From the Law to the Waves and the Stage

From the Law to the Waves and the Stage Success Story > From: Job To: Startup From the Law to the Waves and the Stage “If you wanted to make a career of it you had to make it your life. But I wanted to work to live, not live to work.” * From the Law to the Waves and the Stage After Dee Ripollqualified as a lawyer, she quickly started to dread going into work, with its long hours and office politics. She spent her days wishing she could be out surfing, or being a rock star. So... that's exactly what she did! Here, she shares how she made her dreams come true. What work were you doing previously? I trained and qualified as a lawyer. I had just completed my traineeship at a general practitioners. My work involved court work, property, conveyance, private clients and family law. I wasn’t sure which specific area I wanted to go in, so this was a good way to try out different areas in the law. What are you doing now? I have started my own surf school, and I am a surfing instructor. I work alongside the Scottish Surfing Federation, to get more women and youth into surfing. I also visit schools to tell my story of how to pursue your passion, set goals, and live a healthy lifestyle. Alongside this, I play drums and sing in my band, Evera. Why did you change? My heart was never really in law. At school, I’d always wanted to be a PE teacher. I had good grades in PE, but everyone encouraged me to do law at university as a start towards a stable, interesting profession. I wasn’t hugely passionate about it at university, however once I’d finished my degree my family encouraged me to do the diploma, and the next natural progression was qualifying. Seven years later and I find that I’m a qualified lawyer! During the traineeship I wasn’t happy at all. I thought I’d be helping people, but in fact it was about making money and being a commercial enterprise. I’m quite a sensitive person, and often I had to do a lot of matrimonial work which was hard to not got emotionally involved in. It was stressful and you probably need to be a bit harder to deal with it. I’d do my best at work, but was often just thinking about the waves and wanting to surf. I hated being chained to a desk in an office. I missed interacting with people in a more sociable way. When was the moment you decided to make the change? There was no big light bulb moment. My heart was never in law, so when my passion for surfing started taking off, it felt like the right thing to do. The office politics made it stressful. If you wanted to make a career of it you had to make it your life. But I wanted to work to live, not live to work. You’re not treated well. The more established lawyers had to pay their dues to get where they are, and there’s an expectation. The pay is terrible for the first few years until you make a jump to associate or partner. You work all day every day until midnight, you have no life, and aren’t being compensated well for that, in relation to my friends who worked in other sectors such as banking. Are you happy with the change? Yes, so happy with the change. During the traineeship, I would get that Sunday evening sickness, I couldn’t sleep because I didn’t want to go to work that week. I dreaded it. And I wondered if that feeling was normal, if after all the studying and training that this is what I was supposed to feel like about work? Career change has made such an impact on my life. My partner went through my unhappiness with me. When you’re unhappy at work, it put strains on your relationships - with partners and family. If you’re not happy at work then you’re negative in your life. Once I made the change, I look at things completely differently. I have a more upbeat outlook and am more fun to be around. How did you decide which new career path to take? I thought about going back to PE teaching, but actually my ‘unrealistic dream’ was to be in a rock band. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. I took a step back and looked at what I wanted to do. I knew that I loved surfing, and that I’d wanted to be a PE teacher, and so this is a combination of the two. I know its so difficult as many of my friends say they don’t know what they really want to do. If there’s anyway you can make a passion outside of work a means of income, and make your passions more a part of your daily life, then you have to go for it. What do you miss and what don't you miss? Honestly, maybe a few moments made me happy. I was sent flowers a couple of times from a client who was happy with my work. Things like that were really nice - knowing you had made a difference in someone’s life. I enjoyed meeting clients, and feeling like I could be of assistance. I don’t miss wearing a suit, the stuffy work environment, or being in a regimented workplace. How did you go about making the shift? Around the same time as qualifying as a lawyer, I also became the Scottish Ladies Surfing Champion. I was picked up by O’Neill for sponsorship. Because my legal training contract had ended, I didn’t have a job. So I decided to do a surf instruction course, and was lucky to land a job at Granite Reef surf school four weeks after completing the course. After teaching there, I spent a season as a surf instructor in France, then when I came back to the UK decided to start up my own surfing school. I didn’t have a plan, I just made a go of it. I also wanted to pursue music, so wanted to find a way to make both the surfing and music work. I had to tighten my budget and structure my time better. How did you handle your finances to make your change possible? Because I got the job at Granite Reef after the surf instructing course I was only really out of work for a month. I had savings set aside just in case. When I decided to set up the business, the financial aspect was difficult. I ploughed my savings into the business without knowing if it will work. I couldn’t have done it without the support of my partner and family. I worked as a nanny for three months whilst getting everything going, to get money, and I liked working with kids. It didn’t bother me. You have to do what you have to do. It was difficult changing from the stability of a monthly salary, to the uncertainty of not having that or knowing where money would be coming from. What was the most difficult thing about changing? The reaction from most people. Everyone would say ‘Are you serious?’ when I told them I wanted to leave law to surf and do music. They almost said it with disgust. My family were worried. Everyone around me was concerned, so that made me feel like ‘is this going to go completely wrong and I’ll make a fool of myself?’ I suppose the moral of the story is if you want something, you do what you have to. My close family were concerned about the lack of stability. They were also concerned that I’d done seven years of training as a lawyer, and was throwing it away. But I feel like I can fall back on my law training if I absolutely need to. I was happy of what I’d achieved in law. I think it could be a generational thing. Some older people, like my granny, didn‘t really understand. Also some people make their career their life, trying to climb the work ladder, but I wanted to do something different, that gave me total fulfilment. What help did you get? My family and my partner’s family, my partner was hugely supportive. I know I couldn’t have done it without him. He does the website, helped with exhibitions, and is always hugely supportive. My sister too, who is in the band with me. It always helps to have a lot of support. Close friends were really supportive. Nobody was against me. Once everyone got over the initial shock they were okay about it. Regarding the business start-up, I used the Business Gateway website and spoke with them on the phone a couple of times. My partner and other family members had their own businesses so having that helped, I could ask them for help if needed. What have you learnt about yourself in the process? I learnt that even the best laid plans don’t always turn out they way you expect them to. You have to be flexible. I’m quite a perfectionist and set myself super high targets when I got started. I have to manage my time which you didn’t have to do in an office. In the first week f business I was up until 1am answering emails, because I wanted to give a good service and get back to everyone within an hour of their email! I needed to learn how to manage time better and be less of a perfectionist. What do you wish you'd done differently? I wondered what it would have been like if I had done PE teaching. I wouldn’t have done everything differently though. It was hard work but I’m glad I qualified as a lawyer. Life is about making choices and its great to steer you own path, to make your own way. I’m glad I did what I did. What would you advise others to do in the same situation? Believe in yourself that you can do it. Follow your dreams. You only get one chance at life so what’s the point in living with regrets. The world we live in is very much ‘you need to have a big house, car etc’ but its all the material things, that for me don’t matter. I’d rather have a smaller house and car I can afford to run, and be doing what I love and making a living from it. You can do what you want to do. You will have to make sacrifices. Yet it’s so rewarding when you do it. What lessons could you take from Dee's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.

Learn From Well Branded Student Meagan Burns - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Learn From Well Branded Student Meagan Burns - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career I came across Meagan Burns, a Junior at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, when she followed me on Twitter.  After checking out her web presence, I was struck how well shed successfully hit on the fundamentals of personal branding. Shes also built a seriously awesome online presence. You should take a page out of Meagans book. Heres why. Visuals I was immediately drawn in by Meagans Twitter background choice. Talk about visually branded. Her Twitter profile visuals are also consistent with the background of her personal site,  MeaganBurns.com. Are you using unique, consistent visuals to reinforce your personal brand? Bio Meagans Twitter bio reads: Im a SVA Graphic Design Student living in NYC. I love typography and bright colors! Its refreshing to find a two-sentence bio that hits the facts and shows the human side. Shes a student, shes studying Graphic Design, she lives in NYC, she loves typography, and lets face it I love bright colors she has personality.  Are you using bios on your web profiles to effectively give a taste of who you really are? Web Portfolio Meagan does killer work. But her presentation of her work is what really caught my eye. Its obvious that she really cares about what she does.  Do you have a web portfolio that powerfully showcases your accomplishments, and conveys the effort you put into displaying it? Reachable Meagans contact info, web profiles and downloadable resume are right at the top of her site. Shes made herself ridiculously easy to reach. How easy are you to reach? If I wanted to,  how  easily can I find your contact info, profiles and resume online? What You Can Learn From Meagan Meagan is an excellent example a young careerist blazing her own trail on the web. Over 75 million people a day do people searches in Google. If you dont capture their attention in the first five seconds, youve probably already lost them to another website. So take this page out of Meagans book and be sure to: Use unique  visuals  consistently across the web to strengthen your brand. Craft a short  bio  that reveals your personality. Develop a  web portfolio  to showcase what youve done. Make your  contact info  and  resume  dead simple to find. Meagans full bio: Im a Junior at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and I couldnt be happier. Ive learned the ins and outs of typography, color, and most importantly the good, the bad, and the plain old ugly. I am fluent in the Adobe Suite, know HTML, CSS and am currently learning flash. Ive been designing websites on my own for about 7 years. My typography skills are borderline obsessive; poorly done type makes my eyes hurt and I get way too passionate about typefaces. Most importantly, I am an extremely flexible designer who knows the importance of understanding the client and audience. Check out Meagans work at  MeaganBurns.com. Author: Pete Kistler is a leading Online Reputation Management expert for Generation Y, a top 5 finalist for Entrepreneur Magazine’s College Entrepreneur of 2009, one of the Top 30 Definitive Personal Branding Experts on Twitter, a widely read career development blogger, and a Judge for the 2009 Personal Brand Awards. Pete manages strategic vision for Brand-Yourself.com, the first online reputation management platform for job applicants, named one of the Top 100 Most Innovative College Startups in the U.S.

Strategies Entrepreneurs Can Use to Stand Out to Investors - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Strategies Entrepreneurs Can Use to Stand Out to Investors - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The following answers are provided by members of  Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched  BusinessCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. 1. Develop a Web Presence Become a contributor for several industry specific websites and publish content on a regular  basis. You can also create a personal website that highlights your expertise and serves as a hub, pointing potential investors to all of your content online. A personal website (YourName.com) will rank high in the organic search results with very minimal SEO, allowing you highlight your expertise.   â€"  Marc Lobliner,  TigerFitness.com and MTS Nutrition 2. Clarify the Problem You Solve The most important thing investors are looking for is a clear understanding of the problem you are offering solutions to, why you are the best solution out there, and how you are unique to your competitors. The biggest challenge entrepreneurs face is spending too much time focused on their solution and not enough time clarifying the scope of the problem.   â€"  Justin Sachs,  Motivational Press 3. Dont Be Afraid to Showcase Your Strengths Has your business been featured in an article?   Were you quoted with other thought leaders in your industry? Share it! So many people are worried about over-posting that they forget to share the pieces that showcase who they are and the business they are building.   â€"  Jennifer Mellon,  Trustify 4. Let Others Vouch for You Having a  positive  reputation means there are others who think highly of you. Instead of talking  yourself up to investors (or anyone else youre trying to sell), let your professional network speak on your behalf. Leverage introductions and positive references from mutual connections to stand out. Investors will take an entrepreneur more seriously as a result.   â€"  Roger Lee,  Captain401 5. Thoroughly Complete Your LinkedIn Profile Every section of your LinkedIn profile should be complete. Investors will review your profile before making a decision, and your personal brand just may be what makes them wish to invest with you rather than a competitor.   â€"  Andrew Schrage,Money Crashers Personal Finance 6. Get to Know the Investor Many entrepreneurs forget that a successful relationship has two  sides. As such, they spend too much time on themselves and their accomplishments instead of learning what is important to the potential investor. If you want to appeal to a person, take the initiative to understand them and reach out with something that provides a genuine value. If you cant add value, maybe its not  the right fit.   â€"  Jeff Jahn,  DynamiX 7. Be Dependable Your investors dont care about your personal brand other than you being a dependable entrepreneur that can deliver results. Showcase this dependability by reaching your milestones, being transparent, and keeping them closely informed on a monthly basis through a video or newsletter update. Real entrepreneurs deliver results and communicate them in a clear and consistent manner.   â€"  Andy Karuza,  FenSens 8. Dont Try So Hard I hate when people spend the first 15 minutes of our meetings enumerating their bona fides. It stinks of insecurity and self-indulgence. The most impressive people begin meetings assuming that their personal brand is beyond question. Focus on the quality of what you do, and the personal brand will follow.   â€"  Joel Butterly,  InGenius Prep 9. Focus on Messaging That Shows Leadership and Execution Create messaging to tell investors the things about your business they care about, like what drives you to keep growing, vision, growth rates and financial metrics. Talk about the role of each principle forming a coherent team to achieve the near-term and long-term vision for the company. Savvy investors care more about the leadership team and execution than the original idea.   â€"  Joshua Lee,  StandOut Authority 10. Create a Video You can create video content of yourself as the leader of your brand, by showcasing how your brand adds value to your potential investor. This is a great way to help investors understand who you are and who the person behind the brand is. It is also a great way to showcase your company and help develop your brand to customers who may be interested in your goods or services.   â€"  Stanley Meytin,  True Film Production 11. Build and Implement a CEO Brand You can build a smart CEO brand by identifying the type of publications and conferences your target investors read/participate in.  If you are getting coverage or speaking at these events, it makes you a clear thought leader and demonstrates to the investor that you are worth pursuing.   Weve used this technique with pre-revenue and early-stage businesses on a number occasions.   â€"  Raoul Davis,  Ascendant Group 12. Speak Directly to the Investors as if You Already Have the Deal Most entrepreneurs create investor decks and memorize the delivery. While a flawless presentation is key to a successful investor pitch, what about your personal brand? You are a human speaking to other humans who just want to learn more about you and how you will execute the strategic vision of the company. Learn about the investors individually and speak to them as if you already have the deal.   â€"  Nick Chasinov,  Teknicks 13. Be Authentic Its easy to get wrapped up in the idea of a personal brand, but the truth is that investors invest in  people, not personal brands. Just focus on building a great business and being as authentic as you can. If youre authentic in your relationships, youll get something far more valuable and lasting than a personal brand.   â€"  Brittany Hodak,  ZinePak 14. Build an Audience Community is the new currency. Its equity. Building an authentic audience that loves you requires you to be able to flex some serious marketing chops and self-awareness.   â€"  Alexander Mendeluk,  theDisruptive SpiritHoods

How to Find Your Dream Job in 4 Steps

How to Find Your Dream Job in 4 Steps How to Find Your Dream Job in 4 Steps Applying for Jobs / https://www.edenscott.com/blog If youre looking for how to find your dream job, youre in the right place.Im going to walk you through how to get noticed and get responses from top companies so you can find your dream job.And if youre not sure what your dream job is yet, Ill show you some tricks to figure out what type of jobs youd like (in the second half of this article).Lets get startedThe Secret Strategy for Finding Your Dream JobThe hardest part about finding a good job these days is how competitive it is. Its becoming harder to get noticed and get responses from companies.Good job postings receive 50-100 applicants or more.In this article, youre going to learn how you can you stand out and get noticed, and how to find your dream job by thinking differently.If you think you’ve tried everything, I’m here to tell you, you haven’t tried this.I’m going to teach you a process for reaching out and engaging with a large number of people in your industry to find a new job or upg rade your career.This process will help you put yourself in front of many people in the industry you want to work in, effectively giving you as many opportunities as possible to find a new position, and potentially find your dream job.You will be creating a list of all the workplaces you would like to work in, and systematically starting conversations with people in these workplaces to find a position for yourself. And you are going to learnhow to besuper suave about it. Here’s the process. Step 1: Make Your ListDon’t think in terms of “I just want a job” as that will get you nowhere. You need to really think of the types of places you WANT to work, otherwise you won’t have any direction or motivation to go through this process.(Youll also be less attractive to employers if you cant name specific reasons why you applied for their job and want to work for them. This is one of the top reasons people fail their job interviews in the first few minutes of the conversation).So s tart by brainstorming all the companies you would like to work for and all the kinds of positions you want. Bonus points if you look up companies that do have open job postings. However a company doesnt need to be hiring for you to approach them.In fact, theres a lot less competition when you email a company that doesnt have a job posted publicly. This can be a key to finding your dream job emailing companies even if you dont see the perfect-fitting job on their website.More on this coming up! For now go create a list of 20-50 companies you would like to work for. It may take you a few hours to put this together, but the potential payoff is HUGE.You also need to find the contact info of the most relevant people in that company that you could talk to. You may have to use your judgement on who that person is. This can happen while you are looking for companies and job postings or after you have accumulated your list.It won’t always be the HR/hiring manager. If it is a sales positio n you are looking for, then the sales manager would be the most relevant person to talk to. If the company is really small, maybe it makes sense to reach out to the CEO directly. After you have built your list of strangers, you are going to need to warm them up to you.Step 2: Send “Pre-Heater” EmailsYou are going to send your prospects a pre-heater email to warm them up to you. The email will consist of 2 parts: personalized knowledge of the company and an engaging question. This is to initiate contact with them, start the conversation, and give you a reason to talk to them. You need to make the personalized knowledge section of the email personal to each company you are contacting. But each one of these can be whipped up in a matter of minutes.We’re going to use the example of someone who’s in sales, looking to find a position in a new company. Here’s an example email you’d send. “Hi Name,I was doing some research on (company’s name), I really like how you take a re al benefits approach to pitching prospects. I don’t see many companies do that, so I was impressed. I just had a quick question, what is the number one trait you look for in new salespeople that really helps them start selling quick?” Other examples of engaging questions:What is the most amazing thing someone has done to stand out in a job interview? What things do you think led to your top salespeople excelling in your company?What are some of the challenges you face when training new salespeople in your business? Asking targeted questions is a great way to show that youre interested and prepared for a conversationBasically, you are showing youve done some research into the company. Also, asking a slightly unusual question will prompt them to get back to you. Some people will respond to your email, some will ignore it. However, it doesn’t really matter if they ignore your email. That email itself is your “IN”. It may take a few days for them to respond to your email, so d on’t worry if they don’t immediately start emailing you. If they DO respond you’ll need to write a followup email reply that goes something like this:“Thanks for the advice. I’m really looking to get advice from as many people in different sales positions as possible to really excel in my field. You seem to know what you’re talking about. Think you could spare 5 mins to have a quick call with me? I just wanted to find out a little more about what has led to the success of the new salespeople you hire so I can apply it to the next position I work in.”Your main goal with the followup email is to get them on the phone with you. The thing is, even if they don’t respond, you will be calling them anyway. The process doesn’t change much if they don’t respond to you, just what you’ll initially say when they pick up the phone. Step 3: Develop Your PitchYou are going to have to learn how to pitch yourself. Eventually in these conversations you will be asked about what yo u do. So you better have a good answer to that question. Create an elevator pitch for yourself. In about 4 sentences clearly and concisely explain what makes you awesome and end with what you are looking for.. If you have a sales background here is an example of your pitch:“I’ve worked in sales for 5 years, ran my own franchise of a window cleaning business and broke sales records. I’m looking for a job that will challenge me to grow as a sales person, I excel at person to person sales, but I really want to learn about big ticket sales. So I’m shopping around for a few different positions currently and learning how to really upgrade my sales potential.”Once you have your pitch ready, you can start to plan out what you will say when you get them on the phone.Step 4: Plan Out Your Phone ScriptYou are going to plan out a call script to engage with your “Prospect” so to speak. You aren’t going to map out a whole conversation, just plan a few questions to ask your prospec t. You will also need to know how you are going to lead the conversation into asking about job openings. Don’t let a lack of email reply stop you from calling them. If they didn’t respond to your email you’ll just say this when you call them:Hi (Name),I’m just following up on an email I sent you. My name is (Name), and I’m doing some research into some of the traits that lead to new salespeople excelling. I did some research into your company and liked how your sales message is focused on how you save customers time in their daily routine. Since your company seems to have a pretty good sales process set up I was wondering if you had a few minutes to answer a few quick questions I have about excelling as a new salesperson.” Then you can go into the body of your script. If they did agree to talk to you:“Hi (Name), thanks for taking the time to talk to me.”The body of your call script:In the body of your phone script, you are going to ask a few questions to engage with your prospect. Their answers are giving you AMMO. What they answer is letting you know valuable details for the industry you are looking to get a job in as well as what points you can emphasize when you start asking about positions within the companyPlan out a few high level questions you could ask like the ones below: What sorts of traits lead to a new salesperson becoming successful in your company?What has been one of the main things that have led to your success in this company?What would you recommend for someone like me to work at a good company like yours?Any other questions that you think would be relevant to show that you are looking to make yourself the ideal candidate for the position would be great to ask here. After a few questions, you are going to ask the big question“I’ve worked in sales for 5 years, ran my own franchise of a window cleaning business and broke sales records. I’m really looking for a job that will challenge me to grow as a salesperson, I excel a t person to person sales, but I really want to learn about big-ticket sales. So I’m shopping around for a few different positions currently and learning how to upgrade my sales potential.”“Do you think there’s any current need for someone with my skill set in your company?” You may get a “no” here, but that’s alright. You are still going to look for any other openings you can. “Do you know anyone else in the industry I could talk to about this type of work?”Asking for referrals is a fantastic way to build your list of possible prospects. And if they do give you a referral, that is a very strong lead for a possible position. “Mind if I check in in a month to see if anything changed?”This will leave the door open for future contact with this person.Now people won’t be throwing jobs at you just because you asked them a few questions. However, you will have engaged with them in a way that almost nobody has before. Eventually you’ll engage with the right perso n, and find yourself in a job offer position. This is much more effective than spamming your resume to as many people as possible. Now the trick is to keep track of all your possible leads and follow up with them at appropriate times. Time investment: ~2 days for all the setup and calling. Potential upside: A new awesome job.You are making a bunch of small bets, with a big potential payoff. Will you get rejected a lot? Yes. Does it matter? No. This is how to find your dream job even if youre in an ultra-competitive job market and feel like nothing youve tried before is working.How to Find Your Dream Job if Youre Not Sure What It Is YetNow, we looked at how to find your dream job by targeting the right companies and approaching them in a way that will help you stand out.But what if youre not sure what type of job would be your dream job? Maybe you just graduated, or have been working a few years but havent found anything that excites you.Well, there are a couple of ways to figure out what your dream job might be.Talk to peopleFirst, talk to people more experienced than you. Friends, family members, etc. Ask them what jobs theyve had, what they enjoyed most, and why.This can be a good starting point to gather some ideas.Think about your passions/interestsNext, think about what youre passionate about in general. Do you enjoy technology and computers? Do you enjoy history and politics? Its okay if you arent sure how these ideas will lead to finding your dream job (or any job).Listening out your interests will still be useful as you narrow down the types of roles you want to pursue.Think about what you DONT likeMaybe you hate dealing with customers. Thats okay! You know that your dream job isnt going to involve any direct contact with customers, because you dont enjoy it!Write that down. Thats an important piece of criteria to keep in mind when you try to hunt down your dream job using the steps earlier in this article.Dont be afraid to say no to some opportunities . You need to narrow down your job search and get specific with what youre looking for, and part of that is knowing what youre not looking for.Dont let anyone tell you that youre hurting your job search by focusing on a specific, narrow type of role while saying no to others. This is what the most successful, highly-paid job seekers do in their careers!Find reviews of different jobs and industriesId recommend searching YouTube for this. Many people make videos showing a day in the life of their career.You could search for Day in the life of a digital marketer, etc.Sometimes those videos are a bit quick and dont show you much detail about the work, though. So Id also recommend searching for things like, Whats it like working as a digital marketer? and, what does a digital marketer do?You can also search Google for terms like these as well. Id just recommend starting on YouTube for this particular research.Research LinkedInLinkedIn is an amazing research tool. I wrote about the 5 reas ons everyone should use LinkedIn, and the research you can do is one reason.You can look up people with certain degrees/educational backgrounds and see what jobs they have now.Maybe you just graduated with a degree in Economics and dont know what options are available. This would be a way for you to see many different paths people have taken after getting a B.S. in Economics.Or, lets say you have a pretty good idea what your dream job is now. You can type that job title into LinkedIn, pull up some profiles, and look at how they got to that point.They didnt just wake up one day with their dream job. So you can look at what jobs they held previously. Did they get any certifications/special trainings? Did they get promoted within their own company, or learn some skills elsewhere and then get hired directly into this job you want?These are all things you can research and make note of when trying to land your dream job for yourself.Sometimes You Need to Try a Few Things Before Finding Yo ur Dream JobAs a final piece of advice look for great companies to join, not just great positions.If youre at the early stages of your career, a good boss and employer should give you an opportunity to try a few different things, exposure yourself to new challenges, etc.Thats an important part of the process of finding what you enjoy doing and finding your dream job in the long-run.Its hard to sit behind a computer and read about jobs and figure out what youll really like. Its much better to join a great company (even if youre not sure that this is your dream job), and start trying things and learning things!This is one reason I suggested writing down a list of your interests earlier. That way, you can make sure to join a company that aligns with your interests, even if youre not sure the role is what you want to be doing forever!The process of how to find your dream job doesnt happen overnight, especially if you arent sure what that job even looks like. But if you follow the steps above, youll have a better idea of what your dream job might be, and youll know how to get in touch with the right people to start landing interviews for these jobs you want.

How to Write an Entry Level Paralegal Resume

How to Write an Entry Level Paralegal ResumeYou want to get into a paralegal program but you don't have a job or you want to take a short break from the law so you need to make sure that your paralegal resume is striking the right tone. In this article I'm going to give you some tips on what to put in your paralegal resume.Before I tell you about how to write an entry level paralegal resume, let me start with some information on the paralegal field. There are many positions in the legal industry and in some offices this is the only job they will ever need to fill.Paralegal help is called for when there is a need to review documents and interpret legal jargon. An entry level paralegal job can work for a number of different industries.Paralegal help is needed to be able to fill out documents and prepare applications for legal purposes. When someone applying for a position as a paralegal will be working under a secretary or legal assistant, they will have a lot of clerical work to do an d as their skills advance they may be expected to help prepare forms for an attorney.The first thing that people looking for legal assistance should look for is a formal degree. Many people do not want to spend the money to get a paralegal certificate course.It is easy to find paralegal certificate courses that will help you prepare for an entry-level position in the field but it's important to note that you won't learn all of the practical information that you will need to pass the bar exam. In fact, the majority of schools that offer a certificate course will not offer the traditional paralegal certificate.The next tip for how to write an entry level paralegal resume is to list all of your training in an executive summary. If you don't do this, you will only mention one year of experience, which is enough to get you past the first round of interviews.This means that you need to get your paralegal resume to the point where it can stand alone. If you are going to use an executive su mmary to get your resume to the level of the more formal paralegal resume, you will also want to list all of your skills, and explain why each one is useful for your purpose.

How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Shine

How to Make Your LinkedIn Profile Shine How to Make your LinkedIn Profile Shine     Let’s face it,  in the world of job search,  if you are not on LinkedIn, you don’t exist.  LinkedIn  offers the broadest array of resources to move your job search,  and your career,  forward.  Having a strong LinkedIn profile is a critical success factor in job search success and your profile needs to speak to your target  job  market.   How LinkedIn Helps You   LinkedIn can assist you in looking for open job positions, moving into a more senior position, or changing careers altogether.   Discover and find  companies that hire people like you.  You can search LinkedIn using your own skills and interests as the keywords.     Find work at specific companies. You can become instantly notified and updated when a job opening comes up at one of your target companies.     Develop human resources, recruiting and hiring manager contacts.     The advanced search features will save you time and deliver the best information to you.     Your LinkedIn Profile     Of course, the Holy Grail of LinkedIn is to  log in  and see an e-mail from a recruiter who found you on LinkedIn and has a position they want you to interview for.  However,  that’s not going to happen if your profile is not feeding the algorithm beast.     And, just what does the LinkedIn algorithm want to eat??A  good profile includes the following.     A summary packed with key words and key phrases that your future position type calls out in their job descriptions.   A headline packed with skills words that are relevant to the future position hiring team.   Under each job, your bullets should be in stack rank order, starting with the most important ones to the reader.   Repeat skill words under each job. Don’t assume since you mentioned “cross-team collaboration” once that you’re done. The algorithm values the repetition.   Some  LinkedIn  profile basic  components  include:     Name; make sure the  URL is customized to your name     Professional photo;  help them picture you working with them     Great headline; use a grabber that makes a recruiter want to read more about you   Current or desired industry; be clear up front about the industry you want and locations   Contact information  that is found in  multiple places in your profile; make it easy for them to get a hold of you     LinkedIn  vs.  Résumé   There is one school of thought that says  keep  your LinkedIn profile brief  and another that says it should  match your  résumé.  I  suggest making  your LinkedIn  profile  your digital  résumé.  Most recruiters expect  to get what they are looking for from your LinkedIn profile with a resume to back it up. They will want to  go  to LinkedIn for the information  and just print or look at your resume. Most importantly, if you put  just  a shortened version  of your resume into LinkedIn, youre missing the opportunity to  include  all those bullet points  full of information  from your resume.     Finally, in addition to your skills and work experience, don’t forget to include  publications  you have issued,  honors and awards  received, volunteer  work conducted, and  any  connections and groups that you belong to.  You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression; ensure your digital impression is a strong one.     Join Dana  Manciagli’s  Job Search Master Class ®  now  and get the most comprehensive  online  job search system available!

5 Medical Careers

5 Medical Careers We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. You dont have to go to medical school for a decade just to work in healthcare. There are plenty of careers in this industry that require less than two years of training. Seeing that people will always need medical attention, it is safe to say that these professions arent going anywhere any time soon. You just have to pick the one that is right for you. Here are five easy-to-enter medical careers with great job prospects. Medical Assisting A medical assistant is somewhat like a secretary for the medical field. He or she does the clerical work for a hospital or doctors office, which may include organizing paperwork, scheduling appointments, directing phone calls, and more. Medical assistants must be aware of common medical terminology, but the main focus of their training will be in secretarial duties. If you would prefer working on the business side of healthcare, this is a great position for you. Medical Billing and Coding Medical billers and coders are the ones responsible for tracking down funding from insurance companies. They literally spend their days reaching out to these companies in an attempt to collect money for medical bills. While this may sound like a slightly tedious career, it is one that is in incredibly high demand at the moment. You should have no trouble finding work with this profession. Medical Billing Jobs Licensed Practical Nursing Licensed practical nursing is the base level in the nursing field. It involves simple-yet-necessary tasks related to patient care, like administering medications and checking vital signs. Some LPNs only go through a year of training before entering the field, and others will complete a two-year associates degree. As long as you have the education needed for your place of work, you should be good to go. Registered Nursing Registered nursing is a step up from licensed practical nursing, both in pay and in demand. RNs are needed for every facet of the medical world, from preparing patients for doctors appointments to assisting surgeons in major operations. Many aspiring RNs use online nursing degree programs to complete their career training, since they can work as LPNs while becoming an RN. You may have to go through four years of training for this career, but many RN positions are available with a simple associates degree. In two years, you could easily make enough money to support your family. Laboratory Technician If you would rather work in the back-end of the medical field, you could be a lab technician. The amount of money you make and the kind of training you go through will depend on what kind of lab you want to work in. Pharmacy techs are trained to work with medications, but radiology techs are trained to work with x-ray machines. You will have to explore the healthcare industry to determine where you want to be. Medical Support Jobs Check out one of these careers the next time you start making plans for the future, and you will be on your way to a profitable profession you can be proud of. About the Author: Heaven Stubblefield is a writer for Aspiring Nurse, a blog dedicated to people wanting to get into the medical field. This is a Guest post. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+ Job Search job title, keywords, company, location jobs by