Stop Playing the Victim with Your Time Management and Take Control

Stop Playing the Victim with Your Time Management and Take Control

When it comes to managing your time, many people feel like they have a crushing number of requests coming at them that make them a victim to their circumstances. "There's always too much to do. Everyone just keeps piling more work on me." Sound familiar? If so, you're not alone, but you should stop playing the victim and own the situation.

This post originally appeared on the Harvard Business Review.

They see forces outside themselves as the reason that they don't have time to exercise, can't leave work at a reasonable time, or just generally struggle to get everything done. Although there are occasionally situations that are outside of your control—that recent bout with the flu, for example—most aren't. And even though it can feel gratifying in the short term to blame others for your situation, this attitude toward your time investment will leave you truly powerless in the long run.

When you play the victim with your time, everything around you suffers. You're constantly on edge in your interactions with others because you fear that they'll pile yet one more thing on your already heavy load. Since you don't believe you can ever say, "no," your "yes" comes out of a place of obligation and resentment, not wholehearted commitment. Since your situation seems so difficult, you don't attempt to plan or work more efficiently because you believe that you will have to work all the time no matter what and are convinced that it's impossible to get everything done. You eventually stop trying because you believe no matter how hard you try—you'll fail.

In my work as a time coach, I've seen that individuals often have a much greater ability to influence their situation than they realize. But the breakthrough only happens when they start exerting their personal power instead of waiting for something around them to change. It's similar to when people who find themselves in debt blame the credit card companies, instead of accepting that they had a choice in spending more money than they had. Only by accepting that they can—and need—to change and then taking steps to do so can that balance go down.

The way to break out of this victim mind-set is to stop blaming others, and instead, take ownership of your time and take responsibility for changing yourself. Here are three practical steps to take back control of your time.

Be Mindful of How You React

Become aware of how you respond when your time investment becomes misaligned with your priorities. Do you always look for someone to blame? My boss always gives me too much to do. Do you pity yourself? Poor me, yet another stressful day. I'll get some ice cream to make myself feel better. Do you reject advice or suggestions? How dare my wife suggest I could work differently to get home earlier. That's just not possible. Do you ever say no to a new project? Do you ever set boundaries? Do you ever ask for support?

Recognize Your Role and Responsibilities

Understand that you are the decision maker when it comes to investing your time. There are certain situations where you simply need to do what it takes to get things done for a short time. That could be when you're approaching a major deadline, preparing for a new product launch, or drafting annual reports. But overload doesn't need to be the norm. It's not everyone else's fault if you have too much to do and you don't communicate that to anyone else. It's yours.

Even in top consulting firms known for their rigorous work schedules, there's room for open communication about time. For example, Boston Consulting Group established a formal global program called PTO (Predictability, Teaming, and Open Communication), which helps establish priorities and time-off goals for each team member. One component of this program is for team members to work together so that each one of them can have a period of time each week when they're completely off the project. To help make this happen, the teams have weekly check-ins that include talking about how they're feeling and the value they're delivering to clients. Each person recognizes their role to openly and honestly communicate about their needs, instead of expecting others to automatically know when they're overloaded. You must take on the same responsibility in your own organization with regards to your own time, even if you don't have a formal program encouraging you to do so.

Make a Commitment to Change and Take Ownership

Regardless of how you've behaved in the past in certain situations or with specific people, you have the opportunity to make the future different. Make a commitment to change; choose to respond your environment instead of simply accepting whatever comes your way.

Instead of becoming a victim, take ownership of the situation and your time. This could look like speaking up when you feel that someone makes an unreasonable request so that you don't end up overloaded. Have your project list on hand when you go to meetings so that if a new project is proposed, you can evaluate its importance in relation to your other commitments. If it doesn't seem like there's sufficient time for the new work, propose a discussion about priorities during the meeting or bring it up later with the appropriate parties.

Also, set clear rules and boundaries to prevent taking on too much from others. For example, if you manage staff members who tend to turn in work at the last minute with many errors, require that they turn in items earlier. That allows you to send it back to them to make corrections instead of doing them yourself because you're on a tight deadline.

Finally, if you're in a situation where setting better boundaries isn't possible (such as a job where you're on call 24/7) and you're finding your time investment troubles unmanageable, you may need to consider whether you're in the right job. There are some positions that will not create a sustainable lifestyle for you no matter what you try to do. It's okay to decide to get out.

By taking responsibility for your time investment choices, you stop wasting energy blaming others and start directing it toward a productive response toward the people and situations around you. With that focus, you can have enough time for what's most important to you.

Stop Playing the Victim with Your Time | Harvard Business Review

source Stop Playing the Victim with Your Time Management and Take Control

The Only Time It's OK to Use an Objective Statement on Your Resume

The Only Time It's OK to Use an Objective Statement on Your Resume

Ask three people to look over your resume, and you’ll get three different perspectives on what should and shouldn’t be on there.

Yet, somehow, pretty much everyone agrees that objective statements are out of fashion. In their place, you’ve probably heard, should be a resume summary statement. Or, since you need to keep it all to one page anyway, just save the space and dive right into your relevant experience.

And that’s true, generally. But there’s one occasion when your resume should, in fact, return to the objective statement: when you’re making a huge career change.

Think about it. If you have, say, five years of experience in business development and you’re now interested in marketing, your resume probably isn’t selling you as the best candidate for the gigs you’re applying to. In this case, you could definitely benefit from having an objective statement to clearly explain that you’re making the switch and show how your skill set aligns with this new career path. It might even be confusing if you don’t use an objective statement if your experience doesn’t line up cleanly with the position you’re applying for.

That said, it’s very easy to get objective statements wrong. That’s probably why they’ve gotten such a bad reputation—people just write them poorly. Something like “Objective: To obtain a position as a public relations specialist at an innovative and impactful company that utilizes my skills and experience” is literally just wasting space—every single company in the world likes to think of itself as “innovative and impactful,” and it’s not clear what “skills and experience” this person brings to the job. The top of your resume is prime real estate, so you don’t squander it by using vague filler material.

A better approach is to be as specific as possible about your goal and plainly state how you intend to bring your skills and strengths to a position—something like this: “Objective: To leverage my 10+ years of client-facing experience, public speaking skills, and expertise in the tech industry in a public relations role at a growing educational technology startup.” Like a summary statement, it shows off your skills, but it also explains exactly how you plan to transition them in a new role.

While you’ll often hear that the objective statement is dead, it’s important to note that, really, there just aren’t any hard and fast rules when it comes to resume writing. (In fact, the only resume advice that really matters is to do what it takes to get the interview.) Focus on what works for your experience, not what works for the masses. And if that means including an objective statement, go for it.

source The Only Time It's OK to Use an Objective Statement on Your Resume

How to Avoid Coming on Too Strong in Your Job Search

How to Avoid Coming on Too Strong in Your Job Search

During the job search, it’s all too easy to feel emotionally involved. After all, this is your livelihood on the line, and everybody’s telling you that a typo on your cover letter could be the difference between you going on to the interview stage or getting passed over entirely.

However, this same desire to get a job so badly could be the thing standing in the way of you actually getting hired.

The problem comes when you want something so bad that you go from being passionate and ambitious to seeming, to be honest, kind of needy.

In an article for Science magazine, career expert David Jensen explains:

Very few can achieve something difficult without desire. Desire, though, is like gasoline; it can burn too hot. It’s also like a lubricant; it can grease the gears, but if you have too much, things get slippery and hard to hold on to. It also doesn’t show very well, or not always.

For example, maybe you try so hard when networking with your professional contacts that you come on too strong and turn them off to helping you. Or maybe you’ve practiced your over-enthusiastic interview answers so much that you end up kind of scaring interviewers (they have a sixth sense for this sort of needy desire, Jensen says).

The question is, how do you show off your enthusiasm—without going overboard? Here are a couple of suggestions.

When Networking

When it comes to any sort of networking (in-person events, email, LinkedIn), the name of the game is being straightforward but casual. Let people know that you’re on the job hunt, but don’t shove it down their throats.

For example, if you’re at a networking event, you don’t want to spend every second of a 10-minute conversation talking about yourself and what you’re looking for in a job. Instead, use your job search as a jumping off point for someone else to talk about what they do. Saying, “Oh, you work in finance? I’ve actually been looking at different positions in the sector for a while. What is it that you do?” is a lot less aggressive but also opens up the door to more possibilities of where the conversation can go.

Another important tip for networking during the job search? Always offer your contacts some sort of out. For instance, if you’re asking a friend to put a good word in for you at her company, end with something like, “If you don’t feel comfortable doing this, I completely understand. There’s absolutely no pressure.” Regardless of how badly you want that job, it’s not worth making a contact feel awkward (and potentially having the opposite effect).

In Your Job Application Materials

When you’re the one doing all of the work to get a job, it’s easy for your materials to come off as being all about you. What’s wrong with this approach? You’re missing a critical part of the equation: The company that’s doing the hiring.

Remember that from hiring managers’ perspectives, your job application is actually all about them, since they’re the ones in need of someone and therefore opening up the opportunity for you to apply.

So, don’t let your resume, cover letter, or application turn into a giant “me”-fest. Much like the principles of networking, it’s all about making the other person the center of attention. Take extra care in your cover letter to explain what you’d do for the company (not just the fact that the job would be great for you), and make sure your resume actually illustrates your qualifications for that particular job.

During the Interview

Over-preparation can actually be a bad thing when it comes to job interviews! For example, have you ever had someone look you straight in the eye for extended periods of time? Trust me on this one: It’s ridiculously uncomfortable!

While it’s important to go over interview questions and think about how you want to come across when you’re meeting with a hiring manager, it’s also important to think about how you may be coming across to the other person. For instance, a firm handshake it good; a bone-crushing grip is not. Practicing your answers tocommon interview questions can totally help you; memorizing answers word-for-word will come across as rehearsed and awkward.

Be prepared for anything in an interview, including having to go with the flow at some point or another.

The best way to keep your desire for an opportunity in check? Jensen suggests reminding yourself that there are bigger and more important things out there: “…focus less on whether or not you win in the end. You still have to be sharp; that’s why you prepare well. But once you’ve prepared, you need to calm down. And you can. You know why? Because it really doesn’t matter that much.”

In other words, if this opportunity doesn’t pan out, know that there will be another great one around the corner.

source How to Avoid Coming on Too Strong in Your Job Search

How to Clean Up Your Social Media During the Job Search

How to Clean Up Your Social Media During the Job Search

Think the whole “future employers checking your social media accounts” thing is just an annoying urban legend? Think again.

It turns out that one in three employers have rejected candidates based on something they found out about them online. So, here’s a guide to what you need to know before you start sending your resume out there. The bottom line: Don’t lose a job offer just because you forgot to delete those photos from your friend’s bachelorette party.

source How to Clean Up Your Social Media During the Job Search

How to Make Sure You Sound Like a Person (Not a Robot) in an Interview

How to Make Sure You Sound Like a Person (Not a Robot) in an Interview

I once worked with a senior marketing executive. He was among the top candidates for a chief marketing officer role with one of my recruiting clients. On paper, he was impressive. In real life? Really great. Organized, focused, and one heck of a nice guy. I thought he would kill it throughout the interview process.

He made it one round.

One. Uno. I was shocked. I seriously thought this guy was going the distance.

I called the head of HR, and she told me exactly what had gone wrong.

In his fervor to be prepared to say just the right things, at just the right moment, every step of the way, something not-so-great happened to that senior marketing executive. He turned himself into an over-rehearsed, inauthentic robot. And the members of the executive team noticed, quickly.

(And not in a good way.)

So how do you avoid this moment? How do you make sure you walk into your next job interview ready to demonstrate that you’re professional, genuine, and likeable, without coming across as C3PO or, worse, some freewheeling cheeseball?

Here are four strategies to consider:

1. Prepare, But Don’t Memorize

Oh, heck yes you need to walk in to the interview prepared. This is not news. But “prepared” does not mean “I just memorized every last stinking question that could possibly be asked.” It’s far better to consider how your career story wraps around the questions you hear are always asked in interviews (ahem, Google “most common interview questions”) than to over-rehearse rote responses to all of them. It’s near impossible to come across as relaxed and authentic when you’re in hyper-vigilant mode waiting for the next question to come up.

2. Think P-I-E

Mmmmm, pie. No, seriously: P-I-E. It stands for passionate, interested, and engaged.

It’s the perfect acronym (and yes, it’s OK to memorize this one) to help ensure that you are a genuine, normal human being in your next interview. Correct answers don’t mean a thing (just ask that marketing exec) if you don’t look inspired to be there, totally dialed in to the conversation, and crazy about that thing that you do. Nail all three of these and you’re golden.

3. Choose Pause Over Babble

Quantity is most assuredly not always quality. If you don’t know quite how to answer a question, don’t try and cover it up with a tidal wave of words and sentences. You’re not going to overwhelm anyone into hiring you, for crying out loud. Instead, realize that it’s perfectly OK to pause and think for a second or two. It’s also OK to ask for clarification if you don’t quite understand what’s being asked.

Now, don’t sit there and stare down the poor person across the table for 2.5 minutes, but short, thoughtful pauses don’t make you weak; they make you real.

4. Take a Run-Through

You know that silly little saying, “Practice makes perfect?” Right, we’ve established by now that we’re not going for “perfect” here, but you can bet your bottom dollar you’ll be more at ease in that interview if you take a run-through or two prior to the big day. Ask a friend or family member whose opinion you value to spend 30 minutes with you. Give them a list of questions that you suspect might be asked.  And then hit it.

After the mock interview, ask that person for honest feedback: How did you come across? How was your body language, your eye contact? Better yet, film the whole session and watch it for yourself a time or two in advance of the interview. Fine tune accordingly.

Arriving prepared for an interview is everything. But, you know what’s more likely to clinch it for you?

Arriving authentic.

source How to Make Sure You Sound Like a Person (Not a Robot) in an Interview

Your Game Plan for Getting Noticed by Your Dream Company

Your Game Plan for Getting Noticed by Your Dream Company

With the growing trend in companies creating a unique company culture with perks like unlimited vacations or nap pods, it’s not so uncommon to have a dream company before you even have a dream job.

But once you know what your dream company is, what’s next? How do you begin the process of getting noticed and showing the team that you’re the next great addition?

Here’s your four-step game plan. Hint: It’s not about submitting your resume to every open job on the website.

1. Do Your Research

Even though you’ve likely combed through dozens of photos of your dream company’s gorgeous office and know all about its catered lunch policy, you should still take some time to do more research. Whether you do more digging into the company’s core values or core product, there’s always more to learn. For some ideas for where to look for this information beyond the company website, check out this article on researching companies.

Why is this so critical? The more you know about the company, the more you’ll be able to stand out in your networking conversations and application materials—plus you’ll even sound more enthusiastic in the interview. Of course, your research shouldn’t stop at the company level. Pull up LinkedIn and see what you can learn about who works at and runs the company to see what themes come up.

2. Craft Your Career Narrative

Once you have a really good sense of what you’re signing up for, see how you fit into the picture. What is your career narrative, and why does it lead you to this particular company? Perhaps you’re a programming whiz with a passion for understanding the financial market, or maybe you’re a marketing pro with a keen interest in the field of health and wellness. Regardless, career expert Jenny Foss offers some excellent tips here on how to tell your career story, no matter how complicated it is.

With your story strung together, practice, practice, and practice some more. You’re going to need to nail your elevator pitch when it comes time for you to meet those people you’ve been stalking on LinkedIn and, with any luck, the interviewers at this company.

3. Get Your Foot in the Door

This is where things get a bit trickier. Armed with your perfected elevator pitch and in-depth company knowledge, your next step is connecting with people who work at your dream company. If you already have a friend or acquaintance who you feel comfortable contacting to learn more about the company, great! If not, here’s how to find an “in” at the company fast.

With one or two people lined up, politely ask to set up an informational interview. This will give you an opportunity to get an insider’s perspective and let someone within the company know of your enthusiasm and interest. Whether you end up having a quick networking call or a longer sit-down conversation, plan ahead what questions you need to ask in order to get the information you’re looking for. Maybe it’s what the company seeks in a new hire or what your friend’s own interview experience was—the key here is to know what you want to find out.

4. Tailor Your Application

Now that you’ve laid all the groundwork, it’s finally time to apply. (If you get an internal referral from all the networking you’ve been doing, that’s even better.) This being your dream company and all, you’ll obviously not send your standard resume. Tailor that resume like you mean it, so there can be no doubt you’re ideal for the company.

Next, write an unforgettable introduction for your cover letter (here are dozens of great examples), and wrap up by following some of these tips on writing cover letters that make hiring managers smile, then call you. Tailoring your application documents is an important part of any job search process, but let’s not forget which company this is for. Go all out.

Enthusiasm alone will only get you so far. To really get noticed, you’re going to need to put in the work. The good thing is, in the end, those nap pods (or whatever it is about your dream company that you love) will have been worth the effort.

source Your Game Plan for Getting Noticed by Your Dream Company

7 Killer Questions to Ask at Your Next Interview

7 Killer Questions to Ask at Your Next Interview

“So, do you have any questions for me?”

The interview is almost over, and you’ve nailed every question the hiring manager has asked. But don’t brush off this last one as a formality.

“If an applicant doesn’t have any questions for me, that’s a red flag,” explains Angela Smith, a recruiter. “I’m thinking that they either don’t care or can’t be bothered to do research about my company.”

Almost as bad as not asking a question is asking one that could be answered by looking at the job description or company website.

So what should you ask to impress the hiring manager and end the interview on a high note?

We’re glad you asked.

source 7 Killer Questions to Ask at Your Next Interview

5 Smart Networking Strategies for Career Changers

5 Smart Networking Strategies for Career Changers

Career changes can feel incredibly daunting. And networking for that change? Even more so. All your contacts know you for your current role and responsibilities, so how do you even begin networking effectively for your new desired role?

Like the career change itself, this particular step probably won’t be as dramatic as you might imagine (no, really). In fact, much of the networking you’ll be doing will be the same, with just a couple of exceptions—and these sometimes make things easier, not harder!

1. Let People Know

Even though many of the people in your immediate network won’t be in your target industry, you never know who might be in their networks. So let people know you’re thinking about making a change, and see if they know anyone you can connect with. (This “Help Me Find a Job” template can be easily adapted to a career-changing situation.)

Likewise with your social media network, especially if your career change is actually a fairly well worn path (think leaving your corporate job for a startup). You might just attract the attention of a recruiter and cut down on the networking you need to do.

2. Do Your Research

Even beyond your immediate network, you likely have more resources at your disposal than you realize. Before you start reaching out to people who are a little further removed from you, do your research. Does your university give you access to an alumni database? Have you searched on LinkedIn for people in your target role to check out their career paths? What are the professional organizations that are active in your area? This might not feel like networking to you, but it’s important to lay the foundation for your future efforts.

3. Find Others Who Have Done It

Once you get a sense of the different ways you’ll be able to meet more people, know that the most useful people for you to connect with are those who have already made the career change you’d like to make. LinkedIn can be particularly useful here, since you can see people’s career paths right there on their profiles. While reaching out to people who have an extensive tenure in the industry can be helpful to learn more about the trade, other recent career changers are often able to offer more strategic advice about breaking into your new field.

4. Seek Advice

Networking is hard work—especially the meeting people and talking to them bit—but magically, it’s actually easier when you’re new to an industry. Think about it this way: Networking is all about telling your story, asking questions, and getting advice. As a career changer, your story is going to be more interesting than most and, being new and all, you’ll naturally have questions and require advice. Use this to your advantage! Once you’ve looked up people to talk to, set up a bunch of informational interviews and go to town.

5. Go to Industry Events

Finally, put yourself out there. Go to local events related to your industry. Professional organizations frequently have both social and professional development events—and you could benefit from both. Learn something new and create some luck for yourself. You might just end up in the right place at the right time and meet the person who ends up giving you your big break into the field.

It feels really big right now, but if you take it step by step and remind yourself to be patient, before long, you’ll be the one people reach out to wanting to learn about changing careers. Of course, you’ll still remember how intimidating it all felt and offer some words of wisdom or open a door or two. Right?

source 5 Smart Networking Strategies for Career Changers

A 3-Step Plan for Turning a Job Rejection Into an Opportunity

A 3-Step Plan for Turning a Job Rejection Into an Opportunity

After acing multiple rounds of interviews, daydreaming about how you’re going to decorate your office, and basking in the warm feeling of having finally found “your people,” you’ve just opened an email that says, “Thank you for applying, but...”

Bummer.

But before you send a strongly worded email, order a glitter bomb, or dissolve into a puddle of self-pity, take a deep breath and try to read the situation for what it is: You got really close. Final round interviews typically mean you’re competing with only one or two other people. The hiring manager likely remains very impressed with your skills, but for some reason—which may or may not even be related to you—gave the role to someone else.

Don’t throw away all the effort you’ve put into this company by moving on without responding. This might not be exactly the opportunity you were envisioning, but it’s an opportunity nonetheless. Make the most of it by sending a thoughtful thank you note. Here’s how.

1. Say Thank You

First things first: Say thank you. Hosting a candidate for an interview takes time, effort, and a surprising amount of coordination from many people. You may not have landed the job, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t try to be courteous hosts throughout the interview process.

The key here to not sounding generic or even passively annoyed is to be specific. Thank the hiring manager or recruiter for the chance to learn more about the company and meet the team and for the overall experience of interviewing for the role. Did anything from the day stand out to you in particular as a positive memory? Write about that. Just a sentence or two will do.

2. Ask for Feedback

Maybe you not getting the job ultimately had little to do with you, but maybe not. And the only way for you to find out is to ask what you could have done better.

In general, it seems interviewers are typically pretty hesitant to do this, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, especially if you made it to the final round. If they don’t respond, there’s no harm done, and you get bonus points for being the type of person who seeks feedback. If you do get feedback, you’ll have something to work on for your next interview. Win-win.

Make it easier by asking something less broad than, “Do you have any feedback you can offer me?” Try something like, “Are there particular skills that you think I could bolster for future opportunities?” or “Pointers on how I could better approach the technical portion of the interview would be greatly appreciated.”

3. Keep the Door Open

At this point, you’re already going to successfully make the impression that you’re a gracious and introspective person. Good job. Wrap up by keeping the door open and maximizing this chance to expand your network. Reiterate your interest in the type of work you interviewed for, and ask that the team keep in you in mind for future similar opportunities.

You never know what this simple request could lead to. As Sara McCord explains, she was able to turn a rejection from one company into a job offer at another after the CEO she interviewed with vouched for her. Treat this note as a way to open more doors, rather than just the closing of one.

As with all thank you notes, you’ll want to follow the standard etiquette and send it quickly. It’s okay to be bummed out about not getting the job, but don’t let it hold you back for long. Who knows? This could actually lead to your next big break.

source A 3-Step Plan for Turning a Job Rejection Into an Opportunity

5 Questions Hiring Managers Think During Interviews (But Might Not Ask)

5 Questions Hiring Managers Think During Interviews (But Might Not Ask)

Interviews are fairly anxiety inducing, especially when your interviewer has what can only be described as a professional poker face. You could drive yourself insane trying to figure out what exactly is going on behind that diplomatic smile.

To save you from the agony and to help you better prepare, here is an insider look at what goes through a hiring manager’s mind during an interview. In general, employers are looking for the best technical and cultural fit that their budgets will allow for. While these questions will all go through their minds, the questions they end up asking usually aren’t as direct. So, know that no matter how wacky or irrelevant the question might seem, they all come back to these five core concerns.

1. Have You Successfully Done Similar Work in the Past?

Really, the question should be more along the lines of, “Can you do the job?” but that’s not always the easiest thing to evaluate. That’s why such weight is given to your ability to show relevant work that you have done, whether it was for another company, for school, or just independently.

Any chance you get, you should be talking about your relevant experience and transferable skills. Of course, it’s not always just about results. Being able to talk about why you were successful is also important. Tell stories about your previous experience, and be introspective. The interviewer will be attempting to draw insights from your answers, so you might as well spell them out to make sure you’re sending the message you want to send.

2. Will You Work Well With My Current Team?

There is always some context that you’re being hired into, and it’s in the hiring manager’s best interest to make sure you will be a good fit and can hit the ground running.

How exactly can a hiring manager discern whether or not you’ll work out? In the end, it’s still a bit of a gamble, but a few things you should definitely try to get across are your communication style and effectiveness, your work ethic, your career values, and how you approach problems. Think broadly about these things, and then come up with a concrete supporting example as you’re preparing for the interview.

And remember: There’s no right or wrong answer here. After all, you don’t want to end up in a situation where you’re a bad fit either.

3. What Do You Know About My Company?

You’re applying for a specific role that probably exists in many other companies as well, so why this one? Hiring managers want you to show not only that you know what makes their particular company special, but that you’re really excited about it. Doing your homework on the company and considering why you’d be a good fit shows that you’re invested.

Naturally, it doesn’t stop there. Asking thoughtful and informed questions about the company is a great way to show continued enthusiasm as the interview progresses . Do the company research beforehand, and show off what you know in both your answers and your questions.

4. Does the Job You’re Expecting Align With What the Job Actually Is?

In other words, do you know what you’re signing up for, and is it what you’re really looking for? No one wants to hire someone who just wants the job to tide him or her over until a new, more desirable job turns up. And, while we’re on the topic of expectations, are your salary expectations in line with the company’s? To get to the point, can the company afford to hire you?

To get to this, the interviewer might ask anything from your motivation for leaving your previous position to what you’re most excited about in the new role. The current salary question will likely come up at some point as well. In the end, there are a hundred different questions that could get at this concern. To prepare in a realistic amount of time, figure out what your career narrative is. Where did you come from, where are you going, and why? How does this job fit in with your goals? Oh, and read up on negotiation.

5. Are You Confident in Your Abilities?

This might not be something hiring managers are thinking about consciously, but you can bet that their perception of your confidence will make a difference in how they remember you. Now, confidence can mean different things to different people, but in general if you can show that you’re passionate about the work and you look the part, half the battle is won. If you want to boost your confidence even more, set some time aside to do a few power poses before the big interview.

Of course, looking confident is just a matter of practice, but being confident requires a whole new mindset. If you’re short on time, get a pep talk from your support network of friends and mentors. Having the right people in your life can make a world of difference when it comes to self-confidence—not to mention it’s easier (and more effective) to say, “My manager would describe me as hardworking,” rather than “I’d say I’m a pretty hard worker.”

If you can get across a clear message that addresses all of these concerns, you’re well prepared to meet the mysterious hiring manager. So, before you go into your next interview, make a point to check off everything on this list. You still might not be able to read the person across the table, but this time you won’t need to.

source 5 Questions Hiring Managers Think During Interviews (But Might Not Ask)

10 Networking Mistakes That Will Ruin Your Professional Relationships

10 Networking Mistakes That Will Ruin Your Professional Relationships

Job hunting experts constantly give advice on networking. Connecting with people you’ve worked with in the past and meeting new people can be the best way to find a new job, find new people to hire, and build your client base. It’s a critical skill, and many of us need to be better at it. But sometimes, we’re not just bad at networking, we’re destructive. We offend the very people we want to build relationships with. Here’s what you might be doing wrong.

1. It’s All About Me
If your relationships in the business world tend to focus on me, me, me, then people won’t want to talk to you. While it’s good for people to know about you and your skills, you also need to find out about them. People love to talk about themselves, and if you don’t let them, it’s bad news.

2. Informational Interviews Under False Pretenses
If you want to talk to someone about a job, don’t ask for an informational interview. An informational interview is one in which you learn about the other person’s company or job. It’s not a trick where you just get your foot in the door and then spend the time telling the person why she should hire you. Do this, and you’re almost guaranteed to be deleted from her LinkedIn connections.

3. Not Interested in Helping Others
Networking is a two-way street. If I’ve helped you land a job, but you have no time for me when I’m looking, then forget that. You need to focus on helping others as often as possible.

4. Undermining Instead of Building Up
You don’t network by talking about how awful other people are (with the idea that you’ll get the job instead). If you’re fabulous, you don’t need to worry about your competition. Talking trash about other people will make you look bad.

5. Silence, Silence, Silence—“Help Me Right Now!”—Silence
You haven’t said a word to any of the 500 people on your LinkedIn account in five years, but now you need a job and you email blast all of them. You pump them for information, ask for introductions, references, and favor after favor, and then land a new job and go back into hibernation. These people aren’t going to feel warm and fuzzy about helping you again in the future.

6. TMI
While you need to maintain relationships with people, it’s also bad to overshare. Don’t discuss your marital difficulties with your former boss. Don’t talk about your credit rating with your co-workers. Don’t post on the internet about how you’re looking for a new job because your current boss is a jerk. Don’t call someone and cry on the phone about how your house will be in foreclosure if you can’t find a job right away. Instead, talk about how you add value to a company.

7. Not Doing Your Research
“Tell me about your company” is not a statement that should come out of your mouth at any time other than during a social activity. Whether you’re cold calling someone or have had a mutual contact set up a meeting, you need to learn what you can about the company and the person. Walking into a meeting—even at a coffee shop—without any knowledge is a waste of the other person’s time.

8. Old-fashioned Rudeness
Demanding time and information and acting put out if someone doesn’t jump when you snap your fingers can destroy your opportunity to learn something new. Additionally, approaching someone at a funeral or bothering the person at an amusement park may ruin the relationship. And remember to always say thank you.

9. Lying
While we all expect a bit of hyperbole when people are attempting to sell themselves, outright lying will offend your network. For instance, let’s say you’re chatting with your neighbor about your career aspirations, and your neighbor says, “Oh, I know the company I work for is looking for a business analyst,” and you say, “I have gobs of experience.” The neighbor then, graciously, sets up a meeting with the marketing director at his company. If you don’t have the experience you told your neighbor you had, the meeting will be under false pretenses, and your neighbor will be ticked. You’ve just made him look bad in the eyes of a senior colleague.

10. Demanding Results
Monday: “Hi, Jane. It’s been a long time since we talked, but I was hoping you could help me out.” Tuesday: “Jane, did you get my message yesterday?” Wednesday: “Jane, I hope you’re not on vacation. I really want...” Thursday: “Jane, I left you three voice mails and...” etc. Following up is important in networking, but so is taking a hint and leaving someone alone. Especially if Jane already responded to you, but it wasn’t to your satisfaction. Remember no one is obligated to help you.

Content Source : Themuse.com

12 Tiny Changes That Make Your Resume Easy for Recruiters to Skim

12 Tiny Changes That Make Your Resume Easy for Recruiters to Skim

There’s some debate about how many seconds a recruiter spends looking over a resume, but we can all agree that it’s not a lot. With such limited time to get important information across, anything you can do to make your resume easier to skim could mean the difference between the forward or toss piles.
So, after you’ve spent some time perfecting the content of those sections and bullet points, it’s time to make sure they’re as easy (and appealing!) to read as possible. Here are 12 little formatting tricks you can use to help recruiters and hiring managers get the most from your resume during their six to 18 second scan.

1. Don’t Center Any of Your Text
Even your section headings should be aligned to the left. This improves readability because the eye naturally returns to the left margin once it’s ready to move on to the next line of text.

2. Align Your Dates and Locations to the Right
You can only fit so much different information (company name, job title, location, dates of employment) on one line of text before it gets unwieldy. To help separate out your information, make a separate column for dates and locations that is right adjusted. On most word processors, you should be able to just create a right-tab.

3. Don’t Justify Your Resume
Overall, using a justified setting for your bullets may make your resume look tidier, but it does nothing for readability. This setting leaves uneven gaps between words that ultimately make text harder to read, so for your bullets and resume overall, stick with regular ol’ left alignment.

4. Keep Everything the Same Size Font
Aside from your name, which should be a little bigger, the font size throughout your resume should be the same size to ensure readability. Rather than using font size for emphasis throughout your resume, use bolding, italics, and all-caps—sparingly, of course.

5. Pick Either Your Roles or Your Companies to Bold
Bolding of select words and phrases helps with scanning, but you don’t want to go overboard. So choose what to bold wisely, depending on the message you want to send. If your job titles effectively illustrate your path to management-level roles, bolding those might make the most sense. On the other hand, if you’re a new grad and most of your experiences are internships, you might benefit more from emphasizing the companies on your resume.

6. Use ALL-CAPS Very Sparingly
While it is an option for creating emphasis, all-caps is a lot harder to read and therefore harder to skim than text that isn’t capitalized. Save your all-caps option for section headings or your name.

7. Maximize the First 5 Words of Your Bullets
When skimming a resume, a recruiter is very likely going to be reading the first few words of a bullet, then moving on to the next line unless his or her interest is piqued. This means those first few words of your bullets are much more important than the rest. Make sure the first five words of each line make the reader want to keep reading. (Need help? These power verbs will make your resume awesome.)

8. Keep Bullets Under 2 Lines
Even if your first few words are the most interesting thing your recruiter has ever read, going over two lines per bullet is pushing it a bit. Try to keep your bullets short and sweet. (And yes, you should always use bullets, not paragraphs, to describe your experiences.)

9. Use Digits When Writing About Numbers
Using numbers in your bullet points quantifies results and helps recruiters better understand the scope of your work. (Here’s how to do it well.) Make these numbers easy to read by using digits (i.e., 30% versus thirty percent). It improves readability and—bonus—saves space.

10. Have a Separate “Skills” Section
Just to really drive the point home, piling up all your relevant skills into one section helps ensure that the recruiter sees them. You should still highlight your skills in the context of your work, but pulling them out into their own section doesn’t hurt.

11. Keep Your Formatting Consistent
People can get pretty creative when they’re trying to fit all their relevant work experience into one page. That’s fine, but make sure that however you decide to do it, you keep your formatting the same throughout the document. Consistency helps with skimming, and if the recruiter wants to refer back to something, he or she will know where to look.

12. Try to Have Some White Space Left Over
Lastly, having some breathing room on your resume also helps with skimming. Different amounts of white space can signal to the reader that this is a different section or help emphasize the importance of something, such as your name or skills. And overall, it just makes the whole document less overwhelming.


Having your resume skimmed is a fact of life as you apply for jobs. So, make sure you maximize the experience and make it as easy as possible for the recruiter to find the right information—and send you along to the next step of the process.

This post originally appeared on The Muse.

What the People Reading Your Resume Wish You Knew

What the People Reading Your Resume Wish You Knew

Resumes are very personal documents. In fact, whenever I’m reviewing a resume, I always ask permission before I mark it up. Who am I to edit your life’s work?

That said, I can almost guarantee you that the way your career counselor handles your resume is not the way it will be handled once you submit your job applications. After speaking with many, many recruiters, here are some hard truths I’ve learned.

• If your relevant experience, education, or skills are hard to find at a glance, your resume might as well be blank.

It’s understandable to want to make your resume stand out a bit from the typical resume, but getting creative in InDesign isn’t the way to do it. As the head of Google’s HR states, “Unless you’re applying for a job such as a designer or artist, your focus should be on making your resume clean and legible.”

In other words, no funky formats. You’re far better off spending your time trying to maximize the top half of your resume. This could mean writing a resume summary with your most relevant qualifications or maybe pulling all your most relevant experiences into a separate section at the top of your resume and relegating the rest into an “Additional Experiences” section. As long as you’re trying to maximize traditional resume formatting rather than do something entirely different, you should be safe.

• If it’s not immediately clear from your experience why you’re applying, no one will connect the dots for you.

Whether you’re a career changer or just applying for a reach position, if a recruiter’s initial reaction to your resume is confusion, you’re not going to get very far.

So, make sure you connect the dots for the reader. It’s likely that you have an idea of how your skills can be transferred or why you’re more skilled than your years of experience might let on. But, unless you spell it out on your resume, the recruiter probably won’t be able to put the pieces together—and you’ll never have the chance to explain in person.

One way to solve it? Using a simple objective statement. While you should definitely not use an objective statement if you’re applying for a position that makes perfect sense—or if it’s a clichéd “I’d like to use my skills at an innovative, fast-growing organization”—if your background is a little unusual for the job you’re targeting, a brief explanation might just be what gets you to the interview.

• If your resume is difficult to skim, it probably won’t be read at all.

There’s some debate over how much time a recruiter will spend looking over a resume, but everyone agrees that it’s less than 20 seconds. What does that mean for job seekers? It means your resume needs to be as easy to read—really, skim—as possible.

Read: Don’t make your font so small that it’s barely legible. It doesn’t matter how much more you’re able to fit on your one-pager if no one is reading it. And don’t let your bullet points drag on to that third line. Two is all you get and, more likely than not, one is all that will get read. 

• If you expect to get your resume in front of a hiring manager, you need to first make sure you get through HR.

That means making sure a layperson can understand what you’re talking about in your resume. It doesn’t matter if you’re managing complicated supply chains, coding complex algorithms, or conducting cutting-edge research on nanolasers—none of your impressive feats will reach the appropriate hiring manager if you can’t at least explain it in a way that a nontechnical human resources representative can understand well enough to put you in the right pile.

This means cutting the jargon, giving proper context, and focusing on results. Use the job posting to your advantage here—find the keywords and present your work the same way they do. I know, jargon can be pretty fun to use and starts to get instinctive when you’re around it for long enough, but step outside of your industry bubble for a bit and try to approach your resume as an industry outsider. The easier you make things for HR, the more smoothly your application process will go.

• If your contact info isn’t correct, nothing else matters.

Finally, don’t be that person who has everything a recruiter is looking for but is just impossible to contact. Check, double check, and test your contact information. Typos are always bad, but a typo in your contact information is probably as bad as it gets. It’s a really crummy feeling to notice an incorrect email address a couple months into your job search. Don’t let that be you.

Did I miss anything? What are some hard truths you’ve learned about resumes?

image src lifehackers
This post originally appeared on The Muse

Working From Home Is Good For You And Your Boss

As a Winter Storm Juno ravages the Northeast, many employees are skipping their daily commutes and office 9-to-5, and instead getting comfortable with their living rooms and laptops.

This remote work may be something we should be doing more of, according to two new studies. Working from home can be good for your health andproductivity. Not only did people who worked from home report greater work satisfaction and less "work exhaustion," they also got better sleep. Separately, researchers found that the highest performing workers were the most likely to cultivate and excel in a "WFH" environment.

Researchers from Stanford University recently conducted a study on 255 employees of a large Chinese travel agency, all of whom had been employed with the agency for at least six months. Half of the employees worked from home for a period of nine months, while the other half of the employees acted as a control group, and continued to work out of the office. Both group worked the same shifts at the same time.

While the performance of the group that stayed in the office remained stable, the performance of the work from home group increased by 13 percent, as measured by their sales rate and interactions with customers. They were also more productive per minute. The researchers cited less noise distraction, fewer breaks and fewer sick days as some possible reasons for the boosts in productivity, Harvard Business Review reported.

But they found something else that was interesting. After the test period was over, the employees were given the choice whether to continue working from home or to return to the office. Roughly half the work-from-homers decided to return the office, and three-quarters of the group who remained in the office decided to stay there -- and typically, it was the highest-performing employees who chose to work from home, likely because they were not worried about getting distracted.

"Our advice is that firms — at the very least — ought to be open to employees working from home occasionally, to allow them to focus on individual projects and tasks," the study's authors wrote in Harvard Business Review.

Another way that working from home may improve employee productivity and satisfaction is by improving sleep quality, according to an unrelated new study. Research conducted on nearly 500 workers found that employees with a more flexible work schedule are less sleep-deficient than those with less control over their time.

The study, recently published in the journal Sleep Health, found that employees who were able to decide when and where they work enjoyed an improved quality and quantity of sleep.

"Work can be a calling and inspirational, as well as a paycheck, but work should not be detrimental to health," one of the study's authors, Orfeu M. Buxton, said in a statement. "It is possible to mitigate some of the deleterious effects of work by reducing work-family conflict and improving sleep."

Some previous research has supported these findings. A 2007 meta-analysis of 46 studies found that working remotely improved productivity by both objective measures and supervisor evaluations. Remote work was also found to reduce stress and increase job satisfaction, but on the negative side, was correlated with a lower quality of relationships with co-workers.

A 2014 University of Calgary study also found that when it comes to work-from-home productivity, personality matters. Workers who were honest, conscientious and satisfied with their jobs were productive at home, while (unsurprisingly), workers who had a tendency to procrastinate were less productive at home.

source Working From Home Is Good For You And Your Boss

Best Free Tools For Home Business Accounting

In this modern world, the ways of doing business totally change with the advancement of internet technology. There are many businesses run from home now days. For these types of businesses, free tools are working as employees. Free and user friendly tools gives a platform in which people can easily plan, manage, organize and execute our business without any hurdle. In this article we discuss about the best tools that are useful for the purpose of accounting in home business.

Fresh-Books

Fresh-books is a program in which user can easily generate our business invoicing and also use for time tracking facilities that is useful to organize your business. It is a free and effective tool for accounting. Almost every home base business user uses this tool to manage our accounting activities. It provides unlimited reporting, file sharing, invoicing and smart phone integration for business users. Here are some of the advantages for fresh books user

Easy to use

Work anywhere

Save time billing

Automatic free upgrades

Amazing Customer support

Zoho Invoices

Zoho Invoice is software in which user can do online invoicing easily. It has a platform where time tracking help to send invoices in your clients’ expenses and projects. It is also used for the purpose of receiving payment and executes your business efficiently and effectively.

Home based business users like its features. Zoho Invoice delivers a service of online transaction, paper invoices along with electronic invoices. It has provided an application of smart phone. Invoicing is the major use of this tool and allows five invoices each month. Some advanced features of this tool are

Gmail Contextual Gadget

Credit Note

Accessing Multiple Organizations

Snail Mail Credits

Outright

Outright is a business application that executes your business accounting job by containing all of your business data in a place and managing them in a proper manner. This tool provides much easy accounting option that is very effective to run a business. It is a good and effective accounting classification is developed for small business with no need for inventory or payroll.

Online Quick-Books

Quick-book provide an interface where you have online streamlines and exact time taking tasks such as bills, estimates, invoices, checks and reports, hence you can monitor your business properly.

This tool is very famous for the micro business accounting task. It provides scalable and robust options that you can use according to your need. It gives you a platform in which you can execute and generate online invoices and banking.

Simply Accounting

Simple accounting is a software in which user can control our micro business financial payments and simply handle our cash flow, invoicing, expenses and bill payments without any technical abilities of accounting. In the free version of this tool, users can use for particular work for our business.

Finally, these tools have created a way that helps for home based business users. They can easily manage and control our financial activities without any hurdle. For the use of these free tools, people spread our business quickly and execute our business without hiring a big staff.

Author Bio

Marry Maddy has a home base business in the United Kingdom. She is a professional writer at Research Paper papa as well. She writes many articles on different topic. Currently, she is researching on different tools that are useful for business. (source)