Tuesday, January 09, 2007

21st Century Career Success

21st Century Career Success
by: Michelle Casto
21St Century Career Success
When it comes to modern career development, one thing we can all count on is change. With the advent of technology, telecommuting, and E-commerce, how work is performed is in a state of reinvention. Self-employment and small business development will become more the norm than big business. And career changes will be more frequent due to rapidly changing organizations and industries. Finally, the line between one’s personal and professional life will become even more blurred. Since the modern world of work is rapidly changing to keep up with the demands of our fast-paced lives and lifestyles, here are some characteristics of what the new work contract will look like:
§Seeking more meaning from work.
§Equating “career success” with personal satisfaction over paycheck or status.
§Everyone will need their own “name-brand.”
§Increased use of technology.
§Finding work that needs doing.
§Changing in the way management and leadership is conducted (less arrogance at the top level, more power on lower levels).
§Increased need for networking and self-marketing.
§Lifelong “trying on” of various roles, jobs, and industries.
§Creating a plan that is flexible, and continually assessing the “fit” of the work.
§Increased representation of women and minorities in the workforce.
§Changing career fields numerous times in a lifetime.
§Self-responsibility: Everyone knowing they have to chart their own career direction.
However, the 21st century career also offers many advantages:
§More career opportunities for everyone.
§Freedom to choose from a variety of jobs, tasks, and assignments.
§More flexibility in how and where work is performed, i.e. working from
home or telecommuting.
§More control over your own time.
§Greater opportunity to express yourself through your work.
§Ability to shape and reshape your life’s work in accordance with your values and interests.
§Increased opportunity to develop other skills by working in various industries and environments.
§Self-empowerment mindset.
§Allows you to create situations or positions where you can fill a need in the world that is not being filled.
§Opportunity to present yourself as an independent contractor or vendor with services to offer.
How can you successfully navigate through the turbulent times of change and career uncertainty? By developing resiliency, exercising proactivity, creating excellent self-marketing tools, keeping your skills up-to-date, and finding your unique life balance.
1.Develop resiliency (the ability to bounce back).
Having the right attitude about career change is imperative to your ability to bounce back from setbacks, sudden changes, and twists and turns along your career path. You will experience a lot of career change and transitions, so you may as well get comfortable feeling uncomfortable.
2.Take a proactive approach to your career development
You must constantly be on the lookout for new ways to apply your gifts and talents in the new economy. This requires thinking creatively, actively promoting yourself/business, and being actively involved in how your career progresses. Staying involved in professional associations, and continuous networking are excellent ways to connect with other like-minded professionals.
3.Create first-rate marketing materials
Always keep your resume current. You never know when you are going to want to share it with someone or pass it along. If you are in business for yourself, develop classy business cards and letterhead. Harness the power of the internet by developing an interactive website.
4.Commit to lifelong learning
To keep earning, keep learning. Do not wait until you lose your job or want to look for another position to gain new skills or training. Recognize the need to be open to learning and attend classes related to your area of expertise to keep your skills sharp and marketable. Keep in mind the top skills needed for career success include:Communication, Computer-knowledge, Creativity, Customer Care
5.Find your unique life balance
There are four dimensions to life: love, labor, leisure, learning. Remember that work is just one aspect of your life pie. Be sure to indulge in all of your areas. Because having an overall balanced life is what leads to the most fulfillment.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle L. Casto, M.Ed. is a Whole Life Coach, Speaker, and Author of the Get Smart! LearningBook Series: Get Smart! About Modern Romantic Relationships and Get Smart! About Modern Career Development. She can be reached at coach@getsmartseries.com
Visit virtually: www.getsmartseries.com and www.brightlightcoach.com

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Resume Quick Tips

Resume Quick Tips
Use Your Nickname on Your Resume
Keep Negativity Off Your Resume
Keep Your Kudos to Update Your Resume
Keep Your Resume with You
Develop Transferable Skills by Taking on New Tasks
Address a Layoff on Your Resume
Write Strong Letters of Reference
Make an Application Cheat Sheet
Fill in the Gaps on Your Resume
Include Volunteer Experience on Your Resume
Tailor Your Response to the Job Posting
Use Your Monster Apply History to Follow Up
Spring Cleaning for Your Resume
Emphasize Accomplishments on Your Resume
Get Written References
Convert Your Monster Resume to Word
Group Temp Assignments on Your Resume
Use Proper Cover Letter Salutations
Keep Your Web-Based Resume Professional
Use Your Review to Update Your Resume
Keep Your Resume's Tone Positive
Reduce Resume Redundancy
Put Your Resume to the 10-Second Test
Don't Lose Your Resume
Follow Up After Rejection
Prepare Your Reference List
Use Universal Fonts in Word
Be Honest About Being Fired
Are You Search-Worthy?
Cover Letter Templates
Smart Subject Lines
Add a Line About Your Layoff
Number Usage
Resume Rule: Be Honest
Prioritize Achievements
What's Your Career Goal?
Are You Ready for the Scan?
Resume Title Hint
Resumes and Interviews
Say Yes to Relocation
Find the Right Size
Careful with Capitalization
Reap the Benefit of Awards
Keep Your Resume Ready
Professional with Personality
Salutation Solutions
Mr. or Ms.?
Enough Is Enough
Propose to Employers
Renew Your Resume
Your Career Objective
Create Strong Titles
Resume Reorg
Burned by a Past Employer?
Keep It Confidential
Cover Letters & Email
Research for Your Resume
Show No Tracks
Show Your Stuff
Stay in the Now
Tailor to the Opening
Type for Today
Resume Upload Pointer
Use the Active Voice
Working Job Fairs?

The Multipronged Job Hunt

The Multipronged Job Hunt
The other day, Monster interviewed Dick Bolles, author of the annual bestseller, What Color Is Your Parachute. The interview itself is still in production, but in the interest of all you new year’s job hunters out there, one point is worth highlighting prior to the interview’s posting: The more job-hunting methods you use, the more successful you will be, up to a point. Use more than four methods and success rates start to fall.





Job hunters have many methods from which to choose. Bolles reports 16 in total. Among them are: mailing out resumes; answering local want ads; going out to private employment agencies; using the Internet; and asking friends, family or people in the community for job leads.




As if in recognition of that fact, Monster too has added another method for job hunters -- newspapers. Just last week, Monster and the Times Publishing Co., owner of the St. Petersburg Times, announced the introduction of combined online and print recruitment services for employers and job seekers in the Tampa Bay area. That agreement is one of several recent strategic media alliances. To date, Monster has forged relationships with seven media companies that represent 45 daily newspapers and eight television properties.





Yes, Monster’s actions seem to tell us, job-hunting's going back into print.





But Monster’s move is an indicator less of the stand-alone value of print and more of the value of multiple methods when job hunting. After all, it’s not just through print and online listings that Monster helps job seekers. Monster’s community boards can act like job-hunting clubs, Monster users can provide job leads, and Monster Career Advice articles can assist seekers in figuring out what they want and how to get it.





And if you’re a smart job seeker, you’ll follow Monster’s lead and start taking a multipronged job-hunting approach yourself.





Bonne Chance.

Filing Your Taxes: Using a Tax Preparer

Filing Your Taxes: Using a Tax Preparer
The decision to use a professional tax preparer is a matter of personal choice. People use tax preparers for a variety of reasons:

They have a complicated tax situation.
They get frustrated or stressed out doing their taxes.
They don't have time to do their taxes themselves.
Selecting a tax preparer is no different from choosing a mechanic or dentist. There are a few common sense guidelines to follow:

Get referrals from friends.
Check the Better Business Bureau or your local Chamber of Commerce to see if there have been any complaints lodged against the preparer.
Ask for references, and contact them.
Make sure the preparer or company will be around after tax season ends. Just as you want to be sure that your mechanic is still in business in case anything goes wrong with your car after repair, your tax preparer should be there in case there is a mistake.
Your tax preparer should carry liability insurance.
The following is a list of questions the IRS recommends asking a tax preparer:

What tax services are offered?
Who will be preparing my tax return?
Do you offer additional services, like financial planning?
How many tax returns do you prepare each year?
Do you have references I may see and follow up on?
What is your experience with audits? If I am audited, will the person who did my taxes handle it? What percentage of your clients have been audited? Will you still be around after the tax season?
Do you specialize in any tax areas?
How aggressive are you when it comes to finding ways to reduce my federal tax bill?
Have you ever been fined or penalized with respect to tax returns you prepared and filed?
What is your educational background in taxes?
Do I pay you by the hour or a flat fee?
Finally, after you've selected a preparer, make sure you have all of your records organized and accessible when you meet. It will make the process go more smoothly.

The purpose of this article is to both provide information and facilitate general dialogue about various employment-related topics. No legal advice is being given and no attorney-client relationship created. Please see the disclaimer for further limitations and conditions.

Five Lifestyle Resolutions to Boost Your Interview Skills

Five Lifestyle Resolutions to Boost Your Interview Skills
by Thad Peterson
Monster Staff Writer

If you've resolved to get a new job this year, you'll likely end up at an interview or two along the way. Here are five good habits you can develop to help you interview successfully.

Read More

While you should definitely stay current in your field, keeping up with the larger world can only help you when interviewing. A big part of interview success is connecting with people, and one of the best ways to do so is by finding common interests and knowledge. The more you expand your own interests and knowledge, the greater chance you'll find that connection point with an interviewer.

Furthermore, in an ever-shrinking world, everything is interconnected. "I think in order to truly understand a company's business problems, you have to understand that company's position in the world," says Steve Fogarty, senior staffing partner at public relations agency Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. "As an interviewer, when I feel that a candidate is well-read and does pay attention to what's going on broadly, they rank higher than candidates that don't."

A few publications to pick up regularly: the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Financial Times and BusinessWeek. Fogarty also suggests listening to NPR or the BBC during your commute.

Be Curious

How many times have you failed to look up an unfamiliar word? Now's a good time to get into the habit. Install Merriam-Webster's online toolbar on your computer if necessary. And when someone uses a word you don't understand, ask for an explanation or do an Internet search on it later.

"There are opportunities to learn all around you all the time," Fogarty says. "If you think about the smartest people around you, they're people that ask the best questions. They're not the people that have the answers all the time. Asking questions everywhere you go is a way to learn a lot and bring a lot to an interview."

Practice Your Communication Skills

Fogarty says you can build your skills by putting yourself in situations that force you to try to communicate well. "The more you can volunteer to do public speaking, the better, because that's really what's going to make you feel comfortable in an interview -- the ability to articulate in front of a group," he says. "Even though the interview may be one-on-one, I think it has a lot of the same feeling."

He also recommends taking a communications class. Fogarty -- who considers himself an extrovert and a natural communicator -- took his own advice. His instructors videotaped him and pointed out subtle tendencies he never knew he had. "Just because you're comfortable at doing something definitely doesn't mean you're good at it," he says.

Lastly, ask a recruiter or even a family member to interview you, and record it to listen to later. You might be surprised at how you come across.

Observe Others

We've all happened upon people who have an unusual knack for communicating well. Observe them carefully. What sets them apart? Is it the way they use their voices? Their hands? Their words? Fogarty notes that the best communicators are great storytellers. So next time you're listening to a good story, analyze what makes it enjoyable, and see how you can apply these principles in your next interview. Conversely, note what makes people ineffective communicators, and avoid those habits.

Observe Yourself

A massive detriment to career success is that "people are very unaware of how they act," Fogarty says. "This is where I think a lot of people struggle in life in general. We're all guilty -- every single one of us. I think you should solicit feedback at every opportunity that you can. If you think you irritated someone, find out why. Right or wrong, it's perception. You could be conveying something unknowingly."

Constantly work at finding out how people perceive you. "I think it makes you a better interviewee over the long haul if you're getting feedback about how you're conveying yourself," Fogarty says. "Figuring out ways to let people give honest, hard feedback and always thanking them for it is important."

Is Starting Your Own Business the Answer?

Is Starting Your Own Business the Answer?
by Susan Bryant
Monster Contributing Writer

Scott Stropkay decided to start his own business soon after leaving a good position for what seemed to be an even better one. After rumors that the division he was hired into would be sold, Stropkay was laid off, and his career path was left at a crossroads.

Having always been interested in pursuing his own business, Stropkay took the entrepreneurial plunge and started Essential Creativity, a Boston product design and consulting company. "The way I see it, the best chance at job security I can have is to work for myself," he says.

Whether starting your own business is something you've always dreamed of or it's one option after an unexpected layoff, there are several points to consider before striking out on your own. Jan Norman, small-business newspaper columnist and author of What No One Ever Tells You About Starting Your Own Business, offers wisdom gathered from the 101 successful entrepreneurs she's interviewed.

A New Business Is Like a New Baby

If you're a parent, you know how your baby changed your life in ways you never anticipated. You may have envisioned parenthood one way, only to learn how different reality can be. The same principle applies to your startup. Your new "baby" needs constant attention and will keep you up at night. But with your commitment, time and energy, it will grow and hopefully make you proud.

Entrepreneurial Interests Don't Equal Success

You may be absolutely passionate about your professional interest, but if the rest of the world yawns at your proposition, your business should probably remain a hobby, not an income source.

Do people want your service or product? Do you have the interest and ability to constantly market it to new consumers? Your passion and skill form the foundation of your startup, and your business skills must carry it to success.

Not Everyone Is an Entrepreneur

Can you live with uncertainty? Can you delay gratification? Are you persistent? Can you bounce back after disappointment? Can you find creative solutions to problems? Are you in good health? Starting your own business is, quite literally, not for the weak of heart. Entrepreneurs need stamina to persevere in the face of the setbacks and failures they will inevitably face. Be honest about your desire to live the life of a not-yet-successful businessperson.

Even the Boss Takes Out the Trash

Working for yourself can be liberating -- no boss to answer to or office gossip to listen to. But there's also no receptionist to screen your calls, no cleaning service to tidy up your office and no technical support staff to solve your computer glitches. New entrepreneurs often neglect to prepare mentally for the unwanted roles they must take on to keep their businesses up and running. If your ego can't handle the small stuff, you may have problems adjusting to this new identity.

It's Going to Cost You

Starting a business can be a huge financial drain until you become profitable. Think seriously about whether you have enough money saved to survive without an income for one or two years. If you have a spouse or partner, discuss how you will handle this financial change. Not only will you be spending a great deal of money on this new venture, but you will also be spending a great deal of time on it. If you don't have support and encouragement from the important people in your life, your startup may be a lonely, uphill battle.

Despite such challenges, Stropkay's company is doing well. His client list is growing, he's added staff, and most importantly, he's making money.

And the company's future growth? "Actually, if we can make it now when times are tough, there's no stopping us when the economy inevitably recovers," Stropkay says, illustrating the most important entrepreneurial trait of all -- optimism.

What Will You Be Paid in 2007?

Salary Outlook 2007
Once Again, Real Pay Will Only Tread Water
by John Rossheim
Monster Senior Contributing Writer

With stock indexes reaching all-time highs in 2006, won't there be something for employees to get excited about as they open their 2007 paychecks? Not unless they're executives, who, as usual, will do better.

Base pay for the average worker, projected to increase 3.7 percent or so, will be basically flat after discounting for inflation, according to a consensus of salary surveys. And performance-based bonuses -- these days an anticipated financial shot in the arm for most of us, not an extra -- aren't expected to increase substantially.

"We've seen no real wage gains for most Americans over the past few years," says Sylvia Allegretto, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. "It looks like inflation might be 4 percent in 2007, so if workers get a 3.5 percent increase, they're still falling behind. The economy's expanding, workers are extremely productive, profits are at record highs, but from 2000 to 2005, real earnings were down about 3.5 percent."

It's no help that in the second half of 2006, economic growth slowed significantly. "The construction and housing bubble has been pricked, if not deflated," says Joseph Kilmartin, director of compensation at Salary.com.

Still, pay increases for those who exit and enter companies or receive promotions are often better than those in aggregate statistics, according to Steven Gross, a senior compensation consultant with Mercer Human Resources Consulting in Philadelphia.

Variable Pay: Nothing New Here

Though the trend leveled off several years ago, employers and their consultants portray performance-based pay as the up-and-coming compensation component that will help make up for the meager salary increases most workers will see in 2007. A statement accompanying a compensation survey from human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates begins: "As base pay increases remain stable for 2007, more companies are relying on variable pay -- performance-related awards that must be re-earned each year."

However, the same survey reveals that participation of US companies in variable-pay plans has been essentially flat from 2001 -- when the proportion stood at 81 percent -- to 2006 at 80 percent.

Variable pay as a percentage of total payroll budget has actually declined slightly from 11.4 percent in 2005 to 11.2 percent in 2006 and a projected 11 percent in 2007, according to Hewitt.

So workers should take performance-based pay as a given and evaluate how their employers' bonus packages compare to the competition. According to Mercer, the most common forms of variable monetary rewards beyond the annual bonus are spot cash awards, project milestone awards and signing bonuses.

Pay in Many IT Occupations Struggles to Keep Pace with Inflation

In the information technology field, starting salaries will rise 2.8 percent in 2007, according to staffing firm Robert Half Technology. Such an increase, trumpeted as evidence of healthy demand for IT workers, might not even be enough to keep pace with inflation.

"Some technology occupations with stronger salary growth are being offset by others with lower growth," says Katherine Spencer Lee, Robert Half executive director.

Indeed, there will be substantial variation in 2007 pay increases across IT occupations, according to Robert Half's projections. While Web developers will receive an average hike of 4.2 percent, starting help-desk workers will see their pay rise just 0.8 percent, or an average $250, to $37,000. Offshoring of help-desk services is a likely contributor to these feeble wage increases.

In Salary.com's survey of salary budget increases, technology jobs garnered most of the good news. Professionals working in computer and electronics manufacturing, computer systems design, and scientific and technical services all are expected to see raises of 4 percent to 5 percent.

Executives Still Garner the Biggest Salary Increases

More old news is likely to continue making headlines in 2007: High-ranking employees are the most likely to receive relatively large merit increases.

For example, in Mercer's analysis of the 2006 distribution of employers' performance-rating systems, 38 percent of executives scored in the highest category, while only 22 percent to 24 percent of staff professionals and workers in clerical, administrative, production and service roles placed in the top band, which is tied to the biggest percentage raises.

"Higher-level positions are more visible," explains Gross. "If executives don't produce, they have a greater chance of being fired."