Job Seeking Today
Job Search Tips
How Do You Tell a Potential Employer You Were Fired?
Were you fired from your last job? Not sure how to address this to future employers? You’re not alone. Several years ago I left a job under less-than-ideal circumstances. It was a complicated situation, and for several months I sweated over how to explain the circumstances about why I left my last job to future … Continue reading
Overestimating the Value of Experience
I taught a mature jobseekers workshop earlier this week in which quite a discussion ensued regarding a person’s work experience. Why would an employer not want to hire me? I have 24 years of experience, I know what the employer needs, and if I’m that qualified, they should be banging down my door! It does seem … Continue reading
“Jobseeker Beware”: Tips to Protect Yourself From Employment Scams
Unemployed workers have become targets for scams of all sorts, mostly because it’s a vulnerable population that is more likely to eagerly respond to crooked dealings posed as attractive offers. Here are some of the most common threats targeting unemployed workers: Bogus Work-At-Home Schemes Cons are taking advantage of the unemployed by offering the chance … Continue reading
How to Attract an Employer
A mature jobseekers workshop I teach warns attendees not to overestimate the value of experience. We come from a time where experience means value. These days “experience” means COST: how much would an employer be out by hiring you? An employer is most concerned about risk: if you’re hired and don’t work out (for whatever … Continue reading
Want an Interview? Have You Considered Informational Interviews?
Have you (the jobseeker) ever said to yourself, “If only I could get myself in front of a hiring manager I could get that job!”? Have you cursed those time-consuming ether-bound applications that you never hear back on? Have you found a place you’d love to work but don’t have any connections inside to pull … Continue reading
6 Signs of a Bad Hire – Make Sure You’re Not One!
With employers, recruiting is all about two things: COST and RISK: the cost of the recruitment and the risk that you won’t work out. According to National Business Research Institute (NBRI), a bad hire can set an employer back from $25,000 to $300,000! (Yes, that’s a lot of zeros.) The five main factors to help … Continue reading
4 Killer Marketing Quick Fixes for Job Hunters
These days looking for a job is less about the traditional “pounding the pavement” and more about marketing yourself. Now unless you have worked as a full time marketer, you probably know as little about marketing as I did when I was looking for a job. That was 5 years ago, and things have changed … Continue reading
Presenting Yourself to Employers: A Novel Approach
It’s election season again. I can tell that because yesterday I found my local voter’s pamphlet and a ballot in my mailbox. The county in which I live is preparing for Primary and Special Elections, from what the pamphlet says. To be totally honest, I don’t really follow those things very much– probably not as … Continue reading
The Importance of a Professional Email
Sounds like a silly topic, right? In my years as a career counselor I have seen the gamut of off-the-wall email addresses: lazyboy@… NotATaxi@… IDriveKidsCrazy@… YourBugaboo@… Parrothead@… CyclingChef@… ILoveMyGodson@… StinkyDog@… And my all-time favorite: NoOneHasThisNameSoHa@… Probably not a good idea to send a resume with the email LazyBoy@email.com on it! A coworker tells the … Continue reading
Body Language! (i.e. are you saying more than you think you are??)
I taught resume writing and targeting today in a daylong series of workshops called the Hiring Academy. There was one student there that I got a negative vibe from. It wasn’t from the questions that he asked, or in the tone of voice in which he asked them, but in the attitude of his … Continue reading
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