Dee Do not get discouraged. Never give up continue your search you may have to broaden your job search and hot possibly look outside of Cleveland. Do not be afraid of change thank relocation. Good luck

If you are getting interviews, that shows that your resume and skills are very good! If others are beating you out in the interview, then you need to work on those skills. Here is just one applicable excerpt from my Amazon book, "How to Succeed in the Workplace: An Insider's Guide to Earning Promotions Faster!".

You will need to spend many hours preparing for your interview--you should study and drill for it like it is the most important test you will ever take. Also, you can't just review your resume so that you know your best answers about yourself. You have to research the company so that you know what the company does, what its stock price is the day of your interview and if it is trending up or down, what it sells, who the CEO is, how long she has been the CEO, the basic history of the company, any current challenges the company is undergoing, etc. You will look lazy if you don't do this, and this basic research will help you speak intelligently to your interviewer. It should also provide you with ideas on how you can help this company and bring value to the organization. (You may even need to do this same research if you are interviewing internally within the company you currently work for!)

All of those hours you spent preparing your resume secured you an interview. You will now need to spend even more time preparing for this meeting, whether it is internal within your current company, or an external meeting with a new corporation. Getting a job offer will depend on your interviewing skills and the face you present.

The current method of interviewing is referred to as a situational interview, where the person asks a question along the lines of “Tell me about a time you XXXXXX?” Then you need to show a time when you successfully handled that situation, but at the same time show that you are flexible enough that you don’t handle every situation that same way.

Laszlo Bock, the Senior VP of People Operations at Google, suggests handling these questions in this manner:

1. Here is the attribute I’m going to demonstrate.
2. Here is the story demonstrating that attribute, explaining the thinking that went into your actions.
3. Here is how that story demonstrated that attribute.

Here is an example from my life using these principles: Tell me about a time that you came up with a creative idea that you were able to successfully sell to others.

1. (I want to show my creativity, my ability to see issues and my ability to bring a project to a successful conclusion.)

2. My story: I was part of a team putting together a two-day company retreat for over 1,000 IT staff, where a third of the staff went through this retreat every Thursday/Friday for 3 weeks in a row. The two days were full of different leaders and groups up on stage delivering PowerPoint presentations, hour after hour. We had a one-hour slot to present all of the new tools and processes that the employees should use. I really didn't want to do this with another boring PowerPoint presentation. I came up with the idea to write a play that we would perform.

I tried writing the play with the other two team-members, but they spent an hour arguing over the character's names. So I went home, and cranked out the entire play that evening.

I used two characters to play off each other, a new-hire who was a little wild and crazy, and a more serious experienced employee. I knew the principle of using humor to grab someone's attention, and then presenting what you need to present right afterwards, while you still have people's attention. So my new-hire would try to solve a work problem with some solution that was obviously wrong, and after the laughter, the experienced hire would show him the approved process that was being rolled out and the ways to achieve the correct work results. I knew it wasn't quite funny enough, so I shared the play with one of my work friends who has a real talent in making my work twenty percent funnier. He did a great job!

I then had a read through with upper management and we had them rolling on the floor. I took the advice they offered after the read through, and made the suggested changes. I then cast the play and rehearsed. We played on three different Friday's to all three conferences. Our time slot was on Friday afternoon, after everyone had been at this conference since Thursday morning, seeing one PowerPoint presentation after another.

Per the audience's comments and the conference survey, this play was a great hit and really got the messages across about the new tools and processes. It was such a success that upper management had me write these plays for the next two years. 3. This was a very creative and novel approach that I was able to sell to upper management and I was able to successfully deliver it to outstanding results!

So the above example shows how to answer the situational questions.

Been there. Got cut 14 months ago in a case of age discrimination disguised as lack of productivity. Had I not saved for a rainy day, I'd have been one of those guys on the street with a cardboard sign. But that day may come soon, and after spending money on training that doesn't seem to be paying off, and finding only minimum wage jobs out there which you can slowly starve to death on, hope is hard to find. I get up every day, read the e-mail, apply where I can, turn away the people who I know would further victimize me, and I continue to be grateful for my family, who are helping to support me. I know people are trying to help. As long as the last spark of hope remains, I will keep trying.

I totally feel your pain. My position was "cut" in late July and while I interviewed a lot, I wasn't given an offer. However in October I got a temp gig. You just have to keep plugging away and with the new year means new budgets for hiring. Best of luck to you in the new year.

I'll keep an eye out for any openings I hear of. In the meantime, hang tough and have a merry christmas! :)

Dee hang in there. Hopefully the new Year will be better

I feel your pain and am in the same position.