Career Acceleration Notes (CAN)

Manage your search - CAN offers access to a cool tool...

To add value to my packages of services, I have become a partner with Jason Alba, creator of JibberJobber and author of I'm on LinkedIn.com, Now What?.  Created to serve Jason's needs while he was unemployed, JibberJobber is a database and customer relationship management tool that is designed for those who understand that career management is a life-long process. This proprietary career management tool complements the strategic approach that I promote.   A Google-search will lead you to lots of information about the benefits; here are the highlights from my perspective:

• Manage and track important information related to your current job search, e.g.:
  • Target companies/organizations
  • Resumes, Profiles, Bio's
  • Letters and e-mail correspondence
• Organize and track network relationships and contact information, e.g.:
  • Integrate information with Outlook, LinkedIn.com, etc.
  • Create reminders
• Once you've landed where you want to be for now, JibberJobber  can help you to maintain your long-term career health and prepare for the next move...

While I'm still on a learning curve myself, I want to offer this to you now, during this very hectic season when we would all like to concentrate on family and fun.  This tool will help bring some order to the management of your career.  Want to learn from Jason?  Click here to listen to a 9-minute interview (a podcast); also, join Jason's bi-weekly webinar for new users (send me an e-mail for details - Karen@CareerAcceleration.net)

Jason is a great partner for me, and by extension, for all of you as well.  He is always looking to add new features; for example, he's working to find a way to help me send business news to you and keep track of it for use later.  Once you join as a Premium member under the auspices of CAN, I can "look over your shoulder" as you implement the success strategies we've discussed.

I hope you will take advantage of this "holiday gift" from the Career Acceleration Network: sign-into JibberJobber's free 14-day introduction. If you love it, let me know and I'll treat you to your use of this tool for the month of January.  Thereafter, this tool will be wrapped into my subscription plan for previous or existing clients; it will be included in services offered to new clients.

Does your brand statement pass "The Napkin Test?"

Carmine Gallo, contributor to BusinessWeek and a communications coach and author, recently reiterated his compelling suggestion that "the most exciting business ideas fit on the back of an airplane napkin."  How does this relate to career changers, job seekers, and career professionals?  Let's compare the vision to the brand...

The vision can be compared to a clearly articulated branding statement that appears at the top of your resume and on the tip of your tongue. Gallo makes the point that a vision is not a mission statement. The mission statement resembles a narrative profile; both may use too many words and can be lost on the "About" page of a a web site. Yet the vision statement is economical: it is  "simple, memorable, and concise."

Some examples of "concise, profound visions:"

1. Larry Page & Segey Brin's vision: "Google provides access to the world's information in one click."
2. John Chambers: "Cisco changes the way we live, work, play and learn."
3. Bill Gates & his father to Steve Ballmer: "MS is going to put a computer on every desk in every home"
4. Doug Ducey, projected that: "Cold Stone Creamery would become the ultimate ice cream experience"

Articulate your brand with similar verbal enthusiasm; try to create a kinetic or visual image; make it clear that your brand delivers ROI.  Be sure that your statement is the "hook" that enables you to tell the rest of your story in a way that encourages others to join the brand-wagon.  If you tell it, they will embrace it.

Karen P. Katz, Career Strategist

LEADING EXECUTIVES and PROFESSIONALS TOWARD CAREER CHANGE and SUCCESS STRATEGIES

(also posted on The Alliance Community Blog)

Delaware Valley's economic oulook - see The Inquirer

The Inquirer published a very useful pull-out section today: the hard-copy can be an excellent reference supplemented by the online version.  There are the lists of the top 100's, e.g.:

• Biggest Non-Government Employers (headed by Jefferson Health System & Thos. Jefferson Univ.)
• 100 Most-Profitable Public Companies (based on 3-year return) (headed by NutriSystem, Inc.)
• 100 Most-Valuable Locally Based Companies (based on sales & income) (headed by Comcast Corp.)
• Highest-Paid CEOs (total compensation in 2006) (headed by Brian L. Roberts of Comcast Corp.)

Also, there are some useful sub-lists, including:  Biggest pharmaceuticals; transportation services;universities or colleges; media & IT services; non-municipal utilities; non-university hospitals and health insurance; chemical, energy, and heavy manufacturing, retail, financial services, food service and manufacturing. 

The section includes more than lists; the analysis is useful as well. 

•  The Inquirer staff writers, DiStefano & Ginsberg, describe ours as a "mellow regional economy, slow-growing but also recession-resistant," due to our emphasis on health services and education that are not as cyclical as other sectors of the economy. 
• The analysis offers a review of leading employers by geography, covering the area from New Hope, PA to New Castle, DE; also a discussion of the new service providers in areas such as credit cards, mutual funds, prescription drugs, cable television, and financial software.

I encourage you to obtain this special section in hard copy or online; the data will help you to chart a regional career path.  Your comments are always encouraged.

'Tis the Season to light-up your online identity...

Want to shine some light on your career?  Light-up your online identity as a holiday gift to yourself. 

• Give those on your business list of connections an invitation to join your network.
• Offer recommendations to those you can wholeheartedly endorse; ask for recommendation, too.
• Take time to review the profiles of those who are in your network:
  
  • Look at their connections to find people you want to meet;
  • Do your research; ask for off-line introductions

Recruiters and employers are putting your name into "Google." What are they finding?  If the answer is nothing, you should give yourself the gift of online identity. From the Career Management Alliance newsletter, here's some statistics that may interest you:         

LinkedIn:
--#1 business networking site with 15 million active users
--4 million visitors each month and 35,00 new members daily
--Average user is approximately 39 years old
--Maintains an online resume of each user

MySpace.com:
--Reaches 39% of all adults
--110 million active users, 61 million visitors each month and 270,000 new members daily
--66% of MySpace's audience consists of people ages 25+

Facebook:
--Fastest-growing demographic in the 25+ age group with 30 million active users
--17 million visitors each month and 150,000 new members daily
--1% of all time spent on the Internet is on Facebook

This post was inspired by Chanukah, the Festival of Lights.  Hope to see you illuminated online soon.

Posted by Karen P. Katz