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Posted: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - 8:30:36 AM by Chris Bilotta Me 2.0 Dan Schawbel is an accomplished marketing professional and a leading personal branding expert. In his new book, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, he defines your Personal Brand as your total perceived value, relative to competitors, as viewed by your audience. The elements of your personal brand include:
- Personal Appearance - Including clothing, hygiene and attractiveness.
- Personality - Your values, goals, identity and behavior.
- Competencies - cognitive, business, communication and technical skills that enable you to perform your job responsibilities.
- The Differentiator - Offering a unique value proposition or benefit to your target audience.
After developing a personal brand that contains these elements, you must construct a message that will resonate with your audience. Personal branding must be a continuous effort. As your experience, competencies, physical and emotional attributes grow, your brand will enhance, much like in a product lifecycle. Creating, maintaining and evolving your brand will help you command your prospective audience and positively communicate your perceived and unique message. The bottom line is to treat yourself as the product and sell it!
 Posted: Monday, June 15, 2009 - 5:47:10 PM by Chris Bilotta Interviewing During Meals Interviewing during meals can be difficult because it involves two functions of the mouth that are not very compatible--talking and eating! Here are some tips that can make this a more positive experience:
- Order light foods that are not greasy or messy. Overstuffed sandwiches can be as deadly as spaghetti!
- Parallel your host’s tastes and price selection whenever possible.
- To minimize potential messes with tossed salads, order salad dressing “on the side.”
- Avoid finger foods or those requiring removing bones like fish or fowl.
- Pause between bites to talk--and rest your utensils on your plate while you are talking.
- The best practice is to never drink alcohol during a business meal. If pressed, order only one, and not an exotic mixed drink. A glass of white wine or a light beer reflects the tastes of a much more disciplined person than an order for a double martini!
- Do not smoke.
- Be courteous and cordial to all waiters and serving people.
- Do not offer to pay the bill. An employer would not have invited you if they did not expect to pick up the tab.
- Finally, be sure to thank your host for the meal and the chance to get to know him or her on a more personal basis.
Posted: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 - 3:48:36 PM by Chris BilottaTranslating Interview Questions Why do interviewers want to know why you selected your college, chose your major, or career field? They really want to learn how you make decisions. When answering this type of question, you want the interviewer to understand your thought processes. "Because my father went there" or "I thought it’s where I could make the most money" aren’t good answers, even if true.
In an article listing 10 common interviewing mistakes that stand out in employer’s minds, Dr. Phyllis Brust, Director of Career Development at Muhlenburg College discusses how to avoid this and other pitfalls.
Questions about your weaknesses are designed to see how you evaluate yourself. By giving a canned answer, such as "I have trouble saying no" or "I work too hard," you’ll sound insincere. Both are well worn clichés. A better approach is to answer with a former weakness. That is, cite a problem you had in the past, then discuss what you did to eliminate it. That way you appear both insightful and disciplined.
It’s traditional for interviewers to ask questions about strengths and weaknesses. Behavioral interviewing presents a different style of questioning. In this approach, an employer identifies the qualities it seeks, and then asks candidates to cite specific cases when they used those qualities. A typical example might be where the interviewer asks for an example of when you went beyond a job’s description. With either approach, preparation is the key to giving an effective answer.
For the other 9 common mistakes, go to http://www.tesar-reynes.com/articles/6b.htm
Posted: Thursday, June 04, 2009 - 9:06:42 AM by Craig Toedtman Personal Googling A recent Harris Interactive poll revealed that 23% of people search the names of business associates or colleagues on the Internet before meeting them. A 2007 survey by ExecuNet disclosed that 83% of executive recruiters are using search engines to uncover information about candidates.
Impressions are being formed through Google searches - like it or not! Creating digital distinction is a critical factor in developing your job search strategy. Be proactive - google yourself and see what others are discovering about you as they form impressions regarding your employability and corporate "fit." Your on-line identity can be enhanced through your personal website, blog, and utilization of social media.
Promote yourself on-line - it's easy and fast - and do it right. A low-quality promotion is worse than none at all. Take the time to create a professional on-line presence and Google yourself to your next opportunity!
Posted: Monday, June 01, 2009 - 5:39:05 PM by Chris BilottaFinding New Employees Using Social Networks In the May 31 New York Times Job Section, Julie Weed wrote an article describing how more and more companies are using social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn to find employees.
More personal online pages, profiles and blogs are serving as a source for companies looking to fill jobs. In fact, there are fee based services that a company can use to mine its own employees’ social networking contacts for potential candidates. The author cites a corporate recruiter who believes it makes sense for employers to tap into employees’ social networks because it accelerates the personal referral process and expands the candidate universe. One employer mentioned in the article is hoping to make this type of grass roots effort part of the company culture where recruiting goes beyond the HR department and all employees become talent recruiters.
For the job seeker, this means having all your online information up to date and consistent with your brand message. And while this may be a new trend for employers, it is still the job seeker’s responsibility to communicate the type of job they want to everyone in their network and market themselves proactively.
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