Universal emotions

According to this interesting blog post there are seven emotions that are universally common. During a job interview it could be important to be aware of this and to know how to identify these emotions through facial cues and body language.
This article (pdf)looks at the issue from a sales perspective but much of the information applies [...]

Job search safety

Technology has changed how we live our lives and how we look for work. Because most of us were not raised in an era where this type of technology was prevalent we may not be aware of some of the risks involved in using the Internet to look for work.
This article does a nice job [...]

Now Hiring

132 Victoria employers want your resumes

Cover letter tips

Let’s start off the week by looking at some articles on cover letters which will give you lots to think about.
Top 5 Tips on How to Create an Effective Cover Letter
Keep Negative Info Out of Your Cover Letter
10 Reasons Why this Cover Letter Rocks

Non-anglo names barrier for job hunters: Study

Some of you may have noticed this high-profile news story from yesterday. A new study indicates that job applicants with English-sounding names on their resumes are 40 per cent more likely to be called for an interview than those with Chinese, Indian or Pakistani names.
You should read the whole study(40 pp. pdf)if you are curious [...]

Growing your network

This excellent blog post has 37 tips for building you offline and online network. Check out the whole article but I want to highlight a few important tips below:
1. Get an easy-to-remember email address. A good format is firstname.lastname@webmail.com where “webmail” is Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc. Use this address for job search/work purposes only.
3. Prepare an [...]

The in-demand programming skills

Software Engineers and Programmers will want to take note of this postfrom the Career UpShift blog which identifies the skills tech employers are looking for.
Companies are looking for specific skill sets: Anything that is hard core algorithms, pattern recognition, statistics — applying algorithms to real world data. If you have these skills you are likely [...]

Listen up

This blog post about finding and keeping a job in a shrinking market is worth your time to check out. I want to highlight this interesting section:
Interview with your ears. Eighty-five percent of all job seekers talk too much in the interview. Listen closely to what the employer needs then respond as someone who can [...]

Picture this

Here’s why you don’t need to include your picture on your resume.

You and your references

Having an employment reference on our resume who doesn’t remember us or who gives a lukewarm reference can mean a lost job opportunity. While doing some research I stumbled upon this page (pdf) that does a good job of summing up the ins and outs of references.
Key points:

Check in with your references to get their permission [...]