Five Job Search Resolutions for the New Year

1. Lose 20 lbs.

2. Eat more fruits and vegetables.
3. Walk 30 minutes each day.
4. Send birthday cards to all friends and family.
5. Make a budget and stick to it!


These are great resolutions to shrink your waistline and lower your blood pressure, but what about your job situation? It’s time to take a hard look at the past year’s efforts and resolve to make some changes in your job search strategy. If you’re still unemployed, it’s time to change your strategy, target market or career track.


1. Stop looking through the “Rose-Colored Glasses.” Or, be realistic. A lot of the jobs that disappeared in the two or so years of the economic downturn are not coming back. If you were in a career that has gone away or is going away, wishing and hoping it will come back is just wasting your time. One career track that is shrinking is on-site human resources professionals. With so much of the data and document processing done online, companies can get along with training someone in Accounting or Administration to handle the HR function. Add a consultant or attorney for the tough stuff, and goodbye HR Department.

2. Get More Education and Training. There are lots of MBAs looking for jobs, and employers can hire them in at a lower rate than an experienced applicant. Now’s the time to finish your MBA or get certified or licensed. The days of sliding into a management slot without a degree or certification are gone.

3. Upgrade your appearance. This is a tough one, but if you are overweight, out of shape, showing your age or just let yourself go, take a good look in the mirror. Lengthy unemployment does something to your mental attitude and the will to keep up appearances. Employers are looking at social media sites to see just who is applying, and what they see can hurt you. Schedule a “maintenance day” at a local spa, update your hair color, and get a great interview outfit. Cut out white carbohydrates and sugar for a couple of weeks to drop some extra pounds. Not only will you feel better, but your new attitude will be reflected in your face, step and overall appearance.

4. Consider Self-Employment. There are so many new markets and services to explore. How can you use your talents and experience to provide products or services to companies or individuals? Online sites like http://www.etsy.com/ or http://www.elance.com/ offer ways to set up your own online shop or bid on thousands of jobs in technology, communications or consulting. Instead of waiting for an employer to call, be proactive and begin to chart your own course.

5. Get a Financial Checkup. Meet with a financial planner or your accountant to go over your finances. You may be on the edge of collapse yet sitting on assets that could help ease the financial burden and stress while you look for another job. While this goes against all conventional wisdom, cashing in a 401K or IRA can be a good move if it keeps you from foreclosure or defaulting on other debt. It’s difficult to see your way out of a financial crisis without professional help. Facing reality and working out a plan to sustain or improve the situation can be a stress reliever while you look for the job that will build a brighter financial future.


What job search resolutions have you made for the New Year? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.


Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, is a consultant, blogger, motivational speaker and freelance writer for phillyjobs.com. Based in Savannah, GA, her work has appeared in Training magazine, Training & Development magazine, Supervision, BiS Magazine and The Savannah Morning News. When she’s not writing, she enjoys singing with the Savannah Philharmonic Chorus and helping clients reinvent their careers for today’s job market. You can read more of her blogs at phillyjobs.com and view additional job postings on Beyond.com.

Succeed with real solutions instead of resolutions

We’re barely into the January and all of my well intentioned friends have mulled over their resolutions for the New Year. Some have even been brave enough to post their lists for the entire social network sphere to see in hopes that it will hold them accountable. Truth be told though I heard several of my friends have dropped the ball on resolutions within hours, days or weeks of the ball dropping.

Personally I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. The phrase alone reminds me of repetitively trying to reconcile a failure while reusing a previous solution and expecting a different outcome. Yeah, that’s the definition of crazy. Just because the calendar turns a new page it doesn’t mean life in turn will follow. Nor will it offer everyone a fresh start on old habits and hang ups from one day to the next simply for the fact that the last digit in the date is different.

If you’re trying to quit smoking then your cravings don’t know if it’s December 27th or January 16th. The reason you’re eating late at night to the point you feel sick won’t go away because you took the Christmas decorations down. Making a permanent change means you need to stop relying on resolutions and look towards real solutions.

Schedule an appointment with your doctor to talk about options to help you quit smoking. Keep a tally in your wallet of the money you saved by not purchasing another pack of tobacco and use it to treat yourself to something special. See a counselor about overeating issues. Shows like The Biggest Loser aren’t successful because they teach people how to work out. Weight loss works when people learn to work out their problems without counting on cramming calories into their bodies.

The point is don’t do it because it’s the New Year, change your life because you know it’s the right time for a new you, even if it’s the middle of April before you get started. Don’t set the goal without laying out the steps you need to succeed and don’t be dissuaded by back sliding. No plan is perfect. Remember you can’t fix everything at once or expect instant results. Resolutions or real solutions, if you want to succeed, will take patience, effort and endurance.

Are you looking for a job in Healthcare? Be sure to visit HealthcareJobsite.

By Heather Fairchild - Heather is a writer and blogger for Beyond.com. She researches and writes about job search tactics, training, and topics.

Keeping your Career Resolutions

The New Year is almost here, and it is time for the annual making of resolutions. For most people, the close of the year is a great time to plan what achievements are the most important for the coming year. But, the problem with new year's resolutions is that they are easy to not follow through on.

If your resolutions are in regards to your career, the best way to ensure that you will be able to meet them, is to not only decide what they are, but make a plan on how to accomplish them. To help you make your resolutions come true, here are some of the most common career-related resolutions, along with ways to make them happen:

• I want to find a new job – If this is your goal, schedule time each week to work on getting resume and your skills polished so that you can make yourself as marketable as possible. Start working on building your professional network and keep an ear out for new opportunities.
  
  
• I want to build a stronger network – Look for at least one professional association that you can join. Start attending meetings and participating with the group. At your job, be on the lookout for opportunities to network and work with employees from different departments. Write down weekly updates in a journal to keep you focused on your goal.
  
  
• I want to increase my marketability – The best way to accomplish this is by brushing up your skills. This may mean enrolling in career courses or learning a new software. If you don't have the time or the means to take college courses, check out your local library for tutorials and books that can help you learn some new skills.
  
  
• I want to be a better employee – Try to identify areas that you can stand to improve and plan out ways to do just that. Make some career goals and keep track of your progress. This may mean looking for new projects and taking on extra assignments.
  
  
• I want a promotion – If you are looking to move up the ladder in your career, it is a good idea to meet with your manager and discuss your career goals. This will give you an idea of what you need to do to be considered for a promotion and it will let you know if it is likely to happen with your company. It may be that in order to move up, you will have to change companies.

Whatever your resolution is this year, having a strategy in place can make it less likely that you will end up breaking it. Invest in a notebook or journal to write down your progress at regular intervals. By keeping your focus on your goals, you are sure to succeed.

What are your career resolutions? Let me know in the comments.

Are you looking for a job in Healthcare? Be sure to visit HealthcareJobsite.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.