How March Madness Can Help Your Career

How March Madness Can Help Your Career I’m generally not much of a sports nut, but since my days as a student at UNC, I’ve always loved watching college basketball. It’s a fast moving game filled with lead-changing moments: a slam-dunk or a three-point shot that seals a victory during the final seconds of play. During March Madness, you see lots of heart-stopping plays as teams battle their way to the Final Four.  The networks (who need to fill endless hours of broadcast time) replay those spectacular plays over… and over… and over again. By the final weekend of the tournament the networks compile that footage into “highlight reels”  that show off the very best moments from all the different games. These video montages are admittedly sappy and slick, but I still love watching them. In a world where we spend far too more time on negativity, it’s nice to focus on the positive every once in a while. So what do these sports reels have to do with your career? Well, even though most of us don’t have camera crews recording our every movement, these highlight reels are a good reminder that there’s value in hitting the rewind button to acknowledge our own “wow” career moments. We all have accomplishments, special moments, and flashes of brilliance that are noteworthy. Sometimes it’s hard to recall them as we sweat and battle our way through the day, but they are always there. So the next time you feel like you’re running on empty, pause and take the time to reflect on the one shining moment (or moments) in your  life. As Marcus Buckingham points out in his book, Find Your Strongest Life: “Your strengths â€" those activities that make you feel strong â€" are where you will learn the most, create the most, develop the most, and see the greatest leaps in performance.” Focusing on your “wow” moments,  will give you clarity about what you love most, do well and find most meaningful â€" all helpful coaching insights as you play into the second-half of your career, even if like me, youre barely over five feet tall. Related articles that you might also enjoy: 7 Ways Spring Cleaning is Great For Your Career Reinvention 10 Lessons Ive Learned About Career Reinvention (In Celebration of My 15th Anniversary as a Career Coach!)

Use An Undergraduate Research Resume To Get a Better Position In Research

Use An Undergraduate Research Resume To Get a Better Position In ResearchOne of the ways to promote your career is by having an undergraduate research resume. Most people think that it is only some other students who are interested in studying research and there are no students who can get a good position in their chosen field. The fact is that there are many students who have great potential and who are waiting for the chance to take a final step on their career path.One way to get a good position in the research field is to create an undergraduate research resume. It is the primary tool that is needed by researchers in order to get a better recognition.Another fact is that the level of people who take a research science as their major is decreasing day by day. This can be explained through the fact that students cannot find enough time to study during their classes and as a result they can not come up with great research papers. The responsibility for this comes from the students' own academic performance, which is not good enough. Therefore, in order to take a good research paper, an undergraduate research resume is the best method.It is very important to make use of your full knowledge about the topic you are going to write a research paper on. It is more important to know the basics of the subject than to search for information for the purpose of writing a research paper. Doing it this way, you will be able to write a research paper based on your knowledge and your skills.The importance of it has been acknowledged by the National Institutes of Health, which gives grants for research papers to those students who are applying for doctoral program. The scholarships offered by the NIH are very flexible and one can apply for them to enhance their careers. With the help of these scholarships, they can go to the universities and institutions where the research is carried out and to present their work for grants.Nowadays, people prefer to write research papers tha t are more critical and original than those which are merely common and commercial in nature. Students want to present a unique research paper in order to receive the best possible scholarship.Students who want to apply for PhD programs usually have a Bachelor's degree in some other academic discipline like psychology, anthropology, communication studies or sociology etc. However, the right type of undergraduate research resume will be necessary to increase their chances for getting scholarships.For people who are interested in writing research papers and want to take their place in academia, they need to be aware of the need of an undergraduate research resume. Since this is the most important tool that is used by many students who want to take up a research career, it is important for students to take full advantage of it.

Write Your Brand-Building Book In Spite Of Yourself - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Write Your Brand-Building Book In Spite Of Yourself - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Steven Pressfields Do the Work is for you if youre finding it difficult to finishor, even, to just startto write your brand-building book. Dont blame yourself if youre having trouble writing your brand-building book; blame the Resistance, the uncompromising force inside you that fights changeeven when the change is in your best interest. In the words of Seth Godin, 13-time bestselling marketing author who has championed the work of Steven Pressfield: Do the Work is a logical outgrowth of the writing in The War of Art, but it’s quite clearly a manifesto, a short, powerful, memorable rant on what it means to do work that matters. This book is so important, I’d like everyone to read it again and again. Seth Godin helped bring Steven Pressfields The War of Art into the mainstream of marketing and branding, when he described Resistance and the risk-avoiding Lizard mind in his provocative Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? Indeed, writing in Do the Works Foreword , Seth calls Steven Pressfield the author of the most important book you havent read, The War of Art. Why you need to read Do the Work Do the Work is a short book with several important messages for anyone completing any type of creative projects, not just those writing brand-building books. Its available in multiple formats, (hardbound, softbound, audio, CD, and Kindle), that transcends it 112 page length. Chances are, while reading Do the Work, youll probably recognize your own Resistance at work causing you to freeze, or doubt yourself, at precisely the moment when life-changing success is within your grasp. I know I did, and Im thankful for the clarity, perspective, and advice that Do the Work offers me, and everyone else battling Resistance. Do the Works concept of Resistance makes previous, facile descriptions of writers block and fear of failure look sophomoric by comparison. Highlights Do the Work looks beyond the obvious. Pressfield describes how Resistance takes many forms, and is often misdiagnosed as fear, self-doubt, procrastination, addiction, distraction, timidity, ego, self-loathing, and perfectionism. Pressfield emphasizes that Resistance may be always within us, but the strength of the Resistance varies depending on the importance of the project. The more you have riding on a project, the stronger the resistance youre likely to experience. Tips for overcoming resistance Do the Work describes several ways to overcome Resistance, including: Simplicity, i.e., viewing a writing project as a 3-act play with a beginning, middle, and an end. He points out how even complex works, like Moby Dick, can be reduced to one side of a single sheet of paper. Commitment to action. Taking action is the best antidote to combating stress at the start of a project. Taking action also opens the way to unanticipated assistance and support that you might never have expected would occur. Filling in the gaps. After describing the benefits of a 3-act structure, with definite steps within each act, he introduces the idea of scenes within each act. After that, all that remains is to fill in the gaps by providing the necessary advice, dialog, or details. As he puts it: Any project or enterprise can be broken into beginning, middle, and end. Fill in the gaps; then fill in the gaps between the gaps. As projects approach completion, Resistance often becomes increasingly obvious. The cure is to: Get to THE END as if the devil himself were breathing down your neck and poking you in the butt with his pitchfork. Dont give Resistance an opportunity to make an appearance: Don Stop. Dont look down. Dont think. Suspend all self-judgment. Theres more, of course. Suffice it to say that Steven Pressfields Do the Work is a concise treasury of inspiration and practical advice for entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals wondering why theyre having such a hard time writing their brand-building book. Does any of the above strike a chord with you? If youve read Do the Work, what was your favorite part? Most important, how do you overcome your own inner Resistance? Share your comments, below. Author: Roger C. Parker is a 40-book author and book coach who wants to help you write a book to build your personal brand. Roger’s Published Profitable blog contains over 1,100 ideas, tips, and author profiles.

Benefits Of Magento Over Other Platforms For Your E-Commerce Website

Benefits Of Magento Over Other Platforms For Your E-Commerce Website Do you wish to start an online trade? If yes, is your answer, than this is the ideal time to put all your thoughts into actions.   And, when it comes to choosing the perfect platform for your online trade website, Magento will be the first name that any expert developer will recommend you for your online presence. Magento is one of most popular open source platform that is trusted by many e-stores owners for their trade website all around the globe. With Magento development you can be assured that your development work is not a hack of job and will be done quickly giving you a sense of utter satisfaction. Magento is a platform you should bet on to make your online trade a big success. And, more importantly, Magento guarantees better use-friendly experience to all your site visitors. Magento offers a wealth of benefits and some of them are mentioned below- Magento development is cost effective Magento web development is one of most cost-effective open source platform, as it requires very little running cost. For making your online trade site live you need to pay hosting charges, theme and extension cost, etc. Magento offer great customer interaction It is vital for any online firm to choose a web development platform that offer excellent customer interaction and easy to use. In that case magento should be the first choice, it’s some great customer interaction experiences like easy language converter, customized forms, currency conversion, quick account creation, etc without any difficulty. Magento is a user-friendly open source ecommerce platform Magento helps many e-commerce firms around the world to develop a user-friendly site in a few days or so.   You can easily use this platform to create an excellent visitor experience without any great technical coding knowledge. It allows the developers to easily add products, images, update products and the services in the catalog of your website.   And, you can also adjust various payment gateways in a very cost effective way. Magento is a SEO-friendly platform Developing an e-commerce website and publishing it will not serve your purpose in the dump yard of millions of millions of WebPages. You need to look for a platform that is seo-friendly that can help your website to rank well in many search engines with little seo efforts. So, magento is the best options available to all the e-commerce store owners, because a website developed using this platform usually ranks well on all major search engine and moreover, it also allows the admin to view the seo report regularly. Let’s wrap up, All of the above mentioned benefits clearly suggest that magento is the right option for your online e-commerce business. For this you need to take help of a professional and an expert magento development firm to do the task for you, if have little knowledge about magento. Search for the companies that offer magento services online to find the best from the best for your trade website. Don’t wait or hesitate hire a magento development firm before your competitor takes your consumer away. Image Source; Image Source

Use Resume Writing Services to Make Yourself Stand Out From the Competition

Use Resume Writing Services to Make Yourself Stand Out From the CompetitionResume writing services have been around for years, but the demand for quality professionals has only grown in recent years. Here's what you need to know if you want to get a resume written for you.There are certain companies that specialize in this field. As you can imagine, there is a price involved for this service. But, for the average person looking to find professional help in a timely manner, it may be worthwhile to pay for resume writing services.Why would you want a resume writer? It's simple. A good resume lays out everything that you do, including your skills, education, experience, awards, and more. If you're not well laid out in this way, it can look like you don't care about the job and don't really want it.Resume writing services can help you show off your best qualities, and make you stand out from the competition. To keep your resume from looking unprofessional, your resume needs to be informa tive and engaging. If you do it well, it can help you land a job. It's not enough to just have a good job, you also need to be as well-liked as possible.To put your best foot forward, you need to hire a professional resume writer. The person who writes your resume will review your skills, qualifications, and work history. They will then write your job description, and other key sections of your resume. The advantage of this process is that it ensures the most thorough reading, which will result in a well-written resume.And, since it's such an important part of getting a job, a good resume writer can really come in handy. As long as you hire someone who has the proper skills, you can be sure to find the best service around. Make sure you choose someone who is committed to writing a great resume for you. By using resume writing services that you can trust, you can ensure that you get the best possible candidate.Another plus to using resume writing services is that they are usually far more affordable than hiring a good resume writer on your own. Not only will you save a lot of money, but you'll also get a resume that's tailored specifically to your situation.With the right resume writer, you can be assured that you will be receiving the best possible results when it comes to getting a good resume written for you. Hiring a professional can really help you stand out from the competition, and get the job you want.

Deciding Whether an Online Certificate Program is Right for You - CareerMetis.com

Deciding Whether an Online Certificate Program is Right for You In today’s modern workforce, it can be difficult to decide whether an online certificate would hold the same weight as traditional graduate school programs.Demands in the workplace are changing rapidly, making skills needed last year seemingly obsolete today. A greater emphasis on future-proofing your skills could lead to you remaining competitive.evalDepending on the industry that you work in and the degree requirements, you may have cheaper, more specific training that you can receive online that will generally require less than a year to complete and allow you to pursue either a change in career and/or provide you with a competitive edge over your peers.What are Online Certificates?evalAn online certificate is proof that you have successfully completed a course that you can share with your employer, school, or institution.Personally developed by either faculty of a college/university or by experts in the field, online certificates generally focus on a specific skill or area that will allow you to become an expert in that trade without having to leave the comfort of your own home.Online certificates are rapidly evolving and gaining increasing importance in the data scienceand machine learning industry Because of the increase in courses required as well as time needed to complete an online degree program, the online degree program is much more costly than its online certificate counterpart.The average online degree program costs $16,000 from an undergraduate institution and the average online certificate from similar undergraduate institutions fall around $6,000. You can quickly see why understanding your options can be key before financing this kind of investment.Who Should Pursue Online Certificates?Online certificates are especially helpful for those seeking skills that are emerging and seeing growth, where the sooner he or she can join the workforce with that skill, the sooner they can be gaining real-world experience and improving their skills.Some of t he top emerging jobs include the following:Machine Learning EngineerData ScientistSales Development RepresentativeCustomer Success ManagerBig Data DeveloperFull Stack EngineerUnity DeveloperDirector of Data ScienceevalWith this in mind, you can see an immediate return on your investment, as you should be well on your way to making a decent salary in a field that is burgeoning. The end goal in this approach is career advancement â€" either a promotion or a new job. By having a look at the list of top emerging and growing jobs, you can see that the tech field dominates the list.Demand for tech related skills is growing not only in the tech-related industries but non-tech industries as well!If time is of the essence and juggling friends, family, work, and school seems daunting, then an online certificate may be a better decision overall, as a traditional online degree program could take years to complete.As most online certificate courses are flexible and on your own time, the classes can mold around your schedule.What are the Cost of Online Certificate Programs?As a cheaper alternative to an online degree program or traditional brick-and-mortar degree program, the majority of online certificate programs are not free and still require an investment of both time and money.The prices can vary based on what you are studying and range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. When deciding whether or not the course will have a good return on your investment, it’s good practice to look at the alumni from the certificate programs and see where they are now and how they were able to leverage their new knowledge into either career advancement or career switch.Included in many online certificate courses are career services and advising teams that will help guide you in the job application process as well as the interviewing process.evalCheck Whether Your Employer Offers Financial SupportIn the past, employers looked favorably on online programs and would sometimes provide financial support for their employee to acquire new skills that would improve his or her performance within the company. This favorability may be shifting towards the online certificate with the growing popularity among employers as well as individuals.evalIt’s not surprising that the same benefits of shortened time as well as acquisition of a set of key skills benefits not only the employee but also provides lots of value to the company with much less financial investment.Regardless of your situation, it may be worth having a discussion with your manager and/or HR team to see if this may be a potential fit.So, is the Online Certificate Program Worth it?To wrap this all up, the answer of whether you should pursue an online certificate program depends mostly upon what you are hoping to get out of this schooling as well as what kind of work you intend on taking up upon completion.If you hope to make a career change or advance within your current company and are in a field t hat is growing and expanding, then an online certificate program could be the best investment, as you will have enough of the skills necessary to fill a junior role in that field upon completion.The online certificate program will save you thousands versus pursuing an online degree route as well as take a quarter of the time to complete.evalFuture-proofing your career is always a great way to stay competitive in the ever-changing workforce and understanding how you can fit into this new evolving workplace.

Tips And Tricks To Boost Your Marketing Presence

Tips And Tricks To Boost Your Marketing Presence Your company might be having a few issues when it comes to the marketing side of your business. It can be difficult to get your company seen and heard when you are not a professional marketer. Your marketing presence is going to be important to ensure your business’ success, and without it, you are going to have a hard time attracting new customers to your company. But, there are some things that you can do to boost your marketing presence, and we are going to share them with you right now. So, if you are interested in learning about how to get your company seen, keep reading. Targeted Content The first thing that we are going to suggest is targeted content. Haven’t heard of this? Well, it is a pretty simple task to complete if you know what you are doing. Making sure that your content is relevant is something that you must do to ensure that you are attracting the most amount of people. Any content that you produce should have a strong connection with your company. For instance, if you are an electrical company who has a target audience of males aged 18-45, then your content shouldn’t be screaming at people who are not in this demographic. Obviously, you can branch out and attempt to reach new people, but this should be a secondary concern to your main target audience. Get Traditional So many people are focused on using online methods today that they forget to go back to the basics. Traditional marketing has been around for a long time, and it is unwise to ignore this altogether. Handing out flyers, renting billboard space, running workshops and so on are still some of the most important marketing methods that you can use today. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think this is going to work, because the facts say that it is. Many of the successful companies on the market right now are utilizing every marketing method at their disposal, whether it is offline or online. To reach the most amount of people, you have to consider what everyone responds to. Not everyone in the world is currently on social media, even though a large portion of them are. You also need to be catering to those who are not, and that is where the offline marketing comes in. People still drive to work each morning or get some form of public transport, so arranging for your company to have some ads that will target these people is a great way to boost your presence. SEO SEO is something that many companies use in order to get themselves to the top of the SERPs. If you are looking for a product or service, are you going to go past page 2 on Google to find what you are looking for? No, and neither are your customers. That is why you need to get your company on these first two pages. The way to do this is to employ SEO tactics such as keyword research to boost the amount of traffic coming to your site. All you have to do for keyword research is look up what words and phrases are typically used to find the product or services that you offer. Once you have done this, make sure that you have added these to your content so that when the search engine is looking for the most relevant results, yours is one of the first ones to pop up. There are many other SEO methods that you can use such as owning your domain, backlinks, having a theme and so on. Using a combination of these tactics is going to be one of the best ways to optimize your website. If you don’t know how to do these things, there are professionals that you can hire to sort your website out for you. Remember, the higher up on the SERPs you are, the more people are going to see your company. Use Social Media Social media is one of the most important parts of your marketing campaign in the 21st century. So many people are on social media, that if you are not utilizing this, you are going to get left behind. You need to have a social media account on every main platform including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even LinkedIn. This is going to allow you to contact and engage with the most amount of people, and if you look at the number of users on each platform, you will see why it is so important to get your business interacting on here. Make use of all the features such as Instagram live, the share button on Facebook and so on. By engaging with your customers, you will find that they are more likely to recommend you to a friend or family member. Using these platforms, you are going to reach people that you never would have any other way. Hire A Team If your marketing is not going well, you need to be hiring a marketing team. Going it on your own hasn’t worked out, and now you need help to save you from drowning in the competition. There is nothing wrong with hiring help to do this, and a team of professionals is going to be just what you need.  Ensure that your hiring process is rigorous to be sure that you only have the best because your business is going to need the best. A marketing team is going to be able to change anything that needs changing, implement any new strategies and get your company back on top where it belongs. These people are going to have experience doing this, and they are going to be able to get your company seen by new people. We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now know some of the ways that you can boost your marketing presence. It is important that you take the time to fix this because once your marketing goes under, your business could be following pretty soon without measures in place.

Pop culture references job search - Hallie Crawford

Pop culture references job search Here is a fun, informative article from a colleague in Atlanta that I wanted to share with you regarding your job search. Here is good career coaching advice for 2014 and your career change… Pop culture references job search By Matt Tovrog, associate partner of Bell Oaks OK, Illl admit it. If I have a choice between reading a book on business leadership and watching a rerun of “Seinfeld” that I?ve seen a dozen times, I often opt for “Seinfeld.” I?m a self-admitted entertainment fanatic and enjoy it all â€" movies, TV, books, sports, etc. As an executive recruiter, I engage with candidates who are looking to advance their careers and clients who seek my help to attract and hire top talent for their organization. Professionals need advice on achieving a better position, and I do my best to provide that. Clients look for guidance on how to attract “A players” who aren?t necessarily looking at job boards. I often draw on real life success stories including other candidates and clients I have worked with, and even my own career to prove a point. Recently, I was watching the movie, “Swingers.” It was the scene where Jon Favreu?s character, Mike, calls a woman 11 times in a row. He gets her answering machine and leaves a message every time (warning: foul language at 2:19 mark). It is painful to watch, but there is a nugget of wisdom in that scene. I immediately thought this would be a great example of how candidates should not follow up with prospective employers. Instead, they should send an email expressing their interest in a position and wait three business days. Calling and leaving multiple messages only displays desperation and can jeopardize the chances of another interview. In Mike?s case in “Swingers,” the woman picked up the 12th phone call and chewed him out. It dawned on me that there had to be other examples via the entertainment world relevant to the job search. Here are eight pop culture examples that provide lessons that can be applied to job search and hiring, after which are real life takeaways and action items. I realize some of these are greatly exaggerated (it is Hollywood after all!), but my hope is these unintentional moments of wisdom through pop culture provide some fresh ideas for job seekers and job holders alike. Cosmo Kramer becomes a ball-boy (at the 3:00 mark): “It?s ball boy, not ball man.” Age bias is one of the most common objections candidates face in the marketplace. They are either under qualified or overqualified and I maintain that the only way to overcome this obstacle is to get in front of the hiring manager. Had Kramer submitted his “résumé,” he would have been immediately dismissed due to his age, but instead Kramer got in front of the decision makers and let his actions do the talking. With today?s technology and information access, hiring managers can be readily identified through keyword searches on LinkedIn, company web sites and other research tools. I recommend identifying these individuals and seeking a way to connect with them in person rather than hoping a résumé somehow reaches their desk. You can download the full article here Atlanta Career Coach P.S. How do you know if your resume is good?  Take this  Resume Quiz  to find out how to keep your resume out of the trash can.