Resume Tools

I read a blog article about 10 things that you can do with LinkedIn of which you may not have been aware. One of them included the resume tool. I went in and set up my resume. It took about 20 seconds. Unfortunately, I would be better served by a combination resume and the tool only allows a chronological resume.

The LinkedIn tool is perfect as long as your profile is 100% complete, your profile reads the same way you would like your resume to read, and a chronological format is the approach you would like to use.

Another tool that we recommend can be found on www.illinoisworknet.com in the Individuals pathway "Prepare" section. The tool within Illinois workNet will create and save up to 20 resumes for you.  You can pick from several templates including both functional and chronological.  There isn't a combination option posted, but you can always copy and paste from the workNet tool into a Word document.


A free tool that is available in the Career Resource Centers at an Illinois workNet Center is Winway resume creator.  This computer program allows you to select which of the three formats you would like to use and offers suggestions for tasks you may have completed based upon the job title that you enter.  Once you have all of your information entered, you may then go in and edit the description and tweak the resume to make it completely personalized to your experience.


Last but not least, the Illinois workNet Career Resource Centers offer free professional review assistance for your resume from our Career Resource Professionals, as well as workshops to help you with your resume and interviewing along with many other resources. 


What is the best resume tool you have found?

Networking

Today is just a commentary on another blog article.

This article from US News references those individuals who might not be on the cutting edge of social media and using it to their advantage for job search.  It relates that those of us who are computer savvy may be spending too much time on the keys and not enough time face-to-face.

It is a reminder that we must balance our lives in everything.  Too much of any one thing cannot be good, while not using all of the tools at your disposal cannot be good either.

One more thing not mentioned in the article is the fact that there are many resources available, and many are free.   Find out what is available by reading and participating.  Many of you may not be aware that each state has free training and development services available to job seekers, especially those who have been dislocated (laid-off) from a previous employer.  Illinois has a great tool at www.illinoisworknet.com and if you need to learn how to use this great tool, KCDEE offers a monthly workshop in Elgin and N. Aurora that is hands-on, for FREE.

What other resources have  you found that are useful to job seekers? 

Holiday Job Search Tips

The holidays may offer time for reflection and resolutions, thoughts about family and future from Thanksgiving through the new-year.  The season also presents challenges and opportunities for people seeking employment.  KCDEE reminds people who are unemployed or facing an uncertain future to understand that jobs are available and for those individuals considering a career change, this is an excellent time to explore training and education possibilities.

We offer these “Holiday Tips” to inspire people to be diligent in their pursuit of education, training and employment opportunities and to ensure that they take full advantage of our Illinois workNet Centers.  The workNet staff works hard to satisfy the demands of our customers - unemployed individuals and companies who seek good employees. These  “Holiday Tips" are presented to encourage people to not despair during this season and instead make the best use of our resources in their quest to satisfy their personal career goals and to meet the needs of their family. Check the Illinois workNet website to find a center near you.

                   Kane County Department of Employment and Education Offers

                             Holiday Tips for Dislocated or Unemployed Workers

1. Continue to apply for full time work during the holiday season.  Make sure your application and resume are there for employers when they are considering hiring new people in the New Year.
2. Seek part-time work during the holiday season.  Many people are hired to fill positions created by holiday vacations or to meet year-end demand from customers.  Some employers evaluate part-time employees for full-time positions.  This is your opportunity to shine and make a good impression.
3. If there are any career fairs – dress for success and show-up with a resume.   Job fairs offer a great opportunity to meet potential employers face-to-face.
4. Network yourself, at gatherings, to people who might be aware of job openings.  Many referrals for jobs come from employees, talk to someone you know who works for a company where you would like to work and get the inside scoop on jobs.   In social situations maintain a level of professionalism.
5. Utilize resources from any training institution, college, university or school you have attended to help you discover jobs that may not be advertised or posted on an Internet job search website. 
6. Keep a watchful eye on expenses.  Focus on the many good things in your life and not the materialistic demands of the season.  Many successful people look back to tight financial times, when they focused on family and friendship, as some of the best, most meaningful moments in their lives.
7. Explore the services available to you through local agencies to improve your resume and interviewing skills. Help is available from the Illinois workNet Centers for job counseling, job search and access to a number of websites. 
8. Be positive and patient.  Understand that job loss, unemployment and job seeking are stressful situations.    There is truth to the fact that the hardest job of all is finding a good job.  
9. Get organized.  Write and design a new resume, list employers that offer good career opportunities.  Be methodical about your job search and set goals for contacting employers by keeping a daily contact log. 
10. Be courteous and understanding when you follow up with potential employers - your attitude on the phone may be the deciding factor in getting an interview or job offer.  A positive attitude to your job search and interviews will help you be successful.  “Thank You” notes and letters after the interview offer you another opportunity to sell yourself to an employer or to drive home a point you may have overlooked during your interview.
11. Try to be flexible in your approach to your career. Understand that you will always be acquiring new skills and adapting to new technology in almost every occupation.  Many people will change jobs or career paths with their current employer many times in their working life.  

The Illinois workNet Centers offer services from a group of partnering agencies, at a one-stop location, to assist job seekers find employment and where employers can meet their workforce development goals.   There are Centers in Elgin, North Aurora, DeKalb and satellites in Aurora and Yorkville that will help you.

The workNet Centers offer various workshops to help you improve your resume, your interviewing techniques and other skills to help you improve your job search activities.  Career counseling, labor market information about jobs in demand in your county and access to education and training resources are just some of the services available at the center to assist you in your job search.   

50 Top Careers for 2011

The following is a summary and this writers thoughts on a tweetchat on 12-7-2010. The discussion was with Alexis Grant tweeting as @USNewsCareers.  Here are the results:

How do you determine what careers/industries make the list?
Our list is based on job-growth projections from the Labor Department. We look for jobs with above-average incomes, and high job satisfaction, etc. Those job-growth projections are a great measure of stability, they tell us how much growth is expected between 2008-2018. We also talked with people who work in these jobs to gather anecdotal evidence about employment prospects and job satisfaction.  The report excludes careers that don’t have large numbers of positions, because they provide opportunity only for small number of people.  The list looks to diversify in terms of category and education requirements to offer a wide variety of solid jobs. USNewsCareers uses the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics to determine the initial numbers but all of the factors are taken into consideration.  They also analyze past lists and many of the careers transfer onto the list from year to year.  One participant said, "...if (the list) changed too much from year to year, they would be great jobs, not careers."

If you are searching for a career that isn't on USNews list, you can go to www.bls.gov/oco or to http://www.onet.onlinecenter.org/ .  O*NET is a useful site as it gives a total picture of the career path as well as similar titles.

Seven careers that were removed from the list this year were: loan officer, funeral director, cost estimator, plumber, landscape architect, security system installer, market research analyst.  Some of these were affected by the economy.
The new seven included:
Athletic trainer – http://bit.ly/h0jFnL. Largely b/c of high demand in high schools.
Interpreter/Translator – http://bit.ly/gYiohJ. I find this one fascinating – high demand because of global economy.
Sales manager – http://bit.ly/gF2o9f. This job is recovering along with the economy. Highest median salary of $97K
Education admin – http://bit.ly/fBTQfk. For example, a high school principal. Ranks high 4 job satisfaction. 
Heating, Air conditioning and refrigeration technicians did well partly because of demand for green energy compliance. 
For the full list:http://usnews.com/careers Check this link: http://ht.ly/3l9Xg

Many participating in the discussion were amazed that Funeral Directors were being booted from the list because you cannot predict when people will die and with the aging of the Boomers, there should be a large prospect for that career field.  Perhaps tho, the Boomers are living longer and "flying in the face of death".

The question was raised about whether entrepreneurs should be on the list?  Thoughts on this were that isn't everyone who starts a business an entrepreneur?  Isn't everyone who is an entrepreneur performing multiple careers at one time - CFO, COO, CEO, marketing, sales, and on and on. But while entrepreneurs are a growing path for many people, in fact, they are often sole proprietors.  Employment data is much more difficult to calculate on sole proprietors.

What top skills are hiring managers looking for?

Skill sets! As part of each career profile, we’ve included tips and advice for people who work in the industry on landing a job. Look for this advice at the bottom of each profile.  Hiring managers are looking for achievement oriented people who can do for their company what they have done for others. They want to see multi-talented individuals - but who still fit the "mold".  Know what your skills are and how you can apply them. Not only do you need the right skills, but  be able to fit within the new corporate culture and team. Along with job-specific skills, many hiring managers said “people skills” are also super important – being able to communicate. You can also see USNewsCareers slide show with advice for landing jobs on our list:http://bit.ly/gmfCSP.  

For some jobs, having business savvy was also cited as helpful. Besides job skills, soft skills are important - things like communication, team work, conflict resolution and about 10 others.  Soft skills are so vital in the business world. if you don't have them, you wont get far. Many employers prefer someone who displays these skills - they can't teach someone (workplace skills) but, they can teach job skills. Even the president of Southwest Airlines says "that you can teach skills, but you can't teach behaviors". You can hire for attitude and train for skill. Because no one career is right for everybody, USNewsCareers include 50 jobs on their list, with variety. Hiring managers are interested in people who can solve their companies problems.  Being able to explain how you helped your previous company achieve their goals will be a good selling feature for you.

This article was given as a resource - Inside the Hiring Manager's Head at the Job Interviewhttp://ow.ly/3lp75
Strong speaking skills + strong work ethic most sought in#jobseekers by employers per NACE studyhttp://on.wsj.com/grThmX 

One participant asked "Does anyone have a good list of hard skills for each industry/sector or know where I could find one?"  My answer to that would be use O*NET.  Here are the skills needed for an athletic trainer for example.

What jobs are in the most demand?

A good way to measure demand is with job-growth projections.  It tells how many positions are likely to be created between 2008-2018. To put this all in perspective, the average expected growth for all jobs based on data from BLS from 2008-2018 is about 10 %.

• Using job-growth stats from Labor Department: 
• Biomedical engineer is at the top for percentage of growth at 72%.
• Neetwork architects – 52 %
• Health care jobs - Dental hygienist = 36%, physician assistant = 39%
• Athletic trainer – a job that’s new on the list this year – 37%
• HVAC (also new on our list) - 28%.
• Leisure & Hospitality -12% 
• Professional & Business Services - 11% 
• Information - 10%

Illinois has a website - www.illinoisworknet.com that features a Key Sector area explaining the high-growth, high demand sectors for Illinois that include Agriculture, Healthcare, Information Technology, Manufacturing, and Transportation/Distribution/Logistics. 


Several participants sited career paths in IT - especially web developers, health care, and manufacturing. One poster said their hiring expectations for 2011Q1 is the most optimistic in two years. 


The best place to find the skill shortages in the marketplace is to track the volume of ads on job boards by sector/discipline. A good article re: skills not matching job openings:http://nyti.ms/h6HKsZ There are plenty of other articles out there. 

So many unemployed individuals have skills that are no longer in demand. Our economy has changed so fast and new skills are needed.  Workforce Investment Act (WIA)funds will help unemployed individuals learn new skills and can be targeted toward high-growth, high-demand careers.  If you are a lifelong learner, you will continue to build skills/attitude being able to keep up with the rate of change in workplace. People will have to adapt. Just as one example wind turbine repair technicians will have only  50% of the personpower needed by 2015 to maintain the wind turbines that are on-line right now. That doesn't take into consideration the effort to increase wind power into the future. 

Which careers on the list give a great salary for little education? 

Another article from USNewsCareers was: 10 jobs that offer a big bang for your buck: http://bit.ly/eGuh60

• Sales manager jumped out at Alexis, since you need a bachelor’s degree for a median annual salary of $97K.http://bit.ly/gF2o9f
• On the health care side, dental hygienists make about $67K with associate’s degree and license. 
• Physician assistants need 2-year associate’s degree plus certification, to bring home paycheck of $84K.
• Gaming managers - who work at casinos, make about $67K after vocational or dealer school, plus certificate.http://bit.ly/e5NZG5
• Meteorologists also do well, bringing in median of $85K with a bachelor’s degree. http://bit.ly/gKMRPH

Certifications and licenses are becoming more important, it shows you can actually do the work vs. take a test.
Service industry jobs are here to stay. It is one of the longest professions around.
One poster shared that you can research markets by asking what skills employers rate most important soft skills or hard skills. Alternately you could use a LinkedIn or a Twit poll.

One problem about which we have been hearing here at KCDEE is that employers want people with experience, but those who are retraining into new career fields may not have experience in their chosen new career field.  My question would be - How can you meld your transferable skills with your newly learned skills to impress upon a potential employer that you would be a great hire?

Which of the jobs on the list most interests you as a career path? 

Whichever career path you seek - technician, exec, etc., it is good to be proactive, knowledgeable, forward-thinking about your chosen industry. 
 
Some closing thoughts and resources that were offered include: 

• You miss 100% of the shots you never take- T. Paulson
• Read "The Hidden Job Report" to find jobs before they are advertised. http://t.co/s4E2IDm 
• 10 smart ways to use #socialmedia in your #jobsearch:http://bit.ly/e8ZMyK   
• This is a copy of the transcript for  #Careerchathttp://bit.ly/hgMvSo 

If you would like to participate in upcoming Tweetchats, you will need a twitter account. Then go to www.tweetchat.com.  Log-in using your twitter account enter the hashtag #Careerchat and type away.  Let me warn you that the conversation is fast and furious and you can miss things as you type your thoughts, but they are full of useful information.

What is your career path?

This blog article said that "The US Department of Labor has actually said that people born in the 80’s and 90’s will have 10-14 different jobs by the time they turn 38." read article  Personally, I have had 7, some simultaneously, some while still employed with the same organization.  But the days of my parents or grandparents who worked at the same company for 45 years and retired with the gold watch are becoming few and far between.

Learning what a new career path is can be a challenge.  If you are going to select an initial career or a new career path, you need to look into your magic ball and envision what jobs will be available when you are finished with your training that could take 6 months or possibly as long as 8 years (if you want to be a doctor).  No one can really see into the future, but there is a plethora of resources available to help you sort through what path you may want to follow.  I would like to share a few options with you.

Assessment -  there are tests on-line available for you to take so that you can understand your likes and dislikes.  They will survey your skills and talents.  One option for this is through the award winning Illinois workNet website.  Once you have completed this, you may have a better understanding of what draws you to a certain type of job over another.

Labor Market Information - You don't want to find yourself having spent a significant period of time training for a job only to find out that there are no jobs available in that field.  To help prevent "dead-end" training, you should investigate labor market data surrounding the career path you have chosen. Illinois, as well as other states, have information to help you determine growth and wages for certain occupations or groups of occupations. Check here.

• To find information about wages and occupation outlooks you would select LMI source
• For a more historical perspective you can check the Work Info Center
• A national perspective is provided at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics

Career Information - Once you determine your interests and selected several jobs that have anticipated growth into the future you need to research the career to make sure that it sounds like something you wish to pursue.  A couple of resources for that include Illinois workNet and O*NET online. Both give you the opportunity to find out the basic duties, educational requirements and so much more about a particular area of employment.  If you are interested in researching areas that are high-growth, high-demand positions you may turn to the Key Sectors section of Illinois workNet.

Education - Now that you have figured out what you want to do, do you possess the skills required to do that job?  You may need job skills training, or a full degree.  You can find out the types of training needed from the career information sites listed above. All of the options are identified on Illinois workNet under the "Learn" tab.  Local schools are identified on KCDEE's webpage. You can also reach the approved list of statewide training providers who offer classes to those receiving Workforce Investment Act training services.

Skills - sometimes your education is adequate but you may need to enhance your soft skills or other minor job skills like typing or update your computer software skills.  We have resources for that as well. You can find soft skills information in this blog, on KCDEE webpage, or on Illinois workNet.  Maybe you need to type better or faster.  www.learn2type.com helps you with those skills. Or you can improve your computer skills here. Goodwill Foundation offers software training for free.

No matter what the assessments say about you, there are a couple of other things that you need to take into consideration and that is your personal feelings.  One example I recently found out about was a woman could not work for any business associated with the tobacco industry because her mother had died of lung cancer from smoking.  How will your personal beliefs impact your decision to follow a particular career path?

How many careers have you had in your life and what is your next one going to be?

Top 25 Jobs with an Associates Degree

I recently read an article that listed the top 25 jobs that you can have with an associates degree.  The following jobs were listed with the national median wage average for 2009.  I thought I would expand on that list for this blog and share some additional information.

Illinois workNet has a component that explains about the 5 Key Sectors in which employment will be in a high-demand high-growth situation.  They include Agriculture (AG), Healthcare, Information Technology (IT), Manufacturing (Man), and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL).  Green jobs are included on the list but are found in all of the key sectors. Find out more here.

Additionally, there is a great deal of information on jobs and career paths on O*NET.  You can find Standard Occupation Codes (SOC) to describe or associate with any job or career path.   All of this information is especially helpful if you are trying to determine what career path you want to follow if you are in the midst of a career change.

Also listed is the wage - hourly and annually for our more localized area.  LWIA stands for Local Workforce Investment Area which, for our definition is bounded by Kane, DeKalb and Kendall counties in Illinois.  EDR is for the Economic Development Region that is the Northeast quadrant of Illinois.  Some of the occupations could not be found within a reasonable geographic area so I included the State wages.  I can't imagine commercial divers in the middle of an agricultural zone.

And if you notice as  you look over the numbers, there are only a couple of the jobs that are rapidly growing on this list that are not high paying or included in one of our other Key Sectors. But sometimes you just need to go with your passion.  If you love your job, is it really considered work?

#	Occupation	Illinois Key Sector	SOC Code	Median Wage Illinois or Local 2009			Median Wages National 2009
		SECTOR	CODE	Hourly	Annual	Area	Hourly	Annual
1	Computer Specialists, All Other	IT	151099	$35.53	$73,915	LWIA	$37.02	$77,600
2	Radiation Therapists	Health	291124	$34.13	$72,668	EDR	$35.66	$74,200
3	Nuclear Medicine Technologists	Health	292033	$34.94	$72,668	EDR	$32.65	$67,900
4	Dental Hygienists	Health	292021	$34.61	$72,000	LWIA	$32.38	$67,400
5	Nuclear Technicians	Green	194051	$41.32	$85,947	EDR	$32.37	$67,300
6	Commercial Pilots	TDL	532012	N/A	$76,179	LWIA	N/A	$65,800
7	Fashion Designers		271022	$8.03	$16,704	LWIA	$30.90	$64,300
8	Registered Nurses	IT	291111	$30.03	$62,446	LWIA	$30.65	$63,800
9	Diagnostic Medical Sonographers	IT	292032	$38.49	$80,074	LWIA	$30.30	$63,000
10	Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay		492095	$21.13	$43,952	LWIA	$29.94	$62,300
11	Engineering Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other	Green	173029	$30.26	$62,952	LWIA	$27.66	$57,500
12	Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technicians	TDL	173021	$20.20	$42,012	state	$27.39	$57,000
13	Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers	Man	492022	$28.90	$60,100	LWIA	$26.71	$55,600
14	Insurance Appraisers, Auto Damage		131032	$23.43	$48,722	LWIA	$26.63	$55,400
15	Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technicians	Green	173023	$25.78	$53,619	LWIA	$26.36	$54,800
16	Funeral Directors		119061	$31.09	$64,680	EDR	$26.14	$54,400
17	Respiratory Therapists	IT	291126	$24.85	$51,676	LWIA	$25.64	$53,300
18	Geological and Petroleum Technicians	AG/Green	194041	$30.98	$64,430	EDR	$25.60	$53,200
19	Radiologic Technologists and Technicians	Health	292034	$30.81	$64,092	LWIA	$25.59	$53,200
20	Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians	TDL	493011	$25.14	$52,295	LWIA	$25.39	$52,800
21	Commercial Divers	AG	499092	$14.48	$30,108	state	$25.26	$52,100
22	Electrical and Electronics Drafters		173012	$28.91	$60,139	LWIA	$25.04	$52,100
23	Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment	Man/Green	492094	$18.69	$38,881	LWIA	$24.39	$50,700
24	Avionics Technicians	TDL	492091	$30.07	$62,540	LWIA	$24.31	$50,600
25	Occupational Therapist Technicians	Health	291122	$37.71	$78,453	LWIA	$24.16	$50,300

Let me know what you think.