By now you've probably learned that the traditional ways of job searching don't work anymore. A few years ago, you could put your resume up on multiple online job boards and wait for the phone to ring. Those days are gone.
If you want to land your dream job, you have to be proactive.
Here are five basic strategies to follow that will help you improve your job search results:
Scan Your Resume For 15 Seconds
Recruiters read hundreds of resumes on a daily basis. They only have time to skim the top of them, so if you don't give a clear message about what you can do for them, then it is not a good resume. Since this is the most important document in your career, you need to give it the attention it deserves.
Focus On The High-Return Job Efforts
Job boards have less than a 5% effectiveness rate while networking has over a 50% effectiveness rate.
Start by selecting your bucket list of companies where you would love to work. Do a company search on LinkedIn and identify the decision-makers and their staff. Then, see who you know who might know someone who can then make an introduction for you. Follow the company and connect with people on LinkedIn, join their groups and conversations, comment on their blogs, and become known.
This is how you move from a passive job search, waiting for the right job to appear on the job boards, to a proactive one where you're an active job seeker targeting the kinds of positions you really want.
Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
If a recruiter was searching through LinkedIn to find people for the position you are seeking, would you show up? Try it and if you are not on the first or second page, go back to your profile and optimize it with the right keywords to get yourself a higher ranking.
Review Your Online Presence
Many employers will Google your name to learn more about you. Make sure you look good on LinkedIn and review your activity on Facebook, Twitter, and any other online accounts. Take down or change any comments that reflect poorly upon you. Use your own blog, online exchanges, and testimonials to showcase your professional knowledge. Your social media plays a huge role in the job search process.
Create Measurable Goals
Searching for a job is like any other project and you must stay disciplined, so set firm goals for yourself. For example, "I will make 10 networking calls and have two meetings per week."
Make sure you are focusing on high-impact efforts like networking versus job board submissions. Keep a record of your efforts so if an employer calls, you can quickly determine when and how they were contacted.
Need more help with your job search?
We'd love it if you joined our FREE community. It''s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades. More importantly, we have tons of resources inside our community that can help you find a job and advance your career.
It's time to find work that makes you feel happy, satisfied, and fulfilled. Join our FREE community today to finally become an empowered business-of-one!
This article was originally published at an earlier date.
You may also like
A very experienced technical sales professional told me something very interesting. Nearly all business-to-business sales attempt to replace an existing solution. He said: âCompanies buy solutions that produce the same outputs for a lower price or produce more outputs for the same price.”
What Is A Return On Investment (ROI) Calculation?
ROI calculations are thought experiments to show your audience what will happen if they switch from their existing solution to the proposed new solution. Itâs used in the sales process to stimulate discussion.
As a conversation starter, the calculation doesnât have to be totally accurate. Where you donât have the full figures, you can make assumptions. They must be based on some sort of reality such as industry benchmarks, for example.
Be conservative in your estimates. If a customer says you have underestimated the savings they will make, then they are selling themselves the product.
Here is a step-by-step guide to how to prepare an ROI calculation, using savings made with a voice biometric authentication system as an example.
Step 1: Define The Experiment
Decide what effect switching to the new solution will have. Consider the financial value of the cost reduction or increase in productivity. The voice biometric system wonât make any money itself. It will eliminate the need for agents to ask the customer security questions, so reducing call lengths by approximately 1 minute.
Step 2: Define The Current (Control) State
Scientific experiments often have a control. In drug trials, two rats are injected with the target pathogen. One is injected with the drug, while the other isnât. This second rat is the âcontrol.â It demonstrates what happens if the drug isnât used.
The basic scenario of the ROI calculation does the same thing.
Assume our contact center has 100 agents on the phones. Each agent handles 100 calls a day and each call is approximately 3 minutes long. Agents are paid USD 10.00 per hour. The agents work 7 hours a day (Breaks are unpaid), 47 weeks per year not including holidays and sickness. Cost per call = USD 70.00 / 100 calls = USD 0.70 per call.
Step 3: Define The Effect Of The Experiment
Now we define what happens, from the financial perspective, when we use the new solution. In our example, removing the security questions will reduce the call length by 1 minute. Calls are now 2 minutes long instead of 3, so agents can make 150 calls in the time they handled 100 calls. The new cost per call will be USD 70.00 / 150 calls = USD 0.46 per call.
Step 4: Define The Savings
We have defined the financial situation before adopting the product and after adopting the product. Now we calculate the savings by deducting one from the other. Before product adoption, the cost per call is USD 0.70 per call. After product adoption, the cost per call is USD 0.46 per call. The savings will therefore be USD 0.24 per call.
Step 5: Introduce The Solution Cost To Calculate The True Savings
âThe solution itself has a cost. We must factor this into the savings calculation to see if itâs worth buying.
Traditionally, on-premises software was sold with a single license fee and a small annual maintenance fee as a follow-up. Nowadays, software is more likely to be sold under a monthly or quarterly subscription fee or, if it is cloud-based, as a consumption charge. Itâs important to express savings in the same time frame as the solution costs.
To keep things simple, letâs assume that our product is priced as a monthly subscription based on the number of named users. The subscription fee is USD 150.00 per agent per month.
An agent handles 150 calls per day for 21 days per month (assuming we lose 2 working days per month to holidays and sickness) which comes to 3, 150 calls per month. Monthly savings will therefore be USD 0.24 per call x 3,150 calls = USD 756.00 per agent per month.
Net savings is the monthly savings minus the subscription fee. USD 756.00 â USD 150 = USD 606 per month. Multiply that by the 100 agents working in the contact center, and you have a total monthly saving of USD 60,600 per month. Multiply that by 12, and you have a savings of USD 727,000 per year.
Skull Busters
Sometimes customers will tell you they want to do something like âimprove CSAT.â The financial benefits are not always obvious. In my experience, the best way to address this is to ask the customers themselves what such improvements will mean financially.
If they canât tell you this, then they may not really know why they are buying the product.
If they tell you every 1% improvement in NPS scores will lead to a USD half million increase in revenues, build that into your numbers.
If you think the savings look too optimistic, present your more ârealisticâ figure. Explain that you want to err on the side of caution. Your customer will be reassured by your transparency and prudence.
Presentation
Your âallyâ in the customerâs company may ask you for the ROI calculation to help her persuade the board that buying your solution is a good idea. Provide her with an easy-to-understand presentation with explanatory notes explaining what the facts are and where they come from, what the assumptions are and what they are based on, and what the calculations are and how they were calculated.
She may need to present the calculation without your help.
Wrap-Up
Are you trying to prepare an ROI calculation? Let me know if you need any help!
Further reading…
Try reading this article about building your business case. It might help you flesh out your calculations with some narrative.
Personal leadership is taking responsibility for all aspects of your life and leading it in the direction that is best for you. In order to be successful in leading at work, having strong personal leadership skills is critical.
When you are able to take responsibility for your own life decisions, you are better able to have a positive and inspiring impact on others. You are also able to be a role model for others in the leadership arena.
There are three factors that impact strong personal leadership skills…
A Good Mindset
Mindset is defined as “a fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations.”
Having a positive attitude and perspective about personal leadership and making decisions that are in your best interest is your first step toward strong personal leadership skills. Having positive beliefs and expectations about what will result when you make choices is part of having a positive mindset about personal leadership.
Having the right attitude about developing your personal leadership skills is a great first step on the path to success. Then, you can transfer that success to your leadership skills at work.
Energy Management
The next important area is your energy. How are you managing your energy? Are you taking time to renew yourself? This all supports you in being able to make the best decisions.
This, again, translates into your leadership skills at work. Managing your energy in all areas of your life enables you to give your bestâboth personally and professionallyâand to be at your best when you are both at home and at work.
Strong Support Systems
The third important area of personal leadership is your support systems. Having strong personal leadership skills means you have a network of people to support you through making choices that are in your best interest.
These people are your sounding boards, your trusted colleagues, your family and friends, and really anyone who you define as part of your inner circle of confidantes. These are the people who know you and trust. They are the ones with whom you can share ideas and seek guidance.
This, again, translates to your being a strong leader at work. We all know the importance of having a strong network in our careers. When people advocate for us, listen to us, and help us, we repay the favor. Strong personal leadership skills require the same type of network.
Strong personal leadership is about being the best leader in your personal life in addition to your professional life. Having strong personal leadership skills also makes you an outstanding role model for those you lead at work and demonstrates vital skills they can incorporate into their own lives.
Development Tip: How are your personal leadership skills? Do you have the right mindset about leading your own life? Are you managing your energy well and do you have a support system behind you? Take some time to think about whether or not you are leading your own life as well as leading your work life.
Are you looking to land a leadership role soon?
Join our community to learn how to UNLEASH your true leadership potential to get what you want from work!
This article was originally published at an earlier date.
Reading LinkedIn, you might think that the average office is a caring, sharing environment. Everyone adopts a nurturing attitude towards their colleagues. Managers give their staff kind words of encouragement even when they make expensive mistakes.
Perhaps your experience was different? Mine was.
Iâve worked with organizations where positivity and empathy were not among the corporate values.
Encounters with managers in the military, law enforcement, accounting firms, sales teams, and outsourced call centres can be bruising experiences.
So why would anyone tell a Navy chief petty officer, a tax inspector, or a Russian call centre manager that using positive and encouraging language might be a good idea Why would they believe it?
Positive Language â The Business Case
Positive language makes working a more pleasant experience.
Staff are more likely to be productive, stay with the company instead of move on, and perhaps even persuade their friends to work there.
The financial benefits of increased productivity are obvious.
Reducing staff turnover means less time and effort spent recruiting and training replacements, and fewer periods of sub-par productivity from partially trained employees.
Most companies have ârecommend a friendâ schemes. The savings can be substantial. A UK company offers a GBP 1,000 bonus for staff who successfully recruit their friends. Most recruitment firms charge three monthsâ salary for the same thing. This could easily amount to two or three times the bonus, even for quite junior positions.
The frequent use of negative language has the opposite effect.
Resentful staff have less reason to be productive and so earn less for the company.
Resentful staff are more likely to leave at the first opportunity. HR will need to recruit and train more new hires to replace them. This costs more and has a negative impact on productivity.
Resentful staff are more likely to tell their friends and relatives how bad the company is to work for, so dissuading people from working there.
What Is Positive Language?
Positive language need not be sickly sweet. It has four distinct characteristics:
- It tells listeners what CAN be done. Negative language focuses on what CANNOT be done.
- It offers alternatives, choices, and options. Negative language offers no alternatives, no choices, and no options.
- Positive language focuses on the problem to be solved. It looks forward to finding a solution. Negative language focuses on finding someone, usually the listener, to blame.
- Positive language helps and encourages people. Negative language does not encourage anyone.
What Does It Take To Speak More Positively?
Surprisingly little. Here are some examples of negative phrases people use, and their more positive substitutes.
âYou didnât…â
This looks back to the past. It says what the person didnât do without offering alternatives. It makes it clear that the fault lies with the listener. Suppose we replace this with âNext time, try…â? This looks forward. It doesnât point the finger and it gives the listener an alternative course of action.
âYou should/must…â
This is very forceful and puts the blame firmly on the listener. How would the listener react to âIt would be better if you…â or maybe âWe should/must…â? The first option presents an alternative course of action. If the issue is related to legal obligations or safety requirements, then saying âWe should/must…â takes away the sting by emphasizing that everyone has to do it.
âYou didnât understand…â
As a trainer, I try to avoid saying this. If my trainee doesnât understand, then thatâs not her fault, itâs my fault. I didnât present it properly. I prefer to say: âI didnât tell you properly/clearly enough…â
Linguistic Land Mines!
These phrases are guaranteed to lead to fights and divorce proceedings.
âYes, but…â
This says: âI have listened to you. It doesnât matter.â Try replacing the word âbutâ with âand.â Youâll find that the conversation moves along faster and with less antagonism.
âYou should have…â
This focuses on the past and the personâs âmistake.â It shows no respect for the listener and blames him for not having your superior knowledge. A more positive substitute might be: âNext time, try…â That conveys the same message, but looks forward to getting it right in the future.
âWhy…?â
âWhyâ questions often sound like accusations. We all remember teachers asking us why we didnât do our homework. âWhyâ questions often put people into âexcuse givingâ mode. They answer the question with excuses rather than properly thought-out root causes. Coaches recommend replacing âWhyâ with âWhat…?â transforming the question âWhy didnât you do your homeworkâ into âWhat prevented you from doing your homework?”
âCalm down!â
Saying this usually has the opposite effect! It tells your listener that you do not care about their emotions. You just want them to stop expressing them. If you really want to help a person become less emotional, try telling him, âI want to help you, I need you to tell me what the problem is.â If the person shouts, itâs more effective if you take them aside and let them vent. Often, once the person has expressed their anger, they can speak more rationally and will apologize for their outbursts.
Next Steps
Think of the conversations you have had recently.
How many negative phrases have you heard? What effect did they have on you?
How many negative phrases have you used yourself? Now that you know more about positive and negative language, how would you conduct these conversations differently?
Once youâve thought about these questions, get in touch and tell me your thoughts!
Further Reading
When youâre training your staff, your choice of language can have a massive effect on their learning. To find out more about how to train staff, please read my posts âTraining for Non-Trainersâ and âExplaining How Things Work: How To Do It And Why It Matters.â
Marketers today are constantly trying to stay ahead of the curve with their brands in this fast-paced world, maintaining a sense of relevance with their audience. As a result, itâs critical to build competitive marketing strategies.
Here are five brand marketing trends that marketing leaders must incorporate into their strategies to drive results.
Focus On Video & Live Stream Content
Short-form video is a popular and highly effective marketing tool that is here to stay due to its virality. Of all the video formats, short-form has the highest ROI and is also #1 for lead generation and engagement. Source. With constrained budgets, short-form videos can be produced quickly, easily repurposed into other content, and cost-effective. This format is a great way to grab peopleâs short attention spans and communicate your message quickly. Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Spotlight, and Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram Stories prioritize short-form content in their algorithms, making it easier for brands to reach a wider audience.
In addition, the global live stream market will reach more than $247 billion by 2027. Source. Live streaming is gaining significant traction and gives brands unique opportunities to engage with their audiences in real time. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok have integrated live streaming into their platforms, allowing brands to reach their followers easily. Additionally, live streams can be recorded and shared after the fact, allowing brands to continue to reach new audiences even after the live stream has ended.
Here are several short-form videos and live-stream options to grow your business:
- User-Generated Content Videos: Created by customers or fans of a brand and are more likely to be trusted than other forms of marketing.
- Behind the Scenes Videos/Livestream: Provide a glimpse into the inner workings of your brand or company by showing off your culture, highlighting your employees, giving a day in the life, providing insights into your process, and fun bloopers.
- Explainer, Informational, or Education Videos: Great for explaining complex concepts or ideas and encouraging customers to learn more about your brand.
- FAQs Videos: Answering commonly asked questions makes the customer buying journey easier.
- Testimonial Videos: Powerful marketing tools where customers share how much they love your brand.
- How-to Videos: These are booming with the rise of âTikTok Taught Meâ videos and are simple step-by-step guides for âhow-toâ to accomplish a specific task.
- Expert Interview Videos: Interviewing subject matter experts.
- Series Videos: A series of videos that have a particular theme, topic, or story and are released sequentially.
- Q&A Livestream: Allows viewers to ask questions in real time, bringing a sense of closeness. As you provide answers, you show that you value their input.
- Webinar Livestream: This live conference or presentation typically consists of one or more speakers who provide valuable information, insights, and knowledge while taking questions from viewers to drive interactivity.
- Influencer Takeover Livestream: Partner with an influencer who discusses your brand, showcases your products/services, and engages with their followers.
- Product Launch Livestream: Showcase your product in action, demonstrate key features, benefits, and functionality in real time, explain the problems it solves, answer questions, and build hype for new product launches.
Focus On Social Media Marketing
Over four billion people are using social media, which is expected to increase to six billion by 2027. People spend more than 2 ½ hours per day on social media. This should be a key part of your marketing strategy as it allows you to connect with your audience on a personal level authentically. Many people, especially Gen Z, use social media for everything from connecting with family and friends, filling their spare time, learning something, getting advice, seeing whatâs trending, searching for jobs, finding what to buy, and answering lifeâs big questions. Source. Social media platforms allow brands to reach consumers in the medium of their choice. Here are three ways to use social media:
- Social Commerce Expanding: Virtual shopping has boomed and is expected to reach $1.6 trillion by 2024. Eighty percent of Gen Z and millennial shoppers have bought a product theyâve seen on social media feeds. Consumers have many options today: Instagram Shopping, Facebook Shops, and TikTok have been testing their âShops.â Brands today can provide customers with a direct way to purchase without leaving the app, providing a virtual storefront.
- Social Media for Customer Service: Social media has evolved into a customer service platform. Twenty percent of Gen Z and nearly 25% of millennials have contacted a brand on social media for customer service. Source. People increasingly expect brands to offer social media customer service support. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Set up a dedicated handle for social media customer support
- Create social media guidelines
- Monitor brand and business conversations
- Be proactive and manage customer expectations
- Respond timely and always respond
- Go the extra mile
- Take public conversations private
- Try a chatbot for common customer service requests
- Use a social media management tool for efficiency
- Social Media Influencers Will Continue to Influence: We are seeing a shift in brands building longer-term, authentic partnerships with creators who can develop and maintain trust with their audience, promoting the same brand over time, leaving behind influencers who will partner with any brand that pays. For constrained budgets, micro- and nano-influencers (creators with fewer than 10K followers) are an excellent option for driving awareness and engagement. While influencers require more personalized management and relationship building, they can target niche audiences with a greater ROI. Sixty percent of marketers say influencer marketing has a higher ROI than traditional advertising. Sixty-one percent of consumers trust influencersâ recommendations, and more than 38% trust branded social media content. Here are the top influencer trends to watch:
- Live Shopping With Influencer Campaigns
- Marketers Spending More on TikTok
- Emphasis on Creators Across Multiple Platforms
- Performance-Based Deals
- Influencers & Professionals Will Become More Specialized
- Increased Influencer Collaborations
- Influencers Changing Affiliate Marketing
- Employee-Driven Content Will Increase
Focus On The Customer Experience
Every year, $1.6 trillion is lost in the U.S. due to consumers switching brands after receiving lousy customer service. Over a third of customers say they will leave a brand they love after one unpleasant encounter, while 92% will walk away after two to three negative interactions. And 76% of customers expect consistent interactions across departments they interact with; however, 54% say it feels like sales, service, and marketing teams donât share information. The great news is that increasing customer retention by 5% can boost profits by 25% to 95%.
Here are several trends to consider for your customer experience strategy:
- Understand the Customerâs Perspective: Create a customer journey map, a visual representation of the customerâs experience with your company. This can provide valuable insights into every stage of the customer journey, the factors that directly or indirectly motivate them, and whatâs needed to create a cohesive experience. Youâll need to connect with all the departments interacting with your customers, gathering data such as customer touchpoints, needs, barriers to customer service, attitudes, motivations, perspectives, emotions, pain points, and problems your products/services need to solve for your customers.
- Hyper-Personalized Experience: Customers want hyper-personalized, tailored experiences that speak directly to them. Ninety-one percent of consumers are likelier to shop with brands that recognize them, remember past transactions, and provide relevant offerings and recommendations. Personalization now means that customers want us to know them, anticipate their needs, remind them of what to purchase next, consider their best interests, and create a branded experience that feels special. This can be achieved by using data analytics to provide behavioral insights that help you make that personalized experience that keeps customers returning for more.
- Chatbots to Aid Customer Service: Chatbots have a greater impact on the consumer experience, with 90% of businesses reporting larger improvements in the speed of complaint resolution. Seventy-four percent of consumers prefer using chatbots when looking for answers to simple questions. Incorporating a chatbot feature can help you take your customer service to the next level. Here are five chatbot trends to consider:
- Voice Assistant Chatbots Gaining Momentum
- AI-Powered Chatbots
- Conversational Commerce
- Chatbots Will Automate Payments
Focus On AI Technologies
Artificial Intelligence means a machine to accomplish any task that requires âintelligence.â Today, AIs are just statistical models that make good predictions using probabilities and math. ChatGPT and Bing AI are the latest in the line of AI technology blowing up in the news lately.
ChatGPT, an AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, was thrust into the news recently with Microsoftâs announcement of its multibillion-dollar investment in the company. Microsoft then unveiled a new version, Bing AI, that ChatGPT powers. It works by typing in a question, and it will respond, laying out the answer and providing context. It is simple to use and provides results in an instant that look like a human produced them. It has its shortcomings. Itâs still learning, which means it can give wrong answers, is not a human expert, and has its bias, to name a few. You need to understand the limitations and use it as a co-editing tool, helping to train it while fact-checking your work. Here are seven ways you can incorporate ChatGPT and Bing AI into your business:
- Blogs/Podcasts
- Social Media Posts
- Video Scripts
- Research
- Content Creation
- Ad Copy
- Keyword Targeting Suggestions
Focus On Social Responsibility
Consumers today are loyal to brands that practice social responsibility. As a result, 90% of shoppers worldwide will likely switch to brands supporting a good cause. Social responsibility is no longer an option but a commitment, and thatâs why businesses are shifting the way they think about marketing (89% of marketers in 2023 plan to invest in social responsibility content vs. 45% in 2022). Itâs not about generating leads; itâs about building trust with consumers so that they feel comfortable supporting your brand. Here are key trends that have emerged:
- Increased Transparency: Consumers are no longer satisfied with shady business dealings and are demanding to know more. As a result, companies are more transparent with their social responsibility. Marketers are highlighting the following social responsibility efforts in their marketing campaigns:
- Recyclable packaging
- Societal issue awareness through promotions/campaigns
- Advocating for social justice
- Directing portions of purchases or profits to charity
- Running one-for-one campaigns to donate products to those in need
- Company-sponsored community services or activities
- Promoting fair trade
- Focus on Sustainability: Corporate sustainability is more important today than ever. Although 90% of business leaders think sustainability is necessary, only 60% of companies have a sustainability strategy. The good news is that 67% of companies have started using more sustainable materials, such as recycled materials and lower-emitting products. Here is some example of approaches you can take in your marketing initiatives to be more sustainable:
- Donating profits to sustainable causes
- Sourcing sustainable materials and packaging
- Creating a product/service that focuses on sustainability
- Think Global, Act Local: Acting locally involves making an impact within local communities where a companyâs footprint resides and where employees live, work, and play, elevating the wellness of everyone. How does this impact your marketing initiatives? Consider the global implications of your product launches to your marketing campaigns while also considering the needs of your local target market. Think about how your product/service or marketing campaign will be received by people in different cultures around the world and the impact on the environment.
The key is staying on top of these trends, being flexible, and being open to change so your business doesnât become a dinosaur. Start building your brand leadership today. Youâve got this.