Im Back In Town!

Im Back In Town! The LinkedIn for Executives webinar is THIS WEEK (Wednesday) details at Experts-Connection. Its going to be awesome seriously. Last week I packed up my family (7 of us in a van) and we went on a special campout where we pulled handcarts to reenact a tiny part of the Oregon/California trail. This is the trail and area were pioneers who settled Utah and seekers or gold and adventure traveled in the 1800s. It was a terrific experience, even though we cut our last night short (instead of staying at a KOA campground we decided to just get home and shower and sleep in a real bed 3 nights was enough :)). Anyway, Im back and busy catching up on emails and writing pictures and stories of the trip will be on my Jason Alba blog in the next week or two. (I didnt announce this trip earlier since the house was going to be empty for days something about bad guys looking for vacation announcements on Twitter, ya know?!?) Im Back In Town! The LinkedIn for Executives webinar is THIS WEEK (Wednesday) details at Experts-Connection. Its going to be awesome seriously. Last week I packed up my family (7 of us in a van) and we went on a special campout where we pulled handcarts to reenact a tiny part of the Oregon/California trail. This is the trail and area were pioneers who settled Utah and seekers or gold and adventure traveled in the 1800s. It was a terrific experience, even though we cut our last night short (instead of staying at a KOA campground we decided to just get home and shower and sleep in a real bed 3 nights was enough :)). Anyway, Im back and busy catching up on emails and writing pictures and stories of the trip will be on my Jason Alba blog in the next week or two. (I didnt announce this trip earlier since the house was going to be empty for days something about bad guys looking for vacation announcements on Twitter, ya know?!?)

The Comprehensive Guide to Sales Interviewing - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Comprehensive Guide to Sales Interviewing - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Interviewing for a sales job can be complicated, though it doesnt have to be.  For this reason, the recruiters at KAS Placement have put forth a comprehensive guide for the sales interview: Why Do You Want to Be In Sales When interviewing for a sales job, you should know why you want to be in sales.  Remember, employers always look for job seekers who are passionate.  Figure out some of the aspects of business development that you enjoy and touch upon them during the interview.  Here are just a few reasons why employees enjoy their jobs in sales and what they can say about it: I like the prospect of helping others. I enjoy interacting with people on a daily basis. I enjoy the competitiveness of selling. I enjoy making presentations. I dont get nervous in front of decision makers. I like being paid on performance. I dont mind rejection, rather I thrive on it. I enjoy putting myself in the customers shoes and leveraging that creativity to close deals. What They Are Going to Look For The best sales representatives know how to deal with people, can make the company money and who have a sense of themselves.  On a macro level, here are some of the traits that are going to be required by the employer: Positive energy be energetic. Intelligence and knowledge of the product. Edge the ability to make yes or no decisions Someone who is optimistic, upbeat, resilient, self-assured, friendly and intelligent. Someone who listens and doesnt interrupt. Someone who can close deals. What do you do to close deals?  Implement consultative selling styles: Listen to the client, show them the benefits that meet their needs, manage the sales cycle, establish the right relationships and close the deal w/o surprises. Someone who is self-assured, but not arrogant. Things to Discuss If youre interviewing for a sales job, there are going to be certain things that the interviewer is going to touch upon. Here are just a few of those topics and sample answers: What your last companies did.  What they sold, who they sold to. How did you prospect for accounts? Did you make grades for them A, B and C accounts based on their likelihood to buy, the revenue that can be generated and how much work it took to close each account? You would make sure to establish credibility from the onset through doing company research, being knowledgeable about the products and knowing the competitors products. You would make sure to ask the right questions and instead of telling the person they need the product, in a subtle manner, you would lead them to see it for  themselves. You would leverage things like networking, referrals and internet research. You stayed on top of industry news so when there were things like mergers, or company growth, you had a point of sale to begin with. What sales style did you use?  Consultative selling perhaps?…. How did you differentiate yourself when doing sales? -Discuss your achievements at the company.  Use numbers.  Exceed quota?  Revenue numbers? What did you learn working at the firm? The importance of impeccable customer service?  The value of providing extra service to the client that was not asked for? What did you like about the company? -How you would negotiate contracts?  i.e. making sure that the price was mutually beneficial and that you were not afraid to ask for the deal. What Can You Bring to the Table To make an interviewer like you better than other applicants, the secret is in taking an interest in them and discussing what you can do for them.  How will hiring you be advantageous to the company? What can you do for the interviewer?  Increase revenue  Decrease costs  Solve problems without handholding  Make the company more competitive.  Understand the buyer  Close deals Authenticity self-confidence and conviction should be rampant in the ideal candidate.  These traits make a leader bold and decisive, which is absolutely critical in times when you must act quickly.  Must be comfortable in their own skin and, if you have these traits, make it evident to the interviewer. Instead of worrying about not getting the job, be happy thinking about how it will feel once you do get the job offer. Have faith in yourself.  Your greatest weakness is lack of self-confidence. In the End Interviewing is 50% mental and 50% knowledge.  Above is the latter.  Now, all you have to do is think positively. Author: Ken Sundheim is the CEO of  KAS Placement, a sales headhunting firm specializing in recruiting all levels of business development, sales and sales management candidates throughout the United States. Ken Sundheims blog is KenSundheim.com.

3 More Things to Learn from Google About Recruiting Budgets

3 More Things to Learn from Google About Recruiting Budgets Running a business is difficult, especially for startups. Depending on the type of business you run, it could take years to become profitable. Restaurants, for example, have to be open for an average of 4-5 years before they turn a profit. For them, budget is king. Even for businesses that have been around a while, budget is always everyone’s top priority. When you have salaries to pay, supplies to buy and bills to consider, where does recruitment fit in? According to Google, recruitment fits in first. They have been dominating the tech market for years, and a big reason for that is their recruiting strategy. When it comes to budgeting for recruitment, they offer some great lessons: 1. Invest in the best In business, the less you have to spend, the more you can make; it’s the one thing almost everybody knows. However, that doesn’t mean you should avoid spending on principle. Some things, including recruitment, earn more profits when you spend more. Many companies have begun to take notice of recruitment; In 2011, only 4% of budgets were allocated to recruiting on average. By 2014, it had tripled to 12%. Google’s former Vice President of People Operations, Laszlo Bock said in an interview that Google spends 2x what the average company does on recruiting. They quickly picked up on what many companies are still learningâ€"if you want to make more money over the course of time, you have to spend more on talent in the beginning stages of building a company. Hiring the highest quality candidates from the start is one of Google’s biggest keys to success. 2. Incorporate employer branding into the budget When you think “Google,” you probably have a pretty good idea of what their brand is and what kind of people work there. That doesn’t just happen on its own; Working on employer brand is an ongoing effort that will have an impact on your recruiting budget. That is, it’s going to cost you. However, as Google has shown through their innovative strategies and domination of the market, employer branding has had an impact on their profits. And moreover, branding actually matters to candidates. About 11% of job seekers said they would decline a job offer from an employer with a bad reputationâ€"even if they were unemployed. While 11% seems like a small number, keep that figure in mind when recruiting in a competitive landscape or trying to source in-demand skills. Failing to invest in employer brand means you could be missing out on talented candidates who actually need work. Don’t have a Google-sized budget? Focus on your current employees. Call them out on Instagram, tag them on Facebook, feature them on your blog when they’ve completed a large project. These are easy things companies of any size can do to show their talent pool what it’s like to work there! 3. Be extremely thorough Google’s recruitment strategy is intense and rigorous. Their average time-to-hire is as long as 6 weeks, and no wonder; candidates go through 8 stages of vetting before they receive a job offer. Google receives over 1 million resumes per year, so this vetting is as necessary as it is helpful. By the end of the recruitment process, Google only offers jobs to 0.01%-0.04% of the candidates. Being this extreme in your recruiting process is going to cost you a little extra up front. You may not need 8 different stages, but being thorough will definitely pay off in your retention numbers and when it comes time to continue hiring. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the cost of a bad hire is as much as 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings. Investing so much of their budget into finding and securing the right hires positively affects Google at multiple levels. They’ve paved the way for companies large and small, to realize that quality-of-hire is more important than cost-per-hire. Use their recruiting tenets as guiding principles as you build your plan for this year and the next. After all, you may not be Google yet, but if you put talent first, you can be! About the author: Sara Pollock is  the head of the Marketing Department at ClearCompany. She is responsible for driving revenue by increasing demand for ClearCompanys Talent Management Software.

Reach Out and Touch Someone - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Reach Out and Touch Someone - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Physical touch is a communication tool few people take advantage of. It can help you bond and connect with people, not just communicate by dispensing data. Yes, you can touch strangers as well as colleagues at a business event if you do it with the right attitude and technique. Here are some tips on effective use of touch in a business context. Reach out and touch the person youre talking to on the arm or shoulder. Maintain physical contact for a split second as you speak directly to the person. Place your hand and remove it in an equally purposeful and definite manner on the acceptable part of the body: shoulder, elbow, forearm, hand. Nothing below the waist. Relax, smile, and look as if you expect the other person to accept the touch in the manner you gave it: supportive, encouraging, caring, and respectful. Do not use touch with any intimate overtones. Be sensitive to the person’s reactions. Ask about the exchange if you sense discomfort and remedy it immediately. Always put yourself in the other persons’ shoes and consider how you’d appreciate it done to you, and then do it that way. Above all, be consistent. Use touch with men and women, young and old, the likeable and the not-so-likeable. You cannot just do it with the ones you know and like, that’s what gets you in trouble. Even if you’re skeptical about this, try it to test the effect. You may be amazed. Five minutes of effective communication exchange accompanied by the appropriate touch can be worth five months of hard work. If you refrain from reaching out and touching someone (appropriately) you’ll lose a valuable opportunity to connect and bond. Yes, I know it “touchy” and corporate policies instruct not to do it. Fact is the most powerful leaders do it, they just do it well. And that’s what I want you to do: Do it well so as to me memorable, genuine, trusted, and liked.

Get The Job You Deserve! - CareerMetis.com

Get The Job You Deserve! Many people spend their lives working unsuitable jobs that don’t make them feel fulfilled. They ramble through life never knowing what it’s like to feel exciting when they wake up in the morning. With that in mind, we wanted to offer some suggestions and advice today. The guide on this page will highlight everything you need to do to find the perfect role.As you will discover, sometimes you will have to prepare in advance. You’ll also have to learn how to impress employers at the interview stage. Hopefully, by the time you leave this page, you will have a better understanding of the process. We’ll talk you through everything from start to finish. You just need to pay attention.Photo Credit -Flickr.comConsider your interests and passionsBefore you do anything else, it makes sense to consider your interests and passions. Spend some time thinking about any hobbies you might have at the moment. Try to think back to when you were younger and remember the things that make you feel excited.evalGet a notepad and jot down all your findings. You can then start to think about jobs within those industries. For example, maybe you love music more than the average person. You don’t have any musical talents, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get involved. You might consider becoming an audio engineer or something similar. That would keep you close to the action as much as possible. You get the idea, right?Photo Credit â€" Flickr.comSearch online for relevant rolesNow you have a list of interests and passions; you can search online for job positions in those industries. As we just mentioned with the music example, it’s a simple process.Just search Google for “top jobs in the whatever sector,” and take a look at the results. There are lots of blogs that cover employment and careers these days. So, you’re almost guaranteed to find lots of articles that will point you in the right direction.There are also hundreds of specialist job boards employers use to list vacancies. Now would be a good time to take a look at the pay scales on offer. That would provide you with enough information to work out which ideas are viable.Get some new qualificationsPhoto Credit â€" Flickr.comWhen you’ve selected a job, you can take a look at some of the requirements employers expect. In many instances, they want to see that you have relevant qualifications. If you don’t have them already, now is the time to head back to college.Search online for learning establishments in your local area that offers the right courses. Many people will have to continue working their other job during the process. That often becomes a stumbling block as many lectures happen during the daytime. Still, there is another option on the table that you should consider.Online learning has become exceptionally popular in recent times. That is because it allows a flexible approach. You can work your way through the course at a pace and time that suits you.Get some work experienceevalS ometimes employers will want to see that you have relevant work experience. That is an issue if you’ve never worked in roles of that nature before. However, it doesn’t mean you have to give up and go back to stacking shelves. You just need to think outside of the box and contact the right people.Depending on the nature of your ambition, you could gain some experience by trying work at home jobs in your chosen industry. You could even contact companies that exist within that niche.Explain your goal, and tell them you’re willing to work a few days for free to gain experience. In most situations, they will take you up on the offer. At the end of the day, businesses aren’t going to turn down free labor.Photo Credit â€" Flickr.comLearn how to present yourself at interviewsThe way in which you present yourself at interviews could play a significant role in your success. Now you’ve found your ideal job and got experience; you just need to send some applications. However, you also need to make an excellent first impression when you get to meet the business owners.evalYou can do that by ensuring you remain as professional as possible. Always turn up wearing a suit or something smart. You should also use aftershave or perfume to make yourself seem attractive. Research the company as much as possible before you sit down in the meeting room.You will seem far more educated and interested if you ask questions too. If you think it will help, take a tablet or laptop and make a presentation. That should assist you in standing out from the crowd.Photo Credit â€" Flickr.comNever give upThe chances of you succeeding at your first interview are slim. That’s because there is always a lot of competition from other candidates. Also, you won’t feel comfortable as it’s the first time you’ve been through the process. With that in mind, sometimes you just need to get some practice.The important thing to remember is that you should never give up. As you undertake more in terviews, you will relax into the procedure. That should mean you stop saying silly things and always provide authoritative answers to questions.Whatever happens, you just need to keep moving forwards. Don’t lose sight of your goal, and we guarantee you will get there eventually. Remember, the winners in this world didn’t get lucky. They were just the people who refused to stop trying.You should now have an idea about how to get the job you deserve. Don’t waste any time when it comes to getting started. You might have to get a degree or something similar, and that could take years.So, time is of the essence, and you need to start moving as soon as possible. Just ensure you choose something realistic to avoid disappointment. Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to become the next Late Show host.However, there are millions of other positions you could achieve with the right levels of motivation. Whatever happens, we wish you the best of luck.

Working for a Younger Boss

Working for a Younger Boss What happens when you find a position that looks like a great match, but it requires that you work for someone who is 10, 15, or even 20 years younger than you? As people stay in the workforce longer, this may be one of the new realities of the 21st century workforce. Boomers will be reporting to Gen Xers and Gen Ys and the expectations of these new bosses may be very different than their Boomer and Traditionalist predecessors. Emily Glazer, writer for  Career Journals first 90 days column, offers some strategies for creating a strong working relationship with a younger boss. Here are a few of my own tips.  Recognize that an important factor in managing any relationship is understanding the other persons point of view. If your boss is from another generation, you may have differing opinions on many things. Observe their behavior to better understand if their  communication style  tends to be influenced by facts and figures or relationships and emotions. Determine how closely their st yle matches your own and think about the ways you can bend your dominant communication style when necessary to better complement their style.Accept that a comfort with technology may be very important to the younger boss. Dont be surprised if you receive text messages, IMs, or calls on your cell phoneeven if your boss is sitting six feet away from you. In some cases, the person you are working for doesnt remember life without these tools. This doesnt mean that you cant have a conversation with your bossit may just mean that they enjoy the flexibility of having multiple modes of communication.Forget about the past. Avoid using phrases such as when I was at company XYZ,or we tried that before and it didnt work. These statements may make you appear inflexible and resistant to change.Keep an open mind. Dont assume that a younger boss cant teach you anything or help you grow in your career. When our children show us new things we listen, marvel, and accept it as progress. Why not do the same thing with a younger boss?

Best Professional Resume Writing Jobs - Discover How to Land the Best Job

Best Professional Resume Writing Jobs - Discover How to Land the Best JobAre you interested in the best professional resume writing jobs? If so, you should read this article because it will tell you what to do and what not to do. Following these two simple rules will guarantee that you never fail to land one of the best jobs available.It is very important that you always remember certain things when you are setting up your resume. One of the most important things is your heading. The heading is the first thing that is displayed at the top of your resume. It is also the part that stands out the most. It should be something that catches the attention of the reader and will help them understand what you are trying to say.For your heading, you can place a strong emphasis on the first paragraph. Always keep in mind that the heading is the most important part of your resume. If you don't take care of this part, you won't be able to land the best job available. So always make sure that the heading is there before you start writing.On the other hand, you should also know that some of the best writing jobs are only available online. So to get them, you should look for people who are hiring on the internet. Remember that there are several websites where you can get jobs by posting your resume.The first thing that you need to do is to find good people who will review your resume for you. This is very easy. All you have to do is to search for companies that will help you by reviewing your resume.Some of these companies are charging money for the service they give but if you choose a free resume service, you can expect to get a lot of offers and help from them. The main reason why they charge is because they need to cover their expenses. And it is also necessary for them to cover their expenses because they usually deal with several companies at the same time.They offer many solutions that can help you improve your resume. You just have to pay for the service and they will do the rest. After you have signed up with them, you should try to send your resume as soon as possible.Another thing that you must do is to try to increase your chances of getting a job. What you can do is to know as much about the company as you can. If you know a lot about the company and you are a member of their forum, you can easily get a lot of information about the company and you can help the company. Always remember that the company will not hire you unless you know them well.