Archives for July 2019

7 Things To Do To Get Your First Job After College

July 31, 2019 by Lucy Manole Leave a Comment

7 Things To Do To Get Your First Job After College

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According to a survey report, more than 40 percent of college graduates take a job that didn’t require a degree in the first place.

That’s a shocking revelation!

It may seem harmless at first. After all, what’s the harm in taking up a productive, paying job — any job?

However, if you map out the long-term effect, then it can turn out to be pretty detrimental.

The same report suggests that the graduates who settled for jobs that didn’t require a college degree are five times more likely to be still in the same position even after almost half a decade, compared to those who ended up in jobs that put their degree to good use.

That is why finding the appropriate job, suited to your qualification is very important.

Here are some of the things you need to do in order to get your first job after college:

1. Create Your LinkedIn Profile

Do you have a LinkedIn profile?

If not, then right now is as good a time as any.

It is an excellent platform to catch the eye of prospective employers.

Even if you don’t have anything except a few high school baseball certificates to show just yet, then also it is absolutely worth it in the end.

The best way to attain more job offers is by laser-targeting your search on LinkedIn.

For instance, if you are looking to get a job in cybersecurity space, then you can narrow down your search by typing-in something like “cybersecurity + company name,” and you might come across a job posting in the arena.

Make sure to include even minor achievements. You never know, even something as necessary as participating in a quiz competition can become a differentiator. Every LinkedIn profile has contacts, and the more connections you build, the more people you get into your network, ultimately increasing your chances of visibility.

2. Establish an Online Presence

Running your own blog is a great way to establish an online presence.

However, creating a blog is not nearly enough. You have to write consistently on the niche in which you are seeking a job.

Write about something that you have recently discovered, learnt, or got intrigued by. Or you can educate your audience by writing ebooks, how-to guides, and more.

It may also serve as a great talking point in interviews. A recruiter might end up liking your blog posts.

3. Acquire an Internship

An internship can open many doors for you.

Completion of an internship is a great value-addition to any graduate, because it helps you translate your theoretical knowledge into practical knowledge and gain experience in the real-world.

Many graduates fail to acquire an internship, which can result in a gap between what you can offer and what the industry actually requires.

A successful internship can propel you towards your first job by bridging this gap. Also, if you manage to land yourself an internship position from viable organisations like Google or Facebook, your chances of gaining an excellent job will be even higher.

4. Join a Career Development Group

It is important to realise one’s interests early, at the onset of the degree course, and plan for the years ahead.

Several Universities help students realize their potential during their college days.

For instance, Boston University has a chapter of the American Marketing Association. The University of Delaware has a Food science club.

These clubs and associations can act like career development groups. Most of them are linked with former students, professionals, and industry stalwarts. Hence, associating with them increases your chances of exposure to the professional world, and getting connected with established professionals. They can help you with the right advice and guidance, and may help you land your first job right away after college.

5. Get a Mentor

If you have a particular job role or company in mind, getting a mentor might come in handy for you. It is a good idea to leverage the power of social media to get the perfect mentor.

Some students turn to their parents for career, which is great. However, unless you want to pursue the same profession as your parent, professor or friend, you need a professional to help you discern the career option that aligns with your preferences.

It is important to get a mentor from the same company or at least the same industry you graduated in. They can relate more to you and help you understand things better. For example, if you are looking for a career in sales and your dream company is Johnson and Johnson, try searching the keywords “sales” and “JnJ” on LinkedIn or Facebook.

6. Work on Your Resume

If you are a prospective employer, then a resume is the window to your abilities.

However, one of the common mistakes that people tend to make is cramming too much into the 1-2 pages.

This isn’t how it works. Hiring professionals don’t have much time on their hands to scythe through your entire resume. Therefore, your resume should be a succinct summary of your strengths and achievements.

Rather than going for extensive descriptions, it’s better to portray your achievements as numbers. Numbers register more easily than sentences, especially when the recruiter is in a hurry. Try to fit in percentages whenever applicable, so there is something to talk about during an interview.

Also, make sure to proofread your resume. Grammatical and spelling mistakes don’t bode too well for your proposal. It shows that you are unprofessional and careless. So, it’s better to avoid it by proofreading your resume at least tie.

7. Get an Elevator Pitch Ready

More often than not, you may find yourself stuck at the wrong end of things.

Nothing is working out in your favor!

This doesn’t seem like a scenario you expected to find yourself in after graduating.

But, fret not! This approach will help you nail your next interview.

Besides a winning resume, make sure to get a 30-40 second dialogue ready that perfectly articulates why you are the right candidate for the job.

You can also watch some YouTube videos that will help you highlight your strengths and abilities in the interview.

Wrap-Up

Remember one rule: Persistence is the key.

Keeping all your options open after graduating will ultimately help you land your first job. Although applying to all companies irrespective of the domain area may help you cover more areas, but identifying your strengths and areas of interest before targeting those companies and roles will help you land a much better job.

Author Bio

Lucy Manole is a creative content writer and strategist at Right Mix Marketing, SEO-focused link building agency. She specializes in writing about digital marketing, technology, entrepreneurship, and education. When she is not writing or editing, she spends time reading books, cooking and traveling. You can connect with her on Twitter at @RightMixMktg

Social Links:

Twitter at https://twitter.com/rightmixmktg

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/rightmixmarketing Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RightMixMarketing/

The Three Core Ingredients of Writing a Resignation Letter

July 31, 2019 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Letting your boss know that you’re leaving the company/organization is never a witty and ordinary conversation.

However, a resignation letter written graciously can easily draw the difference between a stiff goodbye, and an opportunity for a long-term professional connection.

In most cases, you submit your resignation letter two weeks before leaving the company. Such a letter officially announces your termination at the company besides providing important housekeeping information, like the last day of your service and other primary details.

So if you have an impressive resignation letter, it assists you in ensuring a healthy conversation with your boss and a serene transition to your next venture.

But how do you write a killer resignation letter?

Writing a resignation letter is often a daunting task. And that’s the reason we’ve created a professional resignation letter template to help you kick off.

Note that your letter has to be brief, and include only helpful and relevant information. Remember to be concise, specific and professional.

Now let’s dive straight in!

1) The Fundamental of a Resignation Letter

You don’t have to get innovative or sugarcoat your boss in the beginning. Simply state the position you’re resigning from along with the effective date. You must have talked to your boss and shared the reasons for quitting; however, you don’t need to elucidate them here. Keeping it simple is the most viable option.

Sir/Ma’am,

Kindly accept this letter as a formal notification of my resignation from my position as (title of your position) with (Name of company/organization). My last working day will be (mention the day and date).

2) Thank You Note

It’s always a brilliant idea to thank your employer for the opportunity while describing some of the key takeaways from the job. And yes, this holds true even if you’re excited to quit your current company. Remember that you may require the help of these people for reference down the line. Furthermore, leaving things on a positive note can leave a lasting impression.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to work for the past (mention duration). I appreciate the opportunities I’ve had (mention responsibilities you’ve enjoyed), and learned (specific things you’ve learned during your service), all of which I will take with through my entire career. Finally, I wish you all the best and look forward to staying in touch.

3) The Hand-Off

This is the final stage and has to be executed graciously. State your willingness to assist with the transition. You don’t have to dive into all the intricacies and not promise something which you can’t deliver. However, write a couple of lines ensuring an unwrinkled wrap-up of your duties and show that you’ll be in the game until the very end. As mentioned above, the hand-off needs to be two weeks before quitting.

During my last two weeks at (company name), I’ll put my best foot forward to wrap up my responsibilities and train other members of my team. I’d be grateful if you could kindly let me know anything else to assist the transition.

I wish you all the very best and thanks for the loads of opportunities given to me.

Sincerely,

(Your name)

Below is an example of a resignation letter you can follow:

Michael Miller,

Senior Sales Manager,

150 Rachel Avenue,

Columbus, Ohio, 43004

May 17, 2019

SUBJECT: NOTICE OF RESIGNATION

Sir,

With this letter, I hereby announce my resignation from the position of Sales Manager for CITI Ventures, effective May 31, 2019.

It has been a great pleasure working with the entire team over the past five years. I would like to thank you for providing me the opportunity to be a part of creating some top-notch products, grow our sales team and working with fellow colleagues. In particular, I’ve learned a lot on marketing strategy in the digital marketing space, which I will take with me through my entire career.

I’ll work to your advantage in wrapping up my duties and train other team members over the next two weeks.

You will have my full commitment to ensure a smooth transition. Please let me know if there’s anything else assist the process.

Sincerely,

Mark Ashley

Feel free to adjust based on your company culture and your experience, and submit it via the typical procedures at your place of work. And if you decide to return to your company (it happens), it’s remarkable that the last one thing on your file is your professionally written meticulous resignation letter.

More Qualifications More Opportunities

July 24, 2019 by Contributed Post 1 Comment

We really do underestimate the power of education. Education is something we would have took for granted, but that’s only because we were forced to go there every single day of our young lives.

Unless you’re someone who really did love learning, then perhaps it would have been harder to let go of the tight grasp that education had on us. Now, depending on how far into your life you are at the minute, it might have been a good few years since you sat down, and actually learned a new subject that wasn’t what school made you do.

You might have had a little bit of training when you moved into a new job, but that’s pretty much it. So what happens here, is our minds go into limp mode. We spend our days doing the same things, over and over again, until one day we’re able to retire. So to kickstart your brain, and show you some of the amazing things that you could learn, that will lead to qualifications that will give you more opportunities, we’ve created this great article. You might surprise yourself with how much you enjoy the learning process, and where it can take you.

Find A Subject That Interests You

So there’s no point forcing yourself to learn a new subject that you don’t like, because wouldn’t that just be a blast from the past. So think about the subjects that are going to truly interest you, and ones that you think are going to benefit your life. A good thing to think about, is what’s up and coming in the world right now, because that’s where most of the opportunities lie. The world is revolving heavily around data at the minute, and there’s so many parts of this subject that you can learn about, that would take you down a completely new path in your life. Norwich University is just one of the universities that will offer courses related to data. It might pay off in the long run, because computers and data will be controlling the world more than we know it, and understanding how to process and manipulate it could lead to a big career for you.

Qualifications Within Your Company

So it might not be that you have to put yourself back into education and learn a new subject, it might be that so many of you are missing out on opportunities that your own company is providing you. So many companies now are offering courses to develop their employees skills, and in turn develop the company. So ask what relevant courses you might be able to be put on!

Random Qualifications That Could Help Others

So taking a completely random turn here, but why not think about qualifications that could help others. So for example, why not learn sign language. Technology has developed so much that it’s not as common for people to be totally deaf, but it is still a major health issues for those suffering. And if you were one of the ones that could sign with them, and help them in a situation, it would be amazing!

4 Smart Ways To Optimize Your Resume To The Max

July 23, 2019 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

Two sheets of paper! That is what most people’s resume is these days. In fact, many don’t even bother printing theirs out, and instead, send a digital copy. However, those two pages are what stands between you and an interview for the job of your dreams, so you’d better make them count. In fact, to succeed in your career, your resume needs to be optimized to the max. Read on to find out how.

Start with your skills

The harsh truth of the matter is that no one really cares about your name, DOB, or phone number unless you have the skills that they are looking for. What that means is you need to start with a rundown of your skills and talents.

Yes, your contact details need to be clearly displayed, but it’s only after the person reviewing your resume has decided that they want to shortlist you that these will even become relevant to them. After all, they won’t need to know your address if they are going to put your resume straight in the trash can.

Be mindful that a resume is a summary

Next, one of the biggest mistakes that you can make when writing a resume is trying to cram way too much information on those two little pages. Yes, two pages maximum is always the case. Never any more!

What you need to remember here is that your resume should be a summary, and as such, should read like your greatest hits. No one needs to know that you passed your cycling proficiency test first time when you were seven.

However, they will want to be informed that you attended a well-respected institution like Rutgers for several years and came out with a specialized degree. One that is hopefully specialized enough to the field to which you are applying to help you stand out from the other applicants.

In fact, relevance is the key idea here, and anything that you add to your CV should always either show your career progression or be directly related to the specification of the job to which you are applying. Also, if you can add actual hard evidence in the form of statistics to this, even better. After all, successfully reducing business costs sounds good, but successfully reducing business cost by 75% over a year will get you noticed much faster.

Be accurate

Sometimes it can help to think of your resume as a pre-interview, interview just on paper. What I mean here is that your resume aims to impress the person in whose hand it lays. To that end, mistakes are a bad idea, and that means you will need to check spelling, grammar, and the layout thoroughly before you mail it off.

In fact, if you are struggling to spot any problems, do get a trusted friend to look it over for you. The reason being that a pair of fresh eyes can often work much more effectively when it comes to coaxing out silly errors that will make you look daft.

Minimize color, pictures, and patterns

Online you will find a whole range of CV and resume templates. Some of these will be colorful and jazzy and have a place for a photograph. However, it is always best to err on the side of caution here and steer clear of any set up like this.

After all, applying for a job is a serious business, even in a firm that is more relaxed about their working environment. What that means is a resume with the minimum of color, perhaps on the section divides is the best choice.

Additionally, adding a photo is something of a controversial process as it can detract from the information you have so loving prepared in the body of the CV. To that end, a resume in black and white with the minimum of pictures is always the best choice.

Summary

In summary, your resume should never, ever be longer than two pages. It also needs to catch the eye of the person reading it. Something that listing your skills at the beginning should help you to achieve.

Remember too that a resume is a summary of your career history rather than a word for word account of everything you have ever done. To that end, be brief and only add things that are relevant to the post you are applying to.

Finally, make sure that you are as accurate as possible and steer clear of any bright and busy templates. After all, you will want the person reading your resume to take your seriously, and a jazzy design is not conducive to that.

How To Protect Your Small Business

July 17, 2019 by Contributed Post Leave a Comment

When you build your very own small business, the looming potential threat of someone or something being able to destroy all of your hard work can be quite worrying. Establishing ways to protect your company and assets is an important step to ensure ultimate long term success, but it can seem somewhat impossible to cover all bases. However, figuring out where to start needn’t be as difficult as you might think, as there are a few top tips that can help you to discover the best ways of protecting your small business to prevent and possible damage in its lifetime.

Digital Threats

There are so many potential digital threats that your business may encounter, so searching for some kind of security to protect yourself and your data is highly recommended. It’s likely that you have stores of customer information in some kind of digital format, and it would be disastrous if an outside source could gain the chance of unlawful access and distribution. Setting up your own dedicated IT security team in house may not be a feasible option for most businesses, but luckily people like USWired have got you covered – they can act as an extra platform of professional support and protection when you need it the most. Installing some kind of firewall on every device inside your office environment should be high up on your priorities, as they will block suspicious traffic and reduce the chances of your network hosting a harmful virus.

Physical Threats

The chances of your business encountering some kind of physical threat should be prevented with the same dedication, as the potential damage could be just as serious. Risks can come in many different forms, from being broken into to being the victim of a natural disaster, but there are so many ways you can help your business to stay out of harm’s way. To deter the chance of robberies or unlawful entry to the premises, it’s a good idea to install some kind of CCTV system that will both act as a physical deterrent when spotted whilst also being able to record every single second. You can even access some CCTV system footage live from your phone when you are in a different location, so you can keep tabs on security even when you are not around. If you’re in an area that’s prone to flooding or any other type of extreme weather, then invest in some kind of protection that you can use should the worst happen. Carry out some research and identify the threats in your local area so you can take the right steps to stay safe.
Being able to protect your small business is so important, and the safety of your staff, equipment and reputation should be paramount in everything you do. Make an effort to evaluate the different digital and physical threats that your business might encounter within its lifetime and invest in the right kind of insurance to gain compensation if the worst were to happen.