Being unemployed can take a major toll on your self-esteem, your financial situation, and your desire. If prolonged, it can also have a negative impact on your competency level (i.e., keeping up with skills, experience and attributes that are in demand in the job market). But don’t get down on yourself. As you look for a new job, you need to understand that there are thousands of others who are also unemployed and looking for a job.
To give yourself an edge and position yourself ahead of these other jobseekers, implement an effective job market strategy for overcoming unemployment. Here are the top 3 strategies you need to consider in overcoming your unemployment.
Strategy 1 – Create Your Own Job Opportunities: It is a statistical fact that 80% of job seekers concentrate on 20% of jobs available. You may find this puzzling, but it makes sense when you consider that these 20% of jobs are the jobs advertised through the mainstream job channels most job seekers use – newspapers and recruitment agencies. The other 80% of jobs are accessed via the hidden job market channels – and this is where you need to concentrate your efforts.
Strategy 2 – Take On Volunteer Work: It is rather shortsighted when jobseekers say they cannot do volunteer work because they don’t want to work for free. This is so far from the truth when you take the time to consider what you stand to get out of it. Volunteer work achieves 5 things: it keeps your skills and experience up to date; portrays you as a hardworking, proactive individual who uses his or her initiative; puts you into the know with regard to the internal job market industry, as you now have one foot through the door at your place of volunteer work; makes you more marketable as you can put the name of the company down as place of work; and, finally, naturally gives you an edge over other job applicants as a result of the first 4 reasons. Think of it this way. If you were the employer and you were considering 2 applicants, one who does volunteer work and the other who has just remained unemployed and has done nothing, who would have the edge in your eyes?
Strategy 3 – Continuous Improvement: Never stop developing yourself. Be highly committed to self-development, especially given the impact of the information age on today’s fast-paced and ever-changing world of work. Those who get jobs effortlessly are those who are on the cutting edge of their industry in terms of latest trends, technologies, training and specialized industry advancement. The good news is that there is a huge variety of affordable, sometimes free, ways to stay ahead of the curve. So commit to learning and improving yourself by participating in educational experiences such as classes or training, reading specialist publications, researching info on relevant websites, and so on.
Simply working on these top 3 areas will dramatically improve your chances of achieving your job goal in the quickest and most effective manner possible. But first a note of caution: the success of these strategies is very dependent on how well developed your job market skills are. Conduct a self-analysis of your current job market performance by taking this FREE Job Market Performance Assessment.
Tags: Attributes, career, career advice, Career Change, Competency Level, Desire, employment, Financial Situation, Hidden Job Market, Initiative, Internal Job, Job Opportunities, Job Seekers, Jobs, Mainstream, Market Channels, Market Strategy, Negative Impact, New Job, Recruitment Agencies, Regard, Self Esteem, Statistical Fact, Unemployment, Volunteer Work
While having a formal education is certainly a good way to break into some industries, don’t fret if you didn’t earn a college degree. There’s still hope! Let’s look at three qualities you must possess in order to get the job you want without a degree.
Soft Skills: These are skills not obtained by getting a degree. Some of these skills deemed most important by employers include the following:
Enthusiasm
Friendly personality
Punctuality
Ability to get along well with others
Professional appearance and mannerism
Genuine interest in the job at hand
Making Connections: Great jobs are handed out every day to so-and-so’s cousin or the head honcho’s friend’s grandson. If you want to meet with the same success, you will have to make and tap your connections effectively.
When you’re trying to make connections, you have to step outside of your comfort zone and come to life when you meet others. Sometimes you simply have to strike up conversations in coffee shops or grocery store lines. Make a proactive effort to find out a little more about the people who
surround you in your daily life. You never know who might be standing next to you in line for a movie or sitting next to you on a train!
And don’t neglect those contacts you already have. Take the time to analyze people you know and whom you have recently met. Who can potentially help you in your job goal search? Who have you forgotten to ask about job opportunities? If you feel at all embarrassed about networking, remember that it’s never begging if you go in to speak to someone full of confidence, high energy, and optimism. In fact, you may be doing them a favor if they can put you in touch with somebody who actually ends up hiring you—this makes your friend look good! The bottom line is that you’ll never know whether your connections can work for you until you try.
Market Research: Employers appreciate applicants who “do their homework.” Market research can also help clear up any confusion. When you discover how the industry you’re interested in works with other industries, you may find that some of unlikeliest contacts are the ones who can help you the most. So don’t wait around for a job to find you. Go out and do you research, talk to your contacts, and bring the job to you!
Your ability to successfully tap and utilize the three qualities above depends on how well developed your job market skills are over all. So start off by analyzing your competency level by taking this FREE Job Market Performance Assessment.
Tags: Bottom Line, Coffee Shops, College Degree, Comfort Zone, Conversations, Cousin, Formal Education, Genuine Interest, Grocery Store, Head Honcho, High Energy, Homework, Job Opportunities, Mannerism, Market Research, Neglect, Optimism, Professional Appearance, Punctuality, Recruitment Agency, Recruitment Jobs, Research Employers
You know that it’s the job for you. You’ve done all the reading, and you understand that working as a flight attendant isn’t all glamour and excitement. You know there’s hard work and commitment involved, and that the money - well, no one becomes a flight attendant to get rich, after all. It doesn’t matter - you’ve got your mind made up, and you’re about to embark on a flight attendant job search. Here are some tips on conducting a flight attendant job search that will help you find the jobs that you want to apply for.
1. The major airlines are only 10% of the field for your flight attendant job search.
There are over 60 small and mid-size airlines in the United States - over 80 if you add Canadian based airlines as well. While the major airlines have cut back on hiring and have even furloughed flight attendants since 2001, the small airlines are thriving. If you’re looking to work with fractional operators and charter services, the flight attendant job search possibilities are even broader. The jobs are out there - you just need to expand the scope of your job search beyond the Big Six.
2. Don’t overlook traditional job hunt methods in your flight attendant job search.
Yes, they do advertise in the local paper’s help wanted sections. You’ll also find recruitment ads for the airlines in industry publications, so if you’re serious about finding a job as a flight attendant, get yourself subscribed to aviation newsletters and magazines.
3. Harness the power of the Internet to get your flight attendant job search into high gear.
Do check the usual suspects. You’ll find listings for flight attendant open houses and job openings on Monster, HotJobs! and other Internet job sites. You’ll also find listings for flight attendant job opportunities on some of the major newspaper’s want ad pages.
But don’t stop with the job listings on the job search engines. Because aviation is so industry specific, you’ll find the biggest concentrations of job openings and listings on aviation industry specific sites. A simple search for ‘flight attendant jobs’ will pull up several job search sites specifically for those in aviation. Check them out carefully and join one or two. Even better, find a discussion forum for flight attendants and join that. You can post questions, read information from working flight attendants and keep your eyes peeled for announcements of open houses.
4. Apply on the company web site.
Many airlines now have a link for you to upload your resume when you’re doing a flight attendant job search. While they may not be hiring when you check, enter your information anyway so that they can send you an invitation when they do mass job interviews and informational meetings in your area.
5. Networking is still the number one way to find a job.
Like any other job, it’s often who you know that gets your foot in the door in a flight attendant job search. Let people know you’re looking - let everyone know you’re looking. You might never know that your great Aunt Lucy’s next door neighbor’s daughter is a flight attendant if you don’t mention that you’re looking for a job working for an airline - but it just might be your ticket into the industry.
Whatever you do, do treat your flight attendant job search seriously. Look at the ads daily, and be sure to have a professional resume and cover letter ready to send out to any job openings that you find.
Tags: Big Six, Canadian Based Airlines, Charter Services, Finding A Job, Flight Attendant Job, Flight Attendants, Hotjobs, Industry Publications, Internet Job, Job Listings, Job Monster, Job Openings, Job Opportunities, Job Search Engines, Major Airlines, Mid Size, Monster, Recruitment Ads, Recruitment Agency, Recruitment Jobs, Search Possibilities, Traditional Job, Usual Suspects
If you are a secretary looking to enlist with a recruitment agency then either you go online and pick the first name that appears after your search results come up, or you just walk along the High Street and go into the first agency you see, don’t you? Well you could, but really you shouldn’t. If you are a secretary then you should perhaps try to find out which agencies pay the best rates, which will allow you the greatest amount of flexibility, which seem quite professional and which seem like they may just be more interested in making some money and aren’t too bothered about the standard of service.
Sure you can just sign up with the first one, but isn’t that selling yourself a bit short? After all, a good agency can help you to secure really interesting work, great rates of pay and some fantastic job opportunities.
You may wish to consider asking an agency about the number of clients they have, how many people they have signed up with them looking for work. How many positions they tend to fill and also you can ask about how long they have been trading, what they can offer you in terms of assistance.
Don’t sign up with any agency that doesn’t return your phone calls or emails. Although many agencies are online, often they will have premises as well. If you can, then try to take a trip to one of their offices, so that you can assess what the staff are like and if they seem competent and aware of what they are doing. If you are choosing an online agency, then look at their emails and communications. Are they professional, or is the website and their emails littered with spelling mistakes?
A good agency will appear polite, professional and realistically choosing an agency is as much about you interviewing them and deciding if you can work with them, than it is about them choosing you. So don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions and to check just how reliable and professional they are, so that when you sign up with them, you really can land that dream job.
Tags: Afraid To Ask, Flexibility, How Many People, Job, Job Opportunities, Money, Phone Calls, Premises, Recruitment Agency, secretarial, Secretarial Work, secretary, Spelling Mistakes, temping, temporary work, work
