How do you get job experience?

One of the toughest obstacles to overcome if you are looking for work is matching the criteria that employers want and what you actually have. Lack of education can make you hesitant to apply for certain jobs but if you have the experience in that field than you still might want to apply for the job. If you don’t have the experience, then what do you do? This is something that has plagued job seekers for a long time. There are things that you can do to get experience or show that you do have the skills.

 

 

• Start out as a temporary employee. 
• Become a volunteer although you won’t get paid you would still receive valuable experience.  
• Even though most people think of interns as someone who is just starting out, older folks can also become interns. 
• In many fields you can become certified which shows that you have the skills to do the job. 
• Apprenticeships are another way to get experience while you are learning. 
• If you were in the military the government can assist you in getting the credentials that you need to find work in civilian life.

  

 

For more information on government programs dealing with credentialing go to the following website.

 

 

 

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Rejection and job hunting

You probably have been told a million times that rejection is a part of life, everybody goes through it. You can accept that and understand that others will be rejected but when it comes to you forget you’ll never get used to it. When it comes to looking for a job in this economy you better be prepared for a lot of rejection. How are you going to take it?


Fear and rejection, what a terrifying duo

You probably have memories of being rejected as a child for something that now doesn’t mean very much, but it still hurt. Rejection in personal relationships is one of the worst forms of rejection you can have but you eventually get over it. Some folks avoid rejection like the plague, others don’t worry about and they don’t avoid situations where rejection is possible.

How do you deal with rejection?

The easiest answer is to move on, learn from the experience especially if it deals with a job interview. Even if the interview didn’t go as planned and you didn’t get the job there probably are still things to learn from it. And remember not to take it personally because taking it personally slows you down and saps your energy level, which is something you don’t need if you are looking for a job.

The worst part of rejection is fear. If rejection plays on your emotions every time it happens you will be fearful to take chances. You will remember how bad it feels to be rejected and you don’t want to feel that way again. That isn’t the attitude that you need to have. So don’t give anymore weight to rejection then it should have.



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Does bad credit hurt your chances of getting a job?

During this recession and this supposed recovery it has taken a long time for the unemployed to find work. In past recessions the unemployed could expect it to take a few months or more to find a job. Now it is probably around 6 months and there isn’t any guarantee that you will find a job after that. While all this is happening, bills are still coming in and you are trying your best not fall behind but it is difficult. If you do find yourself falling behind in paying off bills this might indirectly affect your chances at getting a job because many employers today check their potential employee’s credit.


Why would they do that?

It simply a character issue, if you aren’t handling your own money correctly then you might not be the employee that they are looking for. It doesn’t seem fair but many employers are checking credit especially financial institutes. It may not be the only thing that prevents you from getting a job it definitely could be a black mark against you.

One defense against having bad credit is to bring it up to your employer. Let them hear it from you first. Explaining the circumstances of why you have bad credit might lessen the issue and make you look forthright in bringing it up. Remember this is a bad economy and you aren’t the only one who is having troubles paying their bills.

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Switching jobs or occupations

Whether you are employed or unemployed switching jobs or occupations can be difficult especially if you have doing the same work for a long time. You would definitely be leaving your comfort zone where you know the job inside and out. But there are times when it becomes not only desirable but also necessary to leave your old career behind.


Why switch jobs?

There are plenty of reasons why people would want to change jobs.

Boredom – you may have been doing the same thing for years and you are tired of it. There isn’t any enthusiasm in doing your job. You want a way out and that is to change careers.

Laid off – You have no choice but to look for a new job but you don’t want to get into the same field that you were previously in.

Job is becoming obsolete – with technology the way it is today there are many jobs that are becoming automated. You want to switch jobs now before you eventually become laid off.

More money – You have maxed out on how much you can make at your present job so a career change may bring more money.



How to switch careers?

The short answer is very carefully. Do a lot of research on the occupation whether it is online or at the library. If you can talk to somebody in that particular field to get a first hand opinion how the job is. Another thing that you might want to try is working at the new occupation on a part time basis while still working your old job. This might be difficult but you would definitely enlighten you to the desired occupation.



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Unpaid Bill and Account collector jobs

In today’s economy you have to think about what sectors of the workforce are still hiring and will still be hiring in the future. The first thing that comes to mind is the healthcare industry because the general population is getting older and needs more medical assistance. Another area, although not a popular one, is debt collection because the national and personal debt is climbing rapidly every day. This might be an area that you should look into.


Collecting debt from people isn’t an easy job; I would imagine that you would have to have a certain temperament and a thick skin. But according to the Occupational Outlook handbook this area should grow by 19% between the years of 2008 and 2018. That is way above the average for most jobs.

Investigation is definitely a part of this job. If someone moves and doesn’t leave a forwarding address you then you have to use investigating skills like contacting the post office and utility companies to try to find where they moved to. A bill collector also has to be able to communicate with folks in less than favorable conditions. People who owe money are usually in stressful situations so you have to be cognizant of that. You also have to be sure that you are following the guidelines laid down by the Federal and state governments concerning bill collections.

A debt collector usually doesn’t need more than a high school diploma. Although having some college would probably be to your advantage. Most of the training is on the job.



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Using RSS to find a job

The most valuable tool in job hunting today is the internet. From job listings to job advice you can spend a good deal of time on the computer. That’s great but at times it might seem that you are wasting your time because you can lose focus while doing looking for information. It happens to everyone you begin by doing a search on employment then next thing you know you are looking at the news, then sports and then things you don’t want to mention. You have to stay focused on what you are doing; wasting time wouldn’t help you find a job. One way is to have the information come directly to you through RSS.



What is RSS?

RSS or really simple syndication allows you to receive a stream of information about a specific topic through a RSS Reader or sent to your email. I use the Google feed reader and it works pretty well. The reader gets updated constantly with new information about a subject (like jobs) or blogs that I am interested in. You can also have that information sent to your email address.

How do you set up an RSS?

Go to the Google homepage and click on more at the top of the page. If you don’t already have a Google account then you will be given an opportunity to get one, it’s free. Google has a lot of great services offered like email, notebook and setting up your own blog. Once you sign up, click on more again to set up the Reader. At the top left hand side of the reader page click on Add a subscription. You can either type in an URL or a subject that you would like to follow. It’s that easy.

If you are on someone else’s page and you want to follow their blog then click on their RSS icon, you will now be informed when there is any changes to that site.



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Jobs at the Post Office

When you think about the post office and the potential for employment there you probably think about being a postal carrier. Carrying and delivering the mail in any kind of weather. It can be a tiring job. But there are other career opportunities at the United States Postal Service that you should take a look at.




Although I never worked for the post office my father did for 30 years. He started as a part time letter carrier and then worked various jobs inside the post office. He enjoyed working there and the benefits like most government jobs were pretty good and the pay wasn’t bad either.



Technological changes have caused the post office to also go through changes. Since the advent of the internet and e-mail the number of letters that people send is drastically down. Paying bills online has also cut into the post office’s bottom line. But they are still in business and trying to be competitive with other parcel delivering services.



Like most companies and government agencies the post office has an easy to navigate website that not only helps their customers but also helps potential employees with information on how to go about applying for a job there. The home page of the post offices employment center directs you to all the things that you probably want to know about working there, such as compensation, benefits, job opportunities and employment requirements.



So check out their website and see if the post office is right for you.



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Have the right keywords in your resume

Before online job hunting and the internet and the web, you occasionally updated your resume. You probably make some changes to it to fit a particular company that you were sending it to but the changes weren’t on a daily basis. Well today if your resume is online you need to update it on a regular basis not only to catch the eye of a potential employer but also to make sure that it doesn’t get buried in a web search.




What is a keyword?

If you write a blog or website then you know how important keywords are. Keywords are individual words or phrases that search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing) look for to match your blog or site with someone who is searching the net. Keywords are in the content of the blog or website and usually written in an area called tags (same as keywords). If your keyword is relevant to the search and there isn’t much competition then your blog or website will be closer to the top of the search results, which is what everyone wants to happen because people who search the web rarely go beyond the first few pages.



If your resume is online then you really want to make sure that your keywords are relevant to the jobs that you are searching. Once again the search engines look for relevance. You must also make sure that you update your resume frequently because search engines seem to gravitate toward sites that aren’t stagnant.



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Listing of Government Department Employment Websites

Here is a listing of most of the Government Department’s employment sites. You will be able to find a host of information such as job listings and what kind of employees that they need.

• State Department 
• Treasury 
• Justice 
• Agriculture  
• Commerce  
• Department of Labor  
• HUD 
• Transportation 
• Energy 
• Veterans Administration 
• Education 
• Homeland Security 
• NASA 
• FBI 
• CIA 
• IRS

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Are you waiting for the economy to recover to find a job?

At the beginning of each month the Department of Labor puts out the statistics on how the employment picture is looking. For the past couple of years those numbers have been quite discouraging and really there isn’t any indication that they will get better in the near future. One thing to keep in mind when you see the unemployment rate and how many jobs are lost, is that it is just estimation. The government has a formula to calculate what they think is the unemployment rate. In other words it is an educated guess. One thing that they can’t guess is how many people quit looking for work. In this economy it seems that many folks have quit and will probably resume looking when the economy recovers.




It certainly is understandable that so many folks have quit looking for work. Times are hard right now; this recession belongs in a league of its own. But should you quit looking entirely? Maybe instead of just quit looking for work, give yourself some time to reorganize and rethink how you are going about your job search. If you wait for the economy to get better you probably are in for a long wait. It’s better to keep trying and keep learning as much as you can about job hunting and how to find employment in this economy.



Keep trying. You will find a job.



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Are you confident about finding a job?

Somewhere in the back of your mind a little voice is telling you that you will find a job. That voice probably won’t tell you when or how much it will pay but you will find a job. In the past when you have been unemployed you have always managed to find a job, maybe not exactly what you wanted but it was a job? So how come it’s taking so long now? The easy answer is the economy which is as bad as its been since the great depression. Or maybe its your age, a lot of employers aren’t too crazy about hiring older workers, although it is illegal to discriminate someone because of their age. Maybe there are other things but the point is you have to believe in that voice that tells you there is a job out there.

 

Here are a few things that you should remember to build up that confidence.

 

• Stay active while you are unemployed. You have a life beyond work.  
• Keep the right attitude even when things are tough  
• Don’t stop dreaming about your ideal job.   
• A career move risk might sound risky but it might be the thing that yanks you out of your doldrums. 
• If you don’t believe in yourself who will?  
• Being flexible is good job advice at any age and in any economic environment.

 

 

 

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