From ASQ News:
Career Development Tip: Starting a job search in this economy can be very daunting, especially when you’ve been with a company for 10, 20, or even 30 years. To top that off, job searching is not anything like it used to be. Read “7 Mistakes Job-Seekers Over 50 Make ” to learn what “not” to do if you find yourself starting over.
Articles related to “Outplacement Firms”
The use of Outplacement firms have been an option (especially by larger organizations). Here are a number of articles available to the members in order to have a better understanding of what they are and how they work. Note that these articles show both the positives and negatives of outplacement firms.
Click through to the website if you wish to view the articles.
Phone Interviews are performed by Hiring Authorities to help weed out candidates that, on paper, look like they are eligible for the job. Here are some articles that provide advice on handling phone interviews.
Some people may not be aware of how to use LinkedIn, or why they should use LinkedIn.
LinkedIn® is located at http://www.linkedin.com. The help section on their website is good, but you can spend a lot of time reading the help system to get a handle on why you should use LinkedIn, or the best way to use it.
Although I have spent time reviewing LinkedIn and many websites, blogs and articles about why and how LinkedIn should be used, I realize that everyone has a different style and reason for using LinkedIn. So, I am going to provide a number of resources for people to read/review in order to best use LinkedIn the way they wish.
One piece of advice that I would use that is not emphasized enough, is that you should use a personal email address as your main email address/login account. The main reason you do not wish your only/primary email address to be a company-supplied email address is that you never know when you will lose access to that email account. If you lose your job, you may not get a chance to change your LinkedIn account. If you need to, set up a personal/free account (use gmail, hotmail or yahoo), and use that as your LinkedIn signin account. If your primary email account on LinkedIn is a work account, change it as soon as possible.
Resources:
LinkedIn for Dummies. This is an actual book (not a website) written by Joel Elad. This will give you a good overview of the LinkedIn service. Note that the pictures of the interface are old, as LinkedIn is changing constantly and has added a few features since the book was published, but this is a good introduction, whether you read it before you sign up / use LinkedIn, or use it as a tutorial. This book is widely available, even at the library. To view the “Cheat Sheet” from the book, check out this link (http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/linkedin-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html).
How LinkedIn Works (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/networks/linkedin.htm) This website is a good tutorial website that outlines all of the different ways and reasons to use LinkedIn. If you wish to understand LinkedIn without signing up for it, this is a good resource.
LinkedIn Quick Start Tutorial by Patrick O’Malley (http://www.patrickomalley.com/linkedin-quick-start-tutorial.html). This is a blog article designed to get you started on LinkedIn within 15 minutes — a good article to use if you just want to get started as quickly as possible, and then learn as you go along.
I’m On LinkedIn – Now What??? (http://imonlinkedinnowwhat.com). This is both a blog and a book/DVD, written by Jason Alba. The blog is on a website, promoting Jason Alba’s books and services, but if you start at the oldest articles and read through to the newer articles, you will get good strategies for using LinkedIn.
The LinkedIn Personal Trainer (http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com). Similar to the previous resource, this is a blog by the author of a tutorial book on LinkedIn. The blog has a number of interesting tips/items for you and you should start at the oldest articles and read through to the newer articles on this blog as well.
Additional Resources:
Here is an article addressing the concerns of people who are currently working and may not wish their network or their current bosses to think that a LinkedIn profile automatically means they are looking for a job (LinkedIn can be a very useful tool for your current job and your current employer, if used properly): LinkedIn: Tips to Manage Employer Risk (http://www.boldcareer.com/blog/2008/7/7/linkedin-tips-to-manage-employer-risk.html).
LinkedIn Intelligence (http://www.linkedintelligence.com/) is an additional blog where you can get further information. There are numerous articles/opinions on using LinkedIn such as (http://designresumes.com/blog/2009/09/linkedin-or-linkedout/), (http://www.linkedintelligence.com/smart-ways-to-use-linkedin/). Explore, there is plenty of information out there.
LinkedIn has their own blog (http://blog.linkedin.com/), where new features and uses of LinkedIn are discussed. This is interesting to see the information behind the scenes.
As I come across useful articles on using LinkedIn for Career Management, I will post them onJobseekers.
If you have any questions, please contact 
Good luck .
Eric Finegan (courtesy of finegan.info)
Placement Chair
Interview problems can end your search for a job that you may be eligible for otherwise. Please review these articles to see if you can avoid problems with your upcoming interviews.
Why should you care if new employers want to check your background?
You should, since in our field in this area, it is very common. Government security clearances are often required for the jobs you are interviewing for, so an employment background check may be required. Employers may also want to make sure you are telling the truth on your resume/applications. Since potential applicants often “get creative” with their personal information, employers want to ensure that what they are being told is accurate. The employer may perform background checks to find out whether you actually graduated from the college you said you did or to confirm that you worked at your previous employer(s) during the times stated on your resume or your job application. Check out the articles below for some further information.
There are lots of questions that you may be asked within an interview. But, especially when jobs are scarce and ability for companies to remain in business can be more important than whether you can do the job or even like the new job, the types of questions you ask a potential employer can be even more important. Here a number articles that address the types of questions you should ask a company that you may be interested in working for.
Continue reading “Articles: Interviewing the Interviewers” »
The search for a job can be a stressful time. Depression, lack of confidence, despair are all feeling that can be a result. Here are a number of articles that can assist with how you handle the job search.
The title of this posting says it all. Many of us are not good at networking, here are some articles to help those of us who could use a little help.
With the economy the way it is, some advice specific to dealing with the situation may be useful. Hopefully, you will gain some useful information from these articles.
Continue reading “Articles: Job Searching in the Bad Economy” »
There are numerous articles written suggesting using resume writing services. JobSeekers has no opinion one way or another on the use of a resume writer, I imagine that there are many people out there who could use the assistance of a organization dedicated to writing resumes. Here are some articles that you can use when deciding to use these services.
When planning / preparing for your interview(s), a number of resources point to being prepared by having answers to a number of questions “ready” for the interviewer. As someone who has interviewed in the past, I have been skeptical of the “over-rehearsed” answer, but I believe that not having any answer for should have been a simple question is even worse. So, here are a number of articles that can help you withe the type of interview questions that you should be preparing for.
Continue reading “Articles: Interview Questions to be Prepared For” »
Once you have passed the interview, the negotiation for the salary and benefits phase of the job search begins. Here are a few articles to assist with the process.
Articles covering the Cover Letter. Lots of opinions on there on the “introduction to the resume”, hopefully leading to the resume being reviewed and then the interview.
Here are a number of articles that will provide you with some advice on what not to do when writing / creating your resume. Compare your current resume (you do have one, correct?) to the advice in these articles.
Continue reading “Articles: Things to Watch for on Your Resume” »
From ASQ News:
Career Development Tip: In the midst of the worst job market in three decades, you might think the only thing people care about when it comes to their career is having a job and keeping it. But according to MONEY and PayScale.com, people rated intellectual challenge, a passion for the work, and flexibility just as highly as security. Of the “The 50 Best Jobs in America ”, system engineer, quality control engineer, and quality assurance manager all ranked in the top 50.