Work Experience or Work History?

The most important section in your resume after your contact information (remember, wrong details, goodbye dream job) is your work experience. When written well and direct to the point, this section would automatically propel you to the hiring manager’s Most Wanted list. However, although others name this section Professional Experience and Work Experience, there are some who name it Work History. Are there any differences?

Actually, there are.

While Professional Experience is used to detail your tenure with companies and organizations wherein which you were paid; Work Experience is used to include all relevant job experiences, whether you were paid or you simply volunteered.

On the other hand, Work History is a detailed report of all the jobs you have worked on, regardless of relevance to your current pursuit. Also, under Work History, you must include all the company names, job titles, and dates of employment. Prospective employers usually ask for your work history for them to verify the accuracy of the information you have given them. With your work history, they would also be able to make background checks on you by contacting the companies you have listed where you have worked for.

Please take note that most job applications require at least a partial work history, while some on the other hand require a full work history, which includes all your experiences as an employee. Therefore, you need to have a strong and solid work history which would transform you from a mere doer to an accomplished achiever.

Aside from the names of all the companies that you have worked with, your job titles, and the dates of employment; a prospective employer might also ask about compensation, salary, and benefits you have received throughout your career. He/she might ask you to describe a particular job, including your duties and responsibilities. Since a work history should be written short to enable a reviewer to quickly get the necessary information, be prepared in advance on what to say. It might be during the interview that the hiring manager would ask you about the additional information.

Be aware that there are a handful of applicants who tend to fabricate their work history, probably because of employment gaps or they forgot certain experiences in the past. A work history should be accurate, since hiring managers could check your background in a heartbeat. Since references are normally not included in the resume anymore, most employers would ask for certain details about the people you have indicated as your references upon calling them. Asking their job position and certain dates would make them ascertain whether or not the information you provided is in accordance with the information given by your references.

As said before, when career gaps occur, be able to explain them. Make sure the reasons are legitimate, or else hiring managers would see you in a negative light. Note that they could be easy to judge when they see an unexplained career gap glaring at them in your work history. Without valid explanation, they might assume that a gap reflects a period in your employment history which did not go well; which would definitely depict you in a not-so-good way.

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Invest in Communication Skills Training to Add Value to Your Workplace

Andrea Kay's article in USAToday.com, "Speak well, write well, inspire others in 

2012", highlights Ben and Kelly Decker's "Decker Communications The Top Ten 

Best (and Worst) Communicators of 2011". Hollywood actor Charlie Sheenis 

ranked 3rd in the 10 Worst category because of his erratic communication and 

out-of-control public display of emotions, which destroyed his reputation and led 

to his career downfall. The recently fired Hewlett-Packard CEO, Leo Apotheker, is 

9th in the Worst list because of "not communicating a clear vision for HP, and not 

getting consensus and buy-in of his executive board".

If you want to avoid these mistakes, you have to understand how essential 

excellent communication skills are in leadership, organisations and interpersonal 

relations.

Compare these worst communicators with the successful leaders and 

communicators in the Top 10 Best list: Steve Jobs who created, communicated 

and completed his Apple visions clearly and colourfully; Howard Schultz who uses 

his superb communication skills to continually lead Starbucks to success; Virginia 

Rometty who became the first female CEO of IBM; and Warren Buffet who is not 

only a successful investor-businessman but also a good, respected and authentic 

communicator.

Poor communication skills could cost you a promotion, or even your job. You need 

these skills to work well with everyone in the office, to be a good leader, to 

motivate others to get things done, and to convey effectively your products and 

services to customers. Communication skills involve speaking, writing, listening, 

and presentation skills; all of which could break or make your career - close or lose 

a deal, inspire or dispirit a team, and build or crumble confidence.

Remember, talking is not necessarily communicating. Communicating is an 

exchange of thoughts, views, ideas, and insights with another person.It involves 

careful listening and skilful speaking, - even if the person you're interacting with is 

angry, sad, depressed or frustrated. To avoid misunderstanding someone or 

being misunderstood, it's important to develop good communication skills for all personal or professional interactions.

Benefits of Effective Communication Skills

To improve your personal or your organisation's communication skills, seek the 

help of communication skills coaching professionals who can provide you with 

communication skills training. Black Isle Communications has a team of trainers 

who can help you achieve more successful business communications through 

business writing, influencing, and presentation skills training.With their guidance, 

you can reap the rewards of effective communication in the workplace, such as:

• Diversity or Globalisation

- To reduce barriers, errors,and miscommunication due to language and cultural 

differences among employees across the organisation's domestic and international 

offices

- To avoid offending or confusing international counterparts

• Team Building

- To mould strong, efficient teams through trust and confidence in each other

- To foster a positive and healthy working environment
- To develop harmonious relationships between employees and management

What Black Isle Communications can do for you?

To achieve these improvements, Black Isle Communications will tailor communication skills training to suit your needs, including:

• Spoken communication and presentation skills
• Influencing skills
• New business pitches
• Business writing skills
• Report writing skills
• Plain language expression
• Networking and social skills
• Meeting skills

The key to effective communication is not what you convey to the other person. It's what the other person takes away from what you said that really counts.

Good Communication Skills, Better for Business

According to a survey conducted by the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Business 

School, good skills of communication, including written and oral presentations, and 

an ability to work with others, are the main factors contributing To Job

success.Elaine Stolick, director of the Competency-Based Coaching program at 

Katz said that the primary thing recruiters look for in M.B.A. graduates is effective 

communication skills. It is an important factor in hiring a manager or promoting an 

employee to a management role.

If you want to get ahead in your career and move forward in your business, regardless of the industry you belong to, you need to arm yourself and your employees with effective business communication skills training. Weak communication skills can sabotage professional development. However, many people and businesses do not give attention to-skills of communication development, and employees rarely receive training.

Why is good communication important?

It's important that organisations provide business training services for their employees. Investing in employees' growth leads to greater productivity, better customer service, higher team morale, and personal fulfilment. Here are some 

significant factors that describe the importance of good communication in the 

workplace:

- It's atthe heart of every organization.

- Everything being done in the workplace results from communication.

- Communicating effectively with people leads to success in both professional and 

personal lives.

- Good communication can reduce misunderstandings, errors, frustration, and conflict.

- Effective communication can influence every interaction in a positive way.

We see how communication creates an impact wherever and whenever it occurs. It is a learned skill that has the power to build or destroy.You can develop and master these business communication skills with the help of business communication consultants Black Isle Communications consultants are specialists in this field and offer training in various business skills in communication, including business writing skills, influencing skills, presentation skills, social skills, meeting skills, and more.

Basic Communication Skills are Essential in Organisations

To improve the performance of your employees and your business, basic soft skills should be learned, practised, and developed. People tend to take for granted communication skills, without realising their significance in the workplace, and even in their personal lives. Here are some of the reasons why your employees have to possess effective communication skills.

Good communicators:

- Are good listeners. They can repeat back what they have just heard with no problem recalling the message.

- Are courteous and respectful. They can clearly communicate their message in a direct manner.

- Can give feedback and compliments sincerely.

- Educate their listeners with the goal of informing the listener without sounding condescending, conceited, preachy or superior.

- Know how to connect with others. They mean what they say and express a genuine interest in others.

- Adapt their message to their audience. They recognize their listeners' needs and tailor their messages to fit those needs.

- Make sure their body language and tone of voice match the message being conveyed.

- Select words carefully. They know that how it is said is as important as what is being said.

- Are aware of external distractions that may prevent them from hearing a message and work to remove those barriers.

Using LinkedIn Effectively

Growing Your Professional Network

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LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service.

© Linkedin

You've likely heard of LinkedIn, the business-oriented social networking website that many people use for keeping in touch with business associates, clients, and former colleagues.

But is this LinkedIn's only use? Or can you use it in other ways to grow yourself professionally and help your organization to network more effectively?

In this article, we'll explore how to use LinkedIn for personal, professional, and organizational development, including how you can use it for networking and recruitment, and for keeping up with trends and news in your industry.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a business-focused social networking site that launched in 2003. Its main purpose is to help people network professionally. The basic service is free.

The site lets you find other business associates, clients, and colleagues whom you already know. You "connect" with them through the site, and they then become part of your network.

Once you've connected with a person, you will then have access to their list of connections – this is called your "extended network." You can request an introduction to people in your extended network through your mutual contact.

LinkedIn also provides other features including the ability to set up and join groups, and a jobs section where members can advertise open positions or apply for jobs.

LinkedIn Definitions

Here are a few useful terms you should know when using LinkedIn:

• Connections – Connections are other registered users who you know personally on LinkedIn. Although you can invite anyone to be a connection, they will need to set up an account to use the site.
• Second-degree connections – These are the connections that your connections have. For example, you're friends with Bill, who is directly connected with his boss. Bill's boss is a second-degree connection for you.
• Third-degree connection – Any connections from your second-degree connects are third-degree connections. So, Bill's boss's connections would be your third-degree connections.
• Profile page – This is your personal page on LinkedIn. All registered users with LinkedIn can view it (unless you set it to be a private page). Your profile page can list your education, past work history, current and past projects, groups and associations, and more. Users can also forward your profile page to contacts on their lists. You can also make your profile page "public" so that anyone (even people not on LinkedIn) can view it.
• Recommendations – Your connections can write recommendations, or testimonials, for your profile. These can be a powerful testament to your business and professional skills.
• Introductions – Introductions are when a third party introduces two people who weren't currently connected. For instance, your colleague Sue and your client Dan don't know each other. You think Sue could help solve a problem that Dan is having with one of his projects, so you introduce Sue and Dan through LinkedIn. Introductions are simply a way to bring people together on the site.

Professional Use

There are several ways to use LinkedIn to help you grow professionally:

• Networking – LinkedIn allows you to network with people and professional organizations in your industry. This helps you stay up-to-date with industry trends and share information with others who do similar work to you.
• In addition to networking with people in your LinkedIn extended network, you can also set up and join specific groups to discuss ideas and share industry news. This is a great way to build your professional network further.
• Asking and answering questions – Many people use a service on the site called LinkedIn Answers as a kind of think tank or open brainstorming session. By offering your expertise to those in your network, you establish trust and improve your reputation as an expert.
• You can also use your profile's status update to ask questions to people in your network, or share news or insight. (Your status feed on LinkedIn works in a similar way to a Twitter timeline.)
• Research – You can use LinkedIn to find out more about the people and organizations that you do business with.
• For example, imagine that you're about to meet with an important potential client. You do a quick search on LinkedIn and discover that the person went to the same university as you. In fact, you know several of the same people. You now have a valuable conversation starter that will help you build rapport with the client.

Tip 1:
Remember that your boss, and others at your organization, will be able to see your LinkedIn profile. If you update it extensively, you might want to let them know in advance. People new to the site may confuse your profile with an online resume, so you don't want them to think that you're looking for a new job!

Tip 2:
It's an obvious point, but it's one that people forget: don't get carried away while sharing information. Make sure that you respect confidentiality, and don't give away information that could harm your organization.

Organizational Use

You can also use LinkedIn in the following ways to help your organization grow:

• Increase visibility – LinkedIn gives your organization increased visibility for its brand, products, and corporate goals. Potential customers, clients, and suppliers can research your company on LinkedIn to see if they're interested in doing business with you. This is especially useful if your organization sells services or products to other businesses.
• Conduct research on other organizations – LinkedIn also works the other way. You can use the site to research your competition, potential partners, or new suppliers.
• Tell your company story – This company story, if told in the right way, can inspire customers and potential employees, and create an emotional connection with people. Special applications, like video, allow you to create a multimedia experience with other users. (Setting up a profile for your organization will be useful here.)

Tip:
Make sure that organizational use of LinkedIn is aligned with your organization's overall strategy, and its other communications.

Recruitment

You can also use LinkedIn for recruitment and job-hunting.

For example, if you're looking for a new team member with a particular set of skills, or prior experience in a certain industry or company, you can post jobs on LinkedIn, or search for specific people who have the skills and experience that you're looking for. (Check people's profiles first to make sure that they're happy to be approached with new job opportunities.)

You may find this more effective than more traditional recruitment methods, depending on the position you're looking to fill, and your industry.

Many potential recruits also use LinkedIn as a research tool. For instance, suppose a person had two good job offers. Which organization will be a better match for them? What will their new boss or colleagues be like? What is the corporate culture like? LinkedIn can help them to find out.

So, as well as keeping your organization's profile up-to-date, also make sure that you own personal profile reflects yourself and your organization positively.

LinkedIn Etiquette

Remember these guidelines when using LinkedIn:

• Use introductions carefully – Success on LinkedIn relies heavily on reputation. Be careful when you ask for, or make, an introduction, and do so only if you truly think everyone can benefit.
• Always tell the truth – When discussing where you've worked and what you've accomplished, be honest, and don't oversell yourself.
• Don't gossip – Don't spread any company or personal gossip through LinkedIn. You never know who's going to read it, or where it will end up.
• Be professional – LinkedIn is used mainly for professional networking. So, stay professional at all times. Use other sites like Facebook for personal posts.

Tip:
If your organization approves, add your LinkedIn profile page address to your email signature. When you email colleagues, clients, and suppliers, they'll see your link – and if they're on LinkedIn, they may connect with you. This will further expand your network and exposure.

Key Points

LinkedIn is primarily a professional networking website. Although some people use the site for job searches and recruitment, it mainly helps you to get in touch with past colleagues and potential clients, and expand your professional network.

With tools like LinkedIn Answers and groups, you can establish trust with those in your network and improve your reputation, while keeping up-to-date with industry news and trends.

LinkedIn can also help your organization increase visibility for its products and brand, and can provide information on other organizations such as potential partners, customers, and competitors.

See Also