Help! I Need a Job!

By Julia Fretwell

Help! I Need a Job! is the "go to" book if what you are looking for is real, honest advice on how to find a job in this — or any — job market. Speaking from almost 20 years of experience helping people set and reach career goals, as well as extensive work with hundreds of employers, Julia Fretwell tells it like it is and provides you with the tools necessary to succeed in your job search.
Through almost two decades of career development experience, Julia has been involved in all aspects of job development, including creating and teaching numerous need-based customized curriculums, working with and developing hiring programs and relationships with employers in both an individual and group setting, creating a holistically designed career assessment system to assess client needs and aspirations and help clients move forward, and successfully organizing and overseeing numerous special projects, career events and conferences.

Julia founded and coordinated the Sacramento Region Career Developers Network from 1998-2008. The network encompassed over nine counties and 200+ job development professionals. This group inspired the creation of numerous other networks throughout California and has resulted in countless jobs for job seekers.

Julia is also a sought-after speaker. Julia's wealth of experiences, years of accomplishments in communication and leadership through Toastmasters International, and success in winning almost 20 public speaking competitions empower her to live life fully, and share the tools she has learned to help us all live in a more dynamic, powerful and healthy way by seeing the bright side of everything.
Julia lives in a small town in the country with her husband and two border collies and enjoys time with her kids and grandkids, as well as kayaking, photography, hiking and exploring new places. Her latest venture is stand-up comedy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Julia Fretwell
• Release date: Jun 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781935953234

Book preview

Help! I Need a Job!

by

Julia Fretwell

Published by Authority Publishing at Smashwords

Copyright © 2011 by Julia Fretwell. All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional when appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, personal, or other damages.

1. Business & Economics : Careers - General 2. Business & Economics : Careers - Resumes 3. Business & Economics : Careers - Job Hunting

ISBN: 978-1-935953-23-4

Original Copyright © 2011 by Julia Fretwell

Revised Edition

Table of Contents

Dedication

Employer Perspective

Selling to the Employer

Steps for Success

Dealing with Loss

The Importance of Attitude in Job Search

Body Language

Building Confidence in a Tough Economy

Career Exploration

Top Achievements

What Does the Ideal Job Look Like

Using O*NET Center

Antonio’s Grid

Job Search and Research Resources

How to Tell People What You Do

Job Fairs for Career Exploration

Informational Interviews

Where Else Can You Network?

Volunteering While Job Searching

Employment Applications

Master Application Worksheet

Cover Letters

Resume Writing

Customizing Your Resume

References

Contacting Employers

Employer Contact Sheet

Email, Voicemail and Social Networking Sites

A Little Something to Inspire You...

The Interview

Traditional, Behavioral and Working Interviews

Tips for Writing Thank-You Notes

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Dressing for the Job Interview

Tell Me about Yourself

How to Handle Common Interview Questions

It’s Your Turn: What to Ask an Interviewer

What is the Interviewer Thinking?

Reasons Applicants Are Rejected During an Interview

Meal Interviews

Negotiating in a Tough Economy

Keeping the Job Once You Get It

Cooperating With Others

Being a Team Player

Time Management Skills

Our Thoughts Tend to Become Our Reality

More Words to Inspire You

Congratulations! You made it!

Biography

Dedication

This book is dedicated to

My husband, children and grandchildren who never stop believing in me, and who show me the true meaning of unconditional love each and every day,

My past employers who pushed me past the limit of what I thought I could achieve,

and to the many hardworking people that I hope this book inspires and helps.

Employer Perspective

There is one thing that every actor must remember that is more important than technique- and that’s to play to your audience – Dustin Hoffman

As job seekers it is easy to slip into a mindset of going after the perfect job for me, one that has all the bells and whistles that we hope to find in our ideal employment. Doing this can vastly undermine our ability to find and obtain employment - especially in the current recessionary job market.

Fortunately for us, this doesn’t happen often. We have never before been subject to the degree of recession we are currently seeing. This means that there are a whole new set of rules to job searching and that we must adapt our way of thinking to fit the current conditions. There are many people claiming to be experts on the subject, but in reality this is new to all of us. My advice to you is to absorb as much information as you can, be willing to give up on old ways of doing business for now, and be open to change. Within the myriad of information that you will be confronted with will be your own perfect way of doing things.

As job seekers your role is constantly changing. If you have job searched before, you have seen systems come and go, you have seen processes tried and discarded, and you have heard 101 ways to find work. The trick is to adapt what you hear to fit what works for you. I would be willing to bet that there are not two job seekers who do things exactly the same each time. We each have a different background and set of work ethics that we choose to follow. Some of us are more patient than others when dealing with job search issues; some are terrified of meeting a potential employer face to face, while others are better at making the sale with the employers.

I have found that the best way to successfully job search, particularly in the current job market, is to first work on yourself so that you are the best you can be when you present yourself to potential employers. The first part of this book will help you to do that, the second part will focus on the job search itself. Only when both of these pieces come together will you be ready to find your ideal job- in any job market.

Find what works for you. The materials you are being given are the result of years of experience, training and research. These ideas were the result of my way of thinking about job development. My hope is that you will be able to draw on these suggestions and resources, add them to existing ideas you may have and create for yourself a unique system that works for you.

That being said, let’s get started!

The single most common mistake that I have seen with regards to looking for work is coming into the situation from your own perspective. Think about that for a second. Whose needs are being met? Even in a solid economy it is going to be difficult at best for a job seeker to sell an employer on the idea of hiring them when coming from this perspective.

The following story, The Maligned Wolf will help you to see that there is never just one side to any story.

The Maligned Wolf

Adapted from The Maligned Wolf by Leif Fearn

The forest was my home. I lived there and I cared about it. I tried to keep it clean and neat.

Then one sunny day, while I was cleaning up some garbage a camper had left behind, I heard footsteps. I leaped behind a tree and saw a rather plain little girl coming down the trail carrying a basket. I was suspicious of this little girl right away because she was dressed funny- all in red, and her head covered up so it seemed like she didn’t want people to know who she was. Naturally, I stopped to check her out. I asked who she was, where she was going, where she had come from, and all that. She gave me a song and dance about going to her grandmother’s house with a basket of lunch. She appeared to be a basically honest person, but she was in my forest and she certainly looked suspicious with that strange get-up of hers. So I decided to teach her just how serious it is to prance through the forest unannounced and dressed funny.

I let her go on her way, but I ran ahead to her grandmother’s house. When I saw that nice old woman, I explained the problem and she agreed her granddaughter needed to learn a lesson, all right. The old woman agreed to stay out of sight until I called her. Actually, she hid under the bed.

When the girl arrived, I invited her into the bedroom where I was in bed, dressed like the grandmother. The girl came in all rosy cheeked and said something nasty about my ears. I’ve been insulted before, so I made the best of it by suggesting that my big ears would help me to hear better. Now, what I meant was I liked her and wanted to pay close attention to what she was saying. But she makes another insulting crack about my bulging eyes. Now, you can see how I was beginning to feel about this girl who put on such a nice front, but was apparently a very nasty person. Still, I’ve made it a policy to turn the other cheek, so I told her that my eyes would help me to see her better.

Her next insult really got to me. I’ve got this problem with having big teeth. And that little girl made an insulting crack about them. I know that I should have had better control, but I leaped up from that bed and growled that my teeth would help me to eat her better.

Now, let’s face it- no wolf could ever eat a little girl. Everyone knows that. But that crazy little girl started running around the house screaming- me chasing her to calm her down. I’d taken off the grandmother’s clothes, but that seemed to make it worse. All of a sudden the door came crashing open and a big lumberjack is standing there with an ax. I looked at him and all of a sudden it became clear that I was in trouble. There was an open window behind me and out I went.

I’d like to say that was the end of it. But that grandmother never did tell my side of the story. Before long word got out that I was a mean, nasty guy. Everybody started to avoid me. I don’t know about that funny little girl in the red outfit, but I didn’t live happily ever after.

In dealing with employers, it is always important to keep in mind how they might be viewing any given situation, rather than how you see it. Since we are looking for work, and the decision on whether or not to hire you is left solely to the discretion of the employer, it may be necessary to tweak how you see certain situations in order to present them in a more positive light to the employer. Keep in mind that there are two main questions that we need to keep at the forefront of our thinking at all times when looking for work:

1. What is the employer looking to accomplish?

2. How can I show them that I have the skills to meet their needs?

Ultimately, these are the two big questions that will make the difference between whether or not you get the job. It may be helpful to type them up, print them out and keep them where you can see them as you construct your resume, cover letter and possible answers to interview questions.

I am sure you have seen an enormous change in the make-up of people looking for work. With unemployment rates at an all time high, there are people looking for work who may never have had to concern themselves with the job search process before- candidates who have been at their jobs for a great many years and are now being laid off as companies scale back to reduce expenses, or in worst case scenarios close their doors for good. There are also candidates who have been highly sought after in the past, candidates who had no problem locating an ideal job in the past. If you are one of these people it may be even harder for you to deal with looking for work. You may need to ease into change one step at a time.

Now more than ever it is important to see things differently- through the eyes of the employer. In any job market this is important- but especially so now. Use these tools to demonstrate that there are always many ways to look at the same situation.

One of the most helpful exercises I know is to spend some time thinking about exactly what it is that you- as a job seeker- are looking for in the perfect job. Then switch roles. Now think of yourself as the employer. Make a list of what you are now looking for in the ideal candidate. Consider the process they will go through in looking for the perfect candidate and how that