Job Hunting Frustrations Consider Becoming The Rag Man - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Job Hunting Frustrations Consider Becoming The Rag Man - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career As a job hunter today you can expect to encounter many frustrations during the job search. Perhaps one of the more frustrating situations concerns the question of why you never get any kind of response from a company or hiring manager you have so diligently pursued using   a number of key contact methods in a well-designed, well-thought-out “touch” plan, e.g., follow-up emails, direct mail, voice mail messages, etc. There could of course be any number of reasons why you received no response. Maybe you just weren’t on the “top 100” things the hiring manager had to do on any given day.  Maybe your information was of no further interest to the hiring manager and it was simply discarded. But maybeâ€"just maybe!â€"the hiring manager did have some further interest in you and merely set aside your information, to follow up on later, and simply hasn’t gotten around to it yet. If you have any reason to suppose that this last reason is perhaps why you have received no response, and if you genuinely want to continue to pursue a position with a particular hiring manager or company, then maybe you should seriously consider beginning to brand yourself as “The Rag Man.” The what? you are probably saying! With due apologies to the women reading this blog, and with no intention whatsoever of being perceived as chauvinistic or sexist, let me explain who “The Rag Man” was (and still is!). Back in the Wild West of the 1800s, pioneers got most of their news from a person everyone referred to simply as “The Rag Man.” Because it was so painful for the family when someone in the family died, it was The Rag Man’s job to come by and clean out the deceased’s personal effectsâ€"clothing, jewelry, whateverâ€"and take them away. The Rag Man then traveled from town to town, village to village, either in a horse-drawn cart or using a push-cart. At each stop along the way, upon his arrival, he would shout, “Rags for sale, rags for sale. Come and get your rags!” People flocked to greet The Rag Man at every stop, but it wasn’t because they were just interested in the “rags” he was selling. Rather, the people actually were eager to hear the latest “news”â€"any “stories”â€"that The Rag Man may have learned or picked up along his route. The contemporary equivalent of The Rag Man is the professional  to whom others in his/her official or unofficial network consistently and regularly turn to learn what’s going on  in a particular industry or in specific companies within that industry, etc. The term which probably best fits today’s “Rag Man” (who obviously could also be referred to as “Rag Woman”) is “center of influence.” Regardless of which term is used,  the job hunter who brands himself/herself as someone who isâ€"if not the expertâ€"an expert in any given field or professional specialty can have considerable impact on and wield significant influence with prospective employers. Indeed, the job hunter who is branded as a “center of influence” can capitalize on this perception to “re-touch” hiring managers or companies when no response has been received from initial efforts. Suppose, for example, that you run across an interesting article either about a particular company  you are pursuing or the industry in which it operates. You could email that article to the hiring manager with appropriate comments. (Since a lot of companies today will not open emails with attachments because of the threat  of computer viruses, you would be better advised to “paste” the text of the article within the body of your email.) That will show the hiring manager, among other things, that you are actively engaged in and dedicated to keeping up with important, ongoing developments within the company/industry. Or, if you write a blog, and the content is appropriate and   relevant, make sure the hiring manager you are actively pursuing has easy access to it. The point is, make sure you institute consistent, meaningful and relevant contactâ€"“re-touches”â€"with any hiring manager you want to pursue. (As an aside, research shows that it takes, on average, at least SEVEN “touches” before you will be able to break through the “clutter” and noise surrounding most people, including hiring managers, of course, and get their attention. So don’t give up after a couple of contacts! With today’s harried, frazzled, overworked hiring managers, it’s quite likely to take far more than seven “touches,” too!) If you feel you are qualified and able, you might also want to consider setting up and conducting appropriate professional seminars. These seminars don’t have to be spectacular,  costly productions either. They can perhaps be set up and coordinated with existing local professional or civic organizations, thereby being essentially free to both you and the participants. Certainly you will want to joinâ€"and become and stay actively engaged inâ€"appropriate LinkeIn groups. And, if you have the talent, write and submit professional   articles to professional publications or online forums. (These communication outlets, while most do not offer compensation to contributors, are constantly seeking fresh, informative material from people branded as “experts” in the field.) Obviously, the opportunities to be branded (perceived) as an “expert” who is totally engaged in your profession are limited only by your imagination, degree of commitment and  willingness to explore them. One thing is certain, though, a hiring manager will quite likely view you as somewhat more than just an “average” candidate if you do become engaged in such activities, if you do indeed brand yourself as The Rag Man (or Woman). You will be viewed as someone who thinks strategically about his or her profession, about the relevant industry, someone who is action-oriented, not just another candidate who is “looking for a job.” Author: Skip Freeman is the author of “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets: The Rules of the Hiring Game Have Changed . . . Forever! and is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The HTW Group (Hire to Win), an Atlanta, GA, Metropolitan Area Executive Search Firm. Specializing in the placement of sales, engineering, manufacturing and RD professionals, he has developed powerful techniques that help companies hire the best and help the best get hired.

A Resume Writing Service in Lansing

A Resume Writing Service in LansingA resume writing service in Lansing Michigan will be a great help to you. This job is one of the best things for you to do because it will be easier for you to get better job positions. You have to know that most companies need a professional to write the resumes of the applicants that they are going to hire.The fact that you are in need of a resume service in Lansing Michigan is a good thing. It will help you get yourself qualified for the openings you want to get. You must know that the resume writing is not an easy job and it can take a lot of time for you to write your own resume but if you are good at writing, then you will be able to do it.You will also be able to find out how to get a resume writing service in Lansing. You just have to look for the service providers that are available in this city. The best way to go about finding one is to search online for the internet. There are a lot of such companies that are located in this city.The ser vice providers in this area will be more than happy to take your resume and get you a job. You should first decide on how you will be going to be getting your resume written. Once you know what you are going to do, you can start your search for the best service provider in Lansing.The most important part of a resume is the content. In order to find the best service provider, you have to find a company that has a good resume writing skills. The content of your resume is important and you have to be able to find something that matches the requirements of the employers. You should not worry about getting your resume written by an experienced writer because the company that you will hire will be able to write your resume.The internet is the best source where you can find these types of service providers. The service providers are going to be posting their jobs in various websites so you can get the job as soon as possible. You can make use of the right keywords that are related to the j ob openings you want to get. This is the first step you need to take in order to get your resume written and for you to get the job you want.If you think that it will be difficult for you to get a resume written by a professional writer then you should get yourself a service provider that has a good writing skill. You should try to find one that has a lot of experience and who has written a lot of resumes. This will be beneficial for you because the writer can tell you the best ways to improve your resume. They can also give you some tips on how to make your resume stand out from the rest.The best thing you can do if you want to get a resume written by a professional is to find a service provider in Lansing. You can easily do this by doing a search online. You will be able to find all the information you need about the service providers that are located in this city.

6 Highest-Paying Most In-Demand Digital Marketing Skills CareerMetis.com

6 Highest-Paying Most In-Demand Digital Marketing Skills You must have heard a lot of times that Digital marketing has huge scope and higher salaries. But have you ever wondered, if it’s true or not?The information is correct indeed. The digital marketing domain is flourishing these days and will have immense demand in the coming future as well.evalThose who are planning to make a career in the digital marketingfield are certainly going to have the most profitable career as highest-paying jobs are coming up for you.Along with the great salary packages, the field gives you the opportunity to work freely from anywhere across the globe.You just need a laptop or a computer system and a good internet connection to initiate your career as a digital marketer. There is really no end to what you can earn and what you can achieve as a digital marketer.You can connect with millions of people across the globe through social media platforms in a matter of seconds.And this makes Digital marketing highly demanded skills in the Indian job market. Every business regardless of shapes and sizes have started investing in digital marketing to promote their products and services.I saw a lot of questions on what are the highly demanded Digital Marketing job profiles or what are the trendiest skills in the current job market?Actually, digital marketing is a vast domain. And certainly, we can’t master every aspect of it. Thankfully, there are a lot of sub-skills to master. And you can pick the field in which you want to learn in deep.evalThere are a lot of jobs in digital marketing for you. And here we have shared the 6 highly demanded Digital Marketing skills:1) Search Engine Optimization- SEOYou will not be surprised seeing SEO skills at the top of the list. Some people think that SEO is dead, but there is no truth in this fact.SEO is still important for your business. However, SEO is much more than just ranking up your website on search results for a particular search query.SEO has changed a lot with time. Due to the continuous update s in the search algorithm, SEO techniques are evolving.evalNow Marketers have realized the importance of white hat SEO practices such as Content promotion, guest posting.All these major changes in the SEO world inspire businesses to hire a dedicated team for handling their website SEO effectively.Now it becomes necessary for businesses to have an SEO team as they don’t want to lose their organic customers. They need SEO experts who know the importance of providing value to the customers, and able to keep up with the changing SEO world.You can learn SEO for a high-paying job role in the digital marketing domain. However, you should know that SEO is not easy and requires patience and regular effort.Here are the most in-demand jobs in SEO:1) SEO Trainee /Junior SEO Executive2) SEO Executive/ SEO Analyst3)Sr. SEO Executive/ Sr. SEO Consultant/ Sr. SEO Analyst4) SEO Team Lead/ SEO Manager/ 5) Online Marketing Specialist/ Web Marketing Manager/Average Salary Range:The average salary for an SEO Specialist is $45,223. â€"Payscaleeval2) Pay Per Click- PPCAlong with SEO, PPC skills are highly demanded in the Digital Marketing sphere.Businesses have started investing in Paid Advertisement to produce greater revenues. But the major issue is that they don’t have enough knowledge to allocate the budget, to design a proper Ad for generating revenue from paid ads.And that’s the reason they want PPC specialists for their business. The main goal of a PPC expert is to design engaging ad campaigns and to ensure top rankings in paid search results.evalThis may sound easy to you but in reality, it’s a tough task.For the PPC ad specialist role you should have a strong understanding of Google Analytics and Google AdWords.You should have the capability to generate paid campaigns that can provide measurable outcomes to your customers.PPC is complicated and requires investment with high risk. And that’s the reason it’s one of the highest paying profiles in Digital marketing. You should know how to drive targeted traffic at the possible lowest cost.Here are the most in-demand jobs in PPC:PPC ExecutiveSenior Executive- PPCPPC Manager/ Campaign ManagerPPC Expert/Specialist/ SEM ExpertAverage Salary Range: The average salary for a Pay-Per-Click Currently, Digital marketing is one of the best fields to start your career. If you achieve mastery in the digital sphere, then there is no limit to grow, learn and achieve big.So, go ahead and learn as much as you can!

Best damn newsletter around - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Best damn newsletter around - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog You can make co-workers and employees happy at work but you can also try to make customers a little happier. And dont you think that will keep them coming back? Zopa is a new kind of bank that lets you lend money to or borrow directly from other people. Thats cool but its not the only reason I admire them. I also admire them for their funny, irreverent, different newsletters like this one: We try to be completely open with our members, but chances are there are still some things you dont know about us yet. So rather than leaving you in the dark, we thought wed fill you in on 10 things you might not know about Zopa: Lenders earn 3.25% interest from the minute we receive their money until the moment it gets lent out You can lend as little as ?10 so its really easy to dip your toe in the water and see what its like Rather unfortunately, in Russian Zopa means bottom Lenders are protected against fraud so if a borrower borrows fraudulently and then defaults, or if someone hacks into your account, then you wont lose out The Zopa Member Services Team is on hand 7 days a week, and is only ever an email away (contactus@zopa.com) People from the north tend to pronounce Zopa to rhyme with hopper, people from the south, to rhyme with hoper You can transfer money into Zopa using your debit card ring 0207 636 7712 during office hours (Monday to Friday, 10am 6pm) Our bad debt levels currently stand at less than 0.05% across all markets By offering in many markets at once, your money will get lent out quicker and so will work a lot harder for you There is no official Zopa handshake. Yet. This is a great way to make you customers a little happier and its great branding that helps underscore the fact that Zopa is not a traditional bank. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Should you include volunteer work on your resume -

Should you include volunteer work on your resume - Looking for a job? Theres no question volunteering helps you expand your network, and networking is always key for job seekers. Volunteering may help you get a job, but the question of whether or not to include volunteer work on your resume is a common one, especially for people whose best and most relevant experience for the job is unpaid work. In the February, 2012 issue of Real Simple magazine (page 100), Laura Vanderkam, author of  All The Money In The World (Portfolio, March 1, 2012) wrote an article, How volunteering helps you land a job. The following (in bold) are the points she highlighted, the commentary is my own: List specific skill-building volunteer activities on your resume. It is so important to tie your volunteer activities to specific skills you will need for your target jobs. The article reminds job seekers to focus on quantifiable accomplishments. For example, Raised $100,000 dollars, an increase of 25%, even in depressed economic environment. Of course, if you only volunteer once a year, or dont do any work related to your relevant skill set, you should not highlight it on your resume. (For example, if you once walked in a fund-raising event, it isnt important enough to list.) Dont include work that might be considered polarizing. On one hand, its important to identify an organization and employers who will value you and where youll be comfortable. However, unless your political or religious beliefs are the most important factor for you in identifying an organization, you may want to avoid highlighting involvement in highly political or religious organizations on your resume. Vanderkams article notes, Picking one candidate over another because of such factors is illegal in many cases, but it still happens. My best advice? Make a conscious choice about listing these types of volunteer activities. Ideally, you will apply to organizations that will value and appreciate your efforts, but dont be surprised if someone does not. Let the volunteer work speak for itself dont bring it up at the interview. Id add that it is okay to bring it up if it relates to a story about a success or accomplishment directly related to the job. Otherwise, it cannot hurt to wait until the employer asks about the experience. Additionally, if the employer is known to value volunteer work, its a good idea to make it known you volunteer regularly. Dont emphasize volunteering that directly related to being a parent. Lauras article notes, Researchers have found that women who cite volunteering related to motherhood on a resume for example, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) work are less likely to be called back for interviews than are those who list a neighborhood group. She shared a few details with me about the study, noting, The research was done by Shelley Correll, now at Stanford. Her team created fake resumes that were identical for two women, except one mentioned a volunteering stint at the PTA, and another a volunteering stint with a neighborhood association. The PTA woman fared much less well in terms of being called back. (You can read a bit more about this study.) Based on this information, the key would be to list such experience only if its highly related the   job that youre seeking. For example, if you are applying to work at a school, and you have strong PTA ties, it should be helpful. Keep in mind, bias exists at every turn, so be very mindful of your choices when you decide what to include in your resume. Its important to remember, your resume must highlight how and why you are well qualified for the job. My advice is to use the best examples you have to prove you are a good fit. If that means a resume centered around volunteer work, so be it! photo by gcaptain.com

Tips On How To Write Your Resume

Tips On How To Write Your ResumeIf you are searching for a way to boost your chances of getting the job you want in today's economy, then you are probably doing so because you need help with your resume writing. This is probably because there is no one else available to do it for you, which makes this something that everyone has to do on their own. In fact, it can be difficult to take a look at other people's resumes because they are usually better than yours. You are going to have to find some tips on how to write your own, but do not worry, as long as you do not make any mistakes, then you should be fine.Your resume has to go beyond just telling what you do for a living. You have to tell people what you do and how much you have to offer to them. There are going to be certain things you want to emphasize to them, such as: a position that requires great writing ability; a position that requires excellent leadership skills; or something along those lines. Basically, you have to put a strong reason why you deserve the job you are applying for. By including this information, it will be easy for your resume to stand out and get the attention that you are looking for.So how do you go about writing your resume? Well, the first thing you should do is to determine the type of position you are applying for. This is a great place to start since the easiest way to write a resume is to narrow down your job search into just one job.For example, if you are applying for a position in sales, then you can just start off by listing all the job you have held in the past. Then, you can add your job history at your current position. You will probably want to think about taking a few minutes to review your resumes for each of these. Just be sure that you are writing them based on what you are applying for and not on what you already know.When you have finished writing your resume, you may want to recommend using bullet points. This will allow you to easily glance at your resume and quickly tell if you like what you see. You can also include a section for your references and verify their email addresses in order to provide them with the information that they need. In order to use these tips, you will have to begin by researching the job you are applying for, which means you may want to make a copy of your resume before you begin.The next step you should take in order to finish up your resume is to check it over again to make sure that it is clear and concise. After that, you should be able to tell if you wrote it the right way. If you are not 100% happy with your resume, then you will want to look at it a second time and change anything that you feel will make it more effective. Once you have completed that, you should now be ready to submit it to an employment agency. This is the point where you will need to get feedback from them so that you can make sure that your resume has what it needs to be effective.So, do not fret if you are still having trouble writin g your resume. In fact, it is perfectly okay since you have been successful in your own job search so far. Just remember that if you do get rejected or your application is turned down, you have the option of changing your resume and get it read.

11 Cool Perks Amazon Is Offering Its Newest Employees

11 Cool Perks Amazon Is Offering Its Newest Employees Amazon is on the prowl for its second headquarters â€" and cities across the US and Canada are duking it out to see who’ll win the bidding war. Business Insider reported that Newark, New Jersey, offered Amazon $7 billion in tax incentives to sweeten the deal. Newark is already the home base of Audible, one of Amazon’s acquisitions. The audio-program company has recently posted several new jobs listings, many of which include several “fun and meaningful perks.” Here’s a look at some of the perks Amazon’s Audible will offer employees. Breakfast and a juice bar on Mondays Geri Lavrovâ€"Getty Images Daily catered lunch MaximShebekoâ€"Getty Images/iStockphoto Happy hours on Fridays Kiyoshi Hijikiâ€"Getty Images Free snacks Westend61â€"Getty Images/Westend61 A free on-site gym and a 25% fitness-cost reimbursement Dave and Les Jacobsâ€"Getty Images/Blend Images Sports clubs, including basketball, hockey, soccer, volleyball, and softball, among others David Drayton / EyeEmâ€"Getty Images/EyeEm Transit reimbursement Photography taken by Mario Gutiérrez.â€"Getty Images Tuition assistance PeopleImagesâ€"Getty Images An annual Amazon discount LOIC VENANCEâ€"AFP/Getty Images A shuttle service Esra Caraan / EyeEmâ€"Getty Images/EyeEm Paid parking Gail Shotlanderâ€"Getty Images This article originally appeared in Business Insider.