Comments for CircleBlog

Comment on Will Your Resume Pass The Parser? by Jim Edwards

Jim Edwards — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:06:19 +0000

Resumes only became customary after World War II, as a means for employers to eliminate unqualified candidates among scores of GIs looking for new jobs. Not much has changed. Nowadays, nearly every individual, starting a job search, begins by developing a resume, but decision makers only spend and average of ten seconds scanning them. A resume cannot do the heavy lifting in a job search. Its purpose is strictly to function, in conjunction with a follow-up call, as a marketing tool to initiate a conversation with the decision maker. Your goal should be to present your background and accomplishments in a visually appealing, reverse chronological order, with dates, succinctly and honestly. Stay away from functional resumes, extensive formatting and leaving dates off to hide age.

Comment on Pink Slip Party Networking – Getting a job over drinks. by Daren Dodson

Daren Dodson — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:27:32 +0000

I never heard of a Pink Slip party or attend one. But I think it is a great idea to get recruiters HR personnel and job seekers together in one area. God Bless.

Comment on Five Steps toward Eliminating Overwhelm by Jason Shick

Jason Shick — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:06:44 +0000

Julie,
Overwhelm seems to be my middle name. I have so many projects and things I want to accomplish before I make my exit from this world. Your list is enlightening and perhaps I need to pressure myself less. I’ve been trying to prioritize and slow down a little bit but I guess I have that American mentality inside- when I want it, I want it now. That causes me to run and run hard in so many directions. Not because I have to, but because I want to get it done quickly. Part of it is probably fear of not having enough time to accomplish all I want to accomplish- any advice for somebody like that?

Comment on Leadership Strategies: A Productivity Model by Jason Shick

Jason Shick — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:53:19 +0000

A couple comments. First, I completely agree that “you need to take purposeful action to create what you want.” Unfortunately, too many people in our society are so comfortable they don’t want to pursue anything that would require more effort. On the other side of that is people who had big dreams that fell through, so they don’t want to pursue anything out of fear of getting their hopes up again. Secondly, you hit the nail on the head with #2 – Project development. We must break the vision up into managable parts or the people we lead will easily become discouraged. It reminds me of the old adage that I keep posted near my desk “how do you eat an elephant?… one bite at a time.”

Comment on Social (Nut)working and Job Boards by Bill Bartmann

Bill Bartmann — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:00:05 +0000

Cool site, love the info.

Comment on What To Do If You Lose Your Job by Elizabeth Johnston

Elizabeth Johnston — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:01:22 +0000

Develop a strategy

To be effective, you have to determine what role you want to play, what industries and organizations would support that role and what you’re geographical preferences and limitations are. The task here is not to look for open positions, but to look for the decision makers in organizations that would have the role that you are seeking to fill.

Comment on Our Pink Slip Parties continue…Next stop: Baltimore by Bob Waldo

Bob Waldo — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:47:25 +0000

I find it interesting that people have expressed such frustrations from their attendance at these Pink Slip Parties. They aren’t job fairs, folks. They are networking events. Yes, there are employers that attend these events. Some have job openings, and some don’t.

I would advise people that they need to look at these networking events in a creative and pro-active light, as is required when the market conditions are as challenging as we see them right now. You need to network with as many people as you can, because the opportunity you seek isn’t going to be handed to you on a silver platter. You’re going to need to seek out that silver platter, and more than likely, it’s not going to be in the hands of the person in front of you. It’s going to be in the hands of the person who is in the network of the person you just met. Think about that for a minute, and I believe you will begin to understand the true value of what JobCircle is providing you for ten bucks.

If you take my advice, you’ll have a much different perspective on attending the upcoming Baltimore event, and come away from the evening’s activities with dozens of valuable professional network contacts. I personally have had six interviews since I was laid off in Mid March, and every one of those interviews is the result of working hard at networking. The Pink Slip Party is a gold mine in terms of enriching your own professional network, and can be a key element in the multi-faceted approach you need to have for a job search in these market conditions.

Yours in seeking a next career opportunity,

Bob

Comment on Pink Slip Party Success! by Bob Waldo

Bob Waldo — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:25:05 +0000

I’ve had a longstanding professional relationship with JobCircle.com, and when I heard about the Conshohocken Pink Slip Party, I knew it was a must-attend event. Recently laid-off myself, I knew the event could be leveraged in two ways.

First and foremost, I could make contact with potential employers and have the opportunity to meet face to face with employment representatives from those companies. Secondly, it was an opportunity to reach out to the community at large and offer candidates some Pro-Bono advice on how to navigate the turbulent waters of this difficult job market.

I accomplished both goals while attending and made numerous contacts that have enriched my network, and resulted in a win-win situation for myself, and the other attendees I met that evening.

Kudos to the JobCircle crew for putting on yet another class event.

Bob

Comment on Pink Slip Party Success! by Megan Cavanaugh

Megan Cavanaugh — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:15:05 +0000

-I was a little disappointed by the lack of recruiters, and all those who were wearing pink necklaces weren’t recruiters, but career coaches and resume builders. Though those services are extremely helpful, I was there to speak with people about employment.
-I thought the necklaces were a neat idea. If they were worn around the neck, it was helpful to see the glow from across the room. But for those who placed them on their wrist or belt loop defeated the purpose and therefore made it hard to see who the recruiters were.
-Next time, I would suggest having all recruiters at a table outlining the wall. That way, we are not a bunch of cattle searching aimlessly looking for pink necklaces and bumping into one another.
-Next time, I would also suggest that each recruiter have a lable/poster/sign on their table or high on the wall that states the type of jobs they are hiring for. That way, when we look across the room, we know what direction to go in and not waste time standing in line for a recruiter that doens’t specialize in our field.
-All participants were given colored necklaces to identify what field we were interested in, but since the recuriters weren’t seek us, we were seaking them, the color coding backfired. Maybe they should have had the color necklaces???
-I like the cocktail theme, the set up, and the food. However, it’s hard to talk to a recruiter that has a beer in his hand and resume’s in another and no free hand to shake, hand a resume to or receive a business card from.
-The concept of Pink Slips is great, but the organization needs to be tweeked a little. I was impressed and thankful for the opportunity to go there, but didn’t receive much from it.

Comment on Pink Slip Party Success! by Marisa Cogan

Marisa Cogan — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:17:05 +0000

Hello all!
Thank you for your honest feedback regarding our Pink Slip Party. We have put together these events with one purpose in mind, to help people get back to work in these difficult times. With our first two events behind us, we are working on making our future events even better and will take all of your comments into consideration and implement changes so that we can better assist both recruiters and jobseekers.

We designed these events to be a happy hour-type event whereby you could network with recruiters and commiserate with fellow jobseekers (who understand your situation). These parties are more of a free-form employment event and not as structured as you would find at a job fair (although we do host job fairs as well). We understand your need to know exactly which candidates recruiters are looking for, and we will address that issue. Remember too, that although you may end up speaking to someone who is not a recruiter for your industry, he or she may know someone who is! It’s all about the networking at these types of events and the more people you speak to, the better your chance of finding your next job.

We know that these are difficult times for many Americans. In this economy, you must market yourself in as many ways possible to get a job, and we hope that our Pink Slip Parties provide you with another opportunity to get back into the workforce.

Thank you and good luck with your search,
- Marisa