Thursday, October 22, 2009

First Steps First



I am one of the blessed ones who has always had a secure job. Unfortunately not everyone in our family is that blessed. So we have come to know the worry and depression of being out of work through no fault of your own but of an ailing economy brought on by government mismanagement and greed.

Suggestions if you are out of Work: There is a chance since 6.5 people in the U.S. apply for every job that is offered that you MAY NOT get the same kind of job with the same kind of money. That MAY be a reality for a while.

However you may think that you are now going to be poor or in want forever. That is not true unless of course you choose to do nothing. Many unemployment laws prevent you from working to try out a job because then you lose your unemployment insurance money. What a ridiculous law!!! It stifles initiative.

You may have to take a job in an area of the economy which is growing. I did a bit of research and found a few areas of growth. Not well researched but at least some.
  • Walmart and similar stores which have low prices. People who have had to abandon more expensive stores ended up shopping at Walmart.
  • Dollar stores. Ditto like Walmart above
  • Waste Management appears to be a growing area. I guess that makes sense since as we grow more waste is produced with less places to put it. 
Scanty research but it is a start. Perhaps you can find some other areas. Remember times are NOT the same and you may have to CHANGE what you have done for a living.

You may not want to apply at Walmart because the pay is so low that you could not support a family. May I say that it is NOT ALWAYS how much you get paid as it is HOW MUCH YOU KEEP!

David Bach in his book "The Automatic Millionaire" outlines a TRUE STORY of a couple that ended up with great wealth in spite of being an average Canadian couple. Yes, just average.

He was a low-level manager and she was a beautician whose joint income never exceeded $55,000 per year, yet who somehow manage to own TWO HOMES DEBT-FREE, put TWO KIDS THROUGH COLLEGE, and RETIRE at age 55 with MORE THAN A MILLION IN SAVINGS!!

How on earth can that happen? It is all choices. We make choices every day which increase or decrease our income. I was with a guy once that loved Tim Horton's coffee so much that inside of two hours he visited the shop twice while I was with him. I wonder how MANY more times he visited when I was not?

Do you wonder how that couple did it? Sorry I am NOT telling. Now YOU have a choice, to buy or to borrow from the library, one builds wealth and one decreases it. But I WOULD READ IT regardless as it is an unbelievable story compared to what we THINK you have to do to earn the big bucks!

A few suggestions for the unemployed:
  • Volunteer at a business where you would like to work. Work hard. Show your best work skills. I know a young teacher that could not get a job out of college. So she volunteered in the school where I taught. Within 2 years she was employed as grade 4 teacher. The school knew her. They appreciated her help and saw her work skills and it was a natural to hire her when they had an opening. This can apply to almost any job.
  • Get a job at a place like Walmart or any growing business. Isn't it possible if the job you start in does not pay well that you could move up if you prove your competence, good work skills and attitude? How about applying for a management trainee program in a store like Walmart. In spite of the economy I know of at LEAST two Walmarts that added store space. One in St. Catharines, Ontario and one in Attleboro, Massachusetts.
I will do some more research and see if I can expand this list.

I just checked the at Walmart.ca under careers and I see that they have just added two stores, one in Sudbury and one in Alliston, ON. 

Here are the opportunities they list:
Home Office
Retail Management
Retail Stores
Pharmacy
Optical
The Eye Clinic - Doctor
Campus

Then they have a link to present offerings here

On this page there are 12 short pages of jobs listed!!!!

USA WALMART

Here is the career page from Walmart USA

There are two choices: Ecommerce and Other.

Ecommerce located in Brisbane, CA lists these jobs.

Job Listings

Here are our current job openings. Please view the details for more information, and apply from that page if you are interested.

 
  Page 1 of 4  
Next Page
Requisition #
Job Title
Location
Posted Date
2009-1707
Sr. Manager, Corporate Strategy
US-CA-Brisbane
10/20/2009
2009-1706
Sr. Information Architect
US-CA-Brisbane
10/20/2009
2009-1703
Associate Community Manager, Food - Temporary
US-CA-Brisbane
10/9/2009
2009-1702
Senior Software Engineer - MTS
US-CA-Brisbane
10/12/2009
2009-1701
Site Merchandising Coordinator - TEMPORARY
US-CA-Brisbane
10/9/2009
2009-1700
Product Manager, Catalog
US-CA-Brisbane
10/5/2009
2009-1698
Fulfillment Account Manager
US-CA-Brisbane
9/29/2009
2009-1697
Senior Platform Engineer
US-CA-Brisbane
9/17/2009
2009-1696
Product Manager, Finance
US-CA-Brisbane
9/16/2009
2009-1695
Product Manager, Site
US-CA-Brisbane
9/16/2009

Then under ALL WALMART CAREERS are listed these areas:
• Stores
• Sam's Club

• Corporate Offices
• International

• Logistics


When you click on the ALL WALMART CAREERS you come to this career page of many many opportunities!

So maybe you just have to LESS FUSSY in this economy and grow your job by doing your work excellently!

Actually on the left side, I have listed all the appropriate pages of Primerica where you become your own boss and YOU decide how much you make. Granted it is NOT for everyone but by working at it, even people who have been in job-training schools have risen to open their own branches.

It is a job which helps middle class families that most other institutions have abandoned because they can make more money from the wealthy. Primerica helps families become debt-free and financially independent.

Oh yes, if you search the internet, you can find junk as well as good stuff written about Primerica. But remember anyone can write anything on the internet. I have some 30 websites and blogs myself. I don't lie but if I had no integrity I could make up all kinds of stuff.

If you read the business opportunity presented by Primerica you will see the truth. The company is growing and made over 1/2 billion dollars last year while many others including Citigroup floundered for a while.

You have to have a pleasant personality, like people and want to help them because that is what the job is all about. It is NOT pushing useless products on them to make money. It is helping them buy WHAT they need not what you can sell them.

Enough for today. It is tomorrow already.

[The logos at the top are just a few stores that seem to be growing in this tough economy.]

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Normal is Broke

Living With A Chain

How to Get a Job when No One is Hiring

When the jobs are hidden

To get a job, you have to find the openings that no one's advertising, and really impress your potential employer.

By Jia Lynn Yang, writer-reporter

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- David Perry, a longtime headhunter, says you're wasting your time if you're looking for job postings online. And he should know: he's often the guy on the other side helping companies lure new talent. Perry, who's based in Ottawa, says that in the last 22 years he has accomplished 996 searches totaling $172 million in salary. And the bottom line in today's economy, he says, is you have to tap the "hidden job market."

Perry's also the co-author of "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters" and he recently spoke with Fortune.

What's the "hidden job market"?

When companies say, 'We have a hiring freeze,' that doesn't mean they're not hiring. It just means they're not adding headcount. Every year there's 20-25% turn over. So in a 1,000-person company, 200 or 250 people are going to turn over, either through attrition, or someone moves. Those companies are still hiring but they don't want to tell you.

So how do you find these jobs?

What you have to do in a recession is map your skills to employers to where you know they have a problem you can solve. My advice to job hunters is pick 10 to 20 companies, no more, and pick companies you're interested in, and that you think you can add value to. That requires researching companies, and so that list may take you two weeks. If you're trying to crack the hidden job market and you know the job position you want reports to vice president, find that vice president on LinkedIn and look at his profile to see who else he's connected to and go ask them, 'What's this guy like to work for?' Do the research before you even pick up the phone.

How can you get someone's attention?

We can go into billboards, sandwiches - that stuff only works once. It's only for one person who figures it out once, once in a city. If you're looking for fun stuff, we have this thing called the coffee cup caper, 30% of the time it will result in an interview. You send an employer a coffee cup with a little $5 swipe card with a little note that says, I'd like to get together and talk with you over coffee. I'll be calling soon. And you send it by U.S. post two day delivery, and that gets registered. So when they've signed for it, you wait about 20 minutes and then you call them. And then you go, Hi, I know you just got my package.' You're proving you're imaginative and creative.

What something people should avoid during a job interview?

This drives me insane: I've seen people mentally deciding in the interview whether they want the job. That's the last place to decide. You go into an interview, and you sell like your life depends on it. You've got to get the job first. I've seen it thousands of times. There's this point in the interview, where people go 'Hmm, do I really want this? You can see their body change. The employer picks it up and it's gone. If the employer is telling you, 'I love you,' and you're not saying 'I love you too,' it's over with.

How about following up afterwards?

If you really like the opportunity, don't go home and write thank you very much. Go back and write a letter that says, upon further reflection of what we were talking about, here's what I bring to the table, here's how I see myself fitting into the organization, including a 30-60-90 day plan.

How can someone attract a recruiter's attention?

You have to go to ZoomInfo and LinkedIn and create a profile. All corporate recruiters and probably 20% of the headhunters in America have ZoomInfo accounts. When we start a search, companies aren't going to advertise. The headhunter goes to ZoomInfo, types in requirements that we need, like skillset, degree, city, functional title, and up will come anywhere from a hundred to several thousand people who fit that criteria. Then we go to LinkedIn and run the same search. If you're in ZoomInfo with a picture, we're going to call you first. Just reverse engineer what recruiters are doing so you get found.

How can you really impress a potential employer?

It hasn't worked in years just to bring in your resume, except only in the most junior positions. I concentrate on directors to CEOs, and the last interview for us regardless is always a Power Point presentation of what you've learned, pain points, and how you intend to fix that. Everyone talks about being a great leader and great communicator, so prove it. Don't go into an interview and treat it like it's just another business meeting. Your career is your biggest asset now - because it's certainly not your house. To top of page

From
http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/30/news/economy/yang_headhunter.fortune/index.htm

August 2008 Dave Ramsey on Barack Obama

This was aired in August 2008. So was Dave right???