âHow do you define success?â is a common interview question that you need to be ready for because your response will have a serious impact on your chance of getting hired. This guide will teach you why this question gets asked and how to craft an effective answer. Table of contents The Reason Interviewers Ask […]
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After months (maybe even years) of careful thought, you have decided that the time is finally right to make a career change. This is one of the biggest decisions of your professional life and it will have a significant impact on your quality of life moving forward.
Buckle up! This change won’t happen overnight and it’s going to be a roller coaster of a process.
As you navigate your way through the career change process, here are five mistakes to avoid:
As alluded to in the opening paragraphs, the career change process is a roller coaster ride of emotions and there’s nothing easy about it! Some people go into the process, think they’ll apply for a few jobs, and just hope something will come together. Then, after the setbacks mount, they lose confidence and become frustrated.
You need to take a step back and taper your expectations.
The job market is as competitive as ever and, depending on how long you were at your previous job, the job search process has changed significantly. From the way you find jobs, apply for jobs, and interview for jobs, the process is not the same as it used to be.
You’ve decided you don’t want to continue with your current career path and have narrowed in on another career to pursue.
Guess what? That’s not enough!
You need to research the industry you’re going into to see how many of your professional skills will transfer over to the new career field. You also need to take a serious inventory of the skills that you’re lacking and investigate your options for upskilling to gain those valuable skills. This may be the most difficult of all the career change challenges. However, addressing it early in the job search process will only benefit you more in the long run.
In addition to all of that, you need to have a strong understanding of the state of the industry you’re targeting. Some industries, such as journalism, are struggling and seeing significant reductions in the workforce while other professions are in danger of being automated. It’s important to make sure that the profession you’re going into is better than the one you’re leaving behind.
It’s also important to research salaries for the profession, so there are no surprises as you go along in the process (more on that in a bit).
If you’ve neglected your professional network or don’t have one, you may want to make that your first priority before starting your job search.
A career change is hard enough as it is, but very few people are able to accomplish it without a little help. This is where your professional network comes in handy. Talking to former colleagues, professional acquaintances, and mentors can not only help shape your career path, but they may also be able to recommend companies that may be a good fit for you and make some initial introductions.
If your professional network needs some work, try to reach out to colleagues to see if they’re willing to introduce you to some professionals in their networks. In addition, you may want to look into attending some local networking events to meet new people.
Online networking tools such as LinkedIn also give job seekers an opportunity to run their own proactive job searches. If you’ve identified some companies that you’re interested in, you can use LinkedIn to connect with people at those companies. You can also contact the recruiter for those companies.
Your networking efforts should run concurrently with your job search.
There may have been a time a long time ago when a one-size-fits-all resume was fine but it’s not like that now. Every resume needs to be tailored to the specific job you’re targeting. The modern-day recruiter handles so many resumes that they only have time to skim them.
You basically have six seconds to get that recruiter’s attention, so all the relevant skills that you possess for that job need to be at the top of your resume.
There are still some people that fall into the trap of spending most of their time writing a good cover letter but using the same resume over and over again. Both documents deserve an equal amount of attention. It may take a little extra time but it beats being repeatedly passed over for job interviews.
If you’re making a career change just to make more money, you may be in for a surprise.
Sure, depending on your industry and professional experience, there are some career changes that lead to instant raises.
But in many cases, any financial gain that comes from career change happens in the long term, not the short term. It’s very possible that you’ll have to take a pay cut initially until you prove yourself in your new position. This is especially true if a company takes a chance and hires you with little experience. The company wants to make sure you can do the job before it makes a significant investment.
That’s why it’s important to do salary research early in the process and plan accordingly.
The job search process isn’t easy, but if you take the proper steps, it doesn’t have to be miserable. Hopefully by avoiding these five mistakes, making a career change will be a little less daunting and intimidating. And (even though it didn’t make the list) make sure you don’t prematurely quit your current job before you’ve secured a new one (unless you have the resources) because even the smoothest career changes take a little time.
Need more help with your career change?
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
Many people desire of greener pastures not to mention want to move overseas to somewhere new and also more exciting. Perhaps youâre tired of the area someone grew up in as well as want an exciting modify in your daily life, or possibly youâve noticed an incredible prospect somewhere else. Whatever ones reason for wanting that will immigrate, youâre probably conscious that […]
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If youâre looking for a new job itâs important to be ready for common situational interview questions. These questions are used frequently because of their fantastic ability to shine a light on how you operate in the workplace. This list of questions will help you get prepared so you can knock your answers out of […]
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Do you have a LinkedIn account just for the sake of having a LinkedIn account? If so, you’re not alone. Many people create a LinkedIn profile, fill out the basic information, and never touch their profile again. That’s a BAD strategy!
The problem with this approach is that you don’t take the time to learn how to navigate or leverage LinkedIn to your advantage.
LinkedIn can be a valuable resource for those looking for new career opportunities. There’s an option in the platform’s security settings that allows the user to let recruiters know they are open to new opportunities.
Even if you’re happy in your career, you never want to close yourself off to new and exciting possibilities. In addition to career opportunities, LinkedIn is beneficial for networking and meeting new contacts to exchange ideas, which will help you build your personal brand and stay relevant in your industry.
Here are a few ways to make better use of your LinkedIn profile:
It’s hard to get noticed on LinkedIn if you don’t stand out, and one easy way to stand out is by using content to your advantage. Content is king!
Remain active on LinkedIn by consistently posting content about your industry and company. You can do this by creating your own content (if you’re an authority on a subject) or by sharing relevant and engaging articles. Posting relevant information about your profession helps to reinforce who you are as a professional and shows that you are engaged in your career.
To get better organized with posting content, create a content calendar for your page that reminds you to post so you don’t fall behind.
Another way to stand out is by creating graphics for your content to make it more visual. Free online tools like Canva can assist you with graphics and images for your posts.
As your career goes on, your job responsibilities will change, and you may even get promoted. It’s important to put these changes on your LinkedIn profile because it shows a pattern of career growth. In addition, as your job responsibilities change, it may impact the skill sets and keywords that you want to feature in your headline and “About” section.
It’s also important to highlight accomplishments when the opportunity presents itself. If you or your company win an award or recognition for work in the field, that information should be shared on your LinkedIn profile for personal branding purposes.
LinkedIn is a good way to stay in touch with former colleagues, mentors, and other significant professionals in your industry. Having a large network that you’re in contact with is important because these connections could potentially vouch for you when you’re looking for a new career opportunity, or even refer you for a job.
Networking via LinkedIn is also a good way to get past the applicant tracking system (ATS). You can track down and potentially connect with a recruiter on LinkedIn to get your information directly into their hands.
Recruiters use platforms like LinkedIn to find top talent. It’s not uncommon for those who are successful in their careers to get job offers before even knowing that a job is available. That’s why it’s important to put your LinkedIn profile to use.
By remaining active, you can easily make your LinkedIn profile work to your advantage. It shouldn’t sit idly by wasting away!
Need more help with your LinkedIn profile?
Sign up for our FREE Resume & LinkedIn Bootcamp today to learn how to update your resume and LinkedIn profile the way recruiters want!
This article was originally published at an earlier date.
PowerPoint â the âstirrupsâ of presentations
Some people say that stirrups took the skill out of horse riding. Stirrups made it too easy for riders to stay on their horses.
PowerPoint is thought to have done the same for presentations. By organizing your ideas, thoughts, and information in a series of slides, meetings start to look the same.
PowerPoint is so ubiquitous that a meeting is almost not a meeting without some slides. Is there another way to communicate, or are we all doomed to experience âdeath by PowerPointâ?
PowerPoint was invented less than a hundred years ago. Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, Martin Luther, and Einstein didnât let their lack of PowerPoint stop them! Perhaps itâs worth looking at some alternatives.
âLive & unpluggedâ
If your message is straightforward and doesnât involve too many facts and figures, why not just stand up and say it?
This was how Cicero, Demosthenes, and Churchill spoke most of the time.
To make it work, you will need to prepare your message carefully. It will force you to boil it down to the basics and concentrate on what really matters.
If youâre going to answer questions, youâll need to know your subject well enough to be able to think on your feet. You may want to âred teamâ possible questions and prepare your answers to them. See âfurther readingâ for more details!
If someone asks you to share your content electronically, you can either have a document ready with speakerâs notes or get someone to film your conversation and share the recording.
Flipcharts
Flipcharts are an effective way to share âlow-densityâ information visually.
They are also very useful for âco-creation,â where your presentation is more of a discussion and the output is something that you have created with your audience.
Paul Ardern, the Saatchi and Saatchi advertising legend, recommended making pitches for advertising campaign stories in this way. It allows customers to get involved in the creation process right from the start. It also demonstrates how willing you are to listen to your customers.
Sharing the results electronically is fairly easy. Simply take pictures of each completed page by phone and share them by email.
Word documents
Many people present PowerPoint slides with densely written text and diagrams.
Data projectors display whatever is on the screen, so if you have already written a Word document and you know which pages you want to show, why duplicate effort by copying text onto a PowerPoint file?
If the document is a draft, itâs also possible to get peoplesâ input and edit it on the fly.
It adds a touch of authenticity to the meeting. You are showing the actual document. It makes sharing the information easier and more credible since what your audience sees during the presentation is what they get.
Spreadsheets
If youâre presenting numbers, such as an ROI or a set of cost estimates or accounts, you could just show your audience the spreadsheet with the calculations on it.
The advantage of this is, once again, you can discuss with the customer how accurate your estimations are and then make adjustments on the fly. This involves the customer in the creative process which will build trust.
Some salespeople have been known to deliberately make estimated costs that might be saved, such as salaries, lower than they really are. They then let their customers correct their figures, and so the final ROI figure goes up, and it looks like the customer discovered this for themselves.
Make a video
You may expect your audience to passively consume your message, or to ask questions later.
Why not just make a video, share it electronically, and give your audience a deadline by which they must submit questions?
Video editing software is readily available and not too difficult to learn. You can use it to mix media of different formats including audio, written text, and moving images.
Once the video is complete, itâs not too difficult to share it electronically.
Do you need a presentation at all?
If you are planning to read what is on the PowerPoint to your audience and then follow up with a question-and-answer session, why not just send them the text to read before the meeting?
This will give your audience more time to âdigestâ the information and they can prepare questions independently without worrying about the social aspect of asking questions in front of the group.
Letâs get in touch!
Are you planning a presentation? Would you like to brainstorm alternative delivery methods? Letâs talk and see what we can put together!
Further reading…
Here are some more articles on the topic of presentations:
Red Teaming â Defining Objection Handling Strategies & More
Sell The Hole, Not The Drill! How To Make A Successful Sales Presentation
Knowing who to use as a reference is essential knowledge for any job seeker. And while it might seem simple, there are right and wrong choices you can make when putting that list together! This guide will teach you who to put as a professional reference, and why. Table of contents Who to Use as […]
The post Who To Use As A Professional Reference: A Simple Guide appeared first on Career Sherpa.
An Executiveâs Perspective
The industry defines a CDP as a platform that centralizes customer data from multiple sources and makes it available to systems for insight and engagement tasks. This definition is dated as modern CDPs include not only customer data but also the ability to ingest prospecting data and partnership data in a secured environment.
Considerations
Key capabilities you may want any CDP platform to perform:
The CDP market is highly fragmented, with each vendor type focusing on a specific industry and/or specializing in a particular functionality. It is important to note that many providers may say they can provide every feature functionality. Still, the art and the science of evaluating CDP vendors are determining which vendor is good at the dimensions deemed to be important for the business problems and opportunities you are trying to solve.
I suggest conducting pre-RFP benchmarking and competitive intelligence using resources such as user experience interviews, industry publications, and commercial research firms. The output will give you an overview of which vendors, software providers, and consultants are good at solving the various pain points that are important to your specific situation. Remember to ask for client references upfront from the CDP vendor. If you need assistance with benchmarking activities, there are service providers that can help with all aspects of these tasks, from organizational needs assessment to the purchase and integration of tools. Please feel free to reach out to me for more ideas.]
Some of the largest vendors in the CDP space include SAS, Tealium, Twilio Segment, and Zeta Global. However, several cloud-based data lakehouses (e.g., Snowflake or Google, etc.) offer accelerators and partner APIs to link campaign data to CDPs, thus making the vendor/provider landscape more competitive than ever before.
CDP capability sets are focused in four areas, and so the relative importance of meeting needs within these areas must feed into an organizationâs decisioning. The four capabilities areas to assess are:
1. What level of data management does the CDP provide?
CDP data management includes:
2. What level of cross-channel marketing and campaign automation does the CDP provide?
CDP orchestration for cross-channel customer engagement:
NOTE: While some CDPs may have personalization and product recommendation engines, these functionalities may not result in a fully automated campaign management CDP which typically includes programming of campaigns via workflow and channel send capabilities (see above).
3. What level of analytics and measurement does the CDP provide?
Some CDPs (but not all) can:
NOTE: CDPs that are measurement and insights-oriented may offer reporting, modeling, and other marketing and customer journey analytics features.
4. What security features are available?
My preferred process for evaluating CDPs is to identify all solution options based on an understanding of your:
And remember, CDPs fit within a broader business ecosystem, but many also come standalone. For example, you can purchase Adobe Campaign or Salesforce Marketing solutions, or you can buy their entire marketing automation ecosystem.
In closing, CDPs should be reviewed in the context of the existing MarTech stack and the feature functionality gap. A critical factor in CDP evaluation is the work and resources needed to integrate your current infrastructure at upstream and downstream connect points.
As always, Iâd like to hear from you. How have you and others in your organization evaluated CDPs? Are there other criteria I have not mentioned? What challenges have you faced in the evaluation stage…and how were they overcome? Contact me for more information at [email protected].
Sweaty palms. Shaky voice. Blank mind. These symptoms of nervousness can seriously sabotage a job interview, no matter how prepared and qualified you are.
To quell these natural responses and help you muster more confidence in anxious situations, consider these quick pre-interview confidence boosters so you can perform better right before your next job interviewâno energy drinks or cheesy motivational speeches required!
Amy Cuddy, social psychologist at Harvard Business School, talked about what people do while waiting for a job interview to start in a popular TEDGlobal presentation.
âYou’re sitting down. You’re looking at your iPhone or Android. You’re looking at your notes.”
This common waiting room behavior is not really ideal for maximizing your confidence right before an interview. Instead, the following activities will make you way more confident before meeting a potential boss:
According to Cuddy, rather than hunching up and making yourself small in the waiting room chair as you scramble to soak up last-minute notes or practice one final interview question, you should actually find a private place to do what Cuddy calls a power pose.
There are a few variations, but the Wonder Woman pose is easy to remember. So, 10 minutes before your interview, go somewhere private, like the bathroom, and strike a strong pose where you can take up as much space as possible.
“Repeating a positive affirmation can reduce production of cortisol and stress hormones by almost 50%, slow the mind, lower your blood pressure and heart rate, and make you feel confident and powerful,” says Kathleen Hall, founder and CEO of The Mindful Living Network and the Stress Institute.
Hall offers the following examples:
Joyce Marter, psychotherapist and CEO of Urban Balance, would agree and suggests deep breathing while you recite a positive mantra in your head “using language you will want to use in the interview, such as ‘I absolutely will succeed in this job if given the opportunity.'”
You might feel a little silly at first, but these words will help you emit a more positive appearanceâand that sure beats a nervous one!
Thinking back to a time when you were successful and confident is a great way to recreate that confidence right before an interview. A quick and easy way to do this is to print out and compile anything nice someone has said about you. Read old letters of recommendation, LinkedIn endorsements, letters, or notes from colleagues or teachers that have boosted your confidence in the past.
If you’re not really feeling this method, “quickly review your biggest accomplishments in your head before going into the interview,” says Katherine Walker, founder and executive director of Lifetime Behavioral Health. “This trip down memory lane will instantly create a sense of confidence and serve to get your brain thinking about items the interviewer will no doubt ask you about.” It’s the best way to remind yourself that all of your previous experiences have helped shape you and prepare you to succeed in this job interview!
We hope these three tips will help you feel more confident during your next interview so you can land that dream job!
Need more help with your job search?
We’d love it if you signed up for Work It Daily’s Event Subscription! Get your career questions answered in our next live event!
This article was originally published at an earlier date.
It’s taking longer to get hired, folks. This is according to an article on LinkedIn showing that the U.S. Department of Labor has reported that over 800,000 unemployed workers went from taking three and a half months to find a job to over six months. That’s up 36% since April of 2022.
So, why is it taking longer to get hired?
@j.t.odonnell It’s Taking Longer To Get Hired, Here’s Why… #hired #careertok #jobtok #careeradvice #jobsearch #linkedin #jobtips #joblife #job #career ⬠original sound – J.T. O’Donnell
Reason #1
The first reason why it’s taking longer to get hired is the talent market is flooded. In the second half of 2022, in the tech sector, more people got laid off than during the entirety of the Great Recession of 2008. And the layoffs keep coming. Google just announced more layoffs. So, due to all of these layoffs, there’s a lot of top talent flooding the market right nowâprofessionals who have desirable, in-demand skill sets and experience.
Reason #2
If you are unemployed for a while, either voluntarily or involuntarily (you quit or got fired), it’s going to be harder for you to get a job now because companies are going to question why you’ve been out of work so long. This is definitely a factor in why it’s taking longer for you to get hired. Is it right or fair? No, but it’s the reality. There’s a stigma surrounding it. Companies are going to hire the people that are employed or just recently let go in a public layoff first before they look at the candidates who’ve been unemployed for a month or two.
So, what can you do to speed up your job search?
Here are some simple tips to follow:
Need more help with your job search?
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âDescribe your work ethicâ is a common question that gets asked in interviews, and answering it can be surprisingly challenging. But interviewers will be paying close attention to what you say, so coming up with a good response is essential! This guide will teach you how to describe your work ethic in a way that […]
The post How To Answer “Describe Your Work Ethic” (Effectively) appeared first on Career Sherpa.
Layoffs and hiring are each happening right now. Exactly what do you need to carry out to create career protection? This contrast in your labor market is uncommon and proof that all of us are in uncharted place. You’ ll be okay if you realize that will your career security isn’ t linked with a job or company. It’ s i9000 what you do […]
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