Thank you to the over 80 employers and thousands of job seekers that attended this year’s event!
We were very excited to provide talent and opportunity a chance to meet once again at the 20th annual NEPA Job Fair, April 13, 2010 at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Wilkes-Barre. This site will remain active all year as an archive of the event, complete with Job Seeker Strategy seminar presentations and blog with job seekers strategy information. We’ll start planning next year’s job fair about 6 months ahead and you’ll be the first to see updates when the planning begins for 2011.
Did You Upgrade Your Job Search Skills and Strategy?
Job Seeker Strategy was a free daylong series of interactive sessions with career professionals, focused on maximizing job search skills and creating a strategy to locate and land opportunity. These seven interactive sessions taught job seekers how to conduct a job search using traditional methods as well as today’s new tools, understand the interview process, what employers look for in a candidate of choice and the keys to career success. Information was relevant to first time job seekers, those in transition and re-entering the workforce.
Each session was presented in an interactive workshop style with time to answer questions and provide examples. Job seekers were welcome to stay for one session or attend them all. Job seekers in NEPA have never had this much support and assistance in one day to get their careers on track! At the end of the day, they left the 2010 NEPA Job Fair with many new contacts and employment opportunities as well as new skills for their job search strategy.
♦ Interviewing Uncovered
Joan Logie, Director of Human Resources at Kane is Able
Job seekers benefited from Joan’s more than 15 years of experience in managing the interviewing and hiring process. She helped job seekers understand how to prepare for an interview, what employers look for in a candidate’s answers to questions, personality and behavior, information that is crucial to discuss and what you should never disclose. Job seekers learned how to empower themselves in their interview.
Interviewing Skills – Joan Logie
♦ How to Navigate State Employment Opportunities
Alan Smith, Veterans Representative and Susan Javage, Career Link specialist, Department Of Labor & Industry – Commonwealth Of PA
Employment with the State is a dream of many job seekers. However, the process is different in some respects to the one applicants are familiar with in private industry. Alan Smith explained in great detail how to navigate the recruitment, application and hiring process for employment with the State of PA. The presentation focused on a tour of the State and Federal employment websites. The sites that were reviewed were State Civil Service, Federal and PA State.
Job seekers, if you are interested in career assistance (finding a job, looking for a better job, improving job skills) or seeking vocational rehabilitation services, Commonwealth Workforce Development System (CWDS) enables you to search for job openings, create a résumé, apply for jobs online, research career information or request vocational rehabilitation services. Pennsylvania CareerLink Offices comply with the Jobs for Veterans Act by providing priority services to veterans.
Government Employment Websites
♦ Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace
Pedro Anes PhD (c), President at The Inpact Group, LLC
Developing emotional intelligence in the workplace means acknowledging that emotions are always present, and doing something intelligent with them. People vary enormously in the skill with which they use their own emotions and react to the emotions of others—and that can significantly affect their career. Pedro Anes helped job seekers create an awareness of the role emotional intelligence plays in managing one’s career.
Emotional intelligence, more than any other factor, more than I.Q. or expertise, accounts for 85% to 90% of success at work… I.Q. is a threshold competence. You need it, but it doesn’t make you a star. Emotional intelligence can. -Warren Bennis, PhD
Recommended reading: Goleman, D. (2000 Mar-Apr). Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard Business Review.
Understanding Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace
♦ How to Work with a Recruiter
Thomas Dimmick, President and CEO of DK Search, Inc.
In this session, job seekers learned what recruiters look for in a candidate and how to work with one in order to stay on the A-list. They discovered the different roles of individuals in the candidate search and hiring process and differences in the missions of internal corporate recruiters, third party agency recruiters and retained search firms. Be sure to check out Tom Dimmick’s advice on the job search on video on the Job Seeker Strategy tab of this site.
♦ Employer Expectations
Wanda Ruschak, Senior Recruiter, Bank of America
When selecting a job candidate, hiring managers ask themselves if and how the candidate would benefit the company. The decision to hire one person over another often hinges on these answers. To be the candidate of choice requires meeting or exceeding their expectations. This session uncovered what employers look for in job candidates, in addition to the skills listed in the job description.
♦ Resume Strategy
George Bellog, Recruiter, Gateway Energy Services
A great resume isn’t a to do list or a series of employment dates and bullet points. A great resume is a professional marketing piece that tells the story of your career and presents quantifiable data that substantiates your qualifications in a snapshot. It intrigues the viewer to such an extent it results in an invitation for an interview. Job seekers deiscovedr how to create a great resume in this session.
♦ Maximize Your Job Search with Social Media
Karla Porter, Dir. Workforce Development and HR, Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber
It’s likely you have one or more personal social networking profiles and pass the time using them to stay in touch with your friends and family. In this session, job seekers discovered how to build a personal brand, maximize social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and rely less on job boards, to discover employment opportunities.
