Doing This One Simple Thing Will Ensure Your Cover Letter Is Actually Read

Ah, the dreaded cover letter.  I’m not going to use this post to defend or debate one.  But what I AM going to tell you is that if you spent the time writing one, it could very easily get overlooked.  EVEN if the company required it.  Why is that? 

Take note of this very important detail: 

When you apply through a jobsite and are asked to upload your resume and cover letter, are you uploading two separate files, or one file that includes both documents? 

Here’s what happens in the company’s recruiting system when you upload two separate files.  First, you and 100 other people applied to this job, meaning there could very easily be 200 files for the recruiter to open and read through.  Chances are the recruiter is going to go straight to the resume since that’s been the standard way to represent oneself. 

Then, the recruiter may or may not also open, read, and save your cover letter to their files.  And even if they do, your cover letter might not get submitted to the hiring manager with the resume.  Inadvertently, due to the sheer volume of files.

If you wrote a kickass cover letter straight from your heart, then make sure you do this one simple thing:

Save your cover letter and resume into ONE pdf file and title it, “[your name] Resume & Cover Letter”.  In that order.  Then, in the pdf file, make page 1 your cover letter and page 2 your resume. 

Ok, but that’s flip-flopped, you say.  Yes.  Intentionally. 

First, the recruiter’s eyes will automatically be drawn to the filename's first word, “Resume.”  That’s what they really want to see.  Then, upon opening the file, the recruiter’s eyes will go to page one, which happens to be your cover letter.  This will force them to at least take a glance through your letter while they scroll through to page two, your resume.

What if the company requires two separate file uploads on the application site?  Still, do the above.  Merge both cover letter and resume into one file like I advised above, then upload into the "Resume" upload box.  Then upload your cover letter into the "Cover Letter" upload box, if this is required.  So your cover letter is in theory uploaded twice?  Big deal.  Doing this will guarantee that both documents you worked so hard on will make their way through the recruiter’s review AND the hiring team's review, no matter what. 

Give it a try, you’ve got nothing to lose!

-Kristin

A Letter to Childhood Me, And Every Other Kid Who Doesn't Yet Know Social Media

Dear Younger Me,

You’re going to have some tough years ahead of you.  Right now, as a child, you believe you can conquer the world, and for starters, you're doing great so far!  You get good grades in school, you've stayed extremely athletic and fit thanks to mom's obsession with the gym.  You eat anything and everything and (ahem, just a heads up) those eating habits are most definitely NOT going to change. 

But the coolest thing about you, young K, is that you’re 10 years old and you believe you can do ANYTHING!  You don't look sideways for approval, you just do it!  You believe you can be anything you want to be.  You took those teachings all throughout your elementary years to heart.  You had a dream, maybe too many at times, and next thing you know, Mom and Dad are looking behind them like, holy smokes did she just do that??

But it ain't always going to be that easy.  Right now you have total confidence in yourself because it’s 1994 and your life consists of you, your family, and your circle of friends.  You know, the people you see and converse with every day. 

But in a decade or two we're going to go through a tech boom and suddenly the entire world will be at your fingertips. 

Sounds cool, right?  It is. 

But it's also going to test the waters of your life.  Because you'll have access to everyone else's lives at the same time.  In fact, everyone will be able to see everyone always!  Isn’t that nuts??  

But you must be careful.  Because you'll start looking at other people's lives a little too much, finding yourself oooohing and ahhhing at how pretty their pictures are, how successful they seem to be. 

You might find yourself scratching your head in confusion, looking at them and wondering, how?  Given how hard you work, why aren’t you seeing rapid success?  And sadly after some time goes by, little K, you might start to think less of yourself. 

You know you’re entrepreneurial now.  You’re 10 years old and you already have tons of great ideas spinning in your head.  You even took first place in the school science fair!  You KNOW the strength and dedication it takes to achieve what you’ve achieved even as just a kid.  Two pats on your back kiddo.

So do you think it’ll get easier as an adult?  Logically no, right?  How would that even be possible? 

Yet you’re going to see in pictures and videos that so many people seem to get so successful overnight so easily!  Do you think acting on an idea or building a business means you either get successful overnight, or it’s a bust? 

Ha!  You’re giggling little K.  That’s silly talk, isn’t it?  Well get ready.  Brace yourself.  Because in a decade or two that’s how oh so many people will choose to see things.  And when they exert a little effort and don’t find instant gratification, money, fame, or fortune overnight, they will literally beat the living sh—out of themselves and call themselves a failure.  

Isn’t that crazy??

Yes, it will be just that ridiculous! 

You will also get bombarded with email subscriptions on how to gain massive followings, money, and fame in as little as 30 days!  Step by step plans on how to build your business and 10x your revenue!  Your mouth will be drooling because you’ll think to yourself AHA! THAT is the missing piece!  The answers to my problems! 

You’ll spend the money, you’ll learn a ton, you’ll take notes, and then you’ll lose them.  You’ll gain momentum and then get sidetracked and feel like you’ve failed.  If you’re “lucky”, you’ll gain a loyal following who loves you for you.  And that part is awesome.  But you’ll also lose consistency, and potentially your following, if you allow your mind to get sidetracked in a million directions. 

It will be tough for you because you have the mind of a creator.  You can’t sit still.  You never have.  Complacent is the adjective that you shun.  But one day you will come across a genius concept called, “The One Thing.”  Where the greatest lesson you’ll learn is that you cannot catch a single rabbit by chasing after two at the same time. 

You’ll have to force yourself to focus on achieving one thing at a time.  There is NOTHING wrong with that.  You want to see success, right?  You’re just a kid and you already know how to achieve that.

You turn your head away from the distractions.  You write your goal in massive letters and hang it in front of your face at all times.  And when your creative mind thinks up many more amazing ideas, you will add them to a notebook and stow it away, only to be taken out once you’ve completed and achieved your previous goal. 

You will dedicate all your time and effort into achieving that one thing.  You know the time and commitment it takes.  You’ve already done this as a kid.  And you’ll need to remember that the exact same thing holds true, even 20 years from now when you see pictures of people achieving “instant success.”

So Younger Me, don’t be a silly-minded adult. 

Don’t be like the million other people will be in 2020, beating themselves up for not living as glamorously as the stranger on their Instafeed.

Don’t be an unrealistic fool.

Turn it off.  Ignore it all.  Listen to yourself.  The feelings and thoughts that jolt you awake in the middle of the night, THOSE are the ones you must listen to.  Those are coming straight from your divine creator, reminding you of your purpose. 

You must take those thoughts, those ideas, and get up the next morning and figure out a game plan to make them your reality.

Social media will most definitely NOT get you a game plan.  We already went over what social media WLIL do for you.  Goal setting and execution plans are not part of social media feeds’ agendas.

YOU think through your game plan.  And if you need help, you go knock on the door of the old gentleman or lady down the street from you.  The one who built their business from scratch in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and you ask them how they did it.  How they stayed focused, how they believed in themselves, how they maintained their grit, stamina, beliefs, and confidence, and you do EXACTLY what they advise you to do. 

After you’ve done that, THEN you go onto social media and you find someone who will handle the marketing for you.  Because you must understand, social media WILL become the greatest advertising mechanism of all time.  It’s insanely efficient, you can target with precision, and it barely costs a dime.  It’s one of the greatest things that will hit our time. 

But you must know its place in your life.  Use it appropriately. 

It’s 1994 kid.  You already know TV commercials are staged with a purpose.  Remember this always.

-Adult Me

Internal Promotions: Why Some People Get Them, And Why Others Don't

So you work for a company, you’ve been in role for a bit of time, and perhaps lately you’ve been going home at night, a bit frustrated because you know that you’re capable of more.  You hear about a position opening up in your company and you think to yourself, “I could totally do that.” 

You picture your coworkers’ resumes and convince yourself that you have so much more experience than them.  I mean, just think about all of the extra work you’ve done this year, how many late nights you’ve put in, and all of the compliments you’ve received from your manager.  Surely if anyone is fit for a promotion or new opportunity it’s you, right?   

Ok cool.  I’ve been there.  And as a recruiter, I’ve spoken with hundreds of employees who have been there themselves.  And over time, I’ve noticed six very common trends among those employees who actually get the promotion versus those who don’t. 

Trend #1: They Are Open & Communicative

Open communication photo from Unsplash

From. Day. One.  This type of person takes the time to deeply think out their hopes and dreams and has completely open, professional lines of communication with their boss about these ambitions, because it’s that important to them (as it should be). 

This starts with setting serious time aside during that goal-setting period at the beginning of each year and (very important) at least quarterly throughout the year to meet with their manager on how their current job is aligning to their goals.  If there are gaps, these types of people research and discuss certain project ideas that could help get them back on track.  These types of people know they own their careers and will speak up and ask their managers when they need support.

Trend #2: They Are Very Honest With Themselves

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

This is interesting because unbeknownst to many folks, we (interviewers) and hiring managers can actually tell with good accuracy and precision how much you really want (or don’t want) the job.  Are you interviewing for that promotion because it’s the obvious next step with your typical career path, or perhaps because you’ve put in so much time and “deserve it?”  Or, are you interviewing because you really want this particular job? 

Allow me to share a personal story.  Almost two years ago, I sat down with our CAO who had hired me and I told him, in the most professional way possible, that I wasn’t happy.  It wasn’t the job.  It wasn’t the team.  It was the fact that I truly felt I was in a position where the best version of me wasn’t being utilized.    

Now, that was highly summarized for the sake of this blog post, but did I rush into this conversation with the CAO?  Heck no.  I spent a couple months trying to figure myself out first.  Specifically, what made me unique, what part of my job did I love, and what part just didn’t feel like me.  And only after figuring myself out first, did I go to him with a few possible solutions.  I did NOT go to him to vent.  That’s simply unprofessional.  I went to him with my situation, some specific examples, and proposed a few solutions on how I thought I could bring more value to our company.        

Your #1 goal should be to always WANT the best version of yourself to go to work each day.  So think about what really makes you happy, what makes you tick, where your current job falls on that scale, and where this “next step” that you’re going for puts you on that scale.  Then, go back to #1 above and have an open, honest conversation with your manager.

Trend #3: They Put Themselves Out There Early On

I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to develop good, lasting relationships with everyone you meet.  You simply cannot wait to start networking with people only when you need them the most.  Why?  Because there are probably ten people who have already started that networking well before you, knowing that one day they could leverage these relationships to help get them to that next step in their career.  

This isn’t using and schmoozing people.  It’s simply introducing yourself, learning about others, letting them know who you are, what you do, and what your goals are.  It again goes back to developing and maintaining open lines of communication and good relationships.  

Trend #4: They Start Acting In-Role

How to get promoted. Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

Adding to #3 above, these people will simply ask if they can volunteer their skills and passions to start gaining some experience in the role they are eventually hoping to be in.  This is a must, especially if you’re trying to move into a role whose scope, functionally, is quite different than your two most recent positions. 

Why do I say most recent positions?  So ten years ago you were in a similar role to the one you’re trying for now.  Surely you’re qualified, right?  Perhaps qualified, but not COMPETITIVE.  Things change at rapid speed these days which is why a hiring manager will want to focus in on your RECENT experience and how quickly that can translate over to their requirements. 

So my best advice to you is to ask for stretch assignments in this space and volunteer your time on projects so managers can demo your capabilities without having to take on the risk of hiring you full-time.  Yes, this is in addition to your current job, and yes, you’re probably like “Volunteer my time? What time??”  Unfortunately, you’ll need to figure out how to make time.  And the easiest way to do this all goes back to #1 above.  Have an open conversation with your manager to see how you might be able to shift work around to fit some side projects into your schedule.   

Trend #5: They Are Grateful for Everything

Happy Coworkers by Ali Yahya on Unsplash

This sounds silly, but I’m speaking facts because I’ve seen and heard it a hundred times.  There is a distinct difference in character in those who get that next opportunity and those who don’t.  Those who do are grateful for every piece of experience, even if it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.  They have an attitude of gratitude.  If something doesn’t go their way, they don’t see themselves as victims of unfair circumstance x, y, or z.  They appreciate everything, big or small, pleasant or tough.

So how, you might wonder, does this translate to actually making any sort of difference in reality?  Well for starters, these types of people are just more pleasant to be around.  They’re uplifting, they’re contagious, and they help bring positive light to any situation at hand.  Who wouldn’t want someone like that on their team? 

Secondly, they see every situation, no matter how crappy, as being a +1 to their life.  A horrible day at work equals just another learning experience to add to their toolkit. 

Contrast that to the victim-mindset where nothing is ever good enough.  Where a horrible day at work equals a “why me” mentality.  Rather than learning from tough circumstances, these types of people choose to spend their energy venting over why those circumstances are happening to them in the first place.

Can you see the difference here?  Don’t beat yourself up if you’re the latter, most of us are.  It’s human nature.  But you’ve heard the phrase “practice an attitude of gratitude.”  And that’s because, frankly, it takes practice.  But look at the difference a simple shift in your reaction can make to your outcomes.  

Trend #6: They Are Never Entitled

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

If you think you will automatically be offered a promotional role because you’ve been on the team, are friends with the hiring manager, or whatever other reason might be floating around in your head, think again.  Because news flash, you are not the only person interviewing for the role. 

The successful person will prepare themselves as much as possible because they know they might not be the only contender. They can’t risk being the silver medalist because they want the job that bad for their career.  Even if by chance they know they are the preferred candidate, they see the opportunity to interview as a learning and development experience.  A way to further refine their presentation skills. 

They come to the table 100% serious and prepared to give it their all.  And that tells the hiring manager that this person can be counted on to always give the job their all, no matter the circumstance. 

In Summary:

These six trends came to me pretty quickly as I was preparing to write this post because I’ve seen over and over again what sets those who move forward apart from those who don’t. 

Now you might think to yourself, “I totally meet all of the above, but I was still rejected!”  And that’s where recruiting is tough, because at the end of the day we could have multiple amazing candidates, but only one person can get the job.  And my best advice to you in that case?  Go back to #1 above on communication and ask for open, honest feedback so you know how to improve for next time. 

If you guys know someone who might benefit from this article I’d love if you could share this with them and your network. Thanks so much for reading!

-Kristin

Coping and Recovering: Following an Accident

At the moment you thought you had your life together; you're succeeding in your career, you’ve just started dating someone great and you’re planning to take a step-up on the property ladder. Then everything is brought to a halt, an accidental injury occurs. It could be whiplash, a sprained ankle, or fatal injuries imminently rendering the next few months of your life turned upside down. Incapable of picking up your life where you left off, opposed to drowning yourself in sorrow and frustration, let the tough times develop you. Once you have mentally accepted the event, there are things you can do to cope and recover, to build a better stronger you during after your injury.

Change Focus

Your mind and/or body are most likely incapable of completing your routine basic and complex tasks, such as; getting ready in the speed of light, power walking to work, handling meeting after meeting with ease, speed and efficiency. This is when it’s time to refocus your energy on you, which means taking time to rest (a lot), slow down, live purposefully, feed your body nutrients and fluid you've been lacking in your busy lifestyle and adopting a relaxed approach to living. The truth is, without your able body and mind, you will no longer be able to do the things you used to unless you take a step back to let yourself heal. You never know, after some refocusing you may choose to give up your old life altogether, and accept a slower way of life dedicated to your health and wellbeing opposed to clocking in overtime at your corporate job.

Ask For Help

Now’s not the time to be prideful, you need your family and friends so don’t be ashamed to ask for and accept help. Think of it as if your mom or best friend had gone through the same thing you are, you would want to help get them back on their feet. Besides, love, support, and company from your loved ones, you will also need experts. Whether hiring a specialist, therapist or physiotherapist, there are an abundance of professionals who can advise you how to recover from your injury and psychological trauma, advise what medication you need, and what stretches and exercises to do in focus of keeping your body flexible and moving.

Above all, providing you can’t work for a short or long period of time, you will likely be missing money that enables you to keep a roof over your head and food in your stomach. Contacting an attorney is in your interests if an injury caused is as a result of an accident that wasn’t your fault. Professional legal advice from an attorney will establish whether you might be liable for compensation, this money will hopefully fill your bank enough to take care of you’re out of work. Bare in mind to choose an attorney that has experience in similar cases to your own. For instance, contact a motorcycle accident lawyer for motorbike incidents, a work-related injury lawyer for an accident that happened at work and so forth.

Following an accident, it’s essential to take a step back and refocus all of your energy on taking care of you, furthermore accepting help from family and the experts who can support or advise you through a difficult time. Together these elements will help you both cope and recover following an accident.

Tired Of The Corporate 9-5? How to Pursue Your Passion

Is the 9-5 corporate grind getting you down? Ok yes, I totally hear ya at times. But, it’s important to remember that before you go making it onto the Top 10 List of “Greatest I Quits Of All Time,” the corporate company you work for DOES in fact pay all of your bills, your medical benefits, and likely provides a much needed service to you or at least someone you know (ahem, Starbucks, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon). So the fact of the matter is, unless you’re swimming in money, you probably need your 9 to 5.

NOW ON THE FLIP SIDE, as long as you wake up, work your 9 to 5 each day, and then come home, go to sleep, and do it all over again tomorrow, well, that is in fact what you’ve set your life up to be, and ALL that you’ve set your life up to be. If you want your circumstances to change, then what you put into each day better change. So rather than flat out quit, perhaps it's time to consider how you can start adding some of the following options instead.

Set up your own company

One way to evade the constraints of a 9-5 corporate job is to step out and set up your own company as an entrepreneur. Then you can have total control over your business's culture and make it as relaxed and as creative as you want. Ha, well that’s obvious. BUT, statistically is it realistic for everyone? Probably not. While this is a VERY oversimplified piece of advice, if there is something that’s been nagging at you that you’re truly passionate about, and you’ve got the drive, then guess what, you CAN in fact make it be just that simple.

Why, how, and what do you mean Kristin? Here’s one thing I’ve learned over the last couple years. You see that last sentence in the paragraph above? Do what you love to do, KEEP DOING what you love to do, and do it BECAUSE you love to do it. Repeat, repeat, repeat. If you are creating something that truly represents you, everyone will admire it and nobody can match it. Repeat, repeat, repeat some more. Do it you because you LOVE to do it, and eventually you’ll start to figure out how and where you can really bring value to others.

Become an artisan

On that note, and also a real departure from the traditional suited and booted 9-5 corporate role (or sneaks in our case, folks), is to become an artisan, someone that makes an elite product usually by hand.

Of course, this can take a significant amount of time to get to a point where you can even earn enough money to live on, let alone match the salary you can expect to see in the corporate world. But like I said above, if it’s a talent of yours, and you really love it, you can set aside say 5-10 hours a week working on this while you keep your day job. Learn how to earn extra money online at the same time while you practice your art. This can help keep you afloat while you establish your businesses and customer base.

And seriously, if you were born and blessed with artistic talent, the world deserves to see it!

Learn a trade

A smart alternative to artisan work is to learn a more traditional hands-on trade such as plumbing, being an electrician, or even a painter. You know, things that every day people need, EVERY DAY! The advantage of these sort of careers is that they tend to pay a lot more than artisan roles, and are in constant demand as well, ensuring that you will get enough business to make a decent profit.

Of course, they are entirely different from the corporate world because you will travel to client locations, and deal with specific and various issues there, most of which will require hands-on work and lateral thinking.

It's also much easier to train in these types of areas as opposed to artisanal pursuits because there are plenty of schools or online resources that offer short courses, allowing you to get up and running quickly.

Help others

It's not that people in the corporate world don't help others. In fact, some roles focus on this, such as human resources and recruitment. Woohoo! (that’s MY 9 to 5). However, how awesome would it be to help others for YOUR cause?

If you are tired of showing up to a job everyday that you don’t feel a tangible connection to, choosing a job where you get to help people for more altruistic reasons can be a much better choice. Start by making a list of everything you love and are passionate about. For example, animals, nutrition, keeping our earth clean, certain vitamins, etc. etc. How could you help contribute to these companies, whether through your time or something else unique your skills and talents could offer them? Start by doing this on a volunteer basis, keep doing it consistently and you’ll get really good at it, and sure enough after a solid, consistent amount of time, I guarantee you someone from these organizations will want to include you on their team in a more formalized manner.

It all starts by you identifying what really makes you happy, and then you getting creative with the skills, talents, and passion that you’ve already got. You will do your best work when you are in love with it. So if that means doing it for a couple hours at night after you’ve already worked a 10 hour day, then it’s still a win-win for you right? Do what can support you, and do what makes you happy. If you can do both of those in one job, then great! If you can do both of those in two jobs, then that’s still great! As long as that happy part is in there, then you’re living a life worth living.

Much love,

Kristin

How to Start Writing In Your Spare Time

When that inkling to write creeps into your heart and mind, that feeling never quite dies. You might graduate college and go a decade into your career, much like myself, but eventually that desire to create expressions through writing will be knocking harder and harder at your insides, so badly wanting to come out.

Let’s face it, writing is the product of SO much passion. When you love to read and create and get lost in an imaginary world, it’s only natural that your mind will often come up with characters and ideas, plots and twists. So whether you were a budding author as a child, or you were someone that just wanted to write features and stories and snippets from your life, you will still have that feeling until you put pen to paper. Or, perhaps more aptly, fingers to keyboard.

So, let’s say you ARE interested in writing in your spare time, maybe even with the intention of turning this into a career. Or selling a story. How do you do it and where do you even start?

First, Just Start

Right now! When you’ve finished reading this post, open up your laptop and just get writing. Brain dump is what I call it. Brain dump whatever it is on your mind and don’t worry a second about grammar or organization. Just let the creativity flow. Getting started is often the hardest part, so if you just do it, you’ve beaten that hurdle.

Set Aside The Time

You’re pumped, you’re motivated on Day 1, but then life takes over again on Day 4, and you stop. Ya’ll, clearly I’ve been mad guilty of this lately. Hence, why I’m writing this post. Find time to write by first determining what’s a doable amount of time to write each day (I did 20 minutes starting out), and then get real with yourself to determine what time of day your brain is most capable of doing this. Perhaps it’s the wee hours of the morning when the world is quiet and it’s just you and your coffee. Or maybe your lunch break when you need to vent about your day. Whenever it is, just schedule it in and make a habit of it. When you’ve got the time set aside for it, you will write.

Kick Into Routine-Mode

You know what they say about the number of days it takes to make a lifelong habit. Do it for those 21 days straight and guess what, writing just became a glorious part of your daily life. Consistency is key to make it big, they say. So make sure you’re being consistent. Again, I have epic-ally FAILED at this recently. Ergo, this is a seriously important reminder on how much you’re capable of achieving when you’re in a routine. AND, the more of a routine you get into with your writing, the easier and more natural it will become.

Take It Seriously!

Like no joke, if you wrote for 20 minutes a day, you are capable of being one hell of a good writer in a matter of months! Umm, hashtag bosscard! And then there may come a time where you feel ready to take this whole writing thing to another level! Maybe you want to look at online jobs from home where you can write to make money and then write in your spare time creatively too. Or, maybe you want to think about getting a pitch together for a book proposal? Umm, my dream! So keep up the consistency and things WILL get serious for you.

Go Big and Without a Care!

Do NOT over-analyze and be hard on yourself. That’s not why you’re writing. You’re writing because you LOVE IT. You’re writing because it’s a God-given TALENT. You’re writing because it releases feelings, emotions, and creativity that make you feel whole each day. THAT is why you’re writing. And when you remind yourself of that each day, you WILL be consistent. And what did we say above? When you stay consistent, you will get really damn good. And when that happens? The possibilities are endless my friend. Go BIG. You deserve to.

-Kristin Leigh

What is a Pinterest Community?

So glad you asked! This feature is literally just days old, right off the presses. (Off the presses - are we even allowed to still use that term? Sad!)

Ok so basically Pinterest Communities are like Facebook groups, BUT BETTER. Here’s why:

1. You are joining a group where your feed is full of beautiful pictures of things YOU care about.

2. You don’t have to sift through everything else you could care less about to get to what you ACTUALLY want to see. (Ahem, Facebook & Instagram)

3. Bye-bye annoying political posts that we’re all sick of seeing. There’s a specific Community for that.

4. Your phone will not be exploding with notifications about literally everything.

5. You can create posts for the group using your own original content, OR you can simply PIN and share other content you love on Pinterest! (Yay, no work!)

6. It’s like Instagram with the pretty pictures, but without the annoyance of fake accounts, follower/like obsessions, AND you don’t have to be the one posting everything, everyone can! (sigh of relief).

7. It’s also better than Instagram because each post contains LINKSSSS! So you can access more information instantly. Praise the lord, hallelujah!

8. There’s way more benefits, I’m literally only 8 hours into using it.

Ok so how do I SEARCH, JOIN, OR CREATE a Pinterest Community?

Literally, the easiest thing ever.

1. First, open your phone’s Pinterest App. Look at the bottom center of your screen. Do you see a Community icon with a heart in the center like below? If not, all you need to do is update the app and then you’ll see it.

2. You have to first JOIN a community in order to be able to CREATE a community (if you so wish to create one).

SEARCH and JOIN communities by clicking that Community icon and inputting your search terms. Or, to make it easier, simply join these two communities right here:

https://www.pinterest.com/community/sneakers/

https://www.pinterest.com/community/career-tips/

3. Now that you’ve joined a Pinterest Community, you can CREATE a Pinterest community in one easy step (if you want to). See that + (plus) sign in the top right corner of my previous screenshot above? Click that to CREATE a new community. And then all you need to do is add three simple pieces of info - Community Name, Description, and a Cover Photo. Voila! You’re now the admin of your new Pinterest Community!

4. Now that you’ve joined a couple communities, feel free to start sharing content! You can upload your own pics OR you can post from pics you’ve already pinned on Pinterest! (This feature is amazing because now YOU don’t always have to be the creator of the content).

Just click the “Write something” field, start writing, and if you want to upload a photo or Pin, just tap that section at the bottom of the screen. And boom, all your recent pins, or your phone’s camera pics, are right there for you to choose from.

And that’s it!! Make sure you join the Sneakers community I just created because I want to meet you and we can share our favorite new kicks!

-Kristin