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Friday, July 22, 2011

Being Laid-off feels like....

I have been writing about how to bolster your job search, how to use social media to build your personal brand, how to go to job fairs to look for a new job, and just about everything else related to job search.

Now I want to talk about how it feels on the other side of the coin - when you get laid-off.

Due to a $1.1million budget cut and the elimination of ARRA stimulus monies, our agency KCDEE just released 5 employees and will be experiencing a reorganization to do more with less.  I happen to be one of those who will be leaving on July 29, 2011.

I want to spend a paragraph about the feelings, then I want to share some profile information with you.

The first feeling I felt was disbelief.  I couldn't quite hear what was being said to me.  I felt tears welling up in my eyes and the thought that went through my brain was how am I going to pay my bills.  Right after that I decided that my faith would take me through this and that with any door that closes, another one opens.  I heard my supervisor say to me that she would support me with a recommendation and we brainstormed about people to contact.  Not until today did I realize some of the grief of losing my job - the people that I work with everyday, the camaraderie that you feel when you are in a cubefarm.  I sort of skipped that step of the process of loss until now.  I didn't every really get angry, what good would it do anyway. I sort of settled into the acceptance relatively rapidly and decided I needed to take action to find myself the next "open door".

So, following are the profiles and connections to the talented people who have been released in the lay-off:

Dee Reinhardt - Marketing and Social Media Specialist - find me at www.linkedin.com/in/deereinhardt
Key talents include: marketing, social media, community relations, photography, graphic design, web design, public speaking, event planning, teaching, writing and project management.

Lillie Glover - Executive Assistant - find her at www.linkedin.com/in/lillieglover
Key talents include: administrative support, organization, editing, planning, coordinating, Microsoft Office 2007, customer service, customer relations, schedule management and more

Maria Galvan - Program Assistant - find her at www.linkedin.com/in/mariagalvan
Key talents include: administrative support, graphic design, Microsoft Office 2007, bilingual Spanish

Arlene Hibbard - Program Assistant - find her at www.linkedin.com/in/arlenehibbard
Key talents include: administrative support, Microsoft Office 2007, typing, organization

Lugenia Thomas - EEO/Human Resources - find her at www.linkedin.com/in/lugeniathomas
Key talents included: customer service, human resources, Equal Opportunity compliance, customer relations, adminstrative support

If you know of any positions for any of these fine people, contact them through their LinkedIn profiles.

What sort of feelings have you experienced with a lay-off?

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Professional Social Media Networking

Are you using LinkedIn?  There are over 100million users currently using this professional social network.  It is a well established resource for networking, finding out information and staying connected.  You control all of the aspects of your profile, you see who you have invited, and once you know your way around, LinkedIn is an incredibly valuable tool to build your personal and business brand. LinkedIn recently went public on the stock exchange and wowed the world with its initial IPO offerings of $82 a share. Currently trading around $76.

Within the past year, BranchOut became more popular as a job search network application on Facebook.  I set up a profile.  As it is trying to be like LinkedIn, you have the ability to import items from your LinkedIn profile.  It has a game type feel to me, you have badges that you "earn" with more connections or honor badges you can give to your contacts.  I haven't experienced the same value from BranchOut that I have from LinkedIn.  The one recent benefit to BranchOut is the ability to post a job for free to a jobs tab in BranchOut on your Facebook Fan Page.  If you have a person handling your web/social media development, that isn't so useful, but if you are a small company without that type of staff, it is a good feature. Mashable's take on Branchout

On June 26, 2001, a new application from Monster.com showed up on the Facebook scene. BeKnown is the latest (and late in the game) social media for professionals to appear. To test it out, I set up a profile.  You have the option of uploading your Monster profile, if you have one, or your LinkedIn profile.  I tried to upload the LinkedIn profile and either my computer didn't like it or the widgit isn't functioning properly.  BeKnown promised to let you connect with people to whom you are not connected on Facebook, but when I tried to find one such person, I was unable to do so.  Someone had sent me an invitation to connect on BeKnown and I couldn't see where to "accept" it. Mashable's take on BeKnown

I think I will concentrate my efforts on LinkedIn until I see more substance from either of these other products.

What have you tried?

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Social Media and the job search

Are you using social media in your job search? If not, why not?

Over 100 million users are on LinkedIn, 700 million users are on Facebook and 175 million users on Twitter. Now assuming that each of those networks only has 80% of those users who are active, that is still a BIG number. Of people using social networking sites, the use breaks down this way: 92% use Facebook, 18% use LinkedIn, 13% use Twitter. [Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project, Social networking sites and our lives, June 16, 2011]

LinkedIn is the biggest source of professional networking. You can follow companies, find jobs, and build your level of expertise. Facebook now has an answer to LinkedIn called Branchout. You can ask your Facebook friends to join you in your professional network and receive recommendations. Twitter has post after post of jobs that you can find even if you don't tweet yourself. Just go to search.twitter.com.

LinkedIn has a search component that will show you who is posting about a particular term like "hiring" that you can drill down and get to your local area. Did you know that more men 63% vs. 37% women use LinkedIn.[Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project, Social networking sites and our lives, June 16, 2011] Women tend to be bigger users of the other social networks.

Remember, you can't just create a profile and let it hang there on the web, you must work at it, as you must with any job search process.  If you need to learn more about using social media, you can visit our website. OR you can sign up for one of our hands-on LinkedIn workshops - check our calendar for the next session.

What are you doing with social media and your job search?

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Helicopter Parents

I heard a new term on the radio the other day - it was "helicopter parents".  As defined by wikipedia - Helicopter parent is a colloquial, early 21st-century term for a parent who pays extremely close attention to his or her child's or children's experiences and problems, particularly at educational institutions.  In other words, they aren't letting the child fight their own battles.  I can understand there are times when a parent must step in to defend their child, but the extreme stories that were being discussed made me cringe.

When I heard the description, it made me pause and reflect on how this could impact someone's job search.  I thought back to the episode of "Everybody loves Raymond" where Marie, the matriarch of the family, approached a potential employer that Robbie was scheduled to interview with and nearly lost Robbie the opportunity.  (Lucky Suit, Episode :138 | aired February 4, 2002).

Have you ever had someone think that they were helping you, yet because of their "hovering" they really hindered your job search progress?  If all else fails, make your plan, adjust as needed, and if you need help from someone, ask them specifically for what you need.

Do you have experience with a helicopter situation?

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Attitude is Everything

In our continuing series on soft skills or workplace skills our next topic is - work attitude.  Just as the title says - Attitude is Everything.  Attitude is everything no matter whether it is work related, job search related, or related to your personal life.  If you have the proper attitude, everything is all right.

Louis Armstrong made the song "When you're smiling" popular with these lyrics:

When you're smilin'....keep on smilin'The whole world smiles with youAnd when you're laughin'....keep on laughin'The sun comes shinin' through
But when you're cryin'.... you bring on the rainSo stop your frownin'....be happy againCause when you're smilin'....keep on smilin'The whole world smiles with you
It is so true that when you have a positive attitude your outlook and most people around you will have a positive attitude as well.


Your positive attitude effects: 

  • the way you communicate with others;
  • your mind-set;
  • the way you look at the world - that includes your work and personal life; and,
  • the way the world looks at you.
To be able to look at things as half full instead of half empty is a learned skill.  You have the power to concentrate on the good news you hear or to find the good in something negative.  To be realistic, you cannot be positive 100% of the time.  It just is impossible, but when something negative does present itself, learning to deal with it rapidly and effectively is part of a winning attitude.

Are you pro-active or reactive?
Can you see a challenge before you, define it and address it before it has the ability to pull you into a mental hole?  Having a positive attitude will help you reject anger, assemble facts, talk to others, determine options and arrive at a best solution.  It also helps you live with a problem that cannot be resolved and neutralize any overall negative feelings. Aren't you more attracted toward someone who always has a solution instead of someone who always finds fault?

Some ways to tell if you need an attitude adjustment is by determining how others view you.  What do you think your current attitude is; what would family, friends, supervisor, co-workers gauge your attitude as; how effective are you; how creative are you; how is your sense of humor; how patient are you; how often do things "bother" you; how many compliments are you receiving; how enthusiastic are you about your job or things in your life?

A couple of ways to adjust your attitude if necessary include: simplify; de-clutter, don't over-commit; balance your career and home life; don't put off the unpleasant tasks to keep them from building up; and, sometimes "release" the negative relationships in your life that are providing that "tug" downward.

Business Etiquette
Behaviors are included in work attitude and often we need to address certain things in our work environment as they relate to proper etiquette for that industry.  In business, there are appropriate ways to conduct yourself in the workplace that include understanding, kindness, courtesy, and common sense.

Other factors included in proper workplace etiquette are:
  • appearance
  • honoring territories
  • honoring working hours and working while on the job
  • be friendly
  • personal information distribution minimized
  • be positive and supportive
  • maintain an open mind
  • follow through
  • communicate and listen effectively
  • solve your own problems
  • don't be in too big a hurry to advance
Other etiquette that needs to be observed is email, telephone manners, use of social media as it relates to your workplace and any other rules or conventions specific to your company or geographic area.



Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Part-time or Full-time

Hmmm...what do I do?
At certain times in your life, your job schedule may need to be more flexible than others. Are you going to school, are you responsible for older or younger family members, or are you experiencing health issues that limit your ability to work? Other times, we just need to work 40 hours.  Sometimes with a flex schedule or perhaps by telecommute.

We have a listing of job search websites that include full-time, part-time and niche sites - job search page.

If you have found a favorite job search site, share it here. If it isn't already on our list, we will review it to share.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Resume Tools

I read a blog article about 10 things that you can do with LinkedIn of which you may not have been aware. One of them included the resume tool. I went in and set up my resume. It took about 20 seconds. Unfortunately, I would be better served by a combination resume and the tool only allows a chronological resume.

The LinkedIn tool is perfect as long as your profile is 100% complete, your profile reads the same way you would like your resume to read, and a chronological format is the approach you would like to use.

Another tool that we recommend can be found on www.illinoisworknet.com in the Individuals pathway "Prepare" section. The tool within Illinois workNet will create and save up to 20 resumes for you.  You can pick from several templates including both functional and chronological.  There isn't a combination option posted, but you can always copy and paste from the workNet tool into a Word document.



A free tool that is available in the Career Resource Centers at an Illinois workNet Center is Winway resume creator.  This computer program allows you to select which of the three formats you would like to use and offers suggestions for tasks you may have completed based upon the job title that you enter.  Once you have all of your information entered, you may then go in and edit the description and tweak the resume to make it completely personalized to your experience.


Last but not least, the Illinois workNet Career Resource Centers offer free professional review assistance for your resume from our Career Resource Professionals, as well as workshops to help you with your resume and interviewing along with many other resources. 


What is the best resume tool you have found?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Networking

Today is just a commentary on another blog article.

This article from US News references those individuals who might not be on the cutting edge of social media and using it to their advantage for job search.  It relates that those of us who are computer savvy may be spending too much time on the keys and not enough time face-to-face.

It is a reminder that we must balance our lives in everything.  Too much of any one thing cannot be good, while not using all of the tools at your disposal cannot be good either.

One more thing not mentioned in the article is the fact that there are many resources available, and many are free.   Find out what is available by reading and participating.  Many of you may not be aware that each state has free training and development services available to job seekers, especially those who have been dislocated (laid-off) from a previous employer.  Illinois has a great tool at www.illinoisworknet.com and if you need to learn how to use this great tool, KCDEE offers a monthly workshop in Elgin and N. Aurora that is hands-on, for FREE.

What other resources have  you found that are useful to job seekers? 

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Email addresses speak a 100 words

The saying goes "A picture is worth a 1000 words".  I contend that your email address can speak at least a 100 words.

On your resume, you should have your name, phone number, cell phone number, email address, and if you have one, a link to your business related blog, and linkedIn account.

KCDEE recently had a booth at two area job fairs.  We were collecting email addresses from people who were interested in receiving our e-newsletter.  As I was entering the names and emails, I noticed that about 95% of the names were professional in appearance.  But, alas, there was that 5% that could potentially scare away an employer from contacting you.

The best thing to do is to make your email address recognizable to anyone who may wish to contact you about a job, contract work, or a potential business relationship.  If your name is very common adding a number to your name is acceptable.  Other options include first.middle.last@ email address or perhaps first_last@ email address, or last-first@ email address.  There are many free email services including hotmail, yahoo, gmail, as well as, the phone and internet providers in the area such as comcast, att, and sbcglobal.

Presenting a professional face on all forms of communication with potential employers just gives you more ticks in your win column.  Read more about email addresses.

Monday, April 4, 2011

60 Seconds

You have 60 seconds, GO!

What just went through your mind?  Did you have a formulated plan to share your name, your expertise, your immediate goal, your pitch? How much time did it really take - 10 seconds, 20 seconds?

Speed networking, elevators, standing in line at a fast food place, picking up your kids from soccer, or anywhere you are with people with whom you may strike up a conversation, you never know who you will run into that might need someone who does what you do. If you are trying to promote your personal brand or your corporate brand you need to be prepared.

Soooo many other articles have been written about this topic, including on this blog, but this is the first time I have seen a tool to help you hone in on the exact words you need to use to consistently share your message.

Check out this website www.alumni.hbs.edu/careers/pitch/.  It addresses the who, what, why and the goal of your pitch.  This tool promotes using a base, but encourages you to be flexible in your approach.  While you may practice what you would say, you need to be able to go in a different direction rapidly should the conversation take off sooner than later.

Give it a try and check back here to tell us what you think!









Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Soft skill - Time Management

Continuing our series on soft skills, one of the most important might be time management.

Time management is important to business owners to meet deadlines, to plan for the immediate future and to be profitable.

One of the first places to exhibit a proper sense of time management is submitting applications, paperwork and arrival at an interview.  If you have met those deadlines, you have a good start.

525,600 minutes is the time you have in one year - as made famous in the musical "Rent" song Seasons of Love.  How you use the time is up to you.  Managing time is what we will discuss.

What are some of the symptoms of poor time management?
You always feel like you aren't accomplishing anything, you miss deadlines, you take work home, you spend an overabundance of time socializing at work, interrupting others, or too much time on the telephone.
Do you have a problem saying "NO"?  Do you end up doing others work?

How do you manage time?
Four basic skills you need to manage time well are:
  • Strategize, Organize, Implement, & Monitor
Strategize - try to envision the outcome.  What do you see?  Now, make a plan with the goals and time line to achieve each step.  Determine how to measure how effectively you meet each goal.
Organize - what resources will you need to accomplish your goals or steps. Do you need to consider money, time, help from others, equipment, or team work.
Implement - Who is going to complete each step, do you need interim due dates, and then follow-through to complete each step.
Monitor- how effective are you, do you need to reassess and adjust to meet your time-lines?

Stephen Covey wrote in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, that Habit 3 is Personal Management includes knowing how to define what is urgent and essential. The whole concept is to be able to work within quadrant 2 - deciding when you can accomplish something, not feeling like it needed to be done yesterday.  This process comes along with learning to be pro-active rather than reactive.  If you work in a team, who delegates the duties?  If you work independently, who can help you when you are under a bit more time pressure?  How can you work smarter, not harder?  Where do you focus your energy?  What things do you control and what things do you have no control?

Here are nine ways to help you begin to manage your time better and accomplish more:
  1. Plan your activities the day before.
  2. Know the time of day when you accomplish certain types of tasks better - i.e. do you need to be more physically active in the morning vs. the afternoon?  Identify your high energy time of day.
  3. Deal with your toughest tasks during the highest energy time of the day.
  4. Learn and use current technology effectively - work smarter, not harder.
  5. Use an agenda and keep to a time schedule for meetings.
  6. Alert others if you need time "to concentrate" without interruptions.
  7. Segment your schedule - block out a time of the day or week for all your meetings, desk/computer time blocked out, only make phone calls from xx AM to xx AM, or only read your emails 2-3 times a day instead of checking constantly.
  8. Organize your office/work area so that it works best for you.
  9. Use a personal organizer - does paper work better for you or do you use a digital calendar/planner.
The whole focus is to make time management work for you.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Do you have PO?

No, I don't mean a post office box.  I mean po - lateral thinking Wiki definition.

I was introduced to this concept by a person who answered a question that I had asked on LinkedIn.  I was trying to figure out how to have my full-time job with KCDEE appear above a part-time family business job that I started more recently than I had started with KCDEE.

The person responded to my query with the term po and I was able to make enough of a change to accomplish what I wanted to do.

Po means to rethink how you are currently doing, thinking, selling, building, etc., to be able to address a potential new approach. It reminds me of a brainstorming Rorschach test, or possibly an "if = then" proposition.

Let's take this to the job search.  If you apply the "po" principle to your job search - the question may be "Why am I not getting interviews?"
po = become an entrepreneur
po = revise resume
po = change target
po = target specific companies
po = become a hermit
po = retrain for a new career

Which of your ideas are feasible and practical?  What can you actually accomplish? Which ones do you need help with to complete?  Do you know your resources?

What are your thoughts?

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Intrapreneurial - are you?

Intrapreneurial (innovating within a corporation) See definition below or the wikipedia definition here. This relatively new term is a play on the older and more accepted term of entrepreneur - defined below or the dictionary.com definition here.


Most people recognize that when you say entrepreneur, the person is an independent thinker, leading the pack instead of following, driving decisions instead of putting on the brakes.  Some famous entrepreneurs include: Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Walt Disney, Simon Cowell, Mark Zuckerberg, or Donald Trump.  These people took a concept and built a business.

With the concept of being an intrapreneur, you incorporate similar idea building that entrepreneurs use, but within the corporate boundaries.  Some of the most famous intrapreneurs include:  Spencer Silver & Art Fry for the Post-it, Ken Kutaragi for the Sony Playstation, or maybe Patrick Naughton, James Gosling, Bill Joy invented Java programming language that many websites use to make things "work".

If you have a W-2 job for which you receive a regular paycheck, are you acting like an employee or like an intrapreneur?  Are you being innovative, carrying out a new idea and shaping it into existence? OR are you just doing what you are told?

Is your corporate culture such that innovation is rewarded and encouraged? Are you invested enough in your company to be innovative.


  • Intrapreneur - an employee of a large corporation who is given freedom and financial support to create new products, services, systems, etc., and does not have to follow the corporation's usual routines or protocols.
  • Entrepreneur - a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.









Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Help Keep America Working


Workforce Investment Works! In Illinois, during just one fiscal year alone (2010), Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funded programs served 52,000 customers and an additional 10,000+ dislocated workers impacted by trade. Right now, congress is trying to cut the funds that make WIA programs possible. Show your support and tell everyone you know to support restoration of funding for WIA programs.

Click here to sign the national WIA virtual petition http://www.thepetitionsite.com/5/keep-america-working/.
Want to learn more?
For information on WIA in Illinois, visit http://www.illinoisworknet.com/wiaworks
For national WIA information, visit http://www.workforceinvestmentworks.com/index.asp

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Closing the sale

When you are in job search mode, you are in effect "selling" your skills and talents.  Your resume and cover letter are your brochure and sales material and your interview is your sales call.

Now, all of the salespeople reading this know that the next step is to find out where the process is going.  Some people will tell you that they have to think about your presentation or discuss it with a partner or supervisor.  If that is happening, you know that the next question is "When would be a good time to follow-up?" and then you put that on your calendar.

If you aren't fortunate enough to have someone who is that forthright with you, then you need to take the bull by the horns and figure out how to close the sale or ask for the sale.

You must be careful in an interview not to appear needy or pushy.  Stating that you would love to work for the company is great but must be conveyed in a sincere unassuming manor or the interviewer could interpret the statement incorrectly.

Closing the sale is typically about overcoming objections, but in an interview you must be careful about how you ask the question - go for the open-ended question that allows the interviewer to share concerns about whether you are a good corporate fit, or how you might be able to handle the job.

Asking for feedback about how you did on the interview could potentially backfire, but by asking how you compare to the other candidates you may find out that you rank well among the competition.  If it isn't among the highest, you may ask how you might improve to become the best fit or to improve your skills (interviewing or actual) for a future interview at this company or another. 

When you leave an interview, knowing if you are in the running for a position allows you to plan for your job search next steps.  If you are confident that you did well and the feedback is positive, you may not have to be looking for long.









Tuesday, February 15, 2011

We are on the Road

If you are in the Elgin, IL to Aurora, IL corridor you might see our new bus signs.  Do you need more information?

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Career Search Action Plan

Tweetchat today in #careerchat was on your Career Search Action Plan

Here are some of the highlights -
What are the main components of a career action plan?
  • Where you are, where you want to be and the plan is how you are going to get there
  • Plan should be broken up into time frames - 3 months, 6 months, 1 year 5 year etc.
  • A start point and an end point. Know how you will start and have a reachable goal in mind, with room to adjust.
  • As with any plan - C.A.P. must be SMART - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely
  • An interim step... figure out what you want, then make SURE that is REALLY what you want. Volunteer, Intern, job shadow.
  • I like looking at LI profiles of people who do what I want to do. Great info on how to get there.

How do you get started on putting together an action plan?
  • assess skills, find ones needed, how to obtain the new skills, how to market yourself once you have the new skills
  • You might want to use sites like the @Vault or @glassdoordotcom to help you research
  • Make 3 column list of jobs that interest u, traits/skills nec., & how u will acquire those skills.
  • Prepare Short term and Long term GOALS 5. Prepare action plan to sort the achievable
  • Conduct info meetings with colleagues and referrals of people who have the job you are after. Learn how they got there! 
  • Your HR Department may be a resource for career plan help, especially if you would  like to stay with your existing company
  • Studies show if you articulate it (tell someone) your goals, you're MUCH more likely to do it.

When do you need to adjust/revisit your action plan?
  • You should look over it often, even it's just quarterly. If you have gone astray, it's time to kick it back into motion.
  • whenever you attain an original goal, you need to reevaluate, you need an if/then philosophy
  • If something isn't working or you found a new direction
  • Know your PERFORMANCE EVALUATION system-very important thing to do to keep track of career action plan as an employee
  • If you find yourself dreading work more than loving it, time to re-evaluate
  • Don't wait until you've been laid off or are in a tough spot to start thinking about your plan, it'll be too late
  • Career action plans must be PROACTIVE not REACTIVE
  • Do you stick to the same profession or change completely? yes, if there is growth potential, if not change!
  • Have you written your career plan or is it all in your head?

If you are working on your career plan, you can use http://www.illinoisworknet.com/vos_portal/residents/en/Prepare/ as a resource to help you in the planning and assessment process.



Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Are you dialoguing?


"Two monologues do not make a dialogue." - Jeff Daly

This quote was in one of my emails recently.  It reminded me of a program I saw on television where two people were talking out loud to each other, but were carrying on their own conversation.  They each solved their own problem, but never acknowledged each others thoughts.  (The New Adventures of Old Christine)

Both the quote and program struck me as important when it comes to adapting your interview skills.  
You may be called for an interview and you have several points you want to share about your work history or experiences you have had, but what is the interviewer asking you.

When you are networking, are you so intent on sharing your projects that you are not listening to the person with whom you are networking?  Perhaps listening to what they are saying you might find a way that you can help them or "pay it forward" by connecting them with someone you know within your network. 

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Do you want your boss's job?

So you want a promotion?  Being next in line doesn't mean that you will get the job.  You need to be pro-active in your reach for that next step up the ladder.  How do you do that?

  • Develop the hard skills required to be a leader.
  • Find out what your strengths and weaknesses are so that you may obtain professional development to overcome the weaknesses and enhance your strengths.
  • Ask for work that will help build your experience level.  To be a leader you will need to manage projects from beginning to end.
  • Shadow your boss and observe the interactions between subordinates and superiors.
  • Ask someone in a position of authority to mentor you.
  • Investigate and learn corporate and industry trends to be able to contribute in meetings.
  • Be visible by participating in activities where senior management or board members may be active like charities that the company supports.
  • Support your boss and do your job well even if you don't agree with the way he/she does things.
Let your boss know that you are interested in advancing - gaining the support of your superior is the best way to land the promotion.

What other things would you do?

Saturday, January 22, 2011

We are on Alltop

KCDEE's blog is now included with the cool kids on Alltop.  You can find our career advice along with others by visiting  http://careers.alltop.com

KCDEE publishes an article weekly and posts it for your reference.  Other places where you can find our resources include:
Webpage - http://www.kcdee.org
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/KCDEE5
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/KCDEE5 

You can subscribe to our twice monthly e-news by linking here.

If you have topics that you would like to read more about let us know.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Where the jobs are in 2011

In the 1-9-2011 issue of the Wall Street Journal Sunday was an article discussing where you will find jobs in 2011.  Here is a synopsis of what they said:
  • Service jobs - retail, IT, tech jobs
  • Health care - nurses, medical scientists, physician assistants, skin-care specialist and dental hygienists
  • Information Technology - to upgrade and customize equipment, provide technical support and to teach people how to use the upgrades.
  • Financial Services - as business builds, lending activity will increase
  • Scientific and technical jobs -research and development positions for companies to bump up production
  • Sales and customer service positions
  • Business development and marketing

Temporary positions - as businesses begin to expand, temporary positions will fill the need of additional employees without taking on the overhead of actually hiring them onto a companies' payroll.

Avoid public sector positions and non-profit organizations that depend upon government contracts. There will be cuts that will impact positions in both of those areas.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Career Goals 2011

What are your career goals for 2011?

Are you in the job search mode?
  • What new tools are you planning on using or learning to help in your job search? 
  • Do you already have a LinkedIn account? 
  • Are you going to check to see if it is being the most effective it can be for you?
  • Do you use Twitter to look for jobs?
  • Have you investigated the job search component of Facebook?
  • Are you networking?
  • Have you joined any new industry related associations?
  • Are you participating in informational interviews?
  • Have you decided to volunteer to keep your skills up to date?
  • Are you planning on changing careers?
  • Does that career change include learning new skills?
Are you working? What are your plans to enhance your current career?
  • Are you taking a class or learning something to keep your skills current?
  • Do you need to address a character flaw that is keeping you from a promotion?
  • What one thing can YOU change that would make your job easier?
  • What one thing can you address with your supervisor that would make your job easier?
  • Is this job a career or do you need to check into another path?
Are you going to school?
  • Will you be finishing your training this year and looking for a new job?
  • What are you doing now to network or prepare in advance for that job search? Check out the items above.
Do you have some personal goals that will make your life easier or improve your self-esteem level to give you a better outlook on life?
  • Do you need to be more fit or drop a few pounds?
  • Do you need to de-clutter?
  • Do you need to stop smoking?
Whatever or whereever you are in your life, you cannot reach a goal if you do not have one.  Set a goal, make a plan, and start working toward your goal.  If a long range goal is too scary, set several interim goals and reward yourself along the way. If you need to loose weight and your ultimate goal is 25 pounds, set those in 5 pound increments.  If you need a new job and make a plan that might include researching two new companies and what jobs they have to offer each week.  Add a new task as you go.

What other suggestions do you have?  What are your goals?