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5 reasons to work as a consultant during your job hunt

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:47:56 GMT

Today your unemployment could last a lot longer then in years past, so consulting during your job search can help you in many ways. Below are a few reasons to work as a consultant during you job search and the benefits you can get from doing it.

1. You can make some income to help compensate for your dwindling bank account. If you’re digging into your savings with no income coming in, consulting can help ease your financial fears.

2. Employers can see a long job search as unproductive down time. This will bring the question you dread hearing during a job interview: “What have you been doing for the last three months while not working?”

3. Get a consulting project with a company you would love to work for. This will help you assess the company culture, environment and the team before committing to a full-time role. You will also have set the stage to get a job offer if you do a great job.

4. You can’t just sit at home all day looking at job boards, so consulting is one way to stay engaged in a business environment. Consulting can also help you keep your skills sharp and potentially allow you to attain a full-time position after the engagement.

5. Consulting is a great way to network and to keep you in the world of the working. You can hear about “hidden” jobs. Make sure the person you report to while consulting knows that you are looking for full-time role. Ask them if they could refer you to others in their network that may be in need of your skills.
You may not want to find a full-time job once you realize that you have more freedom from consulting, along with how financially rewarding it can be.

Teens start summer job search early in tight job market

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:19:39 GMT

Though Colorado remains in the depths of winter, many young people are turning their attention to summer jobs. But a stubbornly tight job market means young people still face an uphill battle as they seek employment.

The Broomfield Workforce Center on Wednesday hosted a youth job fair, aimed at connecting young people ages 16 to 21 with job opportunities. Attendees at the annual event said they were keenly aware of the economic situation but optimistic nonetheless.

"The economy is still pretty low, but I think it is coming back" said Zach Rogers , 17, a junior at Legacy High School. Rogers, who wants to attend the Colorado School of Mines, said he is looking for employment so he can save money for college. He and his friends have had difficulty finding jobs, he acknowledged.

Bill Thoennes, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, said youth unemployment has always been high due to such factors as lack of work experience, employers' confusion about child labor laws, and teens' inability to market themselves effectively.

Disabled people can get help on job hunt

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:46:00 GMT

AFTER spending 15 months out of work, Liz Gurhy finally has a good feeling about her job hunt. The mum-of-two is taking part in a project called Energy2Work, which helps people from Swindon with disabilities to find employment. Participants meet potential employers, develop skills and undertake placements with businesses.

Liz went straight into work after school, spending eight years as a tailor, but fell unemployed as an adult after her marriage broke up. After two weeks of training to improve her skills, she hopes to complete an eight-week placement and land a position as a porter.The 53-year-old, who has moderate learning difficulties, said: “Having a job gets you self-respect. Some of the younger ones won’t work unless it’s for £20 or £30 an hour, but you have to be realistic.

“I’m the oldest person on the course and I try to help the younger people with my knowledge. A job’s a job, it doesn’t matter what it is. It shows you are prepared to work and builds up your employment history.”

This year 120 people are expected take part in training and placements at Energy2Work – the largest number since it began in March 2009.

The organisation, based on the Cheney Manor Industrial Estate, is part of Social Enterprise, Quality of Life, a body providing health and social care support. Funding comes from Swindon Borough Council and directly from SEQOL.

Ann King, supported employment project manager for Energy2Work, said: “We run courses on confidence building, communication skills and team work and get people to a place where they can get an interview and stand a chance of being successful.”

Potential employers visit Energy2Work to talk about the different elements to their business and their expectations when people attend interviews or placements.

Energy2Work also places people at the Enterprise Works factory in Elgin, which makes wood products, road signs and boxes. Mrs King, who has 21 years’ experience of working in supported employment, said: “You might have someone with qualifications take a position for the short-term while they try and find their dream job, while the people businesses recruit from us are more likely to stay in the role, which cuts recruitment and training costs.”

Returning veterans find job search a challenge

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:11:09 GMT

CHAMPAIGN — When he was in the Army, Andy Lucido was a captain. Back home after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he began studying for an MBA at the University of Illinois. The combination, he figured, was a guarantee of a great job. But that’s not what he found when he started searching in 2010.

“I thought just as a military officer, an Army officer with multiple combat tours under my belt, that some of these firms would just be itching to get me in the door. But it wasn’t like that,” said Lucido, a Lake Villa native who eventually did find a job he wanted — in Washington, D.C.

Veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq have some of the highest unemployment rates in the country, 12.1 percent on average through 2011, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Illinois veterans are faring better than most. The average unemployment rate last year for Illinois veterans who served after the 2001 terror attacks was 9.5 percent, according to the BLS. But they describe some of the same challenges: Struggling to translate their experience into a civilian workplace. Keeping the military jargon off their resumes. Having to rely on informal networks for job tips. To learn more about their situations, The Associated Press spoke to Illinois vets and a soldier in Kuwait preparing to return home. Some have found work. Others still search.

A long hunt
After a months-long search, Hickory Hills native Eric Hiltner found himself in a job interview far from home, at a Lumber Liquidators store in Richmond, Va. Most of the interview consisted of hypothetical questions about working at the hardwood-floor retailer. What would you do if this or that came up?

“Most of my responses were military experiences,” the 28-year-old said, “and how there really wasn’t anything a job like this could throw at me that I haven’t already dealt with something a millions times worse.”

He got the job, though he hadn’t expected the hunt to take so long. Hiltner graduated from Eastern Illinois in May 2010 and had what he thought was a pretty good set of credentials: a bachelor’s degree, experience leading a campus veterans’ group, work as a school newspaper photographer and Army service in Iraq.

But all that bought him was part-time work, mowing yards and tending bar in Charleston. “I applied for hundreds of jobs, some as lowly as a VA hospital security guard, and only received an email saying that position is no longer available six months later,” he said.

Divorced and looking for a change of scenery, Hiltner phoned an old Army friend, who talked him into moving to Richmond. Within two weeks, Hiltner had a job as a delivery driver. Then Lumber Liquidators hired him, and he was promoted to assistant store manager. “I had to move 800 miles and take a serious chance to maybe find work,” Hiltner said. “I had to rely on someone taking a chance.”

Coming home soon
By the beginning of summer, Sgt. Anthony Villareal plans to be home in Chicago Heights, spending time with his young son and, he hopes, starting a civilian job in information technology. Villareal has been with the Illinois National Guard in Kuwait since August, sent there to help with the logistics of moving equipment out of Iraq. The 22-year-old has spent the past five years working with computers and other communications equipment in the guard. Between deployments, he’s worked on an associate’s degree and other computer-related training.

“It looks nice when I can tell people, ‘Hey I’ve managed 30 work stations, I’ve managed a local network supporting 50 to 80 units,” he said in a telephone interview from Kuwait. Villareal has looked into military programs designed to help veterans get work. He’s also talked to civilian contractors. In one interview, he said, a potential employer promised to hold onto his application until he gets more training.

“The way I look at the unemployment rate, it’s high because nobody wants to do anything about it,” he said. “If you want a job so bad, you would meet (the job) requirements.”

Two years removed from military service, Lucido still talks and acts a good bit like the Army captain he was. He and his wife “had to strategize” when deciding where to live once he finished his MBA. And his resumes since becoming a civilian in 2010 have been sometimes thick with military speak the civilian world doesn’t much understand. On the other hand, the talkative veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan doesn’t say much about the two times he broke a foot parachuting.

Lucido, now 30, also was surprised that his rank, experience and MBA didn’t mean much in lean economic times to Chicago-based recruiters. He eventually found a job with a Washington, D.C., defense consulting firm, and starts later this year. But like a lot of veterans, Lucido found help with his job search on his own. “One of my buddies’ brothers who was a special forces guy just graduated business school. He pretty much kind of took me under his wing and told me how it is,” Lucido said.

Lucido learned to subtly tailor his story in words a potential interviewer would understand. Rather than saying he led 20 soldiers on a combat mission, Lucido might say he led 20 people through an operation as a team.

“They like to see leadership positions, they like to see people working in teams,” he said. “They like to see presentation skills. ... I had to do daily presentations to generals.”

Jesse Houk wasn’t overseas or even at a military base when he found out he’d be looking for work. The 30-year-old lost his job as a recruiter for a Bloomington firm just before Thanksgiving, though his position as a National Guard sergeant — someone regularly away on guard duty — had nothing to do with it, he said.

He’s been in the guard 11 years, but with the exception of a few weeks in Malawi, all of it has been in the United States. That’s been a blessing, since he was home for the birth of his daughter five months ago and now stays at home with her as his wife heads off to work as a nurse every day.

Despite a few job interviews, Houk is still looking. He finds himself tapping some of the resources set up mainly for veterans returning from overseas. A veterans representative from the Illinois Department of Employment Security has been in contact, Houk said, as has Melrose, the guard representative.

“It’s been a huge blessing to have him,” Houk said. “He sends emails almost every day with companies who are doing career fairs, companies who are hiring.”His situation isn’t desperate, Houk said, but it wouldn’t take much to get there. “We’re keeping our heads above water until something better comes along,” he said.

1N2D Farewell Greeting, ‘Goodbye’ from final travel destination Daechon Beach

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:31:10 GMT

1N2D will mark its end at Daechon Beach. According to an official from KBS 2TV ‘Happy Sunday – 1 Night 2 Days’ on February 9, 1N2D Season 1 will end at the Daechon beach in Chungchongnam-do on February 11.

It’s true that there’s a lot of interest focused on 1N2D’s end, but the specific concept and other details will not be revealed. 1N2D’s final filming will take place on February 10 and 11. In order to reflect on the memories, there will not be any special guests. The members will travel only with the production crew. Meanwhile, this filming will be broadcast over 2 weeks, on February 19 and 26. 1N2D will then come to an end on February 26.

There was an article earlier today that had a brief interview with PD Na: PD Na recently told OSEN, “For the final shooting, we have no special events planned. The basecamp is not a place with special meanings. Because the succeeding program is shortly to follow, we don’t think it’s necessary for it to hold great significance of ‘The End’.”

Job Hunting: When Parents Run the Show

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:53:15 GMT

Janine Guarino-McKown has every right to feel proud of her daughter Megan's resume. Compared with the clumsy work history presented by your typical recent college grad, it's a polished, professional and effective document: a crisp, beautifully formatted and compelling record of a star student's achievements and aspirations. And then there's the resume's authorship: Janine's the one who wrote it.

Back when Megan was finishing grad school in Dallas, the 25-year-old was busy studying for her boards and preparing for a medical rotation in the Australian outback. Janine, a retired health care administrator, had more free time, not to mention plenty of experience writing resumes for her friends -- why not do the same for her daughter? But she wasn't about to treat this as a pleasant little lark: To produce the two-page CV and cover letter template, Janine interviewed Megan closely over the phone, conducted a talent assessment and crafted a 147-word branding statement. Then she led her daughter through mock interviews and debriefed her after meetings with potential employers. And naturally, there was a little networking involved, as Janine introduced her daughter to a friend who knew the chief ER nurse at a local hospital.

In the end, the work paid off, with Megan landing a coveted job as a physician's assistant that pays more than $70,000 a year. And both mother and daughter say they're satisfied with the division of labor, which had Mom doing much of the legwork. "It wasn't my department," says Megan.

Perhaps it was inevitable, given the track record of the American boomer parent. After coaching their kids through junior hockey, supervising their science projects and cowriting their college applications, a growing number of enthusiastic moms and dads are moving to the next challenge, taking on the job of job hunting. Of course, parents have always played the role of over-the-phone cheerleader before job interviews, and generations of kids have gotten their first job through one of Dad's connections. But employers, job counselors and parents themselves say the help they're offering these days can become a full-blown tactical enterprise, one that includes everything from filling out job applications and combing the want ads to picking up the phone and hounding recruiters who haven't called back.

And yes, some parents even show up at their kid's job interview. Stuart Friedman, president of Chicago consulting firm Progressive Management Associates, will never forget the time he helped a financial-software client interview candidates for an entry-level position. In walked not one but three well-dressed hopefuls -- a fresh-faced college grad and his proud parents. Mom and Dad were on hand, the grad explained, to make sure he got "a fair opportunity to get this job." Friedman says he tried hard to stifle his befuddlement: "You can't sweat. You can't show any reaction."

Few parents take things this far, of course, and some family experts say they're actually pleased with the trend overall. After all, the idea that every child should cut family ties and forge his or her own career path is a relatively modern notion. Until the latter part of the 20th century, many kids entered the family occupation, whether that meant working the farm or taking an arranged apprenticeship. Parents were expected to provide contacts, training and a piece of the family business. If the parent is now reemerging as a career guide, perhaps this represents a return to sanity and normalcy, suggests Karen Fingerman, a professor of human development at the University of Texas at Austin. The 20th century, she says, "was weird."

But it's not nostalgia driving the new parental involvement -- it's the lousy economy. Kids who can't get jobs after college are returning home in droves, and their parents are desperate to get them working and out of the house. According to federal statistics, 14 percent of adults ages 20 to 24 are unemployed -- far higher than the national rate, which hovers near 8.5 percent. And even the well educated are having trouble, with just 53 percent of recent college grads landing full-time jobs, according to a Rutgers University report. That leaves Mom and Dad picking up their kids' tab for everything from cell phones to car loans -- and in the process, more than a quarter of those parents are taking on more debt to do so. The grown child, meanwhile, becomes more dependent in more walks of life, says Boulder, Colo., career coach Kathryn Marion. If a young adult hasn't learned to manage his or her time or balance a checkbook, she says, it's unlikely they'll have the life skills to land a serious job: "They're not ready to be in the deep end without a rope."

College grads go global in job hunt

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:06:49 GMT

When Joe Pizzo graduated from the University of Illinois in 2009, the job market was bleak in the U.S. So eventually he set his sights overseas. Through a South Korean governmental agency, Pizzo, a Sycamore resident, landed a job teaching English to high school students in Daejeon, South Korea. He liked it so much, he returned last month for a second year.

Pizzo is one of many young Americans these days who are taking jobs teaching English in other countries. Along with a steady salary, the overseas gigs give them career experience — and adventure. "The demand exceeds the supply," said Dave Perling of the need for teachers overseas. After teaching in Japan and Thailand, Perling launched ESLCafe to match candidates with jobs. Schools and recruiters pay for listings, which number 700 to 1,000 a month.

"A few years ago, all you needed was a college degree — in anything," Perling said. "Now that more people are applying, many recruiters also require at least some ESL (English as a second language) training."More and more people around the globe are learning English. According to a 2006 study conducted for the British Council in London, "Across the world … English is being introduced in primary schools, with greater compulsion, and at steadily lowering ages."

South Korea and Middle Eastern countries pay the most for teachers, Perling said. Latin American countries pay least. Starting pay ranges up to $3,000 a month, he said. Employers usually cover airfare.

"In South Korea, the employer typically pays for a furnished apartment and at least part of your medical insurance," said Pizzo, 24. "You don't need a car and food is cheap; I can eat out for $5. When I had to go to the doctor, the visit and the meds cost me $10." Pizzo said he saves most of his paycheck.

"Not everyone does that, though," he said. "Some use it to pay off student loans or spend it traveling to other countries while they're here."An international studies major, Pizzo views his overseas stints as career stepping stones. Others think of them as opportunities to see the world.

Chicagoan Laura Hamm, 30, saw her overseas jobs as "adventures." A Columbia College theater major, she worked in theaters in Ireland and New Zealand, then taught English in South Korea at an elementary school one year and at a university another year. "The first year, I made $2,000 a month plus a transportation stipend," Hamm said. "The second year, I got a raise."

Hamm's to-do list now includes "more traveling, more teaching."Pizzo and Hamm researched online before applying for jobs. "It's a pain, but it's important," Hamm said. "It's a year of your life." They recommend talking to current and former overseas teachers, who can be found through sites including Perling's.

Job hunt 'affected by social media profile', BBC study shows

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:38:56 GMT

Half of those surveyed said they knew someone who later regretted posting certain facts about themselves. As part of BBC Share Take Care campaign, Inside Out East looked at how social media use affects people. Ahead of Tuesday's Safer Internet Day, it focused particularly how it influences job prospects.

"If you are looking for a job or using social media as a business you obviously need to think how it is going to look from an employer's or another businesses' point of view," said social media expert Lynsey Sweales, from Norwich.

"It's absolutely fine having personality. That's what social media is all about. "But if you're not prepared to say something to someone's face, don't say it." After retiring as a rally driver Fraser Jones, from Essex, struggled to get a job in public relations.

Employers 'disregarded me'
"I wasn't really getting anywhere," he said. "It was a case of if it's motorsport I was fine. "But anything corporate based or anything outside of that I just didn't get a look in.

"It transpired that people were having a look at me online to see what information they could get and they were finding a lot more about motorsport and so they just disregarded me."Mr Jones was forced to change his digital footprint by taking down his web page and changing what he posted on Twitter.

"Changing my digital footprint was the only way I could get in front of people to show I had the experience and the ability to do the job," he explained. And, just a month after changing his online profile, Mr Jones started getting interviews and eventually landed a job as marketing manager at global training company On Track International.

Background 'important'
Tamara Lewis, a recruiter from global digital PR firm Waggener Edstrom, explained how important an online presence has become.

"I would say my first port of call to identify new talent is Linked In and it has changed the way I recruit," she said. "Very often I will do an initial interview with someone based on their Linked In profile while I'm waiting for them to send me their CV.

"I think it's important to find out a little bit more about people's backgrounds and find out where their interests lie. "But obviously this would be in line with our normal recruitment process."The full national survey results will be revealed as part of the Safer Internet Day events across BBC television, radio and internet on Tuesday.

The four pillars of a successful job hunt

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:45:52 GMT

With such tough conditions, you need to make sure you get the basics right NICHOLAS BLAIN

CHIEF EXECUTIVE, QUARTIC TRAINING
HOW far do you need to go to get that job? It won’t be news to you if we report that the jobs market in finance is pretty tough at the moment. But with hundreds of applicants for each position, how do you maximise your chances?

FRESHEN UP YOUR CV
Your CV is your advertisement to the world: make it stand out. Many candidates for finance jobs have multiple versions, one for corporate finance, one for asset management, and so on. The person reading the CV must feel that you are ideal for the job.

Get a friend to read it through: bad formatting and spelling mistakes are a sure way to get your prospects thrown directly into the small round filing cabinet under the desk. At our careers seminars we find that a little bit of care, and a second (and third) opinion, will help to make your CV irresistible.

GET THE IMC OR CFA
Or at least start the process. The Investment Management Certificate (IMC) can be passed in the space of a few months while the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program takes three years or more.

Although the CFA program can seem daunting, you will be learning skills that employers are looking for. Candidates are encouraged to state on their CV that they are doing the exams, and it is a clear indication that you are “walking the walk”.

In fact, we have found that a high proportion of our students get job offers even before their first exam: studying for the CFA exams – and being prepared for technical interview questions – is the best proof that you’re keen on a finance career. The CFA program is also the most global finance exam: our Hong Kong office receives as many enquiries from expats, as from true Hong Kongers.

NETWORK EFFECTIVELY
A good LinkedIn profile is essential. You need quality not quantity of contacts, and can look at your extended network to find the right people at your target firms. When you send out your CV, try to write to named people. Never mailmerge it – it is easier to delete an e-mail than to send one.

Your Facebook profile also matters. You can be sure that your interviewer will have searched you out before meeting you. A presence on Facebook is more revealing than LinkedIn, and you really don’t want the first impression of you to be in a drunken stupor.

READ THE PAPERS
A favourite opening interview question that we use in our careers seminars is: “So what did you find interesting in today’s paper?” Your interviewer doesn’t want to hear about celebrities, royal scandals or footballers’ wives. Stories about company results, economics or the stock market will show you’re up for the job.

It may be that you don’t find it particularly exciting when a company appoints a new chief executive. However if you read a paper regularly you’ll soon get to know the history and personalities of the most important players in the City. As for choosing the right paper – full marks on that front already.

Job search not working out for vast majority of teens

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:20:11 GMT

Anjelica Pickett, 17, has been searching for a job for about a year. Despite making as many as five applications in a day during that time, Pickett, now a freshman at Truman College, said she's scored only one interview, with a grocery store. But that didn't pan out. "It's kind of stressful,'' she said. "Growing up has been kind of hard. And getting everyday things like soap and stuff that people get everyday has been hard. I don't have like a billion aunts and uncles to ask for things."

Pickett's story isn't atypical in Chicago, where only 16 percent of teens held a job in 2010. Nationwide, for those between 16 to 19, the employment rate has plummeted in the last decade, falling to 26 percent in 2011 from 45 percent a decade earlier, according to a study that will be released Tuesday by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Boston's Northeastern University.

And in Illinois, teen employment was just under 50 percent 10 years ago. In 2011, it was 27.5 percent. The dismal numbers have prompted calls by youth advocates for more dollars for youth employment programs.

"Job-training and placement funding will help to reverse the deteriorating pictures over the past decade for African-American, Hispanic and low-income youth in particular," said Jack Wuest, executive director of the Alternative Schools Network, a Chicago-based, nonprofit education advocacy group that commissioned the study.

On Tuesday, Wuest, other policy leaders and education and youth advocates will gather at a forum at the Chicago Urban League to drum up support for the Pathways Back to Work Act, federal legislation that would provide $5 billion in training and employment programs for youth and unemployed and low-income adults.

"You could only classify this in one way: It's a massive depression in the labor market for teens," said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies, the author of the study.

Teens 16 to 19 have been hurt more than any other age group in the labor market, said Sum. The younger you are, the more adversely you've been affected by the recession and other developments in the labor market, he said. The job hunt is especially tough for teens who are African-American, Latino and poor.

For low-income and African-American teens, the employment rate during the past decade hit an all-time low: Just 10 percent of African-American teenagers are working, and the number dips to 7.4 percent for those who come from low-income families. Chicago's Latino teens fared slightly better, with 19 percent working; the rate for those from low-income families declined to 14.2.

"That's what we consider to be the great social disaster," said Sum. "If you are black and/or low income, you run the greatest risk of not working at all."In Illinois, white, middle-class teens are more likely to be employed, at 38 percent, than their black and Hispanic counterparts.

When they do find work, young people typically are confined to fewer sectors, including low-wage retail, fast-food and arts and entertainment jobs, Sum said. "You'll rarely see a teenager working at a bank," he said.

Jobs are an important stepping stone for young people as they become adults, ensuring that they gain valuable social skills as well as strengthening the entire community fabric, said Alternative School Network's Wuest.

Moreover, teens whose parents are unemployed often have additional challenges entering the workforce because they are less likely to know about creating a resume, completing job applications and conducting interviews, said Marty McConnell, director of resource development at Alternatives Inc. of Chicago, a youth development agency. "If your parents aren't working, they may not know how to help you with that sort of stuff," she said.