Books for Job Hunting in a Recession

To kick off our “Job Hunting in a Recession” week, here are some book recommendations for your job search.

I don’t want to go back to what I did before. I want to pursue my passions.

Reinvention: How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life by Brian Tracy

The Career Clinic: Eight Simple Rules for Finding Work You Love by Maureen Anderson

Beyond Success: Redefining the Meaning of Prosperity by Jeffrey L. Gitterman

I know what I want, but how do I get there? How do I match my passion with my skills?

Want It, See It, Get It!: Visualize Your Way to Success by Gini Graham Scott, Ph.D.

Career Match: Connecting Who You Are with What You’ll Love to Do by Shoya Zichy and Ann Bidou

Smarts: Are We Hardwired for Success? by Chuck Martin with Peg Dawson and Richard Guare

Managing Brand You: 7 Steps to Creating Your Most Successful Self by Jerry S. Wilson and Ira Blumenthal

I know you find jobs through people, so how do I build my network?

Make Your Contacts Count: Networking Know-How for Business and Career Success by Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon

How to Succeed in Business Using LinkedIn: Making Connections and Capturing Opportunities on the World’s #1 Business Networking Site by Eric Butow and Kathleen Taylor

How to Tell Anyone Anything: Breakthrough Techniques for Handling Difficult Conversations at Work by Richard S. Gallagher

I have the passion, the skills, and the people—now I need the tools.

Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions That Will Get You the Job by Tony Beshara

Elements of Resume Style: Essential Rules and Eye-Opening Advice for Writing Resumes and Cover Letters That Work by Scott Bennett

The Job Search Solution: The Ultimate System for Finding a Great Job Now! by Tony Beshara

I hear the government is hiring…

Managing Your Government Career: Success Strategies That Work by Stewart Liff

How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job: Your Complete Guide to Opportunities, Internships, Resumes and Cover Letters, Application Essays (KSAs), Interviews, Salaries, Promotions and More! By Lily Whiteman

The FBI Career Guide: Inside Information on Getting Chosen for and Succeeding in One of the Toughest, Most Prestigious Jobs in the World by Joseph W. Koletar

Coming tomorrow… Maureen Anderson on finding your passion.

Stewart Liff on Starting a Government Job

While last week we heard from Lily Whiteman, this week we have a guest post by Stewart Liff, author of Managing Your Government Career and Managing Government Employees.

While the economy is shrinking, the stock market falling and millions of people are losing their jobs, government agencies are expecting billions of dollars from the stimulus bill. It is estimated that the number of government jobs created will range from 244,000 to 600,000. Moreover, these estimates do not include the vacancies that normally occur in government due to turnover (retirement, resignation, transfer, removal, etc.). Even though the impact of the stimulus bill has not yet been felt, the federal government is currently looking to fill over 41,000 jobs worldwide. Furthermore, this figure does not count vacancies at the state and local levels. From the available pool of jobs, there are approximately 19 million government jobs at the federal, state and local level.

The current situation is causing many people to look more closely at the government as an employer, which certainly make sense in an era of uncertainty.

One of the aspects of government employment that makes it so attractive is job security. After all, the government does not have to make a profit, generally offers far more security than the private sector, and is usually immune from the ups and downs of the economy, especially at the federal level. Moreover, with people worrying about or actually losing their healthcare benefits, it is well known that the government offers a variety of competitive benefits at a more than reasonable price. Finally, the government offers competitive pay (although you won’t get rich on it). For example, you can earn up to $177,700 as a senior executive at the federal level, and in some cases you can make even more.

So how you go about finding a job with the government? At the federal level, start with the website USAJOBS.com. This is the official job site of the federal government and the public’s one-stop source about federal jobs and employment information. At the state or local level, you can either go to each entity’s individual website or look at websites that contain links to all of these sites such as USAJOBS.com or State and Local Government on the Net, which lists over 11,000 websites.

Once you actually start looking at these jobs, I suspect you will find the process to be a bit overwhelming to say the least. You will be hit with nomenclature you are unfamiliar with (What does GS-201-5/11 mean? What is a term appointment versus a career-conditional appointment?). Moreover, some vacancy announcements will ask you to answer as many as 150 questions; others will ask you to write a series of paragraphs about your knowledge, skills and abilities; and some will require both. Applying for just one job can take several hours and there are many jobs to choose from, so how do you decide which jobs to apply for and at what level of government? Moreover, how do you best position yourself to get a good job with the government?

While it may take some time to learn the ins-and-outs of government jobs, now is a great time to take the opportunity to work for your country in a secure and stable job.

Stewart Liff is the author of Managing Your Government Career and Managing Government Employees. He began his career with the federal government in 1974. He is a winner of the President’s Council on Management Improvement Award and the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service.

Lily Whiteman on Riding the Federal Hiring Wave

The following is a guest post by Lily Whiteman, federal career coach and author of How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job: Your Complete Guide to Opportunities, Internships, Resumes and Cover Letters, Application Essays (KSAs), Interviews, Salaries, Promotions and More! (AMACOM 2008). She is writing about the new enthusiasm for government service with a new administration in the White House.

Greetings from Washington, D.C.!, or rather, Greetings from Obamaville! Here in the nation’s capital, the atmosphere is still charged with post-election energy and a sense that these are truly historic days.

The continuing post-election excitement manifests itself here in many ways–from the many billboards and urban murals welcoming our new President that are distributed throughout the city to the ongoing tendency of DC residents to turn conversations at social and professional gatherings to “who stood where” and “who saw what” at the maul during the inauguration. Such discussions are invariably accompanied by the proud swapping of digital cameras displaying grainy photos of the festivities.

And as a federal employee, I frequently observe evidence of post-election excitement among public servants. A case in point: one of my colleagues at the federal agency where I work recently set up in her office a life-sized cardboard cutout of Barrack Obama. Within minutes of the cardboard President’s arrival, a line of feds snaked from my colleague’s office into the hallway–all of whom were waiting to have their digital photos taken with him. Such enthusiasm has been generated, in part, by President Obama’s recent pledge to “make it cool again” to work for the federal government.

FEDERAL JOBS ARE HOT PROPERTIES

Partly because of post-election excitement, federal job openings are currently drawing record numbers of applications. Other factors that are also increasing the popularity of federal jobs, include:

• Spiking unemployment rates, which have increased appreciation for secure, well-paying federal jobs.
• The healthy work/life balance offered by federal jobs.
• Post 9/11 respect for public service.

UNPRECEDENTED OPPORTUNITIES

What’s more, even as mass layoffs continue in the private sector, federal employers will continue to annually fill well over 200,000 dynamic federal jobs located throughout the U.S. These jobs include positions of all levels — from internships that are being filled by students and recent grads to executive positions that are being filled by record numbers of private sector employees.

This federal hiring wave, which will continue no matter how bad the economy may get, is being generated by:

• A huge retirement wave: The retirements of record numbers of baby boomers within the federal workforce will open up about 40 percent of federal jobs in the next few years — including about 90 percent of federal managers.
• New federal priorities, which are producing aggressive recruitment campaigns at dozens of federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the VA, the FBI, intelligence agencies, the Peace Corps, the State Department, the SEC and other agencies that address banking and financial management.
• The need for federal agencies to supplement undersized staffs. (Remember: federal agencies must fulfill their mandates even during tough economic times.)

Now has never been a better time to ride the federal hiring wave.

Lily Whiteman is a popular contributor to the “Jobs” section of The Washington Post, the career columnist for Federal Times, and a senior writer at the National Science Foundation. As a federal career coach, she has helped hundreds of professionals of all levels—from recent grads to executives—land jobs and earn promotions. She is the author of How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job: Your Complete Guide to Opportunities, Internships, Resumes and Cover Letters, Application Essays (KSAs), Interviews, Salaries, Promotions and More! (AMACOM 2008). She lives in Washington, D.C. Visit her website at http://igotthejob.net

Stay tuned next week for a guest post by Stewart Liff, author of Managing Your Government Career.

George’s Employment Blawg recommends Managing Your Government Career

George’s Employment Blawg recently recommended Managing Your Government Career by Stewart Liff. With the economic stimulus package having been passed by the House, and near to being passed by the Senate, there may be a surge in federal hiring. Liff, who began his career with the federal government more than 30 years ago, gives advice on:

• applying and interviewing for jobs
• understanding government culture
• making the transition from the private sector to the public sect0r

Liff is also the author of Managing Government Employees.

Related books:

How to Land a Top-Paying Federal Job

The FBI Career Guide