Target hiring for the holidays

Corp says it plans to hire about 70,000 seasonal workers for the holiday shopping season.And while that's good news the number is actually down about 20 percent from a year ago. The discounter says it is aiming to be more efficient in its hiring practices and wants to give its own permanent employees a chance to work extra hours for the holiday season.
For more information follow the link to target.com

Six tips / Looking for work when you already have a job

Six tips to help professionals conduct a job search while still employed: 
1.        Look at internal openings first.
2.        Keep it to yourself.
3.        Play it safe when going online.
4.        Be up front with potential employers.
5.        Focus on the details.  
6.        Partner with a recruiter.

Job Search Checklist

Finding the right job is more like a road trip than a Sunday drive. If you plan your trip, have a map, and write a schedule, you’ll arrive at your destination and be there on time. Peter Newfield’s Job-Search Checklist is like your job-search “trip planner”. It’s a simple to follow strategy to systematically pursue the job you want. We invite you to use the checklist and let us know how it works.

Step 1	Sharpen your job search skills.The job search process is one that requires careful analysis, planning and dedication if you hope to succeed. For this, you will need a plan of attack. The concepts and practices for executing your job search campaign are outlined in this document (Word or PDF version).
Step 2	Identify potential companies that interest you.These are companies that may offer positions comparable to those that would interest you whether advertised or not. Create an entry in the log for each of these companies with all available information you can find.
Step 3	Find out who’s hiring. Identify companies that are actively advertising positions that interest you. Create an entry in the log for each of these companies with all available information that you can find. Try going to their website or look them up by other means to find out as much as possible about these companies.
Step 4	Know what they’re looking for. Carefully read through job advertisements to identify common requirements among the companies/positions that interest you. This should be done according to the most basic skills and work your way up to more advanced skills.
Step 5	Highlight your strengths. List these requirements from least important to most important or most demanding requirements. Now, go down the list and determine which of the key skills you possess. Of the skills that you possess, start with the most advanced qualifications and make sure that these qualifications are mentioned in the upper of the first page of your resume. Bullets can be rearranged or words can be added to existing statements, but these qualifications must have mention in this section. Do not re-write your resume or add content that is not complimentary to the rest of the resume to do this. The resume likely has this information already if you have accurately selected jobs that you possess interest and are moderately qualified for.
Step 6	Revise your resume to match the job. If various positions differ greatly in requirements or fall into two or more groups of similar companies/jobs, it is a good idea to use a certain resume for one group and another copy for another group. A subtle change such as re-arranging sentences to fall in an order so that the content of interest is mentioned first is suitable in most cases.
Step 7	This is your first impression so do it right. Print your resume on a quality 24 lb paper that is light in color. For best results, take your resume to a professional printing center on diskette to have them laser print your resume. Get matching full-page size 9 x 12 envelopes. If you’re able to print addresses directly on the envelopes or can print labels to address the envelopes with it will look more professional than hand-written envelopes. Be sure to include the contact person’s name if available just below the company name and above the address so that it is delivered directly to the intended recipient. Mail all of your resumes out at once, ensuring that each company has the appropriate copy enclosed.
Step 8	Step ahead of the competition. Allow 2 days for local delivery, and four business days for the rest of the addresses you have sent your resume to. On the anticipated day of arrival of your resume, send a copy by email and announce the arrival of the hard copy in the mail. It is best if your email goes out the day before or the exact day that your resume arrives. Mention in the email that you will follow up with them by phone on a specified day and state whether you will call in the morning or afternoon. You should call no later than three business days after your resume arrives.
Step 9	Follow up! Make follow up calls with your resume and the advertisement (if available) in hand. If you have to make another follow up call next week, ask them if you may contact them next week to see how their selection process is going if there has been no decision made at that time. Continue process until you have an answer, interview or rejection letter. Befriend the person you are calling, call them by their first name after the first call and keep your resume copies handy at all times during the process so that you are better prepared if they should call you unexpectedly.

Creating Credibility: Ten Tips for the Workplace

 

By Dianna Booher, Guest Blogger
Words have to match actions. In addition to meeting your deadlines and hitting all your goals, it's vital to establish trust in your word -- to build your credibility. In both verbal and written communications, including everything that you publish through social media, a lack of trust will lower your credibility. And once you’ve lost it, it’s all but impossible to win back.
No matter where you are in your career, follow these rules to establish and maintain your credibility.
Show Concern. People will care about you, and more importantly trust you, when you care about them. People want to know that they have a sympathetic ear in you. Even companies in reputational crisis mode know the first reaction must be to show sincere concern over individuals in question.
Demonstrate Cooperation with Good Intentions. To be credible, you must demonstrate that you are acting in good faith to the best of your knowledge and ability. People must believe that you want to cooperate to help them achieve their personal and career goals. They will forgive you for poor judgment, but they will rarely forgive you for poor intentions.
Admit What You Don’t Know. When people smell blood, they start to dig. It’s human instinct to push when they feel they are being bluffed, especially when you’re trying to gloss over spotty patches in knowledge, memory, experience, or something else. Admitting ignorance is a simple principle -- easy to remember and easy to accomplish -- but can be a difficult pill to swallow. Nothing makes people believe in what you do know like admitting what you don’t.
(For tips on public speaking, read "Confront Your Fears and Communicate.")
Be Complete. Are you telling all you know? You need to recognize the difference between lies, half-truths, omissions, and cover-ups. True but incomplete statements can lead to false conclusions; literal truth, when offered without complete explanations, can lead to literal lies. Knowing smiles accompanied by long silences can elicit wrong conclusions. Lying happens in numerous ways. Intentions stand center stage here. Ultimately, questionable intentions cast doubt on character.
Stay Current. Give up outdated data, opinions, and stereotypes. Given today’s information overload, data more than two or three years old can’t support your decisions. Correct but outdated statistics soon become incorrect.
Be Clear. Sometimes the better we understand something, the worse we are at explaining it; our familiarity makes us careless in describing it. It’s difficult to remember a time when we didn’t know something that has become second nature to us. Ambiguity creeps in when we least expect it. Meanings depend on context, tone, timing, personal experience, and reference points. The best test of clarity is the result you see.
Keep Confidences. What happens when a boss or confidante tells you, “This information is not to leave the room,” and it instantly does? And you’re the carrier pigeon? When people know you break confidences -- that you share personal, confidential matters -- they fear you. Breaking confidences speaks volumes about your character. People who observe your ability to keep your promises and your confidences will begin to trust you with their real feelings.
Avoid Exaggeration. Did you wait on the phone for five seconds or five minutes? Did the supplier raise the rates by two percent or ten percent?  Did the scores dip to 30 or to 10?  Spinning a story can put you on a slippery slope.  Exaggeration makes for great humor, but it's a credibility killer.
(For more tips on effective communication, read "The Listener Wins.")
Accept Responsibility. If you were involved in the decisions, actions, and results, or had some control over a situation that didn’t end the way others wanted it to, own up to it. Shirkers suffer credibility gaps.
Be Sincere and Genuine.  People who pretend to be sincere can pitch an earnest plea, look at you with pleading eyes and a straight face, and promise the world. But genuineness comes from character and is therefore harder to generate on the spot. You either are or you aren’t. What you experience is what you share. What you value is what you give. What you say is what you believe.
Dianna Booher is the CEO of Booher Consultants, a communication training and consulting firm, and the author of the newly revised and expanded bestselling classic "Communicate with Confidence! How to Say it Right the First Time and Every Time!"