Eople Change, And People Learn

Every week seems to bring a new example of the latest celebrity, business leader, or politician losing his or her reputation when tweets from long ago are suddenly uncovered and publicized. Then, own your brand. That latter correlation is particularly important because the wrong social media representation can kill a brand in no time at all, as I’m pretty sure I don’t have to tell you. People change, and people learn. The clicks, likes, and comments that recorded who you were five years ago or more might not be in tune with who you are today. We live in a digital world, and so does your past. Make it a habit to review the clicks, likes, retweets, and comments that reflect you online, and revise or annul as needed. If it doesn’t, erase! And there’s no question that, thanks again to online features and social media, the nature of the résumé is changing drastically, even as I write this. But whatever form the résumé and cover letter eventually take, it will still constitute a core statement of who you are as a person and as a candidate for the job in question. You couch this impressive branding statement in a cover letter that explains briskly but potently why you believe you should be hired for the job that has been posted. These messages make the résumé/cover letter an important document, and it needs to look it. All of this will impact the reader.

As The World Falls Down

My major takeaway from that experience is that, where the most important professional document in any career is concerned, fewer than 5 percent of people have any idea what they’re doing. You would think that people who spent years in postgraduate professional schools, paying out uber amounts of money doing it, would apply some of the same energy to the document that would help them accomplish what they were working for. Why does it matter so much? Change is the only constant in our world, and that goes for the hiring process too. Still, the time to get onto what’s next is now. Couldn’t be simpler, and it will differentiate those dragging to get with the times. It establishes the credibility of the work you will do. But even at a price, this is a business expense you can’t afford not to invest in. Not to mention that there are so many resources for finding web designers at an affordable price. Show your work by posting examples of what you’ve done and by telling what you have accomplished or achieved. Offer references, testimonials, work, and education history. Urge people to email you. Include your online résumé and cover letter.

The Adventure of A Lifetime

Take a stab at blogging as a forum for talking about your expertise, abilities, and achievements and for suggesting what you’re ready to do next. You can also set up tracking pixels on your site so that you can monitor who is visiting the site and can follow such specifics as when and for how long. These kinds of data can lead you to qualified companies and the individuals in them doing research on you. With more than seven hundred million members in two hundred countries, it is unsurpassed at linking open jobs to candidates. It’s completely legal and aboveboard, and it’s the perfect way to introduce yourself to the potential leads you identify on the site. It is another useful way to beat the standard system, the one that is designed to weed out most job applicants. Again, LinkedIn is a necessity. You’ll need a clean, crisp headshot and a tone similar to that of your résumé and cover letter. This is a key forum for demonstrating you, your brand, and your added value! After the crime has occurred, the investigators gather all the leads they can. They’re not sure of the meaning of any of the leads at first, so they just keep collecting any and all information they can find. The more information they have, the better. Same with getting the job that will be your restart.

Deadly Sins

The aim is to get through to the decision maker, the individual who will actually do the hiring for the particular job you’re after. Separating you from that individual is a set of formalities, many of them required by law. Your aim as a job seeker will be to try to get in front of that process. The first step is to gather and organize all the information you can about the companies you want to work for, the job you’re seeking, the pay being offered, the competencies required, and anything and everything else. Start with the companies. Apart from liking or being intrigued by a set of potential employers, which ones align with your determinants of career success? Will your skill set be used to the full? Will compensation or mobility be a problem? Is this a company that will allay any fears you may have? Can it play into your passion and even kick it up a notch? Make a list of the companies that pass the test, those you would be glad and even proud to work for. This is your prospect list, which will inevitably lead to your restart. Make everyone you know, as well as everyone you meet, aware of where you want to work and why. Be absolutely clear about exactly where you want your next step to be and then communicate that message precisely to anyone and everyone. You will never manifest your next step without that clarity and without communicating it widely. Next, within that batch of companies, identify what you want out of a job there in terms of compensation, title, position, and responsibilities. Rank the top three or top five or top ten positions you want, the responsibilities you seek, and the compensation packages you will ask for. In my case, I ranked my top twenty across all of those measures. Yes, it was a lot of work. There’s treasure in tracking them down for a task like this one.