Feature Article: 8 Job-Hunting Mistakes You Don't Want To Make: Advice From The Pros
Secondary Feature: Is "The Breakfast of Champions" in Your Resume?
Quint Careers Adds Business Plan Tutorial
Quintessential Site: Featured Career Web Site of this Issue
Latest Additions: What's New on Quintessential Careers
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search
Notes from the Editor: About this Issue...
This issue of QuintZine is coming to you from the road -- specifically Clinton, OK,
a stop on the 1-month summer tour of the QuintCareers RV. Read more about our
travels, see photos, and discover career tips and news in our
Career & Job-Hunting Blog
Summer is a surprisingly good time for job-hunting, so we bring you an issue
devoted to the job search.
--Katharine Hansen, Master Resume Writer, Credentialed Career Master,
Certified Electronic Career Coach, and editor at
kathy@quintcareers.com
Feature Article: 8 Job-Hunting Mistakes
8 Job-Hunting Mistakes You Don't Want To Make: Advice From The Pros
by Sharon Reed Abboud
Imagine that you arrive 30 minutes late for an interview. Your clothing is inappropriate, you forgot your resume,
and you have not done the preparation to answer the interviewer's questions effectively. Relax... that would never happen, right?
But you may be continually making less obvious mistakes in your interviews and job search -- without even knowing it.
Career pros across America say job-seekers make the same mistakes all the time.
Are you thinking about engaging the services of a professional writer for your resume, CV, cover letter,
thank-you letter, or other career-marketing correspondence? Before you take this step,
consider how a professional resume writer could benefit you.
Call it a slogan, a branding image, a tagline. When you hear or see an effective one, you know exactly what the product
is and what it might do for you. Walk down the aisle of any food store and you'll encounter hundreds of slogans like
"Breakfast of Champions" that reach into your subconscious and press your "buy me" buttons. Don't like breakfast cereal?
Try cars. Think "Ultimate Driving Machine" instead. See what I mean? The best branding images help to sell billions of dollars
of product every year. Why? Because they work by promising you a benefit for using their product.
Business Plan Tutorial: Tools to Help You Launch Your Own Business
Strategies and Tools to Assist You in the Development of Your Own Business -- a Free Tutorial.
Our newest tutorial
is all about empowering the entrepreneur inside you and helping you develop a successful business plan that enables
you to start your business.
Business planning is a lot like a balanced diet. Everyone can agree on the importance and value of developing and maintaining a business
plan, but not everyone feels they have the time or expertise to do it. This tutorial will help the novice learn the basics of creating a business
plan while also providing tips to those professionals who have written a business plan but want to revise it or take it to the next level. The tutorial
includes strategies, advice, tips, and resources that will help make planning/writing/revising your business plan a positive and
rewarding experience.
Desired-Careers.com is a global job site dedicated to providing a vast range of job
listings and opportunities to just about everyone everywhere throughout the globe.
Job-seekers can search for job listings in any country and in any industry
(as well as by keywords). Job-seekers can also register for new job alerts.
The site also offers a small collection of resources on the job market, building a career, searching for a job,
changing careers, cover letters, resumes, interviewing, office politics, job descriptions, college students,
employee motivation, communication skills, and salary negotiations.
Careerjet.com --
a meta-job job-search engine, where job-seekers can browse job listings by location or industry),
search job listings (by keyword, job title, location, industry), post your resume, as well
as register for a job-search agent. Job listings are harvested from company web sites, recruitment
agency web sites and large specialist recruitment sites. No cost to job-seekers.
JobsGTA --
a job site for job-seekers searching for jobs in the greater Toronto (Canada) job market.
Job-seekers can browse job listings, post your resume, and register for an email job-matching
service. Also includes a Toronto recruiter directory. No cost to job-seekers.
Jobs in Rome
-- a job site for English-speaking professionals seeking job opportunities in Rome and the rest of Italy, where job-seekers
can browse job listings by industry, with links directly to the employer sites. Part of the JobsinHubs.com family of sites.
No cost to job-seekers.
WirelessMobile-jobsboard.com --
a job site for for job-seekers seeking telecom, radio, mobile computing, bluetooth, wimax, wifi, and mobile telecom jobs around the world,
where job-seekers can search job listings (by keyword, location, position, technology and business sector),
as well as post your resume. No cost to job-seekers.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest Additions section.
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
CareerXroads' 6th Annual Sources of Hire study reveals that almost 34 percent of all open positions were filled in 2006 by internal transfers
and promotions. Other findings:
Referrals (25.6 percent) are arguably the No. 1 external source. Employee referrals make up 95 percent of all the hires attributed
to this category.
The impact of the Internet is so pervasive that it is reasonable to imagine that every source of hire has an Internet component.
It may be the research done to find candidates or the impetus that motivated the candidate to apply. The Internet is also the means
to apply and communicate no matter the original source that triggered the applicant's interest.
Hires attributed to specific job boards (such as Monster.com, CareerBuilder and HotJobs) and all other "niche" boards represent
12.3% of external hires (8.1% of all positions filled).
The largest trends in 2006 included the growth of re-hires as a Source of Hire and the emergence
of search-engine advertising as a measurable Source of Hire.
The message here is that networking is exceedingly important given that more than a quarter of external hires come from referrals.
Internal employees find out about the candidates they refer when those candidates network with organizational insiders.
In addition, while the Internet is a crucial TOOL in the job search, the study's low figures for job boards as a Source of Hire indicate
that searching for jobs on the Internet should be only one part of the mix.
Gathering with the gang after work can be fun -- and a new survey by Accountemps (a specialized staffing service for temporary accounting,
finance and bookkeeping professionals) suggests it may also benefit on-the-job performance. Fifty-seven percent of executives polled said
that office productivity improves when coworkers are friends outside of the office. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of employees surveyed
agreed. But managers and employees aren't as aligned when it comes to just how beneficial it is to have buddies on the job: Twenty-two
percent of employees said befriending coworkers has a "very positive" impact on productivity while only 2 percent of managers felt as strongly.
"Colleagues who are friends are more likely to support one another when presented with challenges or new responsibilities, enhancing workflow
and team spirit," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Motivating Employees For Dummies. "Supervisors can increase
camaraderie by sponsoring team-building events and giving staff members the opportunity to get to know each other outside of an office setting."
Messmer added, "It's especially important for new employees to have the opportunity to build rapport with staff members. Those who are able
to form friendships early on the job are likely to acclimate quickly and stay on board for the long term."
College students, are you doing an internship this summer? If not, you may want to plan to obtain one at your earliest
opportunity.
A study by Accountemps reveals that 50 percent of chief financial officers (CFOs) polled recently said, aside from
functional knowledge, internships influence their hiring decision most when evaluating entry-level accounting and finance candidates.
This response was cited more frequently than referrals (24 percent), college alma mater (8 percent) or grade point average (5 percent).
"Students who complete one or more internships appeal to prospective employers because they often require less training and can begin
contributing immediately in their roles," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Human Resources
Kit For Dummies.
Messmer noted, "In addition to the experience and knowledge gained by exposure to real-world business scenarios, internships
showcase a student's level of initiative and engagement in his or her chosen career."
See all our entire collection of Q-Tips:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips.
We'd Love You to Link to Quintessential Careers!
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!
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Link to Us page.
Need a career expert for a story or article you're working on? Searching for college,
career, and job news? Interested in learning more about Quintessential Careers?
Our Press Room
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QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming
issues of QuintZine:
* Office Politics
* Gossiping at the Office
* Defending Yourself at Work
* How to Transition Back to Work: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Parents
* Women as Breadwinners
* Maternity Leave
* Your Job Search IQ
* Jobs on the Cutting Edge
* Should You Make a Lateral Career Move?
* Volunteer Your Way into a New Job
* First Impressions Quiz
* Be Ready for an Unexpected Job Interview
* Your Blog as a Resume?
* Font Facts: Resume Typography
* Resume Bullet Points: Before and After
* Social/Online Networking from the Recruiter's Perspective
* Salary Negotiation Mistakes to Avoid
* Use Your Resume to Negotiate a Higher Salary
* GLBT Job-search Issues
* The Value of Internships Abroad and Study Abroad
* Top 10 Fears of Job-seekers
* For Job-hunting Success, Develop a Detailed Job-Search Plan
* Keep Your Career Dreams Alive
* MBA Career Portfolios
* Pre-Hire Background/Credit Checks
* Financial Aid/Scholarship Timetable
* Build Confidence and Avoid Insecurity in Job Interviews
* Empty Nest Job-seekers
* Are You Sabotaging Your Job-Search/Career?
* Lifelong Networking
* Networking for the Shy
* Working Night Shifts/Odd Hours
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more...
