Job Seeking Today
Jobseekers’ Perspective
How to Avoid the Job Search Doldrums
Searching for a job can sometimes feel like treading through quicksand. It can take the energy out of you rather quickly, if you’re not careful. I still remember an email of a long-term unemployed client of mine a couple years back: “Kim, I wax weary. I might as well quit fooling myself and give up. … Continue reading
Over 50 and Can’t Find a Job? Is It You?
Finding a job if you’re over 50 will take a bit longer than for the job seeking public at large: according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average time it takes a person to find a job as of April 2014 is 35 weeks; if you’re over 45, the average is 49 weeks. Now … 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
3 Positives to Remember After a Job Rejection
“Sorry, we decided to go with someone else.” Those words usually stab the heart with all the subtlety of a dagger. I remember getting them well, especially after an unusually long and hope-filled interview process with one insurance company I had applied with. They were hiring a business continuity planner. I had the qualifications and … Continue reading
Benefits of Hiring “Over 50” Workers
A jobseeker who had attended one of my workshops sent me a list of the benefits of hiring “more mature” workers, and I thought I’d like to share this. Thanks to Sharon Hollen for this list. Benefits of “most” over 50 workers: Can go all day without looking at cell phone (other than lunch time.) … Continue reading
Personality Tests
I met with a jobseeker today who showed me the results of a personality test he had recently taken while applying for a sales job. It was well-worded, concise in its findings, and presented him quite clearly as an outgoing and social person with high standards in excellence and a strong moral compass. Perhaps that is why he … Continue reading
Have a Plan
I received a layoff notice last week. June 30 was the last day of the 2011 – 2013 biennium for which the State of Washington had their operational budget. Their new budget was supposed to be agreed upon by April of this year, but it wasn’t. If an operational budget for our state was not … Continue reading
The One-Word Key to Job Search Success
Having worked in job training and employment for over 11 years, I have observed how the job search has changed with technology, the economy, and a variety of other influencing factors, but one thing I noticed has been a constant in job search success. It was something I noticed from the first, and yet it is … Continue reading
The Eeyore Syndrome
“May I never miss a sunset or a rainbow because I am looking down. “ ~Sara June Parker As the economy and employment improves (slowly but surely), I am noticing something of a dichotomy developing in the customers we see: first, there are the newly-unemployed (having become so within the last one or two weeks), and those … Continue reading
How our Recent Recession was a Blessing to Jobseekers
The Great Recession of 2008, as it seems to now be known, took a heavy toll on workers as millions were laid off or otherwise found themselves jobless—some for the first time in decades. Following the old adage, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger,” I’d like to point out that coming out … Continue reading
Job Seeking Today 