JobOpenings.net Job Blog

How to Prepare for More Green Jobs: Are you ready?

Going green means doing more than recycling, buying environmentally friendly products and supporting environmental activist groups. With the dawn of a significantly more environmentally-friendly Obama administration, environmentalists finally have a real opportunity to turn green rhetoric into green action - on the job. If you have been following the discussions about job stimulus legislation and programs, you already know that many people believe that the United States is in the position to be a world leader as a producer of green technology and alternative energy innovations.

OK. Who Wants to Start Laying off Reporters?

I opened my email this morning to “Breaking News” emails from the New York Times, CNN, ABC News and a few others all sending me emails about the dramatic, huge, shocking and unexpected unemployment figures. My question is: since the news media caused most of the layoffs with their constant barrage of sensationalist reporting, why are they surprised? I am a huge fan of freedom of speech. However, I do not admire irresponsible, commercialized reporting whose apparent goal is to simply sell more newspapers and more ads.

Job openings for Liberal Arts Majors: Better than Imagined

When I review the stats for this site and our jobs website (www.jobopenings.net), I am struck by how many searches I see for things like “Jobs for economics majors” or “careers for psychology majors” or “job openings for philosophy majors.” When I see those and many similar searches, I realize that colleges have failed, at least in those cases, to convey the primary goal of a broadly based college education. When Liberal Arts colleges are fulfilling their missions, they are creating the kinds of graduates that are prepared to do just about anything they wish to do in the workforce. Although some more specialized fields will require additional training (professional degrees, master’s degrees, etc.), many career opportunities require only minimal on the job training. How have colleges and college graduates become so confused about the value of a hugely valuable Liberal Arts education?

Finding a Job is Not a “Numbers Game”

Everyone has heard the expression “numbers lie.” As a former CPA with 25 years in the business community, I emphatically believe in the truth of that statement. The current intentionally misleading unemployment numbers are a particularly damaging lie. First, unemployment can never be zero because of a phenomenon the economists call “frictional unemployment.” In simple terms, that means that because businesses are always moving, opening and closing and changing direction, there are always people temporarily out of the workforce.

How Job Hunting is Like Dating

Although the goals of the two are typically quite different, the methods can be surprisingly similar. This line of reasoning was inspired by a scene in the hit movie We are Marshall. If you saw the movie, which I highly recommend, you will no doubt remember the important scene where the new head coach, played by Mathew McConaughey, asks the college president to consider why he might be having trouble getting the NCAA to make an exception for Marshall to allow them to play freshman on their football team. The coach says to the college president [played by David Strathairn],...

Jobs Openings are Down, so Scams are Up

The best way to avoid being a victim is to keep a few simple rules in mind: 1. You only need one job. 2. Landing the perfect job is not luck; it's preparation. 3. You can only be "scammed" if you allow it to happen.

Super-Employees: What are they and where can I find one?

No matter what other qualifications they want and no matter what salary they expect to pay, most employers want "Super Employees." What are the characteristics of this super employee everyone wants?

Red Flags for Job Listing Websites

Important Red Flags for Job Listing Websites The Job is with a US company but is written by someone for whom English is obviously not a native tongue. This means it's automatically time to investigate further. Humans should review all Job Postings. The contact email is a Yahoo.com, Hotmail.com or Gmail.com or other free email account. The Phone number given with the credit card does not agree with the address given when a reverse address lookup is performed or the credit card billing email does not produce a verifiable match when authorization is attempted. The name on the credit card...

Rules for Leaving Your Job

Ending a job is similar to ending a marriage or other long-term relationship in that there are always two sides to the story. Employers know they are only hearing your side, so you need to be careful how you describe the departure. Leaving a job is different in one important way: your next partner or spouse will probably not call your previous partner for a reference. Your prospective employer probably will.

What Do Employers Want Anyway?

Once you realize how much you have to offer, find ways to get that information to your employer. You have 4 opportunities to do this: 1. your resume, 2. your cover letter, 3. letters of recommendation and 4. the interview. Your task is to make a list of all of your positive qualities that will interest your future employer and then decide which of the four methods would be best to use to convey that information.