The Career Coach's Blog

No Winner Ever Got There Without A Coach

New Book Announcement!

No Winner Ever Got There Without A Coach.

A Guide to Personal and Professional Success

What does it take to succeed in business and in life? Insight Publishing is pleased to present Deborah Brown-Volkman, Dr. Pam Brill, and David Rock in an exceptional compilation of resourceful people who will tell you how they learned how to be successful.

In this book, you will find out why goals are not supposed to be reached alone.

 

My work in the book focuses on Career Reinvention and what to do if you have lost your job, may be losing a job, or want something new and different in your career and how important it is to not go through this process by yourself.  I discuss how to go about creating a new you with simple and straightforward techniques for going about it. Very important information to have in today’s economy. 

I also compare your career to Madonna’s career and you will find this parallel surprising and very interesting. 

Click Here to find out more.

Yes, there is a war for talent

Economist article written by Matthew Bishop that explains the tactics companies are taking to find talent in these un-fillable/shortage areas.

Click here to read the article.

Make the Most of Holiday Work

WSJ article: Seasonal jobs and shifts offer workers opportunities to earn extra money, gain experience and make connections.

Use the holiday's as a good time to set yourself up for the following year.

Full article at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204394804577011800416385834.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_4

 

Survey: Young Workers Want Jobs at Facebook, Apple and Google

CareerJournal article: Young professionals want to work for Google, Apple and Facebook, a new study says. Investment banks? Not so much.

"This is the second year that Universum has conducted the survey. Google topped the earlier survey as well."

Full article at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203537304577032224274830372.html?mod=WSJ_Careers_CareerJournal_2

The Job Search: A Little Help From Your Friends

Forbes article: Since the job seekers and the job posters—rely on employment services, the industry has experienced significant growth in the past few years.

"For those who have lost their job or are having a hard time entering the U.S. workforce to begin with, one potential source of help is an employment service, a company that works to place applicants with appropriate employers. Employers, too, have sought help from these providers: as unemployment numbers rise, the number of applications received for each posted position increases, and it can be a full time job to simply weed through the submitted resumes looking for potential first-round interviewees. Rather than handle the entire process in-house, more companies are turning to executive search or temp agencies to reduce both their risk and time required to find the right candidate."

Full article at:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sageworks/2011/09/06/the-job-search-a-little-help-from-your-friends/

How to Get Hired After Long-Term Unemployment

Quoted in this informative article written by Lisa Gerstner, Staff Writer for Kiplinger's Magazine.

"The employment market’s recent fits and starts are straining the economy and the patience of job seekers. But none more than the long-term unemployed (officially defined as those without a job for 27 weeks or more), who struggle to rise to the top of candidate pools as their skills degrade or fail to match today’s demands. Some employers have blatantly excluded people who are not currently working from consideration for job openings, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is examining the practice as possible job discrimination."

"Surviving a long search requires maintaining  confidence, which will help project a positive attitude in interviews, says career coach Deborah Brown-Volkman. Stay busy. Volunteer or take classes and tell potential employers what you’ve been doing. Keep your network current, and be flexible about jobs you pursue. Don’t underestimate the personal touch."

Full article at:

http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/how-to-get-hired-after-long-term-unemployment.html

7 Decently-Paying Careers with Lots of Opportunities

CBS Interactive Business Network article: Looking for a job, or thinking of changing fields? CareerBuilder has a little cheat sheet that should help you make some smart choices.

"one third of human resource managers say they have open positions for which they can’t find qualified candidates."

Article lists most promising fields for job seekers.

Full article at:

http://www.bnet.com/blog/business-research/7-decently-paying-careers-with-lots-of-opportunities/1869

 

Workplace Cited as a New Source of Rise in Obesity

NY Times article: Looking beyond poor eating habits and a couch-potato lifestyle, a group of researchers has found a new culprit in the obesity epidemic: the American workplace.

"Today, an estimated one in three Americans are obese."

"A sweeping review of shifts in the labor force since 1960 suggests that a sizable portion of the national weight gain can be explained by declining physical activity during the workday. Jobs requiring moderate physical activity, which accounted for 50 percent of the labor market in 1960, have plummeted to just 20 percent."

"The remaining 80 percent of jobs, the researchers report, are sedentary or require only light activity. The shift translates to an average decline of 120 to 140 calories a day in physical activity, closely matching the nation’s steady weight gain over the past five decades, according to the report."

"The findings also put pressure on employers to step up workplace heath initiatives and pay more attention to physical activity at work."

Most reader comments weren't buying it citing poor eating habits as the reason for increased waistlines at work. One reader said they cannot believe what people are eating and this is why individuals weigh more than they should.

Full article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/health/nutrition/26fat.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=workplace&st=cse

Facebook's new plan to recharge burned-out engineers

CNN article: Do you ever get ground down by your job's never-ending to-do list? So do Facebook engineers.

"The company has a novel plan for re-energizing them: It's started springing developers for month-long stints with new teams working on different projects."

"It's like a cultural exchange program with the cube pod next door."

"The company isn't asking its engineers to pull 30 straight all-nighters. Instead, its new Hackamonth program sends developers who have been plowing away on a specific project for more than a year to work with a new team for a month."

"The concept is similar to Google's 20% time program, though which the company encourage engineers to spend 20% of their work time on projects tangential to their day job. Some of those "20% time projects" have turned into full-fledged Google products, including Gmail, Google News, Google Talk and social network Orkut."

Full article at:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/27/technology/facebook_hackamonth/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin

McDonald's aims to hire 50,000 workers today

That's a lot of people for one day! More details at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mcdonalds-aims-to-hire-50000-workers-on-april-19-2011-04-04