Wiser Worker Blog

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! 

Growing up I can remember watching I Love Lucy everyday during lunch, mom would make us sandwiches and we would sit in from of the black and white television in the kitchen.  It was our ritual to spend the lunchtime watching Lucy solver her latest dilemma.  Today I was struck with a particular show memory where Lucy had spent too much money on a dress and was forced to get a job, and of course she took Ethel along where they interviewed and were hired at a candy factory.

I recently hosted job fair classes on “Navigating through today’s job search”, and it brought me back to this memory of this I Love Lucy episode. While it’s certainly true that finding a job in today’s job market is difficult it will never be as difficult as Lucy and Ethel made it.

I hit on three specific points during these training sessions:

1.     Forget what you used to do, it’s different out there and you need to try something new.

2.    Create a resume that profile’s what you can do for a company not what you have done in the past.

3.    Do it in ONE page, recruiters only have time to hit on the highlights. You can tell your story on one page if it’s effectively written.

 While you probably won’t be looking for a job at a candy factory in the quality control area and consuming all the eating; you can certainly learn that while job search is difficult but you have tools that Lucy and Ethel didn’t have and you have the ability to reach out and get help when you need it, visit wiserworker.com and I will strive to make your job search a little less of a hassle.

I remember the last time I was out of work and had just starting my job search; my ever so helpful mother gave me this advice: “You better get yourself out there and fill out LOTS applications”.   Little did my mother know that over the years the job market has changed and the job seeker needs to have an entirely different set of tools to look for a job in today’s job market.

Today’s job search doesn’t just mean knocking down doors and filling out applications. Don’t get me wrong many companies still use paper applications. Today, however the application is just ONE step in the job search process.  So what tools to you NEED to search for a job?    

1.    Updated Resume

2.    Updated Cover Letter

3.    Computer Access- Gain FREE access from any public library

4.    Know the Best Job Boards……WiserWorker.com

5.    A pad of paper – To take notes

6.    Your Employment History for times when you DO need to fill out a application.  

In some respects searching for a job today is easier because most of it can be done from home, you can cover a lot more territory from in front of a computer. It’s a different world so start with WiserWorker.com when you start your job search it was created for a job seeker just like you!

From the beginning of my WiserWorker.com blog I have talked about many topics all relating to job search, specifically I try and gear my blogs to topics that matters most to job seekers over the age of 40. On a few occasions I have addressed paid services and today I’m taking a look at membership fees, because it can be confusing and you need to understand it.   

My general overall comment it this: Job Seekers who are looking for work shouldn’t have to PAY to look at Jobs that are “from Age-Friendly Employers.”  All of our postings on WiserWorker.com are there because the employer is targeting older worker. The job postings wouldn’t be on WiserWorker.com if they didn’t want that job candidate.  Why are they targeting the older worker?  For many reasons; first and foremost they are the largest age demographic in the labor market right now.  

One of the sites boasts that if you join their membership program you can have a “50-page job guide for people over 50”.  You want one….call me, ours is called the Mature Workers Survival Guide and I will mail you one today….for free!  Amy Hoster 623.869-8888 Ext 238 or email me amy.hoster@wiserworker.com.  

Folks, because you are searching for a job you are already in a club: The club of unemployment. You shouldn’t have to join a secret club with super special jobs and or perks that only premium members get.  You shouldn’t have to PAY to find a job. You are looking for a job not going to the spa….save the pampering for where it belongs.  

At WiserWorker.com I promise you this: every job seeker and every employer will be treated the same. You won’t find a “premium” membership program; because we treat everyone with the same “premium” standards. All our users are special.

You need a job and WiserWorker.com is here to help you find a job.

The most basic need for any job seeker is this you need to have an updated resume.  In this economic climate we should be reaching out and helping each other with the basic skills necessary to obtain a job. Your resume is your professional story it serves as a glimpse of what you can offer a company.  The bottom line is this: YOU can write your own resume, have someone proof read it and provides you any feedback.  

What you need is this a path on how to get started; so I am creating just that a path for you to help yourself….below is an example of what I found when I visited Google and entered “resume help” in the search perimeters.   Look out I found more information than you will probably ever need. Notice all of these options are FREE, they may have a paid service but they will give you free information as well.  Everything I needed was free!  

ResumeHelp.org They provide useful hints and tips for FREE; you can pay a small nominal price for advanced help. Everything I needed however was free and they have lots of examples 

JobStar.org Lots of great information on major cities and examples of resumes and cover letters and almost all the information I found was FREE.

WiserWorker.com check out our resume center

Free Resume Service Ten tips to writing a better resume

AARP.ORG Providing insight on what you need to get a job especially for the older job seeker.

You can use any one to these tools to create a resume that will tell your story and get your message out to perspective employers. If all else fails and you need help contact me direct and I will help you find the perfect resource for you.

Good Luck!

You know what the coolest thing about chameleons is?  They adapt to any situation, no matter where they go, who they meet, or what they need they are able to change color and adapt to their surroundings. Sometimes I think if we all had a little chameleon in us searching for a job might not be such a chore but more of an adventure.

This morning I spoke with a job seeker where my knowledge of chameleons came in handy. Mary called to share her latest job interview experience and she was rather upset.  Up until 2 years ago Mary ran and owned a deli in Pennsylvania, today she found herself looking for work. With all her experience she was sure she was a shoe in for a job opening at the local sandwich shop, where she had turned in her application.

Mary immediately got a call back from the hiring manager and set up an interview to meet with him. At the interview all was going well until the hiring manager told Mary she would need to submit to a background check and provide references.  This upset Mary….as she had years of experience she couldn’t and wouldn’t complete their background check. Mary didn’t get the job she wanted and needed at the sandwich shop.

The moral of the story: Mary failed to become a chameleon.  You must remember when you are seeking a job you need to blend in and accept reasonable companies policies and procedures. Every company has hiring policies in place that are often tailored to their specific hiring practices. Don’t do anything that you are uncomfortable with but practice being a chameleon as they often get hired because they blend in and go with the flow…

Believe it or not I only recently started drinking traditional plain black coffee, it wasn’t something that I enjoyed (or at least I didn’t know I enjoyed). I was however a Starbucks junkie….total typical customer and you can bet I ordered the most ridiculous forms of coffee and you can even get coffee that doesn’t taste like coffee…score!   I realized that I liked the idea or the lifestyle of coffee more than the actual drink. How do coffee and job search fit together?  It’s all about networking and it today’s tough economy you better get good at networking and a lot of coffee have been enjoyed while in the passion of networking.  

The coffee lifestyle is so much more interesting than the actual drink, businesses all over the globe have made hills of money in coffee by glamorizing the lifestyle.  Over the years I have used coffee as the ice breaker in many business deals as way to open the conversation. I have never been to a networking event that didn’t at one point have coffee and the conversations that have happened around the coffee station are ones to remember. Those are the ones that are important and lead to better days and relationships.  

When you start your day tomorrow over a cup of coffee and you visiting wiserworker.com looking for a job think about how you can use your skills to network and find a better opportunity. Regardless where you are from Starbucks to McDonalds you can start up a conversation while you are getting a refill or adding some sugar.  Utilize a coffee break to interact with your co-workers and learn how you can grow as an employee. You can learn so much while enjoying the age old friend your favorite cup of joe.

Let’s face coffee’s not only is it a lifestyle it’s a tool!

Day after day the news outlets report on companies that are joining the ranks by laying employees off. Believe me it’s hard not to get sucked into the stress of it…I’m there!  In the coming days and weeks I expect we will continue to hear more news on layoffs and change in company practice.  Often if you read past the first paragraph which usually describes who, what and how you might find just what I found.

Many of those same companies that laying valuable employees off are the same companies that are cutting back to avoid waste.  The most interesting is what I read was from a very popular maker coffee in addition to the announcement of laying off 7,000 people they also announced that they were going to stop  brewing decaffeinated coffee after noon as part of a drive to save $400 million by September.  How much money (or people) they would have saved if they had instituted this cost saving measure MONTHS ago? Would they have been able to avoid such a huge layoff? 

Don’t get me wrong it’s not a bad thing to eliminate waste…heck I wish we all could and would it’s the when that boggles me. If this company knew they were wasting money by creating a product that wouldn’t get used they WHY did they ever do it?  Better yet while I was writing this blog I received a email about a bank who took a substantial amount of money from the federal government in bailout and are planning a VERY expensive corporate outing to Las Vegas.

I guess their mother didn’t teach them Waste Not, Want Not? Don’t worry at WiserWorker.com we deliver the jobs you need when you need them.

Do you remember being a kid and yelling TA DA anytime something really great happened?  Do you remember how good it made you feel to yell….at the top of your lungs TA DA?  If you don’t I challenge you to try it……I promise you…..you will feel better and maybe even a little giggle might come out of it.

When you think about it….kids instinctively know how to celebrate from a very early age and they celebrate the little things in life. Kids don’t wait until they reach a milestone of epic proportion before they yell TA DA…….so why should we?

I went to a meeting last week were the speaker talked about the power of TA DA and frankly in the beginning I was more than skeptical but I tell you what by the second time he had us all stand up and yell TA DA I WAS INTO IT!! It felt so go to yell at the top of my lungs TA DA and celebrate…..you know what I didn’t feel silly. Seriously…I didn’t.

Find something to celebrate and if all else fails celebrate the fact that you are here today.  Because to me that’s a pretty big accomplishment, you are taking the first step to finda new job by visiting WiserWorker.com.  That’s something….TA DA look at you…     

Today I read on Forbes.com that there are over 345,000 people that have been laid off their jobs since November of 2008.  Forbes is placing a tracker on their website so that the American people will know exactly how many people are out of work…Kinda bleak if you ask me.   However if you feel like focusing on positive good news….I have some for you.

On Monday I also read on Yahoo that” Employers Avoid Axing Oldies but Goodies” and guess what that’s you!  You read it right employers across the board are trying hard to retain and in many cases recruit older candidates because as this story reported: “We need their expertise,” says Stephen Wing, director of workforce initiatives at CVS Caremark in Woonsocket, R.I. “When you’re in your 50s and 60s, you’re in your prime.” 

If you are interested we have taken a proactive approach to this impending labor market crisis, the first in the line of defense is our “Putting American’s Back to Work” Job Fair series taking place in more than 50 cities across the country throughout 2009. The job fair series allows jobseekers to have personal contact with perspective employers. 

We are so confident that we are going to be successful with these events we are going to track the number of people that get hired and post the results to our website. Stick with these numbers because they are important and they are positive and that’s what we all need these days….a little dose of positive…..