6 Tips for Landing Your First Job Out of College

Looking for your first job out of college can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Follow these six tips and increase your chances for success:

1. Polish and Customize Your Resume

Your resume is your calling card in this quest of employment success. Make sure it’s up to date and includes all of your relevant information. Consider creating multiple resumes geared toward different job fields or positions you might be applying for. Stay aware of trends in your industry and specifics about each company you applying to; fine-tune your resume accordingly.

2. Network!

This is one of the most crucial steps to finding a job after college. Being referred or recommended is one of the top ways to land a job. Stay in touch with friends, colleagues and former co-workers and let them know what type of work you’re searching for. Attend networking events to circulate with new people in your field.

3. Make Use of Social Media

Social media is another great way to network and increase your odds of finding the perfect position for you. Make use of LinkedIn, Facebook and other social media outlets to spread the word about your employment intentions. Consider creating an "online resume," which is a multi-media version of a traditional resume.

4. Practice Your Interviewing Skills

Do some test runs of how your interviews might go. Practice with a partner or record yourself on video answering tough interview questions. Watching the video back or receiving input from your partner can provide great feedback, allowing you to fine-tune how you present yourself in interviews.

5. Career and Job Fairs

Career and job fairs can put you in touch with recruiters and potential employers face to face, allowing you the chance to show your personality as well as ask questions right on the spot. Your school most likely hosts job fairs right on campus.

6. Keep Open, and Keep Networking

It’s okay to have a specific job in mind, but it’s important to be flexible, too. You might have to work your way up to that dream job, so be prepared to take an alternate opportunity that gets your foot in the door. Get out of your comfort zone, and keep connected with people that could be a resource for you.

Stay positive, follow these six tips, and you’ll be on your way to landing your first job after college!

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When it Comes to Law Firm Staffing, Experience Counts

law firm staffing, staffing agencyThere are a great many people who work behind the scenes at a law firm in order to keep it going. paralegals, legal assistants, office managers, law clerks, and various other individuals help to keep a law firm running smoothly and effectively. When it comes to staffing a law firm there is the temptation to hire people from other industries to fill some of the open support positions. They are generally easier to find and often are less expensive, at least up front. The problem with this approach is that it can lead to a variety of challenges that ultimately make it more expensive for your firm and will potentially lead to a decrease in the quality of the work. Should you looking into law firm staffing in NYC and have positions that need to be filled then please consider the following reasons why you should hire individuals with actual law firm experience.

For Paralegals, Certification Always Helps

If you are looking for paralegals there are a number of benefits that you get with experience. An experienced paralegal will have their certification and therefore has gone through extensive training. It also means that they are career minded, which is beneficial because it means you know a certified paralegal is looking to grow with your firm and is less likely to leave. This means you are less likely to spend more money later on training a replacement.

Sacrificing Time for Money

When it comes to other positions within your law firm, such as legal secretaries and office managers, the benefit of having prior experience in law is that it results in less time with training. You may be able to get people without experience for a smaller salary, but you will end up spending more time with training and it will take longer to reach a high level of quality. In this scenario, you are essentially exchanging your money and paying for it in time. By finding applicants who have prior law firm experience you know that they can get up to speed faster and will have better quality work right off the bat.

Should you have some difficulty finding applicants with law experience in New York City, then you should get in touch with ADAM Personnel. We have a great deal of experience with law firms staffing and can get you well qualified applicants with law experience. Please check out our contact page in order to get ahold of us.

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New Year’s in the City: A Quick History

new year's eve, new year in new yorkNowhere in the world is New Year’s Eve such as big as an event as it is here in New York City. With over a million people crammed into Times Square every New Year’s Eve and almost a billion people who watch it from home, ours it truly the biggest celebration of them all. No matter where you are in the world, it isn’t New Year’s until you have seen that large shiny ball drop. Being a staffing firm in New York City we here at ADAM Personnel thought you may enjoy a little bit of the history of our most famous annual party.

The Origin of the Time’s Square Ball

The first New Year’s celebration occurred on December 31st 1904 in celebration of the New York Times moving into their new location on Longacre Square, which of course was renamed to Times Square once the relocation was complete. For three years New Years was celebrated with a fireworks demonstration, but in 1907 fireworks were banned in the city and as a result the first New Year’s ball was constructed. It had over 200,000 in attendance and took place over the entirety of Dec. 31st. The ball weighed 700 pounds and consisted of 100 lights placed on a wood and iron frame.

The New York Tradition

Since the ball first dropped in 1907 it has continued to drop every year with the exceptions of 1942 and 1943, which was a result of power conservation efforts due to the war. In 1914 the New York Times moved locations again, but the New Year’s celebration stayed in the square regardless. As the years passed the Time’s Square Ball evolved from its wood and iron beginnings to an aluminum ball in 1955, eventually turning into the modern ball that we know today, which typically consists of LED lights and Waterford crystal. The two largest balls to date were the millennium ball which weighed 1070 pounds and the ball celebrating the centennial of this New York tradition, which weighed 1212 pounds. This year’s ball will come in at 11,875 pounds and consist of 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles along with 672 LED modules to create a beautiful, multicolored globe.

Now that you know a little more about this celebration, where will you be when the ball drops this year? Do you have any fun resolutions for 2013? Please share them in the comments below.

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Behavior-Based Interviewing and How it is Effective

interview questions, behavior based interviewIf you have worked in a position in which you have been responsible for hiring new personnel, chances are very good that you had someone who gave a great interview then turned out to be a lackluster employee. Just because someone interviews well is no reflection on how they perform once they are hired. It is a hard lesson to learn and harder to resolve once the individual is brought onto your team. That being said, there is a way to help mitigate these situations from happening. Behavior-based interviewing is an approach that has been gaining popularity for some years now and has produced some excellent results. In fact, using this method generally results in a 50% better chance for finding the right match for your open position.

What is Behavior-Based Interviewing?

Essentially, behavior-based interviewing is an approach that looks toward past actions and looks to them as an indicator of future performance. While it may sound almost like common sense, you would be amazed how often this isn’t the case with interviews. The idea is to avoid asking hypothetical questions in which the interviewee will naturally give a favorable response to. Instead, the questioning looks for actual examples of a particular trait. Moreover, behavior-based interviewing means that you are looking for repeated examples of this trait. This requires asking different questions that relate to this particular quality and looking for multiple examples. If you see repeated cases in which this attribute it demonstrated, then you can be more confident that they will continue this trend when they are on your team.

What Makes a Behavior-Based Question?

When you are asking behavior-based questions, you are looking for three things. First, you are looking for some background on the situation in question. What were the circumstances, who was involved, where was it at, and so forth. Secondly, you want to look for what actions were taken. Make sure to clarify what the applicant’s actual role was in this situation. Were they a leader in this situation and actually took action or did they just help out a little? Thirdly, you want to look at results. Was the issue truly resolved? Did they get any sort of recognition for it? There should be tangible results.

Examples of Behavior-Based Questions

-Tell me about a time in which you went above and beyond for a customer/client. What was the result?

-Please share with me a time in which you had to work with a difficult co-worker to complete a project.

-Can you give me some examples of times in which you had to juggle multiple tasks? How did you cope?

-Give me a few examples of times in which you took care of something/took the initiative without being asked.

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What to Consider When Thinking of Getting a Real Estate License in New York

real estate license new york, adam personnel, Staffing companies NYCAre you considering getting a real estate license in New York? Not entirely sure what is involved with the license process and whether or not you want to go through with it? For those who find themselves in this position, here are a few things that you should consider before you apply for a real estate license in New York:

Do you intend to start your real estate work soon after getting licensed? You will have to renew your license on a regular basis and if you don’t renew after two years from your expiration date you will have to take the written license exam again and pay the corresponding fees.

Are you in a position in which it is ok for you to have sporadic income? If you get your license and start your work as a realtor then it may take some time before you are making regular sales. Even when you are established your income will not be consistent. Make sure you are financially in a position in which can go some time before your first sale.

Do you have the drive to make it as a real estate agent in New York? New York City is one of, if not the most, competitive real estate markets in the world. If you aren’t extremely motivated or have any doubt about your capacity to sell to others, then you may want to reconsider.

What It Takes to Get Licensed

In terms of what is required to actually get a real estate salesperson license in the state of New York, there are a number of criteria that you have to meet. First you have to have spent at minimum 75 hours in a state approved real estate training program. You will also have to pass a test at the end of this class in order to qualify. You also need to have a sponsorship from a real estate broker who is licensed with the State of New York. Once these criteria are met you can then take the real estate salesperson exam. Upon successfully passing the exam, it is simply a matter of submitting its notification of completion along with the license application and related fees.

Do you have a license and have other advice you would give someone who is considering getting a real estate license in New York? Then please share in the comments below.

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