4 Ways to Bomb Your Next Job Interview

by Carl

It’s always a great feeling to be asked to interview for a position with a new employer. That feeling is then, unfortunately, replaced quickly by sinking dread. However, when you are preparing to go in for an interview, being nervous can distract you from some of the most important things that you need to be focusing on. So, the next time you get a call, take a minute to remember the four things you should never do when you go in for an interview.

1. Disregard Your Presentation

The first thing you need to consider before you go in is your outward appearance. People will make snap judgments about you based on your appearance, and there is no reason to give anyone cause to overlook you just because you don’t have a style that fits with the office culture. Look into the office dress code before you decide what to wear, and make an effort to dress like someone who would fit in perfectly at their office. You don’t want to try to fade into the background, but save the major style statements for another day. Stand out with lines and fit, rather than bright or distracting clothing and accessories. Make sure your car is looking good and that you have something to carry your resume in. Get a tote, shoulder bag, or briefcase to carry your things.

2. Neglect to Interview Them

We can get so caught up with striving to be desirable when we go in for an interview that it’s easy to forget that we are also there to see if this position will work for us, as well! Make sure to do some research on the company and list any questions you have for them or talking points that you would like to address further. Failing to ask your interviewer questions about the position looks immature, and it comes across as though you are not in very high demand or are not seriously considering whether the position is right for you.

3. Don’t Understand Why You Deserve the Job

You should have a very clear idea in mind about what the duties for the position will be, and why you are uniquely qualified to take them on before you interview. Even if the position is a little mundane, or someone with any degree could easily fulfill the requirements, make a list of specific experiences you have had that prepared you to take on this job now. Write down why you deserve the job and why you will be a good fit with this company, just so you can get it clear in your own mind. This is very important because, if you don’t know why you deserve the job, how will anyone else believe you do?

4. Be Clueless About Why You May Not Deserve the Job

As important as it is to know why someone should hire you, it is just as important to know why they shouldn’t. Take some time to list all your hesitations about why you may not be qualified or deserving of the position. Things like long breaks in employment or being fired from your previous job are always difficult to talk about during an interview, but it’s important to bring those things to light, at least for yourself. Next, figure out how you will work to overcome those potential limitations. Or, even better, think about ways that your unique experience may have provided you with even better preparation that what the average candidate may have had. If you are clearly able to address your limitations with your interviewer, he or she may be less likely to write you off for things that would usually get someone’s resume thrown out.

Byline:

Jane Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. She writes about criminal background check for Backgroundcheck.org. Questions and comments can be sent to: janesmth161 @ gmail.com

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8 Ways to Ensure Your Job Security

by Carl

None of us wants to get fired from our jobs, especially in the present economic climate where nobody is quite sure what is likely to happen in the world over the next couple of years. Besides that, if you are lucky enough to get a new job you will have to start your long climb up the corporate ladder all over again. It is always best to change jobs on your own terms, such as when you are leaving to take on a better position that is more rewarding – not when your employer decides, and you could find yourself out in the street with no salary coming in next week.

With this in mind you don’t want to run the risk of losing your job when you are unprepared. It is therefore in your own interests to make yourself as fire-proof as you possibly can.  The following eight ways of making your present job more secure can help you retain your position while those around you might not be so successful.

Firstly you must always be aware that you are employed so you can either make more money for your employer than it cost him to hire you, or that your production can make life easier for your boss. If you fail on either front your position could become precarious. In other words you must become a valuable asset in your own right, one that your employer would not want to run the risk of losing. You can do this in various ways some of them include the following:

1.     Work Hard and Keep Learning

Never be satisfied that you have done enough. Work hard always and try to improve as you go. A clock-watcher is soon noticed as is a worker who is willing to stay on to finish whatever it is that you are currently working on before clocking off and going home for the day. Read up on all aspects of your job and become an expert in whatever it is you are employed to do.

2.     Treat Your Job as a Lifestyle and not Just Work

There is a big difference in approaching your job as being a part of your life and that of simply turning up in the morning to do your bit and go home at night to start living. When you enjoy going to work you will know you are in the right job and if you sincerely like your job it will show up in the type of work you produce.

3.     Be Willing to Give and Take

If you find yourself in the position where you will be temporarily out of pocket to get your job completed don’t hesitate to pay up. Even if you can’t be reimbursed at a later date (which on most occasions you will be) still go out of your way to get your job completed, if you have to do so. Such dedication will be appreciated and will not go unnoticed even if you sometimes feel it is.

4.     Always be Punctual

It is important to all employers that their staff is on the job when they are expected to be. Sleeping in and generally being tardy in your approach to your work does not endear you to your employer, so why antagonise him or her. Always be on time and have your work finished by any deadline you might be given, even if it means working overtime.

5.     Don’t Relate Your Work Effort to Your Salary

Although it is important to make sure, when you first apply for a job, that you will be adequately compensated, from there on put it out of your mind. Once you start work it is your job to put in not to evaluate your own worth. That is your boss’ role. Once employed you should do your best to carry out any task given you, as economically as possible. When you start thinking you are worth more than you are getting paid you are on the slippery slope out. The only way to handle a situation like this is to find another employer who is willing to pay more for your services. If you are successful you can give your current employer a choice on whether he or she is willing to pay more to keep you on, or you move on.

6.     Do the Work Your Boss Wants You to do

Although all employers want their employees to show initiative, you are still an employee and you must do what your boss wants you to do, not what you want to do. If you feel your job can be done more efficiently in another way, by all means talk it over with your boss but get his or her approval before you make any changes.

7.     Be a Pleasant Workmate

It is important that all workplaces are pleasant places to work in. Do your bit to make it so. Always be pleasant to your workmates as well as to your employer. If hard financial times hit and the company you work for has to make some employees redundant, it is always the less pleasant workers who will lose their jobs first.

8.     Never Behave Inappropriately

The office bully is never appreciated. Those who try to laud it over others by acting rudely or using bad language when it is inappropriate will not obtain support when it comes to thinning out the workforce because of an economic downturn.

This article was written by Justin Toladro a writer for lifeinsurancefinder.com.au, a website that compares life insurance quotes to help find the best policies in Australia.

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How to Achieve Success in a Panel Interview

by Carl

Jobseekers feel worried even when it’s a one-on-one interview. And when it’s a panel interview (group interview), it might cause more worry among applicants. One thing that you always need to remember is that employers don’t hold panel interviews to create a fearful situation. They adopt this approach so that you can meet all the important people (who you’ll actually work with) in a single seating. That’s why, it’s important to prepare yourself to achieve success in a panel interview, no matter how many people are there in the group.

Given below are some key tips and useful pieces of advice that you can use to win a panel interview and get hired quickly.

Don’t Stare at a Single Person

A panel interview is a group interview, where you won’t be talking to a single person specifically. Each of the professionals that attend the interview are equally important. If you stare at just one person, you’ll only lose the essence of a panel interview and leave a bad impression.

Be Ready for Further Explanation

Everyone has their own listening style. When you respond, it might be just possible that you won’t send the same signal to everyone. Those who don’t get you instantly may ask you to repeat a response or ask for further explanation. These things happen in group interviews. So, you should be ready for that.

Practice Answering a Range of Questions

Questions asked during a one-on-one interview may be very limited. However, panel interviews are different in that sense. Different interviewers in the group might throw different types of questions at you. Apart from practicing commonly asked questions, also prepare on how to answer tricky, critical and behavioral interview questions to achieve success.

Ask Intelligent Questions

Since it’s a panel interview, you will need to convince most of the people in the group. It may be a little easier to convince or impress when you face a one-on-one interview. That’s why you should never ask very general or common questions. Ask intelligent questions to impress many in the group.

Give Examples

If you want to leave a lasting impression on each of the interviewers in the panel, you need to talk with examples. While explaining a point, talk about your own personal experiences from the past. Also remember to use figures to support the claims that you make.

Write Thank You Notes to Each Panelist

End the interview on a positive note. In any case, don’t forget to send thank you notes to each of the professionals who participated as interviewer. You can also use this opportunity to highlight your most essential skills and build important connections in the industry.

James Tomerson writes regularly on career, education and latest job trends. To read more from him, you can visit Jobdiagnosis.com, which also offers jobseekers a free career test to choose a career which is in tune with their career, aptitude and skills.

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New Year, New Tactics: Changing Your Approach to the Job Market in 2012

by Carl

The past year hasn’t exactly been kind to the unemployed, but towards the end of 2011 the situation looked a little more promising. The Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that the U.S. job market added 200,000 new jobs in December, resulting in a further drop in the unemployment rate from 8.7 percent to 8.5 percent. Compared with the 9 percent employment rate of the summer of 2011, these new figures indicate a very favorable future for the unemployed in 2012. Although the odds may be leaning toward your favor, it’s still important to focus on keeping up with the competition and improving your strategy for your 2012 job search by adopting the following new tactics.

Objectively evaluate your resume

You should never underestimate the power of a good resume when it comes to your job search. Your resume should not simply be scribbled out, copied several times, and submitted to every employer within reach. Instead, take time to evaluate and customize each resume according to the position for which you are applying. Always write a personalized cover letter for each position as well. Both your cover letter and your resume should directly indicate why you are the best fit for the job for which you are applying.

Further your education

The job market is filled with stiff competition in the form of graduates fresh out of college, holders of advanced degrees and well-experienced workers with a wide range of skills. To keep up with these highly valuable candidates, it might be in your best interest to further your education by going back to college or considering an online mba program. An online program would give you the unique opportunity to extend your degree without sacrificing valuable time for job searching.

Improve your online image

According to CareerRealism.com, 88 percent of employers will search for your name online to find out more about you. If your online presence is shabby or non-existent, it could cost you a job. Take advantage of the opportunity to show off your skills and credentials to potential employers by enhancing your professional appeal on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, LinkedIn,and other online platforms. Look at these accounts through the eyes of an employer to determine what is appropriate and what isn’t.

Go where the competition isn’t

Sometimes your problem with finding a job is that you are looking in the same place as hundreds of other people, which dramatically reduces your odds. Instead of browsing the listings on Monster.com (where thousands of other people will be looking), take a more creative approach to determine who’s hiring. Watch the news often to see which companies recently received stimulus funds, signed a huge contract or had an otherwise highly successful year. These factors usually indicate that the company will create new jobs and be looking for new employees as a result.

Stay organized

Searching for a job can be a busy and stressful endeavor in general, but a failure to organize and plan appropriately can often exacerbate the situation. To avoid adding more stress than necessary, create schedules and track your daily activities to ensure better follow-up on the jobs you have applied for. Doing so not only reduces your stress levels throughout the process, but helps you more effectively balance several applications and interviews at once.

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What to Do if You Are Self Employed & Business Takes a Hit

by Carl

The self employed make up a bigger group today than they ever did before. In the past, if you wanted to be a graphic designer you would generally look for a graphic design studio that’s hiring. Today you place an ad on Craigslist. In the past, if you wanted to write for a living you would probably take assignments from magazines or an editor, today you find work online.

The recession happens to have hit at the same time as this wave of self employment, so of course, there’s been a lot of difficulty for people who work for themselves and find that sales aren’t always booming. If your business has taken a hit such as losing a major client or encountering some major expenses, there are a number of things that you can do to recover the blow. Here are a few strategies proven to work.

Downsizing

There’s a tendency in business for people to always want to go bigger and bigger. To an extent, there’s safety in size, but think of the business world like the ocean. Whales are less plentiful than other sea life because it takes so much in food and space and resources to sustain them. Shrimp on the other hand, crabs, fish, oysters show up in droves of thousands at a time. Shrimp are so plentiful that you can eat a dozen on a single plate and not think twice about it. Smaller companies don’t make as much money, but they don’t usually close their doors when the market shrinks, either.

When the company is just you, downsizing could mean getting rid of some of your superfluous expenses. If you live single in a two room apartment, you may as well downsize to a comfortable studio. If you drive two cars, you might sell one. If you rent an office somewhere, you could simply work from home. You can cut expenses at work such as getting rid of advertising campaigns that aren’t doing you any favours and holding blowout sales on products that aren’t selling. Get rid of anything that’s costing you more than it’s earning you.

Work Harder and Cheaper

One of the easiest ways to survive through tough times is to land more clients by offering more for cheaper. In these trying times, too many companies are still stuck on their old ways, ways and methods that worked like a charm ten years ago but are doing them no favours in the middle of the recession. They simply can’t or won’t compete with you if you offer better service at better prices.

They say that goods and services are worth what a person is willing to pay for them. Well, in tough times, you need to be brutally honest with yourself. Even if you’re, say, a cartoonist who usually works on a $200 page rate, if a $150 page rate can double your client base, then you’d be crazy not to cut your prices.

Moving On

As a last resort, sometimes it’s better to sell a business that’s only costing you money and move on. If you built a business from the ground up before, you can do it again. Look at your business in terms of gains and losses. If keeping your business going is going to cost you your retirement savings without paying you back over time, then it’s simply not worth it.

That being said, this really is a last resort. Don’t just give up at the first sign of adversity, rather, be willing to move on if that’s the corner you find yourself backed into. At the end of the day, it’s a business, not a hobby, and even if you only started the business for fun, it’s never fun to manage a failing business.

Loans and Credit

When the hit is a minor setback that you know you can recover from, it may be prudent to put your business credit card to work or seek a business loan to get you over the gap. All businesses face scenarios where they could easily get over the hump if only they had a little money to keep things going for the time being.

It’s important to know the difference between a hump and a business model that just isn’t working, but when it is a hump, the risk to your credit can actually be quite minimal. It can be more than worth the risk, just so long as that money is being used to get more cash flowing in and not merely to keep a sinking ship afloat a little longer.

Running your own business isn’t easy, but with a practical perspective and a bit of experience, it’s not impossible to get over a rough patch now and then.

Andy is the co-founder of CreditCardCompare.com.au. Based in Australia, his website provides a dedicated credit card comparison service that is impartial to the banks. For more of his writing, visit the blog.

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