Interview with Jason Alba of JibberJobber

Interview with Jason Alba of JibberJobber 4 Jason Alba and his team launched JibberJobber on May 15th, 2006. Over the past year, the site has grown in leaps and bounds in becoming a critical tool for many people around the globe. As part of the anniversary festivities, Jason agreed to talk with us. This is the JobMob interview. Tell us about JibberJobber. Jason Alba: JibberJobber is a website with tools to help you manage your career. The core benefits are based on “customer relationship management”, where you can manage the relationships that are important for your career. This includes tracking network contacts and target companies but delves into understanding the strength of the relationship. Aside from this there are many features that allow you to do what career experts tell you to do. For example, you can keep track of where you send your resume, manage responses to interview questions, keep track of job-related expenses and much more. Mashups with GoogleMaps, Skype, LinkedIn, Anagram and other tools make it very feature rich. Where did you get the name from? Jason Alba: I was brainstorming names a couple of months before it went live and a good buddy of mine called with the suggestion. He's more creative than I am â€" I had a bunch of boring names (like Career Wolf, dumb stuff like that). Once he said it I was like “Yes!” I loved it for various reasons, and most people that I talk to love it (of course there are a few that think it's too playful or fun). I understand that JibberJobber grew from trying to solve your own job search information overload. At which point did you decide to turn it into a company? Jason Alba: In my job search I vowed to not be so out of control again, and I had decided to find a business that could become passive once I got my job. So I was already in the mode of what could be a business when I conceptualized JibberJobber. I remember clearly, though, when it hit me. I had spent an hour looking for contractors, putting together a business model for two different businesses, and I thought “I need to log a phone call in my job search spreadsheet. So I opened my laptop, opened the spreadsheet and it hit me â€" this would be an awesome business. And as far as I could see, no one was doing it.” What have been some of the highs and lows of starting your own company? Jason Alba: I hate administrative stuff, so the first thing that comes to mind is the day I had to set up the company (and all of that stuff). After eight hours of filling out forms and making decisions (entity type, bank account info, vendors, etc.) I thought “no wonder people don't start businesses!”eval In the early days there were some discouraging things, like begging bloggers to please blog about my cool, new tool (and getting a lot of rejections). But there was so much momentum and so many small wins that it was always more exciting than discouraging. I can't list all of the highs. Once I was talking with one of my investors and I said “nothing big happened today. Just these few things.” He replied with a comment that each of the things, by themselves, was significant. I realized that I had become numb to the amazing things that were happening.eval Without listing the highs, though, I will say one thing. A win for my own business is way more significant than a win for the companies I used to work for. It's amazing when you build something for yourself, and your future, and you know that every single win will add up for you. I was motivated in the past when I worked for someone else but I always wondered if my efforts would pay off. Turned out that I got laid off, and none of my efforts were rewarded in the long term. That's different now. Would you recommend that all job seekers consider self-employment? Jason Alba: I think that all job seekers need to think of themselves as free-agents. There are lots of books, articles and blogs on this subject â€" from Tom Peters talking about the brand called you to Pamela Slim's Escape from Cubicle Nation blog. I think that all professionals, not just job seekers, need to seriously consider two things: (a) even when you find a job you'll be in a job search in 3-5 years (so say the statistics), and (b) you need to create other streams of income so you aren't so dependent on one employer (especially considering a normal job search can take months â€" months without a main income is really hard). Also, I found it interesting when I was in interviews to find out how many hiring managers had their own side business. I asked if it would be a problem if I had this website (JibberJobber) and they went on to explain how they had their own side-gig. Geesh, I had missed that memo. But it makes a lot of sense. Let's talk about the JibberJobber website and platform. What does JibberJobber excel at? Jason Alba: Tough question â€" I hope that I'm right in saying that JibberJobber excels at working right. I want to get development out faster than we are but my dev team is really good at keeping it real. This means that we aren't pushing things out too fast, and creating bugs and problems. Sure there is lots of work to do but it's very rare that a user finds a bug or problem. Additionally, I hope that JibberJobber is excellent at empowering individuals. When I was laid off and looking I had virtually no tools available to me. I was at a low and not having any tools didn't help my self-esteem. I hope that JibberJobber is empowering people and providing value that really helps them feel like professionals again. Which part of JibberJobber do users like the most and why? Jason Alba: I'm not sure â€" I've received feedback on various parts of the system. I think the coolest thing is the interaction with other systems like GoogleMaps, Skype, LinkedIn, Anagram, etc. Along with that I think that users like the interconnections with their data. Where an Excel spreadsheet can track data, JibberJobber connects a lot of data points. So you put a contact in, who can be connected to a target company where you have applied â€" all three of these things are connected in JibberJobber â€" with almost no effort from the user. Has anything surprised you regarding how JibberJobber is being used? Jason Alba: I've been surprised that small businesses are using JibberJobber as their CRM tool. I saw the applicability right away but haven't marketed it as a CRM tool. People have just picked up on this. What do you think is the most under-appreciated feature in JibberJobber? Jason Alba: Hard question â€" one of my favorite things (with the cool factor) is the interface with GoogleMaps â€" it's really cool to see your contacts or target companies on a map. But I find myself using the one-click interface with Skype every single day. If I had to pick one under-appreciated feature it would probably be the ability to categorize and tag things. For example, when entering a network contact you would categorize and tag the person â€" this is like taking the best from Outlook (categories) and Gmail (tags/labels). It's really powerful, and once you do that then you can pull your data in various ways. Simple yet very powerful. Note, people are categorizing and tagging, but I know that they aren't exploiting the features completely. You're a prolific blogger and quite successful at it, having built a strong online presence and personal brand in under a year. What are some of the keys to this success? Jason Alba: Quality content â€" don't skimp, don't just write about current events just to get more search results, and don't write just to be digg-worthy. Write to your audience; they'll appreciate it, and the audience will grow. Consistency â€" I write once a day, Monday through Friday. I know that people check in daily and I want to give them fresh stuff. I hated checking in on blogs that updated once every other week â€" that was frustrating, and I stopped checking in on them. I'd recommend a minimum frequency to be Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Lots of “link love” â€" I frequently share great resources with my readers â€" I put link to other blogs on most of my posts, have a monthly award, etc. It's not all about me â€" I want to provide value to my readers and I need to bring them great resources. You have often blogged about the importance and power of networking, but is it possible to over-network? Jason Alba: Not if you are just working on relationships, and focusing on giving. When you have deep relationships you bring value to people â€" whether they are in your network or not. I guess you can over-network if you do it the wrong way, or if it gets in the way of your job, or you are too emotionally tied to the results Steven Covey has a great section in his 7 Habits book on “your center” that applies to this idea). Do you have any plans to market JibberJobber on an international scale, perhaps with localized versions? Jason Alba: I have quite a few international users, and we have tried to do everything we can to make it more international. With one exception, we should be able to accept all characters (haven't tested with Mandarin yet). We've talked about allowing users to choose their own language and change the view, but we aren't ready for that yet. I would welcome any ideas and help to move this initiative forward. Mazel tov on JibberJobber hitting the big 1. What were the most memorable moments of the first year? Jason Alba: Thank you. It was awesome when we had over 300 blogs linking back to us. It was awesome when we hit 2,000 signups. It was awesome when I had my first podcast interview, which I learned later was by the industry leader (in HR/employment). It was incredible when we were in an article on Yahoo! Finance, which was on the front page of Yahoo! for about three hours â€" we had more than one signup each minute! Ah, there have been many little (and big) wins â€" these are some of the ones I can share here. Looking ahead, what are you hoping to accomplish by JibberJobber's second birthday? Jason Alba: Over the next year we'll see significant growth in all of our key metrics. I hope that our technology is more solid and polished (this will be a continually process), and that we have some very important strategic relationships in place. I hope that the idea of a personal relationship manager is more widely accepted, and that people manage their career more than they do today. These are the things that we are working on today and I think that methodical, disciplined growth is the key â€" for us and our users. Wrap up I'd like to thank Jason Alba for his insight on JibberJobber and job-seeking success. As I told him, he radiates energy and I hope that you find it contagious for your own job search or startup adventure. June 7th, 2007: I've submitted this article in the Success Stories: Doing What They Love blog carnival. As someone who went from being unemployed with 3 kids to a successful industry front-runner in only a year's time, Jason Alba is definitely a success story. Seeking Success?

When it Comes to Talent the Right Team is Everything Marla Gottschalk

When it Comes to Talent the Right Team is Everything Marla Gottschalk When George Harrison auditioned as a guitarist for the Liverpool band The Quarrymen in 1958, he was only 14 years old. Joining the band some months later, his persona as the younger member of the band was quickly established. Remarkably, at this early stage of his career (with the soon-to-be Beatles) Harrison had not yet embarked upon his journey as a songwriter. As this skill evolved, his role within the dynamic of the Beatles would prove to be a long-standing challenge. Harrisons tremendous gift for melody (penning such enduring classics as My Guitar Gently Weeps, Something and Beware of Darkness) was somewhat impeded by the team environment in which he found himself. On some level â€" even with the enormous success of The Beatles â€" Harrison found himself on the wrong team. The creative struggles that Harrison faced within a team environment are not uncommon. Harrison clearly benefited from his exposure to the talented group, before writing his first song around 1963. (Harrison never learned to read or write music â€" and didnt regret that. He employed a copyist, as he termed it, to transcribe his melodies.) However, he struggled to gain a place for his music on Beatles albums, operating in the shadow of the prolific Lennon-McCartney machine. Reflecting upon Harrisons contributions to Abbey Road, the last Beatles album, Author Peter Lavezzoli wrote: Harrison would finally achieve equal songwriting status … with his two classic contributions to the final Beatles LP. Harrison forged relationships with other artists, including Bob Dylan, which offered him varied experiences that supported his creative growth. By the time The Beatles formally split in 1970, Harrison had already worked on other projects. In a 1971 interview, he revealed that he had a backlog of original songs, never recorded. (All Things Must Pass, originally a triple album, was also released in 1970.) Commenting on the break-up of the band, Harrison described the experience as a relief â€" a telling comment. (See the entire interview here.) Talent alone will not ensure that an individual will excel to their fullest ability within a specific team. In the case of Harrison, he ultimately found alternative paths to pursue â€" but his actions were likely not without an emotional cost. Within our own organizations, leaders must become cognizant of factors which impact the success of individual players within a team. What we might learn: Consider the individual carefully. Talented individuals will run the gamut in terms of both personalities and communication styles. For example, an introverted yet highly gifted individual, may require guidance or support to find an equal voice on a team. Monitor team dynamics. Collecting talent is one thing â€" nurturing how the contributors work together as a team, is another. Pay close attention to the dynamics within the group that could derail motivation and eventual success. Offer side paths. Pay attention to developing skill sets of your team members over time. People evolve â€" and so should their work lives. As was the case with Harrison, his talent emerged over time, but was not fully recognized by the larger group. Be on point to discover these gifts, and offer them vehicles to explore them. Monitor the contract. Although a team relationship may be prove successful â€" talented individuals still opt to leave, both physically and emotionally. (Harrison was barely present for the making of Sargent Peppers) Have conversations to establish the health of the psychological contract. Happy work life relationships, between employees and employers, are a two-way street. Dr. Marla Gottschalk is an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist, consultant and speaker. The Office Blend, has been recognized by Forbes as one of their “Top 100 Websites for Your Career” in both 2012 and 2013.

And the Interview Was Going So Well Until....

And the Interview Was Going So Well Until.... I’ve interviewed people almost every day for almost ten years and I have to say I love it. I love meeting new people and I feel a huge responsibility to make sure I ‘bring it’ to the interview and by ‘it’ I mean the very best version of myself. After all, the job seeker has probably got up an hour earlier that day, been practicing answers in the shower and had that extra cup of coffee, so of course I need to make an effort too. YES!! I’ve found the perfect person I love meeting that amazing person, the one who has all the right answers (and a few wrong ones, but it doesn’t matter). The one who, after only 2 minutes of talking to them, makes you felt like you have known them forever. They are a total inspiration and express their positivity. They give you great examples of what an exceptional team player they are and how they believe that working together for the greater good of the company is what drives them. In summary they are just perfect and the job is definitely theirs actually you secretly want to be their friend! The ‘Post Interview Walk’ The interview is finished off nicely and you walk past the offices and reach the door to say your goodbyes and you ask them (with no agenda other than to just make conversation) ‘So what have you got planned for the rest of the day?’ and they reply ‘Omph, I have a really boring team strategy meeting’ as they roll their eyes and pull a face. Huh?? Nooo!! What just happened?? I am concfusedno, actually I am devastated!! Surely this can’t be the person that was just telling me how positive they were and what a great team player they were. Was it all a lie? Are they a fake? They are not the magic ingredient I had been looking for and we are probably not going to be colleagues (or friends for that matter). I was left deflated and rightly or wrongly, I offered the job to someone else. A client of mine once told me that they interviewed a great guy, who had made a dazzling impression until the receptionist saw him spit out his gum on their steps as soon as he walked out of their building.it was game over. Or the finance company in London who told me they had a camera in their lift which showed a lady (who had just finished her interview) punching the air victoriously and they came to the conclusion that they didn’t like her cocky attitude or arrogance. Not sure I agree with that decision, but it does show that even the smallest things can make up an employer’s mind. The one mile rule I always talk to people about the one mile rule. The interview starts one mile before you get to the location and ends one mile after you left. We all say silly things that we regret, but don’t let the ‘post interview walk’ become one of those times.especially not with a sentimental soft touch like me as the employer (my heart may not recover). More interviewing tips at  Do You Know How To Sell Yourself in a Job Interview? Image: Shutterstock

Personal Branding is a Real Life Role Playing Game - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding is a Real Life Role Playing Game - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Personal branding is WoW and Final Fantasy; you just dont know it yet. What is your goal when youre playing a role playing game?   Your goal is to level up your character, unlock every secret, find every hidden weapon, beat every boss, and ultimately, beat the game with a 100% completion rating.   Your goal requires you to put in hours upon hours of invested time and effort into a make believe character in a fantasy land.   Lets say you do beat the game on hard or reach level 70, what then?   Do you start another game only to waste another 200 hours leveling up a fantasy character?   Where does this fit in with your life goals and ambitions? Life parallels a video game in many ways. Much like a role playing, we are able to level ourselves up in real life by expanding our network, undertaking an internship, writing a new blog post, learning a new skill, or listening to an audio book. Each of these activities can provide you with a skill or asset that will help you accomplish your life and career goals. Life is a game, and this is how you can become a strong player: 1. Slay those monsters and level up Role Playing Game: Constantly slay demons so that you can level up your character and gain new abilities Real Life: You need to constantly read books, blogs, and listen to podcasts so that you always learn something new.   Each new skill that you learn is the equivalent to learning a new ability in a video game. For example, when I first founded Future Delivery, I didnt know a bit of php, html, css, or SEO.   I spent the time and energy to train myself in these arts and now have a skill set that allows me to build any basic site that I want.   I no longer have to depend on our in-house developer to build social media rank sites or dropshipping companies because I can do it on my own. 2. Everyone has the potential to help you on your journey Role Playing Game: Talk to every single random character in the game because you never know when theyre holding a secret. Real Life: You need to constantly network with everyone.   Its not enough to just network with the big players like Tim Ferris or Robert Scoble; you should be networking at local events in your community with people who havent created a super star presence yet.   Yes, its important to add amazing people like Peter Shankman to your network, but these people are like the bosses in video games that can take a while to conquer.   Every single person you meet on your journey in life has the potential to provide you with an asset that can help you with your journey. Dont discriminate introduce yourself to everyone. 3. The best teams have complimentary skills Role Playing Game: Construct a team of characters who compliment each others skill. You need a magician, warrior, thief, sorcerer, and archer to be able to take on any challenge. Real Life: Construct a team of close (business) friends whose skills compliment each other. Im an entrepreneur, and my ideal team is a developer, designer, marketer, and the leader.   We currently have all but the designer on the Future Delivery team, so it is my goal to find someone out there who is able to compliment our skills by adding a design talent.   Look at your team or close group of (business) friends.   Are you guys all of the same breed?   If so, its time for you to expand your network and actively pursue adding people on your personal team whose skills compliment your own. 4. Utilize every weapon available to you Role Playing Game: The better, more powerful your weapon, the easier it will be to slay demons and beat the bosses Real Life: You need to use every single weapon that is available to you.   Start a blog, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and optimize them to further your life goals. Its not enough to just have a blog lying there with your name on it; you must cultivate and level it up by consistently writing good blog posts and participating in the blogging community.   Its not enough that you have a Twitter profile with your face on it; you must tweet cool sites, follow influential people, and participate in the conversation to build your Twitter presence.   Its important to use your weapons;   its even more important to use them effectively. 5. Its about the journey, not the end Why do we play video games?   Is it to quickly beat the game in the fastest time possible to watch the ending, or is it the experience and the story that engages us?   We play role playing games because we get sucked into the storyline, characters, and begin to actuality care for the protagonist.   We want to see a happy ending. Why do we live life?   Is it to reach the end in one piece?   Of course not.   Life is the journey that we take, the experiences that we have, the people we meet along the way, and the positive things that were able to contribute to this world.   You see, unlike a video game, life cannot be placed on pause and there are no save points that allow you to reset if you have made a mistake. Every person on this planet is playing the same game as you the game of life. We are the ones who realize this and are thus able to take advantage by actively leveling up so that we can become the strongest players possible.   In a video game, what happens to the strongest players?   People idolize them, they unlock all the secrets, and their names are forever immortalized on the high score rank.   Similarly, if you have a strong personal brand, people will idolize you, youll be able to experience things others cannot, and your name will always be remembered. Author: Jun is the Founder and CMO of Future Delivery where he is building Viralogy, the Social Media rank.   His personal blog, Become a Young Successful Entrepreneur, gives a real, unfiltered view of the Startup Life so that current and aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from his successes and mistakes.

How to Set and Achieve Life Goals the Right Way CareerMetis.com

How to Set and Achieve Life Goals the Right Way Setting life goals can be daunting for some; thus, some opt to follow the prevailing current and drift through life.The problem is, one day you will look back and regret that you have not done anything about what you really wanted to do with your life and that you have missed a big chance to achieve something amazing.evalAre you one of those who let circumstances push and pull you to directions life chooses you to be in and settle to whatever life has to offer? Do you want to know what you can do now to start having a direction in life?Procrastination is one of the main reasons why someone holds back from setting and achieving their life goals. Most people don’t want to admit that they are procrastinating, and just making up excuses for not taking a step towards their goal and putting it on hold.People tend to procrastinate because of the following reasons:a) Fear of failureevalFear of failure promotes procrastination. When a person feels that they are not capable of doing a task, they tend to delay the completion, or even worse, not bothering to start doing that task at all.Having low self-esteem also contributes to increasing someone’s fear of failure because they tend to self-doubt their abilities, thus, promoting them to procrastinate. Also, having experienced failure in the past can make someone hold back their goals as they fear that they will fail again.b) Letting fate dictate your lifeYou use fate as an excuse for not taking responsibility when your life gets out of control. The truth is you can control destiny by taking full responsibility for your life. Instead of letting fate take control, you should lead your life by committing yourself to continuously learn and be bold enough to take chances and risks. Nothing will happen to your life if you have an “it happens when it happens” attitude.c) Unable to make firm decisionsHaving a hard time when making a decision is usually caused byanalysis paralysisorchoice paralysis. Analysis paralysis or ch oice paralysis occurs when you have different options in front of you. It becomes harder to decide which one you will choose, thus, taking much of your time and energy. Analysis paralysis or choice paralysis will sometimes lead to postponing or delaying you from making a decision, which is a form of procrastination.evalYou can avoid procrastinating by using a simple hack to crush procrastination each and every time, and by setting your life goals. By doing this, you will motivate yourself and create a clear picture of what you want to achieve for your future.What is a Life Goal?Life goals are the essential things you want to achieve in your life. Life goal gives you a sense of purpose, or your true calling, and excitement. It is also the foundation of everything that you do as you want your actions and decisions to help you be a step closer to your goal.Why Set Life Goals?Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor, actually did researchwith the help of 267 participants, divided into five groups. The result shows that 76% of participants in the 5th group did achieve their goals, because they have written their goals, took action and commitments, and progress reports to a friend.Setting a life goal is important because it gives you a direction in your life by outlining your road map and helping you decide what path you will take.evalAnother reason why you need life goals is that it helps you stop procrastinating. As previously mentioned, life goals enable you to fight procrastination. Without a goal, you are more likely to feel unmotivated because you have no sense of purpose.Most people are motivated to do something because they are satisfying of filling their needWhat you need to do is find your true self. Sometimes, humans compare themselves with others because they are not satisfied with what they have and even with their own selves. As a result, they tend to set goals or even copy the goals of that person so that they could be at the same level as the person they are comparing themselves to. However, it does not mean that the steps to achieving their life goals will work to you as well.A tip here is that you should know your values, what is meaningful to you, your strengths, and what you enjoy doing the most, even if you don’t get paid. When you get to know yourself more, it will be easier for you to choose a goal.Happy successful sportswoman raising arms to the sky on golden back lighting sunset summer. Fitness athlete with arms up celebrating goals after sport exercising and working out outdoors. Copy space.2) Write Down Your Goals.evalA proven way to achieving a goal is by writing down your goals in a clear and well-defined method. There is a neuroscience explanationon why you should do this which involves encoding that helps a person to remember something and recall important information.Writing down your goals will also give you a sense of accountability and keep you motivated. This is because it is a way to bring your vision in to a reality because you can see it Generally, your main goal is your long-term goal, because it is something you want to achieve in the future, and it requires time and extensive planning. This goal usually takes a year or more to achieve.Sub-goals, on the other hand, are your short-term goals, and those are the tasks that you can start immediately, at the present time. These goals can be accomplished in a day, a week, or for several months only.4) Set Realistic Timeframes for Each GoalSet a deadline or time limit for your main goals and subgoals, this is to avoid procrastination and unnecessary delays. This is because there will be a sense of urgency and that you will do whatever it takes for you to meet your goal within a timeframe.Also, deadlines will allow you to prioritize your tasks. Since you set a fixed schedule for your to-dos, you will be forced to focus on accomplishing one task before jumping to another.5) Track your ProgressMeasuring your progress is vital because it w ill give you a realistic picture of how you are currently doing with your goal. If you are on track, you will be more motivated and will gain confidence that you can accomplish your goals on time.In contrast, if you are a bit behind your plan and not making your desired progress, you can easily identify what sub-goals need more attention and can figure out what changes you can do before your set deadline.All goals, whether big or small, are achievable. You just need to stop making excuses to delay your goals and start taking action today. Set realistic and achievable goals by following the five tips mentioned above.