photo credit: mariahfleming

A professional introduction is a significant factor in establishing a positive first impression, critical for those seeking to advance in their careers. Although it is completely under our control, we often find ourselves on auto pilot; unconscious behaviour based on old habits, which may work for some but most individuals should be concentrating on the extra effort necessary to initiate a practiced and polished, professional introduction. Old habits are hard to break and without many years of experience introducing yourself in a professional environment, you may regret relying on your instincts.

Looking good is also critical to a professional introduction. If you’re not sure about your attire, ask for advice. If they’re not sure, buy a new suit! Practice at home in front of a mirror or even better, a video camera, concentrating on eye contact until you have a well rehearsed, clearly articulated, introductory message. Don’t wing it! You may not have realized that up until now, 50% of your vocabulary consisted of “eh?” Give careful consideration to your handshake and practice it. That may sound as ridiculous as advising those submitting a resume to include contact details but more often than not, it is the most basic of protocols and information that are given little attention or consideration leading to easily avoidable mistakes and lost opportunities. Many people do not provide a professional handshake with the majority offering a less than firm handshake, which is usually perceived as a lack of confidence. And then there are those whose handshake is far too firm, especially when the recipient is donning a ring! OUCH!!! 

Your investment in a professional introduction will contribute to establishing a memorable and confident first  impression. Follow these five tips to look good, feel good and sound good: 

• Attractive, clean and pressed attire
• Eye contact
• Confident but considerate handshake
• Practiced and polished verbal introduction
• Ask how you can help

How do you create a professional introduction when submitting your resume? Accompany your resume with a professional and personalized cover letter! 

Professional Independent Communicators Present:

Location: Metro Hall View Map

Are you happy and successful in your career? Do you know how to uncover jobs, contracts and freelance opportunities? This presentation, designed for both freelancers and employees, will provide you with answers to take charge of your career.    

By attending this presentation, you will learn:

• To develop an outstanding performance-based resume
• What search strategy will provide the best results on your time investment
• How to use social media to find key influencers

Speaker: Martin Buckland, founder of Elite Resumes

Martin Buckland is one of North America’s top career management professionals. Martin is a resume and career management expert for several associations and leading MBA schools. His peers recently voted Martin as one of the “Top 22 Career Management Professionals” in the world.

Register HERE

How competitive are you in today’s job market? Will you or your resume appear outdated? How familiar are you with today’s technology, fashion trends, terminology, favourite TV shows and social media? Lisa Johnson Mandell, author of Career Comeback, Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want, includes the following quote by Casey Stengel, “The trick is growing up without growing old.” This book is an excellent resource for anyone seeking a competitive edge in today’s job market and provides hundreds of tips to refresh, renew and stay current. 

In the past, branding was a term that would have been more familiar to most when referencing a product rather than an individual. Today, a personal branding strategy is a critical component in managing any executive career. An expert in Personal Branding, Paul Copcutt offers advice on promoting your brand in, “How do you communicate your personal brand via social media?”

Whether marketing a product for a large corporation or marketing yourself for a new executive position, it requires fresh new ideas and above all staying current. A candidate who has not changed their own appearance in 30 years is unlikely to give the impression to a potential employer that they are open to embracing new trends or have the forward thinking necessary to move their organization in a positive direction. You’ve likely traded in the vehicle you drove in the 70’s and acquired a new wardrobe but have you changed your hair style or removed the mustache or beard you were so proud to have been able to grow 30 years ago? Invest in updating your appearance and obtaining new professional profile photos. Not only is it guaranteed to improve your self esteem but you will likely appear more professional, confident and younger!

How long has it been since you updated your resume, your personal appearance, your education or your network of professionals? The odds of acquiring a new position will increase dramatically if your mindset is one of enthusiasm, confidence and a genuine desire to embrace new challenges and implement positive changes. Consider the services of an Executive Career Management Professional to refresh, renew and stay current.

Are you currently in career transition? If so, you have likely estimated the length of time you are expecting it will take to secure a new position and have set your goals accordingly. How have you determined this time frame? Some career professionals suggest an old rule of thumb theory, which suggests that simply allocating one month for every $10,000 in earnings will establish an approximate time frame. This is more accurate than you may think and is clearly reflected in a recent study of 9 professionals from an independent networking group for people in career transition who have landed over the past 4 months.

The following is an account of their length of time in career transition and the title of their new position :

10 months – Manager Sales Support
  9 months – Professional Services
18 months – Regional IT Manager
10 months – Manager, Finance and Operations
  6 months – Project Manager
  8 months – undisclosed
13 months – Marketing Director, Telecommunications
11 months – Country Sales Manager, Canada
15 months – Manager Sales Support & Marketing

Despite the accuracy of the old rule of thumb theory, all of these professionals fully expected to land their new positions within a much shorter time frame. Positive thinking is key to a successful job search and accepting the reality that a career transition could take a number of months and not weeks will allow you to fully prepare yourself, your family and your financial affairs enabling you to be fully engaged in a successful search. False hopes could lead to discouragement and disappointment negatively impacting your determination, confidence and productivity at this critical time.

No one can say for sure how long anyone will spend in career transition but securing the services of an Executive Career Management Professional will provide you with the opportunity to secure your next position within a shorter time frame. Consider the ROI in reducing your job search by one month or two or three! Contact Elite Resumes to speak with Martin Buckland, Certified Professional Resume Writer, Certified Personal Branding Strategist, Certified Job Search Strategist, Co-Pilot Executive Coach, Certified Employment Interview Professional and Certified Job Search Trainer.

“Protect my tweets” is the only option in Tweet Privacy, one of the few Account Settings required to create a Twitter profile. Additional ”Account Settings” consist simply of your Name, Username, Email, Language, Time Zone and Tweet Location. Although simple and self explanatory, instructions are included with each criteria.

There should be little confusion in choosing a name or email address but it seems that there are still many who may not understand the premise of Twitter because if they did they would never check the box in Tweet Privacy to “Protect my tweets”. Privacy issues continue to remain top news with Facebook taking the brunt of criticism for some time now to set the precedent. No other social media site is going to establish a site offering online accounts visible to millions without including some form of “privacy options”. The question is whether the options available are based on any rationale regarding the use of the social media site or simply to protect against privacy advocates.

Regardless of the reason behind the privacy option offered by Twitter, the question is, why would any user on Twitter choose to select the “Protect my Tweets” option? Could it simply be an unconscious error? Or maybe a considerate user with the urge to share inappropriate information that could be considered offensive? The 140 characters you choose to tweet could consist of anything including a personal message or a link to an article blog post or website. The people you share your tweets with are your followers and you have the option to follow anyone you are interested in as long as they haven’t protected their tweets in which case you will see “pending” and my reaction to that is to cancel my decision to follow them and I am left with the question, who or what are they protecting their tweets from and why?   

The more people you follow, “Following”, the more feedback you will receive and the more people that follow you, “Followers”, will result in more people receiving your message, known as a “tweet”. Should you find yourself offended by anyone, you have the option to select an “Action” associated with anyone you are following or anyone who is a follower to unfollow, block or report for spam. There is no reason to choose to protect all of your tweets, simply allow everyone who is interested in you to follow your tweets and if you don’t want a particular individual to see what you tweet, block them!

If your audience consists of only a few followers, how much influence will you have? If you are only following a few people how much value are you missing out on from some of the most inspiring, intellectual and thought provoking people in the world? If you don’t “believe” in Twitter right now, you may want to consider what the following companies and individuals may know that you don’t.

“Of the Fortune Global 100 companies, 65% have active Twitter accounts”, data collected between November 2009 and January 2010 among the top 100 companies of Fortune’s Global 500 companies by Burson-Marsteller. There were less than 75 million users on Twitter in November 2009 and today there are over 100 million! If the most successful companies in the world are not impressive enough, how about some of the most successful individuals in the world: @RichardBranson, @BillGates, @Oprah, @BarackObama, and the list goes on and on. Visit www.celebritytweet.com and although you will find @MileyCyrus and @JustinBeiber, you are mistaken if you think it is just for kids. Feel free to follow @JaneFonda, @Joan_Rivers, @AshtonKucher or @KevinSpacey. You will not receive the “pending” message if you choose to follow any of these people becasue none of them have checked the “Protect my Tweets” box.

Your future success will be influenced by the  reputation and recommendations you establish throughout your career and how you choose to quit your job may or may not have an impact. It is very likely that the following individuals would have benefited if they had opted for a professional conversation with a senior company official followed by a formal letter of resignation, however this was not the case. A recent post on The Chive, “Girl quits job on dry erase board, emails entire office“, has generated interest in a young woman who went public to quit her job and expose her boss. She said her boss, Spencer was called, ”a garbage di Spencer” when referring to the trash and she displayed a totally inappropriate comment that he is alleged to have made during a phone call. This has caught the interest of a huge, supportive following of cheer leaders and well wishers. I won’t disagree that her boss probably got what he deserved but I can’t help thinking, as an employer would I really want to hire this girl? As a business owner or HR professional, would I feel assured that she would react in the best interest of the company at all times utilizing diplomacy, discretion and good judgement?

Another highly publicized incident this week was a flight attendant’s departure from his job upon arrival at Kennedy Airport. Reports allege Slater, a 28 year veteran argued with a passenger, used the public address system to swear at passengers and then pulled the emergency shoot to exit the plane with a beer in his hand! Don Sutton, CB Online provides an account and some good advice in, When to use the emergency chute: a flight attendant’s last flight , saying, “…take a deep breath and remember flight attendant Slater — once you really slide down that emergency chute, you can never crawl back up.”

Obviously a formal letter of resignation was not contemplated by either of these employees and despite their radical and unprofessional behaviour, both are attracting a huge following of supporters. Is it possible that so many people are that unhappy in their careers that they are actually envious of these two individuals quitting their jobs?  Or is it just the fact that many are empathetic to those who have reached the ”the final straw” and “lost it” at work?

Quitting your job with a vengeance, whether it is swearing at disrespectful customers or the public humiliation of your boss is not in your best interest if you have any desire to advance in your career. Your reputation is damaged and the opportunity to acquire glowing recommendations from your boss or the company is forever lost. Remember, it is “just a job” and you do have the choice to leave it and maintain a professional reputation and gain recommendations that will support your career advancement long into your future. Remember that teacher in grade eight that you detested? He isn’t there anymore and no one even remembers his name but what does remain is the name of the school you attended and the grade you received.

What is the one word that describes you? This is likely a question you have heard alot lately especially if you are in career transition. More than ever before the key to advancing your career is to promote your value. Give careful consideration to the one word that will describe your most impressive attribute but at the same time distinguish you from the competition. Although passion and drive are highly influential to employers, too many individuals refer to themselves as passionate when in fact few people really are truly passionate about what they do. It is so widely used that it risks credibility and will not help you to stand out from the competition. Consider words such as inquisitive, audacious, competitive, ambitious, intuitive, savvy and indomitable. Steer clear of out of date, overused or boring words such as results-oriented, methodical, detail oriented and communicative. 

Do you have a tag line? A clear, concise tag line should compliment the one word that describes your strongest attribute and be consistently displayed to establish your brand and promote your value. Is your tag line contained in your resume, Resume Writing Tag Lines? Be sure to include it in social media profiles and on your website. A business card is a must and an effective tag line will ensure a lasting impression.   

Consumers and HR professionals are looking for and willing to pay for value. Managing a successful career involves promoting your value. Why should your next employer invest in you? What value will you bring to their organization?

Contact Martin Buckland, Certified Professional Branding Strategist to unearth your unique promise of value! 

…informative, interesting, newsworthy, user-friendly, uncomplicated, inspiring, fun, professional, social, influential, real-time, networking, marketing, mobile, private tweets, public tweets, retweets 

And Twitter is:

• 140 character tweets providing links to anything

• CNN Breaking News and The New York Times tweeting for over 5 million followers 

• Searching #hashtags for relevant feedback

• Immediate, non-invasive feedback from large audiences to live presenters

• Communication for virtual events

• A job search tool

• Companies engaging their customers

• Speakers engaging their audience

• Validated sites, sounds, info, news and more

• 100 million users

• over 600 tweets per second

• 30% over $100,000 in household income

• 45% over 18 yrs of age

• 24% over 35 yrs of age

• 14% over 50 yrs of age

Resources and further information: 

http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/infographic-twitter-statistics-facts-figures/

http://aneliteresume.com/job-search/twitter-we-are-the-voice/

http://www.triveraguy.com/2010/07/twitter-new-media-or-news-media/

How many seconds will you spend looking at a Facebook Page, Twitter profile, Linkedin profile, a professional resume, a video on Youtube or any website before you make a conscious decision to look and stay or look away? Most studies indicate an impression will be established and the resulting decision to stay or look elsewhere within 10 to 30 seconds.

Are you still reading this post or have you moved on? The time you’ve spent looking at this page and reading the first paragraph likely exceeds the average time it takes to instill an impression and make the decision to stay, exit from the site or discard a resume.

Are you catching the attention of those you wish to influence? Are you establishing a positive first impression? Have you presented a clear message? Let’s face it, 10 to 30 seconds leaves little time for even the best speed readers or those with photographic memories to obtain a valid first impression. Consideration must be given to the “look” and the content that stands out. Here are a few tips to consider if you want to inspire your audience to stay with you.

A professional resume or online profile will be perceived within the first few seconds as little more than an overall image with limited content absorbed prior to making the decision to read on. Does it look professional? Is it complete and concise? Have you increased the font size or chosen the content to bold that you want to stand out? If you are promoting yourself as a professional seeking a new position as VP Sales & Marketing, it is not in your best interest to show an online image taken in your back yard with your child’s camera. Your resume should also look professional with impressive and quantifiable accomplishments that will stand out in a graph rather than highlighting your hobby of mountain biking.    

Online videos continue to become more popular but I find myself more often than not exiting the video before it ever gets to the main content as the introductions seem to ramble on far too long. I already know what it is about, which is why I wanted to watch it in the first place. Time is of the essence so the information provided must be concise and relevant. Although many live, interactive videos are available, accommodating busy schedules usually finds us listening to a recording so time spent to advise the time, discuss the weather or technical and sound checks is not relevant information. The lack of a professional appearance or image and a less than articulate speaker will also encourage a viewer to move on to one of millions of other available videos.

A Facebook Page is important for any professional or business. In order to create a page that will catch the attention of your audience within a few seconds and communicate a clear message it is important to provide as much information as possible on your Wall. Creating additional tabs and information is ok if you have the time but the majority of people will only spend 10 to 30 seconds which means they will not venture past your Wall. Add FBML boxes to display most or all of the content in your Info tab on your Wall tab including the links to other sites.

Blogs and articles are now being authored by millions of content producers, some authoring long drawn out repetitious articles and others aware that a blog post that is short, concise and delivers a clear message will be more successful in keeping the attention of their audience. Blog posts with titles such as “the top ten tips”, or ”the top 2o…” are extremely popular drawing the attention of billions of readers.

If I have managed to keep your attention this long, thank you! I hope the impression you leave with is a positive one and that you will benefit from the tips that have been provided here.

Hubspot shows some interesting social media stats and tips on B2B and B2C marketing in this presentation. The impact of social media in the career industry has been equally significant. Recent studies show over 80% of HR professionals and recruiters are using social media to review potential candidates. How are you managing your career? Will you be found? If so, is your online profile professional and up to date? A professional resume will always be the number one marketing tool in your job search but your online profile has now become a mandatory component for anyone interested in managing a successful career.

Contact Martin Buckland to find out more about the wide range of executive career management services available from Elite Resumes.