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3 Job Interview Tips for Busy Professionals

bikram — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 18:16:00 +0000

Most of the articles I read on the topic of job interviews are targeted towards either an absolute fresher, or to someone who is going through a career crisis. And every time I see any such article, I found myself asking what about the regular folks who want to switch job for better salary and better opportunity? And in one of those moments, I decided to write this article that will help regular employed people to effectively search for a decent job that pays more salary than what they are drawing now.

Do not schedule any important meeting on the interview day

This is to be done to stop you from messing up either of the two, and to keep your mind uncluttered on the very day. An important meeting scheduled on the day of interview will engross a significant part of your thinking brain, which will distract you during the interview as well. You should, therefore, avoid scheduling anything important on the interview day.

Do not use office mail for communication

I know you follow this, but still I felt like telling you that never ever use the e-mail ID given by your company to schedule or fix a meeting. This could spell bad luck for your existing job, which I presume you do not want to lose, unless you get something solid on hand.

Negotiate as much as you can

The best part of searching for a new job when you already have one is the fact that you can bargain with the prospective employer from a position of strength. Unlike a fresher who needs a job then and there, you do not have that urgency as you already have a job. You should, therefore, try to get the job on your terms. This is very much possible.

Being already employed, you already know the tricks of an interview meeting, so I left them out of this article, and instead mentioned those that are relevant for you alone, and not for a fresher. You must put these tips in use.

3 Very Effective but Rarely Used Job-Search Strategy

bikram — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:59:00 +0000

What most people do when they search for a job? They scan the job portals, and scour through newspaper ads. These are obvious places to look for, and almost everyone uses these job-search strategies. In this article, I am going to show you 3 non-so-obvious places that will help you find a job before anyone else does so.

Business networking sites

If you are looking for a job, and could not find a good one through the usual channels then business networking websites like LinkedIn and Ryze are the ones you should scan first. People often advertise jobs here, but to be successful in here, you will have to first make your presence felt by preparing a strong profile that should have some sound recommendation.

Job boards and forums

Believe it or not, forums also help people in getting hired. There are many job boards and forums where people ask and respond to various questions. You should also participate in such forums because it is the quality of your answers will increase your reputation, which will eventually land you in a decent job, as people are always on the look for a knowledgeable worker.

Blogging

Yes blogging can get you a full-time job as well. A blog does not only help you find a freelance gig, but it also helps you showcase the understanding of your field to the world. And it should not come to you as a surprise that employers love to have employees that are knowledgeable and astute. Your blog demonstrate both to the outside world.

Of the above three sources that we discussed above, blogging is the one which people do not take seriously as a job-search tool. Most of them are quite skeptic about the effectiveness of this tool, which makes it a very rarely used job-search tool. That is why I will suggest using this first.

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

bikram — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:40:22 +0000

As said in the last post, this is the last post in the series, and with this I will conclude my discussion on job-search tips for over-45 job seekers. In this part, I will talk about what to you need to promote during your interview.

Attract attention, and focus on the bright side

There may be quite a few things in the résumé that were not so much impressive, so try to bury it deeper during your interview by focusing your interviewer’s attention on your strength. Do not just dodge the questions asked about your weak points. Tackle the question wisely and enroute take a turn and move towards your strength. Do it covertly.

Promote your work ethics

Tell your interviewer that because of your age, you do not feel like hopping from one job to another, and will settle if you get a satisfactory job like the one you are giving interview for. Well say this but not in so many words. It should look as if it is coming naturally from you. Do not fake it. Loyalty is a big asset and that too a rare one.

Tell your interviewer your monetary worth

You have accumulated a lot of knowledge and expertise (perhaps interdepartmental ones as well) in your long career before being unemployed. Tell the worth of those skills in dollar terms. The interviewer needs to know your real worth.

With this our discussion on this topic comes to an end. And as a parting though, I must say that this phase (unemployment) is temporary, and there is always a job for a person who deserves it, and works to get it.

You may want to bookmark this post, as I have provided links to all the posts that I have written in this series below this paragraph. I would like to know what you think about this series, so use the comment box and start sending your input.

Index

Don’t Be Afraid To Lose Your Job

SamElli — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:00:10 +0000

The economy has slowly begun to make slight recoveries, and jobs are also slowly being replaced, allowing for the many people without jobs to find new opportunities. But that doesn’t mean the fear of losing your job has gone away. The economy is still in pretty rough shape, and the numbers aren’t exactly improving by a large amount. No doubt everyone is still very afraid of losing the little that they’ve worked so hard to earn as things stand now. But you can’t let that fear of losing your job affect your life, or else you could find yourself in a very unfortunate situation, just the sort you were scared of in the first place.

Being afraid to lose your job can affect your performance at work, and how well you function in the other aspects of your life, from social activities to health and well being. Fear of something like job loss is extremely stressful, putting your body through a whole torrent of negative emotions and thoughts, affecting your life in any manner of negative ways. So your first step to combat those negative emotions? Control what you experience concerning the economy.

It’s good to keep tabs on what’s going on in the world, but if you find a lot of stories about economic tension, try to avoid them. You know the state of the economy, there’s no reason you need to be reading about it every five minutes. By sort of ignoring the negative news, you’re not allowing yourself new information to worry over, decreasing the likelihood that you will be stuck thinking about how horrible life could turn if you lost your job.

Make a good plan for how to conduct your job search should you lose your job. This way you have a back up plan at the ready, so the blow of actually losing your job wouldn’t be as harsh of one. Being prepared is never a bad thing, and you’ll feel better knowing that you’re ready for anything, no matter what the economy throws at you.

Finally, just stay positive. Positive thinking is the best way to reduce stress and fell better. Stress is usually derived from negative thinking, so instead of worrying about life without your job, think about how glad you are to still have a job despite the economic turmoil.