Euducation no experienceI am 40 years old. I was recently laid-off with a company I had worked for seven years, during those seven years I acquired numerous transferrable or so I have been told. The company also helped me pay for my recent degree in Business Management. Prior to this job I held a position with another company for 10 years, however, this experience was healthcare related, but focused primarily towards customer service . My problem is, now being unemployed and having a degree with limited experience in the field. How can I get employers to give me a chance? I have 2 years experience in project management, but translating this experience into supervisory experience is my problem. I have had two interviews, but have come away with no offers. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? You could differentiate yourself by using a video resume. While these will probably become more and more of the norm eventually, right now, they are still a way to set yourself apart. Oftentimes, you can overcome holes in a resume through your professional presence. Also, these days employers seem to focus more on transferrable skills than experience in the job applied for. The key is confidence and highlighting your transferrable skills. I think I am highlighting my transferrable skills pretty well in myresume, since I am getting lots of call backs, but when I am interviewing with the hiring managers, what I am hearing is that I have great skills, but they are concerned that I have never managed a staff before. I try to overcome this by highlighting my schooling and how I managed my teams as a project manager, but still come across as inexperienced. It must be in the way I am handling my interviews but I can' t pinpoint what it is that is making me appear inexperienced. I am a 50 year old white female that chose to stay home and raise my children and see them through school. Well now that all that has come to pass, I decided to change my previous career (Cust. Serv./ Ins.) to the clerical position in the medical field ( billing and coding) so I took a couse and obtained a cerification for medical assisting which at that time (2005) that was the only thing offered (no insurance and billing classes). Ok , now I have not been able to obtain a job doing the medical billing or coding. When I do happen to be able to even get a interview I never recieve a call for the jobs. So as you can see I have the education and experience (previous cust. serv.) but no one wants me. Its been 2yrs and $8,000 dollars later and still no job. Is it my age,race,pay, what? I have never been unable to find a job in my life. I have to work or my husband and I are going to lose everything we worked for past 30 yrs to obtain. Sad , want to work and no one will give me chance to prove I can do the job. I haven't heard of video resume's either and, quite frankly, I wouldn't view them. A written resume and cover letter gives the jobseeker the opportunity to showcase his/her writing skills and myself the opportunity to look at those skills. A video would, granted, give me the opportunity to hear the person's voice and learn of his/her verbal language usage, but I can do that during the initial phone call. Given my industry, I would rather have the opportunity to check what is the most important part of the job (writing and everything that is associated with it) first. Speaking with Judges and other court personnel is a learned art and will come with experience and is actually secondary to writing an effective court document. (Unless you are an attorney, then speaking in court is numbe one) But, back to you. Not only do y ou need to highlight your transferable skills, you need to provide an explanation on how they can be used for that particular position and for that particular company's benefit. When asked about your management experience, play up the fact that the project was completed so efficiently because you were able to effectively manage your team. Provide examples of how your management style or decisions were the catalyst in your team's ability to work together. I know some of what you are experiencing as my mother was feeling a little of what you are talking about when she was laid-off and had to find a job in her late 50' s. She found it was very difficult even having had all her work experience and not having taken time off to raise children. Thankfully, she was able to find a job (less pay than she wanted) but got her foot in the door of a big company. I know what it is like to feel frustrated and how one can start to question their skills and abilities after so many disappointments. Thankfully, I am a positive person and those insecurities are short lived. I can only hope you keep your spirits up and portray that "I can do it, if just given the chance" attitude to all those recruiters and potential employers. A job will come just keep being positive! I am thinking the best way for you to use your education and experience in customer service is try apply for customer service jobs in the healthcare industry (i.e. hospitals, clinics) We have several different hospital organizations out where I live, by hospital organization, I mean three or four hospitals owned by the same corporation. You can find customer service jobs in the business office where they do the billing, or the insurance verification, or admissions departments. Once you are employed in the system there is lots of opportunity to move around within the different hospital systems. As you can see I am a firm believer in getting your foot in the door. With that said, once your in it is now your job to let them know what you are capable of doing. | |
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