How to Reach Out to Old Networking Contacts

How to Reach Out to Old Networking Contacts A lot of us live busy lives and its easy to lose touch with networking contacts; however you never know when you may want to call upon them so its important to maintain these ties. So how can you go about getting back in touch with these individuals? When reaching out to an old contact you dont want them to think you have an agenda, so its important that you make them feel valued and show genuine interest in them. Here are a few pointers for rebuilding a professional relationship. 1) Show interest in the individual If you launch straight in and ask somebody for something  after not speaking to them for years, theyre likely to feel a bit put out. Your initial  focus should be on reestablishing your relationship with them. Ask them how they are, what theyre doing these days and listen to what they have to say. By arranging to catch up with them properly over lunch or coffee and showing genuine interest in them, they are probably more inclined to want to help you out when you ask. 2) Maintain a social media presence When you initially make a business contact its always a good idea to connect with them on social media, as it makes getting back in touch a bit easier when youve been visible in each others online networks. By posting frequent updates you can keep yourself on the radar of your business contacts, so they are familiar with who you are when you make contact. You can also bring yourself to an individuals attention by engaging on their social media updates. 3) Be professional If you have merely a professional relationship with the individual try not to act too pally when you make contact. Its good to be friendly, but going overboard make come across as false and they may become suspicious about what you are after. 4) Remind them how you know each other If its possible that they may not remember how the two of you met, provide them with a little reminder in your initial message. Rather than outright suggesting that they probably will have forgotten you, just give mention to how you met, for example a project you worked on, or event you attended to remind them of the details of your relationship. 5) Be specific about what you want When it requesting something of an old contact, dont beat around the bush. If you are specific about what you are asking they are then able to make an accurate judgement about whether they are able to help you out and you will come across as more genuine if youre honest and open about what youre after. 6) Always follow up If youve reconnected with someone and theyre wiling to fulfil your request, its important that you show them the courtesy of replying to any questions they may have and send them a follow up message to thank them for their help. Theyve proven themselves as a valuable contact, so you want to maintain the relationship in the future. [Image Credit: Shutterstock]

Why You Need a Professional Resume Writing Service

Why You Need a Professional Resume Writing ServiceThe most important part of the Propasal resume writing services is that they ensure that your resume is sent to a specific employer. Some of the resume writing companies make sure that your resume is sent to a specific employer. The reason why this is the most important part of the resume writing services is because a resume writer has the power to actually land a job interview with a company.Resume writing services are in existence for a very long time now. However, the fact that the writer actually sends the resume is a novel concept. The writers of the services can also work around on the terms and conditions of the employers, so that you would have a lot of flexibility when it comes to getting a job.A modern resume is actually a compilation of a series of different documents. It consists of the cover letter, an employment application, a cover letter template, work experience statement, and a career plan. There are also some resume writing services that help the candidates to make changes to their resumes after a certain period of time. These services actually allow the candidates to make some changes in their resumes, which would be beneficial in the long run.The reasons why you need to use resume writing services is because you will not have to start from scratch and write your resume. You can also learn the ins and outs of the resume writing services in a short span of time. You would be able to determine what format the resume should be written in, how to list the information in the resume, what to include and what to leave out and more.Another reason why you need to hire a professional to do the writing work for you is because you can get the job without knowing anything about the subject. The resume writing services ensure that the candidate knows about the skills that he/she needs to possess in order to get the job. The resumes that are sent to employers are usually written based on the skills that the employer is looking for.When you hire a professional to do the writing for you, then the only thing that you have to do is to send the resume to the employer. The resume writers of the services can customize the resume according to the specifications of the employer. The resumes are actually sent to different places after you pay a certain amount of money.With resume writing services, you can choose from different options. You can either get the resume to be professionally typed or edited. A good resume service is always able to deliver the kind of resume that the employer is looking for.The professional resume is the one that allows you to land the job with ease. This means that the resume is tailored for the employer's requirements. The career placement services help you achieve this by being professional in their approach.

Are You Wearing Camo to Work And Dont Even Know It

Are You Wearing Camo to Work And Dont Even Know It In fifth grade I was given my first major research assignment; pick a sea animal and write a report on it. The week before we had prepared for this topic by watching videos on all types of sea life.   As a ten year old kid, it didnt surprise me why I ended up picking the octopus. I found them fascinating because they could reshape their bodies to squeeze through cracks, change colors at the blink of an eye, and squirt ink like a fountain pen on steroids. The octopus was my literal super hero of the sea. But of all the octopuses amazing abilities, one grabbed my eye more than the otherstheir ability to camouflage. For example, here we are swimming in the ocean.   Isnt that coral beautiful? I dont know something feels odd about this perfectly swaying coral lets get closer. Oh my goshwhy is this coral suddenly changing colors on me? My bad.   I was mistaken, its is an octopus. Awesome right? (Full Video here if you want to see it.) Maybe I still am a kid at heart, but it got me thinking about something. Are we not that much different than this majestic sea monster when it comes to our own behavior? Do we camouflage our true selves as we transition from life to work? Let me explain You wake up in the morning to make yourself breakfast before heading to work. Youre smiling as you read the latest updates of your favorite sites and wait for your bread to toast. You feel relaxed, at peace, like nothings going to stop you from having an awesome morning. Then fast forward to arriving at work. Now things are starting to change.   You feel a knot in your stomach from the stress. Your boss wants you to be more forceful and aggressive with people on the phone, even though its not in your nature.   You do it anyways. At lunch you are surrounded by people who could be described as sharks but you play nice and agree with their ideas out of fear of getting eaten alive for having an opinion against their norm. Later that afternoon your brain is hurting from hours of data entry which tends to bore and frustrate you.   If you had it your way youd outsource or delegate it and spend your time doing more productive work suited for your talents. But you focus on the job and get it done anyways. When 5:00pm arrives you feel a second wind coming.   Youre excited to go home where you can work on the model youre building, speak at your book club, or lead your team in slam dunks at Tuesday Night Hoops! So like thousands of other professionals across the world, at 5:00pm you take off your work face and put on your true faceyoure happy face. Why Do We Do It? Obviously wearing camo to work isnt easy.   We feel uncomfortable and stressed out of our mind, but we have to do it right? 1.   Survival Sometimes if you dont do your job a certain way, you may be in jeopardy of losing it.   So you adapt and evolve, stepping out of your comfort zone in order to get the work done. 2.   To Fit In We all know companies have a culture.   Hopefully your company fits your values, but sometimes there may be conflict.   Maybe its the competitive atmosphere, the strictness to rules, or lack of social interaction. Sometimes we have to be someone else just to fit in. 3.   Its In Our Nature We are conditioned at an early age to put on our camo when we leave the house. Remember your first few days at school?   I do. As a kid, I was a tyrant.   I would tease my sister, hit my brother, neglect my chores, but at schoolI was an angel. I knew out there I couldnt get away with certain things,   like I might at home.   I had to be on my best behavior, so I did. We instinctively carried that into our jobs. At home we were free to be ourselves, at work we were free to be what the company wanted us to be. Sometimes if you were lucky and wise enough to find the right job, it meshed and fit like a glove. Other times wellit was like visiting Hell. My Advice to All Camo Workers 1.   Understand Your Natural and Adapted Behaviors The best way to avoid spending your time at a job that goes against your natural behavior is to understand your natural and adapted behaviors. An excellent tool to do this are DISC and Values Assessments.   Heres a sample if you want to see what they will help you discover. 2.   Adapt Where Necessary, Avoid When Possible Not even people who work for themselves will spend 100% of their time doing stuff they enjoy or that falls under their natural behavior.   From time to time, we need to adapt, and it will do us well to learn this quickly. But if you find yourself constantly dancing from your true self to your camo self, youre in danger of major burnout or stress. When possible avoid situations or jobs that have you out of line with your natural behavior.   If the company culture has noticeable differences that conflict with your preferred style of working, look else where.   Youll thank me later. What Would An Octopus Tell You? Again, like the super hero of the sea, we flash into our camouflage when our instincts tell us we need to survive or fit in, but not even the octopus stays in this form for long. He could look like anything, yet if given a choicehe chooses to look like himself. image courtesy of Jennifer A. Villalovos

Why Everyone Hates Conference Calls

Why Everyone Hates Conference Calls I have never been great on the phone. I’m an extrovert and have no trouble with conversation in person, but I dislike talking on the phone. Absent the social cues and body language you get in person, every conversation feels awkward and stilted. People start sentences at the same time and continue talking long after the other person is ready to end the call. If I feel this way about personal conversations with family, just imagine how I feel about business conference calls. Conference calls are notorious for combining all the worst traits of meetings with the worst traits of slackers. In a face to face meeting, social pressure keeps people from openly shopping online or playing solitaire, but we’re free to surf the internet for new Grumpy Cat videos or cupcake recipes during conference calls. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'iI6AQ7tQSdJtBkhbIYDDZQ',sig:'gtOsmCpM9VS4ZHTIIl7wG2NIQIlQmY9jFMCIHDrLwMw=',w:'253px',h:'379px',items:'77741112',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); A 2014 survey from Intercall, an international conference call company, finds that more than 60 percent of respondents said they do other work or work on email while on a conference call. More than half the people on the line are eating, 20 percent are shopping, and 6 percent are taking another call. Over 70 percent of people cite a lack of participation by others as one of the biggest problems with virtual meetings. Despite the distractions, it looks like conference calls are here to stay. The use of virtual technology soared after 9/11, when all business travel was canceled for months after the terrorist attacks. A 2014 Wall Street Journal article says that time spent in audio conferences in the U.S. is expected to grow 9.6% a year through 2017. About 65 percent of all conferencing is still done by audio calls. Layering technology onto meeting dynamics sometimes slows a meeting down to a crawl as participants wait for Joe** (not his real name) to figure out how to access the webinar link, download the plugin or take himself off mute. People who join late still announce their names, so important discussions might be interrupted by a hearty “JOE” every time he accidentally drops the call and rings back in. We’re occasionally serenaded by on hold music for minutes at a time while Joe takes another call, not realizing that you can’t mute the hold music. Background noise becomes maddening as people type, cough or breathe heavily into the phone receiver. Those on their cell phones in their cars treat us to the sound of traffic or passing sirens, while those at home offer dog noises as a backdrop. When several people have their phones on speaker, you can get a maddening echo. And that’s all before we get down to the agenda. There are some ways to make the call more bearable for participants. Send out a clear agenda in advance and keep the meeting as short and organized as possible. If certain participants consistently have trouble speaking loud enough to be heard or sit too far from the phone, email or talk to them privately after the meeting to correct these issues. And maybe you should ask Joe to just send an email report next time. Click here for a hilarious short video on what a conference call would look like if it were held in a physical space.

Hiring a Resume Writing Service For Your Job Search

Hiring a Resume Writing Service For Your Job SearchWhen you are hiring a qualified executive with a fast paced lifestyle, it is best to hire a professional resume writing service. A service that specializes in writing the perfect resumes has the experience and contacts to ensure your job application is professionally written to perfection. You want a professional who understands the job search and how to make it enjoyable for you. That will give you the edge over other candidates that you may not be aware of.Hiring writing services can provide you with a great resume for you that is professionally done. In fact, most companies will take the time to create your very own resume that will tell the companies exactly what you have to offer. What does this mean for you? That means no matter what the job description is, the service will create a resume that is not only relevant, but that is unique to you.Hiring a writing service will help keep you from wasting your time doing things that yo u do not need to do not have the time to do. Often times, employers will put the same resume up for every job posting. This can turn off an employer as it can look too busy and hurried.To keep yourself from wasting your time in a fast paced job search, it is best to hire a professional, personalized, resume and cover letter writing service. It can take an experienced, creative resume writer about a day to complete a resume. That can take months to do by yourself. Having the resume produced can take a while, and most employers don't like a long resume either.When looking for a quality service to produce your resume, it is important to get a good reputation. That can be accomplished by using a reputable resume writer that has a good track record of producing high quality resumes. Here are some of the things you should look for:* The writer's website: Some writers will use a website to provide you with a brief overview of their resume writing services. Many times, the writer will list the contact information that can be accessed through the website. This can help you get in touch with the writer if you have any questions or concerns. You will also be able to get a better idea of the overall quality of the writer through their website.* The writer's ability to deliver your resume on time: If you are going to utilize a writing service, you want to make sure the service is capable of meeting your deadlines. You do not want to get a great resume, but then have to wait a few weeks before your resume is finished. If you have a specific deadline, make sure the company is in compliance with that deadline. If they are not, you should be able to find someone else who can meet your deadline.The best professional writers are often times more concerned with the quality of their work and delivering it on time. Hiring a professional service provider can help keep you from wasting your time in a search for a job. Many times, hiring the service instead of yourself will eliminate those time lost hours searching for a job.

Top 10 Tips for Writing your Perfect CV

Top 10 Tips for Writing your Perfect CV The next step for students after graduation is Employment. In order to get the coveted job, you need to prepare a resume These are the main points that must be specified in any CV:Full nameThe workplace at the moment, or the status of “Graduate / Student”LinkedIn Account Often, the employer indicates in the job ad â€" the skills that are required from the employee. If you meet the needs, be sure to include it in the summary. If other questions are asked never skip them and answer with truthfulness and sincerity.4. Have Atleast Three CVsResume 1 â€" Everything you’ve ever written about yourself. The whole experience of all jobs and all the achievements. This allows you to simply copy the desired section and use it to write the CV, for the specific position.Resume 2 â€" A template that contains only the most basic information about you. Name, qualifications, education, information that will not change in the foreseeable future. This template will be used as a template later.Resum e 3 â€" The same, that you will send to the employer. Take CV 1, enrich it suitably with the job information from the CV 2 and end up with a great resume that meets all the requirements.5. Sweet and shortevalThe employer reads hundreds of CVs and it’s really exhausting. Do not boast that you have scored a hat-trick in the final of the tournament “Leather Ball”, if it does not belong to the sphere of your activities.Try to keep within one A4 page. This advice applies only to professionals whose occupations,one way or another, are related to the creative and imaginative job. If you are a designer, creativity distinguishes you from the ruck.But if you file a resume for a position in finance industry or business, it is preferable to stick to a strict format.7. Strict format does not mean a boring oneThe rigor and restraint do not oblige you to write all exclusively with Times New Roman and a font size 10.Pick an interesting font for your name. Let it hook the attention. And then g o back to a more restrained design. Underline some key points and headings.8. To add a photo or not?evalThis is a discussion that does not necessarily have a conclusion. However, to add a photo in a CV is an additional risk, as the market is still full of conservative candidates who do not accept this format.In general, use the photos only if it is essential and your intuition tells you that this is the only right decision. Positions that require constant communication and cooperation with customers face to face definitely might require your photo.9. ReferencesIf it is possible include references from someone who was above you in the company you previously worked. This will give the employer the chance to evaluate you more objectively.10. Re-read your CV 5 timesAsk someone to check your resume for all types of errors. Read it once by yourself and later give to your friend to check if there are any grammatical errors, spelling mistakes or stylistic ones. The employer will take a perf ect CV for granted because if the person desires to get the job, they will be extremely attentive and responsible while presenting themselves.

Summary Sunday Fix Your Job Search

Summary Sunday Fix Your Job Search A job search is more complicated than applying to jobs Youll want to hone your networking, interviewing, self-promotion, and communication skills. Never fear! This weeks roundup has what you need to fix your job search and  build the skills youll need to be successful throughout your career. As always, Summary Sunday is where I share my favorite and most popular articles shared throughout the week! I hope youll find a new source of inspiration or information to help your career and job search! INTERVIEWING Recover From a Botched Answer During a Job Interview by Simply Hired Never leave an interview feeling defeated again! You CAN do something when you feel the interview  isnt going as well as you had hoped! JOB SEARCH 20 Job Search Questions You Were Too Embarrassed To Ask by Liz Ryan, Human Workplace | Forbes Remember, there is no such thing as a dumb question. But in case you were too embarrassed to ask, here are answers to your job search questions. CAREER How to Improve Your Conversation Skills â€" 10 Valuable Tips by Frank Sonnenberg | Frank Sonnenberg Online Solid reminders (or guidelines for first-timers) that will help you have better conversations! 5 Unique and Unexpected Places to Find a New Career Mentor by Levo League | YouTern Even if you arent looking for a mentor, these are great places to network and meet new people who can help your career! LINKEDIN The Value of Blogging Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn by Meg Guiseppi | Executive Career Brand Follow these 8+ tips to help you use LinkedIns blogging function to show subject matter expertise! MENTIONS I was thrilled to be asked to contribute to this article for Prevention. 5 Signs Youve Been In Your Job Too Longâ€"And How To Find A New One Youll Actually Enjoy

Can You Identify Your Single Greatest Accomplishment -

Can You Identify Your Single Greatest Accomplishment - Im working with a client whose documents include a note about a specific role that she performed in one of her positions. She indicates that this was her single biggest professional accomplishment. This led me to ask: How many of us can identify our single greatest professional accomplishment? Can you? What if someone asked you in an interview what work experience made you the most proud? Could you pick one? Maybe we are all too busy trying to identify our weaknesses to describe in an interview, when we should be focusing on the best things we have to offer. Think about itIf you dont know your greatest strength, who does? photo by ducktourer