The Monster Blog

The Monster 5 for Friday -- Careers Edition -- August 27

This week, ABC began trotting out its lineup of stars who will be competing in the new season of "Dancing with the Stars." Among those taking to the dance floor: Bristol Palin, daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and on-again/off-again love interest of Levi Johnston. As more cast announcements leak, only one star will take home the coveted "Dancing" trophy, while the rest head back to their day jobs. To help you get ahead in your career, check out this week’s top 5 stories from the world of job seeking you might have missed:

5. Why an MBA Is a Waste of Time and Money: Wondering if an MBA will help you find your next job? Penelope Trunk explains what an MBA will -- and won’t -- do for your career.

4. Wow! Was That a Marathon or an Interview?: Was your last interview a race or a marathon? CareerRealism-approved expert Ben Eubanks gives you three tips to train for your next interview.

3. Light Your Fire! A Matchbox of Ways to Get Motivated: Many people know what they should do to jump-start their job search: get serious about a career path, network, start saving money and the list goes on. Yet many people can't seem to begin the process. Marty Nemko highlights some ways he and his clients have gotten started and accomplished their goals.

2. Military-to-Civilian Job Search: If you're leaving the military and getting ready to look for a job in the civilian world, you may need some basic training on how to present your resume and military skills in a way that will translate to civilian employers. Check out these articles to learn how you can be all you can be in the civilian job market.

1. Unemployment Was 'a Blessing,' Says Former Autoworker: Greg Kaminski's story sounds like many others. He graduated from high school, got a job in his hometown and got laid off. But what he did after that layoff was extraordinary and is now helping others create positive change in his Indiana community. Check out Greg’s story on The Huffington Post and get inspired to make some change of your own during unemployment.

Which of these was your favorite? What did we miss? Let us know in the comments below.

For more must-read content, check out the Monster 5: Works Edition for this week’s top articles from the world of talent management.

SlideShare: Five Ways to Say “I’m Unprofessional"

It’s time we let job seekers in on a very valuable secret.  In many hiring situations, an employer can choose from several talented applicants who are all on an equal playing field when it comes to qualifications to do the job. That's when the little things, like the mistakes described here, come into play and can give one candidate an edge over another. Job seekers need to avoid these common mistakes that could cost them a shot at getting the job.

Job Search Tip: Five Ways to Say "I'm Unprofessional"

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The Monster 5 for Friday -- Careers Edition -- August 20

It’s down to the last three candidates, and now you have to wait for the team to vote. No, we’re not talking about your job hunt -- we’re talking politics. As the political races heat up across the country this week, get ahead on your job search campaign with the top 5 stories from the world of job seeking you might have missed:

5. Waiting For: Looking for something new? Want to try a different career? Chris Brogan tells his story and what you should do to get ahead. (Hint: Just do it!)

4. Ask the Career Expert: Spicing Up Your Resume: Want to know how to make your resume stand out? Excelle, a community for career-minded women, invited J.T. O’Donnell to answer that question for one of its readers.

3. 15 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Making a Major Career Change: Considering a career change? Ask yourself these questions from Chrissy Scivicque to get down to what really matters and make this transition work for you.

2. Secrets to Finding a Job Online: Check out this roundup of expert tips over at Forbes Woman to see how social media and other online tools can enhance your job search by letting you show off and stand out.

1. Top Reasons Resumes Are Rejected – You’re Overqualified: You’ve sent in your resume, and just heard what you were dreading -- you’re overqualified. EmploymentDigest explains what this really means and how you can overcome it.

Which of these was your favorite? What did we miss? Let us know in the comments below.

For more must-read content, check out the Monster 5: Works Edition for this week’s top articles from the world of talent management.

SlideShare: Five Tips to Stay Focused on Your Job Search

Each time you interrupt a focused work task, it takes time to get back to the level of concentration and effectiveness you had before the interruption. You might consider yourself an excellent multitasker, but recent studies show that people misjudge how well they perform when dividing their attention among many tasks (and the people who believe they are most effective at multitasking are least productive, when tasks are measured impartially).

A job search demands a lot of different tasks, so how in the hyperlinked world are you going to keep focused? Again, the answer is good time management. For most of us, that means blocking out a space and time when you won’t be interrupted. It also helps to follow some basic habits that keep you from distracting yourself. Here are five tips from Doug Hardy, author of Monster's Six Fundamentals to Building a Lifelong Career ebook.

Five Tips to Stay Focused on Your Job Search

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Interview with Doug Hardy on Six Fundamentals to Building a Lifelong Career

Today's post is by Ashley Melo, Monster's public relations intern:

Doug Hardy, co-author of three books in the Monster Careers series and former Monster.com editor-in-chief, recently released Six Fundamentals to Building a Lifelong Career. Hardy’s objective is to move people from urgent job searches to lifelong career management. He offers six fundamentals to inspire people to take command of their careers. In fact, alongside Monster.com, he hopes to inspire people to improve their lives. Here's what Hardy has to say about how the six fundamentals can help everyone inspire, prosper and succeed.

What made you want to write this book? What was your inspiration?

In 12 years of talking to job seekers, I’ve observed that much of the frustration in the job search comes from the incorrect assumption that there is some trick to it. Everybody wants a miracle -- a new job to magically appear. It doesn’t work that way, but if you develop short daily habits you can have a quicker, more effective transition to a new job. I wanted to put this inspiration in the form of a short book because like any real practice, it’s not something you learn in one day. It is something you gain in short, easy practices.

Is there one most important fundamental out of the six fundamentals? If so, which is it?

The most important is probably the first. The first says from now on managing your career is your job. The trouble is, people start a job search, get a job and then they stop. To take career management as a lifelong series of habits rather than a periodic response to losing a job leads to a more successful career in the long run.

How does one truly integrate these six daily habits that every working person needs to take command of in his or her career? Would you say it’s appropriate to call it a lifestyle change?

Yes, good choice of words. In the introduction I say most bad job searches are like yo-yo dieting. You diet for a little while, it’s painful, you lose weight, but six months later you’ve gained back the weight. The best way to stay healthy for life is to eat right and exercise every day. The same principle applies to career management. If you take on the six habits just a little bit every day, you will find that new opportunities and growth in your current job just seem to start happening.

How is the dynamic different between those people frustrated with their current employment and those who are jobless and desperately looking for employment?

Surveys show that people who are currently employed and frustrated, waiting and looking for the next opportunity, comprise a big part of the workforce right now. Their job now is to integrate specific advice in Six Fundamentals to Building a Lifelong Career into their daily routine. One way to get started is to keep a detailed log of work accomplishments at work. Doing that and updating your resume will take one hour versus three days. Keeping email job alerts active on Monster tells you who is hiring.

Monster has always published traditional books. Why an ebook?

We wanted to get this into the hands of job seekers as soon as possible. Typical publishing takes about 18 months from start to finish. Amazon published this book a month after the manuscript was finished.  You can read it anywhere -- on the Kindle, your computer and many mobile devices. We wanted advice that was short, easy, quickly available and extremely flexible for the job seeker or reader. I think we succeeded.

The book is available exclusively in digital format in the Amazon Kindle Store. Read an excerpt here.

The Monster 5 for Friday -- Careers Edition -- August 13

This week, disgruntled employees dominated the headlines, most notably a JetBlue flight attendant who took his job and shoved it in dramatic fashion and another who quit by emailing a series of photos on a dry erase board (which later turned out to be a hoax). These infamously unemployed media stars will clearly be looking for new jobs, so they (and you) should check out the top 5 stories from the world of job seeking you might have missed:

5. How to Job Search at Work (Without Getting Caught): It’s hard enough to keep up with a demanding boss and your never-ending to-do list, but finding a new job at the same time can make even the most organized person feel a little crazed. Nicole Williams offers five tips to help you manage a job search while you work.

4. How Old is Too Old? Experience is an advantage when you’re job hunting, right? Maybe not. Alison Doyle explains what employee discrimination is and how you can combat it in your job search.

3. Taking Control of Your Privacy Settings: You’ve heard the stories about Facebook photos leading to people getting canned or never even hired. Susan Kennedy breaks down Facebook’s new privacy settings so you can protect yourself in your job search.

2. Improve at Saving Money Post-College: You finally landed a job. Great! But how are you going to live on an entry-level salary? Jim Armstrong on the Brand-Yourself blog gives the how and why of making your cash last.

1. How a Professional Trainer's 5 Principles of Strength Can Boost Your Job Search: How can you apply the principles of an effective workout to your job search? Melissa C. Martin gives five ways to strengthen your job search strategy with this advice from a trainer.

Which of these was your favorite? What did we miss? Let us know in the comments below

For more must-read content, check out the Monster 5: Works Edition for this week’s top articles from the world of talent management.

Emergency Exit: What to Know Before You Quit

Have you ever had one of those days when you’ve reached the breaking point, wanting to quit your job on the spot, and make a fast exit?

Perhaps, deep down, you've already decided to leave and one incident was just the last straw. Your gut reaction, of course, is to walk away and never look back. This exact situation played out in the life of one career flight attendant, who made national news Monday after an altercation with a passenger aboard a JetBlue flight.

But before you cross the point of no return, is it best to give yourself a time out to rethink? How do you approach this with your manager? What’s next in your career? Should you wait until you’re hired for another job?

So if you’re fed up and thinking about quitting your job, take a moment to read these articles from the Monster.com Career Advice center:

1. Before blurting out “I quit,” think through your job situation and how quitting might affect your future.

2. Not happy at your current job? Does that mean it’s definitely time to quit? Maybe, but it's also important to know why you aren't happy and why it might be time to go.

3. Quitting a job leaves you in a bad situation when interviewing for new roles. Remember, you’ll need a good answer to the question, "Why did you leave your last job?"

Have you ever abruptly up and quit a job? What did you do? How did it impact your career? Tell us in the comments field below.

The Monster 5 for Friday -- Careers Edition -- August 6

In sports news, Brett Favre of the Minnesota Vikings announced his retirement (for the third time), just six weeks before the beginning of football season. While the Vikings scramble to find a new quarterback, check out the top 5 stories from the world of job seeking you might have missed:

5.  Cover Letters: To Send or Not to Send, This is the Question: Wondering if you should send a cover letter with your job applications? Perry Newman, CPC CSMS, weighs the pros and cons of this hotly debated job search issue.

4. 6 Things to Do Before Your Internship Ends: Your summer internship is coming to an end, so making a good impression is crucial. Alison Green has six steps to follow now (and in the long term) to make the most of your internship experience.

3. Jump into the Shorter Line of Job Applicants: What should you do when you know what job you want but can’t find a career that lets you pursue that? Put this advice by J.T. & Dale on the CAREEREALISM blog to work in your job search.

2. Five Steps to Beat Job Search Procrastination: Using time you'd ordinarily spend procrastinating to find job opportunities can give you a winning edge. Here are five quick tips from Dr. Bill Knaus, EdD, to cut through procrastination barriers, find a great job and get hired.

1. Forget the Jobless Rate -- Time to Reinvent You!: You’ve been trying to find a job similar to your last one but you can’t seem to get a call back, let alone an interview. Eve Tahmincioglu suggests it’s time for a career reinvention.

Which of these was your favorite? What did we miss? Let us know in the comments below.

For more must-read content, check out the Monster 5: Works Edition for this week’s top articles from the world of talent management.