Tips for Your Job Search

Struggling to find a job?

Recognize it is a full time commitment, which means an 8 hour day or more.

Recognizing common setbacks may help you better identify how to spend your time when searching for employment. For a discussion of five topics in more detail see the complete article here.

50 Best Job Search Sites

There’s a lot that goes into searching for a job. From crafting the perfect cover letter and resume, to finding the best-fit niche jobs to apply for, to acing the big interview, to using social media to your advantage,

Fortunately, you can use a number of job search websites, tools, and apps to make the hunt for your perfect job easier.

See 50 of the best job search sites, apps, and tools here.

Job-Hunting Do's and Don'ts for Job-Seekers

Learning the do's and don'ts (rules) that job-seekers must know regarding the key strategies and tactics of successful job-hunting is essential. Presented in this article are 25 keys to successful job-hunting. Job-seekers who follow these rules and guidelines -- the do's and don'ts of job-hunting -- should have much more success in the job-search.

For more insight, click here.

TagCrowd as a Job Search Tool

TagCrowd is a web application for visualizing word frequencies in any text by creating what is popularly known as a word cloud. - TagCrowd is particularly useful in making it easier to analyze a detailed job description for the particular requirements for each job by creating a screen with the most frequently mentioned keywords for skills and experiences emphasized in a concise manner. These keywords must be addressed and customized in your resume for you to have impact with each of your employment applications.

Topics covered included:

• TagCrowd as a job search tool
• How does TagCrowd Work?
• Any problems with TagCrowd?

Click here for more info.

Job Search #6: Fast Track Your Job Search

What can you do when you have to find a job fast? It's not easy, but there are steps you can take to expedite your job search.

Spending some time to get your job search in order, keeping it organized, focused, and on the fast track will help you find a job faster than if you don't have a plan in place.

Rather than missing your job search targets, you'll be spending your time job searching in an effective manner if you take it one step at a time - and stay on top of managing job search process.  See the full article here.

  

Here are some suggestions.

• Plan and Organize Your Search
• Write Your Resume
• Create a Personal Cover Letter Template
• Create/Update Your Professional Profilles
• Select Job Search Websites
• Use Your Words

For more insight, click here.

Job Search #5: Finding Job Listings

Here are the best sites to find job listings including job search engine sites, job boards, company websites, niche job sites, social media and professional networking sites, jobs listed by type of job seeker and location, and more top job listing sites.

Here is a valuable outline of finding best sites for particular job listings.

1. Top 5 Best Job Sites for Students
2. Best Job Search Engines
3. More Good Job Sites
4. Best Local Job Sites
5. Jobs Listed by Career Field/Industry
6. Jobs Listed by Location

For more info, click here.

Job Search #1: When to start a search

When it comes to starting your job search, there’s no time like the present—except, maybe, if the present happens to be during a major life change, a big project at work, or the summertime.

Career experts say job seekers should always be actively looking. The stars will never align perfectly in your job search and if you wait for them to do so, a great opportunity could be missed. 

The best time to look for a new job is when you don’t need one; you just want one. For the complete discussion see the article here.

Best 100 Colorado Companies for Flexible Jobs

Based on years of researching companies that hire for telecommuting, part-time, flextime, or freelance jobs, FlexJobs has compiled the best list of 100 of companies located in Colorado that specifically have hired for jobs with at least one of these flexible working options. Below you will find the company profiles on Colorado employers such as Catholic Health Initiatives, Imagine!, and Niche Technologies Inc., as well as each company's telecommuting, part-time, freelance, and flexible job posting history, a staff-written description, and the company's headquarters and website.

The purpose of the free Colorado List of Best Companies for Flexible Jobs is to help people in Colorado to easily find and research the legitimate employers embracing workplace flexibility.

If you you're looking for a job in Colorado, click here.  This guide is excellent and free as a resource for jobs!

10 Best-Paying Jobs Of The Future

If you decided on a new career path today, wouldn't you like to know which jobs will be in high demand and pay the most once you were out of school? To serve as a guide, 24/7 Wall St. has identified the best-paying jobs of the future. These jobs will grow the most in the next decade and have median incomes well above the national average. Almost without exception, these occupations will be in highest demand

One change that will create high demands for some professions is the increasing amount of data available to businesses.  For more info, click here

Job Search Site List

The internet provides a vast resource of information relating to job searching. In order to make effective use of these resources an organized and disciplined approach to your job search is appropriate.  While job leads are necessary, the fact remains that networking and personal contacts are the most effective path to a job interview and ultimately an offer. Using the internet to identify available job openings and then using networking to get an inside track can provide a powerful search strategy.

The following compilation of sites was prepared by Karla Nuzman, an employment Specialist.  It presents an extensive set of site addresses broken into useful career categories.

COMPANIES	CONSTRUCTION	ENERGY
ENGINEERING	FELONS	FINANCE – BANKING
GENERAL	GOVERNMENT JOBS	HEALTHCARE
HOSPITALITY	IT– TECHNOLOGY	JOURNALISM – BROADCASTING
	REGIONS – LOCATIONS

For multiple web sites for Job Searches by career, click here.

Top 10 Best Job Sites

 Looking for a good position is never easy, especially in tough employment markets. But even so, there are hundreds of thousands of jobs available at any given time, if one knows where to look. Many of them are posted on job boards.

A job board’s primary function is to connect companies with potential employees. And as recent studies show, companies find nearly 25% of their external new hires through these sites. Surveys have also found that up to 32% of job seekers found their jobs by either responding to an ad or posting a resume on a job board.

To see the top sites click here.

Tips for how to find a job

If someone started looking for a job today, there is no way of knowing how long it will take. You have to make looking for a job a job in itself. It needs to be a 24-hours-a-day, seven-day-a-week, 365-days-a-year job.

There's always the opportunity of working in the temporary arena. People should be calling temporary employment firms to find light industrial jobs, or jobs that will make a minimum wage or maybe a little more. For example, if you've been an accountant your whole life, there are opportunities out there, and you might be able to find some temporary jobs.

Develop a system of looking for a job. This way, you focus on the process without having to worry about the results. Keep track of the calls you make and the interviews you get. That way you can follow up on the interviews.

For a comprehensive outline see the full article here.

Ready for your video interview?

As if mentally preparing for a job interview wasn’t hard enough, now you need to look good on camera, too.

More companies are making video interviews an integral step in the hiring process. Depending on the survey, from 30 percent to 60 percent of organizations conduct some portion of job interviews via webcam.  There are things you can do to be ready, including knowing where to look, practicing and making sure you’re talking from an appropriately work-like setting.

Here are the recommend preparations for a video interview:

1. Get the gear
2. Talk from an office setting
3. Declutter and remove noisemakers
4. Adjust the lighting
5. Dress appropriately
6. Look into the camera
7. Practice
8. Be on time

For the details on these video savy topics, see the full article here.

Baby Boomer Job Hunting

People in their 50s and 60s might have a lower overall unemployment rate than their younger counterparts. But when they lose a job, they have a harder time returning to the workforce. Midlife and older job hunters are concerned that their age will hurt their chances of landing work, especially if they’re looking while unemployed.

66 percent of people ages 55 to 64 who are unemployed have been out of work for more than six months, according to an analysis of 2012 census data. That’s more than twice the number of those under 25 who’ve been out of work six months or more.

Ageism is one reason it’s harder for older workers to find a job. Potential employers fear – justly or not – that older workers won’t be able to keep up, won’t know the latest technology or will put in a few years and then retire. To counter these fears and get strategies for success, see the entire article here.

Job Search Tax Deductions

When you're job searching, it's important to keep track of your job search expenses, because these costs may be a tax deduction when you file your income taxes.

If you've been looking for a job in the same line of work you're currently in, many of your expenses like phone calls, the costs of preparing and copying your resume, and career counseling are deductible. You don't have to be out of work to have some of your costs qualify as a deductible expense, but only expenses that exceed 2% percent of your income count.

Be sure to include as income your severance and unemployment, they are taxable. See the complete article here.

Eight Top Articles from 2013

There have been many articles presented on this blog over the last year. Here are the most popular 8 from the Beyond.com site, one of the sites watched for employment tips. 

1. 5 Ways to Tell if Your Interview Went Well
2. 5 Myths That Hurt a Job Search
3. Can You Lose a Job for Being Too Attractive?
4. Six Reasons Your Search Has Stalled
5. Getting the Job When You're Underqualified
6. Four Job Qualifications You Don't Really Need
7. Six Tips for a Solid Resume
8. The Top Four Career Lies

The full article at Beyond.com can be found here

35 Most Influential Career Sites for 2014

Looking for a job or seeking to hire employees in 2014?  The Internet is full of advice, though separating the reputable and informative sites from the misleading sources often takes time and extensive effort.

To save you the trouble, below, you'll find a comprehensive list of some of best career, interviewing, job search and recruiting websites.  These are long standing sources that are consistently updated, have shown significant expertise in the field and can be readily accessed through a multitude of social media channels.

For more info, click here.

CareerOneStop for Job & Career Changes

Browse CareerOneStop’s video collection to learn about careers, industries, skills and abilities, or work options and education levels.

Get started by selecting links below.

Videos Introduction

Career and Cluster Videos

Career Videos in Spanish

Skill and Ability Videos

Industry Videos

Work Option Video

The videos are available for downloading. They may be downloaded in several different formats. Please visit the OneStop Career System Multimedia Career Video Library to download videos. All videos are available in English. Most of the videos are also available in Spanish. Download times may vary. 

For more creative approaches on how to get started, education and training and interviewing click here to explore career options, salary ranges and job market trends.

Reference USA-extensive company intelligence

ReferenceUSA.Gov is an Internet-based reference service for the government.  The site was designed for use as a reference tool in government agencies.  Its database contains in module format, detailed information on more than 20 million U.S. businesses, 222 million consumers, 89 million U.S. residents, 855,000 U.S. health care providers, 1.5 million Canadian businesses, and 12 million Canadian households.

Small-business owners/entrepreneurs can conduct power market research.  Select a location and do a radius search to look up the number of similar businesses in the area.  Check the strength of the competition with years in business and credit rating.

Job seekers can locate and research companies they want to work for with details on 14 million U.S. businesses including 200,000 human resources with contact names business descriptions, company size and website links to job postings. Three vital ways for job seekers to use this web site are:

1. Check previous companies worked at for in that company for finding lateral positions.
2. Look for companies who are competitors in the field you were employed with as a prime source of jobs.
3. Create a master list of all companies within ones career field to potentially contact them along with contact info about key people.

www.referenceusa.com can be accessed for free through ones local library system via their library card account.    For more info of how to best navigate the databases found on this web site, .click here for a timely video tutorial.

Use the Largest On-line Source of Jobs

www.Indeed.com is the world's largest single source of jobs as an employment-related search engine.  First launched in November 2004 for job listings and by 2010 surpassed Monster.com to become the most visited job site in the United States.  Indeed reaches over 100 million unique visitors every month. The site aggregates job listings from thousands of websites, including job boards, newspapers, associations, and company career pages.

To become familiar with the attributes of indeed.com, the following three-minute tutorial video instructions are provided:

• Job search tips
• Using exact phrases
• Capitalization tricks
• Broadening your search
• When to use abbreviations
• Using company names & job titles
• Using complex phrases

Find access to the internet based training video here.