After seeing their recent TV advertisement, I am totally perplexed. Are they trying to change there brand or targeted demographic? Are they really for the serious senior level professional?

Beats me, but hey, what do I know, they are the big résumé dog in town.

Marty Weitzman
Gilbert Resumes

One of my clients was kind enough to pass this along.

“If you know of anyone looking for full-time or part-time work, they may want to check in with Shuttle America. While traveling from New Orleans, a flight attendant was seated next to my husband and I who worked for “Shuttle America” a Republic Holding company. I was surprised to learn that many of the airlines now outsource their FULL flights i.e., planes and staff – Delta included. So while people are looking for work they would perhaps look at companies like Delta, American Airlines, etc., and not necessarily realize that they are using in part outsourced companies like Shuttle America. She indicated that every month they have continued to expand and they populate jobs for employment all the time – so I made a note so I wouldn’t forget to pass the information on. If you know of anyone looking for work, please share with them that Shuttle America is posting jobs every month. We missed the big rush where they picked up a new airline and hired a TON of folks in one pass, but still – it’s worth looking into.”

Good luck.
Marty Weitzman
Gilbert Resumes
.

MARTIN WEITZMAN, NCRW, RPBS, IJCTC
(800) 967-3846
resumepro
http://executiveresumewriter.com

A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF GILBERT RESUMES, FEATURING TIMELY CAREER ARTICLES, CAREER WEBSITES, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR TODAY’S JOB SEEKERS.

Wishing You & Yours a Joyous Holiday Season!

Rebound in Executive Job Creation Reveals Corporate Growth Plans

ExecuNet’s benchmark Executive Job Creation Index (EJCI) held positive for an eleventh consecutive month in November as executive recruiters reported employers are encouraged by improving economic indicators and plan to create more management jobs over the next six months.

The number of employers expected to add executive jobs during that time topped those planning to eliminate or postpone filling top roles by 21 points, a 12-point gain from October and a signal that more companies will recruit executive talent to rebuild their management teams and realize their 2011 strategic growth objectives.

“ExecuNet’s index is a recognized leading indicator of economic growth, and combined with positive GDP trend lines, increased consumer confidence and other favorable economic reports, it seems the tide is finally turning in favor of more significant executive hiring activity as companies prepare to tackle 2011 business priorities,” says Mark Anderson, president and chief economist of ExecuNet.

“ExecuNet has seen a 30 percent gain in private executive job postings for the exclusive consideration of our members in the past month over November 2009. We continue to see high-tech and healthcare companies doing some of the most aggressive executive hiring,” he added.

One executive member reported his relocation to Alaska where he accepted a management role after two years of unemployment in Michigan, and another who made a fast transition to an executive role after seven weeks of membership. Executive recruiters who leverage ExecuNet’s membership to develop candidates for executive search assignments have increased their outreach to members by 55 percent over the past year.

In November, executive recruiters were confident that the prospects for new management hiring will be positive, as 61 percent were confident the executive employment market would improve over the next six months.

Recruiter Confidence Jumps Amid Positive Economic Indicators

Executive recruiters are gaining confidence that economic growth, increased consumer spending, and growing investor confidence will weigh positively on business objectives — and management hiring plans — over the next six months.

In November, 61 percent of the 147 search firm respondents to ExecuNet’s benchmark Recruiter Confidence Index expressed they were either “confident” or “very confident” the executive employment market will improve during that time, based on their read of corporate hiring plans stretching well into 2011.

Confidence in the Executive Employment Market Next 6 Months

That was up six points from the October index data, and in line with a significant rise in overall executive job creation forecasts likewise registered in November.

Introduced in May 2003, ExecuNet’s Recruiter Confidence Index is based on a monthly survey of executive search firms and recognized as a leading indicator for the economy and the executive job market. A reading above 50 percent indicates recruiters are “confident” or “very confident” the number of executive search assignments launched by employers in the next six months will increase.

Gilbert Resumes remains in the forefront of providing cutting edge solutions for today’s challenging job market, including strategies to build your online presence and maximize your career opportunities.

Need assistance with your career endeavors?

Resume Writing
LinkedIn Profiles
Recruiter and VC/Private Equity Distribution
Cover & Thank-You Letters
Biographies
Board of Director Resumes
Job Search & Interview Coaching
Online Identity Programs
Networking Training

Contact
Martin Weitzman
Certified Career Professional
Gilbert Resumes
800.967.3846
http://executiveresumewriter.com
http://resumepro.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/resumepro

Before you read this article, I would like to provide a personal commentary.

As an executive recruiter for more than 20 years, I have become a great believer in maintaining your job seeking efforts during the holiday season. I can’t count how many times I received high priority assignments from clients who had to “hire before December 31 or lose budget approval.” Interviews generated in November and December can result in January’s “You’re Hired!” And believe it or not, I have had clients interviewed and hired Christmas week.

Holidays: Dead Zones for Job Seekers

With November upon us and the upcoming holidays in the air, the turf changes for hiring that can be either problematic for job seekers, or an opportunity. As a job seeker you will do much better during this season if you are prepared ahead of time for how the business environment is likely to change.

The Dead Zone is basically an acknowledgement of the behavior that the majority of businesses take during the holidays. Starting with Thanksgiving, in most businesses other than retail, there begins a massive evacuation of employees taking advantage of holiday closures to spend time with family. The week of Thanksgiving kicks off about 6 weeks of a dead zone for hiring.

While many of the businesses are open, you are typically faced with a skeletal staff and missing decision makers. The people who remain behind are there primarily to keep the gears moving, even if it is slow. The only work that tends to get done during this period is what is minimally required to ensure that the primary function of the business continues. The work that almost comes to a stop is usually strategic planning, decision making and those things not directly supporting the primary function. An example is in manufacturing companies where you will see shipping and order-taking continue, but many functions like marketing, sales and support functions are all on hold.

What this means for you is that hiring is one of those activities that will come to such a crawl it looks like there is no hiring at all. For some companies, they will only pursue hiring where there is a critical need AND the hiring manager is available enough in that 6-week period to actually make some progress.

During this dead zone, you are facing 3 weeks with fewer work days, which makes those weeks primary targets for vacations, plus a week or two on both sides of it, if they are banking their hours. For the remaining days, those are usually spent “playing catch up”. Does any of this sound familiar?

The meaning for you, if you’re a job seeker, is that for the vast majority of businesses, you can’t expect too much activity around hiring. If you have an interview the week before Thanksgiving, you’ll be lucky for a decision to get made for 2-3 weeks, at best. If you’re fortunate enough to get an interview in early December, a decision probably won’t get made until the second week of January, if all goes well. Most likely, it would be the third week in January.

Does that mean you should absolutely back off during the dead zone? Not necessarily. If you are working your network, you might find that they have idle time on their hands, making it worth your effort to take advantage of the slow time in the office. The warning is mostly around your expectations of the process. You can’t expect many hiring decisions to be taking place. Resume processing will be sluggish and then there will be a glut of paper to be processed on the other side of the holidays. The opportunity is that if someone is around, you will do well to make contact, which is super because you might be the thing that will break up a boring day.

Mostly, you need to set your expectations that people won’t be around, won’t be available, and won’t be checking voicemail or email and what little processing is going on, will be painfully slow.

There is a bright light in the holiday seasons and that is retail. If you are up for temporary holiday work, now is the time to start filling out company applications. Many times those jobs turn into permanent positions, making it well worth your time to get on board. Even if it doesn’t turn into a job after the holidays, it will bring in income and fill the time productively while the rest of the companies are going into a holiday sugar coma.

Keep in mind that there is more to retail than the store fronts. The bigger retailers have warehouse, stocking and other support functions that are also needed. Extending from the retailers are the logistics and shipping companies that also have to add additional staff to support all of the shipping and order taking. The holiday season can create opportunities for getting a job, as long as you are willing to look. With a bit of creativity and investigation, you will discover a number of businesses that increase their staff in order to accommodate the various demands of the season.

If you are unemployed, this can also be a prime time to seek out a volunteer opportunity that will capitalize on your skills. Just like the businesses that increase their activities this time of year, the same type of cycle of decrease and increase happens in the nonprofit universe. Volunteering will help you fill gaps in your resume, increase your network and make you feel great.

The holidays do present a challenge for job seekers, especially if the industry you are focusing on is one with a clear dead zone. That doesn’t mean you stop everything, but it does mean you should think through what is apt to happen until after the first of the year and modify your plan accordingly.

—Career Rocketeer

MARTIN WEITZMAN, NCRW, RPBS, IJCTC
(800) 967-3846
resumepro
http://executiveresumewriter.com

A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF GILBERT RESUMES, FEATURING TIMELY CAREER ARTICLES, CAREER WEBSITES, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR TODAY’S JOB SEEKERS.

Why NOW is the Best Time to Write Your Resume

Imagine for a moment that you’ve just heard the dreaded words, “We’re going to have to let you go.” A lot of people have heard this phrase over the last couple years, and most have probably reacted with some degree of panic: How am I going to pay my bills? Where am I going to go? What am I going to do?

Panic Mode is Not the Right Time
Obviously, this frame of mind is not a great launching point for your next job or your job search. Writing an effective resume and cover letter requires analytical thinking and confidence in your abilities. So let me tell you a little secret: the best time to write your resume is when you’re perfectly happy at your job!

Keeping Track of Your Accomplishments

I’m not saying that you should have a perfectly marketable document ready to go every moment of your life, although that’s not a bad idea. I am suggesting that it’s smart to keep a running list for yourself of all your different jobs and what you’ve accomplished at each. There are several reasons for this. First, it’s easy to forget three years later that you wrote the proposal that won your company a $500,000 project.

Second, quite often your company doesn’t publish or share numbers that reflect your contribution to their success. For instance, while you may be well aware that your efforts expanded a new store from just yourself to a staff of 25 employees, that information will probably never make it onto the company’s Web site.

Preparing for the Unexpected

Perhaps the best reason to keep a running career document for yourself is that if you do unexpectedly find yourself out of work, you won’t have to rack your brain to remember details from your professional past. It can be particularly hard to ascertain measurable results when you no longer have access to a company’s documents. By keeping track of your work accomplishments on an ongoing basis, you have the ability to go through your list and pull out the key highlights anytime you need them-like when you’re frantically searching for a new job.

—Career Rocketeer

Finding Your Targets with LinkedIn

Anyone who’s been using LinkedIn for their job search for a while understands the great value it can be. It’s tremendous for creating a profile in order to be found, for finding contacts at companies you are pursuing, and for preparing for an interview by learning about your interviewer and others at the organization.

However, people often miss another way LinkedIn can be used to help them greatly in pursuing their job search with a more laser-like focus . . . it can be a terrific resource for researching roles and finding companies to pursue that may have those types of roles.

Here are some tips that may help . . .

Use the “Advanced Search” function to do a keyword search of skills.

The people that come up in your search are people with skills listed that you search. Read how they describe their jobs to see which ones look appropriate, realistic, and interesting to you. That helps you begin to define the types of positions you would like to target.

Search titles to find companies! Once you’ve narrowed the titles of positions you are pursuing, you can find companies that have employees with those titles. Simply do a search, within your geographic area, or more broadly of those titles. That helps you begin to define your target list of companies you may like to pursue.

Use combinations to narrow your search. If you are pursuing a broadly used title (i.e. Business Analyst), you will likely need to narrow your results by using combinations of keywords of skills, title, and location.

I got a contact name . . . How do I reach them????

People often tell me they were on LinkedIn, or went to a networking group, or met someone when they were out-and-about and got a name of a potential contact for their job search, but don’t know how to reach them.

Here are some ideas and techniques to make those connections:

~ Call the main number! Often people forget the simplest and most obvious solution to getting in touch with a new contact . . . call the company and ask for them! Generally a phone receptionist won’t put you through to anyone if you ask a general question like “May I speak to the Accounting Manager, please?” However, if you ask for someone by name, they will always put you through.

Additionally, if you call after business hours, many companies have an automated answering system with a company directory that will often tell you the extension of the person you are trying to connect to. That’s often a great way to gain the direct-line number of someone.

~ Google! As with so many things . . . Google is a tremendous resource to find contact information. If, for example, I’m trying to find John Mansky at XYZ Company . . . I simply search:

“John Mansky” “XYZ Company”
I make sure to put his name in quotes to avoid unwanted results like:
John Smith and Bill Mansky

Scanning down the list of results, I often find some document or site that has their phone number and/or email address.

Their email address is likely to include their web domain, so if the address is “john.mansky” the search is likely to find it.

If that doesn’t work, I may do a search to find ANY email address at that company to discover what their standard email format is. For example, I may simply search:

email “xyzco.com”

If someone else’s email address pops up that is in a format of “firstname.lastname,” for example, I know it’s a very high likelihood that my contact’s address is in the same format.

~ Check emails4corporations! Another great resource to help you find the standard email format for the company where your contact is employed is emails4corporations. Someone has compiled a tremendous list of standard email formats for companies all over the country. http://sites.google.com/site/emails4corporations

Enter the company name in the search box at the top right corner of the homepage and it will show you the company, email format, address, and phone number.

~ Try JigSaw.com! JigSaw.com is probably the worlds largest “Rolodex.” It includes the business card information of millions of people. You can either use it by paying for the service, or for free on a give & take point system. So it takes a little money or some effort on your part.

~ Paid Services. Certainly there are a number of additional paid services (Spoke, ZoomInfo, and others) available online that can provide the information for you as well, however, I’m generally a big fan of “FREE” – It’s pretty rare that I can’t find someone’s contact information through one of the means listed above. Try those and then depending on how badly you need it, a paid service may be worth it.

Generally, I don’t recommend contacting someone directly through LinkedIn’s system. Many people receive a lot of communications through there and have become conditioned to treat them like Spam. It’s generally best to reach them by phone, a professional voicemail, or email first. However, if none of those works, as a last resort, you have nothing to lose by trying the LinkedIn contact system as well.

Read the full article here: http://www.careerrocketeer.com/search?q=Finding+Your+Targets+with+LinkedIn

—Career Rocketeer

Gilbert Resumes remains in the forefront of providing cutting edge solutions for today’s challenging job market, including strategies to build your online presence and maximize your career opportunities.

Need assistance with your career endeavors?

Resume Writing
LinkedIn Profiles
Recruiter and VC/Private Equity Distribution
Cover & Thank-You Letters
Biographies
Board of Director Resumes
Job Search & Interview Coaching
Online Identity Programs
Networking Training

Contact
Martin Weitzman
Certified Career Professional
Gilbert Resumes
800.967.3846
http://executiveresumewriter.com
http://resumepro.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/resumepro

If you have ever been on a job interview the odds are you were asked this open ended, break the ice question, which is often the first one asked. Now if you worked with a resume writer/job coach like me, inwardly you would be jumping for joy because the exercises used to prepare your resume also prepared you to knock this out of the park.

However, as a recruiter and hiring authority I was shocked at how many people were caught off guard when asked this question and how many struck out in my evaluation of them before the interview even started. After all, this question is a slow pitch lobbed right over the heart of the plate and I expected them to hit a home run, or at the very least to make contact and get on base.

This is not really a question, it is a request for information and your reply will set the tone for the balance of the interview.

How do you reply?

1. First off keep your reply as brief as possible, not less than 60 seconds but no more than 2 minutes. Remember this is generally the beginning of an interview so you have ample opportunity to present relevant information later on.
2. Write your answer out and rehearse it until it comes out sounding natural and unrehearsed.
3. Be aware of your body language. Keen interviewers judge you by eyeballing you as well as listening to what you have to say.
4. Your reply must offer the following personality traits that employers look for no matter what level job you’re applying for: intelligence, enthusiasm, confidence and professionalism.
5. Present yourself in a positive yet humble way and by all means avoid sounding negative, cocky or braggadocios.
6. If you ever heard a politician or professional interviewed in person, on TV or the radio you will know that most reply with the same opening line, and you may want to adapt it in your response by saying, “That’s a very good question, where should I start,” and then go into your prepared spiel.
7. When you are done, politely through the ball back into the interviewers court way that puts you on equal footing as the interview moves forward.

What do interviewers want to hear?

When you prepare your response weave the following information (in any order) into your response.

1.  A brief introduction of your experience and education.
2. Your key strengths as they relate to the position you’re interviewing for.
3. Relevant past accomplishments that demonstrate your understanding of what needs to be accomplished in the position you’re applying for and your track record of success in this area.
4. How you see yourself contributing in the position you’re applying for.

Here is a sample response:

That’s a great question and I am glad you asked it. To begin I earned my Bachelors in Computer Science from CUNY Baruch College cum laude and I have an MBA with a concentration in Business Management from Hofstra University.

In terms of business I have 4 years experience as a programmer/analyst, 2 years experience as a senior business analyst, and for the past 18 months I was a project manager at your main competitor, JJ Kindle.

However the most important thing I think you need to know about me is that I pride myself on my ability to face every business challenge head on – and I thoroughly examine all options and seek the opinion of my peers and superiors before I decide on a solution. An example of this is a project I recently completed where the budget was cut midway through the project. I was able to complete the project on time and slightly under the new budget by revaluating the project’s priorities, renegotiating our outside consulting costs and brining some tasks in house at a lower cost, and I got stakeholder buy in to scale the project down by eliminating some costly enhancements that were mostly cosmetic and would not be missed.

I also think it’s important to mention that I thrive when working in a fast paced turn around environment like the one I would be working in here at Best and Company, and I can contribute valuable insights on how to achieve the efficiency and cost savings you are seeking to achieve over the next 24 months.

The final thing I think you should know about me is that I am a hands-on manager, and I have been told I have great communication skills; and at my previous position I was very successful in building productive teams and getting the most out of each team member by creating a positive work environment, mentoring the team members, and making everyone on the team understand their role and how important they are to the company’s success.

I know my skills and work experience will make me an asset here at Best and Company and I know I can deliver the results you are seeking from the new hire in this position.

Now is there anything you would like me to address in greater detail?

As you know wring a hypothetical speech is a lot easier than preparing one that you need to deliver. So if your stuck and need some help working on your response email me your phone number and we can talk.

Career Rocketeer

For all the concerns about the sluggish jobs recovery, there’s one group with an encouraging outlook: senior management.

“The outlook is strong for executives,” said John A. Challenger, CEO of employment-research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “Companies are trying to get executives that can help them capture the era of growth — instead of just trying to survive the recession.”

With the worst of the recession apparently over, many companies are sitting on a lot of cash and looking to increase their business. So they want a strong management team to seek out mergers and acquisitions or take their existing business into new markets.

Sales and marketing executives will be among the most in demand, Challenger said, because they’re on the front lines of growth. By contrast, when times are tough, companies tend to put their financial or operational people in charge.

“For a lot of marketing executives and professionals who got stuck in this recession, now opportunities are starting to open up again,” Challenger said.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean a general pickup in hiring at all levels. But it does indicate that companies are thinking about expanding rather than cutting back.

“There’s some positive pressure on companies to hire more broadly,” Challenger said, though he added that it’s not heavy pressure. “Companies so far haven’t taken the next leg of what creates hiring growth and demand … there’s still caution out there.”

The demand for executives doesn’t end in the corner office: Companies also are looking for senior and even middle-management.

Since the beginning of the year, listings for management jobs have jumped 41% on job-search site SimplyHired.com.

That’s everything from an executive director of comedy development for ABC Studios at Walt Disney to a business-development executive for IBM in New Orleans.

SimplyHired has also noticed a significant bump in the sales and marketing manager categories.

“The demand is where you expect in a tough economy,” said Simply Hired CEO Gautam Godhwani. “Companies have to compensate and work harder to get sales.”

There’s also a lot of demand right now for directors.

“Director recruitments are at an all-time high for us,” said John Wood, who runs the CEO and board practice at executive-recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles International.

“Two years ago, when things started to fall apart, boards looked at their retiring directors and said things like, ‘You’re not going anywhere! You’re our most tenured director. We need your help,’” Wood explained. “Now, with some stabilization and signs of recovery, directors are able to retire and we’re seeing an uptick in demand for new directors.”

In addition, companies seeking to go public and those emerging from bankruptcy — particularly in the automotive industry — are also hiring new directors. To some degree it’s the big auto manufacturers, but mostly it’s their suppliers.

“Bringing in people who are comfortable with growing their business to someplace else is at a premium right now,” Wood said.

In terms of sectors, health care has seen the biggest bump in hiring overall — and that goes for executive and management jobs, too.

“There are opportunities in health care because of aging Baby Boomers and health-care legislation,” Challenger said. “More small- and medium-sized firms are growing and they need stronger executive management,” he explained.

Physician executives who can run a 300-400 person medical group are in particular demand as are health-care technology executives, or “health information officers” as they’re known, said Andrew Chastain, a health-care executive recruiter at Witt/Kiefer.

“Our clients are preparing for integrated information systems and they’re bringing in more talent to push that initiative,” Chastain said.

Energy companies and firms looking to expand globally in places like China and India are also seeing significant executive hiring.

Wall Street is starting to hire again but it’s nowhere near as robust as it has been in the past.
“They’re coming back out of a deep hole,” Challenger said.

The hiring picture on Wall Street is a tale of two cities, said Ilana Weinstein, CEO of executive-search firm IDW Group. Hiring at investment banks has slowed down, while hiring at hedge funds has picked up.

The reason, quite simply, is that’s where the money is, Weinstein said. Investors are finding it hard to make the returns they need from the more traditional investment banks. So, they’re increasingly putting their money with hedge funds, though they’re careful to stick with hedge funds that have been around a while and have a proven track record.

“They’re successful in raising capital and deploying it, and that’s what drives hiring,” Weinstein said.

Geographically speaking, the home of the nation’s chief executive is also the top city for hiring corporate executives.

Washington, D.C., topped the list of cities with the most managerial job openings per capita in August, according to the latest survey from job-search companies CareerCast and JobSerf.

Boston came in at No. 2, followed by San Francisco, Seattle and Atlanta. Cleveland saw the most improvement in management hiring, with a gain of 19%, followed by Houston, up 14%.

“During the past two years we’ve seen a major drop in managerial hiring activity,” said Jay Martin, chief operating officer of JobSerf, a job-search outsourcing firm. “It is encouraging to see the recent stabilization in recruitment activity, and some light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

—Cindy Perman, CNBC.com

The following are arguably 25 of the best groups to join on Linkedin to optimize your opportunities.

1. JobAngels – Non-profit job search network of professionals helping other professionals find job advice and opportunities.

2. Executive Suite – Community of over 100,000 US-based executive-level and recruiter members.

3. Star:Jobs Professional Career Center – Group working in tandem with Linked:HR, the largest Recruiters’ Group on LinkedIn, to help top candidates find jobs quickly and efficiently.

4. Career Rocketeer – Career Launch Network – Fastest-growing professional network for personal branding, career search and career management, bringing job seekers and employers, recruiters and career experts together for mutual success.

5. The Talent Buzz – Group for job seekers, recruiters and HR professionals interested in expanding their professional networks.

6. Helping Friends Career Network (LI2HF) – Business and career network where entrepreneurs, hiring managers, recruiters, and talented professionals worldwide can make meaningful win-win connections.

7. JobsDirectUSA – Official job search group on LinkedIn for JobsDirectUSA.com.

8. Career Change Central – Group linking job changers and professionals in career transition with recruiters, hiring managers and career coaches.

9. CareerLink Network – Community providing job seekers spiritual, physical, social, mental, economic and personal growth to meet their ever-evolving needs.

10. Jobs Alert – Job search group for middle and senior-level managers worldwide.

11. A Job Needed – A Job Posted – Group is for all LinkedIn members searching for employment, posting employment or recruiters helping members find employment.

12. Looking for a Job? – Group designed to allow job seekers to share ideas, network, post jobs, advise on job market trends and ultimately help them find work.

13. MyCredentials – Career Presentation – Group helping members to network, expand their resumes and enhance their interview skills.

14. JibberJobber – Career Management – Network for executives, professionals, students and all those involved in the career services industry, including counselors, coaches and resume writers.

15. ResumeMaker Career Network – Forum connecting qualified job seekers with hiring managers and corporate recruiters as well as allowing candidates to discuss and share career opportunities.

16. Personal Branding Network – Consortium for all professionals looking to build powerful personal brands.
17. Indeed.com – Official job search group on LinkedIn for Indeed.com.

18. Project: Get Hired! – Motivational support group exclusively for job hunters to share creative strategies and stay motivated.

19. Job-Hunt Help – Discussion group for job seekers sharing advice and leads and networking to help one another.

20. IMPACT Hiring Solutions Job Search Network – Discussion and networking forum for executives seeking job opportunities.

21. Global Jobs Network – Network for all professionals who would like to be aware of requirements in their respective fields and for organizations & recruiters who are hiring.

22. Job Openings, Job Leads and Job Connections! – One of the largest groups for job seekers on LinkedIn.

23. JOBS 2.0 – Group helping job seekers find a job online using the latest in social and professional networks.

24. The Job Board – Networking group for professionals seeking jobs and recruiters seeking candidates.

25. Self-Recruiter® – Job Search & Career Management – Discussion and networking forum helping job seekers become their own specialist, their own career counselor, and their own recruiter.

As a leader in the distribution of resumes to domestic recruiters, venture capital, and private equity firms, I am often asked about overseas executive recruiters. On September 1st, Gilbert Resumes will be officially launching its exclusive résumé distribution service, directed solely to executive recruiters in Europe, MENA, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Canada. We will continue to work directly with job seekers and career services providers.

MARTIN WEITZMAN, NCRW, RPBS, IJCTC
(800) 967-3846
resumepro
http://executiveresumewriter.com

A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF GILBERT RESUMES, FEATURING TIMELY CAREER ARTICLES, CAREER WEBSITES, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR TODAY’S JOB SEEKERS.

Finding a Culture for Success

If you’ve ever found yourself in a company that doesn’t value your skills, you’ll appreciate the discussion on finding the right corporate culture for the skills you bring to an organization. In this post, we’ll take a quick look at how you can overcome a very common barrier for moving your career to the next level.

Job fit is fairly easy for the company and the individual to figure out; that is, you have the skills for the job or either the company feels they can teach you what you need to know. Organization or culture fit is much more difficult. It is essentially the alignment of beliefs and values of you and the company.

When companies interview candidates for hire, one would hope that they are asking questions that will assess both fits. Unfortunately, many companies don’t know what their values are. It’s fairly safe to say that many people that get involved in the interview process don’t fully understand their own company’s culture. Assessing whether you will fit or not is too difficult for most interviewers and usually doesn’t happen.

Defining your values. It is useful for you to have a good understanding of why you work. Sure, we all work for the money. But do you work for increasing technical challenge, higher levels of authority, or high visibility? One thing most highly educated professionals value is graduate degrees. The advanced degree is a tool for supporting the desire to do higher level tasks.

Other values that professionals seek are affiliation, autonomy, intellectual challenge, managing people, power, influence, prestige, recognition, security, variety and so on. If you want to achieve higher levels of success within someone else’s organization, you have to know your values and how you will use them.

To know what type of environment that you would thrive in, you must first understand what you value. If your values are not present in your environment, you won’t be happy. You’ll become restless and will make a change. Sometimes this change is a conscious move to another company or it can be a subtle transformation to self-defeating behavior that drives a wedge between you and the company, forcing them to remove you.
As mentioned earlier, ascertaining the values of a company from an interview is a big challenge. So maybe it isn’t the best place to look.

Consider your career goals to define the location for a values assessment.

At all levels of management, values are different, but most managers strive to be similar to the managers at the highest levels. Henry Mintzberg defined the Ten Managerial Roles in 1973, outlining the typical behavior for CEOs. Later on, Pavett and Lau (1983) performed similar studies of lower and middle level managers and found that they emulated the higher level managers.

To align your strengths and skills with an organization, you need to align them with the values of higher level management. If they value what you have, you will be more successful. If they don’t, you’ll have a difficult time becoming extremely successful. After all, people don’t like to change, especially if they value security.

Reaching your career goals in someone else’s organization is difficult. We often find ourselves in groups that don’t appreciate our skills and abilities. Of course, we don’t know what kind of culture we are in until we are neck deep in it. At that point, it can be painful and waste a lot of time trying to get out of the company and into a new one.

Read the full article here: http://www.careerrocketeer.com/search?q=Finding+a+Culture+for+Success

—Career Rocketeer

Personal Branding Basics

To me PERSONAL BRANDING is how you differentiate yourself from your competition and let people know how special you are.

So here are a few ways to establish a personal brand on your resume, online and in person.

1: Create a tag line that sums up who you are in one or two sentences.

For some it can be a very simple statement and for others something a little more innovative. Then place it at the top of your resume directly below your name and contact information separated by a double line. Here are 2 examples.

PPM \ PMO Manager

“Expertise developing process & methodology to manage a portfolio of 200 projects valued at $275M annually”
OR
Highly Skilled R&D Engineer

“Transforming your existing products and processes into ones your competition will envy”

2: Design a great business card that accentuates your brand

Depending on your field, you can be conservative, colorful or innovative. Whichever you choose, use both sides of the business card. Generally the front has your contact info and your brand, and on the back of the card place has an ad for what you have to offer.

There are several companies online who have professional templates to choose from, or will print your artwork for you at a reasonable cost. Zazzle and Vistaprint are two I know of. They can also print matching stationary, return labels, hats, tee shirts and other materials to help grow your brand.

3. Work on your public persona

Position yourself as an expert in your field by seeking public speaking engagements in front of target audiences. You can join civic and fraternal organizations which can help you solidify your bonifides and help you build your network.

4. Be a networking group leader

Join a group and become the most active member, or start your own live or online networking group in your field or community. Look at what interests similar groups and bring your name and expertise to the forefront by asking and answering relevant questions and exchanging job and networking leads with as many people as possible.

5. Create a public perception

Work on your social media profiles. Keep them current and relevant and make sure they show people more than just a boring “widget maker” looking for a job. Let your personality shine through. Set goals and a schedule of how many group responses you will reply to and how many tweets you will post each week.

6. Maintain your own blog

Blogging is a great way to establish your brand, show yourself as a subject matter expert and network to get other people to join and contribute.

7. Be open and available

Let people you know, as well as total strangers know that you are always available to help them by sharing your knowledge, your skills and your contacts with anyone who needs it. Get in the habit of Paying It Forward and you will see a lot of payback.

—Career Rocketeer

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