Book Recommendation Succeed- How we can reach our goals

Book Recommendation Succeed- How we can reach our goals Last week I wrote about Alison Doyles job search books, and I got an email from JibberJobber user Cleo Parker (on Twitter)  with what I decided would be todays post  From Cleo: Reading your post about books this morning prompted me to share a great book Im reading right now Succeed- How we can reach our goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson. In it she discusses research about how people see themselves, see their goals, and which approaches pay off. Although I would think job seekers who of a mind set to use Jibber Jobber are well on the right thinking path that involves beliefs such as hard work is more important than luck and you can get better at pretty much everything with effort, I found it enlightening and  valuable, and Id suspect anyone in a job search would benefit from reading it.  Especially the people who think that theyll be discovered without putting in the work needed to be found or those that just give up. Shes got one statement that I love about deciding if you should abandon a goal: If the answer is I dont have what it takes, you are wrong. You do have what it takes. Start again. (My Dad had a saying Cant never did anything same sentiment, probably why I like it!) Although Im not happy about how many jobs Ive gone through in the last few years (Im getting better and better at landing them, now I have to be more careful about wanting and keeping what I get!) Im happy to have had some additional time on my hands the past few weeks to read this book. I encourage you to check it out! Thanks for the insight, Cleo I know this will be a great book for many of my readers/users. Book Recommendation Succeed- How we can reach our goals Last week I wrote about Alison Doyles job search books, and I got an email from JibberJobber user Cleo Parker (on Twitter)  with what I decided would be todays post  From Cleo: Reading your post about books this morning prompted me to share a great book Im reading right now Succeed- How we can reach our goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson. In it she discusses research about how people see themselves, see their goals, and which approaches pay off. Although I would think job seekers who of a mind set to use Jibber Jobber are well on the right thinking path that involves beliefs such as hard work is more important than luck and you can get better at pretty much everything with effort, I found it enlightening and  valuable, and Id suspect anyone in a job search would benefit from reading it.  Especially the people who think that theyll be discovered without putting in the work needed to be found or those that just give up. Shes got one statement that I love about deciding if you should abandon a goal: If the answer is I dont have what it takes, you are wrong. You do have what it takes. Start again. (My Dad had a saying Cant never did anything same sentiment, probably why I like it!) Although Im not happy about how many jobs Ive gone through in the last few years (Im getting better and better at landing them, now I have to be more careful about wanting and keeping what I get!) Im happy to have had some additional time on my hands the past few weeks to read this book. I encourage you to check it out! Thanks for the insight, Cleo I know this will be a great book for many of my readers/users. Book Recommendation Succeed- How we can reach our goals Last week I wrote about Alison Doyles job search books, and I got an email from JibberJobber user Cleo Parker (on Twitter)  with what I decided would be todays post  From Cleo: Reading your post about books this morning prompted me to share a great book Im reading right now Succeed- How we can reach our goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson. In it she discusses research about how people see themselves, see their goals, and which approaches pay off. Although I would think job seekers who of a mind set to use Jibber Jobber are well on the right thinking path that involves beliefs such as hard work is more important than luck and you can get better at pretty much everything with effort, I found it enlightening and  valuable, and Id suspect anyone in a job search would benefit from reading it.  Especially the people who think that theyll be discovered without putting in the work needed to be found or those that just give up. Shes got one statement that I love about deciding if you should abandon a goal: If the answer is I dont have what it takes, you are wrong. You do have what it takes. Start again. (My Dad had a saying Cant never did anything same sentiment, probably why I like it!) Although Im not happy about how many jobs Ive gone through in the last few years (Im getting better and better at landing them, now I have to be more careful about wanting and keeping what I get!) Im happy to have had some additional time on my hands the past few weeks to read this book. I encourage you to check it out! Thanks for the insight, Cleo I know this will be a great book for many of my readers/users.

Branding Your Resume For Intelligence - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Branding Your Resume For Intelligence - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career You know that youre smarter than the average bear, but how can you give your resume reader that first impression? Most job seekers try to do this directly, using adjectives that say Im smart!. Since most of us have average intelligence, few employers believe direct statements everyone feels theyre smart, while many candidates have an inflated self-view of their intelligence. Think about it, when youre in a group of people, how do you feel about the person who constantly tries to prove that shes the smartest? Do you view that person as full of intelligence or BS? So if your intelligence is something you want employers to see, how can you tell them about it, so theyll see your intellect? Here are 5 Ways To Brand Your Resume For Intelligence: Value: Its one thing to solve problems, but its even more powerful when you can demonstrate the value your intelligence has brought to past employers. While its nice to talk about a brilliant project you completed, its far more powerful to include how important that project was for your employer. Employers recognize a huge difference between someone who can apply this intelligence for commercial results vs someone who isnt able to translate intelligence to uses that businesses value. Value ends up being one of the biggest roadblocks keeping academics from business opportunities. Accomplishments: There are times when examples of intelligence just cant be monetized. In most cases, I recommend that non-monetizable accomplishments are left off your resume. However, if youre trying to demonstrate intelligence, you may want to include a couple of examples that havent turned into monetized results that you can identify. Vocabulary: The words you choose can help employers recognize intelligence. If you write at a 6th grade reading level (like I do), youll have a tough time making your readers recognize above average intelligence by using average vocabulary. But be careful you want to make sure the vocabulary you choose is in the proper context, so you dont end up sounding like Al Sharpton or Dubbya. Grammar and Spelling: Its a shame I have to say this. I see so many resumes destined for the trash can because of grammatical or spelling errors. Some of these errors are obvious, while others less so. Understand Needs: One of the best ways to give an employer the first impression that youre intelligent is by giving a hiring manager the impression that youve read his/her mind. Of course youre not a mind reader, but you can still give a first impression that youve read the hiring managers mind by correctly anticipating the hiring managers needs. Odds are low that you can guess what her needs are. Research and superior information helps you look like a mind reader. By gaining information thats superior to your competition, you dramatically increase the odds that youll correctly anticipate needs. You wont find superior information on Google, the companys website nor from the job description this is all public information and wont give you an advantage over other candidates. You gain superior information from within the target company, from current employees. Branding for intelligence requires much more than just saying Look at me Im smart! Dont make the mistake that education alone brands you as intelligent. Just because youve graduated from a good school doesnt mean that an employer will assume intelligence youve got to demonstrate value and accomplishments, expressed with intelligent grammar, spelling and vocabulary to back up your education. Dont we all know book smart, street dumb idiots who graduated from top institutions? For most employers, where you earned your degree and/or GPA wont matter most hiring managers are more interested in the value youve provided for past employers and that youve solved similar problems to the hiring managers priorities. Still others may look negatively on a degree from a premier school some employers assume candidates from top schools are just overpriced. However, a Harvard degree or straight A average may help with some employers, especially for rookies searching for their first job out of college. There are a number of ways that candidates can effectively brand themselves as intelligent. Which ones do you use? Author: Phil Rosenberg is President of http://www.reCareered.com, a leading job search information website and gives complimentary job search webinars at http://ResumeWebinar.com. Phil also runs the Career Central group, one of Linkedin’s largest groups for job seekers and has built one of the 20 largest personal networks on Linkedin globally.

Commercial Awareness You can demonstrate it!

Commercial Awareness You can demonstrate it! Just about any graduate job requires you to have commercial awareness. This shouldn’t induce panic and palpitations! You’ll almost certainly have demonstrated commercial awareness already both in jobs you’ve done and in decisions you’ve taken. Start by making sure that you’re able to talk about these experiences. Then, if you want a finance job, or plan to work in the City of London, start working on moving your knowledge and understanding to new levels. So what’s this commercial awareness you’ve already shown? If youre not living in university accommodation,  you’re likely to have put some commercial thinking into your choice of where to live. Did you balance rental costs against travel costs (in terms of time as well as fares or petrol)? Did you ponder the size of your room and the quality of the accommodation against the rent? How about the supermarket or bar job? Did you persuade a customer to buy champagne rather than sparkling wine, knowing that the profit margins were greater on the former than the latter? Congratulations! This is commercial awareness and you can use these examples  as competency based answers. Is this enough then? If you want to work in the City you’ll have to move your commercial awareness to a whole new level. You’ll need to really understand what is going on in the business world. Pushing to find out whats in the news just before an interview isn’t going to cut it. Both Sarah Cockburn from Allen Overy recruitment and Claudine Vega from Linklaters are equally clear about this: “If you start reading newspapers just before an interview, it won’t work. You won’t have the depth of knowledge we need and that will show as soon as we start asking you questions.” Its probably not a good idea to ignore advice from two top City law firms! How do you go about becoming more “Commercially Aware? If you think a City career  could be for you, then you must get started. You might want to begin by reading the BBC Business News. It’s available on line and is pretty straightforward to follow. Pick yourself a few hot topics. Brexit /Grexit? Oil price fluctuations? Hopefully, if you want a City job, this already means something to you. Jake Schogger, Law and Business student, forthcoming City lawyer and editor of City Career Series suggests: “Copy and paste major headlines from news websites into a Word document. When additional stories are published detailing developments on the issues captured in these headlines, paste these stories underneath the original headlines, creating a  more substantial insight into topical events and issues. This really helps to boost your general knowledge and understanding of what’s going on in the world. On interview days, you can quickly refer back to remind yourself of recent  developments on key topical issues.  You’ll be building your own personal archive of the stories that (1) most interest you and (2) are most topical; the stories City workers would be expected to have a basic awareness and understanding of.” This sounds like great advice. You should find both your interest and your knowledge increasing each time you visit your file. And moving on? It’s a good first step, but you should move on from here. You might want to start picking up current affairs radio programmes. Thank goodness for podcasts! They’re ideal for helping you wile away “dead time”. Subscribe, download and plug yourself in, it couldn’t be easier! Your next step might be The Economist, en route for The Financial Times. You should find that as your understanding increases, so does your enthusiasm to tackle new topics. Student subscriptions to The Economist are not too expensive or you can pick up library copies. Have an opinion. Don’t try to cover everything. Stick to a limited number of stories that you can talk about in detail and on which you can express an opinion. Here’s some great advice from KPMG LLP partner, Punam Birly, based on her experience of interviewing: “Be prepared to have an opinion and  back this up with your reasoning; making decisions will be an integral part of daily commercial life and sitting on the fence is not usually  a safe option   rather it could weaken your demonstration of leadership skills….’ You don’t have to know everything! You must be able to talk about the “basics”. EU issues, including the future of the Euro as a currency fall into this category, but application forms will normally let you pick an issue to write about. The same is generally true in interview. You might find that questions lead on from your application form answer, or that you are invited to get a discussion started on something that interests you. You’d be really unlucky to be asked to comment in detail on something youve never read about. Anything else? Yes, it is also really good to understand how the City and financial institutions work. What is an IPO, a derivative, a swap or an option? You could be asked. If your reading has not informed you on this,  you could have    a look at the City Career Series, or at books by Christopher Stoakes. He has written a number but “Know the City” could be a good starting point. You might also want to check out our previous posts on commercial awareness. So what if you find all of this really boring? You might need to think about your future! If business and financial news does not fascinate you, then it is likely that you will struggle to persuade graduate recruiters that a City or finance career is for you. Why are you planning this sort of career? Working in financial institutions and in the City might make you very miserable.  It could be time to book an appointment to talk to your careers consultant about other alternatives. City Career Series publishes guides and tips to help you to  build the  commercial  awareness required for City interviews and internships. More information is available at:  Facebook.com/citycareerseries.

7 Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

3 Reasons Why Personal Branding Is A 24/7 Job - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career It is no secret personal branding is a constant job requiring updating, rejuvenating, fine-tuning, and renovation. However, it can be confusing as to why it needs so much work. There are many aspects that play into your brand, and they require you to work around the clock. Richard Branson, entrepreneur and CEO founder of Virgin Group, gives some important advice, “branding demands commitment; commitment to continual re-invention; striking chords with people to stir their emotions; and commitment to imagination. It is easy to be cynical about such things, much harder to be successful” according to Jorgen Sundberg. Here are some reasons why personal branding is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week job: Not only does it matter what you say, but what you do as well. While your personal brand may consist of blogs, social networks, and other various content online, it also matters what you do in-person. This includes: what you wear, how you talk, your personality, and your behavior. It is important for you to recognize no matter what you’re doing or saying, you are upholding your personal brand. Your audience is always watching, and they’re the ones who matter. Many people believe personal branding is all about yourself, but realistically, it is all about your audience. These are the people you want to recognize you, whether it is for your career or something else. A personal brand is a promise, and your audience will watch to make sure you maintain it. This is why it is important to recognize how you are perceived, so you can be sure to always remain up-to-date with your image. It is important to be consistent, yet flexible. While one of the hardest parts of personal branding is remaining consistent, it is equally as important to stay flexible. Times are always changing, so you don’t want to fall behind. Take the internet for example; so much has changed in the last 10 years. Many companies have had to adapt the way they market and advertise due to the Internet â€" it should be the same for your personal brand. Remember not to be too flexible though, because you don’t want someone to convince you to change your brand completely. Why do you believe personal branding is a 24/7 job? What else would you add to this list? Author: Heather R. Huhman  is a career expert, experienced hiring manager, and founder president of  Come Recommended, a content marketing and digital PR consultancy for organizations with products that target job seekers and/or employers. She is also the author of Lies, Damned Lies Internships  (2011),  #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), and writes career and recruiting advice for numerous outlets.

Why Should You Consider the Best Online Resume Writing Services in Vancouver?

Why Should You Consider the Best Online Resume Writing Services in Vancouver?Why should you consider the best online resume writing services Vancouver? Of course, it is just like anywhere else, if you have the right kind of skills and have a talent, you can certainly get a job as a writer. But what makes a writer to be good at writing a resume? That depends on many things.When you consider those, you would probably find that there are lots of people out there who have the right kind of writing skills but lack the way to put it into action. They lack the know-how that would be required to develop them and then to make them successful. That is why they need help from writers. For the same, they will pay some money to get that kind of knowledge.So the next question is why to consider the best online resume services in Vancouver? Well, for starters, you will find that there are many of them out there and that would make things easier for you. But this does not mean that you need to do ev erything in one go. You would just need to choose the best and the most affordable online resume writing services that could help you get a good start and help you with your training.These online resume services are good in helping you with your task because they are very professional and you can hire them with ease. They will help you choose the right kind of format that is best for your needs and for your situation. They would also help you to prepare the online application and explain the way you can fill in the details and provide information about yourself so that the employer gets it without any problem.The online resume services would help you to have the right kind of cover letter for your job application. They will provide you with the proper information about the job and would tell you how to write a cover letter for you. You can find them online as well as offline. So why should you consider the best online resume writing services Vancouver?First of all, it is an importan t part of the process. Since employers might have many things to consider, they might ask you to add additional details about yourself which is only possible when you include the right kind of information about yourself. Thus, the online resume services will help you accomplish this task.If you already have a good skill, it does not mean that you should not try to develop it. Many people already have the skills needed to write resumes and they do not really know how to develop these skills further. So the online resume services are going to help you by providing the materials and by explaining to you how to improve your skills and then to work on your abilities.In addition, these online resume services would help you determine the type of resume that will be useful for your needs. They also would explain how to put it together, how to fix spelling errors and other problems related to resumes. So why should you consider the best online resume writing services Vancouver?

Useful Uni Lessons That Will Prepare You For Working Life - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

Useful Uni Lessons That Will Prepare You For Working Life Regardless of the topic or subject, you choose to study at uni, the uni experience, in general, will help you massively later on in life. Of course, there are the benefits of living independently and all those lessons of being a grown-up, but the most beneficial parts of going to University are the transferable skills which you will develop and probably never forget which will be invaluable when it comes to starting your career and even interviewing for jobs. Time management When you enter the world of work, time management is essential; you have eight hours in the day to get your job done and just five days in the week, so you need to be able to prioritise and manage your workload. Going to University will teach you this without you even realising. Spending the first term all over the place and enjoying yourself a bit too much will show you very quickly that unless you learn to manage your time correctly, then you will miss deadlines or find yourself staying up all night to get work finished which is no fun for anyone and will not produce your best work. Organisation Similar time management, you will develop organisation skills which are essential when you enter the world of work. You will need to be able to handle the pressure of working on several tasks at the same time, which at uni, you will have to do as youll likely have several different modules. You might also have a part-time job youll need to go to too as well as hobbies and societies, and if you can juggle all these things effectively, youll get ahead in any career. Research As you enter the world of work, you will find that employers highly value people who can conduct proper research and find accurate and reliable information to use in projects and reports. At University youll be required to research a lot, so you will develop these skills quickly and in the future be a valuable member of the team. Networking This is an essential skill to have, and if you dont, then once you are working, youll soon notice that you feel a bit out of place. Its such a good skill to have to be able to chat with people you dont know, go to events and introduce yourself and find out about other people at the same time. At uni, youll have the opportunity to join groups and societies and doing this will massively help you in your future career. Building Relationships In A Team In your career therell always be people you dont necessarily get along with but you have to work with and through study group discussions, group projects and presentations, you will learn essential skills which will help in future to make a workplace meeting run more smoothly, build client relationships or improve colleague and office relations. Presenting Ideas In almost every job, you will probably have to do a presentation or write a report. At uni you will become a pro at disseminating ideas into an easily-digestible format, youll have experience making presentations to people, writing assignments and talking to a group of people. Reasoning Reasoning is another skill that you will develop without even knowing it because as you study, you have to evaluate a resource or researching a topic. Being able to weigh up the pros and cons of a project, client or product are invaluable in any workplace. Decision-Making Every assignment you do at uni is the result of hundreds of small decisions, including your choice of words, your argument and the resources you use. You wont even realise youre doing it, but youll be making important decisions constantly and learning from them too. This is an invaluable skill that in the workplace youll soon notice if people arent able to do it, as therell be a tonne of more significant workplace decisions to be made which you will be able to do with ease. Persuasion Persuasion skills are essential in many day-to-day workplace meetings and pitches for new business. You will naturally develop these skills as you build your case when writing essays and taking part in discussions. Overcoming Obstacles Youll inevitably encounter obstacles along the way as a student, perhaps a bad grade, a dull topic or confusion around a subject. It might seem hard at the time, but the skills you develop as you overcome each obstacle will be invaluable. Self-motivation At University you are required to do a lot of work in your own time, and off your own back, the ability to keep your passion and motivation going can be difficult, but a potential employer looking at your CV is sure to value this. Making The Most Of Opportunities Its vital that you can use your initiative in work and University, you will not have you hand-held and not always be told what to do. Its critical that youre on the ball and that youre making the most of everything thats offered to you. Whether its a SMARTY student SIM that youre entitled to for cheaper calls or its extracurricular activities that will help you in your course, showing that you make the most of opportunities that come your way to improve your work is a really great skill to have. Confidence As a student, you will grow in confidence, the more you conquer difficult topics and learn to express yourself in discussions and reports. This might not be something you can measure as a skill, but confidence will always be essential when youre going to interviews. Problem Solving From going to uni, youll be able to cite a number of problems you have had to overcome while you studied. Listening This is a skill often underappreciated, but as a student, you will develop your listening skills naturally as you listen to lectures or have one-on-one time with tutors and support. This is an excellent skill for managing others and working as part of a team.

Career Solvers Wins 3 TORI Awards

Career Solvers Wins 3 TORI Awards Each year Career Directors International (CDI) hosts a resume writing competition called the TORI Awards (Toast of the Resume Industry) where resume writers from around the world compete for first, second, and third place standing and a chance to prove their ability to write strategic, well-written, and well-designed resumes and cover letters.The competition is a great way for me as a writer to showcase my skills to the judges and its wonderful to receive an award, but my favorite aspect of the TORIs is that it keeps me on the top of my game and motivates me to explore new, creative, and exciting ways to position client achievements.The TORIs have helped make me a better resume writer. And the designation offers a promise of value to my clients and piece of mind that when they hire me to write their documents they are partnering with a writer who knows how to use multiple strategies to position them for success in their job search.This year, I picked up awards in three categories:1st Place, Best Sales and Marketing Resume1st Pace, Best Technical Resume3rd Place, Best Cover LetterI am happy to add these three new awards to the three I earned in last years competition and look forward to writing even better resumes in 2010 and beyond! Career Solvers Wins 3 TORI Awards Each year,  Career Directors International  hosts the  TORI  (Toast of the Resume Industry) international awards competition. This year, Career Solvers received five nominations and three 2nd place awards in the following categories:Best Executive ResumeBest Creative ResumeBest Cover Letter