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This WEB 2.0 Platform is one of the best ways to share information, ideas and network in a professional forum. Find out more by listening to the pod cast on Kare Anderson’s blog. If you are not familiar with LinkedIn or have not had the opportunity to use it to the best potential, then I urge you to check out this podcast. Then go in and register for your own LinkedIn account. It is free and a number of employers have exclusive job listings on LinkedIn. Don’t be left out, check out LinkedIn and develop your professional relationships. To hear the podcast click here

Do you want to get a new job with a progressive company but the running around is time consuming and gas prices have got you down? Well the Wall Street Journal has got the answer: A Virtual Career Fair. You have never had an opportunity to get a job interview this easy. You will get immediate access to the decision makers who can hire you without traveling any further than you have already (Your Computer), no gas required.
At the Wall Street Journal Virtual Career Fair you can: (more…)

The Wall Street Journal is sponsoring a virtual career fair for candidates and recruiters live on April 1 from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Registration is free for candidates and allows the potential employees and future employers to meet in an interactive online environment that offers all of the features of a physical job fair with out any of the hassles. This Virtual Career Fair will provide you immediate access to decision makers who can hire you. All you need is your trusty computer to explore career opportunities, drop off a virtual business card and resume, interview by live chat with company representatives and more. You can even take a tour of the show floor online.

This is no April fool joke but rather an opportunity to get your career moving in the right direction during the month of April. If you miss the April 1st date do not worry, the virtual career center will be available for the entire month of April. Why wait, just click the link to check it out. Who knows, you might find your next employer online through this virtual career fair. All the best to you in your search for your next dream job, please feel free to call the phone number of my feedback line if you found this information helpful please leave an audio comment at the following number: 1-214-615-6505, ext. 9819 we would love to hear from you.

You may have heard a lot about various social networking sites on the internet. A number of these sites allow you to develop a network of people you know. Linked In is a social networking site with a job related focus. It is a place where you can market yourself to prospective business clients and employers. The advantage to using Linked In is the power of networking in an electronic environment. The hidden value of using this network is the common bond that we share between people we know that know each other.

Each person in your network has people that they know in their network. Some of these people you both may know and will be common in the network you share and others will be individuals exclusive to each of you. Linked In uses this knowledge to allow you to contact a person who you do not know in your friend’s network who may work at a potential future employer or may be a future business prospect. The person who knows you can offer an introduction to the person they know that you would like to meet. This person will be more open to communicating with you since they know the person that introduced you.

Sounds simple and it really is that easy to use. I found a great instructional video on Linked In and how to use it. You can watch it by clicking this link. Best of luck to you in your campaign to market yourself and happy networking on Linked In.

Why do they call it loosing your job? You know where it is and so do they, but they just asked you not to come there anymore. What do you do? You have become use to coming in and doing your tasks at this same location for a number of years, and now you feel like you have no where to go. That is where you are wrong. You are talented and have a number of skills to offer your next employer.

The first thing you must do is get rid of the defeated mentality that you might have picked up when they let you go. I like to saying, “Let you go” because it gives you the notion that you can move forward to new opportunities. There may be a better job out there for you than the one you just had. But you will never know unless you go out there and find it.

Stop holding yourself back, get out there and start networking. You have to let your friends, and people you meet know what type of opportunity you are looking. This is where your 30 second promotional pitch comes in. Some people call this an elevator speech because you must get the person you are speaking with interested in what you have to say and able to remember it in about 30 seconds. We will discuss this more in depth in future posts.

Remember, do not be discouraged. You have been let go for a reason, and that is to find a more fulfilling position that will allow you to use your talents and gifts, providing you the opportunity for you to be more passionate about your job. It is this passion that you have which will fuel your desire to be the best you can be, and everyone in your presence will know it. If you are looking to find your passion at work I would recommend signing up for the monthly newsletter at: http://www.findyourniche.info/ by clicking this link. You might have lost your job, but now you can find your passion.

It is a new year and it is time to review your career goals. Are you satisfied with your current position? Do you think you would like to do more at work or try something new? These are good questions to ask yourself when thinking about the future of your career.

Sometimes we become too comfortable with where we are in our lives to take the time to prepare for the future. Taking the time to prepare for the future is what all successful executives and business leaders do, and you should too. It is not hard, but it will require that you set time aside to complete the task. If you are like me with a number of competing priorities you may find it easier to schedule the time on your calendar to work on your career goals. This is not something that you would want to put off, because the benefit of this type of self evaluation can be almost immediate.

For example, you would like to obtain a higher salary in the organization or industry that you are working for, but you realize that you need to obtain a certification as a requirement of this job. By doing your self assessment now you may be able to find an opening in the class that you need to take before the end of this month. If you procrastinate you might have to wait until June or September for the same class to be offered.

I recommend reading the book, “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Dr. Spencer Johnson. In this short story you will obtain insight why you should not become complacent in your job or career and be in constant pursuit preparing for your next job opportunity. You will find a link to this and other valuable resources on my suggested reading page. Schedule the time this week to review your career goals; you’ll be glad that you did.

Job seekers in today’s market believe that personality and management style of their supervisor is more important than money. Don’t get me wrong. Money is important, it pays the bills and feeds the children but today’s job seeker is interested in the quality of their work life. Think about it, you spend a least one third of your weekday life at work. The relationship that you have with your supervisor is one of the keys to your success at work.

Establishing a good work relationship with your supervisor is very important. How can you do this by finding out their top 5 strengths? The Gallup Management Group has a book they recommend called “Now Discover Your Strengths”. I friend of mine who is a world traveler and international speaker give me this book as a gift and it helped change my life. By reading it I gained insight into who I was and how I thought. More importantly I learned how to play to the strengths of people around me. I recommend that you read this book.

When you go on an interview mention the book in conversation and see if your potential boss is aware of it. If they are not you they may realize the value that you would be bringing to their organization and if they are ask them to share their top 5 strengths with you. This will provide you with insight to how your potential boss looks at solving problems. Sharing your top 5 will do the same for them. At the heart of this encounter is establishing a relationship during the interview.

You can read more about what current job seekers prefer in this article from the Gallup Management Journal by clicking here. You can also order your copy of “Now Discover Your Strengths” and have it delivered directly to your home. Discover your strengths and become a better interviewer. It is more important than money.

Everyone who plans to be successful in doing anything establishes a system to make it happen. You need to do the same for your job search. One of the first things you need will be an agent. Yes, you can have your own personal job search agent that will work for you when you are sleeping identifying potential positions of interest to you. All you have to do is go to a job board, like Monster.com and set up your agent. You tell the agent what you are specifically looking for in a position, location, title, type of job, then how often you would like to receive notices of the vacant positions. When you get up the following day and check your computer you will find that the agent has delivered to your e mail a number of potential job offers. Depending on the response you receive you can make adjustments to your agent to provide you with a broader or more tailored response. The choice is yours.

Getting an agent and setting it up is absolutely free and is one of the best ways of reducing your time hunting on job boards for positions that appeal to you. You can learn more about this and other tips to help you establish a job search system by clicking this link. Remember, you are hunting for your dream job, and it is smart to maximize your time developing and working a productive job search system.

Have you been on your job for 10 years or more? Have you received regular increases in salary annually? You know what you are currently getting paid but is you salary keeping pace with other available jobs in the market? These are three important questions that you need to know the answer to, especially if you are job hunting. The best way to get the answer is to click this link. It will take you to an article on Salary.com that will help walk you through the process. It will take a little time to complete but the reward will be well worth it. The goal is to get your dream job at the best salary possible. We can do it, just take the time.

Are you in a job that is not fulfilling to you? Do you hate going to work and dread Monday mornings? Are you tired of the weekly routine and looking for a change? Well if you have answered yes to any of these questions then you need to start looking for a new job. Your job should be rewarding and something that brings you a sense of satisfaction daily. Well at least most days (smile). So how do you find out what type of job you should be doing? You can discover your perfect career by taking this short quiz. This quiz is quick, easy and best of all free. It is based on the Myers Briggs personality Type indicators which are used world wide to help individuals focus their career energies in a direction that is self fulfilling. Do you want a self fulfilling career? Then I recommend that you take this short quiz and open the doors of enlightenment for yourself.

How aware are you about yourself? Are you comfortable speaking to others about your likes and dislikes in a professional manner? If your answer is not comfortable or you are not really sure then you may be interested in taking this self awareness test that I found. It is free and I believe you with find it informative and insightful. Remember, you are pursuing the job of your dreams and every tip and advantage that you can use will help. Just click here to take the quiz; you will be glad that you did.

Many people over look the importance of the format of the resume. Next to including key words in a resume the format is the second most important aspect of your resume. In a previous post (Resume Format – What’s The Objective) I described the need for you to use a professional profile and the title of the position that you are applying to, as opposed to an objective for the job you are seeking. Remember your resume is prime real estate and you want to capture the reader’s attention and encourage them to read more.

Starting at the top of the page you should place your name, e mail and telephone number centered with a line for each item so that is looks like a block. Under this block place the name of the position you are applying for. Skip a line and place your professional profile under the job title. Next center the heading “Professional Experience”, all of your work experience will fall under this heading. Each position that you have held should appear on your resume in reverse chronological order, starting with your current or most recent job.

Each job that you have held should include the name of the employer, the city and state of the employer all on the same line. On the following line place the job title that you held and your years of service, if you currently hold this position then include the month and year you started followed by a dash and the word “Present”. This will inform the reader that you currently hold this position. Give a brief description of this position, followed by Result Oriented Communication (ROC). I will discuss the importance of ROC in a future post.

If you have to use additional pages for your resume include just your name, phone number and the page number of total pages as a heading at the top of any additional pages. This will allow the reader to know how many pages to look for, identify the page as yours and allow the reader to contact you if the first page is misplaced. Any additional on the job education will fall under the heading of “Training”.

You also should include a heading for education. Your education should be in reverse chronological order with the month and year of graduation. If you are currently in school you can enter the degree you expect to achieve, the school you currently are attending followed by the word “candidate” and the year you anticipate graduating.

Leave a 1 to 2 inch border on the sides of the resume. This will allow the interviewer to write notes on your resume when they interview you. Notice I said when, not if they interview you. Using this format will get your resume noticed and increase your chances of being interviewed for that dream job.

If you would like a free copy of a resume using this format written with result oriented communications to use as a guide in developing your resume then click the “Join Us!” tab at the top of this blog located between the “About The Interview Teacher” and the “Suggested Reading” tabs. You can also contact me at Info@InterviewTeacher.com if you have any questions or are interested in obtaining more information.

When you are applying for a specific job you need to identify the key words that the employer is looking for. What are key words? They are the specific qualities or attributes that an employer desires from a prospective applicant. Finding key words is easy, you can identify key words by obtaining 5 or 6 job postings for the same position and underline the similar words in each of the job postings. The words that you underlined are the key words for that specific job.

You may ask why key words are so important. The best way for me to describe it to you is by asking you a question. What type of pizza do you like? Let’s say that you only like pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni. I have the greatest pizza in the world for you; it has pepperoni, anchovies, pineapple, jalapeños, and onions on it. I am offering it at the same price as the pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni, do you want it? No. Why not, it is the same price. You do not want it because that is not what appeals to you. The employer feels the same way, so to satisfy the employer you have to use the key words that the employer is looking for. Key words are the pizza toppings.

When you write your resume, focus it to a specific job posting and make sure you use the keywords that the employer is looking for. Now that you know what to look for, it will be easy to do and be of benefit to you. Resume key words are an essential ingredient in developing a resume to help you get your next dream job.

I had the opportunity to review a product that will beneficial to you when you start to write your resume, “How To Make A Great Resume”. Richard Adams has developed a book that uses a number of the same tips and tools that I used in teaching resume skills to scores of professionals. You will find his book, straight forward and easy to understand and follow.

One note of caution, if you think you are going to write a good resume in an hour then do not even bother buying his book. This process takes time and like everything else I have shared with you it is well worth the investment especially when you start to receive call backs for face to face interviews. After all the goal of writing the resume is to obtain an invitation to interview for the job of your dreams.

A number of people ask me why they need to have a business card outside of their normal work business card. Well your work business card is great for business transactions but if you are testing the waters for a new opportunity you may not want a prospective employer calling you on the job. If someone else answers the phone the word might get out that you are looking before you want it to.

I recommend that you have your own personnel business cards made with an e mail and phone number that your prospective employer can contact you. I number of people use their cell phone as their main number of contact. This can be a good and bad idea at the same time. If you decide to use your cell phone as a business contact then you are also making a conscious decision to answer all calls on that phone in a professional manner. More about this subject will be discussed in future posts.

Vista Print is the site that I use for my personnel business cards. You can select to purchase free business cards or premium business cards. If you choose the free cards there are a number of cards themes that you can select from. Remember to select a theme that looks professional, because you will be planning to use this card when networking and on your interview. I normally purchase the premium business card. They sell for $19.99 on sale 50% OFF Premium Business Cards & FREE Return Address Labels
and provide a broader range of themes to select from. You can also select to have the cards printed on a thicker card stock and have it laminated in a glossy finish for an additional charge.

I recommend upgrading to the premium card with a thicker card stock and having them laminated as well. Your business card says something about who you are and it might be the only thing that a person has to remember you by. Having a card that is unique (laminated) and feels good in the person’s hand (thicker card stock) says that you are a person of quality and pay attention to detail. It is a little more expensive to upgrade your business cards but you are well worth the investment.