free career resources
We have included some free career resources.. There are free career assessments and job search info to get you started. The assessments will help you to discover interests and strengths. We have also included some marketing courses for personal branding. Finally, you will find some job search sites and company research information.
Three areas that affect your career are:
- Interests
- Skills and strengths
- Opportunities
Suzy Welch offers a simple technique to help you find a launching place for your career:
Suzy Welch: This simple diagram can show you what to do with your life from CNBC.
Here are some free assessments that will give you more information about yourself, your strengths, and your interests:
- Personality Inventory from PsychCentral based on the Big Five dimensions. The results will be sent to you via e-mail.
- Interest Profiler - the O*NET interest profiler can be use to show you career areas you might like to explore
career marketing
You are a business of one, whether you are employed, contract, or operate your own firm. Gaining core marketing skills empowers you to interview with confidence and find the customers you will love. You will be able to connect with your interviewer and provide the reason the company should choose you. You will connect the need of the business to your expertise.
32 free marketing online classes
If you have not done so already, you need to create and/or optimize your LinkedIn profile. After you are happy with your profile, you can grow your network to over 100,00 connections!
The following resources have a free initial trial and a small monthly investment afterward:
lynda.com offers a 10-day free trial ($19-$29/month thereafter) and provides training. You can take courses in marketing, business, and technology to develop skills employers want. Developed by the folks at LinkedIn, Lynda offers almost 6,000 (2017) classes. Choose some to close the gap between your skills and the qualifications needed.
career research and job search
Lyz Ryan created a video based on an article by Jeff Kauflin over at Forbes.com suggesting the ten sites for openings, salary information, and information about companies:
- LinkedIn.com isn't just for you to tell other professionals how wonderful you are. It is a great opportunity to research a company and make connections with other professionals at that company!
- TheMuse.com lets you research contacts or potentially, the hiring manager, at a company before your interview.
- AngelList.com offers information on startup companies, investing in them, and potential openings. You can filter by many different criteria.
- Glassdoor.com includes reviews from current and former employees of a company and salaries reported for positions.
- Idealist.com has internship and volunteer opportunities to add valuable experience to your resume when just staring out in a new field.
- Payscale.com allows you to find out what you are worth in a certain field for an area of the country with the world's largest salary database.
- Indeed.com pulls together job listings from many sources to let you search by salary level, area, and position title among other things.
- UpWork.com lists freelance positions for those that like a flexible schedule or prefer contract work.
- Stackoverflow.com lists engineering and technology jobs for 13,000 companies.
- USAJobs.gov is the official job site for the federal government. You can "learn about unique hiring paths for veterans, students and graduates, individuals with a disability, and more."
inc.com, fortune.com, money.com/careers
For developing leadership skills, Inc. publishes a variety of articles ranging from startups to corporate culture. Bring in one article with the Fortune 500 company news to the conversation with an future employer. Money’s career pages also let you catch up on the latest trends in your field.
These are great sources for research on a company while preparing for interviews.