Click any of the links below to find the presentations we use in our Employment Certification Program, and reinforce with ALL clients in our one-on-one job coaching sessions.
Topic-1-Knowing-Yourself.pdf
Job finding is about establishing your "brand", backing that up with your experience, education, skills and talents, and developing a selling approach in both written and spoken form that is consistent and emphasizes your strengths. It also requires you to look hard at your obstacles ... and show how you have overcome them, or are in the process of overcoming them. Topic #1, Knowing Yourself, teaches the all-important Elevator Speech, gives you ideas for creating a powerful summary statement for your resume, and helps you think through those obstacles you are facing -- converting them from reasons NOT to hire you into reasons they SHOULD hire you.
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Topic-2-Personal-Responsibility.pdf
Personal responsibility is the cornerstone of finding and keeping a job. You must look at personal responsibility as a blessing, not as a burden, in order to rid yourself of any lingering traces of victimhood. Being a victim might get you a bowl of soup, or a roof over your head for a night, but it will NEVER get you a job. You will only be hired if you are shown to be the best candidate for the job, simple as that. The harder you work in life, the luckier you will get, and that applies in job search also. Topic #2, Personal Responsibility, teaches that motivation, accountability, goals and organization can be learned and your ability to work hard throughout the job search process can be improved upon.
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It used to be that you could write one resume, get it printed on fancy bond paper, and pass it out to every potential employer. Those days are gone. You must not only tailor each resume submission to the job you are applying for, you must think carefully about what goes in your summary of qualifications at the top of your resume. If your summary isn't compelling, the good stuff in the body of your resume will probably never be read at all. Topic #3, Resume Writing, teaches you to write a resume that will maximize your chances of getting an interview.
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You may have heard the saying "If you need a job, then looking for a job is your full time job." So, are you working 40 hours per week in your job search? Very, very few job seekers come even close to that amount of work. Why? Because it's not much fun. But the speed at which you find a job is highly correlated to how hard you work at finding it. One way to do a better job is to realize that there are three different ways to find a job. If you spend about 1/3 of your job search time on each method, not only will your results improve, but you'll find you can sustain a better effort, because the search won't be so monotonous. Topic #4, Job Search Strategies, teaches you to spend time pursuing all three job search strategies: opportunity-based, employer-based and contact-based. A mix of all three search strategies will yield better results than an over-emphasis on just one of the strategies.
The resume gets you the interview, but the interview gets you the job. You know that, and that's why you are so darn nervous going into them. A good interview is all about preparation. If you have a good idea what kind of questions are coming at you, and if you are prepared for them, you'll be far more confident, your body language won't betray you, and your chances of landing the job will be far higher. Topic #5, Interviewing Skills, teaches you how to handle the introduction, Q&A and wrap-up phases of a job interview. It also emphasizes the importance of tackling your "obstacles" head on rather than hoping the interviewer will forget to ask you about it.
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Topic-6-Working-with-Others.pdfMost people who lose a job don't lose it because of qualifications issues. It's usually because they can't get along with others in the workplace. Going back to the simple things we learned in kindergarten about how to get along with others, Topic #6, Working with Others, teaches the importance of putting the organization's objectives ahead of your personal objectives, and how as a new employee you can get off to a good start with several different constituencies: the boss, your co-workers, customers and "the little people".==========================================
Conflict is inevitable. It is neither good nor bad, it just is. What is bad is when you mis-manage conflict. Topic #7, Conflict Resolution, teaches that there are several different ways to manage conflict, and that which method you choose depends on the nature of the conflict. Sometimes, there is no reason to fight it out, and you'd be well-advised not to. Compromise, collaboration, avoidance or accommodation might be the best answer .... but occasionally it would be right to use a competitive model. The trick is knowing when to use which model.
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Being an excellent employee is everyone's goal, but do we take the steps necessary to actually do it? Professionalism means defining your productive worth not as hours elapsed on a time clock but rather accomplishments in furtherance of your organization's objectives. Topic #8, The Excellent Employee, teaches that a true professional doesn't just dress the part, he or she adopts some aspect of the organization's overall mission as his or her own.
===========================================Other Helpful Items
Writing-Your-Resume-Summary-Statement.ppt This little exercise will help you to identify how best to "brand" yourself, thereby creating a first sentence for the summary of qualifications that will get your resume moved to the "must read" pile.
Job-Application-Log.xls Job Application Log. Use this to keep track of your applications and when you need to follow up on them.
My-Job-Search-Strategy.pdf This graphic helps convey that there are three ways to find a job, and you should be doing some of each of them. Use this at the start of your job search to allocate your time. Maslow-s-Hierarchy-Assessment-Tool.pdf This quick-and-dirty assessment will help you figure out where you are on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It's a sort of tool to see what motivators you need to be most focused on right now.
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For Volunteers:
Volunteer-Annual-Meeting-Outline-Oct-2011.pdf Here is the presentation we made to MAM Employment Services volunteers at our annual program meeting in October 2011. Good overview to understand our volunteer structure and what we are trying to accomplish.
Mentor-Orientation-and-Training-Sept-2010.pdf This presentation is a bit dated and could use some revisions, but it is a pretty comprehensive outline of the way our mentoring program FORMERLY worked. It's still pretty good overview of what we teach in the ECP program.
Volunteer-Annual-Meeting-Outline-Oct-2011.pdf Here is the presentation we made to MAM Employment Services volunteers at our annual program meeting in October 2011. Good overview to understand our volunteer structure and what we are trying to accomplish.