Thank you for coming back to our site. All the information I give you is designed for your career success, no matter what that term means to you. Every piece of information you find on our site is given to you because it is critical today for us all to prepare for our personal futures. Please let me know if there is information that I have not provided that will help you with your journey. As you can see, we post most comments, whether they agree or disagree with the information. We learn from the discussion of the information provided. Thank you.

Job opportunities are no longer easy to find.  Some individuals are feeling that finding a job is like finding a needle in a haystack.  The more seasoned workers and the recent graduates are finding that the job opportunities for either starting a new career or continuing an old one are extremely difficult and frustrating.

Be sure that your resume is “selling you” and your talents in the best way possible.  Each job search step is a critical moment for you to sell yourself.  From the initial cover letter, resume presentation, telephone contact,  interview  and “Thank you” follow up letter.  The process is when you need to put your best foot forward and entice the interviewer to want to know more about who you are and what you can offer their company.

Every potential opportunity needs to be explored.  Being creative in this economy is a must.  Whether you are looking to find your first job or the one that you hope will be the last job before you retire, start thinking “outside the box” of old job search tips

and ideas.  It is unfortunate that many of the career choices that some of us made many years ago are no longer the same.  If we are going to continue in a previous career choice, perhaps we need to start searching for the same career with a twist.  Start noticing what types of employment there are in the career of your choice and the skills needed.  Perhaps with a little tweaking, your skills can be adapted to the new challenges we are facing today.  An example of this, would be a salesman that has sold specific “widgets” all his life and now the “widgets” he sold are no longer a viable product in today’s world.  The knowledge of sales, however, is a talent that many seek and perhaps helping others learn these particular talents might be used in mentoring new salesmen  in the skills and talents of selling products.

If you have been in a particular field or desire to find a job in a particular field, join forums on the internet and find out what individuals are talking about as far as new products or job openings.  You can also make acquaintances that will tell you of any job openings that they know of in the particular field.   It is easy to find forums in most fields, by  googling:     “subject, forum”.   Find a couple of interesting sites and begin interacting with those individuals in  the group.

The social networks, such as Linkedin and Facebook are also good sources of information and contacts.  Do not overlook your former bosses, college professors, friends and family.  You never know who has information that you can use.  You can also contact a recruiter in your  particular field of interest, and begin questioning them about the trends they are seeing in the job opportunities today.  It may be that with just some additional education  or knowledge, you could make yourself more desirable to employers with job openings today.

The sad truth is that with our unemployment statistics moving closer to the double digits, we all need to  find a way to make our job skills and talents valuable and offer skills that are current in today’s world.  This requires creativity and an open mind to new opportunities.   Do not close your mind to new ideas or get discouraged, this economic environment is certainly a challenge for all of us.   The economy does create a challenge that we cannot ignore.  Our futures are up to us and we cannot expect the same opportunities that we had before the economic downturn.

My personal journey this year has been a real struggle, but I am confident that my end story will provide me with not only a sense of accomplishment and pride, but a  direction to my career that brings me the financial security and personal joy that will allow for my survival for years  to come.

As they say:  “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”

Best Wishes For A Successful Job Search or Career Redirection—-  Debbie Foster

We have more job search  information for you on our job board:  http://www.houstonjobopportunities.com