Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
Job-hunting tips from the October 13, 2003 issue of
QuintZine.
CareerBuilder recently polled recruiters for their advice on job-seeker references. Here are the highlights
of recruiter comments:
Job-seekers should provide professional, not personal, references.
References should have detailed knowledge of the job-seeker's workplace performance.
References without that knowledge can negatively affect the job-seeker's chances.
A diverse group of references spanning the job-seeker's entire career is optimal.
Your references should have knowledge of you that spans a period of years and maybe even
more than one job.
The more senior the level of your references the better.
References who have conducted performance evaluations on the candidate are the most
valuable to the hiring employer.
Prospective employers will be impressed with specific examples of accomplishments and results
on the part of the candidate.
The second tier of valuable references includes peers, subordinates, internal/external
customers, project leaders, vendors, and business associates from professional organizations and
volunteer/civic affiliations.
A reference list should include each reference's name, position, company, location,
phone number, e-mail address, and relationship/context in which the reference and job-seeker
know each other.
References, should, of course, be aware that they are on the job-seeker's reference
list and may be contacted by prospective employers.
Net-Temps recently ran a helpful article, "Reference Improvement Guide," in its
CrossRoads newsletter. The article makes such suggestions as compiling a "reference press kit"
for your references to ensure they have complete information about you if they are asked to sing your
praises to prospective employers.
Read the full
article.
John De Graaf thinks you work too much. He wants you to stop. If you're not willing to do that,
he'd like you to take just one day to talk with other overworked souls about how working less could
improve your life. De Graaf has a specific date in mind: Oct. 24, which he and others have proclaimed
Take Back Your Time Day. The day falls nine weeks before the end of the year; those nine weeks are precisely
how much more time they estimate Americans spend at work each year than our European counterparts.
As Time Day's national organizer, De Graaf would have us all take the day off to contemplate how we organize
our lives, or at least take a few hours to attend one of dozens of local meetings across the country. As he
describes it, we as a nation have become so work-obsessed that we are slowly destroying ourselves, our families, our
health, and our environment.
Read
more.
Speaking of overwork ... companies that have decreased their staffing numbers are finding that the remaining
employees are still getting the job done. But recent surveys are finding that overworked employees are quietly
looking for jobs in greener pastures.
Here's
one article describing this dilemma.
CareerBuilder recently polled recruiters for their advice on job-seeker references. Here are the highlights
of recruiter comments:
