We spend a lot of time working. We also have special talents that differentiate us from others. Some people are good at writing. Others are good at taking photographs. Some of us are good at running marathons. Some could sell a snowball to a snowman.

Most people would like to be doing something they love. Guess what? You can! There is a realistic way of turning your talents into a career. As the saying goes, “if you can do what you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”

Are you ready to take the plunge? Here are some recommendations for starting your dream job:

Prepare to Work Part Time

It’s good to have a backup plan. So yes, you may have to start by keeping your day job and working on your preferred career on the nights and weekends. Starting an entire career is difficult no matter what the industry. Quitting your day job to pursue your dreams may not be possible for everyone. This way you will always have a steady income in case you need to regroup or change direction. That being said, sometimes when the rug is pulled out from underneath us, we tend to work that much harder.

Be Creative

If you want to turn a hobby or an interest into a business, you may need to think outside the box. If you really love hockey, but don’t have the skills, consider starting a blog or a skate shop. Although you may not have the ability to hold the Stanley Cup over your head, you will likely still love your job because it deals with the same subject matter. You may need to modify your hobbies or interests in order to create a stronger career.

Create an Online Presence

It’s important to create a website and social media channels for your new business. A professional looking website will show that you’re serious. Create engaging content about your hobby/area of interest through a blog and repost these tidbits on Facebook and Twitter.

Network: Virtually and In Real Life

It’s no secret that networking is extremely important for any business. You can do this by setting up a LinkedIn profile, as well as attending local networking events. Make sure all of your online information is included on your business cards. Go out and search for professionals who you think might like to help you jumpstart your business—you may be surprised who you can get on your side.

Hire Help and Advertise

This step doesn’t come into play until your business is making enough money to become your full time career. You may want to take out a small business loan if you feel your company has the potential to grow. These are usually available for most brick and mortar businesses. If you work from home, this may be a bit more difficult. This will allow you to hire experts to keep track of your business finances, legalities and other tasks.

Starting a business is one of the most difficult things you can do, yet one of the most rewarding. These suggestions are simply the stepping stones to help turn your talent or skill into a career. Good luck!

Are you ready to find your dream  job? Call Clark Personnel Services! We’ll work with you to find the right job for your talents, skills and passion.

The end of the college year is right around the corner. In a few weeks college graduates will flood the industry fields looking for new opportunities. However, there is another type of valuable college student that may go unnoticed: undergraduates.

Many colleges and universities require a minimum number of internship hours for graduation. This can be in various majors including communications, business, teaching, sciences, etc. College students can be a very valuable resource for your business, and you can provide them with on-the-job lessons that will last a lifetime.

A strategic plan should be considered before bringing on any intern. The proper planning will ensure a great partnership for your organization and the intern as well.

Create a well-developed position description

Vague descriptions of a job will deter the brightest candidates. Including specific skill requirements and intern duties is essential, but also remember to include a thorough description about the company, and what it has to offer.

Don’t be afraid to dig deep

Many top candidates bypass unpaid internships. No one is saying that you need to pay an intern the same as your entry-level employees, but even an offer of minimum wage can woo a candidate from taking a different unpaid internship.

Trust your interns

If you are hiring competent interns, they could turn into eventual employees. Feel free to give them at least one big project to work on during the term. Or have them jump in on a team project. Interns want to do more than just file papers and get coffee. If you are giving them real-world experience, the internship reputation for your company will skyrocket, allowing for interest from great candidates.

Create a mentor program

Starting an internship, especially at a larger company, can be very intimidating. Assign a mentor on the first day of an intern’s term. That mentor can show them around the facility, take them to lunch and foster a working relationship. A welcoming mentor allows for interns to ask questions and get more out of their internship.

Don’t be a “namist”

Many employers drool over resumes from Ivy League schools. Some of the best candidates can be found at any university. It’s not where the student is learning, but what and how they are learning that counts. Review the skill sets that you are looking for in the position. Don’t just assume a big-name school will be providing you with a better prospect than that small school you are not familiar with.

Need more tips on how to find the right interns? Contact Clark Personnel Services for more information!

No matter what field you’re in, there are certain skills you need when you’re on the job hunt. In the past, they included how to put together a resume, how to behave in an interview, how to handle followup. These days, there are brand-new must-have job search skills. Here are five of them:

Pain Spotting To really grab en employer’s attention in your cover letter (or cover email), you’ve got to figure out—by reading the job ad and researching the employer—what sort of business pain lurks behind the job opening.

Is it growth-related pain, or consolidation-related pain? Pain associated with customers fleeing, with competitors outsourcing the work and cutting costs, or with a shortage of talent in an industry? When you know or can guess at the pain behind the job ad, you have something of substance to say to a hiring manager.

Storytelling: “I have a strong work ethic and get along with all kinds of people” is about as compelling as “I had coffee this morning.” Nearly everyone claims these traits. To get a hiring manager’s attention, tell a brief and powerful story that demonstrates what you get done when you work. Let a hiring manager know some of the good things that you make happen.

Using a Human Voice: The old “results-oriented professional with a bottom-line orientation” style of resume is as out of date as VCRs. Using a human ‘voice’ in your resume or in any other communication with employers will separate you from the boilerplate-spouting hordes. Replace tired resume-speak like “Met or exceeded expectations” with a concrete achievement. And forget the old rule about not using the word “I” in your resume.

Showing Relevance: Forget the one-size-fits-all resume that gets sent out for any open position. You need to make your background relevant to the hiring manager by highlighting the accomplishments from each past job that relate to the role you’re pursuing. Update your resume as often as necessary to make sure your most relevant stories come to the fore.

Knowing Your Value: No one will pay you more than you’re worth, so know your value before you begin an active job search. There are several website that will help you calculate your market value and avoid getting lowballed in the hiring process. Arm yourself with information, then get out there and tell your story.

Still feeling unsure about a job search in this economy? Contact Clark Personnel today—we’re happy to share our expertise and help you find that next great opportunity!

How are job seekers using mobile technology? And how can you connect with them? Mobile is one of the hottest technologies in recruiting right now, and we’re here to help you answer those questions.

According to Mashable.com, the independent online news site dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology, 77% of job seekers use mobile job search apps. Why?

People rely more and more on mobile devices to interact with the world, and of course that trend extends to the job search.  Of that 77 percent:

• 36.27% use them to quickly react to new job postings
• 23.79% like to job search anytime, anywhere
• 17.65% feel they’re a discreet way to search for a job

And who is searching? Here are the Top 5 job apps downloaded, by category:

• 24.8% entry level and college grad
• 20.9% with a geographic focus
• 8.3% finance
• 6.2% healthcare
• 6.0% technology

The Beyond.com career network has seen a 100% growth in mobile traffic since last year.

So what do all of these numbers mean?

The advantages to job seekers are clear, and the obvious benefit is speed.

Candidates are able to stay informed, react quickly to job advertisements and get in front of prospective employers before the competition. Flexibility is also key. Busy professionals can search for positions during their commute on buses and trains, while waiting for their morning coffee or taking a stroll in a park, during break times at work or just about any time they have a spare moment. Many job seekers also find it appealing that mobile technology is discreet. The small screen, headphones and portable nature of smartphones allows for privacy and discretion during the job seeking process.

As for employers and recruiters, a Morgan Stanley analyst report predicts that by 2014 the Internet will be more frequently searched on a mobile device than on a computer. This has huge implications for the recruitment industry. Companies need to get in the habit of making their job information available via mobile-friendly media.

And 24.8% of job app downloads are made by recent graduates and people looking for entry level jobs. So employers should post internships and entry-level positions in places that either have mobile apps, or push content out through email and social networks.

Today’s job seekers are connected and online, anywhere, anytime. Employee seekers need to do the same. And if you have any questions about how to implement mobile recruiting strategies, just ask the experts at Clark Personnel.

What’s one very necessary part of your job search? Monitoring your online reputation. So Google your own name! You need to know what employers are going to see when they search it.

Employers research potential employees more than 80% of the time, according to recent research. If you’ve applied for a job or are being considered for a job, the name you put on your resume or application will probably be Googled

Do you know what results show up if someone Googles your name?

People have had their job searches damaged by their own mistakes—posting inappropriate photos or videos online or making nasty comments on blogs and other public forums.

Sometimes it’s someone else’s mistakes that can harm you—if someone with your same name did something illegal or stupid, like robbing a bank or posting revealing personal photos. Few employees will take the time to double-check what they see online. If there is any confusion or uncertainty, they’ll just move on to the next applicant.

So, what should you do?

1. Know what online content is associated with your name.
Run your search. If there are no issues, consider yourself very lucky. If there are issues, the steps below will help you address them.

2. Pick a clean, relatively unique version of your name to use publicly.
Assume that, unless your name is very unique, someone else with the same name will turn up eventually, so use more than your first and last name.

If there is harmful content about you online, or if you share a name with someone who has a bad online reputation, find and claim a “clean” version of your name.

Add your middle name or middle initial, turn your first and middle name into initials, or figure out some other change that makes your name unique (but still professional).

3. Establish, or re-name, your LinkedIn and Google profiles with the clean name.

You have two powerful platforms to clean up your online presence: LinkedIn and Google. You can control what they tell the world about you. And Google ranks both sites’ results high on Google search results pages.

Go to Linkedin.com and profiles.Google.com to set up or modify your profiles—using your “clean name.”

Going forward, use that “clean name” online, on your resume, on everything public that’s associated with your work/professional life. Don’t use one version on your resume and another on your LinkedIn profile.

The Bottom Line? Monitoring and managing your online reputation is a necessity in today’s job market. The sooner you get started, the better for your job search and career.

And if you need more advice on how to find the perfect job, or help finding it—contact Clark Personnel today!

Just like when you’re dating, looking desperate isn’t going to get you anywhere in your job search. If you seem too anxious, employers will question your motives and you’ll lose credibility in an instant.

 What are two signs that you’re coming across the wrong way?

1. You’re Using the “Spray’n'Pray” Technique

If you’re sending out the same resume and cover letter to multiple positions a day, you’re going to look not only desperate but unprofessional and unqualified. A recruiter will disregard a resume from someone who #1, looks like they’ll take any job they can get their hands on and #2, doesn’t even bother to personalize his resume or cover letter for the job in question.

2. You’re Excusing Your Actions with “Someone told me to…”

For too long, the typical ‘expert’ advice was to call the recruiter and/or employer just to “check in” and make sure they read your resume— and put you at the top of the pile. In this day and age, this won’t make you stand out. If anything, you’ll just annoy the recruiter and probably guarantee your resume goes either to the bottom of the pile or in the trash can. A hiring manager wants enthusiasm from a new employee, but not desperation.

But Shouldn’t I Do Whatever It Takes To Get A New Job?

Of course you should try everything—within reason. You only get one chance with each company, and you want to make it count. Instead of applying, imagine being headhunted or even contacted directly by a hiring manager. This would put you in a much stronger bargaining position to leverage from, especially if get a job offer. Try to get yourself referred to a recruiter via somebody else. Or work on your personal branding, start getting active online, give talks in your field and raise your profile. Employers and recruiters will come after you, not the other way around.

How To Avoid Looking Desperate

Have high standards and only go after jobs that you really want. By only applying for the right roles for you, you’ll save your time and effort for the ones that really count. Furthermore, recruiters and employers will respect your integrity and remember you for the next opportunity they have that is more relevant to your preferences.

You want to turn the tables and be truly different than other jobseekers. You don’t want to be pushy. Just like in dating, the hard-to-gets get more offers and can pick and choose. Set standards for yourself, remember your dignity and make it work!

Have you ever hired someone who seemed like the right person on paper, convinced you in the interview that their skills were a great match for the job, then turned out to be a complete mismatch for your company?

Most positions you’re trying to fill require teamwork, or at least interaction with peers. Since applicants put their best personality forward in a job interview, you may not spot the loner who prefers to work on his own—but they’re the ones that can really be the fly in the ointment on an otherwise successful team.

So how can you weed out the non-team players?

1. First, trust your instincts. You get feelings about someone when you’re talking to them that go beyond what’s spoken. Even if you don’t notice any arrogant body language or poor eye contact, pay close attention to an interviewee’s words. Are you hearing “I, I, I” or “We”? Does she mention working with colleagues, or does she present herself as a superstar soloist? If you sense that this person is a lone wolf and not a team player, pay attention. If you hire the wrong person, your team will be getting the same feeling—and worse—40 hours a week.

2. If you’re still unsure, try personality testing. Personality profile tests can reveal a lot about a candidate that may get glossed over or miscommunicated in an interview.  Reliable tests are available online from many reputable companies and can be given to all applicants you’re seriously considering. By showing you which candidates aren’t likely to work well with others, you can save yourself time and money by crossing them off the hiring list.

3. Another way to protect against hiring the anti-social type is by thoroughly checking references. Go beyond the perfunctory questions. For example, ask a former employer to give you 5 words that describe the applicant and pay close attention to the responses.

• Good communicator, cooperative, flexible? Team player.
• Keeps to himself, gets along well with superiors, independent worker? Dig deeper.

Ask how the candidate gets along with peers. Does independent mean needs little supervision or demands to be left alone?

4. And, of course, you can always ask specific questions during the interview:

• Do you feel decisions are best made on your own or as part of a group process?
• Do you get along with your coworkers?
• Tell me about a time you had to handle conflict with another peer or supervisor.
• Do you prefer to work alone?
• Have you ever been a team leader?

This direct approach may be all you need to cull the lone wolves from the pack.

Anti-social employees can cost your company a great deal in lowered morale, poorly executed projects, wasted training dollars and unhappy customers. You can avoid these expensive mistakes by following these tips, or with some help from Clark Personnel. We pre-screen candidates for you and so much more! Contact us today to see how we can help!

Throughout the most recent employment drought, many professionals have been making ends meet through a variety of freelance gigs and part-time jobs. Some people enjoy the security of working two, three, four or more jobs—figuring if they lose one gig, they won’t lose all their income. Others find job juggling to be a hamster wheel: It’s hectic, and the work isn’t necessarily leading anywhere.

Whether you’re working multiple jobs by choice or necessity, here’s some advice for turning your part-time jobs into the career you want.

Maintain Your Long-Term Vision

It’s easy to lose sight of your target career when you’ve been taking any job to pay the bills. Make sure you have a 5-year plan in place. Then regularly reevaluate what you’re doing to make sure you’re making progress on that plan.

Build a Job Portfolio

Connect the dots between your vision and your jobs. How do all of your income sources relate to your overall career path? Then try to create a narrative that says you’re a professional with a wide range of useful experience. Good part-time jobs should give you some skill or opening that will help open other doors.

Make Time for a Job Search

Even if you need the income, don’t take on too many jobs if they keep you from pursuing your career. Some people think they can work 70 hours a week, earning as much as they can, then get around to their real career when their time frees up. But when is that going to happen? Keep up your job search!

Stay Current in Your Industry

Join industry associations and network at every opportunity. It’ll help your career to get additional training, to stay up on innovations and to show an employer you’ll be ready to go on Day 1 when you’re hired.

Making a job offer is an art. It’s also a science. There are certain things you have to do beforehand to make sure that the process runs smoothly. Otherwise, you could lose that candidate you finally found!

Here are three tips for making an effective job offer:

Make the offer as soon as possible

The individual you’ve chosen has either gone on other job interviews, if they’re actively looking, or is going to need to be courted, if you’re luring them away from their current employer. So you want to make a move before anyone else does or try to influence them to come over to your team. By making an offer as quickly as possible, you increase the chances that you you’ll be able to hire the candidate you want.

Make the offer as attractive as possible

Put some thought into this. If the applicant initially reacts negatively to your proposal, chances are he or she will reject the job. The compensation package you offer should be competitive with those offered by other companies. It’s far too easy for candidates these days to know their value in the marketplace. They are unlikely to settle for less than they’re worth.

You may have only one opportunity to make your offer to a prospective employee. Therefore, make the offer in a friendly, upbeat manner. Indicate to the applicant that you will do everything possible to ensure that he or she will succeed on the job.

Be prepared to make a follow-up offer

Chances are that the job applicant will want to mull over your offer a day or two before giving you a final answer. There is nothing wrong with that; in fact, it shows that the applicant is a deliberate person who will not take things at face value.

If the candidate seems to hesitate, though, questions the details of your offer or even tells you he’s weighing your position against another, your follow-up offer should be attractive enough to really show the candidate that you want him or her. In fact, you should attempt, if possible, to offer the prospective employee top dollar. If you invest in high-quality personnel, you’ll find that it will really pay off for your business.

Social media, social media, social media! It’s a term that’s getting almost too much play, and you might be getting tired of all the talk with no substance. For example, you’ve probably heard that you should be using social media for job-hunting. But how, exactly, should you do that? Here are 6 smart strategies to network your way into a job using three popular online tools: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Let people know you’re looking.

Whether on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, let your connections, friends and followers know that you’re looking for a job—and what type of job you’re looking for. They may not know of any current openings, but put yourself on their radar for future opportunities.

You may think of Facebook as being for fun, but don’t make the mistake of overlooking your network there, especially if you already have hundreds of friends. Facebook can sometimes have an edge for job hunters over LinkedIn, because friends who know you personally have more of a stake in helping you.

You probably don’t want a potential employer browsing your personal updates, so make sure your every move on Facebook isn’t set for public view. Under Account, then Privacy Settings, choose “Friends Only.” That way, an employer who Googles you won’t be able to see the details of your profile, your photos or your personal status updates.

Before you submit your resume for a job, look up the hiring manager on LinkedIn and Twitter. LinkedIn profiles and Twitter feeds are gold mines of information on individuals. Knowing more about the person who’s hiring can help you tailor your cover letter to their needs and desires.

It’s all about who you know. Figure out who you need to know to land a certain job—like the hiring manager—and make that connection, whether by getting them to follow you on Twitter by retweeting their tweets, or growing your LinkedIn network until they become a second- or third-degree connection. Twitter offers great opportunities to connect with professionals who might not otherwise give you the time of day.

Look for chats that revolve around your industry or the industry you want to work in. Joining online conversations helps you keep up-to-date on the industry, meet helpful contacts and showcase your expertise in your field. Or try networking with other job seekers through weekly conversations like #jobhuntchat or #careerchat.

By doing any or all of the above, not only will you reach many more people as part of your job search, but people will also see you as a person with expertise, not someone who is merely using social media to find a job.  Using social media is bound to lead to greater opportunities and attract more people who respect your knowledge.