Monday, January 30, 2012

Healthy Habits that You Can Work into Any Job Search Schedule

Looking for a new job is both time-consuming and stressful.  Looking for a new job can also wreak havoc on your mental and physical well-being.  Luckily, big results can be achieved by making just a few small changes to your daily schedule.  Once you feel better, you will then find it easier to incorporate other healthy habits into your daily schedule, as well.

If you believe that you are too busy to workout, you had better think again!   Starting today, you can create a new lifestyle that you will be able to stick with by following just a few simple steps.
  1. Eat a good breakfast that includes fruit - Oatmeal?
  2. Add walnuts to your breakfast or salad to increase your omega-3 consumption and add sunflower seeds, almonds and hazelnuts to your meals to increase your vitamin E consumption
  3. Start/Stop your daily job search schedule at the same time every day
  4. Get quality rest - Aim for 7-8 hours per night
  5. Take breaks - Step away from your computer screen every 90 minutes
  6. Substitute water for one or more of your portions of daily caffeine intake - If you are a fan of sodas, try combining half a glass of fresh, no sugar added, fruit juice with half a glass of club soda instead. Alternatively, try drinking vegetable or tomato juice instead of fruit juice.
  7. Drink a tall glass of water 20 minutes before every meal
  8. Have ‘healthy’ snacks readily available at all times - Substitute fresh and dried fruits and berries for candies and granola bars
  9. Eat s a mid-afternoon snack - A meal replacement bar is a good choice to help you bridge the gap between lunch and dinner
  10. Think about portion control at every meal - Eat one simple meal per day that includes one portion of protein that fits into the palm of your hand
  11. Do something physical at ‘lunch’
  12. Sweating from doing something physical is good.  Do something that causes you to sweat from physical activity as often as possible.
  13. Go outside no matter what the weather - Pick walking/running to a certain location over walking/running on a treadmill.  Don’t forget your sunscreen!
  14. Laugh every day
  15. Keep a simple To Do list - Less than 5 items works best; update the list as needed
 
Accept and embrace the following:
  • You are capable of doing
  • You are capable of achieving
  • You ARE worth it!

What would you add to the list?



Copyright © 2012, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2011, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog hosted by Mary Salvino, Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com that is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future job opportunities. We welcome readers to share their experiences, post their comments or ask questions about career related matters. This blog is also dedicated to those who stand a little taller each time they picked themselves up after failing and those who gained the wisdom and humility from those experiences to help others do the same. For any questions or comments that are better addressed privately, please feel free to e-mail Mary directly at Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca

Monday, January 23, 2012

How to Spot a Bad ‘Would-be’ Boss During Your 1st Interview


You have been invited to an interview with a company that has a great reputation, good pay, great prospects and the job description sound like it was written with you in mind. You have been waiting a long time for this one. This could be the perfect job. Your time has come.  This job appears to be the opportunity of a lifetime.  You can see yourself in the position and envision your career finally taking off.

You have done your homework on both the company and the interviewer[s].  You have all the answers ready with all the examples.  In reality, you have been preparing for this opportunity for a very long time.  When you get to the interview, you look great, feel great, you are well groomed and your clothes are sharp. You are feeling confident and fully prepared.

The relationship between managers and direct reports is the number one factor in morale, productivity and retention of high performers. One thing which causes high stress in individuals at work is the management style of their boss.  

Telltale signs that the interview will not go well:
Interview starts late
You are greeted with a limp handshake
You are ushered into a room and the interviewer disappears immediately before the interview begins
Interviewer seems harried, unfocussed and doesn’t bother to turn off electronic communication devices

Is this really your dream job?  Asking the right questions can help you find out.

This is not the right job for you if the interviewer provides vague answers to your questions. Listen for pauses, awkwardness, or overly-generic responses when you inquire what happened to the person who held the position you are interviewing for, and/or what has created the need to hire. (If, for example, you are told the person who held the job previously was a “bad fit,” it may be an indication that the workplace doesn’t spend much time on employee-development, and blames the employee when things don’t work out).

Ask about turnover rates.  The relationship between managers and direct reports is the number one factor in morale, productivity and retention of high performers.  High turnovers rates are always a RED FLAG

Ask the interviewer if they or the company is open to suggestions or ideas coming from employees and then ask when they last took forward an employee suggestion or idea.  Are they struggling in their answer? Is the example worthy of a great manager and employer? Bad managers don’t follow up on employee ideas. If they do provide a worthy answer, it shows they are supportive, approachable and they listen. A great manager removes all obstacles to help their staff do the best job possible.

Ask the interviewer when they last praised an employee or team and why.   
If they haven’t ever done this, be wary. [It's a RED FLAG]
Ask them for their opinion on individual development and training.   Ask yourself if you have you ever been denied a professional development opportunity, because your manager said that it would take too much time away from work.   Employers that ignore professional growth needs are doing both you and the company a disservice. [It's a RED FLAG]

Ask them if and when they last asked for feedback on their management style and what were the results of their inquiries.  A good manager will always be looking to improve their performance and style and one of the best ways to do this, is to ask their staff for feedback. If they have asked for this feedback, ask them how have they used the information to improve.  This management style is also an indication of how they treat their direct reports.

Ask them for their views on delegation. How do they delegate? Do they delegate? Do they micro manage their direct reports? Great managers build trust in their staff. A quick and easy way to build trust is to delegate work that uses and exploits individuals’ strengths the right level of control and supervision.

Conclusion:
Interviews should be viewed as two-way streets. You are interviewing your "would-be" manager and the company to the same degree that they are interviewing you. Take advantage of the fact that you can ask any questions you want and if you ask the right questions, you won’t end up working for an incompetent and bad manager and your career won’t suffer. 

Did you find this article useful?  Please let me know and/or share the article and comments with your friends.

Copyright © 2012, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2011, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog hosted by Mary Salvino, Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com that is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future job opportunities. We welcome readers to share their experiences, post their comments or ask questions about career related matters. This blog is also dedicated to those who stand a little taller each time they picked themselves up after failing and those who gained the wisdom and humility from those experiences to help others do the same. For any questions or comments that are better addressed privately, please feel free to e-mail Mary directly at Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca

Monday, January 16, 2012

How to Make a Personal Connection with Potential Employers

You are an outstanding candidate.  You know that any company or organization would be lucky to have you on their staff.  Unfortunately, it isn't always enough to be just good.  You also have to sell yourself and your talents/ abilities before you will have the chance to demonstrate exactly what you are worth. 

To be successful in securing your next opportunity you will have to create a connection with the HR department and the hiring manager.  You can do this by bringing your personality to the interview. 
Anyone who has taken any formal sales training at all will tell you that, “People buy from people that they like and with whom they can relate.”  As a job seeker, you are in the business of selling yourself and your services. Therefore, it is critical that you take the time to create a relationship when you are given the opportunity or run the risk of losing the opportunity to someone else.

Here are some tips that can help you develop that special rapport with potential employers:

1. Model your interaction with potential employers after ‘the old corner store’. Do you remember the days of shopping at a local business where the owner knew your name and the names of those in your family?  Try to emulate that experience during the interview. Do your research on the company and those who will be interviewing you and make mental notes to remember one or two details about the background of those who are interviewing you and work those details into the conversation. You can find ways to connect through common acquaintances, clubs, schools, or professional organizations

2. The best interviews are conversations; be sure to ask questions. Before you launch into a hard sell, take time to probe the hiring manager on the subject of the company’s problems and/or future goals. Ask questions that will help you find out what the hiring manager is really looking for.  Once you know that information, it is much easier to talk about how you will be able to solve the problem and/or satisfy the needs of the company or organization.  Probing is fundamental to relationship building, and the more skilled you are at utilizing open and closed ended questions, the stronger the relationship you will be able to create.

3. Court your potential employers.  Selling your skills and abilities is a lot like dating insofar as you will have to woo your potential employers and hope that they pick you over all of the other candidates out there.  There is no magic bullet with regard to the number of résumés that you will be sending out before you will be granted an interview, so to get a potential employer to call you before they call another candidate, it is best that you find a way to grab their attention before your competition does.  Attention grabbing tools include the following:
  • Authoring industry specific articles or blogs
  • Making thoughtful comments on other people’s blogs or in other forms of social media
  • Taking the time to forward an interesting article to people in the same industry
  • Memberships in professional organizations
4. Talk about yourself.  Reveal something about yourself. Just be sure it is something that your potential employer may find interesting, can relate to, and isn't too personal.  It is pivotal to connect in a real way. In fact, according to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, if you share a birthday or a birthplace with someone, you are more likely to feel good about the connection. 

5. Talk openly about the big white elephant in the room.  Take some time to address what some employers my view as potential barriers to hiring you.  Some employers are reluctant to hire people who may have issues with daycare, are mature candidates, or have special accommodations that need to be met.  By addressing potential barriers to employment and openly talking about the big white elephant in the room, it often puts potential employers at ease.   

6. Listen to your prospective employer with both ears. There is nothing more insulting than feeling that are being ignoring the conversation at hand.  When you ask a question, be sure to listen to the response.  When you try to formulate a response while the other person is speaking, you run the risk of getting the full picture of what they are telling you.  You need the entire picture so that you can address potential issues, and offer suggestions and solutions to problems that may not come up during a ‘normal’ interview that has been salted with ‘typical’ interview questions. This is especially true when you are interviewing with smaller companies where the business owners where more than one hat.

7. Step away from your computer and smartphone. While it is often much quicker and less stressful to email a potential employer, face-to-face meetings and networking are far more effective in creating meaningful connections.  These meetings are still among the best ways candidates can establish relationships with decision makers.  Communications should not be limited to email and phone—though both are important follow-up methods.

8. Be patient with your job search. Like many important things in life, it takes patience to find the right fit. Fight the urge to rush the process.  Take the time to explain how hiring you will benefit the company. Never make a potential employer feel rushed or hustled.  Believe that they are going to make the best decision they can and that they will base that decision on the information they have.  The reality is that potential employers are privy to information that they are not willing to share with people who are essentially strangers.  For them, a bad hire is far worse than not hiring anyone at all and in this economy, mitigating risk is critical to the company’s future.

Did you find this article informative or useful?  Please share the article and your thoughts.


Copyright © 2012, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2011, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog hosted by Mary Salvino, Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com that is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future job opportunities. We welcome readers to share their experiences, post their comments or ask questions about career related matters. This blog is also dedicated to those who stand a little taller each time they picked themselves up after failing and those who gained the wisdom and humility from those experiences to help others do the same. For any questions or comments that are better addressed privately, please feel free to e-mail Mary directly at Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca

Monday, January 9, 2012

An Insider’s Guide to Power Job Searching on the Internet

 If you have been searching for new career opportunities on one of the many job boards sites that are out there, you may want to try a search engine power search.  Searching for new opportunities using a search engine is not perfect, but it may help you to ferret out opportunities that you may have overlooked. The Google search engine has been used in the instructions that follow, but many other search engines work equally well.

Step One:
Go to Google.com

Step Two:
If you are looking for work in a particular city [recommended], type the following information in the search bar.
“Your City” + “Title of the job you seek” + “Job”, then click to search for your results. 

It is likely that you will have thousands of opportunities listed, so you will need to narrow down the number of results. 

Step Three:
The number of results can be narrowed down by clicking on the ‘Advanced Search’ link, which is located just below the Google Search button.

Step Four:
Look under the column on the left of the page.  Scroll down and click on the  “More Search Tools” button.  You will now see a button called “Anytime”.  Once you click on the ‘Anytime’ button, you will be able to narrow your search by the following increments, ‘Past Hour’, ‘Past 24 Hours’, ‘Past Week’, ‘Past Month’,  ‘Past Year’ or ‘Custom Range’

Step Five:
You can now click on the links that seem relevant. Remember, it is likely that you will get back some junk, but, after using this search method a few times you will probably find some new and relevant listings from local companies that have posted their jobs on their corporate websites.

Good Luck!

Copyright © 2011, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2011, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog hosted by Mary Salvino, Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com that is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future job opportunities. We welcome readers to share their experiences, post their comments or ask questions about career related matters. This blog is also dedicated to those who stand a little taller each time they picked themselves up after failing and those who gained the wisdom and humility from those experiences to help others do the same. For any questions or comments that are better addressed privately, please feel free to e-mail Mary directly at Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca

Monday, January 2, 2012

Signs That Your Interview is Not Going Well and What To Do About It

You know that you cannot afford to stay unemployed and you also know that you cannot afford to waste your time running down leads that likely to come to fruition. You have watched and know what is happening at You Name It Company/Industry and you have been able to secure an interview.  Having a keen eye for when the interview is going sour takes savvy. Here are five red flags and strategies for saving the interview:

No. 1: Potential Hiring Manager Seems Indifferent
A hiring manager who is interested in doing business with you should have questions that challenge you.  The questions should go far beyond the generic and seek to understand how you have approached and solved problems and issues in the past.  If they don't have any questions that require a thoughtful answer, be on the alert.

To resolve this problem, seek to create more of an advisory relationship with the hiring manager. You can let them know that you will help either to solve their problem or suggest someone else who may be a better fit. Offering to help people find other candidates might seem counterintuitive, but it can go a long way to earn the trust.

No. 2: There is No Hard Deadline For a Decision
Getting the feeling that the company is ready to hire is important.  It is always important to ask potential employers about their timeline for hiring. You want to be able to concentrate your efforts on those companies that have a hard deadline.

No. 3: You Are Not Dealing With the Decision Maker
You may start out talking with a junior-level employee who is vetting options, but beware if you aren't put in touch with the decision maker after a few conversations. It is probably a sign the company is not serious about hiring or at least hiring someone from the ‘outside’. 

Getting past that roadblock can be challenging. The bigger the organization you are dealing with, the more layers of management you likely will have to penetrate.  Create a business case and/or presentation that clearly shows why you are the best candidate for the position. 

No. 4: Your Price is Too High | You are a mature candidate
Hiring managers generally refrain from hiring a candidate with tonnes of experience because they believe they can find someone else who can do the job for less money or because they feel that you are trying to sell more than they need.

If your competitors are offering to do the job at a lower salary, focus on how you can provide some added value/benefit to the employer and to the position.

No. 5: You Are Asked To Make a Presentation
When potential hiring managers ask you to make a presentation as part of the interview, it is usually a sign that they are simply gathering information.

Before creating the presentation, ask what the hiring manager is looking for and what criteria will be used to make the hiring decision. The problem having to make the presentation as part of the interview process is that there is no chance for them to tell you what is wrong with the presentation you made.  Reaching a verbal understanding on those issues increases the likelihood that you will secure the position. 

Was this article useful?  Please share your thoughts with others.


Copyright © 2011, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2011, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog hosted by Mary Salvino, Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com that is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future job opportunities. We welcome readers to share their experiences, post their comments or ask questions about career related matters. This blog is also dedicated to those who stand a little taller each time they picked themselves up after failing and those who gained the wisdom and humility from those experiences to help others do the same. For any questions or comments that are better addressed privately, please feel free to e-mail Mary directly at Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca