Volume 3, Issue 9 September 2000
Job Link
Career Planning Tips
Helping Develop Careers from ASA
How NRI Can Help		 Moving Up from Junior Jobs
Notable Quotable
Our Disciplines and Locations


CAREER PLANNING TIPS

The following tips are from The Employment Guide’s Career Web, www.cweb.com. In total there are 25 tips, which will be spotlighted in the next issues of JobLink. Keep an eye out for more tips!

Before you begin your career search, ask yourself a few questions-and answer them. What do you want to do? What are you good at? What is your preferred work environment? What past work experience do you have? By answering these questions at the outset, you create a career plan-a clear, targeted objective you can use to focus your search. Review the following tips organized to help your further in your career planning process.

  1. Know what skills you most enjoy using. Job hunting requires going back to “square one” and making an inventory of what abilities you have been given, and what knowledge you have acquired to assist you in making a decision about a career. You should develop an understanding of yourself including values, interests, aptitudes, abilities, personal traits, and desired life style, and become aware of the interrelationship between you and your occupational choice.

    NOTABLE QUOTABLE
    “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”

    - Anatole France
    French novelist and Nobel laureate
    1844 - 1924

  2. Match your interests to career-related skills. To make a successful career choice, you must match your interests with your skills. There are a variety of tests: aptitude, personality, and interest that allow you to determine your strengths and match them to career-building skills.

  3. Identify a career direction. Career planning is a lifelong process, requiring continuous effort to meet changing employment conditions. To achieve and manage a satisfying career, it is crucial to identify a preferred career direction and to implement effective career enhancing strategies.

  4. Maximize your resources. There are many resources available to help you in planning a career. Locate vital information for career assessment, exploration, and planning to help you identify potential careers, gather information about those careers, and match the career to your own assessment of skills. These can include: career planning with a Staffing Specialist from NRI, attending career workshops, school career service centers, Internet resources, library resource centers, employment service departments, career fairs and career days.

  5. Research occupations. Find out more about the nature of the jobs that interest you, such as educational requirements, salary, working conditions, future outlook, and anything else that can help you narrow your focus.

  6. Gain practical experience. Evaluate your occupational choices and gain practical experience through internships, cooperative education, relevant summer employment, volunteer work, and campus activities.

  7. Begin preparation for a job search. Prior to embarking on your job search, it is crucial to learn how to prepare resumes and cover letters, complete employment applications, understand job search strategies, and practice interviewing skills.

  8. Prepare a career portfolio. Prepare a collection of work samples, a resume, recommendations, a personal data sheet, references, transcripts, copies of applications, and other pertinent data.

  9. Plan your personal job search campaign. Once you are aware of your career values, interests, and skills and are able to link them to the current workplace, you are ready to plan your personal job campaign. This entails: establishing your career goals, planning and organizing your job search campaign, preparing materials, and carrying out job search campaign tactics.

  10. Interview people whose occupations interest you. You can always find someone who has done something that at least approximates what you want to do. Find the names of such persons, and go see, phone, or write them. You will learn a great deal that is relevant to your dream.

    HOW NRI CAN HELP

    When it comes to career planning, NRI is one resource you don’t want to overlook. Our Staffing Specialists are trained to assist you with your career aspirations.

    NRI has five disciplines:

    • Accounting and Finance
    • HealthCare
    • IT and Technical Engineering
    • Legal
    • Office Support and Administration

    We have these different divisions for you! We want to make sure we are serving all job seekers to the best of our ability. If our Staffing Specialists didn’t specialize in a discipline, they wouldn’t be focused on learning more about the positions that matter the most to you.

    Our Staffing Specialists are trained to review your resume and assist you with finding your next job - whether it’s a temporary assignment or a permanent opportunity.

    We review thousands of job openings each year - asking our clients questions that are relevant to you. We want to make sure we understand each position and the pros and cons as they apply to you.

    We will also assist you throughout the interview process. We will give you realistic expectations about the job, the company and the interview process. And, when the time comes, we will help you negotiate salary and benefits.

    We want to be a part of your career planning!

    HELPING DEVELOP CAREERS: Staffing Firms Attract Workers In Tight Labor Market

    In today’s tight labor market-when workers have the widest choice of jobs in a generation-a national survey of America’s staffing companies shows that first quarter temporary help employment increased by 7 percent over the same period last year. According to the American Staffing Association quarterly survey, staffing firms employed 2.88 million temporary workers on an average day in the first three months of this year.

    “Even with the unemployment rate at a 30-year low, staffing companies continue to attract workers because they offer an important employment option for millions of American workers,” says ASA executive vice president Richard Wahlquist. “Evidence abounds that staffing firms quickly and efficiently match millions of people to millions of jobs, providing flexibility to those who want it and abundant temporary-to-permanent job opportunities for people looking for new employment settings.”

    From the American Staffing Association

    MOVING UP FROM JUNIOR JOBS

    The following article by Joyce Lain Kennedy came from monster.com’s Career Management section. The author was asked how, after several years at a job, to gain more responsibility and move up “the ladder”. Here’s her response:

    When you want to move up to the next level of responsibility, spend time with yourself mustering courage and self-confidence. Follow these steps to freedom from the rut:

    1. Record your achievements. Prepare two advancement-value files to record your qualifications that merit advancement. Use the first one to store documentation of newly acquired skills, knowledge and experience. Stumped? Stimulate recognition by glancing over listings of skills found in many career-advancement books. Create a second advancement-value file of your accomplishments and positive performance reviews or verbal compliments from peers, customers and supervisors. These files document your ability to do the quality of work required in a higher-level position.

    2. Make a comparison. Working from job descriptions and interviews with people who do the job you want, create a document that compares the content of your two advancement-value files with the requirements of the position you want. Anticipate how you will plug any gaps you discover with training or self-study.

    3. Get some feedback. Find a friend who is willing to suffer through your negotiating practice sessions using your advancement comparison document and give you feedback. If management won’t let you do the job you want immediately, be able, at least, to “talk the job” so your name will pop to mind when a vacancy occurs.

    4. Find some role models. The next step in your pursuit of promotion is to identify role models in your company who have been moved up to the level of the position you want. Observe and ask questions. Pay attention to how they...
      • get attention
      • network
      • involve themselves in decision-making
      • forward ideas and suggestions
      • showcase skills
      • handle stress
      • reflect company goals
      • dress, speak and behave
      • implement a work ethic
      • show a good attitude
      • communicate and listen

    Back off a few degrees from copycatting, but it makes sense to pattern yourself in the winning directions.

    A word to the Web savvy:
    Get face time with your skills and where they can take you. Visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s new database, ONet, the Occupational Information Network (http://online.onetcenter.org). The ONet database is designed to help people identify factors needed to succeed in more than 1,100 careers.

    ONet replaces the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), a professional career counseling tool since 1938. Born during an industrial economy, the DOT emphasizes blue-collar jobs. ONet, a newer and more consumer-friendly occupational information tool, reflects a modern workplace sheathed in information and services. The DOT is task-based, while ONet is skills-based. A task is something a worker does, and a skill is something a worker needs to do a task. This distinction has big implications in figuring out how you can transfer your skills to another workplace. Good luck!

    OUR DISCIPLINES AND LOCATIONS

    NRI Accounting Resources®
    Specializing in Accounting and Financial Positions
    11400 Rockville Pike, Suite 820, Rockville, MD 20852
    Phone: (301) 230-0440, Fax: (301) 770-6125,
    email: nri-accounting-md@nri-staffing.com

    734 15th Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20007
    Phone: (202) 628-3060, Fax: (202) 628-2838,
    email: nri-accounting-dc@nri-staffing.com

    NRI HealthCare®
    Specializing in Clinical and Non-Clinical Professionals
    11400 Rockville Pike, Suite 820, Rockville, MD 20852
    Phone: (301) 230-0444, Fax: (301) 230-0451,
    email: nri-healthcare-md@nri-staffing.com

    1302 Concourse Drive, Suite 2-3, Linthicum, MD 21090
    Phone: (410) 850-4035, Fax: (410) 850-5263,
    email: nri-baltimore@nri-staffing.com

    7617 Little River Turnpike, Suite 603, Annandale, VA 22003
    Phone: (703) 658-4033, Fax: (703) 658-1493,
    email: nri-healthcare-va@nri-staffing.com

    NRI Legal Resources®
    Specializing in Legal Secretaries, Paralegals and Law Firm Administration
    734 15th Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20007
    Phone: (202) 628-3022, Fax: (202) 628-2838,
    email: nri-legal-dc@nri-staffing.com

    1302 Concourse Drive, Suite 2-3, Linthicum, MD 21090
    Phone: (410) 850-4035, Fax: (410) 850-5263,
    email: nri-baltimore@nri-staffing.com.

    NRI Staffing Resources®
    Specializing in Office Support and Administrative Positions
    11400 Rockville Pike, Suite 820, Rockville, MD 20852
    Phone: (301) 230-0400, Fax: (301) 770-3198,
    email: nri-staffing-md@nri-staffing.com

    1302 Concourse Drive, Suite 2-3, Linthicum, MD 21090
    Phone: (410) 850-4035, Fax: (410) 850-5263,
    email: nri-baltimore@nri-staffing.com

    1899 L Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036
    Phone: (202) 466-4670, Fax: (202) 466-6593,
    email: nri-staffing-dc@nri-staffing.com

    7617 Little River Turnpike, Suite 603, Annandale, VA 22003
    Phone: (703) 658-1705, Fax: (703) 658-1493,
    email: nri-annandale@nri-staffing.com

    10780-90 Parkridge Boulevard, Suite 140, Reston, VA 22191
    Phone: (703) 391-8000, Fax: (703) 391-9091,
    email: nri-reston@nri-staffing.com

    NRI Technology Solutions®
    Specializing in IT and Technical Engineering Professionals
    1899 L Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20036
    Phone: (202) 466-4670, Fax: (202) 466-6593,
    email: nri-staffing-dc@nri-staffing.com

    10780-90 Parkridge Boulevard, Suite 140, Reston, VA 22191
    Phone: (703) 391-8000, Fax: (703) 391-9091,
    email: nri-technology@nri-staffing.com

    1302 Concourse Drive, Suite 2-3, Linthicum, MD 21090
    Phone: (410) 850-4035, Fax: (410) 850-5263,
    email: nri-baltimore@nri-staffing.com