Cut to the Front of the Interview Line
July 28, 2010
By Carole Martin, The Interview Coach
www.interviewcoach.com
The question is, “How can you make yourself stand out when there are so many other candidates looking at the same job?”
The answer is to “focus” – focus on what makes you unique.
Let’s assume that you have an outstanding resume and that you make it to the top of the stack of resumes of people to be called for an interview. You, and maybe nine or ten other equally qualified people for the position, that is.
Because companies have so many candidates to choose from, they are interviewing more people so that they can select the “best.” When you are lucky enough to be invited to an interview, it is essential that you be ready to sell yourself, to let the interviewers know what makes you unique, what added value you can bring to the position – in other words, why you are the best person for the job.
Step 1
List the skills and experiences you have that would be required in the type of job you are seeking. For instance, a technical job would focus on programs, languages, and platforms, etc.
Step 2
Give some thought to those skills in which you excel, those that are referred to as the “soft skills.” These skills can be viewed as transferable– you can take them with you to any job you hold.
Career Success for Generation Y
July 19, 2010
Members of Generation Y, from ages 15 to 31, are entering the workforce in large numbers, similar to their parents’ generation, the Baby Boomers. Gen Y makes up nearly one-third of all Americans living today. Born after 1980, they’re now pouring into the work world with values, aspirations, and approaches that differ markedly from their parents and coworkers.
Tamara Erickson, author of Plugged In: The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work, explains the forces affecting attitudes and behaviors in earlier generations — Traditionalists (born 1928-1945), Boomers (born 1946-1964), and Generation X (born 1965-1980) — so Gen Y can start relating more productively with bosses, peers, and employees.
In her book, Erickson reveals a framework Gen Y’s can use to develop their own criteria for making career choices, how X’ers and Boomers view Generation Y, and the top 10 rules that can help Generation Y’s succeed in the corporate world.
On a recent episode of Total Career Success, Erickson shared how Gen Y’s can use their unique strengths to understand and influence their professional relationships, to figure out how they define “success,” and to help them find their way in the changing workplace.
Co-host Sheryl Dawson said,
“Tammy Erickson is an expert in workforce trends and talent management solutions. Tammy helps you decide what you want and shows you how to go about getting it. The great thing that helps Gen Y integrate at work is the fact that they love their parent’s generation – the Boomers! This helps Gen Y’s establish trust among older colleagues and bosses quickly and provides a foundation for developing positive working relationships.”
Erickson’s interview is available for download or listening online at http://www.voiceamerica.com/voiceamerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=47353. Her book, Plugged In: The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work, is available from Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.
Baby-boomer Suicides spur Author to Offer Free E-Book, “How to Make Money While You Look for a Job”
July 6, 2010
Donna D. Buskirk was laid off from Microsoft in November, 2009. This is the third time she has been laid off, but the first time she has used unemployment benefits. Buskirk was a technical writer and recently started writing freelance articles for a small-town weekly newspaper.
The author is offering her full 123-page e-book free, after reading headlines about increasing baby-boomer suicides. She hopes that teachers and facilitators around the country will use the seven-step workbook to teach people in their communities the basics of starting a small service-based business.
She says, “I actually wrote and published How to Make Money While You Look for a Job, Start a Very Small Business on a Shoestring, A Step-by-Step Workbook the first time I was laid off after ten years at MCI, but I didn’t know how to promote it. Now, I’m taking a course in online marketing while I look for a job, but I still couldn’t get up the nerve to go public.”
We don’t know how to work for ourselves. We have to learn.
Buskirk lives with her two youngest children and husband on a small farm in North Carolina. Her husband was laid off and, after unsuccessfully looking for a job in the nearby Research Triangle Park for a year, he recently accepted a position in Northern Virginia. He makes the five-hour commute every weekend. She says, “I was busy and still shy about getting the book out there, but then I read an article about baby boomers not having enough retirement savings. When you add job loss to that, it inspired me to do a search on ‘increase suicide boomers.’
