What I’m Reading This Weekend

It’s a beautiful sunny Sunday, but I’m getting caught up on work rather than playing outside.  I guess there’s a career lesson in there somewhere: Work before play.  Or something like that.

If you are also stuck inside today, working on your resume or scouring job sites, take a few minutes to read through some of these great blog posts. 

Lots of good advice to be found, even in one of the toughest job searching climates the U.S. has experienced in decades.

… And on that happy note, here’s what I’m reading this weekend:

>> An older post from earnmydegree.com about how to pick the right online degree for you.  I have just recently found this blog and so far, I like what I’m reading.  I thought this article might be useful for some of you, especially in light of the fact that Mondays at the JobMonkey blog are now going to be dedicated to education as a career tool.   And I am pretty sure that online degrees will be an instrumental part of that.

>> This interview with the author of Claim That Job, Sharon Alexander. (The interview was published in the Wichita Times.)  While I have not read this book yet, I will definitely put in on my library list after reading this article.  Sharon has lots of great advice to dispense, including — surprise, surprise! — this tip on brilliant career networking:

So, how do you to get to know the right people? Make sure you have a business card. If you’re attending an event with a friend, get him or her to introduce you to the people they know first, and vice versa. That way, you will have both had a chance to practice speaking with like-minded people.

>> Change Your Job Search Environment at The Simple Jobs, another new blog (to me, that is.  The blog has been around for some time.)  Nice post with some fresh ideas for reinvigorating your job search.

>> 5 Things to Do Right Now If You Are Job Hunting at Lindsey Pollack.com.  Put items 1-4 on your To Do list for today (or, at the very latest, tomorrow morning).  Then make sure that item #5 — email or call 5 new contacts — is on your To Do list every day for the next week.

>> The X Factor at the Career Hub blog.  This post has some great proactive steps (which the author bases on the rather silly Simon Cowell reality show, the X Factor) that you can take to avoid losing your job.  Now I know that most of the JobMonkey blog’s readers are here because they are looking for a job.  So far be it from me to discourage you from making a career change, or even just a job change within the same career path.  But if you do currently have a job, I’d say you are probably better off hanging on to that income source while you look for a new opportunity.  You don’t have to be unemployed and broke to find your muse, ya know?