We generally deal with the concerns of $100K+ executives at RiseSmart, but with commencement season upon us, we thought we’d offer some tips for new college grads looking to land their first job. Here are some tips from RiseSmart Blog contributor Heather Johnson:

The job interview, for anybody, can be a harrowing experience. It is even more frightening for the recent college graduate. You’re finally in the real world and everything has seemingly taken on greater importance. The safety net that supported you through the last four years is gone. You’re living on your own, your parents are more reluctant to help out, and you might live far away from your friends.

It’s time to carve out a living and the first interview is your first test. Here are five things to keep in mind so you can walk away with a positive feeling:

1. Preparation is crucial. Being prepared doesn’t simply mean that you’re ready with a quick response to any potential question the interviewer may ask. A big part of the interview will come when the interviewer asks you if you have any questions. Be ready to ask at least two or three. Make sure you’ve researched the company inside and out. This will show you have legitimate interest in the position.

2. Tend to every detail. Call at least three days before the interview for confirmation of the location and time of the interview. Find out the name of who you will be interviewing with. Have extra copies of your resume and references available. Drive to the office where the interview is taking place to ensure there are no snags the day you actually have to be there.

3. You can only make one first impression. Politeness and an easygoing manner are crucial. Pushiness is a turnoff. If you’re debating whether to wear a suit, wear the suit. Only take a seat when you’ve been offered one. Follow the interviewer’s lead and answer the questions asked.

4. Be punctual. This is a no-brainer, right? Well, this goes back to No. 2. Know where the interview is taking place and make sure you know how to get there. And get there at least 15 minutes early. If you arrive early and the interviewer is ready to start, this will only make you look better in their eyes. Remember you’re on their schedule.

5. Go short instead of long. If you feel as if you’re rambling then you probably are. The interviewer can only process so much information at once. You don’t want your major point to get lost in a bunch of unnecessary words. Be concise and thorough. This can be a tough skill to master so get a friend to ask you potential questions and practice!

[Heather Johnson is an industry critic on the subject of how to become a nurse. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.]

With Americans fearful of a recession, the competition for $100K+ jobs has become more intense than it has been in years. In this environment, it’s more important than ever for jobseekers to be well-prepared for job interviews — particularly when they are seeking their first $100K+ job.

To help candidates break the $100K+ barrier, here are five tips to help you in the interview process:

1. Brand yourself. To be a $100k+ manager or executive, you must have a brand — a one-sentence or one-phrase way to powerfully describe yourself in your interview. Don’t just tell the person where you worked and what your responsibilities were. Instead, tell them you’re a ‘sales turnaround expert’ who’s ‘tough-minded’ and ‘thrives under pressure.’ That’s the kind of meaty characterization that recruiters use in pitching candidates to employers, and it’s how you need to present yourself in the big interview.

2. Know the employer. One of the biggest differences between the candidate who gets the $100k+ job and the one stuck forever in five figures is doing your homework before the interview. If you can reference and react intelligently to what journalists, investment analysts and others have said and written about your potential employer, you present yourself as a leader who thinks strategically — not a worker bee who waits around to be handed a new task.

3. Dress for the part. Dress for the side of the $100K salary line you want to be on. For example, high-powered male executives are far more likely to wear French cuffs than sub-$100K managers. So add a couple of new shirts and some nice cufflinks to your wardrobe – at least for your job interviews. Female executives, meanwhile, tend to dress more conservatively as they move up the corporate ladder – favoring high-end pantsuits over skirts, cardigans and other early-career options.

4. Don’t ramble — be concise. Answer questions thoroughly, but then stop. If you feel the need to continue talking simply because the interviewer hasn’t asked the next question, you’ll come off as weak and indecisive — not a leader. Some interviewers like to put you in awkward situations just to see how you’ll respond to them. Don’t take the bait; stay in control – especially of what comes out of your mouth.

5. Ask for the job. If you want to win your first $100K+ job, you need to show mental toughness in your interview – so bring your hard hat, not your pacifier. Bashful people don’t become $100K+ executives. Do you want the job? Then ask for it directly. Employers respect assertiveness, particularly for leadership positions.

Heather S. Hughes has a great post at the Black Star Rising photographers’ blog where she discusses making the career change from newspaper staffer to wedding photographer. It looks like her career transition should go well — and the reason is how well she’s planned for it. As she puts it:

I chose wedding photography because it is stable (people will always get married), requires advanced planning (most are booked at least six months out), and will still allow me to work as a freelance photojournalist on stories I care about. I am taking the plunge now because wedding season starts soon…

To my credit, or not, I am an obsessive planner and enjoy organizing and making lists … I read a lot of books to help me with my lists, and things were added to it each week, which is why it is important to start this process before you leave your job, so you aren’t rushed into making mistakes. Lists also help you figure out what will make you happy and what you really want. They can reassure you that you’re making the right decision.

We know what many of you might say in response: I’m too busy — too engaged — in my current job to start planning for what I’ll do next.

Believe me, we understand. And that’s one of the main reasons we created RiseSmart. We know that $100k+ managers and executives often don’t have 30 to 40 hours per month to devote to searching for their next job online. And so we do it for you.

Now what’s your excuse for not planning ahead?

ABP. Always Be Planning. It’s about the best career advice we can give.

Reporter Erin O’Hearn of WPVI-TV in Philadelphia provides an overview of niche job sites in this report. We’re pleased, of course, that Erin chose to highlight RiseSmart in her coverage!

The folks at Bootstrapper called our attention to an excellent post providing links to tools, advice and resources for individuals who are looking to change careers. There are more than 50 links (52, to be exact), so check it out.

Bootstrapper, by the way, debuts at No. 8 on the Career 100. If you haven’t added your blog yet to our ranking of more than 150 (166, to be exact) career-related blogs, please join the fun.

When people are assembling their resumes, they tend to get obsessed with finding the right format, the right fonts, and the right “power words.” But the biggest key to writing a successful resume is knowing your personal brand before you ever set fingers to keyboard.

Even though, for most people, the best resume format is a reverse-chronological listing of your past positions and responsibilities, this doesn’t mean your resume should read like a list. On the contrary, it means that you need to communicate your brand message so clearly that it connects with the reader, no matter the format.

It’s Not About Power Words

You can’t communicate a distinctive brand message by littering it indiscriminately with so-called “power words.” While certainly your description of past accomplishments should be driven by action verbs, too many people go too far with words like “optimized,” “enhanced,” “revitalized” and “solidified.” You’ll only succeed in making the hiring manager’s eyes glaze over.

How about coming up with words that really describe you? If you’re a sales executive, maybe you’re a “sales turnaround expert” who’s “tough-minded” and “thrives under pressure” but is still “popular for having an even hand.” If I’m a company struggling to get my sales organization off the ground, would I rather know these things about you – or that you have X years of experience “solidifying, optimizing and revitalizing”?

You can think of these words as your personal brand characteristics — and they should be reflected in all your communications to prospective employers.

Three Steps to Success

Here are three steps I recommend when you are ready to prepare your resume:

• Come up with three to five personal brand characteristics that make you stand out from the competition.
• Make sure these brand characteristics come through in your overview paragraph (every resume should have one), as well as in the accomplishments you list for each job you’ve held.
• Connect these brand characteristics to the specific job you’re applying for with a well thought-out cover letter.

Hiring managers are busy people. They’re not trying to understand your “brand”; they’re mainly looking to find people whose experiences meet their checklist of requirements. But by taking a personal-branding approach to preparing your resume, you’ll give that hiring manager a strong sense of who you are — and what you bring to the table — even before that first telephone interview.

The powerful narrative you are communicating about yourself will click in, and you will quickly separate yourself from the job applicants focused on formats and power words. What’s more, as you get closer to landing your desired job, your positioning will be reinforced each time your resume is read and re-read.

So don’t settle for a resume that reads like a list. Create a resume that reads like you.

[This article also appears in Personal Branding Magazine.]

Web Worker Daily offers a useful post on recession-proofing yourself. The five tips in a nutshell:

1. Keep building your online persona.
2. Create additional income streams.
3. Stay aware of what the market is looking for.
4. Invest in human capital.
5. Create social capital.

The full post is here.

It might surprise you to know that, of all the workers in the world, barbers and hairstylists are the happiest. Hairdressers are happier than lawyers, doctors and accountants — not to mention corporate cubicle-dwellers.

“How come?” you ask. “What do they know that I don’t?”

I don’t cut hair for a living, but I have been getting my locks sheared monthly for most of my life. And I’ve known enough hairdressers in my day to have ascertained their Seven Secrets to Career Contentment.

I’m sure they won’t mind if I share them.

1. Be yourself. Hairstylists are individuals; they are not only allowed, but encouraged, to show off their individuality in the workplace. From blue hair to dreadlocks, bare midriffs to button-downs, you can find it all at most salons. And hairdressers can be themselves in their conversations with clients, too.

In your own work, it doesn’t need to be blue hair. But you do need to be able to share your personality, thoughts and feelings openly with those around you. If you sacrifice this because you’re in a corporate environment where you think it would be frowned upon, you may succeed in climbing that company’s ladder — but probably at the expense of your happiness.

2. Be creative. Hairdressing is a creative job. New styles are emerging all the time, and hairdressers have the opportunity to learn them and create their own variations for clients. They also get clients who plop down in the styling chair and announce: “I’m bored — I want to try something completely different!”

Wouldn’t it be great if you could plop down in your chair at your next staff meeting and say the same thing? All of us need some outlet for creativity in our work — and companies that encourage and reward this creativity, rather than insisting on hierarchy and conformity, tend to have the happiest employees. Ultimately, however, your happiness is in your hands, not your employer’s. You can almost always find ways to contribute new ideas if you try hard enough.

3. Set short-term goals. Hairstylists coiffure several clients a day; usually, the client departs with a smile and a thank you. Mission accomplished.

In a corporate setting, it’s not that easy. We often work on long-term projects where we might not get the satisfaction of completion for weeks or months. But if you make a point to set daily or short-term goals for yourself and accomplish them along the way, you’ll feel better about your work. If you’re in an office environment where such incremental achievements are acknowledged by bosses and co-workers, that’s even better.

4. Be social. Being a barber or stylist is a social profession. Hairdressers spend all day chatting with their co-workers and clients. Studies show the opportunity to talk and listen to others reduces work stress, in addition to building a sense of belonging.

The lesson here: Don’t spend all day in front of your PC with your office door shut. Don’t be lazy and communicate with colleagues exclusively by e-mail, either; it may seem faster and less of a hassle, but ultimately you may begin to feel isolated. Get up and talk to people — and listen to them, too.

5. Form relationships. A hairdresser’s clients can be very loyal, trusting their hairstyle to one person for years. Barbers and stylists pride themselves on their ability to retain their clients — even as they move from salon to salon over the course of their careers. These bonds can become highly personal and meaningful, as stylists and clients share the intimate details of their lives over time.

In the business world, too many people are afraid to form real, honest friendships — either with their colleagues or their clients. “What if I have to fire him someday?” an exec might argue. “What if I tell her something that she uses against me when we are vying for the same promotion?” a young worker might say. “What if I want to seem tough and no-nonsense at work, because I think that will get me ahead?” an aspiring muckety-muck might explain.

Here’s my answer: If you are a different person in your work relationships than you are in your non-work relationships, you can never be truly happy at work. It’s your choice.

6. Take ownership. Even though they generally work for someone else, most hairstylists have a strong sense of ownership in their work. Their success or failure depends directly on how well they serve their clients.

In the corporate world, it can be hard to have that sense of ownership. The larger the organization, the more removed employees often feel from their company’s accomplishments. The way smart companies combat this is to provide individuals or small departments with specific long-term goals, and to allow them significant leeway in determining how they achieve these goals. And if that isn’t enough ownership for you, you can always start your own business.

7. Don’t make it about money. If you’re a hairdresser not named Jose Eber, you’re probably not rich. In fact, you’re probably not even close. But you’re happy.

So, as someone pursuing a career in business, what should we learn here from the hairstylist’s example? That’s it’s time to give up our day jobs and go trekking in the Himalayas, 401(k)s be damned?

No. It’s still better to have money than not. The lesson is that you should do as well as you can financially — but only by doing something you enjoy. Once you start making career decisions based on where the dollars are, rather than where your heart is, you’ve pretty much guaranteed yourself a life of unhappiness at work.

[I originally wrote this post for MarketingProfs.]

This three-minute clip is one of a series of videos by Katie Roney of ExpertVillage on how to interview for a job. View the whole series here.

George, Gautam, Tiffany and Heather are among those who’ve beaten us to the punch in announcing the Career 100 — so I guess our little secret is out. Many recruiting, HR, leadership and career-advice bloggers have already added their blogs to the list; we’re up to 133 blogs now, and I’m sure we’ll be adding many more.

So, what is the Career 100, and why did we create it?

In preparing to launch the RiseSmart Blog, we wanted to find a useful way to contribute to our corner of the blogosphere.   One of the first things we realized is that the blogosphere is huge, and there’s currently no easy way to sort the wheat from the chaff, particularly in a specific niche like career-oriented blogs.

Technorati is great for ranking blogs overall, but if you’re interested in blogs about a particular subject, Technorati is not that helpful.  Technorati’s tagging system lets users determine in which categories their blog belongs — up to 20 categories. As a result, if you run a blog search for any HR or career-oriented term, you’ll have to sort through a whole lot of blogs that have little to do with career information and advice.

The Career 100 was designed to solve this problem. 

Some background and a few notes:

• The Career 100 ranking system is based on an algorithm used by Advertising Age, which was created by marketing blogger Todd And.
• The Career 100 was programmed by the same team that put together the Healthcare 100, which has become one of the most valuable and heavily used resources in the health and medical blogosphere.
• Since the Healthcare 100 was launched last June, it has grown to include more than 650 different blogs — from the personal diaries of ambulance drivers, to the viewpoints of pharmacists and medical journalists, to blogs documenting the emerging Health 2.0 movement.
• The Career 100 adds one feature that neither the AdAge Power 150 or Healthcare 100 has — the ability for readers to rate blogs (by clicking the “rate this blog” link under each blog’s name).

We hope that, over time, the Career 100 will be an increasingly valuable resource to jobseekers, career counselors, HR managers, recruiters, and others who take an active interest in people’s work lives.  Furthermore, we believe it’s in the interest of all HR, recruiting and career-advice bloggers to help make that happen — because career blogs currently don’t have nearly as high a profile as, say, marketing or healthcare blogs.

We think the Career 100 can increase the collective influence of all bloggers in this space by making it easier for people — including the media — to find us.

So — here’s where we ask for your help:

• If your blog isn’t currently on the list, please add it! 
• Our algorithm includes you; you can impact the results by rating blogs yourself — so please do.
• Complaints are welcome — but be specific, so we can make changes where needed. 

That’s it for now, I guess.   Please let us know your thoughts about this important project.   And thanks to those of you who have already welcomed RiseSmart to the blogosphere with your e-mails and phone calls.