Attend this workshop if you are a job seeker or your current position includes interviewing job candidates. Learn why understanding both sides of the interview table is critical to everyone’s success.
Does your resume show how qualified and capable you really are? Learn to make it stand out from the crowd using simple and effective techniques from our job and career search expert, Emily Bardeen. Bring along a copy of your resume, even if it’s out of date, and an example of the kind of job you are interested in.
Participants will receive Emily’s e-book Do This! Quick Resume Tips for Job Hunters in a Hurry.
We’re one week into the New Year – the time when resolutions can start to fade. If this year you’re absolutely determined to do something about your career, take heart! Avoid becoming a career couch potato with your choice of four creative activities designed to inspire you to keep moving. They’re fun, easy – and they work! Betcha can’t try just one.
‘Tis the season of giving and I’m interested in knowing what gifts you’ve given yourself. Not the kind you buy. I’m thinking kind of more like…..homegrown.
Like bravery, for example. This year, did you step out of your comfort zone in ways you’ve never done before? Or maybe persistence. Do you find that now you just keep going when things are rough and not even think about giving up?
Perhaps you gave yourself the gift of focus - zeroing in on what’s really important to you – and letting the rest go? Or how about patience? The calmness that comes when you accept that your timeline isn’t everyone else’s is a powerful gift.
Did you give yourself joy?
What do you do when someone asks for help getting a job in your organization? Most people want to help. On the other hand, helping is risky. How do you help someone get a job but protect your own hard-earned political capital?
A friend of mine asked me this after her efforts to help a former colleague monumentally backfired. A VP who had been laid off from her previous company contacted her about an open position in her current firm. My friend’s actions to help him turned into a political disaster for her when she passed his resume on to her boss –and her boss was applying for the same position.
What do movie trailers and cover letters have in common?
They are both advertisements. And their goal is to persuade you to take action:
Could you use a more persuasive cover letter? Take some cues from Hollywood movie trailers and you’ll be getting five-star reviews in no time.
Producers know that there is a limited attention span for previews. A good movie trailer has to be short to get its message across.
Limit your cover letter to one page. A short cover letter lets the reader focus on your message, and reduces the tendency to skim or ignore your letter.
Does your education appear front and center on your resume?
That may not be the best location.
At graduation, students are encouraged to put their education first on their resumes – and that’s good advice. Education is a new graduate’s strongest asset.
If you have experience, it’s a different story. Throughout your career, you’ve developed more assets – skills, accomplishment, capabilities. Education may no longer be your biggest strength. It could even be a liability. When that happens - education does not belong at the top of your resume!
Emphasize a strong Education Section by locating it in the top half of your resume’s first page. Putting your Education above the fold gets it noticed by HR and hiring managers.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, if you’re between 25-34 years old with a bachelor’s degree, you earn 55% more than a peer with a high school diploma or equivalent.
If you’re between 25-34, that’s a pretty motivating reason to finish your undergraduate degree. If you’re in an (ahem) older age bracket - there’s not a moment to lose!
If you are employed, consider a non-traditional undergraduate degree programs. Not only are they structured for working adults, many programs give academic credit for their students’ previous and existing knowledge and experience.
You could complete your degree sooner than you think, if your background and experience qualify for credit. Requirements vary from School to School; compare them carefully to select the one that is right for you.
Ask about these four sources of academic credit when you speak with School admissions counselors.
The end of the Great Recession – are we there yet? Half of our workforce can hardly wait. According to a recent survey by the Adecco Group North America, 54% of employed Americans plan to look for a new job as soon as the economy improves. You too? That’s a lot of competition – if I were you I’d start now.
I’ve always tended to toward the “Lord helps those who help themselves” approach to things. So please, help yourself to a few, proven strategies to get ready for when the job market improves:
Become the Ideal Candidate
God invented word processing so that we can create a tailored resume every, single time we apply for a job. I am absolutely certain of it.
In ancient times – B.W.P. – (before word processing) there was no “insert”; no “delete”; no “search and replace”. Imagine…an entire world without “undo”! It was so sloggingly slow to modify a resume that pretty much everybody wrote one resume; end of story.
Inexplicably, even in our modern, A.W.P. times, most job seekers still use just one resume. And it is easy to understand why. The thought of it is just so deliciously, temptingly easy: you write your resume once – and you’re done.
Sadly, easy is one thing; effective is another.
