Feature Article: 10 Reality Checks of Job-Hunting: Overcoming Common Job-Search Mistakes
Q&A with a Career Expert: Job-Search Trainer Freddie Cheek
Quintessential Site: Featured Career Web Site of this Issue
What's New on Quintessential Careers
The Career Doctor: Answering Your Questions
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search
Notes from the Editor: About this Issue...
Well, the media is telling us the recession is over but that we're having a jobless recovery.
That means job-seekers will need every advantage to make it in this tough market. It also means
job-hunters need a serious dose of reality to know what they're up against and what it will
take to land a job. Looks like a mission for QuintZine's Reality Checks issue. In addition
to our own article on reality checks, we have a fine Q&A with job-search trainer Freddie
Cheek, who offers her own excellent set of reality checks.
We refer to these job-search concepts as reality checks
because we so frequently hear from job-seekers who have
been struggling to find a new job but are approaching one
or more aspects of their search unrealistically. If you're
having difficulty finding a new job, you too may need a
reality check.
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"The road to successful employment is littered with candidates who missed out on opportunities or turned down
potential prospects," said job-search trainer Freddie Cheek in the Q&A interview we did with her.
"The biggest mistake people make is to be too picky or fussy up front. They cheat themselves out of great jobs
when they have too little information."
Continues Cheek: "Almost daily I hear clients tell me, 'The posting
sounds like a boring job or probably pays too
little' -- or -- 'They probably have a lot of better qualified people applying' -- or -- 'They want someone who is much more
experienced at this than I am.' You get the picture."
Cheek's Q&A
offers her top three tips to avoid this pitfall, as well as her 10 job-search reality checks, advice for new job-seekers, how to
develop job leads, and cultivating the type of mind-set that results in job-search success.
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we can prepare an English-language CV for you that conforms to the CV traditions of your target country or countries.
In addition to offering a jobs search engine and the opportunity to post resumes, Employmentguide.com
provides a search engines for learning opportunities, as well as one for work-at-home jobs. A modest section
of career-related content has links to Quintessential Careers, as well as some original articles. A section
of the site also enables job-seekers to search for jobs in a list of selected cities.
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AllAboutMedicalSales.com --
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After College -- a job and
internship site for college students and recent college grads. Post your resume or
search for job openings (by job type, industry, type of work, location, and keyword).
Also includes some basic career resources. Free to job-seekers.
HireUSA.net -- a growing general job site where
job-seekers can search for jobs (by occupation, location, industry, or keyword), post multiple versions
of your resume, and use a job-search agent. Also includes links to many career resources.
Free to job-seekers.
TorontoJobs.ca -- a great job
site for job-seekers searching for jobs in the greater Toronto area. Job-seekers can
search for jobs (by job category, location, salary, and posting date), use a meta job-search tool to search
for Toronto job listing posted on other job sites, post your resume, register for
a job email notification service, and find links to career resources. Free to job-seekers.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest Additions section.
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Rob writes: "I'm a systems administrator laid off -- and still searching to find a job a year later.
Your site repeatedly urges job seekers to call companies
and ask for interviews and to make commitments to do so
in cover letters. Does this advice still apply in today's
technical job market?
Aside from the large number of ads that clearly state 'no calls,'
I'm finding that most employers in my profession make it
difficult or impossible to ascertain contact information.
Some companies don't even list a phone number or address on
their Web site, meaning that more serious detective work
is needed to make contact. When one does make the call, the
response seems to always be a variation on 'don't call us,
we'll call you.'"
Layne writes: "I'm coming up to my 55th birthday and thinking about changing careers. What kinds of things
should I do as an older job seeker to increase my chances of success?"
Will writes: "I have a whole lot of experience, but not a tremendous amount in any one area. How could I narrow
down my choices so I know what kind of job to pursue? Also, what would be the best way to lay out my resume?"
Anonymous writes: "Here is the situation. I'm a former police officer who was recently (wrongly) convicted of
a white-collar crime. I have a two-year degree in business, about three years of previous restaurant management experience
before becoming an officer, and about three years in the radio industry. First question, how do I answer this question on an
application, and secondly I really don't know which way I can turn career-wise from this point."
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Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
An on-going sluggish economy continues to depress corporate salary budget increases in 2003, and the projections for 2004
aren't much better, according to the Salary Budget Survey, released by WorldatWork, the association of compensation and benefits
professionals. The annual survey includes data indicating that salary increases this year will be about a half a percent lower
than what was projected last year, which is the same decreasing trend the survey revealed between 2001 and 2002, and marking the
lowest level in the survey's 30-year history. Respondents are WorldatWork members who are employed in the compensation and
benefits departments of more than 3,100 diverse companies, representing 15.8 million U.S. employees.
Read the full story.
Despite improving expectations on Wall Street, Americans still face a tight job market, according to a survey of employers
released recently. About two-thirds said they don't expect to hire any additional workers, and 9 percent plan to eliminate jobs during the
July-to-September quarter, said temporary-staffing firm Manpower Inc. Although 20 percent of employers in the survey said they plan to add
jobs, competition for work is expected to be high. Six percent are uncertain about their employment plans. The company collected the
most recent data in April during the war in Iraq and the SARS crisis, which analysts say could account for some employer pessimism.
Read the full story.
Satisfied employees are not necessarily hard working or committed to a company's bottom line performance, and a
majority of U.S. workers admit to having a low level of commitment to the job they do and the company they work for,
according to a recent employee loyalty study released by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) Intersearch. However, the same study finds
significant room for improvement in that the best performing Fortune 500 companies are bucking this trend with significantly
higher levels of employee commitment. Workers at these companies give management higher ratings on issues of business ethics, innovation,
and competitiveness. At the same time, they report receiving higher performance evaluations, having increased their productivity, and
taken fewer days off due to sickness and personal reasons.
The TNS study surveyed 20,000 workers across 33 countries. Two thousand full-time employees were surveyed in the U.S., ranging
from corporate executives to front line and administrative employees in all industry groups. The U.S.-based employees worked for some of
this country's, and the world's, largest organizations. The study classified employees into four groups:
Ambassadors (Global 44 percent/U.S. 41 percent): The most committed -- those who are fully committed to the company and
to their work.
Company Oriented (Global 8 percent/U.S. 8 percent): The next most committed group, which includes those who are fully committed
to their company -- more so than their work and career.
Career Oriented (Global 14 percent/U.S. 20 percent): Includes those who are more interested in furthering their career and their
needs over the needs of the company.
Disengaged (Global 35 percent/U.S. 31 percent): The employee segment that no company wants, but has in abundance. They are
neither committed to their company nor to their career.
College students and new grads should check out this e-book,
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The book contains must-read contributions from 149 of North America's top employment experts
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If your school, organization, business or other
entity has a Web site, we welcome you to link to Quintessential Careers.
If you already have a link from your site, we want you to know we
appreciate it. If you don't have a link to us, please
send a request to your site's Webmaster to establish a
link to Quintessential Careers. Thanks so much!
For more details (including sample HTML copy), see our
Link to Us page.
QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming
issues of QuintZine:
* Can earning a certification boost your career?
* Letters of recommendation
* Dealing with a bad boss
* Don't wait by the phone: Following up on all job leads
* Dining etiquette
* What employers are really looking for
* New series: 10 mistakes to avoid in: resumes, cover letters, interviews, salary
negotiation, career change, networking, job-search
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more!
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.
