Working for Yourself? It's Rewarding but May Not be Easy!

Ever thought about working for yourself? It's not going to be easy, you know, because the boss you will be working for may well turn out to be the toughest boss you've ever had.

Yes, the boss will be you and as your own employee, you've got to be pretty sure that you fit well into his shoes. There won't be any easy sick days off work and no long lunches.

But there will be perpetual worries about balancing the budget and keeping your clients happy. Deadlines? Of course! You'll have lots of unpaid overtime work - in the evenings and possibly the weekends as well. And at times, you'll be living on plain bread and butter because you cannot afford the caviar.

But though it will be tough and often tiring, there are benefits and rewards as well. You can take risks (but make sure they are calculated risks), implement new systems or attempt innovations without having to convince a short-sighted boss. And when a project is done just right and the cash till rings, it's time for a well deserved celebration.

Originally posted by blogadmin on Thursday, 31 January 2008 at http://blog.jobstreet.com/

This Brand That's Called YOU

Several years ago when I started out giving talks to the public and college students on how resumes should be written, I never failed to start off by telling my audience that whether they like it or not, everyone of us is in sales and marketing, and their resume should be that document that would sell or market the writer.

You should have seen the jolt of realisation in their eyes whenever I mentioned it. Nobody had thought of themselves in that way. To them, the resume is just a piece of necessary evil that they had to write and send to employers when they search for jobs.

But no, I've been telling them. The resume is much more than that. Aren't you attempting to get the employer to read about your skills and qualification? Aren't you trying to persuade the employer to call you for an interview? Isn't all these an effort to market yourself favourably in the employer's eyes?

Once this realisation sets in, my audience would become more receptive to the reasons why a resume should be properly written to highlight the job seeker's strengths, abilities and how his skills and qualifications can be matched closely to the employer's needs and requirements.

Let me take this concept of selling and marketing oneself one step further by borrowing a term: personal branding. Personal branding is how you build your reputation and image. Branding yourself well so that you become marketable.

To quote Tom Peters, a big Guru of personal branding, this is the Age of the Individual where you have to be your own brand. He says all of us are the CEOs of our own companies, Me Inc. Whatever business you do, your most important job is to be the head marketer of the brand that's call YOU.

But branding yourself successfully cannot be an overnight phenomenon. Building a positive personal brand takes time and the sooner you can start with this, the quicker you have a head start in your career and professional life.

Likewise, when you are searching for a job or looking for opportunities, you have to create and reinforce your positive personal career brand. Let it be known to employers or business partners that your personal career brand is in tune and in sync with their business objectives.

So you have to build your own reputation and build your own image. Personal career branding starts from the minute that you write your resume and it continues right through the interview process and your eventual employment. It doesn't stop. If you want prospective employers to look at you favourably, you must retain this positive image in their minds and never let any issue cloud their pre-judgment of you. That's how important personal career branding is today.

Related Article:
Pre-interview communication

Originally posted by SS Quah on Wednesday, 23 January 2008 at http://blog.jobstreet.com/

Alexa: JobStreet.com is the No.1 Job Site in the Philippines

According to Alexa.com, JobStreet.com is the only job portal in the top 100 most popular web sites in the Philippines, making it the leading job site in the country in terms of popularity. Currently ranked 33rd among the country’s top web sites, it is joined by social networking sites like Friendster, Multiply and Facebook, search engines Yahoo and Google, e-commerce sites Ebay.ph and Amazon.com, online media outlets Inquirer.net, GMANewsTV and PhilStar.com, as well as gaming sites LevelUpGames and E-games. Information sites such as Wikipedia and Internet Movie Database as well as image and video publishing sites like Photobucket and YouTube also continue to be popular among Filipinos. Filipinos mainly visit web sites to be entertained or to socialize, but when they look for jobs, their online destination is JobStreet.com.

A similar trend is reflected by the increase of JobStreet.com’s registered user base and website hits. “We started 2007 with 1 Million registered users.” shares Ritchie Ramos, JobStreet.com’s Marketing Manager. “We ended the year with over 1.4 Million registered users and 12 Million average monthly page views. This clearly shows that more and more Filipinos are turning to the Internet for their job search.”

According to Ramos, JobStreet.com’s popularity can be credited to the quantity and quality of jobs that it features. Job postings on the site has numbered to over 12,000 and continues to grow. Featured employers include top companies such as Microsoft, Shell and Coca Cola, as well as Business Process Outsourcing Companies (BPO) such as Convergys, Accenture, Teletech and Telus.

JobStreet.com continues to build on its successes by introducing new services to its registered jobseekers. In August last year, it launched Career Blast, the first speed-hiring event patterned after speed-dating services. The event provided participating employers and jobseekers an opportunity to quickly find great potential matches. In November, it launched BPO Avenue, a comprehensive online career resource for jobseekers aiming to join the BPO industry.

Alexa.com is a website that provides information on the web traffic of other websites by collecting information from Internet users who installed the Alexa Toolbar. It computes the sites’ number of web users and page views over time to generate rankings.

Posted by blogadmin on Monday, 21 January 2008 at http://blog.jobstreet.com/

Forbes: Turning Classifieds into cash

We have a story from Forbes.com which we'd like to share with you.

It traces the JobStreet.com story from our early days but essentially, it's a story about JobStreet.com founder and CEO, Mark Chang, as his steps are traced through the dot.com boom and bust period and the trials and tribulations he faced.

The Forbes article is both fascinating and absorbing. You can read it for yourself here. Fully recommended.

Originally posted by blogadmin on Friday, 18 January 2008 at http://blog.jobstreet.com/

Pre-interview Communication

Everybody loves a new job, especially one that brings along extra benefits and perks. But landing a new job often requires a lot of preparation from the job seeker, one that starts with the job applications and ends with the job confirmation.

In between, there is always the job interview.

Many people think that they need to create a good image of themselves only at the job interviews. That's not totally correct. You can go one step better by creating a positive impression of yourself BEFORE the job interview.

How can you achieve this impression that will make your prospective employer more at ease or comfortable with you before an interview?

Simple. Maintain an on-going communication with the employers. Don't ever break this communication chain. Employers will always assume that you will attend their interview when they call you. After all, that's why you sent in your job application in the first place, right? They believe in your interest and they expect that you would want to turn up to be interviewed. So it should be only natural that we reciprocate the employer's belief in us. We'll turn up for the interview on the designated day and time.

But there may be times that we cannot be present. Reasons are many and varied but in such circumstances, what should we do to keep up our communication with the employer? Just phone and inform them sincerely that you cannot come. Perhaps there is another date that can be arranged.

It's this way that we maintain a good networking and professional relationship with the people around us. We make them trust us enough. Who knows, the next time around, should you still be interested in a position in that same company, they'll not think of you as rude. Or immature. Or lacking in communication skills. Often, they may yet keep their interview doors open for you.

That is what you should aim at.

Originally posted by SS Quah on Tuesday, 08 January 2008 at http://blog.jobstreet.com/