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Whether you run a small storefront business or a large corporation, or are looking for a job or a career change, the power of networking can unlock startling opportunities and bring new business or unexpected professional options. Learning from two successful Latinas who have built their careers through their networking skills could give you easy ideas to follow and help you find your own networking style.

Are you a people person?
As in every aspect of their business or career, Latinas have opt

Higher education has always been the responsibility of students and colleges, but lately businesses have started paying special attention to the numbers of graduates – or lack thereof – in the United States.

Recently, the issue in California was highlighted with Campaign for College Opportunity’s “The State of Latinos in Higher Education” study. In a nutshell, the report reveals not only that Latinos are lagging behind other ethnicities when it comes to graduating from college, but that the sta

Is 2014 going to be the year you finally land your dream job? With budgets evaluated and annual goals set, many employers are ready to welcome a crop of new team members to start the year off right. If you want to get a jump on the competition and wow the hiring managers at your next job interview, follow these six resume and interviewing tips from career experts:

Have a stand-out resume
All job seekers know that impressive qualifications on their resumes will help them stand out to a hiring ma

Latinos in America are generally optimistic about the future, despite still facing challenges such as discrimination and concerns over job security and personal finances, according to a report released Tuesday.

NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health polled nearly 1,500 Latino Americans on topics including education, finances, religion, health and jobs. More than half, or 52 percent, stated no preference on being called “Latino” or “Hispanic.”

About 44 pe

A line forms every morning at the counter inside of La Oaxaquena Bakery where the fresh baked conchas, chilindrina and empanadas smell way too good to pass up.

Ramiro Vasquez opened the bakery in the heart of the busy SW 29 business corridor about five years ago and the majority of his regulars are Hispanics.

“I think Oklahoma is one of the cities that has big potential for Hispanics,” said Vasquez, 42. “It's a city that is growing right now.” READ MORE

For many companies, the Hispanic market means a significant opportunity to expand their business. However, others think it would mean more work on their end, so why bother — but they don’t realize how much profit they’re leaving on the table.

As your business market evolves, your company will start maturing and you’ll begin to encounter the growth limit of your original market. To help your business survive and gain a considerable edge on your competition, it is vital to implement a smart growt

Now that it’s a publicly traded company, Twitter is looking to target its black and Hispanic users to generate advertising revenue.

Twitter has been relatively mum about its demographics, especially since users aren’t required to fill out their race or ethnicity in their profile. But compared to the internet as a whole, Twitter boasts more user diversity and interactivity, with 20% more ethnic minority users. It has nearly twice as many black users than Facebook, according to a recent Pew study

There is a big financial opportunity out there. You just need to know a few facts to tap into it more efficiently.
According to the latest Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. report survey, 48.7 percent of Latino households were “unbanked” or “under-banked.” This means those families have never had an interaction with a financial institution or they have poor access to mainstream financial services normally offered by retail banks.
Since Hispanics are the fastest-growing consumer market in the U.S.

Let's start off with a scary statistic.

A 2009 report published by the Pew Hispanic Center shows that the median net worth of Latinos in this country was just over $6,000. That means half of us have more than that in ‘wealth’ and half of us have less. That’s not a lot of safety net, cushion or ability to leave a legacy for us as a Latino community.

But in order to begin understanding how to accumulate wealth – it's imperative to understand what wealth is.

A good place to start understanding wha

When was the last time you updated your résumé? If it was less than a year ago, you're in the minority: According to recent research by recruitment firm HiringSolved, just a quarter of Americans refresh their résumé more than once a year, and nearly 40 percent say they never update it. That's because they probably don't need to.

"Gone are the days of feverishly updating your résumé and applying to job after job," said Shon Burton, CEO of HiringSolved. "Today's top candidates are much more... RE

For over a decade, Hispanics have been the largest minority in the U.S. This group will represent the largest component of the workforce in California as early as next year. By 2050, Hispanics will represent over half of the nation’s workforce.

Obviously, this cohort is likely to be an important source of talent for major corporations over the years ahead. Not only will they represent a significant proportion of the incoming workforce, but my research shows that they are particularly likely to

Maria Contreras-Sweet long has championed the cause of empowerment for women, describing herself as the product of a strong mother and grandmother.

She has also tried to be an example of what she stands for – breaking barriers, founding organizations and business enterprises aimed at helping women and Latinos realize their dreams.

Now Contreras-Sweet has reached a new and important milestone.

President Barack Obama nominated her on Wednesday to head the Small Business Administration.

If the Sen

The new year is all about reinvention, and what better way to remake oneself than with a new job? The best way to successfully find a new job is to know what jobs are most in demand, and where the competition for those gigs is least intense. Jacob Bollinger, a Senior Data Scientist with Bright.com took the trouble of sifting through more than 70 million job postings, as well as information on job applicants found on sites like Bright.com, to create a picture of the job market in 2014. Here are

Experts foresee the job market being more competitive than ever in 2014. With 10.9 million Americans unemployed, it is important to take a fresh look at your job search strategy. Now is the perfect time to develop an effective plan for success.

How can you set yourself apart from the competition and position yourself for finding the best next step in your career?

Here are seven tips to help you refresh and refocus your job search in 2014:

1. Don't be a copycat candidate. Job searches are a very

OK, you’ve been looking for a new job for a while, doing what all career specialists say you should: networking. You attend events, hand out business cards, and try to make as many connections as you can that might lead to a job.

But it’s not working. Few interviews. No job offers. And sometimes not even an acknowledgment of follow-up e-mails after a networking event.

Career and human resource specialists say they meet a lot of frustrated job seekers who spin their wheels while networking. The

Instead of making and breaking your new year's resolution, approach the new year with a new method of making improvements to your life and career. Only 8 percent of Americans actually achieve their new year's goals, according to a recent study by University of Scranton.

Here are some ideas to help you establish habits that will stick, and maintain focus for the best year ever.

Revel in the glory. Maybe last year was great. If you had a stellar year and met all your quotas, or most of them, docu

Nearly half the Latinos who graduated from California’s top high schools went to community college, unlike Asian-Americans and non-Hispanic whites and blacks, who had majorities attend four-year higher-ed institutions, the Southern California Public Radio reported.

The radio station noted that 46 percent of Latinos who graduated from top-ranked high schools enrolled in community college, compared with 19 percent of Asian-Americans, 23 percent of blacks and 27 percent of whites.

Community colleg

When I first moved to Houston in 1981, it was pretty much a good ol' boy town. But about a year later, Kathy Whitmire was elected mayor — and the city has never been the same since. Now, in 2012, Houston again has a female mayor and a deep bench of women leaders in almost every area of city life. Even though few Houston women are ranked among the city's highest paid executives, there are female decision makers at every level of government, business and education.

That point was brought home to

When you’re on the hunt for a new job, I’d argue that having an optimized LinkedIn profile should be one of your top priorities. Most of the other social networks – Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. – pale in comparison when it comes to your job search opportunities. Here are some simple ways to optimize your LinkedIn profile for optimal job search effectiveness:

1. Update Your Personal URL

Already have a LinkedIn Profile? Well done! Now it’s time to go a step further and personalize your Link

People are always looking for ways to get better at selling. After all, developing your sales skills is as good as money in the bank! But for every good piece of sales advice out there, there are two crazy or downright wrong ones.

Here are six classic sales tips that won’t let you down.

1. Get criticism
Either record yourself and review the video, or have someone watch your pitch and critique it. This way, you’ll get a clear look at how your pitch is received, and some mannerisms you might not