Fresh out of college, most people are excited about landing that first job. Given that most grads do not have work experience or only had a part time job while studying, it is not easy to secure an executive position right away.

Wage for the New Graduate.
Starting from scratch, one has no choice but to start from the bottom in an entry-level position then in time move to the top. The challenge most grads face in applying for a job is the competition. Aside from those who just graduated, there are also those who have left the previous job and are looking for a new one.

According to hiring and compensation experts, there is not that much room to negotiate when one is just a fresh grad. This is because that person does not have substantial work experience as basis to negotiate for a higher wage compared to those who have already worked before.

Job and Career
The range of the salary fresh grads get are based on the course one has finished in college. To those who volunteered to be surveyed, it was found that people who graduated from the sciences were able to get a higher salary compared to those who graduated from the liberal arts.

A tip that may help a little in the negotiation process is knowing your potential and not easily giving in or selling yourself short. In the course of an interview, it will boil down to the how much you will be getting. Most fresh grads accept what is given immediately and reply ok ending it there.

It is best to only talk about the salary when an offer has been made. If the interviewer is good, it can wait. During that time, one can try asking how much the company will give for someone in that position then be able to negotiate about that further later on regardless of the figure that was given.

Job Information
The applicant can then ask questions such as job responsibilities and mention that the contribution one can give to the company is more important than the salary you will be receiving showing the recruiter you are a team player.

Applicants can negotiate more by doing research on how much other companies are offering for the same job before giving an immediate answer. By knowing that information, it is possible for you to negotiate the salary offered for a little more.

Getting a job is not only about a salary. This includes other things that the company offers to its employees and by thoroughly checking out the other benefits and perks, it can also help in deciding whether the applicant should accept the job or not.

I always dream of becoming a productive person and that is the reason why I constantly strive to upgrade my myself by learning new skills and knowledge. Because of this vision, I still want to enroll for personality development courses that may be available and applicable for me. And because some of particular institutions I want to be in are so far away– like on the other face of the planet– I decided to use the Internet and look for their personality development made available online.

I really did not an idea on what site to go but some gave me a hint that I could use search engines to find those sites which are offering distance learning program. So, I used google and yahoo search engines.

personality development and goal setting
The first thing that I did was to try to look for personality development program so I inputted keyword phrases such as “personality improvement” in search engines. Fortunately, I found some useful information with link– like below:

“Person to Person coaching is obviously meant to toughen the confidence of folks in an establishment by centering attention on their really powerful performance steadily and touching on individual strengths as well as faults to improve folks to do better. It is an important catalyst for personal development.There is the necessity to elevate optimism if you are curious about self improvement for the reason that it is connected to fine morale in addition to optimistic thinking which are substantial for long life, perfect physical vigor and advancement.”

distance education
Since I wanted to upgrade my learning, I have typed keywords like “distance education”. It gave lots of information about online degrees with links which allowed me to go to sites about this topic. I retrieved the following information:

“The rise in the availability of online universities?are really a great thing when you consider that someone could be living in somewhere such as India could be working towards studying a degree from a university in a place such a California. It is the rise in the availability of distance learning facilities that have made this at all possible. Largely we can thank the widespread use of the internet that has been a major enabler as for that the internet is a great thing for people the world all over.”

distance learning
I wanted to know more about distance learning courses offered by universities like Oxford and Harvard so I have inputted key phrased like “online education program” and prompted with lots of information about it like the following:

“We all know that to earn more we must learn more and one of the ways that we can improve our knowledge is to take advantage of some of the many Free Online Classes?which are available to us all. This is one of the great things that the widespread use of the internet has brought to us all, it means that we can the information we need whenever we need it. If you want to improve your career prospects you are advised to take some of the many free online classes which are open to us all.”

Indeed, I was able to acquire relevant information for personality development. These will surely be always helpful for me.

Technorati Tags: Cover Letter,Resume,Interview Tips,Interview Questions,Interview Answers

 Unemployment is on the increase and it’s going to harder to get that first interview. Competition for vacancies is fierce. But it’s not the time to simply give up; you need to redouble your efforts — and were do most people fail, the cover letter. So many people spend hours on their resume, but leave the cover letter to chance – Why?

No matter how good your resume is, your cover letter is always going to be the first piece of information that a recruiter sees about you. Anything you write in your cover letter will help the recruiter to form their first impression of you.

1. Do not write the same cover letter.  Target it for each role that you apply for.

2. If the advertisement gives you a reference number, use it in your letter so that it is clear which role you are applying for.

3. Keep the letter short and simple and to the point.

4. Keep the sales acronym ‘AIDA’ in mind when composing your letter.  Gain the readers Attention by introducing yourself effectively.  Keep their Interest by showing that you have the skills / experience to meet the role.  Ensure that the content is relevant to the role and the recruiter will Desire to meet with you.  Make sure that your contact details are clear in order for the recruiter to Action a response to you.

5. Provide exactly what is requested in the advertisement.  If you are asked to supply both your CV and any evidence of a successful project you managed, then do so.

6. Do not over use technical jargon that may not be understood by people who administer the initial stages of the process.

7. Always proof read your letter and watch out for errors that a spell checker may not recognise.

8. If your application is speculative, find out the name of the person you need to forward your CV to and address your letter accordingly.

9. If replying to an advertisement, use it as the format that your letter will follow.

10. Remember that your cover letter is primarily a sales letter so concentrate on what you can do for the company.

I was sent this article by Aaron Boyce and it gets right to the point of why to use  Job Fairs

Job Fairs are one of the worst time wasters that have ever befallen a job seeker. You wake up early, get professionally dressed, compile your resumes, and head off to the event, ready to speak with the employers. Not So Fast! As you turn the corner, you see a line the size of a football field, chock full of job hopefuls like yourself. Do the math – 100 employers inside; 2000 job seekers outside. Someone is going home unhappy. But not you, you think, as you take your place in the line from Hades. 45 minutes later you are inside and ready to speak with the employers. Not So Fast! There are at least 20 – 30 job  seekers already there. You see a company you like and you squeeze in, ready to speak with the employers. And you do – for all of two minutes (if you’re lucky). Meanwhile, the employer is being distracted by the ten other candidates asking him questions, by the cute girl who just passed by, and by the clock that is beckoning him closer and closer to the lunch line. After a few hours of this, the job fair is closing and you haven’t even completed half the room. Okay, the employers you did speak with all have your resume. So you go home and wait for them to call you. The (not so happy) End. There has to be a better way. Try these seven tips.

1. Find out who will be in attendance before you go to the event. You can plan a strategy around this information.

2. Arrive no more than an hour before or after lunch. Like all of us, food has a way of stopping the brain from working and the ears from listening.

3. Walk around the room first without speaking to anyone. See where the employers are that you want to speak with. If you do see an employer that you covet, and they are available to speak, you may break this rule.

4. Stand in front of the employer you are speaking with. Coolly block their vision away from the crowd and onlookers. Speak clearly and with purpose. Look them in the face and they will respond back.

5. Get their business cards. Ask if they are the person in charge of the particular department of position you will be applying for. If not, ask for the name and write it on the card. Pick up as much information from the table as possible. Even pick up stuff that does not directly pertain to you. Everything you can know about the company will help you get the job.

6. Give them your business card. You don’t have a business card? Make one and bring them. By the way, the card I mean is a mini-resume that you can distribute along with your resume.

7. Send everyone you speak with a thank you note. Employers at job fairs NEVER get thank you notes. When they do get one (from you) they will seek you out.

These seven steps will guarantee that your adventures in Job Fair Land will provide a rewarding experience that will ultimately lead you to employment.

Aaron Boyce, founder of ABworkshops, national columnist for examiner.com, and author of four publications, travels across the country spreading his message of success through self-motivation and self-awareness. A stutterer since the age of nine, Aaron had overcome the pain of rejection, humiliation, and self-loathing to become a powerful, motivational, and dynamic speaker and trainer on the issues of career development and employment. His message, , has informed, inspired, and entertained thousands of motivated people nationwide. You can reach him at: aaron@abworkshops.com; www.abworkshopsarethebest.com; toll-free 1-866-745-6966.

Why do so many people dislike a job interview?

Answer - Job seekers are uncomfortable with the uncertainty of the interview situation.

The good news is that you can take charge of every interview, by using a common interview technique to your advantage.

Behavioural interviewing, which simply means that interviewers ask very specific questions about real situations. The theory is that your past behaviour is the best predictor of how you will behave in the future, so employers probe your background for clues.

Let’s imagine that a company is looking for a Sales Manager who can motivate and lead a small sales team. In order to understand your experience in this area, the interviewer will ask you questions about your past and experience, for example:

“Tell me about a time when you had to plan for a sales meeting.”

Or:

“Describe a time when you had to review your sales team performance.”

Behavioural interviewing has become quite common over the last 15 years and, you may well have experienced it yourself, either as an interviewer, or an interviewee.  Provided you are prepared (and we’ll talk about this in a moment) a behavioural interview gives you an excellent opportunity to talk in detail about your experiences and accomplishments.

Unfortunately, many interviews still follow the old format – the questions may be arbitrary, sometimes based on the content of your resume, sometimes on the preoccupations of the interviewer.  They may also be very general in nature. 

The secret to wowing them at every interview is simply this: 

Act as though your were asked a behavioural question, even when you were not.

Imagine two different candidates for this fictional marketing position. When asked “How much experience do you have working with a small budget?”

Candidate A replies, “I’ve had to do that a lot actually – most of the companies I worked for were small to mid-size, so there was never a lot of opportunity to spend money. I’m very good in those situations and I always find a way to make things happen.”

Candidate B, however, gives a ‘behavioral’ answer:  “I’ve had to do that a lot actually. Let me give you a recent example… you know the film “The Fallen Soldier?” I created the campaign around that movie with a $20,000 budget.  It came to my attention because it was the only film all our staff were excited about, although it was a low-budget, independent production.  I decided to create a really cool web site around the film, and then we planted seeds of interest on forums and in chat rooms … the whole thing took off within weeks and the movie eventually grossed millions. We never did run a single TV advertisement.” 

By answering in such a concrete and specific way, Candidate B brings himself to life – and ensures that he will be much more memorable than his competition.

You can use this technique for any question that is vague or general in nature:

Q: “How much do you know about?”
A: “I’m very familiar – just recently I ….”

Q: “How often have you had to ….?”
A: “That’s something I’ve done frequently … actually, I remember when …”

The technique also works when an interviewer asks a hypothetical question:

Q: “What would you do if …..?
A: “Well, I faced a similar situation just last year. What happened was …”

MY NUMBER ONE RULE AGAIN

PREPARATION IS THE KEY!!

To prepare effective stories you must first focus on the employer’s needs and then develop examples that demonstrate your ability to meet those needs.

The employer’s needs

Research the company before you go for the interview – identify their key business issues (Are they growing rapidly?  Are they in a crowded marketplace? Are they planning new product launches?) Get into the minds of the company’s executives and ask yourself: Given their business issues, what will they want to know about me?

Developing Your Examples

Use the C-A-R (challenge-action-result) formula to develop stories that demonstrate your ability to meet the needs of the employer. 

If your interviewers have been trained in behavioural interviewing, you’ll be exceptionally well-prepared.  But if not, you’ll be able to separate yourself from all the other candidates by telling compelling, interesting and targeted stories that demonstrate your ability to add value.

Many companies used to rely solely on interviews to assess candidates for most jobs, and quite a lot still do. However, we know that interviews can be highly subjective and don’t necessarily produce the most accurate results. Therefore, many companies are complementing the interview with more objective and accurate assessment methods such as these.

Why use these tests and questionnaires?

They aim to measure your abilities and personality so its important to know as much as you can about these tests, but again its down to preparation, and for those regular readers its my number one must do!!

Preparation Preparation Preparation.

The information companies collects from the tests helps to identify your strengths and areas for development on an objective basis. A lot of information can be collected in a relatively short time and is collected under standardized conditions. Its objectivity is further derived from the fact that a person’s score is compared to the range of scores obtained from a large group of people from a similar background who have taken the same psychometric tests.

2. Types of psychometric tests and questionnaires

First, let me make a distinction between tests which have right and wrong answers, and questionnaires which do not, but which ask about your interests and how you normally behave.

There are three main types of tests or questionnaires, measuring:

Ability/Aptitude

These assess specific enduring abilities such as:

Verbal understanding and reasoning with words;

Numerical understanding and reasoning with numbers;

Diagrammatic reasoning with abstract symbols;

Spatial reasoning with shapes and forms;

Mechanical comprehension involving principles of mechanics and physics;

Checking ability, with words and numbers

Tests of Special Aptitude are also fairly common and assess your capacity for a specific job like computer programming, or for a task such as learning foreign languages. Often aptitudes are measured by a number of different, but related, tests.

Personality

These psychometric tests assess up to 32 different aspects of personality such as your temperament, feelings and relationships with others, and your attitudes and values.

Unlike tests, these do not have right or wrong answers and are known as questionnaires.

They are always in multiple-choice format, normally with three, four or five possible responses to choose from, or rank in order.

Interests.

Interest questionnaires are normally only used for career counselling purposes. The questions usually relate to different types of job activities or tasks. You are asked to give your preferences, and from your answers the types of jobs you would prefer, and the direction your career might best take, can be deduced. The Strong Interest Inventory is one you may see.

3. Using the results.

The psychometric tests and questionnaires:

Are always administered and interpreted by qualified staff that are trained in their use;

Are chosen because they are relevant to the specific requirements for a specific job, or a range of jobs at a specific level;

Are reliable, i.e. you would get similar results if you sat them again;

Are valid, i.e. they have been shown to predict current or future job performance;

Results are never used on their own but usually in conjunction with an interview.

The results can help the interviewer to prepare, and to focus the time on key questions which need detailed consideration. By using these methods, it is much more likely that the right person will be selected and developed for each job. You are also likely to benefit by securing a job which is more suitable for your particular abilities, interests and personality.

4. A typical psychometric tests session

You may be asked to take a number of tests. They will be administered in a comfortable environment and all necessary equipment will be provided. The time allowed for each test will vary. Each ability test is unlikely to take less than 10 minutes and not more than 40. Personality and interest questionnaires have no set time-limit since you must respond to all of the questions, but usually take between 20 and 60 minutes.

Preparation

Being well prepared and doing practice example questions beforehand will give you a much better idea of what to expect and reduce any anxieties you might have about the testing session. Consequently, you will be more likely to perform at your best and give a truer account of your abilities. Many bookshops stock books containing practice material and it is also possible to access examples of psychometric tests practice questions through the internet. 

How well you perform at an interview will be determine on your preparation, there are no second chances, get it wrong and you stand a you pretty much well given it to the field! Failure to correctly prepare not only means that you may not get the job but it will also have a major influence on your confidence. So why do so many people leave it to the last minute to find as much information as they can even worse have the thought –

“Hey I don’t need to worry the job’s in the bag” – What a complete load of —

Even if you’re lucky enough to be the favoured candidate, and are almost certain to win the position by just turning up, believe this and you will be in for a big surprise! There is no such thing as just “turning up”, you should still take the time to prepare because the better you perform, the greater the likelihood that you will be given a second interview or even the job which at the end of the day is what you want.

We’ve all heard people boast that they’ve never prepared for an interview in their lives and have done all right. Whilst this boast may not be an idle one, closer inspection will usually reveal that these people were:

• luck— in the right place at the right time;

• well connected;

• working in a favourable labour market where there was a huge

demand for employees coupled with low supply;

• applying for jobs well within their comfort zone—that is, not

stretching themselves to improve their position; or

• applying for jobs internally and competing mainly against

external candidates.

Why do I need to prepare?

Do this simple exercise, sit down in a quite room and think about the basic nature of interviews. Not only are you expected to sell yourself in a competitive environment, but

you’re also expected to compress large and often complex pieces of information and be able to communicate in a way to avoid negative language. It’s no wonder people’s stress levels increase. But it doesn’t end there. There are three additional reasons that make the case for interview preparation even more compelling:

• Interviews are rare events, thus making them unfamiliar and awkward.

• Many people find it very difficult to sell themselves at interviews because they’ve been conditioned by family and society not to blow their own trumpet. Making simple statements such as ‘I am very good at selling xyz’ can be quite an obstacle to overcome.

• In most interviews, coming second isn’t good enough. It’s not just a matter of performing well; it’s also a matter of beating everyone else.

So why would you fail to prepare for an event that is infrequent, competitive and requires behaviours not normally used?

Yet that is exactly what people do when they walk into an interview without preparation.

So what is incorrect preparation?

Any preparation that will not help or improve your performance at an interview. By learning a standard answer that someone else has prepared has no value at all, they simply lead you astray. It is important to remember that, in the most cases, there’s no such thing as one single answer to a question. What may constitute a great answer for one employer may be viewed as quite ordinary by another. One of the worst things you can do is learn other people’s responses off by heart and repeat them at an interview. Repeating other people’s so called great answers can make you sound disingenuous and make you look a bit daft when asked a probing follow up question. So it makes a lot more sense to prepare your own answers.

Advantages of preparation

Taking the time to correctly prepare for an interview will:

• improve your confidence levels;

• assist you in answering questions succinctly, as opposed to taking

forever to make a simple point;

• help you know what to say and how to say it;

• assist you in handling difficult questions;

• help you avoid saying things that will make a negative impression;

• improve your rapport-building skills.

Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Person asked a young engineer fresh out of MIT, “What starting salary were you looking for?”
The engineer replied, “In the region of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package.”
The interviewer said, “Well, what would you say to a package of 5 weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every 2 years — say, a red Corvette?”
The Engineer sat up straight and said, “Wow! Are you kidding?”
The interviewer replied, “Well YES, but you started it.”

You may laugh but this question comes up all the time. Therefore, trying to create an impression that the salary does not concern you actually is counter productive. It indicates that you have trouble coping with the question and may even insinuate that you under value your self or have low self esteem.

First thing to remember. You don’t have to disclose your current or past salaries and you don’t need to respond to this question. Unfortunately it’s not that easy.

Given you are interviewing for a new job, the manner in which you deal with the question can affect the outcome of the interview, so it is worth being prepared.

Tip

If you are unsure try to deflect the question by inquiring the interviewer what they are offering.

OR

Rather than quoting a figure present a range. This range should take five factors into account:

1. The salary you earned in your last position

2. The salary standards in the industry

3. The current market situation – it’s all a question of supply and demand. If demand is currently high in your profession, you can suggest a higher salary and offer a tougher bargain. If the opposite is true you may have to compromise.

4. Your work experience and qualifications / credentials– the more experience and / or qualifications you have the more your services are ‘worth’ to the employer (in some professions the work experience is more important than the credentials; in other professions it’s the other way around and yet in others it may be a combination of both).

5. Finally, the salary you aim for.

In your early career, you will be expecting an increase in salary when you move to a new job - usually because the new job may be a step up for you and as such has more responsibilities.

You also need to remember that your new employer really has no way of finding out your previous salary, so if you want to exaggerate a little to help justify an increased expected salary, then feel free to do so - it’s not a big deal, but remember be conscious that you shouldn’t go to far with this.  Adding a couple more £k to your current salary isn’t a big deal.

How to respond when asked what your salary expectations are.

Let’s assume you want more money than you are getting just now.  If the salary hasn’t been disclosed for the job, then you need to carefully discuss the potential with your new employer.

You can start off by saying something like,

“I would expect a salary that is in line with the level and responsibilities of the job and my experience - what starting salary do you offer for this job role?” –

It doesn’t commit you to a specific figure, and moves the discussion back to them.  They will always have a figure in mind from the start of the interview - most employers just want to see if they can hire you for less money!

There are several responses they can give to this:

1. A figure that is way less than you want (in which case you need to think about if the job is really suitable for you)

2. A figure that is a little lower than you want (then you need to put an argument forward for a higher starting salary)

3. A figure that is suitable or higher than expected (take it - or haggle some more if you’re feeling cheeky!).

Salary negotiations are a sensitive and complex issue. If possible try to avoid discussing the salary in the first interview, however if the issue is raised by the interviewer then respond accordingly.

The most important point to bear in mind is to request a reasonable and fair salary. A salary that encompasses the five factors: your last salary, the industry salary standards, the current employment market situation, your work experience and qualifications and finally the salary you aim for. Ask for what you deserve; if you consider these five factors you are bound to come up with a reasonable salary range.

The salary negotiations are always a complex and delicate matter; consequently it is wise to postpone it to the crucial meeting or point in the interview after most other issues have been dealt with. If you have more than one interview, then use the first interview as an initial platform to make the right impression. Do not assume that employers will always prefer an applicant that has lower salary expectations. On the contrary, if you managed to impress the employer, they are likely to seriously consider hiring you despite the fact that your salary expectation may be hire than a fellow candidate. Hence, making a good impression in the interview subsequently elevates your salary negotiation point