LinkedIn – So Misunderstood
There are so many people out there who have signed-up for LinkedIn, put their résumé on the site, added their work history, joined a group or two and then sat there waiting for people to come to them with job offers.
I signed up for LinkedIn back in December 2007 and the above is basically what I did with it. Oh once in a while, I updated my work history or changed my Summary, but didn’t really understand what it was. When nothing happened, I thought “what a useless site”. At least that is the attitude that I had until this week.
After almost 5 years on LinkedIn, I am just beginning to figure out what it is all about. (more…)
My Job Search – Weekly Progress Report 5/5/12
My new profile picture
This was one of those weeks where you learn so much and you seem to do even more!
Blog Posts Written
- Dramatic Changes to the Blog
- Ageism and How I am Fighting Back
- Have You Looked In the Mirror Lately?
- Have You Done Your Work History Yet?
- VA for Vets Career Center Website
- Blogging During My Job Search
- A Lot of Job Search Work To Be Done
- Veterans’ Networking Session 4-23-12
Helping Someone
Early in the week, I met with the facilitator of a training I had attended the week before, to help him update his blog. This was fun for me, working on improving a blog’s appearance is something I enjoy doing and have done a lot over the past few years (right Richard – a friend of mine who gives me grief about my changing themes so much). Those skills are now something that I can use to help others. 
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Dramatic Changes to the Blog
As you have noticed, I have made some very dramatic changes to my blog this afternoon!!!!
I was not feeling comfortable with the image I was projecting with the name “Old Guy Job Search” – not the name itself, because it describes exactly who I am and what I am doing. However, the title just seemed too limiting and as I thought more about it, does it convey the image that I want to portray to readers and potential employers?
With the name “Old Guy Job Search“, I also knew that I would have had to change my title after I find employment, otherwise it would become dated and no longer fit the what I would be doing. (more…)
Have You Done Your Work History Yet?
Have you done your Work History yet?
If not why not?
Unfortunately or fortunately, however you look at it, Federal, State and many other job applications need a lot of detail about you, when you are applying for a job. I know that Maine‘s are almost onerous and the Federal Government application is not easy to do quickly, so sooner or later you have to put together your work history.
If you have the work history completed, you are not under as much pressure if you suddenly need to complete an application quickly (like yesterday, but no later than today) and then end up not presenting yourself in the best possible light that is the typical result, when you do something too quickly.
This happened to me when I submitted my Federal Resume for a Veteran’s Service Representative position that opened with a three-day window at the end of March. I learned about the announcement on day two. Which coincidentally, was the first day that I started talking to with the professionals at the Augusta Career Center. My application that I submitted definitely was not the quality that it would be today.
To be brutally honest I was not ready for that application and when I look at it now, it needed a lot more work to be a one that would get me to the next step. (more…)
Daily Job Search Update – 4-26-12
Today was another busy day. I did a little networking (oh how I hate that word), but I know it is necessary and there isn’t really any other way to describe what you are doing that sounds any better .
Then I worked on updating my General Administrator resume and got it pretty close to where I want it to be, it still needs some minor tweaking and a good double-check for grammar/spelling errors. If you would like to take a look here is the link to take a peek. If you have any comments or constructive criticisms – yes they are welcome.
Tomorrow, I want to work on my Professional Trainer resume, which interests me a lot more than general administration. I loved being in the classroom teaching and doing the challenging work of creating interesting lessons or presentation that the learners find useful. Being a trainer is something that I believe I would be great at and have a lot of experience in the classroom and providing training to adults. This will be a good direction to do a lot more research into.
Next week I have to go through and create two Federal Resumes (still deciding whether to just use USAJOBS or the new VA for Vets Career Center – I have one just about done in USAJOBS that I can copy or maybe I will go ahead and just put everything into the VA site? Still deciding on that one. (more…)
VA for Vets Career Center Website
This site is probably old news for many out there, but I just found it today. I was doing research on the web this morning and started looking around the Veteran’s Administration Web pages and came across a link to the VA for Vets Career Center and went and looked around.
Being a former teacher, I enjoy taking little online courses, that can help me learn more about a site or how to do something.
So I completed the Introduction to the VA for Vets Career Center Presentation/Course. Which had a lot of great information and practical tips on how to use the site correctly and then worked on VA for Vets Profile and signed up for the site. https://vaforvets.va.gov
Blogging During My Job Search
Old Guy Job Search Blog Screenshot 4-25-12
As part of my job search I will start using the Professional Crossroads blog as part of my overall job search strategy. It will be a central repository of things that I do and learn during this next stage of my professional life and yes I changed the name a couple of weeks after starting it to Professional Crossroads.
I have heard the negatives about blogging while job searching, i.e. you will reveal too much about yourself, the potential employer will find reasons to not hire you, etc. To me these reasons are bogus, I want my potential employer to know more about me, that yes I have flaws and am not perfect, in other words that I am human.
If a prospective employer is looking for reasons to disqualify candidates or look for someone who is perfect (instead of someone who would be a great addition to their organization), then I seriously have to ask if I it is the kind of place that I would really want to work.
When I do accept a new job, I want it to be the kind of job that I will want to go to work every day, not a place where I go to put in my time. There is a big difference between the two and I have a pretty good idea of what I want and will explore it further here on Professional Crossroads. (more…)
