5 Ways to Proactively Protect Your Online Reputation

5 Ways to Proactively Protect Your Online Reputation Job hunters must keep in mind that countless employers and human resources personnel are utilizing the web and, in particular, social networks to get additional information on prospective employees. This growing method of gaining information on applicants has provoked many job seekers to “get off the grid.” But it’s important to note that information gleaned from the web can be what wins you a position as much as it can be what disqualifies you from one. Because of this, aspiring professionals should consider the following when attempting to perform their own online reputation management: 1. Clean Up Your Social Networking Act: This one is a given, but the ever-evolving nature of social networking has made it more of a meticulous task than merely removing raunchy images or references to dirty deeds. It’s important to always be aware of your privacy settings, as the activity of friends can affect your profile through image tagging and wall posting. Whenever you’re informed of “updates” by-way of an automatic email from your preferred social network, examine privacy settings for signs of change. You may not be aware of it, but updates could include a reformatting of such settings and introducing new options that are defaulted to whatever the social network decides. 2. Expand Your Social Networking Act: Becoming a listed member of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and now Google+ does more than just make you look like a go-getter, it means that so long as you keep these accounts relatively active you help eliminate the possibility of undesirable uncontrolled information about you from making its way to the top of a Google search. These sites are such incredibly popular results that they’ll always sit at the top. That way any unauthorized content related to you, if in existence, is less likely to make an appearance to a possible employer. 3. Buy Your Own Website: If you have a popular name like Robert Smith this one might be impossible, but acquiring a yourname.com resume website is a great way to influence your online reputation massively in one single step. Buying the domain of your full name allows you to make that URL the destination of your online resume and additional personal information you wish to disclose to the public and potential employers. It also keeps someone else from buying it and making your name associated with who-knows-what. 4. Perform a Positive Google Bomb: It’s a primitive measure, but if you have some time to kill, simply do repeated Google searches of your own name with added words that highlight achievements. This is especially effective if these searches lead to information about achievements you otherwise wouldn’t put on a resume for the sake of space. Athletic achievements are a good example of such facts that are good to lead employers to. 5. Send Employers to These Sites Yourself: Employers might still go ahead and do their own search engine snooping but a good way to curb the intensity of their research is to go ahead and provide them with links to these sites through your resume or cover letter. You want to show you have an established online presence you’re happy to share. It’s also an easy way to look confident when making a first impression. Employers and human resource personnel expect for potential employees to exist online. Your mission is as much to present your Internet image as ideally as possible as it is to protect it from negativity. Don’t fear Facebook and other social sites, but instead, utilize them to increase the odds of getting hired. It requires the proper balance of activity and alertness, but there’s nothing about managing an online reputation that’s outside the realm of possibility of those eager to get hired. Related:  How To Protect Your Online Personal Brand.

Top Tips for Finding a New Job Fast

Top Tips for Finding a New Job Fast In January, many people think about how they want the year ahead to look for them, and what they want to achieve. This is why New Year’s resolutions are so popular. For lots of us, this goal setting involves getting a promotion or landing a dream role. If you’re in this boat, and want to find a new job nice and quickly, it’s important to be proactive and plan ahead. Read on for some handy tips you can follow today to help you start the year off with a “bang” when it comes to your career. Fine-Tune Your Resume and Cover Letter One of the first things you should do if you’re keen to land a new job quickly is make sure that your application documents are in good order. For starters, your resume and cover letter should both be up-to-date and cover any new skills or accomplishments you have achieved, and new positions or areas of responsibility you have been working in. The layout of your resume, in particular, is highly important. Keep in mind that recruiters typically look at dozens if not hundreds of documents per day, and therefore don’t have the time to read every word on a page. They look, instead, for the most important information as they scan through a document. As such, you must ensure that your resume is set out with lots of sub-headings and that all the most important information is in the first section. Details Can Make A Difference When creating a top-notch resume and cover letter, you also need to ensure that you choose a professional-looking font (something standard such as Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial, for example), and that the font size is large enough that readers don’t have to squint. Leave white space on the pages too so that eyes and brains don’t get overwhelmed when poring over information. Many people make simple mistakes on their application documents too which could be easily averted if they arranged a free resume evaluation or had knowledgeable friends, family members or colleagues to look over their work before they submitted it. Be wary of spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, spacing issues, and the like. You might want to consider hiring a specialist resume firm to create new documents for you, as they understand exactly what is required in CVs and cover letters which get results. Many of these companies can also help you to hone your interview skills by providing training, and ensuring that you present yourself in the best light possible when in front of recruiters and employers. Develop Your Network and Brand Another good way to help yourself get a new job in a timely manner is to put some effort into networking and creating your own personal brand. Developing relationships with recruiters, managers, and other industry contacts can help you to find out about positions before they are advertised, and to get your name in front of the right people. While it pays to do some in-person networking, don’t forget that social media is also really helpful when it comes to both networking and branding. Sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and the like are the perfect place to: Digitally “meet” and develop connections with professionals Showcase your skills and experience Declare your interest in a role or sector. You can also use the websites to demonstrate your expert knowledge in a field, and to promote your brand. Keep Profiles Updated To do all of this well, start by ensuring your profiles on the various sites you plan to target are filled with up-to-date information about yourself, and that you use the same images, logos, font, and language across them all for brand consistency. Photographs of yourself should be professional, always, as should your posts. Never complain about an employer/manager in the public eye, write negative things about clients, or otherwise be less than professional. It also pays to join in conversations with relevant groups and people when you can add value. Also, post regular updates about: Events you have attended New skills you’ve learned Training you have finished New projects you have launched or completed Any other career successes you’ve had This will help to showcase your expertise and to generate more interest in your profile, which can lead to more connections and eyes on your progress. Providing links to content you have written or curated, such as blogs, infographics, books, quotes, and so on is also of great benefit when it comes to branding and networking. Utilize Resources Lastly, don’t forget to utilize all of the resources you have at your disposal that can help you in your job search. While this list will vary from person to person, it can include things such as reference letters from past employers or colleagues, and testimonials from clients. Also try to tee up direct referrals from those you know to recruiters and employers who may be getting ready to advertise a position. Many jobs never end up being advertised publicly because they are filled beforehand by people who have been recommended directly. As such, you should let all of your contacts know that you are actively seeking a new role, in case they are able to refer you to a great lead. . Image credits. Main.   Personal brand.    Resume.

Time To Put Your Blog On A Diet - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Time To Put Your Blog On A Diet - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career If your blog is not building the personal brand you want, put it on a diet! Adopt a new philosophy: write better, but write less! Putting your blog on a diet sharpens your thinking and improves your ability to engage, inform, and motivate readers, building your personal brand as the go to resource in your field. It also creates time for you to do a better job integrating your blog with your other writing, publishing, and brand building efforts. Competent versus energized blogging Its easy to fall into the trap of writing comfortable, routine, blog posts. Certainly, blog posts that are just OK are certainly preferable to no blog posts at all. But, to become the go to expert in your field, your blog has to do more than simply echo basic ideas and current perspectives. Your blog posts have to sizzle with fresh, engaging, and relevant writing. It takes time, however, to prepare energized, memorable, stand out blog posts.and there are only a few ways to create more time! You can: Work harder, sleep less, exercise less, and cut family time Cut your income by spending less time servicing clients and developing new products and services Write less, eliminate marginal posts, and focus on fewer, better-written posts Usually, the 3rd alternative makes the most sense. Write better by writing less Here are 7 ways to put your blog on a diet: Frequency. If youre currently blogging 2, or more, times a week, consider cutting back to one blog post a week. Use the time savings to improve the quality, relevance, and resonance of the remaining posts. Length. Check the length of your typical blog posts. Use WordPresss Word Count feature at the lower left of the Edit Post screen. If your blog posts typically run more than 700-800 words, you may be providing unnecessary detail. Sharpen your focus and edit to the bone! Theme. Develop a long-range theme, or mission, for your blog. Even if youre not blogging a book, think of each post as a building block that supports a big idea thats exclusively yours, one youre sharing on a weekly basis. Topics. Select blog post topics ahead of time. This allows your brain to process ideas before you write. Choosing topics ahead of time also ensures that topics will appear in the right order and you wont overlook any important topics.   Structure. Create a simple structure, or template, for writing blog posts. Let the structure guide as you engage your readers, describe the relevance of each topic, introduce your main ideas, and end with a call to action.     Schedule. Commit to posting new content at consistent intervals, i.e., the same day each week. Schedule a couple of short (30-45 minute) working sessions for each post. During the first session, prepare the first draft. During the next session, review and edit. Never select a topic, write, and publish a post during a single working session! Follow-up. Track comments, Retweets, Likes, and website visits. Back-up your posts on your own computerpreferablyon more than one computer. Use a Mindjet Dashboard to get a big picture view of your published and upcoming blog posts. Print posts on 3-hole paper and save them in binders devoted to specific topics. Growing brand equity, one post at a time The benefits of putting your blog on a diet include: Focus. By being selective in what write about, you can focus each post on your markets needs while creating content ready to be reused and reformated. Polished. By writing less, but spending more time on each post, youll be better able to research, argue, and edit each post so it best reflects your mission and your brand. Your posts will become more engaging, persuasive, and passionate. Optimized. Writing fewer posts create time for support activities like search engine optimization, promoting, and tracking each post. Questions to ask yourself Review the blog posts youve created during the past 6 months. How many of them reflect you at your informed and passionate best? How many of them could you use as chapters in a book or reform them for information products, podcasts, or YouTube videos? Start your journey to a stronger personal brand by putting your blog on a diet, so you can write less, but write better. Author: Roger C. Parker is an author, book coach, designer, consultant who works with authors, marketers, business professionals to achieve success with brand-building books practical marketing strategy. He helps create successful marketing materials that look great get results, and can turn any complex marketing or writing task into baby steps. Visit his blog to learn more or ask a question.

Your Career Aspirations Fantasy or Desire - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Your Career Aspirations Fantasy or Desire - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career This time around upon listening to the words sung by Susan Boyle, “I had a dream worth living,” they resonated with me in terms of career planning. So many times we do have dreams, but all that comes of them are excuses. Why is that? Some say it’s due to lack of time, negative teammates and ill-willed management, negative voices inside our heads, and/or the lack of faith the right opportunity will come into being. Life long dreams If you were to put all of the doubt and fear aside, the next questions to follow is, Was your dream merely a one-time fantasy or is it a recurring desire? In my opinion, if the idea frequently flows into your mind and heart â€" then, like Ms. Boyle, it’s a dream worth living. The best route to take is to learn from those who have gone before you or who have taken a similar career path to what you desire. What was done poorly? What actions were executed well and made the difference for success? Are you able to mirror some of these while remaining authentic to you and building your reputation? These lessons are invaluable for building a concrete path to follow. Next, let’s look at a few techniques for handling the usual self-doubt. The first place to start is to leave negative minded people behind. If this describes your work environment, make a plan to elevate yourself and your career. In your free time envision your career at its finest â€" what are your aspirations that had been safely tucked away until now? What are the milestones you need to achieve to get to the peak of your career? Be of the mindset from now on, you will keep pursuing your dreams. On your next interview, it’s your job to determine if you will fit in with the company culture. Are you able to meet some of the future team members to get a sense for what you will be “in for”? As you see others moving up their ladder of success you will begin to wonder if you too are capable of the same. Learn by asking questions of them on how they got past their sticking points to achieve what once seemed insurmountable. One of the easiest ways to rid yourself of negative voices in your head is to become very focused every minute of the working day. At any given moment, you know what you need to work on to keep moving forward. Time efficiencies, goal setting and clear vision of where you are headed must be adhered to every working moment. Once your mindset is focused, the negative voices will slip away to find someone else less inclined to be successful. Another technique to discourage negative voices from plaguing you is to decorate your surroundings with reminders of the fine work you have done in the past. These may include Thank You notes, awards, pictures capturing milestones in your life and anything else that will remind you of just how special you really are. You will be surprised to find just how motivating this is and it drives home the point, “Yes I can!” If the lack of faith in your abilities plagues you or you have a profound fear of failure, try the technique large corporations use. Change your vocabulary from “fear of failure” to “marketing research”! They never say to the public, “We failed due to our last product being so ineffective, so we’re hopeful the new one will be better.” Instead they say, “Our marketing research demonstrates this new product will be even better than the last one!” Your strong belief in what you contribute to the world, dedication and perseverance to achieve what was originally just a fleeting thought is a large part of your personal brand. As you go on this dedicated journey, you will attract attention for better opportunities with greater probability of achieving your dream. In other words, if your dream is worth living, then it is well worth it to take the time to learn from those who have gone before you. The best career investment is in your education and yourself. Then you will be ready to go for it with your heart and soul. Even if you aren’t successful the first time out, when you keep refining, pursuing and learning â€" you will be on the road to success and your dream will be worth living! Of course, when your dream thrives, I call this a Smooth Sale! Author: Elinor Stutz is the CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC and is the author of the best-selling book, “Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results” published by Sourcebooks. Elinor’s new book, “HIRED! How to Use Sales Techniques to Sell Yourself On Interviews” is based upon years of community service teaching job-seekers how to land the job they desire.

Using a Construction Resume Writing Service to Find Jobs

Using a Construction Resume Writing Service to Find JobsA construction resume writing service will help any employee determine the exact skills they have. They can also help you determine which job can be performed with the right skill set. It is good to remember that some companies do not allow their employees to do certain types of jobs because of how the skills were acquired. If your resume shows that you know what you are doing, then you should be able to work for them.In order to use this service, you will need to know the skill levels that your employer requires. The construction resume writing service can take a look at your resume and tell you what skills you should have to do your job. They will also be able to tell you what skills you do not have and tell you what you can do to make up for those skills.It is hard to get work if you do not know what you are good at and what you should be doing. Construction resume writing service can help you by making sure that your skills are in line with what you need to do the job. This will make it so that you are not wasting your time applying for jobs that you will not get.You will want to be able to find jobs that require the type of skill set that you have. You will want to keep an eye out for jobs that will pay well and that you will be able to do easily. This way, you can have a steady flow of work.There are many websites on the internet that can help you with resumes and construction resume writing service. The key is to find the company that is going to do the best job of evaluating your skills. The cost that you pay will depend on what the company charges.Some companies will be able to provide free consultations so that you can get some ideas on how you should go about writing a construction resume. They will also show you samples so that you can see what the entire process looks like. This will give you an idea of how the whole process will go and what you can expect to gain from it.Most of the resumes t hat are written each year are to fill in for vacancies that were not filled by anyone else. If you do not have the experience or skills to fill the position, then it is hard to get hired. By having a resume prepared by a qualified resume writing service, you will be able to stand out from the rest of the people who are applying for the same job.If you have a construction resume written by a construction resume writing service, then you can put it to good use. If you do not have a construction resume written, then you may want to try it on. A person will want to be sure that the resume does not look like it was written by someone who has been in the field for a long time. Some of the skills that they are looking for in a construction resume are going to be different than what you think they are.

Why Do I Hate My Job

Why Do I Hate My Job Many of us have had bad managers. I am sure you can remember them vividly. Maybe you are experiencing one now. Do any of these describe your manager? doesn’t know how to manage people doesn’t aid in or support employee development too unavailable micromanage too much too interested in your personal life potentially keep us from moving up or around in the organization actually bully us and other co-workers I’ve been there. Many of you have been there too. And yes, if your boss just quit life at work would get much better. It might be true. If your boss quit, life might be different. However, instead of waiting out your boss’ departure, I’m asking you instead to turn your attention inward and look at what is in your control. Ask yourself the following: What truly is the source of your unhappiness at work? Identify it. Get concrete. Is it certain tasks? Is it your interactions with certain co-workers? Is it your environment? Is it that you are stuck and can’t seem to move up in the organization or to another department? Once you have identified it, what are your courses of action to address it? Get specific. What can you do? What are the obstacles to making the changes happen? List them out. What are the ways you can get around those obstacles? Brainstorm. Come up with some solutions. If you can’t think of any, consult a trusted advisor, co-worker or mentor at work to help you overcome the obstacles. You might not be able to see potential solutions, but others might. If you truly cannot overcome the obstacles at work that are getting in your way of feeling fulfilled, and your trusted advisors at work cannot think of any ways to overcome the obstacles and they are unable to help you, then you have a tough questions to ask yourself: Is it time for me to leave to find a company or organization where I will be more fulfilled? It’s true, managers can sometimes be obstacles in finding fulfillment at work. I’ve experienced it myself. At the end of the day, though, it is your career, not your manager’s career. Focus on you. What can you do to be more fulfilled at work? What are the solutions? Even if you had a great boss, he/she wont do it for you its up to you. And if there are no solutions at your current job, then ask yourself, What’s next for me?

I Cant Believe Im Saying This...

I Cant Believe Im Saying This... Post your resume on the major job boards! This is the most passive job search method, if it can even be called a method.   It requires little time or effort, but you have to do it! Who are the major job boards? CareerBuilder Monster Indeed (They have just opened up a resume posting option so go post your resume now) Yes, there are thousands of job boards, but these are the big ones.   Check out Weddles for a list of Users Choice sites. Use the Right Key Words If you are going to post your resume, it should be keyword rich for the types of jobs you are pursuing.   This is not the place to post a generic resume.   It WILL be overlooked. Update Weekly It isnt enough to just post it and leave it.   You will want/need to refresh it every week so it has a new date.   Why? Many recruiters will search for new resumes posted or resumes freshly posted.   You will want to make sure your update or post date is recent. While you are thereresearch If you havent done research on your industry or occupation, use the job boards sites to conduct this valuable research.   For example, Indeed.com shows job posting trendsdont tell me there arent any jobs out there! Two years ago, there were 6 job seekers for every job, today.   Right now, Indeed shows 1 to 2 job seekers for each job.   This is SO much better.   Dont be discouraged.   Get out there and pound the pavement with a purpose!   Know your targets, know what they need and know what you have to offer (and I dont mean dependability and that you are looking for a stable job). Indeed industry trends March 2013