Top 10 Job Search Tips

http://www.westhillconsulting-career.com/blog/2014/03/06/top-10-job-search-tips/

Is your job search off to a slow start or getting stuck? Here are some quick time-saving job search tips that will help your hunt for a new job go smoothly.

Be Prepared. Have a voice mail system in place and sign-up for a professional sounding email address. Consider getting a separate email account to use for your job search, so you can stay organized. Put your cell phone number on your resume so you can follow up in a timely manner. This job search toolkit will help you get everything you need set for your job search. Westhill Consulting & Employment Australia has some good tips for finding work in countries such as KL Malaysia, Jakarta Indonesia, Beijing China, Bangkok Thailand and many more.

Be More Than Prepared. Always have an up-to-dateresume ready to send - even if you are not currently looking for work. You never know when an opportunity that is too good to pass up might come along. If you're not on LinkedIn yet, create a LinkedIn and start making connections who can help you job search.

Don't Wait. If you are laid-off, file for unemployment benefits right away. You will most likely be able to file online or by phone. Waiting could delay your benefits check.

Get Help. Utilize free or inexpensive services that provide career counseling and job search assistance such as college career offices, state Department of Labor offices or your local public library. Many libraries provide workshops, programs, classes, computers and printers you can use, and other resources to help you with your job search. Here's more on getting job search help at the library.

Create Your Own Templates. Have copies of your resume and cover letter ready to edit. That way you can change the content to match the requirements of the job you're applying for, but, the contact information and your opening and closing paragraphs won't need to be changed. Microsoft Word users can download free templates for resumes, cover letters and email messages which can be personalized for your own correspondence.

Review Samples. It's always a good idea to look at sample letters and resumes to get ideas for your own job search materials. Take a look at our collection of resume, cv, and letter samples.

Use Job Search Engines. Search the job search engines. Use the job search engine sites to search the major job boards, company sites, associations, and other sites with job postings for you - fast. You will be able to search all the jobs posted online in one step.

Jobs by Email. Let the jobs come to you. Use job alerts to sign up and receive job listings by email. All the major job sites have search agents and some websites and apps specialize in sending announcements.

Time Savers. Strapped for time? Consider getting professional help writing or editing your resume.

References Ready. Have a list of three references including name, job title, company, phone number and email address ready to give to interviewers. Print a copy of your reference list and bring it with you to interviews. Here's how to create a list of references.

Use Your Network. Be cognizant of the fact that many, if not most, job openings aren't advertised. Tell everyone you know that you are looking for work. Ask if they can help.

Get Social. Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter can be a good way to get job listings before they are listed elsewhere. Plus, you can promote your candidacy using the social media tools that are readily available for free for job seekers and companies are increasingly using social media for recruiting. Here's how to get started with social networking.

This tip isn't a time saver, but, it will broaden your online job search resources.

Don't Stop. Don't limit your job searching to the top sites like Monster or CareerBuilder. Check the smaller niche sites that focus on a particular geographic location or career field and you will find plenty of job listings. Networking works, too. Tap into your network of contacts to see who might be able to help you with job leads or a referral.

Westhill Consulting & Employment How to Give Yourself the Best Possible Chance of Landing A Job?

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 3 years, you’ll know that job hunting is tough. In fact, in general the world of employment is rocky and is something that has affected people massively over the past couple of years. With people being made redundant, companies cutting back on new intake and less opportunities being made available, people are stuck.  This has resulted in massive numbers of people applying for vacancies when they do become available – which means that the recruitment process is tougher than ever! Does this mean you need to be stuck in a job you hate or living a life on benefits? Not at all. It means you need to be inventive, organized and well informed on the ways of recruitment, to give yourself the best possible chance of being given any job that you apply for.

Keep At It 

It can be disheartening when you’re looking for a job and nothing seems to come up of. The first thing to remember is that climbing a career ladder is tough and you’ll be up against some stiff competition. Companies can only see a limited number of people during their recruitment process so are often very picky when it comes to who gets to the interview stage. You need to bear this in mind and don’t give up when it seems like you’re just not getting anywhere at all.

Instead make sure that you look in different places for job adverts and keep applying for any that peak your interest. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket and apply for one job at a time – get your application out there to as many companies as possible in order to give yourself the best possible chance of being successful.

Think Outside The Box

Sometimes you need to take the initiative and contact a company, even if they aren’t advertising jobs. It’s not recommended that you simply spam every company in your local area with letters, but if there is a company that you would love to work for – why not let them know? Companies generally like people that are passionate about a brand or product, so if they can see this passion in you then you never know they might give you a chance.

Sometimes the initial offer will be a work experience opportunity, but you should grab this with both hands if you can because you never know what this will lead to.

Brush Up Your CV

Before you start applying for jobs you need to make sure that your CV is on-point. Don’t just assume that because it was good enough a few years ago that it is good enough now, because trends change. It is a good idea to contact a local recruitment agency and ask them what they look for in a decent CV. You’ll also find loads of information on this online. It might not be necessary to start your CV from scratch, but you’ll probably need to make a few tweaks to the layout to make it perfect.

It goes without saying that your CV should have no spelling errors and be grammatically correct. Generally speaking your CV should be 2 pages long, with your work history and experience at the top of this. Remember that recruiters usually have lots of CV’s to read through; you don’t want to give them any excuse not to read yours.

Think about the layout of it – you want it to look crisp and easy to read. They will usually skim read a bunch of CV’s to see how they match and then spend longer reading the ones that they liked and thought suitable. A messy layout could mean that they dismiss you and your CV at the first stage and of course this is something that you want to avoid.

Interview Techniques

If you get through to the interview stage then firstly give yourself a massive pat on the back. We have seen how tough the world of recruitment is, so to get to this stage should be seen as a massive positive.

There are loads of places you can get interview hints and tips, so there is no need to go into one unprepared. One of the best pieces of advice that can be given to you about interviews is to make sure that you are organized and prepared. Don’t assume you can just read up on the company the night before – this will just leave you feeling stressed and anxious, which is not the best approach for a job interview.

Read up about the company before you go and write down a couple of questions that you would like to ask them. This could be to do with the company, its growth, its plans or even specific to the job role you are applying for. It is important that you show an interest, so asking questions is essential.

You also need to think about what they are likely to ask you – prepare answers for questions about your strengths, weaknesses and experience. You’ll usually be allowed to take interview notes in with you so have buzz words written down to remind you of your answers. Interviewers will generally allow for nerves but you still need to come across as confident as you can.

Remember, as well as assessing your suitability for the job role they’re also looking at how you are going to fit in with a team. They want someone that is out-going, friendly and confident so that they don’t have to worry about how you are going to fit in with the people you are working with. Even if you’re shaking on the inside, try and project positivity and confidence as much as possible.

Sealing The Deal

End the interview on a high note so that you feel positive. Ask them when you’re likely to hear from them and encourage them to contact you should they have any more questions that they want to ask you.

Remember, just because you have had a good interview that doesn’t mean you should give up looking. If you miss a couple of day’s job hunting, you could miss out on your dream job. Instead, keep at it and carry on applying for jobs until you land your dream job role!

This Simple Strategy Will Make You the Top Candidate for Any Job

If you read most articles about the world of job seeking, hiring and employment these days, it all sounds so easy. Countless online-business publications snare readers with headlines like “5 things you shouldn’t eat before a job interview” or “How to tell if applicants are lying about their last job” (or even the headline to this article). These litanies of tips and tricks play right into the notion that effort isn’t really required. That somehow just by studying the game, you can avoid the traps and master the tricks. That you can find the job or employee of your dreams and do it with little true investment.

Most job searchers believe that a few key adjustments to a one-page resume, submitted to the best job board and optimized to catch eyes is all it takes. Hit send and hope for the best. Employers too buy into the promise of shortcuts and immediate results. As if it’s quick and simple to find the next man up when someone goes down. As if the employment landscape is a plug-and-play world of new faces claimed on an as-needed basis.

It’s maddening, short-sighted and ironically, it could be a cause of the job crisis in this country. While there are some 10.2 million unemployed in the US, there are also some 4 million open jobs in our country. What we have is a lack of thoughtful pursuit of both quality employees and desirable career opportunities. Because in the torrent of tips and tricks, job seekers rarely get substantive advice on how to connect, engage and relate to an industry or career, let alone build the kind of personal brand that brings employers knocking.

Closing the employment gap requires a radical reimagining of how to navigate the job market. Many employers are less interested in the employment history you’ve polished up on your resume and more eager to see what you can do for them today. Job seekers must work hard to prove that they can offer true value for their industry, their community and their future employer by developing content that’s informative, enlightening, even entertaining. By doing so, they show firsthand the talents and abilities they could bring to the job rather than simply telling employers about them through a resume. The path forward will be paved by the kind of disruptive change that we’ve seen in the entertainment industry over the past few years, as movies and broadcast TV have been threatened by upstart Netflix.

Once the mail-order version of Blockbuster (without the late fees or the annoying burden of returning a DVD the day after viewing), Netflix today represents 31.6 percent of downstream U.S. Internet traffic. And it’s solidifying viewer loyalty by doing the difficult task of creating its own content. Free from the expectations of the industry, Netflix is producing its own Emmy-award winning program, House of Cards, and the highly popularOrange is the New Black. And they are serving it up in an all-you-can-eat, binge-watching fashion that audiences love to coagulate around during a rainy Saturday or a day off from work.

Netflix’s efforts will forever be linked to the moment in time when viewers shifted their habits toward streaming video content and away from traditional outlets. But more importantly, the company’s knockout TV shows add a new, enticing dimension to its brand while proving to viewers that it’s as creative and artful as the best in the business. It committed time and energy to the work of developing great stories. This is the kind of effort that draws viewers in droves, and one Netflix’s competitors are now scrambling to duplicate.

The job market is primed for a similar disruption, and to some extent, it’s already begun. Candidates are advancing their career opportunities by doing the hard work of creating standout content and singular brands that truly capture attention, loyalty and opportunity. And that’s the secret to getting that dream job: Be like Netflix and create content tailored to your audience to prove you’re the ideal candidate. That’s exactly what comedian Jack Moore did. Aspiring to be a sitcom and screenplay writer, he demonstrated his talent through the popular Modern Seinfeld Twitter feed, which offers storylines for what George, Jerry, Elaine and Kramer would be up to in today’s world. His months of artful execution have led him to his dream job as a screenwriter.

He shattered the confines of the old resume-centric world of job searching by taking the focus off of himself -- the heart of any resume -- and homing in on his audience. Instead of talking about his skills, he used them. He buckled down and proved he could do the job without being asked and made sure potential future employers would take notice. His efforts parallel those of Netflix, which continues to produce its creative best to box out traditional channels and win wider audiences.

The kind of disruption and success Netflix has achieved -- and the kind the job market sorely needs -- isn’t easy and can’t be neatly summarized in a tip or trick. Because it’s no trick. It’s the sum total of thought, effort and dedication. It’s a new ideology guiding the way job seekers think about their careers and transforming the way employers search for talent.

Business positive about 2014 profit, employment prospects, Business Expectations Survey finds

http://www.westhillconsulting-career.com/blog/2014/01/09/business-positive-2014-profit-employment-prospects-business-expectations-survey-finds/

Australian businesses predicts 2014 to be a good year for growth, expecting that sales, profits, investment and employment will increase to their highest level in 12 months.

Dun and Bradstreet's latest Business Expectations Survey shows capital investment and employment intentions have rebounded from negative territory in the previous quarter to sit above their 10-year average levels.

Dun and Bradstreet's economics adviser, Stephen Koukoulas, says expectations for employment are particularly encouraging and should allay some people's concerns about job security.

"While we're still not quite at the very strong levels for employment and hiring intentions just yet, it's clearly lifted over the last 9-12 months or so," he said.

"And it's suggesting to us anyway that employment will start to lift to a more sustainable pace in the first half of 2014."

The survey also explains a quarter of firms designed to raise the cost of their products and services throughout the first three months of this year 2014, a move that may prompt the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates.

"It would require a global negative shock to cut rates again in our view," Mr Koukoulas said.

"But more likely if the economy is stronger, if we do get a pick-up in selling prices showing up in higher inflation in the next quarter or two, then I think not only do we not have interest rate cuts coming through but the focus of the market will be more on when will the RBA start lifting interest rates and how aggressively will they do it."

According to the survey, optimism among Australian businesses is also on the rise, with two-thirds of firms feeling more positive about growth prospects this year compared to last year.

Employment objectives have recovered from an interpretation of -1.1 in the last quarter to 8.8 in the present quarter, the highest level in three years, at the same time as the outlook for capital spending was back from -0.4 to 7.2.

Obama Wants Attention On Job Creation, Not Healthcare Woes

On November 8, Friday, President Barack Obama tries to shift the national conversation to economic growth from anger over insurance policy cancellations under his signature healthcare law, as he visits the Port of New Orleans.

The next day after Obama said in a nationally televised interview he was sorry some Americans were dropped by their health plans because of changes mandated by the Affordable Care Act, he will tour a busy cargo and cruise ship port, the White House said.

Again, he will convey the message that the United States should spend more on its roads, bridges and ports as a way to create jobs and strengthen U.S. firms through increased trade.

Said on Friday, he will speak after the government that employers added 204,000 jobs in October despite a 16-day government shutdown, although the jobless rate ticked up to 7.3 percent.

The White House expected that there would have been 120,000 additional jobs created in the month if not for the shuttering of government offices regardless of the surprisingly strong employment report.

The administration has repeatedly said that the economy would be growing more rapidly and job growth would be more robust without the shutdown, prompted by Republican efforts to defund or delay the healthcare law, known as Obamacare. Yet, the jobs report suggested the impact of the shutdown on the economy was slighter than many had thought.

The Mississippi River port will provide Obama an appropriate setting to discuss about his proposal to spend $50 billion to repair and upgrade the nation's infrastructure and efforts to expand trade.

The president "believes that exports are central to our national economy and has made increasing exports a major focus for his administration," the White House said in a statement.

However, because of lingering questions about Obamacare, Obama's efforts to press Congress for more spending to strengthen economic growth will be overshadowed.

The failed even out of the online signup process for insurance was the first major crisis for the program, which aspires to expand access to healthcare for millions of uninsured Americans by offering insurance at competitive prices.

The next problem has been an epidemic of insurance cancellations in spite of Obama's promise that consumers could keep their present health plans if they wanted them.

The hinders have given ammunition to the law's many enemies and skeptics and lifted uncertainties whether the healthcare plans can draw enough healthy young people to keep the costs of insurance low.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, will be at the port when Obama delivers his remarks. But Jindal made clear on Thursday his disagreement with Obama on healthcare and other issues.

"Obamacare is not smart policy and will not work," he said. "The website is merely the tip of the iceberg here."

Jindal also took issue with Obama's prescription for more spending to repair infrastructure.

"We keep increasing spending, adding entitlements, adding regulations, and adding taxes," Jindal said. "If the president wants to grow the American economy, he's got to force government to do just the opposite."

http://www.westhillconsulting-career.com/blog/2013/11/14/obama-wants-attention-job-creation-healthcare-woes/

Former Calif. Scandal City Manager Won’t Contest 69 Criminal Counts

http://www.westhillconsulting-career.com/blog/2013/10/17/former-calif-scandal-city-manager-wont-contest-69-criminal-counts/  

According to allegation, Robert Rizzo, the former city administrator of Bell, Calif., could have been the king of swindling public sector employees not so long ago.  Today, Rizzo just pleaded no contest to 69 counts in his corruption trial, according to a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office press release.  And he’s likely to get the “the longest prison term for public corruption” — the judge says 10 to 12 years — in the area since 2000.

Came in no more than a week before a jury was to be chosen, Rizzo’s plea was a surprise to everyone counting the DA.  “An open plea”, this is what the DA’s office calls the move to the presiding judge and was not a negotiated settlement.

According to the DA’s statement Rizzo was part of an alleged corruption ring that reportedly included his one-time deputy and co-defendant, former assistant city manager Angela Spaccia.  On Monday, her trial is scheduled to start.  Furthermore, five former Bell elected officials — including a mayor, vice-mayor, and three council members — were already found guilty in March.

The reports say the ring was as brazen as it was large.  The five ex-officials paid themselves salaries topping off at $100,000 yearly in a city of 35,000 people, 25 percent of whom lived underneath the poverty line.   An audit had found that the officials unlawfully raised local taxes and fees to fund their salaries.

They were pikers as compared to what allegedly went on somewhere else.  According to the report, Rizzo’s paycheck reached a $1.5 million peak in a year when he had 107 vacation days and 36 sick days.  His salary before he resigned in July 2010 was just under what must have seemed in comparison a paltry $800,000, according to the DA’s office.  Putting it into context, that’s about twice what the President of the United States makes.

According to television station KTLA, Rizzo was charged with a variety of schemes that cost the city millions of dollars, including writing his own employment contracts that never received City Council approval.  It seems that, Rizzo is claiming that Spaccia was the real mastermind at the back of the fraud.

Allegations of dubious practices don’t end here.  A former police chief of Bell Randy Adams was overthrown in 2010 amidst the larger pay scandal.  Aside from the benefits, he had been making $457,000 yearly. Compile them and the amount go up to total compensation of $770,046.  In the previous year he filed a case against the city for his separation pay, claiming that he was forced out and had never agreed to give up his severance.  Throughout the suit, he was drawing a $22,000 monthly pension.

Britain on track at last as employment rises

http://www.westhillconsulting-career.com/blog/2013/10/16/britain-track-last-employment-rises/

Base from official figures, Britain is finally “on track” to recover from the economic crisis with employment back at the same level as in 2008.

The economy grew by 0.6 per cent between April and June despite earlier speculation that there may have been a renewed recession. This has been followed by another rise earlier in the year.

There are optimistic signs of growth with employment and the number of hours worked returning to pre-crisis levels, ending a five-year slump.

But, in totality the size of the economy is still way smaller than previous to the crisis and politicians were last night eager to stress that Britain still faces years of austerity and improbability before it will have fully recovered.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, said that the country was “on the mend” as he prepared to make improving the economy his key message at the next general election.

“The figures are better than forecast,” Mr Osborne said. “Britain is holding its nerve. We are sticking to our economic plan.

“Britain is on the mend, but we’ve got to stick with the plan because there’s still a long way to go.”

David Cameron, who went on his annual summer holiday, added: “We are on the right track — building an economy for hard-working people.”

Nonetheless, senior politicians also gave warning to people “not to get carried away”and stressed that ministers were not complacent.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said that he would not be prepared to declare that the economy had recovered before there had been another “two or three years” of strong growth.

Neil Bentley, the deputy director-general of the CBI, said that the figures confirmed that Britain was on the road to recovery although there were likely to be “a few bumps ahead”.

“Underlying conditions are quite weak as consumers are still saddled with debt and despite the global economy picking up, the potential for getting knocked off course remains,” he said.

According to the Office for National Statistics, growth over the past year has been 1.4 per cent, with the strong performance of service firms such as hotels and restaurants leading the recovery.

The rise in gross domestic product (GDP) of 0.6 per cent throughout the second quarter of the year was the first time since 2011 that Britain has seen back-to-back quarterly growth, and doubled the 0.3 per cent figure for the previous period.

“After five years, people are seeing that Armageddon has been narrowly avoided and while they realise the economic world is precarious, life is going on,” Tim Martin, chairman and founder of JD Wetherspoon pubs, said.

Economic experts said that an analysis of the figures showed that domestic economic demand was growing steadily and the main drag on the economy was external, foreign influences.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also warned that the eurozone countries face years of economic stagnation without greater efforts to boost banks and employment.

“Incomplete or stalled policy commitments at the national or euro-area level could also reignite financial market stresses” the IMF said in a review of the 17-nation currency bloc.

“Over the medium-term, there is a high risk of stagnation, especially in the periphery [of the single currency area].”