Posted by Brian McCullough

Speaking of LinkedIn, I stumbled across this the other day:

How I Got 13 Interviews in 10 Weeks (Without Submitting a Single Application)

In short, you keep hearing how LinkedIn is THE modern tool to use to find a job via networking, right? But maybe you’ve wondered exactly how you’re supposed to go about it. Well, this guy takes you step by step through his method. And it works as well for others as it did for him, he’s really spelled out how to use LinkedIn the right way.

Amazing read.

Posted by Brian McCullough

Quick post because I’m busy. But the new LinkedIn iPad app is absolutely fantastic. In the iTunes app store here.

Image courtesy of TechCrunch.

Posted by Brian McCullough

When should you discuss salary in a job interview?

It’s an old and well known job search strategy to let the employer name the salary first… if you can possibly get them to do so. The idea is that if you suggest the dollar figure first, then you might inadvertently end up getting less than the employer was willing to pay. Obviously, if the employer asks for your salary requirements in the job ad itself, you should be prepared to name a figure in the interview… but try to stall as much as politely possible.

After all, in a sense, your past salary is irrelevant information. A company has a need for someone to fill a position. And the company knows it can afford to pay someone X number of dollars to fill that position. You’re either willing to work for that X dollar figure or you’re not. So the only figure that matters is what this employer is willing to pay. What you were paid in the past is neither here nor there.

In most cases.

There are some cases where it would definitely be to your benefit to come out with your salary requirements, even if the employer hasn’t asked for them.

First, if the new employer is poaching you from an existing job, you should absolutely name a dollar figure that would make it worthwhile for you to jump ship. Unless you are dreadfully unhappy at your current employer, the poacher should expect that it would take a little extra to make you move.

Second, in some very competitive industries and job markets, naming your existing salary might be a decent indicator of your worth. Are you in an industry where a hiring manager might think: “Gee if our competitor is paying this guy six figures to do that job, then he must be good?” If you think that your salary might be helpful in identifying you as a rock star, then being free and open with your current salary might actually good advertisement for considering you.

Posted by Brian McCullough

By the time you reach the executive level, you have undoubtedly racked up a ton of skills and accomplishments. However, it’s not uncommon for your massive list to not translate well on the resume, leaving it too short. As an executive, you want to make sure that your resume fully represents what you’ve managed to accomplish over the years. So if yours isn’t long enough, here are some tips to help you stretch it out.

Tell Your Story

One way that you can stretch out your mini resume is to tell a story. While many resumes are typically thought of as dry documents (and cover letters are meant for storytelling), there are ways to sneak a story into yours. This is especially true for executive resumes for the same rules don’t apply as for career levels. There are a number of ways to tell your story, including defining who you are and what you want to accomplish in your executive profile, which replaces the objective/summary of qualifications. Also, you can tell 2-3 sentence stories as you define each one of your accomplishments with who, what, when, where, why and how information.

Include Every Detail

One habit that most workers get into early in their careers that seems to be hard to get out of is thoroughly keeping track of accomplishments every step of the way. Most times we’re too busy working to even notice what we’ve done. Then, before we know it, the moment is long gone, and we can’t remember much of anything about it.

The only problem with this “non-strategy” of recordkeeping is that when it comes time to include these events in a resume, all of the details are all but lost. So we end up including basic descriptions instead of describing each event as it truly occurred. In your case, remembering everything that occurred per accomplishment can help immensely when trying to stretch out the resume. So as mentioned in the previous section, it’s good to take time to think of who, what, when, where, why and how it was necessary to accomplish this great feat.

Try to Avoid Half Pages

That nagging half page can be a major annoyance when working on your resume. It seems that just when you’re putting the last few bits of information in the document, an entire section shifts to a new page, leaving you with a partial page to deal with. This means you either have to subtract information, or add new details.

In a concise resume, this isn’t easy to do. However, there are a few remedies that you can take advantage of including tweaking the margins of the document, as well as adjusting the font size in half numbers (doing this actually can make a huge difference). Also you can change the font style as long as it’s still professional. Just remember as you make these adjustments to maintain the same font consistency you had in your original version.

Every little thing counts when you’re creating your resume, and length is no exception. So as you think of all the tweaking you need to do, don’t forget to add length to your list as well.

This is a guest post. About the author:

Are you an Executive in need of a job? Be sure your resume is the best it can be. Choose an executive resume service that is best for you and your situation. Do it today at http://www.ResumeLines.com

Posted by Brian McCullough

Regardless of how constructive criticism of another person is meant to be, most people, when criticized in any way, are put on the defensive the second they feel as though they have done something wrong. Combine this natural defensiveness with the constructive criticism being given in the context of one’s work, and the potential for the “criticized” person to be left feeling beaten up increases dramatically. To minimize this potential and maximize the effectiveness of any difficult communication, it is helpful to think about what is being said not as criticism, but rather full and complete communication! Full and complete communication leaves no room for reading between any proverbial lines, and it provides the space to speak what is on our minds in a respectful and constructive way. Constructive criticism, how it is received, and its overall effectiveness can hinge on that one single factor.

Keys to Giving Constructive Criticism:

1. Before addressing the issue for which you want to give “constructive” criticism, ask permission to speak straight about what you see. Establish a good time to talk privately, and when talking privately say, for example, “I noticed that you had a difficult time with that transaction, and I’d like to help you refine your technique. Is it okay with you if I show you how you could improve your process?” By asking permission, you dismantle the automatic defensive reaction that we all have to criticism and open the door to full and complete communication.
2. After you have established permission to speak to the heart of the issue, address what you see from your own experiences. For example: “I remember when I was working on a similar project several years ago and this same thing happened to me. This is how I handled it…” By creating this type of relatedness, you come across in the manner that your criticism is intended, and that is constructively versus critically!
3. When providing constructive criticism, full and complete communication requires you to speak so that others can actually understand what it is that you are communicating. In other words, speak into the listening of others. We have all been victim of enough miscommunication to know that every individual listens and filters what is being said in different ways. Therefore, as the person giving criticism or communicating in any way, it is your responsibility to make sure that you communicate in such a way that the intended receiver actually understands what it is that’s being communicated.
4. Once you have spoken the information that you had permission to share, be open to discussing further what you are communicating. Encourage questions and go so far as to ask the receiver to tell you, in their own words, what they got out of what you said. In doing so, you have the opportunity to make sure that what you said was not misinterpreted in any way.
5. Don’t leave people feeling made wrong. Emphasize that mistakes or the need to tweak how we approach something are part of how we learn, and what is important is that they learn from the constructive criticism in order to avoid the same mistake in the future.
6. Provide the person you are communicating with another opportunity to speak regarding what they got from your input. Your goal is to always communicate fully and completely, leaving no room for misinterpretation, reading between the lines, or leaving people in a place where they don’t understand the intent of the original communication.
7. Finally, always acknowledge and thank the person you are talking with for allowing you to contribute to them.

Ultimately, criticism is nothing more than an opportunity to learn and grow inside of our jobs, relationships, and in the world as a whole, which is not always easy to see. So, whether criticism is seen as a critical or constructive is ultimately up to the person on the receiving end. However, as someone giving criticism, you have the opportunity to set the stage and ensure that what you have to say is given and taken in the best light possible.

This is a guest post. About the author:

Posted by Brian McCullough

Many professionals understand the importance of LinkedIn in your job search and how to start pursuing job opportunities using this professional networking platform. Once you have these basics under your belt, you are ready to move forward to more advanced LinkedIn job search strategies listed below.

Note: Even if you are not actively seeking an opportunity right now, following these tips for branding yourself and increasing your visibility and credibility across your network will only advance you further in your career and prepare you when it is time for a new opportunity or career change.

1. Brand Yourself: It is essential that you know your unique value and communicate it effectively. To do this, identify your top three to five overlapping strengths that you feel will support your desired career direction. Now create/find a word or phrase that can become your personal brand and that represents these strengths. Develop a short pitch that can follow your brand, describing your strengths in more detail. Most importantly, feature your personal brand in your Profile Header and both your brand and your supporting pitch in your Profile Summary.
2. Get Active in LinkedIn Groups: Start being active and contributing value from day one. Share interesting news with your groups, post links to intriguing articles and join in discussions to show your investment in your industry or area of interest. In addition to joining LinkedIn Groups, you may also choose to start your own group or become an active leader/moderator in an existing group.
3. Become an Expert: LinkedIn Answers is a unique Q&A forum on LinkedIn that allows members to post their own questions by category, as well as to contribute answers to others’ questions. Getting involved by asking questions, answering questions, and sharing insights and ideas related to your chosen industry is an effective way to establish your personal brand in an area of expertise. The person who posts each question must select the best answers from those who respond. If yours is selected, it is shown on your profile as sort of a badge of expertise on a given topic or given industry.
4. Follow Company Activity: Don’t forget that LinkedIn has Companies, its own comprehensive company directory. You can search for companies by any criteria and identify potential contacts in your network. You can also choose to follow the activities of specific companies by visiting their profiles and clicking the “Follow Company” link. This information can tell you whether the company is hiring and allows you to see the backgrounds of the candidates who are getting jobs there. It can also tell you when someone is hired for a position you’ve also applied for.
5. Informational Interviews: Informational interviews work in job searching and networking because they allow you to make a personal connection with a real human being, who is typically in a much better position to endorse you and recommend you internally in his/her company. LinkedIn is a great way to identify potential interviewees in your target companies and industries. You can reach out to them via email or send them a message directly depending on what level of connection you have with them and/or their privacy settings. You can also get introduced via the Introduction feature. On your 2nd and 3rd degree connections’ profiles, you will see a link “Get introduced through a Connection” that will allow you to send a message through the chain of people between you both. This is how you can leverage your current network to your advantage.
6. Profile Applications: There are a number of applications you can add to your profile to better brand yourself. You can feed your blog posts or the posts from your favorite blog right into your profile using WordPress or Blog Link. You can embed and share files and presentations in a portfolio via Google, SlideShare and Box.net. You can also feature your own works or your favorite or recommended reads for others with your Reading List by Amazon. There are multiple others from which to choose, but make sure to pick the applications that add the greatest value to your profile and candidacy.
7. Events: LinkedIn also has an increasingly popular events calendar that may become helpful in your personal branding and career search efforts. Attending relevant events can provide new information and training and can serve as continuing education and industry-related activity to feature on your resume and in your interviews. Events can also provide you with an opportunity to meet new, like-minded connections and build your network. Lastly, hosting or creating your own events is very easy to do on LinkedIn Events and can be a great way to build your own brand as a thought leader in your industry.

Remember that you don’t have to do everything listed here to make an impact on your career, and you certainly don’t have to be active every day; however, use these tips to customize your activity for career success on LinkedIn.

This is a guest post. About the author:

Chris Perry, MBA, is a Gen Y brand and marketing generator, brand marketing manager, career search and personal branding expert, professional speaker, entrepreneur and brand consultant. Chris is the founder of Career Rocketeer, the Career Search and Personal Branding Network, MBA Highway, the MBA Job Search and Career Network and multiple other ventures. Learn more about Chris on his website:http://chrisperry.me

Posted by Brian McCullough

Many years ago, when I first started this blog, I wrote a popular post about tax refunds. Since I posted about taxes earlier this week (and since most of you probably didn’t see it because the blog was young) I thought it would be worth pointing out again.

So if you’re expecting a tax refund, it turns out you can calculate exactly how much of a refund you’re going to get. For free.

There are several calculators that will do it all for you online. Just answer a series of questions, and have some recent pay stubs handy. Hopefully you’ll see some money coming your way:

efile 2012 Tax Calculator

Here’s one from H&R Block.

Here’s one from 1040.com.

And finally, here’s the offical IRS withholding calculator. If you don’t get your withholding right, you’re not going to get any refund! So use this tool to make sure you’ve got your W-4 set up properly!

Posted by Brian McCullough

It’s that time of year again, if you can believe it.

I just started working on my taxes this weekend, so I thought I’d do a bit of research for a nice worker/job-seeker friendly tax post.

It occurred to me that we’re all pining away for refunds aren’t we?

Did you know that 3/4ths of Americans get tax refunds every year? And the average refund is around $3000? That’s not chump change!

If you think you could do something useful with an extra few grand in your pocket, then you’re probably also wondering what might be the the fastest way to make that happen.

Well, once again, the IRS is pointing out that the quickest way to get your tax refund money is to choose direct deposit when you file. The IRS has been on this direct deposit kick for many years now. It saves them money. It saves trees.

But it also saves you time and gets your refund into your hot little hands much faster. My accountant told me that if I filed my return today (Jan. 30th) and requested a check by mail, I’d be fortunate to see that check by the end of February. But: according to the IRS, if you enter your direct deposit information when you file your 2011 taxes, you can see the money in your bank account in as little as ten days.

In addition, the IRS is quite flexible:

You can deposit your refund into multiple accounts. With the split refund option, taxpayers can divide their refunds among as many as three checking or savings accounts and up to three different U.S. financial institutions. Use IRS Form 8888, Allocation of Refund (Including Savings Bond Purchases), to divide your refund.

So if you’re getting ready to file your return, make sure to sign up for direct deposit.

Bonus tip: why turn around and spend your tax return? Why not invest in yourself? Put the money into your IRA! It’s bonus money, right? Let it work for you.

Posted by Brian McCullough

Here’s something that seems like a very plain vanilla job search trick, but it’s pretty useful if you don’t know how to do it.

When we print resumes on heavy resume paper for our clients, we will very often print on both sides of the paper. Thus, a 2-page resume can sit on one sheet of paper, front and back.

This weekend, I had a client ask if we used any sort of fancy printer to do it. She wanted to know if she could do this herself going forward. I said no. In fact, we use a very basic HP laser printer to do our printing, and I figure that a lot of modern printers can do what we do. So, if your printer is, say, less than 5 years old, you can print your resume on both sides of the paper as well.

Here’s how to do it:

How To Print Your Resume On Both Sides Of The Paper

Check and see if your printer handles “duplex printing.”

What is duplex printing? It’s the fancy term for… you guessed it… printing on both sides of the paper. If you have this feature, then the process is pretty straight forward and automated.

First, go to print. I’ll be assuming you’re using Microsoft Word.

Select print, but not “quick print.”

Next, you’re going to want to hit the Properties button.

Finally, you’re going to hit the Printing Shortcuts tab, and select Eco-print (Two-sided Printing)

And that’s it. Now when you hit OK to print, it will automatically print first on one side of the paper… then suck it back in and print on the other side.

By the way, you can click on any of the pictures above to enlarge them.

But What If My Printer Doesn’t Have Duplex Printing?

This is not a problem. Why? Because if you think about it, you can manually force any printer to print on both sides of the paper.

Simply print one page.

Then, take that page and manually feed it back into the printer, but being sure to turn it over. Now, print page 2. It should come out on the other side of the page you’ve just printed.

You might have to experiment a few times to get this right, as some printers feed upside down, head to foot, etc.

But if you just experiment a little with manually feeding the paper, absolutely any printer can print on both sides of the paper.

Simple tip, I know. But might be useful to some.

Posted by Brian McCullough

Most people look forward to job reviews about as much as they do a root canal. No matter how well you think you’re doing, there’s always the possibility that your supervisor will see things differently and call you on the carpet for your actions-or inactions. But there are steps you can take before, during, and after your evaluation to boost your career and actually help you look forward to reviews in the future.

Before the Review

Get on the boss’ calendar. While most people don’t enjoy a performance review, they are crucial to your career. So if your boss doesn’t conduct them on a regular basis (annually or semi-annually), the best thing you can do is ask for one. Why? First, you really do need to know what your supervisor thinks of your performance so that you can continue the good stuff and change the bad stuff. Unless you want to spend the rest of your career exactly where you are, that is. Second, reviews are typically when employers hand out raises and promotions. Not a bad incentive to schedule one today.

Come prepared. Sure, performance evaluations mostly consist of your manager telling you how she thinks you’re doing, but it should include some two-way communication. You should be prepared to share important information-such as your sales numbers, praise from satisfied clients, and projects you’ve spearheaded-so that you can lay out the positive contributions you’ve made.

During the Review

Stay calm. You may feel as jumpy as a kid in the principal’s office, but you need to force yourself to stay cool and professional at all times. And if the boss turns the conversation into a list of all the ways you’ve fallen short over the past year, don’t argue. It is okay, however, to respectfully point out the strengths you’ve brought to the organization. This is where your list of accomplishments comes in handy. And remember to never, ever take what your supervisor says personally. It’s business.

Iron out a plan for the next year. To avoid any surprises in future reviews, you need to know how your success will be measured. Ask your boss to work with you on a plan for the coming year (or six months) so that you both know how your progress will be measured. If there are markers in place-and you meet them-you’ll never fear a review again.

Ask for her input. You want to make sure your manager knows how committed you are to doing a good job for her. It may become crystal clear what skills she thinks you need to work on, but if not, ask her to share with you the areas in which she believes you need to improve. You’ll not only score major points for asking, but this may be the most valuable information you get out of your review.

Thank him. Especially if you feel like you’ve been raked over the coals, you may not want to express gratitude. But think about it this way: your boss has just given you very powerful information. He’s told you where he believes you have room for improvement, and, assuming you can make changes in those areas, you’re on your way to serious career growth. More money, more responsibility, a new title-it all starts with knowing where you stand with the head honcho.

After the Review

Determine a course of action. You should come out of your review with an action plan for the coming months, and there’s no time like the present to begin working on your goals. If your boss indicated that you need to acquire more skills to advance, begin looking into that computer or marketing class now.

Start looking around. If your review was more of a blood-letting than a constructive conversation between employer and employee, you may have to face the fact that your boss either doesn’t like you or doesn’t like the work you’re doing. If you think you can change one or both of those things, by all means, give it a try. If you don’t think that’s a possibility, start putting out discreet feelers for other opportunities.

This is a guest post. About the author:

Jason Kay recommends that you learn more job search strategies at JobGoRound.com