The 50+ Re-Employment Group (sometimes called 50+ Networking Group) met on Monday, 25 February 2013 at Jewish Family Services in Dallas, Texas. Allison Harding led this meeting. There were 17 people who attended this meeting. A few things that job seekers need to remember include:

• Job seekers should avoid limiting themselves to a specific industry. Recognize how experience and skills can transfer to different industries.
• Avoid acronyms and abbreviations in 30-second introductions. 
• Companies are using Skype instead of traveling. 
  

Each person has their own “Comfort Zone.” Each person has a different style. How we adapt ourselves to other people is one of four styles: Compliance, Steady, Dominance, , or Influence.

Compliance person is detailed, needs facts, is analytical, task oriented, doesn’t like chit chat, and fears criticism.

Steady person wants no sudden changes, “hates” confrontation, is a peacekeeper, is consistent, is predictable, and makes no changes in voice or questions.

Dominance person has a strong personality, is competitive, is disorganized, is social, talks a lot, and dislikes details. They fear loss of control because if they lose control they cannot direct activity, discussion, etc.

Influence person is competitive, forceful, and quick decision maker. They are focused on relationships and open to new ideas. 

50+ Re-employment Group met on Monday, 11 February 2013 at Jewish Family Services in Dallas, Texas. Allison Harding led this session that was attended by 21 people. Allison is the Director of Career Employment Services at Jewish Family Services - Dallas.

Every person in the workforce or looking for employment should have a LinkedIn profile that is 100 percent complete. Unemployed persons network through their LinkedIn contacts to find people in their target companies.

Resume on Monster, Career Finder, Indeed, and similar websites needs to be generic. This resume needs to be updated weekly to keep it near the top of the list that recruiters see; otherwise, it moves further down the list each week. Recruiters look at resumes near the top of the list only. When a recruiter responds to a resume on one of these websites, continue to use that resume instead of providing a customized resume.

There are two categories of recruiter: executive/independent and corporate/in-house. The executive/independent is NOT interested in a job seeker unless they see potential to place them in a job. The only get paid when they match an applicant to an employer. Corporate/in-house recruiters are typically 21 to 28 years old who are looking at 200 to 1000 resumes each business day.

Do NOT pay for job search tools. There are plenty of FREE tools for job searches.

Jobs from $35,000 to $70,000 are GONE! They are on the road or highway to NOWHERE. These jobs have been replaced by entry level jobs at $25,000 plus bonuses. Get off of the NOWHERE highway, and get out of your box. Go to professional society meetings and volunteer. Every place where you interact with people provides opportunities to meet somebody who will provide information that leads to a job. You never know when or where you will meet the person.

Likewise, stay in contact with former colleagues. People who you have worked with know what you can do and enjoy doing; therefore, they can recognize job opportunities that might be a good fit for you and provide you information that might lead to your next job.

There is an average of 1000 applicants for each job description. Each resume gets seven seconds of the recruiter’s attention. Buzz words need to be near the top of resume. If the recruiter sees something related to the job they are trying to fill, they will read more of that resume.

Use STAR stories in interviews to distinguish yourself from other applicants. STAR is a mnemonic for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Thus, a STAR story describes a situation, the task or action performed to produce the result.  Hiring managers are more likely to remember the candidate who told a STAR story than candidates who do not tell STAR stories.