4 Reasons Your Employees Hate Your Guts

Life is too short to hate your job. That’s what we were all told growing up and as a Millennial, we were programmed to believe we must love what we do in order to excel. Unfortunately, 60 percent of millennials are quitting the jobs they thought were the ones of their dreams. Even more, many are leaving their positions within the first three years or less. That turnover is costing companies money, time and confidence.

With that stat in mind, what can be done to curb employees from leaving? First and foremost, consider your role in their career at your office.

Employees Quit Leaders

In fact, 75 percent are quitting managers, not their job. It’s not comfortable to think about, but it is true and something a company leader needs to know. Greg Savage, an established global leader of the recruitment industry, admits that in the beginning of his career as a leader, it was easy to point fingers. When an employee quits, the first response is to look for what is wrong with them or what they could be thinking.

As a human, it’s okay to have those initial thoughts, but the next step is to learn from the loss.

“When they talk about “morale,” when they say, “communication is poor,” when they express frustration at the lack of clarity for their career progression — they are telling you that it’s the leaders they are leaving.” -Greg Savage

It’s Not Completely Hopeless

Chances are there has been a time when personality is all that got in the way. You can’t please everyone and that’s just a life thing, but there if you’re seeing a pattern in employees leaving for reasons similar to those above, you may need to consider some new habits.

Be Authentic

Nowadays, being genuine is a huge morale concern. It’s become an increasingly bigger factor in the happiness a millennial has in the company. To be authentic is to be transparent to applicants, honest about problems with employees and open to hearing the suggestions of both.

Fortunately, this is something that a leader can change right away. In meetings, open the floor to comments and suggestions and ask how your team is doing on projects. For applicants, look at your job descriptions. Are you revealing enough about the position? There may be some things you aren’t able to divulge, but being honest will always help build the trustworthiness of the company.

Encourage Success if You Want to See it

When an employee enters the office, the last thing they want is to hate being there. Unfortunately, as numbers show, this may be the case a majority of the time. Fixing this feeling probably won’t happen over night, but there are definitely some ways to go about encouraging a happier workplace.

Again, the fastest way to get on the right track is to start with the leader. Check your attitude. Do you enter the office with a less than pleasant demeanor? Well, there’s definitely been a case building forworkplace optimism. Simply bringing your smile to the office can make a difference.

You should also be communicating with your employees. Address the challenges your team is facing. That doesn’t mean you need to divulge all problems and the little intricate pieces that you are working on (not right away at least). Think of your office as a little community and you are the public relations official, because honestly, in a time of hardship, that’s exactly what you are.

Being a leader is hard, but no one ever said it would be a walk in the park. As a leader, you have to wear many faces and, above all, realize that you are sometimes the problem. Improving yourself will improve your team.

Source:RedMedia

Technorati Tags: career,jobs,office,hard,communication,boss,manager,management,numbers,faces,success,failure,metting,floor,trust,public,relationship,relation,projects,position,improve,team,problems

5 Career Mistakes You Will Regret In 10 Years

Too many of us navigate our careers like we’re paddling across a lake, not sailing across an ocean. We are short-sighted when making decisions. We focus on completing the task at hand, fighting for the next promotion, outperforming a colleague. But there are many seemingly minor actions that can have a major impact on your career’s trajectory. Ignore them and you risk arriving on a shore you didn’t choose, or worse, capsizing on an unexpected reef! Here are 5 career mistakes that can negatively impact your career down the road:

1.    Network only within your company. Most people are aware of the value of networking. Not traditional “gladhanding”, attending events just to pass out your business card, but real relationship building. Expanding your horizon with other people’s perspectives. Opening yourself up to new ideas. Building relationships that will make your day-to-day work easier and more successful. But too many people limit their networking activities to within their own company. Cultures can be quite different, as those who have worked in several companies know. Exposing yourself to truly new ideas and perspectives requires getting outside of your culture and the circle of colleagues you find most convenient to interact with. Sail more than one sea! Many of the most influential professional relationships you will have will be with those outside of your company – especially when times get tough. It may not be easy, but investing in these external relationships will pay off.

2.    Make decisions based on money. Statistics will say that no matter how much money we have, we always wish we had at least 20% more. Changing course on the promise of an incremental increase in earnings is tempting. We all find it tough to ignore a promotion, raise or even a change in company that will feed our hungry bank accounts. But over time in a career, you are paid for the impact you have had, not your title. Choose the path that provides you the most valuable experiences, develops the most significant relationships, and allows you to learn at the fastest rate, regardless of income. Prioritizing experience over income will lead to dramatically higher earnings over the long run.

3.    Avoid Failure. Over the course of a career, you will often be faced with two alternative paths – one with seemingly much higher risk. Many high performers are often frustrated by always being put into very uncertain roles, where others have failed before and success may not even seem likely. But executives manage their high potential employees like this for a reason. Difficult situations lead to accelerated growth—not just in learning about business and leadership, but in learning about yourself. Long-term success is based on gaining a combination of experiences, but also on navigating toward roles that leverage your unique strengths and passions, and steering away from those that don’t. The most difficult circumstances often precipitate to the greatest personal growth.

4.    Buy a House. That’s right, buying a house can hurt your career, particularly early on. Organizations value mobility. They want their high-potential employees to gain broad experiences. Even at the CEO level, boards look for candidates who have experience across multiple functions, multiple divisions within the company, and global exposure. It’s hard to collect those assets when you are anchored in one harbor. Buying a house locks you into a location. Sure, you think that if a great opportunity presented itself, you can always sell it. But companies today are much less likely to pay significant moving expenses. And the effort and expense involved in selling a house and relocating can be a significant headwind, causing you to pass up what may have been game-changing opportunities.

5.    Miss opportunities to help others. When you do something that creates real value for organizations or others, you will almost always be paid for it, and almost never immediately. This is a fact of life in a professional career, but not one that is widely known. In my first book, The 5 Patterns of Extraordinary Careers, our research found that the most successful professionals were over four times more likely to focus on the success of those around them than even their own success! Winning the long game in a career requires a broad base of support from peers and colleagues at every stage in your career. If you see an opportunity where your actions can truly benefit another, take the time to make it happen, without any expectation of return benefit.  Call it positive Karma or whatever you like, but over time the good will you build up will create a groundswell of support when you least expect it, but need it most.

These mistakes are relatively easy to navigate around, once you are aware that they exist. Network broadly; chart your course by experiences, not paychecks; embrace challenging situations; stay mobile and lead with generosity. By setting your sights on the distant horizon of your career, rather than the water at your prow, you won’t have to pay for these 5 career mistakes in 10 years—or ever.

By: Rick Smith

Technorati Tags: career,move,jobs,office,home,pay,opportunity,house,divisions,organization,help,chart,mistakes,positive,benefit,fame,employees,potential,sell,challange,eary,experience

4 Things Your Boss Won't Tell You About Advancing Your Career

A vice president of a financial company once told me, “Make a plan—or someone else will make one for you.” And this advice is never truer than when it comes to taking charge of your career.

If you’ve worked hard, fulfilled your responsibilities, and received positive performance reviews, then you’ve successfully followed what most people would call a career development plan. Unfortunately, that’s a far cry from what I call a career advancement plan. To make significant forward movement, you’ll need to go beyond being great at your current job—but, as I often tell clients in my leadership coaching practice, if you’re waiting on advice from your boss about how to do that, you’d be wise not to hold your breath.

Pace Productivity, Inc. found that while managers overwhelmingly cite “people management” as their most important priority, a typical mid-level manager spends a measly 3.3 hours per week managing people. Of that time, only two hours are allocated to coaching, training, and mentoring. Meanwhile, administrative tasks suck up a whopping 24% of their time. So, sure—your boss wants to help you grow. Right after he or she files travel expenses, signs off on a purchase order, and declines a meeting request.

So, to give you more reliable input for your career advancement plan, I talked to two of the smartest leaders I know: Donnell Green, global head of talent management and development with Blackrock; and Dr. Caroline Simard, associate director of diversity and leadership with the Stanford School of Medicine. They shared some key strategies that all employees should know—but aren’t always told—about moving upward.

1. Get Good Bosses

Those who have successfully advanced in the workplace—and hope to continue on that path—know that working for the right leader is the first logical step to becoming a leader. Green, for example, knew that taking charge of her career meant building a support network of coaches, mentors, and sponsors.

“Don’t go it alone,” she advises, “and give careful consideration to who is in your management chain. Work for people you respect, and get a good boss. I have built great relationships with my bosses and created value for them. Having the support of your manager can make or break a career.”

Why is a great boss so important? According to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, the best leaders provide career-boosting training, development, and coaching, and they help employees capitalize on their strengths. They also provide you with role models to emulate as you learn to lead. If you don’t know of any great talent developers in your direct management chain, ask around to discover who they are. If there’s no possibility of working directly for them, enlist them as a mentor.

2. Narrow Paths Can Be Precarious

Imagine if you tried to nurture a delicate seedling by gripping onto it so tightly that you almost squeeze the life out of it. Don’t do that to your most important career goals!

What I mean is this: You may have a very specific idea of where you want to be and what you think you need to do to get there. And if you are fortunate enough to get your manager’s input, he or she will probably prescribe your company’s pre-set career track: a narrow, linear path with fewer opportunities the higher you climb.

But according to Simard, you need to be open to adjusting that plan. “If you’re too attached to a very narrow definition of success or plan for your career, you will ignore amazing opportunities,” she warns. “Keep your eye on the goal, but don’t stand in the way of the end result. Sometimes, that means doing a task that you’re not particularly interested in. But if it’s really important to achieving your vision, it’s absolutely worth doing.”

Even in her own career plan, Simard doesn’t have a set route: “I try to have a plan, but it’s a flexible plan.”

As a president in the automotive repair industry once told me, “Choose the one thing that is most important to you in your next role—be it location, a certain function, a particular level in the organization, whether you’d like direct reports, or whatever it is—and then be as flexible as you can about the rest. You’ll be more likely to actually get that next role.”

3. Timing is Everything

In 2011, when Accenture surveyed 3,400 executives, they found that only 37% had asked for a raise, promotion, or job change, but of those who asked, 65% said it helped. In fact, 59% of people who asked for a promotion got one. So what’s the simplest way to get a promotion? Statistically speaking, it is to ask for one.

But no one—including your boss—is going to tell you when or how to make that request.

And according to Green, strategically timing your request is incredibly important. “The right conversation held at the wrong time can be harmful,” she warns, “as is failing to be mindful that your boss is in a bad mood or the person you’re talking to is the wrong person. Pay attention to timing and use those instincts for these conversations.”

So, consider the corporate culture of your office. When is the right time to ask for a promotion? For example, some organizations want you to indicate your interest in moving up when you sit down for your annual performance review. But in others, you would have missed the boat entirely because succession planning already took place, and candidates have already been identified to fill their superiors’ roles. In that case, six months before your review would be the ideal time to ask HR if your performance merited you a place in the succession pipeline.

To determine which approach is best, observe how others get promoted. Ask about when and how your organization handles talent development decisions like succession planning, performance evaluations, and identification of high-potential talent so you can choose the optimal time to make your request.

4. Don’t Be All Business All the Time

You might assume that your boss wants you to give 110%, all the time—but ironically, doing so could cause you to miss out on a key strategy for high performance and getting ahead. In fact, the Corporate Executive Board found that employees who believe they have good work-life balance work 21% harder than those who do not.

Simard, who leads an initiative at Stanford School of Medicine to increase work-life integration, concurs that maintaining a healthy balance is extremely important in career advancement. “Don’t ignore work-life fit,” she advises. “These two pieces need to go hand-in-hand in everything you do.”

Green agrees. “Mind the seriousness and intensity!” she says. “If you’re someone who people enjoy being around, have a sense of humor, and don’t take yourself seriously, you’ll have followership—and that followership will advance your career.” By being a role model of balance and encouraging colleagues to do the same, you’ll increase their desire to stay in their jobs, the performance of the team, and your own leadership potential.

Your own boss may not tell what you need to advance your career, and you won’t find the best strategies listed in the corporate employee handbook, either. So take it from these two pros who have seen what it takes to lead. Find a great boss, set flexible career goals, consider the timing before you ask for a promotion, and get some balance.

Source: Forbes

del.icio.us Tags: career,success,promotion,business,executive,boss,balance,jobs,office,advance,important,employee,management,mentor,opporunity,interest,narrow,vision,goal

8 COVER LETTER TIPS FOR GRADUATES WITH NO JOB EXPERIENCE

After attending college, most fresh grads go straight in seeking for a job instead of getting a new degree. But in a world where everyone else seems like in a race track chasing for their preferred career, it will be hard for someone who doesn’t have any experience to reach the finish line. However, if all companies refuse to hire those who are inexperienced, how will the new graduates qualify for a job? To answer that question, here are some tips on how to write cover letter for resume.

Tip #1. In writing your cover letter, make it as reader friendly as possible but with a sense of professionalism. A single page cover letter is good enough.

Tip #2. Irrelevant information must never be included. Make it specific yet concise. Include the position you are applying for, and specify how you obtained the information regarding the job opening. If they have no vacant position, state why you are interested working in the company.

Tip #3. Since you have no employment record yet, focus on your skills that may qualify you for working in the said company. Don’t mention any weaknesses. Accentuate only the positive side and don’t allow any loophole in your cover letter. Your goal should be to get an interview.

Tip #4. Avoid being too creative by using scented papers and customizing the fonts. Remember that you are writing for a job application. Instead, use a standard format for a business letter. Be as formal as possible and avoid using abbreviations.

Tip #5. In online application, on the other hand, the job title must be the subject of your electronic mail. But if you’re only applying for an available position, just put the word ‘resume’ together with your name. Writing an electronic cover letter is just the same as with a hard copy.

Tip #6. It is much better if you have researched for the job description for you to be guided on what to put on your letter.

Tip #7. The introduction of your cover letter must briefly describe how you got the information regarding the job or the company, including your career objective and how it is related to your application. The next paragraph must state your educational attainment, skills, and trainings in relevance to the job.

While in the final paragraph, your contact information must be stated such as email address or phone number. And don’t forget to mention that you are looking forward for an interview. Also thank the employer for spending time reading your application letter.

Tip #8. Avoid discussing your desired salary in the letter, unless you will be asked during the interview.

If you don’t have any employment history doesn’t mean you can no longer land on your desired position. By knowing how to write cover letter for resume, you will direct the employer’s attention to your skills and other qualifications rather than on your lack of practice.

del.icio.us Tags: career,fresher,advice,learning,employment,attention,skills,qualification,practice,jobs,salary,standard,format,letter,application,email,mail

Six Ideas For A More Productive Work Day

As the new year begins, a lot of you are probably evaluating 2013 to figure out what worked and what didn’t. For me (and most of my co-workers), the last year was a roller coaster: the startup I co-founded, Ministry of Supply, took off and our customer base more than quintupled. As I became more and more busy, I tried to experiment to find out how I could become more productive and keep up with the workload. I tried it all, from scheduling 15-minute meetings to not taking any meetings; from sleeping less to sleeping more.

In the end, I found that my well-being and happiness at the workplace are the things that are most correlated with productivity for me. Here’s how I keep healthy, happy and as productive as possible at work:

1. Work out regularly. My best ideas come to me when I’m running along the Charles River, not when I’m looking at a blank Word document. Over the years, I’ve learned to embrace this: instead of forcing myself to stay in the office all day, I force myself to get up from my desk and run. I work out regularly during the day, right when I find myself fading. I’ve made sure that everyone at the office knows that it’s a ritual that makes me more productive and creative. We’re an active group at Ministry of Supply, so it’s not a hard sell!
2. Take meetings outside the office. Given that I’m not the only one at the office who likes activity during my workday, I’ve made it a point to schedule some meetings in conjunction with exercise classes. My Customer Experience team goes to yoga together weekly. This enables us to leave the office, be active, and have off-the-cuff conversations on topics that likely wouldn’t have come up if we were meeting in a conference room.
3. Mix it up. During the day, you can typically find me working from our kitchen, from the couches, from my desk, or holed up by myself in a conference room. Most people aren’t productive working from the same place all day, every day. Find out where works best for you. It may depend on the time of day or the task you’re doing.
4. Bring your dog to work. I’m happiest when my dog, Cody, is by my side. When I first started bringing him to work, I was worried it would be too much of a distraction, but I’ve found it’s the opposite. He gives me a great excuse to get up from my computer and take a walk around the block or play tug-of-war. Even if you don’t have a dog, taking regular breaks from work to get some movement and play within the day does wonders for both your productivity and your outlook.
5. Evaluate work output, not desk time. Everyone has different work styles, and it’s easy to forget that your style may not work for everyone.  At Ministry of Supply, we have people who are most productive working from a coffee shop or from their bed. By building a culture where people are evaluated on their work output — not on their time at their desk — we’ve been able to ensure that everyone works in a manner which is most productive for them.
6. Set aside distraction-free blocks for creative work. I find that I do my best creative work when I set aside time specifically for that work and am free from email distractions. I typically set aside a meeting-free Tuesday, where I can fully concentrate on creative work. This enables me to fully immerse myself in the project and almost always results in a better output.

I’ve been extremely lucky. As a founder, I’ve been able to create an office space and a work culture at Ministry of Supply that is flexible, varied and dog-friendly. But no matter how constrained or liberal your office culture is, don’t be afraid to experiment and find changes to help make your 2014 the most productive year yet.

By: Kit Hickey [Co-Founder of Ministry of Supply]

del.icio.us Tags: effeciency,productive,day,work,office,output,distraction,creative

How To Communicate Executive Presence

According to a new year-long study by the Centre for Talent Innovation, leadership potential is signalled through an employee's gravitas, communication skills and appearance. The following six communication skills were deemed the most important by director-level executives and above.

No. 1: Excellent Public Speaking

Great speaking skills were identified as the most important communication requirement. Leaders must be able to speak well with the press, in front of groups and one-on-one.

No. 2: Ability To Command A Room

Of the executives polled, 54% said this is a top requirement for men and 49% said the same for women. Commanding a room means getting people to listen when you speak--through great speaking skills, confidence and standing tall. Moreover, if you phrase and emphasize ideas well, it will get people's attention. 

No. 3: Assertiveness

Executives believe assertiveness is equally important for men and women to attain the top jobs. It means speaking up with confidence but without being confrontational.

No. 4: Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is one's ability to make others feel valued and understood. It requires good listening skills, empathy, eye contact and evoking a positive feeling in others.

No. 5: Sense Of Humor

The report found that the ability to show a sense of humor and excel at off-the-cuff and casual conversations is also incredibly important. This requires the ability to read an audience and also have a basic understanding of the latest news and pop culture headlines.

 

No. 6: Good Posture And Body Language

Nonverbal communication says a lot. Body language portraying strength and confidence signals you're leadership material. Stand tall, hold your head upright and make eye contact.

Source: Forbes

Technorati Tags: career,communication,problems,company,emational,humor,body langauge,assertiveness,hold,leadership,material

9 Ways To Keep Your Meetings Simple And Productive

Whenever a potential mission came up in the SEAL teams, we often had time to dig deep into the intelligence that supported it and develop a plan. Namely, we examined the significance of the individual we were going after, the environment in which he operated, and why removing him would prove valuable. In other situations, however, time was not on our side. Sometimes we needed to act quickly. Respond immediately. Drop whatever we were doing and head to the helicopters.

The less time we had to meet the less we could generate the level of granularity we preferred. In fact, there were numerous missions we conducted where we simply had no plan but to go out, stir the pot, and see what happened.

These plan-less missions were oftentimes the best ones because they were simple. As a team, we quickly assembled to discuss the mission’s objective, the desired end state, and to highlight the roles and responsibilities of each team member along a loose timeline. At any rate, those meetings were the most effective because they were clear, concise, and purposeful. In other words, they were simple–simple by design and simple in execution.

 

Both in business and in war, second chances are hard to come by (if existent at all), which is why maximizing the time in meetings is crucial to operating efficiently. Here are nine ways to keep your meetings simple–and coming out with a “win” at the end:

Stand up. Yes, stand on your feet the entire time and watch the sense of urgency amongst attendees slowly rise. It’s a natural inclination to hurry-up-and-speak when you know others are standing around waiting for you to finish because they’re tired. Say your peace and move to the next person.

If you don’t have a speaking role, don’t attend. The larger the meetings the greater the amount of coordination required because more disparate interests (read politics) are involved. To minimize the degree of tactical conversations that soak up everyone’s time, speak to the situation rather than to individuals’ tasks. There’s nothing worse than a strategic leader telling his or her subordinates how to perform their duties. Leave the tactics up to those “on the ground”–the sales people who know how to sell, the designers who know how to design, and those functional specialists who iterate their expertise daily.

Set the agenda. Similar to receiving mission orders, a meeting agenda identifies the purpose for what to do and why it’s important. Knowing what the mission is and what the desired end-state looks like allows you to work backwards and implement the decision points that guide dialogue along its course and serve as check-offs along the way.  Speaking of which…

Identify decision points. These are cutoff times or “no later than” dates by which demands and orders must be fulfilled to drive future operations. When trying to think of the most likely factors that influence decisions, keep it simple. Stick with the five W’s of who, what, when, where, why, and anyone necessitating further detail can request an offline conversation.

Identify winning. Make clear the expectations that should be realized by the end of the meeting so that attendees have a goal to aspire towards. Each participant should know why his or her attendance is important and to what part of the agenda they contribute.

Use a minimum sized font. For update meetings, restrict participants to using one slide only (if Powerpoint is your thing). Doing so forces presentations to be concise and highlight macro-level content rather than diving into the weeds about daily tactics. If you need more detail, then an alternative setting is probably better suited. Also, for sake of people in the back who already wear glasses, don’t make the font any smaller just so you can squeeze more content onto the slide. In fact, make it a rule to use only 14 point font or higher.

Take notes. For the same reason that sharing knowledge is power, reviewing that knowledge keeps you powerful. It keeps you informed about what the current context so you can be informed—and informative.

Offer details, but not specifics. Provide enough guidance for what the objectives are without being overly specific as to how to achieve them. Doing so only stifles creativity and implies an unspoken rule to conform. The amount of detail will also vary with each meeting according to the participants involved (i.e. experience levels, competence).

Meetings are oftentimes painful, but they don’t have to be. Everybody has work to do and objectives to carry out, so having a plan before entering the typical meeting mayhem only helps improve productivity for everyone involved.

Source: Jeff Boss [Forbes]

del.icio.us Tags: career,meetings,behaviour,attitude,management,jobs,office,productive,efficient

10 Essential SEO Terms You Should Know

New to SEO? Understand the lingo with these 10 fundamental SEO terms.

If you're new to SEO, you'll find that the terminology is a language all on its own. Improve your SEO vocabulary and knowledge with these 10 essential SEO terms.
Anchor text - Anchor text is the SEO industry's term for hyperlinked text, being that it is the anchor to the link. Anchor text is prevalent because SEO's found that by using keyword rich anchor text, it could help enhance rankings. While it is okay to optimize anchor text internally (as long as it's relevant and isn't excessive) optimizing anchor text for articles and press releases that will be distributed at larger scales could be considered a link scheme. Best practice is to keep anchor text natural in any articles or press-releases.
Title tag - A title tag, or page title is a tag in the .html denoted by <title>. The title tag represents the page's title and can be seen on the tabs in your browser or in the headline of a search result. Title tags help both the search engines and internet users identify what your pages are about. Best practice for title tags is to create unique, relevant  titles for each one of your pages.

Meta description - A meta description is another .html tag, but its purpose is to describe the page. While meta descriptions do not have any effect on rankings, they can help increase click-through rates since they do show up in the search results. Like title tags, it's important to have unique, relevant descriptions for each page and make sure to include a call-to-action!

301 redirect - When you delete pages or change URLs, they don't just dissipate into the digital universe. So when users try to search for a URL that no longer exists, they receive a 404 error, or 'Not Found' page. To avoid confusing users and to pass on any ranking authority from retired pages, it is best practice to use a 301 redirect. 301 redirects will redirect users and search engines from the old URL to another active page that you specify.
SERP - SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. A SERP is what is returned to you after typing in a search query. In essence, it's a page of results after you search. SERP is a coined SEO term that you'll hear frequently.

Keyword - Keyword is another term that is used a lot in SEO. A keyword or keyword phrase is a word or set of words that exemplify the brand, its services, or products. Keywords are important because they help users and the search engines better identify what your webpages are about . Using relevant keywords in your title tags, headlines and throughout your content can help to give the search engines a better idea of what your page is about. Just be careful not to overuse keywords, or it can actually hurt your rankings.
Indexing - Indexing is the search engines' process for collecting and storing data across the web. The search engines are constantly scouring the web for updated and new pages to add to their massive databases of information. When the search engines do find new pages, they 'index' it, meaning they add a copy of it to their database, so that they can retrieve it during searches.  
Links - There are two types of links that you will hear SEO's talk about. Internal and external. Internal links are links that occur between pages inside of your website. For example, all links on the navigation bar of your website are internal links. External links are links coming or going from your website, either someone has linked to your website, or yours to theirs.
Both link structures are important, although links coming to your website are seen as more of an authority signal. Best practice for links is to have an organized and convenient internal link structure, so that both users and search engines can easily find your pages. A good rule of thumb to follow is that every page should be at most two clicks away from the homepage. For external links, it's important to create great content that users would want to link to. Any unnatural links or link schemes could end up in a penalty.
Rel="author" - Google's Authorship Markup, also known as rel="author" is a tag that is used to associate authors with their Google+ profiles. This helps to put a face behind your brand, can help increase click-through rates in the search engines, promote thought leadership and can be seen as a ranking signal to Google.  Rel="author" is a great tool for any author that creates content online and has many benefits.
Canonical URL - Canonical URLs are used in cases where there is duplicate content. Say you sell a product that comes in several different colors, and you have a page for each of those colors. The search engines wouldn't be sure which one to index since they're all the same, so by using a canonical link you are able to specify which page should take precedence in the search engines. While it is not a guarantee, it is best practice when you have multiple pages with very similar or identical content.
While that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to SEO, these terms give a general understanding of some of the fundamentals of SEO. Still have some unanswered questions? We'd be happy to clear them up. Contact us anytime and pick our brains!

del.icio.us Tags: jobs,SEO,business,google,search

Source:Titan SEO

How To Nail An Interview, In 6 Simple Charts

You landed an interview. Congratulations! Now what?

Against all the odds, you’ve gotten an interview. A machine, an intern (or if you’re really lucky, your potential supervisor), read and did not immediately set your resume on fire or on the compost heap. The job is real and it looks like it pays actual money. The position is open and you’re both willing and able to do it. It’s all very shocking.

This freakish alignment of events means just one last hurdle stands between you and the job: the interview. Now what?

The Five Standard Ups
There are thousands of articles on interview techniques. Let me summarize them all for you rather tersely:

• Tidy up: use some soap and deodorant, and try not have a hair out of place.
• Dress up: wear something professional and inoffensive.
• Read up: know the job and the company.
• Show up: be present and attentive to your interviewer.
• Follow up: send a thank-you note or further questions to reiterate your interest.

These are the five standard "ups" of interviewing, the super-obvious things we all have to do. To reference "Wheel of Fortune," these are the RSTLNE of the interview game. They are the bare minimum requirements to get through your appointment.

So what can you do to stand out from all the other clean, professional, qualified, capable, and committed applicants? Just one thing: be interesting. How to do that? Take each of the ordinary ups, and spin it.

Let yourself be little rough around the edges.

Perfection is for robots. Imperfection is human. Maybe you bite your nails. Maybe you have an interesting scar. Maybe you have a foreign-in-this-corner-of-the-world accent. Talk about what makes you, well, you--you’ll feel less tense and your interviewer will appreciate your authenticity (that’s corporate code for humanity).

Be a little unprofessional.

You know what is the least professional thing in the world? Emotion. For all the talk in the business realm about passion and dedication and grit, showing any of those emotions as anything more than a bullet point is frowned upon. So let some emotion out. Admit you care about something beyond your job description, or that you’re working for something bigger than your paycheck. Your interviewers have feelings, too (and if they don’t, you should not accept any job or piece of candy they offer you).

Read about anything other than the job.

The most awkward of all silences is the silence between sentences of an uncomfortable interview. Being able to change the subject, to interject an anecdote, or to break the silence with a bit of random information is a magnificent skill. Scan the headlines before your interview. Your ability to change subjects might just be the difference between an offer letter and perpetual HR silence.

Pay attention to the other people in the company.

Sure, you’re there to see someone specifically, but you need to observe and talk to others in the building while you’re there. Is anyone crying behind the dumpster? Are people laughing without fear of reprimand? Is the receptionist giving you a real or forced smile? You can learn a lot about a company by reading the body language of the people who work in it--then ask your interviewer about what you see. Your perceptiveness will be appreciated, especially when you comment on the positives.

Follow up, honestly, with yourself.

Now, the hardest question: Do you still want that job? Be honest. Be real. You may have impressed everyone you met and made a magnificent impression. You may get an offer, but is it still right for you? Are the people you met actually people you want to spend any more time with? Are you really ready to trade your time for what they are offering you? Sit with these questions before you send your thank you note. It might just be a "thanks, but no thanks," letter.

del.icio.us Tags: career,job,interview,discussion,success,time,skills,company,talent,new,start

Source:FastCo

5 Ways to Make Sure You Know What the Heck Is Happening In Your Company

Speed and access matter, whether you're streaming on Netflix or conducting daily business in your office. Like many of you, I've watched the Net Neutrality debate with great interest. The idea of big players paying for special access ruffles my entrepreneurial feathers, to say the least, and it got me to thinking about the flow of information within my own company.

It really bothered me yesterday was when two separate employees needed information from me, but felt they needed to ask someone else to ask me, rather than ask me directly. That's inefficient communication -- and totally my fault.

Breaking Down Barriers

Do you have a lack of Information Neutrality right underneath your nose? How filtered is the information you receive, and how fast do you get it? And is that information only getting to you from certain people, eliminating what could be valuable diversity of perspectives?

Here are 5 strategies for making sure everyone gets what information they need so quick decisions can be made. Note to those of you who need 100 percent of the facts before making decisions: you'll never get it and often will miss opportunities while waiting for it. Get on with it!

1. Randomly attend department meetings.

You'll learn what's being prioritized, sure. But also watch interactions to see if people are speaking up and debating, or just agreeing with their supervisor. See whether managers are seeking input by asking questions, coaching, and by not making declarations.

2. Walk around asking questions.

Andy Grove, the CEO of Intel, wrote in High Output Management that "information-gathering is the basis of all other managerial work." We all know that it's essential to be seen, but your "Management by (Simply) Walking Around" isn't enough. Make your strolls valuable by asking two basic questions: What's working? What's not working? This will be the fastest way to acquire information before problems arise. But be wary that it might be incomplete, and keep asking questions from other sources before making conclusions.

3. Get regular reports.

We all get reports on sales, process, and variances, and they form benchmarks for recognizing trends and making decisions. Recognize that the preparer and even you have confirmation bias that might skew the report itself and your conclusions from it. Constantly test a report's validity.

4. Hold one-to-one meetings.

Regularly schedule time with your direct reports, and ensure that your direct reports are doing the same with theirs. Ask questions and learn what's getting in their way and how you can help. If you think you don't have time for monthly meetings, or don't need them because you bump into your staff often, you're missing the point. These are not operational meetings so much as they are meant to understand the feelings and thinking of your folks. These types of discussions rarely happen without setting aside uninterrupted time.

5. Keep your organization flat.

Hierarchies are anathema to streamlined information. By the time information reaches you it might be too late. Make sure people are comfortable going straight to the top.

Source: Inc

del.icio.us Tags: learning,career,advice,communication,company,job,information,reports,organization,meetings