The Art of Promoting Yourself Without Bragging (part 1)

The Art of Promoting Yourself Without Bragging (part 1) The Art of Promoting Yourself Without Bragging (part 1) The Art of Promoting Yourself Without Bragging (part 1) August 18, 2009 by Career Coach Sherri Thomas 1 Comment For a lot of us, one of the most difficult things about moving into a new career is having to talk about ourselves to our professional network.   We may be able to promote products, services, and companies but when it comes to promoting ourselves forget about it!! So, how do you speak about your strengths and successes in a tactful way without making it sound like youre bragging? Talk about your projects, teams, and the value they delivered to the organization.   It may feel uncomfortable talking about your achievements, but the fact is you wont get noticed (yet alone hired!) if you dont talk about them. Heres a tip focus on the projects and teams you contributed to, and the value they delivered to the organization.   Talk about goals, or stretch goals, that were met and how they benefited the organization to help increase revenue, save costs, or gain more market share. Focus on results.   On your resume, in your interviews, and in your networking opportunities instead of talking about your previous responsibilities, talk about tangible results you helped to achieve. When you quantify your achievements with a number, dollar, or percentage, you add credibility to your successes and rise above the competition. For example, instead of saying that you managed a sales team for a specific product, instead, say that you led a sales team that generated $250,000 a year for the past 3 years!   Quantifying your successes says that you are a driver, high achiever, and that you get results. Look for more great tips for promoting yourself without bragging later this week.

Navigating Uncertain Times In Your Job

Navigating Uncertain Times In Your Job Every so often, uncertain times come to a large part of the economy. It might be a government shut down, severe weather, or a variety of other calamities can happen that affect your job. Even when uncertainty affects a small part of the economy, if it affects your job, then you need to be prepared to navigate unknown waters. Here are a few  basic points to keep in mind: There will occasionally be uncertain times look back in history and you can see that financial and political crises happen all the time, all over the world. Even if most of the economy is good, if your job is uncertain, then you have every reason to be concerned enough to do something about it. Job-related stress has symptoms, but it also has resolutions. It is always a good idea to prepare for uncertain times   work on paying off your debt load even if all you can do is pay a little more than the minimum every month. Put some money in savings every payday, and dont use it unless it is a last resort. Work out your budget so you have a handle on what you are doing with your money. Talk with your family about how you will get through a crisis; its like a fire drill that prepares you for emergencies. Dont waste todays energy on worrying do something about what stresses you. Take a walk every day instead of eating a donut for breakfast (not that I object to donutsbelieve me, I dontbut a walk is de-stressing where sugary snacks backfire). Look at your worries and work on what you are in control of. If you cant control the thing that worries you, how will worry help? Answer: it wont. Forget about drama and smile at the people in your life   we are in the boat together. It makes the journey so much easier when we treat one another with kindness. The people you work with, the people you live with, and the people you interact with as you go through your day are all on the same ocean, and we all do better when we are smiling.

Tips to Write a Resume Objective

Tips to Write a Resume ObjectiveA resume objective is a part of the resume that lists important things that will make the person hired to stand out from the crowd. In case you are looking for a job, a resume objective is an essential thing that you must include in the document. But writing an objective may be very hard at first, especially if you are not familiar with the job market.Objective writing is very similar to writing the job description or resume. A resume objective must include an introduction paragraph as well as a bullet list of qualifications and special skills. This is a short but easy way to get information about the individual to the employers, and this is something that is required when preparing a resume.The first sentence of the objective must include the desired title and position of the person. It is also good to mention the job objective. You can also include your experiences and details about the past achievements. However, it is recommended that you do not in clude anything more than that.After the introduction, the objective should include the duties of the job and the responsibilities, which are where the bullet list of qualifications comes in. When writing this part, you should keep in mind that these are not requirements but are merely needed by the hiring company. You can include any of the skills you have, your educational background and contact details as well.The last sentence of the objective is the summary paragraph, and you should write a simple one. The summary paragraph should not contain your personal details and focus more on the applicant's work experience. If you want to include a personality profile, then it is advisable that you save this for the interview and save it for the back of the resume after the employer has read the resume.You must also have a good technical background, in case you are applying for a technical position. You can use the keywords engineering to describe your technical skills. Your technical exp erience will show that you have good judgment is an important quality that will put you in a higher position, because these companies are looking for people who know how to analyze situations and make correct decisions.You must also include the writing sample that was used by the applicant, or the section that had been highlighted in the summary paragraph. You can use the keywords resume to include the kind of resume that the applicant submitted. This will make the essay look professional and you will get better results with this approach.

Inside the Cutthroat World of Todays Professional Santas

Inside the Cutthroat World of Today's Professional Santas Mall Santas can do no wrong, at least according to most tykes who sit in their laps posing for photos and sharing their dreamiest Christmas gift wishes. But the truth behind the cheerful scenery is that the job is hard, even grueling at times, and surprisingly competitive. Just ask Randy Cook, 62, who’s worked his way up to become one of the most well-known Santas in the Seattle area. In addition to booking corporate events and parties, he’s a brand ambassador for Janus Motorcycles and the Seattle-based outdoor retail brand Filson. He sold Filson on the idea of making appearances in its stores dressed up in a Filson-made buffalo plaid Santa hat, working the room and charming customers and their kids. Cook charges anywhere from $150 an hour to $260 an hour on Christmas Day â€"much higher than typical rates for his line of work. But Cook is so busy during this time of year that he said he just turned down nine different offers. When the sporting goods chain Bass Pro recently approached him to come into its stores for $25 an hour, he politely declined. “I just said, ‘I don’t do mall work,’” Cook says, despite the fact that he does do in-store work. Cook’s personal mantra is “market, market, market, and market.” He embraces “all the new methods of marketing,” from social media to search engine optimization (or SEO), in order to sell his jolly talents at a premium rate. Santa Randy courtesy of Randy Cook “Your website has to hit the top of the Google search. If you search for Santas for Seattle, I show up in the top results,” Cook says. “You have to have the entrepreneur’s attitude, not an employee attitude. You got to be able to take the risk, get out there, and do it. It’s hard for some people.” Not all Santas are created equal. A self-proclaimed “second-generation Santa,” Cook started dressing up as Saint Nick for a local fire department, as his dad had done. After realizing he could grow an impressively full beard, he worked fraternity events to make extra money in college. Now a veteran, he literally hands out bonuses to employees at lucrative holiday parties for businesses. But one surprising thing he refuses to do is sit. “There are performing santas and there are sitting Santas,” Cook says. “I’m a performing Santa.” The image of Santa sitting all day at a shopping mall, with a long line of families waiting to meet him, has become a staple of pop culture from A Christmas Story to Bad Santa. But Cook has steadfastly avoided that gig, which he believes gets too little respect. “I just really think that kind of Santa in the mall taking photos and marketing that to death has not been great for Santas, and I don’t think it’s something I want to be involved in. I know those Santas get the lowest wages of any Santas out there,” Cook says. When he looks at photos of mall Santas, “they’re just pooped out.” “I give a high-intensity event, and it’s four times more an hour than what the guys are making in the mall,” he says. “It’s kind of sad, but I guess if I was much older than I am and I couldn’t get around, then the [mall work] would be pretty good for me.” Ed Taylor, 63, has a brighter view of the mall Santa. Known as “that Santa guy” in Los Angeles, he’s in high demand and has appeared on TV and was a stand-in for Ed Asner on a movie. His rates range from $350 an hour to $800 an hour on Christmas Day. He started his paid Santa work for a Microsoft photo booth in a mall in 2012. Having played Santa as a volunteer previously, he loved the opportunity and left his career as an internet marketing speaker to pursue it full-time. “People were telling me, ‘You’re greatâ€"you need an agent,’” Taylor says. “The first few weeks, I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, right,’ but by the time the season was over, I was like, ‘I need an agent,’ and an agent signed me in the spring. Next thing you know, I’m doing television work and all kinds of great corporate parties and celebrity events, and I’m just having a blast.” Taylor has since built up a “small business” being Santa around the year. In the middle of the holiday season, he’s fully booked, doing everything from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles visits to star-studded events and, yes, more mall work. He says he recently had to reject jobs for several “high-profile celebrities” that he normally would’ve loved because his schedule wouldn’t allow it. In the off-season, he runs an online school for mall Santa hopefuls, called The Santa Claus Conservatory. Its web videos train over 1,000 students worldwide on their appearance, personality, and business strategy. Some of those who go into mall Santa work tell him they find it burdensome, but he’s had few complaints in his own experience. In fact, it gives him a rush. Santa Ed Taylor courtesy of Ed Taylor “The biggest problem for me was in the slow times, where you’re just kind of bored, early in the days, at least in the mall I was in. There were long periods of down time,” he says. “Seeing the kids getting the picturesâ€"I enjoy that. Personally I just get energized by it… If you can be the way I envision Santa Claus being all the time, your life is pretty good.” Taylor concedes that mall work generally pays less than private events, but adds that there’s a “range of pay,” and more experienced Santas can command a rate comparable to home visits in the same market. And most Santas, he says, are only doing the work seasonally and have other jobs. The site PayScale estimates that a beginning Santa can make as much as $100 an hour. You can find job postings for mall-oriented Santa work for photos, however, that advertise pay as little as $12 an hour, suggesting how menial the labor is in certain places and for certain companies. Whether you’re commanding the bigger bucks or barely scraping by, one thing is clear across the board: Santa performing is not for everyone. In addition to having the belly and the beard (the fake ones are largely out, unless you can shell out for something convincing), according to Taylor, you just need to love living the part. Everyone wants to be happy in their job, of course, but particularly in Santa work, if you’re not, you can find yourself frustrated very quickly. “The single most important thing is that attitude,” Taylor says. “You’re sharing love for Santa Claus. If that doesn’t resonate for you, it’s probably not the right career.”

Its Time to Create a Restaurant or Hospitality Resume That Sparkles - Work It Daily

It’s Time to Create a Restaurant or Hospitality Resume That Sparkles - Work It Daily One of the challenges associated with creating a hospitality resume is making sure it zeros in on the position you’re applying for while highlighting the many skills you bring to the table, especially when some may step outside of the realm of the job. If you’re applying for a job in the restaurant sector but have training in a broader array of industries within hospitality, you may be scratching your head trying to figure out how to fit it all in. Don’t fret. There is a way to create a great document that can showcase it all. Use Your Job Target as a Guide A great way to not only lure a hiring manager into reading your resume, but also guide them through the document to know which skills and qualifications to look for, is by creating an eye-catching job target. The job target is similar to the subject line of an e-mail or the title of an article in it provides insight into what the reader can expect. In this case, writing a target that zeros in on your skills acquired while working in restaurants but also mentions other experience in the hospitality field tells the manager that you bring both types of experience to the table. An example of this type of target might be: “Head Waiter with 10 Years Extensive Team Management, Sales and Customer Service Experience; Trained in Expanded Hospitality Services.” This target not only explains that you are highly skilled in managing a team, handling sales, and dealing with customers, but you have a background in other areas of hospitality that will encourage the manager to look through your resume to see how else you can be an asset to the company. Dig Deeper with Your Career Summary Now that your job target has served as the tip of the iceberg, hopefully convincing the hiring manager to read more about you, you can go into further details about your background in your career summary. The career summary provides you with the opportunity to highlight moments that stand out in your hospitality career. You can bullet-point your highlighted moments as a head waiter by sharing some great achievements, individual or team awards won, record number of customers served, etc. This can also be a place to expand on your hospitality skills as long as they show that you will be a better head waiter thanks to those skills. For instance, you if spent two years as a hotel management trainee who took responsibility for the cooking staff, you can highlight this as well. It’s great to have expanded experience in the hospitality field. The key is to make sure you focus on the job you’re applying for and only sliding the other details in when they suit the position. Otherwise, your resume will look more like a cluttered document than an accomplishment-packed masterpiece. Jessica Holbrook Hernandez, CEO of Great Resumes Fast is an expert resume writer, career and personal branding strategist, author, and presenter. Click here » to review FREE resume and cover letter samples. Image from auremar/Shutterstock Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!

5 Ways the Smartest Companies Benefit From Implementing Return-to-Work Programs

5 Ways the Smartest Companies Benefit From Implementing Return-to-Work Programs While plenty of new parents choose to remain in the workforce, research shows that a full 43% of working moms ultimately leave the workforce at some point in their careers.This can occur for any number of reasons. But after several years of staying home with the kids, many parents feel inclined to return to the workforce and resume their careers. However, stigmas about resume gaps and unfair prejudices about those who choose to exit the professional world can render re-entry a surprisingly difficult task.In recent years, forward-thinking companies have taken steps to combat the challenges of returning to work after leaving for caregiver-related reasons. These steps often come in the gestalt of return-to-work programs, or initiatives intended to help parents gain the skills and experiences they need to resume their careers after spending significant time out-of-office. Not only do return-to-work programs h elp parents, but they also provide serious benefits to the companies that make use of them. Below, weve rounded up a few of the ways your company would stand to benefit from this type of program.1. Your company will save on recruiting expenses.Linked-In reports that replacing an employee who leaves their job after the birth of a child can cost a company 20-213% of that workers salary, in addition to costs incurred by a lack of knowledge and departmental declines in productivity that often occur after an employees departure. However, if your company instead makes an active effort to re-acclimate returning parents to the workplace, theyll save on recruiter fees and will be investing their resources in an employee with proven experience, therefore limiting productivity snags.2. Returnships are an efficient and relatively low-cost way to acclimate returning employees to new advances in technology and work systems.In certain cases, parents returning to the workforce have been out-of-comm ission for so long that theyre unfamiliar with new advances in technology, software, and company procedures. To bridge unterstellung gaps, some companies are implementing returnship programs for parents seeking a return to the workplace with a goal of providing an extended onboarding period so that individuals can acclimate. These temporary assignments usually involve a slightly lower rate of pay while enabling the employee to learn necessary skills and gain the opportunity to readjust to the company culture at an educational pace.3. Allowing new parents to transition smoothly back into office life will help your company attract top talent.Companies that hope to remain competitive in the hiring market must promote a positive work-life balance. Therefore, if your company develops a reputation as a supportive employer of working parents, youre more likely to attract top talent.4. More and more millennials are becoming working parents, so its in your companys best interests to ease tha t process.Overtwo-thirds of millennial moms and about 90% of millennial dads are working parents, so companies with an interest in recruiting this generation of employees (which currently represents the largest generation in the workforce) need to plan for the re-entry of new moms and dads into office life. A commitment to hiring working parents and doing what they can to ease the transition increases a companys desirability among millennial job seekers.5. Offering return-to-work programs to parents regardless of gender boosts your companys inclusiveness, which is attractive to donors and clients alike.In the year 2019, restricting return-to-work programs to female mothers alone seems pretty discriminatory. Progressive companies offering returnships and other useful benefits for parents coming back into the professional fold often extend these programs to moms and dads alike, which projects an investment in inclusivity that can appeal to prospective clients, donors, and future emplo yees.--

Getting the Best Verb Tense in Resume Writing

Getting the Best Verb Tense in Resume Writing When you know what skills your employer is searching for, you may use the perfect words on your resume. Youve got to recognize the kind of the keyword the business uses in the work ad and optimize your resume accordingly. When a recruiter reviews your resume, we would like to realize that you will take action if youre hired for the job. Youre not in the work anymore, its in your past. You must always consider the use of a word prior to using it like a verb. Finally, the principal goal of your resume is to convince the employer to provide you an interview at which you can then close the offer. If you arent sure which words to use, find keywords in the work description. Power words are used for many factors. Hence, its very important to draft a professional resume. Resumes ought to be written utilizing the past tense. The Pain of Verb Tense in Resume Writing You may landsee the difference between both sentences. In addition, there are verbs that likewise have to agree with a particular gender, argument or person. You can proceed and attempt to produce sentences that dont have any verbs you will note that the sentences you compose all of them are useless. There is just one thing which you can do in that sentence, and thats call. What You Need to Do About Verb Tense in Resume Writing Before It Is Too Late The Present Simple Tense Present simple is the most frequent tense in academic writing, and its usually thought to be the default unless theres a specific reason to decide on another tense (e.g. a sentence includes a past time marker). The present tense is utilized to express anything thats happening now or occurring in the current moment. Repetition and rhythm are good, but they are easily able to become predictable in a means which makes reader gloss over details. Its also advisable to know a linking verb when you see it into a sentence.