Archive for Job Search
Successful Marketing Strategies for The Job Seekers
Posted by: | CommentsI have several friends who recently found themselves in the market for a new job – and, fortunately, have successfully landed another job. Watching them through the process, I’ve concluded that finding a job in today’s job market can be like conquering a new frontier – and not just because the job market is flooded with stiff competition. The days of mailing in your resume and receiving a phone call to set up an interview are over. It’s actually very similar to the changes that have been happening in marketing your business. If you want someone to notice you, your business, or your product or service, you can’t do things the same old way. Today, searching for most everything from a new job to a new refrigerator begins – and sometimes ends – online.
Now you need much more than just an experience-filled resume, a cover letter and crossed fingers to land a great job. In order to get noticed, you need to think like a marketer. It requires looking at yourself as a brand that needs to literally grab attention.
Here are 3 quick tips I learned from my friends who went from under-employed to gainfully employed.
What are you worth? The cost of branding you.
Posted by: | Comments“The cost of doing business” speaks for itself. You have to put money out to make money; feed the investment so that it grows becoming lucrative and prosperous. A fundamental basic that business leaders process regularly, right? Absolutely!
Why then do many business professionals treat themselves and their own career marketing tools with substandard expectations? As a career strategist and resume writer, pricing of services is one of the top #3 questions asked of clients. Certainly understandable and always welcome!
If you are willing to spend money on high end clothing, hair salon upkeep or high end handbags, perhaps you may want to redistribute where you are investing your hard earned dollars. Are you buying into someone else’s brand or are you taking care of your own?
While most professionals realize the time, complexity and strategic writing that goes into developing a solid and effective marketing tool, there are always a few folks who see their resumes as a typeset piece of paper tracking the basics of their work history asking, “Why does it cost so much”?
Top 5 Reasons Professionally Written Resumes Cost Money
Give Others the Opportunity to Help You
Posted by: | CommentsI was in Rhode Island last Friday giving a workshop on Promoting Your Brand to Rhode Island Networking to Open Doors to Jobs. I arrived early and was, therefore, able to sit in on the facilitated networking exercise at one table. All of the people at the table were highly qualified and competent individuals who held director or executive level positions before being laid off.
The facilitator at the table asked each person to give a little information about their background, their strengths and expertise, and what kind of position they were seeking. I was impressed how well each person articulated their strengths and what types of companies and jobs they were targeting for employment. Everyone around the table responded enthusiastically with potential contacts and leads for their colleagues.
We worked our way around the table to one woman who told the group that she was an architect and was now in limbo and trying to decide what she wanted to do going forward. She told the group that at this time she was looking for any type of job. Interestingly enough, the group who had previously been so helpful to others, now remained quiet. They simply did not know how to respond.
Don’t Get Flustered, Get Factual
Posted by: | CommentsPost by Frances Cole Jones, contributing Women On Business writer
There appears to be an epidemic of inappropriateness pervading the job interview world these days. Several people I know have gotten questions that left them, literally, speechless—and one wasn’t so much disconcerted by a question as by the manner in which it was asked.
Following, a few suggestions I made for how each of them might have responded. If any of you have additional ideas, I’d love to hear them. (Alternatively, if you’ve been asked anything, or experienced anything, that left you confounded, I’d love to hear those stories, too.)
Q: “Do you know the average age of the people who work in this company?”
This was a question an older client of mine got when she applied for a position in a very youthful organization. While I can only speculate about what the interviewer’s intention might have been, I can tell you the result was my client was left feeling shamed for even applying.
How did I recommend she handle this kind of leading question?
Leading questions demand fact-based responses. You don’t want to get into what you think your questioner is after, or do the dirty work of negating something that hasn’t been overtly stated.
Consequently, my Monday-morning quarterbacking coaching to her was to have responded, “I do.”
Q: “You realize you’re going to need to ugly-up if you get this job.”
Want that job? You have to leave a good impression after that interview.
Posted by: | CommentsYou finally landed an interview for your dream job. You practiced the interview questions several times in the mirror and with a friend to make sure you have all of your answers down pat. You finally went on the interview and you think you did well. At this point, many times job seekers think the interview process is over, but it’s not.
To make yourself memorable from the hundreds of other applicants, concluding the job interview process involves giving a “thank you” letter to the interviewer. Ideally, the letter should be emailed within 24 hours of the interview. If you decide to write and send the letter through the mail, it should be within three days of the interview.
The intent of the letter is to express your appreciation for the employer’s interest, recap your interest in the position and company, reiterate your qualifications, and mention anything you may have missed in the interview. By doing so, demonstrates professionalism and etiquette.
The letter could be typed or handwritten. It could be emailed or sent via snail mail. Typed letters sent via snail mail are more intimate than emailed thank you letters, but if your communication with a hiring manager has been through email, an emailed thank you letter is appropriate.
Is Your Sense of Loyalty Actually Hurting Your Career?
Posted by: | CommentsIf there’s anything that this economic downturn has taught us, it’s that the only person looking out for you is you. In this era of mass layoffs, slashed benefits and mandatory work “furloughs,” we’re all learning quickly that years of loyalty aren’t worth much in a recession.
I think that this mindset can sometimes be more difficult for women to get used to than men. Traditionally, men are more apt to negotiate for better pay, to ask for promotions, and to look for better opportunities when things dry up at their current companies. Women, on the other hand, tend to be quieter about touting their own accomplishments and aren’t as aggressive about negotiating promotions and raises, thinking instead that their good work and loyalty will be rewarded in the long run — without their calling attention to it.
Networking: It’s About Giving
Posted by: | CommentsWhat is the real purpose of networking for business? Traditionally, it has always been about meeting people in order to acquaint them with your business, and hopefully, to solicit their support to build your business, or better yet, to get an immediate referral! The traditional goal has always been more about quantity than quality. How many people can I meet at one event? How many business cards can I pass out? It’s all about ME and MY BUSINESS.
Let’s consider a new approach. Building a solid business network is about building relationships. These relationships can be nurtured over time with careful and purposeful communication. If you adopt this methodology, then it becomes much more important to connect with people on a different level. It is more than a mere exchange of business cards.
The Importance of Networking in a Down Economy
Posted by: | CommentsI think by now we have all accepted the fact that our economy is in crisis and there is not an immediate panacea to catapult us back to financial stability. Every day we hear of more businesses going bankrupt and laying off employees.
Perhaps you are lucky enough to be employed or own your own business. Even if you are currently unemployed, now is the time to get out there and network! If you are vigilant at networking, you can continue to build your business, keep your job, and land a new position.
You are where you are; but how did you start?
Posted by: | CommentsPrimary school. High school. College. University. Job. The commonly accepted ‘normal’ route into the world of… well, almost anything. Whether your passion is academia or advertising, philosophy or physics, the job you’ll spend much of your life toiling over awaits you at the end of university.
This is the advice I may have been giving next weekend, if Cambridge Science Week were happening a couple of years ago, and if I had followed the conventional route to where I am today. As it is, however, I doubt that this would do much good. In today’s market, if you don’t have a job already, then finding one is going to be tough. The rate of job loss is growing steadily, with such previously secure careers as banking and advertising suffering alongside smaller enterprises whose profits have fallen. Now, people are becoming desperate: everyone wants anything, just to make ends meet. When my husband applied for a usually very unpopular kitchen porter position some time ago, one hundred other people were at the interview. Under normal circumstances, the number would have been less than a dozen.
