Features

Redefining the job search

tips of the trade

2008: the year of the rat

Redefining the Job Search

Searching for a new job or internship can be a daunting task. The process involves many steps—from properly identifying your skill set to knowing how to project a positive self image during the critical face-to-face interview with a potential employer. Add resume and cover letter writing to the mix, and the job search can become a nerve-racking experience.

Luckily, alumni and students of City University of Seattle have access to a wealth of job information—such as job search assistance and various academic programs. City University’s Career Center is one place to start.

“The Career Center is a budding venture that allows students and alumni to stop in, call in, or email us to access all types of job information as well as find answers to commonly asked job questions such as ‘How do I get an internship or job,’ How can I advance in my current position,’ or ‘How to can I move into a totally different career,’” says Crista Shaw, the center’s director. “So students have a lot of opportunities within the career center by working with the resources that we have.”

On-Line Career Searching
The Career Center offers two unique services. One is an online career site called Career Connections, which was created by CityU’s Alumni Office. CityU students and alumni can enter the site through the portal page (located at http://alumni.cityu.edu/networking/) on an ongoing basis by registering through Alumni Relations where they will receive a username and password. Once registration is complete, they can search for a number of jobs by viewing a host of employers’ listings.

“While the Career Connections piece of the alumni online community is still primarily focused on the Pacific Northwest, it’s noteworthy that these employers specifically send their job postings to CityU of Seattle. They know who they are targeting and they value the kind of graduate CityU produces. I look forward to Career Connections becoming more international as we partner with multinational organizations,” says Eileen Ryan-Rojas, CityU’s Director of Alumni Relations and Development.

And since many at CityU prefer to access information online, the Career Connections website facilitates virtual access of job listings at anytime, from anywhere.

“We have students living across the United States who will typically access this type of information on line,” adds Shaw. “If you’re like me, when the kids are down in the evening or whenever you have some quiet time to concentrate, this is when students will log on and search for a job, look for an internship, or simply access resources to help them think through what they really need to access the job market.”

A Virtual Blackboard
Another fantastic tool, says Shaw, is the Career Center Blackboard website, which offers free classes from the Career Center that allow students to post their resume for guidance, and view comments from the Career Center. Spearheaded by Cindy Schafer, a senior faculty member at CityU, the free Blackboard classes allow users to access PowerPoint presentations, a list of job search sites, information on interviewing, job search assistance, tips on resume writing, and much more.

Accessible through the CityU portal (and not the alumni online community) alumni and students alike are welcome to use these Blackboard resources. If you do not yet have a username and password, go to https://cusep.mycmsc.com/psp/cusepprd/?cmd=login&languageCd=ENG& and follow the directions to “Create Your Account”. It’s important to be clear that Blackboard is accessed through this link while Career Connections can be access through the alumni online community at http://alumni.cityu.edu/.

Shaw often interacts with a user in real time to assist them while using the tool.

“Frequently I will direct a student in another city to access the Blackboard site to know where to start and concurrently attach his/her resume for me to review,” notes Shaw. This professional, individualized service is what sets the the Career Center apart from other centers of its kind.

Shaw has a master’s degree in vocational rehabilitation with employer development/job development as a specialization, so she knows what to look for when working one-on-one with a student.

“I have practical knowledge that I can share through my business development experience,” she says. “So I am not reinventing the wheel but am taking direction from the employer community and from partnerships that I’ve developed over the years to share job search strategies and HR guidance with students I work with.”

To contact Crista Shaw at the Career Center, email her at cshaw@cityu.edu or careers@cityu.edu.

Sharpen That Resume
Resume writing workshops also are available at CityU and offer practical tips on how to structure a resume properly. Such workshops also teach attendees how to successfully scan a job ad to determine if they are indeed qualified for the position.

Regina Pontow, the author of more than 13 resume writing books and the creator of the resume writing website www.provenresumes.com, conducted a well-attended resume writing workshop at CityU last spring. “It was one of the more successful alumni gatherings in terms of interest and results,” says Ryan-Rojas.

Pontow believes the reason her workshops have become so successful is that over time she has developed a way to present the information that is both exciting and useful to attendees.

“Years ago, I asked myself how I could sell resume writing so it wasn’t boring. So I began to apply advertising and marketing techniques to my resume writing lectures and began to test it during my workshops until I found a formula that works,” she says.

In workshops, like the one she organized for CityU last spring, Pontow presents many before-and-after examples and then incites audience participation. She then begins to dissect the information contained in the resume and asks the audience specific questions about the person’s qualifications and if the resume best reflects his/her skill set.

One of the most important skills the job seeker can take away, says Pontow, is the ability to properly analyze a job ad.

“If someone were to gather ten to 15 job ads, underline all of the skills, extract them, and group them together, they are going to know what they should be selling about themselves in the resume. So this is one of the important things I teach,” she says.

Pontow also teaches job seekers how to properly organize the information in a resume so that the potential employer (or HR person) scanning the resume can quickly find the applicant’s skills.

”I use the job ads as the guide to find the skills to outline in the resume and then use marketing and advertising to direct and control the eye path,” she says.

One mistake many job seekers make is to shy away from applying for a job because they think they are not fully qualified.

“A lot of people will read a job ad and say, ‘Oh, I don’t have this or that skill so I can’t apply. But the fact is even if they only have two or three of the skills listed, they still should apply for the job because you never know what the hiring pool is going to be at any given time,” says Pontow. “Most resumes don’t highlight or sell even one or two of the skills an employer is looking for. So if the job seeker highlights even one or two of the skills requested in a job ad, they may still get the interview.” (See the additional Q&A box with Pontow for additional job searching tips.) To contact Pontow, email her at r.pontow@provenresumes.com.

“It is a very exciting time in the Pacific Northwest,” adds Shaw. “Employers are ready to hire City University of Seattle students in our region and abroad. It involves a little bit of work to prepare, but if students are willing to do that, they will certainly benefit immeasurably.”

	Tips of the Trade Regina Pontow, master resume writer, author of 13 resume writing books and several resume writing websites such as www.provenresumes.com, offers these practical job search skills, including powerful resume writing tips that work. Below is a recent Q&A with the successful author. Q: How often should one update their resume? A: It’s good to keep your resume updated as you move through your career; it’s also good to keep track of your achievements. One thing I see when I begin to work with people on a resume is that many times they have accomplished a lot (e.g. they’ve implemented a project that saved X amount of money to the company) but they don’t keep notes so it’s hard for them to recall the information so keeping track of those things is important. If you think you might be looking for a position soon, then it’s important to keep a collection of the ads for jobs you are interested in. You should then underline all of the skills in the job ad so you know what you should update on the resume. Q: Why is a cover letter so important? A: In many of the workshops that I have given (especially those where I’ve addressed directors of HR and deans of workforce programs) some say they look at the cover letter first while others say they look at the resume first and then the cover letter. Since you never know which document the person doing the hiring is going to be looking at first, both of these need to be stand alone documents that contain enough information that matches what they are looking for in a new hire. Q: What type of information should be contained in a cover letter? A: When I write cover letters for people I tend to first talk about their accomplishments and then in a paragraph I will try to include some information about their personal traits and characteristics. For example, if someone has demonstrated in their job that they were a real visionary or if they are customer oriented, I will try to include some of that personal information there. Q: What are some of the biggest mistakes job seekers make in a face-to-face interview? A: One of the biggest mistakes job seekers make is that they do not prepare properly for the interview. For instance, a lot of people go into the interview without having analyzed the job ad—so they have not done any surveillance or reconnaissance on what the job really entails. Also, they may not have completed any research on the company and they may not know anything about the person that is about to interviewing them. Also, if someone else (not the job seeker) has written the resume, or if much time has passed since they have reviewed the document, they need to do so since most interviewers will use the resume and ask questions from it. To prepare properly, I advise job seekers to analyze the job ahead of time, review the position requirements or the job ad carefully, and identify what are the critical areas that they may be asked about. Lastly, be ready to sell the employer your top four to five skills. Q: Is there a particular style of resume that is used more than others? There is one particular resume format that I like to use because it’s been tested and works very well. I begin by using the job seeker’s job title or a skill heading (if the job title is weak). I then use subheads beneath that to sell specific skills and achievements that match what that employer is looking for. This way, someone can just scan those job titles/skill headings and subheads (based on what we’ve analyzed in the job ad) and hopefully we’ve hooked them. This format, which follows a chronological order, can be used for a variety of positions across many industries. Functional skill-based resumes have less reception than do resumes that are organized chronologically. Q: How important are thank you letters? A: They are very important. The applicant/job seeker needs to decide how quickly to send it based on how soon the hiring cycle will end. For example, if you know the company will hiring within three days, then you may not have time for direct mail but in that case an email thank you note would work well. Also, in the thank you note, summarize your top achievements based on what you’ve learned from the interview, which gives you another chance to sell your self to the potential employer and hopefully close the deal. I actually got a job once because I sent a thank you letter, which was received while they were in the process of meeting about the position. I was one of the finalists for the position but my thank you note put me at the top of the list of candidates. Once I was hired, my employer told me they hired me thanks to that thank you letter. Q: What are some of the benefits of a well written resume and cover letter? A: Receiving a higher salary is definitely one of the benefits of a good resume. I have helped people get anywhere from a $2,000 to an $80,000 pay increase, which I helped secure this summer for a client. So a well written resume and cover letter not only helped this client get a greater salary, but think about how quickly he was able to advance without having to wait another year or five years to jump to that level. These tools also help increase one’s self confidence. A really strong resume carries through to the interview because the interviewer is going to looking at your resume and begin asking questions from it, so it positions you even before you walk through the door and helps drive the interview.

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2008: The Year of the Rat

Rich in tradition, folklore, and rituals, the Chinese New Year, which is based on the Chinese lunar calendar, begins on February 7, 2008 and starts with the new moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later.

Since the lunar cycle is about 29.5 days, in order to "catch up" with the solar calendar, the Chinese essentially insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-year cycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on a leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

Preparations typically begin a month before the date of the Chinese New Year (similar to a Western Christmas), when presents, decorations, food, and clothing are brought. A huge clean-up gets underway days before the New Year, when Chinese houses are cleaned from top to bottom. This ritual is supposed to sweep away all traces of bad luck. Doors and windowpanes are often given a new coat of paint, usually red, then decorated with paper decorations with themes such as happiness, wealth, and longevity printed on them.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated among family and is a time of reunion and thanksgiving. Traditionally, the celebration was highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household, and the family ancestors. The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

New Year’s Eve is perhaps the most exciting part of the holiday. Here, traditions and rituals are very carefully observed in everything from food to clothing. Dinner is usually a feast of seafood and dumplings, signifying different good wishes. Delicacies include prawns (for liveliness and happiness), dried oysters ( ho xi), for all things good, fish dishes or Yau-Yu to bring good luck and prosperity, Fai-chai (angel hair), an edible hair-like seaweed to bring prosperity, and dumplings boiled in water (Jiaozi) signifying a long-lasting good wish for a family. It also is customary to wear something red, since the bright color is supposed to ward off evil spirits. After dinner, families stay up to play cards, board games, or watch television programs dedicated to the occasion. At midnight, fireworks light up the sky.

(Source: www.the holidayspot.com)

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