21

Feb

Avoid Resume Mistakes

Posted by   Published in Business Bits

Does your resume do a good job selling your skills?  Writing a great resume does not necessarily mean you should follow the rules you hear through the grapevine.  Your resume is a one-of-a-kind marketing communication. It should be appropriate to your situation and do exactly what you want it to do.  Your resume is a tool with one specific purpose: to win an interview.  There are also resume mistakes to avoid and Toni Bowers’ article explains just that.

10 resume mistakes to avoid

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June 5, 2012, 8:04 AM PDT

Takeaway: The goal of a resume is to let a potential employer know why you’re the best person for the job. Here are 10 practices that impede that goal.

There is one goal for your resume: To show a potential employer why you are the best person for the job. However, there are so many things that can get in the way of what should be a clear message. Here are ten of the most common mistakes made in resumes.

1. Your focus is wrong

This may be one of the most difficult concepts for job hunters to grasp, but your resume is not something you create for yourself. You create it, format it, and organize it so that it’s easy for a hiring manager to gauge your fit with the job he or she is offering. It’s important to tailor your resume to each job you apply to. I promise you, no hiring manager is going to study your resume for specifics that would apply to the job at hand. Your resume has to make them obvious.

For example, if you’re applying for a project manager position, highlight any experience and accomplishments that show your expertise in project management, even if you have to switch to a functional resume format to do it. While the bulk of your work experience may be in tech support, it’s really not applicable to the job at hand, so don’t concentrate on the day-to-day minutiae. Concentrate instead on those instances where you demonstrated leadership, ingenuity, and organizational skills.

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30

Apr

7 Things You Should Never Do During An Interview

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In today’s economic climate and the challenges of finding employment, how many folk give any serious thought to a job interview.  I’m no expert, but from the many CV’s and conversations that come my way, not much.   Interviews are your first foot in the door to a company, make it a lasting one.  If you’ve landed an interview you have a good chance at cracking your dream job, don’t stuff it up by being unprepared.  Donna has written 7 Things you should never do during an Interview, and that I agree are important to note.  Read on.

Donna Fuscaldo, Glassdoor Apr. 10, 2012

http://www.businessinsider.com/7-things-you-should-never-do-on-an-interview-2012-4

With the job market extremely tight, even the small stuff counts, especially when you’re on a job interview. That’s why it’s so important not to say or do the wrong things, since that first impression could end up being the last one.

With that in mind, here are seven deadly sins of job interviewing.

1. Don’t Be Late To the Interview

Even if you car broke down or the subway derailed, do everything you can to get to that job interview on time.

“If you have a legitimate excuse it’s still hard to bounce back,” says Pamela Skillings, co-founder of job coaching firm Skillful Communications. “People are suspicious because they hear the same excuses all the time.”

On the flip side, you don’t want to show up too early and risk appearing desperate, but you do want to be there at least five minutes early or at the very least on time.

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5

Mar

8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees

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What does… make a remarkable employee.  I wonder how many employers and “bosses” take time to ponder this!  An employee is more than a commodity.  They have attributes that contribute to the business, the team and they (should) fit the job profile.  Given the criteria, a genuine employee has a curiosity, is interested in and makes a point of understanding the business.  I believe an employee will consider him/herself  successful in his/her field especially if they are given the opportunity.  How do you see your employees or fellow team mates?  Jeff Haden (Feb 21, 2012) wrote the following article that I like and considered worth sharing.

“Forget good to great. Here’s what makes a great employee remarkable.

 Great employees are reliable, dependable, proactive, diligent, great leaders and great followers… they possess a wide range of easily-defined—but hard to find—qualities.

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29

Feb

Cloud Computing – Delivering a Service

Posted by   Published in Technoview

What is “cloud computing” you may ask. In simple terms Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product.  Resources, software and information provided to computer and other devices are shared over a network, the internet.

Software applications abound in the marketplace, giving us a wide choice in our quest to obtain the perfect software solution.   Business and individuals purchase software they believe will suit their respective needs.  The choice is based on research, business suggestions, word of mouth etc.

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28

Feb

Microsoft Word Paragraph Spacing

Posted by   Published in Technoview

Paragraph spacing!  You’d be surprised how few people actually know how to use the paragraph spacing tools effectively and efficiently ie. work smart, save time and energy.  Time is money.  What do the paragraph spacing tools do?  They are there to simplify the way you work.  You can either increase or decrease your paragraph spacing at the touch of a button (or two).

Paragraph Spacing Tools

There are 2 (two) paragraph spacing tools, one to increase indent spacing and the other to decrease indent spacing.  They are found on the Ribbon, Home tab (Word 2007/2010), Paragraph group.

To use the tools you can either begin by clicking on the increase indent tool and begin typing or select a paragraph of text and click the increase indent tool.  To decrease a paragraph indent (providing the paragraph is indented), select the paragraph and click on the decrease indent tool.  Still not sure, follow the step by step process…

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21

Nov

Limit Rows and Columns in Excel – Temporarily

Posted by   Published in Technoview
Excel is one of my passions.  It is such a versatile spreadsheet package that allows users to organize, format, and calculate data with the use of formulas or functions tools.  The Excel spreadsheet system is broken into rows and columns.  Excel 2007/2010 versions has “unlimited” rows and columns which in most cases will not be used.  Instead of scrolling endlessly, limit the rows and columns by changing a setting with the use of VBA.
Ted French has written an article to temporarily limit rows and columns in Excel. If this appeals to you then follow the process below.

Limit Rows and Columns in Excel – Temporarily

@ Ted French

Even though each worksheet in Excel 2007 or 2010 can have more than 1,000,000 rows and more than 16,000 columns it’s not often that we need that much room.Mostly we use considerably fewer than the maximum number of rows and columns and sometimes it might be an advantage to limit access to unused areas of the worksheet.For example, to avoid accidental changes to certain data it is sometimes useful to place it in area of the worksheet where it can’t be reached.Or, if less experienced users need to access your worksheet limiting where they can go can keep them from getting lost in the empty rows and columns that sit outside the data area.

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4

Oct

Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

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What are excel shortcut keys?  In years gone before the mouse became part of computers we could only product and print script with the keyboard.  Some of us use them every day to make our work flow smooth and consistent. I personally use some them all the time.  I call it “work smart”. Instead of continually moving my hands off the keyboard and grabbing the mouse to complete an action, typing keyboard shortcuts is quicker and definitely saves a lot of time.

During my training sessions especially Excel, I share keyboard shortcuts for those people who like using them and for many who never really thought about it.  Surprisingly most people and delegates are always keen to use them.

Excel shortcut Keys

I decided to apply myself to researching Excel shortcut keys and putting a list together, Excel being a very popular application.  I must admit that I did not try and reinvent the wheel (so to speak) and start from scratch.  Instead I checked the Microsoft website and found a very comprehensive list,  then added some of my own.

To access and share, click the link below and start working smart.

Excel 2007 CTRL combination shortcut keys

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10

Jul

Google + and Business

Posted by   Published in Technoview

Google + has just been launched, however what exactly does this mean and what is it going to do to improve business via social media. Google + is more of a community building tool and aims to make sharing on the web more like sharing in real life. The Google +1 button  lets you easily recommend web pages that you like to your contacts as well as the outside world.  There are many more features and in my view, Douglas Idugboe  explained Google + in a nutshell.

Google+ What Google+ Means For Your BusinessWhat Google+ Means For Your Business

 Douglas Idugboe ✆ weeklytips@smedio.com via aweber.com

With all due respect to Google, its social media efforts till date have been nothing to write about. Google Wave was a disaster and Google Buzz made a limited impact. In contrast, Facebook has gone from strength to strength and emerged as the world’s leading social network that’s fast approaching the 600 million member mark. It’s been a bitter pill for the world’s leading online search giant to swallow and I expected Google to hit back strongly.

Earlier this last week, Google unveiled its latest social media offering – Google+ to the world and since then social media and technology experts have been busy churning out one opinion after the other. Comparisons to Facebook are inevitable and many experts have been quick to claim that Google+ will dethrone Facebook as the numero uno social media phenomenon.

I was amongst the quick adopters of Facebook and I’ve been a Google fan since its early days. So, I’ll refrain from doing any comparisons for now and instead focus on what I do best – educate my readers on What does Google+ mean for your business? 

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13

Jan

Five Deadly Interview Mistakes

Posted by   Published in Business Bits

Going for a  job interview can be somewhat challenging to most people.  How do you go about preparing for an interview and making a  good first impression?  Research is always a good start ie. (research) the industry and the company.  Carl Wellenstein Career Advice Blog gives five great tips.

“Making a good impression on the job interview is as much about what not to do as what to do. Here’s how to avoid the most common deal-breakers.

By Carl Wellenstein

Attending an interview with the intent to impress the hiring manager is dangerous if you go about it in the wrong way. Below are the five most common mistakes you can make.

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11

Jan

Hard Selling vs Networking

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Selling is a wide subject, covering many selling methods, sales theories, models and sales training methods.  We develop our own sales skills, learn from others, read books on the subject but at the end of the day, what is the difference (present day) between hard selling and networking?  Jan Vermeiren suggests the following:

The Difference Between Hard Selling and Networking

Original Picture Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cambra_barcelona/

The main difference between selling and networking is that in a sales process the goal of the interaction between two people is the sale of a product or service.

When networking, this sale could be the consequence of a contact that is built with respect and care. So it is clear that the sale is not the goal of networking, but a nice and in many cases a logical consequence.

The comparison below goes into the details of the difference between selling and networking. The table shows several elements of “negative networking” by hard sellers on the one hand and “real networking” on the other hand. Hard sellers who network are focused on the short term while real networkers focus on the long term.

  1. Hard sellers who network are focused on the short term while real networkers focus on the long term.
  2. Hard sellers who network try to detect a need that can be satisfied by their product or service. Real networkers share any information that can be interesting for the other party.
  3. Hard sellers only give when they have an immediate profit. Real networkers give without expecting something back (and in the long run this usually pays off better too).
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