Daisy Mountain Ward Employment: 2015-02-01

Employment Resource Center

The LDS Employment Center, Phoenix Office, is located 11650 North 35th Avenue, Phoenix AZ 85029.
Phone is 602-241-9444 Fax 602-234-3613.
Hours: Monday-Wednesday, 10am-4pm
Thursday evenings until 8:30pm.

They help with:
Resumes & cover letters
Job search skills
Job referrals
Interviewing skills
Career Counseling
Education & Training Opportunities
Youth Training

Employer Listings are Welcome, no charge

Resources:
Online Job Bank
Employability skills

Workshops:
Career workshops for planning, exploring, identifying, contacting, interviewing, following up, accepting and succeeding at employment, Finance, Budgeting, Self-employment

Helping Unemployed, Underemployed, Under skilled, displaced homemakers, single parents, retired, young people, parents, returned missionaries, youth, inactive members, non-members

Improve Your Resume for Ex Offenders

Dilemma: Criminal Record-How to Address Your Background on Your Resume

According to the US Department of Justice, more than 59 million criminal-history records are on file at state repositories nationwide. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that the number of prison releases is growing, with more than 500,000 ex-offenders rejoining the community each year. Individuals with criminal histories face numerous obstacles when seeking employment, so it's important they make the one document that can open doors -- the resume -- as effective as possible.

Follow these tips to ensure your resume is ready to go:

Don't Reference Your Criminal Background. The purpose of a resume is to help you secure a job interview. For your resume to work, it must highlight your top qualifications for the position and demonstrate that you would be an excellent employee. While it's important to be honest on your resume, revealing information about a criminal background is best handled in a face-to-face interview. Many states prohibit employers from asking about an arrest record but allow them to inquire about past convictions. (Check with your state's attorney general's office to determine what employers can and cannot ask you.) If the employer asks a legal question regarding your criminal history, briefly explain what happened, but keep it positive and don't dwell on the past. Explain that you have learned from your mistakes and are currently interested in making a positive contribution to the employer's operation. When completing job applications that ask about your conviction record, you must be honest. Select “yes” when asked if you have been arrested, and in the section that asks you to provide the details, write something like “will explain in interview.”

Highlight Related Training/Work Experience
If your criminal background includes prison time and you took advantage of training or work opportunities during that time, you may include these experiences on your resume. Write the name of the facility and your title (e.g., “Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, Commissary Clerk”) in your resume's Work Experience section. Treat this position as any other position and write about key skills you developed and any positive contributions you made. If you completed further education while in prison, write the name of the sponsoring institution along with the details of your training in your Education section. Keep in mind that employers are less interested in your early career; prison-related activities from more than 10 years ago can be omitted.

Don't Emphasize Unrelated Experience
If your work or educational experiences from prison are unrelated to your career goal, they should not be featured prominently on your resume. The most effective resumes are targeted to an objective; your related experience and training should be the focus of your resume. You may, however, add an Additional Experience section to your resume and briefly list your prison-related work or training if you need to cover a big time gap. Use Available Job Search ResourcesIf you were recently released from prison and are in a work-release program, take advantage of job search services offered by your facility. A placement specialist may be able to help you find employment or offer guidance that will facilitate your search. Many states offer tax credits to employers as incentives to hire ex-offenders.

LinkedIn Tips

How to Use LinkedIn to Get a Job - 10 Tips
LinkedIn is an essential tool for all job seekers. See the full article -> http://newgradlife.blogspot.com/2009/12/use-linkedin-to-get-job.html
1. Complete your profile thoroughly. Think of your LinkedIn profile as your executive bio and complete your profile thoroughly. Often when clients tell me they’ve completed their profile and I go look at it, it’s rarely complete.
2. Build your network. Build your network to increase the likelihood that your profile will come up at the top of the list when hiring managers/recruiters are looking for candidates. Invite five people a day, every day, to join your network and you’ll be amazed at the results. If you’re VP Marketing, you don’t want to show up on page 10 when people are looking for marketing pros. You want to be on page 1. The more contacts you have the higher you’ll be.
3. Prepare for interviews using LinkedIn. Expand your research by reading about the people who will be interviewing you. Knowing that you went to the same school, share a sport, both love the theater, or have an acquaintance in common is a great way to establish rapport.
4. Join LinkedIn groups. Join as many groups as possible, but concentrate first on those whose members are people who could hire you (hiring managers) or can help you find a job (recruiters/executive search consultants). You may also want to join job search support groups and industry groups. • Larger groups allow for more potential contacts and allow you to contact fellow group member even if they are not in your direct network. This can be very valuable in your job search. • Groups are a great source of like minded individuals and are great places search in order to expand your network.
5. Participate in discussions. Share your insights and answers to questions on discussion boards thus demonstrating your knowledge and desire to contribute. Post questions or discussion topics yourself. This will help you make valuable connections while building your personal brand. Always be sure to include your email address in your posts.
6. Search for jobs daily. LinkedIn’s job board functions like other job boards with the exception that many of the opportunities listed are exclusive to LinkedIn. In addition, many of the opportunities list the recruiters or employers who posted them, offering another level of personal connection for networking.
7. Ask and answer questions. Using the “Answer” tab you can contribute your knowledge and insight in your area of expertise. For example, if you are an employment lawyer who is looking for a job you can click on “Answer a question” then select “Employment law” where you’ll find two pages of employment law questions. By answering selected questions and offering your insights you will establish your brand and expertise and potentially create some networking and job opportunities.
8. Identify target companies. You can identify companies by industry and geography to expand your list of target companies. You can filter your LinkedIn list by exploring the company’s web site and job postings. Then, by going back to LinkedIn, you can identify hiring managers and HR managers for additional information and potentially informational interviews.
9. Promote your blog and/or website. Many executive candidates have a website and/or a blog. You can promote your website/blog to the search engines by optimizing them on LinkedIn. Just go to the category “My Website” on your LinkedIn profile while in the edit mode and select “Other.” You can then add your name or a descriptive phrase describing your web site/blog. This is so much more inviting than a simple URL.
10. Final Tid-bits. • Update your profile regularly. Every time you update your whole network will be notified and you’ll get exposure. • Include the link to your LinkedIn profile in your signature on every email. That way people can see all your credentials with one click.

Daisy Mountain Ward Employment

Friday, February 6, 2015

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