I wish I were a marketer! Id blog about.

I wish I were a marketer! Id blog about…. A few posts ago I talked about creating a personal brand or identity through your blog. I gave the example of the marketing communications specialist that could really put this into practice. Since then Ive come across two marketing things (if I were a marketer Id know what these were called) that I thought were awesome! If I were a marketing communications expert Id create two separate blogs on each of these: Thing 1: There is a running shoe store in American Fork (for local flavor, you can pronounce it fark), Utah that used to be called Hoppers. Pretty cute, I thought. The building is small but on a great intersection, with tons of cars passing all day long. Their old wooden sign was well worn, and I figured that Hoppers had been there for a long time. I drove by yesterday (I havent been down there for about 6 months) and I saw they changed the name to 26.2. At first I was thinking radio station but right away I got it marathon!! Awesome! This is who they are hoppers is fun and cute, 26.2 is all about bragging rights. Very clever! Thing 2: I was gassing up in downtown Salt Lake at a 7-11 and the big ad on top of the gas thing (maybe I use this word too much) said Free car with purchase of every slurpee and then right below that it said something like just kidding. Now that we have your attention blah blah blah. I loved it! Its amazing how you have to put those lame warning signs on things like blow dryers and lawn mowers (like, dont operate in your living room or something dumb like that), but these guys can basically get you all excited about winning a free car. and it works! I remember that stuff, which is what the marketers want. Okay, so now Ive proven Im not a MarCom expert. Back to my point these two things right here would be great to pick apart. It would be two weeks worth of blogging (one per week? Is that enough?) Imagine doing this for 10 or 20 weeks. And then going to a job interview, and anyone that interviews you has read your blog. Allowing them to peek into your brain like this could be more powerful than a shiny resume, or acing the interview. They can get substance and really tap into you! Can you see how developing this type of personal brand could be so potent! As long as you do it the right way you will only be increasing your job security for years to come, as you develop yourself as an expert. Here are two examples of bloggers that have been successful to this end (if you are serious about doing this, go through their blogs and try and pick out things that have made them successful note this is different than bloggers that are just blogging about their job search process, which is okay, but you are not necessarily building a personal brand): Russ PR Expert good job Russ! Joel Cheesmans blog has given him credibility as an expert, and look what it has done to his consulting business! This is what Im talking about. BTW, here is a new job board from Joel: http://www.ucheez.com/addsite/share.php Update (October 14, 2006) this post gets 99% of my spam comments so Im turning off comments FOR THIS POST ONLY.   If you want to discuss it shoot me an e-mail (go to the contact us page on JibberJobber). I wish I were a marketer! Id blog about…. A few posts ago I talked about creating a personal brand or identity through your blog. I gave the example of the marketing communications specialist that could really put this into practice. Since then Ive come across two marketing things (if I were a marketer Id know what these were called) that I thought were awesome! If I were a marketing communications expert Id create two separate blogs on each of these: Thing 1: There is a running shoe store in American Fork (for local flavor, you can pronounce it fark), Utah that used to be called Hoppers. Pretty cute, I thought. The building is small but on a great intersection, with tons of cars passing all day long. Their old wooden sign was well worn, and I figured that Hoppers had been there for a long time. I drove by yesterday (I havent been down there for about 6 months) and I saw they changed the name to 26.2. At first I was thinking radio station but right away I got it marathon!! Awesome! This is who they are hoppers is fun and cute, 26.2 is all about bragging rights. Very clever! Thing 2: I was gassing up in downtown Salt Lake at a 7-11 and the big ad on top of the gas thing (maybe I use this word too much) said Free car with purchase of every slurpee and then right below that it said something like just kidding. Now that we have your attention blah blah blah. I loved it! Its amazing how you have to put those lame warning signs on things like blow dryers and lawn mowers (like, dont operate in your living room or something dumb like that), but these guys can basically get you all excited about winning a free car. and it works! I remember that stuff, which is what the marketers want. Okay, so now Ive proven Im not a MarCom expert. Back to my point these two things right here would be great to pick apart. It would be two weeks worth of blogging (one per week? Is that enough?) Imagine doing this for 10 or 20 weeks. And then going to a job interview, and anyone that interviews you has read your blog. Allowing them to peek into your brain like this could be more powerful than a shiny resume, or acing the interview. They can get substance and really tap into you! Can you see how developing this type of personal brand could be so potent! As long as you do it the right way you will only be increasing your job security for years to come, as you develop yourself as an expert. Here are two examples of bloggers that have been successful to this end (if you are serious about doing this, go through their blogs and try and pick out things that have made them successful note this is different than bloggers that are just blogging about their job search process, which is okay, but you are not necessarily building a personal brand): Russ PR Expert good job Russ! Joel Cheesmans blog has given him credibility as an expert, and look what it has done to his consulting business! This is what Im talking about. BTW, here is a new job board from Joel: http://www.ucheez.com/addsite/share.php Update (October 14, 2006) this post gets 99% of my spam comments so Im turning off comments FOR THIS POST ONLY.   If you want to discuss it shoot me an e-mail (go to the contact us page on JibberJobber).Â

How These LinkedIn Strategies Can Help Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How These LinkedIn Strategies Can Help Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career One of the best ways to build a personal brand is through increased visibility online. The most effective method to achieve this is to create compelling content that is shared on social media. LinkedIn is a prominent place to be for professionals, and allows for your articles to get more exposure. With consistent quality and focus, a personal brand can work toward becoming an influencer in their niche. Although this is not an overnight process, it is attainable, and can connect you with top level professionals in your industry. In what ways can you effectively create content to build your brand? One way is directly on LinkedIn, where your articles can open the doors for an invitation to publish. But you do not have to wait for an invitation with long-form publishing on LinkedIn, which can be shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus. Being an active contributor on LinkedIn will help your personal brand establish itself as an authority. How to be a LinkedIn Influencer Here are several ways you can start building your influence there. • Be an active content producer Creating a blog post is not enough to build your personal brand. Publishing on platforms like LinkedIn allows for more exposure and builds trust in your community. Try the long-form publishing platform out to provide your audience with great ideas. • Create updates If you are not ready for the publishing arena on LinkedIn yet, you can get started by just sharing your blog posts, quotes, ideas, or content from other great blogs. Actively engage and comment on other posts to draw others to your brand. • Share news with LinkedIn Pulse A great way to get your LinkedIn content in front of more readers is through mobile publishing. Pulse allows you to showcase your latest ‘news’ on mobile devices, and is easy to apply through the Pulse Publisher Feed Onboarding Form on LinkedIn. As social media and LinkedIn in particular continue to grow and change, it is more important than ever to tap into all the great features that are offered to make your personal brand stand out as an influencer in your niche.

8 Tips for Improving Employee Wellbeing #MondayMotivation

8 Tips for Improving Employee Wellbeing #MondayMotivation One of the number one factors  that effects employees productivity in the workplace is their wellbeing. If employees are not taking care of themselves, and managers are not taking care of their employees, productivity has proven to decline. Workplace wellbeing  can be affected by all aspects of working life including working environment and even the workplace culture. So what measures can you take to make sure your employees are looking after their wellbeing? Ive listed my top 10 ways below: 1) Exercise: Exercise is very important for many aspects of life, including work! As well as getting the blood pumping and getting people energised, its also proven to keep employees more focused during the working day. Why not supply employees with a membership to a local gym or invest in some gym equipment? 2) Lunch breaks: Giving employees a proper lunch break is a very important way to improve wellbeing. It improves concentration for the rest of the day, improves their attention span and has been proven to increase creativity. 3) Relax with colleagues: Improving relationships between employees can really boost office morale. Why not set up office socials or finish early on a Friday to relax with some beers? Getting to know employees will improve wellbeing in the workplace hugely. 4) Water water water: Provide water for your employees. Staying hydrated is not only important for health reason but it also is fantastic for keeping  employees working to their full potential. 5) Training courses: Providing opportunities for growth is a huge aspect of creating a great atmosphere in the workplace. Why not set up workshops, training sessions or even mini afternoon sessions for your employees. Not only will they appreciate it but youll also have a more thriving and motivated team. 6) Provide good chairs: This may seem like a bit of an obvious point, but its important to provide the right chairs in your office. Using the wrong chair can not inly be annoying and uncomfortable, but it can also create long-term damage if used for a  prolonged amount of time. 7)  Communicate: Theres nothing worse than a manager who never talks to you face-to-face and only communicates with you via email. Make sure you take time to engage with your employees in real-life, rather than just relying on email or messaging apps. 8)  Holidays: Taking holidays is an important part of employee wellbeing. Always be generous with holiday allowance to ensure your employees take a proper break from work. Why not take a leaf from Bransons book and allow employees as much holiday leave as they want? It could work wonders for your employees wellbeing! Have you got any other tips for improving employee wellbeing? Tweet us at @UndercoverRec

3 Ways Being a Bookworm Translates to Career Success - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

3 Ways Being a Bookworm Translates to Career Success - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Reading may have traditionally been seen as one of life’s great pleasures, but in the age of smartphones, game consoles and Netflix, amusing oneself with blocks of unmoving text has become increasingly unappealing. Amongst American adults, 1 in 4 read no books at all. But books are important. They fire our imagination and immerse us in new worlds. They make us happier, they make us healthier, and they can even be the key to career success!   Reading Improves Your Communication Skills Being able to express yourself clearly, correctly and coherently are crucial business skills. Whether you’re presenting an idea to your team, pitching the company to a client or pushing your boss for a promotion, what you say is only half the battle: how you say it matters too. The more articulate you are, the more convincing listeners will find you. Similarly, poorly written emails, reports and resumes will make you appear incompetent. Reading makes us more articulate by increasing our vocabulary: books contain 50% more rare words than either television or conversation. When we are exposed to new words and sentence structures in books, we learn how to use them in real life. Indeed, an estimated 5-15% of all the words we know we learned from books. Just as reading books can help us express ourselves better in our native tongue, reading foreign-language books can help us learn a new one. Being bilingual boosts your salary by an average of 2%, translating into an extra $67,000 over your working lifetime. Reading Boosts Your Brain Power The better our brain is operating, the better we work. But our brain, like our muscles, is easily tired out. Everything from age to a bad night’s sleep can slow it down considerably. Reading books, however, is like adding oil to a rusty machine; it confers a number of mental benefits that has the effect of getting our cogitative processes up and running again. Every sentence we read contains a lot of information, which means that reading requires the use of multiple parts of our brain. The more our brain is used, the stronger it gets. That’s why frequent readers have a better memory and are better analytical thinkers. Moreover, just as heavier weights build bigger muscles, more complicated texts have bigger brain-boosting effects than simpler stories. Time to dig out your Shakespeare! Moreover, these neurological benefits of reading last long after the book is closed. People who read throughout their life are rewarded with healthy brains in old age. Without books, your cognitive decline is likely to be 48% faster than average.   Reading Improves Your Working Relationships Whether you’re a lowly intern or the CEO, being able to work well with colleagues is a crucial component of professional success. High levels of emotional intelligence and empathy are two traits that allow you to relate to other people in a way that is highly conducive to good management or teamwork. Both traits are developed by reading books. Fictional novels transport us into the minds and situations of characters who are completely different from ourselves, and makes us empathize with them. In doing so, books teach us to tolerate, accept and understand difference in the real world. In the workplace, this helps diverse teams work well together, and dampens the potential for personality clashes between colleagues. A good book makes us feel every emotion under the sun. A side effect of this is that we become more astute at discerning the emotions of others. In short, reading books makes us better at reading people. That has numerous beneficial applications in the world, from clinching deals with clients to providing the managerial support that will turn a mediocre employee into an outstanding one. A good workplace is one in which supervisors motivate and encourage employees, and colleagues create a supportive and collaborative atmosphere. Bosses who wish to foster this sort of culture could do a lot worse than installing an on-site library. Beth Leslie writes graduate careers advice for Inspiring Interns, a graduate recruitment agency. Check out their website to see which internships and graduate jobs are currently available. Or, if you’re looking to hire an intern, have a look at their innovative Video CVs.

8 Best Practices for Managing a Remote Team CareerMetis.com

8 Best Practices for Managing a Remote Team Source â€" DepositPhotos.comAs the desire for flexible scheduling and remote work becomes increasingly widespread, employers must adapt to remain competitive.With 4.3 million employeesnow working from home at least half of the time, the workforce is changing and both employees and management are feeling the effects. While off-site work requires a certain level of personal responsibility, it is also management’s duty to properly lead these employees.To keep you and your team at peak productivity, regardless of location, we’re sharing a few management best practices.1) Know your employeesevalevalLearning remote workers’ habits and preferences can be difficult when you aren’t given the opportunity to observe and interact with them in the office. However, regardless of location, it’s important to know your team in order to properly manage them.Take the initiative to proactively learn each of your remote employees work styles, and how often they like to communicate. Take the tim e to learn at least a couple personal facts. Ask about their families, hobbies and their hometown to demonstrate your interest in who they are as a person. This also offers you better insight into what motivates them as an employee. Maintaining good relationships can also contribute to employee’s desire to work for your company long term.2) Foster engagementKeeping remote employees engaged is a challenge for all remote team managers. When not physically present in an office, it’s easy for employees to feel cut off from the day-to-day “happenings” of the business and removed from company goals and relationships.Not only is this damaging to an employee’s productivity and feelings towards their role. As a manager, it’s your responsibility to engage these members of your team. Keep them motivated and satisfied in their position.A few best practices include:Cultivate relationships:Gallup research has found that having close friendships at work can boost engagement. For remote workers these relationships are not only more critical to have, but more difficult to build. Organizing opportunities for remote employees to get to know their colleagues outside working hours can help create a sense of inclusion.Encourage collaboration: Remote employees miss out on the spontaneous conversations and collaborations that occur simply from being in proximity of their coworkers. To ensure everyone gets real-time access into project insights and status changes, make collaboration software part of all employees regular routines.Stay connected: There are several technology tools to help improve company culture keep your remote employees in the loop. Creating a dedicated space to make special announcements like birthdays, company achievements, new hires, and employee recognition can help foster a stronger sense of community amongst employees.3) Check in regularlyRemote workers desire the same level of attention as any in-office employee so it’s important to organize regu lar check-ins. Engage employees at a set time each morning through a quick instant message chat and organize regularly scheduled face-to-face meetings. These can be either weekly, monthly or quarterly depending on the nature of your business.Checking in with remote employees on a regular basis whether it be about what they’re working on in a given week, or an on-going mentorship program, helps employees feel connected to your organization, the work they’re delivering, as well as a sense of inclusion within your team.evalAdditionally, because you can’t monitor remote employees’ daily behavior at work it can be easy to miss when an employee is losing engagement or struggling to produce. Regular check-ins can help prevent any issues growing into bigger problems.Decide on a type of communication that best meets you and your employees needs and preferences.Email: The classic communication tool is ideal for sharing documents and company wide information.Instant messaging: Google H angouts and Slack are great options for when you need real-time communication as well as more casual, relationship building conversations.Video chat: When you can’t get organize an actual in-person meeting, video-chat is the next best thing. Allowing you and your team to communicate face-to-face creates a sense of inclusion and facilitates more honest, engaging conversations as you can better identify each other emotional reaction.4) Monitor productivityOne of the major perks of remote work is the flexible scheduling, but as a manager, it’s important to make sure this freedom is handled responsibly by your employees.Communicate with your remote team on their preferred work schedules and which hours you expect them to be available. This can help avoid any miscommunication or lapses in productivity due to employees not being able to connect with one another. Utilizing instant messaging tool’s and features can also aid in monitoring remote employees availability. Green light or â €œactive now” indicators show when someone is working and should be able to respond to messages.evalAside from just being online, some companies care to know how long employees are spending on individual tasks. Project management tools and time tracking software can offer insight into what your remote and in-office employees are working on throughout the day.While you don’t want to hamper remote employees’ independence by micromanaging, keeping tabs on their activity can help you better understand their strengths, weaknesses and working styles which you can build upon for future assignments.A recommended best practice for monitoring remote employees productivity and avoiding any misunderstandings is to set company-wide expectations early and clearly.All employees should have a clear understanding on what is to be expected of them in regards to:Work hoursAvailabilityCommunication toolsTimely MeetingsKey projects and deadlinesEmail responsiveness eval5) Organize in-person meet u psAs useful as communication tools are, nothing beats a little face-to-face time. Establish a way to get remote employees in-person at least once a year depending on your resources. Providing an opportunity for employees to mingle and experience your office can help build rapport between co-workers and strengthen remote workers connection to your company.If your budget allows for it, organizing company retreats is a perfect opportunity to get your whole team together. The energy, bonding and proactive conversations that come out of all-inclusive company events can be incredibly motivating to your team and help propel your employees in working towards a common vision.6) Keep an eye out for burnoutPutting in extra hours as a remote worker can easily become a habit if employees don’t structure their day around designated work hours and are constantly connected to technology. After a period of time this behavior can lead to burnout and potential issues with their quality of work and o verall health.Take note of your remote employees timesheet patterns and encourage the use of PTO and healthy work-life balance.7)Send swagEveryone likes free swag and remote employees are just as proud to work for your company as your local team. If you’re offering any company branded items like T-shirts, jackets, mugs or water bottles, remember to include remote workers.evalThey’ll feel more connected to your team and you’ll gain some company promotion outside your home city. If supplies allow, send a few extra pieces for remote employees family members to rock as well!8)Consider promotions Remote employees can often be overlooked for promotions in comparison to their in-office colleagues. Regardless of the quality of work remote employees produce, research showsthat remote workers are less likely to be promoted.However, discounting remote workers for promotions because of their geographic location could lead to a missed opportunity for improving your team. Even if a position requires more in-office time, give your remote candidates a chance to consider that change before discounting them.Leading a remote team will always come with it’s unique challenges. We hope this article helps you streamline your management process and smooth out the inevitable bumps that come along with it. Let us know in the comments if you have any other recommended tips and tricks for making the most of remote work!

Job Seeker Integrity It Matters - Hire Imaging

Job Seeker Integrity It Matters - Hire Imaging Nice guys do not always finish last. Your integrity influences hiring decisions. The Corporate Executive Board in Arlington, Virginia recently surveyed 500,000 employees in over 85 countries. The study found that companies identified as having high-integrity cultures are 67 percent less likely to observe significant instances of misconduct, such as accounting irregularities and insider trading, than companies with low-integrity cultures. What does this mean to the job seeker? Workplace Integrity: Companies want it! New York Times columnist Adam Bryant interviewed more than 70 CEOs and other leaders in his book, The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed. Bryant wanted to find what he calls five essentials for success; qualities that most leaders share and look for in people they hire. Legendary investor and philanthropist Warren Buffet’s top priority in hiring was “people with integrity”. It ranked high with others as well. There was a time when a job candidate’s integrity was taken at face value without confirmation. Times have changed. Employers are asking retained search firms to be more careful and more thorough in conducting reference checks and background investigations. Consequently, Cornerstone International Group, a global consortium of more than 100 boutique executive search firms, added an entire division devoted to background checks, including a full-service “Private Eye” company. Many companies use pre-employment assessments to gauge a candidate’s trustworthiness and integrity. Workplace Integrity: It’s a day-to-day thing As defined, integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcomes. In ethics, it is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness of one’s actionsâ€"the opposite of hypocrisy. Who you are deep inside is evidenced by what you do on a daily basis. It’s about following through on your word, being above reproach and honorable with your actions. This creates trust, respect and professionalism. It does not matter whether you are the night custodian or the CEO; living with workplace integrity impacts not only your long-term professional development; it also enhances the overall company cultureâ€"it’s a domino effect! Integrity: How to show you’re a candidate who has it Throughout your job search, how do you convey the integrity that you and employers valueâ€"and people in general admire? Resumes and career traditional and online communications. Don’t embellish your skill sets, experience or credentials. This will come back to bite you if hired. And even before that, you might regret it. Today’s background checks are thorough; false or inconsistent information will remove you from the pool of candidates. Do emphasize any background that highlights your integrity. Weave integrity into your networking. Keep your word. If you say you will follow up, do it. Be accountable for everything you say. Don’t take advantage of networking relationships. Pull your weight. Give back to those who try and help youâ€"every chance you get. Show appreciation and thank people. Tell it in your stories. Showcase integrity in your interviews. Be prepared for behavioral questions designed to reveal your character. Have success stories ready to show how you solved problems and met challenges with high integrity. Show it holistically. Be up front with recruiters on what you want in salary, job and employer. Don’t waste their time with an “I’ll take anything” approach. Similarly, don’t apply for jobs you’re not qualified for. There are people behind the systems, trying to hire the best fit. Respect their time (and your own). Never, never, never say anything negative about past employers or contacts. Negativity has no place   in the job search. Period. One of my favorite stories of integrity is about Babe Zaharias, a champion amateur golfer in the 1932 Olympics (later professional). She once penalized herself two strokes when she realized she accidentally played the wrong ball. “Why did you do it?” asked a friend. “No one saw you. No one would have known the difference.” “I would have known,” answered Babe. As a job seeker and candidate, your integrity matters 24/7. It extends above honesty. It means doing the right thing regardless of circumstances or consequences. It means doing the right thing even if no one is looking.

Free Resume Templates For Resume Writing Service

Free Resume Templates For Resume Writing ServiceIt is never too late to start looking for free resume templates for resume writing service. They are provided free of cost so that people who are not familiar with the job market can always get all the knowledge that they need from them in terms of resumes.These services are usually provided by professional agencies that are able to provide all kinds of useful data to those who are seeking for their help. These websites also give step by step guides that will guide the person through the whole process of applying for a job.These services allow you to get all the information and resources that you need. All you have to do is to fill up the forms that you receive on your screen. If you submit these forms then you can expect the same to be filled and submitted for you.So far there has been no such thing as a free resume templates for resume writing service. However, there are hundreds of free samples that will give you a good idea of what to do with your resume. However, there are just few genuine ones that you should try to look out for.If you want to have the best one then you should spend some time looking for a free sample of resumes. In fact, you can get access to some samples from the providers so that you will not waste your time. These samples can come in handy when you are trying to decide which template is best for you.Apart from this, there are also different styles in which the free samples are presented. As such, you can pick any style that you feel fits you. You can do the research to know what each one is about.If you take the free sample then you will also be able to know the basic structure of the resume. If you have prepared a sample then it is only a matter of time before you know how to create the same.There are many who don't even know that they are good resume writer because they always take these free samples for granted. However, if you take the free sample then you will always be able to meet the requirements of getting a job.