Saturday, December 28, 2019

Getting Ghosted on Your Job Applications Heres The Fix.

Getting Ghosted on Your Job Applications Heres The Fix.Getting Ghosted on Your Job Applications Heres The Fix.INBOX Hi, Jewel. I have a question. Theres just a complete lack of response from companies. Im not selected for interviews, even though I think Im a perfect fit according to the ad.Bad news first The silence is deafening to everybody who conducts their job search just the regular, normal way most people think they should.Now, the good news Youve realized you need to fix this problem, and Im going to show you how, effective immediately.Theres a series that just came out called, Science of the Job Search, described as a, real-world, data-driven look at what made some people hireable (and others not). The results of the series have been featured by NBC, Forbes, Fast Company, TechCrunch, and US News. Lets go over the key takeaways so you can avoid having your resume sucked into the black hole, and instead start to engage with real human beings who can move your hiring process alo ng. Your Qualifications Matter Less Than You Think Dozens of factors impact your hireability for better or for worse. For example, when you apply makes a difference. The survey says applying on Mondays increases your hireability 46%. Avoid Fridays and the weekend. I frequently coach my candidates to take a pause starting at noon on Fridays. People have mentally checked out. Theyre already making their weekend plans online, and theyre just not interested in looking at your resume at that moment.Aim to apply for a role within 4 days of it being posted. The survey says that increases your hireability 65%. This can seem counter-intuitive. Some candidates operate with the thinking that theyll let the flood of applicants rush to the opportunity, then theyll come in a little later once the flood has died down less likelihood to get lost in the sea of applications that way. But according to this survey, that thinking may not be the best approach.Does this mean if you see the job is older t han 4 days, just forgetabout applying then? No, not necessarily. My professional recommendationis that you should apply for opportunities when you see them, but if you happento come across them in the first 4 days, dont wait.Go For Your Stretch Goals The survey indicates when you meet 50% of the requirements listed in the ad, go ahead and apply. Youre only in the danger zone if you meet less than 30% of the requirements. The results differ a bit from what I have normally told the candidates I coach. I have usually upped the surveys 50% to 75%. I believe if you meet most of whats in the ad, consider that a stretch goal, then apply.What Ive found is that when you stretch, thats when the magic happens. Those are the opportunities you end up getting. Why? I believe youre more excited about doing something new, different, or something that allows you to use your new degree or professional certification.Just understand what stretch means. Jobseekers tend to think, Ive done X before, so I can easily explain to the employer that I can quickly learn Y. But thats not what employers are looking for. A rubber band that stretches is still the exact same rubber band. It doesnt become one rubber band over here, and another rubber band over there. In your career, stretching is a very logical extension of what youve already done in your professional history. Its not a complete career change. If it feels like youve submitted a high number of applications online, but received a low number of responses, then going beyond the job boards is your next logical step. Directly contacting a real human being makes a tremendous difference. You can see exactly how to do that in, The Ultimate Recruiter Response Cheat Sheet. There are 4 simple steps you can literally put into practice right now. Grab yours, then reach out and touch someone (a recruiter, not just anyone)

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

How to Prepare for an Internship Phone Interview

How to Prepare for an Internship Phone bewerberinterviewHow to Prepare for an Internship Phone InterviewInternship phone vorstellungsgesprchs enable employers to screen candidates ahead and identify which students possess the skills they are seeking in an intern. Although a phone interview seems much less intimidating than a regular face-to-face interview, dont ignore their importance by failing to prepare in advance. When applying for internships, its important to be prepared at all times in the event that an employer might call regarding your application. Make sure you leave a professional voicemail message on your phone and always answer your phone in a professional manner. Its important to beprepared for a phone interview in much the same way you would prepare for any interview. How to Prepare Keep your resume and a list of your accomplishments by the phone in the event that you receive an unexpected call from an employer.Have a secluded, quiet space prepared for you to go to conduct the interview.Be confident that your cell phone offers an excellent connection (no static/lost calls) or opt for using a landline for all interviews.Be prepared to discuss your skills and accomplishments as well as your strengths and weaknesses with the interviewer.Practice answering interview questions aloud prior to your interview. This practice will help you formulate your ideas and how you want to say them. It will give you an opportunity to make mistakes prior to the actual interview. Schedule a mock interview with a counselor in your Career Services Office at your college or with a friend or family member who is willing to help and able to provide constructive criticism. You may want to tape your mock interview to be able to playback and hear your voice as well as any distracting ums, ands, or other repetitive words used inappropriately.Prepare answers for those tough behavioral questions, such as Tell me about a time when you had to use your persuasion skills to enco urage a member of your team to participate more fully in pulling together a project or presentation. Planning ahead by identifying several scenarios of courses, internships, jobs, etc., that you can use as examples for these types of questions can be invaluable. What to Do on the Day of the Interview Keep a glass of water handy to avoid cotton mouth.Smile during the interview, its contagious and will project a positive attitude and improve the quality of your voice.Dont chew gum, eat, drink, or smoke during the interview.Have your resume and a short list of your accomplishment placed in front of you during the interview.Speak slowly and enunciate clearly.Use the interviewers name and title and only use his/her first name if asked to.Dont interrupt the interviewer.If you dont understand or did not hear the question, ask him/her if they could please repeat it. Provide the interviewer with brief, concise answers. Most interviewers will ask if they want you to elaborate on any spec ific topics or questions.Follow up your interview with a thank-you note to reiterate your interest in the internship.Evaluate how you think you did and what you might do to improve for the next interview.

Thursday, December 19, 2019

How Government Pensions Work

How Government Pensions WorkHow Government Pensions WorkIn most industries, employee pensions went out with the stand-alone fax machine and three-button suit, but in government, pension plans are still common. Government retirement systems provide a healthy complement to Social Security and personal investments. These three elements make up the three-legged stool of government retirement. Government Employee Pension Plans As in all government expenditures, taxpayers ultimately foot the bill, but they are not the only ones with skin in the game. Retirement annuities arent just given to public employees when they stop showing up for work. Employees contribute a portion of each paycheck to their retirement systems, which much later down the road entitles them to annuity payments. When individuals take public tafelgeschirr jobs, part of the decision to accept a job offer is whether the person can live off the salary minus the retirement contribution. The tradeoff is the employee does not have to save as much for retirement from the remaining salary dollars. Also, the investment is entirely or partially handled by the retirement system. Government Agencies Contribute Government agencies also contribute to employee pension plans. Many agencies are required to match (or nearly match)the amount of money that employees contribute. Agencies see this as a personnel cost similar to other employer-paid benefits like health insurance premiums and life insurance. A somewhat analogous private sector cost is an employer match to an employees 401(k) contributions. These contributions are invested to fund annuity payments and grow monetary reserves. How Amounts Are Determined All government employees do not receive the same annuity amount. Generally speaking, each retirees amount depends on that persons years of service and highest salary. Those public servants with long tenures and high salaries contribute more in aggregate than others with shorter tenures and lower salaries. Age comes into play when determining retirement eligibility which is when an employee can begin receiving annuity payments. Retirement systems calculate retirement eligibility independently. Just because one system has a rule where age and years of service must be equal to or exceed 80, for instance, doesnt mean others use the same methodology. How Eligibility Is Determined Before employees retire, they know the eligibility rules and exactly how much money theyre due in annuity payments. It is because retirement systems rarely change the rules for existing employees. When changes are necessary, they often apply only to new employees or employees with very little tenure within the retirement system. Just because an employee reaches retirement eligibility does not mean the employee automatically retires. In fact, relatively few public servants retire upon eligibility. Instead, they continue working and therefore contributing to their retirement systems with the expectati on of their annuity payments being higher because they waited to begin receiving them. How Taxpayers Contribute All in all, taxpayers ultimately fund government employee retirement pensions, but in exchange, they receive a workforce of public servants who carry out the business of government. Public servants contribute to their retirement both as taxpayers and as employees who rigidly and routinely kick in a portion of their paychecks. Agencies also contribute as a benefit like private sector employers sometimes do for their employees. Retirement systems invest those contributions to pay current retirees and build up reserves for long-term viability.

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Smart or Stalker-esque The Art of Following Up

Smart or Stalker-esque The Art of Following UpSmart or Stalker-esque? The Art of Following UpSmart or Stalker-esque The Art of Following UpTodays post is written by Kerry Sandberg Scott, author of the blog Clue Wagon and a human resources professional with 14 years experience. Kerry began her career in recruiting before serving as the head of HR for different companies. She has also advised several companies and recruiters on finding and hiring the best candidates.I cant think of anything more controversial in job hunting than the question of when and how to follow up.Career advisers tell job seekers to follow up with employers. HR people complain about the flood of phone calls they get every time they place an ad. Conflicting advice is everywhere. Whats a candidate to do?Every situation is different, but I think there are five dos and donts that apply to most corporate job searchesDONT use the phone. Really, dont. Heres why Lets say I run an ad. Four hundred people apply, and 25% of them make follow-up calls. If each of those 100 people leaves a voice mail thats two minutes long, Im going to spend 3.5 hours just listening to the voice mails. Thats not counting time to return calls, play phone tag, or actually work on filling the job. I can only return the calls from work, because if I call you from home, youre going to see my home phone number, and Im going to have to keep my kids quiet to boot. So what actually happens in this situation is that I delete all of the voice mails. I feel bad about it, but its just not humanly possible for me to listen to and return all of those calls and still have time to read resumes, schedule interviews, etc. Youve wasted your time, and now were both frustrated and crabby.DO use emaille. In contrast to all those phone calls, I can get through 100 emails in probably one-third the time it takes to clear the same number of voice mails. I can do them at home, after my kids are in bed. One follow-up email is probably the limit if y ouve only sent a resume if they dont reply, theyre probably not going to. If youve actually had an interview, email just once on the third business day after they said theyd make a decision, and then again one week later. If they dont respond to a second email after youve taken the time to interview with them, theyre jerks. At that point, you can decide whether you want to make one final phone call to get a response. That might make them think youre a stalker, but you already think theyre jerks, so it evens out.DONT contact HR. Everyone does that. Thats why the HR person has 100 voice mails. Use Google and your network to find out who the hiring manager is, then contact that person instead.s Julie OMalley has a great suggestion for how to do this. The HR person is just the gatekeeper the hiring manager is the decision maker.You always want to be in touch with the decision maker.DO be brief.The shorter your message, the more likely you are to get a response (and the less likely you a re to be eaten by a spam filter). I really do want to respond to every candidate. Make it easy for me to do that, and I will.DO manage your expectations. The fact is that some companies are never going to respond. Sometimes its because theyre understaffed or incompetent. Other times its because theyre weenies. You cant take it personally, and you cant let it drag you down. Do your best, then have some ice cream and move on to the next opportunity. Job hunting is hard enough on your morale without dwelling on the negative longer than necessary.

Monday, December 9, 2019

The Start of Key Resume Words

The Start of Key Resume Words Employing action verbs and active voice makes a big difference in your resume, therefore its well worth the excess work. Action verbs or action words as theyre also known are a blend of two things. Thus, its important that you know just how to approach the resume words that you write if you need your resume to POP. More precise words may also add some formality to your actions, she states. The Key Resume Words Cover Up In many of the circumstances, the distinction is being made by employing the appropriate key terms in your resume and using them right. You should inculcate the usage of buzzwords into your resume, parteicularly where theres a chance or will need to optimize the usage of language to focus attention. Utilizing strong words here is needed. Most people earn their name standout by utilizing a font thats somewhat larger and bold. Now you must find out the resume keywords and phrases utilized for your intended position. You will thin k of an effective resume if you take advantage of particular powerful words based on the business. The very first illustration is extremely clumsy. To recognize relevant key phrases, you should read the language the agency uses. Just upload your resume in their ordnungsprinzip then paste the full job description to begin the comparison. You might need to change your bullets for each work application to be sure the absolute most applicable ones are on your resume, but thats a far better approach to organize your work search than listing 10 or 15 bullets and hoping the reader will have the ability to determine which ones are definitely the most important for them to know. It is possible to summarize earlier work history with a concise description of your achievements throughout that moment. You found waste, and figured out a means to do away with it. Lets have a peek at the ideal action words its possible to put on your resume while putting in an application for an analytical j ob. When youve done that, return and cut out everything that isnt critical. Its also important to think about the sort of work you genuinely are interested in being hired to do. The action word extracted, on the flip side, carries a great deal more power. Key Resume Words Fundamentals Explained A superb cover letter introduces you to a prospective employer and leads them to take a good look at your resume to see whether youre the appropriate person for the job. Whatever you include in your resume must reinforce how youre an ideal job candidate. Not very comforting once youre job searching and trying your hardest to obtain an employer to look closely at your resume. You always wish to set yourself aside from the remaining part of the applicants as long as its for the proper reasons. Studying leadership all on your own and applying a few of the principles to your present job may make a considerable difference in your performance and the opportunities presented to you. It is not so much whether youve held a conventional leadership position (such as manager or supervisor) but how well it is possible to put certain skills into action. Your resume needs to prove clearly and concisely that youre the perfect candidate for the work opportunity. Hard skills are concrete practices or knowledge which are both quantifiable and teachable. The New Fuss About Key Resume Words Ivy League schools, for example, may be utilized to filter applications for high-profile businesses and positions. A hundred other applicants like you do the exact same. If your resume happens to contain keywords about the job criteria then itll be tagged for more review. In some instances, it can happen that the recruiters dont have extensive knowledge in your area. Thus, your job application should be written so it is easily understood by somebody from outside your industry also. Prioritize the info supplied for each position starting with the most relevant and important details in connection with the job which you are applying for. Both services provide a completely free trial. Your resume will frequently be screened by means of an ATS (applicant tracking system) that will look for relevant keywords in your job resume application to be able to discover the best match between the work ad and the job applications. Key Resume Words Fundamentals Explained Management positions need a good deal of power. Keywords are the essential skills required to do work. Administration and Management no matter the market, all jobs need administrational efficiency. Utilizing general keywords including Marketing, Graduate, Engineering, Designer needs to be avoided since theyre too vague and can mean various things. Work experience include work history and abilities that are linked to the job which you are trying to find. If youre taking a look at creative jobs, you may want to think about the verb designed. In your previous jobs, you will need to be sure everything is pa st tense.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

The True Meaning of How to Overcome Resume Writing Block

The True Meaning of How to Overcome Resume Writing Block A fantastic place to start is the UNC Writing Center. Your first resume will lead to your very first job and the remainder of your career. You want to find the job. If you wish to locate a job as an English teacher you want to represent a range of skills. Notice the thoughts running through your mind while you attempt to write. The goal is to divert your mind for the mean time and search for something interesting. departure writing, and as soon as you are in the zone things will go far better. The Start of How to Overcome Resume Writing Block Many writers turn to work out or a whole reversal of environment in such conditions. Therefore, when you hit that brick wall, here are a few things that will break right through it, so you may return to the practice. To understand human communication process, you must understand how folks relate to one another. Deciding what things to write in the expert experience section is frequently the most difficult part of the resume writing process. In any event, you stay away from making a determination by brushing the problem below the carpet as you dont wish to select the blame if something goes wrong. Ask plenty of questions of the individual who assigned you a bit of writing. By way of example, many people cant write creatively. There is only one problem we frequently neglect to take them. How to Overcome Resume Writing Block - Overview Writing a book demands all your attention. Writers block is something which affects even the most renowned writers on earth. Please continue reading to discover what you could do in order to overcome writers block. Dont assume you need to understand how to write them just because youre a very good writer otherwise. The New Fuss About How to Overcome Resume Writing Block Use an Example or Template Get a genuine sample of the sort of document that you will need to write. When it has to do with understanding the w riting procedure, you need to understand that a massive part of it is mental. You dont need to compose a paper from beginning to finish. Whenever you have the ideal portion of your paper written, it is going to be much simpler to complete it by adding whats missing. Understand what it is you are good at. Writers block can appear to be an insurmountable mountain to climb, but it doesnt have to be that manner. Discover what your writing process resembles and whether theres a specific stage in which you tend to go stuck. In such situations, no career path will probably be easy.