5 for Friday: Overcoming Workplace Adversity Edition
We run into a lot of stressors in our worklives — annoying co-workers, unreasonable recruiters demanding bosses. and This week’s 5 for Friday rounds up links about overcoming workplace adversity.
- 5 Ways to Overcome Workplace Stress. Toronto Star: “(Multi-tasking is) not something that should be extolled or encouraged. It’s actually a bad habit to get into, and people would be much more productive if they stopped doing it.”
- 5 Interview Red Flags for Employers. About.com: “Have you ever met a candidate who was never responsible for anything that went wrong at work? I have. They’re a sight to behold as they blame coworkers, bosses, a lack of resources, and the lack of skills in their team members for every failure they describe.”
- Surprise! A Job Search Can Build Self-Esteem. Huffington Post: “I know people typically think that engaging in a job search can beat you up and be tough on the ego. But I’m here to say not so! For those in professionally unhealthy situations, it can be an uplifting exercise that helps immensely.”
The post 5 for Friday: Overcoming Workplace Adversity Edition appeared first on MonsterWorking.
How To Write An Effective Job Ad
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to a job listing. If you want to attract the right employees, then you have to view the job ad as a marketing tool rather than merely a help wanted ad.
“A spec should be an advertisement for your company,” says Mark Jaffe, president of Wyatt & Jaffe, the executive search firm. “It should be a net in which you catch the right fish rather than a screen designed to filter out people.”
Often times when companies set out to find talent they use the help wanted ad as a way to discourage unqualified people from applying. They’ll use phrases like “must have” or “minimum requirements” and set specific years of experience. They figure by being very specific they will weed out the under-qualified and speak to the qualified. A few weeks later when the position sits unfilled they wonder what they did wrong.
“If the whole focus is on weeding out the unqualified, it prevents people from applying because they find the job boring,” says Lou Adler, author of The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired. “The ad should emphasize what is in it for the candidate.”
According to recruiters and human resources experts, the person reading the advertisement has to envision doing the job rather than making sure they meet all the qualifications. Instead of focusing on a job title, Pat Sweeney, human resource manager at Old Colony Hospice and Palliative Care, says the ad should include four or five active words that describe what the person will actually be doing. If you want somebody that can communicate technical terms then say that, says Sweeney. If you are looking for someone that can teach a new computer program, list the program in the ad. She also says it’s a good idea to stay away from any jargon, which can easily be misinterpreted by job seekers unfamiliar with the terminology.
Before a company can even start to craft a good job posting, it has to first figure out what goal it is trying to achieve by filling the position. According to Jaffe, the company has to ask itself what it wants the new hire to accomplish and how success will be measured. Instead of worrying if the candidate needs to have a VP title or ten years of experience it has to focus on how the objectives will be met. “You don’t want someone with a mechanical engineering background applying for a marketing role, but you also don’t want to eliminate an unlikely candidate that might bring wonderful experience to the table,” says Jaffe. He says the job posting should be like something the job seeker tries on. “‘I like the way I look,’ is what the qualified candidate should be saying,” after reading the spec, he says.
Companies also worry about going afoul of labor laws when writing job ads, and that’s why they list objective criteria like an MBA or five years of experience in their ads. But, according to Adler, if a company is looking for an accountant, stating the person will be in charge of upgrading the accounting system by year end meets the labor law requirements. “Increase sales by 10% is equally objective as five years of sales experience,” says Adler.
Long gone are the days when companies would place help wanted ads in newspapers, which had limited space. In today’s world, all of the postings are found online, which means employers don’t have any space constraints. Because length isn’t an issue, companies also have ample space to make a job posting that isn’t boring. After all, the whole idea behind the ad is to sell the company and the job to the best candidates possible. Because of that, it’s a good idea to put some flair into your ad. When Adler was tasked with finding a controller for a Los Angeles-based company, he made it creative by putting Oscar Winning Controller or Director of Accounting in the headline. In the advertisement instead of saying the candidate needs to have a degree in accounting, 15 years of experience and previous management background, he described the tasks the candidate would be in charge of during the first year. “Companies should emphasize the employee value proposition,” says Adler. “Highlight the work they will be doing and minimize the skills.”
How To Write An Effective Job Ad is a post from: Glassdoor Blog
Related posts:
- Get Noticed: Write A Cover Letter That Makes You Stand Out
- How To Write An A+ Resume
- 5 Tips For An Effective Thank You Note
Cool Jobs: NCAA Tournament Edition
The NCAA basketball tournament begins this week and as athletes across the country are sharpening their game skills, it’s a great time to do the same with your job hunting tactics. March is a key time for hiring, according to the Huffington Post. Become a part of the madness and excitement in sports careers by working directly with athletes and playing a key part in their championship endeavors.
This week, we are sharing 10 of the coolest jobs from cool companies hiring in sports careers.
1.) Sports Travel Agent – Worldtek Travel & Event Management (Park City, Utah): Provide unsurpassed service in planning travel for athletes at Worldtek Travel & Event Management as Sports Travel Agent.
2.) Sports Trainer – Absolut of Dunkirk (Dunkirk, N.Y.): Evaluate & provide therapy to patients as Sports Trainer at Absolut of Dunkirk.
3.) Entry-Level Sports-Minded Marketing – Revolution Rapport (Florence, S.C.): Join Revolution Rapport’s Sports Marketing team in Florence, SC.
4.) Sports Coordinator – City of Oxford (Oxford, Ohio): Plan & organize events as Sports Coordinator at City of Oxford.
5.) Athletic Trainer – Boston University (Boston): Work with student athletes as Athletic Trainer at Boston University.
6.) Head Boys’ Basketball Coach – Crawford Central School District (Erie, Penn.): Become a basketball coach for Crawford Central School District in Erie, Penn.
7.) Basketball Coach – Oak Park Unified (Oak Park, Calif.): Coach the girls’ Junior Varsity team at the Oak Park Unified school district.
8.) Industrial Athletic Trainer – The Industrial Athlete, Inc (Vernon Hills, Ill.): Provide services to athletes as Athletic Trainer at The Industrial Athlete, Inc.
9.) Grounds Athletic Field Specialist – North Orange County Community College District (Anaheim, Calif.): Maintain athletic areas North Orange County Community College District as Grounds Athletic Field Specialist.
10.) Certified Athletic Trainer – Take Care Health Systems (Georgetown, Ky.): Develop & implement Occupational Injury Prevention Programs at Take Care Health Systems as Certified Athletic Trainer.
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3 Secrets To An Influential Resume Summary
Writing a resume ‘summary of qualifications’ that stops employers cold and makes them realize you’re the right candidate can be challenging. After all, you’re good at what you do, but can be tricky to boil down your ROI to concise statements in hopes of standing out.
For most people, writing a summary of qualifications is such a major task that they look around at other resume examples to get ideas.
Here are some insider tips to creating a summary that exemplifies your personal brand in just a few words – making employers take notice:
1. Lose the Boilerplate Language. Today, every professional is self-motivated and results-driven (and if they aren’t, they’ll be spending the majority of their time job hunting).
Copying generic summary phrases from other resumes is one of the worst sins you can commit, because it’s a sure way to tell employers that you’re identical to everyone else.
Shake things up instead by making a list of your top value-added skills employers need. Do you complete projects faster or more accurately than colleagues?
Have you been promoted quicker, due to your business acumen or leadership skills? Are you able to spot new business opportunities and close deals that are lucrative for your employer?
This list will give you ideas to use in writing your summary—concepts and skills unique to YOU that most likely won’t show up in the resumes of your competition.
2. Pull in Quantifiable Facts. Employers aren’t hiring just to have a potential source of help – they need the ROI you can deliver. So show them your value in figures and metrics from throughout your work history.
This example of an Operational Safety Manager resume summary provides a quick snapshot of consistent value, backed up by metrics:
“Safety advocate and operational leader who influences profit (up to 20% single-year increase) by fostering productive, engaged employees. Hands-on manager with strong financial acumen, delivering regular cost, efficiency, and volume forecasting improvements throughout 80,000-square foot plants.”
As shown here, quantifiable achievements in your resume summary help to quickly distinguish you from other candidates – even in a crowded field with hundreds of applicants.
3. Drop Names. Marketing copywriters have known for years that name-dropping gets attention. Now, you can take a cue from these professionals to amp up the volume in your resume summary section.
If you’re in a sales leadership role, you can mention names of major clients, with a line such as “Closed high-value deals with Apple, Cisco Systems, and Oracle.”
Even if client names are confidential, your summary can use the information in a different way, such as “Created millions in key partnerships with Fortune-ranked corporations in the technology industry.”
Not in sales? You can still reference the names of partner alliances, past employers, or vendors to show collaboration and leadership skills, as in this example:
“Senior Vice President commended for turning around performance through sourcing negotiations with Baptist Health System, Medical Center of Austin, and the Mayo Clinic.”
In conclusion, your resume summary isn’t the place to be modest and toned-down in describing your brand value. Instead, consider boosting its effectiveness with well-placed, strategic information on your specific value-add to employers. – Originally posted on onTargetjobs by Laura Smith-Proulx
3 Secrets To An Influential Resume Summary is a post from: Glassdoor Blog
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- 3 Resume Secrets To Make You Shine
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- How to Replace Deadly Resume Phrases
Recruiter Signups touches 10,000 mark !
We are extremely happy to announce that the total number of Recruiters on Wisestep.com has crossed the 10,000 mark this week. This is a milestone our entire team is very proud of. With your continued support and Feedback we hope to hit much larger numbers in the coming days but now is also the time to take a few moments to cherish this acheivement.
Over the past many months, Wisestep.com has put together a combination of unique Recruitment tools that we hope have tremendously improved their productivity and helped them hire quicker and faster.
As more and more people spend time on Social Media, Recruiters need to use tools that help them reach people where they are most likely to be found. On Social Networks. IF you are not making your jobs visible on Social Media, you are losing out on some easy to get referrals and Job applications.
At Wisestep.com recruitment is inherently Social with Jobs being easily shared on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter (with a few more to follow soon).
We've also added the ability for you to share jobs on
Multiple Linked in Groups with a single click and flag it as a job or as a discussion depdnding on the preferences of the moderator of the group. If you haven't tried this out yet, you are still spending probably an hour doing something that should take less than a couple of minutes.
Some of the enthusiasm with which recruiters use our tools by the number of shares is also visible on our
Recruiter home page.
As we continue to add more cool features that helps you hire faster and makes you look goo, we ask all our users and supporters on supporters to do us a favor: Please don't keep us a secret. Tell all your friends and colleagues about us. Like us on
Facebook!
5 for Friday: Professional Networking Edition
Professional networking, both online and in person, is a great way to make contacts that can mentor you, aid in your job search or become clients for your business. It does take skill, however, to do it properly. This week’s five for Friday offers a few ideas and suggestions.
- Top 7 Career Benefits of a Strong Network. Undercover Recruiter: “Let your network be your secret weapon when it comes to your career. It’s never too late to begin building a vast network of beneficial relationships.”
- Network the Hell Out of People: 6 Expert Tips. Inc.com: “There are a lot of people out there who can help you, but they won’t just ring the doorbell. You need to find those relationships, and then cultivate and nourish them, to keep them alive and healthy.”
- A How To Guide: Networking to Expand Your Sphere of Influence. The Savvy Intern: “’Always be the worst musician in the band.’ This quote is attributed to musician Pat Metheny, but the metaphor crosses all industries and career choices. Simply put: if you find you are the smartest, most dynamic, most entrepreneurial, or the best blogger in your current circle of colleagues – expand your circle, now. By meeting new contacts with fresh ideas and thought processes, your sphere of influence – both in terms of quantity and quality – will grow rapidly.”
- Networking to Find a Job. The New Agenda: “Soon your network will go viral. People will begin to let you know when they hear about jobs. It’s amazing. When you get your job, remember to let everyone in chain know. They will appreciate knowing they were part of your success!”
The post 5 for Friday: Professional Networking Edition appeared first on MonsterWorking.
The first official day of spring has finally arrived and depending on where you are located in the US, you are either still shoveling snow, or lucky enough to see the first buds of flowers starting to appear. If you’re really lucky, you’re able to attend the myriad of Cherry Blossom festivals happening now through mid-April in Washington, DC. Nothing signifies spring more than the beautiful sight of the cherry blossoms. And what better way to catch the beauty of the new season than in a professional photograph. Photographers creatively capture memories year round but this time of year in particular provides a gorgeous back drop for photographers. Capturing a job in capturing memories by entering the photography field is also a smart career path considering the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects a 13% job outlook increase in professional photography jobs over the next 7 years.
