In addition to being a place to share information you want people to know about you, social media is still a great place to learn about opportunities for new jobs. Jobvite’s 2019 Job Seeker Nation Survey indicates that 35 percent of respondents found job postings on social media, 50 percent heard about jobs from friends and 37 percent learned about opportunities from professional networks. The numbers show how important social networking tools are to your job search.

Assess: Review your social media goals

No matter how much (or little) time you spend using social media tools to enhance your online reputation, assess what you want people to know about you? What is the most important thing for them to learn? What feeling do you want them to have? Is there something you do NOT want them to know? What do you want them to DO when they land on your profile? Take the time to audit your profiles to ensure you’re putting out the right messages.

Ask a friend or a coach what they think when they visit your social media profiles and when they look at your streams of information. Make sure you aren’t missing the mark when it comes to shaping a reputation you want to own.

Google Yourself

At least a few times a year, you should Google your own name. You want to know what comes up when people search for you online. What pictures show up? Are they of you? Is there someone who has your name and comes up before you online, even in LinkedIn? Make a note of things that show up high in search, and make a point to spend extra time making those things the best they can be. For example, LinkedIn likely comes up high in search. Manage your profile there first, before you spend time anywhere else online.)

Update Your LinkedIn Headline

When is the last time you reviewed your LinkedIn profile?  Make sure to include new accomplishments and look over your materials with fresh eyes. LinkedIn made changes that could impact your headline length — it can now be as long as 220 characters. Use the extra space to target your audience and incorporate keywords to attract people to your profile.

Be sure you keep everything consistently updated. If you update LinkedIn, be sure to also update your resume.

Audit Your LinkedIn Profile

Have you updated the image behind your LinkedIn photo? This banner makes an impression when someone lands on your profile. Make sure you customize this with something that makes sense for your expertise. You can create a visual easily by using Canva.com, a free design tool.

If you haven’t updated your LinkedIn profile in a while, you may not have set up the “Open to Work” section that asks about your business information. This is the “bat signal” to recruiters to let them know you are open to being contacted.

Edit this business information by selecting the prepopulated category that matches your expertise. Fill in business focus areas, and then select if you want that information to be public or not. If your profile is public, LinkedIn points out that anyone can see what you selected, which is the whole point of this exercise, after all!

If you choose to allow all LinkedIn members to see your choices, LinkedIn will add the open to work image to your profile picture.

LinkedIn’s “Brag Book”

LinkedIn gives you a brag book area! This “Featured” section is a place to include your best work samples, such as:

• LinkedIn posts that you’ve created or re-shared.
• Articles that you’ve authored and published on LinkedIn.
• Links to external websites, for example, your personal blog or portfolio.
• Media that you can upload, for example, your images, documents, presentations and videos.

Review Your Experience and Skills Sections

The Experience section is also critically important. This is where you list your various job titles and indicate what you have accomplished in each of your positions.

Make the most of the title sections. You have 100 characters to leverage in each job title spot!

Don’t forget to populate your skills section with 50 specially selected skills! You can also take skills tests and add them to your profile.

Audit Your Settings

No matter how much great work you do on your LinkedIn profile, if your backend settings aren’t properly set up, people will not be able to access what you have to offer and to learn about you! To review and update your backend updates, click on the dropdown right below your little photo of you on the right side of the screen on your desk or laptop.

Select Settings and privacy, and review every question! In most cases, the choice that is more “public” and less “hidden” is what you will want to select.

On the other hand, to discourage people from using your LinkedIn profile as a launching point to see other profiles, you may choose to select “NO” for “Viewers of this profile also viewed” – this is one way to help prevent people from getting distracted and jumping to other, likely similar, LinkedIn profiles once they find your profile.

One other thing to watch for under the Microsoft Word setting: you probably do NOT want to allow your job descriptions to auto-populate templates on Microsoft word resumes.

Don’t miss the “Mentions or tags by others” setting. Unless you are famous and might be inundated by tags, it is nice to allow people to mention you in a way that you are notified in their LinkedIn updates and comments.

Finally, as you scroll to the bottom of this section, you’ll see that you can block and hide. In particular, I suggest you allow EVERYONE to follow you on LinkedIn to help make your profile more visible.

When you allow people to follow you, it will make any effort you put forth to improve your profile more worthwhile, as it opens the opportunity for more people to access your content on LinkedIn and to see your updates.

Un-follow

Is your LinkedIn feed getting too spammy?  Weed out people you don’t want to hear from. In LinkedIn, you can block people (which means you won’t see their updates, and they won’t see your content, either). LinkedIn won’t notify the blocked people! (Just click on the arrow next to the endorse button on their profile.)

Change Your Password

If you have trouble keeping track of passwords, you can use a password management program such as LastPass. Also, be sure you are using your personal email for LinkedIn; it’s not a good idea to use a work email or an email you never check!

Engage

How are you engaging on LinkedIn?

Post content! LinkedIn rewards people for creating content on the network. You will be more likely to be found in a search via LinkedIn if you are active on the platform. Don’t waste this opportunity to interact with your network. Share useful posts and comment on news and informational articles. Post blogs on LinkedIn if you have news to share or wish to comment on what is going on in your industry. Don’t forget to ‘Like’ and “Share’ updates that members of your network post. This helps get you on their radar screen and can also help introduce you to people who follow them and the comments on their posts.

LinkedIn still has groups, even if they are harder to find than they were in the past. Find groups by typing keywords into LinkedIn’s search bar and selecting “groups” as the search category.

If you could use some help updating your LinkedIn profile to ensure you are well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities and that you aren’t missing out on the chance for employers to find -and hire you – check out my special offer.

Are you trying to keep up with people on Facebook, but you never seem to see their updates? Perhaps you aren’t seeing the updates from companies you want to see. Or, you want to see more of your friend’s vacation photos, but you’re seeing another friend’s political posts instead. Did you know you can influence what you see in your Facebook feed?

What can you do to keep up with the information you want to see — even if it is from companies. 

Maybe you enjoy viewing updates from organizations and companies, or from certain career experts, right? How can you ensure you see what YOU want to see? Click on the arrow in the top, right side of your Facebook profile and select Settings & Privacy (see the column image here).

Then, choose “News Feed Preferences.” Select the “See First” option. You will see a list populated by pages you follow first, but you will then see the faces of your friends.

Choose the pages you want to see. I hope you’ll choose to see Keppie Consulting “first” on Facebook.

The interesting thing many people do not know about this setting is it allows them to choose to prioritize businesses and people whose streams they want to see first. So, if you’ve been missing images from a dear friend who does not often post, or they are waiting for news from a particular contact via Facebook, you can let Facebook know what they want to see first.

If you have a business, consider leveraging the clever way I have seen to help inspire people to follow through with making this change to their settings is for businesses. Ask people, “Who is in your ‘See First’ settings?” Let people who follow you know that they can control their newsfeed and request they include your business, company or organization in their priority list. You may be doing them a favor, and you could experience an improved reach as a result.

For more advice on how to make the most of Facebook and other social media tools to enhance your business or personal brand, contact me!

For example, if your entire resume is filled with healthcare experience and you’re now seeking a position in law enforcement, it’s up to you to show the employer how important and relevant the skills you used in the past are for your new target jobs.

How can you be sure the employer knows you are perfect for the job? Follow the following advice to help showcase your transferable skills, and no one will question if you are qualified. 

Identify your skills. You can’t showcase your transferable skills until you know which the employer will think are the most important. What did you do in your previous positions on a daily basis? Make a list. Once your list is complete, pair skills you used with each task with job descriptions that interest you. Pay special attention to skills you can easily use in different organizations. Don’t ignore your “soft skills,” or emotional intelligence. For example, are you a good communicator? Do you have a knack for leading teams? Maybe you’re a great negotiator. Identify your best skills and include these on your list.

Research opportunities. Once you have your lists, plug your skills (your keywords) into job-board search engines to see what types of positions come up. For example, you may include terms such as “supervise,” “oversee projects,” or “leadership” in your searches. Keep an open mind and look for a pattern or type of job that keeps coming up.

Use your target employer’s language to describe your previous experience. You don’t want to make the employer try to figure out what you did in the past. Avoid jargon, abbreviations and other words specific to your old industry. Describe your background, skills, experiences and accomplishments using easy to understand language that relates to what you want to do next. For example, if you were solving problems, managing people and overcoming obstacles in your past job, describe that background in words your new employer will understand and appreciate.

Use social media tools to feature your expertise. One of the best things about social media is it allows you to showcase what you know and to communicate that expertise to exponential numbers of people. When you share news and information relevant to your industry, you become a go-to source. People will naturally view you as an expert in your arena, which helps fill in perceived experience gaps.

Network all the time. When you’re changing careers, your network is even more important than ever because you may need to rely on someone to take a chance on you. Make an effort to tell people what you’re doing. For example, attend professional networking events and take on volunteer roles. Ideally, you’ll be able to fill a role that uses some of the same skills you’ll need on the job. The best way to showcase your transferable skills is to use those skills with people who can influence your career path.

Focus on your transferable skills and put these action tips to use and you’ll discover how much easier it is to land a job in a new industry.

Who qualifies as a mentor? A mentor can be anyone willing to take a strong interest in another person’s professional success. Typically, the mentor is more experienced and connected in the job seeker’s field, but that doesn’t necessarily mean older. If you’ve changed careers, it’s possible you’ll connect with a younger mentor who has more experience and connections in your new field.

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

It’s worth looking for a mentor to take on the following roles:

Suggest Strengths

Sometimes, our most marketable strengths aren’t obvious to us. A mentor can hone in on what you offer and suggest how to market those skills to be attractive to your target employers.

Point Out Weaknesses

Is a weakness preventing you from landing your dream job? Perhaps it requires someone experienced in your field to notice you’re missing a key skill necessary to win the job. A mentor can step in and help you fill in the missing pieces so you’re competitive for the job you want.

Create a Plan

A mentor can help you strategize about a plan to accomplish your goals. Whether this involves focusing on strengths or addressing weaknesses, the mentor can help guide you to your goal based on his or her experience in the field.

Offer Connections

The best mentors open up their networks to their mentees and make introductions likely to lead to new professional relationships. A great mentor can make all the difference for a job seeker, because all it takes to find an opportunity is one great connection. An experienced mentor can be the bridge to that connection for you.

Give Advice

It’s great to read job search advice, but sometimes, having someone with their personal best interest at heart makes all the difference for job seekers. A mentor can provide insider knowledge on everything related to your search. For example, how to apply, when to follow up, how to prepare for an interview and what’s negotiable in an offer.

Teach You By Example

One of the best ways to learn how to do something well is by watching someone else who’s already mastered what you hope to accomplish. A mentor can teach you what you need to know to get the job you want.

Push You to Succeed

Sometimes, you need a pep talk from someone who has been in your situation and succeeded. A mentor can give you that boost and encourage you to stick to your goals.

Inspire You

The best mentors will inspire you to be the very best you can be, which should lead to new professional opportunities.

You’ll never know how much a mentor can help you unless you try to connect with someone willing to serve in that role for you.

Review your social media goals

What are your plans for social media? What do you want people to learn when they visit your profiles? What feeling do you want them to have? What do you want them to know about you — or NOT know about you? What do you want them to DO when they land on your website? Take the time to audit your profiles to ensure you’re putting out the right messages.

Ask a friend or a coach what they think when they visit your social media profiles and when they look at your streams of information. Make sure you aren’t missing the mark when it comes to shaping a reputation you want to own.

Google Yourself

At least a few times a year, you should Google your own name. You want to know what comes up when people search for you online. What pictures show up? Are they of you? Is there someone who has your name and comes up before you online, even in LinkedIn? Make a note of things that show up high in search, and make a point to spend extra time making those things the best they can be. (For example, LinkedIn likely comes up high in search. Manage your profile there first, before you spend time anywhere else online.)

Update Your Bios

When is the last time you reviewed your bios? Whether they are short (like Twitter’s) or longer (such as your LinkedIn Summary), now is the time to give them a once over. Make sure to include new accomplishments and look over your materials with fresh eyes to update them.

Be sure you keep everything consistently updated. If you update LinkedIn, be sure to also update your resume.

Once you’ve addressed the big picture: scrub your profiles!

Review your “tags”

It’s a great idea to look into what photos you’ve taken over the past year and de-clutter. Be sure photos where other people tagged you are appropriate and speak to your brand. If not, find the “Untag” button. In Facebook, get started by “viewing your activity log.”

Un-follow

Is your LinkedIn feed getting too spammy? Are you tired of seeing the overly politically charged updates in Facebook? Weed out people you don’t want to hear from. In LinkedIn, you can block people (which means you won’t see their updates, and they won’t see your content, either). LinkedIn won’t notify the blocked people! (Just click on the arrow next to the endorse button on their profile.)

In Facebook, if you don’t want to “unfriend,” people, you can unfollow and they won’t be any wiser! Choose the  “following” button on the person’s Facebook page and select. “unfollow”

Disconnect from apps you aren’t using.

Have you given “permissions” to apps you don’t use anymore? Disconnect them!

In Twitter: go to settings and apps – disengage from anything you’re not using now.

In Facebook, find apps behind the Activity log button.

Change Your Passwords

Update and change your passwords.

If you have trouble keeping track of passwords, you can use a password management program such as LastPass. Also, be sure you are using your personal email for LinkedIn; it’s not a good idea to use a work email or an email you never check!

Manage your brand

How are you engaging?

Check how you’re engaging in your networks. For example: look along the left side of your Facebook profile – are there groups you aren’t using? Feel free to remove yourself.

How about LinkedIn groups? Did you join a bunch and never engage? Consider focusing on a few groups for the next few months.

If you use Twitter, click on settings, and check apps. You may want to revoke permissions for some if you are not using them.

Your visuals:

On one hand, a consistent photo makes it easy for people to follow you, but this is a good time to consider a change. IF you have a business, make sure you check your logos and other visuals to make sure they still fit and are on brand.

Your email addresses and notifications

Are you checking your LinkedIn email regularly? Sometimes, people forget what emails they’ve listed for different networks, use a new email address and miss out on opportunities.

What now?

Now that everything is clean and tidy, commit to creating a stream of content that will demonstrate your expertise and grow your influence and presence in your field of choice!

You know you’re going to be seeing lots of new and old friends and family members this holiday season, so you may as well make the most of the season to improve your opportunities for jobs or gigs! Make this season your best ever; end this year with some strong holiday networking. Keep these Thanksgiving networking tips in mind.

Self-assess. Know what job you want; be specific and targeted. Identify companies where you’d like to work and be prepared to mention several organizations’ names. Do not plan to be the “I can do anything” job seeker. While you may think it’s a good idea to keep your options open, this approach usually backfires. No one wants to hire or refer someone who seems unfocused or confused about next steps.

Learn how to introduce yourself. We’ve all heard of the “two-minute elevator speech.” Forget everything you know about that and pare your talk down to 30 seconds or less. In less than 100 words (35-50 is better), practice saying what skills you have and mention a key accomplishment. While you won’t launch into this pitch the moment you meet someone, when you’re prepared to discuss your best professional qualities, you’ll be able to make the most of a good contact.

Research the guest list. It’s always best to be prepared, and when you do a little sleuthing, it’s not difficult to find out who plans to be at the event. Many invitations are electronic, and the social profiles of attendees may be prominently displayed on RSVPs. Look up the people who plan to attend. Find their LinkedIn profiles and read their Twitter streams. Identify several interesting contacts and make a point to speak to them.

Keep in mind: you want to identify people who could know someone working at your targeted list of companies. Be aware: these networking contacts may come in surprising packages. For example, the neighborhood busy-body probably has all kinds of great contacts. So does the bartender at your neighborhood pub—or the person tending bar at the party you’re attending. Don’t cross anyone off your list of good people to meet.

Create snazzy business cards. Even if you’re not currently working, you should have professional looking business cards that give the recipient easy access to your social media profiles (for example, your LinkedIn URL). Include your pitch on the card. For example, for an accountant: “Save clients an average of 20% off their tax bill using time tested, effective accounting strategies.”

Dress the part. Even if it’s a casual party, make sure to choose something to wear that looks sharp and in style. If you haven’t bought clothing in years, it’s a good idea to shop the sales and pick out one or two items that really flatter and make you feel confident. Consider wearing a conversational piece to help make yourself memorable. A colorful, in-style scarf or tie can do the trick.

Be a listener. Make sure people don’t sense that you have an agenda when you meet them. Ask questions so you can learn something about the person’s hobbies and interests. Use your research to help you ask quality questions and be a good listener. Everyone likes to talk about themselves, so if you’re a good listener, people will remember you.

Ask for a follow-up meeting. Use your in-person networking time to request another meeting in a quieter location. For example, if you’ve had a great talk, and you think there is potential for you to be able to help each other, say, “I’d love to follow up with you and explore how we may be able to be good resources for each other. How about if I send an email tomorrow suggesting some dates to meet for coffee?” You may even want to ask the best way to get in touch—email or phone.

Say thank you—and good bye. Don’t forget your manners. Be sure to thank the party organizer, even if you have to stand around to have an audience. It’s extra nice to send a card or a note after the event. Remember, you want to make a positive impression. When you go the extra mile to say thank you, people will remember that.

Keep in touch. Depending on the nature of your interactions at the party, you have a lot of options for following up. For example, if you know a new contact’s daughter is moving to Chicago soon, you can send a nice note with an article about fun things for newcomers to do in the Chicago area. Always make a point to connect via social media channels—especially LinkedIn. Make sure you follow through with anything you said you’d do during your first conversation and don’t squander potential opportunities by failing to keep in touch. When you do, you’ll have a better chance of adding new allies to your job search efforts.

Today’s post is a contribution for the annual Job Action Day. The theme is inspired by Mike Rowe’s online commencement speech for Prager University. “He suggests, instead of following their passion, jobseekers should consider following the opportunities that are available to them—and then bring their passions with them to the job.”

Have you consciously identified a need to have passion for your work vs. considering your job a practical necessity? Do you let your bias regarding this impact your job search? Have you hesitated to pursue job opportunities because you aren’t committed to or excited about the work? Of course, the best career or job is the one in which you’re using the skills you enjoy. But, not every job needs to address all of your passions. It makes sense to use every job as an opportunity to learn something new and keep an open mind; you may find that you really enjoy something you never imagined would appeal to you.

Sometimes, however, a job can be just a job. Many, many people take care of problems at work not because they are passionate about what they are doing, but because they take pride in a job well done. It’s powerful to recognize work can be a way to make a living and doesn’t need to be steeped in passion.

If you are concerned that you should be more passionate about your work, here are some steps to take to make the most out of your current job, no matter what you do.

Evaluate your job.  Maybe there are parts of your job that play to your passions without you even recognizing it! For example, if you are in customer service, you may dislike handling problems all day, but solving concerns is something you really enjoy. Give credit to all the parts of your job that appeal to you.

Leverage your interests. Perhaps you can influence a change in your current work environment. If you’re in a job that doesn’t offer much in the way of upward mobility, consider offering to volunteer to head up an initiative that does play to your passions. For example, maybe you’d like to see your company recycle more, and you can offer to help work on that. Or, maybe you want to organize a collection to donate to the local food pantry. Perhaps you’d like to have a series of speakers come to talk to you and your colleagues. If you volunteer to set it up, your employer may support this effort. Just because your job may be static doesn’t mean you can’t extend yourself and try new things.

Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Job Seekers Make and How to Avoid Them.

Learn new things. Would you like to extend your career in a different direction, but you don’t have the resume to support the change? Identify what skills you are missing and take a class. Or, use volunteer opportunities to help get some experience. For example, if you don’t have any formal experience using management skills, managing that food drive or planning a speaker series can give you some of these skills.

Leverage your passions outside of work. If you don’t have a passion for your work, make more of an effort to enjoy your time outside of work. You may even find that newfound passion can become a side business that leads to work happiness down the road. Are you a creative person, but you work in an uncreative profession? Look for a hobby or take a class. When you’re not working, you have more control over how you spend your time, so be sure to tap into your passions. When you spend more time doing what you love, it helps your overall happiness, which will positively affect how you feel at work.

You may be surprised to learn you have an opportunity to include many more passionate interests in your job and in your free time than you may have realized!

You hate your job. There’s nothing worse than spending 40-plus hours a week doing something that you really hate. Before you plan a change, evaluate the situation. Do you loathe the work itself, or is your overbearing boss too much to take? Are you really unhappy because of the work itself, or do you wish you could wave a magic wand and send your annoying co-workers up in a cloud of smoke?

Statistics show that people tend to leave positions not because of bad jobs, but to flee bad bosses. Make sure you aren’t allowing a difficult supervisor or co-worker to dictate your career trajectory. Think about how you can improve your relationship with your boss. Unfortunately, you are likely to encounter unsavory colleagues and employers in any field.

Your hours are too long. You yearn for flexibility, but your employer demands 24/7 dedication. It would seem that a career change may be the answer, but unfortunately, you may find that starting over in a new career puts you at the bottom of the proverbial food chain. As the “new guy,” you could be tasked with weekends on call and long hours. Most employers expect longer hours from their workers due to layoffs and a need to produce more with less. While a shift may help avoid certain unfavorable characteristics of your current career, make sure you aren’t jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Research new options carefully to be sure you won’t be trading one problem for another.

You can’t get a raise or a promotion. It’s tempting to plan to throw in the towel on an entire career if you’ve hit the earning ceiling or if the money and recognition aren’t worth the effort. Is a new career really the answer, or might some key changes in your current job put you in a position to win the praise and raise you seek? Have you been coasting along while new team members push ahead with new ideas? It’s probably a lot easier to shift your attitude and work ethic than it is to carve out an entire new career. Make sure you think carefully before trading in what you have for something new.

You crave predictability and consistency at work. It can be unsettling when new requirements, policies and procedures come down the pike every other week. If you hate uncertainty, it’s tempting to dream about a career where you can do your job and the rules don’t change, but it’s not realistic.

You think a new career could be more exciting. You’ve been doing the same thing for years; wouldn’t making a change put a new spring in your step? It might. However, many career changers are disappointed to learn that they bring many of the same negative feelings about work to their new careers. Even a new career becomes old in time. Before planning your career shift, make sure you think about what you need to change in your life and consider the various opportunities to incite that change. For example, if your job isn’t challenging, maybe you could spend your extra energy creating a freelance business to bring in extra money on the side. Or, if you’re not entrepreneurial, identify some activities you’ve always wanted to try and join a club with other aficionados.

Work isn’t the only place where you can make changes in your life. Before you jump over the fence to walk on the greener grass, be sure to consider other alternatives and clarify your expectations. You don’t want to be surprised to learn that every lawn has some weeds, or the pot of gold isn’t always at the end of the rainbow.

Have you decided a new job or career is in order? Get my free white paper: 5 Mistakes Preventing You From Landing a Job This Week 

Looking for more info about how to decide if a career pivot is good for you? Join me for a Mashable Twitter chat TODAY – August 10th – at 2 pm Eastern time, 11 am Pacific. Follow @MashBusiness and join in using the hashtag #BizChats.

Other experts on the chat include: Adam Smiley Poswolsky, millennial career expert, author of The Quarter-Life Breakthrough; Jenny Blake, career and business coach, author of PIVOT: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One (Sept. 2016); Marc Miller, career pivot expert, author of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for Baby Boomers; and Ryan Rhoten, business leader, product manager, and host of The BRAND New You podcast.

Follow @MashBusiness and join in using the hashtag #BizChats. We look forward to hearing your questions.

Strong written and spoken communication skills are crucial to opening doors. Millennial Branding’s research showed soft skills topped the list of “must have” skills that employers want, with 98 percent of employers saying communication skills are essential. It’s up to you to make the most of every opportunity to prove you’re capable and confident.

It’s no secret first impressions matter – that’s been the case since the beginning of time. What’s new, in our increasingly fast-paced, digitally connected world, is how a simple stroke of a keyboard, or an email gone awry, can quickly damage a professional reputation. On the other hand, a stream of consistent, well-written social media updates can just as easily raise your profile and impress people you’ve never met who may positively influence your career.

As a job search coach and social media strategist experienced at helping job seekers and business owners market themselves online and in person, it’s clear the most successful professionals try to improve their communication skills at every opportunity. Whether your focus is networking, job search, or excelling at work, it’s more important now than ever to know how to present yourself in person and in writing in this hyper-competitive work environment.

Write & Speak Like a Professional: Success in 20 Minutes a Day provides instructions and exercises to improve your communication abilities and offers insights and ideas to help refine your skills in every aspect of your job or career. It includes instruction on everything from networking to resume writing and interviewing.

Learn how to:

• Network professionally — online and in person
• Create cover letters and resumes that get you noticed
• Approach job interviews with confidence and poise
• Use social media appropriately and effectively
• Introduce yourself decisively and make a great first impression
• Write emails people will read
• Much, much more!

Communication skills are just as important in the workplace as they are when looking for a job, so you’ll also find details about how to impress people at work and how to write clear, concise business emails that will get the best results. With attention spans growing shorter, it’s never been more important to learn how to hone in on your message and eliminate non-crucial details. This book helps you recognize if you’re missing opportunities to communicate succinctly and demonstrates how to remedy any problems.

Whether you’re attending a meeting, or writing a memo, it’s up to you to put your best foot forward. This book provides the resources to help you identify any deficiencies or problems you may not have considered.

• Are you using words in your emails that call your professionalism into question?
• Does the tone or inflection of your voice make people think you aren’t confident?
• Could you be doing more via social media to expand your reach and extend your influence in your professional community?
• How are your listening skills?
• Does your body language send the message you want people to receive?

Read this book to learn how to improve your ability to make a strong first impression, and how to extend and enhance that impression so your colleagues and supervisors will listen carefully when you speak and appreciate what you write.

Click here to download a free chapter from the book : Communicate Using Social Media.

Be sure to touch base to let me know what questions you have, and feel free to share your best communication tips in the comments! Post on social media using the hashtag #WriteSpeak.

Learn about my other new book: Manage Your Time & Your Life: Success in 20 Minutes a Day.

Manage Your Time & Your Life: Success in 20 Minutes a Day provides suggestions and recommendations to help you make the most of every hour of the day. The result? You’ll have more time for everything that matters to you, and you’ll be able to successfully achieve your professional goals. No one has time to waste! That’s why this book starts out by illustrating how to network effectively and how to choose the best jobs to apply for to avoid the dreaded “resume black hole,” when employers ignore you. (After all, you never know when you’ll want to look for a new opportunity.) If you already have your dream job, you can dive directly into the slew of best practices and ideas included in the majority of the book, which is dedicated to helping manage your time for professional success.

In this book, I cover the entire gamut: from how to incorporate healthy routines (such as what to eat and how to make time to exercise) to how to set and achieve your aspirational work goals. Whether you need help organizing your office, managing distractions at work, tracking your emails or keeping a useful checklist and calendar, this book provides practical insights, exercises to get you started and information to help.

You haven’t been tracking your “wins” at work, or you don’t know what apps you should use to make the most of your time and avoid being distracted? I’ve got you covered!

Manage Your Time & Your Life: Success in 20 Minutes a Day is an all-in-one efficiency “bible,” with suggestions to help you identify key action items and take the necessary steps to accomplish your long- and short-term goals. Learn how to get a firm handle on your schedule to keep efficiently moving forward with your professional plans.

• Do you need help separating your “must do” from your “want to do” items?
• Could you use help to overcome procrastination and learn to become accountable for your plans?
• Would you appreciate advice about how to stop wasting time, effort, and energy?

This book includes techniques and ideas to help you get organized and keep on track.

For example, learn how to:

• Plan your job search — get it done in less time
• Prepare for interviews — without memorizing answers to hundreds of questions
• Make the most of your time at work
• Get organized and feel in control of your life
• Create useful lists and prioritize
• Avoid procrastination
• Much, much more!

Download an excerpt from the book: How to Avoid Procrastination.

After you read this book, you will be able to quickly review your progress, assess your strategies and make positive changes. Are you ready to put the right combination of action items in place and just get things done? Order the book today (it ships on July 7th) and get started!

Be sure to touch base to let me know what questions you have, and feel free to share your favorite productivity tips in the comments! Post on social media using the hashtag #TimeLife.

Don’t miss my other new book, Write & Speak Like a Professional: Success in 20 Minutes a Day.