Seeking Employment - Coppell,TX

Are you on LinkedIn? I get contacted by recruiters all the time through that and I'm not even looking for a new job.

Keep temping with agencies and take temp jobs that might not be your "perfect" choice. When I was in corporate marketing with a MAJOR company in Plano, we hired all new employees from the temp pool.

The temp pool is a great way to get your foot in the door. You can see how a company is run, if you like the people in it, etc PLUS, the company gets to see you and how you fit with the company. Once you take a temp position and show your worth, the corporation notices and then you become a "requested" temp which gets you closer to a job.

Check your school district to see if you can be a temp for office personnel. If you qualify, become a substitute.

Also, if you are not on LinkedIn.com, sign up. It is a networking site as well. I have people send me resumes often and I often get contacted by other companies regarding employment and I am not looking for employment.

We own and run our company from our home and have found LinkedIn to be a good site for our networking as well.

You are in a great location as far as the economy. Business is booming in the Dallas area and you have to be smart where and how you look as well as not be too picky about getting your foot in the door.

I am in the Plano area and State Farm is moving its HQ here. The new buildings are going up at George Bush/Central Expressway. There is literally no housing around here because they are bringing in a huge amount of employees BUT they are also hiring over 1000.

I believe all 3 major news channels have job listings daily and notify the public about upcoming job fairs.

Best wishes to you!!

ETA: After your SWH.... Do not wait on temp agencies to call you back. YOU are the one looking for employment so YOU take initiative and get on the phone with them. Sign up with more than one agency as well. I do know that Volt in Frisco does supply the temp pool to Frito-Lay.

Many of the agencies are more than happy and willing to assist you with your resume as well.

Best of luck!

Check your school district. Being a bus driver can be some good money and you can take your child with you on your bus runs.

Is your resume in tip-top shape? No spelling or grammatical errors? If temp agencies aren't calling, there might be a problem with your resume. As a recruiter/staffing manager - I can tell you that admin jobs are plentiful, at least here in Washington, D.C. they are.

Did you take the tests with the temp agency? Typing, word, excel, etc.? How did you do on those tests?

What happened at your last job? Were you let go for cause? I'd have to see your resume and see what red flags I see on it.

While craigslist.org get a lot of negative - there's a lot of positive on there as well. You can look to find a job there. This is what came up:

http://dallas.craigslist.org/search/?sort=rel&areaID=...

Good luck!

Have you checked to see if the school district has any office positions available? Have you made a list of all of the companies in the Coppell area that might hire people for an office position. Visit some of them and drop off resumes. Network with lots of friends and neighbors and professional contacts. Check with tax preparation offices--they may be hiring extra administrative help. Also, make this about what is in it for the employer (an experienced, reliable office person with what special skills --not what is best for you. Good luck!

Have you checked the unemployment office to see if they have any leads? what about your former co-workers? could you go to nearby office buildings, and look at their occupancy rosters- place calls to each and ask to speak with the office manager inquire whether they have any openings and to whom you might submit your resume. Consider job titles that might make use of your skills i.e. instead of an admin, could you be a receptionist, a member of the clerical pool, a mail clerk, an office manager, a personal assistant, a senior secretary, a book keeper, a data entry person, a billing person, and appointments intake person? Consider more flexibility in your schedule i.e. working full time 3 days a week, or working 2-8pm.

Best of luck to you, it's a tight market.
F. B.

I just started a new job and I found it on Craigslist - I know it sounds strange but I did. I sent out my resume and a modified cover letter to nearly every job that looked even slightly like something I would like and some that were a bit of a stretch. It drove me nuts but I finally got a number of call backs and started going on to interviews.

Good luck

You need to call the temp agencies. I did it 20 yrs ago when I was on summer break in college. Call them as soon as they open at 8:05! Ask what jobs they have. Don't wait for them to call you. In the meantime, volunteer at your kid's school to stay busy.

I like the poster's idea to sign up to be a substitute. Schools always need subs, and you can sign up with as many school districts as you like to increase your chances of getting calls (you will get a lot of calls). I know there is an orientation you will need to attend before you start subbing. The hours are great, too, obviously.

Have you tried indeed.com and simplyhired.com? Those are very popular job sites.

Also, consider being a nanny. People are always looking for nannies. You can sign up with care.com and sittercity.com.

Also, I find it strange that you have 10 years experience of administrative work, and you can't get an administrative job. You have a ton of experience, and I don't understand why you are having such a hard time getting an administrative job. Did you job hop a lot in those 10 years? Make sure your resume looks good, like someone else suggested. Good luck!!

Are you calling to check in with those temp agencies? Don't be passive. If you aren't checking in regularly, your name won't be top of mind.

I also agree that it may be useful to reassess your resume. Have friends and family take a look. All it takes is one typo or grammatical or formatting error to put you out of the running. Companies want attention to detail and your resume needs to show that.

I'm on the job sites a lot these days, too, and there are a ton of administrative openings in our area. Are you looking on Craigslist? I've found that has far more listings than the job sites.

Also, check to see if there's an IAAP chapter in your area. That's a great way to connect with other administrative professionals and perhaps learn of openings in their companies. If they're like most associations, they'll welcome you as a prospective member to at least one meeting before asking for membership fees.

Good luck!

Keep calling the temp agencies.
And I'll tell you this much--do SOMETHING!
You're getting close to the gap in the employment history being critical.
Good luck!!!

Start temping. Call agencies and ask to temp. Temping can often lead to FT work.

Are you getting unemployment? If not, go to a department store and work some flex hours during the day.

Use Monster's free resume service to look at and give you advice on your resume.

Good luck - it's till hard out there.

https://www.tiaa-cref.org/public/about-us/careers
My mom works for Tiaa Cref.. it's in Lewisville thouh. My mom's been there 4 yrs and makes decent money and good insurance. She 's always saying they are hiring.
Other than that, temp agencies and linkedin are your best bet.. good luck!

For now, what about substituting in the schools? If nothing else, start doing some volunteering in the schools, also..... it will help to have something to "fill in the gaps" on the resume'...

Good luck!