Job Search Tips for Boomers

How much is enough? Understanding Internet Speed and What You Need to Get the Job Done
With so many options for Internet speed, sometimes it can be difficult to determine how much is enough and how much is more than you'll ever need in a lifetime.

Taking Risks
In January I was selected by CBS News The Early Show to be one of four job seekers featured in a series focused on job hunting in our very troubled economy. Last week The Early Show told my story of the "older" worker along with that of the other three.

How to Start your Civilian Job Search
If you separated from the military more than 10 years ago, you probably missed going through the Department of Defense Transition Assistance Program. It was created in reaction to the major "down-sizing" of forces in the 1990s.

Working for the Health of It
Is working good for your health? If Mick Jaggar can rock well into his 60s, then there must be something good with staying on the job.

Associations provide Networking and Career Connections
Just about every profession or trade has an association of practicing members, or so it seems. That could be a slight exaggeration but there are thousands of associations, each exists to advocate for a specific profession or trade.

Handling Age Discrimination in Your Job Search
Recently several job seekers over 40 have written to us with the complaint that they feel they have lost out on job opportunities because of their age. In many cases, they may be correct.

The Workplace Is Going Grey
A popular perception in the workplace has always been that employers were all too eager to offer early retirement packages to encourage older workers to step aside because of their salary and benefit costs to the company. That perception may be on the way out, as the greying of the baby-boomer generation is poised to leave American companies short-handed.

Boomers: You Need to Rethink Seeking Full Time Jobs With Gen Xers
In my coaching practice, I often hear complaints from job seekers over 50 regarding not being considered for a full-time position by a Gen Xer. Here I provide my observations as well as six important steps you can take to find work with the Gen Xers.

Resume Basics: Chronological or Functional Style?
As you begin your job search process, one of the most important tasks you will do is to prepare a resume. The resume is a key marketing tool and should be prepared with great thought and care. This is the document that will first introduce you and your credentials to potential employers and, ultimately, to your next employer.

Military to Civilian Résumé: Part 1, Get Started!
When you leave military service and begin your job search, the first thing you must do is create a marketing tool to sell yourself to civilian industries. That tool is your résumé. It's the foundation on which you will build your search for that next job.

Military to Civilian Résumé: Part 2, Expand your Skills List
So far, you've compiled a chronological list of your transferable job skills derived from your military working history and your DD2586. It's OK if it contains military jargon. It's important here that you create your chronological list first, simply based on your history.

Military to Civilian Résumé: Part 3, Training and Achievements
A good résumé is not simply a history of your work experience. It must also show employers what you bring to them in terms of education, training and job-specific accomplishments or recognitions.

7 Secrets to Search-Optimize Your Resume Web Page
Many recruiters feel overwhelmed with unqualified resumes submitted for their job postings. They are reacting by focusing on searching for good (i.e. "qualified") resumes rather than sifting through stacks of unqualified ones. Recruiters DO use Web search engines to find resumes, so your resume Web page should be designed with the search engines in mind.

A Small Investment in your Resume could Pay Off
Most of us have difficulty chronicling the last two weeks, never mind the last 20 or 30 years of our work history. What did I do 10 years ago? What part of that job qualifies me for the job I want now?

4 Ways to Protect Your Job While Job Hunting Online
In the first online recruiting workshop I taught for a major company's recruiters (in 1997 or 1998), we found the resume of one of the company's middle managers in our search for qualified applicants. Her manager was notified, immediately, and she was probably fired before the end of the workshop that same day. That reaction is common.

Smarter Voicemail Messages
You've worked up the courage to call that employer, as we've been suggesting. But, your call is diverted to voicemail. Rats!! Now what?

Employers Monitor Employee Internet & E-Mail Use
Fifty-one percent of employers have disciplined or terminated an employee for violating the employer's Internet or e-mail policy.

12 Tips for Avoiding Spam Filters
The use of software "filters" to stop junk e-mail is growing, and these filters may be damaging your ability to send your resume or a job inquiry through e-mail. Your e-mail may never reach your intended recipient if it gets caught in a filter.

Research Companies before You Accept an Official Interview
In order to be best prepared for any interview, it helps to know which companies you want to work for, or at the least, which companies have the potential to hire you. If you know those two things you can begin to prepare yourself for a truly positive interview.

Don't Blow Your Cover
Over and over, I see job seekers under-estimating the reach of every-day technology and, consequently, sabotaging their own job search. The combination of e-mail, blogs, and search engines can be very dangerous.

Killer Mistake - No Cover Letter
Even with e-mailed resumes, you need a cover "letter" to help the recruiter understand what you want. Over the past few weeks, several recruiters and employers have shared with me their frustration with job seekers who mail or e-mail their resume without a cover letter.

Tips on Telephone Interviewing
It is common these days for employers to begin with a broader selection of candidates based upon their resumes and employ the first round of interviews via telephone. Quite often the job seeker is excited to have caught the recruiter's attention but is a bit unsettled by the prospects of a telephone interview.

Be Prepared and Follow Proper Etiquette for Professional References
While preparing for a full-scale job search, one task is often overlooked until well into the actual search. That task is the identification of professional references.