Career Fair Mistakes

I’ve caught several articles in the past few weeks about career fairs and how to make the most of them. I particularly liked a piece by Tracey Minor who suggests using job fairs as practice interviews among other things. Throughout my career in the staffing and recruiting industry, I’ve been involved in many, many job fairs representing Spherion and seeking prospective employees. Although there are many new, innovative venues to use for job searching (such as this blog), career fairs still offer candidates a number of benefits, not the least of which is landing a job. I won’t list the benefits here, there are a number of articles you can check out that cover them very well including "Guerrilla Tactics for Job Fairs," and Ian Ybarra’s post with three important tips.

I do have a collection of “what not to do’s” that I can share with you. They are:

1) Never attend without a resume
2) Please don’t hand out a resume with errors/misspellings
3) If you’re not dressed for the part, don’t go. Remember, this is an interview
4) Approaching employers/booths when it is overcrowded – you’ll never stand out – wait until they are less busy
5) Don’t drop off and run – avoid the urge to simply hand out as many resumes as you can – that isn’t the goal. Make sure you take the time to talk to the employers, ask questions and appear genuinely interested and not just another company on the receiving end of your resume rampage.
– Tim Gorman is a group vice president for Spherion, a leading provider of recruiting and staffing services. He oversees the operations of 28 staffing offices in Central Florida.

Interviewing Really Sucks

Out of my four-month long search, I was offered two interviews. I went to one, felt really good about it, and, of course, was not chosen for the position.
I thought that I did really well. I was so happy to have any chance at getting a job that I practiced, read online review tips, and tried really, really hard to make sure that I appeared professional. I took out my nose stud, put on subtle makeup, make sure that my hair was perfect, ironed my suit, and made sure that I wore closed-toe shoes. I brought a copy of my resume in an official-looking folio. I asked questions, made myself seem interested in the position, and tried selling my proofreading skills.
I still didn’t get it.
After this interview, an HR representative from a publishing company (publishing is my dream career) sent me an e-mail asking me for writing samples. I was so excited.
Nothing came out of that, either.
I’m really discouraged at this point. I’m tempted to go back to waitressing, just to occupy my time. I’m applying to jobs left and right, and it has gotten me nowhere. It’s so frustrating when my peers are all employed – even more frustrating when their parents or friends of their parents are the ones that have gotten them these offers. I don’t have connections like that, unfortunately. Doing the right things – like volunteering, getting internships, getting published – hasn’t done anythign for me. I don’t know what’s next for me, yet. I guess I could always throw myself into sales.

The Proper Objective

From CollegeGrad.com, an entry level job website, I received my weekly newsletter entitled, “The Most Important Feature of Your Resume.” It talked about how employers are looking for clear and concise objectives, not wishy-washy ones. They need an idea of exactly what you are looking for, and more importantly, how you can benefit their needs. The most important part of a successful objective is that it has focus; it’s like writing your personal mission statement to the company you are interested in. There are three ways the article says can restrict your objective: job type, industry, and geographical area.
Here is an example it used: Staff accountant position in the public accounting field in the Houston area.

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Reporting from the Enterprise Rent-A-Car HR Conference

I am in Atlanta attending the annual global conference for human resource professionals employed by Enterprise Rent-A-Car. This is an amazing organization. The next time that you think that you have a recruiting challenge, consider their annual college hiring metrics:

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Resume

Trial and error. That is truly what resume writing and construction is all about. For years, I have been using the same basic format for my resume. Sure, I updated it and made select alterations but for the most part it remained stylistically the same.
This past Tuesday, I met with the head of the Career Service Office at my campus. She had me toil away at the office computer, re-evaluating my descriptions of the varied job positions I listed on my resume. She had me read off to her job by job the according descriptions to make sure they were striking as well as intelligible. When I unearthed a possible opportunity, she would have me scroll through the list the company provides regarding job requirements and asked me to articulate what exactly in my resume fulfills those needs. We also discussed how to tailor my resume to each opening that I apply to. If I want to submit my resume for example, for an opening as a Style Editor at a magazine I might restructure the presentation of my resume to place all of my writing and interviewing experience up front. Even my cover letter which usually suffers from the same burden of a basic format should be stylized in an effort to present not only myself but my voice as well.
In an effort to get the proverbial ball rolling, it was decided that I should attempt some practice specific resumes and cover letters by selecting jobs I might be interested in applying for. I am scheduled to graduate in May 2007, so any job I applied to currently would probably not be willing to wait that long. The whole point of practicing applying for jobs is to get my mindset ready to adjust my resume and thereby my presentation of myself in accordance of the particular job I am applying to. After all, practice will eventually make perfect.

Wireless Access at Airports

I travel a lot. About every other week and sometimes more frequently. It is amazing how different airports can be when it comes to being business traveler friendly. Yesterday was a long travel day and offered me three very different approaches to how airports treat their customers, the flyers.

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Starting to feel a little nervous

Now that I’ve started with Creative Memories, I have to find people who want to come to my sessions to learn how to scrapbook. I’m feeling a little apprehensive about it all. I’m in a town full of geeky tech college students. There are way more guys here than girls, so I don’t know if anyone will really be interested. I’ve posted fliers and sent out some email, but haven’t gotten any responses back. One club, which consists of mostly guys, was not interested at all. That is pulling my hopes down a little.
I have an appointment with the program coordinator for the dorms at RPI tomorrow. I’m hopeful for that, but still a little uncertain. What if she decides that this isn’t a good thing for the students? If I can’t get the ball rolling I’m afraid that I’ll crash. My consultant continues to be really supportive so at least I have her, but I’m surrounded by people who are utterly uninterested in scrapbooks.
On top of that, the product that I was planning to make a killing on isn’t going to be released until Nov. 1st instead of Oct. 1st. I’m supposed to make a certain retail min. in order to get a successful start. I’m pretty sure that once I can get a good client base I’ll be set, but right now I’m feeling pretty blue. It would help if I knew people out here, but with the move, I know about five people and two of them are my fellow consultants. They obviously are doing well in this company, but I just feel lost and frankly, scared that I won’t be able to make an income. I just don’t want to be loosing money on this. I of course love scrapbooking so the tools won’t be a waste, but I really want to be able to support myself.

Entry-Level Geriatric Home Nurses Can Be The Best Of Companions

Caring for the old is a field that is becoming increasingly important and necessary in society today as the percentage of old persons is steadily climbing. The demand for geriatric home nurses is there, all that is needed is ready and willing people to fill these places.
To an elderly person who may be bed-ridden or who is suffering from a debilitating disease, your comforting and compassionate face as their geriatric home caretaker is the positive factor in their day. It is an important job and responsibility to be a geriatric home nurse as you enter the lives of strangers to take care of the one of the most important people in their lives. Whether it is a parent, a grandparent, perhaps a great-aunt or uncle, you are entrusted with their care. It is not just a job to care for them until that fateful day, but to enrich their well being mentally and physically. To be responsible for another’s care, particularly someone whom society consistently takes for granted (our elderly) is one of the most meaningful ways to enter into the entry-level job market.
Becoming an entry-level geriatric home nurse is not a job to take lightly. It is a serious matter when dealing with the physical and mental health of another person, particularly a person who is not used to being dependent on someone else.
This is a job that has the potential to be life changing and richly rewarding at the same time. If you are ready for such as task have fun, learn new things and find that entry-level job!!
What It Means:
http://change.monster.com/articles/geriatric/
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/gercomp.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3969/is_200204/ai_n9068978
http://www.pfizercareerguides.com/default.asp?t=article&b=nursing&c=practiceAreas&a=geriatricNurse
Resources:
http://www.aftercollege.com/companies/jobs.asp?coID=-906685

Flexible Entry-Level Jobs…It Can Happen

Jobs with flexible hours are perfect for the person with many commitments outside of work. In a flex hours job typically the employee can enter and leave the job whenever they want but have to total a certain number of hours worked by the end of a given period of time (perhaps a couple of weeks or even a month).
What a dream to not be worried about when you clock in and clock out, as long as the work is performed. If you are running late you don’t have to be stressed out. Or maybe you have a doctor’s appointment. Now you can go and come back with no hassle and make up those hours some other time during the week.
I find these perks are often allowed when someone is salary, and does not get paid by the hour. Then, it typically doesn’t quite matter when you come in and when you leave, as long as the work is done. For all us current entry-level workers, that dream is in the future, but not if you find a nice entry-level flex hour job! You can have all the perks of a more established position while still learning the proverbial ropes. Sounds nice.
Actually finding a flex hour job might be a hard task. I suggest either looking for freelance work or temporary/contract work. I did find a company online that prides itself as the “champions of workplace flexibility” and help job seekers with this very task. Part-time and full-time positions alike are advertised. As for the fields where you might find the best chances of a flex hour jobs, try something like pharmaceutical sales (look in archives I wrote an article about this job opportunity) or another form of sales or marketing or even work-at-home opportunities. (Again, feel free to look in archives for that article as well). Good luck and while you are at it: have fun, learn new things and find that entry-level job!!
What Flexible Means:
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Flexible_working/Hours/p!eigkcap#68200
Resources:
http://www.flexibleresources.com/sub/job-postings.asp
http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?ipath=rss&Job_DID=J3H0246DKVQLZYKJMN9&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=54b5aac6cdd748d28475cc1aacb90f48-212699954-TB-4

Night before a job interview

Tomorrow I have an interview at an organization I am really interested in. It’s the field I want and the type of agency I’m interested in. There are a few important steps to take care of the night before so one is not overwhelmed the next day.
1. Print out directions and make sure your car has gas.
2. Print out copies of your resume and references.
3. Set out what you will wear to make sure it is there and in good clean shape.
4. On the same note remove old nailpolish and piercings if you have them.
5. Check out the company website again.
6. Look up one of those most common interview questions pages and make sure you can answer them for this organization.
7. Get a good nights sleep (cheesy but i’m throwin it in there).
Well that’s all I can think of right now so hopefully that’s it. Wish me luck.