?? How To Defeat Job Search Discrimination Today

?? How To Defeat Job Search Discrimination Today 329 No matter who you are, it can happen to you. Photo by NASA One of the questions I get asked most is about overcoming ageism. More specifically, older job seekers â€" 40 year-olds and up â€" send in resumes that never get responses or worse, they show up to interviews only to hear that they're supposedly overqualified. With this happening every day, how are “super-experienced” job seekers supposed to cope?eval And what about sufferers of other forms of illegal recruiting discrimination based on gender, race, religion, disability, ethnicity, sexual preference, political affiliation, etc.? Have you ever felt age discrimination on the job search? Yes, perceived as too old Yes, perceived as too young No View Results Free bonus: The Midlife Job Search Report is a handy guide I compiled for older job seekers. Download it now.eval The hard reality Qualifications are often NOT the deciding factor for employers. Qualifications are often NOT the deciding factor for employersClick To Tweet Think about that for a second. Doesn't seem fair, does it? Yet it must be true. Otherwise, being overqualified wouldn't be such a common rejection. Instead, companies would consider the best, most hireable candidates to be the ones with the best/most qualifications, i.e. the overqualified ones. Why it is true There's research to back this up. Northwestern University Management and Organizations professor Lauren Rivera's study “Hiring as Cultural Matching: The Case of Elite Professional Service Firms” appeared in the December 2012 edition of the American Sociological Review. A Huffington Post article about it had this conclusion: “Rivera found many people are looking for a good “cultural fit.” In other words, they want to find people with similar profiles to themselves outside of work. In fact, more than half of the study's participants rated “fit” as the most important criteria in hiring â€" even more so than analytical thinking and communication. While these tendencies don't mean that employers hire unqualified candidates, Rivera said the research suggests that once job candidates have met a certain threshold in terms of their job skills, their interpersonal connection and fit with the interviewer become the deciding factors in whether they make it to the next round.” And I can back it up This reminds me of a story from my last salary job in France, managing a team of web developers. It was the fall of 2003, and after a few weeks of discussion and intense lobbying, I got the go-ahead to hire a badly-needed new team member. I wrote up a job description, HR published (a version of) it on at least one major job board, and resumes started to stream in. After a few weeks of interviewing and testing the top 5 candidates, I had the shortlist narrowed down to two. Here's the thing- they were both equally qualified. I was convinced that either one could have succeeded in the role, but as you can imagine, I was leaning towards one of them. To seal the deal, I sat down for a chat with my boss, who had also interviewed the final candidates. “What do you think?” I asked, not yet telling him my own choice. “The last two both seem good, but I like Victor [not his real name] more. He just seems like a cooler guy [to work with].” “Me too.” With this in mind, here is: 3 ways to beat any form of job search discrimination As the one who anticipates being discriminated against, and depending on the type of discrimination, you potentially have 3 ways of dealing with the problem: 1) Ignore it Remember Victor above? He's black. A few months after he joined the team, we were talking and I asked him if he'd ever had any problems with job interviewers, blatant or otherwise. He said that he may have, but he long ago decided to take to heart an uncle's advice that those thoughts were too easy to use as an excuse for not getting the result wanted. Vic will just go on to the next hiring company without thinking twice. 2) Take it on If you think you're outside a company's desired candidate pool, you need to convince them that you're actually inside it, by adopting the same job search tools and practices that the desired candidates are using and learning about on blogs like JobMob. If you're an older job seeker, you need to job search like a younger job seeker. If you're a foreigner, you need to job search like a local. You get the idea. 3) Avoid it Thinking of applying for work at a certain company? Simple: take a few minutes or even an hour to search their current employees' LinkedIn profiles, with an eye to looking for a proven track record of them having already hired people like you. If you're a visible minority, check the employee portraits. If you're an older job seeker, look for people with 20+ years of experience who aren't founders. Finally- You don't want to work with anyone who doesn't want to work with you. Accept that it can happen and move on, putting yourself in a position to succeed with the tips above. What others are saying about ageism How to Tell If You’re Being Discriminated Against In Your Job Search Don't Let Age Discrimination Win: Interview And Resume Tips For The Over-40 Set The Difference Between Age Discrimination and Poor Job Search Skills Older Workers Find Age Discrimination Built Right Into Some Job Websites Question of the article Have you ever felt any discrimination on your job search? What made you feel that way? Tell us in the comments. Free Bonus The Midlife Job Search Report is a handy guide I compiled to help older job seekers. This free download contains: 5 Common Mistakes Older Job Seekers Make How To Defeat Any Form of Job Search Discrimination How Older Job Seekers Beat These Common Stereotypes 9 Scary Reasons Overqualified Job Seekers are Rejected 40 Tips for Older Job Seekers That Actually Get Results Click the image below to get access to The Midlife Job Search Report: JobMob Insiders can get this free bonus and other exclusive content in the JobMob Insider Bonuses area. Join now, it's free! Bonus 2: Age Discrimination: How to Overcome it in a Job Interview

How Early To Apply For Jobs (Out of State and In State) - Career Sidekick

How Early To Apply For Jobs (Out of State and In State) - Career Sidekick How Early To Apply For Jobs (Out of State and In State) Applying for Jobs / https://www.edenscott.com/blog I received the following message from a reader about how far in advance to apply for jobs when moving (personal details changed):I am a Registered Nurse  and plan on moving  from New York  to Austin TX  in June 2015. When should  I start applying for jobs in Texas? My friend  says I should start applying now in January but Im afraid most employers wont be able to predict their  needs for  June right now.How Far In Advance Should You  Apply For Jobs?Okay, heres when to start applying for jobsIn short, Id recommend starting 3-4 months before you plan on needing a job. This can depend a lot on the economy in the city youre moving to, and how in-demand your skill-set is.For the reader  above, I actually recommended 2-3 months maximum because Nurses usually have no trouble finding interested employers.So start with a figure of 3-4 months of lead time, and adjust upward or downward a bit depending on your industry  and the size of company youre looking at  ( large companies often have a longer and more complicated hiring process).Note: For senior level positions or upper management roles, you might need way  more time. Use your judgement depending on your experience level. The rest of the advice below will still be relevant though.What Happens If You Apply For Jobs Too Early Or Too Late?Hopefully the info above helped you figure out how early you should apply for jobs.But its not an exact science as you can probably tell. Itll take some guesswork.So to make the decision easier, lets look at what happens if you time things wrong. This will  give you a better idea of the risks and will help you make your decision.Heres What Happens  If You Apply For Jobs Too EarlyYou wont have intensity or  focus if you start  way sooner than needed. Youll have a sense of comfort and youll just go through the motions without any urgency. Waste of time.Also, if  you start searching for jobs prematurely,  you risk losing the interest of many companies simpl y because they arent willing to wait that long for you.You might have gotten a great response if you waited 2 months to apply, but because you applied in January, your resume gets thrown in a hold pile and you never receive a call back (papers get lost, HR people arent perfect, etc.)If youre applying extremely early, youre running the risk of stopping yourself from finding a job, by eliminating some  employers that would have seriously considered you if you were ready to start  within 2-3 months.The obvious solution, and the reason I made the recommendations above, is just wait until youre 2-3 months away from needing the job.Heres What  Happens If You Apply For Jobs Too LateThis is a bit more obvious. If you start too late, you run the risk of not having a job lined up on the target date. You might have a few interviews in process, or maybe nothing at all lined up depending on how late you started your search.In the end, you need to weigh the risks of both. Do you have a lot of sav ings  and dont mind spending a bit of time with no job? Will you enjoy having a gap to conduct a careful job search without stressing?  Start a bit later.Do you care mostly about having some type of job lined up on your target date, no matter what? Start earlier and apply for a wide variety of jobs.What You Should Do When Its Time To Start Applying For Jobs:Now that you know how far in advance you should apply for a job, these tips will help in your job searchOnce its time to start, you have to attack the job search 100%. Full effort. Apply for jobs every day. Apply via job boards, apply via LinkedIn, go to company websites and submit your resume via their careers page or via email.This is why I dont want somebody to start looking with 5-6 months to spare. Youll half-ass the job search and spend a few minutes per week casually looking around instead of staying focused on the mission. Its human nature.UPDATE:  If  you have interviews coming up and don’t want to leave anything to ch ance, I’ve created a  new guide where you can copy  my exact  step-by-step method for getting job offers. You can  get more details here.Like  this post?  Pin it to save for  next time you need it!

How Men and Women Think Differently About their Careers

How Men and Women Think Differently About their Careers (This is one of many posts inspired by Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In. I suggest you just give up and buy the book now.) In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg talks about some of the differences in the way men and women approach to their careers.   She cites a 2011 McKinsey report called “Unlocking the Full Potential of Women in the US Economy,” written by Joanna Barsh and Lareina Yee.   They report that the addition of women in the workforce since 1970 adds up to productivity equal to about a quarter of the U.S. GDP. Yet the numbers of women in the highest positions in corporations has flattened out, despite the best efforts of companies to seek out and promote talented women. The McKinsey report authors reviewed over 100 existing research papers, surveyed 2,500 men and women and interviewed 30 chief diversity officers and experts to understand the factors that hold women back. They wanted to understand: “What compels bright, highly-motivated women at middle management levelsâ€"and higherâ€"to turn down opportunities for advancement, look for jobs outside the company, or leave Corporate America altogether?” The report offers some fascinating insight as to how women and men view their jobs. Women leave positions for the same reasons men do: for bigger challenges, more money and more recognition. But they stay in jobs sometimes for a very different reason, according to McKinsey.   Women tend to stay in jobs that make them feel like they are making a difference and where they enjoy their colleagues more often than men.   Women seem to pass on promotion opportunities, according to the researchers, “Women don’t want to trade that joy for what they fear will be energy-draining meetings and corporate politics at the next management echelon.” In Sheryl Sandberg’s terms, women don’t lean in. A 2012 McKinsey study of 4,000 men and women from leading companies found that men wanted the top spot in their company at twice the rate women did (36 percent of men, compared to 18 percent of women, said that being CEO was a goal.) Some of this is attributable to what is often called the “Imposter Syndrome,” which seems to affect many more women than men. Men tend to internalize their accomplishments more often, that is to say that they attribute success to their own talent and skills. Women tend to externalize their success; they attribute accomplishment more often to luck, hard work, or help from their team or other supportive people.   I recently wrote a story about a woman who started a non-profit and has achieved some recognition in my local market.  When I sent the story to her to fact check, she made one edit to a fact, but three edits for style.   Each style edit changed the credit for success from “her” to “her team.” It sounds strange some 45 years after women became a significant presence in the workforce, but women often rate themselves and their performance worse than they actually are.   On the other hand, men consistently rate themselves as better than they actually are. Sandberg writes that a study of one thousand potential candidates for elected office found that men were 60 percent more likely to rate themselves as “highly qualified” to run for office, despite having no more credentials or experience than the women studied. Joe Kremer, a Dell executive, once spoke about a job he posted that listed six key hiring criteria. Male candidates who could meet two or three criteria lobbied him for the job, each telling him that they could figure out the rest.   Kremer is quoted as saying, The person who should have got the job was female but she didnt apply. I approached her and she said, but of the six things I need, I only have five of them nailed. It was Kremer who insisted that she apply, and she got the job. I can hear the groans from my male readers. Really?   What’s wrong with you? One explanation is that modesty is what we deem to be attractive in women. We value modesty in men as well, but the alpha male is never expected to be modest, nor penalized for his overt confidence. Not true of women â€" even the alpha females. We are expected to play down our achievements, to credit our team for our success. It’s very scary to stand up and take full credit for what you’ve done; men will consider you uppity and women will disapprove. No one wants to become a lightning rod. Somehow, well have to get over that.

Selling Yourself How to Pitch a Perfect Game

Selling Yourself How to Pitch a Perfect Game I hate salespeople.  Seriously.  Its gotten to the point where I have a counter-pitch prepared for any sales rep who comes up to me.  From the obligatory how can I help you? to the line pulled straight from a classic How to Be the Worlds Greatest Salesman, I detest them all. Pretty intense feelings, especially considering Ive been in sales in one way or another most of my adult life.  Even now, Im trying to sell you on the notion that you should finish reading this.  In fact, were all selling, all the time.  From the bedroom to the boardroom, were all selling.  Every day, youre selling yourself, your ideas, or your stuff. While its obvious that the appearance of the sales pitch is different, there are common elements, a framework, that is the same.  And, it all begins with the very first thing we have to sell:  ourselves.  One of the basics of good sales training is the importance of knowing your product well.   How well do you know you, as a product, as something you want some other person to buy? Who Are You? A few years ago, I took one of the popular self-actualization seminars.  As part of that process, we were asked to respond to the question, Who are you?  The answer wasnt your name.  Or what you do for a living.  They wanted something much deeper. For some of the participants, the struggle to answer was brutal.  For everyone, it was the challenge to look at ourselves from a very different perspective.  If we couldnt truly define who we were, how could we possibly expect others in any area of our lives to engage with us in a meaningful way? The answers were usually distilled, more or less painfully, into single sentences.  I remember mine to this day.  While its too personal to share here, there is one word from it that has become the trademark of how I choose to do life.  Passion.  To live with passion. Everyone can define themselves by their own unique answer to who are you?  Digging deep, what words describe the you that dwells behind the physicality that everyone sees?  The words that resonate are the ones you should hang onto.  Other words may sound good, but the hollowness of their sound fails to confirm them. So, who are you?  Knowing who you are and what makes you special provides a base of confidence as you prepare to tell your story.  Your story is your pitch. What is Your Story? We all have a story.  And, most of us like to share our story.  The questions to ask about our story are: Is it accurate? Is it compelling? Whether your story is accurate or not is strongly related to how much drama or embellishment it contains.  Anyone can tell a great story with a degree from MSU.   Thats Make Shit Up.  If you really speak three languages, wonderful!  But if you actually sorta know a second language and kinda understand part of a third, tell it like it is or dont tell it.  Similarly, all those terrible things youve had happen to you?  Before you share those again with anyone sit down and write them out.   Get rid of the drama.  If theres value in those events, in the lessons you learned, thats the part that is worth hanging onto. Your story becomes energized when it becomes compelling.  Its so great, that the person hearing it is drawn to act in your favor.  A compelling story is one that identifies a problem, suggests a solution, and shows a benefit.  In One Perfect Pitch, author Marie Perruchet calls these the storm, rainbow, and pot of gold.  No matter if you are selling yourself, an idea, or a physical product, when your audience acknowledges theres a problem, embraces you or what you offer as a solution, and sees the value of it, theyre much more likely to move into a relationship with you. Make your story accurate and compelling.   Once these pieces are in place, your story, and you, will be the one thats remembered.  It will be the one that they talk about.  And likely, they one they adopt. One Perfect Pitch: Selling Yourself I highly recommend Ms. Perrruchets One Perfect Pitch  for anyone who wants to delve deeply into the how-tos of finely tuning your pitch.  In a world that is measured in nanoseconds, its become ever more critical to deliver your message quickly, concisely, and with great accuracy.  She shows you how to define and refine your pitch so that selling yourself is just part of what you do. Images: Selling Everything Rick  Keyboard GotCredit

Resume Writing Services - How To Use Them To Land Your Dream Job

Resume Writing Services - How To Use Them To Land Your Dream JobCareer services in Dallas, Texas are willing to provide the services you need for your resume writing. You can either submit your resume for help with a professional company to their site or you can do it yourself at home. It is up to you on what you prefer.The first thing that is needed for this kind of service is a pool of people. These companies will put in the effort to get you a pool of people who can look into your resume and be able to write it for you. This is important so they can get a better glimpse of what you have written so far.These companies also require that you submit a sample. This is also very helpful because they will know if what you have written is real or not. They are also able to tell how long it will take before you can expect your resume to be done. This means that they can tell if you can afford a longer period of time to wait.You can also choose to do it yourself at home if the job market pe rmits. The main reason to consider doing it this way is because you are more concerned about your resume when you can look through it. You also have the assurance that it will be done right the first time.When it comes to reputable resume writing companies, you should be able to go online and find out what is the best company for your needs. This will give you peace of mind that the company you are working with has the expertise you need to have. You should also find out about their terms and conditions before you start submitting your resume.In addition, you should look at the company's client reviews. You can read through the website and find out about how they can assist you with your job search. It will also give you the chance to see if you are happy with the work they are doing for you.You should also learn about how long the companies have been around. How long they have been providing their services is very important because this will tell you how much experience they have w ith resumes. If you are new to this field, you may want to go with a company that has been around for a while.A resume is needed for nearly any job, whether it is for a university or a company. If you need one, then you will need a reputable company that can help you with your resume writing. Career services in Dallas, Texas is the place to turn to for help with your resume.

How to Create Career Goals

How to Create Career Goals The why, what, how approach. Ever wonder why those New Years Resolutions never seem to make it past January? Dont let that happen to your career goals this year. Its never too late to start changing direction to what you want. Heres a setup that has worked for me. The Why Before diving into your list of goals, understand the why. Why do you want to be ________? Why do you get up in the morning? When you look out into the world, what are the things that you find interesting or disturbing? Maybe your thought is, someone should do something about that! Maybe its you. Often times the things that irk us are the very things we are drawn to help. Sometimes you get the why in reflection of a life long dream. What did you want to be when you grew up? Start there. Understanding the why helps with the persistence needed, when inevitably, things get tough. For example, Starbucks doesnt just sell coffee, they sell belonging. So what do you believe in? Equality? Justice? Love? Find your why. The What Hopefully you now have an idea of your why. Now what are you going to do to about it? This is where your natural talents come in to play. What are you good at? There are many people who have the same why, but the execution is very different. Thats the what. For example, if your why is belonging, you may sell over priced coffee wait. Or you might open a nonprofit for dyslexia. Or you might change the policy at your work to include more recipients to take college classes. The idea here is what do you do about the why. I would suggest at this point, an assessment may be helpful. Usually we are more motivated by the things we may naturally have a talent for, than not. So reflect on what you are good at doing and develop your what out of a core strength. The How The how is where you can put down those concrete steps. For example, fill out the loan application for a new business or sign up for an intro to accounting course. I find that Im more motivated to accomplish the concrete steps that align with my why and what. It turns the task into the next step towards reaching my ultimate goal. Many times our big career goals happen one task at a time. Actually they ALL do! Think.Inspire.Change.Grow. By Dawn Shaw|2017-04-21T18:17:28+00:00August 18th, 2015|Career Change, Motivation|0 Comments

You Create Your Career, Nobody Else - CareerAlley

You Create Your Career, Nobody Else - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. We have a tendency to fall into our careers. One day were in education, the next were looking for any job thats even vaguely related to what we studied, and then some time passes and hey presto, thats our life! It doesnt have to be like this, however. There is another choice, and that is to take control of your career and make it your own. If youre feeling powerless in your career, remember that its always up to you. Every day you make a choice; what will your decision be tomorrow? Will you stay on the path youre currently on, or will you start walking toward the career that allows you to say yes, Im happy with my job? How Do You See Your Life? Theres a question that few people ask themselves, but which every person should: how do you want your life to look? If you were able to read a story of your life 500 years from now, what would you want it to say? Thinking in these terms allows us to strip away the day to day issues that occupy our mind and think clearly about what it is we want from our time on earth. Once youve got an answer, your general motivation will be clear, and youll be able to think about the type of work that might best suit your driving forces. Establishing Whats Important Every single person has different wants and desires. What are yours? Whats important to you? This isnt a straightforward thing to determine, especially when were young. Thats why its important not to rush into a career straight after youve completed your studies. Instead, take a period just to live life and then slowly but surely your values and ideals will present themselves. Your motivation might be money it is a lot of peoples but it might not; its all about finding your way of doing things, and not your mothers or fathers or anybody elses. If youre struggling to determine what is most important to you, ask yourself what job you would do if money were not a factor. Lets say its a moneyless society, but you have to do something: what would you choose? Whatever it is is probably what you should be doing with your life! Location Matters There are some practical matters to think about when it comes to your career. Chiefly, where you can do it. If youre interested in working in fashion, then being located in a rural area away from a cosmopolitan city will not be the best spot for you. You can think about what you would like to do forever, but youll have to actually put yourself in a position to get the job if you want to make it a reality. If youre tied to a spot that isnt a hotspot for your intended industry, it doesnt mean that you definitely wont be able to work in it. You might just need to get more creative with how youre involved. Generally, though, moving to where the jobs are is the best course of action and easy enough to do if youre young and have few responsibilities or commitments. Blending Passion With Education Unless youre awesomely and naturally gifted in your intended career, you will need to have some education in that field for you to be employable. While it isnt the case for all industries, being passionate generally isnt enough to find gainful employment. Aside from finding a job, getting training will also turn your passion into a useful skill. If you want to make helping people your career, then an A degree in human services will give you the training you need to succeed. If you want to work in the media, then finding an internship at a company that reflects your interests will help you find a job further on down the line. What Feels Right Theres a lot of questions you can ask yourself if youre trying to determine what you should do with your life, but dont overlook one of the biggest tools you have: your intuition. If youre in a job that is unfulfilling and uninspiring, youll feel it. Itll be a Sunday evening and the simple joys of the evening will be eroded by the thought of having to go to work the next day. When you have a job and life that you love, you wont feel any trepidation at the prospect of going to work. Youll be able to reclaim Sunday evenings. If you can feel yourself get fired up by the thought of working in one particular field, you should ignore everything else: thats where you should be working. Looking for Inspiration Ask yourself this: which historical figure do you admire most, and why? We tend to think of the heavyweights of history as superhuman, but they were just regular people who pushed themselves to be more. And so can you. Theres a lot to learn from people who have refused to settle for less and carved out their own life. Its in this bracket that you want to one day be. Dont just read biographies of successful people in the past for your own entertainment; actively learn something and incorporate those lessons into your career and life. Hobby, Or a Job? That being said, it doesnt always go that just because youre excited about something you should make it your job. Some things should exist just as passions you indulge in your spare time rather than something you try to make a living from. Doing something for fun and doing something for money are two very different things. Instead, focus on the broader traits of your passions that make them enjoyable to you, and go from there. It might be that you like working out challenges or being creative, in which case there would be many jobs in which those skills are valued. Marking the Trail Look through the history of the world, and youll see inspirational person after inspirational person who have created their own destiny. It sounds grand, but hear us out. Sometimes, what you want to do with your life wont have a network established that allows you to get qualifications, find a job, and work your way up. Sometimes you need to do it on your own, or at least without the help that most people have. If you believe in what you want to do, youll find a way to make it work even if you have to establish the path yourself. Just because it hasnt been done before doesnt mean it cant be done in the future! Hard Times Come, Hard Times Go Theres an idea that if you love your job, every day will be one long rolling wave of unparalleled enjoyment and contentment. This is not the case. No job is perfect, and if you fundamentally love what you do, youll still find that there are days where your patience and happiness is tested. Getting a new job doesnt take away your humanness, and no human is happy all the time! Additionally, as you begin your journey toward your new career, youll find there are difficulties along the path. When this happens, you need to think of the bigger picture. Dont think of where you are, but where youre going. Source In for the Long Haul Talking about having patience, dont forget that youre in this for the long haul. Its not just about getting the qualifications and putting yourself on the track to a new job. If youve selected your new career path correctly, itll be a lifelong passion that will never end. As such, dont just think of your career switch as something for now. Think of it in terms of 5, 10, 15 years. Though dont forget that youll never be too old to switch careers should your passions change over time! Striking the Work/Life Balance Your job will be your passion, but it shouldnt be your entire life. A lot of budding entrepreneurs feel passion for what they do, but that passion only ends in them refusing to take breaks for vacations and ultimately burning themselves out. While its admirable to throw yourself into something you care about, if you fail to pay attention to the other areas of your life then you might find that later in life you have a career that youre proud of but that youve missed out on the other aspects of life that make living so enjoyable. What Color Is Your Parachute? Everyone is different. There is no one mode of living that suits everybody. In the 1970s, Richard Nelson Bolles asked, what color is your parachute? Everyones is different. If youre able to strip away the expectations and hone in on what you really what to do during your short time on earth, youll be on step closer to creating a life that leaves you fulfilled. Its not an easy thing to figure out, but probably the most worthwhile aspect of life when we finally do. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+