What was the name of the manager you met at last month’s business mixer? Did you ever follow up on the application you mailed two weeks ago? Which version of your résumé is the most recent one — without the typos? If you’re asking yourself questions like these, your job search could benefit from some organization.

The typical job search can generate a daunting stack of paper and a backlog of communications from many channels at once. If you are actively looking for work, you may quickly find yourself buried in multiple versions of your résumé, copies of cover letters, clippings and printouts of job listings, business cards from people you have met, e-mails sent and received, bookmarked web pages, phone messages, flyers for networking events, and much more.

To keep all these essential job search components organized, here’s what you will need:

1. Calendar - You’ll need to keep track of appointments, when you sent out résumés or placed phone calls, and what date you should be following up with people you speak to. Use whatever system works best for your personal style: a pocket datebook, a PDA (e.g. Palm Pilot), or task management software on your computer (e.g. Outlook) are all appropriate choices.

2. Contact Manager - To take full advantage of your personal connections, you will want to maintain a list of everyone you speak with about your job search, along with their complete contact information, when you last spoke, and what you discussed. Contact management software such as Outlook or ACT! is one option, but you can also use a card file, notebook, or large address book.

3. Filing System - On your computer, set up a special folder to hold all your job search materials, and create sub-folders to help you find items quickly. Be sure to give all your documents distinct names. Instead of simply “Resume,” for example, you might use names like “Resume updated with feedback from Ken” or “Resume sent to Marshall Co” to identify different versions.

For your e-mail, use the same idea to save copies of e-mails you send or receive in separate folders in your e-mail system. You might create one folder for all your job search correspondence, or if you are a heavy e-mail user, add sub-folders for each prospective employer or opportunity. Also use a folder to organize bookmarked web pages, such as job postings you check regularly.

With paper documents and clippings, the type of system you choose should depend on whether your job search needs to be mobile. File folders in a drawer or standing file work well if you will always be conducting your job search in the same location. If your job search needs to travel, a better solution might be a three-ring binder with dividers or an accordion file with several pockets.

4. Task List - You’ll need a way to keep track of what may seem like an endless list of things to do. Appointments and notes to follow up on a certain date can be put in your calendar, but you’ll also need a way to track tasks with no date assigned as well as daily or weekly activities. Some PDA’s and contact or task management software offer this feature, or you can keep your master task list in a document on your computer, in a notebook, or on a bulletin board or whiteboard.

Once you have set up a system to organize your job search, you’ll need to remember to use it. Get in the habit of making entries in your calendar or contact manager immediately, rather than saving them up for later. When you print documents, open postal mail, or receive e-mails, file them right away, making a note of any action you need to take on your task list. Don’t try to use a pile of paper as your reminder.

One technique that can help to keep your job search visibly organized is creating a “job wall.” Dedicate some wall space or the back of a door to your job search and post a large calendar, list of job postings to check regularly, events to attend, people to talk to, and important tasks you want to keep in mind. Use sticky notes to highlight important deadlines or projects. You could also keep the same material in a three-ring binder prominently displayed on your desk.

Whatever organization system you choose, find a way to keep your job search activities constantly in front of you and check your to-do list often. If everything you need is buried in a drawer, a pile, or your briefcase, your job search won’t get as much attention.

by C.J. Hayden, MCC

About the writer:

C. J. Hayden is the author of Get Hired Now! and Get Clients Now! Since 1992, she has helped thousands of professionals make a better living doing what they love. C.J. is a Master Certified Coach who leads workshops internationally - in person, on the phone, and on the web. Find out more about C.J. and get a free copy of “How to Find a Job in 28 Days or Less” at, LINK

It would be safe to say that you would have probably entertained the question of how to get promoted even before you graduated or left school. In my chats with juniors from my industry, I am often asked this question which I gladly answer. However, I sense they simply want short cuts to the next level.

These experiences pushed me to pen these 9 obvious but often not practiced tips on how to get promoted. Start internalizing these tips and make them part of your career plan. Before you know it, you would have moved up to the next level.

One main reason for people to ignore these obvious practices on how to get promoted is because they seem very long term. But they are not at all. All you need to do is to consistently DO them. I have broken them down to 3 main sections: Plan, Attitude and Action.

PLAN

1. Where Are You and Why Are You There?

How to get promoted? First you will need to have a reference point. Ask yourself, where are you now? And why are you there? Is there any key strength that has brought you where you are now that you can continue to leverage for the next promotion? Are there any weaknesses that you really need to correct before the next promotion is possible? These questions, while simple are strategic. It allows you to check your strengths and weaknesses. It forces you to access what has worked and what will work to get you promoted.

2. Where Do You Want To Be and How Do You Get There?

You obviously need to have an objective and a plan. Just saying that you want to get promoted is not enough. You need to be clear on your next position. Is it a promotion to a different department or a different branch? Write this down.

Now that you have written this down, how do you plan to get that promotion? Develop a plan for to achieve that objective. If you are lucky, you can even work this out with your immediate boss. Most bosses do not promise that promotion at such discussions but at the very least you get an idea of what are the expectations.

ATTITUDE

3. Put Pride, Passion and Belief In Everything You Do

People who get promoted are those that have a sense of pride in their work. And they take pride in their work. They are driven by genuine enthusiasm and desire to do their best no matter how small the job. They believe in themselves and they believe in the bigger goals of their unit or department and company. How to get promoted? Ask yourself; do you conduct yourself with pride, passion and belief?

4. Back it Up with Skills/Knowledge, Direction and Action

Having pride, passion and belief is only part of how to get promoted. It must be backed up skills and knowledge. That means having the necessary skills and knowledge to do a superb job. Having a direction is important to guide that energy generated by your passion. Otherwise, effort is wasted. Without action which is the actual completion of the task, all else is academic. You will be judged by what you do.

5. See Challenges As Opportunities

Another obvious tip on how to get promoted is to see challenges as opportunities. Very often I see young executives being thrown challenging assignments, which they choose to see as an additional chore. If you want to be promoted, look at challenges as opportunities to shine. Do not complain about hard work, how hard you worked or if your assignment is tougher than your colleagues’. Trust me, no one wants to know how hard you work. In everyone’s mind, their own work is the hardest.

ACTION

6. What Is Your Part?

Know your part and play your part. What is your role? Are you an implementer? Or are you a leader? Know exactly what you need to do in order for your unit to achieve its goals. Knowing your part means being a team player. No one can succeed without help from others. We all need the support of colleagues. When the team succeeds, you succeed too.

7. Do Your Best NOW

I consider this as one of the most important tip on how to get promoted. Do your best NOW. Today. This week’s tasks and projects. Do not bask in the glory of your previous work. That is gone. In all likelihood, no one else cares about it especially your bosses. Do not think too much about future projects that are not implemented yet. That is in the future. It is not here yet. Focus on DOING your best NOW. It determines how you are being judged. When you reflect too much on the past and think too much about the future, you forget to focus on the NOW.

8. Do More Than Necessary

If you want to know how to get promoted, do more than the necessary. That means volunteering for work and taking the initiative to make a job better. It also means not sitting around waiting for work to come to you. Bosses like people who can help them solve problems. Even if the problem is not yours, but if you feel you can be of help and have the expertise to solve it, then volunteer to help. You become the team’s competitive advantage when you do that. And bosses like people who give their unit an advantage over the others. Helping your team stay ahead is then helping you stay ahead too.

9. Do Work from The Next Level Up

If you continue doing work for your current position then you truly deserve your current position. People who know how to get promoted know that if you want the position next level up, you start doing some of those work from that level now. If you are a senior executive now, do some work that is only expected of an assistant manager (assuming that is the next level up). This allows you to demonstrate that you are capable of that position already.

Obviously, there are zillions of tips out there on how to get promoted. These are some of those that I deem to be obvious and not practiced enough by career success seeking newbies. Putting these into practice would greatly increase your chances of a promotion.

by Long Yun Siang

About the writer:

Long Yun Siang or Long, as he is popularly known runs, LINK with his wife Dorena as their way of paying it forward. Their website – based on their real life experiences - provides tips, tools and advise for newbies pursuing career success.

It is never too early to think about your career promotion. Sometimes you think a promotion is merely about meeting your performance target set for you. In many ways this is true but there are other intangible things you can do in order to make that promotion.

These habits if sustained and practiced consistently not only works for you at a junior level, it will work for you even when you move higher up the corporate ranks. Career promotion isn’t about when evaluation happens. It is work done and attitude shown through the months and years. If you want to be someone who is promoted consistently, then take note of these tips.

1. Do More When You Can Get Away With Less

Do you strive for excellence or do you strive for a passable grade with your work? Excellent work is usually noticed. Bosses can tell if someone did more than is required for a particular job. A person with such attitude usually gets noticed. When matched with equally good work, a job promotion isn’t hard to come by.

2. Give It Your All

Whatever you do, give it your best shot. Whether it is work you volunteered for or work within your usual scope of responsibilities. Do your work with pride, passion and belief. Know that everything you do has your name on it and you will be judged by the work that you do.

When you gain a reputation for giving your best everyone wants you to be on their team. Someone like this will be difficult to miss when it comes to career promotion.

3. Keep Your Promise

Cultivate a habit of keeping your promise if you want to get consistent career promotion. An agreement to a deadline and schedule is a promise. Keeping your promise can be as simple as sending that email to someone when you said you would. Especially important is keeping to promises of deadlines and schedules. What you do affects others, keep your end of the bargain and make sure it keeps the work flowing smoothly because you kept to your promise. When you keep your promise you send the signal that you are someone who is reliable.

4. Take Personal Responsibility

Do not play the blame game, ever. Take personal responsibility for the things that you do. If you made a mistake, own up to it.

Colleagues are more forgiving towards people who admit their mistakes and make efforts to change than those who blame others. Taking personal responsibility also means to do the work cut out for you. In a team environment, others rely on you to deliver in order that they deliver. So, do what you have been tasked to do well.

5. Manage Your Time

Understand the concept of time. Regardless of how young or old you are. Time is irreplaceable. Once gone you cannot make up for it. Take the notion of “I will make up for lost time” out of your head. Lost time is just that. Lost. A project that allows you to shine has a timeline to it. When you do not respect the value of time, your chances to shine slips away. Someone who procrastinates and idles time away will find that career promotion hard to come by.

6. Offer Confidence, Hope and Convenience

Be a pillar of strength to your colleagues. Offer them confidence when they doubt themselves. Give people that ray of hope when projects hits a snag. In the midst of all the doomsayers, offer encouragement. Show people how there is a solution. Help give convenience to your colleagues by extending that helping hand. When you do your work think how can you make it easier for the next person. This isn’t just with colleagues; even bosses need that encouragement, hope and ease in doing things.

7. Learn New Things

How can you get that career promotion if you do not and are not willing to learn new things? Learn to accord with change especially change for the better. You must keep an open mind and soak up as much as you can. New knowledge and skills bring new opportunities. Update yourself with news, knowledge or skills, constantly.

Career promotion is about consistent effort across time. Keep these tips in mind each day you go to work, and you are a step closer to achieving the promotion.

by Long Yun Siang

About the writer:

Long Yun Siang or Long, as he is popularly known runs, LINK with his wife Dorena as their way of paying it forward. Their website – based on their real life experiences - provides tips, tools and advise for newbies pursuing career success.

Affiliate marketing is a situation where a person signs up with a merchant to sell the merchant’s products in exchange for a portion of the sale price. This sale is called a commission.

Merchants may also offer pay per click, where the affiliate is paid for each click through, or pay per lead, where the affiliate refers someone to the merchant’s site to complete a specific action, like completing an application.

For those who don’t want to create or sell their own products, marketing affiliate programs is an easy way to get started in business quickly.

With millions of products available on the internet to sell, there are a few things you want to consider first before starting your affiliate business.

1. What is your topic?

Before you consider anything else, you want to brainstorm your first topic. There are many ways to do this.

The search engines all have some type of site, like Google Trends, or Yahoo Buzz, to show you what the hot topics are. You may choose a hot topic, or you may want to do research on topics you are interested in.

I believe in choosing topics you are interested in because you will have to do some writing like product reviews and promotional materials. It’s easier to write about something you are interested in. Just make sure there is a market for the products you want to sell.

2. What types of products do you want to sell?

There are both digital and physical products available for sale on the internet. A digital product is an electronic type of product you download to your computer like an ebook or software.

The advantage of digital products is that they offer higher commissions than physical products. The problem here is that there may not be any digital products related to the topic you choose.

3. Will you build a website? If so, what type of website will you build?

There are lots of ways to build websites from creating a simple one page website for list building or offering a product review, to creating a blog or affiliate store using some type of script.

If you’ve never built a website before, then there are a few things to learn. You may consider building a blog on free sites like Wordpress or Blogger, but let me caution you here. Your site may end up deleted and then you’ve lost all of that content.

If you do decide to build a website, you’ll also need a domain name and web hosting. Do your research and get the most powerful web hosting possible for the price. You want tools like Fantastico to help you build your website and install scripts. This will make building your website a whole lot easier.

4. How will you promote?

It is easier to promote your affiliate business if you build a website, especially if you choose to write articles. The reason is that most article directories won’t accept articles that have affiliate links in the resource box.

The same applies to some free classified ad sites: some don’t allow you to use an affiliate link in your ad. That doesn’t mean there aren’t sites that won’t accept affiliate links. You will simply need to do a little research.

There are plenty of free ways to promote your new affiliate business if you have a website: search engine optimization, article writing, free classifieds, free ebooks, social marketing.

Consider what you like to do first. If you’re very social, you may find social marketing the way to go. If you like sharing information, consider articles. With free classifieds, it’s easy because classified advertising is something we are all familiar with offline.

Regardless of which technique you choose, remember to build your list so you may market to your visitors more than one time. This will help you recycle your traffic and get more from your traffic building efforts.

by Jinger Jarrett

About the writer:

Like these tips? Then sign up for my Affiliate Marketing Guide at, LINK, to get tips and free ebooks for starting your first affiliate business. Learn How to REALLY Start Your Business in 30 days: www.smallbusinesshowto.com, free ebusiness course.

If there is one absolute rule for making money from your website it’s that you need visitors or “traffic” as it is commonly called. If hardly anyone visits your site the chances of it generating an income are slim to none.

Many people think that they need to spend a lot of money to generate a steady stream of website traffic. This is not true at all. Yes, there are plenty of ways to pay for traffic but there are also a lot of free traffic techniques that work very well.

Here are 5 free techniques for generating traffic to your website:

1. Article Marketing

There are countless article directories, ezines, and websites on the internet that need a constant supply of content so they are willing to accept article submissions from others. This is a great opportunity for you to create free website traffic by writing and submitting articles.

All you have to do is write articles that are themed along with the niche of your site. Write on topics that you have some knowledge on so that when people read your articles, they can see your expertise on the subject and will want visit your site for more information. Your articles should be well written, informative, and useful. The higher the quality, the better your chances of gaining traffic and making money.

At the end of each article include an “about the author” box with a little information about you or your business and a link to your website. This is how you will get traffic from the article.

2. Link Exchanges

This technique has been proven for years as a great free traffic method. Exchanging links isn’t nearly as effective as it once was but it’s still more than worth doing. Rarely will you ever see a site where there is no links other sites. Many webmasters are willing to exchange links with one another so that they can provide more options for their visitors and get traffic from the other site. After a few months of link exchanges you will begin to notice the steady increase traffic coming to your site from other sites.

Link exchanges also boost your rankings in the search engines such as Google or Yahoo. It’s well known that search engines rank websites higher that have a large amount of inbound links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you will generate more free traffic to your website than with virtually any other method.

One thing you need to make sure of before you exchange links with any site is that it’s a quality site and at least somewhat related to yours. Exchanging with just any old site can do more harm than help to your site.

3. Traffic Exchanges

I’m not a big advocate of traffic exchanges because I haven’t ever had great results considering the time you have to put in. However, some people do well with traffic exchanges and they are free.

Basically what you do with these is view another person’s website in exchange for a view of yours by somebody. You both benefit from each others efforts to generate free website traffic. The other sites visitors can visit your pages and see your site as well as theirs. The conversion rates aren’t usually very high but if you can get enough free traffic from this method then it may be worth trying.

4. Build a List

This can be one of the most difficult free traffic techniques but it’s certainly possible to do and will reward you many times over for your hard work. Offering a free ebook, a free report, or a free informative newsletter are a few of the best ways to build a list of subscribers. Plus, there are many people who are willing to provide free content for your newsletter as long as they can get their name in it. Be sure to provide valuable information for your subscribers and as your list grows you will be able to make money from sending them an affiliate promotion every once in a while.

5. Internet Marketing and Online Business Forums

This really only requires your time and no money at all. You just share your knowledge and expertise in online business forums, with a link to your website in your signature, and you can get a lot of free traffic over time.

by Diego Norte

About the writer:

For more information about running a successful Internet business, visit Diego Norte’s website, LINK.

I am blessed to have some of the best bosses coach me when I first entered the working world. They passed to me what seemed like, at that time - pretty obvious things one would do when in the working world.

What seemed pretty obvious as habits for career success isn’t always so. As you start on your career path you begin to forget some of these basic habits. Therefore, it is essential to drill these habits deep enough to remember them.

As I progressed in the corporate world, I noticed that these are good habits that should be passed down to my own people just as I have benefited from internalizing them. Here are the 5 basic yet important habits for career success:

1. Get Organized

Regardless of your work, you need to get organized. If yours is office work, you will surely have filing to do. What about your emails, your electronic documents and folder system? Ever had colleagues who ask you to resend them the email you sent last week? No matter how many times you sent, they seem to have deleted it or lost it? And it is the same thing with electronic documents?

When you organize your clutter, work space and computer, you become more productive. You become efficient and effective. This adds to your good name as you progress in the organization. It is also a good habit to cultivate as you move up the corporate ladder. Imagine having more work to organize as you progress?

2. Manage Your Time

This is another simple and obvious habit amongst the habits for career success list. But I assure you; this habit is some of the biggest weaknesses people have in the corporate world. I urge you as a career newbie to start cultivating this habit of managing your time early.

Managing your time isn’t rocket science. Start with a simple to do list and a daily, weekly, monthly and year scheduler. All you have to do is to pen in all the meetings, appointments and tasks in the scheduler. As you get better you can start to use more sophisticated techniques. Managing your time is all about planning what you do and doing what you plan.

3.Under Promise, Over Deliver

As a career newbie, you would have a tendency to try to impress your bosses, colleagues or even clients. This can be driven by your raw enthusiasm. However, remember that in your quest to impress, you run the risk of destroying what little reputation you are starting to build. This is especially so when you fail to deliver on your promises regardless of how small. It could be a simple report your bosses asked but if you fail to deliver it on time, the size of the report doesn’t matter. Fact remains that you did not deliver.

Always remember that one of the important habits for career success is to under promise and over deliver. It is about managing expectations and it is about measuring your own strengths and weaknesses. It is also about knowing how to manage your own time. So, while volunteering for additional tasks is a good initiative, you may want to gauge if you can live up to that promise.

Under promise and over deliver means to say “yes” when opportunities present themselves and learning to say “no” when you know you cannot deliver.

4. There Are Always Next Steps

There are always next steps after meetings. Never let any meetings end without a clear action plan that include who to do what by when. We attend far too many meetings in order to let them slip by without clear next steps to follow through. Having clear next steps ensures you become more productive and time is well spent in meetings.

Meetings are important to assign, brief and clarify. You should not let them slip by without clear next steps. If you are chairing one, makes sure this happens. If you aren’t then ask for your set of next steps. This is one of the basic habits for career success you would bring with you for a very long time.

5. Feed Your Mind

Read motivating books; listen to tapes and watch inspiring movies. We are sometimes so inundated with negative vibes at work that you should feed your mind with positive energy. One way is through books, tapes and movies. They need not be self-improvement and self-help oriented although I find them extremely useful.

Of course, a healthy body is important too. Eat healthily and exercise. This ensures you have the energy to take the work-week with a healthy body, mind and soul. Start cultivating these 5 important habits for career success and make a difference in your work life.

About the writer:

Long Yun Siang or Long, as he is popularly known runs, LINK with his wife Dorena as their way of paying it forward. Their website – based on their real life experiences - provides tips, tools and advise for newbies pursuing career success.