30 SECONDS TO BETTER INFORMATION RETENTION 
The 30 Second Review: Immediately after any lecture, conference, meeting, or other significant experience, take 30 seconds to think through (summarize; write down if you can) the most important points. That’s it. It sounds so simple—almost a useless exercise—but after several months of trying it out, Scott shares her experience and the multiple benefits:

“You learn to listen better, and ask better questions: Once you get into the habit of the 30 second review, it starts to change the way you pay attention, whether listening to a talk or participating in a discussion. It’s like learning to detect a simple melody amidst a cacophony of sound. And as you listen with more focus, and ask better questions which prompt actionable answers, so your 30 second review becomes more useful.”

Additionally, she says, it helps you interpret information and decide what really matters, capture nuance in conversations, and better help others. 


First published on MyCareerCatapult blog. Thanks to The Daily Muse and Robyn Scott.  Read her on Medium.com

3 TIPS FOR SELLING YOURSELF

1. Know exactly where you want to go. You need to know exactly what you want to achieve or no one can help you get there. Your elevator pitch should answer three questions: Who are you? What do you do? Where do you want to go, or what are you looking for?

2. Eliminate Jargon.A good strategy is to imagine explaining what you do to your parents and using a similar formula in your elevator pitch. Making sure your pitch is in layman’s terms is especially critical for those in accounting, finance, and technology.

Dumbing down complex ideas is a “real art,” says McDonald. You need to be able to explain what you do and who you are in a way that appeals to most people. This means avoiding acronyms or terminology that wouldn’t be understood by someone outside of your industry.

3. Pitch it to your friends and colleagues.Keep practicing and tweaking your pitch until it’s natural for you to say aloud and convincing to the listener. After you’ve got your story down, practice your elevator pitch with friends and colleagues. Ask them to give you feedback. Ask them what you should do to make it better.

“Most people can’t present what they’ve done effectively,” Paul McDonald, a senior executive director at staffing firm Robert Half, tells Business Insider. “They’re not used to giving sound bites of what they do.”

First published on MyCareerCatapult blog. Thank you to Buisness Insider for the article below which inspired our top 3 tips. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-tell-your-story-in-30-seconds-2013-11#ixzz2kf4xxdqV

A passion for the business- - yes, you can love your job.

A zeal for the industry. An excitement, an enthusiasm, a zest for the art, and the craft, and the science, of what makes a company in the field succeed. In an information economy, the measures of success are increasingly intangible.  Finding people who can make decisions well, and then execute on those decisions, is difficult for bosses.They have to figure out who is going to understand the customer better, the manufacturing process better, the marketing better, the interface better, and so on.

What’s more, bosses need to determine who’s going to stick with it — there are a lot more forks in the road, and bumps along the way, in this intangible world. Perseverance through the inevitable fumbles and fiascos is needed because without perseverance there are no victories.

Because somebody who is passionate is inherently motivated, and internally driven to succeed, they try harder to find answers. They think up clever stuff on their own. They enjoy the business, and the customers, and the industry so much that they’re always discovering new things or perceiving additional ways that the business could succeed.In short, passionate people are better employees because they care more than dispassionate people. 

First published on MyCareerCatapult blog. Excerpted insight from article by MARC CENEDELLA, THELADDERS

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