Scholarships_CareerTips
When you interview for a new position, much of the conversation focuses on you and how you’d fill the given role and meet the expected qualifications. As a result, you spend a lot of time selling yourself and your skills.
But choosing to take a new job isn’t just about what you will do for the company— it’s also about whether the company is a good fit for your professional goals and day-to-day happiness. You’ll spend roughly 40 hours a week at work, so you need to make sure this job is one in which you’ll flourish.
To find out if a company or role is the right fit, ask these 10 questions.
1. What Are Your Expectations for This Role?
You need to get a sense of what you’re in for with this new position, particularly what will be expected of you during the first three months on the job. “Asking about quarterly goals for the position is key to setting yourself up for success before you even accept an offer,” says Lindsay Shoemake, founder of career lifestyle site That Working Girl. “If your interviewer or potential manager doesn’t seem to provide a clear answer, that might be a red flag that they haven’t set clear expectations for the position.”
A related follow-up: “What is the biggest challenge I would face in this position?”
“Many interviewers will respond to this question by providing you with an honest overview of company politics that will help you to evaluate whether you can succeed,” says Joe Weinlick, senior vice president of marketing for Beyond.com. “If the answer is, ‘You won’t have any challenges,’ beware! There are always challenges, and you may want to dig deeper before accepting a position.”
2. What Personalities Flourish Here?
This question is a must. Most managers can easily identify the type of person who would be successful in their organizations. Their answer will give you a better sense of whether you would be a good fit within the organization, says Jenn DeWall, a certified career and life coach. “It’s best to know this early on versus fighting to fit in and be the type of personality you’re not,” she says.
3. What Personal or Professional Development Opportunities Exist?
Learning about a company’s commitment to development can signal how much the organization values its employees, says Maria Katrien Heslin, founder of Business Boostcamp. “For example, there are some organizations that do not provide training or time off for professional development. Some have overly strict policies on employees being able to attend conferences,” she explains. “Organizations like this most often are pretty old-school in their management approach.”
4. What’s the Typical Career Path for This Position?
“For those who are goal oriented, it’s important to know up front what you’re working toward,” DeWall says. “If you are eager to climb the corporate ladder and develop your resume and an employer indicates there aren’t career advancement opportunities, the position may be a dead end for you and your career goals.”
Definitely something you’d want to know before taking a position that could lead you nowhere—and back on the job hunt in a couple of years.
5. What’s the Company Culture Like?
Whether you’re interested in a job that allows for flex time or you’d like to be able to bring your dog into the office, you need to find out what the company culture is like before you’re hired. DeWall advises asking about the organization’s take on work-life balance and what a typical workday looks like.
Of course, you don’t want to come off as unprofessional, so you might not want to ask straight up about working remotely and whether you’re allowed to dress casually in your first interview, but these key elements might be important to find out if you have an offer in hand.
“By asking about office culture you should get the answers to your questions,” says Erik Bowitz, senior resume expert at Resume Genius. “The ability to dress down and work remotely are valuable benefits for today’s graduates entering the workforce,” and companies are trying to entice the best and brightest with more modern policies.
6. Do You Have a Bonus Program?
“Don’t be bashful about asking about compensation,” Bowitz says. He advises job hunters to get all the details on their pay—from base salary to bonus programs and equity—before accepting an offer, even unofficially or verbally. “Remember you both are bringing value to the table, and so you should never feel lower or disadvantaged being the interviewee.”
Joseph Terach, founder and CEO of Resume Deli, also advises not being shy when asking about benefits, especially how much you’ll have to contribute to medical and dental coverage per month and how the 401(k) vesting and matching programs work. At the end of the day, you’re working to get paid, so you need to be sure the compensation is adequate.
7. Why Do You Like Working Here?
The answer to this question can be quite telling. “This is a good question to ask the interviewer because it’s unexpected and the response can be revealing,” says career consultant Melissa Cooley, founder of The Job Quest. “While most folks will pause before answering because they aren’t anticipating the question—which is a normal reaction—others may stumble all over their words. If an interviewer has a challenging time forming an answer, that’s worth noting.”
Some interviewers may give a boilerplate response when asked about company culture, says Weinlick says. But with this question, you’ll get an immediate emotional and verbal reaction. “If the response tells you the person isn’t excited to go to work, then ask yourself if you are likely to be any different,” he adds. “Ideally, the interviewer will paint a picture of why you would want to work at the company.”
8. What Values Are Important to Your Company?
Getting a sense of the company’s values is extremely important, says Ethan Austin, co-founder of GiveForward: You want to find out whether there’s a common mission or goal that employees collectively work toward—and whether it matches your own values. “If different interviewers give different answers to this question, it’s a red flag to the interviewee that the company is not aligned around a clear mission,” he explains.
John Fleischauer, senior talent attraction manager for Halogen Software, agrees. “What you’re looking for is a response where the interviewer can explicitly communicate, with examples, how the organizational culture is intentionally reinforced across the employee life cycle,” he says. “In other words, if exceptional customer service is a cultural value, the importance of wanting to help or serve clients and meet their needs should be included in all job descriptions as a core competency.”
9. What Do You Think Are the Top 5 Assets of This Company?
This is a bit of a trick question, but the answer will give you further insight about what it might be like to work at the organization and how the company values its personnel.
“One of the responses should be, ‘Employees,’” Cooley says. “If the people who make the products or provide the service are mentioned as an afterthought, or not at all, a candidate should really wonder how that would impact the way the company treats them.”
10. Where Will I Sit?
It might sound silly, but literally seeing the office or cubicle in which you’d spend five days each week is very important for assessing your quality of life at the company. “It’s a mistake not to ask to see where you’ll be sitting: Imagine taking a job only to find out on day one that you’re in a windowless basement,” Terach says. Not the kind of surprise you want, right?
Credit : inc.com
Surprises are great, right? Who doesn’t enjoy finding money in a jacket you haven’t worn in a while or running into an old colleague you’re excited to catch up with at a networking event. If you’re like me, those moments make you grin ear to ear.
But on the job search front, most people like to avoid surprises altogether.
The last thing you want is to discover that “Surprise!” you’re not as qualified as you thought, you won’t be moving ahead in the process, or gasp your resume is not as strong as you thought it was. Your application materials are one step of the process where you have complete control, and that means it’s on you to avoid missteps that could hurt your chances landing an interview.
So, once you’re done making your resume absolutely perfect, make sure it doesn’t make you look worse in a way you didn’t expect:
1. It’s a Dead End
Call it whatever you want: These days, hiring managers and recruiters want to get to know you through a number of different channels. So if your resume doesn’t point to some outside platforms, it’s a dead-end document that won’t measure up to those of other applicants with full-bodied branding stories.
Luckily, the fix is pretty easy. You can direct readers to your web presence using hyperlinks on your resume.
LinkedIn’s becoming a standard personal branding platform and it’s an excellent place to start. You can include a hyperlink to your profile within the contact info on your resume, and for added polish, use a vanity URL with only your name (it eliminates all those added garbage characters).
Beyond LinkedIn, include hyperlinks to your personal website or portfolio if you have one. Active in the startup sphere? Link to your Angel.co profile instead. Really proud of your Instagram presence and think it speaks to your professional skills—you can include that, too.
Whatever you choose, the idea is to make it insanely easy for employers to click through to a place on the web that makes you look great and builds on the information your application shares. Giving an in-depth glimpse like this not only lends credibility to your claims, it also shows that you’re tech savvy.
2. It Reeks of Someone Else’s Handiwork
The millisecond your resume indicates “I didn’t write this” or worse “It’s a complete work of fiction” is the moment you start missing out on opportunities. And don’t get me wrong: It’s 100% A-OK to enlist outside help in putting together your materials and personal brand as a whole, but you need to find someone who knows what they’re doing so it still sounds like you. The most qualified people are those who bring out the best in you via bullet points, the others (bad career coaches, your mom, a friend) simply plug your information into a template without a thought about you or the position in question. This almost always shows.
There’s nothing worse than being asked for more information about a project or turn of phrase on your resume and being left with your mouth hanging open. So, if your current version includes details that you don’t quite feel on board with, change it! Same goes for language that doesn’t sound like you or responsibilities described incorrectly (even if they sound more impressive).
And, if someone else helped you physically edit the document, make certain there are no tracked changes or other record of his name (I’ve seen it) anywhere on that doc. When you save the document, check the Save As menu, then check it again. Then send it to yourself and see how it looks—sometimes there’ll be evidence left behind that you don’t seen until it comes through via email.
A recent study of over 500 business leaders addressed what makes an employee stand out. The number one thing leaders said? It wasn’t how late someone stayed at the office. It wasn’t their skill set. It wasn’t their ability to liaise with clients.
It was personality.
But when leaders said “personality,” they didn’t mean whether someone is introverted or extroverted. They meant the deeper, underlying abilities the person demonstrated—their emotional intelligence.
They meant things like this:
1. You Don’t Wait to Be Asked
Instead of waiting to be told what to do, you take action. If you don’t know exactly what to do, you do what you think is best and then take responsibility. You’re proactive and willing to take risks. It’s more important to you to contribute than to wait for step-by-step instructions.
2. You Don’t Gossip
Regardless of how you feel about your boss or co-workers, you keep your opinion to yourself at work. If you need to vent or process, you do so with people outside the office. If you have a real issue with someone at your job (including your manager), you address it with him or directly. You don’t gossip; you communicate.
3. You Do What You Say You Will
You send the email you said you’d send. You follow up with the client you said you’d run point on. You meet deadlines.
If you don’t have the bandwidth for a project, you don’t take it on. You have a strong sense of what you can do in what timeframe, and you stand by that. You’re comfortable saying no because you know that leads to the bigger “yes”—integrity.
4. You Give Value
When people on your team do well, you tell them so. You’re vocal in your support of both of co-workers and superiors, and genuinely excited when someone else succeeds. People want to work with you because they feel uplifted being around you. You’re collaborative, not competitive.
5. You Offer Proposals, Not Suggestions
Instead of just criticizing or brainstorming, you give concrete alternatives. You don’t force your opinion, but rather offer well-researched proposals about what you think should be done. You have a sense of the overall scope of what a change would entail (beyond just your department) and how you can contribute. You’re committed to overall success of your organization, not just your own advancement.
Being exceptional at work isn’t something you’re born with—it’s something you grow into. You begin by taking stock and then taking action.
It’s never too late to start standing out.
Credit : inc.com
By this point, you know not to apply to any jobs with an email address that screams, “I created this in the eighth grade!” So, you’re no longer [email protected] as far as your prospective employers are concerned. You also know not to show up late for the interview. And you have a firm grasp on the importance of making eye contact and delivering a solid handshake.
But did you know that there are several other things that could negatively impact the impression you make with a hiring manager? I spoke to four career coaches to get the outside-the-box scoop on the truly unprofessional things that are bound to hurt you in your job search process. Read on so you can avoid them like you avoid crowds on Black Friday.
1. You’re Desperate—and You Show It
Laura Garnett, career coach and consultant, says that nothing makes you look more unprofessional than when “you feel desperate”. This is because, as the old cliché goes, “People can spot desperation from a mile away.” Garnett knows that it can be hard to mask if you’re actually feeling this way, but, nonetheless, “you have to ensure that you are confident, know the opportunity is a good fit for your strengths, and be able to speak to why and how you are right for the role and the organization.” She encourages job seekers to “be clear on what your career vision is and how this opportunity fits into that.”
Avoid “being a yes person,” she says, encouraging job seekers to “demonstrate curiosity and interest in the organization” and not just talk about yourself nonstop. Nary an interviewer is going to be interested in you if you don’t know when to give up the floor.
2. You Hide Who You Really Are
Garnett’s advice is worth its salt, that’s for sure, and so is career strategist, Rajiv Nathan’s, whose unexpected thoughts on the subject are worth remembering. His belief is that if you hide who you really are in interviews, you’re not doing yourself any favors. Nathan explains that he “frequently advises people to stop dividing work life from home life, and acknowledge that you’re one person at the end of the day. Share who you are as a person, don’t just share the role you think the company’s trying to cast for its ‘play.’”
To him, that “includes sharing the weird or potentially ‘unprofessional’ things you’re interested in.” Basically, in order not to appear unscrupulous, you’ve got to delve into the so-called unprofessional. Nathan has gone there, telling “interviewers within the first three minutes” that he loves WWE pro wrestling and that he’s a rapper. This kind of information is going to set the stage for a far more interesting, memorable conversation than if you pretend to be one-dimensional.
Credit : themuse.com
Most job seekers make the mistake of using the same cover letter for different jobs by just changing the job titles and dates.
If you have been applying for that Administrative Assistant position without any success, your problem may be in your cover letter. Best cover letters are those tailored specifically for the job that you are applying for.
Here is a sample to aid you in the next Admin Assistant application
Sample Cover Letter for Administrative Assistant job
‘Your Name’
P.O Box XYZ-00100
Nairobi
4th June, 2015
The Human Resource Manager
XYZ Company
P.0 Box XYZ-00200
Nairobi
Dear Sir/Madam
Re: Application For An Administrative Assistant Position
Following the recent job advertisement on XYZ website for an Administrative Assistant at your company, I am pleased to apply for the position. I believe a high level of confidence, great concern for accuracy and my 2 years experience in handling large volumes of company documents and records make me the best candidate for this job.
Working in the Administration department for XYZ Company, I was tasked with ensuring that all visitors to the company were treated well and assisted with whatever they were looking for.I was also responsible for maintaining company registers, board and shareholder minute books and answering telephone calls which are vital in any Administrative position.
In addition to my Diploma in Business Management, I have received training in the management of records and documents as well as a 6 months training in secretarial studies that meets your job requirements. I am also well acquainted with MS Office and my fast typing speed will be helpful to the company.
Please find attached my CV for further details. I look forward to an interview where I can discuss the value I will be bringing to your company in this position.
Yours Sincerely,
‘Your Name’
Most Kenyan jobs are never advertised. A cold cover letter is an uninvited inquiry to an employer, recruiter or other hiring manager regarding possible job opportunities in their company.
Cold cover letters’ potential advantages include creating a job that didn’t previously exist, gaining early consideration for a position that hasn’t yet been advertised and expanding your network of contacts. By sending a letter
to an employer who is not soliciting candidates, your CV will not be buried in a pile of hundreds of others.
Success stories
Mark is a salesperson with a passion for sporting goods. His favorite shop did not have a presence in his town, so Mark sent a cover letter outlining how he would establish a local presence. After reading the letter, the company invited Mark for interview and hired him on the spot.
Before you write
Know Yourself: You are contacting a company that hasn’t asked to be contacted. So what do you offer? Why should the company take an interest in you? What skills, abilities and credentials would be desirable to the organization?
Research the employer: Find out as much as you can about your target company, including past performance, goals and competitors so you can knowledgeably write about how you would help the operation.
Here is a sample.
P.O Box Nairobi,
Kenya.
HR Manager.
Muajiri Kazi Ltd,
Nairobi,
Kenya.
Dear Sir/Madam:
RE: Looking for a suitable marketing role.
Perhaps you are seeking an addition to your marketing team.
A new person can provide innovative approaches to the challenges of marketing. I am an innovator of new ideas, an excellent communicator with buyers, and have a demonstrated history of marketing success.
Presently, I am marketing computer products for a major supplier using television, radio and retail marketing. I have a reputation for putting forth the effort required to make a sales department succeed.
Enclosed is my CV for your review and consideration. Your company has a reputation for excellence. I would like to use my talents to market your quality line of technical products.
As there is much more to discuss, I’ll appreciate an appointment when your schedule allows.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to meeting you.
Sincerely,
John Job Seeker.
The big question in any interviewee’s mind is “What are managers looking for during a job interview?”
This is a very hard question to answer for every other interviewer because each of them have different expectations in a candidate.
Listed below are six qualities that generally make a good interview candidate:
1. Self Confidence – Candidates must be sure of what they are doing, and to show this one must answer questions articulately while stating facts as they are. This will involve saying no to something you do not know. A candidate with low self confidence will run into situations where he won’t take risks or make “the tough calls” just because he is afraid of being wrong.
- Common Sense– Many at times, candidates need to make decisions based on incomplete pieces of information and the only way to succeed in this task is by having a good level of intelligence and common sense. Every candidate does not need to be a genius (it won’t hurt either), but the candidate needs to at least display the ability to think and reach conclusions even when he doesn’t have all the data in his hands by extrapolating and “tying loose ends” in order to draw for himself a clearer and bigger picture.
- Communication Skills– This is a must for most jobs. Good communication is the ability to explain and communicate an idea to someone who is not in your immediate working context. This is even more imperative of a candidate who needs to explain non-trivial things like tests, and even potential risks related to the technical tasks they can perform to people that will need to make important decisions based on these explanations.
- Knowledge (basic or advanced) of his subject– If you want to be a good candidate make sure to understand what an interview is about (at least in theory!!!). Today there is no excuse for not having some idea about the principles surrounding interviews since everything (literally everything!) can be found on the Internet by doing a quick Google search.
- Some Knowledge of the Company they are Interviewing for– As an HR executive, it may sound strange but you always want to know the person in front of you is curious enough to learn (even a little) about the company they are interviewing for. In the mind of an interviewer anyone who comes to a company without knowing their basic business is not interested enough in order to get the job at hand.
- Truthfulness– This last one is maybe the most important one, an HR executive needs to trust the person in front of him/her. If during the interview he reaches a conclusion that you are making things up and lying just to please him then he won’t be able to trust you in the future.
HR will always be willing to compromise on some of the other attributes as long as they feel the person in front of them will be able to fill the gaps by investing his time and efforts, but if someone is not truthful then they won’t be able to trust him or his work.
Lastly, and to make sure you have the whole picture, there are always extra-points for technical knowledge in the field in question, and this may even be a requisite if they are looking for an expert in a specific field but most of the times this is one of the attributes with less weight in any interviews.
There are a few select phrases that no job seeker wants to hear in an interview. “Go ahead and see yourself out,” is one of them. “Did you know that your fly is down?” or “Please, stop crying,” are likely others. But—let’s face it—those aren’t exactly commonplace (at least, I certainly hope not).
However, there’s one dreaded set of words that’s sure to crop up in any job interview. Words so terrifying that they immediately cause your leg to twitch and a nauseous feeling to wiggle its way up from your stomach to your throat.
Tell me about a time when…
“Oh, crap,” you think to yourself. You were more than prepared to spin your weaknesses into strengths and talk about why you’re the best fit for the open position. Heck, you can even recite the company’s mission statement from memory—in three different languages.
But, this? This part you’re not adequately prepared for.
Let’s face it—having to think of specific examples from your professional history is already challenging. Add in the element of needing to transform them into captivating and relevant stories to engage and impress your interviewer? Well, suddenly you’re tempted to just stand up and walk out.
Not so fast! These inevitable behavioral interview questions are definitely nerve-wracking. But, they’re nothing you can’t handle.
The first step is to make sure that you already have a few key interview stories queued up and ready in your back pocket. Once you have a solid roster of examples ready to go, it’s time to polish up your delivery. Here are the five key elements you’ll want to incorporate: Put them to good use, and you’ll be sure to save yourself the embarrassment of rambling on without a point or purpose.
1. Answer First
Yes, being prompted to tell a story in an interview is enough to send you spiraling into panic mode. But, there’s one important thing you need to remember here: These prompts are called behavioral interview questions. Emphasis on the word questions. This means you need to provide an answer to something specific, and not just launch into a long-winded explanation about something that’s completely irrelevant.
The best way to ensure that you drill down to the meat and potatoes and give the interviewer exactly what he’s looking for is to start your story with a concise, one-sentence response, before elaborating on those nitty-gritty details. While you’re telling a story, you don’t need to weave in tension and suspense the way an award-winning author would. Your main concern should be answering the question.
For the sake of example, let’s assume that your interviewer asked you to talk about a time when you made a mistake.
What This Looks Like
“A professional mistake that still sticks in my memory is when I mixed up the date for a large meeting my department was hosting.”
2. Provide Context
Now that you’ve given a brief answer, it’s time to expand and provide some background information. After all, a one-sentence response won’t be enough to satisfy your interviewer. She’ll be left wondering exactly how you managed to goof up that date. What was the fallout from your blunder? What did you do to fix it?
So, it’s time to give the context of the situation. Don’t get so bogged down in minor details here. Your interviewer doesn’t need to know that it happened on a rainy Tuesday or that you were feeling particularly groggy from that huge burrito you ate for lunch. Instead, zone in on what’s important and actually helps to provide some clarity to the situation.
What This Looks Like
“My department was coordinating a training session that our entire company was set to attend in order to learn about a new process we were implementing. We had tentatively scheduled the large meeting for the middle of May. But, when we changed the date to a week earlier, I neglected to make that change in my own calendar. The meeting was a week sooner than I thought, forcing me to scramble to get things pulled together in time.”
3. Explain Your Role
You’ve laid the groundwork and explained the problem. However, remember that these questions were designed to find out how you handle certain situations. So, you need to make sure to emphasize the role you played.
Think about what specific duties you were responsible for, and then elaborate on those. One key thing to keep in mind when describing your role is that you shouldn’t make any attempt to make excuses or shift blame—particularly if you’ve been prompted to discuss something like a mistake, failure, or a conflict. So, don’t even bother explaining that you weren’t included on the email about the date change or that your co-worker forgot to loop you in. Instead, take ownership.
What This Looks Like
“I was responsible for creating the slide deck that would be presented at the meeting and walk our entire staff through the new changes. I had wanted to take my time with the presentation, making sure that I hit the right details and explained things in a simple and efficient way. But, when I managed to goof up the date, I had to speed through the presentation creation—meaning it wasn’t quite as polished as I would’ve liked.”
4. Share the Results
This is the part when you need to start to wrap things up. Every story has a resolution where you tie loose ends together—unless you’re writing a sequel, which I wouldn’t recommend in an interview situation.
You always want to highlight results in your interview. So, the best way to pull together the ending of your story is to explain the outcome of the example you chose. What happened in the end? How did this all play out for you?
What This Looks Like
“Although I had higher standards for the presentation than how it turned out, everyone was happy with it in the end. It taught my colleagues a lot. So, despite the all-nighters and moments of sheer panic that resulted from my date screw up, I was glad the presentation ended with everyone’s approval.”
5. Make the Lesson Clear
Think of any classic children’s story, and you’ll identify one thing they all have in common: a lesson. The tortoise taught us that slow and steady wins the race. The ugly duckling showed us to always be kind to others. To really make sure your story has a lasting impact, end by talking about what the experience taught you.
Even when you’re asked to share an example of something negative in your professional history, it’s important to remember that your goal is still to present yourself as a qualified and accomplished candidate. So, don’t just stop after you’ve explained your failure or mistake. Instead, go on to elaborate on how this experience inspired you to improve in those areas and made you an all-around better employee.
What This Looks Like
“While I definitely didn’t enjoy that frantic mad dash to reach the finish line, making this mistake illustrated the importance of keeping a close eye on my calendar. Now, I make a point each week to sit down and look through all of my scheduled commitments to make sure I’m not missing anything important.”
I get it—being prompted to tell a story in an interview is enough to make you want to hightail it right out of that meeting room. However, these questions are inevitable. You might as well accept that fact and work on delivering as polished and powerful of a tale as you can.
So, when you’re asked to provide a personal example, remember to structure your approach using these five crucial story elements. Incorporate those key pieces, and you’re sure to end up with an impressed interviewer—and maybe even the job!
Credit : themuse.com
It is so easy to get wrapped up in what we don’t have and haven’t accomplished that we don’t always realize what we do have. It’s easy to feel like we’re not doing as well as we should, but sometimes we have to pay attention and measure our progress more objectively.
Here are 12 signs you’re actually doing much better than you may think. Maybe it’s time you appreciate the strengths within you that you take for granted.
1. You Learn From Your Mistakes
If you can convert your struggles and challenges into valuable lessons, you’re definitely doing something right. Mistakes have the power to turn us into something better than we were before. If you acknowledge and learn from them, mistakes are among the greatest of teachers and an important part of most success stories.
2. You Seek New Opportunities
If you’re seeking new opportunities instead of sitting and passively waiting for the right chance to come to you, you’ve taken one of the most important steps toward success. Great things don’t happen on their own, but life gets better when you treat every new opportunity as a way to expand and explore the possibilities before you.
3. You Pursue Your Passions
If you are pursuing your passion and going after what you want, you are already better off than most people. Wildly successful people pursue their passions, while others refuse to let go of struggling with their problems.
4. You Believe in Yourself
It’s one of those things that’s easy to say but not so easy to actually do. We all harbor an inner saboteur who wants to keep us stuck—but it’s your choice whether to listen to that negative inner voice or shout it down with faith in your own capabilities and strength.
5. You’ve Mastered Your Mindsets
Our life is made up of our thoughts, and if you want to accomplish great things you have to learn to manage your mindset—the thoughts that become actions that become who you are. If you can manage a positive mindset, you can exert a positive control over your destiny.
6. You Keep Trying
It can be among the hardest of decisions: whether to give something up or try harder. But if you want something you’ve never had, you have to do things you’ve never done. When you stop trying is when you stop caring, but tenacity is the antidote to failure—whether it’s real or potential.
7. You Embrace Challenges
You don’t grow when things are easy, but when you embrace your challenges. The greater the challenges, the greater the potential for growth and opportunity.
8. You Face Your Fears
Most people see fear coming and run. But if you can face your fear, you become stronger than you were. Fear is nothing more than an obstacle to progress and achievement, but if you can treat is as you would any other obstacle, you’ll be far better off than someone who had never been afraid.
9. You Care for Your Health
It may be a cliché, but health really is one of the most important things you can possess. Your body is a priceless possession, and even if you’re young and vigorous, it’s important to take good care of it and appreciate it.
10. You Help People
Success has nothing to do with what you gain, but is all about what you do for others. If you are helping others and lifting others up, then you are more successful than most; the greatest success any of us can know is helping another grow and succeed.
11. You’re Free to Do What You Want
If you have freedom, you’re far better off than all those who worry about what others will say or think. They don’t have the luxury of doing what they’d like but are always second-guessing or defending their own choices.
12. You’re Not the Same Person You Were Last Year
If you are still learning, still growing, still developing, congratulations. You’re constantly adding value not only to yourself, but those around you.
Credit : inc.com
Source: Lifehack
No matter how old you are, where you’re from or what you do for a living, we all share something in common—a desire to be successful. Each person’s definition of success is different, however, as some may define success as being a loving and faithful spouse or a caring and responsible parent, while most people would equate success with wealth, fame, and power.
We all want to achieve success so we could live a comfortable life—have financial freedom, drive a nice car, and live in a beautiful house. However, although success can be achieved, it does not come easy.
There are a lot of tips and strategies out there on how to be successful in life, but I am still a firm believer that there is no better way to succeed than to follow that footsteps of those who have already done so. Here are 13 success tips from some of the world’s most successful and renowned people:
1. Think big.
From Michelangelo Buonarroti, Great Renaissance Artist: “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”
2. Find what you love to do and do it.
From Oprah Winfrey, Media Mogul: “You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job and not be paid for it.”
3. Learn how to balance life.
From Phil Knight, CEO of Nike Inc.: “There is an immutable conflict at work in life and in business, a constant battle between peace and chaos. Neither can be mastered, but both can be influenced. How you go about that is the key to success.”
4. Do not be afraid of failure.
From Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motors: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
5. Have an unwavering resolution to succeed.
From Colonel Sanders, Founder of KFC: “I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know.”
6. Be a man of action.
From Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance Genius :“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”
7. Avoid conflicts.
From Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of America: “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.”
8. Don’t be afraid of introducing new ideas.
From Mark Twain, Famed Author: “A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”
9. Believe in your capacity to succeed.
From Walter Disney, Founder of Walt Disney Company: “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
10. Always maintain a positive mental attitude.
From Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of America: “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.”
11. Don’t let discouragement stop you from pressing on.
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of America: “Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed.”
12. Be willing to work hard.
From JC Penny, Founder of JC Penney Inc.: “Unless you are willing to drench yourself in your work beyond the capacity of the average man, you are just not cut out for positions at the top.”
13. Be brave enough to follow your intuition.
From Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple Inc.: “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
You’ve got your eye on an amazing opportunity. You update your resume, perfect your cover letter, and line up your references. So far, you’re doing everything right. But before you submit your application documents, ask yourself this important question: What sets me apart?
You may have an extraordinary cover letter and resume with strong references. Great—but there will probably be other candidates with very comparable documents. So if you really want the gig, you have to be bold and prove your worth—before you’re asked to.
When I was a college student and member of the campus newspaper staff, I participated in interviewing a candidate for Director of Student Publications. While perusing her application materials, I noticed something unique: a newsletter she created announcing her hiring. It demonstrated her design and writing ability, and it made a bold statement about her desire for the job—which she got.
I still remembered that director about 10 years later, when I really wanted an open position with my alma mater, but assumed there would be other qualified individuals who wanted it, too. I asked myself what I could do—beyond writing a standout cover letter and resume—to showcase my abilities.
I ended up developing and submitting a program proposal that demonstrated my ability to plan an event grounded in theory and research, my strong writing skills, and my ability to think creatively. Less than three weeks later, I started in the new role. The proposal had served the exact purpose I wanted it to: It caught the hiring committee’s attention, confirmed my abilities, and showed a level of drive and enthusiasm that none of the other candidates demonstrated in quite the same way.
To be bold in your job search, you need to provide quality information to your potential employer beyond what a standard cover letter and resume convey. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. My approach for a position in higher education probably wouldn’t work at a corporate accounting firm. So, how do you make this work for you and your unique situation? It comes down to simply providing evidence that you are the ideal fit. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
1. Submit a “Pain Letter”
Follow the advice of Liz Ryan, and substitute a pain letter for your cover letter. A pain letter identifies a challenge the company is facing and explains how you, if hired, would solve that problem. This demonstrates an uncommon depth of company knowledge and your unique ability to solve problems—which can seriously boost your appeal as a candidate.
2. Connect With an Insider
Don’t rely on a recruiter to understand your value solely based on what you put on paper as your cover letter and resume. Find someone influential on the inside of the company and send your information directly to that person—or, depending on the relationship you form, ask that person to vouch for you. It’s a gutsy move (especially if you have no prior connection to that person), but a personal reference almost always results in a higher success rate than relying solely on your cover letter and resume to get you the job.
There are a variety of ways to connect with that influencer: Try connecting on LinkedIn, joining a professional organization he or she is a member of, or use your personal network to garner an introduction. Then, continue forging that connection by conveying your passion and the value you can bring to the role.
You could send an email or LinkedIn message, for example, that says:
Hi, John,
I was researching your company because I am applying for the open marketing position there, and I came across your profile on LinkedIn. I saw that you recently published a post about the BuzzFeed approach to viral content. I’m sending a link to a website I helped develop as a marketing intern for my university’s Division of Student Life, which used a BuzzFeed approach.
As you can see from the data I’ve included, it increased traffic to online campus resources by 25%, supporting your theory. I thought this site might be an interesting resource for you. I would be happy to provide you with more details if you are interested, and I would greatly value your support in my pursuit of the marketing position.
With this, you’re making a meaningful connection, without just asking for a favor.
3. Showcase Your Skills
A cover letter and resume can only go so far to describe what you can do; a portfolio provides concrete evidence of those abilities. Have you done a lot of writing in your previous roles? Don’t just tell an employer that you have strong writing skills on your resume; include samples of your writing in your portfolio.
You can bring this portfolio with you to the interview, but that assumes you actually get an interview. Instead, do yourself a favor and build an online portfolio that employers can access immediately when they receive your application materials. Your portfolio then becomes a tool that helps you land the interview, instead of something you showcase at the interview.
Plus, an online portfolio also allows you to include media that a traditional portfolio doesn’t. Do you have experience developing proposals and securing funding for projects? Include a proposal, timeline, and photos or a time-lapse video of the project in your portfolio.
4. Demonstrate Your Value
In addition to an online portfolio, consider submitting additional documents that can demonstrate your value to the company. Think about what the company needs, and develop something unique around that. For example, you could develop a proposal for a new program, an out-of-the-box marketing tactic, or a grant opportunity. The opportunities are endless—you simply have to use your knowledge of the company and your creativity to develop something relevant and realistic.
This approach will demonstrate your depth of knowledge of what the company needs and your ability to realistically meet those needs. It also proves your effort and enthusiasm—qualities that any sane employer wants in every employee.
5. Ask Bold Questions
When you snag an interview, you’ll certainly need to prepare for the questions that interviewer will ask you—but don’t forget that the interview is a two-way street. You should prepare a few questions of your own to help you decide if this is the right position for you and show just how interested you are in pursuing the opportunity.
This doesn’t mean you should be overly aggressive—but being willing to ask straightforward questions will show you know what you want. Lily Zhang suggests three strong wrap-up questions here.
I recently interviewed for a new opportunity on campus. I came to the interview with two proposals—one for a new counseling practicum position and one for a new student group—both closely aligned with the goals of the office. I hadn’t been asked to develop either item as part of the application process, but I saw an opportunity to showcase my potential impact in the role.
I closed the interview by asking one of Zhang’s bold wrap-up questions (among several other pointed questions), and in general, I did everything in my power to make it easy for everyone involved in the hiring decision to see what I envisioned for this new role and to understand that I had the experience to pull it off. And guess what? I started my new job April 13.
In your job search, you can submit the same old cover letter and resume like every other job seeker, or you can look for a way to stand out from the competition for all the right reasons. Will you make the investment in yourself?
Credit : themuse.com
My sister-in-law, a lovely woman and former elementary school teacher, once confided in me that all teachers have favorites. The key is not showing it. Judging from the afternoon I spent with her and her class of six-year-olds several years ago, she did an excellent job of hiding her favoritism. I had no idea Curtis was her pride and joy!
Unfortunately, not everyone’s so stealthy. Workplace favoritism is real. And it is rough. How can you do your job when your boss is buddy-buddy with your cube-mate and barely friendly to you?
I’ve had more than one manager play favorites, and I’d say neglect is right up there with rejection in terms of feeling low and worthless. Finding yourself in a position where you’re not favored (though, being the “star” employee isn’t without its problems either)—especially if it limits your success at a company or in a position—is bad news for your career.
If your supervisor isn’t professional enough to put her preferences aside, assuming you and your colleagues are equally competent and diligent, you’ve got to know how to manage the situation. For help in navigating this tricky workplace scenario, I reached out to several Muse Career Coaches, and their advice is spot-on.
1. Behave Normally
Act as if your boss is not playing favorites. The worst thing to do is react in such a way that puts you on your boss’ bad side. Assumptions can be deadly! While you may believe you’re not the favorite [team member], that doesn’t necessarily make you the least favorite either. Avoid becoming your boss’ least favorite by reacting negatively to your manager’s behavior.
Avery Blank
2. Improve Yourself
The best you can do with any boss is clarify what he or she expects, do your best to deliver, and get feedback regularly. Focus on doing good work and improving yourself. Bad boss behaviors are usually noticed by others; trust that good companies have management systems in place to catch and correct these situations.
Bruce Eckfeldt
3. Self-Promote
Understand the unique role you play on the team, and go the extra mile to act professional, thorough, and prompt in all deliveries. Advocate for yourself by requesting meetings, proposing new ideas for the team, and demonstrating respect and appreciation for your boss. Don’t allow yourself to get distracted by feelings of neglect, which will only hold you back.
Ashley Crouch
4. Take Control
Make your ambitions known to your boss using clear, straightforward communication, ‘My intention is to receive a promotion this year. The project Sarah has been assigned to is the type of work I’d like to be doing. What can I do to set myself up to be selected for similar assignments in the near future?’
Melody Wilding
5. Emulate Your Boss
When I was put on a performance improvement plan and felt like my every action was being monitored and judged, I emulated my boss’ work style as best as possible and acted pre-emptively. For example, I worked in sales, and before my boss could ask me how many meetings I had booked for the week, I had already sent her an email letting her know what my week looked like.
Rajiv Nathan
6. Toss Aside Emotion
When a boss plays favorites, it usually strikes an emotional chord in us. Emotions cloud our vision—especially in the workplace. Take your emotional blinders off, and strategically evaluate the favorite to see if there’s anything he or she is doing exceptionally well that you too can implement. No one said a boss can’t have more than one favorite.
Melody Godfred
7. Build the Relationship
Continue to do excellent, high-quality work and build a relationship with your boss. Work on building a rapport and be confident in your abilities without needing someone else’s constant approval.
Anna Runyan
8. Find a Mentor
Mentors can help you explore other avenues within the organization and find the best fit for your skill set. And, if your mentor can relate, he or she can hopefully guide you toward honing in on your skills, and coaching you on how to best get noticed by your boss and other leaders within the organization.
Allison Tatios
9. Take the High Road
Badmouthing the boss or your co-workers won’t help and could make matters worse. Any signs of anger or bitterness will reflect badly on you. If there are projects or assignments that interest you, take the time to speak to your supervisor about why you should take them on, instead of stewing in the less-than-ideal situation.
Heidi Ravis
10. Maintain a Neutral Attitude
Be consistent about performing at your best with a neutral attitude (you don’t want to be desperate or a brown-noser). Find a point of connection (e.g., shared personal interests, things in common), and try to cultivate it to generate more favorable attention, help you stand out, and, ultimately, improve the situation.
Kristina Leonardi
11. Do Your Research
Before you discuss the situation with your boss or HR, think carefully about what’s going on, and consider getting candid feedback from your peers. Why are you being overlooked? What are the other employees doing differently? Don’t lose your cool and speak badly about your perceived “favorites;” rather, listen with an open mind so that the conversations leave you with actionable outcomes.
Ryan Kahn
12. Ask for a Favor
Ask for a small, easy-to-deliver favor. The Benjamin Franklin Effect that says if someone does a favor for you, he or she will feel more favorably toward you as a result. Our brains like to justify our behaviors, so when your supervisor does a favor for you, her subconscious will convince her that she did the favor for you because she likes you. Kindness toward others makes people feel good about themselves as well, so your favor will be a double whammy: She’ll feel better about herself, and about you.
Credit : themuse.com
You can debate whether cover letters are dead as much as you’d like, but that won’t change the fact that some hiring managers will continue to read them, and to those people, what you write still matters. Knowing that, it’s worth taking some time to think about what message you want to send.
And no, the message shouldn’t simply be “Hire me.” Everyone’s application can be summed up with those two words. The best examples always have a “because” attached that explains why you deserve to be hired.
In other words, if you were to distill your whole letter into one line it would be: “Hire me, because I have a ton of relevant experience,” or “Hire me, because you’re a two-person company and I know how to wear a ton of hats as things evolve,” or the ever-popular, “Hire me, because I’m incredibly excited about this position.”
As you may’ve noticed, that last line isn’t quite as strong as the first two—at least not off the bat. While it shares why you’re interested, it doesn’t mention what you’d bring to the role. It only covers your passion for the position. Sure, you’re excited about the position, in love with the company, and obsessed with the industry. But while your goal may be to distinguish yourself as someone who’d go the extra mile because you genuinely care, you end up blending into a crowd of notes that read more like fan mail.
Don’t get me wrong: Enthusiasm can be a strong selling point. But you have to package it correctly so that it speaks to how you’d be a capable hire. Here’s how to reframe three of the most common (and worst) lines:
Old Line: “I Have Dreamed About Working at [Organization] for Years”
New Line: “I Noticed the Company Has Recently Shifted Toward [X]”
Saying you’ve always wanted to work somewhere doesn’t actually mean anything. First, anyone can make that claim. Second, you might have always dreamed of being an amazing cook, but if you never spend any time in the kitchen, you’re not qualified to prepare a banquet meal.
Now, if you’ve actually followed an organization since its website was in beta, that’s a definite advantage. Clearly, you get the target audience, and you have a strong sense of the company’s evolution. These two facts would make you a more valuable hire then someone who just stumbled upon the business.
So, focus on the tangible way that your history with the company would allow you to quickly fit in and get to work. By mentioning that the organization seems to have shifted its messaging, or packaging, or something that only someone who worked there or truly loved the product would know, you’ll make it clear that you could contribute an informed opinion from day one.
Old Line: “I Want This Job More Than You Can Believe”
New Line: “I Was Excited to See One of the Main Responsibilities Is [X]”
A lot of people worry about their cover letters sounding stiff and robotic. So, they err on the other extreme, making it sound like they’re sitting across the table from the hiring manager, telling him or her just how much they really want the role. Not only could this line show up in anyone’s cover letter (i.e., it’s not distinguishing you at all), but you never want someone to be able to switch out the word “job” for “relationship” and have your note read like a speech from The Bachelor.
Instead of professing your love for a role, look for a specific aspect of the position’s description that you’re perfectly suited for. One way to do this is to ask yourself follow-up questions: Why do you want this job so much? What element of it are you most excited about? Why will you be better at that task than other people applying to the same role?
Use the answers to drill down to why you’re excited and what you’d bring and your letter will be much more memorable than one that simply shares overall enthusiasm.
Credit : themuse.com
