reCareered

How can Twitter Lists help Job Seekers? Top 400 job posters on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:12:00 +0000

Twitter just released powerful new capabilities, called Lists. Sure, new technologies, gadgets, bells and whistles are announced every day, but this is a new feature that can really help job seekers.

In addition to describing what you ate for lunch, Twitter is becoming one of the primary publishers of job advertisements, as they take feeds from job boards, company websites, job board aggregators, newspaper help wanted ads, recruiters, and anyone else who wants to publish ads….for free.

One problem is that Twitter can provide TOO MUCH information to users, as it’s grown from a 1M users to over 50M users in a little more than 2 years. Tweets come so fast that it’s impossible to keep track of new ads that are being published, or even know which twitter accounts to follow.

Twitter Lists help the job seeker determine who to follow, and provides an aggregated feed of job ads…by list.

For example, I created 4 lists:

@philreCareered/jobtweets
@philreCareered/recruiters
@philreCareered/hiringmanagers
@philreCareered/jobseekers

I listed every twitter account I could find, and included in @philreCareered/jobtweets. I quickly built the largest list on twitter of job posts, which you can follow…aggregating a majority of job postings on Twitter into a single feed. You can also search this feed for jobs in Atlanta, or Tech jobs. I’ll continue to add to the list as I find additional accounts listing jobs (feel free to comment and suggest who to include on the list – please include the twitter names).

Basically, I created Twitter’s version of Top 400 Job Advertisers on Twitter.

A job seeker can use this in a number of ways. The easiest is just to follow my lists, with a single click. You’ll get a twitter stream of job postings, or a stream of recruiters and what they have to say, a stream of hiring managers (direct hiring companies). Or a job seeker can message me, asking for their twitter name to be included on @philreCareered/jobseekers.

Twitter lists can be described as a Themed list of Twitter users. You could create a list arranged around interest (baseball writers), by topic (Social Media), by type (College friends, family), etc. Even easier, you can find lists that have already been created that you can follow with just one click.

A job seeker can create a list of recruiters they like, or who are in their industry, either by searching on their own, or by using my lists (@philreCareered/recruiters) as a starting point (creating a sub-list of their own), combining with other recruiters they like (feel free to suggest recruiters to follow in the comments, including twitter names). An increasing number of companies and HR departments are tweeting jobs directly – I list the ones I find under @philreCareered/hiringmangers (again, any suggestions are welcomed – please include the twitter name).

Josh Catone of Mashable has a great basic “how to” article in Twitter Lists, suggesting 3 reasons to create lists at http://mashable.com/2009/11/02/twitter-lists-guide/trackback/ :

“ Create a Group – Because Twitter Lists create grouped tweet streams of the people that are on them, you can use Lists to organize your tweeps into groups based on anything you want. For example, we’ve created a list of everyone at Mashable. By viewing or following this list, you easily see what all of Mashable’s (Mashable) employees are tweeting about. You could do the same thing with your co-workers, family, or friends, or just group Twitter users based on location, subject, or anything else you can think of.

Recommend Cool Tweeps – One of the other intended purposes of Twitter Lists is to allow people to recommend other users to follow. You can create a public list of people you think other Twitter users should follow, then anyone else can visit that list and follow the people on it (or follow the list).

Follow People You Aren’t Following – When you follow a Twitter List, you’re not actually following every user on the list, but following the entire list — those users’ tweets aren’t added to your main stream. You can then visit that list and view its tweet stream. That’s why you can also use Lists to follow people without really following them. For example, if there are users whose tweets you’d like to follow, but whom you don’t necessarily want in your main Twitter stream (perhaps they tweet too often for your liking), you can add them to a list and then check up on their latest tweets every once in a while by viewing your list.”

You’ll also want to be careful about Twitter lists, because you have no control which lists your account turns up on. Online Reputation Management becomes critical to your job search (or current career) with Twitter lists. If you’re a passive job seeker, you might not want to turn up on a list of job seekers, since this is public information. On the other hand, if you’re an active job seeker, you’d want to be on job seeker lists, but avoid lists like “sure_things_in_atlanta” or “alcoholicfriends”.

Job seekers - I recommend investing a little time in Twitter Lists, to see how it can help your search, how you can use the feature to promote your job search, and manage your online reputation. It’s a powerful new tool that can give you additional info in your career change.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who’s Hiring in Health Care - November 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:12:00 +0000

Hospitals, Federal Government, Nursing Homes, Home Health, Clinics, and Outsourced Health Services top Health Care hiring during November 2009, based on job advertisements open for 30 days from the top job boards.

Led by large Hospital groups, including UnitedHealth, Tenet Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Kindred Healthcare, and Catholic Health Initiatives are the top Health Care hiring organizations in November.

Government organizations including the US Army (Including US Army Nurses, and US Army Dental), and US Department of Medical Affairs are adding staff to care for aging veterans, and to employ additional civilians in military hospitals and health care facilities.

Nursing Homes including Genesis HealthCare, HCR ManorCare, Golden Living Centers, Extendicare Health, Brookdale Senior Living, Sunrise Senior Living, and SunBridge Healthcare are building. Home Health providers Gentiva, Amedisys, Bayada Nurses, PSA Healthcare, and Amedisys are growing from increased demand from America’s seniors.

Outsourced service providers have grown as they provide specialty services less expensively than hospitals, and allow nursing homes & Doctors’ offices to realize savings by group service purchases. Companies including DaVita, Ageis Therapies, Sava Senior Care, Quest Diagnostics, and RehabCare are growing to meet these needs.

Interesting, there’s a Pharmaceuticals company on this list, ASN Healthcare at #32. ASN is based in India, and distributes generics. They are hiring nationally for reps to build their US sales force.

Top Health Care Hiring Organizations – November 2009

1. UnitedHealth Group
2. U.S. Army
3. Tenet Healthcare Corporation
4. Kaiser Permanente
5. Genesis HealthCare
6. HCR ManorCare
7. Gentiva
8. Amedisys, Inc.
9. Kindred Healthcare
10. Catholic Health Initiatives
11. DaVita
12. Bayada Nurses
13. Aegis Therapies
14. Sava Senior Care
15. PSA Healthcare
16. HealthSouth
17. Golden Living Centers
18. Quest Diagnostics
19. Extendicare Health
20. RehabCare
21. UTMB
22. Brookdale Senior Living
23. Aurora Health Care
24. United States Department of Veterans Affairs
25. Amedisys
26. Baylor Health Care System
27. Sunrise Senior Living
28. HCA Healthcare
29. Providence Health & Services
30. Provena Health
31. Mountain View Regional. Medical Center
32. ASN Healthcare
33. Fresenius Medical Care
34. SunBridge Healthcare

Sources: CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, SimplyHired, HotJobs, Google.

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant hiring plans, or employers actively adding large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone - Why are job seekers are afraid to change?

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:51:00 +0000

Job seekers are notoriously afraid to embrace change…even though their entire goal is based on change (sure - sometimes the change is thrust upon us). Some candidates are afraid to approach new career paths, others afraid to change industry or function, almost all are afraid to change their approach.

I spoke to a candidate today, whose job search strategy was “the same thing I did 7 years ago”. When I asked why he felt what worked 7 years ago would work well today, he listed these reasons:

It’s what has always worked for him
A CEO complimented him on his good resume
Of his friends, he was considered the expert in how to search for a job

This illustrates an interesting phenomena…while many job seekers realize the job market has dramatically changed, most still won’t change their strategies. This unfortunate fellow fought change, tooth and nail, even after discussing how much the job market has changed and how much more competitive it is, especially in his field, Pharmaceuticals.

A rational person would react to a changed environment with changed strategies and tactics to match the new market realities. This individual was well educated, intelligent, and had a couple dozen patents…in scientific knowledge, he was in the stratosphere. Yet, his resume was terrible (unclear goals, didn’t differentiate, didn’t give reason he should be hired, poorly structured, didn’t demonstrate subject matter expertise, didn’t demonstrate value he provided to past employers…and I could keep going on).

So why was this very educated and intelligent individual fighting change?

People fight change when it brings them outside their comfort zone. In everything…new policies/procedures at work, in our personal lives, we are creatures of habit. But why?

A. J. Schuler, Psy. D of SchulerSolutions.com lists “Top 10 Reasons for Change Resistance”:

The risk of change is seen as greater than the risk of standing still
People feel connected to others who are identified with the old way
People fear they lack the confidence to change
People feel they lack the competence to change
People feel overloaded and overwhelmed
People have a healthy skepticism and want to make sure new ideas are sound
People fear hidden agenda among would-be reformers
People fear that proposed change threatens their notions of themselves
People anticipate a loss of status or quality of life
People genuinely perceive that the proposed change is a bad idea

Interestingly, #10 didn’t enter into the equation, as this candidate generally agreed with my comments on his resume. Yet he still fought the idea of changing his strategies. So why would a candidate feel “you’re right, but I’m still not going to change”?

In this candidate’s case, he didn’t lack the competence (#4), and certainly not the confidence (#3) to change. Admittedly, I implement resume and career strategy change, so I’m not without bias – so he may have perceived an agenda (#6 & #7 l…yet this was a free analysis, where I usually don’t discuss services I offer…it’s not a sales pitch).

Notice that we’ve ruled out Schuler’s “rational” reasons to resist change. That’s because this gentleman’s reasons were emotional.

If you look at this candidate’s rationale above, his third point rings out. His friends look to him for help, and he acts as an amateur career coach. He must get a certain amount of satisfaction, and even pride from this status…or he wouldn’t have mentioned it.

Changing his strategy would be in conflict with a number of Schuler’s reasons: #2 His friends connect to him (and are grateful to him) and identify in the old way; # 8 Changing would threaten his notion that he’s an expert at finding a new position; #9 Changing would risk him loosing status among his friends.

The candidate’s second point that a CEO complimented his resume adds validation to the candidate’s emotional needs as an amateur career coach. While the CEO offered compliments, it’s important to note that the CEO didn’t offer him a job. Hiring managers often will compliment someone’s resume out of empathy to the job seeker and to soften the uncomfortable feeling of telling a candidate “no” (remember, this was a brilliant guy with an awful resume). Having 100 CEO’s compliment your resume doesn’t get you a job….you get a job because you solve a specific business problem or because you fit in with the company’s culture better than your competitors. Skills & fit get you a job, not resume compliments.

Yet this compliment was a source of pride to the candidate (#8 and #9), because it validated the candidates’ self-view as being an expert at job search, and adviser to his friends (#2).

So how can candidates break free from the vicious cycle of fear of change? Doug Howardell of Inventory Performance offers some great suggestions in his article “Overcoming People’s Fear of Change”, as he describes The Third Position. Doug suggests that the Third Position involves three steps.

“Step 1: Come face to face with the threat, understand the reaction and the fear.

Step 2: Seek to find the opportunity in the change, focus on the opportunities and not the threat.

Step 3: Do what must be done to take advantage of the opportunity. Step three is deceptively simple. Do what must be done. "BUT I’M SCARED!" So, do it anyway. Feel the fear and do it anyway. Acknowledge that you’re afraid and act in spite of your fear. The fear won’t go way but you can move on in the face of it.”

I’ll add steps 4 & 5:

Step 4: Take baby steps…Don’t try to radically change overnight. It’s much tougher to muster the courage to make drastic changes all at once. The fear of failure is too great, so try smaller changes at first to build confidence that your changes are on track.

Step 5: Learn from failure, rather than fearing it. Failure is a great teacher, and the basis of most scientific theory. As humans, we learn from trying something new, and gaining knowledge from what we’ve tried…whether they work or not.

Step out of your comfort zone today, and try something new in your job search. Maybe it’s using a new strategy, maybe it’s a new industry, maybe it’s an entirely new career path. Regardless of whether your efforts result in success or failure, I guarantee you’ll learn from it. Change is good…embrace it.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Whos Hiring – Top Employers week of 11-2-09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:34:00 +0000

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity for the week of 11/2/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Total Job Openings:
The Business Services, Shipping, Retail, Defense, Telecommunications verticals remain the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Seasonal retail hiring continued strong, in preparation for the holiday season, with Sears, Kmart, Macy’s, and Radio Shack leading, with Blockbuster and Food Lion also added to top hiring companies. Seasonal holiday hiring also affected shipping with UPS and FedEx making the top employers list. H&R Block continued heavy advertising to staff up in advance of tax season.

Business Service firms IBM, SAIC, Booz Allen, Deloitte and CSC are all top hiring firms – SAIC & Booz are largely supporting federal government and DOD contracts. US Army, Northrop, Raytheon and General Dynamics led Defense hiring.

Other interesting top hiring companies included HP, Sun Microsystems, Liberty Mutual and Combined Insurance.

Based on surveys of US job advertisements in the top job board aggregators, the following companies added the most job openings:

Total Job Openings by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

IBM
H&R Block
UPS Packaging
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
U.S. Army
AT&T
McDonald's
Northrop Grumman
Kmart
Pizza Hut - Yum! Brands, Inc.
SAIC
Raytheon
UnitedHealth Group
Blockbuster Inc.
Macy's
JPMorgan Chase
Verizon Wireless
General Dynamics
Gentiva Health Services
Booz Allen
Deloitte
RadioShack
Food Lion
Avon
FedEx
HCA Healthcare
Wells Fargo
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
HP
Snap-on Tools
Krystal Company
Liberty Mutual
Aflac
Sun Microsystems
Combined Insurance

Job Openings Added This Week:

The Business Services, Telecommunication, Defense, Retail and Shipping verticals are the top industries with new job ads based on a survey of recent advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Consulting firms companies continue to expand with IBM and SAIC, and IBM continuing to hire, joined by Accenture and PWC. While state governments continue to lead layoffs, it’s interesting to see the California State Personnel Board make the top hiring company lists.

Job Openings Added this week by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

IBM
AT&T
SAIC
US Army: Army Corps of Engineers
Northrop Grumman
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
UPS Packaging
Murphy USA
Kaiser Permanente
General Dynamics Information Technology
Gecko Hospitality
Kmart Corporation
UnitedHealth Group
Kmart Corporation
RadioShack
Verizon Wireless
Macy's
Accenture
Cracker Barrel
JPMorgan Chase
Gentiva
Wells Fargo
Sun Microsystems
HP
Liberty Mutual
Advance Auto Parts
Wachovia Bank
Raytheon
Avon
Food Lion
Kaiser Permanente
CA State Personnel Board
Pizza Hut
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Allstate

Sources: CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, SimplyHired, HotJobs, Google. Excluded: Recruiters, Staffing firms, Training, Franchise, and Work-from-home opportunities

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant hiring plans, or employers actively adding large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Whos Firing – Layoffs week ended 10-30-09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:07:00 +0000

Who's Firing is a weekly survey of organizations announcing (or rumoring) layoffs for the week ended 10-30-09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies that are contracting.

Layoffs announced and rumored this week were in the Transportation, Government, Publishing, Health care, Manufacturing, Financial/Banking, and Education sectors.

Inclusion on this listing doesn’t mean the entire industry is down, as many from the same sector appeared on the “Who’s Hiring” article published 10/26/09. It is interesting to note that while Federal hiring is on the rise, a number of State and Local governments have continued to see cutbacks for over the past month.

Transportation, especially airline related companies announced significant layoffs this week, including Boeing, US Airlines, and American Airlines.

Publishers continued to shed jobs as Associated Press, Forbes, Southern Progress, and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette announced layoffs, while rumors continued at Conde-Nast about which units would face job cuts.

While many Healthcare organizations made the top hiring company lists, a number of Healthcare companies were laying off such as Quest Diagnostics (they are also on the top hiring company list), Dorothea Dix Hospital, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, LCA-Vision, and TomoTherapy. Education organizations including Michigan State, University of Maine, and State of Arizona teachers. Princeton & Dartmouth also announced layoffs, but the numbers were too small to make this lists’ cutoff (50).

Job seekers: You might want to look in greener pastures than these companies.

Organizations announcing or rumored layoffs week ended 10/30/09:

Southern Progress (Time, Inc), Birmingham AL (90) – Click to view
Boeing Corp, Kennedy Space Center FL (330) - click to view
Boeing Corp, National (500) - click to view
US Airways, National (1,000) – Click to view
American Airlines, Kansas City MO (700) – Click to view
Quest Diagnostics, Wallingford CT (60) – Click to view
Milwaukee County, Milwaukee WI (200) – Click to view
Diversco, Winston-Salem NC (55) – Click to view
Tracy CA (69) – Click to view
State of Massachusetts (1,000) – Click to view
ComScore, San Fransisco CA (50) – Click to view
Target, Minneapolis MN (85) – Click to view
Royal Dutch Shell, International (5,000) – Click to view
Michigan State University, East Lansing MI (600) - click to view
Bath Iron Works, Bath ME (191) - click to view
YRC Worldwide Inc, Overland Park KS (900) - click to view
John D. Hollingsworth on Wheels Inc, Greenville SC (190) - click to view
General Electric, Bloomington IL (96) - click to view
Microsemi Corp, Scottsdale AZ (200-300) - click to view
Dorothea Dix Hospital, Raleigh NC (300) - click to view
Shaw Industries, Tifton GA (200) - click to view
Associated Press, International (400?) - click to view
Site, Huntington WV (112) - click to view
Aramark/Broward County Jail, Pompano Beach FL (96) - click to view
Hendrickson International Trailer Suspension Systems, Canton OH (189) - click to view
State of Missouri (700) - click to view
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida, Jacksonville FL (150) - click to view
Forbes, National (100) - click to view
Intermet/Archer Creek Foundry, Campbell County VA (192) - click to view
University of Maine School System, Augusta ME (100) - click to view
Arthur J. Gallagher, Itasca IL (400) - click to view
Harley-Davidson Inc, Talladega GA (100) - click to view
Thomas & Betts Corporation, Cleveland OH (117) - click to view
Honeywell, Springfield IL (120) - click to view
HanesBrands, Forsyth NC (240) - click to view
Solano County, CA (161?) - click to view
Georgia-Pacific Corp, Fordyce AR (300) - click to view
Caterpillar, National (2500) - click to view
Arrow Electronics, Melville NY (100) - Click to view
Supreme Foam, Archdale NC (50) - Click to view
Perot Systems Corp, Lincoln NE (54) - Click for view
Capital One Bank, Melville NY (99) - Click to view
Gianni Versace, International (350) - Click to view
LCA-Vision Inc., Cincinnati OH (70) - Click to view
Wood-Mode, Kraemer PA (95) - Click to view
Direct Energy, Richardson TX (85) - Click to view
New United Motor Manufacturing, Fremont CA (3,764) – Click to view
USS-Posco, Pittsburg CA (50) – Click to view
Bank of America, Pasadena CA (174) – Click to view
Assurant Specialty Property Tustin, Orange, Santa Ana CA (256) – Click to view
Lennox Hearth Products, Inc, Orange CA (71) – Click to view
Rockwell Collins, San Jose CA (192) – Click to view
Standard Chartered Bank, Miami FL (72) – Click to view
Mohawk Flush Doors, subsidiary of Masonite Corp, South Bend IN (73) – Click to view
GECOM Corp, Frankfort KY (160) – Click to view
Miller Bros. Coal, LLC, Prestonburg, KY (225) – Click to view
New River Foundry, Radford, VA (76) – Click to view
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock AR (Unknown) – Click to view
TomoTherapy, Madison WI (10%) – Click to view
City of Cuyahoga Falls OH (53) – Click to view
US Steel, Granite City IL (Unknown) – Click to view
Citigroup, Las Vegas NV (75) – Click to view
City of Grand Rapids MI (Unknown) – Click to view
Dutchess County NY (70) – Click to view
Seattle WA Department of Planning & Development (Unknown) – Click to view
Fairpoint Communication, National (Unknown) – Click to view
State of Arizona Teachers (described as “Massive”) – Click to view
Guardian Auto Glass, Auburn IN (64) – Click to view
City of Birmingham AL (800) – Click to view
State of Pennsylvania (Estimated in hundreds) – Click to view

Source: Google, Twitter, AllPinkSlips.com, Telonu.com, TechCrunch.com, CoStar.com, Gawker, Screwedd.com

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant layoff plans, or employers reducing large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Job Search Trick or Treat

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:00:00 +0000

How often do candidates treat their job search like it’s Halloween?

Do you dress up your resume to appear like you are someone other than you?

Not only is it unethical, it’s impractical. It wastes the employers’ time, but even worse…IT WASTES YOUR TIME as a candidate. Take your kids Trick or Treating, there’s a more effective way for you to stand out.

I can’t begin to count the number of times a candidate has asked me if they should hide their age, change their experience, or try to adopt a different personality, so they can appear to be someone other than themselves. To make it worse, many recruiters either turn a blind eye, or actually encourage this.

It wastes your time because hiring managers aren’t stupid. They read many resumes after they are pre-screened by HR staff & recruiters that read thousands of resumes. So whatever trick you’re trying to pull to mask the truth…they’ve seen it.

The easiest example is age. So many candidates blame a poorly thought out job strategy on age – complaining “I’m too old” or “Hiring managers want someone with more experience”. Guess what…it’s not your age. It’s how you’ve branded yourself, the perception you give, the skills you choose to highlight, and how you describe your skills.

It’s so easy to play the age game, pass the blame to your grey hair, and devise ways to mask your experience. I see it in over half the resumes I look at, and the easiest giveaways are missing dates. Does it take a rocket scientist to realize that if you leave your college graduation dates off your resume, you’re probably hiding your age? Duh!

But what if you get lucky, trick the reader to think you’re interview-worthy, and land the interview? If you’ve given the impression that you’re a hip 30 year old gel-head, what impression will you make when you meet in person, with your thinning grey hair? At best, you’ll make a first impression of disappointment…at worst one of deceit. Either way, at that point, your skills and talents won’t matter - you’ve wasted your time and set yourself up for disappointment.

Why play that game when there’s a better way?

Instead of trying to play Trick or Treat with your resume, why not look for companies that WANT someone like you? There are plenty of companies that want grey hair, and plenty of firms that want younger talent. There are companies that want someone who’s extroverted and others that want a quieter, serious employee. Instead of dressing yourself up for Halloween, look for companies that value someone like you!

OK, How can I find which companies want someone like me?

Information Rules! Talk to your friends who work at target companies…they are your best resource to understand what type of person and what type of personality succeeds within a particular corporate style. Every company has its own unwritten rules, or culture. When employers look at culture, they look for someone who can easily communicate and fit in with 80% of the workforce who have a similar style.

So if everyone at a target company is 40+, been there 20 years, and wears pocket protectors, it might not be a such a good fit for a 26 year old tattooed and pierced woman. If it’s a jeans and t-shirt environment, this company might not be such a good fit for someone who’s experience has been working at a large bank. Or maybe a video game development company with a game room, music room, and weekly happy hours, might not be such a good fit for a guy who looks like Kevin Malone (from The Office). Maybe a guy like Kevin would be happier in a pocket protector environment. (Picture courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattmatlock/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

But what if you don’t know anyone at your target company? This is where Linkedin and Facebook can provide such a huge edge. Use your social network to gain introductions to employees at your target companies. But don’t waste the introduction to ask for a job or to pass a resume – there’s a much more valuable use.

Instead, do some espionage. Gain critical information about a company’s culture and style. Ask what type of person succeeds, and what type of person fails within a target company and department. Ask what the hiring manager is like…is she a team player, or a maverick? Ask how does he dresses…casually or formally? Ask about the hiring manager’s communication style…is it open door, or do you have to wait a week to get an appointment?

If you really want some great insight into a company’s style, use guerrilla tactics. Find a nearby bar, and head there at 5:00pm on a Friday. That’s right, use Happy Hour. Talk to a few people, including the bartender, you’ll find people who work for your target company. At a bar, information is so inexpensive...just a round or two of drinks. But think of the wealth of information you can pick up. Plus, you might even get a referral for your offer of drinks. You’ll see how they dress and act, and probably pick up some great scoop.

Armed with all this information, could you figure out if your personality is a likely fit, or if your time is better spent somewhere else? There are so many uses for this information, such as insight as to a company’s challenges and opportunities…so you can show how you’ve already solved these problems and leveraged these same opportunities in your past firm.

When you can clearly demonstrate you’ve already solved an employers’ problems, or maximized the same opportunities…limiters like age, dress, or personality stop being such relevant factors. These are the “20 percent-ers”…the employees whose skills and experiences are so important that fit, culture, and style take a back seat. Now the ball’s in your court to decide if you really want to work at a company where everyone wears pocket protectors, and looks like Kevin.

Instead of trying to trick your prospective employer, doesn’t it seem like a better tactic to treat some employees to a drink – and pick their brains?

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Whos Hiring - Week of 10-26-09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:49:00 +0000

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity for the week of 10/26/09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Total Job Openings:
The Shipping, Retail, Telecommunications, Consulting, Defense and federal Government verticals are the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Retail hiring continued strong, in preparation for the holiday season, with Macy’s, Sears, Kmart, and Radio Shack leading, with Blockbuster and Target also added to top hiring companies. Consulting firms Deloitte, IBM, Booz Allen, and SAIC – Booz & SAIC are largely supporting federal government and DOD contracts. Northrop, Raytheon, US Army, & General Dynamics led Defense hiring. Top hiring financial institutions included JPMorgan Chase, Ameriprise, Aflac, and Combined Insurance made this week’s list.

Other interesting top hiring companies included the CIA, and Snap-on Tools.

Based on surveys of US job advertisements in the top job board aggregators, the following companies added the most job openings:

Total Job Openings by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

UPS
Macy's
Sears Roebuck and Co.
Blockbuster
McDonald's Corporation
Kmart
AT&T
Deloitte
Northrop Grumman
JPMorgan Chase
Verizon Wireless
Advantage Sales and Marketing
IBM
Raytheon
General Dynamics - IT
RadioShack
Marriott
Federal Government
U.S. Army
Booz Allen Hamilton
Siemens
CIA
SAIC
Ameriprise
Target
St. John's Regional Hospital
Snap-on Tools
Aflac
Combined Insurance
Quest Diagnostics

Job Openings Added This Week:

The Shipping, Retail, Telecommunication, Consulting, Financial, Defense, Shipping, and Hospitality verticals are the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Consulting firms companies continue to expand with Deloitte and IBM continuing to hire, joined by Booz Allen, Accenture, SAIC, and EDS. UPS, Macy’s Kmart, Radio Shack, Sears, and Target continue to prepare for the holiday rush.

Job Openings Added this week by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

UPS
Macy's
AT&T
Kmart
Sears
Deloitte
Booz Allen Hamilton
IBM
Verizon Wireless
JPMorgan Chase
Advantage Sales and Marketing, LLC
RadioShack
Northrop Grumman
Boston Market
Federal Government
Target
Raytheon
Accenture
Marriott
St. John's Regional Hospital
Sears
Target
SAIC
EDS
Kaiser Permanente
Flextronics
Alliedbarton Security Services
Combined Insurance
AT&T

Whos Firing? Layoffs for week ended 10-23-09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:46:00 +0000

Who's Firing is a weekly survey of organizations announcing (or rumoring) layoffs for the week ended 10-23-09. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies that are contracting.

Layoffs announced and rumored this week were in the Government, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical, Financial/Banking, and Publishing sectors.

Inclusion on this listing doesn’t mean the entire industry is down, as many from the same sector appeared on the “Who’s Hiring” article published 10/19/09. It is interesting to note that while Federal hiring is on the rise, a number of State and Local governments have continued to see cutbacks for over the past month.

Health care organizations were laying off such as Valley Mental Health, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Cook County Health System, Oak Forest Hospital, Pfizer, Carestream Health, Navilyst Medical, Eli Lilly, Smith Medical.

Publishers continued to shed jobs as Time, The New York Times, The Charlotte Observer, and McGraw-Hill announced layoffs, while rumors swirled all around Conde-Nast about which units would face job cuts.

Job seekers: You might want to look in greener pastures than these companies.

Organizations announcing or rumored layoffs week ended 10/23/09:

Alstom Transport, Hornell NY (500) – Click to follow
Electrolux, Webster City IA (850) – Click to follow
Valley Mental Health, Salt Lake City UT (up to 125) – Click to follow
Time Inc, NYC (approx 600) – Click to follow
Sun Microsystems, National (3,000) – Click to follow
International Paper, National (1,600) – Click to follow
Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Evansville & Mt Vernon IN (115) – Click to follow
Cook County Health and Hospitals System, Chicago IL (335) – Click to follow
State of Iowa (793) – Click to follow
Oak Forest Hospital, Oak Forest IL (200) - Click to view
Emerson/Schneider National, Bridgeton MO (330) - Click to view
NCR Corporation, National (2200) - Click to view
Modine Manufacturing Company, Harrodsburg KY (110) - Click to view
Nautilus, Independence VA (173) - Click to view
Expedia, Tacoma WA (200?) - Click to view
New Page Corp, Whiting WI (100?) - Click to view
Pilkington Automotive Glass Plant (NSG Group), Clinton MI (130) - Click to view
Sallie Mae, National (1-2K?) - Click to view
State of Massachusetts (726) - Click to view
Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto CA (150) - Click to view
Pfizer, Overland Park KS (200) - Click to view
Regions Financial Corp, Birmingham AL (1700 YTD) - Click to view
Sullivan County, NY (100) - Click to view
Lexmark International Inc, Lexington KY (825) - Click to view
Mohawk Industries, Waynesboro VA (120) - Click to view
Jakks Pacific Inc, Malibu CA (100+) - Click to view
Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago IL (1000+) - Click to view
Missouri Department of Natural Resources (Division of State Parks) (100+) - Click to view
BAE Systems, West Manchester PA (130) - Click to view
City of Chicago, IL (220 positions eliminated) - Click to view
New York Times, NYC (100) - Click to view
Workforce Solutions, East Texas (50) - Click to view
Standard Chartered Bank, Miami FL (72) - Click to view
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, National (57) - Click to view
Forum Health Inc, Youngstown OH (52) - Click to view
Carestream Health Inc, Windsor CO (70) - Click to view
State of Iowa (791) - Click to view
Kronos Inc. (Stromburg), Lake Mary FL (70) - Click to view
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach FL (21) - Click to view
General Shale, Spring City TN (19) - Click to view
Navilyst Medical, Glens Falls NY (51) - Click to view
Sacramento County, CA (76) - Click to view
Pilkington Automotive, Clinton MI (130) Click to view
LHI Enterprises Inc, Hartland WI (80) - Click to view
Georgia Pacific, Fordyce AR (300) – Click to view
Extreme Networks, Santa Clara CA (70) – Click to view
Lockheed Martin, Archbald PA (50) – Click to view
Goss International, Dover NH (unknown) – Click to follow
Eli Lilly, National (unknown) – Click to follow
Freescale Semiconductiors, Austin TX and National (unknown) – Click to follow
Shuttle America, Honolulu HI (74) – Click to follow
CNH Global, International (10-12%) – Click to follow
Child Protective Services, Sacramento CA (76) – Click to follow
St. Joseph County, IN (54) – Click to view
Estes Express Lines, Knoxville TN (unknown) – Click to view
21^st Century Insurance, Vestal NY (54) – Click to view
State of Pennsylvania (unknown) – Click to view
Mothers Against Drunk Driving MADD, National (unknown) – Click to view
The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte NC (unknown) – Click to view
Arizona Department of Public Safety (unknown) – Click to view
Smith Medical, Waukesha WI (104) – Click to view
Wausau Paper, Appleton WI (55) – Click to view
Tree Top Inc, Rialto CA (75) – Click to view
Assurant Specialty Property, Santa Ana & Tustin CA (74) – Click to view
The McGraw-Hill Cos, Woodland Hills CA (85) – Click to view
West Marine Products, Watsonville CA (325) – Click to view
Curtiss-Wright Controls, Integrated Sensing, Long Beach CA (81) – Click to view
Kavlico, Moorpark CA (169) – Click to view
Baker Hughes Incorporated, Houston TX (62) – Click to view
Fluor Enterprises, Inc, Sugar Land TX (617) – Click to view
Redcats USA, Universal City TX (490) – Click to view
Big Stick Media, National Sports Services, Las Vegas NV (unknown) – Click to view
FormTech Industries, Minerva, OH (68) – Click to view
Coca-Cola Enterprises, Havre de Grace MD (50) – Click to view
Faurecia Automotive Seating Inc, Walton KY (68) – Click to view
Farmers Group Inc, Vestal NY (54) – Click to view
The Really Cool Food Company LLC, Syosset NY (78) – Click to view
Matrx (Midmark Corporation), Orchard Park NY (87) – Click to view

Source: Google, Twitter, AllPinkSlips.com, Telonu.com, TechCrunch.com, CoStar.com, Gawker, Screwedd.com

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant layoff plans, or employers reducing large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who’s Hiring in Finance – October 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:23:00 +0000

Banks, Consulting firms, and Financial advisors top Finance hiring during October 2009, based on job advertisements open for 30 days from the top job boards.

Led by banks that are repaying TARP funds, banks including Chase, Wachovia, PNC, Citi, HSBC, Fifth Third, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and National City are the top Finance hiring firms in October. Many of these banks are expanding regionally, such as JPMorgan Chase.

Consulting firms including Deloitte, IBM, CSC, and KPMG are staffing to support financial institution and process improvement practices, as they are landing significant projects to help clients build profitability improving technology. Some of these positions are straight finance, while others are profitability consulting (supply chain, for example), and others are finance/technology hybrid roles.

Financial advisors including Edward Jones, Morgan Stanley, Scotttrade, Merrill Lynch, New York Life, AXA, and VALIC are building. While Wall Street may still be hurting from last year’s financial meltdown, Financial advisory firms on Main Street still have an increasing needs for client facing employees as Baby Boomers continue retirement. In addition, as layoffs occur, workers need to roll over employer-managed 401-Ks into IRAs.

Top Finance Hiring Organizations – October 2009

JPMorgan Chase
Deloitte
Edward Jones
Wachovia Corporation
PNC Financial
IBM
Citi
HSBC
Fifth Third Bank
Wells Fargo
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
Bank of America
Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
UnitedHealth Group
National City
Scottrade
Merrill Lynch
New York Life
Security Finance Corporation
AXA Advisors
Farmers Insurance
VALIC
Country Financial
KPMG LLP

Sources: CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, SimplyHired. Excluded: Recruiters & Staffing firms.

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant hiring plans, or employers actively adding large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Are You Buying the Mac & Cheese of Job Search?

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:54:00 +0000

So much of today’s job search advice is like Mac & Cheese. It’s comfort food. It’s not very good for you, but it’s comfortable…it makes you feel good.

Like Mac & Cheese, this advice is very popular – you see it everywhere. Just as Mac & Cheese isn’t an efficient food source, this advice won’t make your job search efficient. But it WILL make you feel good, like you’re doing the right thing, because you see this advice everywhere.

So how can you tell what advice is Mac & Cheese? Examples of job search comfort food are cover letters. Think of how many articles you see, and how much advice a candidate receives about how to write a perfect cover letter. It’s comfortable advice that we’ve heard since we were originally taught to type them…on typewriters.

But cover letters just don’t work today. At best, cover letters are an obsolete tradition. But cover letters can work against a candidate, providing much more of a disadvantage over any potential advantage.

Here’s why cover letters are like Mac & Cheese:

Hiring Managers usually don’t get cover letters. I talk to 60 executives per month, and each one tells me how they hire candidates. About 75% of the time, hiring managers tell me they don’t even get cover letters from HR departments or recruiters. Recruiters and HR departments often don’t see cover letters, even though they are asked for within the ads they place.

Hiring Managers only see about a dozen resumes per position, out of thousands of applicants. HR departments and recruiters use databases to pre-screen resumes. These systems, called Applicant Tracking Systems, search resumes by keywords, allowing the HR screener or recruiter to pick the resumes that best match the keywords being searched…just like we do every day on Google. Most Applicant Tracking Systems don’t keyword search cover letters, only resumes.

Most candidates sent the same static resume to the jobs they apply to, hoping that the words in their resume happen to magically match the words being searched for. The odds are lousy.

It’s a published statistic that most hiring managers make an interview/non interview decision in an average 15 seconds. In 15 seconds you can’t read both a resume and cover letter. Which do you think most hiring managers read first?

I’m running a poll currently on Linkedin, asking hiring managers which they read first…75% read the resume first. Anecdotal evidence I hear each month puts that percentage at 90% who read the resume first.

I’m currently running another poll on Linkedin, asking candidates if they send a cover letter, or include a customized resume…over 85% send a cover letter and most customize the cover letter. Just 6% send a customized resume.

Isn’t that gap eye opening? 85% put their customization into a document that’s rarely seen.

I hear anecdotal evidence from hiring managers about the impact of cover letters if they get them and if they read them. I’ve rarely heard of an instance that a cover letter will talk a hiring manager into an interview, if the resume doesn’t first clearly demonstrate they meet the key hiring criteria. On the other hand, I hear stories all the time from hiring managers who recall times that a cover letter that gave additional information talked the candidate out of an interview…because they revealed information that was inconsistent with the hiring manager’s needs, or made mistakes on the cover letter.

As digital resumes exploded the competition that candidates face, and flooded HR departments/recruiters, these groups developed process improvements that reward candidates who heavily customize their resumes…and penalize candidates who don’t or who customize a different document.

Other Mac & Cheese examples are generalist resumes, broad opening summaries, lack of clarity of what a candidate is looking for and why they’re the best choice.

So what are you buying in your job search? Mac & Cheese? Or Smart Food?

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who's Hiring? Week of 10/19/09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:56:00 +0000

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Total Job Openings:
The Restaurant, Retail, Telecommunications, Defense, Health Care, and Banking verticals continue as the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Retail hiring kicked it into high gear, in preparation for the holiday season, with Sears, Kmart, Macy’s and Radio Shack leading the list. Northrop, Raytheon, & General Dynamics led Defense hiring. Top hiring financial institutions included JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Citi made this week’s list. No surprise that Healthcare hiring remained strong.

Other interesting top hiring companies included consulting firm Booz Allen, and hotels Hilton & Marriott. Century 21 hiring increased, and remained on the top hiring company list. UPS is staffing up for the holidays, making its first appearance on the list.

Based on surveys of US job advertisements in the top job board aggregators, the following companies added the most job openings:

Total Job Openings by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

McDonald's Corporation
AT&T
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Kmart Corporation
Northrop Grumman
Verizon Wireless
Raytheon
Advantage Sales and Marketing, LLC
General Dynamics - IT
JPMorgan Chase
Macy's
Booz Allen Hamilton
UnitedHealth Group
RadioShack
UPS Packaging
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
Quest Diagnostics
Kindred Healthcare
Hilton Hotels
Terminix
Amedisys Home Health
Century 21 Real Estate
Morgan Stanley Smith
Marriott
George S. May
ACS
PSA Healthcare
Aegis Therapies
University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey
Citi

Job Openings Added This Week:

The Telecommunication, Restaurant, Defense, Shipping, and Hospitality verticals are the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Financial services companies continue to expand with Scottrade continuing heavy hiring, joined by TD Bank. Real Estate company Century 21 also joined the top companies hiring this week. Of course, Sears, Toys”R”Us, Macy’s, UPS, and RadioShack are preparing for the holiday rush. Take Care Health (Walgreens in-store clinics) are adding staff, getting ready to give all those flu shots.

Job Openings Added this week by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

AT&T
McDonald's
Sears, Roebuck and Co
Northrop Grumman
Toys"R"Us
Macy's
UPS
Verizon Wireless
General Dynamics Information Technology
RadioShack
Raytheon
Hilton Hotels Corporation
Deloitte
Flextronics
Apex Systems
Genesis Healthcare
UnitedHealth Group
Quest Diagnostics
Century 21 Real Estate
Kindred Healthcare
Scottrade
George S. May
HEALTHSOUTH
TD Bank
TruGreen
Affiliated Computer Services
Medassurant
Take Care Health Systems
ACS

Sources: CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, SimplyHired, HotJobs, Google. Excluded: Recruiters, Staffing firms, Training, Franchise, and Work-from-home opportunities.

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant hiring plans, or employers actively adding large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who's Firing? Layoffs week ending 10-16-09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:45:00 +0000

Who's Firing is a weekly survey of organizations announcing (or rumoring) layoffs. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies that are contracting.

Inclusion on this listing doesn’t mean the entire industry is down, as many from the same sector appeared on the “Who’s Hiring” article published 10/12/09. It is interesting to note that while Federal hiring is on the rise, a number of State and Local governments face continued cutbacks. Also, Verizon has led the top hiring lists, but is also announcing a number of layoffs. Boeing made the layoff list, while competing aerospace manufacturers top the Who’s Hiring lists.

Job seekers: You might want to look in greener pastures than these companies.

Layoffs announced and rumored this week were in the Government, Manufacturing, Automotive, Technology, Publishing and Energy sectors.

Organizations announcing or rumored layoffs week ended 10/16/09:

AM General (250) - click to view
State of Massachusetts (up to 2K) - click to view
State of Iowa (1000) - click to view
Standish Max Prison (Michigan) (100) - click to view
Smiths Medical PM Inc. (100) - click to view
The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation (260) - click to view
Boeing Corp. (200-300) - click to view
City of Spokane, WA (200) - click to view
SunTrust Bank (YTD 100) - click to view
Wilsonart International (120) - click to view
Moog Aircraft Group (220) - click to view
Onondaga County, NY (133) - click to view
State of New Hampshire (300) - click to view
Country Financial (400) - click to view
Kohl's Corporation (250) - click to view
Team Broadcast Services (96) - click to view
HNI Corporation (150) - click to view
State of Vermont (160 total jobs lost) - click to view
Verizon Communications (200) - click to view
City of Moraine, OH (187) - click to view
Solvay Pharmaceuticals (450) - click to view
Steifel Laboratories (200) - click to view
Pilgrim's Pride (GA) (100) - click to view
Hamilton County Public Library (250) - click to view
Oral Roberts University (124) - click to view
NYC Dept. of Education (714) - click to view
Albany County, NY (109) - click to view
Bestop (140) - click to view
Flour Energy Corp. (500) - click to view
Valero Energy Corp. (250) - click to view
Boeing Corp. (130) - click to view
D&E Communications (280-290) - click to view
United States Postal Service (650) - click to view
Lafayette Caterpillar (106) - click to view
American Cancer Society (140) - click to view
Canron Western Constructors Inc. (106) - click to view
Fluor Corporation (100-150) - click to view
Redcats USA (490) - click to view
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (150) - click to view
Kent County, MI (145) - click to view
Boise Cascade (130) - click to view
Dell (905) - click to view
L.L. Bean Call Center (700) - click to view
Sunoco Inc. (400) - click to view
ATK Space Systems (550) - click to view
Hilton Reservations and Customer Care (176) - click to view
Thermo Fisher Scientific (130) - click to view
Conde Nast Publications (180) - click to view
Atlantic City Casinos (1067) - click to view
Metavation (120) - click to view
Prairie Correctional Facility (120) - click to view
University of California Riverside (425) - click to view
Pilgrim’s Pride (640) - click to view
Emerson Network Power Connectivity Solutions (135) - click to view
United Space Alliance (258) - click to view
Dow Roofing (100) - click to view
Tomasco Mulciber Inc. (213) - click to view
Delta, Eagan, MN (unknown) – Click to view
Aramark Health Support Services, Huntsville, AL (163) – Click to view
Chevron Mining, Gallup NM (80) - Click to view
Electric Boat, Groton, CT (96) - Click to view
Sylvania Yarn Systems (145) - Click to view
Trojan Battery Co., Sandersville, GA (50) - Click to view
HON Co., Owensboro, KY (144) - Click to view
Aramark Sports & Entertainment, Deer Creek Resort, Mt. Sterling, OH (112) - Click to view
Phoenix Health Systems, Pittsburgh, PA (50) - Click to view
GE Oil & Gas Operations, Bethelehem, PA (81) - Click to view
Parsons, Pittsburgh, PA (90) - Click to view
Alliance One Inc., Trevose, PA (63) - Click to view
Richfield Hospitality, Charlottesville, VA (146) - Click to view
FreightCar America Inc., Roanoke, VA (33) - Click to view
Lockheed Martin, Fairfax, VA (65) - Click to view
Educational Credit Management Corp., Richmond, VA (60) - Click to view
Wells Fargo Mortgage, Kirkland, WA (60) - Click to view
Brandrud, Auburn, WA (104) - Click to view
Corhart Refractories, Buckhannon, WV (26) - Click to view
Care Wisconsin First, Madison, WI (77) - Click to view
Eppendorf Inc., Westbury, NY (44) - Click to view
Avant-Garde Optics LLC, Washington, NY (137) - Click to view
Matthews International Corp., Seneca Falls, NY (33) - Click to view
Tavern on the Green LP, NYC (405) - Click to view
Dominion Enterprises DBA Interco Print, Ontario, CA (31) - Click to view
Telecare Corp, Lemon Grove, CA (102) - Click to view
Duane Morris LLC, Carpinteria, CA (126) - Click to view
USS-Posco Industries, Pittsburg, CA (827) - Click to view
Bassett Furniture Industries Inc, Bassett, VA (45) – Click to view
Summit Holdings, Lakeland, FL (70) – Click to view
Frontier Oil Corp., Cheyenne, WY (28) – Click to view
NCH Healthcare, Naples, FL System (66) – Click to view
Freudenberg-NOK, Spencer, IA (65) - Click to view
Franciscan Skemp Healthcare, Lacrosse, WI (25) – Click to view
McCann Erickson, San Francisco, CA (40) – Click to view
Jeld-Wen, Bend, OR (31) – Click to view
Foley & Lardner LLC, Milwaukee, WI (39) – Click to view
Crothall Services Group, Valhalla, NY (235) – Click to view
Aramark, Huntsville, AL (163) – Click to view
Mueller Industries, Fulton, MS (37) – Click to view
Miller Brothers Mining, KY (85) – Click to view
Baker Hughes Inc., Houston, TX, (62) – Click to view
Hamilton Sundstrand, Hartford, CN (30) Click to view
City of Loveland, CO (5.9%) – Click to view
Comcast, Wellesley, MA (64) – Click to view
Rensselaer County, NY (24) – Click to view
Midcoast Aviation, Cahokia, MO (150) – Click to view
TomoTherapy, Madison, WI (10%) – Click to view
Boston Globe, Boston, MA (unknown) – Click to view
Police Department Kansas City, MO (16) – Click to view
Clear One Health Plans, Bend, OR (25) – Click to view
Save – A – Pet, Greyslake, IL (40%) – Click to view
Microtune, Plano, TX (10%) – Click to view
Viking Range Corporation, Greenwood, MS (30) – Click to view
Current Media, San Francisco, CA (unknown) – Click to view
NH Department of Corrections (37) – Click to view
Bossier City, LA (88) – Click to view
Calumet City IL Schools (57) – Click to view
Lackawanna County, PA (30) – Click to view
Verizon, Newark, DE (66) – Click to view
Bistol Meyers Squibb, National (355 of Abilify sales force) – Click to view
MetLife, Lackawanna County PA (34) – Click to view
Stanley Furniture, Stanleytown, VA (unknown) – Click to view
North Providence, RI (35) – Click to view
Louisiana State Department of Education, Baton Rouge, LA (50) – Click to view
Yuba Community College, Clearlake, CA (56) – Click to view
Chelan County, WA (50) – Click to view
City of Kingston, NY (28) – Click to view
AOL, NY, NY (2,000) – Click to view
EBay, San Francisco, CA (several dozen) – Click to view
LCN Closers, Princeton, IL (47) – Click to view
NC Department of Health and Human Services, Raleigh, NC (thousands) - Click to view
City of Aurora, CO (50) – Click to view
Ohio State Prisons, Ohio (41) – Click to view
Osceola County, FL (40) – Click to view
University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, OH (50) – Click to view
Volvo Trucks North America, Dublin VA (50) – Click to view
Zillion TV, Sunnyvale, CA (1/3) – Click to view
Victor Valley College, Victorville, CA (28) – Click to view
DaySpring Inc, Siloam Springs, AR (53) – Click to view
CNN, Atlanta, GA (unknown) – Click to view

Source: Google, Twitter, AllPinkSlips.com, Telonu.com, TechCrunch.com, CoStar.com, Gawker, Screwedd.com

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant layoff plans, or employers reducing large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who's Hiring? Week of 10/12/09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:33:00 +0000

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Total Job Openings:
The Restaurant, Retail, Telecommunications, Health Care, Defense and Banking verticals are the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Restaurants including McDonald's, Cracker Barrel, and Arby’s were heavy job advertisers for the past month. Retailers continued hiring for the holiday season, with Blockbuster, Sears, Kmart, Macy’s, RadioShack actively searching for employees. Top Telcom hiring companies included AT&T, Verizon, and Cingular making this week’s list.

Other interesting top hiring companies included an expanded number of Banking and Financial Services companies, expanding beyond traditional banks. Banking and Financial Service companies included JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citizens’ Financial, and Citi. Some surprises included Century 21 and the hospitality industry (Marriott & Hilton).

Based on surveys of US job advertisements in the top job board aggregators, the following companies added the most job openings:

Total Job Openings by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

McDonald's Corporation
Blockbuster
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
AT&T
Kmart Corporation
Gentiva Health Services
Raytheon
Northrop Grumman
JPMorgan Chase
Verizon Wireless
Advantage Sales and Marketing, LLC
General Dynamics - IT
Macy's
RadioShack Corporation
UnitedHealth Group
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
Quest Diagnostics
Kindred Healthcare
Terminix
Century 21 Real Estate
Marriott
Morgan Stanley Smith
Arby's
Deloitte
ACS
University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey
George S. May
Citizens Financial Group
Hilton Hotels
Flextronics
Citi
Cingular Wireless

Job Openings Added This Week:

The Restaurant, Retail, Telecommunications, Contracting, Education, Banking/Financial Services, Defense, and Health Care verticals are the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Some interesting companies expanding with new ads this week are Perini Plumbing, hiring plumbing and mechanical contractors nationwide – including inexperienced hires. Financial services companies continue to expand with JPMorgan Chase continuing heavy hiring, joined by Edward Jones, Ameriprise Financial, Scottrade, and Freddie Mac. Real Estate company CB Richard Ellis also joined the top companies hiring this week.

Job Openings Added this week by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies not included):

McDonald's
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Kmart
AT&T
Perini Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors
Macy's
Murphy USA
KinderCare Learning Centers
JPMorgan Chase
RadioShack Corporation
Northrop Grumman
General Dynamics Information Technology
Edward Jones
Verizon Wireless
UnitedHealth Group
Raytheon
University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey
Verizon Wireless
Apex Systems
Quest Diagnostics
Sava Senior Care
Ameriprise Financial
Scottrade
Siemens
Yellow Pages
McGraw-Hill
Kindred Healthcare
Cingular Wireless
Freddie Mac
ACS
Accenture (corp.)
Bojangles'
CB Richard Ellis

Sources: CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, SimplyHired, HotJobs, Google. Excluded: Recruiters, Staffing firms, Training, Franchise, and Work-from-home opportunities.

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant hiring plans, or employers actively adding large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

How About a Bigger, Badder Monster?

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:46:00 +0000

I spoke to Eric Winegardner, Monster's VP of Client Adoption and Kathy O'Reilly, Monster's Director of Social Media Relations at the HR Technology conference last week. Eric was excited about Monster’s new candidate and employer platforms, recently released and still in Beta. I wanted to know what changed, and what made it “new and improved”.

It turns out there’s more than just a new skin on Monster. The job board has made some interesting advances towards contextual search…what most of us mistakenly call artificial intelligence. For us non-geeks out there, contextual search is defined as “A search for documents or records based upon the data they contain, rather than their file names or key fields”, according to Answers.com. Or in other words, Monster is now a more intuitive search that delivers close matches.

Why is this important to job seekers?

Contextual search allows you to have related jobs included in your search, rather than multiple searches or complicated Boolean formulas with nested AND and OR statements. Instead, contextual search allows the candidate to search for “RN” and pull up jobs for nurses, or search for “attorney” and find jobs for lawyers. The “Old Monster” (it’s still available if you prefer) suggests additional close searches, but would not include exact and close matches within in the same search. So a candidate only has to perform a single search.

In addition, contextual search knows the difference between a Java developer vs a Real Estate developer. A search for “Financial Executive” won’t return Executive Assistant jobs in the new Monster.

Contextual search has even further reaching implications when you consider how it affects how employers can now search. For instance, an employer searching for a Manufacturing Supervisor, might also like to see Operations Supervisors, or Manufacturing Managers at smaller companies. Contextual search allows close matches of experience to criteria. In addition, employers can search for required criteria, as well as nice-to-have criteria.

Monster’s new capabilities also allow employers to search for number of years of certain experience, plus place additional weight on recency. If a hiring manager has 3 years of events marketing experience as a criteria, the employer can direct Monster to rank candidates with 3 years of recent experience higher than candidates with that experience further in their background. This is critical for candidates to understand, as more experienced candidates tend to focus on how many people they manage, but leave out the details of their current roles. This underscores the importance of heavy resume customization for each position you apply for.

One of the Monster’s big selling points to employers is to make it easier for hiring managers to pull candidates out of the database that the employer wouldn’t otherwise find. When hiring starts to increase again, employers will start to find shortages of certain skill sets, increasing as the Baby Boom continues to retire. Even today, certain pockets of job skills are in short supply – nursing, for instance.

I was able to test drive the site, and I’ve got to admit it was pretty cool. I can see how it can save candidates time and frustration, and provide employers a closer match.

In addition to the technical changes, Monster has added a ton of new features for candidates:

1) Career Mapping: Monster now allows a janitor the tools to figure how to become an astronaut, and what steps he needs to take. For instance, Monster might suggest that our janitor friend first enroll in some flight classes, earn a pilots’ license, and log thousands of hours of flight time, because a high percentage of astronauts have already reached their career goal via that path. Next, Monster might suggest that either working as a commercial pilot, flying an Air Force jet, or getting an engineering degree might help by showing the percentage of astronauts who gained these experiences along the way.

In the same way, Monster can show a reCareering manufacturing worker what she needs to do to start a career in health care. What options does she have and what’s the best way to get there?

2) Career Snapshots: Monster publishes career snapshots so that candidates can read real, unabridged commentary about what a job is like…pros and cons. Sure it sounds cool to be an astronaut, but what if you can’t leave Piscataway, NJ? A corporate President role might sound great, but will the travel, overtime, and stress fit well with your personality? Better to get an idea first, before committing to a career track.

3) Virtual Mentoring: Monster has a huge audience of staff as well as managers. By identifying managers who are looking to “give back” and find mentoring opportunities, earlier stage employees can get career guidance from someone who’s already been there.

Finally, Monster is rolling out some social media tools, like blogs, Facebook groups, and Twitter job postings that make it easier for candidates to find job postings and job search information.

I recommend you check out some of these tools…you’ll see me there also, as my articles are often republished on Monster’s blogs.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who’s Hiring – Week of 10-5-09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:22:00 +0000

McDonald's
AT&T
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Gentiva Health Services
Northrop Grumman
Raytheon
Verizon Wireless
JPMorgan Chase & Co
General Dynamics - IT
Kmart Corporation
Bae Systems
Deloitte
UnitedHealth Group
Kindred Healthcare
Raytheon
UnitedHealth Group
Verizon Wireless
Quest Diagnostics
Arby's
Kindred Healthcare
Macy's
Sears

Job Openings Added This Week:
The Restaurant, Telecommunications, Defense, Retail, Banking, Shipping, and Engineering verticals are the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Job Openings Added this week by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing Companies Not Included):

McDonald's Corporation
AT&T
Northrop Grumman
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
RadioShack Corporation
JPMorgan Chase
Verizon Wireless
Bae Systems
Raytheon
General Dynamics Information Technology
Kmart Corporation
R-Solutions, a subsidiary of RadioShack Corp
UPS
Siemens
Apex Systems
Macy's
Cingular Wireless
Morgan Stanley SmithBarney
Quest Diagnostics
UnitedHealth Group
Flextronics
Scottrade

Sources: CareerBuilder, Indeed, SimplyHired, HotJobs, Google. Monster does not list ads by company or city. Excluded: Recruiters, Staffing firms, Training, Franchise, and Work-from-home opportunities

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant hiring plans, or employers actively adding large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who's Firing - Layoffs Week Ended 10-2-09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:45:00 +0000

Inclusion on this listing doesn’t mean the entire industry is down, as many from the same sector appeared on the “Who’s Hiring” article published 9/25/09. It is interesting to note that while Federal hiring is on the rise, a number of State and Local governments face additional cutbacks. Also, IBM, Deloitte, and Accenture were some of the top hiring companies last week, while KPMG and PWC are on the layoff list.

Job seekers: You might want to look in greener pastures than these companies.

Layoffs announced and rumored this week were in the Government, Manufacturing, Automotive, Technology, Publishing and Business Services sectors.

Organizations announcing or rumored layoffs week ended 10/2/09:

Miramax (55) – click to view
City of Rockford (7) – click to view
District of Columbia Public Schools (388) – click to view
Cooley Godward Kronish (58) – click to view
Hallmark Cards Inc. (225-250) - click to view
US Space Program (337) - click to view
Granite Construction (150) - click to view
Baxter Healthcare, Florida (26) – click to view
Hillsborough County, FL (100) - click to view
Mental Health Association in North Carolina (175) - click to view
ABB Inc. (200) - click to view
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota (100) - click to view
Inkstop (550) - click to view
Areva (150) - click to view
Chrysler Financial (360) - click to view
North Carolina Department of Corrections (1,000) - click to view
Vail-Ballou Press (270) - click to view
Skokomish Tribe's Lucky Dog Casino (120) - click to view
Armstrong World Industries (171) - click to view
The Missouri Department of Conservation (173) - click to view
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) (450-500) - click to view
Trompeter Electronics Inc. (135) - click to view
Windstream Corporation (350) - click to view
The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. (110) - click to view
Force Protection Inc. (120) - click to view
Washington DC School District (100's+) - click to view
Verizon Wireless (134??) - click to view
Beatrice Community Hospital and Health Center (100) - click to view
West Corporation (341) - click to view
Columbus Lumber (100) - click to view
American Centrifuge Project (update 1,000) - click to view
Jabil Circuit (update 4,500 from 3,000) - click to view
General Motors (1,000) - click to view
Peterbilt Corp. (390) - click to view
Peabody Indiana Services LLC (133) - click to view
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Update (1443) - click to view
Diebold (100) - click to view
King County, WA (367) - click to view
Hawker Beechcraft (240) - click to view
City of Troy, Michigan (170?) - click to view
City of Seattle (310) - click to view
Beaumont Hospitals (425) - click to view
US Customs Border Control (384) - click to view
Waukegan, IL (48) – click to view
Hawker Beechcraft (240) – click to view
Dassault Falcon (72) – click to view
Dexia (602) – click to view
Amazon (25) – click to view
Gnip (7) – click to view
GE Transportation, Erie, PA (1,450) – click to view
JELD-WEN Inc.(84) – click to view
kgb Operator Services Co (78) – click to view
Kalyn Siebert Trailers (35) – click to view
Unilever Food Solutions, Milwaukee WI (38) – click to view
Northern Engraving Corp. - Luxco Division (26) – click to view
Wiza (132) – click to view
JTEKT Automotive Virginia Inc (250) – click to view
Colgan Air Inc (29) – click to view
Riley Power (181) – click to view
Sunshine Market Inc, Plains PA (148) – click to view
Wiremold/Legrand (67) – click to view
Red Bird West Mine (115) – click to view
Schneider National Carriers Inc., Piketon OH (57) – click to view
Neff Manufacturing (88) – click to view
Sonoco, Orrville OH (81) – click to view
The Andersons Inc., Lima OH (134) – click to view
Pyramid Management Group, Inc. - Security Division (40) – click to view
Penske Logistics Inc., Albany, NY (81) – click to view
Ramada JFK Hotel (187) – click to view
Bombardier Transportation, Plattsburgh NY (200) – click to view
World of Disney NYC (148) – click to view
Philips Remote Cardiac Services (48) – click to view
ARAMARK Management, Suffern NY (77) – click to view
Alan Ritchey Inc. (80) – click to view
Tana Seybert LLC (132) – click to view
Eastman Kodak, Rochester (72) – click to view
11 Penn TV (16) – click to view
Pfeiffer Foods Division (154) – click to view
Henkel (16) – click to view
Conde’ Nast (est 25%) – click to view
City of Detroit (1,000) – click to view
Saturn Automobile (unknown) – click to view
American Apparel (1,600) – click to view
KPMG (unknown) – click to view
PWC (140) – click to view
First Industrial Realty Trust (46) – click to view
Bosch (10,000 international) – click to view

Source: Google, Twitter, AllPinkSlips.com, Telonu.com, TechCrunch.com, CoStar.com, Gawker, Screwedd.com

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant layoff plans, or employers reducing large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who’s Hiring in Technology – September 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Consulting firms, Defense, and Health care top IT hiring, based on job advertisements open for 30 days from the top job boards.

In addition to IBM’s advertisements for Developers, Sales Professionals, Technology Architects, and Development Engineers, IBM recently announced they are opening a new Technology Delivery Services Center in Dubuque, IA and planning to hire 1,300 professionals to “support US Strategic outsourcing clients, providing server systems operations, security services, and end user services, including maintenance and monitoring of computer hardware and software systems.” This new facility was supported by about $50M of state and local government incentives. IBM also just announced hiring 240 manufacturing and maintenance workers for its Essex Junction, VT Microelectronics plant, to meet surging demand for components found in cell phones and DVDs.

With a strong winning streak in defense contracts offsetting its lagging Gulfstream division, General Dynamics has been hiring technologists to create and deploy military and police informatics. General Dynamics is building new technologies for government agencies, the military, police and firefighters – turning vehicles into communication command centers to track and transfer information to field personnel. In addition, "While other large contractors face possible cuts in many of their largest programs, the budget as proposed in April called for General Dynamics to build three new destroyers for roughly $2.5 billion apiece” wrote Steven Halpern in TheStockAdvisors.com.

Raytheon is hiring because they also are landing defense contracts. According to Motley Fool, “Raytheon hopes to sell billions of dollars worth of Patriot missiles to countries ranging from Turkey to Iraq to the UAE. Meanwhile, Raytheon looks poised to enter its recently licensed KillerBee into two of the Pentagon's largest UAV contests. Victory in either one could leapfrog Raytheon to the forefront of this nascent industry.”

It is interesting to see strong hiring activity by Comcast Cable. Barbara Hagen, market vice president and general manager for Comcast stated “With the incredible popularity of digital cable and HDTV, high-speed Internet service and Comcast Digital Voice, the demand for our products and services has never been greater.”

While AT&T is hiring heavily for retail sales and management, about 20% of AT&T’s ads are for developers, programmers, engineering and technology positions. "Despite these difficult economic times, our business continues to grow. These are good jobs with wages and benefits that are among the best in the nation." said Steve Krom, vice president and general manager, AT&T.

Based on reports by Wanted Technologies that forecast hiring demand, financial institutions that have begun repaying TARP funds are beginning expansion, including industry financial services giant JPMorgan Chase. But they aren’t just hiring tellers…they’re hiring developers, project managers, business analysts, QA, and applications support professionals.

Confused why Sun is posting so many ads, when they’re not doing so well and about to be acquired by Oracle? Don’t get too excited – These are all ads for Sun Certification training.

Top Technology Hiring Organizations – September 2009

• IBM
• Deloitte
• General Dynamics - IT
• SAIC
• Raytheon
• Northrop Grumman
• UnitedHealth Group
• Lockheed Martin
• BAE SYSTEMS
• CSC
• ITT Educational Services
• U.S. Army
• ManTech International Corporation
• Comcast Cable
• AT&T
• Universal Health Services
• Microsoft
• Siemens
• Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)
• Axelon Services
• Federal Government Jobs
• Affiliated Computer Services
• JPMorgan Chase
• U.S. Navy
• GE
• U.S. Army Medical Corps
• Sun Microsystems
• EMC Corp.
• Harris Corp.
• Yahoo! Inc
• Dell Computer Corp.

Sources: CareerBuilder, Dice, HotJobs, Indeed, SimplyHired. Monster does not list industry jobs by company. Excluded: Recruiters & Staffing firms.

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant hiring plans, or employers actively adding large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Differentiate Your Resume With a Winning Strategy: Fishing and Response Resumes

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:08:00 +0000

The majority of candidates, executive though staff, write resumes and apply to jobs in roughly the same way…writing a cover letter to focus a static resume.

I’ve written in previous articles to “Stop Writing Cover Letters, and You’ll Get More Interviews”, and described why cover letters are an obsolete tradition in today’s job search. In the 15 seconds the average hiring manager spends making an interview/no interview decision…most hiring managers make their decision based on a resume – not a cover letter. In a recent Linkedin poll, over 80% of hiring managers stated that they read resumes first.

Yet, the majority of candidates mistakenly use a cover letter to demonstrate why they are perfect for a position.

There’s a better way to stand out and differentiate yourself from the thousands of other candidates competing against you. Instead of customizing a cover letter, why not customize your resume? I use a two step process for my clients: 1) Fishing Resumes; and 2) Response Resumes.

Fishing Resume

I recommend that my clients create a couple (no more than 3) Fishing Resumes, each built around a specific Subject Matter Expertise. I use a Fishing Resume to send when you don’t know who the company is (to a blind ad, to a recruiter, to your network without a specific company in mind). A Fishing Resume is a template, with a few important features:

Branding Statement
Value Statements
Skills Inventory

The Branding Statement: A Branding Statement is a crystal clear, very concise single line statement that instantly tells the reader:

What job are you applying for?
What very specific business problem do you solve better than anyone else?

Your Branding Statement should instantly clarify the first impression you want to build with the reader. It should grab her attention, and encourage further reading.

Value Statements: The bullet points within your work experience are the features and benefits that provide proof of your branding statement, and demonstrate you meet the hiring manager’s needs. Most of your competitors will create bullet points that list their responsibilities. However, you can differentiate yourself by creating bullets that feature your accomplishments. Effective bullets pass the reader’s “so what?” test, by showing how each bullet has created shareholder value (generated revenue, cut costs, increased profits).

Skills Inventory: A strong skills inventory demonstrates your broad and general skills, without branding you as a generalist. Most of the executives I talk to admit that they look for specific skills, rather than general skills, in top management resumes….yet most executives still brand themselves and consider themselves as generalists.

I coach my clients to build an extensive skills inventory at the end of their resume. I like to use a 3 column format, of 30-50 three word sound bytes (double that if you’re in technology) including technology skills, functional skills, industry skills, management/leadership skills, and soft skills. Bonuses of a well written skills inventory are that you have a chance to match the changed criteria (in the time between writing a job description and filling it) and you have a chance to meet the “nice to haves” (the criteria that never makes a job description, yet is often the single factor that separates the top candidate from the rest of the pack).

Response Resume

When you know the company you are sending your resume to, you can get so much more information about the company. Do some research on the target company BEFORE you send your resume. Most of your competitors don’t research until interview preparation, so pre-resume research can give you a huge advantage. True, you won’t be able to send as many resumes, but you’ll have a much better response rate – you’ll target your resume specifically to the target company’s needs.

How should you customize your resume to differentiate yourself?

1) Create the impression of the “Perfect Candidate”: As you research the target company as yourself…What are the company’s Goals? Problems? Roadblocks? Challenges? Next, create bullet points demonstrating how you’ve already reached these goals, and already solved the company’s problems. Make sure that each bullet also passes the hiring manager’s “So What?” test, by listing the shareholder value you created by solving these problems and meeting the target company’s goals.

2) Resume Search Optimization: The majority of times your resume will be pre-screened by a database looking for keywords – even if you sent the resume to a friend at the company (ever hear of employee referral bonuses?). You can improve your chances of being seen by anticipating the keywords that a company or recruiter is likely searching for – there are usually 5 – 10 keywords/phrases in the job description or ad. Include these keywords/phrases verbatim within the context of your bullet points.

Practice this approach for a few weeks, and watch your response rate soar!

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who's Firing? Layoffs week ending 9/28/09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:36:00 +0000

King County, WA (Government) - 376
MediaRing (Technology) - 50
Zounds (Healthcare) - 150
NY Administration for Children’s Services (Government) – 38
Lake County IN (Government) - 150
Emory University (Education) - 27
Greenheck Fan Corporation (Manufacturing) – 70
Johnson Controls (Engineering) – 300
City of Bromfield, CO (Government) - unknown
Citigroup (Financial Services) – est 2,000
Wells Fargo, Wilkesboro NC (Financial Services) - 70
CQ-Roll Call Group (Publishing) – 44
Rexam Packaging, Hamlet NC (Manufacturing) - 220
Beaumont Hospital (Health Care) - 353
BAE Systems (Manufacturing) – 200
Buckhorn (Manufacturing) – 88
UBS Wealth Management (Financial Services) - 200
Wyeth (Pharmaceuticals) – unknown
Pfizer (Pharmaceuticals) - unknown
Prett & Whitney (Aerospace) – 1,000
Manitowoc County WI (Government) – 34
Wellpoint (Insurance) - unknown
Tyco Telecommunication (Telecommunication) - unknown
City of Salinas, CA (Government) – 61
Harley Davidson, York County, PA (Manufacturing) – 70+
Akron, Inc (Technology) – unknown
Coviden (Healthcare) – 70
Nortel (Technology) – 400

Sources: Google.com, Twitter.com, Telonu.com

Readers – If you know of employers announcing significant layoff plans, or employers reducing large numbers of employees, please comment below to add to this list.

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Who’s Hiring? Week of 9/25/09

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:29:00 +0000

AT&T
JPMorgan Chase
Deloitte
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Gentiva Health Services
Blockbuster
Kmart
Verizon Wireless
Northrop Grumman
General Dynamics
Raytheon
McDonald's
IBM
Macy's
UnitedHealth Group
Marriott
RadioShack
Murphy USA
Advantage Sales and Marketing
CIA
Toys "R" Us
Allied Barton Security Services
T-Mobile
US Army
Avon
Sun Microsystems
Snap-on Tools
Army National Guard
Quest Diagnostics
Aflac
Woodforest Bank
Combined Insurance
Fifth Third Bank
EMC Corp.
Fresenius Medical Care
Kaiser Permanente
Navy

Job Openings Added This Week:
The Telecommunications, Banking, Retail, Health Care, and Engineering verticals are the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Job Openings Added this week by direct advertisers (Recruiters & Staffing companies not included):

AT&T
JPMorgan Chase
Sears
UnitedHealth Group
Kaiser Permanente
Siemens
Deloitte
Verizon Wireless
Raytheon
Northrop Grumman
Kmart
Advantage Sales and Marketing, LLC
Army National Guard
General Dynamics
Kindred Healthcare
RadioShack
UnitedHealth Group
Crossmark
Marriott
Federal Government Jobs
Sun Microsystems
Macy's
IBM
Medtronic
Macy's
Global M.A.R.S
ACS (Affiliated Computer Services)
Combined Insurance
EMC Corp.
Snap-on Tools
Quest Diagnostics
Avon
Fifth Third Bank
HSBC
New York Army National Guard

Top Hiring Cities based on CareerBuilder ads:

New York
Chicago
Houston
Dallas
Phoenix
Atlanta
Los Angeles
Philadelphia
Indianapolis
Washington DC
Cincinnati
Charlotte
Columbus OH
Baltimore
Kansas City
San Antonio
Miami
Orlando
Louisville
Nashville
Boston
Columbia SC
Denver
Seattle
San Diego

Start Developing Good Networking Karma!

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:16:00 +0000

Kirsten Gauthier-Newbury of Marylhurst University Career Services Blog quoted an earlier article in her blogpost "Start Developing Good Networking Karma!"

What does networking mean to you? Are you someone who feels compelled to “sell” yourself at every event, business card in hand, despite it feeling inauthentic? Do you think that building ones network means schmoozing ones way to a new job? Do you believe networking is taking advantage of others to find your next opportunity? Does the idea of attending events with the sole purpose of promoting yourself make you sweat? It’s time to shift your perspective!

At its very core, networking is about building relationships, and every relationship requires give and take. It’s not just about getting what you need but helping others get what they need. What if you decided that the next event you attend, you go with the sole intention of finding someone else to help? Despite whatever difficult circumstances you find yourself in these days, I challenge you to give of yourself, without expecting something in return, and you will surely reap rewards if you trust the process. Remaining detached from any particular outcome is not always easy, but it is required to build good networking karma.

Phil Rosenberg, in his blog ReCareered, sums up this idea perfectly in his post “Achieve Enlightenment through Networking Karma”. He emphasizes

“…job seekers are more effective if they stop searching for a job, and start searching for problems to solve. Networking works the same way. If you search for problems you can solve at networking events, you do more than collect cards, you build a fan base.

It’s time to release that networking pressure valve and see what good you can do for those around you. If you’re ready for a different approach that will energize your search, check out this interesting upcoming local event presented by Imagine Your Reality, where the idea of “networking is creating meaningful and helpful relationships where everyone wins.”

Trackback: http://marylhurstcareerservices.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/start-developing-good-networking-karma/

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Best Linkedin Groups for Jobseekers

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:38:00 +0000

Career Guide, a UK based career blog shares some Linkedin tips, and was kind enough to include reCareered's Linkedin group, Career Change Central, as one of the top job seeker groups to join on Linkedin.

Last month I wrote a post about using Linkedin to find a new job. I wanted to dig a little deeper and in this article I wanted to introduce to the top 10 groups to join if you are looking for a job. Most people know what Linkedin is all about, but not everyone is familiar with the group. There are thousands of groups that you can join once you are a member of Linkedin. Most of these groups are centered around professions, interests, and colleges. They are a great tool for networking and meeting people with similar interests. There are also groups that exist for the sole purpose of allowing job seekers and those with job openings to connect. If you are using Linkedin and not using the group feature, you are missing out. Here are the top 10 groups to join for job seekers.

1. JobAngels –This is one of the best and targets. JobAngels is a non-profit job search network of professionals helping other professionals opportunities. They also have a big following on Twitter.
2. Executive Suite – Great community for executive level job seekers.
3. Star:Candidate for Hire – This is the largest and best group to join bar none.
4. The Talent Buzz – Group of job seekers and recruiters..
5. Career Change Central – The largest and best group for those seeking advice and contacts during a career transition.
6. Jobs Alert – Job search group targeting management level candidates.
7. Indeed.com – Official job search group on LinkedIn for Indeed.com, the largest job aggregator on the web.
8. Project: Get Hired! – If you are looking for a support group during your job search, this is the place.
9. Job Search Help – group for job seekers sharing advice and leads and networking. This is a very helpful and supportive group..
10. B2B Reps- Discussion and networking forum for sales reps and sales recruiters. This is a must if you are in sales.

Trackback: http://www.weborionsupport.com/best-linkedin-groups-for-jobseekers.html

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

100+ Career Blogs ALL Professionals MUST Read

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:14:00 +0000

Career Rocketeer's author, Chris Perry listed 100+ Career Blogs. I'm proud to have made his list.

Whether you are seeking career advice or job opportunities, developing your personal brand, taking the next step in your career or simply just want to keep track of news and updates from the career industry, Career Rocketeer has compiled and presents to you the ultimate, definitive list of career blogs you should be reading, including those of authors, bloggers, coaches and experts in the world of personal branding and marketing, career and job searching, networking, social media, resume writing and more.

Note: If your career blog was not included on this list or there is something missing from your listing, don’t worry. We want to include your blog and/or feature it correctly. Just email me for additions and/or modifications to current listings.

Please also subscribe to Career Rocketeer via email or via RSS today!
Career Search
Accelerating Momentum - Joan Schramm - http://blog.achieve-momentum.com/
Adventures of the Job Search Ninja - Todd Bavol - http://www.integritycareertransitions.com/blog
Alison Doyle - Alison Doyle - http://alisondoyle.typepad.com/
Another Point of View - Kay Stout - http://anotherpointofview.typepad.com/
Back on the Career Track - Carol Fishman Cohen - http://tinyurl.com/6wjofg
The Big Time - Spherion.com - http://www.spherion.com/careerblog/
Career by Choice - Megan Fitzgerald - http://www.careerbychoiceblog.com/
CareerDiva - Eve Tahmincioglu - http://www.careerdiva.net/
Careerealism - JT O’Donnell - http://www.careerealism.com/
Career Hub - Louise Fletcher - http://www.careerhubblog.com/main/
Career Jockey - Jorge Lázaro Díaz - http://www.careerjockey.org/
The Career Makeover Coach - Tai Goodwin - http://careermakeovercoach.com/
Career Renegade Blog - Jonathan Fields - http://www.careerrenegade.com/blog
Career Success - Andy Robinson - http://careersuccess.typepad.com/
Career Transitions - Katharine Brooks - http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/career-transitions
Career Trend's Blog - Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter - http://careertrend.wordpress.com/
Cheezhead - Joel Cheesman - http://www.cheezhead.com/
CIO Job Search - Mark Cummuta - http://advice.cio.com/blogs/cio_job_search_a_real_life_chronicle
Circle Blog - JobCircle.com - http://jobcircle.com/blog
CollegeRecruiter.com Employer's Blog - Steven Rothberg - http://www.collegerecruiter.com/employersblog
Courting Your Career - Shawn Graham - http://courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com/
Elite Resumes - Martin Buckland - http://aneliteresume.com/blog/
Future Perfect: Career Transition and Management Strategies - Dorothy Dalton - http://dorothydalton.blogspot.com/
Gayle's Blog - Gayle Howard - http://www.topmargin.com/blog
Grad to Great Blog - Anne Brown - http://gradtogreat.com/blog
Gradversity - Trevor Wilson - http://www.gradversity.com/
Health Careers Blog - Andrea Santiago - http://healthcareers.about.com/b/
Hire Educated - David Sandusky - http://hireeducated.wordpress.com/
Interview Angel Blog - Brent Peterson - http://www.interviewangel.com/blog/default.asp
JibberJobber Blog - Jason Alba - http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog
Jobacle Blog - Jobacle.com - http://www.jobacle.com/blog
Job Market Success - Clare Whitmell- http://www.jobmarketsuccess.com/
JobMob - Jacob Share - http://jobmob.co.il/
JT & Dale Talk Jobs - JTandDale.com - http://www.jtanddale.com/
Lindsey Pollak - Lindsey Pollak - http://www.lindseypollak.com/blog
Kaleidoblog - Susan Strayer - http://susanstrayer.typepad.com/blog/kaleidoblog
Marketing Headhunter - Harry Joiner - http://www.marketingheadhunter.com/
Monster Blog - Monster.com - http://monster.typepad.com/
Netshare - Kathy Simmons - http://blog.netshare.com/
Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist - Penelope Trunk - http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/
Pongo Blog - Pongo Resume - http://www.pongoresume.com/blogs/1/pongo.cfm
reCareered - Phil Rosenberg - http://recareered.blogspot.com/
ResumeBear Blog - ResumeBear.com - http://www.resumebear.com/blog
ResumesDoneWrite - Debra Wheatman - http://resumesdonewrite.blogspot.com/
ResumePower Blog - ResumePower.com - http://www.resumepower.com/blog
The Risesmart Blog - Risesmart.com - http://www.risesmart.com/risesmart/blog
Six Figures Blog - Kelly Magowan - http://blog.sixfigures.com.au/
Spin Strategy - Tim Tyrell-Smith - http://blog.spinstrategy.com/
Sweet Careers - Grace Kutney - http://sweetcareers.blogspot.com/
The Talent Buzz - Jason Buss - http://thetalentbuzz.com/
VisualCV Blog - VisualCV.com - http://blog.visualcv.com/
What Would Dad Say - GL Hoffman - http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds
The Wise Job Search - Harry Urshel - http://www.thewisejobsearch.com/
Work Bloom - WorkBloom.net - http://www.workbloom.net/
The Work Buzz - CareerBuilder.com - http://www.theworkbuzz.com/
Workforce50 - Gene Burnard - http://blog.workforce50.com/
YourOnRamp - Catherine Cliffard - http://www.youronramp.com/blogs/career
Leadership, Management & Career Development
45 Things - Anita Bruzzese - http://www.45things.com/blog.php
All Things Workplace - Steve Roesler - http://www.allthingsworkplace.com/
Ask a Manager - Alison Green - http://askamanager.blogspot.com/
Ask a Millenial - Adrienne Waldo - http://askamillennial.blogspot.com/
Career Adventure - Kristi Daeda - http://www.kristidaeda.com/
CFO Coach - Cindy Kraft - http://www.cfo-coach.com/
Coach'm Up Boni - Boni Candelario - http://coachmup.com/
Cube Rules - Scot Herrick - http://cuberules.com/
Employee Evolution - Ryan Healy - http://www.employerevolution.com/
The Enlightened Manager Blog - Cheri Baker - http://blog.emergenceconsulting.net/
Escape from Cubicle Nation - Pam Slim - http://www.escapefromcubiclenation.com/
Great Leadership - Dan McCarthy - http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com/
Great on the Job - Jodi Glickman - http://www.greatonthejob.com/
Hello, my name is BLOG! - Scott Ginsberg - http://www.hellomynameisscott.blogspot.com/
How to Change the World - Guy Kawasaki - http://blog.guykawasaki.com/
Human Race Horses - Michael VanDervort - http://humanracehorses.blogspot.com/
Human Resources Blog - Susan Heathfield - http://humanresources.about.com/b
Jason Seiden's Blog - Jason Seiden - http://jasonseiden.com/
Julia Ann Erickson - Julia Ann Erickson - http://www.julieannerickson.blogspot.com/
Keith Ferrazzi - Keith Ferrazzi - http://www.keithferrazzi.com/blog
Kirsten Grant - Kirsten Grant - http://kirstengrant.blogspot.com/
Leading Blog - LeadershipNow - http://www.leadershipnow.com/leadingblog
Less Ordinary Living - Philip Bolton - http://www.lessordinaryliving.com/
Life@Work - Heather Mundell - http://dbcs.typepad.com/
Midlife's a Trip - Karen Batchelor - http://www.midlifesatrip.com/
Movin' On Up - Express Employment Professionals - http://blog.expresspersonnel.com/
People Potential Blog - Nancy Branton - http://www.nancybranton.typepad.com/
Phil Gerbyshak - Phil Gerbyshak - http://www.philgerbyshak.com/
The Smart Networking Blog - Liz Lynch - http://blog.networkingexcellence.com/
Threshold Consulting - Walter Akana - http://www.threshold-consulting.com/
Tim Ferriss - Tim Ferriss - http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog
Tom Peters! - Tom Peters - http://www.tompeters.com/
UWork Blog - Terry Del Percio - http://www.workintegrity.wordpress.com/
Water Cooler Wisdom - Alexandra Levit - http://alexandralevit.typepad.com/
Work Coach Cafe - Ronnie Ann Himmel - http://www.workcoachcafe.com/
Working Girl - Karen Burns - http://www.karenburnsworkinggirl.com/?page_id=688
Young and Successful - Jennifer Kushell - http://youngandsuccessful.com/
Marketing, Social Media & PR
The Buzz 101 - Maria Elena Duron - http://thebuzz101.blogspot.com/
Chris Brogan - Chris Brogran - http://www.chrisbrogan.com/
Debbie Weil - Debbie Weil - http://www.debbieweil.com/blog
Duct Tape Marketing - John Jantsh - http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog
Get Fresh Minds - Katie Konrath - http://www.getfreshminds.com/
Lindsay Olson - Lindsay Olson - http://lindsayolson.com/
New Sales Economy Blog - Chad A. Levitt - http://newsaleseconomy.com/
Personal PR - Tiffany Monhollon - http://tiffanymonhollon.com/blog
PR Sarah Evans - Sarah Evans - http://prsarahevans.com/
Resourceful Marketer - Monica O’Brien - http://www.monicaobrien.com/
Shoestring Branding - Mario Sanchez-Carrion - http://www.shoestringbranding.com/
Marketing Coach - Charles Brown - http://webmarketingcoach.blogspot.com/
Personal Branding & Entrepreneurship
Become a Young Successful Entrepreneur - Jun Loayza - http://www.junloayza.com/
Brand Camp University - Hajj Flemings - http://www.brandcamp.us/
The Branding Gavel - Yinka Olaito - http://yinkaolaito.com/
Brand You Image - Diana Jennings - http://www.dianajennings.com/
Brand Yourself - Pete Kistler - http://blog.brand-yourself.com/
Career Rocketeer - Chris Perry - http://www.careerrocketeer.com/
Empowering Young Entrepreneurs - Bradley Will - http://www.bradleywill.com/
The Engaging Brand Blog - Anna Farmery - http://theengagingbrand.typepad.com/
Executive Brand Coach - Phyllis Shabad - http://www.executivebrandcoach.com/
Executive PowerBrand - Deb Dib - http://www.executivepowerbrand.com/blog_index.html
Executive Resume Branding Blog - Meg Guiseppi - http://executiveresumebranding.com/
Hajj Flemings - Hajj Flemings - http://www.hajjflemings.com/blog
Mark Montoya - Mark Montoya - http://markmontoya.com/OnlinePersonalBrandingSpecialist/
Personal Branding Blog -Dan Schawbel - http://personalbrandingblog/
The Personal Branding Blog - Rob Cuesta - http://robcuesta.typepad.com/
The Personal Branding Blog - William Arruda - http://www.thepersonalbrandingblog.com/
Rachel Gogos - Rachel Gogos - http://www.rachelgogos.com/
The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur - Mike Michalowicz - http://www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com/blog/
Your Career By Design - Mary Rosenbaum - http://yourcareerbydesign.com/page/1

Trackback: http://www.careerrocketeer.com/2009/07/100-career-blogs-all-professionals-must.html

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Twitter Tips: How to Find Job Posts on Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:49:00 +0000

Phil Rosenberg interviewed by Chris Lynch of CIO, on Twitter job search strategies:

By C.G. Lynch, July 23, 2009 — CIO —

Many recruiters and some employers have begun posting job openings on Twitter. But knowing how to get what you want from Twitter's search tool, and sorting through hashtags (#) assigned to job posts, can be tricky. CIO.com spoke with career experts to get their take on how to find the jobs you want.

Although many companies have been shedding jobs, some employers and recruiters have turned to Twitter to post positions and find new talent.

But using Twitter to find new work isn't a straightforward process. Because people publish so frequently, it's easy to miss a lead in the process. Also, Twitter's search tool, while serviceable, sometimes makes it hard to narrow your job inquiries down to something specific.

We spoke with some career experts about how you can search wisely. In general, you must sieve through hashtags, a symbol (#) Twitter users assign to their tweets that sorts them into different categories (I wrote a CIO.com overview on Twitter hashtags a few months ago). We also learned about a few Twitter handles (Twitter user names) that post some helpful content if you're trying to land your next gig.

Twitter Job Hashtags

Twitter hashtags are indexed at hashtags.org, a gigantic and sometimes (ironically) overwhelming list of categories that users have created to help others sort through the noise on Twitter.

The Twitter tags most utilized by job seekers include #jobs, #job, #jobseeker, #career and #careers, says Phil Rosenberg (@philreCareered), president of reCareered, a career consultancy.

On Twitter, you can search for these hashtags by putting the symbol "#" in front of the phrase (for example: #jobs) when you type it into Twitter's search engine.

The search engine will return tweets that have been assigned the #jobs hashtag in real-time. The weakness to searching a hashtag alone: You will be forced to sieve through hundreds or thousands of jobs that might not interest you. Consequently, it might be tempting to visit Twitter's advanced search engine and type in the hashtag (#jobs) along with a keyword related to your expertise (say, "project manager").

But you should be careful about narrowing your search too much, says Rosenberg. The more specific you get with Twitter search, the less it returns. Because recruiters and employers must deal with the 140 character limit, they may omit a keyword in their tweet. In other words, if you search too specifically, you could miss some good posts, he says.

"It's really one of the challenges of Twitter," Rosenberg says. "Lets say the recruiter is posting a job for a 'network administrator,' but they typed in "network admin.' In that case, you might miss it."

Nobody agrees on the best hashtag for jobs, which is why so many exist. The Job Lounge blog has put together a helpful list of Twitter job-related hashtags. Other people have added to the post by commenting with more suggested hashtags .

Twitter Job Handles

In addition to hashtags, many career management organizations, experts and non-profits also keep Twitter pages that tweet new job postings. One such organization is Job Angels (@jobangels), a non-profit that asks people around the Web to "help one person find a job."

The organization will retweet messages sent by people looking for work, and the messages of employers and recruiters who have open positions. It also shares articles and best practices for getting hired, says Mark Cummuta (@TriumphCIO). Cummuta, who has written career columns for CIO.com, volunteers as CIO for Job Angels while he looks for a paid position as a CIO or IT director.

"We're focused on helping the job seeker," he says. "We want to help connect them with openings, but also provide them with information that is going to help in their search."

Other handles that list jobs include @hashjobs, @craigslistjobs, and @thejobsguy, to name just a few. If you search Twitter under the #jobs hashtag, you'll find that the Twitter handles are sometimes geographical or occupational in nature, such as @losangelesEdjob and @JobChicago.

Other handles that job seekers may want to follow don't necessarily just mention job postings. @WSJCareers posts articles and news about the job market that could help you in your search. Some career experts, such as @danschawbel, @CareerRocketeer , @crisjobcoach and @kirstendixson. And don't forget about CIO.com's career guru, Meridith Levinson (@meridith). (We don't profess to know them all, so please feel free to leave more suggestions in this article's comment section.)

Getting the "in" Using Twitter

While it's fine to follow job postings on Twitter, the most powerful aspect of the medium could be connecting with people who work for prospective employers, says Jason Alba, CEO of JibberJobber.com (@jasonalba). He suggests using the medium to find people who are employed at companies or organizations that you might want to work for in the future. Ideally, when a job arises, they might think of you.

"Think about three target companies, type them into Twitter's search tool, and you'll find people who are either talking about those companies or who actually might work for them," Alba says.

C.G. Lynch covers consumer web and social technologies for CIO.com. He writes frequently on Twitter, Facebook and Google. You can follow him on Twitter: @cglynch.

Reposted from: http://www.cio.com/article/497918/Twitter_Tips_How_to_Find_Job_Posts_on_Twitter

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Forget the "Shotgun" Method

noreply@blogger.com (Phil Rosenberg) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:31:00 +0000

I had a discussion with The BYU career and Employment Blog about why a focused job search is so much more effective than just playing the numbers.

Many people still use the "shotgun" method for conducting a job search. They read the Sunday job ads; they submit a standard resume to as many job boards as they can find; they call on a few friends. Then they submit their standard resume to either a handful of opportunities each week, or they submit to dozens of jobs with the same resume as long as the position sounds remotely interesting.

"As job seekers become more fearful of the economy, they fall back on the shotgun method because it feels like they're out there working it," says Phil Rosenberg, former division director of Robert Half International who's now CEO and founder of reCareered, a career counseling and resume writing firm.

The problem with the shotgun method is that it does not work, especially in a job market where employers have the pick of the litter. In fact, it does more harm than good. Recruiters are not likely to want to help you because you have given all potential hiring firms free access to your information, which negates the value they provide to their clients. Second, you commoditize yourself: By posting your resume everywhere, you become indistinguishable from a plethora of job seekers with similar skills. Consequently, hiring firms can immediately negotiate on price, driving your salary down or out. What's more, when you try to be all things to all prospective employers by sending a standard resume to everyone, you end up being nothing to no one. Your resume won't get noticed because it doesn't stand out.

Trackback: http://byucareer.blogspot.com/2009/07/forget-shotgun-job-search-method-many.html

Executives exploring Career Change: For a free 30 minute resume consultation, or career advice for executives, email your resume confidentially to reCareered (phil.reCareered@gmail.com), and we'll schedule a time to talk.

Staff, Managers, Entrepreneurs, and career changers outside the US: Send your resume to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".