Pepsi Contest: Assist 100k unemployed individuals in rewriting their resume for free.

Vote for this idea –

Assist 100k unemployed individuals in rewriting their resume for free.

Goals

• To assist 100k unemployed individuals in rewriting their resume
• Upgrade infrastructure to handle the volume of resumes
• Increase consumer experience

Overview

The cornerstone and namesake of Help My Resume is our no-charge professionally written resume rewriting service. Although an individual may be equipped with an impressive set of job skills, many don’t know how to clearly express and present their uniqueness and value to a prospective employer, via a well written and strategic structured resume. Since, January 2009 we have completed more than 100,000 resumes at no charge to individuals throughout our great country. To continue to service unemployed individuals Help My Resume needs to enhance our current infrastructure to accomplish the following:

1)   Increase the capacity of resumes

2)   Enhance the consumers experience making it easier to upload their current resume, track status of their resume, and to download their new resume

3)   Approve efficiency within the organization in tracking resumes, distributing resumes internal and externally to volunteers, and increasing customer service satisfaction

How will the 50K be Used?
$ 40,000	Cost to run resume program
$ 10,000	Cost to upgrade infrastructure

Click here to vote.

Sample Resumes and Examples

While re-writing my own resume sometime back, I had to figure how to show my consulting work along with my day job.  Both are marketing-related and I really wanted a format that showed what I do, but was easy on the eyes.  I have even helped re-write resumes for professions I do not know about such as Healthcare and even Attorneys, but had great results.  Therefore, I would like to share my findings with my fellow Americans and help fight unemployment one resume at a time.  Use this resource wisely – http://www.bestsampleresume.com/.

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The Real Reason For “Thank You” Letters Isn’t To Say, “Thank You”

After an interview, sending a “Thank You” letter is common etiquette and a nice thing to do, but saying “thank you” should not be the main reason for sending it. Most candidates send one after interviewing with a company, but as a recruiter, I rarely receive one. I personally don’t need one, but on the occasions when I have received one, I think the candidate misses a great opportunity by just saying, “Thank you for the interview.”

I believe a good “Thank You” letter should be used to reinforce your ability to do the job and/or address any potential issues that came up during the interview. It can be another marketing document. It is important not to over do it, but a tactful letter, that does some subtle marketing can have a big impact on the person reading it.

Click here to read the entire article.

Job Trends: Homeland Security to Hire Up to 1K Cyber Experts

Article Source:  http://tinyurl.com/ybgo39g

Lolita C. Baldor

October 05, 2009

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has given a green light to the Homeland Security Department to be more competitive and choosey as it hires up to 1,000 new cyber experts over the next three years, the first major personnel move to fulfill its vow to bolster security of the nation’s computer networks.

The announcement follows a wave of cyber attacks on federal agencies, including a July assault that knocked government Web sites off the Internet and earlier intrusions into the country’s electrical grid.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who made the announcement on Thursday, said the hiring plan reflects the Obama administration’s commitment to improving cyber security. The move gives DHS officials far greater flexibility to hire whom they want, outside of more stringent federal guidelines. And it will also allow more latitude in pay.

As a result, Napolitano told an audience of cyber industry professionals, the new rules “will allow us to be competitive with you all” in luring quality applicants.

Much of the funding already has been budgeted, but DHS also is working with Congress for more money. Officials refused to say how much money the program would represent.

The hiring push also underscores the administration’s ongoing struggle to better organize and manage the country’s vulnerable digital defense. President Barack Obama vowed in February to tackle cyber issues, but still has not named a cyber coordinator, a job that experts say will be difficult to fill.

Napolitano said her department does not anticipate filling all 1,000 positions, which will include cyber analysts, developers and engineers who can detect, investigate and deter cyber attacks.

The secretary’s announcement marked the start of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which reflects the White House goal to draw more public attention to the need for everyday computer users to exercise more diligence in protecting their online security.

In other comments, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said the Pentagon expects to make decisions in the coming weeks on whether to relax restrictions on the use of external computer flash drives and social media Web sites by members of the military and department employees.

The Pentagon banned the use of flash drives last November because of a virus threat officials detected on Defense Department networks.

–

On the Net:

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc(underscore)1158611596104.shtm

Desperately seeking a job

By Miriam Salpeter

Stop. Deep breath. You’ve been looking for a job for a long time. Maybe it’s been longer than the “average 25-week search reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” What should you NOT do? You should, absolutely NOT, under any circumstances act desperate for a job. Even if you are. No matter how you feel, act like the confident, competent professional you know you are. Why?

A Forbes post by Susan Adams recently revealed data from a survey of 500 executive recruiters that suggested executive level job seekers are “are preparing poorly for interviews, putting together weak resumes and appearing too desperate to take any job that comes their way.”

Click here for the rest of the article

 

Hope is NOT a Job Search Strategy

Article Source:  http://tinyurl.com/l3usuv

Liz Lynch, over at The Smart Networking Blog, just posted a blog article by this very same title. This is one of my favorite phrases I use all the time in our Job Search Webinars, Workshops, Seminars, and Private Coaching.

Why do most job seekers base their job search on hope and luck?

This is NOT a strategy. Trying to “will” the phone to ring is NOT effective. Liz talked about a candidate profiled on CNN who submitted their resume over 600 times to job ads on job boards and had a response rate of around 2.5%. It’s a waste of time and a useless technique.

Yet, many job seekers continue to base their entire job search strategy on hope and luck centered around answering ads on job boards.

My experience in 25 years as an Executive Recruiter is that most candidates fall into the trap of answering ads and praying the phone will ring because of 3 reasons:

1. This is what they know and what they did 5 years ago. They are trapped in a tribal paradigm of conducting an out-dated job search.
2. They are unwilling to learn how to conduct an effective job search. They refuse to read the blogs of Barry Deutsch and Brad Remillard, Liz Lynch, Jacob Share, Dan Schwabel, Miriam Salpeter and the hundreds of other outstanding experts in resume writing, personal branding, networking, and interviewing. They don’t take advantage of the FREE audio recordings, videos on YouTube, and products and services offered by these award winning experts. I just wrote a blog post on this topic basically raising the question of “Don’t Be the One! Why is Job Search Like Playing a High School Sport?” focusing on why candidates mistakenly feel they have to go it alone in their job search?”
3. Although the techniques of conducting an effective job search are simple, the effort is intense. It requires long hours, hard work, and a disciplined approach. Most importantly, you’ve got to have a great plan and then work your plan. You can’t treat your job search like a hobby. Many candidates are NOT willing to work hard at finding a great job.

Brad and I recently released a new Scorecard to assess the effectiveness of your job search. It’s our FREE Job Search Plan Self-Assessment Scorecard. We were stunned when candidates started filling it out and sharing their “Score” with us. Very few candidates we discovered meet a minimum threshold for having a plan that will lead to an effective job search.

I challenge you to take the Self-Assessment – Score Yourself – See where the holes and gaps are in your job search plan. If you can fix these holes and gaps, you’ll be able to reduce the time it takes to find a great job.

Barry

P.S. Don’t forget to join our LinkedIn Job Search Discussion Group, one of the fastest growing job search discussion groups on LinkedIn. Learn and discuss how you can conduct a more effective job search.

Tell Me About Yourself? Why Is This Question Asked In An Interview?

Article Source:  http://tinyurl.com/ycb6vmd

This is so often the first question asked in an interview. It may not be worded exactly like this, but in one form or another, many if not most interviews start this way.

Knowing this question is coming, why do most candidates get so frustrated answering this question?

It is, for the most part, a break the ice question. It gets the candidate talking, gives time for everyone to relax, is wide open, and generally a meaningless question. However, just because it is meaningless, doesn’t mean you can ignore it. In fact, this is an excellent opportunity for you to engage the interviewer.

You have a golden opportunity to hit the salient points in your background, open a discussion around what defines success in this role, and to get the interviewer excited about this interview.

In our opinion this should be a short 2 minute, so well rehearsed answer, that is doesn’t appear to be rehearsed. This is not the time to give your autobiography, go over every position in your background or bore the interviewer with a long winded answer.

In most cases, the interviewer is using this to simply start the conversation. They aren’t looking for a complex or even complete answer. They just want a quick overview. That is it.

We recommend starting with your most relevant position and hit the accomplishments that closely relate to the position. It is even acceptable to outline some of your current responsibilities, organization, relevant company information, products or services, and basic duties. The goal is to give the interviewer the information they need to better understand how your company, industry, experiences and organization aligns with theirs.

This is not the time to give a lot of information that doesn’t align with the company. For example, if the company is a small entrepreneurial company, it would be a fatal mistake to highlight your experience in a large Fortune 500 company, that you managed a staff of 30 people, and your department budget was bigger than the company’s sales last year.

A better answer would be to highlight a past company similar in size that you enjoyed working at, felt more fulfilled by the impact you made, preferred the ability to be hands-on and what you did to contribute to the growth of the company. This better aligns with the interviewer’s needs.

You should have a number of canned, well rehearsed, thoughtful answers to this question. This is your opportunity to start the interview on the best footing for you.

Join our Linkedin Job Search Networking Group. There are over 2500 people in the group, so it is a great resource for you and your search.

Get a free download on our homepage of a sample cover letter, job search self-assessment tool, and Linkedin profile assessment. All  are free in our “What’s New” section on our homepage at http://www.impacthiringsolutions.com

Every Monday at 11AM PDT listen to our live talk radio show on www.latalkradio.com.

Stimulus Package to Increase Government Hiring

Article Source:  http://tinyurl.com/y9k5mvo

By Dona DeZube, Monster Finance Careers Expert

The federal government will need to hire an additional 200,000 workers over the next three years as a result of President Obama’s stimulus plan and additional spending included in his budget plan.

That may sound like a lot of jobs, but it’s just slightly less than half of the 384,000 additional employees Uncle Sam already needed to pick up between 2009 and 2012 just to replace existing federal employees expected to leave their jobs. “That 384,000 is a projection for retirements, voluntary separations, reductions in force and a few folks who will die on the job,” says John Palguta, vice president of policy for the Partnership for Public Service, a Washington, DC, advocacy group working to advance public-sector careers.

With a total of nearly 600,000 openings over the next three years, what options could there be for you?

About 85 percent of federal jobs are located outside Washington, DC. But, since many stimulus-related jobs involve command, control, tracking or oversight, a sizable proportion — up to 22 percent — could be located in the District of Columbia itself, Palguta says.

Who’s Hiring?

The federal government currently employs 1.9 million civilians — about the same number it did during the Kennedy administration. Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton downsized the federal bureaucracy, while Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush increased it, Palguta says.

Some of this administration’s 200,000 extra workers will be added thanks to changing priorities. For example, President Obama’s 2010 budget increases funding for the Social Security Administration  (SSA), so it can hire additional employees to work through a backlog of cases. The agency will hire more than 5,000 people by September 2009, says Kia S. Green, an SSA spokesperson. “These include front-line positions in the local field offices and Teleservice Centers as well as legal support positions in our hearing offices,” she says.

Another budget priority — better care for veterans — resulted in a $25 billion increase for the Department of Veterans Affairs. “A good part of that will go into hiring more medical and health professionals in the VA,” Palguta says.

Jacque Simon, public policy director for the American Federation of Government Employees, says agencies expected to add staff due directly to the stimulus include the Environmental Protection Agency; the Department of Defense; the Food and Drug Administration; the Border Patrol; the Small Business Administration; the departments of Labor, Education, Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development; and the National Science Foundation.

Many agencies are still toting up the numbers. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates it will take tens of thousands of contractors and employees to handle clean up, assessments, design and monitoring of the projects in the areas it will target with stimulus money. These areas include Superfund sites, brownfields, leaking underground storage tanks, clean water, drinking water and reducing diesel emissions.

Bring on the Watchdogs

With so much stimulus money flowing out of Washington, DC, virtually every agency will have to hire additional auditors, attorneys and investigators to handle the fraud that will inevitably follow. In government, those positions are part of the Inspector General’s office within each agency or department.

“The Inspectors General are going to be beefing up staff,” Palguta says. The Department of Health & Human Services, for example, has $27 million for increased oversight. In addition, Congress slotted $50 million to create the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board, a group of Inspectors General that will watch over stimulus spending.

Given the talk about tighter regulatory scrutiny of the financial markets, there will also likely be jobs openings at the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Government Accountability Office planned to start hiring 100 people familiar with government auditing by mid-March 2009, says Patrina Clark, deputy chief human capital officer.

Prior federal government auditing experience is great, but it’s not the only way to qualify for these positions. “If they’ve done any kind of state or government auditing, or they’ve audited public entities or nonprofits, that would be qualifying experience,” Clark says.

Focus on the Mission

If a federal job is your best career move, don’t look for a stimulus job — look for a government job, Palguta says. “Look at who’s got a job to fill and which agencies have a mission that you’re interested in,” he suggests. Gather career information by visiting the official federal government hiring site as well as the individual agency Web sites.

Expect to have a lot of company when you apply. In January 2009, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it wanted to hire 2,100 professional staffers, it received 230,000 applications. “There are a lot of people vying for those jobs,” an FBI spokesperson says.

As long as you’re not working in retail, chances are the federal government hires people from your profession, Simon says. For example, a VA hospital hires everyone from food-service workers right up to brain surgeons. Even at an advanced career level, professionals from information technology, legal, law enforcement, healthcare, science, engineering, program management, purchasing and education are all in demand.

And, working for the federal government often means swapping a bottom-line focus for a public-interest one. “You’re concerned with what’s in the best interest of your fellow citizens and how to best serve them,” she says.

Talk about this article and other employment news related to the stimulus on our Stimulus Jobs Discussion board.

The Street Smart Job Changing System

The Street Smart Job Changing System.  We thought their job search tips video would be good for sharing –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgQ6aHg9B1Y

Obsess Much? How Staying Busy Keeps You Sane During Job Search by Tim Tyrell-Smith

Article Source:  http://tinyurl.com/y8otcj3

I write a lot about the psychology of job search.  For me it is one of the top keys to finding a job in this or any market.  If you have your head on straight, you come across differently than those who don’t.  Your mannerisms deliver you in a confident way.  You avoid the smell of desperation.

It allows you to focus less on over-pursuing job leads and more on pursuing with confidence the next wave of opportunities. 

But even the most confident of us obsess a bit in job search.  Why?  Because “how is it possible that a smart person like me (with my background) isn’t being called for interviews”?  Once the job search moves into months not weeks, you start to wonder.  And wondering becomes worry. Especially if you begin spending your savings to fund your search.

So always having two or three warm leads is important.  That way what happens with one is less important.  As a result you are less often checking e-mail and more often busy doing something more valuable.  Author and blogger Tim Ferriss says to check e-mail twice a day.  At Noon and at 4:00 PM.  Give it a try.

How do you know if you are obsessing?

1. You are consistently going “off plan” to check in with a recruiter (for the fourth time that week).
2. You are continually e-mailing the HR team to see if they got your resume via Monster.
3. You have Outlook set-up to check for new messages every 5 minutes and to make a noise when they come in.
4. Your Blackberry is set-up to “blink red” when a new message comes in.
5. You berate the HR team for not seeing the value you offer to their organization

Of course this is all wasted time and, importantly, wasted energy.

If you are one of those folks checking e-mail every ten minutes, I have some thoughts for you.

1. Build a communication plan.  Decide who is in your job search network and then build an objective plan to confidently reach out on a periodic basis.  For the most part, try to avoid impulsive actions.
2. Change Outlook and Blackberry settings so that you are not “prompted” to check e-mail throughout the day.  No blinking lights and no “you’ve got mail” during job search (also a Ferriss point).
3. If you think you should call and follow-up with a recruiter, HR person or hiring manager.  Check your communication log if you have one.  More than once a week is too much.  If they want you, they will call.
4. On those days and weeks when you know your expectations will be high.  After a submission, after an interview, after a recruiter meeting.  Plan events, meetings and special projects around the house that will keep you busy.  Away from the e-mail.  Ideally when the call finally comes you will be relaxed with your head in the right place to accept whatever news comes your way.
5. In terms of your mindset, remember that your life is not on the line here.  While finding your next role is a big priority, your ability to balance this effort with other important things in life is also key.  Your role as a parent, spouse, uncle or friend.  Those roles can provide a great and highly rewarding distraction.  Just when you need it.

For other ways to stay busy during job search, check out this post:

101 (Other) Things You Can Do While Looking For A Job