5 Things You REALLY Must Do Ahead of a Job Interview

5 Things You REALLY Must Do Ahead of a Job Interview Getting an interview is really exciting! We all know that most people apply for many more jobs than they are invited to interview for, so getting that call can really help with building confidence in your job search. The issue is however that many people do not prepare enough for the interview. Preparation is really important and here are 5 things that you must do in preparation for that interview: 1) Know the content of your resume As you would have tailored your resume to address the needs of this role, knowing what you told them in the resume is really important. The interview questions will most likely be staged around this content, so having confidence in building on what you told them in your resume is really important. 2) Research the role You know how the role was advertised, but through a little bit of research you can get a greater understanding about the position responsibilities, reporting lines and expectations. Understanding as much as you can help with preparing your examples and responses. 3) Research the interviewer You may not have the information about the company if you are working through a recruiter, but finding out professional information on the interviewer can help you feel at ease when you first meet them. Use tools such as LinkedIn to understand a little more about their background and specialist areas. 4) Plan your trip Knowing how to get to the interview and how long the trip will take can minimise any last minute stresses. Plan your trip and allow extra time. Accidents and delays happen and although it is a legitimate reason for being delayed; it still isn’t a great way to start an interview. 5) Practice your interview Working through examples of your achievements and responses and practicing your interview can help eliminate nerves. Use a friend or work with an interview coach to focus on how you communicate your answers, how you can demonstrate your employability and more of all be able to sell yourself in to the role.

The politics of nice are you too friendly at work

The politics of ‘nice’ â€" are you too friendly at work In a US election process that stumped even the most apathetic of onlookers, one moment in particular stood out for career women across the western world. Towards the end of the third presidential debate, Donald Trump referred to Hillary Clinton as a ‘nasty woman’. The choice of insult is telling. Must Clinton be nice to be good at her job? Can presidents only be lovely, non-divisive individuals? In the case of the latter, Trump’s lack of self-awareness may have reached new heights. We decided to take a look at ‘niceness’ and its place in the modern office.  The good stuff Being nice has its advantages. People want to hang out with you. But do they want to work with you? The short answer is: yes. Being  friendly can improve both your relationships and your performance at work. A 2015 study showed that people who perceived a colleague as polite would be more likely to seek that person out for work advice; they were also more likely to see that person as a leader. Interestingly, employee competence also increased in line with perceived affability. Still, many individuals  â€" particularly in business â€" continue to fear the label of ‘nice’, thinking it will negatively affect their chances of success. Employee engagement expert Kathryn Kerns believes that the opposite is true. “Nicer managers have more engaged employees,” Kerns writes. “In turn, companies with engaged employees have better productivity, profitability and customer ratings, and lower rates of turnover, absenteeism and quality issues.” She adds the caveat that ‘niceness’ is not synonymous with over-accommodation. Psychiatrist Marcia Sirota, however, draws a distinction between the words ‘kind’ and ‘nice’ â€" the former being the preferred managerial trait. “The kind manager has clear expectations and sets clear limits,” she qualifies. “They treat everyone in their workplace fairly, and they allow no-one to get away with unacceptable behaviour.” So, while you don’t want to overdo it, being nice may be an important factor in  helping you get ahead in the office. … and the bad While employees may benefit from being perceived as agreeable, it may cause problems further up the hierarchy. This year, research showed that while ‘nicer’ CEO candidates are better at the top job, they’re also less likely to nab the position. So what helps you succeed at work may be what prevents you from advancing. Ironic, huh? Plus, while being affable  can spare you a world of workplace horrors, there are numerous irritations ready to rear up in their place. There is a fine line between accommodating and doormat â€" a mere few slip-ups between a loose hand and a loss of control. Being too nice can invite colleagues to take advantage of you in a way that can only negatively affect your performance. Being too ‘nice’ may even  have psychological repercussions. People who take on every task they’re assigned for fear of disappointing colleagues are headed for trouble. Sirota cautions that over-doing it at work will lead not to accolades from your boss but to further demands and eventual burnout. “Learn to let go of your people-pleasing behaviour,” she warns. Lastly, being too focussed on  pleasing others can lead  to sub-standard performance and product. “Being polite may lead to more opportunities, but it doesnt lead to the best one: the opportunity to make something remarkable,” says Michael Cho of Crew, who believes that brutal honesty is the only way to achieve excellent results. So next time your underling hands in a sub-standard report, dont bite your tongue: let them know in a calm but direct manner, and you can expect better results going forward. The rise of the ‘nasty woman’ It wasn’t until the 19th century that little girls were first described as ‘sugar and spice and all things nice’. But women have, for most of known history, been particularly subject to ‘nice’-policing.  Yes: ‘niceness’ is a gendered behaviour â€" at least, in part. In Nancy Henley’s work Body Politics, the author proposes that smiling and ‘nice’ body language are developed by women as a method of female-male appeasement. The suggestion goes that de-escalating, friendly behaviour is a necessary counter to the social and physical threat of male employees â€" again, a cultural rather than inherent problem. Being aggressive rather than ‘nice’ has long been associated with 70s second-wave feminism. And who can blame women for seeking  to assert themselves? Even these days, ‘manterrupting’ makes headlines. Linguist Kieran Snyder conducted a fascinating study of individuals at her workplace and found that men interrupted others roughly twice as often as women, and junior women only interrupted other women. Furthermore, workers higher up the hierarchy were much more likely to interrupt colleagues. Interestingly, women at this level had begun to interrupt the men. “The results suggest that women don’t advance in their careers beyond a certain point without learning to interrupt, at least in this male-dominated tech setting,” she concludes. “This is really striking, and starts to put directional data behind the stereotype whereby strong female leaders are often dismissed with the pejoratives bossy, unpleasant, and bitchy.” To Nasty . . . Or Not? So women should act nasty if they want get ahead? Not necessarily. Contrary to Snyder’s hypothesis, a 2011 Notre Dame study indicated that, while men get ahead by being disagreeable, women don’t. Professor Timothy Judge commented: “If you’re a disagreeable man, you’re considered a tough negotiator. But, the perception is that if a woman is agreeable, she gets taken advantage of, and if she is disagreeable, she’s considered a control freak or ‘the B-word.’” The conclusion? It seems the jury’s still out on female ‘niceness’ in the workplace â€" at least, so far as advancement is concerned. What’s certain is that women tend to observe social norms more rigorously in a corporate environment.  And not because they necessarily want to. Smile, darling! Smiling. Who’d have thought such a small behaviour could be so important? And yet, in the workplace, the smile is king. Research shows that people â€" male or female â€" who smile are more likely to be remembered by employers and clients. Way back in 2002, a Pennsylvania State University study suggested that smiling not only created positive impressions in those around you, but improved your own work performance. So if you’re worried about being ‘nice’ at work, flash those pearlies ASAP. Alas, this is another area where standards divide across genders. Smiling is a learned behaviour that women demonstrate far more often than men â€" because they have to. So great is the cultural onus on women to be smiley that women who don’t possess permanently grinning features are diagnosed with ‘bitchy resting face’. But at least we can joke about it… right? The conclusion? Smile and be friendly in the office   but dont go overboard. Youre not at work to people-please. Women will usually be expected to smile more than men.  It is, alas, the norm in modern society.  But if you find yourself in a position of responsibility, dont be afraid to assert yourself. Play hard for promotions youre more likely to get the job and relax into the role once you get there. The best bosses are those with firm expectations  and a compassionate manner, whatever your gender. So next time you feel bad for demanding that report early, remember: nice girls  finish last. This guest post was authored by Inspiring Interns  Inspiring Interns is a  graduate recruitment  agency  which specialises in sourcing candidates for  internships  and giving out  graduate careers advice. To  hire graduates  or browse  graduate jobs, visit their website. Image credits. Back off.    Smile.     Business  

A Side Hustle Story Meet Stephanie Hilen

A Side Hustle Story Meet Stephanie Hilen My name is Stephanie Hilen. I’m a wife, the mother of a two year old and work full-time as a second grade teacher. I’m excited to tell you my #SideHustle story today. After I had my son, I decided that I wanted to find a way to make additional income to provide for my family. A career girl at heart, I knew I wanted to find a way to build a business and create my own hours. That was when It Works! Global entered into my life. I discovered It Works! Global through a friend I went to graduate school with several years ago.  She had several before and after photos of something called the  Ultimate Body Applicator on her Facebook page  and I was really intrigued. I quietly watched her page for a few weeks to find out more about how the products worked. As I continued to watch, I noticed that she was also posting about supplements sold by It Works. I realized that these products were not only about looking better, but more importantly, feeling better. Although intrigued, I did not decide to try the products right away. I was hesitant and somewhat skeptical. I thought about it for a couple of weeks, and I finally decided to give her a call to find out more. She suggested I try an Ultimate Body Applicator (wrap) for free if I had a party, and so I found some friends who were also curious about the wraps and a few weeks later we had a party at my place. I decided to wrap my thighs. My friend wrapped me up and forty-five minutes later, she “unwrapped” me. I was shocked when she showed me my results! My thighs felt firmer and tighter! That day, I became a loyal customer along with four other of my party-goers. After I had my party in November and signed up to be a loyal customer, I fell even more in love with the products. I started using the Greens, Thermofit (a metabolism boosting supplement) and Fatfighters (a carb inhibitor). After a couple of months, I became passionate about both the company and their products and knew that this was what I had been looking for! As a teacher, I am very focused on helping others and wanted to help myself and my friends feel better inside and out. I also wanted to build a business opportunity for myself and be successful enough to provide more financial freedom for my family. In hindsight,  The Ultimate Body Applicator is initially what got me curious about pursuing a side hustle (and it was the highlight of the wrap party!). It is also very easy to use. The cloth has botanically based cream and can be applied to any problem area under the neck. We have specific applicators that can be used on the face if that is one’s target area. After applying the wrap, you just secure it with saran wrap. The wrap can be worn at any time of the day and should stay on for at least forty-five minutes. The wrap can be worn once every seventy-two hours. There is not an ideal body type for the wraps anyone can try them! Having a side hustle with It Works! has changed my life in so many ways. I feel better, I look better and I am able to provide a substantial additional income for my family. One of the best parts about working with this company is the teamwork that occurs as we all try to build our businesses together. My long-term plans include retiring from teaching and going full time with It Works! If you would like information about joining my team or ordering our incredible products, check out my website  or shoot me an email at [emailprotected]

The best way to break rules

The best way to break rules The current business climate encourages rule breakers. Not the kind at Enron those are law breakers. Rule breakers break with convention. Sallie Krawcheck, for example, was a top stock analyst in the 90s. She could have gone to a big investment firm where the heavy-hitters gave stock advice that, in hindsight, seems to have been garbage. Instead, she stayed at a boutique research company, which she made famous for quality. Last year Krawcheck took an enormous career leap to become the CEO of Smith Barney precisely because she had broken with convention years earlier. All great business people have had to break some rules on their path to huge success. But be careful: people who break all the rules all the time are not innovators or a breath of fresh air, they are sociopaths. Rules create order and process, and no company can operate in a state of anarchy. The key to breaking rules is to know which rules to break. Break rules that matter. You always take a risk when you do things differently, so make sure theres big payoff. Does your company have a dress code? Adhere to it. No one ever made corporate history by wearing torn jeans on casual Friday. If you follow most of the rules, then when you break a rule people will be more willing to let you go with it. Weigh the risks. There are a lot of rules that deserve to be ignored, but sometimes breaking rules is more trouble than its worth. As a marketing executive in a software firm, I was required to have engineering signoff on every word on the front of the box. The process became an opportunity for code-heads to make illiterate proofreading comments. But I still got signoff every time, because while breaking that rule would save me a day in the box production schedule, it would cost me weeks of assuaging engineers egos. Know the reason for the rule before you break it. The best example of this is the renegade barrista at Starbucks (if she has not been fired yet). She keeps changing the composition of standardized drinks. Lattes have a little less milk, Frappuchinos have a little more foam. I overheard her declaring that she gives customers what they want even though they dont know to ask for it. This would be a great idea in another company, but the charm of Starbucks is that wherever you go Seattle or Milan the drinks are consistent. Break rules so that you can be more effective. Andy Grove broke rules of convention by pioneering the idea of management by walking around. He didnt necessarily set out to break a rule, he just wanted to manage in a way that felt comfortable to him, and walking around talking to people suited him well. Break rules that other people would be scared to break. In 2000, when everyone was still running on Internet adrenaline, stock analyst Jon Joseph announced that the chip sector was in for a big fall. At the time, he received so many death threats that his company hired a bodyguard for him. Recently he was rewarded for going against the grain by receiving a top post at Smith Barney. Good rule breakers spent part of their life as good rule followers. Jeff Bezos is renown for bucking the conventional wisdom that CEOs shouldnt micromanage. He does, and it works well for him. But before he was a rule breaker he spent the beginning of his career in consulting and finance positions where he followed the rules for entry-level employees and did what he was told to do. If you think youve got a situation where you should definitely break a rule, remember that good rule breakers are good salespeople. You cant just break a rule and think itll stick. You have to explain to people why your way is better. Get people behind your new way of doing things so that your new direction can have the large impact you hope for. Break a rule and people will gossip; lead down a new path and people will follow.

Find the Worlds Best Companies for C-level Executive Jobs - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Find the Worlds Best Companies for C-level Executive Jobs My friend Susan P. Joyce, an online job search expert and editor/publisher of Job-Hunt.org, has compiled a long list of lists on her Job Search News blog to help job seekers Find the Best Employers. The lists are arranged by: Large general companies Best or top companies for new grads and new MBAs, women, those over 50, and Canadian employers. Many of these lists also include vital information for  industry and company research, to help with due diligence, market intelligence, and interview preparation company CEO, profits, assets, sales, market value, etc. A few entries of particular interest to c-level executives: Forbes magazine’s 2010 Forbes Global 2000, the biggest, most powerful listed companies in the world.”   Inc. magazines 2009 Inc. 500|5000 list, the fastest growing small and medium-sized companies in the U.S. FORTUNE 2009 100 Top MBA Employers Branham Group’s 2010 Top 250 Canadian Technology Companies National Association of Female Executives 2010 Top 50 Companies for Executive Women Hop over to the Job-Hunt Job Search News blog for the complete list. Related posts: 16 Deadly Executive Job Search Mistakes Stalled Executive Job Search? Get Busy on and Twitter 4 Executive Job Search First Steps, Before You Write Your Resume 00 0

Why Should I Hire You - Pathfinder Careers

Why Should I Hire You - Pathfinder Careers Why Should I Hire You? All too often, when asked this question, clients and job seekers start squirming. Even CEOs, actually. So why is it that we have a difficult time answering this simple little question, especially when there is so much riding on the outcome of your answer? The problem goes pretty deep, actually. We are taught not to boast about ourselves by our parents, and those words of wisdom are reflected in our overall perception of ourselves. However,consider this: In a job search, the target employer is a blank slate and knows nothing about you.  If you cant even articulate what you offer and the successes that demonstrate that value, how do you expect them to buy what you are selling?   You need to be thinking about how are you going to articulate your attributes in a way that shows your value. So, do you struggle with this question? If you do, you need to take a break from your job search and spend some time doing some soul searching on what it is that you offer that makes you valuable to a prospective employer.  Being grounded on your positive impacts to previous companies will give you a basis on which to pitch your services to an interviewer. In short, you are in charge of painting your own picture of what you can deliver to a potential employer.  Until you make some meaningful strokes to color in the lines of their conceptual canvas of you, the picture will remain blank and disconnected to what you can do for them. You must embrace your career successes and feel ownership in your contributions which will lead to a much easier job selling someone else on what you are capable of within the workplace.  Of course, most of the time we work in teams and it was a collective effort that made the project a success, but in order to win over a potential future boss, you need to understand the importance of how your role led to that success, no matter how small it might have been. Everyone contributes something. If you can tie back your contribution(s) to the success of the organization, you demonstrate an ability to see beyond the daily grind of your job duties and focus on the overall success of the organization, which will present a much more compelling argument as to why an employer would want to hire you. Finally, put the shoe on the other foot if you were the boss hiring the prospective employee what would you want to hear from this person? Them rattling off a litany of job duties, or a persuasive statement backed by concrete examples of wins and successes that benefited a previous employer? I know what I would choose.

How To Get Started In Resume Internship In Grant Writing

How To Get Started In Resume Internship In Grant WritingResume internship in grant writing will enable you to be a part of the administration side of being a professional writer. A career in grant writing will open up new possibilities and can help individuals gain recognition in their own right. Resume internships also allow you to get the experience you need for career placement after graduation. For a good resume, internship in grant writing is an important aspect.Grant writing as a profession may not be a glamorous one, but there are many people who enjoy this career. The reward is not only monetary, but it can be considered a well-paying job and in many cases a satisfying job. The main reason why many people go into this field is because it offers such a wide range of opportunities to all who choose to pursue this profession.In a traditional college program, writing resumes or contracts would have been your domain, but with a successful grant writing career, you will have more f reedom. Because there are so many areas of writing that grants are offered, the person has a chance to write about any type of subject, such as writing about grants that are awarded by the government, corporate companies, as well as individuals. You will also have a wide range of assignments to choose from.Writing an extensive essay about one grant writing project does not mean that you have to write a one-page essay on that topic. You should prepare your resume for every project that you work on as long as it is related to grant writing. Resume writing in general can provide you with plenty of opportunities. You can write in a formal manner, and even though you are dealing with grants for writing, it is very likely that you will also be able to deal with some private business grants.With an internship in grant writing, you will be offered plenty of benefits. If you decide to go back to school, you can finish your degree and be accepted into any college that offers grants. With the internship, you will be able to gain experience that can be used in the future. It can also be useful when applying for grants once you have graduated.The most important thing to remember about a resume for grants is that you need to have one that is detailed. You will be answering a lot of questions before you are even interviewed, so your resume must be able to answer all of the questions that will be asked. Any gaps in time that you may have will be highlighted on your resume as well. As you apply for grants, your resume will be the first thing that your future employer will see.In order to get started in a successful career in grant writing, you will have to get your resume done in advance. You will have to make sure that you make copies that you can pass on to the employer, as well as ones that you can give to your references. Make sure that you take the time to make copies of your resume, and you do not just use the one from college. It will serve you well if you also take som e time to do research on how to write a resume for grants.Make your resume attractive. Make sure that it is organized. There are plenty of resources available online that can help you.