This one is for Kathy:

Must see: http://xkcd.com/

Andrew Hudson is one of Denver’s well-known movers/shakers. Hudson know the PR market, and grew his famous “Andrew Hudson’s Jobs List” because of the jobs people sent him. Hudson then started his JobsGobble networking event to provide a venue for PR and Marketing types to find work.

Now, Hudson writes for Denver Jobs Examiner.  He has a recent article that job seekers should review to add more measures of success to their job search. Hudson starts by recognizing that successful job seekers share a focus:

Here are the five things that always come up:

1. A strong sense of self.
2. Professional job-seeking attitude.
3. Networking
4. Approach the job search with the discipline of a salesperson
5. Understand the economy of your community.

Later in the article, Hudson lists some of the many resources available to job seekers.

In Denver, there are many resources available to research our local economy.  Here are a few websites that can help:

The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce This is Colorado’s largest chamber of commerce.  However, there are dozens of local chambers representing local business communities throughout the state of Colorado.  An easy Google search can help you find a local chamber in your community.

The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation The economic development arm of the Denver Metro Chamber, the MDEC provides quarterly economic updates and a wealth of information on the state of Colorado’s economy.

Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.  This is the official state office promoting economic development.

The Denver Business Journal Without question, the number one regular source of business information in Colorado.  Subscribing to the DBJ is a great investment for any job seeker.  Your subscription also gets you the annual “Book of Lists,” an organized encyclopedia of the top companies in the Denver metro area.

Colorado Biz Magazine This is a monthly magazine that profiles local businesses, leaders and local economic trends.

Check out Hudson’s full article here:
http://www.examiner.com/x-1956-Denver-Jobs-Examiner~y2009m9d27-Five-Things-That-Can-Help-Your-Job-Search-NOW

Here are the five things that always come up:

1.) A strong sense of self.

My eleven-year-old son saw this and said, “I want one!” All I could say is, “Me too!”

And a tip of the ol’ NotJobs fez to Patrick Madrid for the find!

Tara Gowland at the Seattle Jobs Examiner offers ten useful tips for older job seekers. Here are three to get started:

1. Find out about culture: Employers know better than to address your age, but there is no reason you can’t ask your own questions about how you might fit in. (This ties in nicely with an office tour).
4. Be modern: Typically what I have seen is that the older the interviewee, the more formal the attire – and sometimes this can be overkill.
5. Keep up to date on software: If you are in fact out of date with some of the newer software programs or office machines, seek out help. The more versed you are in the current programs, the better.

Check out the text of Tara’s full article here:

http://www.examiner.com/x-1495-Seattle-Jobs-Examiner~y2009m2d16-Top-10-things-for-older-job-seekers-to-keep-in-mind

Hat tip to LinkedIn connection Bob Edelman

Recent graduate David Rowe found an old way to get attention: A sandwich board.

LONDON (Reuters) – In a pinstripe suit, silk tie and polished shoes, David Rowe has all the trappings of a successful London city worker, except for one stark difference — he is wearing a sandwich board that says “JOB WANTED.”

Saddled with £20,000 of student loan debt, Rowe was ready to work, but the economy didn’t help. Unemployment in Britain is widespread, and the jobless rate for new grads is the highest its been since the government starting tracking the statistic in 1992. The standard path for a new grad with a degree in history from Kent University would be to join one of the many City firms. However, positions for new grads have been cut by 28%, and many jobs are left unfilled.

The going was tough, so Rowe got creative. After some discussion with his father, he picked a way to sell his skills and experience, and to get some attention. Rowe’s tactic, while unusual, caught someone’s eye: a recruiter.

Gavin Walker of international recruitment firm Parkhouse Bell liked Rowe’s initiative and decided to interview him.

“I liked the fact he had thought out of the box. I was impressed by that. I was even more impressed after the interview. He’s very employable, so much so I offered him a job to work with me.”

Walker interviewed Rowe to a 15 minute interview, but the conversation lasted two hours. At the end, Rowe got a job offer.

This method isn’t for everyone, but Rowe has succeeded in both getting his message out and in branding himself. Rowe set himself apart from his competition, and got to the hiring manager. It worked.

See the full story on Yahoo by clicking here:
British graduate scores in sandwich-board job hunt
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/British-graduate-scores-in-rb-3853075230.html?x=0

Hodgson/Meyers is an award-winning marketing communications agency in Kirkland Washington. They focus on improving their client’s B2B communications. Gary Meyers, the president of Hodgson/Meyers, receives many job inquiries from the college aged demographic. His experience is like mine, in that most of them blow it entirely.

Earlier this week, Meyers blogged about some recent communications he’s received from those with college degrees in English or Communications. He provided two examples. Here’s the first:

Inquiry #1 (name changed, spelling, punctuation and grammar per original):

Hello,
my name is Janie Doe, Im interested in getting into advertising and
trailor making of major motion pictures and i came across your
company. I’m a graduate of the UW in 05/09 and am looking for
an internship possibility or if your hiring some time soon
thank you
Janie

Gary offers these poor unfortunates four points of good advice. Here’s his first:

1. Use proper spelling and grammar. Not lower-case text slang riddled with misspelled words and poor punctuation. You are looking for a job in a field where professional communications skills are critical. Reading the above email is painful.

See all of Gary’s advice, and one more painful example, here:
http://blog.hodgsonmeyers.com/2009/10/01/how-not-to-get-a-job-in-the-communications-industry

Any company that offers complimentary tattoos of the Pileated Woodpecker would be a cool place to work. Click the link to Spike’s page to get yours. (Maybe Hodgson/Meyers will send me some for my Cub Scouts!)

UPDATE 13-OCT-09: For more NotJobs tips on how NOT to get that PR/Marketing/Communications agency job, see these postings:

• How Not to Get a Job: Bad Cover Letter/Bad Presence [28-AUG-07]
• How Not to Get a Job: Cover Letters from Hell [11-NOV-07]
• Now Not to Get a Job: Just Ask [22-FEB-08]

My CTRN buddy Scott Birkhead of the Most Placeable Candidate will be offering an interesting personal branding session for job seekers. Check it out!:

Becoming the Milkshake –

How Being LOUDLY Yourself Helps You Get Hired Faster.

Friday October 9: 1-2 p.m. – mid-town Denver

In a struggling economy, traditional job hunting skills are less and less effective. Can you adopt small-business direct-marketing skills and get hired faster? Yes!

In a famous marketing story from years ago, a restaurant wanted to increase the number of milkshakes it was selling…very profitable item, the milkshake.

It hired one group of marketers, who did classic marketing research, and spent a lot of money…but didn’t budge sales.Then it hired another, which was incredibly successful.

The difference between the two approaches to marketing a very simple product contains lessons that every job seeker should know and understand – if you want to beat a volatile, crowded market and get back to work.

In this 45 minute session, we cover:

• Assumptions and methods that could be killing your chances of landing work
  
• Why applying for every conceivable job may be the exact wrong thing to do (even if you are desperate for work)
  
• How to look beyond traditional approaches to discover what your ‘ideal client’ really wants to hear
  
• Easy marketing fixes to get noticed and get more interviews – NOW.
  

Date: Friday, Oct 9

Time: 1-2:30 pm

Place: Jobing.com Community Room

1391 Speer Blvd.,

Suite 850

Denver, CO 80204

Free parking code will be sent upon registration…

Cost: FREE, but you must register to attend because we have limited seating.

*********

Scott Birkhead is the President of Most Placeable Candidate. Scott has 15 years and 727 hires under his belt in corporate, for-fee and consulting recruiting roles.

As well, he’s spent the last 5 years learning basic buyer motivation and direct-marketing methods as a small business owner determined to build his own business.

For the last two years, he has combined recruiting and marketing experiences to offer job seekers low-cost training and coaching that allow them to beat the crowd and get back to work.

The famous Flying Circus is 40 today! In the spirit of How Not to Get a Job, here is the Vocational Guidance Counsellor sketch:

Wikipedia: The first episode [of Monty Python's Flying Circus] was recorded on 7 September and broadcast on 5 October 1969.

Hat tip to Dave Banks

Natali, the Thinking Blonde

Natali is the Thinking Blonde, and she’s also hiring for tutors:

Every year, around this time, I recruit for some new blood on my team of tutors. This year is no different, and this week, as I screen resumes I am reminded once again of how many people are so poorly prepared to apply for jobs. I’m not sure if this is a failure on the part of high school “career” classes or parents not teaching their kids this necessary skill… but it is sorely lacking, at least from what I am seeing, OVER and OVER again.

Natali – I agree. That’s why I started this blog!

Natali goes on to list her top 10 faux pas committed by people in their applications or  interviews. Here are my favorites:

2. Read the position posting carefully. If you ask me questions that are clearly answered by my posting, I am getting the impression that you are careless or don’t pay attention.
3. If you are relatively young or relatively inexperienced, I’d rather you have a shorter, well written resume with a nice cover letter than one you are trying to pad with things that are mostly irrelevant, such as your experiences in junior high cheerleading and playing softball.
9. Follow directions. If the ad you are responding to says, to apply, send your resume and cover letter, and then goes ON to say, cover letters are required for consideration – and then you STILL just send a resume – I have ZERO faith you will follow instructions on the job.

Great points – especially the last one.  In my experience, application instructions are hints from the staff about how to successfully complete the process, not a challenge to be mastered and overcome.

Natali – thanks for sharing your wisdom. I encourage everyone to go see the whole thing, which can be found here:
http://onmywaythere-nc.blogspot.com/2009/09/applying-for-job-101.html

Curt MacRae writes the job advice column for the Examiner.com in Detroit. Last month, he had some great tips on how to get bounced from a job in the interview process. Here’s a snippet from “You’re FIRED!! and, you haven’t even been hired yet!“

Then, the innocent question gets asked about what you’re looking forward to at this company that you may not have had in your previous position.  You can’t resist, and in fact, go into explicit detail about how you absolutely cannot wait to dump that slug you used to work for.  You provide a litany of grievances you had against your supervisor, and the unreasonable and unappreciative company hierarchy, all the way to the top.

As you might imagine, the answer to this question got the job offer rescinded.

MacRae contiues the narrative and then concludes with six useful tip for the jobseeker. Check it out by clicking here!