Topic: Employees

Do Staffing Firms Really Have Jobs You Can't Find Elsewhere?

As a recruiter in the staffing industry, I often meet candidates who wonder how we can claim to offer jobs that aren't available anywhere else. Here are a few examples of why a position is available through a staffing firm but not a job board or a company's Careers page ...

Staying Mentally Engaged at Your Job

No matter what you do, some workdays are more stimulating than others – and a new Mayo Clinic study suggests that greater mental activity in your working years could have a positive impact on your brain’s health later in life. So what can you do to stay engaged?

You did everything right -- so what went wrong?

If you read jobseeker blogs and online comments, you're aware of the frequent disconnect between job seekers and hiring managers. It's surprisingly common to hear people talk about how perfect they are for a particular job, but they aren't given a chance to show it ...

Does the Unemployment Rate Matter?

The national unemployment rate gets a lot of attention, especially from job seekers who eye it nervously as they consider greener pastures. Yet when it comes to our individual lives, the national unemployment rate should not be a factor in our career decisions ...

So Your Friend Asks You to Be a Reference

With so many people looking for work right now, it's increasingly common to get recommendation requests from former coworkers and friends. Some of these requests may put you in an awkward position ...

How to passively look for a job using LinkedIn

What does it mean to passively look for a job? While the word passive suggests you're not actively doing anything, a passive job hunter is someone who isn't necessarily looking for a new job, but would take a better opportunity if one came their way. Here are some tips on how to use LinkedIn to help make sure you don't miss out when other opportunities come up ...

Don't Underestimate Your Expertise

I am a swimmer. I spend hours at the pool each week swimming laps like a polar bear in a zoo, back and forth and back and forth. I don’t think much about my stroke or even my breathing anymore, much less whether I can stay afloat. It’s easy when we get good at something—whether it's a hobby or a job—to stop thinking about it and just do it ...

Burned Out at Work? 5 Tips to Re-Engage

Not everyone has their dream job. (Now there's an understatement.) Whether it's a shortage of opportunities, a lack of experience, or simply the need to pay the bills, sometimes we have to put in mundane hours at a job we don't love. But that doesn't mean you have to be miserable ...

Q and A: Security Clearances, Simplified

To provide a brief overview of the security clearances, we asked Alesa Trager, Facility Security Officer for Volt Workforce Solutions, to answer a few questions that job applicants often ask ...

How to Explain Gaps in Your Resume

What should you say if your interviewer asks you about gaps in your work history?

Talk Like a Human

SEO is important – your resume and social media profiles need to have enough industry-specific content to appear in employer and recruiter search results – but eventually, a real person is going to read them and they’ll want to see how well you communicate, not how well you can do SEO. Here are few things that will make your job search documents more readable ...

How to Get a Job as a Video Game Tester

If you like playing video games, it's natural to imagine game testing as a dream job. We asked Jacob Hazelquist, one of Volt's Lead Recruiters for game testing, to provide a more accurate picture of what it takes to get into the industry – and where game testers can go from there ...

3 Reasons You Didn't Get a Second Interview

Even when an interview goes well, it’s still possible to screw it up afterward. A hiring manager I know recently told me the story of one candidate's crucial mistake hours after the interview ended. The candidate’s strong qualifications earned him an interview with two senior people at the company. The interview went pretty well and the applicant’s qualifications were confirmed, though both interviewers privately questioned whether he was the right cultural fit for the team. ...

6 Networking Tips for Introverts

Never fear, introverts of the world. You, too, can find success through networking. It just takes some practice!

Why This Year Can Still Be Different

Halfway through January, and maybe your 2015 is looking a lot like 2014. But you know what? It doesn't have to.