TEACH FOR AMERICA

Despite the doom and gloom of the job market, there is a need for teachers across the country.  Some regions have more teachers than jobs, but some areas of the US are hungry for teachers in all disciplines.  Teach for America is an AmeriCorps program placing people who are willing to teach in low income schools around the US.  If you’ve thought of using your life skills in the classroom but thought you needed certification before ever thinking about any kind of teaching, check out Teach for America.  The application deadline is February 10.  It could just be what you need.  Committing two years of your life teaching,  is just  what some child you haven’t met yet, needs.  Learn more at Teach for America.  (A new region is opening up in Seattle/Tacoma).

 

KEYWORDS…OPEN THE LOCK ON GETTING YOUR RESUME READ!

Keywords are important!  “So what are they”?  “Where do I find them”?  “Do I have them in my resume”?  “If I do, did I pick the right ones”?  All good questions about those mysterious words that hold the power to put your resume in the “second look” pile or the “not a chance” pile.  There is excellent software on the market that will scan your resume for keywords.  Some of the companies providing software and related services include:  http://rezscore.com/  and http://resunate.com/.

 

However you can learn to find them yourself.  Here’s an excellent article, complete with examples, on finding and using keywords in your resume.

Don’t forget, Career Services is hosting a resume workshop this Thursday, January 26 4:30-6:00 PM in Streff Gallery, Shoen Library.  Seating is limited to ten participants so please reserve your seat in advance.  Phone 503-699-6271.

 

That “age” thing and the job search

Guest blog post:  Marcia Hale, MU Career Services Job Support/Outreach Coordinator-AmeriCorps member

I wandered onto a blog post from 2008 with a segment from the “Today” show on age discrimination and job seekers.   From the career experts interviewed and the over 40 job seeker, the conclusion was “yes, it’s real, and yes you can do something about it”.  In the “Today” segment two bits of advice were featured-appear more “tech savvy”and  a complete resume revamp eliminating anything that points to your age.  If you’ve had a resume review with us in Career Services, we’ll tell you (if you are one of our more “seasoned” students/alumns) to move away from Chronological resumes to functional resumes.  Eliminate the dates, even your graduation dates (unless they were VERY recent).  Accentuate your skill sets and your accomplishments, and as hard as it may be, drop everything that is over 10 years ago.  When you  create a “functional” resume those skills gained ten years ago are still there, they just aren’t individualized specific to the job place.  (Career Services is offering a resume workshop Jan 26 from 4:30-6:00, register at careerevents@marylhurst.edu or call for an appointment 503-699-6271).

The “Today” show segment also concentrated on having a very hip online image, (and remember that segment aired in 2008).  A teleseminar I listened to on Tuesday,  featured  career expert and author of Careerealism,  JT O’Donnell who was very blunt when asked about “age discrimination”.  She pointed out, “all hiring is discriminatory…only one person is going to be hired!”  This career coach also encouraged, (well actually she was much more forceful than just “encouraged”) job seekers to stop thinking of themselves as job seekers.  Her advice was to start thinking of yourself (and the skills you offer) as a “business”  a “business of one”.    As a “business” you’ll want to market yourself in as many ways as you can to be noticed and “selected” by the potential customer out there…the hiring manager.

Like any business there are multiple ways to market.  Very few businesses operate without a strong on-line presence.  A strong business has a website, a facebook or myspace page, most now twitter.  Those businesses also do traditional advertising (radio, tv, print, mass mailing) but adding that online piece is critical to their success.  In the “Today” segment the over 40 job seeker went out and hired a  young web designer to completely re-do her website, she had hair and makeup professionally done and had a 20 year old friend pick her wardrobe for her photo shoot.  Once her “marketing package” with her new “look” was up and running, she sent out the new resumes, many to the same companies she’d not heard back from.  Result:  She got interviews AND job offers.

If you don’t have at least a “linkedin” profile up AND 100% complete, make that this month’s goal!  80% or more of all employers are  searching your online profile when they look at you as a potential hire.  Large companies have computers that review your resume before a human ever does, they are searching for keywords.  The “Today” segment touches on how to determine keywords.  What else can you do?  Start a blog, it’s free usually, and make sure it’s showcasing the unique brand that is you AND what you offer to the world.

You’ve always heard that you have to make a strong first impression,  is it time for a “makeover” both physically and “virtually?”  It’s January, the quintessential time to upgrade, start new, refresh, reinvigorate.  Here are those links:

www.careerrealism.com

here’s the link to the “Today” show clip

 

HARD TO FILL JOBS FOR 2012

If you are looking for a job and finding hundreds of people just like you who don’t have a job either, then maybe we need to start looking at some new fields.  This blog post talks about the five hardest job areas to fill.  As you might expect, they are all technology heavy.

 

25 Weird Interview Questions

The job interview….a chance to shine…OR go back to the car and wonder “what the heck was that question all about?!“  Glassdoor.com has a great blog post about this very subject….need a laugh, or questions to ponder?  Enjoy!

 

Start the New Year with a Good Read

The holidays are over and classes here at MU haven’t started quite yet, time to read a couple of career related books from the MU Shoen Library.

Losing a job, especially through no fault of your own (downsizing, lay offs, company closing etc) is traumatizing.  Jean Baur has written a great book based in economic reality on navigating losing your job it’s called: ELIMINATED! Now What?  Finding Your Way from Job-Loss Crisis to Career Resilience.  You’ll find great advice on everything from keeping motivated to finding the courage to pitch yourself, and how to talk to others about what happened.  Each chapter includes quick do’s and don’ts and amazingly helpful resources and ideas.  Baur is a consultant with an outplacement firm so her advice is truly from an insider’s perspective.  She’s had many stunned, shocked, angry recently fired people sitting across from her.  As expected you’ll find a chapter right away on dealing with the loss.  One of the most unexpected and helpful sections of the book were the “obstacles” and “lies” chapters.  In particular, chapter 20 deals with the obstacle of being overqualified and earning too much.

Anyone who has been out of work for a while and are trying to get back into their field has likely realized that pulling a higher, or sometimes even your former salary,  may not be possible.  Baur advises to be prepared to compromise.  In this job market, the employer is holding many of the cards, and one of those cards is compensation.  She also reminds job seekers to stay as current as possible in industry trends.  With so many people applying, an employer will look at how up-to-date you are with your job functions.  What got you by in your former job may not be enough for another company.  Or it will mean they can hire you for less money because your “xyz” certification was last updated five years ago.

In a little over 200 pages (the appendices are wonderful btw) you’ll gain a whole new perspective on what has been a traumatizing event.  This book was published in 2011 so it’s very current!  Locate it on the Shoen Library shelf at 650.14 B38.

Brad and Debra Schepp’s How to Find a Job on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Other Social Networks, published in 2010 is fantastic!  You’ll discover the best practices in getting comfortable with harnessing the power of this whole new world.  It is absolutely essential, no matter how you personally feel about it, to be social network savvy.  The section on LinkedIn is the most complete, as it should be.  In Career Services (nationwide, not just us) we advise that YOU MUST have a linkedin profile if you want to get a job these days.  You’ll find a comprehensive, yet concise guide to creating your best profile, how to go about recommending and getting recommendations, and even why it’s important to add things like the “reading list” to your profile.

One of the most interesting sections dealt with getting recruiters to recruit you.  The advice here is to make your profile keyword rich (they offer advice on that too).  The recruiter interviewed tells readers her process of “mining” linkedin for possible recruits to fill positions she is contracted to fill.  She says she spends about an hour a day just on linkedin looking for candidates.  Obviously, you’ll want to find out how to be on a recruiter’s radar.

Chapter 5, using linkedin for questions and answers is worth the time invested if you read nothing else in the book.  A lot of people over look this feature on linkedin.  This chapter  tells  you why you shouldn’t.  Whether you are asking a question or supplying an answer it all adds up in the grand linkedin scheme of things.  Remember, linkedin is NOT facebook…linkedin is for professionals sharing professional expertise and connections.  Chapter 5 is a key resource in making linkedin “pay off” in terms of establishing you as someone who has expertise and who is willing to collaborate.

About 140 pages are devoted to linkedin with 74 or so pages devoted to the other social network tools.  That’s about right, the best social network tool for the job seeker is linkedin…but there are tips and tricks for the other players as well.  The Schepp’s give you the best practices for using these sites, but clearly the bias (as it should be) is toward linkedin.  Find this book in the Shoen library on the shelf at 650.14 S34.

 

Happy New Year Gift!

Courtesy of the great blog, Career Enlightenment from Joshua Waldman, social network guru a link to huntsy.com and a free ebook.  Just took a quick glance and it’s a great compilation of career hunting advice from some of the best blogs out there.  And it’s FREE!

Speaking of which, our next FREE resume workshop will be toward the end of January, stay tuned for exact date/time.  Of course you can always email or call for an appointment for a one on one…that’s free too.
Happy New Year….from all of us at Marylhurst U Career Services!

 

Automate Your Job Search

Here’s a link to an interesting blog post about streamlining your job search.  If you don’t have a system on keeping track of your search, perhaps this post will give you some fresh ideas.

 

Advice for the New Year

This post was forwarded to us by a colleague just down the hall.  As we close out 2011 we hopefully head out to a much more profitable and job filled 2012.  If you’ve been looking for a new job for a long time, given up hope you’ll find one, or are still in school the end of the year is the time to reflect on what you’ve done, what you might do differently, or think about some radical new reality that might work better than anything else.

Perhaps going into business for yourself has crossed your mind.  Consider discovering whether or not starting a  small business is right for you, by attending our next Career Services Workshop  Jan 14.  Mark your calendars, details soon.

 

Guest Post: Bob Henegar, What about Bob?

Bob Henegar is a community member of MU Career Service’s former job support group.  Bob’s story is like many stories of the job seeker in today’s challenging employment market.  Bob has graciously offered to share a bit of his story and to lead discussions about our blog posts and other subjects of interest in the realm of job searching and careers.  He’ll be leading some discussions about the blog posts, other insights, and other things job search related on our linkedin page.  But first, here’s a little about Bob…in a post we call “WHAT ABOUT BOB”

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/robert-henegar/14/815/563

I’m Bob Henegar.  I’ve managed restaurants for 35 years.  I was laid off from my job of 20 years in September 2009.  I’ve been looking for work but with no luck,  so far.  I’ve been using my time to volunteer with “JOIN”, an organization that gets people from the streets to permanent housing, “Medical Teams International”  they get medical supplies to disasters and third world countries, and “Loaves and Fishes” who provides meals to those who might not eat otherwise.   I committed to a weekly schedule with these organizations because I hope to pursue the next phase of my career in nonprofits like these.  Being there every week keeps me in front of the people I want to network with, and of course, I’m doing work that benefits those who need it most.  It’s also good for me as  it feeds my soul and keeps me busy.  That weekly commitment gets me up and out every day interacting with other individuals.

It’s far to easy to get discouraged during a long-term job search and hide in your house.  Negative thoughts and self-doubt become your constant companion when you stay isolated.  Let’s talk about keeping your head straight while looking for work.

If you have anger, frustration, or issues with how you were let go from your job, you need to resolve this with yourself.  This is not easy and everyone deals with it in different ways.  It took me over 8 months to figure out how to do this.  One thing that helped me was to turn a negative thought into a positive.  This doesn’t come easy and you will catch yourself many times before it becomes a habit.  I would think about how bad the person who laid me off made me feel, and then I would need to tell myself that I am a good person.

“When you hold a grudge, you are letting someone live rent free in your head”.   It’s a saying you’ve no doubt heard before, and it is true.  I know…I’ve lived it!  I choose to reserve that space in my head for what can help me succeed.  That head space MUST be filled with positive energy and the things that will move you forward.  The past is just that, past.  That being said, I hope to make the occasional blog appearance and invite you to join me at the Marylhurst University Career Services linkedin profile to have some meaningful discussions.  Let’s talk about subjects we read here on this blog, things I run across that will help us  all, or things you might find.

There is no doubt that social media is here to stay.  I invite you to join our Marylhurst University Career Services community in exploring the things that keep us moving forward, how to crash through the roadblocks that might delay our forward momentum, and a general conversation of meaningful advice, stories, and insight.  If you’ve not joined the MU Career Services linkedin group, please do so today.

Let’s move forward together!  I look forward to linking with you all, and having some great discussions.