Claire Walsh,Effortless Transitions,Career Corner

Assessments and Internet Resources
Career Articles
Resume Tips
Salary Research
Recommended Readings

Career Tips

Five Ineffective Ways to Look for a Job:

Using the Internet - 4 to 10% - That is, 4 out of 100 will find a job and 96 won't. The exception is when seeking a technical or computer-related job, an IT job, a job in engineering or possibly health care. The success rate here is around 10%
Mailing Resumes to Employers - 7% - That is, 93% of job hunters out of 100 will not get lucky with this method.
Answering Ads in Trade Journals - 7% - Same as above
Answering Local Newspaper Ads - 5 to 24% - That is, 76 to 95 job hunters will not be successful with this method.
Private Employment Agencies - 5 to 28% - That is 72 to 95 out of 100 job hunters will not be successful using this method.

Five Most Effective Ways to Hunt for a Job:

In a group with other job-hunters - 84% Effective. A kind of "job club" using the phone book's yellow pages to identify subjects or fields of interest to you in your area and then calling up the employers listed in that field to ask if they are hiring for the type of job you can do well.
Using the phone book's yellow pages - 69% Effective. Identify subjects of fields of interst to you in your area and then calling up the employers listed in that field to ask if they are hiring for the type of position you can do well.
Knocking on the door - 47% Effective. Knock on any employer, factory, or office that interests you, whether they are know to have a vacancy or not.
Asking for job leads - 33% Effective. Contact family members, friends, people in the community, staff at career centers such as local community college or the high school or college where you graduated.

Source: "What Color is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers" by Richard Nelson Bolles

Rules for Job Interviews

Go after small employers with 20 or less employees since they create 2/3 of all new jobs
Use the aid of friends and acquaintances, because a job-hunt requires eighty pairs of eyes and ears
Do thorough homework on an organization before going there, using informational interviews in addition to the library
Have your own agenda and your own questions and consider whether or not this job fits you.
Talk about yourself only if what you say offers some benefit to that organization and their "problems."
Answer questions within 20 seconds to 2 minutes at any one time.
Always write a thank-you note and mail it by the next day.

Source: Adapted from "What Color Is Your Parachute?" Richard Nelson Bolles

Assessments and Internet Resources

Assessment Tools on the Internet

Communication Style Profile
http://www.communicationu.com/103.html

America's CareerInfo Net
http://www.acinet.org/
Find wage and employment trends, occupational requirements, state-by-state labor market conditions, millions of employer contacts nationwide, and an extensive career resource library online.

JobHuntersBible.com (Richard Bolles)
http://www.jobhuntersbible.com

Rules for Conducting Informational Interviews

http://www.danenet.wicip.org/jets/jet-9407-p.html

John Holland's Self Directed-Search
http://www.self-directed-search.com
This is based on the theory that people and work environments can be classified into six basic types. The test which costs $8.95, determines which three types describe you. Whether you are looking for a college major, beginning a job search, or thinking about a career change, the SDS provides valuable career information.

The Keirsey Character Sorter
http://keirsey.com

Career Articles by Teena Rose

Teena Rose is a columnist, public speaker, and certified/published resume writer with Resume to Referral. She's authored several books, including 20-Minute Cover Letter Fixer, How to Design, Write and Compile a Quality Brag Book and Cracking the Code to Pharmaceutical Sales.

Resume Tips

Choosing the Resume Format for You

Chronological Resume

Most traditional and by far most common format
Lists work experience in reverse chronological sequence
Calls attention to your most recent career

Advantages

Gives employers what they are looking for-an easy to follow picture of your work experience.
They like it because it focuses on your current employment and what you are doing and accomplishing right now.

Disadvantages
It could lock you into a sequence that may not work to your benefit. It doesn't work in these circumstances:

You are making a career change
Your current position has no relationship to what you want to do
You have worked exclusively in one industry (high tech, utility, automotive) and now want to make a change
You are seeking an entry level position with little or no experience
Your employment has large gaps where you cannot account for time
You have been a job-hopper

When to Use

The position you are going after is in the field in which you have a solid and consistent record of progress
The strongest aspect of your work experience is reflected in your most recent position, and especially if you are currently employed at the same company
You have an unbroken employment record (no gaps)

Functional Resume

This style focuses on your skills, experience and accomplishments rather than the specific jobs you have had. It omits the jobs you've held and when you held them.

Advantage

It tends to focus away from your work experience (long periods of being out of work, for example, that might not get you through the initial screening process).

Disadvantages

Most employers view them with suspicion, as if you were hiding something.
Employers want to know where and when you demonstrated these skills. When you omit information regarding dates of certain jobs, the employer becomes more suspicious.

When to Use

You are an entry-level candidate with no prior work experience
You are reentering the workforce after a lengthy absence
You are applying for a job in which your qualifications if presented chronologically, would not support you as a strong candidate
You have held numerous jobs of which none are important

Transitional Resume

This is sometimes referred to as the chrono-functional resume because it combines features of both chronological and functional resume styles. It is rapidly becoming the resume of choice among many career counselors. It showcases your skills and accomplishments, but also provides the reader with a clear thumbnail view of your work history.

Advantage

It allows you to establish what you have achieved or accomplished in your career and what skills and attributes you can offer a potential employer, much like a functional resume. However, because you include a description of your work history, you eliminate the suspicion of trying to hide something.

When to Use

You are looking to change careers and want to highlight your general skills rather than specific skills that relate to past jobs.
You have no luck getting past the screening process with a chronological resume
You are applying for a position that interests you and you think you can handle, but the connection between your work history and the job is weak

Divide and Combine Resume

Susan Whitcomb writes about this new format in her book "Resume Magic".

This format is for individuals returning to a track they were on previously. You group your positions together. A person starting out in computer sales and then moving on to financial sales wanting to get back into computer sales can:

Divide the resume between the two industries
Combine your position statement
Keep your dates to the right so the reader concentrates on the experience.

Summary

Don't be afraid to experiment. What is right for one may not be right for another. The key is to convey your skills and capabilities, so make it right for you. And my personal opinion is that it's no so much about the resume as it is about the energy behind it. When your values and passion are reflected, the energy will jump off the page and the words will be less important.

Salary Research

Survey of salaries in individual occupations - www.bls.gov/oco
Most popular salary specific job site - www.salary.com
Free Salary Report for hundreds of job titles - www.salaryexpert.com