Help Grow Your Career – Align with what Highly Successful People Do

by Ken Jondahl

“As I become more experienced and more successful in business, I’ve begun to realize that most successful people don’t make a lot of money because they are lucky or because they know the right people.”

“Nor do I believe that people are simply born destined to become wealthy.”

“Rather, I’ve come to recognize that many of these individuals make highly intelligent career decisions that lead them to get where they are. Here are 4 of those:” by Personal Branding Blog

See on www.business2community.com

The Most Overlooked Interview Research Methods for Job Seekers

by Ken Jondahl

“When I was recruiting, my team and I could always tell when someone had done their homework on the company or not.”

“If they didn’t do the research, they were out.”

“In retrospect, it’s regrettable we even had to waste an interview on someone who didn’t investigate us and our mission thoroughly.” by Lea McLeod

streetsmartprof‘s insight:

At first it may seem Lea as a hiring manager is being too tough. Then again, when you walk into an interview, the job is yours to loose.

The article provides some great insight into what to do before setting foot inside any company for an interview. Especially with all of the tools and resources available to scope out what a company does and why they are in the business they are in.

See on www.youtern.com

2013 Top 5 Job Search Sites Readers’ Choice Awards

by Ken Jondahl

“The winners of the 2013 About.com Job Search Readers’ Choice Award for the Best Job site include Glassdoor.com in the top spot, followed by US.jobs, Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and TweetMyJobs.com.”

“All of the top job sites provide a variety of resources for job seekers, including job listings, career and company information, career events, and more.” by Alison Doyle

streetsmartprof‘s insight:

Your dream job has numerous characteristics and matches your skills and capabilities.

As you review job search sites, keep your dream job in mind. Every search tool has limitations on how it was designed and where it is pointed. Plus the odds are not any one job search site will be able to meet all of your needs.

An example, if you are looking for the top job search site for students, consider www.CollegeTopTalent.com or one of the other top 5 sites of 2013 here: http://jobsearch.about.com/od/rca/tp/best-job-sites-students-2013.htm

See on jobsearch.about.com

Customer Experience and Social Selling

by Ken Jondahl

“More and more sales people are using social media to help them prospect and develop new business. It’s certainly an avenue that I use for my client development. Used wisely and effectively it’s a great tool to enhance your business development efforts.”

“Allow me to propose this: Are sales people who utilize social media more successful than others, OR is it that consistently successful sales people almost always use the smartest techniques and are ahead of the curve?”

“Social media should be used to create awareness, build thought leadership and inform your prospect but it shouldn’t be applied when actually selling to your prospects. I would actually argue that sales people don’t outsell their peers using social media, but, on a level playing field, they out-prospect them, they out-perform them on their pre-call intelligence.” by Monika D’Agostino

streetsmartprof‘s insight:

I like how Monika builds on the Forbes article and uses practical experience to drill into the why and how around social selling. Aligning the need to use consultative sales skills with social selling and to use the right tools, skills and capabilities at the right time.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markfidelman/2013/05/19/study-78-of-salespeople-using-social-media-outsell-their-peers/

In Monica’s words, social selling is more about business development, not about the sale. As buyers, we are always looking for competent people when we have questions. And definitely not those who simply want to take over the conversation. How we act on social sites needs to present our consultative skills, not a “know it all” attitude.

Social media is also a great place to pick up on your industry to listen in on the general needs of today. Various tools are available, such as www.socialmention.com, which allow you to setup saved searches specific to your keywords, sources, and industry needs. Crossing all of the main social sites and allowing you to configure which ones you want to monitor.

It is apparent few companies are actually training their sales people how to use social media to help improve the customer experience. Leaving them up to their own to learn how to use the new social tools being deployed. The good news, many of the tools are easy to learn and are low cost or free to use.

See on www.business2community.com

How to Build Your Personal Brand for Career Growth

by Ken Jondahl

“In today’s complex and highly competitive marketplace, it is more important than ever to take the reins of your career.”

“Your “brand” is you, it’s your way of telling the world what you stand for, your values, your expertise and why should people care.”

“Developing and maintaining your personal brand will allow you to not be trapped into thinking you can only be or do one thing.” by Megan Marrs

streetsmartprof‘s insight:

If you are looking for the beginning around “how” to build your personal brand which matches your dream job. Read on. Megan does a great job describing where to start and how to think about the steps you need to use to build your brand. http://www.nwitimes.com/business/using-personal-brand-to-advance-your-career/article_b05adbc6-b467-528e-a12e-950b6ab44cc9.html

Most articles I find struggle with the building blocks around branding and where to begin. Granted, you want a clear picture of what it is you want to build. But putting all the pieces together is easier said than done.

As you read the article, think about your brand and your personal dream job. The two are in alignment providing you have a clear path of where you want to end up.

Odds are your best capabilities are some of the things you enjoy the most and can develop the fastest. These are part of who you are and can certainly help grow your career in the direction of your dream job.

See on www.nwitimes.com

Rise to the Top by Being Unique in the Job Search

by Ken Jondahl

“Who are you?”

“It’s what most hiring decision-makers want to know when screening resumes or planning an interview.”

“The question seems reasonable, even obvious, but during a job search, it’s easy to overlook.”

“The answer to this question is what sets you apart from candidates who could have the same credentials and background. These are your soft skills.” by Kim Thompson

streetsmartprof‘s insight:

With north of 50% of companies using software to screen resumes, keywords to even land on a hiring managers desk are critical.

Good news, you get this far based on a resume with the right keywords. Now what? Why would a hiring manager stop and read, not scan, your resume?

In a group of job seekers when Kim asked to describe yourself, their words were: “a loyal worker, team player, dedicated, good ethics, trustworthy and dependable”.

It is not easy, but some way, some how, you need to descibe in concise words “why” you are these words and “how” you demonstrate these soft skills.

A great Ted Video around “why” is by Simon Sinek, may provide you with some ideas. Granted it is around companies “why”, but you are your own marketing department when it comes down to getting a job. http://youtu.be/qp0HIF3SfI4

The answers to your “why” will recide in your life lessons both on and off the job. Think about major projects and/or accomplishments in your life. Use these to demonstrate why you are unique. Both in your resume and at job interviews.

See on blog.sfgate.com

Job Seekers: How LinkedIn’s New Search Capabilities Can Help You

by Ken Jondahl

“Since it’s such a popular feature, LinkedIn users demanded a better search experience.”

“The good news is this new search makes it easier for recruiters to find you but ONLY if you’ve written your profile correctly.”

“Here are three ways to leverage LinkedIn’s new search approach.” by Joshua Waldman

streetsmartprof‘s insight:

Trying to figure out which keywords to use in your profile can be a guessing game. One way to help is to use the auto complete suggestions as you type words into the new searches. See point #2 in the article for how, auto complete for keyword research.

LinkedIn is moving the way of most valid search engines. Learning as you search and as your network grows. This implies it is a good idea to hit the save button for searches which provide you with value.

Such as how do you rank for certain keywords. Save the searches to see if your profile is making progress. SEO is not only about your blog.

If you want a quick word cloud to see how the search engine looks at your keywords, go here. Quick cut/copy/paste of your profile can build a complete word cloud of key words in seconds. http://tagcrowd.com/

One you have the right keywords for your dream job. Jump to the new jobs section. It will help you quickly review open positions in companies from your network.

From LinkedIn beginner to expert, the article has numerous solid ideas of how to build better searches to save you time while casting a bigger net during the job hunt.

See on careerenlightenment.com