Texas Jobing Community Blogs

 

If you want to avoid the common mistakes that could derail your job search:

Tune in to JobRadioUSA’s episode: “How to Land Your Next Job, By Avoiding These Job Search Mistakes,” Tuesday December 1 st at 6PM PST

Julie Bauke – career strategist and owner of Congruity Consulting, LLC - will discuss:

The seven job search mistakes you need to avoid

How to develop a job search strategy without jumping into the fire

How to effectively and efficiently use advertised postings to avoid the big black hole

How to effectively network to generate referrals, leads, and/or interviews with hiring managers

How to effectively interview to generate follow up interviews and subsequent job offers

You can access the show by either dialing 347-838-9326 or visiting http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thecareercatalyst.

Feel free to share this info with other employed, underemployed, and unemployed job seekers.

During the listener Q&A session, Julie will reveal:

How to increase your chances of generating interviews from advertised positions

How to strategically position initial hiring manager discussions to create formal interviews

How to convey the value you bring without boasting or appearing arrogant

How to make mental adjustments to keep hope alive during a daunting job search

I look forward to your live participation Tuesday night. Feel free to ask questions during the Q&A segment.

Meanwhile, visit http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thecareercatalyst and listen to any of the previous 23 career shows you may have missed.

 

Last week I created a post that discussed how to source job leads using TwitterJobSearch, locate targeted companies, and create a targeted company list. For this post I will discuss how you can locate job leads using TweetMyJobs and have your resume tweeted every 24 hours (if you choose to do so). Next week I will discuss how to determine if specific companies are on Twitter and to potentially view relevant tweets from company insiders.

Below I will discuss how to create an account on TweetMyJobs, subscribe to the desired job channels (by location and industry), and have openings automatically sent to your cell phone. I will discuss how you can also view these openings under the Job Listings link of TweetMyJobs.

1. Visit www.tweetmyjobs.com, click on Sign Up (if you are new to TweetMyJobs), fill out your profile, click on the link provided in the TweetMyJobs activation email (you’ll receive), and afterwards log in.

2. Click on the Enter your Twitter id/password in Account tab link (under Job Seeker Dashboard on the Home page), input your Twitter username and password, and click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

3. Select the Subscribe to Job Channels link or click the Job Channels link at the top center of the page, select the appropriate location (country, state, or city/state) in the left drop down box, select the appropriate job function (such as energy) in the right drop down box, click Filter list, and click on the green button (with the white plus sign) to subscribe to this channel.

Repeat this process to subscribe to more relevant job channels. Once you have established your channels, click the Job Listings link at the top center of the page, view the number of listings, and make any job channel adjustments. For example, I changed the location filter from Texas to Dallas, Texas to reduce the number of postings.

4. Select the Public Profile link at the top center of the page and create your profile by providing your contact information; links to your website, blog, LinkedIn profile, and/or other social media sites; profile title and objective; employment preferences; and text and MS Word resumes. If you do not want to receive text messages for relevant jobs, do not include your cell phone number in your profile.

If you choose to do so, you can tweet your resume every 24 hours by clicking on the blue Twitter icon located above your public profile under the Public Profile link. You can also submit it by clicking on the Home link, the Tweet or retweet your profile to the twittersphere link (under the Job Seeker Dashboard), and the Click Here to Send It!! link.

5. Click the Job Listings link at the top center of the page, click on a job posting of interest, and click on the Apply to this job button. Afterwards, you will be directed to the company’s website where you can apply. Also after clicking on a job posting, you can click the blue tweet button to view the original tweet and follow the individual who tweeted the job (by clicking on the individual’s twitter name and the follow button).

You can place these individuals in a dedicated list located under your main Twitter account or in the same targeted company list.

If you want to locate jobs on Twitter by a specific city or zip code, you can visit www.twitterjobcast.com. You can either locate all jobs or certain jobs in a specific zip code.

If you have not done so, I recommend you listen to Duncan Mathison’s “How to Conduct an Effective Holiday Job Search,” BTR Show. This show is excellent. Click here: http://tiny.cc/JedZR to listen.

December's meeting is our Holiday Celebration & Board Installation

 

on December
11, 2009, at 11:30 at the Wingate Conference Center.

Join us as we end the year celebrating

as we started the year with our

WCHRMA 10 year Celebration

Past Presidents will be invited to join and participate
as we celebrate 10 years of growth

2010 Board Members

• President - Jim Burgess
• President Elect - Sandy Thompson
• VP of Programs - Fred Martinez
• VP of Communications - Leigh Bodreaux
• VP of Membership - Jim Trammel
• Secretary - Tracy Thor
• Treasurer - Jeff Dahmer
• Immediate Past President - Sherry Johnson

Social recruiting is now emerging from its adolescence.  It’s moving beyond the wide-eyed exultation of early adoption to the squinty-eyed assessment of mature users.  The focus is less and less on what we can do with social media and more and more on how best to put it to work. 

That’s especially apparent in the subset of social recruiting we call networking.  Social or professional networking online now clearly falls into two general categories of activity.  They are probably best described as content and contact networking.  Both can help you access high caliber passive prospects for your organization, but each is performed differently. 

Content Networking 

Content networking occurs in the discussion forums on job board and association Web-sites, in blogs on corporate sites and in Google’s newsgroups.  These destinations attract visitors who share a common career field or occupational interest and like to communicate and commiserate with each other about it.  The interaction is social—a community of sorts does form—but it’s primarily based on the topic being discussed. 

In most but not all cases, the members of these communities are passive prospects.  They are not looking for a job.  More often than not, however, they are interested in advancing their careers.  Indeed, that’s why they are engaged by the content.  They want to be smarter in their career field and better able to put their occupational interests to work.  Said another way, they are top talent. 

The only way to connect with these prospects effectively is by practicing the Golden Rule of Networking.  That axiom is simple yet inviolate—you have to give in order to get.  In other words, if you want the participants in these discussions to consider your openings, you have to first contribute to their content. 

How can you do that?  By being the expert you are.  You know more about what employers are looking for in their field than they do.  You have a much better understanding of how to interact with a group they consider exotic and hard to understand: recruiters.  And, you have a more realistic sense of what employers will pay for certain kinds of expertise and different levels of experience. 

So, don’t pretend to be someone you are.  Be yourself.  Then, when a participant’s contributions to the discussion single them out as a gem of a prospect, you can reach out to them privately and they’ll know who you are.  You will have established the familiarity and trust necessary to move even the most passive of prospects into a more active frame of mind. 

Contact Networking 

Contact networking occurs on professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, Ryze, Yorz and Ziggs.  These sites enable people to build out their connections in the workplace and thereby enhance their stature in their profession, craft or trade and/or make themselves “findable” by recruiters.  While the groups within LinkedIn and similar sites do facilitate content networking, most of those who join these sites do not participate in them.  They are simply interested in creating passive links that may prove helpful to them right now or at some point in the future. 

The majority of those who sign on to professional networking sites would normally be passive prospects.  In today’s economy, however, it’s likely that a significant percentage are, in fact, active job seekers.  As in the real world, they are forging connections with others in the hopes of bumping into or being referred to a recruiter with an opening appropriate for them. 

Networking in such a population, therefore, is basically an exercise in doing old-fashioned cold calling by email or InMail.  Just as executive search consultants have done for years, it involves moving through concentric circles of contacts to uncover candidates for an open position.  With the exception of the first circle—your own direct connections—the contacts are not personally known to you.  They are, instead, leads that may either identify a genuine prospect or provide yet another lead to someone else who could be. 

The key to successful contact networking, therefore, is two-fold.  First, as with cold calling, the activity is basically a numbers game.  You have to keep pouring a lot of contacts into the top of the funnel in order to reach even a small number of legitimate prospects at the bottom.  Second, you have to know how to message with clarity and impact.  Long and windy communications are unlikely to be read so active job seekers are more likely to apply when they shouldn’t and passive prospects are unlikely to read them at all.  In effect, you have to find just the right balance between speed and engagement. 

While we are still developing the best practices for both content and contact networking, these tools already represent some of the more mature applications of social recruiting.  They are not, however, a substitute for the array of other sourcing methods we employ to identify top talent.  They enable us to tap the power and promise of the social Web, but they incur a cost—the time commitment of the recruiter—that must be carefully managed within the context of your overall recruiting strategy. 

Thanks for reading,

Peter

Visit my blog at Weddles.com/WorkStrong 

Peter Weddle is the author of over two dozen employment-related books, including Recognizing Richard Rabbit, a fable of self-discovery for working adults, and Work Strong, Your Personal Career Fitness System. 

© Copyright 2009 WEDDLE’s LLC.  All Rights Reserved.

As we begin the holiday season, it is of course a time to being reminded of our priorities. We all have things to be thankful for and grateful about. And of course people to be thankful for. In looking back on 2009 so far really take a look at who has helped you in your job search, what things you have been able to do either as a full-time job seeker or someone who was employed and is now looking for new work or a new journey. And, who have YOU helped or impacted as well. That thought alone can be enough to refresh and motivate you. I'll just bet that you have touched someone and helped them along the way too. Take a moment to celebrate the small successes and accomplishments.

This time is a great opportunity to reach out to your network and wish a happy season to your colleagues. In the process keep you on the top of their mind during this busy time of year.

What skills have you acquired (this could be through formal training or hands-on experience)

What networking groups did you join/influential people have you met

What have you accomplished so far and what do you still want to achieve 

Send thank you notes to all who have helped you (even is it was earlier in the year, sending out a thanksgiving note can help keep you top of mind for future opportuinities)
I am very grateful for the work I am able to do and even if I can only touch one job seeker in the process it makes it all worthwhile. Happy Thanksgiving Y'all.

Just posted some new content to my Facebook page. If you are not a Fan yet, no worries, now is your chance! Just click here and hit the Fan button. It's a great way to get the most informative and concise job seeking information in the Metroplex.

But don't stop there! I want to hear from you. Please comment and tell me what you are thinking about, what your frustrations are, or SHARE good News! It's a great way to get all of your burning questions answered.

So check it out now! What are you waiting for??

Fort Worth - http://www.facebook.com/fortworthjobs

Dallas - http://www.facebook.com/dallasjobs

Patty Revis is the Fort Worth Community Relations Director for Jobing.com and the Employment Expert for TXA21. She works with Associations, Non-Profits and Professional Organizations in the metroplex as well as job seeker groups in the area. Contact her at patty.revis@jobing.com for more information on Jobing.com, Job Seeking Advice or other opportunities that just sound fun. Also, you can follow her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/fortworthjobs or on Twitter @jobingfortworth.

   

 

It is amazing that some job seekers show up to interviews and job fairs dressed in anything but a suit.  Always represent yourself in the best light.  If nothing else, it can make you stand out from those who appeared to not take the job hunt seriously.  Years ago when I attended job fairs, I would have employers thank me for dressing appropriately.  Wow!  That meant that many job seekers would arrive dressed inappropriately.  Everything counts. Look prepared.  Look as if you seriously want a job.  First impressions mean everything.  Dress the part!

A. L. BEAN & Company

Consulting, Tax & Accounting

http://twitter.com/ALBEANCompany

As we begin the holiday season, it is of course a time to being reminded of our priorities. We all have things to be thankful for and grateful about. And of course people to be thankful for. In looking back on 2009 so far really take a look at who has helped you in your job search, what things you have been able to do either as a full-time job seeker or someone who was employed and is now looking for new work or a new journey. And, who have YOU helped or impacted as well. That thought alone can be enough to refresh and motivate you. I'll just bet that you have touched someone and helped them along the way too. Take a moment to celebrate the small successes and accomplishments.

This time is a great opportunity to reach out to your network and wish a happy season to your colleagues. In the process keep you on the top of their mind during this busy time of year.

What skills have you acquired (this could be through formal training or hands-on experience)

What networking groups did you join/influential people have you met

What have you accomplished so far and what do you still want to achieve 

Send thank you notes to all who have helped you (even is it was earlier in the year, sending out a thanksgiving note can help keep you top of mind for future opportuinities)
I am very grateful for the work I am able to do and even if I can only touch one job seeker in the process it makes it all worthwhile. Happy Thanksgiving Y'all. -Patty

The positive growth turned in by the American economy in the third quarter of this year suggests that maybe, just maybe this Great Recession is now in our rear view mirror.  As it fades away, of course, the tales will begin about what we did during this terrible time.  While recounting those legends is surely important, so too is sharing the insights we’ve acquired from our experience.

 

Cataclysmic events often alter our perceptions of the world around us.  That was true during the Great Depression, and it will be true as we emerge from this Great Recession, as well.  Some of these new views are opinions about what happened and why, but others are actually lessons that we’ve learned about how best to survive and prosper.  They’re the things we wish we had known before the event occurred because that knowledge would have undoubtedly enabled us to fare better than we did.

 

I think the sharing of this wisdom is good for us—it’s cathartic to acknowledge that we’ve earned an advanced degree in the school of hard knocks—but it’s even more helpful for our kids and grandkids.  In a very real sense, we are giving them a gift, a roadmap for the future that may help them avoid the dead ends and dangerous potholes they are sure to encounter.

 

Each of us has our own view of the lessons we should pass along.  For me, the following four insights are among the most important.  They are realizations everyone must have in order to chart a successful and fulfilling career in the 21^st Century world of work.

 

Seeking job security makes you vulnerable.  In today’s turbulent economy, employers have no idea what will happen tomorrow or the day after.  They may promise you job security, but they can’t deliver it.  So, counting on it is likely to put you out for the count.  A far better objective is career security—the ability to stay employed in a job of your choosing regardless of the condition of any single employer or the economy as a whole.  Unlike job security, career security is a state you create for yourself.  You don’t have to rely on the good will of some employer.  You anticipate the changes in your career—the timing of a move from one boss or organization to another, the refocusing or reskilling that’s necessary to accommodate shifts in your industry or profession—and then you plan and execute those changes so they benefit you.

 

Recognition is something you give yourself.  Most managers and supervisors mean well, but if you wait for them to recognize your accomplishments at work, you’re likely to be disappointed.  Some have the social skills of a brick and others are too worried about their own security to take care of yours.  That’s why it’s important for you to keep track of your own “career victories.”  Sure, it takes a little effort to maintain a contemporaneous record of what you’ve done and how well you’ve done it, but that account will give you more satisfaction than most managers ever will.  Don’t just write it out, however; also review it regularly.  Take the time to remember what you’ve done and pat yourself on the back when you deserve it or give yourself a little counseling if you’ve let yourself down.

 

Working tirelessly is a sure way to get tired.  Sadly, many people in today’s world of work find themselves wired up with no place to go.  They’ve learned the hard way that staying continuously in contact with the office doesn’t protect you.  It exhausts you.  We’re all worried about the H1N1 flu becoming a pandemic, but workaholism already is.  If you have any doubt about that, look left and right the next time you’re lying on the beach.  Every other person will be glued to their Blackberry or iPhone checking their email.  The impact of such behavior on both individual performance and wellbeing is already acute and likely to get worse.  In a knowledge-based economy, your worth is measured not by your connectivity, but by your contribution.  And, your contribution suffers when you don’t give your mind and body a chance to rest.

 

Taking care of your career is the best way to take care of you.  The conventional approach to career self-management has been to get an annual checkup and leave it at that.  Historically, we paid attention to our career just once each year—during our performance appraisal and salary review.  That approach was dangerous then; today, it’s a sure-fire way to induce career cardiac arrest or what most of us call unemployment.  The only safe course in a workplace as turbulent as the one we now have is to develop career fitness the same way you develop physical fitness.  You have to commit yourself to building up the strength, endurance and reach of your career every single day.  Yes, that’s a lot of work, but it’s also a smart investment.  You spend one-third or more of your day in your profession, craft or trade, and you deserve an experience during that time that is every bit as good as the rest of your life.

 

We have acquired many insights from our experience over the past two years, but these four maxims are the key lessons we have learned.  They are the things we wish we had known so they are now the things we want others to know.

 

Thanks for reading,

Peter

Visit me at Weddles.com

Keywords are a central feature of our business day.  We use them to search our resume databases and to parse through the profiles and resumes posted on job boards and social networking sites.  The problem, of course, is that we pesky humans have a bad habit of using different words to express the same idea.  That variability in human expression makes it difficult to know which keywords will actually identify the best candidates for each of your openings.

 

So, what should you do?  How can you select the right keywords when there are so many competing alternatives?  The answer, I think, is to create a keyword taxonomy—an annotated list of search terms—that is rich in the language of the top talent in the specific career fields for which you are recruiting.  Think of it as a “set of master keys in words” that can unlock the candidate databases you are probing.

 

Creating such a tool is not particularly difficult.  Doing so, however, is a departure from the current practice in many organizations.  It involves temporarily stepping outside the press of individual, day-to-day assignments and taking a longer term view of how keywords can best serve your recruiting strategy.  Here’s what I mean.

 

The rule of thumb in developing a list of keywords has usually been to rely on the information provided to us in a job description or requisition.  The problem with this approach, of course, is that those documents are typically formulated by hiring managers—one of the least articulate populations on the planet.  The terminology they provide, therefore, is necessary but insufficient to unlock the best talent in an ATS or job board database.  It is a part of the master keyword set, but not all of it.

 

How can you fill in the gaps?

 

I suggest you borrow a page from your colleagues in sales and marketing and form a focus group.  Such a group is only useful, however, if it is composed of the right participants.  You’re trying to uncover the language used by the best talent for your openings, so your focus group should be populated with the same kind of people.  And, you have a ready source of such individuals among your organization’s “A” level performers in the career fields for which you’re recruiting.  They, better than anyone else, know exactly which terms their peers will use to describe their qualifications.

 

Top performers are usually very busy, however, so you may have a hard time breaking them free for such an exercise.  If that’s the case in your organization, you can also build your set of master keywords by conducting a similar survey with your new hires during their orientation.  This approach is clearly more challenging to implement, however, because you will have to base your selection of the group’s participants not on their demonstrated excellence at work, but on your judgment of how they are likely to perform once they are on-the-job.

 

In either case, your focus group will yield the best results if its work is conducted in three steps.

·       First, build your baseline.  Ask the participants to list all of the terms they would use to describe the qualifications required for an individual to be able to perform their job effectively.  These attributes can include specific skills, occupational and/or industry knowledge, prior work experience, personality and any other factors that would bear on their ability to contribute.  If the group has a hard time knowing where to begin, ask them to review one or more of the keyword references that are currently available.  These include Google’s Keyword Tool, which will suggest keywords based on previous Google searches; Wordtracker, an online research tool; and WEDDLE’s 3 volume set, Finding Needles in a Haystack, which lists over 25,000 keywords and keyword phrases, across 5400 job and position titles in 28 industries and professions.

·       Second, restate the terms in order of their importance.  Ask the group to prioritize each of their terms according to its impact on an individual’s job performance.  While there may be some disagreement among the group about the placement of specific terms, encourage them to arrive at a consensus rank ordering of the overall list.

·       Third, group the terms into search baskets.  The best way to probe a resume or profile database is to conduct your search in concentric circles of ever greater specificity.  This approach enables you to hone in on and eventually determine a reasonable slate of the most qualified prospects in a database.  Therefore, ask the group to break their list into the following categories: absolutely critical, very important, somewhat important and nice to have.

 

Those four baskets of search terms should then be added to the terms you derived from the hiring manager’s job description or requisition.  If those documents enable you to do so, assign each of those terms to one of the categories used in Step 3 above.  If not, the most politic course to assign them to the absolutely critical category.  The resulting integrated list of search terms is your set of master keywords.

 

The above process is clearly labor and time intensive so think of it as an investment to develop an asset.  The product you create—your keyword taxonomy—is just such a resource.  It is a state-of-the-art search tool that can be used over and over again by the entire recruiting team.  No less important, that tool gives them a genuine competitive advantage because it will increase both their efficiency and their performance.  It should, therefore, be password protected and carefully monitored.  As with all assets, it will require updating from time-to-time, but the effort involved will be substantially less than of the original development.

 

Keywords are typically viewed as one of the basic tools in our profession.  For better or worse, everybody uses them so it’s easy to assume they have little or no differentiating value.  When forged into a powerful asset, however, keywords can help an organization unlock talent other employers can’t reach.  That’s why no recruiting team should be without “a set of master keys in words.”

 

Thanks for reading,

Peter

Visit me at Weddles.com

“You're bad news, Lance. You're not interested enough in growing old.”  Charles E. Boles (Black Bart, 1948)

Growing old is something we should all look forward to. After all, the available alternative is not too good.  Yet, for many elderly loved ones the medical system is so complicated that it puts them at risk.  For those people, Cardiovascular Home Care offers the "Safe Choices" program.

Safe Choices is designed to address issues specific to elderly populations. Certified Geriatric Care Managers work with various disciplines to:

• Coordinate medical care
• Reduce fall risks
• Improve medication management
• Address hygiene/nutrition issues
• Assist in financial planning
• Identify available resources

All of which greatly reduces the risk of costly hospitalizations. By preventing these problems, patients can have longer, happier lives.  

Safe Choices is a Medicare qualified program but is also available through private pay and major insurance. Patients do not have to have a cardiovascular diagnosis to be accepted into the Safe Choices program.

Caring for an elderly loved one is often an overwhelming issue. You don't know whether to call the doctor, the ER or a nursing home. Our program can help you feel better knowing you have made Safe Choices.

If you feel you would be a good member of the Safe Choices team, please see our ads here on Jobing or at www.happynurses.info.

If you are a caregiver or a discharge planner that would like more information on Safe Choices please call 817.847.8888 x121.

The room was abuzz with excitement as the 2009 Pinnacle Awards, sponsored by ADP, were announced during a luncheon at the SHRM Leadership Conference in Washington, DC. Each year, the Pinnacle Awards recognize outstanding projects designed and implemented by SHRM chapters and state councils. Each award carries a $1,000 prize for the chapter/council as well as a special Pinnacle lapel pin. Projects are judged by an internal SHRM staff committee and an external committee made up of SHRM members. This year saw entries from 45 chapters and eight state councils. A total of nine awards were presented—seven to chapters and two to state councils.

Winners of the 2009 Pinnacle Awards are:

Evansville-Area Human Resource Association (Indiana)

Human Resources Management Association of New Orleans (Lousiana)

Human Resources Management Association of New Mexico (Albuquerque)

Susquehanna Human Resource Management Association (Pennsylvania)

Austin Human Resource Management Association (Texas)

Mid-Cities Human Resource Association (Texas)

Raleigh-Wake Human Resource Management Association and Triangle SHRM (North Carolina)

New Hampshire SHRM State Council

Garden State Council – SHRM, Inc.

There are over 350 definitions of Leadership. Most dynamic leaders agree it’s about influencing others in order to reach new heights. However, along the way many mistakes are made and some are career ending. Make plans to attend this complimentary session presented by Jack Smalley, SPHR, as he reviews the "Lessons Learned from the Top 10 Leadership Mistakes" on Thursday, December 3rd at the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas at 6655 Deseo, Irving, TX 75039 (off Riverside Dr., just north of Royal Lane).

Great leadership can move men, women and mountains but the Top 10 Leadership Mistakes can cause irreparable damage to our followers and our mission. Excellent leadership begins long before we enter our career and continues well beyond our retirement through our mentors and who we decide to mentor.

This detailed and interactive session covers the following leadership mistakes with real life stories and examples such as:
• Too Much Talking and Not Enough Walking
• Assuming Your Best Employees Require Little Recognition
• Accepting Mediocre Performance

Our employees play a major role in delivering our successes or allowing us to fail. By avoiding and learning from these mistakes our employees will stand by us through the challenging times ahead and 100% support us in overcoming all obstacles along the way.

Event Information:

3.0 Hours of HRCI Credits (Pending Strategic Approval)
Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009
Time: Registration : 12:30 – 1:00 PM; Session: 1:00 – 4:00 PM
Where: Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas
6655 Deseo, Irving, TX 75039; (Off Riverside Dr, just north of Royal Lane)
Cost: Complimentary to invited guests
RSVP: To register, go to www.irvingexpress.com, or send email to: mike.overby@expresspros.com

 

Over the next few weeks I will discuss how to use Twitter and Facebook during the job search. For this post, I will share how to source job leads, locate targeted companies, and create a targeted company list.

1. Visit www.twitterjobsearch.com, sign in to Twitter, and click on the Allow Access button (if this is your first time using TwitterJobSearch).

2. Next complete your TwitterJobSearch profile by providing contact details, your skills, and URLs to your LinkedIn and online resume. You can log in to LinkedIn and click on “View My Profile” to obtain your public profile URL (located above the Summary).

3. To source job leads, click on the Browse button in the upper right of the screen, and type your job function in the search field. For example, I typed “corporate strategy” and retrieved 3500+ results. You can also use the categories and subcategories located under Browse Jobs on TwitterJobSearch’s home page.

4. Next refine your search using the filters on the right of your screen which include: Date, Job Title, Country, City, Salary, Job Type, and so on. For example, I clicked on “United States” under the Country filter and then clicked on “Dallas” under the City filter.

5. After setting up your search, click on the Subscribe button (on the right of your screen above the filters) to automatically have relevant jobs sent to your RSS reader.

6. Next follow individuals of interest who tweeted jobs (by clicking on their twitter name and the follow button) to ultimately network and establish relationships with.

7. To follow targeted companies that are recruiting and posting jobs on Twitter, visit the two links below:

http://tweepml.org/Employers-Recruiting-on-Twitter/

http://tweepml.org/Top-10-Companies-Recruiting-on-Twitter/ 

Then deselect the companies you do not want to follow, click on the Sign in on Twitter button at the bottom of the screen, and click on the Allow Access button. In an upcoming post I will discuss how to determine if specific companies are on Twitter.

8. Next place your targeted companies in a list. To do so log in to your regular Twitter account, click on the Create a new list button in the upper left of your screen, type the name of this list, select the appropriate privacy setting, and click on the Create list button.

Click on your following icon to locate the individuals and companies you are following. For each of the targeted companies (you are following), click on the manage list icon under actions, and select the targeted company list (you just created).

Click on the Home button and under the Lists section on the right of your screen, click on your targeted company list, and you will only see the tweets from these companies.

At Pennsylvania Life SENIOR Solutions®, we specialize in working with America ’s seniors, helping them to understand Medicare and the changes in Medicare that can affect them in their health care and in their retirement. We are then able to offer solutions to these changes via our many different insurance products. We focus on providing information on the four main areas of concern that most retirees face today.

One of the areas that are a major concern for this country’s seniors is Long Term Care. Long Term Care refers to the type of personal care services you may need if you become unable to care for yourself because of a loss of functional capacity or cognitive impairment.

Long Term Care is different from traditional medical care. Traditional medical care treats physical problems directly in an attempt to permanently cure or control them. Long Term Care services help you maintain your ability to perform normal daily activities. These services could include personal assistance or custodial care and skilled care provided in your home, an adult day care center, a nursing home, or an assisted living facility.

Our nation’s retirees work for many years, accumulating their retirement funds to carry them thru their “golden years.” After laboring for 30, 40 or sometimes as much as 50 years, the retiree’s hope is that the carefully saved “nest-egg” will last thru another 15 or 20 years or so, of well deserved rest and relaxation. And with today’s technology, life expectancies have greatly increased from what they were in the days of our parents, grandparents and great grandparents. And of course the longer we live, the chances of having health problems in our later years increase drastically.

The disturbing fact is that national statistics now show that when all of us reach the age of 65, there is a 40% chance of needing some type of Long Term Care (nursing home, assisted living, adult daycare or home health care) sometime in our remaining life. And by the time we reach the age of 75, it jumps to a 75% chance that we’ll need some type of Long Term Care sometime in our remaining life. And at an average cost of between $3000 and $5000 per month for this care, this is a huge area of concern for most seniors!

How can one protect themselves from such a devastating blow to their assets? Most seniors are surprised to learn the Medicare is not the answer. Since Medicare only pays for 100 days of long term care (20 days at 100% coverage and 80 days of co-pays) only when their care is considered “skilled care,” one must find other alternatives to protect themselves.

There are normally only 3 ways to protect yourself. The first way is to “self-insure,” or be “rich.” However, the cost of a nursing home stay could easily reach $70,000 or more per year. Depending on the services you need and the costs in your area, average rates might be $200 a day or more. This could quickly drain ones retirement fund. The second way is Medicaid. Medicaid is a state and federal assistance program for eligible individuals with low incomes. To qualify for Medicaid, you must meet state and federal guidelines for income and assets. In Texas , one must “spend down” their monthly assets to their last $2000 (amount varies from state to state), an amount that is actually below the national poverty level. The third way is to be insured. This can be accomplished by transferring the risk to an insurance company, much like one would do by transferring the risk of needing care from a doctor or a hospital to their health insurance carrier.

The federal government realizes the importance of having Long Term Care Insurance. Long Term Care Insurance is now actually offered to federal employees, but only at the expense of that employee. Also now available are “Tax Qualified” Long Term Care Insurance policies. These policies make a “write off” available to eligible individuals who qualify by having the necessary medical deductions (consult a tax attorney or CPA), allowing them to “write off” a portion or all of the premiums paid for their Long Term Care policy.

Is Long Term care Insurance right for you?  To find out more information about Long Term Care, here are a few agencies and phone numbers for you to contact.

Medicare

1-800-Medicare (1-800-633-4227)

www.medicare.gov

Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services

1-800-252-9240

www.dads.state.tx.us

“Own Your Future” Long Term Care Awareness Campaign

www.ownyourfuturetexas.org

Texas Department of State Health Services

1-888-963-7111

www.dshs.state.tx.us

Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Medicaid Hot Line

1-800-252-8263

www.hhsc.state.tx.us

Social Security Administration Toll-free Hot Line

1-800-772-1213

www.ssa.gov