Some would say that using the newspaper classifeds to find a job is not unlike using a feather quill, inkwell, and parchment to write a letter. It’ll work, but what a time-consuming ordeal.

These days, online searches are really the way to go. And some newspapers have come to realize this, coordinating their job postings with job posting sites.

Does this mean you should never pick up a newspaper to look for jobs? No. Many job listings will provide an email address to which you can send your information, and a lot of them also provide a company website URL for more details.

So, here are some key points about newspaper classifieds vs. online job sites:

• Generally, everything you can find in newspaper classifieds, you could also find online—without paying for a newspaper.
• Online searching is much easier when trying to find jobs in a certain location or of a certain type, thanks to online search features.
• In the case of certain (often smaller) employers, ads may appear only in the paper, since the lister is trying to save money.

In short, if you’re not already paying for the newspaper for some other reason (such as the comics, my favorite section), it’s usually much more efficient to stick to the computer.  You’ll have to get online to email your resume anyway—unless you’re content to pay for a stamp and envelope (and wait for the mail system to do its work). One other nice bonus—searching online doesn’t produce an ever-growing pile of paper.

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Let Thanksgiving Inspire Your Job Search

By Joe Turner

Who doesn’t love Thanksgiving? Lots of good food and no need to shop for presents. It’s a day of turkey dinners, family gatherings and reflection; a holiday with deep roots dating back to 1621. Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday, our time to focus on everything for which we’re grateful.

Especially while job hunting, Thanksgiving is about seeing the good in our lives and feeling appreciation despite outer circumstances or conditions. Our happiness isn’t about how much stuff we’ve accumulated. Rather, it’s about feeling grateful for who, what and where we are right now. It’s about gratitude for how far we’ve come, what we do and for the challenges we’ve worked through.

Gratitude and the Law of Attraction
Gratitude is critical to the success of our job search. According to Rhonda Byrne, author of The Secret, we attract what we think about and concentrate on through the universal Law of Attraction. When we focus on our cup being half full, we attract more abundance and prosperity. This includes job opportunities.

Conversely, when we think that job hunting is hard, and focus on the jobs we didn’t get offered, we attract more rejection and disappointment. It’s been said that, “Attitude is everything.”  That’s especially true in job search. Although we may not control anything outside of ourselves, we are in control of what we think, feel and do.

This Thanksgiving, why not try these 4 simple gratitude steps to improve your job search?

1)    Start a Gratitude Journal
Oprah Winfrey has credited her success in part to keeping a gratitude journal, logging in at least five items each night for which she’s grateful. This shifts your energy. “What we think about and thank about, we bring about”, according to Dr. John Demartini, The Secret. Adopt an “attitude of gratitude” and start writing down five items each day for which you are grateful. This gets easier after a few days and soon it starts to shift your mindset from lack to prosperity.

2)    Focus on Prosperity
Jack Canfield, co-author of the series of books, Chicken Soup for the Soul, suggests focusing on prosperity and abundance. Focus on inner joy, peace, vision, and the outer things appear naturally. “Your voice and vision on the inside”, he adds, “must be louder than the noise outside.”

3)    Visualize Without Limits
Joe Vitale, also featured in The Secret, suggests closing your eyes in the morning and visualizing what you want without limits. Then focus on what you’re grateful for. He mentally reviews a gratitude list in the shower. He then releases all of this to the Universe, while breathing deeply. Canfield adds that, “Energy flows where attention goes”.

4)    Be Grateful When a Job Falls Through
This may sound strange at first. However, when you pursue job opportunities, always leave the Universe the option to deliver the “right” job to you. It’s important to acknowledge that you don’t know which exact job is best for you. Be grateful when a certain job opportunity falls through, and always detach from a specific outcome. When job opportunities fall apart, the job wasn’t right for you. Who knows why? No matter. Surrender to the Universe, knowing that the best job for you, will come to you at the right time.

Summary
The wise give thanks for what most of us take for granted. Spend a few quiet moments during this Thanksgiving holiday to try some of these simple, yet powerful steps. These steps, based on gratitude and the Law of Attraction, will not only help move you toward the right job for you at the right time, they’ll also enrich your Thanksgiving weekend and last well beyond the turkey leftovers.

As a recruiter, Joe Turner has spent the past 15 years finding and placing top candidates in some of the best jobs of their careers.  Author of Job Search Secrets Unlocked, Joe has interviewed on radio talk shows and offers free insider job search secrets at: http://www.jobchangesecrets.com

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Are there any home-based income opportunities that are legitimate? Yes. But for every one that is legitimate, there are probably 1,000 that are not. Here are some things to look out for when considering home employment.

Rule Number One: You should never have to pay someone to give you a job

Think about it. If you get an interview at any company, are they going to say, “Congratulations—you got the job. But first, you need to pay us $19.95”? Come on. If somebody on the Internet is telling you that your dream job is right there, but you’ve got to pay them for more information, processing fees, or anything else, why should you believe they’re honest?

Rule Number Two: Don’t believe the hype

Now, let’s be serious for a moment. Do you really believe you can make $15,000 a week, part-time, working from home? Please. And yet, you’ll find plenty of ads showing pictures of couples on holiday in Hawaii, or in front of a Ferrari, or whatever, as though this will be you in a couple of months. Yeah, right.

Rule Number Three: Home employment does not mean you don’t have to work

For the few home-based opportunities that aren’t scams, know this: You’re still going to have to work. In fact, most of these are going to be sales-related, and you might be looking at investment costs for a website, purchasing materials to distribute or resell, and maybe spending 40 or more hours per week just to make a nominal income.

Is it really that bad?

In a word, yes. However, there are viable businesses or jobs that will allow you to work from home. Check out Just Online Jobs and sign up for job alerts. It’s a great place to start.

And yes, these jobs require work.

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Ever have to take a personality test as part of the hiring process? If so, have you ever been turned down because of the test results? Well, I have. And I can give you some good advice about how to pass these things.

The job I applied to was a piker, entry level management position. I interviewed well, had good qualifications, and everything was fine—until the dreaded personality test. How was I to know they’d say, “I’m sorry, but based on your test results, you have no personality. Have a nice day”?

Well, okay, they didn’t say that. Instead, they told me that because my answers didn’t match up with what the creators of the test thought the preferred answers should be, I wouldn’t get the job. Never mind that at the time, I already had an MBA with a concentration in management, or that I interviewed well for the job, or that I already had customer service experience. No, the test was all that mattered.

Is this a stupid way to hire people? Maybe. It’s certainly not as efficient as it could be. If you want to get a job selling used cars, for example, you walk in, show your confidence, people skills, and conversational ability, and you’re probably hired on the spot—very efficient. But corporate’s different, even at entry level.

That said, here are some tips for handling personality tests.

1. Determine ahead of time to be honest with every answer.
2. Remember to always think in terms of “The customer’s always right” and “Customer satisfaction is Priority 1.”
3. Think in terms of customers first, other employees second, the store third, and yourself last.
4. Don’t overanalyze. Follow the above guidelines, give each answer due consideration, and answer the best you can.

Here’s a final tip: Don’t be nervous. If you feel nervous, take some deep breaths and relax; you’d be surprised how much this can help. And then remember that this is just part of a hiring process—all you can do is your best, so do that and what ever happens, happens. Good luck!

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Sales jobs certainly are not for everyone. And there are differences, too, between the different types of sales jobs available. Before considering such a career course, it’s best to take an assessment of both yourself and the job you’re thinking about. Here are some things to look at.

Is the job commission-based, salaried, or a combination thereof?
If you need the certainty of a guaranteed paycheck, then a straight commission path is definitely not for you. Especially when starting out, the amount you’re making may vary wildly—or worse, be consistently meager. This may not be your fault, either; some things just sell better than others.

On the other hand, if you happen to be a highly ambitious, positive, well-organized self-starter, then you won’t want to be limited by a predetermined salary. Instead, you will want the opportunity to put in the long hours, footwork, and gabbing that translate to a good income.

Maybe you fall somewhere in between. In this case, you should look for a company that provides a starting salary until you really get established. Many companies do this, particularly in the insurance industry.

Consider a hybrid sales career
Some sales jobs involve a certain amount of selling, but this is only part of the job duties. A good example, again, is the insurance industry. While a certain amount of the day may be spent prospecting, quite a bit of time is necessary to tend to existing clients, as well as take care of routine record keeping. The actual sales portion of the insurance agent’s time, depending on the company and the agent’s defined role, may be a relatively small part of his or her day.

So, think carefully. Before looking into sales jobs, be sure that you have enough information about yourself and the job you’re considering.

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