Tag: Career

Job Hunting 101: Mastering the Art of Applying for Positions

Paul4 Replies

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Importance of Effective Job Applications

The importance of applying for jobs is more important than ever due to more people applying for the same job.   If you haven’t been watching more and more people are getting laid off and that is causing employers to get swamped with people applying for same job that everyone else is applying for.  It’s a real struggle to find a job for most and all, I am one of those that have been looking for a job for the past few weeks and I have come to understand just how hard it is to get that interview.

The overview of apply for jobs can be quite daunting and challenging for most because you really don’t know where to begin with or where to start looking.   Each person is just a little different and that can be a strength or a weakness, depending on your talents. Now it is one thing to know you are looking for a job but that doesn’t mean you are can’t at least start figuring out how you will do it.

Defining Your Career Objectives

Each person has a career objective whether you admit it or not.  You have some reason why you are looking for a job in area or industry because you want to accomplish something such as more money, more seniority, or even prestige.   You could be trying to get all three or just thinking you could be a better person and that would be only one area where you want to accomplish.  There are several different accomplishments people will want when they are applying for a job.

First thing you’ll need to do is a self assess what is your strengths and identify your talents.  What are you good at?  Are you good at talking to people?  Are you good with your Hands?  These are the questions you should be asking yourself before you start to even consider applying for a job.   You’ll need to take a deep dive into what you are good at and what you where you’re strengths are.  Monster has some great career tests for you to use to figure help you figure out what you are good at and your strengths and weaknesses.  Even if you want to go deeper than that, you should check out Yale’s Self-Assessment and career exploration pages, where they will give you even more enlightened out look of who you are and what you might be good at.   There are to many websites to put in this blog but these are just a few that you can check out to learn who you are and what you are good at.

After you’ve done all that and know what you might be good at, the next step is to research industries and companies that might be good fit for your talents and strengths.   Each company can be different but if you know what you are good at then that’s at least the first part of the battle.  Knowing that you are good at typing or that you are better at your hands can be a big help with where you should look in the company whether it be in productions, office work, driving a car, or calling clients to do check up on what needs to be done to keep them.  The one way I research the companies is use Indeed to research the company and they even have great article on how to do it.   It just depends on how you tailor searching for jobs in certain industry and know that is where you want to pursue your career with.  It’s not going to be as black and white but it should at least keep you on the right path.

Creating an Outstanding Resume

Effective resume writing techniques for job applications can be quite challenging due to the fact that you have to know what the company is wanting.   They may want some specific soft skills, and they will most likely want even more hard skills or you having an education that is a requirement to get the job.   So you should create an resume and then change it when you apply for a job to better help you get that chance for the interview.

Craft a  compelling summary and objectives is something else you will need to do to stand out from each and every other applications.   Each application is going to be different so each resume should be slightly different from the others.   Although this isn’t the always going to work it however is going help you get that proverbial foot in the door as I would say. Highlighting your achievements and skills are the first part of creating a good resume.  You should make sure to have those in your resume to show them how unique you are and what you are good at.      Formatting the resume will help with hiring manager being able to a glance to see what you are are, so you should have bulleted lists or number lists to show them you qualifications and you’re experiences.  This sets the tone of the resume to better make your application stand out.

These are just a few ways for you to learning how to job hunt effectively and this is just the tip of the iceberg because I will be writing about even more of this in the future so you should bookmark my site or better yet sign up for my newsletter and keep watch on those other articles to come in the future.   If you liked this article how about sharing with your friends and family to help support my blog and my efforts.

5 ways to improve your chance of getting hired.

Paul3 Replies

Having seen the economy this week, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is time to redo all the important essentials and get all my ducks in the order as they say.   I’ve been thinking of how best to be ready in case the dreaded day comes when my employer no longer needs my assistance and what could I do to be prepared.

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  • Get Someone to Critique your Resume — This is the most important step because this is the first place employers look when they want to hire someone.  So how do you get it critiqued?   Here are some good links to help you start off with:  Careerbuilder Critique, Mind of Root Peer Critique(Last until Oct 30, 2008).

  • Have your Resume Ready to upload to Resume sites —  You should always register at all the important resume sites just in case.  The Sites that I recommend are : Monster, Career Builder,  Hot jobs, Dice, US jobs, Best Jobs USA, Computer Jobs, and Nation Job.

  • Use your website as a place to put your Resume — Have your resume available in case some contacts you and tells you they know someone who is looking to hire people.  Have this resume hidden and only give it out to people you know.   This is also known as networking.

  • Network as much as possible —  There are sites out there that have made it easier to network.  Sites like linkedin.com, this site is great because of the 6 degrees of possibility as I call it.  You know someone, they know someone, and then you will both know the same one!!   This also will greatly increase your chance of an employer finding you.

  • For those who want to be Self employed —  I wanted to say that most people who want to be self employed know just how hard it is to begin with.  So I’ve got some interesting links to help start you on your way.   First link is Technibble.com Computer Business Kit,  This has Maintenance Sales Letter, Work Order, Marketing Analysis and Payment Overdue Letter. It is also a good idea to have an MP3 Advertisement that you can give to podcast and throw them the link to it.  You will need to market yourself to the public in ways that no one has thought of.   You will on an occasion have to spend money in order to get money, it’s always been that way but it seems to work.

These are some great tips that will greatly improve your chances of landing that job or becoming even more chance of you making money.   If you have any tips or want to suggest ways to improve upon these tips please email me.   If you like what you see discuss it on the blog or click on my ads to help offset the cost of this blog.

Calling all Geeks: Keith’s SysAdmin Meme

Paul1 Reply

In response to the Mind Of Root Podcast, I’ve decided to add my own comments.  I think Keith had a brilliant idea and wanted to add my answers to this.  So Here goes:

How old were you when you started using computers?

I was around 9 or 10 when I started using a TI-994A!

TI-994a Computer

As you can see this was very fun to use because of the fact that you had to use cartridges to play games on. I thoroughly enjoyed it.   I like some of the programs in basic and Basica before Dos came around.  I learned so much from the system.  You could create the complex programs and save them to a tape.  It was before the 3 1/2 floppy.  It was hard work to make these programs but I loved every part of it.

What was your first machine?

This goes back to the first question.  My first Machine was the Ti-994a.  You could have game cartridges and such, I loved that little machine.  I would come home from school and program , play with the System or taking it apart.  I enjoyed it so much I still like to use my basic emulation to program!! I’ve got so many fond memories of the system and to this day will always enjoy it.

What was the first real script you wrote?

My first script was in the Ti-994a basic and it was designed to Mimic the human speech pattern.  With my system I had a tape recorder I could use to save the data to keep programming with it.  It was not the best program but I learned so much with the programming experience.

What scripting languages have you used?

The scripting languages that I’ve have used are Pascal, Basica, QBasic, Basic, C++, and DOS scripting with the Win-Get program. It is designed to get programs and install automatically without a user.  It’s good for when you have a new system that you need to install a several programs that you’ve decided are the best.

What was your first professional sysadmin gig?

My professional gig, isn’t one that most people consider when they get into this field.  I work from my house on the side to repair computers for anyone who needs it.  My daytime job isn’t even in this type of the IT field but sooner or later someone will see my talent and will hire me or I will start making so much money from home.  I’ll be able to quit my daytime job.

If you knew then what you know now, would have started in IT?

That is a hard question to answer because I knew what I was getting into when I started my home business.  I think I’d have to say I would still be doing what I’ve have done and what I will do.  I love working on computers and finding all this problems that you would never expect or want.  I love trying to figure out what most people have the hardest time figuring out.  I will always enjoy seeing what comes out of my work.

If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new sysadmins, what would it be?

Not all people are understanding of the IT field.  We need to give them a lot of leeway as to prevent ourselves from getting to much stress and embarrassment.  It is well known that people become angry with the IT field because they don’t understand it.  They  will lash out at us because they do not know any better.  All I have to say to the anyone wanting to get into the IT Field IS:  “Customers aren’t always right but we aren’t always right either.”  You have to work with your customers to prevent confusion for that one reason.

What’s the most fun you’ve ever had scripting?

The most fun I’ve had with scripting is in the old days with Basic making a pac-man clone with basic.  It wasn’t the best but I sure did enjoy the challenge of coding it.  I didn’t do anything like Keith did with is coding.  I do like to have fun with basic and it’s still my favorite because it is so simple and easy to use.    It all depends on what you have need of but I will always like basic and how much I’ve have learned from it.

Who am I calling out?

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