I gotta tell you, I’m very pleased with Flavors.me for putting an electronic portfolio together. It was easy, it’s pretty, and you can get it on your own domain with a little extra work. Take a look at mine for an example, SteviePuckett.com. Other than just the front page, it is bringing in content that I have already created with my blogs and social media…wowza! It makes a nice impression for hiring managers and networking, don’t you think?
If you decide to put one together, please Tweet Me the link. I’d love to take a look and give you a pat on the back. Go for it!
Carole Martin, The Interview Coach, recently had a free teleseminar that I attended. I have known Carole for a few years. As usual she is producing high quality info to help people win interviews. I wanted to share a few highlights from the call and mention the products on her website. This is not an affiliate link, I just love to share high quality info when I find it.
Teleseminar Highlights
- Prepare a short bio. Call your voicemail and record it. Wait a couple days then listen to it with fresh ears and critique yourself then make changes where needed.
- Remember: as soon as you say something in the interview, you open the door for the interviewer to go through and ask you to prove what you said. Be prepared with an inventory of stories from your personal experience to use as examples and proof.
- Leave your modesty at home and bring your heart to the interview. They want to get to know your style and personality.
This is a nice collection of articles to stimulate thinking about traditional educational investment in higher education and potential career development payoff. While it is possible to get too analytical in coming to a decision about whether to invest in further education and when, it is a good exercise to check these kind of statistics in the process.
Even more important, have fun with the decision! Talk to people who are already in the field you are considering further study in, and talk to a coach for feedback and insight through your research and decision making process. It can’t be emphasized enough that whatever steps you take to further your career should be in line with what you truly enjoy and not just to impress others or fulfill someone else’s expectation for you. Your career is about you and what you desire to have and create.
There comes a point in unemployment where there is time to spare. Here is a list of Inspiring Productivity Ideas for you to consider if you find yourself unemployed and feeling a little bored or lost.
What do I want?
What is fulfilling to me?
Where am I choosing to focus?
I received a complimentary copy of “Advance Your Image” by Lori Bumgarner for review and wanted to share it with you because it is a good find and a timely topic. I received no other compensation for this review.
It is clear in this ebook that Lori is divinely inspired and on a mission to propel people forward with poise and self-confidence and to bring the beauty within each person out in the best possible light.
As a career adviser to college students turned image consultant to musicians, Lori has an excellent take on the big picture for how personal image plays into career development planning. She points out the nuances of why and how to strategically manage your image for the desired result of connecting with the audience be it a potential employer or your network of supporters. She champions work you can do to improve your image as a fast-track to improved self-confidence which then leads to making better first impressions and being received better by others…a win-win!
Lori also weaves together your in-person appearance with your job search marketing materials and online presence in a practical and easy to understand way. She also outlined a helpful rule that I had never heard of before called the Rule of 12 within her powerful strategies for making a good first impression.
Learn more about Lori on her website, paNASHstyle.com and find the ebook here or for your Kindle on Amazon.com.
Volunteering provides many benefits to the volunteer in addition to the organization and individuals receiving the help. And it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Just an hour a week or a Saturday every three months can do wonders for example. Here are some benefits to the volunteer.
- You improve your problem solving skills.
- You can increase your personal network.
- You help strengthen your community and set an example.
- You can use volunteer time to increase your skill level.
- Volunteering can help you heal and/or stay healthy.
- You get really good at noticing the bright side of things.
- You gain a sense of achievement that increases your own self-confidence.
#1 Take Ownership
- Your career is yours and yours alone. You have the power to create it and live it as an expression of your unique talents and energy.
- Forget what other people think of your choices. Even though people often mean well, you will be the one putting in the hours so be selfish enough to do something you enjoy and to have fun with it!
- Being yourself in your work gives power, creativity, and freedom. You are off track if you feel insecure or like an pretender at work.
#2 Look Inside Yourself, You Know the Answers
- Take note when you find yourself fully engaged in a work activity. If it feels like you are in the zone, or plugged in and energized, or connected to something larger than yourself: Pay special attention.
- Then describe it further…what are you liking about what you are doing? Is it this? Is it that? Keep asking yourself and you’ll know when you hit the answer that feels right.
- Start general then get more specific in your description of what you like about what you are doing. For example, is it the communication or connection? Is it the performing or beautifying? Is it the helping or healing? Is it the organizing or administrating? Then add more detail by asking why.
#3 Respect the Career Development Process
- The beauty of a great career is in the way it unfolds.
- Enjoy the present moment. Each small step adds up until you are for sure ready for more.
- Appreciate then forget when you felt lost or frustrated in your career. Through those times you learned more about what you DO want.
#4 Understand the Power of People
- People can be powerful and brilliant in sharing their connections with others. Use strategy in maintaining your 150 or so top connections to tap into the power.
- Accept that people can be dark, egotistical, and negative but this is nothing compared to an individual in harmony with self. Recognize the negative as the weaker power and stay beyond it.
- See and applaud the strengths of others as you do for yourself. Be a builder-upper who is generous with knowledge, info, and positive energy.
#5 Be an Opportunity Bulldog
- Take your individual strengths and mesh them into your public identity and no one can take your place.
- Research and understand the opportunities that exist because of the challenges in your field of expertise.
- Present a passion for being or finding the solution and be unafraid of asking for the opportunity.
Career assessments can open doors to important insights regarding your career development. Assessments can enable you to better verbalize your career desires and can assist you in describing yourself in a concise yet thorough manner.
The power of the MBTI®, specifically, is in its ability to assist in focusing you on language and key ideas to help you target your job search, prepare your resumes, and ace the interview.
As an added perk of the MBTI®, many people begin a fun journey of self-discovery as a result of using the assessment. In fact, many people describe the opportunity as life changing!
Here is a link for more information about the theory and background of the MBTI®. And here is a link to providers of the assessment.
