Despite the perception of the U.S. economy, this Spring’s college graduates have reason to be optimistic.  According to the CERI (Collegiate Employment Research Institute), employers plan to hire 7% more recent Bachelor degree graduates in 2008 than in 2007.  The rise in open positions for all degree levels is expected to be 2%.  Larger employers are more likely to hire a greater number of recent graduates, while small/mid-sized employers will be hiring fewer new grads this year.  Overall MBA candidates can expect to fair well in the current job market.    

How will you land one of those positions?  The first step will be to prepare your resume.  If you work with a professional writer, part of the process will be to establish your personal brand and define your major accomplishments.  In the interview you’ll be able to showcase your personality, passion, and paint a picture of your accomplishments. What do employers want in a candidate?   

Interestingly, these are the items reported by CERI to be of greatest importance to hiring employers: “Enthusiasm/Excitement/Drive: 17%, Communication Skills: 13%, Technological Aptitude: 11%, and Fresh Perspective/New Ideas: 10%” Most recent graduate clients are very concerned about work experience.  Work experience is not the only way to cultivate these attributes.   To learn more about this study or to order the entire report, visit this site: http://www.ceri.msu.edu/recruiting/recruiting.html.  To get help with your resume and job search strategy, contact me.

Three clients this month have asked me to create a resume for multiple goals – or in one case for no goal at all. They just need a job, any job! This may be a good time to chat about focused resumes. Sure, I can easily draft a nice chronology of a client’s work experience and start it off with an “everything but the kitchen sink” style summary. However that will not be effective.  A resume focused on a particular occupation or field will have a much higher response rate.    

A resume is not a history document, it is a marketing document. The reader has a list of requirements defined.  The skills and accomplishments on your resume should be tailored to address those requirements.  An employer rarely wants a “jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none.”  They want a candidate who is highly motivated to succeed in a particular occupation, not someone who will take any job that pays a certain salary in a particular city.  Furthermore, a recruiter hiring a human resources manager has different requirements than they have when they hire an executive assistant or a sales representative. Sure, you may be able to do all three jobs.  However, you need to showcase different skills on your resume for each career goal. 

As your writer, it is alright if I don’t have an exact job title in mind.  However, I do need to know what you would like to do. You can share the occupation or perhaps the functions. The best way to communicate this is by sending me links to one or two sample job postings.  If I know where you want to go, I can help you get there.

Welcome to my first blog entry!

From time to time, I will share job search-related news.  Hopefully I’ll save you some time by pointing you to some great sources.

One such source is US News and World Report. Recently US News and World Report listed the “Best Careers for 2008.”   US News and World Report based the “Top 31″ on job satisfaction, training difficulty, prestige, and pay. 

The #1 career listed is Audiologist.  That’s not surprise with a large percentage of our US population at the age in which hearing begins to decline.  There is also a rise in younger adults experiencing hearing deficiency due to listening devices with ear buds set at a potentially higher-than-safe sound level.

There are several other positions in the healthcare arena, such as #5 - Dentist, #22 - Optometrist, #23 -  Pharmacist, #24 - Physician Assistant, and #27 - Registered Nurse. If you are a student with an interest in health care sciences, this is good news.

I expected quite a few technology-related positions on the list and there are several.  However, there are at least a couple of positions that do not require a college degree and a multi-year education.  For example, the list includes #13 - Hairstylist/Cosmetologist and #18 - Locksmith/Security System Technician.  If you are considering a career change, these may be ones to consider.

Academia offers many opportunities.  Out of 31 occupations on the US News and World Report list, five were in the field of academia or training.  These include: Curriculum/Training Specialist, Higher Education Administrator, Librarian, Professor, and School Psychologist.

If you are planning your career, check out the US News Report from which the above data was gathered.  You may also want to check out:

 ”CNN Money - The Hottest Jobs” 

“CNN Money - The New New Careers” - CNN Money

“­America’s Best Jobs in the Hottest Job Markets” - CNN Money 

“Where Will the Jobs Be in 2008″ - MarketWatch.com