In Interview, How to Bring Up Desire to Work Part-time - The Career Doctor Blog

Jennifer writes:

Dr. Hansen — thank you so much for your informative website!

I needed to make a career change, so I chose a new field (with your help!) and recently graduated from graduate school. Now I am looking for a job, and would appreciate some interview advice. I have found a full-time position that I am considering applying for — I would prefer part-time work, though, and was wondering when would be the best time to mention this subject to the hiring individual.

Another possibility for me would be telecommuting, so I guess I have the same question about that subject as well — should I wait until they have offered me the job to mention my interesting in telecommuting, or should I be more up front and ask about the possibility earlier in the application process.

---

The Career Doctor responds:

Yours is a challenging position because most employers do not set out making jobs either part-time or with a telecommuting option. There are other possibilities too, like job-sharing and flex-time.

My best suggestion is to find a few prospective employers that have a corporate culture that supports such flexible work options. By doing your research, you will be interviewing only with organizations that offer these types of programs. Review company Websites and talk with people who work there.

As a career-changer, you will have to work a bit harder in your job search, and since part-time is only a preference and not a necessity, I would focus more on finding the best opportunity first. Once you are with the organization for a while, then you can raise the issue of work flexibility options.

If part-time work is a requirement, then I would make it known in my cover letter that the position I was seeking had to be part-time. You are going to be eliminated from a lot of possibilities, but better to be upfront than to pretend you would accept a full-time position.

via careerdoctor.org

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Research a Prospective Employer to Shine in the Interview Process - Interview Skills - Lifehacker

Interview are stressful, especially when the current economic state makes the pool of interviewers so large and the pool of employers so small. Do your research to really stand out in the interview.

Photo by tsk.

Over at the financial blog Financial Edge, they've put together a list of things you should say in an interview. Among them:

I am very familiar with what your company does. Letting a prospective employer know that you are familiar with what a company does shows that you have a legitimate interest in the business and are not just wasting their time. Do your homework before arriving for an interview. Check out the company website for information about products and services. Search for the latest transactions and pertinent business news. [...]

Be sure to let the interviewer know that you are familiar with the newest company acquisition or the latest product that was just developed. Explain how your skills and experience are a perfect fit for the employer.

Indeed, a little research goes a long way towards not being caught off guard by an interviewer's questions—"Wait, what? You guys make paper here?"—and a lot of research will make you stand out from a pool of only semi-informed applicants.

For more interview tips make sure to check out Tips for Talking Your Way Into a Job, Know the Answers to These Questions Before Your Job Interview, and Negotiate Your Way to Getting Paid What You're Worth. Have a tip or trick of your own to share? Let's hear about it in the comments.

7 Things You Should Say In An Interview [via Wise Bread]

Send an email to Jason Fitzpatrick, the author of this post, at jason@lifehacker.com.

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Phone Interview Questions – How to Prepare Yourself in Advance | EmploymentDigest.net

Whenever you are applying for a new job, you may find that you are required to go through a quick interview process over the phone and this is becoming more and more common. It helps if you understand the phone interview questions that you are going to be asked during this process, but it is not always possible for you to know all of those questions in advance. Understanding some of the more common phone interview questions, however, could assist you in being able to answer them intelligently and in a way that will help you land a job.

Some of the most basic phone interview questions that you’re going to hear, especially at the beginning of the interview are going to be about your job history, as well as your general history. Of all of the phone interview tips that I could give you, one of them that I recommend the most is to make sure that you carefully review your application before you have the interview. This will help you to be able to answer any of these phone interview questions intelligently, but most importantly, you will be able to answer them without hesitation. This is something that many people who are running these interviews are going to watch for.

Other common interview questions you may be asked over the phone will include those that are related towards the job that you are applying for. Some of these may tend to throw you a little bit, but as long as you follow a few simple phone interview tips, you will find that it is relatively easy to overcome these questions. For example, you may be asked why it is that you want to work for the company, or what it is that you can give to the company. You can ace these phone interview questions if you do a little bit of research about the company history in advance, and learn where they stand at this time. Explain to them that you want to be part of a company like theirs, and that you feel that your qualifications are going to be able to add something positive to the company that will help to move it forward in the future.

Many of the other phone interview questions that you will be required to answer will be more personalized. You may find that you are answering questions about how you handle stress, or how you view work in general. Always make sure that you are prepared to answer these questions positively, and in such a way that will show that you will be able to take whatever it is that they throw at you in stride.

For a more detailed and thorough guide on phone interview questions and how to get through the interview process successfully, visit our website at: http://thejobhunterguide.com and download your  copy of “The Job Hunters’ Ultimate Guide”.

via employmentdigest.net

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How to shine in an interview? - Career advice blog - Position Ignition

An interview is your opportunity to sell yourself.  You must prepare, practise and on the day of the interview, perform!  I‘ve identified five ways to shine in an interview and radiate the ‘authentic you’.  Five ways to shine;

• Demonstrate your natural energy, strengths and passion through your actions, body language and words.
• Do your research; firstly, be clear about you and know yourself and secondly, know everything you can possibly find out about the organization and interviewers.
• Be active, in other words, be engaging and stimulating in the way you portray yourself and interact with the interviewers.
• Relate stories that demonstrate how you’ve approached a situation or task, the action you took, the results you achieved and reflections you noted (lessons learned or best practices).
• Listen carefully to the questions and be prepared to ask some of your own.

A Position Ignition Career Guide is available to assist you with this work, contact Position Ignition today.

Author

Stephanie Mount is a Position Ignition Career Guide. She is profoundly interested in people and their potential. Stephanie engages with individuals to discover their most authentic self (the positive energy, their passions and strengths).  Stephanie’s diverse career in the helping profession spans two continents.  She uses her international experience, professional knowledge and living as an expatriate to enable others to create a fulfilling and balanced life.  Stephanie is an adventurer, passionate about the ‘great outdoors’ and travelling to far flung places on this beautiful planet.

See more of Position Ignition's job hunting tips and find out about how we can help you finding a job.

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Consider Serious Lack of Sleep Like Being Drunk on the Job - Insomnia - Lifehacker

Pulling late nights, or an all-nighter, feels like a badge of honor you can wear at some jobs. But given the impact of sleeplessness on work, at least one researcher considers it like showing up at work loaded.

Photo by cbowns.

A fascinating article on what we understand about sleep (read: not a whole lot) in National Geographic Magazine makes the case that workers, and the culture at large, have underplayed the seriousness of sleep. It starts off with an examination of actually fatal insomnia, then covers a lot of ground, including the impact of sleep fatigue on jobs that require concentration and decision-making. One tragic example:

In February 2009 a commuter jet en route from Newark to Buffalo crashed, killing all 49 aboard and one on the ground. The copilot, and probably the pilot, had only sporadic amounts of sleep the day leading up to the crash, leading the National Transportation Safety Board to conclude that their performance "was likely impaired because of fatigue." This sort of news enrages Harvard's Charles Czeisler. He notes that going without sleep for 24 hours or getting only five hours of sleep a night for a week is the equivalent of a blood alcohol level of 0.1 percent. Yet modern business ethic celebrates such feats. "We would never say, 'This person is a great worker! He's drunk all the time!' " Czeisler wrote in a 2006 Harvard Business Review article.

After a read, it's easy to start thinking about whether you treat sleep like a second-class citizen among your needs.

Secrets of Sleep [National Geographic Magazine via TMBLG]

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Seth's Blog: Consumer debt is not your friend

Here's a simple MBA lesson: borrow money to buy things that go up in value. Borrow money if it improves your productivity and makes you more money. Leverage multiplies the power of your business because with leverage, every dollar you make in profit is multiplied.

That's very different from the consumer version of this lesson: borrow money to buy things that go down in value. This is wrongheaded, short-term and irrational.

A few decades ago, mass marketers had a problem: American consumers had bought all they could buy. It was hard to grow because dispensable income was spoken for. The only way to grow was to steal market share, and that's difficult. Enter consumer debt.

Why fight for a bigger piece of pie when you can make the whole pie bigger, the marketers think. Charge it, they say. Put it on your card. Pay now, why not, it's like it's free, because you don't have to repay it until later. Why buy a Honda for cash when you can buy a Lexus with credit?

One argument is income shifting: you're going to make a lot of money later, so borrow now so you can have a nicer car, etc. Then, when money is worth less to you, you can pay it back. This idea is actually reasonably new--fifty years or so--and it's not borne out by what actually happens. Debt creates stress, stress creates behaviors that don't lead to happiness...

The other argument is that it's been around so long, it's like a trusted friend. Debt seems like fun for a long time, until it's not. And everyone does it. We've been sold very hard on acquisition = happiness, and consumer debt is the engine that permits this. Until it doesn't.

The thing is, debt has become a marketed product in and of itself. It's not a free service or a convenience, it's a massive industry. And that industry works with all the other players in the system to grow, because (at least for now) when they grow, other marketers benefit as well. As soon as you get into serious consumer debt, you work for them, not for you.

It's simple: when the utility of what you want (however you measure it) is less than the cost of the debt, don't buy it.

Go read Dave Ramsey's post: The truth about debt.

Dave has spent his career teaching people a lesson that many marketers are afraid of: debt is expensive, it compounds, it punishes you. Stuff now is rarely better than stuff later, because stuff now costs you forever if you go into debt to purchase it. He's persistent and persuasive.

It takes discipline to forego pleasure now to avoid a lifetime of pain and fees. Many people, especially when confronted with a blizzard of debt marketing, can't resist.

Resist. Smart people work at keeping their monthly consumer debt burden to zero. Borrow only for things that go up in value. Easy to say, hard to do. Worth it.

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Twitter Personal Branding Checklist | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

You have a Twitter profile that strengthens your personal brand. And your bio and background image exude your core values and align with your career goals. You’re growing your Twitter network – but how do you turn followers into evangelists for your personal brand?

One of the documents we pass around the office is our Twitter Engagement Checklist. It’s a set of actions that ensures our management team and interns are effectively engaging with relevant people on Twitter, growing their personal networks and building brand awareness. You may benefit from the streamlined process we’ve come to rely on. I’d like to share it with you.

Why a checklist?

Twitter is a global networking party, and you should approach it like one – with a goal and a strategy. Your overarching strategy should be to give before you even think about receiving. People are not interested in what you ate for lunch. They are interested in tweets that yield a positive impact on their day. Here’s how we do it at @brandyourself.

Twice a day

Tweet a blog post relevant to your field. Our followers want to know about the latest trends, controversies and ideas in our space. We keep them in the loop so they know what’s going on. If you aren’t following blogs in your field, find them by searching for industry keywords on top tier blog directories like Technorati and Alltop. Tweet posts that catch your eye to establish yourself as a source of knowledge for your followers.

Once a day

Tweet a news article about your field. We do a Google News and New York Times search for keywords in our industry. Scan headlines of online industry publications and tweet out news relevant to your followers to become a trusted source of news and updates.

Tweet a tip based on your experience in your field. We tweet personal branding, online reputation management, career development and job search tips based on real experiences we’ve had hiring, finding jobs and building our own brands. What can you tweet about based on personal experience? For example, if you’re in graphic design, tweet a daily Photoshop tip. You’ll soon build your credibility in your field.

Tweet an inspirational quote. We love bite-sized sayings that impact how we think about life and work.  Head over to a directory of quotes like BrainyQuote and tweet a quote that might resonate with your followers to become a source of happiness.  

Tweet something personal. We try to keep things as human (read: non-spammy) as possible. Tweet stuff related to your life: let people know that you’re planning on going to a big concert next week. Since strictly following a checklist may decrease your tweeting creativity (I recommend a mix of checklist plus your own strategy), I require a certain number of “personal” tweets from my team.  Do this on a regular basis to connect on a deeper level with your followers.

Answer a question related to your field. Use Twitter search or a Twitter management app like TweetDeck or Hootsuite to search for people asking questions about your area of expertise. Type a keyword followed by a question mark to filter results, such as “graphic design?” or “civil engineer?” Answers questions and lead people back to your blog (you have one, right?) if your posts have more detailed answers. This is a great way to attract more followers, and establish yourself as an authority in your line of work.

Once a week

Reach out to an industry expert. We make a point to RT or @reply a new industry expert every week. Reach out to the big names who are the keynote speakers, noted authorities and thought leaders in your field. That’s the beauty of Twitter – you can reach out to anyone. It’s all fair game!

Conclusion

Make Things Easy With a Tweet Scheduler

To streamline the process of tweeting to build your personal brand, I recommend using a tweet scheduler. Input a number of tweets at the beginning of the week (why not queue up a few blog posts and quotes?), then set them to post periodically throughout the week. This set and-forget approach allows you to chunk out a small amount of time once a week instead of taking multiple microbreaks every day. (For some, microbreaks work better, but I find they interrupt my flow).

Which Checklist Items Will You Use?

One of the best ways to establish yourself as a valuable member of your community is to share new information on a regular basis. This checklist provides structure to your Twitter efforts, but shouldn’t simply replace your regular tweeting habits. Take what works for you.

If you are consistently pushing out fresh, targeted content, people will begin to look to you as a source for industry trends. Since the information is valuable, you will earn a ton of retweets, and in turn, valuable followers. When these followers consider you credible and involved, they’re likely to evangelize your personal brand on their own. That’s the mark of a strong brand: when you naturally create brand ambassadors that work for you.

What is your strategy to grow your personal brand on Twitter? Do you have your own personal “checklist?”

Author:

Pete Kistler is a leading Online Reputation Management expert for Generation Y, a top 5 finalist for Entrepreneur Magazine’s College Entrepreneur of 2009, one of the Top 30 Definitive Personal Branding Experts on Twitter, a widely read career development blogger, and a Judge for the 2009 Personal Brand Awards. Pete manages strategic vision for Brand‐Yourself.com, the first online reputation management platform for job applicants, named one of the Top 100 Most Innovative College Startups in the U.S.

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