Friday, April 27, 2012

Meet some authors



We're having a bit of a get together today, stop on over and visit.




http://readindies.blogspot.com/p/summer-of-indie.html




http://readindies.blogspot.com/




and on Twitter at




@ReadIndies

The retracted job offer

I've been there a couple of times, with a couple of call centers. One, was for an Apple call center that never opened in 2007. There's another call center in the building which coincidentally retracted an offer also last year, guess I wasn't meant to work in that office complex. You read the email that's retracting the job offer and you feel just like all of the air just whooshed out. You're in one of those moments that no one wants to have and I have a few words for you.

Stop, take a bit of a break and get your head together. You got this offer, others will come as I know of for a fact and you'll be surprised how quickly they'll come too. Jobs that will probably be even better than the one who didn't hire you. Just receiving the offer to begin with means you are doing something very right, in fact quite a few things.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Virtual workspace



In many cases there isn't really a need for a physical place that you have to work at. So many times in call center work you could easily do the same job from home instead of going to a call center. You simply use an interface and headset from home to log, take calls, everything. There are some of these types of jobs now available through Alpine Access for one     www.alpineaccess.com/     and there are a number of others also. There are also many sales positions where you receive and make calls via your internet connection. I will note that you really do need a cable or DSL internet connection. We presently have Cricket Cellular broadband, the software the virtual call centers uses will not work through it.

Probably the main issue for most call center work to tell you the truth is control. Many call centers don't feel that because representatives can be watched closely. A few call centers have had issues with employees not doing what they were supposed to be doing in taking care of the customers. A couple of those call I've worked for in the past in fact had issues with this and yes, I heard the calls. They were used as examples for what not to do when I was in training with them.

Nonetheless, more and more call center over the next few years will be done from home. There's no issues with commutes, computer software licenses and many other things. Right now, because jobs are not as plentiful as they used to be there is a lot of competition for these positions when they do become available. So, be prepared to apply to many virtual call center positions before you hear from any of them.






Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Successful resumes

There are a number of things that are common to successful resumes.

One, they have a number of keywords throughout the resume. I recommend picking out the keywords you want to get across and then build your resume.

Two, they show accomplishments. The more accomplishments that you can show the better off you are. Did you get an employee of the month award at some point? Add to the appropriate entry as a bullet point. Were you hired as a temp employee and were then hired permanent? If so, add it as a bullet to that job entry. Did you make the honor roll in college? Add it as a bullet point to your college entry.

Three, take a break once you've put that much together. Then come back and edit, edit, edit some more. If it doesn't need to be there get rid of it. Make sure it is extremely readable extremely quickly. You have six seconds total in which you can impress them. That was according to a recent study on how long spend looking at a resume.

I wish you the best, have a great job hunt.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Face to face networking

No matter what your age is some going door to door is necessary. If nothing else to find out where positions are now open that aren't listed online. There are quite a few of those actually. This especially applies to young job seekers as they don't have much experience to offer.
Whenever you go out networking face to face make sure you are dressed to interview for the job on the spot. For office employment wear a suit, for fast food nice jeans and a button up plain shirt. It all depends on the job that you are going for. Possibly for construction and moving jobs a t-shirt, tennis shoes and clean jeans would be in order.
By at least looking like you're ready to interview on the spot you are going with an advantage. An advantage over those who haven't looked at employer wants and needs.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone, powered by Cricket.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Power words

There are some words that carry more weight than others when it comes to a resume. I would recommend interspersing a few of these in your resume when you rewrite it. They can more effectively help you show it instead of just telling it.

http://www.careerealism.com/top-resume-words/
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone, powered by Cricket.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Come get your freebies



Amphibian populations have decreased dramatically worldwide the last few years. So, a group of us wanted to do something about. E-books don't cut down trees or destroy the environment. We can all help to make a better world if we want to.

All of these books including my Get The Job is available for free this weekend.



There are also many more books that are also available on Amazon from this entire group of authors. While they aren't free they are worth taking a look. Just click the name underneath the title and it will pull all the rest of that authors book.




Twitter job search

Make sure you are using every tool that is available during a job hunt, including Twitter. There are a number of job search engines that are for jobs that are posted on Twitter. Make sure that you add these links to the top bar in your browser or to your http://delicious.com/ account

http://www.twitjobsearch.com/

http://applicant.com/twitter-job-search/



Planting

Our garden was completely planted about a week ago. Began seeing some sprouts the last few days, not quite sure if they weeds though or what I planted. Be finding out in a few more days. I'm really looking forward to all of the flowers and vegetables that we will be getting in a month or two.