LinkedIn Rants

One of the things I talk about in my job search classes is the power behind LinkedIn and that if you’re not using it, you mostly likely will not be found.  Consequently, the Groups function of LinkedIn is a great way to network, ask and answer questions, join conversations and to generally demonstrate your knowledge about a certain topic. 

Something I’ve noticed on LinkedIn (or any on-line article that solicits feedback) is that people can be downright mean and argumentative in their responses.  Someone might ask a perfectly innocent question about something and various members within a group will go off on a mean spirited tyrant about the way the question was worded or the responses of the other people. 

As I skimmed the comments in a professional resume writers group this morning, I noticed a poll requesting feedback about the best type of resume format; chronological, functional or both.  Good, I thought; this should be interesting for me to read and share.  As I went down the row of comments though, I noticed that some of the comments were mean-spirited and pompous. It was uncomfortable and most of the people who were saying great things stopped commenting. I suppose that the person doing the ranting considers themselves an expert and that the opinions of the others in the group are meaningless. 

There’s no need for this and people seem to forget that recruiters and potential clients may be able to see many of the comments or questions. Personally, a know-it-all resume writer would turn me off and I’d go looking for someone with a better personality.

Helpful Links for the Older Job Seeker

As I sit here preparing for a Job Search for the Age 40+ class next week, I figured that I’d share the wealth with you. Today I don’t have any short “how to” job search paragraphs but I do have a number of excellent links for the older job seeker.

1.  http://www.aarp.org

2.  http://seniorliving.about.com/

3.  http://www.careeronestop.org/JobSearch/SpecialTips/for-older-workers.aspx

4.  http://internsover40.blogspot.com/

5.  http://www.linkup.com/

6.  http://www.retiredbrains.com/

7.  http://www.maturityworks.org/

8.  http://www.seniorsjobs.com/

9. LinkedIn Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3AtjaSqB5w
10. http://www.seniorjobbank.org/
11. https://www.livecareer.com/quintessential/mature-jobseekers
12. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2017/04/10/the-problem-with-job-boards-for-older-job-seekers/#4e31fa232075

Do you have any suggestions for helpful sites for the mature job seeker?

Saints Preserve Us, The Labor Numbers Are Out

My Irish grandmother used to say, "Saints preserve us" when something went wrong. I haven't heard that saying in years but as soon as I heard the labor numbers this morning, it popped into my head.  The statistics are bad, frustrating and just aren't improving.

The job report is terrible and frankly, people should consider themselves lucky if they have a job. The Labor Participation Rate (people actively looking for work) is the highest it has been since May of 1979 (the Carter administration days) at 63.3% So even if the unemployment rate is 7.6%, this means that people dropped out of the hunt.

On top of that, 11.7 million people are unemployed and 21.6 million people are underemployed.  Underemployed mean that people are taking jobs that are beneath their abilities but are taking them anyway because they need to make ends meet.  I know people like this and I'll bet you do too.

These numbers make something that I heard yesterday make sense.  I read that the weekly claims report is the highest it has been since November with 385, 000 claims reported last week. There are 5.3 unemployed Americans and 3.2 unemployed people for every job opening.

I gave a Networking class this past Wednesday night and when  asked the room who was unemployed everyone but one person raised their hands. Saints preserve us.