High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: 5 Brilliant (and Simple) Ways to Make a Good First Impression

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!

• 5 Brilliant (and Simple) Ways to Make a Good First Impression: "Something as simple as smiling when you talk or engaging with your eyes in a way that shows interest can go a long way."

• The 4 Reasons Why I Love to Fail: "On the flip side, instead of breaking our will, an embarrassing setback can harden it into titanium and give us the determination to do whatever it takes to achieve our final objective."

• An Entrepreneur's Guide to Confronting and Harnessing Anger: "For many of us, anger is just fear in disguise. It doesn’t matter what it is - fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of feeling small - fear can lead a person down a very dark path."

• What to do When a Personal Crisis is Hurting Your Professional Life: "These are all incredibly tough situations to navigate personally — let alone professionally. Should you disclose what’s happening to your manager and colleagues?"
• 10 Proven Strategies to Build Trust: "Anything that communicates listening, empathy, confidence, caring, is going to signal trustworthiness from a preconscious perspective. Those nonverbals register in our brains as signals of trust or distrust."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: How to Ask for a Raise

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!

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• 5 Lessons to Make a Partnership Work: "Having a sense of shared community made us feel less lonely and uncertain about our choices."


• How to Cultivate Your Professional Relationships: "Make 'reconnect' files on your calendar that recur on a monthly basis. These remind you to reach out in a way as small as a call or email to say hello, see how they’re doing, send a pertinent article or ask how you can help them."


• Things You Must Never Reveal About Yourself at Work: "The last thing anyone wants to hear at work is someone complaining about how much they hate their job. Doing so labels you as a negative person, who is not a team player."


• How to Ask for a Raise: "First, and most important, are facts about your own unique contributions that bolster your case: money-saving efficiencies you implemented, results from a project you’ve just overseen, positive customer testimonials, or praise from higher ups."


• 11 Tips for Job Seekers on Twitter: "You can and should include a link to a personal website, social landing page or LinkedIn profile. Think about where you want people to learn more about you, and use the right link to send them there."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Using Pinterest in Your Job Search

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

• Why You Need To Use Pinterest in Your Job Search: "Pinterest may not be the first thing that comes to mind when searching for jobs, but this infographic shows how it could it help."


• Surprise! You Shouldn’t Answer the Phone When Recruiters Call: "This has to sound like the stupidest idea you have ever heard. But you don’t want to get caught off-guard in phone interviews."


• What Type of Job Hunter Are You?: "Here are three basic thoughts to take to heart and learn about the job search."


• Why You Should Keep Your Personal Life Out of the Office: "Although work/life boundaries are more blurred than ever, spending too much work time on personal tasks will lead you to be much less productive."


• How to Start a Business When You Work Full Time: "If you haven’t already realized that there’s no true job security, now is a good time to start thinking about how you could bring in additional streams of revenue."

High 5 Weekly Career Transitions Roundup: Career Myths, Rebooting, and More

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!

© Bellemedia | Stock Free Images & Dreamstime Stock Photos

• 6 Career Myths You Shouldn't Fall For: "You've probably heard the same bits of career advice tossed around over and over ... But plenty of the maxims that we hear repeated actually aren't true. Here are six of the most popular career myths that you shouldn't fall for."


• Starting Over? 10 Tips to Reboot Your Career: "If big changes feel overwhelming, focus on small daily actions. Even taking mini-steps—setting up an informational interview, writing a thank-you note, reading an industry blog, etc.—make you feel more in control as you slowly build up to your goal."


• How to Meet and Influence People You Don't Know: "Your goal is to increase the number of people who know, like, and trust you. You should identify people ... who have the chance to influence hiring decisions."


• Take Back Your Life in Ten Steps: "Human beings aren't designed to work continuously. We're meant instead to move between spending and renewing energy. Ideally, take a break every 90 minutes, even if only to spend a minute or two breathing deeply."


• 13 Little Things You're Doing to Sabotage Your Success: "If you promise me a miracle, I’ll expect it. If you promise me a little, I’ll be happy with a little and delighted with a little more. Being impressive is mostly about being reasonable in your projections and hitting them consistently." 

When Can Your Personal Life Impact Your Job Search?

In the midst of the Republican Party's race to select its presidential candidate, we have seen lots of personal "dirt" unearthed. Infidelity, corruption, and questionable financial deals are among the few issues that have been raised. It begs the question, does your personal life really impact your ability to secure a job? As the GOP canididacy - and every day life - has proven, your personal life does make a difference in your employability.

Credit Score
On the surface, one might think a low credit score would not impact your ability to land a job. However, did you know that it is very difficult obtain a government security clearance with a bankruptcy or even a low credit score? The same holds true in banking, finance, and the insurance industry. Employers often look at your credit score as an indication of your ability to make decisions and hold responsibility.

Online Presence
In an earlier blog post I discussed how to manage your online presence. If an employer is conducting a search of your name, what will they find? Pictures on facebook of you drinking heavily or participating in illegal activities are a definite red flag to employers. However, they will also look at comments you make on blogs and on social media sites such as www.twitter.com and www.facebook.com to get a sense of your values and beliefs.

Consider the types of pages, businesses, and causes that are among your "likes" on Facebook. Are any of these organizations controversial or indicative of your religious or sexual preferences? These types of personal beliefs should be kept just that - personal. Remember that when you post something online, it stays there for other people to find, so beware!

Convictions
Everyone makes mistakes in their life. However, some are more costly than others. If you have been convicted of a felony in your life, you need to be ready to counteract the negativity that will follow. Try to offer a simple straightforward explanation of the conviction followed by the changes you have made in your life since the conviction. Read this earlier blog post for more information.