True Stories About What It Means To Be Outstanding

True Stories About What It Means To Be Outstanding 4 Two true stories of people getting noticed for doing their best at what they do best. Always give your best effort A few years ago when I was still living in Paris, France, and only had two kids, we would take the bus every morning and ride the 4 stops to their nursery, and then I'd come pick them up again early in the afternoon. Like clockwork, morning and afternoon, every day for over a year. Aside from the fun of spending time with two happy toddlers, it was rarely an eventful journey. One afternoon, something amazing happened. As we waited at the bus stop for the return ride home, the slight slope of the street meant that we could just see over the surrounding boards into the ground-level construction site across the road and slightly downhill from us. Inside, a backhoe was working, scooping up fresh dirt from the ground on the right, turning in front of us, and then dropping it in the rear bin of a waiting dump truck on the left, but this was no ordinary backhoe, or rather, I should say that this machine was driven by no ordinary backhoe operator.eval Most backhoes work with same rhythm, but this one was DANCING. It was hard to believe but the operator was working it so smoothly, so fluidly, so gracefully that you didn't need to let your mind wander far to picture a giant's arm and hand moving back and forth from the ground to the truck. And if that wasn't cool enough, the operator was moving everything fast, in the most effective motion. As the mechanical arm pulled up the dirt on the right, the backhoe would already beginning turning to the left, and as the shovel dropped its dirt into the truck, the arm would already beginning swooping down to the right for the next scoop. Only after the waiting dump truck was filled and the backhoe arm came to a temporary rest, did I realize that a small crowd had stood in awe the whole time, mesmerized like I was at the performance of someone who had taken an unexciting task and made it a thing of beauty.eval As impressed as we bystanders were, ignorant to the difficulty of the job at hand, I can only imagine how the operator's superiors feel about having someone like that in their team. Take initiative My friend Chaim recently told me about how he found his current job. He had been laid off from his previous job as an electrician and foreman. Together with other things that were going sour in his life at the time, the layoff could have easily pushed him into a full-on depression but he stayed positive with the help of his family and friends. One day he went to pray at a local synagogue. While there, he noticed many burned-out light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, having accumulated over the years. The gabbai (synagogue custodian) said that they would replace them if not for the 20-foot ceilings. Chaim thought about it for a second and suggested that he could help. The gabbai was only too happy to set a time when Chaim could have access to the synagogue, and later that week, Chaim returned with his equipment and a high ladder. When the gabbai saw what Chaim had done, he made Chaim promise to return over the weekend, when most of the locals would attend for the Sabbath prayer services. Friday night, as synagogue-goers arrived and marveled at the refreshed lighting of the new bulbs AND new fixtures that Chaim had added of his own accord, one person in particular paid a little extra attention, making a point of going up to Chaim after the services to find out more about him. The next morning, after the community had celebrated Chaim's contribution â€" thanking him with almost as many honors as a bar mitzvah â€" this person introduced Chaim to his brother-in-law, a head honcho in the local branch of the national electric utility. Not wanting to discuss work on the Sabbath, the brother-in-law invited Chaim to his office the next day. The job interview went well but by that point, the brother-in-law had been so impressed that he really just wanted to see if there was any reason NOT to hire Chaim. To this day, 14 years later, Chaim still works happily for the national utility. It's often not what you do that makes you a standout, but how you do it. I originally published this article on the terrific Personal Branding Blog.

Dont Give Me Your Resume - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Dont Give Me Your Resume - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Are you one of those people who feels, similar to applying for jobs online, that giving people your resume is a productive job search activity? Let me save you the effort. Dont give me your resume. In most situations, I dont need it. Giving it to me will require me to find a convenient trash bin where I can dispose of it, once you are out of sight. Worse yet, I might share it with someone in a counterproductive manner. Whether networking, meeting new business contacts, or pursuing identified jobs, Send me your resume is a common request which job seekers encounter. Sometimes it seems that everyone wants your resume. Even recruiters who dont know you from Adam. As a result, most job seekers waste valuable energy writing, rewriting, and sharing their resumes. This brings up two immediate issues how to write the perfect resume and when to provide it to others. Most job seeker resumes are pretty poor and unsophisticated. Like popular music, they are repetitive and lack meaningful content. I offered help in a previous post in which I shared Five Tips for Improving Your Resume. These tips may not lead you to the perfect resume, but they will definitely help your resume become more effective and distinctive. But what about that other issue I mentioned when to provide your resume to others? Should you give it to everyone who requests it? As noted in Fast Track Your Job Search (and Career!),  I believe delaying the presentation of your resume  is a smart strategy to consider in  many situations: Situation 1: You are applying for a job online. I am not a fan of applying for jobs online unless you have internal contacts or have a plan for establishing such contacts. A recent job seeker asked me Does anyone get hired anymore without having internal contacts? Their question emphasizes the need for these. Regardless of whether you have or do not have internal contacts,  you must provide your resume or most certainly risk elimination. Situation 2: You are networking with existing business contacts. I am not a fan of providing resumes to people  just because they ask. What I want to know  is WHY they  want the resume and WHAT they intend to do with it. Based upon working through hundreds of job searches over the past 11 years, here are my recommendations: • If they want it in order to understand your credentials, engage them in a conversation by phone or in person as an alternative. A conversation will allow you to provide them the essential information they desire and any clarifications. Sending them your resume may curtail communications and put you in more peril because of misinterpretations. • If they want it as a tool for introducing you to a new networking contact, ask them to make the introduction without sending your resume. Ask them what information they need from you to make the introduction effectively and provide it in a concise format. Providing talking points can be far more effective than a resume. • If they want it in order to hand carry it to a decision maker associated with a job, then ask if they could instead make an introduction and get you in front of the decision maker. If that is not possible, then ask that they hand carry it and have a conversation with the person. Situation 3: You are networking with new business contacts. I am not a fan of providing resumes to new contacts just because they ask for them. I recommend you follow the same guidelines for new contacts as for existing contacts. Having said this, I recognize that new contacts may be more demanding. If they are a decision maker associated with a job you are pursuing, try to get in front of them without providing a resume. Give it your best shot! Most job seekers are tickled pink to distribute their resumes and post them all over the internet. These actions are of little value and can be counterproductive. I recommend you normally RESIST giving people your resume and act more strategically. What have been your experiences when providing your resume during job searches? Do you agree that these strategies could be of value, or do you think I am off my rocker? Id love to hear your thoughts. Author: Richard Kirby  is an executive career consultant, speaker on career strategies, and author of Fast Track Your Job Search (and Career!). Richard Kirby’s earlier experience includes managing engineering, human resources, marketing and sales teams for employers that ranged from a Fortune 100 to a VC-funded entrepreneurial startup. For the past 11 years at Executive Impact, Richard has helped hundreds of executives and professionals successfully navigate today’s transformed 21st century job market and achieve better employment for themselves. Richard’s expertise includes career assessments and goal setting, personal marketing/branding, resume enhancement, strategic networking and job interviewing, and “contrarian” job search methodologies. He is a Board Certified Coach (in career coaching) and a Certified Management Consultant (recognized by the ISO).

Improve Your Personal Brands Content Marketing Reach - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Improve Your Personal Brands Content Marketing Reach - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career A successful content marketing strategy is important for your personal brand to establish yourself as an expert in your niche. Spreading your message across multiple channels will help create even more visibility. There are several platforms that your brand can publish to for free, which can attract more readers who can be directed to your main website. Publishing fresh, original content that your target market is seeking after is the key to making this more successful. Cross promoting your articles on other professional websites like LinkedIn, Medium, and guest blogs is not difficult to set up once you know the right requirements for each. Here are several ways your articles can stand out and drive more traffic to your brands website: Create a professional profile or bio. Before you begin publishing articles or re-purposing articles make sure that your brands description is similar to your website and other online profiles with all of the necessary links. A professional head shot should be in place if you are an individual brand or your branded logo. Keep your description simple, to the point, and let your readers know right away what your brand has to offer to them. Use the comment system to your advantage. While each blogging platform is unique almost all of them will include a public comments section. Just like on your own blog you should be keeping up with communication there and answer any questions your readers may have. This is an important part of establishing a trusted relationship with your audience and a post that includes your response will garner more comments and shares. Write about helpful topics Your brand will want to keep any sales or public relations articles for your main website or press releases. The goal for publishing on other platforms is to reach your audience in a new way that addresses their specific needs and desires. Helpful tips, industry news, and how-to posts are what readers are looking for. Post at least once a week In addition to your regular blog schedule you will want to create a calendar for your guest posts and other published articles. Your readers will not only know what to expect, but they will see that you are committed to building a great community with them. Publishing content on other professional platforms is a great way to build your online network as well increase your chances of being seen in content aggregation websites such as Klout, Paper.li, and Google. The more your articles are being discussed and shared the better results your brand will have for visibility.

Why HR Tech is All Semantics

Why HR Tech is All Semantics Semantics Noun the meanings of words and phrases in a particular context In this case the “context” is a resume and a job description. Matching algorithms that promise to change everyone’s life….and they don’t. Big data comes along and says, “Hey if you have more information about them before you hire them, you’ll make a better hire!” So primarily they crawl and add additional social data sets to resume data sets and then match them up against your data set the job description. Doesn’t work does it?  Ever wonder why? It’s because the basis for the data is poor context. Let me back up… My background is AdTech/eCommerce/Big Data. Specifically a form of display advertising called retargeting. You go to a website, you dont buy, you get an ad based on your behavior on the site. Everyone in retargeting uses algorithms and they work. The technology drives clicks, serves efficient impressions, and matches product to people. Hundreds of relevant data points over millions of users crunched to find efficiencies. Genius? Not really, it’s just great context and structure of data. When a human shops on a site, it’s natural. They don’t comply to a standard, they navigate and filter based on preference. And the eCommerce site is structured, prices are in the same place, product pictures are in the same place, etc. Your natural responses are tracked, recorded, matched to additional data sets, and action is taken in controlled environments. Maybe you get an offer on site. Maybe you get one off site. It’s behavior based, normalized, structured data. So how can this be related to HR? A resume is the antithesis of this. An ancient open format created for the purpose of being a conversation starter that morphed into a “end all be all” search and approval document used to filter. What gets matched against it? A job description. Another open format document initially created for legal/compliance reasons that morphed into a matching data set that describes perfection in a person for a company. If you wanted to buy a pair of shoes, can you imagine documenting shoe history in an open format from 50 years ago, submit it to Zappos, who takes their return policy mixed with shoe names and them shipping 2% of the matches a box of shoes to buy? That’s what roughly what is happing with matching algorithms….but hey, they are proprietary and patent pending! eCommerce created a structured data path trading privacy for a digital footprint along the way, to facilitate more transactions. When transactions don’t happen, the data gathered re-targets that prospect with relevant messaging created from the first visit. eCommerce is match making of a different kind. What can be done to improve it? Semantic data has little to no structure and in this case both sides are semantic. So having more of it (Big Data) is a big waste of time. Trying to match it, another big waste of time. What works is gathering better data, structured data, intent data, and private data. Resumes and job descriptions are none of these things, so why gather more? And why attempt to match it? A big confusion is equating a job board to an eCommerce site. Yes people shop for jobs like they shop for shoes (sort of), but the job isn’t the product here, the person is. Disagree? When you go to buy shoes, who pays? You do. When you go to hire someone, who pays? You do. See the correlation? It’s time we march toward relevant data gathering. It’s time this data is housed on shopping engines. And it’s time we stop investing in semantics for the sake of tradition and start investing our time in data that will have a positive impact on building great teams. Author: Chad Porter is the Co Founder of Invisume, The Invisible Resume and an eCommerce veteran applying the principles learned at his time at eBay with hiring.  He’s been featured on some of the top sales blogs in the United States and spoken at conferences regarding display advertising and big data.

How can Online Short Courses Help Build Your Career CareerMetis.com

How can Online Short Courses Help Build Your Career â€" CareerMetis.com Source â€" DepositPhotos.comThe digital storm that has taken over the world has made life easier for many. Buying groceries, speaking to your loved ones or booking flights are all just a click away. Isn’t the idea of sitting in the comfort of your house, sipping coffee and accessing the whole world exciting? Imagine this being a major part of your study routine.In this blog post, you will find out how advantageous online short courses can be for your career.FlexibilityevalIf you are a working professional or a student who wants to add an extra qualification to their résumé, online coursesare your best bet. You will get flexible study hours and the freedom to study at your own convenience.evalFor most online courses, all the study materials are available online. Moreover, these courses help you strike the perfect balance between family, work commitments and education.Range of coursesDigital advancement has forced many colleges to offer an online platform with all the same courses that they offer on-campus. This allows you to choose from a variety of courses depending on their interest and requirement.Low feesOnline short courses are usually available at lower tuition fees that on-campus courses. While some colleges draw a parallel when it comes to charging tuition fees for the campus-based and online courses, there are no associated costs as you do not have to spend any money on a commute, accommodation or textbooks.Less pressureMost online short courses allow you to study at your own pace, removing the pressure factor from your study schedule. While for some, competitiveness is a major motivator, not all are comfortable with that type of learning environment.For students who are less inclined towards being in a competitive space, pursuing an online short course is the best option.evalCareer advancementTake this scenario â€" you work for a digital marketing company as a copywriter and your manager has asked you to develop social media skills if you wish to g et a promotion.In this event, you may not want to leave the job to pursue a course but nor would it be wise to lose out on the promotion. This is where online short courses come in as they can help you grow in your current organisation by adding another skill to your résumé.NetworkingevalOnline learning platformsusually have forums where students from different parts of the world can interact with each other. How exciting would it be to speak to someone from the other side of the world and discuss common interests?Moreover, online courses offer students the opportunity to build a strong professional network with people from different walks of life.Build disciplineSince you will be in a learning environment devoid of the physical presence of staff and pretty much no time constraints, pursuing an online course will help you incorporate discipline into your schedule.This will not only do wonders for your professional growth but also help with personal development. You will become mor e organised with your daily tasks, making you more efficient.

178 Allan Pease - Mr Body Language - Jane Jackson Career

178 Allan Pease - Mr Body Language - Jane Jackson Career I had the pleasure of interviewing Allan Pease, global body language guru in this episode of Your Career Podcast. During our conversation, Allan shares his top body language tips for job seekers and for anyone wanting to leverage positive body language in their daily lives.Allan Pease researches and studies the psychology of selling, relationships and human communication. He teaches simple, field-tested skills and techniques that get results. And he delivers his message in a humorous way, which motivates people to want to use these ideas immediately.Allan takes you through powerful communication techniques and teaches you how to decode other peoples behaviour and what to do about it. He also reveals how to decode a wide range of subtle clues that appear in meetings, phone calls, negotiations and face-to-face encounters.Known worldwide as “Mr Body Language”, Allans own record in the field of selling, motivating and training is equalled by few others. He is a born achiever, starting his career at age 10 selling rubber sponges door to door. At 17, he was the No.1 national salesman for a company selling bed linen, pots pans. At 21, he was the youngest person ever to sell over $1,000,000 of life insurance in his first sales year and qualify for the Million Dollar Round Table.He has addressed audiences in 70 countries, and his programs are used by businesses and governments to teach powerful relationship skills. His messages are relevant to any area of life that involves winning people over and getting them to like you, co-operate, follow you or to say yes.Allan â€" with co-author Barbara Pease is one of the worlds most successful non-fiction authors, writing 18 bestsellers including 10 number 1 bestsellers such as The Definitive Book of Body Language and Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps. His books have been translated into 54 languages and have sold over 27,000,000 legal copies. His television series and #1 Box Office Movie were watched by over 100 million viewers.Allan is a Professor at Moscow state Technical University ULIM International University, a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (UK), a Fellow of the Institute of Management, Fellow of the Lifewriters Association, a Paul Harris Fellow (UK), JCI Senator and has been inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall Of Fame.Allan and Barbara Pease are holding their VIP WEEKEND on 9-10 November on the Sunshine Coast! Join them for an enlightening retreat and be empowered to take action to create your dream life!Learn the 3 Secrets to Personal Branding for Career Success join this FREE Masterclass today!Where to find Allan Pease:Website: Pease InternationalFacebookTwitter

How to Choose an Executive Resume Writing Service

How to Choose an Executive Resume Writing ServiceWhen you need to give a proposal to your company or organization, the first thing that you must do is choose the right executive resume writing service. Hiring a company to do this job for you is a decision that will need consideration and evaluation. It is important to know the potential rewards and disadvantages in this decision. Here are some tips to help you choose the right service provider.First, you should find out whether they are only making proposals on their own or they also offer other services to prepare your resume. It is important to know if they can offer you the same quality of service as they will provide to you. Sometimes, this type of service is not adequate because the other responsibilities may outweigh the writing service in your case.Another important factor to consider is the area of expertise that the company offers. If they offer services such as writing resumes and also prepare proposals for clients, then yo u can save yourself some time and effort by using the service provided by the company. This may take more than just a few minutes but the money savings will be worth it.There are some aspects that you should consider before choosing a service provider for your project. The following are some of them:o Time. In this case, time is of the essence. Your goal here is to get a proposal for the highest paying job in your area in the shortest possible time.o Contact Information. Sometimes, the longer the communication time, the better your chances of the executive resume writing service taking action.All these things need to be considered before you choose a professional service provider. Since your job is to find the best among these services, it is best to get some information from the company before you choose them. This way, you will be able to know if they are actually capable of what they claim to do.