The 7th Annual JobMob Guest Blogging Contest

The 7th Annual JobMob Guest Blogging Contest 396 What you've come to expect: more prizes and the best prize packages of any blogging contest anywhere. The 7JGBC starts NOW. In this official announcement, you'll find: Main contest prizes How to WIN the contest How to enter the contest Contest calendar Take your time to carefully read this announcement. There's a lot of information and many prizes, you don't want to miss a thing. Just entering the contest will net you almost $200 in prizes! (Want to sponsor and get a ton of exposure? It's never too late: details here.) If you just want in and have already read the guest post guidelines, send your entry in an html or Word doc file to guestpost [at] shareselectmedia.com. Last update: September 17th, 2013 Main contest prizes Thank you to our Titanium Sponsor: MyBlogGuest MyBlogGuest.com is the community of guest bloggers who believe in the concept of high-quality and selective guest blogging. MyBlogGuest is the unique platform that manages to keep up with latest blogging trends. MyBlogGuest newest innovative features include Google Authorship for bloggers, Elite guest articles and Guest Article Requests. The grand prize winner will win: Over $3500 in prizes. Everything you need to take your blogging to a whole new level. US$300. Sponsored by MyBlogGuest 1 year of high-end VPS hosting from WebHostingBuzz, a US$900 value 9 hours of consulting time from Wallaroo Media, a US$900 value Logo design contest from DesignCrowd, a US$350 value 1 year of JibberJobber Premium, a US$99 value 1 year subscription to Grammarly, a US$140 value 1 3-month business account* of CDN services from MaxCDN, a US$227 value Access to Dan Schawbel's online course “Build Your Personal Brand in 4 Easy Steps”, a US$40 value 1 hardcover copy of Promote Yourself, the new book by Dan Schawbel, shipped to you, a US$33 value 2 ebooks about traffic generation and blogging from Keisha Easley and WeBlogBetter, a US$21 value 1 hour of blogging/marketing/job search consulting (your choice). Sponsored by

Why Are They Asking These Interview Questions - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Why Are They Asking These Interview Questions - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career People sometimes feel they did not do their best at their job interview. This has several reasons. First, in general, most people do not prepare sufficiently for that oral test commonly known as the job interview. They simply don’t know how to. But because of their past successes at landing jobs, they feel that that validates the fact that they must be good. Second, some job candidates take the time to prepare, but they do not make extra efforts at practicing interviewingâ€"namely, by doing mock interviews with someone who can point out their weak spots and help them improve. And third, they don’t understand what’s really behind common interview questions. Let’s go through some here. The most common interview question is, “Tell me about yourself.” Well, it’s not exactly a question, but it is indeed an unfinished sentence because when you hear those words in an interview, what’s really behind them is the real question: “Tell me about yourself in a way that demonstrates to me your qualifications to help us meet our challenges by reciting at least one relevant success story.” Now that you know that, it will be much easier to craft a good answer. Another common interview question is, “What are your strengths?” Behind this one, the interviewer is looking to see whether you’re prepared for the interview and whether you can recite eloquently and succinctly what your strengths are. Again, the interviewer hopes your examples will be pertinent and relevant to the company’s needs. If your recited strengths are valid but not for current company needs, your answer is tantamount to serving someone a wonderful dessert after a huge meal. Yes, it’s good, but there is little appetite left. After the strengths question, it is very common to be asked, “What are your weaknesses?” Admittedly, this is a difficult question. What’s behind this one is an interviewer who’s curious first about your honesty and then about whether you reveal something that might be a serious impediment to your candidacy. Or perhaps you’re completely dumbfounded and unpreparedâ€"and that’s not a good sign. “Why are you interested working for us?” is another important and common question. Behind this question, the interviewer does not want to hear what you think is good for you about the position. Instead, you are being given an opportunity to prove to the interviewer what you can do for the company, not for yourself. And above all, you should answer this question with a heightened level of excitement. This is what the interviewer is expecting to see, and if your answer is not memorable, then the interpretation will be that you’re probably not very serious and not very interested. In an interview, exhibiting your excitement via body language and facial expressions is more important than the words you say. Another question that always comes up in an interview, provided they like you, is, “So, how much money are you looking for?” This question is commonly misunderstood because some job candidates think the interviewer is close to closing the deal and ready to negotiate. Absolutely not! Don’t be misled by that question. You as a candidate have no negotiation power at this stage. You were not offered anything yet. The real thought behind the question is, “I like what I see so far, but I wonder whether I can afford you.” That’s why a good answer here will consist of a reasonably wide range, the lowest end of which has to be the lowest compensation you’re willing to accept. So, not until you have in your hand that letter whose first word is Congratulations are you ready to start negotiating. But the subject of salary negotiation has to be left for another article in the future.

Do you overemphasize happiness

Do you overemphasize happiness I think Im over the happiness thing. I think I am thinking that the pursuit of happiness is, well, vacuous. I dont think people are happy or unhappy. Because I think knowing if we are happy would require knowing the meaning of life, or the ultimate goal, or the key to the world, or something that, which really, we are not going to find outside of blind religious fanaticism. The first thing I have to grapple with, besides having spent the last three years of my life completely enthralled and ensconced in the happiness research from positive psychologists, is if I dont want a happy life, what sort of life do I want? I think I want an interesting life. Not that I want to be interesting, but I want to be interested. Im talking about what I think is interesting to me. I want to choose things that are interesting to me over things that would make me happy. For example, this post. I am not sure if Im right on this, and Im sure theres going to be a lot of telling me Im an idiot in the comments. But its going to be interesting. I think choosing a life that is interesting to us and choosing a life that makes us feel happy are probably very different choices. For one thing, people who are happy do not look for a lot of choices, according to Barry Schwartz, in his book, The Paradox of Choice. People who want to have an interesting life are always looking for more choices and better choices, and they make decisions for their life based on maximizing choices. I think this because Ive lived in NYC, where people value having a wide range of choices and opportunities over having a life that makes them feel happy. When it comes to self-reporting happiness, New Yorkers report being less happy than everyone else, and they dont care. And Ive lived in Wisconsin, where, Im not kidding about this, almost everyone will tell you they are happy. But you can trust me on this, Wisconsin does not offer a lot of choices and opportunities. Now Im going to preemptively rip on everyone who thinks they are going to comment here about Wisconsin. Wisconsin does have things that are world-class: Football, beer, cheese, PETA-inflaming bioscience departments. And there is nothing wrong with being fine with what is here. I think it is a nice life, and thats why I moved to Wisconsin. But on balance, Wisconsin is not a place you go to get the best of everything, which is what optimizers do. New Yorkers love that they can get the best of everything they want that more than they want to be happy. And if you cant understand this you merely reveal how little you know about the world. I have no more patience for people telling me I can get great eyebrows in Wisconsin, there is great shopping in Wisconsin, etc. There simply isnt. And its okay. People dont live in Wisconsin because of that. People live in Wisconsin because the lifestyle is easy family is here, personal history is here, things generally are fine. Nothing is fine in NYC. Its very challenging. Every single day. The fact that I feel compelled to have a tirade about Wisconsin in the middle of this post is interesting to me: People who value choices over happiness never argue about it. They are proud of it. People who value happiness over having a life full of interesting opportunities get indignant over being accused that they made that choice. I wish I could tell you I am a person who picks interesting over complacency, but problem for me is that life in NYC is so interesting to me, but its just plain too hard for me. When I lived in NYC with two kids the year I had $200,000 coming in, I felt like I was living at the edge of poverty. Whenever I write this, people who have lived in NYC with kids are not surprised at all, and people who have not lived in NYC think Im crazy. So please, if you have not raised kids in NYC, do not comment that you could easily do it on $200,000, okay? What this illustrates, though is how different the world of lots of choices is. People will pay a ton of money to have a lot of choices, which is what they perceive as an interesting life. (See the average rent per square foot in NYC) but people will not pay a ton of money for a life with relatively few choices. (See the average rent per square foot in Madison). This makes me think that people put a higher premium on choices, because choices make life more interesting. I recently spoke to Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University. His book, Create Your Own Economy, is about how the information flow of the Internet allows us to manage our careers differently than before. For example, people who are focused on information (infovores, as Tyler calls them) but not on face-to-face social interaction can flourish in an information economy. I suggested to Tyler that its messed up to value information processing over social interaction because I want to believe that its social interaction that actually makes us happy. Tyler says that people who are infovores feel fulfilled by processing information. And he thinks that happiness is an elusive, amorphous goal. Tyler says feeling fulfilled actually gives us a feeling of happiness, and some people gain that fulfilled feeling through interaction with information rather than social interaction (makes sense from Tyler he writes a great blog, full of fun information.) But it scares me that this also seems true for me. I dont want it to be true for me because I want to be as complacent as the people I live with, in Wisconsin. And I want to be a socially skilled as the non-Aspergers people I try to pass for in regular life. Tylers ideas will resonate in the Asperger community. There is a large contingency that sees Asperger Syndrome not as a deficit but as merely a difference, and these are the people who would love to hear that the idea of happiness is myopic and that fulfillment is a more real goal, and people with Aspergers can feel fulfilled through information processing. Im not sure I buy that. I want to buy it. Because I have Aspergers and so do many people in my family, and I want to believe there is fulfillment out there for all of us.

10 Best Job Search Tips - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

10 Best Job Search Tips - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The word best in the title should be interpreted as a recommendation. Please also keep in mind that job search by someone who is employed differs significantly from job search by someone who is unemployed. The latter is, typically, more motivated, the person can devote more time to it, and the unemployed job seeker’s actions should not be done covertly. This article focuses primarily on job seekers who are not currently employed. Be very focused on what you are looking for. When looking for a job, you should think like a shopper and not a victim. A smart car buyer even before walking into the car dealership knows what car he wants, including the model, the specifications, the color, and the amount he wants to spend. Similarly, a job seeker should narrow down choices not only by title but also by what the job function entails. A job seeker can look for more than one specific job at the same time but still remain specific. Hope for the best but do prepare for the worst. Finding the right job in today’s job market is not only challenging but also questionable in terms of its duration. Job seekers should have a fallback position in case the search becomes unreasonably prolonged. Continuously build relationships. Sixty to 80 percent of people get their jobs by networking. The practical side of networking consists of developing relationships with people for advice, information, leads, and, hopefully, referrals. The best networkers think of the other person first. They don’t keep score regarding who owes whom, and they believe that good deeds will be reciprocated. They don’t hold back when it comes to sharing. Maximize your use of social media. Today’s job seekers who avoid opportunities to use social media are less than competitive. Employers use social media to find potential employees, and therefore this new job-finding medium should be embraced and utilized vigorously. LinkedIn is the search tool most widely used by recruiters; Twitter and Facebook provide additional opportunities. Utilize your time and energy effectively. Many job seekers become frustrated very quickly into the process because they have no road map to follow. They keep active driven by nervous energy but almost all the time come up empty-handed because their process is inefficient. It works best to divide time and activities into three parts: One-third should be devoted to networking and building relationships; another third, to searching and applying for jobs; and another third, to learning about their target companies and the companies’ specific needs, including culture and fit. Develop good administrative skills and use the right job search tools. During a prolonged job search, one needs to keep good records in order to stay on top of things. Sloppy record keeping during the transition leads to further frustrations and inefficiency. And one needs to use the right tools. For example, Indeed, LinkUp, and Simply Hired could provide targeted leads. Practice mock interviewing. How good is it to be invited for an interview but not ace it? Don’t rely on your past practices for getting a job. Today’s job market is more competitive than ever, and without practicing interviewing, one has virtually no chance to compete. Have your résumé prepared by a recommended professional résumé writer. One of the most painful mistakes the majority of job seekers make is to write their own résumésâ€"even if those résumés have been edited by a trusted friend. Writing résumés nowadays needs not only the technical know-how to embed the right keywords in a résumé but also the talent to make the document exceptionally good. Prepare your success stories. The interviewer sees in you a salesperson and therefore is skeptical. One of the ways to be convincing is to recite success stories. Follow up and be persistent. A salesperson makes seven calls before finalizing a sale. Kids go to the other parent when they hear the word no. If you’re not offered the job, try to find out what went wrong, and fix it. To paraphrase Einstein, don’t perpetuate your failures by expecting different results without making changes.

Resume Writing Services For Women - Why Its Essential To Have A Professional Appearance On Your Resume

Resume Writing Services For Women - Why It's Essential To Have A Professional Appearance On Your ResumeHaving a strong resume is the first step to land the job that you desire. This is especially true if the employer is seeking candidates with an appropriate level of work experience, rather than those who have just recently finished school or an apprenticeship program. So, it's important to focus on this single aspect when writing your resume, so you will be able to make the most of it.Luckily, there are resume writing services for women out there that specialize in helping women to meet their goals in a way that is professional-looking. Not only do these types of services to offer high quality writing and formatting services, but they also have all the proper documentation that they need. You'll get your letters of recommendation, transcripts, and even your official transcripts from the various programs that you completed.These companies also usually have a library of the actual doc uments that you need, so you won't have to take them one by one and get them set up and organized yourself. They can also ensure that you have them at your fingertips, should you need them. Another plus point for using them is that the end result is more professional, since they know what professional looking resumes look like.A second factor to consider when making sure your resume is set up and polished is to consider your overall professional appearance. Whether you prefer the classic clean look or the more casual, yet trendy look, this is something that you want to be intentional about. You should look for tips online or through professional resume writing services for women to help you create a professional appearance that will appeal to employers.You can also find some tips about how to dress for your job from many people online. To be honest, a little practice goes a long way when it comes to creating a professional look, as a lot of people find out too late. It's always best to talk to other people in the position you are hoping to land, before taking any drastic steps.If you want, you can even get advice from people who already have jobs. This may include those in certain fields, as well as recruiters in other fields. In this case, you may want to research the company that you are considering working for. The experience and level of trust that they may have with recruiters in the company will be invaluable when it comes to getting the job.Last, you should make sure that your work experience is complete before writing your resume. Many people choose to leave off their work experience when creating a resume. While this may be the wrong move, as you may lose out on some great opportunities by not having a professional appearance, it is also vital to ensure that you cover all your bases when it comes to your work history.Remember that a resume isn't the only piece of paperwork that you will need to submit to employers when applying for a job. For this rea son, you need to be prepared ahead of time by knowing what documentation you will need, as well as having your work history set up. Career services for women may also be able to offer more tips that you may not be aware of for making your resume stand out.

Top 10 bad excuses for staying in a bad job - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Top 10 bad excuses for staying in a bad job - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog If youre unhappy at work, Im sure that the thought Man, I really should quit! crosses your mind occasionally. So why dont you? Even if you long desperately to quit, to get away from your horrible workplace, annoying co-workers or abusive managers, you may hesitate to actually do anything about it, because right on the heels of that impulse come a lot of other thoughts that hold you back from quitting. Each of these excuses may sound to you like the voice of sanity, offering perfectly good reasons why it is in fact better to stay and endure that bad job just a little longer, but look a little closer, and they dont really hold up. What they do instead is keep you trapped in a job that is slowly but surely wearing you down. Here are 10 of the most common bad excuses for staying in a bad job. #1 Things might get better That jerk manager might be promoted out of there. That annoying co-worker could quit.That mound of overwork could suddenly disappear. On the other hand, things might also get worse. Or they might not change at all. If youve already done your best to improve your job situations and nothings happened, just waiting around for things to improve by themselves make little sense. #2 My boss is such a jerk but if I quit now, he wins. Who cares. This is not about winning or losing, this is your life. Move on, already. #3 Im not a quitter. Well guess what these somewhat successful people have in common: Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Tiger Woods, Reese Witherspoon, John McEnroe and John Steinbeck? Yep, they all dropped out of Stanford. The old saying that Winners never quit and quitters never win is just plain wrong and leaving a bad job is just common sense. #4 Ill never get another job Well not if you stay in your current job while it slowly grinds you down, you wont! Move on now while you still have some self-confidence, motivation and energy left. #5 If I quit Ill lose my salary, status, company car, the recognition of my peers, etc. Yes, quitting a job carries a price and that makes it scary. We all know this intimately. But few of us ask this question: What is the price of staying in a job that makes you unhappy? That price can be very high. It can ruin your work life but also your marriage, your family life, your health, your self-esteem and your sanity. Not all at once, but a little bit every day. #6 Everywhere else is just as bad Thats just nonsense. There are plenty of great workplaces in every industry. #7 Ive invested so much in this job already You may have sacrificed a lot of time, energy and dignity already in attempts to make things better. This will make it more difficult for you to call it quits. Im reminded of how Nigerian email scammers sucker in people. At first its a small investment, but then the amounts grow and grow. At each step the victim is reluctant to stop because that would mean losing all the money hes spent so far. Quit anyway. Staying on is just throwing good time after bad. #8 Ill lose my health insurance. I have a lot of sympathy for this argument. Where I live (Denmark), everybody gets free health care regardless of their employment situation so I cant imagine the leverage this must give employers. One answer: Start looking for another job with similar health benefits. Also: Ask yourself what good job related health insurance is if your job is actually making your sick which bad jobs can absolutely do. #9 My job pays very well I have zero sympathy for this argument. I dont care how well your job pays; if it makes you unhappy its not worth it. Quite the contrary, if you make a lot of money now, use that financial security to quit and find a job thatll make you happy. #10 Quitting will look bad on my CV Whereas staying for years in a job that grinds you down and goes nowhere will look excellent. The upshot Many of us would be much happier at work if we quit bad jobs sooner. Ive talked to many people who have finally managed to quit a bad job and only wished theyd done it sooner. I have yet to meet a single person who quit a crappy job only to wish theyd stayed on longer. You may have perfectly good reasons to stay in your crappy job all Im saying is that it pays to examine those reasons very closely to make sure that they hold up. Cause it may just be the fear talking. Your take What do you think? Have you ever been stuck in a lousy workplace? What kept you from leaving? What finally made you quit? Please write a comment, Id love to hear your take. Related posts Find your quitting point Never stay in a bad job. Fix it or leave. How to find a job youll love Top 10 signs youre unhappy at work Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Mario Bosquez Manages His Career by Living Today

Mario Bosquez Manages His Career by Living Today The average overnight success takes fourteen years. To have the career of your dreams, its the daily actions that make the difference. Just ask fellow SIRIUS XM radio host Mario Bosquez.Every week, in addition to my own radio show, I make an appearance on Marios show Living Today to share career advice and inspiration. Tuesdays at 3:30p ET/12:30p PT we take calls (866-675-6675) and discuss any and all job-related topics from: soul searching to find your dream job, to researching growing fields to job searching with fresh interview strategies. Call in anytime you or a loved one has a career dilemma!Besides having a fun time, Ive learned a lot from Mario too. He knows a thing or two about managing a great career and has many accomplishments to show for it, including having a James Beard Award-nominated radio show. Here are the career insights Ive learned from Mario:Be versatile Mario has been a success not only in radio but in television as well. He was honored by former President Bus h for his coverage of the Colombia earthquake. Hes also a published author of The Chalupa Rules, has performed on Broadway and has had recent success as a burgeoning playwright. I know theres even more to come from Mario who truly does love to learn something new everyday.Go the extra mile When interviewing for his job at Martha Stewart Living Radio, Mario not only had his resume ready but also a full binder demonstrating his portfolio of work. Mario also made a cake for his interview with Martha to demonstrate he had the culinary skills as well as broadcast skills to do the job.Make friends today, contacts tomorrow From day one, Mario made me feel welcome on his show. Hes also offered guest suggestions and contacts for my show. Mario builds genuine relationships and offers to help others BEFORE he needs anything. Its a great way to make friends and build a network. Find out more about Mario including the best part of his job as SIRIUSXM radio host. Join us each week by tuning int o SIRIUS 112/XM 157 Tuesdays at 3:30p ET/12:30p PT and feel free to join the career conversation with your comments, advice, ideas and questions. Mario and I love to hear from listeners at 866-675-6675.Heres to you making a great living and living today!