What does Jason think about recruiters

What does Jason think about recruiters Today I had a technical recruiter ask me what I think about recruiters.   Hm.   No one has ever asked before.   I think he was asking me because of my experience working with recruiters as a job seeker, and then within the past few months as the owner of JibberJobber.   I have been able to talk with recruiters about different stuff and see a different side of them.   Well, it is such an interesting question that I figured I could blog about it today (with a Part 2 later). When I first lost my job I knew about headhunters.   I didnt know much about them, but I knew they were out there.   I called my uncle a few states away because he has worked with executive headhunters for years, and he gave me some info on how they work, how they get paid, etc. I realized that headhunters/recruiters would be a big part of my job search. I found a few through the monster job board and contacted them.   One (from an apparently huge, world-wide company) had me come in for an interview we talked for about 45 minutes, he gave me some forms to fill out because I would be an employee of their company (if they could get a contract job for me), and I left feeling pretty good.   I had someone that was going to go out and find me a job!   That was pretty cool! One week later I called him and said hey, this is Jason, Im just wondering if there is anything new on your end.   He said Jason who?   Huh?   he had to look through his files to find me, and read up on me.   I was so mad because it was just a week later, and he had me no where on his radar screen.   I realize I wasnt his only client, and he was a busy guy, but this demonstration of his concern for me was way different compared to what it was a week earlier where he was asking for my SSN and asking me to sign on the dotted line.   I realized this was going to suck.   I think I called him one more time, and e-mailed 3 or 4 but NEVER got a reply back from him.   [if you are a recruiter, I imagine you are grinning on one side because he is your competition, and he sucks and scowling on the other side because he is representing your trade] Shortly thereafter I met with another recruiter I dont remember how I came across him.   I walked into his very small office which was full of energy.   He was a one-man show but I could tell from his office, whiteboard, desk etc. that he was a mover and shaker.   He had 2 or 3 rows of awards on his wall you could just reach out and touch the success all over his office.   This, by the way, was my fav recruiter.   After I told him about myself (I had requested a face-to-face appointment with him) he said and these words were golden for the rest of my job search Jason you will find a job for yourself faster than I will find one for you.   I didnt quite like the message, I still thought he was going to work hard for me, but the honesty really opened my eyes. This helped me understand that the recruiter isnt my best friend, and that finding me a job is NOT his job.   That is the most important thing Ive learned, in my job search, about recruiters.   Basically, they are a resource to me.   Early on I felt that I would have one, wed have a great relationship, and I wouldnt need any more. In just a few weeks I went from the sign on the dotted line guy who I felt would have me a job soon to the Ill see what I can do, but dont hold your breath guy and about 27 other recruiters inbetween. I have a lot of respect for recruiters, but I learned that: they dont work for you you should not have just one recruiter (especially if you are looking really hard, and you have a high sense of urgency) you need to keep the relationship alive Ive found 2 that are the exception to that very excellent and into the candidate but many will call you when they have something they are professionals, and they have a job to do.   They are not your counselor, and they dont like to spend a lot of time prepping you (they hope that you are already prepped and going to make them look good) they have a job to do and sitting around chatting with you may be contrary to their own needs its probably a good idea to find out who the really good recruiters are and then let them know who you are BEFORE YOU NEED THEM.   It doesnt hurt to have one call you at your office and ask you if you are interested in another opportunity. Just think of it as expanding your professional network So my journey on how I feel about recruiters has changed from ideal to real if you are a recruiter I hope you dont feel slammed this is just what my journey has been.   I fully understand that Im a desperate job seeker, and many recruiters actually spend time working with passive candidates (that is, those that already have a job) and the stories there are probably pretty different. more on this later. What does Jason think about recruiters Today I had a technical recruiter ask me what I think about recruiters.   Hm.   No one has ever asked before.   I think he was asking me because of my experience working with recruiters as a job seeker, and then within the past few months as the owner of JibberJobber.   I have been able to talk with recruiters about different stuff and see a different side of them.   Well, it is such an interesting question that I figured I could blog about it today (with a Part 2 later). When I first lost my job I knew about headhunters.   I didnt know much about them, but I knew they were out there.   I called my uncle a few states away because he has worked with executive headhunters for years, and he gave me some info on how they work, how they get paid, etc. I realized that headhunters/recruiters would be a big part of my job search. I found a few through the monster job board and contacted them.   One (from an apparently huge, world-wide company) had me come in for an interview we talked for about 45 minutes, he gave me some forms to fill out because I would be an employee of their company (if they could get a contract job for me), and I left feeling pretty good.   I had someone that was going to go out and find me a job!   That was pretty cool! One week later I called him and said hey, this is Jason, Im just wondering if there is anything new on your end.   He said Jason who?   Huh?   he had to look through his files to find me, and read up on me.   I was so mad because it was just a week later, and he had me no where on his radar screen.   I realize I wasnt his only client, and he was a busy guy, but this demonstration of his concern for me was way different compared to what it was a week earlier where he was asking for my SSN and asking me to sign on the dotted line.   I realized this was going to suck.   I think I called him one more time, and e-mailed 3 or 4 but NEVER got a reply back from him.   [if you are a recruiter, I imagine you are grinning on one side because he is your competition, and he sucks and scowling on the other side because he is representing your trade] Shortly thereafter I met with another recruiter I dont remember how I came across him.   I walked into his very small office which was full of energy.   He was a one-man show but I could tell from his office, whiteboard, desk etc. that he was a mover and shaker.   He had 2 or 3 rows of awards on his wall you could just reach out and touch the success all over his office.   This, by the way, was my fav recruiter.   After I told him about myself (I had requested a face-to-face appointment with him) he said and these words were golden for the rest of my job search Jason you will find a job for yourself faster than I will find one for you.   I didnt quite like the message, I still thought he was going to work hard for me, but the honesty really opened my eyes. This helped me understand that the recruiter isnt my best friend, and that finding me a job is NOT his job.   That is the most important thing Ive learned, in my job search, about recruiters.   Basically, they are a resource to me.   Early on I felt that I would have one, wed have a great relationship, and I wouldnt need any more. In just a few weeks I went from the sign on the dotted line guy who I felt would have me a job soon to the Ill see what I can do, but dont hold your breath guy and about 27 other recruiters inbetween. I have a lot of respect for recruiters, but I learned that: they dont work for you you should not have just one recruiter (especially if you are looking really hard, and you have a high sense of urgency) you need to keep the relationship alive Ive found 2 that are the exception to that very excellent and into the candidate but many will call you when they have something they are professionals, and they have a job to do.   They are not your counselor, and they dont like to spend a lot of time prepping you (they hope that you are already prepped and going to make them look good) they have a job to do and sitting around chatting with you may be contrary to their own needs its probably a good idea to find out who the really good recruiters are and then let them know who you are BEFORE YOU NEED THEM.   It doesnt hurt to have one call you at your office and ask you if you are interested in another opportunity. Just think of it as expanding your professional network So my journey on how I feel about recruiters has changed from ideal to real if you are a recruiter I hope you dont feel slammed this is just what my journey has been.   I fully understand that Im a desperate job seeker, and many recruiters actually spend time working with passive candidates (that is, those that already have a job) and the stories there are probably pretty different. more on this later. What does Jason think about recruiters Today I had a technical recruiter ask me what I think about recruiters.   Hm.   No one has ever asked before.   I think he was asking me because of my experience working with recruiters as a job seeker, and then within the past few months as the owner of JibberJobber.   I have been able to talk with recruiters about different stuff and see a different side of them.   Well, it is such an interesting question that I figured I could blog about it today (with a Part 2 later). When I first lost my job I knew about headhunters.   I didnt know much about them, but I knew they were out there.   I called my uncle a few states away because he has worked with executive headhunters for years, and he gave me some info on how they work, how they get paid, etc. I realized that headhunters/recruiters would be a big part of my job search. I found a few through the monster job board and contacted them.   One (from an apparently huge, world-wide company) had me come in for an interview we talked for about 45 minutes, he gave me some forms to fill out because I would be an employee of their company (if they could get a contract job for me), and I left feeling pretty good.   I had someone that was going to go out and find me a job!   That was pretty cool! One week later I called him and said hey, this is Jason, Im just wondering if there is anything new on your end.   He said Jason who?   Huh?   he had to look through his files to find me, and read up on me.   I was so mad because it was just a week later, and he had me no where on his radar screen.   I realize I wasnt his only client, and he was a busy guy, but this demonstration of his concern for me was way different compared to what it was a week earlier where he was asking for my SSN and asking me to sign on the dotted line.   I realized this was going to suck.   I think I called him one more time, and e-mailed 3 or 4 but NEVER got a reply back from him.   [if you are a recruiter, I imagine you are grinning on one side because he is your competition, and he sucks and scowling on the other side because he is representing your trade] Shortly thereafter I met with another recruiter I dont remember how I came across him.   I walked into his very small office which was full of energy.   He was a one-man show but I could tell from his office, whiteboard, desk etc. that he was a mover and shaker.   He had 2 or 3 rows of awards on his wall you could just reach out and touch the success all over his office.   This, by the way, was my fav recruiter.   After I told him about myself (I had requested a face-to-face appointment with him) he said and these words were golden for the rest of my job search Jason you will find a job for yourself faster than I will find one for you.   I didnt quite like the message, I still thought he was going to work hard for me, but the honesty really opened my eyes. This helped me understand that the recruiter isnt my best friend, and that finding me a job is NOT his job.   That is the most important thing Ive learned, in my job search, about recruiters.   Basically, they are a resource to me.   Early on I felt that I would have one, wed have a great relationship, and I wouldnt need any more. In just a few weeks I went from the sign on the dotted line guy who I felt would have me a job soon to the Ill see what I can do, but dont hold your breath guy and about 27 other recruiters inbetween. I have a lot of respect for recruiters, but I learned that: they dont work for you you should not have just one recruiter (especially if you are looking really hard, and you have a high sense of urgency) you need to keep the relationship alive Ive found 2 that are the exception to that very excellent and into the candidate but many will call you when they have something they are professionals, and they have a job to do.   They are not your counselor, and they dont like to spend a lot of time prepping you (they hope that you are already prepped and going to make them look good) they have a job to do and sitting around chatting with you may be contrary to their own needs its probably a good idea to find out who the really good recruiters are and then let them know who you are BEFORE YOU NEED THEM.   It doesnt hurt to have one call you at your office and ask you if you are interested in another opportunity. Just think of it as expanding your professional network So my journey on how I feel about recruiters has changed from ideal to real if you are a recruiter I hope you dont feel slammed this is just what my journey has been.   I fully understand that Im a desperate job seeker, and many recruiters actually spend time working with passive candidates (that is, those that already have a job) and the stories there are probably pretty different. more on this later.

Knowing Your Worth (and Getting it) as a Young Professional - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Knowing Your Worth (and Getting it) as a Young Professional - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career When searching for a job, most established professionals make it a point to provide potential employers with a resume that’s filled with hands-on skills, past accomplishments and industry accreditation. As a young professional who’s just entering the workforce, however, you may not have that luxury. In this case, it may take a little more effort to get what youre truly worth. Assessing Your Level of Experience Youll never receive what you’re worth if an employer is unable to see your potential. This problem is only compounded when job seekers are unable to see the potential in themselves. As such, the first step to entering the workforce as a young professional comes in the form of determining your value as an employee. Take some time to think about all of your career experiences thus far, including any part-time or full-time jobs, temporary assignments and even volunteerism. Apart from looking good on an entry-level resume, this type of experience can be equated to professional positions of the same capacity when trying to determine your initial salary expectations. In many cases, volunteerism and community service can even serve as a stepping stone or point-of-entry to your future career path. Selling Your Experience and  Transferable  Knowledge Because you won’t have many skills, achievements or statistics to get your foot in the door, youll have to rely on whatever experience you have thus far. Even if this experience doesnt relate to the type of work youre seeking, its important to show what youve learned, any additional training youve received and any transferable knowledge you may have. Armed with this knowledge, a hiring manager or interviewer will be able to make a much better determination regarding your potential for success with their company. You might even consider creating a functional resume in order to draw attention away from your short career. Whereas the typical resume lists an applicants career history in chronological order, starting with their latest position, the functional resume foregoes the initial chronological listing in exchange for details about your skills, academics and volunteer experience. This lets an employer know exactly what you have to offer without getting distracted by your career timeline. Determining Your Salary Expectations When searching for a job, its crucial that you maintain realistic expectations regarding your initial salary requirements. This is especially true for recent graduates and young professionals who are just now entering the workforce for the very first time. In some cases, youll have no other option but to prove your worth through hard work, dedication and diligence. In fact, recent studies by Wakefield Research conclude that 42% of college seniors expect an entry-level salary of $50,000 or more. In stark contrast, 48% of employers surveyed only offer starting salaries of $35,000 or less for new hires. As you can see, there is some discrepancy between a young professionals self-perceived value and their real-world value. However, there are some tricks that can help you gain a better understanding of salary trends and expectations within your industry of expertise. Comparing your volunteer experience to that of a professional in a similar capacity is a great way to account for the lack of monetary compensation in such roles, while simply researching job postings that are related to your desired position can give you some insight into the going rates for your profession. Regardless of the methods you use, keep in mind that these figures are meant as a rough starting point, as opposed to a hard and fast rule. Moreover, there are also some online tools you can use in order to decide on a realistic salary for a young professional in your chosen industry. LiveCareers Salary Calculator, for example, even lets you input your exact education level when searching for results. This information, along with your zip code, can provide quotes that are more accurate and consistent than some of the other salary calculators on the internet. Ensuring Success During Salary Negotiations Now that you have a strong understanding of your experience level, transferable knowledge and expected salary, its time to enter salary negotiations. Although some may be less concerned with their pay and more concerned with landing a job at all, todays millennial generation isnt so easily satiated. To put it bluntly, many young professionals already know what they want and theyre determined to make it happen. As long as youve done your homework correctly, you shouldnt be afraid to ask for the salary you think you deserve. Your salary or wage expectations should already be realistic and in alignment with the current trends and standards for your chosen industry. As such, most reputable employers should be able to meet your expectations or, at the very least, respond with a reasonable counteroffer. Whether you accept their offer or not is ultimately your decision â€" just try to avoid any lowball offers or employers who refuse to offer a competitive salary. Employers like this tend to have high employee turnover rates, little to no benefits and very few opportunities for career progression or advancement. Demonstrating Value and Improving Your Worth It can be difficult for a young professional to get their foot in the door with an established, reputable company. However, as long as you have a clear understanding of your current worth, realistic salary expectations and the desire to improve your worth by leading a successful career, you should have little trouble demonstrating the value you have to offer within your chosen industry.

How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn [21 Useful Tips]

How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn [21 Useful Tips] As a LinkedIn trainer, I get a few recurring questions in my workshops and seminars. I thought I would compile a little list with questions and answers here, hopefully they will be useful to you. Most questions are related to sales, marketing and recruitment which is basically the type of professionals I tend to train. Here goes the 21 LinkedIn questions and answers: 1. How do you boost your LinkedIn profile SEO? LinkedIn operates a bit like Google did 10 years ago, the more keywords the better ranking you will get for a while. The algorithm of the search rankings are that you will be bumped up and if people actually take action â€" click on your profile in the search results â€" that tells LinkedIn you are relevant for those search terms. IF users don’t click on you, you will be sent down to page 16 in no time and classed a spammer by the LinkedIn search engine. To get better ranking make sure to insert relevant keywords in your headline, in your job ti tle and in your summary. Use keywords such as industry, location, company names (if that’s allowed), and even names of people. Bring it down to a micro level with versions of software and even post codes. See more at How to Make Google Love Your LinkedIn Profile. 2. How to use advanced X-Ray searches to find anyone on LinkedIn? On LinkedIn, you can only see the people that are three degrees away from you or members of the same group. One of the worst kept secrets on LinkedIn is that you are able to see every public profile via search engines such as Google. LinkedIn make sure these profiles are indexed in Google as they want to be the first search results for people’s names. You can use this by entering a Boolean search string searching every LinkedIn user, this typically renders quite a lot of results so throw in more keywords in the search to narrow it down to a nice shortlist. See Glen Catheys post to get the lowdown on the X-Ray strings. 3. How do you advertise for free on LinkedIn? Anyone can advertise on LinkedIn but it comes at a price. One way of doing it for free is of course your status update; another way is to post it into groups. These are in theory good ways but the trouble is that most people see those updates as adverts and tend to ignore them. One more creative way is to use a SlideShare or Google presentation where you put your presentation on, integrate this on your LinkedIn profile and share it with your network. This will actually get clicks and if it’s done well it could go viral. Check out Slideshare on LinkedIn for more details. 4. How do you use the events section on LinkedIn? The events section is one of the most underutilized sections of LinkedIn. We all attend events, and so do your customers. Search for these events on LinkedIn and you’ll be able to see who is coming, so that you can plan your conversations way ahead of the event. The attendee list is sometimes a great place for identifying buyers, if ten people are attending a LinkedIn meetup â€" I would expect a few of them to be interested in some training. Whether it’s your breakfast briefing on new regulations or networking drinks you are hosting â€" be sure to list these in the LinkedIn Events section. When you list an event, your entire network gets notified. You can then share it again to anyone in your network by LinkedIn messages. Every time someone clicks ‘attending’ or ‘interested’ â€" their networks get notified as well. Events is one of the best places to build up some buzz around your company. Also check out How To Use LinkedIn Events To Promote Your Meetup, Workshop or Seminar. 5. How to categorize connections and send group emails? Another very underutilized feature of LinkedIn is the ability to tag people. This means you can categorize your connections according to company, position, location, where you met or whatever you choose. When doing some sales calls, you can tag everyone you speak to. When your next sales session comes up you’ll have an instant shortlist and you are able to send a group email to everyone in that category (lets say HR managers in Liverpool) to get it out quickly. More about tagging at Managing Your Connections By Using Tags. 6. How do you connect with people in Groups? Another worst kept secret on LinkedIn is that Groups normally allow you contact and connect with anyone direct on LinkedIn. Sometimes you find a perfect prospect but have no way of contacting them, what you can do is see what groups they are a member of and join one of these. From there you can either invite the person to your network direct or you can look them up in the group and send a message. Note that users are able to turn this off, it’s enabled by default but if someone gets spammed they are likely to opt out of these contact settings. 7. Who should you connect with on LinkedIn (and who shouldn’t you)? LinkedIn is all about connections, the more you have the better visibility your profile will have and more people you will be able to search for. But it’s also about quality connections, it’s worth identifying the so called ‘super connectors’ in your field and start connecting with them â€" if they have 1000 relevant connections that will save you a lot of leg work. In general, connect with business contacts of all levels. Juniors become seniors within companies, they move companies and remember you… Don’t connect with your competitors unless you know they have more useful connections than you do. Yes you can hide them from browsing your connections but your connections will still come up in search results so be wary of connecting with competitors. See more about Super Connectors on LinkedIn. 8. How do you integrate Twitter and LinkedIn? If you tweet, or if your company tweets, you might want to integrate Twitter and LinkedIn. This is done through an application called Tweets. It’s fairly straightforward to install (see how here) but the important thing here are the settings. We have all seen users with more than ten updates on LinkedIn per day, these updates typically come from Twitter and probably do more harm to your brand than anything else. The setting you want to use is to only share tweets on LinkedIn when you use the hashtag #in inside Twitter. This allows you to selectively share on LinkedIn as opposed to blanket bombing your network with conversational updates. For more on this pet peeve of mine, see Dear Tweeters, Stop Cluttering My LinkedIn Homefeed! 9. Recommendations dos and donts The recommendation engine on LinkedIn is one of the keys to LinkedIn’s success. Whereas you used to get recommendations on a CV or a website, these recommendations are fully transparent and people can click their way through to actually scrutinize who wrote the recommendation (and event check that person’s recommendations). Given that people check out the recommender, don’t get recommendations from your mates, don’t do back-to-back recommendations and don’t get recommendations from people who are obviously indebted to you (that graduate candidate you placed on an internship). Instead focus on quality recommendations from C-level executives and former bosses. Just get one from each company and don’t get more that 5-10 recommendations in total â€" any more defeats the purpose. If you are in the US, the norm is to have double that. Check out How To Get More LinkedIn Recommendations as well. 10. How do you detect that a friend is on the job hunt? Recruiters are very keen on finding out when anyone goes from being a passive to an active candidate on LinkedIn. If you are a bit nosy and or want to help your network you can do what they do and look out for the signs. We all know the very obvious people who actually post “I’m looking for a job” in their status updates. But how can you figure out the stealth job seekers who might just need your help? Look for any of these signs: a number of new recommendations on the profile, tinkering with the headline, the summary or even a new picture. Contact details in the open and crucially, the LinkedIn email address changed to their webmail from work email. Go ahead an contact these people but do it in a subtle way, as they are obviously a bit jumpy and wouldn’t want anyone to know they are on the hunt. See how you can help them and they will remember your kind assistance when your turn comes to explore opportunities. 11. How do I remove annoying users from my homefeed? Whether someone is plugging their own services every day or tweet on LinkedIn a bit too much, you can easily hide these people from your home feed. Just to the right of their update there is a little grey text reading “Hide” â€" click that and you won’t see this person on your feed again. You can un-hide them later if you so please. If someone is even more annoying, you can remove them as a connection altogether on the My Contacts page and click ‘remove connections’. They will not be notified that you have deleted them from your network. See this post for more about removing connections on LinkedIn. 12. Why is LinkedIn the best job search tool on social media? LinkedIn is the place where you can find professionals on social media. Yes, Facebook can be great for graduates and Twitter for media recruitment but LinkedIn reaches people who haven’t got time for every social network under the sun. A lawyer, banker or accountant will check their LinkedIn profile periodically but very seldom would they even have a Twitter account. So from a mere reach perspective LinkedIn is your best bet. This means most recruiters and HR departments are using LinkedIn to find candidates already. So you can actually be found via one of their searches, or you can actively network your way to opportunities within companies. And you can of course have a look at the Jobs section to make it really easy on yourself. 13. How can you scan what anyone on LinkedIn is saying about a company or topic? Another virtually unknown feature of LinkedIn is what’s called LinkedIn Signal. It’s basically a search tool for status updates on LinkedIn. You can search for your company name, your field or location or even a combination of them all. LinkedIn will tell you who is talking about the keyword, including people up to 3 degrees away from you. If someone is talking about Java programming on LinkedIn but the profile says ‘consultant’ â€" chances are they are actually a Java developer with a misleading profile. Check out this post from LinkedIn about how Signal works. 14. How can you stand out against the other millions of [insert job title here] on LinkedIn? By being useful to your network, by sharing interesting and valuable information and by not selling your products and services at any given moment. Your network probably knows what you do and they are likely to let you know when they have a referral for you, so it’s better to get mindshare â€" creating daily awareness and staying visible. 15. Whats a good daily LinkedIn routine? Most active LinkedIn users I know have a LinkedIn browser window open all day but they mainly use LinkedIn as a database. I would make a habit of sharing an interesting piece of content every day, checking out the events section for relevant networking dos, engaging with other users in Groups and generally keeping an eye on the homefeed to keep my finger on the pulse. This only takes 15 minutes per day but it’s easy to get sidetracked and lose the bigger picture. 16. How do you run a successful group on LinkedIn? There are over a million groups on LinkedIn, many of these were set up by recruiters. If you look at what makes a group successful it’s all about creating a strong community. When it’s set up it’s ideal to make it ‘exclusive’ in some way â€" i.e. only open to Java developer in Manchester, this just makes more of them want to join. Assign a team to run the group and to seed conversation, moderate discussions and sharing interesting content. The number one gripe people have with groups is that they get too much spam emails so make sure you vet all members, only ever send relevant email updates and do not tolerate any blatant promotions from members. More on Groups at How To Run a Successful LinkedIn Group. 17. How to use your company page to attract customers? The LinkedIn company page is your company’s number one branding tool on LinkedIn. There are lots of things you can do here such as write up a proper description of the company, add contact details, insert your Twitter feed, link your blog posts to the page, add your products and services, ask for company recommendations and check out the visitor statistics. Prospective clients are likely to check out your company page so make sure it represents your brand fully. For employer branding, check out How To Build a LinkedIn Company and Careers Page. 18. What are the essentials on your LinkedIn profile? There are four essentials on an individual’s LinkedIn profile; they are the picture, the headline, the summary and the keywords. Your picture should look professional and reflect your brand, people like dealing with faces as opposed to just text â€" studies show you get 30% more clicks in search results when you have a picture (see more at How To Choose a Picture for Your Personal Brand). The headline (along with your name and picture) is what comes up in search results and based on this the user will decide whether to click on you or the competitor. Make sure the headline talks about what you do and not who you are, i.e. you recruit Java developers to top tier consultancies in Manchester and not Consultant and Recruiter X â€" which means very little (more on headlines at How To Write Your Killer LinkedIn Headline). Your summary is where people go to see what you are all about and what your track record in the industry is. If you get someone to take their time to check this out you will want to add you contact details at the end and not leave them hanging. Finally, you have to get the right keywords on your profile or you will not come up in any searches. Yes you might come up in searches for your name but let’s face it if someone already knows your name you already have a foot in the door. It’s better to come up in the search for “Java recruiter Manchester”. 19. How do you connect with people outside of your network? There are lots of ways of connecting with people outside of your network. You can join the same group as this person which allows you to connect direct (most of the time). You can do an introduction through a common connection, this can take a bit of time but usually works. If you have a premium account you can send an inMail or you can actually buy inMail credits on a free account. But lets forget the online world for a while, I think the best way to connect is actually outside of LinkedIn. Pick up the phone and ring the person up, or if you don’t have the number you can probably guess the email address and try that. It’s all about being creative and just because you found someone on LinkedIn doesn’t mean you have to approach them through LinkedIn. 20. Do you need to upgrade your LinkedIn account? It really depends on how you are using LinkedIn, most people don’t use inMails, Profile organizer and require additional search results. If you do pay for an account make sure you make the most of it, paying a monthly fee is not a silver bullet to success you actually have to understand what youre doing first. See more at LinkedIn Job Search Premium, Worth the Dollar or Not? 21. What applications should you use to attract business? You can use  SlideShare  to share presentations of your company or about specials or promotions you have on at the moment, you can use the  Amazon Reading list  to show off your extra-curricular interests, use  TripIt  if you travel a lot and actually want people to contact you to have a coffee in various locations. You can use  Google Docs  to get video going on your profile and if you blog you should definitely integrate the  Blog Link  application. Remember that every time you make any changes to your application, your network gets notified which is usually a good thing. Thats it for today, do let me know what other tips and tricks you have!

Make The Most Of Your College Experience - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Make The Most Of Your College Experience - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Deal with your emotions first. No matter where you go to college you can have a phenomenal experience and leverage your degree to get hired. Every college offers opportunities to broaden your knowledge base, expand your analytic abilities and gain real-world experiences through internships.  Adopting a proactive, positive attitude towards learning, meeting new people and trying new activities will make a dramatic difference on how enriching your college life will be and how you can use it to advance yourself upon graduation. If you were rejected from your “dream school” and it’s causing you angst, consider this fact: Some of the most famous people and biggest influencers in our society over time, known leaders in their field, including Warren Buffet and Steven Spielberg were rejected from their first choice of college and went on to become enormous success stories! Their massive disappointment from being rejected didn’t stop them from persisting and pursuing their interests.   So take a deep breath and lighten up a bit… the success you have will largely depend on your attitude! Maximize your collegiate experience: make yourself happy Find social, cultural, political and/or sports activities to meet people you can relate to.   Every college has a variety of clubs, organizations and associations that offer programs and leadership opportunities for students. From joining a sorority or fraternity, technology clubs, social action groups to writing for the student newspaper, religious organizations. There is something for everyone at most campuses that could enrich your life and help you meet friends with whom you share lots in common. Most schools offer information in their student services departments and on their website about the variety of social, cultural, political and religious activities available on campus. If your curious to learn more about a particular activity, find one of the student officers of that group and ask to meet him/her for coffee.   You might surprise yourself that there are so many great things to participate in.   Your challenge will be narrowing down your choice to one or two so you have time to devote to your academics. Develop your social contacts while in college Once you’ve establish a circle of friends,  you’ll probably feel more settled in your new environment; you should make an effort to branch out and also socialize with people who are different from you.   Consider joining a social group like a sorority or a fraternity where you might meet people from other disciplines. If you’re an English major, you should try to meet people outside of your own discipline like Engineering or Economics students. Sharing a common experience with people in different departments will help you broaden your network. Someday you might be looking for a job in social media marketing or in sales. You never know when an engineering firm might need a social media marketing person or when a computer software engineer might need a salesperson.   Keep an open mind to fostering relationships with students of all stripes and skill sets. Try to learn from the best professors You can also get ratings of professors online at www.ratemyprofessor.com. Keep in mind that these ratings might be biased towards the extremes. Students who post ratings could have strong biases based on their personal experience with that professor. If they did very well in his course she might give him a high rating but if he did poorly he might give her a lower rating. Your college counseling office might also offer a list of most well-known professors who are often teaching in your school’s most esteemed departments. You can ask the question, Which department is most highly regarded by alumni and donors? Then try to find a class or several classes in this department that genuinely interest you and choose a recommended professor.   These professors are frequently the gatekeepers to internships and jobs so be sure to make a positive impression on them.   Show your interest in his/her subject by making thoughtful contributions in class discussions. This could help you stand out and help you become memorable to her if you ever need a favor for getting an internship. Develop a plan to get internships Vault, Simply Hired, InternMatch, Workingsports are all examples of great websites that could help you find an internship that could eventually lead to a job.  In addition to these websites, career experts still say that the best way to find an internship or a job is using what’s called “warm contacts,” or people you actually know.  If you get to know a professor s/he could become your warm contact.  Many professors hold jobs and careers outside of the University.   These people are often happy to assist students when it comes to finding an internship at their firm.   It will be your job to identify these professors and ask them to be your mentor.   The old adage, “ you won’t know unless you ask” applies here. You have nothing to lose by asking. But if they agree to help you, you have lots to gain. Choose a major you love and ‘minor’ in something practical If you’re anxious about not knowing what your passion is and you don’t have any idea about what you want to major in join the club. The vast majority of people who start college and don’t know what they’re passionate about. I suggest you don’t invest your energy into pursuing a passion as the pursuit of finding ones passion can result in undue stress and anxiety.  Just because you  know your  passion from an early age does not mean you will be happier than those who discovered it much later in life. In order to find satisfaction in life, I recommend that you engage in some introspection and research on what a day in the life of someone is truly like in the job and in the city you esteem. I also urge you to consider what author, Cal Newport says about following your passions.  Passion is elusive… in the stories of people who end up loving their work: after they develop  rare and valuable skills  they then use these skills as leverage to take control of their career path, often veering far off the standard trajectory. Pick a major in an area that you find most natural and interesting and a minor in a subject that will give you practical skills. There should be some connection between college and your future career. This will reduce your anxiety later as you come closer to graduation.   It doesn’t mean that college should be a strictly vocation  based experience, but a savvy student will use it as a time to explore and ask thoughtful questions to upperclassmen and to esteemed professors. When searching for a major, you should consider many factors: Where do your strengths lie?   Are you good with numbers? Do you enjoy research?   Is writing a strength or do you tend to do better in the sciences? Are you energized working in a team or do you find more inspiration when you’re working alone? The answers to these questions can help you know yourself better and give you some data points to select a mentor and for choosing your major. I suggest you try to offset what you love with what will round out your skills. Perhaps you would major in History and minor in computer science. Or major in Economics and minor in web development. If your school doesn’t offer the option of a double major or minors you can try to pick a major that will allow you to delve deeply into a subject you love (and that comes more easily to you) and take other classes that will give you hard skills.  Hard skills are those that you could apply immediately in the work force e.g. communications, web programming, computer science, finance or accounting. If you’re strengths are in Engineering you may want to take an art history or English literature class. Balance what you love with some hard facts about majors that have been found to have worst ROI (return on investment) This act of leverage requires courage, but can return great rewards. Building the skills that ultimately lead to a compelling career can take  years of effort.  You might try on several hats while in college and that’s ok. College is a time for self-discovery.   Take advantage of opportunities to meet with experts in different fields and ask them about their work and their lifestyle. Then choose classes that are prerequisites for entering this field. Minimize college debt Take advantage of as many opportunities to access free money for college. Learn from financial gurus Mark Kantrowitz and Gen and Kelly Tenabe’s brilliant tips on how to reduce your expected financial debt load and some secrets to increasing your odds of landing a scholarship. Mark Kantrowitz, the Publisher of Fastweb.com and FinAid.org, the leading web sites for planning and paying for college offer great tips about financial aid, scholarships and student loans. The Gen and Kelly Tanabe Scholarship Program, named after Gen and Kelly Tanabe who are the award-winning authors of eleven books on admission and scholarships. Together the Tanabes were accepted to all of the Ivy League colleges and won more than $0,000 in merit-based scholarships to graduate from Harvard debt-free. They offer clever tips on how to get scholarship money for college. In SuperCollege.com you can search more than 2,2 million college scholarships and grants to find free cash for college. Their latest book, The Ultimate Scholarship Book 2014, tells you where to find the best scholarships, how to win the scholarships you find, how to write a winning scholarship essay and more. Take advantage of free online support for coursework, especially in your most challenging classes.  One of the most exciting advancements in education today is the innovation of Khan Academy, a non-profit educational organization, created in 2006 by American educator, Salman Khan, a graduate of MIT.  With the stated mission of “providing high quality education to anyone, anywhere”, the website supplies a free online collection of more than  3,000 micro lectures via video tutorials stored on YouTube teaching mathematics, history, healthcare and medicine, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics, cosmology, organic chemistry, American civics, art history, microeconomics and computer science. The instruction is outstanding and it allows students to learn material entirely at their own pace. Code Academy is another widely used and terrific site that can teach a beginner to learn how to build great websites, games and apps. The most resourceful students will gather all the information they can to find a University that matches their needs and positions them for success after graduation. The truth is that your happiness, fulfillment and career success will largely depend on having the proper attitude. Students who are motivated to take full advantage of what’s available to them on and off campus will rise to the top upon graduation. The prerequisite for moving forward is letting go of the notion that getting into a certain school will determine your happiness. Focus on what you can control once you’re on campus like the classes you take, the professors you choose and the people you hang out with. This way youre guaranteed to increase your chances for success and happiness no matter which school you attend.

5 Techniques You Need to Know About Job Search

5 Techniques You Need to Know About Job Search In recent years, finding employment is one of the most hectic tasks ever. Job hunting, job seeking and job searching are three different words which are used interchangeably in different areas.Many of us have an idea of how complicated it is to find the right job for ourselves. Due to the increase in competition, many people are still unemployed, regardless of how much skills they have. To resolve this issue, one should consider appropriate job searching strategies.evalFew job hunting strategies are made to minimize the risks of not getting hired by organizations.The key objective is to first, follow these techniques, implement them while searching it and then wait for the outcomes.Have a look into some of the best techniques for a job search, as stated below:1.Write an Effective ResumeevalDespite reports of its awaiting failure, it is referenced by experts that resume is the first step in finding a better job. A maintained resume is likely to give you an opportunity of getting hired rather than a document which is more like a report than a resume.It is recommended to format your resume according to the requirements of an organization. Don’t be so much in a rush while creating your document.Try to be specific while describing you and writing about your potentials. Make sure that a recruiter scans resume in just 10 to 15 seconds.They just wish to see keywords related to their job description and are never keen to know about your family background. Try to filter out your words so that it can be clearer to the reader. Your resume should not exceed two pages.evalKeep in your mind that you are now a professional and therefore, only limited contact details will be sufficient for an organization. Only add your personal contact information and a professional e-mail address through which you can easily be called.2.Build Your PortfolioAdditional documents should be maintained in spare so that a job seeker can easily provide if asked. If you are applying in a technical field, then you are required to create your portfolios. Your portfolio describes your work experience which helps recruiter in identifying the core qualities in you.Make sure your portfolio is illustrative rather than it contains a set of wordings. It must contain screenshots of designs you made or have ever worked on.This will help in describing your efforts in working professionally and also gains recruiter’s interest in viewing your practical work. This way, you are distinguishing yourself from another crowd of applicants.3.Dig Yourself into the Online Portals evalDo you have access to online job portals? Or, have you ever applied for any job using online job portals?If not, then create one. According to the recent surveys, job portals have erased the fine line between the organizations and job seekers. Now, one can easily get to know about job openings in a particular organization using these portals.Be the one who takes advantage of technology. Instead of applying through old -fashioned mail posting system, get yourself attached to the technological way of applying to jobs.Get access to the known online job portals and create your account on these websites. Keep it in your mind that these websites are not for your social media activities, so be professional here. Easily find your favorite jobs using specific keywords and apply on the go.4.Document a Cover LetterApplicants should be considerate towards their skills rather than indulging into non-professionalism. Few organizations require a cover letter to be sent along with resume. It is, therefore, necessary to create a one.A cover letter is comprised of additional notes which cover your skills and experienceOnce you applied for the job, sit back and relax. Hitting your inbox after every half an hour will drive you nuts. Your task does not complete here. Be careful with your actions.evalWhen you apply for a job, you have to wait for a week or until the deadline they gave. If still, you don’t receive an y call or email, then you don’t have to keep on knocking the doors of the same organization. There are still so many areas where you can apply. The only thing which matters is your attitude, not your promptness.If you don’t get a call, then don’t worry. Keep on searching for jobs of your interest. Don’t rely on one platform.Get access to other portals as well, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook. Even, some organizations do post vacancies in newspapers.Try to read out the ones you get on Sunday because most of the companies try to approach job seekers by posting advertisements in Sunday newspaper.When searching for your next job, there’s a fine line between knowing what you want and keeping your choices open. Experts advise searching for the company you want to work for as well as the title you’re looking for.evalApart from joining portals, it is necessary to be active in networking. It is one of the key elements to attain success in career life. Don’t panic at the beg inning, just polish your skills, improve your communication and shake hands with your inner confidence before you step forward.If you are an introvert, get some motivation by socially interacting with some professionals. Force yourself to get out of the comfort zone and excel yourself in professional life. Make sure, you don’t bound yourself in getting into just a few things. You have plenty of options.These tactics are commonly used nowadays in finding right jobs. Concentrate on achieving the right one, not the best one because no job is bad if you are getting it on the one go.With the increase in competition due to education and skills, try to advance yourself with the passage of time to polish your skills.This will not only increase your knowledge but will also help you in getting the experience of next level.

Whats Cooking Co-Working Space

Whats Cooking Co-Working Space Yesterday I visited a new business in town. In our sleepy little town in upstate New York, we are making strides to enter the 21st century. The owner of this Co-working space has a vision! He wants to provide a work environment for solo-preneurs, independent contractors, virtual workers, telecommuters and others who hide in their home offices and are looking for a place to gather and possibly collaborate. Yes, there are networking groups, tip clubs, professional associations and the like. But those are typically viewed as truly social events. Envision an office where you could do your work and then gather at the water cooler and chat with others and look for solutions to some of your problems. A place you could call your own and feel comfortable walking into (remember Cheers?). The Hub: coworking space in Bristol From Huddle The Co-working space concept has been around for awhile in metropolitan areas. If you find this intriguing, check out this link on the Coworking Wiki to find space near you. If youve been to any coffee shop with WiFi, youve seen people hanging behind their laptops with a cup of Joe. Why are they there? Are they between meetings? Do they want to be around other people? Is their house too loud or too quiet? I find this to be a fascinating study. I mention this for so many reasons. First, we are seeing is a growing number of people working from their home offices. It is a trend that wont go away anytime soon. Second, after a recession, more people are drawn to starting their own businesses. Any new business NEEDS to be able to draw upon multiple resources and learn from others. Third, as connected as we are, we tend to work in occupational or industry related silos. What happens when you bring together a mix of people interested in sharing, collaborating and learning? The possibilities are endless. Learning from others outside of your industry and occupation in an informal environment.hmmm. I smell something good cooking.

Qualifications Of Engineers

Qualifications Of EngineersResume certification can make you look like a professional and certified engineer. It is the first step in landing the job of your choice. The company will not hesitate to hire you if they see that you have passed the certification exam.It is easy to get certification with the help of the online facilities. All that you need to do is find a website that offers this service and follow all the necessary steps to get certified. All you need to do is to make sure that the company has a good reputation in the industry and the services are proven and authentic.There are some good courses which can be taken for a nominal fee. You can also look for the ones that offer free certification tests. These tests are widely available in several fields and sectors. This will help you to easily find a good course which suits your requirement.Many companies give out these free tests because they do not want to waste their money on training programs which are not proven and do not work. A legitimate training program will be able to help you to take the certification test. After passing the test, the process is easy as all you need to do is to sit for the next certification exam after passing the previous one.It is always a good idea to pass the test with a thorough knowledge of the subject and the professional qualifications of engineering. You can get a certificate if you manage to pass all the tests in all the tests. There are different courses offered by the different sites. It is important to choose a course which suits your need.Some of the topics include: Technical Papers, Code A, Code B, Technology: Information, Fundamentals, An Introduction to Electronics, Mechanical Engineering Fundamentals, Engineering Processes, Semiconductor and Microelectronics, Design of Electrical Devices, Electronics Circuit Design, Waveform Analysis, VLSI Design, CMM, Engineering Systems, etc. Some of the topics are extremely difficult and will require a lot of focus and time. So you should consider the benefits and risks involved before you decide. Take the test with a little bit of doubt, so that you can get the best out of it.For testing the skills, it is important to ensure that you have answered all the essential questions correctly. If you make any mistake, you will not pass the test. To do so, you can prepare the answers in advance and then study them carefully.One of the major advantages of taking the certification test is that it can help you change the direction of your career. If you fail to pass the certification test, it may mean that you should switch the direction of your career. So, make sure you understand the real value of certification and make use of it to become a good engineer.