Career Applications

19 April 2010 | Uncategorized | Mike Breslin

Here’s a great article about the various functions of the human Resources department and how they impact you as a candidate.

Some highlights:

- Getting to know your HR department is beneficial to your career.

- They do act upon your goofy Facebook postings.  Be aware!

- Some do monitor e-mails and internet usage.

- Background checks and tests are becoming more common.

Think about it.  With 10% unemployment and more candidates graduating all the time, HR needs some way to weed through all the applicants.  Why not more background checks?  Why not eliminate candidates who post questionable content to their blog/Facebook/podcast/etc.?

In this employment market, the companies have more power.  Be aware of it and do what you can to increase your own power.

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13 April 2010 | Uncategorized | Mike Breslin

This guy works in Cyber security.  Find out the hows and whys.

Not so happy news for soon-to-be and recent college grads here. Notice the espousal of having a Plan B.

Benefits aside from salaries are being cut back according to this article. Be aware of how employment compensation has changed these past few years.  What you were expecting when you started your degree might be a far cry from what you are offered when you graduate.

This article asks us to temper our enthusiasm for the Dow closing over 11,000.  It does offer some nice employment numbers though:

“According to the Department of Labor, employers added 162,000 jobs in March – the biggest gain in three years.

“Hours being worked per week by your average production worker is on its up; hiring and temporary employment is on its way up,” Chris Thornberg, founding principal of Beacon Economics said. “These are all indicators that the labor market is going to strengthen over the course of this year.”

So hooray for us, right?

CEO’s are looking to hire more workers.  Corroboration!

Which companies are hiring?  These, of course!

Mixing it up a bit, here are ten recommended cars for the new grad.

Nice networking advice here but why, oh why, did they not recommend seeing a college career counselor?!

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12 April 2010 | Uncategorized | Mike Breslin

“I am a highly motivated, hard worker who is looking to find a position that will leverage my skills and abilities.”

Yep.  That is one way to write an objective.  Notice the use of the buzzword ‘leverage’.

The problem (one of them, anyway) with the above statement is this:  Who would not make that claim?  Absurdly, but good for proving my point, if the above exists than the following must also exist:

“I am a barely motivated, layabout who is kind of looking to find a job that will leverage my skills and abilities.”

Obviously, no one would ever include the previous as an objective.  But it would fulfill some of the requirements of what we like to see on a resume.  It’s memorable and it’s honest (one would assume).

The objective at the top of this post is not memorable and if it appeared on a resume among a pile of 100 resumes, it would never stand out.

So how can you be memorable with such limited space and (if you’re the average college student) limited experience?

First, you need to make the objective about you and the specific accomplishments and skills you posess.  If you do not have accomplishments and skills…well…that’s another blog entry.  Second, you must, must, MUST match what you’ve got with what the employers are seeking.

Include your most impressive (and relevant) accomplishements.  If you have numbers that demonstrate your awesomeness, include them.  This is no time to be modest.  Done well, this statement can capture the reader’s attention and make him or her read the rest of your resume and find out about all the awesome you bring to a job.

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