Author Archives: Shannon Eckroth

Don’t Let Your Age Hold You Back!!

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Although there are laws on the books to protect workers 40 and over from being discriminated against, that does not mean such illegal practices don’t take place during the background screening process.

As a worker who is 40 or over, do you know your rights, along with what to look for when job hunting? If the answer to both matters is no, then take the time to research your rights so that you are not denied a job, especially given today’s troubling economy.

For the older worker, they bring a plethora of qualities to the interview and position if hired that simply should not be overlooked. Among which are:

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Do Flexible Schedules Work?

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Alternative work schedules are becoming more and more pervasive as technology advances and businesses become increasingly web-based. Location and setting are factors that have diminished in importance as employers begin to move toward virtual workspaces, and businesses are increasingly considering the pros and cons to these arrangements.

With this growing ability to access work projects from anywhere in the world, different types of flexible work schedules have emerged. The most popular types of these alternative work schedules include: Continue reading →

Job Search Tips You Can Use To Land The Job

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Know yourself

Identify your skills by doing a self assessment and be able to articulate them effectively in both your resume and cover letter.   Be prepared to describe your unique abilities and strengths and explain how they relate to the job you’re seeking.  It’s helpful to write them out on a sheet before you start your resume and cover letter.  Ask friends and family to describe you if you are having trouble coming up with your own self assessment.

Focus on relationships and networking

Job searching really is about who you know as much as about what you know.  Net­work with the people you know, including relatives, friends, professors, fellow students and former co-workers.  Let them know that you are looking for work; ask their advice; seek out professional introductions via friends.   Make sure they know what you bring to a job. Find a search buddy to keep each other accountable.  Networking is a two-way relationship; help someone else make a contact and the goodwill you generate will come back to you.

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LinkedIn:: Become An Expert Social Networker

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The man who wrote the book on LinkedIn shares his secrets to becoming an expert social networker.

David Gowel has made many career transitions: from civilian to military, from military to academic, and finally from academic to entrepreneurship. Along the way, Gowel used LinkedIn to achieve each step; an experience, he says, that has made him into an expert on how to use LinkedIn to become a master networker.

He even wrote a book to prove it. The Power in a Link: Open Doors, Close Deals, and Change the way you Do Business Using LinkedIn, (Wiley, December 2011) is a 159-page opus on becoming a master social networker. Gowel, a West Point graduate who served as a platoon leader in Iraq and has taught leadership classes at MIT, says CEOs and entrepreneurs are generally pretty bad at using LinkedIn. He says they use it as a business card or résumé service when they really should be using it to mine for new clients, new connections, and new employees.

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Say “Goodbye” To Being Average

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If your boss was asked to describe your work ethic with one word, what do you think he or she would say? If the answer was “decent,” “adequate,” or simply “good,” – you may have a bigger problem at hand.

Being simply there and doing what you’re told at work is no longer sufficient for most workplaces, or for your career growth in general. Seth Godin, marketing expert and founder of Squidoo, says the time of the “average” worker is quickly ending with the dwindling of the industrial age. He believes that if you’re an average worker doing what you’re told, someone will replace you at a cheaper cost. However, Godin states, “If you’re different somehow and have made yourself unique, people will find you and pay you more.”

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Unemployment Drops To Lowest Point In Three Years!

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WASHINGTON (AP) — In the most impressive surge for the job market since early last year, the United States added 243,000 jobs in January, far more than economists expected. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest in three years.

Lower unemployment is a positive a sign for President Barack Obama’s re-election hopes. Still, he’s likely to face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any post-war president.

“There are still far too many Americans who need a job … but the economy is growing stronger. The recovery is speeding up. And we need to do everything in our power to keep it going,” Obama said Friday.

Hiring accelerated across the economy and up and down the pay scale. The high-salary professional services industry added 70,000 jobs, the most in 10 months. Manufacturing
added 50,000, the most in a year.

“This is a very positive employment report from almost any angle,” said Brian Bethune, an economics professor at Amherst College.

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Find And Retain The Right Talent!

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One of the biggest challenges facing organizations today is finding and retaining the right talent for the job. Businesses have to become more and more competitive to survive in challenging economic times, and a key to doing this is staffing your company with a great team. Management has to adapt to changing environments and take on new approaches to hiring and retention to ensure a superstar team.

Here are the 12 Most powerful ways to staff your company with star employees:

1. Empower your company with great leaders

Leaders who are engaged, committed and motivated to work as part of the team.

2. Encourage your leaders to interact with their team members on a day to day basis

This ensures that they have a true sense of what is happening, and puts them in a position to always respond.

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Hiring For Attitude!

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In the words of Jack Runninger. O.D., “The good news is that although you can’t select your children, you can select your employees. The bad news is that you may not always do as good a job of it as you should.”

When hiring employees, most employers tend to look for someone that already has the skills they are looking or, and then train them in how they want them to respond to customers. It should be just the opposite. ‘Hire for attitude, train for skill’ should be your rule in hiring, rather than vice versa. When “hiring for attitude, training for skill”, you can use the acronym “ATTITUDE” to help determine the individual who will excel in your office as a new trainee::

Is the individual Appreciative?
Is the individual Thoughtful?
Is the individual Teachable?
Is the individual Insightful?
Is the individual Trustworthy?
Is the individual Understanding?
Is the individual Dependable?
Is the individual Eager?

Job Searching While Employed:: The Do’s & Don’ts

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Though the job search if often treated like a 9-to-5 position, it becomes more difficult to manage when you already have a full-time job. More often than not, job seekers face discrimination for being unemployed, which may lead to finding job openings while gainfully employed.

Whatever your reasons may be for leaving, job searching in this situation requires walking on a fine line between being proactive yet watchful of your boundaries. In fact, 88 percent job seekers agree that keeping your job search private is very important – and even while employed, some would be reluctant if coworkers found out instances of their job search process.

While being covert of the process in general, what etiquette should an employee practice while job searching? An article by Jenny Foss on The Daily Muse offers tips for being both respectful yet careful about your search. Consider below the do’s and don’ts:

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Portland area average salary is $47K

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The average salary for workers in the Portland metro area is $46,970.

That landed Portland No. 67 on a list of the average salaries in 406 metro areas included in an On Numbers analysis compiled by the Business Journal’s Scott Thomas and based on data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics   .

The highest average salary in Oregon is in Corvallis, where workers earn an average of $47,120 a year. Portland was No. 2, followed by Eugene-Springfield, where the average salary is $40,900; Salem, where the average salary is $40,560; and Bend, where the average salary is $39,620.

Workers in the San Jose metropolitan area earn the biggest paychecks in America. The average annual pay for workers in San Jose is $67,850, followed by the $63,850 earned by workers in San Francisco and the $62,300 earned by workers in the Washington-Northern Virginia metro division.

Courtesy:: Suzanne Stevens, Web editor - Portland Business Journal