What NOT to Do in a Job Interview [INFOGRAPHIC]

What NOT to Do in a Job Interview [INFOGRAPHIC] Going to a job interview is probably one of lifes greatest ordeals, where you have less than an hour to sell yourself and get the job that may well change your life. Being under pressure can change the way we behave, think, speak. Dont despair, recruiters are used to see people feeling stressed out and it is not dramatic as long as dealing with pressure is not at the nexus of the job youre applying for. As you can imagine, a lot of weird stories have happened in the recruiters office and the infographic below, courtesy of Talener, presents some tips, horror stories as well as trends from hiring managers. Takeaways: Dont bring your parents to the interview. Yes, some people really do! Remember that the 1st impression is key. Pay a close attention to the way you write your thank you note. Keep it professional and short. RELATED: Top 10 Things to Bring to a Job Interview [INFOGRAPHIC]

Guest Post The 5 Hottest Job Markets (Jacksonville is #2!)

Guest Post The 5 Hottest Job Markets (Jacksonville is #2!) More than just a pretty face: Jacksonvilles job market is hot Even with recent economic troubles easing up in the United States, many people are finding it challenging to find employment. In order to overcome the difficulties, some professionals are casting a wider net in their job searches and considering relocating to other areas in order to find good work. If your current location simply doesn’t have a market for your skills, that can be a great decision. But relocating to just anywhere does not guarantee that you’ll find success. Some markets offer much better odds for employment than others, as demonstrated by their lower unemployment rates and recent hiring practices. Relocating to some of these hot job markets can open up a world of possibilities for your career. Austin, Texas: Austin is known as a hot spot of culture and entertainment, but thats not all the city also has a hot job market. The unemployment rate of Austin has been hovering around five percent, putting it well below the national average. Austin has a number of opportunities in a variety of fields, with several particularly strong industries. Among the quickest growing fields for employment in Austin are healthcare, business services, and manufacturing. Jacksonville, Florida: With a professional football team, a vibrant arts community and dozens of attractions of all kinds, Jacksonville has plenty to offer. Jacksonville has a widely renowned sunny climate (four seasons with no snow) and provides opportunities for countless outdoor activities. The job opportunities are similarly rich, with the city boasting an unemployment rate of only about six percent. Jacksonville is a particularly hot job market for those in the fields of education, healthcare, information technology, and hospitality. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Located just east of Lake Michigan, Grand Rapids is a popular destination for those looking to explore the outdoors. In addition to hosting a variety of impressive architectural gems and museums, Grand Rapids is also a hot market for job-seekers. The Grand Rapids area has a strong, diverse economic sector, and opportunities abound in industries including engineering, education, information technology, financial services, and healthcare. Seattle, Washington: While most west coast conversation tends to center around California and all that state has to offer, Washington is quite the destination for relocation as well. The city of Seattle is home to top-notch culture, arts, sports, and entertainment, and the urban center is rife with employment opportunities of all kinds. Moving to Seattle to look for work provides chances to work for a broad range of employers in both the city itself as well as its sprawling suburbs. The Seattle area has an unemployment rate of around 5.5 percent, and there are major opportunities in the growing fields of engineering, manufacturing, and health services. Phoenix, Arizona: This land of sand and sun is also one with bright prospects for employment thanks to its low unemployment rate and growing population. Phoenix is a popular choice for those who enjoy outdoor activities, and it also boasts top educational opportunities. Additionally, Phoenix has a strong tourism industry, which provides many job opportunities. Growing fields for employment in the Phoenix area include hospitality, construction, and financial services. Of course, simply moving to one of these cities isn’t enough- you’ve got to put in the work applying to jobs. If you’re getting discouraged, don’t give up! Tenacity does have a tendency of paying off! Hailey Harper is a marketing strategist for a Tucson moving company. She enjoys writing about business and leadership, as well as helping people on their job search.

Ten Signs You Could Be a Budding Workaholic - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Ten Signs You Could Be a Budding Workaholic - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career While having a good work ethic and ambition is critical for success in todays competitive job market, many business owners, executives and rising stars  have an excessive devotion to their work.  They struggle with guilt feelings for not spending more time at work and fear potential pitfalls of not being there to oversee their business. Not taking time off from work can have dire consequences; it can lead to burnout and worse, a total downward spiral of your personal life. Whether you work for yourself or for someone else it’s critical to take breaks that help you recharge your battery. Taking regular time off to exercise, spend time with friends and family and time to think outside of the office can lead to breakthroughs and give you perspective on the work youre doing. Psychologist Brad Lontz, Psy.D. says workaholism is a disease similar to other addictions. It’s one of the few addictions that society values and people are quick to claim. “You think you work a lot, I spent 12 hours at the office yesterday!”   He makes the following suggestions for achieving a healthy work-life balance: 1. Take the “rocking chair test.”  Picture yourself at retirement age sitting on your front porch rocking in your chair. Looking back on your life, where do you wish you had spent more time? At the office? On the golf course? On vacation with your family? 2. Challenge your automatic thinking around work.  The fact is, as important as we think our work is, when we are dead and gone, the world will keep rotating around the sun. When you are feeling anxious about a “to-do” list, take some time to root out and correct some errors in thinking. What would be the worst thing that would happen if you gave yourself a day off of work? Could you live with that? Would the world survive? 3. Check in with others regarding your work-life balance.  Ask your friends and family if they think you work too much. Workaholics are often unaware of how immersed they are in work and are not necessarily conscious of the negative emotional and physical consequences of workaholism. Opening our hearts and minds to the feedback of those around us is an important step in getting honest with ourselves. 4. Examine your family history around work.  When I heard my 0-hour-a-week-working father talk about how lazy he felt compared to his father, my feelings of guilt for only putting in a 70-hour work week suddenly made a lot of sense. Seeing this family pattern around work and becoming conscious of the consequences opened my eyes and helped me change my relationship with work. Don’t Miss Out on Life In his popular 1970’s folk song, “Cat’s in the Cradle,” Harry Chapin sang about a conversation between a workaholic father and son: When you comin’ home dad?”  â€œI don’t know when, but we’ll get together then son, you know we’ll have a good time then.” By the end of the song, Chapin’s protagonist deeply regrets missing out on his son’s life. In his old age he realizes he has passed down this too-busy-ways to his son who is now not available to him in his  aging  years. Joel Peterson, Chairman of JetBlue Airways has these insight about working too hard: Sometimes, the biggest challenge in being a workaholic is that you simply don’t know you are one. Peterson points out some signs in his post   Signs You’re Working Too Hard and How to Stop. If you’ve stopped exercising, can’t sleep and are eating poorly, you’re heading down a road that could lead to a disastrous destination. And if you’re far enough along this destructive path that you’ve abandoned your hobbies and interests, can’t find time for friends or family and are obsessed with work day and night, you may actually need an outside intervention. He says, “Don’t be too surprised if it comes unsolicited at the hands of a doctor or lawyer”. Here are 6 common signs Peterson identifies that may reveal you’re under too much stress â€" and suggestions for what to do about it. 1)  You’re chained to your desk. An editor at the  Chicago Sun-Times  once said that he couldn’t take time off. He was afraid the place would fall apart without him â€" and he was terrified it wouldn’t. If you think the universe depends on you, you’re headed for a high-stress breakdown. Hire people who will do a better job than you ever could, and then celebrate their successes, get out of their way and recharge your batteries regularly. 2)  Your mind races in circles. You think the root of your stress is that you spend all of your time in a state of intense focus. But really, most people under stress are re-plowing the same field over and over. They confuse this obsessing with focus, but it’s really the opposite. Problems typically get simpler as you work your way through them, so make sure your solutions involve reducing complexity. Then work on execution in bite-sized pieces that are less demanding than the larger initial problem. When your stress is under control, focus will come more easily. 3)  Your favorite phrase is “you’ve got mail.”  Email may have become a mindless stress reliever for you; but like most things, it’s a two-edged sword. If you’re disciplined, it’s a time-saver. But if your use of it goes unchecked, it morphs into a constant interrupter, a pestering reminder of all you’re having a hard time responding to. So turn off your email â€" for hours at a time â€"and work on developing the discipline to check in on a regular schedule and not more frequently. 4)  You’re always running late. Make a commitment that you’ll be five minutes early to every meeting and every event, and then tell others about it as a way forcing you to curtail the activities that are making you late. This will rarely reduce the quality of your thinking or your work, and it will usually help you re-frame your priorities and focus on your accountability and deliverables. 5)  You never take a mental break. I once had a set of partners who bought tickets for me and my wife to take a week’s vacation and promised that none of them would answer calls from me or report anything to me during the trip. At first, I didn’t know what to do with myself; but soon, I lost myself in a book. When I “woke up” I was in another century, as it were, reveling in language, culture and history â€" things I love, but had forgotten about. Taking mental breaks every once in a while creates opportunities for learning and enjoying new things. To incorporate them into your daily life, set up rules for yourself. One of mine is not to work on airplanes â€" and since I do a lot of flying, I now do a lot of reading. 6)  Your phone has become an appendage.  Never turning off your phone, or even worse, being unable to even put it down, leaves you open to constant interruptions. Although I can’t seem to do it, I know busy people who set “office hours” for themselves during which they even block out personal interruptions. The analog to the phone being on all the time is the office door that’s always open. Be sure to give yourself some quiet time to think, to plan, to reflect in a place where there’s no phone and no one walking through the door, even if it’s just for 30 minutes a day. If you possess more than a few of these signs you might want to re-evaluate your schedule and re-calibrate so you can disengage from work avoid having regrets that you didn’t spend time with the people you love. I can’t justify leaving work to exercise I bring home work every night and weekend I regularly cancel dates with my significant other and my kids I fear not showing up at work will result in turmoil there I know my business could run without me but I still can’t take a vacation I’m gaining weight, feeling anxious and can’t seem to get in control I am quick to anger I’m drinking more than I used to My conversation is solely about work I have regular nightmares about work Take time to unwind and reconnect with those outside of work each day. This could help you gain perspective and improve your work and may also lower your stress level.  As an employee, this may sound easy. But for the sole proprietor or the CEO’s it may be a monumental challenge. Its impossible to avoid stress altogether, in fact, some stress can help us rise to our best. Our challenge is to monitor our stress levels and seek feedback on our behavioral response. We can then use this information to attempt to adjust our habits. Many times we can make minor schedule changes coupled with changing our knee-jerk response to constantly working that could improve our personal well-being. A good coach, friend or significant other can help give you perspective on if youre managing your time well.  Once you gain control of your work habits, you may then be able to say, you own your business, not your business owns you!

Kayla Johnson The Price of Choosing Generosity - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Kayla Johnson The Price of Choosing Generosity - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Editor’s Note:   I’m excited to share a guest post today from Kayla Johnson!Kayla Johnson  is a marketing lead at brightpeak financial, a new organization dedicated to helping young Christian adults and families start taking action on their finances now, and for the future. “Kayla, here’s what I think you need to start thinking about…” is how most of my conversations with my Dad start. Ever since I was old enough to sit still for long enough, he has been teaching me “lessons.” “If you keep saying “like” or “um” as much as you do, you aren’t going to look very smart.” “If you whack your brother on the head, he’s going to start thinking of you as a bully.” “If you eat hamburgers every day, it’s going to seem like you don’t care much about your health!” I generally shrug these off with some kind of “Psshh” response to my dad. But in reality, every action we take speaks loudly about our personal brand. And actions we take and perceptions we create about ourselves, have a much longer lasting effect than I had originally thought when I started enduring these lessons from my Dad. The one that seemed to ring truest to me was his lessons on “choosing generosity.” I grew up playing the piano and I became pretty good, pretty fast. By the time I was in middle school,he started regularly telling me, “When you have a gift, you cannot put it to waste. You need to share it with everyone…with as many people as you can.” So I began playing piano in church, playing in school, playing in nursing homes…every chance my piano teacher found for me to get out and play, I would.   “Choosing generosity” was important to my dad, and it became very important to me, too. As I’ve grown up, I’ve realized that generosity can be expensive! From my Alma Mater asking for donations each year, to charity drives at work, to fundraising needs of friends and family…I have a hard time fitting all of this into my budget! “Generosity” seems to have received an “expensive” stereotype! So this Valentine’s Month, I’ve committed to choosing generosity…but this time in the same way I did back in middle school: by choosing to be generous in FREE or much more inexpensive ways.   Here are some of my ideas: 1. SMILE at everyone I pass on the street. 2. Begin each meeting at work with a HIGH-FIVE to everyone there…in every meeting, all day.   This will definitely improve everyone’s mood. 3. When I stop at the local coffee shop for a cup-o-joe, I’ll pick up the person behind me’s tab…and tell the cashier to tell him or her to pay for the person behind him in line. 4. I’ll walk my friend’s dog after work…because she is sick of the daily chore, and the love that dog shares with the world, is something I know I could use a reminder of. In the spirit of offering lessons like my dad’s, this is mine: choose generosity.   And remember that it can fit in your budget. What is your “Choose Generosity” commitment this month?   Share your ideas here! Author: Kayla Johnson  is a marketing lead at  brightpeak financial, a new organization dedicated to helping young Christian adults and families start taking action on their finances now, and for the future. To learn more about how brightpeak’s mission inspired Kayla to incorporate money into her own personal brand, take a look at this  video, and follow  @brightpeakSpeak  for daily updates and tips.

Using a Hybrid Resume to Describe Your Skills

Using a Hybrid Resume to Describe Your SkillsA hybrid resume is designed to be both a technical resume and a chronological resume. The purpose of the hybrid resume is to present you as an employee in both a technical and non-technical work environment. Your job responsibilities and training will always be stated on the technical resume, but it is the general description that includes your specific skills, training, education, certifications, experiences, etc. that gives your qualifications an objective assessment that is easier to read.If you are an employer who has been searching for new employees and needs to decide between two candidates, you may want to consider hybrid resumes. This type of hybrid resume will give you more options for evaluating an applicant than a chronological resume and also increases the likelihood that the company will hire both applicants with the same level of skills and education. However, hybrid resumes can only help you choose the best candidate that me ets the skill set you have in mind.To be fair, the company may be looking for more than just your educational background and skills, but how well the candidate interacts with others. You should avoid describing your skills in detail. You can list only those qualities that are relevant to the position that you are applying for. This will make the hiring manager happy and this will increase your chances of being hired.Here are a few tips to help you craft a technical resume. First, if you are going to include your education, you should write out all of the degree courses and get the dates. You should include all of the classes that you have attended and those that are relevant to the job that you are seeking.Next, write the most basic information and highlight this information. You may feel that writing the most important information first is the best way to approach it. However, the reverse may be true; if you include everything that is required for the job in your application, the i nterviewer may fill out your application and decide that you are not what they need.The length of the resume, including what is in the body of the technical information and the resume itself, should be listed clearly so that the reader can make a good decision about whether to call you for an interview. Keep the resume short and easy to read.A technical resume must contain only what is required for the job. It should not include any personal details that will only become relevant during the interview process. For example, you can list any special skills that you have that relate to the job but avoid listing any hobbies or interests that will only be relevant to the company.Hybrid resumes can be a useful method of constructing a technical resume, but you should avoid any situation where you are describing your strengths as a writer as a personal trait. As long as you list your skills as being comparable to the job, it is unlikely that your resume will be viewed as a personal essay.

Put Your Best Foot Forward Please

Put Your Best Foot Forward… Please 57 Flares 57 Flares Jessica Lee is director of digital talent strategy at Marriott International where she leads their talent related digital and social media efforts which means she blogs, tweets and plays on Facebook all day. Kind of. In what shell quickly tell you is her dream job, she’s working to  differentiate and position Marriott to most effectively optimize innovative  technologies to address the brands business needs in the talent space. Pretty cool what theyve done already and shell work to take it even further to the next level. Dont be fooled by that fancy pants digital stuff though, shes still an everyday HR gal in the trenches at the core. SPHR certified, a decade or so into trench HR life she’s interviewed tens of thousands of job seekers over the years. During the course of my time in HR, I have had the opportunity to interview tens of thousands of people. Actually â€" if I stop to do some casual math… it’s more like 90,000 people. Crazy, right? And it might be more. I’ve interviewed people for everything from internships to executive level roles. Then you add in all the informational meetings, conversations at job fairs and the inevitable oh-you’re-a-recruiter-can-you-talk-to-my-son chats I’ve had at picnics, BBQ’s, birthday parties, you name it. I’ve shaken many, many hands and looked at many, many more resumes. So you’d think that nothing would faze me given all those interviews but believe me â€" I’m always, ALWAYS surprised when people are ill-prepared for interviews. And it happens more frequently than you might believe. Let me tell you: No questions at all? I typically allot 10 to 15 minutes at the tail end of an interview just for you to ask me anything and everything. It’s important for me to leave you time to interview me. I also want to get a feel for your curiosity and thoughtfulness though. When you have no questions, it makes me wonder… did you do homework about the role or our company? Will you be able to ask questions and actively learn on the job? Always â€" always â€" have questions. Is this just a job to you? I’ve gotta confess… I already drink the Marriott Kool-Aid. And with past positions, it’s always been important for me to find a culture that I will love. I want that out of future colleagues too. So when a candidate can’t articulate why they want the position we’re specifically discussing or how it might fit into their long term goals… it raises a red flag for me. You want a job, we know that â€" but why this specific position? And why our company? Is that how you’ll present yourself to… guests? Beyond those interview faux pas â€" there still, STILL (!) is the all too common problem of candidates showing up to interviews projecting an image that isn’t helping their candidacy. At all. Skirts that are too short. T-shirts. Way too casual attire… including sneakers. Sneakers! Really. It’s not just what you say… but it’s your entire presentation that matters. Everything counts in an interview. Everything. It’s not only the words that come out of your mouth â€" it’s your body language. Your appearance. It’s all a part of the packaging of… you. And what you uniquely offer to me. The words that come out of your mouth and your answers should really do all the talking for you in an interview but sometimes, poor packaging will cause an interviewer to get distracted or wonder about your professional judgment so just don’t let that happen to you. Make sure the packaging says â€" I’m professional, I’m put-together, I’m reliable, I’m going to represent your brand, your company, your team really well if you hire me. And then let the words that come out of your mouth really nail those messages. So put your best foot â€" and let us help you do that. Hop over to our Facebook page for jobs and careers at Marriott to learn how we’re literally helping job seekers to put their best foot forward. (Hint, hint… Zappos.com is part of the equation. Really!)

Some great questions from #askkjerulf - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Some great questions from #askkjerulf - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Im in South Africa this week to do 6 speeches for ICAS and as part of that they set up a twitter tag called #askkjerulf for anyone who wanted to ask me something. Some questions came in that were really to good to reply to only on twitter, so here goes. Is happiness in the workplace a product or a process? This reminds me of the old saying that There is no way to the Tao, Tao is the way. The same thing applies to happiness. Youre never done creating a happy workplace. You can never rest on your laurels. So you cant look at it as a project with an end goal that, once you achieve it, you can forget about. And that makes it a rather than a product I highly recommend watching this video from one of our conference, where professor Srikumar Rao talks about investing in the process, rather than the outcome. Some say happiness in the workplace begins at the top, cascades down to the bottom or is it the other way round? It needs to be both but that being said, if you want to create a truly happy workplace, you need a leader at the top who is 100% committed to this ideal. Someone like Richard Branson at Virgin, Tony Hsieh at Zappos or Ingvar Kamprad at IKEA. If such a leader is not present in the organization, you can still create local pockets of happiness in one division or one department, but it will never permeate the entire organization. Who is responsible for ensuring happiness in the workplace? That differs. In many companies its HR. In many more, no one has that responsibility (and the happiness will suffer as a consequence). I like the idea of appointing a Chief Happiness Officer in a company someone who is tasked with promoting the happiness of everyone in the workplace and who is given the necessary resource to do it. Would you say there is a positive correlation between happiness in the workplace and employee engagement? There is a massive correlation between happiness and engagement and its much easier to be engaged if youre happy. Theres an interview here, where I talk about this. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related