How Small Talk Can Win Or Lose You Clients

How Small Talk Can Win Or Lose You Clients Dog Walking, Art Yorkshire Cricket Over the years I’ve found certain ways to mitigate those awkward opening small talk exchanges that occur when we meet new clients for the first time. One simple and obvious way is by doing some basic company research before hand so I can comment on recent news etc. Another is to look up the contact’s Linkedin profile and acquaint myself with their career history or what updates they have recently shared. Even better if they have a blog or twitter account as this is manna from heaven for finding something to talk about. Another way I sometimes break the ice is by commenting upon interesting items in the room as way to begin a conversation and build rapport. Last year this methodology worked for me very effectively twice in a row but the third time it got me in to one of those horrible hope-the-ground-swallows me moments. Here’s what happened. Meeting number one took place with a HR Director who I noticed had a considerable amount of photos of a dog on her shelves. As we’d just got our first family dog and the novelty of cold rainy walks before bedtime hadn’t worn off yet this was a great subject to start chatting about. Pretty soon we were swapping doggy owner tips and anecdotes. Meeting number two was with a CEO of major financial services company and his office was festooned with works of art that were not the usual corporate flat print types. Luckily I was on familiar ground with this subject as I studied History of Art at university. Commenting upon his Barbara Hepworths got me in to a great conversation with the CEO and it turned out he too had a keen interest in this area and his wife and daughters were all striving artists and collectors. Meeting number three was where my small talk strategy all went wrong. This meeting was with the inimitable millionaire Yorkshireman Colin Graves. At the time Colin was the owner of Costcutter, the supermarket chain he started in 1986 and later sold in 2012, and he was also Chairman of Yorkshire Cricket Club. Naturally an obvious opening gambit was to discuss the fortunes of that famous cricket club that is so dear to every true Yorkshireman’s heart: “Hello Colin, I see from all the photographs that cricket is an important part of your life. How’s your season been?” What followed was a silence I can only describe as deafening. Mr Graves fixed me with a stare that would perhaps have even quailed Sir Geoff of Boycott OBE in his crease during his pomp and boomed back â€" “Bloody crap! Bloody Lancashire won the bloody championship; whilst we were bloody relegated!” I have never felt like such stupid southerner trespassing on God’s own county. Needless to say the rest of meeting following this opening small talk didn’t really go well and I’ve not been asked back. Moral of the story? Don’t try to be too clever by half, always do your research before a meeting and avoid attempting to wing-it about subjects you know little about; especially when it’s discussing cricket with a Yorkshireman. Related: How to Start Conversations with Strangers in a Natural Way

What Catogery Does Resume Writing Fit In Upwork?

What Catogery Does Resume Writing Fit In Upwork?If you're a professional looking for work then you'll likely need to create a working resume to show your potential employers what category does. It is essential to highlight any recent achievements you may have achieved which will help to increase your chances of getting your dream job. While there are numerous job search tools on the internet, not all of them work the same way.Most importantly it is important to highlight the real work experience that you have accumulated, instead of solely focusing on the time spent doing online job searches. Using the above-mentioned advice will be the key to creating a winning resume for any employer and they should be impressed by your work experience and potential. So how do you go about creating a convincing work resume?The first thing you should do is get hold of a custom job description template. There are several websites that you can use, but we recommend that you use one that is search engi ne friendly. Some examples are JTS and Presocrite. This will ensure that they are easier to search when you're using a search engine such as Google.After creating a professionally application, it is also important to develop your own well thought out cover letter. You should be aware that a cover letter is key to your chance of being accepted for a job. If you follow a template, you are less likely to be asked to do this. Not only should you be able to write a professional cover letter for your potential employer, but you should be able to tweak it to make it stand out and fit in with your resume.After developing a resume, it is vital to incorporate your real life experiences into a professional headshot. You should be aware that a headshot has more weight than just your resume.A potential employer will most likely take the time to check your references and work experience before they decide whether or not to hire you.It is imperative that you include all of your work experience and any awards that you may have received. It is important to think about the job you are applying for too. Are you interested in filling a graphic designer position? It is important to consider whether or not you would like to fill the role if you were working for another company.Copywriting is the final step to create a well-written work resume. You will want to include copies of your previous work in order to demonstrate your experience. Include a short blurb about your experience and explain why you are the best candidate for the position.Use a custom job description template that has been created for people looking for work on the work marketplace. It is important to develop your own cover letter and to use a professional headshot to give you the best opportunity of being hired.

How To Create a Brilliant Personal Brand on LinkedIn

How To Create a Brilliant Personal Brand on LinkedIn Whether we are walking through town late at night, catching a train or queuing at the supermarket checkout, we make assumptions about people we don’t know: sometimes positive, sometimes negative. When delivering my employability seminars, I often show a number of images of me. I ask the audience to shout out words they would associate with each picture. I never have to wait longer than a few seconds before people start throwing all kinds of descriptions at me. A few years ago I presented a TV show that had a business element to it. The professional photos I had taken were black and white; I wore a power suit and was asked to look directly into the camera (without even a hint of a smile). Well, they were professional shots, so I thought little about it and just used them on my LinkedIn profile. A few months later, a fantastic company was looking to recruit. The hiring manager asked around for recommendations and a lovely lady, who had worked with me previously, very kindly recommend he contact me. He searched me on LinkedIn, saw my image and felt like I was the last person he wanted to work with. He thought I looked hard nosed, arrogant and a little scary. It was only when our mutual contact persuaded him that I was none of those things that he eventually called. We have since become good friends and luckily he told me how my LinkedIn image made him feel. After we had a giggle, I obviously changed it straight away. I was extremely grateful for his feedback, but saddened to think about how many other people may not have contacted me because they felt the way he did. I don’t believe those words define my personal brand; it was just a poorly chosen photograph. I had failed to recognise the way the photographer wanted to portray me, was not actually who I was. You may not like me, but you definitely won’t think I’m ‘scary’. The reason I want to expose my mistake so publicly is to encourage people to think about their own LinkedIn image. I would advise you do the following: Choose three words you want your personal brand to be. Describe the way you want employers and potential business partners to perceive you. Choose a few images that you feel are suitable. Choose three people who you believe will tell you the truth and place the images in front of them. Ask them to pretend they don’t know you and to list words that describe the person in the picture. If their description doesn’t match your words, then you may need to choose a new image. This may sound simple, but how many of us actually do this? What we think is suitable isn’t always the case. That picture of you leaning against a Ferrari may scream successful businessman to you, but is it screaming arrogant show-off to others? It may be, it may not, but how do we know if we don’t ask. You may not care what people think. You may have had a similar experience to me. You may have given some constructive feedback to a business contact yourself. As always I would love to hear your thoughts please leave them in the comments below. RELATED: Top 7 LinkedIn Profile Pictures You Should NOT Use.

Want to Change Your Career What Does It Take - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Want to Change Your Career What Does It Take - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career No surprise that in this economy more and more people are toying around with the idea of changing careers.  For some, such a change represents an opportunity; for others, it may be a necessity because their industries are shifting, shrinking, or becoming extinct. The question my clients ask with more and more frequency is how to go about it. Regrettably, though, there’s no simple or one-size-fits-all answer, because each situation is unique. In other words, no  two people’s circumstances are the same. A career coach cannot make such a decision for a client; the answer has to come from the individual. A career coach can of course counsel, guide,  and support the process. Let’s make sure we understand that I’m not referring to a job change. A career change is a radical changefor example, an executive with a finance background who buys a restaurant, or a manager at ATT, a very well-known communications company, who shifts into managing an adult community or a nursing home. Those are real-life examples of people who were successful at making those changes; I know them personally. So, the questions are, What drives the process? and What does it take to come out as a winner? Now let’s agree from the beginning that a career change involves significant risk. Not all career changes work out well. Decisions of this nature have at least two major components: the intellectual and the emotional. The emotional part involves the pain that a person endures and that strongly motivates and impels the person toward willingness to take a risk. The other component is the intellectual part, which involves, say, the person’s needor desireto make more money or the person’s disappointment with the industry, or with the nature of the current job, or with an intolerable boss who is apparently not leaving soon. At the core of the job-changing decision-making process are three questions that require concrete answers: What are the job-changing individual’s values? What does the job-changing individual have to offer a potential employer? What does the job-changing individual expect in return? Values have to do with one’s feelings about family, recognition, monetary rewards, security, promotions, belonging, commitment, loyalty, and so forth. The answer to the question regarding what one has to offer will be an analysis of skills such as marketing, presentation, sales, research, and data analysis and then identification of whether one has the traits that support those skills: is the person aggressive, independent, articulate, persuasive, logical, visionary? The remaining issue deals with what the person wants in return. This touches on environmental and cultural factors. For example, does the person like to work in small organizations or big ones? How does the person feel about leadership styles, corporate politics, company reputation, work/life balance, and flextime for new parents, for example? And how about critical matters like salary, health coverage, and investment programs versus the minimum levels of compensation and benefits needed? As you can see, a career change is loaded with complexities. My advice is to consult someone who is equipped to guide you as you navigate this maze. And a challenging maze it is indeed.

Resume Writing Workshops For College Students

Resume Writing Workshops For College StudentsCollege-going students can gain valuable insight from resumes that have been written by their classmates at resume writing workshops for college students. It is helpful to be able to understand what the information on a resume means so that it is clear how you will be remembered when you go out in the job market.Resume writing workshops for college students are often held at online and offline groups and companies that offer such programs. A couple of them have the advantage of providing a genuine professional advice and coaching before the professional resume writing services are taken up. If the mentor does not know what he or she is talking about, it would be advisable to ask questions or to hear other people's opinions about the program.Resume writing workshops for college students are well organized with career counselors and teaching faculty members who are keen to give valuable feedback on what each participant should not do. Many w orkshops provide high-quality career counseling sessions and discussions in order to ensure that they can point out some of the things that might be overlooked when preparing a resume. They make sure that the materials are put together in a way that they can be easily understood and also give pointers on how to make a good one.In order to succeed in resume writing workshops for college students, it is important to follow the following steps. First, it is important to sit in the seminar and listen to what the teachers have to say. Second, get all the resume writing information that you can and use them in your own writing. Finally, find a professional resume writing service that offers quality service for your specific requirements.Resume writing workshops for college students can be a chance to gain essential information about how to prepare and present yourself in a proper manner. It can also be a great learning experience for students who have experienced job hunting in the past. The coaching helps in enhancing a student's confidence in presenting himself or herself in a professional manner.The biggest advantage of taking part in resume writing workshops for college students is that they enable students to take up part-time jobs while they are enrolled in the seminars. They can study other aspects of their careers. Many workshops have alumni from some of the leading companies in the country as instructors who can give valuable information about how their education has led them to where they are now.Resume writing workshops for college students are best approached if a student can attend without any problem since most employers would not be in a position to send them to seminars that require an expensive air fare. However, these classes can still be valuable especially if you need extra money to take out a loan or for your travel expenses.If you have the time and the energy to attend resume writing workshops for college students, you will learn a lot. You can expect to be given professional advice and from time to time by your mentors, you may get a chance to get some extra tips and ways to improve your resume. Make a point of attending these events and finding out if this type of seminar is something that you might want to attend.

138 Suzy Jacobs - Business Mentor, MC Speaker - Jane Jackson Career

138 Suzy Jacobs - Business Mentor, MC Speaker - Jane Jackson Career Suzy Jacobs is a sought after MC in the corporate world â€" gracing any stage with her charisma and charm and fabulous sense of humour. She is also a mentor to 5 ‘kick-arse’ senior executive clients providing leadership and lifestyle coaching to unleash their incredible potential.Suzy is passionate about encouraging professionals to “not do what society says is available to do” but to “question the norm” and “make stuff happen by generating your own value and revenue”.She has over 30 years in business â€" and has worked in areas including manufacturing, health and lifestyle and business education. She has worked in the UK, manufactured products in Vietnam, and currently, operates from Sydney. From customer relationship management at IBM to client relationship director at Think Lateral Company and Lifestyle Coach and Personal Trainer, Suzy was also Ambassador for the 2014 NSW Women of the Year Award.Suzy sold her successful business venture, She Business, in 2017 to cr eate something new â€" a portfolio career in the new gig economy. Suzy works no more than 20 hours a week and whenever presented with an opportunity she asks herself these 3 questions:Will I add valueWill I have funCan I make moneyThen she chooses.Where to find Suzy:Website: www.suzyjacobs.comTwitter: @suzyjacobs

Hitting the Moving Target How Many Versions of Your Résumé Do You Need - Pathfinder Careers

Hitting the Moving Target How Many Versions of Your Résumé Do You Need - Pathfinder Careers Hitting the Moving Target: How Many Versions of Your Résumé Do You Need? A lot of times, job seekers will contact me with help on their career document, then start rattling off a whole list of COMPLETELY different functions that they want to cover in the résumé.    One recent client was hoping to try and cover human resources, event planning, and communications all in one document. Unfortunately, in today’s brave new world of applications, one size does not fit all. But does that mean everyone needs to be constantly chasing after a moving target, always changing the document to meet each job posting? Nope. You have to rethink your strategy completely and start seeing your résumé as a themed asset. Here’s why: As we go through our careers, our background evolves into probably at least three or more different thematic areas.   In my lifetime, I’ve been a meeting planner, television producer, tourism manager, educator, and résumé writer, to name a few. Can I pull all of these areas under one roof / one résumé? Not a chance. No one could possibly digest it all- there is too much stuff “muddying” the waters if, say, I were to apply to be a faculty member in a post-secondary school. The trick to hitting those moving target is to get grounded first. Take a deep breath and think about what area you are actually going to have the highest degree of job search success.   Then focus your efforts on that area.   I would suggest one, two, but no more than three major areas. Then create a separate document for EACH of those themes. Create a section header entitled “RELEVANT HISTORY” then list the job records that are most relevant to the position to which you are applying first, then summarize (if necessary) any non-relevant ones to avoid distracting the reader. That way, you can account for any holes that open up in your work experience caused by moving non-relevant history into an “Additional Background” header. What you are saying to the potential employer is this: “Here’s the information that is RELEVANT to what you are hiring for… and oh, by the way, you’ll probably notice there are some holes in the work history, so down here, here’s some additional background that summarizes those non-relevant jobs. Want more info? Just ask me.” Keeping your document themed is critical to keeping your sanity and your job search in check. You need to be focused and centered on your core areas that will yield the highest level of job search success. Why? Because if you get spread out too thin, you’ll be too far and too wide in your job search efforts, and never get the vertical depth required to find employment success. You’ve heard of the “shotgun approach” to job seeking?  When you are so scattered that you end up running around all the time and not experiencing any traction, then you’ve slipped into that mode. Not a good place to be. Employers can smell desperation, and if they sense a lot of shape-shifting in your résumé to try and make yourself more than what you really are to “fit” into a particular job mold, they will drop you like a hot potato. They are more interested in the highly qualified candidates than the “sorta” qualified ones. Instead, BE THE MOLD. Think thematic approaches in your document on your core strengths, experience, and expertise. Be centered on what you feel is your best “bet” (to borrow a poker euphemism) in finding a job.   Then create a separate thematic résumé in that area. This allows you to concentrate your experience, keywords, relevant involvement and professional development in that theme. The end result is that you get a specific version of your résumé in the proverbial can that is about 90% of the way there.   Then, when you find a job posting that matches your target career goal, you’ll definitely need to do some tweaking to make sure your résumé terminology matches the position announcement. That ensures that your keyword “hit” ratio is as optimized as possible before you submit your résumé as an application. But you won’t have to reinvent the wheel and start all over to create a new document. Job seekers simply cannot be constantly morphing document into something that someone else wants. You need to be grounded in what it is that you offer in a specific field, then tweak the résumé to match and make sure the terms mirror one another. You’ll have better control over your search, yield better results, and not have the feeling that you are constantly chasing ghosts.