How to Improve Your Recruitment Power on Pinterest

How to Improve Your Recruitment Power on Pinterest Pinterest turns three this month, and oh baby, has it come a long way from its humble beginnings as just a virtual pinboard! Some fast facts: An increased number of men use the site 32% men to 68% women as opposed to 92% women initially. More traffic than LinkedIn and Google+ combined per month. Free to use (and no longer invite-only!) By now you know the basics of how to pin pictures and create your boards, but in the past couple of years the site’s capabilities â€" and your options â€" have expanded, including a newly-revealed platform for businesses. Heres how you can use the sites new functionalities to effectively attract talent. Pinterest Analytics With the rolling out of web analytics for businesses this week, you’ll now be able to monitor visits and user engagement. We know the basic user breakdown of Pinterest â€" the average number of male and female users, the average age and so on â€" but with the newly-released analytics feature, you’ll get a sense of who is engaging with your board. You can use analytics to see how many users are clicking on your board, which content is receiving the most clicks and who is repinning your content. You can fine tune your pinning activity once you hone in on which area is receiving the most focus. This feature makes Pinterest an excellent site for recruiters as they can see which posts are most viewed and there is no doubt that we will see more recruiters on Pinterest in the close future. Multimedia Functionality Users have been able to pin YouTube videos since August of 2011, and Vimeo integration was introduced the following year. Posting video is a great way to interact with jobseekers, especially if the position or company is within the multimedia industries. Because Pinterest doesn’t offer an opportunity to directly connect with other users, multimedia is the best way to interact directly with people visiting your board. In addition to pinning content to fill a specific position or promote career opportunities, you may consider promoting your company culture/awareness in the public eye. If the company has a stellar sustainability policy or diversity initiative, why not make it shine using video? It shouldnt be very difficult for a standard recruitment company to record a video, using just existing staff, or if you didnt fancy that perhaps an actor, and pin it. Unlike LinkedIn, which offers a standardized presentation of a candidate’s work experience, Pinterest draws a more creative crowd. With sites like CeeVee and Jobspice brightening up resumes, an increasing number of candidates are opting for inforgraphic and visually enticing CVs. And where better to showcase them than on a picture-sharing site? And with the rise of multimedia on Pinterest, stumbling across a video resume or two isn’t unlikely, either. Jobseekers started using video clips to market themselves years ago with the birth of Youtube and now its time for recruiters to use this great tool to attract the most talented staff. Sheer Reach The site has evolved from being a place to share the latest recipes or newest fashions into the third most popular social network â€" and the fastest growing. comScore reported 11.7 million unique U.S. visitors in January 2012. By February 2013, it had 48.7 million. Amongst this vast user base are ample job candidates accessible to recruiters who know how to look â€" and who to look for. But take advantage of the fact that Pinterest still is a community in which users like to post pretty pictures of recipes, or travel, DIY projects, hair styles and whatever else is hot right now. When in Rome! Pinning things like stylish work outfits or offices in exotic locations will speak to a broad audience. Link the pin to your board, and you’ve inadvertently snagged a passive candidate browsing fashion posts. The removal of the invite-only feature has opened up the scope of who’s using Pinterest, as has the ease of creating an account. Users can sign on straight with a Facebook or Twitter a ccount, which allows them to share their favourite content (read: yours) with an even wider base of users. Its all on our hands as to how best to use Pinterest. We cant really ignore this very powerful social giant of the web. The opportunity to reach thousands of people in a short space of time is excellent and the best bit is: its completely free to use Pinterest. Go create your business account if you havent done it yet! Author: Huseyin Durak is the founder of Learnist.org. He has worked as a Recruitment Consultant for recruitment agencies and online job sites now his online organisation (Learnist.org) is serving around 250,000 job seekers a month.

Mind the Gap from FOMO to Overflow - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Mind the Gap from FOMO to Overflow - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career One of the more popular buzz words of the last couple of years has been FOMO. It’s kind of run it’s course, but there is still a lingering effect of FOMO in some areas. In case you missed it (pun intended)  â€¦ FOMO is the Fear Of Missing Out It’s that manic state where you may have noticed your friends (and perhaps yourself) going from party to party and event to event just to make sure you weren’t missing out on something. FOMO can quickly lead to overflow. Overflow can lead to missed deadlines, neglected friends and family, and can put a crimp in your career plans. Not to worry.  FOMO can be fixed. Mind the Gap By paying attention to what you are doing and applying some common sense it’s easy to get a handle on your FOMO tendencies. The challenge is that its very easy to step over that line and go from FOMO to overflow. It can happen really fast and it can sneak up on you. Its up to each of us to decide what that line is. And, when we can and cannot cross it. If you think you are taking on too much consider that a sign. Pro Tip: Look for and listen to signals that you might be in Overflow Mode Do look for signals and listen for indicators that your might be heading into overflow mode from friends, family and colleagues. It’s not a sign of weakness to heed the thoughts of people that have your best interests in mind. Why does this matter? Its simple. When youre in overflow mode you cant cope as effectively. You wont make the most wise decisions. Youll be trying to juggle too many things at once. And youll be at risk of NOT doing the most important things first. Overflow Mode can make you to do the urgent while ignoring the important. You can use Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s Time Management Grid here.  It is broken into 4 quadrants. The top left is Urgent Important  â€" this is Quadrant I and where you want to focus some of your energy. You also want to focus on Quadrant II where things are Not Urgent yet they are Important. Quadrant I and II are where you want to spend your time. You’ll want to spend less energy on Quadrant III  â€" which are Urgent yet Not Important (usually things that are not on your To-Do lists), but still align with other goals you are committed to deliver. And, finally, you don’t want to spend any time on Quadrant IV  â€" Not Urgent Not Important. You will inevitably spend some time there, but don’t spend too much … otherwise you’ll never get your Quadrant I and II things done. FOMO activities can too often fit into Quadrants III and IV Here is a link to a graphical version of the Time Management grid from the USGS. Finish Strong One of the biggest challenges of FOMO is that it’s so easy to get distracted. It’s easy to go down a path and think that being busy means you are getting the right things done. That’s the Trap of FOMO. Being Busy does not mean Being Productive. Care about the Results Dont get sucked into the fear of missing out on the next function, the next event, the next thing to do. Focus on your goals. Focus on  being a doer, a finisher, a completer of things. Focus on the End Result. Use the Covey Time Management Grid if that helps. Ask your friends, peers and mentors to provide feedback on what is important vs. what is overflow. When you can do this your career will take off. When you can do this your anxiety of trying to do everything will drop. When you can do this your FOMO can be put on a side shelf … forever. Focus on Results. Your peace of mind depends on it. So does your career.

The Evolving Brand of You Marla Gottschalk

The Evolving Brand of You Marla Gottschalk Photo by John Baker on Unsplash Ive just re-read Tom Peters classic article The Brand Called You. Revisiting this piece just seemed the right thing to do. As individual contributors, we may not change as the Coca-Cola logo or Ford Mustang might. However, aspects of our own brand do evolve over time. The trick is to recognize (and express) that evolution effectively. Dan Gilberts TED talk, The Psychology of Your Future Self (See it here) discusses how we underestimate the power of time. (He calls this the end of history illusion) Life and work are never static. As a contributor, you are not either. Thats what we forget to acknowledge. That we are ever-changing â€" even if that shift isnt obvious. Case in point, when working toward my degree, I was very much enamored with quantification. Fascinated with the notion, that a correlation coefficient could describe how an instrument could predict future performance â€" motivation theory was the last thing on my mind. I gravitated toward topics that allowed me to differentiate between groups of people statistically. However, when I sat for my qualification exams, the outcome was not what I had expected. The professor whom I least identified with (he taught motivation theory) let me know that I excelled in the question he designed to evaluate his topic area. I was shocked. Not what you expected right?, he expressed with a smile. I truly didnt know what to say, because I was disappointed. I felt the topic was a bit fluffy â€" if you get my meaning. Fast forward. and Ive found myself thinking more and more, about organizational culture and how this motivates us. Validation of selection instruments doesnt seem all that appealing. Yet, the idea of shifting energy within organizations certainly does. I had gravitated â€" slowly but surely â€" toward the outcome of my qualification exams. Life and experiences may have contributes. So, Ill say this. Recognize evolution. Embrace it. Lean in and explore it. If you feel the need to shift your brand, claim it. But above all, try not to ignore it. Dr. Marla Gottschalk is an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist.   She is a charter member of the LinkedIn Influencer Program. Her posts on workplace topics have appeared in Forbes, The Huffington Post, US News World Report and The World Economic Forum.   __________________________________________________________

Getting work in the creative industries University of Manchester Careers Blog

Getting work in the creative industries University of Manchester Careers Blog The creative cultural industries are pretty diverse including: Theatre, publishing, art, music, gaming and creative IT roles, film TV, journalism, social and cultural enterprises. They all work in slightly different ways depending on funding, private or public sector, not for profit and of course self employment  and this can govern to some extent how you will find work. There are some common themes: Its a small world  be nice to people, tomorrow you could be asking them for a job. Unpaid internships and working for free to get experience are all too common. Starting your own business or freelancing is likely to be part of your life at some point. You are unlikely to have a job for life, portfolio careers are the way forward. In the creative industries, especially when you are starting out its not that easy to find the perfect paid job. You may not have the skills or portfolio of work yet, so how do you get a foot on the ladder? Working for free still seems very common in the creative industries, from working as a runner in the media industry to DJing a local pub, everyone is trying to make a name  for themselves in order to build up contacts and a portfolio so that they will be taken seriously in the industry. You do not have to be a starving artist, there is another way. Volunteer while you are a student working for free is distinctly less palatable when you graduate. Seek out entry level paid opportunities in organisations related to your area of interest.   Work as an usher, in the box office, behind the bar, anything to be in the right place at the right time.   Help people, be useful and get yourself known so that when another job comes up you are in the right place. Get a day / night job to pay the bills and work on what you are passionate about around it.   Yes you wont get much sleep but if it is truly your passion you will make it work.  As an added benefit find jobs that give you customer service, financial, administrative and marketing skills you will need all these for your own projects. If you are freelancing or able to volunteer by all means offer a freebie if you will get something out of it too; learn a new skill, get something to put on your CV or portfolio, make new contacts etc.  But know your own worth and consider carefully how  you will survive while you do this.   Find out more   Creative skillset  traineefinder offers traineeships  in a variety of areas film, games animation etc. Some training or experience is required but its definately worth investigating. Craftandtechnical skills academy paid experience in Film TV Getting noticed When applying for jobs recruiters are looking for:   Passion, resilience, potential (skills can be taught), someone with an opinion who can back it up, someone who knows themselves, initiative, people who get things done. Upload your portfolio, create a website and compete for prizes or other opportunities: eg Noise festival offers free exposure and the chance to get an industry mentor Ask to meet someone for a chat. You are not asking for a job, this is an opportunity to meet someone who you are genuinely interested in and respect. They may be someone whose career path you are interested in or whose work you admire. If you are lucky you may be able to get a short meeting with them. Emails that get responded to are: free from spelling errors polite and genuinely interested in the person so do your research, be passionate about what they are passionate about ask for only 30 minutes of their time specific and practical about what you want to meet about More   advice   and jobsites for the creative and cultural sector   Dont forget you can talk to us If you cant find a job, create one go freelance! Next blog this week   Creative Entrepreneurship All Media Undergraduate Undergraduate-highlighted Applications and interviews careers creative industries employability Getting started media

Easy Steps to Write a Resume

Easy Steps to Write a ResumeWriting resumes is a matter of skill and innovation. However, the basic information about job seekers must be conveyed in the resume and that too in a clear manner to enable the employers to recognize your candidacy. To write the resume effectively, you need to follow certain simple steps. The following tips will help you with your resume writing New York NY.First, you need to give your position or goal clearly and concisely. Therefore, while writing your resume you should always remember that a resume writing expert can only help you if he understands your job purpose. Thus, you need to decide on what job you are seeking for and also how much time do you want to spend on the job. Also, you should know whether you want to enter an entry level job or you are in your career. Remember, most of the job seekers today prefer to do entry-level jobs because they are known to take up challenging tasks and also this experience can further be used when applying for m anagerial positions in the future.Second, you should also choose the format of the resume. If you want to write your resume in the official form then you need to follow some basic steps which include preparing the resume by putting in your experiences and skills that you have gained over the years. However, if you want to create a resume in an informal format then you can simply give your desired information without making it formal.Third, you should always include in your resume personal statement as well. This personal statement is a statement that can clarify about your accomplishments and the achievements you want to highlight. Therefore, the personal statement needs to be written in an exciting and interesting way. You should put your life experience in your personal statement.Fourth, you should add in your resume your special skills and experiences that you have gained during your employment. You should also mention your performance evaluation, this should be done according to the manner and format you want.Fifth, you should focus your resume in one particular area and that is your specific objective. Therefore, when writing your objective, you should put the reason of your wish to apply for the job and also how this objective has helped you. You should also use a detailed job description to add to your objectives.Sixth, you should always include the experience you have had in your resume, you can always focus your resume on your past experiences and skills that you have acquired while working for other people. You can also highlight the specific skills you have acquired that helped you attain the goal.Finally, you should always add in your resume personal comments that describe the nature of your interest towards New York. Besides this, you should also make your resume concise and well organized to enhance your chance of getting the job.

5 Simple Steps to LinkedIn Job Search Success - CareerAlley

5 Simple Steps to LinkedIn Job Search Success - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him. David Brinkley Linkedin is the Facebook of the corporate universe and anyone whos anyone has an account. Therein lays one of its biggest challenges everyone has a Linkedin profile and if youre not careful, your account will be just another one in the crowd. The go-to tool for business-related social networking, Linkedin provides a forum for both hiring personnel and job-seekers alike to post vacancies and source job opportunities. The home of digital rsums, cvs and profiles from people all around the world, this site is worth its membership in gold- and employers treat it thusly. With a few simple clicks, a potential employer can quickly retrieve all the information you provide on work history, accreditations and accolades, business affiliations and photographs. Its so convenient and in-depth its a little scary but dont be afraid with these simple steps youll be the boss of your profile and find yourself with more jobs offered to you than you ever thought! Heads Up: Your heading is the first thing you have to concentrate on not too hard though because too much is just too much. Let a few concise words be your guide and let them highlight the stuff youre good at and the area youre interested in. Dont try to summarize a lifes worth of you into that empty space; it looks cluttered and disorganized. There are 120 characters at your disposal, use them wisely and highlight your expertise. Educate With Your Education: You dont need to let your audience know that you aced 3rd grade art class keep this section up-to-date and relevant to your specialties and what you want to be known for. This portion of your profile should include High School College / University information complete with you areas of study and awards you received. This is key in networking at this level; members of your alumni will be able to connect with you and who knows? They might have some inside information on a job you could be interested in. Work It: A lot like your education information, where you have worked and currently work are facts that people who use Linkedin want to know. Use this to concisely show where you started and the progress youve made during your career but dont forget to be relevant. The lackluster wall of text itemizing every little thing you got paid for over that past 10 years is not going to impress or interest anyone. Your career is what youve contributed to substantially over time and thats what people want to know about. If You Like Me, Tell Everyone: Linkedin has a nifty little space for recommendations and whenever possible, get your associates to use the heck out of it! Now, if youve had your account for a couple years and youre still rocking your very first shout-outmaybe its time to do some spring cleaning. People read recommendations and take them seriously, so these need to be as recent as possiblepotential employers arent moved by that one great thing you did that one time eons ago. Activate Your Activity: If you dont actually use the networking site tonetworkyour profile will go stale and sink to the abyss of lost profile-souls. A little dramatic, we know, but true! You can post statuses, update your pictures, join groups, START groups, comment on threads all these lets your viewing public know that youre alive, kicking and eager. Someone thats active is more likely to be viewed and taken a lot more seriously who just throws some stats up and lurks. Use these tips and we promise you a fruitful AND fun Linkedin experience. Doesnt get much better than that! more Improve Your Job Search Network Abby Evans is an avid blogger who writes on everything from how to find jobs in Toronto to outlining the principals of how to write a killer blog post. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search. Visit me on Facebook

How to create and maintain a credible blog - CareerEnlightenment.com

How to create and maintain a credible blog So, you’ve decided to start blogging to improve your CV and employability. But how do you create a blog and keep it going? And what should your main considerations be?Firstly, WordPress is the best site to use. Start a blog for free via WordPress.com, or use WordPress.org if you want to self-host (use your own domain, without ‘wordpress.com’ at the end of the web address). As a new blogger, you could start on the free version and move the site across to a paid version later â€" WP Beginner has advice on both options. As for the rest? These are the top things you should consider when blogging, to enhance your employability.Be honest and authentic within your nicheFirstly, you need a niche to get ahead. What do you truly want to blog about, and can you connect it to your job search? Your blog doesn’t have to be solely about your dream career â€" there are ways to showcase your skills in other areas.For example, a photography blog with tutorials will prove your photo editing ta lent, your eye for great visuals, and your ability to communicate with others. Jobs in advertising, marketing, web design, PR and the charity sector could easily use those skills.However, your blogging voice is less formal than your CV writing voice. Write how you talk (avoiding any explicit language!), and be honest about any challenges you overcome as you write your posts; with the photography blog, that could involve shooting on a cloudy day or trying out a photo editing app. The best blogs are authentic and confessional, and they show growth.Learn basic SEOConsider taking a beginner’s SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) course, or use a free beginner’s SEO guide from Moz. Once you’ve mastered SEO through your blog, you can count this as a skill on your CV.Start linking to your blog from other sites to direct people there â€" firstly, from sites you already use, such as LinkedIn, About.me, Flickr, and the main social networks. Also, add relevant outbound links in your blog pos ts, pointing to other trustworthy sites where people can find more information about a topic.Learning about SEO will help with your writing, too. You’ll understand the importance of a relevant blog post title. Want to Read More Articles Like This One?Sign up here to receive weekly updates from Career Enlightenment, and never miss another powerful job searching tip! SUBSCRIBE! You have Successfully Subscribed!We hate spam too. Unsubscribe any time. Gather some great images Even if photography isn’t your niche, you still need great photos to make your blog shine. Choose images that are free to use under a Creative Commons License, source them from free image sites like Pexels and Pixabay, or use your own photos. Always credit the photographer, and describe the image in the ‘alt-text’ box when uploading.When you publicise your latest blog post on social media channels, sites like Twitter and Facebook will normally pull through the main image from the post, which should help with engagement. According to HubSpot, tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than those with no image.To push a post on Instagram, use a relevant image (preferably one of your own, or credit the photographer) and talk about the post content in the caption, adding ‘link in bio’. Then, add the URL of your latest post into your Instagram bio.Schedule (and backdate) Scheduling content means you’ll never be stuck for ideas. Discuss relevant events, such as big anniversaries or awareness weeks â€" if your blog covers retail, marketing or sales, whether fashion-focused or tech-focused, write about Black Friday ahead of 24th November.Potential employers need to see your content is driven by trends and an awareness of the wider world. Trend-focused posts also help to drive traffic to your blog, and may get more social media attention.If something comes up and you can’t publish the content you’ve been working on â€" perhaps you’re ill, or tackling major projects in your c urrent job â€" you can sneakily finish that blog post later and backdate it (choosing an earlier date from the calendar function of WordPress). This is particularly useful if you need to show enthusiasm for a topic, ahead of sending out your CV; simply backdate a few relevant posts. You can also backdate Facebook page updates promoting your blog posts.Reach out Many blogs use plugins like CommentLuv, Disqus or Livefyre, where commenters can list their blog when they comment, and readers can be directed via a link to the commenter’s most recent content. This is a great way to raise awareness of your blog and do some networking without seeming too self-promotional. Just make sure your comment is genuine and thoughtful â€" not just ‘Great post. Thanks!’.For inspiration, refer to lists of Commentluv-enabled blogs, but don’t treat this as a link-building exercise. It’s more than that. By following, sharing and responding to other bloggers’ work, you’ll understand which topi cs readers like, and you’ll become a better blogger yourself.Don’t forget to install CommentLuv, Disqus or Livefyre on your own blog, giving bloggers an added incentive to leave you a comment, too. As you build up relationships, try to meet bloggers in real life at events, and follow them on social media: they could come in handy for job-hunting and will boost your own following, too.Now you’re ready to blog: go out and create some great content and enhance your CV with your new skill.