In a recent career class at Indiana University, a student asked an interesting question. This student was concerned that an employer would actually take the time to review their professional portfolio on
CareerScribe.
My response is
"Well... do you think an employer is taking the time to review your resume among hundreds?"
It's not the first time that I've heard this comment. Unfortunately, what I've come to find is the question is really less about whether they believe an employer would want to have additional details, proof, artifacts and a video introduction to screen employees...
OF COURSE THEY DO! The reality is that most people just dread the idea of having to spend more time documenting their career accomplishments, successes, etc. Do a video?..... "
I hate the way I look on video." They are hoping they can just get by with that boring resume!
Fact is.... you can get by with just a resume. Resumes will not be going away anytime soon. The question to ask yourself is do I want to be competing for jobs with an archaic, dying tool like a resume, or do I want to give myself an edge by using progressive tools that help me tell my story through a free online portfolio... and make my best first impression through video? Give a potential employer the opportunity to get some real insight on you, without asking them to invest 4-10 hours of time scheduling, and bringing you in for an interview, which most of the time doesn't result in a fit.
My final comment.... as your "
Career Personal Trainer".... Don't be so lazy, and get out there and compete in the top 10% of your peer group who are using these technologies to present themselves and their personal brand in a compelling way.
I'm not sure Bernacke would have been my first choice for Person of the Year (let alone anyone with a hand in this financial mess). BUT, no one asked me. But it did get me to think, "Am I anyone's Person of the Year?"
What have I accomplished this year? Who have I impacted? I hope my manager put my name on his short list of nominees for Person of the Year. If he didn't, I could use my CareerScribe portfolio to document, describe, and share my accomplishments to make a case for my eligiblity for POTY. And if he still doesn't see my value, I'll take my career portfolio on the road to market myselt to managers who will see that value!
So here's a little something for you to think about. Are you known for your accomplishments? Do you have a free online portfolio through CareerScribe to document your value? Would anyone pick YOU as their Person of the Year? If not, get a professional portfolio started and set your New Year's resolution to become your organization's POTY for 2010.
Personal Branding - I hope for your sake you're not saying, "what?"
Here's the short of it - if you were selling yourself, how would you design the package? What words would you use, what colors, shapes, pictures, etc. would you choose? What exactly do you want people to think of you professionally? Now ask yourself this question..."What exactly DO people think of me professionally?" You may have some work to do.
Now that we're square on personal branding, what in the world does this have to do with creating a free online portfolio with CareerScribe? Well, if you aren't projecting a clear brand you've definitely got work to do. See, employers aren't big on guessing who you are going to be in the workplace (confident, loyal, decisive, etc). so you better make it really clear in your professional portfolio.
And one word of caution. Selecting items to include in your career portfolio that define and reinforce your brand isn't rocket science. I recently met a man who claims that without him, you can't possible be effective at creating a brand. And for a mere $3,000 and two days of your time, he can turn you into the type of individual people throw money at. (google 'your business card is crap' and you'll have the misfortune of meeting him) Keep your three grand. There is plenty of great advice on the web, and even a For Dummies book about it. The point is, it's important, but it's not that difficult. Now go on, you've got work to do!
This morning, CareerScribe presented at an event called "Branding Yourself". The name is pretty self explanatory. It's exciting to see that many people are becoming aware of the concept of personal branding. Although, when the attendees were asked why they were there, of the 120 in attendance, most were there because they were involved in an Indianapolis Job Search.
Unfortunately, it seems that most people associate personal branding with resumes and looking for a job. Personal branding is something that needs to develop over time, it's not something you do in a day, week or even a month. Brands are not developed overnight! It should be viewed as a long process. Be deliberate about the brand you want to develop, and add something every week to your story, and eventually over time, your brand will develop.
There are many free online portfolios that can help you accomplish the organization associated with this process. Selecting the best tool, like
CareerScribe, is an important part of the process. The right tool should allow you to tell your story with words, documents, photos and video. It should be easy to navigate, and it should allow you to share your story, or professional portfolio, with others.
So we've all heard it by now - the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over the same way and expect different results. Yet we all do it.
So after running and doing weights for two years, I haven't seen much of a change in my physique in the last twelve months. But I had been doing the same thing, thinking eventually I'll see different results. Duh. Time to try something new.
So I went to an orienteering meet with a friend this weekend (pause while you all google 'orienteering'). I didn't have the right gear, so I had to invest some time to put toghether the assets I would need to succeed. Then asked my friend a MILLION questions about what to expect, so I would be mentally prepared. Finally, I showed up. Deep breath....
I loved it! What a great workout, escpecially since I was so distracted by my self-preservation insticts to notice the stinging nettles and sweat in my eyes. You know, the thought of trying someting new is often far more fear-invoking than actually DOING something new.
So if you have blasted out 100 resumes with little to no success, are you going to continue a process that has not yielded the result you want, or will you spend the time to create your free online portfolio to improve your Indianapolis job search? And if it seems overwelming, ask us questions, a MILLION if you need to. We're hear to help you succeed (and I promise, no stinging nettles!).
Yesterday I had the unpleasant experience of realizing I set Alarm #2, instead of Alarm #1 on my clock. So 5 seconds after the alarm went off, and I realized it's already 7:30am, when I have an 8:00am meeting, that's 30 minutes away.
The dreaded nightmare of oversleeping.... only to be outdone by the nightmare of showing up to class, and there's a big test that you haven't studied for.
Then the panic and questions set in :
How did this happen?
What could I have done differently?
So now what?
How do I avoid this ever happening again?
All great questions, much like the questions one asks themselves when they find out they are losing their job. This scenario has been playing out all too often over the past year as professionals realize they've made mistakes in managing their careers, and they aren't prepared to market themselves in a competitive job market.
There isn't anything you can do now to change the past, but you can deal with the situation at hand as best you can, and look for better ways to market yourself, such as free online portfolios. Online employee screening is becoming much more popular as a means of candidate sourcing, so if you don't have a professional presence online, you are likely being overlooked for some opportunties.
More importantly, recognize there are habits and skills you can be developing now, so that you aren't in this situation again. Begin developing a career portfolio, and maintain it routinely so you can avoid the panicked feeling of waking up late for your meeting.
If you check out the following link, you'll learn where you could move to quickly find a job:
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/where-struggling-americans-can-find-a-fresh-start.htmlI'll give you a little cheat sheet. The top 5 places for growth, safety, good schools, etc are in Alaska (brrrr), Utah (hot), Washington (rainy), Nebraska (flat), and Iowa (I get corn rash). Now I'm sure the inhabitants of these locations are enamored with their landscape and weather, but as for me, I'd like to stay right here. So if I were looking for a job, I'd have a choice to make - tough it out in the competitive market I'm in, or learn the 100+ words for snow or get a giant tube of Cortaid.
So I'll stay here and tough it out. But to be succesful at that, I'm going to need to stand out the vast sea of job seekers. MY FIRST ACT as a job seeker would be to create a free online portfolio at CareerScribe.com. My Indianapolis job search will be more successful if I can supply employers with more than just a resume. Remember, being noticed is the hardest part of being a candidate. So quit reading this blog, and create your professional portfolio at
www.careerscribe.com!
I am totally hooked on technology. That's right, hooked. I am not a techie (in fact, I majored in English largely to escape the continually morphing and encroaching gadgets, software, and the like). But now I can appreciate the amazing difference technology, once one embraces it, can have on the quality and efficiency of life.
Those college friends who would have otherwise been scattered like seeds in the wind - Facebook.
Keeping up, in real time, with the latest and greatest - Twitter.
Sharing pictures for download and print on demand (because Grandmas demand it!)- ShutterFly.
Getting intimate access to the daily thoughts and struggles of thought leaders and corporate gurus - Blogging.
And, duh, managing one's career with an easy to use, innovative, and sharable application - CareerScribe.
Do you think that it's strange that you'll manage your friendships (that you would have otherwise let dissolve) with a fervor, but let your career flop around like wet cardboard? Get online, create your free professional portfolio, and get noticed during candidate evaluations. You agonized for hours over which photo to use for your facebook profile, perhaps you should direct some of that energy into managing your career!
I saw this great article about folks looking for a job leveraging the power of a video job interview.
Check it out:
http://bit.ly/JbRQRHere's a quote from the article.
“Of all the 55 or so applications we received, Ryan's was the only one who had a video resume attached,” says Jossie Orense, who was an assistant to the dean at the time he applied for the job. The video resume definitely helped get him in the door, she says. “It was our first time to ever receive a video link, we were curious about what he had to say.”
The time for sharing video as a position / candidate evaluation tool is certainly at hand. Now add to that the ability for candidates to share their online
professional portfolio with prospective employers. It really changes much of what we know about conducting a job search, for the candidate and for the company. And for candidates ... it's free.
Here's a final quote from the article, “I can’t say I got the job because of it, but I think it made me seem more legit."
No question about it.
Need more money? Work harder.
Want to look/feel better? Lose 10 pounds.
Need more time? Tough luck.
Time is the one factor we cannot replace, create, change, store, borrow, loan, or renew.
Time - it is what it is. Even as you read this it slips away...
What we can do, however, is assign a value to our time. You probably get paid X number of dollars per month, right? And based on X numbers of hours per week, you can say within a few dollars what your time is worth. And how many of those valuable (and your organization would likely say expensive) hours do you spend trying to recruit, identify, and hire quality applicants? If I told you that you could save the ONE thing you cannot create by making a simple request of your candidates would you do it?
By requesting a professional portfolio, you can weed out 25-40% of candidates you would initially consider bringing in for an interview. CareerScribe allows you, at your convenience, to view a broad, yet detailed, picture of candidates and offers the ability to conduct candidate evaluations before conducting time consuming interviews.
Candidates complete their free online portfolio, your talent management system runs like a well oiled machine, and you find the right fit quickly and effeciently.
Father Time would be proud.
Anyone can have an free online portfolio. Beyond a static resume, CareerScribe permits Candidates to capture and display all of their career highlights, skills, activities, documents and achievements they have received over time. Leveraging CareerScribe’s unique CareerTracker, Candidates can digitize and upload any document or artifact that brings legitimacy to the claims on their resume. Examples include academic transcripts, PowerPoint decks, certifications, letters of recommendations, etc. Any document, of nearly any format, can be uploaded into their individual online portfolio.
Are you in the Indianapolis Job Search? Your professional portfolio can be shared with anyone. It's so darn practical ... and awesome.
Share your career portfolio with anyone ... you can send it to them. You don't have to draw them to your site.
CareerScribe offers a free online portfolio. These portfolios can be shared with anyone, regardless of whether the recipient is a registered member of CareerScribe or not. Job Seekers need only the email of the intended recipient and they can distribute their CareerScribe Profile instantly.
Job Seekers may share their Profile with as many individuals as they would like: potential employers, mentors, fellow Job Seekers, office mates, etc. The recipient's view (how much of the Job Seeker’s Profile they can see) can be controlled within the Job Seeker’s privacy settings.
It's such a great tool.
I was watching tv this weekend; something I rarely do, but it's March Madness; and TheLadders commercial came on where they are chasing chairs on a wild safari.
It made me think about the whole concept of quality hiring and candidate marketing and the current state of the matter.
TheLadders has a good idea, but it's not fully baked. The notion that a service fee will keep the clutter down of qualified candidates is noble. Reducing volume is something many companies with great jobs try to do, but reduing volume through a service fee is the wrong plan.
CareerScribe allows candidates to use their career portfolio to keep someone alive when companies do a search. Through the use of this free online portfolio, candidates that have no business being in that search are eliminated. Also, companies can then use CareerScribe as an applicant tracking system that updates itself. No stale information.
So it brings me back to the commercial. If they want a high-back executive chair, they should get a sight that filters out the low-back chairs instead of only looking for chairs at a golf course
On Monday, March 23, we were excited to announce some significant enhancements to the look and feel of CareerScribe. This announcement was placed on the Business Wire and received a great response. Two days later, we have well over 40 websites, social media portals and search engines that have picked up the story.... very exciting!
Here are a few examples :
Yahoo - Finance
MarketWatch
Morningstar
Reuters
CareerScribe offers a career management tool for professionals that includes a free online portfolio and the ability to use video to introduce yourself. For companies,
CareerScribe has created a tool that allows companies to view these online portfolios, which adds much deeper insight to the candidate evaluation process, and eliminates bad interviews that should never happen. In addition, companies can develop a more meaningful applicant tracking system.
Companies and Universities typically ask CareerScribe, "How many candidates are in your database? And candidates usually ask," How many companies are in CareerScribe, how many jobs are posted?"
Reasonable questions. But, not the best questions. These questions limit the utility of CareerScribe to a job board.
Questions Companies Should Ask- There's too many resumes to functionally screen future employees. How can I conduct candidate evaluation and find the best candidates?
- How can I track the accomplishments and performance of my internal people in a meaningful way?
CareerScribe is the best means to see into candidates presence, accomplishments and aspirations, after you've done the work of candidate sourcing. The free online portfolio candidates populate gives you deep insight into the their work; it's so far beyond a resume. (Of course, candidates can post their resume on CareerScribe.) This concept works the same for internal talent management. You can see their accomplishments and potential so much more clearly. And they're responsible for maintaining it.
Questions Candidates Should Ask- The resume is so limited. Two pages? How do I share best stuff, my professional portfolio?
- How do I stand apart from the sea of candidates out there now?
CareerScribe enables candidates to document and
share their professional profile (i.e., portfolio, introduction video, goals, etc.). With anyone, even if they're not in CareerScribe. This places an excellent, free resource in candidates hands. It can really set a candidate apart.
This utility for candidates and companies is where CareerScribe's immediate value is found. It changes how good people share their stuff and how they're found.
So, the chicken or the egg is a reasonable question, it's just not the most relevant one.
I'm frequently told by people that they don't like the way they look on video, so they'd rather not do it. My answer to them is....... so don't!
Unfortunately, the reality is your competition might be. So like a dating site, you are much less likely to be considered, if you're not willing to introduce yourself through video.
Many companies are turning to video as part of their candidate sourcing process, and if they haven't, they will be thinking strongly about it because of the abundance of talent out there right now. Beyond video introductions, companies will likely incorporate a video job interview as well. This involves the company asking for your response, in a video format, to specific questions they ask.
CareerScribe.com is a tool that was designed with the concept of video introductions and video job interviews in mind. More importantly, CareerScribe.com also allows you to develop a free online portfolio as well.
I recently read a post regarding "10 Great Sites for Resume Building" (
http://mashable.com/2009/03/18/resume-building/).
So I'm driving in the 12 inches of snow we received the other day in Indianapolis, and I realized there is a metaphor to our approach in driving in bad weather, and the way we live our lives and manage our careers.
So.... my questions is..... are you the person driving fast in the left lane in bad weather, or are you the person with your hazard lights on in the right lane driving slow, and upset with all the dangerous drivers in the left lane passing you?????
I contend that most people go through life in the right lane with their hazards on, afraid to take risks and get in the fast lane. They would prefer everyone slow down and get in the right lane.
Truth is.... the one's in the fast lane, although they may get in accidents, are also the one's that advance quicker in their careers because they are willing to try new things, and take risks. Tools such as free online portfolios, like
CareerScribe offers, give professionals the ability to track their career accomplishments, and represent themselves in video job interviews. These tools are attractive to employers, and will allow them to do a better job of quality hiring.
So you can choose to take a chance and adopt new online technologies to manage your career, or you can keep your hazard lights on in the right lane and update your resume!
CareerScribe has formed a great space in the new way companies and candidates are connecting. If you haven't seen it, check out our new article in the Indianapolis Star.
1) Candidate Evaluation Time - Companies spend a lot of time and money evaluating talent. In order to correctly achieve quality hiring, companies have traditionally gone to great measures to gather information about potential employees.
CareerScribe allows companies to get a wealth of information much earlier in the hiring process by leveraging items like free online portfolios for candidates, video, document sharing, and other items that indicate what that particular person is looking for in a new opportunity.
2) Future Talent Management - Companies aren't always hiring. We know that, but the top companies are always keeping in touch with emerging top talent and existing valuable veterans in the industry. This is hard when the talent pool is deep as it currently is with layoffs.
CareerScribe allows companies to maintain contacts or even track candidates and tie them to potential future positions. It's a talent pipeline that feeds your company.
3) Up-To-Date Data - Unfortunately, many companies collect resumes for the future because they understand the importance of issue two. However, by the time it's time to call on that candidate, that professional portfolio or resume is out of date.
CareerScribe has become a destination for that new talent. As they stay up on their career objectives and accomplishments, so do you. All of a sudden those stale resumes don't seem so stale do they?
4) Screen Candidates - A lot of larger companies have some sort of Applicant Tracking System. It's clunky and old and has been there since the 90 year old Recruiter (no offense to the 90 year olds out there)! This has even hightened the pain of issue 3. Smaller companies can't afford a first class Applicant Tracking System and even if they could, it's too complex for the resources of a medium sized business, not to mention the small business owner.
CareerScribe brings tools to allow candidates to pass through stages during the hiring process. Since CareerScribe already shortens the process at the get go, you start with a more qualified talent pool. Now taking those candidates and tracking them with an online tool...how much more could you get done? Ask CareerScribe companies.
5) Employee Screening - It's very hard for someone who does not manage an employee daily to really get insight into how much value they bring to the company, especially when it comes to evalutations. Most direct managers are doing those evaluations, but even they struggle to remember all the accomplishments that the best employees accomplished. All the while, that top employee may be looking or being pursued by the competition.
Many CareerScribe companies are using the tools to help organically grow their company and growing new managers and executives from the incredible talent inside. With CareerScribe, they are able to keep evaluations and notes on a particular person safe and secure, digitally. Documenting HR actions is great, not only for legal reasons, but for employee development.
Check out CareerScribe and see how much it can help a successful company become even better!
It's ironic.
Evaluating and securing top talent is among the most inefficient and inexact things companies do. That's no suprise for anyone. It's a truism. Especially if your in HR. The irony comes out of the reality that "people are the most valuable asset." (Another truism.)
I used to work for a global pharmaceutical company. Where the candidate evaluation system was actually quite rigorous; it was just terribly inefficient. It would take months, in some cases, to find, evaluate and hire the right person.
This needn't be the case. Candidate evaluation can now be managed almost entirely via the Web.
CareerScribe offers candidates a free online portfolio opportunity. After companies have done the work of candidate sourcing, they can simply ask the pool of candidates to upload their career portfolio into CareerScribe. Much of the administration time goes away. It's better than a video job interview; this still requires a coordination of calendars. With CareerScribe, candidates upload their professional portfolio, including their video, and companies can view this information at any point they choose. They can view the profiles as a team or individually. It's all asynchronous.
CareerScribe is also an Applicant Tracking System. Every click is recorded and available for all of the EEOC reports.
Have your candidates fill out their own free online portfolio. It'll save you time and will be a lasting resource for them.
www.careerscribe.com
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Utilizing tools that go beyond a resume, and not only tell a story, but add credibilty and genuineness through the physical documentation and artifacts of your accomplishments is the key. In addition, utilizing video to make your best first impression is also a differentiator. Not video resumes, but brief video introductions... think of it as a mini video job interview.
Anyone who has reviewed hundreds/thousands of resumes to screen employees, knows that very little insight can be obtained from a resume, as compared to a virtual, timeline based career portfolio, along with video introductions. This is the future "resume"........
Check out CareerScribe (www.CareerScribe.com) for a way to WRITE and SHARE your story. It's a free online portfolio service for individuals.
I can't guarantee anyone that CareerScribe will land you a job, but I can guarantee you will get considered over your competition that is just submitting a resume.