Odd jobs

Posted on February 7, 2012
Filed Under Career Change, Employment, Finding a Job | Leave a Comment

Before I start, allow me to draw a distinction. What I intend to talk about are not “odd jobs”— shorthand for irregular, perhaps short-term work. Rather, I want to talk about odd jobs. Have you ever watched the television show Dirty Jobs? Although I realize the intention of the show is to showcase jobs which, literally, require that one get down and “dirty,” what I enjoy most about the show is, in fact, the variation of jobs it highlights. Jobs you’d never known existed. Elephant nose-hair clipper. Human penguin. While neither of those aforementioned jobs exist (to my knowledge), I think they capture the spirit of Dirty Jobs nicely—a show which brings attention to some of the more odd and peculiar elements comprising America’s job-scape. And despite the name and its focus, I think what’s driving Mike Rowe, the show’s host, are venerable, almost democratic intentions: the show is as much about people who get dirty at work as a vehicle through which Rowe is able to examine, first-hand, the bowels (no pun intended) of Western society and reveal each and every single gear that helps to power the Modern Age. Keeping this in mind, Rowe’s object is to show—in the same way that a documentarian might—how each gear (every job in America’s job-scape), from investment banker to zoo keeper, is equal and ultimately works toward the same goal. The philosophy driving Dirty Jobs aside, I, like a lot of people (I think), am interested in odd, uncommon jobs. Not because of what they may speak to, but because of their novelty. Thus, TheWorkBuzz must have had me in mind when it recently published its list of “least common jobs in America.” Read more

Saying goodbye to the resume, RIP

Posted on January 31, 2012
Filed Under Career Change, Cover Letters and Resumes, Employment, Finding a Job, Social Network | Leave a Comment

It’s the last vestige of our antiquated, analogue past. A symbol of a bygone era. Putting it in really dramatic terms, it’s the last, remaining remnant of an Ancien Régime. You know, Ancien Régime: the old French socio-political order that was upturned by the French revolution. Although “Ancien Régime” may seem like a rather obscure bit of language to folks who have yet to be pulled in French history’s mystical gravity, Ancien Régime is a phrase that has come to embody a very peculiar idea relating to the collapse of an old, established regime—a changing of the guard, if you will, but on a paradigmatic scale. In this context, I am using this term as a way of conveying the seismic shift taking place in the world of hiring, or, Western life in general. How a new establishment—way of thinking—characterized by attaching a lowercase ”i” random nouns, e.g. iPotato, digitization, and (what some might call) digital escapism, has come to replace vestiges of the pre-Information Age: handwritten letters, vinyl records, hardback books, and yes, the almighty resume. The resume, has remained the thing connecting the hiring process of the not-to-distant past from our present. Read more

Who’s hiring? 2012 edition

Posted on January 23, 2012
Filed Under Career Change, Employment, Finding a Job, Hiring Forecast | Leave a Comment

As assured as the earth will make one full turn on its axis every “day,” so too is the publication of “Who’s hiring” lists and “our labor market in review” articles at the outset of every New Year. Each New Year, virtually everyone with a horse in the “jobs” game—from blogs, to multinational corporations, like CareerBuilder, has a list to share. Publishing these lists have become somewhat of a tradition here at the Career Services Blog (after all, who doesn’t want to know who’s hiring?). With that in mind, I have posted the top 5 employers who are hiring in 2012 from a list recently published on CareerBuilder’s blog TheWorkBuzz, and, just for some contrast, the top 5 jobs that “died” in 2011, according to Monster. In addition, Forbes recently published a rather short, yet (what I consider to be) clear-eyed assessment of what 2012 may bring for American labor markets. Read more

How to tell job spam from job offers

Posted on January 20, 2012
Filed Under Career Change, Employment, Finding a Job, First Job | Leave a Comment

When I first graduated with my master’s I posted my resume everywhere. I saw my job search as a numbers game. Hedge funds “hedge” themselves, spreading their investments out much in the same manner a gambler playing roulette might place a chip on each number (and multiple chips on numbers promising better odds), guaranteeing a return. I approached my job search with a hedge fund mentality. I posted my resume on every square inch of online real estate available to me- every job search engine and career site available. Read more

Resolutions for your career health, part II

Posted on January 5, 2012
Filed Under Career Change, Employment, Finding a Job, Hiring Forecast, Networking, Promotion, Technology in the Workplace, The Workplace | Leave a Comment

By Courtney Sprague, Guest Contributor

While continuing with your 2012 career resolutions, these last suggestions are intended to aid you with your job search. Hopefully, these suggestions you will help you conduct a more seamless and manageable job search. It is also important to remember that searching for a job can be a full-time job, so using these few resolutions may save you time and frustration.

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