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Nearly all large employers are now accepting applications online. In fact, that’s the ONLY option for many of these employers. Here are a few tips for online applications:
Fill out the application completely and fully. Make sure you don’t skip any sections or leave any fields blank.
Check your spelling and your grammar. If you can, have a friend or family member look your application over for errors or mistakes.
If at all possible, bring out the skills or experience you have that will impress your future employer. Consider the position you are applying for and craft your application to fit that specific area.
Unless instructed otherwise, make sure you follow up your application with further communication, like an email or a phone call. This is especially important if you’ve not received a response after a week or two. Ask for an opportunity to interview.
And for your convenience, here are links to online applications for larger chains:
What are you waiting for?? Get clicking!
Speaking from one of the hardest-hit areas of the country in terms of job loss, I’m still a bit skeptical that we’re seeing a true turnaround in the job situation. The politicians are excited-President Obama visited our area on Wednesday and gave an uplifting speech about the new jobs coming to our neck of the woods, but no one seemed to mention the discrepancies in numbers. The new companies coming in are planning to hire a few hundred workers between them, over the next three years. The jobs lost number in the thousands.
By my count, that’s still an awful lot of people who are unemployed or dramatically underemployed. It will be a hard sell to convince my neighbors that better economic times are on the way when they are still relying on charity to feed their families.
The reality is that those low-skill, easy money manufacturing jobs just aren’t going to be coming back in the numbers to match the people that want them. Workers are going to have to retrain for different careers. For many, that means heading back to school or other training. It also will mean a diminished standard of living, because many of the ‘new jobs’ that our political pundits refer to are in the service sector, and those simply don’t pay as well as the old manufacturing jobs.
There has never been a better time to jump ship, as it were, and get into a training program. You may qualify for various government aid to cover the costs, and for better or worse, our economy IS changing. Don’t get caught unawares! Build your skills now while you have the chance!
Need some guidance about finding those grants and financial resources for going back to school? Check out the State-by-State Guide for links to information about your state’s programs!
Whether you’ve been recently laid off, out of work for a while, or just looking for a better position, you’ll find that employers are looking for attitude! You can have the best resume and the most accomplished interview style in the world, but if you lack that special spark, you’ll also be lacking that job. It’s tough to get that spark to show through your resume and job application. So how do you show enough sparkiness to get your foot in the door to convince prospective employers to give you a chance?
The answer is networking. When you are considering a job change or looking for a new position, your best strategy may lie in making friends and getting to know people. I don’t care how many resumes you send out or how many applications you complete; your best chance for a job comes when you have connection to the people who are hiring.
Make yourself more attractive to employers and more well-known by volunteering or doing pro bono work in your field or in a related field. Show people how valuable of an employee you can really be. Get passionate about your work, even if there’s not a paycheck attached, and sooner or later your dream job will open up and you’ll be right there to take advantage of it.
Navigating the maze of state services can be a huge challenge, especially if you are new to using the internet. The Job Training Readiness Center now offers a state-by-state guide to agencies and offices that can help you find information about training for a new job! Just head on over to the State by State Guide, scroll down to your state, then choose a link to a site that can help.
Each state in the United States has an office dedicated to helping displaced workers. Find out what services are available to you and take advantage of them!
You’ll want to check out my newest article at ezinearticles.com! Be a Winner at Work: Seven Tips to Keep Your Job in Tough Times is a great resource for people who want to stay employed during the economic downturn or any other time that you feel your job might be at risk. You’ll get practical, do-it-now suggestions that will help your boss appreciate you. It’s a lot harder to lay off an employee that’s considered highly valuable!
When the Powers That Be are making decisions about who to keep and who to let go, be on the Keeper List. This information just might save your job, so head on over to the article, print it out and share it with your friends. Don’t forget to bookmark it on StumbleUpon or other media sites, too!
Most people assume that with our free public education system in the United States, nearly everyone has their high school diploma. NOT TRUE! Take a look at this map. You’ll see that even states that boast the highest grad rates in the country top out at 86%. FOURTEEN states have graduation rates between 50 and 67%. Overall (as of 2006), the country’s graduation rate was still under 70%. That means that three of every ten people are still not getting their high school diploma, and in some areas, nearly half of the population doesn’t graduate.
The figures should give us all pause. What is going wrong in our system that so many teens are dropping out? There are a few factors to consider.
Some states (such as my own Michigan) mask these numbers by the way schools are required to report graduation rates. Instead of looking at students who complete all twelve years of schooling, local districts are allowed to report only the students who start and then finish their senior year. One local district boasts a 94% graduation rate, for example. On closer examination, this year’s graduating class had 146 members on the first day of school during their freshman year. They graduated 102. That’s a whole lot closer to 70% than 95% in my mind. And yet the school’s statistics look stellar. Neighboring Indiana recently changed their reporting requirements, and the public was appalled to discover that graduation rates at some South Bend high schools were actually 50% or even lower.
Another problem is the course of study now being required for high school in many areas. In a misguided effort to boost educational achievement, Michigan now requires a very challenging curriculum for graduation. For example, all students are now required to pass algebra II. Two things are happening. More children are giving up in despair and dropping out, and students who do try the course are finding that the curriculum is being watered down to accommodate the slowest students. Those who truly need to learn algebra II are being shortchanged, and those who don’t are being frustrated. Our school doesn’t even OFFER any sort of basic, life skills math.
Finally, for many students, basic skills just are not where they should be. Considering the need for solid education, it’s criminal that children are being passed from grade to grade without knowing basic skills. I work as a tutor, and have seen first hand the high schoolers who cannot add 6 + 7 without a calculator and cannot write a coherent paragraph. There are many reasons for this, and I don’t have too many answers, but it’s definitely part of the problem. Suffice it to say that these students are not getting the help they need when they need it.
So if you have graduated, be thankful! You’ve accomplished quite a bit already. If you are considering dropping out, STAY IN SCHOOL! And if you did not graduate, remember that there is help available. It’s not too late, and you can make yourself more employable by heading over to your local adult education program and starting work on your GED. If you need private and confidential help online, you can also get it through the Job Training Readiness Center by visiting the Check Up and the Skills areas.
Job interviews aren’t simply question and answer fests anymore. If it’s been a while since you’ve been through one, you should be advised that there are a number of different styles that interviewers use these days. Being familiar with the main varieties can help you feel more prepared and allow you time to think through your answers to possible interview questions.
- Personal Interview: This is the type of interview that most people think of when they think of the word “interview.” One person, an employer, supervisor, or personnel representative, meets with the job candidate and chats. Casual questions are asked and answered. It’s a chance to show what you know about the position and the company, and generally doesn’t seem too intimidating.
- Committee Interviews: Sometimes, you will find yourself facing an entire group of company representatives, such as a board or a department. These people will ask you questions and come from different angles. It feels more intimidating to many people, but may be quite necessary for a job that involves working with a team or presenting to a group.
- Behavioral Interview: It’s quite common for interviewers to ask you to give examples from your previous jobs or experience. They are looking for the depth and quality of what you have already done that is related to the job at hand. Prepare for this sort of interview by reviewing highlights of your career or experience, as well as reviewing problems you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them.
- Stress Interview: One technique to be aware of is the Stress Interview. In this method, the interviewer intentionally tries to cause you discomfort and stress. It can be done in subtle ways, like making you wait an inordinate amount of time, or in more open ways like asking questions that seem antagonistic or rude. A position that requires you to work with potentially unhappy clients might be one where stress interviewing techniques are used. Try to keep your cool! Recognizing the interview type can go a long way to helping you manage the situation.
- Situational Interview: Job candidates might be asked how they would handle a specific situation, or even asked to role play a given scenario. Interviewers are trying to assess your probable responses to common situations in the job you are applying for. To prepare, think through how you would act in situations that would be common in the job you are applying for. Consider what resources you could access, what policies you’d need to follow, and what you could expect from coworkers.
- Group Interviews are quite common for jobs that rely on teamwork with coworkers. Many candidates are together for this kind of interview, and they are often given a typical task to perform. The interviewer watches to see what roles people take in the group and how they function in the group setting. Your interpersonal skills are what’s important here. Try to show leadership and perseverence without being domineering or acting like a show-off.
These are just a few of the more common interview styles that are popular right now. Remember, too, that many larger companies have candidates interview with a number of people over the course of days, weeks or even months. Be prepared to put your best professional foot forward, and help yourself recognize the type of interview that you are participating in.
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And remember, if you’d like to take a close look at your professionalism and find ways to improve, drop a blank email to professionalism@jobtrainingreadinesscenter.com to enroll in the free e-course!
If you are job-hunting, things are tough all over. Don’t let that get you down! Instead, get those creative juices flowing and think outside the box.
Make an inventory of your skills and put your resume together because it’s time to head out and sell yourself. Watch the job boards, the classified ads and the help wanted signs in windows, for sure, but knock on a few other doors, too. In addition to going up and down Main Street of your town, head down the less traveled ways to find smaller and more out-of-the-way businesses. They just might have what you are looking for in a job. Here are some ideas:
- Summer camps need maintenance and kitchen staff, especially in late spring and summer seasons.
- Home health care services often have jobs for home health care aides who do not need medical training.
- Churches generally hire secretaries and maintenance staff persons.
- Large buildings need maintenance and custodial staff.
- Shopping malls, stadiums, museums and other public places hire security personnel.
- Colleges need clerical staff.
- Agencies that serve disabled populations need staff for day programs, foster care homes, and respite work.
- Nursing homes need clerical staff, maintenance staff and non-medical aides.
- Farms need agricultural workers for seasonal planting, tending and harvesting work.
- Local, county and state road commissions hire seasonal employees.
I can’t begin to tell you what hidden businesses are located in your community or search area. You can find them by being observant, by looking in the phone book, and by contacting your local Chamber of Commerce. Look closely, and I guarantee that you will find some possible employers that you had not considered before!
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Want to boost your professional image? Try the free email Professionalism Course! Just send a blank email to professionalism@jobtrainingreadinesscenter.com to get started. There’s nothing to buy, no obligation, and everything to gain.
So you’ve sweated out an interview for a great job, sat by the phone waiting and wondering, and now you find out that it was all for nothing. You didn’t get the job. You have two choices. You can sulk and call it a complete waste of time, or you can make lemonade from the lemons of your day by tallying up the benefits of the experience. I know which I would choose! Here are some places to look for those benefits if you’re having trouble seeing them:
- You gained experience in interviewing. No matter how it turned out, you have one more interview under your belt. No doubt you saw places where your presentation could use a bit of polishing, but at least now you know about them. Take this chance to practice some mock interviews with family or friends so that you can do even better next time.
- You’ve had some face time with the person who does some hiring. Now you’re a known entity, and you might have a foot in the door for the next position that opens up at that company. Take a few moments after your interview to send a follow-up or a thank you. Not only is this the professional, polite thing to do, but it also helps put your name in front of the personnel department one more time. It lets the company representative know that you are still out here, waiting in the wings and that you could still be available if they have a need.
- Since you’ve already familiarized yourself with the company and its business, consider whether you could offer them any freelance or contract-based services. Many companies hire independent contractors to meet their needs. What could you do for the company on this basis, since you know their needs? Put together a proposal and set up another appointment to pitch it.
- You’ve already done the legwork to show that you are the right person for this position. Try applying for similar jobs at other companies, or a different position within this one.
- Plan to follow up not just the once with the standard thank you note, but rather several times, over the course of six to twelve months. Your letter may just cross the boss’ desk when that new hire didn’t work out as well as everyone thought it would.
The key to a successful job search is persistence and being in the right place at the right time. Make it your business to be available and ready for action, and you’ll have a job before you know it!
On the news last night, I heard that a local restaurant had advertised they were hiring. This new establishment was looking for about 160 workers. Guess how many applicants had shown up by newstime? Over 1400. For restaurant jobs.
Granted, I live in one of the most depressed areas of the United States (I live in SW Michigan, just across the border from Elkhart, IN which is the poster child for job loss), but I never dreamed that there would be nearly ten applicants for every position in a restaurant. The competition for a job, any job, is fierce right now. People are desperate, since many have been out of work for a year or more around here. The statistics show that something like one of every six persons is unemployed right now.
So how do employers begin to sort through ten applicants for every position? Who gets those coveted jobs? If you have a good idea about that, you have a much better chance of becoming a successful applicant. Let’s take a look:
- Appropriately educated: Applicants whose basic academic skills are intact are more likely to be hired. How’s that job application look? Did you spell everything correctly? Did you answer questions completely? Did you demonstrate basic literacy? If this is an issue, now is a great time to get the help you need to build your basic skills. Head over to the Check-Up Center at Job Training Readiness Center and find out if you have what employers are looking for.
- Experienced: Have you done this kind of work before? Employers would much rather hire an experienced worker who already has an idea about how to do the job because it means less training they have to do. How can you get experience if no one will hire you? Volunteer work is one answer. Find a volunteer job that is related to what you would ultimately like to do and get to work while you’re waiting for that golden opportunity. You’ll build skills and credibility, plus gain references and networks. For the restaurant work listed above, volunteer work in a local soup kitchen, summer camp, or other charitable organization that serves meals would be a plus, because you’d get experience working with people, navigating in a large kitchen, and handling foods in compliance with health codes.
- Interview Skills: Very few employers will hire you based solely on your application and resume. They want a face-to-face meeting to assess a lot of intangible things. Make sure you’re ready to present your best face at a job interview. Interviewers will be watching your punctuality, your appearance, your demeanor, and your communication skills. They will be assessing your initiative, your integrity, and your enthusiasm through the conversation and questions. They will even be watching to see if you remember to say thank you afterwards! In short, they will be looking for a professional presentation of the best ‘you’. You need to know all of the tricks to show yourself in the best light possible. Need some help with this? Head on over to the Build Your Professional Image class! You can sign up today and get loads of advice and hands-on activities to boost your professionalism so you are ready for that next interview. The class is only $25.
There you have it-three ways you can put yourself ahead of the pack when you are applying for a job. Especially in these tough times, you need all of the advantages you can find. Take action right now to make yourself more attractive to potential employers. You’ll be glad you did!
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