pocketnow.com
Corey Online Media, LLC
Glen Mills, PA
United States of America
Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.View the original article here
I have had extensive dealings with all types of career services professionals and have, unfortunately for the students of the universities, discovered that about only 1 out of 20 actually understand their job and are effective at it. To be an asset to the students, there are things that career services professionals need to understand:
The Students Are Clients of Theirs - They Are Clients That Pay A Lot of Money
The cost of a college education, before loan interest can run up to nearly $250,000. This money is spent to ensure that sons and daughters of hard working people get educated and, thus can contribute to society in a meaningful way. To do this, the students need to begin by obtaining a career that is right for them and is conducive to them being successful. Seemingly, a lot of career professionals like to work 9 - 5 hours. Why not? In academics it's hard to get fired. It seems as if a lot of career services professionals expect some sort of accolade for a 6 o'clocker.
If a school has roughly 10,000 students and, on average each student is paying $50,000 (this number factors in full tuition students, scholarship and mixed) that career services professional is carrying a client revenue stream of $50,000,000. However, most career service professionals shrug off the fact that companies 30% of this size have 24hr. support. The career services employees work for the students and exist to obtain one goal and one goal only - making the career goals of their clients a reality.
This means even if the career services professional has to claw through the dirt to get it done. Why are they different from the business world? What gives them exemption from execution?
The Professors Are Clients of Theirs
Professors spend years preparing to be able to educate young minds by obtaining MBAs and PhDs and, thus inspire the students to go out into the world, make an impact and do their best to live ethical, productive lives. Therefore, in this scenario, the professors are the sales representatives that go out and find the "leads" only to have a 9 - 5 career services not close the account. Career services professionals need to be very proactive and very appreciative of every single professor within that university because that is where their "leads" come from. No closer likes subpar leads. No lead generator can work with a subpar closer. In any company, regardless of industry, subpar closers see only one thing: the door.
Unfortunately, this mentality and understanding only exists in 5% of today's university career centers. Moreover, to better service their clients (students and professors), the career services representatives need to go to each class, introduce themselves as the "account manager" who has personally been designated to work with the clients (students) throughout the account cycle that is 4 or 5 years in this case.
For any good account manager who was carrying a quota of $50,000,000 going to a class and, subsequently servicing the two forms of clients they have at a single time is a no brainer. Companies spend millions of dollars per year in R & D attempting to figure out how to be this effective. Have most career services personnel? Nope.
Budgets Are Budgets - They Must Make Due with the Money Given Being underfunded is not an excuse. Companies are under funded all of the time, however they make due and, upon doing a stellar job for their clients (the students in this case) their corporate division can make a strong argument as to why more revenue needs to be diverted to their team because their success and client execution needs more resources. They don't understand it's not the other way around. Produce, then complain.
They Have Competitors
If you were to ask 95% of career service professionals who their competition was, they would immediately refer to their football rival three states away. Their competition are the schools that are close by and that have students that go up against their students for jobs. This is their competition; it's not another college due to the fact that they can dunk a basketball.
Career services professionals need to stop spending so much time living off a win in a sport done by actual athletes that have no affiliation with them, but the name on a jersey. Instead, they should analyze how the athletes accomplish what they do and bring that model into the career center.
It's just known that career services professionals don't do competitive analysis. They don't follow up with companies that interview their competition to see how their students stacked up against the other schools. This should be done on a daily basis. Then, once this knowledge is obtained, the career services professionals need to use this information to better serve their clients.
Also, many career services professionals have not, in their professional career, done any competitive analysis on their competition's career websites. Thus, they can't serve their clients are best as possible because they don't know how the other teams write resumes, answer certain interview questions, approach the job hunt or just about any other aspect that could be deciphered with a 2 minute analysis.
They Are In Sales and Need to Make Outbound Calls
Unless a school is an Ivy-League institution, career center employees have to understand that the recruiting process is a 50 / 50. This entails making outbound calls to companies that are currently hiring or that are very reputable and are currently not looking at their students.
Most career service professionals never make outbound calls and, subsequently don't service their $50,000,000 worth of clientele to the fullest extent possible. Businesses, to sustain this revenue, fight tooth and nail to keep their clients satisfied. To a business, to ensure client satisfaction, getting their hands dirty with a few cold-calls and, subsequently starting a sales cycle to better the experience of their client is something they are more than willing to do. Actually, in most cases, they enjoy the challenge. This is not something that be done by someone who ducks out of the office at 5:30 because their TiVo is getting full.
It Is Their Fault If Students Don't Come to the Career Center
Students are not just magically going to appear in the career services center and a lot of career services professionals use this as an excuse. There are no excuses when carrying a $50,000,000 quota. You execute; you don't leave at 5, you don't get complacent with 20 people showing up for your resume speech, you go out and hunt.
Most career center professionals do a lackluster job of getting the students in their office. In this case, their clients (the professors) need them to do so. They have to close the deal, but don't want to come to terms with the fact that "sales" which is a bad word to most career services professionals is part of their job description. However, with most career centers, excuses are tossed around like pre-made pizza pies regarding this aspect of their job.
Also, many don't even think of the fact that there are psychology professors steps away who exist and could better help them understand as to why they are not getting the students in their office. Career service professionals, the majority of them, have access to hundreds of free consultants. How many companies can say this? How many career services professionals can say that they use their consultants?
The Career Website Should Contain No Less Than 100 Articles - Most Original
There are CEOs who run million dollar corporations and who, maybe don't type themselves, but write books. Presidents who run nations still find the time to write memoires. I manage 14 people and still write for marketing purposes. Most career service professionals, after 5 p.m. have no loyalty to the needs of their clients. It's as if they are a call center employee who jumps out of their seat the minute the clock ticks and their shift ends.
They don't act like an executive carrying this kind of quota. Their clients need resume help. How many resumes (actual samples) for each kind of graduate does the career services professionals have linked?
They Don't Understand Basic Management Skills
Instead of forming a team, it seems that most career services professionals like to be hung up on the fact that they have an "assistant." Instead of basic management 101 skills, these individuals like to make it known that they think of their assistant as only an assistant. When was the last time this "assistant" was given the autonomy to help carry out the aforementioned activities for the large account?
Headhunters Los Angeles Sales Recruiters
Sales Recruiters Washington DC Recruiters
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
As a CPA who works primarily with small businesses and start-up businesses, I have decided to put together a list of the Top Tips for Running a Side Business.
1) Incorporate. The #1 most overlooked tip by people running side businesses is that they fail to setup a business entity because they still view their business as a "little side business" that they will incorporate "when things take off." Here is why this is the most detrimental mistake that a side business owner can make:
-Sole Proprietorships (the business structure you default to if you fail to setup a Corporation, LLC, etc) are subject to the highest audit risk out of all the business structures. The reason for this high audit risk is that all Sole Proprietorships report their business income and expenses on Schedule C (the second most highly audited form that you can attach to your tax return. By setting up an S Corporation, you become nine times less likely to be selected for a random IRS audit (audit risk decreases from 2.7% to.3%, making it very possible that you can go your entire life without ever being selected for an audit)
-Sole Proprietorships are subject to the highest tax rates. As a Sole Proprietor, you end up paying your regular income tax rate plus an additional 15.3% Self Employment Tax. This means that if you are in the 25% tax bracket, you are essentially paying 40.3% tax. S Corporations typically enjoy a lower tax rate due to payroll taxes taking the place of Self-Employment Taxes. So, if you are in the 25% tax bracket, you end up paying somewhere between 25% and 40.3% depending on the nature of your business, profit levels, etc.
-Operating a Sole Proprietorship means that your personal assets are completely exposed during your business operations. If someone sues you for a business related matter, you could end up losing your house, your savings, your retirement, and everything else you own. By setting up an S Corporation, you protect your personal assets from business related lawsuits and all you can lose are the business assets.
By failing to setup your Corporation right from the start, you lose valuable credit-building time. Banks, credit card companies, and other lenders will not lend unsecured funds to Corporations within their first two years in business. They will either lend to you and allow you to use the funds for business purposes or they will lend to the business as long as you are willing to attach a personal guarantee. If you incorporate right from the start, when you are ready to turn your side business into a full business, you may already have this two year period behind you and you can start looking for business loans and business credit cards.
2) Do not use your home address or a PO Box. There is such a stigma associated with using a residential address or a PO Box as your business address. Many consumers view the use of a home address as a sign that you are new in business and that your business is not successful. While this may be the furthest from the truth, a consumers mind will be made up once they see your address and decide not to call you, giving you no opportunity to explain why you operate your business out of your house. In order to combat this, many business owners opt to go the PO Box route. However, PO Boxes have their own stigma. Many consumers view companies that use PO Boxes as "fly-by-night" companies that may leave town at the drop of a hat and that they may never be able to get a hold of once their job is done. Some ways around this include:
-Renting a small office within the office a client, friend, associate, vendor. In addition to giving you a consumer-friendly address to use, situations like this may also open up opportunities for more referrals due to the traffic that your landlord's business is bringing past your door each day.
-Renting office space or a mailbox within a Virtual Office such as HQ Global, Regus, or Intelligent Office. In addition to the mailbox/mailing address options, most of these Virtual Offices offer the use of Conference Rooms, Receptionist Services, and office space as your business grows
-Renting a mailbox at a UPS Store or Mailboxes Etc. While this is nothing more than a "PO Box" located at a UPS Store instead of at the Post Office, it does give you a more consumer-friendly business address
3) Don't skimp on professional services. When you run a side business, the #1 goal is typically to keep costs as low as possible until the business takes off and starts generating some real revenue. However, know when to DIY and when not to DIY. Certain things can be done effectively using the DIY approach, while others could prove more detrimental:
-Do not try to be your own lawyer. Free legal forms that you download on the web will leave you getting exactly what you paid for and could lead to the end of your business if you are not properly protected
Do not try to be your own accountant. While bookkeeping is a task that can be taken on by most business owners (assuming they actually have the time to devote to it), when it comes to actual tax return preparation (payroll, sales tax, corporate tax returns, etc.), deadline watching, and staying current on tax law changes, you need a CPA who specializes in small business accounting and taxation
-Do not try to be your own marketing department unless you have a true gift for it. I cannot tell you how many flyers, postcards, mailings that arrive at my house and at my office that appear as if they were designed by a child (and not a child who is destined for a great career in marketing). Between typos, plain text, black & white coloring, nothing eye-catching, poor grammer, no call to action, every penny that gets spent designing, printing, and mailing these "marketing" pieces is not only wasted, but actually create a negative image for your business, doing more harm than if you simply didn't send out the mailing.
4) Network. Network. Network. The hands down, single most cost-effective marketing technique is networking. In most cases it is either free or $5, $10, $15, $25 per event and it will generate more business than any $1,000 print ad or $500 mailing. By networking, you are meeting potential clients/customers and potential referral sources face-to-face while getting your company's name out there. Many networking events run in the early morning or in the evening, so you can certainly coordinate these events around your full time job.
5) Establish a web presence. Every business out there will benefit from having a web presence. Creating a website (not a freebie, amateurish looking site, but a very clean, very informative site) is a must in today's marketplace. Just about every business owner I know has gotten at least one client/customer who just happened to stumble upon their website while searching or browsing the web. The keys are to keep the site informative, make it easy for potential clients/customers to contact you, and offer online payments through PayPal or another well-known credit card processing company. Creating your website in blog format or linking a blog to your website is a surefire way to generate traffic and ensure that visitors return at future dates to see what you have been posting.
6) Don't play up the fact that this is a side business. Of course, if a potential customer asks, you shouldn't lie to them. However, if the topic never comes up, you always want to "play the part" and instill confidence in your customers that you are an expert in your field, you are going to do a great job for them, and that you will be around for a long time. Now, there are some exceptions here...there are some industries in which running a side business may actually be more attractive to some customers. For things like handyman services, electrical work, carpentry, plumbing, etc., many homeowners like to hire guys who work in their field full-time during the day and then offer their services direct to the homeowner via their side business at very low rates. For a job that a contractor may bid out a $2,500, a homeowner may be able to find a carpenter who is willing to work at a $200/day rate and finish up the job in 5-6 days, leaving them with a $1,000-$1,200 bill and a $1,300-$1,500 savings for the same (or sometimes even better) quality of work. So, if your industry is similar to this, you may actually want to play up the fact that you are operating a side business
7) Create a plan. No, I'm not talking about the clichéd "Business Plan," I'm talking about a "Milestones Plan." As a small business CPA, many people are surprised to hear that I am not a proponent of entrepreneurs creating business plans. I view business plans as the #1 barrier to starting a business and that 95% of the time, once you start your business, you end up going in a completely different direction than you had originally planned as you discover your strengths, your weaknesses, what your customers want, what the economy is dictating, etc. Far too often, I see people who want to start a business, but create the "I'll start up as soon as I'm done writing my business plan" excuse. If you have an idea or a skill and you know how to put that skill to use or bring that idea to market, just get started and everything else will fall into place. When I refer to a "Milestones Plan," I am talking about setting concrete milestones that will dictate your timeline over the next few years. Start off by setting the following milestones and add/adjust again a few months after your business gets off the ground:
-Set a "shut down" milestone. Determine at what point you should pull the plug on your business. This can be a financial milestone (once you invest $10,000 and don't see any potential for profitability) or a time milestone (if after 24 months, you don't see any potential for profitability)
-Set a "part-time" milestone. Determine at what point you will convert your full-time job into a part-time job so that your side business can turn into a part time business. This can be a financial milestone (once you hit $5,000/month in revenue, once you hit $1,000/month in profit, etc) or a customer-driven milestone (once you start getting two new customers/week, once you have 25 customers, etc.)
-Set a "full-time" milestone. Determine at what point you will quit your part-time job and start running your business full time. This milestone will be similar to your "part-time" milestone, just with the bar set at a higher level.
Have any more tips for startups or side businesses? Post them in the comment section and we'll start expanding the list.
Michael T. Hanley, CPA is the Managing Partner of the Long Island, NY CPA Firm, Merl & Hanley, LLP and the author of 'Effective Tax Planning for the MicroBusiness' and 'Choosing the Right Structure for Your Business.'
Tax Saving Tips, Marketing Tips & General Business Advice
Buy My Books
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
With the world currently steeped in an economic crisis of immense proportions the following questions become pertinent... How can we cope individually with this worldly predicament? How can we turn individually such immense negatives into positives?
While governments all round the world attempt to deal with this crisis, we must do something for ourselves both individually and collectively. And one sure way of doing so is to embark on an online business start-up. The Internet is growing every year as more and more people visit it to find information and buy goods and services. The aim of this article is to facilitate the process of starting an online business or of correcting a faltering online business.
Every day lots of people like you make the decision to start an online business, yet not everyone ends up succeeding at it. Many struggle and give up after a while, while others come through with different levels of success. The problem with starting an online business is that there is too much hype and too many lies surrounding the process.
The Internet is full of scam artists looking to make a quick bug, and it is easy to fall prey to these artists. The common tactic is to convince you that it is easy to make money on the Internet. All sorts of get-rich-quick schemes have been enacted on the Internet and these schemes are very enticing to newcomers. Who doesn't want a quick way to become rich, anyway? Isn't that the fastest way to financial freedom? However, with anything that sounds that good, there is always a catch.
The person who is promoting or selling a get-rich-quick scheme is after your money, and the idea of getting rich quick (with no effort at all) is the quickest way to persuade a newcomer to buy. This tactic only works for newcomers, and it works until the newcomer grows up to recognise that there is NO QUICK WAY to make money in this world (unless through fraud or unless you win a lottery).
The idea of getting sales by making get-rich-quick promises is a scam. It is a scam because the seller makes money by misleading the customer. The typical newcomer will move from one get-rich-quick scheme to another until he or she gets the message... that it is a fraud! The newcomer then gives up in frustration, or continues to search for the fundamental truths of online business success. If you are a newcomer and your first port of call is this article then you are a lucky newcomer. This article will get you out of the hands of the many get-rich-quick crooks that infest the Net. It will direct your efforts along the correct path to online business success, so that you don't waste your money by dealing with Internet crooks.
The Essence of Business Planning
Remember that an online business is first and foremost a business. This means that the traditional basics of achieving business success apply. For instance, it is well-known that a business that has no plan is almost certain to fail. No matter how small the business is, it still needs a plan. A business plan compels you to think before you act. It compels you to find out about your business area before you start; i.e. to research your business area or to establish its groundwork.
A business plan forces you to think hard about your competition and how you are going to beat them in the market. It forces you to establish whether your business idea is even worth pursuing. Why start a business that is going to fail? Isn't that stupidity?
A business plan forces you to establish the expected costs and revenues of your business, and hence to determine profitability. Why run a business when, at any time, you cannot tell whether or not the business is succeeding? If you don't know your costs or your revenues you cannot compare them together to tell whether your business is succeeding or failing.
An online business is no different from an offline business, when it comes to business planning! It needs a business plan! Yet, how many newcomers do we see trying to make it online without even understanding the concept of business planning? Is it then a surprise that too many fail?
A High Tech Business
The next key thing to understand about an online business is that it is a high-technology business. This point is all-too-often overlooked in all the hype or wild claims about getting rich quick on the Internet. As a high-tech business an online business is dominated by technological complexity. This complexity manifests not only in the process of web site research, design, and construction but also in the process of web site marketing (commonly called Internet marketing).
The only way to remove or hide such complexity is to use sophisticated software tools, and the more integrated the tools are the less is the technological complexity required to achieve a successful online business. The best tools integrate the entire cycle of web site research, design, and construction with the process of Internet marketing.
The end of this article refers you to the best integrated tool that the author has found for start-up and struggling online businesses. The tool integrates the entire online business building cycle and is the best tool to use for newcomers and strugglers. When newcomers have graduated into seasoned professionals (and can thus handle some amount of complexity) they can go for specialist tools that better optimise specific aspects of the online business cycle. This will lead to greater profitability, above what can be achieved with an integrated tool such as SBI!.
An Intellectual Business
The final key thing to understand about an online business is that it is an intellectually-intensive business. This means that you must be prepared to learn a great deal of new things, and you must be prepared to develop your own understanding of the new ideas. The development of your own unique understanding is paramount, as it is the basis for differentiating your business from other online businesses. Your business must be uniquely different from your competition. It must be better, or visitors will not see why they should be doing business with you. The uniqueness in your understanding of whatever you learn ultimately leads to the formulation of your unique selling proposition (USP), which is the basis for positioning your business and getting sales.
You will need to learn the fundamental online business philosophy that drives all successful online businesses. You will need to learn how to build an online business using the recommended integrated tool that does everything to handle the underlying technological complexity for you, thus simplifying your work considerably while dramatically shortening your time to success. You will need to learn practical Internet marketing skills, without necessarily being sucked into the underlying technological complexity. The recommended online business building tool handles the complexity for you.
Final Remarks
This article has discussed three fundamental truths about online business success that you must know if you don't want to fail. They are...
1. An online business must be planned. This forces you to think before you act. Without this you are almost certain to fail.
2. An online business is a high tech business. Newcomers and strugglers must use a sophisticated integrated tool to remove this complexity.
3. An online business is an intellectual business. Be prepared to learn a great deal.
This article has touched only the surface of what you need to know to start or run your online business. For more information read the following source and find out more about the recommended integrated tool mentioned above...
Starting or Running Your Online Business?
Dr A A Agbormbai owns this popular Online Business Site [http://www.triplacc.com/online-business].
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.