Job Search Favorite

Hello
I am Ann Poritzky and I am your guest blogger today.  One of  my favorite job search resources is Ned’s Job of the Week. Located at www.nedsjotw.com, Ned publishes lists of job openings from all over the world in business communications, hospitality, and defense.  You can subscribe to the list of your choice or visit the site and review the listings there.

Ned’s lists are in NO particular order. They are not arranged by geographical area or job type.  Plus, several funny or offbeat jobs are listed among the more serious ones.  Before Ned will include any job, submitters must confirm the job openings are real and provide some details about them.

Ned considers his weekly newsletter recipients a networking community so he encourages people to continue subscribing  after they get  jobs.  I am employed in the  DC area, but I am still a subscriber.  On some Mondays, seeing an exciting job opening  in Australia is  the  perfect way to start my day!  Check it out  www.nedsjotw.com !

 

The Power of your Online Presence

According to a study by CareerBuilder.com, 45% of employers are now searching social networking sites for information about job candidates.  Their searches are almost evenly divided among Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn.  In addition, some are reading blogs and following candidates on Twitter.

What does this mean for you, the job seeker?

The study goes on to summarize a few reasons you might be accepted or rejected based on what you have put out there in cyberspace.  Employers may reject you if:

• You have posted inappropriate, gross, drug-influenced material,
• You communicate poorly (spelling, grammar, overall appearance),
• You lie about your qualifications for the job.

On the other hand, your online presence can work for you if:

• You seem to be a good fit for the company,
• You show creativity,
• Your entries support the qualifications you claim to have.

This is a fascinating study, and I urge you to read the whole story.  You will see that your online identity cannot be ignored in your job search, but rather it can be a real plus to you.  Don’t self-destruct by careless comments or unwarranted bragging.  Ask a friend – call a career counselor – be your own most severe critic.  Clean up that site now!

To read the whole story, go to:

http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=pr519&sd=8%2f19%2f2009&ed=12%2f31%2f2009&siteid=cbpr&sc_cmp1=cb_pr519_

To get help in repairing or enhancing your online presence, please contact me through my website:  www.anneheadley.com.

The Arts: frills or necessities?

A massive stimulus bill is being debated in both houses of the U.S. Congress this week. There is honest debate about what constitutes honorable use of the taxpayers’ money, and then there is political posturing.

Did you catch the remark by a politician who thundered that there had not be a penny for the arts in that bill?

I was shocked at the ignorance of our history and the role that visual and other arts play in society. Of course, there are luxury elements therein, and we are dependent on watchdogs to keep us from subsidizing box seats at the opera.

However, consider how the WPA projects of the New Deal enriched our nation even as it provided employment to artists along with bridge engineers and builders, vocational educators and adult literacy teachers. .

• The city center of Greenbelt, MD has its captivating statue of a mother holding a child who is holding a carton of federally-paid milk.
• Many artists of the 1930s and 1940s earned annual contracts with the WPA (Works Progress Administration) of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

It seems that art was just part of the employment scene, nothing special. And those artists enriched public buildings from post offices to schools to hospitals with art that today provides a rich look at the world of that time. Frills? Not really. I yearn for the time when artists, musicians and dramatists were considered workers, part of the eight million Americans who survived during those tough times by doing what they knew how to do.

Careers for these troubling times

Today’s news is grim. Airlines will be charging for checked luggage. Truckers can’t afford to fill up their tanks. Student loans. Milk prices. Etc. You know the list.

So what does a career counselor think about this? I have a similar reaction to you. The first thing I feel is helpless. I do cut back. I do consolidate car trips. But it doesn’t seem to change much.

I also feel grateful. Grateful that I will survive: tough times call for choices, but I’ll be okay.

What do I say to clients? How do we focus on an effective job search? Here are a few thoughts:

• If you have a job, hang on to it.
• Get control of your finances – NOW.
• Network as you never have in your life. Go places. Call old friends.
• Learn one more new skill this year. Your competition is very sharp. Be ready.
• Accomplish something. Have a dazzling success story to tell when that interview finally happens.
• Be involved in current affairs. The more you study national and international affairs, the more you will know how to position yourself into your next job. There is a connection, you know.
• Study history – both globally and personally. Tough, turbulent times are always, inevitably, followed by better times.
  
• Stay optimistic and let your co-workers and friends see you that way. Being a pessimist in today’s world may make people avoid you, and that’s not what you need.
  
• It’s a cliche, but true: an attitude of gratitude doesn’t hurt.

To discuss your job search in these turbulent times, please visit www.anneheadley.com for contact information. And please, share your survival strategies with other readers.