Reaction has been mixed today after the announcement by President George W. Bush that his latest pick for the U.S. Supreme Court is Judge Sam Alito. See TPR or Used Car Salesman for one example of reaction from the recruiting community.

Predictably, reaction is mostly negative amongst Democrats and positive amongst Republicans. Reaction has been mostly muted amongst the rest of us who don't quite see the world as a [insert your least favorite political party of choice here] conspiracy. The business world appears to view the selection with favor, as seen by the almost 50 point gain in the Dow. Apparently, the word on the street is that Alito will be great for business, if they believe in living up to their end of contracts and paying their bills in a timely manner. See Forbes.com.

Will Alito be good for employment, the country, and the world? Who knows? If he is confirmed, his legacy won't be known for years and possibly decades. But at least most of us can have fun in the meantime by watching the die hard Democrats battle it out with the die hard Republicans. Actually, come to think of it, that isn't much fun at all.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 31, 2005 at 5:20 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

If you're a college student or recent graduate who wants to be journalist or writer, then you may wish to consider applying to intern for CollegeRecruiter.com. See the CollegeRecruiter.com Journalism Internship job posting.

We're looking for a few people to post entries a few times a week chronicling the job search process that they and their friends are going through. We're looking for insight into how they're searching for a job, what is going well, what isn't going well. The goal is for readers to gain a better understanding of what today's students and recent graduates are encountering.

Interested? Apply at the CollegeRecruiter.com Journalism Internship job posting page.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 28, 2005 at 4:57 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

If you're looking for a new job and frustrated by a lack of interviews, don't assume that all you need to do is spif up your resume. Candidates often place too much emphasis on their resume and not enough on the other facets of a job search, such as researching industries, organizations within the industries, departments within the organizations, and the hiring managers within those departments. Candidates should also place more emphasis on researching themselves.

What do I mean by researching yourself? I mean that you should really understand your competencies, interests, and values. What are you good at? What do you like to do? What is important to you? Too many job seekers focus only on their competencies and end up in jobs that bore them or work for organizations which have different values than does the employee.

A great way of exploring your competencies, interests, and values and then communicating those to an employer is to prepare a personal portfolio. While many career sites either don't allow candidates to create personal portfolios or charge money for them, CollegeRecruiter.com encourages candidates to create them and we do not charge anything to candidates for our basic personal portfolio.

If you've never put together a personal portfolio, invest an hour or two. While the results should not be shocking to you, the process should force you to focus your energy on finding the right position for you, rather than just finding a position for you.

The personal portfolio will walk you through the creation of a cover letter, which will provide you with an opportunity to illustrate your accomplishments while defining your career goals. You'll provide answers to commonly asked interview questions, which will also help you make a great first impression on your next interview. You'll create a list of your current references and can even send to them a link to your resume so that they can be prepared to discuss it before they're called by a potential employer. To help you paint a complete picture of who you are and what you have done, you'll also add links to showcase your work, depict your affiliations, or highlight your professional activities. Finally, you'll have an opportunity to add a photo to your resume, which can be helpful for those who are pursuing modeling, acting, or other such positions where your appearance is relevant.

Quite simply, the CollegeRecruiter.com Personal Portfolio is a service that we believe in and that we believe all candidates should use.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 27, 2005 at 9:38 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

One of the great benefits of being one of the owners of CollegeRecruiter.com is that I am able to speak with both employers and job seekers about the job market and the process of hiring new talent and finding a new job. Yet one of the frustrating aspects is that I am now so aware that so many job seekers make the same mistakes over and over again. For example, probably once a week I hear from a job seeker who is frustrated because they've applied to hundreds of jobs yet can't seem to get hired. When I question why they would continue to do the same thing over and over again when it hasn't brought them success, most basically shrug and say that's the only way that they know to find a job.

Well, they're wrong. No job seeker should be applying to hundreds of jobs. If they are, they haven't properly researched industries, employers within those industries, departments within those employers, and positions within those employers. I understand that many people have never learned how to do such research, and that's why we have a service that helps job seekers learn how to do that research and otherwise manage their careers. See CollegeRecruiter.com Career Consultation Service.

Yes, the process of finding a job is a job. But it is also like running a business. You must identify and properly position your product (you) and you must identify and properly market to your consumer (the employers). All successful businesses invest in the development of their products, and job seekers should be no different. If you earn $35,000 per year, that's about $135 per day. So if having a resume professional written costs you $100, you should do so if you expect that it will help you get hired even one day faster. Don't be afraid to invest in yourself. Instead, be afraid of the job seekers who are competing against you and who have invested in themselves.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 25, 2005 at 3:21 PM | Leave a Comment (1)

Interesting post at Recruiting.com regarding how differently today's youth communicates versus how their parents communicate. See Recruiting.com: College Students Today, Employees Tomorrow: Are You Ready?.

One of the key points of the discussion is that today's college students are far more likely to participate in a discussion if it is held using instant messaging or other such technology. I've been seeing this trend for years so pushed to facilitate such communications between our customer service people and our users. Until about a year ago, candidates could contact us by phone, email, fax, snail mail, etc. All the normal methods. But all of those methods are deemed by college students to be too slow, even email. They're used to carrying on discussions with a dozen friends via IM simultaneously, so why would they want to wait even hours for our people to get back to them? Once we implemented the change, they were able to get answers immediately.

While making a change like that is fine for a job board that is primarily used by college students and recent graduates, such changes will be more difficult to make and perhaps not even advisable for employers. Already, the workplace has been transformed by email and voice mail. Remember when fax machines were revolutionary? Now they gather dust. Will conference rooms be next as more and more become comfortable meeting virtually?

People need to interact to work together. But do we need to interact as we've become used to simply because that has worked for those who have been in the workplace for five, 10 or 20 years? I sometimes hear people lament the fact that no one writes letters anymore, but hasn't the use of email made us more responsive to the needs of our customers and more productive at the same time? Instant messaging is somewhat like email on steroids. If email has helped us do more work better and faster, then I'm all in favor of learning from today's college students. Let's not resist new technologies just because they're new and have the potential to change the way we interact. Let's embrace them and allow them to help us do better work for our customers.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 21, 2005 at 11:26 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

It's fine to say you want to go into The Arts or the law or, as someone recently said, Accounting. That's the big picture. Having some concept of what the big picture is constitutes a major step in embarking on the most amazing journey of your life.

What has happened in making that decision is there's been a choice, among the enormous patchwork of options, to follow a particular road. Roads are so huge. They're like superhighways. Sometimes, in order to reach the destination, it is necessary to take a side road or a path (smaller road) that's a narrower channel and offers less likelihood of getting pushed off the journey.

It's important to chart a progression across the map of choices in order to get to a final destination and not aimlessly wander all over the place. Once the big picture is in view and you gain more knowledge about the journey, you can say you want to get to being a screen or song writer or a choreographer if the goal is The Arts. If law is the destination, you may find you're really suited to being a process server or collections agent instead of a lawyer.

In accounting, there are so many branches of the tree. We should know by now (in light of so much controversy in that industry) that there's auditing, account management, consulting, accounts receivable, accounts payable, investments, tax practice.

It's quite appropriate to say you want to go into an industry. That's looking at a general area after you've decided that you're going to take the journey. The next step is focusing on a more specific area.

The step after that is finding out whether you're suited to that particular discipline. Do it through skills and interest assessments. Do it through internships or volunteer work. Do it through informational interviews either in person or over the phone. Do it through observing others in that position, taking note of how they interface with you and whether you believe you could put yourself in their shoes day in and day out over the long haul.

It's great to have a view of the big picture. Grab hold of that big picture and start to parse it out by looking at the options within. I like going to my Career Center to use the tools there. There are a couple that are priceless in this endeavor.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the Occupational Outlook Handbook, a resource that provides not only the names of various occupations within professions (you may want to use the "Search" option in the top right corner) but also a description of the various job titles, related occupations, required education, and pay ranges. It's extremely helpful to get hold of something like this in order to see what options are available. Not everyone really wants to be a judge or lawyer. Not everyone wants to spend their entire day reconciling the general ledger.

In addition to the Occupational Outlook Handbook (for finding related careers), I find looking up salary information for a particular job title on Salary.com is extremely useful. The results provide not only the salary range for a specific geographic area, they also describe the position functions and related fields.

While it's great to start out with a focus on the general, it's very important to start narrowing the view as one progresses toward the destination. With each class, with each venture into some aspect of doing work in that field (or incorporating it into your usual affairs), there should be an assessment of whether that particular aspect of the practice is the right fit for you.

If it takes formal education to become qualified, as graduation day looms in the extremely near future, it's time to start doing additional homework on gaining intern experience or incorporating the discipline into your usual work so that you gain the work experience credit for it and are recognized as having the skill.

Posted by Yvonne LaRose, CollegeRecruiter.com - Career Coach on October 20, 2005 at 10:48 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Question from Career Counselor:

I am talking with someone with a lot of academic and career potential about what career path he would like to take, but he does not want to pursue additional education if all of his opportunities are blocked by his criminal record. Are there books or other resources I could look into in order to properly advise him?

Thanks!

Brian J. Pillsbury, Ph.D.
Career Services
Northern Illinois University

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 20, 2005 at 10:50 AM | Leave a Comment (1)

CollegeRecruiter.com just announced that we will take a leadership role in the delivery of employment-related content via audio recordings. See CollegeRecruiter.com Uses Podcasting to Deliver Employment Advice to Students and Recent Graduates (October 18, 2005 Press Release).

We anticipate that the vast majority of those who listen to the recordings will download them to their iPods and listen to them when they have a few minutes but don't have access to a computer, such as in between classes or while commuting. Our goal is to deliver to our visitors the content that they want, how they want it, and when they want it. While some podcasting services charge a fee, we do not.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 19, 2005 at 11:00 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Question from Candidate:

I have been working in restaurants for a while as a general manager. At the same time I was enrolled in an MBA/Accounting program. I graduated a few months ago but have been unable to find an accounting job. No one is willing to take a chance on my education. How do I get a job in accounting?

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 18, 2005 at 9:49 AM | Leave a Comment (6)

"We all hope that our judgment is keen enough that when it comes to hiring, we actually have hired the best person for the job. When it comes to hiring one of the company leaders, it's especially important to know that the best possible (or even the best) is part of the organization.

"It's when an emergency or a disaster occurs and that person is propelled into taking sharp, quick, definitive action that the proof the pudding occurs. There's no time in that situation to shift about looking for the alternatives and waiting for feelings to subside. Nor is there time to be timid. There's time enough for feelings and such afterward. It is imperative that the situation be assessed quickly and accurately and that the best available options are executed on time."

From "When All Are Losing Their Heads," September 11, 2001

It was a time that tested one's mettle. There was danger, intrigue. Through it all, she kept a level head and her wits about her. She proved herself to be an exceptional employee; one worthy of praise and commendation.

What happened? Two Friday evenings ago, the bus I was riding just skimmed by when a big rig broadsided a VolksWagen bug and pushed it nonstop nearly two miles into the next city.

The bus driver (#29526) exclaimed, "Oh my God, he just hit that car!" and from there on, we were on an extraordinary journey of seeing how well one can focus on doing their job and doing it well.

The driver didn't stop the bus. She kept driving. She even stopped to pick up the waiting passenger three stops ahead. That passenger stood transfixed by the horrendous sight of the big rig pushing that tiny white VW bug along the street, the smell of rubber erupting along the boulevard as they traversed their horrid journey.

"Get in!" she yelled at the waiting passenger, "Get in. We're going to be hit!"

The passenger mentally shook himself to realize he needed to board the bus in order to get to safety. No sooner had his second foot cleared the door than the driver closed it and moved forward -- still on schedule, still safe.

The big rig continued is destructive passage. It overtook and passed the bus, eventually stopping about two blocks before one of the main thoroughfares.

The bus driver announced to her passengers that she was taking a detour in order to avoid the mounting traffic jam and accident scene. She didn't say as much but she had a bus and passengers to protect, she had a schedule to keep, and she was about to have it all in relation to the job she was hired to do.

The detour was completed two blocks off her route; she made next scheduled stop on the main thoroughfare -- still on schedule.

In times of crisis, there needs to be someone in control of the situation who maintains their cool in order to lead. This driver was just such a person. In times of crisis, there needs to be someone who will stay focused on the picture and the goal. The driver of this bus did just that. In times of crisis, the leader needs to be able to talk to people and give directions without becoming hysterical. Yes, this driver did that as well as rely on recommendations from others where she did not have sufficient information.

She got a commendation noted in her file the following Wednesday because she stayed focused on three critical things essential to her work and job:

* keep the passengers safe
* keep the bus safe
* stay on time, stay on schedule

See also: When All Are Losing Their Heads

Posted by Yvonne LaRose, CollegeRecruiter.com - Career Coach on October 17, 2005 at 5:13 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

How secret can a job in the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (a/k/a MI6 of James Bond lore) be when Her Magesty's government launches a career site for the agency and announces in prominent scrolling type that it is hiring across the board? See Careers in and recruitment for the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).

In all seriousness, although the work that such intelligence agencies conduct is often should be done in secret, their existence has hardly been a secret. Tom Clancy's books frequently feature operatives from the Central Intelligence Agency and the CIA advertises many of its openings on CollegeRecruiter.com. Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, also wrote about the inner workings at the National Security Agency. The NSA, like the CIA, are both U.S. intelligence agencies.

If you're looking for a life of excitement and danger, most of the positions that these organizations offer will disappoint you. You're probably better off pursuing a career as a storm chaser or NASCAR driver. But if you're looking for a career where intelligence and analysis are valued and language skills prized, then jobs with organizations such as MI6, the CIA, and the NSA may be just the ticket.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 17, 2005 at 2:51 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Question from Employer:

With so many people using search engines such as Google to find all types of information, how important is it for candidates to be able to find our postings by running a Google search using a job title and location but not our company name?

Answer:

Job seekers frequently use search engines such as Google to locate job openings for specific job positions. In fact, it is likely to be one of the first places a savvy job hunter will try. This best practice is to ensure candidates can easily find your job postings using search engines even if they do not enter your company name in their search string.

A major consideration for your site design team is based on typical search terms for job postings. Once the postings requested by the job candidate are displayed, your company's postings must appear on the first page or two. Why? Only the most persistent of candidates will venture past this point because, quite frankly, it's not worth the effort.

Search terms or keywords must be integrated throughout the posting and key pages on your employment site. If this is done haphazardly or not at all, your posting will not be ranked high enough to appear on the first couple of pages displayed by large search engines. Your critical posting may never be seen by the most qualified candidate!

Keyword coding for your employment web site should be performed by search engine optimization experts. They understand how search engines rank web pages and will translate this knowledge into top rankings for your site.

Take the example of a highly qualified candidate looking for an illustrator's position. This candidate knows from experience that the search term "illustrator" is much too general. So, based on his knowledge of the different types of illustrators in the current work environment, the candidate adds the adjective "multimedia." The motivation is to get specific job postings using the search term "multimedia illustrator."

Once this term is entered into Google, the site ranked first in the results for job postings is the U.S. Army's employment site. There may be hundreds of companies worldwide searching for the ideal candidate, but the Army beat them all to the top of the list.

Here's an example of a less desirable Google ranking from the company's perspective. In this case, a pharmaceutical firm is currently looking for specific expertise to ensure systems are in compliance with FDA regulations. This position, "computer validation specialist," requires specialized skills most computer specialists normally do not possess.

Unfortunately for both potential job candidates and the company, this posting can't be located on the first five pages of Google results when the logical search term "computer validation specialist" is used. Since the company's employment site's search engine rankings are not optimized, eligible job candidates may not get the opportunity to view this posting using the Google search engine. A major avenue to eligible job candidates is unavailable to the company.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 14, 2005 at 12:46 PM | Leave a Comment (1)

Although CollegeRecruiter.com and Jobster are indirect competitors, it is nice to see that Jobster agrees with the customer first philosophy that we've had since I founded this company in 1991. See jobster blog: web 2.0.

Back in the dot com gold rush days of 1998 to early 2000, it was incredibly common to hear organizations without profits, revenues, or customers talk about how they had all the answers because they had the best technology. What they failed to understand was that if you build a better mouse trap, the world will not beat a path to your door if they do not perceive a need for that mouse trap. One of our direct competitors back then, may its soul rest in peace, was sold to a staffing company for $30 million. Not bad, especially when you consider that the staffing company was paying that kind of money for an organization with $300,000 in revenue and $3 million in losses. They too had all the answers. Very Web 1.0.

Today's profitable web sites, and we fall into that category, understand that technology for the sake of technology may be cool and fun, but it doesn't make good business. It doesn't make good business for our customers, our vendors, or our shareholders. Technology that helps our customers be more effective and more efficient is very Web 2.0.

Steven Rothberg, President and Founder
CollegeRecruiter.com

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 12, 2005 at 2:41 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Question:

Upper management does not want to include a link on our home page to our jobs page. How do I convince them that we need to add that link?

Answer:

A prominent link to "jobs" or "employment" — or better still, "careers" — should appear on the home page of all organizations. The link should lead directly to the main page of your site's employment section.

If you put this link on the "About Us" or some other interior page, you will frustrate job candidates. There is solid evidence via web usability studies that frustrating website visitors increases the chance that they will leave your site without completing their objective — finding the right job for them. And it does not help you achieve your own objective — finding, screening, and hiring qualified candidates.

Using the word "careers" as your link name implies that you view employees as valuable assets and expect them to grow within the workplace. Simply put, a "career" is much more appealing to a job candidate than a "job."

The best way to demonstrate the effectiveness of this best practice is by example. Pfizer's corporate website contains a "Careers" link clearly marked on the employer's home page. Not only is this link prominent on the initial site page, it appears in an area where the visitor's eye naturally goes first — the top left section of the page.

If you navigate to this site and click the "Careers" link, you'll see a menu for the "Careers" section of the site in that same familiar position on the page. Site designers use this positioning to "train" the visitor to view the most important links first.

Another example is the home page for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Instead of a set of vertical links, you'll see links listed horizontally. This arrangement caters to the reader's instinct to read from left to right. On this site, the "Careers" link is the second link from the left. In this case, the job seeker is very likely to see this link as soon as the page displays.

In case you're looking for an example of a site where the link is difficult to find, check out General Electric's. The employment link is buried in the lower-left corner, which is the least visible location on a page. If you were seeking a career with General Electric, what would you infer from the placement of that link? Think about the message this employer may be sending to job seekers!

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 12, 2005 at 9:43 AM | Leave a Comment (1)

So many times, people think of their resume and the end of the job search Nirvana. They spend hours, if not days, perfecting not only how it looks on paper but how it will look when it's faxed. Some diligently work on sending an ASCII version of their resume so that it will retain its formatting and legibility.

Have you been to a career development fair where the panelists, or even the moderator, try to hammer into your head that you should fax or email your resume and cover letter to job postings and recruiters? Have you been to one of these where they tell you about the current tools recruiters and HR folks use, why they are anxious for you to submit your resume via their website -- instead of faxing?

I've got two thoughts happening here. One is about the current tools. The other is about the traditional tool. Let's start with the traditional tool.

The Resume and Cover Letter

It seems no one is thinking of the resume as a tool in order to gain the interest of some recruiter on the other side of their screen. It's bait on the hook. It's the allure of the walk. It's the "come hither" of the scent. It's a tool.

So's the cover letter. Same principles apply. And another thing people don't seem to be understanding is that the cover letter is emailed as the body of an email these days. Heather Hamilton talks about sending the resume and email cover letter in one of her blogs. She's spot on as to accuracy. She talks about the best cover letter ever that she's received.

Keep it brief. Time is precious. People don't have a lot of it. Be as tactful but to the point as possible. Know who you are. Know what you are. Know what you have to offer. Ask for it. Show why you're "it" (in numbers or accomplishments).

Recruiter Tools

Too many times, some kindly folks want to give advice about applying for a job but their information is as dated as dinosaurs. Do people still mail resumes? Do people still pay money to get the resume and cover letter to a potential employer when we have all of this free access and communication stream called the Internet? If a recruiter receives a hard copy of the resume (and only the hard copy), there's a higher likelihood that you'll not hear from them. The most beautiful resume in the world will get buried on the desk. It will wait days, weeks, to be scanned into the Applicant Tracking (or Management) System so that the recruiter can call up your information in an instant and match your qualities against a new call for talent.

It's a good idea to attend these career fairs and learn as much as possible about job search strategies. But listen to the advice with a grain of salt. If they're not telling you about the most current technology recruiters, companies, and HR people are using, they're doing you a disservice. You need to know so that you can deliver to them in the most efficient way possible. If they can access YOU right away, you'll be in the eye of the employer that much faster than your competition. Learn about recruiting tools as you learn how to do your job search so that you'll know how to submit in the most effective way.

I guess I'm on my high horse right now because during this morning's recruiters networking meeting, a job seeker came into the room and wondered what an ATS is. There was some brief explanation. But it would do one a good turn to know that we're just not using typewriters anymore (substitute mailed resumes). We have computers that use data keys and compact disks to store information (substitute ATS and online submission).

Posted by Yvonne LaRose, CollegeRecruiter.com - Career Coach on October 11, 2005 at 8:14 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

It appears that up to 100,000 post-secondary students in New Orleans may at least temporarily have lost their schools as a result of damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. See CNN.com - New Orleans universities work to rebuild - Oct 4, 2005.

The good news is that schools from around the country have opened their doors and their arms to make these students feel welcome and allow them to continue their studies until Tulane, Xavier, Loyola, and the other fine institutions in New Orleans are back in business. It will be interesting to see how many students from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama elected to continue their studies through on-line schools. While some on-line schools do not have the best reputation, many are accredited and well respected by small and large employers across the country.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 10, 2005 at 10:51 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

CNN reported today that only 35,000 jobs were lost in September 2005, far lower than most experts had predicted in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. With 300,000 jobs being lost in the Gulf States, that means that 335,000 new jobs were created in other states. That's an incredibly strong month in most areas of the country, but let us not forget the devastation in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Tonight, tens of thousands of people will be sleeping in crowded Red Cross shelters. As the flu season approaches, how many of those who are weakened by their ordeal will suffer even more as the person in the cot next to them sneezes, coughs, and otherwise sends germs from their "home" to yours, a distance of only a few inches?

According to a radio news report, Best Buy put out a "now hiring" banner outside of one of its stores in New Orleans to help them replace the employees that they had who are now either dead or living hundreds of miles away because their homes were destroyed. Best Buy is hiring 10 to 15 people per day and starting to feel some upward pressure on wages. This type of corporate rebuilding is going to be the key to the rebuilding of the Gulf States. While the Red Cross and other disaster relief organizations do tremendous good, they aren't going to turn the economy around. Employers will need to do that. Yet employers are not and should not be social welfare organizations. Best Buy isn't going to hire someone simply because that person really wants to work, promises to work hard, or loves Best Buy. They'll be hired because they've convinced Best Buy that they'll increase the store's revenues more than the store will pay them, decrease the store's expenses more than the store will pay them, or some combination of the two. If 10 to 15 people per day at just one store in a devastated city like New Orleans can manage to do that, then all job seekers should be able to do the same. Don't just tell employers that you want the job. Prove to them that they can't afford not to hire you.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 7, 2005 at 4:41 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Last night was a low point. The day had been long and rugged. It tested the spirit to the nth degree. There was one accomplishment that should have been stellar. Instead, it was taken as, "So what?" And that attitude colored the entire day.

This morning began with that attitude's lingering pall. But there are times when you have to pull yourself up and stay on top of the heap. Well, staying on top of the heap and pulling myself up were things that happened this morning, in spite of the detractors.

What was it, about a week ago that I commented on how it's important to be ready for an interview at the drop of a hat? Well, I was tested on my own counsel this morning.

I ran into a neighbor who's aware that I'm looking for some work as my contracts build. I didn't see her coming toward me. She was coming from a direction different from where one would expect. But she saw me and commented on the fact that we were going in the same direction.

It's great to network. Even if you don't think it's something that will help you in the near future (if not immediately) it's great to network. She needed to prepare for two tests this morning in two different classes. So we practiced.

As we debarked from the bus, we noticed that we were still going in the same direction. In fact, we were both headed in the direction of her school. She reminded me about the opportunity there that she'd mentioned about two weeks ago. She admonished that I should get an application in soon. She said, "Come with me."

Even though I was on my way to the gym, I was dressed in business attire. Even though I was on my way to the gym, I had my rolled tote with me. It was packed with the books I still need to finish reading, my notes, my research, my resume. "Come with me," my neighbor beckoned again as she hurried toward the school.

She showed me the building. It's next door to the gym. She walked in and asked where the Admissions officer was. She told people she wanted to introduce me to the Admissions officer. She pushed her way into groups of people and stopped the Recruiter in his tracks. I heard her whisper to him, "This is my neighbor. She needs a job. She's really great. She writes. She's got legal background. She has a Bachelor's degree. She's got a lot on the ball. You should interview her."

She introduced the two of us to one another, then waved a "see ya later," and went off to class and one of the two tests.

Networking and preparedness. The recruiter asked me about myself and my background. I used my stronger history, law and mediation, then sigued into adult literacy tutoring and the success I had in that, followed by youth tutoring (5-8 year olds) and the triumphant successes and accolades from teachers and parenets I earned from that experience. My speech was interrupted by the recruiter.

"Do you have a resume?"

"Why yes, I do. It's right here." And I reached inside my tote to pull out a clean (and the only) copy of my resume neatly stored inside a clear vinyl folder. As I felt the quality of the paper, I realized it was the original copy that was printed on high grade paper. However, I realized it was a small sacrifice to let it go and comforted myself on the thought that it could easily be re-printed on another computer.

The resume was faxed that instant to the owner of the school. The original resume was returned to me. I was instructed to call the owner for a telephone interview in about two to three hours.

About an hour ago, someone in a business center commented on how elegant I look today. It's the same outfit I was wearing this morning as I made my way to the gym and ran into my neighbor.

As I said about a week ago, when you're out there looking, it's important to be ready for an interview at the drop of a hat. ... or the run-in with the neighbor you've been networking with.

Posted by Yvonne LaRose, CollegeRecruiter.com - Career Coach on October 5, 2005 at 6:28 PM | Leave a Comment (1)

So I'm sitting on a bus stop with someone I know. He's pulling his life back together and looking for more permanent work. After inquiring about the type of work he does, I turned to him and asked, "If you could get some type of class to help you get a job and keep a job, what type of class would it be?"

He didn't think long. "To get a job, I'd want a class on writing my resume and how to present myself."

"Okay," I responded, "What would you want to know about how to keep a job?"

"Well, I'll just keep it simple," he replied. "I'd be diligent."

"So you'd want someone to teach you how to be diligent?"

"No," he answered in stammered English. "I'd just be diligent."

"But you'd want someone to teach you how to be diligent?" It was hard to understand how someone would want to be taught something you're already supposed to know.

"No," he stammered again, "I'll just keep it simple. I already know how to be diligent. I'll just be diligent in order to keep the job."

Now that's a good point. But it takes more than just diligence to be a valued person on the job and one the employer wants to keep. And it takes more than just having a good resume and knowing how to present oneself in order to get a job.

Had he considered researching the company or even the industry? Does industry even matter to him (or to anyone who's a job seeker)? Had he considered learning something about himself in order to know what his strengths are? Had he considered his posture, his attire, the handshake, or eye contact? There wasn't time to ask. The bus arrived at the end of his last sentence and the experience with it.

But as I boarded my bus, I wondered whether he had considered that mere diligence is many times not sufficient for being retained. It does accomplish a lot. But it isn't the bottom line. There's still a lot more.

Posted by Yvonne LaRose, CollegeRecruiter.com - Career Coach on October 3, 2005 at 8:39 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

I received a call today from a college in Vermont. Their students want to go to the Gulf Coast, probably Mississippi or Louisiana, to help with the efforts to clean-up from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They're planning on spending a week or so as part of their alternative spring break problem. Whoever calls this generation "the entitled generation" just doesn't understand how caring, giving, and involved they are in their communities.

The school called because I am a volunteer on the Board of Nechama: Jewish Response to Disaster. We've arranged for free housing, food, water, showers, toilets, and other basic necessities in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Although Nechama is a Jewish organization, many of our volunteers are not Jewish and we do not look at a victim's race, gender, religious affiliation, etc. when determining whether we can help them or not. We do not ask who they are. Instead, we ask how can we help. Which is exactly what these students from Vermont are asking.

Posted by Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com on October 3, 2005 at 1:39 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

There are times in history when competition for jobs were hot. No, I can't name them off the top of my head. All I know is there was a shortage of opportunity and an overabundance of people who could and wanted to work.

I'm not certain people went to some of the lengths then that they do these days in order to gain the upper hand or the rare opportunity to get in the door to earn the dollars and have the security of a paycheck for an honest day's work well done. The one time period that comes to mind is the '30s Depression. Everyone was down and out. The suicide rate had dropped. But few people had more than the wish in their hearts. They put in their time, earned their bucks, then moved on to whatever the horizon held in store for them. Others put down roots. It was just a given that everyone needed a job and when some store had the dollars and the volume to justify it, they'd put a sign in the window that read:

HELP WANTED

All that was necessary was to go in the door, pick up the sign, say you wanted the job. You were hired on the spot and started that minute.

Today, however, jobs are scarce. But there's something else that's even more scarce. It's the civility that we as a people had back in the '30s. No, I wasn't around then. But I read. I wasn't around then. But I listened to the stories of those who were. I wasn't around then. But I paid attention to how those who were acted around me with others (whether young or old) and how they went about getting something for themselves.

There is a more graceful way of doing things than using duplicity in order to gain the upper hand. There is a more honest way of talking with people -- that tends to be more enduring. It's called honesty.

Some may call me naive. But it's proven itself time and time again. Each time the situation has been uncomfortable and there's little to no more wiggle room or space for negotiation, it's proven to be the best route to simply tell the truth. The person on the other side seems to understand. They seem to respect the honesty. They hear the genuine effort that has gone beforehand in order to fulfill requirements that simply could not be performed under the circumstances.

Some people don't seem to understand this honesty factor. They feel the only way they can win whatever it is they aspire to is by using whatever tactics they can. It doesn't matter that they may hurt many in the process. It doesn't seem to matter that they may lie or massage the truth to the point that it's something other than what it seems. The only thing that matters is the winning.

While these latter types may gain the upper hand in the short run, they do themselves long-term disservice. The truth of their devices is soon revealed. People remember. People resent. When faced with the prospect of dealing with the latter types in the future, the opportunity is turned aside to someone else.

While it may seem that the only way to survive is to be just as ruthless and unprincipled as a competitor, in the long run (and that's what really counts), it's best to be as honest as possible. Be creative. Be tactful and courteous. Be aggressive. Be aggressive when it counts. Be aggressive about meaningful things. It's best to be the best you can be in all manner of things. That is the key to surviving in a ruthless market.

Posted by Yvonne LaRose, CollegeRecruiter.com - Career Coach on October 1, 2005 at 7:27 PM | Leave a Comment (0)