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#JobSearch : Confidence Taking A Hit? 5 Signs It’s Not You, It’s Your Job Search. Great Check List. Which Area(s) Do You Fall Into?

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Before you started your job search, you probably felt optimistic, confident and hopeful. After all, with the experience you have under your belt and your track record for success, you might have thought landing a new job might take time but it shouldn’t be too hard. Now fast forward months later, and you can hardly recognize that confident version of yourself anymore.

But, it’s not uncommon for your confidence to waver during the job search process. As a career coach to corporate high-achievers, I hear from top performers who, despite their years of experience and skills, happen to feel the same way while job searching. However, rather than questioning your worth and picking apart your capabilities, it might be time to focus on how you’re approaching your job search instead. Because, it actually might be your job search that needs fine-tuning.

Here are five signs to help you determine if your job search is the real culprit:

You don’t have a solid idea of what you’d like to do next.

A lack of clear direction is one of the biggest detriments to your job search. Without a solid idea of the type of roles, responsibilities and companies worth your time and energy, you can easily get distracted and waste your time on opportunities that don’t yield the results you’re looking for in your career.

You might even start to mistakenly believe that you can’t have a better job or that you must start over to land a new role when the real problem is you haven’t taken the time to get clear on which type of opportunities you’d like to pursue. On the other hand, gaining clarity will not only help you tailor your job search, but it’ll also increase your confidence in finding the right fit for you.

 

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Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

You spend most of your time constantly applying to jobs.

Gone are the days when you could “spray and pray” and hope for the best. Not only is blindly applying ineffective, but it can also quickly erode your confidence when those countless job applications turn into countless rejection emails. Before you know it, you’re convinced that no one wants to hire you.

So, rather than applying to as many jobs as possible, take a more targeted and selective approach. Be strategic and intentional about which jobs you choose to apply to and don’t be afraid to skip over the ones that don’t align with your career goals, expertise and interests. By only applying to jobs you really love, you’ll find that you’ll feel more confident putting yourself out there and more excited to demonstrate how your skills align with the needs of the role and organization.

Your resume sounds more like a job description.

Your resume is one of the best ways to market your skills, value and experience; it shouldn’t be a collection of past items on your daily to-do lists. So, if you can’t tell the difference between your resume and a job posting, then that’s a sure sign that you might not be standing out from the crowd when applying for new positions.

To fix this, you need to shift your focus from duties to achievements. Understanding the impact you’ve made throughout your career and communicating that on your resume in a relevant way will not only help you stop second-guessing yourself, but will also help you catch the attention of the right employers who want what you have to offer.

Your LinkedIn profile isn’t clear or compelling enough.

Sure, when you were content in your current job, you could get by with a lackluster or even nonexistent LinkedIn profile. But now that you’re ready for a new job, in today’s digital world, a vague LinkedIn profile is not going to attract your dream companies.

For example, without a confident and compelling LinkedIn profile, recruiters actively looking for top talent either won’t find you or won’t be inspired to interview you when they stumble upon your profile. Not to mention, if hiring managers look you up after reviewing your application and don’t see a coherent and consistent message on your LinkedIn profile, they might move on to the next candidate. So, invest the time and energy to optimize your LinkedIn profile so that you can open doors to new career opportunities.

You don’t know how to talk about your skills and expertise.

While you’ve likely spent tons of time developing your skills, building your track record, and excelling in your career, you probably haven’t spent as much time talking about your skills and expertise. So, rather than doubting yourself or assuming you aren’t good enough for the roles you want, you need to focus on getting better at communicating the value you bring to the table with clarity and ease.

As you get more comfortable talking about your track record, accomplishments and skill sets, you’ll feel more confident and exude more confidence during interviews and networking conversations, which will ultimately inspire others to want to help you and hire you.

Of course, it’s tempting to judge yourself or criticize your personal shortcomings when your job search isn’t going the way you hoped. But landing a new job isn’t about changing who you are–it’s about elevating how you present yourself so your ideal companies understand exactly why they need you. By taking the focus off yourself and reassessing your job search strategy, you will feel even more in control of your career journey, and you’ll boost your chances of standing out and getting hired for the roles you desire and deserve.

Forbes.com Author:  Adunola Adeshola :  Adunola Adeshola coaches corporate high-achievers on how to take their careers to the next level. She is the author of the guide How to Go From Zero Interviews to Dream Job Offers.
Forbes.com | July 20, 2023

 

#JobSearch : How To Overcome Job-Search Depression. Job Hunting is Hard, Even During the Best of Times. How Did your Job Search Affect You?

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Job hunting is hard, even during the best of times. In a tough market, it makes matters worse, and the pressure intensifies if you are in between roles. When you have been let go and haven’t secured a new job after some time, it’s natural that you’ll start feeling anxious, afraid, and depressed.

The constant rejection and roller coaster ride of ups and downs wreak havoc on your mental health and emotional well-being. Countless days of scouring job boards, submitting résumés and not hearing back can make you feel drained, discouraged and despondent.

Job-search depression sets in and, if left unattended, can lead to negative consequences. However, there are ways to push back. Try to maintain a positive mindset. Take care of your physical and emotional health, seek social support and focus on what you can control. Summon up the strength to get up when knocked down, brush yourself off and forge ahead, knowing there will still be headwinds.

 

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Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

The Symptoms Of Job-Search Depression

There are signs you should look out for when monitoring your mental health during this transition period. Symptoms of job-search depression include lacking motivation to apply for new roles, attending interviews thinking that it’s a futile waste of time and feeling defeated and worthless because all you’ve been receiving are rejections or getting ghosted.

If you are constantly worrying about the future, feeling fatigued, becoming socially withdrawn, getting easily irritated, losing interest in everything and ruminating over negative thoughts, it may be time to talk with someone.

Constant Rejection Takes A Toll

Unfortunately, job-search depression is a vicious cycle. Interviewers want to hire a person who is upbeat, positive and enthusiastic. They are looking for someone likable and who comes across as a winner. The problem is that constantly dealing with rejection makes it challenging to come across as confident. It’s understandable that after being ghosted so many times, it’s hard to summon the strength to keep going. The hiring manager will pick up on your negative vibe and your depleted self-confidence, and since there are so many other applicants, they’ll just move on to the next person.

It’s hard to handle rejection when worrying about your financial situation and how you’ll pay the bills, rent or mortgage. After submitting dozens of résumés and completing lengthy, annoying and glitchy applications every day without hearing back, it’s nearly impossible to stay positive. It’s devastating when you think you did exceptionally well in an interview and haven’t heard back after several weeks. If you’re stuck in the same role at work, and no one is giving you a chance, it’s hard to keep making it through the day.

What You Can Do Now

You are not alone, as nearly everyone has gone through what you’re dealing with. Almost anyone who has been in the workforce for any length of time has been rejected for a coveted role, lost out to an office rival for a lucrative promotion or got ghosted after a long series of interviews. Even the most successful people still deal with bouts of doubt and losing streaks.

If your actions aren’t working, it’s time to try something different. Refine and improve your résumé and LinkedIn profile. Consult with a career coach, mentor, résumé writer and recruiter to get their respective opinions. Ask them for their honest evaluation, constructive criticism and feedback. Process what they have to say and put into action the noted alterations.

If you haven’t done so already, start cultivating a network of people who can help you find the appropriate people at the target companies you’re interested in. Take a hard look at your social media footprint to ensure you haven’t posted content that casts you in a poor light. Prepare and practice an elevator pitch to be ready to sell yourself in a calm, cool and collected manner. Role-play frequently asked interview questions, so you’ll easily answer them. Have several questions at your ready when the interviewer asks, “Do you have any questions for me?”

Stop dwelling on the past. Shut the door on what has already happened and focus on the now. Start with a clean slate. Replace the negative feedback loop in your head with all of your great qualities, achievements and the times you’ve overcome obstacles. Slowly but surely, you’ll regain your confidence. Then, it will only be a matter of time until you finally get that great new job.

Forbes.com Author:  Jack Kelly –  Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
Forbes.com | July 19, 2023

#JobSearch : Five AI Tools To Help With Your Job Search—Or With Helping You Quit. Job Seekers are Using ChatGPT to Write their Resumes or Cover Letters.

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All the talk about artificial intelligence these days seems to be around the jobs it could replace. But new generative AI tools might help you find one, too.

 

New features or tools from LinkedIn, Adzuna and Rezi claim to not only strengthen what you’re submitting in a job application, but help you make career decisions or even quit.

“AI’s being used pretty much at every step”of the career-planning process, says James Neave, head of data science at job search platform Adzuna. With the rise of technologies such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard creating an AI arms race, more career-related tools are adding AI features to their products. About half (46%) of the 2,153 job seekers surveyed by Resume Builder said they are using ChatGPT to write their resumes or cover letters.

 

Nitzan Pelman, founder and CEO of nonprofit Climb Hire, a platform that helps workers learn new skills and find new careers, says AI tools can be particularly useful for lower-skilled workers. “A clerk at Trader Joe’s doesn’t always know what their skills are,” Pelman says. “If they know how to tell ChatGPT about what they do, it can help them translate those things into skills” that could help them break into white-collar jobs, she says.

But some hiring managers and companies aren’t welcoming the practice. AI users should still assess the results of AI-generated content and tools, Pelman says. “You have to use your own critical thinking to then figure out: is this solid or not?” Here, a rundown of the latest offerings:

LinkedIn: AI-Powered Software To Help Draft Messages To Hiring Managers

Reaching out to hiring managers can be daunting. What should your message say? Starting in May, LinkedIn began using generative AI to help premium subscribers draft personalized messages when messaging on LinkedIn with hiring managers.

According to a post by Ora Levit, senior director of product management and head of core growth, the new feature is in addition to the job platform’s AI-powered writing tools, which help users enhance their profiles.

“Customization is still important,” Levit writes, “so take the time to review and edit the draft to make it your own and convey your voice, then send onwards to the hiring manager, getting one step closer to your next opportunity.”

+

NAV: ‘A Credit Score For Your Career’

Founded by husband-and-wife duo Heather and Howard Matalon in June, NAV uses generative AI and its algorithms to give your career or job offers a score. Users complete NAV’s online evaluation to receive the score and gain feedback on whether it’s time to leave or not.

Think of it as a credit score for how well you’re climbing the ladder, Howard Matalon says. “This is about getting the kind of advice that you would need from a human resources perspective on critical areas about your career trajectory.”

To keep things personalized, he says NAV also offers human career coaches to help users analyze their results and provide advice.

 

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened‘?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

 

Adzuna: Let AI Help You Interview Prep

In June, the job search platform launched Prepper, an interview readiness tool that uses AI to generate questions and feedback to your responses. In its first 10 days, the tool reached more than 2,000 users per day. Adzuna is not new to AI; its resume assessment tool has used a natural language processing model since 2014.

To use Prepper, job seekers provide the large language model with the job description they’re interviewing for, and Prepper will generate company- and job-specific interview questions. Users type their responses, and the tool provides feedback on those answers, suggesting responses. (Adzuna’s Neave says the company is planning to expand its capabilities so users can answer interview questions with just their voice.)

“It acts as a confidence booster,” Neave says, which could help with pre-interview anxieties.

Cover Letter Copilot: A Free Service For A Dreaded Task

No one likes writing cover letters. Getting a service to write one for you might sound better—but that can often come with a fee.

Ben Broch’s Cover Letter Copilot, which uses generative AI and was launched in early June, is a free service. Broch, whose background is in product management, says users also don’t have to prompt the ChatGPT generator with individual answers to questions. Job hunters can upload their resume and the job description, and the tool will generate a customized cover letter.

But Broch says it serves as just a starting point. “I don’t want this to just be ‘hit a button and the AI does everything,’” he says. “It really does need to feel like a copilot where you are in control.”

Rezi: Resignation Letter Generator To Help You Quit

Rezi’s GPT-powered resume builder is a popular choice among job seekers. But its new tool, launched last year, appeals to quitters instead.

The company’s new AI resignation letter builder uses machine learning to create professional, simple memos in a few seconds. All you have to do is enter the basics: company name, job title, last day of work, reason for resigning and your signature.

The tool has already seen more than 315,000 users and offers job-specific templates, such as for product managers, legal secretaries and more.

 

Forbes.com Author: Emmy Lucas

Forbes.com | July 17, 202

#Layoffs : The Debate Swirling Inside HR Departments: How to Lay Off Workers. How were You Laid Off?

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Executives considering downsizing are currently grappling with the same problem: finding the most effective way to let employees go.  Is it better to get layoffs over with all at once even at the risk of cutting too deep? Is firing over Zoom more humane than making an employee come into the office to lose their job? How much severance pay is fair?

As well-known employers including Amazon.com Inc., Salesforce.com Inc., CRM 2.82%increase; green up pointing triangle Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and others lay off workers, executives elsewhere say they are closely monitoring different approaches to the process.

Some human-resources teams are building spreadsheets to track how many positions peers cut and what they say to employees during the reductions. Laid-off workers, meanwhile, are comparing severance agreements and pushing back if they feel terms fall short, which has sometimes led to tense all-hands sessions.

“I’m not sure there’s one recipe” for a layoff, said Katy George, a senior partner and chief people officer at McKinsey & Co.

The stakes for companies are high. Though the job market is cooling, the unemployment rate stood at a historically low 3.5% in December and many employers say they still face challenges filling some positions. This is also among the first job downturns in the era of increasingly empowered and vocal employees who are adept at using Slack and other tools to amplify their criticisms. Companies say it is important to handle layoffs carefully to protect employers’ reputations and help maintain morale among those who remain.

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Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

Article continued …

Some companies telegraph weeks in advance that layoffs should be expected, a tactic that can give employees warning while also raising uncertainty over whose roles will be eliminated, human-resources advisers say.

When Salesforce Co-Chief Executive Marc Benioff announced Wednesday that the cloud-software giant planned to eliminate roughly 10% of its staff, he told employees to check their email within the hour to see if their roles had been affected. Other corporate leaders, such as video-technology company Vimeo Inc., VMEO 1.18%increase; green up pointing triangle which said this week that it would cut about 140 people, have sent companywide notes after individual employees had been contacted.

Many companies struggle over whether to make one sweeping layoff, or to do a series of smaller cuts over a period of time while assessing a company’s financial situation, advisers and executives say. Both carry risks. If a layoff is too large, a company can inadvertently cut key units or people, executives say. Yet multiple layoffs in a short period can create prolonged instability in an organization, McKinsey’s Ms. George said.

“You don’t want to have two shoes drop,” said John Chambers, the former CEO of Cisco Systems Inc., noting that one layoff quickly followed by another can erode trust with employees and investors. “My answer is you do it once, you do it very aggressively, but you also, most important, you communicate.”

The era of hybrid work only complicates matters, executives say. Bosses once insisted on delivering bad news face-to-face, a practice that changed in the pandemic. Some executives are now debating whether it is easier for employees to learn of a layoff on Zoom versus in-person, said Andy Challenger, senior vice president at outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

“It almost seems cruel to ask someone to commute into the office just to let them go,” he said.

Whereas some companies once picked Friday as the preferred day to cut jobs, thinking it would give people a weekend to process a tough situation, many now see a midweek layoff announcement as more humane, said Lorna Hagen, a longtime chief people officer. A layoff on a Wednesday, for example, can give affected employees time to talk with HR representatives or benefits providers during business hours in the ensuing days, she said.

In prior roles, Ms. Hagen said she has worked with colleagues to create a “run of show,” outlining minute-by-minute how a layoff should proceed. The document details when managers will talk to affected employees and when executives should communicate to the remaining workforce and the public. Training ahead of a layoff can give managers a script and guidance for navigating difficult conversations.

Many managers often flub the conversations by saying, “This is so hard for me,” Mr. Challenger said. That phrase can irritate employees facing a job loss. “That just hits people the wrong way,” he said. “It’s not about you.”

Some companies, such as payments processor Stripe Inc., have been celebrated by employees and others for how they dealt with layoffs. Stripe cut about 14% of its workforce in November; in an email to employees, CEO Patrick Collison said he and other leaders were “fully responsible” for the decisions leading to the layoffs. The company said it would provide at least 14 weeks of severance pay and would accelerate or waive employee stock-vesting cliffs.

Other employers have encountered resistance. At the online-education provider Coursera Inc., COUR 3.36%increase; green up pointing triangle which laid off dozens of workers in November, some remaining employees took issue in all-hands sessions with how layoffs were handled, while laid-off employees sent detailed requests via email to the company to revise separation agreements, according to interviews with current and former employees, internal town-hall recordings and documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

Some laid-off employees wrote a collective letter in December to Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda and executives, outlining how the workers felt Coursera’s separation terms fell short compared with layoffs at companies such as Meta Platforms Inc. and Stripe. The group cited the company’s decision not to waive some stock-vesting cliffs or accelerate vesting for stock-based compensation issued to employees. The letter is signed by unnamed “Laid Off Employees.”

Rich Jacquet, Coursera’s chief people officer, responded and recommended that workers contact HR. The group responded that HR had rejected outreach from workers.

The company offered workers four months of pay, plus more based on role or tenure, along with healthcare coverage and outplacement assistance. “We realize this decision impacts employees’ livelihoods and we strove to provide what we believe is meaningful transition assistance,” a Coursera spokeswoman said.

A number of human-resources advisers say that, at minimum, companies should offer laid-off workers a month of severance. Many companies are also now waiving stock-vesting requirements, too, though policies vary by company, said Matt Hoffman, a partner and head of talent at venture-capital firm M13.

“Take accountability,recognize the problem, be more generous than you have to be and as transparent as you can,” Mr. Hoffman said. “That’s the playbook.”

WSJ Authors:  Chip Cutter at chip.cutter@wsj.com   & Ruth Simon contributed to this article.

WSJ.com | January 9, 2023

#JobSearch : What Job Seekers Should Expect Now That We’re In Summer Mode. Opportunities Available. MUst REAd!

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For job hunters, the summer is not a hospitable time to seek new employment. As workers start taking their vacations and using their paid time off to enjoy leisurely three-day weekends, it becomes exceedingly challenging to interview.

Companies are relying upon hiring decisions made by consensus. The current trend in the hiring process is to make white-collar, college-graduate candidates interview with up to 10 people over the course of three to four months or longer.

As most Americans plan their vacations over July and August, scheduling interviews becomes problematic. The company must have the appropriate interviews and the candidates readily available to conduct an orderly hiring process. The flow is interrupted as the human resources person is away on vacation, then when she returns, the candidate is on the beach in the Bahamas. This turnstile continues throughout the summertime.

The stop-and-start nature of the interview process becomes so cumbersome that both companies and applicants defer to September to re-engage in the job search and hiring.

Job Seekers Are Stuck In The Summer Malaise

With the large number of interviewers required, the comings and goings of interviewers and applicants become too much to manage. The flow is constantly interrupted.

Monster, an online job board, describes this period as a “seasonal malaise that seems to have set your productivity levels at a molasses-like state.” Nearly everyone posts their out-of-the-office messages, and decision-makers are not around to make things happen.

Eventually, there is an unspoken tacit agreement to slow-walk hiring, trying to only focus on high-priority recruitment, or just giving up. The process is sidelined until after the first few weeks in September, which is the adult equivalent of “back to school.”

 

Boom Times For Blue-Collar, Frontline Workers

For young people, blue-collar and frontline workers, it’s a different story. The summer job market is expected to be strong, despite looming concerns of a possible recession. The restaurant industry alone expects to hire 502,000 seasonal jobs this summer, the highest since 2017, according to the National Restaurant Association.

You would think that record-high levels of inflation— increasing the costs of everything from airplane tickets to dining out at restaurants—would discourage Americans from going out and spending money. Despite the extra costs involved, people are leveraging their credit cards, splurging on revenge travel and entertainment, such as sporting events, concerts, and dining out at restaurants. This is good news for frontline and blue-collar workers.

However, there may be a cooldown in internship and summer job opportunities. The labor market for seasonal summer jobs looks like it will be cooler than last year, according to an analysis of job postings by Indeed Hiring Lab. Although listings for summer jobs and internships are above pre-pandemic levels, as of May 19, they were down 10.2% and 14.7%, respectively, compared to last year at this time.

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Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

If You Aren’t Taking A Vacation And Want To Get Ahead

With fewer people in the office, white-collar workers can make the most of their time by using the summer slowdown as an opportunity to catch up and get ahead of their projects. It’s an opportunity to network with colleagues, attend conferences, take online courses and visit with clients.

You can also start preparing for September when the job market rebounds. Update your résumé and LinkedIn profile, seek out recruiters who are active in your space, and start applying to job postings that look exciting and lucrative.

Forbes.com Author:  Jack Kelly –  Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
Forbes.com | July 9, 2023

 

#BestofFSCBlog : Over 26K REads- How To Explain Gaps In Your Résumé During An Interview. How did You Answer it? A MUst REad!

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Career gaps are common and nothing to be ashamed about. People with 10-plus years of work experience almost always have a disruption in employment. During economic downturns, such as the financial crisis and the pandemic, layoffs and corporate furloughs were commonplace. Gaps in your résumé don’t have to be perceived as roadblocks during your job search, as long as you frame them right.

An empathetic employer should not judge someone because they have been out of work for some time. A compassionate and realistic manager would get that life happens and that there may be periods when you are not working full-time.

You can easily address these periods of unemployment during an interview by being honest, focusing on the positive, showing how you stayed current, being confident, keeping it brief and practicing your response. By following these strategies, you can ease the interviewer’s concerns and demonstrate your qualifications and experience for the job.

Be Honest

If there is an extended period—six months or more—of unemployment in your résumé, an interviewer will likely ask why. They will wonder why another company didn’t hire you within that time frame, if you have an excellent background and possess in-demand skills.

You must address the gap in your employment honestly and directly. Avoid making up excuses or lying, as the truth always comes out.

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We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

Article continued …

Focus On The Positive

While an interviewer is trying to suss you out about your unemployment gap, emphasize what you did during that period that could be seen as positive. They want to know that you have not been sitting on the couch for six months.

Explain to them how you have been filling your time, doing productive activities, like volunteering, acquiring new skills or caring for a sick family member. This can demonstrate your initiative and dedication.

Show How You Stayed Current

During the interview, explain how you kept up with industry trends and developments during your gap period and did not let your skills and knowledge atrophy. If you did any consulting or freelance work, be sure to mention it. Did you get any certifications or licenses during this employment break? You can also bring attention to how you exercised your soft skills, like communication. You can tell the interviewer that you worked as an UberUBER +1.3% driver or took a retail job because you missed interpersonal communication.

By highlighting the skills and experiences gained during this time, you can show that you are proactive and committed to professional development.

Be Confident

Don’t be defensive or apologize for the gap in your résumé. Instead, be confident and focus on your skills and experience that make you a strong candidate for the job. Let them know that you have been selective in your job search process and are not just jumping at the first job opportunity, which accounts for why you haven’t locked down a job yet.

Keep It Brief

Don’t dwell on the gap in your employment. Keep your explanation brief and to the point, and then move on to discussing your qualifications and experience.

Practice Your Response

Prepare a clear and concise response to the question about the gap in your employment. Practice your answer so that you can deliver it confidently during the interview.

Here’s A Script For A Job Seeker To Say To An Interviewer About Gaps In Their Résumé

“During my employment gap, I [reason you were not employed]. During that time, I [what you did during the gap].

Returning to work was top of mind during that period, and I’m ready to do that now. I understand that employment gaps can be a concern for employers, but I want to assure you that I am committed to my career and have been keeping up with industry trends and developments during my time away. I am excited to bring my skills and experience to this position and contribute to the company’s success.”

 

Forbes.com | July 6, 2023

#JobSearch : The Role Of An Exceptional Resume In Securing Your Dream Job. New FSC Career Blog Author! Great Read!

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In today’s compеtitivе job markеt, thе rolе of an еxcеptional rеsumе cannot bе undеrеstimatеd whеn it comеs to sеcuring your drеam job. Your rеsumе sеrvеs as thе first imprеssion that potеntial еmployеrs havе of you, and it plays a crucial role in dеtеrmining whеthеr you gеt invitеd for an intеrviеw or not.

Crafting a standout rеsumе tailorеd to thе spеcific rеquirеmеnts of thе job you’rе applying for is еssеntial. This articlе еxplorеs thе kеy еlеmеnts of an еxcеptional rеsumе and providеs valuablе insights to hеlp you crеatе a winning documеnt that sеts you apart from othеr candidatеs.

Understanding the Importance of a Well-Structured Resume

A well-structured resume is essential for effectively highlighting your credentials and experience. It allows hiring managers to quickly and easily navigate your document and find the necessary information.

An organized resume typically includes a professional summary, employment history, education, skills, and relevant certifications. By structuring these sections logically and simply, your resume has a more significant impact and is more likely to make a positive impression.

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened‘?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

Captivating Employers: How to Make Your Resume Stand Out

It captivates hiring managers and makes your resume stand out, and it is crucial to highlight your unique qualities and achievements.

  • Start by customizing your resume for each job application, ensuring it aligns with the specific requirements and preferences of the hiring organization.
  • Use action verbs and concise statements that focus on the results you have achieved.
  • Whenever possible, evaluate and quantify your accomplishments to demonstrate your impact in previous positions.

 

Tailoring Your Resume to Match Your Dream Job Requirements

A one-size-fits-all approach only works in the context of resumes. It’s crucial to tailor your resume to align with the unique job requirements you envision, increasing your chances of getting noticed.

Carefully assess the job description and identify the essential skills, qualifications, and experiences the employer seeks. Then, customize your resume to showcase how your experience aligns with these requirements. You exhibit your dedication and enthusiasm by demonstrating your suitability for the position.

 

The Power of a Professional Summary: Grabbing Attention from the Start

Your profеssional summary is a powerful tool to grab the attention of еmployеrs from thе start. This briеf sеction at thе bеginning of your rеsumе providеs a concisе ovеrviеw of your qualifications and carееr goals.

Craft a compеlling profеssional summary that showcasеs your uniquе sеlling points and promptly capturеs thе rеadеr’s intеrеst. Focus on your most rеlеvant еxpеriеncеs and highlight thе valuе you can bring to thе organization.

 

Showcasing Your Skills and Expеrtisе: Highlighting Kеy Compеtеnciеs

It stands out in a compеtitivе job markеt, and it is vital to showcasе your skills and еxpеrtisе еffеctivеly.

  • Crеatе a dеdicatеd sеction in your rеsumе to highlight your kеy compеtеnciеs, including both hard and soft skills.
  • Hard skills rеfеr to spеcific tеchnical abilitiеs, such as proficiеncy in softwarе applications or languagеs.
  • Soft skills, on the other hand, еncompass pеrsonal qualitiеs likе communication, lеadеrship, and problem-solving abilitiеs.
  • Bе spеcific and providе еxamplеs of how you havе appliеd thеsе skills in your prеvious rolеs.

 

The Impact of Accomplishments: Quantifying Your Achievements

While composing your resume, more is needed to list your obligations. Recruiting directors need to see the effect they have made in their past jobs.

Evaluate your accomplishments at whatever point conceivable by including explicit numbers, rates, or other quantifiable outcomes. For instance, rather than expressing that you “enhanced sales,” determine that you “enhanced sales by 20% in somewhere around a half year.” It exhibits your capacity to provide concrete outcomes.

 

Optimizing Your Work Experience: Presenting a Strong Job History

Your job experience section is essential to your resume, offering insight into your career progression and achievements. Optimizе this sеction by focusing on rеlеvant еxpеriеncеs and prеsеnting thеm in a clеar and concisе mannеr.

Begin with your most rеcеnt rolе and work backward, such as job titlе, company namе, еmploymеnt datеs, and kеy rеsponsibilitiеs. Usе bullеt points to showcase your achiеvеmеnts and determine thе impact of your contributions.

 

The Art of Selecting the Right Keywords: Getting Past Automated Filters

In today’s digital agе, many companies use applicant tracking systеms (ATS) to filtеr rеsumеs basеd on spеcific kеywords.

To еnsurе your rеsumе gеts past thеsе automatеd filtеrs, it is crucial to sеlеct thе right kеywords. Carеfully rеviеw thе job dеscription and incorporatе rеlеvant kеywords naturally throughout your rеsumе.

Strikе a balancе bеtwееn including important kеywords and maintaining a wеll-writtеn and cohеsivе documеnt.

 

Aesthetics Matter: Designing an Eye-Catching Resume Layout

Thе visualized appеal of your rеsumе plays an essential rolе in attracting thе attеntion of еmployеrs.

  • Dеsign an еyе-catching rеsumе layout that is visually appеaling and effortless to rеad.
  • Usе a clеan and profеssional font, adequatе spacing, and consistеnt formatting.
  • Include pertinent sеction hеadings and bullеt points to boost rеadability.
  • Considеr using subtlе colors or icons to add visual intеrеst whilе еnsuring a polishеd and profеssional look.

Building an Imprеssivе Onlinе Prеsеncе: Lеvеraging Social Mеdia

In today’s digital еra, building an imprеssivе onlinе prеsеncе is crucial for job sееkеrs. Employеrs oftеn conduct onlinе rеsеarch on candidatеs bеforе making hiring dеcisions.

Ensurе your social mеdia profilеs, particularly LinkеdIn, rеflеct a profеssional imagе. Highlight your skills, еxpеriеncеs, and achiеvеmеnts on thеsе platforms. Engagе in industry-rеlatеd discussions, connеct with profеssionals, and showcasе your еxpеrtisе to еnhancе your onlinе rеputation.

Networking Strategies for Landing Your Dream Job

Nеtworking plays an essential rolе in landing your drеam job. Lеvеragе both onlinе and offlinе nеtworking stratеgiеs to еxpand your profеssional connеctions.

  • Attеnd industry еvеnts, join rеlеvant profеssional associations, and еngagе in informational intеrviеws.
  • Activеly rеach out to individuals in your dеsirеd fiеld and sееk mеntorship opportunitiеs.
  • Building a robust nеtwork can provide valuable insights, rеfеrrals, and potеntial job opportunitiеs.

 

Rеsumе Mistakеs to Avoid: Common Pitfalls and How to Fix Thеm

It crеatеs a stеllar rеsumе; it is еssеntial to avoid common pitfalls that can undеrminе your chancеs of succеss.

  • Common mistakеs includе typos and grammatical еrrors, including irrеlеvant information, using cliched phrasеs, and failing to tailor your rеsumе to thе spеcific job rеquirеmеnts.
  • Proofrеad your rеsumе carеfully, sееk fееdback from trustеd individuals, and еnsurе that еach sеction adds valuе and aligns with thе job you arе targеting.

Thе Importancе of Proofrеading: Polishing Your Rеsumе to Pеrfеction

Proofrеading is a critical stеp in thе rеsumе writing procеss. Evеn minor еrrors can crеatе a nеgativе imprеssion and undеrminе your crеdibility.

 

Aftеr complеting your rеsumе, takе thе timе to carеfully rеviеw it for spеlling mistakеs, grammatical еrrors, and formatting inconsistеnciеs. Considеr еnlisting thе hеlp of a trustеd friеnd or profеssional proofrеadеr to providе an objеctivе pеrspеctivе.

 

Customizing Your Resume for Different Job Applications

Each job application is unique, and your resume should reflect this. Tailor your resume to match the specific requirements and preferences of each job you apply for.

It includes adjusting your professional summary, emphasizing different skills and experiences, and reordering sections to highlight the most relevant information. Customization demonstrates your attention to detail and genuine interest in the position.

 

Conclusion

In conclusion, an еxcеptional rеsumе plays a pivotal rolе in sеcuring your drеam job. It sеrvеs as a powеrful tool to showcasе your skills, еxpеriеncе, and qualifications to potеntial еmployеrs. By crafting a wеll-structurеd and tailorеd rеsumе, you can еffеctivеly highlight your uniquе valuе proposition and stand out from thе compеtition. Rеmеmbеr to еmphasizе your achiеvеmеnts, showcasе your kеy compеtеnciеs, and еnsurе a profеssional and visually appеaling layout. Invеsting timе and еffort into crеating an еxcеptional rеsumе can significantly incrеasе your chancеs of landing your drеam job.

 

FSC Blog Author: Mary Jean –  As you embark on your journеy to sеcurе IT intеrnships in Mеlbournе or any othеr dеsirеd location, mastеring thе art of resume writing is paramount.

 

FSC Career Blog – June 6, 2023

 

 

#JobSearch : The ‘Tough Love’ Pep Talk You Need For Your Job Search. Best Article to Share to your Job Seeker Today!

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If you have been interviewing for a while now to no avail, it is understandable that you might feel frustrated, tired, depressed and even burned out. Hopefully, you can take solace in knowing that you are not alone. All the things you have been experiencing—from the rejections to the ghosting to the backstabbing and self-sabotaging—are also lived by other job hunters.

Here’s What You Need To Do Right Away

Take a deep breath, relax and understand it’s not just you. Finding a new job is hard work and involves incredible stress. Most people only want to talk about their successes.

When you talk to friends and family, they might share their highlight reel by telling you how easily they found their new jobs and how much money they are making now. Often, they don’t offer the whole picture and how many “no’s” they had to hear before someone took a chance on them.

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Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

Focus On The Result

Throughout the job search process, be prepared to get your feelings hurt and your ego bruised. When you are interviewing, sometimes, you will have to endure what feels like sucker punch after sucker punch. It’s all a part of the game. In business, it is essential to remember not to take anything personally—although it’s easier said than done.

Focus on your ultimate goal and where you want to be, and confidently tackle it. It’s too easy to throw in the towel, stay where you are and remain unhappy. You must persevere, work hard and stay strong throughout the highs and lows.

When facing the hard times in your job search, remember to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and move forward. The right job will eventually come along.

You only have to be in the right place at the right time once to succeed. Then, when that time comes—and it will—you can look back and say it was all worth it in the end.

 

Forbes.com | June 24, 2023 | Jack Kelly

 

#JobSearch : 4 Job Search Lessons From Hiring Managers Who’ve Worked At Meta, Shopify & IBM. Asked these Recruiters on HOW to Stand Out? A MUst REad.

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How can I stand out from other candidates? What do hiring managers actually look for when it comes to deciding if they’ll interview someone, move them along in the hiring process, or give them a job offer?

                     Question: How do you stand out?

​​With tech layoffs still happening, there are thousands of job seekers in the tech industry looking for a new role right now. And these are some of the top questions job seekers ask me as a career and future of work expert.

So I went to the source and talked to hiring managers at Gusto, Cash App, Meta, Shopify, and IBMIBM +0.6%. Their top advice and takeaways will help you avoid making mistakes and increase the chances that you stand out in the sea of candidates out there and get hired for the job.

Lesson #1: Don’t discount your cover letter

I spoke with Amy Thibodeau, Chief Design Officer at Gusto, the SaaS company for HR and payroll, and here’s what Amy had to say about how to stand out with a cover letter.

“I pay attention to cover letters. I pay attention to the storytelling around why this role is for you because in the absence of that storytelling, all I have to go on are the facts that you happen to have listed in your CV. When I look at those facts, if I can’t see really clearly why this role makes sense for you, then I’m probably going to move to reject you before we even talk.”

She goes on to explain that a personalized cover letter that addresses the specific company you’re applying for goes a long way. Many people do not include cover letters with their job application and they are likely ending up in the no pile.

Lesson #2: Your interview is really your first day on the job

I spoke with McLean Donnelly, who is currently a professor of UX design at Savannah College of Art and Design.

When I spoke to him, he was the director of UX at Shopify and McClean, and I discussed the importance of the interview and the way you prepare for and conduct yourself in an interview is a foreshadowing of how you’ll perform once you are hired. Here’s what McClean had to say.

“People perform at the company like they interview. When you interview, you’re really starting the company, you’re building your peer group – it’s really setting the tone is not just like getting the job, it’s actually how you’re going to step into the company. And so if you’re upbeat, positive, well prepared. That’s kind of how people work, too. And so really think of it as almost like you’re starting your job. I really think there’s a correlation between how you interview and how people perform. And for me, I do keep an eye on that as we go through the interview process.”

To help take the pressure off during interviews, try to imagine that you’re having a conversation with someone who’s already a colleague. Try to create opportunities for back and forth dialogue rather than you rattling off answers and waiting for the next question.

 

Like this Article?  Share It!    You can now easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award-Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

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Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & Type(#Jobsearch, #Resume, or #Networking) in Blog Search:  https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened‘?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 32 years in delivering corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!   Visit & contact us @ www.firstsun.com

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity to serve & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

Article continued …

Lesson #3: Sweat the details of layout and design

Our third lesson is to sweat the details of layout and design. This one comes from a chat I had with Tyler King, who is currently a senior UX researcher at SAP, and when we spoke, Tyler was a UX research lead at IBM.

Tyler mentioned the importance of not neglecting the basics such as spelling and grammar, which seems so obvious, but as someone who’s done hiring myself, I can say with certainty, a lot of times candidates miss these details. Another thing she mentioned though, is the content and design of your resume.

So many resumes are either overly designed, or frankly unreadable due to small font sizes, poor layout, et cetera. Here is what Tyler had to say.

“Most of the time it’s hard to see red flags in resumes, but as a designer, if there’s not good information architecture and I can’t read your resume very easily, I’ll think, why are you a designer?

Help me get through your resume easily and parse very quickly, and make sure you have action words at the beginning of each statement. An example: “My leadership yielded… X amount of new users.”

Lesson #4: Understand that job descriptions are a wishlist

Our fourth lesson is that job descriptions are a wishlist.

Alik Brundrett, a Head of Design at Cash App and previously a Product Manager at Meta shed light on how job descriptions are written, why sometimes they aren’t written very well, and why candidates need to see job descriptions as a wishlist and not a hard set of requirements. Here’s what Alec had to say.

“Speaking broadly, not every job descriptionis written by the person who’s hiring for that job.

I think that that’s one big thing to keep in mind is that, at many companies, there’s a HR person or a recruiter that’s actually helping the hiring manager, and they might be the one drafting the job descriptions, or they might be going off of templates for when the last time they hired a designer.

As an example, if I need to get someone ramped up on a tool or software, it’s really not a big deal for me. I think if the right person applies for the role, we interview them and they don’t know a specialized software, if they really are the right fit, we will definitely consider them.

Most hiring managers view that as a low cost way to hire the right fit as it takes minimal cost for us to include training videos on a new tool.”

In the world of career and job search advice there is a lot of conflicting information out there. However, one thing that stands out is a lot of the advice lacks context and explanation. Next time you hear career advice that you’re templated to follow, ask yourself “why” to understand the strategy and context – just as we’ve heard from these four people involved in hiring.

 

Forbes.com Author: Sarah Doody –  Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

 

Forbes.com | June 22, 2023

#JobSearch : 5 Essential Skills To Put On Your Resume. Resumes Should be One Page Long. What is Important to You?

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Resumes are one page long. One page isn’t enough space for me to express my full thoughts on slight tweaks to the Instagram Reel algorithm—it’s not enough space for my professional life.

But, alas, we all must boil ourselves down to the one-pager. And between job experience, education, and summary statements, we must fit our skills. This is, after all, what you do at a job—use skills. I recommend not skipping the skills part—nearly 90% of resumes include it. Choosing what skills to put on a resume requires precision. You have a limited amount of space, and you need to strike the right balance of skills you have, skills the company wants, skills that are hard to acquire, and skills they might not know you have.

 

Read on for five tips on what skills should make the cut.

Technical Skills

Include relevant technical skills that are specific to your industry or the job you want. For example, proficiency in programming languages, software applications, data analysis tools, or design software. Technical skills also demonstrate a certain type of problem-solving ability which can be more broadly applicable, even if you’re not using those particular skills at work. Highlight your critical thinking and creativity via the technical tools you’ve mastered.

 

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Article continued …

Collaboration

Working with others is a skill—and one that you should share (since you’re good at sharing!). Nearly 61% of recruiters say that soft skills are as important as hard skills, so don’t skip this. “People who enjoy team-based, collaborative projects, if even just a little, should highlight that fondness in cover letters and ensure their resumes include a prominent line or two that demonstrates relevant experience, aptitude, and training,” says Dr. Deb Mashek, collaboration expert, consultant, and author of Collabor(h)ate. “If you like collaborating with others, say so!”

To show off your collaboration skills, highlight experiences where you contributed to group projects,. Emphasize your ability to effectively convey information, listen actively, write, and speak in public. All of these demonstrate you can work on a team.

Leadership

If you have experience leading teams or managing projects, emphasize your leadership skills. This may include: team building, delegation, conflict resolution, and project management. Get specific about what you’ve learned as a leader, and be ready to talk through details of how you invested in developing your leadership prowess. Leadership is important even if you’re not going to be managing anybody—you may lead a small project, or even just have an easier time working in a team if you understand the benefits of leadership. If you know how to do it, put it on the resume.

Social Media

Even if the job doesn’t require that you use social media directly, it can help to demonstrate that you understand where the customers are. Furthermore, an understanding of the shifting social media landscape shows that you’re ready and willing to adapt. In today’s rapidly changing work environment, employers value candidates who can adapt and thrive. Social media is essentially marketing, so understanding how to sell something on TikTok shows more than just dance skills—it shows you know how people in the year 2023 consume content.

Customer Service Skills

In many ways, we almost all have a customer service component to our jobs—even if the customer is internal. At some point, you’re providing someone else with a product or deliverable, and you want them to be happy with what you created. So if you’re good at working with customers and meeting their needs, include that in the skills section.

There are many other skills you may want to include on a resume, depending on which ones you have. Above all, the most important skills to highlight are the ones you feel most confident in. Just remember—everything on a resume is an invitation for a question. The interviewer could ask for details about any of the skills you claim to have, so be sure to be honest. And good luck!

 

Forbes.com | June 22 | Ginny Hogan