Maine's Job Matchmaker

Labor Day reminded us about our current job status. Are you fortunate enough to be employed? Are you even luckier to be employed and love your job. Or, are you still looking for a position that best fits your personality, family needs and, more important, your fiscal needs?

Illness has prevented me from updating this blog more often, but my recent health experiences reaffirmed how fortunate I am to work for the Bangor Daily News. Working for a company that truly cares how you are feeling and adjusts your work schedule accordingly is not what one finds every day. Not only do I love my job; but my company truly cares about me.

Over the past 10 months I have had many readers, friends and family contact me about their current job search. They all want to find the right job, but many of them don’t know where to begin. Here are a few things to think about as you search for your perfect job.

1) What previous jobs have you enjoyed the most and why?  If you look at the patterns of your employment and which positions brought you the most internal happiness, your eyes will be opened as to what types of positions to look for (as well as what types not to look for). I’ve had positions that I loved that simply didn’t allow me to support my family of four; and then I had positions that allowed me to support my family but not to SEE my family because I was on the road so much.  My position with the Bangor Daily finally allows me to do both, which is wonderful!

2) What do you want to be when you grow up?  Have you come anywhere near doing what you dreamed about as a child?  If you can’t find THAT position, can you find a position within a company that has some opportunities similar to your dreams?  For me, I always wanted to be a writer.  So, when the Bangor Daily News had a sales position open, I knew that position had a chance of allowing me to pursue that childhood dream. Writing a blog certainly isn’t writing a best-selling novel; but it allows me to write and have what I write read by the general public, which is a start!

3) What can you see yourself doing until you are in ready to retire? If your present job leaves you stressed and fretting about your job even when you are not there, that probably isn’t the best position for you to think about staying long term.  What caused that stress?  I’ve had those stressful positions in the past; and to now come home excited about my accomplishments of the day, it reaffirms my decision to finish out my career, hopefully, with the Bangor Daily.

If you still haven’t found the job of your dreams start getting ready for the upcoming EmployME Job Fair to be held on October 15th, at Spectacular Events in Bangor from 10 am to 2 pm. Take another good look at your resume, or better yet, have someone else take a good look at it to see if there are any improvements you can make. Pick out the best professional outfit in your closet and make sure it’s ironed and ready to go in October. If you don’t have that outfit yet, head over to a resale store and I am quite sure you will find something amazing at an amazing price!  And most importantly, reflect on which positions in your life have made you the most satisfied and happy to get up and go in the morning!

The EmployME Job Fair held yesterday at the Bangor Civic Center was a great success.  Around 900 people came through the doors. They met with employers, had their resumes critiqued, filled out applications, and attended a seminar hosted by the heads of HR at Walmart, Hollywood Slots, Care and Comfort, and the University of Maine. 

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to talk to many of the job seekers; and their stories were inspirational. One such story came from a gentleman I met who drove up from southern NH to attend the fair.  He was dressed to succeed: in a suit with resumes in hand.  He had worked in the auto industry and was now looking for a new career. Check out his amazing story in today’s Bangor Daily.

To all those that made this fair a success: HR Managers, employers, the staff at the Career Center, the staff at the Bangor Daily News, Bangor Civic Center staff, Spectacular events catering, and most of all the job seekers, thank you for making it a beneficial time for all. Employers were hiring; and job seekers were there to learn, ask questions, and seek guidance in looking for a job in this tough economy.  It was truly a community effort; and I look forward to hearing about the hiring that takes place as a result of connections made at the fair!

I had the wonderful opportunity on Monday to attend a seminar at the Career Center in Bangor, presented by Ruth Dodge, Market Human Resource Manager for Walmart. The seminar was titled “Dress For Your Success” but I have to say, the seminar gave job seekers so many tips beyond how to dress for success!

Some of the tips she shared on how to dress for an interview included:

* Neat, clean and simple: think of how customers would like to see you dressed. You do not need to worry about wearing a suit if that is not what you would need to wear on the job if hired.

* Get your clothes ready the night before. That philosophy stems from Ruth’s upbringing (as well as mine!); and by following it, there are no worries about what to wear an hour before the interview! Also, dust of your shoes…take a wet paper towel and wipe of the grime from outside. Something as simple as that allows you to leave a great first impression.

* Iron your clothes. If you don’t have an iron and ironing board, check out your local thrift store and use a towel for the ironing board.

* Do not wear any strong or excessive perfume. Some people are allergic and what if that person is your interviewer?

Dressing for Success does not equal expensive:

* A $5 suit can get you the job! Ruth shared the story of her first corporate interview in Boston, where she wore a $5 suit from a thrift shop and she got the job. Years later the boss who hired her for her that position commented on how wonderful the suit was that she wore to the interview! Some local thrift shops to consider in looking for your $5 suit include Hands of Hope and The Attic.

* Use a beauty school for an inexpensive haircut and grab a box of color from your local Walmart.

Things to think about when heading into the interview:

* Visualize your success and leave your baggage behind. As stressful as things can be when job hunting, leave that stress at the door and show the interviewers all that you have to offer them. There is a five minute rule in HR: within five minutes they have assessed whether or not to send you on to the next step

* Smile and stand up straight. Remember that you are on stage before the interview, walking out the door, even shopping in the store at a later time. Swearing or getting into an argument on your cell phone is not going to give the best impression.,

* If you can dream it, it will happen. Everyone has had a starting point in their career. It all starts with the dream!

After the interview:

* Update your outgoing message on your phone. It’s not the time to have a silly message for your friends. Leave a professional sounding message, with your name, so that if the HR department calls you for another interview or to hire you, they know they have reached the right person!

* Stand out from the rest. Make sure you have a copy of your resume to leave at the interview; and write a thank you note to send immediately after. If you don’t get the position you interview for, you may be someone that they keep in mind for another position down the road.

* It is important to network and volunteer so that people can be references to your work ethic and reliability, even if you haven’t had a job in a little while.

Ruth brought a wealth of information for job seekers at the Career Center! If you are looking for a job, check out the positions she has posted on jobmatchme.com or go directly to Walmart.com.

Which is more important when looking for a job, great pay or  great benefits? With today’s economy, you may be thinking “any job” would do.  However, looking long term, when one wants to be truly happy in a job, which is most important?

In the years since I graduated from college, my take on what is most important in a job has evolved. In the beginning, I was happy to have a regular full time paycheck. Then I realized, that paycheck right out of college didn’t go as far as I had hoped. My benefits were expensive and the paycheck was minimal.  I then started to climb that corporate ladder and ended up working for a large Fortune 500 company. The pay was great, the benefits were amazing; but the toll that the position took on my family time wasn’t worth it. It took me almost two years to get back to a position that was local (very important with kids) and that had a good balance of pay and benefits. I have learned that without a company’s support of work life balance (which very often shows in their benefits package), it is very hard to enjoy the higher than average paycheck.

In talking with Shelly Farmer, HR Manager for Community Health and Counseling Services, it is abundantly clear that they offer an amazing benefits package. They recognize 12 holidays (as well as two half day holidays – Christmas Eve and New Years Eve), a very generous vacation package and an insurance option that is at no cost to the employee.  In looking through their benefits, I also see that they have a retirement plan as well. A close friend of mine works at CHCS and despite having to have numerous weeks off due her battle with breast cancer, she hasn’t missed a single day of pay. CHCS allows their employees to accumulate sick time year to year and then allows the employees to donate their sick time to fellow employees who are in need of more days. This friend of mine is also a single mother; and to have her pay uninterrupted during her treatments for breast cancer has allowed her to fight her disease without the worry of losing pay.  Now THAT is an amazing benefit!

So, when you are interviewing, listen closely when the talk of the company’s benefits come up. If nothing about the benefits is mentioned, it is reasonable to ask what the benefits are when the interview turns to your turn to ask questions. It is also reasonable to ask for a copy of the benefits when offered a position, before giving your answer of accepting the position or not.  If you do your research beforehand, most company’s have their benefits listed right on their website and you can ask clarifying questions at the end of your interview.  I remember the day that the almighty dollar was all that I was personally looking for. However, now I can honestly say that I wouldn’t trade a job that pays my bills, allows work-life balance and gives peace of mind in it’s benefits package for anything!

With the constant news of layoffs, it is so refreshing to hear about a company who is hiring! This week I spoke with Joanne Dichard, Employment Manager of L3 Communications/Microdyne Outsourcing Inc. and she had wonderful news.  Microdyne has just been awarded a contract that has them looking to hire 50 full time positions. The positions will be Monday through Friday, with a great starting pay of $10.50 an hour for the first 90 days and unlimited earning potential after. Click here to apply on line.

The front page of the Bangor Daily News has an article about the “official” state jobless count likely too low. The reason that the unemployment numbers might actually be hirer than what is reported include the following reasons: people have exhausted their unemployment benefits, there are people working, but their full time position has been cut to part time, or perhaps they have completed a temp position and not eligible for unemployment benefits at this time. There is also a group of “discouraged” workers out there who have been unemployed for so long that they have given up on finding work. The 2008 estimate of people that fall into this group in Maine is 10.9%, which means about 73,000 Mainers. 

These numbers show that the current recession is affecting many of us. I know it affects my family as my husband’s teaching position has been part-time since last September. How has this economic slowdown affected your family? What types of things are you doing until you find that new job? I would love to hear all of your feedback!

Thousands of Mainers find jobs in slowdown. Fortunately the numbers are still on the upside:  more Mainers found jobs than filed for
unemployment last month. The numbers are close: 15,219 filed initial
claims for unemployment and at least 15,571 were hired for jobs. What does that mean for you the job seeker? That means to stay positive. Keep a positive attitude, keep up the job search, and if you can’t find that one perfect job for you, perhaps you can find a job for right now.  It reminds me of dating, you may not be able to spend time with “Mr. or Mrs. Right” so why not “Mrs. or Mrs. Right Now?” Who knows, the temporary job might actually end up being the perfect one for you.

Last week I had a conversation with John Murphy, Director of Recruitment for Aspen Dental Management, Inc. John told me that even though the state of Maine has had some job losses, the numbers of resumes he is seeing for open positions in Maine are far lower than the numbers for positions posted elsewhere. His advice to job seekers was “to highlight any newly acquired skills and market yourself better than you ever have before.” He refers to resumes as needing to be able to sell yourself quickly such as you would in an “elevator speech: if you happened to be on the elevator with a hiring executive from a company you want to work with, what would you tell them in the span of time it takes you to get to the tenth floor?”

It is definitely an employers’ market out there. They have more choice than they have had in at least the past couple of decades. It is more important now than ever to put your very best foot forward when job searching: from the first contact all the way through the offer, you must be on your “A game.” If you don’t get offered the position, it is important to be professional about the rejection. If you made a good enough impression to land the interview, make sure you keep that good impression going even if you don’t get the offer. Companies do remember the candidates that they like; and when the right position comes along for those candidates, they may get a second chance. I know this from experience and luckily with the second interview, I got the offer. That could very well happen to you as well.

524 apply for 17 positions at Oxford store. This headline truly brings
to reality the dire unemployment numbers that Maine and the nation is
facing.  Not even half of the 17 positions were full time, and the starting pay was roughly a dollar over minimum wage.

How does one stand out in the job-seeking crowd that today’s unemployment rate is causing? One local hiring specialist gave me great insight. He told me, “Job seekers need to make sure they give all of the information that is requested: the application, the resume, the references all must be included” or they will not get very much of his attention. Another important aspect is to make sure the screening questions are answered constructively, intuitively, and that you portray yourself in the best light possible. These questions are what is being used to screen through the piles of applicants that are coming across his desk. And there are a lot of applications including recent college grads all the way through professionals with many years of experience who are looking at entry-level positions to simply get a job. The competition has never been more fierce; and the employers who are hiring have never had more to choose from.  It is overwhelming to all involved.

The hiring manager summed it up best when he said that job seekers must think of the application process as “the one-minute preview to a movie.  I’m
going to watch the preview and from the information provided to me I
will decide if this is a movie I am going to see.”

Wouldn’t it be great to have the opportunity to meet with over 100
prospective employers under one roof? Tomorrow you can! Come join me at the University of Maine Career Fair from 10 am to 3 pm at the Student
Recreation and Fitness Center!

So, get your resumes ready (in bulk), put on your best professional attire, and get ready to find a new job. Be sure to stop by the jobmatchME table to say hi!

For those who have been laid off, using an employment agency might be
the answer. I spoke with Dora of Work Source Staffing Services in
Bangor and she gave me lots of great insight for those who are at the
very least looking to bring in some income while looking for their new
career path.

Dora told me that she currently has a handful of candidates for every position that comes her way.  I asked her how one might stand out in her hiring process and she gave me the following tips:

• When you go in and meet with her for the first time, go in as if you are having an interview.  Dress appropriately, be on time, and be prepared. It’s important for her to know that you are professional so that she can recommend you to the employers that come to her to fill positions. Sell yourself to her as you would at any
  interview.
• Once registering with her service, it’s important to follow up.  If you never follow up, she has no idea if you are still looking for employment or if you found another job. She attaches all e mail correspondence to a candidate’s file  so she knows the status of each candidate. Checking in on a weekly basis will remind her that you are still looking.
• Keep your options open. If Dora offers you a temporary part-time position, it could lead to a full time position. She has had many times (some very recently) where a client of Work Source has found their temporary position leading to full time employment with that company. Treat that temporary position like a try-out and you just might get a better role than you imagined!

I think this advice holds true not only for staffing agencies but with
any other company you might be interested in working for. It’s never been more important than now to stand out as a job seeker who is professional, dependable and flexible. Those qualities will help you rise to the top!