Thursday, May 28, 2020

How to Find a Job Abroad in 5 Steps

How to Find a Job Abroad in 5 Steps As the current economic climate shifts, now may be the perfect time to look into jobs abroad. Working overseas not only improves your salary but can also boost your career in the long term especially if you’re aspiring to senior positions. More and more organisations are looking for professionals with international experience and a global perspective on top of excellent skills to help them compete. So how can you kick-start your international job search? 1) Find out where the jobs are: The Manpower Employment Outlook Data Explorer shows local labour market forecasts for 42 countries worldwide. Every quarter, they publish hiring plans from various industries and employers. You can also access historical information for specific countries which might be useful if you want to anticipate demand in certain areas. 2) Compare countries: HSBC’s Expat Explorer provides information from expats about finances, quality of life and even what it’s like to raise children abroad. You can compare two countries side-by-side and find otu how other people have experienced various facets of life such as: healthcare access, accommodation, transportation, local culture, social life, etc. Apart from the league tables, the site also provides in-depth information and reports through the ‘Findings’ section as well as practical day-to-day tips from individuals living abroad. 3) Figure out tax and immigration rules: Depending on your nationality and the country you are looking to work in, you may have to go through an extensive visa application process. Certain governments have tough immigration policies that make it expensive and unattractive for employers to hire foreigners unless their skills are highly sought after. However there are countries which have bilateral agreements to allow free movement of labour with certain nations. The EU for example, allows workers to take up employment and live freely anywhere within the territories of the European Community. Always check your eligibility for work permits or visas before applying for jobs. Otherwise it could be a frustrating process. Recruiters and HR departments will sometimes shy away from even interviewing individuals if it means they will have to go through a 6-8 month process of visa applications after the hiring process. Taxation systems vary between countries as well as the tax rates. It’s important to get an idea of the taxes you are liable to pay locally as well as any double tax reliefs you would be entitled to during the course of your foreign employment. Some countries like the US will have tax treaties that allow an exemption from, or a reduction of the 30% tax depending on your nationality. You can access a handy guide here from Ernst Young which summarises the basic laws and regulations applicable for more than 150 countries. 4) Find local job boards/job aggregators and career sites: Search Latte, a tool originally built for webmasters and SEOs, can help you in your job search by tricking Google into showing you the search results for a foreign location. Normally, Google uses your location in order to serve you the most relevant web pages based in your country. However if you are conducting an international job search, e.g. living in the UK while looking for jobs in Switzerland, Google will not necessarily show you the same results that someone in Switzerland would see if they did the same search. This means you could be missing out on excellent jobs or career sites. Searching for “java jobs in switzerland” using Google.co.uk will show UK or international job boards that have a handful of jobs in Switzerland. However by using Search Latte to search for “java jobs” and selecting .ch which is the country’s top level domain, the location and the language applicable to your search, Google is tricked into showing you a different set of results. As seen in the image below, the results contain websites that are specific to Switzerland which have more jobs than the previous search and provide a truer reflection of the local jobs market. 5) Build your network or find hiring managers online: Majority of jobs are not advertised and are often filled through referrals from employee networks. But if you’re living abroad, how can you network with professionals in your target country? LinkedIn offers a great opportunity to connect with people from around the world. You can use it to network with your colleagues in other countries who might help you with an internal transfer or by researching hiring managers for that job you want. Apart from the steps highlighted above, you can also search the relevant website for Indeed in your target country as well as checking the career sites of countries with an international footprint. Do you have your own tips when searching for jobs abroad? Share them in the comments.

Monday, May 25, 2020

9 Ways to Stay Productive During The Holidays - Classy Career Girl

9 Ways to Stay Productive During The Holidays Outside, the weather may be frightful….but you’re stuck inside an office building collating papers all day while your boss and their family jets off to  sunny beaches  for the week. It can be depressing, especially when you look outside and see nothing but gray skies.  This is especially true if you live in Michigan. During the holiday season, 93 million people will travel.  Employees have been saving their vacation time to be out of the office during a traditionally slower time.  So what does that mean for those who are working during the holidays?  It means offices are quiet and there are fewer people to talk with.  This time becomes very important to try and stay motivated in an empty office building. Here are some ways that you can stay motivated during the holiday season: 9 Ways to Stay Productive During The Holidays 1. Clean Your Office Take some time and go through your office area, closet, filing cabinet, desk tops, email inbox, whatever and make sure what items you need or which can be discarded. Cleaning is a great distraction from everyday boredom, so find some time for your office. 2. Schedule Business Meetings During Slow Times You can invite potential or current clients to your office during the holiday season. The business meeting can be as formal or informal as you like, but make sure you stack the place with plenty of refreshments. You can serve finger foods or have a local restaurant cater the lunch. Whatever you do,  do not spike  the eggnog. 3. Planning for Next Year A lot of businesses are given a yearly budget to spend before the year is up, and leftover funds cannot be rolled over into next year, so they are lost. If you act quickly, you can build relationships with these companies and then hit them up for business. As the end of the year comes, they will have excess cash that will not be around for the New Year, so why not spend it now? 4. Review Your Marketing or Business Expansion Plan Take a look at  your goals  and see which ones have been accomplished and find dates of completion for your other plans. If you have any unfinished goals, you can add them to the list for next year. The end of the year gets many people worried about next year, but this is your chance to be one step ahead. [RELATED: Job Search During the Holiday Season in 5 Easy Steps] 5. Go to Every Networking or Holiday Event When the holidays are in season, you can bet there will be holiday parties. But while others are busy socializing, you can be busy building relationships with people you meet at these events. Keep your eyes open because you never know when you’ll pick up a new client. 6. Stay Physically Active Keep generating those endorphins to keep you moving mentally.  Try taking a lap around your office building to get some fresh air.  Also, watch what you eat and drink.  People bring in goodies during the holidays, and it is easy to graze at your desk.  Too much sugar will give you a “sugar high” but the crash is coming. 7. Revitalize Your Online Profile Update your Linkedin, maybe even get a new headshot and add some new content to your Instagram or blog. Do your profiles look like someone ready to tackle the new year head on? 8. Offer Closeout Deals If you are a small business, discount prices and packages for existing clients or even new clients is  a great way to form alliances with a strategic business. Deals allow you to reach that one tough client you’ve been trying to get and at this time of the year, a lot of bosses want to look good on the bottom line. 9. Switch it Up and Do Something Different Every Day Have  coffee  from somewhere new or just add two sugars instead of one. No matter what it is, just try something new. Break up the monotony.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

How to Find Your Next Job on Twitter

How to Find Your Next Job on Twitter The free social media and micro blogging service that we know as Twitter has quickly become a fantastic channel for your personal branding. It complements your online presence on other platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Some argue that Twitter has become a pivotal tool for connecting job seekers with recruiters, as it is very direct, quick and the reach out is huge. If you are looking for a job in the current economy, you cannot afford not to use Twitter as a complement to your other search activities. Let’s crack on: Sign up Go to Twitter.com and sign up for an account. Pick a username that is professional and that an employer would want to tweet with. If your name is taken, consider any combination of your name and your industry or what you do. As with LinkedIn, you will want to get a nice photo up on your profile and you might want to customise the background image as well. The next step is to fill in the micro biography. You don’t have that many words so be precise, tell the world what you do, how much experience you have and what your major achievements are. The URL link should direct to your personal site, blog or professional profile on LinkedIn or similar. Learn how it works Just like when you first signed up for Facebook or LinkedIn, you will have to play around with it a bit and familiarise yourself with the functionalities. The big difference between these services is that Twitter is not as personalised, you can choose to follow anybody and anybody can follow you. You will find that Twitter is much simpler than most social media, so you should be able to grasp the basics within an hour or so. Twitter is all about tweeting short messages and reading others’ short messages. Who to follow? Before you follow anyone, double check that you have done up your profile enough. The last thing you want to do is follow people and leave a poor first impression with your profile. When that is all checked, start looking for people that might have a job for you. Recruitment companies, HR departments, line managers are all on Twitter and will from time to time be tweeting new job offers. If you follow them, they are likely to follow you and pick up on your tweets. You can actually search Twitter for tweets containing words such as vacancy, new job, requirement etc. This way you will be able to home in on the Twitter folks that have jobs going. Just make sure you make it relevant to where you live by checking people’s locations before you follow.  TwitterJobSearch.com  is a site that compiles all jobs on Twitter, it is global so just type in what job and location you are looking for. RELATED:  How to Find People to Follow on Twitter [Top 10 Ways] Tweeting Tweet about interesting stuff. Share the ups and downs of your career, life, friends and family. Retweet interesting tweets from others. Embed these tweets with your job search about once a day, just give your followers an update so that they get constant reminders that you are looking for a new opportunity. If you post links, always use URL shorterning services like tiny. Don’t ever spam out any tweets, one bad tweet from you and you could be un-followed by scores of Twitterers. Tricks of the Tweet Now that you are up and running, you might want to look at applications to help you tweet. There are myriads of third party applications that will help you to auto-follow, such as  Seeismic, Hootsuite or Buffer.  More tools at  Top 3 Twitter Tools for Twitter Experts. Bottom Line Remember that Twitter is obviously not the be all and end all of your quest for new employment. Twitter complements your other activities and consider it another string to your bow. Please share your experience of Twitter and whether it’s helped you? RELATED:  Short and Tweet: How to Improve Your Twitter Profile for Your Career

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Does Your Brand Have Content - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Does Your Brand Have Content - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The Internet is a place for everything. Consumers get on their computers and search for information and things they need online. All they have to do is type in keywords and they will be given sites that might have what they are looking for. They use the Internet to connect with others through social media. They get work done by reading and sending emails even when they are on the move. The Internet has opened another arena where marketers can reach out to more consumers at lower marketing costs. Today, almost any kind of business maintains a website. This is where consumers find everything they need about a product or service. Companies even have blogs that contains articles related to what they are offering. It is one way of attracting consumers and keeping them interested. Companies even have E-newsletters to update subscribers on the latest happenings, promos, etc. The concept is easy but it takes the right strategy to come up with content that will generate and maintain customers. Content is important in the online world. Anyone can post anything online and it is sure to attract someone’s interest. If you are running a website with a blog for your business, it is important that you have great content so people will keep visiting your site and remember your brand. You can achieve this by having the right content strategy. Once you have it, you start building brand awareness and the possibility of it being a conversation catalyst. Here are 3 important things to remember when creating content for your website’s blog: Content Creation â€" create an article that shows professionalism, provides practical advice, and entertains. Create content that writes about what you care for and what you think will be appealing to your audience. Add key phrases to make it easy for others to find it online. Then include it in your newsletter, make a teaser of your article and add a link that directs your audience to the full version on your blog. You can also share your article with other blogs that have a large audience. If your article is aligned with that blog’s needs, audience will surely find it helpful. Try to write articles for press. If you think you have a good story, share it with someone who can publish it. If they agree, promote the publication to your email list. Add Variety â€" there are a lot of great content out there like videos, articles, and blogs that you can include in your blog. If you can find something interesting, share them with your audience. You can also add variety by getting someone to write content for your blog. You can invite others to guest blog for you. You can even ask your subscribers about what they want to read about. You can do this by email and you can create content from what you can gather from them. Include interesting and helpful content in your newsletter and add active links. Sometimes, this will mean driving traffic to other sites but this will add value for your subscribers. Be Social â€" other than your blog, you can attract more audience by creating Twitter, Facebook and other social media accounts for your business. You can use these sites to invite others to check out your business and blog. You can post links and teasers on these sites about the articles that you just created. This strategy will extend your reach, drive traffic to your site, and is a fast way to receive feedback from your audience. Social media sites help you reach the right people that may find your article interesting. There are ways to check people’s Twitter bios and you can tweet a link and mention these people to read your article. There is also the possibility that your content goes viral because sharing is so much easier done through social media sites. When you use content from other sites or when someone writes for you or about you, it is always rewarding to give them credit. You can thank them publicly through your blog or your social media accounts. This practice might even give you the chance to be promoted by others. Being social will help you build a network that will help you in the long run. Content strategy starts with a vision that meets your business goals. With careful planning, incorporate these three into your blog and start building your brand’s online presence. Your audience will start talking and sharing your content with others. Following the right content strategy will make your brand known, win you constumers, generate leads, and increase your sales. 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.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Preparing For The Interview How You Can Ace It - CareerMetis.com

Preparing For The Interview How You Can Ace It Photo Credit â€" Pexels.comWhether it’s a first job or your twentieth, we all face that dreaded interview at some stage of our lives. It can feel quite an overwhelming prospect where you might feel tested beyond your ability or even worry about not doing so well.All of which are emotions that every one of us will face, even after our tenth, fiftieth or one-hundredth interview. Nervous energy is good, and of course, the adrenaline should kick in the moment you step through the door for the interview.But, there is a lot you can do before the main event, and I thought it was worth sharing with you some top tips to help you ace the interview process.1. Preparation is keyevalWho else agrees that when you are prepared for anything in life, you are calmer about what is ahead? It goes without saying that preparing yourself mentally for an interview process could stand you in good stead and even give you the edge against other candidates.You’ll know the job role you are applying for, so u se this to your advantage and find out as much as you can before going. Research is key for feeling prepared and using the internet is bound to give you some golden nuggets of knowledge to help you through the interview itself.This is where you could take a look at company reviews online such as AlgaeCal employee reviews to help you gauge a more truthful analysis of the company you are interviewing with.It’s also worth preparing yourself physically. By this, I mean getting to bed early the night before and eating some of the right food. Don’t do yourself an injustice by keeping yourself awake all night worrying.A great tip is to plan nothing the night before and do some of the things that help relax you or make you happy. That might be getting into a new book, taking a long soak in the bath, or enjoying a good movie.2. Sort out the outfitPhoto Credit â€" Pixabay.comWhat you wear is vitally important as we all know that people can make a snap judgment in the first few seconds of meeting you. But don’t despair and keep things simple when it comes to choosing the perfect attire.The interview is all about your skills and personality, but you need to ensure you give this a chance to shine. Stick with professional attire that makes you look smart and presentable.3. Have confidence in your abilityevalSometimes it’s worth investing a bit of time to how you feel and your confidence levels. After all, predicting you are not going to do well before it happens isn’t going to serve you too well during the interview process. Have confidence in your skills and ability.4. Keep a positive attitude and approachFinally, try and keep a positive attitude and approach to your interview. Negativity will only have a detrimental effect on your ability to communicate with the interviewer. It can be hard to combat those negative or self-critical thoughts, but try and turn what might be making you feel nervous into something much more productive and positive.I hope these tips h elp you if you are about to embark on your next interview.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

What A Stack of Failed Job Interviews Has Taught Me In the Last 4 Years

What A Stack of Failed Job Interviews Has Taught Me In the Last 4 Years 13 Flares 13 Flares Zach  Groth  is a senior at Ball State University. On the post-graduation job search himself,  Zach has job experience in corporate, government, nonprofit and student-run organizations. You can tweet him any questions, concerns or blog ideas on Twitter at  @zgroth. I have worked my ass off in college. I have been very blessed and will graduate in four years with six professional internships and freelance work. My internships have been competitive, and the interview process has been fierce. I have been offered my fair share of internship opportunities, but I also have a stack of rejection letters that have allowed me to learn from my mistakes and the mistakes of others. 1.  Realize that no one cares about who you were back in the day If you’ve never heard the song Eighteen Cool by Hoodie Allen then go listen to it. If you assume that song is about you then take it to heart. The second you walk across that stage in your high school gymnasium every accomplishment that you have completed is irrelevant to employers. If you think that it is important enough to talk about in a job interview then link it to another accomplishment. “Because of this award I received junior year of high school I had the courage (or another adverb to describe what you had) to do A, B and C.” If this technique works for you… great. It is not for everyone. If you have to dig for a high school (or even freshman year) accomplishment then just stick to college. If anything, make an employer interested enough to ask you how you started accomplishment A, B, and C. The more recent the accomplishments are those that show employers where your skills are when you are interviewing. 2.  Watch the news If you are looking to be a professional in the next calendar year then you should watch the news. I am an account director at a student-run, accredited creative communication agency. There I conducted interviews for the account coordinator position. Freshman after freshman walked into the interview room and were not up-to-date on their current events, and that is kind of ok. A senior graduating with me walked into the interview room and didn’t know what was happening in the surrounding communities, let alone D.C.! Watching the news will make you appear so much more intelligent in a conversation with a future employer. My 22-year-old opinion is that you can at least have the news playing in the background. You never know when someone will talk to you about Russian politics or something happening right down the street. 3.  Watch what you say This one is probably my favorite tip to tell people who are going into an interview. It’s also the most simple: watch what you say! Allow me to illustrate this concept. There are many terms that are used in everyday speak. One of these words is retarded. Now, I hate that word. I don’t say that word in my everyday conversations, but some people do. If you were to use that word to someone who has a child, sibling, friend or anyone with special needs I guarantee that is the only part of your interview that they will remember. That is an extreme example, but a good one. I honestly would not even say “poor” in an interview. There are terms that make you sound smarter and not sound like a jackass. Here’s a few words to use instead of controversial terms: Retarded â€" Special needs (If you are using that word in a derogatory just excuse yourself from the interview) Poor â€" Middle class or lower socioeconomic background Spoiled â€" Privileged   or gifted 4.  Show up on time You should show up on time for interviews, dinner, class, appointments, dates, personal time… you get the picture. Be on time, or I will assume you are a goober. 5. When an interviewer asks you to tell them about a time you learned a lesson do not talk about alcohol, drugs or sex You would be surprised at home many applicants think this is appropriate. I believe that it is alright to say something like “I had a beer (single) with my dad on my 21st birthday and that was memorable.” I get that. If you’re 20 though…? No. If you blacked out and drunkenly called your dad on you 21st birthday… no. Keep that to yourself. 6.  Have a unique question ready When you are asked if you have any questions at the end of an interview take this time to put some personality in your interview. I had a friend ask an employer “If you were a Disney princess which one would you be?” Granted, that question isn’t for all employers, but you can use your better judgment from the interviewers emotions in the interview.

Friday, May 8, 2020

What To Look For In An Entry Level Project Manager Resume

What To Look For In An Entry Level Project Manager ResumeWhen looking for an entry level project manager resume, it's important to remember that there are many things that you have to consider when looking for a job. For example, there are several things that a person might think of when they want to find a job, but to know what's important when looking for an entry level job, you have to know what is important. Fortunately, this can be done easily by just taking the time to look at the required job requirements and asking yourself what it is that you are looking for.The first thing that you should do when looking for an entry level project manager resume is to look at the requirements that are stated in the job description. These are very simple and straightforward. It doesn't matter whether the job is in a company or whether it is for government agencies. If the job description states that the job has to be completed within 6 months of a person's graduation from college, then it's necessary to look for a job. Now, if the requirements are rather vague, it might be difficult to see why you should apply for such a job.Other information that you can look at when looking for an entry level project manager resume is where the job will be located and whether it is to be a one-year contract or whether it is a permanent position. It is important to take into consideration whether the position will involve working from home or whether it will require working in a specific office. If it involves working from home, it might be important to check the regulations that govern such jobs.Another important thing to consider when looking for an entry level project manager resume is the salary that the job requires. There are a number of entry-level jobs that can demand very low salaries, especially for those that involve working at home, so it's important to understand what the requirements are for the job. If you know what the requirements are, it might be easy to spot the job that you really want to apply for.The next thing that you can do when looking for an entry level project manager resume is to decide what the business is that you would like to work for. Now, if you're interested in working for a company that is not well known or not well known around the world, it's best to go ahead and not apply for the job.When looking for an entry level project manager resume, another consideration is what the job entails. For example, if it involves a call center that takes telephone calls and then connects them to certain internal departments, it might be necessary to take some time to really study the duties that a job requires. There are many requirements that have to be fulfilled, so it is best to spend a little time doing your research.Other factors that are important when you are looking for an entry level project manager resume are the schedule, the amount of work involved, the cost of the job, and whether or not it involves traveling. Now, when you tak e all of these factors into consideration, you will be able to make a better decision when you look for an entry level job.