plus 3, Career Tool for Job Seekers and Employers Now Available ... - PRWeb |
- Career Tool for Job Seekers and Employers Now Available ... - PRWeb
- Tweet Your Way To a Better Career - Newsweek
- How bad credit can affect your job search - CreditCards.com
- Hundreds of job seekers attend 2010 Career Expo - Democrat and Chronicle
| Career Tool for Job Seekers and Employers Now Available ... - PRWeb Posted: 20 Apr 2010 04:45 AM PDT A newly available mobile tool is connecting would-be workers with career choices that match their interests and personalities. Self-Directed Search® Mobile (SDS Mobile) helps job seekers pinpoint fulfilling careers. Lutz, Fla. (PRWEB) April 20, 2010 -- A newly available mobile tool is connecting would-be workers with career choices that match their interests and personalities. The SDS Mobile takes the original SDS career assessment tool and makes it accessible via any internet-enabled smart phone. The SDS Mobile is a simulated career counseling experience that enables individuals to choose careers and fields of study that best match their self-reported skills, interests and values. The assessment includes questions about aspirations, activities, competencies, occupations and other self-estimates. The new tool is designed for:
The original SDS was featured in a four-part series on Good Morning America in 2008, when the program's anchors completed the test and worked a day in one of the professions the tool identified for them. The cost to complete the SDS Mobile is $4.95, which includes a detailed report of results. The test takes 20-30 minutes to complete. The original SDS has been used by 30-million people and is available in 25 languages. Its results have been supported by more than 500 research studies. About PAR, Inc. ### Post Comment: Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | |||||||||
| Tweet Your Way To a Better Career - Newsweek Posted: 20 Apr 2010 06:33 AM PDT Some people use Twitter to broadcast what they had for lunch. Others, like those in Iran, tweet to protest oppressive regimes. But can you tweet and social-network your way to a new job or a promotion? "Everyone's job hunt is networking," says Penelope Trunk, founder of Brazen Careerist, a social-networking site. "Job hunters used go into a room full of people. Twitter is like a much bigger room." With Twitter, you may only get 140 characters to be intriguing or inane. But unlike Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social-networking sites that require other users to approve your connection, Twitter encourages disparate strangers to subscribe to one anothers' streams. For anyone looking for a job or a promotion, that often means direct access to a prospective employer: a move that eliminates the idea of a good ol' boys' network. "It's a public atmosphere. Everyone is on the same platform, and they have the same rights," says Dan Schawbel, the 26-year-old author of the personal-branding book, Me 2.0.
For the unintiated, here's some context: Twitter is a cross between a newsfeed and a mini-blog that job hunters can use as a way to both listen to others and to establish themselves as experts in a particular field. Every few seconds, one of the service's 106 million users posts a 140-character message—either an original note or a message that highlights or republishes another person's link. Job hunters can use Twitter to show off their knowledge of a particular industry, while companies often use it as way to publicize information. This constant interplay lets job seekers research companies and lets businesses search for Web-savvy potential employees. That's how 23-year-old Stephanie Maruca found her entry-level job at BlissPR in November 2009. She knew she wanted to work in New York after graduating from the University of Maryland. But given the economy and the tight job market, she realized she needed to be creative. "I'm convinced when you send your resume to a company, it goes into a big black hole," she says. Instead, she turned to Twitter, which she opted to use as a search engine and as a way to connect with hiring managers. She started following partners at several New York City public-relations firms. One day, a partner tweeted about a job opening. Maruca sent her a note through the service, called a "direct message" in Twitter parlance. This led to an interview and eventually, an offer. Maruca successfully used Twitter in her job hunt in part because she didn't simply rely on it to promote herself. While it's fine to share your work with others, you also need to talk to people and share links to interesting information. Twitter etiquette demands that people give and take. Schwabel, for instance, says he spends up to two hours a day retweeting other people's messages and linking to new companies, groups, or individuals. "It's social capital," he says. If you're only in it for the self-promotion, fellow tweeters will tune you out, as they would with an annoying television commercial. The second Twitter commandment is that job seekers should not be afraid to take the conversation offline. Use Twitter feeds as a way to research three or four companies you'd like to work for, but when you want to reach out to them, do so in an e-mail or through a phone call. Though Twitter is a great tool for introducing people, it does not supplant the importance of personal contact. Twitter may be fast-paced and concise, but job hunters still need to recognize the need to keep things professional online. Hiring managers don't want to hear about your significant other or what you did last night, nor do they want to read lanuage that is full of text-message shorthand. "I recommend that people don't lose their professional edge on Twitter," says Erin T. Martz, a career counselor and member of the American Counseling Association. This includes everything from writing grammatically correct tweets to putting up a professional photo to sending thanks to people who follow you. If Twitter is like a huge room of people or a networking party, it's a good place to show off your smarts. Still, in this ever-connected world, job seekers need to treat all fellow Tweeters as potential colleagues or bosses. © 2010 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |||||||||
| How bad credit can affect your job search - CreditCards.com Posted: 20 Apr 2010 06:25 AM PDT How bad credit can affect your job searchMoney missteps can hurt your job prospects, but not all mistakes weigh the sameBy Tamara E. Holmes
If you're looking to make a career change, you may think the tight job market is the biggest obstacle to securing your dream job. Yet for many Americans whose credit has taken a hit in the recession, a blemished credit report may be a bigger problem as companies increasingly use credit reports as a method of vetting potential candidates. "Companies seem to be checking credit reports more as they feel this is more reliable then checking references," says Timothy A. Wilson, founder of T.A. Wilson & Associates, a Northborough, Mass.-based human resources consulting firm. Indeed, 60 percent of employers surveyed in 2009 by the Alexandria, Va.-based Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) said they conduct credit checks of prospective employees, up from 42 percent in 2006. What information are they hoping to gain? Good credit can indicate a level of responsibility that's desirable in employees. It can also give employers an idea of whether they can trust an employee around money. "Some employers think that someone with bad credit would be more likely to steal," says Donna M. Ballman, an employment attorney based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. But with an unemployment rate of nearly 10 percent, the number of people who've experienced financial difficulties has risen dramatically and, "if you have bad credit today, it just means you're living in this decade," Ballman adds. Varying costs of bad creditCredit checks weigh more heavily in hiring decisions for certain types of jobs, such as those with financial responsibility. So employers may be less willing to hire someone with bad credit in an accounting or payroll department "because they feel you might be a risk of embezzlement," says Wilson. Other types of jobs in which a credit report may factor heavily include senior executive positions, and positions in which candidates would have access to confidential employee information such as salary, benefits and medical information, SHRM reports. Every negative infraction on a credit report doesn't carry the same weight. According to the SHRM survey, 64 percent of firms said outstanding judgments such as lawsuits filed in court were most likely to affect their hiring decisions. Next in line were accounts in debt collection, with 49 percent of respondents saying such accounts would weigh negatively on a candidate's job prospects. Comparatively speaking, 18 percent said a high debt-to-income ratio would impact their hiring decision negatively, 11 percent said a foreclosure would keep them from hiring an employee and only 1 percent would look negatively upon medical debt. An important note for job seekers who've declared bankruptcy: Employers are prohibited by law from refusing to hire someone based solely on a bankruptcy, though they could point to factors that led to the bankruptcy, such as unpaid debts, says Ballman. The applicant's rightsWhile employers are legally allowed to perform credit checks under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, they can't do so without your permission. "They have to inform you that someone is going to be conducting a credit check, and they have to get your permission in writing," says Ballman. You can obviously refuse, but that may take you out of the running for the job, Wilson warns. The good news is most employers won't bother running a credit report until they're impressed enough with you to offer you a job, so perhaps a better way to handle a blemished credit report would be to explain to prospective employers why your credit has taken a hit. "Paint your own picture rather than have them see the foreclosure or bankruptcy and form their own opinions," says Geoff Williams, co-author of "Living Well with Bad Credit." Wilson agrees, saying the point at which you sign the form authorizing the credit check might be the ideal time to bring up problems with your credit. If an employer refuses to hire you based on your credit, he or she must issue a "pre-adverse action disclosure," which basically includes a copy of the credit report that was used to make the decision, along with a summary of your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. After the adverse action is taken, the employer must give you contact information for the credit bureau that provided the report so that you can dispute it if need be. Such actions likely won't help you get that current job, but at least you know what you're dealing with moving forward and you can get credit inaccuracies and blemishes cleaned up for the future. Though many job seekers must deal with the employment credit check today, there are efforts being made to change that. "Approximately16 states have proposed laws outlawing credit checks for use in employment applications," says Ballman. "And in Hawaii and Washington State, it's already illegal to use credit information for hiring." There are also efforts on the federal level with Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, authoring legislation to prohibit credit checks in the hiring process. Though such legislation could help those with bad credit in the future, job hunters today should not feel intimidated because of their credit history and still put their best foot forward in job interviews and throughout the hiring process. "If a manager really wants someone for the job, their support can overrule a problem credit report," says Wilson. See related: Better credit can mean better job prospects, Options are limited for bad credit customers, 9 tips for job seekers with bad credit, How bad credit affects a new marriage Published: April 19, 2010
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |||||||||
| Hundreds of job seekers attend 2010 Career Expo - Democrat and Chronicle Posted: 16 Apr 2010 06:52 AM PDT Suits and sweaty palms took over the DoubleTree Hotel Thursday. More than 25 companies staffed booths and hoped to fill hundreds of jobs at the packed 2010 Career Expo in Henrietta sponsored by Careerbuilder.com and the Democrat and Chronicle Media Group. The free event attracted a wide variety of job seekers, including a large number of young professionals. Paychex, the University of Rochester, First Niagara Bank and the city of Rochester were just a few of the organizations that drew long lines of anxious job seekers armed with résumés and firm handshakes. Organizers expected more than 3,500 people, similar to the number of attendees at last year's event. Many of the job seekers in attendance were casualties of layoffs, like Emmanuel Hernandez. "I'm looking for an opportunity to better myself and trying to find something to secure myself and my family," said the 26-year-old Rochester resident. Pam Twyer, an engineer who's been unemployed for more than a year, said she came with the hopes of finding any position — even if it's outside her realm of expertise. "I've heard a lot of people telling me I'm under qualified or over qualified, and having someone say you're over qualified hurts the most because you work so hard to get your degree and get experience," said the 30-year-old Rochester resident. Employers had anywhere from three to hundreds of open positions to fill — all in different aspects of the company. Continental School of Beauty has five to six open positions to fill, and not all of them require cosmetology experience. "There are opportunities here that are more than just cutting hair," said spa coordinator Betty Vieira. Vieira said they also hope to attract people looking for a second career or searching for a new career path altogether. Some companies, like Brown & Brown Insurance are navigating the large pool of candidates for just the three to four open positions they have. "Because of the economy, the market has switched, and employers have to sort through candidates and make sure we do our due diligence to pick out the best," said Kate Dayton, employee benefits account manager. Even recent college grads were looking to increase their chances of finding a job. Mark Czelusniak, who graduated from the University at Buffalo last year, is searching for a video editing job. And he'd like to stay in Rochester. "Right now it's about meeting people in order to network," said the 23-year-old Spencerport resident. "That's what's going to help me find a job." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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