Jobing.com: Arizona Community Blog

CBS 5 Weekly Employment Update - Theresa Maher - Jobing.com Community Relations - PHX

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:11:33 GMT

I am so thankful for these Valley companies who are making an effort to fill their positions among the candidates in our Phoenix community. I am also thankful for our partners at CBS 5 for helping us get the word out about these great opportunities. If you missed this morning’s Who’s Hiring segment on CBS 5, join us next Wednesday at 6:25am!

Arizona Key Magazine

Arizona Key Magazine boasts the title of Arizona’s best statewide travel guide and offer a monthly publication, annual cactus league spring training special edition, online presence and much more. They are currently looking for outside sales reps interested in controlling their own financial destiny. A reliable means of transportation is required.

• Outside Sales

Charles Schwab

A well known leader in Financial Services, Charles Schwab focuses on Investor Services, Advisor Services, Corporate and Retirement Services. They have a variety of positions available from senior management to entry – level. Be sure to check the Campus Recruits post if you are graduating from a college degree program this academic year!

•    Sr. Finance Manager
•    Campus Recruits - Technical Associate
•    Brokerage Services Representative
•    Broker Trainee Program

Norwegian Cruise Line

They are innovators of the cruise industry; growing fast and constantly looking to improve their services. Norwegian Cruise Line is looking for candidates who are customer service and sales oriented who are interested in building relationships and selling cruise vacation products. These positions offer a base salary plus commission at their east Mesa location.

• Personal Cruise Consultants
• Personal Vacation Planners

Visiting Angels

Visiting Angels is a family alternative to assisted living facilities and nursing homes, dedicated to the best in-home care. They have an immediate need for live-in caregivers and CNAs who are looking for full-time, part-time, or weekend shifts. Experience and a passion for providing one-on-one care are required.

• Live-in Caregivers and CNAs

Social Recruiting 102 - Peter Weddle - Weddle's

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:12:06 GMT

Social recruiting is now emerging from its adolescence. It’s moving beyond the wide-eyed exultation of early adoption to the squinty-eyed assessment of mature users. The focus is less and less on what we can do with social media and more and more on how best to put it to work.

That’s especially apparent in the subset of social recruiting we call networking. Social or professional networking online now clearly falls into two general categories of activity. They are probably best described as content and contact networking. Both can help you access high caliber passive prospects for your organization, but each is performed differently.

Content Networking

Content networking occurs in the discussion forums on job board and association Web-sites, in blogs on corporate sites and in Google’s newsgroups. These destinations attract visitors who share a common career field or occupational interest and like to communicate and commiserate with each other about it. The interaction is social—a community of sorts does form—but it’s primarily based on the topic being discussed.

In most but not all cases, the members of these communities are passive prospects. They are not looking for a job. More often than not, however, they are interested in advancing their careers. Indeed, that’s why they are engaged by the content. They want to be smarter in their career field and better able to put their occupational interests to work. Said another way, they are top talent.

The only way to connect with these prospects effectively is by practicing the Golden Rule of Networking. That axiom is simple yet inviolate—you have to give in order to get. In other words, if you want the participants in these discussions to consider your openings, you have to first contribute to their content.

How can you do that? By being the expert you are. You know more about what employers are looking for in their field than they do. You have a much better understanding of how to interact with a group they consider exotic and hard to understand: recruiters. And, you have a more realistic sense of what employers will pay for certain kinds of expertise and different levels of experience.

So, don’t pretend to be someone you are. Be yourself. Then, when a participant’s contributions to the discussion single them out as a gem of a prospect, you can reach out to them privately and they’ll know who you are. You will have established the familiarity and trust necessary to move even the most passive of prospects into a more active frame of mind.

Contact Networking

Contact networking occurs on professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, Ryze, Yorz and Ziggs. These sites enable people to build out their connections in the workplace and thereby enhance their stature in their profession, craft or trade and/or make themselves “findable” by recruiters. While the groups within LinkedIn and similar sites do facilitate content networking, most of those who join these sites do not participate in them. They are simply interested in creating passive links that may prove helpful to them right now or at some point in the future.

The majority of those who sign on to professional networking sites would normally be passive prospects. In today’s economy, however, it’s likely that a significant percentage are, in fact, active job seekers. As in the real world, they are forging connections with others in the hopes of bumping into or being referred to a recruiter with an opening appropriate for them.

Networking in such a population, therefore, is basically an exercise in doing old-fashioned cold calling by email or InMail. Just as executive search consultants have done for years, it involves moving through concentric circles of contacts to uncover candidates for an open position. With the exception of the first circle—your own direct connections—the contacts are not personally known to you. They are, instead, leads that may either identify a genuine prospect or provide yet another lead to someone else who could be.

The key to successful contact networking, therefore, is two-fold. First, as with cold calling, the activity is basically a numbers game. You have to keep pouring a lot of contacts into the top of the funnel in order to reach even a small number of legitimate prospects at the bottom. Second, you have to know how to message with clarity and impact. Long and windy communications are unlikely to be read so active job seekers are more likely to apply when they shouldn’t and passive prospects are unlikely to read them at all. In effect, you have to find just the right balance between speed and engagement.

While we are still developing the best practices for both content and contact networking, these tools already represent some of the more mature applications of social recruiting. They are not, however, a substitute for the array of other sourcing methods we employ to identify top talent. They enable us to tap the power and promise of the social Web, but they incur a cost—the time commitment of the recruiter—that must be carefully managed within the context of your overall recruiting strategy.

Thanks for reading,

Peter

Visit my blog at Weddles.com/WorkStrong

Peter Weddle is the author of over two dozen employment-related books, including Recognizing Richard Rabbit, a fable of self-discovery for working adults, and Work Strong, Your Personal Career Fitness System.

Our gift to you: Members get in free at Dec. 1 Women in Business mixer! - Liz Massey - ASU Alumni Association

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:59:08 GMT

We're at the start of the holiday networking season; and to start things off on a festive note, the Arizona State University Alumni Association is giving its graduates a little thank you present!

The Alumni Association's Women in Business group holds quarterly networking mixers at area restaurants. These gatherings are places where successful female graduates of ASU can meet new friends and business contacts, share ideas and enjoy their mutual connection to the university.

Next Tuesday, Dec. 1, Women in Business will host a Wine and Networking Event from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at La Bocca, 699 S. Mill Ave. in Tempe. There will be complimentary appetizers, fine wine and a cash bar at the event, and Alumni Association members get in FREE!

If you'd like to check out our women's network before committing to the Alumni Association, the cost for this mixer is $10 for non-members. Don’t miss a chance to catch up with your classmates and forge new Sun Devil connections! RSVP Today.

Want get invited to free networking mixers like this one? Join the Alumni Association today!

Gain Experience in a New Field - Theresa Maher - Jobing.com Community Relations - PHX

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:45:19 GMT

Some interesting opportunities can present themselves if you are unemployed in today’s economy. For instance, you have the ability to switch over to a brand new industry without anyone so much as batting an eye. Think back to a few years ago. It would have been difficult for someone to simply change professional courses without prior experience or a really, really, really, good connection. Today, the world has taken an unexpected turn and there are many highly qualified candidates who are not able to find work as quickly as they expected. It’s not uncommon for some of these fine job seekers to venture out and try something completely different; or do I dare say, something they have always wanted to do. If you find yourself in this position and are ready to dive head first into a new field, I have a few words of advice. First, be sure you are highlighting your transferable skills on your resume (these are the skills that you have learned from previous positions that are not industry specific, (think conflict resolution, relationship building, etc). Second, use your time to gain whatever experience you can. Here are a few ways you can go about doing so:

Join an Association
Non-profit, industry specific associations usually hold regular meetings and events that allow you to keep up with the latest information and trends in a new field. These events are also great places to connect with some new professional contacts. As an added bonus, association membership also looks great on your resume.

Volunteer
Volunteering in your new field of interest allows you to gain hands-on experience in a new industry while working side-by-side with professionals in that industry. These new skills will be a great addition to your resume and if you’re lucky, you may be able to gain a new reference.

Informational Interviews
Informational interviews can be very valuable. They are not about directly getting a job, but about gathering information that can help you get a job. Reach out to a professional in the field you are interested in and ask for a few moments of their time. These interviews can offer an inside look at what it’s really like to work in that industry. And again, you can expand your network with a professional in that field.

Temp Work/Seasonal Employment
Temporary work is a great way to gain hands-on experience and gain skills to add to your resume. This also lets you dip your toe in the water without completely jumping in. As with the other examples, you can meet some valuable contacts. One of the great things about temporary work is the opportunity for it to turn into full-time employment; either with the company you are temporarily working for or with someone that employer refers you to.

Regardless of how you choose to prepare yourself, go into your job search with your head held high. Of the many employers I’ve spoken to, one message is always very clear. Employers will almost always hire for attitude and train for skill. Take you transferable skills and your new found experience and confidently sell your ability as the best candidate for the position.

5 Ways to Develop Relationships Through Twitter - Brett Farmiloe - Pursue the Passion - Phoenix

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:06:46 GMT

I have a theory: no one pays attention to you on Twitter. Your tweets don't matter. That is, unless, you appear in a user's @reply box. Then, people will pay attention to you, or at least, know that you're paying attention to them.

With that said, there are a few ways that you can use Twitter to develop relationships through @replies. Here are 5 ways you can get people to pay attention to you, just by including an @ symbol, a username, and a 140 character message.

1) Pay attention to people you follow. Instead of following everyone, follow only people you care about. Using Dunbar's number, shoot for 150 people to follow. This will allow you to see relevant tweets when you log into the home page, and will allow you to easily make a @reply comment on someone's tweets.

Notice how all of these tweets on the home page are from 10 seconds ago...this is useless to pay attention to. Compare that, to this...

This stream of tweets is full of relevant information dating back a full hour. It's much easier to pay attention to the people you're following when you're following a reasonable amount of people. Now I could reply to the tweet from @jobing with my thoughts on the real jobless rate.

2) Form a list of people to follow. This is an even more effective way to listen to what people are tweeting, because your lists can be small, and will capture every tweet that comes through. This allows you to @reply using the same method as above.

This list of associations, compiled by @JobingSanDiego, allows us to see what is happening with associations in San Diego. These tweets date back until last week, making it much easier to give a quick @reply to an association. For example, @JobingSanDiego can make a list like this, log in once a week, and comment on news like @SMChamberCA's new logo.

3) Thank people for including you on a list. This is an easy one. Just click on lists and you'll see the people who have listed you.

Simply @reply to them with a 140 character note of thanks.

4) Twitter Search. This is one of the coolest ways to have conversations on Twitter. This is like showing up at a party where everyone has the same interests as you. It's just a matter of who to talk to, and what to talk about.

For example, if you really want to meet people in the area who are involved with associations, you can do a search in your local area and find people to have conversations with.

This is a great way to establish new contacts, and find out about new opportunities. If you were to do a search like this on a frequent basis, you'd be able to find stuff to @reply about all the time. Just above, you could reach out to @MGAers about the Teacher of the Year Award, or @KeithKanemoto about the big news with the Colorado Association of Realtors.

5) Check your own @reply box and respond to the people who are @replying to you. None of the steps mentioned above will be effective if you ignore this step. Check in at least once a day to see if anyone has reached out to you, or responded to any of your @replies.

To do this, just log into your home page and click your @username. This will pull all tweets mentioning your username, and will allow you to directly respond to the people who have reached out to you. For example, I could @reply to @cheezhead and say, 'Did you catch the part about the bowl of yellow M&M's in that video?'

If you implement these five ways to tweet replies to the people you're following, Twitter will quickly become a valuable tool to you and your business. Or, you can continue to tweet and hope someone...anyone...is out there listening. Twitter is much more valuable if you're the listener, rather than the obnoxious guy at the party who talks to much about themselves.

So listen, @reply, and watch Twitter turn into a tool you couldn't live without.

Brett Farmiloe is the community social media manager for Jobing.com. He tweets under the username, @thatpassionguy. Get @ him if you ever have questions about social media, and how it relates to recruiting.

Your #1 Skill is So Obvious You Can Miss It - Ginny Kravitz - ICF Greater Phoenix Coaches Alliance

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:26:01 GMT

It’s easy to go into auto-drive when listing your skills on performance reports and resumes. But if you were to stop and think about which skill in your repertoire is numero uno, it’s probably something that is so obvious you’re overlooking it.

Here’s an enlightening exercise you can do over the next couple of weeks. It’s a simple list of skills that you give to 5-7 people you know through various circumstances. Choose one or two people close to you personally, and some with whom you have worked, including a senior manager or boss, as well as a colleague or peer. You may also want to include someone you know through a volunteer or network organization. Ask them to circle what they view as your top five skills and remind them that they can also add things that aren’t on the list.

Some responses may be what you expected and others may surprise you. When I did this for myself several years ago, the top skill that people highlighted was “having fun”. My response to that? At first I rolled my eyes and thought, “That’s not a skill. How on earth am I supposed to translate that into something marketable?” But shortly after, I was thrust into an assignment where this newly acknowledged skill of mine really made a difference. Over the years I’ve come to value that this is part of what I bring to any job: an ability to make work more fun, which in turn encourages creativity, enhances morale, and strengthens the team.

So, have a go with this exercise: Taking Stock of Your Skills. When you collect the responses, at first you might roll your eyes like I did or think, “Oh, that again, so what.” Just step back and consider what’s being reflected to you. Why is it important? What difference does it make when you bring that skill to the table? Really think about it and begin to own this in a way you haven’t before.

What do you think? I invite your comments. --Ginny

VIRGINIA KRAVITZ, Career and Life Coach, founded In the Current® to serve accomplished professionals who want to move boldy in new directions and start living with a greater sense of joy and abandon. Ginny’s e-zine, published every other Tuesday, is entitled Current of Life. Visit at: www.inthecurrent.com

Jobs of the Week - Liz Massey - ASU Alumni Association

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:35:58 GMT

It's a flat-out myth that the holidays aren't a good time to job-hunt, according to Susan M. Heathfield, a human resources expert and an About.com guide. In an About.com article, Heathfield asserts;

Many job searchers are convinced that job searching between Thanksgiving and the middle of January is a waste of time. If you buy into this myth about holiday job searching, you are losing one of the better job searching seasons of the year. During this holiday job search season, you enjoy reduced competition for jobs and more ... Fall trade shows are over and holiday vacations have yet to kick in ... You have the opportunity to help people spend their budgets before year end ...(and) many organizations interview in December for positions starting at the first of the year.

While it's true that the recession has negatively impacted hiring, Heathfield's advice still holds true - most people aren't looking right now, so if you are, you may be competing against fewer candidates. One great place to look, if you're a graduate of Arizona State University, is at the ASU Alumni Association's Sun Devil-centric job portal. Many postings are posted exclusively to the portal, which is powered by Jobing.com.

Here are the week’s top jobs:

T herapist/LISAC

Online Content and Print Coordinator

Network Administrator

Corporate Trainer

Visitors to the portal can post their resume to the site, and employers can post jobs online at the site, as well, tapping into ASU’s talent pool for very reasonable prices.

You never know what you’ll find until you visit http://asu.jobing.com!

What Are You Thankful for This Thanksgiving? - Jane Emberty - ICF Greater Phoenix Coaches Alliance

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:42:51 GMT

Do you think about it much? Has this year been pretty rough and you haven’t even stopped to think about being thankful? Would you be able to make a list of all the things you are thankful for?

Let’s see if I can help you get in the mood to start counting your blessings. How about starting with a word, ENJOY. Yeah, that makes sense with the holidays upon us. We have to remember to “enjoy.” Isn’t that what a lot of people tell us to do? “Enjoy the holidays,” “Enjoy the time off work,” “Enjoy the travels or hosting your in-laws at your house.” Ok, ENJOY! Let’s break it down.

“E” stands for ENTHUSIASM. That would be a great place to start. Without enthusiasm, the holidays could be ho-hum. Enthusiasm should help us get in the spirit. Enthusiasm could increase our energy level. Hey, “energy” is another word that starts with “E.” Little children have enthusiasm and look how much energy they have to enjoy the holidays!

“N” stands for NEIGHBOR. Love thy neighbor, of course. The holidays are a great time to be thankful for your neighbors and all the nice things they do for you throughout the year. Oh, another “N” word, nice. Really, neighbors are who help us enjoy our home and our neighborhood. Are you a nice neighbor?

“J” stands for JERKY. What? Yeah, haven’t you ever had turkey jerky before? You get turkey jerky if you leave the turkey in the oven too long and it gets really dry and tough. Can you imagine what a 20 pound tom turkey would yield as jerky? Maybe a pound or two of jerky? No, even gravy doesn’t make turkey jerky taste better.

“O” stands for OVERLOAD. Just knowing you could be on overload at sometime during the holidays, that should be enough to at least prepare you for when you blow a gasket when you least expect it. And what about all those other people around you, whether at work or at home? Do they ever experience overload? Maybe the definition of “overload” is when you charge too much on the credit card during the holidays and the bill shows up in January. Yeah, that is overload!

“Y” stands for YEAR END. Aren’t you glad these holidays come at the end of the year? Just think if the holidays came earlier in the year instead of year end, what would that be like? No snow or cold weather. No gloves and mittens. No skiing, sledding or building snowmen during the holidays. Yeah, I guess “year end” is the best time for the holidays.

No matter how you look at the holidays, with enthusiasm, indifference or somewhere in between, I sincerely wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving. “ENJOY” the holidays. Incidentally, if you find a way to salvage that turkey prior to it turning into jerky, let me know the trick.

Jane Emberty is a certified life/career coach and CEO (Chief Encouragement Officer) of Moving Thru Transition. With more than 20 years of human resources management experience she brings recruiting strategies to the table to help job seekers put their best foot forward. She is currently serving as the VP of Professional Development for the ICF- Phoenix chapter focusing on the New Coaches Collaborative that began this fall. For more information contact her at www.MovingThruTransition.com

How to network during the holidays without being offensive - Liz Massey - ASU Alumni Association

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:52:35 GMT

It’s that time again … less than one week before Thanksgiving, and already shoppers are shopping, holiday cooks are stocking their shelves and party invitations for December gatherings are flying out the door. While the recession will no doubt take a bite out of the holiday celebration scene this year, there will still be plenty of opportunities to get out and meet people at parties, dinners and get-togethers.

It’s not bad form to network at holiday events; in fact, it’s expected in many circles. However, there are some definite do’s and don’ts to make the process gracious and pleasant, as well as more effective. Here’s a mini-buffet of the best advice I was able to find on holiday networking…

Do your homework. Debra Feldman, writing on the Career Hub blog, asserts that planning ahead goes a long way toward providing you with the networking results you want. She suggests politely asking the host of the event who may be attending, so that you may learn more about the companies and industries represented and carry on an intelligent conversation with the attendees. Once you’ve dug in and scoped out who you may be networking with, don’t forget to think about what your ideal networking outcome is, she says.

“When you finally get in front of your target contact, what do you want to get out of the interaction?” Feldman asks. “Do you want their business card, a referral or permission to contact them afterwards to discuss your mutual interests?”

Get out there and socialize widely, but don’t be self-centered. Susan M. Heathfield, writing on About.com, advises job hunters to make plans to attend as many holiday events with friends, family and acquaintances as they can, but to avoid letting their career quest take center stage.

“You don't want to be obnoxious about your job search and aggravate friends and relatives,” she writes. “But do prepare a brief statement that tells people you are looking for a job and the kind of job you seek.”

Be memorable and have something of value to offer. Focus on the other person when you network at holiday parties, advises this newsletter article from Norvax, a sales technology company. Before you go, rehearse a brief description of what you do that goes beyond old job descriptions and gives a clear idea of how others benefit from your work: “I connect people to the best content on the Web,” or “I help people get the best health insurance for their money.”

And since no one wants to exclusively focus on YOU and YOUR needs, try to follow up with something of genuine interest to your conversation partner, especially if you intend to continue the relationship. It could a copy of an article you thought they might like, the name or your mechanic or a link to a piece of information your new friend said they were looking for.

Don’t forget to write. Now’s a good time to send your holiday cards, and Heathfield suggests sending them to “well-connected friends” and hiring managers with whom you’ve recently interviewed, along with your business card. Handwriting a message is also good, as it personalizes your card and creates a stronger impression, says Marc Wagenheim, product marketing director for Hallmark Business Expressions, in a story published in the Washington Post.

Next year, consider sending Thanksgiving cards, which don’t get lost in the December mail deluge. The New York State Small Business Development Center has published a helpful list of links that cover all aspects of sending holiday cards to boost your business or your career search.

CBS 5 Weekly Employment Update - Theresa Maher - Jobing.com Community Relations - PHX

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:10:54 GMT

This week's CBS 5 Who's Hiring segment is filled with a variety of great opportunities! If you missed it, be sure to tune in to CBS 5 next Wednesday at 6:30am for more Valley jobs!

American Alarm

American Alarm offers protection to their clients through security systems and 24 hour monitoring. They are interested in adding outgoing, self-motivated candidates to their sales team. Interviews will be set immediately, so don’t wait for this great opportunity!

• Sales Representatives/Consultants

Foundation for Senior Living

Foundation for Senior Living work with residents ages 18 and up who need assistance for a number of reasons including traumatic brain injuries, stroke survivors, or seniors who cannot be home alone during the day. They have a wide variety of positions open for candidates who are passionate about helping others.

•    Clinical Manager of Professional Services
•    Occupational Therapist
•    Home Health Aide
•    Service Technician
•    House Manager/Team Supervisor

Yelp

Yelp.com can be described as one part community, one part city guide, with an opinion on everything. This company has a vibrant, hip company culture that supports a website dedicated to informing the public about personal experiences with local businesses. They are looking for candidates with a four-year degree who are passionate about local businesses and online advertising.

• Account Executives

Liberty Transport

Liberty Transport provides their drivers with outstanding back office support and only offers dedicated runs. They are looking for drivers who have a class A CDL and OTR experience and are at least 23 years of age. As an added bonus, they offer weekly pay.

• Drivers - (Owner Operators and Teams)