Is Your Company Watching Your Social Media Activities

Maybe you don't care what your company thinks of your social media activities?

Do you ever think about how your social media activates will effect your future employment prospects?

An interesting report...

Social networking and reputational risk in the workplace -

What effect can social media have on you if you are on the "other end of the stick" as a business owner? Have you developed any policies, plans or protocols to deal with social media and how your staff (or customers) could destroy your reputation?.

What work have you done on your organizations culture, values and ethics to take account of (and hopefully mitigate) the risks to your reputation and business viability that online communities present. Is social media part of your S.W.O.T. analysis?

Ric orglearn blank resume resume form Is your resume posted online... is it helping or hurting... a lousy online resume is a negative, time to fix it or remove it.

Visit the site...

Sample Resume | Resume Blank | Resume Form | Resume Examples | Resume Sample | Cover Letter Fill in the free online blank resume form (positive statement examples), a handy self-analysis to evaluate the commercial realities of what you have to offer current or potential employers.


Free blank resume form with example and samples or.....

The Six elements of a Good Decision

Great article by decision making guru Carl Spetzler

"(1) The right frame — making sure you’re solving the right problem in the first place.

(2) Clarity about what you want. For example, are you trying to maximize shareholder value or just trying to stay alive and minimize damage?

(3) Creative alternatives. [remember all ideas are good ideas until proven otherwise]

(4) Gathering the right information, including information about uncertainty, which is essential if you want to choose the best alternative.

(5) Reasoning, which includes what you know and what you don’t.

(6) A commitment to make it happen, since a decision is no stronger than its weakest link."

Two great decision making articles:

http://www.bnet.com/2403-13056_23-295108.html

http://www.bnet.com/2403-13056_23-295098.html

Ric deciding to change jobs? free blank resume form

Visit the site...


Sample Resume | Resume Blank | Resume Form | Resume Examples | Resume Sample | Cover Letter
Fill in the free online blank resume form (positive statement examples), a handy self-analysis to evaluate the commercial realities of what you have to offer current or potential employers.

Free blank resume form with example and samples or.....

Effective No Cost and Low Cost Advertising

Free advertising program earn rewards for effort or targeted ads for 0.005 cents per ad... its HERE

Traffic Python Revealed!

This is a really good program... for me the best I have found and the only one I have signed up for... well it was free and I don't have a big advertising budget, I wish I did. Free advertising... its HERE

Ric-orglearn

Visit orglearn and the new Career Success blog link on the site...

Sample Resume | Resume Blank | Resume Examples | Resume Sample | Cover Letter Fill in the free online blank resume form (positive statement examples), a handy self-analysis to evaluate the commercial realities of what you have to offer current or potential employers.

Free blank resume sample with example and samples

Managing innovative projects: Don't mistake the map for the journey...

... or compliance as success! Article by Rick Freedman of TechRepublic

'The lesson that project managers need to understand is that compliance with project specifications does not constitute project success; in the ultimate analysis, only business results matter. Stated another way, the largest risk in any project is not that it will deviate from plan; it’s the risk that the final outcome won’t fulfill the real need. Predictive methodologies, such as the techniques championed by the Project Management Institute in its PM Body of Knowledge, can add tremendous value, especially for projects for which we have a historical basis to look to for precedent. For truly innovative projects, in which any prediction is little more than guesswork and for which we’ll be inventing never-before-seen products, we need to look for a new approach. Hence, the growing popularity of agile approaches.'

The full article is at: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/tech-manager/?p=1402

Ric management and leadership and vision and planning orglearn

Visit the site...

Sample Resume | Resume Blank | Resume Examples | Resume Sample | Cover Letter Fill in the free online blank resume form (positive statement examples), a handy self-analysis to evaluate the commercial realities of what you have to offer current or potential employers. Free blank resume form with example and samples.

Successful Managers Don't Manage

"Management doesn’t work. It is ill-conceived and badly carried out. It is, literally, inhuman. We are all wasting our time.

This is the basic thrust of Charles Jacobs’ new book. Inspired by the latest discoveries of neuroscientists and armed with some startling scientific data..."

"Jacobs provides the scientific evidence for why this might be the case. And it leads him to believe that: “The managers who produce the best results are the ones who do the least managing ... the biggest challenge is for managers to stop doing most of what they’re doing now.”

This is a good article the rest is here: Management Rewired

Lots more management articles at orglearn... Sample Resume | Resume Blank | Resume Form | Resume Examples | Resume Sample | Cover Letter Fill in the free online blank resume form (positive statement examples), a handy self-analysis to evaluate the commercial realities of what you have to offer current or potential employers. Ypou can go to the index page and also take a look at the new blog.

Know Yourself - Free Resource - Online Personality Test

Take the free iPersonic personality test!

As the site says "No registration required!

Takes less than 5 minutes to complete.

Free, immediate and accurate results."

iPersonic test.

This is a good five minute online test!

Ric career advice blank resume form at orglearn.org

Hate Your Job and the People at Work

Sometimes no matter what you do you just seem to end up at a place that you don't like and working with a bunch of less than desirable people.

So do you resign or stay?

If you do have to stay how do you solve the problem?

Here's the best answer l've found so far, see the short video...  SOLVE MY PROBLEM WITH WORK

If it didn't work for you, you can fill in the blank resume form!

Best of luck Ric 

p.s. If it does work could you to come back and comment :-) 

The "obituary résumé." Résumé mistakes!

Interview of Dick Hart (AKA the Résumé Doctor) by Ruth Sheehan of "The News & Observer"

quote:

The "obituary résumé." Dick Hart  says:

'That's a document that uses stuffy formal language to describe all the stuff someone did once upon a time.'

"What employers need to know is what you can do for them," he said.

By Hart's reckoning, a jobseeker has about 20 seconds to grab the attention of the future bosses.

He has a term of art for this, too. It's called the "rule of thumb." Pick up a standard 81/2-by-11 sheet of paper. Your thumb lands about 3 inches from the top of the page.

"If you don't hook 'em by the time they get to their thumb, you can forget it,"

:end quote

The rest of the article is here:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/sheehan/story/1531741.html however its a bit like Hart's resume advice... once you get to the thumb the rest is a bit useless.

Free blank résumé with examples résumé form orglearn index

Visit the site...


Free blank resume form with example and samples.

Mentoring 101 Article from HRlink.in

Hone Your Mentoring Technique (Good article from HRlink)

"Tips for becoming a better mentor:

• Establish a partnership that helps your protege learn.

• Foster discovery. Thought-provoking questions are more powerful than smart answers.

• Allow for mistakes. They are necessary for growth.

• Put your protege at ease by being authentic, open and sincere.

• Act more like a friend than a boss.

• Give feedback that helps your protege improve his performance.

• Continue your support after meetings.

• If your mentoring relationship isn’t working, discuss your concerns."

The full article is here: http://hrlink.in/topics/mentoring-101 and is worth a quick read!

Ric career advice management cover letters and resumes

Job Search and Career Advice Quick Tip Tweets

Selected Twitter Employment Advice

Advisor ONE @liahni (http://twitter.com/liahni)

"Best advice for today's clients/career/job seekers -be nimble, flexible, do solid research, and networking! // Networking is Key!"

"Objective on a resume? No longer a benefit - sends the message you're old school. Replace with career summary and key industry/title words"

"I work w/ clients in transition. Best advice for today's client - be nimble, flexible, do solid research, and networking!"

"Recruiters see growth in executive hiring 1) Bus. Development 2) Sales 3) Engineering 4) Ops Mgmt 5) Mktg 6) Consulting 7) Finance 8) R & D"

"Don't wait 'til you're unemployed to develop a career strategy! Networking is essential to keep your career on track and w/ the right people"

Advisor TWO @InSide_Job (http://twitter.com/InSide_Job)

"Free Podcast for Job Seekers: "You're Hired! Interview skills to get the job" http://www.yourehiredbook.com/podcast.html #work #hunt #offer"

  

"RT @JobCircle Good article about negotiating a higher offer in today's job market. http://jobcircle.com/z18o "Know how much your peers make""

"RT @theonlinebeat RT @danschawbel: JOB SEARCH: 101 Ways to Get Hired in a Recession http://tinyurl.com/cfvdhn #jobhunt #career"

"RT @Arcadia1 timing is key for getting a job! great timing!" [so keep at it and keep at it and keep at it!]

TWEET: twitter job search and resume advice

More readers to your blog for free!

Traffic Python is a new site that says it guarantees more CONVERTING VISITORS  to your site or blog and successful online advertising with very little effort or cost. [***NB: IF YOU USE THE "GOLD LEVEL" of the system AS I DO, THE SYSTEM IS FREE] 

I don't usually go for this sort of stuff as it in my experience it usually sounds fine until some sharp or over eager character in a badly produced video says "see you on the other side" then ask you for money... "Python" on the other hand COSTS NOTHING so I opted in.

My first impression was the site is professional and clean, with an attractive look and feel. MORE IMPORTANTLY it is easy to read and understand. Joining the site was easy and painless--they do offer 2 upgrade options however they are not required to gain the benefits... if you have a site that is professional they may be worth a look I to be honest haven't bothered as I have no budget to spend on marketing my free information sites and blog.

The Members Area is very well laid out and intuitive - I could figure out what to do after only a few minutes and was able to get up and running in less than 5 minutes. Inside the site, you create links and ads - the links you simply enter any URL links you use into the generator and it transforms them into "Traffic Python" links. You create ads for anything you want to promote using the Traffic Python Ad Generator, which is very easy to use. You can create as many links and as many ads as you like.  HELPFUL ads are organized in a logical way - links are displayed in the order you create them but also your 5 most recent links appear on the main page for quick reference. Also, since the link generator is the tool you'll use most, it is also right at the top of the main page when you login.  Very smart!

After you've created at least 1 link and 1 ad you can start to generate traffic. Just use and promote the new Traffic Python link instead of the original source link you had.  Every time the Traffic Python link is clicked, the page loads followed by a cool slide-up ad window at the bottom. It displays an ad PLUS an image with your affiliate link that goes back to Traffic Python. So if anyone clicks the Traffic Python image they see the site, and if they signup they become your referral. It's a great viral feature because you can build referrals without even trying to just by using the site.

Now every time the ad window displays (your Traffic Python links get clicked) you earn credits that get YOUR ad displayed in the ad windows when other members' links get clicked. So the more clicks, the more times your ads get displayed.

POINT: this works virally - meaning as you make referrals into Traffic Python (either by promoting it or just using it and visitors click the Traffic Python image on the ad window to join) you also earn ad credits on THEIR link clicks and this works up to 5 levels deep. So you can create a massive amount of free ad views and web traffic by referring others to Traffic Python also.

I didn't get to test the full effect of a big downline yet (I just got the tool) but I can tell you the rest of the site so far works exactly as stated.  Traffic Python even tracks my results so I know how many clicks and how many ad displays. That is an impressive unadvertised extra feature.

There is one more benefit and feature which might be the best of them all - downline emailing. You can email your downline with offers, promotions, or whatever you like, and here is where Traffic Python really shines above many other 'even pay it' for systems. They took time to make the emailing often enough that it's valuable as a user, but no so often that it's a burden to your downline. The best part however about this feature (and actually the credit earning too) is that it tells you exactly how long until you can mail again. Now THAT's pretty cool.

Overall even though it is early days I have to say I am impressed with Traffic Python.  It is simple yet powerful, and delivers on its promises. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to increase traffic and advertising.

I ask you what's the use of spending time putting your wisdom down in a blog just to have nobody read it. So you want a chance to increase your readership... at no cost... 

See it and join here:

More blog readers or site visitors (and buyers) for free!

HOW TO DEAL WITH CHANGE - 3

A final six keys to winning during change.

Adapt… even in nature (Galapagos Finches) demonstrate that those that have the greatest capability to survive are those that are most adaptable.

Develop a broader range of competence. The days of just being the best ‘technician’ (engineer) are long gone.

Think… during a restructure would you choose for example the accountant with problem solving and team building skills or the ‘best’ at accounting?

Seek new experiences, new skills, and continuos education; broadly based knowledge and experience is always in demand.

Understand that the responsibility for me is mine alone; take the lead in your own life.

The more we involve ourself in the change process and succeed the better we understand that we can survive change. The payoff… increased confidence

TO SOME PEOPLE LIFE IS ABOUT FINDING ANSWERS, IN TIMES OF CHANGE PERHAPS LIFE NEEDS TO BE MORE ABOUT FINDING AND DEALING WITH MORE INTERESTING QUESTIONS.

Ric free management lessons

The 4-Hour Workweek

Tim Ferriss in his popular book "The 4-Hour Workweek" uses the acronym DEAL It stands for: Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation.

Definition define what you want, get over your fears, look past others "expectations" and figure out what it will really cost to get you want to go.

Elimination concerns effective use of time by using the old 80/20 rule to focus only on those tasks that contribute the majority of benefit. Again Ferriss use the efficiency versus effectiveness idea.

 

Automation to do this you need to build a sustainable, automatic source of income. This includes techniques such as where as a retailer you set up a system whereby the wholesaler ships direct to you customer so you don't have to (transport, hold and deliver stock), marketing he suggests can be by Google adwords/asdsense of course many other functions can be outsourced.

Liberation is dedicated to the successful automation of one's lifestyle and the liberation from a geographical location and job.

Rather than seeing technology based communication such as email, instant messaging and Internet-enabled PDA's as helpful he promotes the idea that they complicate life rather than simplify it. As I heard him say in an interview you need to control or avoid these devices to "cut out the static" from your life. This point I particularly agree  with he uses on his blog the expression " cultivate selective ignorance - and create time - with a low-information diet". Good advice for all of us perhaps.

Probably much to the chagrin  of the rapidly growing number of American (and other) unemployed at the moment he is also a strong advocate of hiring "virtual assistants" from developing countries such as India to free up personal time.

From the radio interview I mentioned before some of his main points were:

Stop spending your time doing emails, let them wait, answer them at set time each day "say 11.00 and 4.00 so you can focus on doing one task at a time and doing it well. He also says we need (If we want to work less hours and remain productive) to "control our impulses".

Having sat down to a meal with many friends who spend much of their time reading messages on and instantly responding on their "Blackberries" or mobile phones I can particularly relate to this point. Many today seem to suffer from what I like to call the "Pavlov's Dogs Syndrome".

Ric-orglearn Management Training Career Advice Cover Letters and Resumes

How to Fix Business Schools

Article by Paul Hemp

Scrap the MBA

"How do we fix business schools? Scrap the MBA If you believe that MBAs and the education they receive are at least partly to blame for the current economic mess, what changes must we make to management education to prevent something like this from happening again?" 

A conversation with Henry Mintzberg a long time detractor of MBA's

Article and Audio here: Scrap MBA

Ric's Comment to Harvard (also published on site)

Mintzberg is correct, "most of the things a manager needs to know-whether that's how to motivate [inspire] people or assess a balance sheet-are context-specific and not universally applicable".

As an ex financier I learnt how to lend money by being sent to collect it from delinquent borrowers for six years. Only late in the process was I able (and permitted) to renegotiate and rewrite existing loans. During this period I learnt how to assess what we called the five C's of Credit particularly the character component. Standing alone in front of shot gun armed and distressed farmer teaches you a lot about character ...and quickly. We didn't have mobile phones in those days so you also learnt a little self reliance as well and of course the all important, how to close a very critical sale... don't shoot me I'm only twenty one. The last couple of years I also supervised (under supervision of a manager) the activities of others, the beginnings of my 'management' training. What ever happened to "supervisors"?

Finally into lending. I wrote loan submissions with no approval rights for two years while the financial controller taught me financial analysis and my direct manager sent back my lending proposals with words "so what" in red pen after each unsubstantiated or illogical statement. If I didn't know how to answer to the "so what" I was curtly told "go and ask the customer". From this I learnt how businesses operate across a broad range of industries and how to deal with senior executives of large companies and find out what I needed to know, diplomatically. What did I learn... everything from the complications and tax implications of shifting income to overseas divisions and why and how my customer did it to... how an injection moulding machine works. My customers taught me business and how it works (or doesn't for that matter). Of course at the same time I was studying the legal and technical aspect of the financial products we offered.

I also of course learnt from my 'allowed' mistakes. Lending limits were finally granted and I was a supervisor (again), this was in a lending department. Early on in my new role I released a forklift under pressure from a 'good' existing customer without getting the deposit cheque cleared, which was of course was a "cardinal sin". The factory and the forklift burnt... it was arson... no insurance recovery. I was requested to tell my story which was then published nation wide (supposedly anonymously) as a learning bulletin. I was also asked "what did you learn Richard". Well I did a dumb thing however I wasn't stupid so I replied "expletive I'll never do that again". The company's response.. money well spent then.

I say it again Mintzberg is correct, management learning is "context specific".

p.s. Please if you get to talk to Mr Mintzberg again can you explain to him that "you can't motivate staff, because all motivation comes from within". You may however be able buy understanding and using their motivations "inspire" them.

Richard Townsend (orglearn.org)

Need a Job? How Social Networking can Help

Article by Erica Perez of the Journal Sentinel

Excerpts from

 

Need a job? Get social - in a networking kind of way

"What I try to explain to students is that social media accelerates professional networking," said Grace Kutney, career technology specialist at Lawrence University. "And since 85% of jobs are found through networking, and right now in the current market it's maybe 95%, if they can accelerate their professional networking through social media, they're better off."

College career centers advise "...many employers use the Web to research job candidates." Now, they are encouraging students to strategically craft their Web presence. 'Social networking.... is something we need to figure out how to use it for (career) networking,' said UWM student Olivia Johnson, 21. Twitter - advisers say, ...[should be] "about showing off your interests and expertise."

Advice to students: Research companies you want to work for and the people who work for them and follow them on Twitter. Try to catch these people's attention with your posts. Examples of what to "tweet": What are you researching? What did your class talk about? "It can be anything like that that says 'I have a skill,' " said Spreenkler's Steve Glynn.

Grace Kutney, who has worked in career development for 11 years, also knows the networking potential of social media firsthand. She has become more active online - in her blog "Sweet Careers," Twitter and more - in the past six months. "In that time, I've developed more and stronger professional contacts than I had in 10 years previous," she said. "I was able to connect with people who are like-minded in the industry and have learned a lot more about my field."

The rest of this interesting article and good advice is here

Ric career advice - resumes

SEE VALUE IN TWITTER AND DON'T HAVE TIME TO TWEET!

YOU HAVE A GREAT WEBSITE... LOTS OF VALUABLE AND INTERESTING PAGES AND INFORMATION... AND VIRTUALLY NOBODY READS YOUR SITE... AVERAGE PAGE VIEWS 1... 2... or 3. SO YOUR AD INCOME IS NOT AS GOOD AS IT COULD BE AND PERHAPS LESS THAN YOU HOPED/BUDGETED FOR... NO READERS = NO CLICKS = NO AD RESPONSE!

SOLUTION

I'll TWEET FOR YOU - RIC'S TWITTER SERVICE GUARANTEED 3 TWEETS A DAY 5 DAYS A WEEK, TWEETS BASED ON YOUR WEBPAGE TOPICS EITHER IN YOUR NAME WITH YOUR LOGO OR AS A THIRD PARTY IF YOU PREFER.

COMPARATIVE COST FACTS

About 82% of web cost per click (cpc) advertising costs from $ 0.00 to $ 0.30 (cents cpc) and of that more than half is between $ 0.10 and  $ 0.19 (cents cpc) Say you pay an average of $0.15 cpc 1200 clicks will cost you $180.00

"SEM firms typically bill monthly. They manage your PPC search advertising and paid-inclusion spend. For core professional services, which include complete SEO, expect to spend from $90,000 to $240,000 per Web site annually for a full-service SEM firm or $50,000 to $90,000 for a solo consultant or smaller SEM company." clickz.com

Advertising budget?? Take autos as an example: Cost per click for "autos" is $0.29 - $0.64, Clicks per day is 9,800 - 12,400, Cost per day $2,830.00k - $7,980.00 spread between a reported 4 advertisers. spyfu.com

So that's on average $10,810.00 per day / 4 = $2702.50 X 365 days = $ 986,412.50 p.a. / 12 = $82,201.04 p.month

Cost USD$ 250.00 per month. Opt out any time, payable through "PayPal-only" Monthly payment day 15 (mid term which gives you two weeks to assess the value/potential)

Contact rictownsend@yahoo.com ! More about me http://www.orglearn.org/ or just Google " rictownsend "!!!

Robert Iger C.E.O. of Disney Interview Leadership Lessons

Interview by Adam Bryant. "Corner Office" of  "The New York Times"

The guts of it...

Most important leadership lesson

RI  "optimism is a very, very important part of leadership. However, you need a dose of realism with it" ...'be patient ...be focused and don't overreact to things that are said'

Best and worst bosses

RI  'Roone Arledge - drove everybody to levels of perfection or to come as close as possible to it'

'Tom Murphy and Dan Burke - the importance of trust and managing people' 

'Michael Eisner - creativity' 

'My first boss at ABC told me I wasn’t promotable, so I’d have to put him in the category of “bad boss.” I rose above it very quickly, and there was a lesson in that. I think it toughened me up a little bit more.' 

An insight that put your career on a different trajectory

RI  'The first lesson, if you’re not good at one thing, try something else. Don’t stick with something unless you think you could turn yourself into someone who [is] good at that.'

Career advice to others

RI  'patience is extremely important because people set goals for themselves that often are unrealistic and... everything changes' [opportunities arise]

To managers about leadership

RI  '...the need to be direct with your people [and] ...the need to be accessible — [both] very important [attributes] for a leader.' 

How to stay in touch employees/colleagues

RI  '...face to face, you’ve got to project an accessibility — the elevator ...the employee cafeteria ...stroll a floor ...I make it part of my schedule to do that.'

Hiring. How do you do it?

RI  'Carefully. I try to get to know someone ...references [are] an important guide. [Quotes]: Warren Buffett... “When you hire someone, you look for brains, energy and integrity and if they don’t have the third, integrity, you better watch out, because the first two will kill you.”

I also look for qualities in people beyond that...' 

Then he talks about "I love curiosity" and other issues... the full article is here

Good advice for all of us! leadership orglearn

Mastering Resume Cover Letter Format Basics

Article by Jimmy Sweeney

"What’s So Important About Resume Cover Letter Format Mastery?

In the first place, a resume cover letter that you write yourself is going to be specifically tailored to the job you are applying for and the qualifications that you bring to it. And in resume cover letters, it is this sort of specificity that speaks to hiring managers and makes them want to offer interviews.

Second, a resume cover letter that you write on your own using standard resume cover letter format will have the added benefit of being original and fresh compared to the stale and overused form cover letters that thousand of other job seekers have tried to send in."

This is probably the best article on cover letter writing I have read and the rest is here

Its so good I wish I had written it! Reminds me of my father's advice 'there will always be people smarter than you and dumber than you... live with it and learn from the smart ones, don't resent them!'

HOW TO DEAL WITH CHANGE - PART 2

Six more keys to winning during change.

Do not become part of the “but we’ve always done it this way” group or you will become just another victim… which you must refuse to be.

Realize that becoming a ‘victim of circumstances’ is vastly overrated, as there is always a positive alternative. We all choose the variables that make up our life.

Remember that the most important choice we have is whether we develop a positive (or negative) attitude toward life’s realities.

If we don’t like or can’t support the changes at our workplace we can leave, as painful as that my be.

Believe that all and any companies or our position in a company is constantly changing and that it is a natural state of affairs.

Accept that you always have other possibilities and you will truly be empowered. If you can’t accept empowerment best find a way to leave the planet.

YOU MAY NOT HAVE A CHOICE ABOUT WORKPLACE CHANGES HOWEVER YOU DO HAVE A CHOICE ON HOW YOU RESPOND!

Leaving? How to write a resume.

How to Counter Resistance to Change

Article by Peter Bregman

"We believe that people resist change.

So we do all sorts of things to counter that resistance. We try to motivate or coerce people to change.

But instead of breaking through resistance, we create it. People resist being controlled. And so 70% of all corporate change efforts fail.

Here's what's interesting: people freely choose to make major life changes every day. We move, get married, start families, face challenges, learn new technologies, change jobs, and develop new skills. Not all of these changes are smooth. But most of the time we seek those changes ourselves and make them successfully.

So why are people willing to change in one situation and resistant to it in another?"

Great article the rest is here: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/bregman/2009/04/how-to-counter-resistance-to-c.html

Leadership Video Free Six Minutes Learn a Lot

Great Video on Leadership, it says sales leadership however lesson is general and applies to all leadership It's from "bnet" First 20 seconds bit slow however the last five and a half minutes well worth the time investment. Get your notepad ready!

Reference: http://www.bnet.com/2422-13723_23-250026.html?promo=808&tag=nl.e808

Ric-orglearn