job search

Freelance Jobs On Top 10 Websites

July 13, 2016 By Twila VanLeer

Freelance jobs on the top 10 websites online — Freelance jobs posted online are becoming easier to find.

Freelance jobs can solve income problems for many people who work at home. In 2015, some 15.5 million Americans were self-employed, according to Bureau of Labor statistics. By 2020, the number is expected to rise to about 60 million – more than 40 percent of the total workforce.

Freelance Jobs Online

Freelancers are doing their work at home, in coffee shops and co-working spaces everywhere. Many or the best and brightest are leaving traditional jobs to take advantage of the flexibility and autonomy in jobs of their own creation. Whether the objective is just making a side job of a hobby or making freelance the way to a living, there are resources that can be helpful.

Toptal

Toptal is a freelance network of elite software engineers and digital designers from more than a hundred countries around the world. It has a screening process that weeds out everyone except the top 3 percent of talent in a number of categories. If you are selected, you know you are in company with the elite. You are allowed to decide if you want full or part-time work, how many hours and set your own rates. Toptal works with such companies as AirBnB, IDEO and JP Morgan and has a consistent lineup of interesting clients and projects.

Upwork

Upwork, a union of the two leading freelance networks, Elance and lDesk, is now the largest website to find freelancers. It has more than 10 million registered users, four million clients and listings for three million jobs every year. It is a source for writers, architects, legal aides, photographers and others. Users can enroll for short-term or long-term projects, work by the hour or by the project. A chat feature, time-tracker and payment protection are part of the program.

99 Designs

99 Designs has its own twist. The platform is for designers and every job comes in the form of a contest. Instead of browsing through a catalog of portfolios and resumes, clients are asked to crowd source projects, set a budget and give instructions and then let designers submit work based on the project brief. At the end of a week, the client chooses the best design and pays its originator. This is a good site for designers who want to test their talents and shake up their workflow.

PeoplePerHour

PeoplePerHour offers a source for all skills related to web projects, including software engineers, digital designers, SEO specialists and marketers. A tool called WorkStream simplifies the business side of the work by organizing payment, communications and management all in one place. You can browse jobs, be notified of new openings via your inbox and send up to 15 proposals without charge before you sign up for the premium plan.

LinkedIn Profinder

This freelance source has more than 420 million members in more than 200 countries and is a leading place for learning about job-related information. It recently launched LinkedIn Profinder as a means to help freelance professionals to find jobs. Based on its enormous amount of user data, it is able to connect freelancers with strong leads based on keyword searches and companies followed.

SimplyHired

SimplyHired has the largest variety of freelance jobs of any on this list, with information on jobs ranging from construction to concierge work. It offers help for those seeking extra work and has information on jobs in more than 24 countries, offering opportunities in 12 languages.

Freelance Writing Gigs

Freelance Writing Gigs is a job board that is updated daily with freelance writing and blogging jobs. Topics vary from technical writing to writing about such things as recipes, photography and healthcare. There are great opportunities whether you are looking to supplement your income or make freelancing you full-time work.

If you are among the millions of freelancers looking for new opportunities, check into these sites to see what’s in them for you.

Networking Vital To Job Search

June 24, 2016 By Twila VanLeer

When you are looking for a job, who you know can literally be as important as what you know. Eighty percent of jobs are discovered through networking, making use of people who might offer help in the search. The best jobs, those that last and become a career, come through this route, experts say.

Employee Referrals

Many employers actually encourage current workers to recommend new hires, creating what is known as the “hidden job market.” Employees establish a “circle of influence” that benefits those looking for work.

Acquaintances

The usual network includes family, friends, acquaintances, former co-workers and those who were your supervisors, school contacts, church associates and others in your circle of acquaintance.

Social

You can add to the network by affiliating with professional groups, volunteering in the community, attending job fairs and taking advantage of social networking sites.

If you are on the search, make a list, including contact information, and set a date to begin systematically contacting those on the list. Make notes as you interact with those you contact. Keep the list current.

Informal Interactions

You may find the list expanding just through informal interactions with people in your normal activities. Don’t hesitate to make it known you are looking for a job, without being pushy, of course. Word of mouth tends to expand as people mingle in all kinds of settings.

Employment Programs

State and local employment programs are a good source for information on listings. Local universities and colleges often have helpful resources as well.

The Best Work-At-Home Opportunities

May 20, 2016 By Twila VanLeer

How to find a job that will pad your family’s income while you remain at home? There has never been more opportunity, but also there have never been the number of scams. Used to be the best chances lay with stuffing envelopes, now there are dozens of at-home jobs that are just a mouse click away.

Legitimate Or Scam

How do you sort out the legitimate opportunities from those that will end in disaster? With 4,500 to 5,000 ads for in-home jobs screened weekly, The Rate Race Rebellion, which tracks such things, found that there were 30 scams for every legitimate opportunity.

Competition For Job

Who’s your likely competition for the jobs that are available? Durst, whose company Staffcentric LLC develops home-based and virtual career training programs, identifies them as: Parents with small children, military spouses who face moving every few years, retirees and people with disabilities.

Disadvantages

Work-at-home is not particularly an ideal option for parents with small children who are likely to create diversions during the day. Consider deadline-oriented jobs rather than those that demand schedule-oriented work.

Who It Benefits

Social introverts may do very well with at-home work. They prefer interacting with others at a remove, working through email or on the phone, to being obligated to work with a lot of other people directly.

Personal Characteristics

The characteristics that usually are demonstrated by good at-home employees are self-motivation, discipline, well-developed job skills and independence.

Check Your Credit

If you apply for work at home, a prospective employer may check your credit. Check yourself at myBankrate.

Reduces Overhead

From the employer’s perspective, hiring workers who don’t come regularly into the office has some advantages. It reduces overhead and provides access to talented workers who are not available locally but make great telecommuters.

Opportunities Available

Ten job opportunities that now are available to at-home workers include virtual assistants, medical transcriptionists, translators, web developer/designer, call center representatives, tech support, travel agents, teachers, writer/editors or franchise owners. Look at the possibilities, but check with the oversight agencies to be certain you aren’t involving yourself with a scam.

Returning To Work Post-Divorce?

May 15, 2016 By Twila VanLeer

Divorce is a difficult, life-changing event and when a newly single mom must return to work, it can be challenging. She will be competing with people who are more settled and more emotionally secure, including men who often get first dibs on the available jobs in the best of times.

These suggestions may be helpful if you find yourself in this situation:

Don’t Hamper Yourself With Conventional “Realism”

Be open to a wider potential. When people with good intentions come up with discouraging comments about the difficulty of finding jobs “at your age” or predict that your earning ability will have nose-dived, don’t listen. Put up a shield against the negatives and don’t let yourself be boxed into limiting your possibilities before you even get started. Allow yourself to think in terms of success and even happiness.

Starting Over Again May Invite A Whole New Direction

If you were a project manager before marriage, there is no reason to think you can’t look at something different. Reinvent yourself. Write a list of the all the jobs you have ever considered and jobs that other women have that your find attractive and give them some thought. Then follow your heart, even if it means more training.

Beware Of Inner Dialogue That Is Fearful And Cautious

Grabbing the first job that is available is a defeatist approach. Picture yourself as confident and proactive and imagine you have super powers. Have fun with the notion.

Cast The Net Wide

When you are considering college, the advice is to have three tiers of choices: the one you really want, a second choice and a fall-back position if the first two don’t materialize. Approach the job search in the same way. A human resources person may not offer the job you had your heart set on, but might see another opportunity in your resume. Be flexible.

Be Excited

Imagine yourself as a powerful woman who goes after what she wants. Focus on that objective. Expect to be excited and look forward to what will make you happy. Then aim for that goal.

Do The Routine

Study the listings and send resumes. But have other possibilities as well. If there is a business in which you are interested, make an effort to talk with people who work there. Invite a manager to have an informal discussion. Go to job fairs, be creative and keep an open mind.

Don’t Distress Over Resume

A resume is, of course, essential, but don’t fret over it. If you think you need advice, set up an account with Linkedin.com or another aid to the job search. Get your name and a brief description of your work experience into circulation and begin to build contacts.

Don’t Pass Up A Job Opportunity That Calls For Some Skills

Don’t confuse your comfort level with your true ability when it comes to technical skills. If a job description says you have to be Microsoft Word proficient, that doesn’t mean you have to be a genius. You can improve on your base understanding of technology through a little additional training. Cheap or free classes are available through community colleges, public school systems and other resources.

Network Like Crazy

Use your friends and family, professional associations, old co-workers. Use anyone in your acquaintance who might be useful in finding the job you want.

Keep The Vision

It may take longer than you had hoped, but don’t settle for less than you know you are capable of. Stay positive and keep the faith. You can succeed.

10 Quick Tips For Job Hunting After Being Laid Off!

October 29, 2012 By Sherry Tingley

When people lose their jobs, it’s a devastating experience no matter how tactfully they were told they were no longer needed. The life they once knew as financially and emotional secure has been ripped away. According to many sources this loss is similar in intensity to a divorce or death.

Here are 10 quick tips for surviving a job loss. (Click on the dog to buy the cute doggie tee.)

1. Be grateful for at least one thing in your life on a daily basis. It’s so easy to get angry about situations beyond your control. Gratitude helps immensely.

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. – Charles Swindoll, Minister/Author

2. Get dressed for the day as if you were going to an interview. You will feel more competent and better prepared for anything that may come up during the day. Get out of those pajamas (unless you are looking for a job as a pajama model) and act as if you were going to be working soon!

3. Focus on getting face-to-face interviews. The chances of getting a job are increased with every face-to-face interview with a person who has the power to hire. It seems too obvious to point out, but the end goal of obtaining a job cannot be reached without face-to-face interviews.

4. Talk to everyone you know and let them know you are looking for work. If there was ever a time in your life that you felt more like crawling in a hole and covering yourself up with sand, this is it. Let go of this feeling as quickly as possible. The more people that are aware you are job hunting, the higher your chances of getting interviews that lead to employment.

5. Become a sales person about the most important thing you will ever sell anybody – YOU! It is extremely difficult for some people to think of themselves as a product, but in a way that is what we are. If you could describe yourself as a product a buyer needs what would you say?

6. Control the job hunting process. Being laid off is a situation that is out of your control. In fact the only thing you have control of is the actual job hunting process. Plan out daily time periods where you will be on the phone inquiring about job openings and actually talking to possible employers. Avoid doing anything else during this time.

7. Don’t overrate the value of a resume. What is going to get you hired with a new company is your interaction with the interviewer. Write a good resume, but don’t get stuck on spending hours doing it. Many employers are extremely busy and just want the answers to where your worked, how long you were working and what you did.

8. Avoid writing an objective on your resume. Employers care about what they want, not what you want. They want to know if you will fit the position they have in mind for you. As Tony Beshara states in his book, “The Job Search Solution,”

The clear message of an effective resume needs to be “You need to interview ME because this is what I have done in the past FOR OTHERS and therefore THIS IS WHAT I CAN DO FOR YOU!

9. Jobs are given to the people who sell themselves best. Don’t be afraid that the qualifications you have aren’t the absolute perfect fit for the jobs you apply for. Maybe someone else looks better than you on paper, but people get hired who are best at selling themselves.

10. Research, research, and more research. Find out about the company you are asking to work for. Find out everything you can about them. Ask yourself if you would be happy working for that company. Talk to people who are already working there.

Loosing a job is difficult. Hang in there and keep your spirits up. Often, when one door closes, another door is opened.