Even though this article is geared towards those of you who still work outside the home with an in-office career…I still wanted to post it as it has some awesome tips that you can use now until you transition to a work at home position or telecommuting position. ~ Shelly

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New Year’s Career Resolutions

10 Resolutions to advance your career in 2012

New York – Creating career resolutions are a critical component for your success, and a new year brings new opportunities.  Julie Redfield, talent management expert at PA Consulting Group, offers the following New Year’s career resolutions to take on in 2012 to help advance your career: 

1.    Build my professional network: reconnect with school friends, prior employers and others in my profession. You never know where that next opportunity will come from!
2.    Identify a mentor, at least two levels up from me, and ask them for career advice. (People love being asked for their opinion, and often mentors will open up doors for you)
3.    Clarify my priorities and 2012 objectives with my boss. Ask what a “great” performance would look like for me.
4.    Identify one person in the office that I don’t know, and make an effort to get to know them and learn what their career aspirations are.
5.    Make sure my boss knows my career aspirations.
6.    Dress like I’m the CEO. (You always want to dress for the job you want to have.)
7.    Set a daily list of priorities for myself.
8.    Ask my boss every Monday what’s on his or her worry list, and offer my help.
9.    Give at least one person a genuine compliment every day. Be specific with what I appreciate about that person.
10.    Rather than join in the water cooler conversation about something negative, I’m going to ask people what they are going to do about solving the problem.

Julie Redfield is a talent management expert at PA Consulting Group. She brings crisp clear solutions to complex people issues, combining the human perspective with sound business practices, preparing companies to have the right people ready for the right roles at the right time. She brings a commercial focus to the HR function by having it motivate and engage employees, focus on business outcomes and drive bottom line growth.

About PA Consulting Group

PA Consulting Group is a leading management and IT consulting and technology firm. Independent and employee-owned, PA Consulting operates globally in more than 30 countries and transforms the performance of major organizations in both private and public sectors. From initial idea generation and strategy development through to detailed implementation, PA Consulting delivers significant and tangible results. PA Consulting has outstanding technology development capability; a unique breadth of skills from strategy to performance improvement, HR to IT; and strong expertise in communications, defense, energy, financial services, government and public services, healthcare and manufacturing.  For more information about PA Consulting Group, please visit www.paconsulting.com.

Every year the holidays seem to arrive faster than we expect and this year is no exception. With the economy being sluggish, thousands of stay at home moms are wondering what they can do this holiday season to earn some extra money for their family.

Here are 10 ideas that you can do this season to earn some extra cash that don’t require a college education.

1. Gift Wrapping Service – If you have a lot of free time and enjoy wrapping gifts, you could offer a gift wrapping service. You don’t need to be a professional, you just need to be creative and neat with your packaging.

2. Baking Holiday Goodies – People lead very busy lives these days and don’t have a lot of time to spend in their kitchens baking breads, cakes, pies and cookies. If you enjoy baking, you could offer to do the baking for your family and friends.

3. Babysitting Service – Parents are always looking for a few good babysitters so that they can run their errands and do their gift shopping. You will need to be flexible with your time and offer evening and/or weekend babysitting hours.

4. Greeting Cards Service – If you have nice penmanship, you could offer a greeting card service. You would have your customers purchase their own greeting cards and hand you their mailing list. You fill out the cards, address and stamp them…and then mail them off for your customer.

5. Dear Santa Christmas Letters – You can find free templates online on how to type up and send Dear Santa Claus response letters. Children love to get a reply back from Santa Claus along with a little trinket in their envelope.

6. Pet Sitting – A lot of people travel every year for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and they are looking for pet lovers who are responsible to care for their pets while they are away. You are usually required to walk, feed, water and play with the pet while the owner is away on vacation.

7. Gift Shopping – If you like to shop and don’t mind fighting the crowds in the stores, then perhaps this is an option for you. You can have your customer give you a list of the items they want and you go out and purchase them for those on the customer’s holiday gift-giving list.

8. Housecleaning – I know several home owners who hire seasonal housecleaning help. If you enjoy cleaning and if you are only looking to do it for a handful of weeks, this would be a nice option to earn some extra money.

9. Crafts – If you are creative and talented in the crafting medium…there is no better time to host your own craft show. If hosting one is not your cup of tea, you can find numerous Holiday bazaars and craft shows in your own community to participate in.

10. Party Host Services – A few years ago, a friend of mine was hosting a large party for her co-workers in her home. She hired me to come over for the day and evening to help her set up, cook, serve and clean-up after the party. If you enjoy entertaining guests and assisting a party host, this is a great opportunity to earn some extra money.

I hope these 10 ideas have sparked some creative ideas of your own. If you are looking to make some extra money this holiday season…now is the time to prepare a plan, print up some flyers and spread the word about whatever type of service you plan on providing this holiday season.

This article was written by Shelly Hill, copyright 2009, All Rights Reserved.

 Twitter is one of the hottest social media networking online sites today and that means you and your business need to be utilizing Twitter on almost a daily basis.

If you are not familiar with Twitter, it is basically an instant message system that works in “real” time. What is really cool about Twitter is that each message you send or receive is only 140 characters in length and you can pick and choose who you want to communicate with. It is a great way for you to reach out and network with others in your same niche or it’s a great way for you to market your business online to those who you normally wouldn’t come into contact with. Although you will fine thousands of just “personal users” on Twitter you will also found thousands of “businesses” there too!

When you join Twitter you want to fill out your profile page fully and make it look professional and pretty. Once your profile page is done you want to send out a few messages (known as Tweets) right away because no one wants to follow someone who has a blank Tweet stream. Once you have sent out several messages you will want to find some like-minded people to follow so that they will follow you back if they are interested in you and your business products/services.

One way you find people to follow is by using Twitter’s keyword search function. Here is an example:

If you sell candles you will want to do a keyword search for the word candles. Once your search results come up you will want to read those user’s profile pages to see if you are interested in following them. If yes…click on the follow button…if not, continue through the list.

When using the keyword search function on Twitter it is very important that you use it properly. You never want to keyword search a word and then send out Tweets to those people which sound like spam. In other words…if you see someone chatting about candles you don’t want to tweet out that you sell candles and that they should check out your web sites as most folks consider that to be TWEET SPAM. What you want to do is follow them & hopefully they will follow you back and you can engage them in some conversation. You can also send them a tweet (not a direct message) and just introduce yourself and try to connect and build a rapport with them. Once you do…then you can mention that you sell candles.

There is a wrong and a right way to use the Twitter keyword search function and it is important to use it the right way and not use it for spamming your business info & links because if you spam…I guarantee you that people/users will report you for spam.

To Your Twitter Marketing Success….

Shelly

Work Life Balance: Help for Busy Moms by Aurelia M. Williams

As a mom you probably go through times in your life when you think you can’t possibly manage work and taking proper care of your family. In fact, there are probably times when you feel you’re not doing a good job at one or the other or maybe even both. Don’t despair! There is help for you whether you work from home or outside of the home, your family is large or small or you have other commitments like volunteer work.

Time Management – Knowing where and how you spend your time is key to balancing your life. Start by keeping a calendar of all your activities. You can do this online, on a paper calendar or in a journal. Track everything from showering, exercise, meal preparation, driving time, and so on. You will probably see areas where you can cut some time out by doing certain activities while you’re waiting in line at the grocery store or riding in the car. There are lots of useful ways to spend idle time and you can figure those out as you fill out your calendar or journal.

Set Priorities – As women we often have a hard time saying “no” because it is in our nature to help others and want to be useful. However, you must know when to say “no” to those activities that don’t help you reach your family, personal or business goals. And even if the activity does in some way help you reach your goals, you will need to prioritize the activity according to its value or importance.

Don’t be Afraid to ask for Help – Another trap women tend to fall into is the “I can do it all” syndrome. For some reason society has taught women that they have to be “Super Mom” otherwise you’ll be seen as lazy or a bad mother. That is a lie! When you are feeling overwhelmed by work, family and kids, have a friend, relative or neighbor give you a hand by helping you clean your house, or taking the kids away for a couple of hours while you get some work done. Whatever the situation may be, don’t hesitate to ask for help.

These are just a few of the suggestions you’ll find in my report, Real Life Guidance to Balancing Work and Family. The “Real Life Guidance to Balancing Work and Family” report shows you how you can find a balance between work and family, without letting any of those balls you are juggling fall on the floor. This report gives you real life solutions, and the best part is that you can get started right now.

Not only are there tips for everyday life, but inside The “Real Life Guidance to Balancing Work and Family” contains valuable insight for work at home moms and moms who work outside of the home.

In addition, I also show you how to get started and then keep the momentum! So don’t wait another second. Stop doing the juggling act and get your life in balance now with the Real Life Guidance to Balancing Work and Family report.

Looking for tips to get your life in balance now. Get ‘em right now… 24/7! Real Life Guidancetoolkits are available for easy and instant download to your computer.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

The idea of escaping the rat race is liberating.  No more meaningless meetings where you pretend to care about things that you actually don?t care about at all.  No more hectic commutes and rushed mornings.  No more boss!  No more cubicle.  It all sounds so great, doesn?t it???  Of course it does!  The idea of working from home and being your own boss is delightful.  The reality, however, is a bit different.

The Problem is You Are Not Normal
The majority of American workforce go to their jobs each day, they clock in and clock out, and their plan is to work until the age of 60ish, and then retire.  If you are reading this article, that is not you!  In fact, if you are reading an article like this, then you, by nature, are most likely entrepreneurial, driven, and a risk taker.  Let?s face it?you would not be considering working from home unless you believed that you could succeed.  This is dangerous.  Let me explain.

At first the grandiose vision of controlling your own fate by starting up your own business and working from home is great.  But once you actually take the leap and begin working from home, you will quickly realize that you are, in fact, in control of your own fate!!  For better or worse!  Here is the deal?if you work from home, you are the only worker.  That means when you work things get done, and when you do not, things do not get done.  Now, it is very possible to build an automated business that produces income for you when you are not working, but that will not happen overnight.  That will take time.  Therefore, especially in the early days, the amount of time you work will often correlate highly with how much revenue your business can produce.  This leads to the primary conflict I want to introduce in this article?the work/life balance.

As I said, when you first venture out into the great land of entrepreneurship and self-employment, the grandeur of future success is energizing.  However, the reality is that working from home will require dedication, hard-work and self-discipline.  You will quickly realize that the more you work, the more work you get done, and if you are considering this path, then you are most likely driven and ambitious, and this is a deadly combination.  If there is always work to be done, and you are extremely driven and ambitious, then there is the very real possibility that you will never stop working.

Set Clear Boundaries
Therefore, the purpose of this article is to make you aware of this very real scenario and encourage you to plan ahead.  Now, you can sit down and plan a rigid schedule for when and how often you will work each day and each week.  And strive to not break this schedule.  One of the biggest killers of many new entrepreneurs is sheer exhaustion.  Never underestimate the importance of rest and relaxation.  If you work from home, it is easy to never stop working.  But the reality is that you are not impervious.  It will catch up with you. 

Therefore, plan scheduled breaks throughout the day, and try to work very limited hours or not at all on nights and weekends.  By recognizing this ahead of time, and planning accordingly, you will be equipped and ready to manage this challenge when the time comes.

Jason Hoerr is an entrepreneur, writer for SmallBusinessLoansDirect.com, and trader based in Charlotte, NC.

When it comes to applying for a home telecommute job there are a few important tips you need to remember when you are filling out those online applications or emailing / postal mailing in those resumes.  Today, I thought I would share a few tips with all of you who are looking for a telecommuting job.

1. When filling out online telecommute job applications you always want to answer each question to the best of your ability. Your answers to their questions should be brief and to the point without any added fluff.

2. Never EVER lie or stretch the truth on job applications or on resumes. Anytime you lie or embellish your answers on applications or resumes it will come back to bite you in the butt. Being truthful with your answers is always the BEST thing to do.

3. If you have a resume that you personally drafted up it is very important to proofread it for any grammar or spelling mistakes. You want the potential employer to get a good “first” impression about you and you want that impression to be a professional one. If your resume is drafted up improperly and/or filled with grammar and spelling mistakes it will send up a RED FLAG to that employer right away.

4. When providing your contact information on your application/resume make sure it is complete and accurate. Most companies will contact you during the weekdays during normal working hours so if you are providing a phone number for them to contact you at…make sure it is a number where you are most likely to be during the daytime hours.

5. One you have submitted your application and/or resume online to the potential employer don’t start emailing them and calling them to find out your status right away. These days potential employers really spend a good bit of time looking over applicants applications and resumes and it could be “weeks” until you hear from them (if you hear from them at all).

When it comes to applying for a home telecommute job it does take quite a bit of time to land one…most people tell me that it takes 6 months or longer so you will need to be patient! Keep filling out those applications and keep sending in those resumes and hopefully you will eventually land yourself a “dream” home telecommute job! Good Luck!

Work At Home Jobs Search – Top 10 Time Savers by Tammy Embrich

Work at home jobs, (the legitimate ones that is) are certainly not going to come to you easily. Searching for the reputable ones are both challenging and time consuming. However, there are certain things you can do to help save you a ton of time. Knowing how and where to search is essentially half the battle, along with being computer search savvy of course.

Below are 10 time savers that will benefit you while searching for home based positions

1. Realize that you DO have to actually work in order to make a lucrative income. Don’t spend time on searching for easy street riches. They do not exist period.

2. Do apply for online work for which you have appropriate skills for. Yes, for most “real” at home jobs, you do have to have some skills and experience! It’s no different than any outside- the-home employment. There are a few online companies that will train. Please check into this before applying.

3. Don’t mess around with a poorly structured resume. Your resume is the key to landing an online position in the first place. Make for sure it is well written and also make sure you make several copies so you have them ready to go.

Below are a few resume how to sites for your convenience

howtowritearesume.net/

goldenresume.us/resume-tools.htm

kellyservices.us/web/us/services/en/pages/resume_tips.html

spherion.com/careers/Job_Seeker_Tools.jsp

how-to-write-a-resume.org/resume_writing.htm

4. Properly utilize and take advantage of your search options for searching for job sites such as:

careerbuilder.com

indeed.com

monster.com

genuinejobs.com

jobhits.com

snagajob.com

5. Sign up for job listing alerts with google.com/alerts You can make these alerts for anything you wish, work at home ideas, listings, “jobs,” etc… I suggest to set alerts up to be delivered daily.

6. Do a search on google.com for newsletters, and sign up. You’ll come up with tons of results by typing in the word phrase “work from home newsletters.”

7. Think ahead for interview discussions. Be prepared to discuss any and all skills you have. This of course includes all past occupations you’ve had. Also be prepared to answer why you are the best candidate for the position. This question is often asked at interviews.

8. Always provide a professional and functional email address to include on your resume. When using an out-dated email address, of course it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be contacted. So double check when filling out that resume and make sure your email addy is a reputable one.

9. Sign up on the top social networks sites, such as; Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can then do searches for job listings, leads, and telecommuting, etc… Network with the people you know, and ask questions. Also follow and add friends for only others you will benefit from.

10. Make sure the company you are applying at is not a scam. The top red flags for scam companies are as follows:

1- Promising huge earnings in a very short time

2- No contact information

3- Large fees involved. Don’t apply on job sites that require fees unless they are small ones and are for one of the three following items:

* headset

* foot pedal

* background check

The time saving tips above will sure to benefit your search experience and get you the work at home job in the shortest time possible.

Article written by: Tammy Embrich

Tammy has been successful in the work at home industry for many years. She is an Internet marketer, article marketer, and ghostwriter. She offers free job leads for the job seeker, as well as other work at home resources, work at home articles, tips, and more at http://www.onestopwebemployment.com.

You can also find Tammy at Work At Home Jobs, offering legitimate work at home companies, more free job leads, work at home articles, and much more.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Ever send your resume in through a high traffic job board posting and not know what the person on the other end is looking for, or if they are even the person that is going to decide whether or not they hire you?

Getting your resume to the decision maker requires a little bit of skill in investigation, networking, and playing dumb….Yep that’s right playing dumb will get you past the gate keepers.

In this scenario what how Sales Rep Cindy navigates her resume into the hands of the decision maker and quickly gets an interview.

Step Number One.

Target a specific company that fits your industry that has a good reputation and begin doing research online. Try to find job postings that will carry keywords that you can relate to on your resume, try to find as many contact names, email addresses and phone numbers on the website as possible, and bookmark the contact us form if applicable. Most websites have a contact form if you need to fill out a complaint or have questions about products and services; this area is also great for jobs seekers.

Step Number Two:

Once your resume/cover letter is fine written to the tune of what the company does and how your skills and qualifications match what that company’s website obtained, you now ready to email, fax, and make phone calls.

Step Number Three-Email:

You may have collected some emails from the website that are not HR related, they may go to the VP of the company or a customer service rep, maybe a receptionist. It doesn’t matter; blind copy all of them so that everyone gets a copy of your resume. You may get a response back that says that you sent your resume to the wrong department; the responder may give you the name and contact information of the right person to send it too.

In a perfect world Bob the responder might say “you sent this to me by mistake I work in the Sales Dept not HR, you need Donna Smith in HR her email address is Donna.Smith@xyzcompany.org and extension is 4533. Good Luck. But in most cases Bob in Sales won’t respond he will think it is just spam, delete it, and move on or perhaps use your email address as a marketing lead.

Step Number Four-Phone:

***Notice the emails you collected online contain names domains like Bonnie.Lewis@xyzcompany.org

You have sent in your emails now it is time to call to follow up to the only number listed on the website. Whether Bob responds to your email or not following up with a phone call is the key. You call in and Bonnie the receptionist answers, you say to Bonnie that you applied for a position in her company and wondered if she received your resume. Bonnie will say “yes I received your resume and forwarded it the HR department, I’m just a receptionist I don’t do the hiring”. You respond by saying “Bonnie I apologize for sending you my resume, I was unsure of who was the decision maker on the hiring (play dumb), I do appreciate your efforts in sending my resume to the HR department, can you tell me who is in charge of the hiring in HR?” Bonnie replies, “That would be Michelle Stafford” Would you happen to know her extension or can you direct me to her voicemail?

In most cases Bonnie would just send you to voicemail, but the good news is you are now getting somewhere. Cindy leaves Michelle a message “Hi Michelle, my name is Cindy, I recently spoke with Bonnie (name drop) about applying for a position within your company and I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time so I can ask a few questions about your hiring process? Please give me a call or email me with the best time to reach you, my number and email address is……..

At this point, you have sent in your resume to everyone except Michelle; however you left her a voicemail and gave her a call to action, partnered-networked with Bonnie, and now know the name of the person who will make the hiring decision. By using Bonnie’s email address it is not too difficult to figure out Michelle’s email address, so now you can send your resume and get it in front of the decision maker.

Please stay tuned, in my next post I will explain the features and benefits of following up with HR and how to sell yourself over the phone and get an immediate face to face interview.

I hope this information helps and good luck with your job search.

Bryan Moore
10 Years-Executive Recruiter
Blog: http://careerprobryan.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/CareerproBryan
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/careerprobryan
Email: careerprobryan(at)gmail(dot)com

I run or co-run a few home businesses and today I thought I would pass along a few tips that I have learned over the 20+ years that I have had a home business.

First…let me ask you this question. Do you procrastinate and don’t get your business work or client work done on time? Do you wait until the last day or hours before it’s due to complete it? If so, that is a bad business practice that you MUST change today!

When you have a home business it is usually yourself or yourself and a few others who are running it. You don’t have a large group of employees to rely on to help you get that work done. There are things that happen in our daily lives that we don’t plan on…like our family members getting sick, deaths ocurring in the family, natural disasters, electricity or internet going down or whatever.

If you let your work sit and try to work on it right before it’s due what happens if some emergency arises? Who will complete that work and get it in for you? In most cases…no one!

This is why it is VERY important that you break that procrastinating last minute habit today!

You really need to set up a schedule and pencil all of your business tasks and deadlines. You need to work on your business projects or client work ahead of time and have it completed and ready to go for submission or delivery several days before it’s actually due!

By planning ahead and completing your work ahead of time you will prevent business disasters and equally as important, it will be less stressful for you and those around you. Clients and Customers do not like to hear your “excuses” on why your work or their work hasn’t been completed on time.

 If you want to be taken seriously in your business and be taken seriously by your customers and clients you need to get organized and get your work completed ahead of time. So break that “bad” business habit today and save yourself a headache tomorrow.

Shelly

Work At Home Jobs – One Dozen Companies That Hire Telecommuters by Tammy Embrich

Work at home jobs are not for everyone. There are a lot of things to consider before you take on a telecommuting position. You need to look at your current work situation, your home lifestyle, your family’s needs and schedules, and last but not least, your skills and experience. Your children will also need to be considered. Do you have little ones at home during the day? Have you taken the needed steps in making sure they are well cared for while you perform your online duties?

Above all, don’t for a minute think that a real “job” online is easy peasy. It is NOT. It’s just like brick and mortar. You have to work hard to earn your wages! Please keep this in mind when you start out with your journey for home employment.

You will need patience when considering (successfully) working at home, along with a good dose of reality. These are not chances of getting rich quick, as you’ve seen those promises from a host of scammy thieves, but honest ways to make money from home. If you are looking for some sort of set and forget type of thing, you are reading the wrong article, as they are not offered here.

You also need discipline when you work at home. When you telecommute, you work for someone else and most of the time, this means their schedule. Also do you know WHERE to look for these home based gems? Half the battle is won when you know exactly where to look. Also, have an open mind when searching. There are a lot of variations of positions that are legitimately offered. A few will offer paid training, although most will not. For some, you will need specific knowledge and skills. Keep that in mind when reading on the following sites.

Below are one dozen companies to start your search

* cloud10corp.com/index.php?home_career
* odesk.com
* liveops.com/
* hirepoint.com/athome/index.html (Teletech)
* vipdesk.com/info/
* apply.westathome.com/workfromhome.html
* workingsolutions.com/
* 1800flowers.com/
* smarthinking.com/static/aboutUs/careers/
* elance.com
* accoladesupport.com/techjob.html
* grindstone.com/work-with-grindstone.html

The work at home sites listed above are all legitimate, so you’ll not have to worry about doing research for them. However, you WILL need to consistently check back with them to find out if they are currently hiring. Unfortunately, just because a site is legitimate doesn’t mean they are always hiring. So, don’t lose heart! Keep checking back. I suggest to check at least monthly, if not, weekly. You will also need to keep a careful record of which companies you’ve applied with. I find wordpad or notepad works well for me with staying organized with my information.

One Final Tip: Always keep a positive attitude. Successful people didn’t get far with doubtful thinking. Keep looking and applying, then search some more. Also the list above is just one dozen, there are plenty more. Make Google a good friend and perform your searches from there.

Wishing you much success!

Article Written By Tammy Embrich

Tammy is an Internet marketer, article marketer, and ghostwriter. You can find more work at home articles, tips, and more at Work At Home Jobs

You can also find Tammy blogging at Grandparenting Artcles and Tips

Article Source: WAHM Articles