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| Sack Your Career Counselor - Top Ten Tips for Creating A Blog That Will Change Your Career |
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Thursday, September 6, 2007
As CEO and Chief Career Coach for CareersNet.com, I see teeming hordes of people wanting to change their career. Trouble is 99% haven't got a clue how to go about it. The problem is most Career Advisors haven't got any idea either. Ask yourself: "Who advised you at school, college, university, at the job centre? As Dilbert once said 'Would you trust your career counselor, if they worked that hard?" I've been on both sides of this equation. While I was unemployed I worked very hard at presenting myself well. When I've been the recipient of resumes, I realised that many career change artistes fail because they put themselves first, rather than the addressing the OTHER's problem. In fact, I cannot remember a time when an applicant first thought of what I might WANT or NEED before telling me what a great guy or gal s/he was, thus sounding like every other 'Knuckle-headed loser." - "I'm great take-me." Every recruiter and prospective employer thinks that the NEXT person they see is going to be the 'One'. They want you to be the 'One'. In fact, somewhere, someone is desperate for you to be the 'One'. Believe me. That's why producing a blog, a two minute job, is a fantastic vehicle for your self promotion, because first - you have to find the problem that you can solve and become the 'ONE' that they are looking for. Below, I share my Top 10 Tips for creating a blog that helps change your career. Enjoy, and do pass these tips along to those who you feel would benefit from reading them. Think Content: If your blog contains rich relevant content, you will keep your audience returning for more. Well thought-out position statements that run counter to business as usual are another avenue to explore in the content arena. Visualize Your Audience: Don't write for a "demographic." Too many press releases seem to be writing for some vague audience. Personify the reader(s). Imagine them reading your blog or 'a lift from it that a reporter might use.' If you can't visualize this, start over. Optimize Your Blog for the Search Engines: Everyday, more people get their news from Google News or Yahoo News and the like. When writing your blog, think about the keywords your target audience uses to make up that filter. Don't overuse those keyword phrases, but don't ignore them either. Try New Circuits: Don't just use the same old search engine directories you've always used. (but don't neglect them either) I've recently gotten much better bang for the buck by using RSS feeds as part of the service for no extra charge that results in "links" with more blogs and other sites syndicating content via RSS. Be Quotable: Say something that is not part of the daily drone. That PR clutter can be your friend so long as you say something relevant and different that breaks through it. Get Help: Many blogs are terrible because they're written by individuals obsessing about themselves. Get help with discovering what makes you tick and how you can use the strengths you undervalue. Be Tough on Yourself: After you have drafted your post to your blog, before you submit it - read it as if you never laid eyes upon it. If the headline was a subject header in an email, would you open it or delete it? As you read through the copy, where do you start to lose interest and start thinking about supper? Jump Page: I sometimes offer 3 out of 10 tips or trends within my blog and a live link thereafter for readers to jump to my site where they can read the remaining 7 tips. Very effective. Create News: Much news is manufactured, not only for B2B but B2C as well. Creating an event that you can repeat annually, such as a competition or review of something interesting to your target audience, can generate traffic for your site for many years to come. If you establish a "Hall of Fame" or some other perennial competition, you're likely to also create a clamour for other firms to be heralded in your final results that will be announced in your blog. Track Your Results: See what works best by tracking your results for days after your blog has gone out. Any blogging service worth it's salt should offer you this feature for little or no extra. Furthermore, you yourself should search for citations of your blog in the major blog search engines for days after to see how well it has propagated. Bonus Tip: Edit, Edit, Edit. With the onslaught of so much information coming at all of us, editors and readers alike are less and less patient with puffery and prose that don't get to the point quickly. As Net Guru Mac Ross advises, "Make every word work hard." See my Change Your Career With a Blog! and receive a five day no charge ecourse! ------ Margaret Stead is a Career Consultant, Business Psychologist and self-styled 'Dream Architect' on a mission to create a million brilliant careers. She has increased career currency, capability and job satisfaction for many successful career change individuals, regularly coaching, executive business leaders in using new media to accelerate their success. If you'd like to read more - sign up for our FREE ecourse 'Change Your Career With A Blog': http://www.careersnet.co.uk/career-change-why-blog/ Will Credit Difficulties Stop Your Job Search Cold? Did you know that credit difficulties can stop you dead in your tracks and keep you from being hired? Credit problems will stress you to the max, strain your personal relationships, crush your morale and possibly paralyze you from taking necessary actions in your job search. It can also stop you from being hired! Remember when you signed on the dotted line of the job application? Somewhere in fine print there was a line that gave the employer the right to run a credit check. A bad credit rating has the effect of ending your candidacy for a job with all too many companies as it is an indication of how you handle fiscal responsibilities. Rightly or wrongly, they make the assumption that this is how you might perform as a future employee by acting irresponsibly, even stealing from the company. Here's a tip all of us should use at least once a year: Find out your credit rating. You should, in fact, find out what your credit rating is at least once a year. Under the FACT Act amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act you are entitled to one free credit file disclosure in a 12 month period from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. To request your free annual disclosure you may contact the Central Source online at www.annualcreditreport.com or you can also contact them by calling toll free (877) FACTACT. (322-8228) The three largest consumer credit reporting companies are: CBI/Equifax www.equifax.com, Experian www.experian.com and TransUnion Credit Information www.transunion.com. You can also go directly to their websites. However, they will charge you for a credit report. The free annual report is available only through the www.annualcreditreport.com link and includes a report from all three companies. The ratings range from 450 to 850. The higher the number the better the rating. Should you find any discrepancies, report them to the firm immediately. While you are unemployed, you may not always be able to avoid credit difficulties, but you should never let them stop you from being hired. Ever. About The Author: Joe Turner makes it easy to quickly land that next job. Learn insider job search tips from top recruiters. To claim your free 6-part Recruiter Secrets Minicourse, visit http://www.jobchangesecrets.com/Free_Job_Search_Tips.html Chew slowly and digest the rules It's hard to understand all of "the rules" and fine print on all of our policies since we have limited time. But it's imperative you take the time to become familiar with your coverage. Go through your mortgage, note, insurance, bank statements, employment contract, tax deductions, shareholders agreement—at least once, then briefly once a year after that. You don't need to review all documents at once; take one every few days until you're done. Don't trust others to make the right wealth building decisions for you instead of taking responsibility yourself, a pitfall too common for too many people make. You're responsible for your own finances. Responsibility is the freedom to respond. Case in point: One of my mentors is very well known and respected. He invested his entire retirement fund with an investor. The investor was featured in a publication and bragged a lot throughout the interview and raised some red flags. The FCC found out he was no longer successfully trading and had indeed lied to his family and the public about his company's trading history. My mentor lost all of his savings for retirement with this investor and it took him years to get back on his feet. Eventually he was standing again, because he took responsibility. Insurance—know your policies intimately Whether it's homeowners, investment, car, health or another type of insurance, you need to know exactly what you're covered for. There are always exclusions and it always seems like the exclusions apply to you. Know what you've got. During my years of law school, I completed an internship with a New York Supreme Court Justice and second legal internship with a law firm and also began investing in real estate. Immediately upon graduating law school and passing the bar exam, I opened my own law practice. From 1988 to 2001, I practiced with my partner under the name Miles and Gillard, where I concentrated in the area of real estate and business law. Drew Miles Find Out More: http://www.irabusinesssystem.com/During my years of law school, I completed an internship with a New York Supreme Court Justice and second legal internship with a law firm and also began investing in real estate. Immediately upon graduating law school and passing the bar exam, I opened my own law practice. From 1988 to 2001, I practiced with my partner under the name Miles and Gillard, where I concentrated in the area of real estate and business law. Drew Miles Find Out More: http://www.irabusinesssystem.com/ |
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