So you want to be a Jedi How we really feel about uptitling...

So you want to be a Jedi How we really feel about uptitling... by Michael Cheary What do you do for a living?Its a simple question most of us will hear many times throughout our adult lives. But, throw in a fancy job title, and you could find yourself with some explaining to do.We all know what a Teacher does, for example. But how many of us could admit to understanding the duties of a Transaction Banking Systems Migration Specialist? If you can, youre probably in the minority.What is Uptitling?The practice of uptitling, in other words, conferring grandiose or slightly convoluted titles on employees with otherwise comparatively simple jobs, has become commonplace within organisations around the UK. And as a result, the obligatory small talk about the jobs we do has become a whole lot more complex.And it doesnt seem to matter what industry youre positioned in. Roles as varied as Receptionists (Directors of First Impressions), Recruitment Consultants (Chief Talent Acquisition Officers/CTAOs) and Window Cleaners (Vision Clearance Engineers) are becoming elongated, embellished and acronym-ed wherever possible.And lets not even get started on what a Technical Evangelist does.Whats with all the Ninjas?So why the rush of inflated job titles? Well in some respects, it reflects the tough economic times in which we all live. When an employer wants to motivate and retain a valued member of staff, but doesnt have the financial means to do so, a change of job title can have a similar effect.And whilst the cynical view might be that this is just a way for managers to increase their employees workloads without paying the appropriate reward, uptitling can not only be used as a recognition of status, but it can also work wonders for an individuals career progression. A Junior Editor or Deputy Editor, for example, may not get paid any more for their input, but may be much more attractive to employers looking to fill a full-time Editor position.Just call me Chief Know-it-allAt the opposite end of the scale, another strain of uptitlin g seems to be emerging. Particularly prevalent in tech companies or with high profile positions, with those in question essentially attempting to make their roles more relatable.The Managing Director is dubbing her or himself as Chief Thinker, Chief Imagineer or Chief Know-it-all (in the case of the late Steve Jobs), and every emerging media company worth their salt has a raft of Gurus, Ninjas and Jedis ready and waiting to wage war on your social media enemies.So, are we nurturing a generation of children who aspire to become Mission Control Analysts and Chiefs of Listening in the Community rather than Firemen or Teachers?Perhaps only a Head of Futuring and Innovation could tell us.a href=http://polldaddy.com/poll/7060922/Would uptitling improve your morale at work?/a Know anyone with a weird job title? Let us know your favourites belowFind a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. Features

Do You Hear What I Hear - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Do You Hear What I Hear - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career As a personal brand, it is important that you stand out among the crowd and position yourself as the expert in your field. It’s not enough to be skilled and talented since there are so many skilled and talented people out there â€" you need to know how to connect and engage with your audience, promote your brand properly, and establish a social presence that will help spread the word about you and what your expertise is. And though many would say that the content you put out there is the most important in order to establish your expertise in your chosen niche, there is something even more powerful than sharing information when it comes to your personal brand â€" and that’s listening. Imagine if you keep on talking in public or posting on your blog about the things you’ve learned and the vast experience you have in your field, but since you didn’t take the time to listen to your audience, how do you really know that this information is what they’re looking for? Before you speak up, don’t you think you need to listen first? Listening just might be one of the most underrated methods people utilize in personal branding. This is because people are so busy wanting to get their voice heard that they forget to take the time to actively listen to what the people are saying around them. When you truly listen, you gain powerful insights that you may never have learned if you were so busy talking. As a personal brand, you want people to be interested in you, to know you, and to trust you. And one of the things you can do to gain credibility is simply by listening. When you listen intently to people, that’s how you learn their pains and problems. This is where you understand where they’re coming from and where you find out how best to address their issues. Listening is how you gain information about your audience, learn about their interests and passions, and understand them a lot better. In addition to gaining powerful insights from your audience, listening also helps you build a relationship with them. It shows them that they’re important to you. When you let them know that you’re really listening to them by acknowledging and responding to what they say, you build trust and credibility as a personal brand. Also, when you take the time to listen, you will also know how people perceive your personal brand, which is critical in your campaign. There are so many tools you can utilize so that you know whenever someone mentions your name or is talking about you. From Google Alerts to Tweetbeep, you can gain valuable insights into how people see your personal brand. And this also helps you protect your online reputation â€" which, if tarnished, can really affect your brand. So make sure that you’re listening and responding to people who talk about you. You don’t have full reign of your personal brand anymore, because an integral part of it is how people perceive you to be. So listen to them and learn from them, because this is where you can gain the most invaluable insights that you can use for your personal branding campaign. Author: Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog and CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com â€" a word of mouth marketing firm.   She helps create connection, credibility, community and cha-ching through mobile marketing and social commerce around your brand. She is co-founder of #brandchat a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding.

5 Things You Need to Know About Recruitment Marketing

5 Things You Need to Know About Recruitment Marketing The hiring market is embroiled in a vicious battle for the best talent â€" there’s an increasing need for new techniques to connect with the very best talent. Innovative employers are experimenting with a range of clever recruitment strategies and hiring hacks to get top talent through the door, but it might be recruitment marketing that gives companies a more sustainable framework to hire smarter and improve the candidate experience. It can be hard to know where to get started if your new to recruitment marketing so we’ve broken down the five key tenets that should govern any good recruitment marketing strategy. 1) Employer brand building Today’s candidates want to understand what it’s actually like to work at your company. 56% of people see employer branding as the single most important factor when choosing where to work. Given the amount of time we all spend at work this is hardly surprising. Candidates want to hear all about your culture, mission and employees when they’re considering hitting the ‘apply’ button. 2) Content strategy At the heart of every great marketing strategy is great content. Recruitment is no different. Companies that create and curate awesome content have a far better chance at connecting with ’10x’ talent. Not a writer? Not a problem. Content can be anything from blog posts to landing pages, from webinars to job descriptions. The more engaging your copy is, the better talent you’ll attract. 3) Social media Most of us have ATS plugins that allow us to instantly post jobs to social media â€" it’s often where the buck stops with social recruiting. Companies can get more juice out of using social networks to share great content and engage with candidates. Networks like LinkedIn and Twitter lower the barrier to starting a new relationship. Encourage your team to stay active on these networks and get in touch with interesting talent. Candidates are more likely to relate to your company message if it’s transmitted through your team. 4) Lead nurturing One of the marketing department’s key roles is to use nurturing email campaigns to qualify new leads and encourage them to signup as new customers. A similar responsibility rests on the shoulders of all recruitment marketers. It’s essential to have a strategy in place to walk candidate’s through the hiring pipeline. Sending data backed recruitment marketing campaigns helps hiring teams work out which segments of their talent community it’s worth spending time on. The best tools to use here include email marketing software like Mailchimp, or something more industry specific like Beamery. 5) Data analysis Access to relevant data helps marketers understand where to focus their efforts â€" what is working, what isn’t? The right reports and analytics give hiring teams a similar head start. It’s essential to understand your top sourcing channels and identify key trends to make sure your getting the most out of your hiring strategy.

Twentysomething Why its smart to quit a job after just two weeks of work

Twentysomething Why its smart to quit a job after just two weeks of work This is a guest post from Jamie Varon. Shes 23 years old. Her blog is called intersected. Not too long ago, I started a new job, in which I moved my self from point A (college town) to point B (Bay Area). This was supposed to be my career launch. It took me about two weeks to admit to myself that I was unhappy. So I quit. I had the security of knowing I could go back to my parents house to live. (Which, by the way, is such a good idea that 65% of new grads do it.) Here are five reasons why I am sure it was a smart decision to quit my job after just two weeks: 1. Your job performance will be terrible if you hate your job. If you hate your job from the beginning, then you will never fully dedicate yourself. In fact, youll resent both the company and yourself for staying at a job that you knew you didnt like early on. I get it: You have this desire to prove to yourself that you are capable of sticking it out. Or youre worried that this makes you a complete failure and you have given up. So what? You learn from your failure. You learn from that mistake. Youll end up quitting at some point soon, so why draw it out? 2. Youll have more respect for yourself if you respond to your needs. Once I admitted to myself that I hated my job, I worried that if I didnt quit this job immediately, even if I had no backup plan, that I would be setting myself up to allow negative situations into my life. If you know that going to your job will make you stressed, unhappy, and angry, every single day, then continuing to go is being disrespectful to your well-being. The more you continue to disregard your own feelings, the further away you get from happiness. When were in our twenties we need to learn about who we are and what we like, so that we can find a work life we are passionate about. Staying in a job you hate doesnt help. 3. Youll prove your commitment to passion and engagement at work. Quitting that job after two weeks is actually one of my proudest moments. I think it shows that I have integrity and passion. I understand the fact that productivity comes more easily in the face of happiness. Quitting quickly is showing impatience for a meaningful work life. Everyone should be impatient for that. Also, people who switching jobs regularly makes people more engaged in their work. This makes sense. If you stay in a job for a long stretch of time, your learning curve goes down and things do not feel as new and stimulating. 4. Youll do the company a favor. If you stay unhappy at a job and then quit after, say, six months, the company will probably never know that you had hated your stint there. When you quit a job after two weeks, the company will notice and question what they had done to push you away so quickly. (A smart company, at least.) Employees at, Apple, for example, produce the best products in the world because they are passionate about the companys mission. You are not helping the company by staying at a position you hate when someone else may be better suited for it who will, no doubt, excel, while you are just getting by. Do the company a favor and quit so they can reevaluate their training, that position, and their hiring strategy, so the next person doesnt want to jump ship after a week. 5. Youll set yourself up for success. High performing employees in companies like GE, Proctor Gamble and UBS all get to rotate through a wide range of jobs at the beginning of their career. This is because job-hopping is a great way to build skills early in ones career. We should all have that chance. There are no rules that say you need to stay at a job that is not teaching you enough. And there are no rules that say how long it takes a person to know a job is not right. But there is a rule for who succeeds and who doesnt: People who have self-confidence, respect, good teamwork instincts, and a sense of when its time to cut their losses; these are the people who succeed. Thats why high-performers leave bad jobs after just two weeks at work. This is a guest post from Jamie Varon. Shes 23 years old. Her blog is called intersected.

Some Tips On CCNA Resume Writing

Some Tips On CCNA Resume WritingCCNA Resume Writing will help you to write your resume to emphasize the real skills and capabilities you have for your specific job. However, if you haven't ever written a resume before, it may seem like a daunting task but don't worry, there are many tips and tricks you can learn from the experienced candidates that have already accomplished this task.First, you need to find a way to organize your thoughts and feelings. Write out your objective, then list down all the skills, knowledge, and accomplishments you possess. Next, take each of those skill-related abilities and put them in a section of their own and finally give a short description about how they apply to your role as a candidate.Next, CCNA Resume Writing should include the CCNA Test if it's an important part of your resume. If you don't have any experience with this test, there are other ways to include it. One idea is to include a link to a sample or a link to your certificate.It is impera tive that you make your resume as detailed as possible so you don't miss any spots. You can search online for sample resumes that are available on job boards. These samples may come in handy as you are writing your own as well.CCNA Resume Writing needs to have your work history. Try to find something that may be a little better than the others that are already on the market. Additionally, be sure to include your schooling, certifications, and awards.It's also important to note certain things about yourself. Give the employer some of your opinions about how he can improve his operations. For example, if you're a person who loves building networks, include that in your resume.Lastly, be very specific in your resume. As you'll notice, there are many tools that help to highlight your best skills or what you have done in the past. However, you need to make sure you highlight the specific thing you are currently capable of and what is specific to your job.I hope these hints will help you get started when writing your CCNA Resume Writing. Remember, it is also important to research your skills and qualifications thoroughly.

Coffee, tea or ... a chat with the airline CEO - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Coffee, tea or ... a chat with the airline CEO - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Inc. Magazine has an article about JetBlue CEO David Neeleman, who regularly puts in a stint on one of his flights, serving and meeting his customers. As we sat there, buckling our seat belts and checking out the televisions in front of us, a middle-aged man with slightly graying hair stood up in the front of the plane. He had on the long apron that JetBlue flight attendants wear, with his name stitched into it. Hi, he said, my name is Dave Neeleman, and Im the CEO of JetBlue. Im here to serve you this evening, and Im looking forward to meeting each of you before we land. This is waaaaay cool. Hes meeting his customers and his employees first-hand. Hes out there sensing and reinforcing company culture. And most of all, to me at least, hes showing humility. He demonstrates that hes not above his employees and his customers by serving them. Every CEO of every company anywhere, needs to consider doing something like this! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Happy at work at Motek - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Happy at work at Motek - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog I met Moteks CEO Ann Price at the 2006 WorldBlu Forum on democractic organizations, and her story of how they work at Motek was tremendously inspiring. Motek make warehouse administration software and heres some of the great things they do according to this excellent article in American Way Magazine: Price offers her employees a $5,000-a-year travel benefit for flights, tours, cruises, you name it but only if they take at least a three-week paid vacation. She gives employees another two weeks off for paid holidays throughout the year and leases luxury automobiles for any employee who has worked at the company for at least 10 years. Then theres the fact that Price sends employees home at five p.m. sans laptop and locks the doors on the weekend. every Motek employee has a designated backup available to provide cover while theyre out of the office. The only requirement is to check with the backup to make sure he or she is around before the employee leaves. The company keeps a single to-do list Anyone can enter an item, including customers and vendors. The list can include everything from ordering ink cartridges to customizing a specific function for a customer. Motek divvies up the tasks at meetings and teams dont pay any attention to who entered particular items. Price doesnt cut any corners when it comes to bonding with customers. She designates individuals from top executives to line workers heroes for their roles in effecting change at a company that uses Moteks software. Then she sends out a professional photographer who shoots for Fortune magazine at somewhere between $8,000 and $15,000 a shoot to snap their photo, which she then posts on the Motek website. There, you can read all about the persons achievements and how they were able to deliver superior results. For Price, the endgame isnt to earn money at any cost. And it isnt about ruling the software industry. No, Price has bigger ambitions: She hopes to change the world. The result: Happiness and profits. Eighty percent of the technical team has been with the company for at least 10 years, compared to an industry average employment span of 18 months. In 2005, Moteks revenue per employee topped $217,000. Competing firms revenue typically ranges from $150,000 to $200,000. This is a wonderful story of great, unconventional leadership focused on making employees and customers happy rather than on growth and profits. With growth and profit as the results. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related