Job Club Journal

Day 14 – A word to the wise…..

 CONTEST OVER!  Group #2 got the prize for the most points in the Employer Information Project mentioned on Day #7.

For today’s class, we have a video presentation from the Youngstown office by Edward Jones who is a Human Resources person at Comprehensive Logistics (warehousing).  Mr. Jones retired from the Lordstown General Motors (GM) plant; but found, after about a month, that he wanted to go back to work.  Thus he is familiar with issues that affect mature workers.

Mr. Jones’ resume is described as a snapshot of his experience at GM.  He targeted companies in the same geographic region that provided products and performed functions he had provided while he was at GM, and he found a new position within a few months.  The keys here are ‘warehousing’ and ‘transferable skills’ – if you’ve done a job for an automotive company, you can do a similar job with different merchandise for a different type of company.

Follow up:

Mr. Jones says that networking is the best path to finding employment.  Right now his company is looking for about 200 people.  The screening process is being done through a local One Stop, and Mr. Jones is doing the interviews for these positions.  Here are some of the things that popped up during the process:

·         Resumes not done or done poorly.  Resumes need to be designed to showcase skills, but often a person seems to have oversold himself/herself on paper – resume must match the person submitting it.  Skill set needs to fit the job available.

·         People not properly dressed for interview.   If you’re applying for a professional position (supervisory or management), dress matters.

·         People applying for jobs but not being in good physical condition (how do you do a warehouse job if you don’t have the physical strength needed to handle the merchandise?)

·         People applying for jobs where they can cost the company money.  Mr. Jones wants real life experience and accountability in these applicants.  Honesty is important!

·         Competition is keen for every job!  Be prepared!!!

·          Candidates need to ask good questions – Mr. Jones is impressed by people who can fit past experience with the expectations of the jobs for which they are applying.

·         For dealing with behavioral questions, write down a few stories to use and commit them to memory – stories should reveal strategies for dealing with problems.