Saturday, October 29, 2011

NJ Women's Expo

The other day while on Facebook, I noticed that a friend "liked" a group called the NJ Women's Expo. I took a look at it and "liked" it too. The NJ women's Expo is a event that is planned for the weekend of November 5 & 6, 2011. It will showcase the area's very best products, services, seminars and attractions created especially for women.

I then contacted the NJ women's Expo site and asked for information for the 2012 show. I figured that while it is too late to get involved this year, perhaps I could think about speaking at the event next year. Yesterday I got a call from the group asking ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giff I would showcase my book for at least one day of the show. The best part? It's free.

The moral of the story is to take a chance. Don't be afraid to contact someone (or a hiring manager) because you don't think that you are qualified. You never know what might happen.

If you are in the NJ area on November 6, 2011 between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm, please visit the expo. I'll be in the Book Nook talking about my book, Job Search for Moms. Please drop by and say "Hi". It looks like a a fun event.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Watch What You Say in Social Media

My friend John Fox, The Golden Rule Guy posted an interesting link today that reiterated the point that a whopping 91% of employers are using social media to screen perspective employees. He also stressed that what you post is out there for all to see. Please check out his blog – it is very thought provoking.

John’s post got me thinking not only of the employment process but also of the thousands of high school kids who are right now applying to colleges. Our family went through the college application process last year around this time of year. We had to remind our son that he had to be careful of his Facebook posts and pictures. It’s very easy for a college to look up someone. Even if the security setting protects the “Wall”, the pictures may be open for all to see. Is a college going to think highly of someone with a beer in their hand or openly displaying ummm, affection for someone? And while we’re on the subject, remind your kids that if they leave their Facebook or Twitter pages open and walk away, one of their friends may think it’s funny to write something really gross or inappropriate on the page. I’m probably preaching to the choir here but this is something you may want to stress to your children.

Of course the same rules apply to the internships and the job search. It’s best to look at your profile and ask yourself if based on what you see, you would hire yourself. If anything there makes you question yourself; take it down. While you are at it, take a look at your friend’s posts. If there is anything inappropriate and it shows on your wall, hide it (go to the post and towards the upper right of it, you’ll see a small downward facing arrow. Click it and then click Hide Story).

With social media our words and actions are out there for anyone to see. It’s hard enough to find a job or get accepted to a choice college as it is. Why mess around with it because of something you or someone else posted to a social media outlet?

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The Job Search and Dress?

Who ever thought that we’d have to talk about clothing choices in my job search blog? Unfortunately, inappropriate interviewing clothing has become a common theme. I know that in the corporate world the limits of the dress code were often tested and even last week at a corporate training session, this very subject was a topic of discussion.

A friend of mine interviewed with a major retail store recently. My friend has excellent taste in clothing and has a knack for dressing beautifully for whatever activity she is attending (she doesn’t spend and arm and a leg either). The retailer was holding an open house for perspective employees and hundreds of people attended. What surprised my friend was the number of people who arrived for the interview wearing shorts, tee shirts, flip flops, or looking as if they just rolled out of bed. What didn’t surprise her was that after several rounds of interviews, it was the professionally dressed crowd who were led into another room to sign the hiring paperwork.

What’s going on? Should people be taught the basics of dressing for a job interview? When my friend and I talked about it, I wondered if some of these people showed up for the open interview dressed like that because they didn’t care if they got the job. Perhaps they showed up so that they could report back to the unemployment office that they applied for position but didn’t get an offer. Who knows?

Another friend told me that she was looking at on-line job postings and noticed that several of them mentioned that “neat, professional dress” was written into the posting. Hummmm, not as uncommon as I had originally thought.

What do you think is going on?

Please Visit a Dermatologist

Today I had surgery for a Stage 0 Melanoma. It was discovered about a month ago when I went to my dermatologist for my annual skin screening...