Have you posted your resume on JobScore.com yet? It’s still stmall, but it’s growing fast with an excellent idea. JobScore creates a resume pool and overlays that resume with a profile that you create. Then it works with company hiring managers to draw from the pool based on the results of their proprietary matching technology. Check it out.
Social networking can be enigmatic when you look at it from the outside. There is no dearth of conversation about it these days, with just about every talking head out there weighing in. We’re no exception.
We got a host of questions following our post The Smart Way To Network Online. According to our most recent poll, just over 20% of job seekers have found social networking to be the most effective tool in their job search quivers. It’s time to spread some knowledge to the other 80% out there (especially the 12% that chose “Blackmail”, damn jokers).
To start, let’s talk about David Moye. After getting canned from an internet marketing job in September, David decided to make a jump into the world of PR. Of course, his lack of PR experience just added a second obstacle to the anemic job market.
David recorded five skits where he gave PR advice to his daughter’s puppets. Then he posted them on YouTube (this one is my favorite) and used Facebook and LinkedIn to send it around his social network. Eventually it made its way to CNBC correspondent Jane Wells, who wrote it up on her blog. Now David had evidence that 1) he was creative 2) he was adept at using social media as promotional tools. “If I can get a cheesy puppet show on CNBC, think of what I can do for your clients” he said.
The results? He got a job, of course. And he loves it. It didn’t take a heroic marketing effort, either. “Funny thing is, the site has had less than 500 hits, but every one of those people knew someone who could get me a job.” That’s the power of a targeted search.
David isn’t alone, by any means. Chris Kieff, after losing a great job prospect to a hiring freeze, tweeted about it to his 1000+ followers. “New job just fell through, but got a new client” (the hiring manager had asked him to do some freelance work for them in lieu of a full-time job). One of his 1000+ followers happened to be looking for someone with his qualifications, and now he works for them. As the Personal Branding Blog points out, ‘One Tweet, One Job’. Goldmine.
I have a dozen similar success stories sitting in my inbox right now. When used creatively, social networks are the real deal.
Ever wondered that question when a friend or acquaintance pulled down a solid new job? So did Daniel Johnson, founder of HowIGotMyJob.com. He basically goes around interviewing people after they get hired then podcasts the conversation. You can find notes to all of his interviews on the site right along MP3s of the original interviews.
Check it out: he covers a wide range of positions across industries and seniority levels.
A friend of mine is in the midst of an epic job hunt. He has identified a decent amount of opportunities but is having trouble closing the deal. Even working with temp agencies and recruiters, he keeps hearing the same tune: “You’re too qualified for this position.”
Too qualified. Take this as an indication of how picky hiring managers are being these days. The guy has a masters in Statistics and a couple years of experience as a Quant with a major credit card company. Even still, he’s having trouble scoring even temporary employment. I’ve heard similar stories from a number of people.
This particular guy pays the bills by pushing carts at the local grocery store: a “survival job” that doesn’t mind the overqualification (just about everybody is overqualified for jobs like these, right?)
There are two landmines that you need to dodge when it comes to experience:
Anticipate these obstacles and address them head-on. Research the job description well and be prepared to draw everyday examples between your former responsibilities and your future ones. On your resume, stress specific skills over specific jobs.
Most important: be prepared to address overqualification in an interview. You will need to convince the interviewer why:
Anyone else out there have any tips?
The NY Times brings us the lighter side of unemployment here:
So, while 4.8 million workers were laid off or chose to leave their jobs in February, employers across the country hired 4.3 million workers that month…
We’ve written about this before but the point deserves repeating: This economy is huge and dynamic. Even when the stock of jobs is falling, the flow of jobs will never stop completely. People quit, die, retire, get promoted, change fields, go back to school… This is why persistance will ultimately pay off, even in a deep recession like this one.
We’ve all seen it: job listings stagnate. Especially with high unemployment, employers get bombarded with applications in the first few days after posting a job. This is especially true with Craigslist, one of the most-used job sites out there.
CL Job Hunt helps you to get your resume in the door quickly by sending free, customizable job alerts to your cell phone. You can specify up to 10 districts and multiple job categories. When you receive the text message, you will simultaneously get a detailed message in your email inbox containing the full listing and hyperlink to the original post.
I’ve read a few articles lately that talk about ways to prevent getting fired. Work harder, expand your impact, brown-nose, draw attention to accomplishments, etc. etc. are the focus. This is all fine and good, but in times like these dollars and cents matter most.
Remember that layoffs come from the top down. If your boss is getting the axe, then your fate will probably be determined by his boss in consultation with HR or a consultant. In this situation, your past reviews are critical. Assuming your boss is staying, however, he or she will have a say in your fate. Performance is still important, but cost is paramount.
Layoffs in 2009 are about cutting costs, not about individual performance. If you really want to keep your job, draw a close connection to the bottom line. Tyler Cowen thinks that the a solid way to do that is to take a voluntary pay cut. Stephen Viscusi, author of Bulletproof Your Job, says that voluntary renegotiation can be an especially effective strategy for workers over 40. I would have to agree with both.
Of course you don’t want to take an axe to your contract unless you absolutely have to. Viscusi seems to think that you can be reactionary about it, offering to renegotiate when your boss hands you a pink slip. If you’re going to do it, though, being proactive is certainly going to have a higher success rate. For one, you’re probably screwed once the paperwork has been processed. Second, offering up front makes you seem like more of a team player and less of a desperate guy with his back against the wall.
So if you’re going to take a pay cut, do it right:
Don’t get me wrong: I still think that getting canned can usher a positive change (it ultimately did for me). But for those of you who are emotionally- or pot-committed, helping your boss cut costs might save your job for better times. If you still get fired, at least you didn’y lose much.
Pundits all over the blog-o-sphere are declaring an end to the employment free-fall that has characterized the labor markets since last fall. Gary Burtless, a Senior Economics Fellow at the Brookings Institute, makes the case here:
April’s job loss of 540,000 looks pretty good when the monthly drop of payroll employment in the previous four months averaged 700,000. To be sure, the monthly drop in private sector jobs still looked awful in April. Part of the improvement in overall employment loss is explained by a big jump in federal government employment, much of it due to hiring for the 2010 Census. Even in the private sector, however, the pace of job loss slowed, reflecting a slower rate of employment shrinkage in both the goods-producing and service-producing sectors. It no longer looks as though the job market is in free fall. It is still in decline, but the decline is not accelerating. It may be slowing.
Remember, as I pointed out in The Unemployment Rate Doesn’t Matter, that the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator.
Although the pace of job loss has slowed, the unemployment rate will still eek forward for several quarters at least. When you see GDP turn positive you will know that you’re a couple quarters away from rising employment. In the meantime, take this good news for what it is: evidence of Bernanke’s “green shoots” in the economy.
In recent weeks, Mike and I have discovered many great articles and resources on the internet related to unemployment and finding a job. Up until now, we didn’t have a good way to quickly share tidbits of information with TheCanned’s visitors. I’m happy to announce that we have solved this problem. Today, we’ve launched a new “Ponderings” section of our Layoff Beard Blog for these updates. You can expect many more posts moving forward, so check back frequently!
In addition, we’re always looking for new topics for our articles. Please feel free to Contact Us or post a comment in our Layoff Beard Blog with any subject matter that you would like us to write about. We love hearing from you!
It’s a daily occurrence; as I exit highway 465 and make the bumper-to-bumper crawl back to my apartment after the day’s work, I see them. They stand in the grass next to the traffic light, their faces squinted, hair wind swept. They pace the medians wearing sandwich boards. They hold their cardboard slates and run to cars as drivers hold their arms out from open windows, bills waded between their fingers. They nod their heads in gratitude and cross the exit, back to their original stance.
Maybe, like me, your pockets aren’t as deep as you’d like. Maybe you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck and surviving off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I understand; you can’t solve everyone’s problems. After all, you have your own headaches to worry about!
But maybe, with just one act of generosity, you could save someone. You could give them hope, or at least give them a reason to smile, and that one moment, that one act, could give them the strength to keep going. The truth is, misery does not love company. Misery wants you all to herself. It’s so easy to focus inward, to blame someone else, to just say, “This isn’t going to help anything.” And when you reach that low point, odds are that not too many people will be willing to join your party.
There’s just no getting over that hump unless you believe that you can. What better way to embrace that belief than by reaching out to the people around you? Let’s start by throwing some generosity back where you came from - your mother and grandmother.
This Mother’s Day, let your heart - not your wallet - do the talking, and show the important women in your life how much you appreciate them. It’s true, you don’t have to buy her an iPod, or even flowers - we all know they’ll just die anyway. Instead, why not help weed the garden, clean the house, or cook a nice dinner instead of shelling out money at an expensive restaurant.
Thinking of buying jewelry, but not sure if your budget can fit her taste? Forget about it! Buy a gift she can really use, or make one that could be both useful and heartwarming. Use your talents and genuine thoughtfulness to show your appreciation for all the things you might overlook or take for granted. Don’t stop there either. Tell all of your family, your friends, your neighbors, your pets, your mail carrier, the clerk at the check-out counter, and anyone else you see everyday that you care about them, that you hope they have a great day, and that they are important. Not only is it considerate, it’s good for humanity.
Do your part to infuse the world with generosity and you’ll find it much easier to put misery out of… well, you get the idea. Happy Mother’s Day.
