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VANCEBORO � It opened its doors 100 years ago this year, the first of a series of North Carolina boarding schools built to teach the largely rural population agriculture and home economics.
VANCEBORO � It opened its doors 100 years ago this year, the first of a series of North Carolina boarding schools built to teach the largely rural population agriculture and home economics.
It would ultimately shift its focus from agriculture to general high school education, with students traveling to campus daily from home rather than living on the grounds.
In 1971, it would finally close its doors, giving way to the West Craven High School, but during its 58-year existence, Vanceboro�s Farm Life School churned out everything from farmers and homemakers to university professors.
Many of those graduates have been fiercely loyal to their alma mater, continuing to turn out for an annual reunion every May. Friday�s reunion � held in the cafeteria of the Vanceboro Farm Life Elementary School that stands in the original school�s footprint and carries its name � marked its 42nd year since closing � and its 100th since opening. Former students and teachers alike showed up to relive the old days.
The alumni association held its first reunion on the Dec. 29, 1922. It has been meeting regularly since. Along with dinner and old memories, the alumni sing the school�s official song, written by a former principal in 1918.
One of the graduates of the school�s final year is Raymond Mills. He is the proprietor of the Mills Country Store, a shop where one can pick up conveniences or purchase lunch just about a mile down the road from West Craven High School.
�It was a close-knit school,� he recalls. �Ninety percent of our class went from first grade through eighth grade together, then other kids joined for the last four years � just about all the teachers there had taught my father when he was in school. Most of them knew your parents.�
Mills remembers that the school had an active sports program: The 1970-71 football team had its best year in the school�s history. While he didn�t play his senior year, he had been involved in football in earlier years.
�We were lucky,� Mills said. For a small school �we had some real good athletes.�
He also remembered the school�s final production, �The Sound of Music.� According to the 1971 yearbook, that show had a two-performance run on April 1 and 2.
Among his teachers was Nell Moore Hill. She is a sprightly 95-year-old woman living just west of Vanceboro today. She spent many of her years in education at the Farm Life School, beginning as a 23-year-old home economics teacher in 1941.
For a number of years, students were required to live in housing provided on campus. By 1941, that requirement had passed, but teachers had to reside there. The old girls� dorm had been converted into a �teacherage� � a teachers� residence while the boys� dorm now served as a lunch room and would eventually become an eighth-grade educational wing.
In her first year, the school was contained in one large building with an auditorium on the second floor.
While general education had become the curriculum, the school still maintained a strong interest in agricultural studies.
�They still had a fellow who worked the farm, who sold the milk,� Hill recalls.
She remembers an early experience in which she was teaching flower-arranging to the girls.
�After I demonstrated to the girls, I had them go out to pick flowers for the arrangement,� she remembered, sending them to a bed on the school grounds. It wasn�t long before the agriculture teacher �showed up at my door, and he was livid. He complained that the girls were tearing up all his work. It taught me a lesson.�
During World War II, the school also operated a small canning facility, preserving vegetables for locals who brought their produce to the campus.
For a time, Mrs. Hill left teaching � �I thought I was not a good teacher� � but Principal Abe Blair eventually convinced her to return and ply her trade.
One time she had to go into New Bern during a school day for a delivery and left her students to work in her absence. Blair decided he would stop in on the students and catch them playing around, but when he opened the classroom door, they were all busily at work.
�He said, �They must have seen me coming,� so he snuck around outside,� Hill recalls, �and stooped beneath the window to listen. But they were all in there, still working. I was always proud of that.�
Hill said that desegregation of the school took place in 1965 and went relatively smoothly.
�The first day of school, they had news people there to take pictures if anything went wrong,� Hill said. �They turned around and left because everything went smoothly.�
She can recall a few minor incidents she had to deal with, including an incident in which she scolded a student for using a racial slur, �But not anything big.�
Over time, new buildings were added. Under the present Vanceboro Farm Life Elementary School, only two survive: an auditorium and gymnasium. The present elementary school was built on the same spot where the original education building had stood.
Asked if she remembered any students in particular, Hill refused to name any.
�I loved all my kids,� she said. �They were all good. They have distinguished themselves in different ways.�


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Last night, the civic associations of Woodmoor, South Four Corners, and Northwood-Four Corners hosted a candidates forum for those running for the Montgomery County Council District 5 seat. The event was held in the auditorium of Pine Crest Elementary School in Woodmoor. All five candidates were present for the lively forum: Terrill North, Evan Glass, Tom Hucker, Chris Barclay, and Jeffery Thames. The event was well attended; I was at the forum, and I estimate that there were between 75-100 people in there. The line of questions at the forum can be roughly broken down into the following categories: governance, transportation, and development.
|The candidates on stage in the Pine Crest multi-purpose room. Photo by the author.
I attended the event with my father (a 24 year Woodmoor homeowner), and we arrived around 6:50, 10 minutes before the scheduled start. The front of Pine Crest looked much like it does on election day: dozens of campaign signs everywhere, cars in the lot with political bumper stickers, and people handing out literature at the door. Inside, some of the candidates were already mingling with attendees as members of the homeowners associations finished setting up. I spoke briefly with candidates Chris Barclay and Evan Glass before the event got started. As the late arriving crowd continued to trickle in, the forum got underway at 7:10.
The format was as follows. The forum was moderated by Carol Barth of the Northwood-Four Corners Civic Association (NFCCA). The candidates were asked two types of questions. One type was called the lighting round: Each candidate was given four signs that said "Yes", "No", "Maybe", and "Don't Know", and they all had to hold up their answers together when the question was asked. The second type of question was timed: Candidates were given a question, and they each had between 1 and 2 minutes to answer it, depending on the question (time limit was chosen by moderator).
Almost all of the questions were pre-selected by the civic associations. The audience members only had a chance to ask questions if they had written them on a card and passed it up to the moderator via other civic association members. There was no town hall style "open forum" where attendees could raise their hands and ask questions directly to the candidates. However, there was ample time before and after for attendees to ask the candidates questions individually during the mingling sessions.
Here's how each candidate responded to the various questions in general terms. These are not meant to be quotes, instead, they are the theme of the candidates message as they answered each question. I'll try to be as neutral as possible in my descriptions based on my notes, and I will try to focus on things each candidate said that differed from the others (they agreed on many things like community engagement, accountability, etc. so it would be repetitive to state things like that over and over).
Terrill North:
Governance: Gave out his home phone number to show his commitment to accessibility. Spoke about how he formed two civic associations in Takoma Park to better engage the community. Said that vacated council seats should be filled via special election and not appointees from other council members if a council member resigns before their term is up.
Transportation: Supports BRT. Prefers that a Route 29 line be routed down New Hampshire Avenue to Fort Totten. Work with community to implement BRT in the best way possible. Stressed that Four Corners is surrounded by diverse communities with different socio-economic conditions. Neighborhoods should compromise to find a solution that suits both. Streets should be made safer by adding more marked crosswalks at existing desire crossings (places were people already cross without a crosswalk) and putting up fences to prevent jay-walking in dangerous places.
Development: Stressed holding developers and contractors accountable. Spoke about his oversight experience from his day job designing green ships for the Navy. Inject competition into development and design process. White Oak- people need permanent jobs and workforce development. Set up foreign trade zone to make it easier for pharmaceutical companies to have labs in White Oak without taxing the raw materials for their experiments, tax finished product instead. This will encourage more businesses doing experiences to locate in White Oak. Says White Oak needs more homeowners. Down payment assistance programs to help accomplish this goal. Current White Oak residents should benefit from new job opportunities in white collar sector and all sectors.
Evan Glass:
Governance: spoke about his experience with local community groups. founder and President of South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association. President of Indian Spring Citizens Association, Chairman of Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board. Said that he would be receptive to the community through various means, such as social media (Facebook, Twitter) and local listervs. Also spoke about how he lives in Four Corners and how things that happen here affect him and his family.
Transportation: Supports BRT and overall transit improvements with ample community involvement. Stated that he walks the walk when it comes to transit. Lives in two person household with one car. Rides Z6, Z8, and other local bus routes on a regular basis. Talked about the race to the bottom when it comes to transit; cycle of budget cuts>lower ridership due to infrequent service>lower ridership as justification for more cuts. Extend Ride On Route #19 (That's the only one that serves all Four Corners neighborhoods) to Forest Glen Metro like it used to be. Pledged to take transit to Rockville if elected. Said that Montgomery County needs people who want to invest in transit to attract jobs and businesses. Pedestrian safety: SHA more concerned about moving cars than pedestrians. Must work with SHA to improve pedestrian experience in Four Corners as he has done on East-West Highway in DTSS.
Development: Talked about how he works/worked with developers as a current member of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board and previous president South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association. Said community should work with developers to ensure that new development is built with community's needs in mind. White Oak needs more economic investment. Economic justice to invest in White Oak. Large areas of poverty in White Oak and further out 29. Oversight of contractors and developers necessary. Improve school funding to narrow the achievement gap so that residents of White Oak can benefit from new jobs. Expand tax base by drawing more jobs to east county.
I don't have as much info for the next three because they did not take as many firm stances on the issues as Evan Glass and Terrill North did. I'm not trying to be biased towards Glass or North, it's just that Hucker, Barclay, and Thames tended to agree more with the general consensus without elaborating on their own plans or going into as much detail the first two.
Tom Hucker:
Governance: Responsive to constituents. Cell number on card. Got answers from Pepco after major storms. Spoke about his accomplishments as a state delegate in protecting the environment and passing progressive legislation. Political connections in high up places within state gov't.
Transportation: Does not outright support BRT, but does support transit improvements. Need for better bus stops and infrastructure in east county. Pedestrian safety: work with SHA. Alluded to complete streets to be more inclusive to pedestrians and bicyclists. Did not commit to dedicated lanes for transit users. Stressed his political connections as a means of getting things done.
Development: Need an "umpire calling balls and strikes". Need more competition for bids among developers. More competition will result in a better job on projects. White Oak: build infrastructure first. No need to rush. Set up enterprise zoning.
Chris Barclay:
Governance: Elected twice to school board. Responsiveness to community. Spoke about his role on school board working with communities. Focus on achievement gap in county schools. Need a council member who works with school board. Focus on budget.
Transportation: Lots of work to be done before plans are finalized on BRT (somewhat supports it?). Focus on pedestrian safety around schools. Work with SHA for more crosswalks around schools and county police to assist students crossing the highways. Worked to redesign University Blvd in front of Northwood HS to improve safety.
Development: Supports bringing jobs to White Oak. Agrees that infrastructure should be in place.
Jeffery Thames:
Governance: Not a politician. Knowledge of community. Worked with homeless. Hope Restored non-profit group. No alliances, no cronies. Knows neighbors.
Transportation: Unclear BRT opinion. Need more pedestrian safety. Pedestrian overpasses on high speed roads. Barnes Dance style crossings in high pedestrian traffic areas (all motor traffic has red while pedestrians have walk sign to cross however they wish in an intersection.) "Cross walk not cross run".
Development: White Oak: Steak in the game, Unstable community that would see fluctuation if it changed too quickly.
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That's the general idea of what each candidate said during the forum in their answers to the questions. This is by no means a complete list of what they said or their ideas, but it represents the takeaways of people who attended the forum (I compiled this info from my own notes and the tweets of others who attended the forum.) To learn more about the candidates, visit their websites or social media pages. I won't interject my own opinion into this post, but I may write another post sometime between now and the primary about which candidate will be best for Four Corners based on reasoned analysis.

subset: commoncrawl


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Dear colleague and friend Julie Daley of UnabashedlyFemale.com will be hosting a new 10-week course called, The Art of Being Unabashedly Female. From the page: un·a·bashed (?n'?-b?sht') adj. 1. Not disconcerted or embarrassed; poised. 2. Not concealed or disguised; obvious: unabashedly female! The Art of being Unabashedly Female is about being … [Read more...]
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Before you make another complaint to a boss, coworker, spouse or friend I encourage you to pick up a copy of Jon Gordon's "The No Complaining Rule". It's been awhile since I've completed a book that has left me so challenged to evaluate the negativity that can float around in my own thoughts and then fly right out of my mouth without being … [Read more...]
You are my Inspiration created by Step Up Women's Network
Whether an executive at a Fortune 500 company, someone running a business from home, or a woman transitioning back into the workplace after having kids, we all seek inspiration and guidance in our daily lives. In a era in which paying $250 an hour for a life coach to focus on your professional trajectory, communication skills, presence, … [Read more...]
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Kathrien Ahn, Community Manager at docstoc first reached out to us to see if we'd feature their innovative software that "provide bloggers with the ability to embed any document (word, pdf). Then, they announced some really exciting news. So, I thought it'd be great if we ran a quick interview with Kathrien so she can to share their news … [Read more...]
The Entrepreneur & Small Business Owner's Internet Branding Line-up
Hi all. Yes, I'm peeping and poppin' around ever-so-slowly throughout the blogosphere...gathering more strength with every new day. Luv U All for your patience, understanding, love, support, prayers, gifts and well wishes! With much anticipation & exhaustion...I'll be on a plane for much needed travels and proud to introduce a full week's … [Read more...]
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Johannesburg – Cope deputy president Willy Madisha is calling on President Jacob Zuma to reverse his decision to accept a 5% salary increase claiming that Treasury is almost empty.
"Cope challenges the president and the ANC to reverse the decision and to peg salaries at the present level for the next four years," Madisha said in a statement on Saturday.
"It is the ruling party that wants to pocket the increases while the people struggle and tax payers are being bent under all manner of taxes."
Madisha, who is a former Congress of SA Trade Unions president, said the state was up to its eyeballs in debt.
"The majority of the country's people are suffering, and their plight should receive priority.
"Money should go to them and not to politicians," he said.
Major financial shock
An increase of R130 000 a year in Zuma's salary was approved in Parliament earlier this week.
Zuma would now earn more than R2.7m.
In January, the Independent Commission on the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers recommended a 5% increase for all office bearers, including the president, deputy president, ministers, deputy ministers and members of parliament.
Madisha said people who voted for the African National Congress should accept that it was them, along with Zuma and the ruling party in government, who put South Africa on the path to ruin.
"If ANC voters and supporters imagine that we as a nation can take this enormous financial burden in our stride, they are sadly mistaken.
"We are only months away from a major financial shock," he claimed.
Despite getting an increase, the presidency on Friday insisted that Zuma was sensitive to the country's social and economic conditions.
Opposition parties
"Since 2010 for instance, the president has never approved or accepted the commission's recommended increase that is above the prevailing inflation rate," spokesperson Harold Maloka said.
"Since taking office in 2009 President Jacob Zuma has been sensitive to South Africans' social and economic conditions…"
Opposition parties were opposed to the salary increase.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane reportedly said Zuma already received a 100-year advance with the R246m for Nkandla.
The EFF's Chief Whip Floyd Shivambu reportedly also chimed in and said that the country already feeds him, dresses him, pays for his legal fees and even built him a cattle kraal and chicken run.
The FF Plus called for the president's salary to be reduced to R1.


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The post Top 5 Blogs for Small Business Owners appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
Let's face it, owning a small business is a daunting challenge no matter how many employees you hire or how large your sales numbers are. I have been a small business owner for over 12 years now and I can assure anybody reading this who has not owned a business yet – you are in for a challenge. The biggest obstacle that most small businesses deal with is how to get everything done. There are so many little things that go into running a business: the finances & accounting, the marketing & social strategy, the admin and management, the employees, HR & payroll, and I have yet to mention one task involving the product or service a business creates. Getting through all these day to day small business challenges can be overwhelming and sometimes you need help and good resources of information to assist you along the way. Klear Picture accountants and taxation experts offer you complete financial solutions.
The Top 5 Blogs for Small Business Owners are among the best resources available online for small businesses to learn and acquire the information they need to manage and grow their company. Whether you seek advice on matters of finance, HR, Sales, Marketing, Social Media – you name it, you will find it on these 5 go-to websites for small business owners.
Small Business in the American Economy
Before we jump into the Top 5 websites for Small Business Owners below, allow me to first share some insight on the incredible small business industry. Small Business is and will continue to be the backbone of America's economy! Small businesses have been growing in number over the past generation, especially after the previous financial crises. Many American workers unable to find a job decided to start up their own businesses. There are many reasons small business growth is on the rise, and in my opinion, the percentage of our GDP generated by small business in America will continue to outpace the growth of large corporations.
Small business ownership is the dream of many Americans, many of whom save for years and years before they can start-up their small business. At a recent Interview at Babson University sponsored by Goldman Sachs, it is inspiring to hear America's most successful business icons discussing their views and experiences working with small business. Through a special program at Goldman, the largest corporate influencers in America are learning more about how to help small business grow.
Small Business Ownership is almost equally divided between men and women and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, new small business growth continues to rise. Whether your competition is other small businesses or large corporations, you will want to leverage as much knowledge and information as possible to stay competitive and stay in business. Small businesses are the future of the American economy, and it is essential that all owners and managers are current with best resources and information available to them online.
Top 5 Blogs for Small Business Owners
If you own a small business, work for a small business, or are thinking about starting up a new business, then you need to take note of these 5 awesome websites to reference regularly for your small business information needs. The following 5 blogs are listed in alphabetical order; each is outstanding and should be bookmarked to your browser right now:
About the Top 5 Small Business Blogs
All Business
AllBusiness.com is: "Your Small Business Advantage," with their outstanding articles and resources found throughout the site. The blogs are thoughtful and useful for business managers of all levels, especially the more experienced business owners. It's not hard to find an abundance of low quality business information online, so it's a real advantage to have an outstanding resource that is genuinely helpful and leaves you feeling more informed and motivated to run your business afterward.
The AllBusiness.com website is a very deep blog as they have multiple sub-sections within each main category. As the owner of Home Office Careers, I was attracted to Allbusiness.com's Staffing, HR and Outsourcing page. After having read several blogs in this section, I found the articles about the career's industry to be on-point, relevant and useful to me. I read many blogs each week, and I found myself captivated by the quality and diversity of the different articles throughout this incredible site.
Small Business Owners are inundated with work and stressed to max trying to build, manage and grow their small businesses. Every bit of time counts and when it comes to finding the help and information needed to operate a modern business in this current age, having a credible and reliable resource like AllBusiness.com is a wonderful asset to have bookmarked in your browser.
Small Business Daily
"Ideas, Insights, Information and Inspiration for Entrepreneurs." SmallBusinessDaily.com is a deeply informative site full of current articles relevant to today's trends. For example, on their home page I see multiple new articles all targeted to help business owners tackle the financial challenges of the season ahead. While business managers and owners tackle many day to day problems, none are typically greater than those of the financial type.
My favorite section of their site, which was a tough choice when considering a dozen choices of amazing pages, was their Women's page which was full of terrific articles specifically for women entrepreneurs. Being a father of two young girls, I want to see my daughters one day flourish to be great leaders of business and I was encouraged to see so many articles promoting the need for more women business leaders.
SmallBusinessDaily.com is a must read for all entrepreneurs and small business owners alike; no matter your background you have a lot to learn and benefit from this site.
Small Business
"Small Business Information, Insights and Resources." The name and the domain say it all! SmallBusiness.com is the authority for small business owners or anyone looking for resources for business. Their website is a bit different and I like its key sections; simply scroll down the home page to find each section: "Latest, How-Tos, Tech, Resources, Start a Business and Selling to Small Business."
What I like the most about SmallBusiness.com is the quality of the articles and the deep level of information found. In other words, this is not just for casual readers; these topics are serious and motivating and of tremendous value. I was impressed to see articles about Native Americans and the National Park Service, topics often overlooked. A section that I also really liked and thought was of great value to all business owners is their section: "Selling to Small Business." Makes sense, because selling to big businesses is brutal, trust me, I've tried it, it's miserable getting bounced around from person to person and department to department. Take the tips from this site and learn the easier way selling to like-minded small businesses.
SmallBusiness.com is great blog and recommended resources for business owners of all experience levels and industries of operation.
Smart Hustle
SmartHustle.com is an entrepreneur-focused site and magazine for today's modern small business owner. Full of great ideas, stories and insight, Smart Hustle is a great resource for business owners of all experience levels. Like most blogs of this type, there are several sections you will be familiar with, like Tech and Marketing, but you will also be pleasantly surprised by different sections like Lifestyle and Operations.
My favorite section of Smart Hustle is their "Lifestyle" page, which has information on time management, essential to operating your business. Being overwhelmed with work and unable to manage the continuous workload is a common feeling among small business owners, some working up to 100 hour per week! Take the time to learn time management and Smart Hustle provides this great resources for you to learn now and plan ahead, so you can balance your lifestyle with your workload.
With a focus on entrepreneurs, SmartHustle.com is a go-to resource for small business owners. The business world is in a constant state of change and evolution, and business owners of all industries feel the winds of change on their backs at all time. So staying ahead of the curve is the key for a business to survive in this day and age and smart business owners leverage SmartHustle.com as one of their key information resources.
StartUp Nation
StartUpNation.com, "Build Your Business. Live Your Dream." With millions of small businesses in America and growing by the day, it's inspiring to see a great resource like StartUp Nation providing critical information and insight to new and existing businesses. Whether you are thinking about starting a new small business, or looking to grow your current business, you will enjoy your experience at StartUpNation.com.
I particularly enjoyed reading the section on How to Grow Your Business. Let's face it, after we get through the startup phase of our business, we want to grow it, and so if you are like just about any other small business owner who wants to grow their business, then you will find a plethora of meaningful articles on StartUp.com. Plus their website is very clean and easy to navigate, making it a breeze to go through. The articles are very well written and even though this site is targeted for start-up businesses, the depth of the articles is more similar to articles for very experienced workers and business owners.
StartUpNation.com is a must read resource online for all small business owners, especially for people preparing to start-up a new business. Whether you are a first time entrepreneur or an experienced small business owner, you will find interesting content that will keep you coming back again for more.
The Top 5 blogs for Small Business Owners is a concise group of leading sites targeted for today's modern small business owner. It does not matter what type of business you are going start, or the industry that you are currently operating in, as the insights, skills, ideas, and tips to run your business are helpful for all industries. Your business may have nothing to do with the Internet, but you still need to have a website, social media pages and many other online tools and you will find the guidance and help you need through these fine resources. And the opposite is also true. For example, you might be operating a purely online business, but you will benefit from the insight on aspects of your company that have nothing to do with the Internet, such as payroll and accounting and financing options, or offline networking strategies.
Time management is one of the biggest challenges small business owners face running their companies. This small group of the 5 best sites to use as your resources for managing and operating your business was collected with time management in mind. I too am a small business owner, and a father and a day does not go by where I am not rushing from one thing to the next. Having outstanding business resources to reference without wasting time researching online is a big convenience for time-strapped owners and managers.
If you have not yet done so, please now visit each of these key small business resources and remember to bookmark each site for quick reference later, because we both know you're going to forget soon after you read this article. Here again are the Top 5 Small Business Blogs:
Top 5 Blogs for Small Business Owners
All Business
Small Biz Daily
Small Business
Smart Hustle
Start Up Nation
Please share your experiences on these 5 great blogs with me in the comments below. I welcome your feedback and review of these small business resources.
I look forward to hearing from you!
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The post Can Staffing Agencies & Freelancing Services Help Your Job Search? appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
More Results From Our New Survey On How Digital Media Technologies Are Helping Jobseekers:
This is the 2nd part of our report on Home Office Careers' survey of its members on the application of new and emerging digital technologies to the work-from-home job recruitment process (download the report). In the 1st report last week, we reported on the experiences and expectations of work-from-home jobseekers using Social Media and Mobile Apps. (You can read that 1st blog by clicking here.)
Now this week we are reporting on our members' experience with Staffing Agencies and your interest in "Virtual Staffing" as well as Freelancing Services, including your reaction to a concept called "Post A Project."
Staffing Agencies
A Staffing Agency hires or pre-selects people directly . . .
and then the agency places these candidates with employers to fill specific jobs and assignments. So instead of being hired and paid by the employer, you would be employed and paid by the Staffing Agency, which retains a percentage of your salary as their fee for placing you in the job. Based on this description, we asked if our members would be interested in this kind of placement.
The answer is "Yes," as the survey shows that a majority of our members are receptive to using a Staffing Agency to be placed in a job:
And you may be surprised to learn that more than half of those surveyed expect to pay a moderate commission to the Staffing Agency:
We also wanted to know what to call this type of service, so a set of alternative names was used. Members taking the survey were asked to evaluate names, with the important qualification that the agency would be operating over the Internet, rather than in person. We especially wanted to know if the word "virtual" is meaningful as a descriptor.
(download the report)
Freelancer Services
A Freelancer or Freelance Worker is a person who is self-employed…
and is not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelancers tend to work on short-term assignments and projects, or 'gigs.' Freelancers usually depend on Web sites of agencies that post job offers for people who want to work while retaining their independence and not be employed permanently.
A common term for this type of engagement is Independent Contractor. Most people think of a contractor as someone in the construction business, but an Independent Contractor can work in data-entry or accounting & bookkeeping, as an attorney or writer or just about anything you can do to earn payment for services you provide.
So we asked our members if they have ever used a Freelancer Web site. The results show that freelancer sites are not a "go to" resource for you and our other members; Freelancer sites have not been a reliable resource for work from home jobseekers:
We think the reason for this is lack of awareness. Most jobseekers wanting to work from home have either been employed in traditional on-premises situations, or may have been out of the workforce for a long time, to raise children, for example, or due to illness or other factors. People coming from these situations do not tend to think of themselves as freelancers – it's a term they either are not familiar with, or associate with creative jobs, like writing, design, or perhaps technical computer services.
In consequence of this low level of Freelancer site usage, the implication is that awareness of opportunities to earn money performing short-term Freelancer assignments or 'gigs' needs to be raised.
Then we presented a new concept called "Post A Project."
The idea is that employers who need at-home workers can post a single, short-term project and have it become immediately visible to all of our members. This is a service directed to employers, but it leads directly to increasing the visibility of short-term job offers to our members.
The response to this inquiry was surprising. Despite low usage of Freelancer sites, a strong majority of work from home jobseekers is receptive to using Post A Project, suggesting this is a more attractive and understandable concept than Freelancing:
(download the report)
You may expect to hear more about "Post A Project" at Home Office Careers in the coming months.
Next week we'll cover a subject that applies to more than half our members: Home Office Careers For Seniors. You will be surprised how many opportunities are available for older workers, as many employers recognize the value of their experience, and their solid work ethics. Also, seniors tend to be free of the responsibilities of raising a family and have more free time to "jump back" into part time or full time employment.
I welcome your comments and questions, and wish you and all readers success in your work-from-home careers.
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The post Are Social Media & Mobile Apps Helping Your Job Search? appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
A New Survey Reveals How Digital Media Technologies Are Helping Jobseekers
We're listening to you! Home Office Careers has completed a survey of its members regarding the application of new and emerging digital technologies to the recruitment process. We want to understand the experiences and expectations of work-from-home jobseekers in using Social Media and Mobile Apps to gain access to work-from-home job offers and opportunities. We also explored Staffing Agencies and Freelancing Services, and we'll cover these in a second blog next week. But today let's see what we learned about Social Media and Mobile Apps. (read the full survey report)
Social Media are on everyone's priority list these days, especially as they continue to affect all of our lives and have been connecting everybody with everyone else. Today we can't escape hearing about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, YouTube . . . and the list goes on and grows with new Social Media services popping up with regularity.
But what about the value of Social Media in helping us find work-from-home jobs and furthering our "Home Office Careers?" So we asked our members: "Have you searched for a work from home job using Social Media networks?" and then asked: "How useful do you think Social Media networks are in helping you to find a work from home job?"
High Expectations But Mixed Results
The survey found that nearly half of work-from-home jobseekers have high expectations for Social Media; they believe that the networking capabilities and reach to a wide audience to be valuable assets in the search, but they have experienced disappointing results to-date:
Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn have been the most extensively used in job searches. This reflects the anticipation that these big networks will yield good job opportunities.
The implications of these findings are clear: Today, at least, Social Media are not ready to be the primary resource for finding jobs – and this includes both traditional and home-based jobs. We think that Social Media are best used as a way to network and communicate with others, but have not yet developed their potential to connect people with good job offers.
Home Office Careers' Facebook Page
Given the lower-than-expected results of Social Media in job searches, it is no surprise that it has not yet reached a majority of Home Office Careers members:
New Incentives: Home Office Careers is providing current and future incentives for members to make greater use of the Facebook page. Now there is a selection of the most popular blog entries and podcasts that are easily found on the Facebook page, so someone wanting to read "How To Create A Winning Cover Letter," for example, or wanting to read "12 Work From Home Jobs You Should Consider" or listen to the podcast "The 3 Most Important Steps To Landing A Work From Home Job" has only to click to read or hear; they can do this without leaving Facebook.
As a further incentive to its members, the company plans to resume posting new job offers on their Facebook page every day, and some of these offers will be unique to Facebook; they will not found anywhere else. Once these "unique-to-Facebook" jobs offers begin posting, they will provide an incentive for members to check the company's Facebook page more often, and get a head start on other applicants.
(read the full survey report)
Equally "top of mind" these days are Mobile Media – the ubiquitous iPhones and Samsung Smartphones and iPads and their Mobile Apps that are used every day by most of us. Computer industry predictions point to Mobile Apps far exceeding computers in usage within a few years and some studies show that for online purchases, Mobile Apps are already more important than laptop and desktop computers.
Mobile Apps – Only Minority Usage Currently
A majority of Home Office Careers' members don't yet use Mobile Apps to search for work-from-home jobs, but are willing to try:
(Read the full survey report)
The survey looked further into blogs and podcasts, to assess levels of engagement and whether these online "voices" are found to be useful by jobseekers.
A minority of members engage regularly with Home Office Careers' blogs & podcasts but this group rates them highly:
Members are most interested in career advice for older workers, search strategies and resumes:
Next week we will continue the survey findings and dig into Staffing Agencies and Freelancing Services – two areas of considerable potential for work-from-home jobseekers.
I welcome your comments and questions, and wish you and all readers success in your work-from-home careers.
(read the full survey report)
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The post Working From Home: The Power Of Persistence appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
Click PLAY to hear the audio recording and read below for a full transcription!
Hello, I'm Alan Klein, Chief Marketing Officer of Home Office Careers. I've been helping people fulfill their working potential and achieve success throughout my own long career in advertising. I've worked with thousands of people and with hundreds of different types of employers, and I've learned through experience how to coach and train all kinds of people in career management. And nothing gives me greater satisfaction than being here at Home Office Careers, helping people benefit from the growing trend among employers who are hiring more employees to work from home.
I want to speak with you today about the importance of persistence in your efforts to find a good work from home job. Every day we receive requests from our members who are frustrated, especially because they have submitted applications to job offers, and have not received any acknowledgement or other notification from the employers they have applied to. For example, here are typical comments:
"I submitted 5 or 6 applications over the past few weeks and haven't heard a thing. What's wrong?" Or, "I'm giving up. No offers after a month of applications. Maybe there are no good jobs out there."
We can't blame anyone who has had these experiences to feel frustrated, to become disappointed, and to no longer feel enthusiastic about their ability to find a good full time or part time work from home job.
These disappointments happen to good people who conduct a thorough search through the job offers we post on our Web site, and then submit an application for each job that interests them. These members have sharpened their resumes and their cover letters, and attached them to their applications. And then . . . nothing.
But the truth is, the opportunities are better than ever. More and more companies are hiring home-based workers, and in a few years, a majority of jobs will be for people who work from home rather than in the offices and premises of the employers. The point is, the jobs are out there, and are being filled. So my message to you is twofold:
Let's think about each of these points.
Managing your expectations means accepting the reality that it takes more time and more applications than most aspiring home workers realize. If you have read our blogs or listened to our podcasts, you know that we put a lot of emphasis on an aggressive application process. Here's why: It takes more time and more applications than most jobseekers realize. In most cases, you need at least 4 months and at least 40 or 50 applications to get that good job. This is why we encourage our members to sign on for longer-term Premium memberships; it may sound self-serving, but it's a fact of the job-hunting process. Getting a job, any kind of job, takes time, so manage your expectations and give the search and application process the time it needs.
Now, what is a Strategy Of Persistence? Here's a quick example. Did you know that professional writers who submit their novels and articles to publishers expect to be rejected. Not once or twice, not 10 or 20 times, but literally one hundred or more times. But they expect to be rejected or ignored and are not discouraged; instead, every rejection is matched by a multitude of additional submissions to other publishers and sometimes back to the same publishers. And sooner or later, the right publisher sees the novel or the article at the right time and bingo, a sale. This is persistence, the ability to keep trying, and instead of becoming discouraged, becoming even more determined with each setback.
Now, let's apply a Strategy Of Persistence to the job-hunting process. Assume that you will not hear back from most employers – that's a reality, so we need to get past it and move on to other employers.
Imagine you have submitted 10 applications during the past couple of weeks. That's a good start, but it's a start, a beginning. Plan to keep submitting applications every day if you can, or at least every few days. Keep track of them, and be proud when you've reached 40 applications. The see if you can get the applications up to 60. Then 80. Submit every application as if it's a winner, the one that's going to get the job. Keep a positive attitude, and do not let disappointment enter the picture. That's a Strategy Of Persistence.
To ensure you have enough job offers to apply to, widen your job search into new career categories. There are 30 different job categories at Home Office Careers with over 1,000 offers so get browsing into fields that might be outside your comfort zone. Like Customer Support, and Healthcare, Administration and even Sales.
Summing up, say to yourself, "I can do this, I will succeed by persistence and confidence. No more discouragement, only optimism. Believe me, it will make the difference for you.
I hope you will use the social buttons to share this podcast with others, and please send any questions you may have for me to email@example.com. This is Alan Klein at Home Office Careers, wishing you success. Until the next time.
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The post The Top 5 Career Blogs appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
There are thousands of good career blogs and resources to find information about how to get a job or improve your interview techniques. There are career blogs targeted for specific niches and there are others that are more main stream and have a wide appeal. To help our members here at Home Office Careers find the best information for their careers, we have created a Top 5 Career Blog List. Now, this isn't to say that there are not many other fabulous career blogs online, so what we did was find 5 really unique and helpful sites that we thought would be among the 5 best to recommend to our members.
The Top 5 Career Blogs are listed below in alphabetical order. I would like to congratulate each of these blogs, their owners and writers that put so much time and effort into creating the content that helps people and their careers!
The Top 5 Career Blogs
Classy Career Girl
Kathy Caprino
Ms. Career Girl
Undercover Recruiter
Each of the winners was interviewed with a few general questions about their career blog. Here is information about these resources and how they came to be so popular:
CAREEREALISM is a fun and exciting blog to help your career. I really like the CAREEREALISM site layout and the warm welcoming feel it has. I was immediately drawn to their career quiz pages where they provide a Free career quiz to provide candidates with a step by step career plan. CAREEREALISM has a team of coaches that can provide insight and guidance for your career. CAREEREALISM is a must read blog if you looking for help and counseling to guide your career.
We would like to thank Ariella Coombs, Director of Content Strategy & Creation for her responses to our questions.
1.) How long have you been providing career help to users?
Since 2009
2.) How and why did you start blogging about career advice and what has been the most personally satisfying part since starting your blog?
J.T. O'Donnell founded CAREEREALISM on the belief that "every job is temporary." People no longer expect to work in the same job their entire lives. However, most people don't understand job search and how to do it correctly. Unfortunately, we were taught everything in school except how to get a job. CAREEREALISM and her sister site, CareerHMO, teach professionals how to market themselves to employers and find jobs they love. Helping people find satisfying work is the most rewarding part of working for CAREEREALISM.
3.) What is the best piece of advice you ever got in pursuing your career goals?
Believe in yourself, or no one else will.
4.) If you could share your #1 piece of career advice for our members, what would it be?
Stop spending all of your time applying to jobs online. It's incredibly hard to stand out. Instead, think about the top 10 companies you want to work for and start networking your way in. Networking is the most effective way to get the jobs you want.
Classy Career Girl
Classy career Girl is a beautiful blog that serves as a one stop shop for providing information about how to start a job or a business and other ways to make a living. I love the clean and simple feel of the Classy Career Girl site. I was drawn to their Free Resources page, which has some very useful career information. Classy career Girl might have a feminine theme, but the information is just as useful to men too – everyone will benefit from the Classy career Girls blog.
Classy Career Girl is a blog written by Anna Runyan. She helps women find careers they love and start businesses they love in 90 days or less.
1.) How long have you been providing career help to users?
In the past, I used to live a double life – working a day job I hated and then coming home and being a "job applicant" after work and on weekends. I was totally stuck and didn't know how to get out. I didn't even care what jobs I applied to, all I knew is that I needed to get out! It took years for me to finally figure out that applying to jobs online didn't work because I needed to understand myself better first. And as soon as I did that, that dream job just starting popping up left and right. Eventually, I didn't even have to apply for jobs because those jobs would just come to me. It took me a long time to figure out but I realized the simple tool of learning more about myself through networking and self-assessment. Knowing myself better has helped me nail interviews so much better than before when I was shy, introverted and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
I started my blog, ClassyCareerGirl.com (http://www.Classycareergirl.com), in March 2010 to document what I was learning during business school at The Rady School of Management at UCSD and at my full-time job. (I am still not quite sure how I managed an MBA, a full-time job and a growing blog…. but somehow I did!) I quickly found that what I was learning was helping other professionals as well. After just a few months, Classycareergirl.com was named one of the top 50 up and coming HR blogs for career development and I quickly discovered her "passion project."
2.) How and why did you start blogging about career advice and what has been the most personally satisfying part since starting your blog?
After graduating with my MBA, my career coaching plans were hatched while working as an Adjunct Professor at my company, Booz Allen Hamilton. I taught employees how to find career satisfaction by identifying their interests, motivations and skills. While teaching that class, I discovered my own interests were coaching, mentoring and influencing others. From that day on, I had one career in mind, a career coach and I went for it!
I finally realized that I absolutely loved helping people find careers they love and learn how to be satisfied in their work. I could do this all day, everyday and never get sick of it!
But, I was still stuck in a job I wasn't happy in. I would wake up at 5am to work on my career blog, go to my full-time job and then come home at night and work on my blog some more. I realized that I could work on my blog 24/7 and it would never be considered "work" because I was so passionate about it.
Then, in 2012, after paying off more than $80,000 of debt with my husband, I made a decision to decrease my hours consulting to part-time so that I could focus on other opportunities that excited and challenged me. A month after I made my decision, an opportunity to teach Career Development to undergraduate students popped up at DeVry University. This position was 100% the perfect fit for my dream career of career coaching.
I realized that once you say no to those things in life that are holding you back, and free up more room and space for awesome things to come your way, doors will start opening.
3.) What is the best piece of advice you ever got in pursuing your career goals?
Don't be afraid to ask. People can't help you if they don't know what you need. The only way you will reach your career goals and success you want is to go out there and start talking to people. You can't do it behind a computer. It's hard, especially if you are an introvert like me, but doors will start opening and you will gain a lot more confidence by talking to people in career fields that you want to go into someday.
Kathy Caprino
The Kathy Caprino blog is all about helping woman find careers that will make them happy. Kathy Caprino is a guru for woman's careers and she has been featured in countless media outlets throughout the country. Kathy is a public speaker, a leader and inspiration. The website is very visually appealing and easy to navigate, making Kathy Caprino's career blog an easy Top 5 for our list. When you subscribe to the Kathy Caprino newsletter you will receive a Free Career Self-Assessment and a lot of great advice.
We would like to thank Kathy Caprino, founder of the Kathy Caprino blog and Women's Success Accelerator, Speaker & Leadership Trainer, for her responses to our questions.
1) How long have you been providing career help to users?
I've been supporting men and women to "dig deep, discover their right work, and illuminate the world with it" for 11 years now. After a brutal layoff in the days following 9/11, I finally left my unhappy corporate life,, earned a Master's degree in marriage and family therapy, and became a therapist and career coach. In 2006, I began focusing intensively on career development, offering workshops and classes to women on how to thrive through change, and build happier careers. I saw firsthand then that there are 12 "hidden" crises working women face today, and desperately wanted to bring new solutions to the table that would help women (and men) overcome the common challenges they experienced in their professional lives.
From that experience, I then conducted research on "Professional Women Overcoming Crisis," wrote my book Breakdown, Breakthrough and began developing programs and resources to help professionals build amazing, rewarding careers of significance. From private coaching programs, to online courses, to telclasses, workshops, articles, assessment and resources, I now offer programs designed to help professionals advance, make a positive impact, and create careers that align with who they are, authentically, at their core.
2) How and why did you start blogging about career advice and what has been the most personally satisfying part since starting your blog?
I started my own blog at kathycaprino.com/blog in 2007, then my Forbes blog "Career Bliss" and Huffington Post in 2011, and later on LinkedIn in 2014. I've published over 550 posts, that cover careers, leadership, and women in business, and thought leadership. The single most satisfying aspect of my writing is interviewing and learning from the brilliance and wisdom of top movers and shakers and thought leaders around the world who are changing with world with their positive ideas and messages.
3) What is the best piece of advice you ever got in pursuing your career goals?
When I was in my 20's, I had a dear friend at work, Lillian, who was 20 years older than I, and I loved her. She was a powerful mentor and sponsor for me, and her intelligence, spirit, soul and giving nature were just beautiful. One day Lillian got sick, then very sick, and on one of her last days before she died (of cancer), she pulled me close and whispered, "Kathy, don't waste it. Don't waste your time. Just shine." I was struck like a thunderbolt by those words, and I woke up that day to the realization that we are on this planet for a short time, and for an important reason. But if we waste our time – in figuring out that reason, or taking BOLD action to make a difference with our work – we'll regret it deeply. Here's a video I created that tells that story: Time to Shine.
4) If you could share your #1 piece of career advice for our members, what would it be?
Yes, my top advice is this. If you want a happier career, you need to take five critical steps that will clear the pathway for more fulfilling and rewarding work. They are:
Step Back – for an empowered perspective of who you are, and what you're capable of
Let Go – of the thinking, patterns and behaviors that keep you stuck
Say YES! – to your most compelling and enlivening visions of the future
Try it On – physically and emotionally "try on" new, exciting professional directions to determine if they're a good fit
Create it S.M.A.R.T. – build a S.M.A.R.T. plan, with measurable goals and actions steps, and someone in your corner to help you stay accountable
But most of all, get to know yourself intimately, and begin to draw on all that makes you amazing and special (because there's so much inside of you that you can leverage) to make a positive impact in the world. Don't settle for less.
As Maria Nemeth shared in her great book, The Energy of Money, people are happiest when they are giving form to their Life Intentions in ways that help others. Very true words.
Ms. Career Girl
From the moment you arrive on Ms. Career Girl you will be impressed by the style and feel of the blog. The imagery on the site and the way in which content is visually brought to life on this blog is absolutely outstanding! Ms. Career Girl blog has many topics to choose from, and the one that really caught my eye as being unique and very thoughtful, is the #Sidehustle page. Being that I am from New York City, the word; Hustle, brings back memories of my time living there. Hustle is a great word for getting off your butt and making things happen. Kudos to Ms. Career Girl for taking that direction and providing alternative inspirational things to do which can help your earn some money.
Linda Allen is the founder of Ms. Career Girl and we thank her for her time in answering our questions below.
1.) How long have you been providing career help to users?
Ms Career Girl began in 2008 with the goal of being a go-to source for career women. Since then we've grown into a trusted voice. For your reference, I've attached our press kit.
On a personal level, I've been in management of one sort or another for longer than I think can be possible. Time flies, but it's been a rewarding journey as I watch those I've mentored grow and blossom in their own success.
2.) How and why did you start blogging about career advice and what has been the most personally satisfying part since starting your blog?
Blogging was the perfect outgrowth for anyone like myself who had done the hands-on management routine. Being eye-to-eye with people has it's own rewards, but of course they are limited by the number of people on your team. So blogging gives the opportunity to share with and inspire a much larger audience. Ripples, like waves of the ocean, travel far and wide. That's an awesome and yet humbling opportunity.
3.) What is the best piece of advice you ever got in pursuing your career goals?
It's really no contest. I had a boss once that very much lived such an exemplary life of sharing and teaching, and while he personally was quite comfortable financially, it was never about the money for him, and he took good care of his work "family." So it wasn't traditional verbal advice – – it was leading by example. And his example was that we're all in this together.
4.) If you could share your #1 piece of career advice for our members, what would it be?
Never be afraid to let your light shine, and take on every opportunity to expand it. When you stretch and grow, and in turn share that with others, you'll see the results and reality of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.
The Undercover Recruiter
When you have a cool name to your blog, you're bound to have a really cool looking one as well, and that is the Undercover Recruiter. I really like that the Undercover Recruiter blog is in a different format and unique visual appearance that makes reading their blog even more interesting. The articles are also very useful and to the point. They have many great interview blogs with some very thoughtful ideas and recommendations for candidates during interviews. Adding Undercover Recruiter to our Top 5 Careers Blog lists was an easy decision for us.
The original founder of Undercover Recruiter is Jorgen Sundberg, and we would also like to thank Phoebe Spinks for her responses below.
1.) How long have you been providing career help to users?
Since 2009 on the blog, and for many years before that as a recruitment consultant.
2.) How and why did you start blogging about career advice and what has been the most personally satisfying part since starting your blog?
The blog was started while I was still working in recruitment. I didn't put my name on the blog, hence the "Undercover" bit. The satisfaction comes from helping job seekers to understand how recruiters, HR and hiring managers act and think. While these professionals do it every day, people typically only look for a new role every two to three years, so will always have rusty skills in this department.
3.) What is the best piece of advice you ever got in pursuing your career goals?
It wasn't advice as such, however my dad ran his own business and I always knew I'd do the same, one way or another.
4.) If you could share your #1 piece of career advice for our members, what would it be?
Don't worry too much about personal branding and social media. Instead, start small, do great things and impress people, that is the sure way to get into bigger and better things.
The Top 5 Career Blogs were selected with the help of Stephanie Willard, the Director of Marketing here at Home Office Careers. When we create an important resource and Top recommendations list for our members, I like to always have a team effort – thank you Stephanie for helping to create this list and for interviewing our 5 winning blogs.
At Home Office Careers we advise our members to be always searching for jobs, even when you are employed. The reality is that all jobs are temporary and online careers tend to be even shorter in duration than typical jobs. So whether you are unemployed, currently employed or somewhere in between, than I recommend taking some time and carefully reviewing these 5 great sites.
Congratulations again to our winners! After you have reviewed them please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments area below.
The post The Top 5 Career Blogs appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
The post The 3 Most Important Steps To Landing A Work From Home Job appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
Click PLAY to hear the audio recording and read below for a full transcription!
Hello, I'm Alan Klein, Chief Marketing Officer of Home Office Careers. I've been helping people fulfill their working potential and achieve success throughout my own long career in advertising. I've worked with thousands of people and with hundreds of different types of employers, and I've learned through experience how to coach and train all kinds of people in career management. And nothing gives me greater satisfaction than being here at Home Office Careers, helping people benefit from the growing trend among employers who are hiring more employees to work from home.
So let's get started with today's subject: The 3 Most Important Steps To Landing A Work From Home Job.
As someone who wants to be able to work from home, you obviously want to be successful in getting a job that you will like, a job that will pay you fairly for your time and effort and will allow you to balance your work and family or personal life – after all, that's why we want to be able to work from home. But getting that job takes work, and I want to be sure you are investing your time and energy doing the things that will help you to succeed. So, of all the things you need to do, based on our experience with thousands of jobseekers at Home Office Careers, the most important come down to answering these 3 questions.
The 1st question is "How do I find the best job offers?" The answer is simple: Widen the job search to more categories. Let's say you are looking for a job in data entry & typing. Your first step will be to go to the Search Jobs page, where all the job offers can be found. Look down the list and select the Data-Entry & Typing category and hit the filter button to bring up all the offers in this category. Now, once you've viewed all the jobs posted, you are not done – the possibilities are not exhausted! Go back to the categories, unselect Data-Entry and now select another category where Data-Entry jobs may be "hidden." I say hidden because jobs like Data-Entry are often posted as Transcription, or in Human Resources, Healthcare and Insurance. By going into other categories, you will have not dozens, but hundreds of offers to consider.
The 2nd question is "How can I improve the odds of beating the competition for the jobs?" This is an important question, because there may be hundreds of applicants for each job you are interested in. And many employers use CRB check for their application. The answer is to increase the number of applications. Our own research, and U.S. Labor Department statistics show that, on average, it takes at least 40 applications, and in many cases, 50 or more before a favorable reply is received. This is why we tell our members to "Apply, apply, apply." If you are sincere about landing a good work from home job, plan on submitting applications every day. I don't recommend wasting time applying to job offers that you really are not qualified for; keep your focus on jobs that you really have a shot at. And then take that shot! Do it immediately – don't wait for someone else to beat you to it! Whenever the job offer description looks interesting, hit that Apply Now button and complete and submit the application.
Okay, the 3rd and final question is: "How do I close the deal and get the offer?" Our recommendation is for you to make a practice of following-up with employers you have applied to. Let me explain how to do this: With each application, record the name of the company, and any contact information they provide on the application. Also note any job offer number or the exact job title. If there is no contact information on the application, then go to the employer's Web site and see if there is a "Careers" or "Join Us" link. If not, go to the "Contact" link where there should be an email address, or a telephone number, or a contact form you can complete. Specify the job you have applied for and state that you are following up. This will let the employer know that you are a committed candidate and the HR manager or recruiter may give your application more attention. In other words, by "showing up" you can set yourself apart from the competition.
So, to sum up: Broaden your job search by looking into career categories outside of your usual category; increase the number of applications you submit; and take the time to follow up with the employers you have applied to. I hope you will use the social buttons to share this podcast with others, and please send any questions you may have for me to email@example.com. This is Alan Klein at Home Office Careers, wishing you success. Until the next time.
The post The 3 Most Important Steps To Landing A Work From Home Job appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
The post The Top 5 Resume Sites for Your Career appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
Resumes are essential to getting a job. Your resume is your advertisement, it's what you want companies to know of you. Hiring managers and employers are very busy people and the typical job post gets hundreds of applicants, so to stand out from the crowd, you must have a great resume that catches people's attention. Here at Home Office Careers, we know firsthand how important a jobseeker's resume is, because we understand it is very competitive to get most jobs. Work from Home Jobs are especially difficult to start, because there are typically hundreds of applications per work-at-home job post. The most important thing a jobseeker can do is having a great resume so that employers and hiring managers will remember you. Creating a top resume can be challenging, that's why it's important to turn to the best professional advice you can find.
The Top 5 Resume Sites for your Career was created to help jobseekers connect with some of the Internet's best resume websites. The Home Office Careers resume builder page is a great place to get started with a free resume template. But, if you are looking for additional help and resources then we very strongly recommend reviewing these 5 resume sites that can really help your career!
The following Top 5 Resume Sites for your Career are listed in alphabetical order:
The Top 5 Resume Sites for Your Career
CV Maker
Kick Resume
Resume Genius
We would like to congratulate our Top 5 Resume Sites!
The five winning sites were asked a few general questions about their websites and their unedited responses are below:
CV Maker
CV Maker is a very large and well know resume site, especially in Great Britain and Europe. One of the great features of CV Maker is that an applicant can choose from over 30 languages to build their Resumes. CV Maker is a global leader in Resumes and has over 7.5 million downloads to date!
1.) How long have you been helping users build and perfect their resumes/cover letters? How many users have you helped to date?
Five and a half years. CV Maker has been used by 7+ million users from its inception.
2.) What features set your site apart from other resume building websites?
– Super simple interface. Takes seconds to get started.
– Ability to make CVs in 30+ international languages.
– Free!
– Well researched CV templates.
– No advertising, watermarks, or any other caveats.
– Downloads in multiple formats. PDF, HTML, TXT
3.) If you could share your most helpful resume tip, what would it be?
Keep your resume text concise and precise and don't fluff it up!
Responses provided by; Kailash Nadh
Kickresume has an impressive website with beautiful resume templates. With Kickresume, jobseekers have a 60% better chance of getting a job and they had about 25 thousands resumes created last month! Kickresume was founded by recruiters and they use some very talented designers to produce very effective resumes.
1.) How long have you been helping users build and perfect their resumes/cover letters? How many users have you helped to date?
We started Kickresume together with my classmate Peter back at university when we both needed to write a resume for an internship so we created a very simple tool for us and our friends. In a few months though we found Kickresume used by a couple of thousand people! It is already 3 years and Kickresume helped more than 200,000 people who downloaded more than 400,000 resumes.
2.) What features set your site apart from other resume building websites?
Kickresume is your one-stop-shop if you are looking for a new job. You can build all career documents like resume, cover letter or personal website on one place. We also help you with our step-by-step resume guide and our professional human editors will check grammar mistakes. Our resume and cover letter templates are designed by designers and approved by recruiters.
3.) If you could share your most helpful resume tip, what would it be?
Don't forget to list your achievements in your resume. It's a great way how to stand out from the crowd!
*Use this special promo code to receive a 30% discount off a Kickresume premium plan: homeoffice
Responses provided by; Tomas Ondrejka, Co-founder & CMO
Resume Genius
Resume Genius has a fast system to help candidates quickly create a professional resume. Since 2009 Resume Genius has helped over 9 million jobseekers! Needless to say, Resume Genius is a leader and giant in the Resume industry. What I also liked about their site is the Employment Resources page, where they have information about cover letters and other useful jobseeker resources.
1.) How long have you been helping users build and perfect their resumes/cover letters? How many users have you helped to date?
Since 2009 we've helped over 9 Million job seekers make perfect resumes and cover letters to land more interviews for their dream jobs.
2.) What features set your site apart from other resume building websites?
Our resume software does the writing for you, formats your document into hiring manager-approved templates, and easily allows you to write several versions, making targeting each company individually a breeze. Best of all, our templates are optimized to defeat Applicant Tracking Systems. We also provide the web's most comprehensive guides to help every job seeker craft the perfect resume and cover letter, and land employment.
3.) If you could share your most helpful resume tip, what would it be?
There is no certified way to write a resume. There are some who insist otherwise, but even certified professional resume writers will admit that, "a guiding principle of the résumé writing profession is that there are no hard and fast rules." One thing everyone will also agree on — your resume should be targeted to the company you're applying for.
Responses to questions provided by: Erik Episcopo, Editor Resume Genius
ResumUp stands out by having great visually appealing resumes. They are the #1 Best Resume Visualization for 2015. The ResumUp Resume templates are beautiful and they offer data visualization options as well, to really make your resume pop! In addition to good looking resumes, ResumUp also offers a Career Planning feature.
1.) How long have you been helping users build and perfect their resumes/cover letters? How many users have you helped to date?
We're working on Resumup for more than 4 years. And now more than 300k people worldwide have used our service to create an outstanding resume, set an online profile or discover career paths.
2.) What features set your site apart from other resume building websites?
We also worked hard on our "career planning" feature – a tool to find out who and what you need to know to achieve your career goals. Now it's still in beta since we tune our algorithms which build career paths based on skill development. It's more of a B2B product now since many enterprise companies are interested in such tool to work with current employees.
3.) If you could share your most helpful resume tip, what would it be?
I believe that you need to understand the area you want to work in and know your potential employers so you can tune your resume and give a description of what you actually can do for such employer and where you want to go.
Responses to questions provided by; Eugene Barulin, Founder & CEO at ResumUP
Resunate's motto is, 'A smarter job application in seconds', but what I found even more captivating was that they help jobseekers double their chances of getting hired! Resunate has been featured in many top online publications and uses a proprietary software platform to extract data and speed up the resume building process.
1.) How long have you been helping users build and perfect their resumes/cover letters? How many users have you helped to date?
4 Years and over 50,000 users
2.) What features set your site apart from other resume building websites?
– First, a parsing software extracts info from your resume and maps it to the employer's database, called an Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
– Using that info, the system automatically assigns you a score based on how well you match the job the employer is trying to fill.
– All candidates get ranked and sorted with only the top scoring candidate resumes getting viewed and called for interviews.
It's just like searching for something on Google. In the ATS, your resume is like a website that may be all the way back on page 13 of the employer's search results. Don't be like the estimated 72% of resumes that NEVER get seen by human eyes.
3.) If you could share your most helpful resume tip, what would it be?
Use a unique resume for each application you make, ATS's filter out by unique keywords and require a resume adjustment to optimize.
Responses to questions provided by; James Kirsch, ECB
When you need to get a job, you need to have a great resume. Having a great resume is even more important if you are looking for a work from home position. When you work at home, you will have a remote interview and your resume is even more important because the employer may never physically meet you. In the 2015 Home Office Careers Employment Report, we found that hiring managers and employers have a more difficult time hiring remote workers. Having a great resume will give you a leg up against so many other candidates.
I would like to thank Stephanie Willard, Director of Marketing here at Home Office Careers, who helped in the review and selection process of the top 5 resume sites as well as her help in questioning our winners.
The Top 5 Resume Sites for your Career can help you build a better resume and get hired faster!
Please share your reviews of these 5 great resume sites below in the comments!
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The post How To Create A Winning Cover Letter appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
The reason to include a carefully crafted cover letter whenever you can is that it can be the single best way for you, the applicant to: (1) Express your deep interest in the offer; (2) Quickly hit the high points of your qualifications; and (3) Serve up a sense of your unique personality and qualities. Let's tackle each of these, and then I'll show you how to write an effective one-page cover letter.
Before getting into the specifics, though, let's first understand the difference between a cover letter and a resume. The cover letter should not be a duplicate of the resume; instead, it should provide brief highlights and bring out how you are, as a person. As you may read in my recent blog "Your Resume Is An Advertisement For You" the resume is a one-two page summary of your job objective, your experience, your accomplishments and education, with some personal detail as appropriate. But the cover letter is different: It lets "you be you" to the employer, and get a few words in that show your interest, commitment and qualifications. The trick is to do all that on a single page. Let me show you how:
Top Of Page Contact Info & Addressee
At the top of the letter, place your name and contact information, and if you have the name of the employer, insert "Dear (name)." If no name is available, enter Recruitment Manager, and on the next line enter the name of the company, to show you are customizing the letter. Insert the date, ideally on the right side.
1st Paragraph: Introduce Yourself And Express Interest In The Offer
The first sentence of the first paragraph of the cover letter should make clear your interest in the position you are applying to. Why? Because it instantly establishes you as focused on the specific job, and says you are not one of many applicants who use a "shotgun" approach and apply to jobs without real interest or qualification. So if your first sentence is on target, the reader will continue through the rest of the paragraph and be able to better know you.
This means you may need to customize the open paragraph of each letter to make it relevant to the offer – don't worry; the remainder of the cover letter can be the same in most cases. Here's an example. Imagine you are applying for a work-from-home job in Customer Support. Your opening sentence could be like this: "I am applying for the position of Customer Support Representative at (organization name), a position I am qualified for and highly motivated to manage."
Now follow in this 1st paragraph with some quick confirmation of what you have just said. Keep it to one or two sentences. For example, "My experience in customer support has produced considerable improvement in customer loyalty and a reduction in refunds and returns. I enjoy working with and helping people, which makes my work with customers satisfying." If possible, cite specific qualifications that are mentioned in the job offer, so you can apply them to your own experience. For example, "My experience in Customer Support at (company) involved persuading customers to not return merchandise, which correlates with the requirements of this position I am applying for."
2nd Paragraph: Quickly Hit The High Points Of Your Experience And Qualifications
Here is where you should provide substantiation of what was said in the 1st paragraph – by mentioning where you worked and what you accomplished. But remember, this is not the resume, so don't go into detail, keep it brief. For example, "I worked in Customer Support at (company name) for five years, during which time I handled an average of 20 customer cases per day, and was cited for having reduced returns by 40% and cut the refunds by 38%. Previously, at (company name) I managed a team of six telephone operators who processed a total of 120 customer issues daily."
3rd Paragraph: Serve Up A Sense Of Your Unique Personality
Tell the employer who you are, as a person, but keep it business-like. The reader of your cover letter may appreciate that you first started helping people at college (name) where you were part of an environmental group or that you are active today in community service. You can insert a statement of why you prefer to work from your home, and why this job fits your desire to balance work and family life. If you can, say a little about what makes you tick – for example, if you had taken time off to raise a family, or serve in the military, or are involved in public service activities.
Your cover letter should close with a short "Thank you" for the employer's consideration.
Templates To Copy & Customize
I've constructed two model cover letters that you can use as templates. I suggest that you copy and paste one of these letters into Word, then customize it with your own personal information and save it to your computer desktop or job search folder. By filing it in a convenient folder, you will be able to easily locate it to attach to job applications. You should observe in these examples that the cover letter is short and to the point; it's important to resist the temptation to provide more information – Just as we advise for creating a resume, less is better. While these examples are for Customer Support and Sales, you may adapt them to any career category, from Administration, Analyst and Data-Entry to Healthcare, Human Resources, Transcriptionist and Writing.
Example 1: Customer Support
Your Name
Telephone & Email
Dear Mr./Ms. (name, or if not available, enter "Recruitment Manager")
Name of company
I am applying for the position of Customer Support Manager at (company) to build on my record of success working with customers in both large and small companies. I am credited with producing considerable improvement in customer loyalty, as well as reductions in refunds and returns. I believe my satisfaction when working with and helping people has contributed to the effective of my work.
I worked in Customer Support at (company name) for five years, during which time I handled an average of 20 customer cases per day, and was cited for having reduced returns by 40% and cut the refunds by 38%. Previously, at (company name) I managed a team of six telephone operators who processed a total of 120 customer issues daily. My early career experience included fund raising, which helped me become effective as a home-based worker using telephone and email outreach to motivate people.
My supervisors have cited me as being a reliable, punctual employee who gets the job done. My earlier experiences as a volunteer in environmental causes, and more recent community service activities have helped broaden my perspective about working with and motivating people. I prefer to be a home-based worker so I can effectively balance career and family interests.
In thanking you for your consideration, best regards,
Your Name
Example 2: Sales
Your Name
Telephone & Email
Dear Mr./Ms. (name, or if not available, enter "Recruitment Manager")
Name of company
I am applying for the position of Sales Associate at (company). I am excited about this opportunity and believe I can meet or exceed expectations, based on my experience in sales to customers in several different business categories during the past eight years.
I was responsible for sales at (company name) and exceeded my sales quotas by an average of 20% each year, culminating in a 35% increase in 2015. I am able to work independently from a home-office, but have also been able to work in coordination with other salespersons in team efforts.
My supervisors and associates credit me with being a motivated, thorough sales representative with strong follow-up actions to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction. I am active in fund raising for our community's annual food drive, and use this activity to network and develop new relationships.
Thank you for your consideration; I look forward to hearing from you.
Your Name
Be Prepared: Create The Cover Letter Now
Be sure to have your cover letter drafted and ready to attach to job applications, but remember to customize each one, with the name of the company you are applying to, the title of the job you are applying for, and any another edits that can make the letter appear to be targeted to the posted job. Spend a few extra minutes to get it right and it will pay off for you in the long run.
Here's a simple test to verify that your cover letter is going to be effective for you. Ask your self these three questions:
Do you have questions about how you are going about conducting your search for home-base employment, or suggestions about cover letters you would like to share with the members of Home Office Careers? We'd like to hear from you, so add your comments below.
The post How To Create A Winning Cover Letter appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
The post Are Your Work-From-Home Job Search Expectations Realistic? appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
But first, let me explain why we conducted the survey. At Home Office Careers, we receive many positive communications from our members who find our 1,000+ validated and screened job offers to be a great resource in their efforts to secure real, honest work-from-home jobs. But we also receive many emails and calls from members who express disappointment that they have not yet landed a job and question, "what's wrong?"
So we conducted a survey among our members this month. Over 800 respondents completed the questionnaire, giving us a representative national sample of work-from-home jobseekers. That means that these findings are accurate to within a 95% level of confidence.
Here's the topline: The survey finds that work-from-home jobseekers underestimate the time and effort required to obtain a home-based job. However, most are willing to adopt more realistic expectations of the time and proactive effort required, and recognize the value of professional help in finding screened, verified offers.
Let's look at these results in detail. First, jobseekers do not allow enough time to obtain a work-from-home job:
It Takes Longer Than You Think:
More than half of those seeking work-from-home jobs–54%–believe it takes less than 4 months to obtain a job; 27% think it should take no more than 2 months. Bu this does not agree with the reality and is refuted by a U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics report that it takes at least 3 to 4 months or more of searching before a job is landed. According to a Workopolis report, it will take an average of 16 weeks – 4 months – to get a job; other estimates suggest 3 to 6 or more months.
It Also Takes More Applications:
Work-from-home jobseekers also underestimate how many applications it requires:
45% think 10 applications will be enough and 65% expect no more than 20. In contrast, the Bureau Of Labor reports that it takes even more: A minimum submission of 20 or more applications and in many cases, 50 or more is required.
Why Jobseekers Are Anxious To Find Work:
High levels of unemployment among home-based job seekers may be creating a sense of urgency in their expectations; over half are currently unemployed and one-third has been unemployed for over 6 months. When I was filing for unemployment I had to visit a unemployment office near me to talk to an employee. So the pressure is on for a majority of work-from-home job seekers, and that leads to an overly optimistic expectation that a job can be obtained quickly and without too much effort. This is clearly not the case.
Employers May Be Partly Responsible For The Longer Recruitment Times:
The 2015 Employment Report conducted by Home Office Careers last November found that two-thirds of hiring managers have a more difficult time hiring work from home candidates than applicants for traditional, on-premises jobs. You can understand why this happens. In most cases, employers do not get to me applicants in an face-to-face interview, as they would during recruitment for a traditional, on-premises job. For the home-based job, the applicant may be hundreds or thousands of miles from the employer, so the decision has to be based on the application that is submitted, the resume, and at best, a "virtual interview" by telephone or Skype video.
Frustration Based On Previous Experiences:
Discrepancies between the expectations and the realities can result in exasperation, a loss of confidence, frustration and a sense of failure for the work-from-home jobseeker especially if they feel there is some kind of worker discrimination. It's the discovery that a short effort and a handful of applications is not enough. As a result, many jobseekers question the ability to obtain a home-based job through online resources.
Another factor that can weaken jobseekers' confidence is the finding that two-thirds of job seekers have been exposed to online scams, and less than one-fifth – 17% – of work-from-home jobseekers have ever landed a job though an online service.
Be assured that you can increase your chances of landing a good work-from-home job while being safe from scams when you let Home Office Careers be your only home-based employment resource!
Job seekers Are Open To Attitudinal And Behavioral Transformation:
The survey asked jobseekers to read a short statement that includes the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data on the time it takes and the number of applications that are needed, and read a brief summary of how to successfully obtain a good work-from-home job. After being exposed to "the facts," the majority of jobseekers recognize the need to be more aggressive in:
The jobseekers that we surveyed also acknowledge that it may take more time than previously expected to obtain a good job; 4 or more months, on average. This is longer that the 1 to 2 months they have previously thought.
Proactivity Is Seen As A Way To Prevent Unemployment:
The survey respondents read a statement that said not to wait for unemployment to return before resuming the search and application process. Three-quarters of work-from-home jobseekers agree with the idea of staying proactive even when employed, by continuing to search and submit applications, and not waiting until again unemployed to resume the search process.
A Majority Acknowledge The Need For Professional Support:
Why try to do it alone? Three-quarters of work-from-home job seekers (79%) agree in the value in joining an active employment service that provides a range of personalized features. This is due to the recognition that it is hard to spend time everyday trying to comb through the Internet, and then not be able to know if the job offers can be trusted as being made by a real, honest company and not a scammer.
Quality Of Job Offers Is Of Highest Priority:
Among the benefits of a professional employment service, work-from-home job seekers place the greatest importance on the quality and validity of the job offers the service provides. Specifically, highest ratings are given to the service providing:
Personalized counseling services are also important but to a lesser extent, with 57% interested in a career assistance team and 53% interested in a dedicated account manager.
Longer-Term, Part-Time Jobs Are Preferred:
Among work-from-home jobseekers, on average twice as many prefer long-term employment to short-term. Slightly more favor part-time employment vs. full-time. This is consistent with the job offerings at Home Office Careers, where our Career Search function enables searchers to select type of work. In addition, the job descriptions for each job let searchers see quickly whether the work is full or part-time, and whether it is more of a career position or a shorter-term situation.
Interestingly, 14% of job seekers are open to more than one part-time job at a time; in a sense, creating close to full-time work with two or more jobs.
Your Success Is Our Success
So in summing up, I hope you have taken the key points of our survey to heart and are prepare to give your work-from-home job search the time and effort that it requires, and be sure to take full advantage of your Home Office Careers membership, because "Your Success Is Our Success."
Listen To Our Podcast
You resume is an important part of the job search and application process, and our Resume Builder can get you started. If you would like to hear me discuss "What can advertising teach you about how to create a more effective resume?" then listen to our new Podcast.
Do you have questions about how you are going about conducting your search for home-base employment, or suggestions you would like to share with the members of Home Office Careers? We'd like to hear from you, so add your comments below.
The post Are Your Work-From-Home Job Search Expectations Realistic? appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
The post Podcast: Your Resume Is An Advertisement For You appeared first on Job Advice & Employment Resources – Home Office Careers.]]>
Now you can also listen to our Podcast, sharing this valuable information with you! Click PLAY to hear the audio recording.
Let us know in the Comments section what questions we can answer to help you make your resume the best presentation of yourself!
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text:
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Retro-reflective tapes for signs and warning or conspicuos marking, photo-luminiscent tape that glows in the dark, great for emergency exit signs, house numbers, around light switches etc. The range also includes safety tread tapes to help prevent slips and falls on stairs and ladders, and on vehicles and sporting equipment.


text:
|What Be Your Nerd Type?
Your Result: Artistic Nerd
Whether it's painting, sewing, drawing, arts and crafts; or just splashing paint onto a canvas and calling it art; you mostly fit this description. Lots of people envy the artists, but be humble and keep working on it. There is a shortage of true artists today who actually contribute anything to society.
|Literature Nerd
|Drama Nerd
|Social Nerd
|Science/Math Nerd
|Gamer/Computer Nerd
|Anime Nerd
|What Be Your Nerd Type?
Quizzes for MySpace
Also, you know those moods you can select when posting your MySpace blog thingie? What I want to know is, what if you're feeling ALL of those things at the same time? I find it terribly limiting of the MySpace folks to only let you post one mood at a time, silly silly yucky narrow-minded wiener heads. Harrumph, I say.
And another thing: if you're at a party, bump into someone from your past, and say, "I never thought our paths would cross again," and then immediately blurt out "DUDE! I'm speaking in IAMBIC PENTAMETER," then you probably deserve everything that happens next.
And then you will most likely be my new best friend.