A dozen years after its launch, LinkedIn continues to be one the most effective networking sites for business professionals. To maximize that effectiveness, however, you have to put in a little work, according to LinkedIn expert Wayne Breitbarth. In his book “The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success,” Breitbarth advises users that, once they have built a great profile, started growing their contact base and joining LinkedIn groups, they should take their networking to the next level. LinkedIn has developed several advanced tools and techniques that can help on many levels including promoting a business, targeting sales opportunities and/or looking for a new job. Professional Gallery allows you to promote your past work and build credibility by sharing hyperlinks to various media such as presentations, documents, images or videos. The gallery is visually appealing and has an intuitive interface. Endorsements take your listed skills and expertise one step further by allowing your contacts the ability to endorse you for your particular skills. This creates additional activity within your contact group and increases exposure and credibility. This also helps drive your search ranking. Advanced People Search lets you find out who in your network knows someone at a company you may be targeting and gives you the ability to make a virtual introduction to the person you are targeting. You can also find people who have similar interests or organizations by clicking on these and searching “key words”. Searches can be saved for future reference. LinkedIn Alumni Feature allows you to search for alumni by specific year they attend school and also lets you sort by company, job function and city they live in. You can also target alumni from any school, not just the school you attended. Finding a common bond with someone you are trying to network with is a great way to build rapport. With over 332 million members, LinkedIn offers global connections and exposure. By taking advantage of… | Read More »
Month: August 2015
American productivity and the law of diminishing returns
While it seems counter intuitive, there is no doubt that America and the West are living through a period of meager productivity. Factories are becoming automated, software is revolutionizing, and in some instances replacing¸ professional services like accounting and law, and anyone who has been to a grocery store lately has noticed that some of the cashiers have been replaced by self-check-out lanes. It certainly seems like we’re getting more done with fewer labor inputs. And then there is that cultural and economic phenomenon called Silicon Valley, a place teeming with energy, ideas and a passion for creating what are known as “disruptive technologies” that revolutionize the way we work, play and go about our daily business. Just think of how many tasks, from paying bills to arranging a business meeting, can be done from your phone! Yet the data is undeniable. Productivity gains began tapering off in the latter half of the 20th century and have all but disappeared here in the 21st. And so the question of productivity, why we have less of it and how to get more, becomes one of paramount importance. And that brings us to an article we saw this week in the New York Review of Books. Written by Edmund S. Phelps, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, it addresses the social and cultural impediments to increasing productivity. The crux of Mr. Phelps’ argument is that Western economies have lost their dynamism because innovation is confined to an ever-narrowing coterie of elites. In the 19th and 20th centuries you could find people from all walks of life solving problems and creating new technologies. He uses as examples George Stephenson, inventor of the steam engine, who was illiterate. John Deere, inventor of the cast-steel plow that “broke the plains” was a blacksmith. Isaac Singer, developer of the sewing machine, was a machinist with no formal education and Thomas Edison, who also had no formal education. There… | Read More »
How to pay your bills online, on time, every time
Traveling, whether for work or vacation, can pack a financial whallop. The hassles of travel always seem to block my mind from my daily tasks and, sometimes, cause me to forget that I have bills due. Yikes. I don’t know about you, but I HATE late payment charges. Late payments and parking tickets annoy me to no end — they are such a waste! I travelled at length this summer. Multiple times, I expressed how grateful I am for email reminders and online pay! Most utilities, credit cards, student loans, healthcare plans and mortgages have the option to pay online. Some even have apps and/or accept PayPal. Many people utilize these options and for good reason. I conducted a very casual survey of when, why and how my co-workers paid their bills. These are the top reasons people pay online: Stamp, time and check cost savings. Payment can be made from anywhere there is a computer access (even your phone!) Payment is immediate and a confirmation code and/or confirmation email verifies payment has been made and the date of the payment. Ability to set up a due date reminder email – this has saved my hide multiple times! When asking ‘how’ payment is made online, some people mentioned they pay only from their bank’s online pay for the following reasons: There is only one login to remember. There is only one place to go for all bill payments. Payment and bank information are kept at only one location online. Banks have very stringent online security – it feels more secure. Banks will often send a check if electronic payment is not accepted – remember there is a 3-5 day lag time for check. Other people gave me some good reasons for paying at the creditor’s website: Ability to check all transaction activity and reward points immediately. Easier to track dates and amounts paid . Not wanting credit card information stored… | Read More »
Nine tips to combat the college funding conundrum
Escalating tuition, room, board and text book costs combined with a challenging job market have led to a college funding conundrum for many middle class Americans. How do parents who are still paying off their own student loans set aside enough money to pay for their children to attend college? Are we setting up an educational system that encourages infinite debt? The exponential increase in costs associated with earning a higher degree certainly suggests that possibility. Consider recent Bureau of Labor statistics that say college textbook prices have risen over three times the rate of inflation from January 1977 to June 2015, a 1,041 percent increase. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average cost of tuition, room and board have risen from $3,877 in 1983 to $34,841 in 2014. As colleges and universities across the country scramble to come up with scholarship money to cover tuition costs that have risen, presumably due to an increasing need to provide scholarships because education prices have grown out of control, middle class Americans are left swirling in that ironic vortex. How, then, can parents today help students pay for a college education? With more than 30 years of experience in college funding, we offer these nine options: Invest in a college savings plan, but know that not all are created equally. It is possible, for instance, to max out your state 529 plan and still not have enough to cover the cost of in-state tuition. Talk to your financial advisor before you invest in any college savings plan to make sure it’s right for you. Set up a Roth IRA account for your student if he or she has wages or self-employment income reported to the IRS. Roths are not included as an asset when you fill out your FAFSA, so it won’t increase your expected family contribution. Apply for grants and scholarships. Take time to ferret out all of… | Read More »
“Sharing economy” is becoming increasingly profitable
As we parse the latest employment figures, looking for signs that the job market will recover to its pre-recession levels and lift more people into the middle-class, we’re forced to recognize how the nature of work has changed. That manufacturing jobs of the kind that built the middle class in the mid-20th century are gone, with little hope of ever coming back, is something we’ve known for decades now. How we will replace those jobs remains an ongoing concern. Technological advancements have had the greatest impact on both the kinds of jobs that are available and the way people approach the job market. Economists use the term “information economy” to describe the current conditions in which computers, robotics and interconnectivity affect everything we do, from building airplanes to scheduling a doctor’s appointment. Technological changes have not only affected the number and quality of jobs available, they also have changed the relationship between employers and employees. The rapid changes brought about through technological innovations have caused companies to reinvent themselves on a continual basis, or face obsolescence. This constant change in the organizational structure of a company has frayed the traditional symbiotic relationship of employer and employee. The rise of free-lance and “contract” workers is one result of this change. Contract workers are indistinguishable from any other worker in the firm except in their employment “status.” With contract workers, the company gets the same productivity benefits with fewer liability and “human resource” issues. But, where technological innovations have reduced stability and security among the workforce of medium to large sized companies, it also has created opportunities outside of the traditional workplace. Over the past few years we have seen the rise of what is being called the “sharing economy.” The most well-known examples of the sharing economy are Uber, (a taxicab-like service that uses mobile phones to match people who are looking for a ride with private citizens who are willing… | Read More »