Career Advice: Getting/Keeping a Job

Join Employer & Candidate Connection group on Linkedin.com for additional job-related tips, tools, resources and job postings.

I'm not sure if any of you have seen CNN's career-related video clips, but as a former HR professional of 12+ years, they are among the best, most relevant ones I've seen an provide sound tips and job seeker advice. The team they've assembled is amazing and blends hands-on recruitment know-how with legal advice. One video covered "Non-Compete" clauses and the four factors that must exist in order for them to be enforceable in states that uphold them [Reasonable scope, duration, good consideration and a legitimate need for the clause]. I watched four, and they were all EXCELLENT. (One guest authored: "Confessions of a Recruiter" and "Stop Searching for a Job, and Start Networking: The Secret to Getting Hired the Easy Way.")

Be sure to look at the CNN video of 9/3 that addresses how to network to gain access to others in target companies. The techniques are identical to the strategies I articulated in a discussion a few weeks ago. (Note: CNN airs a new job seeker segment at 1 p.m. (I believe) on Saturdays and at 3 p.m. on Sundays (Eastern time). It would be worth tuning in.

Here's just one example: http://internsover40.blogspot.com/2009/09/career-advice-gettingkeeping-job.html

Some key take-aways:

1) Two of three jobs are gotten through networking. This ties to a statistic in a discussion I posted a few weeks back. You MUST network these days to give you an added edge, EVEN if you found and applied for a job via the Internet.
2) Your resume should be a statement of your accomplishments, not a report of your responsibilities. How do you tell? If the person who held your job before you could have written your resume, then it is more of a job description, and you must re do it in order to best represent why a company should hire you (vs. anyone who has ever done YOUR job). Be sure to write what you offer that is unique or special, and which therefore "SETS YOU APART from the pack."
3) Two industries that are hiring even in this economy: Medical and education. (The reality: People will continue to get sick. Also, in this economy, many people are going back to college/universities or otherwise attending to trade schools to get retrained - particularly if they have been out of work.)
4) Use a cover letter as a teaser to "draw" the reader in and intrigue them enough to look at your resume. It will also showcase your writing skills.
5) If you want to change careers, whether you are working or not, join and organization and be active so that you BOTH leverage the experience you have gained and impress the contacts you make enough to recommend you at a future date. In addition to professional organizations/associations, volunteer somewhere doing something good that also will help your resume and allow you to leverage that experience. (e.g., If you want to go into Marketing, volunteer for the American Cancer Society and assist in a marketing capacity.) Volunteering for a non-profit or a professional organization also provides structure and a sense of purpose, stimulates the mind and the heart, and can lift your spirits.
6) Consider training to be a medical tech. It takes about 6-9 months, is in demand, and pays well, depending upon what specialty you select.
7) Pursue small to mid-sized companies that may not pay as much as the bigger companies, but will consider you "a catch" and want to bring you aboard.
8) Be sure to have an "elevator pitch" to build your brand. (Refer to discussions over the past 3 weeks that address this.)
9) Have talking points that you can "spout out" easily and naturally. They should include what value you have created, how you have helped the bottom line, what problems you solved, what changed for the better as a result of you being at a particular company, and in general, what impact you made in a particular job. These achievement-based points should be on your resume, as well!
10) To get a job, employers are looking for a good fit with their company culture and these days most want employees who like to work, are flexible, are pleasant to work with, and who work well under pressure. Be sure you come across this way and convey these attributes.