Lip-Sticking

Resume Not Required

Guest post by Hannah Morgan, the Career Sherpa

If you had a job and wanted to meet with someone, would they ask for your resume? Probably not. So why are people asking you for your resume? Is it because you confessed in your request for a meeting that you were job hunting? Is that really necessary? Really? If you are networking and people are asking you for your resume, let me suggest you are doing it all wrong!

Why Networking With a Resume A Bad Idea?

Any time you present your resume to someone, it sends the message “Hire Me! I am looking for a job.” Your state of employment (or unemployment) is a distraction from the main purpose of the meeting. You want the conversation to center around gaining information and idea-sharing. When you introduce the fact that you are job searching, the conversation often switches to pity, resume critique, or worse, they feel like they can’t help you because their company isn’t hiring, thereby cutting he conversation short. What you really want from them is information. You want the people you meet with to trust you and like you, and ultimately, refer you to new contacts to gain more insight. This is the true purpose for networking.

Applying For Jobs Isn’t Enough

Guest post by Hannah Morgan

When you submit your resume to an online job posting, how many other people do you suppose are doing that exact same thing? Hundreds? Thousands? The odds of your application rising to the top of the pile are as good as your odds of winning the lottery. The good news is, you can do something to increase the chances of your application getting the attention you want.

2 Steps Is What It Takes

Most job applicants won’t take the time to do this, and that’s the very reason you should! The first step is easy and familiar. You find a job online and modify your resume to showcase your most important and relevant qualifications and include a cover letter that explains why you want to work at that company (this requires you’ve done research and know more than the company’s name).

Write A Thank You Letter That Stands Out

Guest post by Hannah Morgan, The Career Sherpa

The interview is over and you are relieved, but don’t relax yet, your work isn’t done. Thanking the interviewer could be one of the most important step you can take in closing the deal! Do you wonder what you should you say? Here are the answers to the five most commonly asked thank you letter questions.

 When Do I Send My Thank You?

You should send your thank you immediately following your interview. Usually that means within 24 to 48 hours. Actually, let’s step back a second. Before you leave the interview you must ask a couple of really important questions!

1. What are the next steps in the process

2. What is their time-frame for making a decision AND if you don’t hear from them by the stated date, what is the best way for you to follow up?

These questions serve a couple of purposes. First, asking these questions shows you are interested in the job and will take accountability for following up. Second, you now know when you should follow up and you’ve gotten their permission, so you won’t feel like a pest when you do follow up.

Why Women's Entrepreneurship Style Is Getting Powerful In the Market

Guest post by Patrick Rosario 

According to American Express, the number of woman owned $1 million dollar businesses are growing. More women are taking the plunge and starting businesses of their own. This increase in not only female entrepreneurs, but high grossing female entrepreneurs has led to a shift in business leadership styles. Men and women alike have taken notice to the success of females in the market and with that have made an effort to shift a primarily male dominant industry to a business community that can thrive on the female style of management.

Here are some of the key components of the women’s entrepreneurship style that are taking the business world by storm.

Why Workplace Flexibility Works for Everyone

by Katie Parsons

In an increasingly demanding workforce and struggling economy, the choice to stay home or return to work after bringing home a baby or two is tougher than ever to make. Choosing between financial necessity and full-time parenting without outside help is not easy to decipher. Every family approaches it differently based on the status of their family, finances and personal preferences.

I have four children ages five and under. My oldest goes to all-day Kindergarten and the next one heads to preschool four days per week. That leaves a three-year-old and seven-month-old at home every day. Sure, I could go out and find an office job and pay into child care and after-school care and bring home the rest. Nearly two years ago, my husband and I decided it made more sense for me to work-from-home instead.

Why me, and not him, you might ask? Simple.

Season of Savings: Three Ways to Find, Not Borrow, Business Capital

The holiday season is always a time of personal reflection for me, especially now that I’m a parent. I get excited about taking part in the activities that I have always loved, and introducing my little ones to them for the first time. Nostalgia seems to come in one non-ending wave, starting as soon as I pack away the Halloween costumes and extends well into January. I count my blessings, hug my kids a little tighter and set goals for the new year.

The holiday season is also a good time for business owners to take some time to reflect. Looking back on the successes, and misses, of the year is a necessary practice, even in the chaos that is often the most wonderful time of the year. Revisiting non-glamorous things like growth goals, revenue projections, organizing your finances, and budget-cutting measures may not be the stuff that visions of sugarplums are made of, but they get your business better prepared for the challenges of the upcoming year.

Stop Interrogating - Start Discovering

Guest post by AmyK Hutchens

At best, an interview is contrived. An interviewer asks, What's your greatest weakness? Only to hear the interviewee respond, "Perfectionism." This line of habitual, rote questioning leads to bad hires. An interview process that actually leads to finding a great candidate stops the interrogation tactics and starts a process of discovery. The goal of any interview is to step into the mind of the interviewee and determine if s/he will be a great fit for your company going forward. The better interviewing questions can ascertain the truth of someone’s past experiences, her future potential, and her ability to enhance your company culture. Utilizing better questions that foster critical thinking leads to better hiring decisions that help your company’s long term results. Done well, interviewing is both a science and an art.  Specifically, the interview process should be built on a foundation of structure and consistency so that managers can quantifiably compare candidate to candidate.  It should also reveal important psychological aspects of the candidate to determine her learning agility and fit within the prospective role and organization.

 

Four Ways to Make Working from Home Work

by guest blogger, Katie Parsons

One of the benefits of technology is that it has allowed people to work from just about anywhere. Even classroom settings can now be simulated through web cams and other online student-teacher interactions. While freelance writers and small business owners tend to be associated with work-from-home scenarios, the truth is that more and more corporate employees are finding the benefits of working from a home office.

For people who have spent years in the office grind, the opportunity to ditch it (even just a few days per week) may sound like a dream come true. The realities of working in the same space where you eat, sleep and relax are not actually as rosy as they first seem.

Graduation Will Be Here Soon: Advice for Parents

Guest blog by Hannah Morgan

If have a senior in college or know someone who does, the clock is ticking. There is much to celebrate in the coming weeks. But before you get caught in the pomp and circumstance of the event, can I remind you of something....they need a job and you are probably going to need to help them!  Here are 12 ways you can help them be more successful in job search and in life after college.

• They do not know how to look for work: They were not taught how to do this in school and they may not listen to your advice. What can you do? If the college/school is local, have them meet with the Career Services group or you could hire a coach for them, or you could just hope they are lucky enough to find a job. If you decide you are the best person to help them with their job search, here are six things you can do to help them with job search. 
• Ask them to identify things they like to do, people they like to be around, and/or places they enjoy: Self assessment is key to this process. If they can get excited about something, that is more than half the battle. Help them probe the answers to these questions. This is hard work, even for experienced adults.

How Have Swipe Fees Affected Everyday Banking?

Guest post by Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO, Cardhub

What do rapper Lil Wayne, television personality Suze Orman, and comedian George Lopez have in common with checking accounts?  Oddly enough, all were affected in one way or another by the Durbin Amendment, the legislation that instructed the Federal Reserve to cap debit card swipe fees at roughly $0.24 per transaction, inadvertently leading to a growing market for celebrity prepaid card endorsers.

You see, legislators originally took from the banks the power to charge merchants whatever they wanted for debit card use in the hopes that it would lead to lower prices for consumers and thereby jump-start the economy.  But we’re instead seeing higher checking account fees and a restructuring of the payments landscape, in which prepaid cards – a natural checking account alternative – are steadily gaining market position.

This is all attributable to the fact that the Durbin Amendment only applies to debit cards issued by banks with at least $10 billion in assets, whom it will cost roughly $9.4 billion in revenue annually, according to Card Hub.  In other words, large banks have an incentive to make traditional checking accounts and debit cards less appealing as well as to push consumers toward unregulated alternatives like credit cards and prepaid cards.