The 10 Struggles That All Job Seekers Will Be Able to Relate to

The 10 Struggles That All Job Seekers Will Be Able to Relate to If youve been on the market for a new job recently, youll know the struggle really is real! From countless applications, to waiting a year and day to hear back after a job interview,  job hunting can be a pretty discouraging experience. There are moments when you feel like giving up (probably whilst completing job application number 63), but with a bit of perseverance your time will come! If your job search has left you feeling slightly maddened, remember youre not alone and we understand! Here are 10 struggles that every job seeker will be able to relate to: 1) Needing experience.to get experience. job search logic: u need experience in order to get experience bless (@saintebless) March 17, 2016 2) Waiting to hear back after an interview Waiting to hear back after an interview should be regarded as a form of torture Hannah (@hannahcarbis) February 25, 2016 3) Adding a job to your Christmas list. All I want for Christmas is a JOB!!! ??#JobsearchProblems Tejaswi Materla, Ph.D. (@TJMaterla) December 24, 2014  4) Unwanted reminders about how badly your job hunt is going. https://twitter.com/HeyJacklynn/status/557640396214657024 5) Job applications as long as the Nile. Job application so long I forgot what the position was by the time I finished. Ashley Victoria (@Ash_Victoria_) March 6, 2016 6) Contradictory  employers. How does an entry level engineering job require 10 years of experience?#jobsearchproblems Andrew Collins (@andrewcollins08) October 9, 2015 7) Its not what you know, its who you know. https://twitter.com/chelsss04_/status/706740537605271552 8) Tailoring your applications. Its 2:42am. I guess its time to call it a night on resume tweaking cover letter writing. #JobSearchStruggle #SomeoneHireMePlease #SAgrad Marissa Steimel (@masteimel) March 14, 2016 9) Not hearing back from companies How do you get professional experience when no one will call you back? #justgivemeachance #gottagetexperience #jobsearchstruggle Kelsey Burry (@burry_kelsey) May 28, 2015 10)  Job rejections. A job i applied for about 5 months ago just sent me a rejection email ?? Kate ? (@kilgrrave) March 12, 2016 Top Image: Shutterstock

The Art of Creating Change (According to a Bald Guy)

The Art of Creating Change (According to a Bald Guy) Often when I am in need of inspiration I head over to TED to see what interesting things I can learn about the world today. Recently, on one such visit I came across a video by Seth Godin called The Tribes We Lead.   It was a fresh look back on change, leadership and networking that I thought would make for an excellent discussion here on the blog. The History of Making Changes Seth Godin starts by giving a brief history of how changes were brought to pass starting from the industrial age to modern times. The Factories Henry Ford was an innovator for change at his time.   He took men who were paid 5o cents a day and put them in his factories where he could pay them 5 dollars a day.   They were able to make a ton of cars, which led to loads of roads, and then hundreds of other factories which could also produce more change. However, since this model simply consisted of labor and machines, the only way to scale it was to find cheaper labor and faster machines.   Both of which we are running out of today. TV Advertising So we eventually move into advertising.   Take a good idea and push it out to as many people as you can.   Take the money you earn from profits and invest it into pushing out more advertising.   Money was what drove this model. It used to be that if you spammed out your products, candidates, or services often and wide enough you could cause a great amount of change. But unfortunately, advertising isnt working as great today.   The problem with this model was it made the advertisers the King, while all of us peons were subject to listening and viewing their message whether we liked it or not. Everything came from the top down.   No discussions or way to tell the advertisers we were not interested. Tribes So if factories and advertising are models of the past, what is causing change today?   Seth Godin calls it Tribes. We are actually going back to our most primitive nature of influencing others by connecting people with ideas through leadership. We already have spiritual tribes, work tribes, and community tribes, but now with the internet and social tools, we can see countless other tribes. Theres the sports tribes who participate in fantasy leagues and comment on the latest games.   There are the cos-players who dress up as fantasy characters as they attend conventions.   Theres Russian folk dancer tribes that perform exotic works of art. Basically, no matter how niche your hobby or talent, you can now find a tribe for it. Why Tribes? The difference between Tribes and the Factory or Advertiser models before them is that Tribes formed because we wanted to be a part of them. Ideas spread inside the tribe organically instead of being forced.   The internet encourages Tribes to grow and does so cheaply.   You didnt have to have faster machines, cheaper labor, or money to influence change.   Just a computer and internet connection. Are You a Chief? Many of us are chiefs of a tribe as well.   Maybe you have your own blog.   Maybe you manage a team.   Maybe you run a club. Seth Godin gave three questions to ask yourself. 1.   Who Are You Upsetting? Why would you want to upset anyone?   You would if you wanted to change the status-qua.   Martin Luther King Jr, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln all upset thousands of people.   Was the change worth it?   I think so. 2.   Who Are You Connecting? This is important because many times people are involved with making a difference because of the people they are connecting with.   Whether they can change the world or not, they want to come away having made connections with other people who also wanted the same changes. 3.   Who Are You Leading? Many times we can get caught in the mechanics of making a difference that we forget who it is we are actually leading. People are what really matter.   The process for how the change will occur happens after youve built your leadership around your followers. How Can We Be Better Chiefs? Everyone of us is a chief in one way or another, even if its chief of our family. I think the lesson I learned from this is to allow communication from all members of the tribe.   Encourage ideas and innovation within the tribe.   Give each individual power to make a difference. I think of each of you as part of our Balanced WorkLife Tribe.   We want to help each other grow in our professions and enjoy the journey along the way. Thats why I encourage guest posts, comments, and connecting.   What I post here is a small portion of the value the rest of the tribe brings. Do you see tribes as the new way of causing change?   What makes a good chief in your eyes? image courtesy of joi and nkakouros

What To Do If You Hate Your Job - VocationVillage

What To Do If You Hate Your Job - VocationVillage Dear Dr. Civitelli,I am a middle-aged accounting professional who was just laid off from my Fortune 100 job. I don’t miss my job because I hated it, but now I have to decide what to do.The main benefit of my lucrative job was that it helped me pay for art school. My true love is theater crafting. Throughout my career, I’ve alternated between working in finance to pay the bills, and making sculptural items for costumes: accessories, masks, armor, hats, bags, shoes, fantasy character heads, etc. Theater is my true love in life. While it can be very stressful and deadline-driven, theater delights me and lets me focus on and use the skills I most enjoy. I love color, texture, form, and bringing someone’s vision to reality.All of the job counselors I’ve consulted say that because of my age and how well I am paid as an accountant, I should continue in it. This, to me, feels like both an expected response and a death sentence. I am NOT a detail-oriented or linear person by nature. I m holistic. Conceptual thinking is what I know I excel at â€" and doing quantitative work has always meant putting in extra effort just to turn myself into someone I am not â€" someone who does tedious bean counting â€" every day. I should really get an Oscar â€" I’ve been faking it really well for years. But it’s starting to take a toll on my mental health. I even went to a psychologist for advice, and she diagnosed that I was getting to where it might be considered medical depression. This terrified me. I’ve only ever been a person who was in the wrong career, not a sick person!My question is: Do I go on with this craziness? How long does one do this “quiet desperation” thing? Yet how else can I financially stay afloat? I feel like I have no answers. My husband and I are childless, so we are pretty much able to replant where necessary now that my job has ended (my job pays better than his). My friends from my art career all live in Seattle, where I would like to return. So I am looking in a B-level city, not an A-level city like San Francisco or New York. Do I go with an A-level city and live without my close friends for another 10 years? Will I survive that kind of isolation?Ideas? I’m stuck. I’ve looked at what other areas I might be good at that might utilize my skills, but it seems they all require a related Master’s degree â€" I have a BFA. I feel certain that I’m a good writer, for example, but have no credentials that sort of thing. I can’t even teach art! I can’t afford to go back to school, and it doesn’t seem to make sense at my age. Advice?Signed, Quietly DesperateDear Quietly Desperate,When I read your question, I immediately thought of my friend and colleague, Ken Mattsson, because he works so frequently with creative clients. I sent him your question and here is his response:My first thought upon reading your letter was the quote, What happens to a dream deferred? It certainly seems that you are very clear that you have been heading down a path that has definitely had a mental (if not physical and relationship) toll on your life. One of the things that I tend to say to any client Ive had who has been laid off is Congratulations! Nine times out of ten, the response I get is, I know, I feel the same way.Yours is quite a complex matter, but here are some initial thoughts:1. You need to take care of your health first. If you know that this is absolutely the wrong place for you and makes you just crazy, then you dont need to keep doing it. Im reminded of the joke, Whats the best part of hitting your head against the wall? Answer : It feels so good when you stop. It sounds like your better judgment (and youve known this for a long time) is that this job and working environment are not what serves you. Listen to your inner wisdom.2. Given that you need to look at other options, you need to have a hard look at what role your employment plays in your life. While youve been well compensated in the past for your work, you probably wont be in the same position in whatever role you take, at least not in the short-term. You were in the rarefied air of a very financially lucrative industry. Now that youre in a different mental place and are realizing your values, you need to find a place that is more in line with those values. This will require some deep conversations with your spouse about quality of life and what is really important to you. If you want to go to Seattle, check out the reality of the costs of living there and how much you might downsize if that works for you.3. The big question is: So what do I do fo r a job? When I work with clients, it can take awhile to figure this one out. Your career is usually a combination of the environment in which you work, and the particular tasks (and job title connected to those tasks). I recommend that you first think about the environments/industries where youd feel comfortable and then look to see what needs are there that you could fill. Most people do this in the opposite order, and it only gets them into trouble. I would also look at some of the skill sets that you like to use and see what other positions utilize the same skills. A lot of artistic people think all you can do is teach art, but there are other options for doing things that are creative it just takes research to find these options.When choosing a career, most people do what I call The Foxhole Method of Career Development, where people fall into a position (foxhole) and they feel relieved at first that they dont have to look anymore. But, sooner or later, the foxhole feels cold, dark, and damp, so they jump into a new foxhole without assessing the goodness of fit and after awhile, that position feels awful, too.What I recommend instead is a three part career development process where you ask these questions: Where am I? Where do I want to go? How do I get from where I am to where I want to go?Dr. Civitelli and I believe that people often give up on changing careers when the reality is that small steps can add up to big changes. We live in a time now when someone can become an expert in something just because they started a blog about it, independent of formal education. People earn a living selling all sorts of things online. Many customers/clients have more money than time and will happily pay others to organize, teach, facilitate, and manage. If you love bringing someone’s vision to reality, there should be ways to build a career around that.4. Rather than struggle alone, I recommend that you work with a career consultant who has your best interests in mind and listens to what you think of as success. While you might have been a success in the financial field, it certainly sounds like it wasnt successful for your life. Career consultants help clients to align their work and life. What feels overwhelming and impossible in isolation becomes much more attainable when you have professional support and structure.I hope this helps. Keep the faith.Career Consultant and Educator Ken Mattsson offers free 15 minute consultations to assess whether hiring him would be helpful. Please visit Resonare Consulting for more information.

Resilience is the key to career success

Resilience is the key to career success Successful people dont sidestep failure; they accommodate it, cope with it and move on. Thats not to say you shouldnt nurse your bruised ego and retreat for a few days but dont allow failure or rejection to define you.Give yourself a little time to mourn what might have been but then make a conscious decision to move forward. Resilience, not resignation, is the key to career success. Know when to let go Now, Im the first to concede this is easier said than done its perfectly natural to have a powerful negative response to disappointment, failure or rejection. Allow yourself to feel it, own and even wallow in it.for a short while. But investing all your emotional energy in feeling bitter or resentful robs you of the impetus to keep moving.  Its very easy to slide into why me? rather than take the counter-view, why not? Don’t waste time worrying about your peers or friends: comparing yourself to others can often lead to inertia. Luck and talent are not evenly distributed and bemoaning what you haven’t got or can’t do, will not move you any closer to achieving your goals. Take control You might think this is an inherent contradiction, but its just the flip side to letting go. Resilient people have an acute sense of their own agency and know precisely what they can and cant control. Accepting the inevitably of external factors, doesn’t make you a passive bystander in your own fate. There are plenty of things you can do to put yourself back in the driving seat, whether it’s getting your applications checked, arranging some interview practice or building a knock-out LinkedIn profile. Invest in yourself as a person, not just a job-seeker, and find ways to  build your self-confidence. Dont let circumstances define you, so if youre stuck in a stop-gap job (and most of us have been there) then think of other ways to keep on track. Take the opportunity to learn a new skill not only will you feel a sense of accomplishment but it could also boost your job prospects. Keep a sense of perspective This advice can be really ill-considered and ill-timed. You’ve only got to spend a few minutes on Twitter to see the power of the #firstworldproblems hashtag to belittle, demean and close down debate. Finding a sense of perspective doesn’t mean making crude comparisons between global poverty and job search woes. You have a legitimate right to feel frustrated, so ignore people who try to trivialise your concerns. Adding guilt to anxiety is a recipe for disaster! What I’m suggesting is a more balanced, relative approach. Its understanding that 50 job applications and 2 interviews is actually a pretty good ratio. Or recognising the need to have a plan B, C and D. Cultivate your relationships Theres no way to future-proof yourself from failure or disappointment, but a strong social network can help you through the tough times. You dont need to have a cast of thousands to see the benefits:  a few good friends, or close family members can make all the difference. Avoid toxic friends who take pleasure in your misfortune and try to establish mutually supportive relationships. Talk to people you trust and ask for their perspective on your current situation. Its tempting to become immersed in your own reality, but sometimes we need people to challenge and question our understanding of events. And remember, altruistic behaviour can be a great way to bolster your self-esteem and self-confidence, so take time out to consider how YOU can help others. Its not a one-way street. Learn from failure If youve led a relatively charmed life untouched by failure or rejection, dipping your toe into the murky waters of graduate job hunting can come as a shock. Its inevitable youll hear a good few nos along the way, and the first one probably hurts that little bit more.  You can mitigate the negative impact by using the experience to learn and grow. I doubt there are many people who succeed first time, but what separates the successful from the also-rans is attitude. So, it didn’t work out what have you learnt? What will you do differently? What’s changed? Take every opportunity you can to solicit feedback and use this to refine your strategy and hone your technique. You may run into a brick wall occasionally but don’t let this deter you from asking next time.  And if you still need convincing, try this quote from Samuel Beckett: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again.  Fail better

Writing About My Work History in My Resume

Writing About My Work History in My ResumeWhen writing about my work history in my resume what should I put if I have a job? There are many things that you could put into your information that would let the human resource department of the company you are looking for know what you can do. You could use your job title, your job description, or even a little bit of some other thing you could say that would give your resume a better chance at being seen and read by someone.One thing that you might want to add is the full description of the job you are applying for. Don't include the job title on the first page. The important thing here is to get a little description of the job and what you would do and how you would perform that job. What are the tasks that you will be performing?Next, writing about your experience in writing documents. That means that you would have to have a written document that you would need to have signed off on before you could perform any type of assignment. Do this regardless of what type of writing you will be doing. If you are going to be working with people who are going to be reading your writing then make sure that they are going to understand what you are saying. Make sure that you know how to use the correct spellings and grammar so that you do not cause the document to fail.After you have actually written a certain number of words on the paper for the document that you are going to be writing, ask someone to proofread it for you so that you do not get it wrong. Having somebody to help you with this is always a good idea. This is going to save you a lot of time and you could do a lot more to improve the document that you have already written.Also, consider having your writing reviewed by another person. Ask this person to read the document aloud to you and make sure that you are getting the points that you want to make across. Another thing that you could do is to hire a ghost writer. A ghost writer can help you write documents and even complete applications that you need done.Writing is something that a lot of people have trouble with. They write something and then they need to proofread it and fix all the mistakes that they see. They may not see everything that they wrote, but they can always get to the point that they need to get to and just cut and paste the pieces that they need and eliminate the other parts.Another thing that you should do when writing about your work history in your resume is to make sure that you proofread each and every piece of writing that you do. The main thing that you should be checking on is the spelling and grammar. If you are going to be using a pen name, make sure that you make it as clear as possible as to who you are. In addition, make sure that the document is perfect and that everything that you write is precise.There are many things that you can do when writing about your work history in your resume. These are just a few ideas that you should consider. Remember that a r esume is a tool that you use to help you find a job and if you make sure that you take your time and write well then you will be able to impress the human resource departments of the company that you are looking for and get the job that you want.

Get Hired! What Everyone Wants Is A Good Job

Get Hired! What Everyone Wants Is A Good Job 39 Flares 39 Flares Tony Morrison  is the Vice President of  Business  Development  at  Cachinko,  a unique professional community where social networking and job opportunities come together.  His roles include sales, marketing, and business development. He brings passion to Cachinko where he focuses on helping job seekers to find their ideal job and employers to find, attract, and engage their next rock star candidates. Find him on  Twitter  and  Talent Connection. And, connect with Cachinko  on  Facebook  or  Twitter. With so many different tools and strategies to utilize, the job search can become a blur. Because of this, you may be neglecting the most tried and true method of advancing your search: networking. ?Networking is a beautiful thing â€" it introduces you to new connections, helps to maintain current ones, and reveals opportunities to start, develop, and advance your career. It doesn’t even require a whole lot of effort once  you’ve become good at it. One of the best things for your job hunt that can come from networking, however, is a  referral. Are you talking to people in your profession and  asking about opportunities with employers that interest you?  ? Referral vs. Reference Let’s clear this one up before we go any further. While a reference is contacted by the hiring manager and testifies on your past performance as requested, a referral is more of a current endorsement by an insider for the position you want. Referrals may even be more essential than stellar reference for landing a job â€"  over half of all job seekers have been hired through a friend’s referral at some point in their career. Keep On Networking Employees will give referrals to individuals that they know personally. You’re best bet is to keep networking through the people you know and trust to establish mutually beneficial connections. When you can, pay it forward by  providing advice, sharing knowledge, and even offering a referral for  a fellow job seeker â€" that way, when a position  relevant to your career progression  comes their way, they will think of you first. How To Ask Let’s say you find a position at a company and see that you have a? strong networking contact there â€" how do you ask for their referral? No matter how well you may know the contact, it’s best to ask in a way where they could opt out if they’re not comfortable passing your name along. Say something to the effect of  Do you feel you know my work well enough to refer me for a job at your company? Referrals are the highest rated source of candidate quality  â€" hiring managers are more likely to take them into serious consideration and possibly make you a top candidate for the job. What do you think?  Have you ever received a referral for a position or given one for a candidate?  Do you agree that they are important in the job search?  Share your thoughts below!

THE Reason to use Chronological Resume

THE Reason to use Chronological Resume Sure, there are 3 resume formats, Download Chronological Template , Download Functional template , and Download Hybrid template , which should you use? The answer is simple, the Chronological. (I will write about the other 2 later this weekstay tuned) The reason- it is the format employerslike to see. So give it to them. Why does the employer like to see your work history? They are looking to see: Is your last job the same as the position they want to hire for? Is the work history solid, without glaring gaps? Is the experience similar to what they need? It is your job as the author of this resume to ensure that the information YOU provide is valuable to the reader, first and foremost. What if your last job was similar, yet not exactly the same as what you are applying for? Make it look similar without lying, of course. Could you re-title yourself, using a title that is more universally understood? Could you only mention the details of the job that DO match, omitting those that are unrelated or superfluous? What if there is a gap in my work history? How bigis the gap? We are only going to use starting and ending years. Lose the detail of months in listing your work history. If it is under a year, you probably dont need to worry about it on the resume, but have a good story to tell in the interview. What you did to professionally develop yourself during the gap? Did you volunteer, take a class, join a group? Dont think in terms of money making jobs, but in terms of life experience. List it as if it were a paying job and change the heading for this section to EXPERIENCE (you cant call it work or professional, because that would be a lie). What if I just graduated? Show any internships/work-study/projects as EXPERIENCE. Dont divulge on the resume that this was unpaid or through school because it loses credibility in the eyes of the employer. Use the job title that would be used ifyou were being paid. What if Ive only had one job? If you mean you have only worked for one company for more than 6-10 years, that isnt one jobthats lots of different jobs and assignments. Break it down into chunks of work based on projects or departments. Help the reader see yourability to grow and learn new things by showing them your progress. I might be overqualified for the job? If you are thinking this, then it probably is true. Why are you applying for a job you are overqualified for? The answer to this question should be a good one. If the answer is, its the only job I can findthats not good, but apply anyway. Your resume only needs to address that you have the qualifications to do the job, it doesnt have to list your first job ever. Go back 10-15 years max. Sure youve done some great things long ago, but how relevant are they today to the employer if you havent used those skills in a long time? Is it really like riding a bike? The employers may not think so. In todays job market, the employer can get almost exactly what they want (meaning current experience) at a lower cost. Think Supply and Demand. Instead of dumping information on the page and calling it a resume, craft a marketing piece for you as the solution to their needs. Here are some reminders about what a resume should be: The resume needs to be well thought out and have a disciplined focus. The resumeis a response to the needs stated in a job posting. The resume is the vehicle which generates the phone call to discuss your background. It doesnt get you the job. I promise, I will discuss the other 2 formats of resumes later this week. You need to use logic to write your resume. Understand what the employer needs and write your resume to those needs.