5 Things You Must Do Before Applying For A Job

Never apply for a job without making sure your online presence is as ready to interview as you are. Employers will look at the online version of you before they invite the in-person version to an interview, so make sure what they see helps solidify their impression of you as a candidate. Here are five things you must do before applying for a job:

1. Update Your LinkedIn Profile

If you haven’t revised your LinkedIn profile since your last job, it’s time to make some updates. Rewrite your summary to include your current career objective, and ask colleagues to endorse you and provide recommendations that reflect your job search. Make sure your online resume includes all your newest accomplishments. If you don’t have a professional picture to add to your profile, it’s time to have one taken.

2. Update Your Social Media Profiles

It’s easy to forget to keep your social media profiles updated, especially when you have multiple accounts. Log on to each of your social media services and make sure your profile photo is current and flattering and your profile blurb is accurate. See if you can make your profiles subtly reflect your professional skills without reading like a job application; “I see your copy errors” is a good line for a Facebook profile, while “I have six years of copy editing experience and am looking for work” is too much.

While you’re at it, untag those unflattering or unwanted pics, and delete any posts or tweets that don’t reflect well on you or your candidacy.

3. Google Yourself

You know your potential employer is going to Google you, so go ahead and Google yourself first.

Ideally, your top results are reflections of your work and personality: they should include any articles or print media about your work at previous organizations as well as links to your LinkedIn, Facebook, and other accounts. If you have a professional blog, it should be within the first five links as well and clearly identifiable as your work.

If your Google search turns up negative results, consider a service like Reputation Changer. This service removes negative references and past mistakes on the Internet, leaving your online presence more reflective of your current skills and abilities.

4. Make Sure Your Personal Life Is Out Of The Focus

Many people have personal blogs, Instagrams, or Tumblrs. It’s a good idea to use avatars for personal sites in order to keep your name associated with your professional work and your personal life out of the focus.

However, if you do use an avatar or online handle, make sure to disassociate it with anything you don’t want potential employers to see. You’d be surprised how many people use their Twitter handle as their OKCupid name, for example; and even if your interviewer doesn’t search far enough to make the connection, your new colleagues certainly will. Choose anonymous, unrelated handles for dating sites, diet sites, and anything else  you don’t want your employer to see.

5. Write A Well-Placed Blog About Your Industry

Believe it or not, it’s relatively easy to get published on an online magazine’s blog section. Write a post about a discovery you made while working or your thoughts on industry trends, then submit it to Open Salon or the Huffington Post. If you know your industry reads certain blogs or online publications, submit to them as well. Remember to stay positive and write well of your industry; this isn’t just an opportunity to share your opinions, it’s an audition for future work.

People on the hiring end: how do online searches reflect your opinions of candidates?

Job interviewers: what else have you done to prepare your online reputation before applying for jobs?

Score! 4 Secrets To Winning Cover Letters

Reader John K. sent in the following:

“Aside from spelling and formatting, what does a cover letter to a studio, agency, prodco, etc. that makes you want to hire me look like in terms of content?”

Ahhhh, John. You have come to the right place. I’ve read hundreds and hundreds of cover letters. Or, rather, I’velooked at hundreds and hundreds of cover letters.

How many have I actually read? How many have I read to the end?

Of the probably close to 1,000 I’ve received, I’ve read less than a hundred submitted cover letters from start to finish. Why?

Most people do not take the time to make the letter worth reading. In addition to ones with serious type-o problems and red flag formatting, there are some simple things that stop me in my tracks. These include sending me entertainment cover letters addressed to someone else or referencing a job somewhere else and sending me a generic cover letter that could have been written by pretty much anyone for any job on the planet. (“The job I have available seems like a great opportunity and you are a hard worker? Wow.”)

Secrets To Winning Entertainment Cover Letters

Okay, but beyond these, there are four things you can do to make sure the recruiter/hiring manager/executive gets through your letter and eagerly moves on to your resume:

1. Mention Someone I Know

If you can find a personal connection to the person doing the hiring, that is a huge plus. It always wakes me up to see, “Your friend so-and-so has great things to say about the company and thinks I might fit in well.”

Maybe you don’t know who is doing to hiring, but you met the head of the company once – or saw him speak at an event. Or, you are friends with a former employee. (Just make sure she left on good terms and has good things to say about you). Drop those names in the first line.

2. Tell Me Why You Want To Work For The Company

This is very similar to the first interview tip I provided in the post on “Three Things You Must Say in Your Entertainment Job Interview.” It tells me you have gain some knowledge of the company, even if it’s just knowledge you gained after you read about the opening online. So if you don’t already have something to say, Google the company name and get the latest news.

After you’ve dropped the names we talked about in Item #1, say something current about the company, “I understand you just promoted four executives, one of whom started at the company as an intern. I think that says a lot about an organization.”

3. Be Interesting & Personal (In A Relevant Way)

If the job requires organizational skills, tell me when you were eight, you cleaned out your mom’s garage in a single day while they were at work. If it’s a advertising department job, tell me that you can remember the trailer and poster of probably every movie you’ve ever seen, even if the movie was terrible.

If it’s an agent trainee job, tell me that you’ve known you what you wanted to do since kindergarten, when you traded Pokemon cards with classmates until you had the best collection of rare Pokemon cards in the whole school. You get the idea. Engage me, be memorable, and keep my brain awake.

4. Sell Yourself

In addition to something personal and memorable, you also want to sell yourself in a targeted way for the job I am filling. Choose two or three qualifications or qualities I am looking for and very, very briefly identify matching experience or qualities you have.

If I need someone with strong written communications skills and familiarity with reality television, include, “In my job at UTA, I became the go-to person for two things among my peers: editing drafts of correspondence they were working on for their bosses and giving them background on every reality TV show from ‘Real World, Season One’ through ‘Amazing Race: Unfinished Business.’”

If you follow those four tips, you will not only get me to the end of the letter, but prove yourself to be a smart, savvy, hard-working individual who I should definitely consider for the job. Congratulations!

The First Rule Of Resume Writing

“Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then do it.” – Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

The first rule of resume writing is that there are no rules. Resume writing, in that sense, is a Zen-like experience, and the closest thing to a rule you’ll encounter is the one that says, “Write tight.” But that’s true of all writing, not just resume writing. You should never waste words. Words gain power the more sparingly they are used. Why use two words when one can do just as well?

Everything else about writing a powerful resume isn’t rules but more a set of guidelines for what will get you the attention of the all-important hiring manager. Does your resume have visual appeal? Is it in an attractive, easy-to-read, 12-point font (or even 13- or 14-point, depending on the font)? Is there plenty of white space? Are your headlines or section breaks clearly delineated from the body of the resume?

Beyond the esthetics, there’s the “meat” of the resume itself. What kind of lead have you written? Does your copy above the first fold in the page compel the reader to continue through the resume? I recently reviewed a resume wherein the entire top third was taken up by contact information and a photograph of the applicant. That’s nearly four inches of prime resume “real estate” gone to waste to serve the job seeker’s vanity. That applicant should have used that space for a simple yet powerful description of who he was and how he could alleviate the “pain” that had led to the job opening.

Farther into the body of the resume, is there clear demarcation between the sections of the document? In other words, can the reader easily tell where the Introduction ends and the Accomplishments and Skills section begins?

Most important of all, does your resume showaccomplishments, or merely job duties? Do you show proof of your claim to “strong detail orientation,” or “leadership skills”? What about “communication skills”? Anyone can claim they have strong communication skills; but what does that mean, exactly? Conducting sensitive contract negotiations with union shop stewards or representatives of new suppliers takes one type of communication skills; directing a group of workers laying eight-inch poly pipe requires an entirely different set of such skills. They’re both communication skills. But do you see how important it is to describe each as a discrete activity, and not simply place them under the blanket category of “communication skills”?

In fact, throughout your entire work history, I advise you to add the phrase “So what?” after each bullet point, and answer the question. That’s one way to determine if what you’ve written is an actual accomplishment or simply a job duty. Employers don’t buy job duties, they buy accomplishments, results. They already know what the job duties are. Your goal is to show your potential employer how you achieved solid results at every job you worked at, how you made each job your own, and left each job better than it was before you arrived.

Which engineer would you hire: The one who says, “Responsible for utility plant waste water upgrade project for the instrumentation scope, basic engineering review, detailed engineering review and recommendations, along with engineering and project management team”? Or the one who says, “Installed cutting-edge waste water treatment system that cut annual hazardous waste expenses approximately $150,000”?

Do you see how this turns the message into a vibrant statement about what you will do for the potential employer?

Watch any TV commercial: whether it’s for shampoo, a household cleaning product, soap, or whatever. The commercial isn’t about the product’s history or about what it’s made of. No, when they’re selling you shampoo, for instance, they sell you on how great your hair will look when you use the product.

You want to paint a picture in the employer’s mind of you meeting the employer’s needs, so that before s/he is even finished reading the resume, that employer is at least thinking of bringing you in for an interview. For years, Palmolive dish detergent ran commercials showing a manicurist using the product to soften her customers’ hands.

Yes, there are no “rules” for writing resumes. There are, however, certain guidelines to be followed. Following these guidelines will help ensure that your resume winds up in the hiring manager’s “Yes” pile.

Dos And Don’ts To Taking A ‘Working Vacation’

I’ve known about ‘working vacations’ for as long as I can remember. Growing up, my dad owned an engineering firm. Every time we went away, it was a working vacation. However, I realize most people don’t generally take these types of vacations. When they go away, their company and co-workers don’t hear from them until they get back. And they definitely don’t think about, let alone, do any work while their out of the office.

Yet, this summer, I guarantee more people than ever before, even people who don’t believe in working vacations, will take their first one. I’ve talked to dozens of folks who say the economy has forced them to cut short grand summer plans. “I’m worried how it will look to my boss,” said a woman who just survived a layoff  at her firm.

“I don’t want to risk being out of the loop,” said a guy who claims since the layoffs at his firm this past spring, workers have been more secretive and trying to one-up one another to avoid the chopping block should it occur again. Thus, knowing many of you will be giving the working vacation a go this summer, I thought it might be wise to share with you the professional DOs and DON’Ts to what is known as ‘phoning it in.’

DO… Tell Co-Workers In Advance

Some people make the mistake of keeping their working vacation on the down-low. Bad idea. Hiding it from your co-workers seems deceptive. Not to mention, it leaves them no way of knowing how to cover for you in your absence. Just because you are technically going to be accessible and will be doing some work, you are still going to be out of the office and possibly not available when they really need you.

Who should they go to if they have questions? What is the status of projects you are working on that involve them? Can they call you for non-emergencies? What’s the best way to contact you if they do need you? Just like a regular vacation, you need to make arrangements for the fact you’ll not be physically present.

DO… Clear Meetings And Lighten Your Work Load

A classic rookie mistake is to assume while on vacation you’ll have plenty of freedom and can still attend meetings by phone or provide important work deliverables. It’s vacation! You want to be free of constraints like these. Besides, you may not be in the position to attend.

TRUE STORY: I recently knew a person who agreed to run a meeting with a client while on vacation. He figured he could do it from a local coffee shop that had WI-FI. Not only did he get stuck in vacation traffic and arrived at the coffee shop 10 minutes after the meeting started, the shop was so noisy that his co-worker had to request that he put his phone on mute and was forced to take over the call, even though she wasn’t fully prepared to do so. It was unprofessional and left a less-than-stellar impression on the client AND the co-worker.

DO… Set Specific Times You’ll Call In

My dad was a pro at this. He made it clear he would dial in at 9 AM every morning and that it would be the only time staff would get him ‘live’ during his vacation. They were always organized and ready with questions. Just because you have a cell phone on vacation doesn’t mean you should be picking it up whenever someone from the office calls. It’s better to set up a scheduled time and stick to it. You can even send e-mails the night before to remind them you’ll be calling.

DON’T… Cancel Or Miss Meetings You Agreed To

There’s nothing worse than promising you’ll make yourself available and then either canceling last minute or forgetting all together. And yet, this sort of thing can happen on vacation. The good times are rolling and suddenly you’re caught in a moment when you’d rather be doing anything BUT work. Skipping the call or backing out moments before is rude and will leave a sour taste in your non-vacationing co-workers mouth.

NOTE: This is especially true if you are partying. Don’t take a call if you’ve been throwing them back. Seems obvious, but I can tell you, I’ve been on calls when a co-worker is ‘phoning it in’ buzzed, and no matter how composed you think you are, it does NOT come across as professional.

DON’T… Criticize Co-workers’ Efforts From Afar

Expressing dissatisfaction with a co-worker’s performance from vacation is like rubbing salt in a wound. It’s one thing if you are in the office and can provide valuable feedback face-to-face. But, telling a co-worker in a text message or two-sentence cryptic e-mail from vacation that you weren’t happy with their work and intend to discuss it when you return is pure evil. Wait to give the constructive criticism until you are back in the office and can A) fully explain yourself, and B) allow the person the opportunity to ask questions and get clarity as to how to make it better.

Okay, those are my professional DOs and DON’Ts for taking a working vacation. I’m sure I missed a few. So, I hope my fellow readers will share the ones I missed in the comment section below. But, please know I may not get to reading your thoughts until later in the week. Why? Because I’m on a working vacation right now…

10 Tips For Small Business Owners

Calling all small business owners! In order for your company to thrive, particularly in today’s economy, it is important you address all of the following initiatives. Together, they create amazing synergy and will help you lead in your market niche.

1. Be Memorable

Create raving fans, and an absolutely amazing and memorable customer experience.

2. Get Branded

Deploy a compelling branding program and aggressively employ “new wave marketing.” Lead your niche in social media communication.

3. Get Your House In Order

Spend wisely, minimize overhead, and operate a lean machine.

4. Create Lasting Relationships

Establish mutually beneficial strategic alliances. Nurture those relationships to create lasting partnerships.

5. Get Out There

Ensure the business owner(s) is physically visible in the community and in the market. Nurture your business contact network.

6. Be Proactive

Be nimble, alert, and proactive. Find and solve customer problems. Cater to real time needs in your niche. Maintain an highly alert and open mind to new product and service opportunities.

7. Build A Great Team

Surround yourself with an all-star team. Employ only those who share your values, vision, and mission. Help your team members think and act like owners.

8. Lead With Value, Not Price

Avoid the overly-aggressive price-cutting/discounting trap.

9. Focus On The Important

Manage your time and energy wisely. At work and at home, optimize life balance synergies.

10. Set “SMART” Goals

Work within a framework of a set of SMART goals that facilitate massive action oriented around all the above tips.

Set And Achieve S.M.A.R.T. Goals

S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound.

Outstanding performance begins with S.M.A.R.T. goals. These goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results Oriented, and Time Specified.

Specific – Your goals should be targeted, nor broad and general. They should be unambiguous and explicit.

Measurable – You should be able to tell quickly and easily if you’ve met your goal. Develop a set of criteria that will be indicative of success or failure in meeting each of your goals.

Achievable – Set goals that are challenging but not incredibly difficult to achieve. A challenging goal is motivating, an impossible one is demotivating.

Results Oriented – Focus on results; avoid the activity trap. Your goals should focus on the results you want to achieve, not the activities you will undertake to get there. For example, “improved presentation skills” is a result; “participating in a presentation skills training program” is an activity. It’s possible to complete activities and not achieve the desired result.

Time Specified – Set deadlines for achieving your goals. Well-developed goals come with time limits.

Once you have developed a set of S.M.A.R.T. goals, you need to work them. Here are some ideas for accomplishing your goals and becoming an outstanding performer:

Write Your Goals

People who take the time to write their goals accomplish them more frequently that people who don’t.

Keep Your Goals With You

Whether it’s inn your wallet, on a clipboard, or on your screensaver. In this way, they’ll be a constant reminder of what you are going to achieve.

List A Reason You Want To Achieve Each Goal

These reasons will help you stay focused when you get tired and frustrated and begin asking yourself questions like, “Why am I working so hard on this?”

Share Them

Share your goals with people with whom you are close. These folks can be a big help in achieving your goals. Goals become more real when you share them with others. Goals that you don’t share are merely aspirations.

Talk About Them

Talk about your goals at social and networking functions. The help you need to achieve one or more of your goals can come from some surprising places. You never know who might be the one person who can offer the assistance it takes for you to get over the top on one or more of your goals.

Focus On Them

Focus on your goals several times a day. Ask yourself, “Is what I’m doing right now helping me achieve one of my goals?” If the answer is no, stop what you’re doing and do something that will help you reach your goals.

Keep Balanced

Stay balanced by creating goals in all areas of your life: career, business, personal, family, hobbies, and health. These goals will help guide you to where you want to go.

Have Congruent Goals

Make sure your goals are congruent with one another. Conflicting goals create undue stress. If you have a work or career goal that is going to take up 60 to 80 hours a week of your time, it will be pretty difficult to realize a goal of running a marathon. You simply won’t have time to train.

Consider The Sacrifices

What you might have to forgo or give up in order to reach your goals. This could be things like family or hobby time. Ask yourself questions like, “Is this goal important enough for me to give up time with my kids or my weekly yoga class?”

International Relations Careers In Seattle-Portland

Portland and Seattle, two of the most culturally and economically-diverse cities in the world, offer fantastic opportunities for professionals interested in the field ofInternational Relations. The strong local economies of the Pacific Northwest – Portland and Seattle rank among the top ten in major American cities for fiscal fitness (second and eighth, respectively) – have helped to power a boom in international trade and business ventures, driving international economic development initiatives for the entire country. Combined with the numerous area organizations that promote global economic development, these two cities provide an excellent atmosphere for anyone interested in the International Relations field.

We can’t stress enough how strong the local economies are in Portland and Seattle. These cities are home to numerous enterprises which have buffered the area from much of the economic downturn of the recent years.  Unemployment rates of 6% remain lower than the national average. Additionally, the area boasts an average hourly pay rate of $27.06 which is 24% higher than the national average of $21.74. These unique economic and environmental conditions provide the residents in the area with an excellent quality of life.

Working In Seattle And Portland

With its strong financial backdrop, and the presence of numerous organizations that promote global economic development initiatives, Seattle and Portland offer a wealth of opportunities for those interested in the field of International Relations. Among the organizations that offer opportunities for International Relations professionals are:

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation specializes in combating international poverty through addressing the fundamental needs such as increased access to quality health care, improved education, and revitalization of infrastructure. This organization is constantly recruiting scholars in International Relations to develop and improve strategies for improving the lives of the needy.
• Global Partnerships is a forward-thinking organization that specializes in a four-pronged approach to international development, focusing on Central America. They understand that the key to expanding economic development in third-world conditions is to provide micro-entrepreneurship capital and rural livelihoods. In addition, they also focus on the health conditions of the developing area as well as introducing green technology. They actively seek International Relations scholars to expand the reach of their organization.
• The Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle has become the foundation for regional international trade strategies. They work closely with state and local authorities to maximize the international presence of corporations such as Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, and Paccar. Additionally, they work with international governments and corporations to ensure that trade and investments into the city continually grow.

Living In Seattle And Portland

Both cities – known as two of the more vibrant and culturally-accepting places in America – offer a wealth ofopportunities for networking and collaborating with other International Relations professionals. Portland visitors should monitor the opportunities presented to them by the World Affairs Council of Portland; Seattle residents should visit the trusted The World Affairs Council of Seattle, which has spent over 60 years developing the international perspective of Seattle through internships, cultural exchanges, and symposiums on international relations. Volunteers are always welcome as they actively seek to further the international influence of the city.

Seattle, in particular, is excellently positioned for anyone interested in International Relations thanks in large part to the extensive number of privately operated international corporations in the area. These companies continually draw global audiences to the city.

Additionally, Seattle offers ease of travel to Asia and Canadian markets as well as convenient travel to anywhere on the western US coast. As the major hub for Alaskan travelers, Seattle is one of the few areas in the U.S where flights routinely provide travelers nonstop flights throughout the continental United States, Hawaii, and Alaska. It’s a great, vital place to work and to live.