Transitioning Military Women's Career Event In Austin

by Bryan Chaney

Republished with permission. Originally published at:

http://careerconnects.org

In partnership with National Charity League, Inc. the Texas National Guard will host a Military Women in Transition event to help women in all phases of the job search or career enhancement process.  

Camp Mabry in Austin – Sunday, February 16, 2014. There will be youth related activities for the kids 6+, refreshments and military and veteran resources available throughout the day. Sign up for free now.

• Don’t miss the opportunity to hear author, speaker and personal vision consultant Angela Loëb who will help you identify your unique talents and skills and leverage them to secure a great job.
• F7 Group Founder and CEO and successful entrepreneur Cassaundra Meigar-C’DeBaca shares the secrets to her success and her passion to share it with all military affiliated women.
• From Fatigues to Career Diva…Win a new business suit – perhaps one designed by Project Runway star Daniel Esquivel!  Visit the professional clothing closet to select new or gently worn items for your job interview.  Receive make up tips and giveaways from Mary Kay Cosmetics.
• Secure a Job through important social media tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, GlassDoor and Google!  KP Partners Dr. Keri Pearlson is ready to help you learn about these valuable resources for your job search and to continue to use them to promote your career development.
• HR Pros are ready to Review Your Resume, Conduct a Mock Interview + Review Your LinkedIn Profile
• Be Confident Outside of the Uniform!  Military women know what needs to be done to get the mission accomplished.  Texas Veterans Commission Women Veterans Employment Coordinator Julie Puzan will help you take charge in the civilian world.
• Employers Want to Meet and Hire Military-Affiliated Women!  Participate in Business Round-table Discussions with local employers to ask them about their hiring processes and learn about their employment opportunities.

Register today for the 2/16/14 Military Women in Transition Event at Camp Mabry in Austin Texas; FREE to all military-affiliated women and female military spouses!! 

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NOTE:  AHRMA is proud a sponsor of this event through the Transition2Position Subcommittee of the Workforce Readiness Committee. AHRMA Volunteers are helping out by giving presentations, reviewing resumes and LinkedIn profiles, and conducting mock interviews. Please spread the word about this free event to any military-affiliated woman you know! Click HERE to register.

Looking: 3 Tips For Better Time Management and Balance

Reprinted with permission by careerconnects· in career tips, careerconnects, networking, Time Management.  

A few years ago, I came across a startling statistic. Two-thirds of job seekers spend a mere 5 hours or less per week on their job search.

I can understand spending only 5 hours on your job search while you’re still employed, but if you’re unemployed, that’s just not good time management.

However, let me clarify something… if you’re an unemployed job seeker, I don’t mean to suggest that you should devote a full 40 hours per week to your job search either. I love to write, but I wouldn’t spend 40 hours per week only writing and nothing else.

So even if you love to search for a job (which I seriously doubt), you need balance the way you spend your time during your job search. Instead of “work/life balance,” I call this “job search/life” balance.

Work Smarter

No matter how many hours you spend on your job search, there are ways to work smarter rather than harder in order to get fast results… and achieve better job search/life balance, too. Here are three time management tips that can help:

1. Time Spent Online

Since only 13% of jobs are advertised, that means you and a whole lot of other job seekers are going for the same small pool of jobs online. Even though it’s a low return-on-investment activity, it’s still necessary to answering postings on job boards and at company websites. To manage your time more effectively, I suggest you block time to do this during the non-prime time spots on your daily calendar. Spend time on the computer responding to ads and doing whatever online research you need to do during the early part of the day, like from 8:30am to 10:00am, and then again in the late afternoon at around 2:30 or 3:00pm.

2. Time Spent Networking

Statistics on getting a job through networking vary between 33% to 80+%. Still, even the low end of that percentage range is significant. Networking is a critical job search strategy. So, since it’s such a high return-on-investment activity, it should be acted upon during the prime-time parts of your day. Not only is this smart for your energy expenditure, it’s very logical. Between the prime business day hours of 10:00am and 2:00pm, you’re most likely to interact with people. That’s when you’ll be able to schedule coffee and lunch dates, exchange emails, attend luncheon events, etc.

3. Time Spent Off

Studies prove that exercising increases your chances of getting hired quickly. So be sure to schedule it into your calendar. Also, make room on your calendar to enjoy yourself just like you did when you were fully employed. It’s also been shown that executives tend to hire most on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday… not Monday or Friday. Consequently, since Friday’s not the best day to be interviewing, why don’t you make that your personal reward day for the week’s successes?

Though you might still do some job search activities in the morning, meet a friend for lunch. Take some time off from your job search just like you might take time off from your job once you’re employed. Job search can be stressful. How you balance your time, energy and stress levels will influence how well you come across to your network and to prospective employers when you meet them. Give the impression of well-being, and you’ll be a more attractive job candidate.

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Angela Loëb has been in the career services field for over 20 years and is the author of two books about job search. Connect with her at http://about.me/angelarloeb or at the upcoming Austin HR event.

Linking: 5 Things To Remember At Your Next Networking Event

Reprinted with permission. by careerconnects · in career tips, careerconnects, networking.

It is more than just going to a happy hour at a restaurant to visit with other people and enjoy tasty food and drinks.

It is a way of communicating your name and skill set to the business community so that you may improve your personal network.

The key points are not hard and fast rules by any means, but in actuality they are points that I feel that help me when I am out at networking events. I encourage you to try them and let me know what works for you by tossing a comment below.

Make deeper connections.

To be effective in networking, the goal is not in the quantity of people you meet, but in making each person you meet a true connection who knows a little about you and you know a little about them. Essentially what you are trying to do here is to be more than just a business card; you want to be able to remember the name/and story with the face.

Don’t make it all about you.

While your goal is to make connections to assist in your career path, don’t forget those same people probably have the same desire of sharing information that will make you a better connection for them. Many people you will meet will not have the same career path or work in the same industry. However that shouldn’t dismiss the benefit of networking with that person. It never hurts to have many in your network in and outside your career path. It’s always better to have a full network than one that is too little.

Networking doesn’t all happen at Networking events.

For example, if you go to networking happy hours, don’t think that the job is done. Networking is done not only in those engineered events but also during normal day to day life. You might even make connections doing something simple as buying groceries or having lunch with a friend. If you do meet a connection at a happy hour event, make sure to follow up with that connection, reference the part of your meeting that was memorable and connect with them on Linkedin.

Realize that not everyone wants to help.

Often in networking I meet people who show no interest in making a deeper connection, which is ok. Not everyone works the same way as I do or even as you may choose to. It can be frustrating especially when they are key people in the industry in which you work or want to work in. Remember that patience is the key to success in just about everything you do.

It’s more than just Quarterly/ Monthly meetings.

Today even after landing in my chosen career path, I know that I need to continually reach out to my existing contacts, and continue to grow my network. Remember that being complacent will cause your network of connections to become stagnant.

And we all love the call/email from a connection who only reaches out when they need a favor.

Networking resources:

• Being Memorable: Business Networking for Entrepreneurs
• Results are not linear in Social Networking
• How to Find a Job by Building Relationships
• Networking: Doors Open When You Know Someone
• 3 Ways to Make Networking Fun for Introverts and Extroverts
• How to Connect with Employee Referrals, the Source Employers Prefer
• 6 Networking Goals for Other People
• 5 Sure-Fire Networking Follow-Up Tips

Our first in a series of HR posts before the HR CareerConnects event, this one from HR Manager, Gillian Jacob.