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3 Helpful Articles to Prepare you for Employee Reviews

By leidson on Friday, November 15, 2013

Annual employee reviews are starting to take place and we’re ready to help you prepare. With all the excitement and expectation of the holidays, it’s easy to get carried away and forget to prepare for your review. So here are a few helpful articles to assist in your employee review preparation.

1. Transform the Dreaded Employee Review
What emotions do you associate with your employee review? Fear? Anxiety? Stress? Anticipation? The thought of an annual performance evaluation can trigger a wide-range of negative responses, but it doesn’t have to. In Transform the Dreaded Employee Review, you will learn how to see things differently as you become a more productive employee.

2. It’s Time to Check your Progress – Self Evaluations
Most companies typically hold performance reviews or annual reviews at the end of the calendar year, but at that point there isn’t much you can do to improve your scorecard for the year. In It’s Time to Check your Progress – Self Evaluation, you will learn key elements for conducting a self-review.

3. Understand “the Numbers” in Your Job Search
Whether you’re crafting a résumé, preparing for a performance review, or reporting in the weekly staff meeting, knowing the key metrics used to measure the performance of your company and your job is critical. In this article on Understanding “the numbers” in the Workplace, we’ll talk about how to make sense of the numbers that relate to success in your career.

If you have any helpful tips that you use to prepare for an employee review, share with us in the comment section below.

Career Advancement Job Interviews The Daily Grind The Job Search Uncategorized

3 Tips for Your LinkedIn Photo

By leidson on Wednesday, November 13, 2013

LinkedIn encourages its users to provide a highly professional look to their profile and one way to do that is through your profile photo. In fact, some believe it’s one of the most important parts of a profile, because it helps people identify you and can immediately present a professional image.

If you’re looking for a new job or trying to improve your online presence, LinkedIn is a great place to start. This social network is built to help you find a job and help employers find you. Here are three important tips to remember when updating your LinkedIn photo.

1. Keep it Current
Don’t use an old photo. When you meet someone for the first time after making a connection with them on LinkedIn, it’s important for them to be able to recognize you. If your photo does not depict how you currently look, then it needs to be changed.

2. Convey Your Role
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, what is your LinkedIn photo saying about you? If you can show yourself in action, do it. If you have a speaking engagement or event and someone snapped a photo of you, use it. A photo can convey passion, energy, charisma, and show that you’re approachable. Make sure your photo conveys your role in your industry. Get a headshot of yourself with your desk in the background or have someone take your picture in front of your workplace. It doesn’t have to be a professional photo, but make sure it is of good quality.

3. Fly Solo
The photo you choose should be of you by yourself. Family photos or crowd shots aren’t appropriate. Don’t ever keep it blank or use a logo. That’s not attractive to potential employers or connections; it’s also against LinkedIn rules. Besides, in an interview with Forbes magazine, LinkedIn career expert, Nicole Miller explained you are seven times more likely to be viewed if you have a photo on your profile. Also, your profile picture should not be cropped out of a larger picture.

For more insight on LinkedIn profile photo choices, take a look at the LinkedIn profiles of your co-workers and see what they have chosen. Lastly, don’t forget to smile, you want to look approachable.

Have you had any experiences on how a LinkedIn photo helped create a professional image? Share with us in the comment section below.

Uncategorized

Veterans and the Job Search

By leidson on Monday, November 11, 2013

The overall unemployment rate for veterans has steadily declined according to a recent article in USA Today. It currently stands at 6.5%, under the 7.2% rate for the entire country. The jobless rate for younger veterans still remains high. For veterans ages 18-24 the unemployment rate was 19.5% in the third quarter of 2013.

The decline in unemployment for veterans overall is due in part to initiatives like a national campaign to hire veterans supported by the White House, state run programs, as well as private businesses like Starbucks and Wal-Mart setting up their own hiring programs.

The franchising community is also working together to help simplify the job searching process for veterans. There are many programs and organizations that are established nationwide that are helping returning veterans learn about the opportunities available to them. Some franchises, including Express Employment Professionals have even waived franchise fees, reduced royalty payments and guided veterans through business plans to become business owners.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s program, Hiring Our Heroes, joined efforts with Capital One Financial Corporation and found 108,000 jobs for veterans and military spouses as part of the Hiring 500,000 Heroes campaign. This campaign will continue through the end of 2014 and hopes to have 500,000 jobs filled by United States veterans.

Military Experience Can Help You Find a Job

Veterans have unique and highly valued qualities that employer’s desire, which can give them an advantage in the job search. In fact, according to a recent survey by Accenture, veterans say their military service is the top factor in landing a civilian job. Whether it be technical, or leadership traits, the experiences, values and skills veterans have gained in the military can be beneficial in the civilian workforce.

3 Out of 4 Employed Veterans Had Additional Training

Veterans who are still struggling to find work might consider seeking additional training. In the same Accenture study, 69% of employed veterans reported receiving additional training or education following their service.
Career tech schools could be a good place to start, especially with more than 3 million skilled jobs still unfilled in the U.S. If you’re a veteran seeking additional training be sure to find what education benefits you quality for.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help

In an interview with NPR, Carrol Stripling, who retired from the military after 37 years in the U.S. Army, shared that it’s hard for veterans to say they need help. “We’re taught from the very beginning to be self-reliant and so it’s difficult to say, I’m failing at this,” Stripling said.

If you can relate, don’t be afraid to ask for help wherever you can. Reach out to friends and family for support or try contacting a local staffing firm to see how they can help. The truth is when it comes to the job search, we all need a little help from time to time.

This Veteran’s Day, Express would like to thank and commend veterans and service men and women for their hard work and dedication to our country and today we celebrate your sacrifices that have given us all life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

As a veteran, what are some ways you’ve used your military experience to help your job search? Share with us in the comment section below.

New Job Tips The Job Search Uncategorized

5 Quotes to Inspire Your Job Search

By leidson on Friday, November 8, 2013

Searching for a job can feel overwhelming at times, but a little inspiration can help take away the pressure and bring motivation to help you keep looking. More than likely, you’ll experience rejection before landing that dream job, but keep your spirits high and press on. During the job search process, it’s important to keep a positive attitude. Here are five quotes that will help inspire and motivate you to continue searching.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell

“Every experience in your life is being orchestrated to teach you something you need to know to move forward.” – Brian Tracy

“Success doesn’t come to you, you go to it.” – Marva Collins

“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”
– T.S. Eliot

Do you have any encouraging quotes that help motivate you during your job search? Share with us in the comment section below.

Job Interviews New Job Tips The Job Search Work/Life Balance

What is Your Online Brand Identity?

By leidson on Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Whether you realize it or not – you have a personal online brand identity that can help or hurt your job search. Managing your identity and reputation in today’s world is very important. In fact, two of out of five companies use social networking sites to screen candidates, according to a 2013 CareerBuilder study.

Every picture posted on Instagram, every tweet put on Twitter, and every status updated to Facebook and LinkedIn are a direct reflection of who you are. You never know when an employer might look you up and form an impression based on your online brand. Maintaining a consistent and professional appearance across all social networks is recommended. On the other hand, if you don’t have a social media presence, consider establishing a profile that employers can find. Social media allows people to build an online brand identity and can greatly benefit you in the long run.

It’s ok to be yourself, just be careful to keep all social media profiles consistent. Because consistency is key, make sure to personalize each of your social media sites with the most current picture of yourself and include up-to-date information on each profile. Be aware, if you currently have a job, your employer or co-workers could have an eye on your social media profiles. When you interact with people, both online and offline, they will build an image of who you are. Make sure it’s a good one, because it’s not easy to change an impression.

Although it’s impossible to control every view of your social media profiles, do your part to ensure that potential employers and peers aren’t reading information or seeing pictures that could damage your personal online identity. One step in controlling your presence is to review your privacy settings regularly. Your online reputation is a reflection of who you are and if you take steps to pursue the best possible representation of yourself, it could be a huge asset to your job search and future career.

How are you protecting your online brand identity? Share with us in the comment section below.

Uncategorized Work/Life Balance

Poll: How do you Display Charitable Citizenship?

By leidson on Monday, November 4, 2013

Giving back to the community is a great way to actively support charitable citizenship. Whether you’re giving coats to a local rescue mission for children that are in need during the winter or raising money for the Salvation Army Angel Tree, giving back is one of the greatest feelings.
How do you support your community through charitable citizenship?

Career Advancement Career Options New Job Tips The Job Search

What You Should be Sharing on LinkedIn

By leidson on Friday, November 1, 2013

LinkedIn is a social media network that is focused on the networking of business professionals. As of June 2013, LinkedIn reported more than 225 million acquired users in over 200 countries. One purpose of the site is to allow users to maintain a list of contacts with whom they have some level of relationship, these are called Connections. With your LinkedIn connections, you can share thoughts, articles or other content-rich websites from several places. This is known as posting an update or sharing an update. You can use the share box, located on your profile, to share a wide variety of information also.

You can browse through LinkedIn’s job search page and find jobs from accounting to human resources to sales jobs. You can also search for jobs in specific locations.
If you’re looking for a job or just looking to network, LinkedIn is a great social media tool to help you. If you’re new to social media and LinkedIn, here is a tutorial to help you get started. It’s important to set up professional work-related social media profiles. This will help you build a professional image with future employers when they research your name. Check out this blog for more tips on job searching.

Your updates may be shared with your LinkedIn connections via email depending on their email settings. Learn more about adjusting your email settings.

Have you landed a job through LinkedIn? Share with us in the comment section below.