9 Things To Consider Before Job Searching While Employed

9 Things To Consider Before Job Searching While Employed Employees leave companies for a  variety of reasons. Perhaps they butt-heads with their immediate supervisor, or maybe the company is in a constant state of reorganization. Whatever your reasons are for leaving, job searching while employed requires secret agent-like discretion and stealth. How can employed white-collar workers channel James Bond or Jason Bourne in the job search? Consider the following covert moves: 1. Keep Your Job Search And Work Separate It’s sometimes OK to search for new jobs at work if your employer is actively downsizing, and you’ve been told your job isn’t secure and you’re welcome to use the company time for your search. For all other times, keep your job search and work separate. Never search for jobs using your company’s computer, and never use your work email to touch base with potential employers. Just as they do for social media usage, many employers monitor computers and email. Likewise, don’t use company resources to print resumes or work samples, and don’t use the shared company mailroom to send direct mail to potential employers. Still feel like searching for a job while on the clock? Here’s what to say if you’ve been  caught red-handed. 2. Be Very Careful Who You Tell Just because you trust your cubicle partner not to steal your stapler, doesn’t mean you should trust her to keep mum about your future career prospects. The water cooler may be retired in many offices, but the chatter that occurred there lives on. Keep your job leads and interviews as private as possible while still harnessing the power of your network. Entrust your search only to those you know won’t spill the beans, and ask them to keep your search quiet. 3. Schedule Interviews Strategically Since you can’t suddenly have doctors’ appointments every morning one week without raising suspicion, get creative with scheduling interviews. Try to schedule your interviews before or after work or during lunchtime. If your interviewer isn’t flexible with scheduling, use vacation or personal days for interviews. 4. Be Wary Of Your Wardrobe Do you work in a casual office? Be very wary of how you dress on days you have an interview.  Interview dress is crucial to landing a job, but you can’t wear polo shirts and khakis every day of the week, then suddenly don a tailored suit and tie on a Friday. To avoid suspicion, quick changes in public bathrooms (or your home, if it’s close enough) may be in order. 5. Your Boss May See Notice As A Threat It may seem ideal to give your boss a “heads up” that you’re pursuing new ventures, especially if he or she knows there isn’t opportunity for you to grow within the company. But be very careful: Some employers may see your friendly “heads up” as a threat for salary or benefits negotiating power. Your employer may begin to see you as a temporary employee and remove you from important projects or, worse, immediately begin the search for your replacement. 6. Use Former Employers As References As much as you may like your current boss, it should be obvious to use former employers to be as references in your job search. Prospective employers will understand that you want to keep your job search confidential. (The exception is if your company is actively downsizing, as noted above.) 7. Be Honest With Potential Employers If a potential employer asks if your current employer knows about your job search, be honest and tell him, “No.” Potential employers can easily discover if you’re lying through a reference check, which will certainly remove you from the pool of potential candidates. 8. Don’t Forget About Your Current Job Just because you believe the relationship you have with your current company is over doesn’t mean your boss does. Within your work hours, stay focused on your current responsibilities. You owe it to your employer to remain a productive employee for the time you have left. (This includes time after you’ve submitted your letter of resignation.) 9. You Don’t Have The Job Yet It’s natural to feel optimistic about a new position after a stellar interview (or two or three), but remember, that position isn’t yours until it’s offered to you. Don’t submit your  letter of resignation to your boss until you have an offer in writing. Job searching while employed is rough. After all, who wants to do more work after work? But the process has its benefits, too. Employed job searchers are in a better position to negotiate salary and won’t be tempted to accept the first offer that comes along. Are you employed and searching for new ventures? How are you handling the process of job searching while employed? Sudy Bharadwaj is a co-founder and the CEO of  JackalopeJobs.com, a job seeker focused platform, making the job search social, fast and easy. Learn how Sudy and Jackalope Jobs obsess over job seekers by connecting with them on  Twitter.   Related: 7 Things to Consider Before Accepting a Job Offer.

5 Reasons Job Hopping is Acceptable

5 Reasons Job Hopping is Acceptable Job hopping is a term used to describe the pattern of an employee changing jobs without layoffs or company closure. Many years ago, it was common to stay with a company for the length of the employee’s career. Employees would invest in the very company that offered economic stability in return.In the last 20 years, it has become safer to find a career in job hopping. It has become somewhat of a necessary evil for employees. This does not make the employee “bad” or “disloyal”. It may mean companies are expecting too much for too little in return.It’s also not a Millennial thing. Generation X and Millennial employees both exhibited job hopping behaviors. According to Pew Research Center, both Gen X and Millennials have had similar job tenures. Since 2000, no specific generation has job hopped more than the other. So, job hopping is not a Millennial thing. It started for the reasons below.1. Companies Treating Employees as Cost to the CompanyIt makes business sense on paper: A company pays the employee. So, the employee is a cost to the company.The human flaw in that logic is that employees today are passionate, desire acknowledgment and seek growth in the workplace. People do not like to think of themselves as having a monetary value. Job hoppers find it wiser to start job hopping, and if that does not work, go into business for themselves. Currently, there are more than 50 million freelancers in the USA. For these job hoppers, if they are going to put money in someone's pocket, it may as well be their own. This does not mean they are delusional or disloyal. Just like the stakeholder of a company, the job hopper is focused on financial growth and stability.2. Poor Company Leadership and Broken TrustIn the last 20 years, the US workforce has seen many stories of employees who watched their life savings disappear overnight due to poor leadership. Employees began to fear “company loyalty” was a fraud. After all, why be loyal to a company when leaders and stakeholders are only loyal to themselves?Gen X employees seamlessly adapted to the online business world in response. Many became part-time or full-time entrepreneurs. Millennials watched the struggles of their Gen X parents. When they entered the workforce, Millennials brought with them a new business attitude and logic. They were entering with survival instincts handed down from their parents.They learned job hopping is necessary for growth and survival.3. Companies Not Keeping up With TechnologyWe live in a time where any person can take courses online and learn a new job skill in a matter of weeks. Companies that are slow to keep up with technology lose employees with a hunger for growth.Companies also lose employees when they know a faster, better way to get a job done, but management will not allow it. Asking employees to work with outdated tools is the fastest way to get them to leave.Highly educated Millennials have been entering the workforce willing to job hop if nec essary. Unlike past generations, they can learn new skills in their spare time. So, they do not need to stand around and wait for companies to try new ideas. They can experiment on their own time.4. Companies That Nurture Job HoppingIn 2017, the average tenure for employees, between ages 25-44, ranges from 3 to 5 years. Companies that became aware that people would have multiple jobs in a career. So, some companies opted for hiring people on contract or outsourcing.Companies also began nurturing job hopping by not providing things that cause employees to stick around. For example, full-time employment or health benefits. In the USA, employees with health benefits stay with a company an average of 12 years.Health benefits are expensive to a company, as well. And if a business fears the employee is going to leave quickly, why pay for it? Companies learned it is easier to make money without long-term financial commitments to employees.5. Wages Not Adjusting to a Modern Business Culture In 2017, wage growth is very low. Unfortunately, so is productivity. But at the same time, inflation is low, too. The labor market is very strong for the first time in a decade, yet pay wages are rising barely faster than inflation. Confusing!For some reason, even though there are reports of a booming job market and a low unemployment rate, companies have not been raising pay wages in a way that meets the immediate needs of the average worker.This is what leads many to believe companies are relying on an outdated business logic. They are operating on the assumption that a great labor market leads to pay increases, and in turn, that becomes fuel for broader inflation.The fact is this is not happening. This could be a sign people have become more self-sufficient and community-oriented due to the Internet and affordable technology. This ultimately means people are solving their own problems by working with each other, and not companies. So, they are loyal to the idea of growth, but the y do not waste that loyalty on anyone who offers a paycheck.

Branding by Association is the Single Most Powerful Idea in Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Branding by Association is the Single Most Powerful Idea in Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career When Katie Konrath, our Sunday Personal Branding blogger, wrote about being connected to important people can build your brand, I smiled.   Possibly without knowing, she had touched on what I believe as the single most powerful and effective way to become more successful.   I actually wanted to write a post about this a long time ago because I owe a lot of my success to this very important concept, which I call branding by association. Branding by association explained Here is how I define it: Branding by association Creating a linkage between two brands of unequal brand equity, to build upon the brand of lesser equity through association. For instance, if youre an up and coming NBA player and you get sponsored by Nike, your brand gets a boost because the brand of higher equity (Nike) is associated with your own, therefore youre taken more seriously.   Another example is an unknown author, whose book ends up in Oprahs bookshelf, and is endorsed by Brad Pitt, P Diddy and Tim Ferriss (I know its random).   With these powerful associations and recommendations, your book will more than likely hit bestseller lists, and since you wrote the book, you will become very successful and more well-known.   If you review the definition above again, youll notice that this association is usually better for the lesser brand.   That is not to say that Nike doesnt benefit from having Tiger Woods or Oprah for recommending a high quality book that people enjoy. Until youre a brand name, you must try as much as possible to associate yourself with people who are more successful than you and corporations that are well-known. When you go to a lot of corporate websites for startup companies, youll notice that they really push their press mentions and quotes from experts who endorse them on the front page.   Youll see CNN, The New York Times and other big names that you trust, so therefore you may trust this startup company in the same regard.   It is a credibility and prestige thing as well. What youll notice is that if you go to a Fortune 500 corproate website, you will rarely see these other brand names on their front page.   The reason is because youve already heard of the company, and possibly trust them, so they dont need that association.   What the association does is connect you to something youre familiar with, so then you can better connect to the company.   In this way, branding becomes the middle-man of the equation. Are you saying that I should become a leech? Good question ?? .   You wont get endorsements or recommendations if you dont 1) stand out 2) display value 3) ask for them.   Not everyone executes on all three, so they dont build a bridge to that brand association.   A leech or parasite is no the way to look at this either.   The key is to figure out how you can form a mutual relationship, so you benefit off   of each other.   Dont be a one-way street or people will catch onto it and not do business with you. Who you surround yourself with can make or break your career Ive been preaching about how you should surround yourself with people who have complementary skills and similar interest to you for a while now. Its not about the quantity or quality of people that you interact with.   Instead, you want to pay attention to the people that will actually support you, and those you can deliver value to.   If you cant help someone whose more successful than you, then move to the next person.   Learning takes place, when youre around people that are better than you because it will push you harder and youll benefit from their connections, as well. If youre an entrepreneur and you surround yourself with people who are content in the status quo, then youre doing yourself an injustice. If youre a CEO and you arent trying to network and form partnerships with other CEOs, then something is wrong as well.   If you remember back to high school, then youll certainly recollect that there were the popular and unpopular groups.   People sat at different tables in the cafeteria to reflect what group they belong to.   Was it the athletes, the losers, whatever, it makes no difference.   The most beautiful girls in school always sat around the popular table and if you just received group membership, it was because you were best friends with a current member, and by association you were cool. This same situation still exists when youre older.   If you go to a cocktail party with a highly influential person, lets say Bill Clinton, then youll be viewed at or around his social status level. Good things start to happen when youre associated with strong brands. The corporate brand you work for is key After working for many large enterprises and small firms, Ive made the conclusion that Id rather sacrifice the quality of work (at first), for the recognizable brand name at first.   At the beginning of your career, you must seek to attach yourself to a big brand name as soon as possible (upon your college graduation if you can).   After going on many interviews years ago, employers kept paying attention to the brand names on my resume, as opposed to actual work experience at the smaller firms.   Since I wasnt a recognizable brand name, they reviewed my resume to find other names they trusted, and they saw Reebok, Lycos, LoJack and TechTarget, which were familiar. It is harder to get into a large company than a smaller one even though there are more spots available, usually. The reason is because the reputation and brand equity of the larger companies demands more competition.   It works the same way with consultants or consulting companies, who try as hard as they can to land the big clients.   They do this because they want prospects to mentally say if XYZ company uses them, then they must be good.   The association is a powerful force and the more brand names that are associated the easier it is to get new business and/or opportunities. Large companies have an easier time with global expansion, acquiring new customers, getting their calls answered by the press, etc. If youre in sales, working at lets say IBM, it will be a much easier phone call than if youre calling from a small unknown firm.   The prospect already knows IBM, probably understands the product youre trying to sell them and more.   If you meet someone at a networking event or start talking to a girl or guy at a club and they ask you so what do you do, which is the most common question in these scenarios, and you mention a well-known company you work for, they will have more respect for you and it might peak their interest, relative to an unknown company. Again, work for a brand name company as soon as you possibly can, as early in your career as possible (unless youre an entrepreneur).   When youre young, youll need to rely on that brand name to save you from some ageism obstacles.   Even if you only spend a few years there, youll be able to get your next job much easier! How to associate yourself with other brands 1.   Create or join a media property. The easiest way to connect with other successful brands is to establish or join a media entity, such as your own blog, someone elses blog or a traditional media website.   Journalists dont make much money, but they do have some of the most lucrative networks, which can bolster their own brands.   You can do the same, by developing your own following through one or more sites.   The media property allows you to promote other people, thus building their brands and egos. 2.   Establish your own personal brand. When someone opens your email, would they recognize your brand name?   If they havent heard of you, then they might not even read it because successful people receive hundreds of emails a day.   By becoming known through your media property, the probability (especially if you target the right people) that they become familiar with who you are greatly increases. 3.   Write down the names of brands whose association you would benefit from. Again, a targeted approach is important, but youll also want to list really big names, as a stretch goal.   It will be easier to connect with people in your industry than random celebrities because youll have something in common (common ground). 4.   Reach out proactively, giving value first. Many people dont know how to network because of selfishness and by not understanding behavioral psychology.   Its all about whats in it for them, not me.   Most people will be taken by surprise, in a good way, if you do something for them first, before asking for anything in return.   This might include doing some free consulting work for someone else or interviewing them for your blog. 5.   Ask for an endorsement. You wont get anything, for the most part, unless you ask for it.   By being aggressive and asking for help, in the form of an endorsement, youll actually see results.   An endorsement could be for your work, your blog, your event, or just about your expertise. 6.   Use the endorsement to build your brand. People need to be able to locate the endorsement for it to matter.   I recommend that your most prominent endorsements go on your main page and that the other ones are more targeted.   For instance, if you threw an event and people commented about it, it should go in that section of your site.   If you received an endorsement for your work at a company, then it should be positioned as a recommendation on LinkedIn.   With permission, you should seek to use the logo or face of a corporate or personal brand because trademarks are powerful and they help bridge the association faster. 7.   Leverage the last endorsement to get the next one. Building a profile throughout your career is key.   To do this, start small and work your way up.   Its like getting an article published at a small media outlet and using that to get your next opportunity and so one.   Once you hit the pinnacle of media sites, then life becomes even easier!   Its easier to get new endorsements when you have a track record, which is the reason why your first endorsement or job or client is the hardest to obtain. 8.   Repeat this process, as you grow your own brand. What Ive discussed here is continuous, if you want to grow your brand.   Many of you wont receive high regards from Donald Trump right now, but if you work hard enough over a long period of time and follow this principle of brand by association, you just may, and that would certainly change your life.

How To Apply For Jobs Online

How To Apply For Jobs Online Click.Click. Click.This is the familiar sound you experience applying for a job, after job, after job, with basically nothing to show for all your time and effort.Are you sick and tired of applying for jobs online, wondering if anyone is even looking at your resume?In this article, learn how to apply for jobs online in 5 simple steps.(If you are unsure where to applyfor jobs, you might want to take a look at our article Where to Apply for Jobs Online before continuing.)Step One: Perfect Your ResumeThis is probably the last thing that you want to hear, so we won't spend a lot of time on it, but ...... it is absolutely crucial that you refineand optimizeyour resume for whatever type of job you are going after.This is your number one priority when learning how to apply for jobs online.Here's why:Over 95% of Fortune 500 companies use something called an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). This is a form of software that screens your resume. The ATS screening takes place before your resume r eaches the recruiter. If you don’t have the exact keywords on your resume that they are looking for, your resume may not even get a glance.You can find free online resume builder tools to help you craft a great resume.If you would rather leave it in the hands of a professional, contact us.We offer a professionalresume writing service.Here at Find My Profession, your employment success is our primary goal.(For more information on resumes, take a look at How To Write A Professional Resume.)Step Two: Don’t WaitHave you ever been led on by a recruiter or staffing agency?They give you a call, ask you all about yourself, and tell you about a position that you could “potentially” be a great fit for!So, you wait, and wait, and wait.Don't Wait on RecruitersMany recruiters mislead job seekers into believing that they will get a job.You think to yourself,“Oh, I spoke with a couple of recruiters who are trying to help me find a job, so I can relax now.”Unfortunately, that's not true . (And I betit hasn't even been working out for you, right?)The point is, don’t wait to hear back from that one person!Continue with your job search and applications.If a recruiter gives you a call, that same recruiter will likely call another 100 people by the end of the day.Make sure you are constantly applying for jobs online instead of waiting for a callback from a recruiter you spoke to a week ago.Don't Wait to Check Job BoardsHave you ever gone on a job board such as Indeed and seen a job posted sixdays ago that already has 100+ applicants?(Good luck landing that position.)At that point, the hiring manager is swamped with resumes.You can guarantee he/she will not be looking at all of them.What should you do about it?Beone of the first 10 applicants to apply for a job.Thisis absolutely crucial, and here's how to do it:Constantly checkthe job boards. Use their filters to find the most recently posted jobs. Apply to a few each day as soon as they come up.This is exactly how to apply for jobs online like a pro.Step Three: Apply in BulkThis step on applying for jobs online does not need much of an explanation.We covered this briefly in the “Don’t Wait” section.The main point is that you should not applyfor one or two jobs and then waitfor a callback.No recruiter or hiring manager is going to know how many jobs you have applied to online.Apply to as many relevant jobs as possible!This will only serve to increase your chances of landing an interview.It is the law of large numbers at work.This leads straight to the next section on how to apply for jobs online without wasting hours of time.Step Four: Quick ApplyQuick apply features are hugely helpful in the online application process!Not every company is going to have them, but for those that do, use them.What is quick apply?It is a feature that allows you to apply for a job in as little as one clickinstead of having to fill out an entire job application.Some online job boards that offer these features in clude:ZipRecruiter Indeed CareerBuilder The list goes on...However, in order to fully take advantage of these quick apply features, you want to know that your profileis top-notch on each of these job boards.Read on.(BTW, for a list of sites that will make your life easier, check out the 10 Best Career Sites To LandYour Dream Job.)Step Five: Invest Time in Your ProfileEvery job board will have you upload your resume so it can create your profile.The problem is, some of these job boards don't excel at making sure all of the content on your resume goes into the right places on the profile.Scroll down and you might find your education where your work history should goand your list of skills where your summary should go.With a potential job on the line, you don't want your profile all over the place.Makesure that your information is in the correct fields. Fill out each section of your profile with as much detail as possible.Spend these extra minutes creating a great profile and it will s ave you hours of filling out job applications.Get Help Applying for Jobs OnlineNow that you know how to apply for jobs online,what are you waiting for?There is no better time than the present!In closing, we want you to know that here at Find My Profession, we offer professional assistance in your job search.Let us help you land the perfect career with our resume writing servicesor career coachingpackages.

How To Compare Resume Writing Services

How To Compare Resume Writing ServicesResume writing services rates are a way to compare the price that an employer is going to charge for your service. In most cases you will find that it is much cheaper than you might have thought to get yourself into this business. In some cases the rates may be much more expensive than you expected.Typically the first step you need to take in order to do this is to post a job advertisement. It can be online or offline, but the first step is to get a proper price that you can use. You need to make sure that you take a look at all of the different services that are available and compare them as closely as possible in order to get the best deal possible.In most cases you will find that there are many different companies out there that offer resume writing services rates. Some of these companies are not really any better than the others, but they do offer a degree of competition in the market place. If you want to start from scratch, you should look at offering your own resume writing services. This means that you would have to take on all of the work yourself as opposed to hiring someone else to do it for you.When you are looking at your prices, you should also pay attention to what other people are charging for things like this. What you will find is that the price for some of the things that you need will be a lot more than other people. For example there are a number of things that you will need to send to potential employers in order to get a job. However, you can use these same things to help you make your prices lower.When you are looking at the resume writing services rates you will find that they can vary greatly. In some cases you will find that the rates are going to be in the hundreds of dollars. However, there is no reason that you should pay more than a couple hundred dollars for the same thing that someone else may be able to do for a lot less money. It can really make a difference when you compare your rates and make sure that you get the best deal.The rates that you find with the various service providers will be different because of the cost of materials and the work that are involved in preparing the document. You will also find that the costs that are associated with getting the resume written for you will be different as well. If you do not already have a copy of your resume you may need to get one of these created to get your rate up.One of the best ways to get the best deal possible is to compare the resume writing services that are out there. You will need to make sure that you are comparing apples to apples in order to get the best possible rates. While most of the companies that you will be using will be offering very similar services, you should still take a good look at what other companies are offering and you should compare them to each other as well.By comparing the resume writing services that are available you will be able to get a better idea of what the best options are for you. You will find that there are several different things that you can do for your job search that will cost a lot less than you may think. You should not let yourself get into a situation where you feel that you have to pay a lot of money to get a job.

Book review The customer comes second - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Book review The customer comes second - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog The title of this book is a deliberate provocation. After endless messages about putting the customer first, Hal Rosenbluth, CEO of Rosenbluth International, says you should put your people first and watchem kick butt. (Rosenbluth International is a world leader in corporate travel management, with over 5.000 people in more than 50 countries). The same principle works so well for Southwest Airlines, as described in the book Nuts!. And indeed there seems to be many similarities between the approaches taken by Southwest and Rosenbluth, and the results they achieve. Both companies enjoy huge financial success. They both lead their markets in quality of service and customer satisfaction. They both have a motivated, caring work force, willing to go very far for their customers, each other and the community. They both care deeply about people, and strive to make work a place where people learn, have fun and grow. They both hire people who have the right personality, and then train them to have the right skill. The book differs from the Southwest book in its structure, and has more of a how-to format. There are chapters on hiring people, on learning, on service and on partnerships. At the end of each chapter, the salient points are summarized. Many of Rosenbluths policies and methods probably work only for them, but many others could be lifted straight into most companies, where they would create instant benefits for both people and the bottom line. The book has very moving epilogue, that tells the story of how Rosenbluth handled events after 9/11. Their business literally disappeared overnight. Nobody was travelling anywhere. Decisive action was needed, and they had to fire hundreds of people. In my opinion, a companys commitment to its values are tested mostly in adversity. And Rosenbluth certainly demonstrated the strength of its commitment its people. When the layoffs and furloughs were announced, people reacted by voluntarily offering to work for less money. People who could afford it asked to be furloughed instead of colleagues who couldnt afford it. Leaders took pay cuts, so less of their people would have to be fired. And those who were laid off came by Hal Rosenbluths office in large numbers to thank him and the company for the good times. I have seen other companies in trouble, and believe me, this sort of behavior is not common. The epilogue contains several letters written by Hal Rosenbluth to his employees, and the dedication to the company and love for his people evident in those letters is truly moving. Rosenbluth recovered, and was soon able to bring back most of the people laid off. Which is what people had been working extra hard to achieve. I think theres a lot to learn from Rosenbluth International, and the way they do business, and this book makes it easy to learn from them. I recommend it highly! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Should You Have a LinkedIn Profile - CareerEnlightenment.com