In the last post I mentioned that focusing on activity is a great tactic to help you get through these rough times.  The second tip is:

Do not complain- I understand that thing are really hard right now and chances are you are doing more work for less money these days.  Your stress level is through the roof and your boss is riding you like a drill sergeant.  Here is a warning: Do NOT Complain to anyone, even your closest co-worker.  The reality is when times are tough like this, people will do anything to survive.  If you openly complain to the wrong person, rest assured that they will quickly throw you under the bus to save their own hide.  Keep in mind that things are tough and there is a lot of stress for your boss too.  The last thing they want to deal with is a malcontent.  Here is what you do.  Start by zipping your mouth and starting telling yourself and others that you are lucky to have your job.  Accept things as they are and stay focused on accentuating the positive.  Don’t forget to SMILE. J

I am not going to sugar coat it, things are really bad right now and stress is definitely starting to take toll.  If you are working or if you are unemployed there are lots of things that are causing us anxiety.  It OK to be nervous and it is understandable that you may be scared.  If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I am an optimistic and feel that with a positive attitude everything will work out.  I still believe this is important but you will need to bring more to the table than just a positive attitude.

I am going to be writing a week long series of Rules/Ideas that will help you keep your job throughout this recession and even help you rise to the top when the economy turns around.  I will start with Idea #1.

Activity – This may be the single most important thing you can do it may also be the hardest.  I have a Master’s degree in Psychology, so I understand that as humans when we are scared, we tend to freeze up.  This is the worst thing to do if you are still employed.  You must fight through the emotions and block everything out and focus on the tasks at hand.  If you are perceived as a hard worker, you are much more likely to keep your job during the next round of job cuts.  This is especially true if you are is sales.  You may not hit your quota but you better be sure that you hit your activity goals.  It will be easy to explain why you did not hit your numbers but impossible to explain why your activity fell off.

My advice is to put your head down and keep plugging away and remember that perception is sometimes greater than reality.

Remember to come back tomorrow for part 2 or better yet, sign up for our rss fead..

I just read a great article that I wanted to share with you guys.  We all know job market is in the toilet and we know that some times you need to get creative to get noticed.  I have heard of people taking out billboard ads but this is the first time I have heard about someone using CraigsList to try and get a job.  You may be thinking, well, Craigslist has a lot of jobs, I don’t find this strange.  Here is the kicker, the guy took out an ad saying that he would pay anyone $500 if they helped him get a job.

Good idea?

Do you think it will work?

Let me know…here is a link to the original article   http://cbs2chicago.com/local/craigslist.jimmy.cybulski.2.955680.html

I hate networking.  These are not my words, but those of a client I was working with this week.  We were talking about the best way to find a job during a recession.  I firmly believe that networking is the key, you may get lucky with Monster or CareerBuilder but chances are your next job will come from someone within your network or in tour network’s network.  Over the past couple of months, I have been blogging about LinkedIn, Twitter and FaceBook and how important it is to build your online network.  My advice today is to get offline, stop twittering, stop reading blogs (except mine, of course) and start pressing the flesh and have real conversation not ones that are limited to 140 characters.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Twitter and LinkedIn but there is no substitute to good old fashioned networking.  You need to state your case and promote yourself in the real world. 

I know networking is touch and unpleasant and causes a ton of anxiety for a lot of people.  I consider myself an extrovert and I still get butterflies before going into a networking event.  The way I get over it is by making myself do it.  The more I do it the more comfortable I become.  Just this past weekend, I “forced” myself to attend a local chamber of commerce function.  I was nervous because I did not know anyone there but I wanted to cement some relationships with folks that I have been trading emails with for months.  I did not go to this event because I love to promote myself, I did it because I knew how valuable it would be for me and my business to establish these relationships.

Here is my advice, substitute an hour’s worth of online time with some real life networking time per week.  You have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.

Yikes, the job numbers are really bad, in fact worse than expected.  The market was expecting 7.9 % unemployment and what we got was 8.1%.  Alright, things are bad, I am by nature an optimist, so I want to focus on what jobs are out there and how to get them.  My number one suggestion, and what I have been telling all my clients is, Go Green.

The fastest growing industry is green jobs.  Jobs that focus on renewable energy and sustainable energy are growing quickly despite the overall economy.  The stimulus that was signed last week will be adding close to 100 billion dollars target towards adding more green jobs.  When people think about green jobs, solar panel installers and wind farm technicians and jobs like that come to mind.  The reality is that all types of positions are available in the growing green industry.  This is a great time to transfer your skills to a new industry.  Hot green jobs that are in demand right now include:

·         Secretaries

·         Sales people

·         Marketing executives

·         Engineers

·         Grant writers

·         HR people

There are several green job boards that have popped up recently.  I recommend Green Job Scene and GreenBiz.com as two of the best.  Here are some others you may want to check out:

EnvironmentalCareer.com

OpportunityKnocks.org

Idealist.org

I know it can be frustrating and you may be thinking that there are no jobs to be had.  The reality is there are still good jobs you just need to keep working hard and do not give up.  I want to share with you a recent example of a client I was working with.  Her name is Jessica and she was recently let go from a major corporation that she has deveoted her life to for the last 8 years.  After the initial shock, Jessica called me and we put together a game plan.  We spoke at length and the first thing we did was talk about her resume.  Jessica did not have a resume because  up to this point she did not need one.  We created the resume together focusing on her accomplishments and how she impacted the company.  We created a job search stratgey which included a branding campaign with Jessica as the product we were selling.  We discussed specific actions that included social networks like FaceBook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  Once the initial strategy was in place, it was time for the execution.  Jessica is a very driven and diligent purpose and pursued a new job as if it were her job.  She woke up at the same time she would og normally and “went to work.”  She focused her energies on building and contacting her network.  She also reached out to numerous headhunters in her industry ad established relationships with them.  Together, we also submittd her resume to over 60 job boards and blasted it out to 1,000 recruiters.  The important thing is, Jessica not only uncovered leads, but pursued them, and then followed up on them.

During the first week, Jessica was contacted by 17 headhunters and 4 companies.  She was scheduled for 3 phone interviews.  At this point she has been scheduled for 2 live interviews and the calls keep coming in. 

The moral of the story, and the reason I am writing this, is to let you know that there are opportunities out there.  Keep your head up and remain positive.

All the best,

Dan

As you can see, I am really focused on the topic of resumes lately.  This may be do in large part to the high amount of resumes I have been writing lately for my clients.  I am averaging 5 resumes der day at this point.  It seems that as the economy worsens and unemployment increases more people start to realized that spending a couple hundred bucks on a professionally written resume  can pay for itself many times over.  The one thing that always strikes me is how bad some resumes are.  I see mistakes in almost every single resume I look at.  I read somewhere that over 95% of all resumes contain major errors.  I came across a cool resume quiz that I thought would be fun to share with you guys.  There are 10 questions and you can see if you are a resume expert or not.  Follow the link below to take the quick resume quiz.

http://yoursalesresume.wordpress.com/2008/07/22/are-you-a-resume-expert/

I am sure every job seeker would love to have a professional resume writer create their resume for free.  Well, here is your chance, we are conducting a “contest” for the month of March, all you have to do is subscribe to our feed and you will eligible to win a free professionally written resume.  Just click on the icon on the top right hand corner of the header (It is hard to miss it.)  On a side note, have you noticed some of the prices that resume writing companies have been charging lately.  I was on the “Ladders” website yesterday and almost fell off of my seat when I saw their resume prices.  They are charging over $1,000 for a resume, I guess that is how they have so much money to spend on advertising.  Let me say this, that is a complete rip off, you should not pay more than $300 fora resume.  My prices are $99-$199 depending on the level of experience and I would guarantee my resumes would knock the socks off of ant “Ladders” resume.

Highly motivated, dynamic, versatile and results-oriented young professional known for exceptional leadership skills and problem solving abilities.  Looking to join a company where I can bring my “can do” spirit and make a positive impact on the business as I look to grow and develop my professional career. Demonstrated strengths include:

SEMINOLE HARD ROCK CASINO     RETAIL SALES ASSOCIATE     (July 2008 - present)

v  Sold a wide variety of merchandise to a daily customer base, exceeding daily quotas.

v  Managed cashiering activities and inventory maintenance.

v  Selected to train and develop new retail associates in the areas of customer relations, inventory control, computer system training and managing the cash and credit receipts.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING     SALES INTERN    (2007)

v  Gained excellent sales and marketing training and experience as a sales intern.

v  Excelled at prospecting and cold calling, turning cold calls into warm leads and ultimately sales.

v  Built relationships with the VIP’s and other high profile individuals as a part of the Premium Service team.

v  Assisted the marketing group by taking part in the sales booklet project that was sent out to prospective season ticket holders.

University of South Florida (December 2008)

BS in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

v  Member of Kappa Delta Sorority, held various leadership roles, including: Vice President, Guard, Planning Committee.

v  Selected for inclusion into Rho Lambda, an all girl Greek Honor Society.  Inclusion is based upon leadership and service, less than 10% of applicants are selected.

v  Vice President of the Panhellenic Council.

References furnished upon request

After reviewing your resume using our proprietary 100 point scale, your score is 42 out of 100.  There are many area where your resume can use improvement.  Since we will be writing your resume and addressing these flaws, I will only point out the major mistakes here in this evaluation.  To start with, the summary and section and qualifications section should be combined.  I applaud you for adding a summary statement and not just a simple objective, as that is a trap a lot of entry level job seekers fall into.  The summary has to be tight, 4 sentences is ideal with the last sentence acting as your objective.

The glaring mistake with your resume is the use of the person pronoun “I.”  This is a major flaw and the use of pronouns in a resume is never acceptable.  Since a resume is a personal documentation regarding your experience and education, the “I” is assumed and should not be added.  Another mistake is that you focus too much on extra curricular activities instead of your work experience.  The bulk of your resume should focus on jobs that you help and the skills you developed.  Extra curricular experience is good but should be kept to a minimum.  Other flaws include the layout and design of your resume(or lack thereof)  there is no theme or continuity and it certainly does not scream “hire me.”  I can continue, but I think you get the point.

Stayed tuned for the new and improved resume.