Are Your References “Professional”?

What do your professional references say about you? Ever think about it? You should because no matter how good your interview went, if your references don’t say good things about you….you’re not getting that new job you want. Seems kinda harsh doesn’t it? But it’s true, a bad reference can single handedly sink an otherwise great opportunity.Ironically, most people pay little to no attention to their references. I hear things like “I haven’t talked to him in ages.”, “I didn’t really work that closely with her.”, “I’m just his friend” but my favorite is the “one word answers” – yep, no, yes, maybe, absolutely. Joking aside, if you aren’t taking the time to really cultivate and inform your professional references you are putting yourself at a disadvantage in any job search. Someone who takes their job search seriously has educated, informed, prepared and PREDICTABLE references. I recall a candidate interaction a long time ago where the recruiter asked a reference “Would you hire so and so again?”. Simple stuff, nothing major, should be a straight forward response and it was just that….”I wouldn’t hire that guy to stock shelves”. End of interview, no hire, thanks for playing. If your references say they wouldn’t hire you again, it’s pretty bad but when they go out of their way to torpedo your application it’s apocalyptic.Without further adieu, a few quick tips on how to give the best professional references:1) Give people who you know, trust and who will absolutely, positively say nice things about you – I know, right, who WOULDN’T do that? You’d be surprised. I’m not even going to talk about this anymore, do your homework, call your references so when they talk to potential a employer they don’t throw you under the bus.2) Give a former manager – Again, I know, not rocket science. I’m always happy to hear how great a guy someone is, or how they play a mean guitar or how they can finish Halo without dying……….but, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. I want to talk to someone who can tell me what kind of an employee you’ll be once you are hired. Former managers are critical to making sure any potential employer can get the info they need to hire you without reservation. If you don’t have a former manager who’ll say nice things, try someone else in a leadership role. You need someone besides your lunch buddies to say nice things about you, especially in a competitive job market like we have now.3) Make sure your references are available and expecting the call – This one drives recruiters crazy. Nothing more frustrating than leaving voice mail after voice mail for a reference only to follow up with an email that bounces back “On vacation until September 2013″. Good times! It’s common courtesy for everyone involved and will help also make sure our references say nice things about you.4) Have a few people recommend you on LinkedIn – Simple stuff, and frankly it doesn’t matter if this is a former manager or not. With the rise of social networking, more and more companies are searching the web for potential hires. No better way to reinforce that you are a quality hire than to have a well groomed LinkedIn profile that has several people singing your praises.5) Keep in touch with your references to make sure you have a big stable of people to use -This is the final tip, and probably the most important. You want to keep in touch with people who can serve as great professional references. Seriously, think about it. How many former managers can you give that would say nice things about you? The more you have, the better off you’ll be long term. You don’t need to talk to them every day, week or even every month however, you should be just touching base once every quarter or two, JUST in case you need them or, get this…..maybe they need you. That’s right, your former boss may be looking for a job and need a “former direct report” to say nice things…next think you know you guys are colleagues again. So, trust me on this one, figure out who will give you a stellar reference and then maintain and build on that relationship.That’s it, nothing crazy, nothing complicated. Follow these simple tips and I can guarantee you’ll have much more success converting those interviews into offers.

Online Chicago style writing services

Sometimes students normally find it hard to format their papers using the formatting style that the teacher has requested. One of this formatting style includes Chicago style. Teachers usually expect to receive papers that have been formatted properly according to what they have asked. Writing of Chicago style papers usually takes two forms. The first form includes writing of the papers using the bibliography and note system and the second include writing using the author date system. When writing Chicago style papers the nature of the style of the sources being used normally serve extremely well in determining the style that the student will prefer over the other style.

Writing Chicago style papers is usually easy; however, some students mostly find it hard when it comes to putting footnotes and end-notes. No matter the many years the student might have in writing Chicago style papers, they usually have doubt if they are doing what is right. In order to avoid the doubt, most students decide to seek form assistance from professionals who have experience in writing Chicago style papers. Chicago style writing company has experience writers who are professionals in writing Chicago style papers. These are writers who have qualities like no other in writing academic papers using Chicago style. In order to have remarkable class performance, students should buy Chicago style papers from this company.

Expert writers

Chicago style papers are usually written by writers who have received training and they are experienced in writing papers from any level of education. The writers ensure that the papers are written based on the standards of customer. Before they can start writing the papers, they have to make sure that it is assigned to that the writer who is an expert in that field. Chicago style papers writers possess the right skills in formatting Chicago style papers. The writers are specialized in numerous academic fields, which make it possible for them to serve the requirements and needs of all the students in different countries in the globe. The writers have gained unmatched experience because this is a company that has been operational for a while. Chicago style papers writers are aware of the different academic requirements by different learning institutions. Therefore, they have to ensure that the papers that they sell to the students have to be accepted by the lecturers.

High quality papers

All Chicago style papers have to be written according to the instructions that the writers have requested. This ensures that they meet the standard of the customer and that of the instructor. All Chicago style papers are normally written using proper grammar and have no language errors. The writers also check for plagiarism using the plagiarism software to check for any traces of plagiarized materials. This ensures that the papers are original. There is also a panel of editors who ensure that the proof read the papers so that to make sure that the writers clearly followed the customer’s instructions and the paper does not have language or grammar error.
Students who have the problem with writing Chicago style papers can contact with the writers in this company and buy Chicago style paper written following their instructions. The prices of this papers are affordable, and any student can manage the budget the also be able to, meet their daily needs.

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Marketing Your Business With Videos – 7 Tips To Video Marketing Online

As you likely know, marketing is all about getting your prospect to take the action you want him/her to take, whether that’s opting onto your list, following/liking your page, and/or purchasing your offer. To do this, you have to make sure to get his/her attention and convince him/her to do this. While text and audio can do this, your best bet in achieving this wanted action is via video marketing.

I hear you asking, “Why is video marketing more effective than text and audio?” The reason why is because, most humans prefer seeing something rather than reading or listening to something. Video is usually more engaging and can be more informative than text or audio.

This is all the more reason why most people will respond better to video than to text or audio. This is a major reason why many marketers are using video on their websites, especially when a prospect first visits a website.

Tips to video marketing:

Provide Value: One thing is that, you must be sure that the video provides value to your prospect. Don’t just put up a video so that you’ll have one on your website. While you may have the prospect’s attention at first, if it doesn’t provide value to your prospect, he/she is not staying on your website for long.

Keep It Interesting: Related to this, make sure to not just sell in your video either. It’s okay to present an offer or a request (such as signing up to your opt-in list to the side of the video in return for a free gift), but be sure to provide some useful information and some enthusiasm within the video. If you don’t, chances are that your prospect will lose interest and leave, likely to never return to your website again.

The length of your video: While video is more engaging and enticing than text and audio, this doesn’t mean you should have it play for more than a few minutes, as longer videos can drive prospects away.

Successful video marketing involves videos that get straight to the point with useful information and the requested action rather than filling them with fluff to make the videos longer.

Video quality: Additionally, it is vital that your videos play properly and play quickly. Ask yourself if you would stay on a website that takes forever for a video to load and play. Of course, you would answer “no.” After all, we are all busy, and time is something you cannot get back.

As a result, keep your videos to a minimum in terms of file size so that they load faster. You should also be sure that your Web hosting has enough bandwidth so that the videos you post onto your site can play without any pauses or issues.

Headline and video play: You can play your video immediately upon a prospect visiting your website so that your prospect knows something interesting and informative is on your website or you can set it up for manual play only.

You only have between one to three seconds to make an impression on your prospect to stay on your website or you risk him/her clicking away from your site.

Always have your benefit written headline clearly visible on the page with your video. If your video won’t load that quickly, your prospect will read an interesting headline and stay on your site to watch your video.

Place your video on YouTube: Keep in mind that your website is not the only place to place your videos. YouTube is the most popular and visited video site on the Internet. Video on YouTube can help you to drive traffic to your website.

Add in the fact that Google owns YouTube, and you can not only place higher in YouTube’s search engine by submitting quality, informative videos, but you can even rank higher in Google’s search engine via good videos that appeal to your target market.

Video on other social media sites: Putting videos on sites such as YouTube and other social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc.) is another option instead of directly on your website. Just point your prospects to your video links, and when they click on those links, they’ll be directed to the videos on those respective sites so they can see what you have to offer.

Therefore, don’t forget about video when you are thinking of and testing marketing strategies in your business. Text and audio certainly have their place, but tests have shown that video has the most conversions and results amongst all main media.

Video is more engaging and interactive, which is exactly what you want your prospects to do, whether that’s signing up to your list, liking/sharing your site, and/or purchasing your offers. Keep the above information in mind when you create videos, and your business is likely to greatly benefit from your video marketing efforts.