Jobs and Careers Blog

This is the place to explore resources on how to find a job, compose your resume, write an effective cover letter, and learn proven interview tips to help you get the job you really want. You can also explore careers, whether you're just starting out or wanting a change. Access a list of online job applications from local employers.

Recent Jobs and Careers Blog Posts

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Overused Phrases that Could Kill Your Resume

Despite the recent positive economic news and the improvement of the U.S. job market, competition for job opportunities is still pretty fierce. Human Resources professionals are still sifting through hundreds more resumes than before the recent recession, and there are many  buzzwords that are overused and that, frankly, don’t add anything meaningful to your description [...]

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The Real Cost of Living

Every decision – from buying a home to grabbing a latte on the way to work – has costs and benefits, personal and financial.  In her new book The Real Cost of Living; Making the Best Choices for You, Your Life, and Your Money, Carmen Wong Ulrich shows us how to make better decisions, and [...]

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Why You Should Job-Hunt During the Holidays

In a recent article posted on Businessweek.com Lynn Taylor, CEO of Lynn Taylor consulting discussed the value of job searching during the holidays. Taylor writes: “A common misconception says that because it’s the holidays, no one will pay attention to your résumé. In fact, even during times of high unemployment, when things slow down at [...]

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DRIVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

In this latest offering from Daniel H. Pink, the author argues that the secret to high performance and satisfaction is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world. The problem that most business have in motivating employees is that [...]

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Be Careful What You Share on Social Media Sites; It Could Cost you a Job

According to a recent survey commissioned by Careerbuilder.com and conducted by research firm Harris Interactive, almost half of the 2667 HR professionals surveyed use social networking sites to research job candidates, with an additional 11% planning to implement social media screening in the very near future.  According to the study,  “thirty-five percent of employers reported they [...]

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What Color is Your Parachute? 40th Anniversary Edition

For forty years now, job-hunters and career-changers have been turning to What Color is Your Parachute for the most current information about the job market and how to find meaningful work – even in the midst of challenging economic times.  The 40th edition of the popular manual has been vastly re-written because job-hunting has increasingly [...]

Library Job Links

Interested in working in a library?  Check out the listings on these sites: American Library Association JobLIST: http://joblist.ala.org/index.cfm KCMLIN /Mid-America Library Alliance: Library Job Link to library jobs in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Tennessee, and Arkansas: http://www.kcmlin.org/jobs/ Library Job Postings on the Internet – this has links to websites posting vacancies in libraries all [...]

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Most Recent Kansas Labor Market Report Shows Very Slow Jobs Growth

According to the latest Kansas Department of Labor estimates, the July 2011 seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.5 percent, down from 6.6 percent in June 2011 and down from 7.0 percent a year ago. Kansas Labor Secretary Karin Brownlee states,  ”Private sector jobs continued to grow last month — albeit at a snail’s pace. However, we do [...]

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How to Get the Most Out of Your Cover Letter

Cover letters  often present the most difficult and challenging task for job seekers.  There is no standard template, they must sometimes be written without a lot of lead time, and they are expected to be tailored to specific circumstances while having a highly positive impact on the reader.  In fact, some people just send in [...]