In today’s tough job market, any opportunity to find a job is well worth the effort. Job fairs, also called “career fairs,” are a great job searching resource. They allow applicants to meet dozens of employers face to face. Not only this, but these employers are actively seeking candidates, so your chances of getting hired are much better when compared to submitting your resume blind or online with the rest of the crowd.

While job fairs offer the opportunity to meet potential employers face to face, they also offer a place to practice for future interviews. There’s no better place to sharpen your selling skills. If nothing else, you’ll walk away with a better idea of how to sell yourself and much more confidence doing it.

So, how do you prepare for a job fair? Well first, you have to find them. Use your favorite search engine to look for job fairs in your immediate and surrounding areas. If you’re willing to travel (this is never a bad idea), check nearby cities and states. Many participating employers may have an office in your area, so don’t rule out out-of-state job fairs.

After finding a list of job fairs you might be interested in, find out which companies will be participating. Each job fair will have a website that lists participating companies. Next, choose which companies you would like to work for. Keep in mind that you should also research the positions each company wants to fill and if you’re qualified for them. Once you have made several matches, research the companies on your list. Find out if they are solid companies with growth potential. You can find this information on the company website, business news websites, through press releases, and even the business section of your local newspaper.

With your list in hand, you can now make your way through the job fair without wasting much time. Visit the booths or tables of your top choices first. If you have time, walk through again just to see if there are any other companies that look interesting. You might find an additional company or two that may turn out to be a good fit.

Before you head out to the job fair, make sure you have at least a dozen resumes and a list of references to hand out. Next, always dress the part. This means never show up in jeans and a T-shirt. Professional attire always makes a good first impression. It will also make you feel more confident about approaching potential employers.

What you do after a job fair can be just as important as what you do during the fair. So, after meeting with employers, always ask for a business card. If available, ask for a company brochure as well. Always remember the person’s name you met with (if it’s not on the card). Follow-up with a letter or email to the company representatives you met with. Thank them for meeting with you and briefly discuss your strengths and what you can bring to the company. If you look forward to hearing from the representative, say so. If you haven’t heard from a representative in a week or so, it’s perfectly fine to follow-up again with a phone call. Your aggressiveness will certainly help you stand out from the crowd.

To search for career fairs in your area, in addition to using search engines, you can also try the National Career Fairs website at www.nationalcareerfairs.com.

Photo Credit: A.S. Zain / Shutterstock.com

Whether you’re interested in giving back, gaining work experience or filling work gaps, volunteer work has many benefits. For starters, as a volunteer worker, you can gain valuable work experience that can help you begin building a resume.  For students, volunteering full-time during the summer months or on weekends during the regular semester will impress future employers and help you stand out from the crowd. For non-students, volunteering anytime will strengthen your resume and help you obtain skills that can lead to advancement opportunities.

Next, volunteering can actually help you find potential employers. When you volunteer, you’re always meeting new people. These people may give you job leads. By volunteering for programs related to your career field, you are also more likely to meet important contacts or other professionals with the same interests.

Volunteer work can help you gain valuable skills. For example, if you’re working for a non-profit, you might learn all about fundraising and develop skills related to working with groups. You might handle donations, help manage projects, and organize events. An organized candidate with management skills and the ability to work with large groups is a great asset to hiring companies.

While working with non-profits can help you gain valuable experience and skills, other fields can do the same. Other fields that may be open to volunteer workers are:

To apply for a volunteer position at any given company, all you have to do is contact the company’s human resources department by email or phone and inquire about volunteer opportunities. Most companies have volunteer, internship or other similar programs. If they don’t, they will likely be open to the idea. The human resources department will tell you how to apply if opportunities are available or if they would be willing to consider it. If opportunities are seasonal, the department will give you information about the best times to apply. You will have the option to apply online or via snail mail.

You can also search for volunteer opportunities by visiting any of the following websites:

• -www.volunteermatch.org
• -www.serve.gov
• -www.workandvolunteer.com

Good Luck! 

A career coach provides expert advice, support, and guidance to individuals seeking a career in any given field. A professional career coach may provide guidance and support to individuals that are just entering the workforce or those seeking a career change. Career coaches are objective listeners that have the ability to assess where clients are now and how clients can get where they want to be. To accomplish this, a career coach will developing a plan, goals, and action steps customized to each individual.

Top career coaches typically have an advanced degree, more than 10 years of experience in the areas of business, teaching, or other leadership roles, and a proven record of accomplishment in their respective career fields.

During a typical session, a career coach will:

• -Cover resume and cover letter writing
• -Go over interview preparation and execution
• -Teach you how to write interview follow-up letters with impact
• -Assess your skills, experience and interests
• -Cover common mistakes you might be making
• -Discuss strategies for strengthening your job search activities
• -Discuss proactive tactics for developing meaningful job leads
• -Discuss strategies for starting and/or growing a valuable network
• -Develop tactics for maximizing your network of professional contacts
• -Teach you how to stay memorable throughout the interview process
• -Cover solutions for perfecting follow-up interviews
• -Teach you how to negotiate salary and benefits
• -Help you build and maintain confidence as a jobseeker
• -Teach you how to stay memorable throughout the interview process
• -Cover solutions for perfecting follow-up interviews
• -Teach you how to negotiate salary and benefits

After all of these areas have been covered, you can expect overall improvement of your quality of life, clarity of career and job search goals, enhanced self-awareness and direction, and better career management skills.

Hiring a career coach can be expensive, but if you hire the right career coach, their services will prove invaluable. Career coaching services can range from $125 to $500 per hour or from $375 to $3,000 per package. If you’re still on the fence about hiring a career coach, you can decide whether or not you need one by considering the following:

• -You need help crafting a resume or cover letter
• -You’re bored or frustrated with your job, but have no idea what other work you may be qualified to do
• -You’re sending out resumes, but the phone just won’t ring
• -You need someone to answer to keep you on track
• -Your career is at a standstill
• -You need help with setting yourself apart from other job seekers
• -You’re open to new ideas and open to hearing some harsh truths about yourself
• -You want to move to the next step in your career and become successful

How to Find a Top Career Coach

One of the safest ways to find a top career coach is by referral. You should ask friends and people in your network for names and contact information. Rarely will the people in your network or friends steer you in the wrong direction. Check professional organizations for career coaches such as Career Coach Academy, Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches, and Career Directors International. If you can’t find any referrals and you decide to search online, just make sure you search for coaches with verifiable certifications, credentials, and references.

You should also make sure the career coach:

• -Has been in business for more than two years
• -That he or she is current on career issues
• -Specializes in job search services
• -Is someone that understands personal branding

Remember, you can learn all you need to know about your career coach during an initial consultation. And yes, the best career coaches will be more than happy to schedule a free consultation.

If you’re a serious writer, chances are you’ve collected more rejection letters than your file cabinets can hold. There’s also a good chance that you’ve wondered if you’re any good and if you should just give up and, *gulp* get a “real” job. Well the answer is no. The world of book publishing has been a’ changin’ for more than a decade now, and thanks to the Interent and ereaders such as Kindle and The Nook, anyone with a story to tell can tell it, and in many cases, sell it.

Such is the case with one talented 26-year old writer named Amanda Hocking. Hocking writes stories for young adults that fuse the paranormal with romance and suspense. The Austin, Minnesota-based author sells her stories without the help of a traditional book publisher. After being rejected by publishers all over New York, Hocking decided to self-publish in ebook platforms only. That decision turned into gold. In December of 2010, Hocking sold 100,000 works. Over 10 months, she sold 900,000. So, at $3 per book/70% per sale for the Kindle store alone, it’s safe to say that Ms. Hocking is now a millionaire.

According to the Atlantic’s Daily Dish,

a publisher on the private Reading2.0 mailing list has said, to effect: there is no traditional publisher in the world right now that can offer Amanda Hocking terms that are better than what she’s currently getting, right now on the Kindle store, all on her own.

Hocking will be featured in Elle Magazine’s April issue. In the meantime click here to watch the KTTC news story to learn more about Amanda’s journey or visit her blog.

Just when you thought the workplace was supposed to be for, well—work, someone comes along and says otherwise. Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D. and author of Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office 101: Unconscious Decisions Women Make That Sabotage Their Career, claims that workers need to build relationships on the job in order to advance their careers. She also mentions that it only takes 5% of your day, which is around 20 minutes or so a day, to build strong 360-degree relationships. How? Frankel provides the following tips on how to work on relationship building without neglecting your responsibilities at work:

-Take a moment to compliment someone on a particular accomplishment.
-During a business phone call.
-On the way to or from the parking lot.
-Over lunch (even if it’s lunch at your desk).
-Before, during or after a meeting.
-In a brief doorway conversation.
-After work at professional association meetings.

If you’re confused about how this can help advance your career in today’s shaky workplace, it’s probably a good idea to pick up a copy of Frankel’s book. Let us know what you think.

It happened after the 2001 recession and it’s happening again. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a report stating that workplace discrimination filings increased from 93,277 to 99,922 between September 2009 and the end of September 2010. The 7.2 increase is the highest level of new discrimination cases ever recorded.

Workplace discrimination cases are typically filed when a worker feels he has been unfairly treated based on sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or other protected category. The EEOC report shows that the largest increase in filings was from disabled workers. According to a recent NYT report, “this increase may be linked to recent changes in the legal definition of disability to make it more expansive. The Obama administration’s growing reputation of greater interest in discrimination cases than its predecessor may also have increased filings. But experts say the chief reason for the increase in accusations of prejudice is most likely tied to the broad layoffs of the last few years.”

Many employer’s feel that most of the discrimination case filings with the EEOC  are “spurious attempts by workers with no job opportunities who have not experienced discrimination.”

“The majority of the time, the EEOC is still finding no reasonable cause for the charges being filed,” said Michael S. Burkhardt, an employment partner in the Philadelphia office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius who represents employers in discrimination class-action suits. “In some cases, people are just upset that they were terminated, and they happen to be in a protected category. Even if that has nothing to do with why they were terminated, they still file a charge.”

He added that employers have had to become increasingly careful about how they structure layoffs when they reduce their work forces, as many have done since the financial crisis began several years ago.

If you feel that you have been discriminated against in the workplace, contact the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission at 1-800-669-4000 (1-800-669-6820 TTY) or visit the official EEOC website at www.eeoc.gov.

When searching for a position using an online job database, job hunters can quickly and easily submit a resume with just one click. While online job databases have made it easier for applicants to submit resumes, the only confirmation you will receive after submitting it is an auto generated “thank you for applying” message. Chances are, you will never really know if your application made it to the right person, if at all.

“I’ve heard stories of hiring managers [meeting applicants after the fact] and saying ‘You’re perfect! How come I never got your resume?’” said Liz Lynch, career expert and author of “Smart Networking: Attract a Following In Person and Online” (McGraw-Hill, $16.95).

According to Lynch, online applicants may feel like they’re at the mercy of the database, but there are steps they can take to increase their odds of being noticed. The best option is to find a friend, acquaintance or even a friend of a friend who works at the company and can physically walk your resume to human resources (HR) department.

If you do not have a connection to the company you are applying with, there are tactics you can use to help increase your chances of making it through the databases’ prescreening process. Databases prescreen applicants based on keywords, so you should always customize your application and resume. Forget cutting and pasting. You should incorporate keywords into your application and resume that match what the position is looking for. For example,

“If your resume lists ‘social networking’ under your skills but the job posting says ‘social media’, change it.”

If you change even a few words, this could increase the chances of your application reaching a real, live person.

There are other ways to make your web search work for you. Consider using every online tool you possibly can, such as LinkedIn and Google Alerts. Make sure your LinkedIn profile or others are up-to-date, professional, and set up to receive emails. With Google alerts, you should choose several companies you are interested in working for and stay current with what’s happening within the company and which jobs are available. If you hear of an opening, apply right away. If you hear that the company plans to hire, don’t hesitate—submit your resume. And remember, it’s perfectly ok to send a follow-up letter in a week or so after clicking “submit.” This small gesture just might attract a significant amount of positive attention to your resume.

If you’re serious about finding a job in any professional career, you have to be on LinkedIn. Also, if you have a job but might be interested in a new job, the advice is the same.

Hopefully you’ve already heard this from others and you already have a profile. In that case do research on how to beef it up and get more prospective employers to find it.

If you haven’t heard this, or you’ve just been lazy about getting going, then get on there now and put up a profile!

Here’s some interesting information from a recent Fortune article on how LinkedIn will fire up your career.

If you need a job, or just want a better one, here’s a number that will give you hope: 50,000. That’s how many people the giant consulting firm Accenture plans to hire this year. Yes, actual jobs, with pay. It’s looking for telecom consultants, finance experts, software specialists, and many more. You could be one of them — but will Accenture find you?

To pick these hires the old-fashioned way, the firm would rely on headhunters, employee referrals, and job boards. But the game has changed. To get the attention of John Campagnino, Accenture’s head of global recruiting, you’d better be on the web.

To put a sharper point on it: If you don’t have a profile on LinkedIn, you’re nowhere. Partly motivated by the cheaper, faster recruiting he can do online, Campagnino plans to make as many as 40% of his hires in the next few years through social media. Says he: “This is the future of recruiting for our company.”

Facebook is for fun. Tweets have a short shelf life. If you’re serious about managing your career, the only social site that really matters is LinkedIn. In today’s job market an invitation to “join my professional network” has become more obligatory — and more useful — than swapping business cards and churning out résumés.

Companies explain that LinkedIn is more effective at finding qualified candidates, but it’s also more cost effective as well since employers don’t have to pay a recruiter.

Now it’s time to get started!

Few events have sparked so much conversation in this country on workplace issues like the bizarre story of Steven Slater and his strange meltdown at work. He’s now a celebrity with legions of Facebook fans and constant coverage on cable news, but his story does raise serious questions about workplace conditions, stress on the job and losing control under pressure.

The Seattle Times has a story about how flight attendants get most of the brunt of customer anger over things like baggage fees and other stresses of flying.

Forbes discusses how to avoid have a Steven Slater incident in your own organization.

Ohio.com has a story explaining how to resist the urge to have a Steven Slater moment.

Yes, the whole incident has been a circus, but we’re seeing some thoughtful analysis and advice coming out of what is becoming a teachable moment.

BusinessWeek recently had an interesting article on the challenges facing young people in this economy. Many of them just can’t land jobs.

Bright, eager—and unwanted. While unemployment is ravaging just about every part of the global workforce, the most enduring harm is being done to young people who can’t grab onto the first rung of the career ladder.

Affected are a range of young people, from high school dropouts, to college grads, to newly minted lawyers and MBAs across the developed world from Britain to Japan. One indication: In the U.S., the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds has climbed to more than 18%, from 13% a year ago.

For people just starting their careers, the damage may be deep and long-lasting, potentially creating a kind of “lost generation.” Studies suggest that an extended period of youthful joblessness can significantly depress lifetime income as people get stuck in jobs that are beneath their capabilities, or come to be seen by employers as damaged goods.

Equally important, employers are likely to suffer from the scarring of a generation.

This danger of “scarring” seems real, but if you find yourself in this group you have to be proactive and NOT let this hurt you. That may sound easy, as options are now clearly limited. However, on the other hand, the dire condition of the economy can also be used to alter your perceptions of what you need at this time in your life. Many graduates expected to get a high-paying job immediately upon graduation, and now many of those job aren’t available. Yet is that what you really need RIGHT NOW?

In many cases the answer is no. Maybe you can now consider a cool internship that pays little but offers an incredible experience. Perhaps you can take a much-needed break and go on that backpacking trip that you dreamed of doing after college. This of course depends on your funds, though the cost of travel has plummeted.

Alternatively, you can be aggressive about doing something entrepreneurial or contracting out services online.

We know if sucks out there, but you have to make the best of the situation you’re facing. Get motivated, and good things will happen!