AARP® and WiserWorker.com® are kicking off 2010 with a campaign to bring together job seekers and local businesses at special designed job fairs for experienced talent. The Helping Experience Work@50+ job fair campaign will consist of 48 career fairs in 2010 in 19 different states. The goals is, to meet job seekers where they are in their job search process whether they were recently laid off or have been looking for some time.

AARP will be teaching job seekers how to brand themselves in specifically designed hour long workshops entitled “The Power of Promoting Yourself at 50+”. Job seekers will leave these workshops with new skills that will benefit them in their job search. It‘s been our experience with past workshops that participants left more knowledgeable and confident about their future.

Register Online TODAY for a event near you! http://www.wiserworker.com/job-fairs

Interested in being a recruiter at our events?  Contact Amy Hoster amy.hoster@wiserworker.com

From now until February 28^th, the Winter Olympics are taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  Athletes who have been training for the past four years are gathering to compete in their respective sports.

It may be a bit of a stretch, but a comparison can be made between the Olympics and a job search.

You have to spend a lot of time preparing for your interview, just like athletes spend time training for their sport.

For the job seeker, the hard work culminates in a job interview.  With all of your preparation and a little bit of luck, you can beat out your competitors, you will “win” and beat out your competitors and land the job offer.

Wiserworker.com can help you with your job search preparation by offering many resources such as resume tips, job listings and a list of upcoming job fairs.

In a time when there are often more job seekers than jobs I am excited to have just listed jobs for a company in Tennessee.  The company is part of the largest custom roll forming group in the world. We have 11 affiliate companies in 10 countries around the globe, forming an alliance that allows them to leverage the world’s latest technologies, innovations, and benchmarking tools.

This great company knows that when their employees succeed so does the company. They are a family working together for the success of all, and that’s what keeps them one step ahead of the others in the industry.

They are hiring for many different careers at their Louisville location. They are looking for people with experience in skills such as Marketing, Technology, Operators and Management.

We have the following jobs listed on WiserWorker.com.

Group Leader Quality

Sales Engineer

Sales Business/Market Development

Sales Engineer

Utility Press Set

Laser Weld Operators

Good Luck!

You know I consider myself pretty lucky because I have a job I truly love, and I know that this is a true blessing.  However I there must be people out there that like myself have carved their niche in the working word and have found the job that it their perfect fit. The rare cool jobs are out there, just today I found a company (Fetch!) that compensate people to hang out with man’s best friend the dog.  Their job description include to walking dogs, play and care for cats and other small pets in their homes during the day or overnight while their owners are away. Sounds pretty cool right?

So that got me thinking?  What other cool, unique jobs are out there? Or what’s your dream job? 

We want to hear from YOU! You can Twitter, Email, LinkedIn your most unique job to us or comment to the blog today!  

Do you Blog?  Do you Tweet?  Are you LinkedIn?  Do you socialize on Facebook?

Have I just overwhelmed YOU? AM I speaking in another tongue? Well it’s okay… if you don’t know these terms today but you need to learn them…at least make yourself familiar with they mean and how they can make your job search helpful and more importantly successful!

Let’s get to the meat and potatoes of the situation, how they can help YOU. Well here it is…. recruiters frequently search sites of these nature to either look for job seekers or to post open jobs because they are all FREE.  If you can join the millions online you can help yourself right into a job! 

The best way to start is to jump in feet first and play around with the sites…you can’t break anything and heck you might have fun!  Enjoy!

Blog: “is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.”

Twitter: is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers.

LinkedIn: The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection.

Facebook: is a global social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.^[1] Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region.

Don’t cut and paste your resume into your profile.

You wouldn’t hand out your resume before introducing yourself, so don’t do it on LinkedIn.  However, describe your experience and abilities as you would to someone you just met.

Borrow from the best marketers.

Interject your profile with your voice. Use adjectives, colorful verbs, active construction (managed project team). Don’t write in the third person. Picture yourself at a conference or client meeting. How do you introduce yourself? That’s your authentic voice, so use it.

Write a personal tagline.

That line of text under your name is the first thing people see in your Profile. It follows your name in search hit lists. It’s your brand.  Create your professional personality into a more eye-catching phrase that describes who you are at a glance. (Your e-mail address is not a brand!)

Put your elevator pitch to work.

Create a 30-second description

The essence of who you are and what you do, is a personal elevator pitch. Use it in the Summary section to engage readers. The more meaningful your summary is, the more time you’ll get from readers.

Explain your experience.

Help the reader grasp the key points. Briefly say what the company does and what you did or do for them.   Use those clear, succinct phrases here and break them into visually digestible chunks.

Pat your own back and others

Get recommendations from colleagues, clients, and employers who can speak credibly about your abilities or performance. (Think quality, not quantity.) Ask them to focus on a specific skill or personality trait that drives their opinion of you. Make meaningful comments when you recommend others.  

Build your connections.

Connections are one of the most important aspects of your brand. The company you keep reflects the quality of your brand.    Identify connections that will add to your credibility and pursue those.  As you add connections and recommendations, your Profile develops into a peer-reviewed picture of you and of your personal brand.  

Ok, because of your awesome resume and cover letter, you have gone on an interview. I suppose your think that is the end of it, right?  Wrong!  Now you have to write a thank you letter.

Send the thank you letter within 24 hours of the interview, whenever possible.  They should be typed unless you have been corresponding via email the whole time.  Getting a business card will help you remember who you interviewed with and their title.

Be concise.  Use the same paper that your cover letter and resume were printed on. 

Address any unresolved issues that came up during the interview.  If questions came up during the interview or if more information was requested, the thank you letter is the perfect place to include that information.

Include something specific about your interview.  This will help the interviewer remember you and help you stand out from the pack.

Emphasize your strengths one more time.  Let the interviewer know that after meeting with them, you are more confident that your skills are a match for their organization.

Most importantly, thank them for their time.  Everyone’s time is valuable.  A simple acknowledgement will let them know you respect that.

Last, but definitely not least, proofread your document before sending it out.  Do not give the hiring manager an easy reason to eliminate you from consideration.

Your cover letter and resume did their jobs.  They caught the attention of the hiring manager and you are now scheduled for an interview.  Now what?

The job interview can be nerve racking.  Being nervous before a job interview is normal.  You can alleviate some of those nerves by being prepared for the interview.  This is where doing research on the company you are interviewing with will really pay off.  It shows a genuine interest in the company and it can help you come up with questions for the interviewer.

Here are a few things you can do to help the interview go smoothly.

Make sure you know where to go for the interview.  Try driving the route you will be taking prior to the interview. Being familiar with where the interview is will help you stay calm.

Arrive early.  You will probably have to fill out an application before the interview begins.  Being late may also raise a warning flag about you even before the interview starts.

Dress professionally. Hopefully this goes with out saying.  Your clothes should be clean and wrinkle free.  Your shoes should not be scuffed up. You only have one chance to make a first impression.

“Don’t fidget.” This is the one piece of advice I remember my Mom giving me before an interview.  Non verbal communication is important in interviews.  Standing up straight, making eye contact and a firm handshake are all good non verbal communication tools.

Be flexible.  Every interview is different.  Remember that the purpose of the interview is for the company to get to know you and for you to get to know the company.  There is no set formula for how to do this.  The more calm, prepared and relaxed you are the better off you will do.

Do you have any tips for a successful interview?  If so, we would like to hear about them.

Now that you know how to write your resume, (Thanks Amy!), it is time to focus on the cover letter.  It is just as important as your resume.  Think of your cover letter as a bridge between your resume and the job you are applying for.

Do your research

Before writing your cover letter, research the company you are applying to.  Find out who the hiring manager is by calling the company.  Also, find out some information to use in your letter. For example, is company XYZ a leader in their particular industry?

Read the job description very carefully.  By doing so, you will be able to figure out the important skill / qualifications of the position.

Write the cover letter

Now that the research is done, it is time to start writing the cover letter.  Your first sentence should stand out and grab the reader’s attention.  The rest of the paragraph is the “why you are applying” paragraph.

The next 1 -2 paragraph(s) are the “what can you do for the company” paragraphs.  Highlight a couple of your skills that strongly match the qualifications in the job description.  Remember to keep the focus on how you can help the company.

The last paragraph is the “summary” paragraph.  Thank the hiring manager for their time.  Let them know you are available for interviews and that your resume is enclosed.  Indicate know you will follow up with them.

Finally, here are a few more tips for writing a good cover letter.

·         Proofread, Proofread, Proofread. Spell check your document and have a friend read it.  There cannot be any mistakes or typos.

·         Be concise. Don’t use two words when one will work. Make every word in your letter work for you.

·         Be upbeat and positive in your letter. Sound excited about the prospect of working for this company, all the way though the letter.

·         Do NOT write a generic cover letter.  It shows a lack of interest on your part.

Do you have other suggestions for writing a resume or cover letter?  If so, we would love to hear about it.

I attended a job fair for older workers last week and held a workshop on navigating the job market, I was interested in what information was shared and what needed to be talked about these are just a few of the topics covered. I hope this information helps you get through the rough seas ahead.

More is TOO MUCH

It’s a fact more is just too much, often people who are in the older worker category give to much information on their resume.  It’s essential that you keep your resume to ONE page. Yep that’s right folks I said ONE page. You can tell a hiring manager everything they need to learn about you in one page, more will get you shuffled to the bottom of the pile.

History is Irrelevant

Hiring managers what to know what you CAN do for them if you get hired, they are less interested in what you have been doing for the last 20 years. Make your resume stand out,  make your past work history relevant to the job you are applying for, with that said the experience you have gained in past positions is more than relevant.

Example:

Your Past: You have been in the medical field managing a office full of nurses. 

Your applicable skill transfer: Your ability to manage an office staff.

Telling Yourself That No One Hires Older Workers

Phooey, if you start out with an I can’t do attitude well you know the outcome.  Go to each and every interview with the mindset that you are the best person suited for the open position. Remember you come to the table with years of experience and the will to get the job done and done right.

Persistence Pays

If you feel that you have found the job that was meant for you then by all means apply for it and follow up with the online application. There is no harm in checking in with the hiring manager to see what the hiring process looks like. You don’t want to be one of a 100 resumes, be the one that stands out.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Before your actual interview practice questions that might come up and have answers ready, there is nothing worse than being unprepared. Grab a friend and hold practice interview or if all else fails stand in front of a mirror and practice.

At the end of the day stop trying to blend in among the millions of job seekers. YOU were born to Stand Out!