Is job-hopping moving your career forward or setting you back?

By Susan Ricker 


Whether it’s an intentional strategy or not, some workers find themselves moving from job to job quickly in a short period of time, also referred to as job-hopping. Perhaps the job wasn’t what the worker envisioned, maybe a better opportunity came along or sometimes circumstances simply change. A new CareerBuilder survey finds that by the age of 35, 25 percent of workers have held five jobs or more. For workers ages 55 and older, 20 percent have held ten jobs or more.
While it’s not as common now for workers to stay at one company for the duration of their career, are employers more understanding of job-hoppers? More than half (55 percent) of employers said they have hired a job-hopper and nearly one-third (32 percent) of all employers said they have come to expect workers to job-hop.
But is this a move that can help or hurt your career in the long run? The answer is…it depends. Read on to learn about when job-hopping is expected and when it becomes a red flag.
New graduates may get a pass
Employers expect a higher rate of job-hopping among younger workers who are still trying to find their footing for their long-term career. When hiring a new college graduate, nearly half (45 percent) of employers expect the new hire to stay with the organization for two years or less, while more than one in four (27 percent) expect new college grads to stay five years or longer.
However, this may not be something to mention in an interview when the hiring manager asks how long you plan to be around or what your five-year plan looks like. Go into an entry-level job with the best of intentions and aim to garner as much experience as possible before pursuing greener pastures.
A phase you grow out of?
Just like new graduates, employers understand that younger workers are likely to try more jobs before they find one they can settle into for an extended period of time. However, employers become less understanding as job candidates mature. Forty-one percent of employers said that job-hopping becomes less acceptable when a worker reaches his/her early to mid-30s (ages 30 or 35). Twenty-eight percent find job-hopping less acceptable after the age of 40.
If you find yourself a veteran job-hopper, employers will expect a good reason before they consider hiring you. If this is the beginning of a pattern, prepare a convincing argument for why this is the job that you’re ready to settle into. By appearing aware of your job-hopping, as well as being able to ease an employer’s mind, you’re much more likely to show that you can bring your varied experience to the position and thrive in it.
Job-hopping by industry
Though job-hopping can become a risky career move if your employment history looks sporadic, there are some industries where it’s come to be expected. Information technology, an industry with a notable talent shortage and highly competitive recruitment tactics, has the largest percentage of employers who expect workers to job-hop.  Rounding out the top five industries are:

• Information technology  – 42 percent
• Leisure & hospitality – 41 percent
• Transportation – 37 percent
• Retail – 36 percent
• Manufacturing – 32 percent

How employers see a job-hopper
When does job-hopping become a red flag on a résumé? It depends a lot on the employer. The study shows that a significant number of employers (43 percent) won’t consider a candidate who’s had short tenures with several employers. In contrast, 55 percent said that they have hired someone they’d categorize as a job-hopper.
The difference in perspective may be what a candidate can bring to the position. More than half (53 percent) of employers said job-hoppers tend to have a wide range of expertise, and can adapt quickly (51 percent).

“More workers are pursuing opportunities with various companies to expose themselves to a wider range of experiences, build their skill sets or take a step up the ladder in pay or title,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “While building up a wealth of experience is a good thing, make sure that you’re staying with a company long enough to make an impact and provide a return on the investment they’ve made in you. Employers may be more understanding of job-hopping today, but most employers are still more likely to hire the candidate who has a pattern of longer tenure with organizations.”

11 things the military teaches you about leadership

By Guest Contributor 


By Alison Griswold, Business Insider
Does military experience translate to leadership and business savvy?
A glance at today’s most successful corporations would suggest that it does. Many of the biggest names in the business world — Verizon’s Lowell McAdam, FedEx CEO Frederick Smith, former General Motors CEO Daniel Akerson — have military backgrounds.
In 2005, a comprehensive study of S&P 500 CEOs by Korn/Ferry International found that more than 8 percent of top execs were ex-military officers, which is nearly triple the 3 percent of U.S. men who serve as officers.
What does the military teach that helps these ex-officers climb to the top of major corporations? We combed through interviews with many of them to find out the biggest lessons about life, business, and leadership they learned from the service:
1. Always look sharp.
Years out of service, FedEx CEO Frederick Smith still keeps up the tidy appearance he learned in the Marines. “Even in a blue pin-striped suit, I still make sure that the right-hand edge of my belt buckle lines up with my shirt front and trouser fly,” he’s said. “I shine my own shoes, and I feel uncomfortable if they aren’t polished.”
2. Take good care of your people.
Former General Motors chairman and CEO Daniel Akerson says military service taught him to lead by example and “to take good care of your people.”
3. Assemble diverse teams to get a range of perspectives.
Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky, a former captain in the U.S. Army, says military training taught him the value of working with diverse teams. “I quickly discovered no one had a lock on the right answers,” he told DiversityInc.
4. Invest in relationships for the long term.
The relationships formed in the military are “lifelong” and “serve you well in a business career,” says Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, who served in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps.
5. Be willing to listen to everyone.
Michael Morris, the former CEO of American Electric Power, has said that the military developed his “willingness to listen and formulate an opinion that incorporates as many people’s ideas as possible.”
6. Stay calm under pressure.
Morris also likes to compare a CEO to a pilot in bad weather — it’s up to him to keep his cool through a storm so his passengers (or shareholders and employees) stay calm. “The last thing you want is to appear to be rattled,” he says.
7. Act decisively even with limited information.
David Morken, CEO of Internet and phone services company Bandwidth, learned to “operate in the fog and to execute and decisively engage when you don’t have access to a complete data set” from his time in the Marine Corps.
8. Carefully plan out the logistics.
Robert Myers, CEO of Casey’s General Store, says his time in the Army made him a perfect choice later to run the company. The company’s founder figured no one was more qualified to head up a distribution chain than a former military logistics officer, CSPnet.com reports.
9. Lead with integrity.
“Veterans have special abilities and common traits, including discipline, maturity, adaptability, and dedication,” John Luke Jr., CEO of MeadWestvaco and a former Air Force pilot, has said. “They operate with integrity and high ethical standards in all that they do.”
10. Be, know, and do everything you ask of those below you.
“When I was attending the Drill Sergeant Academy, I was taught to always ‘Be, Know, Do,’ when dealing with subordinates,” former U.S. Army Drill Sergeant and Argo Marketing Group CEO Jason Levesque tells Business Insider. “Be the expert; know the job; do the difficult [tasks]. Your subordinates will follow you and, best of all, try to emulate you.”

11. Give 100 percent of your effort.
Robert McDonald, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, explains that his time in the infantry convinced him to always commit to something 100 percent. “If you’re going to be in the Army, go into the infantry,” he says. “If you’re going to be in marketing, work for P&G. You don’t do things halfway.”

Working moms and dads: The divide between salary and job titles

By Guest Contributor

Mother’s Day and the soon-approaching Father’s Day are opportunities to appreciate the hard work that goes into being a parent and providing for a family. Those parents who hold down a job while raising a family face a complicated set of responsibilities and challenges both at home and at the office.

In a new CareerBuilder survey examining the professional and family roles of working parents, workers’ salary, title and job satisfaction are evolving year to year. This shift is partially due to the workforce’s increasingly favorable view of flexible schedules and work/life balance. However, the survey sheds light on the remaining gender gap and the career challenges faced by working parents who are also the sole financial earners in their households.

To gain better insight and learn about the career turns of working parents, consider these findings from CareerBuilder’s annual Mother’s Day survey.

Salary and title by gender
Choosing a career path that can support a family’s financial and time demands is a challenge every working parent faces, though not everyone chooses the same route. While many households have two parents that work, others have one sole financial provider, and the survey reveals some noteworthy characteristics of these parents.
Thirty-one percent of working moms and 37 percent of working dads reported that they are the only earners for their households. While working moms and dads who are sole financial providers are equally likely to work in a management position (20 percent), more men reported holding a senior management role, such as a CEO, CFO, Senior VP, etc.

The survey findings also point to a significant disproportion of men and women in other job levels within a company. Working dads who are the sole earners are nearly twice as likely to report holding a professional or technical role — 57 percent compared to 28 percent of working moms. Working moms who are the sole earners are twice as likely to report working in an administrative or clerical role — 52 percent compared to 23 percent of men.
Working dads who are the sole earners also tend to be in a higher earning bracket. They are four times as likely to earn six figures, while working moms who are the sole earners are nearly twice as likely to earn less than $35,000:
Earn less than $35,000 annually

• Working moms who are sole financial providers: 38 percent
• Working dads who are sole financial providers: 21 percent

Earn $100,000 or more annually

• Working moms who are sole financial providers: 6 percent
• Working dads who are sole financial providers: 24 percent

Job satisfaction by gender
While working moms earn less than working dads, they tend to be more content in their jobs overall.  Seventy-eight percent of working moms reported they are happy in their current roles at work compared to 73 percent of working dads.

Maternity and paternity leave
Financial concerns, demanding roles and the pressure to stay on top at work may be influencing early returns from maternity or paternity leave. More than one third (34 percent) of working moms who had a baby in the last three years didn’t take the full maternity leave allotted to them by their companies, up from 30 percent last year and 26 percent in 2012. One in five (22 percent) took a leave of one month or less,  while 11 percent took two weeks or less.
More than half (54 percent) of working dads who welcomed a new baby in the last three years didn’t take the full paternity leave offered by their companies. Half of working dads (49 percent) took two weeks of paternity leave or less, 21 percent took five weeks or more while 22 percent didn’t take any time off. Working dads were twice as likely to work while on leave at 21 percent.
Some new parents couldn’t completely leave the office behind, even with a new baby in the family. Ten percent of mothers and 21 percent of new dads say they worked while on maternity and paternity leave.
While employers are beginning to embrace work/life balances, thanks to the rising acceptance of flexible work arrangements and telecommuting, working moms and dads continue to make sacrifices and manage personal and professional responsibilities.
Stay-at-home parents returning to work
Moms and dads are on a 24-hour shift, seven days a week, and the skills developed as a parent to teach, troubleshoot, manage multiple priorities and arbitrate are very transferable to corporate environments. If you’re a parent getting back into the workforce or first joining it, incorporate what you learned from those work experiences at home.
The majority of employers (65 percent) believe that parenting can qualify as relevant experience for the workplace. Aside from patience, the top work-related skills that employers said people acquire as parents include:

• Ability to multi-task – 64 percent
• Time management – 58 percent
• Conflict management – 49 percent
• Good problem-solving skills – 48 percent
• Mentoring – 40 percent
• Budgeting and managing finances – 34 percent
• Negotiation – 33 percent
• Project management – 25 percent

A career comes with its own challenges, and adding family responsibilities to the workload will require an adjustment period for parents and employers alike. New parents need to communicate their needs and have a frank conversation with their employers. Employers need to encourage this dialog and find ways to accommodate their employees’ changing needs. Collaboration between both parties can help working parents have happy and successful careers and home lives.

How financial services job seekers can overcome the skills gap

By Guest Contributor


By Kevin Knapp, CFO of CareerBuilder
Nearly half of financial services companies are struggling to fill certain positions, despite plenty of potential candidates that could have a positive impact in these roles. According to a new survey by MoneyJobs.com, CareerBuilder’s job site for finance and accounting professionals, 47 percent of financial services firms have open positions for which they can’t find qualified candidates and 49 percent cite a skills deficit as a reason for vacancies.
Financial services organizations require a high caliber of employees due to the technical expertise required and the high impact information they deal with, but the fact that almost half of financial services companies grappling with a hiring issue requires a deeper look. For job seekers, becoming aware of and overcoming the concerns of these hiring managers is the most effective way to secure a job and help close the skills gap.
When pursuing a role in financial services, consider these actions:
Be realistic about salary and don’t forget the benefits
Thirty-seven percent of hiring managers reported gaps in expectations around wages as the top contributor to long-term unfilled positions.  Too often companies are restricted by budget concerns to address it by simply increasing compensation.
Currently, only 19 percent of financial services employers think their organizations offer “extremely or very” competitive pay. Only 42 percent said they would consider increasing compensation for tough-to-fill roles while a third (32 percent) said they would not. Twenty-six percent said they’ve already increased compensation.
To trounce the pay issue, decide on several wage levels you’re willing to accept using market data, not water cooler rumors on what you might be worth in the marketplace. Also, make sure you take into account other job benefits that employers are offering that may make up  for a lower cash paycheck  Remember that employers are more willing to open their pocketbook for known impact players so accepting lower compensation up-front and then proving your worth by exceeding expectations once you are on the job is often the best route to a higher salary rather than waiting for that “ideal” offer from the outside to materialize.
Search for new skills on and off the job
When employers cite a skills gap as their roadblock to finding qualified employees, they may mean that the employee can’t meet their overly specific job requirements (32 percent) or that the candidate has education gaps in particular areas (29 percent).
One encouraging fact to think about: A majority (55 percent) of financial services employers believe training should be equally shared between employers and workers. In fact, 27 percent say the bulk of the responsibility should fall on the employer. Perhaps more surprising is finding that 37 percent of employers provide technical skills training on-the-job.
In the application process, communicate to employers your willingness to learn.  Many employers are more apt to take a calculated risk on someone who might not have the specific skills today but has demonstrated an eagerness for self-improvement.  If you notice many job postings requiring the same software knowledge, mathematical abilities or business know-how, consider pursuing the education needed to obtain these qualifications.
Point to the bottom line
The skills gap isn’t specific only to financial services — this issue is being seen across the workforce. In a separate CareerBuilder survey, 1 in 4 employers admit they have lost revenue due to extended job vacancies. The average company can lose more than $14,000 for every job that stays open for three months or longer. One in six companies lose $25,000 or more.
In addition, employees are affected by positions left open for too long. Workers burdened with heavier workloads have lower morale (41 percent), produce lower quality work (30 percent), certain work never gets done (40 percent) and work that is done is not delivered on time (34 percent).
When a company sees how much revenue they’re losing due to a vacant position and how much they can save by investing in new-hire training, the appeal of candidates who have big potential but offer different skill sets than they expected suddenly goes up.
Don’t put it off.  Take advantage of recent job growth
In a separate nationwide survey of financial services hiring managers and human resources professionals, 35 percent of financial services employers are increasing full-time headcount this year compared to 2013 — 11 points above the national average and up from 27 percent in 2013.
Job growth in financial services is expected to outpace job growth for all occupations in 2014, which is good news for workers of all experience levels. An industry quickly adding new jobs makes room for workers with less qualifications to gain experience and affords opportunities for more seasoned workers. Those contemplating opportunities in financial services may want to take advantage of the current market conditions now before they invariably shift again.

Navigating the skills gap may bring an extra challenge to a job seeker’s search, but those workers with the desire to make it in the competitive financial services industry will undoubtedly be able to overcome this issue.

Working for a startup: Is it right for you?

By Robert Half


Beginning your information technology career at a startup company may sound like a dream job. There’s the opportunity to hop aboard a fresh venture, have your voice heard and skills appreciated and shoot up the ladder. You also have the potential to make a difference, a bunch of money and important decisions that could steer your own future and that of the company.

Working for a startup is very different from being part of a large, established corporation. Hot, young companies often break the mold in terms of business ideology, culture and modus operandi. On the flip side, startups typically demand 110 percent of each team member’s passion, perseverance and dedication. What’s more, they’re notorious for their lack of guarantees.

How can you gauge whether you should work for a startup? We’ve all heard stories about ones that changed the world, made millions overnight and showered their team with unbelievable perks. But what is working for a startup really like? Here are five things to expect.

1. Inspiration
Working for a startup is exciting. You’re building something from the ground up, and the fruits of your labor could become something truly meaningful. You’re surrounded by passionate, hardworking people who are rooting for the company to succeed. If you have your own ideas for launching a business someday, working for a startup is the ideal training ground.
2. Intensity
Most startups are built on their founders’ determination … and piggy bank. And because they’ve devoted so much time and energy to their “baby,” many founders expect you to do the same. Make-or-break goals, irregular hours, heavy workloads, tight deadlines, close-knit relationships and plenty of ups and downs — working for a startup is rarely part time or halfhearted. If you’re ready to give it your all, a startup may bring out the best in you. However, if you have other major commitments or like being able to clock off at five o’clock on the dot, this culture may not be for you.
3. Empowerment
Besides putting your IT knowledge to excellent use, you’ll have a hand in shaping not only the company’s products but also its culture, goals and values. Your opinions, outlook and personality will be crucial to building the company. Your input will be welcome, and you’ll be given greater responsibility and decision-making capacity than you’d get at a “traditional” company. What’s more, you can bet you’ll have a great chance of road testing and refining your ideas in real scenarios.
4. Variety
As startup teams are generally small and dynamic, you will probably wear several hats. If you’re keen to venture into new territory, startups can offer a spectrum of experiences. You could find yourself programming, interviewing job candidates, leading a brainstorming session and giving your input on product design — all in the same week or even day.
5. Risk
Startups are risky. Seed funding doesn’t last forever. If a company takes off within that make-or-break period, it’s cause for champagne. However, money may run out before the venture sees a profit, or the product or service may never gain traction with consumers. You can win big or lose big through no fault of your own.
Working for a startup: Pros and cons
While every company is different, the following advantages and drawbacks are fairly standard elements of a startup:
Pros

• A cool, open-minded work environment
• Being part of a close-knit, dynamic team
• A large amount of responsibility and decision-making capacity from day one
• Opportunities to grow quickly and move up in your career
• Greater transparency than in many larger companies
• A chance to be part of something potentially major from the beginning

Cons

• Irregular hours and the need to be “always on”
• Less-than-spectacular pay and benefits, especially in the beginning
• Little job security
• A lack of structure and direction, and unclear roles

If you believe working for a startup might be right for you, look at it from all angles: What is important to you? What do you want to prioritize? What are you prepared to compromise? Are you ready to take the risks? You may find it helpful to make your own pros-and-cons list and speak with others who work for a startup. If a new company has offered you a job, do your homework. And don’t be afraid to ask — the startup and yourself — plenty of tough questions before saying yes or no.

The career lessons I wish I knew when I was younger

It’s a statement you know you’ve said to yourself before: “If I could go back five/ten years, I would change X, Y and Z.”

You probably have a handful of changes you would make, know some questions you would answer differently, and have actions you’d take a lot sooner. And you’ve probably imagined how different your current situation would be.

If you could go back in time and talk to your younger self, you may bring up the idea of investing in Apple or Google. You might toy with the idea of telling yourself to invent Facebook. You may even decide to give yourself the winning lottery numbers for all those jackpots you’ve missed (no future judgment). But what lessons from the working world would you pass along? How would you ready yourself for your future career?

This week, we posed the same basic question to the members of our social communities: If you could give your younger self one piece of professional advice, what would it be?
Here are just a few of the common threads that emerged.

1. Focus on establishing connections.
“Network! Who you know will open doors to what you know.” – Louise O., via LinkedIn
“Maintain a high-quality network of peers. You might not need it at your current job, but it will be instrumental in helping you find your next one.” – Kim S., via Google+
“Join your industry associations and be an active member. Grow your network, become a subject matter expert and contribute content, and regularly refresh your résumé to include accomplishments that support your professional value/brand.” – Deborah O., via LinkedIn
“Don’t burn bridges.” @imjusttrynaeat, via Twitter
2. Think about what success means to you.
“Success is not measured by how much money you make, but how you inspire others to notice what you do because your career choices never got in the way of your life choices.” – Ilada W., via Facebook
“At the end of the day, despite everything that was said and done, it’s YOU that has to look in the mirror and say, “I made this decision. I can live with it.” – Steve R., via Facebook
3. Be easy to work with.
“Be sincerely nice. People remember that.” – Paul M., via Google+
4. Just do you.
“Go with your passion. Don’t let anyone else talk you out of what you really want to do. Listen to what people say but, in the end, follow what is in your heart.” – Lori S., via Google+
“Do not be discouraged by critics. Fight harder for success because at the end of it all you control your destiny.” – Nene S., via Facebook
“Do what you love.” – Pierre G., via Facebook
One thing to remember: You don’t have to go back in time to make changes for the better. You’re in the driver seat, and you don’t need to be driving a DeLorean DMC-12 with a flux capacitor to improve your current situation.

Take a moment to ask yourself what career advice you’d hope to impart on your younger self. But don’t stop there — we have a few follow-up questions for you: Am I currently taking my own advice? Why not? How am I going to change that?

Respect at work: How to get it back if you’ve lost it

By Robert Half


First, it’s the tardiness and extended lunches. Then, you notice assignments are taking longer than usual to complete. You start hearing more phrases like “I can’t” or “That’s not my job.” It’s time to face the facts: You’re a manager who’s losing respect at work, and you need to make some changes quickly — before your clients and employees decide that it’s time to go elsewhere.
When workers respect their managers and feel respected in return, they are more creative, motivated, energized and, ultimately, productive. Employees place a high value on having a manager they can respect and learn from.
If you need to re-establish yourself as a leader whom your employees hold in high regard, here are some tips:
1. Remember, appearances matter
Perhaps you’ve taken the casual dress code to an extreme. While it would seem odd to wear business attire when the company culture calls for jeans and T-shirts, try upgrading your work wardrobe to earn respect at work. You want to project an approachable yet polished image.
2. Communicate
The importance of employee communication cannot be overstated. Managers who don’t listen to their staff won’t know what’s going on in the office, including why they’re not respected. By setting up regular feedback sessions, not only will you convey to your workers that you value their opinions, but you also will get a better sense of their strengths and weaknesses.
3. Demonstrate your trust
Empower employees to take ownership. Encourage them to take risks, but make sure they know that you’ll back them up if things don’t turn out as expected. Show that you trust their good judgment.
4. Watch your mouth
Pay attention to your words and actions. If you’re getting less respect at work, it could be because you haven’t been behaving in a professional manner. Keep your language respectful and clean, be discrete when it comes to personal issues, and don’t openly criticize other workers or managers.
5. Know when to keep quiet
Tirades may earn fear, but never respect at work. Deal with sensitive work issues or frustrations at a private, individual level rather than broadcasting them during meetings. But the opposite is true when it comes to praise: Be generous and public when thanking people for a job well done.
6. Transfer your knowledge
As a manager, you have the potential to be a valued mentor and teacher. Instruction can be either direct, such as working with a staff member to improve a speech, or indirect, such as leading by example. Bonus: By transferring your knowledge and helping workers succeed, you are training the company’s next generation of leaders.
7. Be open-minded
Put your preconceptions aside and listen to an employee’s proposal with an unbiased perspective. If there’s a conflict, avoid making assumptions. Be fair, don’t show favoritism and give everyone the same chances to succeed.
8. Stay involved
Don’t be a hermit in your office or socialize with just senior management. Earn respect at work by making a point of chatting with workers in a casual setting, such as an office party or after-work drinks with the team. Get to know your employees, and let them get to know you.
9. Be transparent
The unknown is scary. Put yourself in your staff’s position. If the company has had to tighten budgets, they’re going to wonder if layoffs are coming, for example. When change is on the horizon, keep your employees in the loop as much as you can.
10. Know the limits
If workers are still disrespectful after all your attempts, or if one or two bad apples ratchet up their level of disdain, you need to take more drastic action. Let them know their behavior is unacceptable, and explain why it’s important to maintain a proper level of respect at work.

It’s not easy to gain back respect at work once you’ve lost it, but it is possible. Start by having a higher regard for yourself and your workers, which will likely lead them to reciprocate. And who wouldn’t respect that?

How to love the work you do

By Susan Ricker


There are plenty of benefits to loving your job, which can reach far beyond the actual hours you’re on the clock.
As Ray White, author of “Connecting Happiness and Success,” says, “When people love what they do, they are happier and more successful. They work longer hours, make more friends at work, spend most of their time thinking about how to do things better and talk to everyone about what they do, which provides them with lots of diverse ideas on how to do their job even better. Their job becomes intertwined in their life rather than separate from it, and they excel because of it.”
Even if you don’t love your job, there it can still have a positive effect on your life. . “The job may not be your passion,” White says. “It may just enable your passion. Your job can be how you earn enough money to surf or play music. So you are not passionate about the job, but you are passionate about what it enables you to do. The key is to put your job into the perspective of your passions or dreams.”

Craft your job
Whether you’re passionate about your work or what it enables you to do, there are ways to improve your career outlook and how you spend your time in the office. White suggests “job crafting,” or reshaping the responsibilities you hold, as well as your attitude toward them.
“How can you make adjustments in your job so it leverages your strengths, calls on your passions and changes the boring and routine tasks?” White says. “I often use the example of our janitor who doesn’t think her job is to clean bathrooms, it is to keep the ‘kids’ — her name for our young workforce — happy and productive. She makes sure they have coffee in the morning, clean dishes and re-arranged furniture to help them be productive. Last week she pulled furniture out of an old storage room and set up shelves for the people whose desks were getting overcrowded. She changed her job to be something she was passionate about.”
This kind of attitude adjustment can be as large or small as you’re willing to try. “As part of job crafting, you can also turn boring routine tasks into contests with yourself or others,” White says. “If you did 100 entries yesterday, how can you do 150 entries today and maintain the same quality?”

Make connections
Improving how you do your job and how you see your responsibilities is a critical first step in loving your job. But what else can you do to ignite the passion? White recommends looking for the connections. His challenge to job seekers and workers alike: “Do they connect with the vision and values of the company? Does the company purpose give them something bigger than themselves to pursue, for example, an alarm company making the world safer? Do they connect with their friends and teammates at work? Can they be passionate about helping their co-workers succeed or help their team complete a big project? Can they connect with all the things they can learn on the job or the opportunity for travel and/or career advancement? Can they get excited about the opportunities for them to take on and accomplish huge projects with seemingly insurmountable challenges?” These are all questions you can ask yourself, and if you don’t like the answer, you have a great jumping off point for what to change.

The bottom line is not to look at everything you hate about your job, but to find what your job provides for you. After all, as White says, “It is not about the job; it is about how they look at the job and how they choose to create the connection between their jobs and their lives.”

How do employers test an applicant’s skills?

By Susan Ricker  

 

Have you ever looked at a job posting and thought, “Yeah, sure, I could do that”? Or applied to a position that you’d like but didn’t necessarily have the skills for? This is one of the biggest reasons employers have a series of tests to weed out applicants that may not be ready for a role’s challenges.
“According to the Department of Labor, any assessment used during the employee screening and selection process is a test. And any test used must be job-related,” says Ira S. Wolfe, president of Success Performance Solutions and author of “Perfect Labor Storm 2.0”. “The inherent problem with most testing is that it focuses on what the applicant accomplished in the past. And many managers focus on the ‘hard’ skills — the technical and administrative skills.”
As Wolfe points out, though, employers need to test how the applicant will apply these skills, and that they can repeat their success. “While the interview and references are still important tools, work samples and pre-employment testing are playing a bigger role to assess future performance and potential to adapt and grow.”
Read on to learn more about how employers can adequately test the skills of their applicants, and to find out how you can prepare to ace these tests.

1. Following instructions and demonstrating creativity
Ashley Schwartau, director of multimedia production at The Security Awareness Company, was responsible for hiring a new production assistant earlier this year. In order to find the best match for their team, she first assessed candidates through emails.
“When we posted our ad, there were five requirements for them to send us when they replied,” Schwartau says. “Anyone who didn’t follow the directions we didn’t even look at since that’s a pretty basic skill. But then since a couple of our requirements were on the more ‘informal’ or ‘fun’ side, we looked at how much thought and creativity the applicants put into their responses. Some of them were so creative, we put those in the ‘maybe’ stack.”

2. Proving experience through examples
Next, Schwartau gauged the applicants’ work history by viewing their online portfolios. “A lot of the things in the portfolios are obvious school pieces, where they had a lot of time to complete an assignment and were given specific instructions. So that can tell you how literal a person follows rules given to them, how they think when given specific parameters, etc.”
However, Schwartau’s team also expected candidates to display creativity through their own ideas and work, not necessarily what was assigned to them. “It’s important to look for other pieces, like personal projects, or stuff they’ve done on their own just to learn something. Many of the applicants didn’t have those things, and when we spoke to them on the phone or in person it became clear that they lacked a certain creative spark. They weren’t going to go out and learn how to do stuff without being told or asked. So they wouldn’t be good for our team.”

3. Explaining the process and meeting demands of the job
Having an end product that employers like may not be enough to get the job if you can’t also work within their workflow demands. Demonstrating passion for your work and being able to complete it within the role’s demands is essential. Schwartau says, “Get them to show you what they are most proud of and find out why. You can find out how long they spent doing something and what they went through to figure out how to do it.
“We saw this beautiful series of posters one applicant had done as his semester-long project and they were great. Lots of detail and his own illustrations included. Very modern, fresh look. But then we thought about it — it took him four months to do something that we would need to turn around in a couple weeks. After speaking with him further, it became clear that deadlines and a quick turnaround were going to end up stressing him out and he might be overwhelmed by the pace of our chaos. His skills weren’t up to the challenge.”

4. Showing problem-solving skills and knowing resources
A favorite adage in work and life is “If you can’t explain it, you don’t really understand it.” While you may have work experience and an interest in a role, if you can’t explain the processes to complete it or offer insight to particular projects, you’re not bringing much to the position.
Schwartau elaborates, saying, “When a project comes across my desk, I immediately start thinking of all the ways we could handle it from a broad branding approach, down to the ‘which buttons will I click in InDesign to accomplish the effect I want?’ approach. So we posed a few hypotheticals to the candidates and asked them to describe the process they would take to handle the approach. For example, if someone says they’re going to use Photoshop to create what needs to be a scalable vector logo, you know they don’t know what they’re doing. And always ask them what their favorite font is. If they name a regular system font or have never heard of places like dafont or 1001freefonts then maybe they don’t know that half a designer’s job is going out and looking for the right pieces and tools to complete the job. That comes up during the ‘how would you handle this project’ question a lot.”
It may be a lengthy process to secure a role, but demonstrating your skills and abilities and meeting the challenges of an employer is an exceptional way to ensure that both the employer and employee understand the expectations of the position.

4 job search tips from Google

By Anthony Balderrama


Earlier this year, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman interviewed Laszlo Bock, Google’s senior vice president of people operations. Basically, he’s the person in charge of hiring all the bright minds at one of the biggest technology companies in the world. Not a bad gig. At the time, Friedman wanted to understand Google’s hiring process.
More recently, he sat down with Bock again to find out what advice he would give all job seekers, not just those trying to work at Google. After all, not everyone can or wants to work for a tech giant, but finding out how one of the world’s leading companies evaluates job seekers can only help your own search.
He gave some great advice and insight into how he views applicants. We’ve picked four tips that we think are most important and helpful to anyone looking for a job:
1. A good résumé relies on a simple formula
According to Bock, your accomplishments should be framed as action items: “The key is to frame your strengths as: ‘I accomplished X, relative to Y, by doing Z.’”
Listing your daily activities are not that important without context. Instead, bock tells Friedman how to make a hiring manager care about your work history:
“Most people would write a résumé like this: ‘Wrote editorials for The New York Times.’ Better would be to say: ‘Had 50 op-eds published compared to average of 6 by most op-ed [writers] as a result of providing deep insight into the following area for three years.’ Most people don’t put the right content on their résumés.”
2. Interviews are about your communication skills
“Most people in an interview don’t make explicit their thought process behind how or why they did something and, even if they are able to come up with a compelling story, they are unable to explain their thought process.”
Bock says you should be explicit about what you have to offer. Tell them what you have to offer, give them a story about it and then explain how that story was relevant to your skills. Don’t make the interviewer do any guesswork.
3. Creativity + logic = desirable worker
You might not expect a tech giant like Google to be equally passionate about creative minds as they are about analytical, logical workers. Yet, Bock says someone who has the right balance of both creativity and structured thinking is a rarity.
If you think about the success of Google or any company, you quickly realize they rely on innovative ideas and people who can carry them out. All businesses need employees who are trying to stay ahead of the competition with new ideas, but ideas don’t magically turn into successful ventures. You need strategy to carry it through.
4. Make the most out of college
College is a a commitment that takes up your time and money. Don’t just coast by with no goals in sight. Bock tells Friedman, “The first and most important thing is to be explicit and willful in making the decisions about what you want to get out of this investment in your education.”

Once there, said Bock, make sure that you’re getting out of it not only a broadening of your knowledge but skills that will be valued in today’s workplace. Your college degree is not a proxy anymore for having the skills or traits to do any job.

Basically, his advice comes down to being specific. What have you done? What can you do? What will you do? You’ve only got a hiring manager’s attention for a few moments — don’t waste a second of it being vague or assuming they’ll understand what you really meant.

Mastering your job search – in layers

By Guest Contributor


By Beth Tucker, president and CEO of KNF&T

There are several avenues prospective employees can take to find their “perfect” job. However, many still choose to rely solely on submitting résumés online, which is a mistake. Any recruiter or HR manager will tell you they don’t get to the majority of applications, due to automated processes such as applicant tracking systems and the sheer volume of résumés received. While submitting online is often a requirement, prospective employees need to think about their job search in layers. In addition to submitting a résumé online, there are several different avenues a prospective employee should incorporate into the job search mix. Below are some you should pursue as you look for your ideal job.

There is no time like face time
Attending events to network and meet different contacts is an important aspect to any successful job search and one prospective employees should take seriously. Further, if you are interested in a particular company, you should make the extra effort to seek out events that are important to the company’s employee base and try to engage with those individuals that may be able to potentially serve as references for you.
College connections
While fall is often the time of year people place an extra emphasis on their college ties through homecoming events and reunions, do not lose sight of the importance of those connections year round. In addition, as you hone in on a particular company, be sure to research where the executive team and/or your prospective manager went to college. A common college bond can go a long way in fostering a job-winning connection.
The company you keep
Hopefully, since you first started in the workforce, you have been building a referral base. If you haven’t, you need to. While you may not have referrals within your target company, external referrals go a long way in helping to validate your fit within a role. Depending on the position you are seeking, the types of referrals may vary — and they do not need to be from a previous manager. They can be focused on your management style (from someone who has supported you); client relations skills (from a former client) or general character/team player attributes (someone who has worked with you).
Taking social seriously
We all know social media engagement can have a significant impact on a job search. Not only do you need to be careful with what you publicize socially (to avoid a negative perception), engaging with certain groups can help catapult you into the right sphere of influence within a company. The majority of companies have a LinkedIn page. Take a look at the groups where employees are members and start to engage with them. Not only will it put you in a positive light with those who are seeing you interact in groups germane to them, but you will be well-versed on the topics they want to discuss come interview time.
Get to know the hiring manager
Once your online application is submitted, you should try to make an effort to follow up directly with the hiring manager for the position. There are likely hundreds of other applicants that submitted via that same online form. Stand out from the crowd by sending up a follow-up email directly (if you have access to the information). Other avenues to consider include engaging with them over Twitter or they have been mentioned/quoted somewhere, let them know you noticed. Although — always be careful not to be too aggressive. You do not want to come off intrusive.
Test the waters with temping
As you start in the workforce, there are many options that are presented to you. How do you even know which is the right one? Many have found success with temping at their desired companies. Through temping, you can see if the company (and position) is a fit for you and they can see if you are equally a fit for them. Commitment is minimal and can lead to long-term satisfaction and growth for both the employee and the employer.

Get out there!
As a prospective employee, you don’t necessarily have to do all of the above to ensure success, but I do encourage you to consider a mix of these activities. By doing so, you will be able to rise above he sea of online applications and potentially land your dream job.

Government resources that can give your job search a competitive edge

By Selena Dehne

The Labor Department's Occupational Outlook Handbook is a rich source of information that can help you plan your education and career and excel in the job market. But unless you're a career development professional, librarian or educator, you might not even know what the OOH is, let alone how to use it.

Here's a crash course in what you'll find in the OOH and how to benefit from its information.

The leading source of critical decision-making information
The OOH contains information-packed descriptions of nearly 290 major jobs in the United States. These descriptions discuss the nature of the work, work environment, job outlook through 2020, required training and education, related jobs, earnings and more.
The OOH can be accessed online at www.bls.gov/oco. You can also find this information in book format from JIST Publishing at your local library or nearest bookstore. For a format that's even more engaging and reader-friendly, check out the EZ Occupational Outlook Handbook.

1. Five ways to use the OOHMichael Farr, founder of JIST Publishing, said, "I consider the Occupational Outlook Handbook one of the most helpful books on career information available." In his latest book, "The Quick Résumé & Cover Letter Book," Farr pinpointed the following five ways to use the OOH in career planning and job seeking.

2. To identify the skills needed in the job you want. Look up a job that interests you, and the OOH will tell you the transferable and job-related skills it requires. Assuming that you have these skills, you can then emphasize them on your résumé and in interviews.

3. To find skills from previous jobs to support your present objective. Look up OOH descriptions for jobs you have had in the past. A careful read will help you identify skills that can be transferred and used in a new job. Even earlier jobs can be valuable in this way. For example, if you waited tables while going to school, you would discover that this requires the ability to work under pressure, deal with customers and work quickly. If you are now looking for a job as an accountant, you can see how transferable skills used in an apparently unrelated past job can support your ability to do another job.

4. To identify related job targets. Each major job described in the OOH lists other jobs that are closely related. Each description also provides information on positions that the job might lead to through promotion or experience. And, because the jobs are listed within clusters of similar jobs, you can easily browse descriptions of related jobs you might have overlooked. All of this detail gives you options to consider in your job search as well as information to include in the summary section of your résumé.


5. To find out the typical salary range, trends and other details. Although you should almost never list your salary requirements in a résumé or cover letter, the OOH will help you know what pay range to expect and which trends are affecting the job. Note that local pay average and other details can differ significantly from the national information provided in the OOH.

To get more specific information on related jobs. If a job interests you, it is important to learn more about it. Each OOH job description provides helpful sources, including a cross-reference to the O*NET career information, related professional associations, Internet sites and other sources. 

When do I bring up my baggage in a job search?

Susan Ricker, 

Just like in dating, job searching can sometimes cause you to look back on your past at some of the baggage you've collected. But while your date may be forgiving of poor communication skills or your fear of commitment, hiring managers aren't necessarily as understanding.
So when you bring baggage to your job search, such as gaps on your résumé or looking for jobs out of state, you'll have to discuss the subject carefully and at the right moment. To help figure out timing, consider these tips for addressing your job-search baggage.

Save the cover letter for why you're qualified
A cover letter may seem like a natural place to address any concerns a potential employer may have, but in a competitive job market, your first impression can't be made up of reasons to doubt your capabilities.
"This weakens your application right from the start," says Cheryl E. Palmer, career coach and owner of Call to Career, a career coaching firm. "My advice is to keep it positive in the cover letter and avoid touchy issues. If you have a strong résumé, the recruiter will follow up with you, and if they have questions about your background, they will ask those questions during a screening interview. But with the cover letter and résumé, you at least want to make the first cut."

Addressing résumé gaps
If there are gaps of empty time on your résumé, an employer will likely be curious as to what you were doing. Palmer suggests waiting for the interviewer to bring this up -- but be sure to have an answer ready. "The answer that you give needs to be clear enough so that it does not provoke more questions," she says. "So if the company that you worked for closed, and you were unemployed for a period of time after that, you need to explain that the company closed and tell the interviewer what you did in-between jobs. Hopefully you can truthfully say that you were doing contract work or updating your skills by obtaining a certification."
As Palmer mentions, employers want to know that your career was a part of your life even when you weren't working, and they want to know how you stayed involved with your field. Whether it was volunteering, pursuing more education or simply reading industry publications, show how you made the most of your time.

When you're overqualified
There are plenty of reasons a job seeker may be interested in a position that's a rung lower on their career ladder. Just know that interviewers will want to understand your reasoning. Yes, you can bring your experience to the role, but if an interviewer believes you're only interested in the job until you can find something better, he probably won't take the risk of hiring you. Instead, point to why this match makes sense.
"If you have been in management but are being interviewed for a staff position with no managerial responsibilities, you may talk about how you realized that you prefer to be in a position where you can focus on being an individual contributor and do your best work. After all, not everyone is cut out to be in management," Palmer says. "Or you might enthusiastically talk about your interest in the mission of the company that you are applying to instead of focusing on the fact that it is a step backward for your career. The bottom line is that you need to convince the interviewer that your taking the position will be a win-win for both parties."

Bringing up relocation
By applying for a job that's a significant distance away from you, you may think it's obvious that you're willing to relocate. However, employers can sometimes see this as a gray area in a candidate's qualifications.
To help take away doubt, Palmer says, "Typically, when it comes to relocation, you are competing against local candidates. And not all employers are willing to pay for your relocation. If you are in a position to pay for your own relocation, and you know that the employer will not do it for you, it is appropriate to mention in the interview that you are willing to relocate at your own expense. This will put you on an even playing field with local candidates."

5 Things You Should Do Right After You're Fired

Know that you will be OK.

By Business Insider

By Jacquelyn Smith

Getting fired is one of the most difficult things a professional could face in their career - especially when it's completely unexpected. And, as entrepreneur James Altucher points out in his recent LinkedIn post, the days following aren't much easier.

"You can't meditate. You can't exercise. You can't eat healthy. You can't shave. Or bathe. You can't even take deep breaths," he says. "None of that stuff helps, you think. None of that immediately deposits money in the bank. None of that brings back your self-esteem."

Altucher, who has been fired "so many times I can't list them all," says his one piece of advice that does help is this: Do just one thing today. And then do one thing tomorrow. And one the next day. And so on.

Here are five possible things you could do in the days following your firing to get back on track:

Keep a regular schedule. Get eight hours of sleep; wake up early; exercise; take a shower; put on a suit; go into the city; and walk around, Altucher suggests. You need to keep things as "normal" as possible during this tough time by staying busy and active. You don't want to sit home and sulk.

Have lunch with someone you haven't seen in three years. Altucher says meeting up with someone you haven't seen in a while injects new blood into your system. "You need a total transfusion to get rid of the infected old blood." Plus, it's a great way to network and let people know you're on the hunt for a new job.

Treat yourself like a one-man business. Find your "customers" (places or people you might want to work with), and then come up with a list of 10 or more ideas for each customer that can make them money. "This way you keep your idea muscle intact," Altucher says. "Pitch your ideas to that customer if you can. If you can't, move on to the next customer."

Make a list of all expenses you can slash. You were just fired. This may be a financially difficult time for you. Spend one day figuring out your new budget. You don't know how long it will be until you have a steady income again, so you'll need to be cautious with your spending.

Let go of your resentment. "You are going to feel resentful about people at your old job. They wronged you." But remember that they're also just trying to survive, he says. Make lists of all the good qualities your old boss and coworkers have, and send each of them an email telling them why you think they are good at what they do. Also, thank them for the opportunity to work with them and for anything they may have taught you.

"No matter what, do that one thing. Get the blood moving. Get the heart moving. Then the rest will follow and you will be OK," Altucher concludes.

Click here to read the full LinkedIn post.

10 Skills Everyone Needs To Thrive In Today's Job Market

Employers stress soft skills, new study says

By Mariya Pylayev


There was once a time when all anyone had to do to get a job in America was to prove they exist – i.e. they just had to show up. So the legend goes, anyway. That was before my time and seems inconceivable to me and others my age.

Today, jobseekers need an arsenal of expertise, including those curious things that very recently became known as "soft skills." Your ability to cuddle a fluffy bunny doesn't qualify as a soft skill, unfortunately. Soft skills are "skills in dealing with and communicating with people effectively," according to a Merriam-Webster's New Words and Slang submission.

These behavioral competencies are also known as interpersonal or people skills, and they are more important than ever in a job market brimming with diploma-sporting jobseekers duking it out a shrunken pool of good jobs. Even having an in-demand "hard skill" like mechanical engineering is not enough to guarantee you a job offer on its own anymore. Most employers – 77 percent – say soft skills are equally important as hard skills, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Careerbuilder.

It's fortunate that mastering these skills will not require you to carve out time and money to go back to school or take an online course. You can practice wherever you go. Try them out at your job, at networking events and even at the dinner table with family or with friends.

1. Accepting Criticism

Source: Getty Images; more quotes

Seek out criticism, but don't embrace your flaws, says AOL Jobs contributor Tom Siebert. It's tough at first. You may feel like you're being torn apart from the inside out when your boss tells you your weekly reports can be difficult to read or your coworker says you're prone to interrupting people when they're speaking, but it's the best route to self-improvement. It's better than being slammed with these issues in your performance review, or worse - never learning about them at all and struggling to understand why everyone else seems to be advancing while you're stagnating. So, get used to seeking out criticism and don't get defensive or mopey. That's never pretty. Own your development.

Master this soft skill.

2. Flexibility

Source: Getty Images; more quotes

One result of globalization has been the rapidity with which the world around us changes. The modern workplace requires employees to think on their feet and to shift gears when the moment calls for it. This means updating your skills and learning new ones as often as you can. Bill Harnett, another AOL Jobs contributor, says his readiness to adapt to change gives him "a tremendous amount of confidence when facing seemingly impossible challenges."

Master this soft skill.

3. Problem Solving

Source: Getty Images; more quotes

Slim-staffed organizations across the country are sounding the call for crafty thinkers to join their teams. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) offers some sobering data to back this up: Work that requires high-level problem-solving skills, such as management and professional work, are becoming more prevalent, while jobs that involve mid-level critical thinking – nursing, retail, service, craft and trade work – are taking a hit.

Master this soft skill.

4. Self-Confidence

Source: Getty Images; more quotes

J.T. O'Donnell, the mastermind behind AOL's Career Luck Project, put it best: "Self-confidence is about impressing the only person that really matters: yourself." Confidence in yourself comes from within, but it has profound influence over your actions and achievements. To believe you can do something is the first step to actually doing it – a mindset that will help you take on challenges and advance your career.

Master this soft skill.

5. Work Ethic

Source: Getty Images; more quotes

Of all the skills on this list, work ethic is the most timeless in that it's been coveted for as long as there have been jobs. What is new is its relative scarcity, especially among the youngest workers, according to recent reports. You can interpret these findings differently, but that doesn't change the fact that the people with the hiring power think this crucial skill is declining. You can use this to your advantage.

Master this soft skill.

6. Working Well Under Pressure

Source: Getty Images; more quotes

"Must work well under pressure" is a common line in many job listings. Even if some job descriptions don't specify this, everyone finds themselves racing to meet a deadline at some point. Having the ability to handle pressure and manage stress will help you overcome inevitable rocky humps in your career path in a stride.

Master this soft skill.

7. Teamwork

Source: Getty Images; more quotes

Collaboration and coordination have become increasingly important as work tasks have gotten more complicated. There are specialized algorithms to appease, incomprehensible data sets to parse, new technology to wrangle. Workers are assigned highly specialized parts of whole projects. The entire team feels the weight if one person shirks their responsibilities. AOL Jobs editor-in-chief Laurie Petersen aptly likened a work team to an orchestra: "One sour player can ruin it all by demanding too much attention or trying to play a completely different song."

Master this soft skill.

8. Time Management

Source: Getty Images; more quotes

"Who wants to look like a fool, walking about with one eye on a check list and the other on a clock?" asked contributor Erik Sherman. "I do."

A bit of planning and discipline go a long way in the workplace. You can train yourself to avoid falling prey to the common "planning fallacy," the tendency to overestimate your abilities and underestimate the time it would take you to complete something, and the hardwired urge to complete smaller, simpler tasks ahead of more time-consuming important ones. Is this difficult to accomplish? Not if you're consistent.

Master this soft skill.

9. Good Communication

Source: Getty Images; more quotes

When contributor Miriam Salpeter worked on Wall Street as a recent college graduate, she quickly learned the power of language. "Just one word out of place could give someone the wrong impression," she recalled. A study conducted by Millennial Branding found that 98 percent of employers say communication skills are essential. This is also an asset that employers claim the youngest working generation lacks. Miscommunication is frustrating at best. In the worst case scenario it can cost you a job.

Master this soft skill.

10. Positive Attitude

Source: Getty Images; more quotes

Positivity is infectious. Bill Harnett remembers a coworker who changed the tone of his workplace with her optimistic attitude. "You don't have to be the office cheerleader, but staying focused on solutions and looking at the glass as more than half full can make work more enjoyable and less stressful," he said. Optimists may get a bad rap, but that's only because of a common misunderstanding of the term. Positive thinking can be practiced alongside realism, and has been proven to boost productivity and lower stress.

Bouncing Back From a Bad Career Exit

How to answer the question 'Why were you let go?'

By CareerBuilder

By Susan Ricker

When most of us fantasize about leaving our current job, the details include outsmarting a terrible boss and being given his position and paycheck, or winning the lottery and never needing to work again. The fantasy usually doesn't include getting fired.

But if you find yourself making a bad career exit from your last job, whether it's your fault or that of your ex-employer's, it's still possible to bounce back and land a job that's a much better fit. Not sure where to start? Check out these career coaches' advice.


Don't make details public

Social media has leveled the playing fields between businesses and consumers, and everybody loves a story where an employee or consumer rightly calls out a bad business. But no matter how satisfying you think it may be to post your story on social sites, this is the time to keep your digital mouth closed and your head level.

"Avoid being emotional, and look at the situation as an opportunity to rebuild," says Stacy Lindenberg, owner and chief change agent of Talent Seed Consulting. "Don't vet your opinions or situation on social media...that is one of the worst things you could do, and will reflect negatively on you both at the time of your exit, and when you seek your next job."

Instead, constructively channel those emotions in a way that will help you find a position better suited for you.

Jacqueline Twillie, author, speaker, blogger and career coach, says, "Create a list of things that you learned from the experience and begin the job search with the lessons learned." Also write down what you didn't like about the last job, and what your list of must-haves is for your next job. This will quickly move your job search forward.

Don't bring baggage to your job search

Whether in your application materials or in an interview, it's essential to keep your attitude and how you present yourself as positive and capable as possible. Your cover letter should be directed at why you're excited about this future opportunity and how your goals and experience are a match.

If, during a screening interview or at a request for references, your last employer comes up, Twillie says, "Explain honestly that your value and the company's values no longer aligned and it was decided that your skillset could be best utilized elsewhere. Don't get into every detail, be honest but be brief."

Roy Cohen, career coach and author of "The Wall Street Professional's Survival Guide," adds, "If a boss's reputation precedes him or her, and the interviewer is fishing for 'dirt', here's a possible response: 'Yes, [ex-employer] is a tough boss but I learned a lot from her -- about setting and meeting exacting standards, working under pressure and following up. I learned from her that the devil is in the details. Those lessons were invaluable and I'm grateful for them.'"

The key is to show growth and maturity from the experience and avoid playing a blame game.

Be positive in front of future employers

This can't be stressed enough -- a professional attitude is the most effective way to bounce back from a bad career exit. But if the interviewer won't accept a short, vague answer in response to "Why did you leave your job?" then you better have a response ready instead of accidentally starting a rant.

Good thing Cohen has two strategies that can help. He says, "A multi-reason explanation is always best. If one idea doesn't resonate, it is likely another will. As an example: 'We've had a number of lay-offs and I'm concerned about my job; I also have a long commute and it would be great to devote that time on the road to work, it feels wasted now; I'm also eager to take on expanded responsibilities and that's not likely to happen in light of our current situation and the cost and headcount-cutting mood of the company.'"

But if it comes up that you left on bad terms, Cohen says, "You will need a defensible -- not defensive -- strategy to explain the departure. That's where you acknowledge what happened but you also provide some context that appears unbiased. An example: One of my clients lost her job when it was discovered that her boss was stealing holiday money intended for temp employees. Although she was not aware of his activities or involved in any way, management felt that she was guilty by association.

How did she explain the separation? By appearing to be honest, open, and transparent: 'My boss was accused of engaging in activities that I'm not at liberty to discuss and it was felt that I was too closely tied to him not to be separated, too. Despite the fact that I was in no way involved, it just feels bad. I understand why the decision was made and they were probably right to do so. I have a number of colleagues and other senior managers who will on my behalf and of my qualifications and integrity.'"

6 job-search mistakes to avoid when finding your first job

By Robert Half
 
Launching your first job search is both exciting and bewildering. You’re eager to impress potential employers with your newly gotten experience and degree, but you’re afraid that you might botch it. Here are some common job-search mistakes that trip up many new grads — and tips for avoiding them.
Mistake No. 1: Neglecting your network
Although online searches, campus career centers and career fairs all have their place, harness the power of professional networking when searching for your first job. Consider joining your school’s alumni network or a relevant professional association in your industry. Talk to as many people as you can — neighbors, parents’ friends, members of your house of worship — about your career goals, especially if they’re in the same or similar industries.
Mistake No. 2: Being sloppy or too clever
If you’re serious about the job search, you will not only carefully edit your résumé and cover letter, but you’ll ask someone else to take a look, too. Read your documents out loud to make sure they sound professional; this is also an excellent way to catch mistakes. Often, one typo can get your application tossed off the short list.
It also doesn’t pay to be cute or clever. Yes, your application materials might stand out that way, but not always in a good way. See Robert Half’s “Resumania” column for other good advice and best practices.
Mistake No. 3: Sending out generic documents
When you come across that cool job post, don’t make the rookie mistake of sending out a one-size-fits-all application. If you want to land your first job, you have to do your homework.
Start by clicking through the company’s website. Search for recent news articles. You may also want to like their Facebook page and follow their Twitter feed. Then, tailor your résumé and cover letter to show how your skills and experience mesh with the job description, as well as the firm’s corporate goals and culture.
Mistake No. 4: Being careless about your online persona
Just as you conduct a Web search on the people that you’re interested in dating, potential employers will do a search on you. If you haven’t already, sign up with LinkedIn, upload a professional-looking profile photo and write a polished summary.
You also need to comb through all your other online profiles and social media posts, and scrub what you don’t want hiring managers to see. Even though you may have set all the right privacy settings in the beginning, we all know how frequently they can change. It wouldn’t hurt to give everything a thorough once-over as you start searching for your first job.
Mistake No. 5: Showing immaturity
After sending out personalized application materials, you’ll start hearing back from a few companies. Don’t give them reasons to doubt their judgment with unprofessional phone or email manners. That could cost you your first job opportunity.
Start by getting rid of the quirky or brusque voicemail message. Instead, record a pleasant and neutral one that’s appropriate for a job search.
Don’t forget to give your email the same treatment by having an address that is a variation of your full name — not a nickname, your hobby, an alternate persona or something worse. And if you have a quote or cute graphic automatically appended to the end of each email you send, you’ll want to delete that or change it to just your contact information.
Mistake No. 6: Being unprepared for interviews
You got a call for an interview, but you can’t just show up and expect to ace it. Now is the time to study. Anticipate the possible questions and rehearse the answers. Practice with someone to make sure your delivery is smooth, confident and on point. Realize that the interviewer may throw you oddball questions like, “If you could be any animal, which one would you be?”
Also keep in mind that many preliminary interviews are now done by phone — and that not all hiring managers will set up appointments before calling. Be prepared for job-related calls out of the blue. And when they do call, try to find a quiet location where you won’t be interrupted.

You may wonder how to get a first job when there’s so much competition for so few openings. By avoiding these common job-search mistakes, you’ll greatly increase your chances of success and a long, fulfilling career.

Can My Boss Do That?

Questions you've likely considered

By U.S.News

By Alison Green

If you've ever witnessed your boss doing something that seems unfair to you or a co-worker, you might have wondered, "Can they really do that?" They don't teach workplace law in school, and so collectively, Americans tend to lack understanding about what employers can and can't do where employees are concerned.

Here are some questions you might wonder about.

1. My boss told my co-workers what my salary is! Can she do that?
Answer: Yes. No law requires that your salary information be confidential, and your employer is allowed to share it with others if she wishes to. In fact, some companies share everyone's salary as a matter of course (and some people argue that doing so helps combat pay discrimination).

2. Can my boss tell me that I can't discuss my salary with my co-workers?
Answer: No. Despite the fact that many employers have policies that attempt to ban these discussions, the National Labor Relations Act makes it illegal for employers to prohibit employees from discussing wages among themselves.

3. My boss said that I can't take the day I requested off work, even though I have enough vacation time stored up to do it. Can he do that?
Answer: Yes. While your vacation time is part of your benefits package, your employer retains the right to approve or deny specific leave requests. That's because managers sometimes need to deny time off if it would leave your department short-staffed or cause problems during an especially busy time.

4. My manager told me I have to stop teasing a co-worker about politics. Doesn't that violate my right to free speech?
Answer: The First Amendment prevents the government from restricting your speech – but private employers are still free to regulate employees' speech. (One important exception to this is that employers cannot interfere with employees who are discussing wages or working conditions with their co-workers, as in No. 2 above.)

5. Can my boss deduct money from my paycheck for doing a bad job?
Answer: No, your employer cannot dock your salary for poor performance. Your employer agreed to pay you a certain salary when you accepted the job, and that wage cannot be changed retroactively as punishment or for any other reason. However, your employer can change your pay going forward, after warning you of the change and giving you a chance to decline to do the work at the new wage.

6. Can my boss give me a bad reference when I'm looking for a job?
Answer: It's legal for an employer to give a negative reference, as long as it's factually accurate. It's true that some companies, in an effort to avoid the headache of nuisance lawsuits, have implemented policies that they will only confirm dates of employment and title. As a result, many people have come to believe that it's actually illegal to give a bad reference. But corporate policies aren't the law (and often aren't even followed by the companies that have them).

7. My boss changed my job description and says that I have to do work that's dramatically different from what I was hired to do. Is that allowed?
Answer: Your employer can change your job description at any time, or direct you do work other than what you were hired for. The only time this wouldn't be true is if you had a contract that spelled out the work you were signing on for – but most workers in the U.S. don't have contracts and instead are subject to "at will" employment. This allows your employer to change the terms of your employment at any time.

8. Can my manager bully me, single me out for poor treatment, yell at me, or otherwise mistreat me?
Answer: Bullying or being a jerk is bad management, but it's not illegal. However, if your manager is treating you differently because of your race, sex, religion or another protected class, then you do have legal protection; that would violate federal anti-discrimination laws. But if your manager is just a jerk because she doesn't like you or is a hostile person generally, that's not against the law.

9. I complained to human resources about my boss and asked them to keep it confidential, but they told my boss. Is that legal?
Answer: Yes. HR isn't obligated to keep what you tell them confidential, even if you request their discretion. HR staffers aren't doctors or priests, and you shouldn't assume confidentiality when talking to them. If they hear information that they decide needs to be shared or used to address a problem, their job obligates them to do that.

10. I gave two weeks notice at work, and my boss told me to just leave now. Do they still have to pay me for those two weeks?
Answer: A smart employer would still pay you for those two weeks, since otherwise they're signaling to other employees that they too will lose money if they give notice rather than quitting on the spot. But that's up to your employer – no law requires them to pay you for time you didn't work, even though you wanted to work out those final two weeks.