From Communications to Brand Storytelling

From Communications to Brand Storytelling Success Story > From: Job To: Solopreneur From Communications to Brand Storytelling “Each night, I would sit down at the computer and search for a job that didn't exist. It was exhausting and soul destroying.” * From Communications to Brand Storytelling Instead,Lucy Eckleydecided to design her own career. It's taken longer than she expected, but here's howshe'sdoing work that combines her passions with the flexibility and freedom she was looking for. What work were you doing previously? I worked as a strategic communications adviser to directors and senior managers in the financial services industry. What are you doing now? Now, I'm Founder and Director of Build Your Brand Story â€" my own brand storytelling business. I help business owners and leaders discover their unique story, so they can use their personality, passion, and purpose to work with their ideal clients and colleagues. Why did you change? I loved what I did and I was good at it, but the environment wasn't using my strengths to their best advantage. I'd learned so much from my corporate career. I knew I could help so many more people by setting up my own business rather than being tied to one employer. When was the moment you decided to make the change? It was the summer after I got married. I was spending four hours a day travelling to and from work. I'd been looking for a job closer to home. As soon as I got back each night, I would sit down at the computer and search for a job that didn't exist. It was exhausting and souldestroying. I wanted to achieve my true potential in my career â€"and at the same time have time and energy to spend with friends and family, and for interests away from work. I realised how short life was and I wanted to make the most of it. I realised that meant designing my own dream job. Are you happy with the change? I'm so happy that I made the change. Running my own business gives me the flexibility and freedom that I craved. I still work a pretty regular pattern as I find some routine is good. But if I want to take the odd day or afternoon off on the spur of the moment, I can do so without feeling guilty. I simply catch up on work at another time. For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by people and their stories, language and business. Now, I get to combine these passions by helping businesses connect with their most important people. The best thing is the incredible people I get to work with everyday â€" they really inspire me. What do you miss and what don't you miss? I don't miss the hours of commuting, or the crowded trains. Sometimes I miss the camaraderie of a team but I have replaced that with a supportive network of fellow entrepreneurs. We're all on the same journey and support each other through the ups and downs of starting and growing a business. As my business grows, I'm involved in more collaborations which is another way to work with great people. How did you go about making the shift? The communications industry has a vibrant contracting market which gave me a great start. During my three-month notice period, I set up my limited company and started looking for contract work. I landed my first three-month assignment within a month of leaving my permanent role. This type of work gave me a financial cushion and the flexibility to explore my longer-term business ambitions. Through networking, I met so many business owners who were passionate about what they did but struggled to put it into words in a way that made sense to their clients. Alongside my contract work, I experimented with how I could help these people. What didn't go well? What 'wrong turns' did you take? I went down a few blind alleys. With more than ten years' experience in communications I felt there were so many ways I could help so many different businesses that I positioned myself too generally. It took me a while to pick a niche. Initially I called myself a freelance communications consultant which didn't really mean anything to anyone! Realising I needed to offer something tangible, I then described myself as a copywriter but that just didn't feel like me. That was when I realised that what I have always done is helped people tell their stories and that's what inspires me. How did you handle your finances to make your change possible? I was lucky as I was leaving a well-paid job to make my career change. I saved up six months' worth of expenses and didn't resign until I had qualified for my annual performance bonus. I didn't want to be pushed into decisions because money was tight. But I'd be lying if I said there haven't be a few scary moments when I've wondered where the next piece of work was coming from! What was the most difficult thing about changing? Learning to adapt and follow my instincts. The contracting option offered a fairly risk-free route for transitioning from employee to entrepreneur. It was a great way to continue to grow my experience with different businesses and keep the money coming in while I was refining my business. Initially I thought it would only be a short-term strategy, but I've come to really enjoy it. Now, working on assignments is a core part of what I do, alongside providing independent services to smaller businesses. It's taken me longer to get to this point than I had originally imagined. What help did you get? I've invested time and money in help throughout the process. This began with a Careershifters workshop in London, where for the first time I met other people looking to make a change and I believed it was possible. I've taken online courses with Free Range Humans and the Suitcase Entrepreneur (Natalie Sisson), and invested in one-on-one mentoring for my business. I have had constant moral support from my husband throughout, even if he secretly wishes sometimes that I would just go and get a permanent job! What have you learnt in the process? Believe in yourself, take action, ask for help, and be prepared to make mistakes along the way. Mistakes are not the end of the world, quite the opposite. You will learn from them and that will make you more successful in the long run. What do you wish you'd done differently? I just wish I had done it sooner. It took me a long time to figure out that there was another way. What would you advise others to do in the same situation? Surround yourself with people who believe in you and your dreams, and do anything that moves you closer towards your goal. Even if you don't know what your future career is yet, see what you can do to get a taster of some of the options. Or just try out some new hobbies. You never know what you might fall in love with doing, or who you might meet along the way. What resources would you recommend to others? There are so many resources out there to help you. Pick the right ones that work for you from books and blogs to events and online forums. Find the ones that not only inspire and inform you, but also enable you to take action. To find out more about Lucy's services, visit www.buildyourbrandstory.com What lessons could you take from Lucy's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.

10 Things to Do If You Dont Have Much to Do (As If!)

10 Things to Do If You Dont Have Much to Do (As If!) “All my lifes a circle; But I cant tell you why; Seasons spinning round again; The years keep rollin by.” Harry Chapin Recruiting, as I have experienced it, has always been cyclical. On the agency side we were super busy from January 1st until Memorial Day. Then, very slow from Memorial Day to Labor Day followed by a quick splurge until Thanksgiving. We chilled until the New Year and the cycle began again. On the corporate side my experience has been tied into a mix of slow quarters followed by busy ones with the occasional spike when we gained a new client. Of course, your mileage will vary, but I am willing to bet you have experienced times of slowness combined with crazy 16 hour days for 2 weeks, then slow then busy then… well, you get the idea. I love recruiting, I love my job and I hate being bored. I also feel if you take the King’s Salt, well, you work for the King. You do your best to be productive even when the full force of your expertise isn’t required. There is always something to be done. There cannot be a dull moment. When there is, I find myself getting into troubles that I know aren’t the best for me. Hunter Thompson, driving a convertible, loaded with weapons looking for pineal glands trouble…. So, how do I meet this challenge?   I am a huge believer in the philosophy of working smarter as opposed to working harder. Therefore, there is only one thing to do during these slow periods. Seize it with both hands and use it to make the work during the difficult and busy periods easier. So, without further ado, here are some of ideas on how to make “down time” not just productive, not just lucrative, and not just trolling youtube for viral videos. These ideas don’t have to be slow period ideas either. They’re all good ideas for making recruiting easier and more fun… 1) Increase your public profile, online presence and general persona: Make sure your LinkedIn is up-to-date and done well. Write a guest post for an online recruiting blog, like say,  Undercover Recruiter? Download Hootsuite and get more active on Twitter. Get involved in forums dedicated to our profession. Go to some meet-ups andwellmeet people! 2) Lay some pipe, and do it long and hard (not that way): Start connecting with people whose skill sets you know you will need. If you recruit 90% Developers, well make some connections. Introduce yourself, say your not actively recruiting but would like to know what your “Dream Job” is, in case it comes in…. Find places where your target group hangs out. Lurk with out being a jerk. Follow people. Make lists Develop Talent Pools of roles you struggled with in the past. There is no such thing as a passive candidates. There are just people waiting for the right opportunity 3) Create some re-usable templates: I have a bunch of form emails, with “plug and play” capability. I plug in the specifics and send them out. This is a good time to generate some new ones 4) Call every single person you placed in the last year: Reconnect, ask for referrals and be the recruiter they remember. Ask if the firm is looking for anyone else. (By the way, you should be doing this on a regular basis anyway but we all lose track) Now, go and do the same but go back 2 years. And 3 years. And keep going… 5) Call every single person who turned down an offer you made: Make sure they’re happy with their choice. 6) Call everyone who came in as the number 2 choice at your client: They are probably someone else’s  number 1. 7) Take a break: Check  this list out to chillax  from all those calls you need it. 8) Research companies in your client’s LOB on Glassdoor: See who has bad reviews. Then cold call people in the skill sets you need and use the negative in the reviews as something you might make better, someday. 9) Research and discover recruiting technologies that may improve your game: Ask for a 30 day trial of a site.  Podio, Yammer and what not all have free trials. Download a new app that’s how I found LinkedIn’s Card Muncher app, that I cannot live without! Try a new CRM and share it with your peers. Give something you never would have tried, a chance. That’s how I came to love Ethiopian Food works with recruiting tools too! 10) Finally, go to the Undercover Recruiter: and read all my articles. Then read other people, but start with me. Leave comments. Dialogue. Bottom line, read as much as you can and learn as much as you So, I hope this will keep you busy as summer comes closer and all of Europe goes on vacation. Americans don’t have as much vacation time, we just come in and do a half-assed job. Either way, be productive, stay employed and prepare for when it gets busy.

Non-Traditional Weddings Are In 4 Tips to Make Yours Memorable Without Breaking the Bank

Non-Traditional Weddings Are In 4 Tips to Make Yours Memorable Without Breaking the Bank Weddings aren’t cheap. You know this, but that doesn’t make the numbers any less shocking. The average American couple spent north of $25,000 to tie the knot in 2017, more than half the national median income per capita that year. That’s the bad news. The good news is, about 50 percent of all couples manage to get hitched for less than $15,000 out the door. Whether that sounds like an acceptable sum to you probably depends on your budget, vision, and the resources (if any) your relatives bring to bear. If you’re trying to reduce the cost of your wedding without cutting any corners, get on the non-traditional wedding bandwagon with these four starter ideas. There’s no better way to celebrate your individuality and save some dough in the process. Gown Down We need to talk about that wedding gown. Sure, nothing symbolizes a traditional American wedding like a brilliant white gown trailing its endless, glorious train. That fabric doesn’t come cheap, though. And it’s hopelessly dirtied after a single use. Andyou get the idea. Consider the alternative â€" any alternative. How about a blush gown to complement your reception’s free-flowing rose wine? Or an earth-toned dress, the better to highlight your outdoor ceremony space? Perhaps an edgy, dark-toned gown that fades into your spouse’s get-up, transforming you into a single-hearted spirit animal? The sky’s the limit, folks. Think outside the box. Skip the Diamond Ring A ring is a ring is a ring. Right? Nothing against traditional diamond rings, but brides who settle on diamond without seeing what else is out there sell the world’s near-infinite variety short. Why not opt for a sapphire engagement ring with smaller offsetting diamonds, a mesmerizing peridot set against white gold, a ruby made to keep the flame alive for all time? Get It Done Early If your overriding goal is to end your wedding day in the black, you’ll want to wrap up early â€" literally. Morning weddings are invariably cheaper than traditional afternoon-into-evening affairs, not least because they tend to go down at cheap or free venues: public parks, backyards, community centers. Plus, there’s nothing quite like exchanging your vows against a glowing sunrise backdrop. Skip the Formal Dinner Two words: buffet line. Sure, there’s something to be said for a formal, sit-down dinner that gives you a chance to reset after cocktail hour and prepare for the rest of the night. And who doesn’t like being waited on hand and foot? But here’s the deal: formal dinner service is pricey, and wedding caterers aren’t shy about jacking up prices beyond all reason. Swap the table service for a build-your-own burrito bar or pizza spread and let your guests do their own thing. Are You Planning a Non-Traditional Wedding? Throw out the storybooks. Ditch the lace. Kick the train to the curb. Thanks to fiercely independent brides-to-be, dear reader, there’s never been a better time to plan a non-traditional wedding. Whatever your vision, you’re sure to find willing partners to help you create the perfect nuptials.   No matter how furrowed your traditionalist relatives’ brows grow. This is your big day, after all, and no one gets to tell you how it’s going to play out but you.

Social Business Developing Your Company to Better Interface with Consumers

Social Business Developing Your Company to Better Interface with Consumers Let me tell you a story. In September of last year Urban Outfitters released a vintage-style Kent State sweatshirt â€" spattered in blood. If you’re not familiar with this reference, on May 4, 1970, several students on the Kent State campus were killed by members of the Ohio National Guard during a Vietnam War protest. While the circumstances surrounding that incident have been mulled over and over for more than four decades, the sweatshirt also brought into the minds of consumers more recent school shootings like Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and NIU. Richard Hayne, CEO of Urban Outfitters, refused to speak to the sister of one of the women killed at Kent State after she came across the sweatshirt on the companys website. The woman released a letter she had written to Hayne  for public consumption. Hayne  did not ever apologize to her or anyone else for the sweatshirt incident, instead choosing to send an email to his employees about the stories being spread regarding the company’s alleged ill intentions. Whoops. Not great press for your business (although Urban Outfitters seems to live for publicity from negative reviews). Now, let me tell you another story. Earlier this month, DoSomething.org, an organization geared towards effecting social change in the youth of today, made a marketing mistake by sending a mass text message to their entire user list of over 2 million members instead of to the targeted 4,000 it was meant for. Maybe not that big of a deal, except that the message was geared at Jewish teens and advertised a Jewish youth organization, and a significant portion of their 2 million plus members are not Jewish (and some â€" they found out â€" really, really dont like Jews). DoSomething.org couldnt retract the message â€" it had gone out by text. It wasnt something that could simply be deleted from a Twitter or Facebook account either (although these days consumers screenshot corporate mistakes as soon as theyre spotted anyway). So, what did DoSomething.org do? They owned up and they acted. They reached out to their supporters and said…wait for it…sorry. Whoa. Hold up. The said sorry? Like, out loud? And meant it? Yep. And their community base responded favorably. You may think its not fair for me to compare a big retail company to a community outreach organization, however with the changing face of how businesses utilize social media and interact with consumers, it is absolutely fair. Big companies have to become small and all companies need to put forth the effort to connect with every customer who needs their support. The Importance of Engagement Im currently resolving a situation with my storage facility. How did I finally get their attention after months of terrible customer service interactions on the phone and in person? I tweeted to them and called out the awful service I had received from their reps. I made my complaint public. Someone at the company saw the post the next day (a long time in the age of at your fingertips Id practically written them off) and reached out immediately. Within 20 minutes I had an email from their Twitter account manager asking how he could fix the situation and was on the phone with the district manager â€" both breathlessly trying to figure out what they could do to make things better. In their book [amazon template=productasin=081443326X], Ted Coiné and Mark Babbitt talk about the benefits of engaging with customers in meaningful ways instead of simply tossing sales pitches at them. “Customer experience determines long-term profits. Done right, customers will love your brand well enough to stick with you through thick and thin. Theyll brag about you on social so much that theyll act as a huge, ultra-effective extension of your paid sales force. Theyll happily bring you their friends. Your delighted customers will grow your company â€" and your profits as a result.” Conversely, dissatisfied customers can bring your company down with negative publicity if you choose not to interact with them and address their issues. Building a Social Workplace If your company isnt already cultivating strong social interactions with customers, you may be asking yourself where to begin. IBM is a great example of a social workplace. They have built a strong community among their employees. These employees, in turn, are then able to reach out to customers and provide insights and support with the blessing of their company. Their Social Business Agenda is an easily translatable framework for doing this in any workplace. In their Redbook on IBM Social Business they stress, Social Business is a game changer, by enabling a business and its employees, customers, and partners to more easily find the information and the expertise they need at the time of need. It helps groups of people develop communities of shared interest and coordinate efforts delivering better business results faster. Social Business encourages innovation and idea creation by the individuals in this business relationship and builds or shares intelligence with those in the community. And the world of business IS changing. Coiné and Babbitt (half) joke that if youre not social yet, youre a dinosaur. The Social Age is here. And you and your company need to be a part of it for continued business growth.

Photography competition win £200 vouchers and get featured on Debut

Photography competition win £200 vouchers and get featured on Debut Are you always taking photographs of the world around you? Never leave home without your camera? Well we want  you to take  a picture that can replace the current splash screen of our app (the one above). The winning snap  will  bag the photographer   £200 of Jessops vouchers  for  some new photographic  goodies and will  be uploaded to Debut for thousands of users to appreciate! We want to see images of what you love about your campus; perhaps an image of students working  in the library, perhaps a famous campus building, your favourite society or sports club or  your SU bar? Whatever university means to you, we want to see it! The rules are simple: Take a picture of a photograph that represents your university and campus life. Upload your picture to Instagram with the hashtag #MyUniSplash Follow and tag Debut  in your picture After one week we choose a winner based on originality, creativity and photographic skill We upload the photo to the splash screen app for everyone to see whenever they open the Debut app crediting you and your university! All entries to the competition will be judged on  Monday 14th  March 2016 on the following criteria: Creativity, Originality and Photographic Skill. We will include a credit to the winning photographer. Competition closes at midnight on 13/03/2016 Terms and Conditions

Job Titles Can Be A Slippery Slope

Job Titles Can Be A Slippery Slope Job Titles Can Be a Slippery Slope On Your Resume Job titles can be a slippery slope. In a previous blog, I discussed how employers can be stingy with the job title for a position, especially when it might mean having to pay the employee more based on additional responsibility. Similarly, job titles can be a slippery slope on resumes. Putting All of Your Experience Under One Position Title More often than not, I will be working with a client and they mention that they had held multiple positions at one company. However, their resume only reflects one job encompassing multiple years. Upon further questions, it is clear that they have taken their job titles onto a slippery slope. If a prospective employer were to call the previous company, it would be discovered that the candidate was NOT in the higher-level position(s) for the duration of their employment there. In a way, it’s deceiving to try and make it sound that all the time that was spent at an employer was in a higher-functioning title / position when in fact, there was a progression to getting there. Job titles can be a slippery slope because you ALWAYS need to show the progression. And here’s why: By showing career advancement at a company, it demonstrates that you were a valued asset and therefore promoted or reassigned to a new area to apply your career expertise. It actually HELPS you to show progression on your resume, rather than trying to lump the entirety of your job experience at that employer under one job title. The easiest employment check to do is to verify dates of employment and job titles. So why try to claim more time in the higher-level position when in fact that’s false, AND by clearly articulating promotions, you come across as a BETTER employee who has been valued? Dangers of Up-Titling Another problem I see is that people will, after a certain amount of time and distance has separated them from previous employment, will adopt what they feel to be a better job title than the one they ad. Similar to employers who won’t provide accurate job titles, some people decide to revamp their career based on what they felt was the true job title. Here’s where job titles can be a slippery slope from the candidate side. Again, employment checks are the easiest ones to conduct, so if you aren’t accurately reflecting the job title which is on file in the human resource department, you could get into trouble. My advice is to do this: State the actual job title you held, then, in parenthesis, include “equivalent to” and add the more accurate job title. That way, you are providing the truthful answer, while also equating your level of work to what translates best to your job target. But remember, you always need to be able to substantiate that claim in your workplace accomplishments. Show how you performed at that level and the wins you achieved at that level. These tips can help you navigate what to do when job titles can become a slippery slope on your resume.

Resume Writing For Restaurant Job

Resume Writing For Restaurant JobRestaurant resume writing is an important task that requires a lot of attention. This is because even the resumes of the most responsible individuals are not able to make it in front of those who want to get in touch with them. As a result, it is important for you to put in a lot of effort in this regard so that you can land on the list of the professionals in your area.It is common for people to browse through a number of websites in order to have their resumes reviewed. There are a number of sources that offer help to those who are looking for the best resume writing services available in the market. In most cases, people can compare and contrast the different resume writing services that are available in the internet. Some can even find the one that matches their requirements perfectly.Restaurant owners and managers are not spared from all the bad things that they experience because of resume writing for restaurant job. However, you should not be t oo worried because there are still some good services available out there. It is just up to you to look for them. This is because you cannot possibly put the same effort in every single business.Resume writing for restaurant job can be difficult if you do not know how to write properly. You should therefore make sure that you have access to the right resources and training in order to become a great resume writer. With the right training, you can easily put up your own resume on the internet and you can write about a lot of things including your skills, abilities, capabilities, and the achievements that you have made as a professional.Aside from being able to write a great resume, being able to read and comprehend it well is also another important service that you should be able to provide for other people. The resumes that are written by people who lack the ability to understand them will not be very convincing. If you are able to read and understand these, they can surely find you a lot more credible than you thought.If you are unable to understand what kind of restaurant resume writing services are available for you, then you can always turn to the online services that are available in the internet. These services have many employees who are able to put up a restaurant resumes as well as their resumes for different positions that they have held in the past. With these, you will not need to waste your time contacting people that you know or contacting people whose resume you are unable to understand. All you need to do is just wait for the responses that you will receive and you will get it.If you are able to find a reliable and trustworthy restaurant resume writing service online, then you will never have to go through the same thing ever again. With a good service, you can also be sure that you will be able to write your resume to perfection. As a result, you will be able to give as much attention to every single detail that you write on your resume. This will definitely benefit you in a lot of ways.With a good restaurant resume writing service, you can avoid applying for multiple jobs in the same year. There are times when you end up doing this and end up wasting your time and efforts. With a good service, you will be able to land on your dream position without any hassles.