Saturday, May 30, 2020

ETP Network is Empowering Todays Professionals

ETP Network is Empowering Todays Professionals Last year a guy signed on to JibberJobber and started sending me thoughtful enhancement requests.   He has a strong background in software development, design and QA, and we struck up a cool relationship.   He mentioned he wanted to introduce me to Rod Colon, founder of the ETP Network, and possibly have me speak on one of their weekly teleconferences. That happened in January of this year, where we had a fun, lively conversation.   I shared 8 things to do in 08 with LinkedIn (I know, clever :p), and was very well received.   This ETP audience was sharp, proactive, and eager to be CEOs of Me, Inc.   It was a great experience. A few months later I had the opportunity to go to New Jersey to speak and reached out to my buddies at ETP to see if we could get together.   Not only did we get together, we got together in style!   This was my first experience at a restaurant where they printed custom menus just for our dinner. Huge thanks to the ETP team for making my visit to New Jersey feel like something reserved for royalty I came to understand that ETP was not just a New Jersey thing.   I thought it was, but found new subscribers to JibberJobber who were states away from New Jersey I asked Rod what ETPs geographic boundaries were and they said there were none I immediately thought that some of you would love to get value from what ETP offers. You can get a lot of info from the ETP Network website, but here are 5 things I want to bring out: Access to weekly teleconferences. These start at 9:30pm EST and go for about two hours.   I wouldnt think they actually work, if you told me about them, but having experienced them, and hearing about them from participants, Im very impressed.   These are terrific shot-in-the-arm calls filled with concepts, strategy, tactics and techniques, and very helpful for those in a current job search. Involvement in the ETP Yahoo Group. Ive been receiving a digest of the e-mails and their is rich information shared there from current resources to ideas on finances to ETP news and events announcements. Getting-started guides and articles. From their benefits list, they state The basics of finding a new job always needs to be reinforced and reexamined. Forgetting the basics means wasted time, money, and opportunities. Stick with the basics and get results!     This accompanies the ABCs of Job Search document and there are more where that came from! Being in with proactive networkers who understand Me, Inc. Ive found ETP members to be serious about being CEO of Me, Inc. AND very giving networkers.   Rod Colon calls it a warm network, where there is a certain trust level just because of the fact that you are an ETP member.   This is not taken lightly, and benefits many people. Information and training you need to understand real career management. I had to read plenty of books, blog posts, and articles, and go to various conferences and even get formal training that was my 2+ year path to understand personal career management.   The ETP Network is big on helping you learn this stuff fast.   Its inculcation at its best. The annual cost, if I understand correctly, is $25.   This is not a big money-making thing the guys that run this have a fire in the belly that is contagious and powerful.   If you are feeling stuck, I recommend you head over to ETP and see for yourself what they have to offer. ETP Network is Empowering Todays Professionals Last year a guy signed on to JibberJobber and started sending me thoughtful enhancement requests.   He has a strong background in software development, design and QA, and we struck up a cool relationship.   He mentioned he wanted to introduce me to Rod Colon, founder of the ETP Network, and possibly have me speak on one of their weekly teleconferences. That happened in January of this year, where we had a fun, lively conversation.   I shared 8 things to do in 08 with LinkedIn (I know, clever :p), and was very well received.   This ETP audience was sharp, proactive, and eager to be CEOs of Me, Inc.   It was a great experience. A few months later I had the opportunity to go to New Jersey to speak and reached out to my buddies at ETP to see if we could get together.   Not only did we get together, we got together in style!   This was my first experience at a restaurant where they printed custom menus just for our dinner. Huge thanks to the ETP team for making my visit to New Jersey feel like something reserved for royalty I came to understand that ETP was not just a New Jersey thing.   I thought it was, but found new subscribers to JibberJobber who were states away from New Jersey I asked Rod what ETPs geographic boundaries were and they said there were none I immediately thought that some of you would love to get value from what ETP offers. You can get a lot of info from the ETP Network website, but here are 5 things I want to bring out: Access to weekly teleconferences. These start at 9:30pm EST and go for about two hours.   I wouldnt think they actually work, if you told me about them, but having experienced them, and hearing about them from participants, Im very impressed.   These are terrific shot-in-the-arm calls filled with concepts, strategy, tactics and techniques, and very helpful for those in a current job search. Involvement in the ETP Yahoo Group. Ive been receiving a digest of the e-mails and their is rich information shared there from current resources to ideas on finances to ETP news and events announcements. Getting-started guides and articles. From their benefits list, they state The basics of finding a new job always needs to be reinforced and reexamined. Forgetting the basics means wasted time, money, and opportunities. Stick with the basics and get results!     This accompanies the ABCs of Job Search document and there are more where that came from! Being in with proactive networkers who understand Me, Inc. Ive found ETP members to be serious about being CEO of Me, Inc. AND very giving networkers.   Rod Colon calls it a warm network, where there is a certain trust level just because of the fact that you are an ETP member.   This is not taken lightly, and benefits many people. Information and training you need to understand real career management. I had to read plenty of books, blog posts, and articles, and go to various conferences and even get formal training that was my 2+ year path to understand personal career management.   The ETP Network is big on helping you learn this stuff fast.   Its inculcation at its best. The annual cost, if I understand correctly, is $25.   This is not a big money-making thing the guys that run this have a fire in the belly that is contagious and powerful.   If you are feeling stuck, I recommend you head over to ETP and see for yourself what they have to offer.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Why IT Needs to be Ready to Lead

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese Why IT Needs to be Ready to Lead Having your department compared to the DMV isnt very flattering, but thats what is happening to many IT departments. Thats because many CIOs are focused on the technology and they dont really care about the user experience, hence the DMV reference. The comparison is made in a new book, The Big Shift in IT Leadership, by author Hunter Muller, who contends that many CIOs remain focused inward, only concerned with technology. But a small portion of CIOs see the writing on the wall, and know they need to play the game at a higher level by shifting their focus outward to provide a stellar customer experience, he says. While Muller acknowledges that undertaking a more customer-centric focus is a huge plate shift for CIOs, it is one that must take place not only for a CIOs own career trajectory, but also for the health of their company. CIOsneed to be readyto disrupt, facilitate and innovate, Muller says. They need to be recruiting, retaining and growing future IT talent. They need to communicate better. They need be passionate about the business fearless and tenacious. The best CIOs, he says, know that results beat out technology. Having great technology doesnt mean much if customers arent having a good user experience, because they will leave for the competition, he says. Speeds and feeds are fine, but having great metrics wont pay the bills, Muller says. Todays businesses focus on delighting customers, because that is how you make the most money. While embracing such new challenges may be daunting for some CIOs, Muller notes that the really neat thing about CIOs is that they have total visibility across the organization. He explains that with the access, CIOs have a golden opportunity to help develop innovative strategies and spur collaborations that will have a big impact on the organizations overall success. Today, IT really matters. It matters to the top line and to the bottom line. When IT has a bad day, the company has a bad day. When IT is on a roll, the company is on a roll, Muller says. In Mullers book, he makes several suggestions for those CIOs who are ready to make the big shift to key leadership within an organization. Among them: Build bridges.CEOs want trusted advisors around them and CIOs need to find ways to fit themselves into this role. If everyone in the C-suite plays golf or owns a sports car, do the same, Muller advises. This helps a CEO feel more comfortable that youre more than a techie and will fit easily into the inner circle. But this is just the beginning now you must learn to speak the language of the CEO and other (read more here) Photo:WPTidBits

Saturday, May 23, 2020

CEOs can learn from job hoppers about personal responsibility

CEOs can learn from job hoppers about personal responsibility Climbing to the top of corporate America requires near complete abnegation of ones personal life, not in a sacrificial way, but in a child-like way. In most cases, when there are children, there is a wife at home taking care of the executives life in the same way she takes care of the childrens lives. This is not a judgment on whether people should have kids. Its fine to choose not to have kids. This is a judgment on whether people with kids should be CEOs of large companies. I have already laid out the argument that Fortune 500 CEOs, like Howard Stringer, who work 100-hour weeks and have kids at home, are neglecting their kids. Not neglecting them like, thats too bad. But neglecting them like, its totally irresponsible to have kids if you dont want to spend any time with them. I have also laid out the argument that men who have these top jobs can get there because they have a wife at home, running their personal life. Women get stuck in their ascent up the corporate ladder on the day their first child is born. Because women end up taking care of the kids. Women do not choose to compartmentalize kids and work the way men at the top of the ladder do. Eve Tahmincioglu recently published a book based on interviews with CEOs: From the Sandbox to the Corner Office. She says that usually, the wife is handling the marriage and the family. She is the one who keeps it all together. Most of the female CEOs that Tahmincioglu interviewed did not have kids, and Tahmincioglu says they attributed their success to their lack of children because the demands of a CEO are not compatible with taking care of kids. Meanwhile, lets take the job hopper. The job hopper does not stay at the same company forever. So while the climber gets his identity from a corporation, the job hopper takes full responsibility for forging his own identity. The job hopper focuses on the time in between jobs to gain increased flexibility. He can make himself available to take care of a sick relative, to fly overseas to adopt a baby, and to travel when a spouse is relocated. A job hopper can take on loads of responsibility to create family stability because a job hopper is flexible. Additionally, a job hopper can find passion in work more easily, because job hopping keeps ideas fresh and learning curves high. So whereas many ladder climbers work more than sixty hours a week to get that workplace adrenaline rush. Job hoppers can get the rush by starting something new. No need to give up family in order to get a rush from work. This means that a job hopper can have fulfilling work and take a hefty load of responsibility for adult life. There will be time to buy birthday presents for nieces. There will be time to plan surprise parties instead of delegating it to an assistant or a spouse. There will be time to worry about household issues and marital issues and all the things someone who works 100 hours a week has no time to be responsible for. The corporate climber, meanwhile, is isolated from the complications of real life. For example, business is full of measurable goals, acknowledgements for success, teambuilding, constant ranking, and societal pats on the back with big paychecks. Home life has none of this. We still do not know what really makes a good parent. There are no measurable goals for getting through a day with the in-laws so there is no reward system for it either. There is no way to measure who is a good family member. There is no definition of successful spouse. Home life is murky and difficult. Work life is structured and predictable. People who create careers that allow them to assume large levels of authority in their personal life are living as responsible adults. People who concentrate on work and delegate maintenance of all other aspects of their personal life are not truly living as adults. Adult life is difficult, challenging and full of ways to actively give our hearts to others. The world will be a better place when careers do not shield people from taking responsibility, but instead, facilitate it.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

3 Ways to Acquire Referrals for Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

3 Ways to Acquire Referrals for Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career There is no greater gift your personal brand can receive than a recommendation, referral, or testimonial. I’m currently reading a great book by John Jantsch called The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself. Although clearly a business book and not a personal branding book, so many of its principles can be applied to both. So how do you acquire said coveted referrals? Talk with, not at Engage and listen, don’t just push out information. It’s really that simple. Social networking sites in particular allow you to do this relatively easily. Before you know it, referrals will be coming your way. Educate your audience As Jantsch says, “Referrals are helpful only if they’re given to the right people.” So, educate your audience about whom they should be spreading the good word to about you. Don’t be boring When you build your personal brand, make sure it accurately represents you â€" but keep in mind that nobody talks about boring brands. Have a great story to tell, and make sure others know that story. Create “buzz” around your brand by being quoted frequently in the traditional media and by blogs. In what other ways do you actively try to obtain recommendations, referrals, and testimonials? Author: Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder president of Come Recommended, a career and workplace education and consulting firm specializing in young professionals. She is also the author of#ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), national entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Resume Writing For Undergraduate

Resume Writing For UndergraduateFor resume writing for undergraduate, the first and most important step is to provide your career goals. You should list your career path and describe the responsibilities you are seeking in your current position. You should also include in this information some academic achievements that you have attained so that your future employer will be able to identify you as an individual who has the potential to gain full-time employment. To enhance your career opportunities, be sure to include your personal life and your education in your resume.When you are preparing a resume, include all relevant education and educational achievements and various academic records in the section where it pertains to you. You can add in your employment history in a separate section. In the same way, you need to describe your learning experience, especially in subjects that relate to your future job. As much as possible, write about the classroom experiences, college placement s, internships and other experiences that are relevant to your prospective work.One of the key aspects that you need to include in your resume is the details about your educational background. In order to make sure that your resume is properly formatted, make use of templates. Not only do these templates help you to organize your content, they also help you to provide a well-organized resume that will help you stand out from the rest of the candidates.Your resume should be optimized for search engines by including keywords that are important to your job. The better keyword density that you have, the more effective your resume will be for getting the desired results. You can search online for free professional resume templates that will help you optimize your resume.In order to be able to tailor the layout of your resume to match the requirements of your current job description, you must prepare and create a resume template. In this way, you will be able to customize your resume base d on your current job duties. Thismakes it easier for your future employer to read your resume. In addition, if you have any gaps in your academic career that you would like to fill, then you need to prepare your resume by using a resume writing for undergraduate.In order to be successful in your search for a new job, it is important that you accurately list all your career goals and achievements. In this case, you need to use your resume as a tool to help you achieve your career goals. Your resume needs to be tailor-made to suit your career goals. If you do not have a career goal yet, it is recommended that you start creating one by thinking about your hobbies, interests, likes and dislikes and how these can help you in your career.Your resume must first be organized so that it is easy for your future employer to read it. It is necessary that your resume should be designed in such a way that it is easy to scan. Therefore, make sure that your resume is laid out in such a way that it contains a particular format. When you know how to format your resume, it will be easier for you to format your resume according to the requirement of your present job.You must always keep in mind that the first step in any career change is planning your career and deciding on your future job. You should consider your skills, talents and other qualities that are needed to help you in your career. Make sure that you do not only list your educational achievements but also emphasize on your strengths and capabilities. This will help you stand out from the rest of the candidates who are applying for a new job.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Good and Bad Trends

Good and Bad Trends There is a silver lining in every cloud, or so they say.   Sometimes it can be difficult to see where that lining may be hiding.   It is there, somewhere. Some regions of the country are experiencing a drop in salary levels.   The original data from Forbes.com has been digested and summarized in this article on Yahoo Finance. For my friends in Rochester, NYwe ranked #1 in the country with a decrease in wages from 2008-2009 of -2.3%. So thats the bad news. Lets take a look at the good news.   Out of a recession comes new industries, new business, new jobs.   Right?   There are opportunities.   Consider the super-fast growth within todays digital landscape and the emerging threats that exist in a world where information is instantly accessible.   This is real.   In 2008 approximately 10 million people fell victim to identity theft fraud. I believe it is important to stay on top of whats going on.   You need to be looking at what trends are forming.   The solution to our troubles today, lies in the  innovation of tomorrow!

Friday, May 8, 2020

How a Career Impact Matrix Helped Lucy Showcase Her Skills - CareerEnlightenment.com

How a Career Impact Matrix Helped Lucy Showcase Her Skills In working this week with one of my coaching clients let’s call her Lucy I was reminded of how a powerful but little known job search tool can help someone get a better job faster. Lucy is a successful middle manager with a well know consumer brand you probably are using right now.Lucy was being considered for a promotion in her company. She was struggling to find a concise but compelling way to communicate her career successes to her interviewers. She knew one of her interviewers, the departmental VP, was a big picture person who would weary of listening to her recite her career accomplishments.Enter the Career Impact Matrix? (CIM), the tool Lucy use to ace her interview! The CIM goes way beyond a resume in its ability to clearly and concisely describe the impact Lucy has delivered in her career.   While a resume typically lists quantifiable accomplishments under each employer, the CIM focuses on a level of detail that more deeply quantifies and validates her achievements. Save d as a single page PDF, it becomes the perfect downloadable career search tool to differentiate your LinkedIn profile.Creating the Career Impact Matrix. It is easy to create CIM in any word processing program that utilizes tables. First, establish your three or four most important career accomplishment categories. These are the areas in which you can demonstrate multiple successes that were quite impactful to the employers you served during your career. These topical categories form the vertical axis of the matrix.The following four columns should appear across the top, horizontal axis of the table:Initiative Name / Objective. This is a high level description of projects or programs. Specific employers are not mentioned, and similar projects and programs are synthesized for the purposes of showing their broad combined results in the Organizational Scope and Horizon Impact Lucy chose three sections for this: Talent Development (where she could showcase her people-development accompli shments), Strategic Initiatives (where she could point to her success in developing programs to help her employers achieve their objectives), and Brand Development (where she could how the impact she’s had on making this US brand a global brand.Organizational Scope. This should include the numbers of people by level (and departments) who were directly affected, or who participated in the project or program. In Lucy’s case, it wasn’t just the people in her company that were affected, but the points of distribution that sold her products.Horizon Impact. This is the timeline involved. For ongoing programs or projects indicate the initial calendar quarter they started, through to “current.” You can show multiple flights of the same project. One of Lucy’s projects spanned multiple employers.Specific Impact to the Organization. Here, in bullet-point format, show key aspects of projects and programs as well as their outcomes (measurable if you have the metrics). This section bl ew Lucy’s interviewers away when they saw just how impactful her results have been.Make certain to embed keywords and key phrases in this document that are associated with your current and target career objectives. Want to Read More Articles Like This One?Sign up here to receive weekly updates from Career Enlightenment, and never miss another powerful job searching tip! SUBSCRIBE! You have Successfully Subscribed!We hate spam too. Unsubscribe any time. Here’s an example of a  Career Impact Matrix that I developed for a friend eight years ago.Career Impact Matrix for Experienced Workers. Experienced workers have likely delivered more (and more significant) accomplishments by virtue of more years as working adults. Consider your career as a whole. Note the example for John Smith, a senior manager involved in organizational development for multiple employers in his 23 year career. He has listed the combined results of similar projects and programs in two columns, Organizational Scope and Horizon Impact. In this way he is demonstrating both the longevity of repeated successes and the total measurable impact each has had.Career Impact Matrix for Inexperienced Workers. Just because someone is inexperienced does not mean they cannot use a CIM to differentiate themselves from their competitors for positions of interest. By age 24 a person has accumulated six to eight years’ experience through summer and part-time jobs, internships, school activities, volunteer work, and class work. Bear in mind that a CIM is a tool that sizes for a person’s relative experiences. A 24-year old is likely competing with similarly experienced people, most of whom will never create a CIM for themselves.   Thus one could argue that a CIM is more impactful for a less experienced worker! The key is to identify the top three or four areas in which impactful contributions have been made, where the impact can be described and quantified. Less experienced workers might want to conside r a larger font and larger margins if quantifiable accomplishments are light.Additional Uses for Your Career Impact Matrix. In addition to embedding it on your LinkedIn and other professional profiles associated with your career search, it should be utilized as a final page of your resume and a clean copy printed out on resume paper and brought to job interviews. Make sure you place your contact information on the CIM in the event that it gets separated from your associated documents.How Lucy Used Her Career Impact Matrix.  During her next interview she was asked why she would be the best candidate for the position. Lucy said, “Here’s a one-page snapshot of my contributions and the impact they have made. You want someone who will make a real difference…and that is who I am.”The look on the VP’s face was priceless as his eyes widened as he looked over Lucy’s Career Impact Matrix.“Wow,” he said.   “Do you think you can do that here?”“Give me the right resources a nd I’ll make it happen,” replied Lucy.The rest of their discussion focused on what resources she’d need to get started, including her new title and compensation. She starts her new position next Monday.Bottom Line: looking for a way to gain an edge over everyone else who is interviewing for a key position? Then incorporate a Career Impact Matrix? in your search. It is a powerful way to showcase your accomplishments and the difference they have made.