5 Career Change Tips You Ought to Know

5 Career Change Tips You Ought to Know For many of us who are looking to make a major change in our lives, a career change can make a major impact on our overall well-being and happiness. After all, we spend the majority of our waking hours at work, so its crucial to find something that challenges and inspires you on a daily basis. If youre doing something right now that you wouldnt necessarily classify as your dream job, dont worry. With a little bit of hard work and planning, you can position yourself to transition into a new career that makes you excited to get up and go to work. Career-changers need to take a different approach to job search as changing careers has a unique set of challenges and obstacles that must be overcome. As a job seeker, you need to understand how you can most successfully position yourself to reflect your new career goals. Its important to determine whether or not your old skills apply to your new career target and if youll be able to convince people that you are the person for the job even when youre competing against candidates that may have more relevant experience. The key to a successful career change is all in the approach. Knowing where you want to go is half the battle. The other 50% is about putting together a strategy that mitigates the fact that youve never officially done the job before, but instills confidence in people that you have the background, capabilities, and passion to take on the new role. Here is a list of five things to do get started: 1) Ask why would an employer take a risk on you If you dont have a traditional track record in the industry youre looking to break into, you should put yourself in the shoes of a prospective employer and try to figure out what theyre looking in a candidate. What specific skills, achievements, formal education, or professional development do you have that applies to this job. Can you convince the employer that you have what it takes? 2) Be bold If you’re looking to change careers, you need to radically remake your resume to reflect your new ambitions. You can start by developing a persuasive narrative in which you show how your skills match up with those most in demand in targeted industry. For example, if you want to transition out of your role as an office manager and become a human resources generalist, open your resume with a strong Summary of Qualifications that tells the reader how your time as an office manager has enhanced your skills in communicating with employees across the company, understanding critical policies and procedures, and creating administrative efficiencies all things that a company would look for in a human resources generalist. 3) Prove your knowledge You dont necessarily need to have formal, on-the-job training to prove to a potential employer that you are capable of contributing to their organization. Read books and newsletters, join professional associations, go to education events and trade shows. Scour the Internet for industry-relevant web sites and forums. Learn the jargon of the industry you want to enter. Stay up to date with the newest trends and technologies. In other words, become an expert. 4) Build a network The single most effective way to uncover new opportunities within your chosen field is to start connecting with people who are already doing what you want to do. Be creative in your approach to contacting with people who may be influential within your targeted industry or who may be able to point you in the right direction. Do your homework before you reach out to people so that you can speak intelligently about the job and inspire confidence that you are worth investing their time in. 5) Look beyond the traditional job search documents While your resume and cover letter will certainly play a role in your job search, dont stop there. Because employers will be looking at your resume to find how your past experience matches their current needs, you need to find other avenues to convince hiring managers that youre the right fit. Write an article. Start a blog. Build a dynamic LinkedIn profile. Social media and Web 2.0 sites give job seekers an incredible opportunity to cultivate a personal brand that didnt exist just a few years ago. Those who take advantage of those opportunities will be rewarded while those who dont will have a much more difficult time. Making a career change can be both challenging and exciting. The largest obstacle you will face is the resistance of others who doubt your qualifications in your new field. The key is to stop looking for your dream job and start doing it. Thomas Wolff is a copy editor turned professional resume writer and has been the Managing Editor at Resume Mastermind since 2006. He works with professionals from all walks of life to help them communicate their value in the workplace and build their personal brands. Related: 10 LinkedIn Tips to Get You the Job. Image: Shutterstock

Are You a Manager of Teams or a Leader of People

Are You a Manager of Teams or a Leader of People So you employ a group of guys who you proudly call your ‘team’ which you are the manager and leader of, and you are confident that they respect you as their boss but is ‘managing’ a team, the same as ‘leading’ a team? And will you get different outcomes from either approach? No doubt you do have great leadership skills and much of this will be second nature to you, but is there room for growth?  Lets assume your team performs relatively well, your staff turnover is no better or worse than most teams and generally everyone seems to give you the respect you feel you deserve. But could your team give you more, and is their performance a direct reflection of your ‘leadership’ capabilities? Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. famously quoted by Dwight D. Eisenhower, this surely is the key to having a super high performing team who will stop at nothing to achieve your goals? So how can we all be leaders in this way? Well first lets understand some of the key differences between ‘Managers’ and ‘Leaders’: A leader develops and builds, the manager maintains. A leader invests in his people, a manager invests systems processes. A leader inspires and originates, a manager imitates him and makes demands. A leader challenges the status quo, a manager operates within the existing situation. A leader isn’t afraid to anything the team do, and often will put aside his own work and get involved, managers feel this is not appropriate When times are tough a leader will stand on the front line of battle, a manager will step back and observe and instruct from afar A leader will have the team’s absolute support, whereas the manager might feel his team aren’t committed to the cause. A manager says ‘Go’, a leader says ‘Lets go’ Do any of these points ring true? I am sure many of us have felt some of all of these from time to time, I certainly have and have reflected on how I can be more of a leader than a manager. So, if you are a manager who does things right, now is the time to become a leader and do the right thing. Here are some tips that should help develop or sharpen your leadership skills: 1) Share your vision: Have a vision of how you see the team and its performance along with your organisational goals. Share this with your team so each and every one of them understand their role and yours, offer the opportunity for team members to step up and make them all accountable to each other creating a more cohesive environment. 2) Trust people and give them freedom: A leader trusts his people to deliver. He does not micro-manage or stand over the team. His job is to positively influence his people in order for them to deliver results. Delegate responsibilities and give people the opportunity to utilise their expertise to their best judgment. However, it is important that you clearly spell out the goals before delegating. READ MORE: What is the Biggest Mistake a Manager Can Make? 3) Listen, learn and understand: A leader knows that he does not always have all the solutions but will work to get the right outcomes to a problem. He will first take feedback (by listening carefully), asks questions, evaluates the situation, and then makes decisions. He knows that he can make mistakes and learn from them and he also knows that a brilliant idea can come from anyone in the team. Listen more than you talk, and when you make decisions you can be sure they are based on fact and evidence, your team will then respect your decisions. 4) Take action with responsibility: Leaders make decisions and act on them. The actions will be for the greater good of the team and you will explain to the team your rationale for your decisions. If the decision does not work, a leader will assume full responsibility. They then go back to the drawing board, learn what went wrong, and then make the necessary changes. Shoulder the responsibility, and show your team that you too can learn and grow. 5) The motivator and the backbone: The leader provides a cushion to his team members. He empowers and motivates, along with guiding and coaching them, and clearly outlines their individual goals along with the overall team’s goal. He creates an environment in which it is easy for them to succeed. And when they deliver, he rewards them by giving praise, recognition and after continued long term high performance he provides monetary and status reward through cash bonuses and maybe even offering a promotion along the way. 6) Be sincere and genuine: A leader is true to himself and to his team. He is passionate about the organisation’s goals and sincerely goes about achieving them. You too should be honest to your team and realise your own shortcomings. Be confident, honest and respectful of others; use your integrity as you lead your team towards the organisational goal. In summary, leadership is about having a vision, empowering the team to be a part of that vision and providing an environment in which it is easy for the individuals in the team to succeed. It is also about taking responsibility for your actions as the head member of the team and working with integrity, transparency, honesty and respect for each team member. If you can achieve all of this then you will be a genuine leader of people and you will reap the benefits by having a high performing team and your business will prosper. Author: Paul Simms is an executive recruiter with 15 years of experience across the Australian and UK markets. He is the founder of Wright Executive a specialist business within the Accounting and Professional Services sector. Image: Shutterstock

Review of Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Review of Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Personal branding is important in social media. And both social media and personal branding are important in today’s job search process. Joshua Waldman, author of Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies, gets that. He summarizes his new book as follows:   If you’re looking for a first job, exploring a career change, or preparing to re-enter the job market after being out of it for several years, you need to take advantage of social media for the best results. Social media sites are proven platforms for facilitating connections, demonstrating passions and interests, and ultimately landing jobs. In his book, Waldman teaches readers the following: How to harness the power of LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more to propel your job search Make your online profiles work for you so that opportunities knock at your door Create a winning strategy for securing a position Build your personal brand online to truly stand out from the crowd Where does personal branding come in? In Chapter 4, “Personal Branding 101,” Waldman discusses the importance of building and maintaining your professional brandâ€"before someone else does. “Because you can’t reach into someone else’s head and tweak how that person sees you, all you can do is change your image, your messaging, your look, and so forth to better align with who you really are,” he writes. Social media and your brand It’s easy to craft an online brand today. Almost instantly after signing up for a social media site, blog, or website, you can tell people across the world who you are, what you do, and much more. What affects other’s perceptions of your brand? According to Waldman, these three elements: The way you act online: Your online behavior clues people in to what you may be like in person. The way you act may include the state of your LinkedIn profile, your blog, or the first three pages of a Google search results of your name. Do you have a story to tell? How frequently do you post messages? The way (and how often) you talk online: Your online voice reflects how people hear your offline voice. For example, are you posting status updates on your profiles? If so, do your updates add values or are they silly? Are you aware of your audience when you post? The way you present yourself: This may include the way your blog looks and how professional your pictures are. Is there a font you’re fond of? If so, what does it communicate? Also, what do the colors in your blog or online resume communicate? Although Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies is meant to be for folks who either don’t know much on the topic or don’t understand it yet, it certainly holds value for anyone looking to leverage today’s online tools for career and job search success. Even if you think you know everything about social media for your job search, this book can certainly teach you a thing or two to boost your personal brand beyond where it is currently. Author: Heather R. Huhman is a career expert, experienced hiring manager, and founder president of Come Recommended, a  content marketing and digital PR consultancy for organizations with products that target job seekers and/or employers. She is also the author of Lies, Damned Lies Internships: The Truth About Getting from Classroom to Cubicle (2011), #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), and writes  career and recruiting advice for numerous outlets.

Branding vs. Positioning Whats the Difference - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Branding vs. Positioning What’s the Difference - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career One of the biggest challenges new business owners have is understanding multitude of business and marketing concepts. Two of these concepts are branding and positioning. Both are important to reaching your market and are related, yet they’re very different. Branding You want to direct the brand image of your company through the quality of your products and services, responsiveness to customer needs and other tactics that support the image you want to create, but whether or not you’re successful depends on your markets experience. The goal of branding is to elicit a positive emotional response from the market. What thoughts and feelings do you have when you think of Apple, Disney or Amazon.com? Your feelings won’t be based on what these companies say their brand is. Instead your feelings are based on your experience with them. The important concept to understand about branding is that it comes from your customers’ experiences with your business. Positioning Positioning is just like it sounds. It’s about where you rank in your customers’ mind in relation to your competition. Positioning your business comes from differentiating yourself from your competition. In other words, what do you offer or do different from all the other businesses that provide the same products or services? There are many places to buy books online, but Amazon is often the first company people think of in regards to buying books (or just about anything) on the Internet. Amazon has also positioned itself above most it’s competition in e-readers and self-publishing. How branding and positioning relate Positioning always comes before branding. Positioning tactics lure your market to your business. The experience the market has with your business will determine if you’re successful in building a positive brand image. For example, for many years Avis Car Rental advertised a brand message that said, “We’re number 2. We try harder.” This positioning tactic was designed to lure customers from their competition with the promise that Avis would work harder to make them happy. But the marketing effort only worked in building Avis’ brand if customers felt that the company did indeed try harder. While new businesses should define the brand image they want, they need to focus on positioning themselves in the marketplace first, by identifying what makes them different and translating that difference into a customer benefit. If new businesses deliver on the benefit promised, they will be successful in building a positive brand image.

How to Find the Best Nurse Resume Writing Services

How to Find the Best Nurse Resume Writing ServicesThere are a lot of sites online that offer quality and affordable resume writing services. Many nurses look for online content as opposed to print material when they're looking for a new job. When you decide to opt for these sites, it's important to consider the source. If you're thinking about using free resume writing services, be wary as there are times when you're the one paying for these services.The nurse resume you're writing will be sent directly to the employer. As the most important aspect of a resume, this is the first thing potential employers to see and it's also very important. When it comes to resume writing, you have the power to send out your resume in a way that it has the highest chance of being read. To do this, you need to invest your time and money in a quality writer. For example, many online resume writing services charge as much as five dollars per resume that they create.Online, there are plenty of sources av ailable. A search online for quality nurse resume writing services will return thousands of results in no time. While it's important to be selective, it's best to choose those sites that have been around for a long time. This is very important because you can expect them to know the market better than those sites that just came out a few months ago.Another important tip is to consider how many times the writer will be submitting your resume. It's a common occurrence that nurses find a job within hours after submitting a resume; however, this does not mean that a top quality resume writing service will do the same. Keep this in mind because some of the sites might be more willing to share with you their expertise.When looking for the best nurse resume writing services, you want to be sure that you are getting the very best possible work for the lowest price. You maybe able to get cheap, but not the best quality. This is why you should consider the reputation of the service you're con sidering. This way, you can ensure that your resume will be written by a professional who is going to make it the very best.Professional nurse resume writing services offer resume examples that you can use. These samples show you the exact resume formats and everything that is included. This will allow you to figure out what your own resume should look like and what they expect you to put on yours. Take your time to compare each sample against the rest so that you can determine if you're getting an acceptable output from the service.When you want to find the best nurse resume writing services, you want to consider the input that they provide to their clients. They'll be able to give you feedback on your resume, so that you know what to change and how to improve your resume. This is also the perfect opportunity to start working on your resume so that you're ready for your next interview.With all of the help that a professional nurse resume writing service can provide, you should be a ble to have your new job in no time. Just make sure that you pick the right writer for the job. With a little bit of patience and the use of some professional resume examples, you'll be able to get your dream job in no time at all.

Austin Job Search Tips

Austin Job Search Tips Joy Woods, Recruiting Goddess from Big Commerce (@BigCommerce, www.bigcommerce.com), led our Austin-based Careers over Coffee discussion on November 5, 2012. Joy gave us excellent insight into the role of a corporate recruiter, i.e. an internal recruiter who works for a specific company. She shared many job search tips for both passive and active job seekers. Check out her tips below so that you can prepare to communicate effectively with corporate recruiters. Never be afraid to build relationships with corporate recruiters. While the recruiter may not have an opening that fits your Job Search Tips from an Austin recruiter skills at the moment, you never know when a position will open up that meets your skills and the recruiter’s needs. That being said, corporate recruiters are tasked with filling positions at their company with an individual who is the best fit. Their job is not to “find an individual a job”. Make it easy for corporate recruiters to see how you fit the position. Do not make them work to see how your skills might be used for that position. To do this, use keywords in your resume, do not use functional resumes, and be focused â€" demonstrate in the resume and cover letter how you will fit that position at that specific company. Don’t add anything to your resume that will weed you out of being considered for the position. Recruiters get so many resumes that they are looking for individuals to weed out, not ‘pull into’ the stack. Show the recruiter that you will fit in. During an interview the recruiter will also be looking for whether you mesh with the team you would work with the style of the team and the pace of team. If asked behavioral questions during the interview give very specific examples, provide results, and talk about what you specifically did to achieve the results. Show passion for what you do and show initiative. The recruiter wants to see not only if you want the job, but also that you would excel in the job and enjoy the work. Corporate recruiter don’ts: Don’t say, “I am the perfect fit for the job” as there is no such thing as the ‘perfect’ fit. Don’t ask recruiters if they can get you a job. Don’t ask recruiters to critique your resume. Don’t ask the recruiter where you fit best in their company as you need to know this information already. It isnt easy to get an interview with a company but the job search tips above give you some insight into what Austin based recruiters want. Help the recruiter and you will also be helping yourself.

Poll Of The Week #2 How many hours do you spend preparing for an interview

Poll Of The Week #2 How many hours do you spend preparing for an interview 1 Flares 1 Flares Thanks to those for voting in this weeks poll!  COTJ asked readers to share how many hours they spend preparing for an interview, heres how it went: First Place:    64%  0-1 Second Place: 27%  1-2 Third Place: 9% 2+ Candidates should always spend at least one hour preparing for an interview.  In my opinion, preparation builds confidence, and confidence creates a persuasive candidate who can get just about anything from the interviewers.  Pretend your interview is like a final exam from college or high school.  You can either cram your preparation into one big session a day before the interview, or maybe spread it out over time.  Think about what has worked for you before and continue to do that.  Here are some factors you should consider when preparing for your interview: Put strong effort into really knowing your resume.  Your goal is to able to explain in detail your highlighted points in the resume without looking down.  This alone can take an hour, but it will prove you know yourself, as well as prove the experiences are real.  The constant eye contact with your interviewer(s) is also important. Study the company.  Go through the company website to check out their history, as well as where they plan to go.  Maybe they have a new product or service that you can bring up at the interview.  Spend at least 15-30 minutes just researching the company so you can talk intelligently about what they do.  Interviewers love this. Spend 10-15 minutes preparing some questions that you can ask the interviewer.  Heres a previous article Ive wrote about this http://cornonthejob.com/2009/07/12/questions-you-should-ask-at-an-interview/ If lucky enough, you might even be told what to expect on the interview.  If they let you know which method of interviewing will be used, then research it online, and put in time practicing sample questions. Write down a list of projects youve worked on.  Think of the positive times, and successes youve had in your career so far and write those down!  Write down a few negative experiences as well.  You may be asked to talk about a situation that didnt go so well for you.  They will be looking for what youve taken away from that experience and what youve learned about yourself.  This ones important, prepare a nice list and memorize it. Practice, practice, practice.  Study your resume again, and once you feel confident,  practice with a friend.  Go through your resume and try to keep your head up making eye contact the entire time.  Practicing will also help you get comfortable speaking in front of others.  Interviewing is a form of public speaking, maybe not as intense as talking to a large group, but it can be intimidating.  If you feel you need help in this area, I know a great communications specialist!  Go to http://www.RonicaCommunications.com/ and see if the services offered can help give you the confidence you need to communicate/sell yourself effectively on the interview. There is nothing wrong with just winging it, but preparing yourself will ensure youve done just about everything you can to rock their socks off at the interview.  Do it