High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Become a High-Achieving Person

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

• 18 Things You Have to Give Up to Become a High-Achieving Person: "High achieving people understand that the foundation of life is the white space – and that because our energy is limited each day, what we spend it on will define us in the future."

• The Resume Lie That Could Kill Your Career: "It’s human nature to distrust someone who has been found lying, and your manager and HR department are no exception."

• To Become a Successful Leader, Break This Habit: "Getting caught up in the spotlight effect is damaging since it will stop you from being your best self. After all, how can you focus on the important things in life when imaginary opinions and events are replaying themselves over and over in your head?"

• Pay Attention to These Aspects of Company Culture: "Companies differ in how they cultivate relationships, in how much they value collaboration, and in how much face time is required to get work done and make important decisions."
• 4 Tips for Finding Your Profitable Blogging Niche: "It will take a while before you start seeing hundreds of visitors coming to your site and buying your affiliate products. So, be patient. Eventually, you’ll see the successful results of your hard work."

4 Things to Include on Your Personal Web Site to Advance Your Career

If you don't yet have a personal web site now is the time to create one. You don't have to be a web designer to create a professional looking site with many of the easy to use web site builders available.

A personal web site is a great way to showcase your skills and accomplishments for potential employers, customers, and clients.

When developing your personal site be sure to include the following 4 items:

1. Videos. Post any videos of presentations or lectures you've done at conferences or seminars. Also
include any panel discussions you've been a part of. If you don't have any videos consider creating one specifically for your site. A good quality video can now be done with a fairly small budget.

2. Links. Provide links to any published articles and essays that are available on the internet, along with a brief description of the content of the text.

3. Personal blog. A blog is a great way for others to get to know you on a more personal level and for you to communicate clearly on the subjects you are knowledgeable and passionate about. Your blog provides a forum for you to demonstrate both your personality and your expertise.

4. Photos. Do include photos of yourself but leave off the ones where you're at the beach or the bar. Be sure the photos are professionally done and convey your personality and are consistent with the image you want to project and the skills you offer to potential employers, customers, and clients.

Your web site doesn't have to be complicated but should include the four elements described above to highlight what you have to offer.

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Getting Where You Want to Go

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• Getting Where You Want to Go: "Failure is our greatest teacher. Yet the idea of failure paralyzes many us so we fail to take the risks that might spur growth.There’s no shame in failure. When you do fail, react quickly, learn from your mistakes, and move on."


• Influencing Others When You're Not the Expert: "If you’re a thoughtful curator of the best ideas in your field, even if you’re not developing them yourself, others will start turning to you for guidance."


• 7 Lessons from Working Moms: "I've found that it's really important to take time off, and I've found that sometimes you get really important insights by taking time off, too...I want people to realize that it really is ok, that you can have a family."


• 21 Things I Wish I Knew When I was 21: "It may not always be clear to you, but the people you meet can help you. Treat everyone like you’d like to be treated and be willing to make new friends. The world is smaller than you think. You’ll be amazed at who is connected to whom."


• Improve Your Online Visibility: "One way to help people understand what you're good at and what's important to you is to write about it. You can document your own stories as case studies, expand upon or add your opinions on thought-provoking articles others have written or highlight industry news."

3 Steps to Build Your Personal Brand

You have the ability to be your own best marketer and promoter by building your personal brand. Your personal brand is what sets you apart: your skills, talents, and values.

It is your unique set of skills, abilities, knowledge, and values that distinguishes you from others and makes clear to potential employers or partners what value you could bring to a position or role within a company.

Here are 3 steps to begin building your personal brand:

1. Get on social media and build a consistent message. If you're not on twitter or Instagram consider opening an account. Create or share content of value to others in your fields of interest. Be sure to share appropriate and professional content on facebook and linkedIn.

2. Start a blog. You can become known and knowledgeable in your field by writing interesting posts about areas of importance to others with similar interests. For help in starting a blog check out this post over at the Minimalists site.

3. Attend conferences and participate in panel discussions. Not only will you meet some great people at conferences and develop important business contacts and make new friends, but by participating in panel discussions you begin to brand yourself as an expert in your field.

How are you building your brand?

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Ways to Use Twitter to Land a Job

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share them so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 5 Ways to use Twitter to Land a Job: "Make a point of following recruiters who specialize in your industry and job type, as well as target companies where you would like to work."


• How to Cope with a Bad Job: "Consider ways to tolerate your situation better: improvements you can make within whatever limitations are imposed on you to make your everyday experience of work more enjoyable, no matter how small."


• How Blogging Can Change Your Professional Life: "When like-minded people read my posts, they organically network with me—through comments, retweets, my contact form. And I've connected and built relationships with so many incredible people over the years who originally found me through my blog."


• What to do if Your Boss is a Bully: "Remember that there may be other people experiencing this problem who are too afraid to speak out. By taking a stand you are not behaving unprofessionally: you are simply taking steps to tackle an issue that is no doubt affecting others too."


• Find the Right Career Coach for You: "Almost every coach will have a 'paper trail' allowing you to see for yourself the kinds of issues they’re writing and thinking about, how they approach the situation, and their personal style."

3 Tips for Building Up Your Resume

There is a lot of competition out there for jobs and job seekers need to find ways to stand out from the crowded field.

One important way to stand out is with a compelling resume highlighting skills, abilities, and experience that might be unique to you and particularly suited to the positions you are applying for.

Here are 3 tips to developing that "stand out" resume:

1. Learn a language. Many companies today are looking for employees that speak additional languages as they compete in a global marketplace. Take a class at a local community college, find a tutor, or learn a language through your library. Many community libraries offer free language-learning resources.

2. Start a blog. If you don't already blog you might consider starting one. You can set up one easily and inexpensively with wordpress, blogger, or tumblr. Pick a subject of particular interest to you or blog about one of your hobbies. Employers are interested in hiring people with good communication skills and blogging is one way for you to demonstrate these skills.

3. Teach a class. Another way to demonstrate your communication and leadership skills is to teach a class. You do not need to be affiliated with a school or have a specific degree to teach a class or a seminar. You simply need to be knowledgeable about a subject of interest to others. Many libraries, city recreation departments, churches, and continuing education programs at community colleges welcome community members to propose and lead a class.

These are just three ways to build up your resume. What other ideas do you have?

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!

1. Why You Remain Stuck in a Career You Hate
"I believe there are even deeper reasons for this epidemic of people hating what they do each day for their living.  These reasons touch on underlying emotional, spiritual and behavioral conditions, and reveal a deep disconnection to what it means to live joyfully, authentically, and meaningfully."

2. Why Every Job Seeker Needs to Blog
"Your blog demonstrates your ability to think and your ability to write, and these abilities are important to your future boss."

3. 10 Dos & Don'ts for Shifting from a Military to Civilian Career
"Though transitioning from military to civilian life requires hard work and planning, if executed well, it can be an exciting, purposeful mission filled with large rewards and meaning."

4. Bridging the Gap to an Encore Career 
"A new survey ... estimates that 31 million people between ages 44 and 70 are interested in encore careers."

5. How to Curate Your Own Personal Job Feed
"You have to become a curator of your own personal job feed, narrowing down all of the various websites and listings to a truly personalized stream of opportunities."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup

This is our weekly roundup of some of the best career-related articles, interviews, blogs, etc., we've read during the week. We share these every weekend so you have some great resources to prepare you for the coming week. Enjoy!


1. A Must-Listen Interview for Job Hunters


2. New Ways to Make the Most out of a Career Fair


3. How Blogging Can Help Your Career


4. 22 Game-Changing Job-Search Tips from a Recruiter


5. How Twitter Hashtags Can Help You Find a Position

Job Seekers Should Consider Blogging

A blog is a website or a page on a website that individuals—called bloggers—use to post entries, typically in chronological order. Blog posts are primarily text, but some include images and website links. They are often interactive in that they invite visitors to post comments, recommend and share blog posts, and even rate content.

Job seekers can benefit by participating in respected and high-traffic blogs pertaining to their industries or occupations. For starters, these blogs are a great way to keep current on relevant industry or occupational issues and trends. When you participate by posting insightful blog comments or sharing expertise, you may capture the positive attention of others in the industry, including hiring managers or recruiters. Another way to capture this positive attention is to consider starting your own blog for showcasing your personality and knowledge within a given profession and/or industry. From a job seeker’s perspective, your blog should focus on generating a community of followers with similar professional interests, sparking engaging dialogue, and sharing ideas.

Launching your own blog is fairly easy thanks to the availability of several free blog software services, including Blogger, WordPress, and Blogspot and hosting providers. Whatever tool(s) you choose, you need blog software to create and archive your blog entries and a hosting service to make your blog available on the Internet.

Keep in mind, blog entries should be well written, short, and on point, plus new posts should be added regularly. You may also want to become familiar with search engine optimization and how the use of keywords can drive traffic to your blog.