background preloader

Career

Facebook Twitter

Amplify Yr Career Show

Why you will fail to have a great career: Larry Smith at TEDxUW. Set Boundaries on the Sacrifices You'll Make for Work - Bill Barnett - Harvard Business Review. How To Write Career Documents To Influence Your Reader. We use writing skills to engage, inspire or persuade people in our personal and work lives. In a career transition or active job search, writing skills are under sharp scrutiny. Each transition task, whether it is completing self-assessment exercises, creating a resume, crafting a cover letter or preparing additional marketing tools requires focused writing – one that is targeted, has meaning for your reader and clearly outlines your value to the potential opportunity.

I. STRATEGY – Focus & Purpose Why are you writing? The purpose of your writing must be clear. What do you want the outcome to be? The clearer the intended outcome, the more effective the writing. Who is your audience? Different readers make different meaning from the same piece of writing. II. Decide on the content. Research the opportunity first. Match the style to the document. Understand industry writing standards for your document.

Organize the information. Each document is typically divided into separate sections. III. 7 Ways to ReWire Your Brain and Become a Better Leader. Over the last few decades, studies in neuroscience have shown that you can literally physically rewire your brain. You can change the “default network” you were born with, the one that ensured the survival of our primitive ancestors who lived in a very different world. Our “fight-flight” reaction and strong memory for painful experiences are hardwired from birth. Our brains detect negative information faster than positive information and are drawn to bad news. This hardwiring is further reinforced as we grow up because our negative experiences leave an indelible trace in our brain. The good news is we are capable of over-riding our primitive reactions that don’t serve us well, and creating new neural pathways that reduce stress and irritability and generate more happiness and wisdom in our lives.

These 7 practices create incremental, accumulative changes in the neural structure of your brain and can improve the effectiveness of your leadership and the quality of your life. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Here’s Exactly What Your CMO Resume Objective Should Say: The Most Connected Woman In Silicon Valley? Even in the fail-fast-or-get-acquired world of Silicon Valley startups, Ellen Levy is a master of reinvention, turning a succession of relatively brief stints in private companies, academia, NGOs, and venture capital firms into a unique role as a super connector, a Lois Weisman of the tech world.

Recently departed from LinkedIn, where she was VP of Strategic Initiatives for the past four years, Levy--who holds a PhD not in computer science but in cognitive psychology--started her career at Apple, pre-Steve Jobs’s return. From there, the 42-year-old went on to roles at search engine WhoWhere, Stanford University, the Clinton Global Initiative, and countless advisory boards, becoming a one-woman bridge between the people who are looking for the next big idea in technology and the people creating it. She spoke with Fast Company about her nomadic career, building an authentic network, and why polymaths are the future of innovation.

And what are you doing right now? Sheryl Sandberg's Full HBS Speech: Get On A Rocketship Whenever You Get The Chance.

Distribution platforms

Speaking & presenting. 10 Ways You Should Never Describe Yourself. Picture this: You meet someone new. "What do you do? " he asks. "I'm an architect," you say. "Oh, really? " he answers. "Maybe," you reply. "Oh wow," he says. And you're off. You sound awesome. Now picture this: You meet someone new. "I'm a passionate, innovative, dynamic provider of architectural services who uses a collaborative approach to create and deliver outstanding customer experiences. " And he's off, never to be seen again... because you sound like a pompous ass. Do you--whether on your website, or more likely on social media accounts--describe yourself differently than you do in person?

Do you use hacky clichés and overblown superlatives and breathless adjectives? Do you write things about yourself you would never have the nerve to actually say? If so, it's time for a change. Here are some words that are great when used by other people to describe you, but you should never use to describe yourself: "Motivated. " "Authority. " If you have to say you're an authority, you aren't. "Innovative. " Infographic Visual Resumes.

Nurettin Selsil: Görsel Özgeçmişim (zihin haritası) / My Visual Resume (mind map) Infographic Visual Resumes. SourceBottle helps businesses and PR professionals get media publicity and raise profile; finds sources for journalists, bloggers and writers. True Story: LinkedIn Got Me Two Great Jobs. How to Power Your Professional Networking Through LinkedIn. How To Evolve Your Career. Call it vocational Darwinism: Seeing similarities between the Galapagos Islands and our recession-era ecosystem, Nacie Carson wrote The Finch Effect to help you be more like those titular birds--which adapted their beaks to environmental changes within a single generation--and less like the species that have perished around them.

Fast Company spoke with the author about the evolutionary benefits of owning your career, the intersecting axes of personal branding, and why natural selection is not survival of the strongest. This interview has been condensed and edited. FAST COMPANY: The Finch Effect is all about adaptation. What is it that we need to adapt to? NACIE CARSON: What we need to adapt to as modern professionals is the rapid changes that we're seeing in the job market. The truth is that because of different factors like outsourcing and how fast communication happens, the pace at which changes in the job market happen is not going to slow down.

How do you take that responsibility? 5 Tips for Creating the Perfect Profile Pic. No matter how much quality information or witty repartee we send out into our social networks, first impressions are almost always visual. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that the first thing we see when checking out a new Twitter follower, Facebook friend, or LinkedIn connection is a profile photo. And in a world of quick clicks and divergent attention, if the photo you present isn't eye-catching, or illustrative of your personal brand, you may miss your shot at making a positive first impression. We asked social design experts for their take on what makes for a killer profile pic, and they've provided some strategies on implementing your personal brand, and a few tools for snazzing up that boring Facebook self-shot you've been clinging to. 1. Start With a Quality Photo This may seem obvious, but we've all come across countless social profiles with blurry, dark, or low-res images. 2.

A rule of thumb touched on by many is consistency. "Don't change it every few days. 3. Top 10 tips on how to create a successful CV. When it comes to applying for a new job, your CV could be just the ticket to get you that initial foot in the door and secure an interview. But how do you ensure your CV is added to the ‘interview pile’ rather than straight to the bin? Putting together a successful CV is easy once you know how.

It’s a case of taking all your skills and experience and tailoring them to the job you’re applying for. But what if you haven’t got the right criteria, I hear you say. Well, I’ve put together the following top 10 tips to help you create a successful CV… 1. There is no right or wrong way to create a CV but there are some common sections that you should cover. 2. A successful CV is always carefully and clearly presented, and printed on clean, crisp white paper. 3. A good CV is clear, concise and makes every point necessary without waffling. 4. The clues are in the job application, so read the details cover to cover. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Clayton Christensen On How To Find Work That You Love. Back in 1976, two economists, Michael Jensen and William Meckling, published a paper looking at why managers don’t always behave in a way that is in the best interest of shareholders.

The root cause, as Jensen and Meckling saw it, is that people work in accordance with how you pay them. Many managers have come to believe this, too: you just need to pay people to do what you want them to do, when you want them to do it. The problem with thinking about incentives in this way is that there are powerful anomalies that it cannot explain. For example: some of the hardest working people on the planet are employed in charitable organizations. They work in the most difficult conditions imaginable; they earn a fraction of what they would if they were in the private sector. So how do we explain what is motivating them--if it’s not money? Well, there is a second school of thought, which turns this thinking about incentives on its head.

The Balance of Motivators and Hygiene Factors Clayton M. The Best Path to Success is Your Own - Gianpiero Petriglieri. By Gianpiero Petriglieri | 9:00 AM May 11, 2012 If you’re wondering what to do next in your career, you’re hardly alone. The debate about where and how we may best feed our hunger for mastery, service, prestige, approval, safety, achievement — whatever we’re after — is fiercer than ever. Do you go after, or hold on to, a corporate job or strike out on your own?

Daniel Gulati and Lucy Kellaway recently offered contrasting views. That is a crazy thought, rebutted Kellaway from her column in the Financial Times, where she has worked for a quarter of a century. The two perspectives make for an informative debate on the changing sources of prestige, and on the best strategy for the ambitious to gain recognition in this day and age — be it from employers, local and virtual communities, or inner critics.

Take these two New York Times essays, arguing that young Americans are too complacent to hit the road to find work, and have the passionless and eager-to-please attitude of salespeople. Listen: Steve Jobs On The Payoff Of A Great Employee.

Recruitment

Multiple Talents, Multiple Passions, Burnout - Part 2. [See Part One if you haven't read it already.] Motherhood and creative work “I’d be in the middle of a sentence and someone needed to go to mall for new shoes, so the sentence would be lost.” That is a quote by Amy Bloom, who has worked as a psychotherapist, taught at Yale University, and is Wesleyan University’s Writer-in-Residence. In an interview about being a mother and writer, she commented, “When I started, I wrote late at night, after they were in bed. “I could do that and get away with it because I’m not much of a housekeeper and I didn’t need much sleep.

“I liked my kids and didn’t care much about my house, so it worked.” But, she admitted, “writing with children present is not productive. From “Mothers Who Write interview” by Cheryl Dellasega, PhD. See the Amy Bloom author page for a list of her titles. “They are constantly driven to learn, to create and to be intellectually productive even while raising young children. Mass chaos A rage to achieve In another article, Dr. Peter C. Talent Development Resources : creativity and personal growth. The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs. His saga is the entrepreneurial creation myth writ large: Steve Jobs cofounded Apple in his parents’ garage in 1976, was ousted in 1985, returned to rescue it from near bankruptcy in 1997, and by the time he died, in October 2011, had built it into the world’s most valuable company.

Along the way he helped to transform seven industries: personal computing, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, retail stores, and digital publishing. He thus belongs in the pantheon of America’s great innovators, along with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Walt Disney. None of these men was a saint, but long after their personalities are forgotten, history will remember how they applied imagination to technology and business.

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” —Apple’s “Think Different” commercial, 1997 In the months since my biography of Jobs came out, countless commentators have tried to draw management lessons from it. Focus. Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent.

Corporate Rebels

Understand a New Job (Before You Accept It) - Bill Barnett. By Bill Barnett | 1:57 PM March 15, 2012 In the right role, you have a good shot at accomplishment and personal growth. In the wrong role, you may find disappointment. People can seek jobs or accept offers without really understanding what they’ll be doing. Be sure to fully understand the role you’re considering. Michael (names have been changed) paid the price for being in a role that didn’t fit. He joined a start-up to be part of the dot-com boom.

This analytical work was in Michael’s power alley, but he “disliked it pretty immensely.” Complex sales was the wrong role for Michael. Frederick had a much better experience. Frederick followed that plan in meetings the next week, impressing everyone and setting up the COO role. Not everyone can lead role definition the way Frederick did, but everyone can make sure they understand the role they’re considering. 1. Explore role in greater depth in meetings after you have the offer but before you’ve accepted. 2. 3. Jobless in midlife? Old brains can learn new tricks. Worth Working Summit - Home. Mastering The Uncomfortable Art Of Personal Branding.

I was recently chatting with an up-and-coming professional speaker about some of the best presenters I've seen on stage. I immediately launched into an unplanned sales pitch for Gary Vaynerchuk, or Gary Vee, as many of us know him online. Within minutes I was citing important milestones in Vaynerchuk's life, such as his pre-school move to the United States from what is now known as Belarus, his experience operating a number of lemonade stands when he was just eight years old, and his college years working in his parents' liquor store.

After I walked away from the conversation, I tried desperately to recall when I had seen the best-selling author speak, or more importantly, if I had ever met him in person. While I have chatted with Vaynerchuk a few times over Skype, I slowly realized that I have never been in the same room as him (but have watched quite a few of his keynotes on YouTube). For some, telling your story is an uncomfortable experience. 1. 2. 3. Workshops - Personal Branding Strategy.

Aspen Institute Sharing

Leadership Jobs | L2L JobLink. TRAVEL. Advice. How to Do What You Love. January 2006 To do something well you have to like it. That idea is not exactly novel. We've got it down to four words: "Do what you love. " But it's not enough just to tell people that. The very idea is foreign to what most of us learn as kids. And it did not seem to be an accident. The world then was divided into two groups, grownups and kids. Teachers in particular all seemed to believe implicitly that work was not fun. I'm not saying we should let little kids do whatever they want. Once, when I was about 9 or 10, my father told me I could be whatever I wanted when I grew up, so long as I enjoyed it. Jobs By high school, the prospect of an actual job was on the horizon. The main reason they all acted as if they enjoyed their work was presumably the upper-middle class convention that you're supposed to.

Why is it conventional to pretend to like what you do? What a recipe for alienation. The most dangerous liars can be the kids' own parents. Bounds Unproductive pleasures pall eventually. Self-help: My big fat career. Superhero of your own story. By Robin Fisher Roffer Last week I was in a pitch meeting with a television network. I was in the president’s office seated with six of his key executives on chairs and sofas around a large coffee table. The informal setting was cozy and the vibe was warm and friendly. After introductions, my prospective client said, “Tell me about yourself and your company.” I started at the very beginning – sharing that my dad was a single parent who taught my sister and me the ad business at an early age. Then I gave a quick overview of my days working in radio, newspaper and finally television, where I helped launch TNT and turn CNN into The World’s News Leader.

To conclude my story, I walked them through a few relevant client case studies and shared my branding philosophy and process. Building a captivating story about yourself involves sharing the epic moments in your life that reveal your true character. If your story inspires you, it is sure to inspire others. The bankingreview Daily. Philosophy for change. PrimeGenesis.