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| Step up those skills while you are unemployed! |
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Out of work for months? Prevent your professional skills from atrophying by taking steps to brush up.
In July, five million people in the U.S. were considered long-term unemployed-meaning they had been jobless for 27 weeks or more. Career counselors say that as weeks turn into months, job-hunters need to polish and update their skills to stay current. They should look for ways to network while they do so, and avoid spending lots of money. "You want to get the biggest bang for your buck," says J.T. O'Donnell, a career coach in North Hampton, N.H.
Here are some strategies:
Stay connected to industry associations. Check out your membership rights with trade groups or unions. Many times, you can continue your membership for free or at a reduced rate if you're out of work. "That means you get booklets, magazines, all the information that will help keep you up to date with what's going on," says Gerry Crispin, co-founder CareerXroads, a Kendall Park, N.J., consulting firm that helps companies recruit.
Hit conferences. Attend industry or professional conferences by checking out association Web sites and groups on social media sites like Facebook. Often, associations will waive or reduce conference fees for members, or for those who are unemployed.
Join local interest groups. Local organizations like the chamber of commerce provide good networking opportunities and sometimes offer skills classes. Offer to help run the program committee, which sets the agenda for speakers and events. You'll get a say in who is invited and network with guests.
Take classes-in person. Taking an online class is easy, but it eliminates that face-to-face networking that often lands jobs and opens doors, says Ms. O'Donnell. "You need something where you physically show up," she says.
Consider entry-level coursework. One of Ms. O'Donnell's clients was laid off from a project management job in banking. He wanted to become a project manager at a software company, but didn't know the lingo. He took a basic Web design class; his younger classmates taught him industry terminology. "He came back so excited about learning a new industry and was much better prepared for interviews," she says.
Add advanced skills. Getting a certification can boost your resume. Auditing a high-level class at a local college can improve skills and help you keep up with new developments. Check colleges to see if they offer free or discounted rates for unemployed people.
See what training programs your state offers to the unemployed. New Jersey offers grants for non-degree business classes at Rutgers University as well as free community college classes if there are open seats.
In Michigan, the state's "No Worker Left Behind" program offers up to two years' worth of free tuition in the state university system for unemployed and underemployed workers.
Write about your industry and connect more online. Start a blog about your industry. Or find five people you always wanted to interview and write an article for a local publication or industry blog. That way you keep your name out there, make new connections and continue to learn, Ms. O'Donnell says. |
| Survival Tips for the Newly Unemployed |
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Thousands of jobs have already gone poof! this year, and more layoffs are announced each week. So what's a victim of this economic slowdown to do in these humbling times?
First, face facts. Take a close look at the diminishing ranks and you will see, with some minor exceptions, that very few laid off were from the ranks known as the 'seasoned pros', those with the full complement of general experience. More likely they were the newly hired or those who have bounced from fire to fire looking for more bucks and not understanding that the whole enterprise would be burning down.
Was it naive for you to leap from job to job despite the fact that it so often lead to a dead end? Not really. The truth is that the best careers are often forged on diverse experience.
But you do need to take stock of what you've learned. Start by answering (honestly) these questions:
1. What were your accomplishments? It is one thing to list a bunch of duties from your previous positions but isn't everyone responsible for completing the elements of their job description? If you not only fulfilled the duties but made measurable accomplishments along the way, these need to be stressed in your resume.
2. Are you ready to take a step down? Sometimes your best career move may be a step down. While taking a step down from a previously lofty perch can be tough, a move into a lesser role will let you apply your skills and knowledge to more minor dilemmas where you can build on smaller successes and test out new strategies. A step down cal let you grow in new ways.
3. Is it time to change career direction? You may have found yourself in a career not of your choosing. How many of us actually become what we wanted to be when we were in grade school (or even when we were in college)? Often we end up where we are by accident. Now that you are faced with being unemployed, isn't this an opportunity to really think about what you would like to do? It is possible that your career could rise from the ashes of unemployment and soar to new heights in a completely different direction.
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| We Know It's Tough Out There! |
September 20, 2009 |
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Hello Everyone~
Welcome to all our new readers this week. Well over 100,000 people are reading this free weekly job transition newsletter! That is amazing and we thank those who write to tell us how much you appreciate the information and ideas in each newsletter.
In our staff meeting this past week all the coaches agreed that one of the issue our clients talk about the most is this whole business of using social networks to job search. Our clients have one week where we focus their job search on using social networking. We welcome everyone to visit our blog which is attached to our web site www.jacksonlifecoaching.com . You can find the blog in the upper left hand corner of the website. In our blog you can find very helpful information regarding how to use social networks in your job search, so be sure to vist the blog frequently. A new social network was opened this past week http://careerseasons.blogs.mu/jacksoncareerlifecoaching and we encourage you to participate. Of course you will find our firm blogging away there too!
Remember that our "pay it forward" program of providing a free resume review and 15 minute coaching session is still open to everyone! Just send your resume to mjackson@jacksonlifecoaching.com and one of our coaches will set up a no sales pitch session with you.
Be well~
Mikal Jackson
SKYPE: Mikal Jackson
YAHOO: Mikalj69
AIM: HRmikal1
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| How To Handle Gaps In Your Resume |
It might be helpful to know our perspective: Resumes, not candidates, get chosen for the "to be interviewed" list. In a perfect world candidates would be selected based on their strengths and experiences. In reality, this isn't how the process works. A recruiter chooses the short list of candidates from a pile of resumes. Said another way, your resume will determine a employer's course of action long before you get a chance to explain the time gaps on your resume.
Here are a few ways to address gaps on your resume:
Short Time Gaps (2-6 months): Most often time gaps like this are related to periods of unemployment. Many candidates attempt to "fix" this through deception, either through stretching their previous employment period, or making up a fictitious consulting arrangement. We're not fans of this approach. While it might get your resume an extra look, it will almost always result in you being eliminated when you are found out by the employer, either in the interview or the reference check.
Honesty is the better approach. In most instances we recommend a resume entry that states why you left the previous company (e.g. Company experienced financial hardship which resulted in the marketing department being reduced by 80%) and how you spent your time during the gap (e.g. During my extended job search I volunteered at a local homeless shelter and took online courses in Web marketing). These tactics can help you overcome the biases that you were terminated for performance, or that you weren't a motivated job seeker.
Long Time Gaps (6+ months): These come in two flavors, either because you've had significant difficulty in finding a job, or perhaps you are reentering the workforce after a sabbatical. Again, we recommend detailing the reasons for your sabbatical, as well as what you were doing during your time off.
The bias you are trying to overcome is one where the employer imagines that you've interviewed at a large number of employers, and you're been consistently rejected (thus, why should I bother?). There's nothing wrong with saying you were taking care of your kids, volunteering at your church, or getting additional education - all are better than allowing a recruiter to draw her own conclusions based on bias. I once saw a resume that had an entry that said:
May 2001-April 2002: Prosperity Break
After 15 years in the workforce I decided to pursue my dream of traveling the world. My wife and I purchased a used sail boat and traveled throughout the southern hemisphere while home schooling our children.
Not only did this entry catch my attention, it made me want to interview this courageous and motivated person who seemed to have a good perspective on life balance.
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Be Real Before Being Virtual! |
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Before you promote your personal brand on the Web, do some strategizing about what you want that brand to represent.
To those of you who are starting to build your brand now, the Web seems like an easy place to gain instant visibility. There are lots of consultants out there touting the Web as the exclusive personal-branding tool and recommending that you get as much content as you can online - as fast as you can.
But before building an online presence, you need to know who you are, what differentiates you from your peers and what makes you compelling to people who are making decisions about you.
Here's the No. 1 rule to remember: Branding is based on authenticity.
Just as Volvo knows that its promise of safety separates it from other automotive companies, you too need to know how to position yourself and ensure your virtual brand is in line with who you are in the real world.
Where to start
Corporate-branding projects begin with research, and so must yours. Be clear, constant and consistent in your messaging. Get as much input as you can before building your personal brand online. To do this, ask those around you for feedback ; review past performance evaluations, implement personal assessments, like StrengthsFinder ™; and use tools like 360Reach™ to uncover the brand called you. You must know how the following brand attributes relate to you before embarking on a virtual branding plan:
Rational factors
What makes you credible?
Emotional factors
Which personality characteristics make you interesting and attractive to others? Then you can write your personal brand statement, and post it somewhere where you will see it every day as a reminder of your unique promise of value.
Connect real with virtual
Like other technological advances, the Internet didn't eliminate everything that came before it. Just as radio didn't replace newspapers and television didn't replace radio, the Web is no substitute for building relationships in the real world. You still need to show up at those networking functions and make sure people see you and the value you are delivering throughout the office. The World Wide Web offers another route to enhance your brand.
In fact, you need to think about how to augment your real-world branding activities online.
If, for example, you're delivering a presentation to your local American Marketing Association chapter - a great personal-branding activity on its own - you need to think of ways to deliver value to other colleagues and contacts who cannot be there in person. You can get video clips of your talk and post them on YouTube ; upload your slides to SlideRocket ; use free press-release search engines to announce the event; and use Twitter to share updates before, during and after the event.
In the end, just be yourself. It's easy to start diluting your online presence with tools and lose your consistent message. Concentrate on highlighting your natural strengths and use the Web as one of many tools in your job-search arsenal.
By William Arruda
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We produce this free newsletter each week because we do care  about those who have been effected by this reccession. Feel free to contact us with a question or comment about our newsletter. Our coaching practice will always welcome you should you feel coaching would help in your job search. Our rates and our time with you are well worth the investment. Remember we offer a free session that will allow you to know if coaching would help you sharpen your job search.
You can normally find one of us in the chat room located on our website in the upper right hand corner. Join us there and feel free to talk about whatever you want!
We know you will be working again soon!
Mikal, Patrick, Alisa, Liz, and Berry
JLC Team
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