As if going on the first round of professional interviews in your lifetime weren’t stressful enough, the news media is constantly preaching that they sky is falling. So how do recent (and soon-to-be recent) graduates compete for jobs in this tough environment? Here are some tips to help you stand out in a positive way:

Be Presentable:

It may have been fun to get your tongue pierced, your favorite band’s logo tattooed on your arms and dress for class like you just rolled out of bed (okay, so you did roll right out of bed right before class). But now it’s time to buckle down and get the world to take you seriously.  Read more... (552 words, 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

read full story of "Interview Tips for College Students in a Tough Economy"

So you can’t watch a newscast for more than five minutes these days without hearing some bad news about the economy. Yes, the mainstream media has finally gotten what it’s been craving for during the last two years – a story that got everyone’s attention. So amidst the widespread panic and the worst depression in the history of the world (yes, I’m exaggerating), what is one to do? You can start by improving your public speaking skills.  Read more... (600 words, 1 image, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

read full story of "How Public Speaking Skills Can Help You during Bad Economic Times"

I used to include a book review each month in my e-zine, but I stopped doing it. The main reason for this was that I found myself rushing to read a lot of books because they had a catchy title or there was a lot of buzz surrounding them. But unfortunately, their advice wasn’t helpful to me – and in some cases, the advice was just plain useless. After two months of reading several books before finding one worth reviewing, I decided to drop the feature. But this wasn’t a complete waste of my time, I actually learned quite a bit.  Read more... (658 words, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)

read full story of "If Only Life Were as Easy as Personal Finance Books Make it Sound"

I normally try to keep my posts in the form of articles related to personal development and communication, but today I came across a couple scams that I wanted to share with my readers. These days people are desperate will stop at nothing to take your hard earned money away from you so I want you to ensure that you don’t fall for their deceit.

Craigslist Scam:  Read more... (878 words, 1 image, estimated 3:31 mins reading time)

read full story of "A Day of Scams: Facebook and Craigslist"

Have you ever misspoken, only to have someone correct you right away? Are you thankful that the person cared enough to point out your error to everyone within earshot? Some people just can’t resist pointing out other people’s errors, regardless of who’s present and how minuscule the error is.

I once knew someone that would jump at the chance to correct everyone at every chance he could. From grammatical errors to pronunciation mistakes to misspellings in email messages, this guy couldn’t resist adding his two cents and showing everyone how smart he was and how dumb everyone else was. How did people like this person? They hated him.  Read more... (808 words, 1 image, estimated 3:14 mins reading time)

read full story of "Correcting Others Makes YOU Look Bad"

So you’re the richest man in the world (or number 2 depending on the stock market) and you’re giving a talk on malaria at the TED conference. How do you get the audience’s attention and keep it? Unleash a swarm of mosquitoes on the crowd and say “there’s no reason only poor people should be infected.” Has Bill gone crazy since his retirement from Microsoft?

Of course the mosquitoes weren’t carrying malaria, but I’m sure quite a few audience members were a bit antsy as the swarm of flying bugs was unleashed. Was this a good idea? In my honest opinion, yes and no.  Read more... (370 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

read full story of "Bill Gates Takes Using Props to the Next Level by Unleashing Swarm of Deadly Bugs on Crowd"

I’ve recently started participating in a few social networks, one of which is geared towards professional speakers and other people that make part of their living through speaking. One of the things that jumped out at me as I started receiving notifications and messages from other folks on this network is that many of them had nicknames or gimmicks. Now I’m not talking about someone named William going by “Bill” but instead people having names like “Mr. Make the World a Better Place Through Small Talk” or “The Make Things Happen Right Now Guru.” For a moment I thought I was checking out the roster for the WWE.  Read more... (726 words, estimated 2:54 mins reading time)

read full story of "Do You Need a Crazy Gimmick to Make it as a Speaker?"