Finding a job after college can be tough! There's stiff competition, and sometimes students are at the mercy of the economy that they graduate into. Many college grads often take minimum wage jobs or jobs that they're overqualified for in order to make ends meet.
The key to landing a job out of college is preparing for the job search process while still in school. Unfortunately, they don't always teach you about the job search process in school, so it's up to students to take responsibility for their future careers.
Here are some tips to put yourself in a position to land a job after college.
Do you know what the career options are for your degree? How competitive the industry is? What the average salary is for the type of role you're pursuing?
These are not questions you should be seeking to answer after graduation. These are all questions that should've been asked prior to declaring a major.
Research...research...research!
Knowing what you might be in for after graduation can help you with planning. You could meet with your advisor well in advance of graduation and look at potential internships and identify potential companies to work for, giving you a head start on your networking efforts.
If you failed to prepare like this prior to graduation, you did put yourself at an initial disadvantage, but you're certainly not doomed!
Even after college, some people are unsure about what they want to do for a career. If you find yourself in this situation, don't panic. You need to do an honest assessment of yourself and determine the valuable skills that you possess. Most importantly, ask yourself, "What are some of the things I love doing?"
Work It Daily also has resources that can assist you in your search. Our FREE Career Decoder Quiz will help you determine your professional persona. Knowing your professional persona will help you understand the skills you have that bring value to the job and what you find professionally and personally fulfilling.
In addition, whether you're a graduate or still a student, don't limit your opportunities to learn new skills.
Chances are you have interests outside of your course of study. You should be open to pursuing those interests. It could be that you're a health/science major with an interest in computers. Why not take some computer courses?
Interested in learning a trade? Electricians, plumbers, contractors, and auto mechanics are all in demand.
If you're still in school, you have an opportunity to take additional courses or decide on a double major or minor.
Options may be a bit more limited for recent grads, but there are always online courses, certification programs, or specialty course programs available. As long as you have a hunger for more knowledge, you should never stop wanting to learn. The more skills you have, the more career options are available to you. Options are important during the job search for recent grads.
College can't prepare you for everything, and most of the lessons people learn from the job search process come from real-world experience. However, there are some things you can do to prepare.
First, research as many potential jobs as you can before graduation and identify some potential companies that you would like to work for (this is called your interview bucket list). Second, prepare multiple resumes tailored for the specific positions for which you're applying.
A recruiter needs to see the skills you have that apply to the position within the first six seconds of reading your resume. You should also prepare a disruptive cover letter where you really bring attention to yourself by telling a story about how you connect with the company.
The last thing you need to do is reach out and network. It's not enough to just send in a resume and cover letter and hope that you'll be contacted. Reach out to people who work at the company through LinkedIn and introduce yourself. Use the fact that you're a graduating student seeking knowledge to your advantage. There are professionals who enjoy the opportunity to mentor.
Even if these new connections don't translate into an immediate job, you've made your first professional contacts which could come in handy at some other point in time. Knowing how to conduct a proactive job search will serve you well throughout your professional life.
Sometimes you find happiness and success in a career field that you didn't go to school for. That's okay (and normal). Life happens!
For new grads, the goal is usually to find work in your field of study and it's great when things work out that way. But as the job search process goes on you may fall into a job that you weren't planning to and end up liking it. If the job makes you happy and there's room for growth, there's nothing wrong with keeping it. It's a personal decision.
This will be true throughout your professional life. You may end up working in your field, but, as time goes on, priorities and life circumstances change. You may develop new skills that draw you into a new career direction. The goal is to always put yourself in a position to succeed and sometimes that means making a change.
Preparation and keeping an open mind are the two common themes when it comes to the job search for recent grads. There are no guarantees for new graduates, so you have to be ready for anything. Hopefully, by knowing what to expect, you'll know how to land a job after college and can land a job that matches your talents.
Here at Work It Daily, we understand how difficult it is to find a job and grow your career as a recent college grad. If you're struggling to find a job that's right for you, we can help.
We'd love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades.
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
Whether you're a college student trying to figure out where your true calling lies, an experienced professional getting back to work, or someone just looking for a career in another field, you need to make your choice carefully. With women making considerable strides in fields that were previously male-dominated, the lines of career limitations have blurred.
There are more career choices available to women now than ever before. A woman plays many roles—sister, daughter, friend, wife, mother, confidante, breadwinner, and so on. You, being a multitasking woman, need to find a career that not only pays you well, but allows you to be a career woman without having to compromise on any of these roles.
If you think this is impossible, think again!
Lots of women have found careers that balance beautifully with their family life. So, now that you know it isn't unthinkable to achieve work-life balance, how about making it happen for yourself?
With a plethora of options, you may have a tough time deciding which career would be most suitable for you. Of course, no two women are the same and neither are their choices. But some careers provide women with the best opportunity to achieve both career success and work-life balance.
Here are the top eight career choices for women:
For women who want a chance to do what they really love doing, who have always dreamed of starting their own business, entrepreneurship could be the perfect career.
Wouldn't it be great to work from a place of your choice and at your own time? This would give you the flexibility to allocate time to your business and family as needed.
This is also one of the biggest challenges you will ever take up in your life as every decision will rest on your shoulders. Your employees would depend on you for their livelihood. Hence, this is also a great way to contribute to society.
Being an entrepreneur lets you be in charge because it is you who runs the show. Instead of putting in efforts to generate profits for other companies, why not channel those efforts towards creating greater profits for yourself?
With IT companies starting up and mushrooming rapidly, it's little wonder that this field has become so popular among women.
Young women can take up a career in the IT sector after earning a certificate or bachelor's degree in an applicable field, like computer science, informational technology, and cyber security. There are also many programs available to women of all ages who want to learn how to code—one of the most useful and in-demand skills in today's job market.
The ease and excitement of working on the internet, designing software and apps, implementing IT solutions for businesses, security, gaming, smartphones, etc. could be a huge draw. This is another field where you can make a difference as well as earn good money.
Whether you choose to be a pharmacist, a surgeon, or a nurse, a career in the medical field provides women with the ability to achieve career success and wealth. Plus, there's good job security.
As a qualified professional, you will always be in high demand, and once you've gained significant work experience, there's going to be no looking back.
Teaching has always been considered one of the most women-friendly careers as it allows women to spend sufficient time with their families, de-stress, go on vacations, and balance home and work. It's also one of the most rewarding and important careers anyone can choose to pursue.
The best part of being in the teaching field is that recession or no recession, your skills will always be sought after.
This field is perfect for women who have a penchant for working in the corporate world and interacting with people to solve organizational issues.
The job involves shortlisting and interviewing candidates, hiring and training them, setting their pay, benefits, and perks, designing appraisal systems, formulating policies and leave structures, looking after employee welfare, and settling disputes.
Every large organization needs qualified and experienced HR personnel and they are paid quite well, too.
No one solves problems like a woman does.
Given the fact that most women are good observers, empathetic listeners, and great communicators (all soft skills employers want in employees), they're sure to excel as psychologists or therapists.
A career in this field allows you to help those struggling to overcome many different personal and family problems. With substantial work experience, you can stand to make a lot of money and even charge on an hourly basis.
You've probably put in a lot of thought and effort into designing your home and making it look stunning. From selecting the perfect hangers for the closet to picking out the most exquisite lampshade, you know what it takes to make a home beautiful.
Now, how about extending this talent a little further and helping others make their home look gorgeous, too? A career in interior design is a great option for women who are creative, organized, and detail-oriented—who don't want a boring office job.
As you develop your career as an interior designer, you also gain the flexibility to pick your clients and appointments and get paid immensely well.
For women who are creative, good at communication, and love research, media is the place to be.
All companies nowadays have (or should have) social media accounts that need managing, in addition to their primary marketing and PR departments, so this field is only growing.
Writing, advertising, public relations, journalism, photography—there are many choices available for women who want to pursue a career in media.
Women today can achieve it all, from financial independence to a family, and from a progressive career to a great personal and social life. And, why not? Your decisions have the potential to give you all that you desire.
So, make sure you decide well!
If you're a woman struggling to find the right career for you, we can help.
In 2008, I read Business Week’s article entitled, “Management by the Numbers,” in which they review how IBM has been building mathematical models of its own employees with an aim to improve productivity and automate management. I’ll let you read it and draw your own conclusions, but I realized that this article still rings true today.
After reading this article so many years ago, I learned a new workplace term that they’re using over at IBM. "Fungible" is a word used to describe workers who are “virtually indistinguishable from others” in terms of the value of their contributions in the workplace.
You see, IBM’s study is enabling them to identify top performers from average ones, with the latter being fungible—and I would assume that translates into expendable as well. In a time where layoffs continue to make the headlines, I guarantee management teams all over the country are getting in rooms and saying, “Who’s fungible on the payroll right now?”
Okay, so they are most likely not using the term, but they are having that discussion, I assure you.
Employees must get on the ball and start doing two things if they want to keep their jobs:
So, if you’ve been on autopilot when it comes to assessing your professional strengths, building your career identity, and marketing your personal brand (if you are unfamiliar with the career development terms I just used, suffice to say you’ve been on autopilot), then I encourage you to get started.
It takes a lot more to get and keep a good job these days, and there’s a whole new way to manage your career. If you need help learning how to be indispensable in your career so you don't end up fungible, I'd love it if you joined my FREE community where professionals like you are learning how to become empowered in their careers so they can finally find career happiness and satisfaction once and for all!
Sign up for my FREE community and become a Workplace Renegade today! My team and I are looking forward to working with you soon
Recently, a list of companies that have the happiest employees was circulated online. The companies were commended on their ability to promote a healthy work environment and sustain work-life balance. Pfizer came out on top with Kaiser Permanente coming in second, followed by Texas Instruments. Looking at these lists, one wonders how these companies are able to promote such a positive productive environment for their employees.
Many would think this is due to compensation packages or other related perks. But then, is work only about earning money? Is it the most important aspect when employees join a new company? What about the other factors that play an important role in building a strong bond between the employee and the organization?
The importance of core values is illustrated by a quote from famous author and inventor, Edward de Bono: "Effectiveness without values is a tool without a purpose."
This analogy really hits home. A purposeless tool is a worthless thing and so is a company without a campus—a culture that is formed on the basis of core principles.
Core values serve to constantly guide both the employee and the company in achieving their mutual goals, in a manner that is based on an ethical and ideological framework. Every business is different, and so are their core values. Having said that, there are some principles that are alike for all, even though they may be phrased differently.
Here are four such core values every organization should have:
Simply put, the two principles of integrity and ethics translate into doing the right thing, in an honest, fair, and responsible way. Building your entire business on the foundation of honesty and integrity goes a long way toward building a strong, trusting relationship with your employees, stakeholders, and customers.
Truthful conduct on everyone's part can create a strong, credible reputation for the company in the market, which is beneficial for everyone's interests.
Without dedicated employees, a company is nothing. Period.
Committed employees form the backbone of the entire corporation. They work together with the system in order to achieve growth and profitability.
A company has a responsibility toward its employees and, if one of its core principles is showing the utmost respect to its employees, it's likely management will have a low employee turnover rate.
Respecting all employees means respecting their individual human rights and privacy, and eliminating all kinds and forms of discrimination, whether based on religion, belief, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or physical disability. Moreover, ensuring a safe and healthy work environment for all employees is an important part of giving respect to them.
Many organizations across the globe adopt an attitude whereby the entire company interacts together like a close-knit family. Such an atmosphere helps boost the confidence of employees and makes them feel like an important, even indispensable, part of the organization. This inspires feelings of commitment and a drive to do even better.
Companies that focus on being ahead of their competitors and introducing new ideas in the marketplace follow the principle of "innovation, not imitation." This is crucial if a company wants to be a trendsetter and introduce new products that consumers appreciate.
Employees in such companies are encouraged to be dynamic and come up with innovative ideas that can translate into successful products for the company. Constantly imitating others won't take the business far.
The thirst to constantly improve can be achieved if one is never satisfied. Organizations that have this principle as one of their core values try to provide a dynamic platform for their employees, where they can explore their creativity and skills and further enhance themselves.
While celebrating successes is an important thing, just sitting back and getting complacent over them is unacceptable for such companies. The reason why some companies habitually do well is because they know that employees are the most valuable resource.
Nothing compares to an employee who is dedicated and willing to go the extra mile. This requires a company to cultivate an environment that promotes respect and frowns upon politics. If you want to achieve this type of work environment at your company, these four core values are a great place to start.
Want to attract the best talent to your organization? Work It Daily can help!
Contact us about our employer branding services today.
Someone accepted your request to connect on LinkedIn. Yay! Now what?
Now, you need to start a conversation.
Don't just let that new connection sit dead in the water. Here's how to start a conversation with a new LinkedIn connection:
Struggling to write your initial message? Here are a few subject ideas to get you started (you would elaborate within your message).
For a basic subject line, you could start with something like:
If you enjoyed an article they wrote/shared, you could start with something like:
If you met your new LinkedIn connection in person, you could start with something like:
Shoot your new LinkedIn connection a brief message shortly after connecting. You can start by introducing yourself, then elaborate on why you wanted to connect in the first place.
Mention things you have in common. Feel free to ask them about their goals and interests. What do they want to accomplish? What do they love doing? Highlight commonalities. It will help build a stronger personal connection.
We can't stress how important it is to offer value to your connections, especially in your first conversation. It shows that you're a valuable contact who's ready and willing to help your connections.
Offering your support can be as simple as saying something like, "If there's anything I can do to offer support or anyone in my network that I can introduce you to, please let me know. Happy to help." You don't have to go overboard with this in your first message. A brief sentence like the one above is great. Just let them know you're offering.
Do not ask for anything from your new connection unless it benefits them in some way.
For example, if you need a quote from them for an upcoming blog post you're writing, highlight the fact that you'll be promoting the heck out of it and that it will give them some exposure. You can ask for a favor after you've built your professional relationship with this person and you have a history of offering value without asking for anything in return.
When someone reaches out to you and asks to connect, make sure you message them immediately after accepting their request with a message that says something like, "Thanks for connecting. It's great to meet you." That way, if they forget to message you, you'll be sitting in their inbox, happy and ready to chat.
Starting a conversation with a new LinkedIn connection is easy once you know how to do it properly. The next time you want to connect with someone new on LinkedIn, follow these four steps. You'll grow your professional network in no time!
Struggling to grow your professional network?
We'd love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades. More importantly, it's a safe place for you to network with others and get the help and support you need.
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Let’s make things clear: It's impossible for everyone in the workplace to be your close friend. It's possible, however, to grow positive working relationships with them.
So, what do we mean when we say positive relationships? Every employee dreams of working in an environment where positivity resonates. Where people are supportive of each other. Where you feel motivated to work hard, not to mention score a perfect attendance, because your colleagues are encouraging. We all aspire to be a part of a team made up of awesome people. How do you ensure now, that you, yourself, are a good colleague to your teammates? You know you need to attract pleasant treatment before you receive it.
With that, here are a few tips for becoming the co-worker everyone loves:
Remember the golden rule? Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do unto you. This also rings true in the workplace. If you treat people around you coldly and refuse to share even a smile, then you could as well expect your colleagues to seem distant. Although people will have varying attitudes, they can still work together well. It takes open-mindedness to survive and thrive in such an environment. So learn to look past differences. Accept others as they are. Show kindness. It will be returned in situations you need it the most.
It is easy to keep to yourself while in the workplace—minding your own tasks, limiting talks with your colleagues, and going straight home after work. Your motivation to go to the office every day is the paycheck you receive. You comply with what you’re told to do, but do not really extend efforts going beyond what is expected of you. If there's anything you want to explore in addition to the tasks assigned to you, let your boss know. Volunteer to assist your colleagues who might be able to use extra hands. If the resources given to you are not enough, then take the initiative to look for more. Consult your colleagues; ask your boss. Nobody wants someone who depends on spoon-feeding.
Bosses can sometimes be difficult. They, sometimes, reach out to the team as though they’re on the same level as them. Bosses are not created equal. They may be using different approaches to inspire their team. There are times when you would find their rules too stringent, or perhaps lax. However, they act. Remember, they are your superiors, your leaders. Even if, at times, you might find their behavior uncalled for, never speak negatively about them to your colleagues. If there is anything you need to say, tell it straight to them. This is not to say that you smarm your boss; however, it would help that they have a positive impression of you.
How do you look at your workplace? Is it something you see as a battlefield, with all your colleagues as your enemies? Is it a place you call your second home with people you deem as your other family? Is it a haunted mansion with everyone around acting like zombies? It's okay to be competitive. But to aspire for progress so much that you’re already building barriers from your colleagues can be harmful. You are a team still, and to get ahead doesn’t mean you need to leave people behind or hanging. Do your best while reaching out in any way you can to your colleagues.
Becoming the co-worker everyone loves is easier than you think, as long as you do these four things at work. Start building positive workplace relationships today!
If you're struggling to connect with people at your job and/or find a community of people who support your career goals, we're here for you.
A leader inspires and motivates others to do and be better. It’s about being a servant leader who focuses on the growth and well-being of others, regardless of title, bringing out the best in who they are.
Anyone can be a leader if they choose to develop the right skills. I know! I’ve made many mistakes along the way by focusing on the wrong things (i.e. micromanagement, poor communication, lack of flexibility, you get it). Once I realized that leadership requires being able to connect, motivate, inspire, and be present, I began to make a real difference in the companies and people I worked with.
Here are four things I do to earn my leadership every day.
Strong communication skills include being a good listener as well as customizing your communication style to suit each situation and team member. This is an area I’m continuously working on. I have written down the following and keep it visible in my work area so that when I interact with anyone, I am conscious of my communication style:
A leader who has strong communication skills will build trust and improve morale across the organization.
I grew up in the “kill or be killed” era of business and I’m glad it’s changed to a focus of connecting with people to form lasting relationships. I’ve learned to be a more empathetic leader who is able to understand the needs of others, their point of view, what they are feeling, and why they act the way they do. That said, I still have more to learn as empathy is an emotional and thinking muscle that becomes stronger with use. What I try to do with my daily interactions is:
Empathy is a key element of servant leadership and leaders who are able to show compassion tend to be the most admired and are also able to drive significant business results.
Change is accelerating and at an unprecedented pace. In order to be successful, leaders need to embrace change in this constantly evolving global environment. I for one love change. While it can be somewhat scary at times, it can also bring about many opportunities. I’ve worked hard to embrace change and lean into the unknown by focusing on the following in my work and personal life:
Leaders who embrace change tend to be more adaptable, flexible, innovative, strategic, and have engaged employees. Change creates transformation and growth.
I was taught how to do my job but not how to be a leader who manages and develops teams. So when I first started managing teams, I struggled with continuing to do things myself vs. learning how to develop and inspire people. Along the way, I’ve made a number of mistakes, but through that, I’ve had some amazing nuggets of success that I work hard to put into practice all the time.
I’ve found that to earn my leadership every day requires a continuous journey of personal development and grace. Great leaders inspire others, bringing out the best in them while also leading by example. I hope these tips motivate you to earn your leadership. You’ve got this!
Who has time to research LinkedIn? We know you have a busy life, and sometimes there's just not enough time in the day to scan through articles to get the information you need. That's why we created the LinkedIn Cheat Sheet! We pulled the best tips, tricks, and advice from our archives and put them all in one place just for you.
Here are five solid LinkedIn tips from our experts:
Before you start “tinkering” with your LinkedIn profile (or hiring a professional to enhance your profile), please take a minute to do the following:
When you are finished tinkering, go back and turn on the visibility of your activity, if you so choose. It’s that simple!
(Original article: "Pay Attention To Your LinkedIn Settings")
Every Monday, take 10 minutes out of your morning to pay it forward by endorsing 10 people in your LinkedIn network. Imagine how you would feel if in your inbox on a Monday (aka the day of the week when even the most cheerful people struggle to get going), you found endorsements of your skill sets from your peers.
(Original article: "Quick Tip: Monday Is The Day For LinkedIn Endorsements")
Recommendations are essential to you. Seek them proactively and seek them passively. Proactive recommendation seeking involves reaching out and asking someone to recommend you. Passive recommendation seeking involves recommending someone, at which point LinkedIn asks them to recommend you back. The latter is actually a bit more effective.
(Original article: "10 Things To Immediately Do On LinkedIn")
The following 11 tips will help you pick the right photo for your LinkedIn, Gmail, and other online accounts:
Tips for men: Wear a dark blue or black dress shirt. No t-shirts, Hawaiian shirts, or busy/crazy patterns.
Tips for women: Wear something you feel comfortable in. No t-shirts or big/busy patterns. Soft, dark v-necks look great. Black always works; avoid white.
(Original article: "11 Tips For Choosing Your LinkedIn Photo")
Use the “|” (vertical bar) to divide your text and create visual breaks.
Example: Which of the following is easier to read?
Project Manager Specializing in Business Research and Analysis for Major Corporations
OR
Project Manager | Research & Analysis Specialist | Fortune 1000 Business Experience
Obviously, the second one is easier to read and comprehend because of the formatting. The vertical lines separate the data and enable the reader to comprehend what you do better (bonus points if you list hard skills in your headline, separated by the vertical bar, to better optimize your profile so it gets found by recruiters).
(Original article: "LinkedIn Quick Tip: Tweaking Your Professional Headline")
We know how difficult it can be to optimize your LinkedIn profile the right way. We hope our LinkedIn Cheat Sheet helps you create a professional and well-optimized LinkedIn profile that stands out to recruiters and hiring managers. If you're still struggling to update your LinkedIn profile, we can help.
We'd love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades. More importantly, we have tons of resources inside our community that can help you update your LinkedIn profile—the right way.
Inspiration lacking this Monday morning? On the job search and feeling blue? Stuck in a career you hate? Not sure what success means to you? You're not alone. Grab a nice, warm cup of coffee and let us help you out.
Light your inner fire with these inspirational career quotes:
We hope these quotes motivated you. Please share with someone you know who needs a little inspiration right now.
Need some more inspiration in your career?
Seoul, February 2019. The last time I hopped on a plane and flew anywhere for business for many, many months.
Back then, I spent over a decade intensively traveling all over the world, especially internationally, both for internal meetings and customer visits. My colleagues at my former employers knew I loved to break new grounds and explore new territories, whether they were new industries or new countries.
One entrepreneurial marketing director thought she could derive additional benefit from all these miles flown. And thus was born On The Road With Steve, which she hosted on the company's website for years.
A regular blog about business and technology peppered with light humor born out of my experience in different countries, I loved to write that diary. And apparently, it was well-read by employees and external stakeholders alike.
And then came COVID. All of it came to a screeching halt.
Fast forward 25 long months later: I finally once again made my way to Boston Logan and boarded a plane. Ultimate destination: London, UK.
Sure, some of it felt different. Masks everywhere during the transit—at the airport, on the plane (even when sleeping), on the train. Everyone speaking English in the host country—hey, I used to fly a lot to Asia, where I learned fun foreign tongues like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean!
But then it quickly felt very familiar too. Going out of my way to find (hopefully) authentic food spots? Check! Walk around town to learn your way around? Check! Locking myself out of my hotel room? Check!
I LOVED each and every part of it. Yes, even the locking out part!
But then, I am both an engineer and a businessman. And one idea kept on nagging me during this trip. Given that our business kept on humming while so many of us were grounded during the pandemic, what does it mean for the future of business travel? In other words, business travel is undoubtedly fun, but is it also profitable?
When asked about the future of business travel, people often have emotional responses. On the one hand, you have the "serious" crew that believes that all that travel was a poor excuse for party-going in the first place. As someone once told me, why go through the pain and cost to travel thousands of miles for a boring internal meeting when a Zoom will do?
And then you have the "travel tribe"—often professionals in customer-facing occupations like myself—that speak in almost metaphysical terms about business travel. They just don't believe a corporate world without business travel is sustainable.
Figuring out what science has to say about this is anything but easy. Queries on Google give you many more-or-less opinionated texts written by organizations that clearly have something to win or lose from a world with less or more business travel. Not astonishingly, remote conferencing system organizations believe virtual is usually better than in-person, while hotel chains believe the polar opposite.
Shocking, right? :)
However, it is still possible to find some more reliable data among all that noise. For example, an article from Vanderbilt University School Of Medicine explained that "Zoom fatigue" is a real thing. It turns out that the constant visual stimuli provided by video conferencing systems and constant context switching between several meetings addressing wildly different topics (something made easier by the nature of remote sessions) lead to less productive meetings.
Likewise, a study conducted by York University found that students expressed a clear preference for in-person classes, and not just because it is harder to keep your attention focused during a virtual meet. It turns out that people missed having their peers around, leading to decreased motivation levels and a feeling that part of the communication cues was missing from camera interaction.
That rings true. Sure, having crowds around made it more difficult for me to find a space in a restaurant in London, but I genuinely missed "the action."
But then, you also have strong arguments for not traveling. These online meetings may not be as fun, and they may not even be as efficient as the in-person kind, but they are easier to organize, cheaper to host, and not traveling means less CO2 in the atmosphere.
So, where does it leave us?
For what it's worth, my experience in London (and later, in Copenhagen) confirms one thing: 3D relationships beat 2D ones, hands down.
Of course, I learned a few things about my colleagues via our numerous video conferences. We communicated reasonably well, and though that helped manage our business, it felt a bit dry. Impersonal. Perhaps even artificial, especially with many colleagues' fancy synthetic backgrounds.
Meeting many of them for the first time was an eye-opening experience. Suddenly, I could see others tangibly. Their height. The true color of their eyes. And learn about them on a much more personal level than before.
And in the weeks after I met them, I felt my relationships with them became easier and more fruitful. It just became easier to do business with them while remote.
Colleagues I talked to felt the same way. There was a sense of relief, even of joy, that came with the ability to meet face to face.
But was this almost metaphysical experience real? There is every reason to believe it was.
The fact is that humans aren't only communicating orally. There is what you say and how you look when you are saying it. How your hands move, the distance you keep from others while gathering, how your feet are positioned. All of these are part of the meta-message and convey information.
Try as it may, video conferences never quite make justice to that meta-communication. Instead, it always ends up lessened or even distorted.
Want proof? Don't you find it so much easier to know exactly when to jump into a conversation in person as opposed to during a large video conference?
My point exactly.
There is even research that shows that face-to-face communication enhances quality of life in a way that internet communication does not. And quality of life is undoubtedly part of the equation of employee satisfaction.
So, virtual conferences completely replacing real internal meetings? Until we have remote holograms à-la-Star Trek—and even then!—no, I don't think so.
There is a say in French that goes like this: Loin des yeux, loin du coeur. Which loosely translates as "far from the eyes far from the heart."
It is definitely true in business. The cement of any commercial relationship is trust. You engage in business relying on the assumption that the other party will live to its obligations, whether it is orally expressed or formally written in a contract. Without trust between parties, the relationship becomes more difficult, if not impossible.
Can you build trust without ever meeting in person? Sure. People do this each time they phone a call center for service or order something on the internet. But isn't establishing trust harder this way? You bet!
Consider: B2C companies selling online often harp on things like "100% satisfaction guaranteed" and "free return - no questions asked." Why? Because they know they start with a significant disadvantage compared to physical B2C: it is harder for clients to trust them from the get-go. Building confidence under these conditions requires them to go the extra mile.
Transpose this to B2B, especially for enterprise sales, with deals involving thousands and millions of dollars. Both vendors and sellers desperately need to establish trust. They do this in multiple ways—including on-site visits.
Can't video calls do the same job? Not quite.
Perhaps because it is relatively easy to close one of these calls. One click of a button and the other is gone.
Perhaps because of what I would call a non-exclusive context—sure, you are on a call, but you are also simultaneously being relentlessly pinged in the chat window (always at the worst possible moment) while your email app begs for your attention!
Perhaps it is just because the relationship seems less real to participants—like I described in the previous part.
Client visits are a much more intimate affair. You are there, entirely devoted to one another. Exposed is another way to see it. If someone is happy—or not—it becomes much easier to see its meta-communication emanations than through a camera.
But then, didn't the economy's strength during the pandemic prove once and for all that client visits are a relic of the past, that video calls are all that is needed? I would argue that the economy lived on borrowed time. Many relationships were already existing and merely required to be maintained. Video conferences were successful because many a relationship only needed maintenance.
However, the longer people couldn't engage in person, the more deleterious effect of that lack of personal touch becomes apparent. New and enhanced relationships that would have been born in a world of regular business travel may have been delayed or lessened during the pandemic. Some may simply have never been born in the first place.
Does it matter? While the current woes in the value chain are undoubtedly due to many factors, perhaps some of the troubles we have today stem from people not meeting other people, resulting in a less dynamic and efficient economy.
So, it is pretty clear to me business travel won't disappear. None of the tech gadgets we used during the pandemic to keep companies and other organizations humming can adequately replace good old face-to-face meetings. So, people like me will still get to board planes, trains, and cars and roam the world as our ancestors did for thousands of years (albeit by foot, ships, and animal locomotion).
That doesn't mean that the pandemic won't change business travel—by optimizing it.
I saw colleagues do truly funny things in the past. For example, they booked inter-continental fares for a two or three-day journey to faraway lands. This always struck me as business-wise and environmentally wasteful, which is why I usually book full weeks when crossing the Atlantic or the Pacific and try to maximize the number of meetings.
New habits born from the pandemic will make such short-term hops even more difficult to justify. Because if online meetings aren't as efficient as face-to-face ones, they are still somewhat efficient—and thus can credibly replace some less critical travel activities.
Frequency can also be modulated according to real business needs. For example, not seeing a business partner for years isn't exactly the same as not seeing him or her for a few weeks.
Don't forget about the job market revolution created by all of the technological prowess we can now deploy. Companies used to fret about having remote employees. Not anymore: many understood that this gave them access to a much larger pool of talent they could ever fathom. But here, most of these companies will also discover (just like mine did long ago) that while remote work gives them an edge in recruiting, there is still a lot of value in bringing these people together from time to time. That will, ironically enough, increase business travel.
Our technological world was born out of our ability to communicate with each other and travel to see one another quickly. I would argue that it is no coincidence the IT revolution happened in the jet age. There is a need for all that travel, and there will always be—just witness the comeback of traditional trade shows and conferences. But like the phone decades ago, conferencing systems will change and optimize how we communicate, leading—hopefully—to even more collaboration and fantastic innovation in years to come.
Including—hopefully—less CO2 in the atmosphere as we roam the Earth.
Somebody reached out to me recently and said, "I love my current company, but it's time to move on. I like my boss, and I know when I leave I'm going to leave them in a lurch. I have a final interview tomorrow and I feel like they know something's going on. I should probably tell them, right?"
No, you don't tell them.
@j.t.odonnell Should you tell your boss about your job interview? #jobsearchtips #jobsearch #jobtips #careertiktok #careeradvice #careertips ♬ original sound - J.T. O'Donnell
You shouldn't tell your boss you're interviewing for a new job because you're going to make this situation so much more awkward. It will actually hurt you in the long run from a relationship standpoint. If you want this boss—who you appreciate so much—to be a reference one day, then you need to do the right thing.
So, here's what you should do.
You go in for the job interview. If you get the job, decide if you want to take it or not, and then go to your boss and resign. And, if possible, try to offer more than two weeks' notice. Maybe you could give your boss three weeks' notice. That is the better thing to do to show them that you respect them and you're trying not to leave them in the lurch.
My issue with you telling them you're interviewing for a new job is that they're probably going to want to try to keep you, but study after study shows that never works out. You've revealed that you want to leave, so they're never going to trust you again. And a lot of times they just end up keeping you and offering for you to stay, only to get frustrated and let you go, or you stay and you're still not really happy and you leave anyways. Those situations lead to bad blood and then you won't be able to use your boss as a reference.
The right thing to do is wait. Go in for the interview, get the job offer, decide if you want the new job, and then resign professionally. And again, if possible, give your boss an extra week's notice. You'll leave on good terms without damaging any professional relationships you've made.
Navigating a job search can be tricky, especially if you're still employed. The good news is, I can help.
I'd love it if you joined my FREE community where professionals like you are learning how to become empowered in their careers so they can finally find career happiness and satisfaction, and overcome job burnout once and for all!
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Applying for jobs can be tedious and stressful, especially if you've been filling out job applications every day and haven't heard back from most employers. If you're struggling to fill out job applications, or are constantly getting rejected for any and all jobs that you apply for, we can help.
On Wednesday, May 25th, 2022 at 12 p.m. ET, J.T. O'Donnell, founder and CEO of Work It Daily, and Christina Burgio, director of training and coaching, are hosting a NEW live event "Filling Out Job Applications The Right Way."
Learn how to effectively fill out job applications so you can get past the ATS and stand out to hiring managers!
This hour-long event will teach you how to:
@j.t.odonnell Reply to @itmezeva How To Get Past The Online Job Application #jobapplication #applyonline #jobsearchtips #careertiktok #edutok #jobsearch #learnontiktok #jobsearch ♬ original sound - J.T. O'Donnell
Buy your ticket for our live event today!
WHEN: Wednesday, May 25th, 2022 at 12 p.m. ET
WHERE: Online
WHO: J.T. O'Donnell & Christina Burgio
WHAT: In this training, you'll learn how to:
HOW MUCH: $5.00/ticket
We hope to see you there!
A common interview question employers ask during job interviews is, "Why are you interested in this position?" They want to know why you want to work at their company, and the specific motivation behind why you applied for the job (not that you need a paycheck).
Knowing how to answer interview questions well is always important, especially with this question.
To persuade the employer that you have a true connection to the company and a passion for the job you applied for, your answer to this interview question should start with, "I'm interested in this job, at this company, because…" and then list at least three reasons why you want to work there.
Here is how you should structure your answer to the interview question, "Why are you interested in this job?"
Your first reason should always show fit in terms of professional skills.
Example: "I'm interested in this job because I can see that, in this role, my skills could help solve this problem within your company. I also see an opportunity for me to learn and grow these skills, so we both would benefit personally, professionally, and financially. If I can come in here and solve problems and accomplish your goals, I know I can develop my career the way that I want to."
This part of your answer lets them know that you are excited about what you will be able to accomplish for them, while still emphasizing what they are getting out of the bargain. You need to sell yourself as a business-of-one who can provide a service better than the competition.
Your second reason when answering, "Why are you interested in this job?" also shows fit, but in a different way.
Example: "Also, I like the culture of this organization. From what I've heard and what I've been reading about the company, it seems like a great fit for my personality and my values. I really connect with your mission statement, and feel passionate about the work that you do."
This is a general answer, so if you can be more specific by actually naming a couple of things you've heard or read about the company's workplace culture that you like, it will help your cause. This is one area where your pre-interview research is critical.
Here are a few things you may want to look for when you research the company:
Mention those things that truly speak to you and your values so your sincerity shows.
Wrap up your answer to this interview question with something that personalizes it a bit more.
Examples:
Say something that gives you another reason of your own for wanting this job. This interview answer is a fantastic place to let your enthusiasm for the job show. It's very appealing to employers, and it gives them one more reason to hire you.
You'll have a very clear and thorough answer to the question, "Why are you interested in this job?" if you follow the formula above. Set yourself apart from the competition today!
Are you struggling to answer other common interview questions? We can help.
We'd love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades. More importantly, we have tons of resources inside our community that can help you prepare for your next job interview.
A logo is only as good as the recognition it provides, so if your logo looks outdated or unprofessional, customers will be turned off by what they see which isn't good. Branding is all about consistency and repetition. It's the reason why customers know what to expect from a brand, who it is, and what its values are.
If you're not sure if your branding needs a refresh, consider these six signs:
The way we need logos to work for us has changed. They no longer only reside on a piece of packaging or storefront. Logos have to be flexible enough to be recognizable in all types of formats including everything from billboards to tiny social icons and mobile ads. Digital use also opens up possibilities that are harder to do in print like using lots of colors or gradients. Overly detailed logos that don't scale down very well become unreadable in smaller formats. Good logos are flexible logos. Flexible logos have options and variations that work harmoniously for any scenario at practically any size.
Your brand identity is typically the first thing people see when they encounter your business. If it is not consistent across all of your customer touchpoints, it's like sending mixed messages about who you are, what you do, or what you stand for. And that can be confusing for customers.
If customers see widely different styles when they visit your socials versus your website or retail store, there's a good chance that your visual identity needs some work. When every piece of marketing collateral looks like it was designed by a different team, it's difficult for people to remember your brand and connect everything as part of one unified brand image. Help your customers out and be consistent.
One of the most effective ways to attract customers is through package design and labeling. Raise your hand if you have bought a product completely based on the package design. I know I am 100% guilty of this. Whether it is vitamins, soup, or wine with a really neat label, great packaging can be a game-changer. A package that looks outdated or boring can put off potential buyers who are looking for something more interesting and unique, like how they see themselves.
The goal of a brand identity is to help your business be recognizable and stand out from the competition. If people are confusing your business for someone else’s or getting mixed up about what you do, then something is wrong with how they perceive you—or how you represent yourself to them through your marketing materials like website and social media profiles, brochures, etcetera.
What a great problem to have, right? This is probably the most common reason for a rebranding effort. As time goes by and your company changes, your brand no longer reflects your values or who you are anymore. When you first started out, it may have made sense to use a cookie-cutter Etsy logo instead of custom branding because you were a new company. But now that time has passed and you've become more established, it's time for a change! Update your brand strategy and imagery so that it reflects who you are today and not who you were five years ago when you first started your business.
With growth comes new products or services. If you're launching a new product line—or even just adding something new to an existing one—this is an ideal time for a refresh because it will help people understand how these items fit into their lives or why they should buy them in the first place. Branding evolves along with your customers' needs and expectations. So if something doesn't feel right anymore—whether it's the tagline or the logo or even the name of the company—it might be time for a refresh.
Has your audience changed significantly or are you no longer attracting new customers? It's always important to make sure that your branding is relevant to the people who matter most—namely, current and prospective clients or customers. If you've had significant growth in recent years and now have an entirely different set of customers or even stakeholders that need to be taken into account (such as employees), then it might be a good time to consider a rebranding effort from top-to-bottom rather than just tweaking your existing logos and messaging slightly.
If some of the items above are ringing true for you, a good place to start is with a brand audit. This will help you take stock of what is and is not working for your brand and then allow you to fine-tune or do a full revamp depending on your needs and goals.
A brand audit will help you form a strategy and style guide. The goal of a style guide is to ensure that all of your marketing collateral—whether it's an email newsletter or a website—looks professional, polished, and cohesive. It's not just about aesthetics; it's also about ensuring consistency between different channels so customers can easily identify your brand. When your messaging is consistent across all touchpoints, it won't matter if you're communicating with customers in person or online, they'll know exactly what to expect from your brand. You can create a style guide for yourself or hire someone else to do it for you—just be sure it's easy for everyone on your team (and even outside agencies) to refer back to when creating new content or designing new products or services that will be used by customers.
A job interview can be a nerve-wracking experience, especially when you have been removed from the job market for an extended period of time. It is one thing to sell on paper with the resume and another thing to sell in person at the interview.
Regardless of whether you have been out of a job for an extended period of time, are looking to change careers, or are still employed and seeking a better opportunity, the key to conducting a job interview successfully is a result of a number of factors, and being aware of these factor plays a major role in how to prepare for an interview.
One of the more defining factors is the relationship you establish. People hire people they like. Even if one candidate is more qualified and experienced than another, without a good relationship there is a minimal chance of securing the job.
The same goes for referrals. When you are referred by an existing employee, your chances are much stronger than a candidate who applied simply as a result of finding the opportunity through a job posting.
So the question becomes this: how do you develop a strong enough relationship from a job interview to strengthen and lock in your chances at a job offer? Here are some things to keep in mind as you prepare for your job interview, and eventually go through with it.
What you don't say matters just as much as what you do say. Your body language and facial expressions inform an employer how engaged you are in the conversation and how interested you are in the opportunity. Smile, exhibit confidence, and listen carefully so you respond appropriately and build on the conversation.
Asking questions expresses to an employer that you are engaged in the conversation. Try to ask questions to probe for additional information. Research the company in your interview preparation and make a list of potential questions that you may want to ask.
In addition, while you're in the interview, instead of simply addressing what's asked of you, respond and follow up with a question of your own and turn the interview into a conversation. This expresses to the employer that you're interested in learning more.
There are challenges with every job. What is important to an employer is that you are up for the challenge and that you have the ability to succeed. Once again, research information as you're preparing for the interview by reviewing the company's website and social media. You will have a better understanding of what challenges or changes the company has recently been through, and how they may impact the position you are interested in.
Ask related questions during the interview to find out more. This informs an employer that you have come well-prepared for the interview. You can also take the opportunity to relay how you have experienced similar situations in past jobs and explain how you dealt with them.
The more confident and comfortable you are with yourself in the interview, the easier it will be for the employer to develop a strong rapport and relationship with you. This is not to say you sit back and relax as though you are sitting in your own living room. Instead, the point is to be open to conversation and for it to be developed with ease.
Consider a candidate sitting stiff, head down, and who is brief in response to conversation and questions asked. It makes it difficult for them as well as the employer to try to establish good rapport and a relationship. Don't let that be you!
We know how difficult it can be to feel confident in a job interview. If you're struggling to perform well in job interviews, we can help.
Public speaking can’t always be avoided in the business world when you’re tapped on the shoulder to give a presentation to your peers or to an important client.
Even in the age of home video conferencing, it’s still very natural to feel like you’d rather do ANYTHING other than turn on that camera, take a deep breath, and feel everyone’s eyes on you…watching.
Ever wonder how actors push through stage fright?
As a trained actor and coach (prior to entering the business world), I’ve learned to not be timid while orating Shakespeare in the spotlight or when hitting those high notes in front of thousands of eyeballs.
Not surprisingly, the same tricks actors use can be applied to public speaking in a business context. Here are some tips from an actor-turned-business-professional on calming your nerves.
I always get incredibly nervous right before a singing audition. I’ve found what helps lessen my anxiety is to do as a fellow performer once suggested and put myself in the director’s chair. (The director is typically the person who decides if you are cast in the show).
The director WANTS you to do well! They want you to be the perfect person for the role—able to garner good reviews and box office sales. They want you to do so well that they could even tell everyone else to go home; they’ve found their star.
Plus, no director wants to sit through hours and hours of bad singing auditions…would you?
Likewise with public speaking.
When have you ever found yourself listening to a speaker and wished that they would be boring? Or wanted them to bomb so badly that you get nothing from their talk?
Rather, you probably hope the speaker is so dynamite that you actually forget to take notes because you are so transfixed and inspired by their message.
Know that the audience is on your side and let that encourage you. They want you to do well.
I love to tap dance. Sometimes (ok, quite often), my feet don’t move as quickly as they should and I mess up a step or two…or ten.
A choreographer once taught me that a major part of dancing, and where the audience usually focuses, is all in the face and arms. If you are smiling a 1,000-watt smile and making grand arm gestures, the audience isn’t likely to see that your feet messed up that paradiddle step. (Yes, that’s a real thing!)
Public speaking also follows this rule. The audience can’t tell that you are nervous and feel like you just might pass out.
Bluff it! Put on your smile and stand tall. Walk with purpose and speak with authority, even if you feel unsure of yourself. It can feel weird, but you have to trust me here.
When you act as if you are confident, the audience will assume you are confident. Your body will even convince your brain into believing that you are, in fact, confident!
What if you DO mess up? So what? Keep going! Don’t drop your poise and strong voice, as they are effectively drawing attention away from any insecurities that may come up, just like jazz hands can help cover for missing a step-shuffle-ball-change.
Actors have learned that mistakes are bound to happen and sometimes you have to play the fool.
For instance, props or scenery may break or fall unexpectedly during a show. Actors are taught to pretend like it is supposed to happen, and work it into the scene. Or they may quickly remove the wayward item and simply continue on.
I’ve even witnessed actors stumble and fall onstage, then make a comment about what a klutz they are (in character, of course!) and continue on like it was scripted that way.
Let’s say during your speech you trip up on some words unexpectedly. Work it into the presentation as if you meant for it to happen. For example: “The biggest finanbial chamanges…a-hem, well those lesser-known things…as well as the biggest financial challenges we face are…”
Call yourself out and you get an on-the-spot joke to lighten the mood—and the audience loves you for it.
Or let’s say you knock over your glass of water while speaking. That’s the perfect time to make a crack about how uncoordinated you are and why you never made the basketball team. (*Rimshot please!*)
Actors spend hours, days…weeks! memorizing their lines to be “word perfect” right down to the smallest pause. They get every tilt of the head, every gesture, and every single word into muscle memory.
When opening night comes, no matter how much their stomach is turning over like they’re on a cruise ship in a hurricane, they can effectively put themselves on autopilot and get through the show without a hitch.
Now, with this tip, I would NEVER recommend that you, as a public speaker, go to the extremes actors do.
Why? Memorizing isn’t necessary for public speaking. In fact, I strongly suggest you don’t memorize, as you risk coming off as “fake.”
Rehearsing on the other hand is a must!
Rehearse in front of a mirror…while shopping for groceries…in front of a friend. Video or audio record yourself and play it back.
If possible, practice in the actual space where you will be speaking (yes, even if it’s in your home office) to get a feel for it so that it doesn’t disorient you on the big day.
Your goal is to know your main points and examples while allowing yourself to improvise here and there with different words and phrases to keep it fresh.
If you try to memorize and you forget a sentence while speaking, it has the tendency to really trip you up unless you’re a seasoned pro. However, if you practice experimenting with different ways of saying things, you’re building your quick-thinking prowess and ability to handle the unexpected while in the spotlight.
Notes are, of course, perfectly acceptable, but you don’t want to stay buried in your notes resulting in never making eye contact with the audience (or webcam).
Another no-no is clearly reading from a script while on a video conference. Reading a script is one of the best ways to disengage the audience unless you are very good at making it sound conversational…a tough skill to master.
Instead, know your speech so well that glancing at the first few words on a notecard will propel you into that part of the speech, without having to constantly refer to your notes.
Epilogue
Remember that public speaking is one fear that, with a little practice and the right mindset, can be overcome. Who knows, you may start to crave the spotlight so much that I’ll see you at the next audition!
More and more job seekers are coming to us and letting us know about internal opportunities within their organization that they would like to apply to. But even as more opportunities open up, the competition is as strong—or stronger—than ever before. That's why your resume has to be perfect.
Your resume needs to stand out to the hiring manager. If you're not getting job interviews, your resume probably isn't as good as you think it is. In fact, it's probably boring employers. So, take it out, brush it off, and let's kick it up a notch.
Here are seven reasons why your resume is boring, and how to fix it...
If your resume is utilizing an objective, you really should trash it and start all over with a fresh, powerful top fold that includes your personal branding statement and a list of the skills you possess that are relevant to the position you're applying for. A polished personal branding statement will catch the employer's attention and give him or her the best information up front—the information he or she needs to make a decision to call you to schedule an interview.
There is a strategy behind resume formatting and design. A simple resume format is best because it makes it easier for employers to read the information you've provided. But if you haven't updated your resume formatting in years, it probably contains a lot of text and not enough white space, therefore making it hard for hiring managers to get the information they need in the few seconds they're reviewing your resume. You'll look out of touch and they'll be bored quickly. So, make sure you updated your resume formatting!
Omit keywords and the ATS (software system scanning your resume) can't find you. The recruiter giving your resume a quick once-over is looking for specific keywords as well. Leave them out and you'll be left out of the interview process.
Avoid using the same old terminology that everyone else uses in their resumes. Yes, we know you can problem solve. But instead of telling me you're a problem solver, show me the result of a problem you solved. An effective resume contains quantifiable accomplishments, not just duties or responsibilities.
And the championship goes to…hard skills. I used to be a full-time recruiter, and I used Monster and CareerBuilder to search for candidates. Not once did I enter the search terms: great communicator, excellent verbal skills, detail-oriented. These are universal statements millions use to describe themselves. Give me something tangible and relevant to the position I am trying to fill. You'll demonstrate these hard skills when you quantify your work experience.
Instead of wasting valuable real estate on your resume providing me with a rundown of the job description (the same one I've read a million times as a hiring manager), show me what you achieved, what you accomplished, and what you contributed in the past.
Wow me with something other than the predictable, mundane job description. I want to know the challenges you faced in your previous roles, how you addressed them, and the results you obtained. This makes you different from everyone else. No two people will have the exact same experiences. Your experiences are what make you outshine your competition—use them to your advantage!
Using passive terminology is boring and lacks action. Instead of using phrases like "served as," "duties included," "promoted to," and "worked with," choose strong action verbs. Action verbs do just what they say: they convey action and, ultimately, results.
The hiring manager is interested in the results you can provide about what you did along the way. Choose terms like: launched, catapulted, spearheaded, and pioneered. These words tell me something. They show me the action you took and captivate my attention so that I want to read on to discover the results you achieved.
Your resume needs to do two things: it needs to capture the hiring manager's attention, and it needs to motivate him or her to pick up the phone and call you for an interview. If you look and sound like everyone else, you have no competitive advantage. Therefore, you've provided the HR person with zero motivation to pick up the phone, call you, and schedule an interview.
Stop creating a 'same old, same old' resume that looks and feels just like everyone else's. Start by adding some variety and focusing on your accomplishments today.
We know how difficult it can be to write a resume when there's so much conflicting information out there. If you're struggling to write an effective resume and land job interviews, we can help.
We'd love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades. More importantly, we have tons of resources inside our community that can help you write your resume—the right way.
As an education consultant observing instruction across content areas, grade bands, and schools, I have seen A LOT of instruction, both good and bad. While most teachers teach from a place of caring and compassion, the simple mistakes that I see teachers repeatedly making are undermining the overall impact that they could be having on learning especially when one considers the cumulative effect of poor teaching practices, across multiple teachers, on any one student.
Don’t get tangled up in this trap. Start upping your teaching game by canceling the following five teaching practices:
I sometimes see teachers using specific Common Core State Standards as the learning objective for an entire unit of study. For example, I once saw a fourth-grade teacher use “Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meaning (CCSS ELA-LITERACY L.4.5)" as the learning objective across many days of learning. This is an academically rigorous standard to be sure. However, as there are many types of figurative language, how does the teacher know they are meeting the precise intent of this standard unless they break down this standard into its component parts? Could each part then be a lesson/daily objective?
To answer, I suggest teachers draw upon the work of Larry Ainsworth in unwrapping standards. In a nutshell, Ainsworth’s model for deconstructing standards has educators identifying each concept (nouns) and skill (verbs) embedded within each standard to ensure that the complete intent of the standard is understood. More about the model can be found here.
My blood boiled over one day when a teacher told me that his students could not possibly meet learning objectives and/or success criteria that asked students to synthesize, evaluate, and/or create since his students were lower functioning. I have no doubt that this teacher was correct in saying that some of his students would, indeed, struggle in meeting higher-level success criteria. However, what then was this teacher doing to scaffold the learning so his lower-functioning students could succeed in meeting such objectives? First, develop lesson objectives with high achievement in mind so that high-performing students are not held back by low-performing students. Then, consider the scaffolds—such as one-on-one and small group direct instruction—that will be provided to lower-achieving students so they, too, can achieve rigorous objectives.
In developing rigorous learning objectives, those that place the cognitive lift on students, I recommend teachers use two tools—a Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Wheel and Hess’ Cognitive Rigor Matrix. The DOK Wheel will help educators to craft learning objectives inclusive of increasing levels of student challenge from a DOK Level One (Student Recall) through to a DOK Level Four (Extended Student Thinking). The Matrix will help teachers to compare their learning objectives, as currently written, to examples of those at varying levels of cognitive complexity so that these objectives may be rewritten to reflect higher levels of cognitive complexity. The Matrix is available for both humanities and math/science content areas.
Bonus Hack for Writing Objectives: When teachers write the learning objective into their guided practice slide decks, it is often only on the front slide. How can students refer to it/follow along if they can’t see it? Instead, include the objective on all slides or, better yet, write it on the class board.
Less is more. If a teacher’s guided practice drones on and on, as their coach, I sometimes ask if the teacher can call on a student to repeat and/or summarize what was said. Sometimes the student can but, other times, as the student begins to explain, they become confused. This is precisely why I ask this of teachers. If students are to retain information, research shows that there need to be breaks in long lectures. Chunk the learning. Allow a quick turn and talk so students can process learning before proceeding to ask students to repeat and/or summarize information.
On a related note, teachers should stop asking “Any questions?” as a matter of pro forma politeness before speeding along on the bullet train that is their lecture. Most students will not admit that they do not understand something unless it is teased from them. Instead, cold call and use other strategies such as polling, individual whiteboards, and signaling cards. And, when teachers do stop talking to ask questions of students, they can ensure that those questions are cognitively rigorous using this question stem tool.
If I had a quarter for each time I heard “take notes.” What does this mean? One of the practices in which I engage when observing classes is to look over at what students are doing and the notes they are taking; the level of detail and amount of relevant information can vary widely. Instead, a good practice is to adopt a standard note-taking format like Cornell Notes. In adopting a standard format, teachers can scaffold notes, build in essential questions, and have students summarize their learning—all best practices discussed in this article. Further, students can assess the quality of not only their notes but that of peers and use these notes in the development of student-generated study guides.
One scaffolding technique that I suggest teachers use with Cornell Notes is to include unit-related vocabulary with which students may be struggling and/or may not yet have been exposed. Often, when students leave questions blank on assessments, it can be because students do not understand what is being asked of them because of the vocabulary being used. In addition to highlighting key vocabulary on Cornell Notes, consider expanding a student’s knowledge of related vocabulary through the use of varied Vocabulary CODE activities as well as tiered vocabulary in each content area.
A standard practice that I have seen, when teachers are afraid to release control, is for students to complete worksheets independently and silently in class. First, teachers should consider if work needs to be done in class or, after modeling one or two examples of what students are to do, the rest of the worksheet can be done at home so that class time can be used for discussion of the work. Learning together builds creativity, blends individual strengths, and enhances the sense of collective ownership.
However, teachers are wise in anticipating where learning can go wrong, and there can be many reasons why students may not be focused during student-to-student-based activities. Still, the solution for most attention problems resides with the teacher. If students are unfocused and discussing unrelated matters during group work, give them the questions to discuss up front. If students can’t engage in discussions with one another appropriately, give them discussion/accountable talking stems. If some students are doing all the work while their teammates stand about idly, assign individual roles within each group as well as have students self-assess their level of contribution as well as peer assess that of their teammates. Also, provide exemplars of quality work and allow students some choice in how they demonstrate proficiency (the product) beyond that of a worksheet. There are also varied discussion protocols that can be used to differentiate the process through which students talk collaboratively about the content.
These are, without a doubt, some of the most common mistakes that I have seen educators make regardless of the amount of time that they have been in the profession. I, myself, was not immune from making these same missteps in the classroom. Still, being forewarned is forearmed and hopefully an awareness of these common pratfalls, along with a knowledge of the tools that can be used to navigate around them, will help ensure that not a moment of class time is wasted to inefficiency.
Please feel free to reach out to the author at John Schembari, Ed.D. | LinkedIn.
Feedback, in the world of business, is the breakfast of champions. Feedback "feeds" us. It's at the top of the food pyramid for learning and professional development. How often do you ask for feedback?
Feedback can be humbling, it can be eye-opening, and it can bring awareness to us of things that we're simply "blind" to. But if we don't ask for it, we usually don't receive it—particularly the constructive form. Many or most people will give us positive feedback, but very few will give us honest, candid feedback focused on how we can improve, how we can get better, or things we SHOULD change or do differently.
Seek feedback from others:
Ask an observer (a colleague, a friend, a peer, a direct report, a mentor, a panel member, or a participant):
Seeking feedback communicates a clear message that you care, that personal excellence is important to you, and that learning and getting better are a priority. Feedback is a highly effective learning tool, but like any other tool, if left in the toolbox, it does you no good. Use it. Solicit feedback often. Make feedback a habit, and you'll successfully develop yourself as a professional.
If you're looking for more ways to enhance your professional development, we can help.
Join our FREE community today to finally become an empowered business-of-one!
My husband is a big Raider Nation fan. He’s been a fan for almost 40 years, very loyal even though the Raiders haven’t done well in the past ten years. He gets grief about this all the time from family and friends. He started liking the Raiders in college when he would get free tickets from USC to see them at the Coliseum. Since the Raiders' inception in 1960, they have accumulated fans from around the world. They are loved for their rebellious image.
What drew my husband to the Raiders was an emotional connection to their toughness, swagger, “bad boys” of football, and that they were fun to watch. This was quite unique at the time vs. other NFL teams. These words—toughness, swagger, and “bad boys”—embody the Raider Nation brand essence.
Companies that can tap into this emotional connection with their customers benefit from greater loyalty and ROI. This emotional connection starts with your brand essence. Let’s look at what a brand essence is, why it’s important, and how to develop one for your brand.
Brand essence is the soul or DNA of your brand. It helps create connections between your customers and your brand, using emotional and intangible elements. It’s typically described in one to three words and includes the following:
Here are a few companies that have similar products and target audiences but their brand essence differs:
Once you’ve defined your brand essence, it’s easier to guide all marketing activities consistently with a clear message that speaks to your audience and aligns with your values.
@brand_building Do You Know Your Brand Essence? #brand #branding #brandessence #targetaudience #cocacola #pepsi #bmw #porche #nike #adidas #usp #uniquesellingpoint #marketing ♬ original sound - Building Leadership Brands
Consumers are demanding more from brands in how they conduct business when it comes to the environment, diversity, politics, and equality. Millennials are the largest population of 72 million, with 83% saying it’s important for companies they buy from to align with their beliefs and values. An Ipsos survey found that, across 25 countries surveyed, 70% of consumers indicate they would buy from brands they believe reflect their principles. With these consumer shifts, it’s more important than ever for brands to have a strong brand strategy including a purpose, values, ethics, authenticity, uniqueness, and a compelling story. This includes a clearly defined and effective brand essence.
With a clearly defined brand essence, brands know who they are, how they want to be perceived, and how to consistently communicate to consumers so they know what to expect each time they interact with your brand. It takes 5 to 7 impressions for consumers to remember a brand. For example, even with shifting global consumer trends, Walt Disney’s core brand essence of “magical” has not changed over the years.
Defining your brand essence starts with understanding who you are, what sets you apart from the competition, and what emotions your brand brings up with your consumers. The Brand Essence Wheel is a template for defining your brand. Starting from the outside and moving in, this process will help define who you are and what your brand essence is, creating a brand people love.
Let’s look at the Brand Essence Wheel in more detail.
OUTER LAYER:
Brand Vision & Objectives
The brand vision is what the brand aims to achieve in the future. Brand objectives are the measurable goals for your brand.
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is the collection of values, beliefs, expectations, and practices that guide and inform the action of employees.
Brand Personality
A brand personality can be defined as the set of human characteristics associated with your brand. It’s communicated through tone of voice, visuals, and even policies. They’re expressed as adjectives that convey how you want people to perceive your brand. For example, is your brand cheerful, funny, friendly, youthful, innovative, spirited, dependable, responsible, credible, sophisticated, rebellious, cunning, powerful, honest, and so on?
Name & Symbols
A brand symbol is a visual representation of your company. It can be your name or a visual design. Brand symbols can also be called “brand marks.”
Brand Attributes & Benefits
Brand attributes are quality or features regarded as a characteristic of your brand that resonates with your customers. These are the plain facts about your product—size, weight, functionality, etc. Brand benefits are the values that customers place on your product. In summary, brand attributes show what your product does while brand benefits show what it does for them.
Value Proposition
A value proposition summarizes a promise of value, delivered to customers should they choose to buy your product or service. A good value proposition, as defined by Peep Laja, explains three things:
Your value proposition needs to be front and center across your communication (i.e. homepage, marketing materials, videos, social media, etc.). If you don't state why consumers should buy from you and what the value is that you provide, you'll lose them.
Brand Positioning
Brand positioning is the process of positioning your brand in the mind of your customers based on your brand purpose and values that gives you a competitive advantage.
A well-developed and implemented brand position provides a sustainable competitive advantage, communicates value to customers, is a vehicle to help manage brand consistency, and impacts the bottom line.
MIDDLE LAYER:
Target Audience
A target audience is an ideal customer who wants to purchase your product or service. Targeting a specific audience does not mean that you are excluding customers who do not fit your criteria. Instead, it allows you to focus your dollars and message on the right people who are most likely to buy from you. This is the most effective way to reach your audience while maximizing your spending. When you market to a highly specific target audience, you can solidify your brand voice and develop messaging that resonates with them.
Emotional Characteristics
When products appeal to customers emotionally through characteristics like love, happiness, power, fear, anger, surprise, security, disgust, and ego gratification.
Rational Characteristics
Rational characteristics include when buyers compare products based on price, features, and benefits, and then make a decision on whether to buy or not.
Identity & Communications
The brand identity includes all of the visible and written elements of the brand such as color, design, logo, and messaging that identify and distinguish the brand in the consumer's mind.
Creating a strong brand is becoming increasingly important as consumers demand more from companies. Your brand essence is the heart and soul of your brand that differentiates you from the competitors. Start building your brand leadership today. You’ve got this!
Have you heard of the three Cs of career growth? They are the three things you need to focus on in your career if you want to move up the ladder at work and find long-term professional success.
As a career coach for the last 20 years, I've learned that people cannot move their careers forward in a vacuum. You can't grow your career alone. And that's where the three Cs come in...
@j.t.odonnell How to grow your career FAST! @j.t.odonnell #careertiktok #careeradvice #careertips #learnontiktok #ScreamItOut ♬ original sound - J.T. O'Donnell
The first "C" of career growth is courses/content. You need resources in your career that will teach you something new and give you a new perspective.
The second "C" is coaching. In order to truly grow your career, you need a trained expert or a mentor, somebody who can help you interpret what you're learning, especially if you hit roadblocks. A career coach, for example, can tailor their answers to support you and your needs, providing you with the right advice that will help you succeed.
The third "C" of career growth, and the most important, is community. You have to surround yourself with like-minded individuals who are working on the same problem or chasing the same goal. This not only motivates you, but it gives you more information and perspective in order to speed up the success of your learning.
Now, where do you find the three Cs of career growth? Well, I actually founded Work It Daily on the principles of the three 3 Cs. When you join our FREE community, you get access to courses, coaches, and community—all in one place!
Work It Daily is one of the largest online career coaching platforms, and all you have to do is sign up to get FREE access to the 3 Cs of career growth. Sign up, check out our free resources section, and pick courses to learn from. You can post your questions inside the community for the coaches and you can meet other members who are part of the community.
So, if you want to grow your career and move up the ladder at work, you know where to find me.
Sign up for Work It Daily's FREE community today! My team and I are looking forward to working with you soon.
Let's be honest! LinkedIn is not the easiest social media platform to navigate. If you wish you could make better use of this essential career tool, we've got just the event for you...
On Wednesday, May 18th, 2022 at 12 p.m. ET, J.T. O'Donnell, founder and CEO of Work It Daily, and Christina Burgio, director of training and coaching, are hosting a NEW live event "How To Navigate LinkedIn Effectively."
Learn how to make the most of your time on LinkedIn so you can work smarter, not harder!
This hour-long event will teach you:
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WHEN: Wednesday, May 18th, 2022 at 12 p.m. ET
Interviewing can actually be pretty fun, especially when you're on the other side of the table! However, I know how stressful it can be when you're the one in the hot seat as an eager job candidate.
Emotions are high, nerves are in play, and there's so much information you need to remember. It can be tough!
And, because I know how difficult it can be to be in that position, I want to share some major red flags I've encountered when interviewing candidates.
I know there's a lot to remember, but there are some things you should NEVER say during a job interview. If you've got an interview coming up, make sure you review these phrases before you hop on the phone or walk into the office.
Even if the job you're applying for isn't something you can really see yourself doing for the long term, don't volunteer that information to your interviewer. You might have big career aspirations, but it's important to focus on the job you're interviewing for now, even if it's just an entry-level job you don't plan on working for very long.
By telling your interviewer that you're essentially uncommitted to the job, you can sabotage your chances of landing the position. Think about it from the employer's perspective: Why would a company want to invest in, hire, and train someone who is already planning on leaving before he or she even gets the job offer? Second, you might not realize how much growth potential this role has and whether or not it might transform into something that excites you. Every dream job starts somewhere. So, why kill the opportunity before you give it a chance?
Typically, at the end of interviews, we ask our job candidates if they have any questions for us. We EXPECT questions. The candidate should be looking to learn as much as he or she can about the role, company, and team. It's just as much for his or her benefit as it is for the employer.
Also, don't just wait until the end of the interview to ask questions. An interview should be a two-way conversation. So, ask questions throughout the interview to emphasize your interest, curiosity, and listening skills.
While it's very important to ask questions during a job interview, it's just as important to ask the RIGHT questions—questions that show you've done your homework, but want to dig deeper. Asking questions you could (and frankly should) have the answers to beforehand (like what the company does, when it started, why it started, etc.) isn't going to make you look very good.
A huge part of interview prep is taking time to research the company you're applying to. You should be able to find basic information about the company by doing a simple Google search and checking out their website and social media profiles.
Learning about what you'll be paid and what benefits you'll receive as an employee is something you'll want to understand down the line, but please don't bring this up during your first interview.
This information will be revealed and/or mapped out for you as you get closer to a job offer. If you ask questions like this one too soon, though, you risk looking like you're only in it for the money and kickbacks. Employers know these things are important to job candidates, obviously, but if you start focusing on them too early in the process, it can be a huge turnoff.
Again, think about it from the employer's point of view: If you're taking this job solely for the money and/or benefits, who's to say you won't up and leave when a better offer comes along? What's keeping you at the company other than the extras?
Instead, focus on why you want this particular job at this specific company. The other stuff will come up later.
This is a similar question to #3. If you feel like you need to ask what kinds of skill sets are required for this role, you didn't read the job description carefully enough. That information should be all over the job posting and you should be prepared to show examples of how your experience will be valuable.
If the job description was a little vague, though, ask more targeted questions about the role. For example, "What would a typical day look like for this employee?" or "What kinds of projects would I be working on specifically and how would they add value to the company?"
Questions like these will allow you to get more clues on the role AND give you a deeper understanding of what you're expected to accomplish as an employee.
A job interview can be scary, but if you go in prepared, it's actually pretty exciting. Make sure to prioritize interview prep before your next job interview, and you'll likely avoid saying any of these five things to the hiring manager.
If you're struggling to land job interviews, we can help.
The SeatGeek employee roster includes a classically-trained opera singer, a retired contender on the competitive eating circuit, and an all-American fencer, to name a few. Having such a unique and diverse workforce under one roof is something that SeatGeek takes pride in. Not only does it create a fun company culture, but it lends itself to endless ideas and perspectives.
"It's great that people have different interests and backgrounds and can come together and work on awesome projects," says Jamie Sterrett, director of talent at SeatGeek.
The mobile-focused ticket platform has seen its fair share of growth over the last three years. SeatGeek employs just under 500 employees globally, which includes the company's headquarters in New York City and offices in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, and Israel.
In order to encourage collaboration and networking, and foster an environment of diversity and inclusion, the company has both employee resource groups (ERGs) and affinity groups. Sterrett says the ERGs are focused on empowering diverse groups across SeatGeek, while the affinity groups are focused on hobbies and shared interests such as fitness, food, and board games.
"It's really important as we grow that people are able to find community within the workplace," Sterrett says. "The more you have that community, the more people will collaborate."
The company uses a number of long-standing traditions to bring the workforce together on a regular basis.
One example is the weekly company lunch. Each week a team presents during the lunch to update the company on projects they're working on. Sterrett says it's a great way to keep employees updated about what's going on at the company and to help them get to know co-workers they're not as familiar with.
"We're a people-focused organization...transparency and collaboration are important to us," Sterrett says.
The company also holds "ask anything" forums where employees are urged to ask company leadership questions about anything.
One newer SeatGeek tradition, breakfast-lunch-dinner, is a livestream conference between the offices in New York, Europe, and Israel.
The online ticket selling industry has become a competitive one over the years and SeatGeek is always striving to be the industry leader. Sterrett says that competition, plus the ever-changing culture of the technology industry, makes working at SeatGeek appealing to a lot of people. "We're trying to introduce a lot of that change and that's really exciting to people."
SeatGeek's platform puts the focus on the fan experience. Customers looking to purchase tickets to sporting events or concerts will not only see the ticket price, but they will get a "Deal Score" that indicates what type of value they are getting for the prices of tickets. Essentially, this tells customers whether or not they're overpaying for the tickets.
In recent years, SeatGeek has expanded its international offerings and has become the primary ticket provider for the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints.
SeatGeek employees enjoy being a part of the ticket-selling industry.
"From a product and business standpoint the past couple years have been incredibly exciting. We are now official ticketing partners with some of the largest names in sports. It's not only helping us grow our business, but more importantly it's helping us provide a better experience to fans," one employee says in a Glassdoor review.
"SeatGeek is starting to disrupt the ticketing industry. It is exciting to be a part of a company that is truly focused on the customer. It is clear from top to bottom that we want to make it easier for the average person to see more events live," another employee writes.
One of the most popular benefits at SeatGeek is the $120 monthly ticket stipend that can be used on an endless list of athletic events and concerts. Sterrett says that in addition to being popular, the perk also benefits the company because many employees will use it to go to events together, and it allows employees to suggest possible improvements.
The SeatGeek office is bright and open and features a large projection screen for the viewing of occasional sporting events.
To apply or learn more about working at SeatGeek, check out their careers page today!
If you’re trying to take yourself and your life to the next level, it makes a lot of sense to aim higher when it comes to making friends. The right friends will support you emotionally and provide practical help along the way.
If you have exciting friends that aren’t as ambitious as you are, chances are that they’re unconsciously holding you back. You don’t have to stop seeing them; your best bet is to focus on building friendships with new people. If you want to make friends with ambitious people, read on.
In this article, I would like to share with you three important steps. These steps will help you go to the next level in your social life, meet many ambitious and interesting people, and have them stick around for a long time.
People seem to leave their friendship life to chance, more often than not. While that probably worked well when you were a kid, it most certainly won’t work for you as an adult. With no college or school to facilitate new friendships, you need to be proactive about it. This means that you get conscious and curious about friendship and how it works—consciously make time, every week, for meeting new people, staying in touch, and hanging out with them.
Studies have shown that the influence other people have on you is strong; your destiny literally depends on the people you hang out with. This is why it’s important to have a clear idea of the kind of people you want to have in your life. All you have to do is make a general list of qualities, attributes, or activities that you want in your future friends. It doesn’t have to be definitive; it’s just a guide for your mind. You can start by listing qualities like "healthy," "ambitious," "honest," "productive," "fun," "interesting," etc.
Success in your friendship life means that you don’t only use the tips once in a while; it means that you adopt the easy new habits that will work on a consistent basis. The first habit is to go meet new people every month. The way to do that is to join a local community that meets up once or twice every month. Try a few that you can find on meetup.com and decide on the one that has the kind of people you'd like to get to know better. In general, go where meeting people is easy; focus on places like trade shows, cultural or charitable events, seminars and talks, and so on.
The second habit is to dedicate at least one hour every week to reaching out to people in your network. You can put it in your calendar; it can be something like every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Early in the week is better. Contact and network with important/strategic LinkedIn connections during this hour. This habit will make sure you don’t lose touch with your existing friends, and follow up with the new people you meet.
The third habit is to decide what you’re going to do over the weekend ahead of time. When it’s time to reach out to people, plan ahead and decide on what you want to do; suggest that plan to those you want to see. This is why it’s important that you contact people early enough in the week, when they haven’t already decided what to do on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Making friends can be time-consuming if you don’t optimize your efforts. If you’re always the one calling and making plans, then you’re not going to be doing it for very long. The best way to tackle this is to focus on forming groups of friends, instead of having a bunch of friends that don’t know each other. I recommend that you always introduce the people that you know to each other, especially if they’re of the ambitious kind. After they meet once or twice, a new group emerges, and you now have a circle of friends. When that happens, they start to call and make plans as well, which means you’ll have more time to contact and make plans with people that you don’t know that well.
As you meet new people, introduce them to the existing group, and make it bigger. If you prefer to meet in small groups, this is a great strategy as well; you can still meet two or three people at the same time, even if your social circle has dozens of people in it.
These three steps will get you started on having ambitious, resourceful friends that will help you succeed, introduce people to you, and emotionally support you when you need it. What’s really important is to open your mind to learning about friendship, how it works, and how you can apply that information to your life.
We understand how difficult it is to make new friends, especially as an adult. The good news is, at Work It Daily, we provide you with a safe and supportive place where you can meet new people and network with like-minded professionals!
If you're struggling to make ambitious friends, we'd love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades.
Join our FREE community today to grow your professional network and make new friends!
As a recent college graduate, it is always intimidating looking for your first job. At this point, you are more interested in getting into the corporate world rather than getting that dream job.
Have you ever thought about what leads you to that “dream job”? Precision, positivity, and a good attitude are the keys to not only getting an entry-level job but succeeding in it. And when you start your career on the right foot in an entry-level job, you'll quickly position yourself for a raise and/or promotion, and you'll be well on your way to getting that dream job.
Here are a few tips for entry-level job seekers looking to land their first job out of college:
1. Get Noticed with Your Cover Letter
For a job opening, it's common for the hiring manager to get a thousand applications. What's so great about you? Why should you get an interview? Give it your best shot by providing a precise, interesting, and effective cover letter. The right disruptive cover letter encourages the recruiter to go through your resume.
2. Refrain from Long Stories
First off, your cover letter should only be about a page long. Similarly, your resume should only include quantifiable work experience—no long-winded descriptions of duties and tasks you were responsible for at a previous employer.
3. Don't Get Overly Formal
Be simple yet effective. On your resume and cover letter, do not use bold phrases, clichés, or idioms to create an impression.
4. Have Faith in Yourself
Confidence is essential to your career. There is no place for “good” in the corporate world. Competition is fierce and companies want someone who believes in themselves and knows their value. If you don't know your value as a business-of-one, how can you expect to prove your value to employers?
5. Know About the Organization
It's important to research the company before going in for a job interview. Make sure you know each bit of the organization you are applying to—the latest happenings, the past issues, the website, and the company culture. You should aim to know at least 80% of what a current employee knows.
6. Sell Yourself Logically
One of the most important questions to answer is, “How beneficial can you be for the organization?” Employers want to know if you can solve whatever problem they're facing because they're not hiring someone just for the heck of it. Talk in terms of what you can do to make the organization better. If you have sales experience, you can say something like, “With my knowledge and experience in sales, I can make sure I sell at least XYZ amount of products each month by working on XYZ aspects.” Use the STAR method or "Experience + Learn = Grow" method to ace those tricky behavioral interview questions.
7. Act Mature
Be polite and take your job interviews seriously. Talk in terms of how your abilities can help in the betterment of the organization. No one wants to know what you learned from your childhood.
8. Relate Your Abilities to the Job
Focus on talking about those trainings, subjects, certifications, and specializations that have something to do with the job you're applying for. What makes you qualified for the position?
9. Never Boast About Your GPA
You might be a brilliant student, but if you fail to impress the interviewer, your GPA will not save you. Do not rely on your GPA to make a good impression and prove you're smart and hardworking. Focus on your experience and accomplishments instead.
10. Don't Exaggerate
Don't lie or exaggerate on your resume or in a job interview. Even a single white lie can outshine your abilities and competencies.
11. Prepare, Prepare, and Prepare
Always prepare before walk into an interview well-prepared. This includes everything from your appearance to knowledge about the organization. get information about the interviewer, too.
12. Leave like a Lady/Gentleman
Always leave by paying good regards to the interviewer and showing your interest in working in the organization. And don't forget to send a thank-you note!
As an entry-level job seeker, remember these 12 tips as you look for your first job out of college. You'll be sure to stand out from the competition!
If you're struggling to find a job as a recent college grad, we can help.
Back in the day, I owned a marketing agency that was acquired by HubSpot in 2013.
We were purchased because we had a reputation for being technically strong at the ‘website design’ aspects of the HubSpot tools at that time. Now imagine my team and I showing up on day one and attending a week or so of corporate training to learn the lay of the land when it finally dawned on me: HubSpot was about to launch a new content management system (they called it the COS) and it was going to be our job to move the existing customers' websites (all 7,800 of them!) onto the new platform with as little customer impact as possible. Add to that the casual comment, “Oh, and by the way, don’t screw it up. We’re preparing to go public in 16 months.”
Let’s just say this taught me the importance of having a framework for technical implementations.
So much effort, energy, resources, and money goes into acquiring customers for any business. And businesses continually focus on reducing their customer acquisition costs (CAC). To make all the effort on the front side of acquiring customers worth it, it’s important to get the new customers “to value” as soon as possible.
If the customer is not successful with the software they just purchased, the business risks not retaining them therefore potentially missing the opportunity of obtaining the optimum lifetime value (LTV) of the customer. Some SAAS companies call it implementation, some call it onboarding. I typically consider implementation to have a more technical setup aspect rather than onboarding which to me is more about getting users logged in and using the software.
1. Understand the Needs of the Customer
First, it’s really important to have an idea of what success to the new customer is defined as. What does the customer intend to do with this new software they have purchased? What is the “job to be done” with the software? What are they trying to accomplish and why? You need to understand what problem the purchase of this software solves in order to successfully implement a new customer into being an active user. You’re going to want to focus on the goals of why the customer wants to use your business's software.
2. Define Success Criteria
Now that you understand the problem that is being solved, it’s important to define the path toward the “aha moment” when a customer sees the value in what they have just purchased. You want this clearly defined and you want to get there as fast as possible. That doesn’t mean that the entire system/instance is set up to its fullest capacity, but it does mean that the software is set up or configured or the correct users are added (whatever it is) and the customer can do something that solves the problem they came to your business to solve. For example, in an email marketing tool, it could be the first email sent, or in a CRM, first contact is added. It will depend on the software.
3. Understand the Steps Required to Get the Customer to Success
This may sound obvious, but it’s going to be important to define the steps required to get to that first value. To reuse the email software example it would look something like this: Add new user, define the email’s content, create email, add email recipient, hit send. That's a super simple example but there will likely be many steps involved and it will be important to outline the concurrent steps in order to make sure that you are organized and get to the time to value in as straight a line as possible. This will also allow you to define the repeatable process.
4. Create a Repeatable Process for the Steps Required
Once we've defined the steps you need to distill this down to a repeatable process. You’re going to want to have this well defined and written down. Some teams I’ve worked with have created a checklist of tasks, others keep it relatively fluid and loose, but I recommend keeping it consistent for the sake of customer experience. I encourage you to try and provide a like kind experience for the customer no matter which person on the team helps time implement their software.
5. Define the Skill Set Required to Staff the Team
Now that you have an understanding of the process it’s time to get familiar with the skills sets required to implement customers. As a first step, a mandatory skill set is willingness to communicate with customers, both verbal and written. Believe it or not I have seen people in the position of implementing customers who did not possess strong customer communication skills and admitted to not ‘liking’ talking to customers. Wow. You want people with strong organizational skills as this person will often be multi-tasking many customers in different stages of the implementation at once. Being that this is a SAAS company and is most like some software mediu to strong technical skills are pretty much a must. However, each implementation will vary from different business to business but it’s required that you identify the technical skill set needs and that you find people with the skill set. For example: at HubSpot I ran a team that was implementing websites so we needed people who had some web development design skills as well as a baseline understanding of DNS settings (i.e. GoDaddy).
6. Get an Understanding of the Volume of Work Required to Implement the Customers
With a clear understanding of the job to be done, that definition of first value, process and skill set needs to be laid out by you. We need to figure out the human bandwidth required to implement customer volume coming onto the software. How many customers will need the implementation? In what timeframe? How long does it take to implement a customer? Is there work that the customer needs to do? Will you be waiting on customers as a bottleneck at times? What is the total time required to onboard a customer? These are all questions to think about when trying to determine the overall human capital requirements to successfully implement the customers. Of time, as the process gets more defined, and the people doing the implementations acquire their tool chest of tips, tricks, snippets, tools. They will speed up. You may even find opportunities to use additional software to decrease the time and effort it takes to implement customers.
7. Set up Clear KPIs
I’ve found that you’re going to want clear and attainable KPIs that motivate the team to deliver successful implementation for the customer. I’ve been most successful when measuring the team on what we call the success of the customer. For example, when we were onboarding customers onto websites, the team’s success criteria was 1) to get the customer’s website live in 2) the shortest amount of time possible. That worked well to motivate the team to be swift (quicktime to value) but also solve for the customer’s goals. I’ve had this go wrong on me once when I had set up KPIs that solved for time to completion of a project and that didn’t always end in the happiest customers.
These are my seven steps to building a successful implementation team. Naturally, the specifics will vary across SAAS businesses but I believe this is a trusty road map to follow. If you’re reading this because you’re trying to figure this out at your business don’t hesitate to reach out to me on LinkedIn. I’d be happy to be a resource.
I’m guilty of fighting for the underdog in all circumstances especially when it comes to music. This may be a product of my upbringing, as my mother was known for being an incredibly kind, caring individual, treating my siblings and me exceptionally equally in all matters of life. This early pattern has served me well today as we see huge culture shifts in the music industry emerging, where indie artists are able to survive, maybe not thrive, but survive. This is inspiring to me.
However, I will always be a fan of major label achievements as well, with a focus on social media platforms like TikTok for talent scouting and metaverse concerts now moving into a mainstream position. Even with independent musicians gaining newfound revenue on brand deals, NFT opportunities, increased distribution partnerships, and touring revenue, I still worry about the impact of not having major label support. I have learned from working with music tech companies and gaming companies that having label support is essential to sustain a robust career in music. You may be discovered on TikTok but how do we know if you can maintain the heat?
As a professional signed music artist, your job is to make hot records. It’s nothing personal.
Success always comes down to a hit song and without it you're climbing a serious uphill battle. To me, having the connections of decades of music work where studio sessions, producer connections, and collaborations thrive in the major label system, provides serious insight into why major record labels thrive. Do I believe that there are exceptions to hit songs where an indie artist can create a banger? Well yes. Yes, I do. But economies of scale and history of voluminous impactful hit records in multiples have always resided in houses built by Sony, Warner & Universal. Let’s explore further why major labels have success-breaking music artists on a scale that is undeniable.
I've seen a greater ratio of success with a larger volume of artists under one roof, where leveraging leading music artists helps smaller less established ones. Majors are able to execute proven roadmaps to break artists, for less money, more efficiently at a faster rate. And why shouldn’t they? They’ve actually put in the work.
To do this, they:
For example, with Universal Music group going public and reporting today a 21.6 quarterly revenue increase to 2.32 billion dollars, their portfolio style approach has shown us what a leader UMG is in the space. The growth across multiple business units is incredible and with their diversified artist roster, songwriters, retail merchandising, publishing and emerging metaverse projects in new markets is an incredible achievement. I’m excited as I have a feeling that UMG is just getting started. The teams at UMG are exceptional, enough said.
We cannot deny that when your company is making billions of dollars there may be a correlation to artist marketing success. (An understatement). However, the benchmarks from years of taking the risks and investing in huge music artists have provided the roadmap. Majors have invaluable, incredible statistics and analytical data assisting in maximizing dollars helping to make streaming ad buy decisions and spends for marketing dollars with an almost guaranteed success for releases.
Although I will always root for indie artist street hustle on the daily, I value and appreciate what labels are accomplishing as we make a huge culture shift. If you're considering a career in music, building a strategy for gaining label exposure is essential and fighting for that major label deal is crucial and definitely worth the effort.
When COVID-19 hit in 2020, I didn’t hear any accounts of C-level or enterprise operations executives jumping out of windows, but I did hear their stories about real frustrations and sudden challenges with execution. Many openly admitted a new risk to operations and ultimately financial performance as they battled through low-value manual processes, disparate platforms, and the absence of a remote ecosystem or “hub” where department, division, or enterprise teams could come together to communicate, execute, and manage end-to-end workflows and data to transcend unforeseen events, factors, or constraints for employees.
Faced with acute business risk and operational difficulty, why didn’t more enterprise companies move to outsource an infrastructure-less SaaS operations or logistics software solution along with its support?
For companies in verticals that were still in growth mode or mostly business as usual after the onset of COVID-19, three obstacles may have impeded a tech/SaaS path to continuity, efficiency, and reduced business risk—two having to do with buyer psyche and the other about the options (or lack thereof) for tech/SaaS and its providers.
Obstacle #1
We all HATE discomfort. Human nature clings to the familiarity of the status quo and skillfully tricks the subconscious into downplaying, avoiding, or outright denying the existence of unpleasant or ineffective circumstances. This saves us the discomfort of reasoning the cause of a problem, its scope, or the inconvenience of having to do something about it.
Obstacle #2
We all LOVE control. Modern enterprise buying happens when a majority of 10-14 cross-functional stakeholders, that may or may not also engage the board of directors, decide to say “YES!” to change as they are helped past their individual risk aversion that is influenced by their performance metrics, professional goals, challenges, underlying biases and motivations to either support or block the decision.
As such, even when presented with a clear, distinct solution that demands change from the status quo, if stakeholders are left to themselves without an objective, insightful, empathetic guide with a strong understanding of their current processes, data requirements, and the technology—teamed up with an internal champion as a collaborative partner to help instill new insights, influence, clear obstacles, and gain consensus—one of two things is most likely to happen for these folks:
And the third obstacle that may have prevented enterprise companies from creating a needed communication and operations execution superhighway for their teams:
Obstacle #3
We need confidence in our partners. Lots of it. When the vulnerability of continuity became obvious in 2020, enterprise technology options were still pretty clunky. Choices included older platforms still on-prem, partial, or rigid workflows that required daisy-chaining disparate platforms together or retraining, they offered limited reporting, low data mining and analytics, no advanced predictive capabilities, few simple integrations with other major business systems, and long backlogs when custom dev was necessary. This meant vendors and their platforms were of limited use, painful to deal with, and the ratio of bad reviews to good reviews was high when measuring the rate of adoption, realized value, and the overall customer experience during implementation, when using the platform, and when support was needed.
What’s different today? There is good news for enterprise SaaS buying holdouts! A new generation of “Service as a Solution” (SaaS) enterprise software designers have emerged with intuitive, adaptive, integrated, perpetually evolving solutions. This has jettisoned adoption with stakeholders and users alike as solutions are now blending into the business with flexibility to resemble comfortable, native workflows, simply integrate with most business systems, and deliver sizeable benefits relative to op-ex fees.
This new virtual work “place” brings employees, external partners, and various business systems together via simple integrations into a community to accomplish major workflows with simplicity and agility. Some of the benefits:
With artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) now in production, in development, and in dev roadmaps, SaaS developers are also infusing deep insights, visibility, and predictive decision making into their functionality with advanced:
As such, enterprise SaaS software spend is up 14% in 2021 per Gartner’s reporting, with an estimated $700 billion on the way for 2022. Another 11% increase.
Buying technology is complicated! For enterprise executives who are ready to appoint a buying committee to select your next tech solution, this article will help you:
To set the stage for your buying journey, make sure you have a qualified guide to lead your buying team through organizational requirements, vetting and qualifying, and the complex behavioral science maze of the numerous stakeholders chosen for your buying committee.
Next, here are (10) initial questions to strip down your vendor list and clear away common obstacles for stakeholder personas throughout the organization:
1. Does the software provide a full end-to-end solution to execute and manage the entire workflow process for the departmental / division / organizational application?
2. Will the software have long-term application for your operations, despite workplace and technology advancements, and what is the partner’s roadmap for ongoing development and investment?
3. Does the software enable users the flexibility to mirror familiar workflows already intuitive to your operations without forcing a new workflow and retraining?
4. Does the potential SaaS partner provide a simulation of the platform’s operation with your workflow or application or environment to validate its efficacy for your company’s specific needs?
5. Do they have case studies that demonstrate a great buyer and user experience with the product, implementation, training for each level of user, and support?
6. Is the platform available in a SaaS model without a cap-ex spend or on-prem hardware?
7. Are ready integrations available for your major systems and apps to offer a low-coding, low development & engineering implementation, especially if you don’t have unlimited internal technology resources?
8. Is data import and configuration relatively simple?
9. Does the simplicity of the solution and the tech partner’s support mitigate the need for IT to acquire additional skillsets to implement or support?
10. Do they publish ample ungated content about their solution to research and evaluate before contacting their sales rep?
For additional insights and help with navigating the enterprise technology buying journey, please reach out to me on LinkedIn or at lynn@solvedbyholland.com.
Look, I'm just going to say it. Not everybody should work for themselves. Right now, there's this huge craze about working independently, being self-employed, being your own boss. So much of this came out of the pandemic because people realized they wanted to have control over their careers and not be at the mercy of their employers' needs. But if you're looking to take control of your career, becoming self-employed is not always the best solution.
@j.t.odonnell Not everyone should work for themselves... #workplacerenegade #learnontiktok #careeradvice #joblife #jobsearch #careeradvice #careertiktok #careers #jobs @j.t.odonnell ♬ original sound - J.T. O'Donnell
Twenty years ago, it was all about getting the corporate job. You didn't hear a lot about entrepreneurship back then, but nowadays everyone is talking about it. It almost feels like if you don't do your own thing or own your own business, or if you don't at least have a desire to do those things, there's something wrong with you.
Not true.
A lot of people were not built for self-employment. But they also don't want to go back to the traditional work environment where the employer is at the top and they're at the bottom wearing golden handcuffs and feeling like they have no control over their career or future. And I get that. I think that's why 40 million people quit their jobs in 2021—because they're frustrated. But not all of those 40 million people should be their own boss.
So what do you do?
Well, for the last 20 years, I have been teaching people how to become "Workplace Renegades." A Workplace Renegade is an anti-employer. They're about empowering themselves so that they can build a decent relationship with their employer. They want to work with the employer, not for them. They want trust and respect. They want to attract the opportunities that are best for them. And it still means working a full-time job with benefits and that structure that a lot of people need. In return, you're giving the employer what they need.
But you need to understand one thing...
There are seven rules to becoming a Workplace Renegade that will enable you to get a full-time job that gives you the trust and respect you want and deserve so that you don't have to necessarily own your own company to have control over your career.
If you would like to learn what those seven rules are, check out my new book Awakening Your Inner Workplace Renegade: 7 New Rules for Transforming Your Career & Finding Your Professional Purpose.
In this book, you’ll learn:
Buy the book and start awakening your inner Workplace Renegade today!
I promise you the seven new rules will change your mindset completely so that you can get those jobs that you want and deserve.
P.S. If you're serious about taking control of your career, I'd love it if you joined my FREE community where professionals like you are learning how to become empowered in their careers so they can finally find career happiness and satisfaction.
Sign up for my FREE community today! My team and I are looking forward to working with you soon.