Career Book Review "101 Ways To Successfully Market Yourself" by Jay Miletsky

In today's marketplace, your career is 100 percent your responsibility, including marketing your strengths. Unfortunately, marketing can be maligned, especially when you're the product being marketed. Honest attempts can appear boastful, so we hesitate to do so. Yet, if people aren't aware of your strengths, how will they know when, where, and how to use them?

The best self-marketing centers around building relationships and having fun doing so. Successful self-marketing can, among other things, enhance your job search, promote your own company, grab a piece of the spotlight (i.e. become a thought leader/industry innovator), and make new friends.

Following is the second of three articles summarizing "101" career books published by Course Technology. A different author highlights what it takes to achieve professional success in the 21st century for each book. Here, it's businessman and marketing expert, Jason Miletsky. His new book is entitled 101 Ways To Successfully Market Yourself."

Miletsky is CEO and executive creative director for a leading marketing communications agency in New York City. He's a featured speaker for numerous companies and seminars and guest lectures for universities.

"101 Ways To Successfully Market Yourself," is a short read of 88 pages, long on self-marketing tips. You're bound to learn some new applications to advance your career. Use Miletsky's ideas to gauge how many techniques you currently incorporate to promote yourself, and decide which ones best suit your needs.

The book reads in three easy parts. The first is entitled, "27 MYM (Marketing Yourself Mandates);" and establishes the foundation of your self-promotional efforts. Miletsky's tips include:

Understand Your Personal Brand. Your personal brand is your personal reputation. It's key to successfully market yourself and sustain relevant long-term connections. People will decide to befriend or distance you based on your personality, sense of style, unique qualities, what and how you say it, commitment follow through and what you potentially bring to the table.

22. Do Something Specific to Stand Out. Accomplish something that separates you from the crowd, and you'll find yourself in more demand. Suggestions include write a book, or articles for popular print/online publications, record a series of Web videos, and hold a seminar.

27. Don't Give Up-It Won't Happen Overnight. "Marketing yourself is a process," says Miletsky. It takes time to meet new people and build a following. Persevere.

Part II is titled, "Make The Most of The Web." Miletsky emphasizes that to effectively market yourself today, you need to include the Web. "Social networking may die down a bit over time, but it's here to stay," he says. For space interest, Miletsky assumes you have a basic knowledge of the three big social networking sites: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. If not, he advocates learning their attributes as soon as possible. Highlights include:

28. Make Social Networking Part of Your Daily Routine. Social networking does take time and effort. It can take a while before you see results. "This can be frustrating, because thanks to the speed of the Web, most people have lost their patience to allow things to happen over time," says Miletsky. Incorporate social networking into your daily routine, using the Big 3 sites. Send an e-mail blast once a month to your contacts. Inform them of your new blog posts and other information.

63. Get Your Name in a URL. Make sure you secure your name as a URL. It's good marketing for any of your online activities you engage in. Defensively it prevents someone else from cashing in on your name, as you become better known.

69. Broadcast What You Write. Get the URL for any blog post you write or comment you leave on someone else's blog (shorten the URL through bit.ly or some other shortening service). Broadcast it on Twitter, use it in LinkedIn conversations, and post it on relevant Facebook groups and your Facebook wall.

"There's Life Offline-Get Out and Meet Real People," is Miletsky's third message. Among his suggestions are:

78. Become a Regular. Frequent various places. Over time, people will recognize your face, making connections easier.

82. Seek Out Public Speaking Opportunities. Meet numerous people all at once. Be a featured speaker in a room full of people listening. Speakers command attention, are focal points for attendees; and many will want to befriend you afterwards.

101. Make Follow-Up a Ritual. Make sure you follow up with each new contact within 24 hours after your initial connection. Send a quick e-mail to remind new contacts who you are, how you met, and conversations had. Suggest a future meeting when you sense mutual benefits.

Six appendices enrich the book; with the first listing Miletsky's top 30 Twitter tools. "Twitter is one of the absolute best ways to get people to notice you," he says. Endorsements include:
Tweetdeck. Provides numerous columns to allow simultaneous monitoring of people you follow, tweets mentioning you, direct messages and any other keyword/group you choose. Twitterholic. Checks your relative ranking and graphs your followers over time. Nearby Tweets. Enhances local marketing by entering desired geographical location/keyword. Site shows the people within that radius that fit the description.

The " Who You Should Follow On Twitter" List is Appendix B, and details 31 active links to find good people to follow on the site. Included are:

25 SEO Gurus. 50 Users to Follow for Job Searching. Top 237 People to Follow on Twitter Who Will Follow You Back.

The most comprehensive appendix, titled, "Strategies for Success," specifies how to maximize your achievements at work. Its nine tips include "Visualize Success," and "Learn How to Advance within the Company;" which features 30 soul-searching questions pertaining to seeking a management position. Those queries include:

Are you decisive? Can you see yourself calmly and objectively handling crisis situations? Do you do your best work all the time?

Other appendices highlight LinkedIn groups, networking events and additional social networking sites.

Marketing yourself is no longer an option. To enjoy long-term career success, learn and hone a process that works for you; and have fun doing it.

Complement Miletsky's message with Rashika Fernando's "101 Career Success Tips," and Carol A. Silvis's "101 Ways To Make Yourself Indispensable at Work," to jump-start your career, whether employed, unemployed, seasoned or novice.

You can follow the author on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jaymiletsky.

Timothy Zaun is a blogger, speaker and freelance writer. Visit him online at http://timzaun.com/.

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Back on The Career Track - Book Review

Are you among the growing number of moms returning to work after leaving paid employment to care for your family? Maybe your youngest child is learning to walk, starting kindergarten, or leaving for college. You may be yearning for the rewards of your former career, feeling the isolation of your "empty nest" or in need of more household income.

Women return to work for a variety of reasons, but they all face similar challenges that can be minimized with smart planning.

Back on the Career Track - A Guide for Stay at Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work by Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin is a very good road map for women who have left paid employment to raise a family and are considering a return to work. In this book, the authors lay out an effective plan for stay at home moms who want to return to work. They are realistic about the challenges moms returning to work will face, and they provide effective tips for protecting your career while you are out of full time employment.

I've worked with plenty of relaunching moms and have found that when moms return to work, they have more success in reestablishing a career when they have found a way to stay connected to their former colleagues, their industry and developments in work related technology while they were at home with their kids. Back on the Career Track is full of tips for stay at home moms who want to maintain or reestablish professional connections, and for that reason, smart stay at home moms will benefit from implementing the tips in this book even before they are ready to return to work.

The book is remarkably thorough and addresses:

Fears and insecurities that stay at home moms often face when relaunching a career Realistic career considerations and options when moms return to work Typical challenges that arise from employment history gaps Changes in family and social dynamics when stay at home parents return to work Societal and employer views on relaunching moms

Although I'm a big fan of this book, there are two shortcomings in Back on the Career Track. The first is the fact that the authors have chosen to focus on college educated women who established high level, elite careers prior to starting families. The choice to use primarily doctors, lawyers and MBA graduates in the examples in the book is unfortunate.

The excellent advice in this book applies to all stay at home moms who may want to return to the workforce, not just women who left high level careers. If you are not a doctor or a lawyer or you don't hold an MBA, you can definitely benefit from the strategies in this book, but you'll have to remind yourself that all of the tips apply to any stay at home mom from any field of work.

The second shortcoming in the book is in the resume examples in the resources section. Addressing employment history gaps on resumes is an important issue for stay at home moms returning to work. The gaps in the sample resumes in this book are absolutely glaring. There are simple, effective strategies to minimize gaps on your resume while maintaining credibility with employers; those strategies have not been used in the examples here.

Go ahead and apply any and all of the other strategies for returning to work that are outlined in the book; the advice is excellent. When it comes time to write your resume, however, I'd recommend consulting another source for effective tips on minimizing gaps in your work history.

Back on the Career Track is a wonderful, much needed resource for moms returning to work. There is plenty of advice that you can apply well before you are ready to relaunch your career, so this book is a great read for women who are just leaving paid employment to become stay at home moms as well as those who are ready to return to the workforce. The authors do a great job of balancing honesty about the challenges of relaunching a career with the optimism that returning to work is absolutely achievable.

Stay at home moms returning to work can relaunch their careers. I've worked with plenty of moms from all walks of life who achieved this goal. Successful relaunching does take commitment, work and planning, and Back on the Career Track will show you how to do the work to make it happen.

Lisa McGrimmon publishes http://www.careerchoiceguide.com/ a career management and job search resource. To find out how parents returning to work can minimize gaps in their work history, visit http://www.careerchoiceguide.com/parents-returning-to-work.html

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Career Book Review - Have You Punched in Yet?

Looking to get a job and eventually move up in the world? Do you need to get experience or perhaps, just get a job even if it is a step down for you; under-employment? If so, wow, there is a great book I read mostly for fun, but as I read I felt I was there, and got a much better understanding of what the front-line employees in the US go through. The book I'd like to recommend to you is:

"Punching In - The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front Line Employee," by Alex Frankel, Collins Publishers, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY (2007), pp 223, ISBN: 978-0-06-084966-5.

An interesting article to read which immediately made my memory recall upon reading this book was one I read in Quality Progress, an industry trade journal in November of 2007, beginning on page 55 titled; "Turning the Tables: Six Questions to Ask Your Interviewer," writer by Joe Conklin. In that article he suggests how to turn difficult questions during the hiring procedure into conversations which uplift your intellectual status, thus your value, while allowing you gain pre-employment intelligence.

The author of this book writes in a similar genre as the author of "Nickled and Dimed" but at a higher level of employment, namely rather than working at places like a 24hr. Waffle House, Walmart, or Gas Station mini-mart - the author of "Punching In" worked for UPS, Starbucks, Whole Foods, and sold iPods at the Apple Store, and also entered the well-known manager program for Enterprise Rent-a-Car.

Have you ever wondered the secret of how corporations turn their workforces into brand loyalists, and absolutely an army of productivity? Well, read this book, and learn about how to win in your career for both the company, the team, and yourself. This book is written extremely well, and the writer is pretty funny, and shows off his writing style with great stories. He also writes for Wired Magazine, so perhaps you've seen his pieces there.

Seriously, you have to read this book, it will totally enlighten you, and give you a better understanding of what it's like to work in a big corporation on the front-lines, companies with 1,000s of outlets and a specific way of doing things. As you read you will laugh, frown, and be disturbed, but you will definitely learns something, many things you probably didn't know and it will give you a much better understanding of the reality of jobs in America, especially at the retail level, you will be amazed.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes it's hard to write 20,000 articles; http://www.bloggingcontent.net/

Note: All of Lance Winslow's articles are written by him, not by Automated Software, any Computer Program, or Artificially Intelligent Software. None of his articles are outsourced, PLR Content or written by ghost writers.

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The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers - Book Review

I just finished reading "The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers in the 21st Century." As an author and consultant in the green work field, I try to read everything I can get my hands on that is related to green issues. I would rate this book as average at best, it is a good book, but it does not stand out among the many books on this topic.

The book highlights 10 major fields that are in the environmental realm. The authors provide very helpful information like salary ranges, what a "day in the life" looks like and what educational paths you should take to prepare yourself for these careers. The book also offers some really good advice on interviewing and writing your resume and other things that will help you during the job search phase.

The book is a bit dated, as it was written over 5 years ago. It was interesting though to read the predictions and trends and see where they were right and see where they were wrong. They severely underestimated the growth of the green collar industry and hardly touched on the subject of alternative energy and sustainable energy.

In closing, I think this book was average and I would rate it a 6 out of 10. I would not recommend it at all and the reason is because it does not talk about what is relevant right now. I would suggest you look for a book that specifically focuses on the green collar industry or the growing green jobs movement

Dan Keller is the CEO of the popular Green Jobs [http://www.greenjobscene.com/] site and also runs a site that focuses on jobs for teens

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Want a Super Stellar Career? Be Ready For Anything - Book Review

Everyone wants to advance in their career, and with so many people laid off or fearing they will be next, we see that it's time to get serious or get left in the dust. Do you want to get the dream job of your life? Apparently, many people do, you can tell by reading the business news these days, career articles, stories, and advice, it's everywhere. We have a whole new career now of personal coaches, helping others score their dream life and career. Surely, you've noticed all this online and in the media as of late?

Indeed, not long ago there was an interesting article in Forbes - "America's Most Surprising Six-Figure Jobs - Astronomers, ship captains, even writers can make more than $100,000 a year," by Susan Adams May 28, 2010. The article suggested that perhaps getting a great paycheck in a rewarding career means thinking outside the box and growing your skill sets organically. The article also indicated the need for networking and ability to keep doors and opportunities open. I'd recommend thinking on this, and some of the wisdom in the article.

Meanwhile, when considering this topic of career choices and good pay, let me recommend a good book by Harvey MacKay; "Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty; Only Networking Book You'll Ever Need for a Rewarding and Successful Career," published by Currency Books, a Double Day Publishing company partner, New York, NY, (1997), pp 311, ISBN: 0-385-48543-3.

The author of this book also wrote the best-selling book; "Swim with The Sharks - without being eaten alive," which focused on the cut-throat corporate career game, and ladder climbing challenges of modern day business. Yes, things have changed since then, but in this new book; "Dig Your Well, Before You're Thirsty," we see it's all about networking to land that perfect job.

He makes an interesting statement in this book, whereas networking may not be rocket science, someone who is career driven certainly ought to keep it that way, and realize he wrote this book in 1997 prior to all these social networking websites and groups. Talk about on the leading edge of his day, Harvey was ahead of his time, Mr. MacKay. It appears that if you take the advice in this book seriously, and network efficiently you can very much hyper-accelerate your career using these tactics and techniques.

This book has been sitting in my personal library for as long as I can remember, so I pulled it out the other day, as I have a friend who got laid off, get this; "involuntary indefinite leave of absence without pay," yah right! He just lost his job. I am going to recommend this book, if he agrees I am going to give it to him. I'd recommend you read it too.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes it's hard to write 20,000 articles; http://www.bloggingcontent.net/.

Note: All of Lance Winslow's articles are written by him, not by Automated Software, any Computer Program, or Artificially Intelligent Software. None of his articles are outsourced, PLR Content or written by ghost writers.

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Book Reviews - Careers - Title - Job Strategies For the 21st Century

"Job Strategies for the 21 Century: How to Assist Today's College Students during Economic Turbulence" written by Dr. Daryl D. Green and William Bailey, MBA, have combined their forces offering insightful, concise and invaluable information to any student or recent graduate. Transitioning from college life to the work world can be a daunting task, especially in this current economy. Many college students struggle to find work after graduation. Even with a perfect resume, a lot of college graduates and students find they need to further their education to seek their dream job. As quoted by President Barack Obama, "... first and foremost, your education can fortify you against the uncertainties of a 21st century economy."

The economy in the United States is causing great concern for ordinary citizens both here and around the world. It's even more challenging for new college graduates who are trying to compete for jobs with over 15 million people unemployed. These days' graduates find themselves competing with people who are more qualified. It used to be only the privileged were able to attend college and get an education. Now everyone has this opportunity, this too is a contributing factor in the difficulty of finding employment. Both Dr. Daryl D. Green and Mr. Bailey understand the challenges that graduates are faced with in today's world and offer not only support but provide numerous strategies throughout this easy to read guide.

Here is the bottom line information this book imparts:
1. Make sure to have strong communications skills.
2. Be a critical thinker and problem solver.
3. Be able to adapt to any situation.
4. Make sure to do your research - job homework.
5. Social networking.
6. Always look for an opportunity.
7. Build your corporate experience and consider internship.
8. Have leadership skills.
9. Always be up-to-date about news, and trends of the marketplace.
10. Always have passion.

"Job Strategies for the 21 Century: How to Assist Today's College Students during Economic Turbulence" is every job seeker's "one-stop shopping" guide to finding a great job - even in uncertain times. Both Dr. Daryl D. Green and Mr. Bailey don't miss a beat! They acknowledge the reality of the present time, and yet offer optimism; great ideas to help you become the standout job candidate; appendices, recommended websites and books that will help you get clarity about your next opportunity; and excellent samples of job search tools to customize for your search.

Not only is this a book for the graduate or student but also for the parent, teacher or anyone facing unemployment issues. The book is meticulously printed with an attractive galley text, easy to read font, graphic tables to summarize ideology, and beautiful photographs illustrating various human emotions a person normally will feel when traversing this process. This book helps the reader find his or her niche as you just need to roll up your sleeves, and put your passion to work.

Nicole Sorkin is the Managing Book Review Editor for Pacific Book Review. To learn more about Pacific Book Review visit us at:

http://www.pacificbookreview.com/

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Job Hunting 101 - The Ultimate Guide to Reaching Your Career Goals

Written in a breezy and humorous style, Job Hunting 101: The Ultimate Guide to Landing Your First Job Out of School by Matt M. Gordon is a manual meant to guide the newly graduated toward the first rung on their personal ladders of success. The focus of the book is far reaching, orienting on long term career goals. There are also the usual sections found in a job hunting guide, such as chapters on resumes and interviews. Therefore this book is a useful resource for all job seekers, with special emphasis for those just starting in the workforce after college.

Matt Gordon tells his readers to think of him as a professor. In turn, he offers to mentor them in the 6 main objectives of his job hunting course:

1) Defining job criteria- Analyze and identify your current needs and long term goals

2) Writing impressive resumes and cover letters- Learn what to include and what to avoid

3) Generating interviews- There are more ways to get interviews than just perusing the classifieds. Be creative and take the initiative to seek out opportunities

4) Preparing for interviews- Research is the key to a great interview

5) Winning the interview game- Tips to put your best self forward and stand above the crowd

6) Handling job offers- Weigh the aspects of each job offer to choose the one that will best meet your current needs and long term goals identified in phase 1.

Each of those 6 phases is a crucial point of career planning, and these are only some of the explanations, anecdotes and examples Matt Gordon uses to help light the way. The helpful tips do not stop there. Chapter 7 advises you on what to do after you have chosen and landed your first job.

All in all, Matt M. Gordon has written an excellent guide that no job seeker should be without-whether you are changing careers or heading into the workforce for the first time.

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