FRACAT - Free Resume And Career Toolbox Blog

Since I reviewed some resume blogs the other day, I’m not going to talk about your blog today.

Perhaps reviewing resume blogs will become a Saturday thing. If you’d like your blog reviewed (and are using it / have used it to get a job), shoot me an e-mail at dsweet-at-fracat.com

But, for today, I’ll just push you in the direction of a game for whenever you have a free 4 seconds.

This way, you can still get your video game fix for the day, but it won’t consume you and keep you from working. Unless you start stringing together those 4 seconds….

This is also a great game for those of us who at least seem like we have ADD. Even we can focus for 4 sec… Ooo! Look! Something shiny!


Enjoy the Search!

Dan
—–
Daniel R. Sweet
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 Jaxtr: http://www.jaxtr.com/fracat


Photo by: saital

Another week, another hurricane (though Umberto turned into a Category 1 just as it hit land). Yes, here in Houston, we had another hurricane hit nearby and our weatherpeople got in a frenzy. Typical Fall week in Houston…

Anyway, this week in the quicklinks, you’ll find some
and more.

So, read on. It’s just a little rain. Really.

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My first website - many, many years ago - was basically stolen from a very popular tech site at the time (it was LockerGnome, if you must know).

Given that I didn’t have any traffic to speak of and I did do a bit of customization, it never really caused any problems. But coming up with your own completely new ideas when you’re first starting out can be tough.

I know I’ve talked a lot about Resume Blogs and that you should have one. Do you have one yet? You really should have one….

In any case, many of you have wondered what a Resume Blog should look like. I have hesitated to answer that question because there are many possibilities and it should reflect you more than what I think it ought to be.

That being said, I thought I could at least give you a few examples of Resume Blogs that I have encountered and what I might change about them.

If nothing else, it’ll give you a catalog to steal from…

So, read on for my Rousing Resume Blog Review…

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Well, everyone is apparently taking my productivity advice…

The AP released a story that says US Workers are Most Productive.

It’s true that we spend more hours at our jobs than most “rich” countries (the “poor” countries apparently work incessantly and still don’t produce much value), but we also produce more “wealth per hour” than any other country in the world other than Norway.

Norway, you’re next.

Anyway, what all this productivity means is that U.S. companies are doing everything they can to both track and improve the value of the work that they are doing. And, if you want to get ahead, you should be doing the same with your job.

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I was amazed. I was furious. I was late for work.

As I was getting myself all together for work, my wife had turned on the TV and we watched a replay of the 1st plane hitting the World Trade Center. We then watched the 2nd plane hit live.

This was terrible stuff and I wanted to know more, but I had to get to work.

Little did I know how much those planes crashing into those towers 1,500 miles away from me would affect my career. Companies would lay me and a ton of other people off. A few companies I worked for would just go out of business.

Work would be hard to find for years to come and would drive many technology people into other industries and lives. Like bagging groceries or selling cars or whatever they could find.

The world is an unpredictable place. Anything could happen at any moment that will lead to loss of job, changing of industry landscapes, or just plain shutting down of your company. Are you prepared for drastic, dramatic, instant career change?

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There are an increasing number of churches these days (including some of the largest in the country) that have given up talking about “negative things” and are teaching a “health and wealth” doctrine.

That is, if you have enough faith, God will grant you all of the good things here on Earth that you could ever desire. You’ll be rich, healthy, and without any real problems in your life.

This is a very popular teaching, particularly with us Americans, because it only makes (human) sense that if we make God happy, He’ll give us stuff. Sort of like a heavenly genie.

With this in mind, a lot of people start wondering what it means when they get laid off, can’t find a job, or are just plain unhappy in their jobs. Is God mad at them? Have they done something wrong? Do they not have enough faith?

Luckily, none of those things are (probably) true. Read on to find out why not.

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For those of you who haven’t really been paying attention (and who can blame you!), you may have missed the ongoing drama with Monster.

I’ll summarize the rollercoaster ride below.

But, while watching an industry giant crumble is educational and perhaps entertaining, that’s not the important part here. The important part is how it puts you at risk and how you can protect yourself.

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Friday already? Yes, it’s true. Those 3-day weekends can speed along Fridays faster than a weatherman can get into the path of a hurricane.

This week you’ll find some myths about being a home-based worker, how to use LinkedIn for your career, why you need a recruiter when you’re not looking for a job, a true story about the worst boss in the world, how to speed up elevators, and more.

So, read on. It’s good for you.

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Are you in a bad job? As a recruiter, I talk to a lot of people who think so. And, frankly, they’re all rather grumpy about it.

But, as the Nerd Guru recently pointed out, a bad job can lead to great things.

In the case that the Guru pointed out, in a particularly bad year of Saturday Night Live, Larry David was an unhappy, unsuccessful writer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus was an unsuccessful cast member.

Both were spectacularly unsatisfied, unremarkable, and unsuccessful at SNL. However, that relationship worked out really well for both of them in later life (a la the Seinfeld show). If not for that terrible job, neither one would have probably been successful later.

How are you profiting from your bad job? How can you? And what’s with that dandelion picture? Read on.

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Do you have references available for companies to call? If so, do they get the snot bugged out of them by all of the HR people & recruiters calling them?

Yeah - it’s a bummer the way that works. You are happy that the reference will talk to people about you, but you don’t want them called 50 times a week.

On the other hand, HR people ask for the references up front and you don’t want to be a “problem child” right from the beginning. You at least want to wait until after they hire you…

So, the big question is how do you fire up your candidacy with references without bugging them so much that they’re sorry they agreed to be a reference?

Today, I have the three keys to references for you…

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