A few months ago I talked about the value of education in a tough economy. Here are some interesting stats for you. Current unemployment rates based on education (www.bls.gov):
* Less than a High School Diploma 10.5%
* High School Graduates, No College 6.8%
* Some College or Associate Degree 5.5%
* Bachelors degree and higher 3.1% (Unchanged from last month)
Remember: Get in touch with me if you need support! I’m here to help.
I was recently interviewed for the article, "How College Graduates Can Land That Job Offer" for Fox Business News by Meghan Sharp.
Here's an excerpt:
You can read the article in it's entirety here.
Are you a recent college graduate and don't know what career path to take? Contact me for a complimentary consultation.
Here's to having a career you love!
Hallie Crawford
Atlanta Certified Career Coach
Find out live the 3 critical steps you need to do right now in order to survive the job crisis.
Join me for a free teleclass Tuesday April 28th at 12:00 noon ET.
Learn how to handle whatever career transition you are currently facing.
Click here to listen to an intro audio: www.audioacrobat.com/play/WMW6bb8x
Register and read more right here: www.halliecrawford.com/survivethejobcrisis.html
Looking forward to having you on the call!
It seems that all anyone can talk about these days is the "money crisis". It's on TV, the internet and in our newspapers. It's hard to overcome these negative thoughts when they are all over the place. But sitting around worrying isn't going to help. How can you stay positive and survive the "money crisis"?
Stop talking, take action.
Think about the action YOU can take to survive a time of economic turmoil. Remember life doesn't just ‘happen' to you. It's your responses to life circumstance that create your personal reality! And always remember, I'm here to help.
Tomorrow (April 21st), at noon ET I'm holding a FREE “Identify Your Ideal Career Path Coaching Group Introductory Call”.
Not sure if group coaching is for you? This is your chance to learn more about career coaching and to see if group coaching might be an option for you.
Sign up here: www.halliecrawford.com/introcoachingcall.html
My next coaching group, "Identify Your Ideal Career Path Coaching Group" starts May 5, 2009!
Blast off towards your ideal career!!
Then sign up today for my next group coaching program! It covers the exact same 5 step program that I use with my individual clients -- at a fraction of the cost! Go here to read more
I hope to see you on my free call tomorrow!
Have a great week!
Hallie Crawford
Career Coach
When you are in career transition and are on the path to a more fulfilling and rewarding career, there are three tips that will help you in the right direction. Here's #3:
3. Get support.
I was able to very successfully make my career transition into coaching in large part because of my own coach. She helped me create my plan, remain positive, move forward, identify what I wanted to do and learn to overcome obstacles.
I’m being honest when I say: It really helps to have support from a group or a coach to remind you to stay positive and focused. Get support from a career coach like me or someone else who can provide solid guidance and the resources you need to move ahead with your plans.
If you have any questions about making a career change, discovering what type of career best suits your skills, or determining the key components of a career that fits, explore my website details below and then get in touch! I'd love to hear from you.
Remember, life doesn't just ‘happen' to us. It's our responses to life that create our personal reality! Think about this for a moment. You really ARE in charge of creating your own life ... So take the reins with your career and contact me if you have any questions about making a career change, discovering what type of career best suits your skills, or determining the key components of a career that fits – that’s what I’m here for.
Here's to having a career you love!
Hallie Crawford
Atlanta Certified Career Coach
When you are in career transition and are on the path to a more fulfilling and rewarding career, there are three tips that will help you in the right direction. Here's #2:
2. Learn to overcome obstacles.
To be successful in changing career paths, you need to learn to overcome obstacles you will encounter along the way. The obstacles I see time and time again for people wanting to make a career change are: not knowing what to look for in a job (so they take one that is “good enough” that they don’t truly enjoy) and negative beliefs--not believing they can successfully make the change.
With practice, you can retrain your mind to see past perceived limitations, which are only a figment of your imagination anyway! With sufficient self-exploration, you will be able to pinpoint the exact qualities of the ideal career for you... and even the characteristics that you don't want in a career.
If you have any questions about making a career change, discovering what type of career best suits your skills, or determining the key components of a career that fits, explore my website details below and then get in touch! I'd love to hear from you.
Remember, life doesn't just ‘happen' to us. It's our responses to life that create our personal reality! Think about this for a moment. You really ARE in charge of creating your own life ... So take the reins with your career and contact me if you have any questions about making a career change, discovering what type of career best suits your skills, or determining the key components of a career that fits – that’s what I’m here for.
Have a great weekend!
Here's to having a career you love!
Hallie Crawford
Certified Career Coach
When you are in career transition and are on the path to a more fulfilling and rewarding career, there are three tips that will help you in the right direction. Here's #1:
1. Commit yourself to making a change.
Something that is incredibly important to any change you make in your life is your level of commitment. You have to be committed. How committed are you to finding a career that fits, on a scale from 1-10?
If it’s not at a 10, what do you need to do to move it up the scale? The time to ask yourself key questions is now. Do your research, so you know what questions to keep in mind.
Contact a career expert who can help you become reacquainted with your goals and dreams. Explore career websites. Take personality tests. You will find that the more time you invest in career opportunities and self-discovery, the more committed to the cause you'll become.
If you have any questions about making a career change, discovering what type of career best suits your skills, or determining the key components of a career that fits, explore my website details below and then get in touch! I'd love to hear from you.
Remember, life doesn't just ‘happen' to us. It's our responses to life that create our personal reality! Think about this for a moment. You really ARE in charge of creating your own life ... So take the reins with your career and contact me if you have any questions about making a career change, discovering what type of career best suits your skills, or determining the key components of a career that fits – that’s what I’m here for.
Here's to having a career you love!
Hallie Crawford
Career Seekers Career Coach
Today we have a great guest post from my career partner, Miriam Salpeter on how to use your time well during a career transition.
With over 10 years of experience, Miriam's mission is to encourage, enlighten and empower job seekers for success. Don't launch your search without her toolbox of up-to-date tips and support. Miriam's clients gain confidence, clarity and job search know-how! Visit her site to learn more.
Ideas to help you stay upbeat for your job hunt
By: Miriam Salpeter, M.A. - Career Action Coach
You’ve already heard - having a positive attitude is important for your job search. We all know it is not easy to keep a cheery disposition when the news around every corner doesn’t look so good. But the disgruntled job seeker is less likely to land a job. Who wants to hire Bitter Bob, Sarcastic Sue or Desperate Derrick?
Susan Strayer reminds us that it isn’t easy to keep your spirits up. She offers "10 tips for handling a job search during a tough time." Here are her top 5. (Commentary is my own.)
1) Every job search needs a plan. Identify your goals. You can’t get anywhere until you decide the destination! Stop and evaluate. What characteristics and traits make you special? What are you (or do you hope to be) known for in your field?
2) Planning is key. I tell my clients to set realistic goals. How many people will you contact to request informational meetings? How much time will you spend online? When are you going to set aside time to tweak your resume to target specific employers? Plan your time so you can avoid feeling like you are spinning your wheels and not getting anything done.
3) Be honest with yourself and your family. Rely on them for support. Susan suggests sharing if you’ve had a bad day and letting your kids or other family members help cheer you up.
4) Variation. Change up your job search preparation. Use your plan to help vary your day. Don’t spend 8 hours in front of the computer in the row!
5) Quality not quantity. So many people sit and zap out 100 resumes in one day and call it productive. Don’t be that person! Applying for jobs online may be a small part of your plan, but sending the same resume out 100 times is useless. Have you experienced the feeling that your resume is going into a “black hole?” If your strategy is about how many jobs you can apply for and is not focused on how well to apply for them, it probably IS going into a black hole.
Spend your time networking and connecting with people who can share information with you. Connect and share what you know about your industry and offer your expertise. Look for opportunities to grow the circle of people who know you and would be willing to share information about you if an opportunity does come up.
You do control how you approach your hunt…Take the wheel and drive your own career bus!
Here's to having a career you love!
Today we have a guest post from a colleague of mine, Melanie Szlucha. An attractive, well written resume will help you stand out from the flood of applicants. Melanie works with each client to understand their unique background and then develops intelligent, professional, eye-catching resumes targeted to the positions or industries the candidate is applying for. To schedule a FREE 10 minute consultation, visit http://www.redinc.biz or contact her at 203-866-1606.
You feel like you’re submitting your resume to every possible job under the sun, but you just can’t get any traction. In the back of your mind is this nagging suspicion that it’s not them, but your resume that could be the problem. But what should a good resume have? You’ve got your past jobs on there with dates, shouldn’t that be enough?
No.
A resume needs to be an attractive, readable, interesting document that makes the employer want to get to know you more. Think of it like an enticing description of a dish on a menu. When you go to a restaurant for the first time, you have no idea what you’re going to order. You have to rely on the descriptions to entice you and steer you in one way or another—ideally for the restaurant toward the highest priced item. They don’t just list the ingredients of the dish, but the description pulls the whole thing together and makes it sound appetizing.
Is your resume enticing to an employer? Here’s what turns them on.
RESULTS: Employers have GOT to see that you get results for the work you do. How effective are you? There’s a difference between not increasing sales at all, and seeing a 34% increase--so put that on the resume! How have you affected the company since you’ve been there?
CAREER SUMMARY: This takes the place of the Objective at the top of your resume. A career summary should give an employer a thumbnail view of who you are as an employee--think of it as a thesis statement on your old high school research papers. DO NOT simply provide a shopping list of qualities such as: hard working, dedicated, loyal, or the phrase attention to detail. They are on EVERYONE’s resume--trust me, I’ve seen my fair share. Instead paint yourself as if you’re an enticing dish on a menu and write something truly descriptive like this: “Syndicated/qualitative research professional with in-depth, customer service experience across a variety of industries. Successful track record of client retention, strong contract negotiation skills and increased sales through up-sell opportunities and new product development. Specialized experience in analytical category analysis, internal data management and written/verbal client presentations.” This describes the person behind the resume and paints a detailed picture of her experience in a short period of time.
BRIEF JOB DESCRIPTIONS: Under every company, job title and dates (and yes, in most cases, you should include months as well as the years), you should provide one or two sentences to describe what the company does (in case the name isn’t well known), and the basics of your job description. That’s it. Employers need to understand the industries you worked in, and the basic responsibilities of your past positions. They do not need to see your duties spelled out--your accomplishments will answer those questions in their mind.
So take a look at your resume. Does it pass the test?
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Here's to having a career you love!
Hallie Crawford
Certified Career Coach
I am a certified professional coach with a creative edge and personal experience in developing my own path in life.
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