Best Practice Self-Assessments for Job Search & Reemployment Planning

Day after day, laid-off job seekers sit at computers and apply for openings. Already isolated by job loss, the unemployed feel even more alone because of little human contact. Here are some suggestions your unemployed job hunters can use to personalize the job search and to get hired.

• Make phone calls. Check in with networking contacts, follow up on job applications, highlight work skills for employers, and ask to meet even if no job opening exists. A job may open up tomorrow, and you'll be first in line.
• Attend business events. Learn about growing companies, plan lunch with someone in your field, and hand out business cards that list your desired job title.
• Go on informational interviews. Ask professionals who work in a target job or company if you can meet to learn about their careers and their workplace.
• Knock on doors. This old-fashioned job search technique still works, especially in smaller companies. While you will get rejected, you may also get interviewed on the spot.
• Find a mentor. Ask a colleague you admire for ongoing advice about your career path.
• Connect through social media. Get active on LinkedIn and Twitter to connect with people in your field, to learn about job openings, to keep up with trends, and to share your knowledge.
• Talk to everyone. You never know when someone will connect you to a job.
• Improve your skills. Don’t let your job skills and soft skills atrophy! Volunteer, consult, write, freelance, take temporary or part-time work, teach yourself a skill, take a class.
• Get job search help. Make sure to use the free job search tools and reemployment planning resources at your local One-Stop Career Center/American Job Center. Many centers offer workshops, guidance, and job clubs.

With these tips, your unemployed job hunters can put a personal face on today's impersonal job search and kick their employment search into active mode!

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Twitter is full of information and interaction for workforce development professionals. Twitter occurs in real time, so you can gain critical insight and news as it happens on issues like workforce funding, reemployment, the long-term unemployed, job search resources, the skills gap, layoff aversion, economic development, training, and more.

Many workforce development professionals and associations on Twitter are using the #wkdev “hashtag” to share current information, ideas, events, and advocacy. A hashtag is a keyword preceded by a # symbol, which makes it easy to find and follow Tweets related to a certain topic.

Using a free online tool such as HootSuite or TweetDeck, you can quickly and easily create a column called #wkdev. In HootSuite for PCs, for example, click on Add Stream-->Keyword, and then enter #wkdev and click Add Stream. Immediately recent Tweets that include the #wkdev hashtag will fill the column. See an example of the #wkdev stream in the image at left.

In just a few minutes a day, you can scan your #wkdev column for the latest updates from anyone using the #wkdev hashtag in their Tweets, including workforce development professionals, American Job Centers, workforce advocacy groups and associations, community and economic development organizations, and more.

When you have a relevant update for your colleagues, be sure to add the #wkdev tag to your Tweet so we can spot it easily and quickly. See you in the #wkdev Tweet stream!

Follow Career Action Resources on Twitter for daily workforce development tweets! Our Twitter name is @CareerAction.

Dislocated workers who sit at home and apply for job after job online eventually become the long-term unemployed. They can also become isolated and develop a poor attitude. A recluse has little chance of becoming reemployed.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Reemployment and Eligibility Assessment (REA) initiative addresses job search planning. But REAs do not cover job seeker attitude, motivation, and self-esteem.

Here are a few tips to share with your dislocated workers to get them moving from isolation to reemployment:

• Expect to zig-zag through emotional stages, including shock, anger, and depression.
• Remind yourself of the skills and traits you bring to the right employer. Avoid getting down on yourself.
• Limit passive activities. Stay active to stay positive.
• Build a support system and use it every day.
• Stop thinking about your layoff as "why me?" Instead, start thinking about getting hired and say, "why not me!"
• Learn new skills, volunteer, and attend business events. They help you stay sharp and meet people.

Layoff-to-Employment Action Planner (LEAP), published by Career Action Resources, LLC, is a career assessment for job hunters on the 8 key issues faced after a layoff, including attitude and emotions. LEAP is a workforce development best practice for reemployment, according to a study for the U.S. Department of Labor.

To guide the unemployed through all their key issues, consider adding LEAP to your reemployment services. Workforce development and career professionals: Request your complimentary LEAP sample today.

Image courtesy of graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net