Stop Writing Your LinkedIn Profile in the 3rd Person!

Stop Writing Your LinkedIn Profile in the 3rd Person! If your LinkedIn profile is written in the 3rd person, stop reading this blog and go change that description of yourself right now. I am dead serious. Nothing annoys me more than inflated egos (most employers think this way), and one simple technique for identifying inflated egos is the reference to the self in the 3rd person. I know you may think you’ve accomplished so much that someone should be talking about your professional conquests, and maybe they are, but not on your own LinkedIn page. When I see the 3rd person on a LinkedIn page I think, has this person been hacked? Or are you just that out of touch when it comes to presenting yourself on the social web? The social web’s value lies in direct connection to anyone’s personal page. Whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, or wherever, nearly everyone stores some from of their identity on a page online. That’s why my company’s job advertisements encourage candidates to apply with whatever profiles already stores their information. Candidates (and companies for that matter) should be forthcoming. Your information is out there for reference. When you write about yourself on your LinkedIn profile, the use of the first person is appropriate.* What I am writing about is nothing new; it’s just arrogance manifesting within another medium. When Esquire tackled, “Why the F%$# Do People Refer to Themselves in the Third Person?” Harvard Medical School Professor and Author of Identifying and Understanding the Narcissistic Personality explained: Referring to yourself in the third person creates distance between I and he. So if you have an exaggerated view of how great you are, you could be using this distance to make yourself even bigger. Or, if youve achieved major success suddenly, using the third person could be a way to adjust to the bigger role thats been assigned to you. Its a way to enlarge yourself to fit that role. Why would people refer to themselves in the 3rd person on LinkedIn more often than they do on Facebook? LinkedIn’s emphasis on role. The 3rd person is a way to enlarge yourself to fit that exaggerated role of how great you (seemingly) are. At some point exaggerations become lies, and that will red flag your resume. Sometimes, the resume is better off simple. Often times your titles and company names are plenty to give 80% of your professional profile. For the final 20% of your professional profile, be humble, be honest, and above all else, be yourself. (*If you are one of the few people who had their LinkedIn profile written by someone else there is nothing wrong with ghostwriting  acknowledge that no matter who wrote the page, your LinkedIn page is you telling me what you do.)

Book Giveaway Leap Your Way to the Next Level with the CEO Difference

Book Giveaway Leap Your Way to the Next Level with the CEO Difference I am so excited because today we will be giving away 5 copies of  The CEO Difference: How to Climb, Crawl, and Leap Your Way to the Next Level of Your Career  by Debora Benton.  When it comes to getting ahead today, your talent and experience matter. The problem is, someone else going for the promotion or business opportunity has a résumé that’s as good as, if not better than, yours. If you want to get ahead, you have to be different. You have to stand out from the crowd. You have to get decision makers to talk about you. In The CEO Difference, Benton gives you the insight and tools to make subtle changes in your presentation, attitude, and leadership style that will dramatically increase your leadership effectivenessâ€"and, consequently, help you enjoy work and life. Learn how to differentiate yourself with tangible steps to get where you want to go: Authentically and effectively differentiate yourself in appropriate ways Inspire teams and organizations to be more productive and prosperous Understand yourself, change your mindset, and present yourself in a way that people are receptive to Create, manage, and mentor successful individuals and teams Remain intellectually curious while making meaningful contributions to your organization Here are the ways you can win a copy of this book. Please enter using Rafflecopter below: Like  Classy Career Girl on Facebook Follow me on Twitter  @classycareer Tweet about this giveaway (make sure you mention @classycareer) Leave a comment below telling us what makes you different as a leader. a Rafflecopter giveaway This giveaway is open to all residents in the US only. It begins NOW and ends on April 4th, 2014. We will be giving away 1 copy of the book to 5 lucky winners. The winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 24 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. Good luck! Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of the book to review but this did not change what I wrote about the book.

Interviews How to convince an employer you want the job

Interviews How to convince an employer you want the job I always say that if you get to an interview, an employer believes you can do the job on paper and it’s just a matter of convincing them in person at the interview.   So, how can do you do this effectively, without just repeating what you’ve written on your application form and simply regurgitating what a company says about the job and themselves on their website?   The ‘Why do you want this job?’ and ‘Why this company?’ interview questions tend to be the ones which can easily trip you up, even if you have expressed these well in  your application. (For more on how to do this, read our earlier post  How to answer “Why do you want to work for us?  ) As Warwicks Kay Brown explains to her colleague Alison Boffin in the following video about ‘How to approach motivational questions, it’s all about personalising your answer and this involves doing research for yourself.   The key words here are for yourself. Kay advocates the approach of taking a step back and asking yourself critically whether it is the right job in the right company.   To do this you might consider what it is that excites and ignites the spark in you. If there isn’t that spark, this could be equally important to bear in mind. It’s going to be much more difficult to convince an interviewer if you’re not ‘feeling the love’. To show you are motivated, also: 1. Pay attention to the tone of your voice You are going to be come across as being more motivated and energised if the tone of your voice is animated and if you are using positive language. Try to weave talking about your strengths into your answers and you will naturally seem more upbeat as you will tend to speak in more detail and create more visual imagery when talking about things you enjoy doing.   (Read How to crack strengths-based interviews â€" part 2 for more on this topic.) 2. Watch your body language Make sure that you aren’t giving mixed messages and saying all the right things but your body is showing a different story. Eg. Folded arms, sitting with legs crossed and not smiling can indicate negativity. For a quick test on this, try smiling and answering the question Tell me about yourself? and then adopt a miserable face and answer the same question. 3. Have a question to ask at the end of your interview If the interviewer asks you at the end “Do you have any questions?” a sure fire way to demonstrate you aren’t motivated is not to have any questions to ask the interviewer/s.   So consider carefully what you will say here and what you are really interested in finding more out about. For more interview tips read our earlier blog on 7 Steps to interview success and if you are applying to law firms read the latest Warwick Law Careers Blog post on How to answer interview questions which gives an employer perspective.

The biggest triumph is getting out of bed

The biggest triumph is getting out of bed Psychology Today did an interview with me. It was about my most triumphant moments in my life, and how I overcame obstacles to get there. I knew immediately that the interview was going to be a disaster, so I told them I wanted to do the interview written, rather than on the phone. Then I didnt write the interview for a week. Then I complained about the questions: I dont really believe in triumph. Because the most triumphant moments are the days when I have no idea how Im going to fix anything, but I get out of bed anyway. On the other hand, the moments of huge achievement are not actually that hard to get to. By the time youre close, you are so motivated to get there that it doesnt feel like work at all. So I wrote that. And then I felt bad. So I tried to give an example. People like examples. And I like Psychology Today. And I didnt want to disappoint them. So I wrote that the moment when I was a freelance writer and a new mom and had post-partum depression but I knew I had to keep working so I had to get out of bed and write. Maybe there were fifty moments like that. Or five hundred. But those are the moments of triumph. The thing is, I think it was probably messed up that I kept working and did not check myself into a hospital. And then I started thinking that all my moments of triumph came at the heels of me having done something totally terrible. Like, let me tell you right now that before I could play volleyball professionally, I was literally starving. So I stole bagels at the bagel shop. I have had about ten editors take that out of my writing. Out of my Business 2.0 column, out of my book, and my editor will tell me now that this is not good to put in a post. Stealing is bad, right? But my point is that its very hard to do some extraordinary triumph without taking some extraordinary risk or making an odd judgment that other people would not make. Thats why the triumph is extraordinary. Another thing about the bullshit of big triumphs: Our big moments where we can change the world come because so many other people have helped us, and luck has come to us. But our small moments, when no one is watching and no one cares and the only thing that makes us try again is an unreasonable belief that we can get what we want for ourselves those are the triumphs that we do all by ourselves. When I have been on the cusp of huge success, there have always been people to help me. For example, my agent stayed with me when I was out of money but about to get a six-figure book deal. But there was no one helping me get out of bed the day I knew I had to start writing my book proposal even though the odds of getting a big book deal from it were terrible. The daily task of believing things will improve when then things look bad. We do that on our own, and each time I do it I am thankful, in a deep, spiritual way. Im not sure what keeps me going when everything looks terrible, but I know that each time I do it, its a triumph. And it happens a lot. Another thing. Everyone, please shut up about your biggest failures. I hate when people write about their failures because they always write about how they pulled themselves up, or what they learned. And really, then, its not a failure, is it? Its a learning opportunity, or a chance to shine. Failure is something you did not overcome. You did not learn from. And most people are too embarrassed to write about it. High achievers dont have failures because they can learn from everything. There is no finish line, there is no gold prize. There is only living with yourself, day after day. So each day needs to be a small triumph so you can pat yourself on the back before you go to sleep. I try to do that. Todays triumph is doing this interview with Psychology Today. Sure, I couldnt quite do it, and I had to be quirky and weird, and it probably cost me getting into the article. But at least I wrote something.

How To Use a Microsoft Word Resume Template For Your Resume

How To Use a Microsoft Word Resume Template For Your ResumeA Microsoft Word resume template will help you write a well-written resume, showing your expertise in a certain subject. It is an easy way to create the professional resume that everyone wants. Also, you don't have to be a writing guru to create one; all you need is some knowledge on how to go about it.Firstly, you should have a lot of ideas on how to use the template. Go through each section and make sure you understand how to use it. This will ensure that you don't do any damage to the overall impression of your resume.The first thing that will come to mind for a job seeker is the cover page. You have a lot of options here to choose from. You can choose a template that gives you a plain resume cover page. You can also go with a template that gives you plenty of options to design a perfect cover page for your resume.The second thing that a job seeker would look at when looking for a resume template is the font and layout. It is best to have a template that is easy to read and is free of error. Also, try to avoid heavy fonts and hard text. A template that is easy to read is always more attractive.The third thing to remember is that, a Microsoft Word resume template is like a book. Therefore, it will be best to use the template as it is meant to be used; in this case, for the purpose of creating a resume.Lastly, it is best to opt for a Microsoft Word resume template that includes forms. This will allow you to customize the template so that it will work perfectly for your needs.If you are looking for a resume template that will help you create a personalized resume, then you can choose one that includes personalized sections such as a biography section, skills section, career section, references section, and much more. There are hundreds of great Microsoft Word resume templates to choose from online; therefore, you shouldn't have any trouble finding one.Now that you know the basics of a Microsoft Word res ume template, you will be able to easily customize it according to your needs. Start applying the template and get your dream job.

How to make yourself happy at work Attention, Intention, Action - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

How to make yourself happy at work Attention, Intention, Action - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog So you want to be happy at work. What should you do? There are certainly enough things on the menu. Should you read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People? Or maybe the Getting Things Done system is right for you. You could focus on Personal Excellence or develop Brand You. Is coaching what you need? Or to learn to coach others? Assertiveness? Maybe some anti-stress training. Or some conflict mediation. Career counselling? Or developing your communication skills, your presentation skills or your The options are almost endless and most of them are even pretty good. But its better to start somewhere else. With something even simpler. Something more basic. The best model I know for creating positive, effective change is attention, intention, action. And in the case of happiness we have to it positively, so the model becomes: Positive attention notice whats already good and what has worked previously Positive intention make a positive intention that focuses on what you want more off, not what you want to avoid Positive action- do something positive to fulfill your intention Lets starts with attention. Think back to some previous happiness at work First think back to a situation where you were happy at work. It can be at your current job or at a previous job. Its important that you think back to a specific situation. Not just Man, working for Acme Inc. was great but, say, Man, that time at Acme where we completed the Hansen project and had a huge party that was great. It doesnt have to be your best work experience ever just a pretty good one. This can be surprisingly difficult. Most people have an easier time remembering bad experiences, and thinking back to the good days takes a little work. If you cant find a specific experience at work, think back to your school days or maybe to something youve done outside of work, say in the community, in your childrens school or elsewhere. Take your time and find a specific situation where you were happy at work. Write it down. Then find two more and write them down as well. For each of the three good experiences youve remembered, write down short answers to each of the following questions: 1: What happened? What were the circumstances? Who was involved? What did you do? 2: How was it? What did it feel like? Why was it a good experience? 3: What did it do to the quality of your work? 4: How were your relations with co-workers, customers, suppliers and/or others at work? 5: How did it affect you outside of work? 6: Write down at least five things that made this experience possible. Which people, values, practices, tools etc. were involved and made this great experience happen? Write down at least five things from this experience that would you like to have more of in the future to make you happier at work? Take some time and answer the questions for each of the three good experiences youve remembered. This exercise is great for a number of reasons: You remember previous good experiences at work Its so easy to think back to that lousy boss you had three years ago, but surprisingly difficult to think back to that great team you worked with last year. Most of us tend to take good experiences for granted and to focus more on problems, annoying people and negative situations. This exercise trains your ability to also remember good experiences. You unearth real-life experiences Its tempting to make a list of Things that will make me happy at work and then populate that list with all the traditional trappings of a good job. You know a raise, a promotion, the corner office, the key to the executive bathroom etc This exercise looks back to specific situations where you were happy, and thus avoids this trap. Instead you get a list of things that have made you happy at work previously. These things are of course highly likely to work again in the future. You get a blueprint for what it takes to make you happy at work There are an infinite number of things we want to avoid at work from bad managers and annoying co-workers to stress, overwork, physical injury, bullying and much, much more. So you cant really choose your future work life based on what you want to avoid. And even if you could avoid all the things that make work bad who is to say that that will actually make work good? It takes more than the absence of annoyances and problems to be happy at work. Thats why you need to choose your work future based on what you want, not on what you dont want. And this exercise gives you just that a list of things that make you happy at work. Its fun and energizing It may be harder but its also a lot more fun to think back to the good experiences at work. Thinking back only to the bad experiences makes you feel sad and powerless. Thinking back to the good stuff gives you more energy and faith in a good job future. What youve just done here, is an exercise based on Appreciative Inquiry, an excellent method which holds that the best way to change is to focus on what worked previuosly and what you want more of in the future rather than on all the earlier problems you want to avoid. Take stock of your current situation Heres what you must know: You can be happy at work. In the previous exercise you found earlier examples where you were happy at wok, and you learned what it took to create those situations. But the work you can be happy at may not be the work you currently have. It depends on many factors, but mostly on the match between you, your job and the people there. The story of Maria in chapter X shows that sometimes you need to cut and run from a bad work situation. There may not even be anything wrong with the company, it may just be a bad fit for you. So lets see where youre at. First how happy are you at work? This is where the book couldve included a 200 question survey to tell you how happy you are at work, but seriously you know already, dont you? When you consider everything thats good or bad about your job and the people you work with, you know quite well which of these three categories you fall into: Argh! I hate my job and would rather walk a mile across broken glass than ever go in again Meh! I can take it or leave it. Its kinda OK. Yay! I love my job and would pay to work there. Please dont tell them I said that last part. How do you rate your current job? Secondly: Where do you want to be at? Few people will accept Argh! for any long period of time, but maybe Meh! is fine with you? Maybe a high Meh, somewhere near Yay!? Or does it have to be Yay! or nothing? What do you want work to be like? Form an intention Based on your assesment, the first decision youre facing is this: Do I need to do something or are things fine the way they are. Remember: Nobodys saying that you must be happy at work. Being happy at work is a choice that entails consequences and effort, and only you know whether its the right choice for you. Even if youre already at Yay! you can still decide to make your job more enjoyable or, even better, choose to spread some of that work-happiness to your co-workers. If youre at Argh! I can only advice you to do something about it as soon as humanly possible. Maybe youre at Meh!, but fine with that because hey, works just not that important to you. But maybe, just maybe, youre current job is a Meh! but youve once been at Yay! and you miss the energy, the fun, the camaraderie and the sheer unadulterated happiness that comes with that kind of work experience. Your worklife can be at Yay! If you decide to make it so. Heres the deal: As mentioned in chapter X, your happiness at work is your responsibility. You cant wait for your boss, your co-workers or the company to make you happy. If thats your plan, odds are that very little will happen. Thats the intention you can consider starting with. And heres the important thing: Dont make it a fixed goal you know like I absolutely have to stop smoking / lose 20 pounds / start exercsising / whatever. The thing is, that kind of firm choice doesnt really work, which is proven by the fact that only 7% of all people live up to their new years resolutions. Make it an intention instead. Here are some examples: I would like to be a little happier at work I want to be a better manager and make my people a little happier I want to enjoy work more so I can be a nicer person at home I would love to relate better to my customers Dont get me wrong: The intention itself wont make you happy. Its not like you can choose to be happy at work and, poof, youre happy. But its easier to start and take positive action when you have a clear intention. Make sure to make it a positive intention, focused on something you want, not something you want to avoid. You cant really define your future worklife beased on the things you want to avoid, for several reasons: We tend to get more of what we focus on. If we focus on the things we want to avoid, we unfortunately tend to get more of those. There are an almost infinite number of things to avoid at work. You can always add more to the list. Finding out whatll make you happy is much easier and more manageable. Even if you managed to avoid all the things that make you unhappy at work, that still doesne mean youll be happy it only means you wont be unhappy. In other words, avoiding the bad stuff can take you to Meh! but no further. To go to Yay! you need to look at what makes you happy at work. So make a positive intention, and then do something about it thats the positive action in the model mentioned above. Fortunately, the things you can do are easy, simple and fun. Well look at them in the next chapter. First theres one very basic choice to consider. Should I stay or should I go If youve decided that youd like to be a little happier at work, the next choice youre facing is this: Should I try to become happy in my current job, or is that too hard? Can you make things better? Is the culture changeable or totally set? Have you tried? How did it go? There are two possible options: Change is possible. It may not be easy or fast, but things can get better at my current job. Change is not possible. The culture is too fixed or change will simply be too hard. Where is your current job at? Remember that: You may not need to change the whole company. Affecting your own team or department may be all thats needed. Often we think change is impossible, but were simply underestimating our own abilities. Remember the story of the nurses at H4 from chapter X. There is no such thing as A Dream Job. Any job is as good as you make it. Only you can know the truth of your situation, and the important thing here is to give your current job a chance to make you happy, but not break yourself trying to change the unchangeable. If you decide that your current job cant make you happy, consider moving on as quickly as possible. This is of course an intention with serious consequences, including loss of identity, prestige and economic security. Again: Only you can make that choice. Michael was stuck in a job he hated. Being the sales manager of an IT company may sound nice, but the reality for this father of two was stress, conflict, backstabbing, internatl competition and tons of overwork. Michael really wanted to get out ut couldnt see how. His salary was great and his economic situation was just too tight. Even with his wife working also, they still only barely managed to make the payments on their house and cars. Saving up for an annual family holiday was a struggle very year and they lived in constant fear of large unforseen expenses. Finally, one internal office power struggle became too much and Michael quit his job in disgust. He found a new job at a much nicer company, but at only half the salary. The family took stock of their new situation, and a depressing fact became clear: They could not afford to keep the house. After some deliberation they sold it and moved into a much smaller appartment. A year later, Michael took stock of his situation and had this to say: Quitting that job is the best thing Ive ever done for my family, and my only regret is, that I didnt do it much sooner. Its true that I came home to a nice house in the suburbs. But its also true that I usually came home too tired to play with my sons and too stressed and angry to talk to my wife. Now I come home at a reasonable hour happy, relaxed and ready to enjoy family life. The kids may not love having to share a roome where before they had their own, but let me tell you this: Noone in this family would trade our current situation for what we had a year ago. I will say this though: It is frighteningly easy to stay in an unhappy work situation simply for the salary and the stability. Many people do this year after year. The worst part is that the longer you put up with an unhappy job: The easier it gets to to live with. The harder it gets to remember how much fun work can be The harder it gets to move on and do something about it My advice: If you decide that you cant be happy in your current job, do something about it as soon as possible. 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

Maybe You Are Being Too Practical

Maybe You Are Being Too Practical Imagination. Creativity. Innovation. For just a minute, travel with me back in time to when you were a little kid. Did you pretend? Did you create make-believe adventures? Those are the memories I want you to hold onto for a day. What was it you wanted to be when you were young? I wanted to be an archeologist. I would grab my trowel and head out into the woods behind my barn and dig for hours. Dirty and hungry, I would return with my treasuresdirt-laden high button shoes, medicine bottles, horse shoes and even a sterling silver thimble holder with the initials VD. The memories of this are vivid. I was so excited and so interested in my findings that I began to research. I learned how to tell the age of a bottle by its molding seam. I learned that the thimble holder belonged to Virginia Dorne who lived in our house in the 1800s. Two things were going on here. 1) I visualized and played out my dream of being an archeologist. I actually did it. 2) I got excited and found a passion. As children, we acted out our dreams of being a fire fighter, Super Hero, etc. We envisioned ourselves performing the functions and duties of the role. Along the way we sometimes became really really interested in the subject. Where did that go? Why dont we do that anymore? If you are stuck in a rut or not sure what you want to do next, go back in time and remember what it was you pretended to be as a kid. The other option is to pretend you are a kid again and allow yourself to pretend to be something or somebody else. Pretend. Role play in your mind the daily activities and functions of this something else. Maybe you can find an opportunity to volunteer doing this make-believe career opportunity. Still another option is to tap into your child-like imagination and create or innovate. There are millions of problems to solve right now. You may just have the answer. Our country was founded by pioneers who were not afraid to take risks. They traveled into unknown worlds and territories for a better life, a new adventure. They truly risked their lives, not just their life-savings. Could you? Would you?