Watch out for Social Media Blunders

Use social media sites every waking hour and tell everyone of your every single move or thought? If so, you just might find yourself in employment trouble if you vocalize too much on social media sites. Many employers have gone to using the internet sites as a screening forum for potential job candidates.
It is now “the norm” to see if applicants turn up on social networking sites, after doing the more traditional “Google” of someone’s name. If you are a job seeker and there is anything on your social site that you don’t want an employer to see, time to get rid of it! Don’t be self-assured in believing there is such a thing as having one “confidential” site and one “visible/open to anyone” site. Today’s technology allows almost anyone the capability to view anyone’s information through an electronically connected “semi-detective agency” network. Tiny and large bits of information alike can be amassed as quickly as you can raise a detective’s monocle to your eye.
Think about what you say or text to “connections”
As much as a good physical impression, an applicant’s overall “perceived” abilities or inabilities are equally as important. If you text in slang or use profanity on your social site, the repercussions could result in long-term case of unemployment. If you constantly boast of your uproarious weekends, repercussions could be a “not employable” status. Although you may only have a few persons within your social network, each one of those could have a hundred or even more connections.
In today’s media driven society, the only scrupulous social networking a true job seeker can do is to make minimal non-offensive entries on to their personal page, network to find potential employers on a “professional” social networking level, and play enjoyable solitary social media games while waiting for the phone to ring with a job offer.

© Copyright Vet2Work/Naturallysilver 2010-11. No re-publication of this article is permitted without express permission. This is an excerpt from "Successful Career Moves" by C.A. Stapleton. About the author: C.A. Stapleton, A.S., B.S., M.B.A., is an experienced, published professional career consultant, mentor, and résumé/ biographical writer.

Timing is everything!!!

You had an interview on Friday of last week and the employer said he would make a decision by mid-week. It is now Wednesday and you haven’t heard anything. Its Wednesday...isn’t Wednesday “mid-week”? Now what? Do you call the employer? Do you wait for them to call you? What’s the protocol?

Customarily, post-interview etiquette dictates that job seekers wait at least one full week after the interview to make contact with the employer. While that may seem like an eternity, failure to maintain this composed wait can be cataclysmic even if, at some point, you may have been a front runner for the position. To employers there is a very fragile, thin line between following up an interview and becoming an annoyance...
Yet, there are still a few ways a job seeker can put themselves in the forefront after the interview process. Here are some tips:
Immediately after the interview send a short thank you note to the interviewer thanking them for the interview opportunity. One novel way to say thank you is to create personal professional postcards for this purpose. Your personal contact information and your specialization, if any, can be printed on the card and then you can add a personal note to the employer. Even in the midst of the social media-zation of the business world, some old rules still apply. It’s requisite to commit to your memory not to email or text an employer to thank them for the interview. A hand written thank-you note is extremely important, as well as being very classy...and class never goes out of style!

Also, don’t let your world stop turning while you are hoping for the phone to ring. Even though an interview seemingly went well, a job seeker should continue to actively pursue opportunities and not place all of their hopes on just one employer. The interview is an integral step in the employment process as a whole and, like any other undertaking - it improves with, and is worth, the recurrence.

copyright: Vet2Work/Naturallysilver 2010-2011.

Civilian Career Goals

Through recognizing the fundamental dissimilarities and similarities of your former military career and your new civilian career, you can clarify your future professional needs:
While serving in the military, you receive an assignment which lasts for an explicit amount of time at a standard pay grade consisting of a conventional salary with pay upgrades determined by the assignment) and are provided with all of the clothing, equipment and training necessary to carry out the set objective. Essential difference: Collaborative environment, member of a team, Field Service Record created to detail military qualifications, training and experience, sometimes but not always given opportunity to make choice in assignment(s), generally not subjected to layoffs, downsizing and changing industry environments, always provided clothing equipment and training.
In civilian life, you must look for employment opportunities at varying rates of pay and provide your own clothing. Most positions will provide equipment and some training for the position. Essential Differences: Have full opportunity to make a personal choice in employment and position including starting your own business, must translate Field Service Record qualifications, training and experience into a civilian resume, multiple opportunities to exceed conventional salary structure, must find a position on your own or through assistance, must devote personal time and effort into the art of finding a position through research and application process, subject to layoffs, downsizing and changing industry environments once employed and must supply, at the least, the cost of civilian work clothing.

Volunteer to Gain Skills

Civilian Employment Experience? – Volunteer to Gain Skills
There are many volunteer organizations where you can gain knowledge and experience to add to your résumé. Some organizations which always are in need of volunteers:
• Veterans Hospital
• Disabled Veterans (DAV)
• The United Way
• American Red Cross
• Planned Parenthood
• Catholic Charities
• Jewish Federations
• Other religious organizations
• Legal Aid Groups