Friday, February 28, 2014

Work Opportunities in Rural Areas

Many college graduates head for big cities like New York or Chicago after they graduate, although there may be some good reasons to consider less heavily populated regions as employment locations. For years rural areas have been losing its citizens to big cities, causing many smaller towns to decrease in population and having a severe negative impact on their economies. As a result, many rural areas are taking steps to prevent their citizens from leaving, and perhaps even attracting new inhabitants.

Kansas has recently implemented the Rural Opportunity Zones program, in which new full-time residents of the state are offered Kansas income tax waivers for a period of up to five years, providing that they live in of the 73 counties who are participating in the program. The majority of these counties are also offering student loan repayments up to $15,000.

Nebraska, which is located directly above Kansas, has also taken steps to attract more residents. The University of Nebraska has started an initiative it refers to as the Rural Sourcing Project. This undertaking outsources jobs to smaller towns throughout the state, instead of to major metropolitan areas.  The Rural Sourcing Project was inspired by an Atlanta-based software development company called Xpanxion. Over the past six years Xpanxion has created about 100 jobs in Nebraska in an effort to attract skilled workers to small towns throughout the state. This has saved Xpanxion a great deal of money on labor expenses, since workers in Nebraska do not need to be paid as much as in Atlanta or the Silicon Valley. Likewise, workers benefit from the much lower cost of living, so it is a win-win situation. Xpanxion has since established a program with the Center for Rural Research and Development at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and with the university’s al umni association in an effort to recruit graduates. Today these programs are collectively known as the Rural Sourcing Project.

In addition to offering a lower cost of living, rural areas are also attractive because they have lower crime rates and less pollution than big cities. Many people also enjoy the charm of small towns. Large urban areas still offer many work opportunities, but job searches need not be restricted to big cities. If you need help finding a job, contact us today.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Bragging Skills Could Improve Work Opportunities for Women

Two recent studies suggest that a reluctance to brag could be holding women back when it comes to work opportunities. If you’re searching for a new job online, it may be time to improve your bragging skills.

Researchers at Montana State University confirmed the conventional wisdom that women are less comfortable than men when it comes to talking about their accomplishments. They put female students to the test by asking them to write an essay about why they deserved a merit scholarship. The group that did best was the one that was tricked into thinking there was a box in the room emitting sound waves that caused anxiety even though they couldn’t be heard. It appeared that the students blamed their discomfort on the box which freed them up to brag about themselves more effectively.

An earlier study at the University of Massachusetts reached similar conclusions. They found that women working with men were less likely to take credit for their work than women with female colleagues.

Being able to talk about your achievements is essential to landing a new job and advancing in your career. If you’re struggling with excess modesty, consider these tips:

Focus on the bottom line. Downplaying your qualifications is expensive. The typical woman still earns less over her lifetime than her male counterpart.

Build your confidence. Think of it as telling the truth rather than boasting. Assess your strengths and get feedback from people you trust.

Distract yourself. You don’t have to have an imaginary box like the experiment above. Focus on your work rather than your fears.

Talk about results. Sticking to the facts will impress an employer and reduce your stress. Take credit for cutting costs or improving quality.

Team up. You may find it easier to promote others. Network with colleagues you can say nice things about.

You’ll find more than 250,000 jobs you can search for free at Jobvertise. Contact us to learn how to energize your job search.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Remove these Posts from Social Media when Finding Jobs

Our previous post already discussed how you had to clean up your digital life before finding a job. Many potential employers now routinely look at your social media to determine if you'd make a good fir for the company. It's not enough, however, to remove questionable pictures. You must also delete the following types of posts.
  • Complaints may paint you as a troublemaker and hothead if you use social media to vent your anger against businesses, coworkers, bosses, industries or the government. If you want to warn your followers against unsavory business practices, balance the complaint with a suggestion for improvement. Potential employers will then see you as someone who likes to solve problems.
  • Political commentary. It's a free country and you're entitled to your opinion. But what happens if your employer does not share your views, or consider your opinions extreme or radical? Many bosses don't really care what you think but they may be concerned about how customers may view your commentaries, especially if you work in jobs with public contact, such as sales or customer service. Play it safe by removing any posts with a hint of politics.
  • Confidential information. If you've signed a confidentiality clause with your current or past employers, then you are legally bound not to repeat anything on social media that could violate that clause. And even if you didn't, you must not post anything that your potential employer might see as confidential, including unreleased technology, vendor contracts and discount, or profit and loss figures. Even innocent praise for a successful project can be seen as inappropriate if it discusses something that is not public knowledge. Only post information about your company that already exists online or in printed media.
You want your social media to present the best possible side of you to potential employers. For more ways to do that or if you want help in finding a job, please contact us.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Post Resumes: Get Your Name And Experience Out There

Being a job seeker is not a position most people want to be in. They would rather be a job holder. As such, it is important to get out there and nab the job. The best way to do this is to start to post resumes and see what is available out there.

It Is A Wide World Of Jobs
Even when the economy is at its worst there are still jobs available somewhere. Many are deterred simply because they believe that the economy is tough out there. The economy may indeed be tough, but doing nothing at all will not solve the problem for yourself. Instead, it is necessary for you to get your name out there.

Crafting A Strong Resume
There are many people who are going to be posting their resumes at any given time. They are in direct competition with you for the jobs you may want.

Prospective employers not only look at your resume, but how your resume is presented. You need to make sure your resume is pleasing to the eye as well as contains good content.

You want your resume to stand out from the rest that are available to any given employer. This means proofreading it and making sure that it looks better than the standard resume.

Never Stop Trying
Just submitting a resume to the one job that you would really like to have is not effective enough. You should apply for that job, but you should also apply for others as well. You never know which one might decide to give you a call. If you stop at the first one, then you may be waiting around for a very long time.

Contact us for more tips on how to get your resume in order and how to land a job.

Friday, January 31, 2014

Mastering Boolean Logic Basics When You Search Jobs Free

While you search jobs free, it pays to be sure that you have mastered the basics of Boolean search logic. If you’re like most job seekers, you have been searching the Internet regularly for years, but there may still be opportunities to save time and get better search results.

Boolean logic is just the technical term for the system that operates automatically when you search for something online. The principle things to keep in mind are the operator words that serve as instructions. When you enter keywords with no further instructions, your search results will typically be the same as if you typed “OR” between the keywords. The other main options are “AND” to get results that contain all the keywords or “NOT” to exclude specific words. You can also use “NEAR” if you only want to see results where the keywords are close to each other.

Wildcards like “*” allow you to get multiple variations of a keyword. Parentheses are helpful for complicated searches where you want to prioritize certain keywords. Quotations around keywords limit the results to those exact words in that exact order.

You should also keep in mind that there may be individual differences in how searches operate on different sites. For example, LinkedIn does not currently support a wildcard option. You may also find that it’s easier to conduct multiple searches than to try to write a complex formula to cover all scenarios.

All of these factors matter because they can make your job search more efficient and effective. For example, entering “pediatric nurse” will eliminate your having to search through openings in gerontology. Entering “nurs*” may help you to find all listings in one click for nurse, nursing and other variations.

Contact us to create an account for free. Jobvertise lets you post your resume free and search thousands of job listings in the US, Canada and worldwide. We typically add almost 50,000 new jobs a week.

Friday, January 24, 2014

4 Good Reasons to List Online Courses When You Post Your Resume Free

When you post your resume for free, you want to include everything that may catch the eye of a potential employer. Today, that may include online courses. Perceptions are rapidly changing about the value of MOOCs (massive open online courses) and similar offerings.

Naturally, a degree that is received on campus still carries more credibility than one that was pursued entirely through the internet. However, online courses are becoming more highly regarded as a form of continuing adult education. In fact, as a growing number of companies launch their own educational and training initiatives online, they tend to adopt a more positive outlook on the whole issue.

If you’re in the market for a new job, these are 4 advantages and opportunities for highlighting online courses in your resume and social media profiles:

Enhance your keywords. Keywords are critical to getting spotted in an online search. Your resume may rise to the top if the course titles correspond with the position you’re seeking. It’s also beneficial if the classes were associated with a prestigious university or other institution.

Express your motivation. Initiative is a valuable quality for most positions. Many employers will take a favorable view of the fact that you use your leisure time to advance your knowledge and skills.

Demonstrate perseverance. Online courses have an extremely high dropout rate. A savvy human resources professional will note that any candidate who completes a course is probably above average in their abilities to manage their time and work toward goals.

Focus on your portfolio. While educational requirements are highly significant, the main criteria for many employers is your track record and potential for making a contribution quickly. Make sure you also give adequate time to presenting samples of your work.

Contact us to energize your job search. Jobvertise is the world’s largest free job and resume database.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Consider the 15 Best States to Make a Living When You Search Job Listings

When you search job listings, you may want to give top priority to the 15 best states to make a living. You never know where your next opportunity may pop up, but targeting these markets could make your search go faster.

MoneyRates.com conducts an annual survey ranking states based on data from sources including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, cost of living data, state tax rates and the Gallup-Healthways index on workplace environmental ratings. These are the 15 states that got top ratings for 2013:

Washington: Washington is the clear winner. It has the lowest cost of living among the eight states where average wages exceed $50,000 a year. It also has no state income tax.

Virginia: Low unemployment (5.6%) and cost of living enable Virginia to come in second.

Colorado: In addition to the third best ranking for workplace environment, you’ve got the Rocky Mountains, skiing and national parks.

Texas: Texas has been in the top five for 3 years mostly for its low cost of living.

Wyoming: The home of Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole, also earns the second best score for work environments.

Minnesota: Minnesota is back in the top 10 after a narrow miss in 2012.

Nebraska: This is the first time Nebraska has cracked the top ten.

Utah: Enjoy a low cost of living and unemployment rate. If you don’t like crowds, it’s also the tenth least densely populated state.

Kansas: Yet another example of low cost of living and unemployment.

Oklahoma: Oklahoma is another newcomer to the top 10.

Rounding out the top 15 are Arizona, Iowa, Massachusetts, Missouri and Indiana. Hawaii came in last with a cost of living two-thirds higher than the national average.

Wherever you live or want to move to, you can contact us for the world’s largest free job and resume database. It’s the perfect place to search hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States, Canada and worldwide.