Suck It Up and Sell Yourself

Suck It Up and Sell Yourself No one likes a bragger, and no one really  wants to be known as one.  In fact, its fairly natural for us  to shy away from  any limelight which will catapult us into cockiness  territory in the eyes of our peers. Especially at work, arrogant big shots  who shove their successes down the throats of others are less than inspiring, and create passive enemies pretty quickly. We know this, and this is why selling ourselves during an interview is  difficult. Overt self-promotion and self-praise dont mirror  the way we speak about ourselves in normal everyday life. A recent study by  LinkedIn  has revealed that, of the pool of professionals  from  18 countries surveyed, almost half do not feel comfortable talking about their achievements or  selling themselves in an interview. A similar number says  it feels  like bragging when they do.  Only 35% actually do feel comfortable outlining their achievements, and 52% generally  prefer to talk about the achievements of their colleagues than their own. Apparently  were actually more likely to publish  health updates and political views on social media,  than we are news of a professional  promotion! Bragging is very unattractive. Strive to be humble and modest. Megan Miller (@Megoooo_5) March 18, 2016 People respect  people who are outrageously successful, but maintain their modesty.  This video of Angelina Jolie accepting an award at the 2013 Governors Awards  has been doing the rounds on the internet AGAIN recently. People cant get enough, but why? Because Angelina has every reason to be the biggest bragger known to man, but time and time again, she chooses to be humble and show appreciation for the privileges she has had, that others havent. If only we could all strike a balance like this! While  giving up all  bragging rights is great in theory,  there will still be times when we have to sell ourselves. And, its amidst our job hunt that  were most likely to have to face these  fears! The  LinkedIn survey also reveals that 86% of  recruitment decision makers believe its important  for candidates to be able to express their achievements. Whether we like it or not, to get ahead in our careers and get our dream job, we need to  feel comfortable answering the following types of questions: What are your strengths? Why should we choose you over others? Why are you the right person for this role? What value can you add? Whats your best achievement to date? For some reason, writing diligent, enthusiastic and intelligent learner who is quick to grasp new concepts in a CV is so much easier  than actually saying those words about ourselves out loud to someone. Many of us go to town with our CVs, describe how great we are, win an interview and then shudder at the thought of having to sell ourselves in person.  Here are a few tips on how to approach these hard asks: 1.  Plan prepare Before you go to an interview, plan and practice marketing yourself. Be sure you actually pinpoint and understand your value as an employee, and what exactly it is you have to offer an employer. Work out clearly beforehand what your best attributes are and where you have seen the greatest success so far in your career.  Dont let yourself be caught off guard by questions about your strengths; and have to scramble for ways to sell yourself. Instead, do your preparation, understand youre going to have to say  all those things you wrote in your CV, and then  just  focus on the execution. 2. Be professional and business-like Forget getting embarrassed or making slightly self-deprecating comments when you have to sell yourself. Instead, view it  the same way you would selling a car. When selling anything, you have to clearly outline the benefits of the product. An interview is no different this time the product just happens to be you. So, youre best to take all  the emotion out of it. When youre talking, you can minimise  your use of  adjectives such as incredible, great, captivating, amazing, respected and high-achieving. These are all opinions  and can prompt  a if you dont say so yourself type of response.  Instead, go for cold hard facts! 3. Use examples results Have statistics at hand to back your achievement claims up. If you have increased revenue by 10% in 6 months, say it. Statistics  and statements based on clear evidence are easier to deliver. If your profession isnt really numbers-driven, try describing a scenario where you were able to change or improve something. For managers, detailing improvements to your own staff will highlight your capability as a leader, without you saying, Im a great leader! 4.  Let others do the talking It would be nice to bring your manager in with you, to sing your praise for you, but thats not realistic  for a number of reasons. The next best thing here is to paraphrase feedback and praise you have received from others, during appraisals or reviews. Talking about common themes that come up when people are analysing your work and approach takes the pressure off, because you are not saying YOU think you are amazing, rather relaying what others have told you. Starting sentences with Ive been told or It regularly comes up that helps you deliver the same message, in a less  gloating way. We cant just leave it there though; you have to  make sure you actually get to the interview stage. To do this, you should check you have a  convincing and professional online presence. Why? Because you WILL be searched by potential employers. According to the LinkedIn survey, a whopping  76% or participants believe  its hard to overcome a first impression, and 65% believe the one you make online is just as important as the one you make in person. So before you enter into your jobhunt, be sure to give your online presence a good going over too, and show your best bits! Image: Shutterstock

Impactful a Modern Resume Template

Impactful â€" a Modern Resume Template Impactful â€" a Modern Resume Template Who wants a boring linear resume with a white background? Your resume shouldn’t look as if you’ve printed it using WordStar in a high school computer lab. So here’s an alternative for you â€" our Impactful resume template. It maximizes the use of color, layout, and design to create a resume that’s perfect for executives, managers, and creatives. This template turns traditional resume design on its ear to create something truly impactful.So, how does it look? The left area has a rich dark background color and plenty of space for your contact information, education and work experience. On the right, a white column with space for your photo, your profile or personal statement, expertise and skills. To make certain elements stand out, our designers employed pops of royal blue.To use this modern resume template, simply edit it in MS Word. Feel free to add your own picture, modify the text, even replace the colors with something from your own signature palette. File size: 177 KB Format: .docx Downloaded 9,301 times License: Free, personal use only. Please read the license terms for resources. Download previous article Resume Outline: Your Secret Weapon To Write Resumes 2X Faster next article Mechanical Engineer Resume Example and Quick Resume Writing Tips you might also likeCadmium Yellow: Simple, Yet Elegant Resume Template

How Can Sleep Affect Your Career

How Can Sleep Affect Your Career A lot of us live extremely busy lives and for this reason our jam packed schedules often mean that we dont get as many hours sleep as we could really do with. But did you know that by staying up late and sacrificing our precious Zs, you could be hindering your work performance? So its important that you get enough shut eye before a busy day at work! Heres how sleep deprivation can affect you at work and what you can do to avoid it, courtesy of Sleepy People. How much sleep do you really need? An adult needs between 7-9 hours of sleep each night, those who get less than 6 hours of sleep are generally less productive at work. By going without sleep for just one night  it  can cause differences in your brain, similar to those caused by a knock to the head! And by sleeping for less than 5 hours, several nights in a row, you will exhibit similar levels of impairment to somebody who is over the drink drive limit. So going to work tired is much like turning up drunk when your productivity is concerned! How can a lack of sleep affect your work performance? Sleep deprivation can also have a negative affect on your level of creativity and innovation. Not getting enough sleep  can also contribute to increased stress levels, which can hinder your work performance and motivation. What are the signs of sleep deprivation? Feeling irritable and moody. Forgetting things that you need to do and taking a long time to complete tasks. Falling into micro-sleeps, where you experience and lapse in attention. In extreme cases it can even cause hallucinations and anxiety. How can you avoid sleep deprivation? It may not be possible to do this at work, however taking a short nap when you feel productivity levels drop could help to give you the boost you need. This is probably more achievable if you work from home, or your office has some of those snazzy nap pods introduced by Google! Ensure that you get a good nights sleep by getting into a routine and sticking to it. Research has found that checking your phone, laptop, etc. right before bed can hinder your sleep, as the bright light of the screen delays the release of melatonin to your brain, making it harder for you to fall asleep. Avoid caffeine before bed and get regular exercise. Make sure that you sleep with the right kind of bedding that you sleep comfortably on. [Image Credit: Shutterstock]

YouThinkInc Versus GroupThinkInc - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

YouThinkInc Versus GroupThinkInc - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career In Sunday’s New York Times magazine, there’s an inventors’ support company featured, Quirky.com. It’s purpose is to take your crazy idea and put it out in the Quirky community for a group grope on what your concept would be if it were better than what you could think of on your own. I love this resource because of all the values that define my personal brand, “invention” dominates it. My partners, clients, associates, fellow instructors, suppliers, employees, family and the panoply of people who surround me in my working life (which is 90% of my life) both benefit and suffer from my having this trait. Why me? Invention is the trait that drives me to read Annals of Thoracic Surgery and Volleyball magazine, although I neither break open chests in an operating room, nor do I drive the 3 miles it would take to get me to the beach and dive for balls in a bikini. I read a lot of things (publications, the backs of cereal boxes, anything except instructions to technology that I also am driven to purchase) that have no reason to be interesting to me other than the fact that my brain noisily demands to be fed, like the way your stomach spasms and makes noises when you’re hungry. I can’t escape this drive to be relentlessly educated. It’s why I can’t wake up without lots of newspapers, real and online. It makes my Sunday ritual of having lunch out just an excuse to wend my way to a bookstore and come home with six books that I could probably get from a fellow publisher if I could wait (I run Pegasus Media World). My brain won’t let me wait. The blessing is I’m very lucky to have been born after Guttenberg made the press (not Police Academy 3), Vint Cerf invented the Internet (not Horton Hears a Who), and Steve Jobs (as opposed to Steve Just Thinks) put it all first on our desks and now in our palms. The curse is I can’t watch the news on television because it’s not news by the time I see it. If I’m not growing I feel like I’m dying. That’s why being a lifelong learner isn’t something that’s nice for me, it’s essential â€" like air, water and food. Why you? What is YOUR driving trait? I’ve revealed mine in its most manic light, because I want you to see that the basis of your brand isn’t a choice, it’s your calling. What is keeping you awake at night? What gets you to turn down an invitation to chill with friends and instead go into your real or virtual workshop and tinker? What are you going to write your book about? What are you doing, reading, listening in on, participating in, making, laughing about, crying about, hiding or broadcasting or however it is you are manifesting the symptoms of your brand? Potentially most important, what makes YouThinkInc a worthy contributor to GroupThinkInc? That is, no brand succeeds if it’s not embraced by at least one large enough, lucrative target that will need not only what you say or sell, but will purchase virtually endless iterations of it. Maybe you have the next Panini maker in you or a better way to wash dogs. Maybe you have a way to turn kidney beans into a caffeine-free morning beverage with the flavor to rival coffee and tea. What’s underneath what you most like to do? And, what is it going to take to move who you are and what you have into the embrace of the community or individuals who will make you whole, and wildly successful? Why them? I don’t have the mechanical skills or geometry in my brain to get physical with my thoughts. That’s where GroupThinkInc equals in importance to my personal contribution. Like Quirky.com, the lifeblood of my brand is my ability to communicate my thoughts to enough people who can interact with them and make them better and easy to use. Thus, while invention dominates me, I’m clearly the walking nexus of four values: education, invention, communication and relationships. Think about you. What quality of life or value dominates you? What is the foundation from which it grows? What other values must you wrap around yourself, in order to put you in the minds and hearts of people who matter to you and your career? Try these on Here’s a quick list of seven values for navel-gazing. Ask yourself: do these values drive me? If not, what does? Transformation Ambition Peace Legacy Family Fame Compassion Now, what else do you need from yourself and the world, in order to manifest your dominant life source into marketable commerce? Author: Nance Rosen is the author of Speak Up! Succeed. She speaks to business audiences around the world and is a resource for press, including print, broadcast and online journalists and bloggers covering social media and careers. Read more at NanceRosenBlog. Twitter name: nancerosen.

How Sitting at a Computer Impacts Your Health (and What You Can Do About It) - CareerMetis.com

How Sitting at a Computer Impacts Your Health (and What You Can Do About It) We’ve all heard of the caveman diets and know that we are supposed to be spending our days running around from sabre-toothed tigers like our cave-dwelling ancestors in order to have our fittest ketogenic-styled beach-body… Or something like that.?But, when you fast forward to today, where the vast majority of us spend nine to ten hours a day sitting down; how on earth are we supposed to get even a fraction of the workout that we’re after?evalFirst,sitting was the new smoking, and thensitting definitely wasn’t the new smoking.Now, we’re all very confused and I’m probably going to start shopping for a newergonomic laptop holderbecause the least you can do is take care of your spine and posture is still important â€" right??No matter where you stand We humans were not made for sedentary lifestyles. And yet, for many of the developed nations, obesity is becoming quite the problem. On average, we spend a heck of a lot of time sitting down and not a lot of time working out.?Whi le we cannot escape the fact that for a lot of us, work equals sitting at a computer, we should do whatever we can to offset the potential health risks.Sitting for a long period of time usually results in some pretty gnarly posture problems, and it’s common for a lot of people tosit with their shoulders hunchedand their backs in some kind of weird question-mark shape. Some people get strained shoulders, sore backs and chronic neck issues.?Sitting down puts a lot more pressure on your back than standing up and it’s important to combat potential issues with posture, alignment and your overall health before they become a bigger problem down the track.What you can do to help yourself and your healthevalYou need to make sure that you are taking the time to care for your back every day. After all, your back is the large area that suffers and bears the majority of yourpain with poor postureproblems.1. Light StretchingTake five minutes every two hours and make sure that you are taking t he time to perform some light stretches at your desk. Simply stand in your place, and stretch each arm, shoulder, wrist and your neck. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds for each side, and then make sure you take a walk around.2. Drink plenty of waterHydration is key to a healthy workplace environment for yourself. And when you think about all the extra trips to the water cooler to keep your bottle topped up it’s a no brainer â€" the extra exercise is great for your posture.3. Stay active outside workWhile it’s great to drink water and stretch at your desk the real benefits come from you staying active outside work. You need to be moving for at least 45 minutes to an hour each day and getting your heart rate up and active.evalYou’ll soon feel the benefits andenjoy the endorphins and other chemicalsfrom working out that follow you around.We hope that you find it easier to stay fit and active at work â€" and that you manage to avoid potential sitting-related problems. Follow these tips and we’re sure you will be fit and healthy in your seat and at work.

5 Tips for Moving Up the Corporate Ladder - CareerAlley

5 Tips for Moving Up the Corporate Ladder - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Most of us would like to climb the corporate ladder. Often it can seem impossible to move up just one rung, but when you understand how to play by the rules you can find yourself at the top faster than you imagined. It takes some determination, but in the end you will be glad that you paid attention to the finer details. Dress to Impress The dress code in todays workforce is dramatically more casual than it was even ten years ago. That being said, even if your company allows casual dress, people will still judge you by your appearance. Whether people say they do or do not, generally this is true. It is hardwired into humans to be pulled toward the more attractive members of the species. This can be influenced by how you are groomed and the clothing you wear. Hair should be kept neat and in a professional style, facial piercings taken out if possible, and clothing immaculate. Clothing makes the woman or man. It does not take long to iron work clothing and even wrinkle free clothing can benefit from being pressed. When you look good and wear proper attire it lets your superiors know that you are serious in how you present yourself and that you take your career seriously. Finish What You Start It can be tempting to put off work until the last minute. Life has a way of creeping up on us and even the hardest working individuals will have personal obligations that happen at the worst times. While these personal problems may affect your job, how you manage them is up to you. Even if you are late with a project, finish it and turn it in to your boss. A late project may end up rejected, but working until you finish something, no matter what, will show you take your job seriously. Leaving any job unfinished due to frustration or passing it off to another employee shows that you are unreliable. To get that promotion you must always complete your work, preferably on time. If you cant finish on time, stay late, get in early or consider spending a few hours on the weekend to catchup. Take Initiative We all get paid to complete our responsibilities, but in order to get ahead you need to take that extra step. If you work in a team, take initiative with projects. If you work independently, look additional tasks or projects that you can take on. Learn to offer your advice or put forward your ideas. You know how to get the job done, do so and impress not only your boss, but your co-workers. People like leaders, especially those that take the time to teach them something new. You may have a new approach on an old project or technique. Show your boss and your co-workers how to change the methods used to the new one youve thought of. Your initiative will show that youre worthy of promotion. Praise Your Co-Workers While it can seem really insincere to praise co-workers or superiors to their face, doing so to others will seem more sincere. You want the people you are praising to hear about your words, but not in an overt manner. Make sure you say positive things about the people you work with to others who will probably mention it to them. Use discretion and speak wisely. Play By the Rules Lastly, always stick to the rules of your employer. This means to behave according to the rules of conduct. We all know of people that like to be office clowns or smart alecks that make work either fun or unbearable. Avoid being that type of co-worker. Behave in a professional, yet friendly manner. Be the person that co-workers enjoy seeing. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+

Should I Pay For Resume Writing?

Should I Pay For Resume Writing?When you are searching for jobs online, the question you may ask yourself is; 'If I will pay for resume writing, can I get a good one?' Well, there are three key ways to get a high quality resume that will produce instant results.The first thing to do is find a company that offers top quality resume writing services. They will tell you exactly what they expect and what you should be doing.They will also ask you for your CV, current and previous employment, mailing address, email address, and other contact information. You will need to give them all of this information and they will go from there.This is one of the reasons why they want to know your likely name, address, and phone number. In my experience, these people are all very honest. If they don't have a name, it is probably because they are not sure about your capabilities or personality.Resume writing experts will want to hear the skills and knowledge that you possess in addition to what you wil l need to get a job with them. Some people assume that since they are paying to have their resume written, they get to write it themselves.The fact is that the business owners want to know that their resume is something that you can put together quickly. There is always the chance that they are hiring someone else to do the work, so this is why they want to know who else is there on their team and what their expectations are.It is important that you make a decision early on in regards to how much you will pay for resume writing. The best way to protect yourself is to use a service that has a money back guarantee in place.