Job Action Day Feature Article: 10 Things (Activities) You Can Do Today for Your Job Search
Special Job Action Day Features on:
Stimulus Jobs
Federal Jobs
Green/Clean-Energy Jobs
Self-Employment Springing from Unemployment
Career Reinvention
Job Action Day Bonus Feature: Job-Search Tips for a Changed Economy: How to Succeed in the "New Normal"
Quintessential Site: Featured Career Web Site of this Issue
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search
Editor's and Publisher's Note: About this Issue...
While the economy is showing signs of recovery, indications that the recovery will continue to be
"jobless" casts a pall over hopes for a full bounceback. Job Action Day, the second
annual event spearheaded by Quintessential Careers, addresses the jobless recovery by
spotlighting promising areas in which the unemployed and other job-seekers may find opportunities.
The idea is that job-seekers can take plenty of action steps right now -- today -- to move
forward in their careers, even if they're unemployed and have been for some time. We established
Job Action Day last year as a day for job-seekers pummeled by the economic meltdown to take control
of their careers and initiate action. Where last year shock, fear, and paralysis may have inhibited action,
this year, the gloom of prolonged unemployment may be de-motivating job-seekers.
Quintessential Careers and a cadre of Job Action Day writers and bloggers have targeted several areas as
offering bright spots of opportunity:
Federal Jobs
Green/Clean Energy Jobs
Stimulus Jobs
Entrepreneurship and career-reinvention opportunities motivated by unemployment
Here's an overview of why we're hopeful about these opportunities:
Federal Jobs: The federal government plans to fill 293,000 mission-critical jobs over the next
five years, reports Barbara Safani on her CareerSolvers Blog, citing a presentation
by Barbara Adams, president of CareerPro Global Inc. The Obama administration will expand the number of
civilians in the executive branch by 140,000 to reach a total of 2 million, the highest number since President
Clinton took office in 1992. The federal government is the only national employer that will continue to fill jobs
regardless of economic conditions, and because more than 40 percent of the 1.5 million federal employees
will retire in the next five years (totaling 300,000 jobs, writes Nancy F. Smith on
CBS MoneyWatch), turnover will create
additional opportunities.
Green/Clean Energy Jobs: Adams also reports that the Obama administration is creating 5 million new
green jobs through its stimulus plan, Safani writes. Smith notes that the stimulus is pumping $50 billion into
"projects as diverse as mass transit, modernizing the electric power grid, and weathering government
buildings."
Stimulus Jobs: In addition to the federal government's role in boosting federal and
green/clean-energy jobs, stimulus money is targeting jobs in healthcare and the natural sciences.
Smith reports that the healthcare industry is adding jobs at a rate of 17,000 monthly, and stimulus money
"will flow into science and research projects as well as into support for local Medicaid expenditures, children's
health programs, and health-insurance premiums for laid-off workers." In the natural-sciences arena, Smith
notes that "research institutions will see more funding than they've had over the past five years combined."
Entrepreneurship and career-reinvention opportunities motivated by unemployment: One of the
brightest spots is the ingenuity and innovation that many unemployed workers have applied to solo-preneur,
small-business, and freelance opportunities.
When we put out a call for folks who had lost their jobs in this recession but found new opportunity, we received an
outpouring of stories from people who successfully turned their unemployment into everything from mystery-novel-writing
to puppet-show creation.
We heard from inventors, green-business founders, authors, eBay merchants, a food purveyor, a professional
organizer, a motivational speaker, a virtual worker, and more -- all of whom had lost their jobs in the last year
or so. In many cases, job loss turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to these folks because it enabled
them to reinvent themselves and pursue their true passions.
PS: Job Action Day coincides with the anniversary of QuintCareers. We have completed Year 13 and are beginning our 14th year!
FOLLOW JOB ACTION DAY ON THE TWITTER HASHTAGS: #JobActionDay09 and #CareerCollective
--Randall Hansen, Ph.D., Founder and Publisher, Quintessential Careers
--Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., Master Resume Writer, Credentialed Career Master,
Certified Electronic Career Coach, and editor at
kathy(at)quintcareers.com
Job Action Day Feature Article: Your Job Search
10 Things (Activities) You Can Do Today for Your Job Search
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Sometimes both job-seekers and career experts get so caught up in job-hunting strategies
and tactics, that we lose sight of practical activities that job-seekers can do today -- right now -- to make
progress toward finding new employment... Landing a new job.
What can you do today -- especially if you are currently out of work -- to help obtain a new job?
Have Your Resume Ready in Case of Job Loss in the Current Economic Climate.
QUINTESSENTIAL RESUMES AND COVER LETTERS provides solutions
with unmatched quality in the areas of career planning, professional resume writing, and interviewing, having
successfully helped tens of thousands of clients, from executives through individuals beginning a career,
succeed in their career goals.
Reinforcing the Job Action Day message is this group of bloggers dedicating blog entries on or around Job Action Day 2009 to the
event. Many Job Action Day bloggers are members of the Career Collective, a community of resume writers,
career coaches, and other career experts.
Stimulus Jobs Special Feature
In her Job Action Day article, Quintessential Careers regular contributor Maureen Crawford Hentz
provides a comprehensive primer on researching and applying for jobs created by stimulus money,
Getting a Job in a Down -- But Stimulated -- Economy.
Job-Search Tips for a Changed Economy: How to Succeed in the "New Normal"
Compiled by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
A year after the economy melted down in 2008, we asked job and career experts for tips that
reflect the new realities of the job market.
We asked experts to complete this sentence: "If I could offer a piece of advice that reflects
the NEW ECONOMY and is different from advice I would have given a year ago,
it would be ________________________."
Recovery.gov went live shortly after President Obama signed the Recovery Act
into law on Feb. 17, 2009. Given its primary mandate -- to allow taxpayers to see precisely
what entities receive Recovery money in addition to how and where the money is spent -- the site
displays easy-to-understand, user-friendly graphs, charts, and maps.
These tools, which the site continues to enhance and refine, offer both telescopic
and microscopic views of Recovery spending and projects across the country, from a larger
national overview down to details of individual projects in specific zip codes.
An Opportunities tab links to federal jobs and employment information, advice
and tools, such as resume templates and interview tips, a database of federal government contracts, a way
to find and apply for federal grants, a place to search for information on loans you may be eligible for,
and information on government benefits you may be eligible for.
Find Your Career Future. Learn More About Yourself
Career Maze is designed to help every job seeker, at every level, make smarter
career choices. Individualized to reflect your unique personality and written in
"plain English," it is thorough and easy to complete.
Once completing the assessmemt, your 2-part report includes:
A specific, career-relevant discussion of your workplace personality
A list of job types compatible with your personality
Career Maze encourages you to think about tapping your full potential to find your future.
Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search and Work Life
For this special Job Action Day issue, we offer a Q TIP for each of our focus areas:
Green/Clean Energy Jobs -- QuintCareers regular contributor Joe Turner
interviewed Jim Cassio, author of Green Careers Resource Guide about green jobs, how to find
them and how to qualify for them. The new edition of Cassio's electronic publication now identifies 340
occupations that can lead to green jobs and green careers.
Hear the show.
The MP3 file can also be downloaded from Joe's iTunes catalog (search "Job Search Guy").
Stimulus Jobs -- The Obama administration (which prefers to use the word "Recovery" for these jobs)
offers a video showing Where the Recovery Jobs Are -- stories of Americans whose jobs have been saved
or created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
See the video here.
Entrepreneurship and career-reinvention opportunities motivated by unemployment --
Brian Kurth notes that many clients who have been laid off and are utilizing his site
VocationVacation, as a creative
way to explore a new career or entrepreneurial opportunity. VocationVacation enables users
to test-drive more than 125 unique careers, through almost 300 expert mentors. The
VocationVacations are one- to- three- day, hands-on, career-immersion experiences
under the tutelage of expert mentors.
One woman was laid off from her job as an assemblywoman at a Motorola plant and took a VocationVacation with
a dog daycare owner and then opened her own dog daycare facility. Other users have made a switch to
a different type of career still within the corporate sector. A laid-off music-industry exec now works for a major hotel
chain after her passion for the hotel industry led her to a hotel general-manager VocationVacation ... and then
subsequent employment in the industry.
Federal Jobs -- QuintCareers regular contributor Joe Turner
interviewed Kathryn Troutman, author of Ten Steps to a Federal Job, about how job-seekers can
use their private-sector experience to find and land a job with the U.S. government. Kathryn describes
how to locate jobs in your area that you might qualify for and how to successfully apply online
for these jobs.
Listen to the podcast interview. The MP3 file
can also be downloaded from Joe's iTunes catalog (search "Job Search Guy").
Quintessential Careers Press Announces Our Latest Book: The Quintessential Guide to
Job Search 2.0: Advancing Your Career Through Online Social Media.
The
Quintessential Guide to Job Search 2.0: Advancing Your Career Through Online Social Media,
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., and Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., provides six chapters to guide you
through the next revolution in online job search. Since job boards, vestiges of the first
revolution in online job search, should still be part of the job-seeker's toolkit, this
book helps you navigate those while also considering the future of job boards. The book
looks at building your personal brand, teaches you to make the most of social-media venues
in the job search, guides you in creating a digital presence, suggests you consider blogging,
and discusses ways to integrate multimedia elements into your job search.
Follow QuintCareers; Read the Latest Advice
Follow QuintCareers Latest Job Tips and Career News on Twitter
Also follow @KatCareerGal for regular career-related tweets.
QuintCareers Network of Empowering Blogs
What are QuintCareers empowering blogs?
The Career Doctor Blog:
Especially for those who miss our former regular feature, Ask the Career Doctor, this blog each day features a question and answer from The
Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD.
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.
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
is your one-stop location for getting the information and resources you need.
QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming issues of QuintZine:
* Career Planning
* How Job Search is Like Online Dating
* The Confidence Factor
* De-Stressing Before an Interview
* Green Jobs
* More Cover-Letter Components
* Finding Your First Real Job
* Empty Nest Job-seekers
* How to Stay Motivated at Work
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more...
For this special Job Action Day issue, we offer a Q TIP for each of our focus areas:
