OWNing your career!

10 Things You Should Always Bring with You to an Interview By: Resumebear The current state of the economy and the job market has made it almost impossible to find a job. If you want to be one of the “chosen” to land an interview, you must be at the top of your game. No longer is it enough to simply appear at an interview dressed in a suit and armed with a positive attitude. Today’s candidates must be thoroughly prepared for each interview they attend. An important component of that preparation is knowing the ten things you should always bring with you to an interview. 1. Five copies of your resume – even if you have submitted your resume electronically, it is still important to bring along hard copies. In many cases, candidates will find themselves interviewed by multiple managers, so it is always important to have enough resumes to go around. 2. Professional references – be sure to bring a list of 3-5 professional references. Include each reference’s contact information including em...

OWNing your career!: Marketing 101: You are the Product By Daryl M Will... : Marketing 101: You are the Product By Daryl M Williams Think back to the past several Super Bowls and some of the companies that ...

Marketing 101: You are the Product By Daryl M Williams Think back to the past several Super Bowls and some of the companies that produced commercials. At the end of their 30-60 second spot, you had no idea what service or product they were introducing or selling. DON’T be those guys! Even GoDaddy.com, a seemingly successful and newsworthy company is an example NOT to follow. Why? Well for one thing, they relied on your desire to research them further by going to their website, routinely ending commercials before you knew what was being sold. It worked for them but unless your résumé offers truly captivating content, ending it before you’ve sold the connection  between your experience and the role you are pursuing is a sure fire way to hear crickets from that job you applied for. How do you avoid being those guys? Glad you asked and here are some tips: ·          AVOID the empty rhetoric such as: o    Keen ey...

Why you should have an Executive Board daryl m. williams January 14, 2013 Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. I ALWAYS loved the theme song to Cheers. ALWAYS! Fantastic but what does that have to do with anything and specifically the title about executive boards? Well, the executive board I’m talking about is different but should be a bit closer to our hearts because it is our individual boards. Let me explain. I believe we should look at ourselves as individual corporations. Our careers are our product and we are the CEO as well as head of marketing, etc…of our corporations. This is not a new concept and while I did not learn it from J.T. O’Donnell or Reid Hoffman, among others, they certainly validated my way of thinking. That said your corporation should...

Typecasting: Make Lemonade out of those Lemons daryl m. williams January 14, 2013 Typecasting happens. Last Friday this is how I started my post titled Typecasting: The Negative. I also provided a definition, which has returned for another week, see below. Let’s start with what it is, per Google it is defined as: typecast  past participle, past tense of type•cast (Verb) Verb 1. Assign (an actor or actress) repeatedly to the same type of role, as a result of the appropriateness of their appearance or previous... 2. Represent or regard (a person or their role) as a stereotype: "typecast by their accents". That is where the similarities end and now I want to talk about being typecast and how you can use that to your benefit. In a 2003 MIT study, MIT Sloan 2003, Professor Ezra Zuckerman looked at how actors are typecast and made comparisons to the work world most of us inhabit. Among his findings were: • “Typecasting can provide a route into the industry” • “I...

OWNing your career!: Typecasting: Take One! : Typecasting: The Negative daryl m. williams January 4, 2013 Typecasting happens. Understand, typecasting isn’t merely that Arnold or Br...

Typecasting: The Negative daryl m. williams January 4, 2013 Typecasting happens. Understand, typecasting isn’t merely that Arnold or Bruce or Sly are action stars or that Will Ferrell is a comedian. Typecasting in your career happens and can be ugly and difficult to break out of once applied but can also be a positive but today it is the negative I’m focused on. Let’s start with what it is, per Google it is defined as: typecast  past participle, past tense of type•cast (Verb) Verb 1. Assign (an actor or actress) repeatedly to the same type of role, as a result of the appropriateness of their appearance or previous... 2. Represent or regard (a person or their role) as a stereotype: "typecast by their accents". Taking it a step further, you’ve been working as an administrative assistant for the last five years but this isn’t where you see your career ending. Unfortunately being an administrative assistant is now synonymous with your name. Why is this negative? I...

Get(ting) over yourself! By Daryl M. Williams January 4, 2013 As I took some time off from blogging and generally thinking over the extended holiday break known as Christmas Eve to New Year’s day, I realized a couple of things I thought were worth sharing (in no particular order: ·          Even when you enjoy your work, some days it is still work (Genius!) ·          Those Sprite What’s my Motivation commercials are excellent questions to ask ourselves Motivation ·          Some days you just have to muster up the will to climb the proverbial wall I’m not unhappy at work or even having a super difficult day most days but as I reflected on 2012 and the years that came before it this topic seemed relevant. We have our up’s and down’s and work can be and routinely is one of those things. How do we move past a case of the Monday’s and focus so our wo...