Who survives when jobs are on the chopping block? Let me use a car salesman(person) analogy here.

Let’s imagine you are the owner of a car dealership. A recession is in full swing. No one is buying cars. (And let’s leave aside the notion that your supplier of cars might be bankrupt by the new year.)

Ok, Mr. Owner, your workforce is largely salespersons, with the occasional accountant, secretary and a few management types.

Times are going to be tough for the foreseeable future. You’re gonna have to cut some people. But the question is, who is safe? Who are the people you are absolutely going to keep on the job?

They fall into 3 categories: (more…)

From Gawker.

Apparently, job fairs are now drawing lines around the block.

(No, not that Jobs…)

You might have seen the headlines this morning. The jobs report pretty much confirms the badness we’ve been feeling. The jobless rate is at a 14 year high.

But charts are worth a thousand words, so here’s a handy chart of the jobs reports from the last 12 months:

If, like me, you were around in the dot com wild west days, the thing you coveted more than anything else (more than yoga classes or free lunches) was the Herman Miller Aeron chair. It’s pretty much gone down in history as the greatest office chair eva!

But now Gizmodo alerts us to a new challenger to the throne.

Behold, the Embody! Click through for more and bigger pictures.

This thing is $1600. Is it worth it? The Gizmodo crew thinks so.

I am the sort of guy that tends to believe you should never be afraid to ask for a raise. (The proviso of course being that you shouldn’t ask too much or too often or expect things that are outlandish.)

But even when times are tough for your company? That’s when a raise should be the last thing on your mind, right?

No, and here’s why:

1) Asking for a raise can be a good way to tell you where you stand.

If times are tough, and my most valued employee comes to me and says they’re unhappy with their situation, this is a double crisis for me as a manager. After all, if times are tough, the last person I want to piss off or lose is the most valued member of my team… my number one producer. (more…)

Sometimes, though, the grass is plenty green on THIS side.

I thought of that this weekend when perusing some job search survey data. I’ve posted before about playing the odds in your job search. And you have to figure that a good percentage of job openings are filled internally.

According to the data I saw from the folks who used to do the Hudson Employment Index:

73% of managers say their company typically looks at the current employee base first when conducting a job search before considering any other candidates.

This of course makes sense. (more…)

I do, and it’s a very simple one.

Zen And the Art of Job Interviews

When it comes time to prepare clients for a job interview, I go over all the usual common sense tips: dress well; be clean shaven; try to use proper language and grammar; familiarize yourself with your own resume (you’d be surprised how often people get tripped up by info on their own resume) etc.

I also try to concentrate on the mental stuff: be confident; try to give the impression that hiring you will be a boon for the organization… i.e. you’ll be able to deliver results; seem eager to work at this company. To this last end, I encourage my clients to do actual research on the employer. You want the hiring manager to think they’re about to hire you for your dream job; knowing something about the company goes a long way to leaving them with the impression you’re super motivated to join their team.

But the one thing I always end the preparation session with is this advice: (more…)

A bad job market might mean you’re not going to get your dream job for a while. But maybe you should take this time as an opportunity to figure out where you want to see yourself when the bad times end.

The storm will pass. Now is the time to position your career for where you want to be 5 or even 10 years from now.

Conserve What You Have

Even if you have a job you’re not happy with, keep your hands on what you’ve got. It’s something. It’s better to be dreaming of better days while employed, as opposed to the alternative.

Keep the sh*t job for now, and begin positioning yourself for the dream job. Instead of sitting around dreaming…

Get Educated/Get Prepared

If you have to hunker down for a few years and ride out the storm, use this time productively. Pursue some further education or training. (more…)

Part of the problem is, most people just use the same dull resume templates found in Word… or whatever your word processing program is.

A well-designed resume is eye-catching and professional-looking. You’ll know at a glance that a well-designed resume is no off-the-shelf template. The information on the resume is organized in a clean, easy-to-read way that emphasizes important information at a glance. A good design uses basic concepts of typography and layout design to present your information in a dynamic way.

Whether or not your resume sells your skills effectively to the reader depends on how well it’s written. But if you’re just concerned with resume design, there are 4 quick things you can incorporate that are guaranteed to make your resume look better then most of the others you are competing with.

I’m going to show you how to use varied text, bulleted lists, columns and horizontal lines to organize your information effectively and, most importantly, stand out.

(more…)

The Wrong Attitude

All too often, I’ve seen clients approach a job search in the same way they would the welfare line. They feel embarrassed or unworthy. They feel like they’re asking for a handout or, to quote Scarlett, relying on the kindness of strangers.Look, we all have to look for a job some time. And more often then not, a job searcher is in a quest to improve his or her career lot, not because they’re in desperate dire straights. Think of your own reaction to learning that a friend is looking for a job. Your first thought is not, What a loser! Your first thought is: I wonder if I can help?

We all have to look for a job some time

Yet still, people act like a job search is some great, arduous quest where you, the supplicant, are always on bended knee waiting for some all-powerful hand of fate to pluck you up and save you only by some great accident of chance.This is absolutely the wrong attitude. (more…)