Want to Find and Contact Recruiters? Try These 5 Techniques

by Laura SmithProulx If you're conducting an active job hunt, you're probably aware that working with a recruiter can be an effective method for your search. However, finding a recruiter that specializes in your field can be a daunting prospect. Where should you look? How do you know what to expect? And what precisely should you be prepared to provide? Finding and effectively collaborating with recruiters is mostly a matter of sharpening your networking skills (which is a good idea during any phase of a job search!). Read on for some ways to expand your options and locate key professional recruiting contacts that may also be looking for YOUR expertise: 1 - Avail yourself of professional organizations in your industry. These associations can be a boon to the active job hunter, as they frequently offer job postings, member networking events, and other resources that can help you tap into unadvertised positions. Recruiters who source candidates from a particular industry will often attend professional association meetings. Where allowed, recruiters may introduce themselves with the idea to stay in touch, although most won't solicit members directly. If you don't attend association meetings, there's never been a better time to start. Perform an Internet search for organizations in your industry, and attend some of their events in order to familiarize yourself with potential new resources for your transitions. 2 - Consider automating part of your search. Recruiter distribution services abound on the Internet and elsewhere. What do they offer? For most, this is a combination of fast access to recruiters, plus ease of use. When evaluating different distribution services (such as ResumeRabbit, ResumeMachine, Resume Zapper, and ResumePromotion), be sure to compare distribution coverage (as in the number of major metropolitan areas), plus the number of recruiters that the service claims to have in their network. Two caveats should be mentioned in conjunction with resume distribution: first, not all recruiters appreciate receiving an emailed resume, and may not respond, and second, if your resume isn't a fit for current openings, you may not receive the same level of personal consideration had you contacted the recruiter personally. In addition, if you aren't a great candidate for the requirements of the market, distributing your resume to recruiters won't increase your chances of success. However, in terms of time savings, this type of mass distribution can definitely cut some corners. 3 - Use online social networks to find additional contacts. This method also allows you to view recruiter qualifications and specializations. For example, if you're concentrating on getting out of the mortgage industry, contacting a recruiter who works exclusively with technical sales professionals would not be a fit. Conversely, most recruiters who maintain profiles on LinkedIn or other social networking sites will delineate what they are looking for in a candidate, and this can save you some time. 4 - Build your own online profile to make it easy for recruiters to find YOU. If you don't already maintain your own LinkedIn profile, this is a great time to jump on board. Visit www.LinkedIn.com to build an online presence, add connections from your email address book, and start looking around to see what else is offered, including plenty of job postings and professional advice. 5 - Send a brief query that indicates your interest, and then follow up. After you've identified recruiters that specialize in your field, it's best to attach a resume for perusal, or point to your online profile to give the recruiter more information. Follow up with a phone call to gauge the level of interest and start building a relationship. I recommend sending out a short, pointed letter of inquiry, rather than a wordy description of your skills. Recruiters are by definition quite busy, and they'll appreciate your brevity. To summarize, finding recruiters takes the same type of activity that you would typically engage in for a job search. Be prepared, just as you would be to approach an employer, to review your goals in some detail and decide if there's a collaborative fit. A unique resume authority on executive and IT career search, with experience as a former corporate recruiter, Laura Smith-Proulx, CCMC, CPRW, CIC of An Expert Resume has attained a 98% success rate winning interviews. Visit An Expert Resume to get Laura's FREE E-Course, "The 7 Biggest Resume Mistakes That Can Keep You From Your Dream Job… and How to Avoid Them." Article Source: ArticleRich.com

Professional Personal Development - What is it?

by Robin Chandler We think the term 'training' is too restrictive, and we only use it because that is the context within which many organisations can understand what we do. But whether you call it people skills training, interpersonal skills training, soft skills training or professional personal development, what we're talking about is people changing what they do in order to be more effective, more able and quite simply, happier at their job and in their personal lives. What we do know is that people take on new behaviours best when there is a parallel shift in their personal development. Interpersonal skills aren't just something you use at the workplace and then leave at the office when you go home. The whole person is what's important, and any programme Impact Factory creates has stuff in it that people can use in all aspects of their lives. Individuals need to be skilled in what they can do to positively affect the outcome of any kind of communication. This is true if the communication is a presentation to 500 people, an annual review with a staff member, the initiation of new work practices - indeed anything that requires one person to be in communication with others. In the simplest terms, being able to communicate effectively means relating well to other people. It means being able to listen and really hear what others are saying. Part of being a good listener is knowing how to respond without stonewalling or hijacking other people's ideas. It also means being able to convey information, feedback and requests clearly and directly, give appropriate levels of praise and advice and take responsibility for making sure things are understood. This means that people must be able and willing to deal with conflict and confrontation. Conflict resolution can be effectively achieved by negotiating what is known as 'win/win' solutions. There is not one 'right' way to communicate, but there are certainly many 'wrong' ones. Impact Factory's development work concentrates on what's already working about an individual's interpersonal skills and developing that. Gaining insight and awareness about the effect they have on others, coupled with developing specific tools and techniques for managing people, puts people more in charge of the communication process. So why do we need it? There have been changes in every sector where people are being asked to do more and take on more responsibility, often with less support than ever before. As a direct result of these kinds of pressures, dealing with difficult people or situations can be more problematic. Time constraints, deadline constraints and fewer people to do more work, means that communication may suffer, conflicts stay unresolved, dissatisfaction fester, tempers get frayed and inefficiency become more prevalent. On top of that, there is an insidious assumption that if you are good at what you do - professionally - then you will be, ipso facto, a good manager, communicator, delegator, etc. That simply isn't true. We see this across all business sectors: people who are highly capable in their jobs but are far less adept at dealing with other people. Conflict arises because not only does the organisation assume that if you're good in one aspect of the job you'll be good in all, but you yourself may feel you already 'ought' - by dint of your position - to be able to handle difficult situations and therefore, won't ask for the support and training you need. Some organisations have such issues well in hand and have the kind of company culture in place that supports peoples' development. More often than not, however, organisations ignore or sideline these issues with the outcome that communication suffers and morale gets worse. Yet if employees are motivated, confident, communicating well and resolving differences; if they are being acknowledged and appreciated, then stress is reduced, people are more efficient and effective and work means more than a place to earn a paycheque. In our experience within organisations where these skills are encouraged and developed, there is a profound affect on employees' performance and their overall well-being, and a corresponding increase in the bottom line. The economic implications of poor people skills in the workplace are far greater than many organisations would like to admit. We are often approached by the Occupational Health Departments of companies who say they are seeing more and more people with stress-related illnesses and absences and are aware that good training could make a significant difference in the health, morale and therefore efficiency of the staff. The cliché 'time is money' exists for a very good reason. If for nothing else, a better functioning workforce will affect the bottom line. Time wasted on poor communication, unresolved difficulties or inefficient work practises means time away from the core business of doing what the company does best. Many companies know there are issues that need to be addressed; they even know that some kind of people skills training could help. There doesn't have to be a problem The need for development work does not presuppose a problem. When Impact Factory provides this kind of training for many companies we aren't there to 'fix' something that's wrong. Given the added pressures in today's workplace, companies are not necessarily asking us to provide training to alleviate stress or correct a problem. Rather they are looking for excellence not competence. They are interested in gaining a competitive edge, offering their employees additional skills to develop their current capabilities and become both more accomplished and more confident. So, why don't more people do it? Here are some refrains we've heard more than once: "We tried something like this before and it didn't work." - "It's clearly not right for us." - "We don't need it." - "It's a waste of time and money." - "If we're going to invest in training, we'd rather have technical training." "We'll never get buy-in from our senior managers." If you look at the way some interpersonal skills training is done it's no wonder it's got a bad reputation. A lot of it follows what might be called the sheep-dip approach: large groups; all chalk 'n' talk and little participation; lots of rigid rules and regulations; a damaging emphasis on what's wrong with people; and unreal examples and exercises. That kind of training is de-motivating and often does more harm than good. Lists of how tos, dos and don'ts and sets of rigid rules treat everyone the same. The individual becomes less important than the 'right' way to do something. Of course, there needs to be structure and guidelines in any kind of training, but if the training does not allow for individual needs and priorities then, ultimately, it will fail to develop the individual. If people have had inadequate training, they will in turn feel inadequate when confronted with additional stress. The training will not have given them the real tools and techniques that could help them manage this pressure more effectively. Some assertiveness training is a good case in point, where people are told specific things to do in certain difficult situations. Which is all very well if you are capable of doing them. However, we know that for many people assertiveness training doesn't work. The solutions they are given are not things they feel able to do. Not only that, there are training companies now offering interpersonal skills training over the Internet! Wow! We've said it before, but it bears repeating, this way the sheep don't even have to leave the meadow, they can be dipped right at their desks. We're truly fascinated with interpersonal skills training that doesn't have other people to be interpersonal with. If people are treated and respected as the professional adults they are. The results can be startling, exciting and effective. Professional Personal Development: why it's a good investment · Gives people more confidence in dealing with challenging or new situations. · Offers people a range of behaviour choices to try. · Creates a solid basis for all other kinds of training. · Gives people the tools to manage pressure more effectively. · Is motivating. What you'll get working with Impact Factory · Programme content that fits your requirements as opposed to off-the-peg workshops. · Flexible formats that take both the organisation's and the individual's needs into account. · Emphasis on what what's already working rather than pointing out what's wrong and needs fixing. · Small groups to maximise individual participation and attention. · Programmes that develop the whole person. · No pressure to do things the 'right' way. · Enjoyable, easy, doable exercises that give people practise and experience in trying out new ways of doing things. · Accessible to all levels in an organisation. Jo Ellen and Robin run Impact Factory who specialise in Professional Personal Development, Presentation Skills, Communications Training, Leadership Development and Executive Coaching for Individuals. Article Source: http://www.articlerich.com

Top Paying Careers In America

Author: Tony Jacowski

Most people are aware of the fact that on an average, surgeons earn an estimated sum of $189,590 annually. The hefty package is the result of the in-depth knowledge and expertise involved in this profession. However, surveys reveal that assistants of physicians also earn around $63,490 per annum. Surveys have often been conducted to determine the top paying careers in the United States. Top Paying Careers: a. Surgeons And Health Care Professionals - According to most surveys, surgeons always lead the list of highest paying jobs, followed by anesthesiologists whose annual income amounts to around $181,420. Tagging along are gynecologists and obstetricians who as per survey, earn about $179,640 annually, while dentists earn around $133,350. It is evident from surveys that most highly paid professionals belong to the field of health and medicine with the exception of CEOs who are ranked in the 8th position among top ten careers. b. Personal Financial Advisors - Another lucrative career option is that of Personal financial advisors. However, in most surveys they fail to find a place in the list of top ten owing to their highly fluctuating incomes. It is estimated that the annual income of a successful personal financial advisor is around $145,000. On the other hand, an average financial advisor may earn only around $28,330 per year. Some of the factors that contribute to this immense income variation are high growth potential, rapid economic growth and finally, the educational index that this profession demands. c. Medical Scientists - The estimated average annual income of Medical Scientists is approximately $100,000, which might seem to be a paltry amount against their educational qualifications (doctoral degrees). However, they lead the list of other careers such as podiatrists, whose estimated income is $94,500, lawyers with an estimated average annual income of $91,920, optometrists earning $88,100 and other computer and information systems managers who earn approximately $83,890 annually. d. Marketing And Sales Managers - Statistics reveal that the estimated annual income of sales and marketing managers is around $80,000. According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics National Compensation Survey, estimated average white-collar earnings were around $21.85 per hour, estimated average blue-collar earnings were approximately $15.03 per hour, while the average earnings per hour for service occupations were only about $10.40. To obtain higher incomes, most top-end careers require a four-year college degree. As per the information obtained from Employment Policy Foundation, listed below are some of the career options at varying levels of education: a. Top Paying Careers For Individuals Who Do Not Have A High School Degree - Drafters - $36,000 Industrial production managers - $36,000 Bailiffs, correctional officers and jailers - $36,400 Construction manager - $33,600 Electricians - $31,900 b. High Paying Jobs For High School Graduates - Listed below are some of the career options that lay more emphasis on relevant expertise and experience instead of formal education: Computer programmers - $55,000 Network systems and data communications analysts - $49,000 Database, network and computer systems administrators - $48,000 Although a large number of jobs and professions require specialization and expertise in relevant field, it is possible to apply for some jobs after satisfying basic criteria of qualifications. For instance, individuals applying for the job of an air traffic controller are screened and recruited by the Federal Aviation Administration.

About the Author:

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/careers-articles/top-paying-careers-in-america-112509.html