Month: January 2012

The Top 7 Trends for Job References in 2012

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date January 11, 2012

Article Contributed by Allison & Taylor

A popular resolution for many in the New Year is to find a job that’s the perfect fit; if you are one of them, creating a flawless employment profile has become even more crucial in 2012. Resumes and interview skills are always of critical importance, but making an investment in your job references is paramount in creating the “perfect employment candidate” impression that employers are looking for today.

The response a potential employer gets from a reference can make the difference between an applicant getting a job….or losing it. Professional reference checking company Allison & Taylor says that individuals looking for employment need to be aware of the following employment trends to succeed in their quest for that new, perfect job:

1. Your references will become even more valuable
Although the job market is poised to grow, hiring managers want to know how well you performed and only your references will be able to give the inside story. Make sure that your references are an asset, not a hindrance.

2. What your peers & subordinates have to say about you counts
You may have been able to hide your lack of production from your boss, but seldom are you able to hide it from those that report to you and your colleagues. Your coworkers can be, and often are, brutally honest. The simplest solution? Do your best work, every day, and let those around you know they’re appreciated.

3. Your reference list needs to match your resume
Often treated as an afterthought, references are a key element in closing the deal on that new job. It has become critically important that your reference list is well thought out, with full contact information, and presented as a matching and professional addendum to your resume.

4. Workplace bullies are still out there, even with all of the publicity about them
Even with all the negative press about bad bosses (or coworkers), bullies still continue wreak havoc, giving bad reports (sometimes completely fabricated) that can affect current and future employment. Find out what to do if you are, or have been, the victim of workplace bullying.

5. Technology offers a great way to stay in touch
Social networking provides a great way to easily communicate with that former boss and keep them updated as your career swings to new levels, so take advantage! Get your information up on sites like LinkedIn, Ryze and Twitter.

6. Employers will do even more background research, and look at your personal social media sites
Birds of a feather stick together, so be cautious who your friends are. Also, be sure there are no off -color comments, and keep certain things private- that way there’s no a chance for a potential employer to see something offensive.

7. Technology will play a large role in giving references
Trends show that employers are moving toward electronic reference systems, which rank an employee’s performance on a scale. This movement has pros and cons- it’s very comprehensive, and factual, and can neutralize negative commentary, but it will also limit the opportunity employers have to sing your praises. Make sure that you give yourself the best possible chance for a positive reference by establishing strong working relationships and negotiating the terms of your reference upon departure from the company.

It’s a new year, a great time for a fresh start! Make sure your resume and references are in order; to find out more about the professional employment services that can help in your job search, please visit Allison and Taylor.

About the Author:

Allison & Taylor and its principals have been in the business of checking references for corporations and individuals since 1984. Allison & Taylor is headquartered in Rochester, Mich. For further details on services and procedures please visit http://www.allisontaylor.com/.

Operations

Professional Printing Services: Benefits for Small Businesses

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date January 10, 2012

Until recent times, small businesses were left in the dark when it came to commercial services, especially those that involved printing on a large scale. This cut small businesses’ chances of gaining good advertising and promoting their business – thus potentially losing their places in the market. However, now times are changing and there are more chances in the market for small businesses to progress, bigger commercial companies are tailoring their needs to the smaller business and in areas such as printing, can offer a wide range of services and can be a massive advantage to the business.

Firstly, printing can be done for businesses on demand, and instead of waiting for the materials to be shipped out to a small business; the finished result can be shipped out instead. This can save time and money for small businesses, especially those with a small workforce and thus can be utilized to do other jobs instead. This in turn makes economical use of the time and the working day instead of worrying about gathering materials for the latest advertising stunt/printing job and leaves the work to the printing company.

While printing services a few years back used to be rather expensive, printing companies are bringing in competitive prices that are more attractive to smaller business owners. With the amount of money used in a small business to buy state-of-the-art printers and the materials needed for the printing job, whatever that may be, the printing could be done off site for the same, if not a cheaper price. When ordering mass prints, this also brings down the price so smaller businesses could also get more for their money by using commercial printing services; and the services are sometimes included, which means that smaller businesses only need to hand over the template of the design, and the rest will be done my the printing company. Again, this saves time in the office and smaller businesses can employ their work force to be more effective in other areas of the company.

Lastly, a small business may not have access to the wide ranges of materials and techniques that printing companies can offer to them. Foil stamping and embossing, and wide format printing (printing on a bigger scale) are all services offered by printing companies and also the latest technology in printing (such as HP indigo printers) are used in the process; and as well as the wide range of materials being used a quality, professional look can be produced with much more ease and at a faster pace. This would potentially give small businesses a unique edge they may be possibly looking for in their printing jobs and advertising, and could be a big asset to the company.

Overall, in the modern age printing services have changed dramatically, accommodating for not only big businesses but smaller ones that need the services just as much as the larger corporations. Smaller businesses can benefit massively from the services of a professional printing company and can give them the boost in the market that may be needed.

For more information please visit Purely Digital (http://www.purelydigital.co.uk/blog/)

Newsletter

BIZNESS! Newsletter Issue 122

Post author By Pamela Swift
Post date January 9, 2012

Cover Story

Managing Your Online Brand in the World’s Best & Worst Marketplace

In the branding game, we need to paint a picture, cast a vision of ourselves as interesting, fascinating and anything but ordinary. We should never lie when we make a post on the social media…

Continued in BIZNESS! Newsletter Issue 122 >>>

Top 12 Social Networks for Entrepreneurs and Small Business CEOs

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date January 9, 2012

Article Contributed by Goranka

Do you need a leg up to jump start your career or business venture? Or launch and grow your small business? Well, we all do sometimes, especially when young and inexperienced. Not even our closest friends can always help us and give the right advice or support that we really need. Thankfully, there are social networks and communities where we can connect with seasoned professionals who can provide us with valuable tips, potential partners and like-minded people with similar interests, aspirations and goals.

Here are the 12 most useful social networks for entrepreneurs, small businesses and business professionals who are building their career.

1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the world’s largest and most important social network for business professionals with over 120 million members. Obviously, it is a must social networking site for everyone who is serious about her or his career and business. If you are not convinced, check out how many members use the following in their profile:

1,553,123 LinkedIn search results for “business owner”
1,532,870 results for “CEO”
2,420,655 for “general manager”
325,807 for “entrepreneur”
619,354 results for “business expert”

LinkedIn is therefore great for developing relationships and meeting people that you may want to work with. Furthermore, LinkedIn company pages can help you to increase visibility and brand awareness, as well as attract new customers through recommendations.

2.Viadeo

Viadeo is a network for entrepreneurs, managers and business owners with 35 million members worldwide. Founded in France in 2004, it is very popular among professionals from western Europe. Viadeo can help you to identify useful contacts, share information and knowledge, find new leads and partnership opportunities, showcase your expertize and strengthen your personal brand, discover and recruit talent or get recruited.

3. Xing

Xing is a social network for business professionals with more than 11 million members globally. Through Xing you can find new contacts, experts, colleagues, partners and jobs, or get headhunted. You can also discover events, groups and companies of interest.

4. Ryze

Ryze is a network for smaller business professionals. It helps the members to make and grow connections, and especially to “rise-up” through quality networking. You can network to build your career, grow your business or make sales. On Ryze you can customize your profile page, send messages to other members, join groups, add friends and keep in touch with them.

5. Biznik

Biznik is based on a premise that “it sucks growing a business alone”. This is simply a community of entrepreneurs and small businesses dedicated to helping each other succeed. Biznik is about sharing ideas, not resumes. It is targeted to people who are building real businesses, not looking for their next job.

6. Cofoundr

Cofoundr is a fast growing social network for entrepreneurs. This is a community of startup founders such as CEOs, advisers, investors, programmers, developers and designers. By joining this community you can find co-founders, build teams and get advice.

7. PartnerUp

PartnerUp is a social network for small businesses. As a small business owner, you can use it to connect with professionals who can help you build and grow your small business, join discussions or get advice.

8. Ecademy

Ecademy is a business community for business owners and entrepreneurs to connect, share knowledge, support and transact with one another. Ecademy helps you to connect to the right people, market your business and grow revenue.

9. Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur Connect is a social community founded by Entrepreneur .com. It is intended for entrepreneurs who seek to connect, share expertise and network with their peers. Users can also promote their products and services.

10. Startup Nation

Startup Nation is a free service founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. Startup Nation offers lots of useful resources like helpful articles, step-by-step guides, expert blogs. Members can also join very active small business and entrepreneur forums.

11. FledgeWing

FledgeWing is an online community for aspiring student entrepreneurs. It provides entrepreneurial students the opportunity to connect with professionals and mentors in their field of interest, have their ideas tested out with other users on the site and get advice on launching and growing their start-up.

12. Young Entrepreneur

Young Entrepreneur is one of the largest online forum communities for entrepreneurs worldwide founded back in 1999.

Have you joined any of these communities yet? Or some other? Please share your experiences and opinions on networking for business.

About the author:

Goranka is an online marketing specialist and a small business consultant as well as Internet enthusiast. She is also an executive editor of a Serbian marketing blog.

Planning & Management

A Maple Tree Business: Three Ways Your Business Stands Out in 2012

Post author By Ethan Theo
Post date January 6, 2012

Article Contributed by Dr. Joey Faucette

Nearly all of the trees on our farm had dropped their leaves by last month except for one maple tree. This one maple tree held on to its leaves like a kid hanging on to his blanket when mom says it has to be washed. Finally it let go of its leaves.

The other trees were gray and looked like sticks. This last maple tree put on a show of color, its green leaves turned yellow, then orange, and red against the mundane backdrop of the woods.

A botanist would say the maple tree’s combination of rainfall, nutrients and sunlight determined its leaf dropping. But it seemed that tree was unique.

Is your business like this maple tree, uniquely displaying its exceptional qualities in a negative world?

Or, does it blindly follow the mundane crowd and join the chorus of negativity?

Here are three areas of your business in which you can stand out and display your best, maple tree characteristics in the New Year:

Priorities

Balancing business relationships—customers, employees, and vendors—with business tasks is a matter of priorities. Your business exists because of relationships. Yet it exists to do something for and with them.

Wherever you lean on the fulcrum of priorities, make sure you create a healthy balance.

How will you know when you’re in balance in 2012?

Write down your ideal priorities balance and keep it in front of you. Think of it as a mirror to see your priorities reflected back for evaluation.

Core Values

The people with whom you do business know your core values without you ever stating them formally. Your business displays them every day in every way.

Are customers greeted warmly on the phone? As they walk through the door?

Do you authentically speak truth when negotiating?

Can your employees count on you to train and equip them to do well on the job?

Make a list of your core values. Read that list often, preferably every morning, to remind yourself, “This is who I am and how my business operates.” Share the list with others.

Unique Contribution

Odds are there are other businesses in your market that do what you do or something similar, like that maple tree stood beside other trees in a forest.

What is the unique contribution your business makes that causes it to stand out in the company forest in which your customers walk around?

How do you what you do in a manner that attracts positive people—customers, employees, suppliers?

If we surveyed your market and asked them for the first word that pops into their mind when they hear your business name, what would they say?

Be unique.

Avoid the herd mentality.

Stand out in your market by choosing your business’ priorities and core values, and doing business out of your unique contribution.

Be a maple tree business.

About the Author

Dr. Joey Faucette is an international speaker, business coach, and best-selling author of the #1 Amazon business book, Work Positive in a Negative World: Redefine Your Reality and Achieve Your Business Dreams. He has taught business professionals this life-transforming process for over two decades, leading individuals in organizations of every size to achieve amazing results. He is the founder of Listen to Life, a company that coaches people to redefine their reality and fulfill their business dreams. He is the host of the syndicated radio show, Listen to Life. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org, connect with him on LinkedIn, follow him on Twitter @DrJoey, and become a Facebook fan at Work Positive.