Top 5 Reasons to Volunteer While Unemployed

Most people try to find full-time work after becoming unemployed. However, a job search can be a lengthy process which leaves many in a rut emotionally, physically, and professionally. A different approach involves finding a volunteer job. True, you won’t get paid. But there are many benefits to taking a volunteer opportunity while you’re looking for that full-time paid job.

Here are our Top 5 Reasons to Volunteer while Unemployed:

1. It’s fulfilling. Giving back to your community allows you to connect with those around you who are in need and work for a cause that you care about. Writing a donation check might not be an option right now, but you can still give your time.

2. Maintain camaraderie & stay active. Many people who find themselves with an extended “time off” miss getting out and interacting with a team. Volunteering gives you a place to go on a regular basis where you can work with others for a common cause.

3. Building skills or maintaining current ones. Volunteering can be a great way to learn new skills or maintain current skills if the opportunity is suited to your experience. Non-profits and other organizations that provide volunteer opportunities are often willing to train those who give their time. Picking up new skills will make you a more valuable employee.

Reasons 4,5, and the complete SimplyHired article

Recent Grad Finds Job Through Her Dad's LinkedIn Account

Deborah L. Jacobs

Rachel Abady always knew she wanted a career that involves writing and video and says she was “absolutely determined to get it.” But in the autumn of 2011, while she was in her senior year at Barnard College, she felt like she was competing against all her classmates for the same limited pool of online job postings on NACElink – a web site that connects colleges and employers. When she went home to Westchester for Thanksgiving and told her parents about her dilemma, her father suggested she try LinkedIn.


“Why would I want to do that?” she asked. “I’m not 50 years old.” An avid user of social media, most notably Facebook and Instagram, Abady, now 23, thought of LinkedIn as something that her father Samuel, a lawyer, uses to keep in touch with former colleagues and college buddies.

Today she laughs at the irony, since she found her current job, as an associate video programming manager at AOL, through LinkedIn. But it was not her own account – it was her father’s. She now describes herself as “a huge proponent” of the site.

LinkedIn won’t provide demographics, but their career expert, Nicole Williams, says it skews toward older workers, who appreciate what social media can do for their professional lives, and might be less inclined to use sites like Facebook and Twitter, which they consider entertainment. (For her advice to older workers, see my post “What To Say On LinkedIn When You’re 50+.”)


I met Abady in April when we were both on a panel about women in journalism sponsored by Barnard, which is also my alma mater. During the program Victoria Passarella, the school’s associate director for student and alumnae career education, urged students to set up a LinkedIn account – something that seemed unfamiliar to most of the audience members. Abady’s story of how she found her job gave them compelling reasons to do that.

Find out the "HOW" and the complete Forbes article

6 Mobile Apps Tailor-made for Millennial Job Seekers

Millennial job seekers are on the go and don’t have time to sit at a desktop computer filling out job applications.

Besides, applying for jobs from your mobile device just seems more natural, right? Well, now all of your job search needs can be met directly through your smartphone or tablet.

If you’re looking for some ways to improve your job search, here are six mobile apps designed for the Millennial job seeker:

SnapDat

Business cards are one of the most important networking tools. SnapDat allows you to create a business card with your mobile device and share it with people with whom you’d like to connect. Because of this app, you no longer have to worry about carrying a stack of business cards in your wallet or purse.

Resume Review Pro

Does your resume have what it takes to land you the interview? With Resume Review Pro, you can learn the secrets of what makes a killer resume and how to prevent common errors job seekers make.

Job Search

Take your search on the go with Job Search by Indeed.com. This is a great way for Millennial job seekers to search and apply for jobs, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. It’s simple and fast, and you can also save or email your favorite job postings.

Apps 4-6 and the complete article

10 Tips For Finding Your Perfect Job Fast With LinkedIn

A recent survey of human resources professionals revealed that over 90% of in-house recruiters hired people from LinkedIn. Is it any wonder then that LinkedIn is now the go-to site for job seekers looking for their next great career? For many people, however, LinkedIn is confusing.

So, here are my 10 best tips that I share with my LinkedIn coaching clients to get you on your way.

1. Optimize Your Profile

What kind of job do you want? Whatever you are seeking, make sure you put those keywords in your profile. Think about it…how does a hiring manager search for candidates? He puts in the job title he is looking for into the search box. So, make sure you have your desired job title in many places on your profile so you come up high in LinkedIn searches.

2. Use A Professional Photo

I’ve worked with many job candidates looking for executive positions who have a casual photo on their profile. To me, that is a big fail! Save those shots for Facebook. LinkedIn is a professional networking site and you want to look your best. Dress according to how much you want to get paid. If you understand this, then get a professional headshot down at your local photographer studio. A pleasant smile will also go a long way. No one wants to hire a sourpuss.

3. Fill Out Your Profile 100%

By completing your profile, you are 40 times more likely to come up in LinkedIn searches. Besides that, it shows that you are taking LinkedIn and your job search seriously. LinkedIn has prompts that show you how you are doing and what you need to do to get to 100%.

4. Grow Your Network

I can hear you saying, “But I don’t want to connect with people I don’t know!” Sorry Charlie. If that is your mantra, LinkedIn will become virtually useless to you. Most job seekers come to me with about 100 connections. That means you’ll have a network of about a quarter million, and just a fraction of the 200 million people can see your profile. Do you really want a new job? Start connecting with everyone and anyone.

Tips 6-10 and he complete Careerealim article

5 Tips to Writing a Compelling LinkedIn Summary

A compelling LinkedIn summary has the potential to really set your LinkedIn profile apart from your competition. Recently I have been spending a lot more time on LinkedIn, and I really like how they have stepped up to the plate and offered a great B2B social networking platform. That being said, I'm seeing a lot more marketing mistakes made by LinkedIn users than any other social networking website, starting with the "summary" or the biography you are allowed to write about yourself.

5 tips to writing a good LinkedIn Summary:

1. Write From the 1st Person - The biggest mistake I've seen is someone writing a company biography, rather than an actual self written, down-to-earth summary about themselves.

Keep in mind, your LinkedIn profile is promoting YOU as a profession, and your LinkedIn summary should be written as such.

2. Have a Format - A successful LinkedIn summary follows a very basic, three part format

First, introduce yourself and talk about who you are. Make people see you as an interesting person, not a faceless company. Talk about how you came to where you are today.

Secondly, talk about who THEY are, meaning who do you help? Write a description of who your target client is (subtly it key here).

Finally, finish by talking about what you offer. Don't give away everything here, just talk about what you mainly do, and how people can benefit from it. Finish off with a couple of forms of contact (like a phone number and email address) people can reach you on.

3. Multiple Businesses? Have a Different Structure - If you are involved in multiple things, use the same method as above but separate your businesses when you get to step two and three. A very basic, paragraph style layout is clutch.

Tips 4,5, and the complete article

Jerry Nihen is a Social Networking Consultant that has worked a wide variety of businesses and individuals that have launched successful social media strategies and campaigns.

How I Hire: The 5 People You Should Never Hire

Posted by:

Sam Shank

HotelTonight, like many startups I talk to these days, is cursed/blessed with a wealth of riches in the form of resumes and job candidates. We’re fortunate enough to get a lot of interest in the roles we post, but the sheer number of responses we get means we need to be efficient about the way we approach the hiring process.

One way my team and I streamline the process is by going into it with a clear list of dealbreakers. Stay away from hiring:

The One Who Hasn’t Used Your Product
A few years back, when HotelTonight was just getting off the ground, I had an interview in San Mateo for one of our first Market Managers. One of my first questions was about what she thought of the app. Her response: To be honest, I haven’t had time to download it yet. She had time to trek down to the Peninsula for the interview, but didn’t have a few seconds to download the app, do her research and demonstrate her interest in the product and company? I continued the interview, but in retrospect, I should have ended it right then and saved both of us time.

Getting the company name wrong, not downloading their app or checking out their website, not thoroughly researching what a company does – you’d think getting these things right would go without saying, but they come up more often than you’d expect, and demonstrate a lack of attention to detail, passion for the product and industry and, frankly, respect for the company and interviewer.

The One With the Typo
Speaking of attention to detail, typos are another non-starter. Our team has received many a resume expressing a candidate’s enthusiasm for a role at “HotelTonihgt” or emphasizing their “editorail skills” (really). First impressions matter, and it’s worth taking the time (and getting a second set of eyes to look over your resume, cover letter and LinkedIn page) to make a good one.

The One With the Out-of-Date LinkedIn Profile
In many industries, but in particular the tech world, having an out-of-date LinkedIn profile just doesn’t make sense. Sharing your resume via email is great, but having a clean, updated and professional public profile is essential. Having an updated LinkedIn profile says that you value personal brand management, understand current hiring trends and are upfront about your career history. Take the time to clean yours up, get recommendations from colleagues (and write them in return!) and make yourself look enticing to potential employers. You never know who might discover you that way. 

Ways 4,5, and the complete LinkedIn post

5 Tips on How to Grow Your Brand on LinkedIn

Francis Rey Balolong

In the small business industry and free enterprise, the demarcation line between corporate and personal branding is nonexistent at times.

Accomplishment and triumph mean continually exhausting personal networks to reach new customers, partners, and talents for the company.

Meanwhile, you keep on handling the online presence of the company to establish a clear, reliable identity for the brand.

People nowadays search for your company through its LinkedIn profile and the user profiles of your team members.

In reality, the notions of brand and identity are entwined, and to deal with that dual identity is quite a challenge, but when done properly and well, this bond can provide opportunities for breakthroughs.

To have a good grasp on how small businesses find success in this area, here are tips on how to use LinkedIn to grow your brand:

1. Link LinkedIn to your official website and online accounts to increase presence. 

There are numerous methods for prospective customers to look for your company, such as the official website, Facebook, Twitter, and so on, but these people may not always be acquainted with the direction or path they should follow.

Link all of your online presence to open more doors to the right customers, so they may successfully find your brand.

2. Encourage the team to be active on LinkedIn. 

Activate the combined network of the company by encouraging your employees, apart from the marketing department, to get involved with the LinkedIn Company Page.

Besides the increase in visibility to prospective hires and new customers, it will start an ethos wherein your employees continually engage or interact with the brand and contribute to a unified goal.

The initiative may start with a colleague or associate adding the company to his or her profile to make sure he or she has an up-to-date and convincing profile, or sharing the updates of the company’s LinkedIn page to his or her network.

3. Take advantage of existing content streams. 

Use successful and popular posts on other social networks to build a good content stream on your LinkedIn company page and user profile.

For example, use Twitter history to select, organize, and present relevant content to your LinkedIn presence and identity.

Tips 4,5, and the complete article

5 Defining Moments of Every Job Interview

In every job interview, there are five “make-it-or-break-it” moments that send the candidate onto the next round of interviews, possibly even a job offer, or to the discard pile.

Of course, there are highly important aspects before (research) and after (effective follow up) the interview. For the purpose of this discussion, however, we’ll focus exclusively on winning your initial interview with each employer.


Without further delay, here are the five defining moments of every job interview…

3. The Value Proposition
Now that you’ve moved the recruiter to conversational mode, it’s time to rise above most of your competition. How? By clearly working your unique value proposition into the conversation!


Your value proposition is what makes you the most hirable candidate for the position. Maybe it is your experience, passion, your entrepreneurial outlook, knowledge of the competition or ability to lead teams. More than likely, it’s a combination of all of the above, and more. Articulating why you are the right person for the job makes the recruiter’s decision – and job – that much easier while leaving no doubt you have the confidence to step right into the role.

4. The Questions
At some point, the recruiter is going to ask: “Do you have any questions of me?” – and you better be ready.

Saying “no” implies you aren’t interested. Saying “Not at this time, we covered everything” shows you haven’t done your homework. Asking questions easily found online demonstrates a lack of passion and creativity. Inquiring about the exact compensation and benefits may indicate you are worried mostly about you.

At this critical point in the interview, you should ask three types of questions, in no particular order:

1. A question about the recruiter’s personal experience with the company (“What do you enjoy about working for this company and our industry?”)
2. A question specific to the job or project (“In my first 60 days in this role, how would we measure my success as a (insert job title)? How can I make the most impact?”
3.  A question about the company and its future (“I see your competition, ABC Company, has rolled out a new product line; short-term, how will we contend with their launch?)

Please note the use of “us” and “we” in the questions – and the lack of “I” and “me”.

Moments 1,2,5, and the complete article

10 Answers To Frequently Asked Job Search Questions

During the job search, there are lots of questions every job seeker comes across. How long should my resume and cover letter be? How long should I wait before following up? Not all of these questions need an entire article to answer, but they all deserve some attention. This is your chance to the answers to all of the questions you’ve been pondering during your job search.

Here are the answers to 10 frequently asked questions about the job search:

FAQ #1. How long should I make my cover letter and/or resume?
Your cover letter should be no more than one page in length. It should explain who you are and why you’re the best candidate for the job. It needs to be very concise, yet keep the hiring manager wanting to learn more. If you go any longer than a page, the person reading it will get bored.

Your resume should also be limited to one page, especially if you’ve been in the workforce for a short amount of time. Hiring managers spend only 6 seconds looking through your resume, so it’s important to keep it to one page filled with strong keywords to stand out.


FAQ #2. What are the most important things to include in my resume?  
Some essential things to include in your resume are: your name, contact information, education history, work or internship experience, and related skills. All of these details should be tailored for each individual job application. Additionally, you can include professional organizations and special awards if you think they’re relevant.

FAQ #5. How long should I wait before following up?  
If you don’t hear back from an interviewer right away, don’t follow up again until after the interviewer’s deadline has passed. If the date passes and you still haven’t heard anything, send a brief follow-up to remind the interviewer about your qualifications and interest in the open job. After that first follow-up, you can follow-up again every 7-10 days up to two more times for a total of three follow-ups. If you still haven’t heard back, you should move on.

FAQ #6. Should I write a thank you letter by hand or in an email?  
This is a personal preference. Either works, but 89 percent of hiring managers are fine with an email note, and half of them actually prefer it. Just be sure to personalize the note. Remind your interviewer who you are, how much you want the job, and why you’re the best person for it.

All 10 Questions and Answers and the complete glassdoor article

10 Little Known LinkedIn Features That Can Make A Big Difference

by Wayne

I thought I would give you a vacation from deep strategic thinking and share with you a quick checklist of ten great LinkedIn features that you may not have discovered just yet. 2.  Download a list of your entire 1st degree network You can download into a spreadsheet (in either .CSV or .VCF format) a full list of your connections, including their name, current title, current company name, and email address. There are two ways to access this. If you have upgraded to LinkedIn Contacts (it’s free and I highly recommend it), go into your settings (top right) and click Export LinkedIn Connections. If you have not upgraded yet, go to your Contacts and on the bottom right 4.  Find other people with similar outside interests or organizations If you click a single word (Interest Section) or name of an organization (Organizations Section), you will then be sent to an Advanced People Search page showing you all the folks on LinkedIn who have that same interest or organization on their profile. You can further narrow your search by using any or all of the advanced searching filters. 6.  Reorder your recommendations Because only two  recommendations for each job or education entry are shown in the main part of your profile, you want to make sure they are your very best. In Edit Profile, go down to the Recommendation section and click the pencil. You’ll then see the up-down arrow that enables you to move the recommendations. You can only move them within that specific job section. You can’t move them to a different job section. See all 10 features and the complete article

The Stealth Job Search: How to Job Hunt Privately on LinkedIn

Lindsey Pollak

One of the benefits of being a LinkedIn member is the opportunity to create a public professional presence. Your profile is a great place to highlight your marketable skills and is your vehicle for getting found by recruiters and hiring managers all over the world.

But, what if you need your job search to stay confidential, perhaps because you are currently employed? Never fear! I’ve got you covered, and rest assured there are still many ways to attract attention, tap your network and connect with recruiters on LinkedIn while maintaining your privacy. Here’s how.

1. Hide your activity updates

One way to become more findable by recruiters is to add keywords and phrases to your LinkedIn profile that are relevant to the jobs you seek. However, frequent or abundant changes to your profile may indicate to others that you are considering making a move. To minimize the likelihood that your connections will notice your profile improvements, head over to your Privacy & Settings area, which you can find by clicking on your headshot in the top right corner of LinkedIn, and click on the “Turn on/off your activity broadcasts” link. Uncheck the box that pops up here so your connections will no longer receive updates about changes to your profile or other actions you take on LinkedIn, such as posting in a Group discussion.

While you are keeping your activity private, you can still have visibility to recruiters and networking contacts. One way to attract positive attention while keeping your job search private is to regularly update your status. Post interesting articles related to your industry if you are job hunting in your current field or, if you are are a career changer, post articles and updates about general topics such as leadership, communication or technology trends.

2. Remain private while viewing others’ profiles

Whether your job hunt is public or private, I recommend exploring the LinkedIn profiles of people you admire professionally. Looking at those individuals’ profiles can give you a sense of what experiences, skills and groups could be most valuable to your own career. If you find someone you particularly admire — ideally someone with no connection to your current employer — you might even reach out to that person through an InMail to express your admiration and ask if that person might be willing to share some career advice with you.

However, if you are viewing the profiles of people who know your employer, and you are concerned they will discover you’ve viewed their profiles often and connect back with your boss about it, you have options. In the same Privacy & Settings area, click on the “Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile” link. Here you can change the way you appear in others’ “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” area so that you will remain anonymous. Note: Unless you are a Job Seeker Premium subscriber, when you switch to an anonymous status you will no longer be able to track “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” and Profile Stats for yourself, so carefully consider this option and switch out of it as soon as your research is done.

Tips 3-5 and the complete blog post

21 Reasons Why You Didn't Get the Job

By Vicki Salemi | U.S.News & World Report LP

You aced it. Or at least you thought you did a stellar job during the job interview, but now that a month has come and gone, you're not so sure. You thought you would get at least a phone call a few days or even a week later regarding next steps, but now? Not so much. Insert crickets.

And now you have to face the music: You didn't get a shot at a final interview, let alone that coveted job offer. What went down? Let's look at various scenarios:

1. You talked too much/too little.

2. You appeared nervous and lacked confidence.

3. Your soft skills weren't so sharp.

4. Your technical skills weren't up to par...

5. Or they were too on point and you were deemed overqualified.

6. The hiring manager felt threatened by your sparkling skills and spot-on experience.

7. You were too vague and didn't illustrate examples when asked behavioral-based questions.

8. Not a cultural fit with the team and organization.


9. Too much of a fit - maybe you appeared overconfident.

Reasons 10 - 21 and the complete USNews article

6 Places to Keyword Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

By: Leslie Truex

Whether you’re looking for a job, searching for freelance clients or promoting a business, LinkedIn is an ideal place to start. Some people, myself included, have neglected LinkedIn for the more popular social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. But recently, I’ve started spending more time at LinkedIn and have been kicking myself for not recognizing it’s potential for reaching my market sooner.

LinkedIn offers something most other social networks don’t and that is room to create fleshed out profiles with a focus on building professional connections. But like other social networks, the number of connections can get unwieldy fairly quickly, making it difficult to find people unless you search them specifically. That means, if someone is looking to hire in your industry, he might miss you if he doesn’t know your name. Fortunately, employers can also search connections by industry and job, which means they can easily find you through a search if you’ve optimized your profile with keywords related to your job and industry.

Optimizing your LinkedIn profile starts with knowing the keywords potential employers and clients use to find people who do what you do. If you’re a freelance writer, then “freelance writer” is a keyword. But if you specialize, such as freelance copywriting or freelance web writer, then you want to use those words. If you’re stuck, use a keyword tool to help you find the popular words and phrases used by your market. Google has recently terminated its free tool, but you can try SEO Book Keyword tool, which requires registration, but is free.

Once you have a list of keywords and phrases, you want to use them in your profile on LinkedIn. Here are the best places to use your keywords.

1) Headline: The headline appears right after your name. Some people write a tagline, but you can get more mileage out of the space by using keyword descriptions. For example, “Freelance Copywriter, Direct Mail Expert, and Online Marketing Strategist.”

2) Summary: You get 2000 words to entice potential employers, clients and customers. It’s a lot of space, but don’t waste it with a list of your accomplishments. Instead, weave your keywords and phrases into a summary that shares your brand value and benefits.

3) Current Work Experience: Like a resume, your LinkedIn profile offers potential employers and clients the opportunity to see what you’re doing now. If possible, use your keywords in the headers and text areas of your work experience. Instead of just providing your current employer or client name, also include a keyword. For example, “Acme Business Co: Freelance Copywriter and Direct Sales Consultant”

Places 4-6 and the Personal Branding complete article

The Top 100 Websites For Your Career

Jacquelyn Smith

Last year we inaugurated our first-ever list of the best websites for your career. We took nominations from readers and combed through some 700 sites in order to compile our list of the top 75. This August we put out another call for nominations and got a flood of 2,000 comments, emails and tweets in response. Then we reviewed last year’s list and considered all of the new nominations. In the process we decided to expand our list to 100.

Our goal was to assemble a comprehensive guide to smart and engaging sites. We hope we’ve come up with a thorough list of online destinations for interns, job seekers, business owners, established professionals, retirees, and anyone else looking to launch, improve, advance, or change his or her career.

My colleague Susan Adams, who helped compiled the list, has written an accompanying post with her picks for the ten best sites from our list of 100. She reminds readers that while there are some great resources on the web, they shouldn’t spend too much time on the Internet scouring listings, reading career advice or blasting out their resume Especially for those in job search mode, it’s better to spend time researching companies, networking and meeting people face to face.

Our full list of the top 100 sites is not a ranking and there are no winners or losers; it’s rather a compilation of nominated sites that we believe deserve some special recognition. The list includes blogs, job boards, government sites, personal career coaching pages, and traditional media outlets’ career sites that could be useful to those conventional office jobs, Federal workers, work-from-home professionals, entrepreneurs, college students, retirees, and more.

Here are the Top 100 Career Websites of 2013 (in alphabetical order):


A Better Interview
A Better Interview was founded in 2012 by Marc DeBoer, who recognized a gap in the services provided by the major job searching and interview help sites. DeBoer believes that every job seeker deserves the chance to interview for his or her dream job—so through A Better Interview, he offers users the opportunity to speak live to a trained HR professional about interview skills, job searching methods, salary negotiation, tough interview questions, and background checks, among other things. The site also offers a job board currently featuring over 430,000 positions.

About.com/Careers 
About.com’s Jobs & Careers section offers a wealth of free information to job seekers and those looking to advance their careers, including articles about everything from how to get along with your boss to illegal job interview questions. About.com/Careers also links to other sites focused on specific careers like advertising or criminology that have articles on topics like copywriting or “a day in the life of a police officer.” Users can also read up on the history of various fields, find a list of schools where they can study for a particular degree, or peruse an article on the most popular jobs in a given field. The site links to job listings powered by Indeed.com. Job search and employment expert Alison Doyle has been About.com’s job search guide since 1998.

Absolutely Abby
AbsolutelyAbby.com is written by Abby Kohut, a recruiter who has hired over 10,000 people in her 18-year HR career, and who is now a motivational speaker that teaches secrets of the job search process that other recruiters simply won’t tell you. On the website, you will also find articles and radio and TV clips that include Kohut’s secrets. She offers advice in a motivational tone which is intended to inspire job seekers to take action and believe that they can have success.

Blogging4Jobs
Blogging4Jobs.com is an online workplace resource for managers, leaders, human resources, and recruiting professionals.  They take their audience to “uncomfortable, yet necessary,” places exposing them to the realities of the workplace without the “corporate sugar coating.”  The site was launched in 2007 with a goal of helping job seekers learn the unwritten rules of job searching.  The site has since expanded to offer insights into the world of work from a corporate and operations no-nonsense point of view.

Boredom to Boardroom
Boredom to Boardroom is a unique new site for young professionals who need help fast tracking their careers and/or finding amazing corporate jobs. The site offers readers real-life stories, honest no-holds-barred advice, and sneaky tips that HR departments probably prefer to keep to themselves. BoredomToBoardroom.com is run by Kari Reston, a gen Y-er who reached senior management level by the time she was 29, climbing the corporate ladder in London, Singapore, and New York.


Brazen Life
Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, Brazen Life offers edgy and fun ideas for navigating and succeeding in the changing world of work. Through the blog’s newsletter, readers also get exclusive access to online recruiting events and inside job opportunities hosted by Brazen’s partners.

See all 100 sites and the complete Forbes article

Five Pragmatic Things You Can Do to Make Sure Your Resume Gets Seen by Hiring Managers

By Martin Yate

3. Replace Job/Career Objective (no one cares what you want), with Performance Profile. Managers do performance reviews on all employees every year so the phrase has immediacy and relevance. Beneath the heading, address the heart of what you do in your professional work. Take the first four to five priorities from your TJD and turn them into short sentences running no more than five lines.

4. Core Competencies. Follow the Performance Profile with a Core Competency section. This contains all the words and phrases that were used in the job posting to describe your work (example: A/P, A/R, Quarterly P&L). List all the words and phrases that apply to you in columns; then repeat the words in the context of each of the jobs where they were applied, this way you get to use keywords that will be used by recruiters as search terms at least once and possibly two or three times; this will improve your database ranking. A hiring manager will read Core Competency section as headlines for all the skills you can talk about.

5. Together, a Target Job title, Target Job Deconstructions, Performance Profile, and Core Competency section pack all the information into the first half page of your resume, to improve its database performance and to tell any recruiter or hiring manager of your ability and suitability for the job. This opening to a resume tells any reader you can do the job and you "get" what is truly important.

Things 1,2, and the complete SimplyHired article

Martin Yate, CPC, author of Knock 'em Dead: Secrets & Strategies for Success in an Uncertain World, is a New York Times and international bestseller of 11 job search and career management books. For more information please visit http://www.knockemdead.com and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.

4 Essentials For Reaching Out To Strangers On LinkedIn

Last week, I received an info interview request from a total stranger as a direct message on LinkedIn. And despite my very busy schedule, I decided to take his call. Over the weekend, I asked myself, “Why did I agree?” 

Let’s take his e-mail apart and put it into four essential elements so you can use them in your own LinkedIn networking communications.

First, here’s the e-mail I got over LinkedIn from J.: 

Hi Joshua, I noticed we are both connected to M. F. – how do you know M.? I first met her at J.P., and she actually photographed my wedding. Small world.

I wanted to touch base with you because I saw an open position at J.R. I thought would be a great fit for me. I’m located in Portland now, and do social media strategy for a digital marketing agency here in town. 

It’s a fun role, but you know how agencies are – fingers in a lot of different businesses, but no ability to truly own a marketing program. It looks like I would be able to do that with the Marketing Communications Manager role that is posted. 

Would you mind if I called you some time this week to hear about your experience at J.R. and your perspective on the marketing organization there? I’d really appreciate it. 

1. Lead With Something In Common My interviewee, J., began his e-mail by pointing out our mutual friend M.F., and although I know M.F. from my sister’s college days, what really got my attention was M.F. was the photographer at her wedding. 

Now, with LinkedIn, there is a danger the first degree connection isn’t really a close friend. I went through an Open Networking phase and about 100 people in my LinkedIn network are complete strangers to me. 

So don’t assume just because they’re connected, they know each other. 

J. took a calculated risk. However, he mitigates that risk by further sharing a personal tid-bit…he’s married. And as another recently married guy, I can very much relate to his situation. (i.e. He has my sympathy.) 

2. Get To The Point – Fast J. wastes no time for BS or apologies. He’s writing to me because he saw an open position at a company I have a relationship with and thinks he’d be a fit. 

Notice he says, “I saw an open position.” He doesn’t assume I know anything about this position. In fact, it was news to me. And so I can infer he’s not assuming I’m any kind of decision maker. I know this is going to be a purely informational interview. 

Furthermore, he concludes the e-mail by re-affirming that he’s just looking to hear about my experience with J.R., the company and my perspective on their marketing organization. 

My guard goes down because I know he’s not going to put me on the spot or ask me for more than just my opinion.

Read essentials 3,4, and the complete Careerealism article

Author of Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies, Joshua is recognized as the authority for helping people find work using social media. His blog, Careerenlightenment.com, won the 2013 About.com Reader's Choice award for best career blog for original content.

Get Organized: 5 Tips for Getting the Most from LinkedIn

By Jill Duffy

I'm a huge fan of the overall service that LinkedInprovides and sincerely believe that all professional adults should set up an account on that social-professional network. That said, I don't spend a lot of on the site. Quite the contrary. A LinkedIn account can pretty much run itself—if you take a few steps to set it up that way.

With these five tips, you can trust that your LinkedIn account is doing its job for you, letting your name, skills, and expertise be known to everyone in your network, as well as new potential new connections who might be interested in finding people like you.

1. Use a Professional-Looking Headshot
One of the most important aspects of your LinkedIn account is the profile picture. You really have to have one. (That advice is true, really, of any online profile, whether it's a dating website or a business project management platform. You need an image, and ideally, it should be a headshot.

The headshot should be of your smiling face and a little bit of your shoulders. And it should look like you. We are often our own worst judges of our appearance, so ask your friends and colleagues their opinions in picking your best pic.

Depending on your career, you may be able to get more creative and expressive with your profile picture, but it depends on your field, level of experience, and reputation.

Sometimes there are complications, though. I once worked with a woman who could not use a headshot due to religious reasons in her country, and her creative workaround was to use the logo of the university where she worked, instead. Her solution worked well because she was still able to associate a professional "identity" with her name. The point is, a headshot is ideal, but there are other possible solutions, all of which are better than no picture, a picture of your cat, a picture of your kid—you get the idea.

I have a few other tips for updating your profile picture, including the fact that you should not update your picture more than once a year. You want to keep one image long enough to develop a strong association between your name and photo.

2. Think in Keywords
In filling out the text of your LinkedIn profile, think about the keywords people might enter into a search to find someone like you. For example, my actual job title is technically "software analyst," but what I really do is write. I think of myself as a writer. So my LinkedIn profile uses terms like "writer" and "tech writer."

Load up your profile with straightforward search terms—not a bunch of synonyms. If you're unsure of which words to use, look through the jobs section of LinkedIn to find ads for open positions that are similar to your own job. What keywords turn up there? Reuse the relevant words and phrases in your own profile.

3. Add Videos, Images, and Links
Your profile doesn't have to be all plain old text. Earlier this year, LinkedIn added a new multimedia feature to the profile section that lets you add graphics, slideshows (using Slideshare), documents, and links to other online content, such as your online portfolio.

To be honest, this feature doesn't work as well as I had hoped. You can't simply add an image from your computer; you have to link to a Web page, and LinkedIn will choose a default image from that page without giving you any choice in the matter. Sigh. Still, having something visual to break up the text goes a long way toward improving a profile.

To add a graphic, log into LinkedIn, go to your profile section, and click "edit." Then you have to select a sub-section, such as Summary or Experience, and look for the rectangle-with-plus-sign icon. That button lets you add new

Tips 4,5, and the complete PCMag article

9 Leadership Qualities That Wow Employers

by Shannon Smedstad

“Demonstrated leadership abilities and experience.” This phrase is often included amid a long list of bullets on employers’ job descriptions. It’s something that many of us think we have, too. A quick search on Google brought back more than 141M results for “leadership programs” and more than 231M for “management programs.” With all of this talk about leadership, what does it really mean?

• What are the leadership qualities that employers seek?
• How can job seekers communicate their leadership abilities?
• What makes one candidate’s leadership skills stand out from another?

As a seasoned business leader or a recent grad looking to get your foot in the door as part of a development program, you may have wondered what goes on inside of an interviewer’s mind. In no particular order, here are some of the star qualities that recruiters and hiring managers look for to fill their leadership positions and programs.

9 LEADERSHIP QUALITIES THAT EMPLOYERS SEEK

1. Motivate others. Think back through your experience, how have you directed the efforts of others? Can you think of three or four concrete examples in which you had to motivate groups to accomplish goals?

2. Drive results. In business or in student organizations, leaders are responsible for moving the needle and getting results. Think about how to best communicate the end results and quantify those answers, when possible.

3. Show initiative. As a leader, have you just sat back and watched others do the work? Or do you show the initiative to develop and execute on ideas? Many employers are looking for leaders to bring new ideas and fresh perspectives.

4. Adapt to change. How do you deal with the ebb and flow of every day? What examples demonstrate your ability to be flexible and adapt to the ever-changing world around us?

Qualities 5-9 and the complete Blogging4Jobs article

Put LinkedIn to Work For You: 7 Ways

BY Kevin Daum

While the longevity of commercial value with Facebook and Twitter continues to be questionable, there is no question that LinkedIn is here to stay. It's perfectly reasonable. LinkedIn is designed for professionals to connect, so they can do business. Still, many struggle with using this amazing tool effectively. People gather connections like colorful Easter eggs and never actually have any sort of meaningful interaction. They join groups and never engage or read the feeds. Others are just intimidated by the volume of feeds, groups, endorsements, and constant interactions.

You don't have to be a social media maven to benefit from this (mostly) free gift of modern technology. Follow these simple tips and with little effort, make LinkedIn your new power broker for success.

1. Have Clear Purpose

LinkedIn is a tool and like all tools it serves a specific purpose. If you don't know what you're trying to accomplish, then the tool will be useless. You have to drive the process. Decide if you want to expand your network inside your industry or beyond. Are you looking to explore new careers or create new business development opportunities? Perhaps you are looking for mentors or peer groups? It's okay to want all of this, but the more you focus your efforts, the easier it will be to get a specific and successful return.

2. Refine Your Profile

Would you walk into a sales meeting telling your buyer that you are job hunting? Not unless you want them to believe you have no confidence in your company and will be leaving soon. Yet, this is the sort of inconsistency that appears in every LinkedIn profile that sounds like a job application. Your profile is public and should send a message consistent with your description on your company website. It should demonstrate your background and experience in a way that exudes confidence and opportunity for people who might engage with you. It should be brief, engaging and accurate. It should show that you cared enough about it to fix the typos, post a thoughtful picture and be grammatically correct. Your profile is a first impression for many, and for those of you who don't take care it will be certainly be the last.

3. Pick Groups That Matter

There are three good reasons to join a group. First, to stay in touch with peers you are already connected to through organizations like fraternities, service, or alumni. Second, to learn about an area of interest. This could be academic, social, or trade. Lastly, to stay abreast of happenings in a particular industry or area of commerce.  Joining a group in hopes of promoting your services will be a waste of time and often offend other members. There can be value in discussions, but any group has discussion hogs that clog the feed. It takes effort to sort through the noise; so don't spend a lot of time trying to keep up. Select truly relevant groups, set your digests for weekly and weed them constantly. Then you can spend 20 minutes on Friday and engage where you feel it's appropriate.

Ways 4-7 and the complete Inc.com article

The Top 10 Job Interview Mistakes

by Ritika Trikha

A staffing firm in Oklahoma City, Express Employment Professionals, surveyed 300 hiring managers about the biggest interview blunders they’ve seen – and some of the results are hard to believe.
We figured you’d get a kick out of these resume mistakes job seekers have made. Check out the list and, please… don’t make these mistakes:

1. Lying About Experience: 65 percent

It’s no surprise this was the most common interview mistake. Fibbing about your skills is all too common. Remember former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson? He was fired after folks figured out that he never got his degree in computer science.

25-year-old Adam Wheeler lied about going to Harvard, which landed him jail time for violating probation. The same goes for interviews. Lying is the fastest way to a train wreck!

2. Answering a Phone Call: 61 percent

Play it safe and leave your phone in the car. This is going to help avoid no. 6 and 7, below.

Note: if it’s a foreseeable emergency (like your wife is past her due date), make a disclaimer before the interview starts.

3. Arriving Late: 59 percent

A standard rule of thumb is to arrive about 10 minutes early. That way you have time to power pose in the bathroom, breathe and give yourself some positive affirmations to appear more confident.

4. Badmouthing a Current or Former Boss or Co-worker: 51 percent

The most common instance to trip up on this one is when you’re asked “Why did you leave your last job?” or “What did you enjoy least about your job?

Basically, any question that asks you to talk about your last job is also a test to see how tactful and diplomatic you are. Don’t fall in the trap.

Mistakes 5-10 and the complete SavvyIntern article

Top 10 Tips for Jobseekers Over 45 (They Worked for Me!)

Author: Sally Bartlett

Before I retired, I had the best seven years of my career and was hired at the ripe old age of 57!  My boss did not give my age more than a passing glance; he was thrilled to find someone with all the right qualifications for the job, PLUS maturity and someone he knew wanted stability and wouldn’t bolt the following year looking for more money.

The day I was hired was incredible; I had just returned to the Midwest from Arizona, because the job market there was horrible.  I had been working two jobs six days a week and having a hard time meeting expenses, so I moved back to where I had grown up; Chicago land.  I picked up the want ads as this was 1997 and I didn’t own a personal computer yet.  I saw the ad for an administrative assistant to the Manager of Information Services (MIS) and VP at the headquarters of one of the classiest retail chains in the United States (Crate & Barrel). Man, I wanted that job!

I borrowed someone’s fax machine and faxed my resume in the morning; I got a call for an interview within an hour; I had my interview that afternoon with personnel, and only just caught my future boss by minutes before he would have left the building.  After I went home to wait, the job offer call came before business hours were over.  When it’s the right fit, everything goes smoothly, no matter what age you are.

Now, why was it the right fit?  Years of experience, that’s what.  One of the best things an applicant over 45 can offer is experience and maturity.  There are plenty of companies and business owners who actually prefer employees who have some savvy about life under their belt instead of just fresh from college.  Of course, to compete with the brainy college graduates, us older folk need to adhere to a few rules.  Here are my 10 tips:

1. Keep up a good appearance.Wear fashionable clothes, current hair cuts and styles and don’t stay in a time warp with appearance, no matter how much you loved it.
2. Stay current with skills. The more technical savvy an older applicant is the more impressive.
3. When writing your resume, only list most current jobs so that older dates don’t catch the eye.
4. When listing schools and education training, just list the names with no dates.
5. Write a great cover letter, Here is where you can bring in older job experiences and skills without having the dates jump off the page on the resume.

Tips 6-10 and the complete Exertus post

9 Pro Tips for Entrepreneurs on LinkedIn

By Scott Gerber

LinkedIn is more than a handy way to sort through connections and make introductions — it's also a powerful platform to supercharge your content marketing efforts (even if you're not a LinkedIn Influencer just yet).

To find out exactly how other founders are using the network to get more eyeballs on their content, we asked a panel of successful entrepreneurs to share their best tips and tricks. Here's what they had to say:  

1. Join Discussions in LinkedIn Groups
Every time I write an article that is relevant to a specific audience, I start a conversation around the article in a LinkedIn group I'm associated with. I make sure to ask a question or pose a discussion topic with the article and not simply link to an article.
- Kelsey Meyer, Influence & Co.

2. Engage Employees With Email

LinkedIn is a person-to-person network. The key to an effective LinkedIn strategy is engaging your employees to share your content. Want to know how to get your employees to share to LinkedIn? Email them. Most of the working day (and night), they stare at computer screens and smartphones looking at emails that come in. If you can make an email that is simple and has a strong call to action, professionals are likely to share it. Since launching employee engagement programs for companies like PwC and Sun Life Financial, we've seen employees average five to 25 clicks every time they share to LinkedIn, with many popular employees averaging 50 to 180 clicks. Ask your advertising team how much they pay for cost-per-click ads on LinkedIn, and you can count the value (hint: it's $2 per click).
- Alexander Gibson, Elevate

3. Use LinkedIn Product and Service Pages

LinkedIn company pages all have built-in product and services pages that will amplify your business content. Within the pages, you can list details about all of your specific offerings, highlight customer recommendations for the product and add images to make these products really stand out. LinkedIn has also built in the number of impressions these products and services pages receive, so you can see how many people are researching your company and what your most popular services are.
- Brett Farmiloe, Digital Marketing Agency

4. Promote Your Brand With Groups

Dr. Seuss reminded us, "There is no one alive who is you-er than you." LinkedIn helps you promote the you-er in you! One way we self-promote is by joining groups. By joining them — up to 50 at a time — you can expand your reach while sharing your expertise. For example, there are 746 groups under our target keyword "writer." One group has more than 13,000 members with more than 230 discussions happening. Joining several of these conversations helps strengthen your brand and boost your expertise. It's a great way to network!
- Nicolas Gremion, Free-eBooks.com

Tips 5-9 and the complete Mashable article