Facebook for Executives

Facebook for Executives Its been a while since I helped write Im on Facebook Now What??? Jesse and I have been talking about getting a second edition out early next year, and Im excited to get a more current book out (although Jesse says the book is still quite relevant, which is cool). My mind has been in Facebook lately as I prepare a 90 minute presentation called FACEBOOK ESSENTIALS FOR EXECUTIVES: Meet the new Facebook.   You can sign up at the Experts Connection website (click the link above) Im really jazzed to share what Ive learned specifically, what we should be doing with Facebook as part of our social networking strategy. Facebook for Executives Its been a while since I helped write Im on Facebook Now What??? Jesse and I have been talking about getting a second edition out early next year, and Im excited to get a more current book out (although Jesse says the book is still quite relevant, which is cool). My mind has been in Facebook lately as I prepare a 90 minute presentation called FACEBOOK ESSENTIALS FOR EXECUTIVES: Meet the new Facebook.   You can sign up at the Experts Connection website (click the link above) Im really jazzed to share what Ive learned specifically, what we should be doing with Facebook as part of our social networking strategy.

5 Tips to Prepping Candidates for Interviews

5 Tips to Prepping Candidates for Interviews Even experienced recruiters can overlook the importance of fully preparing their candidates for interviews. As recruiters, we have an obligation to tell our candidates everything we know about the people and organisation. You must be prepared to tailor your advice to each individual because they may not know how to make their skills shine. This is your opportunity to pass on your professional expertise to secure your candidate the position they want. You will know that confident candidates make a lasting impression. So, by preparing your candidates as well as possible, you’ll help them to feel self-assured so that their experience can do the talking, rather than their nerves. Here are a few reminders to bear in mind: Give your candidate constructive criticism Before you put your candidate forward for any role, don’t be afraid to have a difficult conversation. Things like chewing gum; having phones on the table during interviews; looking scruffy, and having an unprofessional email address are all things you need bring up, if necessary. The conversations don’t have to be personal. Instead, frame these points so that your candidate feels as though they are a standard part of your due diligence process. Strengthen their weaknesses Candidates are likely to have some weaknesses â€" whether it be gaps in their working history or evidence of job-hopping on their CV â€" so ask them to think about how they can frame them positively. Perhaps they took some time out to travel so that they could gain some soft skills, which they can apply to the role they’re applying for. You should also prepare candidates to discuss their weaknesses and give examples of difficult situations that they’ve faced in previous roles. Give your candidate the tools they need to make an interviewer feel as though they have learned from these situations and are able to deal with adversity confidently, using their problem-solving skills. Set your candidate up to answer common questions Interviewers commonly ask candidates to talk about what they consider to be their biggest achievement. Request that your candidate writes up and memorises some of their biggest professional achievements and instances where they have added value to their employers in the past. Encourage them to think of achievements that are relevant to the role they are applying for so that the interviewer can see their potential for similar successes in their company. If you can glean the future direction of your client’s organisation from the briefing process, you could even ask your candidates to tailor their answers so that they highlight the skills that will help to achieve these long-term objectives. Prepare them for the interviewer So that your candidate has the best possible opportunity of securing the role, you should share everything with them that you know about the organisation â€" good and bad. This includes the personality of the people they’ll be interviewing with. You are likely to have met their future managers, so pass on your thoughts on what they are like. This will give the candidate a better idea of what to expect and help them to prepare answers that are more likely to appeal to these personality types. Doing so will also enable your candidate to make a qualified decision about whether they think they will thrive among these kinds of personalities. Talk them through the practicalities It may seem obvious but so many candidates risk their chance of securing a role by failing to prepare for their journey. When you have set the date, time and location of the interview, you might like to run through logistics like parking, train times or road closures to make the interview day as smooth as possible. If the interview is out of office hours, you may also have to prepare special instructions for when your candidates arrive. About the author: David Morel is the CEO/Founder of  Tiger Recruitment, one of London’s leading secretarial/administrative recruitment agencies. David founded Tiger in 2001 and has written extensively in the press and wider media advising both employers and job seekers on best recruitment practice.

Apply the Bathtub Curve to Your Career To Know When To Leave

Apply the Bathtub Curve to Your Career To Know When To Leave The bathtub curve is a term widely used in reliability engineering. Bathtub curve is mostly related to the lifecycle management of a product. However, I will flip it round and instead of a product, apply the bathtub curve to people’s career. And explain how you can find when is it  too soon or too late to leave. A bathtub curve is as below. In a product life cycle, there is decreasing failure rate as defective products are identified and discarded. Then the product reaches consumer and failure rate is more or less constant. Finally over time due to wear out issues, the product failure rate goes up. Applying the bathtub curve to your career When is it too soon to leave? When you join a new company or start in a new team, you can feel like you are not part of it or not interested in it. However you have to go over that phase because your mind is going through a changed environment and it can be stressful. Think about it this way, your brain has to work harder to not only do the work you know you can do, but also learn new names, remember new paths, understand new procedures and there is just so much to take in. You may feel you can’t handle it, but most of the times it takes some time to settle in. So remember, whenever you start in a new role or company, you are at the start of bathtub curve and your feeling of this is a failed move will reduce over time. Your career and constant failure rate After a few weeks you start feeling comfortable with your environment. Your brain has more power for useful stuff without having to work on remembering names, procedures etc. This is where you start thinking; glad you didn’t leave too soon. It doesn’t mean you will be happy with everything, failures will still happen. But I’s a up and down course, some days will be better than others. The constant failure rate phase is also the best time to try out activities that will help your career. Because you’ve been there for a while and people around you are more acceptable of you. At the same time you’ve not been there long enough to feel like a ‘part of the furniture’. Some people leave it too late in their time at a new organisation to try out things they always wanted to. Is it time to leave yet, you feel worn out Like I said right at the start, you shouldn’t leave too soon. But neither should you leave too late! Over time you may start feeling that you need something new. You feel the current job you are doing is mundane and you need a new challenge. It could be because over time your brain has become efficient at doing the same task for less power and you have the spare power to think you can do more. Of course, you can always do more! So, when this wear starts creeping in, it is time o seriously consider what is good for you and the business. No point staying at a place you are not adding value to. This is the increasing failure rate part of the curve. And it is same of our career. You are the best judge of knowing when to leave. Over to you now. Find out where you are on your career bath tub curve. And do like this post if you find it useful. Thanks. 12

6 Factors That Impact Your Credit Score

6 Factors That Impact Your Credit Score Did you know that a credit score (FICO) increase of a mere 50 points could save $400 or more each month on a $300,000 mortgage, resulting in a savings of $144,000 over a 30 year note? Take care of your credit and your credit will take care of you. 1. Limits. Allowing the balance on revolving accounts like credit cards to go over 50% of the limit will lower your score significantly. 2. Accuracy. Make sure that your credit card companies are reporting your credit cards limits. Some credit card companies sometimes try to hide their best customers identities from other credit card companies who troll the credit bureaus vast databases to prescreen consumers for card offers. By withholding the limit, any balance you have on the card reflects that you are over your limit. This can be extremely detrimental to your credit score and possibly drop it by as much as 60-70 points. Ouch! 3. Keep a credit line open. It does not matter what you did over two years ago. If you have had impeccable credit in the past, whatever the case may be, if falls out of your score within two years of the last reported date. 4. Order! The order of the history on your credit lines matters. Mortgage history, revolving history, then installment loans in that order have the biggest effect on your score. 5. Be on time. It takes two years for a late payment to drop out of your score. Try to pay your accounts on or before the due date to insure that no late payments are reported to the credit bureaus. 6. The past is history. If you have had collection problems in the past, some of the state collection agencies are prone to buy old collection items and report them as new debts. If this happens, the collection agency is in violation of the Fair Debt Reporting Act. The last active date has to be reported correctly as they can only report a bad debt for seven years from the last active date (meaning when money was exchanged). This can be detrimental to your credit score. Copyright FELA, Inc. 2009

Federal Resume Writing Tips To Get The Interview

Federal Resume Writing Tips To Get The InterviewFederal resume writing tips to get the interview can be as simple as following simple directions and following a set of instructions. The basics of creating a successful resume is very simple. However, there are some important areas that must be addressed before you begin writing your resume.The first thing you must do is to find out as much as you can about the position that you are applying for. It is extremely important that you find out as much as you can about the job. Remember, every time you apply for a job, your potential employer is looking at a resume for just that job.This means that they will spend a lot of time reviewing and looking at your resume for that job. In order to be prepared, they will make sure that you are properly equipped to answer the questions that will come up during the interview. Make sure that you prepare your resume for the exact job opening.The next thing you must do is to decide how to organize your i nformation. You want to be able to create a solid outline for yourself, so that it will be easy for you to follow. It will also be easy for you to pull your information together when you are ready to go back and edit your resume. Create a standard outline that you will follow throughout your resume.Now that you have created an outline, you must go through it and make sure that everything is completely organized. Once you see that your resume is organized and that you have included all of the required information, it is time to move on to the next step, which is creating your resume cover letter. If you want to get the interview, your resume is the first part of the job application process that you will need to focus on.Your resume will serve as a great introduction to you, your skills, and what you can bring to the company. You want to have a professional looking resume cover letter, so that your potential employer can see what you can bring to the table. Don't forget to take some t ime to read through your resume and see if you can identify any mistakes that you may have made in your resume.If you find that you have misspelled a word or spelled a term incorrectly, you want to make sure that you fix the mistakes in your resume to give your potential employer some peace of mind. By checking and editing your resume before sending it in, you will save yourself from the time and money of having to send it in for review. Just don't forget to print your resume and send it to yourself, so that you can ensure that you don't miss anything.There are many federal resume writing tips that you can use to make sure that you get the interview. These tips will help you ensure that you get the interview and apply for the job.

Career-boosting body language secrets - Sterling Career Concepts

Career-boosting body language secrets Career-boosting body language secrets Last week,  CareerOverview.com  posted a  great list of 50 body language secrets  broken down into sets of 10 related to  Job Interview, Business and Career, Relationships and Dating, Reading Body Language, and What Not To Do.  If I had a required reading list for job seekers, Id love to add this! Whether its during an employment interview or a business lunch, your body language is more important than you may think (especially if its something to which you dont give much thought). The list addresses how to behave during  interviews as well as in professional and personal situations, and  Id venture to say that even the points listed under Relationships and Dating apply equally well to office relationships and interactions with colleagues,  with the exception (for most of us!) of  #28: Learn Signs of Flirting. Its hard to narrow it down, but three of my favorites are: #3: Sit or stand with legs slightly apart. When you sit or stand with your legs slightly apart, this gives the impression that you are self-confident. #26: Mirroring. Mirroring is an unconscious act that people do when they have a connection with each other. Pay attention the next time you are sitting down with a good friend or close family member. Do you see how when one of you leans in, the other does too, or when one of you picks up your drink, the other will also? This is mirroring and is an indication to the other person that you share a connection. #31: Going from open to closed. If someone starts out in a conversation with you in an open wayâ€"with arms relaxed, leaning forward slightly, and nodding in agreementâ€"to a more closed presence that may include folded arms, leaning away, and steepling fingers, then you have lost your audience.

How Much Should You Be Earning

How Much Should You Be Earning Do You Know How Much You Should Be Earning? Everyone wants to make more money. But do you really know how much you should be earning?   Do you think changing jobs will net you a pay increase? Maybe, maybe not. Before you begin applying  for any jobs, you will want to understand some things about todays hiring process and pitfalls that may limit your earning potential. Do You Know How Much You Should Be Earning? Your Value is Determined by Supply and Demand If the workforce is filled with people who do the same thing you do, then its easy for an employer to find the talent they are looking for. This tends to drive salaries down. One reason personal branding has become so important is that it gives you the power to differentiate yourself.  When you promote your unique skills and experiences, you look less like a cookie-cutter job seeker and more like a must-have resource to employers. When done well, your efforts could result in an increased perceived value and therefore, more money. Where To Start How much should someone with your experience be earning? Thats a great question but not necessarily an easy question to find an answer to. No one has the exact same background as you, so there are many variables to consider. You can start by searching job boards and look at the jobs that you are suited for. (Yes, some postings still list salary information). In other words, the job requires the same years of experience and you have almost all the skills required and have performed the duties listed. But you cant stop here. You will need to conduct research using several different sources. Using multiple resources will help corroborate the salary ranges. Research  Salaries Here  are several ways you can find out the salaries of jobs you are interested in. Ask people. No, you shouldnt ask someone how much money they make. But you can ask someone in a similar role what she thinks the average salary is for that type of job. Did you know that professional associations often conduct salary research and share that data as a benefit to its members? Now would be a good time to investigate membership. Dont forget to tap into the market knowledge third-party recruiters have. Companies often hire a third-party recruiter to fill an opening, which means these recruiters know salary information for the jobs theyve filled. Pick up the phone and call a recruiting agency and ask to speak with the recruiter who places people in your desired occupation. Employer review sites like Glassdoor can also shed some light on how much a company pays. Last, but not least, online salary calculators can give you a broad salary range. This is a quick and easy way to start your research, but always use multiple sources to verify the results. (HR and recruiters often say salary calculators run high).  Here are some salary calculators to check out. Know Your Range Based on your research and conversations, and taking your unique background into consideration, establish your salary range. The lowest number in your range is the amount you would accept if the right type of job was offered. The highest number is the amount you would love to earn. People often ask how large the range should be. As a general rule, keep your range fairly tight â€" the difference between your two numbers shouldnt be much more than $10,000. Know When Its Time To Talk Money You will be asked for your salary requirements during the online application process, so it is important to know your value at the beginning of your job search. Recruiters will also ask you during a phone screen what your salary expectations are. Instead of responding with your range, ask the recruiter what the company has budgeted for the position. It may feel uncomfortable to ask this question, but its important to know.  You dont want to under or overprice yourself for the position. You may need to modify your range to ensure it falls within what the company is offering. If you carefully analyzed the job description and youve done your due diligence researching salaries, your range should be close. However, if your number is far off, you may need to ask the recruiter more questions about the job responsibilities to make sure it is what you are looking for. Salary Isnt The Only Thing That Matters Before you even start searching for a new job, make a wishlist of all the job duties, benefits and perks that are important to you. Use this as a starting point for your search. Your challenge is to find a job with an employer that meets as many of your requirements as possible and compensates you for the value you deliver. Never try to negotiate these things before you have a verbal or written offer. This post originally appeared on US News World Report