Articles - The Voice of Job Seekers

LinkedIn 101 for Job Seekers, and Increasing Productivity

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In this episode, you will get an introductory LinkedIn advice from from Charlotte Weeks (@CharlotteWeeks), and how to get peak productivity out of your life and career with Tamara Myles (@Tamara_Myles).

Charlotte Weeks is a Nationally Certified Resume Writer, Career Coach, and author of I Want a Job in an Association — Now What?? A Guide to Getting a Job in a Professional Association, Membership Organization, or Society. Charlotte’s short list of accomplishments: Former president of the National Resume Writers Association, and recurring media contributor for news outlets such as, Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and Career Builder. Charlotte confirmed my pet peeve about picture-less photos in LinkedIn user profiles, and look for her advice about using the 120 character tagline.

Tamara Myles is a Certified Professional Organizer and productivity consultant. Her book, The Secret to Productivity: A Simple Guide to Reaching Your Personal Best helps the reader to organize life’s small potential tasks such email, to do lists, desk clutter, and daily schedule. Listen to her advice about how to get your day organized as I shared about what a mentor told me a long time ago (which worked).

by Mark Anthony Dyson

How to Write a Resume for the Applicant Tracking System

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If you upload your resume through Monster, CareerBuilder, or USAJobs.com it will be screened using software called the Applicant Tracking System (ATS). It’s goal is to find the well qualified candidates through keyword usage and selection, highlight the job candidates with the best score. Complicated? It sure is. That is why I asked Kristin Johnson, of Profession Direction, to come on the show. Her e-book, Target Your Resume to Win Over the Applicant Tracking System, provides how-to instruction for successfully customizing resumes to advance to the interview rounds of the hiring process.

Kristin laid out the basics about the Applicant Tracking System, and for you, it is a must listen show! We discuss some of the history of the ATS, how significant keywords are to your resume and the role the ATS serves in picking up those keywords. We also discuss a significant way to get around the ATS and we discuss some of the shortcuts that people try to use to game the system.

We will have a transcript for this interview in a few days hoping that will provide additional help for those who need it. Hope you enjoy this episode and find it useful.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Four Ways a Mature Career Voice Competes in the Job Marketplace

Mature job seekers possess a unique perspective and career voice when it comes to appealing to employers. All experience is valid and valued. It’s not just the callouses that are worthy of respect. At times its eyes and ears that recognize what not to do, and not just what to do.

The voice of experience can say things in a way that resonates, especially if it’s calmer, temperate, and seasoned. Although the media deems mature people “irrelevant,” in my classroom experience as a trainer, instructor, and teacher, younger adults are more than willing to listen to a mature voice of reason.

Maturity
Experience naturally brings along temperance, good judgment, and reliability in most cases. While younger counterparts are technically savvier, the mature voice is more trusted.

Confidence
Once you’ve “been down that road,” there is familiarity in behavior that the mature worker understands and recognizes. He or she knows not only what to say, but also how to say it.

Communication
The mature voice notices many of the verbal cues that younger counterparts ignore. The “mmm’s” and “uhhhs” say something or they mean nothing.

Leadership skills

Becoming bigger, faster, and stronger is for weightlifting and wrestling, but not essential for most workplaces. The mature worker is efficient, especially if he or she knows the appropriate technology for the job, or if technology is actually needed for the job.

The unemployment rate continues to increase for job seekers 50 and older. Some have been unemployed for some years now and lost the pulse on their talents and strengths. This short list should get you started, but if you need help with your career voice, feel free to contact me and we’ll figure it out together.