Super Ping

Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your search. Job Fairs are starting to pick up, and a major job search company is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a SF Bay Area Job Fair in January, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 career faires scheduled for this year across the States.

How do you compete at a Job Fair? The contention can be sizeable, but you can help yourself surpass from the gang with advance planning. At AA-Careers, we have a straight-forward six-step process to prepare. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:

First, investigate the organizations that are going and pick your targets. Use the internet to check out the companies that are there ahead of time. Go to their web sites and see if they have their openings listed. Pick a reasonable number to target, and get ready to spend about an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than eight in a day, and three to five is a much more reasonable target. For each company, you want to know: executive names, recent news, and key product lines. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You will end up with with a page or two of research for each company/job.

Second, if there are job postings on the web, read them to see what the company is looking for. Create a mapping of your accomplishments and skills to the demands of the job. Make the terminology match. If the hiring organization calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The accomplishments should be written in the style of the hiring company.

Third, create a ‘mini sales pitch’ for each likely company/position combination. Write down a sixty second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally describing why you are a special prospect for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the company at the job stall.

Fourth, modify your resume for each opportunity. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job you’re aiming for. The executive summary should be a written form of your “mini sales pitch” for the job. Then choose the accomplishments and skills that most clearly match the job requirements. Especially at a Career Fair, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be very easy to see that you’re a match based on your resume.

Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be well groomed. Don’t over do-it (this isn’t a date!) and don’t underdress (no jeans or t-shirts, no matter how much you paid for them). Avoid strong cologne or perfume.

Finally, practice your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each opportunity - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a distinctly tagged folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!

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Despite the recession, “self-build” houses are still popular. Why? Because they’ve invariably offered better value for money than simply buying a house. Wait up a minute, what precisely is “self-build”? It’s a home you build yourself. It doesn’t have to mean LITERALLY by yourself, but you put yourself in the position as foreman, architect, planner of your home and let professional workers do the task you tell them to do. More individuals are opting for the “self-build” route - in fact, the army of “self-builders” in the UK outnumbers the amount of properties being developed by any professional developer. The aim of self-build is to make a property to your precise specifications, not a template that the large developers work to.

Already you’re likely thinking: “But I’m not a builder”. The good news is that self-build doesn’t have to involve you with the physical aspects of the home building (as a matter of fact, just 5% of self-builders actually get involved with the actual construction work). Even when it comes to design, quite often this is delegated to a professional designer.. Self-build, mostly, is about you expressing (in laymen’s terms), what you want to the property designer - who then produces a plan dependent on your requirements. This plan then becomes the blueprint the developers work to. Easy, eh? You don’t need to have any active participation in self-build. Having said all that, the DIY fantatic can use self-build as an opportunity to save some cash by helping out with the aspects of self-build they have experience in - it’s up to you how much engagement you want during the build.

Since you get full control over the specifications of the self-build, you can choose the most up-to-date technology, while big developers fall behind because they’re working to strict boiler-plate designs. You can install things like automated climate, lighting, underfloor heating, and entertainment facilities throughout your home.

You must ensure the group of workers you choose are 100% competent and that they build well together. For sure, you will require workers with experience of some rather potentially dangerous machinery used in building, such as floor saws, Husqvarna cutting saws, angle grinders, masonry saws and stihl saws. With a skillful crew, you are also maximizing the safety levels of the build.

This article is merely an introduction to the concept of developing a property by yourself, and I trust it will encourage those of you who are put off by the thought of executing a project of this kind of scale. It needn’t take up all of your time, and you won’t need any specific skills, cautiously, and you will need to carefully work out the overall cost of the project.

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