Have you got the key skills for the information age?

By Neil Patrick

I’ve  been writing a great deal recently about the destruction of jobs by what is variously called, the third industrial revolution, knowledge economy or new machine age. This situation creates a whole new set of challenges for everyone who wants to earn a living in these tough times.

Most of us know it is happening. What's thin on the ground is information about what we can do about it.

We need new solutions and we need to take personal ownership of our own countermeasures.

This isn’t just my opinion. Multiple and diverse organisations are reporting the same thing:

Manpower states that despite the recession, 31% of employers struggle to find qualified workers because of “a talent mismatch between workers’ qualifications and the specific skill sets and combinations of skills employers want.”

The American Management Corporation says that employers want workers who can think critically, solve problems creatively, innovate, collaborate, and communicate.

The National Association of Manufacturers reports, “Today’s skill shortages are extremely broad and deep, cutting across industry sectors and impacting more than 80% of companies surveyed. This human capital performance gap threatens our nation’s ability to compete . . . [and] is emerging as our nation’s most critical business issue."

The National Academies claim that “The danger exists that Americans may not know enough about science, technology, or mathematics to contribute significantly to, or fully benefit from, the knowledge-based economy that is already taking shape around us.”

The New York Times reports that low-skilled workers are being laid off and "turned away at the factory door and increasingly joining the swelling ranks of the long-term unemployed . . .” This issue results from a disparity between the skills that workers have and those that employers need.

So what can we do about it?

If the last time you sat in a classroom was at university or an employer’s course, the chances are high that your learning skills have significantly reduced. Of course we all acquire job specific skills at work, but what we don’t generally continue to develop in our jobs are the learning skills that are now critical for 21st century career survival.

If we accept that the pace of change in the world is accelerating, then it is logical to conclude that our ability to adapt to change must also be increasingly critical. And the key enabling mechanism for coping with change is learning.

What are the key learning skills for the 21st century workplace?

21st century skills are a set of abilities that everyone needs to develop in order to succeed in the information age. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has identified three key learning skill areas.

I call them the three Cs of thinking; critical thinking, creative thinking and collaborative thinking:

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally. It includes the ability to engage in reflective and independent thinking. Someone with critical thinking skills is able to do the following :

 

• understand the logical connections between ideas 
• identify, construct and evaluate arguments 
• detect inconsistencies and common mistakes in reasoning 
• solve problems systematically 
• identify the relevance and importance of ideas 
• reflect on the justification of one’s own beliefs and values 

After we leave education and start to exist in the world of our jobs, our critical thinking skills may easily become rusty. Other factors start to influence and direct our thought processes. The competitive environments we often experience encourage competitive reactions – the exact opposite of one of the other Cs – collaboration.

So good critical thinking skills not only break the force field of groupthink, they also encourage collaboration.



Creative Thinking

This is the process by which individuals come up with new ideas or new approaches to business. New ideas could result in new products, procedures or policies. They could also result in a new process that cuts costs or improves quality - for example, a bagless vacuum cleaner.

Fresh ideas give businesses a competitive advantage and help make their goods or services stand out in the market place.

We can make use of several different thinking techniques to improve our creativity:

• Lateral thinking or thinking outside the box. An example of this would be breaking down the steps taken to serve coffee in a café and asking 'why' at each step to see if a better process can be created. 
• Deliberate creativity uses thinking techniques to spark off new ideas. For example, putting on different thinking hats to tackle problems from different angles. 'White-hat' thinking looks at facts and 'black-hat' thinking looks at drawbacks. 
• Blue-sky thinking involves a group of people looking at an opportunity with fresh eyes. As many ideas as possible are generated in an ideas generation session where no ideas are rejected as silly. 

Collaborative thinking

There are generally accepted to be seven rules for all collaboration:

Look for common ground: find shared values, consider shared personal experiences, pay attention to and give feedback, be yourself and expect the same of others, be willing to accept differences in perception and opinions

Learn about others: consider their perspectives and needs, appeal to the highest motives, let others express themselves freely

Critique results, not people: do not waste time on personal hostility, make other people feel good, avoid criticism and put downs

Give and get respect: show respect for others' opinions, be considerate and friendly, put yourself in the other person's shoes, be responsive to emotions, speak with confidence but remain tactful

Proceed slowly: present one idea at a time, check for understanding and acceptance of each idea before moving on to the next. Speak in an organized and logical sequence.

Be explicit and clear: share your ideas and feelings, pay attention to nonverbal communication, speak clearly and make eye contact, select words that have meaning for your listeners

Remember the five "Cs" of communication: clarity, completeness, conciseness, concreteness, and correctness

It's not a co-incidence that the social web or internet 2.0 also functions with these principles at its core.



New Skills for New Jobs

These skills have always been important for personal development, but they are now absolutely critical in our information-based economy. When most workers held jobs in industry, the key skills were knowing a trade, following directions, getting along with others, working hard, and being professional - efficient, prompt, honest, and fair.

To hold information-age jobs though, people also need to think deeply about issues, solve problems creatively, work in teams, communicate clearly in many media, learn ever-changing technologies, and deal with a flood of information. The rapid changes in our world require us to be flexible, to take the initiative and lead when necessary, and to produce something new and useful.

But these thinking skills aren’t just relevant to our careers and jobs. They play a part in making the world a better and more just place for all of us. I think there’s a good argument that the absence of these thought processes within the management of the banking world was the biggest single factor in the financial collapse of 2008. If we ever needed an example of the terrible consequences of endemic groupthink, we need look no further.

So next time you are considering what skills you could acquire to enhance your career prospects, think outside the box and think about what you can do to improve your thinking skills. Not just for yourself but the world as well.

Why we all need to rethink our career plans right now

By Neil Patrick

We all need to think differently about our jobs and careers in the 21st century. This isn’t something which is ever talked about in the mainstream media. They are too busy reporting job losses and hunting down stories about new jobs being created. At best you’ll find tips about interviews or resume writing. None of this information deals with the fundamental shifts in society that we seeing today and which will become more and more dominant in the future. Worse, none of this really helps people who are desperately searching for jobs and trying to figure out why even if they have great qualifications, they still can’t find work…

What is REALLY going on?

Part of the reason for this tragic state of affairs is that the world is undergoing a radical transformation. It’s a change so great that nothing like it has happened for over two hundred years. It’s the endgame of a complex interplay between technology, energy sources, demographics, communications, globalisation and the biosphere.

Jeremy Rifkin’s latest book, “The Zero Marginal Cost Society” has set out an immensely insightful view of what’s really going on in the world today. And it has nothing to do with selfish businesses, greedy bankers or corrupt politicians.

As Rifkin says, “We are just beginning to glimpse the bare outlines of an emerging new economic system, the collaborative commons. This is the first new economic paradigm to emerge on the world scene since the advent of capitalism and socialism in the early 19th century. So it's a remarkable historical event. It has long-term implications for society”.

Technology will continue to make goods and services cheaper and cheaper until they are almost free

The trigger for this global change is something called “zero marginal cost”. Marginal costs are the costs of producing an extra unit of a good or service after your fixed costs are covered. All business people are familiar with marginal costs, most of the public isn't. And as I discussed here, marginal costs have been falling consistently for decades as technology progressively replaced expensive human labor and drove down the cost of production. I distinctly recall wanting a flat screen television about twelve years ago. I never bought one then, because they cost about £15,000. Today I could buy a bigger and much better TV for less than £1000.

Books used to be another thing I would spend a lot of money on. It wasn’t unusual for me to fork out £20, £30 or even more to buy a printed copy of a book that really interested me. Today I can download an electronic version usually for around £5. CDs would cost me £10-£15 each back then. Today, most CDs are about half that price and legal downloads even less.

Endlessly falling marginal cost means consumer goods and many services will continue to get cheaper and cheaper, heading ever closer to zero. Zero or near zero marginal cost is going to dramatically affect every single person in the world in the coming years in every aspect of their life.

A new economic paradigm is on its way right now

There's a paradox embedded in the heart of the capitalist market system that’s pretty much never discussed. This paradox has been responsible for the tremendous success of capitalism over the last two centuries. But here's the irony; the very success of this paradox is now leading to an end game and the new paradigm emerging is what Rifkin calls, “collaborative commons”.

In a traditional market, sellers are always constantly probing for new technologies that can increase their productivity, reduce their marginal costs so they can put out cheaper products and win over consumers and market share and beat out their competitors and bring some profit back to investors. So business people are always looking for ways to increase productivity and reduce their marginal cost.

But they simply never expected in their wildest dreams that there would be a technology revolution so powerful that it might reduce those margins of cost to near zero making goods and services essentially free, priceless and beyond the market exchange economy. That's now beginning to happen in the real world.

And the internet is at the heart of this transformation

The first inklings of this zero margin cost phenomenon was with the inception of the world wide web from 1990. Millions of consumers became prosumers with the advent of the Internet. Today, they produce and share their own videos, their own news blogs, their own entertainment and their own knowledge with each other. In these lateral networks, this is done at near zero marginal cost. It’s essentially free, completely bypassing the capitalist market.

This zero marginal cost phenomena wreaked havoc first on publishing businesses. Newspapers went out of business; they couldn't compete with near zero marginal costs. Magazines went out of business. Record companies went out of business.

But free stuff cannot easily be converted into stuff which earns us money

The strange thing about it is that at first a lot of industry watchers said this was a good thing. They argued that if we give out more and more information goods free and people are producing and sharing it free, these “freemiums” will stimulate people's appetite to want premiums and then upgrade this free goods and information by getting more customized information.

Musicians gave away their music free when they started to see this happen hoping that they would get a big loyal fan base and then their fans would be enticed to go to their concerts and pay the premium in order to be there in person. We saw a similar strategy with newspapers. The New York Times will give you ten free articles a month, hoping that you'll then upgrade to premiums and join their subscription service. It just didn't happen on any large scale.

This was very naïve by industry watchers. Sure, some people have moved from freemiums to premiums but when more and more information goods are out there nearly free shared with each other, music, film, arts, information and knowledge, the attention span and scarcity is not there to motivate people enough to want to pay for the premiums when they have so much available already for free.

What does this mean for jobs in the future?

All the while that this has been going on, jobs have become scarcer for more and more people. Even where human skills are required to deliver services, like healthcare, the ever increasing efficiency of the technology they use to provide care, means fewer and fewer people are needed.

The implications of the zero marginal cost society are huge. We all need to think differently about how we will earn a living in the coming years. There are several implications as I see it:

1. Even if we are working full time currently, it is almost certain that the number of people organisations require to do the type of work we do will continue to reduce. 
2. As traditional jobs continue to become scarcer, competition for the remaining jobs will continue to become fiercer. 
3. The loss of a job is likely to result in longer periods without work. The loss of income coupled with continuing outgoings, will continue to bankrupt many people. 

Placing our entire faith in our skills and qualifications that have enabled our careers until now, will therefore not guarantee our incomes in the future. We all need to plan for this eventuality and the start point for this planning is how we assess the personal assets that we have to deploy. And these may be very different assets to the ones which have enabled our careers up to now.

I believe that we can keep ahead of this tsunami of job destruction if we embrace three essential ideas about our careers in the internet age:

The importance of connectivity and personal networks. The internet facilitates the development of our personal networks. The largest numbers of opportunities will accrue to those who are the best connected people. This is why Linkedin and other social media is so important to all of us.

Collaborative approaches will yield greater returns than competitive ones. Building our opportunities will be less and less as a result of competition. More and more they will be the result of collaborations. People do business with people they like. And helping others out is the best way I know to develop the necessary goodwill for a relationship which has future value to both parties.

Personal intellectual capital and especially forms of creativity that cannot be easy replicated by technology will be the most resistant to erosion. We tend to think of intellectual capital as a very corporate thing. But every one of us has personal intellectual capital which is ours and ours alone. It might be great cooking recipes. Or a gift for oratory, or the ability to show great empathy. The list is endless. But more than ever before we need to clearly understand what our personal intellectual capital assets are. This will be the only way we can figure out how we can leverage our value and continue to earn money in a zero marginal cost society…

Why employers think job seekers are overconfident in their abilities

By J.T. O'Donnell 

'Get a mentor, you need it,' say hiring managers

The third annual Job Preparedness Indicator (JPI) spotlights differences in each group's view of the skills employees need to thrive in the workforce.

Some 72 percent of job seekers are confident they know how to present their skills and experience to an interviewer and more than half of job seekers (56 percent) are confident they know what employers are looking for in candidates today. Yet, only 15 percent of hiring managers say nearly all or most job seekers have the skills and traits their companies are looking for in candidates.

Employers to Job Seekers: "Get a Mentor, You Need It"

These gaps, along with the sense of self-confidence reported by job seekers may explain why many candidates have not taken steps to gain employment that hiring managers consider essential: 74 percent of hiring managers say job seekers should have a mentor, counselor or job coach to talk to about whether their skills and experience match those required for the jobs they are interested in yet, only 40 percent of job seekers report having a similar professional resource.

In fact, the proportion of job seekers who would rely on their own experience to decide what information to include on applications, resumes and cover letters rather than seek advice from others including career counsellors or instructors has grown from 58 percent in 2012 to 67 percent in 2013.

"Job seekers are doing themselves a huge disservice by ignoring the wealth of guidance and insight a mentor could provide," said Madeleine Slutsky, chairman of the Career Advisory Board and vice president of career services at DeVry University. "Cultivating relationships with individuals who have experience with the current employment landscape can be a tremendous help in the job search process."

Job Seekers Talking Trash = Denial There's a Problem

I have definitely seen evidence to support this study's findings around overconfident job seekers. Just take a look at some of the comments frustrated job seekers leave on articles dismissing the career advice being shared and you'll see that many think they know what they are doing. Yet, are they getting results? The answer is most likely "no" if they are reading the article in the first place.

The sad part is, while I don't mind sharing with people what is holding them back from getting the job (i.e. here are 10 things recruiters won't tell you, but I will), employers don't see it as their job to give you feedback like that. So, if you aren't figuring it out on your own, you could struggle to find work for a really long time.

Smart, Successful Professionals Know When to Seek Help

Getting help doesn't mean something is wrong with you. In fact, when you choose to get a coach or mentor, it shows you are investing in improving yourself. Pro athletes and C-suite executives all have coaches as a way to be at the top of their game. Why shouldn't you?

Given the study shows most job seekers think they know what they are doing when it comes to job search, these tips might fall on deaf ears. But, if you've been out of work for more than three months, you might want to have a heart-to-heart with yourself and consider the following:

1) You are a business-of-one that must actively sell your services. Don't get mad at the customer (a.k.a. employer) because they don't see your value. It's your job to build up your marketing skills and find a way to prove you are the right candidate for the job.

2) Applying online to every job you think you could do is a colossal waste of time. It’s also the lazy way to approach job search. 8 out of 10 times, your application is being tossed by the applicant tracking system. It's time to step up the efforts and learn to conduct a proactive job search.

3) Learn new, different techniques for writing cover letters. It's time to ditch the formal, outdated cover letter and learn how to write one that gets the attention of hiring managers. Otherwise, you are just wasting time because a boring, common cover letter doesn't get read.

4) Study up on social media and how to use it to connect with employers. Not only does it show you are tech-savvy, it is also where the recruiters are searching for top talent. If you aren't leveraging Linkedin and Twitter in your job search, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to tap into the hidden job market.

5) Make sure your resume doesn't read like an over-the-top infomercial. You've only got six seconds to capture the attention of a recruiter. Make the most of the top-fold of your resume. Stick to the facts and avoid subjective text that makes your resume feel over-stated.

6) Accept that you must network to get work. There is no way around it. You will have to do some form of networking if you want to land a job. These days, it's not who you know, it's who knows you. If you aren't having meaningful conversations with people in your industry, you won't be able to establish your credibility and get people to refer you to jobs. 80%+ of all jobs gotten today are done so via referral. If you are petrified of networking, you really need to get help. This isn't something that will fix itself. Mentors and coaches can be a huge support in this area.

Now, if you are reading these tips and saying, "I've done all that!" Then, you've got even more reason to consider getting professional help. Here's why...

There is a wise saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears."

It might be time to recognize you need to become a student and find your teacher. Don't let your pride get in the way of your success. The sooner you get help, the faster you can find new ways to connect with employers and land a job. The best part about coaches and mentors is they'll teach you skills you can use for a lifetime. And, since every job is temporary, getting up-to-speed on the best job search techniques will come in handy in the future.

This post originally appeared here:

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/10/29/new-study-job-seekers-overconfident-in-their-abilities

6 Recession-Beating Tips for HR Professionals

By  Nicole Le Maire

It is possible to identify three strands of argument in the literature as to the effects of the current recession in the Human Resources function. The first suggests that the recession will have a cataclysmic effect on the HR function or even on the viability of long prevalent employment models, with one study suggesting that numbers of professionals working in HR would be cut disproportionately compared to other support functions. Whilst ‘transactional’ HR processes, could increasingly be relocated to low-cost countries (Asia/Africa) and the worldwide crisis of the ongoing globalization of businesses would ‘decimate HR’.

The second (which is dominant among my network of HR Professionals) suggests that the recession is increasing the status and influence of HR which deepens the appeal and prevalence of HR practices. The third strand, often grounded in empirical reviews, is much more measured and circumspect regarding whether changes arising from the recession are fundamental or likely to be of lasting significance to HR teams. In this strand of observations, changes are often understood to be pragmatic, eclectic and incremental in nature.

There is already enough evidence out there suggesting that organisations are moving their administrative and low value adding HR services to more cost effective companies, even if these companies are located overseas.

An example is Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) UK which announced earlier this year that it plans to outsource the administration of the HBOS final salary pension scheme to Towers Watson. Employees working in the 'information line' team are immediately at risk of redundancy and hundreds more employees throughout the UK will have to go through a selection process for the remaining HR jobs. The workforce is reduced by around 15% and other changes were also announced which will lead to the loss of over 250 HR jobs. (I find it funny that there are a variety of HR vacancies being advertised, whilst these HR jobs advertised do not seem to have been changed? Recruitment in such times should be stopped, no?)

There also has been much debate as to whether recessions lead to transient, if otherwise significant changes, or caused profound and lasting disjuncture's in the ways firms manage Human Resources and relate to trade unions. A case can be made that recessions to date – and especially the deep and prolonged recession of the 1980s to early 1990s - has had more sustained impacts on employment relations through their influence on macro-level developments in institutions and arrangements, than on micro-level engagement between employers, employees and trade unions in firms and workplaces as today.

For the last couple of decades, businesses have also been trying to force the need for line managers to take on more HR responsibilities. However, in practice, whilst savvy HR databases have been put into place, only few companies have been able to boost real returns and cost savings. There is every reason to believe (I do), that over the next years this view of moving HR responsibilities to line managers will indeed take place, cutting HR business costs as planned. Once can expect that this will further reduce the reliance on dedicated HR staff to take on the people management duties of line managers.

The operational and strategic HR contributors, that do remain within the HR function and provide HR support consistent with the ‘high-commitment model’, will certainly start gaining more confidence and trust.

Commitment from HR teams is not perfect, in particular, when you ponder over business goals and strategic interests. It's extremely hard for a company to achieve maximum profits and efficiency if it takes to heart the loyalty and interests of its employees. This particularly issue may impact the needs of the organisation as it is likely to undermine internal HR issues due to such competitive or recessionary conditions. For example: an organisation has to consider its survival first and the HR functional image of caring for the needs and security of its employees, get's a hit after that organisation has to terminate employees! Which may or will likely lead to HR losing their great brand/employee image at some point.

For those searching in vain for transactional HR jobs, this is the one area where skills are transferable to other functions, across industries. For those looking for new operational and strategic jobs, there is always merit in looking at other similar opportunities. Some statistics suggest that HR professionals are less likely to consider being entrepreneurs. (check out www.humanresourcesglobal and you can see it is possible for a HR professional to go entrepreneur, even working on a new innovative HR venture in this economic crisis)

This can limit your options, so make sure there is a good reason why you would not explore a career in running your own business. Try it before you reject it because you will be surprised at how a lot of HR businesses do not require the kind of capital investment that some other businesses require. This also means that the returns can be high if you get it right.

Meanwhile, let’s remind ourselves of the advice HR normally give employees:

· Don't feel sorry for yourself. There's always something you can do.

· Don't rush into another job too soon. Use your time to think about what you really want and don't want.

· If you want to do something different, go for it. Don't be put off by re-training. It's an experience in itself.

· Give yourself a break if you need one. Ask for help and support - and allow yourself to feel sad.

· Ask yourself if you would benefit from a re-evaluation of your values and needs.

· Talk to your HR network as they hold the power over the job!

This guest post is written by Nicole Le Maire, Founder of Human Resources Global Ltd. a HR Consultancy targeting individuals and small organisations within the emerging market regions (South America, Africa and the Middle East). Nicole focuses on supporting clients in non-traditional HR ways and she can be contacted via Nicole@humanresourcesglobal.com

3 Bite-Sized Tips to Power-Up Twitter for Your Job Search

By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter

Advice abounds on how to use social media to advance your career and job search. Beyond reading the volumes of great books, breaking down advice into manageable bites is a smart way to venture into the often-rough social networking waters. Also, choosing one site and really getting your feet wet is helpful to prevent social media overwhelm and scattershot behaviour. The following are three snack-size tips to help you get started using the niche-networking site, Twitter.

Tip No. 1: Create a Twitter handle that articulates your value. This may simply mean using your name, particularly if your personal brand and unique value are highly connected to your name. So, @JaneDDoe may just be the perfect draw to brand you. However, if your brand is better exuded through a descriptive representation of what you do, whom you serve, how you serve, and so forth, then consider drawing a visual word picture.

The challenge: Creating this handle to represent your brand in just a 15-character limit. But you can meet that challenge. It just takes thought and brainstorming.

Check out these eight examples of personally branded, value-focused and/or descriptive Twitter handles to get your juices flowing:

1.      Showing your unique value: @WorkIntegrity (A career transition consultant with integrity)

2.      Showing what you do: @bizshrink (A leadership psychologist who grows psychologically savvy leaders) 

3.      Describing how you help others: @AuntieStress (She undresses your stress by getting to the heart of the cause) 

4.      Using your name brand: @lizadonnelly (A New York-based cartoonist and writer) 

5.      Creating a hybrid handle: @RedBaronUSA (A turnaround management and growth strategy expert who uses a company name, RedBaron, and first name, Baron, in the handle) 

6.      Describing what you do while concurrently using your company name: @Brainzooming (Strategy, innovation, creativity, and social media ideas) 

7.      Incorporating your name brand plus credential (niche area of focus): @tracystewartcpa (A CPA PFS CFF CFP CDFA, collaborative neutral financial advisor) 

8.      Emphasizing your personal brand tagline: @ValueIntoWords (A certified master resume writer translating value into words. @Glassdoor career and workplace expert) 

Tip No. 2: Follow a couple dozen people and begin sharing their content.

This can start as simply as researching four or five of your favorite colleagues on Twitter and then following them. Tag along a few of the people they follow. Read through their tweets. Select a resonating tweet and share it using the "retweet" button. Or, better yet, create a personal introduction to the tweet and customize your share.

You can do this by copying/pasting the original tweet into a new tweet window and then typing in additional, value-add language to introduce the tweet. This will test your writing precision and editing skills because you likely will need to trim the original tweet (without changing the meaning), and have to create a brief, three- or four-word value-add remark, all while fitting into the 140-character limitations.

The following is an example of a tailored retweet of a blog post where the poster pulled out the takeaway message that she found most compelling.

Example of original tweet: "4 tips for better negotiations http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/s/73xwDS"

Example of tailored retweet: "'Watch where you set your anchor' + 3 more tips for better negotiations: http://bit.ly/VtqfOr by @twilli2861"

Tip No. 3. Tweet your own content.

Once you get the hang of tweeting, consider developing your own original tweets. If you author a blog or guest post on other blogs, then it would be natural to share that content. If this isn't the case, then create 140-character tips that apply to your area of expertise. So, for example, if you are a sales professional, you may want to prepare a sales tip to help your followers sell better, or you could share one thing not to do when trying to close a deal. In other words, consider what's in it for the follower before composing a tweet, then offer practical advice they can immediately implement.

While Twitter can be a noisy playground with lots of equipment with which to experiment; e.g., TweetDeck, HootSuite, hashtags, Twitter chats, and such, don't let that bog you down. Instead, target in on one area of that playground and start swinging. Let your legs fly, throw your head back. At the same time, play safely and courteously. You will find yourself exhilarated and playful, at the same time, growing your career muscle in communication and collaboration.

Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter is a Glassdoor career and workplace expert, chief career writer and partner with CareerTrend, and is one of only 28 Master Resume Writers (MRW) globally. Jacqui and her husband, "Sailor Rob," host a lively careers-focused blog at http://careertrend.net/blog. Jacqui is a power Twitter user (@ValueIntoWords), listed on several "Best People to Follow" lists for job seekers.

This post originally appeared here:

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/01/28/3-bite-size-tips-for-using-twitter-in-a-job-search

Unleash your unique career power

By Neil Patrick

Here's an inspiring video from last week of my friend Scott Dinsmore's speech at TEDx.

In case you don't know, Scott is the man behind the LiveYour Legend programme.

Scott has single mindedly pursued the realisation of his vision over many years now and I think it's a philosophy and toolset whose time has now come.




I have always felt that the Live Your Legend programme is invaluable to baby boomers. Perhaps even more than younger groups, we are prone to accepting the idea that what we are now is what we must always be.

This is a very risky strategy in today's world. More than ever, we need to embrace new possibilities of what we can become.Today's problems really can be tomorrow's opportunities if we apply the right tools to release our own unique strengths, passions and capabilities.

How you can make something amazing happen

By Neil Patrick

I came across this today. It's Marissa Mayer from Google/Yahoo. In case you don’t know her, she was employee number 20 at Google and their first female engineer. She has had a distinguished career since and now sits on several boards including Walmart and Yahoo, where she is President and CEO.

Anyway, I like the method she describes here of how to choose from several business/career options:

The approach is elegant in its simplicity. And I think somewhat counter-intuitive. But more importantly, I think this approach is especially relevant to the over 40’s. Our life experience often encourages us to rely too much upon our own abilities in isolation.

The baby boomers grew up in a world with no computers, no internet and little globalization. And our education broadly matched the requirements of that world. Part of it was that we were taught that our own efforts matter more than anything else. It’s these which will dictate your results. It’s you against the world. Success is about beating your competitors.

But this is a different and more contemporary view. It recognizes that engaging with the best and most able people in a given field is the most important thing. It emphasizes collaboration rather than competition. Why go through all the trial and error and risks of figuring something out for yourself, when you can tap into the experience and learnings of someone who's done it successfully before?

One reason the internet and social media in particular are so powerful is because they foster and faciliate collaboration.

It's a whole new worldview for anyone born before about 1980.

It’s one of the reasons I set up this blog - to help mature workers to see the world of opportunities that is available to them if they have the courage and vision to venture outside their comfort zones.

The one thing that we like to cling to is the comfort of doing the things we know about. We feel safe and secure in our knowledge and experience of these things. But how can we grow if we do not extend ourselves continuously?

And the best way I know to do that isn't to challenge others, it's to challenge ourselves.