Career Changes & Suggestions!

by John Kuzmich, Jr.

December 29, 2003

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• Are thinking of a career change? Are you either unemployed or underemployed? Consider attending the Stake Employment Night each Thursday evening. This meeting is for both members and non-members who are referred by Church members from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Golden, Colorado Stake Building. There will be people there who can assist you. Please bring a resume if you have one. For more information, go to: http://www.kuzmich.com/Stake_Employment_Night.html

• Find individuals in your Ward/Branch with whom you can network and brain-storm with them. Remember, never pressure anybody for a job. Far more important questions to ask would be:.

• What companies are good to contact? These might be good companies to investigate and possibly work for?.

• What prerequisites/skills/experiences do you need to compete in today's job market, especially in the IT profession where employment is presently competitive and difficult to find?.

• Are there other people in your area you could contact? Too many cooks might spoil the stew, but in this case they could make it mighty tasty.

• Your goal is to contact many people and network better and faster for potential job sources.. Your Ward/Branch Employment Specialist should be encouraged to survey the entire Church unit adults so that people can immediately put you in touch with other people who can advise you what to do and refer you to other people who can help you network.

• Looking for employment in the IT (Information Technology) profession? This profession is very difficult to find employment right now. Check out the following on-line PowerPoint slideshow, Information Technology Careers in Education to learn more about this profession and tips on how to to find resources and many Internet "hot" links to help you find IT employment and better understand this profession. Note: slide #14 has five excellent references for comparing salaries in difference cities in the same field plus

• Need help finding information about careers, salary expectations and more?
  1. Sometimes people look for the best jobs. Sometimes it is much wiser first finding the best companies to work for! Check out the Denver Post's Top 100 companies on the Colorado Front Range at: <http://www.kuzmich.com/Top_100_Denver_Companies.html>. You may already know use contacts there to pursue brain-storming. Persue their web pages for insight about why these companies are ranked so high.

  2. For over 100 job descriptions salary statistics for IT careers and in many other careers, go to: http://swz.salary.com/

  3. Career web sites:
     1. Dice (Great resource for tech jobs): http://dice.com
     2. HotJobs (Good resource for finding jobs on-line: http://hotjobs.yahoo.com
     3. Monster (Has thousands of jobs, plus resume and interview tips, job advice and more): http://www.monster.com
     4. The Princeton Review for detailed career profiles: http://www.review.com

• Purchase job descriptions and salary surveys:< http://www.ejobdescription.com/ >. Great source for finding job descriptions to help you identify your nine best words to describe you professionally.

• Wanted Jobs (http://www.wantedjobs.com/) is a career engine that can meta search many aggregated job banks in one query to 80 career websites in just 15 minutes so your resume can be viewed by 1.5 million employers and recruiters. This web site is a must because it has free job descriptions that can be helpful in finding the key words to best describe you professionally.

• Job Guide 2001: hundreds of occupational profiles: http://jobguide.detya.gov.au. Again, a great resource for job descriptions for sources of selecting your nine key words best describing you professionally.
• Need help getting your yourself together for finding employment and employment upgrades? Try Tri-County Workforce Center at: http://www.trico1stop.org which a government supported agency that will give you access to the Daily Job Board and the Job Searches for Jefferson County, Clear Creek County and Gilpin County. There is a wealth of information on this web site. Another good site is http://www.coloradojobtools.com which has 130 links in 36 categories. No charge for their services. They have three locations in Jefferson, Gilpin and Clear Creek counties. For locations/phone/fax/e-mail information, go to: < http://www.trico1stop.org/about%20us/locations.htm>.
• A must web site for obtaining key codes for job descriptions that you can use in your resume's skills plus salaries in any city at: http://www.ajb.dni.us

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