February 20, 2008

How to Ask For A Raise

The Art of Manliness (although I'm sure it applies to any sex) lays out the simple and easy way to ask for and receive a raise.

1. Just Ask
2. No Ultimatums
3. Determine your value by job browsing
4. Ensure people know your value
5. Increase your value

Nothing earth shattering. But worth keeping in mind if you have a review coming up. (Read)

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February 04, 2008

Blogging your way into a Job

With the 2008 recession looming in the distance (depending on what part of the country you're in, it's not all that distant at all), it might be time to start a blog.

Even if you're still employed you can supplement your income with a website. Have a passion? Start writing about it. Network online with like individuals, then start writing timely and targeted informative posts that answer key questions that others who share your passion have. By timely, I mean keep an eye out for trends in the news that will cause people to search for terms in your area. Then quickly get a post up answering exactly those questions. Even if its just pointers to where to get the right information, you'll start to become known as an authority on the subject. By targeted, I mean stick to the subject at hand. If you want to have a personal website, or a meta-blog that talks about blogging, keep that on the side. The sole purpose of this blog is to build your authority in the community that surrounds your passion.

Who knows, the end result just might be you get employed doing the very thing your most passionate about. All because you write an authoritative blog on the subject matter.

For a quick five minute set up to your own blog, I recommend you give either Wordpress.com or Blogger.com a try. If you want something more professional with reliable hosting and plenty of other bells and whistles then TypePad is the choice for you. There's a monthly charge for hosting. But I use it for my other professional blog.

Any of the above can be set up by the average internet user in five to ten minutes. For the slightly more advanced user, I recommend that you also purchase your own domain name for your website then use the domain masking service provided by all three of the above services to make it appear as if you're hosting your own website at your domain, even when you really aren't. This allows portability in the future should you wish to move to another service. My recommendation for affordable domain registration is www.GoDaddy.com .

Blogging is the first step. In the future I'll be writing about what other social media steps you can take to further your career. Good luck, I hope you won't need the services of Resume Upgrade in the near future, but if you're hit in the recession. A little planning ahead may make your next job search easy.

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