Archive for October, 2009

Yep, that’s me.  I actually got fired by a temp agency!

Six years later, it is still very embarrassing to admit, even though I claim no fault. Chock it up to “one employment agency lesson learned the hard way.”

I hope by sharing my embarrassment, other job seekers can make better choices or let go of a bad past experience.

I moved to Portland with a handful of dollars and an ocean of faith. I just knew I was supposed to be here – but I didn’t really have a plan. Almost instantly I was broke and job searching without a phone or internet at home. Trying to find jobs online at the library within the allotted one hour a day wasn’t working well. So I turned to the phone book’s seven pages of employment agencies and picked two, one professional and one labor.

The manual labor company experience was short-lived. Although I have been a roofer, an irrigator, a ranch hand and a residential cleaner, I never got an assignment.
They tried to place me into a few full-time positions, but the hiring companies would not allow a trial run first. Thankfully, I got a call from the professional company.

My first temp job with them was fantastic. The work was boring – transcribing – but I was in a downtown ad agency with a foosball table in the entrance. It was decent pay and a pretty good fit for a journalist whose license plates read “FOOZ.” Then the hammer fell.

At the end of the second week of this temp job, communications with the employment agency receptionist crumbled. Apparently the receptionist was extremely busy or having a bad day because she was very irritated that I called to confirm my timecard was received. (BTW – when temping, you don’t get paid if your timecard is not received on time, so checking is an important thing.) I explained that I had no return phone number and needed her to check for the fax now. In a huff, she said I would have to call back and hung up on me. I called back got voicemail.

And then I was fired. The receptionist’s story was that I was rude and hung up on her. The hiring agent said they could not tolerate rudeness and canned me. My boyfriend was my only witness and he was as appalled as I. I had never been fired before!

Is there a moral to the story? Several are plausible.

1. Choosing an employment agency is like choosing a job – success will come only from the best match, so be picky. CareerAdvise4U teaches job seekers to develop their brand, professional target and ideal career role before finding a recruiter.
2. To employment agencies workers are expendable. You might not find work (or keep it) if you are not a good fit for the agency.
3. Even when you think your attitude is fine, check it. When two people are frustrated and having a bad day, someone will get the short end of the stick.

So that’s how I got fired from a temp agency.  Of course, without this incident I wouldn’t have landed the perfect job I was meant to have…but that is another story.

A recent Gallup Management Journal article encourages hiring managers and HR recruiters to begin “courting” qualified talent now for jobs that aren’t even available yet.  That’s because, even in a deep recession with so many people unemployed, recruiters have a tough time finding good candidates to fill important positions.

How can that be? Well, here’s my take on it. . .

I work with a ton of job seekers and see a lot of resumes. Most of them aren’t very good at presenting strengths that are most desirable to hiring managers.  Most resumes look like an obituary for someone who has led a very boring life.  Most job seekers present themselves in an unfavorable light, which makes FINDING good candidates a difficult task for recruiters and hiring managers. So one of the biggest problems in finding good candidates is with the candidates themselves.  Job seekers just aren’t showcasing their strengths to show up on the hiring manager’s radar.

A second problem is that hiring managers and recruiters receive more than 500 resumes for every position they publicize.  Who wants to search through a pile like that?  Of course, no one does, so hiring managers look first for recommendations from people they already know and trust.  Asking for recommendations makes their job easier and more manageable.

What if  you could be different?  What if you could develop a resume that was built around skills and abilities that recruiters and hiring managers are scrambling to find?  And then, what if you could get your resume recommended to hiring managers who are looking for people just like you to help solve their business problems?  If you could, don’t you think you would have a better shot at getting that perfect job?

If you utilize a system to help you clearly define your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), you are in a much better position to be “found” by recruiters. In addition, effective networking will help you be one of the ones recommended for a position, rather than being one of the ones in the huge pile of applicants.

If you already have the tools to do these things, you should be spending 80 percent of your time networking and following your job search system.

If you don’t have a system yet, or don’t know how to go about networking, we’d love to help.  Just sign up for a FREE ACCOUNT with Careers 2.0 and get started. It’s fast.  It’s easy.  It works. We would like to help you become one of the ones being sought after by recruiters and hiring managers!  Get started today!

[Editor’s note: Guest blogger, Larque Goodson, has been unemployed for 7 months and has become a Careers 2.0 client within the last couple of weeks. She says that the resources in the Premium Membership are some of the most valuable tools she has found in her entire job search. She lives in Portland, Oregon and is searching for a communications job that utilizes her excellent skills in writing, presenting, photography, marketing and sales. If you would like to share your story, please send an email to: info@orcms.com.]

It has been seven months since I was laid off. My credit cards are maxed and my husband and I juggle bills like circus performers on a tight rope. Yet, this journey is helping me examine my own self-awareness and work on my personal ideology. I have gained some invaluable insights, like the following:

• I am not a job. I am not less valuable because I lack employment. On the contrary, I am priceless and it would be a shame to take a job in which I’d be miserable. How would that be a step forward?

• To go forward, I need to find ways to help others succeed in their job search. Career Advise, http://careeradvice4u.com, is an amazing program for discovering my true aspirations. Career Enlightenment, http://careerenlightenment.net, is equally remarkable for mastering social media and turning aspirations into a profession. I found both by asking people for guidance and personal recommendations.

• Ask for help. Networking is vital. I decided to start with people I knew and told them I am looking for work. It is tough at first, but people I didn’t tell found out anyway. I was incredibly fortunate to be invited to the Sandler President’s Club by former sales coach Jeff Schneider, www.schneider.sandler.com. Because of this group, I have confidence and a network of fellow trainees who I greatly admire. Watching the videos on the Careers 2.0 website is helping me figure out other places network and how to be more productive at it.

• I must keep my options open. My big break may be lurking around an unsuspecting corner. Opportunities tend to arise when – and where – I don’t expect them. I don’t always see the “point” in prospecting or networking activities until later. So, if I receive an invitation to connect, why not explore it?

• My time is precious. That means I need to find a fair balance between studying, learning, networking, job searching and enjoying life. Being smart saves me time. I am using www.twitterjobsearch.com instead of perusing the same old job boards. I’m finding tools like these are much more productive which leads to much more happiness. Why shouldn’t I do things that make me happy? So I take a hike, volunteer, cook a gourmet meal … I am enjoying doing things my job schedule once prevented. These things relieve stress and stimulate my mind. Great ideas pop into my head while I am traversing through the mountains.

• And finally, I need to RELAX more. This last, important ingredient is vital to maintaining my sanity throughout this job search process. I know this transition isn’t easy, but being frantic and stressed out won’t land me a job any faster. Frantically searching the job boards will not tell me who I really am or where to find my perfect career. I must take a breath, relax, and go do some more networking. A good start is to make a list of things I am grateful for despite my lack of work.

What about you? What have you learned about yourself since you have been laid off?

Here is a video we have prepared on the three different types of resumes – a chronological resume, a functional resume, and a hybred version of the resume.

We have also included some suggestions as to where and when you would use each one. (Note – this information is found in Chapter 3 of the book “Career Crossroads”.)

Resume Advice Related Posts

• How To Write a Professional Summary Statement for Your Resume
• How Effective Is Your Resume?
• Why a GREAT Resume is Not as Important as a DECENT Network
• Resume Writing Tips

We’ve all heard the advice. “You must have a great resume in order to get a good job.”

That piece of career advice is one of the reasons why resume writing services are so popular these days. Many professionals will shell out anywhere from $500 to $1,000 just to have a professional write their resume for them. I’m sure you’ve seen the websites for these resume writing services. They promise you will make over $100K or increase your income by $10k per year, just because you have a professional resume and cover letter. But do these resumes work any better at getting the job? I don’t think so, and here’s why.

In a traditional job search the purpose of a resume is to help you get an interview. Nothing more. A good resume gets your foot in the door and allows you to talk to the person (or persons) who make the hiring decision. In the old way of finding a job a resume is pretty much a blind introduction.

The problem with a blind introduction is that recruiters get more than 500 resumes for every posted position. There is virtually no way your resume will stand out in that crowd – no matter how well it’s written or how professionally polished it looks. If you want to get noticed you don’t need a resume, you need a personal introduction!

What if you could get an interview in a way other than by sending your resume? What if you could talk directly to the hiring manager and have them express their interest in you working for them BEFORE you ever sent a resume? If you could, then the purpose of a resume would be completely different, wouldn’t it? The resume would be more of a tool to help you seal the deal rather than a blind introduction. That’s what a personal introduction could do for you. That’s also why a strong network is so important.
So readers, here is a question for you – Have you ever used a professional resume writer? If so, what kind of experience have you had with your professional resume writing service?  Did it help you get an interview?  Did it help you get the job?  Please post your answer so others can learn from your experience.

Resume Advice Related Posts

• How To Write a Professional Summary Statement for Your Resume
• How Effective Is Your Resume?
• 3 Different Types of Resumes You Need To Know About
• Resume Writing Tips

A good resume is one of the most important tools you will use in your job search. A good resume will get you in the door so you can ace the interview and negotiate for a higher salary. A good resume is important, but its not the ONLY tool you need. . . but we’ll talk more about that next time. Today’s post will give you some resume tips and some resume writing examples to help you create a winning resume.

The place to start your resume is by focusing on accomplishment statements. These are brief, quantified results you have had in your previous job(s). Accomplishment statements (we refer to them as CARS) will help you stand out in a crowd. By focusing on your accomplishments rather than your job description, you will show a potential employer what you could do for them based upon your previous experiences. By focusing on accomplishments, rather than job description, you will PROVE that you are the best candidate. At the very least, by focusing on accomplishment statements you will entice a potential employer to say, “Hmmm. I need to talk to this person!” And isn’t that the real goal of your resume — to get an interview? (Say, “yes.”)

Here are a couple of accomplishment statement resume examples. The first statement is from the opriginal resume. The second is a re-working of that statement utilizing the CARS approach and focusing on quantifiable results.

Original statement: Ordered parts and managed inventory to control costs and increase revenue.

Revised statement: Prevented high risk of shortage and negotiated $98K in cost avoidance through a large purchase of a critical part. Mitigated holding costs by arranging that inventory be held at a distributor without additional price increase.

Original statement: Drove business as the Project Manager for three high-end server products (XX Multi Processor, IPXX Multi Processor, and XX Dual Processor). Improved credibility with customers which lead to an agreement of using a non-renewable expense fee based technical support model to justify beyond-standard support of financial burden for customers.

Revised statement: Negotiated with OEM customer to pay a non-renewable expense agreement (rather than a long term contract), allowing customer to launch products successfully and avoiding a loss of $20M+ to the company while maintaining a relationship that led to repeat business on the next project.

You can see that the second example packs more punch in about the same amount of space.  Giving specific examples, backed by quantified results gives the resume more weight.  Think of it this way, if everyone else applying for the job simply re-iterates the job description except for you, then you win! You win because you are showing results while everyone else is simply re-stating what the employer already knows . . . the job description.

For more on writing CARS statements and other free resume advice,  be sure to check out the video on the Careers 2.0 website – http://careeradvice4u.com/moodle/mod/resource/view.php?id=113

Resume Advice Related Posts

• How To Write a Professional Summary Statement for Your Resume
• How Effective Is Your Resume?
• 3 Different Types of Resumes You Need To Know About
• Why a GREAT Resume is Not as Important as a DECENT Network

There are no tricks to finding your perfect career, but going about it in the wrong way can distract from your job search and making it take longer to find your next position. For instance, many job seekers spend much of their day on the Internet searching the job boards.  Unfortunately, only about 6-10% of all jobs are ever posted on these job boards.  Smart job seekers understand that the key to finding the perfect career fit requires them to conduct a career marketing campaign.

A career marketing campaign begins by helping you focus your strengths and accomplishments into quantifiable statements that will show prospective employers what you can offer them – i.e. ways you can help them make or save money.

Once you have determined your key accomplishments, the next step is to find people and companies who need what you have to offer.  Sending out resumes en massé will just put your name into a pile of 500 to 1,000 candidates.  A proactive career marketing plan will allow you to be one of only a handful of candidates, rather than one in 1,000.

So why would you want to calculate how much you unemployment costs?  Isn’t that just a straight shot to depression-ville?  Not really.  I believe that one can make wiser decisions when they are better informed.  If you don’t know what unemployment is costing you, you should take a few minutes to do the calculations.  Trust me, it WILL help!

Here’s a simple way to calculate the cost of your unemployment.

1) Your desired monthly salary    $_______________

2) Subtract your current monthly income (i.e. unemployment, severance, etc)    $ _______________

3) Equals your monthly LOSS of income    $ _______________

If your monthly loss of income is $500, then in 3 months your will be out $1,500.  If you are $2,000 in the red each month, 3 months will take $6,000 out of your savings or put you that much deeper in debt!

When you know this information you really have two options:

1. Trim expenses.
2. Invest in tools to help you cut time off your job search.

What is it worth to you to cut time off your job search?  What is ONE week worth?  A month?  3 months? How much more time are you willing to WASTE on your job search?

The tools found in the Premium membership of Careers 2.0 can help you cut as much as 50% of your job search.  Isn’t that worth a $149.00 investment?

Click here to get started with your Career 2.0 Premium subscription.

I don’t often hand out testimonials for other career coaches, but when it comes to getting the most out of your job search I’ve been impressed with the work of Joshua Waldman. Joshua runs a website called Career Enlightenment (at www.joshuawaldman.net).  Joshua is a former sales and marketing professional who brings his expertise to help job seekers learn how to effectively use social media in the job search. His career advice is right on. In my opinion, Joshua gets it.

Joshua knows that the job search is about more than simply checking out the job boards.  He knows that in order to find the perfect career, you must utilize the best job search tools available to you.  Joshua teaches his clients how to use LinkedIn, facebook, Twitter and other social media tools to promote your personal brand.  Joshua searches the Internet to find helpful tools that make your job search more effective.  He conducts interviews with key career coaches and industry leaders. His recent blog post (“Is Your Brand The Ultimate Narcissism?”)  has even been featured in the Brazen Careerist.  Other professionals recognize Joshua’s work as well!

One of the reasons I feel so strongly about Joshua’s work is because he understands how to network.  Joshua’s philosophy on networking is a lot like mine – give, give, give, and good things will come back to you. Joshua gives of himself, his time and his expertise to help people in their job search.  Lately Joshua has been speaking to job seekers in my home town of Portland, Oregon.  I caught his workshop and was impressed with his knowledge.  For those who see the value in what Joshua has to offer, he is available for individual coaching.  If you want to learn how to use social media to extend your personal brand, give Joshua a call. I have learned a lot from Joshua, and you can too!

If you are in a job search, thinking about changing careers or just getting started at choosing a career, check out Joshua Waldman’s work.  He is a great networker and a powerful resource for anyone in the job hunt.

Join us next time for: “The Cost of Being Unemployed”

I just got off the phone with a friend who is scared, and well he should be!  His company employs over 600 people and has been around for more than 30 years.  They pride themselves on “never having had a massive layoff in the entire history of the organization.” That is. . . until today.

Today they let about 40 people go from the IT department — the first mass layoff in the company’s history.  My friend has worked there for over 5 years and has felt pretty secure in his job through this entire economic downturn.  That is. . . until today.

What are some of the warning signs of a pending lay off?

• Sales Staff leave. (What do they know that you don’t know?)
• Company initiates a freeze on hiring, even to replace people who retire or move.
• Projects (especially large building or IT projects) are put on the back burner or canceled all together.
• Your competitors are laying off staff.
• You are going through a business restructure.
• Upper management calls a special meeting to tell you that “we will not be laying off anyone in the foreseeable future.”  (This is a huge read flag!)
• Minor expenses (such as free coffee in the break room) are suddenly cut.
• Unexpectedly resignation of Senior management.
• Termination of contractors and temporary workers.
• Travel budgets frozen or cut back.
• Excessive political maneuvering by people who are “in the know.”

The wise person will pay attention to these warning signs and begin to prepare for a pending layoff.  Sticking your head in the sand will NOT help you if your company decides it’s time to cut staff.  If you want to land on your feet, you need to start developing your plan now.  Otherwise, you will be left high and dry, completely unprepared to weather the unemployment storm.