Match Your Career Goals with Your Strengths

I can't imagine doing work that requires even an average amount of mathematical calculation. That's just not my strength. Imagine highly successful people like Mark Zuckerberg doing work other than what he is doing now. He would probably not be as successful. I'd like to talk about this now because I've seen too many people waste their time applying for work that clearly are not aligned with their talents. They often fail during the screening process or if the process is bad, they get hired and fail miserably at work.

I believe all people have a particular set of aptitudes that suit certain kind of work. I think it is a good investment of time and effort to discover one's strengths and then align one's career plans with it. After discovering your strengths it is important to enhance them by exposing yourself to activities that will use it similar to doing a specific exercise to grow a particular muscle. For example if you found that you are good in written communication, read books on how to become a better writer and/or write a blog to exercise your creative writing muscle. If you like dabbling into computers of programming, try working on a coding project. train yourself to expand your coding prowess.

I also highly recommend Clifton StrengthFinder. It will help you discover what strengths or "themes" you have that you can capitalize on. You can download the full list of themes here. It is also a good idea to learn more about your personality and see which careers fit you. The web is full of free online personality test. Here's a really good one.

Discovering your strengths will help you choose a career your can do well in. Find work that you can be good and enjoy doing and you will be one happy, productive worker. Your success will push you up to bigger roles in the organization that you are in. Make sure that you do not stray away from your strengths and your source of professional bliss.

The Whys and Hows of Online CVs

Methinks that whether you are actively looking for a job or not, you should maintain an updated online profile. Why, because it will benefit you in the near or long term. Let me share a few opportunities that can come  your way if you make yourself easily searcheable and relevant information about your skillsets, work experiences and career or business opportunities  accessible.

Prospective employers are always on the prowl for talents. They use Google and now social networks to  find the people they need. If you are happily and gainfully employed, some of these people are willing to go out of their way to find out what can make you happier and more gainfully employed. You always have the option to say no, but wouldn't you be interested to know when opportunities are just outside your door waiting to knock?

Linkedin Versus BranchOut?

First, I must say that I am no expert in anything Linkedin nor BranchOut. This is not an expert review. This is merely an opinion from someone who has been using Linkedin for a while and has recently joined and completed his profile in BranchOut in the hope that it will bring him similar businesses that he gathered from Linkedin.

I am a big fan of social media for the simple reason that my business would not have reached this point had I not discovered the web as a market place and exploited what it had to offer to the hilt (at least to the best of my abilities). As a recruiter, I found social media as a less costly yet more effective option in finding the needed talents for my clients.  Linkedin has been for the longest time our best source of talents. I'm happy that the number of Filipinos joining Linkedin is getting bigger everyday. More and more people are getting easier to find because of this. I've heard on many occasions that Linkedin is the social network of choice for professionals and business networkers. It looked like linkedin's niched juggernaut is going to be unstoppable. And then comes BranchOut, a facebook propelled social network that seem to follow the Linkedin model.

There has already been several reviews comparing both networks so I won't go that way anymore. What I really like to say is that if any or both of these networks succeed in their business, it's good for all of us job and people hunters!

Here's my word of advice, make sure that you join both and give time to complete your profile. Who knows the  opportunities you're looking for is just around the corner... or your next click!

Are You Searchable?

If you consider yourself as very good at what you do but you are difficult to find, it is possible that you are missing out on some juicy career opportunities. You are no different from a very beautiful website (Aesthetically that is) but could not be found through the search engines. You will become  a beautiful secret that is kept from the world. The good thing about it  is that very few people will badger you about an opportunity. The bad thing is opportunity searching becomes one way, that is you are not allowing opportunities to find you.

What is so good about being searchable? I can count a number of reasons why you should be. Here's one; if you are as good as you should be, people will line up to see you and find out how they (their companies) can benefit from you. This gives you a lot of job and career opportunity choices. Job offers will give you a good idea about the price you command in the market. Most importantly, you don't have to stay in a job you hate when you have options of finding a better job with a better boss and team. See Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand

Exercising Due Diligence in Job Hunting

Wikipedia says this about Due Diligence -"Due diligence" is a term used for a number of concepts involving either an investigation of a business or person prior to signing a contract, or an act with a certain standard of care.  BusinessDictionary.Com gave this general definition of the term "Measure of prudence, responsibility, and diligence that is expected from, and ordinarily exercised by, a reasonable and prudent person under the circumstances." Read more:

People or businesses exercise due diligence because they want to know if they are getting the best out of an engagement before they sign a contract. Employment is an engagement that involves signing a contract, hence it is wise to do the same before getting yourself engaged. Besides, your potential bosses are likely to do the same.

What are the things you need to look into before signing an employment contract?

Find out about the company's work culture. Ask yourself if the work environment is something that you would enjoy to be in. Remember, you will spend eight hours or more everyday in that environment. Make sure that it will not turn your working life into a living hell.

Make Your Job Application Stand Out

This in an article I wrote for http://misorjobs.com in 1988. It's a website dedicated to offering career opportunities in Misamis Oriental. Here's a link to the original posting
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 First, let me show you how recruiters like me see your job applications. My team at ExeQserve and I receive hundreds of applications everyday, sometimes they even reach a thousand. In order to manage our work and our time, we need to implement methods for efficiently seeping through those bundles and bundles of job applications. We actually don’t get to see all of them. Most of the applications fail our auto-filter criteria and end up in a resume database which is a virtual junkyard that we mine from time to time, if we are not too busy with new applicants. Whose resumes are likely to end up there? Those who have no or poorly written application letters, those whose resume’s file name is “resume” and those whose resume contents are too far fetched for the job.

Here are a five  steps to what you can do to make your application stand out from thousands of other mediocre applications:

Job Hunting Tips for People With Not-So-Hot Backgrounds: 150 Smart Tips That Can Change Your Life (Career Savvy)

Step 1: Look closely at the requirements of the job as posted and ask yourself if there is indeed a match between what they are looking for and what you have to offer. Don’t bother sending your application if you yourself can’t find a match. 

Step 2: So you believe there is a match, great! Now, write a good application letter that describes why you think you are suitable for the job. Putting your personal qualities there is cool but you need to do more than chest beating, you need to specifically mention relevant experiences and skills. Emphasize also your desire to contribute to the company’s productivity and profitability. The web is teeming with application letter templates, go Google.