In the first part of you are an expert, own your domain, I talked about the internal changes you need to bring in yourself to instantly sound and feel like an expert in your domain. In this issue of the mini-series, I will talk about how to upgrade you skills and keep reinventing yourself in order to keep your position as an expert in your chosen niche secure.
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An expert is a person who knows most of the relevant detail about his domain (if not all), and you can only hope to know all if the information is presented to you in a platter. Thankfully, it is served that way. All you need to provide the address (e-mail ID) where you want it to be delivered. Keep yourself apprised of recent findings, thoughts, ideas, development, and research, etc., in your niche.
Set Google Alert
Getting news by the hour is too late. We are the generation of “NOW”, and we should get it everything here and now. Be it information about the recent development (by recent I meant development in last 10 or 20 minutes), or the latest breaking news (the news that broke 30 or 60 seconds ago). You can get this by setting an alert for your niche. Setting up Google Alert will keep you on top of the news in your niche. This is what an expert is supposed to do: be on top of all the development in the industry.
Develop your skills
A true expert is a person who keeps on investing resources in continuous learning. Learning should never stop, if you intend to become an expert. Take a certificate course that educates advance students like you in your chosen field. Attend seminars, be a part of industry gatherings, read books, attend webinars, etc. to upgrade your skill.
Always remember, the moment you stop growing you stop being seen as an expert.
Tags: 60 Seconds, Advance Students, Certificate Course, Continuous Learning, Domain, E Mail, Gatherings, Getting News, Google, Internal Changes, Investing Resources, Latest Breaking News, Mail Id, Mini Series, Newsletters, Niche, Relevant Detail, Seminars, True Expert
Finding a job in the world that is suffering from one of the worst economic recessions is not an easy task. The thinning bottom line has forced many people out of job, which has created a huge pool of well-qualified, unemployed individuals. The economic recession has skewed the power balance of the job market towards the employers, thus creating a buyer’s market. In this market, you as a job seeker have very limited power to influence any decision. Hence, you could not afford to be wrong, if you are planning to land up in a job of your liking. The mistakes I am highlighting here are very common, and they can be easily avoided, but if they are left as they are, it could be fatal. Recession or not, one should always avoid the mistakes mentioned below.
1. Unprofessional e-mail Id: E-mail addresses like, cooldude07@domain.com, lie2you@domain.com, sexylisa@domain.com, circusinthetown@domain.com, indeed look good until it is mentioned on your résumé . An e-mail address of that kind shouts how unprofessional you are. You can consider using e-mail ids like, koruj.paul@domain.com, Campbelljk@domain.com etc. on your résumé.
2. Funny answering machine message: “Hey dude, this is me XYZ…I am kinda chilling out, watching game, having beer with my girl…don’t disturb me, just drop the message after the beep, I’ll call you up…ciao.” A message like this will indeed put off any HR professional who is trying to call you up for the interview.
3. Erroneous résumé or cover letter: Everyone makes mistake, even those who are at the top, but there is a difference. The person at the top is not seeking this job; it is you who is applying for one, and seeing the availability of trained yet unemployed professionals, no one is going to tolerate even a single error on either your résumé, or your cover letter or both. Proofread them before sending across.
4. No background research: You may consider yourself cool, and the one who thinks best when confronted by the tough challenge, but the interviewer does not think the same. He thinks, you are not at all interested in taking up this job as you have not devoted time to know about his company.
5. No Follow-up: If you think, once you are off the interview table, you are done then you are sadly mistaken. The interview is not over yet; rather it is not over till the hiring is done. Hence, sending a thank-you note is important. It says you care for the person who has interviewed you.
Tags: Answering Machine Message, Background Research, Beep, E Mail Address, E Mail Addresses, Economic Recession, Economic Recessions, Finding A Job, Funny Answering Machine, Funny Answering Machine Message, Glaring Mistakes, Hr Professional, Interview 3, Job Seeker, Mail Id, Mail Ids, Power Balance, S Market, Unemployed Individuals, Unemployed Professionals
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