Awful Job Descriptions Make Even Worse Status Updates

Awful Job Descriptions Make Even Worse Status Updates Every recruiter I work with, their primary goal is to raise their profile. Lots of lovely things happen when they do this (well): More connections (less accusations of spam) More appropriate job applications and speedier placements Larger community of active listeners Decent ROI on time spent online. However,  the recruitment market still seems to be raising its profile with pointless profile-damaging updates. I’m not talking about naked recruiting, dilated pupil’d photos, drink and dial content the #job is still the main topic of the day. Heres a statistic: in the UK, there are 20+ million members on LinkedIn. 200,000 of those are recruiters and what we lack in size, we make up for in noise. In 1872, I wrote a blog about this, and it felt revolutionary at the time â€" now I’m just plain bored! Awful job descriptions  make REALLY awful status updates: Never let it be said that great job adverts make crap status updates â€" but let it be said that crap job specs make really crap status updates. The art of pitching the role has almost died and in its place recruiters are dumbing down their role by #job’ing and “our client is”’ing their status updates. And to add insult to injury, some clever recruiters have figured out how to make themselves look really pointless to the recruiting cycle by using the new LinkedIn Publisher platform to advertise their dumb and boring job specs. I knew it was coming, but when I saw my first one, I felt really disappointed (a bit like my mum did when I was a teenager!). You are what you read and you are what you share: Check out your recent updates â€" do they demonstrate your specialism, or smack of a contingent recruiter with yet another vacancy that they won’t fill? Most recruiters in the UK fill 2/10 of their jobs (by the way). When you get the new LinkedIn Publisher feature, use it wisely! Rumour control  jobs are good: I have nothing against jobs being advertised â€" if they are well written, pitched the correct way and demonstrate that recruiters doing this is a million miles more appropriate than a busy HR department flinging a 100,000 word job spec online. View  recent updates: The newly released button â€" View Recent Activity, neatly hiding on a user’s profile is a great way of seeing what people have been updating their status with. Don’t reinvent the wheel â€" pick out your choice clients and candidates and see what they’re sharing and liking â€" this is what you should be engaging with (and sharing)! Publisher: When you get it, stop, look and listen (a little like crossing the road, be strategic). Your aim is not to get taken to hospital wearing your worst underwear! To finish Lisa’s top 5 things for recruiters to stop updating their status with: Boring job  descriptions  â€" reverse the trend and update me with interesting adverts (note the difference). Which tie to where to an interview, what questions to ask at an interview, how to get an interview â€" 79% of LinkedIn are passive, so turning stop them off with stuff they couldn’t care less about.   Don’t make me press that Hide button! We have a new website (and??) To summarise Lisa’s top 3 things for recruiters to start updating their status with: Career advice Great, engaging job adverts Tips on how to manage newly qualified staff, how to cope with staff shortage during the holidays, how to manage graduates, how to deal with illness, office expansion, redundancy… anything that will engage someone in post, who funnily enough could be an active candidate at any moment…

The Correct Way to Write Phone Number on Resume

The Correct Way to Write Phone Number on ResumeThere are several ways of writing the phone number on resume. Some ways of writing are appropriate for one's profession, while others are not. For example, if the number is unknown to the applicant then it is advisable to write it in upper case instead of use the standard hyphen.There are several other ways of writing that are not applicable in cases where the telephone number is known to the applicant. When the telephone number is just a prefix without the full address it is called the single prefix. This can be written in any order. For example, if the number is 012345 and if the applicant is not too worried about the format of the information the applicant can just write the single prefix as 123456.There are other ways of writing that are not applicable to telephone number. When the telephone number is the extension of an extension, it is more advisable to use the standard style. An example is when the extension is for a single line a partment and the applicant doesn't want to bother with the introduction of the name.Other common ways of writing include single digits. When the telephone number is preceded by a five digit number then the abbreviation is commonly written using the same form of the digits. The best way of writing this is to be consistent with the standard spelling.This doesn't mean that there are no valid examples of these examples of abbreviations but some would make the difference between a resume being an acceptable format or not. Using standard formats will help the applicant to know what the format is supposed to be.One reason for a professional to use single-digit abbreviations in a telephone number is that they make it much easier to type them. If the person reading the resume is an elderly person and has difficulty in reading numbers, it would be possible to type the number using the single digits.Using the single-digit methods of writing a telephone number will ensure that the applicant is able to effectively spell the number. If an applicant writes the number with dots or dashes to signify vowels then it would be more difficult to type. This may cause the individual to use the lower case letters instead of the standard capital letters.Although the incorrect formatting of the telephone number would give the appearance that the application is very unprofessional, it is usually more professional to write the number using the correct way of writing. The applicant will be able to see that the format of the information is correct without having to read the information again.

Decisions Making Them Better Making Them Yours

Decisions Making Them Better Making Them Yours Every day is filled with decisions.  From choosing to get out of bed until we return to it, our days are an endless series of decisions.  The vast majority are seemingly mundane.  Some are life changing. The question is, are we really making them ourselves and if not whats influencing us? What Influences Decisions The surprising answer is   nearly everything.  Think about it.  You walk into an unfamiliar office for an appointment, and you must decide on where to sit.  Quickly and unnoticed, your mind filters the available seats through your likes and dislikes, prejudices, preferences, fears, and desires.  And the decision to sit in a certain seat is made. Interestingly, even that seemingly mundane decision may have actually been life changing.  What opportunity did you miss to connect with the person you chose not to sit next to?  So whos in charge directing the show from the shadows?  How much direct control can you regain by choosing to be more conscious of the process? External Influence Its no secret that were intentionally influenced to sway our decision making.  We accept that subliminal suggestions are just part of our modern environment.  But its mind-boggling when you realize how extensively, and how easy, it is to be manipulated. In   Dan Ariely’s eye-opening “Predictably Irrational,”  a group of people were asked to write down the last two digits of their social security number.  He then asked if theyd be willing purchase a bottle of wine with a price equal to those two numbers.  Of course anyone with higher numbers said no.  But the next task was to actually bid at auction on the same wine.  The outcome?  The group of people with social security numbers ending in 80 to 99 bid almost three times the amount bid by the people with social security numbers ending in 00 to 19.  They had been influenced by merely focusing their attention on a completely unrelated number. And on a much grander scale, Therese Huston in How Women Decide lays out the psychology behind how decisions are made.  She cites an example of how a car dealer processes you to spend more of your hard-earned money.   Im sure too many of us have a shared experience of going home with a new car that wasnt exactly what wed planned on.   Of course, we find ways to rationalize the decision. If you want to get deep into the ways we are swayed to make decisions that favor what someone else wants, I recommend both of those reads.  In particular, it may be surprising that Ms. Huston gives a persuasive argument that intuition  isnt an exclusive tool of women.  But other internal and external influences make the process of how women and men make decisions quite different. Is It Really Intuition? The definition of intuition is the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.   Which doesnt address whats happening subconsciously.  Theres a lot more going on around us than the tiny part of it that we consciously experience.  How much is filtered out?  We may never know.  Check out these amazing examples to get an idea. What we do know is that our brain receives a ton more information than we are ever aware of.  What is commonly called intuition is simply the mind operating to process all that is going on.   When we intuit something, were hooking into those deep-mind processes.   And from top athletes to illusionists to self-proclaimed psychics, some of us learn to tap in more deeply and more often. Making Better Decisions So how can you make better decisions? Most importantly, stay alert and as perceptive as possible.  Know that there are sources outside us trying to manipulate us.  Accept that we are not conscious of much of what is going on around us.  And look at choices through the filter of four questions. Do I have enough information to make a good decision? If I do this, will I like the consequences a month, six months, or a year from now? How much am I willing to pay or endure to live with those consequences? If the consequences become unbearable, is there an exit or recovery plan that I could live with? At the other end of the timeline, its a lot more fun to look back and say, Gee, that was a really good decision. Image credits: Decision cubes Vimal Kumar

Quickest Ways to Pick Up Skills for a New Job

Quickest Ways to Pick Up Skills for a New Job Did you ever claim to do something on your resume that was maybe stretching the truth a bit? Even Richard Branson from Virgin has stated it is a good idea to tell a company you can do something, even when you cannot. You can always learn later, right?So, here are the quickest ways to pick up skills for a new job. This advice is also helpful for those job seekers who want to learn something new before a job interviewor need to pick up some new skills for a possible promotion.Establish GoalsEstablishing goals helps you save time on learning random skills that will not help your career. If you want to move into a new department or industry or get a promotion, you need to establish what is required to learn.To do this, it is helpful to speak with people who are currently in positions you hope to one day achieve. Talk to managers and people with the skills you wish to possess one day. Once you have decided exactly what you want to learn, try these quick ways to pick up skills for your pot ential new job.Meet With MentorsReach out to people you admire thathave achieved a position you wish to have one day. Politely ask them to lunch or for 30 minutes of their time. Explain to them what you are trying to do and be prepared for some “humble pie”. If you ask questions and do not like the answers, do not defend yourself with annoying statements like, “I knew that already.”Explain your course of action and then ask your questions. Once you ask your questions, keep your mouth closed and your ears open. This is one of the fastest ways to learn because your mind is focused on “listening” instead of “what to say next”.When your meetingwith a mentorends, always be thankful and aim to build relationships. Down the road, your mentors may become key players in your career success. Always be mindful of their time and never be pushy. Free advice from those who have succeeded is...well...priceless.Shadow Other Workers and TeamsIn order to learn a skill outside of your current role, job, or industry, it helps to spend time with people and teams. They are working in an area you hope to one day, so get to know the type of people who hold those jobs.Let’s say you want to one day learn how to code or be an engineer, but you work in Customer Service Management. As you communicate with teams in Product Development or Quality Assurance, try talking with them and spending time finding out how they work. You may even have the time to shadow them as they work with you.Try being a supportive, silent participant in their meetings. Listen to find out what they consider important and what you need to deliver if you were in the same position. Just never shadow another team so much that you start to lose focus on your current job duties. And do not get in the way of others as they try to work. Many engineers got their start as children by helping adults with little things like handing them tools or asking questions like, “What are you working on?”.Take Busi ness Courses and WebinarsThere is an endless availability of business courses and webinars due to LinkedIn and email marketing. Some classes may simply be scams set up to make money while offering no information or value. Go through LinkedIn and see what types of webinars and business courses are trending and held by respectable business leaders.Other great resources for business courses are offered in places like General Assembly and Udemy. If you like meeting people face to face, you can find great information through Meetup.com.If you find nothing there, try resources like MediaBistro, CodeAcademy, and Coursera. Costs and time differ, but there is no shortage of information to be learned. Don't forget about the universities and community colleges near you! They may offer coursestaught by adjunct professors.Read...Read...ReadYes, the oldest method of learning might just be the most reliable. Reading eliminates all the dependencies that come with other ways of learning. You set you r schedule for learning. You can pick up a book or read an article online anytime. You learn at your own pace, even if only a few pages a day.Build your way up on your reading list. Start with light reading and work your way up to the heavy in-depth books for experts. Getting in too deep before you know what you are reading will be discouraging and may lead you to think something is too hard to do.The fact is, you just approached reading materials before you were ready.

Understanding the Most Current Trends in Resume Writing

Understanding the Most Current Trends in Resume WritingWhether you are in the process of writing a resume for the first time or you are just looking to update your current resume, it is important to understand the most current trends in resume writing. An updated resume will help you land your dream job and that means being prepared and being able to fill the various requirements of each position in the office. This article discusses the differences between three popular resume formats.Plain text resume format has been gaining in popularity over the last few years. It is also easy to read and easy to type. Plain text resumes use short sentences and shorter paragraphs and can generally be edited without the need for a professional to edit the resume. Plain text resumes are best used by people who do not have any kind of education beyond high school and people who cannot write in their native language. Plain text resumes are not easy to write, but it is a simple and common format to wo rk with.Many employers today prefer to use colored backdrops as opposed to plain text resumes. It is important to note that employers do not always use colored backgrounds when considering resumes. Instead, they use both color and backgrounds to highlight the areas of employment that they want to see highlighted. If you use a colored background for your resume, be sure to explain why the employer should highlight your areas of employment. If you have taken courses related to your career choice, you may want to emphasize those areas when reviewing your resume.One of the most recent trends in resume writing is creating an outline for your resume. You can begin your outline by listing all of the areas of employment that you are seeking. The areas of employment that you list on your resume should not be your top priorities, but should be listed in order of priority. Once you have listed your areas of employment, you can list your skills and experience as well as the experience that you are seeking.One of the most important changes that can be made when working with current trends in resume writing is to take some time to look at your resume. A lot of people do not spend enough time reviewing their resume before sending it out. Take some time to review your resume before submitting it. Be sure to look at every section carefully and do not be afraid to cross out sections that you do not feel are appropriate. If you think a section of your resume needs more information, take the time to write it down and research it further.Writing your resume in your own words is something that is very important. You should not include your current employer's name on your resume or list your current employer's contact information on your resume. You should only list your current employer's contact information if they have not contacted you yet. You should also avoid putting your current employer's telephone number on your resume or anywhere else.Many people who are seeking a job do not realize the importance of understanding the latest trends in resume writing. There are many resources available online that can help you work with current trends in resume writing. You should also read a variety of resume samples to make sure that you do not miss out on any important points. If you are not sure about the current trends in resume writing, you can contact a resume writing company and let them know what you are looking for.Resume writing is important for people who want to land a job that is going to be a good fit for them. You should be aware of what are the current trends in resume writing and how you can make sure that your resume is effective. Most importantly, you should take the time to write your resume in your own words and make sure that it is a useful resume.

Never Stand for these Examples of Workplace Discrimination CareerMetis.com

Never Stand for these Examples of Workplace Discrimination â€" CareerMetis.com Photo Credit â€" TheBlueDiamondGalleryThere are misunderstandings and off-color humor. Then there’s discrimination. There’s a fine line between the two. Unfortunately, many workers experience interactions that lean much further towards the latter.If you’ve been discriminated against in the workplace, you need to take action. You have the right to work without facing these problems.Have you been affected by any of the following types of discrimination?1) Race or EthnicityevalSome people are still happy to claim that things like racism don’t exist in the modern workplace. After all, isn’t it 2016? We have a black US president and everything these days! But, of course, this kind of discrimination isn’t dead. In fact, workplace racism seems to be on the rise.Don’t be too dispirited, though. These statistics don’t necessarily mean more people are being racist in the workplace. It actually means more people are speaking out about it. Is it a sign of improved race relations? I’m not sure. But if you face any behavior in the workplace based on your race or ethnicity that upsets you, know that there are people out there who have your back.2) AgeAge discrimination seems to be the one that people get the least angry about. But some statistics suggest that it’s the most common form of employment discrimination there is. And considering that people tend to live about forty years without facing this kind of thing, that’s a pretty shocking fact.One of the sad realities of this problem is that many of the people who face it find themselves agreeing with the judgement, to an extent. But if you face it at your workplace, you shouldn’t turn a blind eye. It’s not a benign face of the workplace. If you’re facing it, consider someone like ADEA protection.3) Disability or Medical ConditionPhoto CreditHow do we define disability? In legal terms, it’s an impairment of body or mind that limits major life activities or work opportunities. If you have the abi lity to do the job regardless of these disabilities, then an employer has no need Whatever the societal excuse, you have the right to work without discriminatory behavior based on who you are or who you love. Colleagues or even employers may make nasty remarks based on any of these three things. But more often, discrimination in these areas takes on a more subtle form. It’s taking sex, sexual preference or gender identity into account in areas in which those things are irrelevant.

You... are great! - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

You... are great! - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog I love this fun little movie called Validation. At 15 minutes, its a little longer than your standard oh-my-god-what-a-cute-kitten video, but its definitely worth it. Related posts: Specific praise is good praise. The value of praise. Why Motivation by Pizza doesnt work. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Niche (in 3 Easy Steps!) - When I Grow Up

How to Find Your Message/Niche (in 3 Easy Steps!) - When I Grow Up This goes under the How Have I Not Made This Yet? category. Finding your message/niche is, like, the most important piece of the Passionate Career puzzle! Whether you wanna work for yourself or someone else, articulating your message/niche/mission (whatever you wanna call it) will be your compass for work thats gonna feel really, truly, authentically YOU. Click Play below to find out 3 Easy Steps to Finding Your Message/Niche! Cant see the video? Head here to play it on Vimeo! Goodies I mentioned in the video ( goodies that can help): visit my friend Jess Swift right here and see how she can have a ton of unrelated products that still work together under her message: Live Color to the Max! speaking of Jess, Step One here coincides nicely with the Enthusiasm topic of our Declaration of You Blog Lovin Tour! You can watch a video we made about it here and check out the posts that were written by clicking here. Alexandra Franzens The Great I Am Worksheet is fab, as is The Path and Franklin Coveys Mission Statement Builder. The offerings I mention in the video are my Grown Up Gigs video interview series, Clubhouse membership site, one-on-one sessions. Im also in the process of putting the finishing touches on an online career change course to start this fall you can sign up here for more info as I have it! My Ascertaining Your Awesomeness workshop will give ya a more in-depth way to tackle this, and is available to ya for $0 as soon as ya subscribe to my VIP List. If youre already on the list, check your Inbox the link is included in todays email. Whats been holding you back from finding your message/niche? Did ya get any new perspectives from watching the video? What else might you need help with in articulating your mission? Comment below and Ill make sure to respond to ya!