Creating JOB SECURITY
Resource Guide - 2009 edition
The Creating Job Security Resource Guide is for job seekers who need to find a job this week or this month. In addition to 75+ hot job online resources categorized according to executive, general, freelance and stay-at-home Web sites, this book includes the critical tools job seekers need right now. It includes actual questions from corporate questionnaires, help for navigating newspaper/online ads, information on standing out from other applicants in a positive way, tips on maximizing social networks, and the frameworks of the Green Light Scoring Model™, a step-by-step scoring model for turning experience, education, talents, and tools into viable career and business opportunities through an easy-to-use graph designed to helps readers easily and effectively create true job security. The Green Light Scoring Model enables readers to evaluate career opportunities based on seven pre-determined elements for success: Income, Opportunity, Creativity, Feasibility, Flexibility, Stability and Longevity.
Creating Job Security Resource Guide, ISBN 978-0-615-27095-1 and Creating Job Security, The 2009 All-In-One Workbook, ISBN 1-93404812-7 ©2008 by Debra Yergen. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
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CONTENTS
INTRO
CHAPTER 1: Money Needed - Where to Go
CHAPTER 2: Are Newspaper Ads Outdated?
CHAPTER 3: How Do You Stand Out?
CHAPTER 4: Maximizing Your Social Networks
CHAPTER 5: What’s This Questionnaire About?
CHAPTER 6: 75+ Online Resources
CHAPTER 7: What’s Really Important to You?
CHAPTER 8: Comparing Offers
CHAPTER 9: Adapting to Life in Between
CHAPTER 10: Wrapping Up
RESOURCE APPENDIX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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INTRO
Job hunting in this economy is different than in previous recessions. Many people find themselves looking for work or additional income for the first time in a decade or more. In many ways, it can be compared to the experience of dating again after years of marriage. You may be asking: Where do I look? What do I do? How do I dress for an interview? What are potential employers looking for in candidates today?
If you’re someone who could really benefit from the expertise of a career counselor, an employment center or a step-by-step tool to help you create your own job security, excellent support is available and trained professionals are here to help.
If you’ve decided to first try it on your own, you’ve come to the right place for resources that can get you in the door, and let you know what to expect from the hiring process. This resource guide includes more than 75 online job resources, grouped by industry and special interest.
The most remarkable difference in the current job market and prior experiences you may have had is how impersonal the process has become, especially for highly competitive positions. With anywhere from six to 100 qualified applicants for an executive position in a metropolitan area, a company’s job is to get as much information from you and about you without getting intimately involved with you until they’re ready to take the next step. Your job is to vet them while they are vetting you, and develop a personal connection that can help you glean the critical information you need to ensure you get through the next phase.
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CHAPTER 1: Money Needed – Where to Go
If only making up for lost income was really as easy of skipping a morning latte, foregoing that weekly pedicure and checking out movies at the local library for entertainment.
Unfortunately, there are millions of people who already drink coffee at home, and don’t have cable or satellite TV – or go to movies each week. And believe it or not, there are people who have never had a professional pedicure, manicure, facial or massage.
So when your mortgage increases by 20 percent and you’ve already cut everything you can from your budget, and unloading your mortgage is not an option, your only remaining option is to make more money.
You can work for yourself or for someone else. If you’re looking for a short-term solution, or something that will fit around another job or a specific schedule, what you get in flexibility may cost you in either income or convenience.
Part-time jobs, working for someone else, usually involve working in the retail or service industry, sometimes covering random or unpopular shifts, and may not provide a high base salary. Many of these positions do include tips; although, in a difficult economy patrons may not tip as well as in a good economy.
Many of these positions are also not advertised. You simply need to walk inside, fill out an application and be available for an interview within the week.
Jill, a former mid-level executive with an MBA, found herself waiting tables in Boston when she lost her job as a regional sales director for an organic pasta company.
She checked with the Massachusetts state guidelines for unemployment and took a position that fell within their requirements for an approved level of income to supplement her unemployment benefits while she searched for a new corporate position. Her unemployment benefits were not enough to cover her rent, utilities, student loans and other expenses.
Jill didn’t want to start her own business because she felt it would be more difficult to ensure her income fell within the precise bracket necessary to continue to receive her unemployment benefits. She also didn’t want to have to worry about acquiring a business license or preparing a more complicated tax return. She was willing to make less money for the convenience of working for someone else.
The work was grueling and she had to take public transportation to get to work, as parking downtown would have eaten up her entire paycheck; but in the process she learned more about wine-food parings and gained an appreciation for people who choose to work as restaurant servers for a permanent career.
Many people prefer to either create goods or sell items they have via the Internet or at craft fairs to bring in additional money to offset their monthly financial shortfall.
A family from the Hawaiian island of Kauai visited www.creatingjobsecurity.blogspot.com to share how their kids began making crafts to supplement the money their parents made at full-time jobs. The parents were skeptical, but went along so as not to discourage their children. The outcome was more family time spent together making the craft items, more time together selling them at local craft fairs and a net gain of several hundred dollars a month.
They are not alone. Many families have developed creative ways for making ends meet. During the holidays each year, Jim takes a part-time job at a mega retail store so he and his wife can afford Christmas gifts as a family. With the economy sour, he now needs to work a second job for an extra month just to cover annual expenses that do not include holiday gifts.
In past years, Jim and his wife were also able to donate to several of their favorite charities, which they have had to stop doing on a monthly basis.
Just as families are struggling to make ends meet, many nonprofit organizations are facing their most difficult financial challenges in years – especially those which are dedicated to helping families in need.
Today, Jim’s family reports saving their change throughout the year in a jar. During the holidays, they take the change – which this year added up to over $100 – and together they shop for a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, gravy, potatoes, and all the fixings to donate for a family who would otherwise not have dinner.
They appreciate knowing that together they can make a difference to a family that’s experiencing even greater need than they are at this time; they consider this their gift to each other.
They are also allowed to make and give personalized gifts to each other – either handmade gifts or “gift certificates” good for help around the house, mowing the lawn or washing dad’s car, so long as the main ingredients in the gifts are “love and effort” rather than “money and convenience.”
Desperate times call for desperate measures. You may need to work two jobs. You may need to work a graveyard shift, either at a remote location or work from home through a customer service brokerage like those included in this resource guide.
Temporary income-generating revenue streams may include:
Renting out a room / accepting a roommate
Selling clothing or furniture on consignment
Selling unused items on the Internet
Teaching music lessons if you are proficient on an instrument
Tutoring students after school in reading, math, or another subject of which you are knowledgeable
Providing a household service: landscaping, housekeeping or shopping for someone else
Assessing which of your talents or services you can freelance
Taking a temporary part-time job
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CHAPTER 2: Are Newspaper Ads Outdated?
Newspapers are not completely passé in terms of their relevance to finding job leads. While they offer companies less space than online resources to include details about the position and the company, most are connected to an online version, and newspaper classifieds come with the same reputation of the newspapers with which they are affiliated.
Key markets all have recognizable newspapers, and job applicants seek positions in those publications’ classifieds via both the paper copy and their online counterparts.
To find the most prominent newspapers in the market in which you seek to get a job, use any search engine and type the city name and the word newspaper into the search box. From there you can visit their classified section online.
As a service to advertisers, many specialty magazines that once did not include job classifieds now do as a result of current economic conditions.
Many companies hope clients or customers will view their ability to advertise positions as a sign of their financial health – even if those positions are for sales, commission only.
Most cities or metropolitan areas have one or two key publications on which job seekers should focus. The exception would be an industry publication, i.e., travel, finance, automotive, information technology – or a publication created by a local university, foundation or fraternal organization.
Organizations with several hundred or thousand employees continuously have positions that turnover due to employees who are undergoing unrelated life transitions, i.e., relocation, family health circumstances, or professional moves outside the organization.
If you were seeking a job in Omaha, Nebraska, and you type [Omaha newspaper] in the search box, you’d come up with Omaha World-Herald along with a secondary link listing all of the following newspapers and magazines:
Creightonian (university) newspaper
Omaha World-Herald newspaper
UNO Gateway (university) newspaper
Midlands Business Journal newspaper
Omaha (city guides) magazine
Omaha City Weekly newspaper
Omaha Metro magazine
Omaha Reader newspaper
Catholic Voice (religion) magazine
Omaha Word (religion) magazine
What job seekers need to realize is that any resource that doesn’t involve a personal connection, a social network or a direct referral is going to mean that all applicants begin at the same starting line. People still connect with people better than they connect with resumes and applications.
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CHAPTER 3: How Do You Stand Out?
You know the job market is very competitive, especially for premier positions. The first thing to remember in this market is that your resume and any interviews you schedule are not about you. They are about how well you fit what the company doing the hiring is looking for.
In many cases, job searches are blind. If you don’t have a personal connection to get you in the door, you’ll need to fill out an online form with numerous fields that if left incomplete will not take you to the next level. Sometimes these forms result in you getting spammed with countless e-mail.
To prevent getting spammed, set up a free e-mail account that you reserve for your job search so that once you are hired, you can get rid of it without losing the people with whom you plan to maintain an online correspondence.
Buzz words are huge. When you are responding to a job posting make sure you use as many of the same buzz words in your response as possible to indicate that your experience matches their needs.
Trust the premise of Six Degrees of Separation. In an age of YouTube, and social networks, do not be surprised if potential employers use their own social networks to learn more about you from the people you know. Understanding this, you can use it to your advantage. If you know they’ll be looking, be sure to post information you want them to find.
Be creative. In getting the word out that your skills and services are available for hire, you may not have the capital to execute a splashy media campaign, but there are unique marketing ideas that don’t cost a great deal of money.
Go live – or at least let them see you in action. If you have a video camera or Web cam, you can create a video resume and upload it at no cost to Videoresume.com or YouTube.com. For advice on getting started, About.com offers a Guide to Desktop Video that’s complete with tips on shooting video for the Web and directions for posting it on YouTube, CareerBuilder.com, Jobster.com, and Myworkster.com, to name a few. You can upload it to your own Web site or blog and link it from there.
Start a blog. A lot of people say “good communicator” on their resume. Or they include “strong writing skills.” You no longer need to include this. By adding an intelligently written blog and responding to any questionnaires companies may send you, they will know if you are a good communicator and if you have strong writing skills by what you write.
Blogs are easy to launch and maintain – and they are free through several service providers, among them Blogger.com, Wordpress.com and Windows Live Spaces. Others are available on a tiered pricing structure, including TypePad and Community Server.
You are invited to visit or join and comment on www.creatingjobsecurity.blogspot.com which uses free templates provided through Google to demonstrate what can be achieved at no cost to you.
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CHAPTER 4: Maximizing Your Social Networks
When social networks like MySpace.com, Facebook.com, LinkedIn.com, Plaxo.com, Classmates.com and others first emerged, some people misinterpreted their true value as popularity contests. With pictures, birthdays, and a combination of personal, educational and professional information collected, for many it was only natural to view social networks as an expanded address book or a way to keep in touch with lost friends and colleagues.
But each of these sites includes the all important “groups”. In an environment where you are looking to create job security, it’s important to join company alumni groups, especially if you have worked at a large company – and industry groups related to your field of interest.
When Karen joined the media entertainment group on LinkedIn, she appreciated the fact that people could instantly see her picture and connect with her in a more personal way than if she had just sent a resume or filled in an online form. As part of the group, she received weekly updates from group members looking to hire a position, or requesting candidate recommendations from other group members. When Karen responded to inquiries, a string of e-mails allowed her access to what had been said prior to her post.
When Karen saw one post in particular online, she immediately started a conversation with the man who listed the position. He liked her picture, her energy, her experience and the confidence she brought to her job search.
That relationship was key because not only was he the first stop on the interviewing chain, and the manager who issued the initial questionnaire – he was able to give her pointers on manipulating her answers to become more attractive to the next level of managers who would interview her for the open position, and to the company in general.
In one such case about income, Karen formerly held a sales position that offered a much higher commission than this new position started out. He had her bring her base requirements down to $70,000, and told her that given the potential for growth, her commission plus base would likely amount to her former salary within a year.
If Karen hadn’t known to make these changes, the company may have labeled her as too expensive without even granting her an interview.
Also, by giving her a preview of the questions she would be asked in the next round of interviews, Karen was able to prepare her responses so her answers were smooth and she wasn’t caught off-guard.
If she had not developed a personal connection with the initial interviewing manager, her resume could have been set aside for any number of reasons. Personal connections make a big difference. These groups are especially important for job seekers who may not want their current clients or employer to know they are looking for a new position.
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CHAPTER 5: What’s This Questionnaire About?
Companies today use a questionnaire to find out a significant amount of information about job seekers in many cases before they even schedule an initial interview. It’s how they weed out candidates who are unqualified or unwilling to invest the time in researching their company. These questionnaires can take up to four or five hours to complete.
The questions vary, but common sample questions you can expect to see on a corporate questionnaire may include:
Please visit our Web site and describe your understanding of our products.
How many years of experience do you have in this field? [This could be the number of years in something general like direct sales or nonprofit fundraising, or something more specialized like treasury, or the automotive industry.]
What was your average number of client meetings per week?
What was your average number of calls per week including prospecting calls?
List the percentage of time you spent prospecting versus account management.
What was your average contract value?
Tell us about your experience selling to advertising agencies? [Or replace that with any market sector.]
Share with us your trends forecast for the industry.
What experience do you have with CRM [client relationship management] tools?
Tell us about your experience and/or interest in working on CSR [corporate social responsibility] initiatives. Do you feel our company is doing enough with regard to CSR? And what would you suggest to enhance our CSR initiatives to our customers?
Tell us about your direct marketing experience.
What industry publications do you read on a regular basis?
What was your total amount of revenue generation last year? The past five years?
Do you live within a 50-mile radius of our offices?
Please list your questions for us (as many as possible).
You would probably agree that this is a pretty intense list of questions, but this isn’t even a complete list. And this is only round one.
The days of sending 30 cookie-cutter resumes out to 30 companies is over. You need to be prepared to treat each application seriously. It’s better to be slightly overwhelmed now while you have the chance to catch your breath and prepare your thinking than it is to be overwhelmed when this application hits your inbox and you’re on deadline to return it.
Remember, your answers should not be about you. They should be about what you can offer to this company, and how you fit into their culture.
For example, if you are seeking a corporate position at a bank or financial institutions, the culture will be very different than if you are seeking a similar position at a non-profit agency that is devoted to a particular cause. It’s important to research the organizations where you apply so that your answers reflect your understanding of their needs in filling an open position.
The good news if you are living in a medium-sized town or a rural area is that these questionnaires are still largely reserved for larger companies in metropolitan centers – Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, etc. But they are becoming a trend of the future so it’s in your interest to become familiar with them. They also provide great insight for ways you can prepare for a phone or in-person interview regardless of where you are applying.
For a more comprehensive list of sample questionnaires, visit Job-Interview.net.
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CHAPTER 6: 75+ Online Resources
Using Internet search engines, you should have no trouble locating the names of staffing services in your area, job sites, or portals dedicated to selling your services or products, but for your convenience here are a few of the most established Web sites to provide information leads to get you started.
By Industry:
Accounting Accounting.com
Chefs Starchefs.com
Computer jobs Computerjobs.com
Creative professionals CreativeCentral.com
Educational tutoring Tutor.com
Environment sector jobs Ecojobs.com
Government / CareersinGovernment.com
Public sector
Hospitality Newcareersinc.com
International Overseasjobs.com
Internships InternJobs.com
Medical professionals MediCentral.com
Sales SalesLadder.com
Sports JobsinSports.com
Supply chain management Resourcesglobal.com
Technology Techies.com
Vocational Votech.about.com
DOL occupational handbook Stats.bls.gov/ocohome.htm
Executives:
6 Figure Jobs 6figurejobs.com
Executive search consultants Aesc.org
CareerLeader Careerdiscovery.com
Headhunter.net Headhunter.net
Kenexa / BrassRing Kenexa.com
Professional staffing KForce.com
Part-time executive work Flexibleexecutives.com
TechnoCentral executives ExecuCentral.com
Middle management executives making in the low to mid six figures continue to struggle as companies are forced to choose which positions to eliminate to balance their budgets. For many years the job market catered to these talented individuals who were amply rewarded for their innovation and skill.
Today, these same managers are asked to scale back headcount and department projects, often times absorbing the jobs they once had staff to complete. In some cases, departments are combined in the name of increased efficiencies and middle management positions are eliminated in lieu of losing entry-level positions that keep the company’s initiatives moving forward.
To further reduce overhead, some organizations are even outsourcing entry-level positions to staffing organizations, which cost them more per hour but ultimately remove large overhead expenses like employee benefits.
Executives who successfully seek and are offered six-figure income packages in this market are those who bring expertise in multiple key areas, such as marketing and sales, or any combination which increases revenue and saves the organization money.
General:
America’s Job Bank Jobbankinfo.org
CareerBuilder Careerbuilder.com
Career Directory CareerDirectory.net
Career listings and advice Career.com
College career connector CollegeRecruiter.com
Cooljobs.com Cooljobs.com
CraigsList Craigslist.org
Employment Spot EmploymentSpot.com
Headhunter.net Headhunter.net
Hot Jobs Hotjobs.com
JobBank USA JobBankUSA.com
JobFind Jobfind.com
Jobs in any field/location Jobs.net
Jobs Online Jobsonline.com
Jobweb Jobweb.com
Hourly and part-time work Snagajob.com
Monster.com Monster.com
Resume distribution ResumerZapper.com
Work Tree – directory WorkTree.com
There are always jobs for those willing to work. You may not make the same salary you did in a former position, but even in a bad economy jobs are continuously becoming available.
Some people incorrectly believe that if they take a position that pays less than a former position, they are ultimately hurting their resume. This has become known by the familiar term of “golden handcuffs”. There is a time and place to build your public image. But hiring managers also understand that if you’re willing to do what needs to be done to meet your personal obligations, you’ll potentially have the integrity to work just as hard for them.
It can be frustrating for job seekers to balance maintaining self-confidence and self-worth while still being weighted down by what career counselors call the “golden handcuffs.”
Sometimes people using social networking sites to seek employment or freelance work are even more negatively affected by this phenomenon because they don’t want to appear to “lose face” to former coworkers or colleagues. But until these colleagues offer to pay your mortgage in exchange for the right to share their opinion, it doesn’t matter what they think.
Chances are they would feel and act similarly to you if the roles were reversed.
Each job offers unique benefits. While compensation is a part of that, so is the ability to expand your knowledge base to a new industry or field. To disproportionately consider income is to be tied up by golden handcuffs which may prevent you from finding a position that is otherwise ideal for you right now.
Job hunters seeking to create true job security ultimately need to consider if the position provides the income, opportunity, creativity, feasibility, flexibility, stability, and longevity that meets their needs right now. Those are the keys to the Green Light Scoring Model™.