Tag Archives: Twitter
New Rules of Work about Cover Letters and Resumes
On Friday at the Park City Club in Dallas, I will present a synopsis of this best-seller by Alexandra Cavoulacos and Kathryn Minshew: The new rules of work: The modern playbook for navigating your career. New York: Crown Books (2017).
You can register for this event on the home page of 15MinuteBusinessBooks.com.
One of the issues the authors discuss is whether job seekers still need resumes and cover letters, given the amount of information available about them on social media sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.
Here is what they say:
“Believe us, we’ve heard that question many times before. But heed our advice when we say that nothing replaces your formal resume and cover letter. Not your LinkedIn profile. Not your impressive personal website. Not your articulate expression of your skills and talents in your informational interview, or your well-written email to the hiring managers. These are all important, of course. However, you absolutely still need to have a polished resume and cover letter prepared. Because all those extra trappings won’t matter if you don’t have the right packaging to catch the eye of your target audience – the hiring managers” (p. 125).
They publish a list of resume and cover letter do’s and don’ts (pp. 149-150)
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Resume |
Cover Letter |
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Do’s
· Tailor your information · Include quantifiable achievements · Show, don’t tell · Make contact information easy to find · Stick to one page – two at most · Check for skimmability · Include key words from job description · Use powerful and unique verbs · Proofread · Save as a PDF |
Do’s
· Share your personality · Tell a relevant story about what brought you to the job · Expand on your resume · Highlight key transferable skills · Use the company’s “voice” · Address the letter to someone specific |
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Don’ts
· Make bullets read like job descriptions · Include confidential information about a previous employer · List “references available upon request” · Neglect application instructions · Squish it all to one page – six point font · Lie |
Don’ts
· Fail to write one · Regurgitate your resume · Use stiff, formal language · Address to “whom it may concern” · Include a desired salary – unless asked |
Recent Forecasting Questions as Follow-up to Superforecasting
Those of you who attended or have listened to the synopsis I gave on Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction by Philip Tetlcok and Dan Gardner (Crown Books, 2016) at the First Friday Book Synopsis are aware that you can participate in the Good Judgment project by clicking HERE.
Here is a follow-up with some of the questions that participants are forecasting:
Newly Published Questions
- Will Iran officially lift its ban on either Facebook or Twitter before 1 October 2016?
Will Dilma Rousseff cease to be President of Brazil before 1 January 2017?
Will the EU lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens before July 2016?
Most Forecasted Questions
- 204 new forecasts:
Will Dilma Rousseff cease to be President of Brazil before 1 January 2017?182 new forecasts:
Which team will win the 2015-2016 NBA Finals?174 new forecasts:
Will the EU lift visa requirements for Turkish citizens before July 2016?136 new forecasts:
Who will win the Republican Party nomination for the US presidential election?127 new forecasts:
Will a majority of voters in Britain’s upcoming referendum elect to remain in the European Union?
The Technology We Will Read About Soon – The Online Buzz Last Week
We have provided synopses for many books on technology over the now completed 14 years of the First Friday Book Synopsis. Clearly, there are many avid readers who embrace technology and can’t wait to see what’s new.
Here’s the next one that we will likely see covered in a book soon. It is called Project Glass, and it is a pair of Internet-connected glasses under development by Google.
In essence, you wil be able to be online and view sites through a small glass window that rests in the upper right or left corner of your lens.
The Wall Street Journal provided these statistics in an article on April 7-8, 2012, p. C4. Out of 2,482 social media posts on Facebook and Twitter between April 4-6:
- 77% were excited
- 9% were skeptical
- 12% thought it was too much
- 2% cracked jokes
Click here to read the full article and see some of the quotes taken from the respondents.
And, remember – don’t ever say, “what will they think of next?” As soon as you do, you will be behind the curve.
What do you think? Let’s talk about it really soon.
Rowling Enthusiasm Runs High Before She Even Writes
Acclaimed author J.K. Rowling, who penned the widly popular Harry Potter series, has received great enthusiasm about her announcement that she will write a new book for an adult audience.
She could have a best-seller before she even writes a word.
In research conducted by Netbase Solutions, Inc., published in the Wall Street Journal (February 25-26, 2012, p. C4), reactions to the announcement are as follows:
Excited – 58%
Memories of Potter – 34%
Jokes – 6%
Skepticism – 2%
The reactions were consolidated from 4,800 posts on Twitter and Facebook, between February 23-24.
I did not read any of the Harry Potter books, but my daughter did, and also saw all the movies.
I think I will read this one, whatever it is, and whenever it comes out, just out of curiosity.
What about you? Let’s talk about it really soon.
Social Media Doesn’t Make the Cash Register Ring
As with many of you, we have a presence on Facebook for the First Friday Book Synopsis. Many of you are members of the group that we established. It is fun to interact with you through that group every day.
It is important to remember that Social Media has limits as to what it can produce. It is what it is – it is “social,” and its intent is to share information, reactions, opinions, and presence. Many have tried to use Social Media for other purposes, and in fact, seminars are plentiful that purport to show you how to build business by maximizing and tweaking your presence with the various tools.
Click here for access to a full article published on February 21 in the Dallas Morning News about business results from Facebook. They are not impressive, and the trends below may surprise you, as they run counter to common-sense publicity about social media. Here is an excerpt from the article:
“Last April, Gamestop Corp. opened a store on Facebookto generate sales among the 3.5 million-plus customers who’d declared themselves “fans” of the video game retailer. Six months later, the store was quietly shuttered. Grapevine-based Gamestop has company. Over the past year, Gap Inc. , Plano-based J.C. Penney Co. and Nordstrom Inc. have all opened and closed storefronts on Facebook Inc.’s social networking site. Facebook, which this month filed for an initial public offering, has sought to be a top shopping destination for its 845 million members. The stores’ quick failure shows that the Menlo Park, Calif.-based social network doesn’t drive commerce and casts doubt on its value for retailers, said Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. “There was a lot of anticipation that Facebook would turn into a new destination, a store, a place where people would shop,” Mulpuru said. “But it was like trying to sell stuff to people while they’re hanging out with their friends at the bar.”
These results do not surprise me. If you count on Social Media to build sales, that is neither its intent, nor a probable outcome.
Don’t get me wrong. I like Social Media. I access Facebook and Twitter several times a day. In fact, my MBA class on research methods at the University of Dallas is studying it during this term.
But, I am aware of what it is supposed to do, and what it can do. It is what it is. It raises awareness, but it doesn’t make the cash register ring. Don’t be disappointed when it doesn’t do something it is not.
What do you think? Let’s talk about this really soon.
Social Media is Just That – Social
I am not surprised at all to see the statistics published on February 20, 2012 by the Pew Research Center that reveal very few Americans receive political news from social networks.
Where do we get our information about politicians, campaigns, platforms, etc? It’s not from social media. Here is the breakdown, when Americans were asked to identify the sources they used regularly to follow political news. Note this is not a “fixed pie” of 100%. Rather, these numbers reflect how many Americans sampled identified a source:
Cable news (36%)
Local TV news (32%)
National network news (26%)
Internet (25%)
Local daily newspaper (20%)
Talk radio (16%)
Late-night comedy shows (9%)
Facebook (6%)
YouTube (3%)
Twitter (2%)
Why would this surprise anyone? Social Media is just what it is – it is social. It generates conversation, spreads opinions, and highlights reactions. Social Media is not a source that generates or distributes information. It is post-news. It is filled with what people think about what they already know.
It is not that Social Media is unimportant. In fact, it is the focus in my MBA research methods class this term at the University of Dallas. My students are learning research methods by focusing their research on Social Media.
Americans don’t get their news from Social Media outlets. Americans talk about the news through Social Media.
Are you surprised by this? If so, let’s talk about it really soon!
