Job Hunting

Dazed and Confused – College Job Search

Archer Zimpel — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:04:59 +0000

In college on your own, trying to figure out midterms, finals, spring break, dealing with roommates, meal plans, rushes, finding time to party, etc. Its a delicate balance. At some point (hopefully after 4 years unless you are on the 5 year plan) it will all come to an end and you will need to find a job. Four years sounds like a really long time, but trust me, it will all be over before you know it. The last thing you need when you graduate, as you try to assimilate back to your parents house, is to linger on the unemployed line. College grads are finding it more difficult than ever to find jobs in their chosen field, and many have to resort to jobs that were traditionally filed by those without a college degree.

Ge more info…

Job Hunting Tips For First-time Job Seekers

Mike Silverstone — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:14:31 +0000

Entering the World of Job Search

Entering the world of employment, as you will have noticed, is quite different from education. Job hunting is extremely competitive and online recruitment sites can be quite daunting to begin with. Many people send a generic resume to as many positions advertised as they can and yes, it may well get them an interview, but the lack of strength and focus in the resume makes them an unlikely candidate.

Some simple job hunting tips can help to provide structure to your search using online recruitment, making you more attractive as a candidate to an employer.

Ge more info…

Apple E-Textbook Initiative Off To A Good Start.

Oliver Peaks — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:13:12 +0000

Showing that Apple is geared for success despite the recent death of Founder Steve Jobs, the company was said to have sold 350,000 textbook downloads within three days of the recent launch of its new version of iBooks.

This follows the announcement of Apple’s E-Textbook initiative, which was annouced last Thursday at New York City’s Guggenheim Museum, Mercury News reported.

Ge more info…

What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?

Mike Silverstone — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:15:49 +0000

While a B.A. in English isn’t going to earn you a six-figure salary out of undergrad, it does open up a surprisingly large number of career paths.

In the hit Broadway musical Avenue Q, the lead character sings: “What do you do with a B.A. in English / What is my life going to be? / Four years of college and plenty of knowledge, / Have earned me this useless degree.”

If you’ve been paying much attention to financial news lately and you are—or are thinking about becoming—an English major, you may very well fear landing in this precise situation in four years! Howev

Ge more info…

Beyond Heroic Entrepreneurs

Archer Zimpel — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:19:19 +0000

In recent years, business schools and investors alike have been paying more attention to social entrepreneurs, those who create ventures with the primary goal of achieving positive social change.

But most people encounter the field only through its most prominent casestypically visionaries who have built national or global organizations that have achieved social impact.

This focus on success stories has led to a skewed view of social entrepreneurship as nothing more or less than a field of huge, realized dreams.

“A big weakness of the existing qualitative studies is that they’re very biased toward heroic entrepreneurs.”

“A big weakness of the existing qualitative studies is that they’re very biased toward heroic entrepreneurs,” says Matthew Lee, a doctoral candidate at Harvard Business School whose research focuses on social enterprises.

Ge more info…

Don’t Focus on Job Duties/Responsibilities

Oliver Peaks — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:05:40 +0000

Focusing on job duties is one of the classic job-seeker mistakes. Dont focus on your duties focus on your accomplishments! Accomplishments are so much more meaningful to prospective employers than run-of-the-mill litanies of job duties or responsibilities. Spend some time brainstorming about your skills and accomplishments in all your jobs and education with an eye toward the type of job you want next. Eliminate any skills that you no longer want to perform; otherwise, you will be stuck in another job doing things you no longer enjoy. Once you have compiled this list of accomplishments and skills, its time to work on your resume.

Ge more info…

How To Deal With Criticism

Oliver Peaks — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:33:17 +0000

Criticism can be hard to deal with especially in the workplace, but if you can learn to handle criticism you have learnt a great skill. If we let it, criticism can help us to learn more about ourselves and how we do things and grow as people. Is It Fair? Is the criticism fair? Being criticized is one of those things that triggers emotions in most people. If you are able to take a step back and look at the criticism alone it will help you to look at the situation in a more balanced way. Ge more info…

Securing the Right Job or Career Transition in the New Economy – part II

Archer Zimpel — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:50:18 +0000

Traditional means used to discover and obtain new employment opportunities:

Personal networking
Re-training and/or upgrading skills.
Relocation to a region, state, or country with a growing economy; or in need of a particular skilled labor force.
Search online job boards
Post resumes on career web sites
Search corporate web sites for job listings
Review local newspapers or classifieds
Contact Headhunters and placement agencies
Attend on-site career fairs
Participate in online newsgroups and chat forums
Contact the desired employer directly.

A hard look at common job search methods will expose many of the reasons why job seekers are not getting the results they desire.

Fact # 1: 10% or less of all hires are filled through job boards, classified advertisements, corporate sites, or job fairs

Ge more info…

Three Web Tools Every College Student Must Use

Mike Silverstone — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 09:43:30 +0000

With the advent of distracting sites like Twitter and Facebook, we have all lost some portion of our ability to focus online. This can be particularly challenging for college students who spend hours in the glow of their laptops, searching for any excuse to be distracted from studying. However, rather than characterize the web as an environment of endless distraction, we should recognize that there are numerous tools available online that can be extremely useful for students productivity and efficiency. These three tools are necessities for any college computer.

Dropbox

Dropbox is one of those apps that everyone is writing about.

Ge more info…

How Do Employers Judge Professionalism?

Oliver Peaks — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:49:10 +0000

Ive written on this topic before, however, given the cultural slide away from professionalism in the workplace, its a topic worth revisiting.

Professionalism is generally judged subjectively. I suspect most people would agree on what makes a “professional” senior corporate executive, however, may have a range of ideas on what makes a “professional” mechanic.

Professionalism is not simply whether someone wears a nice suit, rather it’s a number of traits that combine to form a professional image.

How does a potential employer judge whether someone is professional or not? Here are some common indicators…

Attitude. Attitude creates a positive impression. However, It’

Ge more info…

Most Popular Articles of 2011

Archer Zimpel — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:56:21 +0000

You, our readers, are especially hungry for information about individual leadership, according to a tally of the most-read feature stories and faculty working papers over the past year, half of which focused either on how to be a better leader or on the factors that lead some leaders to behave badly. Other apparent areas of interest in the last 12 months included corporate social responsibility, marketing techniques, and, of course, the ubiquitous Lady Gaga.

Here are the Top 10 most-read articles and 10 most-read working papers that appeared in HBS Working Knowledge in 2011. As you reflect on the trends of yesteryear, we ask that you also turn your thoughts to 2012.

Ge more info…

Why is the AFL-CIO Supporting Job Destroying SOPA ?

Mike Silverstone — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:42:32 +0000

Sopa Would DESTROY Jobs and the Economy … So Why are Unions Supporting It?

No, Sopa Would Not Save Jobs or Help the Economy … It Would DESTROY Jobs and the Most Vibrant Sector of Our Economy

The promoters of the Stop Online Privacy Act are pretending that it would save jobs and help the economy.

But it would actually destroy jobs and hurt the economy.

No one is going to invest in the next Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Reddit, or YouTube if they know that websites can be shut down after a single unsubstantiated copyright complaint.

The only sector of our economy that’s in good shape is web technology . Sopa

Ge more info…

Illinois Prepaid Tuition Program Faces Challenges.

Oliver Peaks — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:24:47 +0000

A new study has found that Illinois’ prepaid college tuition program has a 30 percent shortfall and could require a $1.6 billion bailout from the state to remain solvent for the next 25 years.

As reported by the Chicago Tribune, the report shows that the College Illinois program had a deficit of almost $560 million as of March 31. The report, which was conducted by actuarial consultants Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Co., predicted that without help from the state, the fund could be completely drained by 2022.

As with other state prepaid tuition plans, Illinois’ program allows participants to lock in today’s prices for future tuition and fees at the state’s public colleges and universities.

Ge more info…

Living the Dream

Archer Zimpel — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 01:00:55 +0000

I caught up with an old friend who had worked for me about 20 years ago. I remember his interview. He was at least 20 minutes late and I remember thinking . Of course I hired him and he wound up being one of the best hires Ive ever made (yes, even 20 years later). To think that he completely changed my mind during the interview from not a chance to being offered the job. That is truly an amazing feat. So, fast forward 20 years and he has decided to leave the corporate life (which can be a real pain at times) and start his own business. A difficult decision, but he is weathering the loss of income hoping to get his business off the ground.

Ge more info…

Sage Abra Enhancements and Modifications

Mike Silverstone — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:41:39 +0000

A company’s employees are what make its business unique – they’re also its biggest investment. As a result, Dresser & Associates and Sage Abra want to help our customers maximize their return on employee investment. Economic conditions have changed the way that companies look at human resources and research shows that companies plan to increase revenue by 8%, but only add 2% to current staffing levels.

To help make business life easier for Sage Abra HRMS users, exciting new enhancements and modifications have been made to human resources, benefits, time off, payroll, training, employee self service, benefits open enrollment, and more. The i

Ge more info…