Joomla! site syndication http://www.seek4job.com 2008-07-03T22:45:59+01:00 http://www.seek4job.com http://www.seek4job.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png text/html 2008-06-29T10:25:22+01:00 http://www.seek4job.com http://www.seek4job.com/content/view/134/2/ A job search can quickly become a time consuming and frustrating experience, without the right tools, planning and resources. Making one mistake such as using surfing the internet as your main medium for job hunting, can lead to countless hours of wasted time each week. Here are five simple steps you can take to save yourself time, frustration and wasted energy: Step 1: Create your system Use a simple system to map out (yes, actually write it out - so it's out of your head and on paper!) your job search goals. Where you are going, what is motivating you, your thoughts on how you are going to get there and what your ultimate goal is. Mapping out your plan and your strategy will keep you on track and focused - thus, saving you potential wasted time and energy. Step 2: Use a job aggregator In other words, a beta search engine for jobs. This way you can use one site, for one search to find almost all posted jobs. This one step will save you from hopping from one job board to another - and endless hours of frustration. Understand that responses on any job board vary from 2% to 6%. With those odds, this is one critical area you really want to look to streamline your search and save yourself time. Step 3: Set up an e mail alert Set up an e mail alert on the job aggregator of your choice. This saves you even more time as your matching jobs will automatically be sent you! Step 4: Invest wisely It's easy to figure out where best to invest your time. Simply identify the top three areas where you are most certain to penetrate your market. It could be like companies in a technology business park, or a trade association, through social networking sites or through a portal such as the top 10 executive recruiting firms. Once you have identified where to invest your time for the biggest payback, you can minimize the time you spend on other job search activities while you maximize your time in your key areas. Step Five: Create a schedule Create a modest job search schedule for yourself. Specifically, dates and times each week you are going to devote to your career move. Why a modest schedule? Because you want to create a schedule you can actually keep and feel a real sense of achievement as you reach your weekly goals. You can always increase your commitment later! This technique works wonders during a career search. You will be amazed how feeling yourself accomplish your job search goals in real time will motivate you as you move forward! Career marketing expert and nationally certified professional resume writer, Mary Elizabeth Bradford is The Career Artisan . Mary Elizabeth delivers simple ways for career seekers to focus on, find and land the job they want. For free articles and to sign up for her free tele-seminar 5 simple steps to focus on, find and land your dream job - starting today visit http://www.maryelizabethbradford.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mary_Elizabeth_Bradford text/html 2008-06-29T09:49:51+01:00 http://www.seek4job.com http://www.seek4job.com/content/view/133/2/ Change your career? In midlife? One catalyst of midlife crisis is a life not truly aligned with your present shifting values. You no longer find fulfillment in the same things you did when you were younger because your values may have shifted and this disconnection contributes to a sense of midlife crisis. In midlife you may begin to feel bored with your job and start to think about making a career change. You may also notice yourself feeling irritable, frustrated and even depressed in your current job. These negative feelings may be a result of thinking about what you have given up by pursuing your current career. You may start remembering the dreams you have left behind. So now what do you do? Should you change careers? Two Exercises to Help you with your Decision 1. The following five questions are based on a model created by Linda and Sandra Perosa. Ask your self these questions:What would it mean for me if I did not make a change? Are there serious risks if I do change? Am I being realistic to hope to find a better solution? Is there adequate time to search and implement a change?Take some time to consider the above questions and write your answers in a journal. It may help you to get your thoughts down on paper so you can thoroughly address each issue. 2. The following is another exercise* I use with my life coaching clients that you may find helpful. On a scale of 1-10 rate yourself for each of the following. 10 being the strongest and 1 being the weakest:How willing you are to do what you need to do to make this career change. How strong is your belief in your ability to plan the steps necessary to make this change? Do you feel you have control over making this change? Are there people in your life who will support this change? Is your decision to change careers your own decision?After you have assigned a rating pick one of these areas to address and see if you can do something over the next week to raise the score ½ point. So if you rated number three a 5 is there something you can do this week to make it a 5.5? How can you increase your control over this change? The Enemy: The Negative Chatterer If you decide to take steps toward creating a new career you will notice the old familiar voice of the negative chatterer trying to stop you. The negative chatterer may come from within or without. The external negative chatterer may be a family member or friend who has always been afraid of change and has tried to hold you back in the past. Find someone who supports your decision. The internal negative chatterer is also an old familiar friend who rears his ugly head every time you try to move forward. You may fear failure or commitment. It is also possible for old negative feelings from childhood to rear up and to try to stop you by telling you that you are not good enough or smart enough to make this change. Speak back to those negative thoughts and think back to a time when you broke through the barriers and succeeded. Let me know how you are doing! References: *Heppner, Mary (1998). The Career Transitions Inventory: Measuring Internal Resources in Adulthood. Journal of Career Assessment Vol. 6 Number 2.Perosa, L Perosa, M. (1997). Assessments for Use with Mid-Career Changers. Journal of Career Assessment Vol. 5, Number 2. Donna Deming, MSW http://BreakThroughLifeCoaching.net I am a life coach specializing in assisting men and women through midlife transitions. Midlife is a challenging time where you try to balance parents, children and work. You may notice a shift where you feel your life and values are not aligned leading you to feel unfulfilled. Please visit my website to learn more about life coaching. If you are curious about life coaching please sign up for a free 30 minute no obligation coaching session and try it out. I mean it when I say no obligation. I look forward to hearing from you. My credentials: masters in social work from New York University and additional training at MentorCoach. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donna_Deming text/html 2008-06-15T05:33:01+01:00 http://www.seek4job.com http://www.seek4job.com/content/view/132/2/ Job hunting can be a long, arduous process and very frustrating. There are always jobs available but, unless you are desperate for an income, you will want to find the perfect job where you can use your skills and experience. This article gives some advice on how to go about finding the ideal job. 1.Recruitment Agencies - Recruitment agencies can be a great help when searching for jobs because they are experts at matching people to vacant positions. Recruitment agencies will send your CV out to relevant employers, arrange interviews for you and keep you up to date on progress. Some recruitment agencies offer services like CV polishing or writing and help with interview techniques. Take advantage of these services if your recruitment agency offers them. 2.Networking - If you have friends or family who work for a company you would like to work for, ask them if there are any openings. You may be able to find out about jobs before they are advertised and friends and family may even put in a good word for you. You will also get inside knowledge about the company, the boss, conditions, salary and how interviews are held. 3.Classified section of newspapers and magazines - Local and national newspapers advertise job vacancies as do specialist magazines for particular professions. Send your CV off to relevant companies or contact them for an application form. Always follow up applications by phoning the company to check that they have received your application. Newspapers will also have adverts for local recruitment agencies. 4.Company Websites - Although some companies will use recruitment agencies for their staffing requirements, most will have a company website listing current vacancies. Make sure that you check websites regularly for updates and that you follow the set procedure for applying for a job. 5.Job Search websites - With these sites you can search for jobs online which meet your criteria and are in a specific area and with a specific salary. 6.Job fairs or exhibitions - Go to job fairs or exhibitions with plenty of copies of your CV printed out on good quality A4 paper. Chat to potential employers and give them your CV. 7.The telephone book, Yellow Pages and local business directory - Use these directories to find the contact details of potential employers. Phone their personnel departments to ask about current vacancies and, even if they do not have any current vacancies, send your CV in for them to keep on file. 8.Offer to do voluntary work or job experience for a company so that they can get to know you. The very best thing to do to increase your exposure is to register with a recruitment agency, or a few recruitment agencies, and then do all of the above. If you are motivated and make an effort, you will find a job much quicker than someone who only tries one or two ways of finding a job. Ask your recruitment agency if they have any further tips or advice on job hunting. Roger Wakefield is a web developer for Agency Central (http://www.agencycentral.co.uk). Agency Central is a directory of recruitment agencies which allows job seekers and employers to search by industry sector and location in order to find the right match. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roger_Wakefield text/html 2008-06-15T05:21:26+01:00 http://www.seek4job.com http://www.seek4job.com/content/view/131/2/ In the past few years, an enormous amount has been learned about the human brain and its architecture. It is possible to use these insights to interview and communicate more effectively and memorably. To understand the way human beings think, it is necessary to understand a little bit about the human brain and its architecture - how it responds to and represents information. The Brain's Duality Essentially, there are two sources of volition within the brain - two parts that, of all the parts of your body, are capable of generating instructions - the neocortex and the amygdala. Every other part of your body - all your muscles, all your bones, all the glands, 99% of your neurology, are made for carrying out and supporting instructions. This duality exists because the brain, as an organ that has evolved to survive, has developed to divide all human experience into two categories: non-danger and danger. These two circumstances - non-danger and danger - require completely different responses and, by inference, completely different responses. Non-danger and Danger The experience of non-danger is dealt with by the Neocortex. The neocortex is the rational part of the brain, it exists within the conscious and operates according to what most of us would consider rational principles. It is the higher part of the brain, responsible for logic, reasoning, higher concepts. The experience of danger, however, is entirely different. Danger has a completely different set of rules and demands. A major distinction is that danger has generally required speed i.e. the lion is going to gobble you up in a few seconds, the oncoming car you see out of the periphery of your vision is going to hit you into next week in half a second. Danger also requires a fire alarm - the ability to override whatever else you may be daydreaming about and force you to focus on what is happening. The Logic of Emotion These two qualities, speed and the quality of a fire alarm, are the keys to understanding what emotions are, how they work, and by extension what people will remember and what they will be motivated to do. The need for speed and the need for a fire alarm are fulfilled by the amygdala. For one thing, the amygdala is very powerfully wired into the rest of the brain, the neural paths coming out of the amygdala are very wide and thick. As a result, the signals coming out of the amygdala are very powerful, very difficult to resist. This is what we mean by emotion. Consider walking down a dirt path. While enjoying the scenery you suddenly see what appears to be a snake. You become agitated, alarmed, frightened - whatever word you choose to use - in half a second. However, upon closer inspection, you see that what you thought was a snake was actually a stick or a shadow. It now takes you a few minutes to calm down. This is what we mean by the directionality of the brain's architecture.The other requirement, the need for speed, is crucial to understanding the amygdala and understanding the logic of emotion. Since the amygdala must be fast, it is restricted to a corner-cutting, crude logic that is completely different from we would generally call rational thought. Be Visceral, Specific, and Personal Faced with the need for speed, and so restricted to a quick corner-cutting logic, the amygdala is not capable of certain higher concepts. For example, the amygdala doesn't have language. It understands impressions, sensations and feelings, but not words. Neither can it understand the concept of plurality, the concept of more than one. This is why, for example, when certain politicians and demagogues want to inflame an audience they will use entities and images which are singular .i.e. the white man, the welfare queen. Understanding these concepts allows us to craft presentations that are more emotive and effective and allows us to distinguish ourselves from a crowd of competitors. Descriptions which appeal to the senses and emotions tends to have a higher impact than dry factual overviews. What the toughest work problem I've ever had? Well, my phone rang at 3AM once. My boss sounded like he was about to have a coronary. A huge fire at a facility in New Jersey had melted highly refined pipes that we were counting on. Remembering that the subconscious reduces everything to a singular, using singular images, especially images that evoke fear, allow us to connect more directly into this reptile brain. Am I comfortable in a high-pressure environment? Until you've seen a raging options trader whose trading station has just crashed, you can't imagine what pressure is. Not Just What You Say But How You Say It Another crucial aspect of the brains architecture that affects the impact of communication is how different senses are wired into the brain. Vision, because it tends to connote what is immediate and imminent, enters our consciousness in a way that imputes more credibility. Consider the difference between appealing to a persons vision, as opposed to another sense such as hearing. I saw that the server was down and knew I had to act fast... I had heard that they were having a problem in the data center... Insights offered by cerebral neurology allow us to communicate in a way that is effective and memorable and give us the chance to do more than simply smile and hope we click with people whose impressions of us influence our future. Edward Donoghue is the principal of clickTechJobs.com, a cluster of skill specific job boards for IT people. He writes frequently on issues such as entrepreneurs, startups, outsourcing, difficult bosses, and changing careers. Email: edydon@clickTechJobs.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Edward_Donoghue text/html 2008-06-07T06:35:08+01:00 http://www.seek4job.com http://www.seek4job.com/content/view/130/2/ As soon as you have written your CV and entered yourself on the register of some good employment agencies, you will be offered employment interviews which are relevant to your abilities. The agency will send you details on the job on offer and may also provide a few hints on what you need to do before the interview. Here are a few hints and tips for success: 1. Don't take notes to read from or learn answers by rote, be natural. 2. Smile! 3. Speak clearly and with confidence. Don't mumble and and give your replies at a normal speed. 4. Even if smoking in the workplace is allowed in your state or country, don't smoke in the interview. 5. Adopt a good posture and don't fidget about. 6. Prepare answers to obvious questions. For example, What interests you about this job? Why do you want to leave your current job Be prepared to give an example of instances where you have used your skills and abilities problems. Employment agencies will often give you some guidance on what questions may be asked. 7. Ensure that you know exactly where the interview is to be held, know how to get there and know how long it will take you. Your employment agency will give you the details. When planning your journey, add at least 30 minutes to cover any problems that may arise - being late is a really bad way to start an interview. 8. Turn your mobile phone off, or better still, leave it at home.. 9. Get a friend to set up a a mock interview. Different employment agencies offer this as a service. 10. Sell yourself, but focus on the benefits of employing you, try to avoid just listing your qualifications. What can you offer the company? 11. Use good english grammar when addressing the interviewer. 12. Don't tell lies about the dieters employment history or qualifications to an employer or to employment agencies. You will not be happy in a job that you cannot handle. 13. Wear clothes appropriate to the interview and check that you hair and personal hygiene are perfect. Recruitment agencies will often advise you if any dress restrictions apply. 14. If you are asked a question that you don't understand don't be afraid to ask for further explanation. 15. No matter how bored you may be, look interested in what the interviewer is saying and remember everything you can. 16. Have ready prepared some probing questions to ask at the end of the interview. If the prepared questions have already been covered during the interview then tell them so and then thank them. Ask your recruitment agency what questions you should ask. 17. Try to come over as confident without being bossy.If you are successful in adopting all the above hints and tips, you should have a much greater chance of getting that ideal job and establishing a flourishing and enjoyable career. Always remember that recruitment agencies can help you with an awful lot more than merely getting you an interview. Recruitment agencies can help you write a professional CV, help you with application letters and help in your preparation for interviews. Ask for their advice at any step in the process. Roger Wakefield is a promotional writer for: The Recruitment Agencies Directory, ( http://www.agencycentral.co.uk ), a directory of recruitment agencies which aims to bring companies and job seeker together. Agency Central provides a detailed job search and also includes tips and advice on job seeking and career improvement. Central offers a national and local vacancy search and also offers tips and advice on finding employment and career advancement. 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