On July 10, SLA-SD and SANDALL members met at the Center for
Sustainable Energy for the program titled “Technology and
Career Agility: Using New Tools for
Career Development.” Our host and
librarian for the Center for Sustainable Energy, Sarah Volpe, started the program with a brief overview of
the Center and its role in energy conservation.
The first speaker was Christian Gray from the Reprints
Desk. Christian focused his discussion on
using LinkedIn,
the social network site, for job searching and career networking. Christian emphasized the importance of using
good keywords in your LinkedIn profile, and to mention them frequently to
increase your chances of being found by a job recruiter for a position in your
field.
Next, Maurice Wilson from the Urban League of
San Diego County provided some great advice for
getting your foot in the door of an organization for which you would like to
work. He discussed the value of
volunteering for an organization, and relayed his experience on how he acquired
his position at the Urban League by at first volunteering. Maurice added that once you are in the door,
you need to make them love you. Make
sure you convince the people in the organization that you have value to offer
and participate in the operations of the organization, he added. Maurice noted that since most of the good
jobs are not advertised and are filled internally, getting involved with an
organization is especially important in getting your talents noticed. In our career pursuits, Maurice added that we
all should know our strengths and weaknesses and deal with them. He suggested that we use the Winslow
Assessment in determining these strengths and weaknesses (A free assessment is
available online at Winslow Reports. Registration is needed.)
Lisa Thomas, our final speaker for the program, addressed
the issue of drafting an effective online resume. Lisa works for Change Your Job/Change Your
Life and is affiliated with the San Diego-based resume building company,
GigTide. Lisa noted that online resumes should be
eye-catching yet provide relevant key words.
She commented that most resumes today are no longer read by a person, so
key words are especially important. Lisa
added that the online resume should be relevant to your goal, and should
“capture your past experience with an eye to the future.” She then went through the attributes of the
resume building software, GigTide, adding that the software allows the tracking
of multiple versions of your resume, provides unique URL links to your resumes,
and can be integrated with social networking sites. She also suggested having your online resume
critiqued by another person. This
critique will help the job-seeker determine the overall impression given by his
or her resume, how relevant the document is to his or her career field, and how
strongly relevant key words and phrases were used. Thomas has shared her PowerPoint presentation. Download How to Build an Effective Online Résumé
Upcoming Program Notice:
Stay tuned for information about our next program on
Thursday, Nov. 5, “Taking care of business in China
and India: Resources for researching new financial
powerhouses,” which is scheduled to be
at the Lemon Grove Library.
Submitted by Bobbi Weaver, President Elect
Jessica Meindertsma, currently working as a library marketing intern with Elsevier and starting her MLIS studies at San Jose State University this fall, has also reviewed SLA-SD's July program "Technology and Career Agility: Using New Tools for Career Development."
See Jessica's review and read the helpful tips that she heard during the program:
http://libraryconnect.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-to-use-new-technology-to-manage.html
Posted by: Daria DeCooman | 08/10/2009 at 06:21 PM