Social Media and Your Job Search is a series of posts I began writing 10 days ago. I was interested in writing this series in preparation for my presentation for a group of job seekers here in Maryland. My topic was Social Media & Your Job Search. I wanted to take the time to recap all of the posts from last week. If you missed a few, take a peek. I trust they will be helpful for you.
Social Media & Your Job Search
1. Social Media & Your Job Search
2. Social Media & Your Job Search P.2
3. Resistance is Futile – …read more

The definition insanity is when you keep doing what you’ve always done and expect a different result. If you are capable of getting a job but you get fired from the jobs, something is wrong. Period. And it’s not about the people firing you. Stop for a moment and go take a look in the mirror. You are responsible for the results you get from jobs you’ve worked.
Before you get frustrated with my opening and click off the page, keep reading. Don’t get mad at me. I am attempting to get you to take a look at what is going …read more

Should you as a job seeker hire a resume writer? This is a dangerous question for me because I work with and partner with resume writers in my business as an career coach. Let me answer it in three words – Yes and No. While I enjoy working with the ladies I know as resume writers, I believe that a job seekers can write their own resume and be as successful landing job interviews as those who use resume writers. I also believe that job seekers need to be intricately involved in the development of their resume. If the resume …read more

The new minimum wage is not helping job seekers.

I had the opportunity to review resumes for job seekers who are not getting any opportunities for interviews. Many of them have been in the market for a long time and are feeling quite discouraged. The problem as I see it is their resumes are poorly crafted. The shelf life of a resume is 2-4 seconds at best in the hands of a recruiter or hiring manager. And if it is a poorly written resume, you can forget it.
As I mentioned to one of the job seekers I spoke to today, I never saw any of his skills. I was …read more

I was speaking to a client a few weeks ago. She has been struggling to find a job for years for many reasons that she is just realizing. One of the things that she has come to realize is that corporate America is not for her. Why do people end up in 9 to 5 jobs? Many times people fall into their jobs out of sheer necessity. They want and need to put food on the table and pay their bills.
There is nothing wrong with working to care for your family, but working a 9 to 5 may not be …read more

There are a lot of people in the market for a job right now. With the job search today seems to come lots of fear, frustration and anger. People are uncertain about what it will take to get that next opportunity. With all that is going on there are some myths about the job search in this recession. Here three for you to reconsider:
1. If I am over 50 no one will hire me – This is an absolute lie. Most of you out there over 50, need to stop thinking about your age and start thinking about what value …read more

Second Life is a free online virtual world imagined and created by its residents. Second Life is a virtual world with a Resident population of millions of real people from around the world. Each person is represented by an avatar that represents their chosen digital persona. They are gamers, housewives, artists, musicians, programmers, lawyers, firemen, political activists, college students, business owners, active duty military, architects, and medical doctors, to name just a few. There are even a fair number who are professional creators in Second Life. If you have a headset, you can even talk and use text chat for …read more

You know, so many people are looking for a job. Filling out applications, sending resumes and cover letters and hoping to get a job. Over the last few weeks I have met with job seekers or spoken to job seekers who are frustrated with the difficulty they are experiencing with trying to find employment.
The first challenge that I see for many job seekers is getting the phone to ring. The phone indicates interest and if no one is calling, and you are actively pursuing jobs, than something has to change.
The second challenge is that many job seekers are sitting behind …read more

I spoke to a job seeker this morning who just had her temp to perm job cut in half. She was on track to go to work full time when they announced a hiring freeze. She went from getting a full time job, permanent placement to 20 hours per week as a temp employee. She is frustrated because she wants to pay her bills. She wants to work and she was hoping that things would work out with this organization.
Like many people, she is back in the job market and frustrated with the process. She has applied to a multitude …read more