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10 Jul

The new resume: infographics and all

Posted in hiring/staffing, job search on 10.07.11

Regular old resumes appear to be for the birds these days. According to Colorado Tech University, the resume you choose needs to include your social networking savvy as well as your standard experience. Their own infographic walks a resume writer through the necessary steps:

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25 Jun

What’s the top contributor to stress in the workplace?

Posted in Business, tips & tricks on 25.06.11

Image courtesy of institutechildrenslit.net

You ask most people if the cause of their stress is email and they’d say yes, but the cause is not so much the amount of email or the work it can lead to, but the culture that has been created around email.  According to Boston University Associate Professor Stine Grodal, email causes stress because of the following issues:

  • Time over volume: It isn’t necessarily the amount of email we receive that overwhelms us, but the time it takes to read and respond to dense, cryptic or outright incoherent messages.
  • Nebulous rules: Because emails don’t interrupt us like phone calls do, there are no rules around appropriate and inappropriate times to send emails. In this way, “email begins to blur the lines between work life and home life,” says Grodal. “It comes at all times of day — late at night and early in the morning.”
  • Response time: Further complicating the rules, most senders have come to expect a reply within two hours, explains Grodal. “That puts a lot of pressure on people to respond to email outside of the work day,” she adds.

By this reasoning, this stress can only continue as our business world relies more and more on emails and social networking and our personal lives adds text messaging and further social networking to the mix.

So, how do you manage that stress?

  • Start a new culture. Pick up the phone and you might be encouraging others to call you instead of emailing. Response time will be cut down and hearing the intonation in voices will also cut down on your time spent decoding those “cryptic” emails.
  • Schedule your emails. Read your emails and respond at set times of the day. Turn off the message alarms on your phone or Outlook/Entourage.
  • Don’t double messages. If you send an email, leave it at that. Don’t then instant message, text message and/ or call as a follow up. If you’re in a hurry, start with a phone call.
  • Avoid the cc. As a boss, I hate being cc’d on messages just to make a point. It acts as a silly threat; everybody knows why you’re doing the cc and everyone resents it. The risk is also that, if you continue to cc unnecessarily, the boss will ignore your more important messages.
  • Same as above for bcc, read receipts and flagged messages. Don’t cry wolf.
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18 Mar

Using Social Media to Get the Job You Want

Posted in career, jobs, networking, Recruiter, social network, social networking on 18.03.11

A lot of us already use social media for personal reasons, but it is also a good source for your professional world as well.  More and more recruiters are using these networks to find potential candidates for open positions.  These social media tools are a great way to save time while searching for a job.  Instead of spending hours on job sites, you can generate searches and find open jobs and reach out to recruiters who are more than willing to help you find a position that fits your skill set.

LinkedIn is the obvious one.  This is a great professional tool and can connect you with people all throughout your industry and recruiters in the industry.  You can read more about utilizing LinkedIn to its full potential on our LinkedIn blog.

Twitter is also a great way to stay in front of recruiters and employees of companies that you are interested in working for.  Follow them and make sure to interact with them!  Many companies and recruiters will post their job openings right on Twitter.  This is a great way to reach out to them directly and let them know you are interested.  It’s smart to follow people in the industry you are interested in and try to make as many connections as you can.  The more people you interact with, the better!  I have heard of stories where people have tweeted that they are looking for a specific job and they were offered an interview.  It is possible to land a job through interaction on this network!  

Facebook is more of a personal social media tool.  Most people utilize this for their personal relationships with their close friends and family.  There are a couple ways that you could use Facebook as a networking tool while looking for a job.  As your status update, you could put what positions you are interested in or information about the interviews that you are going on.  Perhaps this would make your friends and family aware that you are looking and if something that you might be interested in comes their way, they could forward it your way.  It would also be helpful to become a fan of the companies that you are interested in working for and also recruiting companies that are in your industry.  If you want to incorporate professionals with your Facebook account, you can create lists to determine what they can and cannot see.  This is important to help maintain a professional relationship.  

Another great idea is to create a video resume and upload it to YouTube.  Create a short video that describes the value that you will contribute to a given position and explain why you would be a great candidate.  Be creative and make sure you are outgoing and have a lively personality!  You can redo this as many times as you want before you upload the final version to YouTube, so make sure you are happy with it.

All of these social networks are great tools for meeting people, especially the right people.  You can’t just sit back and relax.  You need to take the initiative and show these companies or recruiters why they need to hire you!  Developing and building relationships with these important people is great for your network and is a great advantage for you and your future.  If you are interested in IT and engineering positions, make sure to check out our career section!  

Sources:

http://mashable.com/2009/01/05/job-search-secrets/#

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17 Mar

Using LinkedIn to Find Recruiters

Posted in career, hiring/staffing, jobs, networking, Recruiter, social network, social networking on 17.03.11

Source: http://bit.ly/fwl1NT

Recruiters are a great source for finding a job that will fit your need and skill set.  They help you through the interview process and try to help prepare you for your interviews.  The best thing about having a recruiter help you is that they have already done most of the leg work.  They know the right contacts for certain companies and have built relationships with the people that work there.  

Social networking is extremely important in today’s society.  It’s a good way to introduce yourself to large groups of people and also a great way for people to find you.  The more contacts you have, the better chances of you receiving a great job opportunity.  LinkedIn is one of the top social networks to use right now, because everyone is a professional and looking to make connections with other professionals.  It’s extremely successful in helping to build relationships and helping with your job search.  Most recruiters use this LinkedIn to find candidates with the right experience for the positions.  Since your profile is basically your resume, make sure it’s accurate and up to date!  That way recruiters can find you easily and reach out to you.  Recruiters can search the database of information for people with relevant skill sets and experience pertaining to specific job requirements.

Here’s what you need to do to get started:

1) Create a profile.  Include current and past employment, education, and any other information that details your skills or qualifications. 

2) Make sure to use keywords!  This way, you can be found when those keywords are searched for.

3) Post a picture.  Make sure it’s just you in the picture and professional looking.  People with profile pictures get more connections.

4) Build your network.  Connect with colleagues, friends, family, etc.  The more people you are connected to, the more opportunities will come your way.

5) Join groups of interest to you.  This is a great way to meet new people!

6) Get recommendations from previous colleagues and bosses.

You don’t have to wait for the recruiters to contact you.  Find out which company the recruiter is working for and visit their website.  Most of the time, jobs will be posted in their career section and you can check and see if there are any open positions that support your background.  If you find a position that you are interested in, try and reach out to the recruiters and let them help you get the job!

 

Sources:

http://mashable.com/2009/01/05/job-search-secrets/#

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/networking/a/linkedin.htm

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02 Jul

My Findings, Reported: LinkedIn following feature draws attention in groups

Posted in social network, social networking, Uncategorized on 02.07.10

A few weeks ago, I read an article on Mashable that broke down the revamps and additions to existing LinkedIn groups. I was very excited to read about the updates, but what caught my attention was something that actually wasn’t so new to these groups.

According to the article, “You may not know this, but the business social network actually gives you the option to ‘follow’ individuals if you want to see what they’re saying in different groups, but aren’t his or her connection.”

If you’ve read my previous post on LinkedIn, you already know that I am a huge fan of the site (yes, I really am). That being said, the idea of knowing I could be followed by a complete stranger – my every comment instantly shared with them at just the click of a button – made me a little uncomfortable. Could someone that I don’t even know really click on one follow button and instantly receive notifications for my every post within our shared groups? Without even giving me any sort of notification about their follow??

Some of you may be wondering, what is the follow button? Where can you find it? To give you a little breakdown: the follow feature was released in late 2009 and it allows users to quickly find the contributions made by fellow group members they “value.” When you post something on a LinkedIn group, a follow button is added right under your photo. If someone would like to keep track of your comments within your shared groups, they simply have to click that follow button. From there, they receive updates with your latest group comments and what’s more, they can sign up for e-mail notifications of the comments you post.

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13 May

If You Don’t Have a LinkedIn Account, Get One – Plus All the Features You Should Know About!

Posted in employment, hiring/staffing, job hunt, job search, social network, social networking on 13.05.10

I’ll admit it: I’m probably somewhere in the running to becoming LinkedIn’s #1 Fan. I’ve even been known to call LinkedIn “my new best friend” from time to time. Why? In the professional world, LinkedIn can open up a wide range of opportunities. Whether you want to make new connections or just get your name out there, LinkedIn seems to be the best place to do it.

Let me start by saying that there are over 65 MILLION people on LinkedIn. That number includes job seekers, recruiters, hiring managers, executives and regular ol’ joe schmoe’s like me and you. There are tons, and tons, AND TONS of amazing professional opportunities and resources available on LinkedIn.

So, I’ve written this blog post and I dedicate it to all of you out there who may not know, or understand, the power behind a LinkedIn account in your job search. Whether you’re new to the site or a self-proclaimed LinkedIn aficionado, this post is for you.

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