Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Work Buzz's Latest News: The right way to quit your job

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 07:33 AM PDT

Recently, a local sports announcer provided us with a great example of how not to quit your job: he gave his resignation on air.
Qumar Zaman, a radio announcer for the Lake County Fielders, a minor league baseball team outside of Chicago, had just finished covering a game last week when he signed off his broadcast saying, “[The team] didn’t pay me all the money owed to me, and that’s why I’m leaving right now.” And he left.
A bad idea, for so many reasons (The first being that he didn’t have another job lined up).
It’s understandable that sometimes, the decision to quit just hits you. Your boss is a jerk, you're underpaid, and most days, you'd rather get dental work than go to work. But, regardless of how strong your urge is to tell your boss where he can shove it, quitting your job should be a strategic and tactful move. What it shouldn't be is impulsive or emotional. Or public, for that matter.
For one, you never know where an old colleague or boss will show up again in the future.
"Just like the song says, it is a small world after all," says Jodi R.R. Smith, owner of Massachusetts-based Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting and author of "The Etiquette Book: A Complete Guide to Modern Manners." "If you have specialized in a specific field it is highly probable that you will cross paths in the future with the people you are leaving behind today. So it’s important to keep relationships positive and the communication open. You never know when you might see these people again."
So, before you go all “Jerry Maguire” on your office (“Who’s coming with me, besides ‘Flipper,’ here?”), take a minute to think through your decision. Smith, who has served as a business etiquette coach to companies like Fidelity Investments, Marriott International and PricewaterhouseCoopers, offers the following steps as a guide to a proper, drama-free and professional resignation.
1. Write a resignation letter: A resignation letter is still an expected formality at most companies. Yours needs only three pieces of information, Smith says. "Your last day, contact address and phone number, and your signature."
No need to include details of why you're quitting or a personal manifesto of what's wrong with your company. "You are better served by keeping it simple," she advises.
2. Time it right: "Once you have decided to leave a company you often become a lame duck," Smith says. "Plan your announcement and your time remaining carefully. Be sure to factor in time for a replacement to be found and some training to take place, but do not linger."
3. Set up an exit interview: As in a resignation letter, prudence is key in an exit interview. "Answer all questions judiciously. Some exit interviews are confidential, while others are not," Smith cautions. "You want to be sure not to burn any bridges. Boomerang employees — those who leave a company only to be hired back a few years later — are becoming more and more common."
4. Take the high road: "Leaving a company can be a stressful and unnerving time," Smith says. "But it is at times like these that it is especially important to keep your wits about you. Do not yell at anyone, do not destroy company property, and do not disparage the organization to the media or to the clients. What you do reflects on you."
For more on leaving your job, check out:
10 signs it’s time to quit
Have you seen someone quit their job the wrong way? Tell us about it in the comments section.

How to Jump Start Your Job Search plus 1 more | Career Rocketeer

Link to Career Rocketeer - Career Search and Personal Branding Blog

How to Jump Start Your Job Search

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 03:30 AM PDT

Most job seekers are operating at about 25% efficiency. That's because finding a job is a skill. Your skill is what you've made your career out of. It's what you are looking for a new job in. It's not actually finding that job.
Part of the problem is no one ever tells you how to do things. They tell you what to do, but not how to do it. And if a strategy is going to work, you need to know how to implement it. Otherwise it isn't effective, you don't get results, and then you become even more frustrated.
Conventional wisdom says networking is the most effective. Well yes……….and no. I say it wins by default. In other words, not knowing how to read a job ad leads to excess optimism (and no results) and being overly discerning (and no results). The more resumes you send to ads – especially the online black hole – the worse your ratio of sent:response rate is, the more dejected you become. Improve your skill in understanding job ads and how to deal with the black hole and you up your response rate.
Here's some advice: Contact companies you want to work for! See if they have open positions! Okay….how? A few out there advocate sending out hundreds or thousands of letters. Something is bound to hit, right? Not really. That's the worst and most ineffective strategy possible. Not to mention it wastes both your time and energy and again……….results in frustration. But what if you knew how to do it? How to select the companies that make sense for you, write a custom letter than will get read, follow up and get results?
Over 50% of my unemployed clients have found new jobs this way. What's more, often the position has been created specifically for them.
And what about recruiters? Do you hate them? Do you understand them? Probably yes, and no respectively. That's okay – there are some very bad ones out there. But do you know how to spot them? Do you know how to screen them? Develop a relationship with one? Get them excited about working with and for you? I'm always amazed at the number of people who are either not working with recruiters when they could and should be, or aren't utilizing this resource as fully as they could.
I was one for 22 years. I've seen over half a million resumes, developed relationships with exclusive clients, set and followed up on about 15,000 interviews and placed all levels of management. Do you want to peek behind this curtain and know the reality of how they work and can help you?
And lastly, networking. Got your one-sheet? Throw it out. Bringing your resumes to networking meetings? Leave them at home. Got business cards? Good – but I'll bet you're missing what really amps those up and makes them ultra effective for you. How about your elevator speech? I've yet to hear or read one that really fulfills the true purpose of it, despite having been written in a class or with another coach. What are you doing for LinkedIn? Do you have previous contacts? How are you reaching out to them? What if you have no network????
Odds are you're not only not using all four avenues but the ones you are you're using ineffectively and inefficiently. Four Ways to Jump Start Your Job Search will do exactly what it says – amp up your search and start getting you results. And that's the point of your job hunt, isn't it? To find a job?
My clients are finding jobs in 8 – 12 weeks and what's more, they're finding a job they love. Not just any job, not a job taken out of desperation, and not a job that is just okay and finally a paycheck. It's a job they love. What's more, they're often getting more than one offer at a time.
Do you want to know how to achieve this yourself?
Join us for a FREE teleseminar, 4 Ways to Jump Start Your Job Search, this Wednesday, July 27, at 8:00 pm Eastern (5:00 pm Pacific) to learn how to implement effective strategies that will not only change the results of your search, but will also change how you view the process. Both will significantly increase the action you're seeing.

Guest Expert:
Judi Perkins is known as the How-To Career Coach, and was a recruiter for 22 years when she worked with hundreds of hiring authorities helping them hire entry level through CEO, set up/followed up on over 15,000 interviews, consistently broke sales records by building relationships, and has seen over half million resumes (and climbing).
Now, many of her clients are employed within 8 – 12 weeks. She brings sequence, structure, and focus to the job search, including skills, psychology, and sales components, showing why the typical strategies so often fail. You can find her at www.FindthePerfectJob.com. Please see her website media page for her extensive media credentials.

4 More Ways to Stay Encouraged During a Long Job Search

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 04:10 AM PDT

Jessica Holbrook, President/CEO of Great Resumes Fast, recently wrote an article titled 4 Tips for Staying Encouraged During a Long Job Search offering some great ideas on how to manage through a stressful period in your life. I enjoyed her article and like the tactics she suggested:

Feel Good About Your Résumé
Find a Mentor
Don't Job Seek 24/7
Find Stories of Success

So I thought, in return, I'd do what my college buddies and I did when we were at a seedy diner, occupying a table until 3:00 a.m., staving off our drunken stupor; and playing the napkin game. That is to add four more ways to stay positive in the job search.

Visit Your Local or Your College Career Center and utilize the services they offer. As a workshop specialist, and one from whom many job seekers ask for advice, I can say that there is a great deal to learn about the job search. Let's face it; the job search has changed in the past 10, 20, 30 years. I'm not just blowing smoke.How does your resume feel (as Jessica mentions)? Do you realize that despite many people's advice, a cover letter is still necessary? Are you aware that behavioral interviews are becoming the norm, even during a telephone interview?
Leave the House. Don't take this time to sleep late and watch day-time television—there's nothing on, anyways. Stay in a routine like when you were working. Exercise or paint the rooms you and your spouse were talking about when time was sparse. When you accomplish these small feats, you'll feel better and more fulfilled.Stick to your career action plan, the one you create for every week of the year. Set a goal to meet 35-50 hours of job search activity a week; and meet that goal. Jessica is correct is saying don't job seek 24/7. There are other important things in your life. You don't want to burn out.
Get Outside Your Comfort Zone. Have you ever worn your watch on the opposite wrist? I know it’s a silly question; but when you wear your watch on the opposite wrist, it feels uncomfortable, almost unbearable. This is how it might feel to network face-to-face.You may dread going to a networking event where you’ll meet strangers and have to make small talk. Introverts like me know the feeling. However, I make it a point to attend business networking events just to get outside my comfort zone. I see these as small victories. Eventually these small victories will add up to a major victory…a job.
Embrace Professional and Social Online Networking. Use LinkedIn (professional networking) to establish contacts and communicate with people who will make a difference in your job search. The same holds true for Twitter and Facebook (social networking). Communicate with the plan to Advise, Acknowledge, Appreciate, and Advance. These are terms Liz Lynch uses in her presentation of Build Strategic Relationships using Social Media platforms. Simply stated, practice proper networking, using online tools.

There are many suggestions on how to stay encouraged during your job search. Jessica offers you four viable ways, and I added four more. What other strategies can you think of? Share them with other people who are temporarily out of work. Play the napkin game and comment on Jessica's and my suggestions.

Guest Expert:
Bob McIntosh is a career trainer at the Career Center of Lowell, where he leads more than 20 workshops on the career search. He consistently receives ratings of "Very Good" on customer evaluation forms. Bob is often the person people go to for advice on the job search. As well, he critiques resumes and conducts mock interviews. Bob's greatest pleasure is helping people find rewarding careers in a competitive job market. These he considers to be his greatest accomplishments. Please visit his blog and connect with him on LinkedIn.

Saving Money During the Summer

Moola Days

Saving Money During the Summer

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 02:22 PM PDT

The summer is in full swing and it's time to find ways to save money during the summer. So, here are five great ideas that you can follow which will let you save big bucks all summer long (or at least for the parts of the summer when they matter): Turn Down the Air Conditioning [...]
Saving Money During the Summer is a post from: Moola Days

[Web TV Schedule] 3 Steps to Finding a New Career Path

[Web TV Schedule] 3 Steps to Finding a New Career Path

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 11:00 PM PDT

CAREEREALISM TV is a social television network dedicated to providing job seekers with career advice for finding professional satisfaction.

To get this useful advice and many other helpful career resources, visit us now at CAREEREALISM.com.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

5 Types of Irritating Co-Workers and How to Deal | Career Rocketeer

5 Types of Irritating Co-Workers and How to Deal

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 03:35 AM PDT

No matter how much research you do on a potential employment opportunity, there's always one thing that's completely out of your control—your co-workers. After you're hired, you might find yourself in a situation with at least one – if not several – folks that you just don't get along with. Do any of these types of people sound familiar?
The Chatterbox
This person is great at starting up a conversation—and keeping it going for too long. She might also be a frequent gossiper, constantly talking about other co-workers, your supervisor, customers, clients, etc. If you aren't careful, she can rope you in and make you miss out on valuable time to work on your assignments.
How to deal: Be assertive. Let him or her know that you need to get back to work. Stay professional and resist the urge to get angry. Simply saying, "Sorry, I've got to go finish something up," should do the trick.
The Lazy One
While you're slaving away, this lazy co-worker is playing games on his computer, talking on the phone to friends or family, or wandering around the office. You never see him doing any actual work.
How to deal: As difficult as it may be to ignore it, try your best. It's probably not affecting your work, so you shouldn't be concerned with him. Don't assume that your boss isn't doing anything about the situation—they may have already addressed the issue with the individual in a quiet manner. If it does start affecting your work (like if his work gets dumped on you), it's time to say something to your boss.
The Time Mis-Manager
She never shows up on time. She constantly misses deadlines, skips meetings and takes long lunches. They always have an excuse—but you have a hard time believing someone can have that many car issues or family obligations.
How to deal: Again, as hard as it is, ignore it. Her actions will catch up with her in due time. Your manager likely already has noticed the pattern and may have brought it up with her. Try not to get assigned any major projects with this person, as you'll end up doing most of the work.
The Negative Nancy
This guy never has anything good to say—whether he's talking about a new company product, recent client, new company practices, or co-workers, it's always negative. He likes sharing this negativity with everyone by loudly complaining and groaning at every chance he gets. He drives you crazy and puts you in a bad mood.
How to deal: Be thankful that you're not coming across this way in your professional life. He's obviously unhappy in his life or career. Don't take him too seriously. He might eventually realize how sour his attitude is when his career is at a standstill and none of his co-workers want to listen to his complaints.
The Know-It-All
Everyone has dealt with a "know-it-all" at some point in their career. She might constantly correct you, tell you how to do something a "better" way, or tell you her opinion on your assignments. Be polite by simply saying, "Thanks, I'll think about that," when they offer their input on something—even if it's often unsolicited. Remember that you're probably not the only one feeling frustrated by this individual's actions when you feel your temper flaring.
Do you have a story to share about one of the above types of irritating co-workers? What other types would you add to this list?

Guest Expert:
Heather R. Huhman is a career expert, experienced hiring manager, and founder & president of Come Recommended, a content marketing and digital PR consultancy for organizations with products that target job seekers and/or employers. She is also the author of Lies, Damned Lies & Internships: The Truth About Getting from Classroom to Cubicle (2011), #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), and writes career and recruiting advice for numerous outlets.

blogging4jobs

Can RSS Make a Comeback?

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 04:17 AM PDT

As part of my mission in training and teaching people on how to leverage social media for their business including human resource professionals, I’m writing several foundation social media topics over time. This is one of those posts for the ToolBox HR resource site.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve seen a dramatic increase in not only the number of RSS subscribers I have on my blog but also the website traffic that is being driven from my RSS. For those of you who are not aware, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is an easy way to aid in the distribution of your blog. Essentially, readers opt into receiving your blogs either directly to a reader like Google or via email. Readers no longer need to go directly to their favorite blog or website, the new content from their favorite sites that they choose comes to them. (Learn how to set up an RSS feed here.)
The universal symbol for RSS is normally a little circle with stacked half circles smaller in the center with longer and larger lines further from the middle. Orange is the most common color for the button, but is not always the case.
RSS is a great way to reach your audience on their terms especially for those of us who spend our days reading hundreds of blogs and articles from various places. It organizes all your content in one nice little place. When I developed HR Blogger and most recently Mommy Blogger, I used RSS feeds to organize the site making it easy for visitors to read and find interesting human resources related content. The process of navigating blogs and finding content takes time and can be overwhelming to new users. In fact, this reason often keeps people from missing out on the blogs and content that makes sense for them.
As my number of social media contacts grows, I find even more value in RSS which is why for me and possibly also for my readers, it’s making a comeback. Until recently, I used my social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook solely to provide me with relevant and interesting content. But as my network widens and as my business grows, I find that RSS is a great way to help organize and manage my day without missing out on relevant information either typical news, industry bloggers, or people that I enjoy keeping up with. With a growing family and business, I am working hard to find ways to manage my time effectively.
Aggregator publications that comb the internet for top content also use RSS feeds which is one reason my blog has seen an increase in traffic. Opt in publications like SmartBrief use these RSS feeds to share information, resources, and articles to their readers quickly and easily. RSS feeds can also be to distribute content to social sites savings you time. For example, I use a Google tool to share my content as soon as it it published to my Twitter. RSS distribution tools can save you time and keep you from being tied to social media or your blog.
As the internet and use of social media grows in popularity, RSS will continue to be an effective way for web surfers to effectively manage their time. That being said, your RSS feed might not be the leading source of traffic for your blog, but it is still important. Make sure to include it throughout the pages of your website or blog, making it easier for your loyal finds to find time to read, engage, and learn from what you whatever medium they prefer.
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