2010 remains tough on shifts, promotions or change of any sort. Can you handle the competition? Are you looking short-term or long-range? For help, join us. Get mentoring, JOB BOARD posts and connect with many at our Net Nights.

Tigers: Need help putting New Year's Resolutions in gear?
We update our Job Board regularly; "Starter Kit" (below) is refreshed often. Use this to plan
ahead.  Our jobs page is for CURRENT PCW members, a value-added Member benefit. Here,
you see openings locally and elsewhere. AND: If you have jobs at your site, share by emailing
webmaster@pcw-dc.org.  Career Contacts? Go here....

JOB DETAILS BELOW are Members-Only benefits, one of many.  JOIN YOUR Princeton Club for even more benefits
(click to join), and get full job post details. SEE ALL PCW JOB POSTS at PAGE BOTTOM (most recent first)....

NEWEST -- on PCW's JOB BOARD (more at page bottom)....

-- AERO. ENGINEER - MD
-- PARALEGAL - Summer/DC (3-month)

LEADERSHIP NOTES for the WEEK --

"One quality of leaders and high achievers in every
area seems to be a commitment to ongoing personal
and professional development. " -- author Brian Tracy 

RISK MANAGERS LOOK TO CERTIFICATIONS
(from WALL ST. JOURNAL) - By JEREMY GREENFIELD

[QUOTE] As companies assess the lessons of the global financial
crisis and look for ways to safeguard their firms against
the effects of another one, demand has surged for risk
managers—professionals who analyze the risk in transactions,
from investments in treasury bills to credit default swaps,
and make recommendations about whether to move
forward.

With the profession in the spotlight, several industry organizations
are vying to provide a standard certification for the field, which the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts will grow in the next
several years, in part due to the increasing complexity of financial
transactions.

While no certification is required to practice risk management—
and many companies don't require one—there has been a jump
in the number of people signing up for certification exams.

"You have to have the hard skills. [Getting certified] is a way of
getting more familiar with the concepts," says Gideon Pell, the
chief risk officer at New York Life Insurance Co....[Endquote/snip]

FOR MORE, GO HERE in the Wall St. Journal ....

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NEED TRIED-&-TRUE TIPS for SUCCESS in DC JOBS?  WE had them at our 1/20 NET NIGHT....

BRIEF RECAP of 1/20 NET NIGHT FOCUS: Success in First DC Area Jobs
For a FULL LIST of THE POINTERS (by Chuck and Caitlin), GO HERE.

NOTE: Watch for our NEWEST NET NIGHT in FEBRUARY 2010.

HERE ARE 2 of CHUCK's 5 POINTERS --
1.       Refine a Narrative of Your Career. You owe something to your
pursuit of your dreams - a commitment to effectively communicate ...
 
3.       Learn to Manage Your Manager. Know when/how to check-in
on a consistent basis so that you keep you manager in the loop ...
 
Charles Brown '02
Office of Management & Budget (OMB)

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Caitlin Sullivan '07 - POINTERS BELOW
Teacher - Kipp Charter School (Washington, DC)

HERE are 3 MORE POINTERS -- from CAITLIN'S 5 POINTERS --
For a FULL LIST of THE POINTERS (by Chuck and Caitlin), GO HERE

First, 3 mindset ideas. Then, an action step, and one subversive point.
1. In thinking about your first job out of college, keep in mind that this is not
a race.
3. In assessing the right professional fit, think about finding the sweet spot between
growth and impact....
4. When in doubt, overcommunicate. At the end of the day, you are steering the
ship and your own best advocate to build a gratifying career....

We heard all this at a great venue (overlooking Lafayette Park), by 2 veteran guides --
Chuck Brown '02 (from OMB) and Caitlin Sullivan '07 (Charter School Teacher).

SEE MORE on the EVENING -- CLICK HERE ... 

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BEST + WORST JOBS in '09 (WALL ST. JOURNAL)
READ the article by Sarah E. Needleman HERE 

This is worth pondering by those starting/re-entering the workforce...

ARTICLE based on CAREERCAST.COM best jobs ratings USING 5 criteria –
environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress.

[Quote] ...twice a month throughout the recession, headhunters have dangled
job opportunities in front of Ryan McAllister, an actuary for Fireman's Fund
Insurance Co. in Novato, Calif. "If I were ever unhappy with my employer, I
could pick up the phone and find something else very quickly," says the 28-
year-old Mr. McAllister. He joined the high-net-worth property and casualty
insurer after graduating in 2005 from the University of California at Davis,
with a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics. [Endquote/snip]

See more of the piece via the link above ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE 6 TOP-RANKED JOBS
ACTUARY
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
COMPUTER SYSTEMS ANALYST
BIOLOGIST
HISTORIAN
MATHEMATICIAN

AMONG THE LEAST DESIRABLE
WORST: Roustabout (oil and gas field worker)

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HOW TO FIX YOUR RESUME (Wall St. Journal) …

[QUOTE] By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN
In today's cutthroat job market, having a top-notch résumé is critical to
success. But there's a host of conflicting advice about exactly what
makes a good résumé—and not every tip is right for every industry.
To find out what hiring managers look for most in these documents,
The Wall Street Journal introduces Résumé Doctor, a new feature
in which recruiting experts and hiring managers critique readers'
résumés and suggest ways to improve them....[endquote/snip]

FOR the FULL ARTICLE, GO HERE ... (requires free subscrip.).

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WHAT IS IT LIKE to STUDY for an MBA?
(from the Financial Times blog....)

[Quote] The invasion of Belgium
November 12, 2009 8:15am - by Cezanne Maherali 

The international experience at Insead is about interacting
with the 80 nationalities represented, studying on your choice
of campus in France and Singapore, as well as having the
option to spend a period of time at Wharton at the University
of Pensylvannia in the US and taking full advantage of the
opportunity to travel with your classmates....[endquote/snip]

FOR MORE, GO HERE.....

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WHEN AGE IS AN ISSUE (in job hunts)....
TO THE QUESTION, "Can you address this issue of inferiority complex
for those of us competing with candidates 20 years our junior? How
do we .... compensate for the potential perception that we're burn-outs ..."

THERE IS AN ANSWER (to quote the WSJ) --
"This is a good time to position yourself as a deeply competent and
confident professional in your area of expertise and experience," says
Rabia de Lande Long, an executive coach at Chartwell Advisors. "In
uncertain economic times, employers can be drawn more to experienced
workers who join with ready-to-use skills and a shallow learning curve...."

FOR MORE, GO HERE (may require a free subscription to view)...

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QUOTABLE: "There are now nearly 6 people available
for every job opening - up from 1.7 per opening when the
recession began...

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics limits the official
unemployment rate by its definitions.  For example, if people
stop looking for a job for 4 weeks, they don't count as part of
the unemployed... Were they included, the umployment rate
would be 11%.... Labor markets have not seen such problems
in 70 years." [endquote/snip]
Mort Zuckerman, Editor in Chief, US News & World Report.
For more, GO HERE...

Solutions?  Meet more people, refresh your resume, dig deep.

PCW offers key NET NIGHTS to help you hurdle the obstacles.

2 NEW NET NIGHTS TBA soon. STAY TUNED to PCW's e-newsletter.
 

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HOW DO YOU DRIVE A SEARCH PLAN toward SUCCESS
-- and PREP WHAT'S NEXT (that is, the tough "onboarding" process in a
new job)?  You will need to master both to thrive in that job.

ANSWER: Do it by AVOIDING the fuzziness of "goals gone wild."

LEARN HOW - JOIN OUR 10/06 Net Night with 2 ALUMNI ....

They have answers. You meet 2 professionals who'll share
their successes, particularly what it takes to implement
a search plan in this market -- along with how to prime
for the job you eventually get.  That means clear goals,
hard choices about projects you take on (or rule out),
and much more.

GO HERE for more ....

HEAR former CEO Kevin Dowdell '83 and Booz Allen
pro Keith Maccannon '92 --- and a host of fellow
Tigers and other Ivy alumni. You'll meet everyone...
Tuesday, October 6 - 6:30 pm -- SITE TBA.

NOTE: PLEASE register early.  ALL recent Net Nights have
sold out (nearly 100 for our July 21st Tiger-Crimson NN).

...............................................................................................................................

Once you are inside an organization, raises are small and
promotions are often slow in coming, so you have to do what
you can to maximize your salary and benefits package right
out of the gate. But how can you do this when the employer
has the upper hand and hundreds of qualified candidates?...

[endquote/snip]

For more (in the Wall St. Jo.), GO HERE (may need
a subscription to access...)

KEY POINTS in this piece --
- prep by learning the industry (and the job's payscale)
(trade associations are a good information source)
- don't be first in mentioning salary
- know that a salary offer is upwardly negotiable
- initial salaries can be reviewed at 6/18 mo. intervals

NOTE: PCW will offer a NEGOTIATION Net Night in the
coming months....

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ANSWERING THE NASTY QUESTIONS -- WHICH TO PREP?
[quote FROM]: Job Interview Questions You Need to Know
Ever get stumped by a job interview question? Well, perhaps it was
because you never imagined such strange, silly or extremely direct
questions would come your way.... [endquote/snip]

It comes with the turf of job searching that you'll be made to
feel uncomfortable -- to check your "pressure-handling" skills.

Some conventional and surprising questions you MUST PREP --

- Why have you been out of work for an extended period of time?
- How many people were on your team, and how many were laid off?
- Why do you think you were selected for the reduction in force?
- Have you ever fired anyone?
- If the CEO or someone very senior in the organization comes to
you with an urgent problem, how would you handle it?
- What books have you read lately?
- Have you published any technical documents or white papers?
- A year from now, what is going to keep you at this company?
- How long will it take before you make a positive impact?
- What makes you think you had anything to do with that achievement?
- If you were able to get 20 percent cost savings, could you have
gotten 30 or 40 percent?
- What are your weaknesses and some of your failures?

FOR MORE, GO HERE ....

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TIRED OF "SAME-OLD" NETWORKING FARE?

TRY OUR MIDSUMMER'S EVE for NETWORKING
July 21 - A Princeton-Harvard Networking Night

SORRY: Sold out early (7/17/09)... More later.

WHEN: Tuesday, Jul 21st, 2009 at 6:00pm

Networking with a twist: Career ideas+guided interactive
networking where everyone participates, you meet everyone
else, and you test what you learn... With 3 speakers on
markets and networks plus new ways to move your career
forward in a tough economy. Then you meet seasoned
pros -- law, government, healthcare, business, non-profits
-- in high-level networking breakouts and facilitators who
help you directly.  Discover the power of learning from
those around you. On hand: Princeton, Harvard, Wharton,
Dartmouth and Ivy Alumni.

FOR FULL DETAILS, GO HERE.

FOR MORE on Princeton Net Nights, GO HERE.
Think about it: MANY Tiger (and Harvard) colleagues.....

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