If you really look at it, getting to Hollywood from the Orlando American Idol Auditions is really similar to the job market in Orlando. There are fewer jobs and more qualified candidates, much like few spots to Hollywood and thousands of people that wait in line to audition. American Idol Auditions are invading Orlando next week.

Registrations are Tuesday, July 7th and Wednesday, July 8th with auditions being Thursday, July 9th. All the craziness will take place at the Amway Arena in Downtown Orlando.

So how do you stand out from the pack in your job hunt and land that 1st or 2nd interview (or an audition to see Simon, Paula and Randy and then get the golden ticket to Hollywood)? Here are 5 tips to work on this 4th of July Weekend:

Resumes and Objectives

Use your resume objective to set the tone for your personality, goals and reason for applying. Make this the strongest 1-2 sentences on your entire resume, being direct and stating a true objective as to what you wish to accomplish. If everyone sings the same song and you come in with a song that truly shows your personality, your skills and talent you give yourself a better opportunity to get your foot in the door and have someone listen.

Non Traditional First Impressions

First Impressions can be made anywhere. When you are looking for a job, you can meet a prospective employer anywhere from the grocery store to a networking event to Facebook. Sure sure you impress when you come across a potential boss. This may mean looking your best everywhere you go and cleaning up your online image. When a star walks in the room, Simon knows it instantly from how they enter, before they sing one word - you need to do the same.

Utilize Your Competition

Befriend your competition. The line for American Idol auditions will stretch as far as the eye can see. So can applicants at job fairs, on job boards and at networking events. Befriend the competition to see if you can learn anything from them. Maybe they went to an interview and a job wasn't for them, but may be for you and vice-verse. Knowledge is power in this job market.

Know the Company Inside and Out

Do your homework and know what the company is looking for and how you can take them to the next level. See where their weaknesses are, where their growth is coming from and apply your skill set and knowledge into the interview, resume or cover letter. Paying attention is an easy way to get attention. You can easily do homework by looking for company blogs, doing searches in LinkedIn or simply looking at Google and Google News.

Reactions

Keep your spirits high. American Idol gets some of their highest ratings in the audition time frame because America loves to see reactions and meltdowns. Do NOT be that person. Keep your head up and move on. There are jobs out there as evident by the over 11,000 job seekers Employment Guide has put back to work this year and will continue to do so through our job fairs, website and newspaper.

Here's to a great 4th of July weekend and best of luck to all the brave souls heading to the American Idol auditions next week. We'd love to hear stories so please leave them in the comments or send them to greg.rollett@employmentguide.com.

-Greg

Like many of us already know the economy is still bad and things have not improved, despite reports that things are turning around. Despite the fact that Portland's jobless jump outpaces the nation, and those in power may not have done all they can to create jobs. Portland can still hang its hat on small businesses. As layoffs mount, more and more people are starting their own business. Last month alone, Portland issued 579 new business licneses which is triple the number from a year ago and they have have issued nearly 7,000 in last 12 months. It all really picked up last September as the recession was just starting to take a hold of the economy. Oregon traditionally relies on small business for job creation than most other states. Companies with 500 employees or less provide 57.2% of all private sector jobs in Oregon compared to the nation average of 50.2%. Some other really good news about small business owners is that Jeff Merkley introduced new legislation to boost tax deductions to $10,000 for those who spend under $60,000 for start up. Currently there is a $5,000 tax deduction for those who spend under $50,000.

With it finally being summer up here in the Northwest, the kids are out of school looking for jobs and there doesn't seem to be many. High schoolers across the area have reported that it has been harder to get a job this year than most years. The teenage unemployment rate in 2008 was estimated at around 17%, but this year they are predicting that it will be up around 22-23%. With the saturated job-seeker market, companies are being really picky with sorting through resumes. This can be a good thing for those hiring though because they can sit back and evaluate all the resumes and applications to select candidates that meet their criteria.

Here is a great article from the San Francisco Chronicle that features some good job fair tips and a quote from our very own Christina Moneypenny. Christina has some excellent advice, "When you submit stuff online, that is great, but it is just a document. When you go to a job fair you get to bring the whole package. The recruiters are there and they will know within in 30 seconds whether or not you are the right person for the job."

So Portland, what is your take on small businesses? And is this something that will bring us out of the recession? Also what are your feelings on the shrinking job market for teens? Please leave your comments in the section below.

Click on the image below to view a copy of this week's edition of The Employment Guide in Portland.

The “Putting America Back to Work” job fair series, with over 50 events scheduled to be held across the country, returns to Pittsburgh on August 4th at Mellon Arena (home of the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins) from 10AM to 3PM.

The March event, which was also held at Mellon Arena, featured 45 companies and schools and was attended by approximately 1,500 job seekers. One aspect of this series across the country is the post event tracking of how many job offers are made to the job seekers who attended each event. The goal was 10,000 jobs by 2010. We expect an announcement soon on the status, nationwide, on how close we are getting to the goal now that we are half way through 2009. The Pittsburgh event in March has resulted so far in over 150 job offers made giving those in attendance a better than 1 in 10 chance of landing a job.

The upcoming August event is expected to be somewhat smaller in size due to the seasonal aspect of an early August job market. About 25 to 30 companies are expected to attend.

The doors will open to the public at 10:00AM with free admission and no pre-registration required. As we get closer to the event date a list will be made public of what companies and schools will be on hand to speak with job seekers.

This event, the 2009 Pittsburgh Diversity Employment and Career Education Expo, is produced by the Pittsburgh office of EmploymentGuide.com, The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, AARP Foundation WorkSearch and Allegheny Department of Veteran’s Affairs. Representatives from each of those organizations will be on hand to speak with job seekers about programs offered to help with job searches in this difficult economy.

The internet can be an invaluable tool for promoting yourself or your business—provided you know what you’re doing. Social media, online networking and tools that make communication of all kind quick and easy are great ways to get your name out there and get you known, but they can also get you in a lot of trouble if you don’t manage your online brand in the right way. Here are 5 tips to help you use social media to your advantage and build your brand without too many bumps along the road.

1. Use your profile to put a face on a brand.

When using sites where you need to develop a profile, use this as a chance to really showcase your brand and make it more personal to your customers. You also want to make sure that you keep your profiles consistent across the different social media sites so there’s no confusion about what your brand stands for. This will lead to better brand recognition, loyalty and even popularity if done right.

2. Make the most of networking and communication capabilities.

There’s no reason not to communicate with customers using social media. A generic presence on these sites won’t do you any favors. Take the time to actively engage with customers, listen to what they have to say and respond with your own answers, after all, it’s social for a reason. Being willing to communicate with others makes your brand more trustworthy, more valuable and just all around better.

3. Be genuine and build relationships.

If you want your target market to pass on recommendations about your company then you need to provide sincere engagement with them on your social media profiles and feeds. You can’t just use your blog or profile to push your personal products and expect this to get a great response. You brand will be much better served by offering information and conversation that’s of value not only to you but to your customers as well.

4. Make yourself unique.

Social media offers lots of opportunities to show off the real personality of your brand and make it stand out from the crowd. Spend your time building sites that reflect the “voice” of your brand and make sure all your content reflects the personality you want to associate with your brand.

5. Work your blog.

Blogging can be an excellent way to connect with customers and to start building your brand. That is, however, if you go about it in the right way. If you’re always just posting things that are essentially ads for your products you’ll probably bore all but your most hardcore fans. Instead, use your blog to share a passion for your industry, not just your product and become and authoritative, trusted and even entertaining source of information for your customers.


This post was contributed by Megan Jones, who writes about job search websites. She welcomes your feedback at Meg.Jones0310 at gmail.com

Many people do their best to keep their social life separate from their professional life. In many cases this is a good practice, but with the strong emergence of social networking on the Internet, this practice may not be the most prudent.

 

Here's a little background on the largest social networking site, Facebook, and one of the fastest growing, Twitter:

Facebook started out as a place where college students could interact, post pictures and create event invitations. It became stereotyped as a site where college students, many of whom were away from their parents for the first time, could express themselves with their peers without supervision. This soon changed as Facebook then became open to the entire public. With this change also came more functionality and more uses to the site for people of all ages.

 

Twitter on the other hand has gained popularity within the last two years and continues to grow. The site emerged out of consumers wanting information quickly and concisely. Twitter has become a favorite among celebrities and politicians that want to connect with their followers without sacrificing their privacy.

 

Fast-forward to today, and these two sites not only provide a great avenue for connecting with friends, but also finding a job! What better way to network with people from all over the world than through a social network? Now, this doesn't mean you should try to add friends randomly, but rather use contacts you already have to make connections with other people.

EmploymentGuide.com has made it even easier to make connections through social media. Become a fan of EmplomentGuide.com on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter in order to keep up with the latest from EmploymentGuide.com. Also, while there you?ll be able to connect with other people all across the country and discuss employment related topics. Who knows - maybe you?ll meet someone who could use an employee like you!

EG Weekly Publication June 22-June 28

Check out this week's great career opportunities:
Baltimore School of Massage
Stella Maris
North American Trade Schools
Chimes
UtiliQuest
Allines Staffing
All-State Career
Bello Machre
American Beauty Academy

I have been following a blog recently called the Spherion Career Blog that gives some pretty good advice on what to expect when job searching. I always seem to find something useful to add on here from their blog. Well I came across one of their post that features a little Q&A from one of their writers named Seymour who gives monthly insider tips. The topic that was presented this time was turning your temp job into a permanent one.

Q: Dear Seymour, I am currently working as a temporary employee
at my company. My coworker (who was also working temporary) was just offered
her position permanently. How can I turn my temp job into a permanent
one?

And here are tip that Seymour lists:

Confirm the opening. Ask your staffing employer or the HR contact at the organization where you are assigned if the position offers the possibility of permanent work. If it doesn't, you can still keep your eyes and ears open for other full-time job openings within your department or elsewhere within the organization.

Make your intentions known. It's important to share your intentions of securing full-time work with the company. Do your best to communicate your goal to coworkers and supervisors.
Exceed expectations in your temporary tasks. Remember, not only is a temp-to-perm assignment an opportunity for you to "try out" the position, your employer is likely sizing you up for the role as well. The single best way to make sure you are considered a candidate for permanent employment is to exceed your boss' expectations in your current assignment. In today's competitive labor market, becoming a star employee may even result in the organization creating a position for you if one is not currently available.

Take advantage of your inside contacts. If you've done a good job at building your credibility and proving your worth to colleagues and superiors, they can help serve as references and stepping stones to a permanent position within the organization.

Don't get complacent. Even though you're considered an "insider," it is still important to approach the interview and hiring process seriously. Make sure you convey why you're a good fit for the position, and the benefits of hiring you, such as your existing knowledge of the company.

These are some great tips for anyone right now that is in some kind of temporary position and wants to make it permanent. There are plenty of news stories out there right now that talk about how bad things are, so it is important to take advantage of all the help you can get. Even if it is as simple as smiling or showing more confidence, because you never know what might happen.

So Portland, let us know what your advice is on making your temp job permanent. Please feel free to leave comments in the section below.

Last week, we set out to the San Lake Orlando Campus of Strayer University and chatted with students on Personal Branding and promoting themselves online. It was a great presentation that featured a Dress Barn fashion show and some great info for both the students and faculty at Strayer.

If you would like the Orlando Employment Guide to come to your school, group or organization, please let us know by sending an email to greg.rollett@employmentguide.com. We are currently presenting on the following topics:

• Personal Branding
• Advanced Online Job Seeking
• Resumes, Cover Letters and First Impressions
• Successful Job Fairs

Here is the video from the presentation as well as the slides that accompany the talk. Submit feedback in the comments please. The video is a little long (about an hour) so view at your leisure.

5 Steps To Market Your Self Online | Strayer University Presentation

View more OpenOffice presentations from gregrollett.

-Greg Rollett

Click on the image below to view a copy of this week's edition of The Employment Guide in Portland.