5 Things to Remember When Starting Your Business

Starting a business can be one of the most exciting times in your life as you dream about what you want to create and accomplish—but first you need to begin with some concrete basics. Once you've figured out your business plan, location and financing, it's time to take care of these five things when starting your business.

1. Choose the right legal structure
Before you open up your doors, you first need to decide on a business structure. You should consider very carefully the right business structure for your enterprise as it can affect your personal liability, taxes, profits, and more.
You have several options, including the following, which are used to create most new businesses these days:

Corporation: Shareholders are not personally responsible for company debts; allows opportunity to raise capital from investors; formal record-keeping required; may reduce taxes, especially self-employment taxes.

Limited Liability Corporation (LLC): Generally protects personal assets from company debts; no corporate tax as profits can be passed directly to owners; fewer corporate formalities required.

Sole Proprietorship: No corporate formalities required; run by one individual who is personally responsible for the business's debts.

You may also organize as a non-profit, limited partnership (LP), or limited liability partnership (LLP).

2. Choose and register your business name. In order to do business under a trade name, i.e., not your own name, you will need to register for a DBA (“doing business as”) name. Having a DBA will allow you to open a bank account and legally conduct business under your business name and may even lower startup costs.

3. Obtain business licenses/permits, and get set up for taxes

If you have organized your business as anything but a sole proprietorship, you will have to register and file documents with your state to register for a business license; state law varies on the procedure, and in some circumstances, a sole proprietorship may even need a business licenses and/or other permits, so be sure to check your state's regulations.
While you're doing this, you should also make sure you're registered to pay state and local taxes; again, the specific requirements vary, so make sure you follow your state's rules.

4. Trademark your name and/or logo

You've worked hard to create a name and/or logo that is unique and perfect for your business; you don't want to risk that others could use it as their own to damage your brand and business reputation. The only way to protect yourself and your business from this happening is by trademarking your logo.

5. Protect your business with a living trust

It's never to early to make plans for your business should you no longer be around or able to handle it. One of the best ways to make sure it falls into the right hands seamlessly in such a situation is by placing it in a living trust.
A living trust is similar to a last will and testament in that it allows you to transfer property to chosen beneficiaries, but with two big advantages: (1) a living trust may provide instructions for the management of your business if you become incapacitated; and (2) a living trust doesn't usually doesn't get tied up in probate.
That is, upon your death, if your business has been placed in a living trust, it would likely transfer to the beneficiary more quickly, easily, and less expensively than if it had been passed in a will, which can mean business is less likely to be interrupted in the meantime.

By MICHELLE FABIO, ESQ. - MAR 2011 - Legal Zoom

Are your Employees Engaged at Work?

Employee engagement, also called work engagement is a business management concept. An "engaged employee" is one who is fully involved and enthusiastic about, his or her work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization's interests. An employee’s work place engagement can be measured to the degree of an employee's positive or negative emotional attachment to their job, to fellow colleagues and the organization in which profoundly influences their willingness to learn & perform at work.

Why is employee engagement so important in today’s climate? It’s more important than ever because it’s a function of what’s called “Knowledge-based economy” focusing on lean operations and ROI (return on investment). We are experiencing faster-changing work environments and employee emphasis on personal fulfillment and as leaders we must learn to enable employees and channel their efforts on productivity, job performance, personal alignment and ensuring availability of positive resources. Pay attention to the indicators of how you measure your companies Human Capital. These indicators will provide your organization with an accurate profile of its workforce effectiveness and employee engagement. Paying attention now will pay off in the long run.

Best Practice for New Employee "Onboarding"

By Commongood Careers

Imagine it’s your first day at a new job. You arrive at an office where no one seems to be expecting you. After locating your workstation, you realize that no one has shown you how to log into your computer or get an outside line on your phone. You do not have a clear idea of what you are expected to do first in your new job. Your supervisor is nowhere to be found, and you are starting to question your decision to accept this position.

As the above scenario suggests, an organization never gets a second chance to make a first impression with its new hires. Investing in employee on-boarding ensures that an organization is prepared for and committed to positioning its new hires for success in their roles.

Effective employee on-boarding serves three interrelated purposes. First, it ensures that the new hire feels welcomed, comfortable, prepared, and supported. In turn, this leads to the new hire’s ability to make an impact within the organization, both immediately and over time. Finally, employee success leads to satisfaction and retention, which allows the organization to continue to meet its mission.

In order to position a new hire for success, it is important that an organization prepares in advance and continues to support a new hire throughout the first several months (and beyond). This article explores some established best practices for employee on-boarding procedures.

Before the First Day

Preparing for a new hire’s start date is the first step in ensuring effective on-boarding. Start by completing an agenda for the first week on the job. As part of the agenda, schedule times for the new hire to meet with key staff members.

Provide staff members with the new employee’s resume and job description, and advise them to follow a meeting format that includes sharing a description of their own position, how their role interacts with that of the new hire, and how they might expect to work together in the future.

This is also a good time to assign a mentor or buddy to the new hire as an immediate resource for any questions, help them build a network, educate them on resources, and give key information about organizational culture and goals.

Next, create a comfortable workstation for the new hire. Stock his or her workstation with the tools needed to hit the ground running, such as paper, pens, computer, phone, keys, and business cards. Make sure that voicemail and email accounts are set up. Leave a copy of an organization chart, staff list and phone directory on the new hire’s desk. If your organization has an employee handbook, leave this on the desk as well, along with all administrative forms such as employment, direct deposit, and benefits so that they will be ready to be completed on day one.

To really impress new hires on their first day, add any branded collateral that you can spare such as a logo backpack, hat, pen, tee-shirt or mug to your new hire’s new desk.

Finally, make sure to communicate with your new hire before the first day to confirm logistics such as driving directions, parking, public transportation, expected arrival time, dress code, plans for lunch on the first day, person to ask for on arrival, etc.

The First Day

The first day of a new job can rattle the nerves of even the most experienced professional. The better prepared you are to welcome the new hire on his or her first day, the easier this transition will be for everyone.

Schedule a particular staff member to be available to greet the new employee and give an office tour. During the office tour, introduce the new hire to all staff members as well as pointing out the copy machine, mail room, employee mailboxes, lunch room, and restrooms. Remember that new hires are asked to absorb a lot of information in a short amount of time, so encourage them to take notes and expect that they will have questions about these things later.

Balance the first day schedule between orientation, meetings, and less formal gatherings. If possible, arrange for the new hire to be treated to lunch on the first day by a group of staff members.

Schedule a meeting with the employee’s supervisor for the first afternoon. During this meeting, the supervisor should review the responsibilities of the position and give an overview of what the first 30-90 days in the position will look like.

The First Week

While the first day entails presenting basic information to the new hire, the first week focuses on setting expectations and developing relationships with staff, particularly the supervisor of and any direct reports to the new hire.

During the first week, the supervisor and new hire should meet to discuss desired management style and information about typical processes, such as how decisions are made. This is also the time to begin the most important aspect of on-boarding, which is setting expectations about deliverables, timelines and performance metrics. It is essential that such plans and goals be clearly communicated at the outset of the relationship in order to position a new hire for success in his or her role. The two most common errors when on-boarding new employees are: (1) expecting higher performance and faster learning curves than is reasonable, and (2) leaving employees to wonder what they should be doing and what is expected of them by their new managers.

If the hire is in a supervisory role, also ensure that he or she meets with any direct reports one-on-one and as a group within the first week. These meetings will help build the new team and allow the new hire to get a sense of the work style of each team member.

It is also important for the new hire to interact with other staff members who may not be on his or her immediate team. Schedule at least one meeting per day with different staff members. This gives the new hire time to learn about the whole organization from many different perspectives and to create new relationships with key staff members.

In addition to interacting with internal staff, if it is appropriate for their role, ensure that the new hire is scheduled to meet in person with any necessary partners, funders, Board members or other constituents within the first month. Encourage new hires to notify their personal and professional contacts of their new role, thereby providing a marketing opportunity for your organization.

The First Three Months and Beyond

The output expectation for the first week should be nominal so that the time can be most effectively used for learning and settling in. During the first month, it is traditional to expect modest deliverables in which the new hire can learn by doing and be positioned for success and confidence building. By the end of the first three months, the new employee should be getting up to speed and should be expected to be evaluated on a normal workload.

After 90 days, have the supervisor provide formal feedback on the new hire’s performance, while also soliciting feedback from the employee. Depending on the organizational culture and policies, this meeting could involve a representative of the human resources department. During this meeting, any issues should be addressed and all parties should be confident that the new hire is poised for success in their role.

Remember to build opportunities for feedback into the on-boarding process. Encourage the new hire to note any ideas that they have for improving the operations, strategy, or culture of the organization. The new hire may or may not feel comfortable sharing these immediately, but it is important that the organization be open to the impressions of someone with fresh eyes.

Throughout the first three months, stay mindful of opportunities to integrate new hires into their work groups and into the organization as a whole.

Conclusion

Although all of these steps require an investment of time and resources, it is an investment whose cost / benefit analysis is clear. The potential downsides of failing to effectively on-board an employee include that individual’s failure in the role, potential embarrassment to the organization, resignation or termination, and a new hiring process with an estimated total expense to the organization of three times the position’s annual salary. On the positive side, implienting these suggestions will increase employee satisfaction, speed of getting to full performance levels, quality of ultimate performance, and long-term retention in the role. Effective on-boarding is also a fantastic way to show all of your employees that you value their happiness and want them to succeed.

This article was written by Commongood Careers and is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerical-NoDerivs.

For more information about nonprofit and socially entrepreneurial careers, visit Commongood Careers at http://www.cgcareers.org.

Four Ideas to re-engineer your Human Resource Practices

How much do you have in your budget? You’re not alone. Corporate belts are cinching all across America. While a few unfortunate companies are struggling for survival itself, nearly all organizations are looking for ways to become leaner. The solution however, isn’t as simple as cutting HR budgets. The challenges the HR professional faces today are more complex: maintaining productivity while reducing staff, for one. A company can be facing contraction and experiencing growing pains, at the same time. These challenges force most leadership to look beyond simple budget and staff reductions to re-engineer its human resource practices. So in short you are not alone. Across the HR field, companies are finding creative ways to “do more with less”. Following are four simple ideas you can use to help you re-engineer your Human Resource department:

1) Analyze Your HR Practices
2)Develop a Strategic HR Plan
3)Embrace Technology
4)Leverage Your Resources

Analyze Your HR Practices - Everyone gets stuck in a rut. You are so busy putting out fires that you have little time to think about the big picture or the smaller details. Reach out for another pair of eyes to give you a fresh perspective. One valuable tool to help you gain insight is an HR audit. Find an HR expert to review and evaluate your company’s HR operations, top to bottom. An audit is an extensive examination of a company’s systems and practices.

What’s on the list for an HR audit? These areas are likely suspects:

Recordkeeping
Compliance
Salary and Compensation
Benefits
Professional Development and Training
Performance and Recognition
Recruiting and Retention
Safety and Health
Culture
With a successful audit, you’ll uncover those compliance risks that can derail an organization, learn how your company’s practices compare to industry leaders and get a host of new ideas to improve your results.

Develop a Strategic HR Plan - You want senior leadership to understand that HR brings value beyond the basic hiring and firing functions. A strategic HR plan aligns the department’s goals with those of the organization. Any major corporate actions are sure to have an impact on HR. When a regional service firm created a 5-year strategic plan to expand its single-state presence to the entire Midwest through a series of acquisitions, the firm’s HR executive created a plan to support those goals. She focused on learning the employment laws in the new states, securing regional benefit brokers and creating step-by-step processes to integrate the acquired staff members.

Embrace Technology - Technology can streamline HR workflow, provide communication and accessibility to a non-centralized workforce and allow your staff greater flexibility. Some great technological time-savers: web-based payroll and HR Management System applications, employee intranets and electronic applicant tracking systems. The HR manager at an 160-person, five office company, partnered with the IT department to create a simple intranet-based tool for employees to make annual benefit selections.

Leverage Your Resources - This concept is about accomplishing HR objectives, especially those strategic goals, more efficiently. Break free of traditional practices. Rather than hiring a new staff member to fill a long-term but ultimately temporary need, consider alternate forms of employment, such as payrolling. Payrolling is the practice of referring a contingent worker to a staffing vendor or payrolling provider. The vendor acts as the employer of record, responsible for employer taxes, payroll, and all legal matters pertaining to employing workers, thereby reducing contingent workforce costs.

Your company’s employees can be an invaluable resource, too. When Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston challenged the hospital’s staff to volunteer creative cost-saving ideas, he received hundreds of suggestions. Putting some of those ideas into practice, BIDMC was able to save enough expenses to reduce necessary layoffs from 600 to 150.

Don’t overlook the importance of employee morale during an uncertain economy. Enterprising HR departments can give employees valuable benefits, without blowing the budget. For example, companies may offers its staffers bimonthly brown bag lunch-time enrichment events, led by local vendors, experts and service providers. These vendors deliver their programs at no or nominal charge to the company. Topics can be work-related subjects such as time management and presentation skills, or take a personal bent, such as choosing a workout program or creating a will.

Submission by www.kjgrouphrconsulting.com

The Interview - The Positive Approach to Tough Questions

The following are some of the most commonly-asked interview questions, along with suggested approaches for answers. It is important that job candidates practice these responses until they are able to handle all the questions effectively.

Why do you want to work here? How can you help our company? Why should we be interested in you?
Answer is always based on information you’ve researched in advance about the company and their needs.

If you were choosing someone for this job, what kind of person would you select?
Answer is to generally state your own general qualifications, without being too “obvious.” Leave out the details.

If you could have any job, which one would you want at this company?
Answer has to do with the most general description of the job – NOT A SPECIFIC TITLE.

What weaknesses do you have for this job?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Answer is to ponder for a while and then state that you can’t think of any weaknesses that would compromise your performance at this job; or negatively impact your performance of the job’s responsibilities.

What do you expect to get in this job that you haven’t gotten in you current/previous job?
TRAP QUESTION. Do not say anything negative. State that your current/previous jobs have met or exceeded your expectations. With the new position you would hope to have broader responsibilities and make greater contributions.

What do you see as your future here?
I would expect to be contributing at higher levels and have increased responsibility over time.

Are you considering other positions at this time?
TRAP QUESTION. Simply say “yes.”

How does this opportunity compare?
From what I’ve heard so far, very favorably … and I would like to learn more.

What other companies/opportunities are you looking at now?
As I’m sure you can appreciate, I’m not at liberty to say as I am still in discussions with these companies. I need to protect their privacy, as I would for your company under similar circumstances.

What are your short and long term goals?
Short range: To secure an appropriate new position where I can apply my skills and experience to increase the company’s productivity and profitability.
Long range: Assume more responsibility and make greater contributions over time for my employer.

What motivates you?
Focus the answer on your core values, and also on the values and priorities of the company you are interviewing with (which you should have identified through your preliminary research).

What have you done to improve yourself during the last year?
Talk about professional development, training programs, educational curricula, study in your field, on-the-job training, skill-building, relevant books you’ve read, etc.

How do you spend your spare time?
Say something inoffensive, apolitical and innocuous. (reading, exercise, travel, home projects, gardening, family activities, home projects, etc.)

Tell me about your health.
My health is excellent.

If you could re-live your last 15 years, what changes would you make?
Nothing is perfect, but overall I would say that I’m quite satisfied with the way my life and career have developed – so I wouldn’t make any significant changes.

Tell me about your greatest achievement/disappointment in your life.
Give one personal example (like meeting your spouse and getting married; putting yourself through college and graduate school; or saving-up to buy your first house, etc.). Then give your best professional accomplishment story. As for the disappointment, give an answer similar to the one above, implying that “overall, I would say that I’m quite satisfied with the way my life and career have been developing, so I really can’t think of any major disappointments.”

What did you like best/least about your last job?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Explain what you liked best. Then say that while every job has its challenges, you have been fortunate enough to learn and grow professionally in each of the positions you have held.

In your last position, how much of the work did you do on your own, and how much as part of a team? Which did you enjoy more?
Talk in terms of your flexibility and adaptability – your ability to work in whatever mode seems appropriate to the situation. Make it clear that you have been equally effective in teams or working independently, as each case demanded. You enjoy both; it’s more about what will work best for the project and the company at that time.

What are some of the more difficult problems you have encountered in your past jobs? How did you solve them?
Tell two or more pre-prepared accomplishment stories. Keep it POSITIVE!

Did you ever make suggestions to senior management? What happened?
Say “yes.” Tell some accomplishment stories and results, in which you positively influenced senior management.

At your previous job(s), what did you think management could have done to make you function more effectively as an employee?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Say that the employer was very good in providing resources and support to your position, and that you have no complaints about this.

What has kept you from progressing faster and farther in your career?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! State: “I don’t know what could have given you the impression that I am dissatisfied with the progress and pace of my career. I am quite satisfied with where my career is at this point in my life. However, I am ready to take on greater challenges.”

What else should we know about you?
Tell one or two more of your best accomplishment stories. You can also repeat how well-suited you think you are for the opportunity, and how interested you are in the job.

Tell me about the best/worst boss you’ve ever had.
TRAP QUESTION: Never state anything negative! Say that while every boss has been different, you have worked productively with, and learned something from, each one. (Be prepared to give some examples of what you have learned.)

Everybody likes to criticize. What do people criticize about you?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Say that you can’t think of any criticisms you have received from colleagues on the job. Of course, there have been areas for development – such as when your supervisors would have given you your “employee review,” and they might have made a suggestion for improvement. State that you have always taken these kinds of suggestions seriously and have taken steps to make the improvements that were requested, and that this has made you stronger as a professional. (State at least one example).

Everyone has pet peeves. What are yours?
TRAP QUESTION. Never state anything negative! Turn this question around, by talking about your high professional standards. Your only “pet peeves” are with yourself – pushing yourself hard and not accepting mediocrity, for example – or how you are always striving to reach your full potential on the job, etc.

What is your leadership style?
Talk in terms of your flexibility and adaptability – your ability to lead in whatever mode seems appropriate to the situation. Explain that it’s more about what approach will work best for the project and the company at that time. Give an example or two, demonstrating different leadership styles, using your accomplishment stories.

Are you geographically mobile? (or) Are you willing to put in a lot of extra time?
Ask for clarification – what exactly does the interviewer mean? Then, according to their answer, either say, “that would be no problem at all,” or tell them “you’d like to give it some thought and get back to them within 24 hours.”

You don’t have the experience/background for this position. How could you handle it?
Say you’re confused by their comment, that you’re quite confident that you DO have the experience and background for this position, and that you’re a very strong match for the responsibilities. Ask what specifically concerns them about your background; what’s missing in your experience? (Sometimes the interviewer is just testing you.) Re-state your qualifications as needed, tying your accomplishment stories to the employer’s requirements.

You’re overqualified for this position, aren’t you? (even if you are slightly overqualified)
State: No – I see a lot of challenges in this opportunity, and I’m sure that I would find the work extremely interesting. Give some examples of what you mean, and talk about the new dimensions of experience and skill that you would bring to the position, almost as though you would expand the level of contribution in this job, thus making it more than it is at present.

We have all the information we need. We’ll be in touch.
Take the initiative. Ask such questions as: “Where do I stand? Am I being considered as a strong candidate? When should I expect to hear from you, or would you prefer that I contact you in a day or two? What is your time-frame for making a final decision? Is there anything else I can provide to facilitate the process?” etc. Then re-state your strong interest in the position and your confidence that your background is an ideal match to the job.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend that you prepare for your interviews by studying and practicing these answers. Get someone to help you, by doing a “role play,” in which your friend can be the interviewer and you can play the part of the job candidate. You will reduce your anxiety, boost your confidence and perform much better if you “know your lines” in advance! And remember – never say anything negative in a job interview!

Submitted by:
Ford R. Myers
Career Potential, LLC

The importance of Mentors

(excerps from “TheLadders”

A mentor teaches you faster than you can teach yourself. The stories, the wisdom, the guidance that they provide gives you the benefit of understanding the world or a new adventure before you've actually lived through it. And the emotional support and reassurance that somebody who has "been there, done that" can offer to a wet-behind-the-ears greenhorn is comforting as you navigate your way through new experiences.

The young hero (whatever your age) needs to learn from a master, to grow in wisdom and learning while being guided by somebody with greater experience, to have a sounding board and sympathetic ear in times of turmoil.

But what a mentor provides most is wisdom and insight into whether you should go to that big company or the hot little start-up, whether you ought to stay in your area of functional expertise or move towards more general management, whether you'll be better off working for the tough and demanding boss, or you'll thrive in a more collegial atmosphere.

I'd urge you to cultivate your mentors. Whether he/she's an old boss, or a more senior colleague, or somebody in the industry that you admire, developing those relationships can make your career growth much richer and better-informed.

And you can also get something back by giving back, "The brighter the student, the more the teacher learns." There's no better way to learn, or re-learn, something than by teaching it. And by taking that bright young woman or man under your wing, you'll not only be helping out the next generation, but you'll be surprised at how much you've learned over the years!

Get personal, get job

Business Courier of Cincinnati - by Chris Hughes Courier Contributor

Read more: Get personal, get job - Boston Business Journal

Relying too much on Internet job boards, and relying too little on networking, can result in prolonged unemployment.
That’s because this is a job market where employers are routinely bombarded with hundreds of inquiries for advertised positions, according to human resources professionals and recruiters.

“A person spending most of their time online looking for a job is going to have a long and painful search,” said Julie Bauke, president of Congruity Career Consulting. “In a tough economy it is hard to stand out by throwing your résumé in that big, black hole because the number of people doing that naturally increases.” And with so many candidates for companies to choose from, Bauke estimates less than 10 percent of people obtain a job advertised online at popular sites such as Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com or TheLadders.com.

Jobs boards are convenient and easy to navigate, but have become a crutch too many job hunters lean on exclusively, said Derek Jackson, managing partner at Summit Solutions Group. “The Internet has become the first place people look, and unfortunately some rely solely on what they find on job postings online or on corporate websites,” Jackson said.
Donna Trainor, human resources manager at Procter & Gamble Co., experiences firsthand the intense competition for positions advertised on the company’s website. “The high volume of applicants and applications we get every year are primarily online, which sometimes make it hard for people to get jobs,” she said.

Internet searches on jobs boards are not necessarily fruitless, but job seekers should spend less time online and invest more in building a network, Jackson said. It is crucial to build a network comprised of colleagues and friends, create profiles on social networking sites such as LinkedIn to connect with other professionals and be purposeful in attempts to reach out to those already in a position to be helpful. “The best and most effective place to find a solid job lead is going to be your network,” Jackson said. “For most people in that professional rank, the majority of them will find their next opportunity through someone in their own network.”

Since a greater emphasis is being placed on the importance of networking, it is critical job seekers project a professional image at all times within their network. “Everyone is basically their own brand right now,” said Cheryl Besl, public relations director at

Topic Design. “You need to be sure that you are conveying an image you want to convey through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or MySpace because an employer is going to Google applicants on those social networking sites.” Besl said an excellent way for professionals to improve their personal brand and network is to volunteer for a worthy cause. “It is expected today that professionals are going to be philanthropic or be on a nonprofit committee,” she said. “And it’s a great chance to network, to expose yourself to new people and maybe even broaden your skill set.”

College job fairs provide an opportunity for soon-to-be or recent graduates to build connections.
“We do a lot of our recruiting on campuses since most of our hiring is done with people fresh out of college, so it would be a great help to network with people from P&G that come to campus to recruit,” Trainor said. Candidates able to establish a relationship inside the organization gain a distinct advantage over the rest of the applicant pool. An overlooked method to initiate contact with a recruiter is a simple telephone call, said Paul Wehner, senior search and leadership consultant at The Human Capital Group and The Taplow Group. “There’s a tendency to over utilize e-mail to communicate with recruiters that are overwhelmed with more e-mails than they can manage,” said Wehner, who is also the staffing and recruiting chair at the

Greater Cincinnati Human Resources Association. “If they’ve contacted me about a position, I’m glad to get their phone call as opposed to getting three e-mails. I think the world has become over focused on e-mail as a way of communicating and under focused on use of their phone.” Jackson suggests that after job seekers learn the identity of the recruiter filling a position, they leverage a network contact at that firm who can place a phone call, send a message via e-mail or personally visit human resources to make a recommendation on behalf of the candidate.
“It comes as a great comfort to a hiring manager when someone you know and trust recommends a candidate,” Jackson said. “Internal recruiters are more open to looking closer at that candidate based on the fact that top talent doesn’t recommend anything other than that, so there’s a lot of credibility in that network.”
“The people who already know you, and at least think somewhat highly of you, are the people invested in helping and will speak positively on your behalf,” Bauke said.


Read more: Get personal, get job - Boston Business Journal