Technorati Tags: The Interview,How To Plan A journey to an interview,How to Fail An Interview,Interview Questions

A little forward-planning is essential if you’re going to arrive fresh, with a clear mind and ready to impress interviewers. Follow my simple tips on how to plan ahead for a stress-free journey.

You’ve got an interview. You feel prepared, confident and even a little lucky. Then before your very eyes it all turns to dust: your alarm fails to go off, and you wake up 15 minutes before your train is due to leave. You arrive at the station out of breath, sweating; totally stressed out! only to discover the train’s been cancelled.

Is this your worst nightmare? Think it’ll never happen to you? If events are ever going to conspire against you, they’re guaranteed to pick the day of your interview. Being late is the number one sin; let me tell you here and now, you can never recover from this, remember first impressions count, even if it’s due to circumstances beyond your control, there are no excuses.

A little preparation and forward planning will go along way in helping you to have a stress-free journey to your interview:

Here are a few simple tips to follow, remember the simple things are things that people forget to do!

1. A few days before your interview, work out how to get there.

2. Plan your route and find out how long the journey will take. If you’re taking public transport, you might want to buy tickets so you won’t have to queue on the day.

3. Aim to arrive about 15 minutes early, and leave extra time in case things go wrong. Waiting may not ease your nerves, but watching the minutes tick past as you’re stuck in traffic is far worse. And if you’re early, employers will notice that you’re well prepared and have met the ‘deadline’ of your interview with time to spare.

4. Check the news and traffic reports to find out if there are traffic jams, accidents or major delays on the trains.

5. If you want to smell as fresh as you look on arrival, don’t smoke in your car.

6. If it comes to the worst and there’s just no way you’re going to be on time, do some damage limitation.

7. Call the organisation and explain what’s happened. Traffic jams delay everyone, so they should be sympathetic. It may be possible to postpone the interview by an hour or so, or to reschedule for another day if things are really bad. Never rely on this.

So remember the planning is in the detail!  

What a great question, so why do so many people fail to take the bull by the horns and follow up on their interview? Its so important to show that you have a real interest in the company, there are a few rules you need to follow, its not difficult so here we go.

You are quite happy with yourself because that last interview went really well. You feel that your chances of getting the job are pretty good but you hate the part where you have to sit back and wait for the employer to call you back. Well, guess what? You’re not supposed to just sit back and wait. An interview is never finished when you shake hands and leave the room; you have to follow up on it.

Following up after an interview can give you a winning edge over the other candidates. The manner in which you follow up is also important because it can win you or cost you the job. The best way to illustrate this is with an example.

Elizabeth had been hoping to hire a market researcher to fill a position that had been vacant for several weeks. Henry, Melissa, and Barbara were equally qualified and she was having a hard time deciding which one to hire. When she listened to her voice mail on morning after the interview, Melissa had left her a message thanking her for the interview. She made a mental note of the fact that this candidate had shown a serious interest in the job by following up. That same afternoon, when she checked her mail, she found a letter from Barbara. She was impressed by the care and effort that had gone into writing the letter. Barbara had not only thanked Elizabeth for the interview, but she had addressed some of the organizational issues that had been discussed during the interview as well. Barbara was offered the job the very next day.

Now that you know how important following up after an interview is, here are some pointers to help you get it just right.

Get the time frame right

Towards the end of your interview, always remember to ask the potential employer how long it would be until a hiring decision is made. If you get a good idea of when the company will be hiring, you will know how quickly you need to follow up. If you know the company will make their decision in 5 days, then you need to send out the follow-up letter right away.

The Letter

A follow-up thank you letter is an excellent way to get your interviewer to remember you. The letter should re-emphasize why you are a suitable candidate and discuss any additional information about your qualifications that you didn’t have a chance to mention during the interview. Whether you use email, snail mail, or fax depends on the type of company you’re interviewing with. If it’s a high-tech, trendy one, you might want to go with email. A posted letter may be more appropriate if it’s a conservative company. In any case, check that you have the correct information with regards to the interviewer’s name, position, and address. Asking for a business card after the interview is a good way of making sure that you do.

The Phone Call

If the hiring time frame has passed and the company still hasn’t called you, you can call them. During the phone call, let the company know that you are still interested in the position. Be gracious at all times and don’t be too pushy. You don’t want to give them the impression that you are desperate.

If you keep these pointers in mind when you follow up on an interview, you will be well on your way to making sure that the person who interviewed you keeps you in mind for the job. At the same time, you will also be strengthening your candidature.

I was looking around for places to find resume templates for the beginner.

A really good starting place is to go to Microsoft.com. Go to the section Top Searches, there you we see browse templates  and on the right hand side half way down you will see resume/CV. Click on this and you we see three categories:

1. Basic

2.Job Specific

3. Situation Specific.

From there you can down load any of the above and you just add your own personal information to the template, its a simple as that, once you get experienced in adding information you can then start to personalise your resume to suit individual job applications.       

There you are sitting in the hot chair, trying to convince your future employer that you are the best suited for the role. So why should I give you the job?

Here is your chance to show off your skills and personally, but what are my skills and what makes me any different to all the other candidates? This is were people fail to get the job, why? Because people fail to demonstrate in simple language how they would do the job.

Companies are looking for people you can show that they can work in either an autonomous role ie on there own or as part of a team. They also what to see if you can multi-task some people call it multi-skilling they both mean the same thing. Question; what is multi-tasking?

Think of it as been able to do a number of different tasks at once or being able to do more than one role, if you want to learn more on this subject get a copy of - Multi-Skilling: A Blue Print For Success by Marc Vanvdevelde, its a really  good book to get you started.

So why do I need to have this skill? Companies these day’s run very lean, they have very little fat! - fat being people, every body can do a number of different tasks or roles  it all about saving money on the pay role.

So what else do I need to show? Well how about being to communicate to people, and to listen!, I always remember the saying "God Gave Us Two Ears And One Mouth" What! - listening is so important so practice it, your customers are telling you things all the time so are your work colleagues so listen. Show a real interest in them. Read - "People Skills" by Bolton another really good book.

Another one for you think on - Problem solving, being able to come up with ideas to solve a problem in simple terms, its no good just being able to find faults, anybody can do that!  what people fail to do is come up with an answer to the problem. Why do people never look at this a opportunity to show that they really understand the problem, How Do I Do This - listen to what people are saying, and then come up with some ideas that will help them to solve the problem, brilliant it’s so easy. It is but you need to practice and show a real interest in people.

It never fails to amaze me that people bemoan that they get a letter or phone call to say that

“You Have Not Been Successful In Your Job Application”!

How many of us have had that sinking feeling of not getting the job. But stop there who’s fault is it? The employer or you?

Stand back and ask yourself

Did I do every thing right?

You may find that it was not totally the fault of the employer, remember he was looking for the best person for the job both in skill level as well as personality, unfortunately you didn’t tick all the boxes, that’s life it gets harder to find a job in today’s job market, so you have to go the extra mile to get the job, it means getting of your butt and do the research, give the time and effort. So ask the question again.

I will let you into a little secret - Employers don’t owe you anything! Just turning up and sitting in the chair with no preparation and expect to get the job- Get real. Some times there are other people more qualified or have more experience than you, if you get an interview, pat yourself on the back, on average 100+ people will apply for each job, so you are in the front door to get an interview.

So what do I do next

Research

Key Questions and answers

Body Language

Attitude

Presentation

My Skills

Think about it, turn the situation around. You are on the other side of the desk and you are doing the interview, what do you see? Happy? Not so sure; so what do I need to change?

So next time you get a letter saying No!! don’t just assume that the employer was a jerk!

Take the responsibility and make the difference.

A good place to start is to read “How To Win Friends And Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, its quite an old book but you can learn a lot about people and to become liked and respected.

Imagine you’re an employer and you have two resumes in front of you. One is filled wall-to-wall with text and uses a range of different fonts. It’s also covered with dozens of bolded, italicised and underlined words and phrases.

The second resume is much more pleasing to the eye. It, too, offers a lot of information, but this time you can easily and quickly scan the document.

Why? Because it makes good use of white space, features clear and consistent section headings and uses bullets to make important items stand out.

If you were the employer which resume would you look at first?

If you’re like most employers who may have to read and understand hundreds of resumes each week, you’ll proceed directly to the second resume. Why? Because it’s easy on your eyes and your attention span, while the first resume is just the opposite.

If you want your resume to stand out and not be put in the bin and have a good chance of being read by prospective employers, you must spend time and effort not only in its content, but also in how it looks. If you’re creating your resume for the first time or in the process of revising it, keep the following design tips in mind:

Use White Space.

Create at least one-inch margins on your resume. Also, leave some blank space between various sections of the resume’s text, so several distinct chunks of information can be seen.

Two Fonts at Most

It’s easy to use all of the typefaces at your disposal, but having more than two fonts in any document only makes it more difficult to read. One font is all you really need. If you use two, make sure they complement each other. For example, use one font for the headings and the second font for the body text.

Use Bold and Italic Sparingly, Never use Underlining.

Use some bolding and italicising in your resume text. Many resume writers may bold their previous job titles and italicise subheadings within each section of the document. As for underlining — don’t. Studies have shown that most readers find underlined text difficult to read.

Emphasize Skills and Accomplishments By Using Bullet Points.

Bullets make it easier for employers to scan your resume quickly, since they’re intended to grab the reader’s eye and lead it to key points you want to make. Use them when you can, especially when you’re highlighting skills or accomplishments. For example:

• Increased sales in the quarter by 35 percent.

• Trained five new field executives to generate new business and client management.

Be Consistent

If you use all caps to present the name of your most recent workplace, for example, use all caps to present the names of your previous workplaces as well. Or if you use bold, centered text to present the first section title of your resume, use bold, centered text to present the remaining section titles too. If you’re consistent throughout your document, you’ll subtly establish a reading pattern for potential employers that will help them follow your resume easily.

In the end, you’ll still need solid resume content to really sell yourself to employers. Even the well-designed resume won’t pass if the information it presents isn’t first-rate. Just make sure the content you feature is visually appealing and quickly scannable so that instead of passing it by entirely, employers will give it the attention it deserves.

What are skills? – That a great question!

Skills refer to the things you do really well. The key to finding the most appropriate job is to match your skills or qualifications to employer requirements and to communicate those skills by using a CV or resume.

It sounds easy, its not. Its take time and a great deal effort, you need to do a lot of research and write a powerful resume to back it all up. Finding your career path is never easy; but it can be fun as well as rewarding,

Majority of the most viable skills are those that are used in a variety of work settings. What are these skills? Would matching your skills to find the right job be successful?

The first thing you need to do is site down and list all the skills you think you have, make your list long, think hard!, remember you are selling those skills to a future employer.

Why do you need to do this?

You want to put yourself at the front, you want to become the leading candidate for the job. Remember I said write down all your skills does not necessarily mean it was adapted in a work environment. If this is your first job search and you have no job experience to date, why not show other of skills which you have.

Majority of skills, including knowledge-based and transferable, could be absorbed and developed as a volunteer, a student, a homemaker, or in your other personal activities. The skills you have used for these activities can still be applied to your desired jobs.

Why do I need to do this?

Organising and listing your personal skills can help you easily fill out job applications, provide useful information for job interviews, and prepare quality resumes. BENEFIT- It saves your time filling in forms and employers can scan read and pick out the core skills-

What’s a core skill?

If they say in the job description you must speak a foreign language, then that is a core skill.

How do I organise and list my skills? - Another good question.

First, categorise your skills by separating your interests and aptitudes from your work experience.

1) Aptitudes and interest. These include all of your hobbies, activities you have been involved in the past, and all the things that interest you. By listing all of these down, you could examine the skills it takes to achieve each item.
Skills from aptitude and interest may be homemaking, playing basketball, fixing cars and many more. All of these items could determine if you are capable of working with a team, able to handle multiple tasks, have viable knowledge of human development, knowledge of electronics and ability to diagnose mechanical and numerical problems. The list goes on, but make sure to consider the skills that would be beneficial for a working environment.

2) Work history. This includes volunteer, part-time, freelance, summer and full time jobs. Once you have listed all your past employment, examine the skills you do work each work duty.

* Ask for help. As soon as you have your list ready, you could now go to job services that could help you acquire your desired job. You could also search job yourself. However, always remember to match your skills and abilities in your list to the needed skills and abilities of various jobs.
In most cases, people who seek jobs are threatened with job titles. This should not be the case. As long as your skills and abilities could meet the requirements of the workload and job title, your possibility of acquiring your desired job increases.

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Technorati Tags: Resume Writing,Resume Tips

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Writing a resume is a difficult task regardless of your level of experience and is one of those skills in which you needs practice, as you you will only get one chance to impress. While the content of your resume is critical to its effectiveness, the layout and the format you utilize are equally as important.

How to start? Do your research, look at various resume styles and find out which best suits your field. The biggest mistake you make is use a generic template provided in your text editing software, like Microsoft Word when composing your resume.

Most templates are out of date plus they and very difficult to format, not to mention that they do not transfer well to online job applications. Avoid the quick-fix mentality of these templates, and invest time in researching and finding resources that will provide you with up-to-date helpful ways to compose a winning resume. Always REMEMBER,

You are selling yourself

The easiest and least expensive way to find samples of resumes is to do search on the internet. Before you get started, a word of caution: consider the sources of information before you decide to utilize any of their suggestions on your resume. You will come across web sites that promise to teach you how to write an exception cover letter in three and a half minutes. Don’t believe them. Unless you choose to hire a resume writing service, obtaining resources on resume writing should not cost you any money or obligate you to a long-term commitment. If you are not sure of the credibility on the information, find another source and compare your findings. – Remember

Take your time!

A great online resource for resume composition is Monster.com. While they are mostly known for their job search database, they offer a variety of other information and services for those looking for employment. Under the Career Advice tab, you will find a wealth of information on your job search, salary requirements, advice by industry, and of course, information on perfecting your resume.

In addition to articles about your job search and resume-related message boards, Monster’s Resume Center includes a variety of resume examples for professionals in a number of different industries. From administrative assistants to web designers, everyone can find a sample of a resume to fit their career objectives at:

http://resume.monster.com/archives/samples/

The page will show you samples of functional and chronological resumes, traditional resumes and sample cover letters. Take your time to review these samples. They are provided by a reliable source, so don’t be afraid to copy the formatting for your own resume (of course, do not copy the actual text from the resume).

If you already have a draft of your resume, and are looking to make updates or revisions, check out the Resume Makeovers for a great look at before and after resume of real professionals:

http://resume.monster.com/resume_samples/

It is important that you review these samples, even if the industry is not applicable to your line of work. They will teach you the basic dos and don’ts of resume writing – you can see why some things work and why others don’t, and be able to chose the best ways to highlight your qualifications.

Same school rules apply – do not copy someone else’s work. However, use these resources to your advantage and create the resume that presents you in the best light.

People put a lot of thought into changing careers. After all, it is one of the more important decisions you can make. You have to consider your family, living, financial situations, and your competitive advantage in the new field, etc.

Making a career change typically means starting with a blank canvas; while you have the freedom to paint the canvas any which way you wish, you have to invest time, energy, make sacrifices and prove yourself as a credible professional in your new field. You have to be competitive, and motivated, and sustain the drive that is necessary to be successful. After you convince yourself that changing careers is the right thing to do, you will have to convince your potential employers to give you the job you are seeking.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people fail to have a plan of action or are working to some form of goal setting; how can you measure your success or were you are in life. 

To do so, you have to do your research. Demonstrate to your employer that you have an extensive knowledge of the industry, even if you don’t have the accompanying experience. Before you begin your new career, make sure that you understand what professional paths are available for you, and determine what your ultimate goal is. This will help you form the career objective for your resume.

Additional, make sure to do your research on the company you are interested in, as well as their competition (if you are interested in non-profit organizations, make sure to brush up on other organizations with similar missions); if invited for an interview, you will want to appear very knowledgeable not only about their company, but about the industry as a whole. The best resources are your local library, the internet, read local press and why not ring them up and ask for information it seems so obvious but so many people fail even with this simple exercise, which will give such an important start!.

You will have to convince your potential employer that you the best person for the job, better than the candidates with experience – to do that, you have to showcase not only your enthusiasm for the opportunity, but your eagerness to learn and your knowledge about the field, again do the prep-work first, go in prepared

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Transferable skills, those skills that can be utilized in numerous fields, are also a key to a successful career change. Consider your qualifications to date. What experience have you acquired that can be transferred across industries?

Transferable skills include verbal and written communication, people management, customer relations, organization and project management, development of new processes, generation of new ideas or concepts, etc, write them down give the interviewer a copy, remember you are selling to him and he is buying into you.

Such skills can be adapted to all organizations, and you should utilize them to showcase your qualifications for the job you are seeking.

For example, if you would like to ditch the 9-to-5 desk job for a hectic, unpredictable life of a high school teacher, let your potential employer know that your previous experience in leading by motivation makes you a perfect candidate for the job (even if that marketing project you managed has nothing to do with teaching English composition). And again I repeat! Make a list of all your professional experiences and the qualifications needed for the job you are seeking will help you in determining which skills are transferable to your new career. Once you define your transferable skills, use a functional resume to assure most (if not all) of the qualifications needed for the new job are met in your resume.

In addition to your resume, use your cover letter or email to let your potential employer know why you are changing careers, and that your new interest is not a passing one. Make sure that your resume reflects your newfound interest in a genuine and professional manner, and you are sure to have a successful career change.

Remember, Plan for the interview, don’t just rely on your ability.

You should be able to find several indispensable facts about Resume Writing in the following paragraphs. If there’s at least one fact you didn’t know before, imagine the difference it might make.

I trust that what you’ve read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.

One of the main questions asked about resumes is, “Do I have to include everything on one page?” The most common misconception of resume writing is that your entire professional history has to fit within one 8 ½”x11” page of white paper. The truth is, the resume should be well written and concise, and should promote your qualifications in the best possible light. This is sometimes impossible to do in one page. Thus, a resume can extend to multiple pages, with some consideration depending on your career level.

•    Be concise. This is critical. Do not use lengthy sentences and paragraph forms to disclose your experience and your education. Employers want straight forward statements that highlight your qualifications. A resume is not a place to show your creative writing skills.
•    Perfect your resume. You have second to catch your potential employer’s attention. Make sure that your resume is properly formatted, and you are not trying to fit too much copy on a single page of paper. Create appropriate and professional sections for your resume. Your potential employer is more concerned with the look and content of your resume than with its length.
•    Longer is not better when you don’t have the experience to meet your career objective. If you are new to the job market, are changing careers, or you’ve only had one job, stick to a one page resume. If you don’t have the experience to meet your career objective, no matter the reason, do not apologize for it. Don’t try to fill up your resume with irrelevant content; instead do your best to highlight your transferable skills, and stick to the “short and sweet.”
•    Unless you are applying for an executive-level job, or are composing curriculum vitae, your resume should not exceed two pages. The purpose of a well-written resume is to sell you as the best candidate for the job with a confident and a straight-forward approach. Do not oversell your skills. Do not list more than three to five previous positions you’ve help. Stick to those skills and experiences that best meet the job requirements and your career objective. The most relevant information has to be included on the first page. The second page should be numbered, with your contact information included as well (just in case the pages are separated when printed, you don’t want your potential employer to discard the second page of your resume completely). If you find yourself going over two pages, review your resume and make sure that you are not incorporating information that is irrelevant to your goals or to the position you are seeking.
•    Make sure that your professional history warrants a resume that is three pages or longer. As mentioned above, unless you are a senior- or executive-level professional, or you are composing curriculum vitae, your resume should not extend to over two pages. If you have a longer resume, you will have to make sure that every statement on the resume is applicable to your career goals. If you have had decades of leadership experience for example, demonstrate that using the reverse chronological resume style and only list those jobs that best qualify you for the position you are seeking. If you need to include an extensive list of publications or certifications, your resume can take up more than three pages. Make sure that the important information is still listed on the first page. This includes your career objective and professional profile, and your current or most recent professional experience. All subsequent pages need to be numbered, and include your contact information in the heading.

Now that wasn’t hard at all, was it?  And you’ve earned a wealth of knowledge, just from taking some time to study an expert’s word on Resume Writing.