ExitBuddy

You’ve heard the rumors, the horror stories and the success stories. You know the positives and negatives of using social media for promoting yourself and your business. Though it may seem obvious at times what you should and shouldn’t do, people are breaking the rules left and right. The ABSOLUTE Do Not’s Never ever, no matter how bad of a day you’re having, no matter how miserable you are, no matter what life debacles you’re facing, under any circumstances write about how much you hate your job or hate an employer or even fellow employee on the Internet. It doesn’t matter if you’re not Facebook friends or that they don’t follow you on Twitter. The Internet is public domain, and certainly no place to post your every thought and feeling. Even if you think you’re stuck at the worst job in the world, if you value keeping that job and receiving money, don’t complain! Well, you can complain but in private, in person—which can sometimes be a little risky as it is. But there’s no rea...

When it comes to applying for various jobs, you want to have a cover letter that will make you stand out above other applicants. Your cover letter is how you introduce yourself to the company so you want it to be professional. The first thing you need to do with your cover letter is the heading. You should try to have the cover letter heading match that of your resume. This presents a more uniform look and is much more professional. If you can find out the name of the hiring manager, use it. Address the letter to him or her to make the letter personalized. You should try to do this for all jobs that you apply for but if you do not know that name then you should address in general to the head of the department. After your heading and introduction you will need to write your opening paragraph. You should keep this specific. Tell the hiring manager exactly what job you are contacting him or her about and why you are the one they should hire. You do not need to go into details here as...

The World Wide Web is a vast place with users from all over the world, but that doesn’t mean what you post privately won’t come back to haunt you. Here are five cases of ex-employees who should’ve just kept their mouths shut. 1. I’m too sexy for my job… A female working for a St. Louis area not-for-profit organization led quite the double life. She was the average, presumably “normal” employee during the day, and a sex blogger by night. She describes herself as being “Clark Kent” with keeping her extremely secret sex blog private. Her undoing was using Twitter . I have to hand it to her, as a single mother and keeping her blog anonymous, she probably could’ve gotten away with her unconventional lifestyle had she steered clear of social media. The reasons behind her being fired should be quite interesting to explain to future employees. 2. Guilty or not guilty? Take my poll! This has to be without a doubt, one of the worst decisions ever made in making use of social media. A ...

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. — Thomas Edison There comes a point when being a business owner gets really hard (and I mean really hard). You’ve come up with your big idea, you’ve done all the initial legwork to set it up, and now comes the hard part: Getting the word out about your business and, more importantly, hanging in there while you get the word out about your business. The hard part now becomes not giving up too soon. The Real Work When you start a business, when you start a new product or service, when you launch anything really, that’s when you feel like you’re working really hard. That’s when you’re willing to stay up late and get up early to get all the groundwork completed so that you can start making money. As hard as it can seem during this time, you generally know what to do, or you can at least figure out what to do, and you just plow through getting the work done...

I like reading success stories so an artilcle on AOL titled Richest Americans You’ve Never Heard Of piqued my interest.  Maybe it’s too cinderalla or pollyanna, but I found something interesting in the article.  It talks about: Fred Deluca , who opened his first Subway (not called Subway back then) store when he was 17, as well as his investor, Peter Buck , who invested $1,000 to get Fred started.  They are both worth 1.8 BILLION today (good investment, eh?) Jack Crawford Taylor (rich people get their entire name used, apparently), who started Enterprise Rent-a-Car (not called that back then) in 1957. His net worth is 7 billion. David Murdock , who dropped out of high school and now is the chariman of Dole (the food company).  Worth 2.5 billion. Min Kao and Gary Burrel l, the founders of Garmin (think: GPS) just a few years ago in 1989.  One is worth 1.6 billion and the other is just worth 1 billion. Clayton Mathile who joined Iams (pet food...

When I train career advisors and job seekers on the strategic approach to the online job search, I make sure to mention that a résumé is an obituary. Résumés do a great job telling people what you did. Where you worked. What things you’ve done in your past that made a difference. And résumés have a place in the job search as well. They are requirements in many HR departments’ intake process. They help hiring managers to remember you after an interview and pass you along the chain. But to really stand out from the rest requires that you demonstrate the value you can bring in the future, not the past. Remember that you are being hired to solve someone’s problems. Here are three easy ways to help you demonstrate your value with a potential employer. 1. Have Something to Say Even if people don’t agree with you, they will respect you for being brave enough to voice an opinion. No one likes to hire a “yes” man. No matter what industry you go into, there is always an opportunit...

Stephen Rood is so busy looking for a job that it's a full-time job -- he spends 40 hours a week on the job hunt. He's busy enough that he considers his travel time of one to two hours of drive time to a few networking meetings each week as "breaks." "I don't take breaks at home to watch TV or movies," he wrote to AOL Jobs in an e-mail. "I don't go out shopping." His breaks are his drive time, along with one exception: weekends. He keeps those free to relax. That's the least amount of time that job seekers should take off, said Matthew Beck, managing director of the Mergis Group's Miami office, who advocates stepping back and taking a mental break every now and then, but not to drop out of the search for more than a week. "I don't think summer is good time to completely shut down your search. You never know when you might miss the right opportunity," Beck told the Miami Herald . Recruiters typically advise ...

The business case for leveraging social media as a business tool has been made time and time again. Startups to big business use the platform of social media to spread ideas, connect with their audience, and ultimately drive sales. When working with clients I often am confronted with glossy eyes when talking about the topic of social media. Chances are they’ve read about it in the mainstream media, however, putting it in to action is another thing all together. If you consider yourself a social media fan boy shout hooray and jump to the comments below and give us your fill after skimming this primer, but if you are fall into the glossy eyed category or want to read this basic primer, read below for a primer on how to start out in social media for business. Social media in itself comprises of many different elements, but two of the most common and important categories: Blogging – WordPress , Posterous Social networks – Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn Blogging for business...

Frequently your resume is your first chance to make an impression on a recruiter or hiring manager. And you never get a second chance to make a first impression, so the importance of the resume cannot be underestimated. Here are my top quick tips for creating a resume that makes a great first impression and gets hiring managers to take a second look at you. Include a professional e-mail address; even your e-mail is part of your brand. (i.e., partygirl7@aol.com won't cut it) Include a phone number that is attached to a professional voice-mail message. A goofy voice mail will encourage recruiters to walk away. A resume objective describes what you want, and employers don't care about what you want. They care about problems you can solve for them. Create a profile at the top of your resume to prove your value proposition to a hiring authority, instead of an objective. Refrain from using subjective words like "loyal" or "trustworthy" ...

- Find out who is hiring. - Submit a great resume along with a killer cover letter. - Follow up in a couple of weeks and ask for an interview. This has never worked for me. What has worked has been the uninvited interview with the hirer. Not the Human Resources gatekeeper, but the CEO, chief pilot, or the director of operations. Emphasis on “uninvited”. At the end of the interview , I have a resume to hand to the hirer. For those of you who are unbelievers, I have done this for the last several jobs that I have gotten. My business is Private Military Contracting. The contracts change often. Some change every year. So, I have had to move from job to job more often than a normal worker. This is what I have learned. Don’t wait until you hear that a company is hiring. By the time that the word gets out or an ad is posted, the decision has already been made. Often, the ad is posted just to fulfill legal responsibilities. Instead, find a growing company that you would like to work ...

By CAREEREALISM-Approved Expert , Jessica Holbrook Hernandez I’m sitting in front of my computer trying to think of a new way to say the same things I’ve already said a million times. I think I’m beginning to feel border line preachy with my resume and cover letter advice. But I also feel a duty to share with job seekers the blunders and mistakes they make that prohibit them from getting the interview and ultimately the offer. After ten years of working as a human resources manager and recruiter – I’ve seen my fair share of job seeker mistakes. So here’s my list of the five biggest mistakes job seekers make on their resume. MISTAKE #1: Outdated formatting The first impression your resume gives is critical. How do you want the hiring manager to perceive you? Professional and accomplished? Or sloppy and disorganized? Old and outdated formats only reflect poorly on you as a viable candidate for the position. MISTAKE #2: Using and Objective If your resume has an objective pleas...

The first 30 seconds of a job interview are the most important - so if you want to be a cut above the rest you need to be on the ball. Rob Yeung, a business psychologist, maintains that an interview is all about the three Ps. "You need to prepare, you need to practise, and then, on the day, you need to perform." Here are 10 tips for interview success.   1. First impressions count Greet your interviewer with a smile and firm handshake. Give eye contact. Try to make small talk during the walk from the reception area to the interview room. Liz Anderson, a human resources manager says, "You have to sell yourself before you can sell anything else and the first 30 seconds are when the interviewer subconsciously makes decisions about whether they like you or not and whether you will fit into the team."   2. Be prepared Re-read your CV and the job advert just before the interview. Do your research thoroughly: Look at the company Web site or obtain literature. You...

Careers professionals, such as advisors, coaches, mentors, counsellors, and guides can be helpful, but, like everything else in life, they are good ones, bad ones and ones in between. If your careers professional does any of these things you know you've definitely got someone who is not the best at career consulting!: 1) Says 'You've got 10 minutes' as you sit down and then spends the whole of that 10 minutes checking his watch. 2) Listens to you pour your heart out as you explain your career issues and then replies, 'I don't see what the problem is, everything sounds ok to me'. 3) Says 'I can't help you and I don't know anyone who can'. 4) Tells you to lie on your CV 5) Advises you that your ideal career is 'being famous'. 6) Rolls her eyes when you tell her which career you’d like. 7) Suggests you flirt with interviewers to get a job 8) Makes your decisions for you. 9) Applies for jobs on your behalf. 10) Applies for jobs on your b...

How to get the most out of that often-seen personal branding space: your email signature. Create your well-branded email signature according to this formula. Required elements are bolded , the rest are recommended when relevant: Salutation , Name Tagline Title(s) , Organization Association Membership Phone numbers (mobile/land/fax) Website/Social media profiles Image Where: Salutation – using your email signoff to only say goodbye is a wasted opportunity . Either use an expression that’s relevant to your personal brand or wish the person something positive. The best result is a combination of both that doesn’t sound too cheesy. In my email signature, I usually say “To your job search success.” Name – your full name. Tagline – your personal branding tagline . Title(s) – your current job title, your position within the organization you most associate yourself with, or just the (credible) way you want to be known. Organization – the organizati...

Career Rocketeer is proud to "launch" the third issue of its print publication, Launchpad: Your Career Search Strategy Guide (Volume 3) . Launchpad is YOUR ultimate career search strategy guide, published quarterly with exclusive articles by the top career experts in the industry. Our goal is to bring you short, relevant and actionable advice to save you time, energy and sanity in your pursuit of your next job opportunity. Launchpad covers topics including: resume optimization, interviewing, personal branding, career search strategizing, relationship building, professional networking, the use of web 2.0 search tools, and much more. FREE GIFT: Career Rocketeer is proud to offer you a FREE, downloadable version of Launchpad: Your Career Search Strategy Guide (Volume 1) . Get your free copy today! Featured Experts This volume's featured career experts include ( pictured and listed alphabetically ): James Alexander, Paula Caligiuri, Carol Fishman Cohen, John Crant, Kristi...

You’ve heard it before. Your first impression can make you or break you when it comes to a job interview. And when it comes to making a dynamic first impression, it’s key you dress for the job you want. Making sure you look the part not only packages you as a ready-to-hire employee, but it can boost your confidence as well. Here are five things to keep in mind when you’re choosing the right outfit for your big day: 1. Err on the side of dressing up, not down. It’s important in a job interview that you stay more conservative and look like a professional so the employer interviewing you sees you as one. Stay on the safe side. If you’re a woman, wear a solid-colored blouse, black pencil skirt or dress pants, and black heels. If you’re a guy, put on solid-colored dress shirt, a pair of button-down dress pants and polished shoes. If you’re wondering whether you should also wear a blazer and tie, look at the industry you’re in. If it’s more creative, the blazer and tie probably aren’t nece...

In your job search, outside of LinkedIn , I believe Google can be your best friend online! Google has many tools that can make it easy to find and target the jobs and information you need to run ahead of the pack at the companies you want to pursue. Used wisely, some of these tools can help you find job postings, company news, contact information and many other valuable pieces of information that can help you set yourself above the crowd. Here are some ideas to consider: Do an X-Ray! Google allows you to use it’s search engine not only to search the entire internet, but also to do a search on a specific site alone. This is usually referred to as an “X-Ray” search. In your search string in the Google search box, you can simply specify the site you want to search, using a format like: site: www.linkedin.com You can then add whatever additional search terms you may want to add. For example, say you don’t have many connections on LinkedIn yourself, so you don’t get ...

A frequent theme of our blogs is limiting your resume to information that’s truly relevant to the position for which you’re applying.  You should feel free to leave off your high school job serving fast food or your college job working retail if you have years of subsequent work experience.  Also, listing only the achievements from your previous jobs can actually omit an important component of your career: your personal story. Many of the clients I work with put themselves through graduate programs years into their career, while they were working full-time.  This is no small feat!  If you know anyone who has gone to grad school while they were working, you probably remember that period of their life as one of high stress and limited play.  However, making this career move almost always pays off with greater career opportunities and a higher salary.  It requires (and displays) real ambition to return to school when you already have a job.  So, if you...