Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

How to prove to employers you’re a catch

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http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-skills-word-sphere-ball-required-experience-job-career-to-illustrate-many-different-skillsets-knowledge-training-image35557201In a survey of millennials and hiring managers commissioned by Elance-oDesk and Millennial Branding, Jaleh Bisharat, Elance-oDesk senior vice president of marketing, and Dan Schawbel, Millennial Branding managing partner, showcase how professionals can thrive as millennials tip the scales as the largest workforce generation next year.

Bisharat and Schawbel offered the following analysis and suggestions for succeeding in the workforce:

1. Focus on hard skills. “A majority of hiring managers (55 percent) revealed they prioritize hard skills over personality (21%) when hiring,” Bisharat notes. “With the rapidly changing tech landscape and a persisting skills gap, it is more important than ever for businesses to find people with the specific skills they need to deliver results.”

Employers will appreciate your efforts. “Whether you’re a millennial or a more seasoned professional, there’s no excuse not to keep up to date on skills relevant in your field,” Schawbel adds. “With free and low-cost online learning platforms like Coursera and Lynda boasting courses ranging from Photoshop for beginners to the ins and outs of Bitcoin, a world’s worth of hard skills are at your fingertips.”

2. Be the change you want to see. Millennials are known for innovation. The survey notes that hiring managers believe millennials are open to change (72 percent), creative (66 percent) and adaptable (65 percent) – far outranking their Gen X counterparts for these desirable traits.

“Many companies still run up against the digital divide and shrink from pushing past the old way of doing things. That’s why, if you’re a millennial, you should play up your unique ‘digital native’ talents (real and perceived) to spur innovation on your teams,” Schawbel says. “Companies are hungry for new ideas, and while millennials are champions of change, all professionals should strive for adaptability.”

3. Prove you’re a team player. While they appreciate seeing specific “hard” skills on résumés, more and more employers are considering the work culture they wish to develop and seeking team players to create it. “Although millennials are seen as providing critical advantages thanks to their fresh thinking and entrepreneurialism, findings of our study showed that, when asked which generation was more likely to be team players, only 27 percent of hiring managers chose millennials rather than Gen X,” Bisharat explains. “This perception, whether reality or not, is a demerit that can slow career growth. If you’re a member of this youngest generation of professionals, make sure to develop teamwork skills to prove this impression wrong. If you’re a more established professional, be open to working closely with and mentoring millennials.”

4. Stand out as a “loyalist.” No doubt, employer loyalty is waning with good reason. All employees are realizing that they cannot count on a corporate entity to return the favor. Despite this, it’s helpful to be able to tap into your passion and interest for an organization. “Simply showing you are dedicated can help you build trust with your team and organization,” Schawbel says. “With 58 percent of millennials reporting they expect to be in their job fewer than three years, displays of loyalty will certainly nudge employers to invest in your professional future.”

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5. Consider alternative paths. While it’s great to be able to articulate and demonstrate your interest in a particular company, facts are facts. The majority of employees will not be able to expect to stay in one job for many years, and being agile and flexible enough to shift – even to an entrepreneurial path – will be key to success for many workers.

“Even if you venture out on your own, you will never be successful without involving others.” Bisharat explains. “Sara Horowitz, founder of Freelancers Union, believes freelancing is all about networking. She says, ‘Freelancing successfully means building a network to line up new gigs, passing assignments to others when things are busy and getting referrals from friends when they’re not.’ You never know when these connections will turn into opportunities down the road.”

Originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report.

Resume checklist

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new careerHere’s another post celebrating this being my seventh year of blogging. (Happy Birthday to KeppieCareers.com/blog!) This was one of my very first blog posts, offering a resume checklist, but I think it still makes key points about how to create an effective marketing document to help you land a new job for the new year.

Does your resume represent the best you have to offer?  When you read it, are you proud to say that it represents you? Does your resume need a make-over?  Review your resume with these tips in mind…

** Does your resume target your audience? **
Every job and each employer seeks a slightly different applicant.  Unless you are applying for the same exact job over and over again, you should not be sending the identical resume for every position.  Research your target organizations.  Use their buzzwords and lingo in your application materials.  (You can easily tweak a well written resume to appeal to different audiences, so don’t feel that you need to completely rewrite your resume for each new job.)

** Is your resume attractive, consistent, error-free and easy to read? **
Don’t underestimate how important it is to have a clear, error-free, visually impressive resume.  Does your resume look crowded with thick text blocks that may be difficult to scan?  Are you making strong use of bold to enhance your document, or are you overdoing it?  Did you use a resume template from your word processing software?  (Don’t!)  Since readers likely give your resume a 20-second glance, visual appeal is important.  If the reader notices careless spelling errors, it is not likely that you will land an interview.

** Do you DEMONSTRATE what you have to offer? **
Is your resume a laundry list of jobs you held, or does it engage the reader and demonstrate your skills and achievements?  You should quantify your value using percentages, numbers and specifics.  Your resume should highlight the positive impact that you had in previous jobs.  You want to convince the reader that you could do the same for them. If your resume is TARGETED, ATTRACTIVE and DEMONSTRATES what you have to offer, it will be more than a TAD above the rest!

Looking for a new job in the new year?

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new career

Time flies when you are having fun. It’s true! I realized this week is the seven-year anniversary of my blog. In celebration of the blog-aversary, I thought it would be fun to revisit my very first posts from seven years ago. I was surprised to find out that, while I wasn’t talking so much about social media in that first week of blogging, the advice I provided seven years ago is still sound and valid today.

Below is the text of my very first blog post. Do any of these statements resonate with you? If so, it’s probably time to start thinking about how you are going to make a change in 2015!

A new year is a great opportunity to reevaluate your career goals and decide if 2008 (or 2015) is the year that you’ll (finally) focus on finding a new job or career.

Is this your year?  Do any of these bullet points sound familiar?

  • You dread going to work. Thinking about your job gives you a twitch, or that familiar stress feeling in your neck.
  • You aren’t being paid what you are worth.  You need to make more money to support your lifestyle or family.
  • You have always dreamed (or at least thought about) a career in a different industry or setting.
  • Your work consumes you.  You are working so many hours that you don’t have time for anything else in your life, and you want more.
  • Your job is  having a negative impact on your health.

If any of these describe your situation, now is the time to plan for a move.  Although a job hunt may sound like a lot of work, with the right tools and attitude, you can successfully transition to a new job or career.  Stay tuned for more about how to get started!

Don’t make this major job search mistake

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job search mistakeHave you ever made a big job search mistake and wish you could have a “do over?” Unfortunately, there are no do overs when it comes to job search, so avoid career-ending mistakes before they derail your search. [Read more…] about Don’t make this major job search mistake

Resolve to be grateful

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treesAt this time of year, it’s natural to be thinking of making changes and starting new habits. Have you considered incorporating gratitude into your new year’s resolutions?

As an employee, whether or not your company incorporates being thankful into its mission, do you feel appreciated? Do you believe you should expect more than a paycheck?

Bryan Miles, CEO and co-founder of eaHELP, a provider of virtual executive assistants, knew he wanted “gratitude” to be featured prominently in his company’s values. Here are his suggestions for all leaders and employees to consider this week and all year long:

1. Don’t wait to be grateful. Regardless of your position in an organization, cultivate gratitude as a core part of your work. “Don’t wait until you’re leading a team, a division or a company to become a grateful leader,” Miles says. “If you do, when you start telling people you’re grateful for them once you’re in the position you want, people won’t buy it.” He suggests you make sure those around you right now understand that you’re grateful for the many ways they help you each and every day.

2. Be humble. Miles believes that if you’re a leader, you know down in your gut that what you’re leading doesn’t have much to do with you. He suggests you acknowledge that you’ve achieved your role, in part, because your team works hard and takes advantage of market opportunities. “Your team looks to you for leadership and for guidance, but when it comes down to the day-to-day wins and losses that actually make up your business, you need to know that those don’t have much to do with you,” Miles says. “You need to be grateful for the team that powers the engine of your business.” Similarly, as a team member, recognize your role in ensuring your team continues to move forward. Be grateful for everyone around you, and don’t be shy about expressing appreciation.

3. Acknowledge that your success depends on others. Being a grateful employee will make you a smarter employee. Admitting that you don’t know everything and that everything you’ve ever learned that’s made you successful has come from someone or something else helps improve your standing in a team. “Being grateful for those from whom you’ve learned is essential if you want to stay humble and teachable and will actually propel you forward in your career,” Miles says.

4. Be sincere. In many cases, being grateful can be disarming. As a leader or a team member, when you are thankful and express it – sincerely and frequently – it will often make people stop in their tracks. “Genuine gratitude is pretty rare in today’s society, which is a shame, but expressing real gratitude sets people apart,” Miles says. If you lead a team, your employees will know when your gratitude is genuine, and they are more likely to put in extra effort. “Grateful leaders have stronger, more effective, more loyal teams,” he says. As an employee, demonstrating gratitude can help set you apart from others in your organization.

Consider how being appreciative at work and expressing those feelings to all team members can help make your organization more successful. When you do, you give the people who work with you even more reasons to be thankful – at Thanksgiving and all year long.

Miles says this approach has helped contribute to the success of his organization. He believes his success could very well end, should he fail to incorporate gratitude for those around him. “Gratitude is the only lasting motivator of change,” he says. “It’s the only thing that will propel you to change in the future, if you’re grateful for what you have now.”

This post originally appeared in U.S. News & World Reports.