Topic: Any experiance...

I'm considering hiring a career consultant. As I said earlier, business is really slow here and I think my job may be cut soon. Consulting services are REALLY EXPENSIVE and right now is not a good time to go into debt. Has anyone tried one of these career consulting firms?

Me Again?

If your worried about losing your job, why not start going into new interviews and passing around your card. Let your work speak for you, not someone else.

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cheers.jay

Ay, I'm going to a career counselor tomorrow. I'll tell you if it's any help. However, mine is free for vets, so I can't compare cost/benefits for you. But I DO know that there are usually state funded career workshops that are free and will SERIOUSLY drill you on interviews, networking, resumes, thirty second commercials and all SORTS of things.

I'm gonna go to one of those, too, someday.

Yeah, it helped. My resume was in sad shape. My interview skills (I haven't been interviewed in five years) was in need of drilling, which they did. I don't know how much I would pay for the service, but I needed it. They gave me information on how to get into film, which is hard to get. The only thing is that all this information is "DUH!?". It's stuff you could find online, if you had the time and patience. The interview skills are something that you can go over with someone who is around.

But, I think a good equation to figure out if it's worth it is to estimate the time it would take you to do all the research yourself and get peoples opinions (they have to count, so they've got to be company presidents and such), then multiply that by how much your time is worth to you. Then subtract that from the cost of the 2-3 hours that you're going to be with them, and if you're in the negative, you're good to go.

Plus, if you were to just do it yourself, you'd be spending the time that you could be studying in order to bring up your value.

That's all I've got. Any other questions, feel free to email me.

My uncle is the VP of a large career counseling service here in Kansas City. Its not a place for people like us, they deal mostly with displaced executvies, CEOs, that kind of thing. His services can run upwards of 15K. They do all kinds of things for a client though.

He helped me with my resume when I was thinking of leaving the teaching field and I can tell you that it would have been worth every penny if I were to spend a couple grand on it. I got my first post-teaching job based mostly on my abilities as an instructor BUT I got the interview because they enjoyed the T-letter I wrote as a cover letter for my resume. My boss at that job said that she knew she was going to bring me in as soon as she read that and just skimmed my resume.

About 4 months into that job a friend of mine came to me about the job I have now which is doing training for a pharmaceutical related company. My boss at this job has also said that my resume was outstanding and she also wanted to bring me in after seeing the cover letter alone.

As far as the services go, I'll just say this: I am making in a week right now what I was making in two weeks at either of my past jobs. So yeah, I'd say it would be worth talking to a career counselor.

Make sure there is some kind of guarantee in the contract though. My uncle said if they can't give you some kind of guarantee then you should shop around more.

Good luck!

Oh, and here's what a T-letter is:

Start with something like this....

"In response to your advertisement dated August 4, 2001 on monster.com, for ?Web Build Specialist,? please consider the following:"

Then create a two column table. The left column should have the heading "Your Requirements." The right column should have the heading "My Qualifications." Then just go down, cell by cell, detailing their listed requirements on the left and your qualifcations on the right. For your qualifications use words of action like.

"Organized a team to...."
"Managed an effort to...."
"Completed a class in...."

Things like that.

If you want more info I could probably dig up some stuff out of my files here. Just lemme know and I'll see what I can produce.

krets: That is very good advice - my brother is looking for a job so I've been sending him various stuff and T-letters looks worth a try - I did a quick search and came up with:
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/tletter.html
www.mnworkforcecenter.org/cjs/cjs_site/cjsbook/resume7.htm

Emps




You're my wife now Dave

hey krets & emps, thanks alot for what you have posted, it has been very helpful... I am looking for a new job right now and I am not getting too positive of a response from my resume... so I need a better strategy!

ANY more ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank You kretsminky & Emperor, this has been very helpful. This has taken on a higher priority now, as my (former) employer has filed for bankruptcy and layed off ALL the staff. For now I'll try Red's advice and try to figure it out myself (your links Emperor are a great start) I've also signed on with an agent, but he warned in a slow economy, businesses are less likely to turn to agents for talent (too expensive for them).
One thing the agent told me was to create something outstanding to get the attention of a hiring manager. I had been distributing cd roms to prospective employers, but this approach has now become commonplace. I'm open to suggestions, just nothing involving bungee jumping into the VP's office.

Thanks again all.

Me Again?