Less Than Glorious First Jobs of Famous CEOs

Great article today at CNN.com about the first jobs, ahem, enjoyed by some of the most famous chief executive officers in the country. For example, did you know that Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, can trace his work history back to an internship he completed at Hewlett-Packard? That might strike many as not terribly surprising, but consider this: he was 12 years old.

You’ve likely heard of the “promote from within” promotion policy used by leading organizations such as Enterprise Holdings, the parent company of car rental businesses such as Enterprise Rent-a-Car. That policy works extremely well for some organizations as every employee knows that they have a legitimate opportunity to advance as far and as fast as their performance dictates. Well, how about starting on the night shift, dressed in blue polyester, earning $2.65 per hour, frying burgers at McDonald’s? Where do you think that person ended up? Well, that person is Jan Fields and she’s now the president of McDonald’s USA.

“The first job is when you learn the basics of how to be successful,” said Kristen Eastlick, a senior researcher at First Jobs Institute, a nonprofit that works with teen employment. “It’s the invisible curriculum. It’s the things you might learn beyond academics. It’s the how to work in a team. It’s the how to show up to work on time. It’s taking initiative, following directions, speaking up and learning to be accountable for your activities.”

Good advice. Students…are you listening?

Helpful Hints For Online Resume Exposure

So, job candidates you want more attention on your online resumes.  Well, one marketing and resume writing consultant has some good tips for you.  I’ll sum them up in one word: keywords.

Keywords, Keywords – Did you know that resumes are ranked by the repetitive use of specific keywords?  Find out which keywords employers/recruiters are looking for, relative to the job you’re interested in and use them in your resume.

Critical Keywords – Job Titles/Job Descriptions – Keep it simple when it comes to job titles and job descriptions.  For example, you can use as a job title “marketing analyst” and as a job description “market analysis”.  Use your job title and job description throughout your resume.

Synonyms – While you may have a particular job title and description to use in your resume, there are probably similar keyword titles and descriptions.  Include these in your resume to increase the chances of employers/recruiters finding the keywords they’re searching for.

Remember, a big factor to succeeding with your online resume is based on using keywords.

For more online resume tips to increase exposure, see the source below.

Information provided by Barbara Warden.

Source

http://jobseekerweekly.com/newsletter.php?news=1671

How to Get Free PR on CollegeRecruiter.com for Your Product, Service or Opportunity

The re-launch of CollegeRecruiter.com earlier this week has provided employers, consumer marketers, schools, and even job seekers with the ability to promote their products, services, or other opportunities for free on our site. How? Post a blog article. The process for posting a blog article is quite simple.

First, either login to your existing account with CollegeRecruiter.com or click the Sign-up link on the right side to create a free account:
Then, click the links to Settings:
Then, click the Save button near the bottom of the page:
then My Page near the top center of the page:
then Blog Posts about halfway down the left side:
then post your blog article!

Note that blog articles should not be self-serving and we reserve the right to remove any blog article for any reason but expect to have to remove very, very few. Don’t write an article primarily about your product, service or opportunity. Instead, write something that is likely to be of interest and somewhat related to your product, service, or opportunity. Then, include a byline at the bottom in which you tell the reader a little about yourself and the product, service, or opportunity you want them to consider. A good rule of thumb is a sentence or two about yourself and then a sentence or two about the product, service, or opportunity. Feel free to link from the mention of the product, service, or opportunity in your byline to the web page that to which you want the reader to click through. The byline will look a lot better if you italicize it as the reader will understand that it is somewhat separate from your article.

The staff of CollegeRecruiter.com will regularly feature on our home page and other prominent locations the blog articles which are likely to be of most interest to our readers. The less the article is about your product, service, or opportunity, the more likely it is to be of interest to the reader and the more likely it is that it will be featured. Having your article featured will drive a huge amount of interested eyes to your blog article and therefore to your byline. Your byline will also be more credible to the reader if they haven’t just read through a bunch of self-serving drivel.

Want an example of a great blog article? Carole Martin, the Interview Coach, posted a great one shortly after our re-launch. It is entitled Cut to the Front of the Interview Line.

Questions? Please contact our staff writer, William Frierson.

What’s Beauty Have to Do With It?

I think it’s fair to say that most of us care about our personal appearances. We spend time and money everyday prepping to look our best. One place we like to dress to impress is at work, but do some of us have ulterior motives? According to one magazine article, there may be an advantage to being physically attractive in today’s workplace, but why?

In the article, there is reference to a survey conducted by the magazine, which offers some idea of how hiring managers view personal appearance. Here are a couple of results:

• 57% of hiring managers surveyed said that unattractive candidates are likely to have a harder time finding jobs

• 59% of hiring managers surveyed said they would advise job candidates to spend as much money on looks as on their resumes

These results are alarming, right? Imagine being an entry level job candidate competing for a position and in the back of your mind wondering whether you will be treated as a serious candidate or a piece of eye candy. I believe most candidates understand the importance of appearance as part of the package employers are looking for. However, candidates should make sure that their appearances reflect professional images that won’t distract employers from the substance they have to offer.

It’s no secret that people are attracted to people who are well-groomed, but remember looks aren’t everything. At the end of the day, most employers want to hire the most qualified candidates for entry level jobs and other positions.

Information provided by Jessica Bennett.

Source
Newsweek Magazine – July 26, 2010

Key Areas to Explore in Your Job Search

Whether you’re an entry level job seeker or someone who is unemployed, the competition for jobs is stiff. One magazine article talks about five key areas that job seekers should focus on to improve their chances of getting hired. The people I read about were out of work, unfilled in their previous jobs, or passed over for a position, but each person persevered by emphasizing one of these areas in their job searches, which led them to new opportunities.

Here are five key areas that can offer an advantage to anyone on the hunt for a job.

Your Resume – The goal of a resume is to get an interview, so structure it to sell your skills and qualifications for a specific job.

Your Network – According to the magazine article, over 80% of job leads come from personal connections. You can establish relationships with people by learning of their interests; maintain those relationships through interaction to stay up-to-date on any news that is relevant to you and your network.

Your Skill-Set – When looking at various job opportunities, determine if the job descriptions fit your abilities. If not, but you find something of interest, think about some additional education and/or training for a particular position. For example, an entry level job seeker might consider internship opportunities to learn more about different fields.

Your Profile – Sometimes it’s not what you know, but who you know. Perhaps you’re the most qualified person for the job, but no one knows who you are. One way to gain some visibility is to create a profile on a social media website. By doing so, you can communicate your professional interests, and even share a personal side of yourself, which could lead to networking opportunities as a job seeker.

Your Flexibility – With so much competition for jobs, getting or keeping a job may come down to what you are willing to do. Factors may involve relocating or even taking a pay cut in order to work. Weigh all of the factors and then make the decision that is best for you.

Information provided by Annya M. Lott, Brittany Hutson, Renita Burns, LaToya M. Smith, and Marcia Wade Talbert.

Source
Black Enterprise Magazine – July 2010

Glassdoor.com Partners With CollegeRecruiter.com to Better Help Students in Search for Jobs

Robert Hohman

Students Get Inside Look at Salary Insights and Company Reviews Direct From Employees

SAUSALITO, Calif. (July 28, 2010) — Glassdoor.com (www.glassdoor.com), a career community offering  a free inside look at jobs and companies, has joined together with the just re-launched CollegeRecruiter.com to better help college students and recent graduates find the information they need to make better career decisions.

Now through CollegeRecruiter.com, students and grads can get firsthand insights from Glassdoor users into specific salaries by job title alongside job descriptions and open job listings in areas near them. In addition, visitors to CollegeRecruiter.com will get a behind-the-scenes look at what it is like to work or interview at a company and interview reviews based on feedback from employees or job candidates.

For example, with Glassdoor’s community insights and CollegeRecruiter.com’s jobs information, a recent grad who is looking to become a software engineer can find current job listings, get details into a specific company’s compensation package, find out how pay varies by location, see what other software engineers and other employees think about their jobs and employers, and get an advance peek into what it is like to interview at a certain company.

“Younger workers have been among the worst hit during the recession and so it’s especially important to arm the next generation of employees with the tools and resources they need to get off to a successful start,” said Robert Hohman, co-founder and CEO of Glassdoor. “Working together with CollegeRecruiter.com, we believe that our combined insights and data will help tomorrow’s workforce get a better understanding of the new normal in salary and learn about jobs and companies that align with their interests and is best suited to their education and skills.”

“We’re thrilled to be working with Glassdoor as we help lead the job board community from a Web 1.0 model where virtually all of the job posting, article, and other content is provided by the employers and the job board to a very Web 2.0 model where we continue to feature content from employers and our staff but also content provided by users of CollegeRecruiter.com, Glassdoor, and other sites,” said Steven Rothberg, President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com. “Our users – and users of all job boards – want and deserve a much more interactive, open, honest, and transparent experience. They want to learn about job opportunities and what it is like to work for a particular employer from that employer but also from current and past employees of that employer. Job seekers want and deserve the opportunity to engage in a conversation about the pros and cons about specific jobs, organizations, occupational fields, locations, and more. And with the re-launch of our site and partnership with Glassdoor, our job seeking visitors will get all of that. We’re thrilled.”

Content syndication from Glassdoor enables sites like CollegeRecruiter.com to provide to their users access to information on more than 85,000 companies currently in Glassdoor’s database. Company reviews and salary information on Glassdoor are provided anonymously by a community of insiders, providing great insight into the inner workings, compensation, and pros and cons of working at companies across the globe.

# # #

About Glassdoor.com

Glassdoor.com is a career and workplace community giving a free inside look at jobs and companies. Glassdoor enables employees, job seekers, employers and recruiters to simultaneously see – for the first time – unedited opinions about a company’s work environment along with details on salary, company reviews, as well as benefits and CEO approval ratings. Glassdoor, founded in 2007 with a public beta version launched in June 2008, has since offered job interview questions and reviews, office photos as well as career advice.  Headquartered in Sausalito, Calif., Glassdoor was founded by Richard Barton, Robert Hohman and Tim Besse and has raised $9.5 million from its founders, Benchmark Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures.

To receive regular updates about new and interesting data and reports, visit the Glassdoor Blog or follow the company on twitter @glassdoordotcom. And, for more information about Glassdoor syndication opportunities and how they can help you, email bizdev@glassdoor.com.

About CollegeRecruiter.com

CollegeRecruiter.com is the leading job board for college students hunting for internships and recent graduates looking for entry level jobs and other career opportunities. CollegeRecruiter.com features hundreds of thousands of job openings and tens of thousands of pages of employment-related blogs, articles, podcasts, and videos. For more information, please visit http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, CollegeRecruiter.com was founded in 1991 by Steven Rothberg, who remains its President. To receive regular updates about new and interesting data and reports, visit the CollegeRecruiter.com Blog or follow CollegeRecruiter.com on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. For more information about partnering with CollegeRecruiter.com, email Steven@CollegeRecruiter.com.

CollegeRecruiter.com Re-launches With Tight Integration With Twitter, Facebook

Minneapolis, Minnesota — July 27, 2010 — CollegeRecruiter.com, the leading job board for college students hunting for internships and recent graduates looking for entry-level jobs and other career opportunities, announced today that it has completed its fifth major update since launching in 1996. The newest version of the site takes advantage of integration opportunities which were not available even a couple of years ago such as sharing login information with social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and user generated content with a variety of other sites.

Key features of the new CollegeRecruiter.com are:

• The new Web 2.0 site emphasizes user generated content and facilitates interaction between job seekers, employers, career counselors, and others. At the same time, CollegeRecruiter.com has preserved the ability of job seekers to search and apply to job posting ads.
• Candidates will now search for jobs, click on posting summaries, and immediately be taken to the web sites of the employers to both read the posting and apply to it.
• Candidates can post profiles on CollegeRecruiter.com and employers and others may review those and contact the candidates directly — at no charge.
• CollegeRecruiter.com anticipates that it will continue to see hundreds of thousands of unique visitors per month from its primary target markets of job seekers and employers but will now also see significant use and great content from college career service office professionals, career counselors, resume writers, admissions counselors and more.
• CollegeRecruiter.com employees have already built hundreds of Employer Spotlight pages for the top employers of college students and recent grads. The current job openings of those employers will automatically appear on those Spotlight pages … even if the employer has not paid CollegeRecruiter.com to do so. 
• Video, video, video! Employers and other users may post videos at no charge, helping them better connect with job seekers. 
• Finally, CollegeRecruiter.com has also updated its corporate structure so that its parent company is now known as CollegeRecruiter.com Holdings, Inc. and that organization owns two subsidiaries: CR Direct, Inc., which delivers the targeted emails and cell phone text messaging campaigns, and CollegeRecruiter.com, LLC, which delivers everything else including job postings and banners.

About CollegeRecruiter.com

CollegeRecruiter.com is the leading job board for college students hunting for internships and recent graduates looking for entry level jobs and other career opportunities. CollegeRecruiter.com features hundreds of thousands of job openings and tens of thousands of pages of employment-related blogs, articles, podcasts, and videos. For more information, please visit http://www.CollegeRecruiter.com.

Want to Recruit Social Media Experts? Host a Breakfast for Them.

The Twin Cities’ Social Media Breakfast was recently held at Deluxe Corporation. The event focused on small businesses and their use of social media. At the event, a panel of small business owners discussed how they currently use social networks to strengthen and expand customer base.

What has this got to do with recruiting? Well, Deluxe is re-making itself from the leading printer of checks into an information technology consulting firm for small and medium sized businesses. Let’s say you own a restaurant and want to build a powerful social media presence to drive loads and loads of new and repeat business. Who do you call? Deluxe wants you to call them. So how does a recruiting team get in front of a bunch of social media gurus? One great idea is to host a social media breakfast and invite everyone in your metro in that space. Then they can learn more about you while you learn more about them. Most won’t be interested in you and/or you won’t be interested in them for one reason or another, but if dozens or even hundreds of potential hires attend, how can you go wrong?

Take a peak at footage and pictures from the event!

Engineering Majors Are The Highest Paid College Grads

Engineering degrees account for four of the five most highly paid majors among the college Class of 2010, according to a new study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

NACE’s Summer 2010 Salary Survey shows that petroleum engineers earned the highest starting salary offer—$74,799—followed by chemical engineers ($65,628). (See Figure 1.)

The only non-engineering degree to crack the top five was computer science, coming in at third with an average starting salary offer of $61,112.

Rounding out the top five were computer engineering ($59,917) and electrical/electronics engineering ($59,381).

Despite the high salaries, the current averages actually represent lost ground for all but chemical engineering graduates.

The average offer to chemical engineers gained 1.1 percent over last year at this time, but the average offer to petroleum engineers fell 10 percent compared to July 2009.

Losses were smaller for graduates in computer science (down 0.5 percent), computer engineering (down 2.9 percent), and electrical/electronics engineering (down 1.2 percent).

“Those high starting salary offers reflect the uneven supply and demand that exists for these graduates, even in the current economy,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.

In fact, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), all engineering degrees accounted for just 5.4 percent of the 1,563,069 bachelor’s degrees conferred in 2008.* Just 521—or 0.03 percent of the total number of bachelor’s degrees—were conferred in petroleum engineering.

“All of the top five earners are in short supply,” says Mackes. “Each accounts for less than 1 percent of the degrees granted.”

You’ve heard of video resumes, but how about video job postings?

One of the most interesting organizations that I’ve run across recently is Deluxe Corporation. They’re headquartered in suburban Minneapolis and were founded way, way back in 1915. Most people likely aren’t familiar with Deluxe’s business and many of those who who think they are, well, aren’t.

If you’ve ever written a paper check, then you probably know Deluxe. They’re the king of paper check printing but we all know that’s a dying business as more and more of that business moves to on-line bill payments and other forms of electronic commerce. Deluxe saw this coming and about a decade ago began to transform its business. Just about everyone would agree they needed to adapt or perish, so the question wasn’t really if they should adapt but how they should adapt. Deluxe made a brilliant decision by recognizing that one of its greatest strengths was that it had a HUGE number of small business clients who knew and trusted Deluxe. So rather than looking to adapt based upon its existing products or even the skills of its current employees, Deluxe decided to adapt to fill a need that many of its clients had: information technology.

If you’re a small business and need a web site developed or a web site hosted or other information technology needs, you should know that you can and should consider Deluxe to fill those needs. But think about the incredible transformation in the types of employees they now need to hire. Rather than hiring a whole lot of pre-press and printing folks, they now need to hire a whole lot of information technology folks. So Deluxe needed — and has — gotten smart about hiring information technology people really, really quickly. Want proof? Have a look at this Talent Sourcer job posting video that they recently posted to their Facebook Fan Page. Keep going like this, guys, and you’re going to thrive for another 95 years.