Tag Archives: employment search

Still More On Job Market Targets

Taking your own kind of notes is a very important part of the process of establishing job targets for yourself. With a computer it is easy; just print out your selected lists along with relevant information. If you do not have a computer, use standard-size letter sheets to copy down pertinent company information. Your notes should be highly detailed and also include the names of people in charge of hiring (or at least those in positions higher than that which you seek). When dealing with a smaller organization of say, two hundred people or less, it is likely that the … Continue reading →

Researching Job Targets: Where to Begin?

You may wonder why research is so important for this process of establishing job targets to work. Research can help you decide which field to go into and is a solid way to develop a list of “target companies.” Research will also improve your networking and interviewing skills as well as increase your level of confidence in interviews. Knowledge about a company you are interested in makes you look more like an insider moving up rather than an outsider pressing to get in, which is an important psychological advantage. Research may also give you just that extra edge over your … Continue reading →

Seeking Job Targets: Bulls Eye!

Perhaps comic, Lily Tomlin, puts things right where they should be when she said, “I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific.” All kidding aside, selecting job targets can be difficult and they need to be narrowed down, identified and evaluated before they can be of any help to you, the job seeker. So how is it done, you may ask. Good question and here are a few non-expert thoughts on the matter. Selecting a job target involves first choosing a specific geographic area, a specific industry or company size and a specific position within … Continue reading →

Where is that D—n Brass Ring?

What’s holding YOU back from the job of your dreams? Why can’t you find what you want, especially since you are looking so sincerely? Read on for some help and hope. The things that hold us back in everything we do boil down to one thing and one thing only: ourselves. Better put, the internal and external issues that comprise our inner core dictate our actions and our thoughts. For example, if you are set on a specific and very high salary (whether realistic or not), a specific location and work schedule (let’s say a two day week), you are … Continue reading →

Some More Résumé Tips

The typical résumé is often historical in nature. This does not mean that a reader will find evidence of the exact location of Atlantis or the true meaning of the Declaration of independence within its words. It usually means that the résumé lists positions a person has had and what duties were involved in each position. It’s not that there is anything wrong with that; it’s just that it lacks impetus and direction. Where should the reader go after reading about all the places you have worked and all the things you have done? Perhaps directly to jail without passing … Continue reading →

The Best Attitude: Can Do Always!

Maintaining a positive, “can do” attitude can only help to propel you forward and achieve your goals whatever they may be. If you are an older job seeker, this is doubly true as the path is long an arduous, and like Bette Davis once said about old age, “not for sissies.” Studies have proven that optimism is a powerful predictor of success in any job search, although it understandably requires effort to maintain. It requires as much programming as being negative does but with better results. One adjunct to being positive is the power it generates peripherally. A positive outlook … Continue reading →

The Job Search: How Long will It Take?

Do you remember when you were a little kid on a family trip and you were always asking, “Are we there yet?” Well, even if you never asked and you aren’t a little kid anymore, you will find yourself wondering about the answer to that question very often while searching for a job. For many people, severance pay lasts a year, and during this time as with the discovery of gold in Alaska in 1849, the rush is on! For anyone, the search for another position is rarely an easy transition. Unless one is the friend, cousin, niece, nephew or … Continue reading →

The Three Stages of The Job Search

According to some of those who already have jobs, the search for one has three stages: preparation, implementation (letting your feet, not your fingers do the walking) and suspension and/or maintenance. Let’s take an objective albeit somewhat painful look at each stage. Preparation While this might seem self-explanatory, the whole matter is like that old Chinese proverb about journeys of a thousand miles beginning with a single step. This is probably the hardest phase of your search as you must realize that it is truly impossible to find a job if you don’t know what kind of work you want … Continue reading →

The Job Interview and Uncomfortable Questions

One sticky moment in any interview situation is when the potential employer looks at you and asks about those five years in between your last two jobs. Unless you spent them in Folsom Prison (and even if you did), the best approach is to be honest but not necessarily tell all there is to tell. If this seems a contradiction in terms, allow me to assure you it isn’t. The art of side-step walks a very thin line to be sure, but it is a line nevertheless. You have to tell the truth; there’s no way out. So what to … Continue reading →