Graduating College? Here is Something to Consider.

Getting hired right out of college is becoming tougher and tougher. Studies show that over half of recent college graduates are unemployed or underemployed. Many college graduates think getting a job out of college is all about your major and GPA; however, there are many other factors involved in getting a job fresh out of college.

Make sure you develop skills you won’t necessarily learn in the classroom. Employers are looking for graduates who are self-motivated, able to work in a team, and are willing to take risks. These skills can be learned through extracurricular activities and internships, so take advantage of these opportunities.

Don’t necessarily look for your dream job. Keep an open mind to all job opportunities and focus on what can get you to your dream job. It is not often that a fresh college graduate with limited experience will get the “perfect” position, you have to pay your dues and show employers you can the job. If you go for these stepping stone jobs, you will have a better chance of landing one, and still be on track to achieving your career goals.

Contact us at info@connorcaitlin.com for tips and tricks to developing your business skills.

Look At That Confidence!

Have you ever noticed how most successful people are extremely confident? This is because in order to achieve your goals, you have to be confident in your own abilities!  People who lack that intrinsic confidence doubt their abilities to overcome obstacles, giving up on their goals too early. Finding ways to boost your confidence can be the key to achieving your goals whether they be academic, professional, or other.

Make sure you learn your strengths and weaknesses. Understanding what your strengths allows you to focus on tasks you know you can complete, boosting your confidence exponentially. Your weaknesses often are what bring your confidence down, but if you know what they are you can strengthen them, reducing their negative impact.

To build your confidence, you should find ways to celebrate small victories. While they may not seem like much, if you enjoy small achievements, you will have more motivation to complete future tasks. These compound, motivating you to complete even more tasks, and a series of these small victories can boost your confidence for months.

While confidence is definitely important towards achieving your goals, you don’t want to be arrogant. Confidence is based in reality and what you have actually accomplished, while arrogance is simply bragging about yourself. Being too confident makes you feel as if you can’t fail, significantly reducing your effort, which will inevitably lead to failure.

So have confidence in your own abilities, and continue taking the world by storm!

If you have any questions, or want some more development tips, please contact Connor|Caitlin Talent Solutions.

www.connorcaitlin.com 

I Want to Change the World

In a recent LinkedIn article “10 Cherished Beliefs of Highly Successful People,” Read Here the tenth belief is “They believe they can change a small slice of the world – and will.”

Entirely too many people have decided they cannot make a difference. They think “What could I possibly do to change the world? I’m only one person.” Steve Jobs said, “The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do.” So be crazy; believe you can change the world.

Whoever decided that in order to change the world you had to come up with the solution to world hunger or create everlasting world peace? Why can’t changing the world be as simple as volunteering at your local soup kitchen once a week, or becoming a big brother or big sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America? Heck, why can’t changing the world be helping with the fight for equal pay for women, or solving a reoccurring problem in your office?

Perhaps these suggestions are not as glamorous as solving world hunger, but we cannot all be Norman Borlaug. We can all make a difference though. Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Start there. Simply think about what you want to change in the world and what you can change in your daily life to help start that change.

At this point you may be wondering what on earth changing the world has to do with business or talent solutions. Change is constant. It is continuously happening all around us. If you are not the one influencing change in your company, community, country, world, who is? Someone is, there are people changing the world right now while you’re reading this. Just ask yourself, why not you?

Connor | Caitlin would love to discuss changes with you and your company’s talent changing the world. Contact us at info@connorcaitlin.com.

Video Marketing; a Visual Strategy

The goal of all methods of advertisement is to make your business stand out from your competitors and be chosen by consumers. Most businesses constantly have the struggle of wanting to stand out, while keeping in mind staying within a budget for their marketing efforts. Advertising your business in such a divided market space today can get pricey.

A simple and easy advertisement strategy is video marketing. According to comScore, about 45% of Internet users viewed at least one video per month. This isn’t too surprising since the Internet has become so dominant in today’s society.  Video marketing captures the user’s attention and allows you to deliver your message in a way that everyone can comprehend.

There are many statistics that have proven video marketing is even more effective than the more popular forms of advertisement. First off, “90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60K times faster in the brain than text” according to Zabisco. About 52% of consumers state that they are more confident in the company or product after watching a video, according to Invodo. Now this number may be a bit surprising, but according to Orion 21 there is an 800% increase in conversation on websites with videos versus those without.

Video marketing encourages mobile users to share videos, use the video content, and take action. However, it’s important to remember to keep your video short and to the point. Your video should be about one to two minutes long, but nothing over two minutes because after that viewers often lose interest. Video marketing is a smart advertising tactic because it’s easy, inexpensive, and powerful.

Please contact info@connorcaitlin.com for more tips on how to market your company.  

The Question Everyone Hates

“What is your biggest weakness?” This question is asked in almost every job interview. It is the question that makes most candidates lie, or at least give a very weak answer. This can be a dreaded part of any interview.   

I am about to drop a truth bomb on you, so prepare yourselves. Everyone is flawed. I know, it’s crazy that you are not the only not perfect person, but it is true. I realize that everyone knows this, but that raises the question why do we feel like we all have to be? It is perfectly fine to not be perfect. It makes you human, and it might even make you more likeable.

Being honest when you answer this question shows you have humility and know that you can make improvements on yourself. If you can talk about your goals to fix your weaknesses, that is even better. Now if you really want to impress the interviewers, tell them how the role you are interviewing for will help you fulfill your goals towards improvement.

It’s okay to have flaws, and it is okay to admit them. Whether you need some work on time management, procrastination, or even need to improve your planning skills, that is okay. The important thing is to be aware of your flaws and strive to become better. Play on your strengths and use them to help you in your weaknesses.

Next time you get the dreaded question, you will be ready to answer with confidence. Admit your flaw, explain your goal to fix it, outline your plan to meet the goal, and tell them how the new position will help. You will knock it out of the park!

For tips on how to better answer interview questions, contact us at info@connorcaitlin.com.

Awesome People, Here’s Why You NEED to Fill Out Your LinkedIn Profile

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there are 27.9 million small businesses and 18,500 firms with more than 500 employees. Due to such a large number of employers, there is sure to be overlap in the meaning of job titles causing the titles to be completely ambiguous. They lack clarity, true meaning and concrete value.

Essentially, your job title does not matter. Sure, some titles are universally recognized, but that does not mean that each person with that title does the same thing. As an example, let us examine the title “sales manager.”

Just looking at three different LinkedIn profiles of people with the current title “sales manager,” you can find three very different jobs. The first profile has no direct reports and manages a sales territory including only two cities. The next profile manages four to six sales associates in a territory covering three states. The last profile manages a sales force of 21 and is in charge of all their training. These three people have very different backgrounds, but they all have the same title. Each person has an excellent profile with details of each of their past positions, so you can tell what each of them really did.

When a recruiter or hiring manager is looking to fill a position, it is crucial that they be able to easily view past history in order to find you. You are awesome. Companies will want to hire you, but if you are not giving them the right information, they cannot even find you. Do yourself a huge favor, and complete as much of your LinkedIn profile as possible. Your dream job could be out there just waiting for you to fill in the details.

If you have questions about how to best fill out your LinkedIn profile, contact us at info@connorcaitlin.com.

Who moved my cheese? Who cares - I'm moving on to wine!

Change is always on the horizon.  It’s necessary and inevitable. Often times, we really want the change but then are confused by our own response to the reality of it. It may be a change in your environment, career move or physical move. Whatever the circumstance, change prompts a powerful response from your emotions – often known as stress!  Identifying whether it’s positive or negative is really determined by your attitude. Instead of trying to fight it or merely cope (all of which will leave you frustrated, isolated and exhausted) try adjusting your mindset altogether! 

Before you say, “Easier said than done!” ponder these thoughts:

Ø  Denial is not a river in Egypt. Acknowledge change is happening. Burying your head in the sand won’t stop it. By the time you pull it out, you’ll be behind the curve or perhaps worse, have missed the boat entirely. "When you're finished changing, you're finished." It may be an old adage, but damn if Ben Franklin isn’t right.

Ø  Think of change as a process. Change usually doesn’t happen overnight, nor do you adjust overnight. There are many steps which must be taken to get to the other side of the mountain. Fortunately, all you have to do is focus on one step at a time.

Ø  Rise to the positive. If you choose to perceive anything as positive, it can be! You will thrive in positivity. Keeping your chin up will help you feel better and bring you closer to those around you, which will probably help your transition.

Ø  Redefine routines and success. The definition of success varies for every individual, every relationship and in every career. It is likely that success in your last career doesn’t look the same as your new one. In the beginning set short term goals & define success on a daily basis. As you start to achieve this many days in a row, define success on a weekly basis, then monthly. From here you will be able to identify long term goals without getting overwhelmed at how much work it will take to get there.

Ø  Have an attitude of gratitude. Change is an opportunity. It opens a door that you couldn’t even see existed from where you stood before! Find things to be excited about and look forward too.

Don’t forget to engage your support network. Communicating is key during this time! Not tapping into support from a leader, mentor, family or friends will only serve to help you feel more isolated. Remember the positive!

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. - Socrates

Please contact a Practice Leader at  Connor|Caitlin for more information.