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March 1st Community Career Fair at OWATC

The LDS Employment Resource Center is offering a Community Career Fair at The OWATC at 200 N. Washington Blvd. in Ogden.
OWATC Students/Alumni – 2:00 – 3:00

General Public – 3:00 – 6:30 pm.
Come meet with top employers from Northern Utah and explore over 50
training programs!

We look forward to seeing you there, it would be helpful to you if you
were able to bring a resume.

Any questions call Sister Barbara Siglin at the LDS Employment Resource
Center at 1525 Lincoln Ave, Ogden.
801-394-8801

C’MON MAN Interview Strategy

I read an article on interview strategy. Here’s the opening clip:

Think of the big interview as game day. What’s your strategy? How will you practice, suit up and meet the opposing team? Follow our advice so you’re prepared to play your best  http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview/interview-preparation/interview-game-plan/article.aspx?WT.mc_n=CRMUS000096

The opposing team? Cue Boomer and the boys “C’MON MAN!” The last thing you want to do is go into an interview with the mindset that your potential employer is the enemy. That will generate the negative emotions that are associated with going to battle. And don’t kid yourself, you will come off that way to the employer. How about going into an interview and treating it for what it is: pitching your big idea to a financier who is about to get excited about you and your idea. You are teammates, not arch rivals. This is your CAREER, a long term relationship; not a flash in the pan Monday Night Football game.

Check out one of my favorite C’MON MAN moments from this NFL season http://www.yougotschooled.com/2011/01/03/cmon-man-2010/

p.s. After all that I will say that there are some articles worth reading on that monster.com post.

Utah Job Camp this Thursday January 27 3pm – 8pm

If you are interested and have some time Thursday you may learn a thing or two at this event to help in your hunt for a job. You don’t have to attend the entire camp, you can pick applicable topics. I worked for LDS Employment Services and I know that they provide above average advice that has been compiled from seasoned and experienced men and women. Hope this will help.

WHAT: Northern Utah Job Camp

WHEN: Thursday, 27 January 2011 (3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.)

WHERE: Bountiful Regional Center
Address:  835 North 400 East, North Salt Lake, Utah

While not a job fair, human resource personnel from dozens of companies will be on hand to offer workshops on such topics as working from home, reinventing yourself and the effective use of social media in business.

The job camp allows us to bring together resources, including speakers and workshops, to a single location, said Richard Vunder, Ogden Manager for LDS Employment Resource Services. Job seekers gain valuable information without the need to drive from place to place to get their questions answered.

Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey will speak on ?Positive Economic Changes in Northern Utah. Other speakers will address how to work with recruiters and dealing with the stress of unemployment.
Previous events similar to this have been very popular. It is anticipated that hundreds of people will attend.
LDS Employment Resource Services is open to individuals without regard to religious affiliation. Currently there over 100 LDS employment resource centers in the United States and more than 150 located throughout Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Europe and Latin America.  The centers offer free services, including job postings, job search instruction, resume classes, one-on-one assistance and career services for professionals such as practice video interviews.
Additional Speakers:
4:00    Bruce Muir – Director of Domestic and International Operations for LDS Employment Resource Services “Using LDS ERS to your advantage”
4:45    Jennifer Armistead – “Working with Recruiters”
5:30    Gary Brough – “Dress for Success”
6:15    Dr. Todd Baird – Professor of Psychology and Family Therapist “Dealing With the Stress of Unemployment”

Workshops (Times 3:30, 4:30, 5:00, 6:00, 6:30, 7:30)

Reinventing Yourself, Gustavo Estrada 3:30 & 6:30
Working From Home, Brenda Smith 6:30
Networking Resumes/Informational Interviews, Jeff Foy 3:30 & 5:00
Resumes, Kathleen Alder 3:30 & 5:00
Benefits for the Unemployed, Department of Workforce Services 5:00
Starting a Business, Andrew Willis 6:30
LinkedIn (Social Networking, Shane Otvos 3:30, 5:00, & 6:30
Employment Specialist/Leader Training, Ongoing Throughout Event (Room 5 Dressing Room)

For additional information, call LDS Employment Resource Services at 801-394-8801 or 801-298-4700

Give your resume a name!

Give your resume a name! It’s simple, but effective. Most search engines ask if you’d like to name your resume when you upload it. Why should you do it? Third party recruiters can get spread pretty thin on time. One of the first steps they take to find a candidate is go to a search engine and perform a quick keyword search such as Product Manager, Java Developer, and Customer Service. Make sure YOUR RESUME comes up at the top of that list.

IT WORKS! Once when I was searching for a job I had 2 companies that were preparing offers for me and I was dead set on my decision. Then at the last moment I received a call from a 3^rd company and to be honest I almost didn’t return their phone call. I was glad I did because they ended up being the best fit and offered me the best package as well. After I was hired the recruiter said she found me by using that quick search on Monster.com and my resume was at the top.

Links to more jobs

There are times when the positions I have available don’t match a candidate. If that is the case, I would like to just give some tips that may be helpful in the job hunt. Included is a list of places to search online that may expand your job search.

Job search engines (these are your traditional pay to post websites for employers): www.monster.com , www.theladders.com , www.ksl.com , www.CraigsList.org , www.hotjobs.yahoo.com

Gov’t. job search engine: https://jobs.utah.gov/jsp/utahjobs/seeker/search/search.do

Metasearch engines (these sites pull from several search engines and websites and act as a broker to link you to those sites): www.indeed.com , www.linkup.com , www.jobster.com , www.juju.com ,  www.vast.com , www.SimplyHired.com , www.oodle.com

Alumni boards (you do not have to be an alumnus to job search on the BYU site, the job search on the Utah site is for alumni only but the link below is available to the public and has great links to local newspaper classified ads, etc) : http://alumni2.byu.edu/Sections/Placement/index.cfm?event=search_getSearchCriteria http://careers.utah.edu/jobs/utahjobs.htm.

Small local online networks: http://hiremynetwork.iapplicants.com , http://wenjobs.com/searchjobs.php.

Local networking groups: www.utahbni.com , https://marriottschool.byu.edu/mgtsoc/about.cfm , http://www.corporateconnectioninc.com.

What we have here is a failure to communicate (in the interview). How to be Cool Hand Luke in the interview.

There are 3 tips I usually give my clients to help them remain calm in their interviews so they don’t have a “failure to communicate.”

1. Power statements
2. Practice questions
3. Shop around

It’s tough to be prepared for every scenario in an interview, but these are 3 tips that usually help to ease your sweaty palms.

1. Power statements were designed by a board of business men for a non-profit organization’s efforts to help their members find employment. A power statement is a poignant expression of your past work.

e.g.  I am a hard worker. For example, when I worked at X Company I headed up a project focused on transitioning our companies operations. I was able to finish the project 6 months ahead of schedule and as a result I saved the company over $250,000.

Review all your past experiences and write down several of these statements so that you can practice them before hand.

2. Practice answering several of the standard questions that are asked in an interview. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve interviewed, anyone can get a little rusty.

3. Shopping around will keep you cool. Just like dating, you will never sweat when the worst thing that could happen is that you get the girl. The only way to be in that situation is to have more than one option that you are seriously interested in and vice versa.

Part 2 – A Resume Tip for Highly Experienced Professionals

So WHY is it important to reduce your resume to 2 pages or less?

First of all, if anyone disagrees with me and feels that a resume can be longer than 2 pages please voice your opinion.

I have been an in-house recruiter and 3^rd party recruiter. All we do is look at resumes ALL DAY LONG. I love the human interaction and not as much the data mining on resumes. So make it a little easier for us. The more poignant you are on your resume the better. Have a section that has the highlights and buzz words that are relevant to the job description and qualifications. Then if you want spend 20 pages telling me every little detailed accomplishment. I wouldn’t mind that at all. Most of that I will get from you in the interview process though, but knock yourself out. I just don’t want to knock myself out after spending too long reviewing your resume.

If you make other people’s jobs easier, you will earn their business and their friendship.

How to eliminate the GAPS in your res um é.

So there are many reasons why a professional would have gaps in their resumé. The key is finding a way to fill those gaps. Many of my clients are involved in contract work, which means they might work for 2 months to 2 years for a company on a temporary project. A lot of resume experts would suggest to leave some of those short term jobs out so that you look more stable. I get that, because you can appear to potential employers as unreliable. That can be a real turn off for them when they think of you as a candidate.

The way to overcome those misperceptions is to position yourself as a consultant. You can group 2, 3 or 4 of those contract positions under the umbrella of Business Flow Consultant or Software Developer Consultant. Now you’ve taken unreliable and transformed it to leader and innovator. “Well done my friend” (The Most Interesting Man in the World).

A Resume Tip for Highly Experienced Professionals

The highly experienced professional seems to have a unique dilemma when constructing his/her resume: A lot of experience and not enough space on a 1-2 page resume. So what do you do?

The first step is to personalize your resume for each position. When you have a skill set that you have developed over 10, 20, 30 years the opportunities tend to be limited. The more niche your skill set, the more limited the opportunities are in most cases. Therefore, you must take the time to review the job description and tailor your resume, accordingly.

The best way to do this is to have a “relevant experience” section. In this section you will DETAIL your ACCOMPLISHMENTS for each position that you’ve held which relates specifically to the job for which you’re applying. Get specific here. Think of your past relevant experiences and extract your accomplishments and duties for each position to match the requirements and job duties from the job description. Get specific and quantify your achievements.

Another useful section is a general work timeline section, which has only the company name, your title at that company and dates (specify years only). This section allows you to list your experience chronologically in case there are gaps in the “relevant experience” section.

Take it a step further. Go on their website, call their sales guys, and interview their receptionist so that you can learn the terminology and culture of the company. Many companies use spyder tools that scan your resume and the more your resume matches their language the more likely it will be found by the “spyder” or by a recruiter for that matter.

 This extra step will take you out of your comfort zone and will set you apart from the competition. You will already talk their language, so when you arrive for the interview it will feel like a match for you and for them. 

Attached is a sample resume that may give at least 1 idea on how to structure your resume, as outlined above. Best of luck.

Sample Resume