CONTEST Leave a Comment, Win 1 of 5 Copies of Work Your Strengths

CONTEST Leave a Comment, Win 1 of 5 Copies of Work Your Strengths 19 Here's a contest that's easy to win. Join in before Sunday night, ok? How to Enter At the bottom of this article, leave a comment that shows off your strengths. (If you're not sure what your strengths are, get some ideas from How To Figure Out Which Job You’ll Excel At. Clicking this link will open a new window) Some suggestions of what to write in your comment are: A job search tactic that worked particularly well for you recently or in the past The story of a work achievement you're very proud of Or- impress me with constructive feedback about JobMob and how I can make the site better for you. Don't be shy…eval Comment now How to Win Simple â€" Leave an impressive comment.eval The winners will be the 5 people with the most impressive comments as judged by me. You, or anyone you know, can try to influence the choice of winners by leaving more comments in support. Comment now Prizes 5 free copies of the hardcover edition of the recently-published Work Your Strengths (which sell for US$21.95) are available to be won, including shipping handling to wherever you are in the world. Rules Must be 18 or older. You can comment as many times as you like, but you can only win one prize. Be sure to use a real email address or Twitter account when you comment so that I can contact you if you win. Contest Deadline To be considered as entries in the contest, all comments must be submitted by this Sunday June 27th 2010, midnight PST, which is 10am Monday morning Israel time (check your local time here) Comment now Good luck! Thanks to Amacom Publishing for sponsoring this contest with the prizes. This contest was inspired by Scott Adams's Attention Contest.

The Headhunters Guide to Pranks and Prats

The Headhunters Guide to Pranks and Prats Much as the title suggests, my colleagues (and unfortunately myself during my time as a headhunter) were as great a source of amusement to my customers, so here is a collection of our best and worst moments mostly our worst. No names are mentioned, but you know who you are. Porn in the airport: If youre travelling straight to the airport after work for a much needed holiday abroad, then do not leave your luggage unattended to for even a second. Heres what happens if you fail to heed this golden rule. Its late in the afternoon and youve gone to the toilet to spruce yourself up before your long trip. Sensing that this will be their last chance to ruin your day, your calculating colleagues open up the bag you have unwittingly left next to your desk. They slide some scissors (or anything sharp and metallic they can find) into the bag on top of your belongings which they then cover in a layer of porn. Lots and lots of truly heart-stopping, obscene, probably illegal in most countries, hardcore porn. They zip up the bag before you return to your desk, not suspecting a thing. You get all the way to the airport, you check in, you stroll through passport control, and then you hit customs. Im sorry sir, but there appears to a sharp metallic object in your bag which youre not allowed to carry on board with you do you mind if we open it up and take a look? Your heart begins to beat out of your chest. You know something is up. You remember how weirdly happy your team was to see you go on your way out. You know theyve done something, but its too late to check for yourself. The customs official is opening the bag while young families and old ladies stare at you wondering what youve done. Boy, are they about to get a shock! Porn everywhere!!!! Sweat pours down your face, pee pours down your pants which really doesnt help your case considering the circumstances. Out comes the offending item the scissors which the official puts to one side. He doesnt speak he just judges you silently, but as carrying porn does not contravene any laws, he slowly starts to repackage the pages of filth girl filth, boy filth, girl on girl filth, filth with animals, one page at a time until your bag is ready to be zipped up again. Finally, it ends and you are allowed to go through and your first instinct is to call those bastards who did this to you and set them straight, so you make the call only to find yourself on speakerphone ranting to the whole office about your ordeal against a backdrop of uncontrollable laughter you will never ever live this down. Sadly, when my team tried to play this trick on our boss before his flight to New Zealand last year, he was one step ahead and was sure to check his bag before he left and remove both the porn and the scissors. How did he know? Perhaps it had something to do with him being part of the group that successfully carried off the prank several years before at his previous firm. You dont become a manager falling for pranks like that. However, that still doesnt save you from having to clean up the mess left by your newest underling the day before his promotion to your team comes into effect read on.. The curse of predictive textand more porn Note: if that witty put-down you just have to put into writing is really that good, it will still be cutting edge humour if you take a few extra seconds to double check the email addresses added in your cc box. Its New Years Eve. Youre taking it easy (while pretending to be hard at work of course). Youve just been promoted and youre feeling pretty good about yourself. You have three days off after this and then you start your new job at your new desk, sitting next to your new boss. What could you possibly do to screw this up? Respond to an email designed to rile you up with what you think if the cleverest quip ever since you schooled that wise-arse in Kindergarten with the unanswerable I know you are, but what am I? Thats what. But no, you can do better than that. You can force him to share his humiliation with his entire team who you promptly copy in. You have to get in their quick though, so you just type in the first letters of their names and let Outlook do the rest after all, how many other people in the world are likely to be called Howard? Oh and I did I mention the porn? But of course, this particular banter exercise all began with someone sending you a picture of two men enjoying the love that dare not speak its name followed by a taunt so wounding you cant for the life of you remember what it was now. So, you write your piercing comeback something about just wanting to be friends and not touching him in that way if your life depended on it. Get it? Youre pretending that him sending you the picture was actually an attempted sexual advance. My word, arent you clever? Stewie from Family Guy is literally taking notes as we speak. You press send. Let the humiliation begin. Your humiliation. The targeted team cracks up in hysterics (mission accomplished) apart from Howard, who for some reason has no idea whats going on. Did he not receive the email? OH MY GOD, HOWARD DIDNT RECEIVE THE EMAIL! Someone else called Howard, who you recently placed with one of the countrys leading broadcasters, however, did receive the email. By the way, did I mention this Howard was gay? Time to call in the boss not the outgoing boss, he cant stop laughing. He manages to pull himself together for just long enough to drag me (I mean, the idiot who did this is who is not me under any circumstances whatsoever) over to the new boss. Hes your problem now you: tell him what youve done. To this day, I must credit the coolness of his reaction. How do I describe it? Hmmm, anyone remember Harvey Keitels character in Pulp Fiction: The Wolf? Not a harsh word, not a single smirk, not even a raised eyebrow just one very awkward phone call. Not to Howard, but to the account manager responsible for the client Howard is now working for. It would be his job to break the news, but first my boss had to break it to him and here is what he said: Hi mate. Sorry to bother you on your day off, but weve got a problem. Tony accidentally sent an email that was intended for someone in the office to one of your candidates and it contains a really explicit picture. What does the picture look like? Well mate, its not good. I dont know how to say this alright: basically, its two blokesbent double without a stitch onand well.ones f***ing the other. Can you handle it? Boys and girls, youll be glad to know, Howard simply dismissed it for what it was, another piece of mis-directed banter. I say another as it later transpired that I was in fact the second person in my office to do that to him in a week the first being the account manager. No wonder he was so calm under fire that morning. Best of the rest The office arsehole who got his comeuppance when his colleague relented and gave him the lead into a contact at McVities (the company famous for its snacks and biscuits for the benefit of my non-English friends). He had about five conversations with a series of receptionists, who one can only assume were also in on the gag as he had to work out the prank for himself. This is how the last one went: Office arsehole: Hello. Can I speak to a Mr Caracas please? Receptionist: Can you give me his full name please? Office arsehole: Yes, its Karim. Thats Mr Karim Caracas. Is he there? Receptionist: (Muffled laughter) Office arsehole: Im sorry, but I really do need to speak to Karim Caracas. Can you please tell me if hes..(finally works it out and slams down phone). Office arsehole to colleague: You bastard! How about the wet behind the ears sales consultant who recently survived sending an explicit email to the wrong person days before starting his new position? Anonymous caller: Hello can I speak to [insert name of team manager] please? Sales consultant: Can I ask whos speaking? Anonymous caller: Im an old friend of his and hes expecting my call. The name is Mr Bred. First name, Peter. Sales consultant: No problem hold one moment and Ill see if hes available. Sales consultant to team manager: You have a call from a bloke who says hes a friend of yours says his name is Peter Bred? Team manager: His name is Peter Bred? Are you having a laugh? (whole team laughing in the background) Sales consultant: Oh s**t!!! Finally, theres the classic email hack. Fortunately it was so common place where I used to work that I was just about able to convince my boss that I too had fallen prey to the oldest prank in the book (since email was invented anyway) when he received the following message from me: Im fed up of you and your crackpot methods. You dont have a clue what youre talking about. I want to work for a real man who knows what theyre doing. I hereby tender my resignation with immediate effect. And no, I didnt actually send it myself just to see if I could get away with it. I may be stupid enough to send offensive pornographic pictures to new customers, but Im not that stupid. To the person who did do it (and we both know who you are) you, sir, are a prat! Until next time folks

7 Essential Social Media Practices to Boost SEO - Classy Career Girl

7 Essential Social Media Practices to Boost SEO The close relation that lies between effective social media marketing and search ranking is undeniable. Increased social media presence boosts one’s chances of dominating the top pages of search engine results. However, many people fail to comprehend the close link between social media and SEO and the clear-cut ways in which the former can enhance SEO campaigns. Understanding the relationship between the two and exploring the possible social media practices that are integral components of SEO boosting is therefore quite important. Ideally, several social media practices are invaluable when it comes to stepping up SEO campaigns. 7 Essential Social Media Practices to Boost SEO 1. Promote External Links to the Site Social media is one of the strategic tools necessary in enhancing inbound links to external sites. Since link building is one of the most critical aspects of search rankings, strengthening such links through social media enhances the efficiency of SEO campaigns. Even more, social media provides a more favorable platform. Links about the company can be shared to various accounts across the media and to authorized sites. This maximizes the SEO potential of the involved site. 2. Encourage Social Sharing Enhanced social sharing is one of the best ways of increasing brand awareness and stepping up SEO campaigns in the process. You can take advantage of external links to reach out to greater market segments through consistent social media sharing. The result will be increased popularity of your brand among consumers, which has a positive impact on SEO. To benefit from such, you need to ensure frequent and captivating posts. Many clients or potential customers will find such content easy to share across various social media platforms. Increased sharing boosts the number of posts bearing your links, which in turn improves SEO rankings. 3. Locally Optimizing Posts One of the best ways a company can improve its popularity amongst consumers is engaging in local events and sharing posts on the varied social media platforms. A healthy relationship with the local community not only enhances the popularity of a brand within an area but also sends a message of cooperation to others beyond. For a start, you can take part in local festivals and have several locals grace the occasion. By sharing the photos of the event and mentioning the brand, the popularity of the brand will be enhanced. When implemented appropriately, local communities can help you step up SEO campaigns via the social media. Simply engage the locals and encourage them to post, comment, and share relevant aspects of the event. You can also reap big from social media by sharing locally SEO-optimized posts. Attaining this doesn’t have to be complicated provided you are equipped with the right blogging skills and an unwavering command of language. 4. Enhancing Brand Awareness The popularity of your brand or site bears a positive correlation with SEO campaign outcomes. Increased brand awareness promotes related searches and number of visits to your site. The social media can be used effectively to improve the reputation of the company. Attracting new customers and increasing the number of searches greatly lies in your ability to capitalize on social media. You can take advantage of social media to enlighten your audience on the latest promotions, unbeatable discounts, and new products in the market. When carried out appropriately, you can have the social media users enhancing your popularity by sharing the latest promotions and informing others about your unbeatable offers. This will attract potential customers and increase the number of visits to your site, which is the ultimate goal of SEO. [RELATED: 6 Ways to Simplify Social Media] 5. Optimizing Social Media Posts for Searches Regular posts are only beneficial when the target audience is able to interact effectively with them. Opening up such posts to direct viewers is an easier and more reliable way of ensuring the right people read the posts. Optimizing social media posts for searches helps a great deal in achieving this. When carried out effectively, this strategy will enhance bold portrayal of your posts to the viewers. This will, in turn, offer a great boost to your SEO campaigns. In the best outcome, use strong anchor posts to optimize web searches of your brand through social media. One easy way of attaining this is ensuring the anchor texts and posts have detailed information about your website or the promoted product. Not only will it boost your SEO campaigns, but itll also step up your brand awareness. In addition, it is advisable to increase the number of hashtags in posts as this makes them easily identifiable. It guarantees your content easy visibility and promotes quick searches. Even more, you should not shy away from bringing your contents and links to posts in existing threads and conversations. It will work a great deal in maximizing external links sources. 6. Increase Social Media Followers A company’s social media followers can influence its SEO page rankings. A brand with many likes and shares on Facebook and Twitter is more likely to grace top search engine result pages. What does this mean for an up-and-coming or average brand with limited social media followers? Stepping up your social media campaign to increase the number of followers might augur well with your SEO campaigns. While it might be possible to buy Twitter followers, building such followers through organic means is a safer way of enhancing the popularity of one’s brand. If detected by search engines, malpractices like ‘buying’ followers attract heavy punishment. This could ruin all the efforts you have put into enhancing your brand awareness. Instead of opting for unscrupulous means of boosting the number of social media followers, you can you can gain more followers by posting more relevant articles and opening debate forums. Open forums encourage healthy relationships between brand owners and their customers. Even more, it fosters the growth of clients. There is no easier way of achieving this feat than through social media platforms. 7. Take Advantage Today The undeniable correlation between social media marketing and SEO campaigns is an aspect that many marketers have yet to take advantage of. If you have never realized how effective social media can be in stepping up SEO campaign, it is high time you adopted the right practices and made it count.