Do You Have a Sense of Urgency?
Recently, I had the need to work with a particular service provider for several months. After the initial “We’ll take great care of you” speech, I found myself quickly pushed aside as “more important” clients came in. It almost seemed as if they responded to customers based on the projected revenue the were anticipating. While that seems reasonable to a degree, what a lot of businesses forget is that sometimes the guy who brings you just a little business up front may soon be your biggest client…if you treat them right and show a sense of urgency when responding to their emails and phone calls.
We’ve all heard about the scruffy looking man that went into a car dealership and, due to his appearance, nobody wanted to help him. The dealership later learned the man was a multi-millionaire that had been hard at work on a project, had some engine trouble with a truck, and went in to pay cash for a fleet of vehicles. You can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Likewise, you should treat all of your customers with the same courtesy and respect you show any other customer.
Where I come from, we call that “burning bridges” and I’ve learned over the years that it’s something one almost always regrets. So, if your provide a product or service and tend to priortize your efforts based on soley the amount of money you expect to make, you’ll have trouble keeping long-term customers. This is true especially if you’re in a business where your efforts or lack of effort can have long-lasting economic, physical or mental effects on a person.
In sales, I remember learning that people are more likely to tell their friends and neighbors, as well as their business partners, when they have a bad interaction with a company. Positive interactions are expected, and only the truly remarkable are passed on to others. But the negative experiences are often passed on to anyone within earshot or the person’s sphere of influence. If they tell 10 people, those 10 people may tell 5 or 10 more and it spreads on and on. Make sure your business is one of the businesses that gets talked about because of your outstanding customer service and sense of urgency. Make your customer feel important, respected and ensure they know you are truly listening to their problem. Then, do your job, solve their problem, or get them the product they bought quickly, in great condition and at a reasonable price.
In the military, lack of a sense of urgency will get you a poor performance report, passed over for promotion and ultimately cut your career short. We also had a saying that has stuck with me for many years: The most important job you’ll ever have is the one you have right now!
Treat your customers right and you’ll reap the rewards you deserve, grow your business, experience less turnover and retain and grow your customer base. Remember, when your customer asks you to do something, provide a service or a product or simply ask a question…they want action NOW! If you don’t have a sense of urgency in the way you conduct your business, as well as your life, you’ll find yourself getting beaten by your competition. Don’t be the person sitting at their desk at 9:00 PM scratching their head wondering to themselves where all of their customers have gone.
Best of luck!
Another Disabled Veteran Ends His Suffering
Image via Wikipedia
For those of you who have visited my website or spent any time at all on my blog, you may have noticed an Eagle draped in the colors of our flag along with the words “Donate to a Disabled Service Veteran.” I had been attempting to help a disabled veteran work through a number of issues. In the last several months, his quality of life steadily declined, leading to, among other things, divorce and minimal supervised visitation with his child. This veteran had been injured during the Gulf War and was considered 100% disabled by the Veterans Administration.
Unfortunately, I did not receive any donations, so I was unable to help him financially. Since his divorce proceedings began, I rarely saw him anymore as I became entrenched in my own personal and business issues. I guess I had convinced myself that this man would never hurt himself because he had such a sweet little boy that adored him. However, the divorce and supervised visitation was more pain than he could stand, and he chose to end his physical and emotional pain by taking his own life.
It’s hard to believe that an injury he sustained 20 years ago ultimately was the primary reason this man took his own life. Unfortunately, this happens more than most of you are probably aware of. They suffer in silence because they were conditioned to believe they couldn’t admit they needed help without it harming their career, keeping them from getting promoted, or that they would be considered weak by their peers and supieriors for seeking help. I saw this over and over again as a Commander in the Air Force. I was fortunate in that I was able to help implement a new way of thinking…to seek help if you need it and if anything, that shows an inner strength that is to be envied, not punished. I never once withheld a promotion or an assignment, withdrew a security clearance, or required anyone to involuntarily leave the service because they were talking to Mental Health professionals. In fact, if someone got into some sort of trouble and they had already sought help for their issues through Mental Health, that was considered heavily in their favor when deciding what actions to take, if any.
I’d like to encourage you to do something that may be awkward or uncomfortable to you. If you know or meet a veteran, the first thing you should do is thank him or her for serving their country. If that person seems to be in physical or emotional pain, talk to them if you can and encourage them to seek help, even if it has been years since they were injured or completed their time in the service. You’ll know who they are…they may have an unstable work history, problems developing close relationships, problems with drugs or alcohol, may have interacted with your local police department, seem to lose focus every now and then, be depressed or overly anxious or just seem as if they’re a little out of sync with those around them. You’ll know who they are. I would rather approach someone and ask them if everything is OK and be told to bug off then to see their face in the Obituaries. Act…jon’t just think about it. You may just unknowingly save someone’s life some day.
I recently saw this man’s young son and it breaks my heart. He won’t be told the real way his father died for probably several years. Then, he’ll have to go through the grieving process again and will most likely need counseling to process it all. Children are resilient though, and he has many friends and relatives to love him and take care of him. Other families aren’t so fortunate…reach out to them too.
Remember…we are at War! Virtually everyone I know has lost someone in their family or knows someone who has. And, it doesn’t look like the situation is going to change much in the near future. I’ll find another veteran that can use a helping hand, and if anyone ever clicks on that button and makes a donation, I’ll see that 100% of that money is used to help the veteran and his or her family. Hopefully, this time the results will be different and through your donations, make a real impact on a veteran’s life. Please note: Reminis is not a 501 (c)(3) charity and your donations will not be tax deductible. I didn’t write this seeking donations, but if you do so, the money will be put to good use. I simply didn’t want the passing of another brother in arms to go buy without somebody at least knowing it happened, and to encourage you to reach out to those who may be suffering in silence.
Thank you for your time.
Vic Mangino, President
LinkedIn’s Resume Advice: The Top Ten Buzzwords to Avoid
Forbes.com
LinkedIn is taking a page from OkCupid’s book. The free online dating site, which has recently gotten attention for being a place where you can meet the richly controversial and famous, regularly dives into its treasure trove of profiles to offer advice and insights on its OkTrends blog. By analyzing user behavior on the site, it has offered up analyses of how your race plays into romantic responses, the lies we tell potential mates and the best photo to use to attract attention.
While analyzing professional résumés is a little less sexy than analyzing romantic ones, LinkedIn is giving it a spin. The advice may prove to be more useful to you if you’re seeking to land a job instead of a significant other.
LinkedIn has done a word analysis on the profiles of its 85 million users to come up with a list of the most overused words and expressions. Do you like to describe yourself as innovative and motivated? Then you may want to think about some synonyms to employ.
From the LinkedIn blog:
Top 10 overused buzzwords in LinkedIn Profiles in the USA — 2010:
1. Extensive experience
2. Innovative
3. Motivated
4. Results-oriented
5. Dynamic
6. Proven track record
7. Team player
8. Fast-paced
9. Problem solver
10. Entrepreneurial
Time to take a hard look at your resume and LinkedIn profile and try to eliminate these overused words…what we call “fluff” or “filler” in the resume writing/HR world!
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The 50 Best Careers of 2011 – Click Each Job to Learn More
Business Jobs:
Creative and Service Jobs:
–Heating, air conditioning and refrigeration technician
Healthcare Jobs:
Social Service Jobs:
–Emergency management specialist
–Marriage and family therapist
–Medical and public health social worker
Technology Jobs:
–Environmental engineering technician
Reminis is Taking a Break
Reminis Consulting will be taking a break for a bit to complete some unfinished projects, enjoy the holidays, and take care if a few things on the “honey do” list. I need to take some time to visit some relatives, and I also anticipate getting married in the not too distant future. I also just had some corrective eye surgery, compliments of the Wounded Warrior Project and LASIK PLUS. My right eye is going to take a couple months to heal and I’ve learned the hard way not to over do it and rush right back into working long hours.
I anticipate coming back online in February or March. I don’t plan on taking on any new clients during this break, but may post here from time to time. Of course, if an opportunity fell in my lap that I just couldn’t pass up, you may see me back online sooner than later.
I hope you all have happiness and peace in your lives, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Vic Mangino
Jobs for People Who Don’t Like People
Do you work better in a team of one? Do you despise water cooler small-talk? Are you…an introvert?
There are plenty of jobs that are better suited for those who hate to socialize. Here are some careers that let you get the job done while keeping social interaction to a minimum.
Accountant
While just about any job will require some amount of face-time with co-workers and clients, accountants find themselves diving into a spreadsheet more often than reaching for a cell phone. With plenty of financial data and tax information to digest, chit-chat time is at a minimum.
Related Degrees:
Accounting/Finance
Business Administration
MBA
Good News: The U.S Department of Labor predicts a 22 percent increase in job opportunities for accountants and auditors through 2018.
Average Salary for Accountants/Auditors: $59,430
Computer Programmer
It’s not uncommon to see computer programmers listening to music while coding. Telecommuting is also an option at some companies. If you can write the code (which isn’t easy) many tech managers will be happy to leave you alone.
Related Degrees:
Programming & Software
Computer Science
IT & Information Systems
Good News: Job opportunities are expected to soar 22 percent for computer programmers and software engineers through 2018, according to the Department of Labor.
Average Salary for Computer Programmers: $69,620
Writer
Writing is a solitary process. The ability to block out distractions and stay focused is essential in this career. Marketing is one industry where writers and copywriters are in demand.
Related Degrees:
Marketing/Communications
English/Creative Writing
Good News: The Department of Labor expects salaried writing positions to increase as the economy strengthens. Online media outlets are driving many of these writing opportunities.
Average Salary for Writers/Authors: $53,070
Forensic Science Technician
Although crime scene investigators have to deal with people, it’s often just dealing with their hair, tissue, or DNA samples. When not collecting evidence, working in a laboratory setting is most common for forensic scientists.
Related Degrees:
Forensics/Crime Scene
Criminal Justice
Police & Law Enforcement
Good News: Jobs for forensic science technicians are expected to grow 20 percent through 2018, according to the Department of Labor.
Average Pay for Forensic Science Technicians: $23.97/hour
Budget Analyst
Similar to accountants, budget analysts help organizations increase profits by improving efficiency. But the bulk of their time is spent working independently while compiling and crunching numbers.
Related Degrees:
Operations/Six Sigma
Accounting/Finance
E-Business/E-Commerce
Good News: Thanks largely to consulting opportunities, budget analysts will enjoy a 15 percent increase in jobs through 2018, according to the Department of Labor.
Average Salary for Budget Analysts: $65,320
Medical Transcriptionist
Petty office politics and gossip don’t easily reach the ears of medical transcriptionists, who wear headphones while transcribing dictated recordings from doctors and other health care pros. A no-nonsense, buttoned-up approach can help since you’ll be editing reports for grammar and clarity. Many MT’s work at home or off-site from their clients.
Related Degrees:
Medical Transcription
Medical Billing & Coding
Medical Assisting
Good News: Independent contractors are common in this career, with many working from home.
Average Pay for Medical Transcriptionists: $15.41/hour
Actuary
Risk assessment is the name of the game for actuaries, who spend their days analyzing the habits of people and companies. Instead of talking with people, though, their work is based on statistics.
Related Degrees:
Accounting/Finance
MBA
Operations/Six Sigma
Good News: Employment of actuaries is expected to jump 21 percent through 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Average Salary for Actuaries: $84,810
From those of use at Reminis, we wish you the best of luck in your job search and hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!
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Truer Words Were Never Spoken
| My way of joking is to tell the truth. It is the funniest joke in the world.
I love comedy, and by far the funniest comedians are the ones that reflect on stuff that happens in our daily lives. Virtually all of the funniest things I remember are things that actually happened while I was in the Air Force, working as an HR Manager, while COO of a major corporation, or as a Recruiter. I’ve actually started writing some of these things down in the event I ever find the time to write a book about some of the strangest, most unbelievable things I’ve seen. Should be good reading if I ever get around to it. Have a great weekend! Vic Mangino WordPress Tags: Truer,Words,Spoken,comedy,comedians,Manager,corporation,Recruiter,Mangino |
I Wish I Could Shake This Guy’s Hand–Must See Video
This is a little off the beaten path from what I normally post, but I couldn’t help myself. If you’ve ever been frustrated with the service you’ve received (or not received) from a manufacturer, this is a MUST SEE VIDEO.
Jobs That Are Here to Stay
Everyone’s heard about outsourcing and job cuts. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that while the economy is changing and employment patterns are evolving, there are some bedrock institutions – and jobs – that aren’t going away.
Just take a look around and you’ll see examples of jobs that are here to stay, at least in some capacity. Almost every community, big or small, has a medical office, a law firm, a school, a police department, a drugstore and other "bedrocks" that provide employment.
Check out these seven jobs that will stick around the neighborhood – and how you can qualify…
Career #1 – Police Officer
From patrolling the streets to running security for parades to apprehending criminals, police officers provide a valuable service that no community – big or small – can do without.
Job Forecast: The U.S. Department of Labor anticipates employment of police officers to grow 10 percent from 2008 to 2018 (about as fast as the average for all occupations). And, as the Department of Labor notes, police officers who lose their jobs due to budget cuts usually have very little trouble finding jobs with other agencies.
Training: If you’re thinking about becoming a police officer, look into earning a criminal justice degree to help you on your way.
Pay: Police officers have an average annual salary of $51,410. Differences in salary largely depend on location. The highest ten percent average at more than $79,680.
Career #2 – Paralegal
In this world of contracts and litigation, lawyers are essential to local businesses and individuals – and paralegals, who help lawyers prepare for trials and prepare legal arguments, are essential to lawyers.
Job Forecast: The Department of Labor expects a 28 percent growth rate for these jobs between 2008 and 2018. They also anticipate the need for more paralegals as intellectual property, health care, elder issues, and environmental law become increasingly important to our communities.
Training: If you’re interested in pursuing a paralegal career, check out associate’s degree programs in paralegal studies. If you already have a bachelor’s degree, consider earning a paralegal certificate.
Pay: Paralegal salaries can vary. Working for a large law firm or in a big city, for example, will typically pay more. The average annual salary for paralegals is around $46,120, though the top ten percent can earn more than $73,450. In addition to a salary, many paralegals receive bonuses.
Career #3 – Accountant
Whether you live in a big city or small town, there’s probably an accounting firm that many neighborhood businesses use. And it’s no surprise – accountants do a lot more than just prepare taxes. Local businesses rely on them for everything from bookkeeping to helping plan growth strategies.
Job Forecast: Accountants are important advisors and team members for our local business communities, and as the number of businesses increase, so will the number of jobs for accountants. The Department of Labor estimates employment of accountants will grow by 22 percent between 2008 and 2018.
Training: If you want to become an accountant, consider earning your bachelor’s degree in accounting or a related field. You can advance your career by earning your Certified Public Accountant (CPA) certification.
Pay: Accountants have an average annual salary of $59,430, with top earners averaging at more than $102,380 per year. Accountants who provide services for private businesses typically earn more than accountants who work for state or local governments.
Career #4 – Health Care Administrator
Health care administrators help improve the quality of health care; control costs; interface with insurance companies; and oversee patient record security. At first glance it might not be clear why these jobs are essential to every community, but as the health care industry expands we will need administrators to help keep hospitals and physician’s offices running smoothly.
Job Forecast: The Department of Labor predicts that employment of medical and health services managers will grow 16 percent from 2008 to 2018.
Training: A bachelor’s degree in health care administration should prepare you for an entry-level position in a smaller facility or department. For larger facilities, consider a master’s degree in health services administration.
Pay: Health care administrators have an average annual salary of $80,240. Higher salaries tend to be found in hospital settings.
Career #5 – Pharmacy Technician
People rely on their local pharmacy for their prescription needs. Pharmacy technicians help ensure that those pharmacies run smoothly and efficiently. With health care changes, more people will have prescription drug coverage, which will put a greater demand on local pharmacies – and as a result, increase the need for pharmacy technicians.
Job Forecast: This is another career with much higher than average employment growth anticipated. The Department of Labor expects employment of pharmacy technicians to grow 25 percent from 2008 to 2018 according to the Department of Labor. That’s 96,300 new jobs!
Training: Pharmacy associate’s degrees or certificate programs are a good way to go if you’re interested in a career as a pharmacy technician.
Pay: Pharmacy technicians earn $13.32 per hour on average, though the highest 10 percent can earn more than $18.98. Keep in mind that certified technicians may earn more than non-certified technicians.
Career #6 – Registered Nurse (RN)
People need to physically visit their health care providers – or have their health care providers come to them – in order to get the care they need, which makes nurses essential to local communities.
Job Forecast: Many employers are currently reporting difficulty in hiring enough RNs to handle their current workload, and more jobs will become available as the numbers of our elderly continue to grow. According to the Department of Labor, employment of registered nurses is expected to grow by 22 percent from 2008 to 2018.
Training: To become a registered nurse, you’ll need a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing (BSN), an associate degree in nursing (ADN), or a diploma from an approved nursing program. You’ll also need to complete a national licensing examination in order to obtain a nursing license.
Pay: Registered nurses have an average annual salary of $62,450. Nurses working in hospitals generally have higher salaries than those employed in nursing care facilities. The top ten percent of registered nurses average at about $92,240 per year.
Career #7 – Teacher
Whether your town’s population is 500 or 5,000, every community needs schools and teachers. Teachers provide an essential service that cannot be outsourced. And while times may be tough in education right now, the kids aren’t going anywhere.
Job Forecast: The Department of Labor expects employment of kindergarten, elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers to grow by 13 percent between 2008 and 2018. There is an even higher demand for teachers who specialize in mathematics, science, and bilingual education.
Training: If you’re ready to start your career as a teacher, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree from a teacher education program. If you want to be a secondary school teacher, major in the subject you plan to teach and take a program of study in teacher preparation.
Pay: The average annual salary of kindergarten, elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers ranges from $47,100 to $51,180. According to the American Federation of Teachers, beginning teachers with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $33,227. Getting a master’s degree or national certification can also get you a raise in pay.
To look for these and other great jobs go to my website’s job search tool. At Reminis you’ll find a wide variety of job search tips, resume writing ideas, and other great tools to help you Simplify Your Business. Your Career. Your Life.
Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock!
Yep, my site’s been down for a couple weeks and after taking care of some other business, we’ve finally got our site back up and running. So, just like those brave souls out there on the other side of the world who are kickin ASS, it’s time to get back down to business. I’ll be doing a lot more posting and adding a lot of useful information in the E-Commerce section at Reminis.com.
Job seekers click here: http://www.reminis.com/system/index.php?id=92
Recruiters click here: http://www.reminis.com/system/index.php?id=91
Keep checking back for the best tips about finding a job, finding candidates for jobs, and keeping the people you need once you hire them. Remember….Simplify!
Main Reminis Site Down for Maintenance
As many of you may have realized, my site at www.reminis.com has been down for several days. I just wanted to assure you that I was aware of the situation and that the site will be back soon. Keep checking for updates here! And things for remembering Reminis!
Best Web 2.0 Tools for Job Seekers
Have you ever heard of Web 2.0? You have, but you may have not heard it called that name before. Web 2.0 is the interactive web, where users provide the content.
Why should you care? Because Web 2.0 gives every job seeker the opportunity to promote subject matter expertise. It provides multiple formats and platforms and tools to allow job seekers to prove to the world “I’m an expert in …!”. In addition, it can help job seekers get found on Google, Yahoo, and other popular search engines.
Here’s a listing of what many consider to be the best Web 2.0 sites for job seekers and networking:
Linkedin – Social Network, primarily business www.linkedin.com
FaceBook – Social Network, business and personal www.facebook.com MySpace – Social network, primarily personal www.myspace.com
Ning – Private Social networks www.ning.com
Plaxo – Contact synchronizer www.plaxo.com
ZoomInfo – Business directory www.zoominfo.com
Spoke – Business Directory & Social network www.spoke.com
Jigsaw – Business Directory & Social Network www.jigsaw.com
YouTube – User generated video www.youtube.com
Twitter – Text-like social network www.twitter.com
Flickr – User Generated Photo sharing www.flickr.com
Zooomr – User generated photo sharing and text for mobile www.zooomr.com
Yahoo Answers – User generated questions and answers www.answers.yahoo.com/
Linkedin Answers – User generated questions and answers www.linkedin.com
FaceBook Groups – Common interest based groups www.facebook.com
Yahoo Groups – Common interest based groups www.groups.yahoo.com
Google Groups – Common interest based groups www.groups.google.com
Groups – Common interest based groups www.groups.com
Blogger – Blog platform www.blogger.com
WordPress – Blog platform www.wordpress.org
Typepad – Blog platform www.typepad.com
Del.icio.us – Social bookmarking www.del.icio.us
Furl – Social Bookmarking www.furl.com
Reddit – Submit, vote on, and rank news www.reddit.com
Digg – User submitted reviews of websites, services, blogs www.digg.com
Technorati – User reviews of what’s happening on the live web www.technorati.com
StumbleUpon – User reviews and web channel surfing www.stumbleupon.com
Pandora – User defined internet radio www.pandora.com
Last.fm – User defined Internet radio www.last.fm
Skype – Social network, IM, and VOIP www.skype.com
Jaxtr – VOIP linked to websites, blogs and social networks www.jaxtr.com
Fon – By, sell, and share wifi connections www.fon.com
Meebo – Web based multi platform IM www.meebo.com
Google Maps – Mashup maps with other data www.maps.google.com
Yahoo Maps – Mashup maps with other data www.maps.yahoo.com
Google Calendar – Shared and mashup calendars www.google.com/calendar
Evite – User generated invitations and events www.evite.com
Meetup – User generated special interest group meeting listings www.meetup.com
Eventful – Create and share events www.eventful.com
Favorville – People helping people www.favorville.com
Prosper – Peer to Peer lending www.prosper.com
Indeed – Job listing aggregator www.indeed.com
SimplyHired – Job listing aggregator www.simplyhired.com
FeedDemon – Manage RSS feeds www.feeddemon.com
Wikipedia – User created encyclopedia www.wikipedia.com
Razume – User submitted resumes, review & Feedback www.Razume.com
Clusty – Cluster Search results in folders www.clusty.com Reminis – Finally, there’s my website, www.reminis.com that provides products and services for job seekers, recruiters, employers, as well as personal and business branding services.
This is just a list of some of my favorites. I’ll work on updating the list with other useful websites that will help you…Simplify Your Business. Your Career. Your Life.
20 Worst-Paying College Degrees in 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
If you want to avoid the worst-paying college degrees, think twice before choosing a college major that involves children.
Included among the 20 worst-paying college degrees are elementary education, special education, social work and child and family studies. That’s the conclusion of the latest annual study of college degrees by Payscale, Inc. that compiled starting and mid-career pay for dozens of college majors.
Child and family studies earned the honors as the worst-paying college major. The average graduate earns a beginning salary of $29,500. What’s equally discouraging is that the salary of someone in this field will barely budge after 15 years in the profession.
Food is another common theme for students who major in the worst-paying college degrees. Students who earn degrees in horticulture, dietetics and the culinary arts are more likely to end up struggling financially.
| Worst-Paying College Degrees in 2010 | ||
| College Degree | Starting Pay | Mid-Career Pay |
| 1. Child and Family Studies | $29,500 | $38,400 |
| 2. Elementary Education | $31,600 | $44,400 |
| 3. Social Work | $31,800 | $44,900 |
| 4. Athletic Training | $32,800 | $45,700 |
| 5. Culinary Arts | $35,900 | $50,600 |
| 6. Horticulture | $35,000 | $50,800 |
| 7. Paralegal Studies/Law | $35,100 | $51,300 |
| 8. Theology | $34,700 | $51,300 |
| 9. Recreation & Leisure | $33,300 | $53,200 |
| 10. Special Education | $36,000 | $53,800 |
| 11. Dietetics | $40,400 | $54,200 |
| 12. Religious Studies | $34,700 | $54,400 |
| 13. Art | $33,500 | $54,800 |
| 14. Education | $35,100 | $54,900 |
| 15. Interdisciplinary Studies | $35,600 | $55,700 |
| 16. Interior Design | $34,400 | $56,600 |
| 17. Nutrition | $42,200 | $56,700 |
| 18. Graphic Design | $35,400 | $56,800 |
| 19. Music | $36,700 | $57,000 |
| 20. Art History | $39,400 | $57,100 |
If you’d rather end up with one of the best-paying college degrees, you’ll have to major in something that requires a lot of math classes.
Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution, an Amazon bestseller, and she also writes for TheCollegeSolutionBlog.
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Veteran Business Owners Benefit from a Marketing Makeover
by Debbie Dragon on 5 August 2010
Military members have access to an array of benefits and opportunities earned by their service. Credibility and marketability in the business world just happens to be an added bonus. There are more than 25 million veterans nationwide.
Those who become entrepreneurs and small business owners can use their military service as a springboard to new customers and repeat clients. About 7 in 10 Americans would rather patronize a veteran-owned business than one owned by a civilian, according to the National Veteran-Owned Business Association, or NaVOBA. But scores of veterans fail to capitalize on the power of their stories and service. Part of it may be an unwillingness or uncertainty about touting that record. In other cases, it’s simply an awareness issue. The reality is that veteran-owned business owners who take steps to tout their backgrounds can reap significant rewards, from government contracts to increased industry recognition.
For some, it’s a matter of seeking certification and official declarations. But for thousands of others, the key is a basic shift in the way they present their business to the world. Veteran Contractors Veterans who own small contracting firms should strongly consider registering with the Department of Veterans Affairs. As with having a minority- or woman-owned business, a veteran-owned business has access to a dedicated pool of federal contracts.
The VA coordinates an official registration process that includes verification of a veteran’s military service. The base requirements are that a veteran must own at least 51 percent of the company or its stock and directly control the daily operations. Along with that comes a long, hard look at the business’s finances, management structure, inventory, tax documents and other key data. Now, not every small contractor is in a position to compete for large government contracts. But those that are can boost their chances by obtaining formal certification as a veteran-owned business.
There’s also a special certification class for veterans with service-connected disabilities. Veterans with a documented disability rating have access to their own pool of contracts, which the government is required to set aside. Small contractors must also register with the government’s main contracting clearinghouse, the Central Contractor Registration.
Veterans who qualify for Veteran-Only Business Loans have perhaps the most potent home loan program on the market: the VA Loan Guaranty program. But you can’t use a VA home loan to purchase a commercial building or inject capital into a business. To help cover the gap, the U.S. Small Business Administration created a pilot program that provides funding for veterans seeking to start or expand small businesses. The Patriot Express loan program offers low-interest loans for up to $500,000, which can be used for a host of purposes, including equipment purchases, working capital and real-estate buys.
Veterans outside the construction sector might still want to take the time to register with the VA. Consider it the first step in a marketing makeover designed to broadcast your service record and credibility. But there’s certainly no requirement if you’re more of a mom-and-pop operation. What’s essential, though, is making sure prospective and existing consumers clearly understand they’re dealing with a veteran-owned operation. That might include revamping your suite of marketing materials and signage — both brick-and-mortar and online — to incorporate that "veteran-owned business" tagline. Embrace it in emails, mailers and promotions. Heck, don’t be afraid to mention it when you answer the phone. This isn’t about "cashing in" on a veteran’s proud service. This is about recognizing and celebrating it.
American consumers are clamoring for the chance to support veterans and their families. Why not make it easier for them to do so?
I’m Getting Married!
Eight years ago today, I met a lovely woman and went on our first date together. Today, on our eighth “anniversary” I asked her to marry me (she said “Yes”). We haven’t set a date yet, but we’ll probably get married before the end of the year.
This wonderful woman has seen me through some extremely trying times. She has accepted me as the flawed human being that I am without trying to change me. She loves my son and I unconditionally, and is the kindest, most loving and caring person I’ve ever known. I truly am fortunate to have crossed paths with her.
After all of the hardships I’ve endured, 20 years of service in the Air Force, the loneliness of moving from state to state, country to country, separation from my family, and the blood, sweat and tears that have poured out of me as I’ve struggled to build businesses and help others achieve their dreams, I think finally it’s my turn for some peace and happiness.
So, if there is anything that anyone reading this might take from my announcement, perhaps it’s that there is such a thing as karma, or that perseverance pays off, to not give up. I hope all of you find what you may be looking for, whether it is a better job, a new job, a friend, a new business connection, some insight or clarity in your life, or just some degree of peace and happiness.
Forgive me for deviating a bit from the usual bits of information I post, but I consider all of you to be my friends. I just wanted to share my good news with my friends. Thanks for indulging me, and have a great day!
Vic
5 Job Sectors with Recession-Proof Pay
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Claire Bradley, Investopedia.com, Yahoo! HotJobs
The recession has hit most working Americans in the pocketbook, but some industries have been hit much harder than others. Construction, sales, real estate, and finance were hit hard by the real estate bust; for those lucky enough to hold on to their jobs at all, commissions have dwindled and hourly pay and workload have diminished. But there are some lucky sectors where the pay virtually never dips. Read on to find out which workers have the most recession-proof salaries.
1. Health care Average Hourly Earnings: $23.02 We all need to see a doctor from time to time, which is why the health care industry has recession-proof salaries. As the baby boomer generation ages, health care needs are expected to rise greatly–good news for jobs in this industry. Union employees in health care may even see a slight rise in salary in tough times, which may be particularly important to nurses and entry-level employees who don’t earn the highest salaries. If you’re considering joining the health care labor force, look beyond jobs such as a doctor or nurse; many duties now fulfilled by doctors and nurses are expected to shift to health care aides. To fulfill the needs of the growing elderly population, home care aides and physical therapists will also be a hot commodity. The U.S. Department of Labor expects a whopping 24 percent growth by 2018 for the health care industry–a sure sign of both job and salary security.
2. Government Average Hourly Earnings: $26.25 Few people grow up dreaming of a career in government (unless it’s as the president), but government jobs offer the most stable of salaries. The benefits are great, too: when you add retirement, health care, and educational benefits, the average hourly compensation for a government employee jumps to $39.81. Look for growth in social assistance branches of government, like elder care for the aging boomer generation, and state government jobs as responsibilities shift from the federal government. Government jobs are expected to grow at a rate of 7 to 8 percent by 2018.
3. Military Average Hourly Earnings: $21.63 Sure, combat boots aren’t everyone’s idea of fun, but they provide sure footing when it comes to pay. Aside from promotions, allowance, and tax benefits, the military never cuts wages, and usually keeps pace with inflation. For added financial benefits, look at this scenario: an enlistee at age 18 can retire at age 48, drawing more than $1 million in inflation-adjusted retirement pay over the rest of his or her life. Add to this education and health care benefits, and camouflage starts to look pretty good.
4. Accounting Average Hourly Earnings: $32.42 Accounting may not be your idea of an exciting job, but this industry is one of the most stable in terms of jobs and salary. Top-earning accountants can rake in six-figure salaries, and this industry’s pay is expected to hold strong. For even more job and salary security, look no further than a career in forensic accounting–with new finance and auditing regulation in the works, this branch of bean counting is expected to see larger-than-average job growth.
5. Information technology Average Hourly Earnings: $43.35 It pays to be a computer geek: the IT industry sees salaries well above the national average, with top earners bringing home paychecks well into the six figures. Outsourcing has been a problem for this industry, and software engineers have taken the biggest impact. Look for job and salary security in network administration and security; with exponential development in Internet technology and services, job growth of 45 percent is expected by 2018 for people designing and securing computer networks.
The Bottom Line
Many of these careers offer entry-level jobs without a college education, making them a good option for people starting out or looking to make a career change. If a recession-proof salary is what you’re after, consider these industries for your new career path.
Let Reminis help you with your resume to jump start your career today!
10 Resume Rules You Should Know for 2010
Though many of us would probably keep using the same resume we used for our first or second job throughout our career, we can’t. Why? For two reasons: first, we have to update our resumes as our skills and experience changes; and second, the rules of resume format and creation are constantly changing, and to be considered in the current job market, we have to keep abreast of these changes. What are these changes, and what is expected of a 2010 resume?
- Do include a professional summary. A professional summary basically highlights the most valuable and notable aspects of your career experience, education, and skills in a concise and easy to reference manner for employers.
- Do make your resume into 2-3 pages when you need to–meaning not because you want to list everything you have ever done in your career, but rather, when you have many achievements and career highlights that should be included and can’t do it in a page.
- Do use bullet points for skills and achievements and anything else that you need to list in a resume. Employers find it easier to read and reference, and would prefer this over paragraph form any day.
- Do customize or target your resume to the position to which you are applying. Companies want to see that you are interested in their specific establishment for employment, and are not just another blind application.
- Do quantify your skills, achievements, and qualifications with as many pertinent details as possible. Employers don’t just want to see that you have communications skills, but how you used them for an achievement at work. This is much more compelling than just listing great communication skills.
- Don’t just list responsibilities. What did you do? How did you do it? How much money or time did it save? What impact did it have? Employers know what duties are required of a certain position. They want to know what value you gave your position through examples of specific achievements and growth.
- Don’t be modest in your resume. Sell your career worth for all its worth.
- Don’t leave out important details in the employment history section, such as dates, employer name, and job title. Employers want to know these details.
- Don’t submit your resume if it isn’t updated to your credentials, qualifications, and education.
- Don’t send in a resume for consideration without a properly addressed and formatted cover letter. It is implicitly always required for any kind of further consideration.
- Do contact us at Reminis if you want a resume that gives you a competitive edge over other applicants! We can be reached at info@reminis.com.
Best of luck in your job search!
10 Common Errors “Spell Check” Won’t Catch
by Kaboodle.com, on Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:46am PDT
While we can rely on a spell checker to catch glaring errors, a computer can’t pick up on all careless mistakes, especially if the word could be correct in a different context. Often word misuse is our mistake. The English language is full of homonyms, or words that have different meanings but sound and look similar, which makes it easy to confuse proper usage. For instance, verbally, you might not even notice the difference between “your” and “you’re.” But in print, the error can lead the reader to perceive you as less intelligent than you are. For this reason, it’s important to spell check and proofread your documents, especially for the following common misuses, which are so easy to make, you might even have to check your document a couple times to catch them.
Its versus It’s (and all other apostrophes):
According to a copy editing instructor for California-based copy editing service provider Edicetera, confusing “its” and “it’s” is the most common error in the English language. That one minuscule apostrophe (or lack thereof) drastically changes the meaning of the entire sentence. “It’s” is a contraction of “it is,” whereas “its” refers to possession. Also, watch out for “your” versus “you’re.”
Sales versus Sails
Can you imagine writing on your resume that you “increased sails by 20 percent”?! Unless you’re applying to a job for a sail boat manufacturer, this careless mistake will probably get your resume sailing right into the recycling bin.
Affect versus Effect
There is a lot of confusion around this one but here’s the rule: “Affect” is a verb and “effect” is a noun. It’s as simple as that.
Would Have NOT Would of
The subtlety in pronunciation leads to the rampant misuse of this phrase; however “would of” is never correct and may make you appear as if you are not well-read.
Through versus Threw
“He threw the ball through the window.” “Threw” is a verb and “through” is a preposition. And speaking of “through,” be careful to make sure you don’t actually mean “thorough” or vice versa. The slight variation in spelling will not be picked up by a computer, but writing “I am through” when you mean “I am thorough” is quite ironic, don’t you think? The best way to master the subtleties of language? Reading of course!
Then versus Than
Six is more than five; after five then comes six. “Than” refers to a comparison, while “then” refers to a subsequent event.
Supposed To NOT Suppose To
“Suppose” is a verb, meaning to think or to ponder. The correct way to express a duty is to write, “I was supposed to…”
Wonder versus Wander
You can wander around while you wonder why “wander” and “wonder” have such different meanings, yet sound oh so similar.
Their versus There versus They’re
OK, once and for all: “Their” is possessive; “there” refers to distance; and “they’re” is a contraction of “they are.”
Farther versus Further
While both words refer to distance, grammarians distinguish “farther” as physical distance and “further” as metaphorical distance. You can dive further into a project, for instance, or you can dive farther into the ocean.
These are just a few of the many examples of spelling mistakes that your spell checker won’t catch. Brush up on your spelling and grammar! If you don’t, at best you may come across as less intelligent than you are. At worse, mistakes like these will impact your ability to find a good job!
Merchants Push Sales Through Social Media
Early Adopters Add Shopping-Cart Apps to Fan Pages to Sell Items, Services
After learning how to market themselves through tweets and status updates, some small companies are taking the next step: selling directly to consumers via social-networking sites.
Merchants on Facebook and MySpace are adding e-commerce stores to their fan pages, hoping users will scan lists of for-sale items and services—such as floral bouquets, hand-crafted jewelry and spa treatments—and click a button to add them to online shopping carts. (MySpace is owned by News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.)
![[SBCART]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/MK-BD469_SBCART_DV_20100531163742.jpg)
Duane Trower
Scott Burnett, left, and Ralph Perta, are owners of Guitar Syndicate Inc.
The e-commerce trend, also being adopted by large companies such as Hallmark Cards Inc. and Brooks Brothers Inc., so far appears limited to Facebook and MySpace, where applications for selling directly to consumers started cropping up in 2008. Other popular social-networking sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, don’t offer a direct-sale platform.
Early adopters say they’ve so far seen only modest results, and generally not until after they’ve established a loyal-fan following.
Scott Burnett last month added an e-commerce option to the Facebook page of Guitar Syndicate Inc., a retail business he co-owns in Kansas City, Mo. Items such as guitars, harmonicas and microphones are listed for sale via an application from CoreCommerce, an e-commerce company in Franklin, Tenn. Consumers who add items to a shopping cart are then taken to the company’s website to make a payment. "It’s another doorway to find our products," he says.
Guitar Syndicate, which was founded last year, has seen its overall online sales grow by 17% since its Facebook store was added in mid-April, according to Mr. Burnett. But he says he isn’t clear how many sales can be attributed to buyers who started their transactions on Facebook.
Mr. Burnett further notes that Guitar Syndicate has invested $5,000 since January to grow its Facebook fan base by giving away that much worth of prizes though a contest it’s promoting on the site. The company now has about 4,400 Facebook fans.
For e-commerce via social media to work, "You’ve got to spend money on advertising to make people aware that [your fan page] exists," says Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Lubin School of Business at Pace University in New York.
Businesses without a significant number of Facebook or MySpace fans may have difficulty swaying buyers, he adds. A fan page that isn’t heavily trafficked could create the impression that it isn’t popular, he says. "And nobody likes to shop at places where no one else shops."
Another potential downside is that disgruntled buyers could also quickly blast their dissatisfaction to their network of friends, adds Michael Trusov, an assistant marketing professor at Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He says a buyer’s network is right at his fingertips when he feels most annoyed with his experience with a company.
Mr. Trusov says companies "would need to make sure the customer service level is much higher" than that on a website or in a physical store.
Entrepreneurs looking to tap into the trend should also expect to pay a fee for applications that provide shopping carts. For instance, the CoreCommerce application that Mr. Burnett uses charges a fee starting at $24.99 a month, based on the number of products a company wants to list for sale. About 1,150 businesses, mostly small enterprises, are using it, says Matt DeLong, chief executive officer.
Other applications allow multiple social-media users to chip in and collectively buy items, and some let shoppers make payments to merchants without leaving the social-media sites. Many are compatible with both Facebook and MySpace. Neither site charges merchants fees for hosting the stores or a commission on sales, however Facebook recently announced it will take a 30% cut of sales of credits for certain virtual goods.
Whether consumers will embrace shopping on social-media sites remains to be seen. Facebook, approaching 500 million users, recently came under fire over its privacy policies. Some shoppers may feel uncomfortable entering their credit-card information on the site, while others may be wary of making a purchase that could be broadcast on users’ news feeds or profiles.
Houston retailer Sun & Ski Sports added an e-commerce store to its Facebook fan page in 2008 using an application from Volusion Inc., a Simi Valley, Calif., software provider. But Sun & Ski has so far only sold 50 products this way, accounting for barely 1% of the company’s overall online sales, says Scott Blair, director of e-commerce. "It’s not a major source of revenue," he says. "It’s part of our overall strategy with social media."
Peddling certain products or services on a social-media platform may be challenging for businesses, says Yogesh V. Joshi, an assistant professor of marketing at Robert H. Smith School of Business. "You might not want to buy toothpaste on Facebook, but you might want to buy a Coach bag," he says.
Technorati Tags: Push,Through,Social,Adopters,Cart,Apps,Sell,Items,Services,status,consumers,Facebook,
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Thought You Could Use a Good Laugh Today
This is a link to what’s called the “Fail Blog” and contains the original blog plus over 30 other similar blogs at the bottom of the page. Some of the posts are a bit racy, but at the top of the page you are given a choice to choose on “G” rated posts. Here is the link…you’ll be laughing out loud…enjoy!
http://failblog.org/
Working on a different computer at the moment so the hyperlink may not work…just paste it into your browser if need be.
Help An Injured Military Service Member: USA Together Has High-Tech Solution
I just ran across this post and wanted to share it with you. With Memorial Day having just come and gone, the website mentioned in this article gives those veterans in need a place to seek help, and those willing to help a great opportunity to donate, with 100% of their donation going to the veteran they have chosen to help. Please visit the USA Together site now!
A group of Silicon Valley high tech folks have been running a website that connects injured service members with Americans across the country who want to help them as they recover.
USA Together has been posting requests from these families and also from the families of the fallen on their website, and the response has been impressive.
Some of those who run the website have a military background, have no political, religious or other affiliation or agenda and represent a variety of backgrounds. They believe that there is a desire on the part of many Americans to help, but that they just don’t know how.
This project, says their website, is designed to allow each person to find someone they can help in a way that suits them.
"Virtually every request we have posted to the site has been met." said Dave Mahler, Executive Director of USA Together.
Typically the requests are for basic needs including goods like baby cribs or a new refrigerator or for services like help modifying a bathroom for easier access.
But USA Together will post requests for modest financial support if the situation calls for it.
Those who might want to help just enter their email address on the site and then they get notified via email when a new request is posted on the site.
They can even tailor the notification to just requests from their state or town or certain skill areas they might be willing to offer-such as transportation or legal help.
Simply put, the mission of USA Together is to use the power of the Internet to help the men and women of the US military who have suffered life-altering injuries in service to their country.
By publishing specific needs for goods, financial assistance and services, they hope to connect injured service members and their families with those who are willing and able to assist them.
100% of any donations to USA Together go to the injured service members; it’s an all volunteer organization.
USA Together was given the Newman’s Own award last fall for innovation in helping improve the lives of veterans in a ceremony hosted by Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.
As the word has gotten out about the site, more requests are coming in so USA Together is encouraging anyone who thinks they might like to help to visit the site and subscribe to get notified of the new requests.
It’s an easy thing to do as we head into the Memorial Day weekend – so please, visit the USA Together website today and make a donation!
Technorati Tags: Help,Military,Service,Member,Together,High,Tech,Solution,Memorial,article,donation,veteran,
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Five Comeback Careers for People with Bachelor’s Degrees
Opportunities for college grads in the post-recession economy
by Clare Kaufman, FindtheRightSchool.com
The US Department of Labor is starting to give us some good news: Employment projections for the next several years show double-digit growth in many career paths available to people with bachelor’s degrees. The post-recession economy holds promise for job seekers in high-demand industries such as technology, health care, and business services.
The following five careers offer chart-topping opportunity for college grads, with employment projected to grow by more than 30 percent in the coming decade.
1. Technology: software engineers and network analysts
Technology is the engine of economic recovery. According to the US. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the engine of job growth in technology will be centered in networks and software development. Computer software engineers face rosy job stats, with 34 percent growth for applications engineers and 30 percent for systems developers.
Meanwhile, the success story in the IT department is network systems analysts, who can expect 53 percent growth in the same period.
A four-year bachelor’s degree offers entry into both of these high-growth professions. Software engineers and network analysts may launch a career with a general degree in computer science, or a more career-focused degree in computer engineering, software development, or management information systems (MIS).
Average salary: software engineers: $87,900 (applications) and $94,520 (systems software); network systems analysts: $73,830
2. Finance: financial examiners and personal financial advisors
Key careers in the financial sector will make a dramatic comeback in the wake of the 2008 credit crisis, predicts the BLS. Opportunities reflect an era of increased financial scrutiny and regulation: financial examiners lead the list of fastest-growing financial careers, at 41 percent growth. Personal financial advisors will tap into an aging population in need of assistance with investment, retirement, and estate planning.
A bachelor’s degree in finance, accounting, business, or economics will get you started in one of these high-growth finance careers. Financial examiners also receive on-the-job career training in financial regulations and enforcement protocol.
Average salary: personal financial advisors: $92,970
3. Health care: biomedical engineers
The runaway winner in the ranking of employment growth is biomedical engineers, who should see their ranks grow by an estimated 72 percent between 2008 and 2018. Exciting technological advances and demand for medical services are driving investment in health care innovation. Biomedical scientists develop medical devices and procedures such as prostheses, medical information systems, diagnostic instruments, and care-delivery systems.
A diverse background in mechanical and electrical engineering, medicine, biology, and mathematics prepares you for a career in biomedical research. Access this career training by pursuing a specialized bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering, or a general mechanical or electrical engineering degree with an interdisciplinary science curriculum.
Average salary: biomedical engineers: $81,120
4. Environmental science: environmental engineers
Meanwhile, the "green" economy will also fuel demand for engineering ingenuity. Environmental engineering is expected to grow by about 30 percent in the coming decade. Environmental engineers hold the promise of a solution to our most pressing environmental problems: climate change, greenhouse gases, dwindling energy supplies, and pollution. Specifically, engineers are working to control water and air pollution, dispose of waste safely, develop alternative energy technologies, conserve natural resources, and protect public health.
Environmental engineering is an interdisciplinary field drawing on biology, chemistry, and engineering knowledge. Find the right career training by combining a bachelor’s degree in environmental science with engineering courses, or a chemical or mechanical engineering degree with science courses.
Average salary: environmental engineers: $77,970
5. Business administration: marketing survey researchers
Business administration is a mainstay of employment opportunity. Support services such as sales and marketing are a key revenue center for businesses. The US Department of Labor sees expanding roles for college graduates in marketing survey research, with an anticipated 30 percent change in employment through 2018. Marketing survey researchers develop surveys on consumer behavior and preferences. They gather and analyze survey data to help companies develop and position products.
A bachelor’s degree in marketing or business administration gets you started in a market research analysis career. To expand your job prospects or advance your marketing career further, consider continuing on to a master’s degree in business administration. The MBA is the gold standard of business education, and is widely available as an online degree.
Average salary: survey researchers: $42,060
Grow your career with a college degree
Create your own career comeback with a bachelor’s degree. Four years in a college classroom (online study is also an option) can set you up for a career in one of the Department of Labor’s top-performing industries. With job growth topping thirty percent in a decade, these career paths are bound to lead you to success.
Source: 2008 mean salary figures reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Memorial Day – This Website Shows Those Who Made The Ultimate Sacrifice
This link goes to a CNN website that shows the number of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, their hometown on a map of the US, and where they were killed. It also shows a picture if one was available and provides some details on how the person died. It is extremely sobering and heartbreaking, but something we need to remember is still going on every day. God Bless those who made the ultimate sacrifice in all of the wars our country has been involved in as well as their families and friends. Let’s also remember the over 20,000 who’ve come home from Iraq and Afghanistan after being shot, blown up, severely burned, missing arms, legs, been blinded and those who suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Many are still suffering, many are still hurting, and many are going through these ordeals alone.
The next time you see someone who served, a simple “Thank you for your service” does wonders for that person. Whenever I mention or someone knows that I spent 20 years in the Air Force and someone simply thanks me for serving my country, words can’t describe how good it feels.
And for those of you who may read this that are employers or recruiters, remember to Hire a Vet. I hope you all had a great Memorial Day!
Here is the link to the CNN site: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/war.casualties/index.html?hpt=C2
20% Discount
Reminis is offering a 20% discount for all members of the Clermont Chamber of Commerce for any of its services at clermontchamber.com!
Reminis is offering a 20% discount for a
Reminis is offering a 20% discount for all members of the Clermont Chamber of Commerce for any of its services at clermontchamber.com!
20% Discount
Reminis is offering a 20% discount for all members of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce for any of its services at cincinnatichamber.com
Reminis is offering a 20% discount for a
Reminis is offering a 20% discount for all members of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce for any of its services at cincinnatichamber.com
Free eBook & Kit: How to Use Online Video for Marketing
Online video can be a great tool to generate traffic to a business website, build brand buzz, collect inbound links (which help SEO), and build social media presence and reach.
HubSpot has compiled our best tips on how to take advantage of video for your marketing initiatives. Flip through the new ebook on the right to get a taste and download the full kit with 3 how-to videos and the 18-page ebook PDF.
This ebook and kit includes tips on how to generate leads from online video, filming tips, video editing tools and tips, and how to publish and promote your video for maximum visibility.
Download the kit contents:
- eBook: How to Use Online Video for Marketing (18 pages)
- Video: How to Use Online Video for Marketing (1 hour)
- Video: Viral Marketing: How to Create a World Wide Rave (1 hour)
- Video: How to Use SEO, Blogs, and Social Media to Get Found Online (1 hour)
Blog and Ping Tool
Age Discrimination Exists
The vast majority of "older" workers have experienced it on some level or another. It’s difficult to come up with hard data, since most companies would never truthfully cooperate with any official study … but we all intuitively know that it’s true – age bias is simply a fact of life in our society. That basic truth really hasn’t changed very much over the last century – most modern societies favor youth over age. What has changed is the advancing age of the "Baby Boomer" generation – a group that has grown proportionally compared with the rest of the population, and has skewed the age curve of available workers. In today’s candidate-flooded market resulting from the economic downturn that began in 2008, those growing numbers of older workers are increasingly competing for the same jobs as younger candidates caught up in the same mass layoffs as everyone else. Add to that the fact that everyone’s investments and retirement funds shrunk drastically during the last couple of years. As a result, Boomers are now finding that they need to keep working well past the age that they originally thought they’d retire. At the very same time, cost-conscious companies are still nervous about adding back headcount in today’s slow climb back to economic recovery. When companies do hire new staff now, many try to save money by hiring younger, less experienced people who require lower salaries. It’s really not hard to see how all those factors combine to perpetuate the practice of Age Discrimination.
Asking Your Age Is NOT Illegal
Many job-seekers erroneously think that it is illegal for an employer to ask for a candidate’s date of birth (or year of graduation, social security number, marital status, or any number of other supposedly off limits questions.) That’s simply not true! Although they’re often called "illegal interview questions" on the web, such questions are not actually illegal at all. There is no law that says that an interviewer cannot ask a job-seeker point blank: "How old are you?" However, if an interviewer asks a question that has discriminatory implications and then intentionally denies you employment based on your answer to the question, he or she may have broken the law. So to avoid any risk of exposure to future litigation, most HR professionals (especially at larger companies) are told to avoid asking such questions. But again, it’s not illegal to ask, and it still happens frequently. It happens during interviews, and it happens quite often on those pre-interview applications where leaving a question blank will get you screened out. The problem is that it’s almost impossible for a job-seeker who has been denied employment to prove age discrimination. No interviewer in their right mind would actually admit to eliminating a candidate based on their age – even if that’s exactly what they did. You’ll simply be passed over, and never really know why. That’s one of many reasons why interviewers do not return calls and emails from, or give specific feedback to job applicants who did not get hired. It’s much safer to say nothing!
Don’t Waste Your Precious Time Trying To Fight The System
I’ve heard from a lot of people who get very worked up about Age Discrimination, and feel they need to "do something about it!" They write letters, consult lawyers, lobby government representatives, circulate petitions, and threaten (and sometimes initiate) law suits. They rant and rail about it, join discussion groups that focus on it, and generally obsess on it as the main reason for their own failure to find a job. Well … sorry if I offend anyone by saying this – but I have no patience for that type of behavior. In my opinion, that sort of thing is extremely counter-productive. You certainly won’t endear yourself to any potential employers by focusing on such activities. (And make no mistake – employers are very aware of who writes what on blogs, discussion groups, LinkedIn forums, etc.) None of it will ever change the way employers behave, or the way interviewers and decision-makers screen candidates. They just won’t hire you! You cannot change the criteria that individual companies use to evaluate potential workers, nor can you change their actual job requirements – even if they include things that imply a bias towards younger applicants! If you are a serious job-seeker, then don’t waste your time and energy fighting against those things that you cannot change.
Focus Instead On Positives
You certainly can’t change your own age. That’s an obvious given. Sure, you can limit what’s on your resume to the past 10 years, and pretend that you didn’t exist before that – at least that will avoid the sting of being eliminated before you even get to first base, and most likely score you some interviews that you wouldn’t have had otherwise. But sooner or later in every job application process, you’ll meet face-to-face with a decision-maker and they’ll size you up. Your age will be a factor – for better or worse. So what can older job-seekers do to help themselves? Here are some ideas:
· Target companies who are known to be "age friendly" and concentrate less on the ones known to favor younger workers and who emphasize their youthful cultures. You probably wouldn’t feel comfortable working in such a place anyway. Seek out employers who value workers for their capabilities and contributions, regardless of age. There are certainly industries, companies and organizations out there who are less likely to practice age discrimination than others. Naturally, the challenge for job-seekers is to identify those places and go after them. A good starting point is to simply do a Google search on the phrase "Age Friendly Companies." You’ll find a multitude of great resources there that will lead you in the right direction.
· Pay attention to the job requirements, and only pursue positions that you truly match. Don’t waste time applying to jobs that are clearly not a match for your skills, or level of experience. If the description says they want someone with 1-3 years of experience and you have 10-15 … it’s obviously not going to be a good match. Do you really want to fight that battle? Do you really need to hear that you’re "overqualified" or that they are really looking for more of an "entry level" person?
· Keep yourself up to date on technology, and current on the details of your industry. Be a continuous learner. Be as computer and internet savvy as your younger competitors. Embrace the new information age. Read articles, blogs and professional journals that pertain to your field. Be ready to demonstrate your up-to-date knowledge in any conversation you may have with people in your specific niche.
· These next ones are clichés…but I’ll throw them in anyway: Take care of yourself physically! Exercise frequently to maintain your fitness, eat healthy, and get enough sleep. Pay attention to your appearance – keep yourself well groomed. Dress for success with an up-to-date wardrobe. You can’t change your age, but you can change the way you present yourself. Having a youthful energy and demeanor are not things that happen by accident, nor are they strictly hereditary. They are things that to some degree you can alter, and they need to be constantly worked on.
· Finally, concentrate on projecting positive energy and enthusiasm in every casual conversation, every networking meeting, and every interview. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the interview process that holds true for almost every industry and every position, it’s this: the number one most important factor that determines who gets hired and who doesn’t is NOT who is best qualified, who has the most experience or skills, or who has the best resume – and it’s NOT AGE. It’s attitude! People hire other people that they like, and want to be around. Real enthusiasm for a position or a company, true passion for your work, a sense of humor, and a genuine projection of positivism and optimism are the qualities that make a person attractive to others. A positive, energetic and youthful attitude can easily transcend age as a factor and it’s nearly impossible to fake. It’s an incredibly important issue for every job-seeker to think about and to try adjusting within themselves.
New BadDadz T-Shirt Store!
Reminis just developed a new t-shirt store for BadDadz.com.
Meet the Unemployable Man
by David Wessel
Saturday, May 1, 2010
provided by 
The betting is that the Labor Department’s Friday snapshot of the job market will show that employers added workers in April, perhaps even that the unemployment rate fell.
That would be good news, but not good enough. It’s hard to exaggerate how bad the job market is. Here’s one arresting fact: One of every five men 25 to 54 isn’t working.
Even more alarming, the jobs that many of these men, or those like them, once had in construction, factories and offices aren’t coming back. "A good guess…is that when the economy recovers five years from now, one in six men who are 25 to 54 will not be working," Lawrence Summers, the president’s economic adviser, said the other day.
This is not one of the many things that can be blamed on subprime lending, inept regulators or Goldman Sachs. "The Great Recession has reinforced prevailing labor market trends that were under way long before the recession," David Autor, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist, observed in a recent paper commissioned by two Democratic-leaning think tanks, the Center for American Progress and the Hamilton Project.
Demand for workers who haven’t much education — which includes many men, particularly minority-group men — is waning. A shrinking fraction of them are working. Some are looking for work; some have given up. Some are collecting disability benefits or an early-retirement pension. Some are just idle. On average, surveys find, the unemployed in the U.S. spend 40 minutes a day looking for work and 3 hours and 20 minutes a day watching TV.
For 50 years, the fraction of men with jobs in what once were prime earning years has been trending down. Over the same decades, the share of women who work has been rising, a significant social change that lately has cushioned the blow of Dad’s unemployment for many couples.
Women have suffered less in this recession. They were more likely to be in health care and other jobs that weren’t hit as hard as construction and manufacturing. They are increasingly likely to have the education so often required to get or keep a good job these days.
That’s good for their families. But will there be good-paying jobs in the future for prime-age men, particularly the ones who don’t go to college?
Americans have worried for decades that the economy won’t produce enough jobs. But the economy always provided. As farm jobs were eliminated by mechanization, factories hired more. As factories increased productivity and moved work offshore, more Americans got jobs in health care and other services. And the economists said to all those who had been worried about perennial, persistent unemployment: We told you so!
Yet nothing in the textbooks says that the supply and demand for workers will intersect at a wage that is socially acceptable. At the high end, demand for skilled workers and those who rely on their brains will return when the economy does. At the other end, jobs in restaurants, nursing homes and health clubs — the jobs that are hard to automate or outsource — will come back, too.
In the middle, there will be some jobs for workers without much education, for the plumbers, electricians and software technicians. But not enough to go around.
Men who in an earlier era would have been making good money on the assembly line are, and will be, working security or greeting at Wal-Mart, jobs that almost anyone can do and thus jobs that don’t pay well.
If they’re working at all. Today, 6.5 million workers have been out of work for six months or more, and that includes only those who are still looking for work. History suggests the longer they’re unemployed, the less likely they are ever to work again. Faster economic growth would help a lot, but won’t suffice.
One way to resist these market forces is to reduce the supply of workers who aren’t in demand and increase the supply of workers who are. That is, educate more and better: Fix K-12 schools, improve worker-training programs, strengthen community colleges, give more aid to college students. All this is wise, but most of it will take a long time.
Another option is on the demand side: Force employers to be less efficient so they have to hire more, or limit imports of goods that threaten jobs of less educated, prime-wage men — solutions with unwelcome side effects.
The government, Mr. Summers said, can increase demand for labor in the short run. Spending more public money on infrastructure, he argued, will both strengthen the economy for the future and employ out-of-work construction workers.
A third option is surrender to market forces and tax the winners to subsidize the losers. Sending checks to idle men is unappealing, but the government could do more to supplement wages (or health insurance costs) for those who work at low wages.
Each approach has shortcomings. So does doing nothing. Sidelining a huge part of an entire generation of men would waste human potential, create economic misery for their families and fuel political discontent.
*Don’t become one of the men mentioned in the article. Let Reminis Consulting help you by providing professional resume writing services that give you an edge against your competition. Visit us at www.reminis.com to learn more.
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The Best Free Software of 2010
The Best Free Software of 2010
We at Reminis wanted to ensure you had access to the very best tools available as you work to Simplify Your Business. Your Career. Your Life. These downloads are all safe and will enable to to save time and money as you go about your life!
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10 Things Human Resources Won’t Say
by Jim Rendon
Thursday, April 22, 2010 provided by
1. "We’re Squeezed Too."
There was a time when human resources departments handled every staffing need at a company, from hiring and firing to administering benefits and determining salaries. But HR’s role has begun to change significantly as departments have shrunk at companies across the board. According to a study by the Society for Human Resource Management, the profession’s largest association, the head count at the average HR department fell from 13 in 2007 to nine in 2008. "HR departments are under pressure like never before," says Steve Miranda, the society’s global HR and integration officer.
As much of what was once HR’s domain increasingly gets outsourced, human resources is regrouping to help show top management how it can add to the bottom line, says Tony Rucci, former chief administrative officer at Cardinal Health and a professor at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University. Though that may seem like an odd role for a department that doesn’t make or sell anything, strong HR departments are now focusing on boosting productivity by helping employees better understand what’s expected of them and by showing managers how to be more effective.
2. "We’re Not Always Your Advocate…"
Employees often turn to HR if they’re having problems with a manager, but they don’t always come away satisfied. In 2007, Ronica Tabor was interviewing for a better sales job at tool manufacturer Hilti North America when, she says, the interviewer told her that women had to work harder than men to learn to use and sell tools and that she should check with her husband about applying for the job. Tabor says she turned to HR with "high hopes" they’d keep the interviewer from doing this with others. But Tabor’s attorney says she was "made ineligible for promotion for another year" and left the company. She is suing Hilti in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, alleging gender discrimination. A Hilti spokesperson says the company’s investigation found that Tabor wasn’t qualified for the opening and that Hilti doesn’t discriminate. "Our HR process did work," says the spokesperson.
Still, employees should realize that HR answers to the company, says Lewis Maltby, director of the National Workrights Institute, an employee-rights organization. "HR is a spear carrier for the boss," he says.
3. "…But We Can Help Your Career."
Human resources managers do much more than handle employment agreements, medical forms and 401(k) paperwork. They can also have a hand in helping to retain and promote top talent — i.e., you. J.T. O’Donnell, a former HR manager and the founder of online career-development company Careerealism.com, says it’s a good idea to be in touch with someone in the department. Employees often want to avoid HR, O’Donnell says, "but you really should do the opposite." Molly John credits HR with helping her get promoted to partner at Ernst & Young last year, after she participated in an HR-sponsored program assigning senior partners as mentors to promising junior employees. Without it, she says, "I would not have been promoted so soon."
Seymour Adler, a senior VP with HR management firm Aon Consulting, says one way to be recognized for your work is to keep human resources in the loop — say, by sending your HR manager an occasional e-mail to let her know how you’ve been contributing to the company’s success. That kind of connection could help land you a promotion when positions open up or even keep you off the chopping block during the next round of layoffs.
4. "Want the job? Then You’ll Want to Get to Know Us."
With unemployment hovering around 10 percent, HR managers are inundated with responses for every job posting. In fact, some companies are hiring outside firms to post jobs and sort through resumes, presenting only a dozen or so qualified candidates for consideration. How to make the cut? Be sure your resume and cover letter highlight the skills asked for in the job posting; HR tosses applications that don’t meet all the basic criteria. And ask yourself what in your background fits the company’s needs, says Mike Wright, senior vice president of outsourcing sales with Hewitt Associates.
Another angle: Approach an in-house recruiter or hiring manager before they post a position. Try using business-oriented social-media sites like LinkedIn.com to meet contacts, says O’Donnell. Judi Perkins, founder of FindThePerfectJob.com, says she found most of her clients jobs this way. When you score an interview with HR reps, take it seriously — you never know how much say they have in the process. And ask them what qualities they look for in employees. "You really need to sell them on your abilities," says O’Donnell.
6. "In Some Companies, We’re Not Very Useful at All."
it seems that every company has a different approach to human resources. For some, it’s nothing more than an administrative job, involved with hiring and firing, benefits and not much more. These firms may have a dysfunctional work environment with high turnover, Perkins says, where employees can often feel trapped. By contrast, companies with strong HR departments have been shown to do better financially, says Rucci. Empowered human resources reps can also help guide employees through their careers.
How to tell the difference? For one, see whom HR reports to. If it’s the CEO, that’s good, says Maltby. If HR managers are in the field, getting to know employees and how the company works, that can be another key, says LaRhonda Edwards, an employee-relations panel member with the Society of Human Resource Management. One way to suss out a human resources department’s effectiveness is to ask the manager interviewing you how HR operates and what it has done to help her achieve her goals. If she doesn’t have an answer, it’s "not a good sign," Rucci says.
7. "You’re Not Paranoid — We are Watching You."
Companies want to make sure you’re working most of the time, not sending joke e-mails to your buddies. Half of organizations in the ePolicy Institute survey banned the use of personal e-mail on the job, and more than one in four reported firing employees for misusing the Internet. In many companies, HR works with the information-technology department and the legal team to develop policies for electronic communication. These policies aren’t a secret. Edwards says she makes a big effort to walk new employees through computer-use and e-mail policies, and they must sign forms saying they’re aware of them.
Many companies employ software that sifts through e-mail looking for curse words or sexually explicit language. IT monitors Web usage and can see every site an employee visits. In fact, anything you do via the company’s server—most activity on an office computer, including personal e-mail — is subject to review by your boss. Firings over these issues are on the rise, says Flynn. In 2009, 26 percent of companies reported terminating employees for violations of e-mail policy, up from 14 percent in 2001. "Employees should act as if the boss was looking over their shoulder," says California employment mediator Michelle Reinglass.
8. "Read the Fine Print."
When you take a job, you may be agreeing to more than you know. In the fine print of employment agreements, employee handbooks and job applications, many companies include a mandatory arbitration clause — meaning that you agree to give up your right to take any dispute to court, even if the employer has broken the law. Instead, the case goes to an arbitrator, who decides it privately, and "the grounds for appeal are extremely limited," says Donna Lenhoff, an attorney with the National Employment Lawyers Association. Lenhoff estimates that more than 30 million Americans are bound by arbitration clauses at work.
Employers — particularly those in financial services, health care and pharmaceuticals — often favor arbitration because it keeps costs down and cases out of the headlines, says Manesh Rath, a partner at the law firm Keller & Heckman. But, says Lenhoff, arbitration seldom works out well for employees. A recent study found that arbitrators decided in favor of employees just 30 percent of the time, and when the individual arbitrator had worked previously on a case with the employer, the employee won only 12 percent of the time. Reinglass says employees can often fare better in court. "Someone on a jury might relate to your experience in a way that an arbitrator may not," she says.
9. "We Know More About You Than You think."
these days companies do a lot more than look over a pile of resumes and call a few references before hiring a new employee. They bring in outside firms to dig into an applicant’s background and verify education and employment histories, and they will often even search criminal records and credit reports. According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 53 percent of companies have conducted credit checks on their employees. Companies are concerned that "if you have a lot of financial pressure, you might not act in the best interest of the company," says Wright.
Another survey, conducted in 2007 by HR Focus magazine, found that 86 percent of firms performed criminal background checks during the hiring process, and it has been estimated that nearly two-thirds of companies test job applicants for drug use. But not everyone thinks such measures are extreme. If anything, employers don’t dig deeply enough, says Rath: "An employee with a problem with a previous employer or criminal record will try to hide it."
10. "We Love Tests."
Job seekers today have so much experience packaging themselves, with tailored resumes and rehearsed answers, that companies turn to tests to find out more about what makes them tick. A 2009 survey by research firm IOMA found that 26 percent of companies conducted personality, psychological or integrity tests on applicants. Job seekers may also be asked to take a test to quantify their creativity. What’s more, insurance companies are pushing businesses to screen for traits like risk-taking, a quality the underwriter would not appreciate in, say, an applicant for a forklift-driver position.
But testing does have its problems. Rucci says that the most important indicator of future success on the job is past performance. Counter to that, HR managers sometimes distance themselves from the hiring process by relying on tests rather than performance appraisals. "There was a time when someone would say, This is the best-qualified candidate, based on their record," says Maltby. "Now it’s tests, and no one takes responsibility for the decision."
Copyrighted, SmartMoney.com. All Rights Reserved.
P.S. For any questions related to HR, Job Searching, Resumes, Interviewing, Personal Branding, Recruiting, Job Boards, etc., please visit us at www.reminis.com or email us at vicmangino@reminis.com.
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Quote of the Day:
Commerce is the great civilizer. We exchange ideas when we exchange fabrics.
–Robert Green Ingersoll
Skinning Your Ning Profile
This is a basic tutorial I put together for a community that I’m part of called MyLinkingPowerForum.com.
http://www.reminis.com/system/index.php?id=148
Feel free to leave me any suggestions or comments at alkoty@hotmail.com.
Topeka = Google
A different kind of company name
Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We’ve been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has officially changed our name to Topeka.
7 Things Your Boss Should Never Say to You
Karen Burns, On Wednesday March 24, 2010, 11:24 am EDT
Last week, I listed seven things employees should never say to bosses. A look at the various comment threads shows that a few bosses out there could also benefit from a review of the basics of good workplace relations–not to mention a quickie refresher of what constitutes good leadership.
[See the best careers for 2010.]
So, bosses, are you listening? Here are seven things you, as a boss, should never say to your employees:
1. "I pay your salary. You have to do what I say." Have you not heard? It’s the 21st century. Threats and power plays just do not cut it anymore (and they were always a terrible way to manage). Yes, you pay people’s salaries but that doesn’t mean you’re their lord and master. You are their leader, however. Leaders lead by inspiring, teaching, encouraging, and, yes, serving their employees. Good leaders never need to threaten. So keep your word, set a good example, praise in public, criticize in private, respect your employees’ capabilities, give credit where credit is due, learn to delegate, and when you ask for feedback don’t forget to respond to it. (Another sentence to be avoided: "Do what I say, not what I do.")
[See 7 things never to say to your boss.]
2. "I don’t want to listen to your complaints." Hey, boss, you have this backwards. You do want to listen to employees’ complaints. That’s part of your job. You should be actively seeking feedback, even negative feedback. It may be annoying, even painful, but that’s why you get the big bucks. Complaints point to where your processes and practices need improvement. And even if a problem absolutely can’t be helped, allowing your employees to vent can go a long way toward restoring morale and building loyalty.
3. "I was here on Saturday afternoon. Where were you?" This kind of "subtle" pressure to work 24/7 is a good way to burn out your employees. You won’t get that much more productivity out of them, and you will destroy morale. You may choose to work seven days a week. That’s your call. But your employees shouldn’t have to. If you observe that they are working way more than their job descriptions call for, consider that maybe it’s because you’re overloading them. Look for ways to fix this problem.
[See the 50 worst job interview mistakes.]
4. "Isn’t your performance review coming up soon?" Maybe you’re trying to motivate an employee to do a better job. Maybe this is just a ham-handed way to remind underlings of who has the power. Who knows. Either way, a statement like this is not only tacky and passive-aggressive, it’s ineffective. If you really want to motivate people, consider giving them a stake in the success of your enterprise. Show employees you value them. Let them know what they have to gain by doing a good job. The results may surprise you.
5. "We’ve always done it this way." Want to crush your employees’ initiative? This is a good way. News flash: Your employees may actually have a pretty good idea of how to do their jobs. Maybe they know even more than you. Your job as boss is to encourage them to have the energy and motivation to be innovative. In fact, employees who come up with better ways to do things should be celebrated and rewarded. (Hint: Cash is nice.)
6. "We need to cut costs" (at the same time you are, say, redecorating your office). Nothing breeds resentment more than asking employees to tighten their belts while you, to their eyes, are living it up. Even if the office redecoration can be totally justified in business terms, or the budget for it was a gift from your uncle, it still looks hypocritical and is demoralizing. Being sensitive to other people’s feelings is good karma. Leading by example is the best way to lead.
7. "You should work better." Managers need to communication expectations clearly, to give employees the tools they need to do a good job, to set reasonable deadlines, and to offer help if needed. When giving instructions, ask if they understand your instructions. Don’t assume. You may not be the stellar communicator you think you are. If your employees are making mistakes, or not performing up to par, consider that maybe it’s because you’re giving them vague instructions like "you should work better."
The bottom line is that in the workplace respect, a little tact, and a good attitude go both ways.
What do you think? Anything to add?
Karen Burns is the author of the illustrated career advice book The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real-Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use, recently released by Running Press. She blogs at www.karenburnsworkinggirl.com.
Take Our Poll: How Much Did Your Company Pay for It’s Website?
Please click on the link below and answer our poll. We want to build, maintain or repair websites for your business and this information would be very useful to us. If you are interested in having graphic or website work done for yourself (your own personal brand for job hunting, displaying your hobbies, etc.) or your company, please email me at vicmangino@reminis.com or visit our site at www.reminis.com.
The poll will take you less than 30 seconds. Thanks for your help!
(Click on the Link Below to Take the Poll)
How much did your company pay to have it’s website designed?
Inside Salary Negotiation Secrets from HR
Most people would agree that the most difficult part about landing a new job is the salary negotiation. It can be an uncomfortable conversation, but it has huge impact on your financial future. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get a sneak peek into what’s going on inside the head of the HR rep on the other side of the table?
While we can’t offer mind reading, we did interview an HR expert with extensive hiring experience and asked her what the negotiator for the company is generally thinking about during a salary negotiation.
Stacey Carroll, MBA, HRCP is the director of customer service and education at PayScale.com and she gave us her insider view and top tips for maximizing your salary from the start.
What Employers Think About During a Pay Negotiation
When an employer is deciding on compensation during the hiring process, Carroll says, there are three factors they’re balancing to determine what the job should be paid.
1. External Market Pay
An HR professional will first find out the external market pay for a job. "External market pay" means what other companies are paying for the same job position. Employers want to keep up with their competitors by offering, at least, a similar salary range. But, they also can’t spend so much that they are overpaying for the talent they need. Studying the market gives them a guideline.
Tip #1: Help yourself and the HR person out with this issue by doing some research on what the market is paying for the position you want. There are multiple sites online that can give you salary information, from salary websites like PayScale (www.payscale.com) to government sources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov). Not only will doing your research help you have an informed conversation about your salary, but it just may impress your new employer
2. Internal Pay Alignment
The HR professional you’re talking to has to figure out how the salary for your job fits in, or aligns, with other similar jobs inside the company. HR folks call this concept internal alignment. In other words, you can’t have two people who have similar skills and responsibilities making dramatically different incomes. This means that you won’t likely get hired for the job at a higher salary rate than a current employee doing the same work.
Tip #2: You should not only ask what the salary range is for your position, but also the internal hiring range. That helps you know what the company is thinking that they would pay for a newly hired employee in the job
3. Budget Constraints
The amount of money budgeted for the position is the third, and most important, factor. Budget constraints will usually override any internal or external analysis the HR person does. The company has set aside some amount of money for your position and, in some cases, that amount may be all they can offer.
Tip #3: Don’t get too upset if you’re disappointed by the salary you’re quoted. There are other benefits you can look for. Know that the HR person is focused on staying both on budget and competitive with the market. They are under pressure to perform a tricky balancing act. If they are offering you the job, they want to keep you. If you want the job, respect their limitations and get creative with your total compensation package. More time off? Ask for it. A work-from-home day? It could be yours.
Carroll reminds job seekers that a pay negotiation is about multiple facets. It’s not just about you and the job and negotiating with a HR professional. There are a whole host of other things that happen behind the scenes that affect what you’re offered.
Check These Databases to See What Information is Being Kept About You
Ever wonder just how much information about you is contained in databases and on the Internet? It’s much more than you think.
If your telephone number is published, a simple Google search can turn up your home address, phone number, and a map to your front door. But there are other databases and sites that contain intimate details of your life.
Specialty reports let potential insurers check your prescription history. Retailers can view your purchase returns history. And your employment and rental history are also online.
This information may be incorrect. It can haunt you when you apply for a job, credit or health insurance. So, it’s a good idea to do a background check on yourself from time to time.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act lets you request free credit reports once a year. You can also request a report if you’ve been denied credit based on information it contains. And, you can request that any errors be corrected.
Credit Reports
Credit reports are widely used to verify your credit-worthiness. Experian, Equifax and TransUnion are the three main reporting agencies. You can request your free report by visiting AnnualCreditReport.com. You can request reports from all three agencies.
Personal Information Reports
Personal Information Reports include information on your employment and tenant history. They also contain information on liens and judgments, voter registration and more. This information is used for background screening.
Start by requesting a report from LexisNexis. Then, request your background screening report from Acxiom. You can also request information from Acxiom’s directory and fraud detection service; however, there is a $5 charge for that.
You should also request a Full File Disclosure from ChoicePoint, a LexisNexis company. The information will differ from your LexisNexis report.
Insurance Reports
Your ChoicePoint Full File Disclosure will include home and auto insurance claims. But you’ll also want to order a report from Insurance Services Office.
Have you applied for individual health or life insurance in the past seven years? Then, you may have a file at the Medical Information Bureau. It is designed to protect insurers from fraudulent or incomplete applications.
Your file may include information on medical conditions and tests. It could also include driving history and dangerous hobbies or professions. You can request your consumer file from MIB. However, it may not have one on you.
Your prescription drug information may also be available to insurance companies. IntelliScript and MedPoint compile information on drugs, including refills and dosages. It can go back five years.
Checking Reports
Banks often use ChexSystems to vet account applications. Your report may reflect accounts that have been mishandled. For example, it shows if you have had excessive overdrafts.
Retailers use TeleCheck for check verification. It gathers information on returned checks and check fraud.
Employment history
The Work Number collects employment and income information. The data comes from employers. It also gathers employment-related information.
These companies may not have information on you. Still, you’ll want to request copies of your files from both companies.
Tenant history and utilities reports
A number of companies gather tenant information. The information can include evictions and disputes with landlords.
Your tenant history may be available from one or more databases. Check with First Advantage SafeRent, RentBureau and Tenant Data Services.
The National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange provides information to utility companies. It stores information on defaulted and fraudulent accounts.
Other reports
The Social Security Administration sends yearly Social Security statements. Your statement shows your Social Security earnings history. It also includes estimated benefit payments. You can request a copy of your report at any time.
The Retail Equation is designed to prevent fraudulent and abusive returns. Information provided may prevent you from returning an item to a store. In that case, request a copy of your return activity report.
Teletrack collects subprime credit information. It is used by payday loan companies.
CentralCredit is a credit bureau used by the gaming industry. Casinos use it when extending credit to guests.
The process for requesting a specialty report varies from database to database. You may need to call the company or mail a form. Be prepared to disclose your Social Security number and current address. You may also need to submit copies of documents to prove your identity.
Swift3D – 3DText and Basic Animation
This is a quick introduction to using Swift3D to create an animated beveled 3D text logo. This a test of the quality and speed of our YouTube channel. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Photoshop Basic Orb
This is a basic 3 layer orb design. It’s a base design, so if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.
50 Worst of the Worst (and Most Common) Job Interview Mistakes
Here is a great article by Karen Burns that does a great job of documenting what NOT do to on an interview. I think I’ve seen just about every one of these! See great tips and information on job searching like this at www.reminis.com.
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You may have heard the horror stories–job hunters who take phone calls or text during an interview, or bring out a sandwich and start chomping, or brush their hair, or worse. You wouldn’t do any of those things, would you? Of course not.
[See the best careers for 2010.]
But there are tons of other job interview no-no’s you may not have thought of. Or that you’ve forgotten. The job hunting trail is long and arduous, and a little refresher course can’t hurt. So for your edification and enjoyment, here are 50 (yes, 50!) of the worst and most common job interview mistakes:
[See how to answer 10 tricky interview questions.]
1. Arriving late.
2. Arriving too early.
3. Lighting up a cigarette, or smelling like a cigarette.
4. Bad-mouthing your last boss.
5. Lying about your skills/experience/knowledge.
6. Wearing the wrong (for this workplace!) clothes.
7. Forgetting the name of the person you’re interviewing with.
8. Wearing a ton of perfume or aftershave.
9. Wearing sunglasses.
10. Wearing a Bluetooth earpiece.
11. Failing to research the employer in advance.
12. Failing to demonstrate enthusiasm.
13. Inquiring about benefits too soon.
14. Talking about salary requirements too soon.
15. Being unable to explain how your strengths and abilities apply to the job in question.
16. Failing to make a strong case for why you are the best person for this job.
17. Forgetting to bring a copy of your resume and/or portfolio.
18. Failing to remember what you wrote on your own resume.
19. Asking too many questions.
20. Asking no questions at all.
21. Being unprepared to answer the standard questions.
22. Failing to listen carefully to what the interviewer is saying.
23. Talking more than half the time.
24. Interrupting your interviewer.
25. Neglecting to match the communication style of your interviewer.
26. Yawning.
27. Slouching.
28. Bringing along a friend, or your mother.
29. Chewing gum, tobacco, your pen, your hair.
30. Laughing, giggling, whistling, humming, lip-smacking.
31. Saying "you know," "like," "I guess," and "um."
32. Name-dropping or bragging or sounding like a know-it-all.
33. Asking to use the bathroom.
34. Being falsely or exaggeratedly modest.
35. Shaking hands too weakly, or too firmly.
36. Failing to make eye contact (or making continuous eye contact).
37. Taking a seat before your interviewer does.
38. Becoming angry or defensive.
39. Complaining that you were kept waiting.
40. Complaining about anything!
41. Speaking rudely to the receptionist.
42. Letting your nervousness show.
43. Over explaining why you lost your last job.
44. Being too familiar and jokey.
45. Sounding desperate.
46. Checking the time.
47. Over sharing.
48. Sounding rehearsed.
49. Leaving your cell phone on.
50. Failing to ask for the job.
Karen Burns is the author of the illustrated career advice book The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real-Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use, recently released by Running Press. She blogs at www.karenburnsworkinggirl.com.
Removal of XP Internet Security 2010 Malware
This is a nasty bug. I don’t know where I contracted the monster, but I do know that it’s completely annoying and can corrupt your system.
The malware poses as a typical “Antivirus” infection asking you to “Click Here” to fix the problem. If you’re infected…this is how I fixed it due to the fact that this bug disassociates executables in your registry.
To Remove:
1. You’ll find the application name in your Task Manager labeled “av.exe”. Kill this process.
2. Remove “av.exe” from the location on your computer similar to this: %UserProfile%\\Local Settings\\Application Data\\av.exe
3. Copy and paste the following into notepad:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\open\command]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\secfile\shell\open\command]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe\shell\open\command]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe]
@=”exefile”
“Content Type”=”application/x-msdownload”
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\secfile]
4. Save this file as “exefix.reg” on your Desktop.
5. Double-click exefix.reg and say “Yes”.
That fixed the problem for me. Let me know if you have any questions, comments or concerns.
Building a Simple BlackBerry Application
Building BlackBerry applications is much like building Java Swing applications. The same general concepts apply, but there also are some very interesting differences, from how list controls work all the way up to how you support multiple entry points in an application.
Read the entire article here: http://www.developer.com/java/j2me/article.php/3765251
HWiNFO™ and HWiNFO32™ are professional hardware information and diagnostic tools
So, I woke up this morning and both of my monitors were completely black. Now given the fact that I went to bed the night before watching the movie Gladiator, I realized something must be wrong. So I checked both monitor cables to the video card and everything seemed to be as it should. So I assumed the ol’ Windows reboot and still to no avail.
Luckily I had on board video and I went ahead and plugged one of my monitors into that…BAM! Worked like a charm. Oh man…
Coincidentally the night before we had a thunderstorm…so, assuming that my video card was shot I needed to verify that the PCI slot was still valid…hence this post.
HWiNFO™ and HWiNFO32™ are professional hardware information and diagnostic tools supporting latest components, industry technologies and standards. Both tools are designed to collect and present the maximum amount of information possible about computer’s hardware which makes them suitable for users searching for driver updates, computer manufacturers, system integrators and technical experts as well. Retrieved information is presented in a logical and easily understandable form and can be exported into various types of reports.
This tool saved me a ton of time and worries. I know now that I need a new video card and the slot itself is fine…Thank you!
NOTE: Download the HWiNFO32™ if you DO NOT know how to use DOS.
HWiNFO Site: http://www.hwinfo.com/
New Reminis Testimonial!
Tom T., GBSI
“I am an experienced product development engineer and the president of Global Business Solutions International, Inc. By 2008, my company website was already 7 years old and just plain out of date. I discussed my situation with Austin and asked him for something conservative but cool. Also, I can honestly say that no one ever said my previous website was “cool”…because it was a typical engineering website, conservative and boring! Yes, I needed more than help as I was making no money from my website. I needed an Austin Miracle Website ASAP!
Three things were important to me. First, get my business out there ASAP and get good hits. Second, I needed to redo my online image from a local to a global product developer. Third, I wanted an attractive website that was high tech, fast, and searchable. As you can tell by now, my company needed to break out of that black and white engineering mind frame and get into the 21st century or die an even faster death on the web.
Austin and I communicated well from the start, and he helped me get organized with Key Words and thinking about Priority Services. I started loosening up a little after our first exchange of ideas, and I started to follow Austin’s lead. All of a sudden we were communicating like he was a part of my business! The graphics Austin developed at the time surpassed those from two of my Defense contractors…Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Yes, my site was now “cool” as well as functional, and I quickly received the first of many compliments over the past 4 years.
My Home Page’s robust graphic design with its dazzling silver, black and blue colors and 12 or more links as well as the entire website worked perfectly well for the past 4 years…meaning it was maintenance free and not a penny out of my pocket. What a great return on investment as I am still in business! Thank you AK!!
Today, over four years later, it’s time to refresh my website and totally update it with new information. I know where I am going! There is no reason to go anywhere else but back to Austin. During the past four years, Austin and I have maintained our friendly business relationship. He has long since received his Masters Degree in Computer Science and technically, educationally and scientifically raised himself to even higher levels of intelligence and technology. If you need to partner with someone, why not choose the best…choose Reminis Consulting and their highly skilled Creative Director…Austin!”
New Reminis Testimonial!
Todd M., 3DVision Technologies
“Austin is a highly creative individual that worked well with me, even during times of intense workload. He was the only person that could take my vision and develop a website that exceeded my expectations. Austin is an expert with all of the tools necessary to make highly interactive and animated websites, and I highly recommend him for any design or web-related work…he can do it all.”
Social Media Helps Some Small Businesses Endure Bad Economy
By Christopher Heine, ClickZ, Mar 1, 2010
From The Better Business Bureau Newsletter, March 4, 2010
Whether it’s a 50-cent discount for knowing architecture trivia on Twitter or a Hawaiian pizza night aimed at college students on Facebook, many small businesses say that social media sites have been godsends for weathering the current recession. With a dash of creativity, these companies – including some start-ups – have leaned on Facebook and Twitter as low-cost options to communicate with customers who, in turn, have helped spread the word.
Take Coolhaus, an ice cream sandwich venture by real estate developer Freya Estreller and architect Natasha Case, the latter having become recently unemployed in her field. When they launched about 10 months ago in Los Angeles, the foodie entrepreneurs didn’t rely only on their architecture-themed street vendor truck to market the brand. Instead, they took their handmade ice cream concoctions and figured out how to meld them into the local consciousness via social media.
Facebook and Twitter accounts were quickly established, and Case began experimenting with promotions. In one example, followers were provided a link to the work of well-known architectural photographer Julius Shulman. If a customer came to the truck and said his name, they got 50 cents off the "Orange Julius Shulman" ice cream sandwich (regularly priced at $3.50).
Another example of a tweet: "today’s password: ‘he lives in a pineapple under the sea’ for our AMAZING secret flavor AND 50 cents off." The password was good for a half-dollar off a SpongeBob SquarePants-themed cool treat.
Less than a year later, the small business has almost 8,000 Twitter "followers" (longtime ice cream giant Baskin-Robbins has 10,000, by comparison) and nearly 1,300 Facebook "fans." Better yet, it plans to launch another truck in the current locale as well as one in the Hamptons on Long Island, NY, and a fourth in Austin, Texas.
And recent research by Rice University suggests that Coolhaus’s social media strategy will be just as effective with multiple locations as it has been with one. The university’s three-month study found that Facebook "fans" for a chain of Houston-based cafés visited 20 percent more often and spent 33 percent more money when compared to non-fans.
While stating that social media has "absolutely" driven Coolhaus’s growth, Case sounded like a marketer who has only begun to post and, more particularly, tweet. "Twitter is a self-marketing machine," she said. "People take pictures of the ice cream sandwiches and the truck and post them. Friends tell their friends. It’s been an exponential source of growth for us. We didn’t get into Facebook until later… I think there are a lot of non-Twitterers out there, so you have to make time for Facebook. For a mobile business like ours, both social media sites are totally required."
Pizza Joint Uses Facebook to Corral College Kids
On the Facebook side of things is Golden Knights Pizza, a one-location restaurant that has seemingly navigated the tough times by positioning its Facebook page as an orders engine for selling pizza and bar food to college students. The Orlando, FL-based operation posts weekly specials at its "fan" page, which has picked up 2,200 members since the account opened in November.
Through online transactions vendor BigHoller, the establishment links the offers to a landing page where "fans" can complete orders for deals on pizza, hot wings, salads, etc. The same landing page is used for GoldenKnightsPizza.com.
Owner Chas Warner predicts that his restaurant could someday do up to 40 percent of its business through a combination of Facebook and its Web site. At times, the restaurateur has gone so far as to individually recognize "fans" for their orders with a quick "thank you" post the following day on the social site.
"The whole idea really didn’t come together until we [recently] combined Facebook and the online ordering aspect," Warner said. "It is probably the biggest part of our marketing thrust at this point in time, because we are trying to rebrand/relaunch our image on the college campus for the University of Central Florida."
Social Media’s Been Doggone Good to New Hampshire Small Businesses
Axel’s Food & Ice Cream was named after a dog – Axel – that passed away two years ago and therefore didn’t get to witness the positive effect social media had on his namesake business. The seasonal ice cream business, based in Merrimack, NH, is currently closed for the New England winter, but is gearing up to push deals via Facebook, Twitter, and AxelsFoodandIceCream.com for the second consecutive year.
In 2009, said founder Kristen Costa, the social sites were marketing boons to her drive-in/sit-down establishment. An interesting loss-leader she’s run via Facebook and Twitter is the "Doggy Sundae," a free ice cream treat for dogs brought in by their owners.
"We want people to post their pictures of their dogs eating their ‘Doggy Sundae,’" Costa explained. "We are definitely going to be doing more [social media] efforts this year."
To build a social media presence, Axel’s has used signage around its store, encouraging patrons to become Facebook "fans" and Twitter "followers." It has accrued fewer than 200 for both accounts, but it plans on getting a fast jump on the upcoming warm-weather season by leveraging the sites.
"Social media is not like direct mail or local print advertising," Costa said. "Those marketing mediums don’t make much difference with our customers. On the other hand, our Facebook fans and our Twitter followers want information from us."
Jenny Cheifetz began marketing her one-year-old Bedford, NH-based company, a confectionery brand called The Sugar Mommy, on Facebook right after launch and then through Twitter two months later. In less than a year, numbers for both accounts mirror what Costa’s brand has achieved. More importantly, though, Cheifetz has seen her company grow from a local-only entity to fulfilling national orders.
"[Social media] is viral, and it’s free," she said. "I’m a new business. I don’t have the money to spend on a large advertising campaign."
Live at Last! Reminis Website Fully Operational and Mission Ready!
Folks, I’m proud to announce that my new website is finally “complete”. Reminis.com will be a living, sentient being, learning and getting smarter with each passing day.
Reminis offers so many products and services that you really need to visit the site to get a full appreciation for the number of resources available. This site has taken nearly a year to build, and we’ve learned a lot along the way.
About a year ago, I decided to change my business model from purely recruiting to offering a wide array of services. I’ve been involved in all parts of the employment life cycle, and there never seemed to be any resources available to tie it all together. I decided to build a business model that offered something for everyone so that everybody wins.
For instance, Job Seekers can search our free job board, submit their resume for a free critique, review articles and tips on our site and here on our blog, review our list of recommended tools to make their search easier and download EBooks – some free, others ridiculously cheap.
Recruiters will have access to a list of highly qualified candidates available for “splits” and can post open positions to our job board, review recruiting articles, tips and EBooks, and learn the latest sourcing methods to fill their open requirements.
Employers can also post to our job board, review our list of available candidates, read our tips, articles and EBooks, review our recommended tools for simplifying their business, and help their HR departments do their own recruiting more effectively and efficiently. Employers can also learn about the latest news through our newsfeeds to ensure they remain in compliance with the ever changing employment laws.
We also offer Branding Services through a number of formats. We offer basic, yet elegant template websites that come preloaded with basic text and images for your business. Many of these sites can also be used to develop a personal brand for those job seekers who want to post their resume on the web (Hint! That’s how many recruiters find their candidates!). We also offer custom built websites that can included virtually any functionality you need or can imagine. We can design your logo, business cards, stationary, pamphlets, brochures and everything else you use in your business so that your brand is instantly recognizable, professional looking, and incorporates line and color theory. We can also fix your broken site, add functionality to your existing site, set up hosting or add remote backup capabilities.
I’d like to acknowledge the contributions of some folks before closing. I feel very lucky to have found Austin “alkoty” Kotynski, who helped keep me focused and made the things in my head magically appear on my computer screen. With many years experience building hundreds of websites, a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design and a Master’s in Animation, I haven’t found anything he can’t accomplish. He lives, eats and breathes Reminis and worked with me side-by-side as we sometimes worked 30 and 40 hours straight. Austin will personally be involved in each and every graphics or website project, and will ensure every project meets or exceeds the customer’s expectations.
I’d also like to mention my brother Chuck, who is and always has been a believer in everything I do and a constant motivator. Also, I’d like to thank my father, Charles Mangino, who has always been proud of me, even when I’ve screwed up royally. Even now, at the age of 80, he is a true believer in what I’m trying to accomplish with Reminis…helping put people back to work.
Finally, I’d like to thank the two people who keep me going and give me a reason to get up each day. My loving girlfriend Lora, who I hope to marry later this year, has been a rock of strength for me and is truly an angel to me. And my son Connor, who will probably never know just how much he means to me, is the light of my life and is always in my thoughts and prayers.
With the help and inspiration of this handful of people, Reminis is now open for business. I know the products and services Reminis provides will be useful to those who need them. We’re already making a difference, with resumes we’ve prepared helping people find jobs, websites built that have already added to companies’ bottom lines, and jobs being found on our job board resulting in being hired in less than two days – amazing even me in the process.
So head on over to www.reminis.com and kick the tires, read a few posts, look at some of our products and services, and let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggestions for how we can make the site more useful. You may reach me at my email address, vicmangino@reminis.com and I will respond to you personally as soon as possible. Thank you in advance for your business and we always welcome the opportunity to network with other like-minded people.
Respectfully,
Vic Mangino
President and CEO
Are You Doing Things Bassackwards?
Resentment is like taking poison and hoping the other person dies. –St. Augustine
Resentment can build and build until it consumes you, has a negative impact on your health, your career, or causes you to do things that can ruin your career or even your life. Whether you’ve been down-sized, right-sized, let go, laid off, are no longer needed, had your job go away, or been out-and-out fired, it sucks. It sucks long, it sucks hard, and it can suck the life out of you. Don’t get sucker punched.
Be proactive, and if still employed, do everything you can to prove your value to the company. If unemployed, find out what benefits you are able to use, apply for unemployment, etc. Get your resume in order, whether you’re employed or not. Start networking, get to be known in your circle of influence, join groups and don’t just blend in. That doesn’t work anymore.
When I enlisted in the Air Force, everyone advised me to never volunteer for anything and blend in. That was the way to stay out of trouble. That worked to a certain degree, at least at basic training. But after that, you had to work hard to stand out above your peers. When I became an officer, it was 10 times as hard to stand out above your peers. But, the Air Force, and the military in general, has an “up or out” mentality. You either continue progressing through the ranks, or you get out.
That mentality made it’s way into the corporate world long ago, and those who found themselves ranked in the bottom 10 or 20 percent of the rank and file often found themselves unemployed shortly thereafter.
Today, it’s pretty much the same way as it was in my Air Force days. You have to stand out, outperform your peers, be recognized for your work, your potential, and your attitude. If you’re unemployed, it’s harder than ever to get your resume in front of someone who has the authority to hire you. You’ve usually got two options at this point. You’ve either got to become an expert at resume writing, job searching, working with recruiters, interviewing, negotiating, etc. Or, you can get someone who is already an expert to help you.
Having said that, I’ve set up my company, Reminis Consulting, to provide the help you need. The list of services we offer is to long to go in to here, but we have expertise in the entire employment lifecycle. We can write your resume, build you a personal website that highlights your expertise (or your company), provide a job search board, salary and cost of living calculators, and help you build your own personal brand.
We’re getting ready to start our big launch next week. We’ve spent the last several months slowly rebuilding our website, adding functionality, content, and a multitude of free, highly-useful articles, samples, EBooks, etc.
We’re not trying to be all things to all people…it’s just not possible. But, we do have expertise and experience in many areas, and chances are, we can help.
So, don’t be a Backass and do things Bassackwards. Move ahead with direction and purpose. And if you need help, visit our site at www.reminis.com and contact us if we can help.
Regards,
Vic Mangino
President
Job Outlook for Human Resources, Training, and Labor Relations Managers and Specialists
(February 17, 2010) Employment is expected to grow much faster than the average for all human resources, training, and labor relations managers and specialists occupations. College graduates and those who have earned certification should have the best job opportunities.
Employment change. Overall employment is projected to grow by 22 percent between 2008 and 2018, much faster than the average for all occupations. Legislation and court rulings revising standards in various areas-occupational safety and health, equal employment opportunity, wages, healthcare, retirement plans, and family leave, among others-will increase demand for human resources, training, and labor relations experts. Rising healthcare costs and a growing number of healthcare coverage options should continue to spur demand for specialists to develop creative compensation and benefits packages that companies can offer prospective employees.
Employment of labor relations staff, including arbitrators and mediators, should grow as companies attempt to resolve potentially costly labor-management disputes out of court. Additional job growth may stem from increasing demand for specialists in international human resources management and human resources information systems.
Job growth could be limited by the widespread use of computerized human resources information systems that make workers more productive. Like other workers, employment of human resources, training, and labor relations managers and specialists, particularly in larger companies, may be adversely affected by corporate downsizing, restructuring, and mergers; however, as companies once again expand operations, additional workers may be needed to manage company growth.
Demand may be particularly strong for certain specialists. For example, employers are expected to devote greater resources to job-specific training programs in response to the increasing complexity of many jobs and technological advances that can leave employees with obsolete skills. Additionally, as highly trained and skilled baby boomers retire, there should be strong demand for training and development specialists to impart needed skills to their replacements. In addition, increasing efforts throughout industry to recruit and retain quality employees should create many jobs for employment, recruitment, and placement specialists.
Among industries, firms involved in management, consulting, and employment services should offer many job opportunities, as businesses increasingly contract out human resources functions or hire human resources specialists on a temporary basis to deal with increasing costs and complexity of training and development programs. Demand for specialists also should increase in outsourcing firms that develop and administer complex employee benefits and compensation packages for other organizations.
Job prospects. College graduates and those who have earned certification should have the best job opportunities, particularly graduates with a bachelor’s degree in human resources, human resources administration, or industrial and labor relations. Those with a technical or business background or a well-rounded liberal arts education also should find opportunities. Demand for human resources, training, and labor relations managers and specialists depends on general economic conditions and the business cycle as well as staffing needs of the companies in which they work. A rapidly expanding business is likely to hire additional human resources workers-either as permanent employees or consultants-while businesses that have consolidated operations or merged with another company may require fewer of these workers. Also, as human resources management becomes increasingly important to the success of an organization, some small and medium-size businesses that do not have separate human resources departments may assign various human resources responsibilities to some employees in addition to their usual responsibilities; others may contract with consulting firms to establish formal procedures and train current employees to administer programs on a long-term basis.
In addition to new human resources management and specialist jobs created over the 2008-2018 projection period, many job openings will arise from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations, retire, or leave the labor force for other reasons.
Source: Bureau of Labor & Statistics, Chart available.
Colleen Gildea
colleen@interbiznet.com
Veteran Gallery
Veteran Gallery
During the course of my interactions with various veteran groups, I met many disabled veterans who seemed to have slipped through the cracks. They are still suffering, in spite of the care they received after leaving the service or coming home to their loved ones. I have taken an interest in one of these individuals, and I believe with your help, we can make a difference in this veteran’s quality of life. Please donate what you can, and 100% of your donation will go to this veteran immediately.
Clearance Jobs Security and Suitability Clearance Glossary
ClearanceJobs.com is a great job search site for those of you with an active security clearance, either as a contractor or someone about to leave the military. Recruiters and Employers can also find the candidates they need when people with clearances post their resumes. Good Luck!
And, if you need any help with your resume or any other job search services, contact us at Reminis!
— A —
Active Clearance — Security clearance status
where the individual granted a clearance
currently occupies a position for which the
clearance is required.
Adjudicative Guidelines — Document containing
the 13 criteria used by federal security clearance
adjudicators to determine an applicant’s
eligibility for access to classified national
security information.
ANACI — Access National Agency Check with
Inquiries. Type of personnel security investigation
required for initial-hire federal employees who
need a Confidential or Secret clearance or a DoE
“L” Access Authorization.
— B —
BI — Background Investigation. Type of
personnel security investigation conducted for
High-Risk Public Trust Positions. BI is also used
as a generic term for any personnel security
investigation.
— C —
CAF — Central Adjudication Facility. The
office of a federal agency that adjudicates
all security clearance for that agency. Within
the Department of Defense there are 10 CAFs
(Army, Navy, Air Force, DISCO, JCS, WHS, DIA,
NSA, NGA and NRO).
Classified Information — The three levels of
classified national security information are:
Confidential, Secret and Top Secret. There are
categories of classified information, such as
SCI, SAP, and COMSEC, within these three levels
requiring special safeguarding and access
controls that exceed those normally required for
information at the same classification level.
CNWDI — Critical Nuclear Weapons Design
Information. A category of Department of
Defense (DoD) Secret and Top Secret Restricted
Data that reveals the theory of operation or
design of the components of a thermonuclear or
fission weapon or test device. Special access
controls and briefings are required for CNWDI.
COMSEC — Communications Security. Protective
measures taken to deny unauthorized persons
information derived from telecommunications
of the U.S. Government relating to national
security and to ensure the authenticity of such
communications. COMSEC is also a category
of classified information that requires special
safeguarding, access restrictions and briefings.
COSMIC Top Secret — Control Of Secret Material
in an International Command. The term used for
NATO Top Secret information and clearances.
CRYPTO — Cryptographic. A category of
classified information at the Secret and Top
Secret levels related to cryptographic logic,
keys and authenticators that require special
access controls and briefings.
Current Clearance — Commonly used term to
describe the status of an individual’s security
clearance where the clearance has terminated
but is eligible for reinstatement.
CUI — Controlled Unclassified Information.
Unclassified information pertinent to the national
interest of the United States or to the important
interests of entities outside the Federal Government.
Other unclassified information protected by law
from unauthorized disclosure is also designated
CUI. (See also FOUO and SBU.)
CVS — Clearance Verification System.
Investigation and clearance database system
operated by OPM and accessible to federal
security personnel. CVS will eventually replace
OPM’s older SII database. CVS has linkage to
DoD’s JPAS database.
— D —
DCII — Defense Central Index of Investigations.
Computer database that contains listings of
criminal and security investigations conducted
by DoD investigative agencies. The DCII is no
longer being updated with new clearance data.
Since July 2005, new clearance data are being
entered into the Joint Personnel Adjudication
System (JPAS).
DISCO — Defense Industrial Security
Clearance Office. Component of DSS that
processes, adjudicates and grants security
clearances for industrial (contractor) personnel
under the National Industrial Security Program
(NISP).
DOHA — Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Component of the Defense Legal Services Agency
that issues decisions in security clearance
cases for contractor personnel doing work for
DoD components and 20 other Federal Agencies
and Departments. It also conducts personal
appearances for DoD civilian employee and
military personnel security clearance appeals.
DSS — Defense Security Service. Formerly
known as the Defense Investigative Service (DIS).
DSS is responsible for administering the National
Industrial Security Program (NISP) and providing
security education and training to DoD and other
federal personnel and contractors.
— E —
EQIP — Electronic Questionnaires for
Investigations Processing. Web-based versions
of OPM Standard Forms 85, 85P, 85PS and 86
used for initiating federal personnel security
investigations. The EQIP version of the SF86
replaced DoD’s Electronic Personnel Security
Questionnaire (EPSQ).
Expired Clearance — Commonly used term to
describe the status of an individual’s security
clearance where the clearance has terminated
and is no longer eligible for reinstatement
because time limits for reinstatement have
been exceeded.
— F —
FOUO — For Official Use Only. Protective marking
used to identify unclassified sensitive government
information requiring special handling and access
controls.
FRD — Formerly Restricted Data. Classified
information which has been removed from the
Restricted Data category after Department of
Energy (DoE) and DoD have jointly determined
that it relates primarily to the military utilization
of atomic weapons and can be adequately safeguarded
as national security information.
— H —
HSPD-12 — Homeland Security Presidential
Directive Number 12. Mandates a standard for
secure and reliable forms of identification for
personnel requiring physical or logical access
to federal facilities or computer systems.
Sponsorship plus a favorably adjudicated NACI
are needed to obtain a Personal Identity
Verification (PIV) card required by this directive.
— I —
Interim Security Clearance — Temporary
security clearance based on the favorable
completion of minimum investigative requirements,
pending the completion of the full investigative
requirements for the final clearance determination.
— J —
JPAS — Joint Personnel Adjudication System.
Web-based system that connects security
personnel with a database used to initiate and
manage DoD personnel security investigations
and clearances. It is managed by DoD Central
Adjudication Facilities (CAFs) and is composed
of two subsystems: Joint Adjudication Management
System (JAMS) and Joint Clearance Access
Verification System (JCAVS).
— L —
LAA — Limited Access Authorization.
Permission granted by the Federal Government
to non-U.S. citizens for access to classified
national security information where the non-U.S.
citizen possesses unique or unusual skill or
expertise that is urgently needed to support a
specific government project involving access to
specified classified information and a cleared or
clearable U.S. citizen is not readily available.
“L” Access Authorization — DoE clearance
that authorizes access up to Secret Formerly
Restricted Data and Secret National Security
Information.
LBI — Limited Background Investigation. Type
of personnel security investigation used for
Moderate-Risk or High-Risk Public Trust positions.
LOD — Letter of Denial. Letter issued by a
security clearance adjudication facility informing
an applicant of a final decision to deny the
applicant a security clearance and of the
applicant’s right to appeal the decision to the
agency’s Personnel Security Appeals Board.
LOI — Letter of Intent. Letter that accompanies
a “Statement of Reasons” explaining why a
tentative decision to deny a security clearance
was made and offering the applicant an opportunity
to rebut or mitigate the reasons.
Loss of Jurisdiction — Status of an individual’s
security clearance when employment for the
required clearance terminates after a clearance
action is initiated but before a final determination
is made to grant, continue, deny or revoke the
clearance.
— M —
MBI — Minimum Background Investigation.
Type of personnel security investigation used for
Moderate-Risk Public Trust positions.
— N —
NAC — National Agency Check. Basic component
of all federal personnel security investigations.
As a minimum all NACs include a check of FBI
Headquarters records, an FBI technical fingerprint
search, and a check of OPM and DoD investigative
databases.
NACI — National Agency Check with Inquiries.
Type of personnel security investigation used for
determining federal employment suitability or
for the issuance of a Personal Identity Verification
(PIV) card required by HSPD-12. An NACI plus
credit check can be used as the basis for contractor
Moderate-Risk Public Trust positions.
NACLC — National Agency Check with
Local Agency Checks and Credit Check. Type
of personnel security investigation used for
Confidential and Secret clearances or for DoE
“L” access authorizations. This investigation is
not authorized for initial-hire federal employees
requiring a security clearance or a DoE “L”
Access Authorization.
— O —
OHA — Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Component of the Department of Energy (DoE)
responsible for conducting hearings and issuing
decisions involving personnel security clearance
cases of DoE employees and contractors.
OPM/FISD — Office of Personnel Management/
Federal Investigative Services Division.
Principal supplier of personnel security
investigations to the Federal Government.
— P —
Period of Coverage — Also known as the
Period of Investigation. Standard period of time
covered by a Personnel Security Investigation
(PSI). Each type of PSI has an overall
period of coverage and specific periods of coverage
for individual components (i.e. employment,
police records, and education)
of a PSI.
Polygraph — Device that measures and records
physiological responses while a subject answers
a series of questions. It relies on the belief that
false answers will produce distinctive measurements.
Polygraph examinations are used as an adjunct
to an SSBI for some Special Access Programs
and can be either Counterintelligence-Scope
or Full-Scope (lifestyle and counterintelligence
questions).
PPR — Phased Periodic Reinvestigation.
Abbreviated form of the Single Scope
Background Investigation – Periodic
Reinvestigation (SSBI-PR). The PPR is an optional
form of the SSBI-PR reserved for personnel
with no unfavorable information listed in their
clearance application.
PR — Periodic Reinvestigation. Reinvestigations
required at specific intervals to maintain a security
clearance or a designated public trust position.
PRSI — Personal Subject Interview. In depth
interview of the subject of a personnel security
investigation by a security investigator. The PRSI
is a standard component of the SSBI, SSBI-PR,
PPR, BI, MBI, LBI, and PT-SBI.
PSI — Personal Security Investigation. Term
that encompasses all types of background
investigations used to determine employment
suitability and security clearance eligibility.
Public Trust Position — Designated federal
employee and contractor positions that, due
to the sensitive unclassified responsibilities of
the positions, require suitability determinations
based on personnel security investigations.
Public Trust positions are designated as either
Moderate-Risk or High-Risk. Public Trust position
include positions designated ADP-I, ADP-II,
ADP-III, IT-1, IT-2, IT-3, IT-5, IT-6, 5C and 6C.
PT-SBI — Public Trust-Special Background
Investigation. Type of personnel security
investigation conducted for selected High-Risk
Public Trust positions.
— Q —
“Q” Access Authorization — DoE clearance that
authorizes access up to Top Secret Restricted Data
and Top Secret National Security Information.
— R —
RD — Restricted Data. Classified information
defined by the Atomic Energy Act as concerning:
1) design, manufacture, or utilization of atomic
weapons; 2) production of special nuclear
material; or 3) use of special nuclear material
in the production of energy. RD is considered a
special access program.
RRU — Request for Research/Recertify/Upgrade
Eligibility. Direct notification to the appropriate
CAF through JPAS of any personnel security
clearance status changes a JPAS user cannot
make within the system.
RSI — Reimbursable Suitability/Security
Investigations. Specific investigative actions
to gather information to resolve issues that
surfaced during a standard OPM personnel
security investigation.
— S —
SAP — Special Access Program. Program
established for a specific category of classifi ed
information that imposes safeguarding and
access requirements that exceed those
normally required for information at the same
classification level (does not include COMSEC,
CRYPTO, or CNWDI). SAPs are categorized as
intelligence, acquisition and operations/support.
They are also categorized as acknowledged,
unacknowledged and waived.
SBU — Sensitive But Unclassified. Term that
is being replaced by “Controlled Unclassified
Information.” (See also CUI and FOUO).
Scattered Castles — Consolidated personnel
security investigation and clearance database
of U.S. Intelligence Community personnel. The
database is operated and maintained by the
Director of National Intelligence.
SCI — Sensitive Compartmented Information.
Category of classified information with many
separate subcategories or compartments that
imposes safeguarding and access restrictions
that exceed those normally required for
information at the same classification level.
SCI is a Special Access Program (SAP) involving
intelligence sources, methods or analytical
processes. SCI has three sensitivity levels — SSBI without polygraph, SSBI with CI-Scope
polygraph and SSBI with Full-Scope polygraph.
Scope of Investigation — Standard components
of an investigation, such as character references,
employment records, credit report, police
records checks, national agency checks and
educational records. The term “scope” is
often misused to describe an investigation’s
“Period of Coverage.”
Security Clearance — Determination made by a
government personnel security adjudicator that
an individual’s access to classified information is
clearly consistent with the interests of national
security. Among adjudicators the term “Security
Clearance” is being replaced by the term
“Eligibility for Access.”
SF85 — Standard Form 85. Questionnaire for
Non-Sensitive Positions. Form used as the basis
for a NACI to determine an individual’s suitability
for federal employment in non-sensitive
positions or to hold certain non-sensitive federal
contractor positions.
SF85P — Standard Form 85P. Questionnaire for
Public Trust Positions. Form used as the basis
for an investigation to determine an individual’s
suitability to hold a Public Trust position.
SF85P-S — Standard Form 85P-S. Supplemental
Questionnaire for Selected Positions. Form
used in addition to the SF85P as the basis for
an investigation to determine an individual’s
suitability to hold selected High-Risk Public Trust
positions.
SF86 — Standard Form 86. Questionnaire for
National Security Positions. Form used as the basis
for an investigation to determine an individual’s
eligibility for a security clearance or for continuation
of an existing security clearance.
SII — Security/Suitability Investigations Index.
OPM’s computer database of investigations
accessible to federal security personnel.
SOR — Statement of Reason. Document from a
security clearance adjudication facility advising
an applicant of the specific reason(s) why the
adjudication facility intends to deny or revoke
a security clearance. The SOR also advises the
applicant of his/her right to submit a written
rebuttal and/or mitigating information regarding
the allegations and in the case of contractors,
the additional right to a hearing before an
administrative judge.
SPIN — Special Interview. Subject interview to
address specific unresolved issues developed
during a standard OPM personnel security
investigation.
SSBI — Single Scope Background Investigation.
Type of personnel security investigation used for Top
Secret clearances, DoE “Q” access authorizations,
Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) and
other designated Special Access Programs (SAP).
Top 100 Companies to Work for that are Hiring Now!
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The Facebook Business Guide
Compensation Questions: When Employers Owe You Money
January 18, 2010
"Help! Employees Owe Us Money"
Now and then, some of our subscribers encounter workers—often soon-to-be-former workers—who are irresponsible, or even dishonest. In a variety of ways, they can cost their companies money for unjustified expenses—money that is tricky for employers to recover. As you’ll see in these sample questions and replies, the answers are rarely easy.
Q: An employee was caught stealing. Can we deduct the cost of the stolen property from his last paycheck? Also, can we tell other employees why we fired this individual? He also tried to intimidate a co-worker into covering up his theft.
A:
The law in your state allows you to deduct for breakage, loss, or theft only if you can show that your loss was due to the employee’s gross negligence, willful misconduct, or dishonesty. A simple accusation won’t do. As for your second question, there is no law prohibiting your telling other employees about the misconduct. But beware: If you do so, the former employee could file a suit for defamation. Even if you won the case, you’d still have to pay to defend yourself. And, reasons for some employee terminations may be protected by privacy or confidentiality requirements. But do take the opportunity to remind other employees of your policies regarding the use of company property and/or anti-theft policies.
Q: An employee has charged $9,400 of personal expenses on a company credit card. We intend to terminate her, but how much of those expenses can we recoup by deducting from her final paycheck? Further, we have no policy barring the use of company cards for personal expenses and no system for monitoring card use. Does that undermine our ability to fire this individual?
A:
The law in your state permits no deductions from paychecks that aren’t authorized in writing by the employee, except those required by law or a court order. So your choices are few: You can file a civil suit to collect the money or simply write off the debt. Your termination letter could specify that the company card was misused, that’s why she’s being fired, and that she must repay the money to you by a certain date or you will sue her to recover it.
Q: We have allowed some employees to use vacation before they’ve accrued it, creating what we call a “negative vacation balance.” If someone quits before correcting the negative balance, can we deduct the money from his or her final paycheck? We operate in three states and want to create a policy that will cover all.
A:
Although one of the states in which you operate permits some kinds of deductions that an employee has not authorized, negative vacation balances are not an authorized deduction. The other two states have no specific laws or regulations barring you from final paycheck deductions. The federal Department of Labor issued an opinion letter allowing such deductions so long as company policies have made it clear that use of unaccrued vacation will be treated like advance wages or salary and must be repaid.
Q: A new employee worked for us only 2 days when we discovered he’d been convicted of a felony and so had falsified his application. Do we have to pay him for those 2 days?
A:
Yes, you must pay at least minimum wage for all hours worked. The Fair Labor Standards Act makes no exception for this situation.
Tips for Writing Military to Civilian Resumes
Resume writing is not about rehashing your past history and listing what you’ve done and where. Rather, resume writing is about writing to the future, to the job that you want or the career path that you wish to pursue. This is a critical consideration throughout every phase of writing your resume and conducting your job search. Clearly define your objectives, identify the skills and qualifications you’ve gained through your past experience that support your current goals, and then focus on these elements throughout your search. Don’t position yourself as someone who wants to be a sales professional; rather, position yourself as someone who is a well-qualified sales professional with excellent skills in delivering presentations, negotiating and closing deals, planning incentives, and more. (If you’ve worked as a military recruiter, you’ve certainly done all of these things and more!)
When writing your resume, you want to bring the skills and qualifications that are most relevant to your current career objectives to the forefront and put the most emphasis on them. Consider the following example: during your four-year tour of duty, your primary function was as a maintenance mechanic with collateral responsibility for technical training. Now, at this point in your career, as you re-enter the civilian workforce, you want to work as a technical instructor. To best position yourself for such opportunities, you’ll want to “re-weight” the information you include on your resume and put greater emphasis on teaching and training than on the mechanic functions you performed on a daily basis.
Every time you include a military acronym or use other military jargon in your resume, you’ve given a prospective employer a reason to exclude you from consideration. Employers want to know what you can do for them in language that they will understand and appreciate. This is what the concept of transferability of skills is all about. Change the language in your resume from military to civilian so that employers in “corporate America” can understand what you did and how it applies to them. Note: The only time this is not true is if you’re applying to a company or government agency that works directly with the military and is interested in a candidate with your specific military qualifications. If this is the case, you want to follow the exact opposite strategy and incorporate all appropriate military language into your resume. Consider who your audience is and then determine how best to write your resume and present your skills.
Resume writing means selling—pure and simple. You have a product to sell—yourself, and you must create a resume that highlights both the features (responsibilities) and benefits (achievements) of that product. To accomplish that, change your resume-writing mind-set. Instead of simply telling your readers what you have done, sell them on how well you’ve done it. Consider the difference in the following two sentences. Tell: “Managed fleet of military vehicles.” Sell: “Managed fleet of military vehicles valued in excess of $225 million and achieved 100 percent operational readiness scores for two consecutive years.” See the difference in impact?
Keywords are a vital component of every job seeker’s successful search campaign. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of companies and recruiters use key words as the primary vehicle to search their database of resumes. For example, a recruiter might be interested in a candidate with a strong background in supply chain management. If your background is in logistics, you’d be an ideal candidate. However, if you haven’t included those specific words—supply chain management—in your resume, you’ll be passed over. Take the time that is necessary to learn the civilian keywords that are important to your current career goals, and then be sure to incorporate them into your resume (as long as you actually do have experience in each particular function).
The latest and greatest strategy for successful resume writing is the concept of personal branding—creating a brand that is unique to you and your specific skill sets. Here’s an example of a branding statement for a veteran with extensive experience in budgeting and financial management: “finance executive who has delivered double-digit gains in productivity, quality, and cost reduction in operations worldwide.” By incorporating this statement at the beginning of his resume, this individual has immediately communicated who he is and the value that he brings to a prospective employer in the civilian marketplace.
You’ve heard it all before. Use plenty of white space on your resume, use bold and italics to highlight important information, write in short paragraphs for a “quick” read, and use bullets to showcase your achievements. In addition, consider using a typestyle other than Times Roman, which is the most widely used of all fonts. Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, Garamond, or any one of a number of other typestyles are clean and crisp, yet they give your resume a unique appeal. These visual factors are important for you to consider when preparing your resume. Not only must your resume contain solid content that clearly communicates your value to a prospective employer but the visual presentation must be sharp, professional, and easy to read.
Every savvy job seeker knows that in today’s world of electronic job searching, you must have three distinct versions of your resume—a Microsoft Word version, an ASCII text version, and a scannable, or printout, version. You’ll use the Microsoft Word version whenever you’re submitting your resume via snail mail or as an attachment to an email message. You’ll use the ASCII text version when completing online applications or when you know the company will not open a Microsoft Word attachment. And finally, you’ll use the scannable version when employers request one, which they will scan into a resume database.
When you submit a resume with errors, you’ve almost certainly eliminated yourself from consideration. Before prospective employers ever meet you, they meet a “piece of paper” (or electronic file), and that piece of paper demonstrates the quality of work that you can produce. If you want someone to extend to you an offer for an interview and then a job, you had better be sure that your resume is 100 percent accurate and indicative of the quality of work you will perform for that company.
Your resume can be a valuable tool throughout your job search. We all know that you need to have a resume to generate job interviews. That’s a given. But also consider these other uses for your resume: (1) as a tool for networking and contact development; (2) as a tool to guide your interviews; and (3) as supporting information to help you negotiate a strong compensation package. Then be sure to update your resume once you’ve landed a new job. You never know when that next great opportunity might appear, and you always want to be prepared with a current resume on hand.
Top 50 Military Friendly Employers
Top 50 Military Friendly Employers Link goes to article.
Veterans are needed now more than ever. he price of gas and food is rising, and there are real concerns how troubles on Wall Street will affect Americans on Main Street.
The news has put the concerns of the economy on the front page,
yet the predictions by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show unprecedented growth in the demand for qualified employees in corporate America. For the companies on this year’s “Top 50 Military-Friendly Employers®” list, searching for the best this country has to offer is simple; look at the wealth of talented, educated and experienced in the world’s best job training program – the U.S. Armed Forces.
“We believe candidates with military experience are an asset and present a competitive advantage,” said Darryll Fortune, director of global public relations for Johnson Controls. He knows his company needs employees who bring ingenuity, a positive attitude, state-of-the-art training and experience to remain competitive in our global economy. That is why Johnson Controls recruits so heavily amongst military transitioners and this year’s No. 1 on G.I. Jobs’ “Top 50 Military-Friendly Employers®” list.
“Over the years we have moved up in our rankings of the ‘Top 50’ list,” Fortune said. “We are proud of that ascent and our hiring standards have not changed just because of the economic downturn. We still require talent and continually look for employees accustomed to accepting challenges in very diverse environments. This is why we appreciate having a military talent pool to recruit from.”
Employment in a Downturn
While the economy may bring concern to the pocketbook, it has not deterred corporate
America. This is when businesses challenge themselves toward greater success. These
are times when business looks for employees with fortitude, attitude and spirit. This is
when experience in BDUs translates well on a résumé.
Sears Holdings has invested heavily in its military talent over the past year. As the
media continues to paint a darker image of the economy, Sears is investing in employees
who cannot only weather the storm but navigate the company into prosperous waters.
“Despite today’s economic environment, we continue to select candidates based on
knowledge skills, abilities and experience,” said Katie Regan, director of corporate communications for Sears. “Military hiring continues to be an important element of our
talent acquisition strategy. Most military candidates possess qualities that align with the
skills and experiences we want in all of our Sears associates.”
Employees with military experience perform beyond expectations. They possess
transferable skills that can’t be taught in the classroom or in the boardroom. The military
creates problem solvers who can adapt to any environment. Their time-management
and critical-thinking skills increase work flow and efficiency. Training and experience
for the battlefield puts leadership and management skills in the boardroom.
Sears’ significant focus on hiring military experience is reflected in jumping 25 positions
on the “Top 50” list.
“To be recognized as a military-friendly employer by G.I. Jobs is a great honor for
our company, regardless of where we fall on the list,” Regan said. “Military support is
more than a tradition at Sears Holding. The upward shift in our ranking to No. 25 is
a result of a company-wide commitment to valuing and leveraging the strengths and
talents of our military-experienced associates to enhance the culture, growth and success
of Sears Holdings.”
“We Are Hiring”
The Top 50 list represents diverse industries and geographies. From railroads to microchips,
from finance to utilities; the entire country is looking for veteran talent to keep our country moving forward. As the baby boomer generation retires, their generation of experience is retiring as well. Their replacements, the “Gen-Y” Millennials, are generalized as “incredibly talented, but their inexperience is trumped only by a sense of inherent entitlement.”
According to Susan Heathfield, a 35-year HR consultant and employment reporter, the challenge when hiring Millennials is they “seek leadership, and even structure, from their older and managerial coworkers”: older coworkers who are retiring.
Corporate America needs employees who can lead today, not tomorrow. They are looking for new candidates who will “increase the benchmarks,” “raise the bar” and “hit the ground running.” The largest wealth of ready-to-lead technical and professional experience is in the thousands of highly qualified, and motivated, service members who leave the service each year.
As baby-boomer retirements increase so does corporate America’s interest in military-veteran talent. This increased interest is reflected in the increasing interest in corporate military
recruiting programs across all industries. Ranked No. 16 on our Top 50 list, General
Electric has developed programs specifically catered to recruiting military talent.
“There are many different types of positions and training programs for military
personnel,” said Dave Ferguson, General Electric’s program manager for military staffing
and recruiting. “Our most recognizable is our Junior Officer Leadership Program,
which is a unique two-year leadership program.”
Military recruiting programs have become an integral part of many businesses in
corporate America. “I want candidates with enthusiasm, strong leadership, focus, dependable and willing to lead from the front,” said Sally Hart, military recruiting manager for Cintas
(which ranked 11 on this year’s list). “Service members come to our company with a
strong sense of integrity and a commitment to excellence.”
These traits make the military candidate stand out amongst the pack. “Military job
seekers need to realize that they have had amazing experiences that differentiate them
in the eyes of many employers,” said Jim McMahon, director of talent acquisition for
Travelers Insurance, which ranked 31 on this year’s list. “Service members have what
employers are looking for.”
It is About Profit; Not Patriotism
While there is a certain amount of civic pride in hiring service members, appreciation
of a veteran’s service is not a foundation of good business: appreciation of veteran talent
is. That is why, when corporate America looks for ways to build its business, military
experience is part of the solution. Like an Ivy League diploma, military service is recognized
shorthand for “quality experience and training.”
There is no padding here. Companies understand the need to hire veterans. This
year’s “Top 50 Military-Friendly Employers®” are the best of the best in veteran hiring
among companies earning more than $1 billion in annual revenues. Each company was
surveyed and found to demonstrate strong military recruiting efforts, high percentage of
new military hires and instituted proactive policies for National Guard and Reservists.
Out of the nearly 2,500 companies that were eligible, only 2 percent made the list.
Some of the Top 50 employers are perennial list makers; such as BNSF, Union Pacific and USAA, while others grace the list for the first time.
“Just to be among the Top 50 is an honor,” said Connie McLendon, military staffing
manager for BNSF, which has consistently ranked amongst the highest on the list
each year. This year’s No. 1 employer, Johnson Controls, not only puts a high value in recruiting military talent, they are also a global leader in climate control systems and automotive batteries. The company’s work environment needs veteran talent to stay a market
leader.
“Military members bring a level of leadership experience that is very valuable to
Johnson Controls,” said Jan Zizzo, Johnson Control’s senior recruiter. “They bring a
strong work ethic, solid training and proven teamwork and are used to hard work. They
have the ability to work in a diverse group, perform under pressure and they know how
to evaluate situations and prioritize issues that need to be addressed.”
It is those intangible skills of character that can’t be taught in classrooms or read in
books that is making our military veterans the perfect talent pool for hiring managers
to look to when their bosses ask them to “hire the best candidates that will be able
to take our company beyond our expectations.”
Applied Materials ranked No. 7 in this year’s Top 50 list. Luis Gonzales, military hiring manager, places veterans at all levels and divisions within the company knowing they provide the invaluable leadership that keeps his company productive. “We believe that the military provides an ideal pipeline to a well-qualified talent pool,” Gonzales said. “We hire veterans
because they’re responsible, great team players and leaders. As new team members
at Applied, they bring unparalleled maturity, and hands-on experience.”
“We target military personnel for several reasons,” said Dina Tilgner, general director
recruiting for Union Pacific, which ranked No. 3 on this year’s list. “The railroad’s
technical jobs often involve skills service members learned in the military.”
The Veteran Advantage
Those who decide to serve in our Armed Forces sacrifice the sweat on the training
ground, blood on the battlefield and tears on the pillows from those who wait
patiently behind. Every service member steps out of their uniform and into the civilian
market transformed. Like the Bionic Man, our government has made them
faster, smarter, wiser. Veterans have state-of-the-art technical training. Veterans navigated working with different cultures socially and professionally.
Veterans communicate effectively with leaders and subordinates. Veterans have been
groomed for greater responsibility from the day they returned their first salute.
The commercials talk about all the reasons why the military is a right choice for
those looking for opportunity. Transitioning veterans are seeing just how true those
advertisements were. Corporate America is waiting for a whole new generation of
leaders to take up the reigns of our nation’s industries and lead us into the future.
Hiring Trends for 2010
With the beginning of the new year, the employment marketplace seems to be moving in a more positive, though competitive position. One indication of the shift in recruitment and retention strategies came from the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Private Company Trendsetter Barometer survey released in December. (Results incorporate the views of 260 CEOs: 140 from companies in the product sector and 120 in the service sector, interviewed between July 31, 2009 and October 30, 2009.)
In the report, 57 percent of private companies surveyed indicate their productivity is being affected by reductions in their companies’ workforces. Areas most affected are middle management and skilled labor. In anticipation of increased business activity and accelerated competition, the report indicates companies are looking to hire new workers as a means to fill skills gaps and/or restructure compensation to retain their qualified workforce.
Nevertheless, despite workforce reductions in 2009:
- 61 percent of the surveyed CEO’s believe their companies’ current workforce is well aligned to the business objectives that must be met in 2010 and possibly 2011.
- 34 percent believe they are only somewhat aligned.
- 2 percent believe their company is not well aligned.
- 61 percent believe their organization has the right skills at the management level to effectively lead their company over the next 12 to 24 months.
- 35 percent believe they will have skill gaps.
Among the 35 percent of leading private companies that believe they will have to fill in some skills gaps: - 82 percent are planning to fill the gap by hiring new talent.
- 68 percent plan to train/develop existing talent.
- 32 percent plan to redeploy talent.
- 22 percent plan to use contractors as means to fill skills gaps at their companies.
About 57 percent of CEOs interviewed by PWC said they plan to increase their total workforce expenses over the next 12 to 18 months, while 35 percent plan to remain the same, and only 5 percent expect a decrease.
With the amount of layoffs in 2009, there’s a wide selection of valuable talent actively seeking alternative work that may not have been available a few years ago at current salary levels. Employers should consider this specific point in time as an excellent opportunity to recruit new employees who will join their companies, share their expertise and experience, and contribute to a company’s growth possibly at a faster pace than otherwise would have been possible.
In addition to PWC’s survey, we have the ADP monthly survey of its client base of 360,000 private employers. According to ADP, private employment overall decreased by 84,000 jobs from November to December. That’s still a decline, obviously, but it represents a slowdown compared to the monumental loss of jobs that we saw through most of 2009.
Small-business (ADP defines small businesses as companies with fewer than 50 employees) employment shrank by 25,000 jobs during the month — also encouraging as a continued improvement from the rate of decline in ADP’s numbers over the previous nine months. Even more encouraging, small business employment within the service-providing sector actually increased by 11,000 during December.
If current trends continue, ADP predicts that employment could begin growing in the next few months.
So, its time to get those resumes in order. If you’d like some help with your resume, check us out at www.reminis.com
Understanding Windows 7’s “God Mode”
January 4, 2010 12:41 PM PST
Understanding Windows 7′s “God Mode”
by Ina Fried
Windows 7′s so-called God Mode is actually a shortcut to accessing the operating system’s various control settings.
(Credit: CNET News)
Although its name suggests perhaps even grander capabilities, Windows enthusiasts are excited over the discovery of a hidden "God Mode" feature that lets users access all of the operating system’s control panels from within a single folder.
By creating a new folder in Windows 7 and renaming it with a certain text string at the end, users are able to have a single place to do everything from changing the look of the mouse pointer to making a new hard-drive partition.
The trick is also said to work in Windows Vista, although some are warning that although it works fine in 32-bit versions of Vista, it can cause 64-bit versions of that operating system to crash.
To enter "GodMode," one need only create a new folder and then rename the folder to the following: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
Once that is done, the folder’s icon will change to resemble a control panel and will contain dozens of control options. I’m not sure it’s my idea of playing God, but it is a handy way to get to all kinds of controls.
I’ve asked Microsoft for more details on the feature and how it came to be. But so far, Redmond is silent on the topic.
FREE DAILY WEB CARTOON / CARTOONS FOR WEB SITES / DAILY CARTOONS
Something Free to Add a Little Fun to Your Blog or Web Site
FREE DAILY WEB CARTOON / CARTOONS FOR WEB SITES / DAILY CARTOONS
Get this daily web cartoon for your website. This cartoon updates automatically via
php script. All you need is a simple line of code below, to paste anywhere in your HTML where you want the image to appear – It’s that easy! The cartoon changes at 2AM NYC time, 24/7/365. This is virtual auto pilot and this feature is guaranteed 100% family friendly….nothing vulgar. Adding a daily web cartoon offers a unique type of humor to your format and will keep your visitors returning each day for the newest cartoon. You’re also showing your visitors you have a sense of humor!
To get this free cartoon added to your website, follow the simple instructions below
the cartoon and if you have specific questions, email cartoonist Dan Rosandich at
dan@danscartoons.com – a fast response is guaranteed.
The above cartoon can easily be added by copying this line of code into your HTML:
<a href="http://danscartoons.com/"><img border="2" src="http://danscartoons.com/cotd/dailycartoon.php"></a>
The image is a static 500 pixels wide each day and height varies from day to day,
although not much. If you’re a WordPress aficionado, you can opt to get this same
feature by downloading the cartoon plug in that easily adds it to your site.
This feature is intended for non-commercial sites as free usable content. If you are
considering this cartoon for a business or commercial website, it is important that
you email Dan with your web site name and URL to negotiate a licensing fee. Email
dan@danscartoons.com with all pertinent information.
DonkeyTs.com – These guys are great!
We bought some awesome t-shirts from these guys and they hooked us up. These guys are awesome, and they have some really good stuff. I mean, just read their About Us:
“We’re here to give you the craziest t-shirts you won’t dare find sold anywhere else, and with the best Quality and Prices!!! Now, how great is that. When you head out with one of our shirts on, people will definitely stop and ask you, “Where did you get that shirt?” …We guarantee you’ll even get laid* (*T-shirt has to be worn out at least 69 times, or your money back 
Order from our website today, and you can become an official JACKASS! And sign up on Facebook/Twitter to get info weekly coupon codes, contest, and chances to win shirts Yo!”
Top 100 Companies Hiring Today
Top 100 Companies Hiring Today Download PDF
Pranav Mistry: The Thrilling Potential of SixthSense Technology
About this talk
At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data — including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he’ll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all.
About Pranav Mistry
Pranav Mistry is the inventor of SixthSense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data. Full bio and more links
Setup Your Own Video From Santa – Very Cool!
Setup Your Own Video from Santa!
I tried this myself and it is great. It sends an email to whoever you designate as the recipient and they click on a link. It takes them to the screen above, click the video, and it plays a personalized video based on the content you fill in during the beginning of the process. Click on the red titled hyperlink above the picture or go to http://portablenorthpole.tv/home
This will be really special for your kids, boyfriend, girlfriend, or just about anyone! Enjoy!
Graphic Designers, and Developers – A Guide to Posting for Money.
I’ve tried and tried all these stupid techniques that “SEO” and “Marketing Specialists” recommend. And I’d agree that all of these base operations need to be accomplished. But, they’re holding back where a real source of money comes from.
You see, there’s a huge difference between a creator and someone who copies from creators. Creators share their ideas and workflows, while people who copy the ideas typically horde those accomplishments to themselves thinking that they have an “edge” or “up’” on someone else. Hence, the importance that a “SEO Consultant” thrives.
I’m a creator. I want to make the coolest stuff, all the friggin’ time! And, I want to share and teach those skills to others for future development as a community. I’m learning that those involved with the open source community feel the same way.
There’s plenty of opportunity for technically inspired people to make their own money without the need of a “SEO Consultant”. Which is a crock all together. All of the tools and information that you need is completely free and available to you.
Why You Shouldn’t Trust Social Media To An SEO Consultant >>
Hehe, alright…enough of that. So, what should you do?
Developing a Link Wheel for More Traffic!
This is a killer tutorial and in-depth look at how to manage your SEO tags and communication among your accounts:
Stress Management – Playing the Guitar
There’s something about guitar music that helps players come to a total state of relaxation. No matter where you choose to play, the guitar can take you miles away from where you are and let go of all of your stress. You get lost in the music and start picturing a place much calmer and stress free than where you are right now.
Relaxation imagery exercises are a common technique many stressed people use to calm their thoughts and physiological responses to stress. When you are stuck in a place that continuously causes you to feel stress, taking your mind and putting it somewhere else can trick you into believing that you no longer need to be stressed because the threat is no longer present. Playing guitar is an excellent way to promote imagery relaxation because when you hear the music, it eases your mind so that you are able to think of more relaxing places.
What you believe as a peaceful sound may be different from what others believe is relaxing. The relaxation that you experience playing guitar is not necessarily from the actual sound but your enjoyment of the sound, which means that people can find enjoyment in any type of instrument they love to hear and play.
Support a Service-Connected Disabled Veteran
I have met many disabled veterans who seemed to have slipped through the cracks and are still suffering. I believe with your help, we can make a difference. Please donate what you can, and 100% of your donation will go to this worthy cause. By clicking on the link, you’ll be redirected to a site on my site where you may donate through PayPal. If you are not redirected, paste in this url address: http://reminis.com/system/index.php?id=75
Thanks for your support!
Vic Mangino, Cause Administrator
Use Windows Live Writer to send your videos to YouTube and your blog in one step!
Guests in the Digital Workshop have asked me how to add videos to their blogs in Windows Live Spaces. After wanting to find a simpler way, and thereby searching for a better solution, I came across one on the Windows Live site.
Windows Live Writer offers uploading of videos into a blog entry while simultaneously publishing it to the YouTube site (where it actually lives) all in one step. I love efficiency! I also love Windows Live Writer for getting the most out of your blog experience. It offers spell check, publishing date options, photo albums inserted directly into a blog entry, etc.
If you haven’t checked out Windows Live Writer, you should. It is free and available to XP, Vista, or Windows 7 users as part of the Windows Live Essentials package downloadable from http://download.live.com
Two methods for inserting video to a Windows Live Spaces page:
My previous strategy to publish to the videos module:
1. Go to YouTube website and sign in (or leave yourself signed in by remembering the password).
2. Click button “Upload video”
3. Once it is finished add description, tags, title, etc. and click save
4. Open “My Videos” and copy the embed link
4. Sign in to Windows Live Spaces page.
5. Click “edit” in the videos module (make sure you “show” that module on your space) and then paste embed link and select “publish” in the pop-up window.
Publishing a video directly into a blog entry, easily:
1. Open Windows Live Writer – You need to set up your account the first time and after that it works wonderfully well.
2. On the top menu click “insert” and then click on video at the bottom.
3. On the pop-up window that opens choose the “From File” tab
4. In the following window, still in Live Writer, sign in to YouTube account, browse for the video, add description, tags, etc. and select “insert” to publish directly into the blog entry.
It will not only publish the video to YouTube during the publish process of the blog entry, but will also embed it directly into your blog entry on your site. You must be online during this publishing process for this to work properly.
Original Post: http://clubhouse.microsoft.com/Public/Post/22cf6aaa-2365-41d8-91a0-af664026b3af
Is Your Resume Costing You a Dream Job?
Contrary to Legally Blonde, dyeing your resume pink and bathing it in Chanel No. 5 will not get you into Harvard, nor will it get you a job. In case you take career advice from Elle Woods, below you will find the worst resume mistakes in the history of resumes mistakes, followed by why these little errors are the reason why you’re not even granted a pity interview. Spell check doesn’t catch everything, and no one cares how active you were in Girl Scouts, unless you traveled to India to empower girls to sell Thin Mints. Which, in that case, we’ll take two boxes.
7 Ways to Reduce the Stress of Student Debt!
The header
The idea of a resume is to fit the most pertinent information into a small space. (On that note, a resume should NEVER, under any circumstances, be more than one page long.) Your name and contact information should not be size 40 font, and you should include multiple ways of contacting you; phone, address, and email are sufficient.
Don’t Wait Until New years to Make Your Resolutions
The objective
This should be no more than 5 or 6 words, and should state exactly what you are looking for. Keep in mind your wording could give them an impression of how experienced, or inexperienced you are. If it says "Seeking an entry-level position," guess what? That’s the salary you’ll be offered.
5 Minutes to a Happier, More Relaxed You
Your experiences
Think of a resume like an upside-down pyramid. The most important information should be on the top, and the farther down the page you go, the less important the information is. Your potential employers knows how to skim resumes, and if they don’t see something impressive in the beginning, they will move on. Make sure your experiences are first, recognizable names and companies are more impressive than what school you went to.
Are You Dressing Appropriately for the Office?
Things not to include
Reasons why you were fired or left from a job, winning a spelling bee in high school, and your high school GPA and SAT scores. Also, do not include typos. Have ten people read your resume over after you, so that they might catch any grammatical errors that you may not have caught. Also, do not include your Myspace or Facebook page link. Chances are, if you’re being considered for the job…they’ll see it soon enough, anyway. Also, do not link to your personal blog unless it is somewhat successful or extremely relevant to the job you’re applying for. Lastly, do not rhyme. (Saying you have a passion for fashion is more than not okay.)
The worst thing you could do
And finally. Never appear at an interview without a copy of your resume. Can’t find a printer in time? Reschedule the interview. Unless you won the Nobel Peace Prize, showing up sans resume is what Liz Lemon calls a dealbreaker, ladies.
Mozilla Firefox Portable – Download
Mozilla Firefox Portable 3.0.11
Portable version of the web browser
Written by Lee Collins
vnunet.com, 12 Jun 2009
Some users were disappointed with the release of Mozilla Firefox 2.0. After months of betas, release candidates and previews, the new features weren’t as spectacular as people expected. However, there is only so much you can do to improve a web browser.
With the release of Mozilla Firefox 3, the web graphics rendering engine has received a completely new upgrade, resulting in a much improved and faster browsing experience. Dubbed ‘ Cairo’, the new graphics rendering engine should improve the output across different platforms, as it’s being developed as an open-standard. Mozilla Firefox 3.0 is based around the Gecko 1.9 rendering engine.
With other improvements in the way that pages are ‘painted’ on screen, improved SVG support and CSS enhancements, the general improvements for Firefox 3.0 are based around the way it will render web pages through the browser.
However, the improvements do not stop there. Firefox 3 ships with an improved user-interface, a better way of handling your bookmarks, improved security and many other enhancements.
Note that this is the portable version of Firefox 3.
Verdict
Take your favourite web browser on the road with this portable version of Firefox 3
The Reminis Connection Exchange (ReminisCE)
Reminis believes in open networking using tools that are freely available to anyone. We firmly believe in our tagline “Simplify Your Business. Your Career. Your Life.” We’ve found these services and tools to be highly effective ways of establishing our presence on the Internet in a very simple way.
Most of the following tools allow you to connect and exchange data between websites and multiple social media services. This frees you from the burden of updating multiple systems every time you want to add content to your current online business presence.
The following is a compiled list of current connections and tools that Reminis supports and uses to collaborate across multiple social media platforms.
Regional Business Connections
Better Business Bureau: BBB is the resource to turn to for objective, unbiased information on businesses.
View the Reminis BBB Review >>
Visit the Better Business Bureau >>
Clermont Chamber of Commerce: Chambers of Commerce provide opportunities for members to make an impact on critical business and community issues.
View the Reminis Membership Listing >>
Visit the Clermont Chamber of Commerce Site >>
Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber: An award-winning membership organization, the Chamber has been recognized as national Chamber of the Year twice in the past decade. It supports members and the Cincinnati USA region in pursuit of success in today’s global economy.
View the Reminis Membership Listing >>
Visit the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber Site >>
Tools
ModX (CMS Tool): Our current primary website management system
View the Reminis ModX Site >>
Visit the ModX Site >>
Windows Live Writer: Writer makes it easy to share your photos and videos on almost any blog service—Windows Live, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, and many more.
Visit the Windows Live Writer Site >>
Google Analytics: Google Analytics is the enterprise-class web analytics solution that gives you rich insights into your website traffic and marketing effectiveness.
Visit the Google Analyticis Site >>
Online Services
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries.
View the Reminis LinkedIn Site >>
Visit the LinkedIn Site >>
Facebook: Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.
View the Reminis Facebook Site >>
Visit the Facebook Site >>
Twitter: Twitter has grown into a real-time short messaging service that works over multiple networks and devices.
View the Reminis Twitter Site >>
Visit the Twitter Site >>
Squidoo Lenses: Squidoo is the popular publishing platform and community that makes it easy for you to create “lenses” online.
View the Reminis Lens Site >>
Visit the Squidoo Site >>
GoArticles: GoArticles.com is an article search engine and directory with more than 1 million indexed articles and a membership exceeding 135,000 authors. Currently (Oct./08) the site receives 10,000 – 12,000 article submissions weekly.
View the Reminis Member Site >>
Visit the GoArticles Site >>
HubPages: HubPages has easy-to-use publishing tools, a vibrant author community and underlying revenue-maximizing infrastructure.
View the Reminis HubPages >>
Visit the HubPages Site >>
Google Knols: Knol makes it free and easy to create, collaborate on, and publish credible web content. Put your name behind your content; write a knol.
View the Reminis Knols Collection >>
Visit the Google Knols Site >>
WordPress: A semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability.
View the Reminis WordPress Site >>
View the WordPress Site >>
Blogger: Blogger is a free blog publishing tool from Google for easily sharing your thoughts with the world.
View the Reminis Blogger Site >>
Visit the Blogger Site >>
RedGage: RedGage is a centralized hub where you can earn money for all the things you’re already doing online at places like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and Blogger.
View the Reminis RedGage Site >>
Visit the RedGage Site >>
False resume and References? Web Business Helps in Job Hunt
by Chris Sadeghi / KENS 5
Posted on November 17, 2009 at 10:05 PM
Updated Thursday, Nov 19 at 1:39 PM
William Schmidt built a business based on lies.
Literally.
CareerExcuse.com launched in February and claims to help customers find jobs and provide the service at a reasonable cost. How do they do it? They lie.
Schmidt says he got the idea after hearing from many people and noticing even more online who were looking for someone they could put down as a reference on their resume.
“It did not take long to put two and two together and see there is a big need out there for such a service.”
So after purchasing a subscription, customers can put down faux businesses they have worked for and positions they have held attached with a phone number which rings at Career Excuse. From there, someone will verify employment.
Unethical? Perhaps. Illegal? No.
Since a resume is not a legal document, people can lie on theirs without legal ramifications. However, the Better Business Bureau says there is obvious red tape with such a business.
“It is really unfortunate because it is so highly unethical.” says Dean Taylor of the Central, Coastal, and Southwest Texas Better Business Bureau. “When someone tells you they are going to help you lie about yourself that should be a red flag right away.”
But Schmidt, whose business is comprised of just two full-time and one part-time employee, says he is providing a helpful service which helps people get jobs at a time when finding work is difficult.
“There is no better feeling when one of my subscribers tells me they got hired. To me, that is mission accomplished.”
And what about those that say what he does is not ethical?
“We suggest they do not use our service.”
The Career Excuse website has different levels of membership and the more you pay, the more deception you will receive. Schmidt says customers can receive references from bankrupt companies as well as one of many temporary services.
There are some lines.
“We do not provide service for any government agency or medical agency. We try to stay in the private industry field” Schmidt said.
But the site makes one thing clear; if you get caught, you are on your own.
That is why Taylor says anyone who pays for a membership is making a bad career move.
“If you lie on a resume and the company finds out, and the likelihood is they will find out, you probably are going to get fired.”
Taylor says good companies have good human resources departments which can easily see through the disguise.
“They are going to call a person they have a number for or look in the phone book and you are going to get caught. It really does open up a can of worms that could really get you in trouble.”
There have been other similar websites pop up recently also aimed at selling lies.
Free EBook on Why You Should Consider "Temping"
Many people have used "Temp" agencies over the years to find short-term assignments to tide them over between jobs. In today’s economy, many people are successfully using these "temp" assignments to explore new career paths, learn about employers they may want to work for, and oftentimes turn these short-term assignments into full time employment. Read why you may want to incorporate "temping" into your job search plans.
Best of luck,
Vic
Download the Free EBook on Temping (PDF)
Mass Animation – Virtual Animation Studio
With over 58,000 participants from 101 countries, the company’s first project, Live Music, attracted artists from Oregon to Kazakhstan and Bogota. When they arrived Mass Animation’s “headquarters” on Facebook, they were given all the tools they needed to animate on of the 107 shots in the film. 51 artists’ work was chosen to be in the final film, heralding from 17 different countries. Mass Animation’s Live Music is the result of the largest global animation collaboration ever and can be seen in select theaters on November 20th with Tristar Pictures’ Planet 51.
10 Ways to Maximize LinkedIN
Brandswag held a seminar yesterday entitled Beyond the Profile: Maximizing LinkedIN. We had a sold out crowd and it was a great discussion surrounding the better uses of LinkedIN. We are holding a seminar next Wednesday (the 24th) from 8-9:30am on Integrating Social Media into Your Marketing plan. Below you will find the slide deck from the seminar. I also wanted to briefly discuss the 10 different ways to maximize LinkedIN. It is extremely important to use LinkedIN for lead generation, job search, and professional networking. Let’s get to it.
http://networkedrecruiter.com/topic/view/article/24
ZShperes II – For ZBrush 3.5
The ZSphere modeling tool within ZBrush has ignited artist’s imagination by freeing them from technical restraints.
ZSpheres have always been one of quickest and easiest way to bring your concepts to life.
Until now!
Watch the Video Now!
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?t=073956
ZSpheres II coming to you in ZBrush 3.5. see this thread
Gio Nakpil – Character Modeling
Giovanni grew up in the Philippines being greatly influenced by sci-fi, horror and anime. He moved to Canada with his family in his teens and studied Computer Graphics at Seneca College where he began his interest in all things CG.
He currently works for Industrial Light & Magic as a digital artist, creating creatures for films such as ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 2′, ‘War of the Worlds’ and ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’. His most recent work can be seen in ‘Star Trek’ in which he was the creature model supervisor.
Read Entire Article:
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=5355
Design a Transparent Website Layout in Photoshop
Would you like a Transparent Website Layout? It can be very useful if you would like to have a different theme for your website, but do not want to change too much of the design. Simply changing the background image can also give you a whole different feeling sometimes. We are going to teach you how to design a transparent website layout in Photoshop. Hope you would find it useful.
Final Result
A Transparent Website Layout is what we are about to make. You can click on the image to see a full-scale version.
Read Full Tutorial:
http://www.webappers.com/2009/09/01/design-a-transparent-website-layout-in-photoshop/
Interactive Designer Paul Neave
What is Neave.com about?
“Neave.com is my personal interactive playground; a place where I can explore my ideas and try out risky experiments that I wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to make anywhere else. I often spend my days pointing and gazing in wonder at the world around me, and Neave.com allows me to turn my daydreams into reality.
Neave.com is my personal interactive playground; a place where I can explore my ideas and try out risky experiments that I wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to make anywhere else. I often spend my days pointing and gazing in wonder at the world around me, and Neave.com allows me to turn my daydreams into reality. “ – Paul Neave
Visit: www.neave.com
The New Intuos4 – By Wacom
Key Factors
- Set up your ExpressKeys to activate your own unique, time-saving shortcuts and modifiers in each of your applications. See your settings change in the illuminated display areas as you switch between applications.
- The finger-sensitive Touch Ring provides intuitive control of scrolling, zooming, brush size, canvas rotation or layer selection. A central toggle button allows you to control up to four different functions in each application.
- With 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity, Intuos4 gives you the creative power to dynamically adjust exposure, brush size, line weight, opacity, and more by simply adjusting how hard you press the pen to the tablet.
- The innovative, ambidextrous design of Intuos4 allows you to maximize the productivity of both your hands. Having the ExpressKeys and Touch Ring on the same side of the tablet ensures that they are perfectly positioned for use with the hand that is not holding the pen.
To complement your Intuos4, choose from a variety of accessories including the Grip Pen, the Classic Pen, Art Pen, Airbrush, Inking Pen, Pro Accessory Kit and more.
Intuos4 Grip Pen
Featuring Wacom’s new tip sensor technology, pressure sensitive response begins at only a single gram of pen pressure. When combined with 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity, the Intuos4 Grip Pen captures even the most subtle nuances of pressure.
This cordless, battery-free pen puts two customizable side switches right at your fingertips and features a contoured barrel with a cushioned grip. The Intuos4 Grip Pen ships with the following accessories: 10 replacement nibs, a nib puller, and a weighted pen stand.
Image Engine – Visual Effects for Film and Television
At Image Engine they use many open source projects as part of their research and development efforts and in return are pleased to be releasing key components of their internal toolset back to the community.
Their main contribution is the IECore library, a set of C++ and Python classes providing datatypes and algorithms applicable to a broad spectrum of visual effects development. In addition we have release libraries for interfacing IECore with RenderMan, Maya, Nuke, OpenGL, and Truelight. This combination of libraries forms the basis for many of our internal tools, including their lighting toolset and a system for procedural geometry generation. They have released the code under the umbrella of the Cortex project, to encourage contributions from the wider community. Please visit the Cortex project page for more details.
Image Engine – Used for the Making of District 9
"Image Engine is committed to encouraging collaboration within the visual effects community, and we see our contribution to open source software as an important aspect of that commitment."
- Peter Muyzers, Chief Operating Officer
CGSOCIETY (cgnetworks.com) – Featured Article: Superhero
Jeff Miller explores what is to be a Superhero.
Jeff was commissioned to create a Superhero for use in advertising for Pixologic’s Action Hero Contest. The commission brief was pretty wide open. Pixologic wanted an iconic superhero in several different poses to be used for banners announcing the contest, and to illustrate the rules pages. The only catch was that Jeff only had around a week to complete it. Jeff needed to get modeling as quickly as possible, so he got reference of some of his favorite super heroes for costume parts and poses. Now the ‘Superhero’ image and two others are in EXOTIQUE 5, the world can breathe a little easier.
Installing MODx CMS on Your Web Server – By Queso Manrulz
http://quesomanrulz.com/ / http://twitter.com/quesoman – Previously Queso Manrulz has explained How to Set Up WordPress and How to Set Up phpBB on your website, today I will be showing you another CMS called MODx. The CMS or Content Management System is very similar to Joomla! but with many more settings which makes it optimal for advanced users…read more at http://www.quesomanrulz.com/2009/09/h… .
http://modxcms.com/
http://wiki/modxcms.com/
http://forum.quesomanrulz.com/
Installing WordPress on Your Webhost – By Elliot Media Group
http://elliottmediagroup.com
Elliot Media Group will show you how to install WordPress, the great blogging platform, on your webhost.
You can check out WordPress at http://wordpress.org
Flashkit.com – A Flash Developer Open Source Resource Community
Flashkit.com is a great source for Flash source files, tutorial, images, sounds and animation tools.
From Mark Fennell, the creator of Flash Kit
”About Flash Kit…. Flash Kit started late October in 1999. We built it because we wanted to create a resource site that as flash developers, we would find useful. We built it to create a one stop raw materials centre for flash creations, after having spent hours surfing for sounds, images and ideas, it seemed to me a great idea to collate and collect as much as we could into one place!”
Create a Cartoon Head Part 2 Flash Tutorial – By KnowFlash.com
Learn how to add a background and interactivity to our cartoon head.
To view the high definition version, click the link beneath.
http://www.knowflash.com/videos/cartoonhead_part2/cartoonhead_part2.html
Glint Effect Flash Tutorial – By FlashLearner.com
In this Flash video tutorial you learn how to add this great glint effect to text in Flash CS3. Watch this video in HD on the official FlashLearner site: http://www.flashlearner.com/glint-effect-flash-tutorial/
Create a Cartoon Head Flash Tutorial – By KnowFlash.com
Learn how to make an animated cartoon head in Flash 8, including animated eyes. A high quality version of this video is available at KnowFlash.com, along with many others.
Flash Animation Tutorials – For Beginners
Basic step-by-step animation technique
Away3D – Create the Earth and Heavens in Less Than an Hour with Away3D
3D is one of the many cool things made possible with Flash Player 9 and the super fast Virtual Machine. This tutorial will show you how to create a realistic looking interactive earth, complete with a sun and a starlit sky. Scared? Don’t be – it’s easy with Away3D!
3D is all the rage in the Flash community these days. There are several engines available and each has strengths and weaknesses. Carlos Pinho has compiled a nice list of what’s available. For this tutorial, we’ll use the engine called Away3D that can produce some really beautiful results.
Flash, PHP, and MySQL CMS – Content Management System Website Tutorial
Source Files – http://www.developphp.com
In this Flash ActionScript 3.0, PHP, and MySQL tutorial video and source file download you can learn how to build slick CMS(Content Management Systems) for your client websites or for projects that require many people to input data. A Content Management System made in Flash makes editing content easier visually and physically for the user or client you have created it for. This method uses one PHP control file, one MySQL database(with 2 tiny tables in it), and a flash application that is programmed intelligently enough to display dynamic content from a MySQL database, or any database type system. We also have tutorials that show how to use a flat text file as database, or an XML file as databse if your environment cannot run MySQL easily. Brought to you by FlashBuilding.com
phpMyAdmin – Basics Tutorial
This tutorial covers basic phpMyAdmin techniques including creating databases, developing table structures, inserting data into tables, and basic row functions.
You can view a high quality version of this video at my website:
http://redgalaxy.net/phpmyadmin.avi
PHP Tutorial: Local Installation (Windows) and PHP Basics
Tutorial Notes:
To get php and apache installed use xampp.
xampp is free and contains php / apache (around 33mb)
1. Download and Install XAMPP from here:
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp…
2. on windows go to C:\xampp
it should have a folder called htdocs. If you put a file called foo.html
into the htdocs folder you should be able to access it by going to
http://localhost/foo.html or /foo.php.
There’s also something called WAMP
http://www.wampserver.com/en/
There’s a lot of php tutorials out there just search google
http://www.google.com/search?hl=enr&a…
Request tutorials here
http://youtube.jimmyr.com/
More PHP TUtorials here
http://killerphp.com/
Some people have recommended other editors
http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html
http://www.pspad.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparis…
http://www.context.cx/
Video 1 – Creating 3D Text with Swift 3D PS plug-in for Photoshop CS4 Extended
Part 1 of a series of 3-minute tutorials on using the new Swift 3D PS plug-in for Photoshop CS4 Extended. The Swift 3D PS plug-in will be launched the first week of March 2009 at www.erain.com.
ZBrush Tutorial – Getting Started
This video covers some basics in the process of creating mesh using ZBrush.
Maya Software Tutorial for Beginners, Part 1 – 5
Part 1. Preferences, interface, object creation.
Part 2. Viewport navigation, transforms, hotkeys.
Part 3. Channel Box, Attribute Editor, nodes.
Part 4. Interface elements, snap to grid, create lattice deformer.
Part 5. Marking menu, construction history, assign material.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Part 5:
How to Setup and Code a Basic Flash Website
This video tutorial shows you how to setup a basic flash website. The website only uses basic actionscripting (2.0). After seeing this you should be able to implement your own animations.
LearnToProgram.TV
From Learn To Program dot TV (LearnToProgram.TV) this is lesson one of their HTML / XHTML course. In this tutorial, the basic document structure is introduced as well as how to write an HTML script, and display the results in the browser.
To learn HTML you need a web browser and a text editor– both of which come with any Windows or Macintosh Machine. This course is part of the larger Introduction to HTML course.
You may purchase a High resolution video and the exercise files from their site LearnToProgram.TV. Long time instructor, Mark Lassoff hosts the video and courses.
htmlPlayground.com
HTML XHTML CSS tutorials, references, code examples. Play with the code, try how it works.
HTML Playground, this handy site has a great layout that allows you to click on a wide variety of tags to see not only the coding itself but how it appears in a web browser. So you can learn from scratch and even sort of reverse engineer some of the things you may have seen on the web and wondered how they worked.
New Job Search Tips from Monster.com
New Reminis.com Website Nears Completion
I’m really excited about the long awaited redesign of my website at www.reminis.com. I’m changing the direction of the company to focus on providing products and services for job seekers, recruiters and employers. I will still be doing recruiting, but I have decided to focus on helping job seekers with resume writing services and a job search board. Recruiters will find numerous articles on how to search for and find the right candidates. Employers will find a number of articles and forms that will prove useful based on my 20+ years in human resources.
In addition, we will be offering Branding services, including the basic, high quality sites and hosting services for those just getting started or looking for a fast, simple solution. We’ll also offer website development and graphics services that will meet your most complex needs. The leader of this team has built over 1000 sites and is an expert in ECommerce, SEO, graphic design, 3D animation and virtually every software package used in the industry today. He’s been developing online media and content for over 12 years now with a bachelors in Systems Analysis Computer Science and a master degree in 3D Graphics and Computer Animation.
We should be finished with the new site design by the end of November, but it is up and running now. I’m excited about the opportunity to use my background in HR, Recruiting, Executive Leadership and Networking to help job seekers in these trying times. I will try my best to fulfill my new slogan: Simplify Your Business. Your Career. Your Life.
Thanks for following my blog, and if you have any questions, you can reach me at vicmangino@reminis.com. Have a great week!
Vic
