Tag Archives: Books

Career help: Alberta

Posted by Daria on

I have spent many hours on the Internet looking for the correct resources. I have looked at the staffing agencies, various books, blogs and sites… My desire to better myself and other work spaces led me to people who are in charge of helping Albertans to find jobs (of their dreams?). There are people out there that spend money on research and various publications in order to keep the unemployment at its lowest. 

I would like to recommend,  familiar to many, site www.alis.gov.ab.ca. I think that it is very helpful for  Career Planning, Education, Jobs questions… I mean I did learn about this site when I was in High School, taking Career and Life Management Course. I am still not sure that I have learned too much from the course itself, but the resources were there, except when you are in Grade 10 you care very little about real job and thus real income. 

So the point is if you want to get help check out  www.alis.gov.ab.ca

Career Information Hotline was superb and I did use e-Resumé Review Service (https://alis.alberta.ca//ep/eps/hotline/resume.html). You can also submit your resume on-line and it will get read, edited, and sent back to you with very helpful remarks. You can do it all from the comfort of your own home! It is always good to get other people to suggest new ways to improve things.  

You can also view their Publications, most of which are available in the PDF format. Many of the publications are for Employees as well as Employers. Great resources for small offices, big companies, career sites, and for you and me at home!

I had looked at many of their publications. Here! a couple to start:

1. Creating a New Future: The job-loss workbook   

 excellent little workbook, cheesy graphics, all about managing change with a positive spin, Q&A re: Employment Insurance, Dealing with the loss (job-loss), Tips and Tools to help with coping and hoping, Developing a new Plan, plus Resources info. Good pencil and paper excercise for the new jobless.

2. Advanced Techniques for Work Search (the best one!!!)

104 pages of work excercise, helps to identify your own work skills, help with resume and cover letter, interviews, awesome for just sitting down and re-examining your self and work even better than just aimlessly searching the net for tips. very glad that this book is available to people.
There are many other publications on that site… go check some of them out. Let me know what you think! I hope this information was useful!

 

Parachute: you will need one for 2009

Posted by Daria on
Came from Indigo with a new career book. I do have time to research various resources. I just need more time to write about them.

The book I’ve picked up is “What Color is Your Parachute?” by Richard Nelson Bolles. It was the first book that I have noticed in the ‘career’ isle. It is helpful that it specifies how fresh it is by the big 2009, in bright colours on the front page. It is good to have updated info. However, it is written towards people who lost their job in the USA, thus some info is irrelevant for the Calgary’s market. It has been easy to read and there are many little exercises I am planning to follow- to better understand what I am truly interested in. One of such exercised can be done on line via www.checkster.com and yes there is a free one on the site and it works. To a degree… try it out!  Thanks to the people that have answered a few questions for me- I am now more aware of what I need to work on. Great way to get a review from people you worked with, while you are unemployed. Plus it is all confidential: so you can’t just go and point fingers at those who do take the time to help out with the constructive criticism. I have only started reading this book and there are many more chapters that await discussion at this time.

Re-working: the resume

Posted by Daria on

Since December I have applied to many various businesses and had more than a few interesting interviews. I have re-wrote my resume many times and composed a great number of cover letters, yet I am still in a search for that perfect job, where I can grow and explore. Today I have decided to have another look at my resume and what I can make out of it, again… Internet, being easily available, is one of the first places that people look in order to do their research. Now I have started my original research with this book: Get the Right Job Right Now!, written by Alan Kearns.  I think it has some great ideas and tips. Also while looking for the link I have found that he also has an Alan Kearns Blog, and I will read it as soon as I finish this post. Tons of information floating around- helpful information at that. 

This morning when I sat down to have another look for helpful tips I came across an article on How to Create an Award-Winning Resume by Tomiko Cary  Who doesn’t want an award-winning resume these days?

 ”Step 1: Sit down and re-evaluate your life. Life experiences are essential to creating an award winning resume. Think about the traveling you have done, the organizations you are a member of, or the projects you have worked on. People tend to think of a resume as a job application, but it is much more. Resumes give an employer insight into your life.”

I like that approach. We want to show future employers that we are capable of  knowing ourselves and what we offer. After all it is not just a job that we are all looking for: we need to be valued, understood and feel like we can be a part of a community, a project, an organization, a team, a complex system in which we play an important role.