Job Search on Shine

Rocker discusses unemployment-themed video

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Last week I wrote an article for Yahoo! HotJobs about a compelling new music video that features real unemployed people while trying to help them get hired. The video dramatizes the new single "Breathe" by Ryan Star, an emerging rock star whose debut album "11:59" will drop in early 2010.

While doing my research, I gleaned interesting insights from Star that I was unable to use in the article, so here is more of the conversation, followed by a clip of the music video:

Holiday help: landing a seasonal job

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Staffing experts say the outlook for seasonal hiring during the holidays this year is slightly better than last year, but it still means that job seekers will face stiff competition.

Unlike past years, the pool of candidates for these jobs this year will include workers who have been…

Avoiding the resume 'black hole'

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I've heard some recruiters say they usually scan a resume in seconds. That boast could challenge job seekers to stand out as much as possible, but it also feeds the impression among candidates that their resumes end up in a black hole.

But that dominant view -- "you have to capture a recruiter's attention within seconds or else" -- ignores others who might assess your resume.

Changing your looks to get a job

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A majority of job seekers this year have changed something about their physical appearance in order to impress employers, according to an online poll.

The respondents in the Yahoo! HotJobs poll made changes in several areas:

Job Search: Taking matters into my own hands

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by Regan McMahon (Observations from the On- and Off-Ramps at Mommy Tracked)

I knew I’d been out of work too long when friends at social gatherings stopped saying, “How’s the job hunting going?” and started asking. “What’s your backup plan?”

I didn’t intend to need a backup plan. When I took a buyout from the struggling newspaper where I’d been an editor, feature writer and book critic for many years, my plan was to get a job as an editor or writer. There wasn’t really a backup plan.

Job search: The trouble with networking

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by Regan McMahon (Observations from the On- and Off-Ramps at Mommy Tracked)

Those in the know tell me that all the electronic applications I’m filing are useless.

A highly successful financier told me he could have a stack of 100 applications on his desk, placed there by the HR department in response to an ad, and if one of his staffers popped his head in the guy’s office and said, “You should interview my buddy Jim; he’d be great in that job,” Jim will not only get an interview, he’ll have the edge on being hired. “What’s going to carry more weight with me,” my friend asked rhetorically. “The 100 strangers in the stack, or the proven quantity recommended to me by a person I trust?”

Makes sense. My problem is I don’t seem to have a network to nudge.