How Make a Standout LinkedIn Profile

How Make a Standout LinkedIn Profile The increasing popularity of LinkedIn has made it an indispensable tool for recruitment. Anyone looking for a job should know that one of the first things a potential employer will do is to look the person up on LinkedIn. A poorly structured profile or a lack of one could be a deciding factor when choosing between you and another candidate. LinkedIn is not only used for showing off your accomplishments, like a resume or CV, it is also a powerful networking tool. What users need to know is that merely slapping your resume on the site will not serve you well. It’s important to consider LinkedIn as a different way to connect to an employer or recruitment audience. Show your stuff Like any social media profile, your image is of the utmost importance. In this case, you want to present a professional face to the world. Be sure to add a picture that looks polished and is a clear representation of what you want in your career. Don’t put in pictures with strange backgrounds and definitely no selfies! In addition, you should fill your profile with media like images and links to your further workâ€"there’s nothing better than visual content, after all. Tell a story While your CV might have a brief summary followed by bulleted points for individual listings, this is not the way you want your LinkedIn profile to read. Consider the medium of LinkedIn as a kind of marketing landing page which should show you off at your best and sell your characteristics. Because of this, it must be more prosaic than a standard resume, with some hints of your personality and how you approach your work. Again, LinkedIn a networking tool too, so you want to present yourself as both professional and accessible in order to make the strongest impact. Think of how you might see a blog post. Instead of saying something like: Spearheaded outreach for 3000 person event space, raising social media profile by 30% Consider something more illustrative like: “For three years, I was tasked with tackling outreach and media for programming for large event space (with over 3000 audience members). Happy to say that my efforts had the effect of raising our social media profile by over 30%.” You can add almost everything In structure, a LinkedIn profile is more like a CV rather than a resume, and it needs to have all the details you can muster. Because the site functions as an all-in-one professional hub, many things that you would never put on a resume are actually fair game (think, specific interests and groups you belong to). Remember the medium again, readers will scan and scroll on your page, picking out areas of interest. That said, make sure interests are work-related and not just “sci-fi movies” or the NY Knicks (unless that’s in your career path). Similarly, you can add things like volunteer experiences, language skills, and awards you’ve won that you might not have included on your resume for fear of making it too lengthy. In this case, you never know what will connect with an employer. Recommendations and skill endorsements It doesn’t hurt to add as many skills as you can think of for people to endorse you one of the key aspects that employers look for on LinkedIn is how other people see your professional skill level. When it comes to recommendations, it is useful to have at least 2 or 3. Talk to your co-workers or people you trust who you may have worked with at a previous job, and ask them to do a recommendation swap. If they write one for you, you’ll write one for them. While there’s no shortage of LinkedIn profile tips to learn from, the most important thing to take away is that if your profile has the effect of demonstrating a human, personable, and effective career-minded individual, then you can’t go wrong. Have a look at the infographic below for some more LinkedIn profile tips. About the author:  Meredith Wood  is Editor-in-Chief at Fundera. Specializing in financial advice for small business owners, Meredith is a current and past contributor to Yahoo!, Amex OPEN Forum, Fox Business, SCORE, AllBusiness and more.

CV Themes

15 Best WordPress Resume / CV Themes 15 Best WordPress Resume / CV Themes Crafting a professional profile online is so important these days if you want to separate yourself from the deluge of other job applicants and catch the eye of your prospective new employer. Doing this pinpoints all your key information in one place that a recruitment officer needs for their background research. It is important that you choose a theme or style of template that suits your personality, but also is suitable for the field or job sector that you are looking to work within. Here at Freesumes.com, we like to be helpful to our readers so for your information we have compiled a list of some of the best WordPress Resume/CV themes currently available with a short description of each one. We hope you find our list useful!1.  The High Class Portfolio ThemeThis resume theme from TemplateMonster is a good place to start. Visually attractive with a cutting-edge style, your profile will be sure to stand out when you choose this theme. Using a full screen-width header with a centre d head shot instantly draws the eye front and centre. Very similar in design to modern one-page-style micro-website layouts, this combination of cool blue/grey/green shades and crisp text makes a beautiful and striking template.2.  The ShiftCV theme from ThemeREXThis is a multi-purpose flat-design layout with a wide range of customizable options, such as adding an unlimited number of skills and setting the display styles and accent colours. You can switch between dark and light colour schemes and although the black background does look dramatic on screen it does look equally as impactful in printed form too. The integrated switch will allow viewers of your site to choose their own preference. When you want to print out your resume you can also choose between full colour or black and white options â€" both look equally as stunning.3.  PerfectCV Responsive CV / Resume ThemeWith a design style that is based on Twitter bootstrap, PerfectCV is a great choice of CV / Resume WordPress the me. Being ultra responsive and smartphone and retina ready, this clean and modern layout is a well thought out theme that works very well across all viewing platforms. You can customize the display options easily through the WordPress Theme Customizer, as well as fully edit your different sections and header titles too. There are unlimited colours to choose from so you can tailor the overall look to suit your mood and you can add new sections if you need to include updated skills or training courses etc.4.  Vertica WP Resume ThemeVertica is designed to be a clean, multi-purpose and versatile resume theme that comes in four ready-made style choices. Mainly aimed at those wanting to work as digital professionals, web designers, programmers or creative photographers, it is a perfect platform from which to showcase your work. This template features an interactive timeline and is 100% responsive, retina ready, and like all good templates is built on the Bootstrap Framework. With easy cus tomization options included, it also has Smooth Scroll, improving the user experience across all devices. Modern and engaging, this is a very versatile and user-friendly choice.5.  Photographer CV WordPress ThemeThis is a well-defined layout that underlines the aesthetic feel a professional photographer wants. This is a perfect way to promote your creative skills and draw in prospective employers who are looking for a contemporary style photographer. The designs offers a short bio section along with the usual educational and employment timeline options that makes up a perfect resume.6.  Pancaro Themed ResumeSimple to set up, Pancaro combines style with technology in this personal resume identity one-page-style design. Straightforward in layout, which can often be the best way to present your information, Pancaro lets you express yourself using features from your bio, portfolio, resume, blog and your contact information. Using drag and drop from the page builder, you can easily place your information to display. The Pancaro theme is very responsive and highly engaging. There is very good 24/7 support offered should you need it.7.  Persuasive Web Portfolio WP themeThe beauty of this resume style one-page-style website is in its simplicity. This is easy on the eye and allows your viewers to quickly see all the important information you wish to share in a one-stop overview. The clever thing about this choice is it allows you to add more underlying information that can be instantly drilled down into should you visitor want more details. The Parallax animations keep this template quick to load and presents a great snapshot of information. You can even showcase your latest work at the bottom of the page to catch the attention of a prospective employer without them having to take the extra time to ask you for examples. It has great cross-browser compatibility and can include Google maps and all your social options.8.  Empathy A VCard ThemeSimple, yet elegant. Empathy is a subtle way of representing your online identity. Empathy’s simple and sleek design will invite readers in to find out more about you. This style is not as in your face as other designs, and presents a single central image with buttons on the left panel to click through to find the information you want. A great site for those who do not like to do a lot of scrolling down the page to locate areas of interest. So if a viewer only wanted to check out your portfolio or wanted to go directly to your resume, they wouldnt need to scroll past other information to find it. There are plenty of customizable options so you can tweak the feel of the page to suit your personal style in just a few minutes. Responsive Design and Retina ready with cross browser compatibility and optimized performance for mobile devices.9.  ImpressivCard WPImpressive   is a bootstrap responsive theme with a lightweight and clean feel. With over 70 predefined skins, you will be sure to find something that suits your personality. Fully optimized for mobile devices with touch gestures and easy to modify features, it is a good choice for both personal or business use. Another great choice for those who dislike scrolling, you can access the information you want via the tabs at the top of the page. With custom widgets and different theme-options, it is a great choice for a resume if you dont want to overwhelm your reader with too much information at once.10.  Savannah â€" Responsive WordPress vCard PortfolioA lightweight yet fully featured theme that is easy on the eye. Designed to deliver a snapshot of what you have to offer, the Savannah theme offers a great all-round template to display your skills.The Retina Display Ready Responsive Parallax Theme is easy-to-customize, even for those without much editing experience. This theme looks great on any screen size and resolution, and offers stunningly clear graphics for Retina Display devices.11.  FlexiCV Responsive WP vCardIdeal for illustratin g your skills and accomplishments, this theme is fully adaptable no matter what your profession. It is a flexible theme that would sit well with people from all walks of life, backgrounds and lifestyles. You can structure the skills you want to display into three different content structures and there are also three profile layouts to choose from. You have a Resume/CV page to customize with your information for a one-shot overview, but you can also provide document downloads should you want to present a print option of your resume for prospective employers to take.12.  Divergent Vcard Resume PortfolioDivergent offers a full width one-page-style themed layout with fully customizable colours and fonts. You can set your own theme from the Theme Settings Panel and display your chosen images through the built-in gallery plugin. The slide in sidebar menu is very responsive and quick to load and adds eye-catching interest to your page. The unique split page layout offers one page navigatio n with smooth scrolling Jquery and CSS3 Animations. Astonishingly modern and flexible, this is a great theme to choose if you want an impressive quality page to make you stand out from your competition.13.  Split: WordPress CV/Vcard TemplateSplit is a clean-cut and simple to follow layout that delivers the most important information you need to get across to potential new employers. Fully responsive in design it is easily viewable across all platforms including mobile devices. Drag and Drop layout options in more than 20 elements with unlimited colours and styles, you will quickly be able to customize your page to your liking. Presented in a portfolio single-page layout, there is no hunting around for the information that you want. There is a step by step set up guide that is well written and easy to follow.14.  Premium Layers: WordPress vCard Resume ThemeVery easy to navigate, the Premium Layers theme has eight ready-made skins to choose from if you are not heavily into customizin g your own sites. 100% responsive and Retina Ready, this theme simple to use and very easy to customize. The style is easy on the eye and naturally leads your readers to the menu bar on the left to find the information they are looking for. This is a simple and clean design for a no-nonsense approach to displaying your skills online. The overall looks presents a well matured and polished feel that would fit well with a number of business niches and industry sectors.15.  Tyler CV Resume TemplateThis resume template style is crisp and clean in design. The easy to navigate one-page-style site can be scrolled, or you can use the tabs on the sidebar to jump to the section you desire. Any prospective employer viewing your page will have all the information they need at hand, but also have a very useful choice to download a PDF version of your CV page to take away with them.The support on offer from Kickresume is outstanding. The small team of dedicated professionals are on hand to help yo u create a truly standout resume career page website along with other useful advice about creating cover letters and tips about job interviews. Worldwide, more than 400K people have been helped by them and numbers are growing daily. Their overall goal is to help more young people in to work by making their job seeking activities simpler. You can find their site here. previous article Free Word Resume Template for the Ladies Pretty in Pink next article Subtle Yellow â€" The Trendy Resume Template Giveaway you might also likeHow to Write About Your Accomplishments on Your Resume

I Didnt Take That Vacation Heres What Happened Marla Gottschalk

I Didnt Take That Vacation Heres What Happened Marla Gottschalk I didnt have the opportunity to take a vacation this year. For some reason, the stars never aligned to help that happen. A few things contributed to the situation. I have a new role (along with my other commitments), and we are also renovating an older home. As you might expect, our resources have been diverted to goals such as staircases and a functional HVAC system. Then, in a last ditch effort,   we just couldnt agree on when and where to go. Re-charging just was not in the cards. The outcome of my neglect feels quite real. A little like pulling an all-nighter â€" with absolutely no desire to sit for the exam. This is not a good thing â€" as Martha would say. The research has shown that many of us fail to take time off, even when we have earned the vacation days to do so. For some odd reason, we dont like to admit that time off is necessary â€" or we fear well look weak â€" or uncommitted to our work. This lack of attention to rest is costly in so many ways. I can only say, that if Im representative of what it is like to not have a break, no one should skimp. Sustaining us â€" is in part our own responsibility. We shouldnt need to be reminded that we are important. Heres what has happened: Im observing signs of burn-out. Yes, I lack my usual level of enthusiasm for the tasks I normally love. Ive coached myself to care, as the Joy Factor has taken a dip. Thats a sad commentary. Im losing my sense of humor, especially where work is concerned. I dont laugh nearly enough â€" and laughing is vastly under-rated. We need these moments to off-set stress. Im a bit of a pain in the a##. Im sure it has to do with the above. No further explanation needed. Sorry for the language. Inspiration is waning. I require new sources of stimulation to stay at the top of my game. A change of scenery always does great things for me. We really shouldnt expect to be at our best, after completing a year-long mental marathon. Im starting to fantasize about a new line of work. Now, this is simply ridiculous. However, I can easily see why many of us take these feelings as a sign that our roles are the problem. Its not. Here is what Im doing: Im exploring my local environment. Im unchaining myself from my desk and getting out there (cell phone muted). Im stopping by the Farmers Market, and checking out the museums and gardens. Inspiration is really all around us. Im aiming to meet more people face-to-face.   Im completely inspired by the career journeys of others. Im making a point to visit college campuses this fall, to talk to students about their future work lives. (let me know if youd like me to visit yours.) Im taking a series of shorter weekend trips. Nothing works like the real deal. Michigan is beautiful in the fall and Im determined to see it. Im telling founders, managers and leaders to take their vacations (and to let everyone know). Nothing cements a needed change more completely, than a strong message that time off is a respected practice. What are your strategies to take a break when vacations are impossible to schedule? Share your thoughts. Dr. Marla Gottschalk is an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist, consultant and coach. She holds the role of Senior Consultant at Allied Talent, bringing the principles of The Alliance to organizations worldwide.

Positively Share Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Positively Share Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Social networking sites have truly changed the way people interact and communicate with each other. In the past, when you had some news to share, you called or texted people to announce it. Simply update your Facebook or Twitter account so that all your friends and followers can immediately know the news. Sharing has never been easier, since with just one click, you can immediately deliver the information to hundreds of your friends. No need to spend time dialing on your cell phone or going on a text brigade â€" social media keeps everyone updated about your life with your entries. But perhaps the problem with social networking sites is the fact that we’ve become so complacent about it. Since it has become an extension of our lives, we tend to post any random thought we have in it. This has led to a lot of posts that complain, are whiny, and are really negative. We experience a bad day at work, and we immediately tweet about it or vent out in Facebook. A small problem immediately gets bigger the minute we broadcast it on our social media accounts. When it comes to your personal brand, it is really important to be positive. After all, who would you rather spend the day with, someone who will whine and complain the whole day, or someone who’s very cheerful and happy? People always have two ways of looking at things: positively or negatively. Nobody wants to be with a person who’s always full of doom and gloom â€" after all, negative feelings can be contagious. When you feel and act positive, then you encourage a positive energy and atmosphere around you. There is really something so wonderful about a person who’s always smiling and who’s always willing to help out others. Instead of whining or complaining about something, they take steps to do something about the situation. After all, whining never got anybody anywhere. Truly, you may be surprised at the huge difference in your personal branding campaign if you focus on the positive instead of the negative. Just the idea of trying to help at least one person a day can really help you become the go-to person in your chosen niche. Of course, sometimes there are just people out there who are full of negativity and just want to spread their feelings to everyone. These people hide behind fake accounts and post disparaging remarks on your blog or site. Or perhaps, there are those in your friends list, who are always negative, always upset and always ending up with the short end of the stick. The best way to deal with these people is to ignore them. Don’t let them affect you. These people obviously have way too much time on their hands, which is why they’re doing these things instead of doing something constructive. What you should focus on is the positive. Your personal branding campaign can really benefit a lot by being cheerful and helpful to others. People will flock to you since they know that you’re going to make them feel good, and because you’re not the type to whine and complain the whole day. When you positively affect your personal brand, you will definitely be appreciated more by people. With the endless complaining and whining out there, your positive, cheerful nature is going to be like a ray of sunshine in a cloudy day, and the reason why people will always follow and befriend you. Author: Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog and is also the CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com â€" 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.

How Can a Unf Resume Writing Service Help You?

How Can a Unf Resume Writing Service Help You?An unf resume writing service is available that can help you with your resume and help you make the necessary adjustments to get the job you want. An unf resume writing service can offer you with the services needed to make your resume stand out among all the others that you see.Most of us find it difficult to write a resume, especially if we do not know how. It is especially so if we have never done it before. All these things make us look for an unf resume writing service that will help us create our own resume in a matter of minutes.But if you need a resume, you should be able to find one that is simple to read, one that has neat headers and one that tells what you are about. A good on resume writing service will be able to provide you with all this.Unf resume writing services also provide you with your resume. You can review it and then make the necessary changes so that it reflects your personality. This is important to get the job y ou want and do not simply take the company's word for it.You need to be able to write your own resume because it will tell the employer what you are about. There are some other things that you need to be prepared for. For example, you need to be prepared to talk about your educational background and work experience and this could involve talking about how you got your career started.You may also need to include certain skills you possess. One good example of this is volunteering. It may seem like a silly thing to include but if you are successful in volunteering and you did it for a charity, you may be able to show that you have a lot of passion for the work that you do.There are some companies that offer samples to illustrate how you should write a resume and these are good examples. This will show you the right way to write the resume.Your resume is your first opportunity to make a first impression, showing employers that you are a serious candidate and are capable of putting in t he hard work needed to get the job you want. To make sure that you have everything you need, you should look for an unf resume writing service.

Book review The tipping point - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Book review The tipping point - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push in just the right place it can be tipped. This is how Malcolm Gladwell ends his book The tipping point, subtitled how little things can make a big difference. Throughout the book Gladwell examines the circumstances in which large scale change can be brought about by a small effort. From the explosive succes og Hush Puppies (a brand of shoes) to a wave of suicides that plagued Micronesia. From the success of Sesame Street to a syphilis epidemic in Boston in the 90s. Gladwell argues that this sort of change is much more common than we usually acknowledge, and that it is possible because of three factors, the three rules of the tipping point. These three rules are: * The law of the few * The stickiness factor * The power of context The law of the few states that there are three kinds of people who are mainly involved in spreading any new idea or epidemic, namely mavens who discover new trends and enjoy sharing them, connectors who have huge networks and salesmen who are good at convincing people to try something new. The stickiness factor is a measure of how hard it is to shake the new concet, and the power of context reminds us to look at the context in which any new concept is spreading. The main message here is, that when we are working to effect change, we must liberate ourselves from traditional thinking. A good example of this, which is also covered in the book, are the efforts to reduce teenage smoking which have failed spectacularly. These efforts focus on teaching teenagers that smoking is dangerous and unhealthy, but they ignore the fact that thats one of the reasons why teenagers smoke because it is dangerous. What is needed instead is an effort that identifies a likely tipping point, and focuses efforts there. One of my favourite stories from the book is of a nurse called Georgia Sadler who was trying to teach the black community in San Dieago about diabetes and breast cancer. She started arranging seminars in churches in the area, but attendance was very low. So she took her program to the beauty salons in the area instead. She taught the women who worked in the salons both about the diseases but also how to pass the information on using stories, and she distributed information materials in the salons. In that way, she affected much more change, than if shed spent millions on an advertising campaign. The tipping point describes a way of seeing the world, that is probably truer than what common sense will tell us, namely that to effect large change takes a large effort. And of course it has inspired me to think of what the tipping point for happiness at work might be Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

5 Resources for Leveraging Your Network in Your Job Search - CareerAlley

5 Resources for Leveraging Your Network in Your Job Search - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you. Elbert Hubbard, The Notebook, 1927 According to Merriam-Websters dictionary, a friend is one attached to another by affection or esteem. Where would we be without our friends? I suppose we dont give it too much thought until we lose our jobs or are desperate. For job search a friend is anyone who: gives you a lead, introduces you to people who can help in your job search, provides advice, writes a recommendation or is simply there to listen. Then, of course, there are your connections, which are all of the people that you are linked to on LinkedIn (and if you are not on LinkedIn than stop everything you are doing and join now). Todays post is about leveraging your friends, social networks and connections in your job search. Five Strategies for Leveraging Your Online Social Networks Beyond your usual use of social networks, this article (from QuintCareers.com) outlines a few strategies for leveraging your social networks. Most are common sense, but you may not think about them until you read them in the article. The first strategy, Be Selective, is great advice in terms of who you might use for recommendations, but Im not sure I agree if you are looking for people who can provide leads. There is additional advice on the right hand sidebar regarding Twitter which is worth a read as well. Dont forget to visit their Art of Career Networking section as well. Book Corner This book will help you build a great Linked profile which will you help you in your job search [easyazon_link asin=1492291137 locale=US new_window=default nofollow=default tag=caree07-20 add_to_cart=default cloaking=default localization=default popups=default]How To Build the ULTIMATE LinkedIn Profile In Under An Hour: Boost Your Branding[/easyazon_link]. How to Leverage Social Networking to Get Your Next Job This article focuses on leveraging your social network in your job search. The article also touches how to leverage your social network in researching where you would like to work (as in companies) and getting the information you need to help you decide on where to focus your search. more See Job Search Marketing Toolkit Top Social Media Sites for Job Searching Okay, but what are the best job search social networks? Alison Doyle, from About.com, provides a short list in the article. So what are they? Well Im not going to give them all away, but the list does include well known sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter but also includes some sites you may not have heard of. There is tons more advice both on this page (with links) and on the site as well. Dont let friends ruin your job search Like just about everything in life, there is always the flip side (which is always the negative side). CNN.coms living section provides this article. The great thing about this article is that it gives you both the positive and the negative. The article provides some basic advice and then a list of Dos and Donts. Visit the site to view the article. When Social Media Bites The good, the bad and the ugly. This article, posted on Forbes.com, gives you the low down on both the bad and the ugly. The article reminds us that we need to protect our image when using our name on the internet and the statistics provided in the article indicate that almost half (45% to be precise) of employers check out applicants on social networks. Your know the saying, if your mother would be embarrassed by what youve done then there is a pretty good chance any potential employer will take a pass on you. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+ what where job title, keywords or company city, state or zip jobs by