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Free Webinar
Tuesday, February 16, 2010 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EST
Smart job seekers know the secret to finding a great company to work for is creating an Interview Bucket List (a.k.a. A list of companies that impress them & who they’d like to land an interview with.) And yet, most job seekers don’t know how to go about identifying companies thy can put on that list. Join CAREEREALISM.com founder and nationally syndicated career expert, J.T. O’Donnell, for a session that will teach you how to literally choose the next company you work for.
WHY SHOULD I ATTEND?
Many people find it difficult to seek out and select companies they’d like to work for. This leads them to conduct a reactive job search where they only apply to jobs that are posted. Unfortunately, this can not only increase the length of a job search, it can also decrease the career satisfaction achieved by the job seeker.
O’Donnell will show how an Interview Buckt List is helping savvy job seekers:
A) Uncover job openings that aren’t posted
B) Get an edge over the competition
C) Position themselves to earn more money
D) Help them find greater career happiness
WHAT IF I CAN’T MAKE THE ‘LIVE’ WEBINAR?
No worries! Simply sign-up here and we’ll make sure a recorded version is delivered to you by e-mail the day after the event.
Don’t miss your chance to learn how to conduct a smarter job search using an Interview Bucket List. To register click here.
By Jackie Simmonds, NEJS Blog Editor
Being unemployed provides the time to assess what we really want out of life. This assessment is really critical to focus in on the right career choices and the right company that fits with our lifestyle. As women with families we are often under a great deal of pressure not only to have a stellar career but to be a stellar Mother and wife as well.
As we all know balancing work and family are very difficult, if you have been out of balance in the past now is the time to determine what is most important to you and use it to guide your job search. We will never reach the perfect balance but by carefully selecting our next job we might get just a little bit closer.
Mary Sevinsky posted an article on Careerealism that looks at this issue and offers up some tips that woman can use as a guide in their job search.
By following these tips you will gain clarity in what kind of a job, the level of responsibility, and the type of company that is right for you and your family. For complete listing of tips read Mary’s article.
By Judit Price, MS, CDFI, IJCTC, CCM, CPRW
I recently returned from a series of conferences in which I took the opportunity to meet with recruiters and HR professionals to discuss job trends and hiring practices. While the “old days” of vast opportunity are probably gone forever, companies are hiring. Consequently, I wanted to know what characteristics were considered important when deciding which candidates to interview and subsequently hire.
Needless to say the list is long. Clearly, candidate scrutiny has never been greater with organizational compatibility, strong team capabilities and a capacity to begin producing quickly topping the list. Recruiters and hiring managers will look for some other factors that help determine which candidates “make the cut” as they move through the process.
Relevant experience is the door opener, but the closers certainly include these three important factors.
Starting with the resume, a number of people particularly stressed the importance of demonstrating flexibility in the resume. We live in a very dynamic business environment, subject to enormous competitive stress on a global scale. That calls for an organization that is highly flexible, capable of changing direction quickly to respond to whatever is required to survive and grow. Consequently, finding employees that exhibit these qualities of flexibility, responsiveness and innovativeness is prized. It is important to showcase on the resume accomplishments that demonstrate these areas of concern.
When responding to ads, whether online or not, take a good look at the criteria for the job and respond to the specifics. Response letters filled with vague generalities will not work. I suggest two columns, one labeled “You need” and one labeled “I have”, with a point-by-point response that is easily readable and on target. Job screeners see thousands of inquiry letters and have neither the patience nor endurance to wade through a letter and try to figure out the substance of your response.
» Read more: Interviews: What Recruiters and Other Job Screeners Tell Me
By Corinne Settlow, Certified Career Counselor
Dan Brown, author of “The DaVinci Code,” “Angels & Demons” and his latest novel, “The Lost Symbol” uses gravity boots when his creativity flow is stuck. Says Brown, “Hanging upside down seems to help me solve plot challenges by shifting my entire perspective.”
“…shifting my entire perspective.” Ah, if we could all just hang upside down whenever we’re stuck. Well, most of us don’t have access to gravity boots but we do actually employ various methods of shifting perspective. When playing with a small child, we turn around so our faces are opposite or bend over to look at them through our legs. How about looking at art? Paintings, graphics and photographs can make us tilt our heads one way or the other or adjust our distance to see the image in a different way. Even just looking in the mirror to get ready for the day, we turn our faces and our bodies at numerous angles to see how our hair looks, or makeup, or whether those jeans make our hips look big!
Once we look at something from a shifted perspective we can then make an informed choice. If we scared the child with our face upside down, then we don’t do it again. If the artwork looks good at every angle, we might buy it. If those jeans actually make you look slimmer, you definitely buy them!
It’s the same with searching for work. Doing some assessments to find out what innately interests you, researching an industry or company, getting informational interviews with people in the business you’re investigating, networking with people who already do the work you want to pursue – all present different and valuable perspectives. Perspective is a key element to any kind of creative process, including the journey to a satisfying career.
About Corinne Settlow
Corinne Settlow is a Certified Career Coach with a naturally intuitive sense for people’s potential and a unique understanding of their individual learning styles. Training/coaching has always been an element in her corporate life and has played a big role in her personal life through sports, theatre and music. Combining these experiences with the passion, enjoyment and rewards of helping people achieve their goals makes career coaching her dream job. Corinne’s viewpoint: “There’s opportunity in every direction.”
by Marci Reynolds, CEO of J2B Marketing
Online Branding, Social Media & SEO Educator
One of the keys to success when looking for a new job is focusing on the future . . . the next interview, the next career move. However, there is one area that job seekers must consider, which requires looking back. And, that area is- the legal agreements you signed at your last place of employment.
In particular, I have received questions from job seekers about confidentiality agreements and how these agreements impact what we say, what we blog about and what we include in our online profiles.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Richard Berger, a Boston area attorney who specializes in Employment Law. Richard answered your top 3 questions about confidentiality agreements via video. Just click on the photo below and enjoy!
If you enjoyed this video, you may also be interested in my blog post, “Does Your Online Profile Breach Your Prior Employer’s Confidentiality Agreement?”
» Read more: Job search tips: What You Should Know About Confidentiality Agreements