Career Hub

Craigslist Tips for Job Seeker and Employer

Craigslist, a centralized network of online urban communities, featuring free classified advertisements including jobs, is perhaps not as well known as the large commercial job boards Monster and Careerbuilder. But it has emerged as one of the most popular and mainstream job boards for job seekers and employers. Guy Kawasaki, a well-known author and blogger (and one of my favorite blogs to read) recently posted some insider tips on the best use of Craigslist for both the job seeker and the employer.

His job-seeker tips in How to Get a Job on Craigslist are based on his actual experience using Craigslist to fill a photo-editor job opening for one of his websites. They include: 1 - apply fast, 2 - write a cover email that addresses the position, 3 - rise to the occasion, 4 - apply well, 5 - apply really well, and 6 - don't be stupid. Read Guy's insights - they are just as relevant to any job board or even company website job posting. The comments section also provides additional "a-ha" moments and even job-search tools.

The employer posting How to Not hire Someone Via Craigslist is just hilarious and decodes some recruiter-speak. Employers take note: the good quality job seekers are becoming more savvy about online job postings and "reading between the lines" thanks to critiques like this one from Guy about a Craigslist New Yorkposting for a web and print designer.

Both job seekers and employers can benefit from the Craigslist medium provided they "raise the bar" in terms of value proposition and realistic expectations. If you have found Craigslist useful (or not), drop a comment here. Let's shine the light on what really works!

Cross-posted at Career Goddess Blog

Interviewing Pet Peeves: A Job Seeker's Perspective

According to HR Executive Online, in a recent study conducted by DDI and Monster Worldwide, two of every three job seekers surveyed reported that their impressions of the people they interviewed with strongly influenced their decision to accept or reject a position. Here are some of the job search candidate's pet peeves:

• an interviewer who acts like he has no time to talk to the candidate
• a hiring authority who withholds information about the position
• an interview conversation that is more like an interrogation
• an interviewer that shows up late for the meeting

Interviewers and hiring authorities are the face of the company to job seekers. Companies that strive to teach hiring managers to engage the job seeker and act as the ombudsman for the firm will win the war for talent. Interviewers need to be authentic and respectful of candidates and they can successfully build rapport with prospects by sticking to performance based and relevant questions and offering feedback to candidates in a timely manner.

 As a job seeker, you are interviewing a company as much as they are interviewing you. Pay close attention to the subtle cues of the interviewer. While the actions of one or two people may not represent the company as a whole, they could be indicative of the corporate or department culture and are worth noting.

Posted by Barbara Safani

Jerk-Free Job Site

In July over on CareerMastersTalk blog, I wrote a post about e-Boss Watch started by Asher Adelman. Now Asher has just launched a "jerk-free" job site. According to his press release, "eBossWatch now offers the only job board which limits its job listings exclusively to companies who are certified great employers. At Great Workplace Jobs, users won't find companies with jerks, bullies, or abusive managers. All companies are certified jerk-free before being eligible to post jobs on our site."

In order for companies to be eligible to post jobs on eBossWatch, they will need to demonstrate that they have either received a "great workplace" award, or an external consultant will need to confirm that the company provides a great working environment, free of toxic and abusive bosses.

posted by billiesucher

ALERT: More than 100,000 Monster.com Users' Personal Information Plundered

A vivid example of what can happen to your personal information when you post your resume on the Web as part of your job search strategy came to light this week.

Monster.com's job hunting sites suffered a massive security breach in which hackers stole personal data on 100,000 or more users. Apparently, the hackers somehow obtained the logins of corporate and recruiting firm users and used them to access the resume database. They then used an automated "Trojan" program to transmit the information to a rogue server, where computer security experts at Symantec found 1.6 million records belonging to job seekers.

The attack based on this data was multi-pronged: Two different kinds of e-mails were sent out to unsuspecting job candidates, one attempting to collect logins for financial sites, and the second a vicious virus that locks up data on the victim's PC, after which a ransom is demanded to unlock the data.

An article at the Fox News Site provides further details about the incident and how it happened. (It is also disappointing to learn that the job board admits to having kept the security breach under wraps for 5 days before notifying its users.)

For more information on potential dangers to watch out for in online job search, see my blog entry of August 15: "Online Job Search: Beware of Spoofing, Phishing, and Other Scams."

Posted by Laurie Smith

Whither Job Boards?

Looking for a job? Have you used employment web sites? Of course you have. The amazing thing is that 10 years ago, this was hardly an option. Even 5 years ago, job boards were a niche, mainly used by "techies" looking for IT jobs. It's quite remarkable how quickly employment Web sites became mainstream! Being a new industry, though, it's anything but clear how employment web sites are supposed to work. Jobster, Indeed, Monster and Craigslist, for example, are based on four radically different models. Moreover, predictions of where the industry is headed are all over the place. One prediction is that job seekers will "eliminate the middleman" (employment web sites like Monster) and increasingly use corporate employment web sites. A different vision predicts that web users will look for jobs not on employment web sites, but on other sites not at all related to employment, based on common interests. For example, let's say you live in Minneapolis and you're visiting a community web site, which features a link that says "looking for jobs in Minneapolis"? Or you're a nurse, visiting a site that features news and information for nurses, and you see a link that says "nursing jobs." Or what if instead of links, these common interest web sites feature "widgets," which let you search for relevant jobs without even leaving the site you're on? Interesting stuff. Then there are RSS feeds and social networks. Whether you're a job seeker or work in an employment-related field, I'm curious what your vision is. How will the web evolve to better meet your needs as job seekers? Submit your comments!

How Creative Can You Be With Your Resume?

One of the most frequent questions I hear from potential clients is "Can you make my resume look really different from all the others?" Generally the question isn't related to resume content, but to layout and typography.

It's an understandable question - it's certainly tough to get noticed when there are so many resumes for every position - but unfortunately, the answer is no.

In the old days, before email, resume writers had a lot more flexibility for creative design. The resume would be printed out and mailed, so there was no concern about formatting for email. But now, your resume must travel between computers and operating systems and it must retain its formatting even when the recipient has a different version of MS Word to the one you're using.

(And yes, you MUST create your resume in Word. It is the standard word processing program and resumes created in programs like Photoshop or Illustrator will be useless to most HR people and recruiters.)

Therefore, you have to keep your resume as simple as possible. Use only standard system fonts (you can see safe fonts highlighted in blue on this list). If you use other fonts, you run the risk that the recipient will not have that font installed on their system - when that happens, their computer will replace your pretty font with Courier New, and all your careful formatting will be thrown out.

You must also avoid any of the Microsoft Word drawing objects, such as text boxes or lines. This is because they may not show up depending on the settings on the recipient's computer.

You CAN use color to liven up your resume, but be aware that the document will probably be printed and photocopied, so make sure you use colors that will still work when printed/copied in black and white.

I do think resume design is very important - your resume must be well laid out, consistent, easy to read and contain lots of white space - but sadly in this age of email, excess creativity will hurt your job search  rather than help.

The best way to differentiate yourself is through strong content that clearly shows your value to potential employers. If you do that, you won't need to worry about unusual typography and clever layouts.

Find thousands of Bilingual jobs at LatPro.com.

Would Telecommuting Make You More Productive?

A recent survey of 10,000 employees in the US by Kenexa Research Institute has found that employees allowed to telecommute one day per week were 9% more satisfied with their employers that those made to come to the office everyday. This also directly reflected in the employees perceptions and reactions to their boss as telecommuters found their boss did a better job of people management and that senior managers valued them more.

Tim Ferriss in his book "The 4 Hour Workweek' advocates that employees looking to follow his mantra look to get agreement on telecommuting as soon as possible and once increases in productivity are demonstrated to ask for an increase in the number of telecommuting days.

One area that is explored in personal branding is to define what your ideal job environment and content will look like. This goes beyond looking at the corporation and who you might be working with to include such things as flexible work schedules and telecommuting or even remote working.

But whilst telecommuting may seem attractive to many job seekers and employees there are obvious downsides and if it is a direction you want to take then you need to be sure that you have the disciplines, skills and strengths to make it work for you and your employer.

The indications are that the introduction of telecommuting is plateauing, perhaps for the employer there are not enough reasons or benefits yet to take this all the way, so you might want to take a look at Ferriss' tips on getting started.

In the current job market where your talents might well be in demand it is a great time for you to be able to negotiate above and beyond the 'normal package' , so if that includes telecommuting make sure you ask for an extra pyjama allowance!

Back to School

For many students of all ages, today marks the start of a new school year. Back to the classroom. Back to the books. I vividly recall my return to graduate school as an adult-learner. Excited. Scared. Anxious. Eager. Energized. Freaked out!

Could I do it? Would I make it? Could I write well enough? Could I keep up? What about testing? Maybe essays? I love essays! Did I have enough smarts? After all, the consulting psychologist advised me that I wasn't graduate school material. Doubts. More questions. What about running my fledgling business? And when would I ever get to see my husband and little girl? Sleep? Did I need any? Plus, was it really worth the $25,000 to get that Master's?

Walking into the classroom for the first time -- front row, middle section, or back of the room -- is a big deal whether you're 5, 35, or 55. Choices. Consequences. Maybe today is your first day back at school? Maybe you're starting a degree or finishing one? Or pursuing that MBA? Or maybe you're a job seeker retraining for a new line of work?

Here I am, some 20 years later writing this blog post, thinking about my son, in particular, this day; today is his first day of school as a OneL. Wonder how it will go for him? Learning. Such a powerful thing; such an amazing gift is this eight-letter word called...

Life-changing lessons

Enriching experiences

Acquisition of education

Root of

Never-ending knowledge

Immeasurable investment

Now and for a lifetime of

Gaining, giving, growing.

Here's to a great school year and to a passion for lifelong learning!

posted by: billiesucher

The Unemployment Dating Game

As a former 14-year recruiter AND an avid believer in networking I wanted to share this entry. It's from "The Fabulous Life & Times of Pratt Mandango" blog. Sometimes we need to laugh at ourselves!

Looking for a job these days is a lot like Internet dating. You expose yourself to the masses, screaming "I am available," and then spend most of your time fending off the weirdoes sniffing around for their next piece of meat. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against recruiters as a class of people. There are a few good ones out there with nice manners, who are well connected and will treat you nicely. But many of them are either knuckle-draggers looking to club you over the head and drag you to their cave, or sweaty gigolos with fancy titles and bad pick-up lines. If you get caught up with these guys you'll find out they are all compliments and promises in the beginning, but if they can't "place" you by the end of the day, they'll dump you. But, you are still desperate for a job so you chase after them and the cycle continues with more compliments, promises and disappointments. They're the people my parents warned me about.

Read the rest of the post here.

Social Networking and LinkedIn Tips

Networking has been the number-one way to find jobs – and good ones – for years. In fact, for the past 20-some years I’ve been in the careers industry as a career counselor/coach and outplacement specialist, it has been the first strategy I’ve recommended to my job-search clients. With the advent of Web 2.0 and social networking, this strategy now makes it possible to connect with vast networks of professionals and peers for information interviewing, job leads, company information, and more.

But this globalization of networking has also led to dilemmas like what social networks to choose, the netiquette of social networking, and how to optimize networking time and tools. The following list should help:

1."The 15 Top Social Networking Sites" as compiled by Selfgrowth.com contains what it describes as the 15 most important websites primarily for people running self-improvement, business or health-related sites…I would expand that statement to include job seekers and career changers, career professionals seeking promotion and career development, recruiters, and HR folks too. The bonus here is that even more sites are listed beyond the top 15; check them out as they may be just the “niche” where you want to stand out with your personal brand.

2."LinkedIn Tricks for Networkers, Job Hunters and Hirers" by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen of Time Magazine offers tips anyone on LinkedIn can use for research, connecting with those in the network, getting answers to specific questions, people and company background info, and raising your search-engine ranking if you have a website (such as a website portfolio) or personal blog.

Lisa’s blog contains links to more postings:
"Ten Ways Journalists Can Use LinkedIn"by Penelope Trunk – again all of the tips could easily apply to job seekers, hirers, and anyone interested in developing and managing their career.

"Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn" by Guy Kawasaki – which contains some fascinating statistics like “people with more than twenty (LinkedIn) connections are thirty-four times more likely to be approached with a job opportunity than people with less than five”.

For job-seekers, I’d also like to add "Join a Social Network Before You Need a Job" (again by Penelope Trunk), which reveals how gung-ho recruiters are about social networking candidates.

3."I’m on LinkedIn – Now What?"book preview by author Jason Alba which shares his rationale, chapter content and structure, and timeline for the upcoming book. Judging from the thoroughness of the book’s content and knowing Jason’s penchant for meticulous detail and strategic thinking – this should be a bestseller!

All in all, the tools are out there to make social networking work for you. Don’t let the number-one way to find jobs go unused in your toolbox of job-search tactics. BTW, remember face-to-face networking as well, with everyone you meet…you just don’t know who others may know and what referrals they might have for you. Have you got your personal branding 30-second statement (elevator pitch) ready?

Cross-posted at Career Goddess Blog

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