How to Take the First Step Towards Changing Your Career (Its Never Too Late)

How to Take the First Step Towards Changing Your Career (Its Never Too Late) You’ve had it with your current career path. You’ve assessed your priorities and decided it’s time to make a change. You have an idea of what you’d like to do next with your career. Everything’s looking good until a little voice pipes up in your brain, “But what if I’m too old to change careers?” Doubt creeps in. You start to question the plausibility of the switch, the reaction of hiring managers, maybe even your own ability to do something different. Before you go too far down the rabbit hole of concern and worry, let’s take a step back and get some perspective.  The first thing to realize is that you’re having a normal reaction to the idea of making a change. Changing careers means going from something that you are familiar with to something that is an unknown. Things that are unknown bring up fear. It’s not that the change is necessarily dangerous, it’s just that fear comes up as a warning anytime we venture somewhere new, signaling us to pay attention and be alert. As a career change specialist, I can tell you that every client I’ve ever worked with has felt fear during the career change process. While your fears may be taking the bent of being concerned about your age, if you drill down you’ll probably see that the real fear that is coming up is around the overall change you’re considering. This is normal, and there are a couple of strategies you can use to work through these fears. Get More Information You can take time to get more information about the career path you’re considering, which takes the unknown and makes it more familiar (meaning less scary). Talk to people in the field or attend industry events to get real world perspectives on what you’re considering. Often when my clients take this step they get a boost of confidence, because they realize that they are capable of doing the jobs that others are describing. Start with small, test steps Another helpful strategy is to break down career change process into smaller steps to hedge your risk. For example, if you wanted to become a teacher, you could take an initial step of doing some volunteer mentoring work with kids after school. Once you had that experience under your belt, you’d be more ready to move forward (if it’s a good fit). Or you’d be able to course correct without too much trouble if you wound up disliking this new type of work. Lean on Past Life Lessons and Courage One last technique is to think back to past times in your life when you were scared of a change, but you saw it through anyway. Draw strength and courage from these memories, and adopt any relevant lessons of what helped you before to your current situation. Now that you know how to address the underlying fears that come up around career change, let’s look to your motivation by considering the big picture of the life you want to be living. When we focus on the short term effort that will be involved in a career change, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. In the moment it may seem easier to stay put, particularly if you get home from work and have the choice of expending energy towards your goals or watching your favorite television show. In the short term taking a break always sounds more appealing. But let’s pause for a moment and take the long view. You only have so much time in your life. This, right now, is your shot to live it. If you stood at the end of your life and looked back, what would have mattered more to you? Feeling comfortable in the moment? Or taking some courageous actions that altered the course and meaning of your life for the better? Surely you’d prefer the latter. The years are going to pass independent of your actions. If you had started five years ago, you would be somewhere different now. And if you start now, you’ll be somewhere different five years from now. Remember that life is meant to be lived. And living well means stepping outside of your comfort zone every now and again. When you take those chances, you give yourself the opportunity to learn and grow, and ultimately to live a richer life. You have the power to make choices about your career direction. These choices may not change your life overnight, but they really are yours to make. If you choose to stay put for valid reasons, that’s fine. But if you’re choosing to stay put because of fear or inertia, please re-consider. It’s never too late to change your career for the better.

Rules for Assuming the Sale - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Rules for Assuming the Sale - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career You may have previously been advised to “Assume the sale”. The implied characteristics of doing so are to speak with confidence and assume you will get the sale as you begin to meet with your clientele until otherwise notified. However, along with the advice come inherent problems. The #1 error made by most businesspeople is making assumptions. There is a fine line between assuming a sale and assuming thoughts about the client-to-be throughout the sales cycle. In fact, assuming and not asking is usually the cause of losing the sale. The reason assumptions of “He won’t be interested in…” or any other negative thought will not work is because you lose the inside track of what your clients are truly thinking. So how do you balance assuming the sale and not making assumptions? 1. Begin the conversation with an open mind. After the small talk, learn why you were invited in by posing the question. A problem must exist otherwise, you would not be granted the time of day. 2. Lead the conversation. In logical order ask many questions pertaining to the answer of why you are there. As you receive answers and they stimulate ideas, ask questions regarding the answers received. This methodology demonstrates you are interested and care about the prospective client’s situation. As you desire to present additional ideas, pose questions such as, “Would you be interested in…?” See where the conversation leads you by continuing the QA. Your leadership style will speak volumes on your behalf. 3. Develop likeability and trust. Should there be a lack of clarity on a particular topic, ask for further explanation. The client-to-be will embrace your honesty and begin to like and trust you. The relaxed conversational style of being curious and offering creative ideas through questions will have you perceived as a trusted partner. As you develop this enviable position, another phenomena will occur. Your partner across the desk will begin confiding in you. That person will reveal his private thoughts about the company and sometimes even his personal goals. By speaking to his insights privately and with understanding, the size of the sale may well increase in value. While this all sounds promising, there are still hurdles to overcome in the process. Most prospective clients will want you to prove to them they can trust you completely by asking for information requiring research on your part. They want to know you are reliable and may count on you after the sale is made. The worst mistake made by most sales professionals is assuming that the tiny piece of information does not play a factor in the scheme of things. WRONG. Portraying professionalism every step of the way including following up with the request in a timely manner as promised is precisely what will secure the sale. Consider the question “If you assume the sale and know it is yours to keep, then why would anyone take a chance by not delivering on the promised follow up?” As you develop your unique methodology for meeting with prospects and clients they will take keen interest in you and the personal brand of “trusted partner” that you portray. The concern and care you display will have heads turned and sales more easily made. And the trust you built will serve you well in earning repeat business, referrals and testimonials leading you to a lucrative business or career. In conclusion, lose the assumptions while assuming the sale and you too will enjoy the Smooth Sale! For further sales and business development advice, Register for our online Summer Sales School roster of classes. Author: Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC, (800) 704-1499, was honored by Open View Labs with inclusion in their international list of “Top 25 Sales Influencers for 2012.” Elinor authored the International Best-Selling book, “Nice Girls DO Get the Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results”, Sourcebooks and the best selling career book, “HIRED! How to Use Sales Techniques to Sell Yourself On Interviews”, Career Press. She provides team sales training, private coaching and highly acclaimed inspirational keynotes for conferences. Elinor is available for consultation.

Personal Branding Weekly - Servant or Salesperson - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Weekly - Servant or Salesperson - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career To this day, the term “used car salesperson” still conjures up a specific persona that many feel is a very negative way to describe someone.   The generalizations around this title are “pushy, fast talking, aggressive, high pressure, deceptive, rude, pesky, annoying” (and these descriptions came up quickly on the first page of a Google search for used car saleperson). Let me be clear.   I used to sell cars for a living â€" many moons ago.   I know these are generalizations that don’t hold true for every single car sales person or used car salesperson.   The truth is that the term is still used to describe and embody a person who possesses those adjectives listed above. Today, the used car salesperson was my waiter at a restaurant. He aggressively demanded from us whether we would order dessert.   He asked 12 times in a row, in a way that several at the table described him as an “angry man”.   He then again picked up our ticket and said “I’m going to close this out so you better tell me if you want dessert. “ Then proceeded to shout at each of us different desserts we should each have.   To be clear, we just enjoyed a large meal so it’s not like we were just sipping water and tea and using up valuable   table space.   We just spent a bunch and were chatting amongst ourselves when he continued to bother us every 5 minutes in a very aggressive to almost “mean” tone.   Mind you, there were about 15 other open tables in the restaurant so we were not over staying our welcome. Contrast this with another waiter who attended to us who was kind, answered our questions, helped with recommendations and genuinely and generously served us. It was such a sharp contrast that I immediately thought â€" that’s a good question to ask, are you a servant or a sales person (a used car salesperson to be exact). Are you so focused on your goals and agenda when connecting with or meeting someone that you overrun the conversation and push through the other person to get to your goals? Or, do you listen, respond, provide assistance and clarify concerns? If one of your connections were asked to describe you, what words would show up? Sometimes we are so focused on our own agenda that we forget that there’s another person or other people we’re working with and need to consider. To help, here are three things to make note of that will help you see your true personal brand: 1. Notice how people introduce you. Or, just ask how they would describe you if they were introducing you to someone. Pay attention to what words they use to describe you or even if they use no words and toss you the responsibility of introducing yourself since they really don’t know enough about you to describe who you are. 2. Notice how others react to you. Do they tend to shy away? Do they seem irritated when they interact with you (not just one person but do you observe this reaction with several different people)?   Do others share and recommend you to their close circle? 3. Notice what you say. What words are you saying?   When was the last time you heard how you spoke to others? There are several factors to consider to know if your brand is seen as a servant or the negative side of sales â€" there’s more to consider here. This week we focused on: SnapChat CEO Reveals Secret Behind Disappearing Function  by Nance Rosen Avoid Becoming a Workaholic  by Ceren Cubukcu Penetrating the Hidden Job Market  by Alex Freund Strategies to Improve Calls and Increase Sales  by Elinor Stutz Improv Everywhere: An Interview with Charlie Todd  by Bill Connolly Lead Positive: An Interview with Dr. Kathryn Cramer  by Bill Connolly Does College Make Financial Sense? Part 2  by Richard Kirby Having a Center of Influence Plan  by Eddy Ricci How Strong Is Your Personal Brand?  by Maria Elena Duron What Can Baseball Teach Us About Business  by Jeff Shuey Traditional Affirmations Don’t Work â€" Do This Instead  by Skip Weisman 6 Steps to Scoring a Promotion in the Next 30 Days  by Glassdoor 5 Steps to Making the Best Connections  by Heather Huhman Stop Striving for Perfection!  by Beth Kuhel A Major Obstacle to Growing as a Leader  by Dr. Paul White What Does Your Resume Say About Your Age  by Marc Miller

Personal Finance for Young Adults

Personal Finance for Young Adults Personal finance is often a tricky subject for people of all ages. As a young adult in your teens or twenties, it’s important to get a solid grasp of personal finance right now in order to avoid common mistakes. Young adulthood is a critical time of development, and you have the potential to set yourself up for a lifetime of financial success by following these guidelines. Pay Off Debt Early If you’re a college student, it’s likely that you’ve already taken out student loans. The average college student graduates with approximately 30,100 dollars of debt to pay off. If you know that you’ll be responsible for paying off your own student loans, make every effort to start minimizing the debt as soon as possible. If you plan to work part-time in college, start making small payments towards your loans in order to make a sizable chunk in the debt even before you’re finished with school. Start Saving Now Unfortunately, studies have shown that Americans have a hard time setting aside money for the future. Of 7,000 people polled, 34 percent had nothing in their savings account, and 35 percent had less than 1,000 set aside. To secure a prosperous future, it’s absolutely essential to start saving as much as you can as early as possible. While it’s a great goal to put aside 20 percent of your total paycheck each month, it’s okay to start small as a young adult. Since prioritizing debt payoff is also important, saving ten percent of your paycheck is a good place to start. Save on Auto Insurance If your parents stopped paying your auto insurance bill once you left for college, don’t stick with the same company just because that’s what’s familiar. In fact, you’re more likely to save money on car insurance when you speak with a local insurance agent. By taking the time to call around and shop for the best rates, you could save over one hundred dollars each year. Even though that doesn’t sound like much, it adds up quickly and you can use that money to bolster your savings or pay off debt faster. Track Your Spending As a college student, you probably spend a sizable chunk of change each week on going out with friends. While socializing is an important part of the college experience, it’s even more important to set yourself up for financial stability during and after college. Track your spending for a minimum of one week using an app like Mint and honestly evaluate what needs to change. If you’re spending more than 20 percent of your income on wants instead of needs, it’s time to scale back and look for alternative entertainment and food options.  Or, find ways to supplement your income with a side hustle. Invest in Insurance If you’re renting your living space, it’s important to invest in renter’s insurance to safeguard against emergencies. Even if it seems like your possessions are worth only a modest amount, think again. If you have basic furniture pieces, a laptop, television, and cell phone, would you be able to cover the cost of replacements if your apartment was destroyed in a fire? If not, then talk to an agent about getting renter’s insurance. The small monthly fee is a must-have if you don’t have enough savings to cover necessities in the event of emergency. . Image credits. Main.  Paid.  

Mastering the Art of LinkedIn in Your Job Search CareerMetis.com

Mastering the Art of LinkedIn in Your Job Searchâ€" CareerMetis.com Source â€" Pixabay.comLinkedIn is the social network for industry professionals. On this platform, you can meet like-minded people, you can connect with prospective employers, and you can sell your skills online. It’s the network to turn to when you want to voice your opinion about your industry, and it’s certainly the place to monitor industry-specific trends.This powerful professional network can connect you with people whom you wouldn’t usually come into contact with, and it might even be the place where you find your new job. LinkedIn takes the laborious task of trawling through job sites, adds a social element to it, and makes it far more user-friendly, resulting in a much more collaborative evalYour LinkedIn profile is the digital equivalent of your CV to some prospective employers, so it’s essential to keep it updated. You wouldn’t send a covering letter that doesn’t include the right information, so you should keep your profile up-to-date with all of your responsi bilities and achievements.If you’re comfortable in your current job role, it can be easy to neglect your LinkedIn profile, but there’s no harm in keeping it updated with any new skills that you learn and any new responsibilities that you pick up. By not listing these skills, you’re closing yourself off from potential career-progression opportunities, because employers won’t understand your full skill-set.2) Highlight Your Experience Whether it’s academically or professionally, you work hard and, over time, you build experience and expertise. Your LinkedIn profile is a sales pitch to potential employers, which means that you shouldn’t hesitate to shout about your achievements.If you’ve performed well in work and have great results to show it, you should highlight this. Your future employers will be on the lookout for candidates who are going to contribute to the company’s profits, and influential figures will only support your application.3) Use Your Headline Wisely B eneath your name on your LinkedIn profile, you’ll find your headline. Some people use this to outline their current job role, but to potential employers, this is a short sentence that summarizes you professionally.You only have 120 characters to work with here, so it’s important to keep it concise. If you’re seeking a new role in a particular field, this is the place to highlight it. If you feel that your current job title is enough to sell you to potential employers, make sure that you include it here â€" creating an engaging headline will encourage employers and recruiters to click through to your profile page.Remember, your headline is like the opening line on a CV or resume. It needs to be punchy enough to get your point across without making you seem like you’re overly confident in your skills. Ensure that you’re selling yourself properly, but use language that suggests you’re well versed in the world of work.4) Make Yourself Available evalIf you’re looking for a new job and you’re open to offers, you can ‘turn on your availability,’ which tells recruiters from outside your organization that you are actively seeking a new role. If you don’t have this feature activated, you might not be contacted by promising employers.You can tailor this feature to fit your needs, and you can use this to inform employers how eager you are to find a new position, as well as your preferred job titles and what city 5) Use the Advanced Job Search Employers have the option to list their vacancies on LinkedIn One way to overcome this issue to use the advanced job-search filters to narrow down your search to relevant jobs â€" this way, the platform will learn from you and show you more positions like this.Source â€" Pixabay.com6) Get Involved with Online Networking Regardless of its many features, Linkedin is a social network, and it should be treated like one. It is a platform on which you can have conversations with people and discuss relevant topics. In this sense, it works in the same way as in-person networking.You can take the time to craft posts and comment in relevant groups, and you can earn a name for yourself in the industry through your opinions. Off the back of this, you might find that you have a competitive edge when it comes to seeking a new role, with employers recognizing your name and your achievements from your LinkedIn prominence.7) Make Sure You’re Integrating Your Efforts LinkedIn is an excellent tool for finding jobs online but making sure that you integrate these efforts with offline activity will give you the best chance at securing your dream role. Remember, LinkedIn is your online business card, and you can always point the people you meet in real life towards your profile.If you work in an industry where you don’t need to carry business cards or information (such as digital marketing or web development), you’ll find that LinkedIn becomes a useful offline tool as well.8) Use Every Tool in Your Job Hun t Regardless of industry, the job market is a competitive one, and it’s vital that you give yourself the best chance at securing your dream role. LinkedIn is just one platform that you can use to get yourself noticed, with resources such as online job boards presenting you with ideal jobs at the touch of a button.

The real reason your resume is being ignored

The real reason your resume is being ignored Job hunting can be an incredibly frustrating process. You’ve brushed up your résumé, written a solid cover letter, and been applying to roles that seem darn near tailor-made for you But when your phone is silent and inbox remains empty… It can be tempting to ask “What’s wrong with me?” But I’ve got good news. There’s nothing wrong with you. Taking control of your career and winning the right job is serious business. Throughout my career as a manager, hiring manager, and mentor, I have met thousands of job seekers, all of whom fit into three clear categories: The seriously committed You understand that the hiring game has changed and you are on a committed hunt for the next opportunity. Your drive to change the status quo has carried you this far â€" but you know you need to learn some additional skills to get real results. The Plan B-ers You’re frustrated with your current situation and are searching for Plan B. Despite your unhappiness, you haven’t fully committed to searching for a new role but are keeping your eyes and ears open. You may be faced with a career change as your previous job searches came up empty. The hobbyist Like occasional guitar players and weekend golfers, you dabble in your job search efforts, conduct R.A.A. (Random Acts of Application) by spraying out résumés, and meet up with people for coffee. If you’re in this category, and you want to stay there, stop reading now. If you want to get serious and find (and win) that new job, stay with me here! It’s obvious the optimal category to be in is “seriously committed job hunter.” Why? Well, the truth is the job market has changed. Carefully worded cover letters and a strong résumé aren’t enough to get attention anymore â€" no matter how relevant your experience might be! You need the best skills and to execute every step of the job hunting process brilliantly. Job searching isn’t an application process, it’s a hunt in the truest sense of the word â€" and you need to be patient, prepared, and hungry. There are no shortcuts to finding the right role. You’ll need to carve time out of your day to speed up the quest and stay committed to the process. Where do you start? Making the shift into the seriously committed category can be frustrating, especially when you feel as though your skills are out of date or something you’ve been doing is just not working. As with any goal, your odds of success improve exponentially when you invest time to not only develop your existing skills but also to identify gaps and roadblocks and look for ways to eliminate them. I’ve developed a 3-step action plan to help you successfully negotiate your transition from a casual job-seeker to a seriously committed one, plus I’ve included my ultimate organization tool for any job search. (Click here to download your free Job Search Tracker) The 3-step action plan for finding the right job now 1. Set your goal: Have you taken the time to clearly identify where you want your career to go â€" and how to get there? Have you thought about what role would be a perfect fit for your career? Sit down and clarify your goal until you can answer the question “What are you looking for?” in 20 words or less. 2. Develop your plan: Now that you know what role you want, develop a schedule of how you will spend your time (and where it will be focused) over the next quarter. Create a detailed list of things you need to get done â€" and make sure you assign deadlines. 3. Keep yourself organized: How many job applications do you have out there that are still possibilities? If you can’t answer this question then your job search is not organized. You need a clear, efficient system that not only keeps track of the opportunities you’re pursuing but also the specific people you need to follow up with. FREE GIFT: This is the ultimate tool to stay organized, keep you in control, and streamline your job search. My carefully crafted Job Search Tracker is the result of assisting hundreds of job searchers on their journeys and it’s my gift to you â€" free. Click here to download now.

Ats Friendly Resume

At's Friendly ResumeIf you are planning to present your resume to a potential employer, you will need to create an At's Friendly Resume. It is a document that most potential employers look at when choosing candidates.The purpose of creating an At's Friendly Resume is to make sure that the employer does not judge you based on your own resume. In fact, it makes sure that you do not see any bias at all.To create an At's Friendly Resume, you need to decide how many columns your resume has. Do you want it to be in two, four or more columns? You can also decide if you want it to be in left to right, or right to left format. Some employers prefer a left to right format because it will emphasize your accomplishments more than a right to left format.You should also decide whether you want to have your contact information at the top of your At's Friendly Resume. Do you want to include your name, your job title, your employer's name, or some other identifying information about you. Your contact information can help the employer to verify your contact information so that he or she can reach you when necessary.You can also decide whether you want to put the summary at the bottom of your At's Friendly Resume or to go directly to the end. Some employers prefer to use a list format and put the summary at the bottom so that it can be read easily. You can also put the job description on top and then the detailed information at the bottom.You can use bullet points for your At's Friendly Resume. This can help make your resume easier to read and organize. When you are presenting your resume, keep in mind that you do not want your resume to take up too much space on the page. Lastly, if you really want to present your At's Friendly Resume, you need to use strong fonts and bold fonts. You may also want to add a link to your website to make your resume even more attractive.