Are You Taking Advantage of Our Free Resources?

Did you know that as an alum, you have free access to multiple resources to enhance your professional network? You can start with the big picture by accessing thousands of contacts through LinkedIn and the Tufts Online Community, or if you have a specific career field or geographic location in mind, tap into Shared Interest Groups and Regional Chapters through Alumni Relations. Go beyond your personal Tufts network and explore the benefits of professional organizations and industry associations. 

Resources Include:

• LinkedIn: this site includes more than 57,000 alumni, students, faculty, staff, and affiliates.
• Tufts Career Networking Group on LinkedIn: a group of 7,000+ members open to providing career advice.
• Tufts Online Community: alumni directory that provides access of all 100,000+  alumni around the world
• CareerBeam (accessible through the Tufts Online Community): a massive directory of people, companies, job listings, and professional organizations, such as the Mass Biotechnology Council and Global Association of Risk Professionals.
• Shared Interest Groups: professional groups of alumni, including the Tufts Lawyers Association, Tufts Environmental Alumni, and Tufts Social Impact Network. Other groups include cultural and identity groups like the Tufts Muslim Alumni Associations and Black Alumni Association. 
• Regional Chapters: covering 30 states and 30 countries, including multiple chapters in California and Pennsylvania, and the Netherlands, Japan, and Turkey. 

Make the most of your Tufts network through our upcoming career webinars, which are led by industry experts. On February 15, Don Gabor, networking expert and best-selling author of How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends, will show you how to increase you odds or connecting with colleagues, clients, and prospects at company events, industry conferences, and other business meetings. Topics include establishing networking goals and preparing for events, breaking the ice, turning small talk into conversations, and more.

Networking to Build Business Contacts
February 15, 2017, 8 pm EST

The Power of the Infographic Resume

Getting noticed as a job candidate isn’t always easy. That’s where an infographic resume can help you out, especially if you're a creative professional. Join Hannah Morgan, author of The Infographic Resume, for a webinar that will teach you how to showcase your talents visually, how to convey your personal brand graphically, and will provide free and low-cost resources to help you get started.

The Power of the Infographic Resume 

February 1, 2017, 8 pm EST

You might be wondering how did we get to a place where rainbow-colored graphics and charts have replaced one-page resumes often displayed by black type on a white background? We're in an age of data visualization and design thinking where the best way to tell a story is through images.

Simultaneously, the career development field has embraced storytelling as a means for self promotion, whether it's the narrative you convey in your elevator pitch, cover letter, or LinkedIn profile. Our career stories not only include qualitative data, but are also effectively conveyed through statistics and quantitative data, which is hard to capture in a 1-2 page resume. According to the Interactive Design Foundation, data visualization is a powerful means to discover and understand stories and present them to others.

A search on infographic resumes will bring up the good, the bad, and the ugly, so it's hard to know if and when to use an infographic and how to choose a design and format. Fast Company's "How To Create An Infographic Resume That Won't Repel Hiring Managers" suggests that an infographic resume isn't for everyone, and in face, even candidates who decide to use one should view it as complement to their conventional resume. Many companies use an applicant tracking system (ATS) that scans a resume for keywords; these systems can't effectively scan an infographic.

Creative professionals are often advised to demonstrate skills through an infographic resume; however, if graphic design isn't a strength, it's wise to stick with a visually appealing resume that complements a portfolio of their work. Websites like Behance and Coroflot make it easy to display work alongside other members of your creative community. If you are interested in checking out samples, see the dzrine blog for best practice and take note of candidates' career fields - that's the key to figuring out whether you should be using an infographic resume. 

Fearless Salary Negotiation

Whether you're looking for a new job, or seeking to move up at your current place of employment, understanding salary negotiation tactics is key to earning the salary you deserve. 

Join Josh Dooly, consultant and salary negotiation coach, for a webinar on negotiation strategies and learn:

• How to prepare for your job interviews
• How to answer interview questions effectively
• How to set your goal and make your case for a promotion
• How to set your goal and make your case for a raise

Fearless Salary Negotiation

December 14, 2016, 8 pm EST  

According to a Salary.com survey, 37 percent of people always negotiate salary, 44 percent say they negotiate occasionally, and 18 percent never negotiate. We obviously have some work to do!

"Know Your Value"

It's the first of many tips from The Muse's "How to Negotiate Salary: 37 Tips You Need to Know." In other words, have a number or range in mind when you enter into negotiations. While coming up with a number seems like a complicated task, there are many resources available to assist you. The number boils down to a few key factors: the position you're seeking, the experience you bring, the industry, and the geographic location.

Glassdoor lists salary data directly from the mouths of those who have received offers. Other sites that provide salary data and offer calculations include O*Net and Payscale. 

Professional organizations, staffing agencies, and industry/trade websites offer survey results that allow you to hone in on experience level and geographic location. For example, Adecco's guide to salaries in the STEM fields and this infographic in AdWeek about social media salaries offer industry-specific data. Market value is an important concept in smart salary negotiation. While you may be employed, you may not be making what the current market is offering; thus, it's important to use a variety of methods in your salary research. 

Finally, reaching out to people who work in the field is probably your best source of information, and it's not crazy to ask someone about a salary range for a certain role, as long as you're not asking that person about her particular salary. Use the Tufts Career Networking Group to identify alumni who are offering to provide career advice. 

Retirement with a Purpose

Retirement with a Purpose

Are you daunted by the thought of retirement? Create a plan to make the next years your best years. With a little coaching and direction from Nancy Bearg, co-founder and partner at consulting firm Reboot Partners LLC, you’ll soon be excited about all the possibilities that retirement holds.  Join Nancy to learn the best ways to transition into a successful and rewarding retirement, how to decide where your time is best placed, and how to create fulfilling days, weeks, and months, during your golden years.

Make Your Retirement Your Boom Years

November 23, 2016

8 pm EST  

For more ideas on making your retirement more purposeful, check out The Wall Street Journal’s "Help for Deciding What to Do in Retirement." The AARP's Life Reimagined site also offers online workshops to help you make the most of your days.  

If you can't imagine not working, read Marci Alboher's book, The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living a Difference in the Second Half of Life. The working world has changed and people are now involved in multiple careers over their lifespans, and pursuing a second or third act is called an encore career. Watch Marci discuss encore careers.

Worried you can't afford to retire? Next Avenue offers a different approach: college courses. Pace University’s Encore Transition Program includes an overview of the nonprofit sector with job opportunities, networking with nonprofit professionals, career coaching, resume advice, and social media guidance.

Speaking of going back to school, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Tufts is a community of "third agers" with a broad range of interests, including literature, art, theater, music, current events, and history. Members can participate as study group leaders in courses of their own design.

The Boston College Center on Retirement Research offers tools and resources, such as Target Your Retirement, to assist in effective retirement planning. Its Squared Away Blog includes personal stories illustrate financial behaviors.

The Platinum Rule: How to Build Rapport with Anyone

What if you could read other people quickly, determine their behavioral style, and connect authentically? According to Dr. Tony Alessandra, you can learn how to build rapport with just about everyone, and then use your new skills to create a network of people who support you and your goals. Dr. Alessandra has been studying these and related topics for many years and has written best-selling business books, including The Platinum Rule, Collaborative Selling, and Charisma. Join us for a webinar on October 15 and put his pragmatic relationship-building strategies to work for you.

The Platinum Rule: How to Build Rapport with Virtually Anyone

October 15, 2016, 8 pm EST   

After the live webinar, Alessandra’s talk will be archived in the webinars library.

For more on reading, or “speedreading” others, check out The Art of SpeedReading People: How to Size People Up and Speak Their Language by best-selling authors Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger, which promotes a slightly different personality style-based approach.

Want a very different take on building connections with others? Check out Brene Brown’s TED talk, the Power of Vulnerability. No, you probably won’t want to start a business meeting by sharing your deepest fears, but Brown’s books and talks are a great reminder that true connection can only happen when we share our true selves.

Sometimes, the thought of getting out there to meet new people just feels overwhelming–or perhaps you aren’t sure who to talk to, or why. We all have times when we feel stuck in a rut, and unsure how to move into new ground.  

This article from The Muse offers tips you can put into practice right away. The key is action and then reflection. But sometimes, you may not be sure which course to take, or what sort of person you’d like to speak to. If that is your situation, start with something you can do, or do more of–that you enjoy, even if it seems like it would never relate to a work goal. (Playing kickball? Learning basic glassblowing? Picking up a childhood hobby?)  Doing something you really enjoy will increase your energy and can even give your in-a-rut-brain new ideas. 

    

Navigating Office Politics with Integrity

The workplace is a highly political environment where key decisions about who gets ahead, who gets the plum assignments, and who gets access are not decided solely on merit. Join author and coach Bonnie Marcus for our October 12 webinar, The Politics of Promotion, to learn how best to navigate the complexities of the workplace.  You’ll get practical tips for positioning yourself to play the game without losing your integrity. 

The Politics of Promotion Webinar 

October 12, 8 pm EST 

Want more of Bonnie’s expertise? Check out her website, which is chock-full of free articles and resources to help you build your political savvy. Even if you already have a lot of political know-how,  Bonnie’s survey will give you an honest and quick assessment.

For another perspective on navigating office politics, see this article on MindTools, a terrific website full of helpful resources. And for irreverent, quick tips that you can put into action today, Joe Hodas’ Ad Age article has some of my favorites, including “always be the ray of light in your boss/coworker’s day.”

Thinking of Changing Careers? Follow These 10 Steps to Get Started

1.  Take time to assess your career assets. Look carefully at all areas of your experience (not just paid work) to clarify your skills, interest areas, values, needs, and goals. 

2.  Research new career ideas thoroughly. First read the relevant sources and then talk to people in the new career field.  Don’t rush into action on a new idea AND don’t reject that career dream as impossible or impractical too quickly.

3.  Expect change to take time. Career transitions generally take much more time than you would expect. In general, the further away your new career is from your old in job function and industry, the longer the change will take.

4.  Move toward a goal that fits you. Don’t change careers just to get away from a difficult job situation.

5.  Understand how your transferable skills fit and add value in the new career field. Be certain that you can explain to prospective employers how the skills you have acquired in your current work can make you effective in your new field.

6.  Don’t make assumptions about qualifications needed to jumpstart your new career. Research the field and the training options thoroughly before committing your time and money. 

7.  Look for opportunities to gain experience and exposure in your new career field. Consider all the possibilities for building skills and experience through volunteering, internships, and professional associations.

8.  Go back to the basics. Make sure your networking, resume and cover letter writing, interviewing, and negotiating skills are up-to-date. Networking will be especially key in helping you to identify industry trends, test your “value proposition” in the new field, and get job leads. Use LinkedIn and other social media resources to connect with alumni in a wide variety of fields. Join the Tufts Career Networking Group on LinkedIn. 

9. Be flexible. There may be more than one way to satisfy many of your career criteria, and you’ll need to be open to unexpected possibilities.

10.  Seek out strategic and emotional support. Career change can be a challenging process, and will certainly take you out of your comfort zone. Identify people who can support you in your career change process by helping you find new solutions to problems you encounter in your search, offering encouragement, or just helping you laugh on a tough day. Try to find mentors who can offer practical help in entering a new field. 

Looking for some inspiration to help you fuel that big career change? Check out Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talk on creativity.  She says it’s not about being a genius, but about the genius we all have within.   

 Tufts Alumni Career Services offers lots of resources for career changers. Check out our website for more info!