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Follow the 3C rule and Nail Down a Dream Job

bikram — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 18:17:00 +0000

Getting a job, even in a down market, is not difficult provided you know the trick of the trade. You know what to display in front of an interviewer. And you can only do that if you know what is that an interview wants from you.

This is where this blog post figures in. The 3Cs (creative, commitment, and confidence) that we are going to discuss in this article will help you convey the message an interviewer wants to hear from an interviewee.

3 Cs of job interview

Be creative

You should be creative in your approach. Do not just give a rotten answer to each of the question asked. It sounds boring, it looks mechanical, and no one wants a non-creative, mechanical person because they already have more powerful machines to do the job.

Do not deliver a premeditated answer. Take a chance, offer something innovative. This will impress your interviewer.

Commitment

The second C of job interview is commitment. Convey your interviewer your desire to stay with his company as long as things does not fall apart. Tell him that you are not the “job hopper” kind and believe in staying with a company and delivering result. Your interviewer needs to know whether you will go out of your way to solve a customer’s problem or not. Tell them you will do it. This will put the interviewer at ease, and he will lower his guard, which will provide you entry into his organization.

Confidence

You do not have anything, if you do not have confidence to move ahead, despite all the odds. No product is perfect. Your interviewer, who is also your prospective employer, knows this, and you should also know this. And if you have the guts to sell the product, despite its several short coming then are in the team.

Show your employer your level of confidence and belief in what you do. Do not shy away from this.

This brings us to the end of 3Cs of a job interview. In the next article will see what the 3 Es of a job interview are, and how each one of them will help you crack a job interview.

A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XV

bikram — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 03:56:24 +0000

Personal meeting and job interviews are not the places where you can hide your age. It is simply not possible. So, why to try! And as it is so far in the series we have seen why you should play your age, and not try to hide it. But, one thing that may concern you during the interview is the age, not yours, but of the people around you, of the person taking your interview, and of the people with whom you have to work. Let’s see how you should deal with it.

Age should not matter

Neither yours nor your interview’s age should matter to you when you are on the interview table. The chances are quite realistic that your interviewer will be much younger than you. Do not get unnerved by that. Be calm and give him the respect you gave to your older interviewer when you were young. Treat anyone on the interviewer’s chair with respect.

Convey your desire to work with younger crowd

One of the main concerns of an employer hiring an older person is the new employee’s ability to mix with the young crowd. Make it clear to the interviewer that you do not have any problem in working with young people. Working with young people, particularly getting managed by them doesn’t go well with everyone. Many do not like to get managed by someone who is less experienced then him. You should make this clear to your employer that you do not belong from that group.

During your interview, you need to convey to your employer that you have the desire to keep up with younger crowd, and you are willing to learn new technologies and new way of doing things so that you could succeed. Do not forget to ask about the prospect of success in the organization you are being interviewed for.

Is Freelance Journalism a Viable Career Option?

bikram — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:55:30 +0000

For an adventurous type, Freelance journalism is indeed is a good career option. I am saying for the adventurous type because it requires lots of running through the cities, and scanning the rough neighborhoods for a story to cover. You need to be always on your foot, and constantly searching for stories to make a decent living as a freelance writer. It is not an easy job to do, at least not when one is starting out.

To succeed as a freelance journalist, you need to have:

A willingness to spend as much time as required chasing a good story.
A desire to travel from place to place in search of a good story.
A knack for working under tight-deadline

If you have these three traits then freelance journalism is a right career for you, and the more you will do each of the things discussed above, the more successful you will become in your career. This is not a career for you, if you are looking for a job that gives you lots of personal space. The news story is the life of a freelance journalist, and he has time for nothing else.

A day of freelance journalist begins quite early in the morning when the editor of the newspaper gives the topic to cover, which is followed by calling up concerned person for interviews and interview bites. The information collection goes on till evening after which the journalist needs to sit down and craft a story using the information he collected. In the process, he may also require to verify the credential of data collected and recheck the numbers. He will have to do all these things before mid-night when the newspaper goes for printing.

The day of a freelance journalist ends after news submission to begin once again at 6 AM for the next day news. Not everyone can take this, so you need to ask yourself if you can handle such pressure or not.

What Freelancer Writers are Afraid of

bikram — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:54:51 +0000

We all are afraid of something. Sometimes fear is good, it helps us from wandering off the track, but when it starts affecting our growth it becomes troublesome. This is true with freelance writers as well. They too are afraid, and this has nothing to do with their present condition. Even the experienced freelancer writers have these fears. The most common among them are described below.

Fear of unknown

Being afraid of things that we do not know is quite natural. It is human to be afraid of things that we do not have any knowledge about. Each one us has this fear. This fear is natural, but it tastes sour when it starts intimidating and thwarting our development. When a newbie faces this fear he freezes, but when a seasoned professional faces this fear he deals with it.

Fear of not earning much

This is the fear that has stopped many deserving men and women from achieving what they always wanted. Having a financially stable life is everyone’s desire, but if this desire is pushing you to get everything quick and now then you should stop to think. You will get what you deserve, but not now. It will take some time. We all have to start small.

Fear of not getting enough work

This fear is related to the fear we discussed above. Not having enough work to justify the career change freezes the new entrants. When starting out you may not get enough work, but as you establish yourself in the field, you start getting works.

Fear of not getting recognized

People in general seek recognition from family, friends, and neighbors. They want their jobs to be recognized and respected. For undeveloped mind, freelance writing may not be a career to respect, and sadly most of the people have that. This thing keeps many from opting for this career, despite all its lucrative benefits.

What Lie Are You Telling Yourself to Avoid Freelance Writing?

bikram — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:01:31 +0000

Many people cherish this desire to take freelancing as profession, but not all of them end up taking this as a career. Not because they did not have writing ability, but because they are sold to self-beguiling lies.

Lie Number 1: Do not have time

This is the most common lie people tell themselves. I often hear people say that after a work it is hard to take time out for writing. This lie is preceded and supported by the fact that they cannot leave their job because the family needs food on the table. Indeed, your family needs your support, so you should not quit your day job, but it has nothing to do with the lie of “not having enough time” that you fool yourself in believing.

Dare to ask people and you will be amazed to find how many people are taking 2 hours each day from their life for part-time freelance writing. This is worth the effort. If you cannot do it daily or on alternate days than stick to weekend-only routine, but do it. Start now and soon you will see the difference.

Lie Number 2: Words, empty words

Well words are important for we freelancers, but words not backed by action ends up being empty words. And empty words do no good to anyone. I know many people who speak volume, but when it comes to taking action, they are just not there. Start writing, do not just speak about starting to write.

Lie Number 3: Excuses, colorful excuses

From not having time, to not having money to not having enough space at home to make it a workstation, there are many lies that people tell themselves. These lies are colorful, and at times have vivid details, nevertheless, it’s a lie.

The time to start freelance writing is now. There will not be any other good time, nor will you ever have more money than you have today to start freelancing, nor will you have enough space to do that. For those who sell themselves lie, there will not be any opportunity.

5 Types of Freelance Writing Jobs

bikram — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:38:13 +0000

Not everyone has to be a blogger, and article writer to succeed as a freelance writer. There are many more types of freelance writing jobs that one can do. In this post, I will talk about 5 types of freelance writing jobs that you can apply for.

Article writing

If you can write a well-researched article on the given topic then this is the job you have been waiting for. Many people needs 500+ words articles on various subjects, and if you think you can provide a well-crafted article then tell them about your desire to help. And also provide some samples of your previous work.

Blogging

Blogging is another thing that a freelance writer can do. You can either write your own blog or work as a staff blogger for big and established blogs. As a staff blogger, you are supposed to write a predetermined number of posts per day, and for that you may get paid on per blog post basis, or on per month basis. You can have more than one blogging job at one time.

Résumé writing

If you know how to create a well-crafted CV then the world of jobseekers is waiting for you. Seeing the competition for each vacant seat, everyone wants his CV to stand out from the crowd and for this one seeks professional help. You need to know what kind of CV works for what industry to succeed as a professional Résumé writer.

Press release writing

A press release is as important for a web-based company as it is for any brick and mortar company. Press release writing is a specialized task, and if you know how to write one then the world is waiting for you. Well, not exactly, but still there are plenty of press release works available both online and offline.

Web content writing

Whoever needs a website, needs content for the website. You can also choose this niche, if you know how to express everything a company needs to say using the given number of words than this is the right kind of writing job for you. You may also need to write about terms & conditions, FAQS, and help pages for the company along with home pages, services, and about us page.

Can You Write an Effective Copy

bikram — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:14:28 +0000

The answer can be either yes or no. Do not say it depends. Either you can write an effective copy or you simply cannot. There is no mid-way, but there are times when you end up accidently producing effective copy, but those accidental geniuses cannot make you a good advertisement copywriter. To be a good advertisement copy writer, you need to write good copies every time you pick a product, at least most of the time. There are certain principles that you need to follow, if you wish to write real good copy, not just those “accidental geniuses”.

Let me give you a piece of good news: if you have written even a single brilliant copy then you already know the tricks, and all you need to do is standardize the process. And in order to do that you need to know the process.

5 steps to writing a better copy

Step1: Know your goal

You must be wondering why everything has to start with setting a goal. Let me help you in this. A goal is the end point where you want to reach when you set your sail. If you do not set a goal before setting sail, you will get lost in the sea. You need to define your advertising goal before you start writing your copy.

Step 2: Know your audience and their needs

A product is always made for a specific group of target audience. Although everyone can consume the product, it is never made for all. Similarly the advertisement created for the product should also not be created for all. Define a target audience, which often will be similar to the target user group of the product, and then find the reason why the target group will use this product.

Step 3: Appeal to their interest

I have seen many people who make ads to suit their needs and communication style, which I must add, fails to make any connection with the users. It is important to know the desire and aspiration of the target audience before writing an advertisement copy. When writing an ad, you should always remember that you are writing this to sell a product.

Step 4: Emotional appeal

Logic always fails to connect with the target audience. If you talk all logic, and reason in the ad then your ad will definitely fail. You need to connect with the target audience on the emotional level.

Step 5: Keep it simple

Do not clutter your ad by saying this and saying that. This will not take you anywhere. Keep it simple, and talk just about one benefit at one time. It may be possible that the product solves many problems, but in advertisement you are not supposed to write about all of them. Mention the most notable feature that matters to the audience.