What’s going to happen in terms of job searching and employment in 2012?

In short, it’s going to be all about mobile, using social networking sites to job search, and going after a new job if you are unhappy in your current position.

Prediction #1:  You’ll need a strong online identity if you want employment success. Social networking is playing an increasingly important role in the employment process, so it’s important for job seekers to choose which networks they want to participate in and shape their online identities accordingly. 90% of recruiters check social networks before hiring a candidate, which means that your online persona should properly represent you and show that you’re the right person for the job.

Prediction #2: You’re going to want to be mobile. The explosion of mobile usage will continue to grow in 2012, causing a shift in the way people exchange information. With more and more people using smartphones, traditional means of networking like exchanging business cards are almost gone. Instead, people are connecting digitally. 77% of job seekers are already using mobile apps when searching, and this figure will rise in the coming year.

Prediction #3: If you don’t like your current job, you can start looking for another. In recent years, many people took positions that weren’t necessarily ideal, simply because they needed a job. As the economy improves and unemployment rates decrease, more people will look to change jobs that make them happier. Just be sure to make the most of your current job while looking for a new position, since it’s easier to get a job when you have a job.

Prediction #4:  Things will finally start looking up—for everyone. There is cautious optimism that the economy — and the job market — will improve in 2012. The recently released National Employment Report from ADP, a private staffing and business services firm, showed private employers added 206,000 jobs in November 2011. University of Michigan economists are predicting a brighter 2012; according to a recent study, the jobless rate should continue to drop to 8.8 percent by the end of 2012.

And some industries are already seeing growth — so much so that some can’t fill their positions fast enough.

If you’re a job seeker, here are nine occupations that are expected to grow in 2012:

1. Biomedical engineer
2. Computer software engineer
3. Customer service representative
4. Home health aide
5. Management analyst
6. Medical assistant
7. Network systems and data communications analyst
8. Registered nurse
9. Retail salesperson

If you have any questions about the job market or your job search in 2012, don’t hesitate to contact us. We predict great success for you if you do!

Despite the high unemployment rate, college grads can find jobs in this job market — after all, business is still going on. Opportunities do exist, but today’s college graduates may have to take a different approach to accommodate the drastic changes in the job market, like a longer hiring process and greater competition.

Getting a post-college job in this economy requires a new way of thinking about the job search and looking for work. Here are a half dozen ways to get yourself ready and get a job.

1. Organize Yourself If your parents are your main source of job hunt guidance, consider how much job searching conventions have changed significantly in the last decade. Unless your parents have also had to find new employment in the past few years, you’ll want to seek more current advice.
2. Sell Yourself Make sure your resume doesn’t look like a student’s.  Instead of submitting a resume where the first half of the page is taken up by education, notes on coursework, and honors, play up work experience—internships, volunteer work, and so forth. When a hiring manager makes an initial scan of your resume, you want her to see skills and experience she can use, not a list of college courses.
3. Think Broadly Don’t limit your job search into too narrow a slot. If you’re interested in a particular field, think of all the jobs related or even vaguely related to that field. Do a brainstorming session with friends and family, and search the Internet for even more ideas. This might double, triple, even quadruple your job prospects and your internship possibilities — and may even change the way you were thinking about your future career.
4. Act Globally If you can’t find a job in the United States, consider working abroad. First, it shows initiative, a willingness to learn and adaptability and desire for personal growth. It also will give you a breadth of experience and an edge that other grads won’t have. In today’s world of increasingly globalized activities, being cognizant of other cultural differences and proving that you can operate efficiently in them is a major plus. If you have language and managerial skills that go across countries, you can only help those businesses looking to expand markets in other countries, as most businesses are doing today.
5. Be Productive  If you can’t get a paying gig, take an unpaid internship or volunteer. It’s important to show employers that you know how to use time productively. You don’t want to give employers the image of a college grad hanging out at home or doing odd jobs. You should strive to appear to be progressing and challenging yourself at all times, even if it’s not in a conventional position of employment.
6. Get Help  Use your college’s career office. You may think campus resources are only for current students, but many campuses’ career offices cater specifically to grads. Ask them to connect you with alumni who work in the field you’re interested in.

As the saying goes, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, and your resume is usually the first impression you give a potential employer. So make sure you’re not making these common mistakes on yours.

1. Attempting One Size Fits All
Employers want you to write a resume specifically for them. They expect you to clearly show how and why you fit the position in a specific organization. An effective resume leaves no doubt as to the job seeker’s career objective, while a one-size-fits-all resume gives the impression that the job seeker has no specific career goals. If you have more than one career objective, you need more than one resume.

2. Highlighting Duties Instead of Accomplishments
Your resume shouldn’t just be a listing of your past job duties. You need to include quantifiable statements so that employers understand what you’ve truly accomplished. For example, instead of saying:

• Attended group meetings and recorded minutes
• Worked with children in a day-care setting
• Updated departmental files

Say:
• Used laptop to record weekly meeting minutes and compiled them in a Microsoft Word-based file for organization’s future reference
• Developed three daily activities for preschool-age children and prepared them for a 10-minute holiday program performance
• Reorganized 10 years worth of files, to make them accessible to department members.

3. Neglecting to Sell Yourself
Job seekers need to remember that a job search is a sales campaign. Your resume is marketing material so make it effective by showing how you can solve problems, save money or increase profits.

4. Going Old School
These days, you need to remember that resumes are screened by both humans and computers. If your resume lacks the keywords that the screeners are looking for, you run the risk of it being tossed aside. The average resume screen takes 15 seconds or less and will look for the same words found in the job description. A keyword-focused resume will put you front and center.

5. Coming Across as Careless or Lazy
Make sure your resume doesn’t contain typos or grammatical errors. If it does, employers will assume you can’t write or don’t care. Speaking of writing, make sure your language is strong. Instead of using wimpy, passive phrases like “responsible for providing IT support,” use action verbs: “Resolved user questions as part of an IT help desk serving 4,000 students and staff.”

When you’re applying for an out-of-state job, it may seem like the odds are stacked against you. And depending on what type of job you’re applying for, you may be right. But like all challenges, there is a way to overcome them, if you just know how.

The level of the position can be an obstacle when you apply for a job out of state. Entry-level jobs are generally more abundant and easier to fill locally. If you are seeking an upper management or executive level position, you might have more luck.

However, out-of-town applicants can get around that in a couple of ways:

• State in your cover letter that you are planning to move to the company’s location (if you can mention a specific ETA, that’s even better) and don’t need relocation assistance.
• Make it clear in your cover letter that you would be happy to get yourself to the employer’s location for an interview.
• On your resume, list your contact info like this:
  Joe Smith
  Relocating in [month, year] to [target company's city]
  jsmith@email.com
• Or, borrow a local address: if you know someone in or near where you want to work, ask if you can use their address on your resume and cover letters. This will help you avoid being eliminated from consideration just for not being local.

Other obstacles that job seekers might encounter when searching for a job in a different state include:

• Traveling for multiple interviews
• Fewer (or no) opportunities to attend networking events
• Lack of contacts
• Difficulty obtaining current and accurate information on the local job market

To get around these issues will take a bit of planning and some creative effort.

1. Take a Trip to Your Destination City. Many employers are unwilling to fly candidates in for job interviews. Why not solve this problem for them? If you can’t use a local address, be up-front in your cover letter and say that you will be in town on certain days and would like to come in for an interview. Try to arrange phone interviews before you go, so you can maximize your results by holding second- and third-round interviews in person, after you arrive.
2. Avoid the Competition from the Get-Go. Hunting for jobs is a competitive sport, and the less competition you have, the better your chances of winning. Instead of searching for jobs on the usual web sites, try reading the trade journals and magazines for your profession. Search both the print and online editions for job postings. There may be fewer applicants for jobs advertised in less popular locations.
3. Find Local Allies. Make personal connections in the city where you want to work. Find out who you know in your target city. Ask them if they know of anyone you should meet. Work your connections on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to get introductions.
4. Become familiar with your target location. Subscribe to the on-line edition of the local newspaper, especially the Sunday edition. Pay attention to articles on businesses, expansions, and notices of promotions and new hires, as well as job postings. – Contact the Chamber of Commerce, Office of Tourism, and the Department of Labor to request a relocation packet. Most states and cities also have specific information online for people who wish to relocate there.

Just like your teachers used to tell you, spelling and grammar are important – especially when you’re hunting for a job. A resume and cover letter with proper grammar and no spelling errors are essential in a job search. Of all the reasons that cause recruiters and hiring managers to discard a resume, carelessness with spelling, grammar, and word choice rank close to the top.

Why?

A poorly written resume illustrates more than just your employment history. If your resume or cover letter are full of spelling mistakes, grammar errors or incorrectly used words, a recruiter will get the impression that you are uneducated, lazy or in too much of a rush to get the resume done and made several errors in haste.

And guess what?

Uneducated, lazy, or in too much of a hurry to get the work done correctly are not qualities that employers are looking for.

Nobody wants to be judged harshly on something that does not describe them as a whole person, but an employer isn’t going to interview someone whose resume is riddled with errors.

It is up to you to make sure your resume is written properly and professionally. Take advantage of the many resources, both online and off, that can help you put together a polished, grammatically correct resume and cover letter.

First, whether you are typing up your resume yourself or using a resume builder online, always run spell-check or grammar-check. If you’re in doubt on how to spell a word, look it up.

One thing spell-checkers and grammar-checkers do not check is the use of a word. Double check problematic words such as there/they’re/their, accept/except, affect/effect, and then/than to make sure they are being used in the right context.

If you’re unsure of your own spelling and grammar checking abilities, ask someone else to read the documents over for you.
This will benefit you in more ways than one. First, it provides an extra pair of eyes to look for any spelling of grammar mistakes. Have you ever read something so many times that you started memorizing and reciting it more than actually reading it? This happens can happen when you’ve spent a lot of time writing, rewriting, and editing your resume. A fresh pair of eyes will be more likely to catch small mistakes like these. They can also point out any words that are incorrect or sentences that don’t make sense or aren’t very clear.
Let your skills and experience speak for you in your cover letter and on your resume, and make sure the recruiter can read it without being bogged down by errors. Put your best foot forward when taking this first step toward a new job.

Chances are, at some time in your life when you are job hunting, you will be invited to participate in a group interview. There are two types of group interview.

The first, more correctly called a panel interview, involves a team of employees interviewing one applicant at the same time. The second is an interview that includes multiple applicants for the same position being interviewed together.

Setting yourself apart in a group interview requires a slightly different skill set than those you would need in a traditional one-on-one interview.

Panel Interview

Here are five tips for panel interview success:

1. Arrive Early Turn up at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start time. Make yourself comfortable with the environment, and even talk with other candidates if there are any.
2. Come Equipped Bring copies of your resume and other relevant paperwork, but keep them in a folder until you’re asked for them.
3. Be Polite At the appropriate time, knock at the door of the interview room before you enter. Wait a few seconds before taking the chair, giving the interviewers the opportunity to ask you to sit. If they don’t ask you in a few seconds, go ahead and sit down.If one interviewer asks you a question while you are answering another question, don’t stop your current response to answer the new question. Politely tell the second interviewer that you will come back to their question, then continue where you left off.

   Look at the interviewers instead of letting your gaze wander around the room. When one asks you a question, look them in the eyes while you reply and keep a light smile on your face.

4. Be Brief Remember that time is valuable. When asked to talk about yourself, talk about your professional, not personal qualifications. Make answers brief and to the point, and only elaborate when asked to do so.
5. Make a Confident Exit When the interview is over, remember to collect everything you brought with you. Thank the interviewers and leave. After walking out the door, don’t look back unless they call you.

Group Interview

In this type of interview, managers are evaluating your leadership qualities, your team player abilities, and your communication skills.

Often, the session will start with a formal presentation about the company and the position. Usually each candidate is asked to introduce himself to the group. Then, there may be an open discussion or directed questions, or you may be asked to participate in group exercises. Group interviews are not meant to be adversarial, but they are competitive, and your hiring chances may depend on your performance.

During the initial presentation about the company and the position, listen actively. Look interested in what is being said and give the presenter non-verbal feedback by nodding your head, establishing eye contact, and sitting up straight. Don’t sit back and fold your arms across your chest as if you are evaluating them.

When you introduce yourself to the interviewers and the group, be prepared to present a 2-3 minute introduction summarizing your education or experience, your career goals and how this position will fit into your future plan. Speak clearly and slowly. Look at each person in the group as you speak, and don’t forget to smile.

When other candidates are talking, act interested and supportive. One goal of the group interview is to see how well you work with others. Don’t dominate the group by talking too much, interrupting others, or acting disrespectful toward the other candidates.

During discussion time or question and answer periods, someone who answers a question before you may respond in the same way that you planned to. Don’t change your answer simply to throw out an original response. Think of a statement or point that adds to the first person’s answer. This shows management that you have good listening skills and that you can remain calm under pressure.

If the group is given a task to work on together, demonstrate your ability to listen to instructions, work well with others, provide leadership, support the team, and communicate your ideas effectively. This is also a chance to show how you deal with stress and time pressure.

If this is your first promotion, you’re probably excited, hopefully ready to take charge, and most likely contemplating how you’re going to make use of your raise.

But, if you’re like most people, you’re also nervous. Making the jump from individual contributor to manager can be one of the most difficult transitions in your career. Get off on the right foot with these 6 tips for an easy step up.

1. It’s Not About You Anymore You were promoted because you did really well at your job. But now, you have a different job, and it’s not about you anymore. “Before you were a manager, your number one job was to accomplish tasks,” says Penelope Trunk, author of a blog on the intersection of work and life. “Now, your number one job is to help other people accomplish the tasks in an outstanding way.”

This shift in thinking is crucial because your performance assessment will now be tied to the performance of your team. If your team fails, you fail. And if they succeed, you don’t get all of the credit. You have to share it with the rest of the group, to ensure their continued motivation. To be successful in your new job, you need to take on a true team-oriented focus.

2. Get Smart Most likely, you have no experience in being a manager, and you don’t have a lot of ramp-up time. Find all of the management tools, resources, and classes that your company offers. At the least, make sure you read and keep all available manuals and HR policies. Look for books, articles and organizations specifically geared toward your industry or role. Find blogs or websites to consult regularly. Continuing to develop yourself as a manager should be an ongoing part of your job. You also need to familiarize yourself with the people you’ll be managing. Review their personnel files, including performance reviews and goals.

3. Listen and Learn Instead of making any bold changes quickly, take the time to fully understand your organization and new team.  Set up individual meetings with each of your new staff members to talk to them about their roles. Ask them what they like about their jobs, their biggest on-the-job challenges, and any ideas they have for improving the organization. Obviously, you can’t implement all their ideas. But asking for input helps to build positive relationships and open communication. Understanding your team’s goals and challenges can help you help them perform at a higher level.

4. Address Relationship Shifts If you’re now supervising someone who used to be your peer, it can be challenging. You can’t be seen as playing favorites with your former officemate, and while he might be happy for you, he might also feel awkward or resentful about you suddenly being his boss.

Address the change upfront, in order to prevent conflict later on in more stressful situations. Make sure your former peer understands that while you value the friendship, you have to be sure that everyone on the team views you as being fair and consistent.

5. Be on model behavior No more joining your friends in the break room to complain about management. You’re management now! And you can no longer skip meetings or show up 15 minutes late, especially since you might now be running them.

As a manager, you have to be a role model not only to your direct reports, but to the entire organization. Others won’t give their best at work if they don’t see you doing it, so you need to be on your A game. You need to meet deadlines, keep your personal opinions to yourself, toe the company line and represent your department and organization to the best of your abilities.

Most of us can’t imagine life without email. When used properly, email is a great convenience and timesaver, especially on the job. Unfortunately, it can sometimes threaten to overwhelm productivity in the office. How can you make sure that email is being used professionally and appropriately, to be an asset and not a liability?

1. Keep it brief: Email is a good way to alert people of important news and direct them to detailed information elsewhere, such as through a link to an internet or intranet site. Emails should not be paragraphs long.
2. Use meaningful subject lines: The subject line should help recipients screen, prioritize and organize email in their Inboxes. Specify “Action Needed” or “Reply Requested” if necessary.
3. Get to the point: Ask your question or provide your response within the first few sentences of your message. You can give details or explanations later.
4. Include only the right people: Don’t send emails to everyone in the company or everyone on a group list unless the content is meaningful to the whole group — and don’t hit “Reply All” if only one or two people need to see your answer.
5. Consider your timing: Email is not the appropriate place to ask something that requires an immediate or urgent response. People do not always check or respond to email immediately.
6. Be friendly but professional: Email is informal but should never be sloppy or inaccurate. Use correct grammar and spelling, paragraph breaks, and a pleasant tone.
7. Check it twice: Prevent potential embarrassment by proofreading everything in your email, including the recipients’ email addresses, message content (including any forwards you might be sending) and any attachments before you push “Send.” If you mean to send an attachment, make sure it’s attached!
8. Provide a summary: If you forward a message or conversation thread, don’t assume the recipient has the time to read the whole thing and figure out what’s going on. Save time by starting off with a quick summary of the thread, then mention which areas are pertinent to the recipient.
9. Control Incoming Email: Ask family and friends to limit personal emails to your work address, especially jokes, chains, cute pictures and political messages. Ask your colleagues to do the same.
10. Use your email program’s built-in tools to help you organize messages: You can organize by sender, client, project or however you think it will make it easier for you to prioritize work or locate a particular message quickly.
11. Limit email time: Most email doesn’t have to be read or responded to immediately. Check it regularly, but no more than 3-4 times a day.
12. Write every e-mail for your boss’ eyes: Email feels private, but it’s anything but. You never know who can or may be reading your email. It is the property of the organization, and it can be retrieved and reviewed by senior management or the IT team at any time. Emails live on forever and can be forwarded, shared, copied, printed or subpoenaed. Use discretion!

One of the worst things about being unemployed for a length of time is knowing that it can count against you when you look for a new job. Clearly, that’s not fair. In a tight job market, especially if you have a niche job, it can be hard to find employment quickly.

So what can you do? Show that you put your time off to good use, and that although you were not working, you were still improving your professional career. One of the best ways to do that is to volunteer.

Don’t take just any volunteer opportunity, however. A few hours here and there aren’t going to be helpful. Think about what would be a fulfilling and rewarding way to spend time, yes, but also think about volunteering as a good networking opportunity and a good way to beef up your professional skills.

There are often numerous opportunities to volunteer in positions that are at least somewhat relevant to the work that you want to do. For example, someone who wants a job in the legal field may volunteer a few hours per week in the offices of a non-profit defense firm. Very few philanthropic organizations are 100% volunteer and many of the staff are paid employees. You may find that you can parlay your volunteer work into part time or full time paid work.

Volunteering can also help fill in the time gap in your resume when you start interviewing for your next job.  While savvier interviewers understand that job gaps are not uncommon, especially in this economy, they always want to know what you’ve been doing since you left your last job.  If you can answer that you’ve been volunteering your time at a philanthropic organization, this shows that you aren’t satisfied simply searching for a job. It shows that you’re willing to go out and contribute even without the promise of a paycheck.

It’s also proof that you were doing something worthy (and educational) during your time off. Be sure to showcase what you accomplished during your unemployment, just as you would for paid employment. On your resume, create a section called Other (or Additional) Experience where you list your volunteerism. You’re aiming for two things here: to show you haven’t been twiddling your thumbs during a break in paid employment; and to add skills and experience that may not be shown elsewhere on your resume.

If you choose the right volunteer opportunities over the course of your unemployment and take them seriously as a way to occupy your time, employers will generally be satisfied with the time you spent away from the corporate life. You will be satisfied, also, knowing that you helped others while helping yourself.

Josephine’s Personnel Services, Inc. (JPS) is an Independent Professional Staffing Solution since 1988.  JPS is certified as a Small, Disadvantaged and Minority Woman Owned Business Enterprise.

To successfully land your dream job, you have to convince the employer that you are the right person for the job. How can you do this, knowing that employers are being flooded with resumes every day? The best way is to make yourself stand out in the crowd, and the most professional way to stand out is to create and build a personal brand.

What is a personal brand? One definition is: Your total perceived value, relative to competitors, as viewed by your audience. In other words, personal branding is not only about getting your target employer to choose you over the competition, but about getting them to see you as someone who provides a solution to their problem.

The idea of personal branding suggests that success comes from self-packaging: presenting yourself and your assets to make a unique impression.  Set expectations with a consistent and recurring representation of your personal brand in your résumé, your cover letter, your interviews, your social media profiles, and with your references.  Your personal brand should reflect who you are as a person with a focus on your professional life and accomplishments.

The elements of personal branding include:

• Personal Appearance – Including clothing, hygiene and attractiveness.
• Personality – Your values, goals, identity and behavior.
• Competencies – Cognitive, business, communication and technical skills that enable you to perform your job responsibilities.
• The Differentiator – Offering a unique value proposition or benefit to your target audience.

You want to ensure that your personal brand is authentically you. What is your current brand?  What you are known for?  How would your coworkers describe you?  For what type of projects, issues, or challenges are you the go-to person?  What talents led to your greatest accomplishments?

Be honest. If public speaking makes you nervous and you have no desire to do it, don’t try to sell yourself as someone with a strength for oral presentations.  However, if you’re terrific at bringing in projects on time and under budget, identify your specific project management skills and promote that as your brand.

Understand that many employers now perform candidate checks online. You need to make sure that your online information is visible, available, and relevant – to where you are in your career and where you want to go next.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter offer great tools to connect you with industry leaders and recruiters and allow you to show off your skills and experience.  If you haven’t done so already, create an account with the three most popular networking sites – LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Setting up your profiles is easy and only takes minutes. Just remember: When filling in personal information, make sure to stay professional. Your objective is to build your personal brand, so it’s important to keep your profiles up-to-date, appropriate for all audiences and professional – that includes your picture! You don’t have to use a professional head shot, but make sure that your picture presents you with a dignified but friendly demeanor.

It’s time to make your job search all about you! Instead of hoping that some employer will find you and recognize your skills, present yourself to the employers and show them what you can do.

Josephine’s Personnel Services, Inc. (JPS) is an Independent Professional Staffing Solution since 1988.  JPS is certified as a Small, Disadvantaged and Minority Woman Owned Business Enterprise.