Job Search Tips

Here is an interesting interview with Mark Stelzner a successful HR Executive. Check it out here!

Taking a lower salary is a question I get asked often. The answer is yes. In a difficult economic times it is better to take a lower salary so that you are working again. The longer you are out of work the longer poeple are going to wonder if something is wrong with you. Here is an article that covers this idea.

Read this article and ask yourself if you are making these mistakes. If you see yourself in this list I recommend that you take alternative actions.

Have you ever wondered what goes through the minds of hiring managers? Check out this article for some of the answers.

Here is a great article on keeping your job search organized.  Check it out here.

Here is a tip for all you computer programmers out there (get rid of that pocket protector, yes I’m talking to you).  If you want to develop your programmer career,or even break into the profession, what can you do?

One thing you could do is get involved in a programming community. There are thousands out there but the one I recommend is called Stackoverflow. This is a programming question and answer site with some cool twists. For example answers are voted on by the community. Because of this the correct answers to the questions are almost always positioned at the top.

The feature that make this site useful for a programming job search is reputation. Stackoverflow’s reputation is a rough approximation of how much the Stackoverflow community trusts you. You gain reputation points by having your answers voted up by the community.  As you gain reputation you gain more the ability to do things on the site like edit questions, leave comments, or even delete duplicate questions.

Success in building reputation is evidence of a talented developer. This is something that you could even put on your resume. I even know of tech recruiters that use the site to locate tech talent based (at least partially) on reputation scores.

In closing if you want to develop your programming career you should consider getting invovled with Stackoverflow.

I sometimes read about video resumes and how they are the wave of the future. Trust me thay aren’t. Check out this Time article for more information on the subject

This article cracked me up. Don’t do this at your next job interview: Aticle

My company offers resume writing services. One of the easiest up-sells we could offer our clients is resume distribution. “Why don’t you give me $195.00 extra dollars and I’ll distribute your resume to hundreds of online job boards?”

So why doesn’t my company offer this service and pocket some quick cash? The simple reason why we don’t is the fact that blasting your resume to hundreds of job boards does not help you find a job. All it does is give you unwanted email and phone calls from people tying to scam you. (work at home and make $1,000 per hour stuffing envelopes).

Save your money and post your information on a couple of the top job boards. You should consider using a separate email and phone number to avoid spam. Remember that while it’s ok to post your resume online, your best chance of job search success will come from networking.

Are you looking for a job and wondering if improving your public speaking skills is a worthwhile investment? Let me kill the suspense and tell you that the answer is a resounding yes. Few self improvement projects will pay the dividends of improving your ability to communicate information to a group of individuals.

In my previous life I was a computer programmer. Like most computer programmers, public speaking was not my strong suit. The mere thought of giving a presentation gave me the chills. When I finally did get up to present, I always seemed to stumble and come off sounding like less then ideal.

Well I got fed up and decided that I was going to improve my public speaking abilities, and turn public speaking from a weakness into a strength. I read books; I listened to audio programs, and even purchased an expensive public speaking video series. The problem is that nothing worked. I still pretty much sucked at public speaking after consuming all of these materials.

What finally helped was joining my local Toastmasters club. If you are not aware Toastmasters is an international organization of local clubs dedicated to helping member’s developer their public speaking skills. These clubs meet weekly (sometimes bi-weekly). Each meeting is structured to maximize the opportunities for each member to speak. There are formal speeches, self introductions, impromptu speaking, and various roles that all require you to stand in front of an audience and talk.

The reason Toastmasters worked for me is because the meetings provide a regular dose of public speaking education mixed with tons of experience. You not only learn and observe but every week you will be speaking in some capacity or another. This is a very powerful one two educational punch.

If you want to improve your public speaking skills let me recommend that you join your local Toastmasters club. This could be the best self improvement project you ever tackle.

See you at the lectern.