Success Blog
Our bi-weekly blog is full of expert advice to help you grow, elevate, and succeed in your career and business!
 Your online presence is crucial to your professional elevation and success. I recommend having a professional LinkedIn profile that highlights all your professional experience, credentials, and expertise, but that also includes any highlights of your personal and professional life that you would like people to know about. This can include things like volunteer work, awards, professional memberships, community engagement, relevant personal hobbies and interests and media coverage you’ve received, and more.
Your LinkedIn profile is part of your Professional Brand, and it encompasses everything you have done in a professional and impressive manner in order to build a solid professional network that can help you stand out as a leader in your industry which can enhance and advance your career tremendously. There is so much you can do to enhance your LinkedIn profile professionally. I highly encourage my clients to include the following components at minimum, in addition to their professional expertise and accomplishments to establish a professional and stand out profile:
These points will take your LinkedIn profile from boring and basic to professional and impressive quickly, and will help solidify you as a leader in your industry and help you advance your career exponentially. If you need help upgrading your LinkedIn profile, or need guidance to learn how to use it effectively to grow your professional network and advance your career or business, contact us for a free consultation! https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=20190656&fbclid=IwAR0zXIrDNXWJRfL1gFj-bt0WYrmqfZxtuIuB3j5JrLX6HNuhjq5dbYUz9k0
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 Professional Biographies or “bios,” are documents that introduce your accomplishments, name, employment history, and personal passions to the right network to help elevate your career or business. A professional bio is not like a resume because it allows room to showcase the values and principles that make you stand out as a leader in your industry and gives you immediate recognition when used as a networking tool for professional growth. A professional bio can be put on your website, social media accounts, book jackets, and can also be sent as attachments via Email, Messenger, and LinkedIn when connecting with other professionals. Think of a professional bio as a marketing advertisement for yourself. As such, not only does it have to be professional, it also has to be concise, relevant, interesting, and engaging. The goal of your professional bio is the same as a professional advertisement: to capture your audience in a way that they remember you immediately for the right reasons, especially when the right opportunities present themselves that can lead to your professional advancement. This gives you a huge advantage over the competition immediately and helps you stand out as a leader in your industry consistently. What should be included in your Professional Bio? Here is a basic outline to help you get started:
A professional bio can be a powerful tool to boost your authority and credibility – to elevate your career, to help drive business, or to promote your company. It is one of the most important documents you can have in your professional toolkit. What career and business opportunities will yours open up? Need help crafting a compelling professional bio? Contact us today to learn more about our professional bio writing services! https://www.vrsuccesspath.com/contact.html  Congratulations, you got the interview! Are you prepared to Ace it? Most managers we have consulted with have told us that they have been severely disappointed by the candidates who appeared perfect on paper but did not live up to their expectations during the interview.
This happens because many people simply do not spend the necessary time to prepare! Preparation is vital because it helps you to know how to openly share the areas of your background that are most relevant to the position, and to your prospective employer. Preparation also helps you relieve the stress so you can walk into the interview confident and relaxed, which is important if you want to land the job! Here are five helpful tips to help you prepare before your next job interview to improve your comfort level, so you can show them exactly why you are perfect for the job. 1. Research, research, research! It goes without saying that you should find out everything you can about your potential place of employment ahead of time. But we don’t mean just boring facts, history, and figures! Visit their social media pages to see if you can gather a feel for their overall culture, dress code, outings, events, etc. Little tidbits of information about how the company operates their day-to-day internal operations really help you get aligned with their company culture ahead of time, and will instantly portray to the employer that you would be a good fit, which is what they are looking for in the first place. 2. Know Who Is Interviewing You! Do your best to find out who you will be meeting with, whether it is an HR rep, your potential boss, or the company director. This is important to know because the interview answers and topics should vary based on the person you are speaking with, and by knowing who you will be talking to, you can think about how to connect with them during the interview. For example, a company’s executive will be focused on the larger picture, so you would want to focus on talking about a few big results, instead of small projects you have worked on. In contrast, if you’re talking with your potential supervisor you will want to show exactly how you plan to operate the day-to-day responsibilities of the job. 3. Let Your Personality Shine! If you made it this far, then you obviously did a great job impressing the interviewers with your outlined skills and accomplishments on your resume and cover letter. On top of wowing them with your experience and education, try to also sprinkle some of your personality into the conversation. This helps the interviewer to assess if you would get along with other employees and are a good overall candidate for the company. 4. Ask Questions!! You may already know that asking questions is essential during an interview, but you may not know that you should not leave them all until the end. During the interview, you should be actively engaged in discussion, so do your best to ask questions naturally, as the topics surface. You may also find that some questions will be answered as the interview unfolds, so try to come prepared with at least 10 questions ahead of time. At the end of the interview, always ask the housekeeping type questions, such as “When will you be making your hiring decision?” 5. Say yes to the glass of water! If your interview is in person, you may be offered tea, coffee, water, pop, whatever…TAKE IT! Even if you only take a few sips, always say yes to the offer of a beverage! This is important because it will help you stay relaxed, and after 30 minutes of talking, you will be so glad you did! Not only that, but accepting the drink is the natural thing to do. When you visit a friend’s home you have no problem taking a refreshing glass of water and doing the same during your job interview will show them that you are confident enough to be comfortable sharing 40+ hours per week with them. Interviews are a big deal! Just remember to relax, know the company, and shine bright like the diamond you are! If you need more assistance to prepare for an upcoming interview, please contact us! We offer extensive industry-specific Professional Interview Preparation checklists, support, packages and practice opportunities, to help you reach your highest potential and land that amazing job!  A professional Cover Letter is a must when applying for any professional position. You wouldn’t wear just one shoe to a job interview so don’t send your Resume without an accompanying and coordinating professional Cover Letter. Think of your cover letter as a strategic tool to entice employers to consider you for an interview. Therefore, it has to stand out from the rest. Because hiring managers review dozens of job applications every day, they look for specific content in cover letters that tell them the most about the candidate and meet their professional expectations.
The purpose of a cover letter is to introduce you to a prospective employer through a personal and professional narrative of your interests, qualifications, personality and why you are the best fit for the desired position. While your resume is the place you want to highlight and promote your career achievements, a cover letter is where you want to give the employer more insight into your attitude, personality, and work ethic. Employers use cover letters to gauge how an employee may fit within their company culture. The first thing to consider when writing your cover letter is to make sure you take the time to tailor your cover letter to the specific organization and person (if possible) you are applying to. Research the company and pay attention to the job posting carefully to be able to offer valuable insight about yourself and how you will be of benefit to their company, as well as how you will fi in their company culture. Each letter should reflect professional aspects of your personality and enthusiasm for the industry you are in. It is a great idea to mention your personal drive and passion as they pertain to the position you are seeking, and to express pride in your work as well as what led you to embark on your professional journey. A cover letter can make or break your chances of being selected for an interview. Make sure yours presents your background, expertise and personality in the best possible manner to give you the best chance of getting the interview. If you need assistance with writing your resume or cover letter, please contact us for a free consultation! https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=20190656&appointmentType=15716195&fbclid=IwAR1aQ8Wupi8b3qm4xDFUnZVwSbm7ulwlmIXhAmIhFC2mI-UsP91v-WynYxQ |