Brief Hiatus

I've spent the past week and a half working on promoting and learning more about how to improve joblish. I'd be dishonest if I didn't say that I too have been perusing the job postings and exploring what's out there. (Hey, I wouldn't like to take advice from someone that didn't have first hand experience either!) The state of the economy is scary and working in the auto industry is plain horrifying right now. I'm happy to report that although the past month and a half have been the worst I've ever seen, we are finally seeing a bit of an upswing in customer demand. But that's neither here nor there.

In my last post I was talking about testing Bright Fuse and seeing what it's all about. I created a profile for myself and quickly found out that there's not a whole lot you can do with it unless you've got connections. In order to get connections, a lot of people need to believe in its usefulness. I'd imagine that Linked In was probably like this website before it took off. It just needed time and publicity. It got me thinking about joblish in terms of what its capabilities are once people really start to use it. They're endless. All of our popular resources started somewhere and by word of mouth and various re-inventions, they became the powerhouses that we now call Monster, Career Builder, Facebook, and even IMDB! It doesn't matter what the resource is. It can be for entertainment purposes (because we all know I can finish a week without seeing what Doc Jensen from Entertainment Weekly has to say about Lost.) Or, it can be a more powerful resource that will help us secure employment as easily and efficiently as possible.

Long story short: I'm definitely not giving up on Bright Fuse - - I'll even help promote it. Because that's how it is going to become helpful to everyone. The same goes for joblish.

Even More Useful Information

I'm going to vent about my little exercise in futility tonight. After publishing my information on Monster, I was pretty geeked. Naturally, you'd think it would be as fun, (if not more,) to do the same at Career Builder. No. It's not. Let me tell you this: when I graduated from college and was looking for my first job (some 6 years ago,) Career Builder was THE place. It was helpful, easy to navigate, and you could get in and out. You didn't need to spend three hours trying to figure out how to format your resume so it's not just one big, 4-page-long, run-on sentence that no employer in their right mind would take a second glance at. Specific example you say? Not example...reality. I did in fact spend a tremendous amount of time clicking and entering information everywhere possible. What's worse...there was no good place for me to put joblish codes. I finally just said "screw it," and made my resume private so no one search it.

Please don't get me wrong...I'm not bashing on Career Builder. It takes work to put yourself out there...I would just prefer that my work be rewarded with a decent looking finished product. It would be great if you could call Barney Stinson up and ask him for a video resume...that would solve all my problems (How I Met Your Mother reference.) Unfortunately, even though Laura-Land isn't always grounded in reality, that isn't possible. Soooo, I'm going to make Career Builder work. I'm not going to leave you hanging. I did find a solution. I put my joblish codes at the top of my resume, directly below my name and contact information. You can't get much more "pow" than that. I still haven't figured out how to format it, but that's another problem for another night (and don't worry...you won't have to hear about it again.) Once I did that, I started to think about my Monster page. I logged back in and added my joblish codes to my resume there as well. On Monster, I now have my codes in two highly noticeable places. The more you can get it out there, the more rewarding it will be.

To summarize my neurotic, type-A musings; I've successfully entered my joblish information into Monster, Career Builder, LinkedIn, Facebook, and now I'm going to tackle a new website that I just learned of. It's threaded through Career Builder. It's called Bright Fuse. I'm going to check it out and you'll hear about it in a couple of days.

The Reason We're Here

Wow. That's all I've got. Wow. I spent my evening last night updating my resume and creating a profile on Monster.com. Of course Monster is a great resource and entering your resume and information there is always a solid idea. The reason for the 'Wow' is this: I sat at my computer for a half an hour trying to pull adjectives for my current skill set out of...well...you know where. Lightening struck my brain because this is where your joblish codes should go. I have a half a dozen joblish codes that can route any prospective employer to a concise and all-inclusive description of exactly what experience I have, and what I want to do. I've always had faith in the usefulness of joblish and now that I've gone through the very tedious exercise of extracting random descriptors out of thin air, I am now more confident than ever that joblish is what is needed to help us marry our perfect job (and for employers to find their perfect staff).

There are two specific places that I would put my joblish codes. Either one works, but one is more visable to anyone that looks at your profile. The first place that you can put your codes is in the "About Me" category under the "Skills" heading. If you put them there however, people may have to search your profile a bit more to find them. My joblish codes are front and center in my "Personal Statement". This is one of the first things that anyone sees in your profile. Here's another little crumb of insight for you: by putting joblish codes in your profile and/or resume, it makes you stand out! And what has Laura taught us? We want to stand out to our future employers. I'm planning to do this same routine at Careerbuilder (hopefully within the next day or so...Lost isn't on this week so I'll have a bit more time.) Once that's done, I'm sure I'll have more bits of wisdom for you on that one too.

Great Ideas

I vowed to discuss joblish in this post and I'll deliver. I've had some tremendously encouraging and inspiring discussions with complete strangers about joblish and what it's about. Not only have I gotten great feedback about functionality, but also ideas about how to make the site more successful. You now have the distinct pleasure of seeing my brain train as I process some of the ideas that have been coming across my screen.

I've recently become more active at LinkedIn with the specific objective of promoting and growing joblish. A side effect of this recent endeaver is a refreshing view of the professional community and their willingness to help. To all of these people: Thank You. The bigger (and much more relevant,) result is how to update and continue the forward motion that joblish has developed. All of the ideas that have been presented to me have one thing in common (besides being about joblish...ha ha.) They all say that they'd like to see a site that is a bit more user friendly and easier to navigate. Ask and ye shall receive. The joblish team is going to begin brainstorming over the upcoming days and months about how to take this advice and apply it to the the site that is already revolutionizing the world of employment. I'm psyched. I love this website (obviously,) and its success and not just important to me. It's important to every single person that has a job, needs a job, or may someday look for a job. I don't say this as a marketing ploy, but as the God's-honest-truth.

That's all I have to say about that. Don't be concerned...I'm not turning this blog into my soap box, but I wanted to talk about today's little exercise in people helping people and what results it yielded. I was pleasantly surprised. (What does that say about me and my expectations?! Don't answer that.) As always, if there are any questions or comments, e-mail me at thelaura@joblish.com. Alright...Lost is on tonight. Gotta go.

The Interview - Part 3

joblish. What's joblish? How do I use it? Where do I use it? Is it a language? (Yep.) As promised, I will address these and many other burning questions. I do, however, have a few more words about interviewing and then I'll get to the bread and butter. The Big Show. joblish. So....Suit up! (For anyone that doesn't watch "How I Met Your Mother," please do. It's quite likely that I'll make more references to it. Plus, it's a great show).

I asked what should and shouldn't be said in a job interview. I'm going to give some fast and fun gems about the "do's" and "don't's" of interviews. I like to read magazine columns that have lists of "Instead Of This," "Try Saying This." It's a lot less boring than regular prose. So, here are some of my favorite faux pas and their more socially acceptable substitutes.

Instead of: I hate my job.
Try: My job has taught me a lot about what I want to do with my career and I am ready to move on.

Instead of: I hated my last boss.
Try: Explain why the last organization wasn't a correct fit and how your relationship with your former boss could have been improved. Be constructive.

Instead of: What if I do something stupid and screw everything up?
Try: How is my performance evaluated and how often?

Instead of: Do I have to work a lot?
Try: What are the responsibilities and expectations of this position?

And my personal favorite...
Instead of: How much will you pay me?/Do I get a bonus/How much vacation do I get/When will you promote me?
Try: Always, always, always wait for them to tell you.

This list is by no means all-inclusive, but it gives an idea of the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly. Be prepared for your interview, learn about the company, bring a list of questions you have, be polite, and rehearse your answers to your interviewer's possible questions. You want to be as comfortable and confident as possible. As always, send any questions to me at thelaura@joblish.com. Next? joblish, joblish, and more joblish. Visit http://www.joblish.com/, sign up (it's free!), and get excited. This is is the main event!

The Interview - Part 2

What's the most common opener for a job interview? "Tell me about yourself." I'll say it once and I'll say it a thousand times: that's not a question, and how are you supposed to respond?! You want to move the interview forward and there's nothing worse than sitting across from your prospective employer and hearing crickets. Awkward. I've found success with this type of response:

"I graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Psychology and Human Resources. I have strong organizational skills and substantial experience with multiple, global customers including Japan, Europe, Canada, and Mexico. With the skills that I've gained and my eagerness to learn more about this position, I will be a strong addition to your team. Will you tell me more about the responsibilities that I'll be taking in this role?"

Okay...that's just an idea and don't follow it as gospel, but hopefully it gives some clues about how to react to that question. Briefly touch on your strengths, important/relevant experience, and tell them why you would be a good choice to join their team. There's nothing that says you can't ask them questions too! In fact, most interviewers welcome the inquiries. Alright, you breezed through that first question with flying colors. This will put the meeting off to a smooth start and allow the meeting to move more fluidly.

The rest is largely dependent upon what job you are interviewing for and what that particular company's interview guidelines entail. In the interest of keeping this bit of rambling moderately short, (I don't want YOU to start hearing crickets,) I'm going to call it a day. As usual, I'm going to leave you with yet another question to ponder until I share my next pearl of wisdom. What should and shouldn't you say in an interview? Talk amongst yourselves.

The Interview - Part 1

Yeah! You got your interview. You've used your charm, charisma, and confidence to get that first meeting. I've often thought about a job interview like a blind date. The similarities are alarming. You've never met the person you're going to see, you're going to dress up, you're going to be on your best behavior so that person gets a fantastic first impression, and you're going to go home hoping for a second date. Not a perfect comparison, but for my purposes, it works nicely.

I'm going to break the interview down into several sections. The first part that I want to address briefly is wardrobe. We're all grown ups here so I'm not going to sweat the details, but here are the big points:

1. Dress to impress (cliche I know, but it's true.) For men, it's a suit, for women...well...it's still a suit.
2. Keep jewelry to a minimum, no nail polish, hair back, and try to hide the tattoos.
3. Polished shoes, women: make sure the heels aren't too high. Stilettos are probably not the look you're going for.
4. Use your best judgement and my general rule of thumb is that if I have a question about it; it's probably not appropriate.

Now you're dressed, you have at least three printed copies of your resume in a portfolio with a note pad, a couple of pens, and you're ready to roll. Plan to arrive about 10 minutes early. As I said earlier, we're all big kids so I'm not going to dwell on the minutia, but if there is anything you want more detail about, just e-mail me at thelaura@joblish.com. When you meet your 'date,' make eye contact, smile (but not too much because that can be creepy,) use a firm handshake, and be confident. When you reach your destination office or conference room, be seated and get ready for the the questions.

I've spoken to some recruiters and been to my share of job interviews and the consensus is that interviewers LOVE the following opener: "Tell me about yourself." That's not a question! How are you supposed to answer that?! My unfiltered, inner monologue wants to say that I'm an Aquarius, I like long walks on the beach, I'm getting married in October, and I'm dying to find out how "Lost" is going to end. Shockingly, that's not what they're looking for. You do, however, want to tell them some key information that will pique their interest. But how do you do that in a succinct and effective way that will begin the interview smoothly and transition into the next set of questions? Think about it and I will tell you what has worked for me in my next post.