Three years ago today, our
publisher and Webmaster, Dr. Randall
Hansen, donned his white coat and stethoscope
to become the Career Doctor. In this issue,
he reflects on the questions he's been
asked most frequently over the last three years
and provides answers. Clearly, these are the
questions that weigh on the minds of many
job-seekers. Perhaps you'll find your own answers
in his feature article, which is a real bonus for
readers as it is actually 10 mini-articles.
The Career Doctor’s Cures & Remedies to Quintessentially
Perplexing Career and Job-Hunting Ailments: Part 1
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Note: In April 2002, Dr. Hansen celebrates his third
anniversary of writing The Career Doctor column. In that
time, he has written 75 columns, helping 300 job-seekers
with their college, career, and job problems. This article,
the first in a series, addresses answers to common college,
career, and job questions.
In the three years that I have been the Career Doctor,
I have received more than a thousand emails from teens,
from college students, from
career changers, from older
job-seekers -- in fact, from just about every type of person
seeking advice about college, careers, job-hunting, or
career advancement. From all of these email questions
seeking advice, I offer you my list of the top 10 most
common career and job-hunting ailments --
and my cures and remedies.
I hope you'll find the answer to your problem among
these 10 career ailments, but if not, please feel free
to send an email to the
Career Doctor, and then read
my column while you await my response.
"Make no little plans; they have no magic to
stir your blood... MAKE BIG PLANS. Aim high in
hope and work." So wrote Daniel H. Burnham in the last
century. The big plans are important. They capture your vision.
The next step is to break them down into "do-able" chunks
that can be done in even one day. That is what gives you a
definite sense of accomplishment, isn't it? The big plans are
necessary, the baby steps, imperative!
Sharon Brown is career advisor with Northern Alberta
Institute of Technology Career and Counselling Services,
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Sharon recently wrote an article about "creating positive
surprise during the interview and on the job." Asked to elaborate
on this idea, here's what she told us: "I recently spoke with
a friend of mine who had just hired a new staff member. She
mentioned that by the time the interview was over, this person
felt so right for the job that my friend wanted to hug her.
The conversation got me to thinking about what made this person
feel so 'right' over the others interviewed. My friend told
me that a large part of this feeling was
because of how often
the prospective employee kept positively surprising her during
the interview. So how does one go about giving the employer
positive surprises during the interview and, after you snag
the gold ring, continuing to do so on the job?"
Find out in our full
Q&A with Sharon Brown
in which she also talks about her favorite job-search secret,
the reality check her students face when they start their
first jobs, the importance of having the right attitude about
job-hunting, and the differences between career counseling in
the U.S. and in Canada.
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We like job-hunt.org because it's a lot like our own site,
Quintessential Careers. Job-hunt.org lists more 2,000 sites
in its guide to on-line job-hunting resources and
makes an effort to list only the best ones.
Job hunters can use job-hunt.org to find a job site and
learn the Top 6 Online Job Search Mistakes.
The site also offers a starting point and
a strategy for the search.
Job-hunt.org links to employer Web sites
(the Fortune 500 and Fortune's list of the
100 Fastest Growing Companies, and more) and
offers an Internet Resume section and advice
from resume-writing pros.
The Reference Material section enables
job-seekers to research employers, industry trends,
associations, and/or find friends and co-workers
from the past for networking. More resources
are available in Other Lists of Links.
Macintosh users may have some difficulty, as we did,
accessing and using job-hunt.org, as we did in both Netscape and
Internet Explorer, but PC users should be fine.
Our feature article, above, is a preview of a chapter
from the book, Words to Get Hired By: The Jobseeker's
Quintessential Lexicon of Powerful Words and Phrases
for Resumes and Cover Letters, the first e-book
published by Quintessential Careers Press.
CallCenterJobs.com
-- where job-seekers looking for call center operations, customer service, help desk, techsales, and e-commerce jobs can
search for jobs (by job type and location) and post your resume. Includes company profiles and information on
the call center industry. Free to job-seekers.
Diversity Search -- a leading diversity
career portal, where job-seekers can post up to three online resumes and cover letters, search job listings
(by keywords, industry job type, location, or company),
and create up to five job search agents (that email you new jobs that match your criteria).
Free to job-seekers.
LocalTeenJobs.com
-- a great job and career site for teens dedicated to helping young adults and students
find full and part-time work. Search for jobs by zip-code and high school -- to ensure finding jobs
close to home or school. Teens can also create your resume and sign up for a job alert. Also includes
career-related tips and links to career and education resources. Free to job-seekers.
TeachersOnline.com -- where
full time and substitute teachers -- from pre-K to adult education and home-schooling --
can search for jobs (by keyword, recency of posting, teaching specialty, location, salary) and create a personal profile.
Free to job-seekers.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest
Additions section.
Darlene U. writes: "I need your help. I've surfed the
'Net looking for a site where I can go to for a free career
aptitude test, and there is no luck for me. I'm a student
in college about to finish for an AA degree in
social work. The problem is I really don't know
if I love what I'm studying. I need a site where
I can research careers, how much they pay, and
what the demand is for them. Can you please guide me
into finding a career?
"Discouraged" writes: "I recently graduated from
graphic-design school; this was to be my new career!
But I'm having difficulty finding a job. It seems
every employer I apply with wants practical experience.
My question is: How do I get the much needed experience
unless someone will hire me?
Help! I've exhausted every source of income to
complete my studies. Now I must find work even if
it's out of my chosen field."
Windee Wagner writes: "Do you have any pointers for a
thank-you letter for a second interview? Should I follow
the standards for a first interview thank-you letter?"
Anonymous writes: "I have a question about job
references. I have had bad reports from two previous
employers and want to know how to combat that in job
interviews. I have always heard it said that you
should never badmouth a former employer and that
you should always give two weeks' notice. However,
I don't plan on lying about why I left a certain
job and hate fudging over the facts. I don't want
to blame a certain employer, but I want the interviewer
to clearly realize why I left the company. And I don't
see how companies, especially these days, can expect
the courtesy of two weeks' notice when they can lay
people off at will. In my own case, I was laid off
with TWO days' notice.
Join the students who have already enrolled in our
Quintessential Career Kickstart Course!
Check out this quick and comprehensive course that will teach you
everything you need to know launch a career and find a job.
The Quintessential Career Kickstart Course is
an inexpensive online course that teaches
beginners and career-changers the basics of
job-hunting. You can complete the course at
your own pace, and you will receive plenty of
one-on-one guidance and encouragement from your
instructor, as well as the opportunity to dialog
and network with fellow course-takers.
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
In this period of downsizing and recession,
it may behoove workers to be flexible and
willing to be reassigned, reported Stephanie Armour
recently in USA Today. Lack of flexibility may mean
getting laid off. "Employees are being thrust into new
jobs as companies reassign workers rather than lay them off,"
Armour writes. "The changes can be dramatic. Airline ticket
takers are taking security positions, factory workers are
handling desk jobs, and marketing employees are doing
customer service work."
Willingness to undergo cross
training and learn new skills can be key to job retention.
"The tactic is being used as employers respond to
fluctuating market demands by shuffling staffers
around. They're also seeking to retain skilled
employees rather than recruiting again when the
economy rebounds," Armour reports.
Sometimes downsized workers end up
interviewing for jobs for which they seem to be
overqualified. Writing in the Wall Street Journal,
Chris Taylor of Smart Money magazine, offers some
tips for getting a job you're overqualified for:
Hold back on your brilliance. Don't describe
stellar accomplishments that go beyond the
scope of the job you're interviewing for.
Launch a pre-emptive strike. Be the first one in
the interview to bring up the overqualification
issue. Assure the interviewer that you want to
work for the company and won't be in a big hurry
to move on.
Ease up on salary demands. Realize that you probably
won't earn the same salary as in your last job and
prepare to be flexible.
Want to know what the hot new job field is?
According to HR Daily News, trades are the new
hot jobs. "With technology jobs tarnished and more
careerists now searching for 'meaning,'" the Web site reports,
citing the Christian Science Monitor, "specialized, hands-on
work has gained new allure.
"After a decade in which 'the workplace' has almost
exclusively meant the office, the skilled trades have
quietly enjoyed a renaissance -- attracting renewed
public appreciation for their craftsmanship and quality,
as well as a new generation of workers eager for
the hands-on satisfaction of creating work that
is meant to last generations.
"The skilled trades actually began to make a comeback
in the 1970s with the growth of the historic-preservation
movement, the Monitor reports. But the trend accelerated
in recent years, as consumer and commercial tastes have
continued to swing back toward more historical and traditional
building styles.
"Today, craftsmen (and women) can be found making
everything from dry stone walls, to architectural
ironwork, to ornate terra-cotta figurines and cornices."
If you haven't already done so, we have a big favor to ask: please
take a few minutes to complete a totally anonymous survey.
As we vow in our privacy statement, we absolutely will not
use the information gained in any other way than to make
our Quintessential Careers site even BETTER for our readers.
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming
issues of QuintZine:
* How to choose a headhunter/recruiter
* Cover letters to recruiters
* How to write a counteroffer letter
* Home-based careers
* How to start a job club
* Interviewing strategies for teens
* Powerful resumes and cover letters for new grads
* Using informational interviews to research companies
* How to create and publish a Web-ready resume
* Letters of recommendation and references
* How to create and use a networking card
* How to resign from your job gracefully
* Step-by-step guide to career planning
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more!
Don't ever want to miss another issue of QuintZine? Get a free subscription to
the email version of QuintZine by completing our
subscription form.
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RESUMES * JOB SEARCH CORRESPONDENCE FROM TRUSTED EXPERTS * COVER LETTERS
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We also can provide critiques and makeovers of
your resume or cover letter. Credit cards accepted.
Quintessential Careers also offers writing services
for those who have been asked to give a speech and
need assistance in researching and writing their
remarks.
Need a speaker for your career-oriented conference or
event at your college or organization? The Quintessential
Careers Speakers Bureau can help! Our quintessential experts
can provide presentations/workshops on a variety of
career-related topics.
