Some fact finding and basic research sites for your career plan of 2014

For your career and life goals of 2014, you have to do research, so I thought I would include here some user-friendly ones that will provide a basic yet good foundation . Good luck. Some other sites for information finding: ( a lot of these are American –based so you have to consider this when researching) **** a cautionary note always double check the information for reliability through a 2nd and 3rd source. www.ask.com www.about.com wwww.reference.com www.askmefirst.com www.webcrawler.com http://www.savenkeep.com http://www.kuidle.com http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com for Canadian content http://www.thefreedictionary.com For quick and usually brief answers to basic questions try these www. life123.com www.answers.com www.allexperts.conm ( only 1 free question) www.ehow.com www.howcast.com Wiki Answers Wiki How * For reviews of services, etc... and other research you can also use ...yelp.com, Google local, and citysearch.com StumbleUpon.com- is part Social networking site & part web content classification engine—this is a definite must for research

Mass Open Online Courses for continuous learning

MOOC’s --Mass Open Online Courses- represent a global classroom wherein people around the world can learn and get digital certification for courses taught by certified post- secondary instructors. Coursera.org, ed.x.org and Lynda.com have low-budget programs or free training. They have free online lectures and forums. They also offer free course readings. Lynda.com gives you training for upgrading your skills in Adobe Photoshop and HTML. edX have free classes taught by actual Harvard and MIT instructors. You can also study courses in European Union Law with professors in the EU or elsewhere through coursera.org Companies like Yahoo, NBC, and Microsoft recognize the value of these courses in their employee development programs.

New Years' Resolutions

To continue with the theme of developing your own niche, we can try looking at this New Year by doing something different each day and getting out of our comfort zone. Complacency is the death of creativity.... So try a new approach to New Year's resolutions and check out this site... www.365thingsin365days.com. This is one way of breaking out of the norm of being mediocre. Wishing everyone all the best for 2013. Happy New Year !

Finding your niche....

Here is my version for a definition of NICHE.... N- a new growth trend I -Individually customized to a labour market need C-Continuous and steady growth predicted for this trend- both for the present and future H- a Heartfelt and committed interest on your part E- Excites you and others For those with their own business In your niche marketing, make sure your market and business plan incorporates social responsibility, and is ecologically and environmentally conscious—then you can plan for profit with these two important factors in mind.

Find your niche

For every successful career, you need to find your niche. Find your passion. Find what excites you. Do you labour market research to see if it is feasible and move forward. If it is not feasible, find a growing market similar to that field and pursue it. Good luck.

Some new sites to check out

Great place to learn new stuff for those life- long learners out there- Independent Learning Centre-- www.ILC.org

Defend your reputation at this site-- reputation.com

For career resources and educational resources, go to iTunes and Youtube educational libraries

New sites for job and career planning

Here below are some new sites to check out for your career plan and job search:


1-Frasers.com- is an interesting site because it is a directory of Canadian manufacturing companies- a good one for research.


2- You can also take an inside look at companies and jobs through glassdoor.com. This site has tips for interviews and other great material for job search and the like.

3-Branchout.com is a different kind of site for career networking.

Good luck!

'Social Media now drives recruitment strategies for companies

More and more companies are using social media to win the war for recruiting the best talent.


The big four are: LinkedIn, Facebook ( career page), Twitter, and YouTube.

Google + though will eventually eclipse LinkedIn for finding the best talent.

Remember when you post anything on these sites that it can be viewed by current and future employers so always practice due diligence.

Business and Customer Trends Research

Here are two sites you might like to check out:



1. To do some serious customer trendwatching-- you can go to www.trendwatching.com & click on briefing


2.www.trendhunter.com is also a great site to some research as well.

Good luck..

Sites for business research and trends

A new year means new beginnings and that also means new research re: career and business trends.

Here are some great sites for business research and trends. You can also subscribe to ezines from them, when they are avaiable and timely updates.. Good luck

www.forbes.com

www.economist.com

www.canadianbusiness.com

www.businessweek.com

www.canada.com

Joining the Digital Revolution

The 21st century is ushering in the Digital World—gradually shifting from the analog world.. Even Canada is getting onboard building its national Digital Media Action Plan across the spectrum. One example is the Canadian Digital Media Network.

Universities are also now exploring Digital Media opportunities by blending together liberal arts, computer science and business marketing.

Likewise we need to have a Digital Media Plan for our career. Most positions are now found through such social networking sites as LinkedIn and Facebook. As such, it is crucial that we map out a strategy for our Digital Media Action Plan and consciously implement it with all our actions and updates on these sites, along with the other business and career apps that these sites offer.

Furthermore, in our current knowledge economy, we need to focus on sensitivity,intuition and willingness to collaborate. These factors have to be an integral part of our digital media strategy and part of our personal brand.
.Workopolis is also leveraging the power of the net & digital social media to help companies find new talent . In fact, Workopolis has redesigned its site offering a new service called Employer Brand Optimizer .

Workopolis audience numbers is about 15 million potential employees with the help of Facebook and Twitter—once again showing the power of Digital Social Media in action.



Moreover, Facebook has recently developed a career app that is making strides in developing and promoting your professional portfolio. LinkedIn also has updated its professional follow of companies apps.

Those persons who fail to join the Digital Generation – Revolution will fall behind in the competitive workplace and professional world of the 21st century.

Technology, Social Media and Career Management

1-LinkedIn has updated its Professional Company Follow Program-- great company research tool and one for business trend watching.

http://jobsearch.about.com/b/2010/09/29/linkedin-company-follow.htm?nl=1

2- This article below is about the new career app for Facebook

http://blojavascript:void(0)gs.techrepublic.com.com/career/?p=2404&tag=nl.e124

Radio Canada on the Internet-- a great research resource

Radio Canada is a leader in Internet TV --Tou.TV--get full programming, catchup viewing and simultaneously webcasting.

Use this resource to keep up with the news for your career research and planning.

Sites for Research

Here are some sites for research in your career planning:


www.fumsi.com and www.freeprint.com.. Both of these sites provide practical help with info skills, and with company and trends research.

You can also check out Moreover Newsdesk-- it has the most news content from the Web.

These are definitely some sites you should bookmark.

The new ecosystems of business

In the 21st century, the emphasis on fair trade illustrates that companies are value-led and not market driven… They are now integrating social and economic concerns into products.

Most companies just do the basics—assess what consumers want and the levels of demand and then don’t look any further than filling those needs… This approach does not cut it anymore!

The most successful companies of this century now gear the life force of their company based on not demand, but instead are driven by internal values. , principles and believe in supporting social responsibility, such as supporting fair trade.

Like the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream icons, who were the forerunners for peace activism, rain forest conservation, and political messengers , companies are now dealing with –marketing to—such sensitive issues as climate change, politics and global warming. – the new ecosystems of business.
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Invest in Technology and Social Media

The world is flat, especially when looking at it with the perspective of using Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 for building and maintaining online communities and fostering valuable business relationships within any industry.

Recognize this fact and the world will be your oyster.

It is crucial to invest in technology, in particular specialized software that enables us to be more efficient in our competitive and ever-changing industries.

Tips and sites for doing R & D for your personal brand and career plan

To find a professional association for your career planning and research and development: type in Google or another search engine— but make sure the setting is programmed for Canadian content ,
Example: “ professional association + writer”..

Then, you will get a list of professional writers associations, from which you can explore job opportunities; professional development and events, trade shows, etc..

Other sites to peruse for research and development:

You can try goldbook.ca—biz search .. It is like the yellow pages…

Whois.com –enter web address.. whois.com for a “who is” search

Research workplace and business trends sites: thecareerclinic.com, working.com/resources, sbtv.com ,
o

Initial Tips for Developing Your Personal Brand

Some Initial Tips for Developing Your Personal Brand

• Start doing research and development ( R & D) re: possible core strengths for your field/industry, then customize it according to your abilities/ strengths, talents, skills, competencies, and passions. This can be done by through various websites: Canadianbusiness.com , Forbes.com, Economist.com, Fortune.com, profit.com, itworldcanada.com, itbusiness.ca, profitmagazine.ca, BNN.ca,Businessweek.com, careerjournal.com, etc.. If possible, get an inside coach for the companies ( someone you can connect with) that you have specifically targeted from your R & D strategies.


• Find a Mentor in your field and choose one whose strength is your weakness. You can also find a person ( not a friend or family member) to become your accountability partner- someone who you can share your goals with and holds you accountable to them. An accountability partner will kick your butt when you need it, but not kick you when you’re down. :) Depending on the circumstances, this can be your Mentor.

• Write out a one-page career marketing plan and refer to it daily.. Keep it front and center.. If it is not working for you, then change/ adapt and modify it accordingly—in conjunction with your research and development, and your mentor’s and accountability partner’s feedback.
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More Specialized Search Engines

In job searching and career planning, you must often think "outside the box". These search engines and sites below can help you do this.


www.theinvisibleweb.com features info. that is usually hidden from general search engines. This site, however, is quite complex in the choices it offers you so it will take some time on your part to see which feature best suits you.

Another personal favorite is www.copernic.com . There are various levels for this one… a free version and others you have to pay for. It is great for serious research.

Wolfram Alpha – The Internet’s new computational knowlege engine- see article at: http://www.pcworld.ca/news/column/51dde573c0a8000600b4bb658d1a1f4a/pg1.htm
Wolfram Alpha can't answer every question that a search engine can; but on topics it has data for, such as a town's historical temperature reading, it offers deep information.



Also, a good place to look for information about search engines in general
is http://www.searchenginewatch.com . Some parts of the site require a paid
membership, but there's a lot of good info even in the free parts. They
also have a newsletter you can subscribe to for the latest search engine
news.


You can also check out www.freepint.com and www.researchbuzz.com for their great newsletters and their info. rich content.

Topic Specific Search Engines

Topic- specific engines:

A good way to do a highly effective search that is customized to your topic is to try out topic- specific engines , such as the following:

1-Scirus is excellent if you are searching for scientific info.

2-Topix , created by the founders of the Open Directory Project, may be the Internet’s largest news site because it draws upon articles from more than 7,000 media outlets. However, it is mainly American based. For Canadian content, try www.topix.net/world/canada.


My personal favorites

Some of my personal favorites, but they are not heavy weight search engines like the ones previously mentioned, are the following:

www.webferret.com
www.alltheweb.com
www.teoma.com- now www.ask.com
www.inktomi.com- yahoo for small business
www.dogpile.com
www.search.com
www.altavista.com
www.mamma.com