Horizon Point Consulting

Category: Beyond Ready

Beyond Ready is Horizon Point’s line of resources for students preparing for college and/or career.

  • 5 LinkedIn Tips for Job Seekers

    5 LinkedIn Tips for Job Seekers

    Now more than ever, companies are utilizing LinkedIn to seek out job candidates. They aren’t looking at the ones who have “job seeker” in their profile. Organizations are seeking passive candidates that have desired skills, endorsements and connections to reputable individuals and organizations.

    Here are 5 tips for getting the best out of your LinkedIn profile:

    • Tell your story. Your summary should include a brief history of your career emphasizing your key skills and accomplishments. I often recommend using the “summary of qualifications” from your current resume.
    • Include all key skills that a potential employer might be looking for. Do your research here. For example, if your dream job is to be a CFO for a large company, search for job announcements and make sure you include the “required skills” (those that you have) in your list of skills.
    • Endorsements are important. Remember, you often “get what you give”. If you endorse others, they will often return the favor.
    • Get a new profile pic, already! A professional photo is must for your LinkedIn profile. If you are unable to use a professional photographer, no worries. A good camera will work as long as you have a solid background and are dressed in what you would wear to an interview.
    • Recommendations are a bonus. This is one area where I think it’s okay to ask previous employers or coworkers to provide a recommendation. And, you can offer to do the same for them.

    You can let recruiters know that you are in the market for a new career while keeping it confidential. Check out How to Find a Job Using LinkedIn for more details on this along with other tips.

  • The Best Financial Planning Tips For Recent College Grads

    The Best Financial Planning Tips For Recent College Grads

    Written by guest blogger: Jackie Waters. Jackie is passionate about sustainability and simplicity.  She runs hyper-tidy.com, providing advice on being…Hyper Tidy!

    Graduating college is a huge milestone in anyone’s life, but it can also be a little scary. Where do you go from here? How do you start building savings while you’re looking for your dream job? Those questions can be overwhelming if you let them, so the first step is to sit down and write out a plan. Think about your goals and how you can shape them; are you just ready to plan for the immediate future, or do you want to take steps to create a retirement fund? It’s never too early to start thinking about such things; in fact, depending on your current income, you’re going to need an estimated 70-90% of what you make now to maintain your standard of living after you retire. That means a lot of saving and planning, so sit down and work out a budget so that you can begin putting away money weekly or bi-weekly.

    Here are some of the best tips on how to get creative and start planning for the future:

    Ask for help

    You don’t have to do all the planning for your future alone; when family members ask about potential holiday or birthday gifts, tell them you’d love a contribution to add to your own savings account rather than a store-bought gift. Your loved ones will appreciate knowing that their gift will go to a worthy cause, and you’ll have a little extra to sock away for the future.

    Work out a budget

    This can be tricky if you’re just starting out with a new career, as you may not be completely familiar with what your income will be like just yet. That’s okay; estimate what your monthly income will be and add up all your expenses–car payment, insurance, rent or mortgage, utilities, etc.–to see what you have leftover. If it’s not enough to cover groceries and gas, it’s time to start thinking about ways to make a little extra cash. If you have experience in accounting, consider doing some freelance work during tax season (your tax situation will be a bit different as your client will have to use 1099 software to get you the proper form); if you’re skilled at something creative, like making jewelry or art, start an online shop to sell your wares. You can also use social media to garner interest in babysitting or tutoring jobs, as well. Having extra money means you can focus on making your way toward your dream job.

    Say no to credit

    While it’s a good idea to build up your credit for big purchases–such as a home or a car–it’s important to stay as debt-free as possible. This means saving up for that television instead of opening up a line of credit at the store, and only using your credit cards when you absolutely have to. Relying on them for everyday purchases is a good way to get deep into debt, which will only hinder your ability to save for the future.

    Pay off your debts

    Many of us are burdened with student loans that have astronomical interest rates, so, if possible, start paying them down as soon as possible. Add an extra twenty-five or fifty dollars to your payment when you can, and don’t put it off because you don’t think you can manage a payment one particularly tight month; instead, pinch those pennies in other areas. Start taking your lunch to work rather than relying on fast food, and carpool when you can to save on gas.

    Saving and planning for the future doesn’t have to be a stressful event. Start small and figure out what your goals are; the rest will fall into place with a little preparation.

     

  • How to be Employed to Work at Home

    How to be Employed to Work at Home

    Written by: AnnaMaria Bliven, MBA, MA, of Work at Home Solutions 

    It was 2002 and my kids were coming to me for community sports fees, uniform fees, dance costumes, school field trips and even school registration fees (high school registration one year cost $150). With all this need for extra money, I had to do something because my household budget could not be stretched to afford these extra expenses for my children. This was the motivation factor that began an online journey that has led to thousands of dollars in income and extra income for my family.

    The journey to seek and find real online jobs started out much like you would expect. I fell for many online scams and was beginning to think that working at home was just a myth when one day I did an in-depth internet research to find out that there were actual real online jobs. In fact, it turns out there are hundreds of companies that have thousands of online job openings in several different industries.

    3-Simple Step Process: Seek, Find and Apply

    The journey to having an online job to work at home begins with a job search done using a search engine. You simply type “work at home …” and then a job title in the place of “…” So, the search bar would look like this: “work at home virtual assistant.”  Then, the screen will return a search results list of places on the web where online job openings for a virtual assistant is located. That is the “Seek” phase of the 3-Simple Step Process. The next phase in the process is “Find.”

    To “Find” the job opening, you need to look over the search results and select the website that matches with the job you are seeking to work. For example, in most cases, Indeed.com is the one job board that remote open job positions are in great supply. To see them, all you need to do is click on the Indeed.com website URL in the search results and then type “remote” in the location bar. That is when you will see all the work at home open job positions. From that list choose an open online job position you are most interested in that matches with your education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities.

    The “Apply” phase of the 3-Simple Step Process is similar to that of an onsite job except that for an online job application it may also include taking a skills’ assessment. In many cases skills’ assessment is a “go,” no-go” determinant for being called for an interview. The resume and cover letter (and perhaps the skills’ assessment) has to be such that the Human Resources talent seeker is impressed and contacts you for a job interview.

    How to Earn Income/Extra Income Working at Home

    Since 2002, I have worked jobs in Mystery Shopping, Travel Consulting, Writing, Editing, Customer Service and Faculty Evaluator all from the comfort of my home. In every one of these positions I worked, I earned bonuses, raises and promotions. In addition, I have made thousands of dollars working mini-jobs as extra income. So, you may be asking what you need to do to do the same thing I did. Begin your journey with a legitimate job and avoid the scams. The old adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.”  You find the legitimate job using the 3-Simple Steps Process. To know the kinds of legitimate jobs that are online work at home jobs, you can spend hours of research or get my book: Work at Home with a Real Online Job. Visit my website https://workathome.solutions/. I will do my best to help you.

  • Bridging the Divide… Education for the Future

    Bridging the Divide… Education for the Future

    A country divided is what we are all hearing.  I’m tired of hearing it, are you?

    But as I examine the problem, realizing I am, like we all are, a part of it, I think Steve Boese in his HR Technology Blog described the problem best as he summarized the meaning of a chart illustrating the growing income divide in our country:

    Their jobs, if they are employed, are worse than the ones they used to have. They have less job security than ever before. They are increasingly unprepared to do many of the ‘new’ kinds of jobs that might improve their situation. And every day some 23 year-old Stanford grad invents some new technology that has the potential to automate, disaggregate, and ‘productize’ with an app or a algorithm the kinds of work they used to rely upon to take care of themselves and their families. Self driving cars are going to be awesome, right? Unless you are a bus, taxi, or commercial truck driver. If you have one of those jobs, well, good luck.

    I am stupid and I do think it’s the economy. And I think until we all figure out ways to have this incredible, amazing, technologically wonderful future more evenly distributed we will remain a country very divided. 

    And I believe, like Horace Mann said, “Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance, wheel of the social machinery.”

    Here in lies our solution, education, but it must be education preparing the current and future generations to be prepped for the jobs of the future, not the jobs of the past, as Boese points to.

    There are many organizations focused on education of and for the future.  One such organization is HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. Life science, shaped by our growing understanding of the human genome, is one such industry of the future.

    HudsonAlpha’s Educational Outreach team is “helping create a workforce for life science companies of the future.  The education programs train future scientists through hands-on classroom modules, digital learning, materials and in-depth school and summer camp experiences for educators and students.”

    Many of their resources, like the resources that other people and organizations are creating as we seek to move our educational system to a place of relevance, are free to anyone and everyone.   For example, Touching Triton is a free online educational activity that builds an understanding of common complex disease risk influenced by factors from family history, environment, and genomic data.  HudsonAlpha also has an app that explains cells at their basic level on various reading/grade levels.  Download iCell here.

    All major issues, especially education and income equality are complex issues. They aren’t fixed by one golden sword.

    But getting technology that can deliver free education into the hands of all allows for learning about and from technology that can equip us all for the future.   It can be the mode for delivering free, cutting-edge educational resources, while at the same time providing a mechanism for learning and comfort with technology that is more than required for today’s workforce.  And maybe, just maybe, it can help heal divides that result from income inequality in my community and yours.

    So, today a challenge: Please share 1) any free digital or online educational resource that you know of that equips students, young and old, for jobs of the future and/or 2) any resource that gets technology in the hands of all so these educational resources can be accessed.

    As is so commonly the case, it isn’t that the resources aren’t available, it’s that exposure and awareness of the resources is not.  Let’s fix this by making a listing such resources, like HudsonAlpha’s, go viral.

  • Entrepreneurs Give Back

    Entrepreneurs Give Back

    Many entrepreneurs find a path to entrepreneurship in their efforts to accomplish two things:

    1. Find personal fulfillment and satisfaction
    2. Give back to others and the communities in which they serve

    And the reality of it is that, oftentimes, number one is fulfilled because number two is constantly being sought.   Giving back creates the end that satisfies many other means.

    We’ve featured several of these like-minded entrepreneurs over the years, and wanted to remind you of their great stories to check out as inspiration:

    Ginny Pylant- Artist- Just Give it A Whirl

    Ben Eubanks– HR Pro

    Susan Ozier- Fitness Coach

    Who inspires you to be an entrepreneur?