Career Flux - Real Workplace Stories

Seasoned Sales Professional Shares Job Search Secrets

Stephen Tanner works for LatPro.com, DiversityJobs.com and JustJobs.com and is one of their content specialists. He has a degree in Business Administration and likes to relate with people from all over the world.

A veteran salesperson with a history of successful job hunting strategies reveals how to land interviews. Learn from the successes and the failures of this Sales Pro.

I have been in a sales environment off and on for about 15 years. Currently, I am a sales rep for a company that offers customer service training to various industries. I have worked with this company for almost four years but I have only been in the sales position for about six months. I was very fortunate to have found this job when I did.

After the birth of my son, I was looking for a telecommuting position that would work around my hours. Previously, I had been in IT management and I thought a change was in order. After several months, and many failed attempts and false starts with unscrupulous employers, I found the company I am working with now. The president had, on a lark, placed an ad in Craigslist for help with marketing. I responded and was hired within a few weeks. About six months ago I began looking for sales positions. When the company I am with learned that I was seeking a position in sales, I was offered the position I hold now.

Trust Your Gut Feeling

The single most important thing I learned on my own through my job searches is how difficult it is to find reputable, permanent telecommuting positions in the sales industry. Though I never recommend cynicism, I always tell anyone who asks my advice to make sure that they thoroughly research the company that is hiring them. Particularly in today’s climate, there are those who take advantage of people who are so desperately in need of work. Four years ago when I was on my job search, I talked with a number of people who didn’t seem trustworthy. I learned to go with my gut; if something didn’t feel right, it probably wasn’t.

Working In the Sales Industry

When I began working in the sales industry, I worked for a temporary service agency. My position was with a branch of a very well known business that places temporary workers on job assignments. I pounded the pavement, seeking new clients for our office. As part of my job, I had to know as much about the company as possible, so I spent many hours in the branch office, looking over resumes, learning about interviewing techniques, and sitting through training seminars. After three years in this job, I began looking elsewhere for employment and found that all the skills I learned were very applicable to finding a new job.

Resume Is Key

My job search was successful because I knew that a resume was key to landing an interview. I had seen resumes get dumped into the trash for professional placements when they didn’t have proper grammar or if they were handwritten, but I had also seen many passed by because they didn’t stand out. Since then, I have always made sure to have an updated resume, but to also tailor it specifically for each job, highlighting skills that are important to the position for which I am applying. I have sent out dozens of resumes over the year and I almost always get an interview, even when my experience doesn’t necessarily apply to the specific job.

Pick Up the Telephone

Many do not realize it, but willingness to pick up the telephone is vital during a job search. After I send resumes, I wait about a week, and then I call the prospective employer’s human resources department. Especially now, with the job market in the shape that it is in, any professional sales job might get fifty or more resumes and even the best resumes can get lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately, a lot of job seekers send out resumes and leave it at that. If they don’t get a call from the company, they move on. Simply picking up the phone and inquiring about the status of my resume has gotten me a number of interviews.

About two years ago, I had decided to apply for a sales job with a local textbook manufacturer. After a week or so passed, I called the Director of Human Resources and asked if the job had been filled or if my resume was being considered. My call cleared up a problem that they were not aware of; the HR Director thought the VP of Sales was taking resumes and the Sales VP thought it was being handled by HR. The position needed to be filled immediately and I was asked to interview that day. I turned down the job due to the schedule requirements, but I would have never been offered the position had I not taken the initiative to give the company a call.

Learn When to Say No

A successful job search also involves knowing when to say no. The no can come at any time, but preferably the no should be said before the resume is printed off. It seems illogical to turn down the opportunity at any professional sales position when they seem to be so few and far between, but sometimes the job just isn’t a good fit and it can be better not to explore some opportunities at all. I have seen a number of ads that, while they appeared to be legit and from reputable companies, the job descriptions simply didn’t sit well with me.

Putting my best judgment aside, I sent resumes to some and was called on interviews. One particular job required relocating. I knew that I would not relocate for this position, but I thought that I could get a foothold, so that if an opening were to become available locally, I would already have an in with the company.

My plan backfired quite badly. I traveled more than two hours for the interview, was asked to job shadow for the day, and was offered the position on the spot. They needed someone to start immediately and, not being prepared for this turn of events, I came clean about my plan. I was dressed down in a way that I never had been before or since, accused, and rightly so, of wasting their time. It was made clear to me that should a position come open in their local office, I need not bother to apply.

Find and apply for your next successful job interview at SalesJobs.org where you’ll find all the jobs in one place.

Filed Under: Guest Experts, Real Workplace Stories Tagged With: Career, Interview, Job, Real Workplace Stories, Resume

CSI and Veteran Explains Job Search Advice

By Jarrod Swart Leave a Comment

Jarrod Swart works for JustJobs.com and is one of their content specialists. He takes keen interest in a variety of computer related disciplines and enjoys doing design and programming work in his spare time.

In this interview a CSI explains the techniques that helped him on his most recent job search. Noteworthy advice includes developing strong social networks, using refined job board searches and selling yourself during the interview process.

Responsibilities of a Crime Scene Investigator

I work as a CSI, a Crime Scene Investigator. I process all different types of crime scenes; major crime scenes, homicides, rapes, all motor vehicle accidents involving fatalities. I look at the underlying causes of the accidents. I also process all unattended death cases and will take a look to see what the cause of death was if there was no doctor in attendance. I work for a local government, but it is also a legal position as I testify in court. A CSI job will rarely come up as law enforcement on a job board. I am a civilian, but ninety-five percent of CSIs are police officers with arrest powers. I was also in the Army Criminal Investigative Division for twenty years.

Hiring Process

I found this job through one of my best friends in the Army, who was an investigator for the medical examiner’s office. He told me about this job. It was posted to the county website, 15-20 people applied for the position, the board looked at the applications, then they called us in and conducted interviews. This process took about three to four months from the time the position was opened until hiring.

Positions like this are open three weeks or so, and then closed to select from the applicants who applied during the open period. I was in another job when this opened up, but I did have several websites I checked on a regular basis. I was using specialized veteran job search websites, not any of the major job board sites. Each of the counties in my state has their own job board for local government sites.

No, I wouldn’t do anything different on my application to make myself stand out, as the application is strictly qualification and training based. I can list all the training I’ve had to make my application stand out from the crowd.

Role of Social Networking

I use some specific websites that cater to my special position to find job openings. I was an Army CID agent, and there is a professional organization that helps retired agents to find jobs. Also, there are groups of fellow agents on Facebook keeping in touch on a daily basis. So on those groups, someone could call out for a couple of qualified people and find applicants particularly suited to their need. Those looking for work can let it be known where they want to go, and what their specialties are. The development of strong connections to people in your industry is important.

Also, conferences and training sessions help professionals in my industry find open positions. The police academy is another good source as every department in my state sends their people there. Some people use LinkedIn, and I belong to some groups on there as well.

“You have the right to remain silent……..”

I haven’t had many interviews during my career. When I retired from the army I went right to work for a private security company. From there, I took a job selling cars. I didn’t know anything about it. I sat down and interviewed with the guy who was hiring, screening one hundred and fifty applicants to hire only about ten. He asked me, “Why do you think you can convince someone to buy a car from us?” I told him that for twenty years I sat down and said, “You have the right to remain silent…now tell me why you murdered that little old lady? I could get them to talk to me. If I can convince some guy who is facing the death penalty to talk to me, I can convince someone who just wants to spend a few thousand on a car to make the sale”.

Refine Your Job Search Properly

Probably the lesson I learned on my own that had an impact on my job search was that you have to refine your search properly, especially when using a big search engine. When using large job boards, you can’t just say, I want a clerical job. On the other hand, you can’t be too narrow. You might find that your skills are useable in an unexpected way. I learned after the fact about other jobs that I could have had but I was only searching within twenty-five miles and they were thirty miles away. I lost a much better job by narrowing my search too far.

Experience Vs Education

I was only required to have an associate’s degree in the Army, and to be working toward a bachelor’s degree. I have almost enough hours, but haven’t finished my degree. I have twenty years of experience, and that is enough to get me the job I have. I may someday take the last few hours I need and gain my degree. If I were to be paid more for having a degree, then I would do that. I went to school in another state, and didn’t stay there, so I didn’t use the Career Services.

Deciding Between Risk and Security

When you are in the military, at the ten-year mark in the army, you are halfway home to your retirement. You’ve spent ten years and earned a lot of credit; only ten years more and you get a retirement check for the rest of your life. I had an opportunity to get out and apply for a federal job at the ten-year mark. Because of my enlistment term, I couldn’t risk taking that job, and I wish I had done the risky thing and I’d be making more money. But I was married with a family and chose the secure path.

This job search advice was told to VeteranJobs.net and is one of many such interviews; others include a Finance Specialist and a Prison Sargeant.

Filed Under: Guest Experts, Job Search, Real Workplace Stories Tagged With: Interview, Job Boards, job interview, Job Search, Real Workplace Stories, Resume, social networking

Health and Human Diet Column Writer for Local Newspaper

By Erich Lagasse Leave a Comment

Erich Lagasse works for justjobs.com and is one of their content specialists.

Considered working as a Nutrition Columnist? This interview will take you through the ups and downs you can expect in the position, what it takes to land the job, what you can expect to earn and more. This is a true career story as told to WritingJobs.org and is one of many interviews with writing professionals, which among others include a Blogger and an Editorial Adviser.

I currently work as a health and human diet column writer at a local newspaper, providing nutritional advice to a small, but growing community as quickly as I can understand the latest scientific evidence. I’ve been working at this career for some 5 years now, and it still feels like the day I started.

Factual Information Needed

My day to day work schedule involves surfing the internet for the most recent medical publications and blog posts by informed, analytical researchers, doctors, and nutrition experts, to find common threads and the most factual information possible where the nutrition and health fields are concerned. Once I’ve finished with my browsing, contemplating, fact checking, and the contacting of any relevant sources for permission to use their work, I begin writing. This is followed by a painstaking scrutiny of every word, then a break, and then another painstaking scrutinizing, before I release the rough draft to be painstakingly scrutinized by my editor.

A standard misconception about being a nutritional advice columnist is that we get some form of subsidy from any manner of interested parties, whether they be food companies, supplement manufacturers, or the FDA. All I can say about this is that if a subsidy check is coming, it’s taking its sweet time, as I have yet to receive a dime from anyone but the owners of the paper.

Research Demands Time

I consider myself very satisfied with my career; the only thing that begins to bog me down when I start my day is the research portion. This can sometimes lay me low as I’m forced to not only read and understand vast amounts of data, but I have to contend with the private sector’s emphasis on a spin when it comes to reported scientific facts. If I should find a piece of promising information in a fitness magazine, for example, I have to do twice the legwork to determine if it is, in fact, true, or if the magazine was just trying to butter me up for a sale. Even though I get no incentive to report a certain way, that doesn’t necessarily mean others don’t as well.

Readers’ Response Makes It Worthwhile

When I get e-mails from readers that found real value in my pieces, or report changes in chronic illnesses, or even just fat loss from the information I present, it makes it worth more than just the zeros in my pay check. While I don’t get nearly enough reader feedback to make me feel like I’m truly making a difference, if I could see with my own eyes the number of lives I’ve touched for the better, I think I could truly hang up my hat and call it home.

Obesity Wake-up Call

I, like many Americans, grew up obese. This realization didn’t come until much later in life. Not to say I didn’t know I was fat, but when I got a glimpse of how close I actually was to childhood diabetes, it really hit me how little I, and my family, knew about proper nutrition. I take this to heart nearly each time I sit down to write the information that I hope will spread out like a thought virus amongst the people of my home town.

Avoiding Disinformation

I studied nutrition at my university, and always had a passion for getting to the truth of what makes us healthy and what makes us, well, not. Devoting my time to this endeavor took so much time and required so much dedication, in the light of the nearly mountainous wall of disinformation created by interest groups, subsidized food industries and even governmental organizations that I knew I had to do more. It only made sense to get paid for it. I always look back at my formative times and wish that I had written a blog on my findings, and reached out to others that had my same passion in other related fields, because that’s what a lot of my off the job work-related effort goes to.

Respect Thy Seniors

My first print article reached the editor’s office and was promptly denied due to it being a little too edgy. I pushed past her advice and basically bullied her into printing it, only to get an incredible amount of flak from not only other staffers, but readers, as well. It was then that I learned that your editor knows her reader base, and going against her advice is just starting fires.

Respect your seniors, or pay the consequences of non-vicarious education!

Passion Keeps Me Going

It’s been fairly hum drum so far, thankfully. Spreading the good word about how to live right is, and I think always will be, my passion. If I don’t get up to do this job, I might as well not get up at all. Some of the e-mails I mentioned earlier concerning readers that hit their body image or weight loss goals always make me smile, too.

Finding a clinical finding that I like and that would jive with a lot of my other beliefs, only to realize that it was funded by a private supplement company and is rife with poor empirical practices happens way too often and always gets me in a bad mood.

I do this job at home even when I’m not getting paid, so I find little stress in it. My life is my work, at this point. Columnists in small papers can start at 35 to 40 thousand a year, at my experience level, and with the readers I pull, it’s more. I make more than enough to be happy, I’ve found. I rarely take days off, as my job is very low stress.

A college degree is necessary, whether it be in journalism or nutrition, and past experience in writing is required. I hope you like being wrong! I would be doing exactly what I’m doing now, except syndicated and with a reader base that is informed enough to not only follow my advice, but to challenge it and prove me wrong.

Filed Under: Guest Experts, Real Workplace Stories Tagged With: Career, career exploration, Job, Real Workplace Stories, Work

Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Fine Artist

By Patricia C 3 Comments

Patricia C works for LatPro.com, DiversityJobs.com and JustJobs.com and is one of their content specialists. She has a degree in International Relations and enjoys learning from other cultures and traveling.

Considered working as a graphic designer, illustrator or fine artist? This interview will take you through the ups and downs you can expect in the position, what it takes to land the job, what you can expect to earn and more. This is a true career story as told to GraphicDesignJobs.org and is one of many interviews with graphic design professionals, which among others include a design and text editor, a freelance artist, and everything in between.

A Start in Pre-Computer Days

My career in Graphic Design has been long and varied, with twists and turns along the way. I am presently a graphic designer/illustrator/fine artist. Creativity, professionalism, and flexibility have been the way I would describe over 40 years in the field, which began before the computer came into everyday use.

I am a white female who began her career in New York City, working in smaller art studios that served large corporate accounts. I have worked in promotion, display, package design and later in publishing. I also worked for a large retail company in their display department, making mock ups of signs and window displays for photography before production. I alternated between working staff by adapting to their design needs, and freelancing anything from packaging to corporate charts. This was before computers were used.

Challenges Galore

Being a woman in a world of men in graphic design in the old days was a challenge. I wore, like many of my day, mini-skirts and constantly worried about bending over the drawing board to do my work when standing. I was surrounded by men, which was fine most of the time.

In the freelance world, I went from feast to famine. In San Francisco, I was able to sign on with a designers’ agency, but when they weren’t calling, I would cold call potential clients by telephone. It was not my favorite thing to do– doing design work was a 9; looking for jobs and calling was a 2. I increased by job skills by doing illustration and learning more about lithography and printing. I went back to school to earn a B.A. in art, as graphic design, along with advertising in the economy, would stumble every few years.

Computer Software Bring In a New Age

There were many times when I really loved graphic design and especially typography. I enjoyed solving advertising and promotional problems for the client with design. When the computer became popular I learned Photoshop, then Illustrator and Quark. After I moved from New York and was helping a friend with her magazine, I learned PageMaker and became a layout artist as well. I think that illustration has taken over some of my love of design and because I do not have to be a saleswoman, I can relax at home in front of the computer /drawing board (yes, I still use paints and pencils!) I write copy as well.

Burning Desire to Be an Art Director

I began my career with a burning desire to be an art director in an advertising agency. Summers, I would go into the city and see if anyone would take me on in their office. Eventually I did begin as an apprentice, after going to art school. However, learning more about production, rather than design, would have helped, as that was the first question I was asked. I had no idea what a “mechanical” or “paste up” was when I left art school, but in those days, that was the way one started. Even with the computer, production is necessary.

Perseverance and Creativity

In the field of graphic design, I learned the hard way that one should not give up. Being laid off from jobs due to the economic climate became a fact of life. A waiting room in the employment agency with wall to wall artists made me want to walk back out of the agency. But I stuck with it, and learned that my skills were adaptable. What mattered was my perseverance and creativity, as well as with each job, my skills and experience.

The working world held challenges, and the client or corporation was always more important that my own ego. In design school, I learned to solve problems, but a client looking over my shoulder added to the chaos of designing.

Stress and Satisfaction

I think one of the strangest things that happened to me in design was while freelancing for a large engineering company doing charts. We worked after hours, and I happened to be looking for supplies and opened a drawer that had nuclear-type blueprints with the words “classified”. I quickly shut the unlocked drawer and kept quiet, but it was quite unnerving, as I was somewhat of a Make-Love-Not-War person.

My career as an illustrator, using graphic design principles gives me satisfaction. I also learned web design using HTML and built my own website over two years using code. Although there are now many easy methods, it was a challenge that gave me satisfaction when completed.

My graphic design career in New York was very stressful, but working from my home computer is not. Because I no longer have deadlines, it is more relaxing. Many of my previous jobs were working under tight deadlines. However, I do miss a steady salary and because of the economy, the demand for illustration is down. I have had to work outside the field to bring in more income. I live in a beautiful place, so do not need to take vacations.

Develop an Eye for Type and Layout

In today’s world, I would suggest that knowing computer programs is only part of being a successful graphic designer. An eye for type and layout is most important, as well as understanding the needs of the client for whom one is designing. I would tell a friend going into the field that one can begin small, with gaining experience and skills – the preliminary step to a great job. Flexibility is a must, as the market is constantly changing and will continue to change.

I would like to continue to paint, write and illustrate, using the skills I have learned as a graphic designer.

Filed Under: Career Planning, Guest Experts, Real Workplace Stories Tagged With: Career, Career Planning, Job, Real Workplace Stories, Skills

Artist Finds that Networking Is the Best Way to Find a Job

By Erich Lagasse Leave a Comment

Erich Lagasse works for justjobs.com and is one of their content specialists. The following interview account by Erich explains how networking proved to be the best way to find a job for an artist.

Thousands of people are looking for jobs right now, and job listings sometimes attract hundreds of applicants. Letting friends know you are looking for a job might just give you the edge that you need in such a crowded field.

I Found My Current Job through Networking

I am currently working for an online automobile-auction house as a technician in the internal tech support department. I found this job through networking. I had made friends with a group of people who got together for recreation through an online site called Meetup. I let them know I was seriously looking for work and eventually one of them mentioned a job opening at the place where he worked. I had graduated as an art major almost three years earlier and had looked for work constantly since graduation. I did some freelance art work and even landed a temporary position with the Census Bureau during that time, but otherwise I was unemployed.

More Job Listings Online Than In Newspapers

When I first started my job search, my parents tried to be helpful; they offered advice that had worked for them such as checking the want ads in the paper. The newspaper, I quickly learned, is no longer the place to look for a job. Over the last few years, our local paper’s job listings had dwindled from several pages down to a handful of listings. I located the places where employers are now finding applicants for job openings by doing online research. Craigslist was one good place to start. Though there were a fair number of scams, I was also able to find some legitimate local listings. Because I started looking for work right when the economy crashed, there were lots of listings for internships and other unpaid positions. The idea, I suppose, was to get a foot in the door, but I could not afford to work for free.

I quickly found other on-line job listings simply by typing the name of my state and the word “jobs” into the Google search bar. Some of them were very up to date; some listed long-outdated job openings. I found that sites for city, county or state employment opportunities were the most reliable. I ended up with several interviews based on applications that I sent to job listings on Internet sites. From what my friends were telling me at the time, even getting a single call-back was a really good sign, so getting several gave me a sense of hope.

Stand Out From the Crowd by Making Face-To-Face Contact

If I were applying for the same position with a different company, I would call and check on the progress of my application and, if at all possible, I would visit the hiring-office in person. Several times during my job search, face-to-face contact allowed me to move closer to my goal of employment. With such a huge segment of the population looking for work right now, I really think that introducing yourself helps you stand out from the crowd.

Make an Online Portfolio

Though I am working in tech support, I hope to work as an artist someday. I have a publicly viewable online portfolio of my art work that has earned me some freelance assignments. I keep in touch with companies that have hired me in the past. I occasionally drop them an email and thank them for the work they have sent my way. I hope it helps them remember me if they ever have more freelance work available.

“If Your Friend Likes You, So Do We!”

The best job interview I had was the one that got me my current position. The job paid well, and I knew that I was well-qualified to fill it, but nearly three years of unemployment had me on edge. The whole interview only lasted about ten minutes. The man doing the interview said, basically, “If your friend likes you, then so do we. You’re hired.” I had fought the idea of networking simply because I had so few contacts to work with. I was told over and over that networking was the best way to find a job, but I was stuck back at my parents’ home in a small town. My friends from college were either in the same boat, had moved away to start jobs or had, in desperation, joined the military. But then it turned out that my friend from Meetup really was the key to finally getting a job. I learned that networking worked. My advice to anyone looking for work is to get out there and meet people, and, once you do, tell them you’re looking for work.

Never Give Up

The single most important thing I learned during my long job-search was not to give up. Graduating just as the economy crashed was a little demoralizing. Everyone hopes to get a job right out of college. For me, that just did not happen. Weeks went by and then years. I was tempted to give up, but I didn’t. I continued to send out resumes; sometimes I sent three or four a day. I exercised, kept in touch with friends and searched the Internet for tips on job-hunting and interviewing. And it paid off. I did find a job.

The university I had recently graduated from did offer a “how to find a job” workshop. Sadly, at the workshop the speaker mostly talked about how three people in her four-person department had just been laid off! That was not very encouraging. The rest of the workshop focused on how to stave off depression while facing extended periods of unemployment. Again, that was not very encouraging.

If I could change one thing in my career past, I think I would have put more time into making contacts while I was in school. I mostly concentrated on my art and my grades. I had an opportunity for a gallery showing and I let it pass. I wish I had accepted the offer. I think I could have made valuable contacts that way which might have made my job search easier.

If you are an African-American looking for a fulfilling career try AfricanAmericanHires.com, where you can find thousands of jobs with one click.