If you’re starting a new job, you’ve probably got a million and one thoughts running through your head: What will my new boss be like? Will I get along with my co-workers? How soon can I start digging into my new projects? You might be so busy thinking about the big picture that you’re overlooking the details of your first day at work. Here are some small things that might be easy to neglect during the first days and weeks at a new job, but can really make or break you in the eyes of your new employers and co-workers.

Tip #1: Don’t Be Late

You’re probably going to be taking a new train line, a new bus route, or a new freeway to get to your new job, and chances are, it’s going to take longer than you anticipate. Test drive (or test ride) your new route before you start your new job so you know how long it takes and you don’t end up being late your first week. Factor in extra time if there’s traffic, construction, etc.

Tip #2: Don’t Forget Your Documentation

When you start a new job, you usually need to fill out a variety of forms and paperwork. This means you’ll probably need your driver’s license, social security card, and possibly a passport. Set the items out the night before you start your new job so you don’t forget them It’s also a good idea to check with the hiring manager to find out if there’s anything else you need to bring with you, which will ensure that you: 1.) get paid on time and 2.) don’t make enemies out of the HR staff on your first day.

Tip #3: Don’t Blow Off Orientation

Many companies require new employees to go through an orientation or training process during their first week in a new position. It can be tempting to blow these sessions off or treat them lightly: don’t. Your training managers, even if they’re not going to be your direct supervisor, are watching you. If you treat these classes lightly or smirk during video presentations, you can bet that the training mangers will be reporting your behavior back to your boss and team members. Likewise, thoughtful questions and attentiveness on your part can prove to the hiring managers, training managers, and your future bosses that you are really invested in your new position.

Tip #4: Don’t Forget to Learn First

Of course you want to make a great impression during your first week at a new job, and show your new employers they made the right choice in hiring you. And while enthusiasm is admirable, wanting to implement new policies and ideas right from the get go (especially if you’re in a managerial position) may not be the best way to align yourself with your new team. Before you start changing policies and implementing new initiatives, take the time to really learn your job, your team members, and how everything functions together in the company as a whole. From there, you’ll be able to make the kind of contributions that your bosses will appreciate and your co-workers will respect and stand behind.

Tip #5: Don’t Forget to Ask Questions

You may be so eager to start your new job that you don’t want to stop and ask questions. But by skipping even the most basic questions (the ones you might be embarrassed to ask), you are setting yourself up for failure. You need to ask everything – from what your specific job duties are to who can help you set up your computer to how documentation is recorded.

In other words, put your ego in check and ask about everything: it will show your employer how thorough you are, and it will prevent you from making mistakes as you move forward.

This is a guest post by Noel Rozny:

Noel Rozny writes the career blog mypathfinder for the myFootpath website. As the myFootpath web editor and content manager, she is passionate about helping students of all ages find the degree or career path that’s right for them. myFootpath is a resource to help you in your search for a college, degree program, career, graduate school, and non-traditional experiences. Visit www.myfootpath.com to start your college or degree program search.

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Unemployment seems stuck at 10% and it’s not getting better very quickly.

One unique feature about this recession seems to be that if you do lose your job, it could take you a long time to find another one. Every day there are more headlines about the long term unemployed and how tough it is out there if you’ve been laid off.

Almost half of those on unemployment have been collecting for over six months or more. As the BLS wrote in its report on April job figures:
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) continued to trend up over the month, reaching 6.7 million. In April, 45.9 percent of unemployed persons had been jobless for 27 weeks or more.

We’ve seen the same thing at ResumeWriters.com. We have clients that are coming to us as a last resort because they’ve been job searching for a solid year and have gotten nowhere.

What do you do if you’re one of the long-term unemployed?

One of my favorite job search tips that I often share with my clients is a simple one.

I’ve told you before that your job search should be organized. Hopefully that includes keeping records (a calendar, diary or journal) of the various places you’ve applied to. It’s important to keep track of who you’ve sent resumes to, when, what the response was, when you interviewed, and what the result might have been. This level of organization is key to an organized, strategic job search.

So, if you find yourself months into a job search and feel like you’re hitting a wall, try something simple:

Cycle back through your early applications!

After all, if it’s been several months since you made contact, things might have changed in the intervening time period. New positions might be open. New people might be in charge with new agendas.

This works even if your application was rejected. Doubling back and expressing interest again is a great way to show your commitment and strong desire to work with that company.

And if you interviewed with the organization (but didn’t get the job) even better! Hopefully they’ll remember you. That might even put your foot in the door a bit because you’ve already been through their hiring process once, so the decision making might be smoother.

So if you’ve got a list of companies you’ve applied to from several months ago, try the following:

• Send emails, drop post cards, pick up the phone and touch base.
• Remind the contact that you’ve applied in the past, and even though a connection wasn’t made, stress that you really respect their organization and are so motivated to work with them that you thought you’d give it another go.
• Keep organized and mention the date of your first application. Mention the position you applied for originally.
• Inquire about that position. But if it’s been filled, don’t skip a beat: ask if anything else has opened up that you might be a good fit for.
• Remind them you’re available and even suggest you’ll be in contact again after a period of time.
• If you’ve already interviewed with the person once, thank them for their time and suggest that you felt the first interview was so constructive it inspired you to call again.
• If you already interviewed with the organization, but with someone else in the company, don’t be afraid to mention that you’ve been interviewed before. It will tell this new contact that you know what to expect and have a bit more knowledge of their organization than some Jane Doe off the street.
• Finally, record this contact in you notes so that if you do have to cycle back again, you can make sure to wait an appropriate period of time.

Job search is not a one and done thing. Just because you weren’t successful the first time doesn’t mean you can’t double back and check the same waters a second, or even a third time!

Related posts:

1. Job Search Hack- Organize Your Search Using The Rule Of Thirds
2. Retro Job Search Hack- Remember The Fax?
3. Filling Out Paper Job Applications: Unwritten Etiquette Rules for Requesting and Submitting

So after all the hemming (himming?) and hawing, I guess we’re getting a stimulus package. The whole idea behind this thing is to create jobs… stem the flow of job losses… prevent a new great depression… give everyone a pony… take your pick.

Is there useful news here for job seekers? Are there specific jobs/industries that might be hiring now that govt. money is flowing?

I don’t think you can think of the stimulus package as a chart to guide you on your job search. The whole idea is to get growth going and to have various projects create knock-on job creation from various related industries.

But here are a few specifics I’ve been able to glean from some careful reading of the intertubes (sources here, here, here, here and here).

• Generally, we’re all supposed to get benefits in the form of tax cuts and extensions to things like unemployment benefits and COBRA.
• Hopefully the flood of state and municipal worker layoffs well recede a bit as money is flowing to the state and local level to shore up their faltering balance sheets. This is good news for teachers, nurses, firemen, etc. etc. on down the line, assuming this gets to the right places.
• The package overall seems to be excellent news for tech folk. You hear about computerizing medical records. Creating a smart utility grid. Expanding and adding muscle to our broadband grid. Might this mean hiring more network technicians, programmers, installers and the like? Sounds like it.
• Overall, there might be more jobs in the horror scene that is the construction sector. Yes, I guess we’ll get some of those roads, bridges and other “shovel ready” projects we’ve heard so much about. But there’s also money for things like rebuilding, updating and modernizing schools. So… work for architects and engineers too, right?
• The various aspects of the alternative energy industry seem to be getting a boost. It might behoove you to do some research on “green tech” companies. They might be hiring. The package allots $50 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.
• Heck, all this talk about modernizing the energy efficiency of government buildings and weatherizing homes. I don’t know the exact industry, but there has to be installers for that sort of thing, right? Might be a growth field for the next year or two.

Finally, this quote caught my eye. What to know the future, young man? Forget plastics. Think asphalt.

The Federal Highway Administration has estimated that every $1 billion the federal government spends on infrastructure projects translates to 35,000 jobs. Collins put the total infrastructure spending — including highways, mass transit, environmental cleanups and broadband facilities — at $150 billion. Do the math and that translates into more than 5 million jobs, based on the highway administration’s assumptions.

But there was also this quote:

But even with the stimulus, many economists predict a net loss of 2 million, 3 million or even more jobs this year. The recession already had cost 3.6 million through January. The unemployment rate, now at 7.6 percent, highest in more than 16 years, will probably hit at least 9 percent by next year.

Related posts:

1. What You’d Get From The (So Called) Economic Stimulus Package
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(No, not that Jobs…)

I’ll let Marketwatch sum it up:

Nonfarm payrolls contract by 533,000 in November, the worst monthly job loss in 34 years. Since recession began 11 months ago, 1.9 million jobs have been lost, pushing jobless rate to highest level since 1993.

Now, I want to temper this news with something a little more hopeful. Via Cheezhead, HotJobs has released some new top ten lists:

Top 10 Cities with the Most Jobs

1. New York
2. San Francisco
3. San Jose
4. Houston
5. Atlanta
6. Oakland
7. Los Angeles
8. Phoenix
9. San Diego
10. Dallas

Top 10 Industries in Hiring Activity

1. Health Care
2. Retail
3. Sales
4. Technology
5. Accounting & Finance
6. Telecommunications
7. Manufacturing & Operations
8. Engineering
9. Clerical & Administrative
10. Pharmaceutical & Biotech

Related posts:

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(No, not that Jobs…)

You might have seen the headlines this morning. The jobs report pretty much confirms the badness we’ve been feeling. The jobless rate is at a 14 year high.

But charts are worth a thousand words, so here’s a handy chart of the jobs reports from the last 12 months:

Related posts:

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2. New Report Ranks the Most Depressing Jobs
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As I promised last week, it’s time to take a step back and assess where we’re at.

You may have noticed that things have been crazy and scary in our economy recently. The good news is that hopefully Hank, over there to the right, might finally have landed on a mixture of fixes that will keep the banks alive.

The bad news is, the recession is still neigh, and we’re only in the early innings. There are going to be more layoffs and the job market is going to get worse – much worse – before it gets better.

I started this blog almost a year ago because we were just beginning to see the signs that things were getting bad. I wanted to have a venue to get some helpful advice out there. Last year, it was just the mortgage brokers. Then it was the construction industry. Then it was the banking industry. Now it’s almost everyone.

So here’s a quick summary post of “what you should do now” using some of my earlier posts as touchstones.

1) Do you have a job? Good. Hold on to it.

If you have a job that’s reasonably secure, then now is not the time to get adventurous. Try to hold on to it for dear life. A job in hand is worth anything you might be able to find in the bush in these circumstances.

And the best advice I can offer you now if you think your job is probably safe: take out insurance anyway. Set up a rainy day fund just in case your guess is wrong. (Original post here)

2) Is your job in trouble? Be proactive.

Get your butt in gear now. I wrote a comprehensive 5-post series about how to a) detect if layoffs are coming and b) try to position yourself in such a way that you can be one of the survivors. (Original post here with links to the 5 post series)

Also, I have 8 sure signs that your company is in trouble and thus your job might be on the line. (Original post here)

3) If you find yourself job searching, remember, it WILL happen eventually.

I’m not gonna lie. It’s going to be tough out there. You’re going to send your resume out dozens of times and hear nothing back. You’re going to be competing with dozens of people for each open position. And you might have to go through 8 interviews before you finally make the right impression.

Job searching during a recession is a difficult task. But there are some helpful tips I can pass along. (Original post here).

And finally, a reminder that tomorrow will be another day. Things won’t stay bad forever.

And downturns are often a time of opportunity. It’s not doom and gloom everywhere, as this post reminds you: (Original post here). A quick excerpt from that last post:

We founded ResumeWriters.com at the height of the dot com bubble. And so we were there for the nuclear winter when the bubble burst. At one point, fully 1/3 of our clients were out of work techies.

Some of them got out of tech and moved on to another career path.

But I can say this with certainty: the tech folks that stuck with their career path are now doing very well. And the two clients we helped get hired at Google in early 2003? They’re multimillionaires now. Even in a nuclear winter, there are opportunities for the future; somewhere out there, good people are hiring.

Related posts:

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(No, not that Jobs…)

It seems the banking and housing crises might be nearing the end of their panic throes.

…aaand we are beginning to enter the downswing in the hiring market. The job market seems to be lagging the other problems we’ve been seeing in the economy, but a downturn in hiring could be a leading indicator of an “official” recession.

I’d get while the getting is good. The next six months or so could be ugly. Happy Friday.

Unemployment climbs to 5-year high of 6.1 percent (AP)

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Up here in Michigan, the summer of our discontent seems to go on and on and on. It’s well known that this region has been struggling with with what experts like to euphemistically call an “economic transition” for several generations now. But this year, with the US automotive industry teetering literally on the edge of oblivion, people up here are more nervous than ever.

I was speaking with a friend this weekend who works for an auto-related company. I asked him if he was nervous about his own job and the prospects for his own company. Indeed, he was:

“We have meetings all the time now. Almost every day. Tons of meetings are a bad sign for any company.”

We talked about it some and I agreed that he was right. A rash of meetings is bad news.

“It’s a sign management is flailing,” my friend said. “They’re out of ideas. And they’re out of ideas for finding new ideas. So they keep calling meeting after meeting in the hope that a good idea will magically show up.”

We got to talking more and came up with this list of additional signs your company is struggling and your job might not be safe from layoffs:

• They bring in the consultants. Never a good sign. A swarm of consultants descending on your operations is another admission by management that they’re out of ideas.
• The bigwigs above you start to lose their jobs. I mentioned I had written a post about that just this week.
• Your company moves to new, smaller office space. Cost cutting starts here. The next step is eliminating positions.
• Divisions, teams or offices are consolidated. Consolidation means only one thing: they’re cutting costs by eliminating redundancies. Why have three people do a job when one person can be made to do it? You job could be one of those redundancies.
• Travel expenses are cut. Things are really bad if a travel moratorium is introduced.
• You are asked to take a pay cut. This is literally management saying to you: please pay for your own stay of execution.
• Extra security it brought in. This is usually a sign that the end times are positively neigh. When layoffs are imminent, companies not only hire extra security, my friend pointed out that they often try to bring in new security folk or outside help. This way you will be escorted out of your office by someone you don’t know, as opposed to your old, reliable security guard that you might have become friendly with over the years, and who would likely look the other way as you absconded with your (the company’s) stapler.

Related posts:

1. How To Save Your Job- How To Know When Layoffs Are Coming
2. How To Know If Layoffs Are Coming – And What To Do About It
3. Yahoo Layoffs Update

I wanted to post this story, and then I found this picture that tied together both of today’s informational posts.

I’ll just quote from the first line of the story:

When even lawyers are nervous about losing their jobs, you know things are getting rough.

Lawyers In The Lurch (Businessweek)

Related posts:

1. The Euphemistic Language of Layoffs
2. How To Save Your Job From A Recession
3. 8 Sure Signs Layoffs Are Coming

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a veteran of the “startup company” environment.

Getting a job at a startup can be a hell of a boost for your career… if you survive it. You can learn more in 1 year at a startup than you can in most other work environments. The ad-hoc nature of the startup world means you’ll be trusted to do things and take on responsibilities much faster than you would otherwise… much faster than you’re ready for.

Looking to give the startup world a try? The following is an excellent multi-part post from Venture Hacks, giving you a bit of a road map when negotiating a position at a startup:

I have a job offer at a startup, am I getting a good deal? Part 1.

Don’t get confused. YES… they have the EXACT same blog design we do. Happens.

Related posts:

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