Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
by Marina Ricci, JD, ResumeEdge.com Editor
Instead of waiting for a job posting to encompass all of your passions and talents, be proactive and convince the employer to create a position that will be beneficial to everyone involved. When you have a passion for something, your heart and soul goes into the work, and that’s why you need to show the employer he not only needs the service you’re offering, but he needs you to provide the service for optimal results.
If you already have a job but want a different position with the same employer:
On your own time (not on company time), draft a proposal for your supervisor for your idea. Examples of these can include an accountant having a great marketing idea for a product at a company that does not have a marketing department. Be sure to provide clear objectives, cost-saving goals and graphs that pinpoint how the business will benefit from the position and why this would be beneficial for everyone involved. Next, make sure to include your experience in the field and the positive results you’ve had had working in the same capacity for others.
Employers are always looking to get ahead of their competitors so this could be a perfect way for your employer to distinguish himself from everyone else. Volunteer to work on your own time to further the objective within a specific timeframe (i.e. 30 days). If you get results, the employer will give serious thought to hiring you on a more permanent basis in the new capacity.
If you do not have a job or want to change employers:
Write a letter (or formal e-mail) to the employer you’re targeting and let him know what your skills are and how you think you can help his company succeed even more so than at present. Then, in the letter, make sure to put that you are willing to work on an internship basis (even for free) in order to show the company how they can benefit from this new service that you’re willing to provide them.
If the company accepts your offer, you can use the position as a possible road to permanent employment. However, even if the company hires you as an intern and makes it clear they will not have a paid position for you, use the internship as something that you can put on your resume to aid you in your search for a permanent position in that specific field.
Note: Bigger companies that don’t have specific positions to fit your passion may be more willing to take you on as an unpaid intern, and big company experience looks great when you’re trying to gain permanent employment with other companies in the same field.
To request Marina for your resume or cover letter, simply key in her last name (ricci) in the ‘select your editor’ field on the online form.
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Category: Entry Level, Executive, Job Search, Professional, Resume, Tips | Tags: Tags: Job Search, meeting employer expectations, new job search strategies, professional accomplishments, professional achievements, resume preparation, resumes,
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
by Marina Ricci
The new job climate has many opportunities for individuals to take what they love to do and start making money at it. These industries require talent and skills more than they require a college degree. For example:
While print journalism is contracting, internet news is growing. Writers who know how to utilize search engine optimization (SEO) or keyword trends can be a huge asset to a news organization that is selling advertising based on the hits they bring to their site.
Those who spend all day on social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, and others may also see a rise in demand for their networking skills. The marketing industry is relying heavily on those who are able to disseminate information to a large number of people instantly and persuade them to try a product or service. Coupled with message boards, those who are able to persuade the most number of friends to join the excitement of a new site, product, or service will be looking at new job opportunities where none existed before.
Other industry opportunities for those who have innate knowledge of organization and socialization are also abundant. Individuals who are just too busy to organize and schedule their own activities need personal assistants. Those who are able to pull strings to score tickets or restaurant reservations and who have impeccable organization skills will excel in these newfound positions.
While these new opportunities utilize special skills and knowledge, they are not always apparent and need to be sought out. Individuals must bring their skills and talents to the attention of the companies or individuals who can use them but don’t know it yet. A dynamic resume is a great start. Once the hiring managers know what a candidate can bring to the table, anything is possible.
To request Marina for your order, please request her by name during the order process.
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
by Kristen Coria
Find something you love to do and figure out a way to get paid for it! This sentiment has been echoed so many times on television, in movies, and throughout our lives. Most people never believe it. They brush it off thinking the only way to make a living and pay the bills is to go through the daily grind at their current jobs. When people live their lives according to this philosophy, they miss out on the fulfillment that true job satisfaction brings to their lives. We all need a reason to get up in the morning and heading off to a job you love is one of the keys to happiness and success in the workplace.
Another one of the keys to happiness in your life is passion. The Merriam Webster dictionary describes passion as “a strong liking and devotion to some activity, object, or concept”. As you can clearly see, passion comes in all forms—business, pets, hobbies, cars, books, music, television, crafts etc. It is an innate desire that we all have to tap into because it is one of the driving forces in our lives. Passion is also one of the key elements to being successful from a career perspective. If you don’t have passion for your work or career, you won’t be as successful as you could be. It seems logical that one of the secrets to success is merging your career with your passion.
In this economy, people are turning to their hobbies to generate additional income. Maybe you are a novice jewelry designer that will sell your pieces at local craft shows. During the craft shows, you could network with customers that may be scouting new talent for high end jewelry designers like Tiffany or more mainstream places like Lia Sophia. Maybe you are a car enthusiast that will open a car wash/detail shop on the weekends. Before you know it, you could land big accounts with local dealerships to wash/detail their fleets of cars. Maybe you are someone that loves to travel. You could parlay your love of globe trotting by launching a travel agency. Or you might write articles about the locales you visited and sell them to travel magazines.
We all have passion for a hobby. Now is the time to take advantage of this knowledge and make it work for you from a financial perspective. While pursuing your passion for hobbies, you can help generate additional income from clients that are in need of your services or products. Once you find something you love to do and figure out a way to get paid for it, your job satisfaction will rise. It will allow you the opportunity to network with professionals or customers in the field that could propel your career in a whole new direction. And the best part is that you will be successful because you have the passion to succeed at something you love.
To request Kristen for your order, simply choose her last name (Coria) on the drop-down menu in the ‘request your editor’ field of the online order form.
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
During every interview, you’ll most likely be asked a question that throws you. You’ll start to sweat and may struggle for an answer. What comes out of your mouth may make you cringe at that point or later.
To avoid this, it’s best to be prepared for the unexpected. Here are some thorny questions you may be asked and tips on how to answer them:
1. Who do you consider your best boss? Who do you consider the worst?
Take great care in answering. The interviewer is trying to determine if you’re angry at past employers for something that may very well be your fault and if you carry a grudge.
The appropriate answer would be that you learned something valuable from every boss you had and used it to better the company’s operations.
2. What have you been doing since you were laid off?
Employers are wary of individuals with job gaps, even in this awful economy.
To allay the hiring manager’s fears you can detail activities you engaged in while also looking for a full-time (or part-time) position. These activities would include being a caretaker for someone in your family (eg: children, aging parents), learning a new skill (eg: technology) or engaging in freelance projects to pay the bills until you reached full employment again.
3. What do you consider your greatest weakness?
Everyone has them and the hiring manager wants to determine if you have insight into your failings or if you’re so enamored of your strengths, you’re difficult to work with and refuse to learn from past errors in judgement.
In answering, don’t make the mistake of saying your weakness is that you work too hard. Employers have heard this countless times and few believe it. Instead, focus on a true negative (you’re a perfectionist) and turn it into a positive (eg: I don’t want to hold up schedules by triple-checking everything to make certain it’s perfect, so I’ve developed a process so that mistakes are avoided the first time around).
The above are a few of the many examples of questions you may be asked, which will prove difficult to answer – if you’re not prepared.
With our JIE (JobInterviewEdge) service, our expert coaches prepare our clients to meet each interview challenge and to succeed.
We’d like to hear from you as to what other aspects of the interview process you’d like us to address to make JIE even more worthwhile to jobseekers.
