Career Management Alliance Blog

Ivy writes: I just resigned from my job. I had been there 5 years. I’m having a difficult time with my boss. He is extremely angry that I leaving. I gave my 2-week notice and told him I’d stay and clean up the work I needed to. We are a small 3-person group with no handbook. I have a week and 3 days left of vacation time. He is refusing to give me the money. He said due to me resigning I lose the benefits. We disagreed and things weren’t good. I read your article on strategies for Resigning with Class. Is there a state law that says he must pay me that time? Can you lead me in the right direction to find out that answer? Continue Reading »

 

You can now download the results of OUTLOOK 2010: Competitive Career Intelligence for Six-Figure Canadians, Graham Management Group’s groundbreaking survey conducted in January. The survey provides current insight into the labour market. It assesses the competitive career and job search landscape and identifies strategies for Canadians in the $100k+ salary bracket. Graham Management Group (GMG) is a Canadian firm specializing in career transition solutions for executives, managers, and six-figure professionals.  Canadian executives, directors, managers, and other six-figure professionals provided GMG with in-depth information about their career strategies. Continue Reading »

 

Accomplishments are the heart and soul, the meat and potatoes, of any resume. Prospective employers want evidence that the results you’ve attained for other employers can translate to the same results for your next workplace. If you haven’t been tracking and recording your accomplishments all along, you may find it difficult to brainstorm them when you update your resume. Our Accomplishments Worksheet will help significantly, but for accomplishment prompts broken down into 13 different professions, check out Wendy Enelow’s article, Showcasing Your Achievements To Make Your Resume Shine. The article is written for resume writers, but it’s just as helpful for job-seekers.

 

New graduates and continuing students can approach a competitive job market with enthusiasm and confidence when equipped with job-search tools that translate academic achievement into marketable job skills highly applicable to a wide range of professions. A resume of this kind successfully uses powerful career-marketing language, industry keywords, and professional formatting to look, sound, and perform just like a resume. Career marketing professionals advise college students to conduct a thorough inventory and evaluation of academic accomplishments and work with campus career development counselors or professional resume writers to translate academic achievement, internships, and club or volunteer activities into compelling language that effectively frames skills and educational background and highlights achievement.

 

Are you interested in working for an innovative company? Check out the world's top 17 most innovative companies below: 1. Facebook—It was quite a year for Mark Zuckerberg and crew, whose site added a whopping 200 million users. Facebook, which is just turning six, has achieved a level of maturity most wags thought would never come. Somewhere along the road to becoming the platform of choice for 400 million users in every country on earth, the company grew up. 2. Amazon—It generated an estimated $24 billion in revenue last year (up 26% from 2008) not simply through books, but also through its growing data storage and computing service, which is fast becoming an online utility for ESPN, eHarmony and others. Amazon is also expanding its music, video, and electronic checkout services, which are traditionally Apple and Google's strengths. 3. Apple—Apple opened its App Store less than two years ago and already it offers more than 140,000 apps, consumers have downloaded around 3 billion apps, and it generates an estimated $1 billion a year. All that should only grow with the much-anticipated release of the iPad. Meanwhile, Apple's acquisition of music-streaming company Lala and its interest in streaming TV shows suggest the seeds of new revenue in a revamped iTunes. Annual revenues were $36.5 billion, a 12% increase from 2008. Continue Reading »

 

I'm delighted to announce that the Twitter Job Search Guide rolled off the presses on March 1, and is now available through Amazon, book stores, and other news outlets. On Monday, March 15, at 6:00 pm, my co-author Deb Dib and I will host a formal launch for the book at El Rio Grande (38th and 3rd) in Manhattan. New York's original "Gossip Girl" Liz Smith recommends that you stop by, and we'd love to see you. Come as you are! Deb, Susan Whitcomb, and I wrote this book for job seekers, and our launch party is no exception: the event is designed to facilitate networking for job seekers and provide "tweet tips" for attendees. If you're not on Twitter yet--or have no intention of using Twitter to find a job--that's okay. But consider these stats: Over 500,000 jobs are posted through TweetMyJobs a month. Through TweetMyJobs, you can specify your job interests and location preferences and have results sent directly to your cell phone. As posting jobs on Twitter is very low cost for employers in comparison with other job boards and posting services, an increasing number of employers are "tweeting" jobs. In addition, many recruiters and hiring managers maintain an active presence on Twitter to build relationships and scout for new talent. Indeed.com, one of my favorite aggregators and job boards, named Twitter the #1 fastest-growing opportunity for employment in 2009. Check out the book and thanks for your support! To your success, Chandlee

 

Guest article by Randy Block, Career Transition Coach 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. “I was fully qualified and it makes no sense” is the most common complaint. “They simply don’t know how to hire” is Continue Reading »

 

Last April when I did the keynote at the Prophix User conference, I said this ...

Today, the trend is towards Operational CFOs who hold an MBA and bring a broader education & finance perspective, along with a strong ability to synthesize information. CEOs and Boards will demand their Chief Financial Officers possess broader-based skills as they seek business strategists and leaders in filling that role.

At the CFO Rising conference on Wednesday, the panel of finance recruiters had this to say ...

--At Fortune 1000 companies the number of controllers moving into CFO positions is down by about 33%. Conversely, those finance executives who have general management experience, strong operational contributions, and a record of leading strategic initiatives are the most sought after in filling Chief Financial Officer roles today.  Continue Reading »

 

Anonymous writes: I have been a stay-at-home mom for the past 10 years and am currently going through a divorce. At the moment I am driving a school bus because the hours are great. But now that my children are older, I want to get back into the job world. I have a resume and have applied for many jobs with no response. I have plenty of experience. How do I get employers to notice me? What am I doing wrong? I really need the income and am willing to start just about anywhere. Continue Reading »

 

According to Indeed’s February Industry Employment Trends Report, ten of the 12 major industries tracked had more openings this February than in February 2009. Hospitality experienced a 44% increase in open jobs over last year. Retail improved by 35% and real estate had a 33% jump. Other sectors trending upward are accounting, education, financial services and banking, information technology, manufacturing, media/newspapers and transportation. Not convinced that some companies are hiring? Here are some interesting stats on current advertised positions: Continue Reading »