Zoogony

Looking for a Job Using the Net to Win

The Internet offers huge opportunities for a job hunter, but also presents several potential challenges. It also adds great complexities, and a lot more matters to consider…and be wary of.

Job hunting needs to be thought of as a personalized, highly aimed marketing process where you are the product. Your resume is an ad. Your extended network is your source for job information.

So where does the net fit in? At AA-Careers, we recently posted a job on Craigslist and got 600+ applications in a calendar week. For a single opening. That’s increased job hunting competition.

Had a strong candidate gotten ahold of us before we ran the posting, they could have secured the job before having all that competition. How? By knowing an employee at our office who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone knew about of the job for at least 8 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?

Be sure to check your cover letter and resume carefully! When we did an analysis of the 650 resumes, we found a large number of errors. 63% of the applicants were easily eliminated with a fast-paced triage process. How? The same way any manager would. By passing over resumes where the objective didn’t match our position description. By passing over candidates whose cover letters gave us causes not to hire them, like "I know I’m overqualified but I really need a job". By eliminating candidates whose documents that didn’t open properly. And by rejecting job hunters who didn’t bother to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.

So the good news is that job sites give you a sense of who is hiring, and for what kinds of jobs. But once those positions are posted, the competition is intense. You can still compete, if you have a well thought out resume, designed to appeal directly and clearly to the recruiter. And if you have practiced interviewing – so you don’t stumble at a critical point.

Another thing to be aware of is how quickly you can be looked up on the internet. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some MySpace comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing insane, but enough to tilt our thoughts about who to choose.

AA-Careers provides a encompassing set of services for Bay Area job seekers, providing our clients a personal career consultant, a managed job hunting campaign, modern tools like a personal website, video, highly targeted resume, and much more. Let us know if we can help you.

Be careful out there, and good hunting!

New Weight Training Technique Gets Superior Results Using Barbells, Kettlebells, or Dumbbells

If you’ve been looking for a different training technique to
break out of a rut, eliminate the boredom, and bring on new
results, “complexes” may be just what you’ve been looking for.
If you’ve never heard of “complexes” before, the basic concept
is that instead of repeating the same exercise for multiple reps
to complete a “set”, you sequence one rep of several different
exercises right after one another and repeat the sequence
several times to complete a “set”. No, this is NOT circuit
training…it’s much different. It’s basically like performing a
routine, instead of just mindlessly performing a typical “set”.
This type of training is excellent to work a huge amount of
musculature in a short amount of time, and definitely takes your
workouts to a whole new level of intensity. The conditioning
aspect of this type of training is amazing, as you’ll find
yourself huffing and puffing after repeating a sequence a mere
two or three times. If I had to venture a guess, I’d have to say
that this type of training probably elicits a good growth
hormone response as well, due to the large amount of full body
work completed in a given time period. But that’s just my guess.

I like to incorporate about 5 exercises into my complexes. Any
more than that and you might start to forget what’s next in the
sequence. Here’s an example of a killer barbell complex that
really gets me fired up:

Example Barbell Complex

1. high pull from floor (explosive deadlift right into upright
row in one motion);

2. barbell back to thighs, then hang clean (explosively pull bar
from knees and “catch” the bar at shoulders);

3. barbell back to floor, then clean & jerk;

4. barbell back to thighs, bend over, then bent over row;

5. barbell back to thighs, then finish with Romanian deadlift

Use a weight that you can still handle for your weakest lift of
the bunch, but keep it heavy enough to challenge you. Try to
repeat the sequence 2-3 times without resting… That’s 1 set.
You could progress over time on this routine by increasing the
amount of times you repeat the sequence in each set, or by
adding sets on subsequent workouts before eventually increasing
the weight. For example, say you completed the above complex
with 155-lbs for 3 sequences per set for 3 sets in today’s
workout. Next time you perform the workout, try to do 155 lbs
for 3 sequences per set for 4 sets. Once you successfully
complete 5 sets with 155, increase the weight 5 or 10 lbs next
time, and drop back to 3 sets. This is a great way to make
improvements over time, while cycling your training volume.

Now I’m going to show you a great kettlebell complex that really
kicks my butt. I’ve been training with kettlebells for a little
over a year now, and can definitely say that they’ve
dramatically improved my strength, body composition, and overall
physical capabilities. If you’re not familiar with kettlebells,
they are an old eastern European training secret that has just
started to take the US by storm over the last few years. Many
elite athletes are using kettlebells as their preferred training
tool for serious results. Learn more info and pick up one of
your own body-hardening kettlebells at
http://truthaboutabs.com/fitness-products.html. I’d recommend
just starting off with one bell and learn all of the single
kettlebell drills first, before delving into the double-bell
drills. Just one kettlebell coupled with some bodyweight
exercises can literally be enough to comprise your own home gym,
without any other equipment necessary. Or you can just
incorporate kettlebell training into your normal training
routine once or twice a week to shake up your routine and
stimulate new results.

Example Kettlebell Complex

1. one arm swing

2. one arm snatch, keep the bell over head;

3. one arm overhead squat;

4. bell back down to bottom, then one arm split snatch;

5. bell back down to bottom, then one arm clean & press

As with the barbell complex, repeat the sequence (without rest)
2-3 times with each arm. That’s one set…and one hell of a
killer set at that! Try increasing from 3 to 4 to 5 sets on
subsequent workouts with a given weight before increasing your
sequence reps. If you’re not drenched in sweat with your heart
beating out of your chest after that complex, you either went
too light, or you are a mutant freak!

Alright, since most people will have easier access to dumbbells
instead of kettlebells, now I’ll show you how to compile a good
dumbbell complex.

Example Dumbbell Complex

1. upright row with each arm separately, then both together;

2. front lunge with one leg, then the other;

3. back lunge with one leg, then the other;

4. curl to overhead press;

5. keep dumbbells at shoulders and squat

Again, the same type of sequencing and progressions work great
with the dumbbell complexes. I think a great strategy is to
alternate barbell complexes on one day with kettlebell or
dumbbell complexes on alternative training days. For example,
you could do barbell complexes Monday, K-bell or D-bell
complexes Wednesday, and back to barbell complexes on Friday.
Maybe hit some sprints and bodyweight drills on Saturday; then
Monday would be K-bell or D-bell complexes again, Wednesday
would be barbells again, and so on. Give this program a try for
a month (if you dare), and you will be one hardened individual!

For more killer full body training routines and a fully
comprehensive nutritional analysis for developing the body
you’ve always wanted, check out http://truthaboutabs.com