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Tips for Landing a Job with No Experience

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How Can You Get a Job With No Experience?

Landing a job in today’s economy certainly is a challenge. There are so many highly qualified and experienced candidates out there that it can be nearly impossible for a recent college graduate or an individual with no job experience to break into the profession they desire.

Recently, job hunters have been bombarded with statistics and statements about the dismal state of the job economy—unemployment was recently at an all-time high, jobs are still scarce, and with graduates willing to accept lower level jobs, college degrees are losing their potency in the professional world.

For any job hunter out there, this can be an exhausting and frightening atmosphere to set foot in. But, this is how landing a job works. You have to put your foot forward and your head on the line. Oftentimes, job hopefuls find themselves in a bit of a conundrum. Employers are looking for candidates with experience, but candidates can’t get that experience until they land the job. While this is no doubt a challenge, there are many ways to display the expertise and skillset required for a job without having the specific job experience. Try these three techniques to help land a job without any relevant experience. [Read more…] about Tips for Landing a Job with No Experience

3 Alternatives to Entry Level Jobs for Recent Grads

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In a tough job market graduates need to be creative when it comes to finding ways to earn a living. In this article Maria Rainier shows you 3 ways recent grads can get ahead. ~Tim McMahon, editor

3 Alternatives to Entry Level Jobs for Recent Grads

By Maria Rainier

Today’s job market is enough to make even the most stoic and ascetic of philosophy majors fear for their quality of life. And the fact is, students are right to be worried. Economists are calling this the “Great Recession”, a label that the last four years certainly deserve — since 2007 unemployment levels have reached near record highs, almost as high as during the 1980’s recession, and though the situation has improved slightly, the outlook still isn’t great. [Read more…] about 3 Alternatives to Entry Level Jobs for Recent Grads

Top Paying Jobs

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On March 29th 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their newest update of the Occupational Outlook Handbook which provides profiles for hundreds of different occupations including job descriptions,  median pay, education necessary, number of jobs in the U.S., and even job outlook for the decade from 2010 – 2020.  A couple of days ago, we looked at those jobs that the BLS estimated to have the largest number of new jobs created during the 2010 -2020 decade. Unfortunately, we found that 13 out of the top most prevalent jobs were low paying positions like fast food preparation or daycare workers.  So, yesterday we looked at the BLS list of Fastest Growing Occupations although we found some overlap in the positions of the fastest growing vs. the most plentiful, we found many more good paying jobs on the fastest growing list, in both the construction industry and the health care industry.

Today we are going to look at the  top 20 highest paying positions. As you would expect these positions require a combination of high level skill, experience and education. Interestingly, of the top six, four are in the area of dental medicine with oral surgeons coming in first and orthodontists coming in second each earning over $166,400 per year. Unfortunately the BLS chart doesn’t break down the top few positions other than to say that it was over $166,400 per year but according to Salary.com – Oral Surgeons earn an average of $246,834 with 10% of Oral Surgeons earning over $290,802 per year. Salary.com estimates Orthodontists average less than the $166,400 the BLS says with the median salary of “only” $125,137 although the top 10% of earners earn more than $175,943.

The other top 18 paying positions are: [Read more…] about Top Paying Jobs

Fastest Growing Occupations

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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released its list of the 20 fastest-growing occupations. As you would expect several are in the health services field, after all, those aging baby boomers are going to need health care. Yesterday we looked at the New Job Creation estimates in terms of pure numbers. In other words, which jobs would have the most new positions. Today we are going to look at which jobs are growing the fastest in terms of percentages.

As you would expect some positions are on both lists, like home health aides 69% growth and 706,300 new positions over the decade and personal care aides with 70% growth rate and 607,000 estimated new positions.  Unfortunately, although both jobs are growing rapidly and will need hundreds of thousands of new people to fill all the positions, the average annual salary for both positions is only about $20,000 per year.

One high paying profession with a high growth rate is biomedical engineers with a 62% growth rate over the decade averaging $81,540 per year in 2010. The fourth, fifth and ninth fastest growing professions are in the building industry and all three are entry-level positions as a carpenter, brick mason and plumber – Helpers. These positions all pay in high $20,000’s and can lead to positions like the 19th fastest-growing position of brick mason and block mason which is estimated to grow by 41% over the decade and in 2010 paid an average of $46,930 per year. Other construction trades that made the list was reinforcing iron and rebar worker with a 49% growth rate over the decade and a 2010 average salary of $38,430 and glazier (glass installer) with a 42% growth rate and a $36,640 per year average salary.

Medical and related positions that are slated to grow are physical therapy assistants (46% growth and $49,690/yr.), physical therapists (39% and $76,310/yr.), physical therapy aides (43% and $23,680/yr.), diagnostic medical sonographers (44% and $64,380/yr.), occupational therapy assistants (43% and $51,010/yr.), medical secretaries (41% and $30,530/yr.), marriage and family therapists (41% and $30,530/yr.) and even veterinary technologist positions are expected to grow 52% over the decade and average pay in 2010 was $29,710.

Other fast-growing positions are expected to be interpreters and translators with 42% growth expected and an average salary in 2010 of $43,300. Also, meeting, convention, and event planners are expected to grow by 44% and earned $45,260 per year in 2010. So if you are looking for a higher paying job it may pay to look at fastest-growing jobs rather than jobs with the most potential vacancies.

One job that is so new the Bureau of Labor Statistics isn’t even tracking it yet is that of a Social Media Manager. This position is rapidly growing as companies jump on the Social Media bandwagon.  If you enjoy using social media like Facebook and Twitter your skills are in demand. You can help companies with their Facebook and Twitter by monitoring online communications and making companies more “personal”.  Find out more about how you can become a Social Media Manager.

See also: 10 Awesome Jobs You Can Do From Home

BLS Issues New Job Creation Estimates

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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has just released its latest revision of its annual Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH). This is a great resource for those interested in changing jobs or for students trying to decide on a career. The OOH lists job descriptions, average salaries and estimates of the number of new jobs that will be created between 2010 and 2020. Obviously when choosing a new career it is best to be in a position that has increasing demand rather than finding yourself in an industry such as buggy whip maker where finding a job becomes increasingly difficult. If your position is in demand and supply is tight the natural progression will be increasing salaries, bigger signing bonuses and more benefits as companies compete for the limited number of candidates available.

According to the most recent data from the BLS, many of the new positions with the best salaries are in the health care arena, which makes sense in a time of aging Baby Boomers. For instance the number one position with the greatest increase in demand is for Registered Nurses. The BLS estimates 711,900 new nurses will be needed during the decade between 2010 and 2020. Plus, the salary of registered nurses is the highest of any of the top 20 growth positions with a median annual salary in 2010 of $64,690.

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Unfortunately, many of the other growth positions are [Read more…] about BLS Issues New Job Creation Estimates

Simple Steps to Improving Employee Productivity

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By Steve Hutton

In the current economic climate it is vital that firms look to their own in-house policies to ensure that efficiency and productivity are maintained to give them the very best chance possible of enduring these uncertain times. One area in which companies can increase productivity is through reducing absenteeism and attrition, whilst also maintaining morale at the highest level possible. As they say “a happy workforce is a productive workforce”. There are a great number of ways that this can be achieved but the one I would like to focus on most is that of the working environment.

Often companies will prioritise the budget they have available to be spent on new systems, training and improving existing policies and procedures at all levels of the business. Whilst I agree that these can have an impact on improving productivity and output within the firm, they can be expensive and often are only be of limited duration. Often, by the very nature of these programs as soon as the projects have been completed, the Human Resources department suggests further programs and the cycle begins again.

The Importance of the Working Environment to Productivity   

A more cost-effective method would be to improve the working environment on the company premises. Often simple updates can have a significant impact on morale and productivity. For instance,  [Read more…] about Simple Steps to Improving Employee Productivity

Internships Can Help

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As a student or someone with limited job experience internships can be a wonderful way to gain experience and get your foot in the door even if you initially work for free. In medieval times finding a job was easier. If your father had  a profession you were expected to take over the family business and go into that profession. However, if the family had too many sons or didn’t have a family profession the youngster (often at the age of 13 or younger) could become an apprentice to a professional in need of some help. The young apprentice would be given the most menial of tasks, starting with sweeping up the shop or doing other tasks that the “master” didn’t want to do. Then slowly he would be given increasing responsibilities until by the age of 18 he would be able to perform the vast majority of what the master could do. This system of training worked well and even Benjamin Franklin was an apprentice in a printing shop.

Today we send our children to school where hopefully they will learn to read and write and eventually get into college. Once they graduate they are on their own but depending on their major they may not have a single marketable skill. After all, how much demand is there for underwater basket weavers, or psychology majors?  Even if you major in a profession like engineering or drafting where there is a defined job path it is often difficult to break in to the profession without any experience. And that is where internships come in. [Read more…] about Internships Can Help

About Those US Jobs

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By David Galland, Casey Research

US politicians make a great show of concerning themselves with the level of unemployment. And so they bluster about the need for this new program or that new program – in fact, about any new idea except for the one that will actually be effective. Namely, stop the meddling.

Recently there have been some interesting developments that merely confirm the government’s intentions are to continue doing exactly the opposite of what they should be doing.

For starters, we had the news that President Obama announced his administration was going to block the Keystone XL pipeline, blaming the decision on the Republicans and foisting responsibility for the call onto the back of Hillary Clinton’s State Department.

The story has received quite a bit of coverage, so I won’t repeat it here. However, I will mention a Reuters column by John Kemp, titled Keystone symbolizes what is wrong with US policy. As he points out, the initial permit application for Keystone XL was filed in 2008 – and yet here we are, going on four years later, and the president is complaining about the “rushed and arbitrary deadline” imposed by the Republicans as part of the latest round of budget theatrics.

The actual fact of the matter is that the United States is becoming increasingly unfriendly toward businesses that actually produce anything tangible, despite our politicians constantly carping about the evil capitalists sending American jobs overseas. [Read more…] about About Those US Jobs

How DEEP Will Cuts in Government Services Go?

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Plus: The check is STILL in the mail.

“Localities have chopped 535,000 positions since September 2008…”
USA Today (10/18)

Cuts in government services became conspicuous after the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

The first edition of Robert Prechter’s Conquer the Crash saw this coming, even though the book published nearly a decade ago:

“Don’t expect government services to remain at their current levels…The tax receipts that pay for roads, police and jails, fire departments, trash pickup, emergency (911) monitoring, water systems and so on will fall to such low levels that services will be restricted.” (p. 257)

Households throughout Massachusetts know exactly what Prechter is talking about. [Read more…] about How DEEP Will Cuts in Government Services Go?