Try them and see. Action Step : Does this countermand my earlier advice, about people and not computers being the ones that hire you? No. Use Web sites and other online tools as a way to meet and build relationships with people, not as a substitute for doing it. Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here . "

Original Post:  Here image by  ClearedJobs.Net In 2006, I trained my MBA class on how to use LinkedIn. Back then virtually no one was on. And those that were on formed some kind of a tight-knit community. I remember landing in Vietnam on vacation, knowing only my college friend. I used LinkedIn to schedule 10 meetings with local business leaders. Using the network, I arranged a breakfast meeting with the COO of the Mercedes plant, 2 vice presidents of the newly built Ikea, a top broker in one of Vietnam’s many stock markets and so forth. These experiences demonstrated to me the power of LinkedIn when used correctly. The following are 3 mistakes Job Seekers tend to make when using LinkedIn. LinkedIn Mistake 1: Not Representing Yourself as a Confident User The most common manifestation of this mistake is when people neglect their profile health. Most audiences I speak at have one thing in common…Their profiles aren’t 100% complete. This is like showing up to ...

Original Post:  Here Uploaded on  November 7, 2009 by  David Sandell I asked an executive at a networking meeting for an informational interview and she wants to speak to me this week. I thought these things take time, so I haven’t researched her company or her industry. I don’t feel prepared but I don’t want to miss this opportunity. What do I do? This is a luxury problem! Congratulations for putting yourself out there, asking for a meeting, and clearly representing yourself well enough that this executive wants to meet with you! Too often we don’t celebrate our job search successes. There is a ways to go before an offer is closed, but this is a step in the right direction, so take time to acknowledge this and savor a task well done. Celebrating here isn’t just about feeling good. There are practical benefits. When I coach clients to troubleshoot their search, we don’t only look at the trouble; we also look at what went well. You want to build on your...

Original Post:  Here A new survey from employment site CareerBuilder has some cheery news: About 61% of employees live paycheck-to-paycheck, and 21% of workers are stealing from their retirement funds to make ends meet. And these are the lucky folks who still have jobs. According to the survey, even workers making over $100,000 are feeling the pinch; 30% are living check-to-check, up 9% from last year. 'Workers are employing a variety of tactics to help make ends meet in this economy,' said Rosemary Haefner, VP of human resources for CareerBuilder. 'Whether it's by keeping a tighter budget, finding ways to bring in additional income or adjusting their savings strategies, workers are doing their best to weather the current storm.' What was it Bernanke said the other day? Oh, right. Recession's over ! Too bad it's Friday, or we'd have enough cash to pick up some ripple to celebrate! 61 Percent of Employees Live Paycheck to Paycheck [Nielsen Bus...

Original Post: Here I’ve been talking with a lot of entrepreneurs lately, and one thing I can say for certain is that, as a group, they’re very eager to help each other. They get just as excited talking about the pursuits of others as they do talking about their own, and they’re more than willing to go the extra mile for those around them. But how do you tap into this invaluable resource? It can be intimidating to go to others for help and can be perceived as pushy and self-serving if approached the wrong way. Here are a few tips to help others help you. 1. Embrace the idea of “paying it forward.” People really do want to help you, which usually stems from them wanting to help everyone in their network. They ask what you do and immediately think, “Oh, you should meet [fill in the blank]!” Likewise, when you mention that you have a particular need, they mention several people you might consider and offer to connect you with them. The most important thing to remember is th...

Original Post:  Here Uploaded on  January 13, 2009 by  Hans Bruno Lund The most important part of your personal branding strategy lies in your bio, which is sometimes called a profile. A bio, just like a brand or career, isn’t something established overnight. It accumulated and builds as you become more established. Your bio may appear in several different places at a given time, including the summary section of your LinkedIn profile, a page on your blog called “About me” or “Your Name,” at the bottom of an article you wrote for your favorite publication, on the back of your book and just about anywhere else. A bio depicts your credibility, achievements, brand positioning, as well as your story and possibly your vision or mission. How to create a bio Most bio’s are either too long or too short or aren’t compelling enough. When you’re first starting out, you’ll have to establish a bio more on what you intend to do, than what you’ve already done. After s...

Original Post: Here by Olivier Charavel I reviewed close to 30 resumes and applications for a program of which I am a member (I’m keeping details obscured for the privacy of the applicants). I am currently sitting, waiting for my next interviewee to show up. In reading those resumes, I have developed a list of 10 things I will be doing differently for my resume . Change your objective to fit the job! It is quite difficult to remain neutral on (much less become supportive of) an applicants application which stated their objective was to “Gain an Internship in the Financial Sector”. Real people have to read your resumes, make it as easy as possible. Delete “Operating Systems” if all you know is OSX and Vista. I simply do not care. Now, if you run your own home-brewed Linux distro, or even Open Solaris or Red Hat, that tells me something about you. For any job I am going to be applying for, saying I can use the world’s two most popular operating systems should be as irrele...

Original Post: Here  By  POYZN  of  WamWan  – Follow them  @POYZN . Uploaded on  January 27, 2009 by  respres There’s countless Twitter widgets, tools and sites out there to make your Twitter experience more enjoyable. But the following sites are the pick of the bunch chosen from those sneaky discreet third party text-ads on Twitter itself, placed on user profiles, displayed under the stats. Since Twitter is officially endorsing these third-party fansites for free, then they must have some user benefit, right? Well, the following five chosen are actually pretty fun and useful: We Follow – Directory of interesting Twitter accounts . This site is terrific for fishing out the Twitter users in your niche, or the ones which simply interest you. You can add your own Twitter account to the directory too so others can find you. All users are neatly categorized and tagged for you to choose from by; industry, niche and location. All the celebri...

Original Post:  Here Uploaded on  February 21, 2008 by  Mace2000 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 a...

Original Post:  Here By Nathan Hangen of Making It Social . Follow him @nhangen . If you don’t know what you are doing, measuring your brand online is like sticking a finger in the air and trying to gauge the direction of the wind. It just isn’t as easy as it looks. However, once you understand the tools required to make it happen, brand monitoring becomes 2nd nature. The trick then, is knowing what to monitor and how to do it. In the past, people relied on Google alerts to send notifications of brand mentions, which usually came in the form of links. Although this is a great way to measure trackbacks and general sentiment, I don’t feel that it offers a complete picture. Not only that, but the results are delayed, meaning that if you get trashed on a forum or in a blog post, then you won’t be able to react until it’s too late. This is why Twitter is changing the way the game is played. With Twitter, you can track your brand mentions in real time, using a variety of excell...

Original Post: Here - By Kevin Donlin | November 16th, 2009 The average job search in America takes 26.9 weeks, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics for October 2009. Yet 3 people were recently hired for new jobs in only 7 weeks — less than 1/3 the time — in Michigan, the state with America’s worst unemployment rate, 15.3%. How did they do it? The full story will be released in the coming days, but here’s a preview … 1) Gail Neal, from Detroit, Michigan, accepted a job offer as a sales professional for a radio station on Wed., November 11, 2009. She had been unemployed since June 7, 2009. Time spent in an ordinary job search: 15 weeks. Time to hire in a Guerrilla Job Search: 7 weeks. 2) Mary Berman, from Farmington Hills, Michigan, accepted a job on Thur. Nov. 12, 2009 as a executive assistant for a local marketing firm. She had been looking for work since February 2009 before starting her Guerrilla Job Search in late September. Time spent in an o...

Original Post: Here image via ceoworld.biz I don’t really consider myself an HR person. I like to think I’m a practical technologist. However, I do occasionally attend HR related training. Yesterday was one such occasion and inevitably, I had a shock. The discussion moved from hiring techniques, to LinkedIn photos. Many of the folks in the room would agree with us that LinkedIn photos should be professional. No argument. But someone told us a story that made us cringe. And if you are in HR, you may cringe as well. This recruiter was working with a candidate, who had hired her to position him for a job. He had a fabulous resume. Literally, she had trouble finding anything to change. But then she took one look at his LinkedIn profile photo. The guy looked like an axe murder. She said, “No wonder he wasn’t getting any interviews, despite his killer credentials, no pun intended”. So he retook his photo, and I kid you not, within a week, he had several opportunities arise. ...

Original Post: Here The following post is contributed by Richard Hemby who frequently writes about online degrees and college related topics for Online College Guru, a directory of accredited online degrees Especially in today’s economic environment, many people have found themselves among the ranks of the unemployed through no fault of their own. Some people are fortunate enough to find other work immediately; others are not so lucky and seek work in vain for months or even years. Unemployment benefits bridge the gap for many out-of-work individuals but, over time, this can become a trap for some who become accustomed to drawing unemployment and lose touch with the working world. Unemployment benefits are meant to be a temporary measure; workers who forget this can find themselves in serious difficulty when those benefits run out. Milking your unemployment benefits for all they are worth is not only bad for the economy; it’s harmful to your future employment prospects as well. ...

Original Post:  Here Image by  Thonhaugen Some people are way better at this than others. The other day, I was talking to someone about a complex and specialized issue. It's quite possible that this was the first and only time in the history of the world that this precise set of circumstances had ever occurred. He said, 'do you have an example of how this has worked before for you?' I was puzzled. I mean, not only hadn't I ever had this precise problem, but no one in the world had. It's like the left-handed chiropractor in Berkeley wondering how he can use new technologies and marketing techniques wondering why there aren't more case studies about left-handed chiropractors in Berkeley. Sure, the industries change, the goods/service ratio changes, regulation changes, names change. Doesn't matter. It's all the same. People are people, and basic needs and wants don't vary so much. Put aside your need for a step-by-step manual and instead r...

Original Post:  Here I was reading Jason Fried’s “ The Way I Work ” last night and it didn’t take long to realize that I had a new man-crush to rival those of Ryan Reynolds, Bill Simmons, and David Stehle . When I run my own company, I will run it with a very similar approach to the one Jason takes with his employees. It virtually guarantees you’ll have talented people wanting to work for you. (And tons of idiot’s too.) “Employees come to the office if and when they feel like it, or else they work from home. I don’t believe in the 40-hour workweek, so we cut all that BS about being somewhere for a certain number of hours. I have no idea how many hours my employees work — I just know they get the work done.” No, not every company can operate this way, but A LOT more can than currently do. Could yours? But employees won’t do their work? Easy solution. Show them the door. If you hire the best employees it won’t be an issue. They’ll be empowered by the freedom and work harder...