JOB SEEKER ALERT: TEMPORARY WORK HAS CODE NAMES! (A LOOK AT SEASONAL OPPORTUNITIES!)

Make no mistake about it, no matter how grim you think the job situation is, jobs are out there. Employers and recruiting agencies alike are now trying to mask temporary work by wording it a little differently. The biggest one we've seen is the misuse and abuse of "part-time". Don't be fooled anymore, be skeptical of everything a potential employer tells you. Multiply that by 10 when dealing with job agencies.

WILL DONALD TRUMP HELP OR HURT THE JOB MARKET?

Will Donald Trump lower the unemployment rate? Create new jobs? Or is his focus on big business? To answer that question you need a clear understanding of politics. Most people will tell you Republicans are for the rich, and Democrats are for the poor. What they can't tell you is who's created more jobs. ZFacts.com has painted an accurate picture of our past presidential lineup and the impact they've had on job creation. 

15 MOVES YOU NEED TO MAKE WHEN UNEMPLOYED

No more excuses, do you want a job or not? Are you just going to sit there and complain that nobody is going to hire you?  No. That's not you. You've never been that person, but you're pretty darn close so we need to make moves fast.  What we're about to list is 15 moves you MUST make when Unemployed. If you aren't able to check all these off yet then you're not ready to complain. It's time to be brutally honest here. 

INDEED AND ITS JOBSFLAG.COM SCAM

If you've searched for jobs on indeed.com, then you might be familiar with JobsFlag.com and the misleading job postings. Users in our circle are reporting Jobsflag.com as a scam posting jobs opportunities that are no longer active. To make things worse, their job application process leads you to a blank page, YES A BLANK PAGE.  http://www.jobsflag.com/process_application.php is the lovely page that you're directed to when completing an application. 

UNEMPLOYMENT EXPECTED TO BE REINSTATED VERY SOON

Ah the fear inducing media, what would life be like without you? The internet is filled with panic and the unemployed are buying into it. Democrats took to Twitter and vowed to be quick with a reinstatement for the unemployed. Days went by during the holidays with people biting their nails wondering how they will make ends meet. Now, your hero has arrived with his message to you. President Obama has come forward and addressed the situation and made it his only business of discussion. 

IS CAREERBUILDER THE BEST APP FOR YOUR JOB SEARCH?

Careerbuilder's mobile app has become a growing favorite on the Android market as well as iTunes. We've seen the app in action personally as job fairs all over the country have been recommending it lately. I was a business meeting the other day about reconditioning our hiring process when again the app was brought up by our Human Resources manager. Curious about the app I downloaded it and took it for a spin. 

Is Too Many Jobs On The Resume Bad?

Many recruiters won't tell you this, but if you have too many jobs on a resume, they won't hire you. Why? Because they feel you're a disloyal job hopper, that's why. Those were all layoffs? Guess what? They don't care! So what can be done about it? Absolutely nothing. You might be lucky enough to catch an offer from a company that's doing a mass hiring, as waves like that are less likely to be too critical.

Craigslist Spam Alert Thread (UPDATED DAILY)

We receive emails daily from people who would like a comprehensive list composed of current Craigslist spamming / Scamming / Fishing activity. The truth is Craigslist will do nothing if you flag a spam message, that's just the cold hard truth. It makes you wonder why they even include a flagging link in corresponding emails. 

We posted a link for resume help and received messages asking us if we're still looking for a job. These messages contain harmful links. This list will be updated indefinitely, please feel free to contribute in the comment section below. 

WARNING: THESE ARE CONFIRMED SPAM/SCAM/PHISHING MESSAGES. IF A GOOGLE SEARCH HAS LED YOU HERE PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW. DO NOT CONTACT ANY OF THESE INDIVIDUALS. 

2013: CRAIGSLIST VS CAREERBUILDER VS MONSTER

 Our friends over at the Employment Insider conducted a detailed survey on the top three job sites and their performance in today's job market. They took a basic customer service resume, shot 10 replies to 10 different job postings, in 3 different regions, on all 3 sites, 3 times, in 3 days.

As interesting as their post was, we decided we could do one better. We took 100 random people from 100 different regions from across the united states, had them apply to 10 random job posting within their search criteria, and gave the sites 30 days to respond.

The ratings are calculated by percentage of genuine responses from the site along with user experience. 

Note: The applicants used in this study were WELL QUALIFIED for the positions they applied for within their individual search criteria. 

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE AT JiPoshy.Com

TOP 10 THINGS EMPLOYERS LOOK FOR IN INTERVIEWS

Job interviews are like a game of chess. Most job seekers would love to know what the interviewer is thinking during the interview. We decided to give a simple and quick glimpse into what employers are really looking at when hiring. Would it be a surprise to you that some employers would take your lack of experience for a better looking resume? Or better looking shoes over your energy level?  

We took a draw off a poll on Monster.com to answer our question. We thought a playful survey would help them open up in a more honest way. This one didn't quite go one way as some answers ended up being things they look for in a negative way. Some of the most popular answers they gave us were unexpected to say the least. -

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READ FULL ARTICLE HERE ON JiPoshy.Com

"To The Point" Free Premium Resume Template Download

Due to the overwhelming response to our free resume help tweet, we have decided to start a free resume template series. This will give people looking for premium resume templates a free alternative.

This week's template "Guaranteed Call" is a format that will live up to it's name. This is one of our most successful formats we have used in our experiments on Craigslist, Careerbuilder, Monster, Etc. 

Bookmark us, subscribe to our feed or leave comments.

DOWNLOAD

"Simplicity" Free Premium Resume Template Download

Due to the overwhelming response to our free resume help tweet, we have decided to start a free resume template series. This will give people looking for premium resume templates a free alternative.

This week's template "Guaranteed Call" is a format that will live up to it's name. This is one of our most successful formats we have used in our experiments on Craigslist, Careerbuilder, Monster, Etc. 

Bookmark us, subscribe to our feed or leave comments.

DOWNLOAD

"Guaranteed Call" Free Premium Resume Template Download

Due to the overwhelming response to our free resume help tweet, we have decided to start a free resume template series. This will give people looking for premium resume templates a free alternative.

This week's template "Guaranteed Call" is a format that will live up to it's name. This is one of our most successful formats we have used in our experiments on Craigslist, Careerbuilder, Monster, Etc. 

Bookmark us, subscribe to our feed or leave comments. 

 DOWNLOAD

10 Things You MUST DO When Unemployed

So you're unemployed, now what? Sometimes it's hard to know where to start. Everything happened so suddenly. 

You start to go through periods of shifting blame from your previous employer to the the unshaven character in the mirror. You start to get depressed, and at no ones fault but your own. You need a plan, not just any plan - A PLAN OF ACTION.

Since something in your life has been destroyed, what is the appropriate reaction? 

- TO CREATE!

These are the 10 things you must do when Unemployed 

The 10 Common Co-worker Personalities

We all know them - The many amusing personalities of the workplace. Sometimes we run into the same ones over and over in our lifetime. Here are some of the most common co-worker personalities in the workplace.

5 Working Ways To Deal With Work Related Stress

Is stress getting to you at work? Are you losing sleep? Your appetite? Your sex drive? Or maybe your hair? Then it might be time to explore your options in dealing with it. 

5.  Schedule Time Off -  Sometimes we need time away from something to prevent mental illness. What was that you say? There is a light at the end of the tunnel? The truth is you deserve time away, you've accumulated that PTO (if you're a permanent employee of course), and now you should reap what benefits you've sown. A little road trip? A cruise? An out of state flight? or maybe just some bum time staying inside your house without shaving? 

For the love of god stop calling off sick would you? Everyone knows you hate your job. In fact, the boss is already working on your replacement. Most people would agree that calling off sick is a scary thing to do. To this day I have employees who text when they are not going to be in that day. Schedule the time off! Not only will you not feel guilty, you'll feel great about it! It will give you something to look forward to and your boss a reason to keep you off his/her radar.

4.  Uninstall Java- This is a hard one, but it could make a world of difference in stress in the workplace. Giving up coffee could make those headaches a thing of the past. Studies show caffeine can have a withdrawal effect that could render you useless when it comes to focusing in your place of employment. Caffeine gives the body a temporary fix to a permanent problem. Try waking up naturally, take your showers in the morning, and start eating breakfast daily. You know those ugly bags under your eyes? The ones that give you that disgusting tired look? That's from caffeine. 

Switch to tea or decaf coffee. If you can't give up Java then at least cut your daily intake in half. Caffeine stays in the body for 5 to 9 hours. Most peaks range from 15 minutes to 120 minutes after your first cup. Caffeine withdrawals can cause irritability, crankiness, headaches, tremors, hot flashes, itching, dry mouth and crush your ability to focus. Unless you have an IV in your arm hooked up to your local Starbucks, I would consider uninstalling Java.  

3. Changing Your Commute- Are you one of the unfortunate souls who commute to work everyday? Have you gave some serious thought into public transportation? Studies show people who take public transportation have lower stress levels throughout the day then people who commute to and from work everyday. Make sense? Look into a local train or bus that runs through the city you work in, stay the night at a friend or family members house in the area a couple nights a week or look into the possibilities of carpooling. 

Imagine the snoozing and snoring you could do when you don't have to watch the road. Let someone else ride the breaks. Consider being a passenger even if its only one day a week. Take a load off and relax, you'll thank yourself later.

2. Gauge Your Sleep- Sometimes too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Did you know you can oversleep? Yes, and when you wake up you will feel awful. This one is personal for me because I changed my sleep pattern and it really helped me.

I used to sleep 8 hours a night, wake up and still feel tired. I would yawn all day, I was starting to think I was just a lazy person. Until one night, I only slept 4 hours. The next morning I woke up feeling great. Throughout the day I was alert and more focused than ever. Most importantly though, when it came to bed time, I was ready for it. My point is everyone has different requirements for sleep. Sometimes you need more, sometimes you need less. Have you ever had a night you kept waking up every hour? Your body is trying to tell you that your battery is charged. Gauge your sleep pattern - determine if its more or less sleep you need. If something isn't working, its time to try something else. 

1. Take Your Breaks- This is one of the most important, overlooked work related stress relievers of all. Most people work right through their break, especially at desk jobs. This puts a major amount of stress on your body's resources. Get up and take a walk, relieve some of that built up anxiety and tension. You are giving yourself a lot of grief by skipping your leisure. Not only is it against the law, but nobody notices you didn't take a break until you're lying on the ground complaining of chest pains. 

Stop being a hero and take a stroll outside! Get some fresh air!

 

5 Job Offers You Need To Avoid

5. Telemarketing - Anyone who has worked in customer service knows it sucks. In fact, working in a call center sucks period. It's bad enough when you are answering a high number of calls from people complaining, how about calling them to sell something? How many times have you or someone you know hung up on a sales person? Being a telemarketer means you have monthly quotas to meet. If you don't meet those quotas, you're fired. Like all sales jobs, once they're done chewing you, they will spit you out. 

4. Greenpeace Fundraiser - With so many ways to save the world, this can be left off the list. Greenpeace is always hiring "fundraiser associates", which means you're on the sidewalk handing out flyers. The catch is this, you have to get a certain amount of people to sign up for subscriptions in a day. This "subscription" is a monthly charge for people who have a soft spot for the environment. What starts out as a donation, becomes another crooked reoccurring charge scam. If you really want to make a difference in the environment, there are plenty of real opportunities to do so.
     

3. Working From Home - If you're looking for a real job, chances are you need steady income. Working from home making money online works for some people and doesn't work for others. Like all of these shaky offers, it's a gamble. Most job sites are marinated with "work from home" scams. These jobs take so many different forms it's hard to tell them apart. Selling makeup, referring people to websites, assembling products from home and mailing them back, filling out surveys, attending seminars, spamming email, almost all of these jobs you see are part of a pyramid scheme.  

The people behind these scams are extremely desperate for money and will use you to get it. They will sell you a pipe-dream if you let them, and give you a hefty start-up fee to boot. If you get enough of the "Run-around" from other places in your life, avoid this heartbreak.

2. Customer Service (Call Center) - Oh the agony! Sitting in a cubicle answering phone calls, making phone calls, reading a script word for word, navigating through multiple systems with multiple log-ins, having a supervisor plug into your line and sit behind you to observe your performance, all while a customer is ripping your head off.

These jobs are usually filled with the most miserable and depressed people. If you are looking for a job you will want to quit after the first week, then look for a customer service job in a call center.  

1. The "Financial Industry" (Insurance Agent) - If you're currently looking for a job, good chances are you've heard of jobs in the "Financial Industry". For those that don't know, the "Financial Industry" is selling insurance. These business will call you if you're resume is on a job site, set up a fake interview, bring you in a room full of other "Agents", walk around and introduce you, sit you back out in the lobby, bring you in an office, give you a presentation and tell you they need $300 for your background check and license to be an insurance agent. This process doesn't guarantee you a job and the money is non-refundable.

Now if you have that kind of money to gamble on a job where you have to hunt people down to get paid, then this is for you. But if you're looking for a steady income NOW, then I suggest you steer clear of the "Financial Industry".   
 

CareerBuilder vs Monster vs Craigslist

So we got curious and decided to do a little experiment. We had a very simple question we needed answered, "What site is better when it comes to jobs: CareerBuilder, Monster or Craigslist?"

In my personal experience I've always found CareerBuilder to be the best when it comes to job searching. My colleagues and I are completely split when it comes to personal preference. What a perfect setting to truly find the best site for jobs. We did a little experiment and took things into careful consideration to find a conclusion. 

The experiment? We took a basic customer service resume, shot 10 replies to 10 different job postings, in 3 different regions, on all 3 sites, 3 times, in 3 days. Now we would have went higher with the number, but when narrowed down by region there weren't that many jobs. (Ouch!) 

We also made a few exceptions. CareerBuilder and Monster have an auto-reply system. We are not counting these as actual replies. We are also excluding any auto-replies from outlook express. We need to have an actual response to our replies by either telephone or email, real contact. 

Here is the results of our experiment, we hope this can help you in making a choice in your job search.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CAREERBUILDER.COM

Day 1

Recruiter / Agency replies: 1 out of 10

Sales / Marketing replies: 1 out of 10

Direct company reply: 0 out of 10

Spam replies: 1 out of 10

Total replies: 3 out of 10

Day 2

Recruiter / Agency replies: 3 out of 10

Sales / Marketing replies: 1 out of 10

Direct company reply: 0 out of 10

Spam replies: 2 out of 10

Total replies: 6 out of 10

Day 3

Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10

Sales / Marketing replies: 2 out of 10

Direct company reply: 0 out of 10

Spam replies: 2 out of 10

Total replies: 4 out of 10

Notes

 CareerBuilder had a very wide selection of jobs, but only a few of them were legitimate postings. The site seems to be over-saturated with insurance jobs in the "Financial Industry" (More about that later).

The site is also inhabited by recruiters from job agencies. I've always been a huge supporter of job agencies for bridging that gap between the unemployed and the employee-less, but there is nothing like a company reaching for your hand and pulling you directly into the arms of security, or at least we'd like to think so.

There was a couple spam postings for scams. We did get caught into applying at some of them, but hey you really can't avoid it as they are masked well. 

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MONSTER.COM 

Day 1

Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10

Sales / Marketing replies: 5 out of 10

Direct company reply: 0 out of 10

Spam replies: 2 out of 10

Total replies: 7 out of 10

Day 2

Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10

Sales / Marketing replies: 4 out of 10

Direct company reply: 0 out of 10

Spam replies: 2 out of 10

Total replies: 6 out of 10

Day 3

Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10

Sales / Marketing replies: 1 out of 10

Direct company reply: 0 out of 10

Spam replies: 1 out of 10

Total replies: 2 out of 10

Notes

Wow, a big difference from CareerBuilder. It seems we have found no hope with Monster, and I mean NO HOPE. Not one recruiter or company contacted us. Is this website dead? We couldn't even find that many listings for customer service positions that were legitimate. I'm sure there are recruiters on this site, but it seems CareerBuilder is where the party is at so far. 

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CRAIGSLIST.ORG

Day 1

Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10

Sales / Marketing replies: 3 out of 10

Direct company reply: 2 out of 10

Spam replies: 4 out of 10

Total replies: 9 out of 10

Day 2

Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10

Sales / Marketing replies: 2 out of 10

Direct company reply: 4 out of 10

Spam replies: 2 out of 10

Total replies: 8 out of 10

Day 3

Recruiter / Agency replies: 0 out of 10

Sales / Marketing replies: 0 out of 10

Direct company reply: 5 out of 10

Spam replies: 1 out of 10

Total replies: 6 out of 10

 Notes

Now before you get stir crazy, I'd like to ad this is a dangerous site. First of all there is no real regulation or ways to track anyone since mostly everything is anonymous. However, we did receive more replies from the companies directly than the other two sites.

When I said dangerous, I meant scams. There are so many scams on Craigslist, you start to think the site is a scam in itself. Read my article Interview With The Vampire for more details about these creatures of the night.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Conclusion 

Well it looks like we have a winner, or do we? I guess it depends on what you consider. It really boils down to CareerBuilder and Craigslist. If you feel more comfortable with a job agency, I'd recommend CareerBuilder. If you'd like to find a company directly, go for Craigslist.

One thing I must point out: Job agencies have leads to larger companies, where as the smaller companies go to Craigslist. Personally, this experiment has opened my eyes to a lot of things, Craigslist being one of them.

Our recommendation would be Craigslist as the best website to find a job hands down. Like I said before it really depends on what your looking for. We chose the job category that's most popular, Customer Service. If this experiment was done in another field, another time, maybe it would be different. In fact, it would be. 

With so many things to consider, we'll leave the ultimate decision to you. 

5 Quick Things That Are Hurting Your Resume

5. Your High School Education - Unless high school was as far as you went, skip mentioning it and list your college coursework. Listing your high school  when you have a college education is obvious fluff. You might as well list your Jr. high and elementary while you're at it.

4. Family / Friend References - Some employers ask for these kinds of references, but it's best to stick to professional contact. Listing your uncle Bob or cousin Sue looks sloppy with no effort behind it. There is no mystery what your family members will say about you.

3. Resume In First Person - Avoid using "I" or "Me" when creating a resume. The interviewer could care less about you personally, they only need to know if you'd be a good fit for the position. You need to make sure your describing the person that you are. Your accomplishments are the star of the show, not you.

2. Having No Connection To The Job Your Applying For - If you are going from a job say at a coffee shop to a customer service call center job, what would you want to stand out? How about the fact you answered the phone every once in a while? If you're not molding your resume to the jobs you are applying for, you'll never get the job.

1. Formatting / Font - I can't stress enough how important it is to keep a resume simple. A default font is the only acceptable option. I've actually had people give me resumes in cartoon font, robotic/futuristic font, graffiti font, and movie title fonts. I've came across resumes that look like they've been Photoshopped, printed on the finest of paper, from the finest of trees, with the most beautiful pieces of art as the backdrop. 

Unfortunately for you all the time spent on your project has earned you an early trash can visit. Trying to switch up the basic ingredients to a resume just to be "unique", is not productive at all. The only thing it shows me is you have too much time on your hands. The last thing I need is to hire someone who is going to spend more time decorating their desk than doing their job.  

Cool Jobs: Game Developer

Jirbo INC. - Game Programmer/Developer

 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

 

• Develop in Unity to help create mobile social tycoon-type games
• Work with iPhone and Android developers to ensure plugins will work
• Have a good understanding of what looks good and plays well

 

Qualifications and Special Skills Required:

 

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience)
• Unity and C# preferred
• Experience with user interface, presentation layer, or visual applications preferred
• Experience with client-side prediction and sending/receiving game data to/from servers
• Good analytical and debugging skills
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to work under tight deadlines
• Ability to work on complex tasks with minimal technical guidance

Additional Skills Desired:

 

• Xcode, Cocoa Touch & Objective C, Lua
• Knowledge of web technologies such as PHP/JS/CSS/DHTML is a plus
• Knowledge of database design and SQL is a plus
• Experience working with audio, animation a plus
• Basic knowledge of 3D applications such as Maya
• Knowledge of how to write Android Plugins for Unity

They are looking to hire one full-time position and another part-time/internship (with potential for full-time hire). Candidates should be available to work from their West L.A. offices.




Please send a resume and cover letter to careers@jirbo.com with "Game Programmer/Developer" in the subject line.