Probation Department Job Fair

Last week Community Business College was invited to participate in the Stanislaus County Probation Department's career development fair.

It was unlike any job fair we've ever been to before.

Today's Merced Job Fair for Veterans and The Public

Today’s job fair started off with a presentation of the colors by veterans from the VFW - a definite distinction between veteran job fairs and other job fairs.

You can see the presentation ceremony at the CBC YouTube channel here in the next couple of days – https://www.youtube.com/user/CBCUtube

This job fair was well attended, bucking a recent trend of having fewer than the anticipated number of attendees at other employment fairs.

Community Business College was asked to step in and provide workshops when the original presenter canceled at the last minute. We, of course, were more than happy to provide the service.

We pulled out our tried-and-true four most popular presentations:

 

        10:30      Most Commonly Asked Interview Questions and How to Answer Them

“If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be and why?” That’s just one of the questions that sometimes takes interviewees by surprise.

One of the interesting trends happening in today’s job search world is most employers are using online job boards as a resource as much as job seekers. Sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com have gotten larger. What this means is employers are downloading their interview questions straight form the source that job seekers can access. Practice a few answers to each question and you are more than half way there on what to expect from most interviews.

What’s the answer to the tree question? Just remember when you hear a question like this (sometimes instead of “tree” it’s “animal” or “cookie”) the interviewer is not that interested in trees, but in the qualities you admire of the tree you select. The “why” in this answer is much more important than the “what.”

 

       11:30     Your Resume - The Right Tool For The Right Job

Someone once said that a good resume is never “finished,” you just stop working on it.

One of the best tips is to customize your resume every time you apply for a job. Do you have a resume designed for clerical jobs but you want to apply for a supervisory position? It’s time to make a copy of the resume and rework it to fit a supervisor. Of course you never lie on a resume but you can phrase your work history and experience more in terms of a supervisor. For example, if you have ever trained fellow employees on new software or new policies, that’s a good thing to put into a resume for a supervisor.

We find this to be a common hurdle for people who sign up for our Groupon resume development.

Here’s one new question that came up regarding filling out job applications – “is it better to write ‘by supervisor died,’ or ‘my supervisor passed away?’” Which do you think? The consensus was “passed away” reads a bit better.

 

       12:30     Job Hunting In A Tough Economy

Where do you find the job leads if “no one is hiring?” We’ve heard that question a lot at Community Business College and that’s what this seminar is all about.

The secrect? Don’t just rely on newspaper Help Wanted sections or even Internet job boards. You have to go out there and beat the bushes to scare up some new job opportunities.

Try cold calling.

Use your people contacts to spread the word that you’re looking for work.

 

       1:30 PM   Use Social Media to Turbo Charge Your Job Search

 

The new technology offered to today’s job seeker is staggering. From smart phone apps to automated resume development systems to access to professional resume critiquers (e.g. Groupon), it is easier now more than ever to get your job search going.

That includes Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and all the others out there. They can be “double-edged swords” in that they can help supplement your resume to an employer by providing additional information, but sometimes people aren’t careful what they post on these sites and it can be a turn-off to some employers.

Yes, employers are allowed to look.

One way to fix the problem if you post embarrassing things is to set your page settings to “private” while you’re looking for a job. Then you can turn it back to public once you get the job.

 

The Job Fair Itself

The number of recruiters is up from prior years. Organizers also expect to see an increase in job-seekers. Last year’s fair drew at least 650 people seeking work, which more than doubled the previous year’s turnout.

 

Having a job fair right now in Merced is timely. Unemployment in Merced County is at 11.9 percent, according to the most recent figures released from California’s EDD. According to the same report, veterans are nationally unemployed at a higher rate than the general public.

The Veterans Affairs office in Fresno will sent a medical and administrative team to help veterans enroll in employment and training assistance programs.

Companies who sent recruiters to the fair include Save Mart, Foster Farms, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Tenet Health, Joseph Farms, the City of Merced, Dole Foods, Quad Graphics, Home Depot, Amie Senior Care, Best Buy, and the National Park Service.

 

One bit of surprise to many of our job seekers is how many local companies are still accepting paper job applications.

By the end of the job fair the exhibit room was getting a bit warm. The air conditioners were having a challenge keeping up. Luckily it was a milder day than it had been earlier this week and so it was comfortable enough right up till the end.

 

In addition to finding new employment opportunities at this job fair, one person in one of the workshops joked that you can pick up candy from the vendors just in time for Halloween and save money on your candy budget.

A Fall Job Fair That Left Us Lonely

The Job Journal hosted a job fair yesterday and Community Business College staff helped out by providing free resume critiques. Here's what happened...

Each time we attend a job fair, the experience is a little different.  This job fair in Modesto was notable because we ran out of resumes to critique. That almost never happens.  Why did it happen this time? Here are some theories:

     People are gearing up for the holidays so job search is on hold.
              The word didn’t get out about this particular fair.

                  More people have jobs than need jobs.

Of the possibilities, the first two seem to make more sense than the third theory.

But, needless to say, offering unemployed job seekers free critiques on their resumes we learn about what’s trending. It’s a good service that a lot of people appreciate.

All told, we helped 34 people with their resumes, from the job fair. It always provides us with a good feeling to help those in need.

In fact, one service group brought a class of youth with intellectual developmental disabilities over and we were able to help them spruce up their resumes and practice interacting with strangers.

We also had a job seeker travel all the way from Ione, California for this job fair and we had a priest who is no longer a priest and needed help on his resume to get a secular job.

By the way, another resume evaluator reminded job seekers that their job search efforts might be tax deductable.

And, finally, one other interesting factiod from this job fair – this may be the first job fair we attended that had two nut companies recruiting for employees at the same time: Diamond Nuts and Fisher Nuts.

So here are the trends we saw amongst the resumes:

Here are some of the tips that came up at this fair:

Rules? We don’t Need No Rules

In addition to the regular rules of job fairs, we did find one worth adding.

First, the regular rules still apply:

          Come dressed as you would for an interview;

          Bring copies of job-ready resumes to hand to employers;

          Be prepared to answer interview questions;

          Take lots of notes to follow up later.

 But here’s a new rule: Don’t come to the job fair if you’ve finished drinking a few beers and spilled some on your shirt.

Yes, it happened. Somebody walked up for a free resume evaluation smelling like a homebrew factory. And, needless to say, he was not as sharp as would have been if he had come in sober. Now, granted, looking for a new job can be really stressful, but it’s not bad enough to hit the brews BEFORE you go in.

It sends the wrong message. It’s like the one person who went from employer to employer, wearing a t-shirt that says, “I’m not laughing with you, I’m laughing at you.

Another thing we came across is someone with Lotus 1-2-3 and old Word Star listed as software skills. Our advice? Stick to listing contemporary programs on your resume unless you find a job opening that specifically asks for one of these classics.

Loyalty To The Extreme

One job seeker was quite concerned that she wouldn’t want her next employer to see that she was still working.

Why?

She thought it would make her look disloyal to her current employer. She is working at a part-time job position but is looking for a full-time job her current employer couldn’t provide.

Her leaving for a better position is just the way of things and almost every employer understands that. The bottom line is if employers really want to keep employees, all they have to do is offer better wages, better perks, more hours, etc. That’s part of being an “At Will” employer. If employees can get a better deal somewhere else, they should take it. After all, the employer is under no rules of loyalty to keep employees and layoffs happen all the time.

The Dreaded Double Entendre.

One resume was an electronic oriented resume with lots of technical skills listed. One of the attributes was “Sound Design Skills.”

So was he saying he has audio skills like for dubbing in audio in movies?

Or was he trying to say that his design skills are sound?

When working on your resume phrasing, remember to watch out for phrases that can be read more than one way.

There have been other, more extreme examples of this, like the ever embarrassing – “I was told by my last employer that he was lucky to get me to work for him.”

Sometimes it helps to have friends and family read your resume for that reason alone– it gives you a new pair of eyes who can read things differently like a potential new employer might.

The Real Job Of The Resume

One of the school’s resume evaluators found a common concern - Getting interviews can be quite a challenge.

Here’s one of the most common reminders we offer:  It’s the resume’s job to get you the interview. Then it’s up to the interview to get you the job.

We’ve never heard anybody say that they got a job just off the resume. There almost always is an interview required.

The last quirky thing that occurred at this particular job fair? One job seeker couldn’t stop sneezing. It must still be the end of allergy season.

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Do you find the job search process frustrating?  Try taking a short course on finding a job with our six-week, instructor-led online course at:  http://www.ed2go.com/cbc123/online-courses/12-steps-to-successful-job-search

Need some tips on developing your resume? Get the professional resume development package on sale now at Groupon.

Or try taking a six-week, instructor-led resume class or job search techniques class at Community Business College.

And of course, there’s always our popular Use Linked In To Jumpstart Your Career certification class.

Most Excellent Microsoft Excel Users

As you may have read on the Community Business College Twitter page, we had another examinee pass the Microsoft Office Specialist Excel Expert exam. The goal of the certification is to provide people a chance to show others (e.g. current bosses, prospective employers, patronizing computer-savvy high school children) that they know their stuff. It’s been a way for employees to differentiate

themselves in competitive job markets and broaden employment opportunities by displaying advanced skills.

 

Why Excel Certification?

The Microsoft Excel certification is part of the set of Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certifications that is offered by Microsoft. Community Business College instructors have certifications but they’re not just designed for the academic community.

Microsoft Office Specialist certification can also lead to increased job satisfaction. Research (conducted by Microsoft, of course) indicates that certified individuals have increased competence, productivity, and credibility.

 

For employers who are looking for specialized computer skills, Microsoft Office Specialist certification provides skill-verification tools that help assess a person's skills in using the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program. It’s also nice to have an official-looking certificate with the Microsoft logo to hang on your wall. The boss might tell you that you don’t know what you’re doing, but you can point to it and say that Bill Gates’ Microsoft says you know what you’re doing.

 

Excel has come a long way…

The days of VisiCalc are gone, of course. For the uninitiated in personal computing lore, VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program for home computers. It was also the first “Killer App” - a good reason to pay a thousand bucks (or more) for a box that nobody else in the house seemed to think had much potential.  There was really no practical need for a home computer – word processors could do your word processing and typewriters were getting pretty sophisticated. Games could be done cheaper on game consoles and sometime the graphics were a LOT better. The Internet was still just a twinkling in DARPA’s electronic eye.

 

Surprisingly, it wasn’t word processing but spreadsheet software that made the whole home computer revolution possible. There was nothing else that could do spreadsheets like a personal computer. And so the worksheet became the face that launched a thousand-thousand PCs.

 

Since those days filled with simplistic dreams of what spreadsheets were for, though, they have come a long way. From PacMan games programmed in Excel to “extreme couponer” organizers to “million-dollar idea” business plan templates, Excel has shown its versatility. The program has become so specialized that it’s official certification exams have been broken into two tiers.

 

“Core” Excel Versus “Expert” Excel

The Microsoft Office Specialist exams come in two versions – Core and Expert. Core covers the basics of spreadsheet layouts and is designed for regular users to get certification. The expert exam gets more advanced, obviously.

 

For most people who come to Community Business College, the core exam is what they’re looking for. Learning Microsoft Excel is not difficult but as someone once said, “it takes a few minutes to learn but a lifetime to master.” When first learning Excel, it’s also a good time to put your hours of game time to good use, especially if you’ve played Battleship. Battleship, by the way, is an excellent way to understand the coordinate reference system Excel uses. At Community Business College, we’ve seen Excel students who have played Battleship and those who haven’t (yes, it’s true, some people have never played Battleship). Those with the “Battleship background” pick up on how Excel functions a lot faster than those who don’t.

 

The core exam is the exam that covers the fundamental and most common uses of Excel, such as:

• Formatting Cells and Worksheets
• Creating Cell Data
• Cell Functions
• Changing Worksheets in a Workbook

(By the way, Community Business College offers some free materials if you’re interested in taking the exam, just ask us for a copy of the Microsoft Excel study guide).

 

If, however, people want to prove they are true Excel aficionados, test takers will tackle the expert level. Expert exam certifications demonstrate proficiency in the more advanced Excel features and uses.

 

The other advantage of buying a Microsoft Excel expert voucher (they cost the same as the core voucher), is once you pass the expert level exam, you are on your way to becoming a Microsoft Office Specialist Master. The master certification is an extra certification received after passing all of the following Microsoft Office exams: Excel and the Microsoft Word expert exam and the MOS: PowerPoint exam and MOS: Outlook exam (either the Access, OneNote, or SharePoint exams can be substituted for the Outlook exam).

 

We’re glad we had another candidate pass the Microsoft Excel expert exam and is on his way to becoming a Microsoft Office Specialist Master. By the way, the way he passed it was he purchased the MOS exam voucher with retake. We strongly encourage test takers to do this because, although the voucher with retake is initially a bit more expensive than just the single voucher, it can save money in the long run because it gives you two shots at passing the exam without having to pay full price for each exam. This can save you money in the end, especially for examinees who have never taken one of these interactive exams before.

 

Once again, congratulations to our newly minted Microsoft Excel expert and good luck to all those in the future who plan to take the exam!

Mastering Microsoft Office

Today, Community Business College had a record-setting day. One person was able to complete her Microsoft Office Masters certification by completing all four required tests in three days.

Test Strategy

Here’s what she did to strategize:

First pick the Microsoft Master certification you want.  Recently, Microsoft changed the system to include two different tracks that include two expert exams for Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.

Here are the Microsoft Office master certifications from which to choose:

Word 2013 Track

       Exams required:

              Word 2013 Expert Part 1

              Word 2013 Expert Part 2

              Excel 2013

       Elective exams (choose one):

              PowerPoint 2013 or Access 2013, Outlook 2013, or SharePoint 2013, or

              OneNote 2013

Excel 2013 Track

       Exams required:

              Excel 2013 Expert Part 1

              Excel 2013 Expert Part 2

              Word 2013

       Elective exams (choose one):

              PowerPoint 2013, or Access 2013, or Outlook 2013, SharePoint 2013, or

              OneNote 2013

Traditional Office 2013 Track

       Exams required:

              Word 2013 Expert Part 1

              Word 2013 Expert Part 2

              Excel 2013 Expert Part 1

              Excel 2013 Expert Part 2

Office 2010 Master

       Exams required:

              Word 2010 Expert

              Excel 2010 Expert

              PowerPoint 2010

       Elective exams (choose one):

              Microsoft Office Outlook 2010, or  Microsoft Office Access 2010, or

              Microsoft SharePoint 2010

In her case, she wanted the Microsoft Word 2013 Track because she uses Microsoft Word heavily at her work site. So that’s the one she picked.

The next strategy is to figure out where you strengths are. When taking the Microsoft Office exams, it helps to start off with a program you are very familiar with. That way you get quick passing grade and build momentum.

Here’s the way she did it: She did these two exams on one day:

       77-422: MOS: Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2013

       77-420: MOS: Microsoft Office Excel 2013

Then this exam the following day:

       77-425: MOS: Microsoft Office Word 2013 Expert Part 1

And then finally this exam today:

       77-426: MOS: Microsoft Office Word 2013 Expert Part 2

PowerPoint can be a difficult test because a lot of people take it for granted. If you use a lot of its features though, or study up on the ones you’re not that familiar, it’s not too hard.

The recent change in the Microsoft Expert certification means that the Microsoft Word Expert exam is now split up into two 50-minute exams. It means you have to be familiar with a wider range of Microsoft Word functions in order to pass it.

Why Go To All That Trouble?

The Microsoft Office Master Certification demonstrates the highest level of proficiently when using Office programs. Many employers will use it as continuing education units or to meet certain job requirements. It certainly helps when you’re going in for an annual employee evaluation meeting.

Certification is Important

The need for Microsoft Office skills is increasing dramatically as more and more businesses are embracing newer technologies. Microsoft Office Specialist certification enables Office users to demonstrate their abilities to complete tasks and projects with greater ease and efficiency with proven Office skills. Based on globally recognized standards, MOS certification validates your skills, builds self-confidence and enhances professional standing among peers and managers.

Lifelong Learning

Getting certified through Microsoft also provides a good deal of personal satisfaction. Adults always need to practice lifelong learning and this is one way to do it. The new Microsoft Office Specialist certification validates the skills needed to use the powerful features and functionality of the Microsoft Office programs by passing a results-oriented computerized exam. Those who successfully complete a Microsoft Office Specialist exam have demonstrated the skills necessary to work faster and smarter while improving performance.

Bottom line – you get out of Microsoft Office only what you put into it. The more you know, the more you can do.

As you study and prepare for the Microsoft Office Master certification, you’ll find you learn a lot more about these programs than you’ve been using. Hopefully, you’ll be able to put what you’ve learned to good use in more efficient and time-saving work.

One of the nifty changes the testing system has made is they now offer certification verification. It’s sure easy for unscrupulous people who want to forge their own certifications to run off their own on a good color printer.  Microsoft Office certifications now offers this website : www.verifycertiport.com  where anyone can enter a code that appears on all official certifications

Need to brush up on your Microsoft Office classes before you look at the exams? Join us at the Community Business College campus in Modesto, California or use distance learning to take an online class. More information can be found at this catalog of Microsoft classes: https://cbc.ed4online.com/search?search_api_views_fulltext=microsoft+office+certification

Job Fair Results - Slim Pickings

Community Business College staff attended a job fair this week.

Although there was a fairly good sized line of job seekers before the fair officially opened, this fair showed a distinct lack of job openings in the area.  The job fair claimed over 800 jobs but there were less than a dozen booths.

The depressed economy still depresses many.

There was, however, a ray of hope - college job placement staff along with other professional volunteers, provided free resume reviews and helped the job seekers prepare themselves and improve their chances for when the job openings do start coming in again. This is the same resume service that Community Business College offers its alumni to help them find employment.

Hostess Workers Get Retraining

According to a US Department of Labor news release, 18,000 former Hostess workers (the makers of Twinkies and Ding Dongs) are now eligible to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) training funding.

The federal TAA program, created in 1974, provides support to those workers who lost their jobs due to foreign trade.  To allow Hostess workers to receive this benefit, the Department of Labor had to determine whether the big layoff event that occurred in January (and caused a run in grocery stores for the snack foods) met the eligibility criteria spelled out in the Trade Act of 1974. The department’s investigation found that increased imports of baked products from other countries contributed to the company's sales declines and workers losing their jobs.  As a result, the TAA eligibility was granted to Hostess workers in 48 states, including the Hostess bakery stores in Modesto and Turlock.

The TAA eligible workers were engaged in activities related to the production, distribution and sale of baked goods such as bread, buns, rolls, snack cakes, doughnuts, sweet rolls and similar products.

 As part of the rules, the TAA program can be implemented if the federal Department of Labor finds that a significant number of workers at the company age 50 or over possess skills that are not easily transferable and that competitive conditions within the industry are adverse.

What do they get?

Those who qualify may receive case management and re-employment services, training in new occupational skills and/or trade readjustment allowances that provide income support for workers enrolled in training. Workers may also receive job search and relocation allowances, and the Health Coverage Tax Credit.

There are three different tracks an unemployed person under the TAA may follow:

1) Occupational Skills or Vocational Training

•Often offered through a  technical college: this includes college-level degrees or certificate programs along with necessary prerequisite courses through a TAA eligible training provider.

•Apprenticeship programs and skill focus training.

2) Remedial Education

•Remedial Education includes Adult Basic Education often in areas of math, English or reading skills, obtaining a High School equivalency credential (GED or HSED), or pursing a program titled English as a Second Language (or ESL) classes

3) Employer Based Training or On-The-Job (OJT) Training

•Contracts can be established between an employer and the participant of the TAA program to provide for training to take place at the employer site, for a set period of time. Payment is made to the employer to reimburse them for the cost they incur to provide training for their job openings.

While TAA is open to eligible workers of all ages, workers 50 years of age and older may elect to receive Re-employment Trade Adjustment Assistance instead. If a worker obtains new employment at wages less than $50,000 and less than those earned in the trade-impacted employment, the RTAA program will pay 50 percent of the difference between the old wage and the new wage, up to $10,000 over a two-year period. RTAA participants may also be eligible for retraining and the HCTC.

TAA can provide fully funded training, a health coverage subsidy, extended income support, and other benefits to dislocated workers whose companies move production or outsource to another country, or are forced to lay off workers or close plants due to increased imports and foreign competition.

Community Business College has trained students eligible for TAA assistance but usually as a result of manufacturers who moved their plants to other countries.

By the way, the snacks for which they were famous might be making a comeback as the remnants of the Hostess company announced in February that they are close to selling their Wonder Bread brand to Flowers Foods. Can the resurrection of Twinkies be far behind?

For more information on TAA and the range of the Department of Labor's employment and training services, visit the Community Business College educational site at http://www.cbcwebcollege.com/taa.htm .

Three New Job Leads for CBC Grads

Today our job placement department got three new job leads this morning. The job leads were from serious employers and they look like solid positions.
Hopefully this is a sign the economy is picking up again and employers are getting to the point where they need to hire.
Although there are always hirings and firings going on during any economy, it's difficult to see the bigger picture and know if there are a net number of new-hires happening. One of the ways Community Business College tries to gauge this metric is to ask employers if the job openings are newly created positions or if they are replacing somebody. The new positions tend to mean jobs are being created whereas replacing someone is more likely to mean no net gain.
If you're a CBC grad and you are interested in getting details about the positions and possibly applying for them, contact the school job placement department.