Eight Lunches, Second Draft, DONE!

Eight Lunches, Second Draft, DONE! Ive been quiet more than usual on this blog for a few reasons: Going on a 30 day road trip, including speaking and to a conference, with my family, left me little/no time to write. Ive been ramping up on the product and sales of a new product for university career centers, which has been very exciting. Ive been training my dad as hes been learning about JibberJobber, the new university career center system, and everything else that has to do with my work world. I have a number of other things going on, but one that Im so excited to share is that I FINALLY got the second edition of Eight Lunches, my third book, DONE! DONE DONE DONE! On my Jason Alba blog I announced this project back in May of 2010, and asked if anyone wanted to critique the first draft. I thought Id get like well, no one.  But 100 comments later, I found myself sending the book out to lots of amazing people. And then I started getting feedback.  And it was literally overwhelming. The feedback was great, ranging from spelling/grammar to concept/flow.  Getting that much feedback from that many people overwhelmed me to the point where I didnt even know how to consume all the feedback, much less act on it. So it stalled, and I went on to other things. But this was always somewhere near the top of my mind, and I was anxious to get it done. The timing finally happened, and here we are, with the second edition done. I will crowdsource feedback again (I just made that decision this very second), but will only ask for a paragraph or two of thoughts  preferably  critical/negative, which will help me tighten it up more. If you want a copy of this second draft, please leave a comment on this post. Im excited to get this far I now feel freed up to work on my fourth, and I think most exciting book more on that later! Eight Lunches, Second Draft, DONE! Ive been quiet more than usual on this blog for a few reasons: Going on a 30 day road trip, including speaking and to a conference, with my family, left me little/no time to write. Ive been ramping up on the product and sales of a new product for university career centers, which has been very exciting. Ive been training my dad as hes been learning about JibberJobber, the new university career center system, and everything else that has to do with my work world. I have a number of other things going on, but one that Im so excited to share is that I FINALLY got the second edition of Eight Lunches, my third book, DONE! DONE DONE DONE! On my Jason Alba blog I announced this project back in May of 2010, and asked if anyone wanted to critique the first draft. I thought Id get like well, no one.  But 100 comments later, I found myself sending the book out to lots of amazing people. And then I started getting feedback.  And it was literally overwhelming. The feedback was great, ranging from spelling/grammar to concept/flow.  Getting that much feedback from that many people overwhelmed me to the point where I didnt even know how to consume all the feedback, much less act on it. So it stalled, and I went on to other things. But this was always somewhere near the top of my mind, and I was anxious to get it done. The timing finally happened, and here we are, with the second edition done. I will crowdsource feedback again (I just made that decision this very second), but will only ask for a paragraph or two of thoughts  preferably  critical/negative, which will help me tighten it up more. If you want a copy of this second draft, please leave a comment on this post. Im excited to get this far I now feel freed up to work on my fourth, and I think most exciting book more on that later!

Writing Objective Sentence For the Resume

Writing Objective Sentence For the ResumeThere are many ways to make a short writing objective sentence for the resume stand out and grab the attention of a potential employer. You should always be careful with the format, tone, and word usage because these three things can easily be misconstrued by your future employer as not being specific enough to them, which will impact their decision whether or not to interview you.The resume is the first impression that you want to make of yourself to that employer so it is important that your objective sentence for the resume to be unique. A perfectly prepared resume can be used for years to come and can serve as a great reference tool for an employer to see what your skill sets are.Professional resume writers know that the first impression is everything, and if you write a sentence that sounds like you are just jumping into the position without giving too much thought to what you want to do or what you want to accomplish it will send the wro ng message. However, this is only one element that should go into your resume. Here are a few more things that you should look for in your writing and these are only a few things that you will have to add onto.Using only one word in your writing objective sentence for the resume is standard and nothing more. The common mistake that people make is to use two words and then to put them in the same sentence. These sentences often show up in the wrong format and are therefore unreadable for an employer.When creating your writing objective sentence for the resume, try to use the language that will easily communicate what you are looking for. If you are a writer and want to write a persuasive document to capture the attention of a potential employer, then use your keyword phrases to do that for you.For example, in a writing objective sentence for the resume of a medical transcriptionist, you might put 'Medical Transcriptionist' at the beginning of the document. The next sentence might rea d 'Work as a Medical Transcriptionist in a hospital or surgery, following a college education.' This type of language is very specific and is designed to clearly show what type of work you will be doing.You will need to make sure that you have a specific goal that you are trying to achieve in your writing objective sentence for the resume. Not all of your goal statements should relate to what you are going to do in the position but rather what you are looking to accomplish throughout your career.The objective sentence for the resume should not be too broad nor should it be too narrow. Make sure that your sentence includes a specific goal that you want to accomplish and then you can rest assured that your objective sentence for the resume will not fall on deaf ears.

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese How to Break the Procrastination Habit

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese How to Break the Procrastination Habit If youre thinking you might put off reading this story, dont even think about it. In this interview by Anita Bruzzese with Timothy A. Pychyl, author of Solving the Procrastination Puzzle, the issues of procrastination, its impact and how to change your ways are explored. AB: In the book, you say that delay is often a necessary part of our lives. How so? TP: At any given time, there are many things we can or should do. We have many choices. Doing one of these things means delay on others. This is all part of rationalplanning and setting priorities. Delay is an important part of everyday life as we make choices and set priorities. AB: How is procrastination different and what impact does it have on our careers? TP: I like to say that while all procrastination is delay, not all delay is procrastination. Strictly speaking, we define procrastination as the voluntary delay of an intended act despite knowing that we will be worse off for the delay. There is no upside to procrastination. It is self-defeating in that we needlessly delay action when we intended to act previously and nothing is preventing us from acting except our own reluctance. This negative form of delay typically undermines our performance (and wastes a lot of time), affects social relations negatively, lowers our well-being, and can evenresult in poorer health overallfrom increased stress, fewer wellness behaviors and treatment delay. AB: You mention that procrastination makes us feel good. Can you explain? TP: When we face aversive tasks, we experience negative emotions such as frustration, boredom, or fear. We certainly dont feel likedoing the task at hand. By avoiding the (read more here)

4 Personality Traits of Top Performers

4 Personality Traits of Top Performers Let’s be honest, finding (and keeping) star performers is a real challenge. I know that earlier in my career I made a number of mistakes when looking for these top  performers. I looked at their experience, their track record, their suitability to the role and, if everything else checked out ok, then I hired them. Thankfully, many worked out just fine, but some didn’t, and after a time I invested some time in analyzing why this was the case. I really felt that there was something missing in my approach to recruitment and I needed to do something about it. If you have always hired the perfect candidate, then you can stop reading now! But, if you are like me, and don’t have a 100% success rate, then this may help: After much soul searching and analysis â€" along with some expert input I realized that I needed to have a different criterion I came up with 4 personality traits and decided to put it to the test. The new criterion is as follows, and is in this order: Emotional intelligence Their values Attitude/cultural fit Work ethic So, let me take them one by one: 1) Emotional intelligence: The definition I ascribe to for Emotional Intelligence is â€" the ability to identify, assess, control and manage emotions. I can certainly get a good sense of someone during the interview, but I do not rely on that â€" I use a test, Trait EI, that has worldwide recognition as an expert tool in this space, and insist that all candidates complete this. Emotional intelligence is critical and would have a far heavier weighting for me than IQ. Their EI will let me know a lot about how they will behave and how well they are able to manage their emotions, and the emotions of others. It also gives  me a good sense of their level of happiness, their adaptability, their drive and passion. All this information is fundamental before you decide to hire. READ MORE: How To Use Emotional Intelligence in Recruitment 2) Their values: This can be difficult to ascertain in an interview, but you can get a pretty good idea by asking various questions about what motivates them, what inspires them, how engaged they are in their community. Do they give credit to others for successes and achievements they have? Who are their role models? What do they want to be? You also get a lot by observing their body language during this part of the conversation. Are they engaged with their own answers? Are they struggling to find answers? All good pointers. 3) Attitude/cultural fit: The obvious prerequisite here is that I must be clear what I am looking for here â€" what sort of attitude am I looking for? What is the culture I want them to fit into? I don’t assume the answers to those questions are obvious â€" I have come across many organizations that struggled to answer them clearly! Assuming I know what I am looking for I will get a very good handle on the candidate by the way they respond, their tone of voice, their passion and level of enthusiasm. 4) Work ethic: I want someone who has a strong work ethic â€" you can find out about their ethic by questioning what they do when not at work. Do they just do nothing and laze about or are they active? When they were studying did they do part time work or were they dependent on their families? Is there attitude to work that it is something you just have to do to earn a living, or is it part of achieving their mission. Focusing on these traits really helped me recruit (and retain!) the sort of star performers I was looking for. Did I have 100% success rate after? Well no! But I certainly got more people that fitted into the team and the team performance improved significantly as a result. I was certainly happy with the result. What criterion do you use when hiring? Would love to hear.

Schools Resume Writing Examples - Getting the Best Resume for the Job You Want

Schools Resume Writing Examples - Getting the Best Resume for the Job You WantWhen you are looking to hire an employee, you should also be looking for schools resume writing samples to help you hire the best candidate possible. However, it is also a smart idea to look at resumes from past employees to make sure you don't pick someone who is already satisfied with their work.It is very important to hire someone that fits the type of position you are looking for the right personality and skills. The following tips will help you get a good school resume in no time.First, write a school by using the resume that you have. Be sure that you know what the school's requirements are before you send the resume out. While schools may not be a perfect reflection of the position, they should match what you are looking for. However, if there are particular areas you need to check on before sending in the resume, do so now.Second, make sure that you use the best schools resume examples available on the internet. You may be able to find a few samples at your local school. However, if you want to be sure that you are getting a great resume, then you should use the web to check for free samples of resumes online. It will cost you nothing to get these samples so why not take advantage of them.Third, remember that college students will not be as computer savvy as you are when it comes to creating resumes. Make sure that you stay within their age range and grammar level. You want to have someone who is going to understand what you are trying to say.Finally, school students will also need to consider their writing abilities. Do not send in a resume if it looks like it was written by a college student. You should send in one that looks professional because many people will forget about your school if it looks unprofessional.If you need to get into more detail on each school employment opportunities listed, then you should take a look at their websites. These websites will give you eve n more information about their employment opportunities.If you follow these tips, you should be able to get yourself a high quality school resume examples in no time. Remember, this resume will be the first thing that any potential employer will see, so make sure that you create a great one!

10 writing tools thatll turn you into Hemingway for free - Debut

10 writing tools thatll turn you into Hemingway for free - Debut When I was young, I thought I was going to be an author for a hot second. I bought far-too-expensive Moleskine notebooks, filled up the first few pages with ink that bled through the pages, and abandoned them shortly after. Since then, Ive abandoned my pipe dream of becoming the next J.K. Rowling for more modest pursuits. I havent written any fiction in years. However, writing continues to be a huge part of my career and I expect it will be the same for you. No matter what you pursue, youll have to write. Whether its a long, detailed report for your team, or copy to market your newfound product being a good writer is a skill thats absolutely essential for the workplace. We here at Debut HQ have scoured the Internet for the best writing tools the web have come up with. The best part? They wont cost you a penny. 1. Writefull If youre a little rusty and unsure about your writing skills, Writeful is the tool for you. Basically, its a tool that crowdsources the Internet to edit your writing. Basically, you highlight a phrase, then Writefull gives you the option of doing three things. Firstly, it checks how often your selected text is found in language databases like Google Books. Secondly, you can compare your selected phrase with another and do a side-by-side analysis. Thirdly, you can use Writefulls word search function to find better synonyms for your writing. No more trawling through Thesaurus.com to find the most obnoxious ones. Writefull is available for Google Chrome and most operating systems here.   2. Refly The robots are taking over, and boy are we glad about it. Refly is an artificial intelligence-powered smart editor that helps you avoid grammar and spelling mistakes. You may be thinking But I already have spellcheck. What would I need this for? Well, Refly uses machine learning to spot logical flaws and semantic errors that a normal spellcheck wont be able to see. You can even set writing goals on Refly, and the app will ping you with reminders to meet them. No excuses! Refly is available on the Mac App Store.   3. Hemingway This is the real MVP of editor tools out there on the Internet. Its simple colour-coding function helps to highlight errors clearly. Ernest Hemingway was famous for championing simplicity and clarity in writing. This app is continuing his legacy in the best way. Hemingway is available for any browser here.   4. Grammarly The Grammarly app claims to be able to fix over 250 different types of errors that Microsoft Word cant spot. Like Writefull, it also has a synonym suggestion tool to help spice up your writing. Unlike Writefull, it has a contextual spelling checker which means youll never mix up youre and your ever again. Grammarly is available for Google Chrome here.   5. Bear   Bear is available on the iOS and Mac App store here.   We love Bear because its a cross-device text editor. Not only that, it supports loads of amazing tiny features you never thought you needed. Firstly, you can change the background colours and fonts to suit your style. Secondly, you can export anything you write in Bear to PDF, HTML or Microsoft Word. Thirdly, it supports smart data recognition, adding elements like links, emails, addresses and more so it becomes more interactive. Its pretty sick. 6. Papier The wonderful thing about Papier is its simplicity. Best used for quick note-taking, simply open up a new tab in your browser and you instantly have a distraction-free text editor. Its many keyboard shortcuts make for highly efficient note-taking. Useful if you need to get a lot of thoughts down as speedy as you can. Papier is available for Google Chrome here.   7. Sharethroughs Headlines As a writer who lives on the Internet, I did a little happy dance when I came across this tool. Everybody knows that your content is only as good as the headline, after all. Sharethroughs Headlines  Analyzer gives you an overall Headline Quality Score by measuring the sentiment of your headline, how passive it is, and how it connects to the reader, among other things. It also gives you a ton of suggestions as to how to make your headlines better. If youve been struggling with a title for your dissertation, this is the one tool to use. Sharethroughs Headline Analyzer is available on any browser here.   8. Cleartext This is the nuclear option of plain-text editors. Cleartext is an editor that only allows the top 1,000 most common words in English. Whoa. To us, this might seem a little extreme. (In fact, the Cleartext makers mocked their own app by introducing a Donald Trump mode.) However, there is some merit to writing more simply. Big words tend to be confusing for second language learners, so it might actually help you make your writing more accessible for all. Cleartext is available for Mac computers here.   9. Expresso We love Expresso. Its a modest little tool that improves your writing style by analysis. It helps you avoid repetition by highlighting where you should substitute a word for a synonym. Also, it points out your filler words unnecessary words that clump up your text. It even warns you when your writing gets too vague. Youll never need a human editor again. Expresso is available for any browser here.   10. Rough Draft Finally, a writing tool that encourages you to make mistakes. Yes, really. We often write as if the first draft is the final draft, without giving much thought for revisions. Rough Draft forces you to just get that first draft done, preventing you from tinkering with the language too much in the first go. In Rough Draft, the delete key becomes a  strikethrough key instead.  It allows you to just focus on your writing flow, and helps you to check on all of your edits later. Pretty brilliant. Our favourite bonus feature? It imports writing prompts from the subreddit r/WritingPrompts to give you creative inspiration. Rough Draft is available on the iOS and Mac App store here.   Image via biquette (TookAPic) Download the Debut app and get Talent-Spotted by amazing graduate employers! Connect with Debut on Facebook and Twitter

Is Leaving College For Building a Business A Good Idea - CareerAlley

Is Leaving College For Building a Business A Good Idea - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft. Bill Gates What do Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell and Azim Premji have in common other than being billionaires? They are college dropouts! Yes, these are some of the most successful people we know who dropped out of college and challenged the norms. They are billionaires not by accident, but by design. Now-a-days everyone wants to be the next Mark or the next Jobs. But one question remains. Is it worth pursing college education if some of the most successful people dropped out from even some of the top colleges? Is College Education Worth It? Of course! College education is worth your time and effort. But there is a catch. Just like anything in this world, a college degree is only as good as how you decide to use it. Even if you have a degree from MIT or Stanford, it doesnt mean that you can be billionaires. What you decide to do with the degree is more important than achieving the degree itself. In most cases, college education gives you more exposure, knowledge and importantly industry connections. Networking is one area where college education can really help you. It has a huge network of influential professors and alumni network. Now, many people ask the question, But most of these graduates arent billionaires. So why should I pursue a degree when people have proven that we can be successful without it? There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. It mostly depends on the person asking this question. Why everyone is not cut out to be entrepreneurs? Entrepreneurship is hard. You need to keep hustling all the time, make compromises on personal preferences, and work the first few years like no one else will work in the hopes that it will play out good for you in the long run. Not many people can carry it till the end. Those who can, usually ends up being successful You cannot identify a real problem to solve. A successful business is something which solves a real problem. Unless you can figure out a solution to a problem people are willing to pay money for, you are not in business You are not comfortable taking risks. If this is you, then entrepreneurship is definitely not for you. You need to take big risks when you are running a business. Identifying opportunities and acting at the right moment is critical for business success When can you afford to skip college education? All is not doom and gloom. What makes entrepreneurship so attractive is the challenges that comes with it. You dont need a PHD or even a college degree to become a successful entrepreneur. All you need is the ability to take risks, the mentality to push forward even when things seem horribly wrong, and the correct mindset to identify opportunities and act at the right time. If you are confident about your skills and abilities, skipping college education may be worth it. You can put the money you might use for paying tuition fees to build a solid business that solves real world problems. Over to You Now: What do you think? Is leaving college good or bad? Do you think students might be misled by success stories of entrepreneurs who dropped out of college? About The Author:Adarsh Thampy is a career expert at Jombay, a jobs platform which helps students choose the right jobs that match their career profile. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search. Visit me on Facebook

How to stay upbeat for your job hunt, Part 1 -

How to stay upbeat for your job hunt, Part 1 - Youve already heard having a positive attitude is important for your job search.   We all know it is not easy to keep a cheery disposition when the news around every corner doesnt look so good. But the disgruntled job seeker is less likely to land a job. Who wants to hire Bitter Bob, Sarcastic Sue or Desperate Derrick? Susan Strayer reminds us that it isnt easy to keep your spirits up. She offers 10 tips for handling a job search during a tough time. Here are her top 5, stay tuned tomorrow for the rest. (Commentary is my own.) 1) Every job search needs a plan. Identify your goals. You cant get anywhere until you decide the destination! Stop and evaluate. What characteristics and traits make you special? What are you (or do you hope to be) known for in your field? 2) Planning is key. Seriously. I tell my clients to set realistic goals. How many people will you contact to request informational meetings? How much time will you spend online? When are you going to set aside time to tweak your resume to target specific employers? Plan your time so you can avoid feeling like you are spinning your wheels and not getting anything done. 3) Be honest with yourself and your family. Rely on them for support. Susan suggests sharing if youve had a bad day and letting your kids or other family members help cheeer you up. 4) Variation Change up your job search preparation. Use your plan to help vary your day. Dont spend 8 hours in front of the computer in the row! 5) Quality not quantity So many people sit and zap out 100 resumes in one day and call it productive. Dont be that person! Applying for jobs online may be a small part of your plan, but sending the same resume out 100 times is useless. Have you experienced the feeling that your resume is going into a black hole? If your strategy is about how many jobs you can apply for and is not focused on how well to apply for them, it probably IS going into a black hole. Spend your time networking and connecting with people who can share information with you. Connect and share what you know about your industry and offer your expertise. Look for opportunities to grow the circle of people who know you and would be willing to share information about you if an opportunity does come up. You do control how you approach your huntTake the wheel and drive your own career bus! Let me know if you need help! Stay tuned for 5 more tips tomorrow! photo by jalalspagues