Daily Career Connection

Article Contributed by CareerAlley

“There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold And she’s buying the stairway to heaven.” - Led Zeppelin

Okay, let’s be honest, it’s all about money in the end. “No way” you say, “money is not the driving factor for me, it’s all about the experience”. So maybe that’s true, but unless you are independently wealthy, you still need money to pay the bills and put food on the table. After you find your job, the one that really motivates you, the money comes next. And, if you are like most people, you want to be paid what you’re worth. Most times, we are only worth what the market will bear. Unless we are so unique as to command an amazing salary (and if you were you would probably not be reading this article). So what are you worth? Do you know? Well you should know before you get the job offer. Some guides and salary search tools are included below. Like everything on the Internet these days, you could spend days (maybe weeks) researching salary. After a few trys at the firms listed below you should be able to get the basic information you need without spending days looking for it.

Start first with:

• You Want to Pay me What?
• Job Offer – What’s your Bottom Line?

Salary Surveys & Guides:

• The 2009 IT Salary Guide - This survey provides the average salary by IT job category. Click on any of the 10 or so job functions to see a brief overview, the average salary range followed by how this job survey compares to compares from city to city. Best of all, the site has links to other resources which you will find useful.

• JobStar Salary Surveys - This link to surveys, from JobStar.org, provides links to over 300 salary surveys. They start with a very long list of career types, followed by a link to general salary surveys. You should be able to find your functional role from this list and get a rough idea of what your salary might be in this market.

• Salary Guides by Robert Half - Another great resource from RHI, there are links to industry / functional role specific surveys such as Legal, Technology, Finance & Accounting and Office Team (to name a few). Click the link that interests you and you are led to a page where you can sign-up for the surveys.

Salary Calculator and Wizards:

• Salary Calculator - One of many salary calculators (way to many to list here), this one is offered by homefair.com. Type in your title, put in your zip code and you are all set to go. Fairly generic, but should give you a rough indication.

• PayScale Salary Calculator - This one is from, you guessed it - PayScale.com. Same deal here - job title, city and state and off you go.

• Calculate Your Salary - This one is from our friends at Yahoo.com. In addition to the salary survey stuff, there are also articles on salary and benefits.

• Salary Comparison and Salary Calculator - The NY Times‘ version (hey, do you remember the commercials that said “I got my job through the NY Times classified”?) which has both a salary comparison and salary calculator. The right hand side of the screen also has a cost of living calculator which can come in handy if you are thinking of moving to another city or state.

Good luck in your search.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Post by Teena Rose, ResumeToReferral.com

Invited to an interview, you step into the room and unload that heavy photo album you’ve been clinging to onto the conference table. In addition to a resume and brag book, you have pictures on your iPhone of your dogs and the neighbor’s cat stalking the birds enjoying your new bird feeder. The interview progresses by you opening and flipping through the pages of your album, pointing to your family and friends. You gladly draw the interviewer’s attention to those older pictures taken during your college days … and to the many of your drunk, sleeping positions your friends encapsulated forever through one click of a camera.

Eeerrrk!!!

What? Personal items presented during an interview?

Why not? Isn’t that basically what hiring companies are doing rummaging through your public social media accounts, learning more about you and your online activities?

The next few years are certainly gray, unchartered waters for jobseekers. The issue of whether a person’s personal life and involvement online should have any place in the hiring realm is definitely a topic that will be battled over for years — maybe even decades. Some might unexpectedly find themselves entangled in lawsuits, as privacy experts grow increasingly concerned that disqualifying a candidate based on information gained online can introduce certain forms of discrimination into the hiring process.

Jobseekers have every right to be concerned about protecting their online identities from prying eyes, but where should the line be drawn? Employers shouldn’t be given uninhibited access to a jobseeker’s private life, should they?

Interestingly, a recent study released at Microsoft’s 4th Annual Data Privacy Day identified that 70% of those surveyed in the US indicated they had disqualified a candidate based on online information. What was the incriminating online information that caused the disqualification? Of course this was not made public … and behind the curtain of hiring, only HR managers and recruiters seem privy to such information.

The deeper issue is whether employers should be allowed to open that flood gate by bringing social media activities into the hiring world in the first place. I’m reminded of a line from the movie Jurassic Park. When referring to scientists, Jeff Goldblum’s character says, “Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” Maybe employers poking through a jobseeker’s online activities are so preoccupied with the fact that they could that they never stopped to think whether they should.

Ahh, but hiring companies won’t find my online activities. Think again. Technology giants have only just begun leveraging the social media phenomena; and not surprisingly, for financial gain.

Microsoft announced the integration of Social Connector software, which will be released mid-2010. The add-on software is designed to let someone like me readily see the online communications from those who send me email. Microsoft’s Group Product Manager, Dev Balasubramanian, was quoted as saying: “As you communicate you can see their social activities; you can see all the folks in your social network and it updates as you are reading your e-mail.” Certainly it appears to offer great benefits to the masses, but for jobseekers, it just might leave an unpleasant sour aftertaste.

No doubt, employers will soon be given a larger spy glass — and unfortunate for jobseekers, Microsoft isn’t the only company abuzz with developing new applications that will take public social media data and translate it into something that can be researched and used, for good and evil.

Regardless, employers need to take a long look at their current hiring practices to determine whether a drunken party photo showing Joe Jobseeker has anything to do with the value Joe brings to the table professionally, and how well he performs while on the job.
About the Author

Teena Rose is a professional speaker, career coach, book author, former columnist, and top-endorsed resume writer and job strategist. She leverages job-search collateral (i.e. resume, cover letter, executive bios), applying new social networking, personal branding, online portfolios, and new technologies/tools to further benefit the careers of her clientele. She’s your first choice during a job or career change. Contact Teena Rose at (937) 325-2149 or at her website; http://www.resumebycprw.com

Guest Post by T. Murray, www.PersonalityOnaPage.com

As you progress through college ultimately you will begin to think about your future, more specifically, the type of career you want to pursue. When you have narrowed down the professional track, trade or industry where you want to get your feet wet consider finding a mentor in that field. Seeking out an adult already in the field you are interested in may seem like an impossible task. However, you have more access to career advisors than you think. Leverage the following outlets to put together your short list of possible college mentors.

Alumni Organizations
All colleges and universities have some form of outreach to former students. Many schools depend on graduates to donate funds back to support programming and traditional activities, such as homecoming. There are often opportunities for students to work with the school to reach back to alumni and connect with them through current events on campus. Your alumni organization is an excellent way to meet an established individual in your field. You have the perfect ice breaker once you are in a situation to interact with alumni. Let them know you are a current student and you are interested in knowing what they’ve been up to since they left college.

Professors/Instructors
Talk to professors and course instructors in your major area of study about resources for finding mentors. Some of them may have availability to guide you during your time in school or they may know of a colleague in the field looking to forge a mentor/mentee relationship with a student.

Campus Organizations
Campus organizations and clubs that are aligned with certain professions or majors are likely to host events that attract speakers and presenters who have attained some level of success. As you attend club sponsored events don’t be afraid to reach out to a campus visitor or speaker who may strike a chord with you professionally or personally. Find out if they are open to a correspondence in which you can ask them career oriented questions as you progress through your major. These types of contacts can be essential when it comes time to look for summer internships or jobs after graduation.

Conferences
While attending large conferences may mean incurring cost, the networking opportunities they present may help you reap the benefits in the end. Conferences that are directly tied to your profession or interests are excellent places to meet mentors. When it comes to registration, many of these events offer student discounts and sometimes you may even find scholarships are available to attend certain events that require travel and lodging. Get a conference program book while you are there, especially if you are only able to attend a portion of the event. Typically the names and biographies of all the presenters are in these books. You can later try to reach out to presenters to ask questions or inquire about mentor/mentee opportunities with them as individuals or with organizations they may be active in.

Summer Jobs
Internships are one of the easiest places to make contact with potential mentors. If you enjoy your summer experience working with a particular individual who has made a career out of the things you are interested in, chances are you might also mesh well in a mentor/mentee arrangement. Make sure to keep communication open after the summer or co-op period has ended. Working relationships between mentors and their mentees grow over time. If you work at the same company for a series of summers or semesters, chances are you will find that the mentor takes an increasing interest in your studies and future, especially if it looks like you may become a full time addition to the company.

Social Networking
This is a good way to meet people working in your chosen field thanks to internet and site searching capabilities. You can leverage sites like LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook to find a mentor. Post a status to let others know you are looking to speak to established professionals in a certain job or industry. Reach out through groups or find out about offline events posted on the web. With Social Networking you should be careful to validate sources you meet that are not via a friend connection or recommendation. Start an email correspondence and ask some of the questions on your mind and ask chosen individuals if they have mentored before. In today’s technology age it is easy to have a long distance mentor as well.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Guest Post by Deborah A. Bailey www.dbaileycoach.com

Growing frustrated by your job search? Or are you procrastinating because starting the process seems too daunting? If you want your search to yield results, don’t make these mistakes!

Mistake #1: Not Spending Time on Networking

In spite of the popularity of online job boards, most jobs are found through networking. When you network you can find out about jobs before they are posted – or connect with jobs that never find their way to the job boards. You’ll increase your chances of success by letting everyone in your network know that you’re looking.

Don’t think that you know enough people? Then grow your network by attending business and social networking events. In addition, non-business social events are also a great way to connect with people. The point is to connect and build relationships. As people get to know you (and you get to know them) you will increase the likelihood that you will find out about opportunities. While you are going out and meeting new people, don’t forget that you can also network from your computer by joining online groups such as LinkedIn and Facebook.  No matter how you do it, just make sure to get out there.

Mistake #2: Being Too Scattered in Your Search

Sometimes job seekers are reluctant to narrow their search by committing to a specific job. They think they will increase their chances by applying for many different types of positions. However, it’s not a good idea to apply for any job that comes along because it sounds like it might be a fit. Employers are looking for candidates who have proven skills that are in line with the requirements. The more you scatter your efforts across the board, the more time you’ll waste applying for positions that aren’t a good match for you.

Focus on positions that are in line with your skills and your career direction. You want to be seen as an expert – someone who will be an asset to a prospective employer. It will be hard to be seen as someone with a high level of expertise (and decrease your chances of being called in for an interview) if you apply for positions that have little or nothing to do with what’s on your resume.

Mistake #3: Not Doing Your Research

Take the time to find out about the job you want. For instance, does it require specialized training or certifications? Are the jobs based in your geographic location or will you have to move? What is the salary range? Whether you are looking for a position within your current industry or looking at positions in related fields, you will reduce your chances of success if you aren’t prepared before you begin submitting resumes.

Knowing the details about the position will help you when you update your resume. If you know what specific skills are required, you can play up those points on your resume and in your cover letter.

In addition, if on an interview you can mention facts you’ve learned about the company, or show that you have stayed up to date on trends, it will make you stand out. Not to mention that doing your research up front will also assist you if you decide to look for a job in a new industry. Get your facts first and lessen the chance you’ll regret your job choice later.

Mistake #4: Not Having Your Resume Updated

Does your resume have the right keywords? Did you include details about your present (or last) position?  Does your resume include the job title you’re applying for? Look at job ads for the position you want and note what is mentioned in the job requirements. Use those phrases and keywords in your resume to increase the possibility that your resume will be found in database searches.

If you are applying for more than one position, you should have a resume tailored to each one. For instance, if you are applying for a technical writer position and a business analyst position, be sure that you have two versions of your resume. Those two types of positions require related types of skills; however you may want to play up certain accomplishments in one version or the other.

Do not include jobs that you had over ten years ago. Employers are more interested in what you’ve done lately. If your resume is geared to internal company job searching, make sure to revise it before you send it out. Don’t include acronyms and abbreviations that no one outside of your current company (or industry) will understand.

Mistake #5: Not Being Consistent in Your Search

If you’re stopping and starting your job search, your results will be equally inconsistent. Set up daily and weekly tasks in your calendar to insure that you are on track. Have a vision for where you want to go, and don’t be discouraged if it takes longer than you expect. With more people out in the market looking for jobs, there’s increased competition.

Follow up with leads and contacts, and set up a schedule so that you can be sure to follow through. In all honesty, looking for a job is a job, and you have to bring the same commitment to it as you would to your job responsibilities.

Consistent and steady work towards your goal will get you where you want to go!

Copyright © 2009 Deborah A. Bailey