Favorite Friday Dress for Success, er, Failure

Favorite Friday Dress for Success, er, Failure What started out as a cute idea became one of my most favorite set of posts. I initially thought Id do one post on Dress for Failure but I started to get comments on womens dress. Heres the Dress for Failure for men post (Sept 8, 2008). Heres the Dress for Failure for women post (Sept 9, 2008). Fun you arent violating any of these things, right? Favorite Friday Dress for Success, er, Failure What started out as a cute idea became one of my most favorite set of posts. I initially thought Id do one post on Dress for Failure but I started to get comments on womens dress. Heres the Dress for Failure for men post (Sept 8, 2008). Heres the Dress for Failure for women post (Sept 9, 2008). Fun you arent violating any of these things, right? Favorite Friday Dress for Success, er, Failure What started out as a cute idea became one of my most favorite set of posts. I initially thought Id do one post on Dress for Failure but I started to get comments on womens dress. Heres the Dress for Failure for men post (Sept 8, 2008). Heres the Dress for Failure for women post (Sept 9, 2008). Fun you arent violating any of these things, right?

The Sound of a Competent Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Sound of a Competent Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Impressions are usually influenced by the body language and speaking voice. Your voice is one of the most important aspects of public speaking.   And, when I refer to public speaking that means speaking one-on-one, to a small group of people or even voicing   information at a meeting.   An individual with a good speaking voice is able to deliver his messages effectively. A good voice is also pleasing to the public ears and will keep people glued to the person speaking. Your voice can make or break a good impression. And the good news is, good voice quality can be learned. As a young college graduate, I learned quickly to steer clear of the high-pitched little girl sounding voice.   While youthful is good, in business its often equated with being naive, inexperienced and a follower.   I wanted to be perceived as a leader so I worked hard to gain command of my voice, not in a restrictive way, yet in a way that still expressed my personal brand with calculated clarity.   And, that took practice. The Voice of a Leader Being aware of how you actually sound in public is the initial step in becoming a good speaker. Knowing how you sound in public will make it easier for you to change voice according to your needs. A confident voice has a moderate volume, clearly articulated, low pitch and a little bit faster. This type of voice implies sophistication, knowledge and authority. An energetic voice on the other hand is neither monotonous nor slow in rate. Efficient dynamic speakers are able to modulate intonation, inflection and volume simultaneously while talking. A full resonant tone is well loved by audiences. This kind of tone needs the back of your throat to be open and your vocals folds lubricated and relaxed. When an individual gets tense or nervous, his throat and vocal cords often tighten which often results to higher pitch and stained thin sounds. The voice can sometimes quiver and this will often manifest anxiety. Tips on how you can enhance your Speaking Voice Articulate. It would be vital that you articulate every word. This will help minimize mumbling. Start practicing with tongue twisters. Make sure you articulate words crisply and quickly as possible. Practice your speech and know where you need to pause for breath. Moderating the volume. Check whether you are speaking softly or loudly. While talking, ask your audience if your voice is audible. Try to get their responses as this will reduce hesitations and boost your confidence level. Moderate your pace. If you speak quickly, people will have a hard time keeping up. And if you do it slowly, the audience will eventually get bored and lose their interest. Try to record your voice and analyze it. Get feedback from your friends and adjust your pace. Postures gestures. Try to maintain a good posture all the time. Stand tall and straight. This will help your lungs expand and increase its capacity. Stand with your legs that are shoulder width apart. Practice your breath control. Take a deep breath and while exhaling, count up to ten. Slowly increase your volume with counting. Use the abdominal muscles and not the throat. Never let your larynx tense up. A speaker’s rate may vary from 135 words/minute for a technical speech and around 200/minute when sharing a fairytale. Proficient speakers usually pronounce the ends of words and syllables in multi syllable words. People who speak too quickly may omit the end sounds or perhaps drop syllables from multi syllable words. This can result to slurred speech or a misunderstood message. Efficient speakers can engage their audiences from the very beginning as they speak. They also pause effectively instead of using fillers such as ‘uhm ’or ‘er’. They can vary their volume, rate and pitch to give more significance to their message. Your voice is a brilliant instrument and it is up to you to play it well. Each day, you are faced with many opportunities for you to practice speaking. Make your conversations more interesting and meaningful by improving your speaking voice. Author: Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog and is also the CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com a word of mouth marketing firm. She helps create connection, credibility, community and cha-ching through mobile marketing and social commerce around your brand. She is co-founder of #brandchat a weekly twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding.

Its the Same Old Message, Or Is It

It’s the Same Old Message, Or Is It ‘Tis the season. Well, almost. As the leaves fall and next years  calendars arrive in the mail, it’s also the season for survey reports, predictions and general crystal ball gazing about the world of work. Reading some of these recruitment surveys, I started to become curious about whether there really are important underlying themes that we should be concerned about. Often, survey results appear to be very similar to what we have read before, with minor changes up or down. As I distilled the stats and graphs, I began to identify a number of interesting themes emerging from the reports. In this article I’ll focus on recruitment themes, but there is also a backdrop to this that warrants serious consideration too. Gen Z enters the workforce in May 2016 and the millennial generation is replacing baby-boomers, of whom 3.6 million are retiring in 2016. Millennials are becoming managers and leaders so succession planning, knowledge transfer and development are now critical items. Other trends to check out are freelancing (40% of US workers will be contractors by 2020), flexible work and co-working. In the US, the ACA has forced focus on providing health insurance and health and other benefits are often ranked higher than pay by even the younger generations. For recruiters and human resources professionals there are three main challenges that are important to consider when making plans for next year. 1) Relationships Here’s something we all know … as recruiters, we have relationships with people everywhere. A  LinkedIn survey shows recruiters’ top 4 priorities are employee referral, retention and employer branding. The other is quality of hires and we’ll come back to that later. Let’s take a look both inside and outside our organizations. Employees internal recruitment. We know that the job market is becoming increasingly competitive.  Many companies expect average tenure of only 1 to 3 years. Retention is regarded as a priority by 36% of respondents according to LinkedIn researchers, but internal recruiting has a lower priority of 27%. New hires are often disappointed not to have a chance at other positions that are filled from outside at great expense, and this leads to attrition and an increase in recruitment costs. Friends of employees   referral. According to Jobvite, 78% of recruiters find the best quality candidates through referral schemes. This begs the question of whether your referral program is up-to-date, administered well, and you are using social media to promote it. Job referral is so successful that we have to maintain active communication with our employees and develop the employer brand with them too because they are part of your extended recruitment team! Alumni boomerang hires. Around 40% of companies have a policy of not re-hiring ex-employees. However, in today’s world of higher attrition, alumni who left the company with a good performance record could be sought after for their now enhanced skills, experience and knowledge of the company’s culture. Interns.  A Jobvite survey demonstrates that intern programs can be a very effective way to attract talent. Recruiters report 55% of quality candidates are found through intern programs. Looking ahead, a number of companies now have intern programs for high school students too. Candidates. Let’s not forget that candidates’ recruitment experience leads to them being a supporter or the opposite, if their experience is negative. These relationships can build or damage employer brand so easily. Job seekers passive and active. Recruiters build relationships through the use of social media and mobile apps but barely keep up with demand generated by job seekers who use mobile apps 80% of the time, compared to 20% by recruiters. Adecco’s global survey notes regional difference around the world, Europe being a standout. In North America, LinkedIn reports that 45% of workers use the Internet and social media to network and research companies while 30% of them actively look for another job. Generally, job seekers and recruiters use the same channels (job boards, corporate websites, social media and mobile) but job seekers use them more! Talking of employer branding, this requires constant attention and a joint approach with your marketing colleagues. With the use of social media being so prevalent people hear and form opinions about your company quickly. As a result of this, job boards and career sites are expected to become less of an influence over time as social media becomes the norm. 2) Priorities and metrics The surveys clearly show that recruiters strive for “high quality” candidates to become employees. What we seem to be unclear about is how to define them and how to measure success. LinkedIn’s report shows that companies are focused on turnover, and retention statistics or new hire performance ratings, while others survey hiring managers to assess their level of satisfaction with candidates. For all these attempts, client feedback suggests that there is a general lack of consistency, understanding and confidence in measuring hiring quality. Jobvite points out the importance of ratios like “applicants to hires” (average of 50 generally) and “time-to-fill” (TTF) which averages 31-60 days. Again, we’ve heard this before so what’s the challenge? The challenge is to form a clear linkage between recruitment activity and the CEO’s goals. A recent study by the Philadelphia Society of People Strategy (PSPS) links CEOs’ #1 challenge of “Human Capital” to ten key areas of which #3 is Recruiting Talent and #4 Employment Branding. Further, to gain a reputation for adding value, HR has to shift to a strategic capability to predict and act. This calls for more clarity and understanding around recruitment to build CEO confidence for the future. 3) Select the best We have researched, we have recruited, and we have interviewed. We are now ready for hiring manager and HR interviews. We know that in some markets like Telecom, Healthcare and Hospitality we have to act fast. These are hot markets and job seekers won’t wait long. Waiting for decisions to be made by hiring managers is cited as a roadblock by many recruiters in all markets so we have to work with them to reduce this timeline. By this stage, Adecco tells us, the top 3 reasons for rejecting candidates are contradictions with the resume (54%), personality traits (49%) and improper images (using social media like Facebook) (46%). What are the characteristics of winning candidates? More frequently now recruiters are using new methods to assess candidates like personality tests, work assignments and video interviewing. What we look for most frequently, we are told, is enthusiasm and job knowledge but then also good old-fashioned punctuality and appearance. We test for evidence of networki ng, check tenure, written work and volunteer experience. What are some of the best practices recruiting organizations are using? Clearly employee referral, employer brand and social media are three key areas. Working with Marketing in these areas is a strong recommendation to ensure consistency and gain more leadership buy-in. Another tip is to work with HR to identify “rock stars”, find their winning qualities and replicate this in future searches. Finally constantly attract passive candidates and pull them into your environment through social media, LinkedIn and your company career site. Author: David Wragg is the VP Client Services for KGTiger, specialists in recruiting efficiency solutions for in-house recruitment organizations.

10 Books for Mom - For The Mom Who Does It All

10 Books for Mom - For The Mom Who Does It All Mothers can be the most influential person in a woman’s life and each year we get to celebrate the mothers who love, cherish and support their children and those most important to them. Whether your mom loves fiction, poetry or nonfiction, these 10 books make perfect gifts for the mom who does it all. TheSouthern Side of Paradise  by Kristy Woodson Harvey The  Southern Side of Paradise  is the perfect beach read for moms who need a day off. Matriarche Ansley Murphy knows she should be ecstatic now that her three daughters have all found happiness in their own lives but she can’t help but wonder when the other shoe will drop. Then two women show up in Ansley’s hometown and she realizes that these two have the power to disrupt her family’s perfect world. As the family’s secrets come to light, these four strong women learn that they’ll have to stick together if they’re going to get through this trying time. Dear Mother: Poems on the hot mess of motherhood  by Bunmi Laditan This debut poetry collection is a short read for moms who are looking for a relatable book to escape with this Mother’s Day. In  Dear Mother, Bunmi Laditan captures the emotions of what it is to be a mother. From the exciting and fulfilling moments to the overwhelming and difficult times, Laditan covers it all in a way that will inspire women to be better mothers and fully embrace the journey of motherhood. Limelight  by Amy Poeppel   Hardworking mothers will have no problem relating to  Limelight’s  main character and her many mishaps of being both a career woman and mother. Allison Brinkley thought that moving her family from Dallas to Manhattan would be their best move yet but it quickly becomes a nightmare she can’t escape. On top of her already complicated situation, she gets herself into a fender-bender that leads her to meet pop star Carter Reid. Realizing that he needs all the help he can get to get his career back on track, she becomes his personal assistant, leading her to find a new love for the city and build a better relationship with her family. #IMomSoHard  by Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley Moms Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley know the struggles of motherhood and in their new tell-all book, they encourage moms to kick back and take some time for themselves.  It’s hard work being a mom and comedians Hensley and Smedley are the first to admit that it won’t always be easy. Their humorous new book cover topics of getting your body back after giving birth, how to keep it all together and the struggle of maintaining a social life once you’re a mother, aiming to make moms laugh and realize that they’re not alone in their journey through motherhood. Saturday’s Child: A Daughter’s Memoir  by Deborah Burns This touching memoir reminds readers that being a mother can be complicated. Being an only child, Deborah Burns grew up admiring her dazzling mother, despite the fact that she didn’t play much of a role in raising her. Burns looks back and tells the story of a woman who, despite her biggest victories, had her own inner demons she had to face in  Saturday’s Child. Uncovering the secrets of her mother’s life, Burns learns why her mother did what she did and comes to realize the effect their relationship had on her throughout her life. These discoveries lead Burns to finally claim the future she wants for herself. The Bride Test  by Helen Hoang If your mom loves a good romance story, she’ll fall for Helen Hoang’s  The Bride Test. Khai Diep isn’t one to get emotional about things due to his autism and the way it makes him process emotions. Because of this, his mother is afraid he’ll never find true love. Taking matters into her own hands, she travels to Vietnam where she finds her son a woman to marry. Returning to the United States, Khai meets his bride-to-be, Esme, and together, they’ll have to work through their non-traditional relationship and whether or not they could ever truly fall in love with one another. I’m Fine and Neither Are You  by Camille Pagán The imperfect side of marriage and parenthood is front and center in this new novel from Camille Pagán. Wife and mother Penelope has always admired her best friend Jenny’s seemingly perfect life. But what Penelope doesn’t know is that Jenny’s life isn’t all that it seems and when a tragedy occurs that reveals this truth, she’s forced to finally confront the issues within her own marriage. Promising to be completely honest with one another, Penelope and her husband begin a new chapter in their marriage that will bring up dark secrets neither had anticipated. Gillyflower  by Diane Wald This women’s fiction novel is a short and romantic read perfect for moms who love stories with a touch of magic. It’s 1984 and Nora Forrest has traveled to Manhattan to see her idol on Broadway. Having both dreamed of each other before the show, they share a moment during the performance that will bring them back to the dream they both experienced. A story about unexpected romance, life’s funniest coincidences and the moments that change our lives,  Gillyflower  is both hopeful and charming. Trophy Life  by Lea Geller Agnes has gotten comfortable in her life as a trophy wife. Then, her husband disappears leaving her with their young daughter, no money and nowhere to go. Picking up the pieces of her life, she moves across the country, taking a job at an all-boys boarding school in the Bronx. It’s in this new and foreign place that she truly finds herself and her purpose in life. By the end, she’ll have to decide if she’d rather stay in her new life or return to the life of being the perfect trophy wife. What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence  edited by Michele Filgate Michele Filgate helps writers tell the stories about their mothers in  What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About. Featuring essays from Leslie Jamison, Cathi Hanauer and 13 other acclaimed writers, this anthology tells the stories of real women and their unique relationships with their moms. From a story about living with a psychotherapist mother to what it was like growing up with a deaf mother, this new book is full of moments of sadness, joy and an overwhelming sense of appreciation for the women who raised these brilliant authors.

What Is the Difference Between a Skills Approach and a Skills-Based Resume?

What Is the Difference Between a Skills Approach and a Skills-Based Resume?When writing a resume, you will need to remember that what is important in the job search will vary from person to person. If you are applying for a position that involves a lot of traveling, then a skills approach may be a good option for you. While it will not necessarily include what specific jobs you have held in the past, this resume approach will include anything that shows you are organized and motivated to be successful.So, when writing a resume with a skills approach, what are some of the key pieces of information that you can include? Well, one of the things that will be a part of your resume is your current work history. You will want to list all of the jobs that you have had, including dates and contact information. The idea here is to let the employer know that you have been actively involved in your work, and that this is where you will be able to bring your best skills to the table.Skills approa ch will also include something called an objective. This is the section of your resume that will show the employer exactly what the job is about, and why you are the right person for the job. Some examples include, 'I am excited about the opportunity I will be working for in order to see my educational degree from college through to graduation.'In addition to these elements, you will also want to include a list of specific skills that you have acquired. These are things that you have done on your own, or that you have learned while being a student.In addition to the skills approach, when writing a resume with a skills approach, there are other things that you will want to consider as well. For example, if you do not know anything about computers, then maybe your first tip for getting a job is to have some training or experience in that area.Another thing that will help your chances of being hired, is to give some information about your previous employment. For example, if you have w orked as a receptionist at a building, then the employer may want to know how long you have been employed there, and if you were pleased with the results.One last tip to remember when writing a resume is to make sure that you write your information in a very professional way. Because this will be your resume, and the employer will read it over several times before making a decision. So, try not to write anything that is too personal, and tell the employer about the kinds of things that they can expect to find in your future.When writing a resume, you will want to remember that there are many ways to approach your job search, and if you do not have any training or experience in some areas, you may want to consider a skills approach. It is also a good idea to list some specific skills when writing a resume, as this is usually a list that will help you get hired.