FRACAT - Free Resume And Career Toolbox Blog

Once again, I find myself with way too much blog material to ever get to. So, I’m going to list a lot of “stuff” I found that I’ve been saving up.

There’s no link for this that I could find, but the JobBound newsletter had a great quote: “If what is written on your resume can be written by the person who did the job, before, with, or after you, then you haven’t done yourself justice. Resumes need to be infused with numbers, data, records, and accomplishments. These quantifiable and measurable details will dramatically improve your resume.”

The Guerrilla Job Hunter talks about How To Use a Cast Study to Land a Job.

The Washington Post did a series on Finishing School for All Workers.

IT Executives have a new place to network online from InfoWorld.

From Ziff-Davis, a report that says, “More Employers Monitoring Computer Activity - and Firing Violators”

While we’ve missed the Tuesday they’re talking about, Heather Mundell of Life@Work talks about Take Back Your Time Day which, really, is every day.

John Hadley over at John Hadley and Associates had a great newsletter article that ended with, “So, whether it’s networking meetings, your 30 second pitch, interviews, follow-up calls, or even simple phone calls to set up a meeting, I would urge you to find someone you can role play with and practice, practice, practice! Don’t let an important meeting or call become a trial run, unless you really don’t care about getting the best results!”

FORBES has an article useful for job hunters that tells about Ten Ways To Tell If Someone Is Lying To You.

Zale Tabakman has a PDF of LinkedIn Job Hunting Tips

That should do it for today.

Have a great weekend!

Dan
—–
Daniel R. Sweet
Owner / Author / Chief Cook-And-Bottle-Washer / Technical Recruiter
FRACAT.com - Free Resume and Career Toolbox
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielrsweet
Call Me On Jaxter: http://www.jaxtr.com/fracat


Photo by: Real Buried Treasure

Just time for a quickie today…

A lot of people lose perspective about their jobs and can’t quite tell whether “it’s a job - they’re all this way” or “it’s time to quit!”

From Hotjobs, here’s an objective look at target="HJ" alt="HotJobs: How To Know When It's Time To Go">How To Know When It’s Time To Quit.

So, is it time for you to leave? Be sure to check out our Jobs listings to see if your next perfect position is there.


Enjoy the Search!

Dan


Photo by: fuzzcat

How dedicated to finding a job are you, really?

The reason I ask is because there are jobs all over the place. And, frequently, your job is in another city. Or another state.

Are you willing to go get it? Do you know how it could accelerate your job search?

Read on to find out more…

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Most people think about asking for raises as a high-stress, sweaty-paln, potentially career-ending event that they’d rather not do.

However, as we’ve all heard, there’s more than one way to skin a cat (although I’ve never tried even that one way, whatever it is) and there’s more than one way to get a raise.

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As Bob Sutton notes on his blog (where I stole this story in the first place):

Unfortunately, many professional service firms – especially those like law firms that bill by the hour – systematically weed out people who don’t think and act this way, as they are less “profitable.”

I have worked for such companies and I know that they operate just that way.

In fact, I remember a major computer company based in Houston, TX who was having a layoff. During this layoff, they forced their Professional Services managers to rank their people by billable hours. The folks with the lowest billable hours got a bonus of a nice pink slip.

The question is who really won in that situation?
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If you work for a consultancy, a lawfirm, or other similar industry, OR are out on your own and billing by the hour, there is a good chance that you’re locked up tight in the shackles of Billable Slavery.

Drs. Stanford DeVoe and Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford University explored how it affects people to bill or be paid hourly and the findings are very interesting.

I regularly do recruiting for technology consulting companies (anyone know a Microsoft BI guy or a Houston-based Sharepoint developer?), but I make sure that my candidates know what they’re getting into.

Do you? Let’s find out with the Top 10 Signs That You’re a Billable Slave!
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Over at Cheezehead, I was reading about whether Jobster is on the way down the tubes and if Jason Goldberg was to blame.

It all reminded me of the dotcom era and all of the fast-growing, highly funded startups we had. There’s nothing wrong with these kinds of companies as long as you know what you’re getting into.

While they’ve sold you on “the next thing” and “a company of millionaires”, it’s probably not going to happen. But it sure is a fun ride!

Below is my Timeline of a High Flier that applies to 90% of startups, both then and now. Take a look and see where your company is. Not because you want to leave. Because you’ll want to be prepared to leave when the time comes.

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I think one of the best things in life is working from home. Even before I went off on my own, I had a home office for my previous corporate jobs.

I currently have 3 girls at home, but I probably worked more from home than I could ever have done at the office.

Many people with children at home will be scared into the office by the prospect of those children interrupting important business. Let me be the one to expose that lie: I don’t care how many children you have, they will interrupt less than your co-workers in the average office!

While there are many upsides to working from home, there is one significant downside: You won’t be promoted.

Let’s talk about the reasons for this and, perhaps, what you can do about it.
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For those of you who haven’t been looking for a job, you’ve missed the lucrative late year hiring that goes on every year. As reported over on Six Degrees from Dave, there were about 167,000 jobs added in December.

And before you start whining to me about, “Yeah, Dan, but they were low-paying jobs! Nobody is making any good jobs! The economy sucks and the world is coming to an end!”, don’t.

Here are the facts:

1. The U.S. is at Full Employment - Generally speaking, below 5% unemployment is considered “full employment” because some people aren’t looking, some are students, some have left the job market to have babies, etc.
2. The U.S. Economy Continues To Grow - Whatever your opinion about the economy has been in the past, there is no way to deny the strength of the economy today. It has been growing since 9/11 and sometime over the last 2-3 years (depending on who you ask), it has become the strongest economy ever.

   Yes, including the peak of the dot com era.

3. Any Added Jobs At Any Level Are Good News For You - Since we’re at full employment and the economy is growing, any added jobs means that there is increasing competition for employees. Increased competition for employees means that wages and benefits start rising.
4. It Is Now a Choice To Be Unemployed - Yes, this is rather harsh. But it’s also true. If you can’t get a job now, you either aren’t really trying or you need new skills.

   If it’s the latter, get the job you canget (which won’t be your dream job) and go to school to get the skills you need.

5. Now Is The Time To Figure Out What Your Dream Job Is - Since the clamoring for good employees is going to get worse (or better, if you’re a candidate) from here, you need to sit down and decide what your dream job is.

   Work from home? Located in Katmandu? Whatever it is, figure it out. There’s going to be a bunch of headhunters like me coming your way and if you can tell them exactly what you’re looking for, there’s a good chance you’ll get it!

A large part of success is being at the right place at the right time. Now is the right time. Do what it takes to be in the right place.


Enjoy the Search!

-Dan
—–
Daniel R. Sweet
Owner / Author / Chief Cook-And-Bottle-Washer
FRACAT.com - Free Resume and Career Toolbox
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielrsweet
Call Me On Jaxter: http://www.jaxtr.com/fracat

Photo by: cell105

I was reading the cantankerous Your HR Guy blog recently and he was going off on video resumes.

I’ll agree with him that most video resumes today don’t have much to recommend them. And I’ll agree that most resumes are, at best, bland, and often train wrecks.

I’ll also agree that most people pushing video resumes are websites who are charging you for creating / storing / displaying them.

However, before people start to think that I’m just like that ‘ol cantankerous HR Guy, that’s where my agreement ends. I do think there is a place for video resumes.

Allow me to explain.

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