Tampa Job Fair October 19th at MOSI!

Hey Tampa, we at the Employment Guide have another job fair coming up next month, and I just wanted to let everyone know some of the details upfront.

What: Tampa October Job Fair

When: Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

Time: 10am – 2pm

Facility: Museum of Science and Industry / MOSI

4801 E. Fowler Ave.

Tampa, FL 33617

It is Open and FREE to the public

It is Free of Admission and There will be Free Parking

Job Seekers, please pre-register for the career fair by clicking here!

And lastly, for those of you who are more visual here is the Job Fair Flyer:

Tampa Career Fair In Partnership with AARP August 24th!

Hey Tampa, we have a Job Fair coming up this month!

Please Join us in at the Museum of Science and Industry on Tuesday August 24th from 10am - 2pm. Job seekers, don’t forget to dress to impress and bring lots of copies of your resume. Start your job search with the Tampa Job Fair brought to you by the EmploymentGuide.com and AARP.

Check out the List of Companies that will be in Attendance on 8/24:

• AFLAC

• AFLAC Insurance

• Allied Barton Security Services

• APAC Customer Service

• Argosy University

• Asset Acceptance Capital Corp.

• Bright House

• Center for Technology Training

• Digital Reception Services

• Drive Time

• EMSI

• Fast Train

• Federal Bureau of Investigation

• Florida Army National Guard

• Fortis College

• Lasalle Computer Learning

• Merchant Services Consulting Group, Inc.

• Meridian Career Institute

• National Business Institute

• New York Life

• Plastipak Packaging, Inc.

• PRC

• Racetrac Petroleum

• Sonic Restaurants, Inc.

• Southwest Florida College

• T-Cellular, Inc.

• TZ Insurance Solutions

• Ultimate Medical Academy

• US Army

• Webber International University

For those of you who want to pre-register early for the Job Fair click here! And, for those of you who need some job fair tips check these articles out here and here.

We can't wait to see all of you at the and Job Fair!

-TampaEG

Tampa Job Fair, Tuesday September 22nd

The Tampa Employment Guide is helping put the community back to work and we want to start with you. On Tuesday, September 22nd we will be taking over the Harborview Center in Clearwater to continue to "Put America Back to Work." This year the Employment Guide is committed to putting over 15,000 people back to work through our job fair series and the next stop is right here in the Tampa Bay community.

Join the following companies for a day of networking, turning in resumes and applications and looking for an opportunity to make a change in your life and the life of your family.

• Argosy Education Group
• AARP
• Bank of America
• Best Price Resume
• Bright House
• Central Florida College
• Change Of Course
• Fast Train
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Fort Hays State University
• International Academy of Design & Technology
• Massey Services Inc.
• Tech Skills
• United States Army
• United States Navy
• Verizon Wireless

The Harborview Center is located at
300 Cleveland St.
Clearwater, FL 33755

Here is a map for your convenience:


View Larger Map

For more information and to pre-register for the Tampa Job Fair, please visit this link.

We will also be hosting a Virtual Job Fair September 23rd - September 30th. More information on the available Tampa Bay area jobs and companies for this event will be posted soon.

See you Tuesday Tampa!

Tampa Job Fair May 19th at the Museum of Science and Industry

The economy has changed and so has the landscape for finding new job opportunities. Building your network, growing skill sets and portfolios and looking for jobs in not all the right places, but in all the available places has come to full fruition as we prepare to enter the summer months here in Tampa.

The Tampa Employment Guide is very excited to play a role in a nationwide campaign to put 10,000 Americans back to work through our job fair series. At a job fair across I-4 a few weeks back in Orlando, they were able to put a dent into that 10,000 mark. Employers from the event were confident that over 500 attendees would be hired from the day alone. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist also stopped in to say some encouraging words. The video below show some highlights from his talk and how you can gain the confidence needed to gain employment in these rough economic times.



Now that the dust has settled across the highway, it is now our turn to bring the Tampa Bay community and the employers together and help put our community back to work. We are committed to bringing you jobs that will help you provide for your family and put some money aside to prepare for the future. The job fair will be held at the Museum of Science and Industry off Fowler Ave in Tampa. A map has been provided below:


View Larger Map

Job seekers are encouraged to pre-register for the event by clicking below. This will help us determine the need of the community and also allow you early access to the event. As always there is no charge for job seekers and we have a few spots left for employers. Please email me if you are interested in participating as a vendor at greg.rollett@employmentguide.com.



We wish you success Tampa and in the time leading up to the event we will be providing key tips and tactics to having a successful job fair.

Happy hunting Tampa.

-Greg

Tampa's Super Bowl Economy

This Sunday the mecca of American sports come into Tampa showing no mercy. Despite the souring economy, Tampa Bay & Company, the area tourism bureau, has reported that they still expect 100,000 fans to travel to the area for the festivities. This is good news for area hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs that will experience a spike in sales and may start to spread some dollars across the area.

Forecasters still expect $150 million is directly related spending for Tampa, much needed funds for an economy that is expected to lose 40,000+ jobs this year.

For job seekers the Super Bowl may not have a direct impact. The sales spike is not long term and jobs for security and extra staff may only be seasonal. So how do job seekers get ahead with all the attention in the world being on the hometown?

The same as it always has. Be prepared for opportunities. Have your resume prepped and updated. Stay on top of new jobs being posted by utilizing RSS Feeds on job boards or picking up news publications the day they are released (typically Monday mornings).

Attend events like the Tampa Employment Guide job fair on February 25th at Lowery Park Zoo and begin networking with peers. Now is a great time to volunteer and make connections with people that can help you out.

Enjoy the Super Bowl and the spotlight it brings on Tampa this week and then be prepared to fight yourself, for the job and career that will help you win your own personal super bowl. I promise the rewards are more enduring than the $3 million commercials.

-Greg Rollett

Healthcare Virtual Job Fair Starts Monday

Start expressing yourself.
Your job search is all about how you present yourself. By creating a brand around your personality, school and work history and your network, you put yourself in a great position to succeed.

HealthCareerWeb.com is a place that allows you to do that. By joining in on forums specific to your industry, creating a profile and networking with other like minded job seekers and professionals, Health Career Web is defining how Health Care jobs are searched for.

We are proud to deliver an event that will not only get the conversation started on HCW, but also deliver opportunities from companies across the state. Starting Monday, August 25th job seekers from around the country and most importantly the state of Florida will be part of the Healthcare Virtual Job Fair hosted by the Employment Guide and HealthCareerWeb.

With gas a non-stop conversation piece and more employers turning to the net for recruiting, this event will give job seekers the opportunity to search for and apply for jobs in their own personal settings and time.

All you need to do is head on over here starting Monday morning at 10am.

For more information on the Job Fair, please shoot an email over to greg.rollett@employmentguide.com.

Happy hunting Tampa!

-Greg Rollett

Summer Jobs for Teenagers: Get a Head Start

photo by ErrrkMunxie

As the weather turns warmer in West Central Florida, so does the job hunt campaign for high school and college students who are looking for part-time work this summer. This increase in the job seeking population increases the competition for all job seekers, though this demographic generally finds themselves working in the retail and hospitality industry.

The motives for teens and their summer jobs is different than the general job seeking community. Teenagers and students are looking for entertainment and spending cash to supplement their days off. Some are looking to save for the upcoming college semester, and some are just looking for a way to pass the time.

In a recent CNN report, entitled 'Teens Face Tough Economic Summer,' Jim Taylor, vice chairman of the Harrison Group says,

"Go out and get a real, grown-up set of shoes. Get rid of the rings -- nose rings and other stuff. March up and down the mall with a really good resume. Walk into every story -- every store -- and say, 'I'm looking for summer work.' And you'll get a job."

The earlier teens start looking, the better, he added, because "if you wait too long, the jobs will be gone."

This is great advice for teens looking to break into the workforce this summer. With the slowing of the economy, retailers and other employers are looking for the best of the best to create additional sales and not just someone that folds clothes. Persistence will be the key along with a great outlook and attitude.

For non-student job seekers, the time is now to lock down a new position before the market once again becomes over-crowded.

Lucky for you, while the students are in school next week, you have a great opportunity to meet with some great employers at the Tampa Employment Guide's Summer Job Fair at Raymond James Stadium, Wednesday, May 7th.

For students who cannot attend, send in your resume to greg.rollett@employmentguide.com and we will add it to our 'Resume CD' that goes out to all the employers that are participating in the event.

Good luck to all the students and teens looking for employment this summer and be sure to sign-up for Job Alerts (can be found on the right side of this page) to get e-mail notifications of great new job opportunities that become available in your industry!

Happy hunting Tampa!

-Greg Rollett

Tampa Retail Need to Capitalize on Hype Products

I am not a gamer, but you can’t help but hear the footsteps of the gaming community as they prepare for the release of Grand Theft Auto IV. Pre-orders have been made, stores are staffed and prepared for the rush and living rooms and schedules have been cleared for hours of endless video game havoc.

With the economy slumping and un-employment hitting over 5% for the first time in a while, retail is sure feeling rocky right now. If there is no money to spend, there is no need to have staff standing around taking up clock space.

Retail Loves Hype

To get people into their stores, retailers and advertisers are trying their best to create hype around a product or product line. This gets the people in the stores. What happens when the customers get there is where the chain will either come out on top or sell a few gimmicks and repeat the process with similar results.

Retail Needs Great ( re: not just good) Employees

When these customers do decide to spend their hard earned money in your store you need to be prepared to give them a pleasurable and memorable experience. This happens with your sales team, check out process and other employees. For a product like GTA IV, consumers have choices in where they purchase the game. Give them a bad experience and they can walk on over to the next shop. Treat them to an amazing experience and they will be back for an extra controller, memory cards, the new system or the next “it” game.

Employees of these retail chains are usually replaceable. Managers, owners and franchisers need to treat the little guy like they are an important part of the team and not just a folder / greeter. This will allow them to care about their work and take care of your customers.

Turning Customer Experience into Repeat Business

A full house in your store means more opportunity for employment. Keeps your employees happy, they keep the customers happy and your business grows along with it.

When job seeking for companies in the retail area, look for companies that have happy employees and a great work environment vs. the one that has the “cooler” clothes or products. You will enjoy your work and more opportunities will present themselves with a business that is growing vs. one that is trendy!

*For a complete list of retail jobs in the Tampa, Clearwater and St Petersburg area, be sure to browse through the Employment Guide or visit us at our Tampa Summer Job Fair, May 7^th at Raymond James Stadium!*

And if you are going to be spending the next few days inside playing GTA IV, remember to get to work on time and get some sunshine. Its summer in Florida, remember?

Greg Rollett

How Rising Fuel Costs are Impacting the Transportation Industry

Fuel is the second largest expense in the transportation industry, right behind good old labor costs. With the seemingly endless rising of oil and gas prices, how does this affect one of the county’s most important industries?

For one, it has opened the eyes of many big shots to alternative fuel solutions. Not to say, there is going to be a full on switch anytime soon, but at least there is visibility for the future.

According to Truckline.com:

After years of paying some of the highest diesel fuel prices on record, interest in renewable fuels is gaining momentum. Motor carriers are beginning to embrace high-quality biodiesel in low percentage blends in efforts to extend the nation’s fuel supply. At the same time, the industry is transitioning to ultra low sulfur fuel to support the next generation of diesel engines designed to reduce emissions.

Sounds like a great start to me!

With a very exciting Driver’s Job Fair coming to Tampa on Saturday, April 12^th, we hope that the industry is taking the right steps to ensure that one of the nation’s largest growing industries will stand tall in the coming years.

If you have any input as to how the trucking and transportation industry can make changes/improvements to the fuel situation, please join the conversation in the comments. If you have any questions about the Careers in Gear Driver’s Job Fair, or would like to attend, have a booth or sponsor, please email me at greg.rollett@employmentguide.com.

Happy hunting Tampa!

Greg Rollett

It’s Not About the Tools, But the End Result

Here at the Employment Guide, we have a plethora of products for job seekers to take advantage of when they are in the position to search for a new career, part-time job, continuing education, and even work at home experiences.

Whether you are picking up a paper, using online job boards, signing up to social networks, blogging, watching videos or coming out to hiring events and job fairs, the goal is almost always the same: Get your foot in the door for an initial interview in the attempt to land a new job.

So if the end goal is the same, how do you get there? Frankly it doesn’t really matter as long as you do get there. Now some jobs and employers use certain types of media and advertisements, and you may miss their message if you are not looking in all the right places. However, there are great opportunities for employment in any medium that suits you. That is the key and employers are starting to realize it.

With the development and continuing growth of Web 2.0 technologies, companies are realizing that their message needs to come across in as many mediums as possible to attract the quality job seekers that are needed to fill their vacancies.

At the end of the day, the tools you use depend on you! That is the one great advantage we have here at the Employment Guide. We can offer you the chance to see great hourly and skilled positions at your convenience, in the medium that works for you.

The opportunities are out there for you to explore. It is up to you to make that call, polish up the resume and make a solid first impression at the interview. We can only offer the tools to get you excited about a career change.

Happy hunting Tampa!

P.S. Careers in Gear Presents the Driver’s Job Fair April 12th! Click here for more info!

-Greg Rollett

EmploymentGuide.com Makeover - New Job Seeker Application Process

Happy Friday Tampa. As the week comes to a close, I wanted to continue to share some of the new features on the shiny new EmploymentGuide.com®. On Tuesday we got into employer videos, which are a great showcase for a company to get their message across to you the job seeker. It puts a visual to the text in their postings and gives you an opportunity to see how life would be like at a particular company.

Today I wanted to touch on the new Job Seeker Application and Profile process that went live with the EmploymentGuide.com® site redesign. The old application was admittedly long and not very fun for you as a job seeker. The new process has been simplified to get to the core of an application and what an employer wants to see when viewing your profile.

Here is the first page:

These are your basic questions. Please answer them thoroughly and be sure to create a username and password that you will be able to remember. Your e-mail and phone number must be valid in order for employers to contact you, so please be sue to be careful and accurate.

Page 2 looks like this:

This is the section to paste past work experience and education history. Please be as informative as possible. Employers are looking at this profile to gather all the information they need in order to qualify you for their available position. Be sure if it is relevant, that it is listed.

I would suggest that it is in your best interest to upload or paste your resume into this profile. Most employers weed out applicants that do not have a resume attached to the profile.

After hitting continue, you are prompted with a confirmation screen. Ensure that everything you entered is correct and you are well on your way to finding a great new opportunity from the Employment Guide®.

Happy hunting Tampa and we’ll see you on Monday!

Greg Rollett

P.S. Careers in Gear Driver's Job Fair is coming April 12th at the Florida Fairgrounds. Click this link for more info!

Makeover - The New EmploymentGuide.com

Hello Tampa! We have been away for a little while but now we are back in action. There have been some great things happening over here and we are exploding with digital technology. If you have visited the EmploymentGuide.com in the last 10 days you might have noticed a face lift. Below is a snapshot of the new home page.


A few new features have been rolled out. As the week progresses I will be going into detail on how they affect you, the job seeker, optimize your job search. Today I wanted to get into employer videos. This has been a key focus for us at the Employment Guide. However, online video is not just a recruitment topic as many of you already know. In December of last year there were over 10 billion videos viewed online. 1/3 of these video were from Google properties (YouTube and Google Video). The demand has never been higher and now we are vying for a piece of your attention span

What is great about our Employer Videos is that they are not only featured in our brand new 'Video Center' they are also viewable in all of the allifiated job postings. You will know that a posting has a video when you see this:


Our feature video of the week comes to you courtesy of RaceTrac. Check it out and let me know what you think!

RaceTrac Recruitment Video

Happy hunting Tampa!

April 5, 2008 - Roadmasters Truck Driver Job Fair (more info ASAP)


-Greg Rollett

Tampa Employment Guide Job Fair Photos

The Job Fair this past week was a huge success! We had over 1000 professional candidates and the companies that attended couldn't be happier. Just take a look at some of the testimonials we received from some of the companies that attended:

"I have to say this was the best event I've ever attended in the country!"
-- AT Systems

Another testimonial:

Q. What did you like about the event?

A. Quantity & quality of applicants.

Q. What would you change if you could?

A. Nothing - Excellent event!

--Integrity Staffing

More testimonials to come!

Below are pictures of some of the companies that attended our fantastic job fair.

Excellent job Tampa! Our Job fair continues to be one of the greatest job fairs held in Florida! I hope to see you at our next Employment Guide Job Fair coming in the next few months!

Happy Hunting Tampa!

Samara Bowling

The Tampa Employment Guide is on TV!

The Tampa Employment Guide went on air with our own Jeff Derenthal giving tips to job seekers to attend our recent job fair. If you missed seeing us yesterday morning you can view us today right here on the Tampa Job Spot. These tips can be applied at the next job fair if you plan to attend in the next couple months. Remember the following:

• Dress Professionally
• Leave your bad attitudes at the door
• Don't bring you're children to the job fair.

Sadly a few job seekers didn't apply these important concepts which can dramatically reduce your chances of landing a great job. I know job hunting is rather stressful, but it doesn't help you at all if you have an attitude because employers will pick up on this and not consider you for the position.

Wearing jeans, midriff exposing shirts, flip flops, etc. will make it seem like you're not committed to your job search therefore employers will gather the notion that you won't be professional or committed to the position they are offering either.

Do not bring your children. Bringing your children to a job fair is just as bad as bringing them to work. Please find childcare or seek out a responsible baby sitter to watch your children while you're at the job fair. Please job seekers take these tips into consideration to improve your job search.

Click To Play

Please tune in tomorrow to read about how successful our job fair was and to see pictures of some of the companies that attended.

Happy Hunting Tampa!

Samara Bowling

Why do you want to work for us?

You are in their building. You are talking to the boss. You are there for the job, but why? Why do you want to work for this company? This is question number 4 on out Top 10 Interview questions list.

Your answer has a lot to do with yesterday’s answer. If you have a background on the company, this will be an easy question. If you are ill-prepared an answer might sound like, “I saw your ad and like I needed a job.”

That is a NO GO! Please have a better response than that.

Why do you want to work for us should be a place where you match your skills with that of the position.

“I want to work for you because my computer skills will allow for me to add productivity for the company and for my personal goals of becoming a manager in a great organization like yours.”

That’s a good start. Fill in the blanks with what you want to accomplish within the company. This is not a time for “I need a job to pay some bills and when something better comes along, I’m going to go for it.”

See you tomorrow Tampa, as we get into common question number 5!

-Greg Rollett