Get a Job

 

The very best first site for a job seeker in the State of Minnesota is Positively Minnesota.

A great place to sharpen your computer skills, GCFlearnfree has over 750 tutorials about everything from Office 2010 to how to make a good resume. If you claim computer skills on your resume go here to improve your skills.

If you copy graphic images while you browse the internet you may want to get Greenshot. This PC application mimics a camera and captures a cropped screen shot with the touch of one button.The shot can be copied to the buffer or saved as a graphic file. It saves a lot of clicks. Get it here.  <– (don’t do it until you understand that  the green lettering is hyper text.)

 

Network is a Verb and a Noun

Network is a noun and a verb.

Network is a noun, the collection of persons, places and things that we know about (or should get to know) that may have ideas on how we find employment. Examples of “a network” are our past employers, friends, relatives, fellow bus-riders, tennis partners, members of our church, the guy across the table at bingo, etc.

Network is a verb that describes how we expand our collection of persons, places and things that will eventually lead us to employment. Examples of “networking” are joining job boards, social media, talking to everyone about needing a job and informational interviews.

Resumés

Find a web site about resumés or a book (or service) about resumés that you like, possess it, and stick with it. (Purchase, library, friend, school, job service, etc)

Why do we say “rez’ oo may”?  In English we don’t have little marks over any of our letters. The word résumé (with the little marks) has its history in the 19th century. Around 1804, in French, it meant “summary.” In the 1940s it morphed into English as “biographical summary of a person’s career.” For unknown reasons, the French pronunciation stayed with the word. I think that it might be part of a conspiracy to keep job seekers a little confused.

Everyone should have a comprehensive master resume. A simple way to start is with a paper form similar to “Work History on Paper.” (Make copies as required and fill in information about your past jobs as you remember them). Exact order of old job duties is not so important. Later on, these entries will be entered into a database and manipulated as needed. Dates are important. Names of past supervisors are good when known.

Your master résumé will never be used for a job application. It is a detailed listing of all your jobs and education and job-related accomplishments. You refer to and copy from the master résumé when you are making a specialized résumé .

The master résumé is a comprehensive, exhaustive, complete, over-the-top resume for reference. The quickest way to build a good vocabulary for the resume is to cut and paste directly from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), a comprehensive list of job titles being developed under the sponsorship of the US Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA) through a grant to the North Carolina Employment Security Commission.

Enter the titles of jobs you have done in the past and select the closest match that comes up. When tasks for that job are displayed, copy and paste them to you master resume.

Later: Make a “carry around” list of references and “skills.txt”, also from O*Net.