So many things are possible just as long so you don’t know they’re possible.
Norman Juster
October YouTube Video Roundup
We’ve been fairly busy this month on our YouTube channel – we’ve uploaded more seminars and application walkthroughs, we’ve posted a video about a new offering from Microsoft, and we’ve started a new playlist for our Spanish-speaking patrons! Read on to see just what we’ve been up to in October.
Resumes and Cover Letters
special resume rules for ex-offenders
If you have a criminal record, creating your resume may be especially challenging. Certified Resume Writer Lynnette Lee talks you through the best approaches in this video, including choosing a template, handling an unstable work history, and disguising your incarceration.
ATS: Avoid the black hole
When you apply for a job, you’ll usually be entered into what’s known as an Applicant tracking system, or ATS: software that companies use to store, sort and search through applicants. Sometimes, it can feel like a black hole – but not if you know how to avoid the pitfalls. In this video, Certified Career Coach Anne Nowak talks about what ATS is, how it works, and how to structure your resume to ensure you’re seen.
Videos in Spanish / en Español
Contreseñas buenas
For our Spanish-speaking patrons, Career Specialist André de la Fuente has translated the Creating good passwords video. It covers the basics of password usage, and gives tips on how to think of strong, easy-to-remember passwords.
Para nuestros usuarios de habla hispana, el especialista en carreras André de la Fuente ha traducido el vídeo titulado Creating good passwords. Parece que cada aplicación de trabajo tiene requisitos diferentes para las contraseñas. El proceso puede ser confuso. Pero no te preocupes – este vídeo te guiará a través de los pasos para crear una buena contraseña.
Career Success
Advance your career with MOOCs
Career Specialist Rick Wright’s seminar on popular Massive Online Open Courses, or MOOCs, shows you how to learn new skills for free or a much lower cost than traditional education, but with many of the same benefits. Rick covers four of the biggest MOOC platforms in this video: Coursera, EdX, Udacity, and Udemy.
Advance your career with Microsoft and LinkedIn Learning Certifications
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of us are out of work or looking for a new career that’s more remote-friendly. Microsoft, LinkedIn, and GitHub have put together a new resource that’s free or reduced-price for a limited time, which provides training and certifications in a number of tech-related and remote-first fields that have been growing recently. Career Specialist Case Duckworth takes you on a short tour of the portal in this video.
Job Search Basics
Email etiquette for the job search
Everybody uses email nowadays, especially hiring managers. If you want to be hired, you’ll need to know and execute good email etiquette. In this video, Certified Resume Writer Lynnette Lee provides tips on everything from creating a good email address to formatting and writing emails to make the best e-impression.
Common Job Application Tutorials
How to apply for a job with the US Postal Service
In this video, Career Specialist Cynthia Payton walks you through the surprisingly involved application process to the USPS. Be sure to watch it if you’re interested in a pretty stable career in a quasi-governmental organization.
How to apply for a job with Target
Career Specialist Cynthia Payton walks through the process of applying to retail giant Target through their website in this video.
Written by Case Duckworth
Monday Motivation
Just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.
Shuri
Get Help Filing for Unemployment with These How-To Videos
Since the COVID-19 pandemic has started, we’ve been receiving a lot of questions about filing for unemployment benefits with the state of Louisiana. While the Career Center is focused more on helping patrons look for work and apply to jobs, we were recently made aware of a resource by the Workforce Commission that might help you file for unemployment.
The LAWorks.net Video Page is full of videos, including public service announcements, as well as tutorials on how to file the different parts of your unemployment with the state. We’re going to focus on the how-to videos in this post.
- How to File a Claim walks you through the process of initially filing for unemployment, using the Louisiana Workforce’s web portal called HiRE. It’s a pretty quick video, so you might want to watch it more than once — but it’s also a good beginning resource if you don’t know where to begin. One warning: the video says that, due to the pandemic, you do not need to look for work in order to be eligible for unemployment. That was true when the video was filmed, but it is no longer true. The fourth video in this series will tell you more about this requirement.
- How to File Weekly Certification will help you out after you’ve filed a claim, when you need to fill out a weekly certification form to continue receiving benefits. This video isn’t narrated, but has screenshots and helpful green arrows to help you figure out where to click to proceed through the form. It might be a good idea to pause the video on each frame to read the explanatory text at the top, because that tells you what to do.
- How to Upload Documents in HiRE Account is similar to the Weekly Certification video in that it doesn’t have any narration. However, it’s also useful in that it walks you through how to upload supporting documents to your HiRE account, such as your Social Security Card and other documentation you’ll need to complete your claim.
- Completing the Work Search Portion of Weekly Certifications is a narrated video about the return of the Work Search requirement of unemployment insurance, after the end of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation in July. Basically, to continue receiving unemployment benefits, you need to prove you’ve been looking for work when you renew your claim each week. This video explains the importance of doing so and will show you how to fill out the form. Toward the end of the video, the exemptions from the Work Search requirement are also enumerated.
Written by Case Duckworth
Monday Motivation
Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and again and bring their friend.
Walt Disney
September YouTube Video Roundup
Ah, the beginnings of fall. There’s a crisp in the air, leaves finally falling on the ground, pumpkin spice in our coffee, and new videos on the Career Center’s YouTube channel. Here’s a rundown of what we added this month.
Career success
Website Walkthrough: Career Planning
If you could use some assistance in choosing a career path, exploring an industry, or learning new skills, we have resources to help. Our website has some great career planning tools, which Lynnette Lee shows you in this video.
Workplace survival guide
Congratulations! You just snagged a new job. Make sure to start off on the right foot by following the tips laid out in this seminar, by Lynnette Lee.
Reference Ready: Choosing and Presenting Your References
Choosing, vetting, and preparing references can be one of the hardest parts of the job search. Case Duckworth shows you the basics in this presentation.
Common job applications
Albertson’s
In this video, Career Specialist Cynthia Payton walks you through submitting an application in the Produce department of the popular grocery store chain, Albertson’s.
Walmart
Career Specialist Case Duckworth walks through the process of applying to an hourly position in a Walmart store in this video.
Job interview questions
“Tell me about a difficult boss”
This question can be awkward to answer. Luckily, Resume Coach Lynnette Lee and Career Coach Anne Nowak show you the Dos and Don’ts.
“Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a coworker”
Although this question is only slightly less awkward than “Tell me about a difficult boss,” Lynnette Lee and Anne Nowak help you handle it with aplomb.
Work at home websites
Remotive.io Review
Anne Nowak reviews the good parts, and the not-so-good parts, of work-from-home website remotive.io.
Hopefully you’ve found some useful videos on our channel this month. Keep checking for more new content in October!
Written by Case Duckworth
Covid Killed Your Career? Rejuvenate It with a “Reboot”
If you’ve been laid off due to COVID, don’t miss this valuable opportunity to gain new job skills at a reduced cost through the Reboot Your Career Program.
What is it?
The Reboot Your Career program is designed to support workers who may be unemployed due to COVID-19 to re-train for available jobs on high-wage career pathways. Governor John Bel Edwards prioritized federal CARES Act funding for this critical initiative, which is available now through the spring of 2021. So act fast!!! Learn more at their website.
How does it work?
Some of the great aspects of this program include:
- Reduced tuition
- No application fees
- Short term training
After completion of the program and upon receipt of certification of completion there are monies set aside to reimburse tuition costs from $300 to $350 through EmployBR. Some of the most coveted programs within the craft division even include NCCER certifications.
What programs are offered?
There is a wide variety of in-demand training opportunities including: healthcare, transportation and logistics, information technology, manufacturing, construction, and telecommunications equipment installers and repairers.
You could get trained to become a nursing assistant, medical records and health information IT specialist, automotive body repairer, heavy equipment and tractor-trailer operator, truck driver, web developer, welder, structural metal fabricator, carpenter, electrician, or wastewater treatment plant operator, to name only a few.
A listing of all careers within this program is available here.
How do i apply?
To apply contact Ethel Germany at germanye@mybrcc.edu
Written by Cynthia Payton
Monday Motivation
As long as they are well-intentioned, mistakes are not a matter for shame, but for learning.
Margaret Heffernan
Power Your Job Search with Google Tools, Part 1
Staying organized is an important part of searching for a job. There are so many individual pieces of information you need to keep track of. What was that job opening you saw yesterday? And where was it? Which jobs have you applied for? What was the username and password you created for that job website? In January, one of our Career Center staff led a seminar on how to power your job search with Google Tools. This post is a quick introduction on how to do that.
- In order to use Google Tools to power your job search you first need a Google/Gmail account. If you have a Google/Gmail account then go to Google.com and Sign in. If you do *not* have a Google/Gmail account then go to Google.com and Create account. Once you’re signed in, go into your Google Drive (drive.google.com).
- On your Google Drive page click on New in the upper left. Then on Google Sheets. This will create a new Google Sheets.
- Let’s take a moment and get oriented to what a Google Sheet looks like. Each sheet contains little rectangles called Cells. Cells are organized into Rows (which have numbers) and Columns (which have letters). Each cell also has an address based on its Column and Row, such as A1. You can click on a cell to add text, formatting, functions, and formulas.
- Let’s add some headings to your sheet. You can use these or make up your own: Job Position, Company Name, Job Location, Salary or Hourly Rate, Website URL (so you can go back to that job listing), Notes, Progress. You can click on each cell to add text. You can also hit Tab to move to the next cell on the same row.
- The next step is pretty cool. You can use your sheet to track the status of each application in your job search. One good way to do this is by using data validation. Data validation helps you control what kind of data you enter in your sheet. Data validation can create a drop-down list of items for each cell so you do not have to type in the same data every time.
Click on the G above Progress. This selects that column. Then click on Data > Data Validation.
- In the Data validation window next to Criteria click the box and choose List of items. In the box that says Enter items separated by a comma type a list of options separated by commas. For example Have not started, Resume in Progress, Submitted, Interview Scheduled, Offer received. Then click on Save. Congratulations! Now every cell on that column will have a little drop down menu.
- As you enter on each row a new job opening, you can choose the status of your progress. Everything from Haven’t started to Offer received. Click on a cell in that column and try it.
- Finally give your sheet a name. Click where it says Untitled spreadsheet and enter a helpful name for this sheet. Something like My Job Search 2020.
- Your job search sheet is now ready for you to put some information in each row. So click on the + on your web browser to open a new tab and look for some jobs.
Continued in Power Your Job Search with Google Tools, Part Two
Written by Richard Wright
Monday Motivation
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
Robert Louis Stevenson