What is the Key Factor in Your Job Search Success Building Your Future Now

What is the Key Factor in Your Job Search Success Building Your Future Now When you are out looking for a new job or developing your career what is the key factor that determines your success? .Its you! You might be thinking: yes, of course it is! But think about it a little deeper for a moment. Sometimes you are consumed by trying to find a job and lose focus of YOU. We try to get a good resume done, prep for interviews, network, update our LinkedIn profilewe do a million things before we take a few moments to find out what we really want! If you can take some time to do a bit more research and introspective you may come up with some tough decisions and some insights. Maybe the job search isnt going well not because for your lack of tryingmaybe you simply dont want to be in that field or particular position any longer. Thats why you are the most important factor in a successful job search. Thinking about yourself and taking time to reassess your job, career and life can mean the difference of having an excellent quality of life and continuing down a path you arent passionate about. Image: Nestya Gepp

How to Create a Resume in Word

How to Create a Resume in WordCreating a resume in Word is a little different than creating one in PDF. There are a lot of things that are different in the two formats, but there are also some advantages to the way they work. It is important to make sure that you take the time to understand what the differences are, so that you can be successful when you create a resume in Word.The first thing that is different is the color scheme. In Word, you use the program's default color scheme, which is called 'bold'. This means that most of the text in your resume will be in bold, except for the items that have bullet points.In a PDF resume, all of the text in the resume has a bold color scheme. This means that it is all in bold text and that you can also have bullets throughout the document. This makes the resume look much more professional and organized than it would if you used the default word format.The second thing that is different is that you can not include bullet points in Word. If y ou use a PDF resume, you can include bullet points within the documents as long as the information in the bullet points is an actual phrase or sentence. However, you can't include bullets in Word. This is a big difference, because it makes creating a resume in Word very difficult, even though it is supposed to be easy.You will also find that you cannot use certain page layout features in Word as you can in PDF. For example, you cannot use page breaks in Word. You can, however, italicize words, which is something that you cannot do in Word.Another difference is that you cannot use page numbers in Word as well. This is something that is going to be very helpful to people who want to make their resumes look organized. You can also not use italics in Word as well. People who want to be able to make the information look a bit more professional will need to use a PDF resume.Last, but not least, Word will not let you put abbreviations in your resume. All of the major abbreviations are goin g to be used in PDF resumes and are not going to be able to be used in Word. Again, this makes creating a resume in Word a very challenging task.To be successful when you create a resume in Word, you will need to use both PDF and Word. When you choose to use only one, you will be missing out on a lot of great opportunities for making your resume look great.

How to balance motherhood and a successful career

How to balance motherhood and a successful career Can you really be the perfect mother but still have a successful career? Can you really be the perfect mother but still have a successful career? This is the question that mothers have been asking for decades and right now its as hot as ever. Even though working at home is becoming an ever growing possibility, not all careers allow for this. And with more and more mothers both needing and wanting to have a successful career, what are the childcare options open to them? The first question is not actually can I work and be a mother?   It should be, whats the best childcare for me and my family? Paid for childcare generally comes in the form of child-minders, nannies, au pairs or daycare. Your budget will largely dictate this choice, but you also need to look at how you work as a family unit. Au Pair   If you and your spouse both have demanding jobs then an Au pair can be a great option. Some Au pairs undertake cleaning, cooking and can also carry out the school run for older siblings. An au pair offers consistency and this is also a good option for children who are most comfortable in their own home environment. Child-minders A child-minder offers many of the same benefits as an Au pair; they offer consistency and for parents who do shift work, they can also be flexible. The other children in their care may also help socialize your own child. Nurseries, day-care Nurseries, or day-care, is the other obvious option and can be a cheaper one because you pay a day rate rather an hourly rate. Sociable children do very well in these settings and often find that when school comes they adapt more easily to the changes. The only disadvantage with a nursery when you have a career, is that you need to ensure you are available for pick up and drops offs. Nurseries are not usually fluid when it comes to opening hours and staff cannot be expected to wait around after hours. Asking family members such as grandparents to help with pickups is often a good option. Family members In fact, family members are increasingly becoming a go-to option for career women. The obvious benefits are that grandparents, or other family members, are free to use and have an invested interest in your child. If your own parents are relatively young, mobile, local and happy to do it then its a no-brainer, but you may need to encourage them to take your child along to toddler groups and activities. Whoever you choose to look after your most precious possession whilst you go to work, make sure you have open lines of communication with them. Its important for your child that they are receiving the same discipline and learning methods at home and during the day. Online platforms care-services such as Care.com offer a wide range of available childcare services in the UK and can help you find the most suitable option for your child. As you can see, the childcare options out there are plentiful so this should never be seen as a barrier to a mother having a successful career. The real question is finding the childcare that best suits you, your children and your budget. If you want to learn more about balancing work with motherhood, this is a good, funny read:  [amazon template=productasin=0316068292]

The Job Offer Negotiation - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Job Offer Negotiation - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career It takes three steps to get a great job. First, you need a good enough résumé and LinkedIn profile to be fished out from an ocean of candidates. Otherwise, you are invisible and irrelevant! Second, you need to beat your competition in the contest called interviewing. After all, there’s only one job, and applicants not chosen for interviews are losers. And third, you have to maximize what you get from this deal. The company is getting you, the best; at least, that’s the organization’s impression by going through this lengthy selection process. But do you understand what’s going on during the job offer negotiation process? And are you good at it? If so, then you know that such negotiation is the most rewarding partâ€"both emotionally and financiallyâ€"of this otherwise grueling and arduous process. I’m sure you know by now that a job offer negotiation is not one size fits all. A junior system analyst’s negotiation of a job offer is different from that of a director or a vice president and very different from that of a big-company CEO. Typically, a CEO candidate doesn’t even negotiate at all, because that’s done for the candidate by the candidate’s team of advisers with the compensation committee, a part of the organization’s board of directors. But what is common to all job candidates is that they have to be liked and wanted by the organization, because if not, the negotiation will break down fast. Job offer negotiation is by definition a candidate’s desire to improve on what’s been initially put on the tableâ€"primarily because the candidate considers himself deserving of more. If that is indeed the case, then the candidate must articulate the reason(s). Greedâ€"or negotiation simply for the sake of gaining experience in negotiatingâ€"is hardly justified and often ends in disappointment. Good job-offer-candidate negotiators clearly understand the art of negotiating; they study the person they’re negotiating with to the extent they can; and they try to learn the constraints the employer has. Some things can be negotiated; others cannot. Also, be ready for pushback in the form of difficult questions. Like a chess game, sometimes you attack, and at other times, you retreat. Don’t start job offer negotiation unless you are fully prepared and have practiced it. When you took your driver’s license road test, for instance, you probably took several driving lessons prior to it. This is no different. It’s another test for which you must prepare. Part of that preparation involves your clearly understanding your own needs and priorities, because when asking for more, you cannot act like Colombo by saying, “Oh, yes, just one more thing I have to ask you.” Put all of your requests on the table at once, with the hope that you’ll get most of them. Remember that negotiations in general are give-and-take. An ultimatum presented by either side can end the negotiation instantly. Sometimes a job offer negotiation can be lengthy, and as the candidate, you must have patience because what you want is to get the right job as part of your career path and not just to win in the game of negotiation. Practice makes perfect.

I Just Landed a New Job, so Im Done Networking, Right

I Just Landed a New Job, so Im Done Networking, Right After you find a new position, the relationships you developed during your search may continue to be important to your career. Here are a few suggestions for maintaining a viable network once you conclude your job search.Update contact information Be sure to send information on your new work location to all those who supported your efforts. This includes all personal contacts, recruiters, and other interested parties. Thank them all for their efforts and support. Plaxo and Spoke are great tools for keeping your network up to date.Stay connected to colleagues Keep in touch with co-workers, clients, and vendors from your previous position. By proactively managing these relationships now you strengthen the quality of your network and improve the opportunity to leverage these relationships at another point in time. Keep in mind that reciprocity is an important piece of the networking dynamic and by staying in touch you may be in a position to help your contacts should they decide to pu rsue other employment opportunities.Keep professional memberships active Continue to remain active in professional organizations. Contribute your time and knowledge to the organization’s events, special interest groups, and newsletters. The visibility you create now will benefit your professional development in many ways. An excellent resource for finding appropriate professional organizations for your industry is Weddles.Conduct informational interviews Remember how grateful you were when you were granted an informational interview or networking meeting? Consider doing the same if you are asked to offer advice or information to someone interested in your field or organization. What goes around comes around and such interviews give you the opportunity to source new talent, mentor a colleague, or build a relationship that will benefit both of you in the future.Go to lunch The lunch hour is a great time to bond with new co-workers and grow your network. Dine with a diverse group of colleagues across business units and job functions.

Finding Professional Development Ops- Part 2

Finding Professional Development Ops- Part 2 Yesterdays post talked about identifying skills gaps and the need to develop a training plan or road map of what development you are looking for. Todays post is just the beginning of where to go to find professional development opportunities. The internet is truly full of wonderful information.   Libraries too!   Colleges/universities and many schools are offering adult education programs at low or no-cost.   Before you spend any money, ask for endorsements or recommendations and ask people you know about the program.   It is called due diligence! Leadership, Etc: MIT/Sloane School of Management Videos: Khan Academy TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) YouTube EDU Professional Associations: Try googling industry associations or professional associations related to your occupation. Often, professional associations offer free newsletters, webinars, job postings and opportunities to learn from others in your occupation. There truly is so much out there it can be overwhelming.   That is why you will want to identify the type of development you are looking for before you start searching for anything.