You might be considering your career. You may be wondering if you should change jobs or careers or take advantage of new opportunities. Then read on! I'll explain how people view their careers and why they work in certain situations. Perhaps one fits your future plans.

How to Think About Your Career

Marathons are long and hard, but they’re rewarding. You have to train for many months (maybe years) before running one, then cross over 26 miles of ground in a single day. It’s not an easy feat by any means, but the end result is an accomplishment you can be proud of. If you’ve ever run a marathon or wanted to run one someday, chances are good that this analogy resonates with you — it just doesn’t make sense to start training without knowing what motivates you!

Think of your career as a marathon

Your career is a business, which is important to remember. You're the CEO, owner, and employee, all at once.As CEO, you're responsible for making your team and customers want to work with you and buy your products/services. This means setting and achieving goals.Owner, If someone else owns a business like yours, they can control how much money they make if they stay competitive in "the market." As the owner, it's your job to come up with ideas and implement them so people will want what it provides or find it convenient when buying something similar or related.

Think of your career as a business

You're the gardener, responsible for your career's growth. It's your job to plant good seeds. You can't control everything (like the weather), but you can water and fertilise them. Investing time and energy in your career will pay off.

Think of your career as a garden

To be successful, plan your career strategically. People often make career decisions when they're young or old, but there are some common threads that can help you get started. If you're wondering what your next step should be or just want to know how people think about their careers, here are some tips.

Career planning is fluid

I hope this article has helped you think about your career as a personal asset. As we’ve discussed, the way that you think about your career can help define how successful it is and what goals you achieve. This can be especially important for those who are just beginning their careers or changing jobs and finding themselves in a new position with different responsibilities. The more prepared you are to handle these changes, the easier they will be!

Conclusion

You may be thinking about your career right now and wondering if you should change jobs or careers, or if there are any new opportunities you should take advantage of. If so, this stash is for you! 

You may be thinking about your career right now. You might be wondering what you want to do if you should change jobs or careers, or if there are any new opportunities you should take advantage of…

The 10 most overused words on LinkedIn are subjective. Meaning that if you use them, you are stating an opinion of yourself. Take a look:<ul><li>Specialize</li><li>Experienced</li><li>Skilled</li><li>Leadership</li><li>Passionate</li><li>Expert</li><li>Motivated</li><li>Creative</li><li>Strategic</li><li>Focused</li></ul>The problem with using these words is that, while you think it’s okay to talk about yourself in this way, the reader of your profile (maybe a recruiter or hiring manager) gets the mistaken impression that you think you are “all that and a bag of chips.”

Opinions Of Your Skills Don’t Belong On LinkedIn

The solution is to test your profile and then take out any words that aren’t fact. Here’s how you test it: simply read each sentence on your profile and then ask yourself, “Says who?” If you can’t validate it within the sentence you are using it in, then it needs to go. Note all 10 of the words on LinkedIn’s list below to understand how they get misused.<ul><li>I am a strategic, motivated professional.</li><li>I am creative and experienced.</li><li>I have great leadership skills.</li><li>I am a skilled expert in my field.</li><li>I know how to specialize to meet the needs of my job.</li><li>I am a focused, passionate leader.</li></ul>

Simple Test To Fix Your Profile

Once you edit your profile, go back through and insert accomplishments that prove what you were trying to say about yourself. These would be examples of better fits:<ul><li>I have a 10-year track record of exceeding my employer’s performance review standards.</li><li>I have created 20+ projects in X, resulting in $1M in new revenues.</li><li>I have completed more than 100 business analysis projects that have saved my employers $250K+ in the last 2 years.</li><li>I have managed teams of 2-50 through 15+ complete project lifecycles.</li></ul>

Solution: List Accomplishments

Notice all of the above bullet points use numbers, percentages, and statistics to prove the skill. This is called <a href="https://www.workitdaily.com/quantify-work-experience-on-resume">quantifying your accomplishments</a>, and it is the most compelling way to validate your experience. When it comes to LinkedIn, facts are always better than fiction!

Quantify To Qualify

The top 10 most overused words on LinkedIn profiles were announced. And I'm not shocked to see that all 10 words break the basic rule of personal branding: stay objective. The 10 most overused words on LinkedIn are subjective. Meaning that if you use them you are stating an opinion of yourself.

Stashed ideas

The Top 10 Most Overused Words On LinkedIn

With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), making your résumé stand out has become a technical art form. The technology uses keyword searches in résumés to help filter candidates.  Companies use this technology, called an applicant tracking system (ATS), to save time and weed out candidates that aren’t a good fit for their job description. Knowing how to use keywords can help make your résumé stand out.

Applicant tracking system (ATS)

Recruiters and hiring managers have to sort through hundreds of résumés. Instead of reading through each résumé, they insert keywords into the ATS so it can filter out those who won't be a good fit. Keywords can be skills, credentials, or prerequisites that the job requires.  Once the résumés are filtered, a recruiter or hiring manager then pays attention to the candidate’s qualifications, skills, work experience, and career progression.

What AI and a recruiter are looking for

Write your résumé first. Then, for each job application, update the words on your résumé to incorporate the keywords that match the job description. Candidates can find keywords in three places:<ol><li>Within the job listing, especially in the “qualifications” and “responsibilities” sections.</li><li>On employees’ LinkedIn profiles: Notice how employees in a similar position at that company talk about their skills and responsibilities.</li><li>On the company’s website: see how they talk on their about page to see how you can speak to them in their words.</li></ol>

How to find keywords to use in your résumé

<ul><li>Job-related skills: hard skills, soft skills, core qualifications</li><li>Action verbs: accomplishments and leadership expectations</li><li>Education requirements: college degrees, high school diplomas, industry certifications</li><li>Relevant experience: job titles that the employer is seeking</li></ul> Most ATS do not understand synonyms, abbreviations, plurals, or similar skills. Ensure to pay attention to how the company use the tense and format of the skills, nouns, verbs, and job titles listed. For example, your résumé may say “managed projects” but the ATS is looking for a “project manager.”

Types of keywords

ATS can’t read through shading, doesn’t understand images, and most recognize certain fonts better than others. Many also read your résumé hierarchically. Use or create a template for your résumé that the ATS can read: <ul><li>Fonts that ATS can read: Arial, Tahoma, Impact, Georgia, Courier, Lucinda and Trebuchet.</li><li>Put your contact information at the top, not the bottom.</li><li>Include contact, professional summary (2-3 sentences), skills, work experience, and education.</li></ul>

How to create an ATS-friendly résumé template

In some industries, include additional sections to show your skills or certifications. <ul><li>Split your technical skills and soft skills into two sections</li><li>Training and certifications</li><li>Honours and awards</li><li>Languages you speak</li><li>Proficiency levels for skills or languages</li><li>Organizations</li><li>Interests</li><li>Social media or portfolio links</li></ul> Ensure to spell your keywords correctly.<ul><li>Add job-related skills keywords in the "skills" section</li><li>Relevant experience keywords in the "work experience".</li><li>Action verbs belong in the "work experience."</li><li>Educational requirements should be included in the "education" section. </li></ul>

Additional sections for an ATS-friendly résumé

Once the ATS has scanned your résumé, the recruiter needs to be able to read it easily. <ul><li>The recruiter will be looking for ATS keywords as well.</li><li>Your keywords should fit in an easily readable way.</li><li>Keep your résumé to one page.</li><li>Hiring managers also want to see that you’ve developed throughout your career and willing to advance your skills and knowledge.</li></ul>

How to incorporate keywords for recruiters

Use this guide to learn how to use résumé keywords effectively so hiring managers and AI technology take notice of your application.

A Guide to Using Résumé Keywords in Your Job Search

Investors may find a thousand reasons to tell you no, but take heart: Your background probably isn’t one of them. A 2020 Pitchbook survey found only 15 percent of investors value background, which is less than half of what it was the year before.Even better, the same study showed that where the value in executive branch pedigree waned, the value in profitability saw an 8 percent increase.statistics show that there’s a new trend venture capitalists are valuing, and understanding what VCs are looking for can help minimize the effects of imposter syndrome among entrepreneurs.

For Nontech Entrepreneurs 

In a world where everyone seems to have a million-dollar idea, finding support and investors who believe in yours, even in the tech world, can be challenging. Another factor that may seem like a barrier? Coming from a nontraditional background outside the FAANG realm — meaning, without experience at the tech behemoths Facebook/Meta, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet’s Google.A nontraditional work background filled with diverse experiences should be celebrated when entering the startup world.

Having A Non-Traditional Background

It's important to understand how to leverage your unique skills when it comes to acquiring VC funding as a founder with a nontraditional background. When planning your pitches, start with these steps:<ul><li>Embrace your ability to think like a buyer</li><li>Speak multiple industry languages</li><li>Flex your skills from past experience</li></ul>

What VCs Look For

Having a nontraditional background can be the secret to creating value in tech and attracting funding. The key is to understand how to leverage your unique skills.

How to Leverage a Nontech Background (and Fight Imposter Syndrome)

the increased focus on career breaks creates an outstanding opportunity to remove the stigma from them. Just because someone has taken a break does not mean they are lazy or that their skills are stagnating. Indeed, many people who take a career break are working just as hard, if not harder, as before and are gaining new skills that can serve them well when they reenter the workforce.

Career Breaks Are Okay Now

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/product-tips/linkedin-members-spotlight-career-breaks-on-profiles">LinkedIn</a>, recognizing the value of giving these workers every chance to regain employment, recently added a feature allowing its users to add career breaks to their résumé. So now, instead of having an employment gap that raises questions with prospective employers, LinkedIn users can make the most of their break, showing employers how it helped increase their value. It’s a good solution for all involved.

The Stamp Of Professionals

Career breaks are starting to become the norm. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/product-tips/linkedin-members-spotlight-career-breaks-on-profiles">62% of all employees worldwide</a> have taken a career break, and 64% of women have done so. Most people associate career breaks with either women who leave their employer to have children and care for them or younger workers who head off into the world for a gap year, but there are <a href="https://news.linkedin.com/2022/march/new-way-to-represent-career-breaks-on-linkedin">many other reasons</a> employees take time away, including parental leave (22%), medical leave (17%), and mental health reasons (14%).

Breaks Are Commonplace but Not so Commonly Accepted

The power dynamic on breaks is shifting, especially as the number of people with breaks on their résumé increases. The shift in the workforce toward millennials and younger generations is also forcing employers to reconsider their positions on career breaks. The vast majority of millennials (84%) expect to take an extended career break at some point in their life.In the future, it will be increasingly difficult for employers to find potential hires who have not had a break.

The Future Is Full Of Career Breaks

Just because an employee leaves the workforce temporarily does not mean that they are not developing relevant skills. Of those who returned to the workforce, 53% say they are better at their job after taking a break. 50% of hiring managers believe people returning from a career break have often gained valuable soft skills, and 51% believe workers who take breaks can restart their career any time.

Making the Most of Career Breaks

Some skill sets built during a break are harder to sell than others. Hard skills, such as solving healthcare issues for family members, is a chore that requires creative thinking and brainstorming. Employees may have to juggle mortgage payments, <a href="https://www.earnest.com/blog/student-loan-consolidation/">student loan payments</a>, and the added medical and living costs for family members, teaching them how to optimize spending. And when employees have to unexpectedly take in a family member, they must become logistics and budgeting experts—critical skills for many employers.

Career Break Reasons That Cannot Be Sold To Employers

Those who take breaks for caregiving reasons, whether for children or ailing family members, often cite increased patience and self-awareness as benefits of their time away. These <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90704279/eager-to-boost-your-teams-soft-skills-focus-on-this">soft skills</a> can be more difficult to translate into benefits for employers, even though they are undoubtedly important for both team building and effective management. Yet, for employees to showcase these skills, employers must get past the career break stigma.

Caring For Family

The pandemic and the ensuing Great Resignation <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90730449/the-second-year-of-the-pandemic-messed-with-you-more-than-you-realize">shined a spotlight</a> on workers’ legitimate needs and desires for a career break. In fact, 69% of people who took a break say the time away helped them gain perspective, and 68% say taking a break positively impacted their well-being. It’s time for employers and employees alike to change their perception of breaks. By offering certain profile features and sharing research, platforms like LinkedIn are making it easier for employees to include their new career-break skills and attract employers.

The Bottom Line

LinkedIn research shows a break in your career journey is no longer something to hide or speak vaguely about.


How to Think About Your Career

The Top 10 Most Overused Words On LinkedIn

A Guide to Using Résumé Keywords in Your Job Search

How to Leverage a Nontech Background (and Fight Imposter Syndrome)

Taking a career hiatus is now perfectly okay

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