Job Searching in Ventura County

The economy is bad and a lot of people are looking for work. Job websites like Monster, Hotjobs. Craigslist, Dice and CareerBuilder are great, but I've come across two other job sites that are very simplistic and useful.

Indeed.com consolidates job postings from thousands of other websites. I came across Indeed when I posted a job to Monster and the first people to respond saw it in Indeed! The search function is simple, fast and turns up a lot of jobs. Check it out:

what	where
job title, keywords or company	city, state or zip jobs by

Another interesting site is LinkUp.com. It also consolidates jobs from other websites, but its focus is company websites. So while there will be some overlap with Indeed.com, LinkUp is definitely worth investigating.

CLICK HERE for a long list of Ventura County companies' job websites.  There ARE still jobs out there!  You just have to look harder for them!

Job Search Advice From Conejo Joe

While I, Conejo Joe, am not a human resources professional or recruiter, as a hiring manager at businesses for over 20 years, I'd like to impart some Do's and Don'ts to job seekers:

1. Don't wait until you actually need a job to start looking. Even the best companies in town have bad times and layoffs. Keep your eyes on what is out there all the time. The best time to change jobs is when you don't really need to!
2. Do network all the time. LinkedIn is the most popular professional networking website out there. If you need a job today, start networking 2 years ago!
3. Don't send a resume without a cover letter as this is your first chance to show your ability to communicate.
4. Do sell yourself in your cover letter. SELL, SELL, SELL! Tell them specifically why you are a great candidate for the job and how your experience is relevant to the posted job requirements. Pretend you are a car and point out all your best features to your buyer!
5. Don't hesitate in a cover letter to address a job requirement that you may be lacking. However, DO indicate another skill or aptitude you have that makes up for that shortfall. For example, if the job requires experience in ABC Software and you've never used ABC, tell them you used XYZ and PDQ Software which are very similar to ABC (assuming of course they really are).
6. Do indicate on your resume what your objective is and/or what your key skills are. Customize it to the job you are applying for. Don't make it boring with the standard "Team player, highly motivated blah blah blah..." Be specific and point out what you can do, what problems you can solve, what you've accomplished. Write a true HEADLINE that will get attention.
7. Don't send a resume and cover letter out with typos and grammar issues, especially if the job applied for requires attention to detail.
8. Do consider applying for jobs that may be somewhat less or more than what you are suited for. Why? Because let's face it...not every hiring manager knows exactly what they want. Upsell yourself into the job if you can get your foot in the door.
9. Don't make the resume too long and wordy. Don't bore me to death with it (like this Do's and Don'ts list). Don't be shy. Excite me with your great accomplishments! Be specific about them and quantify them (e.g. managed 10 employees, saved $10 million in costs, grew sales by 25%, etc.).
10. Do keep the resume to 2 pages if you can. Read it out loud, edit it, remove excess words, cut back descriptions of old jobs. People care more about your recent experience, not what you did 20 years ago. So while that 1989 job description sounded good in 1993, do yourself a favor and condense it in 2009.
11. Don't worry about rejection. Having good luck and good timing is great. But like the lotto, you gotta play to win, so create your own luck by applying persistently. Job hunting is like fishing. You need patience, especially in this crowded job market.
12. Do fill your time gaps between jobs (and for that matter, when you do have a job) with other activities. Volunteer for local charities and put it on your resume! Join local clubs, service organizations and support groups. Doing other activities, particularly where you are utilizing your job skills, can look great if marketed on your resume. But these also provide incredible opportunities to network and learn new skills!

That's all for now! Good luck with your job search and Contact Us with any questions or comments.

May 18, 2009 Update: 7 Ways to Be Happier at Work (from Harvard Business blog):  I love the simplicity and validity of this advice from Jeff Stibel: 1) Smile; 2) Stop Worrying; 3) Take a Break; 4) Do Things Differently; 5) Stop Managing and Start Leading; 6) Delegate; and 7) Have Fun.  Click here to read about these in more detail.

May 9, 2009 Update: 7 Career Killers (paraphrased from Kiplinger's):

1. Don't Procrastinate: It may have worked in your college days when you crammed for a test the last minute, but generally it doesn't work well in the workplace.
2. Don't Have a Sense of Entitlement: Gotta pay your dues.
3. Don't Get Too Set Into Your Position: Look for opportunities to go above and beyond the call of duty.
4. Don't Completely Avoid Office Politics: Build relationships but don't backstab to enhance your career.
5. Be a Team Player: It's not only about you ya know.
6. Don't Dress Like a Slob:  Play the part.  Its a job, not a personal fashion statement ya know.
7. Don't Stop Networking: Maintain relationships, especially when you're not looking for a job.

January 26, 2009 Update: I am in possession of the February 2nd advance issue of Fortune magazine. On page 64, an article titled "Love Your Job? Then Save It!" highlights do's and don'ts to reduce your chance of getting laid off in the current challenging job market:

1. Do take credit for your good work; make sure your boss is aware.
2. Do volunteer for more work.
3. Do strike up conversations about business with your boss and boss's boss.
4. Don't be high maintenance (e.g. bad attitude, complainer, whiny, demanding, difficult).
5. Do arrive early and stay late.
6. Don't be eccentric...now's the time to fit in.
7. Don't gossip about the company.
8. Do feel your boss's pain and find out what their priorities are.
9. Don't ask for a raise or promotion. Be patient and be grateful for what you have.
10. Don't telecommute; working from home makes it harder for your boss to know you.

While I don't necessarily agree with all of the above points, I do believe there is truth to many of the statements. Bottom line is, don't be expendable!

February 5, 2009 Update: Today's Wall Street Journal has an article about what to say when asked "what is your greatest weakness" in a job interview. Here are some good points from that article:

1. Prepare for this very typical interview question. You know someone's gonna ask it!
2. Answering the question well can tell the interview you take initiate and can improve yourself.
3. Figure out your job-related weaknesses that won't prevent you from getting your job done. So for example, you apply for a sales job and you say "I could be better with people," that probably ain't gonna get you the job.
4. On the other hand, if you say you can't think of any weaknesses, that doesn't show a lot of introspection to the interviewer. Come on...no one's perfect! And if you come across as thinking you are, that shows you may not be able to take critical feedback.
5. Keep in mind the culture of the company you are interviewing at. If you are interviewing at IBM and say your weakness is that you really get tired of meetings, that may be true, but not what they want to hear. On the other hand, the article mentions if you are interviewing at a start-up company, you could say, "I get bored by routine" and that could play well.

Coincidentally, earlier today I interviewed a candidate for a software development position and asked him for a weakness. He mentioned that English was not his native language and thus it sometimes takes him longer to convey his thoughts to others than what he'd like. I thought it was an outstanding response because 1) verbal skills are important, but not critical to the job he interviewed for and 2) he actually did an excellent job verbalizing his point, proving to me that this was not a "deal-breaking" weakness. I appreciated his honesty.

So be true to yourself, identify some work related weaknesses and be prepared to describe them confidently. Your greatest weakness could in turn get you that job!

February 12, 2009 Update: Came across a nice blog post on the Six Figures Blog Australia regarding selling your achievements in your resume. The post provides a checklist of things to consider describing in your resume. Things like:

• Have you designed a new process or solved a difficult problem?
• Have you received awards?
• Have you developed a new product?
• Have you created something new?
• Have you saved your company money?

There's more in the post. And when you describe these achievements, be specific. Instead of, "processed accounts payable for company X" how about something like "processed an average of 3000 accounts payable vouchers a week and identified over $25,000 in vendor excessive charges in 2008." Gotta sell yourself, no matter what position you're interviewing for!

March 8, 2009 Update: It should be common sense to make sure that your resume and cover letter are not full of typos and grammatical errors, but trust me, most people continue to ignore this. I know because in recent months I have seen several hundred resumes and cover letters. Why is it that people don't make 110% sure they are putting their best face forward?? In these days of 10% unemployment, don't be lazy with your writing skills! Some more tidbits:

• I've seen some cases where resumes looked pretty good, but there was no cover letter, just an email with an attached resume. DON'T DO THIS! Make sure to sell me on WHY YOU ARE THE BEST CANDIDATE for this particular job and why you want this job! This is your golden opportunity, in the cover letter! DO THIS and you will immediately jump over hurdle #1.
• Show me some personality in the cover letter, even if you are applying for a job that does not require personality (in theory :>). Stand out from the crowd a bit.
• All of us type emails and don't really pay attention to typos and grammar in them (myself included). Well DON'T DO THIS when submitting a resume! Treat this like a formal business letter! Impress me, for pete's sake!
• Same thing applies to Thank You Letters. It is great to send these out after your interview to show your enthusiasm and interest in the job. But again, treat it like a formal business letter and don't have a bunch of typos in the email!
• If English is not your first language or if you are just bad at writing, typing and spelling, then get some help! Write it and have a buddy you trust read and edit it.
• Recently I interviewed someone for a mid-level software engineer position that came in to our office wearing jeans, wrinkled shirt and backpack. I thought for sure he was there to fix our copy machine but nope, that was our candidate. What was he thinking?? While the reality of it is that our company has a business casual work environment, for a job interview it was the wrong decision. It told us that he lacked common sense. DRESS TO IMPRESS!