Friday, March 19, 2010

Experienced Technical Writer Needed!!!

Contractor will be responsible for updating an existing user manual to reflect a system upgrade to Oracle. This will include changing out screen shots, updating references to navigation and other functional changes as needed by project team. This manual is for a warehouse based application. Contractor will use Framemaker to make the edits and will be required to access and use the system to appropriately document the changes. The contractor will work closely with subject matter experts for input and to review the documentation. Review is done using Adobe Acrobat Professional editing tools. Contractor will adhere to pre-determined style guide.

Technical writing, ability to navigate complex warehouse system and translate highly technical information into terminology that is appropriate for a non-technical user. Must be highly proficient in Adobe FrameMaker and Adobe Acrobat. Works well with others (including programmers and management level) and has a high attention to detail. Must be able to work independently with minimal supervision and deliver a high-quality, polished end-product.

For more information, please visit www.executeam.com or email to amy@executeam.com

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

How To Ace An Interview - The Checklist

A job interview is a screening tool. For you, it's an opportunity to assess whether or not you want to work for a company. For the employer, it's an opportunity to decide whether or not they want to hire you. Both sides are looking for a match.

You can ace an interview and win the job you want even in this economy; even with the competition that wants the same job as you. You will have to work hard, but it can be done. Know that the work you do upfront and afterwards will make the "during" (while you are interviewing) much easier for you.

Here's a checklist to help you:

I. PREPARE BEFOREHAND

*Do your homework and find out who you will be interviewing with. You are looking for job title, responsibilities, accomplishments, as well as anything else that impresses you about this person.

*Know as much about the company as possible. Get on their web site and memorize their products and services. Look at their press release section for news. Talk to a few people about what they know. Look online for comments, discussions, blogs, forums, and additional insights. - Don't just look for good news. Look for challenges that the company is facing, and think about how you might contribute to their success.

*Write out the top 3 points you want to make sure you get across.

*Write down what makes you different or unique.

*Have a story/example for each bullet on the job description and each bullet in you resume. Include the challenges you were up against, the action you took to solve these challenges, and the results you achieved.

*Write down answers to questions such as your strengths, weaknesses, where you want to be in the future, etc. The questions that employers don't always feel comfortable asking. The same questions you don't always feel comfortable answering. Nevertheless, expect to be asked these questions anyway.

*Write down the answers to the questions you don't want to be asked. If you have a gap in your resume, have a good response for when you are asked about it. If you were fired, be prepared to tell the employer why with a positive spin. Don't shy away from these questions and hope they won't be asked. Expect them to be posed to you and have your answers mapped out and ready to go.

*Write down questions to ask the interviewer; three to five should do. Questions like, "What are you looking for in a candidate?" "What keeps you up at night?" "What's the biggest challenge you are facing right now?" These questions may be answered during the interview, and other questions may come up as the discussion progresses, but these questions will give you a place to start.

*Write down an introduction; an opener that says who you are and what you do. Include your past title, the type of work you have been doing, why you are excited to be interviewing with this company.

II. DURING THE INTERVIEW

*Be upbeat, passionate, and excited to be there.

*Use your prepared introduction and introduce yourself.

*Right after your introduction; say something flattering to the interviewer. Reveal what you like about the person or the company. Include what impresses you the most.

*Sincere flattery starts the interview off in a positive way.

*Answer questions and ask them. Remember, it's a two way conversation, and an opportunity for both parties to see if there is a match. Don't forget to listen and let the interviewer talk.

*Make sure you cover anything that was not discussed in the interview before you leave. For example, did you cover your 3 points? Did you tell the interviewer what makes you different? Did you handle all objections properly? Did you ask the questions you wanted to ask? Cover this now; afterwards may be too late.

*Tell the interviewer again why you want the job.

*Ask what the hiring process is, and when you can follow up with them again.


III. AFTER THE INTERVIEW

*Send a thank-you note. Email one version and also send a handwritten version. Thank you cards work well here.

*Include in your email anything you left out during the interview. Add credibility to your email by mentioning something specific the interviewer said that impressed you.

*If you promised to follow up on a specific day and time, keep that promise.

*Continue interviewing. No matter how great an interview went, no matter how many people told you that you are "the one," you do not have the job until you have formally been given a job offer in writing. Don't let everything ride on one job.

*Keep going until you are officially employed.

So, what do you say? You only have one life to live, so it might as well be a life you love!

- Deborah Brown-Volkman

Deborah Brown-Volkman, PCC, is the President of Surpass Your Dreams, Inc. a successful career, life, and mentor coaching company that works with Senior Executives, Vice Presidents, and Managers who are looking for new career opportunities or seek to become more productive in their current role. She is the author of "Coach Yourself To A New Career" and "How To Feel Great At Work Everyday." Deborah can be reached at www.surpassyourdreams.com, www.reinvent-your-career-.com or at (631) 874-2877. info@surpassyourdreams.com

From www.net-temps.com

Friday, March 12, 2010

Surgery Scheduler Needed!!!

If you have scheduled spine surgeries you will love working with this successful, compassionate & growing practice. This practice focuses on working as a team to best serve the patients. Use your experience to schedule spine surgeries for this busy practice and you will be appreciated by your team. Some of your duties will be to manage the surgery schedule by phone & in person, obtain medical records, provide appropriate forms to patients, coordinate office & surgery schedules on physicians' calendar, schedule pre & post-op appointments, work with medical records, plus other duties as needed. This practice is ready to hire. For more information, please visit www.executeam.com or email to alison@executeam.com

Residence Service Specialists - Multiple Openings

Be a part of giving back to the community! This position will require strong customer service skills and a real passion for working with and helping people. You will work with multiple programs and activities assigned to the Community Relations area of this company. You will work primarily with elderly clients who are already signed up for their programs; assisting with comprehensive training, resource, and referral programs, gearing clients toward self-sufficiency and upward mobility. For more information, please visit www.executeam.com or email to lindsey@executeam.com

Inside Sales Support-Direct Hire Opportunity

Work for a leading distributor and support up to 4 Outside salespeople. Maintain current customer accounts and help the outside sales force develop new ones with your excellent account management skills.

Job duties include: taking orders, tracking orders, and ensuring timely shipments. Work in sync with purchasing, planning, and warehouse to ensure the customer delivery process is on track with project deadlines. Maintain spreadsheets and handle correspondence.

What the company offers you: Accessible to 610 Loop near Medical Center area. Team environment and skill enhancement. Annual salary plus commission and great benefits! 980 schedule. Potential to earn $2K-$20K per year in commission!

Requirements: 8+ years inside sales experience. Effective listening, negotiation, verbal, and written communication skills. Accuracy and attention to detail. Multi-tasker, team-player. Proficiency in MS Word, Excel, and Outlook.

For more information, please visit www.executeam.com or email to lindsey@executeam.com

Friday, March 5, 2010

Top 5 Reasons Why Job Hunters Fail

Employers are being extraordinarily picky about whom they offer a job to. Recent US Labor Dept reports show that the number of people looking longer than 27 weeks has continued to grow each month during the last year. In this tough market, one slip-up on your resume, or goof at the interview, and you’re dead in the water. Many common mistakes can be avoided. I divide my time between talking to hiring executives, HR folks and working with job search clients. This gives me a very broad view of what people do that works, and what trips them up – often without realizing it.

To shorten your search length to re-employment, here are the top reasons job hunters fail.


Failure to quickly sell your accomplishments and results. Resumes get glanced at and rejected in 15 seconds or less. Generic job descriptions, vague, and unfocused resumes don’t work. Employers now complain that most applicants simply don’t have the skills to DO the job. The Internet’s ease of use and the job hunter’s ‘click and send’ mentality has added to this problem–increasing by the thousands the number of resumes received. This has made it very hard to get noticed.
Robin’s Success Tip: Take the Resume assessment quiz to determine if your resume will standout. Your resume needs to scream actions = results. Be specific and show where you saved money, made money, saved time or increased productivity. Use action verbs like streamlined, created, implemented — to show you’re a take-charge, get-the-job-done kind of person. Limit your resume to no more than 2 pages. When applying online always follow up by mailing a ‘hard copy’ resume – it doubles the chance of getting noticed.


Not writing a cover letter. Human resources managers state that cover letter writing is becoming a lost art since job hunters think they can skip this step especially when they apply electronically.
Robin’s Success Tip: A well-written cover letter has great power with employers and should always precede any resume sent. Simply make one document including both cover letter and resume. Open the letter with a powerful first paragraph that sums up your related experience, key strengths, skills and accomplishments you have to offer. Hiring managers continue to state that your cover letter demonstrates your communication skills and a well written one can capture the interview. Read more about improving your cover letters in Robin’s recent blog post.


Not knowing how to control the interview. Dressing inappropriately, wasting time on lengthy discussions of your life story, not appearing confident, not being well-informed about the company, and nervousness, gets you off to a bad start — a start from which you may never recover. Employers often make snap decisions and many confess that they often mentally dismiss a candidate during the first five minutes after meeting them.
Robin’s Success Tip: Immediately address the top strengths you have to offer, display enthusiasm for the job, show you have the potential to learn, grow and produce on the job. Start the interview in the best possible way: when the interviewer asks the, ‘Tell me about yourself’ question, forget an autobiography. Use the 60 Second Sell (outlined in Robin’s book+ audios 60 Seconds and You’re Hired). This technique has you analyze the job duties the employer wants accomplished, then select your top five selling points. Link these together into a few sentences and you’ve created your ‘verbal business card’.


Flustered or stumped by tough interview questions. Today’s job hunters seem quite unprepared when they finally get to meet an employer face to face. They haven’t thought out the some of the tougher typical questions, such as: why should we hire you or tell us about your worse boss or why did the company let you go and keep someone else? Hiring managers say candidates seem to lack self-confidence and fail to convince the interviewer they can do the job.
Robin’s Success Tip: Be ready for tough situational questions. This style of interviewing is prevalent. The interviewer probes to determine how you have performed in the past. Specific examples of past performance are required. These questions include: “Tell me about your worst boss.” “Describe a recent work mistake.” “What is your greatest weakness?” Do not torpedo your chances saying the first thing that comes to mind. Write out your answers to these kinds of questions before the interview. Try to put a positive spin on the experience. Say nothing degrading or negative about your former boss or company. Practice your answers making good eye contact to more effectively display confidence during the interview.


Not asking intelligent questions. Hiring managers complain that all the candidate cares about is how much we’ll pay them, do we offer medical, and often insist they want more vacation – all in the first interview. Other candidate often search for something to ask – seeming spacey or uninterested – this comes across poorly.
Robin’s Success Tip: Most employers listen intently to the questions you ask as a sign of how you’d think, and act, on the job. Impress the employer with good probing questions about job duties and management styles. That’s the best way for you to determine if you really want to work for the company. Avoid asking questions about salary or benefits. There’s plenty of time to secure a higher salary after you’ve been chosen for the job. Good questions to ask include: “Could you describe to me your management style?” “Where are your major concerns that need to be immediately addressed in this job?” “How have or do any budget cuts effect the department?”

- Robin Ryan

Robin Ryan is a bestselling author of 60 Seconds & You’re Hired!; Winning Resumes; and Winning Cover Letters Over 40 & You’re Hired; Soaring On Your Strengths; and What to Do with the Rest of Your Life. Robin has a busy career counseling practice providing individual job search services, resume writing and interview coaching to clients nationwide. Robin Ryan has appeared on over 1000 TV and radio shows including: Oprah, Dr. Phil, Fox News, and CNN. Find more job search help at: www.RobinRyan.com.

From www.net-temps.com

Monday, March 1, 2010

Asking Good Questions

Asking good questions while being interviewed can make your interview more effective.

Dear Joan:

I am a teacher and I share with my students many of the ideas you bring up in your columns. My son is graduating from college this Spring with a Math Major and Accounting Degree. We have read that companies like it when you come to them prepared with questions to ask them. We would like to know what kind of questions would you ask to companies that are interviewing you? What specifics or long range things would you want to know besides salary, benefits and job opportunities? Could you please direct us to areas to find questions or give us some ideas of the kinds of questions a 22-year old college graduate would or should be asking?

Answer:

It always astonishes me that job hunters don’t prepare more thoroughly for interviews. While I can understand that new grads are inexperienced and don’t really know what to ask, I can’t understand why experienced candidates will go to all the trouble to get every word on the resume nailed but won’t take the time when it really matters—the interview. It’s their one shot at selling themselves, and it’s the only time they can ask questions about where they may end up spending years of their lives. Go figure.

It sounds as if your son will have a leg up on his competition. Here are some questions that are suited for young and old alike:

Prepare questions in several categories and ask them early-- and throughout-- the interview. That way, you will find out valuable information as you go. You will be able to tailor your responses and illustrate examples that fit the job.


Questions about the job
Questions about the company
Questions about the manager and coworkers
Questions about the customer (internal and/or external)
The Job


How would you define success in this position after six months? (You may hit a hot button that will give you more free information that you can use to sell yourself.)

What are the most important skills and abilities that a person would need in this job to be successful? (If you possess any of these skills, be ready with examples to prove it.)

What is the toughest challenge in this position, in your opinion? (Listen closely for the downsides. If you have strengths that will overcome these obstacles, be ready to illustrate how you’ve used them to your advantage in the past.)

What happened to the person who had this job before? (If the person was promoted, or fired, ask why.)
The Company

Check out the company online and prepare some specific questions:


I see that you have recently merged with ACME. How will this affect your department?

I noticed that the company sells widgets in South America. I speak Spanish. Would that be something that I could use in this job? (Ask questions that position you to sell yourself.)

How would you describe your corporate culture?
The Manager and Coworkers


How would you describe your management style?

What are your pet peeves?

How would you describe the coworkers this person would work with? Did anyone on the team apply for the job? Are there any problems on the team?
Internal/External Customers


Which departments will this person have the most interaction with?

Are there any issues between departments that you would like this person to work on?

(If you are a final candidate) Will I have an opportunity to talk with someone who does this job/or someone with whom this person interacts?
-Joan Lloyd

Joan Lloyd has a solid track record of excellent results. Her firm, Joan Lloyd & Associates, specializes in leadership development, organizational change and teambuilding. This includes executive coaching, 360-degree feedback processes, customized leadership training, conflict resolution between teams or individuals, internal consulting skills training for HR professionals and retreat facilitation. Clients report results such as: behavior change in leaders, improved team performance and a more committed workforce.

Joan Lloyd has earned her C.S.P. (certified speaking professional) designation from the National Speakers Association and speaks to corporate audiences, as well as trade & professional associations across the country. Reach her at (800) 348-1944, mailto:info@joanlloyd.com, or www.JoanLloyd.com

From www.net-temps.com