SMART Job Seeker Cheat Sheet: Interview Basics

By Mary Salvino, Career Management Coach

This easy-to-use cheat sheet pulls together the best tips, tricks, and advice from our archives.  It has been created to provide clear recommendations on how to address the most common areas for improvement related to face-to-face interviews: 

• Dress appropriately - Your clothes should  be clean and pressed, have your shoes shined and limit the amount of jewelry, perfume and/or cologne you wear
• Arrive at least 10 minutes before the scheduled appointment
• Use the restroom before you head into the interview - Do a quick stain/spinach-in-teeth check
• Pop a breath mint into your mouth before you open the door to the interview site
• Introduce yourself to the receptionist- N.B. Know that he or she may be a pseudo-spy for your boss-to-be
• Practice this simple breathing technique to help you reduce stress level:
• Breath in on the count of three
• Hold your breath for the count of three
• Exhale on the count of three
• Use/Repeat as necessary
• Greet interviewer with a firm handshake
• Do not use the interview’s first name unless asked to do so – Use Mr/s. X
• Do not sit down until asked to do so – The person conducting the interview should sit down first
• Smile and maintain eye contact throughout the entire interview
• Be ready to answer the most common interview questions:
• Tell me about yourself – This is your 30-second ‘elevator speech’ N.B. Your answer should be directly related to the job you seek.
• Why did you leave your last position?
• What are your short-term/long-term goals?
• What are your strengths/weaknesses?
• What do you know about the company? / Why do you want to work here?
• How would your boss/colleagues describe you?
• Why should we hire you?
• What are your salary expectations?  - Answer this question only if pressed to answer and give a dollar range.  N.B. Do not offer to work for less than you want or need to maintain the life-style you desire.
• Prepare questions for the interviewer – N.B. If you can find the answer to your question on the Internet, you should not be asking that question.
• Ask for a business card – You will need this information to send a thank you note
• Thank the interviewer for their time
• Do not ignore the receptionist when you leave

If you like this article, please feel free to share it with your friends and colleagues.   You can also join our open group on LinkedIn @ http://linkd.in/MRJMAH

 
Copyright © 2013, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Show you care and share this article with your colleagues, coworkers and friends. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2013, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog authored by Mary Salvino, the Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com. It is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future career opportunities. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send an e-mail to Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca.

SMART Job Seeker Cheat Sheet: Résumé Basics

By Mary Salvino, Career Management Coach

This easy-to-use cheat sheet pulls together the best tips, tricks, and advice from our archives.  It has been created to provide clear recommendations on how to address the most common areas for improvement found on résumés today:

• REFRAIN from using the HEADER/FOOTER function that is found on most word processing software
• SAVE/SEND your documents in a .doc, .docx or PDF format
• ADD a hyperlink to your e-mail address
• INCLUDE only ONE phone number
• ADD/HYPERLINK your profile on LinkedIn
• ENSURE that your contact information is on every page of your document
• USE a 11-12 point font size
• ADD earned credentials next to your name
• TAILOR your document to the job title you seek
• RUN the SPELL/GRAMMAR CHECK function on the document before you send it

If you like this article, please feel free to share it with your friends and colleagues.   You can also join our open group on LinkedIn @ http://linkd.in/MRJMAH

 
Copyright © 2013, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Show you care and share this article with your colleagues, coworkers and friends. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2013, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog authored by Mary Salvino, the Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com. It is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future career opportunities. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send an e-mail to Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca.

Job Seekers: Dealing with Disappointment

By Mary Salvino, Career Management Coach

Just imagine chugging along, nose to the grindstone, being settled into a nice routine with what is a near perfect work/life balance for someone with your skills and experience.  Now imagine that the company wherein you work has merged with another company, you have been ‘downsized’ out of a job and near perfect world has crumbled.  Unfortunately, you are not alone. 

For the next little while, you are going to have to develop a thick skin, learn how to become more resilient in both your personal and professional life and develop a dynamic strategic plan for your future. 

Top Tips to Remember When Managing Disappointment:

Disappoint comes in all shapes and sizes. It is a way of life. It cannot be dodged or prevented, but it can and should be dealt with it in a productive and successful manner.

Disappointment, like its cousins, fear, anger, sadness, and depression, needs to be managed.

Life requires that we learn to how to deal with disappointments and/or setbacks in both our professional and personal lives on a regular basis. 

"Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue."

-           Dilbert [Scott Adams]

Recognize that there is no single ‘correct’ way to manage disappointment.  The best way to manage disappointment is the way that works best for you. 

IQ drops 10-15 points when decisions are made under duress.

Worry is unrelated to outcome.  

 " Worrying is like riding an emotional Merry-Go-Round; you go up and down, around and around, but ultimately, you don't go anywhere.”

-          M. Salvino

Disappointment is also like a coin with two sides.  The other side of disappointment is Courage. Courage takes action.  To be courageous is to be prepared, to have faith in your abilities to succeed, to put aside fear and doubt when tackling the difficult, and to have an understanding of what to do if things do not go your way.

“The wounded oyster mends his shell with pearl.”

-          Anonymous

Copyright © 2013, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Show you care and share this article with your colleagues, coworkers and friends. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2013, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog authored by Mary Salvino, the Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com. It is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future career opportunities. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send an e-mail to Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca.

Job Seekers: SWOT Now?

By Mary Salvino, Career Coach

A SWOT analysis is an extremely useful tool to help evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of people, places or things.  SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.  A SWOT analysis can also provide a framework for setting strategies and guiding the author of the analysis towards the direction they need to go to in order to achieve their desired goal. 

Step One: Set a SMART SWOT objective:

Secure suitable employment ASAP by completing and revisiting my SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) analysis to validate, adjust and/or address the factors that influence the decision -making powers of hiring managers on a monthly basis.

Step Two: Decide if the objective is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound).  If the objective does not contain the required SMART elements, the objective will need to be tweaked until it complies.

Step Three:  Set up and populate a SWOT matrix:

Internal Factors – Can or have been in your control in the past	External Factors – Out of your control
Strengths: What are competitive advantage[s] can you bring   to potential employers? Education – Qualifications / Certifications? Experience? Marketing Collateral?	Opportunities: Why would a potential employer choose another candidate? Geography – Willingness to move? Networking – On-line/Off-line?
Weaknesses: Social Media Savvy? Brand Management? Work/life balance?	Threats: Employment market – Supply/demand? Stale references?

*This matrix is a very simple example of one matrix that a job candidate might create when he or she is interested in examining how his or her skill set compares to other candidates.

Step Four: Identify the areas that are not addressed in the matrix and determine if the existing matrix needs to be tweaked or if it is necessary to develop a completely new one.

Step Five: Once a feasible SWOT matrix has been created, it then becomes necessary to develop a plan to implement a practical strategy that will lead to the goal.

SWOT Element	Comment on Current Strategy	To Do On-going Done
Leveraging Strengths: -          Maintain, build and/or leverage -          Can be tangible or intangible
Education	- I have the credentials I need to do the job	Done
Experience	- I have been doing the job for X amount of time	Done
Marketing Collateral	- Targeted résumé - Targeted cover letter -  Business cards	Done Done Done
Mitigating Weaknesses: -          Prioritize and optimize
Social Media Savvy	- I have a basic understanding of how Search Engine Optimization works	To Do
Brand Management	-  Created and use job search alerts -  Posted my résumé on job sites  - Opportunities to demonstrate expertise – Blog, website and posting updates on a regular basis	Done Done Done
Work/life Balance	-  Incorporate regular exercise into my day/week -  Find and incorporate ways to reduce stress -  Eat a healthy and balanced diet  - Treat looking for a job the same way as having a job by consciously working at it 7 hours per day:            - Create and use a system to search for suitable job opportunities            - Create and use a system for following up on all job applications	On-going On-going On-going On-going
Taking Advantage of Opportunities: -          Remedy or exit
Geography	- Open and free to re-locate if necessary	Done
Networking	- Active member of  X number of clubs / organizations	Done
Mitigating Threats: -          Counter when possible
Employment Market	- Update existing skill set -  Learn new a skill	To Do To Do
Stale References	- Locate/reach out to former colleagues and ask for assistance	Done

Hint One:

None of the factors in a SWOT matrix are definitive.  For example, that which is ‘strength’ with respect to one objective can be identified as a ‘weakness’ with respect to another objective.  

Hint Two:

Well-populated matrices ultimately lead to well-thought out strategies and goals.

"Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organised their energies around a goal." ~ Elbert Hubbard, American philanthropist 

 
Copyright © 2013, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved. Show you care and share this article with your colleagues, coworkers and friends. Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2013, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of the author, Mary Salvino. “Career Matters” is a blog authored by Mary Salvino, the Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com. It is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future career opportunities. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please send an e-mail to Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca.