On the Light Side - Help Wanted

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Position: Actual job title varies. Mom, Dad; Mommy, Daddy; Mama, Dada; or Ma, Pa

Job Description: Long-term team players needed for challenging, permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24-hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses never reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

Responsibilities: Duration of the job is the rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf.

Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysterious ugly sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and varying numbers. Must be a willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.

Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

Possibility of Advancement and Promotion: None. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

Previous Experience: None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

Wages And Compensation: Get this! You pay them!! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

Benefits: While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered, this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love, and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.
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The US Government Agrees with Advice in Start Now! Career Guide

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According to the Office of Personnel Management, more than 200,000 new jobs have been posted since October. As of this writing there are over 42,000 currently posted, but keep in mind…competition for them are fierce.

To boost your chances, experts advise tailoring your resume to include keywords which match your skills to the job you’re applying for. Start Now! Career Guide shows you precisely how to do that - and much more.

For information on how Start Now! Career Guide can help in your job search, visit Start Now! Career Guide.

For more information on government jobs listed as well as how to apply, visit http://www.usajobs.gov/
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What Lies Ahead for Today’s College Grads?

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Depending on the spin some media have put in their news reports, college graduates may feel the job outlook is pretty grim. But many experts say it’s not all gloom and doom…if the candidate is well prepared.

Though some industries will have a notable decline in hiring during 2009, other fields such as health care, government, distribution and utilities are anticipating growth. In addition, over the next decade more and more Baby Boomers will retire, creating opportunities many grads could be able to grab.

In today’s market, the graduate should be more flexible than other job seekers in a couple of areas:

First is salary expectations. It’s a tight market right now, so you may have to settle for less than you feel you deserve. But remember that it is your first job. Opportunities for advancement or better positions will open up to you along the way.

Second is location. A better paying, more rewarding position may not be in your home town. You may want to consider the many opportunities across the country.

The job search may take a little longer, so be patient. With the right tools in place, the candidate should be successful, but it may mean part-time or temporary work in the interim.

Network effectively. You can post your resume on-line and hope for the best, but networking is a must. Let everyone you know what your goals are and ask them to spread the word. Follow-up with them to be sure they’ve kept you in mind.

When creating a resume, make sure you highlight the skills which coincide with those requested by the employer. With the volume of resumes sent to a company, generic or broadly written resumes are obvious and tossed aside quickly.

When you do get the call, make sure to do your due diligence before your interview to show you’ve learned all you can about the company you’ve applied to.

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Before Your Interview - Things You Must Do

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Thank goodness! Your hard work is paying off...you've landed an interview.

Before you choose what you'll wear, take the necessary time now for due dilligence. This is an opportunity to really score big points by finding out everything you can about the company you're interviewing with.

The information you secure will help you:

A) Ask relevant questions that make the dialogue between you and the interviewer more interesting and significant;

B) Take a more active approach in the interview. The discussion can be more in-depth rather than superficial.

C) Sell yourself as a problem solver and a “doer,” someone who knows how to identify problems and come up with the solutions.

The Internet contains a wealth of information on businesses - large and small. My favorite source of obtaining information on publicly traded companies is through Finance.Yahoo.com. In the search box, just enter the company name (or ticker symbol, if you have it). This will give you a broad look at the company as well as the key executives in charge. You’ll see other helpful things to click on, such as the company financials, charts, and company news.

Another way to seek corporate information is to go into Google News. Put the name of the company in the search box and recent business activity involving the company will come up.
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Posting Your Resume? Wait!!

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You’ve heard it said, “You only have one chance to make a first impression.” For the job seeker, that impression is your resume.

At the end of a job fair held in Greensboro, NC on February 25, 2009, an HR Director was interviewed on one of the local news stations. “The biggest problem applicants have,” he said, “is their resume.”

He went on to indicate how vitally important it is to make sure your resume is:

- worded properly,
- kept concise,
- typed in proper font size and style, and most important,
- matches your objective to the position you’re applying for.

This may mean a few resumes that are tailor made for the specific role you’re going for.

Start Now! Career Guide helps you create the strongest, most effective document that will shoot your resume to the top of the pile.

We’ll help you discover experiences and qualifications you may have overlooked… talents that will have hiring managers take notice. And we’ll show you how to make it look picture perfect.

The guide also contains every letter imaginable that’s needed for an effective search, from networking letters to the thank-you and acceptance letters.

Plus, there’s a full section devoted to sharpening your interviewing strategies and skills.

Visit our website: http://www.startnowcareers.com/

View the samples on the site, and if you don't feel this guide provides what you need in your search, e-mail us at our web link or here on our blog and tell us why. Our goal is to help you get the job you’re seeking!

Start Now!

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It's Lonely Out There

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Even though you know you're among thousands (heck, millions nationwide) of job seekers, it's impossible not to feel isolated and alone.

I ran across a recent post. In it the author wrote, "In a world dominated by self-agrandized agitprop, people need to rely on their own perception and problem solving skills."

I'll have to look up some of those words, but the essence of what he or she said couldn't be more true. As my Mom used to tell me, "Only you are resposible your own direction in life."

Yes, life throws curveballs at us when we least expect them. But it's how we bounce back that matters. Grieve a little. Get a little angry if you must. When the dust settles, be calm, take matters into your own hands, think clearly, work out a strategy, and take action.
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One Bad Experience

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On an AOL job search message board, I found a post from a reader named John. The article he posted to was titled, "Do you still need a cover letter?"

John's experiences seemed very telling as he wrote, "The country is fresh out of CEOs. A resume is sent to people that have a job, and an empty waste basket. They got theirs....you ain't gettin' yours!"

What are your thoughts?
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