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<generator>Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/</generator><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/emurse" /><feedburner:info uri="emurse" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><feedburner:emailServiceId>emurse</feedburner:emailServiceId><feedburner:feedburnerHostname>http://feedburner.google.com</feedburner:feedburnerHostname><item><title>Are Half-Day Fridays Good or Bad During a Recession?</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/OMgXiimGYIM/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/06/are-half-day-fridays-good-or-bad-during-a-recession/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/06/are-half-day-fridays-good-or-bad-during-a-recession/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/news/" rel="tag"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/455596"&gt;&lt;img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="left" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/08/455596softwaredevelopmentcentre.jpg" alt="Half Day Fridays at the Office" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;The tradition of checking out early on Friday afternoons, especially in the summer months, is still going strong in many offices, but &lt;a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/fashion/01noticed.html"&gt;it's a habit that has started to annoy some bosses&lt;/a&gt; as layoffs and cut-backs have left companies running leaner even while the recession makes business so much more competitive. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
But although early Fridays might not always be great for business they offer something valuable to staff: extra time off to recharge and the feeling that they're getting something back in exchange for all their hard work. But is the trade-off worth it? Some bosses are banning half-day Fridays in an effort to boost productivity while others are continuing to support the tradition for the very same reason. It's a conundrum with no easy answer.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
How do Fridays work at your office? Has anything changed due to the recession?&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/fashion/01noticed.html&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/06/are-half-day-fridays-good-or-bad-during-a-recession/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19583346/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/06/are-half-day-fridays-good-or-bad-during-a-recession/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/06/are-half-day-fridays-good-or-bad-during-a-recession/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/OMgXiimGYIM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>office</category><category>recession</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-08-06T07:55:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/06/are-half-day-fridays-good-or-bad-during-a-recession/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Quick Tips for Getting the Most out of LinkedIn</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/0p9T4RTo_aQ/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/04/quick-tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-linkedin/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/04/quick-tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-linkedin/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/career-advice/" rel="tag"&gt;Career Advice&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.linkedin.com/"&gt;&lt;img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="left" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/07/linkedinlogo1.jpg"  alt="Tips for Using LinkedIn" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Make sure your profile is 100% complete&lt;/strong&gt; Krista Canfield, a LinkedIn spokesperson, &lt;a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704913304575371202791043546.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_2"&gt;says&lt;/a&gt; that members with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to get offered new opportunities.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Build your connections&lt;/strong&gt; There are all kinds of opinions out there on how many connections are ideal but most seem to agree that 20-25 is the bare minimum. Why? It shows you use the service at least somewhat regularly and have moved beyond just your circle of close friends and immediate family.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Make sure you include a picture&lt;/strong&gt; It makes your profile more personable, shows that you're comfortable and confident with who you are, and there's really no good excuse not to have one if you're honestly trying to build relationships and trust.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Don't treat your profile like a resume or CV&lt;/strong&gt; but instead like an introduction of yourself, or even an advertisement. What do you do? How to do you help? What makes you special? Save your list of past positions and itemized experiences for your actual resume.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/04/quick-tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-linkedin/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19567997/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/04/quick-tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-linkedin/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/04/quick-tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-linkedin/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/0p9T4RTo_aQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>internet</category><category>linkedin</category><category>online</category><category>social networking</category><category>SocialNetworking</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-08-04T08:01:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/04/quick-tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-linkedin/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Job Training Disappoints as Employment Tool</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/wDxYuwZHosM/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/02/job-training-disappoints-as-employment-tool/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/02/job-training-disappoints-as-employment-tool/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/career-advice/" rel="tag"&gt;Career Advice&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1126740"&gt;&lt;img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="left" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/07/1126740studyingforatest2.jpg" alt="job training" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;"Training doesn't create jobs," is what Ross Eisenbrey, a job training expert at the Economic Policy Institute, says in response to the overwhelming number of workers who are still finding themselves stuck in an unemployment rut &lt;a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/business/19training.html?pagewanted=2&amp;amp;ref=jobs"&gt;even after going back and completing extra job training&lt;/a&gt;. Eisenbrey goes on to say "It's such an ugly problem that job training can't solve it."&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
All the training in the world can't land you a job that doesn't exist, but that doesn't mean job training is totally useless. The key is to do your research&lt;em&gt; before&lt;/em&gt; enrolling in a program so you're directing your efforts to where the jobs are. Health care and technology are usually safe bets but you can find out exactly which industries are doing the most hiring in your area and what kind of training will yield the best results by checking with local workforce development and job training programs. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
What experience have you had with job training, success or disappointment?&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/business/19training.html?pagewanted=1&amp;amp;ref=jobs&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/02/job-training-disappoints-as-employment-tool/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19574223/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/02/job-training-disappoints-as-employment-tool/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/02/job-training-disappoints-as-employment-tool/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/wDxYuwZHosM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>job market</category><category>job training</category><category>JobMarket</category><category>JobTraining</category><category>recession</category><category>training</category><category>unemployment</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-08-02T07:54:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/08/02/job-training-disappoints-as-employment-tool/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Wallstreet Cracks Down on Profanity (Poll)</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/hG5z3I339dM/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/30/wallstreet-cracks-down-on-profanity-poll/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/30/wallstreet-cracks-down-on-profanity-poll/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/news/" rel="tag"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="left" alt="Wall Street Swearing in Emails" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/07/swearbubble.jpg" /&gt;Goldman Sachs has issued a warning to its employees (all 34,000+ of them) that &lt;a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895004575395550672406796.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_2"&gt;swearing and profane language in company emails is not okay and will no longer be tolerated&lt;/a&gt;. The crackdown was prompted in part by one infamous email written by Thomas Montag in 2007 that was used as evidence in a Senate hearing and contained the sentence "[B]oy, that timberwo[l]f was one s- deal." That's hardly the only example of profanity in company communication, though, as swear words and vulgar language are surprisingly commonplace among Wall Street execs. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I knew they were amoral and greedy but I had no idea they were so unprofessional. Letting a swear word slip during a casual conversation with a colleague is one thing, but typing one out in an email? That's just immature.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Goldman Sachs has installed screening software to enforce the new "sanitized communications policy" and even naughty words spelled out using asterisks and other symbols will be off-limits. What are your thoughts on this issue, should it be okay to swear at work or not?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/30/wallstreet-cracks-down-on-profanity-poll/#poll50314"&gt;View Poll&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895004575395550672406796.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_2&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/30/wallstreet-cracks-down-on-profanity-poll/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19574175/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/30/wallstreet-cracks-down-on-profanity-poll/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/30/wallstreet-cracks-down-on-profanity-poll/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/hG5z3I339dM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>communication</category><category>email</category><category>profanity</category><category>swearing</category><category>wall street</category><category>WallStreet</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-07-30T07:45:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/30/wallstreet-cracks-down-on-profanity-poll/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Job Seekers Slack Off After Encouragement</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/M2Or_nDXb1U/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/28/job-seekers-slack-off-after-encouragement/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/28/job-seekers-slack-off-after-encouragement/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/job-hunting-tips/" rel="tag"&gt;Job Hunting Tips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1224537"&gt;&lt;img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="left" alt="Job Seekers Slack off after Encouragement" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/07/1224537couchpotato.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;What's more likely to cause a job-seeker to take a break from the search, a lack of progress or an encouraging interview? Apparently positive reinforcement doesn't serve to spur more action in the unemployed but less, as a study by the University of Minnesota found that &lt;a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/hire-education/2010/07/22/unemployed-people-take-a-day-off/?mod=rss_WSJBlog&amp;amp;mod=WSJ_hire_education"&gt;people actively looking for work are more likely to "take a day off"&lt;/a&gt; from the hunt the day after a good interview than the day after a bad one. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Surprised? Maybe not, as it's not a new idea that after an interview goes well the instinct is to wait and see what happens. But surprising or not, letting up on your job search after every encouraging experience will surely slow your progress.&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://blogs.wsj.com/hire-education/2010/07/22/unemployed-people-take-a-day-off/?mod=rss_WSJBlog&amp;amp;mod=WSJ_hire_education&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/28/job-seekers-slack-off-after-encouragement/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19568093/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/28/job-seekers-slack-off-after-encouragement/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/28/job-seekers-slack-off-after-encouragement/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/M2Or_nDXb1U" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>job hunting</category><category>job search</category><category>JobHunting</category><category>JobSearch</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-07-28T08:02:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/28/job-seekers-slack-off-after-encouragement/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>5 Online Habits That Can Hurt Your Career</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/M2c_jqtfgU4/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/26/5-online-habits-that-can-hurt-your-career/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/26/5-online-habits-that-can-hurt-your-career/#comments</comments><description>&lt;img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="left" alt="Common Internet Mistakes" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/07/1287062businessmanintheoffice2.jpg" /&gt;When it comes building a career the internet can be your best friend or your worst nightmare. Avoid &lt;a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704913304575371202791043546.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_2"&gt;these 5 mistakes&lt;/a&gt; and make sure it serves you for good, not evil.
&lt;ul&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Venting, inappropriate comments, and questionable photos&lt;/strong&gt; In one survey 79% of employers and job recruiters reported reviewing online information before hiring and of those 70% rejected applicants because of what they found. Before you post anything online consider that your boss or potential boss might read it.&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spreading yourself too thin &lt;/strong&gt;Although an active online presence can be a helpful tool, trying to be involved in everything everywhere will only water down your image and frustrate employers when they find nothing but stagnant, outdated, or incomplete profiles. Focus on a few choice sites and keep them up well.&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Failing to network&lt;/strong&gt; Why bother building an online presence if you're not going to use it? If you're in the hunt for a new job let people know -- many high paying jobs are never posted but are filled instead via word of mouth and referrals.&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Adding anyone and everyone as a contact&lt;/strong&gt; Quality beats quantity when it comes to who you associate with online and you never know how your contacts might be interpreted or utilized by others -- what if a potential employers reaches out to one of your contacts to inquire about you? Can you trust everyone on your list to give a positive and useful response?&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Doing too much online&lt;/strong&gt; Online networking is great but when it comes to building relationships and finding a job don't neglect the real world or you could miss out .&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704913304575371202791043546.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_2&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/26/5-online-habits-that-can-hurt-your-career/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19567962/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/26/5-online-habits-that-can-hurt-your-career/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/26/5-online-habits-that-can-hurt-your-career/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/M2c_jqtfgU4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>internet</category><category>online</category><category>online networking</category><category>OnlineNetworking</category><category>social networking</category><category>SocialNetworking</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-07-26T08:01:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/26/5-online-habits-that-can-hurt-your-career/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Resume Killers That Spell Check Won't Catch</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/GEANLDNTDRo/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/23/resume-killers-that-spell-check-wont-catch/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/23/resume-killers-that-spell-check-wont-catch/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/resume-help/" rel="tag"&gt;Resume Help&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1260787"&gt;&lt;img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="left" alt="Spell Check Proofreading Errors on Resume" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/07/126078rc7handonkeyboard.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;When it comes to getting a job your &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/tag/resume/"&gt;resume&lt;/a&gt; is your first (and usually only) chance to make a good first impression, plus many employers have so many qualified applicants they're ready to take any excuse to whittle the list. Make sure your resume isn't secretly making you look bad by proofreading it for &lt;a href="http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/10-common-errors-spell-check-won-t-catch-2039083/#poll-86A687227A3211DF922CE2CA55AE989C"&gt;these common spell check misses&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;They're vs Their vs There&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
They're = A contraction between "they" and "are" &lt;em&gt;"They're going out."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Their = Indicates possession (plural) &lt;em&gt;"Their shoes are wet."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
There = Refers to distance &lt;em&gt;"Go over there."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;It's vs Its&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
It's = A contraction between "it" and "is" &lt;em&gt;"It's hot outside."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Its = Indicates possession &lt;em&gt;"Floating across its surface."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Than vs Then&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Than = Refers to a comparison &lt;em&gt;"I'm taller than you."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Then = Used to indicate a subsequent event &lt;em&gt;"I went then you went."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;You're vs Your&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
You're = A contraction between "You" and "are" &lt;em&gt;"You're forgetting something."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Your = Indicates possession &lt;em&gt;"Your memory is poor."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Affect vs Effect&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Affect = A verb &lt;em&gt;"It affected everyone."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Effect = A noun&lt;em&gt; "It had a serious effect."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Even if you already know what all these words mean and how they're different you could still easily use the wrong one in a sentence if you're distracted or trying to multitask (and when is that &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; the case?). It's more than worth your time to give your resume a second, third, or even a fourth read-through just to be sure.&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/10-common-errors-spell-check-won-t-catch-2039083/#poll-86A687227A3211DF922CE2CA55AE989C&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/23/resume-killers-that-spell-check-wont-catch/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19563490/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/23/resume-killers-that-spell-check-wont-catch/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/23/resume-killers-that-spell-check-wont-catch/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/GEANLDNTDRo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>proofreading</category><category>resume</category><category>spell check</category><category>SpellCheck</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-07-23T06:34:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/07/23/resume-killers-that-spell-check-wont-catch/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>What to Wear to Get Hired (Women)</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/BsVsgQmTx_8/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/28/what-to-wear-to-get-hired-women/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/28/what-to-wear-to-get-hired-women/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/interviewing/" rel="tag"&gt;Interviewing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1124721"&gt;&lt;img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="left" alt="Dressing to Get Hired" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/06/1124721wehaveadeal.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;When it comes to acing an interview &lt;a href="http://www.totalbeauty.com/content/gallery/job-interview-look"&gt;dressing the part&lt;/a&gt; is no joke, especially in today's competitive job market.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Wardrobe&lt;/strong&gt; Keep it classic and a little serious to convey that you mean business. Traditional colors like black, gray, and navy work well and always err on the conservative side when it comes to skirt length, neckline, etc. Also be sure to cover any tattoos or piercings.&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Accessories&lt;/strong&gt; Add personality to your look with a few well chosen accessories. A signature piece that's cute but not over-the-top, like a unique necklace or thin beaded headband, can help set you apart from the crowd -- but keep the rest of your accessories simple, flattering, and &lt;em&gt;sparse&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Hair&lt;/strong&gt; Choose a style that's flattering and simple. You want to look sleek and pulled together but not necessarily sexy. Also twirling, flipping, or otherwise fidgeting with your hair during an interview can make you look unprofessional and insecure, so if you tend to play with your hair when nervous consider pulling it into a stylish low ponytail.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Makeup&lt;/strong&gt; Again, keep it simple. Avoid dark lipstick, eye liner, and mascara and opt instead for subtle neutrals that enhance your features and give you a healthy, energetic glow.&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://www.totalbeauty.com/content/gallery/job-interview-look/p58132/page11&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/28/what-to-wear-to-get-hired-women/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19530702/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/28/what-to-wear-to-get-hired-women/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/28/what-to-wear-to-get-hired-women/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/BsVsgQmTx_8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>dress code</category><category>DressCode</category><category>interview</category><category>interviewing</category><category>job interview</category><category>JobInterview</category><category>wardrobe</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-06-28T07:02:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/28/what-to-wear-to-get-hired-women/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>3 Low-Stress Careers That Pay Well</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/jmASkQf3d4Y/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/15/3-low-stress-careers-that-pay-well/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/15/3-low-stress-careers-that-pay-well/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/career-spotlights/" rel="tag"&gt;Career Spotlights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/882274"&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="0" align="left" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/05/882274physicaltherapy.jpg" alt="Physicla Therapy Low Stress High Pay Career" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Despite stereotypes, making money doesn't have to mean dealing with loads of stress. If you're in the market for a new career path here are three that &lt;a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109521/5-high-paying-low-stress-jobs?mod=career-worklife_balance"&gt;pay well while providing relatively low-stress&lt;/a&gt; environments.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Physical Therapy&lt;/strong&gt; PTs are rarely out of work thanks to being part of the ever-busy medical field, enjoy flexible schedules, and aren't expected to work overnights like nurses and doctors. Plus they can make as much as $50,000-$105,000/year.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Computer Software&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Engineering&lt;/strong&gt; Software engineers design and test various computer programs and games. Because their work can be done from anywhere there's a computer they often work from home and can make upwards of $100,000 per year.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;Technical Writer&lt;/strong&gt; As technology takes over the world the need for people who can translate all the high-tech mumbo jumbo into something understandable is growing faster than ever. Technology writers enjoy plenty of work and, like software engineers, the ability to work from their location of choice while earning up to $100,000 a year. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109521/5-high-paying-low-stress-jobs?mod=career-worklife_balance&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/15/3-low-stress-careers-that-pay-well/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19486029/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/15/3-low-stress-careers-that-pay-well/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/15/3-low-stress-careers-that-pay-well/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/jmASkQf3d4Y" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>careers</category><category>salaries</category><category>stress</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-06-15T06:01:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/15/3-low-stress-careers-that-pay-well/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Business is Better, So Why Are People Quitting in Record Numbers?</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/4xS-UH1CShw/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/11/business-is-better-so-why-are-people-quitting-in-record-numbers/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/11/business-is-better-so-why-are-people-quitting-in-record-numbers/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/news/" rel="tag"&gt;News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1239218/?forcedownload=1"&gt;&lt;img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="left" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/06/123921878194267.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;In February of this year &lt;a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109636/more-workers-start-to-quit?mod=career-worklife_balance"&gt;the number of people who voluntarily quit their jobs outnumbered those who got fired or layed off&lt;/a&gt; for the first time in 15 months, marking the end of the longest streak since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking ten years ago. So why the sudden switch? Experts cite two causes: first the turn-over that naturally happens when people move on to explore new opportunities and further their careers was put on hold due to the recession, and second the lay-offs and penny-pinching measures that many companies adopted during the recession has caused low morale and high job dissatisfaction. Basically the recession caused a backlog of dissatisfied, unhappy employees waiting for the even the slightest improvement in the market to signal it's okay to finally strike out and try something new. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It's a trend that will likely continue as confidence builds and people feel they have options -- in a strange twist of logic the more business improves the more people will be quitting their jobs.&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109636/more-workers-start-to-quit?mod=career-worklife_balance&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/11/business-is-better-so-why-are-people-quitting-in-record-numbers/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19504459/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/11/business-is-better-so-why-are-people-quitting-in-record-numbers/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/11/business-is-better-so-why-are-people-quitting-in-record-numbers/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/4xS-UH1CShw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>employment</category><category>quit</category><category>quitting</category><category>recession</category><category>unemployment</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-06-11T07:03:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/11/business-is-better-so-why-are-people-quitting-in-record-numbers/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>7 Reasons You're Not Getting Hired</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/kePUaMa-CA0/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/08/7-reasons-youre-not-getting-hired/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/08/7-reasons-youre-not-getting-hired/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/job-hunting-tips/" rel="tag"&gt;Job Hunting Tips&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/interviewing/" rel="tag"&gt;Interviewing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1065245"&gt;&lt;img vspace="4" hspace="4" border="0" align="left" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/05/1065245handshake.jpg" alt="Reasons You're Not Getting HIred" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;You're dressing appropriately, showing up ten minutes early, and have a stellar resume but if you're still having trouble making the jump from interview to job offer you might be making one of &lt;a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/7-LittleKnown-Reasons-Youre-usnews-863973864.html?x=0"&gt;these common mistakes&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
* You have unrealistic expectations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;* You're only using one search method&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;* You use the word "I" too often&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;* You're not showing long term potential&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;* You're unrehearsed&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;* You're repeating the same mistakes&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;* You keep putting your search on hold&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
When the job market is as competitive as it is right now you really have to have all your ducks in a row in order to make the cut. Maximize your search efforts by utilizing every source possible (networking, employment agencies, internet, etc) and by not letting up just because you got an interview. Make sure you do your research and can put the focus on them (not you) in your cover letter and interview as well as express where you're going and how you'll be a benefit in the future as well as today. Rehearse answers to common questions (so you don't stumble or leave out important facts) and when it doesn't go well mentally review so you can do things differently next time. And finally: reassess your expectations. Are you really being realistic in what you're looking/asking for?&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://finance.yahoo.com/news/7-LittleKnown-Reasons-Youre-usnews-863973864.html?x=0&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/08/7-reasons-youre-not-getting-hired/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19486002/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/08/7-reasons-youre-not-getting-hired/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/08/7-reasons-youre-not-getting-hired/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/kePUaMa-CA0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>interview</category><category>job search</category><category>JobSearch</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-06-08T10:02:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/06/08/7-reasons-youre-not-getting-hired/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>3 Things You Don't Need on Your Resume</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/csJyOZ6QfRk/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/30/resume-what-not-to-do/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/30/resume-what-not-to-do/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/resume-help/" rel="tag"&gt;Resume Help&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/81125"&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" border="0" align="left" vspace="4" alt="resume" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/04/81125resume2.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;No two employees are the same, but a growing number of resumes are. That's because everybody is trying to send the same message: &lt;em&gt;I'd be perfect for this job&lt;/em&gt;. While it's important to communicate your winning personality, knowledge base, and skill set, you should do so without drowning the reader in unnecessary and redundant details. Here are &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/5-ways-to-make-your-resume-sink-faster-than-the-titanic/"&gt;a few examples of things you don't need to say&lt;/a&gt; and should remove from your resume asap.&lt;strong&gt;"Objective"&lt;/strong&gt; Stating your objective is a staple section on many resumes but in most cases it's totally unnecessary -- obviously your objective is to get a job at that company. There are some exceptions, for example if you feel your goal is unclear (i.e. you want to change industries or are applying for a job for which you have no experience).&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
"I was high school valedictorian"&lt;/strong&gt; The fact that you were valedictorian or had a perfect GPA has nothing to do with anything once you're older than about 18. Leave it out and use the space for more relevant information.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;"I'm proficient at Word and Excel"&lt;/strong&gt; or any other equipment or technology that is essential to the job. These days being computer literate and competent in common programs, equipment, and other technology found in the workplace (depending on the industry and type of job) is somewhat of a given. Only mention it in circumstances where you specifically deem it necessary.&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/30/resume-what-not-to-do/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19445823/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/30/resume-what-not-to-do/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/30/resume-what-not-to-do/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/csJyOZ6QfRk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>job search</category><category>JobSearch</category><category>resume</category><category>resume rescue</category><category>ResumeRescue</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-04-30T10:07:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/30/resume-what-not-to-do/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>The Dangers of Overconfidence</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/6AOazair3Pc/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/14/overconfidence-in-job-hunt/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/14/overconfidence-in-job-hunt/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/career-advice/" rel="tag"&gt;Career Advice&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" style="float: left;" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/04/business-woman-stilettos-200lm012610.jpg" alt="" /&gt;When you're looking for a job you never know how long it's going to take. It's not like golf when you can tell whether the hole you're playing is a par 3 or a par 5. At any given point in the game, a golfer can see exactly how far the flag is and what terrain lies in between, and he can make adjustments to his swing, the club he uses, and how he follows through. Even then, however, the ball doesn't always land exactly where he wants it to.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A job seeker scoping out the current employment terrain, where the &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm"&gt;average duration of unemployment&lt;/a&gt; is now at 32 weeks vs. 21 weeks a year ago, should be prepared for a long haul. Yet many job seekers I know are overly optimistic early in the process that they'll beat the average. I was floored, for example, when a friend of mine said he was getting help from just a couple of close contacts instead of going all out on his job search campaign.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Studies show that when &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/200904/delusions-grandeur-i-overconfidence-effort-and-perception"&gt;forecasting their own futures&lt;/a&gt;, people often tend to overestimate how likely it is that a positive event will occur, and to underestimate how likely it is that a negative event will occur. I suppose that expIains my friend's optimism.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Optimism is a good thing, but don't let it affect your efforts and keep you from pulling out all the stops during your search. You wouldn't want to miss out on that perfect job opportunity simply because one of your contacts didn't know that you were in the market and ended up recommending somebody else.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Because you really don't know how long your search could take, you should be prepared to take more swings than you feel you need to. Don't limit yourself to just a few strategies, relying only on job boards, or job fairs, or a small number of face-to-face meetings, for example.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Don't stop looking even when you have interviews lined up, because maybe you won't get past the first round, or you won't get an acceptable offer, or there won't be a good cultural fit.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A lot can happen on the way to landing your next position. Being mentally prepared to play long will generate more options for you and give you something to celebrate if you do beat the average.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/liz-lynch/"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/liz-lynch/"&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" alt="Liz Lynch" style="float: left;" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/03/liz-lynch100.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/liz-lynch/"&gt;Liz Lynch&lt;/a&gt; is author of &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.smartnetworkingbook.com/"&gt;Smart Networking: Attract a Following In Person and Online&lt;/a&gt;, founder of &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.smartnetworking.com/"&gt;http://www.SmartNetworking.com&lt;/a&gt;, and co-creator of the &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.networkingexcellence.com/jobsearch"&gt;Job Search Marketing Blueprint system&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/14/overconfidence-in-job-hunt/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19439841/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/14/overconfidence-in-job-hunt/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/14/overconfidence-in-job-hunt/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/6AOazair3Pc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>job search</category><category>JobSearch</category><category>overconfidence</category><dc:creator>Liz Lynch</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-04-14T07:18:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/14/overconfidence-in-job-hunt/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>What is Your Greatest Skill or Talent?</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/XFYgyZUTXYw/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/13/greatest-skill-or-talent/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/13/greatest-skill-or-talent/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" style="float: left;" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/04/body-language-hands.jpg" alt="" /&gt;I was recently asked about a specific question that gets brought up during interviews and how to best answer this question:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;div&gt;Stephen,&lt;br /&gt;
I have been bitten several times on this interview question, usually on phone interviews where you have fifteen minutes or less to try to decide what's the best answer. You answer the question and you can hear through the silence over the receiver - "No . . . that isn't it." &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
How do you answer the question: &lt;br /&gt;
"What's your greatest talent?" &lt;br /&gt;
"What do you do best?" &lt;br /&gt;
"What's your best skill?"&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;This is a great open-ended question that will allow the client to see how you view yourself. In many cases, the person asking the question is not just looking for 'what' you answer, but also 'how' you answer. For example, if you hesitate and stumble and cannot come up with an answer, perhaps you are not ready for a 'leadership' position. If you spend the next 30 minutes talking about how great you are, the client may decide there is not enough room for your ego on their team. If your response is direct, honest, and delivered in a respectful tone, the client will probably walk away with the feeling that you are confident in your abilities, are level-headed and that you will bring that sort of attitude with you into the workplace. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
It's all about the presentation, but I must also caution you to make the answer relevant to the position. I would not assume to know what the 'right' answer would be, but I would hope that you respond in terms related to the position and not something completely unrelated to work, the position, etc. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
In my interviewing experience, the worst thing you can do when asked that question is to dance around trying to figure out what the recruiter wants to hear. I've had candidates who thrash wildly, trying to get a take on what I'm after. What they don't understand is that I have a pretty good poker face and I intentionally won't give them a clue of what the proverbial "right" answer might be. So, like a kid trying to figure out what excuse their mom will accept for bad behavior, the candidate offers up one thing after another, fishing for the right answer. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
I genuinely want to hear the honest answer. Unfortunately, when candidates "thrash" around offering one answer after another they come off as insincere, and as if, for heaven's sake, they have no idea what they're good at. So, again, honesty is the best policy. Simply state what you think your best skill is and amplify on that if you're allowed. The best thing to do is to think about how to answer this question before the interview. Don't write down a response, but maybe jot a crib note or two so that if you're phone screened and start to freeze up, you can refer to your notes, then talk your way through the information. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
By the way, if you're wondering in what context the recruiter is speaking... management? teamwork? client contact?, you can always ask, "best skill in what sense?" Then take it from there. I'm sure you have strong skills that you can address in all of these areas.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Finally, if you don't have a skill the recruiter is interested in, are you sure you're applying for the right position? If your skills don't match the recruiter's requirement, no matter how hard you try, you just won't fit.&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/13/greatest-skill-or-talent/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19429818/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/13/greatest-skill-or-talent/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/13/greatest-skill-or-talent/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/XFYgyZUTXYw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>interview questions</category><category>what do you do best</category><category>what is your greatest talent</category><dc:creator>Stephen Lytle</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-04-13T09:41:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/13/greatest-skill-or-talent/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Most Job Postings Get a Failing Grade</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/SwtHxsX4ofg/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/12/job-postings-get-a-failing-grade/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/12/job-postings-get-a-failing-grade/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/job-hunting-tips/" rel="tag"&gt;Job Hunting Tips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/04/work-from-home-7.jpg" alt="" style="float: left;" /&gt;&lt;a href="http://thehiringsite.careerbuilder.com/2010/01/19/not-applicable-5-reasons-you%E2%80%99re-not-getting-the-candidates-you-need/" target="_blank"&gt;CareerBuilder&lt;/a&gt; internal data suggests that 34% of candidates that try to apply for a job don't because the application process is too much of a hassle. 24% report the "apply now" link is broken and 21% report that the long application process isn't worth their time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My clients tell me unbelievable stories about how difficult some companies make the online posting process. It seems like a lot of great candidates are getting away because they can't be bothered with most company's poorly worded job postings and frustrating posting processes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Job seekers are not just job seekers. They are also past, current, or potential customers and even evangelists for a company brand they believe in. Doesn't it make sense to do a better job of engaging job seekers? Check out the &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.careerxroads.com/news/files/MysteryJobSeekerReport2008.pdf"&gt;CareerXRoads Mystery Job Seeker Report&lt;/a&gt; to see what really happens when job seekers try to apply to some of America's top companies.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://jobs.aol.com/articles/bloggers/barbara-safani/"&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" alt="Barbara Safani" style="float: left;" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/03/barbara-safani100.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://jobs.aol.com/articles/bloggers/barbara-safani/"&gt;Barbara Safani&lt;/a&gt; is the owner of Career Solvers, &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.careersolvers.com/"&gt;www.careersolvers.com&lt;/a&gt;, and author of &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://happyabout.info/myresume.php"&gt;Happy About My Resume: 50 Tips For Building a Better Document to Secure a Brighter Future&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://happyabout.info/jobsearchtweet01.php"&gt;#JOBSEARCHtweet&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/12/job-postings-get-a-failing-grade/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19436279/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/12/job-postings-get-a-failing-grade/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/12/job-postings-get-a-failing-grade/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/SwtHxsX4ofg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>CareerBuilder</category><category>job postings</category><category>JobPostings</category><dc:creator>Barbara Safani</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-04-12T10:54:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/12/job-postings-get-a-failing-grade/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>Do Values Have Value in Your Job Selection?</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/QOFuIPvBa4k/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/11/values-in-job-selection/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/11/values-in-job-selection/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/job-hunting-tips/" rel="tag"&gt;Job Hunting Tips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/04/woman-office-pensive-200lmgetty-images.jpg" style="float: left;" /&gt;There are many values that guide our decisions and direction in our personal lives. Some of us are strong proponents of eco-friendly products. Some of us insist on buying American-made products. Others will not associate with companies who have certain political connections. The myriad of values can be a direct path to the type of companies we'd like to work for, but also can create roadblocks to others.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I once had a candidate tell me she could only work for companies who donate money to a particular type of charity. However, when push came to shove, this turned out to be a "want" and not a "need" in her decision-making process.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;How do values play a role in job selection for you in this economy? Do you sacrifice your personal convictions for the sake of landing a good job or do you stand your ground? Here are a few questions to share your views on "The Role of Values in the Job Search."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;iframe height="350" frameborder="0" width="500" scrolling="no" allowtransperancy="true" src="http://webcenter.polls.aol.com/poll?view=185197&amp;amp;pollId=185489&amp;amp;channel=aol_us_commerce"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/jeff-lipschultz/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/jeff-lipschultz/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/03/jeff-lipschultz100.jpg" style="float: left;" alt="Jeff Lipschultz" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/jeff-lipschultz/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jeff Lipschultz&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt; is a founding partner of A-List Solutions, a premier recruiting firm in Dallas-Fort Worth. Jeff shares his views on employment trends and quirky observations of society at &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="http://jefflipschultz.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;em&gt;jefflipschultz.wordpress.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/11/values-in-job-selection/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19432038/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/11/values-in-job-selection/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/11/values-in-job-selection/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/QOFuIPvBa4k" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>job search</category><category>JobSearch</category><category>policies</category><category>values</category><category>workplace</category><dc:creator>Jeff Lipschultz</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-04-11T05:21:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/11/values-in-job-selection/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>How to Cold-Contact a Recruiter</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/SlvPyZUmQ8g/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/09/cold-contact-a-recruiter/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/09/cold-contact-a-recruiter/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/job-hunting-tips/" rel="tag"&gt;Job Hunting Tips&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" alt="recruiter" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/04/boomer-2.jpg" style="float: left;" /&gt;A few weeks ago I wrote a post titled &lt;a href="http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/2010/03/17/wrong-question-do-you-know-a-recruiter-who-specializes-in/" target="_blank"&gt;WRONG QUESTION: "Do you know a recruiter who specializes in..."&lt;/a&gt; I have heard this question since I started &lt;a href="http://www.JibberJobber.com" target="_blank"&gt;my company&lt;/a&gt;, almost four years ago, and it really bugs me. It *might* be a good question to ask IF you know what to do when you make contact with the recruiter, but from what I've seen, most people don't know what to do when they make contact!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In that post I told you to "NETWORK" with the recruiter. In this post I'll take it to the next level and give you some ideas on how to network with them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Don't send a resume right away.&lt;/strong&gt; The worst thing to do to a recruiter is to become a number. You do that by sending a cover letter and resume, with no other context. Some recruiters get hundreds of emails each day like this... wouldn't it be better if you had some other message for them? Send a resume later, when the time is right, but don't become just one more resume to them. If they ask for it upfront, without wanting to learn more about you, they might have already put you in the "needy, helpless job seeker" bucket.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Establish context.&lt;/strong&gt; When you message them, let them know how you found them, who you are, and why a relationship could be mutually beneficial (I wouldn't use the phrase "mutually beneficial" in the email as it might sound like you are pitching a relationship with them). Come from a peer, professional position, not a "I need you to solve my income problem" position.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Offer to help.&lt;/strong&gt; Recruiters make money when they fill jobs for their client (which is the company that hired them, NOT you). You can help them by introducing them to people who are right for those jobs. When you become a "power connector" (if you haven't heard that term, read &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://shopping.aol.com/never-eat-alone/isbn-9780385512053"&gt;Never Eat Alone&lt;/a&gt;) for a recruiter you are immediately put into a different category, and you become more memorable. If you help a recruiter actually place someone, you might be able to call in a favor and have the recruiter help you in a way she wouldn't have helped other job seekers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Follow-up with continual offers to help.&lt;/strong&gt; Don't let the offer be empty, and don't fall off the radar. One question I've asked is "do you have any openings that I might help you with right now? I know a bunch of people in Houston (or in &lt;a href="http://aol.careerbuilder.com/jobs/keyword/project+management?siteid=cbaol95em"&gt;Project Management&lt;/a&gt;, or supply chain, or aviation, etc.) who might be the perfect match for an opening you have." Or, "do you have any hard-to-fill positions you are working on? I might have someone in my network that you should talk to."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Be brandable.&lt;/strong&gt; Aside from being a nice person who is willing to help her, let the recruiter know what your specialty and professional passions are. Your email signature should remind her of your brand every time she reads an email from you. Love big technology systems? Love working with people? Love to solve problems at the strategic level? Your email signature can communicate that, and your recruiter contacts should have a clear understanding of what you want to do and know that you are currently looking for a better opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Lastly, remember that recruiters are people too. They aren't out to get, harm or offend you. They have a job to do and many are overwhelmed with the amount of information that is coming at them. Help a recruiter do their job and try to develop a genuine relationship. Once you get that, you are free to ask your contacts if they "know any recruiters in...."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/jason-alba/"&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" border="1" vspace="4" style="float: left;" alt="Jason Alba" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/03/jason-alba100.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/jason-alba/"&gt;Jason Alba&lt;/a&gt; loves career management, only because when he got canned he had done nothing to prepare for it. Now he runs &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.jibberjobber.com/"&gt;JibberJobber.com&lt;/a&gt;, a website that helps job seekers organize their job search online. He also authored the book &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.imonlinkedinnowwhat.com/"&gt;I'm on LinkedIn -- Now What???&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/09/cold-contact-a-recruiter/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19431746/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/09/cold-contact-a-recruiter/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/09/cold-contact-a-recruiter/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/SlvPyZUmQ8g" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>career</category><category>job search</category><category>jobs</category><category>JobSearch</category><category>network</category><category>recruiting</category><category>recruitment</category><category>resume</category><dc:creator>Jason Alba</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-04-09T06:29:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/09/cold-contact-a-recruiter/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>When You Have to Say No, Say It Quickly</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/WWKJTTEWt4s/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/08/turning-down-an-offer/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/08/turning-down-an-offer/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/job-hunting-tips/" rel="tag"&gt;Job Hunting Tips&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/interviewing/" rel="tag"&gt;Interviewing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" style="float: left;" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/04/person-on-phone-sick-200nm-020110.jpg" alt="" /&gt;A close contact of mine was hiring for a position in his department at a Fortune 500 firm. He had spent a great deal of time wooing one candidate in particular who initially wasn't sure he wanted to leave his current job or relocate his family but said he might do so for the right opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After passing several rounds of interviews, it became clear he was the front runner. But the candidate kept asking for more time to make the decision, stalling with more questions, and asking for more in his compensation package, with my contact doing everything he could to accommodate.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Finally, one Friday the candidate said, "All right, I'm there, just send me the offer letter confirming what we talked about." My contact worked with his human resource department Friday afternoon to get the offer letter out. But on Monday the candidate called to decline saying his wife didn't want to move after all.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The process had been going on for several months, obviously the possibility of moving had been discussed. "Why was it not an issue on Friday and suddenly it was on Monday?" my contact wondered.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Companies rescind offers, candidates have changes of heart, it happens. But both sides should be prepared to live with the consequences. You know the old saying that a happy customer might tell one person about their experience, but an unhappy customer might tell ten people?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you can look back at how you handled yourself and assess your actions and behaviors, ask yourself if you were respectful, honest and open with the other party. And if it doesn't look like it's going to work out, speak up sooner rather than later. The world is a lot smaller than you think and the person you mess with today could be someone you might need in the future.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/liz-lynch/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/liz-lynch/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/03/liz-lynch100.jpg" style="float: left;" alt="Liz Lynch" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/liz-lynch/" target="_blank"&gt;Liz Lynch&lt;/a&gt; is author of &lt;a href="http://www.smartnetworkingbook.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Smart Networking: Attract a Following In Person and Online&lt;/a&gt;, founder of &lt;a href="http://www.smartnetworking.com/" target="_blank"&gt;http://www.SmartNetworking.com&lt;/a&gt;, and co-creator of the &lt;a href="http://www.networkingexcellence.com/jobsearch" target="_blank"&gt;Job Search Marketing Blueprint system&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/08/turning-down-an-offer/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19427218/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/08/turning-down-an-offer/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/08/turning-down-an-offer/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/WWKJTTEWt4s" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>rejecting an offer</category><category>RejectingAnOffer</category><category>turning down an offer</category><category>TurningDownAnOffer</category><dc:creator>Liz Lynch</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-04-08T05:38:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/08/turning-down-an-offer/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>How to Handle Criticism</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/h7arVKAo_z8/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/how-to-handle-criticism/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/how-to-handle-criticism/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/career-advice/" rel="tag"&gt;Career Advice&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.sxc.hu/photo/653050/?forcedownload=1"&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="0" align="left" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/blog.emurse.com/media/2010/03/653050_20098057.jpg" alt="how to take criticism" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;It's bound to happen eventually, no matter how good you are at your job: somebody is going to criticize they way you do things. The way you react to that criticism, and others like it, can have a real impact on your career. Here are few &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://workawesome.com/your-job/how-to-handle-criticism-at-work/"&gt;tips for taking criticism &lt;/a&gt;and making the best of it.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Listen&lt;/strong&gt; to what they're saying, without getting defensive or trying to explain yourself. Even if they're just whining or complaining, arguing won't help the situation. Like with any conversation, let them say their piece without interruption.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Consider&lt;/strong&gt; what they're saying, without getting caught up in the blame game. No matter if you were taught a certain way or if you think they have faulty motives, think about what would happen if you did things the way they suggest -- would your results be different?&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Discuss&lt;/strong&gt; the benefits and the challenges, after you've listened and spent time considering it. Talk about how it would play out, and who would be responsible for all the different aspects, as well as how the end result would be different than it is now. Also discuss when the change could be implemented and what the consequences would be if the idea isn't implemented.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Measure&lt;/strong&gt; the results, if you do decide to make a change. Whether it works or not, you want to be able to show the how and the why. Either way you get credit for being a team player, willing to listen to others and make adjustments when indicated.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=http://workawesome.com/your-job/how-to-handle-criticism-at-work/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Workawesome+%28WorkAwesome%29&amp;amp;utm_content=Bloglines&gt;Read&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/how-to-handle-criticism/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19415180/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/how-to-handle-criticism/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/how-to-handle-criticism/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/h7arVKAo_z8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>criticism</category><category>how to</category><category>HowTo</category><dc:creator>Rigel Celeste</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-04-06T05:51:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/how-to-handle-criticism/</feedburner:origLink></item><item><title>What's Missing from Your Job Search Toolkit?</title><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/emurse/~3/16aWF2KUNF4/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/job-search-toolkit/</guid><comments>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/job-search-toolkit/#comments</comments><description>&lt;p&gt;Filed under: &lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/category/career-advice/" rel="tag"&gt;Career Advice&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" style="float: left;" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/04/tool-box-200lvg022410.jpg" alt="toolbox" /&gt;To find a job these days requires not just meeting the requirements of the job posting but also marketing yourself effectively on paper and in person. What people perceive in the first few seconds of glancing at your resume, speaking with you at a networking event, or looking into your eyes at a job interview can make a huge difference.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Are you doing all you can to maximize your chances, or are some essential ingredients missing from your toolkit?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Passion&lt;/strong&gt;. A recruiter friend told me that an informal survey of his colleagues revealed that less than 5% of job candidates show any enthusiasm for the job they're interviewing for during the hiring process. I understand that some job seekers might feel beaten down after a long stint of unemployment, but in such a competitive environment, you need to do whatever it takes to show that you're excited about the opportunity, especially once you get in front of a live person such as in an interview.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pitch&lt;/strong&gt;. How does what you've done position you perfectly for the position you're applying for and where do you see this taking you in the future? To get people interested in you, you need to craft a compelling story that you can tell in networking situations, informational interviews and real interviews. Stories, as opposed to a dry telling of the facts, engage people and help make you more memorable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Performance&lt;/strong&gt;. Hiring managers want to hear about results and perhaps those aren't coming to life clearly enough in your &lt;a href="http://www.emurse.com/"&gt;resume&lt;/a&gt;. Rework your bullet points to focus less on describing the tasks that you did (e.g., managed budgeting and forecasting process) and more on what you helped achieved (e.g., uncovered $250,000 of annual cost savings through rigorous budgeting and forecasting).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;People&lt;/strong&gt;. Have you been leveraging your network effectively to gather research on your target companies and get introductions? The wrong way is to send a mass email to all of your contacts with your resume attached. The right way is to contact individuals in your network with specific and relevant requests for help. "Let me know if you hear of anything" is not as helpful as saying, "Can I speak with you on the phone for 10 minutes to get your insight on Company XYZ?"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2010-03-09-job-openings_N.htm"&gt;more than 5 job seekers for every open position&lt;/a&gt;, every extra effort you make can place you miles ahead of the competition and dramatically reduce your time in the unemployment line.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/liz-lynch/"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="border-style: none none solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-width: medium medium 1pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/liz-lynch/"&gt;&lt;img hspace="4" vspace="4" border="1" alt="Liz Lynch" style="float: left;" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/jobs.aol.com/articles/media/2010/03/liz-lynch100.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="http://blog.emurse.com/bloggers/liz-lynch/"&gt;Liz Lynch&lt;/a&gt; is author of &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.smartnetworkingbook.com/"&gt;Smart Networking: Attract a Following In Person and Online&lt;/a&gt;, founder of &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.smartnetworking.com/"&gt;http://www.SmartNetworking.com&lt;/a&gt;, and co-creator of the &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.networkingexcellence.com/jobsearch"&gt;Job Search Marketing Blueprint system&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/job-search-toolkit/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"&gt;Permalink&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/forward/19427158/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"&gt;Email this&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&amp;amp;fc=1&amp;amp;url=http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/job-search-toolkit/" title="Linking Blogs"&gt;Linking&amp;nbsp;Blogs&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;|&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/job-search-toolkit/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"&gt;Comments&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/emurse/~4/16aWF2KUNF4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><category>job search</category><category>JobSearch</category><category>toolkit</category><dc:creator>Liz Lynch</dc:creator><dc:date>2010-04-06T04:28:00+00:00</dc:date><feedburner:origLink>http://blog.emurse.com/2010/04/06/job-search-toolkit/</feedburner:origLink></item></channel></rss>

