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.

Posted by Spherion Corporation on September 28, 2006 at 2:34 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Experts advise that even if a job transfer makes economic and career sense, young employees should consider whether it will make social sense as well.

Ok, I'm about to say something here that's going to sound reallly stupid....

"It's not all about the money."

Dennis
WirelessJobs.com

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Posted by Dennis Smith, T-Mobile Recruiting on September 26, 2006 at 5:43 PM | Leave a Comment (1)

They aren't recruiters, but they've got some great advice for the jobseeker attempting to craft the perfect resume.

Check out Sean and Chanpory's LifeClever site, which offers up tips for design and life.

Very nice site.

Here's an excerpt from their post on "The 7 Deadly Sins of Resume Design":

"So you've labored with sweat and tears writing your resume, and now you're all set to turn it into a magnificently designed creation. Unfortunately, when it comes to resume design, both non-designers and professional designers can commit some almost unforgivable sins. For a better looking resume avoid these common mistakes:"

1. Fancy Resume Paper
2. Times New Roman
3. Teeny tiny font size
4. Grey text
5. Excessive decoration
6. Weird paper size
7. Horizontal format

Click HERE to get more details on the "sinfulness" of these mistakes.

Dennis Smith
WirelessJobs.com

Posted by Dennis Smith, T-Mobile Recruiting on September 26, 2006 at 5:26 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

While working with one of my clients (a mid-size, high-growth, public consulting firm), they startled me when they told me they had parents come to one of their recent sell days. For those of you who aren't familiar, "sell days" are when a company hosts candidates who have already received job offers from the company and tries to "sell" them on the value of the firm.

As a recruiter and hiring manager, I never dealt with parents unless they were my own. Even with new college graduates or the under-25 set. Is this a new phenomenon? Are new graduates or young professionals fully involving their parents in the decision-making process?

Finding the right job is important--there is no doubt. And for new college students or college graduates, parents can serve as sounding boards and a shoulder to cry on if needed. Most universities encourage parents to be involved. In fact, at MIT orientation, parents were encouraged to "Promote the value of practical experience in building competencies and making informed career decisions". But should they make the decisions for you?

Are you involving your parents in your job decisions? And if so, to what extent?

I guess the big question is: are parents really able to make the best decision for you? Or, are they hoping you'll follow in their shoes (or perhaps the ones they wish they'd worn)? Perhaps it's the fear factor instead.

- Susan Strayer is an HR and business professional, and former recruiter and hiring manager who has worked with hundreds of Fortune 500 companies. She is the author of The Right Job, Right Now due out in December 2006 from St. Martin's Press.

Posted by Susan Strayer on September 25, 2006 at 2:27 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

A telecom tycoon from Plano, TX blasted into space aboard a Russian rocket Monday morning on the first leg of a journey to the International Space Station.

Anousheh Ansari, a 40-year-old Iranian-American, is the fourth person - and first woman - to buy a ticket that cost about $20m to go into the great beyond. And she's blogging about it!

Check out her blog: Anousheh Ansari Space Blog

Anousheh is expected to arrive at the orbiting space lab on Wednesday, where she'll spend the next eight days conducting experiments and blogging her experiences.

How did she make her dream a reality? In 1993, Anousheh and her husband both worked at MCI as engineers. She convinced him that they should quit their jobs, cash out the $50k in their retirement accounts and start a telecom company. Seven years later, they sold the biz for $750m.

Is it ever too late to dream big? I guess not. And now, Anousheh has a $20m dollar receipt and a lifetime to blog about how she lived her dream.

Very cool, Anousheh. We're all cheering you on...especially my four daughters!

Dennis
WirelessJobs.com

Posted by Dennis Smith, T-Mobile Recruiting on September 19, 2006 at 10:21 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Trying to figure out what to do with the rest of your life?

Do yourself a favor - read Scott Ginsberg's latest post: Remove What Robs You.

Dennis Smith
WirelessJobs.com

Posted by Dennis Smith, T-Mobile Recruiting on September 18, 2006 at 4:46 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Earlier this week, I read an article on Inc.com that had some surprising statistics about workplace theft. It discusses Careerbuilder.com's survey which indicates that nearly 40% of managers say they have actually fired an employee for theft. I was really surprised. I know that office theft is certainly a big problem -- bigger than most people think, but didn't realize it would be *that* high. Another article stated that employers are losing up to $50 billion in stolen office supplies each year. That's another shocking number. What's even more concerning is that many U.S. workers (especially younger workers) don't believe taking office supplies is wrong. Our recent survey shows that 25% of 18-24 year olds have taken office supplies and 20% don't feel it's wrong to do so. And remember, this number reflects those that actually admitted to taking supplies. Older workers were less likely to have taken supplies and to believe it is okay to do so, but this certainly is a growing problem for employers. Maybe workers feel that taking a few office supplies from time to time isn't a big deal or maybe some feel a sense of entitlement to do so. In isolated cases, a pad of paper or a few pens don't make a big difference, but when a large portion of the workforce is doing it, those pens and pads add up to serious losses and could wind up costing you your job or even lead to jail time. It makes one think, is it really worth it?

Posted by Spherion Corporation on September 14, 2006 at 11:20 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Write 'em down, chew 'em up, and swallow 'em. Scott Ginsberg offers up 51 Thoughts on Networking.

You can read all 51 here. Check out his top 10 here:

1. The Federal Bureau of Labor did a study a few years back indicating that 70% of all new business comes from some form of networking. I think it’s higher.

2. So, no matter where you go – the Mall, church, out to dinner, the gym – you better have at least five business cards with you.

3. And be able to give an UNFORGETTABLE personal introduction in 10 seconds, 30 seconds and 6o seconds.

4. When someone on the phone says, “May I ask who’s calling?” get excited. Say something unique that makes that person say, “Um, okay…please hold.” Be unexpected. Be cool. Be memorable.

5. Get Google alerts on yourself, your company, your area of expertise and your competition. If you don’t know what a Google alert is, just Google it.

6. Networking isn’t selling, marketing or cold calling. It’s the development and maintenance of mutually valuable relationships. Don’t mix those things up.

7. The most important four letters in the word NETWORKING are W-O-R-K, because that’s exactly what it takes.

8. If you give your business card to somebody and they don’t reply, “Hey, cool card!” get a new card. (Thank you, Jeffrey Gitomer.)

9. When attending networking events, come early. Check out the nametags. See if you know anybody, or find people you’d like to meet.

10. Sit in the back so you can scan the room for specific people you’d like to connect with.

Dennis Smith
T-Mobile Recruiting
WirelessJobs.com

technorati: networking, job search, job seeker

Posted by Dennis Smith, T-Mobile Recruiting on September 1, 2006 at 8:54 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Bang! Bang! 20 Bullets, You're Dead!

This is long over due because the whole "Bullet Point Thing" has been stuck in my craw for some time now. Everyday I get dozens of resumes with way too many bullet points listed under each and every previous job. Dozens and dozens of bullet points informing me on everything from filling in for the manager when he/she is out sick to attending weekly staff meetings.

OK, Listen up! Hopefully this is the last time we need to cover this. Two Rules...

Rule #1 - Less is More

* bullet - a heavy mark, sometimes in the shape of a bullet (but more often a boldface dot), that is used to indicate an item of special interest or some special features on a page of copy. Barrons

So it would seem you should use bullets to highlight areas of special interest or things you want the reader to focus on. You knew this already because you took a resume writing class or bought that book that told you bullets are much better than writing long boring paragraphs no one will ever read. Right? What they forgot to tell you is when you use 20 in a row, they loose their effectiveness!

Rule #2 - Don't be a Fancy Pants

Unless you're trying to get a job at a flower shop, monogram store or graphic studio save the fancy script and curly cue bullets. It's distracting and sometimes even annoying. Circles, squares, etc. are preferred on business communications and should be on resumes.

I can't guarantee following these two rules will get you the job, but I will guarantee you will have a more professional looking resume that will get more consideration.

Posted by Ronald Pilgrim, Careerfood on September 1, 2006 at 11:48 AM | Leave a Comment (0)