What do you dream about? Do you have dreams of building a blockbuster business, material wealth, taking great vacations, writing the next bestseller, or contributing to the lives of others? Whatever dreams you have big or small, staying motivated can sometimes be a challenge.

Initially, many people hit the ground running towards their goals with great enthusiasm and determination. They keep up the momentum for a period of time and often lose steam, (emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually) for a variety of reasons. That’s just part of being human!

Below are 10 ways to help you stay motivated and moving forward:

1. Create a vivid and compelling vision of the dream you wish to achieve. Consider all the aspects of your life as if you were looking through a wide-angled lens. See your vision take form as a picture in your mind. Write down all you see, think, and feel. See yourself in that vision of having what you want. Now, you must make the decision to say YES to have what you want. Making the decision is the first step to committing to a dream. In other words, how bad do you want it and what are you willing to do (or be) to have your dream?

2. Identify what stimulates and motivates you. It might be certain music, movies, books such as Lance Armstrong’s amazing success story, exercise, magazines, places or people (heroes, role models) that get you juiced and pumped. Notice the people and things that drain and de-motivate. See #4.

3. Be passionate. Webster’s dictionary defines passion as “A powerfull emotion or appetite; boundless enthusiasm”. Passion is a great motivator and if you are motivated you are passionate! These are three strategies to keep your passions strong:

• Revisit your vision, goals, and dreams daily so they stay up front in your heart and mind.

• Design a “rough day” strategy. We all have days when it seems nothing is going the way we want. When faced with “one of those days”, having a strategy on how to stay positive will be key to sustaining motivation. For me personally, I meditate to quiet my mind so that I feel more centered. Reaching out to a close friend also helps me regain perspective to recommit to my dreams.

• Take control of your environment. We make choices everyday about the people we associate with, where we live, the work we do, and where we go. If your environment isn’t supporting you, identify three actions you will take immediately to improve your situation so that you can move forward. See #4

4. Decrease and eliminate energy drains. What are you tolerating and putting up with that drains your energy? We put up with, accept, take on and are dragged down by: clutter, people’s behavior, unmet needs, unfinished business, repairs, avoided conflicts/confrontations, and negative thinking. Clearing out clutter and energy drains will dramatically free up energy and lift your spirits.

5. Practice extreme self –care. I use extreme because taking the best care of YOU is serious! Give yourself permission to make self-care a priority. When needs are not being met, negative thoughts and reactions intensify. When we feel replenished, we handle situations with strength, clarity and focus. Make a list of the people and things that energize and recharge you and commit to adding them into your life with regularity.

6. Monitor your self-talk. Self-talk is the constant commentary of things we say to ourselves (internally) and repeat to others (externally). Our self-talk can be supportive or non-supportive, positive or negative (the stories we tell ourselves that cause pain and stress). Observe your self-talk. Watch for opportunities to replace your negative thinking with empowering language that comes from your heart. Choose your attitude. You are the source of your thoughts, beliefs, assumptions, opinions, judgments, and feelings. Your viewpoint affects your decisions and actions; therefore your attitude directly affects the outcome. In this way, you can become a powerfull self-motivator. Choose to see challenges and problems as opportunities, possibilities, and learning experiences that help you evolve as a person.

7. Meet your fears head-on. Fear is fueled by negative beliefs and self-talk. Remember, you are the source of your thoughts. Fear can be a powerfull motivator or a detractor. If you’ve been working with the tips on this list and still feel overwhelmed by your fears, try these additional strategies to regain control.

• Breathe!
• Be present. Are you in the present moment of focusing on the future?
• Be grateful. Focus on everyone and everything that brings you joy.
• Connect with your Source (your spiritual connection) for peace and comfort.
• Separate the facts (your reality, what’s true) from the story (what you are telling yourself in your head).

Transforming fear is a process, so stay with it!

8. Surround yourself with people who positively support you. We are influenced and impacted by the people in our lives especially within our inner circle. Choose to be in close affiliation with those who bring out your best.

9. Draw on past successes to calm discouragement, doubt or fear. What are you most proud of having accomplished? Recall specific challenges (big and small) that you have overcome, especially ones that initially felt insurmountable.

10. Celebrate! Acknowledging and rewarding yourself for your accomplishments (benchmarks) along the way is a great source of motivation and inspiration to help you go the distance. Make sure you’re having fun!

“Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.” – Anonymous
Author: Lorraine Cohen

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Here are the keys to successful job interviews. Follow these simple rules and you should achieve success in this important phase of job-hunting. However, do not forget the 3Ds, Plan, Prepare and Practice.

40 Interview DO’s and DON’Ts

Here are the keys to successful job interviewing. Follow these simple rules and you should achieve success in this important phase of job-hunting.

1.    Don’t just rely on your application, cover letter or CV to do the selling for you. No matter how qualified you are for the position, you will need to sell yourself/skills to the interviewer.

2.    Do your research and know the type of job interview you will be encountering. And do prepare and practice for the interview, but don’t memorise or over-rehearse your answers. (See my old postings to see some of the best collections of interview questions and answers.)

3.    Do take a practice run to the location where you are having the interview — or be sure you know exactly where it is and how long it takes to get there.

4.    Do dress the part for the job, the company, the industry. And do err on the side of conservatism. If you’re not sure, you should consider dressing conservatively.

5.    Do plan to arrive about 10 minutes early. Late arrival for a job interview is never excusable. If you are running late, do phone the company.

6.    Do greet the receptionist or assistant with courtesy and respect. This is where you make your first impression.

7.    Don’t chew gum during the interview.

8.    Don’t excuse yourself to go for a cigarette and don’t ask for tea or coffee unless you are offered.

9.    If presented with a job application, do fill it out neatly, completely, and accurately.

10. Do bring extra CVs and your skills Portfolio to the interview.

11. Do greet the interviewer(s) by title (Ms., Mr., Dr.) and last name if you are sure of the pronunciation. (If you’re not sure, do ask the receptionist about the pronunciation before going into the interview.

12. Do shake hands firmly. Don’t have a limp or sweaty handshake!

13. Do wait until you are offered a chair before sitting. And do remember body language and posture: sit upright and look alert and interested at all times. Don’t fidget or slouch.

14. Don’t tell jokes during the interview and don’t do any impressions.

15. Do make good eye contact with your interviewer(s).

16. Do show enthusiasm in the position and the company.

17. Don’t smoke, even if the interviewer does and offers you a cigarette. And don’t smoke beforehand so that you smell like smoke. And do brush your teeth, use mouthwash, or have a breath mint before the interview.

18. Do avoid using poor language, slang, and pause words (such as “like,” “uh,” and “um”).

19. Don’t be too soft-spoken. A forceful voice projects confidence.

20. Do have a high confidence and energy level, but don’t be overly aggressive.

21. Don’t act as though you would take any job or are desperate for employment.

22. Do avoid controversial topics.

23. Don’t say anything negative about former colleagues, supervisors, or employers.

24. Do make sure that your good points come across to the interviewer in a factual, sincere manner, remember evidences to support your skills claim.

25. Don’t ever lie. Answer questions truthfully, frankly and succinctly. And don’t over-answer questions.

26. Do stress your achievements. And don’t offer any negative information about yourself.

27. Don’t answer questions with a simple “yes” or “no.” Explain whenever possible. Describe those things about yourself that showcase your talents, skills, and determination. Give examples.

28. Do show off the research you have done on the company and industry when responding to questions.

29. Don’t bring up or discuss personal issues or family problems.

30. Do remember that the interview is also an important time for you to evaluate the interviewer and the company she represents.

31. Don’t respond to an unexpected question with an extended pause or by saying something like, “boy, that’s a tough/good question.” And do repeat the question out loud or ask for the question to be repeated to give you a little more time to think about an answer. Also, a short pause before responding is okay.

32. Do always conduct yourself as if you are determined to get the job you are discussing. Never close the door on an opportunity until you are sure about it.

33. Don’t answer mobile/cell phone calls during the interview, and do turn it off (or if you must, set to silent).

34. Do show what you can do for the company rather than what the company can do for you.

35. Don’t inquire about salary, vacations, bonuses, retirement, or other benefits until after you’ve received an offer. Be prepared for a question about your salary requirements, but do try and delay salary talk until you have an offer.

36. Do ask intelligent questions about the job, company, or industry. Don’t ever say you have no questions to ask — it shows a lack of interest.

37. Do close the interview by telling the interviewer(s) that you want the job and asking about the next step in the process. (Some experts even say you should close the interview by asking for the job.)

38. Do try and get business cards from each person you interviewed with — or at least the correct spelling of their first and last names. And don’t make assumptions about simple names — was it Sam or Simon — get the spelling.

39. Do immediately take down notes after the interview concludes so you don’t forget crucial details.

40. Do write thank you letters within 24 hours to each person who interviewed you. (You can see some sample thank-you letters here.) And do know all the rules of following up after the interview.

Quick, by a show of hands, how many of you have workplace stress? Almost everybody, great. Now, how much of that stress do you think is self-imposed? What, no hands? Well, I’m not surprised, but you may be in for one.

You see, most people make their own stress. Why do they do it? How should I know? I’m not a shrink. So how do I know it’s true? I don’t; you tell me if any of these 7 Signs You’re Creating Your Own Workplace Stress resonate with you:

1. Not making enough money? Join the club. Nobody, I mean nobody makes enough money. Work hard, be smart, do great things, learn how to negotiate, and the money will come. That’s how it works.
2. Underappreciated, nobody loves you? Boss treats your co-worker better than you? Did you ever think maybe it’s you? Maybe you’re always whining. Maybe you treat them like crap. Maybe you never grew up. Who knows? 
3. Your group gets no respect. IT is always getting dumped on. Sales and marketing has it easy. Guess what? The other group probably feels the same way. It’s called Silo behavior and it’s destructive, period. Grow up.
4. You have a psycho boss? An abusive self-hating jerk who acts out his childhood drama on poor unsuspecting employees. That sucks, but the unemployment rate is 9.5 percent, so you don’t get to pick your boss. Fighting battles you can’t win generates stress.
5. Too much work, too little time. This is usually self-imposed. Are you sure your deadlines are real and not just you feeling self-important, pushing yourself too hard because you haven’t got a life outside work? Slow down; what’s the worst that can happen?
6. Peer problems. There’s a coworker you just don’t get along with and it’s really stressful, right? Well, guess what? I’ll bet she feels the same way about you. It happens to everybody. Try a little detente. Offer an olive branch. Swallow your pride and give in. It won’t kill you.
7. Executive management doesn’t listen or care. Did it ever occur to you that executive managers are people too? They have their own issues and they’re not perfect. Some companies are well managed, some are managed by idiots. On the outside chance they’re not idiots, did you ever think that maybe, just maybe they know more than you do?   

If you think this post oversimplifies things, think again. You may be overcomplicating things. 

Try a little experiment: If you experience an issue or two and it changes when you jump companies or groups, then you were probably in a dysfunctional workplace. Welcome to the real world. Don’t whine and complain. Don’t give in and don’t give up. Be optimistic. Continue your search for a passionate, fulfilling job at a great company. You’ll find it.

But if it doesn’t change, if it’s always the same, then it’s probably you. You might want to see somebody about that.

By Steve Tobak

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Do you know your share of slackers at work? Mostly, they are intelligent people who could easily upstage everyone else’s efforts if they applied themselves a bit more. Yet, while everyone else is in panic mode trying to get ahead, while the slackers know how to fulfill their obligations, get decent feedback and enjoy a relatively stress-free existence.

Certainly, we shouldn’t all strive to be slackers. The balance between laid-back and high-strung workers is probably beneficial to everyone. But in a culture where we’re constantly being told to be better than everyone at everything, slacking off can be the right way to go for your health and your career.

Manic workplace

Once upon a time, work was a busy place. You showed up, worked hard, stayed late during your busiest periods and then went home. Today, many people don’t escape work. Before they even arrive at the office, they’ve already sent a dozen e-mails from their phones and held teleconferences with people all over the country. Once you’re actually at work, things are even crazier.

The workplace is different today than it was 10, 20 and 30 years ago, but you should be able to pull back in some areas. You don’t need to overextend yourself to the point that you never relax.

Here are some ways you can be a “slacker” at work and benefit from it:

E-mail can wait. No, really, it can. You don’t have to answer an e-mail the moment it pops up on your screen. Unless you’re waiting for that one message that could make or break your career, you should designate time to check e-mails so that you don’t get distracted while doing other tasks. You can even disable the new message icon and noise alert to help with this.

Saying ‘no’ won’t get you fired. If the boss or someone comes to you with a task that’s part of your core job duties, by all means accept it. If you’re drowning in work, however, telling co-workers that you just can’t get to their request right now won’t necessarily hurt you. Tactfully explain that you’d like to help them but you’ve got too much on your plate shows you care about the quality and promptness of your work.

Don’t multitask. The ability to simultaneously talk on the phone, send an e-mail and heat up the meatballs for the monthly potluck is an admirable quality but not necessarily the most beneficial. Multitasking has become the de facto approach to daily operations in many workplaces. The problem is that we often end up doing a little of everything and never making much progress on any one task.

Give yourself a break. Literally, just get away from work for five minutes. Take a walk around the floor or step outside for some fresh air. Without Saturday and Sunday off, you’d probably go a little stir-crazy. Think of brief breaks throughout the day as small-scale versions of weekends. You’ll return with a clear head and produce better-quality work.

Don’t eat lunch at your desk. Eating at your desk can be an occasional necessity, either because you’re close to a deadline or you’re in a productive zone that you don’t want to interrupt. Having your lunch in front of a computer every day, however, doesn’t give your eyes or your mind time to relax. You might feel like a slacker if you’re the only one taking your sandwich outside for 30 minutes, but your mental health is worth it.

Schedule some “me” time. Go into your calendar and block off a period of time for whatever work you need to do without interruption. Treat that time as if it were an important appointment with your boss and consider it non-negotiable. If someone tries to schedule a meeting with you, tell him or her that you’re busy but can try for another time. If possible, book a conference room so you won’t be interrupted by a chatty co-worker or a phone call.

Even though economic conditions may be stabilizing globally and in Britain, economists expect unemployment to continue rising this year, as financial uncertainty persists. “In the real world of Britain’s workplaces people are still losing their jobs and finding it harder and harder to get new ones”, TUC General Brendan Barber said. Not only is unemployment constantly rising, figures show that the number of jobs available has also fallen to a record low of 429,000 in the three months to June, according to the ONS.

This number is just a small share compared to the number of people looking for work, currently 2.26 million. The consequence is evident — companies that have a few job openings receive hundreds of CVs. You immediately wonder: How many of those applications actually get read?

Few jobs, many CVs, busy hiring managers

In a perfect world, hiring managers would have plenty of time to thoroughly read every single CV that comes across their desks and contact each person to explain why the company is choosing someone else. In reality, the job seekers outnumber available positions in today’s job market, and hiring managers are too busy to hold your hand through every step of the process.

In fact, you’re lucky if you hear back at all. Many companies contact you only if they want more information or to schedule an interview. You never know if you didn’t qualify for the job or if your CV was ever even looked at.

The CV black hole

With so many people applying for jobs, it’s easy to discard a CV based simply on a typo or unpleasant formatting. Of course, job seekers should do anything to avoid typos with proofreading. But the bigger fear is that powers out of their control could sabotage their job prospects.

CVs submitted online can also disappear into the cyber black hole. These online abysses are often the result of generic e-mail addresses, which can mean all applications funnel into one account even if they’re for separate positions. Or worse, applications and general business questions go to the same destination.

Even if you can’t prevent the black hole from existing, you can do your best to get your application out of there. Here are a few tips:

Be proactive
Rather than take your chances with the proverbial CV black hole, you should be proactive when you apply for work, says Justin Honaman, author of “Make It Happen! Live Out Your Personal Brand.”
“There is no doubt that hitting the ’submit’ button and hoping or  praying is probably not the only way to approach an opportunity,” he says. “When positions are posted on a company’s web site, my experience has been that I receive a huge number of submissions, and at times, more than 80 percent of the applicants are not even qualified for the position. Most recruiters follow a multistep evaluation approach.”

Recruiters and hiring managers ask three questions when they receive applications from job seekers:

- Does candidate meet the minimum criteria for the position?
The minimum criteria might include a certain level of education, years of experience or certification.
- Is the candidate still in the running even after she has stated her requirements or wishes for the position?
If an applicant’s salary requirements or unwillingness to relocate conflicts with the needs of the job, then the employer might remove him or her from consideration.
- Does the candidate bring more to the table than the defined position requirements?
Employers are happy to have someone who fulfills the requirements of the position, but they’re even happier to hire someone who brings additional assets.

Why do you care about this? Because once you submit your application and it passes these hurdles, it doesn’t mean you’re out of CV ‘neverland’. You’re still just one of many applicants who can get lost in the shuffle, even in the most efficient hiring department.

A multiprong method of attack is the best way to guarantee you’re not overlooked:

1. Online CV submission
Most companies require this to ensure internal company recruiting processes are followed. Plus, it is the easiest way to get your name in the hands of someone at the company.
2. Make a personal connection
Networking with someone in the company can be ideal to get an edge over other applicants. If you can speak with a knowledgeable source who can offer information about the hiring manager, the team or the position, you’ll have more insight on what the employer is looking for.
3. Appropriate follow-up
Once you’ve submitted your application, contact the company again, as long as you’re respectful and professional. Don’t hound anyone about the job, just check in to see where the process stands.

Since the start of 2008, companies have been embroiled in a so-called ‘war on talent’ as the jobs marketplace enters its most challenging and competitive period for several years. It’s predicted many industry sectors will lose more jobs in 2009 and budgets will be slashed as a result of the testing economic conditions.

Despite this, many organisations are keen to hold onto their best staff, whilst workers will be tempted to switch employer, lured by the potential to earn a higher salary doing the same job elsewhere. As such, the last year has seen more people earning around £50,000 a year than ever before in jobs that would have paid less just a few years ago.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average salary in the UK is £31,969 (August 2008) with the likes of chartered accountants, college lecturers and quantity surveyors typically earning this amount. But what about those people who earn significantly higher than that, say £50,000?

Using salary data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ONS), we have searched the web to find the top ten jobs that are currently available and pay around £50,000 a year.

1. Head of Communications
Bill Gates once said, “If I had just one dollar left, I’d spent it on PR”. With many organisations cutting their advertising and marketing spend, public relationsis fast-becoming the preferred alternative for companies to communicate their message and raise their brand appeal. As a result, demand for skilled writers and creative bodies are at an all-time high and this demand has pushed salaries upwards. If you want to know where the war on talent is most fiercely fought, then the PR industry is your answer.

Entry requirements: Degree is preferred but not essential. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are a pre-requisite as is the ability to respond positively in a crisis coupled with experience of managing a public relations department.
Pay: £49,000

2. Commercial Solicitor
The legal profession has been found to be one of the most stressful occupations in the UK, accentuated by the compensation culture that has emerged in this country in recent years. Commercial solicitors act for businesses of all sizes on cases ranging from general company and commercial work to large complex corporate transactions. They advise on law and represent clients in disputes.

Entry requirements: Degree or via the legal executive route.
Pay: £51,579

3. Air Traffic Controller
With a number of airport expansion programmes taking place across Britain equating to three new Heathrow’s being constructed over the next few years, demand for controllers is at a premium and salaries are at an all-time high. Their job is to manage the safe take-off and landing of several aircraft at the same time by monitoring and controlling an aircraft’s height, speed and course.

Entry requirements: Despite being dominated by university graduates, a degree is not a pre-requisite. Minimum requirement is five GCSEs (grades A-C including English and Maths) in addition to two ‘A’-Levels/GNVQ advanced level. Most people enter the profession via the National Air Traffic Services (NATS).
Pay: £51,911

4. Purchasing Manager
When times are hard and budgets are stretched it is the job of the purchasing manager to identify the most cost-effective means to procure goods and services for an organisation. This could mean changing suppliers or opting for an alternative product line with a degree of project management thrown into the mix.

Entry requirements: Typically this role will require a minimum of three years experience within a similar role or one involved in supply management and the negotiation of supply contracts.
Pay: £49,258

5. Personnel and Industrial Relations Manager
Managers plan and oversee all policies relating to employee activity; including recruitment, pay negotiations, grievance, transfers, and disciplinary, health and safety issues.

Entry requirements: None required. Managers enter the profession as a human resources assistant and can reach manager level within five years.
Pay: £48,258

6. Strategy and Planning Analyst
The role of an analyst is to focus on planning and reporting the results of database-driven marketing initiatives. In other words, to develop a system that enables departments to assess the effective of a direct mail or broadcast advertising campaign, for example, and then use this information to create an improved and more effective set of processes to maximise a company’s return on investment.

Entry requirements: Degree in a statistical/analytical discipline such as engineering, social sciences or economics.
Pay: £48,787

7. Sales Manager

If you want to know how tough the market it, ask a sales manager. When economic conditions worsen, sales people are often the first to feel the pinch — targets inevitably increase and so too does the pressure placed on the sales manager who not only needs to ensure that he hits his own target but also that his team of representatives hit theirs too. This could involve recruiting managers, organise product promotions, conduct regular business reviews or write reports and deliver presentations.

Entry requirements: Entrants start at trainee level upon graduation and can quickly move up the career ladder to senior management if consistently achieving targets on sales and profits
Pay: £48,258

8. Coroner

Coroners direct and conduct the post-mortem investigation to determine the cause and responsibility for an accidental, unexplained or violent death.

Entry requirements: Degree and must also be a qualified barrister, solicitor or medical doctor.
Pay: £52,049

9. Management Consultant

Consultants are employed by organisations to perform an audit of its day-to-day operations, the results of which will then be used to analyse current practices and determine a plan of action to maximise the growth and improve the overall business performance of their clients. This could involve a number of departments, from human resources and accounting to marketing and supply chain management.

Entry requirements: Degree in any discipline with fully fledged consultants working their way through the ranks.
Pay: £47,517

10. Police Inspector

Also known as ‘detective’, inspectors work within the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on serious crimes. They act as middle managers who are responsible for supervising the ranks of constable and sergeant and acting as a link between the investigating team and senior officers.

Entry requirements: No formal requirements, entry is open to anyone with a clean criminal record.
Pay: £54,241

By Paul MacKenzie-Cummins for CareerBuilder.co.uk

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I saw this post on MSN this morning and I thought I should share it with you all. It captures the things not to do when you want a job. Please enjoy reading it. Well, not only that, make sure you don’t do the things highlighted there if you want to secure a job.

Everybody knows how to get the job they want, don’t they? It seems easy, in fact so easy that few people bother to prepare for getting the job they want. Perhaps it would be more interesting to describe how not to get the job you want.

So here are eight steps that will ensure you do not get the job you want.

Step 1: Getting a job, how can you affect your chances?
There is no need to spend much time on it then, no need to train yourself to handle interviews. Just show up and hope, what else can you do, after all “It’ll be alright on the night” won’t it? The best way is to single out the one job you want and hope you will get it, easy isn’t it?

Step 2: Don’t try to personalise your CV to highlight aspects of your skills that suit the job you will be interviewed for.
Just leave it in the same old format for every single job.  Try and include a few spelling mistakes, out of date email addresses or phone numbers and gaps in your working experience.  Don’t waste time by asking a friend to check yourCV for accuracy and “readability”!

Step 3: No need to add a cover letter with your CV.
It’s a waste of time, detail, who reads it anyway? Why bother describing your key skills or working experiences that fit this job in a covering letter.  They can read your CV and – eventually – discover for themselves what a perfect fit you are for their job.  People who interview must have lots of free time to read CVs of applicants. It’s not like they have any other work to do, is it?  Anyway if they aren’t sure about your CV well they are going to phone you up and check anyway so no worries here.

Step 4: After you have sent in your CV just sit back and wait for the organisation to contact you.
Don’t bother calling them to make sure they received your application safely – of course they got it, didn’t they?  Emails never go missing or ever sit in someone’s inbox overlooked, do they?  Anyway even if it did get lost they will let you know so that you can resend it. No point in phoning up to confirm your interest in the job and ask for an interview?

Step 5: Interview preparation, what is that anyway?
If you have been asked to come for an interview, just turn up, ask what the hours are, when you get holidays and what the pay is. Even if you could guess at what kind of questions you may be asked and prepare some answers to avoid the stress of having to think of them during the interview, you may as well just leave it to the interview. Why find out, or think about, the top three requirements that will decide who will get the job, how could that help you to prepare for the interview?
Don’t bother to find out about the employer or the interview process or the people who will interview you, if they are expanding or have new projects that have created this vacancy.
How could it help you to phone up and ask who will interview you and what they will be interested in about you and yourexperience? What possible benefit is there in finding out if there is just one interview or several with different people?

Step 6: The interview itself is easy
In fact the night before you can even go out, have a few drinks and stay out late. Try to arrive at the interview on time or slightly late, no need to get there early. Traffic will be fine, trains always run on time and if you get lost or delayed they will understand and delay all the other interviews to wait for you. Rushing in looking stressed and hassling the person on reception to quickly sign you in is always a great sign of a highly capable future employee.
Don’t take a copy of your CV or application form with you the interviewer will always have a copy, they never get mislaid and anyway you don’t need a copy of your CV use in the interview to describe your working experience and skills – you can remember it all – can’t you?  You also won’t need a pen and notepad to write down key points.
During the interview no need to ask what key skills and experience are required or trying to explain how your own capabilities match the job’s requirements.
At the end of the interview don’t ask for feedback, or if there are any areas that need more explanation. Don’t ask when you will hear about the next step or results, just get out quickly and be ready to wait for days without knowing what is happening.

Step 7: After interviews don’t bother to send a thank you note confirming your interest in the job
If an organisation wants to hire you they will call you anyway, won’t they? There’s no need to plan your time out using a schedule and diary system, you can just keep it in your head and remember everything you have to do and when to do it, can’t you?  It’s just a few phone calls and the occasional email, and if you forget to send the email it’s not that important.

Step 8: There’s no need to apply for more than one job
Why bother to get active with several applications, it’s just more work, isn’t it?  You only need one interview to go well to get the job you want. Applying for more than one job is just creating unnecessary activity.

Of course there is another way. LET’S-BEGIN courses are built on a unique range of working experiences from over 30 years in job roles that required very strong inter-personal skills in sales, sales management, general management and organisational leadership. Check out www.lets-begin.com

Richard Lowe, CEO, LET’S-BEGIN

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Friendly, welcoming, and good communicators are great people to converse with. They are emotionally uplifting. If you have a problem with them, it is easily worked through. Unfortunately, the world isn’t filled with great communicators; it is more dominated by difficult people. Dealing with difficult people is a must to be happy and successful in your career, family, and social life.

Here are list of tips for dealing with difficult people to transform their attitude and prevent them from infecting your attitude with their difficulty:

Rights and Responsibility

It’s important to distinguish between rights and responsibilities when dealing with difficult people. Sometimes we feel obliged to work through difficult problems, solve people’s personality problems, or develop solutions beyond our capabilities. Other times we unnecessarily forgo our rights letting the difficult person trample over what they have no right to ruin.

Rights

Rights typically define the actions that you and the difficult person need to follow. The rights are usually based on laws and rules. A list of rights include:

• Law – Any unlawful problems such as physical abuse or sexual harassment should never have to be accepted. Let the law solve these illegal problems.
• Rules – There can be rules in a family, amongst friends, or at a social venue. Rules are often implied rather than explicitly stated. People are usually aware of rules, but when dealing with a difficult person, it may help to mention the rules as not everyone will be aware of them. Generally, people know that you shouldn’t shout in a public building. There are no signs which tell us this, yet most people should be aware of this rule. Making the difficult person aware of the rule – in a friendly and non-overbearing manner – may be enough to solve the problem. You and other people have a right to follow the rules.

Responsibility

Responsibilities “go the extra mile” to rights. Unlike rights, you don’t need to fulfill your responsibility. Responsibilities are optional, but highly recommended if you want to successfully handle the situation. The folllowing responsibilities should provide you with concepts and a framework in handling the situation:

• Do not reciprocate the difficulties the person is giving. Treating them with respect is an important tip to deal with difficult people and is your responsibility. Once you prevent yourself from stooping low and reciprocating the bad behavior, you will feel proud, empowered, and in control of your life – regardless of whether you successfully handle the situation.
• Listen to the difficult person and let them express their point of view. It will help you understand more about why they are difficult. This tip alone can be enough to deal with the person as you allow the person to let off some steam. Listening honestly, actively, and empathically will make the person feel understood and bridge the interpersonal gap between the two of you. You gain little or zero information about the situation by talking.
• Extroverts and introverts need to be handled differently. Encourage extroverts to talk while you listen to them. Your focus with introverts is to get them opening up.
• Remain focused on the problem and not the person. Difficult people have a difficult problem and are trying to fulfill their need in the only means they know possible. Disassociate the problem from the person is a great tip for dealing with a difficult person.
• Difficult people have an unmet need. Whether somebody is angry, unhappy, depressed, loud, or anxious, they are trying to fulfill a need. The Nonviolent Communication Process is a great technique that gets you focused on other people’s needs as well as your own.
• You don’t need to solve all problems by yourself. It sounds simple, but talking to a parent, manager, or human resource department, is very powerful. Other people will bring knowledge, skills, and more persuasive power in handling a difficult person. However, you do need to be beware of making a private problem public. It’s your responsibility to respect the other person’s privacy concerns, but at the same time you need to request another’s help when necessary.

Stop Becoming a Victim

It is a vital to stop feeling victimized by a difficult person’s behavior. Blaming them for making you feel miserable is only damaging to you and will not assist you in solving the problem. You give people access to your emotions. Eliminating blame allows you to free yourself from the person’s difficult behavior. The great Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing external to you has any power over you.”

Take responsibility for how you feel, stop blaming, and remind yourself that the person’s difficulty is their problem. Eliminate the feeling of being burdened by people’s problems. You’ll work towards a solution faster and it’ll be less emotionally exasperating when losing your victim mentality.

Being a part of the problem

A discussion on dealing with difficult people usually has a focus on the difficult people. That’s understandable seeing that “they are the problem.” However, more often than not we play a role in a difficult person’s behavior.

I’ll admit that some people are difficult for the strangest reasons. A guy sees a successful and happy guy which can cause the first guy to be filled with rage. There’s not much you can do to prevent being apart of the problem if you’re the happy and successful guy because the difficult person obviously has his own issues.

If the person isn’t difficult to everyone, then you could be contributing to the problem. Find out why they are behaving the way they are towards you. What do other people do that you aren’t doing? What do other people not do that you are doing?

The person could be an extrovert and treats you poorly because you are an introvert. Maybe the person is angry at you about an event that took place the other day. There are thousands of possible reasons that you can discover by following the responsibilities mentioned above. Identify the person’s unmet need and empathically listen.

Like the previous tip, take responsibility and look at your weaknesses, mistakes, and improve on them. Practice the Japanese principle of Kaizen where you make small continual improvements for an overall large change. You could be tipping fuel over the fire and removing your contribution to the problem will reduce the person’s difficult attitude.

Keep an Open Mind

When we see someone in a negative spotlight it can take a while to shift that negative understanding into a positive spotlight – even when the person has not been difficult for sometime. Being forgiving by keeping an open mind as to why they are being difficult is a great tip. It prevents you from jumping to conclusions and portraying the problem as the person’s difficulty.

Perhaps you are the problem, their father was diagnosed with cancer, or they are in financial trouble. Acknowledge that you do not – and will likely never – know all the tidbits of information as to why they are being difficult. Having an open mind that allows for the other person’s point of view and possible explanations for their behavior creates a “cushion” by preventing you from being overly harsh. You give the person some slack instead of abruptly judging.

Control Criticism

Feeling burdened by someone can unleash the damaging communication barrier of criticism. Criticizing people does not work towards conflict resolution. It works against resolving conflict and often intensifies the problem. People feel diminished, unworthy, and less important when criticized. Thomas Stearns Eliot, a poet who won the 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature, said, “Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.” Do not criticize, yet if you must give criticism, here are strategies for giving others criticism.

Behavioral Conditioning

Condition the difficult person’s behavior by rewarding the good and punishing/ignoring the bad. Let’s say you have a manager who is rude to you and other people. What you can do is let the other people know together it is possible to eliminate the difficult person’s behavior. Each time the manager compliments, encourages, or says something positive, you can condition the manager to continually give positive feedback when it is due. Saying “thank you” and directly appreciating the positive feedback by saying “I much appreciate it when you give me good feedback” conditions the manager to give more emphasis on positivity.

On the other side, when the manager yells or does other something you dislike, you can ignore the behavior or directly address the issue to the manager by stating you do not like the behavior. Referring back to your responsibilities, you still need to actively listen, seek to understand your manager, and not become overbearing. In fact, it is even more important to actively listen in such cases. Be specific by mentioning the exact behavior and its effects on you. Behavioral conditioning rarely changes the behavior overnight because it is about consistent reinforcements changing the behavior over time. However, keep conditioning the person’s behavior, and you will soon see a change.

Walking Away

If all the above tips have failed it is probably best to walk away and leave the difficult issue for a later time. You are not giving up on resolving the conflict or ignoring future problems, because you are recognizing that you haven’t been able to deal with the difficult person at the present time. Another day can bring different possibilities. Emotions, thoughts, and attitudes change all the time and having some downtime is often beneficial for healthy communication. Giving the two of you some space gives both of you time to think the problems through and cool down your emotions.

Unsuccessfully resolving conflict or an issue you have with a difficult person can often escalate the problem at hand. However, follow these tips for dealing with difficult people and you are bound to make the difficult more manageable. Difficult people are everywhere so you can probably begin using these tips today!

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Every day has just 24 hours – and this applies to all people. Some people are constantly pursuit and pushed by time. This article is about how we can learn to manage our valuable time more effectively.

In reality we cannot manage time, we can only manage ourselves and our relationship with time. After all, how we use (or utilize) our time is largely a matter of habit. And habits are not that easy to change.

To organize and manage our time – and generally our life- we need to clarify what are our objectives, this means we need to identify what to organize and make sure we know where we want to be and be ready to accept the possible ‘cost’. In order for us to be able to change how we operate, we first need to ‘consider’ and understand how we use our time now.

How do you usually spend your time:

• Interruptions from others (telephone calls – visits)
• Doing work that should be assigned to others
• Indecision
• Lack of adequate information about what you have undertaken to do
• Unclear priorities
• Lack of planning
• Stress and tiredness
• Inability to say «no»
• Lack of organization in your surroundings, and that also disrupt you
• Lack of flexibility – very tight, rigid and unrealistic planning, etc. are some factors that have the ability to swallow your time!

In addition, disorganization and misuse of our time is supported and maintained by the following perceptions:

• ‘Leave it for one more day’, never mind we will do everything tomorrow
• I perform better under pressure
• Others are delayed, why not me?
• I cannot start something if I do not know exactly how to finish it
• I cannot be under pressure, I want to be free
• I cannot deny to others my help
• Better to do everything myself, I have to be in control
• I do not have time to deal with the organization and management of my time

The «chaos» and the disruption may mean lack of motivation or even avoid lack of accountability.

In these cases the problem is not as «obvious» as one – small or large-difficulty in organizing and managing time, so you may need to locate and review your perceptions about the responsibilities, incentives and priorities and wonder who is the one who «loses» besides you by this attitude.

If you are resisting the idea of time management because you prefer to be more free and spontaneous, it might help to think that the effort is not aimed at making us ’slaves’ to one more schedule, but rather to liberate us from stress and inconvenience created from the bad management of our time.

Below there are 16 tips that can help you manage your time better. Do not forget that you can also join life coaching courses that can also help you manage your life better, not only in terms of time management.

What you can do to manage your time better?

The skills needed for time management are planning, organization, self-control and delegation (delegating responsibilities to others). In that respect the following 16 tips can be useful:

1. Log your activities

Keep a weekly log of activities in which you will record for 2 -3 weeks everything you do per hour when you’re awake, how much time you allocated for everyone, how much time you did nothing special or important, how much time you rest, sleep etc.

2. Clear out what are your obligations

Locate the points on which you could make some changes and clear out which of these are actually your obligations and responsibilities or if they are obligations you undertook without having enough time either by habit or because you did not say no.

3. Indentify your deadlines

Record in an initial list what you should do and when it must be completed, divide the activities per day / week and long-term goals, to get a clear picture of what you have to do and when.

4. Do you forget personal and social activities

The activities and objectives should not only include professional activities or other obligations, but also personal and social activities, so your program should cover all your needs.

5. Organize your goals

Organize your goals based on two criteria: degree of urgency and importance:

a) Should be done today – tomorrow, etc.,
b) Should be done at ‘that date’. Set a date,
c) Can postpone it for so many days,
d) Can ask someone else to do it

Start from the most important and urgent

6. Delegation

When you delegate something to someone else, you need to decide what is it, who is best qualified to undertake it, what information you would pass, but mainly you have to undertake the responsibility together and accept the fact that it will not be executed as exactly you would have done it.

7. Identify your priorities

Locate deadlines, expire items, etc. These should be in the top of your list!

8. Clean up your list

Make a list of everything you think that they are not helping / benefiting you and do not do them!

9. Focus

Concentrate only on one goal at a time. Otherwise, if while dealing with something you think everything you can do after (tomorrow, the rest of week, next month, the rest of your life…), most likely you will get bored and disappointed. It is like every time you eat you think all meals you must eat in your life! The bored ness is guaranteed only with the thought!

10. Work environment

Create a suitable environment to work, one that fits your way.

11. Be realistic

Make sure that your objectives are realistic and do not try for the impossible.

12. Plan for the unpredicatable

Include in your programme (schedule) unpredictable items and situations (e.g. problems with the computer): allow an extra time gap to adjust your program if necessary.

13. Motivate your self

Do not let boredom to discourage you if what you have to complete is boring, find motivation: consider the advantages when you finish, like the feeling of satisfaction, relief and freedom that will get when you complete this obligation, and that you can have your self under control! Do not underestimate the boring obligations (eg home cleaning and other tasks related to running your home). When neglected they tend to become a mountain!

14. Say “NO”

Learn to say «no» in other activities, requests, people who eat (utilize) your time (unless indeed that very moment is necessary for your to help them). Turn off your phone and lock the door, to avoid unnecessary interruptions from others.

15. Utilize your capabilities

Use your biological rhythms to guide you: locate and utilize the hours of the day you’re most active and fruitful.

16. Compromise

Give yourself the right and excuse that in some days you may not be productive. If nothing else, you will have the change to be more productive in other days!

Time management is a skill that needs time to know, master and begin to work! Ultimately, time management will give you the extra time you need to be able to enjoy what is most important for you!

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In today’s rapidly changing business environment everyone is looking for ways to become more effective in their thinking. An important way to promote effective thinking at the office, is to foster a creative work environment. Having fun is a big part of developing a creative work environment. In fact, humor makes up an essential part of effective thinking; and is the one basis of creativity. It allows us to break away from predictable, set patterns opening up the floodgates to unconventional, innovative solutions.

Using toys allows you to inject humor into your work environment. As a child you used toys to express your creativity and expand your imagination. Now, you can use the same toys to introduce the spirit of creativity and innovation to your work environment. When you bring toys into your meetings you give people powerful resources to rediscover the child within themselves and integrate creativity into their work, stimulating innovative ways of thinking. Toys not only bring the spirit of fun into the work environment, but by strengthening the link between play and energy, the flow of blood to the brain increases, which stimulates fresh thinking. Designed to help participants through difficult periods, toys are often just the thing to break the ice, ease through a tough issue, and curb the egos.

Michelle Mink, Market Manager at US WEST Communications, uses Toys for Thinking, especially in long meetings. “If we’re working on a project that requires us to be (in a meeting) for a day or two, it helps people to relax a little bit more. They can focus. (Playing with toys on the table) keeps their hands busy, and they listen better.” Michelle also finds that using different colored markers, as opposed to blue and black only, helps keep groups focused, and the occasional impromptu tossing of toys across the room breaks up the monotony of a long, intense meeting, giving participants a chance to stretch.

It’s important to remember that you can convert the fun you are having into powerful outcomes. Recently, the presidents-elects of an international association were generating ideas for fund-raising events for the year to come. While playing with toy cars and having an outrageous conversation, the ideas of hosting a family sports car rally emerged and developed into a very concrete and down-to-earth possibility.

While the thought of how to achieve creative results can seem daunting, you can start by integrating creativity into your work environment one step at a time. If introducing toys to your office seems like too large a step to start with, here are 12 other suggestions on how you can invite creativity into your workplace:

1. When presenting information, look for ways to add a graphic such as a funny picture or a drawing to illustrate your point. Leaders at Owens-Corning use pictures to illustrate their visions of leadership. They post hem on the wall and describe which picture they selected and why. Or try this, during a performance review, which is usually a very stressful time, have your employees draw a picture of their past performance in addition to the formal write-up.
2. Leave fill-in-the-blank sections on your reports; ask for volunteers to complete your thoughts.
3. Think in opposites: present from the back of the room, start the meeting from the end of the agenda, or give a series of answers and ask what the questions are.
4. Call a daily recess; take time out to laugh. Read a book of jokes for a few minutes or call a dial-a-joke number. Appoint someone to be the “Director of Levity”.
5. Take time just to doodle; see what happens. Start with a clear sheet of paper and doodle continuously for ten minutes. Use a lot of colors. Post this on the wall and ask your colleagues to add their “doodles”. At the end of a week go back and talk about what you see. Then draw “connections” between the emerging images and a potential challenge you’re dealing with at work. See what solutions can be created. A manager at PetroCanada recently had his group draw a picture of their expectations. They discussed what images surfaced from the drawings before proceeding with their meeting.
6. Stop time: take off your watch and turn the clock around. Go all weekend without wearing your watch. Go all week without wearing your watch. You’ll be surprised at the way your internal clock works.
7. Experiment! Try doing something different. Go to an ethnic restaurant that you’ve never visited before. Go to a movie on Thursday afternoon. For the next budget review, serve chocolate covered coins!
8. If your company will allow it, dress casually one day each week. If they don’t, change the rules!
9. Use music. Try playing background music while holding a performance review; create a song to deliver your next financial report. At Mattel Corp. in the early 1990s rap tunes were part of the lore that helped turn the company around.
10. Wear a pair of kid’s funny glasses for a complete day. This will inspire you to see things in a new light and alter your perspective.
11. Write all your memos using crayons.
12. Design and wear your own thinking cap for a week. A group of product managers, at US WEST Communications, designed their own hats to wear while creating new products for their specific division. The hats all reflected one or two aspects of their clients “brains”.

Creativity is an attitude that demands that you manage your thinking. It’s a way of blending together data based research, which is logical and rational thought, with outrageous exploratory know-how that comes from your intuitive wisdom. When you integrate this intuitive ability with learned information and knowledge, you operate using all your resources which provides flashes of insight and recharges your thinking. Creative thinking has always been the driving force that has moved our country forward. To remain competitive, businesses must effectively use their most valuable resource: brainpower. Any organization that can harness the limitless potential of their people’s creativity is powerful and unstoppable.

by Grace McGartland
As seen in PR Tactics!

I’ve been surprised by the number of people I’ve met who, like I did, quit their jobs after the recession took hold last year. Of course, most people don’t want to quit — or can’t. For many of those job-keepers, the prospect of layoffs is all too real, even as the recession officially winds down. They want to know what they can do in the face of the ongoing threat, and my fellow blogger Daisy Wademan Dowling provides useful tips in her post “How to Sell Yourself When Your Job’s at Risk.”

But there are also less self-promotional things you can do to feel stable when the future seems shaky. The methods I’ve seen work involve, oddly, a bit of risk-taking, or at least breaking your routine. By initiating your own disruption at work, you can make externally driven change seem less threatening. Here are a few small things you can try:

1. Choose a task to do your own way. Chances are, like every frontline worker and manager, you have at least one routine duty that you always perform according to a tacitly understood set of expectations. You don’t openly question the method because it seems to fit the M.O. of the organization or of the folks in charge, even though there’s no formal rule about it. Identify one such task and start doing it the way that you always thought would make more sense. The change obviously should not be something that amounts to insubordination or that would create chaos for coworkers. But in a climate where layoffs seem imminent, there can be room for small, refreshing changes of this sort. Your initiative might even be praised. And if it isn’t noticed at all, you’ll have at least shown yourself that change wasn’t as risky as it had initially seemed to be.

2. Rethink your order of operations. Organizing your workday is obviously more of an art than a science. You’ve probably settled into a particular pattern because it fit the bill when you started the job or because it was just easy to adopt. But when your pattern is threatened by external disruption, you can mitigate anxiety if you shake up your own world before it’s shaken up for you, even if at first that seems like a hassle. Change the sequence of things you do each day, and feel what it’s like to inhabit a new, self-authored routine. If your job is one that requires reacting to others, change the way you react so that things feel fresh to you (without acting fresh toward other people, of course).

3. Lay yourself off for a day. Ok, not literally. But take a day off in the middle of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday) and inhabit the workaday world outside the office as an observer. The key is not to run errands or get some other practical thing done, and certainly not to sit (or work!) at home. It’s to actively look around you and soak in the big picture when most everyone else is focusing on minutiae. The hum of the world when others are at work and you are not can be a liberating one to hear. And it can make the prospect of a layoff seem much less scary. Bring a souvenir back from your outing and place it on your desk or your wall at work. Let it remind you that you were out there already and that you can, if push comes to shove, go out there again.

STEVEN DEMAIO

Steven DeMaio teaches English and math to adults at the Community Learning Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Somerville Center for Adult Learning Experiences in Somerville, Massachusetts. Prior to taking this role, he worked for more than a decade in publishing, most recently as an Associate Editor at HarvardBusiness.org. This blog chronicles his life after he made the decision to leave his publishing job just as a terrible recession took hold. His first post on the topic, “I Just Quit My Job…Am I Crazy?” still brings in new comments every week, many months after it first appeared. This blog continues the conversation.

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Harvard Business Publishing

Review these typical interview questions and think about how you would
answer them. Read the questions listed; you will also find some
strategy suggestions with it.

(Excerpted from the book The Accelerated Job Search by Wayne D. Ford, Ph.D, published by The Management Advantage, Inc.)

1. Tell me about yourself:
The most often asked question in interviews. You need to have a short
statement prepared in your mind. Be careful that it does not sound
rehearsed. Limit it to work-related items unless instructed otherwise.
Talk about things you have done and jobs you have held that relate to
the position you are interviewing for. Start with the item farthest
back and work up to the present.

2. Why did you leave your last job?
Stay positive regardless of the circumstances. Never refer to a major
problem with management and never speak ill of supervisors, co-workers
or the organization. If you do, you will be the one looking bad. Keep
smiling and talk about leaving for a positive reason such as an
opportunity, a chance to do something special or other forward-looking
reasons.

3. What experience do you have in this field?
Speak about specifics that relate to the position you are applying for.
If you do not have specific experience, get as close as you can.

4. Do you consider yourself successful?
You should always answer yes and briefly explain why. A good
explanation is that you have set goals, and you have met some and are
on track to achieve the others.

5. What do co-workers say about you?
Be prepared with a quote or two from co-workers. Either a specific
statement or a paraphrase will work. Jill Clark, a co-worker at Smith
Company, always said I was the hardest workers she had ever known. It
is as powerful as Jill having said it at the interview herself.

6. What do you know about this organization?
This question is one reason to do some research on the organization
before the interview. Find out where they have been and where they are
going. What are the current issues and who are the major players?

7. What have you done to improve your knowledge in the last year?
Try to include improvement activities that relate to the job. A wide
variety of activities can be mentioned as positive self-improvement.
Have some good ones handy to mention.

8. Are you applying for other jobs?
Be honest but do not spend a lot of time in this area. Keep the focus
on this job and what you can do for this organization. Anything else is
a distraction.

9. Why do you want to work for this organization?
This may take some thought and certainly, should be based on the
research you have done on the organization. Sincerity is extremely
important here and will easily be sensed. Relate it to your long-term
career goals.

10. Do you know anyone who works for us?
Be aware of the policy on relatives working for the organization. This
can affect your answer even though they asked about friends not
relatives. Be careful to mention a friend only if they are well thought
of.

11. What kind of salary do you need?
A loaded question. A nasty little game that you will probably lose if
you answer first. So, do not answer it. Instead, say something like,
That’s a tough question. Can you tell me the range for this position?
In most cases, the interviewer, taken off guard, will tell you. If not,
say that it can depend on the details of the job. Then give a wide
range.

12. Are you a team player?
You are, of course, a team player. Be sure to have examples ready.
Specifics that show you often perform for the good of the team rather
than for yourself are good evidence of your team attitude. Do not brag,
just say it in a matter-of-fact tone. This is a key point.

13. How long would you expect to work for us if hired?
Specifics here are not good. Something like this should work: I’d like
it to be a long time. Or As long as we both feel I’m doing a good job.

14. Have you ever had to fire anyone? How did you feel about that?
This is serious. Do not make light of it or in any way seem like you
like to fire people. At the same time, you will do it when it is the
right thing to do. When it comes to the organization versus the
individual who has created a harmful situation, you will protect the
organization. Remember firing is not the same as layoff or reduction in
force.

15. What is your philosophy towards work?
The interviewer is not looking for a long or flowery dissertation here.
Do you have strong feelings that the job gets done? Yes. That’s the
type of answer that works best here. Short and positive, showing a
benefit to the organization.

16. If you had enough money to retire right now, would you?
Answer yes if you would. But since you need to work, this is the type
of work you prefer. Do not say yes if you do not mean it.

17. Have you ever been asked to leave a position?
If you have not, say no. If you have, be honest, brief and avoid saying
negative things about the people or organization involved.

18. Explain how you would be an asset to this organization
You should be anxious for this question. It gives you a chance to
highlight your best points as they relate to the position being
discussed. Give a little advance thought to this relationship.

19. Why should we hire you?
Point out how your assets meet what the organization needs. Do not
mention any other candidates to make a comparison.

20. Tell me about a suggestion you have made
Have a good one ready. Be sure and use a suggestion that was accepted
and was then considered successful. One related to the type of work
applied for is a real plus.

21. What irritates you about co-workers?
This is a trap question. Think real hard but fail to come up with
anything that irritates you. A short statement that you seem to get
along with folks is great.

22. What is your greatest strength?
Numerous answers are good, just stay positive. A few good examples:
Your ability to prioritize, Your problem-solving skills, Your ability
to work under pressure, Your ability to focus on projects, Your
professional expertise, Your leadership skills, Your positive attitude

23. Tell me about your dream job.
Stay away from a specific job. You cannot win. If you say the job you
are contending for is it, you strain credibility. If you say another
job is it, you plant the suspicion that you will be dissatisfied with
this position if hired. The best is to stay genetic and say something
like: A job where I love the work, like the people, can contribute and
can’t wait to get to work.

24. Why do you think you would do well at this job?
Give several reasons and include skills, experience and interest.

25. What are you looking for in a job?
See answer # 23

26. What kind of person would you refuse to work with?
Do not be trivial. It would take disloyalty to the organization,
violence or lawbreaking to get you to object. Minor objections will
label you as a whiner.

27. What is more important to you: the money or the work?
Money is always important, but the work is the most important. There is
no better answer.

28. What would your previous supervisor say your strongest point is?
There are numerous good possibilities:
Loyalty, Energy, Positive attitude, Leadership, Team player, Expertise,
Initiative, Patience, Hard work, Creativity, Problem solver

29. Tell me about a problem you had with a supervisor
Biggest trap of all. This is a test to see if you will speak ill of
your boss. If you fall for it and tell about a problem with a former
boss, you may well below the interview right there. Stay positive and
develop a poor memory about any trouble with a supervisor.

30. What has disappointed you about a job?
Don’t get trivial or negative. Safe areas are few but can include:
Not enough of a challenge. You were laid off in a reduction Company did
not win a contract, which would have given you more responsibility.

31. Tell me about your ability to work under pressure.
You may say that you thrive under certain types of pressure. Give an
example that relates to the type of position applied for.

32. Do your skills match this job or another job more closely?
Probably this one. Do not give fuel to the suspicion that you may want
another job more than this one.

33. What motivates you to do your best on the job?
This is a personal trait that only you can say, but good examples are:
Challenge, Achievement, Recognition

34. Are you willing to work overtime? Nights? Weekends?
This is up to you. Be totally honest.

35. How would you know you were successful on this job?
Several ways are good measures:
You set high standards for yourself and meet them. Your outcomes are a
success.Your boss tell you that you are successful

36. Would you be willing to relocate if required?
You should be clear on this with your family prior to the interview if
you think there is a chance it may come up. Do not say yes just to get
the job if the real answer is no. This can create a lot of problems
later on in your career. Be honest at this point and save yourself
future grief.

37. Are you willing to put the interests of the organization ahead ofyour own?
This is a straight loyalty and dedication question. Do not worry about
the deep ethical and philosophical implications. Just say yes.

38. Describe your management style.
Try to avoid labels. Some of the more common labels, like progressive,
salesman or consensus, can have several meanings or descriptions
depending on which management expert you listen to. The situational
style is safe, because it says you will manage according to the
situation, instead of one size fits all.

39. What have you learned from mistakes on the job?
Here you have to come up with something or you strain credibility. Make
it small, well intentioned mistake with a positive lesson learned. An
example would be working too far ahead of colleagues on a project and
thus throwing coordination off.

40. Do you have any blind spots?
Trick question. If you know about blind spots, they are no longer blind
spots. Do not reveal any personal areas of concern here. Let them do
their own discovery on your bad points. Do not hand it to them.

41. If you were hiring a person for this job, what would you look for?
Be careful to mention traits that are needed and that you have.

42. Do you think you are overqualified for this position?
Regardless of your qualifications, state that you are very well
qualified for the position.

43. How do you propose to compensate for your lack of experience?
First, if you have experience that the interviewer does not know about,
bring that up: Then, point out (if true) that you are a hard working
quick learner.

44. What qualities do you look for in a boss?
Be generic and positive. Safe qualities are knowledgeable, a sense of
humor, fair, loyal to subordinates and holder of high standards. All
bosses think they have these traits.

45. Tell me about a time when you helped resolve a dispute betweenothers.
Pick a specific incident. Concentrate on your problem solving technique
and not the dispute you settled.

46. What position do you prefer on a team working on a project?
Be honest. If you are comfortable in different roles, point that out.

47. Describe your work ethic.
Emphasize benefits to the organization. Things like, determination to
get the job done and work hard but enjoy your work are good.

48. What has been your biggest professional disappointment?
Be sure that you refer to something that was beyond your control. Show
acceptance and no negative feelings.

49. Tell me about the most fun you have had on the job.
Talk about having fun by accomplishing something for the organization.

50. Do you have any questions for me?
Always have some questions prepared. Questions prepared where you will be an asset to the organization are good. How soon will I be able to be productive? and What type of projects will I be able to assist on? are
examples.

WorkEtiquette contains over 60 articles written by their experts who continually update and add new content…

How to Fit into a New Workplace

Swearing in the Workplace

What Title Should I Give if I Only Have a Name?

Videoconferencing Etiquette

Instant Messaging Etiquette In Business

Etiquette When Transferring A Phone Call

Making Presentations to Colleagues: A Case Study

To read more, please go to WorkEtiquette

Office life can be downright unfair sometimes. Some workers breezily sail through their careers, collecting accolades and promotions for their efforts, while others seem to have an uncanny knack of missing out. No matter how many hours overtime they put in or extra miles they walk to get a project up by deadline, their work falls strangely under the radar of the bosses. The pats on the back, the warm greetings and bonuses all go elsewhere.

Busy working too hard and not adding value to your work?

If this all sounds depressingly familiar, don’t despair. Just as hairdressers, the cosmetics industry, fashion boutiques and sellers of hot little red sports cars can get people noticed out of work hours, there are tricks that can help raise your profile at work.

One of the most elementary is understanding why you’re being passed over. It’s probably not because you’re not working hard enough.

“Unfortunately, just being industrious and doing quality work isn’t enough,” says psychologist Erica Frydenberg, associate professor at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. “An intent to be noticed is also important, so set yourself that goal.” Frydenberg says getting recognition means selling yourself at work, a process that is similar to making a favourable impression in a job interview. As an exercise, she often gets her students to imagine placing an ad for themselves in a newspaper so they can gain a better appreciation of the assets they bring to a job.

It can also help to assess any weaknesses in your professional skills – you’re awful at doing PowerPoint presentations or can’t get your head around your budget – and work on them. “An important part of contemporary professional life is knowing what help you need and where you can get it,” Frydenberg says.

Thinking about who you spend your time with at, and away from, work is also important.

Frydenberg has interviewed young corporate high achievers and she found that all had support networks outside of work – people they could trust and with whom they could discuss workplace issues. All felt networks were an important part of their continuing success.

“The company you keep inside of work also matters,” she adds. “Are these people going to be helpful in achieving your goals? Ultimately, getting noticed at work is about setting those goals and making small steps towards them.”

Scott Jacovou-Johnson learned the hard way how to get himself noticed at work. Now a consultant, in 2004 he started work as communications manager with a national retailer. He worked hard and assumed that his efforts would reflect well on him.

“I was always the sort of person who thought actions speak louder than words,” he says. “I wasn’t particularly skilled in promoting myself. I wanted to contribute, rather than tell people what I was doing.”

After a year a new managing director arrived who couldn’t see what Jacovou-Johnson’s role contributed to the business and made the position redundant. “To be fair,” Jacovou-Johnson admits, “I never actually sat down with him and said, ‘This is what I do.”‘

Jacovou-Johnson’s final day eventually rolled around and to his surprise the managing director asked him to continue in the job. He agreed and held the position for a further 14 months, having picked up a valuable lesson about getting noticed.

“What had happened in the interim is that my actions had been observed and they’d realised what I did,” he says.

“It’s changed how I interact with my colleagues. I’m very conscious now, for example, of the need to be fully prepared for meetings. I now make sure that everyone knows exactly what I’m doing and what the outcomes are for the business.”

Jules Collingwood, trainer and business consultant with Inspiritive, says if you feel overlooked you should try to see things from the boss’s point of view. Is there a problem with information about your performance getting to the boss? Does he or she know you’re the first in in the morning and last to leave at night? Is the boss overworked or just slow to pick up on things?

“If you feel unnoticed at work, identify how you would know if you were noticed and who can help you do something about it,” she says. “Decide what you want and tell them.”

Peter Tobin, director of career development solutions provider Worklife, says: “Look for external support, either from the HR department, or someone outside [the organisation], like a mentor or a career coach.”

Sometimes, though, Tobin believes the problem of “not getting noticed” can become a diversion from addressing what you really want to do. “There could just be a lack of ‘cultural fit’ between you and the organisation. Ultimately, you need to accept that you need to drive your career. No one else will do it for you.”

Stand out

How to get noticed at work.

* Be good, or better still, the best at what you do. This will usually require continuing development and learning. Most large organisations will provide this but you have to make it clear you want it.
* Understand how you are being measured and assessed, and the importance of performance reviews and key performance indicators.
* Understand the importance of networking internally within your organisation and externally.
* Put your hand up. Volunteering for that tricky assignment or that unpopular secondment is a way to get noticed.

Source: Peter Tobi

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n today’s economic climate, it’s never been more important to be appreciated by your boss. But if you feel your potential or skills are undervalued or overlooked, perhaps it’s time to get noticed at work.

“Now is not the time to be invisible at work and let your work fall under your boss’ radar,” said Chris Mead,General Manager of Hays in Singapore, who offers the following five tips to help you get noticed:

1. Make a positive impact

“Remember when you first started the job? You were out to make a good first impression at every chance you could through the quality of your work. It’s time to get into that frame of mind again and assume every opportunity is an opportunity to impress your manager with the good work you produce. What’s important though is that people notice your positive impact. Sell yourself at work by using the positive results you achieve. For example, in meetings make sure everyone knows what you’re working on and what the outcomes are for the business.”

2. Add value

“Businesses are understandably looking at increasing revenue as well as process and cost improvements, so look to where you can add value. For example, if you work within construction then demonstrate business development or bid skills.”

3. Upgrade your skills

“Take every opportunity to volunteer for additional tasks that will not only improve your own employable skill base, but make you even more invaluable to your employer.”

4. Made a mistake?

“Don’t panic, or worse, try to hide it. Everyone makes mistakes, but it’s how you handle the aftermath that can show your real strengths. Be honest with your manager, and go to them with a plan of how you intend to rectify the error.”

5. Finally, remember the basics

“Arrive for work on time, show enthusiasm, look and act professionally and be organised. Don’t watch the clock and be prepared to do that little bit extra – it does get noticed,” Chris

Source: JobsDB.com

Ever been to a reception following a talk or a meeting and felt it was a dreadful display of people begging to each other while pretending to be best friends? To be fair, most of the people present were probably friends. But, during these gatherings people too often forget about the seventh law of networking: the paradox of profit. In other words, the fact is you have to give first in order to receive. And when I say you should give, I mean freely, without the hidden intention to get anything in return. This will get you further in the end. Read on to see how you can implement the paradox of profit in your own life.

Those who have given also receive.

The paradox of profit is far from being a new concept–just open a Bible and you?ll find it: “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance” (Matthew 25:29). This is still true, maybe even more so today in our network-based society than 2000 years ago. Give to your social networks, and you will be given valuable pieces of information and ideas, but also personal tips, moral support, and any other kind of help. Giving without demanding or even expecting anything in return is in actual fact the only way to benefit from a network.

Why is that?

Consider the three driving forces behind the paradox of profit:

1. Reciprocity

2. The network effect

3. Reputation

1. Reciprocity: Trading support

Of all the forces, this is the simplest one: If you give to someone, however little this may be, you are bound to get something back. Look at Figure 1: A gives support to B, and therefore B will return the favour to A in his or her own ways. Barry Wellman and Kenneth Frank1 looked at 845 adults in Toronto, Canada, and the way they were trading support within their own networks.

Figure 1. Mutual support interaction

Their conclusions regarding reciprocity were that women tend to give back with moral support, friends at work with day-to-day professional support, and close friends with both everyday and emergency support. Everyday support is more like giving an idea, a helping hand, a listening ear, a tip. Emergency support is, for instance, bringing someone home when his or her car is broken or lending a person a considerable amount of money to get a business started. This is no big surprise, but stick around and let me tell you about the network effect.

2. The network effect

Part 1: When knowing each other also means helping each other

Could social networks have an intrinsic quality that calls for support without demanding reciprocity? In other words, when it comes to getting help, does it make any difference if you are in a clique or simply trading support as you would in a reciprocity scenario? Wellman and Kenneth came to the following conclusion: “The data show that an alter who has many ties with other members of an ego?s network is considerably more likely to provide everyday support to this ego and marginally more likely to provide emergency support.”

The word “alter” stands for somebody other than the examined person, whereas the word “ego” means the examined person in question. We will skip to our usual A, B, C and so forth.

Figure 2. Giving support in a network

OK, let me explain what this all means in plain English. Let?s say that A in Figure 2 is the alter. She knows B, C, and D, and she also knows the ego, E. Wellman and Frank found that C will naturally give more support to E than would for instance F, who only knows E in this network.

Wellman and Franck concluded that those who have personal connections in common feel a stronger bond and are thus more likely to be supportive of each other.

Now this is nice, and it gets even nicer in the second part!

Part 2: When giving is getting

While it does help to know people to get support, would investing time and effort in your network turn it into an even more supportive one? In other words, if you give support only to certain people within your network, are you likely to receive support from other individuals from that very network? The most interesting conclusion of Wellman and Frank?s research, in my opinion, provides the answer to this question: “Egos who have provided emergency support to many alters are more likely to receive emergency support from a given alter.”

Figure 3. Emergency support in a network

In this case, the alter who gives support to the ego is not necessarily one of the alters to whom the ego gave support in the first place! Let?s apply this to our example: If A gave emergency support to C, D, and E, she may just as well get emergency support from B. The help is not necessarily directly reciprocal! Frank and Wellman concluded about this in so many words: “When the network owes support to an individual, the individual doesn?t need to depend on ties with specific other individuals who owe reciprocity.” In brief, those who give, get!

3. Your reputation travels ahead of you

Vincent Buskens2 explored the way trust relationships are managed. He found that “actors (individuals) receive information about the behaviour of their partner from third parties and use that information to decide how they are going to behave themselves.” A friend of a friend is more likely to be your friend. So imagine what the reputation of being a supportive person does for you in your relationships with others, be they new acquaintances or lifelong friends.

Receptions don?t work. Or do they?

Let?s go back to our reception. Why do people often not get as much out of them as they could have, wished they had, or had hoped for? First you need to recall the five modes of human interaction:

1. Steal

2. Beg

3. Deal

4. Like

5. Love

Most people at receptions, symposia, or meetings adopt the second mode of behaviour: “Give me a scholarship. Give me funding. Give me time, ideas, information, give, give, give.” But still, they pretend to be in mode 4: “Let?s all like each other, let?s be friends.” This approach does not work, because it is inconsistent.

Now, if you go to the market to do some shopping, everybody there is in mode 3 of dealing and behaves in such a way. Both the shoppers and stand owners get what they want out of their interaction, because their approach to each other is consistent. Similarly, even though you may not like it, a beggar is in mode 2 and doesn?t hide it: “Give me a dollar.”

Now, you may wonder how you may recognise consistency when interacting with others. Let me reassure you that in networking, you just know. Only a small part of all communication is verbal, the rest being related to facial expression, appearance, muscular tonus, and stature. Human beings have a physical ability to feel the emotional state of another person. Howard Friedman?s 2-minute ordeal3 provides proof of this.

The 2-minute ordeal

Imagine spending 2 minutes in a room with a stranger, without either of you saying a single word. Once you?ve left the room, what are the chances that the other person?s mood will have an effect on yours, even if you never see this person again?

Well? Howard shows that it could be up to 100%, depending on the person you are and the person you?ve been with! Some people are highly sensitive to someone else?s mood, and others are very effective in transferring their mood to others. The obvious conclusion is that body language does exist and people are definitely able to sense it. You may not be aware of it, but it does affect you!

This holds true in any situation: People who are communicating verbally are also attuned to each other physically.

William Condon4 spent a year and a half analysing a 4.5-second shot of people talking with each other. He showed that people not only talk, they move in synchrony: A head movement is met with a shrug of the shoulder, which invites a smile, which in turn provokes a slight movement of the hand, and so on. Of course, none of the people were aware of this.

Well, this is how you recognise somebody who is begging while pretending to be a friend, at a reception, a symposium, or anywhere else. You feel it in your spine, which is where the shivers come from.

Let?s put it into practice

OK, those who give get. So what do you have to do now? Go out and give it all away to the first person you see? Stop going to receptions altogether? None of the above. You only have to keep in mind a networking law I have mentioned previously: The fit get rich. In this case, being “rich” means getting some support, and being “fit” means having some good friends who also have special friends of their own. If this sounds like it could be your network, you and your friends are a valuable source of information to each other. Your friendship also guarantees you good mutual support through reciprocity.

Now that you?ve seen how being fit also means being able to give, and that you should interact with other people at least through the third mode of dealing, but preferably through the mode of liking or loving, let?s revisit the first law of networking: the law of the small world. Consider the whole world as a large clique of friends: Extend your offer of support to everybody, and expand your reputation as far as you can.

Yes, I?m calling upon you to be a good person. Be nice; help your friends, family, and others; and you will be helped. That way, not only will you go further in life, you?ll also be more fun to hang out with at receptions.

References

1. B. Wellman and K. Frank, Network capital in a multi-level world: Getting support from personal communities. InSocial Capital: Theory and Research, N. Lin, K. Cook, R. Burt, Eds. (Aldine DeGruyter, Chicago, 2001), pp. 233-273. Available online.

2. V. Buskens, Social networks and the effect of reputation on cooperation (1998). Originally prepared for the proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Social Dilemmas. Available online.

3. H. Friedman et al., Understanding and assessing nonverbal expressiveness: The affective communication test.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39, 333 (1980).

4. W. S. Condon, Cultural microrhythms. In Interaction Rhythms: Periodicity in Communicative Behavior, M. Davis, Ed. (Human Science Press, New York 1982), pp. 53-76.

By Dick van Vlooten

See INDEX OF ARTICLES at ScienceCareers.org

Very few people hire on with any company or organization with the intention of remaining indefinitely at the position for which they were hired. Just because you started as the grunt who had to fix the copy machines doesn’t mean you don’t someday want to be CIO. At most companies, this could entail half a lifetime of climbing the corporate ladder. Each step up that ladder is generally going to involve asking for and receiving a promotion. The thought of asking for advancement is usually pretty frightening, but these tips will help you be more prepared.

Note: This information is also available as a PDF download.

#1: Show them the numbers

When you make your pitch about what a great job you’ve been doing and your value to the company, it will help your case if you can show your employer or supervisor specific results. Prepare documentation showing how and how much your brilliant ideas have helped them. This can be especially useful in the common scenario in which the person you’re dealing with doesn’t have the power to grant you a promotion. If that person has to fight on your behalf with his or her boss, you had better provide the best ammunition you can.

#2: Ask for more responsibilities

When asking for a promotion, it’s best to avoid that “P” word. If instead, you tell your boss you’re ready to take on more responsibilities, it will show that you’re prepared to tackle a larger or more complicated workload and aren’t just looking for a bigger office and fatter paycheck. It also gives your boss the option of gradually giving you the more important duties rather than just dumping you in a new position. Just make sure that if, after a few months, your tasks no longer resemble your job description, you bring that up and (with luck) get the new job title and paycheck.

#3: Invent a new position

If you feel that your skills are best suited to a position that doesn’t exist at your current organization, and you think you can make a strong argument for a need for that position, by all means, do so. Even if they won’t (or can’t) make the new position happen, you will have earned points for creativity while at the same time making it clear you are looking to advance.

#4: Bring up the topic in an informal setting

If you have the opportunity to meet with your boss outside the workplace, this can be a good way to make use of the occasion. Whether it’s at the bar for a drink after work, a big conference, or the company picnic, people will naturally be in a more receptive mood when they aren’t busy busy busy. But be careful in these settings. If you press too hard and your approach falls flat, you could be left in an awkward place for a couple hours with no easy means of escape. Phrase things lightly and back off if you don’t make any headway.

#5: Schedule a private meeting

Obviously, the alternative approach to having the promotion talk is to ask during regular work hours. Since during this time your boss is generally going to be busy, it’s a bad idea to just ask for a couple of minutes of his or her time. If you try to talk about a promotion like that, you could get shot down without your boss even looking up. Instead, schedule an appointment so that a block of time is set aside specifically for listening to you. Also, if possible, try to avoid revealing the specific topic of the meeting beforehand. Don’t go too far with this; you don’t want to annoy your boss by making the purpose of the meeting too mysterious. It’s just a bit harder to articulate a reason to say no to you when you’re in the room.

#6: Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn

Just make sure to play the right notes. It’s okay to brag a little — as long as it doesn’t sound like bragging. There is nothing wrong with reminding your boss of your accomplishments, since even if they were great, he or she might have forgotten about them. Mentioning that you’ve done this, this, and this, and that there are 15% fewer incidents in your department since you have started the job is great. Saying you’re the best system admin in the company is much less persuasive. Also, don’t forget that this is about you, so concentrate on all of your positive aspects and not on anybody else’s negative ones.

#7: Don’t make threats or demands

Be careful not to make your request for promotion sound like a demand. Don’t threaten to leave if you don’t get what you want (especially if you don’t intend to follow through on it). If you have been offered a new job somewhere else, you shouldn’t throw it in anyone’s face or try to use that offer to leverage a better deal where you are now. Doing so can potentially damage your reputation with both places. Remember to stay calm. Even if you really are fed up with your current position, try not to show it.

#8: Make friends in higher places

Before you actually ask about advancement, it’s a good idea to find somebody in the position you’re aiming for who is willing to take you under his or her wing. This offers four benefits:

• Prior to making your pitch for promotion, it will give you the opportunity to see what’s in store and make sure that it’s what you want.
• It will show your boss that you’ve taken the initiative to learn the ropes already.
• It will give you a buddy on the inside — one who may have some influence in deciding whether you get the position.
• After you get the promotion, it will give you a friendly ear you can go to for advice if things get hard.

#9: Learn new skills

It should go without saying that any time you have the opportunity to learn something new, you should take it. In particular, when you’re seeking a promotion, you’ll impress your boss if you can show that you’ve learned new skills that go beyond your current position. You might consider earning additional industry certifications or maybe go back to school for a higher degree. Taking on these things while working full time can be quite taxing, but with the ever-increasing availability of night classes and self-study materials, it’s definitely possible.

#10: Excel at your current position

Sometimes, actions speak louder than words. The best way to show that you deserve advancement is to simply shine where you are now. Go above and beyond the call of duty. Get to work early every day and stay a few minutes late. Try to come up with solutions to problems that haven’t been addressed yet. If your deadline is Friday, try to have everything done by Thursday.

Finally, remember to be a team player. Make sure that you aren’t irreplaceable. If you’re at the top among your peers, take the time to ensure that you aren’t the only one who can keep things running. This will show your superiors that you can be a proper leader, and it will help curtail the disastrous response to a request for promotion: “I’m sorry, but you’re doing such a great job, we just can’t afford to lose you where you are now.”

Kristoffer Littlejohn is a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, distinguished by its large population of nerds and lack of a football team (almost unheard of in Texas). He builds computer systems, does network consulting for small businesses, and teaches chess. He grew up in a home that had four times as many computers as people, and has been trying to tame the beasts for most of his life.

 

• What can you offer?
• Transferable skills
• Relating skills to opportunities
• Graduate vacancies and skills
• Sample job advertisement – The High Roller Group
• Sample job advertisement – Innovative Car Hire
• PhD vacancy example
• Presenting the evidence

What can you offer?

Employers ask for evidence that you have the:

• motivation for the role;
• ability to adapt to and share the organisation’s vision and ethos;
• skills and competence relevant to the post.

While some vacancies do require specific qualifications, specialist skills or experience, over 40% are open to graduates of any discipline. Graduate employers are mostly interested in your potential to develop rather than your existing knowledge. Even for those jobs that require specific technical or scientific expertise, the successful candidate will be the one who demonstrates motivation for the job and the personal and transferable skills needed to succeed.

The application procedures of many major graduate employers have become explicitly focused on motivation, organisational fit, and competency. It is not uncommon to have a personality profile as a part of the initial application process and to be asked to provide very detailed examples of competencies such as ‘teamwork’ or ‘problem solving’ on the application forms.

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Transferable skills

The competencies or transferable skills that are particularly popular with graduate recruiters include:

• communication – ability to communicate orally, in writing, or via electronic means, in a manner appropriate to the audience;
• teamwork – being a constructive team member, contributing practically to the success of the team;
• leadership – being able to motivate and encourage others, whilst taking the lead;
• initiative – ability to see opportunities and to set and achieve goals;
• problem solving – thinking things through in a logical way in order to determine key issues, often also including creative thinking;
• flexibility/adaptability – ability to handle change and adapt to new situations;
• self-awareness - knowing your strengths and skills and having the confidence to put these across;
• commitment/motivation - having energy and enthusiasm in pursuing projects;
• interpersonal skills - ability to relate well to others and to establish good working relationships;
• numeracy – competence and understanding of numerical data, statistics and graphs.

Additionally, private sector employers like to see that applicants have some commercial awareness – an insight into how firms operate, what is happening in the business world and the impact this could have on their organisation.

For further information on competencies, refer to What Do Graduates Do?. Employers often have set criteria when selecting applicants. These may be laid out clearly in the person specification for the job or be identifiable from the job description, the vacancy advertisement or the organisation’s web pages.

Alternatively, if there is little information about the role, you could draw up your own. The job profiles in explore types of jobs, have useful sections on the skills and qualities usually required for entry into particular careers.

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Relating skills to opportunities

How do we know what skills to highlight when compiling a CV, covering letter or application?

• Consider how your motivation, personal qualities and aspirations reflect the ethos of the recruiting organisation and the opportunity on offer.
• Understand the skills and competencies required for the role. This will be transparent where a job specification is made available. It may be more difficult when there’s only an advertisement to go on. The latter is more common with small to medium sized employers.
• Decide on the best way to sell your skills. Which CV format will you use? What should you to put in your covering letter? See CVs and covering lettersfor advice on making effective applications.

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Graduate vacancies and skills

The following two advertisements are typical of the opportunities you’ll see advertised in graduate directories. Imagine this is the only information you have on which to base your CV application. See beneath each vacancy how they can be analysed in terms of skills, attributes and qualities.

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The High Roller Group has for 20 years been the consulting service of choice for the life insurance and pensions markets in the financial services sector.

Our approach to client service delivery is to translate strategic vision and objectives into systems and processes that succeed. High Roller’s ethos and success is based on the ability to focus our expertise on the knowledge and experience of the client. To enable them to grow and deliver, we develop strong and ongoing relationships with our clients. Our business and tradition is based on ‘partnership for progress’.

Work offered: Trainee Decision Maker; Data Gatherer/Investigator

Subject of Study: 2:1 in any degree discipline, (ideally supported by ‘A’ Level Maths, but not essential). 2:2 graduates will be considered on an individual basis.

Locations: London, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh.

Apply: Please send your CV and Covering Letter to Ms L Groom.

When preparing your reply, note:

• Organisational ethos: focus on a ‘partnership’ with clients.
• Skills required: numeracy; problem solving; customer focus; communication and interpersonal skills; sector knowledge and understanding.
• How might those be expressed? This vacancy has some very specific requirements in terms of numeracy level and degree performance. It expects candidates to have an interest in the financial services sector. The financial sector often prefers a ‘traditional’ approach to CVs. See the sample CVssection for an example of how this vacancy might be addressed using a chronological CV.

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Sample job advertisement – Innovative Car Hire

Do you want to join a company that will make the most of your talent and put you behind the wheel? Do you want to work for a company that believes in rewarding success? We’ll give you the chance to take early responsibility and earn a high salary as early in your career as you want.

We are ‘Innovate Car Hire’, an international car rental company with a multi-billion pound turn over. We want graduates who are self-starters with the ‘drive’ and ambition to run their own section of the business within three years.

You will want to learn about how to run a business from marketing and customer services to operations and finance. You will want promotions and earnings that will be accelerated by your performance. You will get the opportunity to succeed.

Graduates of all disciplines are welcome to apply. What you don’t know we will teach you. Put yourself in the driving seat by sending a CV and covering letter to ich@btinternet.com.

When preparing your reply, note:

• Organisational ethos: expects staff to want to build the business and achieve personal success.
• Skills required: initiative; drive and ambition; business orientation; leadership qualities.
• How might these be expressed? This is a vacancy which focuses on the personal qualities of the candidate rather than sector, customer or business knowledge. You may want to consider a skills-based CV (see sample CVs) to highlight the personal qualities required.

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PhD vacancy example

The vacancy below is one for which a PhD student might apply.

Post Doctoral Position – Business Strategy/Regulation of Urban Utilities

Belgian Federal Institute of Technology

Located in Bruges, Belgium, the Federal Institute of Technology consistently ranks among the best universities in Europe and the World. The Chair Management of Network Industries within the College of the Management of Technology invites applications for a post doctoral position in business strategy for urban utilities.

Required qualifications:

• A PhD in management, business, economics, or political science;
• Research and publications in business strategy/regulation in one or several of the following industries: energy, communications, transport, and/or environmental services;
• Fluency in English. A working level understanding of written and spoken French will be a distinct advantage.

Main responsibilities:

• Organize a new Executive Master (EM) in Urban Utilities Management (UrbUtil);
• Manage the administration, logistic and curriculum of the EM in UrbUtil;
• Conduct research on business strategy in network industries;
• Participate in international conferences in academic and business circles;
• Contribute to teaching in the EM in UrbUtil.

An initial one-year contract will be offered with the possibility of a permanent position depending on the success of the Executive Masters programme. Please send letter of application, curriculum vitae, and names of at least three referees to Dr Michele Berryman.

When preparing your reply, note:

• The skills set required is very academic and specific.
• The transferable and soft skills that might be useful are present in terms of organisational, administrative and teaching skills.
• See the sample CVs section for how this vacancy might be addressed by an academic CV.

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Presenting the evidence

Your primary concern should be to present evidence of the skills and qualities that the employer is seeking. This could be in the form of your academic projects and achievements, responsibilities during work experience or voluntary activities, involvement in societies, or management of sporting activities. The key is to match the evidence in your application with what the employer wants. Recruiters want to read about the skills and qualities that are of interest to them and their selection criteria.

When examining your past involvements more closely, perhaps consider:

• What exactly have you done?
• What were you responsible for?
• What were the outcomes?
• How did you achieve success?
• Is there evidence of ‘how’ you have demonstrated relevant skills?

Although it’s important to be concise, simply listing your skills is not enough. Where is the evidence? Employers can’t simply take your word for it.

Thinking about how to demonstrate your responsibilities can also be a challenge. Focus on active verbs. The descriptors of responsibilities and language suggestions in power words may help.

Resource:

(Graphics – VCU School of Business)