Vote for YOU and Your Ideal Career

November 3, 2008November 3, 2008Wendy Terwelp 1 Comment

Tomorrow is Election Day and time to vote. As you’re choosing a candidate, think about your own career choices. Did you choose your current career or did it choose you?

Perhaps you started in banking during college and moved up. Now you are out. Maybe you were recruited by an investment firm during college. Now you are out.

While times are tough, you still have a choice.

You can choose to whine and complain about the economy and your crappy career situation OR you can choose to take this time to find a career that is ideal for you.

Maybe you fell into the role you’ve just been downsized from – and you hated every minute of it. I worked with one client who had been with his company 25 years before being downsized. “I hated every day I was there,” he told me. “What?! But you worked there for 25 years!” I said. “How did you make it through?” He said, “Why, I took it one day at a time.”

How horrible to hate going to work, especially when the typical employee works 2080 to 2600 hours a year. And works an average of FORTY YEARS (or more).

Here are some action steps you can take right now and vote – vote for YOU and your ideal career – one that you are passionate about! One where you can say, “WOW, I love going to work!”

1. Choose a new career. If you’re burnt out on your current career or, like my client, hated the 20+ years you’ve worked in the industry, take some career assessments to find a new direction. Here’s a link to some freebies.

I also recommend taking more in-depth assessments for greater and more detailed results – to help you identify what makes you tick, how others perceive you, and what might be the ideal work environment for you.

2. Choose your attitude – and make it a positive one. I recently worked with a client who’d been downsized. I’ve rarely met a more positive person. Here he was in a difficult situation, family, main provider, and unfortunately in a declining industry. How did he view his situation? Why he had more time to spend with his family. He had time to help his children with their homework and watch them learn new things. He had time to take some classes and improve his skills. And he had time to research and pursue a new, more lucrative, and stable industry. That’s how he viewed things. How are you viewing your situation? You’ve got a choice.

3. Choose to rebuild your network – the right way. “Know anyone who’s hiring” is not an effective way to rebuild your network. Here’s the right way: Personal Branding Sound Bite.

4. Choose to learn new ways to network. Yes, networking events, social gatherings, and professional organizations are still an excellent way to network. How about the latest tools like online networking? Do you know how to use LinkedIn the right way? Have you updated your bio? Wondering what Twitter is? Check out this self-study class: Rock Your Network® Online for the latest.

5. Choose to take control of your personal brand. The challenge for most professionals is that they lack the discipline necessary to define their personal brands. As a result, their peers select it for them. Unfortunately, the personal brand others select for you will not always be the personal brand you would have selected for yourself. Take action now.

6. Choose to recession-proof your career – where you are. See my blog post below: Top 10 Tips to Recession-Proof Your Career.

7. Choose to volunteer. In the words of Zig Ziglar, “If you help enough people get what they want, you’ll get what you want.”

Now is the time to cast a vote for YOU and your ideal career. What choices will you make this time around? It’s up to you. And you’ve got a choice.

Want more tips for Job Action Day? Check out QuintCareers and its chosen bloggers. Enjoy!

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Wendy Terwelp has helped thousands of clients be rock stars at work since 1989. A recognized expert on networking, both online and off, Wendy has been featured in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Fast Company, The Business Journal, Monster.com, Careerbuilders.com, and more as well as numerous radio shows. She has published hundreds of articles on the web and in print. Are you ready for your next big gig?®

Learn more> http://www.knocks.com.

Twitter: Tweet tool for recruiting

October 7, 2008Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

By Peter Gray for Recruiter’s World:

Have you noticed that last year’s best sourcing tools are already losing their luster? Are Craigslist, LinkedIn, and Doostang are losing their punch? Well, someone once again “Moved Our Cheese,” as Spencer Johnson would put it. Here is where the cheese has gone:

Twitter http://twitter.com/ Twitter is possibly the next great “happening” on the web. It is a micro-blog that works in a similar fashion to Facebook or LinkedIn section “what are you doing now” Twitter only allows users to post a few words, yet they update constantly via computer, blackberry, mobile phone, etc. It is addictive and users do CONSTANTLY update. Posts range from “eating pasta,” to “waxing the car” to “looking for a new job” to “getting ready to paint the house, ugg.” Many more uses to come once I get my head around this tool but for now we can post, for example, “looking for an Application Architects in Stamford ”

Continue reading →

One Degree from Sarah Palin

September 10, 2008September 10, 2008Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

Today I just received my LinkedIn updates and found that one of my clients was directly linked to Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin. WOW. That means I am only one degree from Palin and two degrees from McCain.

Exciting stuff. But, when emailing my client to find out more, I learned that she had volunteered for the Republican party regularly and that they are using LinkedIn to generate emails for campaigning purposes and to “spread the message.”

An interesting use of online media, eh?

And, to ensure equal coverage (yes, I was a former reporter), Obama’s been sending emails regularly to solicit campaign funds. Although Obama has not invited me to join his LinkedIn network.

What are your thoughts on this?

My View: Every contact in my LinkedIn network is someone I actually know personally. At the very least, I have had a positive and in-depth conversation. That’s how I roll.

How do you? Share your stories!

Back up your LinkedIn now – or else

July 17, 2008July 17, 2008Wendy Terwelp Leave a comment

Well, Jason Alba sure is on a roll. One of his readers’ LinkedIn account got deleted – and she could not recover it! I don’t know about you, but if you’ve got great connections and awesome recommendations like mine: www.linkedin.com/in/wendyterwelp take action on Jason’s tips now!

Here they are:

Here are two absolute must-do’s, right now, on LinkedIn – and they will take less time than it takes to read this blog post (so do it now!):

Export your contacts. Simply click on Contacts, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on Export Connections, and follow that process. Just leave everything at default and you’ll end up with your connections in a .csv file, which opens in Excel.
Export your profile. You’ve probably put a fair amount of thought into creating your profile, right? What about any references you have gotten? Simply click on Profile, then find the grayed-out icons above your name, and click on the adobe pdf icon. This exports your profile, including recommendations, into a very nice, presentable document (kudos to whoever at LinkedIn did that formatting, it is very well-done!). Here’s an image of where the icon is:

These are the two most important things for me to grab, if I knew my LinkedIn account might go away. (1) Who I connected with, which includes e-mail addresses very every single contact, (2) my recommendations (I can always rethink and recreate a profile, but those recommendations are priceless!).

You can follow the rest of Jason’s story about this here.