Articles - Page 185 of 258 - The Voice of Job Seekers

Your Career Trajectory, and a Business That Will Pay You Back

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This episode should equip your career in two ways:

It will stimulate your thoughts to create a business as an option to finding a job, and for some that aspire to be entrepreneurs it might be the best career option
You will be motivated to look way past your next job, add new critical feedback to your personal brand, and clarify your career trajectory

David Van Rooy (@dlvanrooy), author of Trajectory: 7 Career Strategies to Take You From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, is Senior Director of International Human Resources Strategy & Operations at Walmart. In his prior role at Walmart, he was responsible for the world’s largest performance management and employee engagement programs, covering nearly 2.2 million employees globally. David received his doctoral degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Florida International University (FIU). Much of his work was covered by many national and international outlets including USA Today and CNN.

David explains why career trajectory is an important element to everyone, and why will it affect the outcome for someone’s career
I ask David, “Do job seekers/employees discount the value of feedback? Where should people seek feedback?”
David shares about Think Big, Act Small, Move Quick (BSQ) strategies to one’s career trajectory from his book.

Laura Humphreys (@Liber8me) is the author of the nominated small business book of the year, “Liber8me.” Liber8me exists to help small business owner operators build a business that is not dependent on their time to make money. In essence, it’s a simple, practical formula that first shifts the mindset then puts steps in place to grow with confidence. She has been a freelancer/entrepreneur for the last 24 years, and believes that “… going out on your own with a view to building a business instead of being employed by someone else is a viable option for people these days.” Her book is a “2014 Gold IPPY Award Winner”, and nominated for a “Global Business Book Award.”

These are a few highlights of our conversation:

Laura shares that she started out as a secretary and learned a lot about running a business through that experience. She built a public relations firm from scratch and sold it for multi-millions (some sources said 15 million dollars)
She shares why it is important to build a business that people can be freed financially
I asked Laura to share about this article that perfectly is aligned with the ideas from her book that was published in Entrepreneur New Zealand magazine ( The 9 Don’ts of Business), 1) Don’t start a business without knowing what you offer or what is needed 2) Don’t be afraid to hire people 3) Don’t run a business without a budget 4) Don’t let them grind you down! (Love this!)
We also talked about another blog post, “Have you created a business or a life-long job?” that resonated with me. At the end of the article, there is an profound line that reads, “Are you choosing to build a business that will pay you back or are you choosing to work for a living?” She offers insight to the advice for others to build a business that would pay he or she back

Correction: I gave a shout out to Penny Sanseveri, whom I gave the wrong company. The website is www.authormarketingexperts.com. I apologize for the error, Penny.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Job Seekers, Don’t Let Donald Sterling Happen to You (diversity is not just race)!

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In this diversity discussion, Job Seekers must decide not only that biases will determine where he or she works, but also if it will have an affect at all on their workplace experience at all. We advocate that job seekers hire their next employers, not just the other way around.

Linette Singleton (@NPDIVUS) is the CEO of Singleton Consulting Group, Inc., and founder of NonProfitDiversity.us. The latter encourages and advocates conversations of diversity and inclusion issues and job postings to companies that promotes the same causes. She is a non-profit marketing professional, and is often found on Twitter starting meaningful conversations about diversity.

The L.A. Clipper/Don Sterling incident has sparked further discussion about race, and although it affects many, a much broader discussion takes place in this episode. This discussion nationwide needs expand to inclusion and the overall picture of the workplace. Linette brings up an excellent point that the Clippers have excelled despite the owner’s comments. It matters how your immediate work environment responds (including immediate leadership) that makes a difference in your tolerance and response.

Here are some of the highlights of our discussion:

Diversity is more about cultural differences than race alone
Employers need to expand their cultural hiring to reach as many markets as possible
Diversity is so much more than a black and white issue, but more of a grey issue
Job seekers should investigate deeply in looking at the leadership of a company to see if they reflect claims of diversity. If it doesn’t reflect in the leadership, it is unlikely the company has diversity among employees
Everyone is different in their tolerance as everyone has a breaking point. Each individual understands and decides what he or she will tolerate

Linette references:

Guidestar.com

990 reports

by Mark Anthony Dyson

5 Ways Grammarly is Useful for Proofreading Resume and Cover Letters

Editors note: Grammarly is the first affiliate partner for this blog, and those who purchase it through my affiliate link, I receive compensation. The reason is simply coincidental, I have recommended before this post 2 1/2 years ago. It is a product I believe in for the job seeker who needs help to edit resume and cover letters (and other documents).

I have heard many different arguments for NOT using proofreading software over the years. As a writer, I understand that most people will not take the time to proofread for many levels of grammar. Just as it is unrealistic for every English major to master all phases of grammar, it is also unrealistic for all proofreading software to catch every single grammar anomaly.

Editors are paid to be perfect. I use an editor for my client’s work, you know, the ones that pay me hundreds of dollars to write resumes, business documents, etc.

I use Grammarly to help me to write for the blog from time to time, because real editors are so doggone expensive. It also helps me manage the increased volume of work received around this time of year. How many people use an editor, or can afford an editor, or clear about the value of an editor? I have edited documents for other resume writers, and they consider me a good editor, but not as effective as the ones that do it for a living.

That is why using Grammarly is worth its value for most job seekers. There are colleges like the University of Phoenix and University of South Florida who provide the use of the software for students. Naysayers argue that proofreading software does not recognize, and cannot address context or recognize the less obvious grammar rules. This is true. That is where the human eye is the most important, but if most people can assess the context well enough beyond their spelling and verb tense Achilles heel, then Grammarly will add value.

To check a quick sentence on email to an employer or to a friend, you have choices to set to “business” or “casual,” and other choice settings you deem appropriate.

I am offering five reasons why it’s so useful for most people who can use a second pair of eyes:

1. Spelling

Grammarly is excellent at picking up spelling errors. Even if it does not discern the context 100% of the time, choices will be available for your choosing.

2. Correct comma placement

I found that Grammarly is mindful in accepting the placement when listing three items in a row as demonstrated. On a resume, this is important to get right. Many employers ding the applicants for not having a perfect resume and many times comma placement were a problem. Grammarly is consistent to alert the user whether to remove the comma, or to correctly place it.

3. Past and present tense

This is where I cough and gasp here because most of the time Grammarly recognizes inconsistent action verbs used as past tense. Then there is the current job situation where there are accomplishments past and current that need to be noted. Although, in this example, Grammarly OK’d the content, it does not always succeed.

4. Capitalization

Grammarly is excellent in recognizing capitalization errors. No matter the level of profession, I have found that these errors are common and sometimes egregious. The 2013 version of Microsoft Office is equal to the task, but Grammarly has always been a champion in this area. I have tested around 15 of the major (or popular) grammar proofreading software or grammar tutorials. Grammarly so far has been the most consistent as far as a correction software.

5. Passive tense

I have used the academic version of Grammarly and to me, it is nearly perfect. Should you choose the “casual” setting on the paid version (see 1st example screen shot), it will not be as keen as the technical or business setting. Phrases such as, “could have been” or “should have been,” are mostly flagged.

I will say that there are times when Grammarly will say to check the sentence again for passive tense (I tried to provide an example, but the examples were too confusing). As with all proofreading/grammar software, you must use good judgment.

Conclusion

Some of my colleagues will be outraged for me to recommend Grammarly or any software for grammar. I think that if you have witnessed as many resumes and cover letters with horrid grammar, tools like Grammarly can bring you significantly closer to perfection than without an editor or an English major (choose a professional editor). The cost of paying for Grammarly is far less than an editor. It is an opportunity to take your documents from subpar to great, or from great to excellent.