LinkedIns Top Networking Tips for Women

LinkedIns Top Networking Tips for Women Women have been fighting for equal rights for many years and to celebrate their success, and in honor of International Womans Day, LinkedIn has released some networking tips for women around the globe. It is important for women to feel empowered in the world of work and networking is a huge part of that. Some women are already fully confident and know how to be successful. However, for the women that are unsure and are looking to improve their skills, here are our top tips: LinkedIns top tips: It’s not  all about face time:  If you’re  nervous about one-on-one networking, head online first. Industry forums, social  networks, and even emails are great first steps on the  road to a useful contact. Take it one  step at a time:  Rome wasn’t built in  a day and you wont amass a huge network of contacts overnight. We’ve found  that just nine minutes a day is all it  takes to make a big impact on the size  and quality of your LinkedIn network. Do your  research:  The internet is a mine of  information, and finding you have something in common with people you’re about  to meet is gold dust. A quick online search  can tell you that you went to the  same university or have a connection in common. Help them  to help you: In the world of  networking, it’s as important to be found to find others. Having an  up-to-date LinkedIn profile that includes a picture makes you  much more likely  to be approached by new connections. Be  prepared:  A networker’s worst  nightmare is the awkward silence. Jot down a few conversation starters so you  have something to fall back on if you run out of things to  say. End as you  mean to go on:  You may only have one  chance to make a good first impression, but you can undo all your good work if  you make a bad exit. Say a proper  â€œgoodbye” and follow up the next day to make  sure your new contact remembers you for the right reasons. 4 best-connected women: Its now time to hand over to the 4 best-connected women on LinkedIn for their best networking tips: Jean Fenwick, Managing Director at Fenwick Consulting: Create and participate in relevant LinkedIn Groups.  This is a great way to raise one’s profile and to be seen as an industry expert with your  followers.  Add value to the relationship by sharing links to relevant industry news and ask  questions/invite comments on topics to encourage engagement.  A good example of this is Fenwick Consulting’s LinkedIn Group â€" Scottish Supply Chain  Professionals which now has almost 1000 followers. Abigail Stevens, Managing Director at Think Global Recruitment: Think about how you want to be perceived, your identity and make sure all social and  other media represents this at all times.  The easiest way to do this is to think how all  stakeholders, clients, candidates, existing and potential team members and even their  families, would like you to look if they are going to trust you with their or their  families’ company development or career progression.  Make sure both your written  and visual appearance portrays this.  Highlight your strengths and experience, don’t  just presume people know what  you do. Sing  about your achievements. Try and be a  little unique in this.  A tag line can be good to ensure people remember you. Chantelle Jones, Director at Prince Associates: Create a killer statement that attracts and engages think of some of the biggest brands in the worldApple, Coca Cola and Nike. What do they all  have in common?  They all have high impact, memorable brand statements.  To entice people to view your profile, connect with you and  remember you,  you too need to  create your own hard hitting personal statement.  It doesnt  have  to be an essay,  just  a simple 1-2 sentence  statement that communicates what you  are best at, who your target audience is and how you  are different. Suzie Tobias, Managing Director of Strike Jobs: Having a strong network is part and parcel of my job, but it can be hugely valuable whatever your career. The key is to make it part of your daily  routine; setting aside just a few minutes a day can pay dividends. Takeaways: Create and participate in relevant LinkedIn groups. Think about how you are perceived. Create high impact and memorable brand statements. Make networking part of your daily routine. Use these great tips to have more of a presence when networking and to create a powerful impact for yourself and to impress others, girl power!

6 Easy Habits of Really Happy People - Classy Career Girl

6 Easy Habits of Really Happy People Happiness is the ultimate goal of every person on earth. It is a form of satisfaction and fulfillment of ones needs, wants and achievements. Although there are many things in life that can rob happiness from you, it is worth discovering the simple secrets to happiness. Seeking help whenever you can happens to be one of the best approaches to ensure that nothing can make your life miserable. Let’s have a look at the top secrets of happy people. 6 Easy Habits of Really Happy People 1. Happy people are positive and optimistic.   Being positive about the future even though there are many painful life experiences is one of the key secrets to happiness. Optimism is having the knowledge that something good inevitably comes out of it gives one a sense of joy in life. This  minimizes fears about the probable future. 2.  Happy people  are loved and love others. Feeling affection from others can make you happier. It  means that you are being cared and protected from any harm. You will feel happier because you are comfortable and  feel  a sense of belonging with  friends, peers, parents and even co-workers. To achieve this, sacrifices must be made to share not only time but quality time with your associates (friends, peers, parents and even co-workers). 3. Happy people are grateful for what they have. Many  people lack happiness is because they focus most of their time and energy on what they do not have. Being happy does not mean that you have everything in life. In fact, those who have and own everything can be the most unhappy people in the world.  If we choose to be thankful for the little that we  have at the present, it will make us happy. We need to be happy because of the family that we have which others lack, the work or job, good health, family and love we receive from others. Happiness is simply being grateful and practicing it consistently. 4. Happy people strive for peace. Pope Francis believes that to be happy one must pray consistently and make peace with everybody. War can destroy the peace hence lack of happiness. If everyone is genuinely committed to making peace and living in harmony with others, then this is the source of happiness because there will be no quarreling, fighting, hatred, and hypocrisy. Prayers comfort in times of trouble, and the result is happiness according to Pope Francis. 5. Happy people forget  and move on from the past. Allowing the past to bring you down  will rob you of the happiness you are yearning for. You should move forward without looking back. Forgetting the past means one must forgive all the time and not hold  grudges. Having that determination and will to make the coming opportunity better than the last one is a positive thinking for happiness. 6. Happy people focus on importance over urgency. Stephen Covey advises us to focus on what us important instead of what is urgent. Some people spent most of their time doing essential things that are unimportant. We should not be reactive in life but instead we should be proactive. Happy people focus and concentrate on what is not only important but crucial and non-urgent. It means one has to set goals that are realistic and time bound. Some of the things that are urgent can be postponed to the next day or the near, but we treat it important. Happy people in life live today and do not worry about tomorrow, but they are very optimistic. They do what matters most now at the moment by giving their best. These people are always grateful and appreciate others in their life for who they are and what they have. They do not complicate their life but focuses mainly on what is important and necessary in their lives.

Working Anyway On Physical Challenges Reflections from a Retiree -

Working Anyway On Physical Challenges â€" Reflections from a Retiree - Chances are, right now you are in pretty good health, and maybe aging or physical difficulties are something you think may not happen until decades from now… and I truly hope this is the case.   But most women are working on into their early seventies and further, in order to save enough for a comfortable retirement. Even in our sixties, our bodies start to slow down and respond differently, and problems like arthritis might sneak in. I’ve been physically handicapped nearly all my life.   I had polio at age three in 1951, and emerged from six months in a rehab facility with a partially paralyzed, atrophied leg and fully paralyzed foot, a brace and little arm-cuff crutches.   My weaker leg grew slowly and never became a fully developed leg, which is common with paralytic polio. Eventually I could walk without the assistive devices, then started needing similar strategies again in my fifties. With this challenge, I was not able to do jobs like waitressing, teaching, nursing, sales or any type of work requiring standing. I could not be on my feet constantly for more than a few minutes without my leg collapsing. My mother had always implied that she was afraid I would be dependent upon her all of my life and encouraged my getting a college degree in art. Originally, I wanted to be an artist.   I attended three years of art school at two California colleges, and then ran out of money and realized that commercial artists (before personal computers) had to live in big cities, which were not my cup of tea. I quit college temporarily in 1969, disappointing my mother.   I became a seamstress, a factory worker, and then a cost estimator. This last field led me to the slightly naïve assumption that I’d like to be an accountant.   I had researched professions that were needed everywhere in which men’s and women’s starting salaries were similar.   Then I went back to college for two years in 1975, working full-to-part time and taking a full unit load, and slogged through the dry, complicated material that was so foreign to me. I got my BA, and always had work as a result.   (Mom still regretted this vocational choice, despite my valor in re-educating myself in a career in which I could actually make some money.   It’s sometimes not ea sy to meet our parents’ expectations.) In auditing class, my instructor looked right at me when he told us that if we worked for what were then called “the Big Eight” accounting firms, they were discriminatory and tended not to hire anyone who was… well, not white, and/or “different.”   He told us that women would not be able to wear pants to the office (in 1977) nor could anyone bring a brown bag lunch.   Anything less than three-piece suits and eating with colleagues at local cafes was frowned upon.   And I knew he was trying to tell me that a two-inch limp was not going to be acceptable.   I did interview with a couple of those firms and was never sure if it was my gimpy leg, totally visible when wearing a skirt, or the fact that I was a B rather than an A student, that caused them not to hire me.   (I’d been relieved to hear from one prospective employer that B students were more desirable than A students due to our being less idealistic and having interests other than school.) I worked full-time for nearly forty years as soon as I finished college and part-time after “retirement.” So much for the concept many people have that handicapped or disabled people don’t work, and similarly, the mistaken idea that handicapped people get some kind of government aid.   I had a new housemate at one time who asked me how she could get on public assistance with her “bad” knee, thinking I’d know all about that.   I was a little taken aback, and didn’t know where she would begin, especially with such a minor issue. Most of the polio survivors I know have had full careers (and no governmental aid). We tend to be highly educated, with many or most in professional work, and we also are often described as “type A” personalities or over-achievers.   Many of us were taught that we would have to try harder than others in all endeavors, since we had a disability to make up for. In the long run, working for CPA’s and then starting my own tax and bookkeeping service served me well. Although tax work was grueling for five months of the year, with ridiculously long hours, it was satisfying from a puzzle-solving point of view. I could also partially set my own hours in the other months (important for a person who has fatigue issues), and found that I loved most of my clients and enjoyed unravelling their tax and accounting problems. I felt useful and valued. With a handicap, it’s particularly important that if we work for someone other than ourselves, we’re able to get accommodation and understanding of our limitations. This may be as simple as the right desk arrangement, or only working in a place that has an elevator, or as risky or difficult as negotiating for shorter hours so that we can do our best work without exhausting ourselves.   At times, we may be passed up for promotions or thought less of because we don’t look, walk or talk the way most people do (as is often the case with able-bodied women in the workplace). Thankfully the Americans for Disabilities Act was passed in the early 1990’s, so technically, it’s illegal to discriminate solely for a handicap now. I think it is important to make sure that employers know how valuable our contributions are in the workplace, and exactly what they are, especially if we are asking for concessions such as reduced hours. But I’ve known handicapped people who needed their jobs enough that they put up with a lot of difficulty, such as flights of stairs or long hours that left them far more fatigued than a normal person at day’s end or the weekend. On the other hand, if a woman has the entrepreneurial spirit, any self-employment that showcases a physically realistic skill can be good, especially if it’s well-paid work.   Although marketing oneself can be the biggest challenge, if the business produces a living income, this can be the way to be able to design hours and work habits that also support health. Age discrimination can be tied in some ways to physical disability, but even without a handicap, I’ve known women who were essentially forced out of their jobs when they neared the minimum age for collecting Social Security, at a time when they had planned to keep working to increase their savings. Finding work as a woman over fifty can be challenging unless you’re willing to do something for lower pay (which can be a pleasant alternative if the stress is also less). See this Ms Career Girl article    it can be done! Many physically handicapped people will do well in some type of desk work.   I’d recommend computer programming, scientific work, editing or something in a related field, because there’s more money there than in most other desk jobs that don’t require a lot of travel or physical stress.   But administration, management or customer service can also be well-paid and satisfactory. (I’m leaving out legal work because it’s so stressful, generally.) And usually with a handicap, we have higher medical costs, so a mid-low salary can put us in a position close to poverty. Like Mom, I do have a modicum of wistful regret that I did not do something more creative for most of my life, but I also know that the artistic arena can be dauntingly competitive.   I had thought that at some point I’d become, for instance, the CEO or director of a non-profit that brought children to the artsâ€"but that would still have been an administrative position. So here I am, late in life, almost seventy-one, having written a book post-retirement that has met with critical acclaim (Not a Poster Child: Living Well with a Disability â€" A Memoir).   I would never have guessed decades ago that this would happen, and it’s been an exciting change. It’s wonderful to have a career that you love.   As my husband says, he was fortunate to have a passion that paid (computer programming and high-tech problem solving).   But I don’t know that most people are able to accomplish that.   I think that any woman who finds work that is stimulating, and likes the people she works with, and makes enough to support herself, has actually had a very successful career.   I count myself among those women! This guest post was authored by Francine Falk-Allen Francine Falk-Allen was born in Los Angeles, had polio at age three, was hospitalized with paralysis for six months, and has lived nearly all of her life in northern California. As a former art major who got a BA in managerial accounting and ran her own business for thirty-three years, she has always craved creative outlets. This has taken the form of singing and recording with various groups, painting, and writing songs, poetry and essays, some of which have been published. Falk-Allen facilitates Polio Survivors of Marin County, and a Meetup writing group, Just Write Marin County. She was the polio representative interviewed in a PBS/Nobel Prize Media film, The War Against Microbes. She loves the outdoors, gardening, pool exercise, her two silly cats, spending time with good friends and her husband, Richard Falk, strong British tea, and a little champagne now and then. www.FrancineFalk-Allen.com                       Facebook: Francine Falk-Allen, Author Not a Poster Child: Living Well with a Disability â€" A Memoir will debut officially on August 7, 2018 and is available to order now at shewritespress, your local bookstore or www.Indiebound.org (which channels funds to local bookstores), www.barnesandnoble.com, or Amazon.

Competence Rules

Competence Rules Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'jwJ5mftcQYFn5ZMzEUkhLA',sig:'0-lPN27lwUppJOA_dPPLR3HuLYCHjkkrtcjYZhDFdOU=',w:'508px',h:'338px',items:'565877017',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Valerie Young is the author of The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: Why Capable People Suffer from the Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It. In a previous post, I wrote about how many of us have a set of rules inside us that determine whether someone is truly successful (or talented or worthy) and how those rules make us feel like fakes.   She writes: “Competence rules include words like should, always, don’t, and never. For instance, you might be guided by an inner rule that says, If I were really smart, I would always know what to say.” If you believe that, you risk feeling that you’re not really smart because sometimes you don’t know the right answer or the right thing to say. Read that sentence again. “I’m not really smart because sometimes I don’t know the right answer.” It sounds absurd, right?   Not to your brain, which can be very literal and rigid in its thinking. You give your brain a rule, and by gosh, it will stick to it. Recognizing these rules is the first step to changing your thinking. Young says that you may recognize parts of yourself in several of them, but you’ll usually have one dominant type. Here are the five competence types. Perfectionists believe that 100% perfection is the only standard that matters. They are laser focused on how something is done. You might be only holding yourself to these standards, but you also be passing them on to others (your employees, spouse or children, for example.) There’s a right and wrong way to do everything, and your way is the right way. Most people believe that if they’ve tried their best, they’ve accomplished something. Sure, they’d like to do better, but there’s no shame in falling short. There’s always another chance to get it right. The Perfectionists know this is a stupid way to think. You either get it perfect, or you fail. There’s no middle ground. The Natural Genius believes that true competence means having inherent intelligence and ability. Success should be effortless; if you have to work and struggle to accomplish something, you’re not really gifted or smart. “I should get it right on the first try.” “If I were really, good, this wouldn’t be so hard.” They don’t understand that there might be a few steps between novice and expert. You’re either an instant success or a failure. The Expert believes that unless you know everything, you know nothing. People with this mindset believe that there is a defined threshold of knowledge and understanding that a person must meet in order to be deemed expert “enough.” This is more all or nothing thinking; you need to know everything before you can claim to be any kind of expert. The Rugged Individualist believes notion that true competence equals solo, unaided achievement. The only achievements that really count are those you reached all on your own. If you were part of a team, or had some great help along the way, you can’t claim that achievement. If someone else had that idea or tried that method, you can’t take any credit for your contribution. And you can never ask for help â€" people will know you don’t know what you’re doing. The Super Woman/Man/Student’s competence rests on the ability to juggle multiple roles masterfully. Although you might resemble the perfectionist, for you competence has as much to do with how many things you can handle as it does with how well you do them. In other words, you have to be really, really good at everything you tackle. Young blames this style on the modern concept that women can have it all â€" as long as they do it all. Great mom, great wife and lover, great hostess and great performer at work. Exhaustion is just the price of admission to the party. Store bought snacks at the soccer game? You’re a failure. .

10 Ways I Use Twitter to Build My Personal Brand - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

10 Ways I Use Twitter to Build My Personal Brand Twitter is one of my favorite brand communications tools. The strategies I use are ones  I advise my c-level executive clients will also work for their job-hunting and career management efforts. Here are 10 ways Twitter helps me communicate and build my personal brand: 1.   My Twitter bio contains my relevant keywords and an abbreviated version of my brand statement. See my post, Does Your Twitter Bio Pack an Executive Brand Punch? 2.  My tweets and retweets are consistent with my brand, and reinforce my subject matter expertise and promise of value to potential clients. 3.   I tweet things that will be relevant to my target audience, and include my relevant keywords in tweets when applicable, mixing it up by sometimes using hashtags with the keywords. 4.   I give value to (hopefully) get value by retweeting with attribution to support the tweet originator, sharing helpful information and advice, and engaging in interesting conversation. 5.   I seek out subject matter experts and thought leaders in my industry and niche to follow, learn from, support with retweets, and connect with. 6.   I tweet every blog post I write â€" on my own blogs and as a guest blogger  â€"  and when I’ve commented on a blog post elsewhere or contributed an article to another site. 7.   My two business  blogsites (Executive Career Brand and  Executive Resume Branding)  integrate Twitter with  the Tweetmeme button for easy retweeting by readers. 8.   I  have Twitter update widgets in the sidebars of both business blogsites and my personal blogsite, MegGuiseppi.com, showing visitors my current Twitter stream. 9.   I use TweetBeep to notify me of Twitter conversations that mention me and my companies, so I can tweet those people a thank you. 10.   I leverage the 3 C’s of personal branding: Clarity â€" Clearly tweeting who I am and what differentiates my value to my target audience. Consistency â€" Consistently tweeting the same brand promise and message. Constancy â€" Tweeting my message regularly usually several times a day. Related posts: Twitter Turbocharges Executive Job Search and Personal Brand Visibility Twitter Personal Branding Strategy â€" The Beauty of a Re-Tweet 14 Reasons I Won’t Follow You On Twitter [Revisited] Stalled Executive Job Search? Get Busy on and Twitter 00 0

A Special Blessing The Mother-Daughter Relationship - Cubicle Chic

A Special Blessing â€" The Mother-Daughter Relationship - Cubicle Chic A Special Blessing â€" The Mother-Daughter Relationship Lifestyle, Personal Life March 29, 2019 6 CommentsThis article was sponsored by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Springfield, MA 01111-0001. www.massmutual.com All opinions are mine.Influencer is a funny title. I have been one in the last few years. Then, I became a mom. This is when realized all moms are influencers because that is the direct relationship we have with our kids. I wrote about my hopes for baby Sophia and my promises to her in my last post, but I continue to think about who I want to be as a mom and our growing relationship. As Sophia turns 5 months old next month, I am becoming more and more conscious of my influence on her.She is just starting to scrutinize me. I often find her fixating her gaze on my face with a slight furrow, and I can’t help but wonder what she’s thinking. She’s probably studying my every facial expression, my body language, and my interactions with others. Unlike mothers of boys, mothers of little girls provide som ething a bit different for their babies â€" how to be a woman. We are the first person to teach our daughters about how to conduct ourselves. What does it mean to be pretty and to be confident? How do you balance playing nice and being ambitious? What does it mean to be feminine and a feminist? As mothers of little girls, even if we don’t have answers ready, at the least we have to help them explore and develop the skills to answer these questions.As I ponder how I could be the best role model for baby Sophia, I can’t help but feel incredibly indebted to my own mother, and the beliefs, attitudes, and strengths she’s passed onto me.I inherited from my mom the passion to create, especially with words and phrases. My mom is a music teacher by training but her real strength lies in her dedication to what she believes in and her relentless efforts to commit to her goals. She is an award-winning author, famed educator, and an expert farmer/gardener. But most importantly, she is a lo ving mom that does whatever is the best for her children and does it to the best of her abilities. When I think about my professional self, the strong woman that can stand up to people for what I believe in, the woman that isn’t afraid to charge forward amidst difficulties, I give my mom all the credit. It wasn’t like she ever sat me down and told me I have to take myself and my career seriously, that hard work pays off, and goals are important. She has simply lived that life. She had inspired me to do seek out ways to take my career seriously, work hard, and set goals. They say parenting is caught and not taught. There is a lot of truth in that saying.Parenting is a quest of never-ending striving and learning. As a mom, I have the burden but also the honor of modeling for another woman to uncover the power within her. I find that to be an incredible blessing.A special thank you to MassMutual for partnering with me in this post. Find out more about what it means to live mutual a nd how MassMutual celebrates unsung heroes in our communities at https://www.massmutual.com/cm/theunsung

Resume Writing For Free With a LinkedIn Profile Service

Resume Writing For Free With a LinkedIn Profile ServiceIf you're just getting started in the business world, you may not have any way of approaching a search for employment, but if you have a LinkedIn profile service on your LinkedIn profile, you'll be in great position to find a job. LinkedIn is a social networking site that many people use when they're looking for employment. It's one of the leading ways for job seekers to network with others who are in the same career field.With so many people using LinkedIn, it makes sense to earn some extra income from there. You can choose to have an account, pay a monthly fee and enjoy many benefits. Here are some basic steps for getting started.It's easy to do resume writing for free. Many companies outsource resume writing. You can submit your resume to many companies and receive paid reports back. Or you can choose to write a detailed, professional resume to get hired.If you have a LinkedIn profile service on your profile, your employer can find you. LinkedIn can help many businesses locate their talent. If you don't have a link at all, you can still use LinkedIn to help others find your resume.When you update your resume on a regular basis, it's easy to get yourself noticed. Search engines can find you on the internet, especially if you're a major name. Make sure your new resume is updated regularly. Send it out when it's ready and you won't be overlooked.Your resume will look better if you show employers that you've earned your degree, done volunteer work, or are involved in a sport. Employers like to know that people who are successful will be willing to take time to improve their resume, as well. You want them to feel that they can trust you with their business.Using a linkedin profile service is a smart investment. It can make it easier for you to find work and will help you attract the type of work you want. If you have a LinkedIn profile, then you should know how to create a resume for free.Resume writing is si mple when you hire someone to do it for you. You can also choose to add a few personal details, like skills or interests. It's a good idea to include some useful information, so employers can build up an impression of you.