Tuesday, May 10, 2011

blogging4jobs

Economy Drives Happiness, Jobs, & Divorce

Posted: 09 May 2011 05:27 AM PDT

Late last summer my husband and I took our first vacation together in nearly 2 years. Like many we had been affected by the shitty economy and spent time at home instead of traveling across the world to faraway lands. I also drank many less Starbucks carmel mocchiattos. Maybe as an employee in your organization, I was just holding on. Miserable and trapped because the job market was standing still. Having money to pay our house payment, electricity, and put food on the table took priority from the fun stuff like iPads, career advancement, trips to Italy, and even an occasional dinner out. As the economy begins to improve, we are making more lifestyle decisions, you know the fun stuff for ourselves. Instead of being in survival mode, we are now spreading our wings, planning vacations, and thinking about ourselves for a change.
It’s well deserved. Your change may be in the form of a manicure that you have been putting off not able to justify the $40 expense or maybe a impromptu shopping trip. For me, it’s about vacations and travel that doesn’t involve work. You see, in my line of work as a speaker and consultant I do a lot of travel, but until last year I only traveled for business and not pleasure.
So this week, that’s exactly what I’m doing. My daughter and I are hopping a flight to accompany my husband who has been in Florida for the last couple weeks working on a project. And so I’m getting away. Taking a break. Taking a vacation from life.
Over the last month, I’ve seen people making small life as well as big life changes as a result of the improving economy. Entering the job market, getting a makeover, and even getting a divorce. In fact, I have a number of friends who made a very drastic life change. They’ve left their spouses or their spouses left them. And I believe we’ll see more of this sadly. Or maybe it’s for the better. My divorce was the best decision I ever made. It led me to the husband I have now and a beautiful little girl. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As a company, the life choices your employees make due to the improving economy will directly correlate to:

Your company’s increase in turnover.

Divorce rates within your organization.

Increases in healthcare and eye care claims as well as dentist visits.

Decrease in use of your company’s EAP program.

So a life change or vacation can be as big or as small as you want it to be. It’s important as an organization to prepare to and be there to support your employee populations along the way. For me personally, I broke down and bought an iPad2 and expensive eye wrinkle cream. All because I can. I work hard. I want to be happy and wrinkle free. For the last three years, people have put up with shitty jobs, unbotoxed brows, and unhappy marriages holding on by a thread. Waiting, wishing, hoping, and dreaming for a chance to make a change.
You deserve to be happy. What change are you making today? Are companies preparing for how these employee life changes and decisions will impact their organizations? They most certainly should.
Photo Credit Saving Advice.

Connecting with the Hiring Manager – No Recruiters, HR or Gate Keepers

ResumeBear Blog

Connecting with the Hiring Manager – No Recruiters, HR or Gate Keepers

Posted: 09 May 2011 05:28 AM PDT

LinkedIn is, without a doubt, one of the greatest tools for job seekers in finding potential employers. But, if you view it as your primary way of connecting with potential contacts versus a robust resource for information, you could be making your search more difficult than it needs to be. Let me explain what I mean as I walk you through this "how to" session.
I want you to think of LinkedIn like your personal White Pages. The more first degree connections you have, the larger your phonebook. I've written before about my philosophy that out of quantity, quality is born. The tool I highly recommend to all my clients for building a vast 1st level of like minded networkers is OpenNetworker. After signing up with them, you will see your connections grow exponentially…as well as your ability to find the people with whom you want an audience. In my case, simply by signing up, my connections went from around 1000 about 24 months ago (which took me almost 4 years to build) to over 15,000 as of this blog…connecting me to over 20,000,000 LinkedIn users.

What I am going to walk you through today is only one of the techniques I teach in my Job Search 2.0 Bootcamp. Adopting this approach, I want to show you how you can get in front of more hiring managers and take control of what they are hearing and seeing about you:
1. Getting Started – Here are the basics that you need:
• The name of the company,
• The role (you can select more than one, if you are uncertain) to which you would be reporting. You are looking for decision makers here – not HR or recruiters. In the video, I walk through this step-by-step (there is more information on this below).
2. Searching on LinkedIn – Using this criteria, conduct a search on LinkedIn to find the right point of contact – who you would be reporting to in your ideal role. Write down their full name. If you are on the fence about who your ideal contact is, take down all the possible options you can find in LinkedIn.
Tip: I recommend starting your search as broad as possible. Run it by company only, and then start adding in criteria like location, title or keywords. It's always better to cast a wide net to begin with and then narrow your search.

3. Googling the Email Format – Since you are going to be reaching out to this contact on your own, we are going to move from LinkedIn to Google. If you think you might have a good contact to use instead of making your own introduction, that’s fine. But, I recommend using my "Litmus Test" in the tip below before relying on someone else to get you in the door. You need to know exactly how good an advocate they are going to be.
Tip: When trying to decide whether you should use a connection for an introduction or go it alone, use this easy litmus test. Ask your connection if they are willing to make a call to the contact you are trying to reach. If they are reluctant to do so and only offer to email – or worse yet, put your resume in front of someone in HR – politely thank them and go it alone. Someone with a solid relationship that bears weight won't hesitate to pick up the phone. Anything else is simply an introduction with no teeth and a missed opportunity to make a meaningful first impression.

Using Google, add the "@" sign in front of the URL of the company in the search box. In the video, I use the example of Applied Robotics. You can see below what that search looks like.

Post was Written by “Kevin Kermes, Founder of Career Attraction” www.careerattraction.com/free-stuff.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Understanding Personality's Role in the Workplace

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Career Chameleon 2.0: 6 Tips You Need to Know Before Changing Industries

Career Chameleon 2.0: 6 Tips You Need to Know Before Changing Industries

Posted: 08 May 2011 11:00 PM PDT

Understanding the transferrable skill sets you have in your career arsenal are pivotal to whether you can make an effective career change.

To get this useful advice and many other helpful career resources, visit us now at CAREEREALISM.com.

Personal Branding Advice from Jerry Maguire

Posted: 08 May 2011 10:30 PM PDT

Whenever I'm explaining the concept of personal branding, I always end up talking about Jerry Maguire. Where's the connection, you ask?

To get this useful advice and many other helpful career resources, visit us now at CAREEREALISM.com.

The Realities of an Out-of-Work College Grad [Video]

Posted: 08 May 2011 10:00 PM PDT

The realities of an out-of-work college graduate are clearer then ever. John Heckers are Jessica Stillman explain why in this Career Reality episode.

To get this useful advice and many other helpful career resources, visit us now at CAREEREALISM.com.

The 8 Myths of Delegation

Posted: 08 May 2011 09:30 PM PDT

Managers may come up with dozens of reasons as to why they shouldn't delegate a specific project - or at all - to their team members.

To get this useful advice and many other helpful career resources, visit us now at CAREEREALISM.com.