Older Job Seekers 3 Keys to Success

Older Job Seekers' 3 Keys to Success 81 Yes, you can be over 40 or 50 and still find a good job. This is a guest post by Leslie Williams. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guest post guidelines. Switching jobs can be a great experience. It can allow you to move up, take on more responsibility, make more money, and expand your skill set. In some cases, it can be a reason to move to a new city, adding a whole other level of excitement to the new job. But even if you switch jobs voluntarily, it's still one of life's most stressful events. And let's face itâ€"once you hit a certain age, it becomes a little trickier, especially if you're not going directly from one job to another, but find yourself unemployed for whatever reason, needing a new job, and possibly competing with younger candidates fresh out of college. Don't despair. While you may need to make some adjustments to how you perform in job interviews, and how you negotiate accepting a job that's offered to you, finding a job when you're 40 or older isn't impossible. In fact, your age can even work to your advantage.eval 1) Keep Your Skills Current It's unfortunate, but age discrimination does exist, and still occurs in some workplaces, especially in this age of technology and the Internet. People of older generations may be perceived as not as knowledgeable about, or as willing to adapt to the faster-paced, electronically supported workplace. There are many other misconceptions about older workers as well. This is where you get a chance to really shine.eval If you find yourself having to look for a job at an age that might be considered out of touch by some employers, use the time between jobs to take a class. Of course, you may already be very well versed in new technologies, but an actual certificate from an accredited institution will make a good companion to your resume, and put any potential managers' concerns about your abilities to rest. Read trade magazines, Web sites, and blogs to find out what's going on in the industry. Also, brush up on the vocabulary related to the career field you're targeting. Don't let any unfamiliar terms or acronyms trip you up in the interview. 2) Be Flexible After being part of the workforce for 20 or more years, you most likely built yourself up to a point where you were making a comfortable salary. If you're looking for a job now, you're competing with younger people who don't have as much experience, and therefore don't warrant the salary you may be used to. A company can sometimes save money by hiring them, even if they need more training than you do. Be flexible when discussing salary and benefits. Realize that you may need to accept less than what you were making before, but keep a couple of things in mind. First, consider everything you're offered as part of your compensation. If the salary is lower, but you get great healthcare benefits, things may balance out a bit more. In addition, discuss whether there will be opportunity for advancement. Your skills and experience may allow you to move up more quickly, and work your way back up to where you were before in a shorter amount of time than it would take a younger hire starting from scratch. By the same token, don't just jump at the first offer because you're afraid of the job offer being revoked. Talk to the potential employer to see if there's any room for negotiation. 3) Remain Confident Okay, so you're a little older than most of the other applicants. Accept it, and realize it can be a benefit. For one thing, if you're not just switching jobs to try something new, but are seeking a job in the same industry you've always worked in, you're bringing a heck of a lot of experience and knowledge with you. Your competitor job applicants may have youth on their side, but you won't need as much training to get up to speed and start producing. Make sure you play up your experience in your resume writing, and in job interviews. That, coupled with flexibility about salary, can give you an advantage. In addition, you're bringing maturity, and no, that's not an age joke. Younger people just out of college can sometimes be brash and make snap decisions led by their emotions. This isn't true for all people of that age, but for some. You've already outgrown that, and by now, should have the ability to put your emotions aside and make decisions based on facts, your experience, and what's good for the company. You bring wisdom that will allow you to better handle crises, and to offer support to your coworkers when they need it. A good manager should recognize the benefit your maturity brings, but there's nothing wrong with mentioning this in a polite, non-challenging way so as not to ruffle the feathers of a manager who may be younger than you are. Looking for a new job when you're 40 or over can be scary. Just remember what you're bringing to the table, and realize that if a company or manager doesn't recognize your experience and maturity, you may be better off working in a place where those things are welcomed and appreciated. About the author Leslie Williams is a writer for Jobfox Resumes, the largest resume writing service online. She enjoys helping people of all ages find the right career. If you found this article useful, I highly recommend you continue with my 40 Tips for Job Seekers Over 40.

Categorizing Your Skills Job Content Skills

Categorizing Your Skills Job Content Skills This post courtesy of information in a Georgia Department of Labor presentation:   “Why Some People Stay Unemployed.”  Skills are one of the most important things you have to convey to a prospective employer.   If you had to name your five most important and valuable skills right now, what would you say they are?   Here is a way to organize your thinking about skills as you prepare for an interview.  Skills come in three basic categories: Transferable skills, Job Skills, and Personal Management Skills.   Job Content Skills are related to job-specific tools and tasks. They usually have a vocabulary of their own.  Talking about these skills is how you show a prospective employer that you have depth of expertise within your industry.     On your resume, you should be sure to list your industry skills and include key terms that might be searched by a recruiter or software, if your resume is scanned.    For instance, instead of simply saying that you have experience in graphic design, you’d want to say “Proficient in the use of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.   Software, equipment and processes that will be familiar to â€" and valued by â€" someone in the industry will help you get taken seriously as a candidate.  The formula for presenting job content skills in an interview is similar to the transferable skills formula.  IDENTIFY THE SKILL: Software, hardware, equipment, processes, forms, projects PRESENT A CONCRETE EXAMPLE: Describe where and for how long you used this skill; at what level you performed  REINFORCE WITH MEASURABLE DATA: numbers, dollars, percentages, volume per month, year, etc.  GIVE RESULTSWHAT HAPPENED?   How did the company benefit from your skill?  Next:   Self-Management Skills

How to Manage Your Brand After a Bad Experience - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

How to Manage Your Brand After a Bad Experience - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career We’re constantly reminded the importance of ending a job on good terms. You never want to burn bridges because your industry is smaller than you realize, and you may come across those people again. But what happens if you do have a falling-out with your managers or coworkers? If the damage is already done, what then? If you have a bad experience at a job or internship, your personal brand is not necessarily ruined forever. The steps you take next can save your professional reputation. Put out the flames. If you can still save the relationships, start there. Be the bigger person and apologize right away. Even if the problem wasn’t entirely your fault, this is the best way to make amends. If you wait too long, it won’t seem genuine anymore. try to repair the damage before it’s too late. Separate yourself. If the damage is severe, it’s important to remove all evidence tying you to the company. Take the job out of your social media bios and other places online. If you weren’t employed there for a very long time, you may even want to remove the job from your resume altogether. However, this isn’t always possible. Just keep the places linking you with the job to a minimum. Don’t bring up the details. It’s incredibly important to never volunteer the details of the bad experience to anyone (other than maybe your closest support system). Unless you’re asked in an interview why you left the job, don’t bring it up. It is especially important to never ever talk badly about your past employer or coworkers, especially to a potential boss. Doing so just makes you look bad. What’s done is done, so if you can avoid it, don’t bring up the details to anyone. Do some volunteering. If the bad experience at work led to you being unemployed, a good way to lift your spirits and your brand is to spend some time volunteering. Someone who volunteers their time for a good cause always looks good to potential employers. You can use the opportunity to keep your skills fresh. Plus, it will definitely feel good to do something positive for the community after having been through such a bad experience. Having a bad experience at work can be incredibly stressful, but you don’t want it to negatively influence the rest of your career. It’s important to do whatever you can to rise above what happened and continue to maintain your brand. What are some other tips for managing your brand after a bad experience?

7 Ways to Increase Cash Flow In Your Business - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

7 Ways to Increase Cash Flow In Your Business - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Running a business means there’s an ebb and flow to income. Your goal, however, is to have more flow than ebb. Here are tips for injecting more cash flow into your business. 1) Reduce expenses The less you spend, the more you keep. Reducing your business expenses is one of the fastest ways to generate more cash flow. Go through your budget and look for ways to save money. Like personal budgets, business budgets often have nickel-and-dime expenses that may not be needed. Search for ways to cut back on service expenses. For example, do you need all the bells and whistles on your phone service or can you get by with a lower-priced package. Bundling services, such as Internet and phone, can save money as well. 2) Have a payment policy Before taking on a new client, have a policy on how and when you’re paid. Your policy should include areas such as deposits, time frame for payment (i.e. 30 days), and penalties for late payment. This helps insure people pay on time. 3) Follow-up on accounts receivable If you don’t follow up on outstanding invoices, you’re leaving money on the table. Along with your payment policy (#3), develop a system for tracking, re-billing and getting payment from clients who are delinquent on their accounts. 4) Bundle products/services People like a good deal. Bundled products and services are perceived as having an increased value over buying items separately. People also don’t like to miss a good deal, so by making your bundle a time-limited offer, you encourage consumers to buy now. 5) Have a back-end offer Yes, back-end offers can be annoying, but they are effective and can come across helpful if done right. Make back-end offers that enhance the purchase and/or continue to solve the customer/client’s problem. 6) Create a follow-up system for repeat business It’s much harder and expensive to generate a new customer than to entice a past customer back. Getting repeat business starts by offering top quality products and services, and customer support. Once you’ve done that, develop a system for staying in touch with past customers and create incentives for them to return. Email and direct mail are two ways to stay in touch. A rewards program or coupons give incentives for them return. 7) Develop a referral program Second only to repeat business (#6), referrals are tops in generating new sales. People who are referred to you are already primed to like and want to buy from you. Encourage past customers and prospects to refer new business to you. Sometimes all it takes is asking for referrals to get names. Or you can develop a referral program with incentives to people who send you referrals.

Tips For Writing a Student Nurse Resume

Tips For Writing a Student Nurse ResumeThese tips for writing a student nurse resume will help you get the proper professional appearance of your resume. Whether you are trying to get a job or just want to update an old one, these tips will help you get the most out of your resume and make it look better than ever.First, take the time to determine what sort of specialist you are and then choose a general purpose format. You should do this because the format that you use on your resume will be the most important part of how well your resume is going to be read. Some people prefer bullet points or blocks of information, while others may prefer more information and less typing involved.When choosing the format for your resume, you should make sure that you only use the information that is relevant to your job and that you use specific information in your professional experience. For example, if you are working as a medical transcriptionist, then your experience should be all about medic al transcription and nothing else. If you choose a very general format for yourself, you might find that people will have to take you at your word and not take your words seriously.Second, when choosing your words, keep the resume brief and easy to read. Do not try to cram too much information into a short space of time. People read a resume from top to bottom and right to left so just keep it simple and easy to read so that it is easy to search through for available jobs.Third, make sure that the resume is well organized. The last thing you want to do is forget to change something in the last page or to send your resume to someone that does not read it. Having things sorted neatly into sections makes it easy to see what exactly is in what section and allows you to send it off with a minimal amount of fuss.Fourth, professional students usually have an excellent memory and often have very good organization skills. Try to take advantage of these skills by including things like dates o f employment, numbers of hours worked, and dates of time spent on each assignment in your work history.Fifth, find a place to host your resume on the internet. While you should start with the place that you go to for information, you should also give yourself a little bit of time to get some additional ideas. Hosting your resume on a professional site such as J-list is a good idea, but you may also want to check out places like Monster.com and MySpace.com.Finally, a final tip is to make sure that you answer every question that is asked with a quick yes or no. Sometimes the person who is looking for a medical assistant will get a little vague and will be happy to just get a response back, but in the end you may find that the person who is interested will just leave the internet browser on their resume page open until you respond.