Top 10 Most Beautiful Resumes of 2008

Top 10 Most Beautiful Resumes of 2008 999 You don't need to be a graphic designer to have a beautiful resume that gets you job interviews. Get inspired by these beauties from 2008 and learn what they have in common down below. Top 10 Most Beautiful Resumes of 2008 Good tips for a beautiful resume design Open up your resume right now to see if it has the following qualities: Candidate name and contact information is easy to find near the top White background Good use of section headers for easy scanning Lots of whitespace for easy reading on the screen or on paper Limited use of color but if any, it's used to effect for emphasis and easier reading Few font styles Smart use of justification to organize text and lead the eye through the resume If you liked this article, you'll enjoy 36 Beautiful Resume Ideas That Work. Have a good resume?

A Great Thank You Note

A Great Thank You Note It was a good interview. Maybe even a great interview. You felt a connection to the interviewer, you felt that you answered the technical questions well, and there were no unpleasant surprises regarding the duties or the salary. You’re feeling hopeful, but you know they have two more candidates to see. What next step will really advance your chances for this job? A great thank you note. Since the art of writing and the art of gratitude seem to be in decline, here are some tips for crafting a great thank  after your interview. First, make sure you turn it around quickly. Write it when you get home and put it in the mail right away. The letter or note should arrive within two days of your meeting. I am going to buck tradition on the usual handwritten note advice; I think that a word processed note is fine. My handwriting has deteriorated so much since I started working on a PC that it detracts from my note, rather than adding value. I also have trouble writing in straight lines and dislike the small space available on note cards. If you do choose to hand write a card, pick a simple “thank you” design with no flourishes (and no flowers or bunnies, either; you know who you are.) If you decide to type the note, you can create simple letterhead template by using your resume header. Choose some nice paper stock, something better than basic copy paper. Buy matching envelopes; having some personalized return address labels printed up is an inexpensive nice touch. Now for content: be specific, warm, and make one last case for yourself as a candidate. Open with thanks, of course, and recall something you discussed in the interview. “Dear Ms. Jones: Thanks so much for meeting with me today. I enjoyed learning more about ABC company and the account manager position. As we discussed, I think that my experience in the hospitality industry would be helpful in managing your national hotel accounts and prospecting new accounts. I was impressed with ABC company’s approach to customer service, and I can see why you have been able to increase your market share over the past five years.”  Then close with a strong expression of interest in the position. “I want to express again my interest in the position and hope I’ll get a chance to meet with the team for the panel interview you mentioned as the next step. If there is any further  information I can provide about my experience, please let me know.” Sign your name legibly and mail it off. Career experts say that only about five percent of people write thank you notes (although I think many jobseekers have caught on to the practice.) If you execute well, your clear writing and prompt return may set you apart from the other candidates.  Here are some sample thank you letters and templates from About.com.

Fighting Poverty With Entrepreneurship, See How Balloon Kenya Does It

Fighting Poverty With Entrepreneurship, See How Balloon Kenya Does It Balloon Kenya is a social enterprise that strives to defeat poverty through entrepreneurship by teaming up young people from the UK with young people from Kenya in order to create new businesses to provide jobs and improve lives. How Does Balloon Kenya Work? Balloon Kenya  brings exceptional young people from around the world to work in Kenya for 6 weeks with budding local entrepreneurs. Together, these international teams imagine, test and refine new business ideas. They then fund the best of these ideas and help  Kenyan businesses grow. Balloon Kenya believes that supporting youth entrepreneurship is the most sustainable way to tackle poverty and create change. There is so much you get to learn as well. Thinking of an idea and bringing it to life is every entrepreneurs dream and to know that dream is going to help someone fight poverty in Kenya is a pretty cool feeling. What Has Balloon Kenya Done? Balloon Kenya has already worked with some truly inspirational young people. From Germany to India, America to England, Israel to Kenya, their 2012 cohort exceeded all expectations, and thanks to their hard work and drive, theyve achieved some great things. To see a full list of case studies and more information of what Balloon Kenya does, and what you can get from it, you should visit the Balloon Kenya website. If you want to apply to Balloon Kenya, then the deadline for the first programme is 18th of March, which is today I know a bit late telling you today, but hey, dont be disappointed as the second programme is running from 10th August to 22nd September 2013, so you might want to put this in your calendar. And you can always send Balloon Kenya an email and speak to them who knows, your enthusiasm might just lead to something ?? 8

What Will You Do Next - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

What Will You Do Next - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Very frequently we find ourselves at a ‘fork in the road’ that has us pausing to consider what to do next. Unfortunately, most people do not think out their next steps ahead of time before making pronouncements that prove to be premature. How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m going to…” but that something special never happens? Most often the project did not hold enough importance, or the decision was premature.  Only after deciding upon a new route to take, is it discovered that expertise in new areas is needed. People freeze up when they realize there is much new information to be learned before they may implement the project. Self-doubt and the lack of talking it out with peers to find ways to get past the unknown become too much to handle. Fear interferes with moving forward. Sadly, the lack of investigative research ahead of time has people suddenly stopping in their tracks. Ideas that get lost in everyday busywork is due to the lack of a 100% commitment. The better way to proceed is to have a long distant vision in mind, and then work backward to put milestones and goals in place with specific target dates for completion. Even better is to include a safety net plan to help ease the fear while moving forward. And the biggest differentiator for finding success is to maintain an open mind for learning from every experience good and bad. The hurdles along with errors are gifts in disguise as they point one in the better direction. But to take advantage, one has to commit 100% to persevering until success is theirs. It is the lack of dedication that has most people departing from the scene and never experiencing the success they originally envisioned. For those who are in the process of building credibility and trust, it’s best not to make grand announcements until one’s project is well under way. Only share your news when you are 100% committed to pursuing your endeavor with every fiber of your being and begin to see progress. The improved outcome is that others will see you as a motivated person who strives to learn and implement. It speaks well of your personal brand and indicates that you are to be trusted. The next step is to have a high enough purpose that the outcome will make the effort well worthwhile. Think back to pronouncements you may have made over the past five years. Are you one to follow through on projects or do you have a habit of bowing out at the last minute? Should you be one who drops ideas after telling everyone you will do something, consider whether it’s time to change your course of action. The first thing to do is to figure out if fear is standing in your way. It may be time for personal-professional development classes. Public speaking and other training will help put the fear to rest. Strive to be one who personifies trust and credibility so that others continually seek you out. Carefully construct your persona and simultaneously watch your career lift. Following these guidelines will lead you to the Smooth Sale!

Encore of Rebranding Yourself with Alexander Buschek #140 - Career Pivot

Encore of “Rebranding Yourself with Alexander Buschek” #140 - Career Pivot Episode #140 â€" Marc’s client, Alexander Buschek, talks with Marc about his own rebranding to a digital transformation thought leader in this encore episode with an update interview. Description: Alexander Buschek has been an IT professional for many years. He is passionate about digital transformation and the opportunities it will give businesses â€" especially SMBs. He is convinced that every business has to embrace digital transformation in one way or another, in order to survive. The sooner a business starts its digital transformation, the better. To support this process, spread awareness, and share experiences, he started The Digital Transformation Blog. Alexander was, at the time of this interview, the CIO of Cherry GmbH, well known for their excellent keyboards and MX switches, who hired him because of his profound knowledge of digital transformation and digitalization. Alexander has since moved on to Gartner Group, where he is Senior Director, Analyst of Midsize Enterprises. Key Takeaways: [1:19] Marc welcomes you to Episode 140 of the Repurpose Your Career podcast. Career Pivot is the sponsor of this podcast; CareerPivot.com is one of the very few websites dedicated to those of us in the second half of life and our careers. Check out the blog and the other resources delivered to you, free of charge. [1:48] If you are enjoying this podcast, please share it with other like-minded souls. Subscribe on CareerPivot.com, iTunes, or any of the other apps that supply podcasts. Share it on social media or just tell your neighbors and colleagues. The more people Marc reaches, the more people he can help. [2:07] Marc has released five chapters of the next edition of Repurpose Your Career to the Repurpose Your Career review team. Sign up to be part of the review team at CareerPivot.com/RYCTeam. [2:22] You will receive new chapters as they become available. Marc is looking for honest feedback and would love to get an honest review on Amazon.com after the book is released. [2:32] Marc plans to release the book in mid-September and do both a virtual and a real book tour. Marc has already recorded multiple podcast guest appearances, some of which have already been published. Go to CareerPivot.com/launch you’ll find all the links of all the podcast episodes. [2:57] Marc will be in Austin the week of September 22nd, the New Jersey/Pennsylvania area the week of September 29th, and D.C., the following week. Marc would love to meet his readers and listeners. [3:09] Marc has many events planned. You can find them on CareerPivot.com/launch. [3:20] Next week, Marc will interview Kerry Hannon, author of Never Too Old to Get Rich: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting a Business Mid-Life. Now on to the podcast… Download Link | iTunes|Stitcher Radio|Google Podcast| Podbean | TuneIn | Overcast [3:30] This week will be an encore episode from Episode #72, when he interviewed Alexander Buschek. Marc finishes the episode with a short update discussion that he recorded last week with Alexander. Marc shares Alexander’s biography. [4:51] Marc introduces Alexander. Alexander talks about being desperate, looking for a job before working with Marc. He sent applications everywhere and didn’t get answers. He also had a difficult bio, being self-employed for more than 24 years, then became the CIO of one of his customers. He decided he needed help and he found Marc. [5:58] Marc started Alexander through the rebranding process. Alexander shares the roadmap he followed. [6:06] The first step for Alexander was the Birkman assessment to find out who he was; what were his strengths and weaknesses. He learned new things about himself. Marc encouraged him to have a blog, videos, and write a book. He’s still working on the book. [7:00] The roadmap was about getting to know himself and writing a white paper, as a preliminary for the blog. Then he started writing the blog and became the thought leader in digital transformation. Then his visibility started. People asked him to speak at conferences, which was a great experience for him. [7:34] Marc frequently told Alexander to be bold. At first, Alexander didn’t see himself as bold. Then he found out that he was bold. He was not reluctant to speak up and do the things he thought were necessary. [8:24] Marc was blown away by Alexander’s resume. Alexander didn’t see himself as a hot commodity, however. He had to learn to understand his achievements and tell people about his experience. [9:38] Alexander’s white paper was about cloud technology. He had been working with InFor ERP systems and they wanted to access the Cloud. In Germany, many were reluctant to even look into it. So he thought, at least he needed to look into it. He figured out that cloud technology is the future. [11:05] Alexander used Dragon Naturally Speaking (Now Nuance Dragon) to write. You just talk and you see it written in Word. It was very helpful. This is an easy way to write a blog post if you write the way you speak. [12:22] While Alexander was networking as the CIO of Protego he approached Autodesk to ask if CAD systems could be based in the cloud. Autodesk invited him to the Hannover Fair to look at how it was being used at the time, including Fusion 360. [13:18] After a conversation with one of the managers there, they invited Alexander to be part of a panel discussion by the Financial Times in Berlin in cooperation with Autodesk. [13:36] The panel was on digital transformation, in English. Alexander used it for his blog with great success. He found that personal branding is making sure people get the impression of you that you want them to have. [14:40] After being on the Financial Times panel, Alexander started writing his blog posts. He spoke at another event for Autodesk. His speaking career snowballed. [15:53] Alexander spent the Christmas holidays in 2016, shooting videos about digital transformation, based on his conference presentations. Headhunters started to approach him. He expanded his LinkedIn network significantly. [17:32] Doing videos helped Alexander’s presentation skills a lot. [19:20] Making a video requires one hour or more of effort for every minute of the finished video. Alexander explains his process for making a video. [20:46] Alexander is proudest of getting his new job. It is a challenging job. He is proud that he was asked, rather than sending in his application. He branded himself doing what he loved to do and showing his expertise, with the goal of getting a new job. [21:41] Alexander was passionate about digital transformation. His previous job had given him no opportunity in that area. It is present or will be present in every company. Alexander became an expert on it, after a lot of work. If you want to rebrand your life, there is no way around a lot of hard work with a lot of discipline. [24:21] Alexander credits Marc with inspiring him to push forward, in steps. Marc gave Alexander small steps, such as a whitepaper, a blog, and videos, to do one at a time that really kept him going. The next step is to write a book. [25:54] Alexander’s advice to anyone who wants to rebrand themselves: You can do it! However, you need to be patient and put a lot of effort into it. With the effort comes success. Be bold. Be patient. Get some advice and get a job coach. Reading a book alone does not usually provide motivation. [28:25] Alexander looked off into the future and positioned himself in a niche of digital transformation for SMBs. Alexander can be reached at DigitalTransformationBlog.com. Alexander answers comments. Or email Alexander at Alex@Buschek.info. [29:37] Marc hopes Alexander has inspired listeners to be bold! [30:12] Alexander first contacted Marc by LinkedIn after reading Marc’s book, Personal Branding for Baby Boomers: What It Is, How to Manage It, and Why It’s No Longer Optional. When Alexander contacted Marc, he had 70 LinkedIn contacts; today he has 1,200 or so. [30:57] Marc brings Alexander back on the podcast for an update interview. Alexander started as the CIO at Cherry at the beginning of 2018. He had previously been interviewed four times to be an IT Analyst at Gartner. Recently, the Gartner recruiter sent Alexander a LinkedIn message asking if he was still interested in a position. [32:57] Alexander had wanted to work for Gartner in the first place, so he was happy to meet with them. After a series of interviews and a two-hour writing exercise, on his way back to the airport, he got an email (he was in a limousine, not driving) from Gartner congratulating him on getting the position. [34:32] Since March 1st, Alexander is a Senior Director Analyst for Mid-Sized Enterprises. Alexander helps MSE CIOs make the right decisions when it comes to digital business transformation and cloud strategy. He feels very comfortable in this job. He also writes research notes on leadership. [35:51] Marc thanks Alexander for being on the Repurpose Your Career podcast. Alexander invites you to contact him for advice on rebranding or digital transformation. Alexander’s path was hard work and really rewarding. Reach him at Alexander Buschek on LinkedIn. [36:52] Marc hopes you enjoyed this episode. Alexander was a real joy for Marc to work with a few years ago. He continues to prosper in his career. He took a lot of risks and did a lot of hard work to rebrand himself. [37:08] The Career Pivot Membership Community continues to help the approximately 50 members who are participating in the Beta phase of this project to grow and thrive. The community has moved on to the next phase where community members who have experienced success get to share their successes and teach others. [37:26] This is a community where everyone is there to help everyone else out. Marc is recruiting members for the next cohort. [37:33] If you are interested in the endeavor and would like to be put on the waiting list, please go to CareerPivot.com/Community. When you sign up you’ll receive information about the community as it evolves. [37:47] Those who are in these initial cohorts set the direction. This is a paid membership community with group coaching and special content. More importantly, it’s a community where you can seek help. Please go to CareerPivot.com/Community to learn more. [38:09] This Fall, the community is moving out of the beta phase into full production. [38:20] Marc invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.com/in/mrmiller. Just include in the connection request that you listen to this podcast. You can look for Career Pivot on Facebook, LinkedIn, or @CareerPivot on Twitter. [38:39] Please come back next week, when Marc will interview Kerry Hannon, author of Never Too Old to Get Rich: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting a Business Mid-Life. [38:48] Marc thanks you for listening to the Repurpose Your Career podcast. [38:52] You will find the show notes for this episode at CareerPivot.com/episode-140. [38:59] Please hop over to CareerPivot.com and subscribe to get updates on this podcast and all the other happenings at Career Pivot. You can also subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, the Google Podcasts app, Podbean, the Overcast app, or the Spotify app. Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

eXtreme Projects - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

eXtreme Projects - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog eXtreme Programming is a process used to structure software development projects. It is radically different from more traditional methods, in that it defers more of the detailed planning till later in the project. Most traditional methods try to answer all the big questions up front. This makes it less susceptible to changes that occur during the project something that can otherwise seriously disrupt software projects. eXtreme Programming, or XP, is based on a set of principles that at first may seem awkward and counter-intuitive, but which actually support each other nicely, resulting in a process that is: More efficient More predictable More flexible More fun Since I switched from the IT business to making people happy at work, Ive used some of the XP principles in many other situations, where they have proved to work just as well. Here is my list of which XP principles translate to non-IT projects, and how to utilize them: Frequent small releases Rather than spending a long time building up to one huge release, find a way to divide your project into several smaller releases. This means that your product makes contact with the real world sooner, and allows you to better incorporate feedback from actual customers/users. in XP, you want to release something every 2-3 weeks, which is certainly preferable to working on a project for 6 months, delivering it to the customer and THEN learning that it doesnt fulfill their needs. And dont tell me this never happens. Iteration planning This means breaking the current goals down into tasks that are small enough to be accomplished in 1-3 days. Based on these estimates, the teams decides which tasks to include for the next deliverable. This means that the work immediately ahead gets broken down into small, manageable pieces and you can easliy track progress. Move people around Rather than assigning fixed roles to each person, let people switch roles. This enhances knowledge sharing and learning and also helps avoid information bottlenecks. XP also lets people choose for themselves which part of the project they want to work on. Daily stand-up meetings Youll be amazed how much faster meetings go, when people cant sleep in their chairs. in XP projects every day starts with a stand-up meeting to coordinate the days work. The customer is always available That way you dont have to guess what the customer wants/intends/needs. You can easily and quickly ask. Pair programming (or pair work) This means that no work is done by one person alone each and every task is tackled by at least two people. This may seem inefficient at first, but experience shows that people do better work when working together and it also enhances cross-training and team-work. Simplicity Choose the simplest solution that could possibly work. Dont get fancy when simple will do. Create spike solutions If youre faced with a difficult choice, dont analyse it to death, trying to look for the right solution. Instead create spike solutions quick tests that allow you to try various possible solutions out. This gives you fast, specific, real-life data to let you choose and helps avoid paralysis by analysis. Collective code ownership (or collective project ownership) Everybody owns the whole project. This helps avoid bottlenecks and that unpleasant situation where people feel that they own a part of the project and seem reluctant to share knowledge or accept criticism on their property. No overtime Period! I believe that these principles can be applied to many kinds of projects and I have done so myself with considerable success. Are they always applicable? No. Read the XP entry on when to apply XP for some inspiration on when to use XP and when not to. 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

Career Transition Tips Start With You - Hallie Crawford

Career Transition Tips Start With You I hear so often from my career coaching clients that they just fell into their current career, or it is the career they thought they “should” pursue; sometimes it’s just a career that someone else suggested to them so they tried it out. The common theme here is people aren’t pro-actively choosing their career path. They aren’t spending quality time thinking about it. Instead they’re reacting to circumstance, to what someone else suggests, or just taking a job because it was offered to them. I did that in my mid-twenties, this is what I call my “early life crisis.” I was in an interview with my prospective employer when I had a gut instinct that the job would not be a fit for me, but what did I say when they offered me the position? I said yes. Two years later I was crying about my career in the bathroom. Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t take a job to pay your bills. We all need to remain financially stable, especially during career transition, but a common theme I see with my clients is that they didn’t listen to themselves when they were choosing their career. They didn’t start with what would make them happy, and if they did they got lost along the way. One of my clients, Lauren, came to me and said she chose to become a lawyer in large part because it was what her family seemed to expect of her. Her father was a doctor, her brother was a lawyer, and her sister was a doctor as well. She came from a family of highly educated, specialized professionals, and she followed in their footsteps without fully thinking through what would make her happy. Fortunately for Lauren, there were things about the law she enjoyed but even those things were diminishing in their appeal. As she looked back on her career, she realized she chose her path in large part due to external circumstances, rather than following her heart or passion. When you’re getting started on this journey of evaluating and possibly changing your career path, the critical thing you need to remember is to start with you. You’re the one at the end of the day who has to go home, look in the mirror, and decide whether you made a contribution that day by doing something that made you happy. You are the only one who knows which career path will truly work for you. Throughout this process it is ok to gather opinions and advice from others, but do it very selectively. Only enlist the help of people you trust to give you honest, but unbiased feedback. Preferably from people who have some expertise in this area. If you don’t have anyone like that in your life, find someone, or don’t share it with anyone until you’re certain. At the end of the day, go with what feels right to you. Start with you. Career Transition Coach