Now You Can Get an Amazing Job by Having a Great Interview Conversation | Seattle Interview Coach

By Lewis

One of the keys of having a great job interview is to have an excellent conversation. In the June edition of Psychology Today, Matthais Mehl, a researcher from University of Arizona, shares four tips on how to get deeper conversations:

Dare to disclose

Substantive conversations don't need to be driven by emotion; they can be about politics, technology, even what you watch on TV, but they must involve some personal disclosure. Next time you're having a dialogue, try inserting something revealing about yourself. You might be surprised how the other person opens up.

Be a full participant

Give your full attention when you're talking to someone, instead of going through that laundry list of to-do's in your head, and you'll inevitably have a more involved tete-a-tete.

Find common ground

Mehl says people look for commonality as a way into having more profound conversations. If you can identify that common ground, you're on your way to having more meaningful exchanges. ("You're from Los Angeles? Me too! I also work in finance. Can you believe California is more in debt than Greece?")

Embrace your environment

Find a place where you feel secure and confident. For some people, that might be a corner of a crowded coffee shop--for others, a secluded part of a park. Whether a discussion is one-on-one or in a group, it's important to go somewhere everyone feels comfortable. When people feel relaxed, guards go down. The conversations you'll have will astound you.

via blog.seattleinterviewcoach.com

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Change the Delay Time on Gmail's Undo Send - undo send - Lifehacker

By Kevin Purdy

A helpful reader noticed a new setting in Gmail that's popped up since the Undo Send lab appeared in Gmail. You can now changed your undo buffer period to five or 20 seconds from the default 10 second wait.

andreasr2d2 provides this tip, having discovered it while hunting around in his Gmail Labs section. You'll need to enable Undo Send in your own Labs to see the setting appear in your General section, but it should come up soon after. The standard 10 seconds is probably fine for most, as one usually knows right away when an oopsie email is going out. But if that 10 seconds seems ghastly long, or not long enough to really think over what you just sent, you've now got two other options.

Got your own never-before-seen Gmail setting, or another tip to share? Leave it for us with a #tips tag somewhere in the text, and we'll be on the lookout.

Change the Undo Send delay [#tips]

Send an email to Kevin Purdy, the author of this post, at kevin@lifehacker.com.

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How Disengaged Employees Hurt Their Personal Brand | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

By Jessica Simko

I recently read a rather shocking statistic in this month’s issue of HR magazine. The article reports that 67% of the workforce is disengaged at work; two out of three people are not working to their full potential. That is a lot of people!

This statistic is very concerning for employers, but what does it mean for you if you are among the 67%?  The facts are, it is difficult (if not impossible) to build a strong personal brand if you emotionally quit your job while you stay there physically and tiredly go through the motions day after day.

To break it down furthur, the article states that 49% of employees are “disengaged” and an additional 18% are “actively disengaged” (commonly known as ‘Quit and Stay’ employees). Disengaged employees are the ones who simply check out at work. They aren’t into their work anymore and just do what needs to be done to get by. 

Actively disengaged employees are the ones who are unhappy at work and show it. They act out, they complain, they are insubordinate and they likely have performance issues. These employees are toxic to the work culture and are begging to be fired.

I know of many ‘Quit and Stay’ employees and if you are one of them, chances are management is aware of your attitude and is talking about it amongst themselves. Especially if you are in the actively disengaged category!

Overall, you might be a very hard worker with a strong work ethic and high integrity. Even so, those qualities do not shine through if you are not happy at work. The facts are, disengaged employees typically cannot and do not work past 59% of their true potential.

Even if you are currently disengaged, there was most likely a time when you were not. And believe me, the transition from a hard-working, motivated employee to a dull, burnt-out one does not go unnoticed.  If you are trying to build up a strong personal brand for yourself, you are hurting it by not working up to your true potential. Just doing what needs to be done to get by is not enough.

Going above and beyond is the key to building a strong personal brand and disengaged employees typically cannot do this.

How Does This Affect Me Outside of Work?

Part of building up a strong personal brand is having a good number of people who can give you positive recommendations. Are you trying to build up your LinkedIn profile with recommendations? The longer you stay disengaged, the more your work will suffer and the amount of recommendations you will be able to get will dwindle down to nothing. If you are disengaged, it’s likely you will be looking for work in the near future so you will need these!

Many potential employers will seek you out on LinkedIn. As a job seeker, you will want manager recommendations on your profile simply because you will be competing with those who do and those recommendations mean more than coworker recommendations.

The longer you stay disengaged, the more likely you will become actively disengaged and if you get terminated, you will now have to face the hurdle of overcoming that when you are seeking your next job.

In addition, when checking references, employers will want to speak to your previous boss. If you are asked on a job application (or elsewhere) if your last employer can be contacted and you say “no,” that raises suspicion about you.  If you are still working in that job, it makes more sense that you would not want your employer contacted but if you aren’t, what will your reason be for saying no?

Yep, I am Disengaged, What Can I Do?

If you are disengaged, you need to figure out why. Make a list of all the things that you take issue with at work. Is it your boss? Your coworkers? Low pay? Long hours? Too stressful? Job isn’t challenging enough? Not enough training? You feel unappreciated? You don’t feel like your work matters to anyone?

If it is a reason similar to those, something specific to your job, you need to sit down and discuss this with your manager in a professional manner.  If you are highly regarded, chances are your employer will want to work with you. I have seen many issues similar to these be raised and be resolved.  If, for whatever reason, you absolutely cannot do this, then you need to make a plan to move on and find something new.

If your reasons are more like “I don’t like my job,” “I don’t like my company,” “I want to do something different that isn’t offered here,” or “I want more meaningful work,” then you need to make a plan to move on as well.

I recently started a new blog on this topic that you can feel free to use as a resource.

Once you actively start doing something about your situation, it will become more bearable. You can go from disengaged to engaged, in a job you do not like, simply because you know you are doing something about it. Doing nothing about it will keep you disengaged and you can’t afford to do that. Keeping your personal brand intact is key here. The only way you can do that is to take action: talk to your boss or start actively seeking work elsewhere.

Jessica Simko is a seasoned senior level Human Resources professional with over 15 years of experience in all facets of Human Resources Management.  She is a Freelance Writer and  Entrepreneur specializing in career/ life coaching and social media. Striving to help people connect their passions with their jobs and life, she offers great career, personal branding, and life tips on her new blog, Work and Life Solutions.  Feel free to connect with her on:

Twitter
Linked In

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Job Concerns Living Inside the Head of a Person Near You | Career Rocketeer - Career Search and Personal Branding Blog

Do any of these job hunting concerns live inside the head of a person near you?

• I’m interested in so many things, I can’t settle on just one.
• If I’m so smart, how come no one is offering me a job?
• I’d do real well on an interview, I just don’t know how to get one.
• I’d get hired if I knew what I wanted to do.
• If I knew what I wanted to do I could get outside my head and go do it.

Let’s start with the first one:
I’m interested in so many things, I can’t settle on just one.

You may have trouble deciding on one career direction because you’re concerned you’ll pick the wrong path and be forever limited by your choice. Instead, select something that you can focus on for the next year or two; evaluate your situation when the time comes, then choose to stay or choose to look. There is no law or contract that binds you to one job or career for life. That may have been true twenty years ago. It’s not true now.

If I’m so smart, how come no one is offering me a job?
You’ve probably been told by your parents, teachers and friends that you’re intelligent, even gifted, and can do anything you want to do. That’s the problem. You can do anything and aren’t drawn to any one thing. When you go on an interview you don’t show any enthusiasm because you don’t feel any. The interviewer picks up on it, and doesn’t feel any enthusiasm about your candidacy. No juice, no offer.

I do real well on an interview. I just can’t get one.
There’s a big difference between self confidence and job search strategy. It sounds like you’ve got plenty of one and not enough of the other. Eighty percent of available jobs aren’t advertised. You find them by plugging into the word of mouth circuit and then start networking. As the word implies, networking enables you to work your way through an interconnected system of contacts, until you reach what you’re looking for: an interview.
The essentials of networking include: contacting people you know personally who share your professional interests; talking with them about your search; describing your strengths and skill sets; asking for ways to connect with people you should meet. Then you ask for introductions and meet with individuals they recommend. And never, ever ask a networking contact to find you a job.

I’d get hired if I knew what I wanted to do.
There are so many people who don’t know what they want to do, it’s a miracle anything gets done. No wonder the total value of goods and services produced is called the gross national product.
There are three ways that, in combination, can help you find what you are best matched to doing:
Self analysis: Look back at your life and the jobs you’ve had: what are the things you’ve enjoyed most and found greatest success doing?
Talk with people who know you best: Seek their insight regarding what they have observed you doing most easily and with greatest enthusiasm.
Career Counseling: Work with professionals trained to take what you know and have learned about yourself, who know the questions to ask, and can provide the feedback and analysis you need to enable you to find your way.

If I knew what I wanted to do I could get out of my head and go do it.
One of the reasons you’ve hesitated for so long has been your quest for the “one right job.” What you really need is to head in the right direction. Like everyone else, you’re bound to stumble. The moment of truth comes with what you’ll do next. People may give you advice. They can’t give you courage. That’s up to you.

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Guest Expert:

Joyce Richman (www.richmanresources.com) is an executive and career coach, a Center for Creative Leadership adjunct faculty member, and is certified to administer feedback and psychological instruments. Known for her humor and direct approach, Joyce is an international speaker, weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com.

via careerrocketeer.com

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Career Advice – The Dos and Don’ts For a Winning Resume | EmploymentDigest.net

Your resume is the all-important first step in the your search for a job, but don’t expect it to close the deal.

Therefore, craft it with a single objective in your mind: Get invited in for an interview where you can elaborate on and sell your qualifications in face-to-face communications with one or more decision makers.

Remember recruiters use resumes as an essential part of the screening process to help weed through the thousands of application they receive. By force of time, they have only seconds to scan the first few paragraphs of each document and decide whether they will dump it the wastebasket or read on.

Career Coaching Provides Dos and Don’ts Guidelines

Here are some dos and don’ts that will guide you in constructing a resume that will be read and acted on.

- Keep your resume short and to the point. In today’s highly competitive job market, with unemployment in the neighborhood of ten percent, there is a temptation to go on and on, wanting to load the document with all of the positives that paint the best possible picture. But in the world of Twitter and the Internet, attention spans are severely reduced.

If you go longer, the reader can easily conclude that you can’t organize and focus your thoughts. You might be seen as one of those people who talk too much.

The ideal would be one page with about 300 words, but that’s next to impossible, so try for 700 words or about two pages single-spaced.

After all, one of history’s most praised document, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, took only 250 words.

- Be honest. With the aid of computer screening programs it is easier than ever to pick up discrepancies in a document. Still some applicants try to fudge on their qualifications. One study shows that nearly one-half of the resumes in 2008 contained dishonest information in educational, employment and credential references. Honesty is always the best policy.

- Avoid trite, shop-worn words and phrases, as well as professional jargon and acronyms, like the plague.

Don’t spell out a litany of positions you have held. Instead, for example, if you were a sales manager, relate how sales were increased under your leadership. Recruiters hire people based more on their accomplishments than their experience.

Don’t claim “strong communications skills.” Demonstrate the fact by the effectiveness of your resume and cover letter.

Don’t declare your ability “to think out of the box.” Cite examples of your creativity.

Don’t claim to be a “team player.” Provide examples of how you achieved a goal by working with a team.

- Since on-line searches play such an important role in recruiting be sure to embed key words in your resume and cover letter. Don’t go overboard to the point that you distort the syntax of your sentences. Research job postings and websites of companies and industry associations to identify words that are associated with the position for which you are applying.

- Whatever you do, don’t allow a single error in spelling and grammar slip into your resume. One mistake is enough to send yours into the wastebasket. Get a friend, preferable one well versed in rules of the English language, to proof read your documents.

On a related point, be sure to check your appearances on social and business networks such as Facebook. Get rid of those pictures that show you in a questionable light.

Remember the purpose of the resume is to entice the reader to want to meet the person who wrote it in order to learn more about their qualifications.

For more advice on how to accelerate your career during tough times participate in Ramon Greenwood’s widely read Common Sense At Work Blog http://www.commonsenseatwork.com He coaches from a successful career as Senior VP at American Express, author of career-related books, successful entrepreneur, and a senior executive/consultant in Fortune 500 companies. For more free career coaching visit http://www.CommonSenseAtWork.com

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Frustrated with Job-Hunting on the Internet - The Career Doctor Blog

Anonymous writes:

Can you tell me how I am supposed to find job leads on the Internet? I am so frustrated right now about finding a job. Call me dazed and confused over this whole thing.

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The Career Doctor responds:

For most job-seekers, the Internet is just one of several tools you should be using to find a new job. The Internet — all the vast number of job sites — offers no guarantee of finding that perfect job. And many job-seekers spend way too much time searching online than performing other activities that are much more likely to lead to job leads and job interviews.

Let’s start with the Internet. The best way to use this tool is for research. Yes, it probably makes sense to post your resume on one or two of the major job boards, including our own Quintessential Careers Job Portal, as well as a few of the niche sites (industry-specific or location-specific). It makes more sense to go to the career centers of major companies and conduct research there (as well as apply to jobs that interest you). Job-seekers can find a wealth of information about organizations by spending a little time online. For more information, read my article, Step-by-Step Guide to Researching Companies.

Your most valuable tool of job-hunting, however, is still networking. Of course, you can network both online and in person. Think of career networking as relationship building. All you are doing when networking is making connections with people; you are NOT asking people for jobs. Instead, you make connections and share information. When you are actually job-hunting, some of the information shared will be job leads. Network with your family, friends, former co-workers and bosses, and alumni and former professors. You can also network with larger groups of people in community and religious organizations, with professional groups and associations, and at social events. There are also numerous social networking Internet sites. For more information, check out these Key Career Networking Resources for Job-Seekers, available on Quintessential Careers.

Finally, let’s not forget the old school, but still very viable, direct contact method where you identify a set of employers, research their needs and obtain the name and title of their hiring managers (not HR), and send them a directed cover letter and resume.

Read more in my article published on Quintessential Careers, 10 Ways to Develop Job Leads.

via careerdoctor.org

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Old Tools in an Evolving World | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

I recently listened to an ERE social media presentation which was presented by Penelope Trunk.  I thought the vast majority of the presentation was excellent, with great insight and interesting thoughts on social media as a whole.

I always try to leave a presentation with one or two items that stand out and leave me with something to build off of.  In this case, I walked away with two topics on which I did not agree with Penelope’s feedback. Now I hope to provide you with my thoughts on the issues. 

Okay, I will admit up front that the statement I provide from Penelope isn’t a direct quote, but more of a summary of her thoughts into a shortened statement (hey, I’m not a reporter so I am taking a small blogging liberty here).

Penelope: Resume’s are outdated.

Keith: Not really.  Why?  Well, LinkedIn is a working resume that millions of people update on a regular basis, both with their main work as well as any side projects.  This is a complete repository of people’s professional careers and is often without the “resume” details under each position.  Also, people choose to put a resume on their web sites, blogs, or even have a traditional MS Word copy of a resume.  Imagine that!  No, resumes are not outdated, but they are evolving.

Resumes will always be needed, the question is how they will evolve in presentation.

Penelope: Recruiters should not have to post a job.

Keith:  Most of you have heard the statistic that 80% of  job openings are not posted.  Penelope said her company has hired 15 people over the past year without posting an opening, hiring completely through their network.  Great statistic which absolutely puts an emphasis on networking, but not everyone is always thinking about their network to recommend for a position.  But what about companies with 1,000 or 10,000 or 20,000+ employees?  Job posting or advertising will always be needed in some capacity but, much like resumes, this practice is evolving.  Jobs are advertised, just not always on a job board.  They might be on someone’s Twitter stream, Facebook wall, LinkedIn status update or even on a blog.

Job postings will always be in existence, but getting into the interview process before a requirement is posted is the ideal goal.

Social networking is all about evolution.  The evolution of business, networking and connecting in too many ways to mention here.  What is great about this is that everyone uses social networking in a way that positively works for them.  If it isn’t working how a person wants it to, well, they won’t use it anymore.  Pretty simple.

What does this mean for you?  All recruiters work differently and job seekers should continue to use every avenue available to them when seeking a job.  Yes, some avenues are better than others but keep the net out to network and respond!

Image from EvolveFish

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Keith McIlvaine manages the recruiting social media strategy for a Fortune 500 company and is an avid networker.  He is a corporate recruiter, social media advisor, coach, speaker, blogger and an all around fanatic.  Connect with Keith on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or on his blog at the HR farmer.  (The statements posted on this site are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer)

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