Tips For Job and Career Seekers – References

As the economy slowly begins to improve, more positions will become available. One of the key processes in any hiring process is the reference check. This process can make or break your candidacy for a position. Key points to consider:

? If you only contact your references when you need them to be a reference, you may find them to be lukewarm in their enthusiasm about you. References, in addition to being fantastic networking sources, are like plants: they have to be watered and nurtured. Keep in touch – even if just at holidays or birthdays; preferably once per quarter. The more they know about what you’re doing, the better reference they will be.

? Always ask a potential reference if you can use them as one. No past colleague or supervisor wants to be blindsided by a reference call. This irritates them, and does not serve your purpose.

? Alert references to the potential for a reference call when you genuinely believe that a call will be made. In addition to alerting the reference, you can provide a copy of the job description, a current resume, a list of accomplishments (that may not be highlighted on your resume) that are related to the potential position, and a reminder about what you did when you worked with or for the reference. The better prepared your reference is, the better reference they can give you. It is YOUR job to prepare your references. While your career may be the most important thing in your life, it probably is not the most important thing in your reference’s life

? Do not take advantage of your references. They are your most valuable tool. By “tool”, they are not an instrument to be used and discarded; they are an instrument to be used, nurtured, and appreciated. Return the favor; offer to be a peer or subordinate reference; share networking leads; help them without being asked.

? 2010, Michael Trust & Associates, All Rights Reserved.

Michael Trust, MPA, SPHR-CA is a Human Resources and Career Coaching professional, and president of Michael Trust & Associates, http://www.MichaelTrustAssociates.com, a Human Resources Consulting and Career Coaching firm. His Human Resources experience spans twenty years, and he has had major roles in staffing in all of his Human Resource positions. In addition, he has coached individuals at all career levels relative to their career paths, job search strategies, and related areas.

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10 Reasons to Start Your Own Business

They always say that you will never make any real money whilst working for someone else. More and more people are starting up on their own because they recognise that they can do a better job than the company for which they are working. Here are ten reasons why you should consider setting up your own start-up business and how you can benefit from it:

? High earning potential – if you are working for an employer, you are on fixed earnings. These earnings, especially in times of financial crisis, are not likely to rise and you may even see pay freezes. Working for yourself, whilst difficult to begin with until your business starts to pay, means that you have unlimited earning potential. How much you earn depends on how much you put into it.

? Getting paid your worth – do you get paid your worth in your current job? How many of us believe that our talents are going unnoticed? Working for yourself is another way to make sure that you are not only increasing your earning potential, but that you are paying yourself for your talents.

? Self and job satisfaction – how many people actually enjoy their jobs? Doing a great job for an employer very often goes unnoticed or someone with no morals comes along and claims the credit for your hard work. OK so you’ll have to take the rap if your own business goes wrong but the satisfaction gained from knowing that you did a great job far outweighs the initial hard work.

? Making the economy go round – in the long term, if your business succeeds, you may well need to take on staff. As long as you are a fair employer, then you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are providing work for someone else and that you are supporting the economy.

? Professional development – many companies claim at interview that they will enhance your career by offering you superb professional development opportunities; and then they never arise. You become a number on a payroll and you disappear into a sea of other faces. Running your own business means that you are responsible for your own development and you are concentrating on areas at which you know you are good.

? Answer to no one but yourself! Speaks for itself…oh yes!

? Creativity – you can be as creative as your mind will allow and you will amaze yourself at how good you can be.

? Variety of work – no two days will be the same and nor should they be! Realistically, not many people want a repetitive job so being your own boss means you do what the business demands.

? Cut out the traffic – work from home or a local office space and you need never be stuck in those endless queues of people all looking as fed up as one another.

? Make it your second career if you are not ready to give up the day job just yet. You get the best of both worlds in that case.

So the benefits of starting up a business are wide and varied and the above list is by no means exhaustive. Make it your new year’s resolution and give it some thought!

Pete Moore is a UK based author and co-founder of http://www.EzWeb123.com, an award winning website builder that is ideal for any small or start up business, organization, group, club, society, association, guild or charity looking to create a professional looking website.

Copyright ? Peter Moore 2009

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How IT Leaders Dress For Success

So if you could wear anything that you wanted to work, what would it be? Would you be showing up in shorts and flip-flops? How about jeans and a T-shirt? Well why don’t you? The answer to this question is something that we normally don’t spend a lot of time thinking about, but because it can have a big impact on our careers, perhaps we should…

What, Me Worry?
The first issue that we need to tackle is trying to figure out why is there an issue in the first place. Face it, although we’ve always been told not to judge someone by the clothes that they wear, we all do it anyway.

That’s why how you go about dressing can determine how the people that you interact with perceive you while you are at work. Additionally, it can have a big impact in how you feel about your self. I almost hate to say it, but it’s true, how you dress can have an effect on your ability to get a job in the first place.

That Professional Look – For Women

I’ve done some asking around and when I opened my mouth, I got dumped on. There are too few women working in IT and this is clearly an emotionally charged topic for many of them. I listened to everyone (for quite some time if I do say so myself), and here are the top four suggestions that were brought up over and over again:

1. Hose Rule: It turns out that pantyhose (remember them?) are still important. In today’s workplace, bare legs send the wrong message – they aren’t considered to be professional. Even if they are not required, they are required.
2. Shoe Time: This one sorta lost me because I just don’t pay enough attention to shoes. However, smarter people than I told me that regular sandals and even open-toed shoes are generally considered to be acceptable for the workplace. However, the ultra comfortable flip-flops and toe-post sandals (what are those?) are not.
3. Tall Patterns: Those women who are tall have a bit of a challenge especially if they work with / for shorter men – their height can make them appear overpowering. The goal here is to not emphasize what you already have – height. Instead, go with a horizontal pattern.
4. Short Patterns: The goal here is to attempt to buy yourself some height so that you don’t have to kill yourself wearing 4″ heels all the time. The suggestion is that wearing a cropped jacket can help make your legs appear longer.

That Professional Look – For Men

Ok, so we’ve pointed out what women need to do to make the clothes that they wear to the office work for them, not against them. Now let’s see if we can do the same for men:

1. Watch The Boss: One of the most important things that you can do is to watch what the boss wears and match him. This is especially important on so-called “casual days”.
2. Super Dressy (Sorta): Things have changed. The #1 dressy look in the office these days is wearing a suit, but with no tie.
3. Sports: You can’t go wrong if you wear a sport coat. The experts recommend that you go with either earth or gray tones in order to make matching with shirts easier.
4. Pants: There always seems to be too many choices here. Stick with medium to dark worsted wool and – you can’t go wrong.

Final Thoughts
Mom was right after all – clothes do make the man / woman. Dressing well sends a message to others that says “if I care enough to take the time to dress this way, just imagine how much time I’ll take to solve your problems.” Now that’s the right message to be sending as you transform yourself from an IT manager into a true leader!

Dr. Jim Anderson
http://www.TheAccidentalITLeader.com

Dr. Jim Anderson understands what it is like to both work in an IT department as an employee as well as a manager. Dr. Anderson is willing to share with you his 20+ years of experience in order to explain how to attract, motivate, and retain top IT staff.

If you want to follow Dr. Anderson on Twitter, he can be found at: http://twitter.com/drjimanderson

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What is a Career?

The concept of career has changed over the last 20 or 30 years. Whereas a career used to be a job for life, this is rarely the case anymore. It is no longer the situation that a person is employed in one or a series of jobs with one employer and then comfortably retires at 65.

People now, on average, change their jobs or careers at least 7 times over the course of their life. In addition, there is no guarantee of retiring at 65 and many people are working well into their 70’s and 80’s.

The impact of the recession, changing technology, globalisation, competition, mergers, stress, increasing change and the pace of life has changed the traditional career.

According to ‘Wikipedia’, a career is classed by the Oxford English Dictionary as an individual’s “course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life)”. It is a series of successive situations or activities that make up a person’s occupation.

A career may be focused around progression in a job or a series of roles, or a process of parallel career changes in the search for greater income and personal satisfaction.

A career is made up of a process of continuous learning and personal and professional development. This enables a person to keep up with changes within the workplace and be competitive when seeking a new job.

A career is often made up of activities outside of the traditional paid working environment. These may include voluntary or charity work or working within the community, such as helping out in sporting clubs. In addition, the skills required in a career can come from other activities such as running a home and raising children or looking after elderly relatives.

A career may be made up of a variety of different roles, commonly known as a portfolio career, where a person carries out a range of different jobs often including self employment and working with different organisations to make a living.

A career is no longer just for people who work full time. Many people, and not just women with children, are seeking increased flexibility, more effective work/life balance and part-time working to have a career that works for them. Also people are driven by different things at different stages of their career, such as when they face a life changing event. It is not unusual to take a career break or change roles to fulfil important values at different times during their lives.

Despite the current economic climate, more and more people are seeking self employment as their values no longer meet the values of their organisation or they want greater fulfilment and personal satisfaction. In 2006, 12% of the UK’s working population were self employed with predictions that this could swell by up to 10 million people by 2011.

What is the implication of the changing nature of a career?

For many people, the implication is that there is no longer a career for life, so people need to be flexible in their response to change, whether this is due to redundancy, restructuring or finding a better way to make an income. On the other hand, as there are thousands of career options available today, there is increasing choice, but this can often feel overwhelming as well.

Many people are also finding their is a values shift between their personal values and the changing culture within their organisation. It is when this is out of alignment that many people seek out new employment or a new start to change the focus of their career.

To be successful, workers need to start to focus on their strengths and their skills to develop a plan for their future. In addition, they need to know what else is important in their life to make sure that their choices and decisions are congruent with other parts of their life.

Copyright Karen Williams 2009. All Rights Reserved.

You are welcome to use this article in your website, blog or newsletter, provided that the article is published in tact, the links are live (if it is published online) and you include the information below with it:

Karen Williams is a personal development coach who helps people to re-find direction in their career. If you want to achieve greater success in your career, download your free tips now at http://www.selfdiscoverycoaching.co.uk.

If you are at a crossroads in your career, find out more about the Self Discovery 90 days to career success programme at http://www.90daystocareersuccess.co.uk and you will receive a 14 day free trial.

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What Requirements Are There For Becoming a Part Time CFO?

If you are a person who has an accounting background and would like to become a Part-time CFO, there are many resources on the Internet that can give you the information that you need to know about getting started.

The qualifications that are required to work as a CFO includes having a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting or a related field in finances. You need to have 15 or more years of broad experience in finance, 10 or more years of experience in managing, 5 or more years in being a full-time CFO.

Becoming a Part-time CFO also requires that you have experience with a former organization that had complex financial functions. You must have very strong experience in the financial reporting of companies.

There are skills that are needed, which include being proficient in tax planning, having advanced knowledge of Excel and other financial software programs that could be used by various companies. A Part-time CFO needs to have superior judgment skills, decision making skills, negotiation and communication skills as well.

The CFO needs to have very strong ethics about finances as well as professional integrity. People who do not hold these beliefs are the financial advisors that you will eventually see in handcuffs on their way to jail because they used their status in a company to steal money.

A Part-time CFO needs to have strong analytical skills in order to be able to devise a strategic plan that the company can adhere to as well as create a profit from. A company that hires a CFO puts a lot of trust in them. They are literally handing over the soul of their business to a person that they hope will help them to grow as a company.

The Part-time CFO not only needs to be very knowledgeable when it comes to the mental aspect of work but also with the emotional aspect as well. In order to acquire the financial relationships that are needed to create profit for the company, they have to be similar to a really good sales man or woman.

They have to be able to create ties for the company to rely on as well as teach the owners and staff of the company to rely on their own knowledge once the CFO’s work is done. The CFO has to be able to give the knowledge needed as well as the strength to put that knowledge to work for them.

Tom Bensen is a part-time CFO and has worked to be a CFO for many years and has gone through the process and experience. He has also worked in companies that hire a part time CFO.

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Writing a Resume For an Executive Position

Not all jobs are created equal. An executive position demands great responsibility so an executive resume must demonstrate that you’ve got the gumption to deliver the skills and savvy required to carry a company.

Job seeking requires you to get a grip on the competition. Your resume needs to be of the highest calibre because you can guarantee that that of you competitors will be.

Getting started

Executive resumes need to be clear and focused. Think about which skills and attributes your prospective employer would value the most, then tailor the details you include to demonstrate that you are uniquely qualified to meet those needs. The information should be thorough and use a professional tone. Use a layout that is easy to read; most executive resumes use Times New Roman font and a balanced amount of white space.

The executive profile

The executive profile should be short and hard-hitting, a sort of advertisement to set the tone for the rest of your resume and encourage the reader to read on. Include your strongest attributes and most valuable achievements here. For example, a finance executive’s profile might say, ‘An accomplished tax executive with a strong grounding in international taxation and global finance. Has had extensive experience with three of the largest international accounting firms and is a long-term board member of Australian Taxation Office. Frequent speaker on tax issues in the media and at universities.’

Experience

Put your experience immediately after your executive profile in reverse chronological order so that the reader can easily reconstruct your most recent career moves. Focus on the results that you achieved rather than your responsibilities. The results, as they say, will speak for themselves.

Emphasise the transferable skills you possess to tell your prospective employer that they could get the results you’ve previously achieved in their company too.

Don’t forget to supply your reader with some context for your achievements. This can be established by quantifying your accomplishments. For example, instead of stating that you played a part in increasing company revenue, you could say, ‘Played a key role in increasing hardware sales to $2.5 million in 2001 (up 5 per cent from 2000) by revising advertising budget and strategically adjusting marketing plan.’

While your employer will be most interested in your most recent experience, there can be value in displaying your early work experience, particularly if you have worked for well-known, reputable companies, or if you achieved impressive accomplishments in these positions.

Sell your soft skills

There are many qualities required in a good senior manager or successful executive; excellent time management skills, multitasking abilities and an understanding of financial processes. However, people tend to forget that executive positions require ‘people’ skills as well as professional ones. Include in your resume appointments that required you to think innovatively, lead a team of people or demonstrated dedication and went beyond your call of duty. While other candidates may have a similar education or career path, these personal anecdotes will give you an edge.

Key words are key

Use key words like industry jargon and those featured in the job description. Most recruiters use databases to store and search resumes and you want yours to be noticed and recognised as relevant.

Don’t get personal

There is no way to predict the personal biases of those who read your resume, so if in doubt about including a personal anecdote, leave it out. Volunteer work, professional affiliations, teaching experience, board memberships, presentations and recognitions are constructive details. Marital status, age, religion, hobbies and country club memberships are not.

Checking it twice

If you’re applying for an executive position, you have enough experience to know that just running a spell check on an important document won’t cut it. Your resume needs to be checked for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors, appropriate wording, correct spacing and alignment and relevant information. Then it needs to be checked again, preferably by someone else with an eye for detail.

Review your resume with a very discriminating eye and concentrate particularly on reducing unnecessary wordiness. Every word in your resume should serve a purpose. In this way, cut down your resume to three pages at the most. Make sure you use language that is succinct, dynamic and action oriented to capture and hold your reader’s attention.

An executive resume needs to be of the highest calibre – it’s the first impression your prospective employer gets of your experience and your impeccable skills. Don’t forget to include a gold-standard cover letter with your resume then wait for your interview request!

Career FAQs – everything you need to know about career news, job advice, sample resumes, cover letters and more at http://www.careerfaqs.com.au.

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Are Employers Really Checking on Your Facebook Page? Survey Says Yes

By now most job seekers have heard the advice that they should be cautious about what their personal Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or other social networking pages contain as inappropriate content may kill a candidates chances of obtaining their dream job should a potential employer decide to include browsing the Internet for a candidates online history.

Many jobseekers though shrug off this wisdom believing it to be media hype rather than reality. Why would a hiring manager waste their time on MySpace? However according to a recent CareerBuilder survey more of them than you may think are indeed including social media site activity as a part of their preemployment background checks.

The survey actually found that 45% of employers are using social networks to research candidates, which is up from 22% in 2008. Breaking it down into individual sites 29 percent use Facebook, 26 percent use LinkedIn and 21 percent use MySpace. Another 11 percent said they search for personal blogs, while 7 percent follow candidates on Twitter.

And what is that they find that changes there mind about a candidate the most? What online information do these employers think is the real deal breaker? A massive 53% of those surveyed said that posting inappropriate photographs or personal information was the biggest turn off. ( I will pause now so that you can go delete that picture from spring break in Cancun a couple of years ago….)

35% of employers were bothered by candidates who had made derogatory remarks about their current or former employers on their personal pages while a surprisingly high 29% said that if the candidate demonstrated poor communication skills on their profile they would think again before hiring them.
MySpace and Facebook pages can be fun ways to communicate with friends and have a little fun. They can also be a powerful tool in your job search.

The simplest answer to this problem is this; create two profiles, a professional one and one for your amusement. And then remember to check the “private profile” option on your personal page while putting your best public face forward on your professional page.

For more career advice from the seasoned pros at Savvy Talent, a boutique recruiting firm that serves the needs of both job seekers and hiring managers, please visit their blog at http://savvytalent.com/blog.

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Why Should I Pursue Physician Assistant As My Own Career?

When we talk about physician assistant (PA), many will confuse this profession with medical assistant, nurses, and doctors. These professions have their similarities in somewhere or rather. The most obvious one perhaps should be their objective is to save people lives but in actual fact, they have different underlying philosophies in training and practice.

The American Academy of Physician Assistants defined PA as “a licensed health professional who practices medicine under the supervision of a physician”.

A good and successful PA should demonstrate the characteristics of intelligence, sound judgment, strong interpersonal skills, the ability to react calmly and reasonably during emergencies, good bedside manner, and willing to study throughout their career to keep in pace with medical advances. Most of all, saving lives comes first before anything.

PAs are academically and clinically trained to practice medicine. PAs are found in all areas in medicine. Responsibilities of PAs include conducting exams, diagnosing conditions, prescribing medications, to even assisting in surgery. In order to use the credentials “Physician Assistant-Certified (PA-C), a PA will have to obtain license as per the state laws and certification and to maintain certification requirements in order to renew your license.

PA, started with a humble history, has become a fast growing profession today. Association of American Medical Colleges had projected that the supply of physicians will be unable to keep pace with the forecast increase in demand and government statistics indicate that PAs are among the most in-demand professionals in the United States, with rapid career growth expected throughout the next decade. This is a good choice to serve as the “ambition” for the younger generation.

For more information about physician assistant career, visit PhysicianAssistantGuide.com.

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Jobs For Women 2010 and Beyond

My mother never had the chance to go college. She had quite a few things that she had to take care of in her business that she was running, and plus she had me and my two brothers. I sometimes sit down and think how many more mothers are not going to school because they think they cannot afford it.

The educational outlook over the next five years for jobs that women are able to excel in is great. By the year 2016 we are expecting an increase in how many women are going to college, not only graduating but heading towards a masters and a professional degree. I think this is excellent and I think more women should go to school and try to get scholarships for single mothers returning to school programs to help them.

The list of jobs that women can get qualified after college are:

1. Magazine Editor – many women major in journalism to get this job.
2. News Reporter- many women do very well reporting the news to their local community.
3. Meteorology and Science- news casters also fall into this category too.

Those three jobs above can help women get on their feet and into a meaning profession they love.

Business degrees will also be a part of the plan to help women graduate from college. There are also talks of estimating how many companies will become a part of helping women get their degrees they want. Currently, we estimate that every woman who does receive a scholarship, will be able to enjoy the benefits of their education. I have listed here the top positions that a woman can expect in 2010-2012 listed from CNN.

1. Systems Engineer
2. Physicians Assistant
3. Nurse Practitioner
4.College Professor
5. IT Manager

These jobs are available to women in abundance in 2010-2012 and beyond. Many women have to make such a plan when going to school. But, with scholarships for moms, it will allow you to keep your same monthly financial plan while in school.

Here is a Free $10,000 scholarship. This is a free service for women, just enter your email address. After you register, you will see a comprehensive list of awards and more financial aid for women in your State in addition to your $10,000 scholarship. There are hundred of programs that offer free money. Hurry, because this money will be given away soon. Click Here to get free money for college.

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What Do You Want From Your Business Or Career?

“Money! Fame! Respect! Sure… those are nice goals but they’re not very specific.”

How much money? What kind of fame? Whose respect do you want? Setting specific objectives will help guide your path towards your dreams and goals. I was reminded of this today when I had lunch with a young entrepreneur who has made the decision to run his own business. While I applaud him for starting his company I also challenged him to be specific about defining his business model in order to achieve his desired success.

How my friend defines his business model will make it far easier or harder for him to achieve his goals both now and in the long-run. Similarly, how you define your career goals will have a great impact on how successful you’ll be in achieving them. Maybe your career is full of long hours now in order to work fewer hours later or perhaps you need to be exposed to different cultures and environments in order for you to land the ultimate dream job in a few years. Either you can define what you want and model your career and business to get it, or accept the default results that come with what you’re doing now.

As a consultant at Arthur Andersen I defined a clear objective for my career: to prepare myself to start a company. Every day I asked myself the question: “What am I learning today that is going to help me start and run my business tomorrow?”. That simple question helped frame my approach to my jobs and helped me look past each day’s challenges towards my goal. The result is that many of the experiences and lessons I learned have become core pieces of my current business culture and architecture. I was also able to enjoy what I did (and do now) every day because I knew my goals.

Do you know what you want? Define what you want from your career or business clearly and you’ll find it easier to focus on how to achieve that goal with each decision you make from this point forward.

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