YOU are your most valuable asset!

A great-looking resume filled with impressive-sounding academic achievements and internships at Fortune companies can go a long way to help you land the job you want, but what can take you even further and actually land that dream job? YOU!

In this day of high tech gadgets, sound bites, and online networking, youneed to promote yourself constantly, widely, and professionally to get any attention at all. The job market is crowded with your peers, last year's grads, and more seasoned workers than you can shake a stick at, all vying for the same jobs. So it's YOU that will make the difference in your job search--whether you're looking for a first job or changing careers. Your resume will get you only so far; to really stand out in the crowd, you must:

  • network often, network effectively, and network the right way;
  • improve your writing skills;
  • polish your presentation skills;
  • get yourself known and heard;
  • create your own personal brand.

Browse around the resources on this site and use the tools available to help you stand head and shoulders above the competition by being much more than a name on a piece of paper.

Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Protect your piece of cyberspace

It's absolutely mandatory to have an online presence these days, and Facebook and LinkedIn are excellent places to start. But don't limit yourself to a few profiles on social media sites. When you apply for a job, your potential future employer will want to know more about you and the Internet is the first place they'll go to find out. You must protect your good name and your reputation online by controlling (to the extent you can) what those employers will find.

The first step is to stake your claim on the web. The most important thing you need to do first, if you haven't already, is grab up at least one domain name: your name. The next most important domains to secure are alternate spellings and common misspellings of your name, so employers won't stumble upon someone else's information while looking for you.

It doesn't matter if you don't know exactly what you want to do with your domain at first. The best thing would be to set up a blog and use that to not only show off what you know, but link to your online profiles and other relevant information. Later, if you become a proficient writer or a sought-after speaker or expert in your field, you can change the site that your name domain will point to. The main thing is to get your piece of cyberspace protected and keep it protected throughout your career.

Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Get bloggin'!

Not everyone is cut out for public speaking (but you do still need to work on improving that crucial career skill). That's OK for now. One of the next-best things to getting yourself out in front of a live audience on a regular basis is to putyourself in front of a cyber audience: blog! Your own blog site can be a goldmine for your career. Here are some reasons to start blogging :

  • They're inexpensive;
  • They're easy to set up;
  • You don't need a webmaster or html skills;
  • You can easily customize what will appear on your blog site as well as their arrangement on the page;
  • They get much more attention from search engines (when their content is updated regularly);
  • They can include not only text but audio and video as well;
  • They can link to your resume, references, writing samples, helpful industry-specific links, audios and videos demonstrating your presentation skills, you name it;
  • They allow you to showcase any skills or knowledge you want in a way that's uniquely you.

  • You'll be learning more about blogging in future posts, but for now, why not start with a 14-Day Free Trial to see how easy this really is?

    • Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

    It's time to speak up!

    Are you one of those unfortunate people who didn't get any public speaking training in school? or are you one of those who shrunk to the back wall of the room, hoping not to get called on to make a presentation? If so...it's time to take this bull by the horns and get yourself ready to do some speaking!

    If you're searching for a job, hoping for a promotion, or want to make a career change, what's the best way to let your potential employer or your boss know how good you are? Show them! There are many ways to do that, but one of the best is to get out there and speak!

    Never spoken to a large group before? Look up your local Toastmasters group at www.Toastmasters.org and get involved. They offer instruction on how to improve your speaking performance as well as many opportunities to practice, from just a couple minutes to a full-length talk. These groups are great because there's no pressure on you to suddenly become a pro or be an expert..you might not even be speaking about your line of work. Then, again, you never know who else is there--you could end up with frosting on your cake by making a valuable business contact.

    Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

    It's not what you know, it's WHO you know

    In case you haven't heard about or stumbled upon The National Networker yet, this is a group you should definitely consider joining. Networking is absolutely crucial in today's job market.

    TNNW is a free, monthly, online publication that celebrates the life and times of professional networkers as well as the many organizations that support them.Subscribers from all over the globe read the publication for a straight, no-hype, no-nonsense, yet positive, approach to the world of networking. Whether you're looking for better networks to establish a better peer network, build your knowledge base, find others with similar interests, discover your next job, build a client base, or learn about best practices and trends in the networking industry, TNNW is the publication of choice worldwide.

    Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

    Create Your Personal Brand