Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters Excerpt Courtesy Dave Perry

Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters Excerpt Courtesy Dave Perry A while back I signed up for Dave Perrys three free chapters, and subsequent newsletters, from the Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters website. I LOVED the three chapters, and the subsequent e-mails have been very valuable. Heres their message from the front page of GM4JH: If you’re looking for a job, you’ve probably realized that typical tacticsâ€"like cold calling and bombarding companies with resumesâ€"don’t work well in today’s intensely selective and competitive job market. With real-life war stories from successful job hunters and expert tips and tactics from prominent headhunters, Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters gives you plenty of insurgent ideas for finding and landing the right job. Dave has given me permission to post the three chapters, free, for you (right click here to download the pdf). But if you want more meaty information, tips, techniques, stories, etc., I suggest you go to GM4JH and sign up (on the left of the screen). Oh yeah, if you want the book, its less than $13 on Amazon.com. Thanks Dave! Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters Excerpt Courtesy Dave Perry A while back I signed up for Dave Perrys three free chapters, and subsequent newsletters, from the Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters website. I LOVED the three chapters, and the subsequent e-mails have been very valuable. Heres their message from the front page of GM4JH: If you’re looking for a job, you’ve probably realized that typical tacticsâ€"like cold calling and bombarding companies with resumesâ€"don’t work well in today’s intensely selective and competitive job market. With real-life war stories from successful job hunters and expert tips and tactics from prominent headhunters, Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters gives you plenty of insurgent ideas for finding and landing the right job. Dave has given me permission to post the three chapters, free, for you (right click here to download the pdf). But if you want more meaty information, tips, techniques, stories, etc., I suggest you go to GM4JH and sign up (on the left of the screen). Oh yeah, if you want the book, its less than $13 on Amazon.com. Thanks Dave! Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters Excerpt Courtesy Dave Perry A while back I signed up for Dave Perrys three free chapters, and subsequent newsletters, from the Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters website. I LOVED the three chapters, and the subsequent e-mails have been very valuable. Heres their message from the front page of GM4JH: If you’re looking for a job, you’ve probably realized that typical tacticsâ€"like cold calling and bombarding companies with resumesâ€"don’t work well in today’s intensely selective and competitive job market. With real-life war stories from successful job hunters and expert tips and tactics from prominent headhunters, Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters gives you plenty of insurgent ideas for finding and landing the right job. Dave has given me permission to post the three chapters, free, for you (right click here to download the pdf). But if you want more meaty information, tips, techniques, stories, etc., I suggest you go to GM4JH and sign up (on the left of the screen). Oh yeah, if you want the book, its less than $13 on Amazon.com. Thanks Dave!

A Remedy for The Pleasing Disease

A Remedy for The Pleasing Disease Many women are in the business of pleasing others. Sometimes this is a wonderful thing.   Other times, our “pleasing disease” is the reason we get ourselves into trouble. For example, have you ever mistakenly told two or more people you could meet with them on the same day knowing it was going to be a tight squeeze?   How did it turn out?   Have you ever had a gut feeling that you should say no to taking on another freelance client, but said yes because you liked the person so much?   A few years ago I had 3 weddings in one weekend and RSVP’d yes to all of them.   None of the weddings were in the same city.   I ended up missing one of the weddings which was a much worse result than just RSVPing with a “no” in the first place. The “pleasing disease” spreads into all of the important areas of women’s lives.   Ever wonder how those women who do it all seem to get it done?   Busy women  like these know that if they want to grow and get it all done, theyll need to learn to stop trying to please everyone.  As the Economic 101 gods would say, “we are only given a limited amount of time and resources”; saying yes to everything is not a way to conserve it! The “pleasing disease” only leads to resentment which, in my opinion, is the beginning of almost all interpersonal disasters.   I thought long and hard about this bad habit in my own life  and realized that if I had only set clear  boundaries and    â€œpressed pause,” I could’ve shifted away from over-committal or doing things I didn’t truly want to do.   It’s so easy to get sucked in to the excitement of the moment or the positive energy of the person in front of you.    In the end, if you are only committing in order to please you aren’t doing anyone any good. This weeks challenge Practice saying “let me get back to you” over the next week before committing, making plans or attempting to please someone else.   Let there be “white space,” an awkward pause or whatever it takes to make sure you’re really committing to a decision that is right for you and for the other party. How has over committing affected your friendships, relationships and work life? Is pleasing others a natural tendency of yours?   How do you work at overcoming it?   Have you ever been in a situation where your good intentions of pleasing someone actually turned out to be bad?

Win Gen Ys Trust via Experiential Marketing 2.0

Win Gen Ys Trust via Experiential Marketing 2.0 You’ve heard the statistics before Gen Y doesn’t trust advertisements;  we trust the people in  our social networks.   But overall, Gen Y doesn’t trust much at all.   If you’re a big company of any kind, you will have to work much harder to win over the 70 million Gen Y consumers living among us. How Should Marketers gain Gen Y’s trust? Well, besides Corporate Social Responsibility, you’ll need to prove your brand to us.   Let us touch it,  try it and  talk about it.   And let us  hear about it and experience it from real people.  In order to gain our trust, youll need to focus on experiential marketing. Experiential marketing  2.0 means offering your product or service to the right people at the right time. A simple example is the nice lady at the grocery store who hands you a sample of fantastic cheese spread while you are exiting the cracker aisle.   Do that online.   Technically, paid search campaigns attempt to reach the right customer at the right time. When I Google “smart phone” for example, paid ads for Sprint, Verizon, ATT, wirefly.com and Apple appear. There is one huge problem though:  a vast majority of Gen Y consumers will never look at, trust, or click on sponsored results. Nor will most Gen Y’ers take the time to go through each of the companies’ websites.   We like instant gratification and that  takes way too long. Plus, we’d much prefer to read a short aggregated review of the phones on a blog and buy based on a “real” person’s opinion anyways.   Here are some ways that companies have used experiential marketing to catch me at the right moment and convert me into a customer. WalMart.com.   I thought hell would freeze over before I bought any furniture from Wal-Mart (and then blogged about it) but I did.   And I love my $99 kitchen table.   Why? Because I knew exactly what I was buying before I bought it. Walmart.com had great multi-view pictures, tons of honest reviews and they were willing to ship the product to my local Wal-Mart for free so I could see it before I brought it home.     Groupon.   Groupon is the best way to experience something that you never would have tried thanks to HUGE discounts on local products and services.   If I were a marketer, I’d make sure my stuff was on Groupon so people could experience it with for little risk, talk about it and experience it again. MattChevy.com. A long time ago I sent out a frustrated tweet saying “can anyone in the Chicago area help me with WordPress?!” Matt responded immediately with a friendly (and calm!) tweet saying he could help me.   He caught me in the right place, at the right time.   He gained my trust.   We are now close friends and I refer people to him all the time. Amazon.com: “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” and “Best Value.” Ulta,   Hairuwear.com,  YouTube demos, Ulta.   Worst hair cut of my life + obsession with Ulta + panic = temporary solution via J-Simps Hair-Do. Readers, where have companies presented themselves to you at the right moment? What’s the best example of experiential marketing you’ve seen?

Fake It Til You Make It!

Fake It Til’ You Make It! “The ‘I’m young female complex’ has got to go!” This has been my daily mantra since beginning my job search two months ago. I woke up mid-January and realized that due to my “no one in their right mind would take a gamble on a young female for an upper management position, especially in the state of the economy” complex, I was slacking off in a dead-end job. You can call it procrastinating, skimping by, milkin’ it… but the actual name is called FEAR. Here I am, a young/female scaredy cat, unable to move forward for fear that I won’t be taken seriously. This is nonsense considering my background: I graduated in 2006 double majoring in Marketing, and International Business. I immediately got a job at a publishing company, followed by a position in the underwriting department of a Public Radio station while multi-tasking grad school (MBA completed in August 2010). It seems that on paper, I am qualified for upper management. Five solid years of experience plus a Master in Business Administration should certainly equal a position higher than Coordinator shouldn’t it? Then why don’t I feel like I deserve it? I sell myself short. I’ve been doing it forever. It’s easy to play the tough, confident, thinks-on-her feet employee when in the spotlight, but when it comes time to apply for a job that would really raise me up and get me some street cred, I sink into my chair in my coordinator’s office and remain thankful for my measly paycheck because at least I have a job. It’s the safe zone. It’s warm and stress-free, and my bosses love me. So what’s the problem? No challenges. The issues of challenge bring me to mention those who are internally motivated (Nicole â€" Ms. Career Girl), versus the externally motivated (Me). I hate that I am only motivated externally. If there’s not something in it for me (a bonus check, a pat on the back, a cookie), than my interest and efforts are never quite 100%. This is my #1 Fear Inducer. How can I pretend in an interview that I am motivated simply by doing a job well done? If I put this face on, will they know I’m a fraud? Now it’s time for the ‘Fake it Til’ You Make it’ speech. It might not be the right way… but it is certainly a better way than fear-induced slacking. Am I scared that I won’t get taken seriously? Am I scared that I won’t live up to my fake persona? Am I even more unbelievably scared that I will actually get hired for one of these wonderful opportunities, and end up being a disaster at my job? Yes, yes, and hell yes. However, whether Faking It is wrong or mildly on the right track, it is nonetheless, an initiative. Just recently, I somehow managed to convince a panel of phone interviewers that I had the go-getter mentality, and what do you know? I just so happened to convince myself that as well! The past few weeks since that call, I have been proactive at my happy challenge-free job; I’ve been working hard to cut out slacking from my daily routine; I started researching ways to get ahead and move towards my career goals (which led me here), and I even took the initiative to write Ms. Career Girl and display my attempts to get out of the trenches. If you as an individual try faking it and it doesn’t at least get you half a step forward, I apologize and suggest a good dose of Legally Blonde. (If Elle can get a Harvard Law degree, why can’t you?) Good bye young/female complex. You’re history.

LinkedIn Guide for Personal Branding and Executive Job Search - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Guide for Personal Branding and Executive Job Search UPDATE !!!    â€" For updated information on using for personal branding and executive job search, go to my 3-part series, starting here How to Use the New for Executive Personal Branding. â€"    â€" No question that is THE place for executives to re-connect with co-workers and colleagues, connect with new faces (including recruiters and hiring decision makers), extend their brands and ROI value, find job-hunting advice and resources, and uncover leads and opportunities to land their next great gig. Did you know that most recruiters and hiring authorities  count as one of their best sources for top talent? They even use special applications to search for people like you. If you’re not there, with a fully fleshed out profile, you may be invisible to them. See my post, Executive Job Search: How Recruiters and Employers Find Candidates on . Here are the basics to leverage the best has to offer: Brand Your Profile Make sure your profile is branded, searchable, and 100% complete. For  the specifics, download my free e-book, Executive Branding and Your Profile: How to TransformYour Executive Brand, Resume, and Career Biography Into a Winning Profile. Monitor your profile views regularly. Keep an eye on who is viewing your profile and consider adjusting it if it’s not getting many views. Stay current with events listings. Hiring professionals troll the events section to search for talent and to see who is attending certain industry events. They often make initial connections with candidates directly through the lists of events. Control your privacy settings. Change the defaults if they’re not right for you. For instance, if you don’t want people to know that you’re viewing their profiles, change this setting to Anonymous. Build Your Network Unless it’s really important to you to have a huge number of connections, be selective about who you connect with. Choose quality over quantity. You should have some affinity with these people. The idea is to surround yourself with people you can help, and who will help you reach your career goals. More help in my post, How To Write a Invitation to Connect. Make inroads positioning yourself in front of and connecting with key decision makers within your list of target companies. You may be sitting on a lead right now that you haven’t leveraged. Make a list of everyone you know at work and in your personal life. See if they’re on and connect with them. If youre not in a confidential search, let them know about your career plans and the companies youre targeting. Take advantage of ’s Company Follow. See my post, Executive Job Search: Using ’s Company Follow. Update Your Network Get yourself into a regular routine (say, once a week or a few times a month) of posting status updates to your profile. Your updates sit at the top of your profile, so will likely be one of the first things people see when reviewing your profile. Your network is notified of your updates, if you set this up in Settings, keeping you top of mind with them. More in my post, Update Your Network. Get and Give Great Recommendations Get relevant recommendations from the right people. You want their recommendations to reinforce your brand and the value you offer. It’s okay to let them know what points you’d like them to mention in their recommendations. More in my post, How to Get the Best Recommendations. Write recommendations for others. People looking at their recommendations usually view profiles of those who make recommendations. Join and Get Busy on Groups See what groups your connections and target list of decision makers belong to by looking at their profiles. Join if theyre open and start contributing. Position yourself as an industry thought leader and subject matter expert, while rubbing elbows and staying top of mind with your target decision makers. See my post, Power Your Executive Personal Brand with Groups. Tap for Jobs and Company/Industry Research has many exclusive job listings. Check out the Jobs tab in the main menu along the top of any page for links to job descriptions (through and/or Simply Hired) and application capability, along with links to the profiles of people who work at those companies. Thousands of top companies have profiles on , providing a wealth of valuable information to gather market intelligence on your target companies for due diligence and interview preparation, and to identify the key hiring decision makers you need to position yourself in front of and connect with. What you’ll find on the Companies pages: Current employees with links to their profiles Former employees with links to their profiles New hires with links to their profiles Recent promotions and changes with links to their profiles Popular profiles (most visitors) with links to their profiles Smart-networking expert Liz Lynch suggested how to use all this company information in her post at the Personal Branding Blog, The Hidden Goldmine Within the Companies Tab: Current employees are invaluable resources for getting a handle on what is happening at the company now and the direction it’s going. Plus, they can be great allies for helping you get your resume to the right people and putting in a good word for you (if they know you, of course!). New promotions and changes may be in the market to hire for new positions as they expand their department, replace existing under-performers, or fill their own prior position. New hires can hint at where there may be growth opportunities within the company. Even if you can’t speak to them directly, you can get a sense if certain divisions have been on a hiring spree and target them first. Recent departures might be more open to talking about the challenges the company is having, which managers might be great to work for and who might be a nightmare (good info to know before you accept a job, right?). Leverage Answers You’ll find Answers in the main menu along the top of any page. Spend time here regularly, answering questions, offering advice, providing resources, and positioning yourself as a subject matter expert. Recruiters and hiring decision makers search Answers looking for industry thought leaders. Add Some Applications Don’t neglect the  ever-growing list of applications. Here are 2 apps that I like and use: The Company Buzz application helps keep you current with what people are saying about your current and past companies, by tracking Twitter activity associated with them, including tweets, historical data, and trends. If you’re blogging (and you should be), use the WordPress or BlogLink app. Stay Current with ’s Latest Features The Learning Center provides an overview, explains all the features, and offers various user guides. The blog is worth checking into from time to time for tips, advice, and resources. And finally . . . To be sure you havent missed anything, see my  post, 29 Biggest Mistakes. Related posts: How To Tap Into Hidden C-level Executive Jobs : Best Tactic for Undercover Executive Job Search Helps You Find the Right Twitter People to Follow How to Build a Powerful Executive Network 00 0

Book review Gesundheit! - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Book review Gesundheit! - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog I just finished reading Gesundheit! by Patch Adams, and it left me totally high. I saw the movie Patch Adams starring Robin Williams a while ago, but I never realized that there was a real doctor by that name, striving to create a totally revolutionary hospital the Gesundheit Institute. Patch Adams is mostly known for introducing humour in the treatment of his patients, but this book reveals that his philosophy goes way beyond that. It is about the whole person. This is hardly a new notion, but it is certainly waaaay different from how medicine is practiced in most places today. For example, when a new patient arrived, rather than conducting an interview in an office, Patch would take that person fishing or for a walk in the woods, depending on what that patient enjoys doing. The interview would cover symptoms and medical history but would also include talking about the persons hopes and dreams, spirituality, upbringing and much more. Some parts of the book that really stuck in my mind are: * Fun death. Why does dying need to be an unpleasant experience? Sure you want to postpone it as long as possible, but is it impossible to create an environment in which dying is as much a part of life as everything else, and is appreciated as such? Patch writes at one point that Dying is that process a few minutes before death when the brain is deprived of oxygen; everything else is living. * A description of a hypothetical patient og the Gesundheit Institute, a 37 year old man with an ulcer. The treatment would consist of he and his family staying at the institute for a week or ten days. While he gets treated, the family can enjoy the nature and generally have fun. * Patch on greed: Greed is one of societys worst malignancies, and it appears to have metastasized to every corner of the earth Certainly one of greeds most devastating symptoms is cynicism We believe that a society must care for its population enough to take care of its need. * On loneliness: I remember an eleven-year old girl who had a huge bony tumor of the face with one eye floating out in the mass. Most people found it difficult to be with her because of her appearance. Her pain was not in the dying but in the loneliness of being a person others could not bear to see. She and I played an joked and enjoyed her life away. Patch is still working to raise the funds that will allow him to build the institute, and Im simply flabbergasted that he hasnt yet succeeded. Having read the book, it is obvious to me that his way of practicing medicine is not only better for the patient, it is also better for the medical staff (who suffer hard from burnout today) and (incredibly) more efficient and cheaper than todays bloated health care system. If I ever get sick, I certainly want to be treated the Gesundheit way! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Questions to Ask When Finding a Writer to Write Your Resume

Questions to Ask When Finding a Writer to Write Your ResumeIf you are not good at writing on your own, there is nothing wrong with giving a resume to a writer. You need to find someone who can write a successful resume for you and who will not be hard on you. These three questions are the most important to ask when you are finding someone to write your resume.What type of career do you want? Will it take some time to find this out or will you have to have a very specific career objective? Write down your choices and make sure that each choice is something that you really want.Do you know how long you need to find out this information? You may need to give this person about a month or two to find out all of the information that you need. You do not want to be rushed into making any decisions and then not be able to get a good idea of what you want.Do you need to wait for something before you start writing your resume? Sometimes you need to wait for things like dates or locations befor e you can write the full resume. You will want to make sure that this person can do this for you and that the deadline is a reasonable time for your needs.Do you need to know where the candidate was born? Some people will write a resume that makes it look like they were born in every city. You do not want to get this kind of a resume if you are looking for someone to write it for you.Do you need to have information included in your resume? Some people are just so detailed that you really need to know what is going on inside their past that can show you what kind of job that they may be applying for. This is a very common problem and if you think you need to know this information, make sure that you are clear about what you need before you hire a writer.Are you willing to wait to have this information before you go looking for a person to write the resume for you? In many cases, you do not need to find this information in a hurry. If you find out that you need to find this informatio n and then find that you need to wait until next week to find it, then you may not want to use this person.The first step that you will want to take to find the right person for the job is to interview a few writers to get a feel for how well they work and are able to meet deadlines. You should also consider hiring several different writers. This is because it is very possible that you may find the best person for the job in one writer but need someone else in another writer.