Do not ask about salary first

This is a major mistake often seen among the youngsters and fresh candidates at the interview desk. Many youngsters join jobs, especially easy to get through kind of jobs just because of salary attraction. What they fail to see is that the company is hiring them for some good reasons of its profit, not to do charity. All that interest them is salary package. Often such candidates turn really impatient and just cannot wait till the interviewer asks him or her about expected salary package. Such candidate looks for an opportunity and whenever the interviewer is found little quiet, soon shoots questions like ‘How much are you planning to pay for this job?’ or ‘What will be my salary package if I am chosen for it?’ Well, such questions may not only irritate the interviewer, you may also lose chance to impress him forever. Ask about salary package only when the interviewer gives you come hint or asks you directly about your expected salary figure. Too much proactive effort from your side will invariably send wrong messages across.

Do not ask about the company’s background first

Do not forget, it is you who is being interviewed; not the person sitting across the table. Maintain interview decorum. Too much of interest and questions may make you appear too bossy, picky and irritating. It is good if you have queries in store for the interviewer, it is always appreciated. But shooting such questions at the wrong time may spoil your entire effort. Shoot all questions you have regarding the company background or places of operation or anything specific about the job profile – only when you are asked. The interviewer may specifically ask you ‘Do you have any questions to ask?’ and that time you can shoot your questions. If you are not asked, towards end of the interview process you may proactively ask some questions. But keep it short. Make sure questions are sensible, smart, logical and not personal.

Do not ask personal questions

Often the interviewer makes the candidate feel relaxed, at ease and comfortable. Interviewer may crack some jokes, share light moments to see how you are exactly behind the shield of formal attire. But such atmosphere doesn’t permit you to forget all interview decorum and get personal. Even if the situation is light hearted do not suddenly get personal and shoot questions like ‘Sir, what does your name mean?’ or ‘Madam how many years you have been working in this company?’ Such abrupt questions may instantly make the interviewer feel uncomfortable

Follow these tips and do not make a mistake being proactive at the interview desk.

Stay healthy, stay fit

The metabolism that you were once proud of has already left you, and so has the ability to regenerate energy; so the extra burden of frustration, anxiety and depression because the strenuous job-search routine may inflict malady upon you. You need to stay fit to fight it off. A fitter body will always help in having a more fulfilled life.

Do not lie about your age

Why will you even think of hiding your age? What is the benefit of doing so? If you hide your age, you are sending a message that you feel that you are too old for the job being offered, and no employer will like this kind of message. Your feeling reflects on your face, and the moment your contempt for being so old comes on your face, it is the end of your interview, at least for the interviewer.

Be yourself

If you are Mr. or Miss X then you are Mr. or Miss X; you cannot be a Y or a Z, even an A, B, or a C, so why even try to be that? The best thing you can do for youself is to be yourself. Just remember, it was you who has brought yourself so far, so why to be ashamed of it now? Act your age, so how much experience you have accumulated in the years that you have lived. This may not work for you, but not being yourself and pretending to be someone else will definitely not work in your favor.

Reflect on the things I have written above and assimilate them, make them your habit. I will catch you in the next part of the series. Use the comment box and let me know your view on the post in particular, and the series in general.

Be positive

Believe it or not, it reflects. Your positivity oozes out of everything you do and so does negativity. What people will think about you depends upon what you give away (positive or negative vibes). Most of the people get frustrated after couple of failures to land in a job. They become hopeless, but you need to understand hopelessness is not the solution, nor is the frustration. One has to tread forward until it becomes easy to walk and then run in full throttle.

Do not wait for a perfect job

Perfection is an illusion, and that too a bad one. Nothing is perfect, neither you, nor me, nor this article, and nor the job you are seeking. You must realize that you are no longer young, and you have a family to support, so you do not have the luxury to leave jobs coming your way. You need to be realistic of the situation, and be ready to compromise on the quality of job, and slightly on the paycheck you are offered, at least till you get what you want.

Update yourself

The biggest reason behind unemployment of people over 40s is their inability to keep themselves abreast of changes in technology. You need to update yourself with the changes in technology. By becoming up-to-date, you place yourself on equal footing with the youth, which will blunt the edge of negativity concerning your age. A 40+ person with good knowledge of recent technology is an asset for any company.

Think over it, and make a list of things that you think you do not know but are hot favorite among young people. See if those things are raising their employability, if it does then consider learning them.

It is where when we need writing prompts to help us get out of this rut. Writing prompt can be anything that can make us write. It could be a picture, a word, a phrase, a quotation, an illustration, a person, a place, or anything. Anything that prompts us to write can be called writing prompt.

You will need writing prompts a lot in your writing career, hence I will ask you to maintain a list of writing prompts that can pull you out of the writer’s block. If you think, you are not going to face writer’s block in your career then either writing is not something in which you are going to make your career, or you are not planning to write much, at least not regularly.

How to use writing prompt

1. Make a list of writing prompts that will help you get out of the writer’s block. Always remember, writing prompt for a fiction writer cannot be same as writing prompt for a non-fiction writer. Writing prompt used by a self-help writer cannot be same as writing prompt used by writer writing on health-related issues. Hence, see what works for you and make a list of it.
2. Like anything else, writing using prompts also depends upon practice. The more you practice the more quickly you can get out of the block.
3. When faced with the writer’s block. Start with choosing any random prompt from the list, and then write on it continuously for 10-15 minutes.

In the next blog post, I will tell you how to build your own list of writing prompts. Till then practice what you have learned.