Why The First Step is Hardest For Career Success

Why The First Step is Hardest For Career Success 52 When will you take the initiative to find a job? This is a guest post by Joey Trebif. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guest post guidelines. Every day we have a ton of ideas. Ways to improve how we store our pots and pans, maybe shave a few minutes off our daily commute or even how we could improve the terrible food they serve us on airplanes. We're all little idea machines, constantly innovating, improving our lives and the lives of our loved ones. You might walk down the street passing the local pizza shop and think “I can do a better job running this business” or “I could make tastier pizza”.eval Maybe the local hardware store has horrible customer service and you have ideas on how to vastly improve their business. The question is, why don't you take yourself up on the challenge?eval What's holding you back There are two reasons why we don't start that small business we always dreamed of, or create that killer product that improves thousands or even millions of lives. We're all a little lazy and we're afraid to fail. It's easy to say you'll start your project tomorrow and it's even easier to turn the TV on and say “I'll do it later”. Plus, we have the Internet! We could spend hours just reading Wikipedia or browsing Facebook. Why work now? That's understandable but we seem to forget how hard we worked to get to where we are. We use to go to school every day cramming tons of different things into our heads, and then we would come home and do homework. In between school and homework we might spend time with friends learning to socialize, argue and exchange ideas. We started as drooling babies and now look at us, we're reading ideas shared on the internet with a computer or mobile device we bought with money we earned working. Just getting here was a huge achievement and it was way harder than creating something out of our own ideas that could help the people we love. Doing something you're interested in is easy, in fact that's all we should spend our time doing! Of course, what about all that risk, right? We could fail, and what would everyone think of us? Maybe we waste months and achieve nothing, or even worse lose some of our savings! Instead, we sit at home watching TV, doing nothing but always wishing that we did. What we forget is that to get to where we are now, we've failed thousands of times. How long did it take you to learn to ride a bicycle, swim, even walk? Skinned knees, failed classes, it's the only way we learn. You have to fail, pick yourself back up, figure out what you did wrong and try again. If we never did that, we'd all still be drooling babies. Even better, we won't risk investing in ourselves but we'll easily throw our hard earned savings at some “great stock” or investment. Invest in yourself I've been writing on CareerAlley for about 4 years now and I've seen it all: how to look for jobs, how to structure your resume and so on. As with most things, we learn to accept our current reality and deal with the tools at hand. It takes someone who thinks outside the box to push the needle forward and build the next tool to simplify our lives, or in this case our job search. Recently a reader of mine reached out about his idea. Frustrated with the current state of the job hunt, he's creating a tool called Imprésumé to optimize it. He thinks we should spend less time tweaking margins, filling out endless application forms, tracking our job hunt or scouring Google for job ideas. He says computers should do those tedious tasks for us. I happen to agree, but more importantly I like the fact that he's attempting to create his own job in something that interests him. The thing is, the only way to achieve absolute failure is by giving up or not trying. You would be surprised how far some of the most popular products and services we use have deviated from their original path. Case in point, Twitter originally didn't support hashtags. Hashtags spawned organically from the community as a way to communicate ideas. The Twitter community actually asked Twitter to include a hashtag implementation in their service but they said no. Twitter originally thought this was “too nerdy” and that topics should be created through machine learning automatically and not organically though individual users. As a result, they didn't build it into their service. It was only after the hashtag's use hit critical mass did they listen to their users and build it into their product. You see, even a wildly successful company can make bad calls and mistakes. It's not a products flaws in which we base our decisions, it's vision and progress. If it were the reverse we would still be searching the internet with Yahoo. When Google launched they only had a fraction of the internet indexed as compared to Yahoo. Plus, who needs another search engine, right? All great things have to start somewhere. You may not create the next Facebook on the first try but as you fail you'll be able to learn what you're doing wrong and not make the same mistake next time! Plus, who knows where your idea may lead! Don't let the imperfections keep you from trying because then you'll never get to fail and learn how to succeed. Do you have an amazing idea that will create a new product and possibly new career for you? If so, what are you waiting for? Start innovating! Good luck in your search. About the Author Joey Trebif is a senior finance executive from the New York area who has extensive experience in job search and career advice. Joey blogs about career advice, job search advice and job search site reviews at CareerAlley and can be found on Twitter at @CareerAlley. This article is part of the Over $6000 in Prizes: It’s The 6th Annual JobMob Guest Blogging Contest, which was made possible thanks in large part to our sponsors: WebHostingBuzz is a reliable web hosting company with the servers hosted at multiple US and Europe locations and over 30,000 happy customers worldwide. Web SEO Analytics is one of the most complete innovative online marketing platforms providing pioneering SEO tools and SEM Software. If you want Joey Trebif to win, share this article with your friends. If you liked this article, you'll also enjoy Hard Time Choosing A Career? Try Them All, Like Sean Aiken.

Personal Branding Interview Nick Morgan - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Interview Nick Morgan - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Today, I spoke with Dr. Nick Morgan, who is one of America’s top communication theorists and coaches and author of a new book called Trust Me. Nick discusses how online and offline communication differs and how your mistakes are easily viewable online. He then tells you how to find your inner voice when communicating, a solution to when words and body language dont get along and tips on how to become a better communicator. How do online and offline communication skills differ? What do people need to be more conscious of online? The difference between online and offline communication skills is huge. There are 2 main issues to keep in mind. Online, youre missing a whole stream of information non-verbal communication, or body language that provides context, attitude, emotion, authenticity, charisma, and so on and that we read unconsciously when were in someones presence. Without that information, online we look to the words and emoticons to give us a bit of these things. So you need to be very aware of the tone youre projecting in what youre writing. Everyone has horror stories about misunderstood emails that were intended as jokes, for example, and that caused no end of problems. For applications like Facebook and other social media, the information you put up is usually visible for all to see and is available essentially forever. When 2 people are talking in person, a gesture comes and goes in a nanosecond. But a picture online of you doing something drunken and disorderly is there for potential employers to see for as long as the site is up. Trust and authenticity are big issues for all of us in person. They are much more fragile hard to establish and hard to keep online. Treat them with great care. How does one embrace their own personal speaking style? What if people have trouble finding their inner voice? As I explain in my book, Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, every communication is 2 conversations, the content and the body language. When the 2 are aligned, you can be an effective communicator. When theyre not aligned, people believe the non-verbal every time. So its essential to get clear on your own emotional attitudes toward what youre speaking about, because thats what is going to come out when you speak. You find your own personal speaking style by doing the hard work of looking deep within yourself, focusing on your emotional attitudes, and aligning them with what you want to say. If youre having trouble doing that, its usually because there is a mismatch between message and attitude. Thats the place to look to begin to solve the problem. What happens when words and body language are in conflict? Who wins and why? We all look to body language unconsciously to decide whether or not people are being real, passionate, and authentic, or the opposite of those things. We are all experts at unconsciously decoding body language. Were not very good at doing that consciously, but were unconscious experts. Recent brain research shows that we do this decoding nanoseconds before we have conscious thoughts about the other people So body language always wins. It happens first, its decoded first, and its far more powerful than words. Heres an example that will make it clear. Imagine a strange-looking person the next speaker shuffling up to the front of the room very slowly. Hes bent over, and doesnt make eye contact. When he finally gets to the front of the room, he speaks in a barely audible, high, nasal voice, saying, Im really glad to be here today. Which do you believe? Youre reaching for your Blackberry, right? Or heading for the exit? What is your 4-step communication process? You first have to get your body language to be open. You do this by focusing on your emotions, and imagining a scenario where you would be open say, talking to your spouse, your partner, or a close friend and then recapturing that body language for your speech. Thats step one. Step two is to connect to the audience. Once again, you do this by forming the intent to connect. You might imagine, for example, that your spouse is distracted and not hearing you. What would you do to get his or her attention? You might move closer, raise your voice, establish eye contact, even touch the other person on the arm. All of those gestures and actions, used appropriately, will help you connect. Third, you focus on the emotional attitude you have toward the content. And fourth, you focus on the audience how it is receiving your material. What I tell clients is to practice your speech at least 3 times, the first time focusing on being open, the second time on being connected, and the third time on your emotional connection to the material. Then, when youre ready to deliver it, you should have both the content and the body language down well enough to be able to pay attention with, say, 10 % of your brain, to the audience. Having a speaker that is capable of truly paying attention to the audience is very charismatic for that audience. Theres more to the process, but thats the high-level idea. What are your top 3 tips for being a better communicator when presenting to a large audience? Rehearse in the space. So many times I have seen speakers fail because they werent familiar with the room and didnt anticipate that the lights would be so bright, or the sound system is unfamiliar, or the shape of the room makes it hard to move, and so on. Know your material so well that you can focus on the audience. Joy in public speaking comes when you have the big Zen insight that it isnt about you, its about the audience. If they dont get it, no communication has happened. So let go of your own concerns and focus on the them. To be able to do that, you have to know your speech cold. When the audience gets to be about 500 or more people, slow down and keep it simple. Large audience want to participate in call and response with a speaker, and they want to have fun. Dont fight it. Let the audience do the work! - Dr. Nick Morgan is one of America’s top communication theorists and coaches. A passionate teacher, he is committed to helping people find clarity in their thinking and ideas â€" and then delivering them with panache. He has been commissioned by Fortune 50 companies to write for many CEOs and presidents. He has coached people to give Congressional testimony, to appear on the Today Show, and to take on the investment community. His latest book is Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, published in December 2008 by Jossey-Bass. His acclaimed book on public speaking, Working the Room: How to Move People to Action through Audience-Centered Speaking.

Gen X updates outdated work and family goals

Gen X updates outdated work and family goals Every generation revolutionizes something, and Generation X is revolutionizing the intersection of family and work. Theres a new emphasis on keeping families together over career aspirations, and its what makes me most proud to be a part of Gen X. Generation X knows that the belief that both parents in a family can have demanding, time-consuming careers outside the home is an antiquated one. Time has shown that it just doesnt work. Sure, girls can grow up to be anything, and boys can start companies and become millionaires. But theres a limitation that no one talks about: Two parents working more than 60 hours a week each is bad for the marriage and bad for the kids. Thanks to Gen X, the power-couple-as-parents setup will likely go down in history as just another terrible idea conceived by baby boomers. At this point, its clear that families are better off when one person takes care of the household full time. Statistics support this conclusion, and its also intuitive. The problem is that not many people want to stay at home full time. We already did that in a widespread way in the 1950s, and the cliche of the housewife who takes valium to cope exists for a reason: Staying at home with kids every day for 20 years isnt a first choice for most people. Today, 60 percent of mothers say they want part-time work, which means that when you account for women who want to work full time, only a small percentage of them want to stay home with kids all day. And nearly 70 percent of men say they would consider staying home, although men who succeed at staying at home usually have some other work or significant hobby on the side. So most people want to stay home with their kids part time and work part time. This isnt surprising, because work is easier than parenting its more peaceful and more intellectually stimulating, and it has a predictable, structured reward system. Also, its hard to get past the fact that society values work in business more than work at home; as wrong as this is, we all like to be valued in the society in which we live. Its natural, then, that people want to have some kind of work in their lives thats outside the home. Whats surprising is that there are people who still think that having two parents working 60-hour weeks is OK for children. To begin with, very few families have a real financial need for two parents to be working that much, and the majority of the families that do dont read Yahoo! Finance. So the couples who leave their kids with a caretaker for 10 hours a day are making a choice, and the strongest evidence that it isnt a great one for kids is that Gen Xers who didnt have both parents at home hated it so much that they dont want to do it to their own children. One indication of  how Generation X is revolutionizing family and work is in the language we use. In middle age, baby boomers came up with the terms yuppie and latchkey kid, while in the same time of life Gen X coined stay-at-home dad and shared care. And while Gen Xers have been labeled as slackers by workaholic media types, they actually value family and friends more than anything else. They wont work the extreme  hours boomers put in because theyve seen the impact of not taking care of family, and they want no part of it. Baby boomers divorced at a higher rate than any group in history, yet from 1970 to 1990 divorce decreased by almost half for people with college degrees. Gen X takes care of family at the expense of top-tier careers, and its paying off when it comes to keeping families together, Generation X has succeeded where baby boomers failed. What exactly is the payoff? Happiness. Nattavudh Powdthavee, an economist at the University of London who studies money and happiness, points out that earning a lot of money and maintaining intimate relationships both take a lot of time. So you have to decide where your time is best spent. Powdthavee shows how to calculate how much money you need to earn in order to replace the happiness from a close relationship. He concludes that for the same amount of time spent, you get more fulfillment from nurturing relationships than from earning money. Clearly, everyone in the family will be happier if one or both parents tones down their career aspirations and pays more attention to their personal life.

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese 7 Job Search Secrets You Must Know

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese 7 Job Search Secrets You Must Know When I interviewed Harvey Mackay recently about using selling techniques to help in a job search, I told him that he was giving away the top secrets of journalists, also. It's funny -- I never thought that journalists and salespeople use the same strategies to gain access to important people, but I guess it's true. Here's the story I did for Gannett/USAToday.com, and some of the secrets that will work whether you're salesman, a journalist or a job seeker...Harvey Mackay has been a salesman for a long time. He has bestselling books sharing his business advice and he heads a $100 million company. Hes in great demand as a business speaker, and has the ear of more than a few influential decision-makers. As the job market has worsened over the last year, Mackay has turned his sales abilities in a new direction teaching job seekers techniques to help sell themselves to employers. In his new book, Use Your Head to Get Your Foot in the Door: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You , (Portfolio, $25.95) Mackay reveals a number of strategies he says can get anyone a job. In fact, hes so sure his strategies will work that hes offering a refund on the book if you do not have a job in six months, he says. Its amazing that when people are looking for jobs they are such babes in the woods, Mackay says. When youre going for a job, youre selling yourself. Unfortunately, a lot of people dont have the first idea about what to do. Among his suggestions: Dont be the first interview. The strongest contenders for a job are often those interviewed last, because theyre recalled easier by hiring managers. Try to find out if anyone else has been interviewed when they call you for an appointment. If youre one of the first ones, tell a little white lie and come up with an excuse why you need to be interviewed later, Mackay says. Study while you wait. Check out the reception area to get a feel for the company culture. Are awards displayed for the companys softball team? You may be able to mention to the hiring manager how you are a great shortstop. Or, maybe you observe that people are quiet and reserved a hint about how you should behave when meeting others. Chat up the receptionist. These employees often are influential and can either get your call to the right person or not. Take note of the persons name, and listen for cues about hobbies or families so you can make a more personal connection. Remember, its not about you. During an interview, focus on what you can do for an employer. Do your research and then talk about ideas you have to help face industry or company challenges, or use search engines such as Pipl.com to find out more information about an interviewer. Remember, the sweetest sounds a person can hear is his own name, and a way to endear yourself to anyone is to compliment her on her work and the recognition shes received, he writes. Read upside down. When you enter an interviewers office, look around at books, photos or memorabilia that are displayed. This gives you an opening to start a conversation that makes you more memorable and likeable. Read the desk. Read the wall. Read upside down, Mackay says. Go the extra mile for the person interviewing you by taking an interest in them. Very few people are willing to do that. Interview the interviewer. While you dont want to ask about benefits or salary in an initial interview, hiring managers will favor those who come prepared with questions about the company. Successful companies, just like successful people, usually do not count modesty among their greatest virtues, and they not immune to skillful flattery, he writes. De-brief. As soon as you can upon leaving the interview, write down your impressions, thoughts, questions and ideas about those you met at the company. Note things such as th e difficult questions you were asked, what concerns the interviewer expressed about you or what you believe to be the jobs biggest advantage. This information will be critical for a second interview, and second interviews land jobs, he says.What are some other strategies job seekers should use?Social Bookmarking

How to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You Part IV - Career Pivot

How to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You â€" Part IV - Career Pivot How to Move Abroad Part IV By Neldahinojosa â€" Own work, GFDL, Link This is the 4th in the series of blog posts on how my wife and I will be moving abroad. You can find all of the blog posts and podcast episodes where I am chronicling our journey and the decision-making process on theHow to Move Abroad and Take Your Job With You Series Page. This blog post will be about the business side of moving to Mexico and a podcast episode I will publish next week about the personal side of the journey. When it publishes I will link to it in this post. Arrival We arrived in Riberas del Pillaron Saturday, June 23rd after a 3-day drive from Austin Texas to Riberas del Pillar. We are staying in an 800-square foot house that we are renting for $620 per month for 3 months. This is a little community between Ajijic and Chapala where Americans and Canadians live, i.e., it is an expat community. This is our 3rd trip to the North Shore of Lake Chapala for increasingly longer periods of time to get acclimated. In this blog post, I want to focus on the technology, financial and business issues that I am working to resolve. Let’s start with technology. Technology â€" Wireless Services I am a long-standingATT customer for my wireless provider. My first tech startup was acquired by Lucent, the former ATT equipment provider and I still get significant discounts on my service even though I left them in 2003. I currently have a 20GB data plan which also gives me free calling to and from Mexico. The only issue is I have to dial all telephone numbers from my iPhone 6S contact app. I enter the number into the contact app and dial from there. If I want to dial a number in Mexico I have to append 011 52 to the beginning just like I was making an International call to Mexico from the U.S. My clients, friends, and family can dial my ATT number and my phone rings like I was home. ATT has fairly good service in Mexico for calls. When I am in Chapla or Ajijic I connect to the Internet via ATT LTE service. However, Riberas del Pillas only has 3G service. It really depends on my location to determine the quality of the service I get. Technology â€" Internet The North Shore of Lake Chapala is only a short distance from Guadalajara Mexico, which is the 2nd largest city in Mexico. High-speed Internet is easily available in Guadalajara but not here. Most of the technology is very old and options are few. That is changing. Listen to the most recent episode At least one company is exploring laying fiber optic cables to Ajijic area. ATT is now offering unlimited Internet access for your home for a fixed price. It is nothing like the Google Fiber service I have back in Austin but it is getting better. As everyone will tell you, you have to be prepared for the worst. It is not unusual for electricity to go out for long periods and have the Internet go out for even longer periods. If I need to, I can go down the street to a coffee shop and use my ATT data plan and tether my MacBook Air to my iPhone. Financial This is a cash society. Only Walmart takes credit cards. Yes, there is a Walmart and it is a big one at that. It is not unusual to see an armored car pull up in front of a store and have well-armed guards get out. Believe me when I say they are well armed. There are a small number of ATM machines, all located at bank locations or Walmart, where we can withdraw money from our U.S. based credit union accounts. I withdraw 7,000 pesos at a time, which is approximately $350. Where you take money out does matter. You will pay about $5 in ATM fees and the exchange rate will vary from ATM to ATM. I have gotten anywhere from 18.75 to 19.75 peso to the dollar since our arrival. I will eventually get a Charles Schwab money market account that refunds all of your foreign ATM fees. When we return early next year, we will establish a permanent residence and therefore, be able to open a bank account in Mexico. Once established you can wire or transfer money when the exchange rates are favorable. There are banks in Mexico that have affiliations with U.S. banks that allow for seamless transfers but I need to do a lot more research. Business My plan is to establish a mailing address in Austin with one of several mail services. I will continue to work with individual clients and run the Career Pivot Community membership website, which is currently in beta phase. If I am out of the U.S. for 330 days and all of my income comes from the U.S. I will owe no income tax on the first $105,000 that I earn from the business. I will still need to pay self-employment tax (SSI and Medicare) which is approximately 15%. I will be visiting with a lawyer on this trip to understand how this relates to my visa status and paying Mexican Income Tax. Mexico taxes residents on worldwide income and therefore, my visa status could put me at risk. I am planning on using a tourist visa initially, which allows me to stay for up to 180 days, and then possibly move to a temporary resident visa, which is good for 4 years. What is Next? Our plan is to live here like a resident and not a tourist. We will be tracking our expenses carefully and working on using public transportation. We want to walk as much as possible which so far has been a minimum of 4 miles per day. We return the end of September and will be looking for a long-term rental that we can return to in early January. I expect that to be under $800 per month maximum with all services included (water, gas, Internet,…). I am a recovering engineer (yes, there is a 12-step program for that,) and I have a system for everything. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Just enter them in the comment section below. Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

[Book Review] Job Interview Skills 101 The Course You Forgot to Take - CareerEnlightenment.com

Enisman’s Strategies for Using Social Media for Interview PrepAs we know, social media can be a very effective tool for job searchers. Its no surprise that it can aid us in the interview process as well. Here are a couple of Enismans tips:Use LinkedIn to find people who work for the company you’re interviewing with. Ask them for insights into their own hiring process as well as the culture of the company.Check out Facebook for a company page and potential employees to contact.Check Twitter to find out what others are saying about the company. You may even find the person you will be interviewing with.Use social networking platforms to look for others who are going to interview or have interviewed with the company. Forge connections and ask questions about their experiences.Don’t let your Facebook profile hurt you. Remove any unflattering or immature content.Let your Facebook profile help you. Prospective employers will look you up because “your profiles on social sites are no w part of your resume.” Use the space to highlight your qualities and accomplishments.Be Prepared to Work HardThe information and preparation strategies in this book are extensive. You will learn about many interview situations and how you should behave in each. There are even tips on dress code and follow up which are equally important parts of the process.Enisman leaves no stone unturned and youll benefit from her thoroughness if youre willing to approach the process with an open mind. She reminds us, “THIS IS NOT WORK. THIS IS AN INVESTMENT! If you invest others will too. Right now, finding a job is your job.”Work hard and land the job you really want!For more information on Ellyn and how she can help you with career exploration, job search strategies, resume transformation, and interviewing skills visit her website:  http://collegetocareercoaching.com/

Using the Internet to Find Writing Services Reviews

Using the Internet to Find Writing Services ReviewsTeachers and school staffs in the US are lucky to have so many different companies that can write a professional teacher resume for them. This gives them the chance to be taken seriously when they apply for their first job, thus paving the way for a brighter future.There are many professionals in the business of writing services reviews on the internet. These professionals will help you get through this difficult time and help you get the job you deserve.In this article I will discuss a few tips on how to find writing services reviews that can help you get the job of your dreams. The best part about it is that these can all be found right on the internet. You can easily find hundreds or even thousands of great ideas on teachers resumes.Finding this type of great career advice can be so helpful, but if you want to make it easier and faster, you can simply follow a few simple guidelines. The first step in order to find these good revie ws is to make sure that you have your search criteria set up properly.When looking for writing services reviews, you need to determine what type of information you are looking for. If you are looking for a more generic outline, then you should start by looking at articles that contain a generic description of teachers resumes. By narrowing down this search it will make it easier to pick out the most relevant information.Now, that you have this information you can choose the search type and the specific keyword that you want to focus on. Now you are ready to narrow it down further by looking at teachers resumes with detailed information. The next step is to narrow it even further by looking at teachers resumes that had very detailed information.By taking a little time you will be able to narrow down your search to the best professional service for writing your resume. However, if you feel a little lost on where to start, then do not worry. There are thousands of teachers resume writi ng services that are out there to take your search and turn it into success.Once you narrow down the number of companies that are available to you, you can begin to research each one and find the perfect job for you. This will all start with a small amount of time and you will find that the best way to start is with these free teacher resume writing services reviews.