Is It Time To Get A Career Change?

July 1st, 2008

An article going through the steps of changing jobs.

A change in a career is very important. It is almost unimaginable that someone will have a career without a change throughout one’s life until retirement age comes.

Thus, more and more individuals are looking for career change jobs that will reinvigorate them and bring back their job interest. This is a bid to break away the monotony of one’s work and at the same time, go hunting for better and bigger prospects. At present, the unusually high turnover rates are proof of the fact that numerous individuals opt for career change jobs.

In the average working time of an individual, there are more than one career changes. Chances are really low that you will stick to the same job all through. A change in your job is very important for a dynamic career.

Given below are certain tips that will help you go ahead with career change jobs and choose jobs that offer you more:

1. Don’t use money as your prime motivator to change jobs.

Do not let money be the dominating factor behind your leaving a job. If you really want a rise, try and ask your boss first. He or she might even be willing to retain you by offering you more money. However, if you need a raise and the boss doesn’t give in even after much requesting, you need to look for a new job. There are many individuals who do not appreciate asking and begging for raises and prefer to go out there and seek a new job that offers them more. In that case, you can always go for a recruiter who will help you negotiate the amount that you will be paid by the new company and the benefits that you will be given.

2. Don’t let others take control of your career.

When it comes to choosing a career, do not follow what others say. Even if your father, mother, sister and wife all tell you to go a certain way, do not go there unless and until you are absolutely sure that you will be yourself satisfied with career change jobs. You can only take the advice of all the people who care about you and all but remember that at the end of the day you have to do the job and thus, it is your comfort level and involvement with the job that matters.

3. Don’t expect to snap your fingers and see your new career magically appear overnight.

Remember that when you undergo a career job change, it can turn out to be a fairly long process and take some time. You need to ensure that you do not get anxious and tensed about getting the job. Getting hold of perfect career change jobs can be time consuming, but hold your horses and remain calm and you will see that it is also very rewarding and satisfying at the end of the day if you actually manage to get your dream job!

Creating The Right Resume For The Right Job

July 1st, 2008

So you’ve recently started searching for jobs in your field and have discovered an opening that matches your qualifications and career goals to a tee. The only problem is that you’re not sure how to create a specific resume for this job.

Don’t be discouraged if you feel this way. In all honesty, you are probably already one step ahead of those who believe that updating a resume is accomplished by adding the most recent employment/school/skill information where appropriate, saving the changes, and sending it on its way. Of course, you’ll need to dig deeper to create a great job-specific resume. So let’s look at a few ways you can get this done.

Study the Job Posting for Keywords

One great way to make the prospective employer feel that you are truly qualified for the position is by studying their job posting. By doing this you can find company-specific skills, job titles, jargon, certifications, and other keywords to be included in your resume.

For example, if you are applying for a position in healthcare, you might notice words like “imaging” and “pharma” show up in the job posting. It is a good idea to add these and other relevant words to your resume because they apply widely to the field. Likewise, if you’re in marketing, you might find words like “branding,” “campaigns,” and “trade shows” within the posting. These are also relevant and can be included to populate your resume with great keywords.

Visit the Company’s Website

Once you’ve studied the job posting for relevant keywords to use in your resume, it is a good idea to visit the company’s website. There you can learn even more about how the company’s goals can fit in with your specific career goals.

Some important information to look for on the website includes the company’s values, mission statement, and even their organizational culture. This information can help you better describe who you are, what you’re looking for, and how you think you can enhance their business with your skills and personality.

Strategically Combine Action Words and Keywords

Using action words in your job-specific resume is just as important as incorporating the keywords you’ve found through the job posting and website. In fact, the action words and keywords work together in your resume to create a picture of the type of employee you are likely to be.

For example, if you were responsible for the success of a major ad campaign at your previous employer then try to describe it by saying that you “developed and executed an intense 9-month ad campaign with the marketing team that resulted in a $1.2 million year-end profit increase.” The action words in this example were “developed” and “executed” and the keywords were “ad campaign” and “marketing team.” Using these action words along with others like created, planned, organized, recommended, advised, and trained – and of course your relevant keywords – will help you write a great job-specific resume.

Creating the right resume for the right job can result in you securing the position of your dreams. So take your time, do your research, and most importantly, have a good time writing a great job-specific resume.

The Roles And Duties Of The Bail Bondsman In The Criminal Justice Field

July 1st, 2008

A bail bondsman (also known as a bail bonds agent) provides services to criminal defendants by guaranteeing payment of the defendant’s bond to the court. Sometimes a court will release a defendant from jail if he or she can afford the requested bail amount set by the court.

However, many defendants cannot afford this amount so the defendant’s family contacts a bail bondsman to assist with the payment. If a bail bondsman chooses to render services on the defendant’s behalf, the family usually pays a premium of the total bail amount and/or signs over a lien on personal property.

So, if you are considering becoming a bail bondsman in the criminal justice field, there are few roles and duties that you will have to perform. In this article I discuss those roles and duties.

The bail bondsman’s primary duty is to guarantee full payment of the defendant’s bond to the court, if the defendant fails to show up for court appearances and/or the trial. Since a bail bondsman can lose a lot of money if the defendant doesn’t show up to court, he or she usually requires the defendant’s family to pay 10% of the total bail amount, plus sign over a lien on personal belongings. In addition to the 10 % premium, there may be an additional service fee (which can be several hundred dollars).

For example, if the court sets bail at $5,000, the defendant pays the bail bondsman $500 (10% of the total bail amount). And if the defendant appears in court on the scheduled court date, the bail bondsman does not pay the court anything.

The bail bondsman verifies the defendant’s background and criminal record to determine if he or she is a risk of not showing up for court dates. Many bail bondsman companies have very strict rules and they will not provide a financial guarantee for everyone.

The bail bondsman may also request that the defendant’s family sign over a lien to personal property, just in case the defendant misses the court date. Items that usually qualify as personal property include houses, land, vehicles, jewelry or other assets.

The bail bondsman completes paperwork on the bail bond and maintains a copy of the record in his or her office. It is important that the paperwork is accurate and complete because copies are submitted to the court and everything must be correct on each form.

The bail bondsman works extremely fast to get the defendant out of jail. However, it might actually take a few hours before the defendant is released on bond because of all of the paperwork and procedures that are involved in the process. After the judge releases the defendant, he or she is free to go, but the defendant must agree to return to court on the designated court date.

As you can see, a bail bondsman has very important roles in the criminal justice field. He or she is responsible for performing several main roles and duties for the defendants and for the courts as well. If you are interested in this career, I urge you to do more research online. You can do so by visiting websites which cover the profession in more detail.

You Can Be A Success At Work

July 1st, 2008

It can be difficult when you put everything that you have into your job and you feel like you are continually passed up for promotions. When you watch everyone around you climbing the ladder to the top and you’re standing at the bottom looking up, it can be daunting, but it doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. Many of us are never successful at work because we develop a poor attitude about the job and our ability to be a success there. When you stop believing in yourself, you stop having the potential to be a success. If you want to succeed you need to believe in yourself! You can gain self-confidence and success by utilizing your very own success affirmations.

Success affirmations are simply statements that describe how you want to think, feel and live. The stronger you believe in these statements the more power they have to help you change your life. If you want to be a success at work, you simply need to develop your own or take advantage of the vast libraries of free positive affirmations online and apply them to your life. Many people start each day by reciting the success affirmations that speak to them and this helps them to believe in themselves. When you use success affirmations you’ll stop being the victim or pitying yourself and you’ll start seeing that you are capable of climbing that ladder to professional success.

Using Success Affirmations to Boost Your Success

You can become successful in your career by using success affirmations because you will gain a more positive outlook about your role in the workplace and how you can extract more passion from the job. When you have more faith in yourself and your abilities, everyone around you will sense this and they will follow your way of thinking. It is amazing how much power seemingly simple free positive affirmations have, but when you harness this power and make it yours, you can do just about anything that you put your mind to.

Success affirmations essentially help you to do away with all of the negativity that surrounds you. Much of this negativity is probably self created and when you start believing in and using these success affirmations on a regular basis you will become a much more positive person with more positive energy and you will attract the same kind of energy through more fruitful relationships and partnerships. Free positive affirmations simply help you change the way you think by believing in what you want to be. And once you believe, your sub-conscious mind works behind the scenes to make it happen.

Will success affirmations work some sort of miracle? No, you have to have the desire to change. The more you believe in the success affirmations that you use, the more successful you will be. It is a daily struggle to realize your success affirmations and ward off the negative thoughts, but you’ll find in time that it becomes easier to live the life that you want, which includes being successful in the work place. When you value what you can bring to the table everyone around you will, too. When people value you, you’ll move to the head of the line for those promotions you were sure would never be yours.

Freelance Writing: Work At Home & Make Money

July 1st, 2008

Freelance writing is by far the most lucrative and profitable job online, and will be for many years to come.”

If you’re searching for a serious work at home job that will truly increase your earning potential, then you must take a closer look at becoming a freelance writer. The demand is at an all time high for writers and you can cash in on it.

Let me get straight to the point. The Internet is made up of millions of pages of information. Articles, blogs, sales letters, etc… are needed on an ongoing basis to feed hungry Internet surfers, craving more and more information all over the world. And there’s just not enough writers to keep up with the HUGE demand for original content.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you can write or atleast have the desire to learn how to write, you can earn a very lucrative income writing content at home for websites, newsletters, and any other assignments a company might be needing.

Every day there are thousands of new websites put onto the Internet. All will be needing to add quality content to each page of their sites. Even if you forget about the new websites, you will still be left with millions of already growing websites that need to create new and fresh information. There simply will never be an end to the need for new, fresh website content. And there are webmasters that will pay you top dollar to write one or many articles to be placed on their site.

The job of a freelance writer is not hard to do. You can work your own hours and the job is flexible enough for you to easily fit it in when it is comfortable for you.

Pay is based on the assignment and quality of work you do. In the beginning you might earn anywhere from $10 - $25 per job. But as your writing improves and your reputation spreads, you could possibly demand $80+ per job. It is not unheard of for a professional writer to receive $500-$1,000+ per job. Some sales copywriters even demand royalties for their jobs, where they earn based on the amount of product their letter or article sells.

Why is this a perfect work at home job? Because it isn’t a job, it’s a career. With the proper information you can become a professional sought after freelance writer. You will be able to set your own hours, pick your jobs, and set your own pay. And you don’t have to wait years for this to take off. There are webmasters that will pay you right now to write for them.

Still not convinced? Well let me first say… “What’s your PROBLEM!” Freelance writing is a recession proof work at home job. You will never be laid off. You won’t have to worry about co-workers and bosses. This is a work at home job that will put money in your bank account no matter where you are in the world. You can sit on a beach in hawaii and shoot out a quick writing job and make $100. What other job can offer you that?

Now there are many, many ways to get started with freelance writing. Some work better than others and some are going to get you to the top quicker than others.

Before you jump in and start writing for companies, you will need to have an idea of what a freelance writer is. You will need to know what the companies expect from your work. And last but not least, you will need to know what to charge for the jobs that you do.

I have found EasyWritingBiz to be the best resource for getting started in the career of freelance writing. It clearly explains the job of a freelance writer and every aspect of it.

In no time, you’ll have top companies contacting you to write for them.

Career Reinvention

July 1st, 2008

There are times in everyone’s career that you feel like running away and starting all over again, and I’m here to say that you can do it!

I’ve reinvented my career five times including being a disc jockey in radio, public relations director in professional sports, community relations director in television, regional marketing manager in finance, and now I’m a global technical project manager in high tech.

If you’d like to change careers but worried that your salary would decrease, take comfort in knowing that each time I changed careers I received a pay increase!

Reinventing your career means repackaging your skills, qualifications and accomplishments so that you can transition into a new job role, company or industry. Here are five steps to help you transition into a new career more quickly, easily and maybe even with a higher salary!

1. Where’s your passion? The first step is to identify where you want to go. In which industry would you like to work? Advertising? Finance? Health Care? When I wanted to stop being a disc jockey, I knew that I wanted to go into television. And after a successful career in television, I then set my sights on getting into Corporate America. I wasn’t sure what kind of job role I wanted (or could get!), but the first step was determining the industry where I wanted to work.

If you’re not sure where you want to go (just that where you are now is definitely the wrong place!) then read trade magazines, industry publications and classified ads in your local newspaper. Visit a bookstore and browse through books and magazines to see what grabs your attention. The key is to figure out what lights your fire and inspires you.

2. What are your transferable skills? These are skills that transition from industry to industry, or from job role to job role. Examples include: managing projects, teams, clients or budgets, as well as negotiating contracts, or proposing and implementing ideas that generate money, save money, or help the company be more competitive.

Other transferable skills include personal characteristics such as demonstrating leadership or risk taking, training or mentoring team members, being goal driven, results oriented, a problem solver, or having the ability to influence senior managers. These are great skills to have, and they transfer from industry to industry. All kinds of industries and companies value employees with these types of skills and characteristics.

3. Matching your transferable skills to job roles. Read job descriptions posted on-line at CareerJournal, CareerBuilder and Monster, as well as the classified ads in industry magazines, trade journals, and local newspapers. If you want to work for a specific company then check out their website’s on-line job postings. Learn the skills and qualifications required for various job roles.

Match your transferable skills to those jobs you want to go after. If there’s a gap between the required skills and the skills that you currently have, then look for ways to gain that experience such as taking on an extended assignment in your current job, freelancing, consulting, or even volunteering.

Also, attend industry conferences, trade shows, business networking events and association meetings. Talk to people who work in the industry to learn about their career path, responsibilities, and advice for how to break into the business.

4. Blow up your resume. The first thing I always did before I transitioned into a new career was blow up my resume. Trying to piece together a resume that highlighted the skills I used to get my last job with the skills I need to land my next job is like trying to weld together Lexus parts on a BMW. It doesn’t work. You need a brand new resume.

Showcase only those jobs, responsibilities and successes that relate to the job you want. The hiring manager doesn’t care about every job you’ve ever had. They just want to know, Can you do their job? You may also want to get a professional resume critique to help you customize your resume and identify your transferable skills.

5. Attitude is the key ingredient! I’ve found that getting a new job really boils down to two things: confidence and passion. I’ve never walked into an interview having met all of the job requirements. In fact, for the television interview, I lacked the two biggest requirements which were a minimum of two years experience in television, and a tape to show my TV work.

To compensate, I focused on my transferable skills which were being highly creative and a solid copywriter. That got my foot in the door for the interview. But to get the job offer and beat out the other 4 job candidates, I was passionate about the company and the job! I also told the hiring manager that I absolutely knew that I could do the job!

There’s a kind of quiet confidence that we all have down deep inside. A confidence that comes from knowing what we’re capable of doing. When you transition into a new job role or a new company, you need to show the hiring manager that you have confidence in yourself and know that you’ll be successful in the job. When it comes to reinventing your career, it’s not just your talent but your attitude that counts!

How To Use Employment Agencies To Find A Job Super Fast

July 1st, 2008

If you’ve ever been unemployed and had to search for a new job, you know that the search for a new job is a job in itself. To maximize your time and resources and find a new job as quickly as possible, you could really use some help. After admitting you need help finding a job, you need to know where to get that help and how to apply it in the most useful way. The best way to do this is to get help is from employment agencies.

Employment agencies possess many different tittles, but they all have the same goal - to get you a job. Some people are afraid to use employment agencies because they think they are getting scammed somehow. The truth is you don’t have to worry about getting “ripped off” by these companies because they don’t make money until you do. Once the agency finds you a job they get a percentage of what your income will be so they will be working their hardest to find you a job with the highest paying income possible.

Employment agencies can also go by Staffing Agencies, Staffing Companies, Personnel Agencies, Temporary Employment Agencies, Recruiters, Recruiter Agencies, Employment Placement Agencies, etc. Remember: although some employment agencies title themselves as “Temporary Employment” they also have full time jobs that they need to fill, so don’t rule out agencies that use this term. Some companies are going to start you off in a temporary job and move you forward as they see how reliable you are (this is also known as TEMP - TO - PERM), so don’t blow off a job just because they offer you a job that starts out as “temporary”

Just one agency typically has 4-5 people assisting you in finding work. Every day, this group of people calls their clients telling them what an astounding employee you will be and tells them about all the skills you have to offer for their company. If the company is interested, then your agency sets up a face-to-face interview for you. At this point, it’s your turn to make sure you impress the employer and don’t make a liar out of the agency. You can see how much one agency can assist you in finding a job super fast, so, you need as many agencies as possible helping you. The more people there are assisting you, the faster you can find the job you want.

Now the ball is in your court. Every day, you need to send out a 100 resumes a day to 100 employment agencies. Can’t find that many employment agencies? Start with the local yellow pages and find every employment agency you can. This includes agencies from any place offering any type of work. Even if it’s in a different industry or out of your preferred area, the agency may like what they see and recommend you to other agencies or companies.

By the end of the week, you can have 2,000+ people working just to find you work. If you don’t have a job by then, it is just like washing your hair - you have to repeat. Send out 100 resumes to 100 employment agencies a day until you have a job. Keep sending your resume out until an agency or company says there interested or simply says “STOP SENDING US YOUR RESUME”. No matter what, keep sending out your resume until you get a response. Persistence and perseverance is the key.

How To Avoid Laundry List Resumes

July 1st, 2008

The process of writing a resume can be very tedious. There are often so many jobs and responsibilities to include that many people find themselves wanting to create the simplest one possible just to avoid the grunt work.

But while creating a resume that resembles a laundry list of previous jobs and duties can be tempting, it is strongly discouraged. This is because it only offers prospective employers a vague sense of what you’ve accomplished and how you can benefit their company. So how can you avoid creating this type of resume? Here are a few ideas …

Refrain from Using Duty-Oriented Phrases

One practice that commonly leads people toward creating the laundry list resume is the use of duty-oriented phrases. Some of these phrases might include “responsible for” or “duties included.” In your resume it is important that you give the prospective employer an understanding of what you’ve accomplished in the past, but by using duty-oriented phrases you only offer what you should/could have accomplished.

To avoid this issue, you can use more descriptive action words like assisted, collaborated, designed, launched, marketed, guided, edited, researched, and composed. Using these words helps to illustrate an accurate picture of your accomplishments; something the prospective employer needs to see in order to determine how qualified you are for the job.

Go Into More Depth – Focus on Your Achievements

Another great way to sidestep the laundry list resume is by taking time to focus more specifically on your achievements at previous jobs. This means not just mentioning that you were “responsible for organizing several marketing campaigns.” This type of description doesn’t tell the employer anything specific about your accomplishments. So instead, try going into more depth about those campaigns.

For example, you can say that you “developed and executed three marketing campaigns that included branding pharmaceutical products, creating ads, and coordinating a 15-member staff to participate in corporate trade shows over a 12-month period.” This description offers specific details about your achievement and helps the prospective employer understand exactly how you can be an asset to their company.

Remember That You’re Marketing Yourself

It’s always a good idea to remember that your resume has a purpose, which is to market your skills in an effort to acquire a specific job. So if you had to put yourself in the shoes of the prospective employer, what would you want them to know about you? What might appeal to their interests and make them want to learn more?

You want to let this employer know that you are not just eager to acquire the job, but that you would truly be an asset to the company. Set aside some time to think about how you are qualified for the job. Then carefully illustrate them with your words so that your passion for the position is clearly recognized.

By veering away from the laundry list resume and digging deeper to focus on specific accomplishments, you can better market your skills and abilities. So take your time, think about how you can benefit the company you want to work for, and write a resume that will help you land the job of your dreams.

The Roles And Duties Of The Crime Analyst In The Criminal Justice Field

July 1st, 2008

A crime analyst is as important to the criminal justice field as the police officers who make the arrest. This profession is one of the most interesting and intriguing fields of study that is available. If you think you would be interested in becoming one, read on to find out just how exciting and fulfilling this position can be.

This analyzer of crimes performs many roles and duties. In this article, I will discuss those roles and duties. In no order of importance, they are:

1. The crime analyst is available for law enforcement to detect patterns in crimes so they can be linked with other crimes of the same pattern. This may tell law enforcement officers that this particular crime is being committed by the same person.
In addition to detecting patterns, they may be able to see a trend that will stop this offender from committing other crimes.

2. Crime analysts use another research tool in searching for known offenders when faced with crimes of a certain nature, such as child molesters. Every long term criminal has certain aspects that are attributed to the crimes he or she commits. This is called the modus operandi.

When a crime is committed using a certain modus operandi, the first person the analyst will look at is the criminal who uses this method. This will allow police officers to question this person as to their whereabouts when the crime they are investigating was committed.

3. The analyst also investigates and distributes information they may uncover about trends in crimes. This allows police officers to use their resources to come up with solutions to certain problems. When the analyst and the police officers work together, the apprehension of criminals is much more likely.

4. In addition to searching for criminals, the crime analyst will generate reports for the police agency on how well their system is working. How many man hours the department is using, an analysis of all the complaints communicated to police officers is analyzed and prepared as a report for the appropriate agency.

5. Generating reports on how the police activity will rise or fall with the future is another job that crime analysts perform. This enables law enforcement agencies to prepare for the future. If the prediction is that crime will rise, then the agency must look into hiring more police officers.

6. Community surveys on certain matters have to be analyzed and reports filed with the appropriate department. The police department on a whole depends on the analyst to detect and predict a host of information to help them do their job.

As you can see, the crime analyst performs a lot of roles and duties when it comes to crime prevention, apprehension, and implementation. The position is one of the most interesting in the criminal justice field. There are many more responsibilities that are undertaken by crime analyst. It is difficult for me to cover them all in this short article.

If you think this is the profession for you, check out internet websites that cover the profession in more detail. This will help you gain a full understanding of the profession.

Become A Lecturer By Getting Your Job In India

July 1st, 2008

Lecturer jobs are one of the most interesting jobs that some people show great interest. While reading most of the career articles, they explain about Lecturer jobs in their discussion. Most of them really feel proud to be a lecturer, as they train students in every aspect of becoming a successful person in their career. While considering, no one can achieve far-renowned success without a right basement of training from a trainer. A lecturer job is one, where you train your students about the fruit of hardwork and positive mode of lively acceptance. Also, Lecturer will get a chance to have a friendly relationship with the students and thereby make the students motivate and pat-up in their everyday assignment.

Lecturers can enjoy the pleasure of training their students and make them involve in all physical workouts. With the improved progress in educational standards, you can find plenty of junior college and college that has given its venture in India. You can find good openings in all colleges including engineering, arts and science colleges. Basically, joining as a lecturer is not merely simple, as you are going to take the biggest responsibility of training the young chaps in their curriculum activities. You must be really cognitive with smart knowledge. Only so, you can dearly assist the students in clearing of their queries and make them pooled with knowledge.

Getting the best Lecturer jobs in India will give you good and decent payment too. Instead of hanging out and working in pressurized circumstances, Lecturer jobs will give peace of mind and gives the utmost job satisfaction by training the students to become masters. When you come through quite several career articles, you can get to know the qualifications required to join as a Lecturer in a reputed college. As known well, a lecturer is completely responsible to bestow the right part of education. A good command in communicative English, in-depth subject knowledge in their chosen subject such as botany, zoology, mathematics, physics, engineering subjects or anything is greatly required to take over a designation as Lecturer.

When considering the job openings, you can find plenty of jobs in India. While you go through quite several job articles, you could foresee the openings in top colleges. Most of the top universities and colleges will dearly look ahead for lecturers with good stuff in their subjects. They look for a professional degree and if you have completed your doctorate in your subject, it will be an added plus to join any top colleges that offers good pay!