Looking Forward Our Way

We want to thank Sharon Hamersley of The Resume Coach for joining us again in this episode.

Often we tell Employment For Senior clients that they need to “research” employers. They want to understand what the employer does – particularly before they meet a recruiter. Get to know the culture. What are their products/services? And be sure to understand the application process required when looking at their job postings.

In this episode, Sharon is going to give us some tips on how to do that employer searching!

Many internet resources are available to assist with narrowing down career choices and determining what companies are a good fit for your skills and experience. We can divide them into three broad categories:

Company research – information about company location, management, and financials.

Job research – what jobs are available, and which companies are posting them?

“Job fit” research” – what jobs are a good fit for my skills and experience?

Company research:

Mergent and Reference USA are two major business research databases. Using their Advanced Search function, you can narrow down companies to geographic location, company line of business, number of employees, and other information that you determine is needed.

Most public libraries have a subscription to one or both of these resources. Check with the reference librarian at your local library for assistance in using these tools.

Company web sites. Ideally, the web site will provide information about company history, mission and vision, leadership, products and services, and (if publicly traded) financial information.

Employer review sites such as GlassDoor and Great Places to Work. These sites provide the employee perspective on companies. Some caution is warranted since employees (current or former) who believe they have been treated unfairly are more likely to post reviews than employees who are happy in their current roles.

Job Research:

Major job boards (Monster, Indeed, Career Builder, Zip Recruiter, and increasingly, LinkedIn) are a great resource for researching what jobs companies are posting.

With the exception of LinkedIn, be cautious about setting up an account with a job board. Provide the least amount of information possible. Your goal should be to set up job alerts so that you can track which companies are hiring and for what positions. Actual applications should be submitted through the company web site, or ideally through the company LinkedIn page.

Use key words common to your field to search on each site. Then set up an alert so that you get ongoing notifications about similar jobs.

“Job Fit” Research:

If you are considering a career change or re-entering the workforce, there are several free/low cost assessments that can provide direction. These include:

MAPP Career Assessment – a short test that helps identify strengths and match them to career paths. Only “downside” is that the company will attempt to “upsell” you.

My Next Move – free 60-question assessment sponsored by the Department of Labor. Assesses skills and interests and helps match them with career paths. Linked to ONET which has detailed information about required skills, experience and training for jobs.

Holland Code Career Test – assesses six interest areas and matches them with careers that require those skill sets.

Other resources include:

Ohio Means Jobs

O*NET

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Latest Numbers

Sharon's top job search tip - don’t just jump into a job search. Be prepared and do your homework using the tools we covered in this podcast.

 

This podcast is free to you and available on your favorite podcast player.  If you have benefited from this podcast and would like to help us defray costs involved in producing the podcast, we welcome your support. Click here to donate via our safe and secure PayPal account.  

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We want to thank Sharon Hamersley of The Resume Coach for joining us again in this episode that will be in your podcast player 2/13/19.

 

 

This podcast is free to you and available on your favorite podcast player.  If you have benefited from this podcast and would like to help us defray costs involved in producing the podcast, we welcome your support. Click here to donate via our safe and secure PayPal account.  

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or SubscribeOnAndroid.

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share this podcast with your social media friends!

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Employment For Seniors is the premier resource linking mature adults with employment opportunities. EFS has provided career assistance and resources to nearly 30,000 clients, free of charge, over the past 40 years.  

Our trained volunteer job counselors work with clients, prepare them for their job search, and connect them to employers through our job referral process. Local employers have found a highly skilled workforce by posting their positions, free of charge, on the EFS JobMatch system. 

We look forward to working with you at Employment For Seniors! You can easily reach us at 614/863-1219 or by email at [email protected].

In this episode, we interview "Successful Encore Careerist" Dean Pulliam, Director of Nonprofit & Charity Accreditation at the Better Business Bureau of Central Ohio.

 

 

This podcast is free to you and available on your favorite podcast player.  If you have benefited from this podcast and would like to help us defray costs involved in producing the podcast, we welcome your support. Click here to donate via our safe and secure PayPal account.  

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or SubscribeOnAndroid.

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share this podcast with your social media friends!

----more----

Employment For Seniors is the premier resource linking mature adults with employment opportunities. EFS has provided career assistance and resources to nearly 30,000 clients, free of charge, over the past 40 years.  

Our trained volunteer job counselors work with clients, prepare them for their job search, and connect them to employers through our job referral process. Local employers have found a highly skilled workforce by posting their positions, free of charge, on the EFS JobMatch system. 

We look forward to working with you at Employment For Seniors! You can easily reach us at 614/863-1219 or by email at [email protected].

We welcome Bill LaFayette, the owner of Regionomics, a consulting business working with clients in public, private, academic, and not-for-profit sectors to understand and grow their local economies and businesses. Bill is also the President of the Employment For Seniors Board of Trustees. He also served with the Columbus Chamber of Commerce as the Vice President of Economic Analysis for 12 years.

According to Bill's forecast, for the job seeker, 50 and older, you are in a very good position. Find out why in this podcast.

Here is a link to the video of Bill's presentation at the Columbus Metro Club.

 

This podcast is free to you and available on your favorite podcast player.  If you have benefited from this podcast and would like to help us defray costs involved in producing the podcast, we welcome your support. Click here to donate via our safe and secure PayPal account.  

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or SubscribeOnAndroid.

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share this podcast with your social media friends!

----more----

Employment For Seniors is the premier resource linking mature adults with employment opportunities. EFS has provided career assistance and resources to nearly 30,000 clients, free of charge, over the past 40 years.  

Our trained volunteer job counselors work with clients, prepare them for their job search, and connect them to employers through our job referral process. Local employers have found a highly skilled workforce by posting their positions, free of charge, on the EFS JobMatch system. 

We look forward to working with you at Employment For Seniors! You can easily reach us at 614/863-1219 or by email at [email protected].

Our guest, Jami Phillips, an Employment Consultant from New Directions Career Center in Columbus (OH), is with us to offer tips and methods to “ace” phone interviews.

The goal of a phone interview is to get a face to face interview. The employers goal is to weed people out and make sure others meet minimum requirements.

Do your homework. Research the company, the person you are talking to (LinkedIn) and make sure you understand the requirements of the job description.

An overview of some interviewing skills and how to adapt them for a phone interview:

Prepare: Think about what questions the employer will have/objections. Practice what your responses will be.

List strengths and weaknesses. START examples.

Highlight key qualifications and accomplishments.

Practice with someone/mirror.

What should a candidate do to their “space” around them as they prepare for a phone interview?

Have all materials ready: Plan to be in a quiet space with no distractions.

Sit at a table, have resume, notes, job description available as well as a few questions to ask the employer prepared ahead of time

Be dressed as if you are in person

Do not be distracted by emails, Facebook, etc. on your computer, phone or other device.

And most importantly, express your interest. Let the employer know that you are interested in coming in for a face to face, at the very least ask for what the next steps and time frame look like.

 

This podcast is free to you and available on your favorite podcast player.  If you have benefited from this podcast and would like to help us defray costs involved in producing the podcast, we welcome your support. Click here to donate via our safe and secure PayPal account.  

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or SubscribeOnAndroid.

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share this podcast with your social media friends!

----more----

Employment For Seniors is the premier resource linking mature adults with employment opportunities. EFS has provided career assistance and resources to nearly 30,000 clients, free of charge, over the past 40 years.  

Our trained volunteer job counselors work with clients, prepare them for their job search, and connect them to employers through our job referral process. Local employers have found a highly skilled workforce by posting their positions, free of charge, on the EFS JobMatch system. 

We look forward to working with you at Employment For Seniors! You can easily reach us at 614/863-1219 or by email at [email protected].

Coming up on our next episode on January 16, 2019, our guest, Jami Phillips, an Employment Consultant from New Directions Career Center in Columbus (OH), is with us to offer tips and methods to “ace” phone interviews.

Find out more how and why the goal of a phone interview is to get a face to face interview. The employers goal is to weed people out and make sure others meet minimum requirements.

 

This podcast is free to you and available on your favorite podcast player.  If you have benefited from this podcast and would like to help us defray costs involved in producing the podcast, we welcome your support. Click here to donate via our safe and secure PayPal account.  

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or SubscribeOnAndroid.

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share this podcast with your social media friends!

----more----

Employment For Seniors is the premier resource linking mature adults with employment opportunities. EFS has provided career assistance and resources to nearly 30,000 clients, free of charge, over the past 40 years.  

Our trained volunteer job counselors work with clients, prepare them for their job search, and connect them to employers through our job referral process. Local employers have found a highly skilled workforce by posting their positions, free of charge, on the EFS JobMatch system. 

We look forward to working with you at Employment For Seniors! You can easily reach us at 614/863-1219 or by email at [email protected].

We have Ken Lazar, Founder and Principal of the Ability Professional Network, in the studio with us talking about how to craft an effective exit speech, and how crucial this is, and will be, in your next interview.

What is an "exit speech?" An exit speech is what you say, when an interviewer asks you,"Why did you leave your last job?" or "Why are you leaving your current job?" And it is one of the most critical parts of the interview.

Because if you don't construct a good exit statement, you could end the interview right there.

What are some exit scenarios you will need to explain?  

You left your position on your own

You left for another position that didn't work out

You were terminated or fired

You were laid off or terminated through no fault of your own

Your employer went out of business, or closed their doors in your market

 

This podcast is free to you and available on your favorite podcast player.  If you have benefited from this podcast and would like to help us defray costs involved in producing the podcast, we welcome your support. Click here to donate via our safe and secure PayPal account.  

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or SubscribeOnAndroid.

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share this podcast with your social media friends!

----more----

Employment For Seniors is the premier resource linking mature adults with employment opportunities. EFS has provided career assistance and resources to nearly 30,000 clients, free of charge, over the past 40 years.  

Our trained volunteer job counselors work with clients, prepare them for their job search, and connect them to employers through our job referral process. Local employers have found a highly skilled workforce by posting their positions, free of charge, on the EFS JobMatch system. 

We look forward to working with you at Employment For Seniors! You can easily reach us at 614/863-1219 or by email at [email protected].

Coming up on our next Successful Encore Career Podcast, we have Ken Lazar in the studio with us talking about how to craft an effective exit speech, and how crucial this is, and will be, in your next interview.

This episode will be available in your podcast player on January 2, 2019.

This podcast is free to you and available on your favorite podcast player.  If you have benefitted from this podcast and would like to help us defray costs involved in producing the podcast, we welcome your support. Click here to donate via our safe and secure PayPal account.  

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or SubscribeOnAndroid.

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share this podcast with your social media friends!

----more----

Employment For Seniors is the premier resource linking mature adults with employment opportunities. EFS has provided career assistance and resources to nearly 30,000 clients, free of charge, over the past 40 years.  

Our trained volunteer job counselors work with clients, prepare them for their job search, and connect them to employers through our job referral process. Local employers have found a highly skilled workforce by posting their positions, free of charge, on the EFS JobMatch system. 

We look forward to working with you at Employment For Seniors! You can easily reach us at 614/863-1219 or by email at [email protected]

Top 9 Job Search Tips For 2019

Many of us go through career changes – sometimes voluntarily and often involuntarily! So let’s get started on our “9 tips for 2019," from the podcast archives of The Successful Encore Career from Employment For Seniors.

1) Managing a Successful Career Change

A key to a career disruption is to immediately begin to move through the change.  We all want to “hide under the covers” for a while, but financially we can't do that.  If we immediately hit the ground running, we'll have more motivation, momentum and likely more success.

We need to deal with our transitions logically and move past the emotions

Know our family needs us to move on

Use all of our networks and contacts – everything we're involved with (e.g. social organizations)

And don't be embarrassed or afraid to ask for help – someone will come to your aide, and in turn you can help another in the future.

2) Transferable Skills

“Transferable skills” are often touted buzz words, but not always clear in meaning.

Why is it important to know and understand transferable skills?

Strengthen your marketability for a position by clearly communicating your transferable skills

Employers want to know you have the skills to do their job.

Understand the skills you've learned in previous jobs that you're bringing to a new job

Leverage your application and show you're the most qualified candidate 

Identify Your Transferable Skills:

Think about the skills you used in your last job – what were you successful at?  

What were you responsible for?  

Write down the skills used to reach your accomplishments

Break down each job on your resume by those skills, then compare the list of skills to the position description of the job you're considering .  See what matches.  Then prepare examples of how you used those skills to provide the interviewer with powerful “accomplishment” statements.

Transferable Skills will...

Make your job search more logical

Provide for a strong resume and cover letter

Enhances the job interview with strong statements of your successes

Let’s the employer/interviewer know you're the best candidate!

3) Lifelong Learning

Learning – sounds difficult.  Yet how many of us have learned to book an airline flight, or found a new restaurant online?  Did we follow our grandchildren on Facebook?  Or possibly learned a new card game, a new piece of piano music?  We are likely learning something new every day.  And learning will make us great job candidates!

One major issue mentioned by many employers, regarding mature job seekers, is their inability to learn new skills.  Qualified applicants have to convince employers that they're not only able to learn new skills, but they consider learning to be an important step in their continued success in the workplace.

Computer skills are usually the first issue facing older workers.  Technology changes each minute – how can anyone keep up?  There are many other skills critical in today’s job search, such as writing, communications, listening, public speaking, math/accounting/budgeting, leadership, teaching/training/tutoring, and many more.

Our role as a job seeker is to provide employers with an overview of our up-to-date skills and the successes we've had using those skills over the years.  Our resumes, cover letters, and interviews should highlight all of our skills, but particularly those we've more recently learned and/or updated.

Mature job seekers have many opportunities to learn!  A huge proportion of those opportunities are free of charge, or very reasonably priced, either located right here in our community, or online.  Central Ohio has many learning opportunities.

NEW RESOURCE: At the Columbus Metropolitan Library, you can now use your library card to enter online courses through LYNDA.  Normally the courses have a cost, but use the portal through the library website with your library card and you have thousands of courses at your fingertips - free!

4) How To Prepare For An Interview

Interviewing can

During the month of November, The Successful Encore Career Podcast and Employment for Seniors will be shedding more light on services provided that help our veterans find gainful employment.

In this episode, we are proud to interview Navy veteran Zack Bridges from the City of Columbus (OH) Division of Fire, where he serves as a paramedic and firefighter.text joincfd to 474747 for more information about open positions.614-645-6387 [email protected] 

 

 

This podcast is free to you and available on your favorite podcast player.  If you have benefitted from this podcast and would like to help us defray costs involved in producing the podcast, we welcome your support. Click here to donate via our safe and secure PayPal account.  

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or SubscribeOnAndroid.

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD! We'd love it if you could please share this podcast with your social media friends!

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