PBJ - People Between Jobs

2009-05-06T09:12:00.001-05:00

May 11,09) Rick Horner of Hill & Associates will speak on confusion of COBRA.
There will be a Linkedin.com training session, bring your laptop.
May 18,09) Samaritan Center discussion on stress of joblessness.
May 25,09) No meeting - Memorial Day
June 1,09) Bill Loftus - finances
June 8,09) Dave Flock - Executive Recruiter

2009-03-02T14:14:00.000-06:00

Upcoming speakers

Monday, March 9, 2009
Dorinda Heiden-Guss, President-- Economic Development
Corporation of Elkhart County
Topic: An overview of what activities and efforts have been
ongoing with the State and the Elkhart County Business
Development Group to attract business to the region, keep
business in the area.

Monday, March 16, 2009
Kate Cochrane, President of WorkOne
Topic: Provide an understanding of the various training and
support programs available to people in transition.

2008-05-20T18:37:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Dick Bracken:

Dick Bracken

Opinion: Jump-starting a stalled job search

By Katherine Spencer Lee

May 19, 2008 (Computerworld)

If you've been looking for a job for a while, there's a good chance you're frustrated with your inability to find one. The longer you're on the hunt, the less likely it seems that you'll ever be employed, especially given today's uncertain economic climate.

But the job market remains strong for the most highly skilled IT professionals, and with the right approach, you can significantly increase your chances of landing the position you seek. Here are six ways to fend off frustration and revitalize your job search:

Revisit old possibilities. It's likely that you sent out a flurry of resumes in the early part of your search and received responses from — or even interviewed with — a few hiring managers. Even though you weren't offered a job, that doesn't mean these businesses aren't interested in hiring you now, especially if you reached the later stages of the interview process. So consider reaching out to the firms you initially contacted to express your continued interest in working there and to find out if new openings exist.

Broaden your network. One of the best ways to find a job is through people you know, because resumes from referrals often receive top billing among hiring managers. If you've been networking through friends and family and still haven't found work, it's time to expand your list of contacts. Talk to former co-workers and managers, college alumni, and members of professional organizations you belong to. Or schedule informational interviews at businesses you're interested in so you have a contact when a job opens up. It never hurts to get back in touch with people you've already spoken with, either to let them know you're still looking for a job or to more clearly specify what sort of position you hope to find.

Identify and address your weak points. Instead of making small changes in multiple areas of your job search, it's often better to step back and take a look at the search from a broader perspective. Chances are, altering one aspect of your search, based on where you're having the most problems, can have a big impact on your success with employers.

For example, say you've gone on several interviews and have even been called back for additional meetings with some companies, but you still haven't received any offers. The problem may lie solely with your interview skills — after all, your resume and cover letter are drawing heavy interest from employers. So instead of trying to "fix" something that's in good working order — your application materials — devote extra attention to your interview skills. You might review questions you've been asked by hiring managers thus far and practice your responses with a friend who can critique you.

Keep your skills fresh. It's never a bad idea to work on your skills, both technical and nontechnical. Training, whether it's an online course in a programming language or an offline workshop on business communication, can bolster your skills while keeping you productively engaged during your job search. If a certification you lack keeps popping up in job descriptions that interest you, seriously consider investing the time and money it requires.

Diversify your target employers. If you've been contacting mostly well-known corporations or companies whose names carry a lot of technology cachet, broaden your approach to include different types of employers. For example, smaller firms, nonprofits and organizations in the educational sector all have a wide range of interesting IT opportunities, and competition for these jobs may be less intense.

Consider project-based employment. Although you're probably searching for a full-time job, it might be worth considering part-time or project-based work. These engagements can not only help you build new skills, but may also introduce you to valuable contacts or even lead directly to a full-time position. In addition, many IT staffing firms offer free professional development to keep your skills up to date.

Whatever you do to jump-start your job search, be sure to give thought to all employment opportunities that come your way, even those that don't seem promising at first. For example, a position that doesn't offer the starting pay you'd hoped for might provide other benefits, such as the ability to quickly advance within the organization. You never know what will lead you to your next job, but remaining motivated and marketable will help you find it sooner.

2006-05-01T14:29:00.000-05:00

Seven Signs It's Time to Toss Your RésuméBy Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder Editor

They've reviewed millions of résumés and seen it all. From the candidate whose stated objective was to "seek a high-paying, relaxing job" to the software developer who included a photo of himself bare-chested, cavorting in the surf. Corporate recruiters say you'd be surprised at how many candidates leave out important facts, such as the names and locations of companies where they've worked, or include too much information, like the candidate who asterisked her dates of employment with the caveat: "Please do not misconstrue the fact that I have had 12 jobs in six years as job-hopping...I have never quit a job!" Is your résumé working for you or against you? Here are seven signs it may be time to tweak (or toss) your résumé:

1. No Career Summary/Introductory Statement Most hiring companies don't have time to match unspecified résumés to open positions, so lead off with a career summary or introductory statement that makes it clear what type of position you are seeking and why you are qualified for the job.

2. Lack of Keywords and Phrases To pass through a company's applicant tracking software, your résumé must contain the keywords and phrases it is screening for. These words are not the verbs stressed in paper résumés, but nouns such as job titles and technical skills. To find out what keywords you should be using, read the job posting or obtain the actual job description. You also may want to check out the book 2,500 Keywords to Get You Hired by Jay Block and Michael Betrus, which lists critical keywords for each career and shows examples of how to use them in your résumé.

3. No Evidence of Your ExperienceYour résumé should not merely list the jobs you've held; it should provide specific examples of how you achieved success. Résumé-writing professionals recommend using the PARS formula: Describe a Problem, the Action you took, the Results you achieved and Skills you applied.

4. Use of Personal Pronouns and ArticlesWith just two pages to sell yourself, make each word count. Write in a telegraphic style, eliminating all personal pronouns and articles like "the," "a" and "an." Removing the "I," "me" and "my" from your résumé not only frees up space, but creates a subliminal perception of objectivity.

5. Irrelevant InformationIrrelevant information keeps the reader from seeing your selling points. Weigh each portion of your experience from the hiring company's perspective to decide what to include and what to emphasize. If you're applying for an engineering position, for example, don't devote a whole paragraph to your job as a camp counselor unless the position has elements that are transferable to the engineering job. And never include information about your marital status, personal situation, hobbies or interests unless they are relevant to the job for which you're applying.

6. Poor FormattingUnless you have no work experience or have held a number of different jobs in a short amount of time, a chronological résumé is the most effective. That means using the following order:
Header (your name, address, e-mail address and phone number)
Career summary, profiling the scope of your experience and skills
Reverse chronological employment history emphasizing achievements
Education Since poor alignment, spacing and use of bolding and caps make a résumé hard to read, you may want to use a résumé template.

7. Typos and Misspelled WordsFrom the would-be administrative assistant who claimed to be a "rabid typist" to the executive who boasted that he was "instrumental in ruining the entire operation," misspellings communicate that you have poor writing skills or a lackadaisical attitude. Proofread your résumé carefully and have several friends and family members read it as well.

Last, remember that the purpose of your résumé is to communicate your experiences and accomplishments as they relate to an open position and to obtain a job interview. Because each situation is different, you should tailor your résumé to each opportunity.

2006-05-01T14:28:00.000-05:00

PBJ - People Between Jobs

2006-03-08T09:15:00.000-06:00

PBJ - People Between Jobs: "2006

Networking Tip
Try this at the next Biz-Ness Event!
From the The Art of Schmoozing - Guy Kawasaki
The key is to establish a relationship before you need it.Understand the goal. Darcy Rezac in his book, The Frog and the Prince, wrote the world's best definition of schmoozing: "Discovering what you can do for someone else." Herein lies eighty percent of the battle: great schmoozers want to know what they can do for you, not what you can do for them. If you understand this, the rest is just mechanics.

"

2006-01-13T06:43:00.000-06:00

CAREER PROS: Is Your Job Search Too Passive?

by Carole Kanchier

Gail has sent out two hundred resumes within the past three months, but only landed one job interview. Is this happening to you?

Passively sending out resumes – regardless of how well-written they are – to employers or recruiters won’t necessarily get you an interview or job. You must get your resume to the right person, which requires creativity and work. Try the following.

Know the type of job you want. Identify the industry, title, function and organizational level, specialty area, type of company and location.

Don’t select a job because experts predict it’s in demand, to please others, or just to be employed. Rather, select one that’s congruent with your personal qualities. What’s your passion? What skills and other attributes do you want to use?

It’s difficult to maintain enthusiasm when you are applying for positions that don’t excite you.

Prepare a scannable resume. Many large organizations use computers to scan resumes for key phrases or buzz words mentioned in job descriptions.

To make your resume easy to scan, use crisp type, such as that produced by laser printers. Use white or light-colored paper, with standard typefaces such as Helvetica or Courier, and font sizes of 11 to 14 points. Use all capital letters for section headings.

Avoid fancy treatments such as italics, underlining and graphics. Use common headings such as career objective, skills summary and work experience. Include the job code listed in the ad.

Employ key words from the text of want ads to define your skills, accomplishments, education and other strengths. Include numbers, dollars and evidence of quality. Use nouns such as manager and technician, and industry jargon.

Develop a different resume for each job target. Also craft two variations of your resume: one with a scannable layout to send by email; the second with a more creative arrangement to bring to an interview.

If you’re using email, save your resume as a text document. Ask someone to proofread it.

Use the appropriate format. Since most employers prefer chronological resumes, use this format if you’re applying for a similar type of job in a related industry.

If you’re an older professional who is changing fields, consider the functional format (organize accomplishments and skills to match specific job requirements). This enables you to cluster accomplishments of a particular function such as marketing, regardless of when and where you performed them. Include a section outlining your employment history.

Write a short cover letter. In two or three succinct paragraphs, identify your job objective, highlight related accomplishments, and indicate how you can benefit the employer. If you’re sending the resume by mail, consider including a portfolio with sample accomplishments, commendations, publications and other achievements.

Network. About eighty-five percent of all employment comes from networking. It enables you to increase your contacts and get useful information, such as unadvertised positions and companies that are hiring.

Identify people who can connect you with decision makers in the organization. Personal referrals to hiring managers increase the likelihood your resume will be read.

Increase your contacts by joining professional, trade, alumni or civic groups. Attend career fairs, trade shows and professional conferences.

Create ways to meet people in hiring positions. Ask for introductions. Make cold calls.

Research. Effective research can identify job possibilities with prospective companies and hiring managers. Check The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Rich’s Guide, other publications and company Internet sites.

Look for hidden leads. A newspaper story or television program describing a new company or product may suggest positions with a growing company or expansion of a larger one.

Use a variety of search strategies. Contact employers directly. Identify the hiring managers at companies of interest to determine job availability and skills required.

If appropriate, revise and send your resume. Show that you’re qualified for the targeted position. Request an interview.

Contact small companies. Try executive recruiting firms, temp agencies, and trade and professional associations.

Be proactive. Make things happen. Follow up each mailing with a phone call or email within three weeks. If you don’t hear from anyone, call again. List things to accomplish daily. Completing these will help maintain optimism, motivation and energy.

Carole Kanchier, author of Dare to Change Your Job - and Your Life, is principal of Questers, a career consulting group. E-mail her at questers@daretochange.com or call 1-888-206-0108

2005-12-01T12:49:00.000-06:00

Why Resumes Are Just One Piece of the Puzzle
Impressive credentials are nice. But character and values are the qualities that matter most when making a hire.
By Jeffrey Pfeffer, December 2005 Issue Business 2.0

Many companies use flawed techniques to find, screen, and hire executive talent. The problem begins with the emphasis placed on resumes; it just doesn’t make sense to base a hiring decision on a few sheets of paper that tick off past experience. Even ignoring the fact that candidates routinely exaggerate (or worse) when they describe their accomplishments, a resume is merely a summary of positions held and degrees attained. It says almost nothing about the traits that matter most when it comes to predicting candidates’ workplace effectiveness -- how they behave, the values they hold dear, and what it’s like to actually work with them side by side, day after day.

That kind of information is hard to come by in our litigious society, where labor attorneys counsel employers to confirm only functional information about a former employee, such as formal title, dates of employment, and possibly salary. Compounding the problem, many follow-up interviews also miss the mark: We form opinions based on first impressions, respond to candidates on the basis of interpersonal similarity, and squander interview time reviewing the resume instead of probing to learn what a person is really like.

A few years ago, I served on the board of a small software company that wanted to hire a new CEO. We did what most companies do: We scrutinized resumes to see who would best fit the job. We were particularly impressed by one candidate’s credentials -- MBA from a top school and a senior position at a similar company -- so our interviews focused mostly on recruiting him. Trouble is, interviewing well is a talent based on quick responses and smooth talk, but those aren’t the skills one needs to manage people and technology. Ultimately, we got exactly what we hired -- smart talk and great presentations -- but sales stagnated and employee morale declined.

Focusing on credentials can be misleading. Sometimes it can exaggerate a candidate’s abilities. Remember the Peter Principle? (That’s the idea that people get promoted to their level of incompetence.) In other cases, resumes can overlook valuable traits that transcend formal training. You wouldn’t find much academic experience on the resumes of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, for example -- both are college dropouts. At the other extreme, one might assume that an entrepreneur from Stanford’s computer science Ph.D. program would concentrate on the technical dimensions of business. But when I had lunch with Google (GOOG) co-founder Larry Page a few years ago, he was obsessed with the company’s organizational culture -- a “touchy-feely” concern that he views as key to its continued success. And indeed, Google’s fast-moving and wildly creative workplace environment remains a significant source of the company’s competitive advantage.

The U.S. Army has an interesting perspective on leadership development, which is nicely captured in its slogan “Be, Know, Do.” Obviously, it’s important to have technical skills (knowing) and the ability to execute (doing). But basic values -- being -- come first. The military recognizes that character is essential to a leader’s nature, not something acquired by taking a class or holding a particular job title. In the post-Enron, post-Tyco (TYC), post-WorldCom era, that’s a lesson that American corporations should have learned by now. So how do the smartest companies find out what lies beneath the resume?

Firms such as Southwest Airlines (LUV) emphasize behavioral interviewing, asking people not so much about accomplishments but how they might react to hypothetical situations, how they spend their free time, and how they embody core values. Some companies actively match individual values to corporate culture by having job candidates fill out a survey to see if their responses match those of company leaders -- a strategy that’s been shown to accurately predict corporate effectiveness. After all, talking yourself into a top job isn’t really all that difficult. But commanding respect and leading successfully are skills that are almost impossible to fake

2005-10-25T06:29:00.000-05:00

After 10 Years Away, How Do I Return to the Corporate World?
	By Perri Capell

Question: What advice do you have for women over 50 who want to re-enter the corporate world after a 10-year absence? I was a vice president when I left. Should I pursue a lower-level job? What should I say about the gap on my resume?

-- Carolyn Austin, Greenwich, Conn.

Carolyn: Let me ask you a question: "Are you sure you want to go back to the corporate world?"

I don't know why you were away from your career for 10 years, but a lot has changed since then. The greatest changes may have occurred within you. Keeping regular hours and commuting to an office may not be as appealing as you might think. Even though flextime and other more relaxed working arrangements have taken hold, large-company environments can be difficult for women with family obligations.

"The corporate world is tough on executives who are 50-plus and even more so on women," says Janet Scarborough, a psychologist in the Seattle area who specializes in career development. "So ask yourself whether it will be rewarding enough to make the stress worth it if you do succeed in getting a job."

If you decide to go for it, realize that older executives who left jobs much more recently than you often struggle to find new ones because fewer positions are available at their rung on the ladder. To hiring managers -- right or wrong and almost always wrong, older candidates also may not seem as energetic or interested in working hard as younger applicants.

Have you considered seeking out smaller or more entrepreneurial companies, where performance and results matter more than appearance or the fact that you took time off to do something that was important to you?

As to whether you should seek a lower-level position than your last one, absolutely not, says Lauren Mackler, a Boston-based career coach. "I don't suggest ever going backwards," she says.

Employers don't like filling jobs with overqualified people. They question why you would downgrade yourself or want to work for less money. Moreover, by seeking a lesser job, you automatically devalue what you have done during the past decade, says Ms. Mackler.

It might help to think of your next job not in terms of its title, but in terms of its content and responsibilities. Today's job titles often hold little resemblance to someone's importance to an organization.

To land a good job, you must decide what you want to do. Don't expect employers to figure it out, and don't assume that it's what you once did. Review your current interests and passions and how your skills and talents mesh with them. This should be the area you pursue. Also "know what type of work lifestyle you want and the kind of people you want to work around," says Ms. Mackler. "The more specific you are, the more likely you can create this."

Find ways to repair any skill gaps between what you want and what you can do. Take classes or volunteer. Having a volunteer job on your resume will provide you with recent employment you can talk about.

Identify what you've achieved during the past decade. Then extract the skills and abilities you used and list them on your resume. If you did any volunteer work or handled specific responsibilities, cite these on the resume as well. This should help with your resume gap.

Before talking with anyone about your job search, develop a 30-second statement that summarizes who you are, what you have been doing lately and what you want to do now, Ms. Mackler advises. You don't want to be caught short when asked about yourself and your career goals.

Be clear about the value you gained while taking time out of the workforce. Ms. Scarborough says that women can take a lesson from men in this regard. Many women are apologetic about their decisions to stay home, but men she helps to return to the work force after they stayed home to raise children don't apologize, she says. Instead, they tell prospective employers that their decision to be caregivers was a priority for them at the time, but their priority now is their career, she says.

"They have been extremely successful about reentering the job market by being very clear and confident about what they were doing," she says. "Women can learn from that."

Answering job postings and then sending resumes isn't the best way for older candidates to find opportunities. The gap on your resume will stand out more this way. This is the time to exercise your networking muscles.

Network on a one-to-one basis first with people who know you and appreciate your value. Your contacts needn't be from the business world. Talk to the parents of children the same age as your children, members of your community organizations, or retailers in your neighborhood. Ask them for suggestions or referrals to other people. And never forget that networking is more about how you can help others than how they can aid you.

Seek interim project-oriented assignments where you can demonstrate value, and at the same time, try out an employer for size. The idea here is to minimize questions about your age by showing what you can achieve within a specific time.

As you job hunt, you'll likely encounter obstacles and at times feel discouraged. Keep "gracious perseverance" as your two-word mantra, Ms. Mackler suggests. You can always change the tactics that don't work for you.

-- October 3, 2005

Have a question about job hunting or career management? Send it to Perri Capell. If you don't want your name used in our column, please indicate that. Due to the volume of mail received, we regret that we cannot answer every question.

2005-10-24T13:32:00.000-05:00

Using Writely for posting your resume.

If you would like to have other PBJ members review and edit your resume, please visit Writely.com and sign up for a free account.

Once you have created an account at Writely, you can create a NEW document, and clicking on "Add Collaborators = yes" add PBJ members whom you would like to see your resume, edit and comment. You will be able to see their recommendations, and then cut/ paste as you desire to a new version of your document.

If you want to PUBLISH you resume - making it available to anyone who has the url address, you can do that from the Writely control panel as well.

2005-08-23T08:31:00.000-05:00

Since we were talking about interviewing yesterday, I thought this article from Monster.com might be appropriate.

2005-08-20T22:06:00.000-05:00

Ten Easy Ways to Improve Your Resume

by Katharine Hansen

In my line of work, I see hundreds of resumes, and I often see the same patterns over and over again. I frequently observe resume tendencies that are not necessarily mistakes, yet the jobseekers behind these resumes could have much nicer, cleaner, more readable resumes if they just tweaked a few things. And none of these tweaks are hard to accomplish. Even if your resume has other problems, you'll see significant improvements if you make these 10 easy fixes.

Use a bulleted style to make your resume more reader-friendly. Given that employers screen resumes for between 2.5 and 20 seconds, they will find your resume a lot more readable if you use bullet points instead of paragraph style. It's just easier to read.
Follow "The Resume Ingredients Rule." Set forth by Donald Asher, author of numerous resume books (see our Q&A with him), the rule says that information on a resume should be listed in order of importance to the reader. Therefore, in listing your jobs, what's generally most important is your title/position. So list in this preferred order: Title/position, name of employer, city/state of employer, dates of employment. I can't tell you how many resumes I've seen that list dates first. Dates can be important to some employers, but they're generally not as important as what your position was and whom you worked for. Education follows the same principle; thus, the preferred order for listing your education is: Name of degree (spelled out: Bachelor of _____) in name of major, name of university, city/state of university, graduation year, followed by peripheral information, such as minor and GPA. If you haven't graduated yet, list your information the same way. Simply by virtue of the fact that the graduation date you've listed is in the future, the employer will know you don't have the degree yet.
By the way, the Resume Ingredients Rule is also the reason that experience and education are listed in reverse chronological order on your resume; it's assumed that your most recent education and experience are most important and relevant to the reader.
Eliminate "responsibilities" words from your resume vocabulary. Never use expressions like "Duties included," "Responsibilities included," or “Responsible for” on your resume. Why? Because your resume should be accomplishments-driven, not responsibilities-driven. Anyone (well, maybe not anyone…) can perform the duties listed in a job description. Job-description language is not what sells in a resume. Accomplishments-oriented language tells employers how you've gone above and beyond in your jobs, what makes you special, how you've taken initiative and made your jobs your own.

Eliminate clutter from your resume. Several elements can clutter up your resume and impede readability:

Unnecessary dates. Don't list dates that don't add anything to your resume; for example, dates you spent involved in college extracurricular activities. If you were involved in these activities during college, the reader can pretty much guess your dates of involvement, and listing the dates will just clutter up your document. Same with dates of involvement in professional or civic organizations; ask yourself if those dates will be meaningful to the employer reading your resume.
Parentheses. Jobseekers have a particular tendency to set off dates of employment with parentheses. It's easier on the reader if you just use commas.
The line "References: Available upon request." This statement is highly optional because it is a given that you will provide references upon request. If you couldn't, you would have no business looking for a job. The line can serve the purpose of signaling: "This is the end of my resume," but if you are trying to conserve space, leave it off.
Articles. Those little words "a," "an," and "the." Generally speaking, resumes aren't written in sentence form, but in concise phrases that have become an accepted shorthand that employers understand. Articles tend to clutter up that shorthand; your resume will read in a more streamlined manner without them. Consider these "before" and "after" examples:

BEFORE:	AFTER:
Recruited to manage the women's division and oversee the opening of the Madison Avenue Store.	Recruited to manage women's division and oversee Madison Avenue store opening.
Promoted within five months to Vice-President and General Manager of the Beverly Hills store.	Promoted within five months to Vice-President and General Manager of Beverly Hills store.
Managed and controlled all aspects of the company's presence on the West Coast.	Managed and controlled all aspects of company's West Coast presence.
Coordinated and supervised all aspects of the opening of the Beverly Hills Store.	Coordinated and supervised all aspects of Beverly Hills store opening.
Facilitated the development of management and staff to ensure store growth and minimize turnover.	Facilitated management and staff development to ensure store growth and minimize turnover.
Created a high profile for the store through effective personal relations with the entertainment community, Chamber of Commerce, the City of Beverly Hills and charity organizations.	Created high profile for store through effective personal relations with entertainment community, Chamber of Commerce, the City of Beverly Hills and charity organizations.

Aren't the "After" versions a lot more streamlined?

Use strong, concrete verbs to describe your jobs, and don't mix noun and verb phrases. Let's look at this example:

Managed and controlled all aspects of company's West Coast presence. [verb]
Complete ownership of inventory and financial standards. [noun]
Full P&L responsibilities. [noun]
Analyzed market and forecast sales, prepared corporate budgets and monitored results to achieve ROI objectives. [verb]

Instead, be consistent with verbs:

Supervised inventory and financial standards.
Completely oversaw profit and loss aspects of operation.

Also avoid the weak verbs, “to be,” “to do,” and "to work." Everyone works. Be more specific. "Collaborate(d)" is often a good substitute. Instead of: “Worked with Marketing Department to launch promotional campaign,” say “Collaborated with Marketing Department to launch promotional campaign.”

Focus on describing past job activities that highlight the skills you most like to use and want to use in your next job. Don't spend a lot of time, for example, describing all that clerical stuff you did in a past job if you have no intention of doing clerical work again. Even if you've mastered skills that are in great demand, don't emphasize them if they're not the skills you want to use in the future.

Don't fret about the one-page resume rule. Sure, it's nice to keep your resume to one page if you can, but don't go to extraordinary lengths, such as by using tiny type. If you have significant experience, you'll probably need more than one page. What you should avoid is having one full page with just a little bit of text on your second page. If you fill a third or less of the second page, consider condensing to one page. Ways to condense:

Narrow your margins. The margins in Microsoft Word are set very wide by default. You can have margins as narrow as .75” all around and still have a nice-looking document.
Use a smaller point size, but not too small. A font size of 11-point is good; don't go too much smaller than 10.5-point.
Many jobseekers use a two-column format with headings in the left-hand column. To conserve space, narrow or even eliminate the left-hand column and simply stack your headings on top of each section.

Make sure your resume has a sharp focus. Again, given the microscopic amount of time that employers spend screening resumes, you need a way to show the employer at a glance what you want to do and what you're good at. One way to sharpen your focus is through an objective statement. Another way is to add a section called something like "Summary of Qualifications," or "Profile." To see an example of such a section, go to sample resume.

Don't list too much experience on your resume. The rule of thumb for someone at the senior level is to list about 15 years worth of jobs. Age discrimination, unfortunately, is a reality, and even more likely, employers may think you're too expensive if you list too much experience on your resume. Similarly, don't give the date of your college graduation if it was more than about 10 years ago.

Be sure the reader will understand all the acronyms and jargon you use in your resume. Resumes in the high-tech field are notorious for these mysterious terms. We recently received a resume containing the following acronyms and jargon: MCSE, MCP+I, TCP/IP, CCA, CCNA, token ring and PCMCIA network interface cards for LAN connectivity, NT Service Packs, Ethernet cards, Server 4.0, SQL 6.5, 7.0, Red Hat Linux 6.1, Turbo Linux 4.0 and Caldera 2.3, Cisco 2500 routers and switches. Now, chances are that employers in this jobseeker's field understand all these terms. Just be sure that's the case. Spell out any acronyms you think could be questionable, and explain any terms you think some readers of your resume might not understand.
College students, too, need to be aware of "inside" jargon. At Stetson University, my alma mater, for example, we have an annual charity fundraiser called "Greenfeather;" freshman-orientation leaders called "FOCUS" advisers; and a volunteer organization called "Into the Streets." The school's graduates routinely use those terms on their resumes without any explanation, as though everyone knows what Greenfeather, FOCUS, and Into the Streets mean. Look at your resume from an outsider's perspective -- and explain (or eliminate) any unfamiliar terms or acronyms.

Bonus tip: Be sure to list locations (city and state) for all your past employers. It's resume protocol to do so, and employers expect to see that information. I'm constantly amazed at all the resumes I see that list names of past employers, but don't tell where those employers are located.

Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.

Katharine Hansen is a former speechwriter and college instructor who provides content for Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and prepares job-search correspondence as chief writer for Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters. She is author of Dynamic Cover Letter for New Graduates; A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market; and, with Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., Dynamic Cover Letters and Write Your Way to a Higher GPA, all published by Ten Speed Press. She can be reached by e-mail at kathy@quintcareers.com.

2005-05-22T23:32:00.000-05:00

Avoid These 10 Interview Bloopers

by Deborah Walker

We've all heard stories of job candidates who looked great on paper but who were absolute disasters in person. With fewer and fewer interview opportunities available in this competitive market, it's essential to make the best possible first impression. You can learn from the mistakes of others and avoid the top 10 worst interview blunders.

Poor handshake: The three-second handshake that starts the interview is your first opportunity to create a great impression. But all too often an interview is blown right from the start by an ineffective handshake. Once you've delivered a poor handshake, it's nearly impossible to recover your efforts to build rapport. Here are some examples:

The Limp Hand (or "dead fish"): Gives the impression of disinterest or weakness
The Tips of the Fingers: Shows lack of ability to engage.
The Arm Pump: Sincerity is questionable, much like an overly aggressive salesman.

Even if you're a seasoned professional, don't assume you have avoided these pitfalls. Your handshake may be telling more about you than you know. Ask for honest critiques from several friends who aren't afraid to tell you the truth.

Talking too much: In my recruiting days, I abhorred over-talkative candidates. So did most of my client employers. Over-talking takes a couple of forms:

Taking too long to answer direct questions. The impression: This candidate just can't get to the point.
Nervous talkers. The impression: This candidate is covering up something or is outright lying.

To avoid either of these forms of over-talking, practice answering questions in a direct manner. Avoid nervous talking by preparing for your interview with role-play.

Talking negatively about current or past employers/managers: The fastest way to talk yourself out of a new job is to say negative things. Even if your last boss was Attila the Hun, never, never state your ill feelings about him/her. No matter how reasonable your complaints, you will come out the loser if you show that you disrespect your boss because the interviewer will assume that you would similarly trash him or her. When faced with the challenge of talking about former employers, make sure you are prepared with a positive spin on your experiences.

Showing up late or too early: One of the first lessons in job-search etiquette is to show up on time for interviews. Many job-seekers don't realize, however, that showing up too early often creates a poor first impression as well. Arriving more than 10 minutes early for an interview is a dead giveaway that the job seeker has too much time on his or her hands, much like the last one picked for the softball team. Don't diminish your candidate desirability by appearing desperate. Act as if your time were as valuable as the interviewer's. Always arrive on time, but never more than 10 minutes early.

Treating the receptionist rudely: Since the first person you meet on an interview is usually a receptionist, this encounter represents the first impression you'll make. Don't mistake low rank for low input. Often that receptionist's job is to usher you into your interview. The receptionist has the power to pave your way positively or negatively before you even set eyes on the interviewer. The interviewer may also solicit the receptionist's opinion of you after you leave.

Asking about benefits, vacation time or salary: What if a car salesman asked to see your credit report before allowing you to test drive the cars? That would be ridiculous, and you'd walk away in disgust. The effect is about the same when a job-seeker asks about benefits or other employee perks during the first interview. Wait until you've won the employer over before beginning that discussion.

Not preparing for the interview: Nothing communicates disinterest like a candidate who hasn't bothered to do pre-interview research. On the flip side, the quickest way to a good impression is to demonstrate your interest with a few well thought out questions that reflect your knowledge of their organization. [Editor's note: To ensure that you are prepared, see our article, The Ultimate Guide to Job Interview Preparation.]

Verbal ticks: An ill-at-ease candidate seldom makes a good impression. The first signs of nervousness are verbal ticks. We all have them from time to time -- "umm," "like," "you know." Ignore the butterflies in your stomach and put up a front of calm confidence by avoiding verbal ticks. You can also sometimes avoid verbal ticks by pausing for a few seconds to gather your thoughts before each response.

One of the best ways to reduce or eliminate them is through role-play. Practice sharing your best success stories ahead of time, and you'll feel more relaxed during the real interview.

Not enough/too much eye contact: Either situation can create a negative effect. Avoid eye contact and you'll seem shifty, untruthful, or disnterested; offer too much eye contact, and you'll wear the interviewer out. If you sometimes have trouble with eye-contact balance, work this issue out ahead of time in an interview practice session with a friend.

Failure to match communication styles: It's almost impossible to make a good first impression if you can't communicate effectively with an interviewer. But you can easily change that situation by mirroring the way the interviewer treats you. For instance:

If the interviewer seems all business, don't attempt to loosen him/her up with a joke or story. Be succinct and businesslike
If the interviewer is personable, try discussing his/her interests. Often the items on display in the office can offer a clue.
If asked a direct question, answer directly. Then follow up by asking if more information is needed.

Allowing the interviewer to set the tone of conversation can vastly improve your chances of making a favorable impression. You can put the interviewer at ease -- and make yourself seem more like him or her -- by mirroring his or her communication style.

Final Thoughts
Just as a strong resume wins you an opportunity to interview, strong interview skills will win you consideration for the job. You already know that you won't earn an interview unless your resume sets you apart as a candidate of choice. Similarly, you should know that polishing your interview skills can mean the difference between getting the job offer -- and being a runner-up.

Start your job search with a resume that creates a stellar first impression, then back those facts up with your extraordinary interview skills. You will have made yourself a better candidate by avoiding these ten interview pitfalls. And no one will have to talk about you as the candidate who "almost" got the job.

2005-05-20T09:51:00.000-05:00

6 Job-Networking Techniques

[Courtesy of careerkey.com]

We all know that networking is the most effective way to find a job. But these six mistakes can kill your networking efforts.

1) Not preparing for the networking event and not having a plan of "attack."

What do I mean by preparation and a plan of attack?

A. Find out who else will be there and what companies/organizations will be represented. (The organization arranging the event should have a guest list.)
B. Learn as much as you can about the different companies.
C. You have to be aggressive with your time, meaning, you must designate a certain amount of time for each individual on your list.
D. You have to follow through closely and stick to the designated time limits with each person.
E. Don't forget to take your business cards with you and use a different pocket for those cards that you will be receiving from others.

2) Taking your resume with you to a networking event.

You might be shocked to hear this - don't take your resume with you when you attend professional meetings. I'm talking about conferences, trade shows, club meetings, cocktail parties and such. Do you really want to be seen as a desperate person who walks around with a folder full of resumes? Do you really want to juggle that folder and worry about whether the resumes get wrinkled or not, how many you can give away and whether the person you gave it to will remember where he or she put it?

(Now, of course, DO take your r‚sum‚ to job fairs and related career-events. Leave them with the appropriate person and don't forget to record who you gave your r‚sum‚ to so you can follow up within a couple of weeks or so with a phone call.)

3) Not having a PREPARED and REHEARSED 20 second "mini" speech/introduction about your expertise.

You cannot just show up blindly, thinking whatever happens will be OK.

A 20 seconds mini speech is not too long. It's just enough for you to articulate your expertise and let someone know what you are about. So, when someone asks you what you do, give her or him your mini speech.

One caution.

Don't be a generalist. Don't just say: "I'm a Process Engineer and I work for Ford Motor Company."

Instead, be SPECIFIC. Say: "I'm a Process Engineer and my expertise lies in providing cost effective solutions to complex process engineering problems within the automotive industry."

4) Not finding out how you could contribute.

Ask questions! Find out what problems the person you are talking to is facing within his/her job and industry. Then, if appropriate, propose your possible solution by lining up your matching skills. Basically, find out how you could contribute, how you could help them solve a problem.

5) Focusing on yourself.

You will come across as far more personable if you ask questions about the other person instead of talking about yourself. Remember that people do business with those they perceive as friendly and those that show genuine interest in learning about the other person. So, by showing an interest in the other person, you will accomplish two things: learn about her or him and about their company's needs and will show that you are personable and a good communicator. So, ask away! You will reap great benefits.

6) Not sending a thank you note.

Send a thank you note to those that took the time to talk with you at the networking event. Thank them for their time and again, subtly, let them know about your expertise.

Say something like:

"Mr. Smith, it was great talking to you at the XYZ conference. As a Website Designer, I particularly enjoyed our talk regarding the future of e-commerce and Internet technology."

Rita Fisher is a Certified Professional Resume Writer, a Resume Expert and owner of Career Change Resumes, a professional resume writing and career marketing firm. CareerChangeResumes.com

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2005-05-16T16:07:00.000-05:00

May BizNess Hours:
BizNess After Hours - DJ Construction - Tues, May 17th, 5:30 - 7:00PM
June BizNess Hours:
BizNess Before Hours - Key Bank, 101 S Main St., Thurs June 2, 7 -9 AM
The BIG BizNess After Hours, National City Bank, Genesis Products, Inc., Elcona Country Club, Tues June 21, 5:50 - 7PM
More info - call 293-1531

2005-05-16T14:37:00.000-05:00

Here's information about the Chamber's Biz-ness Afer Hours for May and June.

May 17, 2005
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Location: DJ Construction, 3414 Elkhart Rd, Goshen
Member Price: $No Charge
Non-Member Price: $5.00
Sponsor: DJ Construction

June 21, 2005
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Location: Elcona Country Club, 56784 CR 21, Bristol
Member Price: $No Charge
Non-Member Price: $5.00
Sponsor: National City Bank & Genesis Products, Inc.

I am guessing that the June meeting is the "BIG" Biz-ness After Hours, but I'm not sure at this point. The June Biz-ness BEFORE hours info follows:

June 2, 2005
7:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Location: 101 S. Main Street, Elkhart
Member Price: $No Charge
Non-Member Price: $5.00
Sponsor: KeyBank

2005-05-08T20:44:00.000-05:00

Blunt Advice from a Recruiter

From GHM mailing list

Subject: zzzzzzzzzz Allow me to paint you a word picture

For those jobseekers who send resumes and never hear from their
recruiters, this info might be of some value and interest..

1. Recruiters although willing to take calls from seekers with questions,
seldom make calls to anyone..

2. Its an email world. The reasons are simple. with a document which is
archived, the recruiter a. doesn’t have to take notes, shorthand, b. remember anything, c. can parse, search, cut/ paste and forward a resume or any portion thereof to a waiting client.

3. 5 minutes after any phone call, its out of sight and probably
out of mind, given the sheer volume. (I get over 150 emails per day and answer about 60 in detail if I have the time and energy..

4. Most jobseekers don’t have filenames which reflect their names, and recruiters just do not have time to spend searching for some specific resume of someone who sent his resume as resume.doc. Resume filename standard is lastname.firstname.middleinitial.doc

5. Unless a cover letter as lastname.firstname.cov.doc elaborates on
WHEN the person is available, Where they want to be living (at least what part of the country) and where NOT Their Salary objective or target (no matter how out of sync with reality) The principal role or function, as well as some characterization of what type, size firm which they believe describes their optimum employer,

6. The recruiters will probably not pay much attention to that candidate.

7. ALL info has to be in the same doc at the same time. not piecemeal in a terse 3 line doc with some more somewhere in an email. It has to be sufficient for the recruiter to send to a hiring employers decision maker, and motivate that person to pick up the phone and speak with the jobseeker. There are no shortcuts.. No other options. Cover letter filename standard is lastname.firstname.middleinitial.cov.doc

You cannot get an offer unless you can get an interview, right? Have you ever heard of anyone getting an offer to report to work never having had an interview ??

You might have two possible chances to get that interview, but most job seekers only give themselves ONE chance, because they do not HAVE or USE a cover letter.

Someone called me today to say that they don't like putting salary
information in a cover letter.. Consider this. You are a merchant who sells puzzles. You cannot sell a puzzle to a customer unless it is complete.
The puzzles come from your supplier every day by the dozens. Before you put them on the shelf for sale you open the boxes and very often you find several corners missing, several key pieces missing including some very obvious ones right in the center. Do you continue to try to put those pieces together and hope that a prospective buyer will overlook the missing pieces?

In my case, those pieces are information, and the puzzles are resumes without cover letters. The missing pieces are: characterizations of what type and size firms the jobseeker believes can offer him the challenge he seeks and most closely relate to his skills. Another piece is location... What part of the country? Where NOT? Timing. Is he employed and casually looking, or unemployed
for the last 3 years and ready to flip burgers to preclude foreclosure, divorce, bankruptcy? Another is current/ final or expected Salary. There are others which are even more subjective, such as industry, role, management level, specific process, product, applications, sales, territory, type of customers, and sales volume considerations.

` What can the merchant to do? One solution: write the supplier and
let him know that the puzzle is missing pieces and precisely which ones, and offer the merchant the opportunity to provide the missing pieces.

For those who think somehow I get my jollies getting into
altercations with jobseekers because I enjoy the stress and the confrontation, the answer is NO! The truth is, I generally always provide the jobseeker with the opportunity to know what I'm missing and what I think I need based on 38 (plus) years experience, and speaking with half a dozen hiring employers on the phone five days per week.

If he doesn't provide the pieces in the form which match the rest of the pieces and completes the puzzle. Do I call the goon squad and have him beaten? Thankfully, I do not have to do that. I simply GO ELSEWHERE and spend my time working on a puzzle which SEEMS to have all the pieces.

With only so many (12-15) hours in my work day I spend the time
working on the puzzles I can complete so that I can make presentations to my buying customers and (recruiter) dealers. The instant I find a major piece missing, I begin working on another totally different
puzzle. Hope this enlightens some as to what standards and logic recruiters must use to survive in this economy and with the subjective parameters given us by hiring employers, most of whom prefer to deny that anyone over the age or 30 can walk and think at the same time without a masters degree and ten years experience.

I generally do not even look at a resume until I have seen the
cover letter with indication of $alary objective, industry and location preferences, restrictions, and all the other items mentioned above, because the intrinsic technical qualifications are always subject to the preferences and $alary of the candidate.

When I know those, then I'll know, based on my awareness of all
the jobs and all the affiliates and their clients and their open jobs whether I am justified in spending time on that particular puzzle.

Market demand has increased to the point that I no longer
consider marketing candidates, as I have too many current active assignments for which I will not get paid unless and until I make a placement. My efforts are almost always in behalf of those for whom I have the most complete information.

Lastly, an EMAIL message which transmits the resume is NOT a
cover letter. A cover letter is a DOC FILE as lastname.firstname.middleinitial.cov.doc which is sent as an attachment which can be placed in a archive with the accompanying
resume, parsed, freshened, or overwritten, and sent to an employer as an attachment and who will be looking for a filename which approximates its owners resume filename.

Bill Griffin
William Griffin, Pres. wgriffin@adelphia.net
ALPHA SYSTEMS, Inc
3325 Sweetwater Drive
Cumming, GA 30041-6641 678 889-6059
Web - http://www.jobbs.com

2005-04-25T15:47:00.000-05:00

Biz-Ness Before Hours at IUSB

Biz-Ness Before Hours will be held at Indiana University South Bend, Elkhart Center at 2930 S. Nappanee St. in Elkhart. It will be held from 7 to 9:00 am on May 5th and is co-sponsored by the IUSB Alumni Association and Hoosiers for Higher Education.

The next Biz-Ness After Hours will be hosted by DJ Construction Company, Inc. at their new location, 3414 Elkhart Road (US 33 next to the new CR 17 bridge). Join DJ for networking, refreshments and door prizes from 5:30 - 7:30 pm on Tuesday evening, May 17th and see their new facility.

Members may attend at no charge; non-members may attend for $5 (limit three visits per company).

2005-04-14T11:36:00.000-05:00

Work Force Development Information

I talked with a gal named Pam at Work Force Development today. She is actually in charge of the training there. Per Pam there is an orientation every Wednesday at 8:30 that will enlighten everyone as to what is available through WFD. Also, every other Mon & Tues (next one is April 25 & 26) from 8:30 to noon they give indepth training and information regarding using WFD, job search, resume writing, interviewing skills. I think I understood that they will work with the individual as to what specifically is available to them at WFD also. As to computer training, while the classes at Elkhart are limited, there are many classes available at South Bend. Marcella Ellis is the trainer and her number is 574-237-9675 X1141. She has classes on keyboarding, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and customer service. There is even grant money available for people who need assistance with money for gas to get to interviews, etc. She is sending me written materials that I will make available to everyone at PBJ. Pam Duncan

2005-04-14T08:48:00.000-05:00

WSJ's Mossberg Looks at Two New Vertical Search Engines
Walter Mossberg today looks at two new search engines that cater to niche vertical markets.

The first, called Ziggs, helps you find people with particular skills or other characteristics for hiring or networking purposes. For instance, it might help you find a lawyer in Washington specializing in international trade, or an alumnus of Brandeis University who lives in Delaware.

The second, called Indeed.com, is a search engine for jobs. Unlike traditional job sites, like Monster.com, Indeed indexes more than 500 Web sites (including Monster) that list job openings, and allows job seekers to search them all from one place. For instance, you can look for all jobs in Michigan, or all jobs at General Motors, or only job openings in Michigan for engineers at GM.

Mossberg gives his review of each.

2005-03-17T17:04:00.000-06:00

What Recruiters Hate About Resumes And Cover Letters

By Kevin Donlin

Today, I'm going to share with you the awful truth about resumes and cover letters.
Here it is: Most of them stink.
That's not just my opinion, although I've read nearly 15,000 resumes and cover letters over the years and found glaring mistakes in about 85-90% of them.
It's also the opinion of most of the hiring professionals I've spoken to over the years.
Where do most resumes and cover letters go wrong? And how can you avoid the typical mistakes that most job seekers make?
To find answers, I spoke with two experienced recruiters. Their candid advice can help you avoid typical pitfalls, and get hired faster.

Here it is ...

Don't Use the Same Resume for Every Job

Would you grab any old suit off the rack and rush off to church to get married? No. First, you get the suit tailored, so it fits. That way, you won't look ridiculous.
Unfortunately, job seekers can look ridiculous when they rush to apply for jobs without tailoring their resumes. It's a real pet peeve of most hiring professionals, including Larry Harris, a Minneapolis-based recruiter and President of American Consulting (americanconsultingcompany.com)
"Why don't candidates customize every resume they send out, to fit the job they're applying for? That makes my job a lot easier when I forward that resume to my client, the hiring manager."
According to Tony Haley, Director of UK-based Fenton Chase International (fentonchase.com) most resumes come across as generic, with no consideration about a particular position or company.
"The most surprising group of candidates who do this is Sales Managers and Sales Directors. These people spend their days reviewing resumes from candidates and yet when it comes to their own, they cannot sell themselves," says Haley.

Solution?Customize, customize, customize.

Every company, every position, every manager reading your resume -- they're all different. So tailor your resume for every position you apply for.
Bring out the details of your experience that are most relevant to each opportunity and company.

Don't Be Boring

One of the worst sins you can commit with a resume is to be boring. The rule of thumb is simple: If they snooze, you lose (because your resume will go in the trash).
Resumes get boring when you fill them full of jargon, or dry job descriptions, or a lack of specific results, according to Haley.
"Consider the reader. Remember, the people reading your resume might not be that proficient at it. If they cannot see what they are looking for almost immediately, they might reject it, and if it's full of technical jargon, they might not understand it," says Haley.
Solution?An easy way to eliminate dull wording from a resume is to read it aloud to 2-3 friends. If eyes glaze over or brows furrow, you've likely lost your audience. Revise the resume until it holds your friends' attention all the way through.
Haley offers another way to create a compelling resume: "Use the 'So, what?' test. Any sentence on a resume that causes a reader to think 'So, what?' probably means it's waffle. Reword it or take it off."

Don't Forget the Cover Letter

You wouldn't want to alienate anyone who could help you get a job, would you?
Yet, that's just what you do when you forget to send a cover letter with your resume. Because a missing cover letter creates extra work for busy hiring professionals, as they try to figure out what job you're applying for and how you heard about it.

Solution?

Write and include a cover letter with every resume, including those you send by email.
Even a one-line cover letter in an email is better than nothing, according to Larry Harris: "You could simply write, 'I'm applying for your telemarketing software sales position. I spent five years doing that exact job. I'd be perfect for it!"

Here's hoping these tirades and tips from hiring professionals will help you write a better resume and cover letter next time you apply for that dream job.

Now, go out and make your own luck!

copyright (c) by Kevin DonlinKevin Donlin is President of Guaranteed Resumes. Since 1996, he and his team have provided resumes, cover letters and online job-search assistance to clients in all 50 states and 23 countries. Kevin has been interviewed by USA Today, CBS MarketWatch, The Wall Street Journal's National Business Employment Weekly, CBS Radio, and many others.

2005-03-04T11:20:00.000-06:00

PBJ - People Between Jobs
Elkhart Chamber Business After Hours - Tues, March 15th, 5:30 - 7:30 Fly Traps. Cost to non-members is $5.00. Great way to network!!

2005-02-21T13:33:00.000-06:00

PBJ - People Between Jobs

Great News! Gary Armstead starts his new job Monday! He will be working for Yoder Carpets as a draftsman. They also do custom cabinet and molding work. Pam Duncan

2005-02-21T09:32:00.000-06:00

Since we were talking about networking at our last meeting, here are the dates of the next two networking opportunities with the Elkhart, IN Chamber of Commerce. There is an "after hours" session once a month almost every month. The "before hours" sessions are not as often, depending on whether or not they have a sponsor for them. Sometimes these are at the Chamber itself downtown, but more often than not, at the sponsor's place of business. They're good places to make contacts, and the food is usually pretty good, too!

The Chamber website is www.elkhart.org, and you can check the calendar there, and sign up to get their e-newsletter which will give you reminders of these meetings as well.

BIZ-NESS BEFORE HOURS
March 3, 2005
7:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Location: 123 B North Elkhart Ave., Elkhart
Member Price: $No Charge
Non-Member Price: $5.00
Sponsor: Beisel's Black Belt Academy

BIZ-NESS AFTER HOURS
March 15, 2005
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Location: Flytraps, 505 S Main St., Elkhart
Member Price: $No Charge
Non-Member Price: $5.00
Sponsor: American Express & Flytraps Restaurant

2004-12-15T10:55:00.000-06:00

As Reprinted from FOCUS Magazine -- January 5, 1983

The 25 most difficult questions you'll be asked on a job interview

Being prepared is half the battle.

If you are one of those executive types unhappy at your present post and embarking on a New Year's resolution to find a new one, here's a helping hand. The job interview is considered to be the most critical aspect of every expedition that brings you face-to- face with the future boss. One must prepare for it with the same tenacity and quickness as one does for a fencing tournament or a chess match.

This article has been excerpted from "PARTING COMPANY: How to Survive the Loss of a Job and Find Another Successfully" by William J. Morin and James C. Cabrera. Copyright by Drake Beam Morin, inc. Publised by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Morin is chairman and Cabrera is president of New York-based Drake Beam Morin, nation's major outplacement firm, which has opened offices in Philadelphia.

1. Tell me about yourself.

Since this is often the opening question in an interview, be extracareful that you don't run off at the mouth. Keep your answer to a minute or two at most. Cover four topics: early years, education, work history, and recent career experience. Emphasize this last subject. Remember that this is likely to be a warm-up question. Don't waste your best points on it.

2. What do you know about our organization?

You should be able to discuss products or services, revenues, reputation, image, goals, problems, management style, people, history and philosophy. But don't act as if you know everything about the place. Let your answer show that you have taken the time to do some research, but don't overwhelm the interviewer, and make it clear that you wish to learn more.

You might start your answer in this manner: "In my job search, I've investigated a number of companies.

Yours is one of the few that interests me, for these reasons..."

Give your answer a positive tone. Don't say, "Well, everyone tells me that you're in all sorts of trouble, and that's why I'm here", even if that is why you're there.

3. Why do you want to work for us?

The deadliest answer you can give is "Because I like people." What else would you like-animals?

Here, and throughout the interview, a good answer comes from having done your homework so that you can speak in terms of the company's needs. You might say that your research has shown that the company is doing things you would like to be involved with, and that it's doing them in ways that greatly interest you. For example, if the organization is known for strong management, your answer should mention that fact and show that you would like to be a part of that team. If the company places a great deal of emphasis on research and development, emphasize the fact that you want to create new things and that you know this is a place in which such activity is encouraged. If the organization stresses financial controls, your answer should mention a reverence for numbers.

If you feel that you have to concoct an answer to this question - if, for example, the company stresses research, and you feel that you should mention it even though it really doesn't interest you- then you probably should not be taking that interview, because you probably shouldn't be considering a job with that organization.

Your homework should include learning enough about the company to avoid approaching places where you wouldn't be able -or wouldn't want- to function. Since most of us are poor liars, it's difficult to con anyone in an interview. But even if you should succeed at it, your prize is a job you don't really want.

4. What can you do for us that someone else can't?

Here you have every right, and perhaps an obligation, to toot your own horn and be a bit egotistical. Talk about your record of getting things done, and mention specifics from your resume or list of career accomplishments. Say that your skills and interests, combined with this history of getting results, make you valuable. Mention your ability to set priorities, identify problems, and use your experience and energy to solve them.

5. What do you find most attractive about this position? What seems least attractive about it?

List three or four attractive factors of the job, and mention a single, minor, unattractive item.

6. Why should we hire you?

Create your answer by thinking in terms of your ability, your experience, and your energy. (See question 4.)

7. What do you look for in a job?

Keep your answer oriented to opportunities at this organization. Talk about your desire to perform and be recognized for your contributions. Make your answer oriented toward opportunity rather than personal security.

8. Please give me your defintion of [the position for which you are being interviewed].

Keep your answer brief and taskoriented. Think in in terms of responsibilities and accountability. Make sure that you really do understand what the position involves before you attempt an answer. If you are not certain. ask the interviewer; he or she may answer the question for you.

9. How long would it take you to make a meaningful contribution to our firm?

Be realistic. Say that, while you would expect to meet pressing demands and pull your own weight from the first day, it might take six months to a year before you could expect to know the organization and its needs well enough to make a major contribution.

10. How long would you stay with us?

Say that you are interested in a career with the organization, but admit that you would have to continue to feel challenged to remain with any organization. Think in terms of, "As long as we both feel achievement-oriented."

11. Your resume suggests that you may be over-qualified or too experienced for this position. What's Your opinion?

Emphasize your interest in establishing a long-term association with the organization, and say that you assume that if you perform well in his job, new opportunities will open up for you. Mention that a strong company needs a strong staff. Observe that experienced executives are always at a premium. Suggest that since you are so wellqualified, the employer will get a fast return on his investment. Say that a growing, energetic company can never have too much talent.

12. What is your management style?

You should know enough about the company's style to know that your management style will complement it. Possible styles include: task oriented (I'll enjoy problem-solving identifying what's wrong, choosing a solution and implementing it"), results-oriented ("Every management decision I make is determined by how it will affect the bottom line"), or even paternalistic ("I'm committed to taking care of my subordinates and pointing them in the right direction").

A participative style is currently quite popular: an open-door method of managing in which you get things done by motivating people and delegating responsibility.

As you consider this question, think about whether your style will let you work hatppily and effectively within the organization.

13. Are you a good manager? Can you give me some examples? Do you feel that you have top managerial potential?

Keep your answer achievementand ask-oriented. Rely on examples from your career to buttress your argument. Stress your experience and your energy.

14. What do you look for when You hire people?

Think in terms of skills. initiative, and the adaptability to be able to work comfortably and effectively with others. Mention that you like to hire people who appear capable of moving up in the organization.

15. Have you ever had to fire people? What were the reasons, and how did you handle the situation?

Admit that the situation was not easy, but say that it worked out well, both for the company and, you think, for the individual. Show that, like anyone else, you don't enjoy unpleasant tasks but that you can resolve them efficiently and -in the case of firing someone- humanely.

16. What do you think is the most difficult thing about being a manager or executive?

Mention planning, execution, and cost-control. The most difficult task is to motivate and manage employess to get something planned and completed on time and within the budget.

17. What important trends do you see in our industry?

Be prepared with two or three trends that illustrate how well you understand your industry. You might consider technological challenges or opportunities, economic conditions, or even regulatory demands as you collect your thoughts about the direction in which your business is heading.

18. Why are you leaving (did you leave) your present (last) job?

Be brief, to the point, and as honest as you can without hurting yourself. Refer back to the planning phase of your job search. where you considered this topic as you set your reference statements. If you were laid off in an across-the-board cutback, say so; otherwise, indicate that the move was your decision, the result of your action. Do not mention personality conflicts.

The interviewer may spend some time probing you on this issue, particularly if it is clear that you were terminated. The "We agreed to disagree" approach may be useful. Remember hat your references are likely to be checked, so don't concoct a story for an interview.

19. How do you feel about leaving all your benefits to find a new job?

Mention that you are concerned, naturally, but not panicked. You are willing to accept some risk to find the right job for yourself. Don't suggest that security might interest you more than getting the job done successfully.

20. In your current (last) position, what features do (did) you like the most? The least?

Be careful and be positive. Describe more features that you liked than disliked. Don't cite personality problems. If you make your last job sound terrible, an interviewer may wonder why you remained there until now.

21. What do you think of your boss?

Be as positive as you can. A potential boss is likely to wonder if you might talk about him in similar terms at some point in the future.

22. Why aren't you earning more at your age?

Say that this is one reason that you are conducting this job search. Don't be defensive.

23. What do you feel this position should pay?

Salary is a delicate topic. We suggest that you defer tying yourself to a precise figure for as long as you can do so politely. You might say, "I understand that the range for this job is between $______ and $______. That seems appropriate for the job as I understand it." You might answer the question with a question: "Perhaps you can help me on this one. Can you tell me if there is a range for similar jobs in the organization?"

If you are asked the question during an initial screening interview, you might say that you feel you need to know more about the position's responsibilities before you could give a meaningful answer to that question. Here, too, either by asking the interviewer or search executive (if one is involved), or in research done as part of your homework, you can try to find out whether there is a salary grade attached to the job. If there is, and if you can live with it, say that the range seems right to you.

If the interviewer continues to probe, you might say, "You know that I'm making $______ now. Like everyone else, I'd like to improve on that figure, but my major interest is with the job itself." Remember that the act of taking a new job does not, in and of itself, make you worth more money.

If a search firm is involved, your contact there may be able to help with the salary question. He or she may even be able to run interference for you. If, for instance, he tells you what the position pays, and you tell him that you are earning that amount now and would Like to do a bit better, he might go back to the employer and propose that you be offered an additional 10%.

If no price range is attached to the job, and the interviewer continues to press the subject, then you will have to restpond with a number. You cannot leave the impression that it does not really matter, that you'll accept whatever is offered. If you've been making $80,000 a year, you can't say that a $35,000 figure would be fine without sounding as if you've given up on yourself. (If you are making a radical career change, however, this kind of disparity may be more reasonable and understandable.)

Don't sell yourself short, but continue to stress the fact that the job itself is the most important thing in your mind. The interviewer may be trying to determine just how much you want the job. Don't leave the impression that money is the only thing that is important to you. Link questions of salary to the work itself.

But whenever possible, say as little as you can about salary until you reach the "final" stage of the interview process. At that point, you know that the company is genuinely interested in you and that it is likely to be flexible in salary negotiations.

24. What are your long-range goals?

Refer back to the planning phase of your job search. Don't answer, "I want the job you've advertised." Relate your goals to the company you are interviewing: 'in a firm like yours, I would like to..."

25. How successful do you you've been so far?

Say that, all-in-all, you're happy with the way your career has progressed so far. Given the normal ups and downs of life, you feel that you've done quite well and have no complaints.

Present a positive and confident picture of yourself, but don't overstate your case. An answer like, "Everything's wonderful! I can't think of a time when things were going better! I'm overjoyed!" is likely to make an interviewer wonder whether you're trying to fool him . . . or yourself. The most convincing confidence is usually quiet confidence.

2004-12-14T13:59:00.000-06:00

A new site for those with Legacy Programming skills - Cobal, etc

2004-11-01T08:53:00.000-06:00

Once you've logged into your Yahoo! Mail account and begin composing a message, follow the instructions below to add an attachment:

Click the "Attach Files" link located above the compose window.
Click the "Browse" button and select a file.
When you have selected a file, click the "Attach Files" button located towards the bottom of the page to attach it to your message.
You will then see a file attachment confirmation page that will allow you to remove an attachment, if needed, by clicking on the "Remove" link located to the right of the file.
Click on the "Done" button to attach the selected file(s) to your message

2004-10-04T15:12:00.000-05:00

Retired or Nearing Retirement Age and Looking for a Job?

Learn useful tips and strategies to address the unique job search challenges facing the pre-retired and retired worker in today's techno-centric and youth-oriented economy. Whether your challenge is a fear of interviewing, age-related special needs, a lack of computer experience, or your frustration with doing an online job search, this workshop is for you. Join career coach JUDI LANSKY of Lansky Career Consultants, human resources consultant CARL KUTSMODE of Tiburon Group, and ART KOFF, CEO of www.RetiredBrains.com as they lead an interactive discussion that will highlight employer insights and insider tips that will help you gain the confidence and strategies you need to land your next full-time, part-time, or temporary job.

Location: Latin Upper School, 59 W. North Blvd.
Instructor: Judi Lansky, Carl Kutsmode, Art Koff

Course Fee: $35
Date: Thu, October 7
Time: 6:30-8:30 pm
To Register – Call (312) 582-6035 and Ask for Lynn Wellen
This event is a not for profit event to support the Latin School of Chicago. All monies paid for this workshop are contributed to the Latin School program.

2004-04-16T08:34:00.000-05:00

FINDING YOUR UNIQUENESS IN TODAY'S JOB MARKET

by Carole Martin, The Interview Coach

If you have been reading articles or listening to news reports
about the job market, it becomes obvious that the number of
people currently seeking jobs outnumbers the jobs that are now
available.

If you happen to be one of those job seekers, you realize that
you are competing against the odds. The question is, "How can you
make yourself stand out when there are so many other candidates
looking at the same job?" The answer is to "focus" -- focus on
what makes you unique.

Let's assume that you have an outstanding resume and that you
make it to the top of the stack of resumes of people to be called
for an interview. You, and maybe nine or ten other equally
qualified people for the position, that is.

Because companies have so many candidates to choose from, they
are interviewing more people so that they can select the "best."
When you are lucky enough to be invited to an interview, it is
essential that you be ready to sell yourself, to let the
interviewers know what makes you unique, what added value you can
bring to the position--in other words, why you are the best person
for the job.

By doing some basic preparation, you can determine your
uniqueness and where you should focus your attention. The first
step in this process is to identify your five strengths. These
strengths are the areas where you do very well.

This may take some thought on your part. What are your strengths?
Think about previous performance appraisals - what was said or
written about you? What would your co-workers or ex-bosses say
about you?

. List the skills and experiences you have that would be
required in the type of job you are seeking. For instance, a
technical job would focus on programs, languages, and platforms, etc.

. Give some thought to those skills in which you excel,
those that are referred to as the "soft skills." These skills can be
viewed as transferable- you can take them with you to any job you
hold. Examples of these skills are your communication and people
skills, or your time-management and project-management skills, or
your ability to build strong relationships, or your ability to
influence others.

. Lastly, think of the personal traits that make you unique.
Maybe you never miss deadlines, or perhaps you are willing to do
above and beyond what is asked, or perhaps you have a great
attitude. (Don't dismiss these traits--many people have been
fired for negative personal traits rather than for lack of
knowledge).

When you have identified your five strengths, make a list of
those strengths and some examples of when those strengths have
helped you achieve results on the job. It will be essential that
you can not only identify your strengths, but that you also have
examples and stories of times when you demonstrated those
strengths in the past.

The next step is to look at the job postings and ads. In fact,
look at several job postings that would be of interest to you.
Your goal is to find key words and phrases. For this exercise,
don't limit yourself to geographical location. Look at jobs of
interest located anywhere.

When you have several postings, read each word and sentence
carefully, taking notes as you do. What are they looking for?
What words appear consistently in almost every posting?

Now, take a piece of paper and divide it in half. On one side of
the paper write, "What they are looking for," and on the other
side, "What I have to offer." Each time you apply for a
position, it will be invaluable for you to know how you stand
against what they are looking for. This exercise will help you
see how close a match you are and where you should focus.

Your next step is to add your uniqueness to the "What I have to
offer" list. Some postings will list additional skills required,
which make it easier for you to see what is important to them. An
example would be, "Must have excellent communications skills,
strong organizational skills, and be a willing team player." If
these words appear in most of your posting examples, then make
sure that these are a part of your focus. Can you work these
words and your five strengths into the interview to demonstrate
your fit -- and then some? Some postings will be more vague about
what it takes to get the job done and will require reading
between the lines to determine what other skills are necessary.

In summary, by narrowing your uniqueness to these five basic
points, you can guide the conversation to include this
information. By focusing on five strengths, you will be prepared
with examples of times when you have used these strengths.

Whenever possible, give examples to show how you have "been there
and done that," and can do it again. It will be necessary to
demonstrate that you have what it takes, and then some, to be
unique in this market.

When you walk out of that interview room, your interviewers may
not remember all five of your points; but if they remember even
two of the points that make you unique, you will be ahead of the
game!
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Carole Martin is a thoroughbred interview coach. Celebrated
author, trainer, and mentor, Carole can give you interviewing
tips like no one else can. Subscribe to her free email
newsletter, "Interview Fitness Training." at
www.interviewcoach.com. Her workbook, "Interview Fitness
Training - A Workout With the Interview Coach," has sold
thousands of copies world-wide and she has just released her
latest book, "Boost Your Interview IQ," both available on
Amazon.com.

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2004-04-01T07:42:00.000-06:00

Recruiter Resume Comments

From GHM

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[From recruiter, Bill Griffin. This appears to be a response he uses to communicate back to his applicants.]

This is not an indictment of your resume... merely a 'heads-up' to keep you appraised on resume content, font, file name conventions, and one recruiters opinion of what a resume should contain and not contain.

It is my opinion that few decision makers initially read resumes anymore. I believe that the process of considering candidates has evolved to delegating to some admin. assistant the responsibility of running text parsers over massive archives of resumes.

These parsers count the number of hits on keywords which are selected by those decision makers. The admin assists are told to print the top dozen resumes and then those may be reviewed by the decision maker or hr person responsible for making contact with the resume owner, usually by email first to inquire if the person is still available, open to location where the job is located, and perhaps sending a job spec with a salary range or target.

The decision maker speaks with no one who does not reply to the email, which is why its absolutely essential that your email address be on your resume, and near the top! Its largely a numbers game where format of the resume becomes largely immaterial, bullets, graphics, indentation, all the logos, URL'S and other non essential info becomes moot and inconsequential.

The sooner you realize the process by which you resume is artificially processed (almost untouched by human hands !) the more emphasis you can place on keywords, function, industry, discipline, role, perspective, salary, location and timing... in order to bring your resume to the top dozen on the keywords hit list. That is my opinion of what it is going to take to get a call pursuant to an interview if you happen to send your resume directly to a hiring employer.. Resumes coming from recruiters who have relationships with hiring employers will perhaps have an advantage, because we have the years of experience, use the same text parsers, have knowledge of technology transfer, and often the ear of the decision maker, and who usually gives us credit for knowing what he wants to see and what he does not want to see.

If you sent a cover letter only and it has no email address, that could be one reason. If you did that, you're wasting your time in this or any market. This is the age of email !

NEVER send your resume as resume.doc or as ANYTHING EXCEPT lastname.firstname.middleinitial.doc and cover letters as lastname.firstname.cov.doc. Those are the current industry standard resume and cover letter filename conventions. Do NOT send ZIP files ! That's not necessary, and takes additional key strokes to get into for any reader.

I could not care less if you send your resume to another recruiter or to some employer as pxdf3004_ayk.doc, but when you are dealing with me and I have previously returned a resume on which I have spent time reformatting and have returned it to you and you send me back that format with some obscure filename, you will be wasting your time, and insulting my efforts. If you don’t have my reformat, or lost your resume, and I have any version, and you ask me for a copy, I will send you what I have, no questions asked, and will at the same time return any cover letter I may have for you.

I reformat almost all resumes I receive but will do that only ONCE for FREE. You can imagine how frustrating it might be to see the same resumes over and over which do not conform to a style which is instantly recognizable by my hiring employers and my affiliates, who use those filenames to archive and find your resume when your name comes up, or before they can send it to some employer with a job for which you may be qualified.

I have not previously gone to lengths to explain the why for industry standard filenames, but in brief, they are that I get about a dozen resumes per day 7 days per week. I have over 12,500 on disc.

I have developed a complex system using zip files, batch files run from dos which extract, and move a resume to my working directory any resume, based on a char string of the filename. When I have a previous version of a resume with an industry standard filename and update it I can copy it to my archive directory zip it via batch file into the appropriate zip file based on the first letter of the filename..(something that is impossible with resumes which do not conform to lastname.firstname.middleinitial.doc) and automatically overwrite any previous versions inside the zip files and only overwrite the resume of the same candidate whose resume filename conforms to the industry standard.

This insures that someone else who sent his resume which may have been saved as resume 22.doc didn’t overwrite someone else whose resume arrived on my system as resume22.doc, or that I have to spend more than 5 minutes looking for someone’s resume because he/she could not get a grasp on the significance of the filename standard and why its essential for anyone who manages almost 13,000 resumes.

A more important reason is that I have been doing this for 37 years, know what I'm doing (ask anyone who really knows me) and the sight of a resume which conforms to the industry standard which I conceived (much like email names using @ ) the reader will know instantly that you are up to speed, and further that its highly likely that you have been in touch with me, and that resume will get read (trust me on this) long before the one with the filename resuDBJ04_mar.doc, which has a high probability also of not even being retained.

Any download to any system which resembles any file received previously gets consecutively numbered. I once had resume1.doc, resume2.doc, etc up to resume104.doc with no way whatever to know which file was the one which I may have wanted to email to a client, and with no time nor inclination to open each one to look for someone’s name. I don’t look for resu*.anything, nor cov*, nor cv*, nor Grif*, nor Alpha*, nor final*, nor new*.* ,unless its newman.edward.doc.

General tips on resumes. Do NOT put fax # on resumes, no one faxes anymore.

Those who do show naiveté and are not in the real world. Do not use "Professional experience" as it implies you may have some ' NON-professional ' experience somewhere. "Experience" is sufficient. We know we're reading a resume, and all that implies.

Do not use 'phone' or 'telephone' if you have only one phone to include, we know what a phone number is. Do not use 'Email' we also know an email address when we see one. Do not include the web address to your resume... we're already reading it ! Before you put any info on a resume, ask yourself.. Does anyone really care about or need to know this particular info at this time? Does anyone care about the name of the parent corporation, division name, or whether or not the firm is incorporated ? If it is reasonable to presume that few will care, DO NOT PUT IT ON THE RESUME !

Compact information. Condense, consolidate, making the resume faster and easier to read, giving more retention, and not containing all sorts of cute graphics, underlines, especially asterisks as bullets. Do not include addresses, zips and phone numbers for your employers. Do not include URLS to every employer for whom you ever worked, NOR their corporate logos as objects. It increases load time about 400% for the graphics and hogs available memory which may be needed to alt-tab to a mail client so the recruiter can send the resume to an employer ! AVOID GRID type fill-in-the-box styles. They are unmanageable and inflexible. They may indicate at a glance that you are just about to graduate (that is what many college students use)

Plain text shows your verbal skills, and your ability to present meaningful data in an concise and efficient manner. If your resume shows some major city with a unique name, do NOT Include the state, everyone knows in what states are Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, Houston, San Francisco, Atlanta, etc.. anything that does not enhance the motivation of the reader to pick up the phone and call you is a DISTRACTION and should not be on the resume. That includes acronyms like The Majestic Company (TMC) Just DONT DO THAT !

Do not include (for example) ABB (formerly Combustion Engineering).... waste of space, and no one cares! Do not include the name of the division.. No one cares ! If they want to know THEY WILL ASK YOU ! and... THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO.. PICK UP THE PHONE AND ASK YOU... ANYTHING !, which then gives you the opportunity to become a PERSON and not JUST ANOTHER RESUME in a stack on their desk.

You do not need "Summary of Qualifications." Summary is sufficient. We can see that what follows are qualifications. Abbreviate ! Month names to 3 chars, States 2 chars. Put periods at the end of sentences! Do not include bit map graphics or make your resume ' Read only'. Dont spell out Company, Incorporated or Corporation! Use Co. Inc. or Corp. No reader is going to care at all whether your employer was Inc or not ! Just use the name and forget the Inc or Corp ! Do not use reverse video or some other (' orange' ) background for example ! Most readers of resumes use white text on blue backgrounds so Blue TEXT will be invisible.

Most recruiters have a long-tenured historical style and whose resume formats are instantly recognizable as 'theirs' and those resumes carry that recruiters reputation and judgment subliminally. My personal preference is Arial, 9 point font, left justified. Recruiters store resumes on disc, and parse them with text editors, and it matters not what size type font you choose, as any reader can increase font size instantly.

If the recruiter cannot edit, format, change type font, style, size, left/right justification, or delete unnecessary or implicit information, your resume might not be sent to the recruiters client with whom you most ardently want an interview.

DO NOT include references until asked for them. Standard text is "References on request " that means that they are available, and you do not have to use the word 'available'. Do not use ANY words that are implicit or that do not enhance the readers motivation to pick up the phone and CALL YOU!

Generally do not include long lists of patents nor publications. "Patents (or) Publications on request" is sufficient. SIMPLICITY is the key to motivating the reader to respond. We're in a time sensitive world. Do not require that the reader review dozens of words that are UNNECESSARY.

In general, fill up the page, start left margin at column 10, and right at 65 or 70, if it means that you can reduce the total length by a whole page. Don’t use excessive columnar format, with just a few words on each line and which runs your resume to 5 or more pages. Big Mistake !

If God had wanted us to read long columns of vertical information, he would have put our eyes over and under not side by side! The human eye can absorb at least 80 characters on one line easily, and doing so gets the info the brain that much faster, which enhances retention. If your resume can be read and absorbed in 3 minutes max, you are doing something right, if it takes more than 5 or 6 minutes, forget it, the reader may never call you.

Put contact info at the top left, NEVER at the bottom, as :
Johnson, Michael Q.
123 Walnut Street
Goleta, CA 93117
805 -555-1222 johnsonmike@yahoo.com

Best wishes, its a very competitive and volatile market. It is essential to try do as many things right as possible, but equally important to keep from making major mistakes in presentation as well. The biggest and most costly errors I continually see are 1. Lack of any indication of salary history, objective, minimum acceptable, and 2. Locational preferences, and 3. Lack of cover letter which should contain that information. 4. Indication of whether or not you are employed, and still on the payroll. 5. What type and size firms you feel would have the greatest interest in your skillset.. and 6. Sense of urgency.. Now or in next 6 mos ?

Recruiters generally expect to spend more time in behalf of someone who is unemployed and therefore more flexible and cooperative in polishing his resume and cover letter and in making interviews.

I never discard ANY resume for ANY reason. I generally archive all those whose recent salaries are over $100,000 unless they have some indication of meeting closely some currently viable job spec/ on which I am working, or expect to see in the near future (see my jobs list on my website - hyperlink below) as well as those who are in senior IT management roles, network systems implementation, web applications, network marketing, e-commerce applications, call center managers, international sales and marketing managers in the software industry. Resumes over $100,000 base will be parsed with all others when I use that utility for any specific opening.

Perhaps someday those markets will return to viability, but I'm not expecting that much before JULY 2004 !

Regards,

William Griffin
William Griffin, Pres. wgriffin@adelphia.net
ALPHA SYSTEMS, Inc since Sept 1967
3325 Sweetwater Drive
Cumming, GA 30041-6641 Cell 678 522 8538

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2004-04-01T07:29:00.000-06:00

Free Resume Workshop Saturday April 10th

From GHM

The Saint Hubert's Job and Networking Ministry along with their Extended Ministry Partners, will conduct another of it's monthly Resume Review Events On Saturday, April 10th, . There will be six HR professionals, search representatives and/or communications specialists available to assist individuals with resume improvements and suggestions. The event will be held at the Immanuel Lutheran Church - Fellowship Hall, 200 N. Plum Grove, Palatine IL. 60067. No reservation is necessary.

The event will start at 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Bring a copy of your resume. This is a non-denominational event, open to all occupations and experience levels. If you would like a professional opinion on how to improve your resume, use this free opportunity to get one-on-one help and advice. Morning refreshments will be available.

April 17th

"Conducting a Career Self-Assessment."

the Saint Hubert's Job and Networking Ministry will host a free career seminar at the Parish Ministry Center on the topic, "Conducting a Career Self-Assessment." The presentation will begin at 9:00 AM. This Presentation will be made by Anne Abasolo, Harper College Career Specialist and will focus on the tools and techniques for learning how to identify and evaluate your job related skills and abilities - to better represent your capabilities to an employer, during an employment interview. There is no need for pre-registering. (Bring a copy of your resume as an aid to you, during the sample assessment exercises.) Following the meeting there will be informal networking until 12:00 Noon. Refreshments will be available.

Saint Hubert's is located at 729 Grand Canyon, Hoffman Estates, IL.

NOTE THE DIFFERENT LOCATION FOR THE TWO EVENTS

2004-03-31T07:12:00.000-06:00

TAX TIPS FOR THE UNEMPLOYED

From GHM

Recently, ResumeDoctor.com reviewed tax related issues impacting the
unemployed. Based on the results, ResumeDoctor.com compiled a list of
tax tips.

Both unemployment benefits and severance packages represent taxable
income. To help minimize your burden, the government offers tax breaks
in several areas of interest for those without a job.

* Job Search Expenses - Costs associated with your job search can be
taken as itemized deductions. Save your receipts for purchases such as
resume preparation, phone calls, and even online job seeking expenses.
However, these expenses must be related to a job search within your
current industry. Politicians looking for work in the pharmaceutical
industry are out of luck. Also, these expenses must total at least 2%
of your adjusted gross income.

* Moving Expenses - For individuals relocating to accept a job, you
can now write off your moving expenses against your gross income.
Several caveats exist, including a requirement that your new place of
employment be at least 50 miles from your old residence.

* Health Insurance - This can be taken as an itemized deduction if
payments for health insurance exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.
Better yet, if you received any income from self-employed work, your
entire health insurance costs can be taken as a direct expense. In
addition, unemployed individuals can take funds out of IRAs to pay for
these expenses without triggering any penalties. Just note that the
distribution may be taxable depending upon your tax bracket.

* Education - Certain education expenses can be deducted if they
either maintain or enhance skills needed in your current field of work.
Be careful though, as the IRS does not allow deductions for education
required for a job, or that qualifies you for a position in another
trade or industry.

Remember, you can only take a write-off if you actually received taxable
income during 2003. Also, the tax code is complicated and everyone's
tax situation differs, so check with your tax advisor before taking any
deductions.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Mike Worthington
Phone: (802) 865-4243
Fax: (802) 860-2876
Mike@ResumeDoctor.com
www.ResumeDoctor.com

2004-03-29T15:23:00.000-06:00

Church World Service

Laveta Randall continues in her search - and found this site at Church World Service that may be of interest to some PBJ members.

2004-03-20T08:49:00.000-06:00

Business Week Articles

A number of good articles in the latest on-line edition of Business Week.

Please note the one concerning the future of work, and casting experience with people skills to the forefront.

WHERE ARE THE JOBS?
Where Are The Jobs?
Economic growth is very strong, but America isn't generating enough jobs. Many blame outsourcing. The truth is a lot more complicated

The Price Of Efficiency
Stop blaming outsourcing. The drive for productivity gains is the real culprit behind anemic job growth

Productivity: Who Wins, Who Loses
The U.S. is reaping big -- but uneven -- gains from its highly efficient workforce

Guest Commentary: The Harsh Truth About Outsourcing
It's not a mutually beneficial trade practice -- it's outright labor arbitrage

The Future Of Work
Flexible, creative, and good with people? You should do fine in tomorrow's job market

Commentary: Stow The Rhetoric
Bush and Kerry need to move past politicking and get real about jobs

2004-03-16T06:47:00.000-06:00

Over-Qualified ?

From GHM

CareerJournal

Responding to Concerns That You're 'Overqualified'

By Bradley G. Richardson

"You're overqualified." It's a common refrain experienced executives hear when they're in the job market.

Every week, I talk with job hunters who have lost out on opportunities because they were "overqualified." Telling someone he or she is overqualified is a white lie, and, as a job candidate, you shouldn't accept it. It's like a lover breaking up by saying, "It is not you, it's me" or "This hurts me more than it does you."

Labeling a job seeker "overqualified" is a cover for something else. Think about it. Whom would a reasonable employer want to hire: someone who is experienced, qualified and competent, or someone who is inexperienced?

Let's face it: There's no such thing as "overqualified." Many employers have preconceived notions about candidates of a certain age or with a high salary history or level of experience. Former entrepreneurs are also suspect. Overcoming this obstacle is a difficult task. Employers don't reveal their concerns, or they hide behind pat phrases.

What's the real reason you're not hired because you're "overqualified?" Your qualifications have nothing to do with it. It's a way to package the other concerns an employer has about you. Here is what they really mean:

You're too expensive and wouldn't even consider working for the pay we will likely offer, so why invest any more time with each other?

You are set in your ways, will come with baggage and bad habits, and won't do things our way. We'd rather hire someone whom we can shape and mold and who will drink our Kool-Aid.

You'll be bored and leave in six months, and then I'm in the same spot I'm in right now.

You'll be a "know it all pain in the butt" who intimidates the staff.

You'll be a "know it all pain in the butt" who knows more than the manager (who's intimidated and fearful that you'll take his or her job, once you expose gross incompetence).

You may take this position, but the moment the market turns or you get an offer at your previous level, you'll leave, so why go through that pain?

Your best defense against these concerns is a good offense. Address any potential obstacles head on and early in an interview. Don't wait for an interviewer to bring them up, as they may never talk about them with you.

If it's an obvious concern like age, experience, or a background in a different field or as an entrepreneur, don't worry that you'll be raising a red flag or drawing attention to a subject that hasn't been mentioned. If the hiring manager hasn't thought about it yet, he or she (or someone else) will before you're hired. At that point, it will likely be too late for you to respond.

Anticipate the objection with a simple phrase such as, "You may be concerned how I'll handle working for someone else since I've owned my own business for the past few years. But I can tell you that I'm happy to hand over the reins to someone else and focus on what I do best."

Take control of the interview and the information. Present your story so as to nip any concerns in the bud.

-- Mr. Richardson is the author of "Career Comeback: 8 Steps to Getting Back On Your Feet When You're Fired, Laid Off or Your Business Venture Has Failed" (Broadway Books, 2004). This article has been excerpted from his book. He lives in Dallas.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

2004-03-11T15:16:00.000-06:00

Resume Deli

You may not like the pricing at the Resume Deli, but you can figure out a lot from the example that they show, and the free tips.

2004-03-11T12:35:00.000-06:00

Presentation skills class in Naperville

From GHM,

I represent a Chicagoland Toastmasters club named Pride of the Fox. We're
offering a 6-week public speaking workshop in Naperville that is of interest
to jobseekers in Gray Hair.
Would you be so kind to post the announcement below to your members?

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Thank you.

Francisco Pulgar-Vidal
VP Public Relations, Pride of the Fox Toastmasters club

Pride of the Fox is part of Toastmasters International, the leading
organization advancing verbal communication worldwide. For more information
visit http://groups.msn.com/PrideoftheFoxToastmasters

-----------------------------------------
Pride of the Fox Toastmasters club presents:

"SPEECHCRAFT"
A 6-week public speaking workshop in Naperville

* Get communication skills that will let you interview more effectively
* An educational opportunity that does not conflict with other job search
activities.

"Speechcraft", is a learn-by-doing workshop like no other, where
participants learn how to deliver great presentations, easily lead teams and
conduct meetings, give and receive constructive criticism, and become better
listeners.

This public-speaking workshop will cover the main aspects of verbal
communication and will give you time to practice and develop your skills.
You will progress at a very rapid pace in a positive environment.

Past Speechcraft participants have expressed amazement at how they became
able to overcome nervousness, organize presentations in a logical way,
improve the use of their voice and body, speak with confidence and transform
themselves into persuasive communicators.

When you attend Speechcraft you will benefit from Toastmasters' 80 years of
experience around the world, which has improved the communication skills of
millions of people, helped them lose their fears of public speaking, and
taught them skills that made them more successful in whatever they chose to
do.

Do not miss this great chance to improve yourself !

Speechcraft logistics:
Start: Monday, March 15th 2004
Time: 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Place: City of Naperville (Community Connections building) 535 Fairway
Drive, Naperville. North of the North parking lot of the Rt. 59 METRA
station.
Content: 9 hours of active training on public speaking
Cost: $49.95, includes all materials

For more info email Francisco Pulgar-Vidal at fpulgarvidal@hotmail.com or
contact:
Alex O'Kulich at (312) 606-8909

2004-03-08T13:17:00.000-06:00

Andy,
Last week's (March 8) U.S. News & World Report contained its Annual Career Guide. (Cover story is "The Real Jesus") There are several very interesting articles, including "Job Search 2.0" about posting resumes in cyberspace, "Hot Jobs", and "Wanted: Gray Hair". If you can't find it, let me know and I'll drop it off at the church. [rford89633@aol.com] I'm still at Lowe's and still writing for the SB Tribune (about two articles per month). Also spend time personally managing the 401-k I received from my former job to try to work it into a decent retirement account by the time I retire. I sure miss the PBJ meetings, but I'm happy I have a job. I hope all's well and that the sessions are smaller as the economy slowly picks up. I noticed this past Sunday that The Tribune's classified ads for Administrative/Professional jobs seemed as large as I've seen it in a long time. Good Luck. Larry Ford

2004-02-24T06:18:00.000-06:00

Recommended Web Sites

Helpful Job Board and Job Search Web Sites
Courtesy of GHM

Career builder (http://www.careerbuilder.com)
Monster (http://www.monster.com)
MonsterTrak (http://www.jobtrak.com)
Hot Jobs (http://www.hotjobs.com)
Marketing-Jobs (http://www.marketingjobs.com)
Flipdog (http://www.flipdog.com)
Brass ring (http://www.brassring.com)
Headhunter (http://www.headhunter.net)
Jobs (http://www.jobs.com)
CareerCity (http://www.careercity.com)
Chicago Job Network (http://www.chicagojobnetwork.com)
College Grad Job Hunter (http://www.collegegrad.com)
Net-Temp (http://www.net-temps.com)
JobBank USA (http://www.jobbankusa.com)
Jobsinchicago (http://www.jobsinchicago.com)
Fun Jobs (http://www.funjobs.com)
Vault (http://www.vault.com)
JobsOnLine (http://www.jobsonline.com)
JobOptions (http://ww1.joboptions.com)
Career Resource Center (http://www.nsn.org/lfkhome/employ)
IDES (http://www.ides.state.il.us)
Jobs Around Chicago (http://www.jobsaroundchicago.com)
NationJob (http://www.nationjob.com)
America's Job Bank (http://www.ajb.dni.us)
JobWeb (http://www.jobweb.com)
CareerSite (http://www.careersite.com)
USJobBoard (http://www.usjobboard.com)
Marketing Classifieds (http://www.marketingclassifieds.com)
Marketing Manager (http://www.marketingmanager.com)
Wetfeet (http://www.wetfeet.com)
CareerExchange (http://www.careerexchange.com)
Careershop (http://www.careershop.com)
Recruit USA (http://www.recruitusa.com)
Research Info (http://www.researchinfo.com)
Advertising-PR (http://www.advertising-pr.com)
Top-Consultant.com (http://www.zambeasy.com/top-consultant)
Brilliant People (http://brilliantpeople.com)
FreshJobs.com (http://www.freshjobs.com)
Top Echelon (http://www.topechelon.com)
Hirenet.net (http://www.hirenet.net/hirenet/index.cfm)
Career Surf (http://www.careersurf.com)
Talent Zoo (http://www.talentzoo.com)
Career Connector (http://www.careerconnector.com)
Hot Resumes (http://www.hotresumes.com)
Fetch Me A Job (http://www.fetchmeajob.com)
Employment911 (http://www.employment911.com)
Grass Is Greener (http://www.grassisgreener.com)
peoplebonus (http://www.peoplebonus.com)
Suburban Chicago Help Wanted
(http://suburbanchicagohelpwanted.com/home/41.htm)
Career Buzz.com (http://www.careerbuzz.com)
Jobvertise (http://www.jobvertise.com)
Norki (http://www.nokri.com)
Career Center (http://www.careercenter.net)
Get Jobs.com (http://www.getjobs.com)
Help Wanted (http://www.helpwanted.com)
Jumbo Classifieds (http://www.jumboclassifieds.com)
thingamajob (http://www.thingamajob.com)
MegaJobSites (http://www.megajobsites.com)
Classified Chicago (http://www.classifiedschicago.com/cv3/clchicago)
Job Island (http://www.jobisland.com)
AmericanJobs.com (http://www.americanjobs.com)
1-AllUSJobs (http://www.1-allusjobs.com)
Data Frenzy (http://64.232.51.37/Home.asp?nCID=101)
Dice (http://www.dice.com)
JobWarehouse.com (http://jobwarehouse.com)
Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com)
Chicago Sun-Times (http://www.sun-times.com)
Daily Herald (http://www.dailyherald.com)
Pioneer Press (http://www.pioneerlocal.com)
Copley (http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com)
American Marketing Association (http://www.marketingpower.com)
Chicago American Marketing Association (http://www.chicagoama.org)
American Advertising Federation (http://www.aaf.org)
Chicago American Advertising Federation (http://www.chicagoadfed.com)
The Direct Marketing Association (http://www.the-dma.org)
Chicago Area Direct Marketing Association (http://www.cadm.org)
Business Marketing Association (http://www.marketing.org)
Chicago Business Marketing Associations (http://www.chicagobma.org)
Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (http://www.scip.org)
Sales & Marketing Executives International (http://www.smei.org)
Sales & Marketing Executives International Chicago
(http://www.smechicago.org)
The Association of Interactive Media (http://www.interactivehq.org)
Strategic Account Management Association (http://www.strategicaccounts.org)
Account Planning Group (http://www.accountplanninggroup.com)
Advertising Education Foundation (http://www.aef.com)
eMarketing Association (http://www.emarketingassociation.com)
Mobile Marketing Association (http://www.waaglobal.org)
International Association of Business Communicators
(http://www.iabc.com/homepage.htm)
International Association of Business Communicators Chicago
(http://www.iabc.com/chapters/us_4/chicago/index.html)
Association for Corporate Growth (http://www.acg.org/)
Association for Corporate Growth Chicago (http://www.acg.org/chicago/)
Advertising World (http://advertising.utexas.edu/world)
Business 2.0 (http://www.business2.com)
NewCity (http://www.newcity.com)
Reader (http://www.chicagoreader.com)
UR Chicago (http://www.urchicago.com)
Fast Company (http://www.fastcompany.com)
BusinessWeek (http://www.businessweek.com)
Forbes (http://www.forbes.com)
Fortune (http://www.fortune.com)
i-Street (http://www.i-street.com)
The May Report (http://www.themayreport.com)
E- Prairie (http://www.eprairie.com)
Harvard Business Review (http://www.hbr.com)
CNNFN(http://www.cnnfn.com)
The Motley Fool (http://www.fool.com)
Kiplinger's Personal Finance (http://www.kiplinger.com)
Standard & Poors (http://www.sandp.com)
Moody's (http://www.moodys.com)
Value Line (http://www.valueline.com)
CBSMarketwatch (http://www.cbs.marketwatch.com)
Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com)
Barron's (http://www.barrons.com)
Investors Business Daily (http://www.investors.com/)
Smart Money (http://www.smartmoney.com)
DMNews (http://www.dmnews.com)
Imarketing News (http://www.imarketingnews.com)
DMReview (http://www.dmreview.com)
Direct (http://industryclick.com/magazine.asp?magazineid=151&siteid=2)
American Demographics
(http://www.inside.com/default.asp?entity=AmericanDemo)
President & CEO (http://www.presidentandceomag.com)
Chief Executive (http://www.chiefexec.net)
Stratigies and News Sales & Marketing (http://www.salesandmarketingmag.com)
Direct Marketing (http://www.directmarketing.com)
Adforum (http://www.adforum.com)
ConsultingCentral (http://consultingcentral.com)
Hoovers (http://www.hoovers.com)
Marketing Click (http://www.marketingclick.com)
ClickZ (http://www.clickz.com)
Adventive (http://www.adventive.com)
Digitrends (http://www.digitrends.net)
Crain's Chicago Business (http://www.chicagobusiness.com)
The Business Ledger (http://www.thebusinessledger.com)
Inc (http://www.inc.com)
Entrepreneur (http://www.entrepreneur.com)
Promo (http://www.industryclick.com/magazine.asp?magazineid=122&siteID=2)
Adbrands.net (http://www.mind-advertising.com)
Schaumburg Township District Library (http://www.stdl.org)
Chicago Public Library (http://www.chipublib.org)
Virtual Illinois Catalog (http://www.vic.lib.il.us)
Foilo (http://http://www.inside.com/default.asp?entity=AmericanDemo)
Sales and Marketing Management (SMM) (http://www.salesandmarketing.com)
Target Marketing (http://www.targetmarketingmag.com)
CRM (http://www.destinationcrm.com)
Knowledge Management
(http://www.destinationcrm.com/km/dcrm_km_new_version.asp)
Channel Seven (http://www.channelseven.com)
MarketingSherpa (http://www.marketingsherpa.com)
Market Research (http://www.marketresearch.com)
Quirks (http://www.quirks.com)
The Green Book (http://www.greenbook.org)
Market Research Association (http://www.mra-net.org/)
Wilson (http://www.wilsonweb.com)
Legal Marketing Association (http://www.legalmarketing.org)
Chicago Legal Marketing Association (http://www.chicagolma.org)
American Association of Advertising Agencies (http://www.aaaa.org)
Advertising Age (http://www.adage.com)
Ad Week (http://www.adweek.com)
Brand Week (http://www.brandweek.com)
Media Week (http://www.mediaweek.com)
B2B (http://www.btobonline.com)
Worth (http://www.worth.com)
Morningstar (http://www.morningstar.com)
Zacks (http://www.zacks.com)
Ad Review (http://www.adreview.com)
Association of National Advertisers (http://www.ana.net)
Financial Times (http://www.ft.com)
Creativity (http://www.getcreativity.com)
Advertising Research Foundation (http://www.arfsite.org)
Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com)
Strategy + Business (http://www.strategy-business.com)
Smart Business (http://www.smartbusinessmag.com)
Industry Week (http://www.industryweek.com)
Outdoor Advertising Association of America (http://www.oaaa.org)
Darwin (http://www.darwinmag.com/)
MarcomWise (http://www.marcommwise.com)
International Advertising Association (http://www.iaaglobal.org)
Brand Channel (http://www.brandchannel.com)
Red books (http://www.redbooks.com)
Chicago Interactive Marketing Association (http://www.chicagoima.org)
The Executives Club of Chicago (http://www.executivesclub.org)
Creative Directory (http://www.creativedir.com)
Schmooze Monger (http://www.schmoozemonger.com)
Launch Chicago (http://www.launchchicago.com)
Strategic Management Association Chicago (http://www.sma-chicago.org)
Young Entrepreneurs' Organization (http://www.yeo.org)
First Tuesday (http://www.firsttuesday.com)
Young Professionals of Chicago (http://www.youngprofessionalschicago.org)
Business Sense (http://www.ebiz-sense.com)
Tech Venue (http://www.techvenue.com)
Refergroup (http://www.refergroup.com)
Midwest Entrepreneurs' Forum (http://www.gss.net/mef/)
Northern Illinois Business Roundtable (http://www.firstbiz.com/nibr/)
Institute of Management Consultants USA (http://www.imcusa.org)
Institute of Management Consultants Chicago (http://www.imc-chicagoland.org)
Midwest Society of Professional Consultants (http://www.mspc.org)
YoPro (http://www.yopro.com)
North Suburban Networkers (http://www.nsnetworkers.com)
Lincoln Park Network (http://www.lincolnparknetwork.com)
Young Executives Club (http://www.youngexecutivesclub.org)
Free Agent Networking Club (http://www.fanetworking.com)
E content (http://www.ecmag.net)
Editor & Publisher (http://www.editorandpublisher.com)
Sorkins (http://www.sorkins.com)
Dun & Bradstreet (http://www.dnb.com)
Direct Marketing Market Place (http://www.dirmktgplace.com)
OneSource CorpTech (http://www.onesource.com)
Gale (http://www.gale.com)
CACI (http://www.demographics.caci.com/) (http://www.caci.com)
Bacons (http://www.baconsinfo.com)
Adweek's Technology Marketing (http://www.technologymarketing.com)
Wheeling/Prospect Heights Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(http://www.wphchamber.com)
Wilmette Chamber of Commerce (http://www.wilmettechamber.org)
Skokie Chamber of Commerce (http://www.skokiechamber.org)
Rosemont Chamber of Commerce (http://www.rosemontchamber.com)
Oak Brook Area Association of Commerce and Industry (http://www.obaci.com)
Northbrook Chamber of Commerce & Industry (http://www.northbrookchamber.org)
Niles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (http://www.nileschamber.org)
Naperville Chamber of Commerce (http://www.naperville.net)
Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce (http://www.mountprospectchamber.org)
Morton Grove Chamber of Commerce & Industry
(http://mgkhome.northstarnet.org/mgcci/index.html)
Lake Zurich Area Chamber of Commerce (http://www.lzacc.com)
Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce (http://www.lincolnparkchamber.com)
Lake Forest Lake Bluff Chamber of Commerce (http://www.lflbchamber.com)
Lake View East Chamber of Commerce (http://www.lakevieweast.com)
Lake View Chamber of Commerce (http://www.lakeviewchamber.com)
Lake County Chamber of Commerce (http://www.lakecounty-il.org)
Illinois Chamber (http://www.ilchamber.org)
Highland Park Chamber of Commerce (http://www.highland-park.com)
Hoffman Estates Chamber of Commerce (http://www.hechamber.com)
Glenview Chamber of Commerce (http://www.glenviewchamber.com)
Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce
(http://www.fastechs.com/prchamber/default.asp)
Evanston Chamber of Commerce (http://www.evchamber.com)
Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce (http://www.elkgrovechamber.org)
Des Plaines Chamber of Commerce & Industry (http://www.dpchamber.com)
Deerfield Bannockburn Riverwood Chamber of Commerce
(http://www.dbrchamber.com)
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce (http://www.chicagolandchamber.org)
Buffalo Grove Area Chamber of Commerce (http://www.buffalogrovechamber.org)
Bloomingdale Chamber of Commerce (http://www.bloomingdalechamber.com)
Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce (http://www.barringtonchamber.com)
Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce (http://www.arlingtonhtschamber.com)
Northwest & Schaumburg Association of Commerce and Industry
(http://www.nsaci.org)
Winnetka Chamber of Commerce (http://www.villageofwinnetka.org/chamber.html)
Palatine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (http://www.palatinechamber.com)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

2004-02-22T19:25:00.000-06:00

" Job Boards a Bust" - Headhunter Quote

Ask the Headhunter has some great info on the history and reality of on-line searches...

Here's the text ----

Job-Board Journalism: Selling out the American job hunter

Once again, troubling facts are slipping out about the "job boards" that suggest serious conflicts of interest are interfering with your ability to find a job. For a long time, these boards -- Monster.com, CareerBuilder, Headhunter.net, Hotjobs, among others -- were propped up mainly by corporate human resources departments that spent huge sums of money to post jobs online. (Example: In 2001, Lockheed Martin spent $1.8 million on the boards.5) Today, one of the big boards, CareerBuilder, is propped up by new partners -- big newspaper chains that have relinquished recruitment advertising and, apparently, editorial responsibility to CareerBuilder. But before we get into that, let's review a few facts. Actually, we don't have much more than a few facts because the job boards do not track or publish their success rates. That is, they don't tell us how effective they are at filling jobs. But that doesn't seem to stop them from raking in enormous revenues from employers, or from swallowing up your valuable time.

Jobs listed are not jobs filled
In 2000, during the dot-com heyday, Forrester Research1 reported that only 4% of job hunters polled found jobs through the Internet, including the aforementioned job boards. (Repeated surveys by Electronic Engineering Times, a professional journal, came up with similar percentages among engineers.) In the same survey, human resources (HR) recruiters claimed online job posting was the best way to recruit and said they planned to spend the biggest part (44%) of their recruiting dollars online. But clearly, even in 2000, there was a disconnect between the opinions of employers and the experience of job hunters. Contrary to the opinion of the HR folks, job hunters indicated that the most reliable source of jobs was personal referrals, which is how 40% of those polled found their jobs.

Cut to 2001 and a follow-up study by Forrester2. This time, Forrester went past the HR departments and queried the corporate stake-holders. Hiring managers were asked what recruiting tool they found most effective. Echoing the job hunters of the previous year, managers said that "word of mouth referrals" were the best source of hires (62%). Meanwhile, the HR folks -- the people who buy online job ads -- said such personal contacts were the worst recruiting tool. So, who's right?

In 2002 we began to learn the answer. CareerXroads, publisher of the popular directory that reviews online job sites, released the study I'd been waiting for3. Finally, someone was looking at the bottom line -- hiring success rates. Employers were asked what percentage of their new hires came from the four leading online career sites. The percentage of hires made through Monster: a whopping 1.4%. Hotjobs: .39%. CareerBuilder: .29%. Headhunter.net: .27%. (Yes, those decimal points are in the right places.) Suddenly, the cat was out of the bag.

Hiding the cat
The Wall Street Journal, whose CareerJournal.com is in the same business as the big boards, picked up the CareerXroads story3 but sidestepped the tough questions. Instead of critically analyzing the abysmal performance of the boards, the Journal printed lame statements from their executives. Dimitri Boylan, president and chief executive of Hotjobs.com, said it wasn't his fault if some resumes attracted little attention. "In terms of not getting a reply to a job, that's primarily the company's option," he said. The Wall Street Journal's manager of CareerJournal.com, Tony Lee, proclaimed, "All job boards can do is bring you to the company's front door." Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com, discounted Monster's poor performance this way: "I feel pretty good about the way the system matches up skills with openings and will continue to improve it."

Missing from The WSJ's interviews with these masters of online recruiting was any inquiry about metrics the job boards themselves use to assess their success. None of the job boards -- including The WSJ's CareerJournal -- contested or questioned CareerXroads' findings. Why then, since none of these job boards track or report how effectively they produce hires, don't they adopt and routinely disclose the CareerXroads and Forrester statistics to their users? Why are they hiding the cat?

Employers re-invent the flat tire
Monster's Taylor was right. CareerXroads' follow-up study4, released in 2003, showed that hiring rates improved. Companies surveyed said they made 3.6% of their external hires through Monster, 1.5% through CareerBuilder, and .5% through Hotjobs. (Headhunter.net merged with CareerBuilder.)

It seemed the boards were doing better, but many employers weren't buying it. In 2002 a sizable group of big companies -- including Lockheed, Xerox, GE and Wachovia Bank -- were so disappointed with the performance of the big boards that they created their own system: DirectEmployers.com5. They were going to reinvent the wheel, and they wanted to own it.

Has it worked? The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal applied its inherited editorial prowess to produce a critical report on the subject6. CareerJournal reported that DirectEmployers ranks only 18,273rd in web traffic among all web sites, while Monster ranks 104th. (CareerJournal goes on to show that its own traffic ranking is higher than Direct Employers'.) Thus, concludes CareerJournal with a self-serving tone, DirectEmployers should leave the job board business in the capable hands of the "commercial sites".

These traffic rankings seem to suggest a dramatic chasm between the levels of service delivered by DirectEmployers and the commercial sites. But the CareerJournal article reveals something far more troubling: a transparent editorial effort to redirect attention away from lousy hiring success rates and toward impressive traffic statistics. Those pesky success rates reported by CareerXroads remind us that the ultra-high-traffic Monster.com generated only 3.6% of hires by employers. Taken in that context, the differences in traffic don't appear to mean much. When we look at hiring success, none of the job sites performed well at all. (DirectEmployers generated so few hires that the figure wasn't even reported by CareerXroads.) We have no idea where that puts CareerJournal, because neither that site nor its parent, The Wall Street Journal, reports its hiring rate.

Though it claims a different model, DirectEmployers has not proved its concept, and it does not divulge hiring success rates. If anything, we're left to conclude that DirectEmployers may just be late to play the same game. Nonetheless, charter members of this new career site were paying $60,000 apiece just to join. Today, 99 companies belong to DirectEmployers, and CareerJournal does have a point. Judging from the traffic figures, job hunters don't seem to know that DirectEmployers even exists. While it's not clear where DirectEmployers is going, an early press release indicated that what was at first conceived as an exclusive club for employers was turning into an open system, like Monster, that grants access to almost anyone who asks for it7. Is DirectEmployers just another flat tire in the job boards business? The site does not require job hunters to provide their resumes; it does not warehouse job postings (users are directed to employers' sites); and it does not publish advertorials; all good signs. The best sign may be the criticism DirectEmployers is garnering from its competitors.

It seems the only edge that the leading job boards have developed is ubiquity. Monster is all over the career areas of some of the biggest corporate sites, funneling all their jobs into one big data base. (This data base has become a target of investigation by The Privacy Foundation8.) Meanwhile, the big newspaper chains seem to have set aside their editorial integrity, fashioning news and editorial content to prop up the pitiful performance of CareerBuilder -- their captive vendor of recruitment advertising.

Job-board journalism
To summarize, employers appear to be making precious few hires from the job boards, whose success seems to be measured only by their revenues. The job boards do not routinely divulge hiring success rates. Clearly, if you are a job hunter, the odds that a company is going to hire you through one of the online job boards are, to put it generously, lousy. Yet, whether due to incompetence, laziness, or lack of a good alternative (Is there a difference?), corporate HR departments continue to plough massive recruiting dollars into these sites, and job hunters continue to flock to them.

Now we get to the conflict of interest: job-board journalism. The evolution of Monster.com seems simple compared to that of CareerBuilder. More than just a job board, Monster now manages the jobs pages of many employers. In other words, you go to an employer's site, click the Company Jobs link, and view job listings that are all managed by Monster. As part of these outsourcing deals, Monster also provides career articles ("advice"), which encourage job hunters to spend ever more time on Monster's job board. On Monster's own site, the motivation behind such self-serving advice is obvious. On a corporate site whose jobs area is managed by Monster, it's questionable. But, you certainly wouldn't expect to find Monster-written editorial content in a newspaper, would you? Of course not. Editorial integrity at big newspapers is sacrosanct.

Enter CareerBuilder. Bet you didn't know that this business is now owned by Gannett, Inc. (which owns USA Today and dozens of other newspapers), Knight Ridder (another huge newspaper chain), and Tribune Company (yet another big chain). These newspapers use CareerBuilder to manage and produce their recruitment advertising, or job listings. It's how they compete with the likes of Monster.com. (As we've seen, however, CareerBuilder's success rate, 1.5%, pales next to Monster's monstrous 3.6%.) What's interesting is that these newspapers also run editorial content, career advice, and advertorials produced by CareerBuilder under their newspaper logos, to encourage you to use the service. Sometimes, they write their own career articles. Too often, it's hard to tell where the news ends and the self-promotion picks up.

For example, USA Today publishes an article titled, "Five Reasons You Should Post Your Resume"9. While the URL reveals that the article likely comes from CareerBuilder, it is published under the familiar USA Today newspaper logo. The article explains that:
"Searching and applying online is basically a the [sic] same process as answering newspaper help wanted ads ---albeit, on steroids… Your grandfather would call resume POSTING 'new-fangled' and he'd probably avoid it… Posting wins the numbers game."

But, nowhere does USA Today report any metrics comparing online resume posting to answering newspaper ads, even though the company is in both businesses. That's where the trouble starts.

Remember the CareerXroads study that reported employers filled fewer than 1.5% of their jobs through CareerBuilder? The same study also reported that newspaper ads delivered 4.8% of new hires. (In the 2000 Forrester study, 23% of respondents said they found their jobs through newspapers.) It seems that your grandfather's old-fangled method is at least three times more effective than the new-fangled method touted by USA Today. When facts collide with advertising, there's a problem.

What you're seeing is editorial integrity rushing headlong into the business of promoting online recruitment advertising.

Sorry, I don't mean to scream
The Wall Street Journal, one of the most respected news sources in the world, is no better. It isn't part of the CareerBuilder consortium. The WSJ's CareerJournal.com service uses a resumes-and-jobs clearinghouse called CareerCast. But CareerJournal produces its own career advice articles. Look at a sample authored by Heidi D. Golledge10:
"Should you post your resume on job boards in this economy? The answer is yes. BUT WHEN POSTING ON JOB BOARDS, YOU MUST GO IN AND UPDATE YOUR RESUME EVERY DAY. Sorry, I don't mean to scream, but I have to use caps to make that point. Every day, new job hunters post their resumes on the job boards, pushing your resume down the list, away from a recruiter's inspecting eyes. You may be the perfect person for the job, but no one will see your resume if it isn't in the top 10."

In the strongest language possible -- in capital letters --, Ms. Golledge and the editors of The Wall Street Journal warn that if you don't spend time each day on their site, you're dead meat in the job market. I've written a number of resumes in my time, and I know it takes more than a few minutes to properly update a resume, so the thought of doing daily updates is daunting. What I can't fathom is what new, relevant information I could possibly come up with on a daily basis to justify an update. (Well, actually I understand completely. Ms. Golledge wants you to change a few words in your resume to trigger a change in its file date, thereby popping it to the top of the data base so you can fool a personnel jockey into thinking yours is a new resume. That seems to be the "insider tip" offered by the folks who manage the integrity of the resume data base CareerJournal sells to employers.)

What Ms. Golledge and The Wall Street Journal don't divulge is the odds that your daily visits to their site will pay off. While they deliver articles exhorting readers to use their site on a daily basis, they don't divulge the service's success rate. They don't disclose the independent metrics of Forrester Research or CareerXroads about job boards, either. But they have no qualms about egging you on to spend precious hours applying for jobs that employers are unlikely to hire you to fill. I could scream.

Blind in one eye; winking with the other
That's the fraud of the job boards. Oh, there may be no violation of any law, except perhaps a social contract or two pertaining to integrity; no theft, except perhaps of your time. The disclaimers you accept on these sites, and the terms and conditions you agree to, protect them. But fraud has more than a legal definition. It is commonly defined in the dictionary as "an act of deceiving or misrepresenting".

The problem lies not just in the piss-poor success of these services at getting you hired, but in their directing you to devote inordinate amounts of precious time and resources to a job hunting method that isn't at all likely to land you a job. The problem lies in a perceived conflict of interest; in the implied editorial integrity of newspapers you trust; and in a job board's failure to disclose the truth about the advice and service it is providing. The problem lies in winking at the statistics about success rates. The problem lies in turning a blind editorial eye to the naked truth: the job boards are a lousy way to hire or to get hired.

The job boards have evolved. They used to be propped up mainly by corporate human resources departments that know they're unlikely to hire you if you devote your job-search time to their postings. Indeed, HR managers grumble about the masses of inappropriate applicants that waste HR's time. We can only wonder what their shareholders would say about the enormous budgets they spend on a recruitment system that doesn't work very well. (Forrester Research12 reports that in 2003 companies will spend $511 million on job postings alone, and another $268 million for the privilege to slog through online resume data bases in search of a handful of people they will actually hire. And they call this recruiting.)

But the real tragedy for the job hunter is that the job boards have found new financial support. They have merged into newspapers and periodicals that have an ethical obligation to deliver news and articles with integrity. As we've said, it's caveat emptor when Monster uses "advice" articles to get you to spend as much time as possible on its web site. But Monster is not a pre-eminent source of news reporting. You know it's selling something. When you spend hours each day on a trusted newspaper's web site; when, under the tutelage of its articles and apparent news reporting, you post your resume and update it every day; then you rightfully expect that the newspaper's editorial integrity is not in conflict with its advertising business. News and advertising must not be confused. Likewise, a newspaper's omission of the truth (wink, wink) -- metrics that reveal your chances of getting hired via its services -- is not excused by the exigency of earning a profit.

We don't need no stinkin' metrics
I asked an editor at an online newspaper that uses CareerBuilder what he had to say about CareerBuilder's 1.5% success rate. First, he didn't challenge the figures reported by CareerXroads. Then he said, "While the percentages might be small, the numbers are significant. According to the report you cite, the companies surveyed filled 154,958 jobs. So 1.5% would be 2,324 jobs, or CareerBuilder filled more than 100 jobs per company among the 22 companies surveyed. Hardly a 'fraud'."

This is a sophisticated guy defending 1.5% as a really a big number. So let's look at really big numbers. According to the Wausau Daily Herald (another CareerBuilder affiliate), there are "more than 5 million resumes and job seekers" on the CareerBuilder system vying for 300,000 posted jobs11. Of course, you can't just map those two figures against one another. But let's play a game that makes at least as much sense as the game the job boards play. Those figures imply there are 16 resumes for each job. Now let's go further and pretend it's one big company -- American Business, Inc. -- that owns all those jobs and that it has posted all its open jobs. You're one of the 5 million people who have lined up for one of the 4,500 jobs at American Business, Inc. that will be filled through CareerBuilder. What are your odds of success, and how much are you willing to gamble for a chance at one of those jobs? To what extent are you willing to ignore more profitable job hunting methods so you can wager at this table?

The dirty secret is that these job boards don't use relevant metrics or report their performance, and they are totally indifferent to the metrics produced by independent watchdogs. They have no interest in hiring success rates. What that editor was really saying to me was, Metrics? We don't need no stinkin' metrics. All we need is recruitment advertising revenue and lots of job hunters -- and we've got both.

The naked truth
Perhaps a big-budget HR department isn't worried about wasting a few million bucks here, or a few million there. (Want to talk metrics with an HR executive? Ask how much it costs to sort and process the masses of inexpensive resumes he gets from the job boards.) Jobs eventually get filled. But an individual job hunter -- that poor sucker who needs one job sooner rather than later -- is profoundly affected by misuse of her precious job-hunting time. She deserves to know a company is going to roast snowballs in hell before it hires her through the jobs board she has labored on day after day. The articles she reads about the importance of posting resumes online should have the same editorial integrity as a story on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. She deserves the frank admission that 1.5% is a tiny number. She deserves full disclosure, and less job-board journalism.

Is it a fraud? You decide. Devote an hour each day -- about 12% of your working time -- surfing one of the many CareerBuilder or Monster.com sites, or DirectEmployers.com, or CareerJournal.com. Scan the job postings. Read the advice. Update your resume daily. Your challenge is to justify your investment. Then consider that somewhere between 40% and 70% of jobs are found and filled through personal referrals.

Where should you be spending your time?

The emperor has no clothes, but HR departments believe what they want to believe; job hunters seem content wearing blinders; newspapers see no problem. So why do I want to scream?

Best,
Nick Corcodilos
Ask The Headhunter®

2004-02-08T16:11:00.000-06:00

Recruit a Recruiter

With the passing of the dot.com era, many job seekers are at a loss because recruiters have stopped calling. Just a few years ago, recruiters were bountiful and bidding for great candidates. Job seekers tracking down former recruiters find most recruiters have gone onto other professions.
Puzzlement is a bound for job candidates as how to find a recruiter with industry specific jobs.

So how can a job candidate get a recruiter's attention in this tough job market? First learn of the types of recruiters. Second understand their
work procedures. And third be aware of how they make a living.

There are corporate recruiters who are affectionately referred to as in-house staffing personnel and are employees of the company. They are sorters and deliverers of resumes that have been received by the company through advertisements, job fairs, referrals, etc. Prescreened candidates'
resumes are given to hiring managers. Standard procedure is the decorum of the day with their advertised jobs stating "No Calls Please". Of
course, staffing does not want to be inundated with phone calls!

Retained recruiters are contracted for a specific position with a company and no other recruiters have the ability to work on that position. Payment to retained recruiters is issued in three stages. A third of the payment is made at the start of the search, another third half way through the search and the final payment at the time of placement. Most often positions are for highly specialized candidates or upper level management.

Contingency recruiters have been the most plentiful. They too usually specialize in a specific industry and specific positions. They contract with companies for specific positions however several contingency
recruiters can work on the same jobs. The recruiter of record receives payment for placement when if his candidate has been selected. It is not uncommon for a candidate to be courted by several recruiters for the same position especially in a tough job market when there are few jobs.

Good retained and contingency recruiters hunt and find candidates. This is done on a personal referral basis not taking candidates whose resumes
are posted on job boards. These candidates come highly recommended after the recruiter has spent many hours phoning for personal referrals. They are more likely to pull a candidate out of a specific company.

Recruiters make their living from placements of contracted positions. Recruiters work for companies not job candidates. Therefore anything else other than filling their contracted positions are nonproductive.

So how do you find a recruiter? To make your search time efficient remember recruiters specialize in a particular industry. It is virtually a waste of time for job seekers to send resumes to recruiters that are not industry specific or handle placements for the types of positions sought.

Start by researching executive search firms. You can find lists of executive search firms on the Internet or in reference books at the library. Most search firms will have multiple locations or franchised offices. Each office specializes in a particular industry or type of position. (Web sites: www.search-consult.com/directory; www.kennedyinfo.com; www.interniznet.com/hunt/exec.html; and
www.rileyguide.com/firms.html).

Next contact several executive search firms' company headquarters. Ask for the office within their organization that specializes in your industry and the type of position to which you aspire. Call that particular office and request to speak to the most experienced recruiter on staff. Visit directly with this experienced recruiter in order to learn if he has a current position that would be a match. If there is a match be sure to ask the recruiter if he is working directly with the hiring manager. This
is very important because the recruiter will have a working knowledge of the hiring managers needs in all realms such as professional, technical, and personal skills desired and more productive for your candidacy. Find several industry recruiters in this fashion.

If you do not fit into any of the recruiters’ current jobs then ask for assistance by questioning the recruiter for company names and contacts where he previously has placed candidates. Pose questions to obtain the most current industry information that might facilitate job leads. Probe the recruiter for companies that are hiring that do not use recruiters.

In return, suggest that you can assist with referrals of industry candidates for the current positions he needs to fill. Make reference that you will be contacting him in the future to share information on companies that you uncover that are hiring. This will set you apart from other job seekers that have contacted the recruiter and when the recruiter obtains a new job potentially a match, you will be on the top of his contact list.

Resumes Via Internet

You have done it all. Sent your resume to every job posting that was remotely related to your skill set by Internet email. Posted your resume on every available job board on the Internet. Paid a fee to have your resume blasted to recruiters and companies over the Internet. Filled out on-line employment applications that required cutting, pasting, and
dissecting your resume. Emailed unsolicited resumes to companies’ web sites in case the company might have interest. All this activities require days of diligent, meticulous work.

Responses to these activities are far and few. Yet, posting of resumes is still encouraged by experts. However they instruct the necessity of having all the proper words in your resume so it will be selected by key filtering software. Also encouraged is selecting only industry specific job boards for posting your resume and responding to job postings.
And in order to gain more exposure fee paid resume distribution services are recommended.

Are any of these activities focused for time efficient and productive job search? All Internet career services encourage activities based on surfing only advertised jobs. The truth is that 85% of jobs are not ever advertised. This puts job seekers in high volumes of competition for the same 15% of jobs. Think of it from the employers’ aspect. Human resource departments are flooded with resumes many that do not even qualify for the positions by unrealistically hopeful candidates.

A recent study by a doctoral student at the University of Washington
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/08/030814071955.htm) indicates that the Internet is not helping job seekers in this current job market. The study suggests that in the early stages of the Internet job obtainment was successful using the Internet. However as more Americans are Internet savvy, companies do not have the time or finances to review the vast numbers resumes received. Therefore companies rely on person referrals and
recommendations. The study states that the Internet is more productive for entry or temporary positions. The ultimate conclusion is that knowing someone gets you hired.

This gets back to the one basic fundamental People Hire People. Current Internet activities encourage job seekers to remain anonymous hiding behind the computer screen. True to the American way, most prefer the quick easy fix that job searching on the Internet is perceived to be! No real interaction between human beings takes place.

So how can you take current Internet activities and build upon them to achieve better results in your job search?

First, instead of surfing on general or specific job boards consider the web sites of professional associations and organization. Jobs posted on these sites are more real because the companies are serious as to industry specific candidates only applying. There is a fee associated for posting but it is more reasonable than the Internet job boards so smaller companies find these web sites more feasible. Companies are not overwhelmed with candidate responses and not qualified individuals.
Companies can easily make direct contact with a qualified candidate.

Second, the alternative to posting your resume in the black hole of the Internet job boards is to post it on a professional organization or association’s career web page. Companies and good recruiters scour association career web pages because they are can find candidates with the required skills. Any direct contacts made will be industry specific and all parties seriously involved in the process.

Third, study the job postings on general job boards to find recruiters that specialize in your industry. Visit directly with these recruiters to learn the latest information pertaining to hiring in your industry. Ask the recruiters for some good industry contacts so you can call them personally for leads. Recruiters know companies that are hiring but not
outsourcing to recruiters.

Fourth, research each company with job postings for their competitors. If one company hires then maybe their competitors also would be hiring too. This could be a key to other unadvertised positions. Don’t hesitate to call into the companies directly. You will not know if there are unadvertised positions if you do not ask.

Last, remember that the follow-up of any Internet lead should be a phone call to a real person. Less than 5% of job seekers find positions from the Internet. Therefore the marketability of your resume is diluted whether posting your resume or using the resume to respond to job posting. Out smart your competition by putting the Internet to more effective uses in your job search.

So Why Are You Searching this Way?

Once a month when I present a small intimate seminar the reactions of the attendees are fascinating. Invariably we get into a discussion of their present techniques versus the ones I am presenting. The majority of the attendees are professionals who have hired many times throughout their career.

In the essence of time I pose several key probing questions about when they hired.

Did you ever go to the Internet using a key word search for candidates?

Did you hire from the stack of resumes that human resources brought you?

Did you select candidates from unsolicited resumes sent to you?

The answers to these questions are almost always never. Occasionally one attendee might volunteer that there might have been one candidate chosen in the above fashion during the dot.com era. Most admit that they hired from a direct referral or someone who knew someone who then in turn knew someone else. Statistics demonstrate that 90% of hiring managers hire through their own personal means.

Then I ask a pertinent question about cover letters:

Did you read cover letters that accompanied candidates’ resumes?

You can probably guess the answers to this question. Most state rarely. They go directly to the resume for a quick study. Only if they saw something in the resume of great interest did they in rare circumstances read the cover letter that accompanied the resume.

My last question to these middle and senior level professionals is:

So why do you continue to search in a way that you would not hire?

The response is that they have been schooled to do it this way. Then some comedian in the seminar responds saying that is why we are here today to learn methods that work. The reality is that many posted jobs on the Internet are not even real jobs therefore responding to advertise jobs reaps little benefit. Sending unsolicited resumes is contributing to file thirteen of HR departments. Posting resumes is comparable to entering the black hole of the Internet. Perfecting your resume with key words is
a good test for software programs hiring managers don’t use. And cover letters are diligently crafted for no one to read.

There are many reasons why current job search methods do not work. The main one is that job seekers spend the majority of their time in passive interaction with their computer. The benefits of the hours spent on the Internet reap only a 5% or less chance of getting a job from posted jobs. Computers do not hire! People hire people.

Current expert solutions for networking are to conduct informational interviews and attend networking groups. If you conduct informational interviews it will cost you a small fortune to host numerous professionals for coffee breaks and meals. You also might notice a slight gain in weight. Busy schedules do not allow most professionals to grant the time for informational interviews. Therefore save your money and keep your waistline trim. Forget informational interviews.

Networking becomes a real chore for many job seekers today. Their network often consists of former unemployed colleagues as themselves. Or networks consist of former still working colleagues that are much overworked and fearing they could also end up with a pink slip. At many professional organizations the unemployed members out number the employed members.
Employment help groups do provide helpful information. However, rarely do unemployed individuals in attendance have direct employment leads to share.

What are job seekers to do to add to current job search methods?

First, job seekers need to learn to become detective. Use the Internet proactively in order to find clues for employment leads. Set aside the job boards and resume blasting services. The Internet is the greatest 24x7 library in the world. It covers almost all media from television to radio to newspapers and magazines. Media awareness gives job seekers the most current information that is relevant for job search.

Job seekers learn to see what other job seeker cannot. They learn to use the Internet in techniques that their competitors do not. Internet employment leads are there for the taking once thought processes are changed. Make human contact with those leads from the media.

Second, networking for job seekers often falls short because of the questions asked in the process. Most job seekers ask two questions when networking:

Are you hiring?

Do you know anyone hiring?

Accelerate your networking capabilities by asking key probing questions. Many individuals you encounter do have employment information; they just
do not know they do. However you must pose the types of questions that get the individual to respond with information. Information the will assist in real employment leads.

Invariably, seminar attendees come to the conclusion that they just have not been asking the right kinds of questions and searching in the right places. New job search tools provide new employment leads.

To Help or Not to Help

In this tough job market job seekers are looking for all the help they can get. Help can come in the form of an unexpected source or a chance meeting. You might assume that the majority of people are good hearted and willing to assist others when they can. Recently I ran into a couple
of circumstances where individuals could not be bothered to help others. And this bothered me!

As a recruiter, I specialize in engineering positions. For a couple of weeks I was in the process of locating about a half a dozen engineers for a new research and development facility. Despite the fact that the company's headquarters were located in another state the engineering positions were to be local. In this employer's market it is rather easy to strategically put the word out and end up with many job candidates.

After gathering several hundred candidates I created an e-mailing list to keep candidates informed as to the selection process. In mailing updates on the selection process, sometimes I included other job descriptions of positions that I received. As favor I passed these jobs on to my engineering job candidates asking them to help other job seekers who might qualify for these non-engineering positions.

Surprising to me, several engineering job candidates contacted me and stated that in no way had they signed up for anything other than the engineering positions. Therefore, they did not appreciate getting other job listings. What did this tell me about these candidates? Well, you can only surmise that they just might not be team players and perhaps less than compassionate than others.

Consequently, I picked up the phone and visited with the hiring manager whom I had personally known for years to discuss these particular candidates. After the conversation, these candidates were no longer in the running for the engineering positions. You might say they shot themselves in the foot.

On another note, when I recently completed a book to help job candidates in their search I was referred to some buddy groups. Apparently, these volunteer buddy groups assists job seekers to develop employment opportunities. By email, I sent excerpts from my book so that they could be shared with group members. For months, I had been sending book excerpts to job candidates as a helping hand for those whom I recruited but did not land the job. Many emails of thanks have been received over the months.

One particular volunteer host of a buddy group sent an email to me with the following.

"However I am not so pleased that someone in the ... Group suggested that you contact us ... we hear from all kinds of people during our job search ... If we need help, we can certainly take referrals from one of our members ... I do not support getting ... messages...."

Surely sharing book excerpts could have done no harm and maybe even have helped just one member of her buddy group.

If this host would permit outside help, perhaps members of this buddy group might return to the workforce sooner. Her actions do not reflect a leader with the better interests of her members at heart. Needless to say, she could be shooting all the feet of her members.

The old saying about surrounding yourself with good people is to be remembered in job search. Find those individuals that are good people. Often it is the perfect stranger that will take that extra minute to go the extra mile and help you with your search.

I encourage job seekers all the time to contact strangers especially industry professionals whom they have researched. Calling into companies and directly conversing with an employee is a great way to learn the most recent information that could be significant for an employment opportunity. Take this terrific email that I recently received from a job candidate.

Here is a portion of that email:

"I then randomly called one of the "Company A" employees and had a conversation with her regarding how the company was doing. At first she was reluctant comment but as I explained my current situation of being unemployed and also noting that I too had worked for "Company A" in the past, she opened up to my surprise!

The conversation went so well that she offered to help me by submitting my information internally! The most astonishing thing about this engagement was that we were strangers! I had to ask her why she was so willing to help a stranger. Her response, "I was unemployed at one time also and I understand what you are going through."

Regards,

Mark

As job seekers it is truly a blessing to find good people willing to help with your search efforts. Then again it is the same for all life situations. Always remember to thank those who have chosen to help.

Kathleen Conners is author of The Thrill of the Hunt: Get Real in Your Job Search. The book will be available at www.1stbooks.com

2004-02-06T07:53:00.000-06:00

Fight Age Discrimination: Knowledge is Key

From this week's Fortune Magazine:

. . . such large numbers of 50-plus managers have already been put out to pasture through layoffs and early-retirement programs that the only people left to make hiring decisions in many companies are, well, young enough to think 50 is older than dirt. But the main culprit, it seems, is the rotten job market. Says ExecuNet CEO Dave Opton: "When job seekers outnumber the available jobs, employers use age as one way to quickly screen out candidates."

Getting past that brick wall isn't easy. Don't bother pretending to be younger. "Forget about the superficial stuff like cosmetic surgery and dyeing your hair," says David Carpe, a principal at Clew (www.clew.us), a human resources consulting firm. "You'll just look desperate." Instead, he urges well-seasoned job hunters to stay physically fit, energetic, and upbeat. Exercise, eat right, and get enough sleep. "I see people in their 70s who are vibrant, energetic, and in great demand," says executive coach Tom Massey in Oklahoma City. "I also see 'old' 50-year-olds who are burnt out." You can decide which you're going to be.

The biggest advantage you can give yourself, says Dave Opton, is research. "With any kind of bias, whether it's age, sex, race, or what-have-you, there is a spectrum," he says. "Some people are totally open-minded, while at the other end of the range are those who are so prejudiced that you will never change their minds. Most are somewhere in the middle. If you go into an interview with detailed research showing that you understand the business, the challenges it faces, and what problems need solving, interviewers will tend to look past your age and focus on your ideas." He adds, "I believe people in their 40s and 50s have a strong work ethic that younger workers often lack—and your willingness to do thoughtful, in-depth research will demonstrate it."

Here is an excellent research site with current MBA concepts and terminology that was cited in the Fortune article.

2004-02-06T06:42:00.000-06:00

"QUANTIFYING YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS"

WHEN: February 17th – TUESDAY ( 7:00PM - 9:00PM ) (3RD TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH)

Invite others and RSVP by Feb 16th to davidckrull@aol.com

WHO: From those in routine jobs to Executive positions in any industry that are: un-employed,

under-employed and businesses needing people to hire, or help to grow their businesses.

WHERE: Immanuel Lutheran Church - 200 N Plum Grove Rd Palatine, IL 60067-5233 –

DRESS: Business Casual COST: FREE

PRESENTATION OVERVIEW: NO ONE is immune from being downsized today! Regardless of your position in an organization, if a decision is made to cut staff, you are fair game. That's why it's more important than ever to keep track of your accomplishments and keep your resume up to date. The process for quantifying the results of your accomplishments goes beyond resumes. It can be used for sales brochures, website advertising, client interviews, job interviews or performance reviews.

Speaker: Dennis Hamilton - Dennis has recently been a featured speaker at the Executive Resource Group,Company of Friends and many other organizations. He is a professional trainer and consultant who has facilitated awide range of training classes and workshops. He has taught such diverse topics as instructional skills (train-the-trainer), handling employee concerns, principles of investigation, performance appraisals, and career transition workshops.

After retiring from ComEd he continued in the training field and he has designed and delivered many different supervisory training classes for two community colleges. Dennis is also a consultant at Drake Beam Morin, an international career consulting company. He conducts intensive two- and three-day workshops in the Midwest region, that give clients job hunting skills and tools for career change.

BRING: Some friends, Current Resume, Networking Brief (Hand-Bill), Business Cards, along with a smile and a genuine interest to help others. We foster a pay-it-forward attitude; with an interest in expanding everyone's network of contacts and actually helping them. In order to get employed, or stay employed in this economy, it's very important that you ALWAYS stay c-o-n-n-e-c-t-e-d. Many people find that when acts of kindness are focused to benefit others, it can turn out to be reciprocal to those that give.

We welcome speakers to volunteer for interesting and useful topics. We also welcome ANY hiring businesses to attend. For more information contact David Krull via E-mail davidckrull@aol.com or 708-686-7180 Mobile

2004-02-05T08:46:00.000-06:00

Cover Letters & Resumes

Here is the MSN Careers link covering this topic

Cover Letters & Resumes

? 3 common resume mistakes

? 5 ways to transform your resume

? Top 20 recruiter pet peeves about resumes

? Treat your job search like an ad campaign

? Top 10 Tips for an Internet Friendly Resume

? Covering the Basics in Cover Letters

? Seven Tips for Cover Letters

? Resume Blunders

? Avoid the Top Ten Resume Mistakes

? Bean Counting No More

? Burn Your Resume, Build a Resume Portfolio

? Cover Letter Q&A

? Expert Cover Letter Tips

? Formatting Your Resume on CareerBuilder.com

? How To Address Gaps in Your Career History

? How-To Guide: Resumes

? Location, Location, Location!

? Making Your Resume Work FOR You

? Mix it up for results!

? Posting Multiple Resumes

? Resume Makeover

? Resumes and C.V.s -- What's the Difference?

? Ten Tips for Creating a Cover Letter That Gets Results!

? Top Secrets of Resume Writing

? Want Experience? Summer Jobs Beef Up Your Resume

? Writing a Super Resume

? Your Last Workplace Became An "Historical Footnote"?

2004-02-04T14:19:00.000-06:00

Franchising Information

From GHM

[For those interested in franchises. Fran Choice is a networking partner of GHM.]]

Whether it's pet care, personal services, residential cleaning, tutoring and
education services, retail, food, automotive, interior decorating and sales,
home based or business to business, there is a franchise business that
appeals to just about everyone.

There's a new trend that is gaining in popularity and that is setting up one
spouse in an entrepreneurial business activity like a franchise while the
other spouse continues to work the corporate structure. This new trend has
been brought about by the complete unpredictability associated with job
cuts, layoffs, acquisitions, downsizing and rifs, all of which are
synonymous with unemployment. It's kind of like insurance, or as a recent
article in the Jan. 23rd Edition of Chicago Tribune characterized it, "It's
more of a backstop - getting started with this thing just in case."

Franchising is a viable alternative to the unemployment line and the
corporate job search. It provides a formula for freedom and a pathway to
independence. Don't misunderstand me, it is still hard work and it is not a
get rich quick scheme. It requires money, focus and dedication but the
rewards can be significant. The beauty is that with franchising, you don't
have to reinvent the wheel. The franchise offers a tried and proven method
or business model and training, not only in the opportunity but also in the
running of the business.

My company, FranChoice, offers a free, no strings attached, service designed to help people find their piece of the American dream. With over 5000
possible choices of franchise opportunities available to the general public,
finding the right one can be a daunting task for even the most skilled. The
FranChoice program is designed to help you find your ideal match. For
further information please visit my web page at http://RPope@FranChoice.com
or just give me a call at 1-800-780-3985.

Richard Pope
Independent FranChoice Consultant
Phone: 480-575-2705 Fax: 480-488-3251
Toll Free: 800-780-3985
Web Page: http://RPope.FranChoice.com
Email: RPope@FranChoice.com

2004-02-04T09:04:00.000-06:00

Ask the Headhunter

Here is a great article from this site courtesy of GHM.

What's the best way to reply to job listings?

Question
You recommend spending only a limited amount of time on responding to job listings. Still, many listings do represent real opportunities with solid, growing companies who know they have a need. So, here's the question: How should one respond to the listing that looks worthwhile, but doesn't show a company name, and which demands a resume with salary history?

Nick's Reply
I don't recommend spending any time at all on job listings. But the job listings are like a bug light; they have an attraction. The answer to your question is hidden in what you wrote. Please consider what you're saying:

1. Still, many listings do represent real opportunities with solid, growing companies who know they have a need.
2. How should one respond to the listing that looks worthwhile, but doesn't show a company name?

See the contradiction? If there's no company name, how do you know it's a real opportunity? If it's "real" and "worthwhile", the company will include its name in order to leverage its great reputation. If a good company needs to hide its identity, it will use a headhunter to do the search quietly, and the headhunter won't solicit thousands of resumes.

Now consider the kind of "blind ad" you're talking about. Imagine the deluge of resumes this "company" will get. (It may not be an employer advertising at all. It could be someone gathering personal information for purposes we're not going to cover here.) The deluge will be full of utter garbage. If that's the "opportunity" you're worrying about, don't. Top companies with great jobs don't run blind ads on job boards.

That said, there are undoubtedly some good, legit jobs on the boards. I don't think it's worth trying to find them because they're not likely to be filled via the boards. Studies done by job-board watcher CareerXroads shows that companies make no more than about 3% of their new hires from the boards. Those are the odds you're facing, assuming you're the right candidate.

So, what if you actually find a legit job posting? How do you apply? Don't. Forget about responding to the ad. Go to the company directly through your own channels. Find the manager and arrange an introduction by a credible intermediary. That takes a lot of work, but the value of an applicant to a company is directly related to the value of the introduction. Job boards: 3%. Personal contacts: 40-70% (that's how many jobs are found and filled through personal contacts). Is there any question about how to spend your time?

If you want a meaningful edge, you've got to demonstrate your credibility by finding someone who is trusted by the hiring manager and demonstrating that it behooves them to recommend you. There's nothing easy about it. But that's as it should be, no? How else can a company separate the wheat from the chaff, when it's got 5,000 resumes a day coming in the door and no easy -- or effective -- way to sift through them?

Reconsider: Is that job posting really a good one? The odds are tiny. And if you find a good one, do you really want to be one of those 5,000 resumes? While your resume is aging in a data base, my candidate is having lunch with the hiring manager. The thing is, what I do as a headhunter is no mystery. It's basic, dopey stuff. But it requires focus, patience, and persistence -- and a lot of work.

So maybe the calculation leaves you thinking, "Geez, why should I do all that work to meet the right people, when there's still no guarantee? Screw it -- I'll just play the numbers and zap out 10,000 resumes to increase my chances!" If you do it my way, whether you land a job or not, you've met several good people in your business -- contacts that could stand you well for years if you cultivate them. Contacts that will stimulate new ideas and possibilities you never thought of.

Your way, you've got bupkus. You don't know what company you're applying to. You've talked with no one. You have developed no new information; no new insight; no new vantage point; no new friends to introduce you to yet more new friends. There is none of that in sending a resume to an ad -- much less to a blind ad (where the company is not named). Now please try and answer the very last part of your question yourself: Should you send your resume, filled with personal information including your salary history to someone you don't know?

Like I said, doing it the right way isn't easy. But it works 40-70% of the time, if what you want is odds. Even if you don't get the job, communicating with real people always pays off.

2004-02-02T09:59:00.000-06:00

Free Agent

Here is a link to the book Free Agent Nation . I expect that it is also available in local outlets on Grape Road.

2004-02-02T09:57:00.000-06:00

Body Language

From GHM

Entire article can be found here

Body-Language Tactics That Sway Interviewers

Posture, eye contact, and other nonverbal communication can speak volumes about your feelings and attitudes. Here's how to impress hiring managers with mannerisms that project confidence and enthusiasm.

Eugene Raudsepp, CareerJournal

January 30, 2004

Before a job interview, do you peruse magazines or review prepared notes? When the meeting begins, do you wait to be told where to sit or choose your own chair? And do you give passionately expressive or carefully controlled responses?

In each of these instances, your body language speaks volumes about how you'd perform at a company. In fact, some experts say nonverbal cues are more important than verbal ones. According to these studies, body language comprises 55% of the force of any response, whereas the verbal content only provides 7%, and "paralanguage," or the intonation, pauses and sighs given when answering, represents 38% of the emphasis.

Jo-Ann Vega, president of JV Career and Human Resources Consulting Services in Nyack, N.Y., says body language is so important that it frequently torpedoes what we say.

"Our nonverbal messages often contradict what we say in words," says Ms. Vega. "When we send mixed messages or our verbal messages don't jibe with our body statements, our credibility can crumble because most smart interviewers believe the nonverbal."

Laid-off managers are a case in point. They're often so traumatized by their terminations that they appear downcast, even when discussing their strengths, says Ms. Vega. Difficult questions can throw them off balance, and their anxiety may cause them to fidget or become overly rigid, she says.

Since nonverbal communication is more eloquent, honest and accurate than verbal communication, such actions reveal your inner confidence. While words can deceive—many people don't mean what they say or say what they mean—body language is subconscious. Since it's more spontaneous and less controlled, it shows our true feelings and attitudes.

Still, most people discount the importance of nonverbal communication because their education and training placed more emphasis on spoken words. To become more adept at interpreting and using body language, heighten your awareness of nonverbal signals and learn to trust your "gut" instinct. Then, when interviewing, use the following tips to accentuate body language that stresses professionalism and performance.

The First Moments
Realize that you're being judged as soon as you arrive at the company. Set the right tone by being early, then use the extra time to compose yourself. When waiting for interviewers, don't open your briefcase to review notes you've prepared. Instead, glance through available magazines or literature in the waiting area.

This creates the impression that you're relaxed before stressful events, and helps you project confidence during the critical early moments of the interview.

If a receptionist or secretary indicates that the interviewer is ready to see you, enter his or her office as though you belonged. Knocking on the door, or opening it and peeking in, shows hesitation, which may be interpreted as a lack of confidence.

Greet your interviewer with a firm, sincere handshake. More than a few candidates have betrayed their nervousness by extending limp, clammy palms, and shaking hands weakly.

Don't start talking immediately, fumble with your briefcase or dive into a chair. If you aren't invited to sit, choose a chair across from or aside the interviewer's desk. Avoid soft lounge chairs or couches, which can prevent you from rising easily. And don't ask if and where you should sit.

If your interviewer receives a phone call during the meeting, select and review material from your briefcase to give him or her a sense of privacy. Don't show annoyance about the interruption or offer to leave the office. Many interviewers purposely take calls to determine if you'll react adversely to office disruptions.

How Close Can You Get?
Like anyone else, interviewers become uncomfortable if their personal space, or preferred distance from others, is invaded. Extraverted interviewers prefer a "social zone" of between 18 and 48 inches from their bodies, while introverts need more space.

Try to gauge interviewers' preferred distance by their seating arrangements. Move closer only if they seem skeptical about what you're saying. Other attempts to seem "friendly" by moving closer are likely to be threatening. For instance, some interviewers deliberately "interrogate" applicants by sitting or standing closer than they prefer.

When emphasizing key points, project sincerity and confidence by leaning forward, maintaining eye contact and using expressive gestures. Leaning back and looking down may be interpreted as a lack of confidence.

How Do You Speak?
How you say something often is more meaningful than what you say. Use a natural tone and don't deviate from your normal speaking rate, volume, rhythm, pitch, breathiness or resonance. Secure applicants have relaxed, warm and well-modulated voices that match their feelings, allowing them to appropriately express excitement, enthusiasm and interest during conversations.

Conversely, insecure candidates can't control their voice pitch and volume. They have weak, soft, hesitant or tremulous voices, and clear their throats, use "uhs" and "ums" or other nervous mannerisms excessively. Others mask their insecurity by speaking in complex, involved sentences.

Maintain Eye Contact
Candidates with secure self-esteem alter their facial expressions to match their message, rather than perpetually wearing the same one. They smile when saying something friendly, and maintain good eye contact, which signifies openness and honesty.

Less-assured candidates don't maintain eye contact, act shy or ashamed or smile at inappropriate times. They may appear downcast or pleading, or drop their eyes and heads, giving them an untrustworthy appearance.

Be cognizant of interviewers' expressions as well. If they don't maintain eye contact, it may mean they're anxious, irritated, disinterested or that they want the conversation to end. An interviewer who looks up may be uncomfortable, trying to remember something or doesn't believe your answer.

Don't overdo eye contact with interviewers, however. A gaze that lasts longer than seven to 10 seconds can cause discomfort or anxiety. Also, don't stare at interviewers during long silences, since it only increases the tension.

Posture and Gestures
Even if you're motionless, your posture communicates a message. Managers who put their feet up on desks and their hands behind their heads are saying that they feel confident, dominant or superior, a soldier standing at attention is showing deference to authority and a subordinate who stands rigidly with hands on hips signals defiance or dislike.

Confident applicants have relaxed, balanced postures. They hold their bodies upright, walk freely with their arms swinging and take determined strides. Less-assured candidates, on the other hand, have rigid or stooped postures, drag or shuffle their feet when walking and take short, choppy strides.

Strive for posture that's as free and natural as your speaking style, but don't be too controlled or rehearsed, says Ms. Vega, who advises applicants to "let some of the passion out." When your movements are in sync with your words, you'll seem confident, expressive and controlled.

Reading Interviewers
Hiring managers also use gestures to convey specific messages. Nodding signifies approval and encourages applicants to continue talking, while leaning forward shows they're interested. Folded arms, crossed legs, picking imaginary lint from clothing or running their fingers along their noses are signs that an interviewer disagrees with you. Thumb twiddling, finger drumming and other fidgeting mannerisms mean the interviewer isn't paying attention.

Guard against using similar gestures or betraying your nervousness by clenching or wringing your hands. Other actions that convey stress include holding your legs or arms tensely, perching on the edge of a chair or playing with a watch or ring.

One caveat: Don't imagine a hidden meaning in every gesture. For example, if an interviewer rubs her nose while you're speaking, she may just have an itchy nose. Try to gauge the situation when seeking the meaning to a mannerism. Most experts look for clues in groups of gestures, not random ones.

Nevertheless, communicating the right nonverbal signals can help you convey an enthusiastic, positive and confident attitude during job interviews. And learning to read interviewers' cues can improve your prospects as well.

2004-01-30T07:22:00.000-06:00

Topic: "The Gadgets of Networking"

From GHM - Event is in Chicago (Oak Park) Feb 5th

Presented by David C. Cyl and Bryan Thalhammer

Thursday, February 5th:

You all may be aware of reasons to network, but are you up to speed on the "props" you can use to enhance your networking experience? For example, you know you should have a winning attitude, wear appropriate and presentable clothing, and have fresh copies of your resumes. But do you know the basics about name tags, handbills, text resumes, elevator speeches, voice mail and, not least, the technology behind it all? We can help you learn about all these things at OPEx.

MCC New Spirit Church of Oak Park
Corner of S. Scoville Ave. and Adams Street
Oak Park IL 60302
6:50 pm - 9:00 pm (we can leave earlier!)
Call Rebecca for more information: 708. 524. 1940

We can answer questions such as: What tools do I use to create those props, to communicate on the web or via phone, and to keep track of my contacts? Where do I go to get them? What do other people use? OK, so what is the BEST? Our two experts will acquaint you with the basics you need to know about each gadget. Afterwards, in a question-and-answer period, we will help you find out more about the gadgets so you can be an expert in your own right. Here are some of the "gadgets" we will be examining.

Engaging "elevator speech" scripts

Great but cheap business cards

Professional name tags/lanyards

Outstanding handbills

Converting resumes to text-format

Cell phones, PDAs, voice mail...

Inviting voice-mail messages

Handy fax/scan/copy machines

Expert use of Yahoo! Groups

Email

Chat

File-sharing

Calendar, Database...

Easy Websites, online portfolios

And many more...Attendance is Free!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

2004-01-30T07:16:00.000-06:00

Elevator Pitch

Deliver an Effective Elevator Speech
By Anthony Cocco

We are all familiar with elevator music, that calm, soothing music that plays in the background while you are swiftly ushered from floor to floor. Aptly designated, the elevator speech was so named as a tool to use these brief moments of time most productively. That beckons the question, "what is an elevator speech?" First, nomenclature aside, an elevator speech can be used anywhere, not just elevators. It is a very short (usually 30 seconds or less), straight-to-the-point summary of who you are, and what you do. Its script is robotic- it's delivery hard to forget.

Who needs an elevator speech and how is it used? Most commonly used by sales professionals, elevator speeches are becoming a routine part of life for the job seeker, businessman, consultant, or anyone who has a product or message that needs to be delivered. It is your own, personal, 30-second, commercial. An elevator speech gives the user a pre-rehearsed technique to use during each moment of personal contact, and make this time a valuable, and memorable, one.

The challenge is to find out more about who you are, what you truly want to do, and how to control the process that enables you to achieve your goals.

Let's take a moment to examine the essence of an elevator speech so that you can create your own, rehearse it, and use it on a daily basis. First, let me list the components of a 30 second elevator speech:

1. Your Name

2. An “I Am/I Do” Statement

3. A “How I do/Why I Am Different” Statement

4. A “Close” and “Deliverable”

The first thing you need people to know when you meet is your name. As such, it is a critical first component of an elevator speech. It’s not only your name that is important, but also how you say it. It should be clear, audible, and delivered with enthusiasm. If your name is declared properly, the rest of what you have to say will flow from there.

Next, you need to follow your name with an “I Am/I Do” statement. This is a brief, straight-to-the-point statement indicating what you do, how you do it, and what makes you different. This is the meat of the elevator speech and it is what separates you from the crowd. If the purpose of the speech is to sell a product, you mention that here. If it is to sell your own skills as a consultant, then clearly state what you do and how you do it. If the speech is for simple networking, you will want to outline what your talents, experience, and availability are.

The final element is the close. You must close with a bang and make a memorable connection, usually with a request and a deliverable. If you are selling a product, you can ask to deliver a demo, and possibly present a sample. If you are networking, you will want to request a meeting, or a referral, and deliver a business card. Once a question is out in the open, it beckons an answer, and a business card will help others remember you, your name, what you do, and your brief elevator speech.

Now, let’s put together a sample using the above formula. Here’s a nice one:

“Hello, my name is Mary Smith. I am a certified network engineer and I design, manage, and install computer networks for mid-sized companies. I am an independent consultant with a very low overhead, so I can beat most of my competitions pricing. Here is my card. Can you use my help?”

Now the same or similar can be used for a job seeker:

“Hello my name is Bill Friendly. I am a certified network engineer focusing on large companies and organizations. I am organized, thorough, and up-to-date on the latest technologies. Currently, I am unemployed and looking for a new opportunity. Do you know of anyone that can use my services? Here is my brief biography.”

When presented enthusiastically and believably, the elevator speech can be a great icebreaker at networking events, business get-togethers, sales meetings, conferences, and even in the old neighborhood. After all, a person never knows where the next great lead will come from.

2004-01-28T10:57:00.000-06:00

Recruiting Firms

Here is the info from Dennis Anderson:

The name of the agency is Search Team One and they have offices in
Goshen and Syracuse, IN. Tom had talked to Don Walker, Vice Pres./Gen Mgr
When I called the Goshen office on 1-20-04 I talked to Ron, who said that Don
was out of the office for the rest of the week, and that I could send my resume
and some general info about myself to him and Don. The Goshen ofc # 535-0003; Syracuse
ofc # 457-8543. Their business card indicates that they are affiliated with Top
Echelon. Their website

2004-01-25T15:16:00.000-06:00

Library Resources from GHM

Here are some recommended library resources from GHM

Perhaps the following will help GHM members.

If you are looking for contact information, some resources are:

Dun and Bradstreet Million Dollar Directory

InfoUSA Directories (there is one for every state)

Harris Directory

Manufacturers Directory (one for every state)

Services Directory (one for every state)

Directory of Corporate Affiliations

if you are looking for ad agencies, the Red Book

if you are looking for recruiters, the Directory of Executive Recruiters (lists them by specialty and alphabetically)

2004-01-24T08:43:00.000-06:00

Basic Internet Resources

The Job Hunters Bible is a great resource and starting point for PBJ members.

2004-01-24T08:39:00.000-06:00

Organizing E-Mail to Dodge Spam

We continually advise PBJ members NOT to use their permanent personal email such as myhome@aol.com on their job search, as it will be trashed with spam.

A good resource has been to create a web based email just for your job search. For example, myjobsearch@yahoo.com is web based (which means you can check your email at the library or any web browser connected to the internet) , and disposable.

However, as good as the filters are on Yahoo, you will soon get 15 emails and 50 spams per day, 20 of which will get through -- so you have 35 emails, 20 of which are still spam. Plus, you have no way to track or know where the person got your email.

A free site Incamail permits you to have a series of email addressess that you can use to freely distribute on resumes or assign to specific search firms or sites.

Incamail permits you to have up to 25 email addresses. If I picked a username of amcc49, I could set up

amcc49.hotjobs@incamail.com
amcc49.design_engineer@incamail.com
amcc49.sales_management@incamail.com
amcc49.ohio@incamail.com

When I log on to my main account at incamail.com, all of the responses will be sorted by folder, as shown in this example.

If one of the addresses becomes spam-bait - in other words a spammer gets amcc49.ohio@incamail.com and it starts to fill up, simply kill the folder, and create another address - maybe something like amcc49.ohio_leads@incamail.com . Then you can re-send your resume to those sites that had the old address

( I know you kept good records for followup ;)

2004-01-16T06:42:00.000-06:00

Part Time Opportunity

From GHM. One of their members is a new marketing director for a company in Northbrook -- and posted this

" So this marketing director is putting together an in-house call center and
here is the ad as appears in paper.

Professionals-in-transition / Retirees / College Students
Customer Service / Marketing Reps
Shifts M-Th-5PM-9PM; Sat. 8:30AM-12:30
Great opportunity w/growing 40+ yr Northbrook co.
Make calls to our existing client base.
Telemarketing & sales experience helpful.
Call Jeff Mann @ 847-729-7889. "

2004-01-15T09:27:00.000-06:00

GreyHair Management Interview Coaching

Here are some details on the GHM interview coaching -

ARE YOUR INTERVIEWING SKILLS UP TO SNUFF?

Gray Hair Management offers a one-on-one interview skills workshop for those in the Chicagoland area. If you are interested, please call Paul Rojeski at 847-940-2800 to find out about our service and schedule an appointment.

I called and found out the following details: The package is $350, and includes a review of your resume and a two hour session on videotape, with coaching and critique by Jack Hayden. There is also a package for follow on debrief after an interview with a real client after they have seen you perform in the basic two hour session.

2004-01-14T09:26:00.000-06:00

January Biz-Ness After Hours

Biz-Ness after hours for January will be held at The Weston Plaza, 2725 Cassopolis St. - Elkhart, IN. Mark your calendars for this event on January 20th from 5:30 - 7:30 P.M.

· Hors d'oeuvres
· Cocktails
· Door prizes

Come and enjoy a relaxing time and
be sure to bring a guest!

2004-01-06T06:37:00.000-06:00

Weatber Decision

PBJ meets at 8:00am Mondays, except for the Monday after Christmas or when PBJ falls on a National Holiday (such as July 4 ).

Snow Cancellation : PBJ will track with the weather decision of Elkhart City schools. If Elkhart City cancels or delays due to weather, PBJ is also cancelled.

2003-12-16T06:42:00.000-06:00

Brutal Words and some Options

Here is an article from GHM that has some frank talk about one man's viewpoint and some options.

As a professional recruiter for 37 years, he also has some tremendous tools at his site
http://www.jobbs.com/

How much e- mail did this recruiter get today ? Find out

Here is his message and thoughts for PBJ:

" It occurred to me that some of your guys need a reality check.. the
reality is that at 55, the likelihood of regaining a significant income stream EVER is in my opinion about 20%.. For each year that goes by in which that does not happen, the likelihood is reduced by another 20% of the total possibility.

In my opinion, the likelihood that anyone of 60 or more will achieve
that is close to zero! I know because I am in the trenches and just turned 61 myself, and have in technical recruiting and placement for more than 37 years.

It is indeed unfortunate that so many will take this personally and
respond that I might as well suggest that anyone who doesnt want to relocate to where the job is might as well slit his own throat , but having lived in Chicago myself, I think I have a feel for what passes for reality there!

I am not trying to rub salt in the wound, but trying to get your members
to open themselves up to some realities.. as well as give them benefit of some "creative options" which they may not have considered.

Any of them might

1. Become a landlord, buying distressed properties, fixing them up,
renting them out and then selling out in another 8 years or whenever the market deems prudent.

2. Opening a bed and breakfast, a day care center, or any other
service oriented business.

3. Promoting themselves as ' consultants' , being willing to travel
extensively, and generating their leads from surfing the net to find companies which themselves distressed, and either cannot or will not have the resources to acquire a permanent employee.

4. Getting together as a group FREQUENTLY to discuss options and
strategies, to accomplish option #3 as a group, taking adv of contacts for the group, but which may be known to only a few individuals.

5. Purchasing a business or a franchise. Contact any one of a number
of business brokers.

6. Purchasing a distressed business which is a sole proprietorship,
where the owner has become ill, died or unable to continue operating the business. This may require some broad cooperation with others who can 'fill in the blanks' with necessary talent to insure the successful continuous operation of the business, as well as (generally) some strong financial manager - controller with strong ties to venture capital or to financial institutions, where bridge loans may be obtained.

7. Developing their skills to the point where they can train persons, or businesses in the deep skills that they have spent decades developing and acquiring.

8. Realize that the world is not going to beat a path to their doors, but that they have to develop the communications and marketing skills to make their abilities, talents and presence known to their potential customers, or client prospects.

9. That the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and
that they should not expect to achieve miracles overnight.. that most will be required to have the patience and temperament to understand that they should try to extend the breadth of their 'future vision' and try to see themselves and where they might be 2, 5 and 10 years from today. Most failures have not planned to fail, they just failed to plan and work incrementally toward any longer term objectives.

10. Realize that their longer term success is their personal individual
responsibility, and will depend on the degree of their passion, their energy, naturally their health, and the quality and breadth of their vision, creativity, insight, their leadership qualities, and the ability to know their own shortcomings, their weaknesses and where to find the talent to bridge
those shortcomings.

best wishes.. bill griffin

William Griffin, Pres.
ALPHA SYSTEMS, Inc since Sept 1967
3325 Sweetwater Drive
Cumming, GA 30041-6641 Phone 770 887 8558
Site http://www.jobbs.com
Jobs http://www.jobbs.com/topjobs.html

2003-12-13T19:38:00.000-06:00

Laveta Randall a Potential Graduate !

Laveta Lee called with the great news that she will be starting in a temp to hire position with AM-SAFE - manufactuers of seatbelts for vans, RV and airplanes.

------She sent this along to the PBJ crew and extends best wishes to PBJ:

Andy,
I have some thoughts I wish you would pass on to PBJ from me.

I heard about a single missionary lady who was serving in a part of Africa formerly know as the Belgin Congo. It was shortly before Africa was divided into the countries it is now. The mission compound was invaded by a tribe who took the women from the compound, beat and raped them. This woman was trying to come to an understanding of why this had happened to her. One evening it was as though God said to her, "Can you thank Me for trusting you with this experience, even if I never tell you why?"
My challenge to each of you in PBJ is, "Thank God for trusting you with the experience of being without a job?" "Thank God for pain in your life?" I know from experience that it is not easy, but I challenge you to do it.

Laveta Randall

2003-12-09T17:56:00.000-06:00

Business Week Article - Employer's perspective.

Andy,

I stumbled across this segment of the "Business Week " magazine website.

It is geared towards advising the potential employer. However, when looked at from the applicant's point of view, there is some very interesting material here.

Gary Newman

Business Week Online: Small Business

2003-12-09T06:42:00.000-06:00

First Presbyterian in Evanston

[For those in the Chicago area.]

In the interest of better networking, I am sending the Agenda of
this Thursdays, (12/11) ENG meeting. ENG is the Executive Networking Group
of Chicago (www.engchgo.org). We are a group of ~500+ mid to upper level
managers whose salary history exceeds $75,000. Therefore, you will have the
opportunity to meet persons that very well can help you in your search. The
program promises to be one of the most informative, stimulating, and
challenging yet.

You are invited and encouraged to forward this information to your members
in the interest of better networking. We welcome the prospect of sharing
your announcements.

Thank you,

Karl Randall
902 Pleasant Ave
Highland Park, IL 60035
847-266-7662
karl_randall@alum.wvu.edu

EXECUTIVE NETWORK GROUP of GREATER CHICAGO, INC.

Please refer to the website to know what to bring, expect, & location.

www.engchgo.org
Schedule: Pre-Meetings, General, and Breakout Meetings

Meetings Facilitator(s) Room Times

PRE-MEETINGS:

PCs and your job search
Word Q&A Tom Francis 213 11:00am - 1:00pm

Entrepreneurial Michael Lapinski 21 12:00pm - 1:00pm

Healthcare George Phillips 103 12:00pm - 1:00pm

International Mark Wineberg 206 11:00am – 1:00pm

Open Networking All Main DR 12:00pm - 1:15pm

Orientation Karl Randall/Christine Graf

Matt Clenott/Steve Stern Parlor 12:30pm - 1:00pm

SPEAKER* Success Panel Main DR 1:30pm - 2:30pm

BREAKOUT MEETINGS (Cross- Functional)

Steve Shaw

Kelly Kurschner Rm. 21 2:30pm - 4:30pm

Pam Pound Parlor 2:30pm - 4:30pm

Matt Clenott

Steve Stern Main DR (East) 2:30pm - 4:30pm

Helena Stelnicki

Mark Weinberg

Sue Cibelli 206 2:30pm - 4:30pm

Bob Cannon 213 2:30pm - 4:30pm

Ron Mack 103 2:30pm - 4:30pm

Diane Tuchman

RECEPTION AREA:

Current Members Karen Daugerdas/Tom Walsh 10:45am-1:25pm

New Members/Visitors Bud Henryson/Tom Kennedy/Christine Graf 10:45am-3:30pm

*GUEST SPEAKER: Wealth of Knowledge Success Panel will be our speakers this meeting. These are members who have landed and are returning to share their insights and skills to benefit us all.

Come and learn the stories of Gary Anderson, Judith Gethner, Susanne Neal RN, John Orfe, Bob Podgorski. They will share how they landed, what they learned, and advice of what did & didn’t work.

There will be Holiday prize drawing (six prizes-drawn from business card kitty)) for all in attendance.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

2003-12-09T06:39:00.000-06:00

Job Hunting in December Is a Great Strategy
Courtesy of GHM newsletter

By Sinara Stull O'Donnell

The holiday season isn't relaxed for corporate recruiters or
headhunters. In fact, the heat is on in December for many of them.

While working as an in-house recruiter for a major food manufacturer one
year, I made a pact with my husband to be home on Christmas Eve by 7
p.m. We lived in Los Angeles and its infamous traffic problems made us somewhat indulgent about the exact time. Still, I didn't make it until nearly 9:30 p.m. I was late because that morning, a hiring manager at my company selected a finalist for an opening. I was supposed to make the offer and complete all the paperwork before the manager left for a week's vacation. I negotiated back and forth all day and finished the offer only at about the time my husband was rolling into our driveway. The paperwork done at 8:30 p.m., I headed for Casa O'Donnell.

I'm not recounting this tale to portray myself as a martyr, although all sympathy is welcome. My Christmas Eve story is no different from many
other recruiters'.

Positions close in December for lots of reasons, including:
Executive recruiters' commissions go up as the year progresses. They
receive more from their companies on deals that close at the end of the year
because they're paid on rising commission payout plans (their payout rises as
their gross revenues rise).

Internal recruiters may feel pressure for budgetary reasons. "Hire
him/her now. I may not have the funds in January."

Many sales organizations have kick-off meetings in January and want to
include new hires.

Psychologically, recruiters want to tie up loose ends, such as
unfulfilled job orders.

Yet job hunters often blow off the holidays because they view it as a
dead hiring period. Nothing is further from the truth.

When calling job applicants in December, I've often heard: "I can't
believe you called me this time of year." This doesn't make sense, since
recruiters work a full month, except for the few days they take off around
Christmas and New Year's. In some cases, candidates resist coming for interviews in December. I've heard all kinds of excuses. Some are legitimate: "I'm flying out of town that day." Many were silly: "We're going to a party that night and, with the traffic, I don't think I had better drive in for an interview in the afternoon."

I felt like screaming, "Do you want the job or not?"

We made an effort to be flexible with applicants. We sometimes
interviewed them by phone while they were away skiing or visiting family.
Occasionally, we'd pay to fly a candidate to and from a vacation spot to interview.

Because of my recruiting background, I'm often sought out at gatherings
for job-search advice. This time of year, the conversation typically starts
with: "Well, I know it's dead in December, so I thought I'd hit it hard after
the first of the year."

"Where did you get the idea it's dead in December?" I ask.

"Oh, it's common knowledge, and there aren't as many ads in the paper."

This common knowledge is a misconception. As for the ads, they may
dwindle after Dec. 15, but that doesn't mean you should stop all job-search
activity.

Many recruiting firms and most corporations list jobs online. Most
provide the chance to apply online, and the last two weeks of December are a
great time for this. It's also a good opportunity to do research, send targeted
letters and network. You'll have laid the groundwork to get off to a good start
in the new year.

You might even get a recruiter on the phone. While working for a search
firm, I was holding the fort alone in our small office after Christmas. The
candidate who phoned the office was surprised when I picked up. "Oh, I
thought I'd get a machine," he said.

"Oh? How can help you?"

"Do you want me to call back when the office is open?"
"It is open."

"Are you one of the recruiters?"

After several more exchanges, I convinced him we were open for business
between Christmas and New Year's. His disbelief reinforced my conviction
that job seekers assume they get a pass to relax the last week in December.
Corporate offices don't shut down, either. As an employee, I've often
seen activity increase markedly at the end of December. Perhaps we had too
much sugar from the cookies and candies in the office, or maybe we had too-urgent deadlines, but there was a definite rush on to hire people.

Savvy candidates can take advantage of this urgency. They must be
flexible enough to drop the wrapping paper for spur-of-the-moment interviews.
Remember, job requisitions are sent to corporate staffing offices regardless of
the date.

Unemployment may be high, but companies are still hiring and recruiters
are still recruiting. December is just the last month of the year.

-- Ms. O'Donnell is the principal of Sinara Speaks, a professional-speaking firm in Springfield, Mo., specializing in career issues and humor in the workplace.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Stolen from Crain’s Chicago Business.]

2003-12-05T06:47:00.000-06:00

Interview Skills Workshop

ARE YOUR INTERVIEW SKILLS SHARP ENOUGH?

Gray Hair Management offers a one-on-one interview skills workshop for those in the Chicagoland area. If you are interested, please call Paul Rojeski at 847-940-2800 to find out about our service and schedule an appointment

2003-12-05T06:46:00.000-06:00

Free resume review in Schaumburg

Church of the Holy Spirit is hosting a Resume Review Open House where individuals can come for free one-on-one consultation on how to make their resume more powerful. Everyone is welcome to this open house event.

Where: Church of the Holy Spirit
1451 West Bode Road
Schaumburg, IL. 60194
(847) 882-7580

When: Saturday Morning December 6, 2003
9:00 AM to Noon
Hospitality Room in the church.

Details:

There will be seven HR Professionals ready to confidentially review your resume with you. No appointment is necessary. Just show up between 9:00 AM and Noon this Saturday morning with your resume and your questions. There will be coffee, donuts and plenty of time for networking and fellowship.

Sponsored By: St. Hubert's Job & Networking Ministry.

2003-12-05T06:43:00.000-06:00

GrayHairManagement

PBJ members are reminded to regularly check the GHM site for news and events. Although the one time fee is $70 for membership, this is an extremely active group that has excellent results for areas outside of Michiana

From GHM's Scott Kane

"Other tidbits of information and networking events for our GHM subscribers. As a service to our members, we have placed some information regarding the job search and those services that profess to help the job searcher. You can find this information on our website, www.grayhairmanagement.com, click on Link, and then on Other Information."

2003-11-28T15:19:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone: Just wanted to wish you all a good holiday season. Hang in there! There is something out there for you! None of my local options have worked out--- so I am in Ottawa, Illinois at GE Plastics. I'm still looking at other possibilities and have another possibility going down near Bloomington. At least it would be back in Indiana. Take Care and Best Wishes!
Jim Heim

2003-11-25T08:46:00.000-06:00

Resume Workshop

Opportunity from the Chicago list:

Wednesday, December 3rd at 7:00 p.m. - a FREE seminar held at Wild Oats Community Room in Hinsdale. 500 W. Ogden Ave at the 294 exit.

The topic is Writing an Effective Resume, and Interview Skills.
There will be a complimentary resume review for all attendees, so bring a copy of your resume.

Space is limited so register by calling (630) 836-9910.
If you can't attend, share this with someone who can!

Lauren Milligan
www.ResuMAYDAY.com

2003-11-25T06:54:00.000-06:00

More Job Searching Resources

Another directory of sites of interest to job seekers.

If you find additional sites that would benefit others in PBJ, please paste them in (the exact url , such as

http://www.dmoz.org/Business/Employment/Careers/Changing_Careers/

from the one above), and I will edit it into a nicer looking link.

To copy the link,

2003-11-17T13:34:00.000-06:00

Duh!

Recently, ResumeDoctor.com studied over 10,000 resumes from a diverse set of industries. The study looked at the actual document file names of the
resumes, in order to determine common document-naming conventions.

ResumeDoctor.com found that 54.6% of the document file names do not contain the job seeker's name. 23.7% were named some minor variation of
"Resume.doc."

Brad Fredericks, of ResumeDoctor.com, explains, "Recruiters can sometimes
receive 500 resumes per on-line job posting. Imagine trying to sift through
all of these resumes when over 100 are named 'resume.doc.' It's like
looking in a cupboard full of soup cans with their labels torn off."

Many recruiters indicate that they spend a lot of time re-naming resume
filenames. Thomas Alascio, a Senior Consultant with Peterson Consulting
Group in Vero Beach, Florida, says that every time a job seeker sends a
resume, "...when you go to save it, you have to rename it. In a perfect
world, when someone sends a resume it would be nice if it was named 'John
Smith resume.doc.'"

2003-11-12T06:46:00.000-06:00

Eight Steps to Networking Success

Courtesy of Breakfast Networking Club in Chicago

By Joe Marzano

Networking is a widely used marketing technique for advancing in
business and career. Even so, people often feel uncomfortable and
even fearful during a networking experience, and many networking
opportunities fail to produce desired results.

Like learning a new dance step, I have found that effective
networking takes desire, technique and practice. As an executive
coach who helps people develop new performance strategies and
behaviors, I believe networking time will be productive and fun if
you follow these eight guidelines:

Think positively and smile. If you are happy it will be evident, so
focus on how you will feel by finding a new friend, customer,
employer, employee, investor or partner

Know your goal. Be clear about what you want from each event and
interaction. Decide how many new people you will meet, which
specific prospects you will talk with, and what outcomes you desire
from each interaction.

Have a message strategy. In meeting people you need to make a
connection, determine their interests, and establish rapport before
delivering your branding statement. This is true whether you are
meeting for personal, professional or business reasons. Remember
that people choose to be with (do business with and hire) people
they like. Learn about them before responding with your carefully
prepared, sincere description of your value.

Manage your time. You can talk with existing friends any time, so
treat a networking event as your (and their) opportunity to discover
new relationships. Acknowledge your friends and then devote time to
being with people you do not already know. Find time in food or
beverage lines to meet new people, engaging in conversation when the
opportunity arises.

Hold the sales pitch. If you meet someone interesting who seems
interested in you, exchange cards and agree to talk in depth after
the event. Networking time is for meeting new people, not for long-
winded sales presentations or stories about your personal crises.

Be respectful. Refrain from speaking during official program
announcements or presentations, and turn off any cell phones or
beepers before you arrive.

Make it a team activity. Invite others from your organization to
join you at the event to maximize coverage, especially with large
audiences. They will appreciate meeting people, too.

Get involved. Volunteer to sponsor or help organize an event if
appropriate. You gain added opportunity to showcase your business
and develop connections with people.

Networking events can be fun and a great investment in time, with
the right attitude, technique and coaching feedback on the right
steps. Learn the networking dance, and discover the joy of being a
willing participant in your future success.

2003-11-12T06:44:00.000-06:00

GHM Health Insurance

If you’re in need of health insurance, or your Cobra is too expensive check out the Gray Hair Management Affinity Health Plan.

http://www.grayhairmanagement.com/grayhair/blind.asp

You may need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the document. Get it free by clicking here.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

2003-11-12T06:39:00.000-06:00

Pay It Forward Networking in Chicago Suburbs

WHAT: The "Pay-It-FORWARD Networking Group"

WHO: From those in routine jobs to Executive positions in any industry that are: un-employed, under-employed and businesses needing people to

hire, or help to grow their businesses.

WHEN: November 18th, Tuesday, 7:00pm - 9:00pm (Third Tuesday of each month)

WHERE: Immanuel Lutheran Church - 200 N Plum Grove Rd Palatine, IL 60067-5233

http://www.mapquest.com , or you can also visit Immanuel's web site @ http://www.ilcp.org
Use west entrance of school & church by sign and flags. Enter through doors and stay to the left to 1st large room on the left -

Fellowship Hall.

DRESS: Business Casual

COST: Free

BRING: Resume, Networking Brief (Hand-Bill), Business Cards, along with a smile and a genuine interest to help others.

The "Pay-It-FORWARD Networking Group", is designed to bring together surrounding community leaders and professionals to help each other.

We foster a pay-it-forward attitude; with an interest in expanding everyone's network of contacts and actually helping them. In order to get employed, or stay employed in this economy, it's very important that you ALWAYS stay c-o-n-n-e-c-t-e-d. Many people find that when acts of kindness are focused to benefit others, it can turn out to be reciprocal to those that give.

For more information contact the founding member David Krull via E-mail davidckrull@aol.com or 708-686-7180 Mobile

2003-11-05T10:05:00.000-06:00

PBJ needs some Admin Help

In June of 2002, we conducted a survey of all previous PBJ attendees (from January 2001) to try to improve the program. Here are the results from that survey.

I think that we've had a lot of progress over the past 18 months in our PBJ program, and would also benefit from the feedback and suggestions of those who might respond to a new survey.

I need a volunteer to gather the email addresses from the attendance sheet records since June 2002 and put them into an Excel file so we can create a new survey and see if there are suggestions that can come from the group of attendees (and graduates !) that have joined us

Please let me know if you'd be able to help in the task.

2003-11-04T19:16:00.000-06:00

Salary Calculator

We had a question about comparative salaries a few weeks ago: Here is the link to the one at Salary.com

2003-11-04T13:52:00.000-06:00

How to Craft an Effective Elevator Speech

. The idea of an “elevator speech” is to have a prepared presentation that grabs attention and says a lot in a few words. What are you going to be saying? By telling your core message, you will be marketing yourself and/or your business, but in a way that rather than putting people off will make them want to know more about you and your business.

Here are two resources:

What is an Elevator Speech

and

A Worksheet for building an Elevator Speech

This is all a part of the general topic of building Business Stories with this Story Framework

2003-10-31T07:36:00.000-06:00

Franchise Showcase

Here is a message concerning a Chicago Area Franchise Fair.

If you are at all interested in any sort of franchise opportunity, you might want to consider attending this event.

Three-out-of-four American adults say it is their dream to be financially self-sufficient, but barely five percent ever get there. We at The Entrepreneur??s Source have helped thousands of people just like you discover new career options. We would like to show you just one way we can help set your career on the right path by inviting you to The Entrepreneur's Source Chicago Area Franchise Showcase. In just three-hours the Franchise Showcase will present you with a variety of business opportunities as well as have an "Open Expo" where you are invited to visit one-on-one with franchisors from many industries. You are also welcome to attend a special seminar, Exploring Self-Employment as a Career Option. Best of all, the Franchise Showcase is absolutely free and there is no obligation. You can??t lose!

Attend any one of four Chicago Area Franchise Showcases:

Monday, November 10, 2003

2:00-5:00 PM and 6:00-9:00 PM

Oakbrook Wyndham Drake Hotel

2301 York Rd. (intersection of York Rd. and 22nd St.)

Oakbrook, Illinois

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

2:00-5:00 PM and 6:00-9:00 PM

Sheraton Chicago Northwest Hotel

3400 West Euclid Ave. (1 block East of Hwy 53)

Arlington Heights, Illinois

Contact us with questions:

Fred and Sybil Ege
The Entrepreneur's Source
630-365-1530
FoxValleyESource@earthlink.net

2003-10-28T07:04:00.000-06:00

Contact Rot

Just like a fine watermelon sitting on your kitchen table, that list of email addresses for your friends and business contacts that you have in your ACT database or Outlook/Outlook express is decaying as the days go by.

A program called GoodContacts is $50/year - it is a service for MS Outlook or MS Outlook express that will continuously go through your email address book and verify that the contact emails are still valid - and if not ,gives you an excuse to contact that person by phone and insure that they are still in your circle of potential networkers to help you in your search.

Note : There is a 14 day Free Trial of the product

From the product description:" GoodContacts Solo for Outlook lets you send "Keep-in-Touch?" emails to people in your contact list. The information you have for each contact is inserted into a customizable email template. When your contacts receive the email, they can confirm or update their contact information and return it to you. GoodContacts Professional automatically detects, authenticates and processes the update emails directly into Outlook."

There is a ACT Database version of the product as well.

2003-10-28T06:53:00.000-06:00

Phone/In-Person

The P/IP score for this week is 4.95, meaning that on average, each PBJ member has personally talked with a human in the job search almost one per day for the work week. If you are below average - strive to make the number of calls that you need to hit 5 this week. If you are above the average - keep up the good work and inspire others. If you are right on the PBJ average .... why do you want to do that ? You are in competition with other candidates: can you afford average effort ?

2003-10-19T14:27:00.000-05:00

Bogus Patch Info on GHM List

If you are a subscriber to the Grey Hair Management list, you are probably receiving emails , supposedly from Microsoft, titled "Install this Patch Immediately". This is totally false, as Microsoft will NEVER send out such material by email, rather instead will use the Windows Update process in Windows XP.

If you receive such a message, just delete. They re-circulate and often will on second or third pass be from someone else in your address book .

Simply put, do not click on attachments and even if you receive an attachement (ostensibly from someone you know) give them a call or send a separate email just to confirm that they did in fact send something along to you.

2003-10-16T09:36:00.000-05:00

Small Business Seminar

Financing Your Small Business

Have you ever wanted to start or grow your small business but didn't know how to go about getting the financing?

Have you ever asked yourself questions like:

ü Can I afford a loan?

ü What kinds of things does a lender look at when reviewing my credit request?

ü What if my credit history is poor?

ü What if I declared bankruptcy a few years ago?

ü What should I expect of my lender?

ü Are there really programs out there for me?

ü What if I am not approved for a loan? Are there other options?

ü If I don’t make a payment, will they take my house? My car?

ü Just exactly what is included in a personal financial statement? Why do I need one?

ü What happens once my loan application is submitted?

J

oin us at the Small Business Development Center, 401 E. Colfax Ave., Suite 120, South Bend, IN, for an interactive panel discussion on Thursday, October 30, 2003 from 6-8pm to learn the answers to all the questions you have – and more! The cost of the seminar is $20 for pre-paid participants, $25 at the door. Call 574.282.4350, ext. 0 to pre-register, Visa and MasterCard accepted.

We are sending this information to you because you have requested it, or we believe you may be interested in this program. If you no longer wish to receive such information please e-mail me at lguzowski@southbendbcg.com.

Lisa Guzowski
Small Business Development Center
401 East Colfax Ave., Suite 120
South Bend IN 46617
574.282.4350, ext. 9

2003-10-14T20:29:00.000-05:00

Google Search Secrets and a Great Reference Site

There are more than 3 billion pages indexed at Google. A recent tutorial 20 Great Google Secrets shows how to expand the usefulness of Google.

Another great site is Reference Desk that can serve as a central point to begin searches.

2003-10-08T18:47:00.000-05:00

From Crains Business in Chicago : Warning to jobseekers: scams abound
Madigan sues local career consultants for fraud

By Kelly Quigley

Attorney General Lisa Madigan is accusing three Chicago-area career consulting offices of consumer fraud, alleging they tricked clients into paying hefty job placement fees and didn't deliver on promised employment.
The suit comes at a time when some 438,000 people in Illinois are out of work, pushing the state's unemployment rate to 6.8%—its highest level since October 2002. The job deficit is spurring a rise in scams aimed at taking advantage of the desperate.

“In a slow economy like ours, people out of work are highly hopeful, and highly susceptible, to claims that a high-paying job is available,” Ms. Madigan said in a statement.

The attorney general filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court, naming New Jersey-based Career Management Inc. and California-based DRB Ltd., two companies that do business as Bernard Haldane Associates in Illinois. Ms. Madigan’s action comes after her office received 30 complaints from former clients who say they were scammed.

Under an arrangement similar to a franchise agreement, Career Management owns Bernard Haldane offices in Chicago, Oakbrook Terrace and Rolling Meadows. DRB develops career-placement programs for Bernard Haldane offices in the U.S.

Broken promises

Ms. Madigan alleges the Bernard Haldane offices promised to put clients in touch with a “secret job market” and built up their hopes for employment—then asked for money before producing results. The career consulting companies allegedly created a financial profile of each applicant and charged fees ranging from $3,500 to $12,500 depending on the client's liquid assets.

Bernard Haldane advised clients not to conduct their own job search, further diminishing their chances of finding employment, according to Ms. Madigan. And Bernard Haldane employees performed psychological exams—again for a fee—even though there was no one qualified to analyze the results.

The companies “inexcusably and illegally took advantage of its hard-working clients,” the attorney general said.

Calls to Bernard Haldane’s local offices were referred to a corporate spokeswoman, who declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Reading from a prepared statement, she said: “Bernard Haldane has successfully helped thousands of clients during its more than 20 years in Chicago. We remain committed to assisting every client in achieving their career goals.”

Career Consulting and DRB face consumer fraud charges, penalties of $50,000 for each violation and unspecified restitution to the victims. Senior Assistant Attorney General Harvey Levin in the Chicago Consumer Fraud Bureau is handling the case. A status hearing is set for Oct. 17.

Increase in scams

A spokeswoman for Ms. Madigan said the state has seen an increase of job-opportunity scams during the weak economy. In July the attorney general filed suits in Cook County against two companies that allegedly lured customers into investing thousands of dollars or selling products by promising large financial returns or managerial jobs that didn’t exist. Once case involved sales of gourmet coffee and the other perfume.

“These suits highlight how people who very much want to work can be taken advantage of by con artists during tough economic times,” Ms. Madigan said.

2003-10-07T16:49:00.000-05:00

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, October 14, 2003 - Biz-Ness EXPO from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Elkhart General Eduction Center (next to Lowe's and behind Applebee's between Elkhart and Goshen). Characters from your favorite movies will be there spotlighting participating businesses and greeting networking business persons. Dorothy and Toto agree, "There's no place like the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce" or its Biz-Ness After EXPO at MFB Financial on US 33. You are invited to stop by after the EXPO for refreshments from 5:30 to 7:30.

2003-09-30T19:17:00.000-05:00

Alternatives to Google for Company Research

It is hard to beat Google as the best all round search engine. However, for specific company research or for a specific industry, you might give Teoma a try.

Here is a description from Teoma about what makes their search engine different:

Instead of ranking results based upon the sites with the most links leading to them, Teoma analyzes the Web as it is organically organized—in naturally-occurring communities that are about or related to the same subject—to determine which sites are most relevant. Teoma is the only search technology that can locate communities on the Web within their specific subject areas, as they actually exist. And this allows us to finely tune our search process, providing more precise results.

To determine the authority—and thus the overall quality and relevance—of a site's content, Teoma uses Subject-Specific PopularitySM. Subject-Specific Popularity ranks a site based on the number of same-subject pages that reference it, not just general popularity. In a recent test performed by respected industry publication Search Engine Watch, Teoma's relevance grade was raised to an "A" following the integration of Teoma 2.0.

To better understand why taking this extra step is so crucial in delivering highly-relevant results, picture yourself in your garage, in front of the opened hood of your severely out-of-commission pick-up truck. You need help with this major repair, and you can either ask your uncle, who owns two cars but has never held a wrench in his life and happens to be visiting (similar to using other leading search technologies) or you could phone your best friend, who has a degree in applied mechanics and builds automobiles from the ground up in his spare time (similar to Subject-Specific Popularity). The choice is quite clear

2003-09-30T17:09:00.000-05:00

Jim - Thanks for the update. Hope you have a good week.

2003-09-23T19:31:00.000-05:00

9/23/03

I will not be attending our next meeting on 9/29. Ann has an interview in Omaha on 9/26.

Jim W.

2003-09-19T07:31:00.000-05:00

Ashley Faloon

Ashley Falloon has had a very serious setback. She was in great shape Tuesday night at 11:30pm, talking with Anne Marie and looking forward to the day as she had been scheduled for Pysical Therapy Wednesday morning 9/17.

Sometime after 3:30am 9/17, Ashley went into a severe diabetic shock and was found in a coma Wednesday morning. She suffered several brain seizures in the coma Wednesday morning and was moved to the ICU, where her care continues. Immediate and ongoing efforts to stabilize her have been successful, but there is no indication when or if she will recover from the coma. Medication has successfully stopped the seizures, but there may be additional brain damage as a result.

This sort of coma peaks at about 72 hours as the brain swells, and then there is a window about 72 hours after that time before anything can be done to see if she can be revived and assess the damage.

Please include Mick and his family in your prayers again, for Ashley's recovery and their strength during this ordeal.

2003-09-16T15:03:00.000-05:00

Phone and In/Person

Great improvement this week - the PIP was just slightly over 5.5 calls per PBJ member !

2003-09-13T16:51:00.000-05:00

MIck Faloon Update

Great news - off catheter, small trach installed but Ashley can talk ! She is doing really well - and is out of the ICU.

Mental attutude is really good - she will be in a neck brace for three months - not a halo, but a plastic and foam neck brace (like a whiplash brace). Biggest concern is that she cannot sit in a chair or stand because it will place too much strain on the pelvis as it heals.

Blood contributions are still appreciated to help "pay forward" the efforts from the ER. It took about 25 units of blood to save Ashley's life, and it is needed to replenish their supply. For 36 hours, Ashley was hanging by a thread, and the family is now learning that her survival is absolutely miraculous. (see the Elkhart Truth article in Saturday's paper).

2003-09-10T19:17:00.000-05:00

e-prairie "Midwest Technology Site"

E-Prairie is a news and web site for Technology in the midwest region - covering the area from Ohio to Minnesota in addition to the Chicago region. There is an extensive list of Headhunters there is a bulletin board system, as well as a directory of various Chicagoland events for networking or training (User group meetings, Lunch/Learn events)

2003-09-10T18:58:00.000-05:00

Google Searching for Company Information

You are probably familiar with the regular Google search site - probably the best place to start for any search on the net.

There is a parallel Google site that monitors the news releases of major companies that you can either reach directly at Google Business News or by clicking on the NEWS tab at the right hand side of the query entry box.

Before you return a phone interview call, or as a part of your preparation for an in person interview, a quick look at the Google site maybe very helpful.

2003-09-09T07:43:00.000-05:00

PBJ Posting

Thanks to Fred Thompson and Jim Wieringa for posting questions and updates to the blog.

If you have material of general interest (in contrast to a job lead for one specific member), please post it to the blog -
not only will it save you email address typing, it captures the resource information that may help out someone that needs the lead months from now.

Let me know if you have questions on how to post material to the blog - or ask Fred or Jim or Pam - who have demonstrated their skills and can attest to the pain free process.

2003-09-09T07:38:00.000-05:00

Ashley Update

Mick Faloon brings an update on Ashley's progress - Slow but encouraging.

She is off the ventilator and it has been removed from the room. Ashley has a tracheotomy and so is not able to speak, but she was able to sit up in bed for a period of time.

If her progress continues, she will be able to be moved from the ICU by the end of this week.

2003-09-08T10:27:00.000-05:00

P/IP -- Phone or In Person

3.36 is the average PBJ member score this week.

One of the temptations of internet based job searching is to rely upon email resumes and job boards, and to put off the hardest part of the task - picking up the phone and calling a real, named human being to move the search forward.

As we discussed today, the telephone is an instrument of terror to all. Even the most senior and experienced sales person sometimes has trouble picking up the phone and calling a prospective client or following up on a deal that you suspect is not going well.

If you are at or below the PBJ average: See if you can set a personal goal to make one more phone call or in person contact this week that you did last week.

If you are above the PBJ average: See if you can keep up the good work and bring in one specific technique to share with the group next week on how you prepare for a phone call, and what your strategies are for avoiding "voice-mail jail" .

2003-09-07T14:22:00.000-05:00

Hi,
I just wanted to inform you that I have gotten a temporary job in another factory, but both Deb and I are still searching for the careers we want. We haven't graduated, but we just have a committment with the PB&J meeting time. Still keep us in your prayers

2003-09-04T19:49:00.000-05:00

More Information on Ashley Faloon

I just spoke with Mick tonight and todays report (Thursday evening) has slow improvement. Ashley is breathing on her own initiative but still with 10 lbs of positive assist. This enables her lungs to transition to full freedom from the respirator which should occur in the next few days.

Ashley is now working through jaundice, caused by some of the blood by-products that she received during the initial stages of her treatment. She continues to be unable to talk, as they now have a trachaetomy in place but it can be disconnected for short periods of time when she can whisper and speak slowly.

More details as I have them.

2003-09-03T14:47:00.000-05:00

Update on Ashley Faloon Condition

I had a call from Mick Faloon this afternoon - he is finally able to spend an hour or two in the office catching up on email and phone calls.

Ashley continues in the critical care unit, in stable condition. She is still on the respirator - an attempt yesterday (Tuesday) to pull her from that support did not go well, and she is back on the machine.

You can email Mick mfaloon(humans insert the at sign and spam robots get confused)sbcglobal(humans put a dot here)net.

They are discouraging visitors as only the immediate family is permitted in the room.

I plan to speak with Mick again this evening by phone.

2003-08-30T08:31:00.000-05:00

No PBJ Meeting on Labor Day

In response to Jim's question , we will not be meeting on Labor Day - Monday Sept 1st --

An update on Mick's daughter, Ashley:

She is in stable condition, and has shown a good deal of improvement in the past 24 hours. She has suffered incredible damage to just about every part of her body, and had her spleen and part of a lung removed. The CAT scans show brain bruises but not significant damage as best they can assess. Broken/cracked parts include skull, vertebrae, ribs, hips, and she is still on a ventilator but breathing on her own most of the time.

As of Friday, they estimate that she will be in the Critical Care unit for about three weeks.

2003-08-28T11:57:00.000-05:00

Mick Faloon's Daughter in Catastrophic Car Wreck

Ashley Faloon, the daughter of Mick Faloon, one of our PBJ graduates was in an extremely serious car accident the morning of August 27th on her way to Concord High School. She was hit from the side by a SUV on her driver side car door, and has extensive body and head injuries. She is in intensive care at Elkhart General - stable but extremely serious.

Please include the Faloon family in your prayers.

There will be some more specific needs for the family in the next few days.