Head2Head How NOT to Handle a Group Interview

Head2Head How NOT to Handle a Group Interview Group interviews exist not only to test your personal skills and competencies, but to examine your demeanour in a  team setting. We know theres no i in team; a selfish person who is great at their job will be more  hindrance than help for a business in the long run. HR and other business leaders are placing an increasing importance on cultural fit in  recruitment endeavours these days, as everyone  knows this  goes hand in hand with employee engagement levels and tenure. Given a toxic hire often has  a negative ripple effect throughout  an  organisation, employers want to make sure theyre hiring people who will fit in personality-wise as well as skills-wise.  If youre gearing up to go into a group interview,  consider these no-nos when shaping your approach: Dont admit early defeat Standing out from the crowd can be difficult. Group interviews are likely to  be full  of different personality types, and each individual will have their own way of doing things; their own views and opinions. If you know you struggle to cut through the noise in a group setting, dont just throw your hands in the air  before the interview and hope for the best. Your  nerves will be fighting to get the better of you, but a group interview is an opportunity to challenge yourself and beat the odds, so embrace it. Interviewers will want to see persistence, dedication and some hunger for success! You need to bring energy to the interview and keep your eyes on the prize if you can get through this round,  you will be a whole lot loser to bagging the role. Dont  go in under-prepared Being able to offer impressive contributions during group activities and conversations largely comes down to preparation. Just because group interviews might involve impromptu team activities, dont undermine yourself by going in ill-prepared. You still need to research the company, the role and brush up relevant skills, using the job description as a guide. Treat the group interview as though it were the final opportunity you to have to showcase your interest and suitability to the role, even if it is only the first round and with HR, not the actual hiring managers. When it comes to interviewing in competitive industries, every moment counts. Dont play it safe Group interviews are not the time to tip-toe on eggshells and be timid. If the interviewers asks a question, dont be the one who shies away from the limelight and lets others take centre- stage. If the interviewer is looking for a solution, dont be the one to state the obvious and offer safe, vanilla answers. Employers want to hire visionaries  and problem solvers who can add great value to a business, not just break even for them. This is the time to give yourself an extra boost of confidence to go for it not fade  into the background. Dont be a know-it-all There is always one person in an interview who tries to stand out in the worst possible ways, whether it be by hogging question time, dictating group presentations or  showing off their expertise at inappropriate times.  Dont be afraid to take a managerial / organisational role in the team (as this will be highly regarded by managers who are looking for employees with leadership potential), just be sure to listen to everyones point of view and showcase your ability to lead people, not squash them. If youve scored yourself a group interview, congratulations! Now its time to do everything in your power to make sure you leave a lasting impression. For more nifty tips, check out this article:  http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/group-interview/

@ work One of 45 Inspiring Career Blogs for College Students

@ work One of 45 Inspiring Career Blogs for College Students From online college.org site, which helps students find the right online fit for themselves: College, ostensibly, prepares participants for their chosen career paths, but tracking down the right entry-level positions comes burdened with its own set of protocols, strategies, and insights, all of which might seem impregnable to the recent graduate. Fortunately, blogs exist to help demystify the overwhelming amount of information applicants have to process. Whether looking for tips on crafting the snazziest resume around or succeeding after scoring a great position, the following resources make for some of the best places to start seeking professional, experienced advice. # 8     @ work: Candace Moody with WorkSource dishes out the dirt on both successfully scoring a gratifying job and making sure it doesnt go anywhere anytime soon. Find the entire list here.

Is Freelancing For You

Is Freelancing For You Scoring a full time job with a decent salary is no longer the ultimate career dream. These days, more and more people want  flexibility, autonomy and better work-life balance. They  want to be their own boss, manage their own schedules and buck the 9-5 trend. Its not all that surprising that so many people are opting for the freelancer life, considering how lucrative a  consultative career can be compared to permanent employment. When you team the promise of monetary gains with the  freedom of working for yourself, it is not hard to see why so many people are turning to temporary work.  This shift in the way we work is referred to as the gig economy. Its a new world where people offer  their skills and services to organisations for short term projects. Is contracting for you? Here are the factors you need to consider: Control One of the huge allures of contracting is the level of control you will have over your career.  As you are constantly picking and choosing what work you will or wont apply for or get involved in, you will rarely be stuck with menial tasks you didnt sign up for. Contractors are hired to complete very specific briefs, so you can be sure of what youre getting yourself into most of the time. As a freelancer, youre also less likely to be weighed down by office politics and micromanagement.  The temporary nature of your work will likely reduce the impact of colleagues you dont like or get along with theyll soon be a thing of the past anyway! Risk Contracting jobs are generally less secure than permanent ones.  People who have great skills  will  get rehired through recommendations and referrals. However, regardless of how good you are at what you do, contractors are subject to high levels of risk.  When companies need to reduce outgoings, temporary workers are the ones who often get the chop, all in the name of cost cutting. Notice periods and redundancy packages dont apply to contractors. A gentlemans handshake between you and your boss to say that youll be looked after is  sometimes as good as your job security gets. Money A lot of people will see their pay packet increase as soon as they switch to contracting. The amount of cash you take  home each month can be much bigger for freelancers, thanks to hefty day rates that dwarf permanent salaries,  different (more favourable) tax codes  and  less immediate deductions.  However, the pay increase  is not ALWAYS as substantial as hoped,  so check what youre worth before you take your walk on the wildside. Sales Sales pitches are part and parcel of a career as a contractor. Do you enjoy job interviews? It doesnt matter freelancers have to attend them regularly. With career control and working for yourself  comes great responsibility, in the form of pressure to seek  out  and secure new contracts. Some people love the thrill of pitching to clients and showcasing their skills, and view this element as a huge plus in their career. If the thought makes you nervous, you can team up with a recruiter who can help you to pipeline projects through their extensive  contact networks. Support Permanent employees can lean on sophisticated functions that exist to support them in the workplace. Contractors operate as one-man bands and dont have the luxury of an HR department or finance team to sort out their employment affairs for them. They also arent given the same professional development opportunities as full time staff, as they are not as worthwhile an investment.  There are trade associations and professional bodies to support you in your career though, so youre not completely alone.  Also, seeing as there are so many freelancers out there, you can easily join networks to mingle with likeminded professionals! Perks Permanent employees are offered excellent perks to keep them happy in their jobs. Contractors might be paid more, but they dont get the same level of TLC. Sick days, pensions, holiday leave, health insurance and bonuses are not part of  a freelancers contract. So Its important to consider ALL of the factors before making your debut in the gig economy. Do your research and talk to people in your network  whove already made the move.  If you want to chase independence and dollar signs, weigh up your risks first Maybe its time to give  it a go! It could be the start of a whole new you. Image: Shutterstock

The difficult convergence Work and family by age 30

The difficult convergence Work and family by age 30 Thirty is a magic number for the new generation a time when people want their career path and their family life in place. This is a difficult convergence to pull off, but more and more people are aiming for it. Jessica Marshall Forbes summarizes these feelings as she describes getting married: We always knew we wanted to get married before we were thirty. When youre younger, in college, thirty seems like a turning point. And as Im nearing that age, the significance hasnt changed. Thirty is when youre really grown up. At thirty you should know what youre doing. For both men and women this is a key age to have their career goals in place. Lia Macko is co-author of the book, Midlife Crisis at 30: How the Stakes Have Changed for a New Generation And What to Do about It Macko writes, It may be socially acceptable to spend time searching for a professional calling during your twenties, but after 30, that grace period ends fast. Adjectives begin to change aspiring actors/filmmakers/musicians/writers are recast as wannabes or dilettantes. However women have a more loaded marker of age thirty: Their biological clock. Women take into account their reproductive potential is diminishing, says Jeffrey Arnett, professor at Clark University and author of Emerging Adulthood. Women think if they marry at thirty they can have two years with their husband and have a kid and then wait to years and have another kid. But if this doesnt happen then they worry about the impact on their reproductive life. The worries are well founded: The chance of birth complications skyrockets after the age of 35. It used to be fashionable to tell women, Dont worry about babies. You have time. Concentrate on your career. But now that the statistics on late motherhood are clearer, fears have set in. For Forbes, the self-imposed deadline for having children has everything to do with medical risk. She says age is not a concern as long as Im not getting to the point where complications start. So today many women find themselves in a position where they are struggling to line up a grand convergence of career, marriage and motherhood within a couple of years of age thirty. Lia Macko says, In the past, women had kids when they were lower in the masthead. Now women are making decisions about kids and earning potential and marriage all at the same time and this is specific to their generation. This convergence means that its the first time in history that a large proportion of women have a big career and small children, and it appears that the combination is almost impossible. For example, sixty percent of women with MBAs are working at home, and an epidemic number of women are leaving corporate life when their children come. Women approaching age thirty face these statistics. How can women alleviate some of the pressures of turning thirty? For one thing, Macko advises that you Tune out the cultural white noise and figure out a plan that will meet your own needs, regardless of the expectations people place on you. Starting your own business is a great way to ensure that you can control your time as your thirty-year-mark approaches. Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin, author of How to Run Your Business Like a Girl, says that most entrepreneurs she interviewed for her book, tried to do kids and corporate life and they couldnt. But Baskin encourages entrepreneurship at a relatively young age. She says younger women are smarter about these issues from the get go and realize before trying that corporate life is not compatible with family life. Linda Babcock, professor of economics at Carnegie-Mellon University and author of the book, Women Dont Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide encourages women to manage the convergence of fertility and finances by negotiating up front with their partner. Ask questions like who will find the nanny and who will change jobs. You might change your mind, but you will set the tone for both parties making an adjustment when the baby comes. Managing the changes one faces at age thirty is much easier if both partners are committed to absorbing some of the shock. For those of you who are not in a position of convergence for example, fielding the annoying question: So youre already 30. Where is your husband? recognize that all women face crisis issues at 30, its just that some issues focus on finding a partner or career and some focus on coping with having found them. And while everyone has a different opinion about how to make womens decision points easier, there is unanimous clamor that women must talk. The women who are most successful at navigating these issues are those who help each other, and talk about it with their significant others and their community. Dialogue is the first step toward finding a solution that works: Talk to your friends, and even your enemies the wider the discussion the better.

Use a Resume Help and Resume Writing Service

Use a Resume Help and Resume Writing ServiceThere are many different ways to use a resume help and resume writing service. Most of the services are similar, but not all of them are so. So to find the one that best fits your needs, you will need to do a little research to find out what kind of service that is best for you.First, make sure the writing service that you get with a few details about your employment needs. This can include anything from the specific positions that you would like to be asked to fill and the number of years you have worked there. You can also ask about specifics such as where you grew up, what you did in high school, if you have any degrees or certifications, or if you have ever been in a lawsuit or similar situation before.A resume help service can help you get your job application into the right hands. Many times, the companies that you apply to will only hire the most recent applicants because they are already aware of your experience and education. In so me cases, this can make a huge difference in how quickly you get hired. The fact that you have already had experience in certain positions can help to increase your chances of being accepted into a position that you may have otherwise been turned down for.The resume help that you get should be customized to fit the needs of your particular position. For example, if you are looking for a technical support position, you should not apply for the phone support type of position. This should be the only position that you apply for with the help of a writing service. This way, they can make your resume to fit the position that you want in order to increase your chances of getting hired for the job.A resume help that works on a long term basis can also be useful. Not only will they have the ability to write and edit your resume once, but they will have the ability to write resumes for other people. This means that they can create a resume for someone who has been out of work for a while but who is looking for a job again, and they can even help you with an updated resume if you need it.For the person who has just started looking for a job, there are other options available. They can start by looking online for jobs and then try and apply for these in person. It is possible that they may not be able to find a job that suits their skills at first, but the resume help service can contact companies and help you in the process.Before going to any of these services, it is a good idea to find a place that will help you by sending the resume back to you when it gets to the right company. If it gets to the wrong one, then you will never know if you should have sent it in the first place. So this gives you the opportunity to go through your resume and get it to the right company.No matter what your experience or skill level is, if you have been out of work for a short period of time, there is a writing service that can help you out. No matter what your specific needs are, there is a service that can help you get your resume out there and in front of the right people.

Careers in Social Working - CareerAlley

Careers in Social Working - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Family Health Family health is one of the most important things to get right. A family unit is not only good for the children, but for the adults involved, and thus society as a whole. In the effort to help people experience the best lives they can, it might be tempting for you to consider the best ways of working in this environment. Introduction to Health Care Careers Price: $99.18 Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 There are many disciplines you could choose to head down. Wed recommend the following for the certain specialisms of health in the industry. Whatever you choose, we hope a long, fruitful and varied career is yours for the taking. Photo by Curtis MacNewton on Unsplash Emotional Physical Health The emotional health of families can take a dive when a new child is born. Many people think that a new child will often lend nothing but love and support from all parties involved, but sometimes that is not the case. Children do not fix issues, they simply make their presence felt even more bluntly. This means that unraveling the strings of issues takes time and patience, and sometimes for extreme emotional expressiveness. However, the therapist or social worker who manages to do this can take credit for bringing family units together with a successful attempt. If this sounds appealing to you, wed recommend looking into either psychology qualifications, a doctor of nursing practice nurse-midwifery course, or working as a specialist social staff member for either the government or private practice. Postnatal Health Postnatal health is important. Its not always a guarantee, which is why postnatal therapists exist. Working in therapy takes care, but this further specialism requires nerves of steel. Being able to help people through this is equal parts emotional art and practical science, and so requires someone with a truly versatile and willing skillset to get right. Wed recommend becoming a licensed therapist, gaining some true experience in middle-aged and parental care, and then specializing in this direction. source Social Health Social workers are often exposed to the most trying and difficult of familial circumstances. This often means that they need to report very difficult or painful issues that might be plaguing a family. In some cases, they need to function as those making the judgment call on whether or not a family should be allowed to consider itself a family any longer. This might mean putting the child into government care or reporting on the state of a divorce based on the publicly available information they are allowed to disclose. The work of public health professionals is important because public health initiatives affect people every day in every part of the world. It addresses broad issues that can affect the health and well-being of individuals, families, communities, populations, and societiesboth now, and for generations to come. publichealth.pitt.edu A social worker needs a strong heart to do the work they do, but they can also affect families like no other job role. Wed recommend studying a bachelors degree in social work and then diversifying further, joining a practice or government position, or continuing to study your masters degree. Choosing a career is not an easy thing to do. It can become rather overwhelming and confusing because of the large number of choices out there. Deciding to go to school for a particular career requires a large commitment of time and money. Tweet This With this advice, you will not only find that caring for families becomes a wonderful thing that can repair and sometimes replace difficult situations with positive ones but can lead to positive effects that continue for years after you have conducted your work. These roles all take a strong heart to pursue but can lead to some of the best work ever conducted by those in a caring role. Hot Health Care Careers: 30 Occupations With Fast Growth and Many New Job Openings Price: $19.95 Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to identify and land your dream job. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search

Networking Without A Resume

Networking Without A Resume If you are job hunting, the idea of networking without a resume may sound crazy. But let me propose this. If you are networking and people are asking you for your resume, you are doing it all wrong! Why? If you were already employed and asked to meet with someone, would they ask for your resume? No. Why Is Networking With a Resume A Bad Idea? Anytime you present a resume it reeks of Hire Me! I am looking for a job and puts you in at a disadvantage or you come across as desperate. Networking should be about gathering and sharing mutually beneficial information. Furthermore, you are much more likely to be granted a networking meeting if the person feels like they have something to gain from the conversation. Subconsciously, the person is probably thinking, How will I benefit from this conversation? It is up to you to make sure you address their needs as much as your own, so tell them upfront how they may benefit from having a conversation with you. Plus, once they find out you are searching for a job there is sort of an unwritten understanding that theyll be expected to open their contacts to you, and many people are not comfortable with that. So if you dont lead with the fact you are job hunting, this fear is initially eliminated. The First Thing You Need to Do Stop saying that you are in transition (or any other fancy term to indicate you are unemployed or actively searching for a new job!) The majority of job seekers I meet confess their unemployment status within their opening statement. Now, maybe it is just because I am hyper-sensitive and dont want to hear this or maybe it is because I am a job search coach and they feel the need for me to know this information. Either way, my assumption is that if they confess this to me, they are confessing to others. You Are Networking To Acquire Information Believe it or not, some people network all the time, even while employed. Having conversations with people outside of your company enables you to stay up on industry trends and perhaps learn about some of the projects they are working on. You will be talking shop. Think about the information (no, not job postings) you are looking for. What questions do you want answered and personal insight is important! Do you ever feel like you have too much on your plate? I struggle with this too. How do you handle it? Have you tried implementing new processes or procedures recently? How did that work for you and your team? Why do you think What are you seeing You can find many more general networking questions to ask here. For more help switching your mindset and focusing on gathering information read this:  Networking is a Waste of Time- Or Is It? What Information Can You Share? You have knowledge and experience and youve learned some lessons along the way. Can you listen for opportunities to interject your thoughts? Better yet, carefully plant questions that will give you the opportunity to share your ideas. Think about the failures and successes your past companies have experienced and how that might benefit the person you are meeting with. Think about the other people you have met with along your networking journey and the stories they have shared with you. Will any of this information be helpful to the person you are meeting with? Tactfully share what you can to help others. You will be viewed as a conduit of information, a connector, an informed professional, and valuable. No resume required. Just In Case To provide someone with your background and head off the request for a resume, be sure you include a link to your LinkedIn profile when you reach out to someone and request a meeting. You may choose to put it in the confirmation email instead of your initial outreach depending on how well you know the person. You could say, Just in case, I have included a link to my LinkedIn profile here: Have a business card and personal marketing plan on hand as well!