Career Marketplace Blog

WSJ article Seeking Information, Not Employment, Elizabeth Garone answer’s a readers question about how to set up an informational interview.

Below is an excerpt of Garone’s article. Read Full Article

Q: I’m thinking about a career change and would love to go on a few informational interviews to learn more about the fields I am considering. But I rarely hear anyone talk about informational interviews anymore. Are people still giving them or are they too worried about their own jobs to take the time? How would I go about setting one up? Who should I target? Are certain questions off limits?

Los Angeles, CA

A: Informational interviews are still a big part of the job market landscape, but nobody likes to talk about them. That’s because the people giving the interviews fear being inundated with requests and the people looking to land said interviews probably want to keep anyone they find to themselves.

Still, you should do all you can to snag one … or 10. In this tight job market, an informational interview can give you the edge you need to get hired by establishing a good connection at a prospective firm.

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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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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’

In his article for CNNMoney, Chris Isidore highlights, Where Jobs are Booming.

Below is an excerpt from Isidore’s article. Read Full Article

While the overall job market was crippled by the effects of the Great Recession, some sectors never stopped hiring.

A CNNMoney analysis of the more than 140 sectors tracked in the Labor Department’s survey of employers found 15 that grew fairly steadily from the start of the recession until today. And an additional 11 sectors have recaptured more than half the jobs that they lost during the recession.

“Even in the worst recession, there are still some industries adding jobs,” said Heidi Shierholz, labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute. “The demand for their goods and services don’t follow the business cycle.”

The aging population, for example, has fueled demand for health care workers.

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What Industries are Hiring? Watch this WSJ MarketWatch Video,
Looking for Jobs? These Industries are Hiring

Have a teenager looking for summer work? Check out this Wall Street Journal article from Sue Shellenbarger, The Do-It-Yourself Summer Job.

Below is an excerpt from Shellenbarger’s article. Read Full Article

With many towns, cities and business leaders counting on small businesses to strengthen the economy, teaching your kids entrepreneurial skills seems like a good bet.

The payoff may come sooner than you think: Teenage entrepreneurs are doing a surprisingly professional job of turning traditional teen jobs into profit centers, as I reported in my recent Work & Family column. One 17-year-old Texas student I interviewed started a car-wash business at age 14 and has banked $4,000 so far for college. Two Connecticut teens, immigrants from Bosnia, have launched a computer-services business serving the Bosnian-speaking community; they have donated 5% of their $2,400 profit so far to charity. Another Texas teen, now 18, has banked $20,287 from a lawn-care business he started in 2004 with his brother.

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In the What’s Your Problem? page for Lifehacker, Adam Dachis responds to job seeker Ahmed’s question, How Did You Discover Your Ideal Career?

Read Ahmed’s Question:

I am facing a problem that has been bothering me for the last two years, and even after asking the most professional people, i did not get a clear or a right answer. I have completed my degree in Information Technology, but unfortunately after spending all the time studying I find myself not liking IT as a job. My real problem is that, honestly, I still don’t know what I would love to do as a real job. I don’t know how to decide what I love! I don’t want to waste my life as a NOC engineer! I know life is all about the choices you make, and I want to hit it right between the eyes. I want to do the right thing I am supposed to do—the thing that I am supposed to “love” doing. Is there anyway that you can know what you want as a career—something you wont regret when looking back in your life when you are old? Help!

Read on for Dachis’ response

In his article for U.S. News and World Report, Rick Newman lists 10 Industries That Will Hire the Most in 2011.

Industries listed in Newman’s article

• Office Staffing
• Tourism
• Car Dealerships
• Home-building

Read Full Article and view the complete industry list

Recruiting Trends article, Why “Software Engineer” Is Nation’s Best Job, While Recruiter Ranks #55, Tony Lee reveals the results of CareerCast.com 2011 Jobs Rated Report.

Below is an excerpt from Lee’s article. Read Full Article

Working as a software engineer is a pretty sweet job these days. With a boost from the development of apps for iPods, tablets, smart phones and other devices, the profession of software engineer – which has been considered a great job for many years – has jumped to the top of our new CareerCast.com 2011 Jobs Rated Report.

On the other hand, our worst rated job is Roustabout, who is the lowest-level person working on an oil rig. It’s a dirty, low-paying, dangerous job, as evidenced by the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that took the lives of many roustabouts.

In our annual Jobs Rated Report, our researchers study a wide range of criteria to determine the rankings, such as income, hiring outlook, environmental factors, stress and physical demands. So where do corporate recruiters show up in our rankings? No. 55, which is pretty good considering we review and rank 200 total jobs.

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Psychology Today article, Reading Your Hiring Manager: How Much Follow-Up Makes Sense?, Lynn Taylor shows you how to fine-tune your follow-up strategy to suite a specific employer.

Below is an excerpt from Taylor’s article. Read Full Article

Sometimes acing a job interview is like playing poker – you have to know how much to reveal, how much to conceal, and when to call for all cards on the table. If you play them correctly, then you might win the game. But how can you play your cards right when you’re sitting across from an interviewer with the world’s best poker face?

Even before you leave the interview, you can tactfully ask for feedback, as long as you are subtle and the interviewer has a somewhat open style. For example, if the hiring manager is conversational, before leaving, it might be appropriate to say: “This position sounds very exciting to me, and feels like a position I could contribute a lot to. May I ask if you have any initial thoughts on my suitability for the job?” You might also ask where the interview process stands: “Do you anticipate filling this job in the near future – or feel at all comfortable letting me know where you are in your hiring process?”

Watch for verbal as well as non-verbal (body language) cues before getting too inquisitive, or you could seem too aggressive. This is where your good interpersonal skills will come in handy.

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