Monthly Archives : October 2018

The economy is alive and well in America.

The unemployment rate is low and the stock market is high. However, that doesn’t mean that every qualified professional has a job and it doesn’t mean that everyone is happy where they’re are at.

There’s no time like the present to hone your skills, build your resume and make yourself marketable for your next job, whether it’s the ideal position or a temporary gig to tide you over until you find your dream job.

This post is the first of a two-part series covering practical ways that you can boost your market value.

#1 Commit to Volunteering

It’s hard for a hiring manager not to like the fact that you sacrifice your time for a cause you believe in. It exhibits selflessness and commitment volunteer work is often devoid of glamorous trappings.

Gene Caballero, founder of Uber-style lawn service GreenPal, says the benefits of volunteering go beyond the satisfaction that comes from giving your time and energy.

“This can have positive effects on the growing of your network and also looks great on a resume,” Caballero said. “Since these are normally free gigs, you can be selective and volunteer in the vertical of your degree, the industry that you want to pursue, or for a cause that you feel strongly about.”

#2 Expand Your Network

You might bemoan networking for all the small talk, elevator pitches and cocktails it requires but it’s worth it, said growth marketer and social strategist Crystal McFerran.

LinkedIn is the de facto place to start. Find groups related to your professional expertise and interest. Participate in discussions. In most cases, the more valuable the insight you offer with your comments, the higher the chance that fellow professionals will look at your profile.

Don’t be afraid to join face-to-face professional networks in your area, either. Do a quick Google search for groups that meet near you, or head to Reddit to ask for tips on professional/networking groups that are worth your time.

#3 Post a Video on Your LinkedIn Page

McFerran was looking for new opportunities when we created this post. One of the key choices she made to increase her hireability was creating a video for her LinkedIn page.

The video detailed her qualifications and which types of jobs she was looking for. It also included a call to action in which she asked interested employers to send her a message. The video was brief: 44 seconds.

“Step outside your comfort zone and post a video on LinkedIn! Most resumes are never viewed, so this provides a great opportunity to leverage your network,” she said. “Share a very brief overview of what you’re looking for. I’ve been on both sides – a recruiter and a job seeker –and I can tell you, nothing I’ve ever done has been more effective than this.”

At the time of publishing, LinkedIn users viewed the video more than 330,000 times and left more than 90 comments, many of which included, McFerran said, “introductions, interviews and offers.”

#4 Clean Up Your Social Media

Yes, your future employer is going to look at your social media accounts to get a sense of who you are outside of their interactions with you.

Dana Case, director of operations at MyCorporation, recommends doing a sweep of your social media and deleting any questionable material that might make your employer question your professionalism or self-control.

“Conduct a social media audit. Delete posts that show you in a less than flattering light: i.e. swearing, getting extremely drunk, anything that could be looked at as inappropriate or controversial,” Case said.

#5 Clean Up Your Appearance

One thing you might not anticipate is that your body and your style have changed since last time you went through rounds of job interviews.

What was acceptable for professionals back then may no longer be acceptable. And, trends and styles aside, you can never go wrong with a clean-cut appearance, Case told us.

So, go through your wardrobe and figure out what you need to refresh. Head to the salon or barbershop and get cleaned up.

“Invest in a great interview outfit and shoes,” Case said. “Groom yourself. Your dream interview could be tomorrow, and you might be overdue for a hair trim or getting your nails done!”

Part Two: More Advice for Making Yourself a More Polished Hire

In the second post in this series, we continue with more tips about what you can do to increase your chances of getting hired. Click here to read more.

In the wake of studies pointing to the dangers of sitting at a desk too long during the day, proponents of standing desks have hailed it as the antidote to the sedentary lifestyle that some have deemed, “the new smoking.”

As is often the case in the office world, novel ideas that progressive thinkers latch onto don’t always turn out how you’d expect.

In the first part of our two-part series on the pros and cons of standing desks, we provided four different examples of people who use standing desks in their workplace and love them.

One employee noted that her standing desk helped alleviate back pain and fostered more focus than what she’d have at a sitting desk.

However, not every standing-desk experience is a positive one. When we reached out to companies across the country to get their thoughts on standing desks, we received multiple responses from those who disliked their standing desk experience.

“I personally dislike standing desks.”

The studies on sitting at a desk aren’t knocking traditional desks and praising standing desks. Rather, they call to attention the importance of getting up at least once an hour to move your body and get your blood flowing.

For some employees, taking a brisk walk around the office every hour is better than a standing desk of one simple reason: Standing can wear you out and hinder your ability to zero in on the task at hand.

This is something we heard from Stacy Caprio, founder of Accelerated Growth Marketing.

“As an employee, I personally dislike standing desks, as they make me tired, which takes away my focus and concentration from what I’m working on,” Caprio said.

Caprio said she prefers sitting at a desk because it helps her focus on the moment and task at hand.

“I’m able to be more fully present and focused when sitting, as long as I take ample walking breaks during the day,” she said.

“They are overrated.”

Sometimes an office will find itself in a situation where they’ve committed to a change in their workspaces, only to find out that those changes don’t quite work out as expected.

Jessica Landon, an SEO specialist at an Idaho-based marketing firm, said her company brought in standing desks and now about one-third of them are actually used, she said.

“I think, overall, they are overrated. I’d say roughly that only a quarter to a third of the employees here actually use them,” she said.

She went on to say that the desks they have are great, in theory, because they’re programmable, which means you can set them to adjust to different heights during the day. But most of them aren’t being used to stand.

“I do think they are a genius idea, they are just underutilized, in my opinion, here in our office,” she said.

“It just sits there gathering dust.”

Bernard Meyer, a digital marketer and content creator at Meyer Food Blog, said his office brought in standing desks. Everyone was enthusiastic about them.

“In my previous job, we had standing desks brought in. We were all quite excited about being healthier at work, since we had read about the dangers of sitting too long,” he said.

It only took a week for the novelty to wear off – employees became tired of standing.

“A few weeks later, we’d just stopped even bothering to lie to ourselves that we’d used it. It would just stand there, staring us in the face,” Meyer said. “It’s like a treadmill you buy for your home. You use it for one week, and the rest of the time it just sits there gathering dust.”

“It was nice at first.”

Another complaint we heard is that standing may relieve back pain, but it can affect other joints that aren’t used to being in a standing position all the time.

David Waring, co-founder of FitSmallBusiness.com, said he switched to a standing desk “because of a back injuring that kept flaring up after long hours of sitting.”

He enjoyed the standing desk at first, but, over time, pain started to creep into other parts of his body.

“I found that standing all day in the same place started giving me knee issues and was also pretty exhausting,” he said.

So, he switched from a standing desk to a sit-stand desk that gave him the option of either standing up or sitting down to get his work done.

“I have found this to be much more comfortable and have not had any leg or back issues since,” he said.