Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Free networking ebook!

By

Are you prepared to make the most of your networking?

Don’t miss the opportunity to talk to people who may have information (and those you don’t think have any information for you at all)!

For a limited time, I’m offering a copy of my ebook, Drive Your Own Career Bus -  Networking for Success, for FREE to subscribers to my blog at Keppie Careers. Subscribers receive an email once a week with my Keppie Careers blog posts. All you need to do is follow THIS LINK and enter your email address. Then, you’ll receive a confirmation notice. Once you confirm, you’ll be subscribed and will receive the link to my free ebook. It is full of advice, tips and tricks to get you through in good networking shape.

What a deal!

Don’t delay, this offer is limited. My marketing team thinks I should sell this report, so take advantage now before I change my mind!

Don’t forget that Keppie Careers offers many services to help you get your job hunt on track. Stop wasting your time! Learn more about me and how I can HELP YOU get your job search on track!

You're never really done with your resume

By

unfinished-bridge270381648_1e3b1ecac2_mI hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your resume should always be a work in progress. Otherwise, it represents an unfinished bridge – like this picture – that does not connect what you offer and what your targeted employer seeks. I teach my clients how to review and tweak their own resumes to apply for different types of jobs. Hopefully, you’ll have a target in mind when you write your resume, but things change, opportunities change and you need to change (your resume) with them.

It is worth the time to tweak your resume. (I write resumes with “moving parts” that make it very easy to adjust and adapt for each opportunity.) Of course, the headlines and highlights sections may change depending on the job and the job’s requirements. Other points throughout the resume should also be adjusted, if only to change the order of the bullet points within each job description. 

The more time a job seeker spends on targeting the resume for the job, the more likely he or she is to land an interview.

Of course, you don’t have “time” to adjust your resume for each job. It would be so much easier to send the same exact document to every employer! Yes, but doing so could also extend your search. No one wants to sign up to be hunting for a job any longer than necessary!

Have you been unemployed and/or looking for work for a long time? Longer than you thought you would be? Remember, this is not a “come as you are” job market. There are fewer jobs and more people looking. You must do whatever you can to give yourself an advantage over the competition if you want to be gainfully employed anytime soon. For some, this just means looking more carefully at job descriptions and targeting their resumes accordingly. For others, it means hiring a professional to help them identify and outline all of the great skills they have to offer.

Remember – your job search is in YOUR hands. If you are driving your own career bus, you want to be sure you have both eyes on the road! Move forward by taking the right turns to end up where you want to go!

If you are ready for a change and could use some help with your search and materials, follow THIS LINK to learn more about me and how we can work together!

photo by mateoteh

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Transitioning and don't know where to go? Read Career Quizzes

By

career-quizzesj4444“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else.” – Yogi Berra

So begins John Liptak’s book, Career Quizzes.

With so many people facing transitions now (either of their own choice or as a result of a layoff) and with many studies indicating that workers are generally dissatisfied with their jobs and/or seriously thinking of making a change, it is important to point out that planning and focusing on career goals is an important piece of driving your own career bus!

Liptak reminds readers how important it is to prepare for transtions, and this book is a good first step for anyone thinking about making a move. It offers readers help in:

  • Finding purpose.
  • Identifying an ideal job.
  • Developing a career plan.
  • Taking action.

With a series of different assessments to help guide the job seeker, but a caveat that “an assessment can provide you with valuable information about yourself, but plese remember that such instruments cannot measure everything for you” (p. XV), this book provides guidance and a great starting point for anyone who needs a jump start for his or her career transition.

If you’d like to win a FREE copy, comment on this blog post to enter a random drawing! Feel free to comment on all of my blogs for a better chance to win:

If you need some coaching to figure out what you should do next, contact my business partner, Hallie Crawford. Once you know what you want to do, if you need some help to get your job search in gear – Contact me – I will help!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Is it important to be happy at work? Lessons from A Night At the Museum-Battle of the Smithsonian

By

4522672_night_smithsonian_150Is it just me, or do many movies for young people tend to have a career theme? I first noticed this back when I watched the Bee Movie. (I blogged about this HERE), and then again with Bedtime Stories, a comedy about a hotel handyman (Adam Sandler) whose life changes when the outrageous bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to actually come true. (Am I the only one who thought that movie was a career story?)

Now, it’s Night At the Museum – Battle of the Smithsonian. Larry (Ben Stiller) realizes that running his own business isn’t half as much fun as hanging out with museum objects that come to life at night. Concluding that happiness is the most important thing in life, Larry makes a move.

What about you…Have you thought about the most important things in life? Given any thought to how happy (or unhappy) you are in your current job?

Read the rest on my blog at GreatPlaceJobs...

If you are ready for a change and could use some help with your search, follow THIS LINK to learn more about me and how we can work together!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]


Blog Carnival – Job search advice and food for thought!

By

carnival170024684_e22d050f48_m1Several weeks ago, Ben Eubanks inaugurated the Career Carnival Blogging Event on Jobacle by showcasing a number of blogs and
a variety of topics. He invited me to take the reigns this time to share some links and possibly introduce you to some new blogs to follow. So, I put out the call to many bloggers to share a link and a “twit pitch” or summary of the post. I heard back from some bloggers whose posts I never miss as well as several people whose blogs are new to me. I hope you will have the same experience and find some favorites as well as a few new blogs to review…

Tiffany Monhollon shared her post, Mature Workers Face Toughest Job Market in this Recession. She summarizes:
“The debate about youth versus age is hot again, as competition in the job market continues to increase. Research shows that both mature workers and new graduates face a difficult job search. But, a recent online poll on the Express Job Blog showed that 70% of over 950 readers agree – the job market is more difficult for mature workers than for new grads. But, there is hope for both generations in today’s
job market.”

Trevor Wilson from Gradversity examines the benefits of sending individually targeted applications over a ‘mass mailing’ approach with Quality vs Quantity in Job Applications.

Ben Eubanks noted that “leadership was born from an interesting conversation about bad leaders and the people that follow them.  Do Not Follow the (Bad) Leader reminds us of times and situations where we do follow bad leaders, and it also shows us how those experiences are short-lived.  Almost everyone has spent some time with a bad leader, but some of the article’s comments show a different side of the story.”

Kirsten Grant summarizes: “What do Batman, Spiderman and the Bat Mobile have in common with finding a job and your online profile? It’s about consistency in online branding. You wouldn’t expect to see Spiderman riding around in the Bat Mobile, nor Batman shooting spider webs from his wrists! This article discusses the importance of picking one area to be known for and gives tips on branding yourself online to ensure long term job search success. This blog topic provides a step-by-step guide to taking your social networking profile from good to great and increasing your chances of finding a job!”

Kristi Daeda shares a timely post about networking with confidence. She notes, “People are nervous about networking because they fear failure, even though there’s no such thing! Learn more about how to be successful in networking by enhancing your confidence.”

Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter’s, “The Branded Resume: An Essential Tool,”  illustrates the importance of convincing the hiring manager by creating the emotional hook with kernels of inspired resume writing to get the interviews you deserve.

Stephanie Lloyd reminds readers that “…interviewing is extremely subjective, and if you apply to jobs that you meet the qualifications for, are prepared for the interview, and use common sense, there is no reason to beat yourself up if you did not get the job. Rather than second-guessing yourself or feeling defeated, after each interview take a few moments to do a self-assessment – and write the answers down so you can use them to prepare for your next interview.” Take a look at: 75 Reasons You Didn’t Get the Job.

My own most recent favorite post reminds readers that, to succeed in your job hunt, you need to know where you are going and what you want when you get there. So, it’s not a good idea to do the job search equivalent of going to a pizza place if you feel like eating sushi! (It will make sense when you read it!)

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

photo by wallyg