C’mon people, live it up a bit. Show us what you’re working with. I know LinkedIn is a professional networking forum where professional decorum is scrupulously maintained. Pictures are tasteful. Spam is minimal. Comments are respectful. Etc. etc. etc. That doesn’t mean your profile has to be boring. There are some very good reasons to […]
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Pick a number between 1 and 23. Any number, it really doesn’t matter. Now go to Twitter and do a quick scan of your feed and see how long it will take you to find headlines like the following using your number: 16 Secrets For Shopping At Target That Will Blow Your Mind 17 steps […]
It’s not easy. Ghost-blogging, that is. For a client. It’s one thing to write your own blog (like this one). Approval comes easy when you are self-blogging. No deadlines, no editors, no worries about relevancy or click-throughs or conversions. Clients, however are harder to please. Funny thing about that. They expect results. Client blogs must […]
It’s way too easy to get distracted these days. Very few situations (and people) are immune from the ubiquitous lure of the web, social media, texting or mobile phoning. Everybody these days seems to be a multitasker; always in a hurry, never enough time. Their attention shifts back and forth, in and out of conversations […]
Everybody could use a good elevator pitch. You know, a succinct sales call, idea or story delivered in the time it takes an elevator to go from ground level to floor #14. (skipping floor #13), or vice versa. In this tweet-happy age, nobody has time to hear you drone on and on about some topic. […]
When did “content” replace “copy” as the preferred term for information displayed on websites and in social media? For many years, marketing and advertising writers were always known as copywriters. That’s how I started my career in advertising, as a jr. copywriter. Anyone who watches Mad Men knows about the trials and travails of plucky copywriter Peggy […]
Having worked in the IT staffing industry for many years, I have had numerous interactions with recruiters of all shapes and sizes. Not as a candidate or consultant, but as a colleague. My opinions of them individually varied of course, but overall I found recruiters to be smart, ambitious, friendly, and disciplined. But I didn’t […]
If you are active at all on LinkedIn (I am because I am seeking my “next great opportunity), you probably have received a flurry of emails from your connections endorsing you. Endorsements are the shortcut version of recommendations, and don’t require nearly as much effort as writing a paragraph or two recommendation. Or thought for […]
Recently I took my son’s car in for its monthly check-up. Can someone tell me why BMWs’ hemorrhage so much oil? How many different hoses, gaskets, and housings are there that can leak? I have counted six so far, but I’m sure there are more to discover. Anyway, since the repair shop is near my home, I decided to […]
One of my favorite crime fiction writers is Elmore Leonard. You may know Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, and Out of Sight, among many of his classic novels. And one of my favorite literary devices Elmore uses is… suspense. He is the master of the fake out. Characters motives are always murky, and readers get hooked trying to guess […]
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