CAREER BLOG & TIPS

Career Advice:How to Handle Losing Your Job

Nearly 2.7 million jobs were lost during 2008, the highest yearly total since
the end of World War II in 1945. We constantly are inundated with doom and
gloom.  Each month major corporations announce job cuts and it seems
that there is no end in sight.  The good news is there are signs there is a
turnaround.  

How do you handle the situation if you were one of these displaced
workers?  We receive hundreds of calls each day from career seekers who
share their feelings of betrayal, anxiety and are experiencing lots of stress
due to losing their jobs.  We have been told that this is in many cases
leading to an increase in unhealthy coping behaviors, such as an increase
in alcohol consumption, unhealthy eating and worse sleeping habits than
when they were working.  We have some advice we would like to offer from
all of these conversations and the recent events:

• Do not feel shamed or as if there is something wrong with you.  You have to
remember this is a normal business cycle in the economy, just a more
intense cycle in a shorter period of time.  You are not alone!
• Find a support group, (come share on our blog) even if it's just an informal
group of friends or acquaintances.  Blogs are a great way to share and bare
your soul while remaining anonymous;
• Seek employment counseling when available and ask questions and be
willing to answer them;
• Be professional in your job hunt – be serious about it NETWORK,
NETWORK, NETWORK;
Networking may mean:  Attending Career Fairs, Considering Internships,
Consider Volunteer Work at a company
• Take time to exercise during hard times – this can relieve stress and
redirect it to a positive place;
• Spend valuable time with your family and appreciate and value the little
things.

On a more practical note, you should also contact your creditors to let them
know the situation. You may also want to consider doing volunteer work and
to cultivate a spirit of “optimism" by helping others.
Bad times like these pass, and it's sometimes hard to see that when you're
in the thick of challenging times.  Work on regaining confidence and a
feeling of optimism.   

The worst thing you can do is get caught up in the doom and gloom, and we
need to hold on to the fact that lots of people are working and many
companies are still hiring despite what you hear!
Send your questions:  info@nationwidejobfairs.com


Career Tips: Changing Careers – Some Steps to Ensure Success

Given these turbulent times, we may sometimes ponder the thought, am I in
the right industry?  Does my job description really define me?  Do I want to
do this for perhaps the rest of my working career?   Many of us have these
thoughts at times and a faltering economy that has given us turbulent times
like these sometimes forces us to, “wake up and smell the reality”.  While no
one person can reasonably believe that there is a perfect job or profession,
some research has shown that if you enjoy what you do, you will do it with
more vigor and it won’t be a drain on you and your psyche.

Step 1: Evaluate the Status Quo:
Behavioralists will tell you that you are most probably deflecting a more core
issue such as geography, hours, commute, not enough time with your kids
or other external factors that do need to be considered.  Especially when in
most cases your new career may having you commuting at the same times
on the same roads to a similar building, will that have an effect on you?  
These are points that need to be considered so that it is not more of a
behavioral issue but rather the rationale letting you know it is time to move
on in your career.

So you have done your soul searching and realized a career move is in
order.  What is next?

Step 2:  Get Your Paperwork in Order
So what do I mean by paperwork, well all of the documents you share with
others, i.e., your future employer in the form of a resume, cover letter,
curriculum vitae or other salient documents that are required for the new
field you are considering or about to enter.  Being in the recruiting industry for
as long as I have been, I know that once a professional has reached a
certain level in corporate America, they have seen many aspects of
business.  I always advice career seekers that seek my advice to consider
creating a few versions of whom they are (resumes) so that they can
respond to each and every job posting they submit to with the appropriate
background and experience for that particular job/industry.  Many career
seekers cannot understand this approach so then I ask them are you only
one dimensional to which of course I get a reply of no, multi-dimensional, to
which I reply, then tell them so.

Step 3: Take ACTION!
In the sense of the part of speech being a verb!  Many of us contemplate and
then get overwhelmed with regret, fear, consternation or whatever
description you want to give for not taking ACTION!
What steps do you take, how do you do this.  You put together simply a brief
checklist of what you want to do and when and why and how and how much
literally.  You will never attain without putting in the effort, so go ahead and
get your action plan in place.  

I would consider almost completing a marketing plan about yourself.  We do
so much for our employers but never take the time to take a personal
inventory of who we are and what we really want for our careers.  This is the
time to do that.  Remember, a journey of a thousand miles begins with the
first step.
Send  your questions:  info@nationwidejobfairs.com

CAREER SEEKER QUESTION:  I have posted my resume on many job boards
but I am not getting any companies contacting me. I am worried that with so
many resumes mine is getting lost, any advice on what I can do?
Susan

CAREER BLOG RESPONSE: Susan, with unemployment at such a high rate
many job boards are flooded with resumes and so are corporate websites.  I
recommend the following two tips:

First, when company recruiters’ review resumes they do a search using “key
words” and view the most recent. Why? The most recent resumes allow the
recruiters to contact only current career seekers. When a resume is on a job
board for over 2 months, for example, a recruiter may contact this person
only to find that they are already employed, thus wasting time.   My advice is
that you update and/or re- upload your resume weekly.   I know it takes time
but this will ensure that your resume is always in the most recent category.
In addition, I advice you to upload it in NICHE job boards that provide you
with competitive advantage. Some suggestions are: LATCareers.com for
bilingual Latino career seekers, Bilingualdiversity.com is for diversity career
seekers and Salesforce.com for those career seekers  in sales and sales
management positions.

Finally, I advice you to use key words efficiently. Many career seekers do not
use efficient key words. In the heading of your resume use key words that
define your background: Example, Office Assistant, Accountant, Experienced
Manager, etc.   Try not to waste your keywords by adding things like:
motivated, energetic, etc.   See my blog in Key words for reasons and tips.

Contact : info@nationwidejobfairs.com


CAREER BLOG ARTICLE:  Tailor your resume for a machine to read
because, humans no longer read them……

I remember back in the days when getting a job meant going to the career
center at the University and faxing my resume to a number provided on each
job opportunity bulletin which was listed right next to the contact name and
the person’s phone number. I would then follow up with a phone call and
soon after I would get my interview. Then came the machine (aka, the
computer) and things have changed in most cases…..forever. Humans no
longer read the resumes and forget about calling and trying to speak to a
recruiter, it would take you a 1-800 number and three department transfers
before you get the job line (another machine). With unemployment as high
as 11 to 14% in some locations, and the majority of us looking for career
opportunities, it seems like getting your resume to be read by a human is
merely impossible.

The moral of the story is that if the reality is that you will no longer interface
with a human but instead a machine, you have to gear your resume to get
noticed by the machine and have it get into the hands of the recruiter to call
you for that all important interview. It is a process like so much of the things
in life, but understanding this process and gearing your resume to the
machine, is just how it is done nowadays. So what do I mean by this, well it
is simple…..KEY WORDS! You may have heard this before, but the fact is it
is the reality and too many of us have these great sounding resumes with all
of these outstanding superlatives and adjectives to describe how gifted we
are, but very few KEY WORDS that the machine will pick up on!

Then now is the time that we must understand how the machine works in
order to beat it, otherwise it will beat our spirits and we will be defeated yet
once again by the machine. It makes sense that there are thousands and
thousands of resumes being submitted to job boards and corporate
websites as there are as many career seekers unemployed. Human
Resource departments and Recruiters require the help of a machine to sort
out resumes of career seekers that closely match the needs of a particular
position.  The bottom line is that your resume will be read by a machine
before it ever gets to be read by a human, that’s assuming it gets that far.
How do you ensure it does?

Here are some ways you can ensure that your resume is read by both
machine and then by the Human:

1.       KEY WORDS, a recruiter will first “search” in their website databases
or job board databases using words that associate a resume with a position
or better yet a job description. These key words will eliminate resumes and
will only identify and sort out those that make sense for the job description.
Herein lies the conundrum to having your resume almost sound like the job
description when in fact that is all the machine and the human (recruiter) are
matching your background. Here is where you must tailor your resume to be
read by the machine. When naming your resume don’t waste your key words
using your name or a fancy title, instead fill in as many words that describe
your professional background, here are two examples:

a.       if you are an accountant use: Accountant, CPA, Excel, Quickbooks,
Payroll, Accounts Payable.    Rule here: Even though you do not have a CPA
yet, you can still put in CPA as in you are studying for your CPA or you are
gathering experience to attain one. The machine only picks up on CPA and
will flag your resume to be read by the HUMAN.
b.      If you are a customer service professional use: Customer service,
bilingual customer service, Spanish/English, retail sales, sales support,
client relations, kiosk experience, team building, communication.   

2.       JOB FAIRS, recruiters often attend career fairs to recruit career seekers
for a department or multiple departments in their companies or to recruit for
immediate or positions opening up. These Job Fairs or Career Fairs should
be a must for anyone that wants to have their resumes read by a Human.
This is probably the best means to bypass the machine! You will be
bypassing the machine by having the immediate opportunity to sell your
abilities and skills directly to the recruiter. Most recruiters will write notes on
the back of your resume and some will even interview you at the fair. In many
occasions, we find that recruiters will go back to their offices and review the
resumes with the rest of the recruitment team, they will then contact you via
email or phone and request that you submit your resume on their website.
When they take the time to contact you, in many occasions they will FLAG
your resume or identify it as “possible” and they may send it off to managers
at other departments. This is how your resume will get read by a HUMAN.
We live in a time when machines are running our lives and in some cases
like getting a career opportunity, the machine may hinder this if we do not
understand how have them work for us and to use them. To get your resume
read by the Human, use the machine effectively so that the next time a
recruiter searches in a database your resume is not missed and you will get
the call for the interview! Good Luck!

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