The Voice of Job Seekers

Mark Anthony Dyson ★ Career Writer ★ Speaker ★ Thinker ★ Award-winning Blog & Podcast! ★ "The Job Scam Report" on Substack! ★ I hack and reimagine the modern job search!

by

How to Make a Personal Business Card for Networking Today (at no cost)

How to Make a Personal Business Card for Networking Today (at no cost)

You need a personal business card today! If you don’t do anything for your job search today, make it easier for any job fair vendor, new contact you meet in person or online, or anyone you are exchanging value. A personal business card shows your serious about opportunities and ready to move forward. Even if you’re not looking right now, why not be ready for any opportunity in front you. Remember if you don’t stand out, you minimize your job opportunities!

 

Most of you may have written off having a personal business card because of the cost and the lack of creativity. Well, I can help you with both. All you have to do is the following:

All you have to do is the following to create a no cost but original electronic personal business card:

  1. If you have a LinkedIn profile photo, snap a picture on your mobile phone of the picture part and headline
  2. Download Canva app, create an account (you can use Facebook to build profile)
  3. Upload your LinkedIn profile picture to Canva
  4. Top of Canva interface you can choose the type of image you’d like to produce, select “card.”
  5. Pick a picture to complement your photo, crop, adjust to fit card
  6. You may need to go to your laptop to write in your LinkedIn customized address, email address, phone number, and maybe a website address.
  7. Once you’ve created an aesthetically pleasing card, save it and download to your phone
  8. Viola, you have an electronic business card to send Bluetooth, email, or post on social media

I think any mobile image will do, but LinkedIn has a nice template for a business card image. Will the ease of producing contact images make a real business card obsolete? Who knows. Whoever you meet, you want to make yourself memorable and make contacting you easy as possible. An electronic personal business card in any image in your phone (since you have it with always, right?) maintains your readiness for any opportunity.

Remember it’s just another tool of many you should be ready to employ for a recruiter, hiring manager, or an employee who can refer you.

 

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by

It’s all about your personal brand and what you deliver to employers

It’s all about your personal brand and what you deliver to employers

Personal branding takes time, but it has the best return on investment of your time.

I thought you might be interested in a few job search articles around the web:

  1. If you fail to treat everyone well, there will be doubt how you’ll treat others. This principle applies to your job search. 
  2. Preparing for difficult or even tricky job interview questions is hard. This article does an excellent job in helping you prepare for them.
  3. College grads seem to heed preparation advice many of us have shared over the last few years. USAToday reports this is the strongest entry-level job market in years.

New podcast schedule is starting the fall:

I will be going to a new schedule for the fall. I will publish bi-weekly shows instead of weekly ones. However, I will be posting on the blog three times a week instead of twice.

As a reminder, you’ve heard me say recently on the show my podcast summer hiatus is from July 19-Sept. 12. I plan on to enjoy my summer, but I get lots of work at this time too. I have some projects scheduled to need more of my attention. I will continue to publish the newsletter but will every two weeks.

The Job Lab

This past Tuesday night, I conducted the second Job Lab workshop for the Greater Ashburn Community Development Corporation “Aim to Work” initiative. There were five attendees this session and asking about future offerings. We are looking to expand this effort in the future. I hope soon we can do a Facebook Live so we can provide content for those not attending and reach folks who will want to attend live.

Your Degree is not a Golden Ticket

Just because you got a degree doesn’t mean things will just happen. This is the beginning. This is an article I wrote for Job2Careers that tells why and practical things you can do to make the most out of potential opportunities.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by

Job Search in 2017 is Marketing, PR, and Schmoozing

Job Search in 2017 is Marketing, PR, and Schmoozing

 

There is a case for running your job search like a political campaign. There is a lot of communication to clarify your position, show the relevance of your experience, and show you can do a great job. All three reasons are much harder than just applying to jobs online. That is why many job seekers remain stuck because the easiest job search methods take time and investment.

You will need to market to the right employer who is the right fit for you and them. Any hiring contrary to a good fit for both works against you. Your adjustment to the job is critical as you’re there to do the job and learn it without special attention.

Read If Your Personal Brand is Not Disruptive, You Won’t Matter

Being a marketer is a risk. You’re treating yourself more of a commodity. By adding your personality draws attention and conversations will begin.

And that’s what you want: Positive conversations about you when while you’re not in the room. But it’s the result of effective branding.

Click To Tweet

If your job search is a marketing campaign or a public relations effort, what does it look like:

1. Job search with a marketer’s heart

The successful candidate is no longer thinking of himself solely as an applicant but a brand. Since successful brands diversify their marketing, so should a job candidate. He or she is thinking about displaying their talent, skills, and personality in front of the right people.

As a marketer looks to segment and targets their audience, a job seeker should target their desired company.

Click To Tweet

2. Your job search story has several views

You must learn the way your story looks like from different perspectives so you can tell the same story to different people in different ways. There is something to be said about telling a joke the same ways more than once. Most of us don’t. The joke can still be funny from different perspectives as it pertains to the audience.

3. Know what each employer’s value need is

Marketing is trial and error. Powerful marketing is meeting the need for specific markets and people sharing the positive benefits of the product or service. Employers are going to care more when a need resonates with them, not only for everyone else. Research companies and customize your approach to them.

Here are specific ways a successful candidate uses marketing tactics:

  • Personality differentiates you from the competition, so anytime you can display what makes you a fit for the culture, then this can capture the right employer’s attention
  • Letting people know how conversations are shaping his or her view of the industry. Sometimes this generates further discussion especially on social networks including LinkedIn and Facebook groups
  • Sharing their successes and the lessons from failures, mistakes, or lack of results
  • Giving more than getting is the heart of their existence

Marketing yourself has to become constant even during an inactive job search. We can argue if an “inactive job search” is a thing anymore, but everything is marketing and so is every opportunity. You cannot blindly offer value to a company or individual who does not need or want it. It’s the frustration of job seekers who are still appealing to everyone and meeting the needs of no one.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.