by: Christine Zafra
Have you ever encountered those job vacancies which highlight “at least 3, 4 or 5 years experience required”? Have you ever tried to apply to those job vacancies even if you don’t have experience? Why not? Were you afraid that you might get rejected by the moment the employer sees your resume without any work experience written on it? Don’t. Try applying to those jobs and see if you can get past through the application screener. If you do, then there must be a purpose. Either your academic accomplishments weighed heavier than the experience they were looking for in a person, or they just found something in your resume that says you are capable of the job vacancy they are offering.
Photo taken from http://fivepointsstaffing.com
When finding a job, you can check publications and print media. Good sources of employment opportunities are local newspaper’s classified ads and city/county magazines or newsletters. Industry publications and trade journals also provide job advertisements on specific careers such as nursing, psychiatry, radiology, computer technology, etc. These journals may have job ads that take up the whole page for positions that have a high demand.
You may also get the services of employment agencies or headhunters. These may cost some money, but they can do the work of matching you to the employer that is looking for applicants like you. Some employers use these agencies to locate their possible employees.
There are a lot of reasons why you would want to get a retirement job:
1. The yearning to remain active and earning a meaningful income is still there. You can earn your keep, and will not depend on your children to fund you in any way.
2. You just love the work that you do and to stop working completely will be unacceptable or unthinkable. Also, you derive immense enjoyment and satisfaction from working.
3. You want to interact and socialize with people to be able to still lead an active life. Build up a network of colleagues and friends, and stay in a positive or social environment to fight loneliness or boredom.
To make your job interview run smoothly, you have to remember the names and professional titles of the people who will interview you. Prepare copies of your resume and bring them to your interview. If you have a questionable gap in your job history, think about a good explanation for it. You don’t have to lie, but you need to word it properly to avoid sounding negative. For example, you might say that you decided to attend a training workshop or you took some time off to focus on something that you wanted to do.
Dress professionally to look smart and sharp. Arrive 10-15 minutes early on the day of the interview to prepare yourself and your nerves.
irst, you must decide what kind of job you want to look for. Then, you have to make a resume. Focus it on the skills and qualifications that you have. Follow a professional format and detail the history of your job experiences.
Let your family members, friends and former co-workers know that you are in the market right now to search for a job. Who knows, the best opportunity might come from them. Search in the internet, newspaper classified ads and job fairs. You may also want to consider searching around the neighborhood for job openings in banks, restaurants, etc.
An increase in competition and trend data that indicate that the number of Americans graduating with degrees in the technical fields is not increasing to meet rising demand means that more employers are turning to foreign-born students to meet their employment needs. One-third of employers responding to the survey reported that they plan to hire international students this year. In fact, approximately, 40 percent of respondents in the Northeast reported plans to hire international students.
Employers expressed an interest in graduates with electrical, civil, and mechanical engineering, and computer science degrees.
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Employers plan to target business, engineering, and computer-related degrees at both the bachelors and masters degree level in 2007-2008. This year, at the bachelors level, the list is topped by accounting, followed by mechanical and electrical engineering, and computer science.
Masters level
At the doctorate degree level, employers will mainly target computer engineering and electrical engineering graduates, followed by computer science, mechanical engineering, and business administration/management.
Employers looking for graduates with associate degrees, too
The demand for associate degree graduates appears to have dipped slightly for 2007-08 graduates. In 2005-06, 33 percent of employers said they would hire two-year graduates; in 2006-07, it was 39 percent of employers. This year, only 27 percent plan to hire associate degree graduates.
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Before You Go Online, Answer These Questions
The answers to these questions will begin to build a list of Keywords you can use in your search.
What Do You Want to Do? What Can You Do? (Skills and Occupations)
What skills do you have, what interests, etc. Identify general occupations that interest you, not specific job titles.
Think healthcare or sales, not Chief Medical Officer or Director of International Sales
Who Do You Want to Work For? (Industries and Employer Preferences)
What industry interests you, what type of employer? If you have some specific companies you want to target, great!
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It’s all good and well that you’re handing out resume’s and CVs to companies you want to work for, you really have an edge when you’re tech savvy and have an online presence that is accessible to many. But with LinkedIn, you can post your qualifications here while prospective employers review the different skill sets posted so that they have a better idea of who to choose to hire. LinkedIn is also absolutely free, and does not need any sort of software to be downloaded or installed.
The website operates much the same way that social networking giants like Facebook and MySpace, except that here, people (you included) are not just commodities – they aim to establish contacts and professional relationships among people. You don’t just add someone because he or she is good-looking, he or she HAS to be a legitimate contact.
There are a lot of startups on the internet looking for inspired people who are willing to earn a buck and help clean up the earth at the same time. Green is in and it is the best bet for those with minimal skills that these firms often provide. If you happen to have experience with hard work in the industry, then they can surely use your help. Installers for solar panels and even wind turbines may have a need for the adventurous types who love heights and are willing to learn new stuff all the time. Interested in how you can help mother nature, then this is the job for you. The industry of alternative power is growing by leaps and bounds with more and more people opting to spend more to make their lives less of an impact to mother nature. You even get to earning a living in one of the fastest growing industries out there in the jobless strewn streets of the world.