Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom How Businesses Can Stay Focused During Slow Periods

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom How Businesses Can Stay Focused During Slow Periods I askedthree business ownersâ€"ZeeshanAli, CEO of screen printing company The Zee Group in Chicago; BryanneLawless, managing partner of PR firm BLND in Los Angeles; and MichaelMogill, CEO of Crisp Video Group in Atlantaâ€"about how they turn historically slow seasonsinto growth periods. What arethe ebbs and flows of your business in a typical year? Ali: Typically, the start of the school year and the end of the yearâ€"as we are ramping up for trade show seasonâ€"are our busiest times of the year. We have focused on diversifying our portfolio of clients this year, so the wavelength is a bit different than in past years. Lawless: The beginning of the year is always the craziest since businesses want to re-market themselves, update their branding or expand their social media presence. The slowest time is usually the third quarter because companies are running out of budget for marketing and PR efforts. Luckily for us, almost every business needs PR to compete and be seen as an expert in its industry. Mogill: The slower times of the year are the early part of Q1 and Q4. Starting the year, our sales pick up stride as we get into March and are very strong through Q2 and Q3. In Q4, things start to slow near Thanksgiving, not just because of the holidays but also because clients are going out of town. Can you predict when activity will slow down? How do you prepare for slow seasons? Mogill: Absolutely, since we have tracked activity data over several years. Because we are able to anticipate them, we can ramp up marketing significantly during slow periods to ensure that we are still able to be productive and hit our goals. Also, we frontload our goals through the early part of the year rather than spreading them evenly over 12 months. Lawless: When our pipeline slows down, that’s a signal that everything else will follow. It’s important to focus on the clients we have, but we also have to make sure there are always clients ready to sign and hit the ground running. Ali: We use the reporting feature in our CRM and in QuickBooks to monitor slow and peak periods of activity. This information dictates how we should manage our expenses and allows us to accurately forecast each month. For the rest of the interview, head over to the AMEX Open Forum.

Best Writing and Resume Services Sites Online

Best Writing and Resume Services Sites OnlineThere are many service providers that provide business owners the opportunity to find the best writing and resume services sites online. These individuals provide businesses with excellent resumes and cover letters, which can attract the attention of more potential clients. In this way, these websites allow businesses to increase their profitability.Of course, business owners should take time to evaluate and compare the different providers available online to find the one that will be most effective in producing a great deal of results. They should look for those sites that have been approved by the Better Business Bureau. They should also select an individual that understands the importance of marketing.Even if the company's success is determined by attracting the attention of a prospective client, it is not the case when the result is less than stellar. It is for this reason that it is necessary for business owners to select a business t hat provides a rich variety of materials. For instance, if a business needs a sample of its work sample it should choose a provider that offers this, as well as other important features.In addition, business owners should remember that they will need to find a site that is both professional and easy to use. They should always pick a website that makes using its products and services a lot easier. This can be done because they should always consider how many customers can be attracted from the site in a given amount of time.An important thing to keep in mind is that these professionals that are designed to produce professionally written materials should also be able to do this in a timely manner. If there is a delay in production the company could suffer. To this end, it is important to select a service that provides its products on a timely basis.Another thing to consider is the cost of the services provided. Business owners need to consider the types of fees charged per paper or pa ge produced. It is essential to look for companies that offer low rates in order to reduce costs for the business.Finally, it is important to find service providers that make things very easy to utilize. This means that business owners should expect a website that allows them to create a resume or cover letter in a matter of minutes. Business owners should also expect to pay the right amount of money for the services provided.Finally, business owners should consider the type of resources that are offered to them through this website. If they want to increase the number of clients they receive they should use an advanced search feature. Furthermore, it is also important to look for those sites that include links to their partners and affiliates that offer services in addition to providing a huge variety of material.

How to Make Summer More Enjoyable in the Office #MondayMotivation

How to Make Summer More Enjoyable in the Office #MondayMotivation Summer time is great. The suns out, the weathers warm and everyones in a good mood. Even at work, the atmosphere is lighter and people are happier. However, theres always going to be those days when youre gutted that youre stuck in a grey office, missing out on the fun that summer brings. Its something that a lot of us have to deal with, but there are some ways that you can bring summer into the office and make working life during the hotter months  a little bit more bearable. Read on to find out my top tips for making summer in the office more bearable for you and your team: 1) Become more flexible: Allowing a bit more flexibility in the summer time turns the workplace into a much more relaxed environment. You could allow employees to leave early, set one day where employees can arrive a bit later or set up a flexi-time scheme so that  theres a bit more freedom. 2) Bring it outside: That Tuesday afternoon meeting? Take it outside! Moving meetings away from the office means that employees wont feel like theyre trapped at work. Having meetings outside breaks up the day and makes it a bit more interesting too. 3) Get rid of the dress code: This may sound pretty drastic, but removing the dress code will mean that every employee will feel more comfortable during the summer months. Employers are often wary about doing this, but getting rid of the dress code wont mean that people turn up looking awful, it just means theyll be slightly more casual than usual. 4) Host a work BBQ: Summer is all about the sun, fun and food. What better way to incorporate them all than by hosting a BBQ! 5) Encourage holidays!: As a business owner or manager, you should never make your employees feel like they cant take a week  off work to relax. You should encourage employees to all take time off to have a holiday during the summer months. Holidays always make employees feel more relaxed and rejuvenated which is exactly what we all need during the summer months. 6) Set up a charity event: Summer in the perfect time to get out there and make some money for charity. Set up charity fun-runs with your team, host charity events in the office such as bake sales or coffee mornings. Events like this are  great because they help other people, but they also unite your team. 7) Host an all-day office party: A fun thing to do during the summer months is to host a themed work day. Why not have a flip-flop day, where everyone arrives at work wearing sandals, or a Hawaiian themed day, where everyone wears colourful shirts and shorts. This makes the working day fun and also takes advantage of everyone good mood! 8) Summer after-hours: Summer is supposed to be full of fun, so why not set up an evening party for your employees? As well as working wonders for your positive company culture, it will help your employees get to know each other and shows them that they are appreciated. 9) Provide food drinks: What better way to liven up the office during summer than providing yummy food and drink to keep hunger and thirst at bay for your employees. Fruit, soft drinks, fruit juices and handy snacks are all great for summer! 10) Spring clean: Sprucing up your office for the summer time is a great way to make the office a nicer place. Make sure theres lots of natural light and fresh air coming through the office. Theres nothing worse than being trapped in a dark and stuffy office in summer time. How are you preparing for summer in your office? Do you have any handy tips to share with us?

Career Crazy Heres How To Unwind After 5

Career Crazy Heres How To Unwind After 5 It’s great, you have a passion for your job, and so you give it your all. Every. Last. Bit. Of you. You eat and sleep your job, and this reoccurs continuously, which is all okay until it’s not okay.   And before you know it youre sat with your head between your knees on the brink of tears wondering where all of your time, fun and life has gone. Probing questions like, why haven’t you seen your friends in ages? Why do you never leave the office when it’s light outside? And where have the last few summers gone? It’s okay, it’s not the end of the world, and you are certainly not the first person to feel this way. It’s just it’s vital for you to shut off when you have the time to unwind. And actually, you’ll be happy to know it has more advantages for you to do so. For instance, it improves creativity, productiveness, and enthusiasm. So here’s to keeping your career craziness at bay, powering down and switching off! Break The Mold Youre caught up in a routine where you leave the physical workplace but bring the baggage with you. And so, on your heart and head, your work worries lay, and off you go back home with your luggage of stress and anxiety. Sadly, your passion and worries concerning your job have built enough momentum in your mind to spill over past 5 o’clock. Give it enough time, and it will gradually begin suffocating your life outside of work. Heres the reality check; you are paid to work for a set amount of hours and to work productively within that time. You are not, however, paid to take your work baggage home with you and carry it with you wherever you go. It will take some time to adjust to this new frame of mind, but when you next finish work, and you leave the building, leave your work worries at the door.   Bring In The Distractions   Our mind power is only so strong, and so we cant rely on it entirely to keep our crazy career thoughts at bay all the time. We also need distractions to tempt and pull is in other directions. This isn’t to protest that only proven healthy distractions promoted by your doctors and health professionals will do and that you should go for a run and eat watermelon unless that’s something that appeals to you. It’s to encourage you to try anything else to unwind so long as it’s in moderation and won’t affect your performance the next day. You could become a serial dater in the evenings, a lover of fine wine and chocolate, knit your dog a jumper for Christmas, or buy weed online just because you can. Bubble baths, girls nights in, girls night out, you get the picture bring in the distractions thick and fast before your career takes center stage for the evening and clogs your thoughts with paperwork and presentations. We all need a break from everything we love and time to unwind; careers, lovers, junk food and reality TV shows. Moderation is key if you want to lead a happy, balanced life so keep your career crazy under wraps, break your usual routine and bring in the distractions.

Writing Narrative Resume

Writing Narrative ResumeWhy should you focus on writing narrative resume? Shouldn't your objective be to get the best possible job in the easiest way possible?Most of the time, employers are looking for a candidate with a good resume and the personal qualities of the candidate. If your resume has the right cover letter, the interview is over. The only question left is whether the job is the right one.A written resume is not a straight forward statement of the facts that will help an employer to assess your qualifications. On the other hand, an employment interview does not really involve an interview at all; the interviewer simply asks questions about the applicant's background.Even though the employment field is now quite tough, people are being hired everywhere. Even in our country there are plenty of jobs available. Not just companies, but also government offices, banks, and colleges have openings for almost every job on the market. Thus, there are lots of people who need jobs.In order to find out which job is the right one for you, it is always wise to start by finding out what is being offered in your area. You can ask your friends, colleagues, and even relatives for referrals. If you are not lucky enough to know who is hiring, you can also go online. It is always a better idea to go online first because it provides you with a wider range of options.A good place to start is by using the Internet. You will discover lots of websites where there are job vacancies posted.Before you start writing your narrative resume, you have to decide on the level of detail that you are willing to give to the employer. There are sites on the Internet where you can ask the employer for a sample resume. Asking for samples also helps you keep track of the trends and the changes in the industry. It also helps you know what kind of information you should be giving to the employer.Before you write your narrative resume, you have to set some ground rules. First of all, your objecti ve should be to get the best possible job. Secondly, you have to focus on the personality traits of the employer in order to make sure that your resume is not biased. Lastly, you must ensure that the employer knows that you are writing a resume, not a memoir or a novel.

Your ultimate guide to transforming your phone into a careers hub - Debut

Your ultimate guide to transforming your phone into a careers hub - Debut This post was written by an external contributor. Niamh McGovern tells us all about transforming your phone into a careers hub because who has time to sit down at a desktop nowadays? Disastrous scenario: you are on a weekend trip without a laptop and you’ve found a last-minute internship via email. It closes in three hours. Crap. Dont fret. You have a backup plan in your pocket. Our smart phones are powerful devices and we aren’t using them to their full potential when we look for job opportunities. No need to fear, we’ve written a guide to transforming your phone into a careers hub. Handy! Set up an efficient calendar Time to use your mobile calendar for more than birthday reminders. If you use an email app on your phone, go into the mail account settings and turn on calendar notifications. Any invitations you receive via email will automatically send alerts to your phone, so you never miss an all-important appointment. Your phone will colour code appointments as you add more email accounts. Now you can be the organised genius you need right now. Save an up-to-date CV on a cloud service This is paramount if you need to send a CV in a hurry. Most operating systems have their own online drive, Google Drive   Dropbox, and  OneDrive to name a few but there are many other options out there. On your laptop, or document editor app, save an up-to-date CV on the drive. When you need to send your resumé,  simply access the CV on your phone and attach it to the job application. In an ideal world youll be able to tailor the CV to the job application. However, desperate times call for desperate measures. Unless Set up a document editor on your phone Every CV you send is probably tailored to a particular employer and cover letters are practically a requirement today. Downloading Microsoft Word, Pages or any document editor allows you to send a cover letter in a jiffy, with professional tools that match any laptop’s ability. Setting up a template will save you time so you can make your deadline. Just save the finished document as a PDF and add it to the  cloud drive of your choice. Set up a professional email signature I find myself emailing more and more from my mobile phone, which requires a little set up in order to use professionally. In your mail settings, you will be able to customise your email signature.  Every on-the-go email will then be formatted perfectly, with contact details and information about you. If you have multiple email accounts, you will be able to customise each one in mail settings, so you can avoid the dreaded “Sent from iPhone” line. Set up professional platforms on your phone You probably already use the Facebook app. Maybe Twitter if you are savvy but you should be using applications that enhance your job searches too. Debut and LinkedIn are mobile optimized social platforms, allowing you to easily respond to professional messages and network while you take the nightly train home. It’s a great way to use your time effectively, since most of us forget to update out contacts on the latest projects and skills we have worked hard to gain. Download a video-chat app Most interviews require a quick face-to-face chat these days. However, technology can save the candidate time and travel expenses. Be smart and embrace this, offer an employer a video chat over Skype if he or she feels it is necessary. If you don’t have a laptop or desktop on-hand, download the Skype app which is available in IOS, Android and Google Play. Don’t be caught out! Remember to take time off! These tips make your life easier in a crisis. But using your phone  might cause you to  burn out easily. All those push notifications can get stressful! If you need a break, turn on the ‘do not disturb’ feature, which will only let the most important calls and emails disturb your down time. Most phones have a priority list you can add contacts to in case youre waiting on a specific application. Download the Debut app and get Talent-Spotted by amazing graduate employers! Connect with Debut on Facebook and Twitter

Summary Sunday Things You Need To Know

Summary Sunday Things You Need To Know Unfortunately, job search and career management dont come with instruction manuals. Which is too bad. There is so much you dont understand about these things. There are written and unwritten rules of engagement. Sewing on a button is a long forgotten skill, yet it sure is handy! This weeks roundup includes many things you need to know- how recruiters use LinkedIn, the unwritten rules of the workplace, should you be the one to constantly follow-up with a hiring manager, how to find email addresses and how to wow an interviewer! I hope these articles help you figure things out! WORLD OF WORK New Graduates: These Are The Unspoken Rules Of The Workplace No One Tells You by  Anisa Purbasari Horton | Fast Company It is unfortunate that more companies dont embed these points into their onboarding. Too many new employees dont know what they dont know! Please share widely to help educate new graduates! JOB SEARCH How Headhunters Use LinkedIn to Find Talented Candidates by Arnie Fertig | US News World Report On Careers If you understand how recruiters use LinkedIn, youll be able to build a better profile and take the right actions on LinkedIn. Is It Normal to Have to Send a Hiring Manager (Lots of) Reminders? by Sara McCord | The Muse This is an interesting example of what a candidate went through during the recruiting processwhat lessons can you learn from this? ONLINE VISIBILITY Use a Personal Website to Maximize Your Digital Footprint by  Job of Mine Only 32% of graduates have an online portfolio, yet more than 60% of millennial hiring managers said having a website or online portfolio is important for candidates  (according to a recent study by godaddy).  Go create your online portfolio today! COOL TOOLS Looking for a way to uncover email addresses so you can contact someone directly? Try one or more of these via Avid Careerist and Ed Han. (This is from Donna Sveis group on Facebook called AvidCareerist) INTERVIEWING Job Interview First Impressions: 10 Tips to Take You to the Top [Infographic] by Armstrong Appointments  | YouTern Brush up on your interviewing know-how with these reminders! by Armstrong Appointments

Improve your job search prospects Dont order in French at the Chinese food restaurant! -

Improve your job search prospects Dont order in French at the Chinese food restaurant! - For some inexplicable reason, I seem to be thinking of a lot of food analogies when Im coaching clients. Im blaming this on reading too many peoples lunch and dinner menus on Twitter, but the analogies really do make a lot of sense when thinking about the job hunt. For example, I was explaining to a prospective client how important it is to identify and target job and career goals in order to write a resume that will appeal to employers. She was having trouble deciding where to focus her search, and rather than choose some specific areas to address that would appeal to hiring managers, she combined everything in one resume kind of a jack of many trades document, in an effort to demonstrate all of the various things that she could do. If Ive said it once, Ive said it 100 times the resume must speak in the language that an employer will understand. If that job requires someone who knows how to develop proposals and presentations detailing new implementation process plans implemented by top management, saying that you have done that is terrific! If the job has nothing to do with developing proposals and presentations, that language might as well be Greek to the hiring manager simply stating your ability to do that task is not likely going to help your cause. Food analogy #1 Would you go to the Chinese food restaurant and place your order in French? Not if you want to get your order right, you wouldnt! Similarly, you need to speak the language that your target audience will understand. To do this successfully, you need to: 1. Know Your Skills Assess your skills and accomplishments. How? Talk to your friends and co-workers. Review written evaluations of your work. Think about the skills you use/d in your positions. Study a skills and accomplishments list. What aspects of your job do you enjoy? What type of work do you hope to do in the future? What skills do you have that will be the stepping stones to getting to the next rung of your career ladder? Once you identify what you have to offer, it will be easier to connect the dots between the employer and you. 2. Know the Employer What does the organization value? Use the job description as a guide and research the company using the internet and any available published material. For example, if the organization uses the words team player four times on their company home page, you will want to emphasize your ability to work well in teams. If possible, conduct informational meetings with people in the organization or those who know about it. Parse their information down and pull out the language that resonates with your audience. Identify exactly what they want and demonstrate how and why you fit the bill. For more information and some examples FOLLOW THIS LINK! Stay tuned for more food analogiesI need to get something to eat! If you are ready for a change and could use some help with your search, follow THIS LINK to learn more about me and how we can work together! photo by voteprime