7 Tips for Establishing Your Personal Brand on Facebook - CareerEnlightenment.com

7 Tips for Establishing Your Personal Brand on Facebook While LinkedIn is widely viewed as the most important social network for professional development, Facebook is an extremely powerful platform for career advancement, too. Not only does it have over 2 billion monthly active users, many of whom are prospective employers, colleagues, and clients, but it’s also now equipped with highly effective search functions that hiring managers make use of daily to source and screen candidates.The bottom line? If you’re not carefully managing how you represent yourself on Facebook, you’re doing yourself, and your career, a great disservice. We should all be leveraging this channel to position ourselves as leaders in our industries and to draw attention to our skills, connections, and experience.To help you get this right, we’ve put together 7 tips for promoting your personal brand on Facebook below.1.  Define your brand You can’t establish your personal brand without first having a clear understanding of what it looks like and stands for. So, take the time to consider how you’d like others â€" potential employers included â€" to perceive you on Facebook. Ask yourself, “What do I want my audience to know about me?”, “What kind of story am I trying to tell?” Once you’ve figured out how you’d like to present yourself, make sure everything you do on Facebook reflects this image â€" consistency is key, so you might want to implement your branding strategy on your other social networks, too.2. Cover the basics There are a number of simple actions you can take immediately to strengthen your personal brand on Facebook. Start with the following:Edit your username and vanity URL to include your full name as it might appear on your resume, for example. This will make your profile more accessible and easier to find. Upload an appropriate, high-quality profile picture â€" it doesn’t have to be too “corporate” but it does need to align with your brand story. Make sure your face is clearly visible in the photo. Complete your profile with enough information to give viewers a good idea of who you are (professionally, at least). Focus on the Work and Education section and include details about your current and past positions, qualifications, and professional skills. Remember to optimize your profile for search by using important keywords. If you have a professional website, blog, or portfolio, you can include links to these in the Contact and Basic Info section, along with your phone number and email address. Under Timeline and Tagging Settings, opt to review posts you’re tagged in before they appear on your timeline. This way, you can control what goes on your wall and keep embarrassing photos off it. Adjust your privacy settings to control who can view your profile and posts and limit who’s able to find and contact you. To successfully grow your Facebook brand, you ideally want to be easily discoverable, so a watertight account might not serve you well. That said, you also don’t want just anyone to have access to your private information, so aim to find the right balance. 3. Network, network, networkThe wider your audience, the higher the chance you’ll make connections that could lead you on to the next big thing. So, invest time in growing and nurturing your network â€" search for former colleagues and study peers using Facebook’s filtering functions; import contacts from your phone or email account; join groups (more on this below), and regularly engage and interact with your community. All this said it’s also important to associate yourself with the right kind of people, so do an audit of your audience and keep only those connections whose interests, goals, and values align with your own. Want to Read More Articles Like This One?Sign up here to receive weekly updates from Career Enlightenment, and never miss another powerful job searching tip! SUBSCRIBE! You have Successfully Subscribed!We hate spam too. Unsubscribe any time. 4.  Get active One of the fastest ways to strengthen your personal brand on Facebook is to regularly post content that ties in with the image you want to portray. You could, for example, include updates on your work successes, share videos that explore topics central to your industry, link to your latest blog post, express your professional opinion on matters, or share articles that you find interesting. If you’re having difficulty finding links worth sharing, you could always use online content aggregators to help you source relevant articles instantly.5. Consider creating a Facebook page This way, you can keep your personal profile private and use your page to promote your career brand. It’ll help boost your visibility and credibility, and you’ll have access to options like targeted Facebook “Page Like” ads and promoted posts, which can greatly improve your reach and expand your network. With a Facebook page, you can also display testimonials written by individuals you’ve worked with previo usly in the Visitor Posts section.6.  Join or start a groupWhat better way to showcase your expertise in a particular field than to start a Facebook group focused on a topic or cause relevant to your industry? Make sure the group you create adds value for others in your professional community, and you’ll quickly establish yourself as an authority in your line of work. You can, and should, also join existing groups that relate to your profession and position yourself as a valuable contributor here, too.7.  Join or start an eventSimilarly, a great way to promote your personal brand on Facebook is to organize an event that brings together like-minded individuals in your profession. If you’re a freelance graphic designer, for example, you could arrange a gathering of independent creative specialists to discuss shared challenges and potential solutions. Be sure to also look out for and join events in your area where you might have the opportunity to meet other professionals who can s upport your career in one way or another.

Should you worry about your Klout score -

Should you worry about your Klout score - If you are not familiar with Klout, it is a measure of your online influence. As you may imagine, any tool attempting to assign a score indicating influence is going to meet resistance. This is what Klout says about itself: Klout began with a very simple idea: Everyone has influenceâ€"the ability to drive action. Klout built on this idea to show anyone how he or she can influence the world and its future. Klout was founded in 2008 to empower everyone to unlock their influence. We come to work every day inspired to help people understand the power of their voices and democratize influence. The average Klout Score is 40. Klout explains, Your Score is determined over a large period of time, and is not necessarily representative of your number of followers and friends. In addition, Klout notes that the score, which is from 0 to 100 (most influential) reflects influence, not not activity. In other words, it doesnt measure how busy you are on social media (how many posts you have, or how many updates). What matters is how many people pay attention to you and what you say. Some people have written about how easy it is to game the Klout system. The best way to raise your score is to share good information that interests people and inspires them to share it. The question of how Klout scores should influence hiring is interesting, and Geoff Campbell interviewed me about the topic for Syracuse Universitys School of Information Studies. As you can read in his well-balanced article, I explained that I thought it was fair to consider Klout scores as one factor of many, especially when hiring for a job requiring influence in social media. What do you think? image from Klout

Where Can I Find Cheap Resume Writing Services?

Where Can I Find Cheap Resume Writing Services?There are a lot of places that you can use to write your resume and Toronto is a great place to find one. A lot of great places that you can use for cheap resume writing services include; the Toronto-area job fairs, The Red Door job fair, the Employers Club, online resumes companies and more.If you are a person who wants to make a career change to a different field but you are a little bit on the tight budget then there are many jobs in the Toronto area that you can get. There are a lot of careers available to you and some of them will pay well and some won't pay you very much at all. When looking for a career you will need to do your research and choose what you think is best for you.If you are looking for a career with a higher paying company then you will want to take advantage of the affordable career opportunities in Toronto. When looking for a job, you will want to make sure that you have all of the credentials and skills necessary to get the job that you want. Most employers look for people that know how to work and understand what they are doing in the job. Many times if you are looking for a job and have all of the right credentials, you will be hired easily by employers and this is why it is important to have everything ready to go before you start looking for a job.The best place to find affordable resume writing services in Toronto is through the online job search tools. There are many places that you can submit your resume to and these include things like sites like the employers club, the Toronto-area job fairs, employment portals and many more. The thing to remember is that it does not matter where you get your resume posted from, what matters is that you have all of the required documents ready to go and this includes your resume, cover letter, your contact information and of course your references.If you are looking for cheap resume writing services in Toronto there are other places that you can se arch such as in the internet and other job boards. These places can give you the resources that you need to create a unique resume that is well thought out and will bring in the job you want.Another great place that you can get your resume written for cheap resume writing services in Toronto is at your local library. You will be able to look up great resources for free and this is where you will learn about various types of career opportunities in the Toronto area.Make sure that you don't spend a lot of money for your resume writing services but instead find a place that offers you great deals and you will be surprised at how much they will save you money. All of the companies that offer resume writing services are here to help you in every way possible so that you can make a great move and start a new career with your dream job.

How to Know If Your Boss Covers Your Medical Leave

How to Know If Your Boss Covers Your Medical Leave Vacation warriors return from trips with lasting memories and great photos, and often some unwanted trophies â€" sprained ankles, tennis elbows, exotic intestinal bugs. Even everyday life can go haywire if you end up needing an emergency appendectomy or wrench your back taking out the garbage. When a few days of sick time does not cut it, you need to start filing paperwork. Your employer might offer short-term disability that covers a percentage of your pay, but allow you to take half a vacation day to cover the remaining portion, or maybe a quarter day. No doubt, it can be 100% confusing. Close Modal DialogThis is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. “And we haven’t even talked about the Family and Medical Leave Act or other leave that you may qualify for,” said Rich Fuerstenberg, a senior partner at Mercer, one of the leading benefit administrators. Most employees get information about their workplace plans during their first days on the job, and then promptly forget the details, said Tori Weeks, director of workforce solutions at Unum Group, a benefit provider. They start to play catch-up by calling their manager or human resources only after they are sidelined by an illness or are about to deliver a baby. Typically, large companies offer short-term disability policies that kick in after an elimination period of seven or eight days. After that, the worker files a claim and needs to provide medical documentation. The benefits typically last up to six months, with the average duration being 57 days, according to Unum. If a person is disabled after the policy ends, they transition to long-term disability, which happens in about 8% of cases. Not all employers pay the full cost of the insurance premium â€" just 72% of large employers do, according to Mercer. Most do not offer full salary replacement â€" the average is 60% of pay. Unpleasant surprises The real surprise comes to those who think they have disability coverage through work but in fact do not. Only about 39% of U.S. workers have short-term disability coverage, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while 33% have long-term disability coverage. Calculator: How much disability income insurance do I need? If your employer does not provide it, you can buy a private policy, but this is something most people do not think about until it is too late, said Kevin Haney, an insurance and benefits broker in East Brunswick, New Jersey. The time to get insured is before you are sick or pregnant. “The level of financial illiteracy is strikingly bad,” he said, referring to his typical caller. Rates will vary based on state regulations and one’s personal details, but a typical policy can run around $125 a month. Even workers who have coverage and think they are well-schooled in the rules can find a few surprises. For Cindy Rodriguez, a 30-year-old human resources administrator from Ithaca, New York, the one thing she wishes she had thought of was freezing her parking pass, since she could not drive during her recovery from a knee injury. But she was pleasantly surprised to find out that her work offered door-to-door transportation to get to meetings as she hobbled around on crutches. Focusing on the little details like transportation can help speed people back to work, which is a top priority for companies, says Unum’s Weeks. Many employers are now aggressively focusing on the return-to-work aspect. But the No. 1 thing employers can do to speed along recovery costs just $1. “Send a simple card,” said Weeks. “It doesn’t have to be big. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. Just letting them know you care is enough.” There is actually scientific data to back this up, said Mercer’s Fuerstenberg. He recalls a study that showed the factor that mattered most for getting people back to work was how many friends they had. “We can talk about plan design all you want, but the single best indicator for successfully managing short-term disability is: how happy are your employees?” he said.

Let Brad Pitt Inspire You To Work At Home Today - Work It Daily

Let Brad Pitt Inspire You To Work At Home Today - Work It Daily What exactly is a Plan B? The term represents an alternate road to travel, if the path you are taking is leading nowhere â€" a backup plan. It’s always good to have a Plan B if you find that your work choices are just not working out. You should always have a Plan B, and as long as you do, you’ll always be at the ready. If working at home is your dream, starting to implement your Plan B now, will pay big dividends, and you'll be ready to work at home today. Work At Home Today Brad Pitt believed so much in the Plan B philosophy that he and Jennifer Aniston created Plan B Entertainment. Although he is now the sole owner, the indie-film production company still represents Brad’s Plan B. Are you sitting in a meeting day-dreaming about starting an online business from home? Do you yawn when your boss gives you a new work assignment? Do you feel like you are inmate #44679 with the Department of Corrections, and all you need now is a number and a mug shot? Then build your dream online business, so you can work at home today as your Plan B. “Prepare” To Be Extraordinary Starting your work at home business plans while you are still employed is incredibly exciting. All of a sudden your perspective changes, you can view your totally-no-fun-boring-job as a strategic means to a monumental end. You’ll find yourself grinning like a Cheshire cat, because you’ll know that you are not long for the office rat race. How should you prepare? If you are not totally sure what you want to be when you grow up, no problem. First, take a little walk to the Amazon.com bookstore. If you own a Kindle (and you really should come into the 20th century and get one, or download their free Kindle app for your PC or other device), you can go for a stroll down the virtual isles of Amazon’s Business and Investing section, and take a look at all of the free, and incredibly informative books that are available. You will find amazing books about starting a new business, developing an online writing career, blogging, selling crafts on eBay, becoming a virtual assistant, consulting, teaching, and more. The list of free digital business books available to help you brainstorm about starting your online business, although ever changing, is simply breathtaking. Work At Home Possibilities So, what are your options? You can offer your services, you can sell products, or you can provide information. In the services arena, there are so many options for you to choose, but the best option is the service that you, both love the most, and are most proficient at. You should dig deep. If I were to ask your friends, “what service do you see your BFF providing?” Their response would be the answer to the service you should choose. Are you a computer geek who knows every bit and bite? Then you should focus on your passion and your ability, and offer subcontracting services to smaller companies, that need your technical expertise, as a consultant. The pay is phenomenal, and you can work at home. Are you a great typist, know how to take calls, update websites, do quality research, extremely organized, a jack of all business office trades? If these services are what you love doing, then a virtual assistant would be a great service to provide. The virtual assistant industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. You can work at home, and the sky is the limit. More Options What about products? Do you make the best carrot cakes around? Is baking your passion? Remember the lady on ABC’s Shark Tank, the owner of Daisy Cakes? Well, I wanted to buy one of her luscious creations and have it shipped to my home. Kim Nelson gets $48 for one carrot cake, and she has sold well over 100,000 since then! Now, that’s the business I want to go into! The most inexpensive business you can go into is the information business. You can create information products, like ebooks, articles, or apps, or you can simply create an information website on your favorite subject, like baseball, gardening, or New York hot spots, and offer Google Adsense on your site. Others can contribute to the building of your site, by allowing guest bloggers to post articles. The more pages and traffic you have, the more money you will make. Google will place relevant ads on your site. This is how Chris Knight, owner of EzineArticles.com, makes money. Hundreds of writers contribute to his site, he posts Google Adsense ads on their articles, and reaps the financial rewards, while the writers grow his site daily. Learn more about starting your dream business. Check out: Killer Work from Home Jobs: SBI! Site Build It! Website and Business Builder FREE through April 5th, 2013. Related Posts 14 Tips For Working From Home Yes! You Really Can Find Work From Home Jobs! Work From Home: 3 Ways To Make Money In Your Pajamas Photo Credit: Shutterstock   Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!

How to Get a Business Loan

How to Get a geschftlicher umgang Loan If you are a small geschftsleben owner, you might need or want a geschftlicher umgang loan for multiple reasons. For example, you might be expanding rapidly and want to ramp up production due to the unexpected popularity of your companys productthats a fabulous problem to have. But if increased production takes mora cas flow than you have on hand, you might be stymied in expanding unless you obtain a geschftliches miteinander loan.The same is true if you want to expand into fresh territory. If your product is selling well where you are, it makes sense that it would sell well in a similar area. Or, maybe you found out you need specialized equipment, which could cut costs down the road, but financing it is a stretch without a geschftlicher umgang loan.Finally, many small businesses have steady revenue, but money flow might fluctuate month-to-month in a way that makes sustaining the company over the long term challenging. If the income is healthy o verall, lenders will give you short-term loans to tide you over dry spells. This can be especially helpful for a seasonal business.How Difficult Is It to Get a Loan?Savvy business owners should also be aware there are many reasons lenders may view them negatively. In general, your business needs to be viable and operating in the black for you to receive a business loan. In other words, youll have a hard time trying to obtain a business loan to pay the rent on your place of business, pay employee salaries, or purchase essential business equipment. For most lenders, this reads like you do not have a company, but want the funds to start one.If you have an idea for a business or a business plan but no actual income, you are in the start-up stage. For all the ink expended on the concept of start-up businesses, your ability to get a loan might be restricted to a personal loan, a personal leistungspunkt card, or advances from friends and family.But, lets say you do have an operating busine ss. You pay the rent and salaries and have a basic business set-up. Many lenders will still want to see at least a year of financial records showing youre operating profitably before they give you a loan.If you have that, lets look at your business loan options, what you should consider before choosing a schrift of loan, and what you need to apply.Loan OptionsAs a reputable business, you have many options for the font of loan you can apply for. Here are four of the most common choices.1. Line of leistungspunkt for Small geschftlicher umgangesFor this type of loan, you receive a line of credit to be used for cash flow. This can be especially helpful to businesses where long-term revenue is robust but fluctuates. You will be given an amount available to your business from a financial institution, and interest begins only when you access the funds.2. Small Business Term Loansunterstellung are the everyday vanilla loans of the business world. They can be used for expansion, purchasing c apital equipment or for smoothing out cash flow fluctuations. Generally, the term is from six months to three years. Installment payments are due monthly.3. Small Business Administration LoansThe United States Small Business Administration (SBA) offers loans at lower interest rates than many bank and non-bank lenders. Repayment terms are more lenient, as well, as the credits are intended to foster small businesses and their contribution to the economy. The loan amounts can be as high as $5 million. Lenders work with the SBA, so you will need to find a lender advertising they handle these types of loans.4. Small Business Credit CardsThese operate similar to personal credit cards and usually require the owner of the company to be responsible for the debt in addition to the company itself. Small business credit cards can be beneficial for businesses that need help financing capital equipment or other stock.Considerations in Applying for a LoanBefore you apply for a loan, consider the f ollowing six factors.1. Your Ability to RepayThere is no substitute for assessing your ability to repay a loan. If you cant repay it, you will face multiple negative consequences. Your lender will commence loan recapture strategies, which range from calling you for the money to putting a lien on your accounts. Your credit score and credit history will be negatively affected, often to the point where youll have bad credit for years. You may end up forced to declare bankruptcy, and youll almost certainly lose the business if you cant pay back your loans.So, your first consideration should be looking at your cash flow. Make sure you can operate the business, maintain a cash cushion and service your business loan debt.2. Your Credit ScoreSmall business lenders are very likely to look at the credit history and scores of the owners and the principals to give them a sense of how well theyve handled credit in the past. If you have bad credit (lower than average), you may be turned down.Its smart to know your credit score. If it needs to be higher for a successful application, you can raise it by paying your bills more promptly and lessening your personal debt. Its also a good idea to do this before an average or poor score sinks your chances of a business loan.3. Annual Percentage RatesShop around to get the best annual percentage rate (APR) you can. The annual percentage rate is the effective interest rate you pay per year. The higher the rate, the more you pay in interest. Its essential to know the APR so you can compare loan terms. Lenders can advertise their business loan rates monthly, which may make the rate seem like less than it is. For example, 1.5 percent monthly rate equates to 18 percent annually, which is steep.Credit cards are required to put the APR in writing. Other lenders will provide it on request if you dont see it at first.4. Types of RatesAs well as having a numerical value, interest rates can be variable or fixed. A variable rate can rise or fal l over the term of the loan, depending on the direction of interest rates. A fixed rate is always the same over the life of the loan.Be sure you know which type of interest rate youre getting. Variable rates can be advantageous if interest rates fall because the amount of interest you pay can decrease. But they also have a downside, which is that rising rates will cause you to spend more per month.5. Terms of the LoanIf your business does well, you may want to pay off the loan more quickly than you have to in order to free up cash flow. Be sure to check that more rapid payment, often called pre-payment, is allowed. Some lenders will charge a penalty.Many lenders assess additional fees and other charges. Be sure to compare these to ensure youre getting the best rate possible.6. Types of LendersMultiple lenders make business loans. Bank loans are one type. Major banks, such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo, make them, as do small regional banks. Credit unions do a brisk business in business loans. Both smaller regional financial institutions may offer more advantageous terms to local businesses than major banks. Both of these types of lenders are often community-minded and want to contribute to a robust local economy.Recently, online, nontraditional, non-bank lenders have begun making business loans. Online lenders are not necessarily affiliated with any bricks-and-mortar institution, unlike banks or credit unions. Because they do not have bricks-and-mortar locations, they can often provide very advantageous terms for interest rates.The Application What Youll NeedBusiness loans applications will be scrutinized carefully. You will need, at a minimum, the following Statements of cash flow Income statements showing profit and loss Balance sheets Accounts payable and accounts receivableThese financial statements should be for the past three years at a minimum. If you havent been in business for three years, check with lenders to see what their minimum years in ope ration is.Depending on the lender and the size of your business, you may also need all these statements year to date, current for the year in which you apply. Other requests could include showing Shareholders equity, if any Proof of insurance Evidence of your corporate legal structure Any relevant inspections for your business and your premises Your tax returns Personal financial statements from the owner or principalsBusiness loans are essential for many projects and come in many forms. To succeed in obtaining a loan amount of any size, its crucial to choose the correct type of credit for your purpose, review the considerations in applying for them and put together a careful, well-organized application.

Getting the Best When Writing a Resume Should All Positions in a Company Be Listed

Getting the Best When Writing a Resume Should All Positions in a Company Be Listed when Writing a Resume Should All Positions in a Company Be Listed At your geschftliches miteinander, youve held many unique positions. It can be worth it to submit an application to a company which isnt in the middle of hiring. Attempt to know the market of the organization you are asking for work, and identify what sort of difficulties they could be going through. A history of employment indicates to a possible employer which you are, in reality, employable. Vital Pieces of when Writing a Resume Should All Positions in a Company Be Listed Be cautious with resume design, even when you submit an application for a creative job position. Everyone can say which he or she excelled at their final job. As always, you will start to your present job first. The job of an item manager is just one of such positions accompanied by a great absprache of challenges. If youre sending a resume to a company , it ought to be a given that youre offered for an interview and you will provide references if requested. Create a new expert email address when you have a novelty email address When the applicant has a profile, he or she has the capability to apply to any work listing on USAJOBS for which theyre qualified. Know the purpose of your resume Some folks write a resume like the function of the document was supposed to land work. Top When Writing a Resume Should All Positions in a Company Be Listed Choices In most instances, a standard hiring manager is faced with numerous stacks of applications, and he or she has only a little quantity of time to acquire through them. Just as with any other career, theres a demand for providing academic and expert history or appropriate training. Do not neglect to incorporate the occupational series numbers in addition to the start and ending grades of the national positions you held. Most technical positions will require some form of degree, whi ch means you should include your education on the resume. when Writing a Resume Should All Positions in a Company Be Listed the Ultimate Convenience The majority of the times your prior work experience will be the absolute most significant part the resume, so put it at the top. Theres no correct or wrong approach to compose your resume for business intelligence all of it comes to the particular employer you aim to seek out common ground with. Even if youre sending your resume to a business in the exact same segment, the particular person who will read it for the very first time may not have any technical expertise. If you are able to explain the way that it will benefit his company, and to connect it to tangible benefits, then youll greatly boost your chances. The Basics of when Writing a Resume Should All Positions in a Company Be Listed Do not be scared to sell all your abilities and experiences as long as possible clearly explain the reason why they are related to the part icular position in question. If you find a job for which you want to apply, but you dont have any appropriate experience or skillsets whatsoever, do not make up experiences or skills if you dont have practical experience utilizing them. If you encounter work that speaks to you and you believe that you have the experience and techniques necessary to be profitable, then yes, you should absolutely send your resume in. When youre asking for work in the tech business, it is necessary that your resume to accurately reflects your abilities and experience in the area.