Resources for People in Transition

Transition Support Groups in NJ, NY, CT, PA:

PDF of The Landing Expert List

Best job search engines:

http://jobsearch.about.com/b/2010/12/01/best-job-search-engines.htm

14 Fatal Resume Mistakes

Make a great first impression by avoiding these common resume pitfalls:
• No cover letter
• No imagination
• Too much imagination
• Including an objective statement
• Typos or grammatical errors
• Unfocused resume
• Listing dates first
• Too short or long
• Writing in paragraph form
• Focusing on irrelevant past jobs
• Too much personal information
• You’re clearly unqualified
• No keywords
• Closing with “References available upon request”

Source: http://salary.com/Articles/ArticleDetail.asppart=par2309
See all the N.J. groups in transition – www.landingexpert.com


Sample Interview Questions

Not sure what you’ll be asked when applying for a job? Unsure of what to ask potential employees? These are a few lists of common interview questions that cover a wide variety of professions.

  1. Types of questions: This article from the University of Manitoba lays out some of the basic types of questions asked at interviews including direct, indirect, hypothetical and behavioral questions.
  2. Fifty standard interview questions: CollegeGrad.com lays out some of the most commonly used interview questions.
  3. Illegal interview questions: Not everything is fair game to ask at an interview. Make sure you know what’s allowed.
  4. 15 toughest interview questions and answers: This guide can help you know what to kind of questions to expect when applying for an academic position, as well as some pointers on how to answer.
  5. Sample interview questions for engineers: Engineers looking for work can expect to hear these kinds of questions at an interview.
  6. Interview questions for tech companies: This article provides sample interview questions for numerous types of high-tech programming jobs. Questions pertain to Perl, shell scripting, MySQL and more.
  7. Interview questions for lab positions: Here you’ll find a list of questions you might be asked when applying for lab work.
  8. Interview questions for health-care positions: Nurses and other health-care professionals will find this a useful resource when preparing for an interview.
  9. Sample interview questions for management: If you’re applying or interviewing for management and supervisory positions, these questions can be a valuable resource.
  10. Seven interviewer questions for first-timers: If you’re new to interviewing candidates, this article’s seven important questions can help you get started.
  11. Questions to ask your interviewer: When you interview for a job, you’re not the only one who should be interviewed; you should ask questions of your interviewer as well. Here are some important questions to ask before you accept a new job.

 

Types of Interviews

There are many different ways to interview candidates besides the simple interview. Here are some helpful articles on different interview styles that can give employers some ideas and let candidates know what to expect.

  1. Group interview: Group interviews are often used to see how potential employees will act in a group setting. This article gives some tips on how to prepare and excel in this format.
  2. Telephone interview: Phone interviews can sometimes be as stress-inducing as face-to-face interviews. This article from Quintessential Careers gives candidates some advice on the proper etiquette for interviewing over the phone.
  3. One-on-one interview: By far the most common type of interview, this article from Monster gives some insight into what the one-on-one interview is all about.
  4. Structured interview: Structured interviews ask all candidates for a job the same questions. Learn how to make this style of interview work for you with this Cando Career article.
  5. Multiple interviews: Multiple interviews can be taxing, as candidates have to talk to many different people. Careerhub.com gives advice on how to prepare for multiple interviews.

 

Interviewing Techniques and Advice

How you conduct an interview can make a big difference in your ability to find good employees. Below are some techniques and tips for interviewing to help you find the best person for the job.

  1. The Microsoft interview: Your tech company might not be as big as Microsoft, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the same interviewing technique.
  2. SOARA technique: Here you’ll find the basic definition of the SOARA (Situation, Objective, Action, Results, Aftermath) technique and how to use it to gather all the information you’ll need from a candidate.
  3. Developing a behavioral interview: This site gives you instructions on how to develop behavioral interviews, as well as some sample questions.
  4. How to interview candidates: This guide from Monster gives you tips on every step of interviewing and hiring candidates.
  5. Five steps to giving quality interviews: Interviewing is serious business, and this article from CareerBuilder.com gives you tips to preparing for yours.
  6. How to interview and hire top people each and every time: Businessman Gregory Smith gives his take on interviewing in this informative article.
  7. How to conduct an effective employee interview: This article offers pointers on building your interviewing skills, so you’ll always find the best employees for the job.
  8. Interviewing for employers: While written specifically for those working in the legal field, this extensive article gives some great guidelines for interviewing in any kind of business.
  9. Seven steps to hire the best: Manager Michael Mercer provides seven tips regarding how to predict who the best employees will be before and during the interview.

 

Interviewing Strategies for Candidates

No matter what kind of job you’re applying for, you should go into the interview with a strategy. Here are some ideas on to be successful in a variety of different interview styles.

  1. Interview tips: This article gives job seekers insight into what they’ll need to know for a behavior-based interview.
  2. How to beat the stress interview: Stress interviews can be extremely taxing if you’re not prepared. This article gives you some helpful hints that can help you be more successful with this type of interview.
  3. Post-interview strategies: Don’t let your interview strategy end with the interview. Use this article to help you find success even after the hard part is over.
  4. Behavioral interviewing strategies for job seekers: This extensive article gives candidates everything they need to know about preparing a behavioral interview strategy.
  5. How to accept a job offer
  6. Case interview strategies: Case-based interviews are growing in popularity among employers, and candidates can get step-by-step advice on looking great in them with this article.

 

Interview Attire

The first thing employers will see when they meet you is how you’re dressed, so be sure you’re making a good impression; the following articles can help.

  1. Job search etiquette
  2. Dress to impress: Geared toward women, this site uses photographs to show what you should and shouldn’t wear to an interview.
  3. Dress codes deciphered: If you’re not quite sure what business casual entails, you can use this guide from CNN to give you some insight.

 

What Not to Do

While it’s useful to know what you should do in an interview, it’s also important to know what you shouldn’t do. These articles offer advice that helps both employers and candidates alike avoid common mistakes.

  1. Eight hiring mistakes employers make: This article on About.com gives some assistance in avoiding common hiring pitfalls, saving you time and money.
  2. What not to wear to an interview: Think yo have the perfect outfit for your interview? Check out this article to make sure you’re not making one of these fashion blunders.
  3. Avoid these 10 interview bloopers: You can be the most qualified candidate and still botch your interview if you make these mistakes.
  4. 17 questions to never ask
  5. 8 things to never tell an interviewer
  6. Guide to Great Interviews
  7. Things not to say at a job interview: Top personnel executives of 100 major American corporations compiled a collection of the absolute worst things to do at a job interview, providing education and humor to the rest of us.

 

Preparation Resources

Don’t go into an interview just expecting to wing it. You need to prepare beforehand if you really want to be successful. Try checking out these resources before you go into your next interview.

  1. The ultimate guide to job-interview preparation: This extensive guide helps you get ready for your interview with tips on self assessment, research, references and more.
  2. Preparing for a software-engineering interview: Written by Niniane Wang, who has worked for Google and Microsoft, this article offfers helpful pointers on what you need to do to get ready for a software- engineering interview.
  3. Gaps in your resume
  4. Virtual interview Questions
  5. Before the interview
  6. Common Interview Questions 

Follow-Up Resources

Just because the interview is over doesn’t mean your work is done. Following up is just as important, so use these resources to make sure you’re getting it right.

  1. Interview follow-up do’s and don’ts: Professor of Marketing Dr. Randall Hansen offers some advice on what you should and should not do after the interview.
  2. Resume Tips
  3. Thank-you letters: Want to write a thank-you letter but not quite sure how to go about it? This article gives you insight on what to include and how to address the letter.
  4. The two most important post-interview activities: Don’t drop the ball on these two very important elements of the interview process.

 

Résumés and References

Doing well in your interview is important, but you also need to have a great résumé and some reliable references for potential employers to call. Use these resources and articles to help you with both.

  1. Resume Help.org: Resume Help.org provides readers with resources for writing cover letters and résumés, plus advice for doing well in interviews.
  2. Best Sample Resume: If you’re not sure how to format your résumé or what to include for your particular field, résumé samples can be helpful. This site has offerings in dozens of professions.
  3. How to write a résumé: Find out how to put your résumé together using this site.
  4. Ten tips for an interview-winning résumé: It’s hard to get an interview when you don’t have an effective résumé. Check out this site for advice on how to put together a résumé that will fill your calendar with interviews.
  5. Keys to choosing and using the best references: Here, you’ll find a list of tips on the do’s and dont’s of giving references to a potential employer.
  6. Sample reference-check questions: If you’re not sure what to ask when calling a candidate’s references, try these questions.
  7. Cover-letter checklist: Before sending out your cover letter, make sure it includes these basics.

 

General Resources

Make sure to take a look at these general resources before your interview. They provide a wide variety of useful information for both interviewers and candidates.

  1. Interviewing Preparation
  2. Tips for job seekers: Job seekers will find tons of information at this site, including strategies for before, during and after the interview.
  3. Keeping Your Spirits Up InterviewInfo.net is a place where job seekers can get together and discuss their experiences and provide advice.
  4. CareerOneStop: Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, CareerOneStop has resources for education, training, job searching, interviews and résumés.
  5. Job Searching at About.com: You’ll find lots of helpful information on interviews, networking, job listings, résumés and more on About.com.
  6. Free course in taking on new employees: Expand Your Business created this extensive guide to hiring, with step-by-step instructions for interviewing candidates.

Keywords to Include in Your Resume

Just as job seekers use keywords to find jobs on search sites like SimplyHired.com, many employers use keywords to determine whether candidates are qualified for the roles for which they’re hiring. Today, many large employers (as well as many other smaller companies) use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to manage the hiring processes, which scans resumes for keywords chosen by the employer. To make sure your resume passes the initial scan–by machine or person–make sure to include important keywords in your resume related to the position.

To determine which keywords should be included in your resume, take a look at the job description. Here, the employer lays out exactly what the requirements are for the role in their own words. In your resume, work the terminology that the employer uses into your resume. For example, if the job description calls for experience “answering customer billing questions”, and if you have this specific experience, that phrase should be included in your resume. If you say you “Answered customer service questions in a variety of areas,” even though that might include billing questions, it may not pass the initial scan.

Keep in mind that often, many words that companies are scanning for are not verbs, but nouns. While it’s important that you “performed” or “wrote”, chances are those are not the words that would be picked up by an applicant tracking system. Instead they’re scanning for skills, experience, names of hardware or software, degrees, certifications, and job titles.

A stipulation to the last point is to include powerful verbs when describing your experience, such as “managed,” “increased,” and “achieved.” These words should describe your achievements rather than job duties. In addition, use numbers to back up those achievements.

One important thing to note is that you should be honest about your experience. If you don’t fit a requirement in the job description, don’t say that you do. Employers typically examine potential candidates closely and will find out if you’ve exaggerated your skills or experience either during the interview or while performing reference checks.

Specific keywords to include are subject to the industry, position and company, but by following these guidelines, you will increase your chances of passing the initial keyword scan when applying for a job.

Comment below with keywords you’ve found to be helpful to include on your resume, as well as the specific position and industry where they are typically used.


SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS

The Frugal Job Hunter’s Guide to New Social Media Tools

LinkedIn InMaps
LinkedIn InMaps inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/ is a brand new way to visualize your LinkedIn connections. It creates a map of your LinkedIn contacts and shows how they are connected to each other. Each person becomes a dot and lines connect them to each other. Point at each dot and see the person’s name and title. Color coding shows how they cluster together and you can add labels and export the charts—especially useful for those who want to “see” their network.

Facebook’s BranchOut
BranchOut apps.facebook.com/branchout/ was introduced the summer of 2010 as a way to more efficiently use your network of Facebook friends for professional networking. Your BranchOut page becomes the professional side of your Facebook account. You can quickly import your LinkedIn profile (but not your recommendations). You then endorse others (give very brief recommendations) and invite friends to participate. This will allow you to see which employers they have connections with—a tool that has previously been lacking on Facebook.

With Facebook slated to grow to 600 million members in 2011, that’s a powerful support group for your job search. Your BranchOut profile is separate from your Facebook page for those who like to keep their professional and social networks distinct.

Twitter’s #HireFriday
Twitter is an easy-to-use, customer-friendly vortex of chaos. Tweeters are always looking for new ways to use Twitter. A long tradition on Twitter has been the celebration of FollowFridays, in which Twitter members recognize followers and leaders by suggesting their names for others to follow, using the hashtag #FF. A new twist on that is #HireFriday. On Fridays, people may post links to their online résumés or LinkedIn accounts with a brief description of what jobs they are looking for, including the hashtag #HireFriday. Others who are not looking for work also post links to blogs and articles about careers and job searching.

HR professionals and others can then search for the #HireFriday tag to look at hiring prospects. Simple and easy. There is also a Hire Friday group on LinkedIn to discuss how to use your tweets more effectively for your job search. Maybe we’ll soon be sharing
#HireFriday posts on LinkedIn too.

Paper.li
Paper.li is a new service that allows Twitter users and leaders to create daily “newspapers” with collections of links to blogs and other news in the
industry. If you can’t take the time to monitor Twitter through the day, go to Paper.li (yes, that is the web address) and browse around for what interests you. A few useful and educational dailies to follow:

TwitterJobSearch—Contribs—Also a good daily for articles about job search.

Clearance Jobs Daily. It appears to include self-help articles for those in security and the military. The types of links to articles are entitled “So You’re Deploying to Afghanistan?” and “Top Armed with Science Podcasts of the Year.” It’s one example of the wide range of topics on Paper.li.

Social Media Apps, If you’re spending more and more time on Twitter and your other social media platforms, there are several applications that will allow you to monitor all your social media sites. You can tweet, post, read, organize and schedule your communications right from your desktop computer or, in most cases, from your iPhone, iPad or Android and other smartphones. A few of the more popular ones are:

seesmic.com allows you to collect your social media updates from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and about 50 other sites all into one location. You can also send messages simultaneously to several sites. The desktop computer version is popular, but it’s also available for smartphones and all different browsers. You can also use Seesmic to check other services, such as Google Reader and Salesforce.com.

Career Coaches Daily—A great collection of links and recommendations for and by career coaches and HR professionals. It’s a good way to see, at a glance, current ideas in HR and job search today.

www.digsby.com combines social media feeds, adds the ability to use various Internet Messaging services (including AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk and Jabber), and can monitor multiple email accounts. If you have separate work and personal accounts and use more than one IM service, Digsby is definitely worth a look. You can add widgets to your blog, website or Facebook page to allow people to message you and have an instant IM conversation on your desktop computer.

hootsuite.com/ also monitors different accounts, but may be better for bloggers and businesspeople who use both personal and business accounts on Twitter and Facebook. You can monitor several accounts (on one or more services) or coordinate several users of the same business account. You can organize your messages over multiple columns and schedule your tweets for certain times of day. You can also post updates to your WordPress blogs and get statistics of who is clicking the links on your posts.

Another popular application is TweetDeck, http://www.tweetdeck.com/, available for desktop computers, iOS, Android and Chrome. Like Hootsuite, it allows you to combine professional and personal accounts on several services, including Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn Foursquare and Google Buzz. TweetDeck allows you to view YouTube videos within the program and record and share video clips. It also integrates your LinkedIn network. Even if you don’t use TweetDeck, its site has an impressive Yellow Pages−style directory of whom to follow on Twitter.

For more info on LinkedIn, Twitter and job hunting online, email Andrew Brandt at andybrandt531@yahoo.com and request a copy of his free book, The Job Seeker’s Guide to Online Networking and Using LinkedIn. For a compilation of past Frugal Job Hunter guides to software and online apps, also ask for a copy of The Frugal Job Hunter’s Guides Compendium.