Saturday, April 28, 2007

CONFERENCES and SUMMITS are always great for networking

Conferences are great networking events because they help you achieve several objectives:
1. They are educational and thus are great for personal and professional development. The depth of your knowledge in the field of your expertise will separate your business from competitors or, if you are job seeker, will separate you from other job candidates.

2. Conferences are excellent events to meet potential partners and clients in your field

3. For job seekers conferences are a great chance to meet managers, directors, business owners who actually might have the job you are interested in. When you apply for a job through traditional channels you go through HR department, you don't have a chance to talk to the actual person advertising the position in his department until may be the last interview. But you first have to get to that last interview. At a conference however, you have a chance to network with people the whole day, find out who might have a position of interest, connect with that person directly (not through HR), make a good impression and after the conference you will have an opportunity to follow up on the event and invite the person for a coffee to discuss this issue further.

The up-coming Pay Per Click Summit (will take place in various US locations: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and, of course, Chicago) is a unique opportunity for business development because it is not only great in terms of point 1 & 2 mentioned above it also actually teaches you how to grow business with the help of Pay Per Click strategy. The tools and techniques that will be discussed are good for any business in any industry.

The site of the event is: http://ppcsummit.com/overview.html The summit is coming to Chicago on May 22 and 23.

This particular event may not be ideal for job seekers because it is a bit costly, however, most of the conferences do not charge as much and conferences and summits organized by universities are usually the cheapest in my experience (but as informative as the ones organized by professional associations)

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Most helpful Chicago guide
http://www.legalaliensguide.com

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Flexible Employment

Here is a great organization - Mom Corps (www.momcorps.com) - which helps people who are trying to find flexible employment (flexible working hours, part-time work, work from home, etc.) and that's what working moms often look for. And though this organization is an obvious choice for the latter, Mom Corps supports Equal Opportunity policy and help everyone regardess of their gender, race and age

The services are FREE for all candidates. You can post your resume on the company's site and also look for positions in their on-line database. Mom Corps also organizes various events which you can check out on their News and Events page.

This is a nationwide organization and they currently have offices in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, New York and Washington.

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Most helpful Chicago guide
http://www.legalaliensguide.com

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Thursday Salon

Jane Hamill Boutique in Chicago, IL has just launched a unique series of weekly networking events called "Adventures in..." They consist of a short presentation on a certain topic (an Adventure) and then open networking. This format is great for social networking and your small business development (these events are attended by quite a big number of small/medium size business owners)

I put a label "for Women" on this post because some of the events are particularly designed for women, such as "Adventures in Jewlry" and "Adventures in Design" but other events are equally interesting for men too, for instance "Adventures in Achieving Financial Empowerment", "Adventures in Books" or "Adventures in Successfully Launching Your College-Bound Teen". So these events are very educational as well.

The presentations are made by fellow small business owners who specialise in a particular feild. Events are FREE of charge and everyone is welcome. The host provides some wine and cheese for the evening.

You can see the schedule of events at: http://www.janehamillboutique.com/events.html

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Most helpful Chicago guide
http://www.legalaliensguide.com

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Free seminar for small business owners

My goal for this blog is to provide the readers with useful information they will have difficulty finding otherwise. Most of the information I receive comes to me through my network that I built and most of it is not widely advertised. This is another benefit of networking: being privileged to get first-hand valuable information. Other benefits of networking were described in my previous posts "Importance of Networking".

The event I am talking about is an educational FREE seminar for small business owners is being organized by Merrill Lynch in Chicago:


"Are you contemplating selling your business and interested in learning how to maximize its value? Or, are you just curious about what your business may be worth today?
Merrill Lynch invites you to a financial education seminar to give you the tools to answer these
questions. The market for privately owned businesses is very robust and business valuations are near record highs. As a business owner, this may be a perfect time for you to take action.
Join us for lunch or cocktails to learn how we can bring value to you.
Location: Mid-day Club
Date: Thursday April 19th at 12 PM
Wednesday April 25th at 6 PM
Hosts: Nora Winsberg, First Vice President
Investments, Senior Financial Consultant
Yasmina Slimani, Financial Advisor
Robert Larue, Vice President Commercial
Finance Manager
RSVP: 312-269-5038. Space limited."
One last comment about the event: this sort of occasions should not be treated as just an educational opportunity. Always approach them as an excellent networking opportunity too: you never know who you might meet at such an event, may be a potential partner or a client.
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Most helpful Chicago guide

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

ANOTHER Diversity Career Fair

This month is really good for people with diverse backgrounds! Here is information I received today about another Diversity Career Fair taking place in Chicago (organized by Career Concepts USA). Similar fairs in other cities are listed on the website of the company (see the message below):

"We will be hosting a Workplace Diversity Job Fair in Chicago on April 11, 2007

Our clients are seeking candidates in a variety of positions that may include: Account Advisors, Account Executives, Accountants, Accounting Assistants,Audit Services Managers, Bankers (Business and Personal), Billing Supervisor, Branch Managers,Business Development Specialists, Consumer Lenders, Credit Officers,Customer Service Representatives, Financial Advisors, Financial Analysts,Instructional Designers/Developer s, Internal Controls Consultants, LoanConsultants, Loan Originators, Marketing Coordinators, MultimediaDevelopers, Phlebotomists, Proof Operators, Recruiters (Executive/Manageme nt), RegionalSales Representatives, Retail Sales Associates, Retail Sales Managers, SalesAssociates, Sales Consultants, Sales Executives, Sales Managers, SystemsBusiness Analysts, Telesales, Tellers, Teller Supervisors, and more...

This is a Workplace Diversity Job Fair however, we encourage everyone toattend.You will have an opportunity to meet hiring managers from industry-leading companies. Employers are seeking Entry Level or Recent College Graduates to SeniorLevel Professionals who either have a background or an interest in: Accounting, Banking, Engineering, Financial Planning, Financial Services, Health Care,Human Resources, Information Technology, Insurance, Management, MortgageSales, Operations Management, Recruiting, Retail, Sales, and more...

Our upcoming event is scheduled for: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 from 12:00 to 3:00 PM Hyatt Regency Chicago 151 East Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60601. To Pre-register: EITHER send your resume via e-mail to http://by108fd.bay108.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000002&a=a223cdb9dc65bef47f609d54dcca4107eeae93518092b1135242468201a06b50&mailto=1&to=chicagoDIV_invt@pnp-reg.com&msg=C3C9B678-AB79-41B0-A667-E6D13B55A629&start=0&len=3761&src=&type=x OR fax it to 866-728-9144. Please indicate"Chicago Diversity Job Fair" on the cover sheet or resume. THEN, simply arrive at the hotel sometime between 12:00 to 3:00.The email address above only accepts registrations. Please send anyinquiries to http://by108fd.bay108.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000002&a=a223cdb9dc65bef47f609d54dcca4107eeae93518092b1135242468201a06b50&mailto=1&to=sgaston@careerconceptsusa.net&msg=C3C9B678-AB79-41B0-A667-E6D13B55A629&start=0&len=3761&src=&type=x. Or call us at 888-757-5627 andspeak to the representative who answers the phone.

Our web site shows the current month's list of our Job Fairs throughout the country. You may visit us online at http://www.peoplenotpaper.com "

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Most helpful Chicago guide
http://www.legalaliensguide.com

Monday, April 9, 2007

Executive Diversity Career Fair

CareerJournal.com, The Wall Street Journal's career site, is organizing the annual Executive Diversity Career Fair in Chicago, IL on April 19, 2007. This is a unique fair for all national and ethnic minorities (and this is the group to which you, my Legal Aliens friends, belong) as well as women and other minotities.

The fair is designed for people with executive, managerial and professional background including MBAs. It is free to attend for everyone.

I took part in this event last year and it had a good turnout of hiring companies, excellent easy to get to location and rich program (seminars included), which lasts the whole day.

This is a Chicago event, but the Fair's site mentions previous events in other locations: Atlanta, Washington, New York. So if you are based elsewhere you just need to check out the site to see when the Executive Diversity Career Fair is coming to your city.

You can find all the necessary information at: http://www.careerjournal.com/diversity/

PS www.careejournal.com site itself is actually very helpful for all job seekers: you can look for jobs and post your resume there, for example.

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Most helpful Chicago guide
http://www.legalaliensguide.com

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Help in Business Development for Women

Principal Fincial Group has been providing FREE teleclasses for women starting and developing their own businesses since March 2005. The series is called "Growth Strategies For Your Business" and the class usually takes place once a month, last Tuesday of the month.

I wish I found out the information about these classes earlier but I am glad that Principal recorded all the classes and you can access any of the archived classes on the main page where you can sign up for the up-coming classes too: www.principal.com/teleclass

How easy is it? Just pick up the phone and listen as subject experts share valuable advice on how to build and grow your business. Classes are absolutely free and there's no obligation. Just create a profile, sign up for your teleclasses and start learning today. There is a complete schedule listed till the end of 2007. The next class will take place on April 24.

The classes are available for all women residing anywhere in USA, US Territories and Canada.

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Most helpful Chicago guide
http://www.legalaliensguide.com

This blog structure

While my Guide is still with the publisher (I hope it will come out on schedule late Spring - early summer) I am starting to bring this blog up to speed. Here I plan to provide information on itmes that were not included in the book: new organizations, one-time events, etc. which serve the SAME PURPOSE as the guide - help you with rebuilding your life in a new place (whether you are looking for a job, trying to start your own business or looking for friends). These won't necessarily be just networking events but really all events that serve the aforesaid purpose.

Therefore, most of the posts will be classified as Business Development (entrepreneurship), Employment, Social Interaction. If the information is specific to a certain nationality, gender, minority group, etc. I will mention it too.

Being a woman myslef I have explored and still am exploring a lot of resources for women because I believe that wOmen tend to be more shy tHan men at networking and need extra help. So I already have a special section for women on this blog called, well... WOMEN :-)

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Most helpful Chicago guide
http://www.legalaliensguide.com
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