Career Marketplace Blog

LiveCareer article, Students Need to be Prepared in Order to Land a Job Post-Graduation, college students are advised to start their job search preparation before graduation and get a jump on the job market.

Tips from this article include:

• Visit your college career center
• Build solid interviewing skills
• Network with alumni

LIVECAREER News reports, Arkansas Launches New Program to Give College Credit for Experience.

Read an excerpt below. Read Full Article

Adults who did not complete their postsecondary education will be given a second change by being able to convert some of their earlier life learning experiences into college credit at 2-year institutions in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Association of 2-Year Colleges (AATYC) announced that an initiative will begin this fall that will allow students to get credit for prior learning they received through on-the-job training, military service, volunteer opportunities and open source course work.

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In this article for U.S. News and World Report, Miriam Salpeter explains The Best Way to Take Control of Your Job Hunt.

Below is an excerpt of Salpeter article. Read Full Article

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little more control over your job search? It’s frustrating applying over and over again for jobs and never hearing back.

When you apply online, the odds are against you unless your qualifications exactly match what the employer wants. (In other words, unless you are applying for the job you already have.) It’s not impossible to land an opportunity via an online application; many people do find jobs that way, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re not likely to get hired from a resume drop.

What should you do instead? Stop looking for a job. Start looking for a company.

You may be surprised, but it may be the best career move you never considered. Instead of spending all of your time searching for appropriate job descriptions and targeting your resume to apply for them, you should consider shifting some of your efforts to identifying organizations whose goals are in line with your interests and whose problems you know you can solve.

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In her article for USA Today, Mary Beth Marklein reports College major analysis: Engineers get highest salaries.

Read an excerpt from Marklein’s article. Read Full Article

Just one word of advice for the nation’s 2011 high school graduates: petroleum.

An analysis of the projected lifetime earnings of 171 college majors provides a clearer picture of what one bachelor’s degree means compared to another in the labor market. And the answer can be as much as $3.64 million.

That’s the difference between what petroleum engineering majors can expect to earn over a 40-year career ($4.8 million) and what counseling psychology majors could earn ($1.16 million). Even the lowest-paying major beats the $770,000 average earnings of a person who holds only a high school diploma.

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In this Yahoo! Finance video, Farnoosh Torabi reports many baby boomers are planning a second career as they transition into retirement.

Financially Fit: The Shift in Retirement Plans

Is there too much pressure to be named “most likely to succeed”? Sue Shellenbarger of the Wall Street Journal explores this topic in WSJ video, News Hub: The Pressure of ‘Most Likely to Succeed’

Thinking about quiting your job? Check out this video from Workopolis on How to Quit Your Job: Resigning with Class

The StarkJobs.com Spring Job Fair is today. Check out this Howcast video to learn How to Ask for an Interview.

How to Ask for an Interview

In her article for The Wall Street Journal, Emily Glazer explains How to Ask for ‘Extras’. Extras include Smartphones, Laptops, Conferences and more.

Below is an excerpt from Glazer’s article

Bridget Bland thought using an iPhone, with its applications and WiFi access, would make it easier to work with clients on the go.

The hard part, the 28-year-old realized, would be convincing her superiors to pay for one.

So Ms. Bland, a social-media producer in New York, researched different smartphone plans and payment options. When she approached her superiors, she explained how the iPhone’s apps and WiFi access would keep her in constant communication with her clients and save her employer, Social People, money in the long term.

In the end, Ms. Bland had to buy the phone herself, but her employer agreed to pay for more than half of the monthly service charges.

“I started the conversation with something positive” about client relationships, she says, “instead of ‘I want this, I need this, you need to give me this.’”

Asking for extras that don’t come with your position — corporate credit cards, smartphones, laptops and even classes or conferences — can be tricky for young professionals. While you want to express your rationale for a tool, you don’t want to come across as entitled, especially if you are just starting out. The best approach, experts say, is to avoid making it personal; focus on why your use of a product or service benefits your company.

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In his article for Forbes Magazine, Ron Ashkenas asks, What’s Your Personal Brand?

Below is an excerpt of Ashkenas’ article

Do you have a personal brand?  When people hear your name, do they immediately think of certain qualities that you have?  Do colleagues, friends and family know what they can count on from you?  Does your reputation extend beyond those who know you personally – and if so, what do they think about you?

Without doubt, these are tough question, but probably ones that everyone should periodically address. We are all the chief branding officers of our own personal brands. We have the power to determine and control our own reputation, whether through our actions at the workplace or through what we decide to Tweet. We are able to create our own sense of distinctiveness, trust and confidence. In every environment, from the workplace to the Web, people make choices that affect their personal brand — whether it is who to work with (and who to avoid), who to follow, who to “friend”, or what special message to share in 140 characters.

How you manage your personal brand in any of these mediums will determine how others view you — and ultimately shape your career and your life.

Read on to learn how you can create your personal brand