Arizona Jobing Community Blogs

When you're part of the largest department in Arizona with over 3000 officers, you tend to get a lot of questions like, "Do you feel like a number?" It's a reasonable question to someone who is not part of the organization.

Let me introduce myself. I am Officer Lawrence Horton, of the Phoenix Police Department. I am a 12 year veteran currently assigned to Employment Services Bureau as a liaison to the Recruiting Unit in charge of advertising. I've never felt like a number.

I spent eight years on the streets of downtown Phoenix in the Central City Precinct before I became a recruiter and have been here ever since. The recruiting unit is only one of 80 different specialty details our department has. Anything you can possibly think of regarding police work -- or can't think of for that matter -- we have. More than likely, some aspect of you personality can find a place within our department. The career opportunities within our organization are elaborate.

But the whole time I was working on the streets helping people, or helping people take advantage of our employment opportunities, I never felt like a number. I've got some very close friends on the department. I've been given some unique and special opportunities. I've been places and done things, thanks to the department, I might never have in private industry and that will assist my future careers after I retire at the age of 42.

When you want to know more about opportunities I've had within the Phoenix Police, or if you want to know how you can start a career with us and take advantage of some of those same opportunities then please call us: 602-534-COPS. Or visit our website. Or keep coming back to these blogs to find out more about the amazing benefits our department offers exclusively.

A message from Jacob, www.socialsecurity.gov

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today unveiled a new online calculator at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator that will provide immediate and personalized benefit estimates to help people plan for their retirement.  The Retirement Estimator is tied to a person’s actual Social Security earnings record and eliminates the need to manually key in years of earnings information.

“ Deciding when to retire is one of the most important and difficult decisions many people face,” Commissioner Astrue said.  “The Retirement Estimator greatly improves the information available when trying to decide the right time to retire.  It is simple, easy-to-use and will provide highly accurate benefit estimates for those nearing retirement age.  For younger workers, it will provide valuable information to help them plan and save for their retirement.”

The Retirement Estimator is interactive allowing the user to compare different retirement options.  For example, a person can change retirement dates or expected future earnings.  Individuals also can print out up to three different scenarios at one time, in addition to information about their benefits at age 62 (current age if older), full retirement age and age 70.

Best of all, the Retirement Estimator is secure.  The only thing it provides online is retirement benefit estimates.  It does not show the earnings record information on which the final benefit estimate was calculated, nor does it reveal other personal information.

Visit, www.socialsecurity.gov

It's so easy!

 Citi, the largest financial institution in the world, is expanding our Southeast Tucson location to add more complex roles within our Mortgage division.  In the next months we will be adding more layers to our Mortgage Collections department to include various roles that help our clients through the foreclosure and bankruptcy process as well as roles to aid in the prevention of foreclosure.  These positions will require a great deal of compassion and desire to help our customers through this trying time.  Prior mortgage experience is crucial to this success.  Please take a moment to review the many opportunities we have available at www.careers.citicards.com and pass the word along to your family, friends and colleagues that may have mortgage experience.  With you or your referral’s Mortgage industry experience and the wonderful career opportunities available at Citi, a great partnership is just an application away. Please apply today at www.careers.citicards.com . 

Odds are - at one time or another - all of us will be between jobs. 

Don't you hate it when you look at your resume and see those gaps. 

A great way to fill those gaps is to set up your own business.  What are you great at - what skills can you share to solve the challenges of other companies. 

Package them up and offer your services as a consultant or contractor.  Start networking - join business associations - ASBA is only $125 per year and in addition to great networking opportunities - has healthcare options and loads of educational opportunities to hone your personal skills.

Who knows - you just might make some money - get hired by a customer who is wow-ed by what you can do - OR like it so much that you stay in business for yourself and start hiring employees of your own.

The Jobing.com Career Expo is just two weeks away!  

Meet face-to-face with over 250 local employers on Wednesday August 6th 12Noon to 5pm at the University of Phoenix Stadium (Cardinals Stadium).   

Registration is free.  Free workshops and resume review.  There is no internet access at the event.  Free photocopies available.  Special resources will be available for job seekers with disabilities.  Pre-register to receive your quick pass for quick entry in the Jobing.com Career Expo Can't wait to meet you on Wednesday, August 6th!

As you look for your next dream job - don't discount small businesses.  Here in AZ, there are more jobs in the small business community than in any other sector.  

Small businesses (companies with 500 or less employees) make up 98% of the companies in our state and  represent the majority of the workforce.  Check out a cool new resource - http://www.YourEconomy.com/ to see how jobs breakdown by company size. 

Fun fact - Second Stage Companies (10 - 100 employees) represent 12% of all companies in AZ and employ 46% of the workforce!

A great way to find out more about local small businesses is to visit http://www.ASBA.com/ and click the DIRECTORY tab.  With over 3000 company profiles to choose from, its a great resource to use when you are checking out the local business landscape.

Although we have blogged about wellness programs before, over the last few weeks I have seen numerous articles and statistics about these programs in the workplace. It seems to be a new trend that HR professionals should start to take note of, or should they? I would like to present both sides of this emerging trend.

SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) has published multiple articles on this topic. In their latest article, according to Helen Darling, the president of The National Business Group on Health “Chronic illnesses account for 75 percent of health care spending, according to the NGBH, and employers are putting a much higher priority on wellness and lifestyle improvement programs than ever before.” In other words, the more health tips and simple practices that an employer can implement the lower health costs the company will have to pay in the end. It is a lot less selfish than it sounds. It truly could be a win-win for both employer and employee. Since 2006, health coaching and advice have gone up dramatically. From 2007 to 2008 the amount of employers implementing wellness programs has increased threefold. Also according to the article, “Initiatives as simple as providing healthy alternatives in workplace vending machines and promoting walks around an organization’s facility can be effective in their own way for changing lifestyle habits” says Dr. Don Bradley from North Carolina.

On the other hand, some say that these programs are so hard to measure with numbers that there is no direct correlation between employees being healthier because of them, and health costs for employers going down. How can a company say that just by changing the food in the vending machines or offering exercise classes that they have prevented someone from getting sick? That person might have become sick anyway. If a company is putting a considerable amount of money into this program, some employers might feel it is not worth their investment in the long run, due to the fact that there are no measurable statistics supporting it.

After all is said and done, your HR department just has to decide if a wellness program is something your company could benefit from.  I would put the cost portion aside and think about the affects it could have on morale and productivity, which could make you more money.

Here are 5 mistakes people make surprisingly often in interviews, and they are super easy to fix!

1.  Be Specific!  If asked, "Do you have any customer service experience?"  Don't just tell me yes, tell me where, how much, what exactly you did.  I shouldn't have to ask you to elaborate, you should supply the information to me up front. 

2.  Be original!!  This is a big one.  The person you are interviewing with likely does MANY interviews every day and hears the same answers over and over.  I do a lot of interviewing of college students and I can't tell you how many times I have heard the "troublesome group member" story.  Now, this usually does happen to everyone and it can be a fine example but make it original to you.  Tell me the details of the project, exactly where the disconnect was with this student and step by step what you did to improve the situation.

3. Prepare an answer for "tell me about yourself."  Don't get stumped on the first question.  If you can't tell me about yourself, there must be nothing to say.  You should have a solid 3-5 minute answer to this question summarizing your career history, your skills, and your goals/reason for applying for this position.

4. Don't get too personal.  I've had candidates give me very detailed information about their families, hobbies outside of work, religious beliefs, etc.  If it's not relevant to the job, leave it out of the conversation.

5. Ask me questions!  Half of the reason you are being interviewed is so that you can get more information on the position.  This is your chance to ask about the environment, the management style, the day to day activities, and the time line for the rest of the interview process.  The interviewer will be expecting you to ask them a least a couple questions and it shows your interest in the job.

Good Luck!!

Here are 5 mistakes people make surprisingly often in interviews, and they are super easy to fix!

1. Be Specific! If asked, "Do you have any customer service experience?" don't just tell me yes, tell me where, how much, and what exactly you did.  I shouldn't have to ask you to elaborate, you should supply the information to me up front.

2. Be original!! This is a big one.  The person you are interviewing with likely does MANY interviews every day and hears the same answers over and over.  I do a lot of interviewing of college students and I can't tell you how many times I have heard the "troublesome group member" story.  Now, this usually does happen to everyone and it can be a fine example but make it original to you.  Tell me the details of the project, exactly where the disconnect was with this student and step by step what you did to improve the situation.

3. Prepare an answer for "tell me about yourself."  Don't get stumped on the first question. If you can't tell me about yourself, there must be nothing to say.  You should have a solid 3-5 minute answer to this question summarizing your career history, your skills, and your goals/reason for applying for this position.

4. Don't get too personal.  I've had candidates give me very detailed information about their families, hobbies outside of work, religious beliefs, etc.  If it's not relevant to the job, leave it out of the conversation.

5. Ask me questions!  Half of the reason you are being interviewed is so that you can get more information on the position. This is your chance to ask about the environment, the management style, the day to day activities, and the time line for the rest of the interview process. The interviewer will be expecting you to ask them a least a couple of questions and it shows your interest in the job.

Good Luck!!