Salary Surveys and Negotiating Your Salary (based on payscale, salary.com, etc.)

Salary Surveys and Negotiating Your Salary (based on payscale, salary.com, etc.) This is from Nick Corcodilos newsletter: Will a consulting firm pay me what I’m worth? In short, the answer is just kidding. Read Nicks answer. Here is an interesting snippet from Nicks response: First, if you’re relying on  salay surveys, know when to fold them. Generalized surveys are okay to give you an idea of salaries in a particular field, but they are not a good place to start negotiating your own salary. Ive always disliked the salary surveys and information online. I remember a boss I had who hated them because the numbers were unrealistic for our area, or our industry, or our company, or the position (or a combination of all of those).  But people would come in demanding what they found online, which was impossible. Unrealistic expectations were set and people were disappointed.  It wasnt good. Im sure the survey results have gotten better but I doubt using data from those websites as gospel truth is the best strategy. Salary Surveys and Negotiating Your Salary (based on payscale, salary.com, etc.) This is from Nick Corcodilos newsletter: Will a consulting firm pay me what I’m worth? In short, the answer is just kidding. Read Nicks answer. Here is an interesting snippet from Nicks response: First, if you’re relying on  salay surveys, know when to fold them. Generalized surveys are okay to give you an idea of salaries in a particular field, but they are not a good place to start negotiating your own salary. Ive always disliked the salary surveys and information online. I remember a boss I had who hated them because the numbers were unrealistic for our area, or our industry, or our company, or the position (or a combination of all of those).  But people would come in demanding what they found online, which was impossible. Unrealistic expectations were set and people were disappointed.  It wasnt good. Im sure the survey results have gotten better but I doubt using data from those websites as gospel truth is the best strategy.

Recap of Week 1 of Self-Employment

Recap of Week 1 of Self-Employment Hello Dearies! Ive survived the one-week mark of unemployment/self-employment.  Although I started out with a completely positive, and even excited attitude, there have been those dips everyone warned me about.  These emotional dips include sadness, confusion, anti-social tendencies and a bit of fear.  Overall, Ive survived and if I didnt feel some of these things Id probably be a total weirdo. Doing things on your own sure does take a long time!  For one, this blog isnt being updated nearly as much as I thought it would be.  And yesterday, it took me way too long to start building out the Shop option on the navigation menu.  One of the things readers can shop for very soon are the classes Ill be teaching in-person and online.  This page is less than stellar (in fact, Ill even qualify it as lame-o and not-ready-for-publication) but this stuff takes so damn long to finish and connect.  Little wins are big wins, right?!  Stay tuned because soon youll be able to Shop for Products, Services, Classes, Deals and Startup Tools.  When the hell these pages finally come to life, I dont know. Im pretty sure some of my family and friends are wondering how the hell I plan on creating any type of income via this blog.  Well believe it or not, the options are infinite.  Ill be sharing some of these methods with you on occasion because- trust me- you dont have to be a rocket scientist to make some money online. But, lets be honest- I still have a lot to learn and if I said I didnt watch several how to YouTube videos this week, Id be totally lying Overall, self-employment is exactly as I have been imaging it for the last 5 years.  Ive joined a Toastmasters Group, went to breakfast with a fellow dump-e (aka former co-worker), spent time wandering Barnes Noble just because I could, met with the Director of Internships at DePaul University, worked out of my favorite coffee shop all day, gave myself summer hours last Friday (naptime at 4pm-woo!), ran errands during the day, and take the el during non-rush hour. The other thing Ive done more of lately is close my eyes. A LOT. You see,  I have a little thing  with shopping.  Nothing too major, just a lot of little things here and there that add up real fast.  Some people eat when they are having a bad day.  Others run.  When Im having a bad day, I want to buy something- even if its just eating out instead of cooking, or stopping to splurge on cheap (un-needed) makeup from Walgreens on my way home. Not gonna lie,  Jen Lancaster and I have a few things in common. The truth is,  Ive never really had to say no to myself before (or not often anyways).  Not having whatever I want is probably something I need to learn at some point or another.  This will be a challenge for me.  Ill need to start grabbing for confidence boosters in non-shopping ways.  this may lead to weight gain (duh ice cream is my backup plan) but hey somethings gotta give! Thanks for being part of this journey with  me!  I promise Ill stop blogging about myself all the time very soon.  In the meantime, week 2 here I come! Cheers and Sparkle, Nicole

Dont Trust Spell Check to Safeguard Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Dont Trust Spell Check to Safeguard Your Personal Brand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career If part of your personal brand strategy involves blogging, youve probably run into publishing regret once or twice. Im not talking about the publishing regret that comes from writing something snarky online and having it come back to bite you when youre applying for your next job.   Im talking about the embarrassing typo mistakes that are really easy to overlook when youre in a hurry to get a post out the door. With the miracle of spell-check, its all too easy to miss silly mistakes that either corrupt your words entirely, or make you look like a complete idiot. In my case, my spell check wake-up call arrived when I was in sixth grade.   That was the year our school district was trying to get tax payers to pass a small tax increase we desperately needed.   As a student, I was frustrated by how close our school was coming to cutting the very programs and classes I liked most, and so I wrote a heartfelt letter to my neighbors urging them to vote for the levy. After printing out over 100 letters, signing them all and tri-folding them (no easy feat for a clumsy 12 year old), I convinced my mother to come with me while I personally delivered each letter to my neighbors.   About halfway through the trip, my mother took a peek at my letterand realized (to her horror) that a major typo had slipped through. Thats right.   I had accidentally forgotten the first L each time I referred to the public school system! Mercifully, my mother kept me in the dark about this mistake for several years. And potentially, it may have worked in my districts favor. Several neighbors called to say that after reading my letter, they completely understood how important it was to educate students properly. Still, I was absolutely mortified when I found out my typo especially since the neighbors all knew who I was and regularly waved at me on the street. If youre typing madly away, its really easy to miss a letter.   And if youre unlucky, youll forget a letter in a word that the spell check wont see.   One expert I know consistently says mangers (the wooden feeding troughs for barn animals) when she means managers.   Another has been embarrassed by writing assets without the T in serious documents. Luckily, most errors that slip through spell checks arent that bad.   Usually, the mistakes result from confusing grammar.   Some of the biggest culprits: Its vs Its. Its comes from It is and doesnt mean that something belongs to it.   If you want to show possession, you need to use its. Theyre vs Their. Their means something belongs to them while Theyre comes from they are. (A quick way to check: Replace Its/Its or Their/Theyre with It is or They are If the sentence works, its correct.) Those spell check defeating mistakes are all really easy to make and its even easier for them to slip through a quick proofread if you put too much trust in the spell check. The only real way to spot them is to take the time to read over your material closely and to learn which words are dangerous for you. Then, whenever you type the dangerous words, stop for a moment and check for a mistake. Of course, one typo in a document is probably not going to sink your personal brand.   But it could hurt it if youre consistently making the same mistakes. People do notice if youre constantly writing their instead of theyre. And, if youre trying to impress someone and show how competent/wonderful/intelligent you are, a missed letter in the wrong word could be very embarrassing!   (Trust me!) Author: Katie Konrath writes about “ideas so fresh… they should be slapped” at getFreshMinds.com, a top innovation blog.

The Theory of Relativity

The Theory of Relativity Not that one.   I’m not qualified to explain how that one works.   But the Theory of Relativity applies to income, job satisfaction and perception of change as well. Tali Sharot write The Optimism Bias, a book on why humans almost always view the future as hopeful and sunny.   She has studied hundreds of subjects and done research on what makes our brain work the way it does.   The Relativity Theory was first identified by Ernst Heinrich Weber (June 24, 1795 â€" January 26, 1878) a German physician who is considered to be one of the founders of experimental psychology.   His work measured our ability to perceive differences in weight (that is lifted or held) and found that your ability to perceive change is relative to what you start with.   If someone started out with a very light weight, a small increase was easily perceived.   But if you’re straining to hold up 100 pounds, a one ounce increase will be hard to notice.   If you’re playing music very softly, a small increase in volume will be noticeable, but if you’re blasting at full volume, you won’t notice an increase of a few decibels. Psychologists have applied the theory of relativity to income and job satisfaction as well.   They found (not surprisingly) that people may be very happy making $80,000 a year if say, most of their circle of friends was making about $50,000.   But if most of your friends are making over $100,000, your $80,000 won’t be satisfactory at all.   It makes sense, considering human nature, and it’s one of the reasons that companies ask employees not to discuss salaries with each other.     The theory applies to your perceptions of money as well.   If you have earned $10,000 for a job, then receive a $50 bonus, you probably won’t be at all impressed.   If you’ve earned $200 for a job, though, and receive an extra $50, you feel better about it â€" even though the bonus amount has not changed. That holds two lessons for us.   One is that the more you make, the more it takes to make you feel appreciative when you get a bonus or a raise.   We don’t tend to view the gift objectively; we view it according to our starting point. The second lesson is that you may be dissatisfied with your pay (or bonus or benefit) not because you think it’s not fair, but because you know what others are making or getting.  You’re like the person who doesn’t think he’s short until he meets a taller man.   Until that moment, he was normal sized and pretty content. We complain     lot about our jobs, our pay, and our bosses.   Has there been a time in your career where your complaint was due more to the Theory of Relativity than actual conditions?

How to Write About Yourself For Resume

How to Write About Yourself For ResumeI've read a lot of stories and personal experiences about how to write about myself for resume. Here are some tips on how to do this in the best way possible. Keep in mind that this doesn't mean you can go crazy with it, but it does mean you need to give attention to the particulars that can reflect your career path.Think of your career as a journey, not a destination. Your resume is your document, showing who you are, where you've been, and what you want to do next. The kind of information you put in your resume will be part of the result you get when people see you applying for jobs. Here are some of the common things that I find people put in their resumes.Writing about yourself is important, because it shows you're willing to do the extra work. The resume is supposed to serve as a 'how do I get hired' tool. It's also a way for people to know who you are, what you have done, and why they should hire you.Showcase your experiences by highlightin g all of the details you had in that job description. If you didn't really do anything in your previous position, try to prove why you'd be good at the job in the new one. Do your best to leave out any negative incidents that show you're not capable of doing the job.Consider changing your skills and experience to fit the job you're applying for. This doesn't mean you have to make major changes. It's just a change in the direction of your previous skills and experiences. It gives your resume a whole new direction, and makes you stand out from the rest of the competition.Write about yourself so that you can express the character you're trying to portray. You can say anything you want about yourself and why you want the job. If your resume says you're friendly, don't use it to prove you're mean.Don't worry if you can't think of anything to write about; you won't be able to, since writing about yourself takes so much time. Just write down what you believe you're good at and that you're great at, and then write down why people should hire you for the job.Writing about yourself for resume is no easy task. It takes years of experience and a lot of skill to get good at it. As long as you give your best shot, you'll eventually get the job you're after.

Poor Social Media Habits Cost You Your Job

Poor Social Media Habits Cost You Your Job We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Based on an article on Careerbuilder.com (Number of Employers Passing on Applicants Due to Social Media Posts Continues to Rise, According to New CareerBuilder Survey), 51% of employers who research candidates social media profiles reject the candidates based on what theyve found. This is up from 43% in 2013 and 42% in 2012. The trend is on the rise. Some hiring managers will actually ask for your social media passwords so that they can see everything about you. There are new stories on a regular basis (see Employees Behaving Badly The Social Media Edition). What also impacts people are negative posts (or photos) posted by others where they were tagged in the photo. What does all of this mean? Clean up your profiles, use caution when posting pictures/comments and be aware that nothing is secret these days. The general rule of thumb is that if there is a picture or post that you would not want your mother to see, dont post it! Some things to consider: Keep an Eye on Your Profiles: This includes not only what you post to your own profiles, but what others are saying about you, too. Your friends can sabotage your job just as quickly as you can, by posting inappropriate photos of you or talking about inappropriate activities. Monitor your mentions frequently, and clean up offending posts before they become a problem. Familiarize Yourself with Company Policies: With social media becoming more and more popular, many companies are adding rules about social networking usage to employee handbooks and other documents. Make sure to read your handbook carefully. If you dont see social media mentioned, ask your boss or an HR rep whats considered off-limits at your company. Tighten Up Your Security Settings: It can get awkward, fast, when your boss sends you a friend request on Facebook especially if youve got a lot of posts there that you wouldnt want him or her to see. You can prevent this by adjusting your privacy settings to make your profile unsearchable. But, if youve already received the request, the safest course may be to just clean up your profile and accept it. Youll also have to be extra vigilant about what you post in the future. Watch What You Say about Your Company: Once youve made a post online, its next to impossible to put the genie back in the bottle. Badmouthing your employer or just being negative about your company is never a good idea anyway; doing it on your social networking profiles is a recipe for disaster. Stay on the safe side by remaining positive about your job online, and save the kvetching for offline friends or private messages. Avoid Controversy: Politics and religion are two of the most polarizing subjects in existence and airing your opinions about them on your public social media profiles can backfire in a big way. Your employer may not share your views, be offended by your posts, or worry that your beliefs reflect poorly on the company. If your social profiles are easily accessible by your boss or coworkers, leave the hot-button issues out of your daily updates. Check Yourself Out and Fix Your Mistakes: Google yourself and create a Google Alert (https://www.google.com/alerts). This will send an alert when your name is mentioned. While not entirely foolproof, it is one way to check on yourself. Take a look at Your Internet Profile Matters when Searching for a Job to see what you can do to clean up your profile and fix your sins of the past. Social media is very powerful and has the power to end careers if not used wisely. You can protect yourself by cleaning up your profiles, watching what you say, and tightening up your security. 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+ var simplyhired_widget = {}; simplyhired_widget.publisher = 109596; simplyhired_widget.id = 30602; simplyhired_widget.channels = ''; simplyhired_widget.keywords = ''; Default search term

How To Make It To Managing Director - Part I

How To Make It To Managing Director - Part I Making Managing Director is in part an art, and definitely not a science. There is no set formula for achieving this status, and each firm will have its own dynamics in terms of when someone becomes eligible, what it takes, and indeed what it means to be a Managing Director. That said, there are clearly some universal aspects to focus on for those who aspire to the top rung. Are you Managing Director material? In many ways, the question of what constitutes “MD material” reminds me of US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s comment about pornography: while it is difficult to define, “I know it when I see it.” The reason it is not easy to generalise is that not all MDs are the same (thank goodness), and it is about the quality of your whole package and what it delivers. The only way to really know is to ask your boss and mentors for feedback specific to you and your organisation. However, in my experience most, if not all, successful MD candidates possess three core qualities: 1.   Commercial Impact: This is about delivering business and pulling more than your own weight. It is about producing commercial results for the firm in a responsible and sustainable way. Whether your business is about winning a select number of elephant deals each year, generating a vast number of flow transactions that gain market position, or providing incisive research insights, you need to be seen as best in class. Be a “rainmaker” along the dimensions in which your group is measured. Do you deliver results, and in the best possible way 2.   Leadership: During promotion discussions, the leadership dimension is always important. Committee members look for people who can build a franchise someone who drives a business forward and leads it to new heights. You need to have earned the respect of juniors, peers and senior managers, and be credible externally as well. Are you someone who can be trusted to lead a franchise and represent the firm at the highest level? 3.   Partnership Behaviour: MDs have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. In the old days, it was literally about bringing someone into the inner sanctum of the partnership, and in many ways, things have not changed all that much. Today, promotion committee participants are charged with asking the tough questions: Do we trust this individual to do the right thing? Is this someone we would want to march into battle alongside us? Will you be a constructive force, helping to drive the whole firm forward? Can you see the strategic value of other business areas even when it is against your parochial interests? Do you think of the long-term when making business decisions? I remember the year when a star trader was put up for promotion with fabulous production numbers. Despite the fear that he would go elsewhere if we failed to promote him on the early track the promotion group held fast to the ideal that an MD must act in the interests of the firm as a whole, and not just to favour his or her own P&L. Fortunately, he got the message and grew up into a fine MD â€" but it was not until he demonstrated greater maturity.