10 Great Jobs to Have This Summer
By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com writer
Growing up, summer was associated with sunshine, barbecues, swimming pools, vacations, boating and lazy days.
Eventually, summer became more than a vacation; it evolved into time spent between work and play. As I grew up and became more responsible, the inevitable summer job was imminent.
And so were born the summers of working at ice cream shops, summer camps and retail clothing stores to earn a quick buck (and make my parents proud).
30 Percent of Layoff Survivors Feel Burned Out
At first, workers who survived layoffs within their companies felt relief, grateful and reassured to have their jobs. But, according to a new survey by CareerBuilder, those feelings quickly turned to stress and burn out.
Thirty percent of layoff survivors feel burned out, according to the survey of more than 4,400 workers nationwide. Forty-seven percent of workers reported they have taken on more responsibility because of a layoff within their organization and 37 percent said they are handling the work of two people.
35 percent of workers aren’t planning to take a vacation this year
Vacation season is finally here. With Memorial Day weekend upon us, people are officially starting to plan and take their summer vacations — or are they?
Thirty-five percent of workers say they haven’t gone on or aren’t planning to take a vacation in 2009; 71 percent of those indicate it is because they just can’t afford it, according CareerBuilder’s annual vacation survey. Additionally, close to one-in-five workers indicate that they are either afraid of losing their jobs if they go on vacation or feel guilty being away from the office. The survey was conducted from February 20 through March 11, 2009 among more than 4,400 workers.
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If you win, CareerBuilder will produce your ad, send you on a trip for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the commercial and air it during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010. Oh, and did we mention the $100,000 “paycheck”? Or the $50,000 runner-up prize?
All you have to do is go to http://www.hiremytvad.com/ and submit a 25-second video of your idea. Applications will be judged on: creativity, originality, entertainment value, performance level, humor and alignment with the CareerBuilder brand.
Want to know more? Check out the story in today’s Wall Street Journal and go to http://www.hiremytvad.com/ for full details and to enter.
Interviewing with Someone Who is Much Younger
By Janice Bryant Howroyd, Founder and CEO of The Act•1 Group
In my role as CEO, I continue to be a key sales executive for my organization. One of the things that I have noticed over the last couple of years is that the people I’m meeting with, who are making significant financial and procurement decisions for their organizations, are getting younger and younger.
Some of my friends speak of how intimidated they feel when interviewing with managers who are 20 years younger than they are and in this economy, more and more of us are working longer than we originally thought we would. So, how does one manage the interaction and interviewing processes today?
Baby Boomers Job Searching … with Their Kids?
As the next round of graduates prepare to enter the tough job market, they find someselves among some unlikely company: Their parents.
I was reading an article this morning on The Root, by a columnist named Sam Fulwood. Mr. Fulwood talks about his daughter Amanda’s graduation this upcoming weekend and how he’s always dreamt of the moment when he “could look through teary eyes at her toothy smile and send her off to find a career and make her way in the world.”
What he didn’t imagine was trying to make his way along with her. Mr. Fulwood goes on to talk about how their joint job search has made for an unexpected yet memorable journey as they help and support each other in their hunt for work.
Two Part-time Jobs or a Full-time One?
By Anthony Balderrama, CareerBuilder.com writer
Would you rather have two jobs or one?
Now, I realize that reactions will probably fall into two categories:
1. “In this economy I’d be happy if I could find one job!”
2. “I barely have time to do one job, let alone two.”
Both good points, but they also bring up two reasons many workers are choosing two jobs over one: the economy and time.
For many job seekers, a full-time, permanent position is an ideal solution to their job woes, but the economic situation has put many employers on a hiring freeze. Even if they want and need full-time employees, they don’t have the budgets to bring someone on board. They’re turning to an alternative solution: part-time (and possibly temporary) positions.
If you’re averse to the 9-to-5 grind that monopolizes your weekdays, part-time jobs can offer you the flexibility you need. Today, plenty of people are doing this and they’re finding it a better alternative than being unemployed or stuck in a job they hate.
Survival strategy
Scott Rutt works two jobs, although they’re technically classified as full-time positions. In today’s economy, he takes comfort in having at least one job to rely on if he loses the other.
“I split my time between a business intelligence software company by day and a major financial reporting Web site by night,” Rutt says. “I’ve found it very beneficial since both companies have downsized in recent months. I was able to avoid the layoff in both cases, but took a lot of comfort in knowing that I’d still be able to at least make the mortgage.”
Aside from financial security, two jobs can also offer you the comfort of a smooth transition into a new field or business venture. You can’t always land a full-time job in a new industry, but with a second job, part-time job you have the flexibility to try new things. This is especially true if you want to be an independent worker or start your own business.
“This is a great opportunity for people who have ambitions of being their own business to take advantage,” says Jill Lazar of Everything Events, an event-planning company. “If you can’t find a full-time job right away, contract your work out to small businesses that can’t afford to hire someone full time.” She runs her own small business and works as an event planner. Her partner does the same.
“She enjoys both the security of the job and still receives health benefits, yet gets to be in business for herself as well. Sounds like the best of both worlds,” Lazar says.
Flexibility
If you’re supposed to clock in at 9 a.m. and clock out at 5 p.m. (or later), your personal life and obligations have to be squeezed into weekday evenings and weekends. While that may be fine for many workers, it’s not simple for everyone. Life doesn’t always work around your 40-hour schedule.
Heidi Waterfield has two part-time jobs at SFBags.com and Square Two Designs, both as communications director, and she finds the flexibility refreshing. This includes the freedom to concentrate on the more pressing job of the moment.
“I can also focus my efforts on the job that is at that time most in need of my time,” she says. “Sometimes when both jobs heat up, it gets pretty busy, but I’m gaining many more new skills by having two jobs than I would by having only one of them.”
Her latter point is also worth thinking about from a job-seeking perspective. In a competitive job market, you want to outshine the other candidates. A work history that proves you’re the ultimate multitasker and allows you to acquire new skills faster than other job seekers? Not too shabby.
You can expect find more employers open to these types of opportunities, says Robbie Kellman Baxter, a strategy consultant for consulting firm Peninsula Strategies.
“One of the great things about this down turn is that companies are getting serious about flexible work. It’s in their interest and the employee’s interest,” she says. Employers need help but don’t have the financial freedom to hire whomever they want and job seekers need a paycheck and a job that’s suitable for their lifestyles.
“Two part-time jobs? Three part-time jobs? Short-term roles? Remote? It’s all fair game,” Baxter says. “Everyone is thinking more creatively and flexibly about their careers. Most jobs can incorporate flexibility around the scope of your role, the distribution of the hours you work, the location of work and the duration of your role.”
If you feel like your current situation isn’t working for you as well as it could, finding part-time work might be the way to solve your problem.
Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer
Despite what you might tell your boss, you’ve shopped online at work. Whether you say it only happened during your lunch break (yeah, right) or admit that it took an entire morning, everyone’s killed some time doing some damage on the bank account. The Monday after Thanksgiving? Your boss is lucky if you even opened your work e-mail before noon. While that’s not acceptable, it’s normal behavior.
But have you ever shopped for a job at work? And do you think it’s ever OK?
Not the smartest move
You don’t need to be a genius to know looking for a job while at your current gig is a bad move. But it happens a lot, and employers aren’t oblivious to it.
Peter Thomas*, who works in a public relations agency, fired an employee for excessive job hunting on the clock. The employee’s productivity took a noticeable decline, so he began to monitor her computer habits. Turns out her job search took up more time than her actual job. Not surprisingly, this violated the employment agreement.
“If you want to get fired, by all means job hunt, but your work computer is 100 percent the property of the company for which you work,” the employer cautions. “So even if you are doing the searching at home, best to do so on your personal [home computer]. If your company has monitoring software on your computer, it will record your activity whether you are at work or at home.”
You should also consider the repercussions that being terminated for job shopping can have on you, at least in some cases. For one thing, you might not be due unemployment because you violated your contract. Plus, you’re setting yourself up for a sullied reputation.
“If your employer sees you are job searching, even if just because of casual curiosity, it sends the message that you wish to leave your current employer, and it could cause them to include you in planned layoffs for which you may have never been considered before,” Thomas says.
Susan Solovic , CEO of small business news and advice site SBTV.com, agrees with this assessment. She’s willing to concede that employees can spend some time job hunting if they’ve already received notice that they’re being laid off, as long as they don’t abuse the situation. But just wanting to get away is not acceptable.
“Spending time looking for another job, while still employed is really stealing from the company,” Solovic reminds job seekers. “You are stealing the time you should be working for them, searching for someplace else to go. In this case, wait until you get home and use your home computer and your personal time to do your job shopping.”
But…
Some people still job hunt at work. They know it’s dangerous, but sometimes the benefits outweigh the risks for them.
One worker, Eileen*, knew she wasn’t fulfilling her job duties in her previous position, but she was so unhappy she didn’t care.
“I was miserable at my last job and it is safe to say I spent 90 percent of my day looking for another job in those last few months I was there. I was sending at least 10 résumés a day,” she says.
As much as you might empathize with her position, devoting your workday to a job hunt can put you in an awkward position, says Judi Perkins, also known as The How-To Job Coach. For one thing, you might leave evidence of your job search lying around the office, either as a discarded fax or a misdirected e-mail. Or you’ll be unable to give your attention to your future employer.
“If there’s any verbal interaction, such as inquiring about a position, or to whom the résumé should go, you can easily be transferred unknowingly to the hiring authority,” Perkins warns. “Under the circumstances, you’d want to make the most of the fortuitous connection, but since you’re at work, you’ll be anything but comfortable with doing so. And then there’s the obvious, someone in your office might overhear you.”
Really, just don’t do it
Unless you’re willing to suffer the many consequences that come with looking for work behind your employer’s back (or right under your employer’s nose, to be more accurate), you should just wait until you clock out. Put the situation in perspective so you don’t make a rash decision, says Elizabeth Freedman, author of “Work 101: Learning the Ropes of the Workplace Without Hanging Yourself.”
“When your job is miserable or your company is on the brink of collapse, a decision to conduct a job search on the job may seem like the right one — but don’t let tough times cloud your judgment. Eventually, this recession will pass, and you want your reputation and ethics still intact.”
If you’re still tempted, Freedman advises you to consider the following before revising your résumé at work:
*Name changed at the request of the employer to protect his former employee.
Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
What Makes You Different From the Other Job Seekers?
By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer
You’re special.
Your mom and dad told you. Your Little League coach told you. You tell yourself in the mirror every morning.
Anyone who encounters you must recognize what a unique snowflake you are, right?
Maybe, but not necessarily. If you’re looking for a job, don’t assume the hiring manager is going to look at your cover letter and think, “This job candidate is The One.” That could happen, but you should do all you can to make that realization occur.
In the interest of spreading the word about your unparalleled qualifications and stunning personality, we’ve compiled some questions you should ask yourself at each stage of the job-hunting process. Some of these questions can apply to each stage.
When writing the résumé
Q. What about my education sets me apart?
A. Although degrees are more common than they once were, not each one is created equal. Most programs have enough freedom built in to them to allow students to customize their courses. The combination of your major and minor or your courses can give you a background that no one else has.
Q. Do I care about all of this?
A. This résumé is about you, so you probably have more interest in it than the average employer, but if you’re bored, everyone else will be, too. If your attempt to show how unique you are results in a dense list of your jobs and skills that make the page look like one huge block of text, you’re probably not focusing enough. Keep details short, informative and, above all else, relevant. Your paper route in junior high doesn’t matter if you’re 25 and have a college degree.
Your GPA, awards and recognition are good examples of items that do set you apart. They won’t land you the job by themselves, but they are additional assets that can differentiate you from the next résumé in the stack.
When writing your cover letter
Q. What’s implied on the résumé but not explicitly stated?
A. Have someone else read your résumé and explain your strong points to you. If you don’t hear something you were expecting, figure out why. You might think your extensive work history painted a clear picture for readers, but it might not. The cover letter is your chance to connect the dots and (eloquently) tell the hiring manger, “Hey, look what I have to offer!”
Maybe your internship with an employer was more involved and relevant to the position you’re seeking than the résumé suggests. Go into details and prove why that experience matters to this job.
Q. Does this sound like me or like Janet Q. Jobseeker?
A. Professionalism is key in a cover letter, but so is your personality. Now is not the time to be a comedian, but if your cover letter could have been written by any other applicant and been about any other applicant, then it’s not special. As a result, the employer won’t think you’re special.
If you have extensive knowledge of the industry, have a contact at the company or possess strong communication skills, don’t be afraid to let it shine through.
When interviewing
Q. Would I hire me?
A. An interview is basically an extended, interactive form of this question. If you get an interview the employer thinks you fit the job requirements, but whether or not you’re the perfect candidate is still in question. In addition to elaborating on your skills, only one thing can make or break you at this point: your personality.
Your personality is unique to you, so don’t be scared to let it show. As with the cover letter, don’t be so casual that you come off as unprofessional, but now is the time to show your sense of humor and your interpersonal communication skills. Fading into the background will only help you be forgotten.
Q. What is the one thing I want the hiring manager know about?
A. Hiring managers don’t know you, so they’re probably asking you the same questions they asked other candidates. If you want to prove that you’re a three-dimensional person who exists beyond undergrad business courses, have an actual dialogue. A hiring manager doesn’t need you to echo everything he or she already read about you.
The time you helped your group tackle a problem during a brainstorming session? The interesting marketing book you just read that has given you some new ideas? Let these facts out if they’re relevant to the conversation.
Q. Why do I want to work here?
A. Interviewers often ask this question of candidates, and candidates have learned to come armed with a response. But do you know why you want to work there or do you just know what you want them to think?
Everyone wants to be hired so they can get a paycheck, add another line to their résumé and move up the chain. Do you want to transition into a new industry? Do you think you can bring a fresh perspective to the company (without sounding arrogant)? Does the position sound like the one you’ve been preparing for and you have the experience to show for it? You need to know the answer and believe it before you walk into the interview.
Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
10 Great Jobs to have in the Springtime
By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com writer
After many long months of snow, slush, sleet and subzero temperatures, spring is finally here.
And all you can do is watch it from your window.
What you would give to be outside, enjoying the weather and all it has to offer. (Or maybe you would just give anything to be anywhere other than where you are right now…)
Whichever is the case, we got to thinking about jobs that would be great to have this spring season. Keep in mind, no scientific method was used in the making of this list, but we’ve got some pretty valid reasoning. Here are 10 jobs that are ideal for spring and why:
1. Sportswriter
Sure, sports take place year round, but for me, spring is when some of the most exciting sporting events go down. Exhibit A: March Madness basketball games. Exhibit B: Major league baseball spring training and season openers. Exhibit C: NHL playoffs. Exhibit D: NBA playoffs and draft picks. Exhibit E: The Masters golf tournament. Sportswriters can take their pick making predictions, following games or analyzing who is going to be the next Tiger Woods.
Education: College degree, preferably in communications, journalism or English
Annual salary*: $36,994
2. Florist
April showers bring May flowers, after all. Springtime means blooming flowers, weddings and generosity (aka, bouquets of roses “just because”). Florists will stay occupied during this busy season, while enjoying the budding blossoms that have been buried all winter.
Education: High school diploma
Annual salary: $33,859
3. Meteorologist
Spring might be the most inconsistent season for weather. It might snow for a week in April, for example, and be 80 degrees the next. The week after that it rains every day, there are multiple tornados and the next day it feels like fall. The constantly changing forecast would fascinate anyone who studies weather for a living.
Education: A bachelor’s degree in meteorology or atmospheric science
Annual salary: $67,004
4. Landscaping worker
It’s growing season! Snow is off the ground and grass, trees and flowers are ready to be planted and fertilized. Lawns need to be mowed, weeds pulled and trees trimmed, all of which add up to a lot of time outside, doing what landscapers do best.
Education: No minimum educational requirement, though most states require licensing or certification for workers who apply pesticides.
Annual salary: $23,980
5. Construction worker
What’s better than being outside all day working on your latest project? It seems like constructing a house or building would be much more enjoyable in nice weather than in the freezing cold and snow.
Education: Most positions have no specific educational qualifications, but apprenticeships are encouraged and require a high school diploma or equivalent.
Annual salary: $31,781
6. Fashion buyer
Springtime is synonymous with fashion. Buyers get to shop through all of the new spring lines and buy clothes that have color, flowers and designs for our favorite retail shops — a far cry from the black and gray turtlenecks and tweed we’ve been sporting all winter.
Education: Requirements vary depending on the organization, but large stores and distributors prefer applicants who have completed a bachelor’s degree program with a business emphasis.
Annual salary: $50,796
7. College admissions counselor
As high school students graduate, college admissions counselors keep themselves busy recruiting, evaluating and admitting students to their college or university.
Education: A bachelor’s degree in any field usually is acceptable, and most eventually obtain advanced degrees in college student affairs, counseling or higher education administration.
Annual salary: $98,796
8. Pest control worker
Many rodents, insects and other pests hide out during the winter but as the weather starts to turn, all bets are off. Though it might not be the most glamorous job in the world, pests come out of the woodwork in the spring, so to speak, which ensures a more steady workload for pest control workers.
Education: High school diploma and certification
Annual salary: $28,056
9. Housekeeper
There’s nothing like a little spring cleaning to kick off the new season. Households around the globe will be seeking housekeepers and cleaning services to help them get rid of the dust bunnies that have been hibernating in the corners all winter.
Education: No education requirements
Annual salary: $19,619
10. Vendor
Springtime means baseball season, which means hot dogs, cold beer, cotton candy and frozen lemonade. It would sure be nice to spend the day at my local baseball stadium, providing simple pleasures to the fans while watching my favorite team.
Education: On-the-job training
Annual salary: $19,876
*U.S. national average salary figures based on data from CBsalary.com, powered by SalaryExpert.com
Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
Using the Right Keywords in Your Job Search
By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer
The right words make all the difference in life. Try asking “Wanna get hitched?” instead of “Will you marry me?” for proof.
Even in a job interview, you wouldn’t say, “Hey, dude.” You’d probably say, “Nice to meet you.” And your résumé wouldn’t include slang, either. You know all this. At least, I hope you do.
But the need for well-chosen words starts when you search job postings. From the job title to the list of requirements, knowing how to tweak your words to yield the best results is vital to getting your job hunt started off right.
Here are a few ways to make sure you’re using the right keywords:
Be a copycat
In your résumé and interviews, you want to let your best qualities and unique point of view shine through. But to get to those stages, you first have to find the right job. That means you have to do something that’s unacceptable in every other circumstance: plagiarize.
Go to an online job board and search for jobs that you think you’re a great match for. Then study the language they use to perform your own searches. For example, if you find a listing for a project coordinator position that sounds ideal, you should apply for it, of course, and then pull out key phrases to search other jobs. If they use the phrase “method calibrations,” plug that into the search field to see what other positions comes up. Employers might use different job titles or you might find other positions that are good fits but you didn’t know they existed.
Don’t get stuck on titles
When you have defined goals for your career and subsequently your salary, you can find yourself fixated on having a certain job title. Although your ambitions are admirable and beneficial to your career, don’t forget that not all titles are created equal. Every company has its own culture and often its own lingo. One employer’s vice president is another’s senior associate. Search for the job title you want, but remember to dig deeper for other title ideas.
Look to the responsibilities and skills detailed in a job posting for a more accurate gauge of its duties. You’ll still find the jobs you’re looking for if you search by responsibility instead of title, except you’ll be working backward. If, for example, you want a retail manager position, you should search for related terms, such as “supervisor” or “customer relations.” Filter through the results to find good matches. You might find that you’re a perfect fit for a “team leader” position that you wouldn’t have otherwise found.
Treat it like a search engine
When you’re looking online for something that interests you — say, a new apartment — you suddenly become a master of the Internet query. You’re trying different keywords, searching by ZIP code one moment and neighborhood nickname the next. If there’s an available property in a two-mile radius, you’ll find it. You know how to work a search engine without a second thought.
Take that mentality to your job search. One of the simplest ways to broaden or narrow your search is to use quotation marks. Searching for a phrase without quotation marks (i.e., dental assistant) will find you jobs with either word in the description. However, enclosing the entire phrase (i.e., “dental assistant”) in quotes will only return jobs with those words together in that exact order. If you find your searches are returning too many hits or too few, play with quotes. You can also use the advanced-search options to tailor your searches or use other shortcuts, such as minus signs to exclude words from results.
Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer
Talk to a dozen students on any college campus and you’re likely to hear a dozen different perspectives on what they hope to get out of college. Some want high GPAs; some want to get into the work force and earn a lot of money.
Ask their parents and you’ll get just as many different answers. Some parents hope that their children earn their degree and have an easy time finding a job. Others want them to be at the top of the class so they can get into the best graduate school possible. And some just want their children to stop partying long enough to attend class once in awhile.
Ask employers what they want from graduates and the answers are equally diverse. Depending on the job, you might need a degree and an internship, a degree and work experience, or the right connections to even land an interview.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 39 million Americans over 18 have a bachelor’s degree. Considering that 281 million people live in the country, college graduates are still a small percentage of the population. Still, you are competing with a lot of job seekers who have the same educational background as you. Relying only on your bachelor’s to land a job is not the safest route to employment. As with most things, it’s all in the presentation.
Degree or not, presentation matters
Sue Chehrenegar studied biology as an undergraduate and biomedical research as a graduate student. During her job search, she found herself losing out on job opportunities because she lacked the proper experience, despite her education. Or so she thought.
“At the end of the 1980s, I spent more than one year looking for a job,” she remembers. “I kept getting this question: ‘Have you done anything in the area of molecular biology?’” She would tell employers that she didn’t have the proper experience because she wasn’t specifically trained for that. “I did not mention the fact that I once assisted a graduate student who was putting DNA and RNA into cultured cells.”
What does that mean in layman’s terms? Because her specialization and the bulk of her experience were not in this particular field, she didn’t consider the limited work with the graduate student worth mentioning. She later realized employers weren’t looking for someone to be the ultimate authority on the subject; they wanted someone who had a broad range of knowledge.
“I realized my mistake more than two years after I got a job,” Chehrenegar remembers. “My first year I worked in an infectious- disease lab. Later, they put me in a molecular biology lab. When I helped with one of the projects in that lab, I realized that my old, unmentioned experience related to what I was doing at that time.”
A degree isn’t useless
Sure, if you’re applying for a job with “bio” as a prefix, you know a degree is a requirement. But for less research-intensive jobs, you might think a degree can be supplanted by enough experience. Depending on your occupation, that could be true –but isn’t a hard and fast rule for all positions.
For example, you might be able to find work at a museum, but you’d be unlikely to transition into a curator job without extensive education in art history and related courses. You could find that you hit a ceiling in an organization.
Although this bodes well for graduates who come armed with one or more degrees, it also means that workers have the opportunity to earn an education while they ascend the corporate ladder. In some cases, the combination of their experience and a recently awarded degree could make them more impressive than job seekers who have relied on their degree and haven’t diversified their experience.
How to present yourself
Here are some tips to keep in mind when presenting yourself to employers:
Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com writer
“If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
If nothing else, this age-old adage might be the most important piece of advice to remember in your job search, especially in today’s market.
Though job scams are prevalent at any time, today’s tough economic times have increased the amount of scammers looking to take advantage of people desperate to make money and find a job.
“With the economy sliding, people who might otherwise be skeptical want to find a silver lining and too often mistake the glitz-and-glamour promises of a scammer’s ad for their path to financial security,” says Christine Durst, co-founder and CEO of Staffcentrix, a training and development company that focuses on home-based work.
Durst says Staffcentrix researchers screen about 5,000 home job leads every week, and there is a “56-1 scam ratio” among work-at-home job ads. Any opportunity where you can “make money fast,” “no experience is necessary,” or “work in your pajamas” is appealing to people, so they get thrown into the scam mix.
Mindy A. Bockstein, chairwoman and executive director of the New York State Consumer Protection Board, agrees that people are trying to capitalize on the strong desire for work and income in different populations and communities.
“Don’t fall for get-rich-quick schemes, work-at-home scams, pyramid schemes and numerous other approaches promising employment and wealth but being used to separate job seekers from their money,” she says.
Who’s the target of job scams?
Anyone seeking a better job opportunity or looking to earn some money — even smart people — can get sucked into scams, says Robin Giroir, regional vice president of Spherion Staffing Services. With the wide scope of the Internet, every bogus “job” can reach hundreds of thousands of people, she says.
Durst says victims of work-at-home scams are typically — and unfortunately — those who can least afford to part with their money. One particular scam reviewed by Staffcentrix targeted women who were between the ages of 18-49, had children, were less affluent and did not have a college education.
“We are also seeing a rise in the number of seniors and retirees falling prey to these cons, as many of them are now looking for ways to supplement their income due to the declining stock market,” Durst says.
Spotting a scam
While identifying a scam seems like as if would be easy, you must remember that the people who create them are practiced con artists. Many scams are linked to what seem like legitimate Web sites that have professional photos, testimonials, audio and video — all the things that can convince someone that it must be real, Durst says.
Here are some things to keep in mind when spotting a job scam:
1. Hold tight to your cash
“No legitimate employer asks you for money. This is a foolproof tip off that something’s not right,” Giroir says. “There are a number of scams that work this way. You deposit your money in an offshore account and wait for your investment to make you wealthy, or you purchase a list of high-paying jobs you can do from home. Whatever the scam is, don’t fall for it.”
2. Make money while you sleep
“Beware of ads that make outrageous claims, don’t specify job duties and don’t require that you send a résumé. Legitimate employers are seeking candidates with specific skills, knowledge and education. Watch for ads, even for entry-level jobs, that use the phrase ‘no experience necessary,’ especially when there is a promise of big money,” Giroir says.
3. ‘Work at home’ appears in the header
“‘Work from home’ is not a job title,” Durst warns. “If it appears in the ad header, there’s a good chance it’s a come-on. Scammers can rarely resist including it in the header — it’s the bait of their ‘hook’ as they fish for desperate people to reel in.”
4. Miracles arrive in your inbox
“How could this man from Romania have known you were looking for home-based work? Miracles do happen, but not via spam,” Durst says. “Move [the e-mail] to your trash file without using the ‘remove me from this list’ link you’re likely to find at the bottom of the page. These links are often used to confirm that your e-mail address is active, and using them can result in even more spam.”
5. Palm trees, mansions, beaches and bikinis
“Successful scammers often bag their prey by dangling enticing things in front of them — much like kidnappers do,” Durst says. “‘If you get into my car I’ll give you this candy bar…’”
6. Put on your detective hat
There are essentially two ways to get listed with the Better Business Bureau: Buy a membership or get reported for bad business practices, Durst says. “While the absence of a company’s name in their listings is not unusual — not every business is a paying member of the BBB — a C, D or F rating and multiple complaints are a flashing warning signal.”
Durst adds that you must be careful about ads that look legitimate and that contain the name and Web site of well-known companies but carry a “free” e-mail address for a reply.
“Reputable companies have been victimized by scammers using their company names and reputations to scam unwitting job seekers. Always take the time to stop by the company Web site before responding to a job ad,” she suggests. “You may find a notice warning you of the scam. What you won’t find, is a job listing for someone to accept checks and wire funds to someone.”
Too little, too late
Unfortunately, many job seekers still fall victim to job scams. So what happens when you realize that you’re involved in something you probably shouldn’t be?
Consequences include identity theft, loss of savings, unauthorized charges to your credit card and, at worst, a run-in with the law. At minimum, you lose some money and a little pride, but consider it a lesson learned, Durst says.
Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
Laid Off? Your ‘Get Hired’ Plan
By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com writer
Unless you’re in complete denial of what’s happening in the world around you, by now you’re well-aware that layoffs are rampant in today’s economy.
In February 2009* alone, employers made 2,769 mass layoffs compared with 1,672 mass layoffs in the same month last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each layoff involved at least 50 people from a single employer filing for unemployment insurance. Since December 2007, when the recession was declared to have started, there have been 28,481 mass layoffs, and more than 2.9 million people have filed for unemployment benefits during that time.
The numbers show that it no longer matters if you’ve been with a company for 15 years, if you’re highly educated, if you’re a top performer or even if you’re friends with the boss. Layoffs are happening, and they are happening to everyone.
“If the company is determined to cut head count by a certain percentage, no amount of exposure, of reminding the boss how successful you’ve been in helping the company achieve its goals, will save your job,” says Martha Finney, author of “Rebound: A Proven Plan for Starting Over After Job Loss” (FT Press). “They’ll miss you when you’re gone, but they’ve already determined that you’re gone anyway.”
Voice of experience
Charles** worked for a family-owned real-estate and agricultural business for 10 years. He has two master’s degrees, moved up quickly within the company and had a long-term plan to take over the IT department.
When the housing market collapsed, the company began to go through some tough times and it became evident to Charles that companywide layoffs were on the horizon.
“I honestly thought I was safe because I had really good rapport with the family,” he says. “My boss’s boss was the CFO and he had asked me work on a special project analyzing some of the various business units and what it would cost to dispose of them. He told me not to read anything into that. ‘Don’t worry about things,’ he said.”
When the project was finished, Charles was laid off.
“I thought I’d work for this company for the rest of my life. I believed that good work would give me job security. As long as I do really good work, why would a company let me go?” he says. “Even though I knew trouble was on the way, I thought I was in a good position because I had multiple talents and had worked for every operation there. If you’re going to shrink your work force, you’d think you would keep people who can do multiple things.”
Now what?
Charles’ story is probably much like your own if you were laid off — you were shocked, angry and bitter, and your confidence was shaken. But the worst thing you can do is blame yourself.
“Recognize that this period of layoffs is just another moment in time, having nothing to do with your essential value and meaning,” Finney says.
Now that you’ve come to terms with your many emotions, what you need is a plan.
In her book, Finney teamed up with Bill Berman, Ph.D., a Connecticut-based corporate psychologist, to come up with steps to take toward getting hired.
(And no, tapping away on your laptop while you’re stretched out on the sofa in your PJs doesn’t count.)
1. Take some time to stop
Take a step back and figure out where you stand. Know how long you can afford to explore your possibilities and where you want to go next.
“The worst thing you can do when you get laid off is run right out and grab whatever you can,” Berman says. “Step back and think about what you want to do, what you loved about the work you were doing before and how it matches with what you want to be doing one year, three years, five years from now.”
2. Build your network list and start using it
Your network will be your biggest ally in your job search. Your friends, their friends and the friends of those people will surprise you when they show a genuine interest in helping you.
Berman suggests thinking broadly about whom you know and being upfront with them about your job search.
“Think back to the people you worked with five, 10, 15 years ago and don’t e-mail them. There’s no substitute for a phone call,” he says.
3. Get dressed!
Now isn’t the time to explore your quirky bohemian phase, unless it’s the course you’ve decided to take for the next phase of your life, Finney says.
“Treat your job search project as you would a regular full-time job. Get out of the jammies and put on something you would wear to work at your old job,” she says. “When you wear the uniform of your role, you stay in touch with that side of who you are. No one I can think of is in the market to hire Mr. Scratchy Pajama Bottoms.”
4. Set regular working hours that match a conventional workday
Finney says that any self-employed person will tell you that choosing your own hours is both a joy and a curse. Sure, you don’t have to work while everyone is, but that usually means that you won’t be having fun when everyone else is, either.
“If you work nine to five on your job hunting assignment, then absolutely you can take weekends off,” Berman says. “The reason why people work on weekends and at night on looking for a new job is because they screwed around all day.”
5. Establish a structure against which you’ll achieve and measure your goals
Identify specific ways you’ll approach your job search by outlining how many tasks you’ll do each day and what they are specifically. Make a list of the phone calls you’ll make and the names you’ll look up, Finney suggests.
“If you set a goal, you’re going to be able to work toward that goal,” Berman says. “Set very specific goals, make them things you think you can actually do, and then make them non-negotiable.”
6. Dismiss the derailers
Undoubtedly, job searching is a pain in the rear. The process is lengthy, at best, and it’s easy to get discouraged along the way. The feeling of panic that you have to have a job now! is a derailer, as are mean-spirited friends who undermine your confidence, well-meaning family who are concerned and your own ego, which tells you that if you were truly a good provider, you would have a job by now, Finney says.
“You might not be able to see them coming, but you can spot them for what they are,” she says. “Shrug them off. Some people mean well, some people are just, well, mean. Either way, that’s not your focus right now.”
*According to the most recent data, updated on March 20, 2009. A mass layoff occurs when at least 50 initial claims are filed against an employer during a consecutive five-week period. An initial claim is when someone files for unemployment, according to the BLS Web site.
** Voice of experience paraphrased from page 92 of “Rebound: A Proven Plan for Starting Over After Job Loss.”
Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues..
Boomer Generation and Social Networking
For those of you who don’t know or are just starting to figure it out, social media is all the rage.
Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are sliding into the professional networking arena with the likes of LinkedIn and BrightFuse. In addition, blogs and online forums are becoming increasingly popular to share layoff woes, job seeking tips and thoughts in general.
In a new study by LexisNexis, 100 percent of workers surveyed said they used computers and e-mail during the typical workday. A generational divide was apparent, however, when it came to social media.
Sixty-six percent of respondents believed that new technology and software make building professional relationships easier, however, 86 percent of boomers said they never visited social networking sites in the workplace and 81 percent said they never read blogs.
Taking a Pay Cut for Your Dream Job
By Anthony Balderrama, PrimeCB.com writer
How many people do you know working their dream jobs right now? How many people do you know working in a job that pays the bills but their sights are set on something bigger and better … when the time is right?
I’m guessing the latter outnumbers the former by quite a bit. That’s not intrinsically a bad thing, seeing as most people have very good reasons for wanting to earn a paycheck now. Things like food, shelter and clothing cost quite a bit of money and can’t always wait for you to win the lottery.
Inevitably, a decade or two later, some of these people find themselves still in a field they don’t love. They get to a point where they can either stay on the same path or make a break for it. Rather than repeating, “One day, I’m going to quit this job and …” they either say goodbye and follow their romantic daydreams or accept that this is where they want to be in life.
The decision is not easy to make. You’re not guaranteed to succeed and you could end up putting yourself through a lot of pain in the process.
But you could end up living your dream.
The dream job
Erik S. Keith was in a good place, career-wise. As the manager of a camera store for a large retailer, he was making good money and had job security. At 26, all the good wasn’t outweighing the fact that he wanted to work in marketing, the field he studied in school. So he decided to look for a job he wanted, even though it meant leaving a comfortable situation.
The drawback: Going from manager to a lower-rung position meant his pocketbook took a hit.
“Before leaving, my prior company did offer me the second largest store in Colorado, which would have come with a significant raise,” Keith says. “[The pay cut] was significant enough to change my lifestyle. I really had to limit my outings — not eating out nearly as much and limiting my weekend plans. I also limited buying my favorite snack foods, CDs and DVDs.”
In addition to the satisfaction that he was going to be working in a profession he felt passionately about, he was able to offset the financial setback with encouragement from his friends and family.
“My friends, family and colleagues were all very encouraging. Even my former boss, who was not happy at all to see me go, was quite supportive. I still keep in touch with all my former employees and my former boss,” he says.
He also interviewed multiple times and was offered his job at Communications Strategy Group before resigning. He knows that the security of the new job made it easier to make the switch rather than live in an unemployed limbo for a few months.
A new kind of rich
Mark Godley knew he was going to transition from his Silicon Valley job into the nonprofit sector for well over a decade before he made the move. But one day turned out to be a significant study of contrasts that changed his life.
He’d spent the morning in his corporate job serving as mediator between a manager and employee. That afternoon he was teaching seventh graders at an inner-city school when a drug dealer ran into the school to evade police. The school went on lockdown and he saw the young students handle the situation with extreme poise. The dichotomy of his well-paid corporate colleagues and the young, endangered students was all the push he needed. Less than a month later, he resigned with no established direction ahead of him.
“In leaving my corporate role I just sensed that I needed to ‘live in the moment’ for a while to see if my perspective on ‘what’s next’ changed — and in fact it did,” Godley recalls. He decided to spend the next year volunteering at various nonprofits, which was only possible because of his cooperative wife. Three months later he accepted the job as executive director of Big City Mountaineers, an organization that organizes backpacking trips for urban teens and their mentors.
The drastic step garnered praise and envy from friends and family, as well as confusion from business associates. The latter thought he was experiencing a mid-life crisis, which Godley admits gave him a little pause.
“In making the change, [the hardest part] really was my fear of what others would think of me,” he says. After the career switch, the financial change has been the biggest struggle. Although Godley says his family lives a conservative lifestyle, he does have three young children to care for and a lower income. “Although my financial bank account is not what it once was, my karma bank is overflowing.”
Of course, when anyone makes this kind of life-altering change, the first question you ask is whether or not it was worth it. On a personal level, Godley has no regrets. Nevertheless, he does caution others to think the process through.
“I get a call at least once a month from someone wanting to make the same change I’ve made. The bad news is once I ask questions about their finances, their lifestyle and their true preparation for making such a move, I tell most of them to not even consider it,” he says. “Had I not spent over a decade in the business world gaining skills and living well below my means, the possibility of making such a change would never have been possible.”
Still, having to wait a while to take the jump and lessen the risk factor doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy your true passion on the side.
“For those I do speak with who aren’t as prepared as I was, I strongly encourage them to find the meaning they seek through volunteer work rather than their vocation.”
If you give yourself a little time and plan for the change, you can be ready to move on when you have an “a-ha” moment like Godley’s.
Anthony Balderrama is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. He researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
What Your Favorite Sport Says About Your Career
By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com writer
He dribbles … he shoots … he scores!
… Or at least that’s the way the game goes when you’re shootin’ hoops into the office trash can.
Aside from the occasional, “If only I would have hit that pitch in the championship game …” soliloquy, most people don’t often think about how their favorite sports affect their careers. With March Madness chaos in full swing, however, it’s hard not to think about sports in general, let alone the sporadic daydreams about where life would be if we could have made it in the pros.
But just because you didn’t make it in the professional athlete arena doesn’t mean you’re destined to life in corporate America. In fact, there are plenty of sports careers not involving physical participation that might be better suited to your interests. To help you figure out what your sports calling might be, CareerPath.com, a subsidiary of CareerBuilder.com, has created the Sports Career Snapshot, powered by SSI Inc.
How it works
Users respond to 24 pairs of statements, choosing the statement in each pair that’s most appealing to them. In one question, for example, you choose whether you would rather be a landscape architect or a marketing communications specialist. In another, you decide if you work better with plans in place or if you like to figure things out as you go.
After you take the quiz, your interests and behaviors are matched to a color, which leads to a snapshot of what sports profession is best suited to you. From there, you can go on to take a more general career evaluation to determine what careers outside of sports are a good match for your personality.
As always, I had to find out for myself exactly how this all worked — and I was secretly dying to know if I made the right decision when I hung up my softball cleats for a pencil and paper so many years ago.
True story
According to the Sports Career Snapshot, I have blue interests, which means I enjoy the “intangible and abstract characteristics of sports.” I like sports that require “finesse or artistry,” and I am likely to “have a strong opinion of a team’s uniform.” (That part makes sense since I’m sometimes guilty of liking a team based on its colors. Yes, I am that girl.) My sports behavior outcome tagged me as green, meaning I am enthusiastic, sociable and animated while competing. (Spot on, especially while I’m watching games in a bar!)
What’s your calling?
Here are the possible results of the quiz and what careers would be a good fit in the sports industry:
If your results are: red
You enjoy active participation in sports and enjoy the immediate satisfaction of a concrete aspect of the game — a great play, terrific shot or fast pace thrills you. You’re most likely to participate in outdoor sports, regardless of conditions, and tend to like sports that require strength and endurance.
Suggested sports careers: If you like tangible results, you would enjoy the manufacturing or designing of equipment; you might also pursue a position as the general manager of operations for a stadium or sports facility.
If your results are: blue
You take pleasure in many of the more intangible and abstract characteristic of sports; you are drawn to the aesthetics, creative possibilities and strategic thinking in the game. You lean to sports that require finesse or artistry — or you find the artistry in the particular sport where others may not. You’re likely to have as strong an opinion about the event as the look of the team’s uniform or the architecture of the stadium.
Suggested sports careers: Use your creative juices to pursue careers or hobbies that involve sports journalism or photography; you might also consider blogging about your favorite teams or athletes.
If your results are: green
You like interacting with people when participating in sports. As a result, you are drawn to team sports that allow for healthy socialization.
Suggested sports careers: You’ll likely find success in a career that involves relationships. Try coaching, giving lessons in your chosen sport, selling season tickets, fundraising or maybe taking a stab at being the team mascot.
If your results are: yellow
You are drawn to the quantifiable outcomes in sports. You tend to gauge everything on the playing field by how it holds up to dependable benchmarks, like batting .300, rushing for 100 yards or shooting par on the golf course. You enjoy and understand sports by finding a way to track performance.
Suggested sports careers: Try your hand as a statistician, official scorer or timer for events. You’d also make a great referee or official, maintaining rules and fairness in competition.
These are only some of the results you’ll get from the Sports Career Snapshot. For your own free career evaluation, please visit:
http://careerpath.com/career-tests/sportscareersnapshot.aspx.
Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com
You can’t help it — you like your alone time. If you had it your way, you’d be at home most of the time, alone with your thoughts, your computer and your DVR. The time spent actually talking to anyone but your cats would be minimal.
Unfortunately, the real world exists — one in which working from home is sometimes an option, but more than likely, you have to go to work.
If talking, socializing and general forms of human interaction aren’t your thing, you probably loathe the idea of working in a cube where the chatter never stops, or in an office where your primary duty involves using your voice.
If you’d rather hone your quiet skills than your voice box, here are 10 jobs that let you work how you do best: alone.
1. Automotive service technician
Why it’s quiet: Automotive service technicians have an intimate relationship with one thing: cars. Aside from a short conversation with clients on “what seems to be the problem,” service technicians spend most of their time under the hood of the vehicle.
Salary*: $37,622/year
2. Cost estimator
Why it’s quiet: Cost estimators keep to themselves as they analyze everything from blueprints to proposals to determine the cost of a potential project from start to finish. They do their best to nail down costs on things like materials, labor, location and duration of the project to determine if business owners or managers should make a bid for a contract.
Salary: $53,413/year
3. Interior designer
Why it’s quiet: Though interior designers need to initially meet with their clients to determine their wants, needs and budget constraints, most of their time is spent alone as they focus on decorating. They choose styles and color palettes; and pick furniture, artwork and lighting. Many interior designers work as consultants or are self-employed.
Salary: $45,524/year
4. Librarian
Why it’s quiet: It might seem obvious, but given that librarians work in a mostly “no talking zone,” it makes sense that a librarian position suits quiet workers. Most of your time is spent organizing and maintaining library publications and materials, and the rest you’ll spend directing people to whatever they may need.
Salary: $48,025/year
5. Medical transcriptionist
Why it’s quiet: These guys don’t talk; they listen. Medical transcriptionists copy recordings made by physicians or other health-care professionals into medical reports, correspondence or other materials. They usually listen to recordings on a headset and use a foot pedal to pause the recording when necessary. Many medical transcriptionists telecommute from home-based offices.
Salary: $31,251/year
6. Network systems analyst
Why it’s quiet: Network systems analysts don’t consult much else except their computers as they design, test and evaluate computer systems like local area networks, wide area networks, the Internet and intranets. As networks expand, telecommuting is common for computer professionals because more work can be done from remote locations.
Salary: $40,827/year
7. Survey researcher
Why it’s quiet: The primary role of survey researchers is to find out what people think. Rather than interviewing people face to face, they design and conduct surveys via the Internet, mailed questionnaires or telephone interviews. Typically, they work alone writing reports, preparing charts and sifting through survey results.
Salary: $27,478/year
8. Translator
Why it’s quiet: Translators read written materials and translate them from one language into another. Because this position requires so much reading, writing, editing and analyzing, translators usually work alone. Many translators work from home and 22 percent of interpreters and translators are self-employed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Salary: $42,229/year
9. Undertaker
Why it’s quiet: With all due respect, your closest company in this profession is dead. Other than communicating with the family of the deceased to direct the funeral, you are pretty much guaranteed silence most of the time you work.
Salary: $42,278/year
10. Writers, authors and technical writers
Why it’s quiet: In the movies, we always see writers escaping to their beach houses, lodges in the mountains or sometimes a haunted hotel — remember “The Shining”? — for one purpose: to write a novel. It’s not just a stereotype that writers and authors need peace and quiet to work (trust me, I know).
Technical writers are particularly quiet and concentrated, as they focus on putting industrial and scientific information into layman’s terms. Remember that simple five-step instruction manual to put together your dresser? A technical writer made those directives as basic as possible, which was probably not an easy task in itself, but was made easier by solitude.
Salary: $42,786/year and $55,707/year, respectively
*National average salary according to CBSalary.com
Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
5 Ways to Refresh Your Outdated Network
By Rachel Zupek, PrimeCB.com writer
When Steven Spenser, 52, was laid off from his Seattle-area software company in 2001, he decided to become a stay-at-home dad. Seven years later, when he started looking for full-time work, he faced a problem: All his old contacts and job references were seven to 12 years old.
“Tracking down my previous references proved problematic since many of the companies were Internet startups that have gone out of business,” Spenser says. “I’ve found that two are willing to sing my praises again, but I have no one to direct to them.”
The process of his network becoming outdated was gradual, he says. Spenser continued to see old colleagues and work friends socially for a few months after his layoff, so he didn’t foresee any point at which he would fall out of touch with them. Eventually, his former co-workers stopped calling and he was too busy to notice.
“Being a first-time father kept me so preoccupied for a few years that I didn’t really bother thinking about the downstream effects of not keeping in touch with anyone,” Spenser says.
Many people these days are in Spenser’s position: After working at the same business or for only a few companies throughout their careers, workers are finding themselves unemployed with an outdated Rolodex and no job references in sight. Though experts recommend networking constantly, many professionals find it difficult to maintain business relationships and keep up with everyday life.
“After awhile goes by of being out of touch, the withdrawal takes on a life of its own and it can seem harder to get back into touch than just do nothing and let the status become quo,” Spenser says.
To avoid running into this problem, the idea obviously is not to let your network get outdated in the first place.
“People need to keep their network alive long before they are laid off and in search of a job,” says Thom Singer, author of “The ABC’s of Networking.” “To wait to contact someone until you have a major need, like needing a job, will make you look like a taker: ‘Hi, I have found you useless to keep in touch with for five years, but now I am hoping you will drop everything and help me,’ just does not fly.”
So how do you go about finding contacts that have fallen off your radar?
Start rebuilding
To begin renewing his network, Spenser did Google searches, looked on online White Pages and checked directory assistance. He finally found one former supervisor through his son’s company Web site. He was able to track down a former client by finding his new business information online. Both contacts were very willing to help Spenser and serve as a continued reference.
Not all people are accepted so openly, however, when trying to refresh cold contacts. If you find yourself needing to contact someone you haven’t spoken with in a long time, you should own up that you dropped the ball, Singer says.
“Tell people that you never understood why networking mattered and thus had not done a good job of keeping up,” Singer suggests. “Admit that this stint of being unemployed and in need of help is humbling and that you’ve learned a lesson. People are more likely to want to help someone who is honest like that than one who calls up expecting assistance after not ever calling before.”
If you’re looking for ways to update your network, here are some ways to get the process started:
1. Make a list
Create a list of everyone you know and have known, whether or not you know where they are today, suggests Duncan Mathison, an author, speaker and consultant on companies and professionals impacted by layoffs. Circulate the list to people you have stayed in touch with and they can often fill in the blanks, reintroduce you and even remind you of others who would be worthwhile to connect with.
2. Perform a Google search
Start by typing in the full name of the person you are searching for, says Melissa Cassera, publicity specialist. Try searching for the full name + the state in which the person lives. If you find a name but no contact information, try typing in the full name + the word “e-mail” or “phone.”
3. Contact your undergraduate or business school
You may score current contact information by responding to requests from your alma mater’s alumni association, says Debra Condren, business psychologist, coach, author and founder of AmbitionIsNotADirtyWord.com. Update your own contact information and professional biography and stay visible to your former classmates, she says. “Let folks know what you’re up to and they may surprise you with a blast-from-the-past phone call or e-mail, just when you were wondering how to find them.”
4. Use social networks
Look up old colleagues on LinkedIn, Plaxo, Jigsaw, Brightfuse and Facebook, Cassera suggests. Many of these sites have search functions where you can search by company — even if people have left the organization, there’s a good chance they’ve listed it in their previous work history.
5. Fill in the gaps
If you are missing links in your network, you must replace or renew them. Revisit your trade organization, attend local networking events and use your current database to get connected to new contacts, says David Hults, author of “From Cornered to Corner Office.” If you’re laid off, ask people who would be good contacts. Some will surely know the “movers and shakers” in your industry.
Rachel Zupek is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
