We spend a lot of time working. We also have special talents that differentiate us from others. Some people are good at writing. Others are good at taking photographs. Some of us are good at running marathons. Some could sell a snowball to a snowman.

Most people would like to be doing something they love. Guess what? You can! There is a realistic way of turning your talents into a career. As the saying goes, “if you can do what you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”

Are you ready to take the plunge? Here are some recommendations for starting your dream job:

Prepare to Work Part Time

It’s good to have a backup plan. So yes, you may have to start by keeping your day job and working on your preferred career on the nights and weekends. Starting an entire career is difficult no matter what the industry. Quitting your day job to pursue your dreams may not be possible for everyone. This way you will always have a steady income in case you need to regroup or change direction. That being said, sometimes when the rug is pulled out from underneath us, we tend to work that much harder.

Be Creative

If you want to turn a hobby or an interest into a business, you may need to think outside the box. If you really love hockey, but don’t have the skills, consider starting a blog or a skate shop. Although you may not have the ability to hold the Stanley Cup over your head, you will likely still love your job because it deals with the same subject matter. You may need to modify your hobbies or interests in order to create a stronger career.

Create an Online Presence

It’s important to create a website and social media channels for your new business. A professional looking website will show that you’re serious. Create engaging content about your hobby/area of interest through a blog and repost these tidbits on Facebook and Twitter.

Network: Virtually and In Real Life

It’s no secret that networking is extremely important for any business. You can do this by setting up a LinkedIn profile, as well as attending local networking events. Make sure all of your online information is included on your business cards. Go out and search for professionals who you think might like to help you jumpstart your business—you may be surprised who you can get on your side.

Hire Help and Advertise

This step doesn’t come into play until your business is making enough money to become your full time career. You may want to take out a small business loan if you feel your company has the potential to grow. These are usually available for most brick and mortar businesses. If you work from home, this may be a bit more difficult. This will allow you to hire experts to keep track of your business finances, legalities and other tasks.

Starting a business is one of the most difficult things you can do, yet one of the most rewarding. These suggestions are simply the stepping stones to help turn your talent or skill into a career. Good luck!

Are you ready to find your dream  job? Call Clark Personnel Services! We’ll work with you to find the right job for your talents, skills and passion.

Talk to the Expert about Resumes that Result in Interviews
May 3rd @ 8:00 AM PST/ 9:00 AM MST/ 10:00 AM CST/11:00 AM EST

Your resume will either screen you in or out for an interview.  We will be joined on this webinar by one of the individuals who conducts our free resume reviews.  They know what it takes to write a resume that gets attention!  This call is a must attend for anyone involved in a Job Search.

Could your Job Targets be Sabotaging your Job Search?
May 10th @ 8:00 AM PST/ 9:00 AM MST/ 10:00 AM CST/11:00 AM EST

Your Job Targets can make or break your Job Search.  If you are not experiencing success in your Job Search – it could be your targets.  During this session you will learn the following:

• How to identify the best Job Targets for your credentials
• How to identify the right person within those targets
• What it takes to get your targeted prospects to contact you

Log into your Happy Candidates back office and click on EVENTS tab on the Navigational Button Bar. Register for the upcoming webinars by clicking on the event and then clicking the webinar registration link.

Please go to www.clarkpersonnel.com and click on our career portal to register.

The end of the college year is right around the corner. In a few weeks college graduates will flood the industry fields looking for new opportunities. However, there is another type of valuable college student that may go unnoticed: undergraduates.

Many colleges and universities require a minimum number of internship hours for graduation. This can be in various majors including communications, business, teaching, sciences, etc. College students can be a very valuable resource for your business, and you can provide them with on-the-job lessons that will last a lifetime.

A strategic plan should be considered before bringing on any intern. The proper planning will ensure a great partnership for your organization and the intern as well.

Create a well-developed position description

Vague descriptions of a job will deter the brightest candidates. Including specific skill requirements and intern duties is essential, but also remember to include a thorough description about the company, and what it has to offer.

Don’t be afraid to dig deep

Many top candidates bypass unpaid internships. No one is saying that you need to pay an intern the same as your entry-level employees, but even an offer of minimum wage can woo a candidate from taking a different unpaid internship.

Trust your interns

If you are hiring competent interns, they could turn into eventual employees. Feel free to give them at least one big project to work on during the term. Or have them jump in on a team project. Interns want to do more than just file papers and get coffee. If you are giving them real-world experience, the internship reputation for your company will skyrocket, allowing for interest from great candidates.

Create a mentor program

Starting an internship, especially at a larger company, can be very intimidating. Assign a mentor on the first day of an intern’s term. That mentor can show them around the facility, take them to lunch and foster a working relationship. A welcoming mentor allows for interns to ask questions and get more out of their internship.

Don’t be a “namist”

Many employers drool over resumes from Ivy League schools. Some of the best candidates can be found at any university. It’s not where the student is learning, but what and how they are learning that counts. Review the skill sets that you are looking for in the position. Don’t just assume a big-name school will be providing you with a better prospect than that small school you are not familiar with.

Need more tips on how to find the right interns? Contact Clark Personnel Services for more information!

When you’re trying to find a job, it’s easy to think of the hiring manager as the villain. Or the dragon you have to get past to get a job. But to increase your chances of getting hired, try to understand the hiring process from a hiring manager’s point of view. Some points to ponder:

1. Hiring managers are human beings too

When you go looking for a job, you’re preoccupied, of course, with your own needs and priorities.  Well, a hiring manager is interested, first and foremost, in protecting and promoting her own career. And she’s not going to willingly make a decision or take an action that might jeopardize it.

Your goal is to help them feel secure about hiring you. Managers want employees who are competent in terms of knowledge and skills, yes—but who can also be managed easily. A hiring decision for a manager is about feeling safe, in terms of protecting her department, her goals and her team.

2. Hiring is a risk assessment exercise

Managers know that nobody is perfect. Everyone has shortcomings, weaknesses, faults, biases and prejudices. And everyone has a downside. There’s a lot of truth to the old cliche that people hire who they know. Why? It’s easier to hire somebody you know because it’s easier to assess their downside.

In formal interviews, many questions are designed to uncover weaknesses and shortcomings: What is your greatest weakness? Describe a situation in which you were unsuccessful achieving a goal, and how did you respond? How would you rate your ability to resolve conflict on a scale of 1 to 10, from low to high, then give me an example?

3. Hiring is about pain relief

Consider the priorities of a hiring manager. Managers are responsible for achieving the goals and objectives of their organization. If it were easy to attain those goals, they could do all the work themselves and wouldn’t need employees!

But, of course, various problems, challenges, issues and pressures get in the way of corporate goals and objectives. To a sales professional, these things are known as “pain points.”

Salespeople need to understand their prospects’ pain points in order to make that pain go away. In a job search, you’re selling yourself as the product or service for the hiring manager’s pain relief.

Your job in an interview is to uncover that agenda.  Listen for clues to the hiring manager’s pain points. Respond not with the features of your value proposition (i.e. your education, experience, personal traits) but with benefits (i.e. how you can help them with their pain points).

Establish rapport with a manager by focusing on their needs and priorities.  Flush out concerns. What challenges, issues, problems, pressure points are driving this hiring decision? Reduce risk. Find out what red flags the manager may have about hiring somebody they don’t know. Make it easy for them to hire you!

For more great interview tips, contact Clark Personnel today!

7 DO’S and DON’TS for Employers under the Alabama Immigration Act – Updated,
By: Tommy Eden, Attorney • Capell & Howard, P.C

On June 9, 2011, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed into law the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act (the Act 2011-535 “Act”) and on September 28, 2011 U.S. Federal District Judge Sharron Blackburn temporarily enjoined (stopped from going into effect) certain portions of the Act. On October 14, 2011 the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined two additional provisions. Almost all of the provisions affecting Alabama employers remain in place as of this publication and impose significant new employer-related compliance obligations. At the core of the Act is compliance with the Federal Form I-9 requirements under the Immigration Reform Control Act of 1986 and enrollment in the Federal E-Verify program. The following list is a Do’s and Don’ts summary of the employer obligations updated following the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision of October 14, 2011:

1. DON’T knowingly employ, hire for employment, or continue to employ an unauthorized alien to perform work within the State of Alabama. Effective January 1, 2011, all Alabama business entities seeking to contract with the State of Alabama, or any political subdivision thereof (City, County, public authority, etc), or “transact business” with any of these same entities, should prepare now to verify the status of every new employee through the federal E-Verify procedures, secure documentation that they are in fact a business entity (most likely a record from the Alabama Secretary of State), fire unauthorized aliens and have an immigration compliance check-up conducted to allow the business to provide a good faith affidavit of immigration compliance [Sections 9, 15, 26 and 30 of the Act] to the political subdivisions it seeks to contract with or “transact business” with. Hopefully, a central filing by a business entity with the Alabama Secretary of State or Alabama Department of Homeland Security will allow for this to be an orderly process and no later than 90 days following the effective date of the Act all Alabama employers enrolled in E-Verify will have their name listed on a state website [Section 26 of the Act].

2. Do enroll in E-Verify. Effective April 1, 2012, every Alabama business entity or employer should be enrolled in E-Verify to verify the employment eligibility of every new hire in the State of Alabama. E-Verify provides a safe harbor so that an employer who uses the E-Verify system “shall not be deemed to have violated [Section 15 of the Act] with respect to the employment of that employee.” A business entity or employer that uses E-Verify to verify the status of an employee in good faith “and acts in conformity with all applicable federal statutes and regulations is immune from liability under Alabama law for any action by an employee for wrongful discharge or retaliation based on a notification from the E-Verify program that the employee is an unauthorized alien.” Three violations involving employment of unauthorized aliens can result in permanent revocation of all licenses and permits to do business throughout the State of Alabama.

3. DO schedule Form I-9 Supervisor Training. The federal E-Verify system is only as accurate as the information collected on form I-9. Also, do put an E-Verify policy in your employee handbook and make sure that you are using the latest version of Form 1-9.

4. DO have an outside Immigration Compliance Check-up done of your Form I-9s and Immigration Practices. E-Verify is an employer’s only get out of jail card with Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) and the only safe harbor under the Alabama Immigration Act. Millions of dollars of ICE fines and prison sentences have been levied against employers that are out of compliance. Effective January 1, 2012 every business entity, employer and subcontractor that contracts with any public entity in the State of Alabama will have to prove by affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that they are enrolled in EVerify and have a good faith belief that they are currently only employing those legally eligible to work in the United States. [Section 9 of the Act]. Two violations by an Alabama employer can result in permanent revocation of all licenses and permits to do business throughout the State of Alabama. Expect businesses to mandate by contract such affidavits as well.

5. DO properly terminate any employee if you become aware of their unlawful status. The employer could face severe business penalties involving probation, suspension and permanent revocation of Alabama business licenses and permits [Sections 9 and 15 of the Act].

6. DON’T enter into contracts with unauthorized aliens. The Act provides that no court shall enforce the terms of, or otherwise regard as valid, any contract between a party and an alien unlawfully present in the United States [Section 27 of the Act]. However, on October 25, 2011, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Scott Vowell found this provision violated Section 95 of Alabama Construction (prohibits impairing of contracts) in that he found the law, as applied to a contract which predated the Alabama Immigration Act, was unconstitutional.

7. DO have employees carry ID proving their lawful status in the U.S. Significantly, the 11th Circuit left in place Section 18 of the Act (drivers of motor vehicles to have their drivers licenses in their possession at all times or subject to detention to verify citizenship); and Section 30 (must prove lawful status to enter into any “business transaction” with public entity, i.e. business license, license plate, drivers license renewal, non driver ID card, etc.). An unexpired Alabama Drivers License or Nondrivers Identification Card issued by the Alabama Division of Motor Vehicles is sufficient verification of lawful status. Placing in your job description that possession of a valid driver’s license as an essential job qualification may be considered to ensure that your employees will not be detained while driving on company business. If you would like to schedule an Immigration Compliance Check-up of your Form I-9s and Immigration Practices, please contact deborahf@csbcpa.com. CSB will be performing these services in conjunction with Capell & Howard, P.C.

About the author: Tommy Eden is an attorney with Capell & Howard, P.C. and a member of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law, and presented throughout the State of Alabama on Immigration Workplace Compliance in 2011. Tommy can be contacted at tme@chlaw.com or 334-241-8030. A more detailed legal summary for employers of the Act, and other links and resources, is at www.immigrationalabamalaw.com

This Do’s and Don’ts summary is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. “No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.”

As companies engage in the incredible marketing power of social media, they’re also discovering that while there are very few laws in place yet, there are plenty of legal concerns.

One of the biggest concerns? How much power do they have over what their employees post on social media sites? What about privacy, discrimination and the right of employees to discuss the terms and conditions of their employment?

Proactive Measures

To strengthen their legal rights, companies must be proactive in setting clear policies regarding employee use of social media. By establishing guidelines, companies can protect their own interests and give employees a roadmap for appropriate conduct.

Develop a plan. Companies must clearly communicate the appropriate venues for discussing workplace issues and then make sure that employee concerns are addressed. Just prohibiting workplace discussions on social media may not protect companies from action by the National Labor Relations Board.

Write a policy. If a company takes a neutral or positive stance regarding employee use of social media to discuss work, it must develop a policy to guide that use. Companies shouldn’t assume that employees know they shouldn’t post confidential information or that they should keep their posts strictly factual. The policy should spell out the rules in clear and concise language and make it clear to employees that they are company representatives and need to act appropriately in the virtual world.

Employers must be careful to define terms and provide examples to ensure that the policy is clear. Failing to do so can result in litigation.

Educate employees. As with e-mail, social media can be used effectively in the business setting. But employers shouldn’t assume that employees know all the pitfalls. The specifics of what is and isn’t appropriate should be reinforced through periodic training that focuses on particular aspects of the social media landscape.

Stress confidentiality. In addition to a social media policy, companies must incorporate references to social media into their confidentiality policies and other communications. Employees must be reminded to be hyper-vigilant regarding the information they post and ensure that the information is already in the public domain—or, at a minimum, not considered confidential or sensitive by the company.

Respect privacy. Company policies with regard to the use of Internet information in investigations should follow the law. There is no violation of the Stored Communications Act, nor are there privacy concerns, when investigations are performed with information available to the public. Therefore, if an employee’s privacy settings allow open access to material, the company can review it without issue. But if the material is password protected or is viewable by invitation only, then employers must respect those boundaries. Company representatives should carefully document how they access such information and ensure that any access is freely given.

By understanding the legal challenges posed by social media and then developing a policy to address them, companies can reap the benefits of new technology while minimizing potential problems. And if you have any further questions, contact Clark Personnel today!

No matter what field you’re in, there are certain skills you need when you’re on the job hunt. In the past, they included how to put together a resume, how to behave in an interview, how to handle followup. These days, there are brand-new must-have job search skills. Here are five of them:

Pain Spotting To really grab en employer’s attention in your cover letter (or cover email), you’ve got to figure out—by reading the job ad and researching the employer—what sort of business pain lurks behind the job opening.

Is it growth-related pain, or consolidation-related pain? Pain associated with customers fleeing, with competitors outsourcing the work and cutting costs, or with a shortage of talent in an industry? When you know or can guess at the pain behind the job ad, you have something of substance to say to a hiring manager.

Storytelling: “I have a strong work ethic and get along with all kinds of people” is about as compelling as “I had coffee this morning.” Nearly everyone claims these traits. To get a hiring manager’s attention, tell a brief and powerful story that demonstrates what you get done when you work. Let a hiring manager know some of the good things that you make happen.

Using a Human Voice: The old “results-oriented professional with a bottom-line orientation” style of resume is as out of date as VCRs. Using a human ‘voice’ in your resume or in any other communication with employers will separate you from the boilerplate-spouting hordes. Replace tired resume-speak like “Met or exceeded expectations” with a concrete achievement. And forget the old rule about not using the word “I” in your resume.

Showing Relevance: Forget the one-size-fits-all resume that gets sent out for any open position. You need to make your background relevant to the hiring manager by highlighting the accomplishments from each past job that relate to the role you’re pursuing. Update your resume as often as necessary to make sure your most relevant stories come to the fore.

Knowing Your Value: No one will pay you more than you’re worth, so know your value before you begin an active job search. There are several website that will help you calculate your market value and avoid getting lowballed in the hiring process. Arm yourself with information, then get out there and tell your story.

Still feeling unsure about a job search in this economy? Contact Clark Personnel today—we’re happy to share our expertise and help you find that next great opportunity!

No matter what industry we’re in, we’re all in the people business. We’ll only be successful if we really get to know our customers and colleagues.

You’re off the record.

  You might not get to hear the most important information they can share: the unique team dynamics or executive’s personality quirks that would make or break ability to match an expert consultant. Over sushi or a latte or a walk around the block, clients will talk more.

Body Language. Facial expressions often communicate so much more than words.  We need to know what isn’t on the resume that makes each person unique. In their eyes and in their body language, we can see confidence, empathy, fear, friendliness or sincerity.

Where the actions is. The environment speaks volumes and may factor into your business proposal or plan. By understanding company dynamics, we can communicate more effectively to meet their needs.

Most Clients are very similar: They want to Skype, email and text. But those are some reasons you still need face time!

Reprint from NISA 3.23.2012 Newsletter

How are job seekers using mobile technology? And how can you connect with them? Mobile is one of the hottest technologies in recruiting right now, and we’re here to help you answer those questions.

According to Mashable.com, the independent online news site dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology, 77% of job seekers use mobile job search apps. Why?

People rely more and more on mobile devices to interact with the world, and of course that trend extends to the job search.  Of that 77 percent:

• 36.27% use them to quickly react to new job postings
• 23.79% like to job search anytime, anywhere
• 17.65% feel they’re a discreet way to search for a job

And who is searching? Here are the Top 5 job apps downloaded, by category:

• 24.8% entry level and college grad
• 20.9% with a geographic focus
• 8.3% finance
• 6.2% healthcare
• 6.0% technology

The Beyond.com career network has seen a 100% growth in mobile traffic since last year.

So what do all of these numbers mean?

The advantages to job seekers are clear, and the obvious benefit is speed.

Candidates are able to stay informed, react quickly to job advertisements and get in front of prospective employers before the competition. Flexibility is also key. Busy professionals can search for positions during their commute on buses and trains, while waiting for their morning coffee or taking a stroll in a park, during break times at work or just about any time they have a spare moment. Many job seekers also find it appealing that mobile technology is discreet. The small screen, headphones and portable nature of smartphones allows for privacy and discretion during the job seeking process.

As for employers and recruiters, a Morgan Stanley analyst report predicts that by 2014 the Internet will be more frequently searched on a mobile device than on a computer. This has huge implications for the recruitment industry. Companies need to get in the habit of making their job information available via mobile-friendly media.

And 24.8% of job app downloads are made by recent graduates and people looking for entry level jobs. So employers should post internships and entry-level positions in places that either have mobile apps, or push content out through email and social networks.

Today’s job seekers are connected and online, anywhere, anytime. Employee seekers need to do the same. And if you have any questions about how to implement mobile recruiting strategies, just ask the experts at Clark Personnel.

Top Executive Recruiters Agree There Are Only Three True Job Interview Questions – Forbes