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A Good Cover Letter Starts With "You"
Tweet Share on Facebook March 11, 2009 Comment (6)That's right, "you." Or “Your.”
Why?
Because the most effective way to job hunt is to think and act from the perspective of your potential employer.
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How to Get a Job Using a Company's ORM
Tweet Share on Facebook March 10, 2009 Comment (2)Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing is an expert in advising companies on how to manage their online reputation (ORM: online reputation management).
He advises companies to monitor, optimize and engage about their brands, products, company and key executives. You can find out more about this topic here.
As far as the online reputation management discussion goes, you know much of it by know: Be careful what you say and send to others because "it" will always be "out there." Younger job seekers have been warned about their online reputation, how companies are Googling them, and sometimes withdrawing job offers.
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Objectives: Leave Them Off Your Resume
Tweet Share on Facebook March 9, 2009 Comment (31)Last week, when writing about things to leave off of your resume, I mentioned objective statements, which I believe don't belong on a resume. Some commenters wanted to know why.
I've never seen an objective that made me more interested in hiring a candidate, and I've seen plenty that actually hurt a candidate's chances. At best they're neutral, so why risk it?
Objectives usually fall in one of three categories:
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What Do You Say After You Say Hello?
Tweet Share on Facebook March 9, 2009 Comment (1)The title of this blog post comes from the 1960s self-help book written by Transactional Analysis (TA) pioneer Eric Berne.
For many of us, office small talk is the bane of our existence. Not only is empty conversation annoying, it contributes to the hamster-on-the-wheel monotony our offices seem so good at delivering.
Whether you love, hate, or are indifferent to these conversations, I'm curious to know what YOU say after "hello."
Many hallway conversations go like this:
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Tips on Giving Presentations
Tweet Share on Facebook March 6, 2009 Comment (1)Because you have hundreds of speeches, workshops, and presentations under your belt, a friend asks you for some quick tips. You take a deep breath and say:
“Know the audience’s needs, interests, hopes, and fears. Recognize that you may be speaking to more than one audience. Know the purpose of your talk and craft your presentation to achieve that goal. Dress appropriately and wear nothing that distracts. Strike the appropriate tone right from the beginning. Don’t swamp them with unnecessary information. Support generalizations with specific and realistic examples. If you talk about what is wanted also discuss what is not wanted. Keep a fast pace. Paint verbal pictures. Let them interrupt with questions at any point. Never postpone the answer. If you don’t know something, admit it. Have a theme to which all of the key points are attached and use that to segue from one area to another. Stick to plain language. Don’t talk down. Avoid jargon and unnecessary complexity. Keep visual aids to a minimum. Adjust your approach and tone to the size of the room and the audience. Understate your case. Make meaningful eye contact. Don’t play favorites with audience members. Deliver any humor in snippets and keep it always in good taste. Don’t hand out copies of PowerPoint slides and, if possible, avoid using PowerPoint entirely. Have short breaks hourly. Avoid repetitive gestures and expressions. Strive for clarity and credibility.
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How to Take Advantage of Your Negative Thoughts
Tweet Share on Facebook March 5, 2009 CommentEvery once in a while, I get a client whose default mode is to focus on everything that could possibly go wrong. The result is often immobilizing. They see so much danger, and so many ways that things can go south, that it becomes their de facto reality.
I don’t happen to subscribe to the school of 100 percent positive thought. To a certain extent, a view of the negative can be beneficial. Ignoring the potential for trouble is a great way to get blindsided while you sit with a big happy grin on your face.
But a focus on what could go wrong is one of those things that makes a great servant and a lousy master. As a master (i.e., when you let it define your perception of what’s possible), it creates a potential world of doom and gloom. And when your focus and expectation is almost exclusively on things going wrong, guess what you’re likely to get?
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Does Signing Your Performance Review Mean You Agree With It?
Tweet Share on Facebook March 5, 2009 Comment (12)My supervisor asked me to sign my performance evaluation after we had spent several minutes reviewing it together. I disagreed with an assessment over a project which affected my review, however, she asked me to sign the review and mentioned that "by signing the form, you are not agreeing with what was said." That does not sound right... am I wrong?
Also, am I allowed to disagree or make a notation that I disagree with the assessment since a copy will go to HR?
Performance appraisals are a matter of company policy, not law. Therefore, your company can have completely ineffective and bizarre policies if they chose to. However, most companies are fairly consistent in their approach. My answer will speak to what is generally the case--keep in mind that your company's policies may vary.
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7 Keys to Snagging a Job as a College Grad
Tweet Share on Facebook March 4, 2009 Comment (3)Graduating this spring? Not looking forward to job-hunting in the worst economy since the Great Depression?
Don’t despair. A college degree is still a good route to well-paying, stable work. Here are seven tips for finding a job in this economy:
1. Identify industries that are hiring. Health care, engineering, accounting, energy--these fields are still doing OK. Cast a wide net and go where the jobs are.
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Social Media: Time to Regain Control
Tweet Share on Facebook March 3, 2009 Comment (2)“Social” media is out of control in offices across the country. We spend too much time texting and E-mailing fringe friends frequently meaningless drivel about last night’s “The Bachelor” surprise ending. We don’t spend enough time making real connections or having real conversations.
In a world that increasingly suffers from a disease called “Hey Look At Me,” it is easy to choose one of the social media to reach out and touch (or bore) someone. It’s our version of personal spamming.
With E-mail spamming, I can delete it easily, or my spam filter catches most of it. Social media is different, it tricks you into thinking that work is being accomplished. Most of the time it isn’t. I know more about my friends by the quality of the jokes they send me, than by actually having a conversation. I miss that and I am sure you do, too.
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7 Things to Leave Off Your Resume
Tweet Share on Facebook March 2, 2009 Comment (53)What you omit from your resume can be just as important as what you include. Here are seven things to leave off:
- Your photo. Seriously. Stop. It's unprofessional and makes you look naive. Interestingly, more men do this than women. What is this about? (If anyone knows, please tell me. It freaks me out.)
- Subjective descriptions. Your resume is for experience and accomplishments only. It's not the place for subjective traits, like "great leadership skills" or "creative innovator." I ignore anything subjective that an applicant writes about herself, because so many people's self-assessments are wildly inaccurate and I don't yet know enough about the candidate to have any idea if hers is reliable or not.
