So, you want to be famous. You’ve got dreams of Hollywood and Broadway; bright lights and the big city. You can already see your name in lights, and all you need is one lucky break. Believe it or not, it might be easier than you think. When I first moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, I had no idea what I was going to do to earn a buck. I had a two-year work permit and plenty of time on my hands, but nobody wanted to hire me, despite having an advanced degree and a willingness to work for peanuts. Every employer offering a long-term position was concerned about paying and training…
Selected by gradversity
-
Most Topular Stories
-
How to Get Hired as an Extra in a Movie or TV Show
Jobacle.com Blog9 Feb 2012 | 4:01 am -
How to Keep your Job Search Secret on LinkedIn
Blue Sky Resumes Blog6 Feb 2012 | 7:04 amOne of the biggest fears people have about creating or updating their LinkedIn profile is that their employer will see the changes. After all, you don’t want your boss to know you’re looking for another job until you’ve found one. The good news is that it’s perfectly possible to create a strong LinkedIn profile – one that attracts recruiter attention – without alerting your current employer. Here’s how. Change your settings Navigate to “Settings” and look for the option “Turn on/off your activity broadcasts.” Uncheck the box, hit “Save changes” and you’re ready… -
Infographic: Does Your Career Hit the Mark?
Sweet Careers Consulting9 Feb 2012 | 6:40 amWe received this infographic from CollegeOnline.org. Does knowing which careers are popular or make the most money affect your choice of career or major? Google+: View post on Google+ You may also be interested in: Tips for College Students on Google+, Part 2 Tips for College Students on Google+ Handling Requests for References, Part 2 Handling Requests for References, Part 1 Five Career Tips for College Freshman -
What Facebook's IPO means for women
Penelope Trunk Blog7 Feb 2012 | 7:15 pmAfter the Facebook IPO, Sheryl Sandberg will become number two on the list of richest self-made women. She is the COO of Facebook. For those of you not familiar with her career, there’s a nice summary in the New York Times. But the bottom line is that she is really smart (Harvard), a really hard worker (startups, Google, Facebook), a great speaker (here’s a commencement speech) ,and she’s married to a guy who is also making tons of money in startups. There is nothing, really, that is bad to say about Sandberg. And she works very hard to encourage other women to go as far as she has… -
An Easy Way to Find Career Success: Buck Up and Grow Up!
Brazen Careerist9 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amGraduating from college and entering the career world can come as a shock. If you were lucky, your parents and teachers set tasks, rewarded success and protected you as best they could from anything scary that threatened during the last 18 years, providing a stable, reliable world. Then you went to college, and things might have gotten a bit wilder, but in many ways they also stayed remarkably similar –your professors set assignments and gave out grades while TAs and phone calls (and checks) from the parents protected you from many of the world’s ups and downs. Now you’re out on your…
-
Jobacle.com Blog
-
How to Get Hired as an Extra in a Movie or TV Show
9 Feb 2012 | 4:01 amSo, you want to be famous. You’ve got dreams of Hollywood and Broadway; bright lights and the big city. You can already see your name in lights, and all you need is one lucky break. Believe it or not, it might be easier than you think. When I first moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, I had no idea what I was going to do to earn a buck. I had a two-year work permit and plenty of time on my hands, but nobody wanted to hire me, despite having an advanced degree and a willingness to work for peanuts. Every employer offering a long-term position was concerned about paying and training… -
5 Ways To Impress Your Boss On Your First Day
8 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amStarting a new job can be a nerve-wracking experience. Given the lack of knowledge and familiarity, the first instinct you may have is to simply survive. If you are the ambitious type, however, this approach can at best be unproductive and at worst make a bad impression on your boss. Your first day should not be a time of survival but rather one of opportunity, a chance to convince your boss you are someone worthy of paying attention to. Here are 5 ways to impress your boss on your first day: 1. Be an Early and Well-Dressed Bird The first thing people will notice is what you are wearing and… -
5 Ways To Cultivate A More Positive Attitude About Your Job
7 Feb 2012 | 4:00 am"Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so." William Shakespeare 1. Stop Complaining We all get into bad habits sometimes but consistently complaining saps our energy (and other peoples) and can drain our energy and affect our attitude to work. There is of course a difference between letting off a little steam and being a consistent complainer. It is worth noticing how much we complain about things at work and nipping it in the bud if it is a bad habit we have fallen into. 2. Be Proactive Following on from the first point, being proactive and doing something about those things we… -
The Coworker Crush Is GOOD for the Office
6 Feb 2012 | 4:00 amI am a fan of the coworker crush. Sorry managers, CEOS, and company presidents, it's the truth. Before you start lecturing me on the hundreds of lost hours as workers canoodle behind the copy machine...and scare everyone about expensive sexual harassment lawsuits...here me out. Workplace attraction, if held in check, can benefit the company in several ways. Let's get romantic this Valentine's Day and look at a few ways that a crush on a coworker can be a plus to all parties involved. - Work harder. You want to show the object of your affection that you're more than just a pretty face. -
4 Super Bowl Performance Lessons That Translate to the Workplace
3 Feb 2012 | 9:00 amThe big day is approaching. A day of strategy, gameplay and a raw talent for outmaneuvering the other side. No, I’m not talking about Valentine’s Day. I’m talking about the Super Bowl – the culmination of months involving shouting at the TV screen and checking Fantasy Football stats. As the big day approaches and both teams prepare to showcase their top skills, I can’t help but think of some parallels that can be applied to your workplace performance. Capitalize on Your Talents To claim a Super Bowl victory, each player must put their full talent on the line…
-
Blue Sky Resumes Blog
-
How to Keep your Job Search Secret on LinkedIn
6 Feb 2012 | 7:04 amOne of the biggest fears people have about creating or updating their LinkedIn profile is that their employer will see the changes. After all, you don’t want your boss to know you’re looking for another job until you’ve found one. The good news is that it’s perfectly possible to create a strong LinkedIn profile – one that attracts recruiter attention – without alerting your current employer. Here’s how. Change your settings Navigate to “Settings” and look for the option “Turn on/off your activity broadcasts.” Uncheck the box, hit “Save changes” and you’re ready… -
What Would Steve Jobs Say About Your Resume?
5 Dec 2011 | 7:31 amI’m reading the Steve Jobs biography at the moment and one of the most striking themes of the book is Jobs’ obsession with simplicity. Throughout his career, he was obsessed with making computers as simple and easy-to-use as possible. He hated technology for technology’s sake and he hated complexity, and back in the early days of computing, this made him a bit of a renegade. Most engineers believed computer users needed to educate themselves so they could get the most out of the technology. Jobs believed that computers should be so simply and straightforward that anyone… -
The Smart Job Search #10: How to Use Twitter to Find a Job
22 Nov 2011 | 8:14 amThis is the last in a 10-part series entitled ‘The Smart Job Search.’ You can find links to the series so far by clicking here. If you don’t currently use Twitter, you might see it as more of a distraction than anything. Isn’t it just a bunch of people babbling about what they had for breakfast and sharing celebrity gossip? And even those of you who are on Twitter right now might not have considered all the ways it can help you find work. But the truth is, Twitter has enormous potential and used correctly, it can be the key to finding hidden job opportunities while also making… -
The Smart Job Search #9: Don’t Follow the Job Board Rules!
15 Nov 2011 | 8:10 amThis is the ninth in a 10-part series designed to transform your job search. If you missed earlier posts, you can find them all here. I’ve talked a lot in this series about ways to avoid job boards and find the hidden jobs no-one else knows about. We’ve talked about building recruiter relationships, networking, creating an online presence and much more. We’ve focused so much on this because up to 80% of the available opportunities at any one time are never advertised. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore job boards altogether. Every now and then, you will find the perfect position… -
The Smart Job Search #8: How to Network Without Feeling Icky
11 Nov 2011 | 8:00 amThis is the eighth in a 10-part series entitled ‘The Smart Job Search.’ You can find links to the series so far by clicking here. If you’ve spent any time at all reading job search advice, you’ll have heard that networking is the #1 way to find your next position. It’s been said so many times that it’s almost become a cliche. But cliches are so often repeated precisely because they’re true, and this is no exception. And yet, despite knowing how important networking is, many of us avoid it like the plague. I’ve certainly been guilty of that in the past. I’m an introvert…
-
Sweet Careers Consulting
-
Infographic: Does Your Career Hit the Mark?
9 Feb 2012 | 6:40 amWe received this infographic from CollegeOnline.org. Does knowing which careers are popular or make the most money affect your choice of career or major? Google+: View post on Google+ You may also be interested in: Tips for College Students on Google+, Part 2 Tips for College Students on Google+ Handling Requests for References, Part 2 Handling Requests for References, Part 1 Five Career Tips for College Freshman -
Common Cover Letter Errors: Too Generic
7 Feb 2012 | 6:22 amBeing too generic can be the single most detrimental mistake you can make in writing your cover letter. Learn how to spot and avoid this error in this video. (video embedded) What cover letter questions have you got? Be sure to ask them in the comments below! The Common Cover Letter Errors series exposes the most common errors found in cover letters, particularly among college students, recent graduates and young professionals. You may also be interested in: Common Cover Letter Errors: Impersonal Salutations Transferable Skills Developed On-Campus: Diversity/Cultural Awareness Transferable… -
Can You Really Make a Career Doing Social Media?
30 Jan 2012 | 8:05 amGuest Author: PayScale.com Website: http://payscale.com/ Wanted: A marketing-savvy recent grad who is well versed in Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare to manage the company’s social media presence. Sounds like a dream position, doesn’t it? For some, the idea of earning a paycheck by “tweeting” sounds like a cake job. The reality is, social media marketing positions are very competitive and starting salaries are generally low. To succeed as a social media marketer, you must have the right combination of experience, education and persistence to outshine the competition. Still… -
Information about the Emergency First Aid at Work Course and Qualification
25 Jan 2012 | 7:44 amGuest Author: Mark Thwaite Given the legal liabilities that many businesses can find themselves facing should either an employee or a member of the public suffer illness or injury at work or while on the business premises, it is no surprise that many businesses are choosing to take measures to ensure that they are prepared should an emergency occur. To a certain extent this is a legal obligation – companies are required to have a complete first aid kit on the premises at all times and to choose an appointed person from amongst their staff who will look after this and be responsible for… -
Can You “Tell Me About Yourself?”
23 Jan 2012 | 6:44 amGuest Author: William Frierson is a staff writer for CollegeRecruiter.com. Website: http://www.collegerecruiter.com/ While you may practice answering many interview questions, this is definitely one to prepare for. How you answer the question will let the interviewer know if you have actually thought about what to say. Don’t stress if you’re not sure how to respond to the “tell me about yourself” question. So that you won’t be thrown off guard, experts offer some advice on answering this question in your next interview. Stay focused on the most important details-…
-
Penelope Trunk Blog
-
What Facebook's IPO means for women
7 Feb 2012 | 7:15 pmAfter the Facebook IPO, Sheryl Sandberg will become number two on the list of richest self-made women. She is the COO of Facebook. For those of you not familiar with her career, there’s a nice summary in the New York Times. But the bottom line is that she is really smart (Harvard), a really hard worker (startups, Google, Facebook), a great speaker (here’s a commencement speech) ,and she’s married to a guy who is also making tons of money in startups. There is nothing, really, that is bad to say about Sandberg. And she works very hard to encourage other women to go as far as she has… -
How to have faith in yourself
30 Jan 2012 | 8:37 amSunday nights at our house are dinner with me, the kids, the Farmer and the Ex. They are always fun dinners, and I always feel very lucky for that. My six-year-old talked about his new baby cousin, Eva (who is pictured, in utero, above). "She has a terrible name," he said, "for Pig Latin. Its Vaeay. It doesn't work." We all do the vowel arranging in our heads and agree, Eva is not a good Pig Latin name. "Mom has a great name! It's Enelopepay." The Farmer says, "It sounds like it could be the name of her next company." The Ex says, "Yeah,… -
Key to productivity: Choose phone calls carefully
22 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pmOne of the keys to my ability to work 40 hours a week and homeschool two kids is that I have great time management. Which is to say, I say no to just about everything. But learning when to say no is still a work in progress. Here's what I know about saying no to phone calls: 1. It's more efficient to read the book than talk to the author. I get about ten emails a day asking me if I want to talk to someone about their book so I’ll recommend it on the blog. My answer is always no. I said yes once because it was Gloria Steinem. And it turned out to be a really disappointing phone… -
Things I wish I had written
20 Jan 2012 | 10:34 amIn therapy lately I am learning to identify my feelings. Maybe you’re thinking this is elementary, but did you know that envy is about wanting something you don’t have, but jealousy is the fear of losing something you already have? I am thinking about those two things. I am almost never envious, but I am often jealous. Most of my emotions, in fact, are rooted in fear. I am thinking a lot lately about where my joy comes from, and one thing I love is writing well. When I have a blog post that people love I am happy for weeks. And the excitement of doing good creative work gives me energy to… -
How to manage a career in 2012
16 Jan 2012 | 12:57 pmI have never been great at picking my own clothes. I’m great at interior design, but I have a blind spot for clothes. So I email Melissa photos of my outfits, and she uses her photographic memory of my closet to edit my outfits. When I sent her this photo, she said: “What is this?” I only wanted her opinion about the color of the shirt, so I thought it was okay that it was blurry. But the more I look at the picture, the more I think that it’s how I feel about myself right now. I am not quite sure who I am, right now. And given the current career climate, this is actually how most…
-
Brazen Careerist
-
An Easy Way to Find Career Success: Buck Up and Grow Up!
9 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amGraduating from college and entering the career world can come as a shock. If you were lucky, your parents and teachers set tasks, rewarded success and protected you as best they could from anything scary that threatened during the last 18 years, providing a stable, reliable world. Then you went to college, and things might have gotten a bit wilder, but in many ways they also stayed remarkably similar –your professors set assignments and gave out grades while TAs and phone calls (and checks) from the parents protected you from many of the world’s ups and downs. Now you’re out on your… -
Don’t Hate On Your Own Shine: How to Supercharge Your Confidence
8 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amWe say things like, “It’s my time to shine,” and “Don’t hate the player, hate the game” and all those other fun quips and adages. But at the heart of each saying is the same message: “Get off my back!” We all have our own style, signature and colored lens to look at the world. It’s a gift, so find your own voice, embrace it and stop trying to be like someone else. At least, that’s what we often think about people who steal our ideas, criticize us unfairly or watch us just a little too closely. We tell people like that to stop hatin’! But what happens when we become the… -
6 Ways to Leave Your Job Gracefully (and with Your Network Intact)
8 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amLearn awesome skills like how to build a social media strategy or how to be more savvy in your job search with Brazen Careerist! Check out all of our online bootcamps. For many recent graduates, the decision to leave their first post-college job is happening earlier and earlier in their careers. In fact, according to a recent study, 55 percent of college graduates only expect to stay at their first jobs for 1-3 years. Some say the reason is because GenY gets bored easily, while others speculate that we’re eager to get as much as experience as possible. Regardless of the reason, young… -
3 Clever Ways to Get in Front of Someone You Admire
7 Feb 2012 | 3:00 amRaise your hand if you’ve ever heard “the story” of a guy who sent an employer a shoe with a note that said, “now that I have my foot in the door.” Raise your hand if you’re really sick and tired of hearing that story. While we can’t deny the effectiveness of that attempt, trying it now might not result in the desired outcome. More often than not, when people want to meet their idol, snag an interview or land a mentor, they send a half-assed email that neglects to get the job done. There are other more subtle – but just as effective – ways to get in front of someone you… -
The Run-Around: Your Topic for February
6 Feb 2012 | 10:00 amIt’s that time again! That time when you write a stellar blog post and we share it with the Brazen community. Last Run-Around, we asked you to blog about your professional goals for 2012. Now, let’s get a drum-roll for your next topic… The February Run-Around The topic: How has blogging helped your career? Or, how do you hope blogging will help your career if it hasn’t yet? If you’re a successful blogger, what tips do you have for your fellow Brazenites who are interested in using their blogs to boost their professional life? How to participate: Write a post…
-
About.com Job Searching
-
Social Media Jobs
9 Feb 2012 | 7:46 amSocial media continues to be a hot topic - for job seekers, for employers and for employees. Companies, large and small, are expanding their use of social media to promote their brand, to increase their customer base, to engage with users, and to recruit new employees on sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn....Read Full Post -
How to Use Social Media to Find a Job
9 Feb 2012 | 2:10 amA Social Recruiting Survey conducted by TweetMyjobs.com reports that almost 30% of job seekers use social media as their primary tool for job searching. My Where Do You Search for Jobs poll reports similar numbers, with, to date, 28% of respondents using at least one social networking site for finding jobs....Read Full Post -
Resume File Format
9 Feb 2012 | 1:00 amWhat file format should you use for your resume? According to employer surveys, 99% of employers want either a .doc or .pdf file of your resume. The file format may vary based on the company's applicant tracking system and how you are submitting your resume - posting online or emailing. If you are posting your resume online, there will instructions on which file format to use and how to upload your resume....Read Full Post -
Resume Length
8 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amWhat's the right length for a resume? There isn't a right or wrong answer, your resume length should be determined by how much experience you have and what level candidate you are....Read Full Post -
Where to Post Your Resume
8 Feb 2012 | 1:00 amAs a follow up to my survey on where job seekers look for jobs, it's interesting to take a look from the other side of the hiring desk to see what employers suggest, because those are the typically the sites that companies are using to search for candidates. ...Read Full Post
-
Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel
-
‘Online Applications ONLY’: A ‘Lose-Lose’ Proposition for All!
9 Feb 2012 | 10:30 amIn last week’s posting (Corporate America: Your Hiring Processes are Branded as “Broken”!) I pointed out the tremendous disconnect that exists today between job seekers and the companies that seek to hire them because of certain current hiring processes in corporate America. In this week’s posting I am going to examine one of those processes that contributes mightily to this disconnect—the “online applications ONLY” job application requirement imposed by some hiring companies. It’s a process that usually results in a “lose-lose” proposition for both hiring companies and… -
Are You Using The Right Words For Your Brand?
8 Feb 2012 | 10:30 amAre you using the right words to build your personal brand in your resume, marketing materials, and social media updates? Often, there’s a disconnect, or gap, between the words used in resumes, marketing materials, & day-to-day social marketing, and the personal brand an individual is trying to build. Personal brand building is impossible if you’re not using the right words! To make sure that you’re using the right words, I’d like to share a free online tool you can use to visually display the contents of your resume, marketing materials, and social media marketing… -
Interview Rejection To Selection
8 Feb 2012 | 2:30 amPeople unfamiliar with sales techniques usually become depressed by interview rejection and then lose momentum for continuing in their search for employment. From a typical salesperson’s perspective, rejections are not necessarily bad particularly when used as valuable learning lessons. BUT the seasoned sales professional, with a smile on her face, will mentally say, NEXT! Early in my sales career, I learned that it was necessary to make 100 sales calls in order to make 10 sales. It was not motivating to learn I only had a 10% chance for making a sale. We were then told, the more… -
3 Ways To Implement Your Personal Brand Offline
7 Feb 2012 | 10:30 amFor most professionals, personal branding thrives online. Through juggling social media profiles, managing reputation, creating content, and securing our sites, we may forget that personal branding can also be done in person – and can be just as effective, if not more so. Attending an industry event, association meeting, or even a professional cocktail hour in your city can be a great and easy way to transition the brand you’ve created online into the real world. Consider below three ways to implement your brand in person once you’re there: Keep The Conversation Going. Since you’re… -
20 Questions Smart Employees Ask Themselves
7 Feb 2012 | 2:30 amThese 20 questions cover five key areas that are critical to your accurately evaluating how well you’re doing at work. Your answers (or score) predict whether you’re likely to be promoted, fired or kept simmering in the same spot for years to come. Score each question on a scale of 1-10 (10 = AWESOME). Add up your total score in each category. If you are totally awesome, you’ll have a total of 200 points. If you score below 30 points in any category, it’s time to take remedial action. Job mastery How well do I? 1. Exhibit expertise of the particular knowledge and skills that make me a…
-
Lindsey Pollak Career Blog
-
Getting from College to Career, Revised Edition — on sale today!
31 Jan 2012 | 10:24 amToday is the day! I am thrilled to announce that my new book, the revised and updated edition of Getting from College to Career: Your Essential Guide to Succeeding in the Real World, is now available from HarperCollins! I’m now also sharing daily career tips, links and resources on my Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/CollegetoCareer. Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about the new book: Hey Lindsey, why did you revise the book now? Well, for starters, Twitter didn’t even exist when I wrote the first edition! Read my interview with Kimberly Palmer of U.S. -
Back to Basics: The 15 Most Important Resume Tips for Young Professionals
25 Jan 2012 | 5:00 amI’m excited to announce (again!) that my book, Getting from College to Career: Your Essential Guide to Succeeding in the Real World, will be published in a brand new, fully revised second edition on January 31st! In honor of the launch, this month I’m writing series of “back to basics” blog posts on the essentials of getting from college to career. Today I’m sharing my absolute favorite, most impactful resume tips: 1. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Particularly at the beginning of your career, it’s really hard to start your resume with a blank sheet of paper. So don’t. Check out… -
Back to Basics: 7 Essentials for a Successful Job Search
11 Jan 2012 | 5:00 amI’m excited to announce that my book, Getting from College to Career: Your Essential Guide to Succeeding in the Real Worldwill be published in a brand new, fully revised second edition on January 31st! In honor of the launch, this month I’ll be writing series of “back to basics” blog posts on the essentials of getting from college to career. Today I’m starting with the basics of getting yourself set up with what I consider to be the 7 absolute basics you’ll need for a successful job search: 1. Time. You’ve probably heard it said that job hunting is a fulltime job. I… -
3 New Career Habits for the New Year
4 Jan 2012 | 9:17 amHappy New Year! Let’s get right to it and talk about how to make your mark in the coming 12 months. Whether you want to secure a raise, a promotion or a better job, these habits — one daily one weekly, one monthly — will keep you on track for big success. I’m committing to them and I hope you will, too: 1. Empty your email inbox every day. At every workshop I present, someone always asks how it’s possible to accomplish anything when you receive hundreds of emails a day. The answer is: you often can’t. You simply cannot achieve the big things when you get mired in the small… -
Gen Y and the Pursuit of Happiness
20 Dec 2011 | 10:14 amI’m a huge fan of YPulse, especially their daily newsletter that keeps me up to date on all things Millennial. I was honored to have the opportunity to write a guest blog post for their site. As always, I’d love to know your thoughts on this topic — please share in the Comments! Gen Y and the Pursuit of Happiness Could anything be more fundamentally American than the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Probably not. But the definition of that last, elusive word — happiness — seems to be changing dramatically as the Millennial generation enters…
-
One Day, One Job
-
Loosecubes
9 Feb 2012 | 8:54 amBonobos is one of my all time favorite companies that I’ve profiled, and they’re looking for an entry level Associate E-Commerce Coordinator. If you apply for the job, be sure to tell them that I sent you. The last time that I worked in an office was when I was an intern at Orvis. Since then I’ve had to learn how to get things done at home, and I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Still, I try to force myself to work out of the house at least once a week. I usually do this through Jelly Chicago, a co-working group that meets every Wednesday, but I also occasionally work at a… -
Nasty Gal
8 Feb 2012 | 9:30 amOne of the coolest things about the time that we live in is that the barrier to starting a business is essentially nonexistent. You can test your ideas on someone else’s platform, and if it works, then you build your own. Nasty Gal is a perfect example of this. The Los Angeles, CA based company began in 2006 when Sophia Amoruso “started an eBay store selling a highly curated selection of vintage pieces.” After finding success on eBay and validating the business, she started her own site where she could control the entire customer experience (and not pay eBay’s crazy… -
Grubwithus
7 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amNearly 500,000 teaching jobs will be added in the next decade. If you’re considering a career in education, take a look at our guide to entry level teaching jobs. Sharing a meal is a great way to get to know people. Eating provides enough of a distraction to cover up awkward pauses that might come up in other settings without completely killing the ability to have a conversation. Yet very rarely do people use eating as a way to meet new people. You either eat alone or you eat with people you already know. Grubwithus is a company that throws a little uncertainty into your dining experiences… -
Wayfair
6 Feb 2012 | 8:03 amI’ve made a point of being more active in Cornell’s entrepreneurship community, so I like to think that I do a good job of keeping tabs on which other companies have been started by fellow alums. That’s why I was shocked to learn that the #2 online retailer of home furnishings and housewares was not only a company that I’d never heard of before, but a company founded by two Cornell grads. It’s called Wayfair–they’re based in Boston, MA and did $500 million in sales last year. The reason I hadn’t heard of them is that they were known as CSN… -
Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund
5 Feb 2012 | 6:49 amToday’s the big game! By the end of tonight there will probably be a new football hero for many fans. Unfortunately, even being the star of one of the world’s biggest sporting events doesn’t guarantee a carefree future. Football is a brutal sport that takes a terrible toll on the body. This is doubly bad for players. First, it causes all kinds of long-term health problems, and, second, it shortens careers significantly. This becomes a major problem for retired players who no longer have a source of income and are dealing with the physical aftermath of a career in football.
-
Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom
-
"The System" Has a Face
9 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amIn the business world, the nonprofit world, academia, you name it, there is something known as “the system.” The system is a set of rules for how things must be done, and how people must conduct themselves. “The system” is associated with bureaucracy, and we who must work within its confines often find ourselves frustrated and angry. Depending on how personally invested we are, we may go out of our way to change it so that everyone can be more efficient, more productive, and more profitable. Railing against “the system” also seems to be a safe way of complaining. As long as… -
Nobody Cares About Titles - Or Do They?
6 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amCorporate hierarchies are out. Organizations are flatter than ever. Entrepreneurialism is the new best practice. The newest college grads are railing against the establishment, saying they don’t want to “pay their dues” in order to climb the corporate ladder rung by rung, and that they want to do meaningful work right away. And the business world is listening to them. It seems as if the entry-level grunt is a thing of the past. Given these changes, the tendency is to think that titles, even when you’re working within the context of a large organization, don’t really matter so much… -
5 Ways to Become More Disciplined
2 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amSelf-discipline is the internal drive to make things happen. Some might argue that it is a trait that you either have or you don’t, but I believe that anyone can increase their self-discipline with a little effort. Here are some suggestions to implement during your work day. Create a Daily Schedule One key to self-discipline is to adhere to a strict daily schedule. Set aside a block of time to accomplish each task, and when that period is up, move on. If it’s not time to check e-mail or surf the Internet, don’t do it. Turn One Task into Many Sometimes, a task… -
6 Things You Should Never Say to Your Boss
30 Jan 2012 | 5:00 amI get a lot of e-mails from people asking how they can establish better relationships with their managers. It seems that everyone – from the entry-level college graduate to the seasoned middle manager, has this issue. To start, I recommend never letting these tempting phrases pass through your lips: It’s not my job. When your manager asks you to do something, she wants you to accommodate her. She wants to view you as a can-do member of the team who will be willing to pitch in and help when necessary. Telling her that something is “not your job” – even if… -
If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Again
26 Jan 2012 | 5:00 amAbraham Lincoln is widely considered to be the most admired president in the history of the United States. Listening to the Gettysburg address or talking to your high school teachers, you’d think he could do no wrong. Except he could, and he did. Let’s take a look at Honest Abe’s lifetime record: Failed in business (age 22) Defeated in legislative run (age 23) Failed in business, again (age 24) Sweetheart died (age 26) Had a nervous breakdown (age 27) Defeated for Speaker of the House (age 29) Defeated for Elector (age 31) Defeated for Congress (age 34) Defeated for…
-
Secrets of the Job Hunt
-
4 Reasons Why Tech Candidates Can't Get Tech Jobs
9 Feb 2012 | 7:24 amSo much is made today about the fact (or myth) that there aren't any technical jobs out there. What I have heard from employers (and found to be true) is that they simply cannot find quality candidates to fill technical openings they have been trying to fill for quite some time. A current sampling of the technical jobs site Dice.com finds more than 83,000 job openings as of February 7, 2012. Why the disconnect? Here are my top 4 reasons: Lack of Training: Many technology candidates simply don't have the training required in the necessary skill sets to qualify them for the openings that are… -
Do You Have the Necessary Skills for a New Job?
8 Feb 2012 | 9:04 amIt Makes Sense; a Myriad of Skills Necessary for Job Opportunities While the job market shows life in some fields and is on life support in other industries in early 2012, millions of Americans find themselves either looking for work or looking to change jobs. No matter which group you find yourself in, your skills level will play a major role in which group you end up in. A survey last year from the National Association for Business Economics points out that business conditions have been on the uptick, with a rise seen in demand for goods and services, which translates to a need for more… -
4 kinds of workplace cultures that can affect career choices
7 Feb 2012 | 4:16 pmTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012 What would happen if you had some choices that you could control in your career? While it's often true that we cannot choose our co-workers, we can make conscious choices to improve our career prospects. When career professionals advise job seekers to check out a "company's corporate culture," this refers to collecting information, such as work culture, before accepting a job offer.The Wall Street Journal reported that there are four kinds of workplace cultures. They include:1. hierarchical -As the term implies, this workplace culture is highly structured… -
Managing Your Career – I Bet You’re Not Doing It
6 Feb 2012 | 11:14 amHave you ever noticed that the person who gets promoted is not always the most competent for the job? Or how about the person who did all the work not being recognized as much as the person who talks about it? Or what about the person who is career-stunted because they once said the wrong thing to the wrong person. These are all symptoms of not managing your career. Many hard-working people suffer in their career growth solely because they have not spent the time to identify the factors and people who most influence their career. Here are 3 simple tips to help you get going: 1. Clarify Your… -
Should Return to School Be in Your Future after a Layoff?
6 Feb 2012 | 8:54 amWith the national unemployment still sitting around 8.5 percent, it isn’t unusual to hear that many laid off Americans are considering a return to college to enhance their skills and even learn completely new areas of interest, hoping to use that education to find a new position. As millions of Americans continue their search for work, those who have the finances for courses at their local colleges, universities, community colleges and even online sites, are giving a harder look at such possibilities. While many individuals are challenged to come up with the needed funding to go back to…
-
JibberJobber Blog
-
Oracle Buys Taleo for almost $2B. I miss Cheesman!
9 Feb 2012 | 10:16 amA few years ago I read a blog every single day. It was written by Joel Cheesman, who was the unofficial watchdog of the employment and career software and recruiting space. He was sharp, witty, and uncensored. He called things like they were, without any sugar coating. If I heard of some big news in the papers, I’d see what Cheesman had to say about it. His opinion was worth 1ox anything I’d read in other articles. But he moved on… I miss him. I would love to know what he thinks about Oracle buying Taleo for $1.9 billion. You can read about it on ZDNet or eWeek or… -
New Dress for JibberJobber – what do you think?
6 Feb 2012 | 3:06 amI was on the phone with a savvy investor a few weeks ago and he said “JibberJobber is like a beautiful woman in an ugly dress. You really need to change the dress!” I know, I know. I’ve been working on it for years. I think we’re ready to change the dress, but I wanted to show you and see what you think. About 95% of the people I’ve asked love this, and 5% are violently opposed to it. I guess that’s how it goes with dresses, too, huh? Some love, some hate, and really, when it comes down to it, probably 80% of dresses are just fine. So please, tell… -
Favorite Friday: LinkedIn Maintenance (for the year?)
3 Feb 2012 | 3:27 amJuly 17th, 2008. LinkedIn Maintenance: Do This Right Now (or else?) (61 comments – once you do this, leave a comment to report back ) Make today the day you spend a few minutes to back up your LinkedIn stuff… this post tells you how to backup CONTACTS and your PROFILE (including Recommendations). It might be the most critical thing you do today… I’ve heard of many, many people who have lost access to their LinkedIn account. How would you like everything you’ve done on LinkedIn to go away? I wouldn’t like that either. So go read the post, and backup both… -
When do you change your job search criteria?
2 Feb 2012 | 8:35 amWhen I started my job search, about 6 years and three weeks ago, I knew what I wanted: More than I was making in my last job (I had forgone three years of raises and salaries, and really felt I was underpaid (long story)). A short commute from my house. The commute I had just left was 30 minutes, which I didn’t like. To stay in my house. I didn’t want to uproot my family. I’m sure I had other criteria, but those are the three that I am remembering right now. As the weeks went by, and my job search got more pathetic, my criteria changed. I was okay to not have such a… -
Relationship Management: Getting Multiple Contacts Into JibberJobber
31 Jan 2012 | 3:59 pmYesterday I did some research on a company that should acquire JibberJobber. I’m not in talks with them, yet, but if it happens, I want to know who I’ll be talking to. I went into LinkedIn and did a search on the company, narrowing it down to executive titles. I opened up six LinkedIn Profiles that I want to keep track of. I was going to put them all into JibberJobber today, one by one. But then I thought it would be faster to import them. So I did First, I created a very simple spreadsheet. Note the first row: In the first row, each column starts with what I’m…
-
TheJobBored
-
How To Calculate Your Tax Refund
2 Feb 2012 | 12:39 pmTweetMany years ago, when I first started this blog, I wrote a popular post about tax refunds. Since I posted about taxes earlier this week (and since most of you probably didn’t see it because the blog was young) I thought it would be worth pointing out again. So if you’re expecting a tax refund, it turns out you can calculate exactly how much of a refund you’re going to get. For free. There are several calculators that will do it all for you online. Just answer a series of questions, and have some recent pay stubs handy. Hopefully you’ll see some money coming your… -
The Quickest Way To Get A Tax Refund
30 Jan 2012 | 10:18 amTweetIt’s that time of year again, if you can believe it. I just started working on my taxes this weekend, so I thought I’d do a bit of research for a nice worker/job-seeker friendly tax post. It occurred to me that we’re all pining away for refunds aren’t we? Did you know that 3/4ths of Americans get tax refunds every year? And the average refund is around $3000? That’s not chump change! If you think you could do something useful with an extra few grand in your pocket, then you’re probably also wondering what might be the the fastest way to make that… -
How To Print On Both Sides Of The Paper
16 Jan 2012 | 7:51 amTweetHere’s something that seems like a very plain vanilla job search trick, but it’s pretty useful if you don’t know how to do it. When we print resumes on heavy resume paper for our clients, we will very often print on both sides of the paper. Thus, a 2-page resume can sit on one sheet of paper, front and back. This weekend, I had a client ask if we used any sort of fancy printer to do it. She wanted to know if she could do this herself going forward. I said no. In fact, we use a very basic HP laser printer to do our printing, and I figure that a lot of modern printers can… -
How to Handle a Performance Review
9 Jan 2012 | 12:04 pmTweetMost people look forward to job reviews about as much as they do a root canal. No matter how well you think you’re doing, there’s always the possibility that your supervisor will see things differently and call you on the carpet for your actions-or inactions. But there are steps you can take before, during, and after your evaluation to boost your career and actually help you look forward to reviews in the future. Before the Review Get on the boss’ calendar. While most people don’t enjoy a performance review, they are crucial to your career. So if your boss… -
Is There A “Best” Time To Answer A Job Ad? Some Statistical Data…
4 Jan 2012 | 6:18 amTweetFor years people have asked me if there’s a “best” time to respond to a job ad? Should you watch the job boards like a hawk, obsessively refreshing so that you can get your resume in first? Or is there some other window of time when, statistically speaking, your resume is more likely to be seen? I actually never knew the answer to that question. In fact, I had never seen a good answer to that question anywhere, since I don’t think anyone had ever bothered to research it. So, I did it myself. It took me 6 months to get 200 job seekers to share their real world…
