Article from CNN and Mental Floss
Summer is here, and that means so are summer jobs. While lots of young people find work as lifeguards or camp counselors, just as many are forced off the beaten path to find their first paychecks.
Actress Amy Adams is wearing a lot more clothing than she once did as a Hooters girl.
Don't worry if you get stuck with an odd job that might not totally dovetail with your life goals, though. Lots of wildly successful celebrities have had some strange jobs before hitting it big.
Here are just a few quirky vocations held by some of your favorite celebs:
1. Orlando Bloom's first job was working at a skeet shooting range as a clay pigeon trapper when he was just 13.
To read the rest of the article go to http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/05/29/mf.how.celebs.got.start/index.html
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Job Seekers Play Down Their Credentials to Avoid Looking Overqualified
This article is from www.careerjournal.com
Kristin Konopka sent out nearly 100 copies of her résumé in January in search of receptionist work, but got only one callback. That's when Ms. Konopka, a 29-year-old New York actress and yoga teacher, took her master's degree and academic teaching experience off her résumé.
The calls started coming in. The slimmer version of her résumé landed in 30 in-boxes and earned her three callbacks and two interviews. "It definitely picked up the interest," says Ms. Konopka, who realized quickly that people don't "want to hire anyone who is overqualified.
To read the rest of the article go to http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124328878436252195.html#mod=djemCJ
Kristin Konopka sent out nearly 100 copies of her résumé in January in search of receptionist work, but got only one callback. That's when Ms. Konopka, a 29-year-old New York actress and yoga teacher, took her master's degree and academic teaching experience off her résumé.
The calls started coming in. The slimmer version of her résumé landed in 30 in-boxes and earned her three callbacks and two interviews. "It definitely picked up the interest," says Ms. Konopka, who realized quickly that people don't "want to hire anyone who is overqualified.
To read the rest of the article go to http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124328878436252195.html#mod=djemCJ
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Best Bet for Interview Prep: Rehearsed, Mock, and Videotaped Interviews
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
Perhaps you're a new entrant into the job market who is lacking experience in job interviewing. Or perhaps you're a job-market veteran whose resumes and cover letters yield loads of interviews -- but you never seem to get the job offer. While these two groups may have the greatest need to polish interview skills, anyone actively interviewing for jobs can benefit from practicing interview skills. A study by the Society of Human Resources Management proved this point when it revealed that a candidate's background and qualifications were far less influential in their hiring decisions than interview performance and professionalism.
Practice will help you reduce interview anxiety, improve your interview skills, and in many cases, gain important feedback about how you interview. It will also help you sharpen your communication skills -- and poor communication skills were the number one turn-off for hiring managers, according to another Society of Human Resource Management survey. This article describes several ways to practice before a job interview:
Mock interviews
Videotaped mock interviews
Interview simulations
Rehearsal
Informational interviews
Mock Interviews
Mock interviews simulate real job interviews and are conducted with a prospective job interviewee and an interviewer, often a career professional who can provide valuable input on your interview performance. The career pro will not only point out your shortcomings, but will acknowledge the areas in which you excelled, thus boosting your confidence. "Just one mock interview will result in a marked improvement in your interviewing skills," says College Grad Job Hunter author Brian Krueger, who recommends going through two such interviews (and, of course, the more you do, the more skilled you will become). For the inexperienced interviewee, mock interviews provide an excellent picture of what to expect.
To read more of this article, go to: http://www.quintcareers.com/best_interview_prep.html
Perhaps you're a new entrant into the job market who is lacking experience in job interviewing. Or perhaps you're a job-market veteran whose resumes and cover letters yield loads of interviews -- but you never seem to get the job offer. While these two groups may have the greatest need to polish interview skills, anyone actively interviewing for jobs can benefit from practicing interview skills. A study by the Society of Human Resources Management proved this point when it revealed that a candidate's background and qualifications were far less influential in their hiring decisions than interview performance and professionalism.
Practice will help you reduce interview anxiety, improve your interview skills, and in many cases, gain important feedback about how you interview. It will also help you sharpen your communication skills -- and poor communication skills were the number one turn-off for hiring managers, according to another Society of Human Resource Management survey. This article describes several ways to practice before a job interview:
Mock interviews
Videotaped mock interviews
Interview simulations
Rehearsal
Informational interviews
Mock Interviews
Mock interviews simulate real job interviews and are conducted with a prospective job interviewee and an interviewer, often a career professional who can provide valuable input on your interview performance. The career pro will not only point out your shortcomings, but will acknowledge the areas in which you excelled, thus boosting your confidence. "Just one mock interview will result in a marked improvement in your interviewing skills," says College Grad Job Hunter author Brian Krueger, who recommends going through two such interviews (and, of course, the more you do, the more skilled you will become). For the inexperienced interviewee, mock interviews provide an excellent picture of what to expect.
To read more of this article, go to: http://www.quintcareers.com/best_interview_prep.html
Giving Internships a Post-College Try
By TODDI GUTNER
With Jobs Scarce, Recent Grads Look to Make the Most of Part-Time Gigs
Nora Cook has her dream job. As a member of the "recycling police" for the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority in Walnut Creek, Calif., Ms. Cook, who graduated with a business economics degree from California State University East Bay in June, finds businesses that don't recycle, educates them on the process and keeps track of their progress.
But Ms. Cook's job isn't the sort of full-time gig a recent college grad would be lucky to find in this economy. Rather, it's a nine-month, 20-hour-a-week internship that she hopes will help her land a full-time position.
Internships -- both formal, paid training programs and less formal, unpaid positions -- have long been used as a recruiting tool and as a way for young professionals to get their foot in the door of an organization. Among graduating college students who had internships, nearly 70% received offers of full-time employment from their internship hosts during the 2007-2008 academic year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers 2009 Experiential Education Survey.
To read the rest of this important article, please go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124147376481984793.html
With Jobs Scarce, Recent Grads Look to Make the Most of Part-Time Gigs
Nora Cook has her dream job. As a member of the "recycling police" for the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority in Walnut Creek, Calif., Ms. Cook, who graduated with a business economics degree from California State University East Bay in June, finds businesses that don't recycle, educates them on the process and keeps track of their progress.
But Ms. Cook's job isn't the sort of full-time gig a recent college grad would be lucky to find in this economy. Rather, it's a nine-month, 20-hour-a-week internship that she hopes will help her land a full-time position.
Internships -- both formal, paid training programs and less formal, unpaid positions -- have long been used as a recruiting tool and as a way for young professionals to get their foot in the door of an organization. Among graduating college students who had internships, nearly 70% received offers of full-time employment from their internship hosts during the 2007-2008 academic year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers 2009 Experiential Education Survey.
To read the rest of this important article, please go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124147376481984793.html
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
A Web Presence from Scratch
By ELIZABETH GARONE (from Career Journal)
With unemployment at a 23-year high, job seekers need to expand the ways in which they search, say career and workplace experts. These days setting up and maintaining an online presence is often critical to finding work. But for an accomplished professional, it might seem daunting to build up a social-networking presence from scratch. Here's how to do it:
To read the rest of the article go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124270066448733341.html#mod=djemCJ
With unemployment at a 23-year high, job seekers need to expand the ways in which they search, say career and workplace experts. These days setting up and maintaining an online presence is often critical to finding work. But for an accomplished professional, it might seem daunting to build up a social-networking presence from scratch. Here's how to do it:
To read the rest of the article go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124270066448733341.html#mod=djemCJ
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Résumé Overload
By RAYMUND FLANDEZ
With corporate layoffs spreading, smaller firms are seeing a flood of available talent. But floods come with their own problems, particularly for companies with limited resources.
Fortunately, there’s a host of cost-effective, or even free, tech tools that help sort through and choose the best job candidates.
The Journal Report
See the complete Small Business report.
Some can broaden a search using multiple online job sites, others winnow the field with tests or prerecorded interviews. Some also perform fast background checks and help companies manage the whole hiring process through one portal.
“This economy has created a window of opportunity for small businesses,” says Peter Weddle, a human-resources consultant in Stamford, Conn. These tools offer “a way to manage the tidal wave,” he says.
To view the rest of this article, please go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204475004574126832685403014.html
With corporate layoffs spreading, smaller firms are seeing a flood of available talent. But floods come with their own problems, particularly for companies with limited resources.
Fortunately, there’s a host of cost-effective, or even free, tech tools that help sort through and choose the best job candidates.
The Journal Report
See the complete Small Business report.
Some can broaden a search using multiple online job sites, others winnow the field with tests or prerecorded interviews. Some also perform fast background checks and help companies manage the whole hiring process through one portal.
“This economy has created a window of opportunity for small businesses,” says Peter Weddle, a human-resources consultant in Stamford, Conn. These tools offer “a way to manage the tidal wave,” he says.
To view the rest of this article, please go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204475004574126832685403014.html
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Top 10 Cities for New Grads
By Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.com editor
Nate Torvik has mixed feelings about his upcoming graduation from Purdue University. While there's relief that classes are over, exams have been taken and term papers turned in, what lies ahead is an extremely challenging and competitive job market.
"I feel like the wind has been taken out of my sails," says Torvik, who received a bachelor's degree in mass communication. "There is so much pride and happiness that comes with graduation, but as soon as I step off that stage at graduation, I become another statistic of the current miserable economy."
Torvik is one of thousands of soon-to-be college graduates thinking about relocating for work this spring. While choosing the best place to settle down can be a daunting decision, the current economic climate has raised the stakes.
To find out which U.S. cities made the top ten list, go to: http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-1908-College-Internships-First-Jobs-Top-10-Cities-for-New-Grads/?sc_extcmp=JS_1908_home1&SiteId=cbmsnhp41908&ArticleID=1908>1=23000&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=e717b9fc1c904d87be53dde3b0abd011-295447724-R0-4
Nate Torvik has mixed feelings about his upcoming graduation from Purdue University. While there's relief that classes are over, exams have been taken and term papers turned in, what lies ahead is an extremely challenging and competitive job market.
"I feel like the wind has been taken out of my sails," says Torvik, who received a bachelor's degree in mass communication. "There is so much pride and happiness that comes with graduation, but as soon as I step off that stage at graduation, I become another statistic of the current miserable economy."
Torvik is one of thousands of soon-to-be college graduates thinking about relocating for work this spring. While choosing the best place to settle down can be a daunting decision, the current economic climate has raised the stakes.
To find out which U.S. cities made the top ten list, go to: http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-1908-College-Internships-First-Jobs-Top-10-Cities-for-New-Grads/?sc_extcmp=JS_1908_home1&SiteId=cbmsnhp41908&ArticleID=1908>1=23000&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=e717b9fc1c904d87be53dde3b0abd011-295447724-R0-4
Certifiably Empowering: Hot Fields in Which Certification May Boost Your Career
by Katharine Hansen
The author wishes to acknowledge the members of Career Masters Institute who contributed suggestions for this article.
Perhaps you're feeling stuck in your job. You feel as though you need a boost -- something that could help you advance, make more money, and become more marketable. Or maybe even something that would powerfully propel you into a different field. Something that could set you apart and make employers take notice. Maybe you could accomplish your goal with more education or training, but you're not in a position to go back to school at this point. The answer just might be earning a certification in your field -- or in a new field.
Certification programs have proliferated enormously in the past several years. At a minimum, there are nearly 1,600 certifications available, according to the definitive directory on the subject, the Certification and Accreditation Programs Directory, as well as an additional 227 accreditation programs. The directory notes that the growth of certification programs is largely the result of explosive population expansion. Where we once could determine the competence of professionals and purveyors of services through word of mouth, our global and technologically advanced society needed new ways of recognizing competence.
To read more of this article, please go to: http://www.quintcareers.com/certification/career_certifications.html
The author wishes to acknowledge the members of Career Masters Institute who contributed suggestions for this article.
Perhaps you're feeling stuck in your job. You feel as though you need a boost -- something that could help you advance, make more money, and become more marketable. Or maybe even something that would powerfully propel you into a different field. Something that could set you apart and make employers take notice. Maybe you could accomplish your goal with more education or training, but you're not in a position to go back to school at this point. The answer just might be earning a certification in your field -- or in a new field.
Certification programs have proliferated enormously in the past several years. At a minimum, there are nearly 1,600 certifications available, according to the definitive directory on the subject, the Certification and Accreditation Programs Directory, as well as an additional 227 accreditation programs. The directory notes that the growth of certification programs is largely the result of explosive population expansion. Where we once could determine the competence of professionals and purveyors of services through word of mouth, our global and technologically advanced society needed new ways of recognizing competence.
To read more of this article, please go to: http://www.quintcareers.com/certification/career_certifications.html
Thursday, May 7, 2009
About How to Successfully Work a Career/Job Fair
This tutorial is designed for both college students and job-seekers who are seeking to master the skills necessary to successfully attend and navigate career fairs and job expos, taking you through the necessary activities you must do before, during, and after the fair.
We suggest you go through all the steps, but feel free to just jump in wherever you feel you need helpful advice and resources.
Follow this link to a map of the tutorial
Please go to: http://www.quintcareers.com/career_fair_tutorial/
We suggest you go through all the steps, but feel free to just jump in wherever you feel you need helpful advice and resources.
Follow this link to a map of the tutorial
Please go to: http://www.quintcareers.com/career_fair_tutorial/
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