Undercover RecruiterEmployee experience can seriously impact your bottom line. The Employer Brand Index gives you insight into what talent really thinks about your company.
For many individuals, the prospect of being approached by a headhunter could be a terrifying one. For a start, the experience is an unannounced one – more often than not the headhunter will call a potential candidate out of the blue. Due to this, the timing may not be perfect – oftentimes the headhunter will…
Volunteering is getting a good rep for being a great way to network. Putting down a year or two of volunteering experience shows HR staff that you’re a team player who cares about others. It doesn’t really matter if you tutored groups of inner city youth or sat by yourself and updated database spreadsheets—volunteering is equal to caring about people. If it is a real experience and you can talk about it enthusiastically, you’re more than a leg up past the competition.
Non-profits are in need of volunteers. Perhaps people haven’t caught on, or maybe it’s because only those that actually do care are able to keep it up. Whatever the reason, there’s a need to be filled and more than a little to be gained out of stepping up to be that person.
Whether you’re interested in saving animals, people or the earth, there’s a non-profit out there for you. However, if you’re looking to work in a no-kill pet shelter, be prepared for possible waiting lists since they’re some of the most popular places for students.
If you’re wondering what to do with your newfound humanitarianism, there are a few ways to choose the non-profit that’s right for you. The first place to look is your career services department. If you’re a recent graduate, don’t hesitate to call them. If they can’t assist you, they’ll certainly point you in the right direction. But likely, they’ve seen countless volunteering opportunities run across their desk and haven’t had enough students to fill them.
Even if you’re attending an online university, you should still check with your career services department. They’ll be in touch with national charities or may be able to match you up with a general non-profit theme based on your major, skills and talents. They may also be able to suggest roles that you could fill within local organizations.
Websites like Volunteer Match can also help you identify your talents and where they would be best used at. They’re a great resource, but there are typically local ones as well that are easily accessible. And it’s a good idea to talk to your local United Way or even your local library to tap into a network of non-profits.
If you think you’re unable to volunteer because of monetary concerns, contact your local chapter of AmeriCorps, an umbrella program that houses different chapters. Each chapter has a focus and may work with many different agencies or may be dedicated to just one non-profit. Those who serve with AmeriCorps get a monthly living stipend and an education reward upon successful completion of their term. If you’re not certain you can stick with something, AmeriCorps probably isn’t the right avenue for you, since the education award is a large motivator for most people. It can be used toward loans or directly sent to colleges.
When you go to contact a non-profit, be prepared to sell yourself. They may take anyone to hand out food at a pantry, but if you want to apply your major and be more useful (as well as more marketable), you’re going to have to prove you’re worth the training and the responsibility. It’s the volunteer opportunities that line up with your major that are going to be the most useful.
If you can show that you’re going to be an asset, there are organizations that will be willing to give you opportunities to gain the experience that you need showcased on your resume. If you go in with a nonchalant, ‘I’m just here to fill my time’ attitude, you’re going to be scrubbing up vehicles or mopping the floors. Just like any form of work, you want to show optimism and initiative.
Volunteering not for you? Check out 3 Hot Tips to Finding the Job You Love instead!
Jesse Langley lives near Chicago. He divides his time among work, writing and family life. He writes on behalf of Colorado Technical University and has a keen interest in business blogging and social media.
Your cover letter is a hugely important tool in your job search arsenal. After all, it’s usually the first thing a potential employer reads about you and it almost always precedes your resume. A cover letter is like a friend you have who takes all the awkwardness out of an introduction by going out there…
If you are looking to get back in the workforce or feel now is the time to switch jobs, it is important to polish up your interviewing skills in order to put yourself in the best position possible to attain what job you want. When going on your interview, your appearance and means of communication…
True professionalism is an interesting phenomenon and seems to be vanishing as an office worker art. And it’s not just the fault of recent college graduates who are new to the workplace. If new workers don’t see professionalism in action it’s not likely that they’ll pick it up by accident or osmosis. Being professional doesn’t…
Modern-day job hunting has changed completely, long gone are the days when everyone was pouring over the job section in the local newspaper. There are many new ways that you can both research a company and contact potential employers. You may already be on social networking sites but may never have used them for your…
Job hunters must keep in mind that countless employers and human resources personnel are utilizing the web and, in particular, social networks to get additional information on prospective employees. This growing method of gaining information on applicants has provoked many job seekers to “get off the grid.” But it’s important to note that information gleaned…
Your online brand is an essential part of your job search. Employers are searching for your name in search engines and on social networking sites. They’re looking to get a sense of who you are, what you’re passionate about and how you will fit in with their current team. What does your online brand convey about you?
The following mistakes can hurt a job seeker’s chance at landing an open position. Are you guilty of any of these?
One of the first places an employer will look for your online presence is Facebook. After that, they might look to LinkedIn to verify employment history and read your recommendations. Will they find a profile for you? If so, is it professional? Is it complete? Your online profiles need to show a potential employer how valuable you are—or they might move on to a more desirable candidate.
There are a variety of reputation monitoring tools available online today, such as Google Alerts. Set up searches and alerts on your name to receive instant notification about recent information posted about you. It can also be a great way to identify any cyber twins – individuals who share your name — that might hurt your job search if an employer confuses you with them.
A personal brand needs to focus on a specific niche – so don’t try to be an expert in several fields if you’re searching for a job. Instead, focus on building a strong online brand as an expert in one field. It will help avoid confusion and you’ll build better relationships with folks in that particular niche as well.
If you plan on building a brand on social networking sites, writing a blog or doing other activities to enhance your visibility in the space, you need to be consistent. For example, don’t spend two weeks tweeting, creating content and making connections and then drop off the face of the Earth. It takes time to build an online brand—and you’ll see your effort pay off through search engine optimization, a growing network and positive search results for your name.
No one wants to follow or friend someone who is constantly pushing their own content or talking about their job search activities. In order to brand yourself as a thought leader in your niche, share content related to your field, interact with other professionals and provide value. That’s how you’ll make the most meaningful relationships that can ultimately help your career.
What other online branding mistakes do you see people making?
Tony Morrison is the Vice President at Cachinko, a unique professional community where social networking and job opportunities come together. His roles include sales, marketing, and business development. He is passionate about building B2B and B2C client relationships and brings this passion to Cachinko where he focuses on helping job seekers to find their ideal job and employers to find, attract, and engage their next rock star candidates. Find him on
Sometimes in the world of marketing, we get a little “cart before the horse”. Everyone is always focused on marketing a brand, selling a brand, pushing a brand. This is all well and good, but how does one create a brand? What are the steps required to make sure that the brand created is functional and memorable? In short, how is a brand made? While it can be daunting to attempt to boil any idea, business, or physical entity, down into a recognizable two-dimensional visual representation, there are some steps one can take to make the process easier and more successful.
Since branding can take many forms, for the sake of this article, we will focus primarily on the process of personal branding, and the effective creation of a personal business identity. A brand is what was formerly referred to as a trademark. As defined by the American Marketing Association, it is a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” In the case of a personal brand, it is also referred to as a “trade name”. To generate a personal brand successfully, use the three steps below as a jumping off point.
This is actually the most difficult step, and the portion of the process you should plan to spend the most time developing. Ask yourself how people perceive you. What words do they use to describe you and your business? What aspect of yourself are you attempting to sell or market? What aspect of yourself or business is unique and sets you apart from other similar types or companies? What is your niche market? Look at the answers to these questions.
It may also be helpful to create a map, or plan of what you hope to accomplish by branding yourself. Make sure that you use the information you glean from those around you, to further your goals for yourself. Finally, create a name, based on these ideas.
Remember that a personal brand is, in essence, your visual package. It’s the athlete on the box of Wheaties at the grocery store. The baby, sitting in the Michelin tire. The little boy fishing that opens every motion picture produced by Dreamworks.
Now that you have defined yourself, it’s time to create a visual representation of that definition. This visual representation of yourself needs to appear everywhere, on any and all media associated with you. Do not be overly esoteric with your design. It is helpful to sit down with friends or associates and brainstorm how the verbal definitions you discovered via Part A, can be visually represented.
Once you have some ideas, look at them across media. Print some out on your computer and see how they look as stationary, as homepage images, as logos on business cards. Ask strangers what the various logos mean to them. Once you are clear about which logo or design is most effective, you are ready to begin to brand yourself publicly.
If you are at the point of creating a personal brand, it is assumed that you have already examined and defined where you want your business to be in one year, three years, five years, etc., and that you have created a solid business plan. It is important to have these ideas in place before you begin to introduce your brand to a wider audience, because the last thing you want to have happen is for your brand to gain negative associations because you were unprepared for business.
Creating a positive reputation is much more effective than attempting to repair a poor one. If you have not yet created a solid business model, do that, then proceed with Part C. In order for people to find you, you must place your brand where it can be discovered. In today’s market, that means, literally, everywhere. Create an online presence with a clear and recognizable email address, a personal website, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles, blog posts, press releases, Internet business cards and email marketing, the use of an online portfolio, and targeted online advertising.
Create a physical presence with business cards, resumes, reference documents, and carry representative work on your handheld device, CD, DVD, or flash drive, so that it can be shown to somebody immediately, if necessary. With all of these marketing tools, the presence of your brand, the design that represents you, is vital. Your personal brand should appear on everything. Repetition breeds recognition, so the more you can get your name, and the images associated with it, out there into the public eye, the more successful your brand will be.
Though it may seem like a lot to take on, personal branding is incredibly important in the development of a thriving personal business. Done correctly, it can propel you, and your product or company, into an incredible future. You owe it to yourself to take the time to create the best representation of yourself that you can. Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and in this age of multimedia and online marketing, that first impression is your brand.
To learn more, check out our Personal Branding Workshops running in the UK and further afield.
Susan Black is a tech and web geek who spends most of her working week reading and writing on marketing techniques, both online and off. She writes here for discount sofa specialists sofasandsectionals (dot com).
