5 Career Lessons From Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey was born into a family so poor that as a child she wore potato sacks as clothing. Her single, teenage mother struggled to support her, and Oprah suffered physical and sexual abuse from her family. At fourteen, she became pregnant, but her baby died shortly after birth. It is from this background, and these beginnings, that Oprah became the “Queen of All Media” and, according to some, the most influential woman in the world. Her flagship venture, The Oprah Winfrey Show, is the highest-rated TV talk show in history and Oprah has gone on to command an empire that has made her North America’s first and only multi-billionaire black person. It is hard to overestimate this business woman’s power. Oprah has been credited with the ability to make books instant bestsellers, for bringing LGBT people into the mainstream, and for swinging presidential elections. Her advice, in short, is worth listening to. LESSON #1: “YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL. YOU JUST CAN’T HAVE IT ALL AT ONCE.” The ability to prioritise is a skill many of us struggle with. Especially as career starters, there are often so many things that we want to achieve that it’s easy for us to spread ourselves too thin. But most goals require 100% of our time, energy and effort to give us a fighting chance of hitting it. Figure out what’s most important to you at this moment in time, and pour your heart and soul into getting it. Realistic timelines are also important: you simply cannot become CEO overnight. Break big goals down into segments and focus on achieving one step at a time. Constant progress keeps you motivated, and small steps forward keeps you on track. LESSON #2: “SURROUND YOURSELF WITH ONLY PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO LIFT YOU HIGHER.” Few things are as important as the people who surround us. In the workplace, great colleagues provide career starters with mentors, inspiration, ideas and support. These are the very things that give us the knowledge and confidence to keep striving forwards. Positive influencers are also crucial in providing you with candid feedback. Good feedback celebrates your strengths with critiquing (never criticising) your weaknesses in order to help you identify and improve them. When applying for jobs, therefore, try hard to pick one with a positive, inspirational work culture. Your future career depends on it. LESSON #3: “REAL INTEGRITY IS DOING THE RIGHT THING, KNOWING THAT NOBODY’S GOING TO KNOW WHETHER YOU DID IT OR NOT.” Being great at your job isn’t just about dazzling your boss at a company meeting with a whizzy new proposal. It’s about consistently being a strong, ethical, and dedicated worker, even when colleagues won’t notice or praise you for it. It’s not about slaving away at work for all hours of the day and night, but about being honest with your clients and considerate to you co-workers. Offering help to a colleague who is struggling, for example, or owning up to a mistake that was damaging but unlikely to be noticed. Besides, having integrity isn’t just its own reward; the attitude that you display will influence the strength of the professional network you build around you. Having a reputation for dedication will pay dividends in the future. LESSON #4: “TURN YOUR WOUNDS INTO WISDOM.” Your career -and your life- is always going to be full of setbacks and failures. There’s nothing you can do to avoid them, but there is something you can do to profit from them: learn from your mistakes. Take every bad experience as a training exercise and appreciate them for making you stronger and better. Building up resilience is a crucial career skill, allowing you to rebound from slip-ups in a positive, proactive way that will reassure your manager and co-workers that you are a capable and dedicated worker. LESSON #5: “DOING THE BEST AT THIS MOMENT PUTS YOU IN THE BEST PLACE FOR THE NEXT MOMENT.” Savvy careerists always keep one eye on their future. It is by considering where we want to be one day, one year, and ten years from now that we can ensure we spend the present putting in the groundwork that will get us there. Especially as a workplace newbie, many aspects of every job are dull and uninspiring. But it is the people who can carry on working hard and with a positive attitude that are first fingered for promotion. Whatever the situation you find yourself in, putting your head down and planning forwards will ensure that the next step you take is one in the right direction. Author – Beth Leslie
Updating your CV? Put your old CV down and step away.
The first thing everyone does when they are thinking about updating their CV is get their old CV out. As soon as you look at your old CV that’s now your frame of reference and will cloud your mind as soon as you start thinking about roles, responsibilities, jobs, wins, losses. Your new CV will have all the same mistakes, issues, forgotten achievements that your old CV did. Your old CV is also just that, old. Leave it alone to start with and try something else. Give yourself the chance of a clean slate and spend half an hour on this exercise before getting your old CV out. Your old CV is really useful for dates, memory jogs, format but you want to update it, so make sure you do that one thing. Bring it up to date. Otherwise, you’re effectively taking your 1999 Nokia and sticking an SLR to it. Not quite the camera phone you were looking for! Before you start get yourself a piece of paper and pen or your laptop and a blank word document a cup of tea or coffee, beer, wine whatever’s your tipple half an hour of quiet time Step I Brain Storm So instead of having something helpful jogging your memory you’re now looking at a blank piece of paper. A different challenge but bear with me!! But the point of this exercise is to use your clear mind to think about: What you did in the job. What were you responsible for? How you did it? What that accomplished? Go through each role you’ve had from memory (don’t cheat and use the CV) and answer those three questions for each role. You’ll end up with a weirdly, complicated list under each role that have no format or structure. That’s exactly what we’re looking for – good content… Tips: Memory Jogging. My memory is horrific, so I need to think about things sideways and ask lots of different questions to jog it to remember things: What projects was I involved in? What were my team responsible for? What was I most proud of? What was the company most proud of? What did my appraisals focus on? Was I nominated for awards? How did I know I was doing a good job? Step II – Turning Notes into Sexy Quantitative Content Take each bullet point and turn it into a sentence with the subject near the beginning and the deliverable at the end. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Actually, when you get the hang of it, it is. Try and a get a number in there too. People are generally numerical people which is why politicians use numbers to confuse everyone! Use that to become more memorable. (The reason you are doing this is so people reading your CV can skip read it really fast to get to the bit they want to read about. If the subject is at the end they have to read everything and will run out of time before they get to the killer keyword that is going to get you the interview.) Step III Language Put everything in the past tense (unless you are still doing it) Try and add pro-active language into each bullet point. ie From Work with existing sales channels and find new business – golf clubs, Taste of London, Good Food. To Drove sales growth across both new and existing sales channels. Identified an opportunity with Exclusive Members Clubs aligned to our core proposition of “Foodies” and developed a creative sales proposition to demonstrate our food proposal, driving sales up through both channels by 22%. Subject – sales, right at the front. Step IV Create your Great CV Now you can allow yourself to open your old CV and add your new bullet points to each role you’ve got listed. Depending on how your old CV looked they may look considerably different so take some time and re-arrange the old bullet points you have with the rules above or remove them whichever works. Step V Send it out… Most important tips: Never stress about it. If you’re stressed, write down what you want to talk about then leave it alone. Do a different part of your CV or make a cup of tea. Come back to it and your sub-conscious will probably have had an idea. Stick with these simple rules and you’ll be fine: Brain Storm Subject at the front Get a number in there somewhere Past tense Pro-active language Andy Wilkinson – LinkedIn
How to Judge When Changing Jobs is Right for You.
Making your mind up that changing jobs is a good idea usually doesn’t happen overnight but is decided upon over time. Never resign over an angry moment at the workplace or in a fit of pique. Stay calm and decide to move on when the time is right for you. Good reasons to consider changing jobs are: Being bored. If you are finding work unchallenging, then you can always ask for more responsibilities, but if these are not forthcoming, then perhaps a move is right for you. Being overworked. Too much pressure can lead to health problems in the long run. Heavy workloads can be managed for a while, but over extended periods they are no fun and you may want to think about quitting. Corporate culture. If something has changed in the way things are being done, especially if your sense of moral values no longer fits, then it may be time to look for opportunities elsewhere. No career path. Perhaps you have been passed over for promotion or the company is too small to offer career advancement. If you see no way of progressing your career, then look at how you might do so within another organisation. Unmatched skills. It could be that what you have studied and trained for is not being utilised in your current role and you want to find work doing what you have been educated in. Location issues. If you commute a long way to work or need to move further away for personal reasons, then looking for employment closer to your home is a perfectly sensible reason for changing jobs. Change of lifestyle. Sometimes changing jobs comes down to altering your lifestyle. Perhaps you want to work in another sector entirely or maybe you simply want a job with reduced hours to accommodate your preferred work-life balance. Salary matters. You might feel you deserve to earn more pay for what you do at your current job or feel there are better-paying jobs you could get. Either way, wanting to earn more is a perfectly understandable motive for switching to another employer. Manager malaise. If you don’t get on with your boss, then turning up to work can be stressful. Try to work things out between you, but if this is impossible, consider looking for other employment prospects. Contractual issues. Sometimes you may want to move on because a fixed-term contract is coming to an end. Perhaps your employer wants to downgrade your employment terms and conditions as well – another good reason to depart. The Timing of Changing Jobs When it comes down to it deciding to leave may be a question of, “If not now, when?” However, rushing into change for change’s sake is rarely advisable. Pick your moment to leave. This means taking into consideration any notice period that you may be obliged to offer as well as thinking about leaving on good terms – perhaps at the end of a project rather than mid-way through one. When leaving a job you ought to try to do so amicably. This way you will be able to obtain a good reference for your new job and stay in touch with old colleagues, a good tip if you want to build a professional network of contacts. By Monster Jobs UK
The 31 Best LinkedIn Profile Tips for Job Seekers.
When you’re not looking for a job, it can be easy to ignore your LinkedIn profile. Sure, you add people you meet at networking events as contacts and accept requests as they come in, but everything else? Eh, you’ll get to it when you need to. While we definitely don’t recommend this approach (hey, the recruiter from your dream company finding you and offering you a job? It could happen), we get that there are times you need a total LinkedIn profile overhaul. And for those times? We’ve got you covered! Here, we’ve compiled everything you need to know about tricking out your LinkedIn profile—from crafting a stunning summary to selling your accomplishments, projects, and skills—in one place. Read on for expert-backed ways to make your profile seriously shine—and start getting noticed by recruiters. 1. Put in the Time to Make it Awesome Simply put, the more complete your profile, the better the odds that recruiters will find you in the first place. So, completeness is important from that standpoint. It’s also important after a recruiter has found you and decided to click on your profile: He or she wants to know what your skills are, where you’ve worked, and what people think of you. So, don’t get lazy—fill out every single section of your profile. The good news? LinkedIn will actually measure the “completeness” of your profile as you work and offer suggestions on how to make it stronger. 2. Get a Custom URL It’s much easier to publicize your profile with a customized URL (ideally linkedin.com/yourname), rather than the clunky combination of numbers that LinkedIn automatically assigns when you sign up. How to get one? On the Edit Profile screen, at the bottom of the gray window that shows your basic information, you’ll see a Public Profile URL. Click “Edit” next to the URL, and specify what you’d like your address to be. When you’re finished, click Set Custom URL. 3. Choose a Great Photo Choose a clear, friendly, and appropriate professional image, and pop that baby up there. Not sure what “appropriately professional” means? Take a look around at what the people in your target company, industry sector, or business level are wearing. Match that. (Pro tip: “If you can show yourself in action, do it,” says a blogger who experimented with multiple LinkedIn photos to see which garnered the most attention.) “A photo can go a long way to convey passion, energy, charisma, empathy, and other soft skills that are hard to write about.” 4. Write a Headline That Rocks Your headline doesn’t have to be your job title and company—in fact, especially if you’re looking for jobs, it shouldn’t be. Instead, use that space to succinctly showcase your speciality, value proposition, or your “so what?” The more specific you can be about what sets you apart from the competition, the better. 5. Use Your Target Job Descriptions to Your Advantage Take a look at the job descriptions of the positions you’re after, and dump them into a word cloud tool like Wordle. See those words that stand out? They’re likely what recruiters are searching for when they’re looking for people like you. Make sure those words and phrases are sprinkled throughout your summary and experience. 6. Don’t Waste the Summary Space “Ideally, your summary should be around 3–5 short paragraphs long, preferably with a bulleted section in the middle. It should walk the reader through your work passions, key skills, unique qualifications, and a list of the various industries you’ve had exposure to over the years.” Career Horizons 7. Use Numbers Right Up Front “Much like the rest of your resume, you’ll want to highlight past results in your summary. When possible, include numbers and case studies that prove success. Social media consultant and speaker Wayne Breitbarth, for example, quickly establishes credibility with his audience by stating in his summary’s second sentence: ‘I have helped more than 40,000 businesspeople—from entry level to CEO—understand how to effectively use LinkedIn.’ Never underestimate the power of a few key stats to impress a reader.” American Express OPEN Forum 8. Be Warm and Welcoming “The summary section is your prime opportunity to showcase the good stuff about you, with your target audience in mind. Give ’em a little chance to get to know you. So what do you think the first impression is going to be if you craft your summary like some long, pompous speech? Or worse, craft it in the third person? They’re going to think you’re pretentious. And it’s going to be hard for that reviewer to get a feel for your personality and style. Be you here. Keep the brand message in line with all of your other professional marketing materials, but realize that LinkedIn is a platform designed for interaction.” JobJenny 9. Avoid Buzzwords Like the Plague What do the words responsible, creative, effective, analytical, strategic, patient, expert, organizational, driven, and innovative have in common? They’re the most overused buzzwords on all of LinkedIn. Come on—we know you can be more creative! 10. Treat Your Profile Like Your Resume Your resume isn’t just a list of job duties (or, at least, it shouldn’t be)—it’s a place to highlight your best accomplishments. Same goes for your LinkedIn profile: Make sure your experience section is fleshed out with bullet points that describe what you did, how well you did it, and who it impacted. 11. But Use the First Person You shouldn’t use the first person on your resume, but it’s actually fine to do so on LinkedIn (think “I’m a passionate development officer who raised $400,000 for cancer charities last year,” not (“Jackie Stevens is a passionate development officer…”). 12. Get Personal “Your profile is not a resume or CV. Write as if you are having a conversation with someone. Inject your personality. Let people know your values and passions. In your summary, discuss what you do outside of work. You want people to want to know you.” Forbes 13. Show Your Achievements Recruiters spend countless hours scouring LinkedIn in search
What are your greatest strengths?
Let’s get one thing straight: being asked ‘what are your greatest strengths?’ isn’t a trick question – or it shouldn’t be. It’s not designed to catch you out and it’s been around long enough for you to know that there’s a good chance you’ll be asked it. So make sure you think about this a lot before your interview. The other thing about this question is that it’s not going to be thrown at you early in an interview. It’s usually a question which comes towards the end when the interviewer has gone through the mandatory’s and wants to know more about you the person (as well as what your strengths may be). Think of it as a personal question being asked in a business-like way. This is another opportunity for you to really sell yourself. And as I’m always saying, try to think about the employer’s point of view when answering. They don’t know what sort of a person you are and whether you’ll fit in. They have a good idea of your skills and attributes from your CV but they want to get a different perspective on you. So don’t trot out the usual clichés, try to say something that is genuine and if you can, compelling. What do I mean by compelling? I mean anything that gives them an insight into your character. The way you answer, as much as what you say, gives them an insight into the real you. I always think that really cheesy answers to this or any other question smacks of laziness and complacency; like somebody is just going through the motions. At the other end of the scale, you don’t want to bang on about your desire, ambition, commitment and enthusiasm in such a way that it rings hollow – even if you are all those things it sounds unrealistic when you rattle them out. So what are your strengths? Have you thought about them? Are you being honest? Are you confident enough to talk about them in a convincing way? You need to be replying in a quietly confident way while keeping your nerves in check. If necessary, take your time when answering. Talk about a few meaningful qualities rather than just list out a lot of words. This is a quiet sell not a hard sell and the key to this is having thought carefully about your strengths beforehand. Are you adaptable? Calm under pressure? Creative? Loyal and resourceful? Jot down your thoughts and then bounce them off people and see which ones they feel are most suited to you. Then apply an example to each one to demonstrate how these strengths have been demonstrated in a previous situation. If you think about great examples to reinforce your statements, you will stay in control of what you are saying – and will sound much more compelling. by James Caan
The Truth: Why your CV was not selected…
If you are a job seeker you’ll be familiar with the automated rejection. You know the one, the email that reads “Dear (insert name), Thank you for your application for the (insert vacancy). Unfortunately on this occasion you were not successful….etc” Although bad news is better than no news, an automated response doesn’t really help. What was the reason? It is impossible to expect a personal rejection to every job you apply for but a few insights can help you understand what a hiring manager is looking for when they read your CV. I asked 100 Supply Chain Hiring managers in the GCC, the question all job seekers would like to know, “Why?” So what can we learn from the results? * Did not have necessary qualifications such as MCips or Masters: I was surprised as MBA’s / Masters / CIPS seem to be on every job description I receive. Maybe hiring managers are much more interested in what you have done rather than what you have learnt? As the industry gets more sophisticated qualifications like CIPS will benefit your career but right now your education (or lack of) is not holding you back. So next time you see a job advert that says “Masters / MBA / MCips mandatory” don’t be put off applying if you have the relevant experience. Did not have experience specific to the Category / Industry: There seems to be an ongoing battle between job seekers, who believe that experience is transferable vs. hiring managers who want specific industry or category knowledge. The good news for job seekers is that not all hiring managers think like this, the bad news is a lot do. Industry and Category experience is going to give you an advantage, certainly more sophisticated Supply Chain functions (think MNC FMCG’s) are going to want to see some like for like experience. I think this depends on a few things: How open minded the hiring manager is? Do they even have Categories? What level the role is? For Category Manager roles, direct experience is obviously needed. For entry level and even senior positions direct category / industry experience is less important. But if specifically mentioned in the job advert it is probably for good reason. Had too little relevant work experience: As expected this was the no.1 reason. Whereas experience can be substituted for attitude, education and ambition – it is still needed. When a job advert says 10 years experience, the truth is 8 will probably do – so definitely apply. But also look at the salary on offer – if it is twice what you are on chances are you are under qualified (or severely underpaid). Had too much work experience (over qualified): Whilst it is important for succession that people are hired at the right level, it is not particularly important. What hiring managers want is someone who can hit the ground running so “overqualified’ candidates are often welcome. The exception being over qualified candidates who also need to take a pay cut (i.e. those from Oil & Gas). There is an assumption from hiring managers that when candidates take a substantial pay cut – they’ll keep looking and leave when they find a better position. Lacked local GCC experience: I expected this to be a bit higher; so candidates without GCC experience should rejoice. I think it depends a lot on where your experience is from; candidates working with MNC’s (anywhere) are looked at favourably and hiring managers are often open to relocating candidates from their own home country. Candidates from developed economies such as EU/UK/US are often targeted when talent can’t be found locally. So whilst local experience is important it is not a prerequisite and people who are physically in the region for interviews are considered ‘local’ candidates. So if you want to relocate to the GCC get yourself over here. CV was too “jumpy” – i.e. candidate was a job hopper: Amazingly I receive CV’s from candidates who have been with their current employer for 6, 3 even 1 month – The reason they are looking? They accepted the first job they were offered. I understand some people need a job urgently but if that is not the case think about how a 3 month stint on your CV appears when applying for the Perfect role? No cover letter / CV was not tailored: It is official (most) people do not read cover letters and those that do don’t seem put off if you haven’t written one. Whilst this statement is generally true I think the process of writing a cover letter and tailoring your CV are fantastic preparation for interview. Justifying why you are suitable, why you are interested and taking the time to read a job description or advert and tailoring your CV all give you an advantage over the competition. So my advice is keep doing it – and take every advantage you can get. *You may have noticed that the percentages add up to over 100, this is because respondents can choose multiple reasons why a CV was not selected. – Graham Whitworth, LinkedIn
18 Behaviors of Emotionally Intelligent People
Emotional intelligence is a huge driver of success When emotional intelligence (EQ) first appeared to the masses, it served as the missing link in a peculiar finding: people with average IQs outperform those with the highest IQs 70 percent of the time. This anomaly threw a massive wrench into the broadly held assumption that IQ was the sole source of success. Decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as being the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack. The connection is so strong that 90 percent of top performers have high emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the “something” in each of us that is a bit intangible. It affects how we manage behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal decisions to achieve positive results. Despite the significance of EQ, its intangible nature makes it difficult to measure and to know what to do to improve it if you’re lacking. You can always take a scientifically validated test, such as the one that comes with the Emotional Intelligence 2.0 book, but unfortunately, most such tests aren’t free. So, I’ve analyzed the data from the million-plus people TalentSmart has tested in order to identify the behaviors that are the hallmarks of a high EQ. What follows are sure signs that you have a high EQ. You have a robust emotional vocabulary. All people experience emotions, but it is a select few who can accurately identify them as they occur. Our research shows that only 36 percent of people can do this, which is problematic because unlabeled emotions often go misunderstood, which leads to irrational choices and counterproductive actions. People with high EQs master their emotions because they understand them, and they use an extensive vocabulary of feelings to do so. While many people might describe themselves as simply feeling “bad,” emotionally intelligent people can pinpoint whether they feel “irritable,” “frustrated,” “downtrodden,” or “anxious.” The more specific your word choice, the better insight you have into exactly how you are feeling, what caused it, and what you should do about it. You’re curious about people. It doesn’t matter if they’re introverted or extroverted, emotionally intelligent people are curious about everyone around them. This curiosity is the product of empathy, one of the most significant gateways to a high EQ. The more you care about other people and what they’re going through, the more curiosity you’re going to have about them. You embrace change. Emotionally intelligent people are flexible and are constantly adapting. They know that fear of change is paralyzing and a major threat to their success and happiness. They look for change that is lurking just around the corner, and they form a plan of action should these changes occur. You know your strengths and weaknesses. Emotionally intelligent people don’t just understand emotions; they know what they’re good at and what they’re terrible at. They also know who pushes their buttons and the environments (both situations and people) that enable them to succeed. Having a high EQ means you know your strengths and how to lean into and use them to your full advantage while keeping your weaknesses from holding you back. You’re a good judge of character. Much of emotional intelligence comes down to social awareness; the ability to read other people, know what they’re about, and understand what they’re going through. Over time, this skill makes you an exceptional judge of character. People are no mystery to you. You know what they’re all about and understand their motivations, even those that lie hidden beneath the surface. You are difficult to offend. If you have a firm grasp of who you are, it’s difficult for someone to say or do something that gets your goat. Emotionally intelligent people are self-confident and open-minded, which creates a pretty thick skin. You may even poke fun at yourself or let other people make jokes about you because you are able to mentally draw the line between humor and degradation. You know how to say no (to yourself and others). Emotional intelligence means knowing how to exert self-control. You delay gratification and avoid impulsive action. Research conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, shows that the more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression. Saying no is a major self-control challenge for many people, but “No” is a powerful word that you should unafraid to wield. When it’s time to say no, emotionally intelligent people avoid phrases such as “I don’t think I can” or “I’m not certain.” Saying no to a new commitment honors your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to successfully fulfill them. You let go of mistakes. Emotionally intelligent people distance themselves from their mistakes, but do so without forgetting them. By keeping their mistakes at a safe distance, yet still handy enough to refer to, they are able to adapt and adjust for future success. It takes refined self-awareness to walk this tightrope between dwelling and remembering. Dwelling too long on your mistakes makes you anxious and gun shy, while forgetting about them completely makes you bound to repeat them. The key to balance lies in your ability to transform failures into nuggets of improvement. This creates the tendency to get right back up every time you fall down. You give and expect nothing in return. When someone gives you something spontaneously, without expecting anything in return, this leaves a powerful impression. For example, you might have an interesting conversation with someone about a book, and when you see them again a month later, you show up with the book in hand. Emotionally intelligent people build strong relationships because they are constantly thinking about others. You don’t hold grudges. The negative emotions that come with holding onto a grudge are actually a stress response. Just thinking about the event sends your body into fight-or-flight mode, a survival mechanism that forces you to stand up and fight or run for
5 Common Interviewer Objections and How to Deal with Them
Interviewing is about more than just looking the part and demonstrating your skills. A key part of the interview process is overcoming an interviewer’s objections. Over the course of an interview, the interviewer is building a mental map of you, composed of both your positive qualities and any doubts, concerns, or objections they may have about your application. Near the end of the interview, many interviewers will put these objections to you. The manner in which you deal with these objections can determine whether or not you progress to the next interview or land the job. These objections are an opportunity to iron out any creases in your application, put any concerns to bed, and close the deal. To help you effectively work through interviewer objections, I’ve compiled some of the more common interviewer objections and provided tips and model answers to show you how to overcome them. 1. You’ve held a lot of jobs in the past few years, and we’re concerned you might not stick around long. The employer is concerned about your loyalty and whether you might be a problem employee who can’t fit in. Address these concerns in your answer. See my sample response: “I’ve held 6 jobs over the past 3 years. These jobs were temporary contracts and I worked out the term of each contract and was a loyal employee in that respect. I have excellent references from my employers in all these jobs. Being in so many companies has made me highly adaptable to any environment. Yes, the positions and sectors were varied, but I was experimenting with a range of roles to find my ideal career path, which is the job and career path offered by your company, and to which I am committed for the long term.” 2. You seem like you may be overqualified for this position. Do you think you might get bored? The interviewer’s concerns are clear. Turn your experience into a virtue, not something to be feared, and show some humility. See the model response: “I am pleased that you acknowledge that I have all the skills to do the job. The additional skills and experience that I have will not be wasted; rather, they allow me to be more productive and efficient. I could also be a valuable mentor if you wished to use me in this way. I am a good value for the money, and you’ll get a bigger return on your investment.” 3. You have a long commute to this job. Do you think you can handle it? Here, you need to show awareness of, and preparedness for, the difficulties that a long commute may present: “I understand that a long commute can add additional working hours and strain to the workweek, and I have taken this into account. I really want to work for your company, and the benefits of working here far outweigh the drawbacks of the commute. I am not expecting any problems, as I have tested out the route in rush hour. On the off chance that the commute becomes a problem, I have already discussed it with my partner, and we would have no reservations about moving closer to the business. I’d be happy to make it a condition of employment.” 4. You are a strong candidate, but we are not sure we can meet your salary expectations. You’ll need to concede some ground here to take this forward, as it’s a genuine objection, but don’t roll over: they are most likely looking to open a negotiation. “I will be pleased to enter salary negotiations. I am flexible and open to hearing alternatives, and I am confident that we can come to an agreement we are both happy with.” 5. You have potential, but are lacking experience and skills in these key areas. This is an opportunity for you to show how your potential and positive attitude can be an antidote to your lack of experience. “What I lack in experience, I more than make up for in passion, enthusiasm, and potential. I am well aware of the areas that I need to develop in order to achieve in this role, and this is why I have committed to doing an additional five hours a week of off-hours training to help accelerate my learning in these specific areas. We all have weaknesses, but I have a plan of action and the passion to address mine.” These are the most common objections you are likely to face at interview. If you spend time preparing to overcome these objections, you will be much more likely to close out the deal and receive the offer you desire. – Kazim Ladimeji, Recruiter.com
15 Job Interview Questions for your Next Boss
The more thinking you do before a job interview, rolling the assignment around in your mind and thinking about all aspects of it, the better your interview questions will be. Here are some general questions that you can ask your hiring manager a/k/a Your Possible Next Boss at a job interview, no matter what the job description is. Leave a comment with more great questions you’ve used at job interviews! 1. Three months from now, when your new hire has been on the job for a solid ninety days, certain things that are bothering you now will be resolved and forgotten. What is that list of problems or projects that will be taken care of by that time — and that will cause you to be thrilled that you hired the right person? 2. What do you expect to be the greatest learning curve for the new person coming into this job? Is it the technology he or she will be using, learning the culture here or something else? 3. In the absence of a person to fill this job, what is the topic or aspect of this role that has taken up the most of your time and energy? 4. Who are the internal customers for this position, and what do each of them need from your new hire? 5. How does this position support your department’s goals? 6. Can you please share the backstory on this position? Is it a new assignment, or has someone been performing this role, and if so what is that person doing now? 7. What is the biggest innovation or upgrade you’d like to see coming from the person in this position, over the next year? 8. How do you like to communicate with the folks on your team — through email, face-to-face or in another way? 9. Assuming that everyone on your team is charged up about their work and full of ideas, they (and I, if I’m invited to join your team) could probably work until midnight. When is it time to go home? What constitutes a solid day’s work in your mind? 10. How do you plan to evaluate the performance of the person in this job? What are the most important milestones to hit? 11. What would you consider the area of greatest sensitivity or hand-holding for the new person in this position? What cultural currents must he or she be aware of and take into account? 12. Can you please tell me about the training for this role, whether that’s classroom training or learning from other people here? 13. You presumably had to justify this new hire to one or more people in the organization. What is the thrust of that argument — the biggest reason to fill this job now, as opposed to waiting? 14. Assuming you’re thrilled with your new hire and that person stays with the company for several years, what is the most obvious next career step here for that person? 15. What should your new hire know about your management style, that will help him or her interact more effectively with you? – Liz Ryan, Human Workplace
Taking Risks in Your Resume
When Columbus set sail in search of the new world, he and his crew didn’t know what they would find. Like today’s modern job hunter, these explorers set out in search of fabulous riches (or, you know, employment) with only a bold hope that they might one day return home victorious. In order to find work in these treacherous waters (in other words, in this economy), sometimes you have to take risks. Here are some risks worth taking on your resume. Infographic Resume One way to stand out from the crowd is to create an infographic-style resume. Infographics are eye-catching compositions of text and images that often include bright colors and geometric shapes. They turn information into bite-sized, easy-to-scan elements—which is exactly what you want when hooking the interest of a harried human resources manager. Job-hunting expert Pamela Skillings praises infographic resumes. “People love infographics because our brains are wired to respond to visual storytelling. Images grab our attention.” If graphic design isn’t part of your skill set, you can hire a freelancer to create a visual resume for you or use a program like Visualize.Me or Visual.ly. Video Resume Video resumes are a bold choice for job seekers, especially those with a winning personality. To make the most of your video resume, make sure to use a decent camera, good lighting (daylight is better than your desk lamp), and make sure that everything in the frame is clean and professional looking. That means picking up any stray socks or dirty dishes in the room as well as dressing up as if you were going to an interview. Use video editing software to create a high-quality reel; after all, a poorly produced video resume isn’t going to impress anyone. According to Erin Carson from TechRepublic, video resumes aren’t for everyone. Carson advises that “using a video resume to get a job in a more creative field like marketing, might be more effective. Ask yourself if the company you’re applying to has the type of culture that would welcome a video more than a regular resume.” Mixed Media Resume There are hundreds of creative ways to make your resume stand out, from wrapping it around a chocolate bar, creating a storybook, or even embroidering your accomplishments on fabric. If you’re going to go the mixed media route, make sure that it reflects your talents and skills. An insurance actuary, for example, probably wouldn’t get much mileage out of a resume designed to look like a movie poster, but someone looking to break into the film industry might. Of course, you want to avoid standing out in a bad way. Grammatical mistakes — careless misspellings, misplaced commas, and a host of other easy-to-make errors — can negatively impact your chances of getting that interview. No matter what medium you decide to use to present your resume, make sure that you proofread thoroughly. Don’t rely on your word processing program’s spell check; get a trusted friend to look over your resume, and run the text through Grammarly’s automated proofreading tool. – Allison Vannest, Recruiter.com