Jobs for geography lovers

Jobs for geography lovers by Michael Cheary Still struggling to map out your career? It’s time to find your bearings…If you don’t grimace at poorly-written puns, and get terribly passionate about things like plate tectonics, population density and topography, finding a career that combines your love of geographical features with a viable day job could be your key to career happiness.But there’s more to geography than being cautiously concerned about climate change and laughing awkwardly at terrible jokes about fjords. To prove it, here are some of the top jobs for geography lovers:CartographerWant to work with legends every day? We’ve got this…From the earliest paintings made by prehistoric cave dwellers to detailed maps of ancient nations, people have used maps to find their way and record unchartered and mysterious lands for thousands of years.And whilst there may be few unchartered and mysterious lands left to discover (way to go Magellan), a Cartographer’s job is no less important to day. Just ask anyone who’s ever been stuck half-way up Scafell Pike without an Ordnance Survey map to hand.Nowadays, Cartographers mainly work using geographical information systems (GIS), and a variety of digital-mapping techniques to produce geographical information in map, diagram and graph format, used for everything from tourist maps and maritime charts through to road atlases and transport maps.Think of it this way: without Cartographers there would be no SatNavs. Your move Tom-Tom…Will I need a degree?  Generally you will not need a degree, although this may vary depending on your position.Perfect for:  People who want to love making maps.Avoid if:  You think scales are optional.Geography TeacherIt’s a well-known fact that children are our future. Teach them well, and let them lead the way. However, a less well-known fact* is that this quote was directly referring to teaching Geography.Whether it’s teaching about the dangers of deforestation, or educating the masses o n the financial plight of the people of the Mezzogiorno, inspiring the next generation of geographers can be an incredibly rewarding career move, especially for anyone interested in all-things environment.Key attributes for successful Geography Teachers include excellent motivational skills, patience, tact, and an explicable penchant for terrible ties.Extra consideration will also be given to those candidates who can deal with technical terms such as groyne, fish ladder and climax vegetation without sniggering,Will I need a degree?  Yes.Perfect for:  People who live to teach about tectonics.Avoid if:  You thought the capital of Luxembourg was a trick question.View all Geographer Teacher jobs »International Aid/Development WorkerAround 1.4 billion people around the world still live in poverty.This shocking and unsettling statistic is all that’s needed to explain just why International Aid and Development workers do what they do.It is their job to go to the harshest of climates and most harrowing situations to try and help implement a long-term solution to improve lives in the developing world. They help build schools, provide education and healthcare, improve sanitation and help with disaster relief, as well as provide more technical support such as water engineering.Remember: help doesn’t have to begin at home.Will I need a degree?  A degree will help, although entry-level or voluntary positons may be possible without.Perfect for:  People who want to live in a world without poverty.Avoid if:  You’re not really a fan of getting your hands dirty.SurveyorStuck between a rock and a hard place? We might have found the right career for you…Surveyors collect and interpret data regarding areas of land, mapping out buildings, boundaries and buttresses (and lots of other features which don’t begin with the letter ‘b’), for a range of different purposes.Also known as land surveying, or geomatics, this profession is especially important for construction and property projects, although some surveyors choose to specialise in off-shore operations, mapping underwater features or helping with exploration at sea.Will I need a degree?  A degree (preferably accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) will generally be a pre-requisite.Perfect for:  People who look good in high-visibility vests.Avoid if:  You’re only in it for the hard hat.View all Surveyor jobs »Transport PlannerTraffic. Delays. Cancellations. Congestion.Let’s face it, nobody likes the darker side of transportation. However, apart from pretty powerful sighing or the odd passive aggressive outburst on social media (#train #annoying #RantOver), what can we do to change things? Well, quite a lot, actually.In fact, if you work in transport planning, helping to promote and facilitate growth and improvement in transport systems will be your raison dêtre. Planes, trains, automobiles et al. And aside from making our journeys smoother, they also make them safer, a nalysing accident black spots and introducing measures to make a difference.Transport planners: congestion relief, guaranteed. (Warning: This applies to traffic congestion only. If problems persist, you’re probably better off with some form of medicine).Will I need a degree?  A degree is sometimes considered a pre-requisite, although a HND and relevant vocational training in transport planning will be enough for some employers.Perfect for:  People who want to be transport system pioneers.Avoid if:  You’re still waiting for the horse and carriage to make a comeback.View all Transport Planner jobs »Travel AgentFor some people, finding holidays can be stressful.How far away from the beach is it? Does it have a good nightlife? Is it near any famous landmarks that I can take moody photos of and put on Instagram? The answer to these, and numerous other seemingly essential destination deal-breakers, are all in a day’s work for a Travel Agent.It’s their job to find the perfect holi day for customers, whatever they’re into. So whether it’s a weekend away in South Wales, or the trip of a lifetime in Torremolinos (each to their own), they’ll always endeavour to find the right deal for you.Perks of the job include excellent employee discount, the opportunity to travel, and the ability to instantly pass insider knowledge on to drastically improve your friends holiday plans (‘Honestly Alan, this year is going to be all about Halkidiki…’)Will I need a degree?  A degree is not a pre-requisite, although you will need exceptional sales skills and a passion for travel.Perfect for:  People who wish their career was Going Places (or name of other Travel Agent that currently operates).Avoid if:  In your opinion, you can’t beat a bi-annual beano to Broadstairs.View all Travel Agent jobs »Honourable mentions: Environmental Consultant, GIS Analyst, Geologist, Geophysicist, any other position  that  begins with the prefix ‘Geo’.*may not be actual factFind a j ob What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. Career Development

Tools Strategies for Improving Collaboration in 2019

Tools Strategies for Improving Collaboration in 2019 As your head content writer is waking up in beautiful, chilly Ontario, your marketing manager is nearing the end of her day in London. The two need to talk about their latest project, though â€" the deadline is fast approaching. With online tools as well as mobile devices, your writer can chat in real time with your marketer while she’s making her morning coffee, then leave notes on the project to be picked up by the rest of the team later in the day. Businesses today, from agriculture to tech, need collaboration tools and techniques that are just as flexible as the teams they serve. Collaboration is also important on an intradepartmental basis, as communication between departments is essential to meet broader organizational objectives. With so many learning styles and workflow preferences, finding the best way for team members to collaborate is essential so that nobody gets left behind. Theory of Multiple Intelligences It’s now believed that there are as many as nine different intelligences, going way beyond the basic measurement of IQ most of us are familiar with. What this means is that people process information differently and learn differently For example, a person with bodily-kinesthetic intelligence may prefer to work with their hands or manipulate objects. They have a strong mind-body connection. A dancer is a good example of a person with this sort of intelligence. The type of collaboration tools you should use can directly relate to your team’s strengths. Let’s say you’re a choreographer and you want your group to learn a new dance. Would you send them all a message on Slack and then have them read a text-only Google Doc that outlines the steps? Of course not! You’d send them a YouTube video of the choreography, or you’d have them all come in to the studio together to work on it. How the Fair Trade Industry (and Other Enormous Groups) Collaborate Fair trade refers to the conditions that a product is sourced or produced under. It prioritizes the economic stability, human rights, and health of producers. For the consumer, that means that the fair trade consumable you buy wasn’t made in a sweatshop or the fair trade coffee you drink in the morning wasn’t farmed by an underpaid worker. Producers involved in the fair trade market have a complex collaboration issue on their hands. Since there isn’t any specific certification for everyone to meet, change is a homegrown and group effort. One technique is to hold large meetings where fair trade-associated groups gather. Instead of overlapping strategies, each group is given one area of fair trade to work on. For example, one group may find out how farmers can get certified to offer fair trade produce in one specific outlet, like Whole Foods. If meetings like this are held online instead of in a physical space, the “goalfest” style of collaboration is a good option. This saves everyone the trouble of having to reconvene simply for status updates, something that’s extremely hard to do when such a large group of people are collaborating. Everyone can have access to the same Google Sheet, which they’ll update with the goals they’re working toward. One column will be dedicated to what was learned during the process. This tells everyone what did and didn’t work, something that can help inform other groups working on similar goals. Workshops for User Experience Teams User experience (UX) designers and employees related to UX are often brought together to participate in workshops. By having everyone together and undergoing the same training, they’ll all be on the same page regarding approaches to work and expected outcomes. The goal here isn’t to tamp down diverse talents, but instead to find out how those talents can be used both individually and collaboratively in order to meet the company’s overarching goals. The best UX teams are multidisciplinary so that the most optimized design can be produced. These workshops provide a good opportunity to see where individuals and strengths will complement one another. A lot of people and disciplines come together on a UX team.   Which means various tools will be used, like Dropbox for file sharing and Slack for communication. Online Tools for Different Collaboration Needs For many teams, the collaboration tool of choice will solve their most pressing issue, whether that’s communicating and sharing ideas or making changes to a landing page or video that’s about to go public. Here are five different online tools based on your team’s main needs. 1. Communication: Slack Slack is a messaging tool that’s ideal for remote teams. Communicate in real-time, organize projects, set notifications, and make specific threads or info easy to find with hashtags. You can communicate with an individual, a group, or everyone at once. 2. Design: Instapage When you’re building a landing page, a lot of people have to see it and approve it before it can go live. Instapage integrates collaboration tools right on the landing page so that others can see it, offer feedback, ask questions, and then see changes as they’re made in real time. 3. File Sharing: Google Drive Share documents and spreadsheets, see changes, set permissions, and leave comments for others with Google Drive. If you want edits to be approved before being finalized, make changes in “Suggesting” mode. A lot of other business tools integrate with Google Drive, like Asana, making it easy to attach files. 4. Project Management: Asana If there’s a distinct managerial hierarchy, Asana is one of the best project management tools you’ll find. Supervisors can track how their employees are performing and add an almost-endless set of directions, steps, and attachments for projects. Set due dates for tasks and see a calendar view.    Assign projects or tasks to specific people, and send internal messages. 5. Video: Vimeo Vimeo’s Video Review is, as you’d guess, specifically for video creators. You can create and then tweak a video before publishing it thanks to smart collaboration features. Team members as well as clients can offer feedback, even leaving a time-coded suggestion at a particular point in the video. Modern brands often have dispersed teams, making it difficult to collaborate face to face. With the right combination of tools and techniques based on the type of work you do and your employees’ learning styles, you can work so closely together you’ll forget you’re states or even countries apart. This guest post was authored by Brooke Faulkner Brook  Faulkner is a writer, mom and adventurer in the Pacific Northwest.  She spends her days pondering what makes a good leader.   And then dreaming up ways to teach these virtues to her sons, without getting groans and eye rolls in response.

David Armano Reveals His Personal Branding Secrets - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

David Armano Reveals His Personal Branding Secrets - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Today, I spoke with David Armano, who is a well-known blogger and visual expert.   Hes best known for his marketing diagrams and speaks at a lot of industry events.   I spoke to David about how hes grown his personal brand, what it takes to become known in a cluttered world and tips he has for bloggers who are just starting out.   One of the main themes in our talk was how he separates his personal brand from his employers brand and how hes able to make both brands mutually benefit over time.   Im in a similar situation to David, so it was helpful to see how hes handled it. David, in terms of the way you branded yourself online, do you feel you owe much of your success to your visual drawing? Was there some sort of viral effect with them that got you noticed? The visuals absolutely had a great deal to do with the visibility I am fortunate enough to have. My first few blog posts were mostly about user experience and brands. There’s a lot of people talking about these topics. Then one day, I did a visual and I noticed that other blogs started using it on their sites and they would link back to me. And as I did more, I noticed the same pattern. Over time, I started building a reputation for doing thisâ€"and I enjoyed dong them. People saw value in the visualsâ€"many use them in their presentations. One visual in particular that I created is called “influence ripples” and it pops up all over the place. The visuals themselves have helped me to build my personal brand as they are often times immediately recognizable, but what’s more important is that I try to provide value with them. There’s a lot of change going on in the spaces between social media, marketing and even the user experience and what I try to do with my visuals is take something potentially complex and boil it down. Those who find value in this, use what I put out there and in return reward me with their attention and eventually trust. But like any brand it has to happen over time. I’ve done hundreds of visuals and posts over the past 3 years which I hope contribute something to the larger conversation. How are you able to separate your personal brand from that of Critical Mass, your company? What parts intertwine and has your company benefited from your exposure/visibility/credibility? On my blog it’s fairly separate as is my personal Twitter account. I make it clear when writing on my blog that it’s my personal opinions. But there is a good deal of intertwining. When I write for Ad Age, it’s predominantly for Critical Mass, but obviously I bring my personality to it. That’s one way the agency benefits from it. I also have relationships with journalists at BusinessWeek and Adweek that were originally initiated from blogging. I see the relationship as mutually beneficial. Whenever I speak at an event, I represent Critical Mass (the name of the agency is on my slides) though I often times get invited to speak because of my personal profile. But in reality, it’s co-branding. People know me from before I worked with my current employer and that’s just a reality. I get a good deal of leeway in my job and really enjoy the people I work with, so the bottom line is that I try to treat the “co-branding” very respectfully and not take it for granted. If you are going to be in a position like mine, you have to always be looking for opportunities to have your company benefit from your profile. If they are comfortable with it, it can be beneficial to both parties. What are your top 3 tips for bloggers who want to market their content to the right people? A. Focus on the content B. Play to your strengths C. Get out there in person First thing for bloggers to realize is that their content has to be solid. They can find an undeserved niche or chime in with the masses, but there has to be something there that gets people coming back. The best marketing for a blogger is the blog itself and what others say about it vs. what they do. People will recommend good bloggers, it’s that simple. Secondly you have to play to your strengths. Some bloggers are amazingly extroverted and social, they respond to every comment they get and engage people all day long. Others are organized and create useful lists. Still others are great on video. Find out what your strengths are and develop those vs. trying to be like others. And lastly making connectionsâ€"meeting people in real life is incredibly important. Just like with all networking, once you’ve met someone in person it makes a more lasting impression and goes a long way. You use // and Brogan uses [ ] as part of your brand. Why? I’ve been doing that since long before blogging. Partially it represents the // in Http:// which I think pays homage to my passion for the interactive medium. But also, I just think it looks cool. ?? What are some personal branding lessons youve learned over your career? Great question. When I first started blogging, I did not feature my photo on my blog, or even on Twitter at first. I wanted to rely on the visual manifestation of my brand (logo, visuals etc.). I was wrong on this. I’ve since changed both and understand the power of a “face”. For a personal brand to be truly effective, people have to feel like there is a “person” behind it. A simple photo helps move you in this direction and it was something I learned on the fly. I’ve also learned that a personal brand can begin by accident, but it takes some work and strategy to have something that really represents something you feel comfortable with. It’s different for everyone and at some point you have to ask yourself “what do I want to be known for”? So I make fairly calculated efforts in what I talk about and how I talk about them. While I often times talk about social media, user experience and marketingâ€"I also try to communicate visually as much as I can, because my true passion is in the communication. I really enjoy solving problems visually. So I am learning that in order for this to be my “personal brand” I need to be careful not to over indulge on all of the “Web 2.0” talk. Lastly I’ve learned that having a personal brand that is sufficiently visible requires working in an environment where your employer not only comfortable with it but want to tap it somehow. This is the best case scenario and can work for everyone if both parties reciprocate. David Armano has over 14 years experience in the communications industry with the majority of his time spent in digital marketing and experience design. An active thought leader in the industry, David authors the popular Logic + Emotion blog currently ranked in the top 25 of the “Power 150” as listed by Advertising Age. David’s writing and visual thinking has been cited by respected sources such as by Forrester, Crain’s and landed him in BusinessWeek on several occasions including their “Best of 2006”. David leads an interdisciplinary group of designers, writers and content strategists for the Chicago office of Critical Mass, a marketing agency focused on creating extraordinary experiences.

Not Satisfied with Your Life How to Change Careers

Not Satisfied with Your Life How to Change Careers Okay. Let’s admit itâ€"you hate your job. Or, at least, you find that stress from work is affecting your personal life for the worse. And when your work life has been constantly interfering with the satisfaction and quality of your personal life, it’s probably time for a fresh start and a new career. So how does one actually change careers? 7 Steps to Changing Your Career Assess If You Want to Change Careers Choose a New Career Find a Job Posting Write a Resume Cover Letter Send out Applications Interview with Employers Volunteer If Necessary to Strengthen Your Resume Assess. First, consider whether you really hate your work, or whether you just had a bad day. Perhaps you enjoy the work that you do, but your boss is out to get you and make your life miserableâ€"and this time you’re not imagining it. If the company culture or your boss is the problem (and you enjoy your work), consider changing jobs rather than careers. If, however, you feel like the problem is that balancing accounts payable/accounts receivable is the equivalent to drinking chloroform, read on. Choose. The next step, now that you’ve decided that your current career is not where you would like to be in five years, is to decide where you want to be instead. Many people struggle with this step. Choosing what you actually want to do is often a very existential, challenging question. Generally, there are three key factors that bring happiness in the workplace: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Autonomy means you have some level of control of the work you do or how you do it. Mastery means you are constantly improving and learning, and that the work presents new challenges every day. Purpose means you believe you are offering something that matters . . . and that it’s making the world a better place. Meet these three criteria, and you will probably be very satisfied with your career. Okay, so that’s the theoretical. What about the practical? Write out a list of all the things you would enjoy doing. A fantastic resource I recommend to all of my clients that are looking to change careers is MySkillsMyFuture, an intuitive website that allows you to enter in your current job title and see other options (and even what other jobs are paid comparatively!). But, to point out the obvious, as helpful as personality and career software can be, it is not the end all, say all solution. Ultimately, no one but you can tell you what you like to do. You must be the one to choose your passion and then follow it. Find. The next step is to understand the nitty-gritty requirements of the career path you are looking to break into. After all, before you start trying to catch dinosaurs, it’s probably a good idea to know what type of dinosaur net to bring, right? To do this, look up at least 10 job postings. Go to SimplyHired.com and search for the job title of the career you wish to pursue, browse the job postings, and take notes on trends you see. What is it that all of these employers seem to be after? Does it seem like you are actually qualified for this career? This list you create is what you will use to create your new resume. Write. The next step is to write that darned resume. This is definitely one of the hardest stepsâ€"writing a resume is a lot of work and not easy. For brevity, I will not go into nuances of resume writing. After your “umbrella resume” is finished, take out that list of job postings that you already found. Pick one that you fancy the most. Then, keeping your umbrella resume the way it is, create a new file, copy and paste your resume into it, and then tweak that resume so everything in the resume relates to the job posting. We do this because resumes are only as effective as they are targeted to the skill sets employers are looking for. Then, learn how to write a cover letter and compose a killer cover letter for the job posting. Follow the instructions of the employer and submit your job posting. Then pull up another job posting and repeat the resume and cover letter process at least 2 times a day for 2 months straight. I knowâ€"it’s a lot of work. But the difference between those who succeed and those who don’t comes down often to simple numbersâ€"there is a big difference between someone who submits 60 applications per month and someone who submits 5, because the 60 application per month person will be employed at her new dream job while the 5 application person won’t be. That’s the magic of probability. Interview. Great! 2 months have now passed. So you’ve sent 120 applications! If you’ve done everything right, you’ve probably had a few job interviews by now. Maybe you are even employed in your new career! Or maybe you’re not. Maybe you have had 5 or so interviews but no job offers yet. If so, that’s great! It means you ARE qualifiedâ€"employers do not interview with job candidates unless they are qualified. This just means that your interviewing skills probably need work. That’s actually very easy to fix. If you have gotten zero interviews, it probably means that you are either 1. not qualified yet for the career you are trying to break into or (and the more likely one) 2. Your resume and cover letter are not effectively selling your skills. Reevaluate, Volunteer, Repeat, Keep At It, and You’ll See Results. If the career you are trying to break into is really different than your current career, then it’s time to start volunteering and searching for internships to get your foot in the door and gain valuable work experience. Employers love free labor. And if you do a great job, you may just get a job offer!

CIO Resume - Features That Make It Stand Out From the Rest

CIO Resume - Features That Make It Stand Out From the RestIf you want to become a CIO, your chief information officer resume should have certain features that make it stand out from the rest. There are a lot of companies who prefer hiring CIOs rather than someone else, but not every company has the ability to recognize a great resume for what it is. The CIO resume is vital if you want to get hired.It should have a strong foundation - what does it mean to be an officer of an organization? An official of the organization can talk about the office culture, staff training and development, administration of policies and procedures. However, an executive of the organization may say more about the work experience, compensation and benefits. So how do you distinguish your CIO resume from the others?An executive can talk about the 'green' campaign, improving the corporate culture, or making a difference in the workplace. A CIO can talk about technology or it can be more about the organization 's growth, leadership development, or the different management styles that they are comfortable with. How do you distinguish your CIO resume from the others?Another good idea is to write about things that are specific to your work experience. For example, a person with more than three years of experience can talk about specific things that he/she has accomplished such as: helping develop new software that could allow users to customize their personal digital assistant(PDAs), training of staff members, improvement of social networking systems, saving the organization money, developing an intelligent solution to the energy crisis, improving employee training and overall performance in office training sessions. You can list more than this, but these are three that are very important.You can also focus on topics that you are familiar with such as: being an officer of the government, being a leader of a team, as well as other government positions. Some of these topics may be mentioned on your existing resume or on your CIOresume, but it is better to mention them on a separate resume. That way you can add a little bit of additional information.The main purpose of a CIO resume is to help you land the job, so it is very important that your resume be professional and precise. So keep it concise and structured, it is also a good idea to use bullet points on the CIO resume. If you can't figure out how to properly format your CIO resume, try the services of professional writers who are very experienced with creating resumes that are both easy to read and clear.You can also make your CIO resume look more impressive by including your skills and experiences. Think about taking photos of yourself to add to your resume, this is a good idea if you are not comfortable taking a picture. They can create a professional looking photo, which you can put in the body of your resume.Finally, if you are going to take on the role of an information officer, make sure that you are ready to learn and grow at the same time. This means that you should be very organized and know how to organize data, make sure that you have a good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, and perhaps hire a personal assistant if you are still not very confident. There are many things that you need to learn before you can become an information officer, just remember that the most important thing is that you are prepared.

Young and Out of Work Check Out These Options! - CareerAlley

Young and Out of Work Check Out These Options! - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Success is falling nine times and getting up ten. Jon Bon Jovi This guest post is provided by Comparethemarket, a UK price comparison site that helps people save money on a range of financial products, including Life Insurance. Whether you have just graduated from college into the middle of a rotten job market or your previous job has disappeared, it is essential that you get back into the game and that you do it as quickly as possible! The truth of the matter is that while jobs are scarce, there are a wide variety of options open to you. Consider some of these options and try as many of them as you can; you never know when you are going to get the jobs of your dreams. Try a new industry: A career change, especially when youre young, is a good choice if you are worried about being in the wrong field. If you are having issues finding something in your own niche, try someone elses! While switching to a new industry can be a little risky, youll find that it might be the best choice that you have ever made! Get some extra training: This may mean going to a trade school or going back for a masters or a PhD. While this does not make you more money in the short term, you are essentially making an investment in your future. Choose training that has an end-goal in mind, and be sure that you know what kind of work you will be doing if you get the degree you are after. Work on your social networking: Remember that everyone you chat with is a potential contact. Ask people to put the word out for you and to let you know if there are openings at their companies. This is something that can make a huge difference. They say that its all about who you know, but at the end of the day, its pretty easy to get to know someone. Volunteer. If you are out of work, chances are good that you are going crazy from boredom. There is a limit to how much time you can spend filling out resumes, so get out of the house and go volunteer for a cause you find important. You never know when volunteering will let you expand your skills or provide you with a contact to a new job. Consider affiliate marketing if you have a computer and a reliable internet connection. Affiliate marketing is a good choice if you are ambitious and a good people person, and it offers you valuable skills that you can take back with you to the standard work place. There are also plenty of people who try affiliate marketing and never look back. Choose a good company with a product you believe in for the best results. Start a consulting business. Is there something that you do well? If so, there is a good chance that there are other people who want to do it. Working as a consultant allows you to freelance and to create your own schedule while offering your expertise to others at top dollar. Start a crafting business. With sites like Etsy and eBay at your disposal, you can turn a crafting hobby into a crafting business. Think about the jewelry that you make or the drawings that you create. You never know when someone might want to hang it up in their den or their living room. This is a great way to start your own business while doing something you love.This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search. Visit me on Facebook

Ban The Box The Low-Down On Ex-Cons And The Job Search - CareerEnlightenment.com

But that’s not the worst part. The most unwelcome side effect of ‘banning the box’ was a marked increase in racial discrimination. Unable as they were to access an applicant’s criminal history, businesses resorted to the next best thing: blanket-rejecting racial minority youths who were deemed ‘most likely’ to have a criminal history.So if banning the box isn’t the answer, what can the government do to improve the chances of former criminals in the workplace? The most likely solution is implementation of incentives: rewards for businesses who open their doors to ex-cons, financial and otherwise. Whether such measures will ever materialize is yet to be seen.Fighting the systemThere are things you can do, as a former offender, to lessen the impact of your history. Firstly, there are numerous companies from Google to Starbucks who are making conscious efforts to expand their ex-con workforce. Do your research before application and try to aim for businesses who will take l ess umbrage at any ‘unsavory’ history.In interviews, research shows that it’s wise to tackle your past history head-on. A 2017 study has showed that job applicant who acknowledge and either apologize for or justify past criminal activity are more likely to come off well at interview. The writers conclude: “These findings suggest applicants may benefit from using impression management tactics that communicate remorse when discussing events or associations that violate integrity expectations.”Finally, whether you’ve minimal work behind you or can boast significant pre-prison experience, almost all ex-cons can benefit from a spot of volunteer work. Volunteering is not only a great way to obtain a recent reference and learn new skills, but demonstrates an eagerness to self-improve that will alleviate the miasma of past misdeeds. Volunteering work on a CV encourages employers to look beyond previous convictions and view you as a potential employee.For those who have fallen af oul of the law, the job market can be a difficult environment to navigate. Though many employers remain averse to hiring ex-criminals, things are changing.