7 Reasons You Should Take an Internship

7 Reasons You Should Take an Internship People sometimes become a bit dubious  when deciding whether or not to take an internship. Often, when freshly graduating you lack enough experience to get a full time permanent job, so internships, apprenticeships and work experience are your only options. However, we need to stop looking at these negatively and think of everything we can gain from internships and work placements. They are often the best option for you because you want to get a feel for work without being thrown into the deep end straight away and this provides you with  the opportunity to learn and grow. Here are 5 reasons you should take the internship and feel great about your decision: 1. To gain experience. You lack experience and this is the only way to get it. The best experience comes from internships because you get to do a bit of everything! You get to see and experience the different roles that people play in certain companies and see working life from different perspectives. This is good to take into the working world with you because at times, you will be asked to do various tasks involving different elements of the company. This way, you would have already had a go at things and understood how to multitask. 2. To have a better understanding. An internship allows you to take time to understand your role, tasks and the industry. Internships want you to leave knowing more than you came with, and this is most likely the outcome. Take this opportunity to understand each task you are given and every new tool you use.  Write things down, ask questions and do things repeatedly to  make sure you are doing everything with 100% effort. 3. Have the  opportunity to learn and watch. You can learn from the best during an internship. People will be watching over you and working closely with you on projects so that you have someone to look up to and a goal to work towards. Perhaps you will learn new skills from these people and new things about the industry and life that you didnt know before. Communication and interaction is key so ask plenty of questions and dont be afraid to propose new ideas! 4. Gain the  ability to put new things into practice. You can try out new skills and tools without the pressure of being wrong. Internships are a time to experiment, and people who hire you for that internship know that. They expect you to learn from your mistakes and use this as motivation to get better at the things you were not so great at before! Take these new ideas and skills to your next job  and find a way to incorporate them into any tasks you are given. 5. Build confidence. Whether it be public speaking, giving presentations or simply suggesting new ideas, internships will build your confidence which allows you to grow as both a worker and a person. Confidence is key because if you dont believe in yourselfwho will? There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, so make sure you dont cross it because no one likes an arrogant worker! Internships will help you to build confidence through practice which will also help in your personal growth. After all, practice makes perfect! 6. To get a feel for different industries. Internships are usually for 3-6 months. This allows you to get a feel for different industries in a small period of time. If you spend 3 months in PR then 3 months in marketing, you get to know the difference in content, how they work and why they work. This will help in your overall career path if you are unsure of what to do in the future, or are stuck between 2 options. You also pick up a wider variety of skills when working in different industries which can make you more attractive to employers and hiring managers! 7. To communicate Internships require you to both work individually and within a team. You learn to communicate in new ways to build professional working relationships with people of all ages. This is great because it allows you to be open to other peoples ideas and to get creative in a team  in order to build better ideas and ultimately, to build a better company. Recently taken an internship and had a great experience? Let us know in the comments below!

Tim Ferriss diet

Tim Ferriss diet The most common criticism of my blog (which has 60,000 subscribers) is that I write controversial headlines just to get traffic. I usually ignore this criticism because its so ignorant. But today Im going to tell you why writing controversial headlines just to be controversial is totally stupid. There is no formula for a wildly popular post. Look, if I knew how to write a controversial headline that would get a ton of traffic then Id be writing them every day. But really Id be retired, living in Bermuda, not even writing headlines. The most successful posts are posts that people email to their friends. Every day, whatever number of subscribers a blog has, thats how many people read the blog post. The only way you get more readers is if people start telling their friends about the post. So, lets do a case study. Heres the most grabbing headline I can think of: Martians Take over Google and do Forced Abortions. It hits on a popular tech company, a popular political topic, and it caters to the freak-show fringe that spends all day online commenting about supernatural events. But you know what? A post with this headline would fail. Because the content cant support it, so no one would forward it to their friends. The John Tierney, writing in the New York Times, reports a study about what online content people forward to their friends. The stuff people forward is stuff that inspires them. People like to be inspired to think in new, positive ways that help them to sort out their life and see things differently. People want to better understand themselves and the world around them. Successful posts do this. Its difficult to do. The first thing is that you need to really say something, beyond a headline. The second thing is that you need to say something the person hasnt heard before. In general, if you are saying something someone has not heard before, its going to be controversial. Because its new. So heres a test I do for myself: If I am not a little nervous to post what Im writing, then Im probably not saying anything new. Its fun to be nervous. Its fun to be maybe wrong. That is not being controversial. That is being engaged and curious and committed to conversation to the point that youll put yourself on the line. Thats the gift a good blogger gives to readers, and thats what makes a good post appear to be controversial. But heres something to consider: The most controversial thing a blogger could do, really, is post something that the reader already knows. Because its a total waste of time for the reader. Also, its controversial for the writer to be so dishonest with herself that she is willing to sit in a room and type stuff that is not even interesting to her. If the content does not scare the author, its just plain boring. You can say that I just post stuff to be controversial. But you try it. Try to think of a topic that is genuinely controversial, that you can write about in a way that makes people want to forward it to their friends. Its very, very hard. And when I am able to do it, I am shocked. I try every day, but I succeed in a big way only about 10% of the time. Hey, did you notice the title of my post? Did you know that I get 1000 readers a day from people typing in Tim Ferriss Scam and getting sent to my blog? Heres the post: 5 Time Management Tricks I Learned From Years of Hating Tim Ferriss. He just came out with a new book. Its just as slimy as the first book. The reason is that Tim has no soul. He thinks life is a game, and he is going to be the winner every time, and we want to know how to do it. The problem is that Tim makes the rules. Hes like a four-year-old playing Candyland and making sure that he gets the Gingerbread man, and the candy cane, and the sort-of-melty ice cream at the end. So for the Four-Hour-Work-Week the rule is that its only work if you hate what youre doing. So Tim only does stuff he hates four hours a week. He can do this because he has no relationships, so he doesnt have to accommodate anyone else in his life. Its amazing, actually, that he even has to work for four hours given that he runs his life like a four-year-old. Now, with the diet book, Tim tells us how we can take out all the emotional and mental health benefits of fitness and understanding your own body. (Thats him up there in the photo, in an ice bath, which increases his metabolism.) But look. I have a better plan. You can get plastic surgery, and you can take Creatine, and you can use diuretics, and you will get the physical fitness results Tim promises in LESS than four hours a week. I should write a book. But you know why I am not doing that? Because you want to be inspired. And so do I. If I spend four hours a week at the gym, I want to know how it improves what I really care about: my mental health, my personal relationships, my ability to feel inspired on a daily basis. But, do you know the most inspired part of this post? My headline is not controversial, but Ill get a lot of traffic, because I rank almost as high in Google for Tim Ferriss as Tim Ferriss does.

35 Things You Absolutely Must Decide on Before Being Hired

35 Things You Absolutely Must Decide on Before Being Hired One of my favourite sites, Happy Place, posted 35 (other) things you absolutely MUST agree upon before getting married  based on a Hufftington Post article. I decided this was a great list but it needed another scenario. Therefore, I came up with 35 things you must decide on before being hired imagine this being asked in a final interview: Why is it open source if companies take the software and then sell it? (i.e. Linux RedHat, MongoDB) Whats your office stimulant of choice: Starbucks, Red Bull, Adderall or Cocaine? Grumpy Cat or Office Cat? Did Han Solo or Greedo shoot first? Is stealing code off GitHub okay if you’re lazy? Let’s talk internships: hot co-ed with no skills or skilled intern whose face was lit on fire and put out with a wire brush and a tennis racquet? If we hire a new developer, how long until we make them code for 12 hours straight with no breaks? iOS, Android or are you a loser with, like, a Nokia or something? You’re supposed to be working but you’re on Reddit, Facebook, Digg or…4Chan? Star Trek, Star Wars, or both? There’s been an apocalypse. We have one can of Red Bull left. Will you or me stay awake long enough to drink it? When you finish your breakfast, do you have more syrup stains or a mouth stained by a sugared cereal? If you were to perpetrate an office massacre, would you kill indiscriminately or the people who wronged you, like that hottie in accounting who won’t even speak with you? YouPorn or XHamster? NASA or FEMA? Cartoon Network or Lifetime? When the office gets too messy, do we move? Or burn it down then move? Or shove everything in a desk drawer in reception? Harry Potter: the books or the audio books? If you answered the movies, you’re already out. You’re on the toilet making a horrible, sinful poop. Your boss walks in. Pucker or let ‘er rip? Ian McKellan or Patrick Stewart? Shower or Grower? Ancient Aliens: Did they build the Mayan and Aztec Ziggurats or just the Pyramids? If you had a time machine, would you go back and kill Hitler or would you prevent Windows Vista? Austin Powers or James Bond? Craft Brew or PBR? Eating Habits: Vegan, Freegan Vegetarian, Pescaterian or Not an asshole? Better on hipsters: skinny jeans or unquenchable flames? Who killed JFK? Oswald, Illuminati, The Mafia or the ZOG? Teaser, pleaser, shocker or spocker? If you run out of clean plates do you: do dishes, make one out of Legos, or eat off discarded junk mail? Justin Bieber or a cat in a canvas sack being beaten with sticks? Palm Pilot or Blackberry? Skin that looks like leather or a leather outfit made out of human skin? Put the lotion in the basket or do you prefer the hose, for a second time? When sharing a meal with a joint check, do you round your share or contribute exactly the amount, to the penny, of your share? Anymore questions? Leave them in the comments below!

What is the Best Way to Manage Social Media Platforms

What is the Best Way to Manage Social Media Platforms So youve registered with as many social media platforms as possible but now the key thing is to keep on top of them. The world of social media moves very fast so how can you find the time to constantly update them as well as keeping the content relevant and target? This week our team of experts gives you their tips on doing just that and luckily there are a number of online tools to help you too. Ariel Jolo There are several tools, I personally prefer using each platform individually. Each one has their own codes and etiquette and I found its better to take a little extra time in order to achieve a well crafted message than just multiposting the same thing just for the sake of commodity. Ariel Jolo,  Global Employer Brand Manager, at Medallia. Adrian Cernat Automate all you can and save precious time for other important tasks. How to do that? Get yourself tools that gives you the ability to manage organic social content from a centralized portal. And if that happens to be the same tool that already empowers their recruitment advertising activities, even better. Because not only will incorporating automation into social media workflows save time and effort for recruiters who would otherwise have to laboriously post content, read and respond to comments, and gather dataâ€"it will make it that much easier to create strategic alignment between organic and paid content. Adrian Daniel Cernat, CEO co-founder SmartDreamers Sarang Brahme Identify your target audience, build a strong content pipeline, engage your employees/connections to spread the word and be consistent in what you say! Building a network and a following takes time, so be patient. Social media will not give you ROI from the day one, it takes patience and consistency. Sarang Brahme, Global Social Recruiting Talent Brand Manager, Capgemini. Carmen Collins Dedicate time for it. Block time on your calendar â€" make it a habit. You don’t have to be everywhere all the time, that’s what social media managers do. Be strategic, be thoughtful, and be yourself. Carmen Collins, Social Media Talent Brand Lead, Cisco. Cameron Brain Like any professional, you’ve got a ton on your plate, so make it as easy as possible to be active on social.   Get the right tools, understand how to use them, and don’t waste a bunch of time getting distracted (social is, afterall 100% addictive).   If you’re an individual recruiter, the social networks’ native apps (e.g., the Linkedin app) should more than suffice. However and if you’re a member of a team or manage a team of recruiters, you should definitely look into an advocacy platform such as EveryoneSocial.   Such a platform not only makes it easier for your people, it provides you with the analytics and reporting to make sure everyone is driving towards the same objectives. Cameron Brain, CEO Co-Founder, EveryoneSocial.com. Mark Cavanagh Consistency is key, your social media goals will determine the level of management required to deliver valuable content and cultivate your network. For the individual recruiter, this could be as simple as a weekly reminder to post your latest roles, share useful links and touch base with your connections. For those engaged in recruitment marketing, the use of a scheduling assistant (Sprout Social) in combination with sponsored or paid social media will allow you to do this on a larger scale, improving reach and automating interaction and social touch points. Mark Cavanagh, Marketing Manager at The One Group. Victoria Sorensen You need a social media management tool such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Buffer (there are loads of free apps out there). It does not have to be complicated, you need consistency and visibility. Scheduling posts in between the spontaneity is an efficient way to manage your presence. Victoria Sorenson , Senior Talent Advisor, Oracle. Othamar Gama Filho Being relevant takes time and planning, use a tool like Buffer to help you easily schedule and share relevant content. Othamar Gama Filho, is the CEO at Talentify. Stephanie Scher Approach social media like any other marketing or advertising platform. Understand the audience demographics of typical users and have measurable goals that support the purpose for your presence. Maintain the account with a regular cadence and stay connected by watching aspirational and competitive accounts to see what they are doing compared to your approach or strategy. Stephanie Scher, Talent Brand|Social Media, Vanguard. Eva Baluchova I remember when I used to think that managing social media is easy because its free. Create, publish, analyse and report. I didnt understand how overwhelming it can be. Patience and consistency are the keywords here, and those two take a lot of time. Thankfully, there are many great social media management tools. They save you time, save you money, and most importantly they will make it fun. They could even help you to improve your content’s reach. The good news is: a lot of these tools have generous free tiers. I recommend tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, Corwdfire, Sprout Social. There are many more; have a look which one fits you and your budget the best. Eva Baluchova, Talent Lead , Levelup Ventures.

10 Things You May Not Know About Personal Branding - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

10 Things You May Not Know About Personal Branding 10 Things You May Not Know About Personal Branding

Why Do I Need to Network

Why Do I Need to Network Ive got to rant.   I dont get it.   Why do people still ask the question Why do I need to network? This isnt just a quick fix to a job search.   Networking is simply about building relationships! Perhaps they are making too much out of it.   Every day we have unanswered questions and problems that need resolving:   who can fix my car, what is the best webinar software, who can help me solve this problem at work, what tool will best help me on this project, where would I go if I needed help with my taxes, who has good information on health insurance options, where do I go to get job search advice? I could go on all day with questions that need answering.   How do we get the answers?   99 times out of 100 we ask people, right?   That is networking.   No big deal.   There are certain people we go to regularly for their ability to provide good recommendations.   Hmmm, thats networking, right? Networking sites are growing at an astounding rate (Facebook and LinkedIn).   Why do you think this is?   Because, at the core, we are human beings and we want to connect with other human beings.   (aka, networking). Sites like Amazon ask for customer reviews.   Real end users willingly provide their feedback.   Thumbs up, thumbs down.   It makes it easier for future consumers to make a decision. All networking is about is getting answers to our questions from people we either know or respect in some way. So, the question we should be asking is, How can I communicate more effectively?!   That is the real issue! Phew, I feel so much better now! Want to comment?

Powerful Power Verbs For Resume Writing

Powerful Power Verbs For Resume WritingPower verbs have always been a great way to get your points across to an employer. It is often a mistake to just tell the story from your point of view, but it's a great way to do a more personal one. Here are some examples of power verbs for resume writing.One: 'Working for your dream job.' This will be a great letter opener because you've given the person the impression that you've accomplished something in your life that will make it easier for them to hire you. They need to see a difference in your life from their point of view as well. You'll have a reason why they need to hire you and what makes them want to hire you.Two: 'I found my dream job working for myself.' This will show them that you're an individual who knows what they want. It also shows them that you know how to work and that you take ownership over the position.Three: 'Pursuing my dreams and passions.' This is very powerful verbs for resume writing because it shows them you're doing what they need to see from you. If they need to hire someone who has some strengths that they don't know about, this can show them they won't have to do it themselves.Four: 'Discovering my passion.' This will also show that you want to make your future better. Show them you know what you want.Five: 'Overcoming past difficulties.' The last one is pretty powerful verbs for resume writing because you've shown them that you aren't scared of what they're going to say. Just come out and say what you need to say.Power verbs for resume writing are powerful because they show you are confident in yourself. That's why they're so good when you're on the job interview. Using power verbs will help you not only get the job, but show them that you'll be a perfect fit for their company.