When one goes for an interview, the potential employer has no idea of who the applicant is. In some cases, the person applied to the ad while others used a headhunter or job site on the internet and matched their credentials for the position.

The first impression employers always look at is one’s resume. Given the many that apply, this usually takes about 30 seconds and so with the limited words, one must be sure that the resume is well written and grammatically correct.

The resume must say almost everything about the person. This should always start with pertinent information such as the person’s name, age, address, contact number and social security number. The details here are needed so if one is considered to be a potential employer, it will be easy for the company to get in touch with the applicant and be scheduled for an interview.

Next is the career objective which is the reason why the applicant wants to apply for the position. By putting a strong goal in mind and not a general one, the employer will see that this person has a direction which is why that person wants to work for the company.

The next section should include the relevant skills and knowledge one has had in the current and previous jobs as well as highlighting one’s major accomplishments. By putting in detail the things one has done in that position and experiences learned from it, that information is already basis for the employer to see the potential the applicant has for that position. It shows the qualities one possesses and the benefits one can contribute to the further growth of the company.

After that, the resume should show one’s educational background. Some companies prefer someone with a degree in a certain field, a licensed professional to do the job or one who possesses a master’s degree. By showing one’s credentials, it is a good indicator of the type of training one has possessed in school and the accomplishments one has achieved in the course of one’s career.

The latter section should provide details such as hobbies, interests and character references. Employers look at potential applicants who not only have the qualifications for the job but also those who also those who are well rounded. Being active in a certain organization and be seen as a leader in a group shows one’s social skills with others. Character references do the same and give people an idea how one performed working with that person.

There is no ideal resume. It depends on the job. It is an important step one must pass before being called for that first interview.

Tags: Ideal Resume, resume, writing a good resume, Writing a Professional Resume

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Accounting graduates, have broader choices and specific paths to follow with their careers. Accounting requires a lot of skills when it comes to business and that is why every company has an employee that is an accounting graduate. If you are an accounting graduate, you can apply in any kind of firm. Areas may include tax, audit, financial analysis and management accounting.

It is best that you apply for a job that matches your interests and expertise. There are careers that have been proven by most accounting graduates to bring them to the top of the success ladder and you may want to consider entering these fields.

If you are an accounting graduate who excel in public accounting, the entry-level positions that best fit this skill are Tax Staff, Consulting/ Management Services and Staff Auditor. With these positions you will do your duties reporting to a senior. Once you have acquired three to six years of experience in any of these positions, you may then want to consider applying for the higher levels like Tax Senior, Senior Auditor, and Consulting Senior where the position entails reporting directly to a Manager. After six years of excelling with these potions, then you may consider the positions Partner level and Senior Partner.

Having an edge with corporate accounting, one to three years of experience will qualify you to become a staff member in Internal Audit, Tax Accounting, Management, and Financial Accounting. Moving up the higher lever after three to six years, you will be eligible for the Senior Level for Internal Audit, Tax Accounting and Management Accounting. Six years thereafter, you may want to consider aiming for the positions like the Tax Manager, Internal Audit Manager and Financial Accounting Manager.

Expertise in Financial Management, Staff for Financial Planning, Cash Management, and Credit Analysis are options for entry-level positions. Once you have gained the enough experience, you may aim for the Treasury Operations, Credit Analysis and Senior Financial Planning. Higher positions will include Treasurer, Manager for Credit Analysis and Financial Planning.

These career options are traditional paths that were found to fit best for accounting graduates. However, it does not mean that they are the only way to climb up the success ladder. You should go beyond not just limit your skills to accounting. It is still recommended that you gain enough work experience, acquire knowledge in different aspects of education, and continue to improve your character to be a step ahead with other job seekers.

Tags: job hunting tips, job search advice, Searching for an Accounting Job

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We see them everywhere, in Magazines, on the Run Way, in advertisements on TV. They are the slender women strutting their stuff or extra ordinary Beauties with their sultry looks flashing their pearly whites while wearing the newest Styles from the hottest Designers. We are talking about the fashion models of today, yesterday and tomorrow. They are everywhere we look, but who brings them to us? Their images are captures with care and precision, patience and that special look for style, color and lighting composition. I am talking about the fashion photographers.

In the fashion circles famous names like Mario Testino (easily one of the hottest names out there) and Eva Mueller (photographer for Fashion Magazine Allure) are just as sought out if not more then those men and women sauntering their way into our conscious.

High Paychecks and glamour’s Lifestyle of hob nobbing it with the rich and famous might be the dream of many young shutterbug, however it is not easy to reach the golden Staircases of the well-known fashion houses and magazines. For every one talented photographer, hundreds are left panting at the sidewalk, only dreaming about the moment that their photo will be chosen.

Here are a few tips for the novice and dreamer of dreams in getting started in fashion photography. Study your subject. You can never learn enough. Read and look at any fashion Magazine you can get your hand on. There are fantastic books on Fashion and fashion photography available. Amazon.com has a true treasure trove available.

You need one or two good cameras, tripod and a lighting system. Always make sure that you have plenty of film and batteries available. SLR and digital cameras take different photos, so make sure you find the best for your field.

When submitting your work, hopefully to give a chance you have to have a portfolio on hand, just in case the editor of the fashion magazine wants to see samples of your work. I assure you if they consider working with you that is going to be a fact.

Remember, fashion includes jewelry and accessories. Sometimes a watch from a famous maker on the slender wrist of a beautiful woman is a good fashion shoot. If you are applying for the job, be prepared to leave your Portfolio behind for an extended period of time, sometimes as much as a couple of weeks. I would advice you to make copies and have several on hand. This comes in handy when showing your work to many different people for consideration for fashion work.

In the time of modern technology, it is good to display your talent as a fashion photographer online as well. Set up a website; submit your photos to contests. Submit them to an online fashion gallery. This helps with getting your work seen and people can see what type of work you actually do and can do for them.

Tags: Career, Career In Fashion Photography

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Nowadays, jobs falling under the health care category are one of the most in demand jobs. This is because more and more countries fall short with regards to their employees and staff in the health care industry.

In fact, aside from computers and information technology, heath care jobs are the ones that are greatly sought after by both the employers and applicants.

Aside from the increasing demand, health care jobs are also one of the best paying jobs all over the world. For example, in the United States alone, physical therapist assistants get to earn $27,500 to $ 41,780 in a year. It is also expected to grow by 46% in the years to come.

For people who are dreaming to go abroad and land a job in the health care category, here are some tips that that can help:

1. Know your craft

The problem with most people who are looking for health care jobs is that they do not know the fundamental skill needed in this kind of job: care for others.

There are many instances wherein health care jobs do not necessarily require people who have a higher education diploma in health care. So, people who have a “caring” attitude, can have a lucrative job in the health care industry.

2. Health Information technicians and Medical Records rank six on United States’ 10 hottest jobs of 2005.

These positions can work well for people who are looking for health care jobs. These positions pay $19,700 to $27,400 annually.

3. Success is in the keywords, For people who are searching for specific health care jobs on the Internet, it is best to narrow down their searches with some more detailed keywords. In this way, heath care job searches will reap better results.

4. Aim for the best positions in the health care industry

For people who wish to land a good job in the health care industry, it would be better to do some homework first. In this way, they can get an overview on which position has the most demands for employees and which job entails higher salaries.

In the United States’ 10 hottest job of 2005, medical assistants are the top positions in demand in the health care industry today. In fact, surveys show that the demand for medical assistants will continue to grow and will increase by 59% in 2012.

Indeed, the health care industry continues to saturate the market with a continuous growth for the demands of its services. No wonder why most people are into health care jobs!

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My name is Landon and I’ve made a few “resume writing” videos I’d like to send you.

If you already have a solid resume that’s landing you tons of job interviews, then you won’t need these… but if you’re struggling to get a call back in this economy then make sure you enter your email below (or to the right side) and I’ll send you new videos over the next four days.

You’ll learn how to write a resume that’ll help you gain a leg up on the competition. Plus I’ll give you some quic

k and easy resume writing tips that I wish someone would have shared with me before I started my job searches in the past

Look, I’ve been helping job seekers with their resumes for over 5 years and I REALLY want to help you get started. But you gotta take a little action to get off the ground.

Enter your email below, watch these freebie videos and start learning. You can thank me later!

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Back in the day, a college degree was seen as a rare thing that only a few precioussnowflakes could hope to snag. Those few who got a degree were usually guaranteed a sweet job of their choosing due to their education. However, as college degrees have become more common over the past several decades, getting your associate’s or bachelor’s isn’t as unique as it once was. College graduates are all over the job market and competing for slim pickings. Relying on that degree in leisure studies just isn’t going to cut it.

Furthermore, times are tough. Businesses are tightening their belts. This has affected recent college graduates especially hard. The few jobs available are highly competitive and companies aim more towards the older crowd with prior work experience. This is perhaps the biggest strike against recent graduates, lack of work experience. The question for a recent or soon to be graduate is how to step up and show the corporate world what’s what. Grads need to get the older pencil pushers to pay attention.

Best way to start is to do it sooner rather than later. Be the first out the gate looking for a job among the most recent crop of graduates makes for the best pickings. Don’t depend on campus recruitment drives to show you the way. However, work it with these people. Make connections with these recruiters, even if you’re not going to graduate for another semester or two. Getting started early helps when the end of the semester is approaching and you’re in need of some down time to blow off steam on thirsty Thursday’s.

Face facts, though. You most likely won’t find your ideal job right away. What you can do is start accruing experience any way you can. Start small and not in fast food. Don’t apply your degree to Chick-Fil-A unless it’s for some management position. The place is delicious but your chances of advancing your career there are pretty small. Look for something that may be a stepping stone to better things. Being able to have some work experience is better than not having any. Also, don’t limit yourself to just your immediate surroundings. Pack up and hit the road. There are good jobs out there if you look outside your home state. Plus, you can avoid running into your exes if you step out of your college town.

Once you begin gathering some experience, keep your feelers out in the job market and watch when positions open up. Networking, especially with those job recruiters you became chummy with, can help you net a position even if it’s a year or two down the road.  If all else fails, consider returning to school for a post graduate degree. It may seem cowardly to run back to school but it can make all the difference on your resume. While a bachelor’s is a dime a dozen, a master’s is still rare. Nab these advanced degrees to give you an extra leg up. Furthermore, being in school can give you a breather in terms of student loan repayments to help you orientate yourself and look for a job.

Finally, you may need to change your expectations about your dream job or field. When you first picked your major freshman or sophomore year it’s akin to beer goggles. At the time it seemed like a good idea, but on retrospect you seriously regret making that call. Be flexible and don’t be afraid to change it up if you’re beating your head against a brick wall.

So what do you think? Do you like this article? Hate it? Agree? Disagree? Whatever your answer, it’s all good in the hood… just show me your alive by leaving a comment down below!

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The employment market is a brave new world after the recession. It’s highly doubtfulthat things will ever go back to the way they were. Economic downturn altered the landscape of corporate America for good. Companies scrambled and cut cost to remain afloat. Many didn’t make it in time. The survivors are now different creatures in 2011 compared to 2008. Heath Ledger’s Joker couldn’t have been accurate when he said “There’s no going back. You’ve changed things. Forever.” Here’s a quick rundown of some of the fundamental shifts.

Businesses have cut many functions thought integral in 2008. Operating in 2011 requires being quick, agile and cost efficient. Many functions that aren’t directly related to producing profit or maintaining core business have gone the way of the Dodo. Think in-house customer service or tech support.

This in turn led to employers discovering that economic hardship is a great work force motivator. More work could be done with fewer people. Although it may sound cynical, many businesses profited from this economic hardship by reducing payroll at the same time they boosted productivity. Ten workers were now being cajoled into doing the work fifteen did before.

Many of the jobs today require different sets of skills compared to 2008. Due to the rise of social networking, companies are scrambling for experts in this field. Going green is another big demand field for employers. Those of you who have background in these specialties are in luck. Those that don’t may want to update their skill set to remain competitive.

While more jobs are expected to be created in 2011 than the past several years, don’t be surprised if these positions are less attractive than 2008 postings. A good deal of work is likely to be done by contractors, temporary workers and freelancers. Be prepared to fly by the seat of your pants in this new job market. Having a desk and cubicle may not always be a reality for new jobs. Don’t be surprised if you float between companies for awhile.

Furthermore, many of these new job postings are going to be missing the bells and whistles that 2008 jobs had. Forget about corporate perks unless you’re a high level member of management. Corporate cars and cell phones are going the way of pension plans. Companies today simply can’t, or won’t, pay for extra niceties.

The one benefit for new workers in 2011 is that more workers are turning down offers to relocate for a job. Mortgage troubles and families living off multiple jobs have rendered most workers sedentary creatures. Those are have few roots are likely to be favored in this new workplace due to their mobility.

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It’s cliché to say that laughter is the best medicine. How many times has that phrase been bandied about? However, a growing body of data has found that laughter not only has positive health benefits but it also can help enhance a person’s presence in both social situations and in the work place. Shouldn’t you try to laugh a bit more in your everyday life?

Laughter acts as a nature de-stressor. It’s pretty intuitive, right? People feel better after laughing. They’re calmer, more at ease and appear happier after a good laugh. There’s a scientific reason for this. Laughing improves the flow of oxygen in the blood. Increased oxygen flow equates with quicker healing times, hence the enduring popularity of Patch Adams-esque approaches to medicine, and greater circulation, which helps the vascular system. The increased circulation helps lower the heart rate and expands one’s arteries. The heart really does benefit from laughing.

Furthermore, laughing can also help you slim down. As you laugh your metabolism is stimulated through the increased flow of oxygen and blood. This in turn amps up your ability to burn calories and to shed extra pounds. A full minute of laughter, according to Neurologist Henri Rubenstein, provides 45 minutes of subsequent relaxation. Doesn’t that sound better than a stress ball? To stress the health benefits once more, 100 laughs equal a 10 minute workout on a rowing machine.

Despite these health benefits, people laugh less as they grow older. Studies have shown that the average adult only laughs about 15 times a day. Why so serious? A young child usually laughs upwards of 400 times a day.

These benefits can translate into workplace success through keeping a lighter frame of mind. Laughing encourages bonding. Humor and the process of laughing is a social interaction that often can help break the ice. Don’t you laugh more in a room full of people than when you’re sitting home alone? However, only a small percentage of laughter comes from telling jokes. Most laughter is derived from sharing life experiences, making observations and just expressing yourself in a positive way. Can sharing life experiences be a bit of a bummer sometimes? Of course. Life isn’t always rosy. Nevertheless, simply smiling and talking is an effective way to make a good impression on an interviewer or a coworker than sitting with a scowl and frowning.

Advertisers have hit on the importance of humor. Just think of all the advertisements that use humor to sell products. The better performed the joke or skit the more memorable the ad is. Isn’t that why the biggest advertising day of the year, the Super Bowl, is filled with dozens of humorous commercials? Remembering to keep things light and to venture into the job market with a smile is a sure way to be memorable and upbeat. Quit being such a stuffed shirt all the time. Laughter, they’re a dime a dozen.

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People communicate far more with their body language than they are probably aware of. How much more? I don’t know. I’m not a scientist. Regardless, body language is an important tool to utilize during the interview process. Posture, tone and poise can help seal the deal for you far more than mere words. Just put yourself in the shoes of an interviewer. Would you be apt to hire a person who says all the right things but never makes eye contact with you, mumbles and continually is playing with his or her hair? Possibly, depending on other candidates. However, this person certainly hasn’t done themselves any favors by acting like a distracted cheese ball. Here are 3 tidbits to know when analyzing body language.

1. Piece Together the Entire Message- Body language is far more than just one single gesture. The body has an insane number of combinations in regards to posture, tone and activity. Going off just one aspect of body language doesn’t cut it. Just like listening to someone speak a sentence, follow a person’s ongoing body language. Shifting around in a chair once isn’t necessarily an interview faux pas. Perhaps you’re just getting comfortable. But continually squirming around is a sure sign of nervousness, discomfort or hemorrhoids. Compound that with maybe sweating or rapid eye movements and you got yourself a signal saying you’re either scared or lying.

2. Honesty Shows- What you’re saying and what you’re doing with your body can often send mixed signals. Has your girlfriend or boyfriend ever said they’re fine and then stomp away and slam a door behind them? Obviously there’s something much larger going on. Your body language can easily betray your true feelings. This can occur in an interview just as much as in social situations. How many times have you feigned interest in a conversation by nodding your head and agreeing? You may be keeping up with a person’s boring line of questioning verbally but if you’re visibly nodding off it shows. Get a handle on your body language.

3. Context Matters- Body language, and pretty much most forms of communication, rely on context. Is someone sending you signals that they want to leave and are noticeably ignoring what you’re saying? Don’t be offended. She’s not wearing a coat and it happens to be negative 2 degree right now. Look for environmental clues to explain body language. I’m sure she likes you. Just don’t hold her hostage in the middle of snowstorm.

Being a good reader of body language is hard. Modern humans are more mentally focused on words than gestures. However, our bodies are still attuned to sending messages through via physical means. This implies that oodles of information can go whizzing by your head with you none the wiser. Have a keener eye for body language, focus on how someone says something rather than what they’re saying.

Tags: Body Language

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Do you have the best job in America? If you’re a systems engineer, according to CNN Money, then you have the top spot in the country. A systems engineer is the overarching big brain behind large projects with multiple moving parts. These information tech gurus coordinate the efforts of smaller engineering teams to produce big results.

Originally a fringe job specific to the defense industry or an aeronautics firm, systems engineer is becoming hot commodities to other sector beyond things that fly or drop nuclear bombs. Companies such as Xerox and BMW are currently headhunting for systems engineers. Other industries include medical prosthesis developers and other high tech fields.

Systems engineers combine the six figure earning potential of many executives with a more hands on, creative intensive approach of those who are doing work in the trenches. “The transit system I work on really makes a tangible difference to people,” says Anne O’Neil, chief systems engineer for the New York City Transit Authority. This field usually has its sights set on the big picture with systems engineers supervising the project from planning to completion.

However, tight deadlines may deter some hopeful applicants as well as long working hours. Nevertheless, being a systems engineer requires just an undergraduate degree in engineering. Depending on the company addition credentials may be required in the form of a certified systems engineer professional (CSEP) license.

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Ok, so that title sounds kind of dirty, but SEO is not. The way technology has been going, SEO is becoming more and more of a booming business. If you know how to do it, you’re in luck because not a lot of people do. This helps narrow down your competition a little bit, but as with any field, even the lesser known ones, you still have to figure out how to showcase your specific skills and talent so that you are the one who gets the job.

Know your stuff
Before you even dive into a job opportunity or submit your resume, make sure you’re familiar with how SEO works and that you have the experience to back up your claims. You can find some sample SEO job interview questions online to help you practice too- if you know a little bit about what kind of questions to expect in an interview, you can study up a little for them. Just make sure your answers sound genuine, not rehearsed. And no one likes a bad actor (ehm, Tori Spelling).

Speak the lingo
Think about SEO work you’ve done in the past. Sometimes it can get a bit complex. If you’re asked a question about a former job or particular work experience, make sure you’re able to explain how you did it. Sometimes the things that you know how to do- you just know and you don’t really think about how you do them anymore. But you need to know how to explain yourself in an interview, so practice explaining a few of your best projects so that you can do the same in your interview.

Keep up with current events
No, not the kind you see on the news or E Entertainment. (As you can probably tell, I’m guilty of keeping up on the celebrity gossip a bit myself!) Make sure that you know all about any new developments in the SEO field. You don’t want to blow an interview because you haven’t heard of something new or can’t answer a question because you’re not familiar with something. Kind of brings me back to knowing your stuff!

Do a little research
Make sure you visit the company’s blog or website so that you have an idea about what their ultimate vision or goal is, and as an added bonus, work some of that into your own skill set. You have the skills, but highlight those that you think will be the best fit for the company. Also, ask questions that are specific to that particular company. You’ll impress them and also show that you know how to do your research before diving in to a project (or in this case, an interview.)

When heading to an SEO job interview, just make sure you know what you’re talking about and are able to show off your skills. Make sure you know how to talk about what it is that you do and come prepared with company info and practice some interview questions before you go. As long as you possess the skills and knowledge in the field of SEO, all you need to do then is win them over with your charming personality and individual style!

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Getting your resume

noticed by human resources is only the first step on your way to securing a new career. Nevertheless, you need to go the distance. Don’t sputter out just as you’re getting started. “You have to turn that around and give them a good interview even if they didn’t ask for it,” says Bill Byham, co-founder and CEO of Development Dimensions International.

Byham’s consulting firm has developed a unique interviewing strategy called targeted selection. The Fortune 500 consultant has crafted this unique system in order to get job applicants to speak in specifics to potential employers. Having interviewees spill the beans to the hiring manager is an easy way to get the goods on the incoming talents. However, Byham recently divulged a few tidbits from his system to aid the fresh faced up and comers as well as the grizzled veterans in nabbing that hot job.

1. Study Those Who Came Before- Interviewing for a job, as Byham says, is very dependent on who came before you. Was the individual who held your potential position habitually late? Most likely this will translate into interview questions focused around combating tardiness. Scout out the terrain before taking the plunge. Try and find an inside man or woman. Do your research on your potential employer and understand what issues they are currently trying to address by hiring you.

2. Honest Abe It- Liar liar pants on fire is a maxim passed on from childhood. Apply it when you’re making the rounds applying for jobs. Interviewers can often get pretty specific. If you’ve embellished yourself a bit too much be prepared for damage control. Be honest. It’s better to tell the truth about your average work performance than to lie and talk yourself up only to be backed into a corner. Honesty is always the best policy to insure against overeager digging by the hiring manager.
3. Strike While the Iron’s Hot- It may be daunting to be interviewed but often it’s a two way street. A bad interviewer will stick out like a sore thumb. Maybe they’re having an off day. Perhaps they’re just not that experienced. Regardless, take advantage of a sluggish interviewer by guiding the conversation. Be cagey enough to ask questions back. Doing so will not only shed more light on your potential job but also enable you to be in control. However, walk a fine line when doing this. Don’t be a jerk and dominate the conversation. Even a bad interviewer can sense smugness.

Byham’s tips could be essential to scoring the latest gig. His system has been touted far and wide by the Fortune 500. Use these hints to beat that system.

Tags: interview, job hunting tips

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Economists and officials for the Department of Labor reported that a recent spike in first time unemployment claims indicates that the job market is still far from certain. These findings put a bit of a crimp on the hotly anticipated monthly jobs report from the government that is due out shortly. Spoiler alert indeed.

The recent increase is up 20,000 claims from the week prior and is higher than the forecasted 445,000 claims for unemployment insurance made by analysts. These findings, by Briefing.com, reinforce lingering doubts on the nation’s ongoing economic recovery.

“Everyone would like to see the labor market improve faster, but with the overall economy growing slowly, recent claim statistics suggest there has been little improvement in the labor market,” said Zach Pandl, economist with Nomura Securities.

According to economic brain trusts, claims need to fall below 400,000 before the nation’s job market has improved.

Although unemployment claims have seesawed back and forth throughout the past couple months, analysts are concerned about an upcoming expiration date for 2 million Americans on their unemployment insurance. Congress is set to draw swords over the issue as those who rely on the safety net cross their fingers for deliverance and an extension of benefits.

Unemployment insurances claims were reported more frequently in California due to massive layoffs in the fishing and forestry sectors. Smokey the Bear is set to collect his first unemployment check.

Tags: jobless, unemployment insurance

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What’s the secret to having the best resume out there? What does it take to differentiate yours as the best resume around from the countless masses? Attaching a hundred dollar bill seems to be the obvious answer. Offering up a little money on the side is a sure way to grease your way to a surefire job, it may even be the best resume available. However, in this day and age, who has spare Benjamins lying around their crib? Surely those seeking jobs don’t. Instead, consider this list of six potent hacks for crafting the best resume. Each hack, working in tandem, may be that irresistible force to help budge the immoveable object of picky employers.

1) Know Your Audience – As simple as it sounds, knowing who you’re submitting to is tremendously essential in creating the best resume around. If you’re applying to be a text book sales person at Scholastic Inc. don’t say reading is for losers. If you’re looking to be the next production assistant on a children’s TV show, refrain from using an email address like bongmaster6969@imanidiot.com. Tailor your resume to suit the company you’re applying to and make it the best resume you can.

2) Be Sure to Research Your Intended Employer – This one goes without saying in making the best resume. Make sure who you’re applying to is who you think it is. In many instances a simple letter change or flip alters who you’re applying to. If you’re blindly dropping your best resume online like spam, be careful. A quirky letter variation can turn a Fortune 500 into a porn site.

3) Go Digital – Having the best resume is just the gateway drug to the larger world of you. Provide links to social sites that showcase skills, traits and work employers would be interested in seeing. However, this can ruin your best resume if you don’t…

4) Clean Up Your Image – Letting employers view your online presence is a double edge sword. All those Facebook pictures of kegstands don’t play well with potential interviewers. Ditch the spring break 2007 debauchery if you intend to nab a professional gig. The same applies to the best resume. Remove references to your time at Burger World as a “Custodial Services Engineer” if you aspire to white collar dolla, dolla, bill ya’ll.

5) Provide Only Relevant Information – No one cares you were Prom King in high school. If that’s on your best resume then no wonder you’re stuck in the parent’s basement. Never the less, applicants often crash and burn when it comes to listing personal attributes. List skills and activities that would appeal to the people signing your paycheck, such as being disciplined, efficient and good at meeting deadlines. The same axiom applies to being overconfident. Being a “badass” doesn’t impress a future boss.

6) Grow Up – If you want to be a professional then look it with your best resume. Submit a resume that isn’t written on the back of a Denny’s menu. As mentioned before, providing a contact email like cutieprincesswink12@juvenile.com was fun in middle school, but doesn’t have the same luster in today’s workplace. Develop a mature persona with a proper grownup email and the best resume formatting you can imagine.

While not an exhaustive list, these six best resume hacks are definitely a starting point on your way to the best resume possible.

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You’ve managed to get score your second interview.  Bravo.  Pen, check.  Extra copies of your resume, check.  Hard copy of your references, check.  Outfit…crap.  It happens time and time again – the second interview fashion faux pas. It’s as if like interviewees are lulled into a false sense of security and feel they can get away with a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen.

Here are the four top fashion mistakes made on the second interview:

1. Wearing the exact same thing to the second interview.

2. Wearing uncomfortable shoes to the second interview.

3. Wearing too many accessories to the second interview.

4. Wearing perfume to the second interview.

Getting to that second interview is a major accomplishment, but it doesn’t mean you get to slack off now.  The key is to keep it simple, keep it professional, and keep it comfortable.  Armed with these simple rules, you’re bound to make a good impression on that second interview – well, you’ll at least look good trying!

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Many people rely on their resume alone to gain an employer’s interest and fail to recognize the power of a cover letter cv being attached to their resume.   No matter how rockin’ your resume might be, employers get a ton of resumes for most positions they have available.  Why are you so special?  Well, if you have the right cover letter cv with your resume, you’ll be telling them why!

You can find lots of cover letter cv templates on the internet, but they’re all basically telling you what to do in order to write a cover letter cv that will score you an interview.  A lot of those tips are complete bs though.

The following are the 5 biggest myths regarding the cover letter cv that any serious job seeker should avoid.

Unless, of course, your goal is to look like a boring granny.  No offense to those older job seekers, of course.

But no matter what your age, you need to be able to show off your sensational personality and explain through a cover letter cv why you are better for the job than anyone else.

Myth #1: A cover letter cv should be short and simple. Of course you don’t want to give your entire life story in a cover letter cv.  You’re just trying to highlight those special qualities that you possess that an employer can’t tell just from browsing over your resume, but keeping it too short makes you pretty darn boring.  Make sure that your cover letter cv is about 3 paragraphs, each being about 3 or 4 sentences long.  You don’t want to ramble on of course, but your cover letter cv can’t be too short either because you don’t want it to look like you used a template to write it… even if you did!

Myth #2: Point out key features of your resume on your cover letter cv. Um, what for?  Your resume is to follow, which is why you don’t want to just make your cover letter cv about summarizing your resume.  Tell the employer things that they can’t tell from your resume, such as how you heard about the position, why you have an interest in it, and why you think you’re a highly qualified choice for the job.  Tell them something they don’t know!  Of course they don’t need to know about your brief experimentation with the same sex in college- you don’t need to go that far back or get into that much detail, but include some personal tidbits about you on your cover letter cv that an outsider can’t see on your resume.

Myth #3:  Never address a cover letter cv with “To Whom It May Concern….” Ok, so you’re supposed to include a cover letter any time you submit a resume but you’re not allowed to address it to “Whom It May Concern?”  What about those instances where jobs are posted without a contact person or for a confidential company?  Are you just supposed to leave it blank?  Address it to “Sir or Madaam?”  Sure, some might think that sounds professional, but this isn’t the 16^th century, folks.  “To Whom It May Concern” on a cover letter cv for a position that doesn’t have any details on who you’re writing to is absolutely fine.  Of course, if you’re able to personalize your greeting, that’s nice and you should definitely do it, but if not, don’t worry too much about it because it’s such a minor detail!

Myth #4: Make sure you mention how you’ll follow up with the employer after they receive your resume and cover letter cv. Do you know how to call them?  If so, you can try…  but chances are, most employers don’t like to be contacted once you’ve sent in your resume and cover letter.  That’s why you have to make sure that your cover letter cv and resume are both top notch.  You shouldn’t have to call them to follow up- they should be dying to call you!  Saying something like “I am looking forward to hearing from you soon,” is just fine.  You don’t want to be too stalkerish.  No one wants to hire a professional nagger.  Unless, of course, that’s what the job entails.

Myth #5: Stick to only vital information directly related to the job you’re applying for on your cover letter cv. Of course you don’t want to go too off topic, but you need to give your cover letter cv some flavor.  If you’re applying for a job in accounting, it’s ok to mention that you’re not only skilled in your trade and great with numbers but also great with people as well.  Sometimes mentioning little positive qualities that you possess that you wouldn’t normally think are pertinent to the job are actually the things that catch an employer’s eye.  So go for it, and include personal qualities about yourself that you think might win them over on your cover letter cv, even if they’re not directly related to the job.

The most important things to remember when writing a professional yet eye catching cover letter cv is to make sure it’s true to who you are and what you’re all about, while demonstrating what a strong competitor you are to the employer.

Don’t let all of the myths out there stop you from writing a cover letter cv that is personalized and reflective of your individuality.

Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about this cover letter cv article!

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Unfortunately, being jobless is still a reality for over 14.9 million Americans.  The number of unemployed and underemployed keeps fluctuating from month to month, but it should help some people rest easy to know that as the job growth keeps fluctuating, some of the statistics have been improving.  For instance, the average weekly earnings for the employed have gone up by 5 cents on average per person.  Sure, this doesn’t sound like a whole lot but when you take into account that the employment rate is probably at least ten times what the unemployment rate is, that sounds like a whole lotta money!

So, although the unemployment rate went back up a little bit in August from what it was in July, this increase in median pay as well as a decrease in the length of time people are having to remain on unemployment going on at the same time actually means that we’re doing a little better.

Confused yet?  The facts demonstrate that the economy is still on shaky ground, however work seeking Americans are in luck because more jobs are slowly but surely becoming available to them.  In the mean time, some people are having to simply settle for lesser paying jobs than what they’re used to or part time jobs instead of their full time careers.  But don’t worry; we don’t all have to resort to selling ourselves on street corners just yet.  As I said, the fluctuations and numbers are actually showing that the success in the job market is increasing.  Don’t relax just yet though.  There are still a lot of people looking for jobs and not enough jobs to go around.

What does that mean for you?  As a job seeker, you need to make sure that you have not only a stand-out resume but a charming, one of a kind personality as well.  You should have had plenty of time to brush up on those interview skills since the market is so competitive right now and you may have been looking for a job for a long time.  So make no excuses- you should do everything you can to stand out in the crowd and prove that you have what it takes to out-work all of your competitors.  You need to literally crush your competition (not like with a hammer or anything, maybe just some pointy heels?) and leave them wondering “why not me?”

You should never rely on your charm and good looks alone to get you a job, especially when you have over 14 million people to compete with.  If you’re not getting any calls on your resume, it’s probably the same old resume that many of your competitors are sending in.  Use your head and make sure that your resume not only showcases your individual talents but that it stands out among millions.  Trust me, you can do it!  You can personally contribute to the decline of the unemployment rate- no matter what area your talent lies in.  So put yourself out there…. But don’t look just like everybody else or you’ll remain a statistic.

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You’d think that by now you’d know what job interview answers not to give, but surprisingly I’ve heard that a lot of you are still out there making the same blunders you always have!

So, you may think that the following 5 job interview answers that you should NOT employ are common sense, but you really need to drill them into your head.  I don’t want to have to tell you again! 

1. Avoid job interview answers that are too honest. If an employer asks you about why you left a previous position or why you want to leave your current one, you need to proceed with caution.  You need to avoid job interview answers that make you sound negative or that put you in a negative light.  This means no harping on how your old boss was a man-whore that hit on anything with legs or rode you till your knees bled (hopefully not literally!)  Even if you despise your boss or where you worked, you have to act like you’re always positive in your job interview answers unless your goal is scaring away potential employers!
2. Avoid getting too specific in job interview answers. Of course I’m not telling you to act like an airhead that can’t keep their facts straight, but you should avoid citing specific people or events that took place where you last worked.  It’s ok to say things like “we used to do something along those lines,” or “we had a similar procedure,” in job interview answers but a lot of companies want you to be confidential about their specific practices and especially employees.  Don’t make your interviewer think that you have loose lips with your job interview answers.
3. Avoid negative statements in job interview answers- everything should be a     positive. Of course this is common sense, but again, I don’t think I can say it enough.  Job interview answers need to be upbeat and positive, never negative or depressing.  You should show that even when faced with struggles and adversity, you’re able to remain, positive, upbeat and that you continue to do your best and work toward a common goal.
4. Avoid too much eye contact when answering questions. Preaching tons of eye contact is the norm when it comes to what to do when giving your best job interview answers, and it’s true that some eye contact can go a long way.  If you don’t look an interviewer in the eye when you give your job interview answers you might end up looking more like a nervous criminal than a job candidate.  Looking them in the eye a little bit conveys interest, honesty and integrity… but doing it too much by blatantly staring just says you’re kind of a weirdo.
5. Avoid too many hand gestures accompanying your job interview answers. Of course I don’t expect that you’re going to flip off your interviewer while you’re trying to dazzle them with your job interview answers…  but I for one, like to talk with my hands.  I’m not even aware of it most of the time but I’ve learned that I need to keep it under control, especially when I’m trying to come up with creative and original job interview answers because sometimes my hands tend to take on a life of their own.  The best job interview answers come from the heart, which means that sometimes I’m moving my hands around like a crazed umpire at a baseball game.  You might just end up freaking out your interviewer though if you’re doing this too much, so try to keep it under control!

Like I said, these tips to follow when you’re trying to give great job interview answers are pretty obvious and any fool should know to avoid them…. However, I’ve seen many that fail to!  Make sure you keep these mishaps in mind so you don’t screw up your next job interview answers.

Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know if you think I forgot any job interview answers tips to avoid and let me know what you think of this article!

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So you have the know how and the certifications to go with it to show off your awesome IT skills, but now you have to figure out how to master the dreaded technical interview process.  Don’t fret; you are practically a genius since you tackled one of the most challenging career choices so a technical interview shouldn’t be anything but a walk in the park for you.

Of course you should be a little nervous…  I mean it’s not just a regular interview.  It’s a technical interview.  What the hell does that mean anyways?  It means you get to really show them what you can do and how much you know, that’s what!

It’s actually quite a shame that more companies don’t utilize the technical interview.  I mean it really is a very telling way of determining whether or not someone is suitable for a job and possesses the right skills.  There’s not really a way to bullshit your way through a technical interview because it’s designed to figure out what lies beneath the surface and show what you really can do.  So what do you need to make sure you know before walking into a technical interview?

Don’t show up unprepared because you will be sure to regret it when someone who knew these 5 amazing facts walks away with the job instead!

1. Don’t go into a technical interview without brushing up on those public speaking skills! No, you’re most likely not going to have to present yourself to a room of people like an annoying salesman, but you are trying to sell yourself in a technical interview, just like as with any other.  You need to be an articulate person demonstrating proper speech, great speaking and writing skills and show that you can give presentations to others when duty calls… no ums, ehs or ahems about it!  Just remember, if you get nervous in front of crows it always helps to imagine that everyone watching you is naked…. But it could get a little awkward in the interview if it’s one on one if you’re imagining your potential future boss naked.  Remember, you’re there to get a job, not star in your next porn flick.
2. Don’t be a sourpuss! When you’re preparing for a technical interview, your demeanor and friendliness are probably the last thing on your mind.  But being easy to get along with and personable are skills that an interviewer is on the lookout for during a technical interview.  You may be working with information technology, but you’re also going to be dealing with a lot of people too- from clients to co-workers, to people from all different levels of a company.  Being too somber or antisocial is a big no no, so wipe that scowl off your face!
3. Know it all! Don’t become an expert in just one area.  Microsoft isn’t the only computer brand out there and an employer will not be impressed during a technical interview if it’s all you know.  You want to keep up with all of the latest trends and be aware of all that stuff they didn’t teach you in school because your interviewer during a technical interview isn’t going to be impressed if you can recite something you learned in a book to them.  They want to hear that you have applied knowledge on a wide range of products.  So even if you don’t have experience with it all, read up enough on it to pretend that you do!
4. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… Don’t lie! You shouldn’t lie on any interview but on a technical interview this is even more important.  You really shouldn’t lie during a technical interview anyways because you’re going to look pretty darn stupid if you pretend to have knowledge of a product or program and then you get the job and you don’t know what you’re doing.  Nice going, genius.  If you’re going to say you know how to do something, make sure you really do.   Sometimes an interviewer will give you more brownie points during a technical interview if you just admit that you don’t know how to do something- but you’re willing to learn, and fast!
5. Be confident, but not too confident! When you’re on a technical interview, it’s ok to toot your own horn a little.  You’re up against a lot of competition these days so you need to show that you’re a smart, savvy know-it-all that is willing to go to the ends of the earth for this job.  Please just make sure you have the skills to back it up.  No one likes a cocky idiot who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.  Hold your head high, answer questions with confidence (because you did study up for this humungous opportunity, of course) and take pride in your skills and what you have to offer.  If you can’t appreciate the awesome skill set you have, no one else is going to either.

A technical interview doesn’t have to be a huge and stressful ordeal.

As long as you follow these lesser known tips you’ll be able to get through a technical interview without a hitch.

As you can see, preparing for a technical interview really just involves a lot of common sense and being as knowledgeable as possible.

Why not leave a comment to share one of your best technical interview tips or let me know what you thought of this article- Thanks a bunch and happy interviewing!

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There are a lot of tips and tricks out there for a cover letter for resume.  Some of them are great and will give you a fantastic cover letter for resume, but some are horrible tips that do nothing but destroy your cover letter and the entire concept.

Don’t be a follower- make sure you avoid these 5 big errors when writing your cover letter for resume… unless you want to look like a big loser and lose out on an exceptional job opportunity.

1. Including your salary history or salary requirements on a cover letter for resume is plain dumb. A lot of ads for jobs ask you to include a salary history or your salary requirements, but you should do this on a separate document, not on a cover letter for resume.  If you include this info, all an employer is going to see when they look at your cover letter is dollar signs.  They probably won’t even read your resume, so if you want to include a salary requirement on a cover letter, don’t even bother including your resume!
2. Clichés like “thinking outside the box,” “excellent written and verbal communication skills” and “an ability to multitask” should NEVER be present on a cover letter for resume!We’ve heard it all before…  and so have employers.  If you include common clichés such as these on a cover letter for resume, how much effort are you going to expel in your day to day tasks when you get the job?  It’s easy to use other people’s ideas and words, but how about coming up with some creative ones of your own?
3. Don’t use a resume template to write a cover letter for resume. This just comes across as generic and unoriginal.  Just as you shouldn’t use a standard boring template for your resume, you shouldn’t use one for the cover letter for resume either.  Using a template means that there are several others out there that look or sound exactly the same as yours.  How teenage girl of you- trying to be a part of the IN crowd!
4. Not including tidbits of information that are company specific is one of the biggest no-no’s when it comes to a cover letter for resume. I understand that the easy thing to do is to just use the same cover letter for resume for every job you’re applying for.  You have to send out dozens of resumes to score a dream job a lot of the time, so trying to make each cover letter for resume unique and specifically tailored can be extremely time consuming.  But it’s time well spent.  Skipping this important step can be the reason an employer doesn’t call you.  Remember you’ve got a lot of competition.  I know you’re fabulous, but you’re not the most popular kid in class without showing a little school (or in this case, company) spirit!
5. Never, ever, ever pay for a cover letter for resume writing service! Ah, this would save you so much time and effort.  But it’s just lazy.  That’s great that you paid $50 for someone else to write you a stand-out cover letter but are you going to be able to ever produce anything like that yourself?  What if it’s your superior writing skills that sparked an employer’s interest?  Paying for someone else to write a cover letter for resume is just a false misrepresentation of who you are and it’s never a good idea.  So don’t do it, unless your goal is to ultimately sabotage your resume.

Writing a cover letter for resume doesn’t have to be a pain in the butt.

And even if it is, it’s totally worth it to land a great job.  Don’t fall victim to these cover letter destroyers and you’ll notice a lot more phone calls and interview offers coming your way.

Please leave a comment on this cover letter for resume article to share your thoughts!

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Trying to creatively and intelligently answer job questions for interviews is tough enough as it is.  If you add into the mix that some of the people or job questions being used in the interview process may be out to purposely sabotage you, interviewing can be a really frightening process.

Of course, job questions for interviews and the interview process itself isn’t out to kill you or destroy your confidence and self esteem, but sometimes employers will use tactics or job questions that are meant to keep you on your toes and even conspire to make you screw up.  This isn’t because they’re soulless lunatics, but rather because they want to know that you have what it takes to stand up against any odds and work your ass off.

So don’t let the following 5 job questions conspiracy theories prevent you from seeing through the bullshit and showing off what an awesome fit you are for the job.

1. Watch out for those job questions for interviews that start off with “Tell me About Yourself…”

It’s funny that so many of us still find ourselves baffled by this question.

Usually when job questions like these are thrown at you are all of those sordid secrets and details of your life that you’d rather they didn’t    find out about come to mind.  You know, like your huge porn collection or the fact that you have a thing for guys with tattoos or girls in S&M  gear.

This is one of the most popular job questions asked by potential employers so don’t go in blindly.  Practice what you’ll say, and leave those   personal details out of it and just sell yourself and your amazing personality and job related skills.

2. Be prepared for the “weakness” job questions! It’s pretty much a given that you’re going to be asked the most popular job question in history at some point in your interview.  Don’t let the “tell me what your greatest weakness is” job questions throw you for a loop.

You’re not an idiot (or are you?- if you don’t prepare for this question then you might as well be!) so you should figure out what you’re going to say before you’re even asked these job questions.  And make sure you answer wisely.  If you talk about how your weakness is staying organized, but then don’t mention that you have significantly improved upon that, you’re just telling the interviewer why not to hire you.

3. Look out for the job questions that have no right answers! We’ve all been there.  You’re asked those job questions in an interview that make you say “huh?” that seem to have absolutely nothing to do with the job.  A lot of these job questions are designed to figure out how quickly you think on your feet and some are even designed to test your character and values.

Don’t get daunted, that’s what they’re trying to do!  Just answer the question the best you can….  And be as honest as possible without saying anything bad about yourself.

If the interviewer throws you off by asking what your favorite position is, don’t tell them it’s reverse cowgirl.  That’s not what they’re talking about.  It’s related to the job, silly!

4. Beware of the salary job questions… You think we’d all know by now that this question, while useful and necessary is just a tactic to eliminate anyone that is asking for too much.  And if you ask for too little, you’re at risk of looking kind of lame too.

Make sure you’re prepared for these interview questions well in advance.  You should research how much someone in a similar position with similar background and experience makes, and ask for something in that range.  It’s actually best to aim a little higher than you expect.  For example, if you’ve done your research and know you’re worth $35k with your background and experience, ask for $36-37k but make sure you mention that you’re willing to be flexible so you don’t let the salary job questions make or break your entire interview.

5. Above all, remember that the person interviewing you may not have the last word. You’re so focused on job questions, sometimes you don’t really pay attention to who the heck the person asking them is.  Maybe they’re supposed to be your new boss if you get the job, maybe they’re a Human Resources or hiring manager or even just a recruiter.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell because I’m sure you’ve been on several interviews where the job questions are unorganized, unstructured and the interviewer doesn’t really seem to have a whole lot of experience interviewing people.  This could mean that they’re inexperienced, unorganized… or just that they’re not very friendly or don’t really care.  You do have to impress anyone that’s interviewing you with your answers to job questions, of course, but make sure that no matter what kind of vibe or impression you’re getting from your interviewer (whether they’re a cocky asshole or a clueless idiot or not!) you need to stand out enough in their minds for them to tell whoever is in charge that you’re worth another look… and another interview!

With all of these things working against you, it’s hard to believe that you can ever get through sticky job questions at all.

But it’s not impossible as long as you watch out for these common job questions and sabotages.

Are there any conspiracy theories employed by interviewers that I forgot to mention here?  Please feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think or share your job questions conspiracy theories!

Tags: job questions

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Writing a professional resume isn’t as difficult as most people think.  There are tons of resources out there geared at helping you format a professional resume that works for you and lots of tips for how to polish it up to make it shine.

But when you think about it, researching how to write a professional resume just turns up a lot of the same old, same old BS.  Seriously, how many times can you hear to “Keep it this long, Make it sound like this, Don’t Do This, Make Sure You Do That,” before your head just starts to hurt?

Creating a professional resume doesn’t have to be difficult, but you need to make sure you avoid those BS clichés that are all over the place because sometimes being afraid to be different or go against the grain can cost you the opportunity of a lifetime.  Kind of like that time in high school or college when you didn’t ask that girl or guy out and then found out years later that they had a thing back then for you too.

Don’t have regrets- and don’t fall for BS professional resume tips that will prevent you from having a unique and personalized professional resume.

Here are some of the most common BS facts about writing a professional resume that you can choose to follow if you want… but you’ll probably reap more rewards if you don’t!

Don’t put a lot of different jobs on your resume- you need to show you’re specialized in a particular field. This is complete BS!  Of course you don’t want to show that you switch jobs every three months (and hopefully you don’t because that’s a lot of BS on your part too!) but showing that you have a wide range of skills helps, not hurts you when it comes to building a professional resume.  Who wants to hire someone who only knows how to do one thing?

Use an overly creative resume template. I’m going to be honest with you, here.  Sometimes it really does pay to have a professional resume on an off-white colored paper or that uses a unique format.  But other times, it’s complete BS to go “over the top” because an employer isn’t going to be impressed by how flashy your resume is.  They care about what it says and what you have to offer while doing it in a classy yet professional way.  How professional is it to have a hot pink resume anyway?

Cramming too many keywords throughout a professional resume. If you spend all of your time stuffing too many keywords into your resume, what kind of “meat” and overall quality are you contributing to your document?  Remember, the “keywords” are for the computers and if you have too many, you’re going to alienate your human readers.  If you don’t keep both of these things in mind, your document likely won’t get read, no matter how many pretty keywords you throw onto your professional resume.

Have a specific professional resume for specific types of jobs.  Don’t use the same resume for every job. I know a lot of people might disagree that this professional resume tip is BS.  But this is like saying don’t drive the same car every day- tailor it to where you’re going.  Since we’re not all millionaires, this is obviously impossible for most and it’s really not necessary to change it up when you’re applying for different types of jobs with your professional resume either.  You probably already have experience in a few different fields so the broader your resume is, the better.  Just make sure it’s not too off track.  I mean making your Circus Clown experience the focal point of your professional resume for an executive office job isn’t really a great idea.

These tips are some of the most common and most basic tips for professional resume writing… we’ve all probably heard them before and we’ve probably even used most of them… but do they actually work?  Maybe.  But they’re not essential to writing a professional resume that sells you to an employer.

Writing a professional resume is sometimes just about going with what feels right…  so no matter what kind of BS tips you keep receiving, you ultimately should do whatever works best for you or suits your personality or particular skill set.

What do you think?  Leave me a comment to tell me what you thought about this article or what you think is truly important in a professional resume!

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So you made it to the second interview- but don’t stop holding your breath just yet.  You can still screw it up.  You’re probably not the only lucky candidate who gets to go on a second interview, so you have to make sure you don’t blow it.

You’ve probably studied up on all of that second interview advice for what to do, but what about what not to do?

Of course you want to try to stand out from the rest of the crowd vying for the job you want, but you can easily blow the second interview by being too weird or trying to be too different in your answers.  Yes, employers are looking for someone uniquely creative and different, but they don’t want to employ a weirdo or a psychopath.

Here is some helpful second interview advice to avoid making yourself look like an idiot or crazy person so that you hopefully don’t frighten your interviewer too much.

1. Don’t lie! I know you want to sound intriguing and different, but seriously, when you don’t know the answer to a question, it’s not acceptable to say that you can’t answer the question because the information is “classified” because you worked for the CIA and you’re not allowed to talk about it.  If you try any far fetched or even little white lies during a second interview, they’re sure to come back and bite you in the ass at a later date.
2. Don’t primp in public! Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who do stupid things when they think no one is looking.  Picking teeth (and noses!), brushing hair, and smelling armpits are skills that you do not need to show off during a second interview.  Do this stuff before you get there or excuse yourself to go to the restroom to make sure you look and smell your best.
3. Don’t get too personal! Whether it’s a first, second, or even a third interview, its never appropriate to reveal information about yourself that an employer does not need to know.  It’s ok to mention your husband, wife or kids in passing, but there’s no need to talk about how your daughter is a lesbian or your son is a recovering drug addict.  They don’t care about your personal life, in fact, they’d rather you kept it just that- personal.
4. Don’t badmouth a former employer! You may very well have quit your last job because your boss was a heartless wench, but you do not need to share this information on a second interview.  People often get to a more comfortable level with an interviewer at a second interview, so they might feel that they’re “cool” enough with their interviewer to admit that they hated where they used to work but an employer is just going to look at you as negative and wonder if someday you’ll say the same thing about working for them.
5. Don’t relax too much! Of course you want to make sure you’re not nervous on a second interview because we all know how nerves can wreck a first (or second, in this case) impression, but you don’t want to act like you own the place.  It’s not cool to ask your interviewer “what’s up with them” or to ask if you can take your shoes off because your feet are killing you from all that bar hopping the night before.  You still need to maintain a professional demeanor.
6. Don’t be too honest! Of course the point of a second interview is usually to further explore what qualities you bring to the table and how you can benefit a company and it’s important that you’re honest and professional in your answers to their questions.  You don’t want to be too honest though.  You really are not a morning person and you can’t stand being told what to do?  Please don’t tell them about it during your second interview.  Or you can kiss that job opportunity bye-bye right then and there.

Yes, most of this second interview advice is common sense.  But does everyone follow it?  Hell no!  Otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this article warning you not to do it.

You need to tread carefully on a second interview because usually the way you look, act and respond during a second interview is going to be what determines whether or not you get a job.

You need to make sure you avoid these more-common-than-you-think second interview no-no’s if you want to convince an employer that you belong in their company and not in a looney bin or behind bars.

Just because you’ve passed the first interview doesn’t mean you should neglect preparing yourself thoroughly for the second interview.

And if you learn more about gaining an unfair advantage over your competitors, watch my free “Resume Rebel” video series here: Professional Resume

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When you’re looking for helpful job interview tips to help you land the job you desire, you’re probably not thinking about exercising.  What the heck does exercise have to do with job interview tips?

Believe it or not, getting exercise before an important interview is actually one of the best job interview tips you’ll ever receive.

Not only does exercise help relieve tension, nervousness and help reduce stress but it also has scientifically proven benefits that can help you do well on any interview.

Don’t go too far and show up to an interview dripping sweat and reeking of B.O., of course, but exercise is a great way to get rid of those pre-interview jitters.  In fact, many experts swear by exercise before an interview as one of the most fool proof interview tips of all time.

Why should you consider using exercise as one of your secret interview tips?

A Princeton (yes, those smarty pants intellectuals are always onto new and innovative methods of getting things done!) University study used rats to study the link between exercise and responses to stress.  Since most men are a lot like rats in so many respects, it’s pretty clear that their findings can apply to humans as well.

What the study revealed is that the rats that exercised showed decreased stressors in their brain activity over those that did not.  No wonder people that are in shape are so much happier than those that aren’t!  And not only are they happier, but they’ll also probably master these sneaky interview tips to exercise before an important interview and score better jobs.  Don’t let those skinny bitches steal the job you want.  You, too, can use these exercise interview tips to be just as happy and worry free on the day of an important interview.

The research conducted isn’t just limited to this Princeton study.  There are countless other studies that have shown that exercise increases mood, stamina, lowers stress levels and leads to overall well-being, including mental well-being.  Some studies have shown that exercise increases serotonin, while others have shown that exercise positively affects the dopamine in the brain.  Both of these are like “happy drugs” that occur naturally in our brains and who knew that by exercising to increase these chemicals you’ll be armed with one of the most effective interview tips ever.  Who needs drugs when you can pump your brain full of buzz- inducing chemicals while you work on making your body look better at the same time?

Keep in mind that exercise interview tips like running, aerobic exercise, boxing, swimming, or any other form of activity that gets your heart racing aren’t one hit wonders.  You can’t just work out on those days that you have interviews and expect a miracle to happen.  You need to do regular workouts in general so you don’t shock your system and show up to an interview looking like you just got run over by a bus, but make sure you follow these interview tips and work out the same day of an interview as well.

So pick your poison- whether dancing, blading, boarding or even just walking is your thing, make sure you start doing it regularly and then put these exercise interview tips into action.  I bet you’ll notice a difference the very first time you go on an interview after a workout.

And hey, if busting your ass in the gym or on the track isn’t really your thing, you could also just take up some really wild, crazy sex routine that lets you work that body.  Who wouldn’t love to go crazy right before an interview?  Your interviewer will wonder where your infectious smile is coming from, but it’ll be your little secret!

Exercising before an interview is one of the handiest proven interview tips you’ll ever receive, so put it in to action!

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Interview practice might make you feel like you’re playing in the land of make-believe.  You shouldn’t feel silly though because interview practice is smart, not silly.

Ask for the help of a good friend or family member and prepare (or better yet, have them prepare) a list of sample interview questions then sit down together and go through them.  Interview practice will help you perfect your answers to basic interview questions and help you think of things before the interview so that you’re not sitting there trying to come up with good answers.  Your friend might even have suggestions to help you improve your answers.

If you’re too shy to practice with someone in person or you don’t have anyone that will sit down with you, see if they’ll do it over the phone.  Make interview practice into a fun game if you want.  Ask your friend to track down the most unique interview questions they can, and you do the same.  Whoever comes up with the wildest, wackiest interview questions wins!  It also makes your interview practice lots of fun as you try to seriously answer some of the questions.

Interview practice is a great idea but make sure that you don’t overdo it to the extent that your answers sound rehearsed.  If you sound like you’re reading off of a note card, the interviewer might ask you to return to the 8^th grade science fair before trying to work for them.  Robotic answers are just going to sound rehearsed, and although that’s what interview practice is, you don’t want to sound like you spent hours trying to get it right (even though you may have done just that!)

A method of interview practice that I think is a good idea is using a tape recorder.  Print yourself a list of some common and uncommon interview questions and rattle them off to yourself.  Try to speak exactly how you would if you were being asked that particular question in an interview.  Then, play back your interview practice tape and see how you sound.  You should be able to pinpoint things you need to work on.  You can also build off of your answers to try to make them bigger and better.  Just erase the tapes after you’re done.  It would be a little embarrassing if you use that tape recorder at work your new job and someone stumbles upon it one day.  You don’t want to acquire a new nick name or be the joke of the workplace.

When all else fails, do some interview practice in the mirror.  Learn the way your facial expressions work when you speak.  Make sure that you’re not making any funny faces and that you appear professional.  This is one time when talking to your reflection will not make you certifiably insane.  Just don’t go overboard.  Remember you don’t have to look “cute” delivering your answers; the mirror is just there to help you with your interview practice.

No matter how you choose to do it, interview practice makes perfect so that you show up to that interview a confident, prepared person that has the verbal ability to communicate why you’re the best person for the job.

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Most of us have been on enough interviews in our lives to know that a lot of the questions for interviews that you’re asked are pretty similar.  That’s why you’re thrown for a loop when an employer asks some questions that you might not have heard before or that really require you to think on the spot.

Having to think on the spot usually means nervousness and sometimes difficulty putting what you really want to say into words.  Sometimes going through some non-traditional questions for interviews prior to interviewing will help prepare you for these situations.  Even if the interviewer doesn’t ask these exact questions, they still force you to think outside the box a little and should help you better articulate through any questions for interviews that come your way.  They’ll also make you more prepared for the interview in general because you’re exploring more ideas and strengths that you possess and you might even be able to answer the simple questions with more description and conviction.

The following are some examples of non-traditional questions for interviews that you can walk yourself through to ensure that you don’t fumble, stumble or lose your grip in an interview.

What would you do if someone approached you and offered you something in return for doing something unethical?

This question may be worded differently, but either way the employer is testing your integrity and ethics.  Questions for interviews like these are pretty common sense to answer.  Of course you wouldn’t do anything unethical or anything that would jeopardize your job, right?  Just come up with a unique way to put it- interviewers have most likely heard all the responses before.

Being creative with something like “I would tell them where they could stick it!” is nice, but don’t be quite this forward because it probably won’t come across as a professional response.

What kind of people would you rather not work with?

These types of questions for interviews are kind of tricky.  If you list off a bunch of personalities that just don’t mesh well with yours, it’s going to sound like you’re difficult to get along with.  Maybe you are, but pointing that out isn’t going to get you a job.

Rather than going that route, just say something about how you’ve encountered a bunch of different types of personalities in your experience or line of work and you have learned that even those that seem the most difficult still offer some sort of positive contribution to a team.

Basically, you want to say that you can work with anyone without being a kiss ass (and a liar) and saying “I work well with everyone!”  Sure, because you’re Jesus.

If a project was returned to you because it needed editing or contained errors, how would you feel?

Honestly, you’d probably feel downright low, but saying that isn’t a way to impressively answer questions for interviews like this one.  It’s best to say something about how you turn every negative into a positive or how you don’t mind “constructive criticism” (that’s a favorite term of employers’ because it shows that you’re able to own up to your mistakes and are willing to correct them) because it helps you build further upon your skills and grow within your field.

Basically with these non-traditional questions for interviews we’ve covered ethics, whether or not you can work well with others and whether or not you fold under critique.  These are all key concerns of potential employers for obvious reasons. 

If you can practice coming up with good answers to questions for interviews like these then you should have no problem being put on the spot and answering anything that you’re asked like you’re classy, sophisticated and smart.  And you are, right?  All you have to do now is prove it by having stellar answers to questions for interviews!

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Ah, the inevitable weakness interview question.  It comes in many forms- “What’s your greatest weakness?”  “What’s something you struggle with?”  “What do you need to improve upon?”

Hopefully your weakness isn’t answering interview questions!  It shouldn’t be as long as you are prepared for the weakness interview question that most employers are going to ask you.

The number one thing to remember about the weakness interview question is that you don’t actually want to say that you’re bad at anything.  You have to answer the question, of course, but the trick is to make it sound like you’re basically good at everything or that you turn the negative into positive.

You don’t want to sound conceited or overly confident (you are after all, either out of a job or looking for a change, so you shouldn’t be cocky!) but you do want to basically tell your interviewer that you’re a strong competitor and you don’t really have a lot of flaws when it comes to your work.

But how do you do this?  There are a few things you can do to answer the weakness interview question wisely.  One is to turn something that you are actually good at into a weakness.  For instance, “I’m a perfectionist,” or “Sometimes I put too much pressure on myself,” just basically says that you have motivation and drive to keep moving forward and produce the best work possible.  Great weakness interview question answers!

Another great weakness interview question maneuver is to talk about a weakness that you used to have and talk about how you overcame it.  This kind of weakness interview question answer shows that you know how to recognize your flaws and then work to improve them.  So use this to your advantage and tell the interviewer a short story about how you identified an issue within yourself at work and struggled with it, but then found a way to overcome it.

Don’t launch into a 15 minute speech or get too descriptive- this isn’t kindergarten story time.  Just give a specific example such as how you were living under a pile of clutter on your desk but you came up with an awesome filing system to prevent that in the future.  Just make sure your claim is fairly honest because you don’t want to say something used to be your weakness and then later on have it shown that it still is!

You can also use a personal weakness or something that’s not relevant to the job you’re after to answer the weakness interview question, but tread carefully if you go this route.  Saying you’re a night owl is a good example.  This says that you wish you could go to sleep at a reasonable hour so you can wake up simply chipper but it could say to the employer that you may oversleep sometimes too- it really depends on the interviewer and the way they think.  Since you can’t see inside their heads, use your better judgment and only go this route if you think they’re laid back and can handle it.

The most important thing to remember about the weakness interview question is to be believable.  Something like “I just work too darn hard,” is going to get an eye roll for sure.  Anyone will see right through a BS line like that, so just be as honest and real as possible… without pointing out any major flaws, and you’ll wow them with your answer to the weakness interview question for sure!

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Another result of living in a fast-paced crazy world is that employers often have so many people applying for jobs that they don’t have time to interview all of the ones they’re interested in.  That’s when phone interview tips come in handy- often times, employers use phone interviews to weed out the undesirable candidates before they ask people to come in for an actual interview.  Some companies swear by phone interviews alone, while other times phone interviews are necessary because you don’t live in the area.

So what are some of the best phone interview tips to help you get through the interview and either be asked to interview again, or better yet get the job?

Here are a few of the best phone interview tips to keep mind because you never know when the phone might ring and you might be asked some big important questions.  Which brings me to the first of my phone interview tips…

-       Always be prepared.  Keep your resume handy because you never know when you might need to reference it or have an on the spot phone interview.  A lot of times they’re scheduled, but when they’re not, you need to make sure you’re ready.  Also keep a pad of paper and a pen nearby in case you need to jot notes down and make sure you have a quiet place to go take the call.  Hearing kids screaming in the background is not something that will impress employers.

-       Practice! A lot of people aren’t really comfortable on the phone.  To avoid sounding awkward or nervous, one of the best phone interview tips is to practice with a friend or family member.  Call your mom up, ask her to ask you some questions and try to answer them the same way you would if they were real.  You can also record yourself a little if you like so you can hear what your voice sounds like and see if there’s anything you need to work on.  If every other word is ummm, you might want to work on it.

-      One of the most important phone interview tips is not to have anything in your mouth.  You’re at home, so you might be eating, chewing gum, smoking, drinking your favorite beverage (hopefully it’s not vodka so your head is clear!)- Whatever it is, STOP.  It’s ok to take a sip of water here or there but chewing or making any kind of strange sound (like exhaling smoke or clearing your throat excessively) is going to not only be distracting but unprofessional as well.

-       One of the toughest phone interview tips to follow is not to interrupt the interviewer.  Since you can’t see them, you may not be sure when they’re going to speak next.  If you start to talk at the same time, shut your trap and let them talk.  You don’t want to come across as rude.  Also, speak slowly and clearly, and go ahead and pause a little if you need to think about an answer.  Too much dead silence can be detrimental, but a little bit is ok as long as you’re thinking up a great answer.

-       Keep your answers short.  Just get right to the point.  The interviewer doesn’t want to hear you babble on and on, they just want to hear you produce a decent answer.  Just remember that you’re trying to get the job, not put them to sleep or make them wish their phone had a snooze button.

Keep these handy phone interview tips in mind the next time you’re job hunting and you’ll be able to drop everything at a moment’s notice and truly dazzle any employer.

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We’ve gone over a few of the most common interview questions, but there are bound to be more that you may not have studied or shown up to the interview prepared for.  So how do you go about answering interview questions that you didn’t expect?

There are just a few key pointers to keep in mind that will make answering interview questions a breeze.

1. Stick to relevant facts.

If an interviewer asks you to tell them a little about yourself, they usually don’t want to hear about how you like long walks on the beach and prefer your coffee black.  Answering interview questions is about sticking to the subject- which is that great job you’re after, so keep your answers related to your skills and work experience.  You can talk about a few personal things here and there, but try to keep it to a minimum.

2. Stay up on current events.

It might sound like a silly piece of advice- what does this have to do with answering interview questions?  Well, you don’t want to appear to be an airhead if the interviewer conversationally brings up a current event.  Also, you want to make sure that you’re aware of any recent developments in the particular field you’re interviewing in or with a particular company.  Not knowing this stuff is going to make you look more clueless than Jessica Simpson while she’s snacking on tuna.  And although a lot of employers (usually of the male variety) would want to hire her because of her hot factor, they probably wouldn’t trust her to run a division of their company.

3. Stay positive.

Sometimes you’ll get a little confused answering interview questions because they’ll throw something at you that you don’t expect.  If you’re asked about what you didn’t like about your last job, for instance, don’t fall for the trick.  Those wiley coyotes are most likely just trying to gauge your reaction.  Answering interview questions like this with something short and sweet like “I actually rather enjoyed my job, there just wasn’t a lot of opportunity for advancement within the company,” or even “It was just too far from home, unlike this job,” will keep you in a positive light.  The last thing you want to do is trash talk an old boss, co-workers, or the job itself.  You’re probably applying for the same kind of job anyway, and even if you’re not, you could convey that you’re the problem, not the job.

4. Use proper grammar and professional lingo.

Of course you’re probably not planning on answering interview questions with phrases such as “Like, totally,” but you never know what might pop out of your mouth when you’re nervous.  Just make sure you speak correctly, and use any professional terms that are relevant to the job.  Answering interview questions with confidence and like a pro will score you brownie points for sure.

5. Try to act like you’re talking to your best friend.

Don’t be stupid, here.  Of course I’m not saying to start answering interview questions as if you’re old drinking buddies (and especially not like you’re drunk right there in the interview) but you want to stay relaxed and try to keep it sort of conversational.  Don’t forget what I said about being grammatically correct and using proper verbiage though.  Sometimes just answering interview questions casually, acting like you’re practicing in front of your mirror instead of staring your potential future boss in the face will help you exude a confidence that you didn’t know you could.

Follow these tips for answering interview questions and you’re sure to be able to come up with the answer to anything on the spot.  Above all though, take your time.  Don’t sit there for an hour thinking up a good answer, but don’t just stammer something out really quick either.  Think your answers to interview questions through, then apply these pointers, and you’ll be HIRED..

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It seems that most employers ask you the same questions (even if they are worded differently- a wolf in sheep’s clothing is still a wolf) so it’s really a lot easier than you think to show up at an interview prepared to answer those general questions for interviews that you’ll most likely be asked.

Here are a few of the top questions for interviews that employers usually go with and some guidance to help you produce killer answers so that you can really WOW them.

What’s your greatest strength and your greatest weakness?

This is when you have to kind of flip the truth around a little.  Being that this is one of the top questions for interviews, you can think about this beforehand so you answer it the right way.  Your greatest strength is easy- something like “I’m extremely organized” or “I work well under pressure” works just fine, but they are substandard answers, so if you’re able to spice them up a little, you’ll impress the employer more.

As for your greatest weakness, turn a negative into a positive.  “I might pay a little too much attention to detail because I want to make sure everything is perfect,” will probably raise an eyebrow or two but hey, you’re just being honest, right?

Tell me about a challenge that you had with a previous job- how did you overcome it?

There is usually almost always one of these types of questions for interviews used by an employer.  When I was asked this question on my first interview out of college, I froze up.  I didn’t have any office jobs or anything that resembled the type of professional environment I was breaking in to so I mumbled something about a serving job that I held in college.  Luckily, I still got the job but this question can completely break you if you’re not careful.  Stick with something that sounds realistic, even if it isn’t completely true (I’m not telling you to lie, exactly, but a little exaggeration is sometimes necessary.)  Maybe talk about a time that you were going to lose a customer or client but that you went over the company objectives and goals and won them back over with your charm.  Anything that says that you contributed to company growth or improvement will score you points.

Do you prefer to work alone or as part of a team?

This is one of those questions for interviews where they’re almost trying to trick you.  You may have no idea if the position you’re applying for requires more independent work or more teamwork, so you have to proceed with caution when answering this question.  It’s best to say that you work equally well both ways.  “I work well on my own, but I also am comfortable sharing work with others- sometimes putting a few heads together shows better results,” is a great answer.

Where do you see yourself in five years? (or ten, or a few, etc.)

Stick to work-related goals with these types of questions for interviews.  Don’t talk about how you’re getting married, planning on expanding your family or buying a house.  Talk about how you’re hoping to learn and grow within the company and further expand upon your skills and knowledge.  That’s really what they want to hear, and if you go anywhere else with this question you might end up sounding like a clueless Miss America contestant.  “In five years I hope to see world peace.”  Huh?

What are your salary requirements?

Be careful how you answer any questions for interviews that relate to salary.  You don’t want to ask for too much, or too little, of course.  Do a little research before your interview to see what the typical salary is for similar positions.  Then, adjust it a little if needed according to your skill level.  If the average salary is $40,000 and you have no experience in a particular field, it’s probably best not to go about $42,000.  If you have a lot of experience though, it might be ok to go as high as $55,000…..  Salary is usually commensurate with experience, so just be realistic in what you’re asking for.  And always let them know that you’re open to negotiation, in case the number is too high for them.  You don’t want to not get a job because you asked for 55k a year and they top out at 53k.

Of course these are just a few common questions for interviews to get you started, but the odds are pretty high that you will be asked at least one of these.  Brush up on your answers and you’ll appear to be an interview pro!

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Do you prefer blondes or brunettes?  What’s your shoe size?  How about your favorite color?

If you haven’t guessed yet, these are interview questions for employers that you probably don’t want to ask.  Some raised eyebrows and eye rolls are probably all that you’ll get in response, not to mention that you’ll basically convey that you’re not taking an interview or a job opportunity very seriously.

We’ve all been there- that awkward stage of the interview where the interviewer asks you if you have any questions.

Most of the interview questions for employers that we’d like to ask, such as “How many hot girls/ guys work here?” or “How much calling off in a six month period is acceptable?” are not the ones that we actually can.  So how about asking some questions that will give you some answers that you can use as well as make you appear to be a great job candidate?

What will my duties be?

This is a given, but when you’re applying for a job, they don’t always put all of the responsibilities that an employee will have.  This is one of the best interview questions for employers because you’ll make sure you get the 411 on exactly what you’ll be doing if you get the job.  You also might find out some things that you might need to brush up on… of course you probably don’t want to let the interviewer know if you’re a little rusty in a certain area, just smile, nod and then go home and study up or practice.

I love this type of work so much; the sky is the limit for me once I’ve expanded further upon my skills.  What types of opportunities for advancement within the company will there be in the future?

This is one of those interview questions for employers that you have to proceed with caution on.  You don’t want the interviewer to feel threatened or like you want to steal their job, even though ultimately that might be the seat you want to be in, but you want to convey that you’re eager to learn and grow within the company.  It’s probably not a good idea to mention anything like “This is just a stepping stone for me to gain the skills I really need to go somewhere else and have the career I really want.”  Unless your goal is NOT to get the job.

Who will I be working closely with and what are their functions, and who is my direct supervisor?

You need to understand how you fall into the company hierarchy in order to know how to not only do your job but also so you know how to approach everyone you work with.  And chances are that one of your interviewers will be your boss, but they’ll probably still be impressed that you asked.  It’s a common sense interview question for employers, but too many times people leave an interview wondering if they’d even like the job they’re trying to get.  Save yourself the trouble and worry.

Please tell me a little bit about the company and your experience- what keeps you coming to work every day?  It seems like a great place to work!

Honestly, I’ve asked these types of interview questions for employers often because it’s good to know if people typically find the company a decent place to work.  Also, overall job satisfaction is important as well.  Sometimes it works just to ask about what the turn over rate is like.  If they don’t hold on to people long, you might want to reconsider if you actually want the job that bad.  If people don’t stay for long, there’s probably a reason.

What are some overall goals of the company over the next 12 months and how can I help contribute to reaching those goals in my position?

This is an interview question for employers that most of them probably don’t hear that often, and it not only says that you care about helping the company succeed but that you really want to excel at the job.  You might as well go home and wait for the phone to ring, because you’ll impress with this question, especially if you react with the right amount of excitement when they give you the answer.

Of course these are just a few of the many interview questions for employers that you can ask, but in my opinion they’re the best.  They’re going to get you the most information while conveying an “I really care” attitude to your interviewer.

Now all you need to do is make sure you go to the interview prepared with a list of questions… and make sure you don’t ask anything that they’ve already told you.  Not listening in an interview could blow the whole thing.

Good luck, and happy interviewing, you interview know it all!

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Some people think that filling in the blank spots on their resume with keywords describing the desired skills for a job will help manipulate Applicant Tracking Systems to their advantage, and in some cases, it does.  However, you have proceed with caution with white font because you could end up making yourself look the opposite of what you’re going for.  Often times if this strategy is used, suddenly, experienced and knowledgeable becomes exaggerated and falsified.

When White Font Can Work Against You

Don’t think you’re a sly fox just because you figured out how to use white font on your resume.  Most recruiters are on the lookout for this now- you’re not a step ahead of anyone.  All they have to do if they want to check a resume for white font is highlight it and suddenly, all of the sneaky keywords that you included on your resume will magically appear.  You may be able to fool the machine, but you can’t fool a human.

Actually, some of the Applicant Tracking Systems that are used can tell if white font was used on a resume.  This could hurt you too, because they sometimes weed out and then eliminate those resumes.  Some employers look at this kind of manipulation as deceitful, and in those cases, it will definitely hurt you.

Another common mistake that people make when using white font is that they tell little white lies.  For instance, they’ll use keywords that they know are relevant to the job in white font on the margins of their resume, but when you look at the actual resume those skills are not present anywhere.  If you’re going to try to outsmart employers, at least do it right and don’t make yourself look like an idiot.  Putting “creative” on your resume in white font but then having a list of boring jobs that don’t ask for any creativeness at all is going to not only raise some eyebrows, but also put you in the “no thanks” pile.

Why White Font Isn’t a Good Idea

Some employers won’t mind white font if it’s discovered on your resume, but most are going to wonder what you’re up to or why you’d go to such extremes.  Your resume should speak for itself- you shouldn’t have to trick people into noticing you.  If you just use keywords to get yourself noticed but don’t have the skills to back them up, you just look like a big fat liar.  As much as everyone wants one of those working for them… oh wait, this is who they definitely don’t want working for them!

Rather than focusing on how to trick ATS machines and even humans into reading your resume, how about honing in on your great skills and experience and making sure that your resume accurately reflects that?

Incorporate the essential keywords that you would have used white font for into your resume itself.  That way, it still gets picked up and there is no fabrication or deceit on your part.

You don’t need tricky methods like white font when you’re actually qualified for a job

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Making a resume that will cause employers to want to hire you is a lot like making love.  You want to take your time, do it right, get some pleasure out of it, maybe even sweat a little.  Hopefully not in the literal sense, but hey, if that’s what it takes!

Making a resume that rocks is all about making sure you have the right words on paper to say all that you want to.  No, I’m not saying to write a biography about your exciting (or less than exciting in some of our cases, let’s face it!) life or to babble on and on about how much you want the job, but you should be able to get all of your job related skills and experience on your resume without making it look cluttered or losing your focus.

First of all, making a resume that includes the “right” words just means making sure your resume is geared toward the position you’re after.  In most cases, you should of course list all work experience, but in some cases you might just want to list related experience so that it’s the focus of your resume.

For example, making a resume for a job in education doesn’t really require you to include the job that you had when you were 16 waiting tables.  If you don’t have a lot of work experience and want to include it to give your resume more meat, you can… just make sure you make it sound related.  I know it may not really be true that being a server you were able to talk about the things you were learning in school and teach customers valuable things they didn’t know… but somehow working this in to a resume for teaching if you’re going to include that particular job will work to your advantage.

That being said, one of the biggest NO NO’s is to include exaggerations which some might say are flat out lies on your resume.  Making a rockin resume means making something that’s real and honest, a true representation of who you are.  So glamorizing an old job that may not look so good on paper may seem like a good idea at the time that you’re making a resume, but there’s a huge change it could backfire on you, so don’t do it.

If you were a stripper, calling yourself a “trained ballet dancer” is probably not a good idea.  Actually, I wouldn’t go around advertising that kind of work experience at all, but to each their own.  Also, blatant elaboration such as a job that you held as a secretary, but then saying that you were promoted to president of the company within 6 months is an obvious lie and definitely not conducive to making a resume that is going to get you an interview.

The most important tip, I think anyways, for making a resume that rocks is to make sure it’s grammatically correct.  There’s no point in showcasing your awesome skills if you can’t even spell or speak correctly.  No one wants to hire someone who doesn’t pay attention to detail or doesn’t use proper grammar.  If your resume shows these negatives, chances are you’re going to suck at the job too, so employers won’t bother taking a second look.  “I did my job real good,” might get a laugh out of someone, but it’s not going to score you an interview, which is what making a resume is all about.

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You’ve found the job of your dreams. The only problem is you’re probably not the only one who wants the job and feels the exact same way. Short of tracking down every applicant and clawing their eyes out so that they can no longer compete against you for the job that was made for you, there’s not a whole lot you can do to ensure that you get hired.

Or is there? If you know how to write a good resume, or in some cases, create a good resume, you might be able to kill off the rest of the competition with ease. You just have to know how to go about doing this!

With these tips on how to write a good resume, you’ll be one step closer to that dream job or career. Just make sure that you are tactful and that your resume pertains to the job you’re after. You want to make an employer say “Wow” not “What an Idiot!”

Be Bold and Artistic

Sometimes knowing how to write a good resume isn’t all that you need to do. If you are going for an artsy or artistic job, or even just want to show that you blow the rest of the competition out of the water, you’ll want to think about your presentation.

You know what they say about looking good on paper… Including a picture of yourself in a bikini or Speedo, unfortunately won’t bode well in a professional environment. You’ll probably turn on a few employers, but they won’t call you for an interview if all you do is get them hot and bothered. Well, some of them might, but you probably won’t want to work for a pervert anyways.

Knowing how to write a good resume using word play though, or a creative, fancy design sometimes does work. So often you see resume writing advice saying to keep it simple, stick to a template and use black ink on white paper. Blah blah blah… BORING!

Use Photoshop or another design program to include some pics or cool examples of your work. For instance, if your field is website design, how cool would it be to make your resume look like a web page? Bright, vivid pictures, bold type and text boxes full of different information about you are going to draw the eye. How to write a good resume is just to make the employer want to read more, or perhaps put a face to this creative approach that you’ve dared to try.

Break the rules

Sometimes knowing how to write a good resume is about doing something that potential employers have never seen before. It’s a little unconventional, but one way to do this is with a video resume. Some people criticize this quickly growing form of resume sharing, but I think it’s gold.

I’m not telling you to make a soft core porn video a la Heidi Montag (I’m not knocking her looks- she paid good money for them, but her talent is lacking so much that she has to hump everything in sight on camera), but appearing interesting, talented, maybe even a little sexy or risqué on video is another thing that will definitely make you stand out and lead to an interview. Just keep it geared towards the job you’re after.

For instance, if you’re going for a sales gig, (sure, because we all dream of being in sales- excuse my examples, please!) include a clip of you with a client or a mock-client doing your thing. Impress your future employer with your mad skills and show them what they’re missing!

Make sure you dress the part too. But highlighting your best attribute, such as some pants that are tight in all the right places to show off a great ass (while still maintaining a professional appearance, of course!) doesn’t hurt. Studies do show that people that are physically attractive do tend to get the job over those that aren’t so much. So work what your momma gave you as you show off your job-related skills on camera.

Another unconventional how to write a good resume tip is to make a brochure highlighting your skills and attributes to really show you trying to sell yourself, or a PowerPoint presentation that makes your resume POP.

Other tips on how to write a good resume (or film one if that’s your plan) include being professional yet conversational, maybe being a little funny and really trying to show off your personality and the wide range of skills you have that pertain to the job. You want to stand out and show that you would not only be a good fit, but that you’re the only one that will be a good fit.

No matter how you choose to do it, as long as you’re willing to overstep boundaries a little bit (don’t break out the lingerie or anything, but the little tidbits mentioned here will do!) you’re sure to learn how to write a good resume that makes employers say, “I want to hire this person,” in no time at all.

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The interview is over.  You feel like you must have done a good job because no one chased you out of the room yet and they haven’t crumpled up your recession-proof resume and thrown it in your face.  And now the question, seemingly so innocent: “Do you have any questions for us?”

Hmmmm…nice try, asshole, but I’m onto you.  This is a loaded question if there ever was one.  If you don’t believe me, give them the typical lame response about how they did such a good job of covering everything already, or better yet, ask if it’s okay to come in still half drunk on Monday mornings.

If you’d rather not be a complete idiot, here are 5 smart interview questions to ask that will get better results:

1.  “What do you want to see accomplished in your team department or company in the next three to six months?”

Now you’re thinking.  This one is great.  This shows that you are not just thinking about yourself but are thinking about getting them results in a measured amount of time and that you are actually putting thought (imagine that) into how you will achieve this or if it is possible.

2.  “What would be the ideal outcome?”

This one is similar in that it shows you care about their results and are trying to get a glimpse at what they’re hoping for.  It is also valuable to you because you can use it later in your follow-up letter to hit some of those hot buttons after they forgot what they told you.

3.  “How will you measure success?”

Interview questions to ask such as these shows that you are trying to get an understanding of what success means to them, and it also gives you an idea about how you will be judged in your role in the company.

4.  “How will the position specifically support that goal?”  “How does this position impact the organization overall?”

Interview questions to ask like this can show that you know you’re not a lone ranger, that you have a role in something bigger and that you are a part of a team.  This is a great display of a healthy working attitude and a propensity for teamwork.

5.  “I’d like to know what it takes to be successful in this company. What kind of efforts and hours do top performers put in?”

This gives the message that you want to be one of the best and subconsciously links you to those who really stand out in the company already.  Very powerful subconscious trick, and again, it really delivers some nuggets for that thank you letter.

6.  “I have appreciated hearing about the goals of this position. What stands out between where the project situation is today and where you want to be?”

A declaration that you understand they are hiring you as an investment.  You are showing that you realize they are for some reason not where they want to be and gives that subconscious message that you intend to be such a force in their company that you will bring change.  These types of interview questions to ask shows you are ready to take responsibility for past shortcomings that didn’t even have anything to do with you.

7.  “Looking down the road for the next several years what do you see as key challenges the person in this position will face?”

This question displays that you are not only trying to get a realistic idea of the position but that you understand it will not be a walk in the park and are unintimidated by challenges.  Too many employees these days are just there for a paycheck.  You are showing that you are ready to carry your weight as well as more.

Having intelligent, thoughtful interview questions to ask shows a lot about who you are as a person and what kind of employee you will be.  This step in the interview process will not be overlooked.  Trust me.  Just make sure your questions aren’t self-centered—about profits and benefits—make them about what you can do for the company and the role you will play.  Choose some above, and you really can’t go wrong.

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Psychology actually reveals some really helpful job interview tips.

Did you know that a potential employer forms an opinion about you within the first 15 seconds of meeting you?  You’re so nervous as you prepare for interviews- worrying about what to wear, what to say when asked this or that and making sure that you’re able to  prove what a catch you are that you often neglect the most IMPORTANT part of the interview process and fail to brush up on helpful job interview tips that matter.

In order to get an interview, you have to show them a good resume.  Resume wizards are helpful tools to get you started, but they’re so blah and boring and they’re not going to make someone say “WOW, I need to hire this person NOW!”

If you don’t make the right first impression with your resume, you’re not even going to be asked to come in for an interview so you need to make sure that you know what you’re saying with your resume as well as brushing up on job interview tips that are psychologically based.

Ultimately, your resume needs to say what you can’t since you’re not sitting on the employer’s desk singing your own praises.  At least I hope not… ha ha!

More importantly, you have to know what job interview tips work when trying to impress potential employers.

When it comes to finding the best job interview tips, first impressions are everything.  A 2009 Oregon University study delved into the topic of first impressions and proved that they really do mean everything when it comes to landing a job- and your resume may be the most important first impression you will ever make.  It doesn’t matter if you follow all of the best job interview tips in the book because if you’re resume sucks, you’re not going to get an interview anyways.

The study showed that after only a few seconds, we all take what the professor who oversaw the study, Professor  Bernieri, calls a “thin slice” impression of everyone we meet.  In an intial interview, you want to makes you’re sending the right signals and have honed in on the best job interview tips so you give a great first, “think slice” impression.  This also applies to resumes because after skimming through one, an employer gets a “thin slice” of who you are as a potential job candidate.

You know those times when you just get a gut feeling about someone?  You shouldn’t be surprised when you later find out that your first impression is right- you were just using the “thin slice” impression that Bernieri is talking about.  You take in everything that you notice in the first few seconds and come to a quick conclusion based on what you see.  I think we can all relate to that.

Most of the time you already know if you’re going to like someone or not before they even open their mouth to speak.  That’s why one of the best job interview tips is to keeps that thin slice perception in mind right from the get-go.

Sometimes you even let your initial assumptions about someone make you more apt to notice things about them that support your theories.  For example, if you sense before your friend’s new girlfriend even opens her mouth to speak that she’s kind of a ditz, you’re going to be on the lookout for signs of her acting like an airhead.  So when she asks you for the time, you’re going to think she doesn’t even know how to tell time rather than noticing the fact that she doesn’t wear a watch.  We look for things to support our initial impressions, even if they aren’t always right.

That’s why it’s so important to make sure that your resume is going to give potential employers the right first impression about you and that you’re following smart job interview tips during the interview.

If you say even one wrong thing, it could form the basis of the employer’s opinion about you, so you want to make sure you say everything right.

There was another study that took place at Tufts University in Massachusetts where the Professor, Nalini Ambady, asked her students to fill out an evaluation form of their first lecturer.  They had to tell her if they liked him, thought he was open and what their initial impressions were.

Two years later, after being tutored by the lecturer the entire time, Professor Ambady surveyed her students again.  It was no surprise to her that those initial impressions from two years earlier hadn’t changed at all.  They’d already pre-judged and had their minds made up before the tutoring even began, all based on the first time they met.  One of the most neglected job interview tips is to remember that the first time the employer lays eyes on you, they’re sizing you up and you need to be on top of your game.

These are non-conscious decisions that we all make- employers obviously do too.  It’s the human reaction.  If you start to think about it when you’re making these snap judgments, you’re less likely to make them, however an employer isn’t going to be thinking about that when they’re perusing your resume.  You’ve got one piece of paper to convince them of what type of worker you’re going to be, so you better make it good.  And you’ve got one opportunity to put these job interview tips into action, so you better make the most of it.

There is another study that demonstrates how sometimes our initial impressions can be wrong, but it’s much less likely that they will be.  Participants in this tried and true study are shown a short movie of a woman returning from work.  In one version of the movie she was labeled as a waitress, while in another she was labeled a librarian- even though she looked the same in each presentation.  People recalled things about her associated with the job title she was given even if it wasn’t true.  For example, those that saw the librarian video said that she was wearing glasses, even though she wasn’t.  It’s not that they were hallucinating, this just demonstrates how the thin slice first impression theory works.

You want to make sure that you’re not giving off the wrong impression with your resume and choosing job interview tips to follow along these same lines.  For example, don’t be remembered for the wrong reasons on your resume.  If it stands out because you spilled coffee on it, the initial impression the employer is going to get is that you’re messy.

So even if you do still have a decent resume and get called in for an interview, they may think your appearance is sloppy, even if it’s not.  Every shirt wrinkle could be shouting at them and you wouldn’t even see it coming.  It’s one of the best psychological job interview tips you could ever follow to make sure that you’re neat and tidy in appearance.

Believe it or not, you can control the way people perceive you.  If you come across as bubbly, energetic and friendly, they’re most likely going to like you.  This is why people who smile a lot, talk with their hands, and always seem upbeat are so well liked, while people who speak more mellow and don’t make a lot of facial expressions are usually not.  It’s common sense that following job interview tips that tell you to be friendly, open and happy are going to have a positive psychological impact on employers.

If you do fail to make a good impression on someone by choosing the right resume and job interview tips, it’s not necessarily too late.  We all know someone who we used to despise who we later find out is all right, but think about how long it probably took them to convince you of that.

So think about your job searching experience.  Have you sent out dozens of resumes and not received a single call back?  Your resume is most likely not giving out the right first impression about you.  Make the RIGHT statement with your resume- your livelihood depends on it.

Think of it as an introduction to a story.

The story is the interview and you have to preface your audience, or employer, so that they know what to expect when they meet you.  Don’t steer them wrong and you’ll guarantee yourself the job you want- it’s a scientific fact as proven in some of the studies mentioned above that the first impression you give is going to act as a guide to who you are on the job.  So make it a good one and put these job interview tips into motion.

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As you have probably figured out, getting your resume out there is not enough.  Job competition has gotten fierce, and you want to master good resume writing that can get yours to the top of the stack and keep it there.  Here are 3 simple tricks for doing just that:

1.  Do Some Research

While research is important for when you talk to the employer in an actual interview so that you can show you have prepared, it is also crucial in order to find out what buttons to push both in the job resume and in the interview should you get that far.  Zero in on what the employer needs by reviewing position postings in local newspapers or online.  Realize that postings on different platforms may have varying amounts of information, and you can dig up some real nuggets by doing some searching around.

Networking with people who know about the company or the industry can also do wonders, or you can speak with people who currently work at the company without revealing that you are applying for a position, or at least without revealing exactly who you are.  You can also get informative interviews ahead of time or just do good old fashioned research about the company and industry in general, this will actually lead you to good resume writing.

2.  Strategically Position Your Information

Good resume writing is laid out with the realization in mind that no one is going to pick up your resume intending to read it from start to finish.  Not at all.  Experts have shown that screeners and hiring managers scan the resumes instead, looking mostly for disqualifiers but also for stuff that jumps out at them.

You can minimize the risk of obvious disqualifiers by paying attention to the details, but you can also maximize the chance of them catching goodies by placing them all in the top third of your resume document.  Good organization and use of bullet points and headings can also make your selling points jump off the paper.

3.  Don’t Hide Behind Your Resume

Never forget that the resume is not playing a supporting role in your hunt for that dream career; it is not the star of the job search show.  Some people mistakenly think of the job process as a numbers game, convinced that if they send out enough resumes a job will materialize from their efforts.

The truth is that the resume is one small part, and you must combine good resume writing with good networking skills.  It’s appropriate to email a resume or post it on a website for a company that takes online posting, but if you don’t back up these moves with some extreme networking tactics, you are going to keep rolling and rolling the dice with no guarantee anything will ever land in your favor.

It is humans that make hiring decisions.  Get face to face with them, show them you are human as well, and communicate how your skills can add great value to their company through good resume writing.

Any other good ideas on standing out in this job climate or about good resume writing skills that can help you showcase your strengths in a subtle yet powerful way?  Post a comment and fill us in.

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Times have changed, and competition in the job market is fierce.  It’s time for you step up your game, and that game starts with your cover letter.  For those of you who think a cover letter is unnecessary, pull your head out of…um…that book you’re reading right now, and realize it is a necessity.  Here are 5 high impact cover letter tips for recent grads:

1.  Highlight your Social Media Skills

Believe it or not, there are a lot of corporate positions out there now that require social media skills and a certain number of Twitter followers.  Information technology skills are a HUGE asset to college grads these days since many baby boomers don’t even have a clue what a “tweet” is…

In an age where you’re competing with your grandparents, who have been around just a little longer than you, it’s time to break out all the tricks.  They want your media skills—so make them clear in your cover letter and get it out on the table from the get-go.

2.  Highlight Leadership Skills

Mine your college experiences for demonstrations of leadership.  These days, savvy employers want potential leaders, not people who just want to cut a check and skip out the door.  One of the most important cover letter tips is to use any kind of experience you had with clubs, groups, team sports, etc, to send a subconscious message that you are a leader.  To an employer this equals less headache as you can be expected to take initiative instead of waiting for orders…Sir, yes sir.

3.  Translate Past Experiences Into “Professional” Skills

This may be one of the most relevant of cover letter tips for recent grads.  You might not have much actual work experience, but you can still pump up that cover letter by relating your non-professional experiences to the professional world.  Team building, for instance, is one of those skills that really matters to employers, and you can highlight this by discussing team projects in school, communicating your knowledge of how to get results in a team environment.

4.  Highlight Industry Involvement

Employers love a candidate who has extensive knowledge and interest in their industry—i.e. a receptionist who knows a lot about the porn industry rather than a receptionist who just so happens to be applying for a company that produces high-quality porn.  Make sure to mention any memberships in well-recognized industry associations…

Not in any associations?  Sign up for one today and pay the student price!  Then “name drop it” in the cover letter.  There are all sorts of creative way to get industry specific on their asses.

5.  Make Your Skills Relevant

It’s one thing to rattle off about what makes your skills so great, but it’s even better to sit down and weed through your skills determining which can be reframed in order to best relate to the employer’s needs and which should just be left out.  This includes skills, experience, and interests.

Bear in mind these cover letter tips and look at what they’re asking for, then take the time to personalize your cover letter to match.  We’ve got a keeper.

Set yourself apart by incorporating all these cover letter tips.  For recent grads, it can be a little intimidating to go up against seasoned professionals, but with some creative wordsmithing and sitting down to identify what an employer wants, you can still stand out.

What do you think about these tips?  Do you think that they are enough to set a grad’s cover letter ahead of the pack?  Feel free to contribute your own cover letter tips for recent grads by commenting below.

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Categories in your resume give you a way to format and organize so that information is presented in a visually appealing and accessible manner.  A lot of people, however, not knowing how to write resumes just grab a resume template and use the given categories as a guideline.  Remember that you are the author of your resume, and how to write resumes is really up to you.  So I challenge you to get creative and think how you can best organize the document to serve your needs.

Here are 4 tips about how to write resumes in a creative manner by rethinking categories.

1.  Limit the Total Number

A lot of job-hunters who learn how to write resumes from in-college career centers use templates to write their cv, and often these templates include a list of categories that if were all used could add up to a book, or at the very least, a 2 page document.

You never want your resume to exceed more than 1 page, but you also do not want to cram a bunch of categories into that small space.  So pick and choose wisely, liming the number of categories for optimum visual appeal.

2.  Choose Categories Wisely

Knowing how to write resumes is knowing how to plan well, and choose categories that will best showcase your experience.  Realize the categories you choose will decide how you write your resume and set the framework, so think of this ahead of time.  For instance, a recent grad might be better off skipping the Work Experience category and choosing Skills or Affiliations instead.  This would give them a chance to use the real estate to showcase their strengths in the best way possible.

3.  Zero in On the Employer’s Needs

Even though you want to plan your categories to best represent yourself, you also want to think about which ones will offer the best opportunity to speak to the employer’s and address what they re looking for.  Get to the bottom of what triggers would help appeal to what they want, and then keep that in mind when planning your categories, setting up a structure that will give opportunity to do so.

4.  Endorsements or Customer Comments Category

This is a creative category trick that rarely gets used but can be very powerful.  Nothing speaks so loud as third party commentary, and just like testimonials help sell products, your endorsements can help sell you.  Consider collecting statements from old employers or clients to strengthen your case.

Do you see how a little creative thinking can turn this seemingly trivial aspect of resume writing into a marketing tool?  Just realize that by accepting an online template, or a template from anywhere, you’ve already decided to put yourself into a box and limit what you can communicate and how.  It’s cool to look at examples for inspiration, but I’m giving you the freedom now to decide how to write resumes for yourself.  Make your own template.

Do you have good ideas on how to write resumes and how you can use categories to sell yourself in your resume?  Let’s hear them.

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It’s difficult to find help writing a resume.  Well, to be more precise, it’s difficult to find good help writing a resume.  There is plenty of information out there, from career centers to online websites, but the fact of the matter is that a lot of it is out-dated crap.  Students are downloading the same worthless resume templates and all making the same mistakes (not to mention turning in a cookie cutter resume).

Here are 5 tips for finding help writing a resume:

1.  Your Teachers Are Not Experts

First off, it is important to realize that your professors are not necessarily the best people to go to for help writing a resume.  Sure, it never hurts to get an opinion, but don’t forget that this is all it is.

Unless they are some proven expert in the field, there is no reason to think they know more than anyone else, and in act they may know less because teachers tend to stay with the industry for a long time and do not do much job searching.

2.  Your Career Center May Not be Qualified Either

On a similar note, for too many people, the college career center has proven to be a dead end.  Someone once told me they found their unemployed neighbor working in their career center.

And many will send you away with nothing more than a stack of standardized forms and a resume handout that will give birth to an ugly 5 page document that will send an employer running.  Their intentions are good, but too many of these places are not caught up with the times.

3.  Have 3 People Look it Over

I don’t want to discourage you about getting help though.  You should definitely have at least 3 responsible friends look it over and get their opinion.  Most of all, they should be looking for spelling and grammar mistakes, which can be detrimental.

4.  Network with Managers

One great resource for help with writing resumes are people who work in executive positions and have been on that side of the hiring process before.  If you know people like this, do not be afraid to get their opinion—it may be the best resource you have.  And who knows, maybe someone in their network is hiring.

5.  Ask for Help from Successful Friends

One more possible place to find qualified help is friends with proven results at getting hired to big companies, especially if their resumes landed them a lot of interviews while they were searching.  Ask them to look over what you have got and give some tips.  Or maybe you can even see the one they used.

Don’t be discouraged by the lack of good resources for help writing a resume.  There are plenty of articles here to help you out as well as a wide range of other resources like you won’t find anywhere else. 

Do you have any resources you have used for getting help writing a resume in the past?  Or would you like to just ask some questions here that you need answered?  Please use the comment box below.

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When it’s time to sit down and create a cover letter, it helps to have a plan before you get started.  Contrary to popular (yet misguided) opinion, there is a direct purpose and a set of goals for this essential part of your first contact with the prospective employer.  Here are 6 quick and easy steps to create a cover letter that employers will love:

1.  Identify Your Key Selling Points

Before you even get started, you need to sit down and do a little soul-searching and take a marketing view of your job experience or anything that has happened in your life.  Figure out what your key selling points are going to be before you even consider how they will be communicated.  Write these down.

2.  Formulate a Blueprint

Pre-planning is the key to success, and you want to sit down and write out a structured outline to follow.  This is where you will decide what you’re going to say and where.

3.  Write the Opening Paragraph

Now it’s time to create a cover letter you can be proud of.  The opening paragraph should be like any introduction and should compel the reader to read the entire letter.  You should have a strong benefit statement that encapsulates what you have to offer and include it in the opening paragraph.

Just like any part of the interviewing process, the cover letter will act like a screen and not everyone will get through.  Don’t make them search for a reason why they should ready your resume and invite you to interview—put it right where they will look first.

4.  Write the Body

Now is the time to flesh out the body of the letter by outlining your accomplishments.  Use bullet points and specific benefits to keep the letter organized, easy to read, and communicate exactly what your strong points are.

5.  Write the Closing

The closing, or conclusion, should always include a direct call to action.  Telling people what to do next is very powerful subconsciously and a fine display of assertiveness and confidence.  Tell them to pick up the phone and call you.

6.  Polish, Proofread, Finalize

When you create a cover letter, never, ever fail to proofread several times to check for inconsistencies, weak language, poor grammar, and spelling mistakes.  In fact, you should always have someone else look it over for you.  Detail-oriented people are a valuable commodity in this world, and not paying attention to these things in something as vital as a cover letter can completely destroy your credibility.

Details, details, details…

Create a Cover Letter Feedbacks

Check out some of our other articles to get some good tips before you create a cover letter, but this is a good guide to get you started and give you framework for the process.  Let me know your comments—is there anything that has worked for you in the planning process that you would like to share?

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Knowing how to write a good cv resume is an important skill to have, especially with the job market the way it is these days, but what you don’t do can be as valuable as what you do.   Are you confused yet?  What I mean is that knowing how to talk yourself up is an essential skill for getting hired, but you have to be sure not to walk into a trap also.

Here are 4 tips on how to write a good cv resume without putting your foot in your mouth.

1.  Make it Targeted

It’s great you got in there and turned in a resume, and if they’re really hiring, they at least you know you were competent enough to know.  But show them it was more than blind luck in a widespread resume-handing out spree by targeting the resume specifically to them.

A lot of would-be employees make one blanket resume that covers all the different companies and positions.  Big mistake.

In how to write a good CV resume, make a different resume for each company you apply to, even if that means nothing more than making a few changes here and there and printing again.  Customize as much as possible to the particular company’s needs and the specifics of the position in question.  Even your skills and experience can be tailored exactly to what they are looking for using some good research.

Also, try to find out who the hiring manager is so you can address them in your cover letter, and never apply for more than one position or “any position available.”  Target the ideal position and if they really like you they may suggest starting you in another, but leave that suggestion to them so you don’t look like you’re at there for any job you can find.

2.  KISS

You know what they say – keep it simple stupid. Don’t go blabbing on about your social life, the names, of all your boyfriends or girlfriends, or your favorite flavor of condom. That’s now how to write a good cv resume. The point is they don’t need an autobiography – keep it to the information that they need, or to be more precise, the information that they want. Use white space liberally for visual appeal and reading ease, and hit all the main points without overdoing it.

3.  Be Honest

One way to really put your foot in your mouth is to sit down at the computer to type your resume and start lying your ass off.  It’s ok to put a good spin on your experiences and to market yourself, but it is never okay to lie, and the chances are that you will be caught out, even if they never make any mention of the fact.

It is most likely going to come up in the interview or the job.  Not a good way to make an impression.

4.  Back Your Claims With Proof

On a similar note, while in a court of law you might be innocent until proven guilty, it is likely the other way around when it comes to whether or not you can be believed about everything you write in your resume.  Employers have seen some bullshitters in their time and take everything with a grain of salt.

Eliminate doubt by backing all your claims with evidence or, at the very least, with numbers.  This is also a great way to make an original cv that stands out and pleads your case in high fashion.

Do you have any stories to share about your you walked yourself into a trap and screwed up your chances of getting hired? We’d love to make fun of you and learn how to write a good cv resume from your mistakes. Please do share.

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A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that teachers and professors know something about how to get a career.  Yeah, maybe a teaching career.  But if you’re aiming for something a little different, you need to try a little harder.  Here are 6 essential job interview skills your teachers never taught you…not because they wanted yet another reason to make you suffer but because they didn’t know some job interview skills to begin with.

1. Marketing

The number one skill to have when working to get hired for top notch companies is marketing.  You need to learn to market yourself, and in fact this is one of the best skills to have in modern society, period.

It’s about knowing how to communicate what you are all about without just saying it.  Ever heard the expression show don’t tell?  Proper marketing will plead your case for you.

2.  Sales

Not to be confused with marketing, sales is a little more direct.  While marketing covers every part of what you do, sales is actually sitting down and telling.  Selling yourself.  It really comes in handy during negotiation time, and just like on a used car lot, the guy or gal that is that natural salesman is likely to pull it off.

3.  Body Language

In any human interaction, body language plays a major role, and while this is no different in the interviewing process, most people just don’t think about it.  Mastering body language is an art that can speak volumes regardless of what your mouth is saying and may be essential for landing the best jobs out there which is one of the most important job interview skills.

4.  Psychology

Psychology is another one of the vastly underrated job interview skills.  People like to fool themselves by pretending the professional world is able to step around basic human psychology, but the truth of the matter is that we are as much slaves to our twisted little psychological quirks in this situation as ever.  Learning to master subliminal messages and understand basic psychology can truly give you power in the professional world.

5.  Persuasion Via Print

Having all the best credentials in the world means nothing if you don’t know how to put it down on paper and persuade someone to hire you.  The art of persuasion is what will get you in the door.  Learn it, and learn it well.

6.  Charisma

Finally, this last overriding quality is something that people have struggled for centuries to put their finger on, but it is a powerful component to every step of the interviewing process.  Charismatic people tend to do well in any social situation.  Don’t think charisma cannot be learned; it can, and you should make it a priority.  It truly can make your life better.

These six job interview skills might not be discussed in the traditional circles of interviewing information, but if you want better than traditional results, you should make it a point to master them and start working on it now.

Do you have any stories about when one of these traits had exceptional results for you?  Some people catch on to them on their own and will just take 1 and make it the cornerstone of everything they do.  Feel free to share your stories and your job interview skills.

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You might be asking yourself, “Self, how do I write a resume that not only makes me look professional and fills expectations but is irresistible on its own?”  Great question, and that’s exactly the mentality you should be taking to the resume writing process.  Getting this document in their hands is not enough; you need to grab attention, hold it, and secure an interview.

How do I write a resume that’s irresistable? Here are 3 great tips to get you started.

1.  Go for Visual Appeal

Yep, we are a bunch of shallow creature, us humans, and one thing that appeals to use more than anything is visual appeal.  This is why attractive people often have a better fighting chance in an interview (don’t worry, if you look like Gollum, learning about attraction psychology can still get you more dates than Hugh Heffner), and the same applies to getting hired.

Your resume can be made attractive as well.  No one’s going to start making out with it and offering to give it a better future, but a visually appealing resume is more likely to get read and more likely to be taken seriously.  In your ‘How do I write a resume’ concerns, visual aspects to keep in mind are a limited number of fonts, good organization, and liberal use of white space.

2.  Put Selling Points Front and Center

If you still have that how do I write a resume problem, another trick to creating a good resume is putting all the biggest points right where the eyes naturally fall, and this is right in the center of the document.  You want to make it as easy as possible for the employer to see your message, and the trick to doing this is setting it up so that a scan will pick up the key points.

A resume layout should draw the reader in—catching their attention with that valuable info so that they pause and take a closer look.  Also, use bullets with short headings in order to communicate the main benefits, with this, your how do I write a resume concerns would be perfectly answered.

3.  Provide Hardcore Supporting Info With Proof

Any jackass can walk in and say they are the best damn film producer this side of their own imagination, but nothing speaks louder in a resume than proof.  Back up your claims whenever possible and show that you are the real deal.  They expect you to talk yourself up, and any candidate worth their salt will, but evidence takes the guesswork out of your claims and sets you apart.

I’m glad you’re asking yourself, “How do I write a resume that is not like all the others?’ That shows you realize there is more to this process than playing a numbers game. These 3 quick tips can give you a lot of leverage in standing out and securing the next step in the process. Check out some of our other articles about writing powerful resumes, or leave your own questions, comments, and tips below.

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I know the feeling–You walk out of the interview from hell thinking there is no way to turn it around, and the idea of writing a job interview thank you letter seems pointless.  But sometimes you didn’t screw up quite as bad as you think, and you might be a little over-critical due to jumpy nerves.  Writing a good job interview thank you letter should always be a priority, no matter how you felt the interview went.  Well, if you got caught stealing paper clips or groping a current employee and were hauled off by the police, you can probably skip it, but in all other cases….

Here are 5 reasons why even crappy interview needs a follow-up through a job interview thank you letter.

1.  Reinforce Points from the Interview

You likely made SOME good points in the interview, right?  It couldn’t’ have all been bad.  Writing a good job interview thank you letter gives you the opportunity to turn the attention back towards the good stuff.  That doesn’t mean you should be giving excuses for the bad—“So, I just wanted to say the reason I took those paper clips was…”  That won’t do at all.  Leave the negative stuff back where it belongs—over and done with.

2.  Share New Information

A lot of times when you really screw up and come across as incompetent in an interview it’s because you forgot what you were going to say—or maybe you even forgot what you were going to say because you couldn’t stop thinking about how much of an idiot you looked like.

In these cases, it might help to throw those lost gold nuggets out there in the job interview thank you letter, while you’ve got the interviewers attention again and aren’t there personally to screw it up.  “Hey, did I mention can tie cherry stems with my tongue?”

3.  Confront Objections

If some issues were raised in the interview that may have really damaged your chances of getting hired or brought up some objections in the interviewer’s mind, this is probably the best chance you’ll have to confront those concerns, especially if the interviewer voiced those concerns at the time but you were unable to give an adequate rebuttal.

This could have a tremendous impact.  Highlight and defuse those obstacles in a tactful manner.

4.  A Display of Professionalism

Hey, it’s admirable when someone farts in the middle of a speech, smiles, and keeps on talking rather than running from the room with tears streaming down their face.  The point is that in the professional world, we realize people are sometimes just human, but the ability to act like a pro regardless of shortcomings and mistakes goes a long way.

The fact that you went in there and humiliated yourself but still sat down to thank them by sending a job interview thank you letter for their time and state your case yet again says a lot about your character.

5.  Set Yourself Apart

Due to the fact that so many grads skip this idea, whether out of laziness or because they don’t understand the importance, the simple fact of writing it already sets yourself ahead of the curve.  But you can go even further to stand out by customizing your letter and paying attention to the details.

A hand-written job interview thank you letter is a great way to show you put some time into it.  Also, buy some off-white, heavy-weight stationary.

How else can you spruce up your image by writing a good job interview thank you letter and defusing the bomb you left behind when you walked out the door? This is really an issue that takes some creative thinking. Is there something that saved you from sabotaging yourself in the past?

Put your comments below and share some of your thoughts on how to write a job interview thank you letter.

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When writing a good resume, you need to see what other prospects don’t see and use strategies and tactics that they never even considered.

I know, I know… this sounds easier than it really is.

But trust me, all it takes is for you to look at writing a good resume from a completely different perspective—a new paradigm, if you will—and the results of looking at them from this paradigm can be life-changing.

Here are 3 savvy tricks for writing a good resume that the vast majority of candidates never thought of:

1.  Use Keywords

If you are familiar with internet marketing and search engine optimization, this tip on writing a good resume might have you scratching your head a little bit.  If not, I won’t get into the logistics of selling porn online and how phrasing your web content can equal reaching more eager customers, but basically, keywords are words that directly relate to the job and position you are applying for, or even to the benefits derived from said employee.

These keywords can and should be worked through your resume when describing your skills and experience.  Put them anywhere in the resume you can.

There are several reasons for this.  For one, if your resume is online, this will make it more likely to get picked up when employers or online recruiters are searching on the web.  Also, if the resume is in a computer database and the employer is searching using a software program, it will make it easier to find it there as well.

Finally, even human readers pick up on keywords.  The scanning of a resume can be likened to a computer search in that the brain is preparing itself and searching for certain keywords that signal a likely candidate.  The keywords will jump out at them and warrant a more extensive look at the resume.

Not to mention the subconscious power of linking your name to these words.  Keywords are critical for resumes, and most candidates would not think of this in a million years.

2.  Use Advertising and Marketing Strategies

It is essential that you get used to think of getting hired as a marketing campaign and keep this in mind for writing a good resume.  Start learning about successful strategies used by top marketers and advertisers.  Read marketing books. Learn to think like these people.

It will not only help you learn writing a good resume that has an impact but will help you in your entire career and indeed every aspect of your life.

3.  Write Great Copy

When it comes to high impact marketing skills, writing copy is perhaps the most valuable any marketer can have, and it is not hard to see how this plays into writing a good resume.  Valuable copy sells in a way that does not seem to be trying and pulls the subconscious triggers that spark curiosity and create attraction.  While writing a good resume will not land you a job, powerful copy will certainly help it achieve its goal of landing you an interview.

Do you see how thinking outside of the box can teach you about writing a good resume that puts you in a completely different league than the competition? If you’ve ever seen how powerful this type of mindset can be, you know what I’m talking about.

Tell us about your experience with writing a good resume in the comments below.

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Recent studies have shown that job recruiters, interviewers, and employers have very similar pet peeves about cover letter writing, and there are certain things that may alienate you and ruin your chances of getting an interview—or even getting someone to look at your resume for that matter. 

As you could imagine, it’s probably a good idea to keep these peeves in mind when fleshing out your cover letter writing.

Here are 5 cover letter writing mistakes that drive recruiters crazy.

1.  Letters Longer than 1 Page

Not only does is this a waste of a recruiter’s time, but it also might come across as a show of arrogance or maybe even an attempt to overcompensate.  Who are you to think you are entitled to send in a 2 page letter when everyone else just sent in the one?  Keep it short and to the point.  Some employers might throw out your cover letter simply for the reason that you didn’t have the discipline and common sense to keep it shorter.

2.  Wordy Letters

By this, I mean letters jam-packed with words and little space.  This can be a chore to read and looks disorganized and sloppy.  It comes across as unprofessional and cluttered.  The easier you make a cover letter to read, the more of a chance they will pick up what you’re putting down.

3.  Cookie-Cutter Letters

It can also irritate the hell out of someone who is staring at cover letters all day to see the same basic templates coming across their desk.  In some cases, this is an obvious case of everyone downloading the same lame resumes from the Internet and editing them.  In other cases, it’s just a lack of originality.

4.  Letters Without a Resume

Some cover letter writing “experts” actually recommend sending the cover letter in all by itself.  The supposed logic is that it acts as only as a “Teaser.”  A teaser?  Give me a break; you’re not trying to get into someone’s pants at the bar—employers don’t have time for games.

This is all business, and if you think they are going to go out of their way to contact you to get the rest of what is typically expected, you can pretty much expect not to get a phone call.  Don’t be a tease—aim to please.

5.  “Cute” Letters

While original can be nice, trying to be funny or cute can alienate a lot of employers, especially the ultra conservative “old school” types you find in some industries.  So save the lovey dovey talk for your boyfriend or girlfriend.

Some people just don’t want “fresh” and funny cover letters, so unless you have some kind of inside scoop or they gave the go ahead for outrageous originality, use your accomplishments to stand out instead of throwing your funny bone out on the table.

There you have it—5 little screw-ups you want to avoid like broken condoms.  The aim of cover letter writing is to state your case and ask for an interview—not annoy the hell out of them and have them slamming the door before you even reach for the knob.

You have any stories about idiotic moves in cover letter writing you pulled in a move to impress?  Break em out and give us all a chance to laugh at you (I mean with you).  Leave your comments below.

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Sending a thank you note after interview is one of those things that a lot of college students assume is akin to asking a one-night stand for their phone number—a meaningless transfer of information that no one takes seriously.  You better check that assumption because this could be the one thing that sets you apart from the other guy or gal.

Check and make sure your thank you note after interview includes the 5 following points:

1.  Performance and Specific Results

Take this time to reiterate the strengths you communicated in the interview, especially focusing on specifics. In the interview you should have talked about how you delivered value to companies you worked for in the past, and ideally, you did this in a way that was quantifiable.

Now that you’ve gone home, believe it or not, the prospective employers didn’t shut down the office, call off the rest of the interviews, and call it a day at the office on account of coming across the best damn candidate ever.  Not at all.  They likely waded through more interviews, left the office wishing they never had to do it again, drank a few beers at the local pub, and went home to argue with their spouse.

Too make a short story long, they probably don’t remember a word you said.  That might be little cynical (you think), but it certainly doesn’t hurt to highlight your key selling points once again and remind them though sending a thank you note after interview.

2.  Energy and Enthusiasm

Let’s try not to write a letter that says in tone but not in words, “Hey, I’m bored off my ass but felt obligated to thank you blah blah blah.”  You want to seem enthusiastic and energetic about the letter and come across high energy.  Don’t scribble stars and flowers all over it either, but show some enthusiasm.

3.  Personality

What often stands out the most social situations like job interviews is not a person’s credentials and work history but their personality.  In the end, getting hired is about creating attraction.

I don’t mean the “let’s just get this over with in the broom closet” kind of attraction, but the natural attraction that a charismatic person creates in the people around them.  The best thing you can do in an interview is have a personality that stands out, and your thank you note after interview needs to be consistent with this same personality.

4.  Interest in the Position

As always, it’s best if the employer feels like you aren’t just applying because you needed a job.  As unfair as it is to you that you have to wade through all these different interviews and sell yourself to the different companies, your odds are best if you express real interest in each one.  This comes a lot easier if you only pick positions you are actually interested in…imagine that.

Communicate this yet again in the thank you note after interview.  Reconfirm your strong interest in not only the position but the company and industry as a whole.  Show that you are ready to commit, even if you’ve been running from that same promise in the dating arena all through college.

5.  Your Value to the Company

Okay, so you’ve gone over how you’ve been directly valuable for other companies in the past.  You’ve reconfirmed your interest in an energetic, enthusiastic manner reminiscent of the personality you expressed in the interview.  Now it’s time to get down to what really matters—what’s in it for them.

Express directly how you will use your strengths to benefit their company, preferably in a quantifiable manner.  Because at the end of the day, if you don’t look like dollars, you don’t make sense.

What you should have gotten from these 5 points is that the thank you note after interview is not just about saying thanks, although you absolutely need to express gratitude for the time and energy invested in being given the opportunity, but it is also about reminding them of all the best things about you that you wanted to express in the interview.

Any other ideas? Feel free to chip in. What has worked or not worked for you in a thank you note after interview?

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Are you sitting there staring at the computer screen, trying to figure out how to write a resume objective that gets the point across without sounding corny?  Like a corporate mission statement, your objective can immediately communicate to the employer (your customer) exactly what you are all about and what makes you different.  Not to mention that it comes at the very beginning of the document and immediately communicates to them what you are offering.

If you want to know how to write a resume objective that hits your point home, here are 3 components you need to include:

1. The Position You Want.

The first thing to do in mastering how to write a resume objective is by stating exactly what position you are interested in.  Never use vague statements like “I want a job in office admin” or “I’m looking to get a paycheck every month so here’s my resume.”

Stating the specific title you are pursuing not only clarifies to a gatekeeper where it should go but also eliminates confusion if more than one position is being filled.  Furthermore, it shows that you are informed and interested in a particular job rather than just casting a wide net and seeing what you can land.

2. Key Skills That Qualify

Again, the resume objective is right there in the beginning, so it’s time to quickly summarize the main selling points of the document in order to get them reading further. Knowing how to write a resume objective is to identify the 3 main skills that you bring to the job and encapsulate them in this statement.

Keep in mind that it’s not adequate to simply talk about what you are best at doing.  You don’t want to walk into a brokering firm ranting and raving about how you cook a mean cheeseburger and can down 3 Coors Lights at a time in your roommates beer bong.

Relevance is key, and sometimes establishing relevance takes a little help.  You might have skills that seem unrelated, but you can often “package” them in a way that shows employers how they apply to the position at hand. That is very important in knowing how to write a resume objective and writing a resume as a whole.

3. The Benefits or Value to an Employer

As always, you need to get into the mindset of recognizing that the employer is happy you have skills and everything, but what really matters to them is how that transfers into value for the company.  Sure, they can figure that out on their own, but it is very effective to simply spell it out for them and shows that you are on the same wavelength.  Tell them exactly how you are an asset to their company.

If you want to know how to write a resume objective, liken the process to developing a USP, or unique selling position, for a new company.  Because that is what you are really doing—selling yourself to them.  What do people want to know when they buy or invest in something?  What is its purpose, what can it do, and how does that translate into value for me? In managing and learning how to write a resume objective, you are actually adding points to your resume thus would actually give you a leverage in the position being applied for.

Do you have any examples or tips on how to write a resume objective that worked well for you in the past?  Any tips on what you think employers are looking for.  Leave a comment below.

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Okay, we know everyone adores you anyways, but even you Brad Pitts and Angelina Jolie’s can’t get everything you want on looks alone.  Sure, some of that physical attraction counts, but what counts even more is your subliminal body language.  Even if people don’t realize it, this is the thing that creates the vibes people love.

Here are 5 ways to get people hooked on you in one sitting.

1. Maintain Good Eye Contact

Eye Contact is huge.  Imagine talking to someone who never looked at you, not even once.  Rather, they scanned the room with their eyes: the walls, the floor, the ceiling—anything but you.  Would you feel like they were listening?  Even an unusually long look in the other direction would throw the whole conversation off.

Good eye contact establishes rapport.  The listener should be giving more eye contact than the person speaking, as if receiving the information not simply by listening but through sight as well, which is sort of what is going on with all the body language involved.

Be careful, though, being too intense can have the opposite effect.  Try to maintain good contact throughout about 70% of the conversation.  Gentleman, the ladies are a lot better about making eye contact when listening, so if you’re having issues watch the way they do it.  Many have it down to an art.

2. Posture: Not the Time to Practice Your Gangster Lean

A confident, able individual has good posture, and a slouch creates the impression that you are unorganized, unambitious, and undisciplined.  Good posture says a lot about someone, so this is something you should work on long before you walk into an interview.  Use posture exercises to learn how to master this skill.

Also, a good listener leans towards the speaker, as if trying to get closer.  This is a temporary submissive gesture to ease the exchange of ideas.  Don’t get so far up in their grill that they can diagnose your halitosis; just lean forward a bit as if making a conscious effort to hear their words.

When its your turn to speak, remain in a more neutral position.  Don’t lean back as if you own the place or you might seem unnecessarily arrogant.  Sit up straight and save the leaning for when you’re listening.

3. Nod Your Head

Keeping your chin up and head level is a good way to convey inner confidence.  When you are listening, tilt your head slightly and as long as you agree with what they are saying, give an occasional nod to show that you are following along.  If you do not agree with something, be careful about nodding to show you are listening, because it is generally regarded as a signal of consensus.

This is another area where women do better than men.  It really does pay to watch a woman’s body language at work, fellas—they are much better at expressing themselves physically than we are.  And they are fabulous listeners.

Watch a female social butterfly at work.  Great eye contact, the nodding head, and leaning in towards the speaker—they seem to have it down to an art but it simply comes natural to them.

4. Flash A Nice, Toothy Grin

An animated face is an important part of being appealing.  No one likes to talk with someone who seems to have a somber mood, never smiles, and conveys no personality with their expressions.  Don’t go with the orangutan look or the cheeseburger grin, but when you smile, smile with enthusiasm.  The last thing you want to do is fake your emotions, as it is impossible to force a smile with your eyes, but think of it as wearing your emotions on the outside.

Show off those pearly whites too; just make sure you pick that big green chunk of wheat grass out from between your two front teeth before the interview.  This is not a good way to show your boss you are getting your veggies.

5. Proximity

Standing closer to someone also creates rapport, but this is a dangerous one because getting too close too quick will make many people extremely uncomfortable.  It’s best to try closing the distance naturally a little at a time and judge their reaction.

This can be really tricky in intercultural communication.  Americans, for instance, tend to keep a lot more distance between each other when speaking while certain cultures in the middle east will often get right up in your face.

If they start stepping backwards, do not try to close the gap again—you may even want to step back a little yourself to show you’re not trying to overcompensate and that you know the boundaries have been crossed.  If they turn and start running towards the nearest exit—please don’t chase them.  They do not want to play.

This is just a brief run-down of some ways body languages convey messages to the people we meet. If you want to bring an edge to an interview like no other applicant can, saying more is not the key, at least not with your lips.  But a simple change in body language can create a lasting impression that doesn’t go away.

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This podcast will be giving you tips on how to write a resume that will not only double or even triple your chances of getting hired but will also persuade hiring managers to put you in their interview list. With these 5 amazing how to write a resume tips, you will learn to format your resume that would guarantee results and give you a very powerful tool in marketing yourself to potential employers. With these tips on how to write a resume, learn how to build a very attractive resume that hiring managers just cannot ignore. Once and for all, you actually get a job interview tips that work.

Go ahead and click the link below and learn the hidden secrets

Resume Tips That Work- 5 Hidden Secrets On How To Write A Resume That Employers Cant Ignore

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Having problems getting an interview or landing a job? Don’t fret. It is probably your resume giving you minus points from prospective employers and hiring managers. In today’s economy, you need to set yourself apart and stand out in a competition and get yourself resume tips that work. With these 6 resume tips and add on extras, you will definitely gain your first step in getting that job you want. Learn how to do this resume tips and help hiring managers hire an organized employee with good organizational skills who will make their lives easier –YOU!

Go ahead and click on the link below and discover the secrets.

Resume Tips That Work- 6 Secrets Thatll Make Employers Dial Your Digits

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Getting yourself to be called in for interview is no easy feat. You need to pass the elimination round and get yourself to be noticed amidst all other potential applicants. Well, since you have been included in the roster of interviewees, you might as well get the most out of it and make sure that you land the job right away! These 13 most common interview questions that you should be aware of will definitely make you walk in more confident and collected making you stand out in employers’ minds more than anyone else. How to get in your prospect employers’ perspective, how to create rapport, how to demonstrate motivation and drive and walk out a winner are just a few of what you get with these interview tips that work.

Check out the link below and get tips on how to answer the 13 most common interview questions

Interview Tips That Work- How To Answer The 13 Most Common Interview Questions

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Ever said something but actually meaning the other? Body language is one of the most important channels one can send their messages across comprising 70% of a conversation. Since subliminal body language count the most, you must be very careful with your gestures as to better express yourself positively and effectively during interviews. With these 5 subliminal tricks, learn how to create the vibes people and your interviewers in particular would love, establish rapport, send temporary submissive gestures, tips on body languages with different cultures, bring an edge to an interview and make employers adore you!

Go ahead and click the link below for the amazing tips!

Interview Tips That Work- 5 Subliminal Tricks That Make Employers Adore You

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how to answer the why should i hire you questions

Probably one of the most daunting and tricky question one will come across with and answering this question might make or break your career with a prospect company. These interview tips that work in how to answer the Why Should I Hire You Question will get you prepared for any interview that you walk into. Putting some effort and passion into answering this question with a must- know tips in this podcast and enough practice will totally make you be remembered even long after the interview.

Click the link below and you will find out how to answer properly.

Interview Tips That Work – Why Should I Hire You

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Since the arrival of the new economy, employers in the corporate world are changing together with the way they choose and hire people. There is a need to survive in the new corporate world where hiring of employees that deliver and firing the ones who don’t is a reality to a typical employee who has not started to cultivate the habits of a navy seal entrepreneur. At interviewmastermind.com, we offer you the tools and techniques employing the most revolutionary findings in the fields of neurolinguistic programming and motivational psychology to teach you leverage your brain into a power of subconscious social interaction and establish lifelong habits for success. With these interview tips that work, you will be able to recognize things that a typical employee may not be able to grasp, seek opportunities to innovate and expand, achieve personal growth while cultivating relationships and carve out a competitive edge within your industry. So make that industry shaking changes and welcome to a new way of thinking, a new way of working and a new way of life.

Check the link below and find out how to attract firms.

InterviewTipsThatWork-HowToAttractBetterFirmsByBecoming TheNavySealOfCorporateLife

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Having problems with your employers? Congratulations! You’ve finally landed the job you’ve been eyeing for and working so hard to get, and just when you are about to throw a party for being successful, you suddenly become aware of the big pressure being put into your happy life and the big expectations that awaits you. Don’t panic. These simple steps using social media can get you out as fast as it got you in the corporate world. Learn great ways to be prematurely fired and get creative while you’re at it. If you want to get rid of any inconvenience and get your freedom and instant national fame, you might want to check these interview tips that work!

Go ahead, click the link below.

Interview Tips That Work- How to Get Fired and Alienate Employers with Social Media

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Unknown to many, seating positions also have a psychological influence on social dynamics. Whether contributed by your body language and the vibes that you actually send out to hiring managers and interviewers, there’s actually a lot going on in seating arrangements that can influence how hiring managers perceived of you. These 6 awesome ways to make the most out of seating options can not only make you feel confident and not cower even in a panel interview but will also help you take control and exert effort in making your interviewers at ease. So listen to this interview techniques and deal with interview situations the most easy and effective ways!

Click the link below and get that interview tips that work.

InterviewTipsThatWork-WhatYourInterviewersSeatingArrangementIsTellingYou

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Just a few weeks ago, you thought you’d be moving out of your apartment, setting up a tent behind the liquor store, and teaching yourself the art of crumpled newspaper origami so you could trade paper hats for change; Now, you’re suddenly facing a whole new and wonderful dilemma—turning away jobs by writing a decline job letter!  While that is a huge step in the life of a struggling college graduate, a little tact is important.

Here are 5 tips for turning down a job offer with a decline job letter.

1.  Send the Decline Job Letter Promptly

The first thing you need to realize is the decline job letter should go out immediately—as prompt as possible.  This isn’t some guy or girl you met at the bar last Friday that you want to toy with a little bit before cutting loose just to satisfy your ego—respect their time and money by letting them know as soon as you make a decision.

2.  Express Thanks for the Offer

While the point of the decline job letter is to say no, remember your manners.  Keep in mind that these people wanted to give your sorry as a career.  Not only did they want to hang out with you every 5 days a week, they were going to pay you for it.  Would your friends ever do that?  I don’t think so.

You should be thankful for this, and it isn’t something we should take lightly.  A lot of people would die to have the interview skills to have multiple job offers in this economy.  Be sincere in your thanks.

3.  Don’t Mention Salary

This is not the time to talk numbers.  If you had a problem with salary or had a better offer, that should have been dealt with during negotiations, not when you decline the job with a decline job letter.  Throwing it out there at this point is a bit like taking a cheap shot in the bar at some guy while his head is turned.  Just say you thought the other company was a better fit.

4.  Keep Your Personal Reasons Private

There is no need to divulge that you just couldn’t stomach the bosses hairy palms or that your baby’s momma couldn’t let you borrow her car every day to drive that far.  As always with business, personal is personal and business is business.  Keep it professional, even if that means a white lie.

5.  Keep Communication Channels Open for Future Opportunities

Make sure you leave them in your decline job letter with contact information and permission to get in touch with you, just in case.  Because what all the other tips really come down to is just like the title says, keeping the bridge from burning.  You never know what the future holds, and this company might someday be your saving grace or a next step forward.

Any insights to contribute about how writing a decline job letter?  Maybe you see a way to relate the smooth breakup you used on your ex to letting go of a job opportunity.  Hey, we don’t discriminate on your creative sources.

Hop in and join the conversation on how YOU would write a decline job letter.

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If you want to know how to write a good resume, remember that employers don’t just want to hire a good employee—they want to hire the best employee.  Even a hiring manager, who is really just an employee themselves, wants to find a 1 in a million rookie and look like a star to their boss.  So what you are doing in the interviewing process is trying to paint a picture of complete competence and high potential—you want to be the A-player that bosses wish they could find a dozen more of but have given up on doing.

When trying to gauge how to write a good resume, here are 3 things to keep in mind so that you can position yourself as the A-player.

1.  Appear Business Savvy

An A-player is not just another employee who shows up, puts in their hours, and collects a monthly salary.  Employees like that are a dime a dozen and nothing special.

Employers are impressed by a candidate who shows potential for a bright future in the company—not someone who is just going to deliver coffee for the rest of their career but someone who has a fighting chance and even likelihood to aim for positions in higher management.

2.  Indicate an Understand of the Bottom Line

You need to show that you realize the position is more than just a job.  It is an asset to the company, they expect that to translate into profits, and nothing is more refreshing than an employee how understands this.  Speak their language.  Use it in a way that demonstrates you are on the same page.

3.  Reveal a Track Record for Providing Value

Just that understanding of the bottom line really is huge, but what can even bring you better results is demonstrating a track record for producing results in other companies or achieving things in your life that would equal direct results in a corporate environment.  In other words, if you can show how your understanding of the bottom line produced results in the past, you can really set yourself aside as an A-player and get a hiring manager salivating.

One of the best ways to do this is try to communicate monetary or quantitative values that can be attached to your accomplishments (I talk about how to do this in my book).  When a manager is thinking in terms of investment and money, it is hard for them to not be impressed by numbers.

Becoming an A-player is within reach if you just know how to market yourself, and you should start cultivating the habit of how to write a good resume that do add up to the A-player mentality because they can really bring success in your career and life.  Not to mention it is much easier to sell an identity you truly identify with.

Do you have any tips on how to write a good resume that portrays yourself as the super employee?  Please contribute and drop some comments below.

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We tend to think all interviews are the same.  You are sitting in a tiny chair, your sweaty hands in your lap, looking up at 3 brooding employers that seem to be taking far too much satisfaction in your suffering.  But the truth is there are plenty of different kinds of interviews, and they all share their own unique challenges.

Here is a brief job interview guide to what could be in store for you in the process that lies ahead:

1. Telephone Screening Interviews:

When an employer asks you to accept a phone interview, what they are really doing is screening you before inviting you into the office and wasting time and money for the real deal.  Your goal in a telephone interview is always to get a face-to-face interview.  Check out my article on phone job interviews to get a sense of how you can do that.

2. One-on-One Interviews:

Some employers will put you through a series of one-one-ones with various people in the company.  Treat every interview as the FIRST interview.  A lot of people make the mistake of thinking because they made it to the second they have already gained some ground, but each of those interviewers is someone completely new with all the power to stop your advance right where they sit.

3. Behavioral and Situational Interviews:

These are interviews when you will be asked to give stories of specific situations in which you used certain skills or faced challenges.  Be well prepared with SMART stories.  You do not want to take these off the top of your head, and in fact, you should prepare stories for any of these situations in this job interview guide.

4. Stress and Brain Teaser Interviews:

It’s important to keep in mind that you aren’t always expected to have the best answer or completely solve the problem put before you here, although that can help.  The important thing is to see how you react under stress and how your problem solving skills are.  So don’t freak out and start choking out another interview because you’re frustrated.

Any job interview guide would tell you to stay calm and collected.  You can ease your own stress and clarify your own thoughts by sharing the thought processes you’d like to go through to solve the problem.  Another nice thing about that trick is that if you don’t get it right, at least the employer still gets an idea of how you solve problems.

5. Top-Grading Interviews:

This is a series of detailed interviews that analyze your specific competencies and then the results from the different sessions are looked at and compared together.  In many cases, the results will follow you into the job and become the foundation for an effort to lead you to top performance.  If you’re caught off guard by the specificity of the interviewer, you will typically do much better.

6. Speed Interviews:

Quick and dirty—just how you like it.  One good thing that can be said about speed interviews is that they are quick and to the point.  No wasting words or time.  Just relax and have fun with it.

7. Panel Group and Peer Interviews:

In this situation, address every person in the interview when you are speaking.  Aside from this job interview guide, think back on your speech class and the tricks you were taught to engage the audience.  Alternate scanning eye contact with meeting the gazes and nods of listeners and engage with other interviewees.

8. Simulation Interviews:

These interviews can be fun as they are more active, and they are designed to allow you to show how well you would do the job.  It certainly helps if you have some experience in that position, but realize employers don’t expect you to get it perfect.

9. Video Conference and Web Cam Interviews:

While it may be tempting to cut some corners because you like the idea of doing an interview in your socks and boxer shorts, physical appearance is as crucial as ever, if not more, in this type of interview.  Less of your body language will be transferred, therefore, what you look like carries more weight.

10. Lunch or Dinner Interviews:

Don’t get too excited when you get invited to a meal for an interview.  Chances are the employer is picking up the tab, but that doesn’t mean you should make up for all those top ramen nights by ordering the lobster bisque and boxing up leftovers.

This isn’t about nourishment.  Order light, pay attention to your table manners, and focus solely on the interview at hand rather than the meal.

While this job interview guide paints a picture of just how varied the interview setting can be, many of the principles we draw from psychology and the art of attraction apply in all of them.  It just takes a little tweaking here and there.

Have you faced any other strange job interview guide settings that haven’t been mentioned?  Something to do with a strange doctor groping you and asking you to cough?  Okay, maybe keep that one to yourself, but anything else we’d love to hear about it.

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Today I want to talk about a couple little-known secrets about creating a resume and how they can be leveraged in your job hunt.  You see, most candidates think of a resume as an end in itself, but the truth is that it is one small piece of a bigger process and must be in line with purpose that it serves.

Here are 3 ideas I want you to chew on when laying out the outline and getting around to creating a resume.

1.  A Resume is A Part of a Process

It’s tempting to think that creating a resume is a goal in itself and that the right resume will lend you a job, but that is wishful thinking.  I remember having this mindset when I was first getting started with my job hunt.

I’d turn in my resume, which looking back was not half bad, and then I’d show up at the interview and sit down with this mentality like I was there to discuss the resume rather than myself.  Any additional information I could put out there as a response to questions “about the resume” just made me feel like I was clever, but I was missing the point.

We were there to talk about ME, not the paper.  Creating a resume has about as much of a chance of getting your hired as getting someone’s phone number has to get you laid.  It’s a foot in the door—nothing more.

2. Employers and Candidates Usually View Resumes with Different Purposes

To go even further, you are looking at the resume as a qualifier, but the hiring manager sees it as a disqualifier.  In other words, they use resumes to screen you and filter out candidates that are a definite no-go; it is not a chance to introduce yourself and get an unbiased audience.  They will purpose hunt down reasons to get rid of you, and that means that the slightest mistake can carry your document to the trash can.

3.  A Resume Does Not Always Speak For Itself

Some employees are relieved to just turn in a resume and leave the ball in the employer’s court so they can wait to see what happens.  They cruise around, dropping off a small stack of them, and then sit back and wait, figuring it is a numbers game.

But getting hired takes a little more interaction than that and creating a resume is always more effective if you have a voice or face-to-face contact with the person doing the hiring.  Managers don’t want to hire a piece of paper—they want to hire a dynamic person.  Set the stage for the resume before delivering it, and it will be much more likely to be welcomed with open arms.

Modern-day college students have a lot of misconceptions when it comes to creating a resume, and these can make or break your efforts to get the best jobs. In essence, a resume can quickly become a liability instead of an asset.  Do you have any insights on the resume process that you think might not be common knowledge?  Share them in a comment.

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Interviewing is such a social game, really.  The whole idea is to go in there and impress the hell out of someone, and that’s really the key.  You aren’t there to meet someone new.  You aren’t there to say, “Hey, can I have a job?”  You’re there to be the cool guy in the room and impress them long enough to hire you, and then hopefully you’ll live up to that impression and have a solid career for the long-run.

Here are 5 job interview tips to get you started on being that person and impressing your prospective employers.

1. Demonstrate Value

What it all really comes down to in any job interview tips is demonstrating and communicating value.  The thing that most clueless job hunters don’t realize is that this has more to do with your persona than with your credentials.

A demonstration of value is a state.  You don’t want to go in there like you desperately need a job or will take whatever you can get; you want to present yourself as if you are in your element, as if you could start the job that day and easily adapt.

The trick is to be confident, calm and centered.  Relaxed, but with a professional and sophisticated air.

2. Begin With the End in Mind

This famous piece of advice, originally presented by Stephen Covey, author of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” is just as applicable to job interview tips as anything else in life.  What do you want to communicate most in your interview?  What are your key messages, and what do you want the employer to be crystal clear about?

If you just go in there thinking you’ll just wing it and take anything they throw at you, you might pull it off if you’re a quick thinker, but you’re still going to be all over the place.  Determining your main communication goals beforehand gives you an overlying theme for your interview that will form as a foundation for any answers you give, even for completely off-the wall questions.

3. Get Clued-in

There is nothing more impressive in a job interview setting than a candidate who walks in the door knowing the company’s top issues, who key planners are, and what is going on in the industry.  This gives the interviewer a sense you are ready to get going right out of the gate.  Do extensive research beforehand, and be ready to talk like a professional.

4. Popping Out the Props

Employers love the candidate who walks in with props.  That doesn’t mean you should come in wearing a purple wig and making out with a mannequin, but come in like the super-employee with all the props that go with that role.

Bring the file you’ve collected about the company.  A notepad with questions you have brainstormed beforehand.  A couple extra copies of your resume and a portfolio.

Your portfolio can contain work samples, a writing example, a spreadsheet analysis, photographs of you in action, a specifically impressive letter of recommendation, and an “atta boy” letter from a satisfied boss or client.

Stick this all in a nice looking bag or briefcase and you have just become candidate of the year.

5. Image is Everything

Making the right choices for what gear to wear to a job interview is a finer balance than you might think.  Sure, you want to dress nice, but never dress nicer, or above, the interviewer.

That said, your clothes and appearance should be immaculate.  Take your outfit to the cleaners so your suit is crisp and spotless.  Shoes should be polished with no tatty heels. Get a fresh haircut and make sure to have a nice shave.

If you even choose to wear perfume or cologne, keep it subtle— this job interview tips is not for you to seduce someone here.  Subtlety is best for jewelry and makeup as well.

These basic job interview tips will get you started on the right foot and hopefully into a job.

Do you have any other job interview tips to share with your fellow readers?  In this economy, people can use all the help they can get.

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There are still some little lost souls out there that seem to think making a resume is unnecessary.  Good luck with that one.  This is not a step of the job-searching process you can decide to sit out.

Here are 5 reasons making a resume a top priority is the only choice.

1. Protocol

Wake up for a second and take a glimpse at reality.  Making a resume has and always will be a part of the job hiring process.  Convention demands you follow suit.  If you are in job search mode, you are expected to hand in a resume.  It’s as simple as that.

2. Positioning

Your resume does not only display the fact that you have it together enough to realize it is an expected document, but if written correctly it also serves the purpose of giving you a chance to present yourself in the most professional manner possible.  This first glimpse into your world offers a chance to stand out in a way a mere application could never do.  After reading your resume, employers should have the impression that you are an A list player who knows how to deliver results and make an economic impact on the company.

3.  Process

Aside from the fact that it is expected of you, preparing your resume is a process that sharpens your abilities while at the same time giving you the confidence of seeing your accomplishments and traits laid out on paper.  It reframes your life history not just for the people you wrote it for but for you, and once you’ve done that, you have built a mental framework from which to verbalize your experiences come interview time.

4. Permanent Reminder

While your resume might not be exactly carved in stone, it is a tangible representation of you that typically stays in the office—something they can go back to again and again, unlike a phone conversation or interview.  While much of the hiring process really comes down to the basic dynamics of human attraction, hiring managers will go back to the resume to justify their reasons for hiring you to both to themselves and those in the company you haven’t yet encountered.

5. Profit

When you learn about making a resume the right way, you will find that a dynamite business resume documents your bottom line profit orientation.  In other words, skillful resume writing teaches you to not just talk about strengths and experience but to talk about what the company cares about most—and that is your potential for being a profitable investment.

A good resume is an outline of how you have done this in the past and how you intend to do it for the company.  Your ability to make them a healthier or more profitable institution, in turn gives you greater job security and ammunition for commanding a higher salary—applications don’t present that opportunity.

These are basic ideas about what not turning in making a resume can do as far as limit you in your search, but what it all comes down to is that if you really think a resume is not necessary for getting a job, think long and hard about the kind of jobs that take applications and nothing more.  Do you really see yourself in a lifelong career with a company of that caliber?

Do you have any stories where not making a resume screwed up your chances of getting hired?  Or maybe you have a story to share where your resume really impressed and ultimately led to a job.  Chip in and share.

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Sometimes one of the most satisfying feelings in the world is getting that first phone job interview. Imagine when your phone rings and it’s someone ready to give you that first chance. Often, this first chance would set the tone for the rest of the relationship. If you get this just right, you’ll land a possible great career opportunity – and it would’ve been all thanks to your phone job interview.  Don’t get me wrong, you still need to get past the face-to-face interview, but it sure is better than nothing, and for the companies that do this it is a first crucial step.

While it may feel like less pressure because it is over the phone, there are a few ways you can screw this critical appointment up, so keep in mind these 5 hidden dangers in phone job interview.

1.  Realize it May Last 15-45 Minutes
This means if you accept phone job interview, you better have the time.  The last thing you to do is rush answers or get off the phone early because you didn’t have time to finish.

Allocate up to an hour just in case.  There’s a chance they might call you out of the blue while you’re sitting on the toilet and ask if you’re available right then and there.  It’s always better if you are able to grab the opportunity, but if you’ve only got 20 minutes, it might be just better to reschedule.

2.  You’re Being Screened for the Real Deal

What a lot of hung-over college kids don’t stop to consider is that phone job interview is really just a way to screen out the candidates they don’t want to come into the office.  Keeping that in mind, realize the aim is to find out if you fit the basic criteria for the job.

This is where your research comes in, and it’s best to have a board set up in your home or a notebook you can carry with you that lists specific information about the jobs you’re currently pursuing, what they are looking for, and how you can communicate that.  Go over this stuff before your interview and make sure you pass the screening.

3.  Consistent Answers

Another thing the phone job interview serves as is a bull-shit test.  It’s pretty easy for them to have your resume and application on hand while they’re talking to you, and they will be sure to check if the answers are consistent.  It’s best to not be a bull-shitter at all, but keep a copy of the particular resume you gave that employer on hand just in case.

4.  Enthusiasm and Interest

Your employer will also be paying attention to your level of enthusiasm about the job.  Get excited about it.  Get pumped.  It doesn’t mean you should start spazzing out and asking them to fax you an autograph, but come across as exited and determined, as if you feel the job is the right fit for you and you are the right fit for the job.  Once you have some solid interviewing skills under your belt, you shouldn’t be pursuing any jobs that aren’t your idea of a dream job, so it shouldn’t’ be a problem to be enthusiastic.

5.  Relevant Questions

As some relevant questions about the position at the end of the call.  This once again displays your enthusiasm.  It also shows that you understand the position and know what you are getting yourself into.

These tips will help you navigate phone job interview, but the overlying concept and something to keep in mind is that these are really not much more than a screening process.

The number one goal you should have in mind when in this situations is getting that face-to-face interview.  Because that’s where true attraction and personal bonding happens.

This is why doing well on a phone job interview is sooo very important.

Do you have any other tips to add?  Any awkward moments? Please share your phone job interview experiences in the comments below!

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How to write a job resume is your first effort to get your foot in the door, and if you don’t make a strong impression, you might not get in there at all, at least not with this company.  Or until the next time they hire.  So unless you want to wait around for the “better man” to get shit-canned, you need to get it right the first time.  And one of the best ways to do that is stand out.

Here are 4 proven tips about how to write a job resume and stand out in the modern day job-hunting climate.

1.  Include a Portfolio with Your Resume

This underrated trick might even come across as common sense, but it amazes me how many people fail to use it.  The thing is that most job-hunters feel they do not have enough working experience or that a portfolio doesn’t apply to the industry, but this is an area where creativity can go a long way.

What better way to give an employer an idea of what you are capable of than simply showing them.  If your job is based around a special skill, consider preparing either a collection of past works or something specific for showcasing your skills and turn it in with the resume.

Not only do you stand out because you’ve done something no one else is doing, but now they have one candidate they know can produce results on one hand, and a handful of mystery candidates who they still have to analyze to even get an idea of what to expect.

2.  E-resume

If you are trying to figure out how to write a job resume in a way that it really gets out to the most employers possible, you should set up a resume on the web.  LinkedIn.com is one fantastic place to make your presence and availability known, and the social networking platform allows you to build relationships and network.

More and more employers are looking for qualified candidates on LinkedIn, and simply having a presence there can help you stumble across opportunities or make opportunities stumble across you, while you are sleeping.

3.  Audio Resume

Stand out while at the same time making the interviewer’s job easier by making an audio version of your resume.  This can inject a lot of personality into the brief presentation and is still a novel enough approach that it will not be forgotten.  You can upload the audio with your online resume or burn it to a cd and hand it in with the hard copy version.

4.  Video Resume

Video has taken the Internet and the world by storm, and everyone is an amateur filmmaker these days.  Now, savvy interviewees are capitalizing on this platform by making video resumes, and there is no better way to let your personality shine through other than lurking over their shoulder as the read your resume, which might not go over well.  Embrace technology and make your voice heard.

These 4 simple tricks offer some fresh ideas on how to write a job resume that is current and clued in.

Do you have any more ideas on how to write a job resume?  Let’s hear them.

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Writing a good cover letter is SUPER important because it is a possible future boss’ first impression of you…ever…and if the impression isn’t a good one, you’re not likely to get your foot in the door.  So it’s important to get it right.  No scratching out a half-ass description of your social life on a piece of lined paper; writing a good cover letter is yet another part of the interview process you need to take extremely serious.

Here are 5 things for writing a good cover letter that an employer craves.  Get it right, or go home jobless:

1.  Their Name

You always want to do some research to find out who the letter is going to.  I don’t care if you need to make some prank phone calls, dig through the office trash, or kidnap their intern—you have to at least pretend you know who you’re dealing with.  This shows you are resourceful and are not just applying to any opening you can find.

2.  Proper Formatting and Grammar

The second thing they’ll be looking for is that you know more than basic 9^th grade English.  I know—the nerve of employers these days, right?  It doesn’t matter what kind of job you’re applying for, your ability to compose a professional document simply shows that you are able to present yourself in a professional manner.

3.  A “What’s In It For You”

Put a “what’s in it for you” statement as the opening of your cover letter.  This is crucial for a couple different reasons.  For one thing, Generation Y is already notorious for being the me-me generation, so this shows the employer that you are focused on what you can deliver them.

Also, it gives you a chance to stand out right off the bat.  Employers naturally care about, well, what is in it for them.  That’s what they are reading the cover letter for—so put it right there where it is easiest to find it.  “I will be the best investment your company has ever made because…” and give proof.

4.  Bulleted Benefits

One of the tricks to writing a good cover letter is to break down the top benefits of the “you” package into bullet points with short descriptions.  This is a great organization tactic because it gives the visual appearance that you have a lot of value to offer, it clearly states and hopefully quantifies that value, and it makes it simple for the employer to quickly scan the cover letter and get the info you want to communicate most.  That way they can get back to watching porn on their computer.

5.  Clear Statement of Contact

Don’t make them hunt, squint, and scrutinize about how to get in touch with you.  State specifically a time and day when you will get in touch with them and do it at that exact moment.  This is a solid display of professionalism and shows assertiveness.  Also, include your contact info clearly so they can get in touch with you first if needed.

There’s a lot more to writing a good cover letter, and some college grads don’t even know the point.  Trust me, there is a point, and this is not something you want to decide doesn’t matter so you can smoke a bowl and go shoot some hoops with your buddies.

Writing a good cover letter is a necessity, and these 5 simple points will give the employers what they want and need.  Have any others to share?  I’d love to hear them.

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***Question From Reader***

Hey landon,
I read your book and it was a very good read, couldnt put it down. One question, what would a person wear for an interview for a trades job? I am applying for a job that Midwest Energy Coop posted for an Apprentice Lineman. I am not a person who likes to dress up much but I will if it means a job.

Thank You for trying to help those who are trying to help themselves.
Dan J.

(Name changed to initials for privacy)

>>>My Comments:

Hey Dan,

I’m glad you enjoyed my book! Thanks for the kind words, it means a lot

To get to your question, here’s what I recommend for your situation: Always dress 1 level above what everyone else wears in the company. In almost all instances I’d suggest wearing a suit & tie. You can never really be too “over dressed” for a job interview unless you’re wearing a tux. Even if you’re applying for a trades job, you need every little advantage to set you apart from your competition. If you’re afraid of looking stupid by being too “over dressed” for your industry – don’t be, because employers KNOW that its hard out there for job seekers and they’ll look favorably on you for putting the extra bit of effort that other tradesmen neglect.

(Take my word on this, I used to work in the construction industry for 3 years and I can tell you it doesn’t make a difference what industry you’re in… Employers appreciate professionalism and effort. Period.)

Keep in mind also that its not just about how you’re dressed but how you’ve demonstrated your value during the interview. And remember to “naked proof” your accomplishments. Dressing nice is only the icing on the cake. If you really want to STAND OUT, “translate your contribution” just like how you learned in my book.

Hope that helps! Let me know how your interview goes

~Landon

Did you like these job interview tips?  Because your future employer will.  There’s plenty more where this came from. Just enter your name and primary email address over on the right and sign up for my FREE “Interview Tips That Work” e-newsletter! Your satisfaction is guaranteed. If you ever decide my e-newsletter is not for you, you can unsubscribe at any time.

Tags: job interview tips

Tags: job interview tips
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What is YOUR job hunting story?

To celebrate my reaching 4,500 followers on Twitter, I’ve decided to have a contest for everyone in our little job seeker community :^)

Here’s what I’m going to do:

I’m going to GIVE AWAY a free copy of my Unspoken Rules of Getting Hired eBook package (worth about $170) – to the person who posts the MOST interesting story about his or her job hunting struggles… in the comments below.

As “Brain Food” I’ll list some questions you might want to answer in your “entry” below…

• How did you get to this point, tell me your story?
• What’s your biggest challenge or frustration right now? (ie resume, cover letter, going on job boards, interviewing, etc.)
• What have you tried so far, but it didn’t work?
• What have you tried so far, and it did work?
• Why should you be chosen?

Now, this fun little contest is going to draw quite a few entries. No question. In order to keep things INTERESTING, I’m going to set a few quick rules…

>Rules:

1) You must write something INTERESTING. No one-liners that say “the economy sucks” or “there are no jobs out there.” I’m not even going to APPROVE comment entries that aren’t thoughtful, interesting, and REAL.

[***Bonus Points: Upload a video to YouTube of 5 minutes or less where you describe how you’ve struggled in your job search and give specific examples. Be sure to tag your video with “imm contest” in quotation marks. Click here to see what it should look like when you are uploading your video. Then leave a comment on this post with a link to your video and a brief description of what hasn't been working for you (no need for more than 1-2 short paragraphs)***]

2) Do all of this no later than 10pm EST next Saturday, February 27th (in other words, start writing NOW).

3) I and a few secret judges will select our top favorites, and then you all will vote for the winner. I’ll also Tweet the name of the winner on Twitter, of course!

So get to it, and post a comment below telling your story about how you’ve struggled on your job search. You just might win $170 bucks worth of my best interview training!

[Follow me free on Twitter here: Twitter.com/Landon_Long]

Tags: job hunting tips

Tags: job hunting tips
Posted in Job Hunting Tips | 2 Comments »

Your carefully crafted cover letters and resumes are considered worthless if you do not have a clue where to submit them.  In the midst of this recession, you might get yourself lost and lose your path to success and these documents you spent so much time perfecting will do nothing but look pretty in the documents file of your computer.  However, behind the curtains of the economic depression, there lies wide and broad range of job openings that you can imagine are found conveniently online.  So, if you really are tough enough to pursue your dream job, here is a list of top 50 job sites and their descriptions.

Entry Level Job Sites:

• After College – this is specifically created for college students and recent graduate students.  This is both a job and internship site that allows job seekers to post their resume.  This site has a search engine, providing job seekers easy access to numerous job openings across different states.  For more convenience, job seekers can filter their job search by job type, area, industry, and type of career.  The site also offers information and career advice.
• CollegeGrad – currently, the number 1 entry-level job site as it provides job search service for college students and recently graduated students.  It is probably the only entry-level job site that list down the Best in Class Employers, Top Intern Employers and Top Masters Employers.  The site also offers job search advice and virtual career fair.  Furthermore, it allows resume posting, and internships searching.
• College Recruiter – a job site designed for providing entry-level job and career opportunities for college students, recent graduate students and graduates.  It also displays part time and full time job listing.
• Raytheon – offers job listings and descriptions for the current job opportunities.  It has jobs section that gives every job seeker the chance to look for the perfect job according to their field of interest, location and job type choice.  It has profile matching and internships and co-ops features to help college students and recent college students have hands-on experience.  The site also offers recruiting events specifically for North America.
• The Job Box – This job site is open to high school and college job seekers.  It brings job opportunities from seasonal and part time job to entry-level job and internships.  Job seekers can search using keywords, job category and location.  The site includes career news and resources.

International Job Sites:

• BilingualCareer.com – site dedicated to bilingual or multi-lingual job seekers.  For the sake of communication, the job seekers are required to be at least knowledgeable in the English language.  The site also allows job seekers to search by location, industry and keywords.  In addition, job seekers can search by language.  This job site also provides advice on job interviews and resume creation.  Job seekers can post their resume here.
• Indeed.com – it is a meta-search job site that aims to pull thousands of job postings from different places around the world.  It compiles together job postings from major job boards, top newspapers, professional associations and career centers.  Job seekers can browse by title, company, location and keywords.
• jobalot.com – this is one of the mega-meta job sites that use simple job search interface.  From hundreds of job sites and thousands of job listings, job seekers can simplify their job search by searching using keywords and location, and browsing by category.  In this site, job seekers can learn about job hunting process.  The site is also dedicated to providing information about continuing education opportunities.
• Jobs.NET – a job site that accommodates job seekers across the globe, allowing them to browse through thousand of jobs, post confidential online resumes and receive tips and advice about job hunting.  Job seekers can search by criteria, such as keywords, location, recent job postings, salary, job position, industry, company size and so on.
• LatPro – this site is dedicated to provide assistance to Hispanic and bilingual professionals.  It is a leader in online employment all over the world, giving job seekers the opportunity to scan through job listings from employers that are pre-screened.  It also allows job seekers to post multiple resume, create email job agent and access career resources.
• Monster.com – considered one of the oldest career sites online.  It has thousands of job listing across the globe.  The site includes career advice, relocation services and  an auction-style marketplace, perfect for independent professionals.
• Prohire.com – it includes more than 150,000 job postings from all over the world.  It is one of the free job sites with the largest database.  Job seekers can submit and post their online resumes and check out job competition and openings within their location.
• TwitterJobSearch.com – this is Twitter’s job search engine for job seekers twitter users.  Job seekers can search jobs using keywords.  The results are then displayed using tweets.
• Yahoo! HotJobs – considered one of the best resource job sites online.  It offers job search resources for job seeking professionals, free of charge.  Online users can create their own personalized career management page that provides the necessary tools for fast, convenient and safe job search.

General/Diverse Job Sites:

• Best Jobs in the USA Today – this is a job site with comprehensive resource.  It is integrated with job databases, corporate profiles, post resume feature and career resources center.
• CareerBuilder – probably it has the largest diversity of job listings.  It posts help wanted ads from the leading newspapers today at the same time provides job listings and openings from leading employers.  As its name implies, the site helps to build a job seeker’s career by providing resources such as job tips and advice.
• Careerjournal.com – allows job seekers to broaden their job search.  It has great resources of articles that guide job seekers on their job hunt.  The site is created by The Wall Street Journal.
• CareerPark.com – Posting a resume on this site is relatively easy.  Also, it brings convenience to job seekers searching for job using the Internet.  In this site, job seekers can find other helpful career and job sites online, increasing and widening their options.
• DiversityWorking.com – This site is perfect for ethnic and sexual orientation groups.  As a diversity job site, job seekers are allowed to search for jobs by posting recency.  In addition, seekers can search by location, job type, industry and keywords.  Furthermore, job seekers are given an option to either sign up or not in the site’s free newsletter.  Also, job hunters can post their resume here.
• FreshJobs.com – a site endeavors to provide the freshest job listing online.  Its database consists only of job postings not older than 7 days.  The job search can be filtered by skills, benefits, location, company and type of job.  For job matching service, job seekers are required to sign up.  Post a resume here and get a confidential mailbox.
• GOJobs.com – considered as a general job board, this site provides help to job seekers searching for job openings.  The job listing can be browsed by state, keyword and job function.  Also, it is a site dedicated to bring information to job seekers.
• Jobfox – utilizes Mutual Suitability System to match job seekers to job opportunities.  This job matching sites has an in-depth profile system to be able to learn the job seeker’s experience, wants and needs.  The job opportunities are rated based on how the job seeker matches the job description.  Also, the employers are matched the same way.  This job site has membership fees.
• JobSimply – a job site providing wide range of job opportunities from part time jobs and summer jobs to professional and executive jobs.  Job seekers can look into retail jobs, hospital jobs, restaurant jobs, teen jobs and cruise ship jobs.  They can search through industries, locations and keywords.  The site also includes resources about career tips and advice.
• Jobzerk – a job site that is socially driven, allowing its members to interact and communicate to each other.  As a community based job site, job seekers can publish and share useful information about their job search and/or hiring process.
• Juju – this is one of the best job sites for finding interesting career resources.  In this site, job seekers can look into 15 different job sites such as CareerCity, CareerMosaic, JobOptions, NationJob and so on.  Searches can be quickened using keywords.
• NationJob Network – a job search service integrated with thousands of latest job listings.  It features company profiles and it is incorporated with email job matching service, based on your qualifications and preferences.
• Net-Temps – one of the top job sites where job seekers can scan thousands of job postings and post their resume.  The job postings include contract, temporary and even permanent jobs.  The site is designed with tools and resources, including career enhancement articles.
• Realmatch.com – a job-matching site that requires job seekers to submit their qualifications and preferences and matches the information provided to the employer’s requirements.  Job seekers can use the job listings to search for job by keyword and location.
• Vault.com – this site has more than 150,000 job postings from up to 27,000 employers.  Due to its popularity, the site branched out into recruitment.  It has insider reports on different companies and it allows job seekers to search through multiple criteria, including job categories, keywords, experience, location and date posted.  The site also has email job matching service.

Local/National/Specific Job Sites:

• Careercast – One of the coolest job portals that feature niche and local jobs from all over the United States and Canada.  It gives job seekers the freedom to choose where they want to live and work.  To search for a job, job seekers can filter the job listing by title, category, and company.  There is also an advanced option to better target the right job openings for the job seekers.  Also, the portal gives job seekers the opportunity to post their resume.
• CareerSurf.com – It accommodates US and Canadian job seekers from different industries and niche.  Job seekers can search for different types of jobs using job category, location and keywords.  It also accepts resume from job seekers and posts them.
• EmploymentGuide.com – This is a good option for searching jobs locally on the United States. Currently, the site developed around 56 metropolitan areas job listings.  As a career site, job seekers can post resume and find helpful career advice on this site.  And with the integration of localized job areas listings, job seekers can now look for job position in a prospective geographic area.
• FindARecruiter.com – This is ideal for job seekers looking for recruiting or hiring professionals such as headhunters, executive search and staffing firms.  The job seekers can browse into the site’s database with more than 10,000 recruiters.  For searching option, job seekers can use the company’s name, location and specialty.
• GetTheJob.com – It is a job portal specifically designed for direct employer jobs only.  It collects different job posts from different corporate career centers of different companies.  When approximated, this site probably has at least 2 million of job openings information.  For email alerts, job seekers are required to register.
• JobCircle.com – It is considered the largest non-newspaper affiliated job board in Mid-Atlantic, operating in 10 states.  The site provides information, discussion and careers.  Job seekers can browse and search for the job they wanted and they can also post their resume.
• Jobcentral – formed by the alliance of two non-profit associations, this site has an extensive network across US.  It provides employment and career opportunities to job seekers in different industries and job category, from entry-level to chief executive job position.  Job seekers can search by company.
• Job Search Shortcuts – providing links to thousands of job listing web pages, job seekers can browse and search jobs in up to 30 metropolitan areas nationwide.  For faster search, job seekers are allowed to search by category and by city.  This site connects job seekers to their prospective employers.
• LocalHelpWanted.net – it is incorporated with numerous features and benefits for job seekers.  The site allows job seekers to view and narrow the job listings by state and major city.  The members can post different kinds of resume, including audio resume, video resume and portfolio once registered.  This site has a membership fee.  However, job seekers can still use the basic services without a cost.
• myCareerSpace – allows job seekers to search by category, region or keywords.  It accepts up to five different online resumes for applying online job openings.  The site is integrated with job hunting resources such as career expos, salary, relocation, insurance and so on.
• SnagAJob.com – it is probably the largest job site for searching part time and full time jobs.  It is built with career resources and advice and job seekers can scan the job listing by job type, and location.  It also has email alert feature upon registration.
• thingamajob.com – a free career site, allowing job searching and online resume posting.  It has job alert feature and career tools for job seekers to utilize.  Job searches can be done by job categories, location, keywords and date posted.

Professional/Niche Job Sites:

• Dice.com – this is designed specially for technology professionals.  It is great job and career site that provides more than a thousand of job openings for professionals.  The job list can be filtered for search convenience by job type, location and employer.  It securely protects confidential profile from job seekers, making job seekers’ resume safe from devious minds.  Here, job seekers can find useful career resources and they can create email job alert.
• USAJOBS – open to job seekers looking for information about jobs and employment in the United States Federal Government.  The job listing can be viewed by keyword, occupation and location.  Job seekers on this site can post their resume and register for job matching service.  The site also has resource and tips for job seekers interested in working at the government.
• VetJobs.com – designed specifically for veterans and transitioning military personnel.  It also accommodates job seekers with relation to a veteran and it allows job seekers to post resume online.  The job openings include all levels and types of jobs.  Job seekers can view job results by type, keyword and location.  The site also includes key resources for veterans.

New Concept Job Sites:

• The Interview Exchange – a job board that rates job seekers based on how closely they matched on the job position.  The job seekers can receive the job matching results via email.  Also, it permits job seekers to post their resume.
• Jobirn: Insider Referral Network – known for its uniqueness, this site has a job board, online job interview system and employee referral system, connecting job seekers to employees of their prospective companies.  The purpose of the employee referral system is to assist job seekers in getting a referral.
• JobShouts! – a job site that uses the power of social media.  It helps create connections and provides job matching results for job seekers.  As much as possible, it delivers real time job postings at the same time automated one click searching from different social media networks.
• Jobs in Pods – this is a web 2.0 job site.  It gives job seekers the opportunity to listen to their prospective employer’s jobcast.  This includes audio interviews that discuss the company’s culture, benefits and how to and where to apply.  The podcast comes with blog post for information and links about employers and job postings.
• LiveHire – one of the innovative job sites today.  Through this site, job seekers can get online interview via webcam.  However, job seekers need to submit their professional profile first and if employers are interested, they will contact prospective employees via email.  This is highly recommended for long-distance job search.
• Simply Hired – Job seekers can be updated when new jobs are listed via email, social media networks, blogs, homepage and even through mobile phone.  This is a job search engine for searching job listings using keywords.  The results will come from multiple resources.

Featured Sites:

• LinkUp – a job search engine with new and unique features.  The site has the list of more than 20 thousand jobs from company websites.  It is always updated with comprehensive job listing.  Job seekers can search by title, keyword, and by location.  The site is also built up with WorkSearch, a tool to track how long a jobseeker is searching for a job.  It also has Tabs feature where in a job seeker can keep track of his job searches.
• TweetMYJOBS – a job board that provides notification of open positions INSTANTLY via short messaging service. The site tweeted thousands of jobs within a day and at least a million in just a month. This new innovative service brings together recruiters, hiring managers and job seekers. Browse jobs by company or by location.

Tags: top job sites

Tags: top job sites
Posted in Top Job Sites | 2 Comments »

Lets face it – In today’s economy, you are up against a HUGE uphill battle when it comes to starting your career. Even if you figured out what you want your career to be, chances are you wouldn’t have a fighting chance at securing it because you don’t know how to promote yourself to employers.

It comes down to simply not having a lot of options to choose from in this job market. Sure there might be lots of job openings out there…but if that’s the case, why aren’t you hear anything from employers?

Well what I’m about to tell you might shock you…so put on your tough suit of armor because I’m not going to try to “save your feelings” about this. What I’m about to tell you is the TRUTH and if anyone tells you differently BITCH SLAP THEM AND RUN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!

Ok not really, but seriously…Here’s what most they aren’t telling you…

IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO PROMOTE YOURSELF TO EMPLOYERS…

YOU WONT HAVE A CAREER. PERIOD.

(Yeah I said it…)

I mean think about it… If you want to kick off your career after college you need to know how to PROMOTE yourself to hiring managers. If you want to get a raise and move up the career ladder, you need to know how to PROMOTE yourself to your supervisors.  Even the dude who got a job from one of his daddy’s golf buddies had someone “promoting him” even if he didn’t do it himself. For most of us regular peeps who don’t have all the high-level connections, we rely on our own street smarts and for some it comes easier than it does others.

So why don’t employers just hire us? Why do we have to learn how to promote ourselves to employers?

Well there’s a long list of reasons…and most of them come from the misconceived perception that college grads these days (or “Millenials” as they call us) are:

• Too entitled
• Too lazy or unmotivated
• Too social
• Hard to manage
• Not enough experience
• Not open to feedback
• Not open to self-improvement

(Just check out my Free Report, “The 10 Most Dangerous Mistakes YOU Probably Make With Employers And What To Do About It…” and I’ll break it down for you…)

And all of these reasons are rooted from the same source:

Not knowing how to promote yourself as a candidate who ISN’T one of these types of Millenials.

Are you following me?

And this is the problem that has been plaguing millions of other college grads who are struggling to find something in this crippled job market.

So here’s what I’d do if you want to have a career that others would KILL for:

Learn how to PROMOTE yourself as an A-player.

Not only that but learn how to become an A-player as well. Period.

Why? Because A-player’s have something that many of us unemployed college grads can only dream about.

They have unlimited career OPTIONS.

They are sought-after by companies in EVERY industry. And they are among the top 5% of candidates out there. They can move between industries without any problems because they know how to network, and they ARE highly networked. They know how to MARKET themselves to employers and they know how to make their PERCEIVED value higher than 95% of the population.

Bottom line, if you want a great career, learn how to become an A-Player first! Then you’ll be able to select ANY career you want from a buffet of possibilities. Choose not to become one, and you’ll be forced to “settle” for all the “scraps” that no one else wants.

Don’t let life pass you by for another second. Building yourself to be an A-player is probably one of the most important things you can do for your career and life if you want to have the freedom to experience life instead of being forced into a situation that just “pays the bills”.

If you want to learn more about how to become an A-player, I strongly recommend you check out my Free Newsletter. I’ll send you tips, tricks, and strategies to help you go from being just another “average” candidate to being a “heavily armed jobseeker” in a matter of weeks. You’ll learn about employer psychology, getting around phone interviews, building rapport with body language, negotiating salaries, and everything else that’ll help you get hired in less time.

So what are you waiting for? Go sign up for my Free Newsletter and jumpstart your job search RIGHT NOW.

Happy Hunting!

Tags: job hunting tips

Tags: job hunting tips
Posted in Job Hunting Tips | 1 Comment »

Imagine what it would be like if you could just sit down and bang out the perfect resume from scratch in no time flat… without ever having to go through the whole “staring at a blank screen for HOURS” phase…

How cool would that be?

You wouldn’t have to procrastinate your job search any more or experience that sinking feeling in your stomach every time you think about working on it.

A lot of times when I’m trying to come up with content for my resume I almost always run into writers block. My mind draws a blank and I never get past a few lines of text. It’s frustrating as hell because I can be sitting in front of my computer for an entire day and have nothing to show for it.

After studying famous copywriters and reading TONS of books on how to become a better resume writer (and writer in general), I’ve stumbled across a little gem of knowledge that’s really helped take my resume writing to the next level.

Here’s one very important concept I learned that I also mention in my book The Unspoken Rues of Getting Hired, and that is:

“Premature criticism destroys creativity”

This concept can best be explained like this… Imagine you’re in a sculpting class and there’s a barrel of clay going around from desk to desk giving each student enough clay to work on sculpting for the day.

Now the rules are simple: When the barrel comes to your desk, you have 10 seconds to grab as much clay out of the barrel as possible. As soon as your time is up, the barrel moves on to another desk and you are only allowed to work with what you were able to get in the 10 seconds you were given.

Now, what would you do?

The smart thing to do, would be to do nothing else but shovel clay out of the barrel for the 10 seconds that you have! Because if you don’t, chances are you won’t be able to make much progress on your masterpiece.

But that’s exactly what most college students (and experienced professionals) forget to do when it comes to writing content for their resumes. What they do instead is they grab a little clay and start editing, write a sentence or two, and edit some more… and they don’t get very far.

So gather clay first à then sculpt later or rather, write first –> edit later.

Turns out, the human brain can only focus on ONE thing at a time. We really do have a one track mind in that sense. I mean think about it… Can you ever really have 2 totally different thoughts at the same time? I’m not talking about being able to pat your head and rub your stomach…or watching TV while you’re doing homework… those activities don’t require THOUGHT.

What I’m talking about is being able to do your Math homework while simultaneously writing a paper… You cant!

Its impossible.

Our brains just aren’t wired that way.

The next time you sit down to work on creating new content for your resume, pay attention to what’s going on. What you’ll notice is that you’ll look at what you’re writing on the screen and you’ll go back and fix all the little typos as they happen.

STOP!

This is what’s screwing you over…

What just happened was your brain went from being in a creative state to analytical / editing state. Instead of maintaining momentum in creating and getting into the “flow” state, you slammed on the brakes and robbed yourself of gaining any real ground… this is what causes most beginning writers to  take up an entire day to come up with material.

But its not YOUR FAULT that this happens! Its just how our brain is wired. This is all going on subconsciously and AUTOMATICALLY and almost no one knows its going on as its happening!

So in terms of writing our resumes, what I’ve discovered is that our brains can only be in 1) creation mode or 2) editing mode in any given moment. What most of us tend to do is we write a little bit in our resume then analyze the hell out of it and we write a little more then analyze it again and it turns into this orgy of writing and editing that never really gets us anywhere.

Eventually we give up, and say things like, ”Fuck this… I’ll just wait till spring quarter and then worry about sending out resumes.” Which if you’ve read my Opportunity Cost of Senioritis Article, you’d know that’s not the best idea when it comes to finding success in life after college.

What we need to do is focus ONLY on creation for a period of time and ONLY on editing for a period of time. That’s the secret to eliminating Resume writer’s block and being able write MORE content in LESS time.

And here’s are my resume tips for how to do that…

STEP 1) Open MS Word so that you have a blank screen

STEP 2) Close all other programs on your PC or MAC so that no “pop ups” will come up

STEP 3) Turn down the brightness of your screen till its BLACK (or turn off your monitor so that you don’t see ANYTHING on your screen). By doing this, you’re making the creation state INEVITABLE by eliminating ALL chances of distraction or impulses to edit.

STEP 4) Setup a digital timer or Google an online countdown timer and set it for ONE HOUR

STEP 5) Write and DON’T STOP WRITING UNTIL THE TIMER GOES OFF!

Keep in mind, as you’re writing you WILL make mistakes. Its bound to happen and its OK. Just go back and edit what you’ve written later. That way you’ll at least be able to have some content to sculpt instead of staring at a blank screen for hours and getting distracted by facebook or email, etc.

So now that you know how to get over your writer’s block, I want you to sit down and pick 1 previous work experience and write for one hour using this method. Then in the comments area below, let everyone know how you did. If you know of any other tricks, go ahead and leave them on here as well and maybe we can all create a nice collection to share.

Happy hunting!

Tags: resume tips

Tags: resume tips
Posted in Resume Tips | 1 Comment »

Have you ever wondered how to apply for jobs that are related to your major but don’t have anything to do with your previous work experience?

If so, you’re not alone. I’m going to teach you a concept that’ll not only help you gain more control and popularity in your job interviews, but it will also help you avoid looking like every other clueless candidate that walks in through their door.

I call this concept, “Experience Alignment”.

So first things first, what is Alignment anyway? If you visit Wikipedia.org, it’ll define Alignment as the adjustment of an object in relation with other objects. So in other words Alignment means to “line up”.

Well in the context of interviewing and getting hired, “Experience Alignment” means to align your previous work experience with the kind of relevant experience that your prospective employer is looking for.

For example, if you want to work for a marketing firm, and your studying sales and marketing in college, but the only kind of experience you have is a part-time job being an insurance intern for 2 years, what do you think would be going on in the head of the hiring manager who’s interviewing you?

Do you think they’re going to see you as being very aligned with wanting to be in the marketing industry? What do you think you’d ideally like to see from a candidate?

Maybe someone who’s had some work experience in the field of marketing perhaps? Even if the position was an unpaid volunteer position for a non-profit marketing organization, wouldn’t you think that would look better than having work experience in a totally unrelated field? Or even worse, no experience at all?

“So how can I get my experience Aligned?

STEP 1: Take a look at your past experience and ask yourself, “Is there anything I can salvage from my already existing work experience?”

So if we take the example above, and lets say you happened to help your insurance employer hand out some flyers to unsuspecting people at a busy intersection to build a little local brand awareness. On your resume, you may want to consider putting an emphasis on the ”marketing” experience you gained instead of talking about answering phones or pushing insurance papers…

Are you following me?

You want to stay in alignment. Once you’ve broken down all of your existing previous work experience, and sucked all of your relevant experience dry, you’ll want to move on to the next step…

STEP 2: Focus on GETTING MORE EXPERIENCE… in your field of study.

I know. Painfully obvious isn’t it? But why don’t people ever do anything about this? Well for one, people will always gravitate towards the path of least resistance. Its just human nature. On one hand it might SEEM like it requires a lot of effort. But in reality its not all that difficult. It just requires a little WILL POWER and MOTIVATION.

I remember a few years ago, I had a friend in college who I gave this advice to and he was like, “Yeah, but that sounds like a lot of work… Maybe I’ll get to it someday in the future…” And low and behold, a few house parties later, he had completely drank away any memory about this advice and never did anything different. He just continued on with his life, totally unaware that his experience wasn’t aligned, and he dug himself deeper and deeper until one day he found out he’d have to move back in with his parents and give up his freedom for an entire year all because he didn’t have any relevant experience regardless of his major.

So if you don’t want that kind of future for yourself, ask yourself this, “What can I do to start getting more relevant experience?”

If you’re drawing a blank, how about switching part-time jobs if you’re currently employed? There’s some food for thought… Other things you might want to try are volunteering at industry-held charities or attending an event held by industry associations.

Think for a moment and try to come up with a list of some of your own ideas.

Once you’ve made your list, you can move onto the final step…

STEP 3: Get off your butt and TAKE ACTION.

Depending on how bad you want the job…  this can be a walk in the park, or it can be like pulling teeth with pliers if you’re not 100% committed to getting a job RIGHT NOW.  My advice? Get outside of your comfort zone and implement at least 1 item from your list TODAY! If you start CHANGING YOUR BEHAVIORS by actually doing something different than what you’ve been doing in the past, I guarantee you’ll start seeing result IMMEDIATELY.

So in the comments area below, let everyone know what YOUR experience has been, and maybe we can all help each other get some Alignment on our job search.

Happy hunting!

Tags: job interview tips

Tags: job interview tips
Posted in Job Interview Tips | 8 Comments »

Scene 1 (Setting is a typical interview):

Hiring Manager: “Why should I hire you?”

You: “Why shouldn’t you hire me? Pssh… cause I’m better than all the other idiots out there…duh!”

Ok.. maybe you shouldn’t use that kind of approach on your next job interview… but really lets take a closer look at this typical interview question and see what’s REALLY going on behind the curtain… Have you ever asked yourself why employers ask this typical interview question in the first place? Could it be that that they’re really just trying to get under your skin? To see if you’ll crack? Or do you think its to see what you’d come up with on the spot? See how you do under pressure?

You know what? It could be all of the above in my opinion.  It’s obviously a typical interview question, but how you answer it can really say a lot about you.  Sometimes it’s what you don’t say that stands out.

But if there’s one key takeaway you should learn from this post, if nothing else, it would be no matter what your answer is to this typical interview question, it should ALWAYS be in employer’s best interest…. In other words, “WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM”… And it really helps when you actually put some forethought in this (since it is a typical interview question you’ll be asked time and time again) ahead of time instead of spouting out a bunch of “overdone” responses like, “I’m a hard worker, I’m good with people, I’ll do a good job for you…blah, blah, blah”

You think this is the first time they’ve heard anyone say that before? Yeah right! You’re probably the 1034^th person to walk in through that door with the EXACT same rehashed bologna and employers can see right through it! Don’t settle for the lazy way out… Put some effort into it… some passion… REALLY.

Here’s a clue for what I would do on a typical interview…

[WARNING: This approach is definitely not for everyone. But with enough practice, I can guarantee you one thing: They’ll remember you long after the interview is over and it will be remembered as more than just a typical interview!]

Step 1: Study their job posting and figure out exactly what they want

Step 2: Cater your answer to the “Why should I hire you?” question to match every single one of the requirements on the job posting.

For example:

Let’s say a job posting is for an administrative position and says, “Must be organized and be able to multi-task.”

Ok… so what could you say as a response to “Why should I hire you?”

How about… “You should hire me because I’ve proven time and time again for my previous employers that I have an exceptional ability to keep my projects organized and efficient. And as I’ve mentioned in my resume, I was able to keep our office and project files organized while simultaneously being able to help my direct supervisor establish a filing system, distribute press kits, , , etc (you get the idea). So if you’re still looking to hire someone who can be exceptional at multi-tasking while being able to keep your office organized… you just need to ask yourself one question… and that is: “Would hiring anyone else OTHER THAN me be a good business decision? [pause for effect]

Like I said, this approach might be a bit more “aggressive” to a typical interview answer for most people out there who are currently stuck in their “I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing even though it’s not working” mentality… but if you don’t want to continue to be broke and unemployed… you just gotta ask yourself one thing…

How bad do YOU want this job?

Hope this entry helps. Now do me a favor and leave me a comment below and let me know your thoughts.

Happy hunting!  And have fun creating a unique, tailored answer to this typical interview inquiry!

Tags: typical interview

Tags: typical interview
Posted in typical interview | 5 Comments »

Everyone knows that our economy is in shambles. Jobs are scarce and everyone is worried about money. As a job seeker it can really be a major pain in the ass when it comes down to figuring out how to write a resume.

After years of studying the hiring process and learning how to become successful with interviewing and landing jobs consistently, I’ve discovered that the first step in getting hired ultimately comes down to being able to GET THE INTERVIEW IN THE FIRST PLACE. And this can be done by learning how to write a resume.

But not just any resume…A resume that will AUTOMATICALLY attract employers and hiring managers and literally force them to want to interview you.

So what can you do to start learning how to write a resume?

Here are my 5 “Hidden Secrets” on how to write a resume:

1) Learn How Hiring Managers Think – How will you persuade employers to interview you? How can you make yourself look good enough on paper so that hiring managers will be convinced that you are worthy enough to bring in for a job interview? That is probably the most challenging assignment there is when it comes to creating a resume. Take Sun Tzu’s advice from The Art of War,  “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” Study hiring psychology. Study the hiring process. Figure out what employers are REALLY looking for.

2) Write With Their Needs In Mind – If you give employers what they want, they’ll listen to you. What does every employer want in your resume? That’s hard to say, because  every employer has a different job that needs to be filled. Its your job to figure out what they want and deliver on those needs in your resume. Hiring managers generally ask themselves a few questions when they pick a resume to read. Here they are:

1. “Who cares?”
2. “So what?”
3. “What’s in it for me?”

When you think about it, hiring managers are looking over your resume for their reasons, not yours. They don’t care what you want. They care about what they want. Every employer, every hiring manager, is the same. Can you provide the answers? If you cant, your employers—well, you wont have any employers. Consider this step a part of your research phase in how to write a resume. Its an essential step in how to write a resume that will nail your future employer’s eyes to the page.

That’s what you want, isn’t it?

3) Select The Format That Gets RESULTS – I get this question a lot from my clients, “How should I format my resume?” And do you know what I tell them? Use whatever format that does the job and gets you the interview. Period.

Now it turns out, there have been some formats that have been statistically proven to drive the best results and some formats that have been proven to drive the worst results. Based on my research, I’d recommend using the accomplishment based resume format and I would never EVER use the skills based (or functional) resume format.

4) Learn How To “Word-Smith” Your Accomplishments – This is where most of us “non-writers” get stuck in the resume writing process. “How do can I make my responsibilities sound really good?” The answer: Learn how to write a resume with hypnotic text. Learn how to build desire. Emotion. Learn how to let your words paint a picture and tell the story of your previous successes. Reel them in with benefits and curiosity. And give them reasons or logic for why they should interview you. Think about the hiring manager’s emotional concerns, and talk to them in a way they cant ignore. If you do, you’ll create a resume that is both persuasive and hypnotic. For example:

Before

“Typed, performed data entry, answered phones, receptionist duties”

After

“Performed data entry for 16 regional hearing officers as member of eight person office team. Assisted with email responses, distribution, report generation, and payroll input. Helped purge backlog of 1,000 obsolete files.”

Are you beginning to see why its important to learn how to MARKET yourself to employers?

5) Learn Resume Design Principles – Did you know studies of resume screeners have shown that “pretty” resumes are more likely to get into the interview pile than an “average” looking resume? Its true. This fact has been proven countless times. Having a resume design that is both simple and professional is crucial if you want to be able to stand out among the masses. The key is to make your resume look inviting and easy to read. You have to ask yourself, “If I were forced to read through thousands of resumes as my job, which ones would I naturally be biased towards before ever reading a single word?”

Use short paragraphs, bullet points, and wide margins. If you pick up a resume and  it’s a solid block of text, would you want to read it? Probably not. It’s not inviting. It looks like work. Instead make your resume attractive. How you lay out your resume is a key factor in how to write a resume which can make people like it before they even read it.

As you can imagine, how you use those secrets is up to you. Go through your resume—go through the entire document—with these pointers in mind. Look for places to rewrite, reformat, or in any other way grab and hold your reader’s attention. And as you absorb this information, you’ll see that a resume is not merely a piece of paper used to convey your work experience. Its actually a marketing tool used to PROMOTE you as someone worthy of a job interview.

See the difference?

Tags: how to write a resume

Tags: how to write a resume
Posted in Home - How To Write A Resume, How To Write A Resume | 4 Comments »

Interview questions aren’t always so simple because employers are some tricky bastards.  They say things for all sorts of reasons and sometimes its hard to know exactly what they’re trying to get at.  Relax. Just don’t be a smart-ass and try not to create any negative connotations when answering interview questions and you’ll be good.

But just because we know you’re going to go in there and have a panic attack, we’ve collected some of the common interview questions for you to think about ahead of time.

1.  So, Tell Me About Yourself.

“Well, I burn weed, get wasted 7 nights a week, and sleep with someone new every Friday night.”  Yeah, it seems like asking this and expecting the truth is about as brilliant as asking a hooker if she has STD’s before purchasing.  The thing is, in their interview questions they aren’t just testing your confidence and communications skills, they are evaluating you as an investment, because that is what you are.  Tell them why you’re a worthy investment of their time and energy, mean it, and deliver.  If you can’t answer interview questions, how are you going to get the job done?

2.  What Were Your Duties in Your Last Job?

They don’t care that it was your obligation to clean the toilets on Fridays.  Pick the three most important, hopefully relevant, tasks you performed regularly.  Word it like a mission statement and make it relevant to the job at hand.  “I was responsible for creating and nurturing customer relationships,” is a playful spin on answers to these types of interview questions.  You might maen the same thing,  but at least you dressed it up to sound pretty.

The way you describe your responsibilities paints a subconscious picture of your worth—do you really want that picture to include you scrubbing the inside of a toilet?  List your most valuable contributions when answering interview questions and let them fill in the gaps.

3.  What is Your Ideal Work Environment?

If you’re applying for a job pouring cocktails in a back alley of downtown New Jersey, you’d better mention your fondness for slobbering barflies and mopping up vomit.  The trick is to make your “dream job” a symbolic representation of the job in question.

Don’t kiss too much ass, but put it in their mind that you’re a perfect fit.  If you do choose to say that all of the negative aspects of the job appeal to you when answering interview questions, it’s not going to be very believable so don’t overdo it.

Also, your reasons should be more idealistic and impressive than creature comforts and fringe benefits.  You don’t want to give the idea you are selfish.

4.  What Was the Biggest Project in Your Career For Which You Were the Catalyst?

Don’t start talking about your group effort to isolate and terrorize Jenny from Sales until she had a nervous breakdown and checked into a mental hospital.  They want you to answer interview questions like these with work-related projects here that were in the company’s best interest.  Answering interview questions such as this is your chance to demonstrate motivation and drive.

5.  What Would Your Ideal Employer Be Like?

“One that never comes to work.”  Just kidding.  The fantasy of an undisciplined workplace might be a nice thought, but you wouldn’t have a job long with that kind of chaos. And since they will be there to direct and guide you, they want to know what to expect of you.  Are you going to be a headache?  Is it all about you?  Rather than describe a boss, describe the kind of healthy working relationship that bosses dream about.  You don’t have to lie with these kinds of interview questions, because who wouldn’t want a perfect working relationship with their boss?

6.  What Do You Know About This position?

This is the time to show you know what you’re getting yourself into as well as illustrate your research abilities.  Talk about the duties involved and what they mean for the company as a whole.  It’s always good to relate your role in the company as part of a bigger picture because that is their perspective when you’re asked these types of interview questions.  Getting on their wavelength builds rapport.

7.  Do You Know Anything About What We Do?

Wow—they’re really giving you the chance to show-off how well you prepared when they throw these interview questions at you.  I hope you have.  It’s time to talk about the company and where they fit in the industry.  Also, touch on the relationship they strive to create with the greater public.  It’s important to convey a respect for their role and a desire to be a part of that when answering tricky interview questions.  Don’t dog on their environmental track record and all the baby pandas they kill—not if you want the job anyways.

8.  Why Did You Leave or Are You Leaving Your Other Job?

Not the time to say you’re boss was an arrogant asshole.  Everything should be framed positive.  You want to open up new career opportunities.  You’re intrigued by the future of the envelope industry.  Your want to ride your bike to work.  Don’t lie, but be tactful.

No matter how reasonable you reason for a less than positive exit, if you bash your incompetent boss, the mental seed will still be planted that it was your fault.  Employers identify with employers, not employees.  It’s human nature, so handle these interview questions with care.

9.  When Are You Available to Start?

“I don’t know.  I’ve got a lot going on this week, and next week my brother’s coming to town.  After that is St. Patrick’s Day and there’s a big party at my boyfriend’s place.  Can I call you next week and let you know?”  Even with a crumbling economy and lack of jobs, you’d be surprised at how many grads pull this shit.  Set yourself apart.

The best thing to do is ask them when they need you.  Even better, look them straight in their eye and say, “Right now.”  You’ll be surprised how often that gets you a job on the spot, so be ready to back it up.  Never answer interview questions with anything but the truth because it could bite you in the ass if they expect you to follow through right away.

10.  What are Your Biggest Strengths?

Develop a personal statement that outlines three of your biggest strengths, and use it when these types of interview questions are asked.  It will ALWAYS be asked in one form or another.  Just make sure it matches the needs of the company, and remember that it isn’t just about your strengths—it’s about your strengths matching their needs.

11.  Describe a Challenge You’ve Faced with a Colleague.

Don’t mention the fistfight you had with the baker when you used to bag groceries.  Tell a story that puts you and the other worker in a positive light.  Talk about a misunderstanding, but focus on how you overcame it with good communication.

It’s important to note that they know you have flaws you’re not revealing even if you frame everything positive, but constructing those mental associations will leave good thoughts that far outweigh their curiosity about the truth.  After you leave, it won’t be your answers to your interview questions that linger, it will be the emotions you crafted by placing images in their heads.  Negative connotations are not a good idea.

12.  Are You Okay With the Salary for this Position?

If you want the job and the salary is fair for the market, you should probably say yes.  This is a point where you better have done some research because you’re answer may decide your quality of life for quite some time.  If you want to be able to ask for raises later, mention that you are happy as long as the job fits your expectations.  Since they’ll probably dump enough extra work in your lap for another you, this gives you room to bitch later on.  Save that stuff for outside of interview questions, after you’ve scored the job.

13.  Tell Me About Your Biggest Weakness.

“I can be a bit of a perfectionist.”  “I can’t stand it when other people don’t work as hard as I do.”  Yeah, sure, Brown-noser.  Applicants have sat in that same chair feeding them that bullshit for weeks.  Try something different when asked these age-old interview questions.

Talk about how your strengths can work against you and how you deal with that.  Being original in your responses to interview questions will make you stand out in their mind more than anything else, and you don’t want to ever use a cookie cutter answer—it creates the impression that you are lazy and like to cut corners.

You can’t predict every interview questions that will be thrown your direction, but that’s okay because being able to think on your feet is a great demonstration of value as well.

But by preparing for these common interview questions you’ll walk into an interview feeling more confident and collected. Not only does your interviewer unconsciously read that in your body language and speech patterns but these kinds of feelings will keep you in a positive state of mind as well.

Learn to cultivate this state on demand, and even if these interview questions never come you will walk out a winner.

Tags: answering interview questions

Tags: answering interview questions
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Everyone likes getting paid.  But getting paid more—now we’re talking. There are tricks to upping those numbers during those initial salary negotiations.  This is a critical time to work towards getting paid what you’re worth because if you come in on a low pay scale, you’ll be surviving on top ramen and mac and cheese until you finally squeeze out enough raises to get where you should have started.

Lay the foundation now, get the squeeze on them, and we know you’ll be a much more productive worker.

1.  Patience, Patience, Patience—Sell Yourself First

The last thing you want to do is send a cover letter detailing salary expectations before you even show up.  It’s only going to give the message that all you care about is money.  But when you reveal your expectations too soon, just as with any business deal, there’s a good chance you’ll lose on talking numbers.

To an employer you are a potential investment.  You are selling yourself to them, but like any good salesman, if you start talking prices before demonstrating value, you’re fighting a losing battle.  Steer the questions and get away from dialogue that forces this conversation.  Know what you will say in these situations ahead of time to be more prepared.

2.  Know Your Going Rate

Before you even walk in that door, you better know what is the standard pay for your position, how your talents add or take value from the general offering, and what can be expected for this type of job.  Furthermore, knowing what you’re talking about will give you more credibility in the interviews and they will be more likely to consider.

3.  Write up a Contract

Did you really just land your dream job, or did you sell your soul to the devil?  Your employer can flap all day about how the pay is only this small for the first few months or how every Saturday employees get free massages in the conference room, but if you don’t scratch that down on paper and they don’t follow through, you’re shit out of luck.  Written word is a solid way to ensure you have the same expectations.

4.  Know Your Breaking Point

There comes a point where you just have to stand up, walk out the door while flipping them the bird (okay, don’t do that), and find the next dream career.  Know ahead of time at what point this will be.  This gives you a mental edge.  You know you don’t have to take the job, and you’ve already decided on a number that will make or break you.  Good.  They’ll note your confidence.  It will work in your favor.

5.  Don’t Burn Your Bridges and Set Your Sails Just Yet

Even if you’ve been offered that job you always wanted, don’t call up everyone you’ve ever spoken to and tell them about your glorious future or post on Facebook bashing every other company you applied to. Calm your ass down.

Announcing success to the world puts you in a psychological state of obligation.  When you walk into the salary negotiations and they start playing tough guy routines to talk you out of a paycheck, you will much less likely to turn down an insulting offer because you are now under worried about what everyone else will think.

The last thing you want to do is call everyone and tell them what a goofy bastard you are for jumping the gun, and before you know it you will be mopping floors for next to nothing to tell your mom how successful you are.

Keep your mouth shut until you’ve signed the contract.  No one needs to know just yet.  And keep in good touch with your other prospects as well in case things don’t get well.

6.  Talk Their Language

Don’t discuss your salary and obligations from an employee point of view.  You want to get on their level.  People associate more with people who think like they do, and you don’t want everyone thinking your salary is your only goal.  Sure, make it clear you know what you are worth, but do so by neutrally discussing your strengths as an addition to their team.  Sell your strengths as an investment, because to them that is exactly what you are.

7.  Get Creative With Fringe Benefits

Get a clear understanding of what comes with the position.  If you know all the benefits and you can’t agree on price, cutting something else just might get your boss to budge.  Instead of refusing to budge on your salary expectations, consider asking for more vacation time.  Cut some of those fringe benefits you don’t need to get them to accept your salary.

8.  Seeing is Believing—Be a Constant Presence

Keep in touch with a prospective employer over time, and keep coming back to check.  As long as rapport is good, the more often they see and talk with you, the more you interact and the more they have invested time with you the more they will see you as a significant part of their world.  As with anything, moderation is key.  Don’t be a stalker or a pest, but make your positive presence known.

Salary negotiations are no place to slack.  No one benefits from low pay, not even the guy cutting the check.  Because an employee who feels properly rewarded cares about their job, cares about results, and cares about making the effort.  Don’t sell yourself short, and you’ll have that lasting endurance to be the employee they want and need.

To learn more about landing your dream job at the salaries that make it worthwhile, read my book, The Unspoken Rules of Getting Hired.  More than just a job-hunter’s manual, this novel follows you through one man’s struggle to be significant, using an entertaining story to teach you everything you need to acquire success in corporate America.

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Most employers could go their whole lives without reading another resume if it was up to them, so that’s when truly helpful cover letter tips come in handy.  If they are not in a hurry to hire, the last thing they want to do with their time is pick through anonymous resumes.  A cover letter gives you a quick chance to tell them why they should take a closer look at you.

Here are 10 cover letter tips to keep your resume from ending up in the trash can.

Before reading these cover letter tips, make sure you open that mind of yours and take note.

1.  If you’ve got connections, use them.

Name-dropping works.  For one, an employer feels a subconscious obligation to give you a solid chance if you have a mutual contact.  In fact, they will probably have to find a good reason not to hire you if it might affect their social life or business.  Also, human beings are ethnocentric creatures — which means they’re hesitant to let anyone into their world that they don’t know.  This is one of the oldest cover letter tips ever used, but it still works.   Establish a connection and they’re more likely to take a chance.

2.  Never address “To Whom it May Concern.”

This is one of the cover letter tips you need to keep at the forefront of your mind.  Even if they know you don’t know them, saying their name gets their attention, as if the letter is truly to them.  It makes it more personal.  Besides, if you don’t have the brains to research a name, they don’t want you.  It shows you care about the position and are willing to do some homework.  Otherwise you’re like that shameless spammer on Facebook who is always promoting his band that no one likes—“Be my friend!  Be my friend!”  No one likes that guy, so don’t act like him.

3.  Keep it Conversational.

Keeping the cover letter conversational is one of the best cover letter tips out there.  Show some personality and the reader is less likely to crumple it up and shoot a basket.  This type of language makes people feel like you have rapport even if you’ve never met.

4.  Brag about yourself.

While your dedication to telling the world how awesome you are hasn’t scored you many friends in the past, here is your chance to put it out there without everyone leaving the room talking about what a douche bag your are.  Finally.  Tell them why you’re the man or woman for the job.  Having the confidence to state it straight up sends the signal that you really are qualified.

The more specific, tangible, and measurable the better because it tells them you’re not just winging it.

5.  Always talk about your achievements.

They don’t just want another employee—they want the best, and achievements mark you as a high-value individual.  Use bullet points to cover more space, creating the illusion there is more information than there actually is.  Most cover letter tips will tell you not to list your accomplishments, but this is where you want to brag away.

6.  Don’t just parrot your resume.

Your cover letter, though short and simple, is an asset that will pave the way for your future income, and a lot of prospective employees make the mistake of writing exactly what is on the resume.  Don’t do this—it shows a lack of creativity.  Your cover letter should expand and serve as a bridge to your resume.  Since it’s the first thing they see, make it count.  This goes back to the previous point- it’s one of the crucial cover letter tips.  Brag and talk about how great you are but don’t just summarize your resume.

7.  Don’t come across as a Harvard prude, even if you are one.

Professionalism is nice, but no one wants to work with a pompous ass.  If that’s not how you talk on a daily basis, tone it down.  If that is how you talk, you’ve got bigger problems than I can solve.  Write like a kindergartner.  Okay, I don’t mean write sentences like “Jane likes jobs.  Jane wants money.”  I mean be clear and simple, and sound out your words while you write to make sure they aren’t too sophisticated.  And definitely don’t talk about how this is one of the awesome cover letter tips you found here.  You don’t have to spill the beans like a kindergartener would either, just be clear, concise and readable.

8.  Email letters should be short and sweet, like a one-night stand.

Long emails waste time that could be better spent on Facebook.  Once they open your resume they’ve decided to invest some time in you, so they are psychologically prepared for more information.  Einstein once said, “Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler.”  Anything more will make you seem like a possible future headache.

9.  Attack them from all angles.

If you don’t have submission guidelines, send the resume as an attachment and an email.  Then point it out.  “I’m such a great fella I sent this as an email AND an attachment.”  The message is you are the type of person who will make their life easier.

10.  The most crucial of the cover letter tips- Don’t be weak.

“My professional resume is included if you would like to look at it.”   Subconsciously, you just told them you aren’t even sure if your resume is worth their time.  Grow a pair.  Say something direct and casual like, “As you can see in my resume, I’ve worked in the midget porn industry for forty-three years.”  EXPECT them to read it, and they are much more likely to do so.  Ok, so that actual line is not one of the cover letter tips you should utilize, but you get what I mean.

Tags: cover letter tips

Tags: cover letter tips
Posted in cover letter tips, Free Articles, Home - Cover Letter Tips | 28 Comments »

One of the biggest challenges facing the newest generation of college grads hitting the workforce is their own spoiled snot-nosed sense of entitlement.  Especially in a dwindling economy where things aren’t what they used to be, a lot of youngsters are facing a real reality check.

Raised in a world where things came easy and there was always an easier job to settle into where some easygoing boss would take care of you, a lot of us are facing some hard lessons in a changing environment.  The world is evolving, and the individuals without the mental toughness to hack it are really going to suffer.

A lot of people are bitching about the rise of outsourcing and the inability of Americans to compete in the workforce, but it’s just a trait of modern man that when things go wrong we tend to look somewhere else to blame.  Once again, our generation’s sense of entitlement makes it even worse.  We don’t take responsibility for our lives and think just because we are American we should get jobs.

Outsourcing has a lot less to do with currency differences than it does with an American worker who just doesn’t make the cut anymore.  We’re losing now on the international playing field simply because we don’t know what true effort means.

We’ve become far too soft because we’ve been spoiled for far too long.  Even those who think they had it hard were spoiled.  Our culture was so wealthy when we grew up we never really knew what poverty was—go to India and walk down a back alley in Bombay.  When you can smell it in the air—that’s true poverty.  Americans just don’t understand that kind of hunger.

And to make matters worse for underachievers, even in the midst of an entire generation who tends to stick there hand out and expect something to be placed in it, a new breed is also emerging.  And this new breed is a force all its own, not only a direct contrast to the peers that make them look so good, but a far cry above the generations that came before as well.

Welcome to the age of the intrapreneur, the employee who treats his job like a it is his own business.  How such an independent strong personality rose in a generation of whiners is beyond me, but rise it did.  Perhaps it was because individuals with drive saw how easily effort got them somewhere due to the laziness of their peers.

The intrapreneur is rising, and I’m grateful for this because it’s the only thing that will save America from complete collapse.  They are taking over the work force, and people like that combined with outsourcing and a need for employers to get more output out of less resources, refugees are getting sent right back to the oles they crawled out of.

This is really evident everywhere you look.  The more progressive businesses across all industries are holding their workers more and more accountable for the results they produce.  You’ve got companies telling their workers, “Screw your paycheck.  For now on we don’t placate you and pick up your pacifier when you drop it in the dirt.”

Everyone is held accountable, everyone is evaluated for results, and those who aren’t producing won’t be working for long.

The intrapreneurs are being counted on to make it all happen, and they are solidifying their future in the process.  Because of these warriors, we’re all having to change, and maybe for the laziest that is a scary thought because now they have to work—imagine that! But what it does is improve you.  You’re being forced to take control of your life—to become an advanced human.  And a collective move across the board means we are all moving in this direction, we all become more productive, and in the end that means the advancement of not just America but the human race.

I’m not getting lofty on you here—I mean every word.  Excellence is on its way to becoming the rule rather than the exception, at least for those who remain employed.

It’s time to get rid of your entitlement.  Give it away.  It isn’t doing you any good anyhow.  Even if in your heart you really do feel deserving of success, deserving never got anyone anywhere, so let it go and get to getting. Stand up on your own two feet today, look yourself in the mirror and say, “Self.  If you want something in this world, you have to stand up, step forward and take it.  None of this sitting in the background sniveling about what you didn’t have or the bad luck that befell you along the way.

Because  I’m here to tell you that shit happens and shit will always happen and what matters is what you choose to do with that shit.  You can either sit around and feel sorry for yourself or grab the world by the balls and swing it in the direction you want.

The past is the past.  All you can do is think about today and onward, and if you want to control that you need to act.  No one is going to do it for you.

The world’s about to get a reality check.  The world is getting a reality check right now.  And a lot of us are about to learn that it’s time to grow up.

We’re here to help you become the new breed of employee.

Welcome to InterviewMasterMind.com.

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Whether you’re talking about interview job tips or just generalizing about life, the eyes are the windows to the soul. 

Oh great.  So you’re relying on by those blood-shot peepers you’re struggling to keep open to convey your star personality…You already made it this far, so you might as well make the most out of it.  By following these helpful interview job tips you can do just that.

A couple of hotshot psychologists named Richard Bandler and John Grinder invented a psychological field called neuron-linguistic programming that you need to know about, and one subject they often discussed often was what eye movements tell us about other people’s thoughts. 

 Here are some common signs which will allow you to mind read, and they’re just great interview job tips to follow.

What: Up and To the Right

Why: This eye movement happens when people are accessing the creative area of their brain and could very well mean they are lying.  This could be more of a concern for the employer than you, but if the interviewer starts studying the ceiling tiles and chewing on her lip around the same time she says they like your resume, you might not want to count on the job. 

       You should also keep these type of interview job tips in mind for yourself.  Don’t do it, or they might know you’re lying when you tell them that you’ve always wanted to get people coffee in the morning.

What: Sideways Glance

Why: Sideways glances are usually reserved for when their office enemy comes barreling out of nowhere plunging a letter opener towards their ear.  But other times it can be a sign of irritation.  Might be a good time to start back-pedaling from that off-color joke about rumors that they use sweat shops in China.

        If you’re the one giving the sideways glances you’re probably looking like a smart ass or a weirdo.  Definitely not things you want to convey to your interviewer, so again, make sure you’re using these interview job tips mind reading skills in mind- the interviewer might know these tricks too.

What: Looking directly Into Your Eyes

Why: A good sign of rapport.  Eye contact often means they are at least making the effort to connect and soak in every word.  A little head nodding says they are following along and approve of what you are saying.  This is a good sign, and is a step toward building rapport.  For the Charles Manson stare, see below.

       I know you want to show what a great interview job tips expert you are, but don’t stare too long and hard or you’ll end up making them think….

What: Long, intense Eye Contact

Why: Uh…awkward.  This is often an even better sign they’re lying—they are just trying hard to cover it up (either that or their invisible friend just told them to kill you).  This one can be tricky in an interview though because people in a formal situation who just met tend to put a lot of energy into the attention thing.  They could just be putting extra attention into paying very close attention.  In most cases, however, if true rapport has been built, paying attention will not seem like such a strain.

       This is like interview job tips 101 for you too- Don’t be creepy, just interested!

What: Tilting the head and Looking to the Side

Why: This is the body language of someone recalling something.  They might actually be listening to you for once…or maybe they forgot what you said and are trying to remember.  Either way, as far as inteview job tips go, don’t do this yourself because you shouldn’t be struggling to recall anything.  You know everything and that’s what makes you such an awesome fit for this job, remember?

What: Looking to the Right and Downwards.

Why: This is what people do when they are having mental dialogue.  Either they are trying to talk that invisible friend out of the killing you idea, or they are debating something.  This could mean they have mixed feelings about something you’ve said and are trying to decide how to accurately interpret it.

       And if you’re the one doing it, they’re going to be less worried about the fact that you’ve followed some other interview job tips and more concerned with whether or not you’re plotting your next killing spree.

What: Rapid Blinking Movements

Why: This is a sign of hard thinking.  Chances are they are not vibing well with you and their mind is straying or they are lying to you about something.  “We’ll call you next week.”  Sure you will.

        “I’ll be patiently waiting to hear from you,” BLINK BLINK BLINK.  (Although if you’re looking for actual helpful interview job tips, saying something like this isn’t good). 

What: Quick Glances

Why: A quick dart of the eyes is a sign that they desire something.  If the glance goes to nearest exit, they cannot wait for you to shut the hell up so they can leave and go back to their office friends with benefits down the hall.  If they keep glancing between your legs, well….you might have yourself a job!

       One of the best interview job tips for you- if you’re the one darting your eyes nervously around they will probably start to think you’re on drugs… and unless that’s what you’re going for, try not to do it!

What: Blinking in Sync With You

Why: When someone really feels rapport with you, their blinking may slow down and even begin to match yours.  This is a very good sign, and it usually comes across so natural you won’t even notice.

       Again, one of the most helpful interview job tips is not to do this too much yourself.  Creeper.

One thing to notice about looking at the above eye movements as far as interview job tips go is that it is never black and white, and there are several factors that could consider into a true interpretation.  After all, every situation is completely different than the next, with a host of never-before considered ideas to contend with.

But pay attention long enough and you might find, well, that you’ve been paying attention too much.  One important thing to remember about interview job tips is you were always using body movement to express yourself.  Sometimes the best way to read someone’s body language is to stop thinking about it and let your “gut feeling” tell you what you need to know.  Where rational minds sometimes overcomplicate, the body can save you. 

Yet, in this day and age, we have already trained ourselves to forget these things; thus learning about them becomes that much more important, which is the case with interview job tips as well.

Tags: interview job tips

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You still here?  How many years has it been since you checked this website?  Before you wind up the old guy in the class, flirting with classmates old enough to be your grandkids you better keep reading.  Life is going on without you in the real world.  Here’s five more ways to get your ass in gear, get those credits, and join the rat race before your parents kick you out of the garage.

6. Guard Your Time Like it’s Your Daughter’s Virginity

This is the chance to be that cool kid you loathed in high school.  Ditch classes when you don’t need to be there so you can work on more important projects (smoking joints in the park behind lecture haul is not an important project).  Skip pointless assignments that don’t make up a significant portion of your grade.

Being selective streamlines your efforts where they count the most and keeps your brain from getting scattered.  Also, your brainpower and motivation expands or contracts depending on time limits.  That’s why you always seem to find the means to cram that semester project into the night before finals.  So give yourself specified time chunks for completing assignments.

7. While You’re at It, Ignore Your Teachers

We’ve all had those teachers who probably got their degree in a thumb-wrestling contest and have the personality of a beer-stained futon.  Even if you’re thrilled with the dynamic changes in the cardboard box design industry, it doesn’t mean you want to listen to some asshole drone on about it.

But let his wife tell him he’s an idiot; he just became the easiest way to hack your day.  Chances are this class is easy to pass with a little reading or stealing notes—otherwise no one would.

So while he’s trying to convince you that new box shapes will revolutionize storage spaces, work on your more important homework.  Keep your book open, and while your peers play pocket pool to stay awake, pound through three nights of homework.  You have no idea how effective this time management techniques is until you try it.

8. Don’t Waste Time Learning

Okay, we don’t mean all learning is a waste, but lousy learning is.  The human brain is powerful beyond scientific understanding, yet we feel the need to learn everything two or three times—that’s how Kindergarteners and canines do it.

When you learn something new, learn it then and there.  Be the geek who keeps raising their hand to ask for clarification.  “But Teacher!”  No one is going to wait for you by the flagpole when you get out of class.

Most courses are comprehensive, and if you train your brain to learn things right, you won’t have to do it again.  If you’re particularly dense that day (or everyday), stick around after class to discus it with the professor or another student who actually gives a damn.

Keep up your homework, learn everything as you go, and never fall behind—proper learning becomes a constant habit.  Anything else is wasteful and probably takes more effort, which we’re not a big fan of.

9. Don’t Forge to Remember Shit

Master memory tricks to shorten study times and impress dumb people.  There are plenty of Jedi mind tricks out there—you just have to understand the human brain.

The experiences in your head are all connected, and memories get linked together like a crazy web in our minds.  Everything is connected to countless other memories.

That’s why you’ll step into an outhouse and burst into tears just because it smells like your first date’s deodorant.   You may not have thought of that person in years, but all it took was that one rancid trigger.

So learn to associate the information you want to learn with something you already know.  Then, when you’re having trouble recalling it, you can tap into that long-term memory and spring the connection into the front of your mind.

There are tons of brain hacks out there.  Do some research and find out what gets your half-dead brain in gear.

10. Party!

I’m not talking about the seven-day a week bone-crushing parties and using drugs to wake up that ruined your parent’s lives; I just mean don’t be afraid to loosen up every once in a while.  Your brain needs recharging, and an unbalanced life hinders your psychological well-being.

Some good ways to have a good time without taking a baseball bat to your short-term memory or adding three extra semesters to your college career are recreational sports.  With just one stone you get exercise, a break from school, and social stimulation.

And don’t let your intense schedule screw up your sex life either.  Some good shagging from time to time is a great release.  In fact, having sex with multiple partners at once improves your IQ.  Okay—I’m screwing with you, but that would be pretty sweet.

Seriously, though.  As long as your partner is as motivated as you, a relationship can drive you forward.  Studies show that married people are more successful.

See, you’ve got everything you need to graduate to pluck that pacifier out of your mouth and go be a big boy before your hair goes grey.  The only thing that’s holding you back is the rules you give your brain.  Motivational psychologists say successful individuals simply hold themselves to a completely different set of standards than the rest of us losers.

Change your standards and secure the future you want.  It’s out there waiting.

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In a string of professional interviews conducted for the New Your Times Job Market, the Beta Research Corporation found 84% of interviewed hiring managers in the New York Metropolitan area look for the “ability to learn quickly” as the number one skill in career candidates.  Hmmmm…a valuable chunk of information to stuff into your brain for later?  I think yes.  And though the thought of actually learning something probably scares the hell out of most of us, let’s think about how we can capitalize on this new piece of info.

Uuuuh, What’s Learning, Anyways?

After wasting a minimum of 13 years learning absolutely jack in an antiquated educational system, you just may have some screwed up ideas of what this word really means.  Well, it’s never too late to “unlearn” those bad habits.  But first you need to know where you’ve gone wrong.

Route Learning—Information Vomit

The type of learning our school system encourages is called route learning.  But that name is kind of boring, so let’s use another common term we like more.  On-demand regurgitation.  Now this is getting fun.

A Wonderful Analogy

I like to imagine a skinny woman walking into a restaurant, ordering three double bacon cheeseburgers, stacking them on top of each other, and somehow managing to stuff them all down her slender throat.  She burps, farts, and walks across the room to purposely barf all over her boyfriend’s back, who is on a date with another woman.

Yes, I Really Mean That

That pretty accurately describes the way our schools teach us to learn.  Starve yourself so you are mentally petite, cram all the information down before a test, and then puke it back up so none of it sticks around to make you gain intellectual weight.  Yeah, real frigging productive.  Who needs all that knowledge anyhow?

And we wonder why people think Americans are stupid—getting to the top simply means you have the ultimate regurgitation skills.  These guys mentally vomited their way up the food chain.

Applied Learning—Making it Stick

The more legit way to learn is Applied Learning.  This is when you soak up all that information and apply it right away.  More importantly, you use it to change your life somehow.  New knowledge sticks.

You didn’t just sit around discussing how to horf whiskey shots up your nose without getting sick and not put it into action.  You got your ass down to the bar and made things happen—became a real star for one blurry Tuesday afternoon.  Sure, it took a couple times to keep the “regurgitation” to a minimum, but you learned.

Why the Hell do They Care?

Except for you disadvantaged first level learners, it isn’t hard to see why this is a trait a boss would like.  Think about it.  While it might just be another job to you, your employers are running a business.  They are investing $35,000 and up per year in the hopes that you are going to not only make them more money but make their life easier.  The last thing they want is to pay that much money to BE a babysitter.

No, they want to teach you something and know it wasn’t time or money wasted.  They are sick and tired of high maintenance employees who don’t pull their own weight  So how can you send your boss the subliminal message that you are beyond a 3^rd grade learning level and don’t need your diaper changed three times a day?

Well, number one—how about learning some memory tricks?  No need to trick them—learn how to learn.    There are all sorts of memory tricks that can be used to hack your brain and hack your life.  I can teach you a barrage of extremely simple tactics designed by the most intelligent NLP experts in the world to get instant learning success.

Second, drop subliminal messages in the interview.  With some well thought out answers to interview questions, and psychological subtleties as simple as remembering and repeating their name at least three times and as complex as using constructing stories to demonstrate your learning abilities, you can create the perception that you are in a league above the other candidates.  These tricks and techniques are a breeze to learn, especially once your memory skills are up to par.

Sign up for my newsletter today.  By using my skills and tactics, you can figure out how to capitalize on this information, as well as many other emotional and mental influences on employer behavior, and not only secure a career but become a success in any industry.

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Seth Godin, known as the “Ultimate Entrepreneur of the Information Age,” says, “I define “sheepwalking” as the outcome of hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them a braindead job and enough fear to keep them in line.”  What he describes is the employee I call “The Refugee.”  For refugees, their job is nothing more than a way to keep a roof over their heads and save themselves from the hardship of reality (sound familiar?).  But a new kind of employee I call the Navy Seal is emerging, and if you want to make it in today’s world, you have to join their ranks.

Many people call this infiltrator into the millennial workforce the intrapreneur.  A fine representation of the soldier elite among our ranks, the intrapreneur is an entrepreneur born in an employee’s body.  Perhaps they want the security of a solid paycheck over their head and the solid rungs of a corporate ladder to climb rather than investing their energy into a business that may or may not succeed, but whatever keeps them on the payroll, these super-employees think about their job a lot different than the average citizen.  And in the end, their salary reflects this dedication.

If you want to succeed in the future workforce, this is the mentality you need to cultivate.  Forward-thinking firms are embracing that soldier employee who will carry the torch and doesn’t need a pacifier or a blankie to make it through the workweek—think Bourne Identity meets Office Space.

Like an elite solider, the new office worker sets their site on goals and pushes forward with an intensity that would make a drill sergeant proud.  In order to secure their future, they work extra hours and push themselves beyond the limit, often without even asking for over time pay.

For an intrapreneur, their career is a business.  They carefully form networks within and without the company, cultivating the kinds of relationships needed to make things happen.  They strive for change within a company, and I’m not talking about getting a better coffee maker, I’m talking about the kinds of changes that put a company’s profit through the roof and carve out a competitive edge in their respective industry.  Industry-shaking changes.

They actively seek opportunities to innovate and expand, taking their employer’s assets as seriously as if they owned them themselves.  An intrapreneur recognizes something many modern employees have simply never grasped—no matter where we choose to focus our energy in order to get bread on the table, we are directly responsible for our results and the name we build for ourselves.

The typical Refugee doesn’t stand a chance against this type of go-getter. We’re not just talking about a more productive worker; we are talking about a freak of nature.

Okay, before I scare you back under that rock you crawled out from under, all hope is not lost.  You can be the new employee too, and in fact, I would stress that in the new economy, if you want to work in the corporate world, you absolutely must become that freak of nature.

Doesn’t sound like too much fun to be the terminator in your organization?  Reconsider.  The me me me psychology we have bought into the new millennium does not lead to the good life self-esteem advocates claim.  In fact, what that kind of narcissism and self-involvement leads to is depression, and your constant focus on what you are going to get out of every situation is alienating at best.

What a human being thrives on is change and personal growth.  Achievement.  Our parents may have taught us to “just do the best we can” and do “whatever makes us happy,” but what that kind of thinking does is breed laziness and a weak drive.  Achievement builds good habits for future achievements, gives you a sense of worth and provides a purpose in what could otherwise be a meaningless life.

We are on the brink of a drastic change in absolutely every single aspect of the way we do business and conduct our professional lives.  The new economy has arrived.  The recession has hit everyone, but it has hit no one like the corporations we love to hate, who ironically also sustained our cush lifestyles and provided for our futures for so long.

The way we did business in the past was simply inefficient.  Due to a lax education system and lax hiring processes in our companies, slackers who knew how to talk were getting the good jobs.  And they became slacker employees sitting around playing around on Facebook and watching porn on YouTube.  Employers inadvertently encouraged the bad habits we learned in school—such as cramming for game day and then returning to just getting by after it was over.

But businesses are wising up to the Refugee mentality.  Now, they are changing the way they make hiring decisions.  Now, doing things like telling an employer your ideal job provides a steady paycheck and job security is about as bad as strolling in with your sleeping bag and a cardboard sign that says, “Will Pretend to Work for Food.”

They know the old worker doesn’t give a damn about what the businesses’ goals are.  It’s nothing more than something to snicker about after employee pep talks, much like young kids talking behind their teacher’s back.  But the old employee is fast becoming old news.

Tighter times means tightening up the loose ends, which means hiring employees who deliver and firing employees who don’t, as well as learning to recognize the characteristics so those types don’t get hired again.  And so the soldier advances.

You are in training.  You are training to live the life of your dreams.  And if you want that dream to become a reality, it’s time to become a Navy Seal.  Start cultivating the habits right now or you will be facing a harsh reality six months from now, waking up jobless and still nursing your parent’s financial nipple, possibly even living in their basement.

Take your future into your own hands.  Take your organization into your own hands.  Not only will your current employer recognize your energy and reward you, at least in the long run, but when interviewing, if you are serious about cultivating this mindset, prospective employers will sense that vibe.  This is what the best firms are looking for.  Send the video-game playing cubicle rats home where they can complain about how outsourcing ruined their lives or how corporate America took away the umbilical cord.

This is what we are about here at InterviewMasterminds.com.  We have the tools and techniques to help you establish this Navy Seal intraprenuer type of mindset.

By employing the most revolutionary findings in the fields of neuro-linguistic programming and motivational psychology, we can teach you to leverage your brain and the power of subconscious social interaction to establish lifelong habits for success.

A new way of thinking.  A new way of working.  A new way of life.  Your world is about to change.  Welcome to boot camp, folks—we’ll give you everything you need to be the ultimate employee.

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Look around you.  Are you becoming that guy who just won’t graduate and move on with his life?  We admit it, college is pretty damn cool, but at some point you have to set down that plastic Budweiser cup, stop banging 19 year olds, and trade that Eminem T-shirt for a suit and tie.  It’s time to grow up, Man!  Here’s 10 ways you can accelerate your hundred-year graduation plan and try to see some results by next millennium.

1. Get Up at the Buttcrack of Dawn

We’re not hear to talk about early birds and what they like to do with their worms, but waking up earlier than is comfortable makes you far more productive.  Yank your tired ass out of bed, hung over or not, and go for a jog.  You will be amazed at the results.

What this does is put your mind in a productive state from the beginning because you’re already doing something that is perceived as responsible, but it also makes for longer days.  More time = get more shit done.  Use those extra hours to get out on the streets and start career hunting.  You will find you have just as much energy as you did when you got up late, and perhaps even more.

2. Don’t Just Be a Waste of Space—Define Your Purpose

Why the hell are you going to school anyways?  Plenty of people party every night and live off macaroni and cheese without ever stepping foot in a classroom—you can see these guys down in the welfare line once a month picking up their check.

Don’t just go to school because everyone else is doing it.  The human brain thrives on having a purpose and without one will lose course.

The same goes for your job search.  Sit down and think about what you want out of a career.  With the end in mind, you can laser-target your resumes.

You wouldn’t walk into a bar and accidentley end up a sober driver for the night, would you?  Hell no.  Responsible living requires responsible choices.  The human brain responds best when you give it a distinct motivation.

3. Delude Yourself

Visualization is more than just a silly word your new-age parents stole from enlightened Buddhist monks when high on acid.  It really works.  Your imagination builds the neural pathways you need to get things done right the first time.  When starting out in college, visualize a successful experience.  Be specific and put some real time into this.  Note: drugs are not required for this experiment.

Psychologists have even shown athletes who visualize training have muscular gains as if they were actually exercising.  One study conducted at Bishop’s University compared the results of three study groups, giving one nothing to do but normal activity, another a weight training program, and yet another a visualization program.

Get this—while the control group who sat on their asses had no significant results and the meatheads had an expected 28% strength gains, the couch potatoes sat around thinking their way to fitness and gained an amazing 24% in strength!  Visualization is extremely powerful.

When setting out on the job hunt, do the same.  Imagine yourself being confident in interviews.  Prepare your mind for the best experience possible.  This kind of mental preparation will condition your mind for the variables that are sure to come.

4. Be a Workaholic

Forget what everyone’s told you about only taking 12 units to give yourself a chance to get in the swing of things.  That’s a crock of shit.  Slackers made up that nonsense to make themselves feel better, and with all that extra time you will surely be using it to drink yourself stupid.

Fill your schedule with classes.  Giving your brain a challenge stimulates potentials you didn’t even realize you had, and its well known that the human brain responds to whatever task is given.

When job-seeking, don’t be a wuss.  One interview a week?  Come on, you damned under-achiever!  And going for jobs bagging groceries because you don’t feel qualified to squeeze your foot in the door at a law firm?  Puh-lease.

Grow a pair and get out of your comfort zone.  Have the audacity to go to interviews beyond your qualifications.  You will be surprised at the opportunities you run into from those who respect your gumption and drive.  Nobody ever became a success in life by walking down easy-street.

5. Define Your Baby Steps

Small goals are the stepping-stones of life.  Ambition is great, and you should hold on to that ridiculous goal everyone laughs about behind your back…but if you want a chance in hell of getting there, set milestones.  With each small accomplishment, your psyche is rewarded and you develop the skills and confidence to make the big things happen.

To Be Continued…

(Try to make it back here for Part 2 before the years add up and you get wheeled out of class and carted off to a nursing home, would ya?)

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You walk into the interview, and by god, this time they’ve given you choices!  There is not one chair to sit at but a whole table of them!  There are even interviewing techniques to deal with situations like this so you are less likely to have a panic attack when your new boss gives you your first decision to make.  After all, seating positions have a lot more psychological influence on social dynamics than you might think.  Don’t go into the office and start playing musical chairs before you understand the atmosphere your decisions will create.

Here are 6 ways for you to make the most out of your seating options:

1. The Una-Bomber Position

This is how you don’t want to sit.  Ted Kaczynski, the Una-Bomber, used to do this in libraries while planning out his acts of “justice.”  Hood pulled over his head, his back to intruders, a hunched withdrawn position turning all would-be conversations away.  Not really conducive to answering tough interview questions, or making friends for that matter.

If your potential employers leave you in a room alone, you’d be better off putting on a dunce cap and taking a stool to the corner than doing this (at least you’d get a laugh).  Turning away from everyone who enters and withdrawing into your own little world sends the message that you don’t want to talk or have something to hide.  If you are left to sit alone, sit on the side of the table where you’ll face people as they enter or turn your chair around.

2. The I’ll Give You Back Your Son Alive For $1,000,000 Position

Two opponents sit across from each other.  Dead eyes locked.  Faces set firm.  Unless you’re in the World Series of Poker or negotiating a ransom, it just feels wrong, even if it is often the norm.

If you have a choice, don’t choose to sit like this in an interview.  People meeting in this position are a lot more likely to start debating or arguing.  It creates an air of competition, and the table dividing the “debaters” makes it easier to hold fast to an opinion because of the psychological attachment to the table as a protective divider.  You might find yourself raising an uproar over company protocol before you even fill out your W-2.

This type of head to head positioning is confrontational and imitates animals in the wild squaring off for a brutal bout of head-butting.  It’s our nature to get aggressive in this situations—thin how dogs flip out if you stare at them too long.  Save the negotiation position for when someone really does steal your firstborn.

We can understand your frustration though, because some power-hungry subordinates get their jollies creating this kind of atmosphere.  In one experiment, 76% of senior managers were shown to prefer a desk between them and someone lower in status.  They get off on their power, the sick bastards.  Or maybe they just like it for protection from disgruntled employees.

Us staff-workers notice all this power-mongering too.  The studies went on to show that when the desk is taken away we view the manager as a pretty cool dude who is open to new ideas.  This is simply the best position for getting on the level.

3. The There’s No “I” in Team Position

This is when you and the interviewer are sitting next to each other at a table and have turned slightly to talk.  “We’re in this together, Man.”  Putting your arm over the manager’s shoulder and repeatedly referring to him as “Tiger” is probably over-kill, but this position is great for rapport.  It’s up close and personal and you will often find your gestures mirror each other because psychological cooperation is so intense.

Studies show that in business situations 71% of people think someone who is sitting next to them is engaged and participating.  Awww…isn’t that cute?  Your new best friend.  When two people are seated in a There’s No “I” in Team position, the one on the left side will be the less cooperative of the two.  Just in case you’re still having trouble with your lefts and rights, that means you should try to get the manager on your right.

However, this can be dangerous too.  If the level of comfort you’re shooting for just isn’t there, you might make things a little awkward by sliding up a seat and getting personal.  If the big boss is particularly old school and thinks you’re getting fresh, you might have a fistfight on your hands.

4. Cozy Corner

This is what you want—get them in your corner.  This is when you and the interviewer are sitting at the corner of a table on adjacent edges.  It is the best seating arrangement for cooperation.

There’s good eye contact and you’re on an equal level.  Not confrontational.  And there’s still a tiny bit of table in there so the one with zero social intelligence doesn’t start having a panic attack and bolt for the bathroom to throw up their breakfast.  Someone who interviews like this may have a natural sense of human psychology.

If the interview seems more informal and the interviewer sits at a corner without gesturing which chair you should take, pick the corner one close to them and put them at ease—you will be surprised how quick they lighten up.

5. The Circle Jerk

On round tables, the person directly across the table is often seen as the opposition, so if one individual in a group of interviewers seems to be glaring, they probably just hate you because of where you’re sitting.  Either that or they are wondering why you’re staring at them instead of paying attention.

56% of people tend to think the person across from them is uninterested in what is going on—maybe its you that is glaring at him you competitive asshole; pay attention.

Their may even be good reason for them to feel that way because when people are put in a negotiation-style arrangement like this, whether facing a group or an individual, they have been shown to use shorter, more abrupt  answers to typical interview questions and don’t really remember much of what is said.  Minimize these subconscious assumptions by making occasional eye contact with interviewer directly across from you, nodding your head, and smiling.  This confirms that you are friendly and engaged.

6. Sitting With the Group: Everyone Wants to Belong

If you’ve got more than two people sitting in front of you during an interview, sometimes you’ll get one more sheepish or introverted manager who is kind of just following along.  He’s still got some decision-making power, though—you want him on your side.  Take control and exert some presence to make him feel at ease.

One technique to make sure he feels included is to look at the guy who’s asking the questions as you start to answer, and then look at the other.  Move your eyes back and forth, making Mr. Arrogance feel like you’re supplicating him while giving Mr. Insecure some extra validation for his inferiority complex

As you finish talking (no more than 30 seconds at a time, please), you should be looking at the talkative manager again.  This is an amazing psychological technique that can leave that silent manager gunning for you when it comes decision time.  He may not be used to having someone include him like that.

Yeah, he’s a needy little bastard, but you need a job, so play along.

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So you finally got your lazy ass out of bed, shook off some hangovers, and landed yourself an amazing job any less-than would be ecstatic to have.  Only you forgot one thing…it takes work to have a job.  Shit!  Slap yourself right now because that monthly paycheck and guaranteed roof over your head just made your life a living hell.  Off to Facebook to let off some of your steam, but while you’re there, get more creative.  Thanks to the power of social media, it’s easier than ever to get rid of that annoying career and go straight back to loserville.

Here’s 5 powerful techniques to use those lightning-fast social networks to become unemployed just as fast.

1. Heckle Your Manager’s Mistake—Who the hell thought it was a good idea to hire you anyhow? Get on Twitter and let the world know how much of a douche bag they were for doing it.  Someone on there is bound to pick up your tweet and catch your colleague’s mistake.  This happened to one woman who got hired by Cisco and announced to the web, “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”  Hey, you’re doing them a favor by wasting your time pointing out flaws in their evaluation system—a quick hire and fire.

2. Call your boss a “pervy (sic) wanker”—Now this bright young mind was on to something.  We have a thing for terms like pervvy wanker, and it turns out they’re quite effective.  That’s exactly what one British lady decided to call her boss on Facebook for giving her “shit work” all the time.  Damn that job—oh well, mission accomplished.  Seems she didn’t realize two things—1. She added the perv when she was still happy about landing her new position, and 2. The perv was actually gay.  Only two strikes needed.  Smart girl.  No more “shit work” for her.

3. A bad temper and loose lips are another great way to get prematurely fired, and thanks to social networking you can get the word out about your resentment way faster than your circle of friends ever could.  Getting fired has never been so easy.  Your boss making stupid policy changes that piss you off?  Don’t hold all that resentment inside.  Add all your co-workers and rant and rave about it online.

John Gonzalez, a Philadelphia Eagles employee thought it would be a good idea to let everyone know the team was “retarted” when they let Brian Dawkins go.  If only they could make breaking up with your spouse this easy.

4. Okay, we all have those days when we get mysteriously “ill” and land a free day off work.  Next thing you know you’re hanging out on the beach, drinking Coronas to get rid of a hangover—we think of it as picking up where you left off.  But while you’re at it—why not make your vacation last all year?  Tell everyone on Facebook about the sly one you pulled on your boss and they’ll likely be so impressed they’ll let you have recess every day.  Better yet—post some pictures of your party to rub it in!  An employee of Anglo Irish Bank named Kevin Colvin did this and let his employers know his “family emergency” was really a big Halloween bash.

5. If that doesn’t do it, it might be time to get more creative.  Good thing you majored in photography.  One thing I always thought would be a great idea if I ever found myself working at a fast food restaurant is take a hot tub in the big sink after everyone went home.  Of course, in order for this one to work right, you better take some photos and plaster them across MySpace.  A couple girls in Redding, CA had the same great idea as me and got a quick ticket to freedom and national fame.  Awesome thinking, girls!

So you got a job you didn’t want.  No problem—ruin it for yourself and give the rest of us a chance to do something with our lives.  Now that you’ve come to terms with why you’ve been a jobless loser for so long, get rid of the inconvenience and regain your freedom while the rest of us use social media and silly things like successful careers to work in our favor.

Post pictures of your adventures while we’re busy working, and we’ll send cash every once in a while for making us laugh and reminding us why we work so hard.

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1. You Come Across Like a Complete Idiot

Do your homework.  What the hell—you’ve been slaving at homework for five years (maybe fifteen, depending) at school and now you can’t do a little interview preparation?  Put those research skills to work to show them you are interested in their company.  If nothing else, putting those details in the thank you letter will show you are competent just before they throw it in the trash.

2. You Don’t Know How to Listen

Cultivate the skill of listening—this is good advice for all areas of your social life.  When you always just wait for people to finish their piece so you can say yours, they feel like you don’t respect them.  Not the best impression to make on someone you want to work with on a daily basis.

3. Your Life is Chaos, and They Can Hear It

Your baby’s momma is screaming in your ear.  Your loser roommates just whipped up some pot brownies and are having a farting contest.  Nothing screams unprofessional like someone who can’t even find a hole to hide in for an over-the phone interview.

4. You Seem Like a Push-Over or an Arrogant Prick

There’s a big gap between being an egotist and not having the balls to order a coca-cola at a restaurant without blushing like a two-year old.  Find a medium somewhere between those extremes.  Be confident, but don’t make them hate you before they even have a chance to see your ugly mug.

5. You Go Mental and Fill the Conversation With Dead Air

A slight pause to collect think of interview answers from time to time is alright.  Your eyes rolling back in your head as a steady stream of drool dripping down your chin is not.  Don’t go brain-dead when they are talking either.  Shoot out some affirmations from time to time.  They can’t see your head nodding, Guys, get a clue.  Do what you used to do when you were writing essays—if you’re having a brain fart, fill the empty time with meaningless words that sound good, like repeating their question.

6. You Sound Like a Cartoon Character

If you’re whispering, yelling, or making noises like a dying mouse into the phone, you might want to work on this before the interview.  Unattractive voices are a psychological turn-off.

7. You Keep Rambling On and On and On and On

Shut the hell up.  There, I said it.  You’re parents have wanted to say it your whole life.  Your friends always avoided you because they didn’t want to say it.  Just shut up.  Quit rambling and using simple interview questions as a reason to talk about your boyfriend’s new car.  If you’re really that hyperactive, do us all a favor and work at home.

8. You’re a Greedy, Needy Little Bitch

An employer wants to know you aren’t just going to worry about yourself all the time.  They want to know you can see the bigger picture and be part of a team.  So, develop an active interest in the job.  Don’t just ask how much money and how many trips to the toilet you get.  Ask thoughtful questions about the business and what your role will be.

9. You’re Too Much of a Coward to Ask for a Real Interview

If you really want this job, you need to get in the door.  If you never ask for that face-to-face, how will they ever know you really want it?  Coming straight out and asking is the best way to show you are serious.

10. Your Thank You is as Pathetic as Your Interviewing Skills

Don’t just mumble a “Thanks, Bro” or come across sounding like the kid that Starbucks pays to thank you for coming in.  After all, you should be thankful.  They really are taking time out of their day to give you the opportunity.  Show them you recognize and appreciate that.

11. You Don’t Follow Up

After the phone interview, seal up that thank-you note, drop it in the mail, and chase it with an email.  The thank-you note is more than just a chance to brown-nose, it is a traditional formality and illustrates professionalism.  Use the opportunity to remind them of your strengths (subtle please) and show them again how aware you are of the time they spent on you.

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Alright, you’re ready to start working on creating a resume that WOWS potential employers. Solid. A necessary first step towards landing the perfect career is making a good resume. But whatever you do, don’t get onto Google and start copying those same templates the car wash attendants are using to claim their water-logged fame. If you want a legitimate career with potential for growth, you need to set yourself apart, especially when creating a resume.

Here are six simple steps to creating a resume that really stands out.

1. Make Something Out of Nothing When Creating a Resume—Creative White Space

Rather than fill the page with unnecessary words, use extra white space when creating a resume. This allows less information that could potentially ruin your potential as an employee while giving the impression that you have offered a lot of information. It also creates the subliminal impression that you offer a lot of substance with a little effort. You do not have to delve into everything in detail because when creating a resume your actions speak for themselves.

2. Avoid Getting too Creative With Font Styles and Sizes

Don’t settle for creating a resume that looks like you wrote it while on mushrooms, even if you were. All those different font sizes and styles are distracting and symbolize a chaotic individual. Employers don’t want chaotic, they want stable and sober. Don’t ask me why—people are picky these days.

3. When Possible, Include Bullet Points

Bullets send a signal to the brain that a new part of the text has begun. This helps to process the information quickly, get to the next point, and keep moving on. So use a lot of bullet points when creating a resume. Their subconscious mind is processing the signal that you are an easy, organized employee who makes life easier on them.

4. Split Big Paragraphs up into Chunks of 2 or 3 Sentences

It is much easier too read text that is split up into small chunks. Keep this in mind when creating a resume. This allows the eyes too skim easily without losing place. Imagine a book with no paragraph indentations. You’d likely never make it past the first two chapters.

Not only do you not want your manager tiring out from reading your resume, you also want to avoid the meaning they will attribute to the extra effort they had to put in just to read the thing. Their subconscious will immediately decide that you are more trouble then you’re worth. Focus on creating a resume that’s straight forward and easily readable.

5. Don’t Use a Jagged Format; Everything Should be Flush on the Left

This rugged resume design comes across looking sloppy and amateur. A big rookie mistake! It’s just how the human brain works—we like visually symmetrical material. If we don’t adhere to this we start going nuts, trying to bite our own ear off, and chasing our tails in circles. Well, that happens to some of us—the rest of us just judge you and don’t even know why.

6.Keep the Text Vertically Centered

Also a problem with symmetry, the human brain likes that perfect balance on all edges of the paper. How crazy would it drive you to hold a piece of paper in your hand that started 2/3 from the top? Visually pleasing layout is what you’re going for. If you have good organization when creating a resume, it will signal good organization skills. Employers love an organizer because they make things happen and keep the team on track.

Did you like these resume tips? Because your future employer will. There’s plenty more where this came from. Watch my FREE Resume Rebel Video Course now and change the way you think about creating a resume.

If you have any suggestions on how you’ve successfully went about creating a resume, please share them in the comments below!

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We’re all about finding out what works here at Interview Mastermind, but an important part of that is knowing what does not work when it comes to honing in on your interviewing skills.

Here are 4 more ways most applicants drop the ball with their interviewing skills and end up sitting at home, taking double shots of whiskey and committing to a life of less.

5. Not Being an Interrogator

It’s easy to walk in with the mindset that you are there to be interviewed and that it’s all about conveying yourself to them.  But an employer wants to know you are interested in the position and organization so you need your interviewing skills to reflect that.  Curiosity is king.  Not only does it suggest a burning desire to learn new things and expand but reveals that you are legitimately interested in being a part of their team.

Come prepared with questions—good ones.  Tailor them specifically to their organization.  The worst thing you can do when the employer asks if you have questions is shrug and say, “nope.  Not really.”  One of the best interviewing skills you can master is knowing the right questions to ask.   And don’t ask how many hot guys work their, no matter how laid back the interview is.  Questions should relate to a productive working mindset.

6. The Bullshitter

Making up your qualifications and portraying yourself as something you are not is a very bad idea.  What kind of interviewing skills are those?  If the employer questions you on the spot about what you claim to know, you are definitely going to wind up in an awkward situation, or even, worse, if they hire you for you software design skills they are going to have a lot of questions when they find out the only thing you know about computers is how to post naked pictures on Myspace.

Lying about qualifications is usually a product of low-self esteem related to our past and our work experience  But if you never push the limits of your “experience” and learn new things, you are never going to gain those new skills, so its time to talk someone into taking a chance on you by making sure you have excellent interviewing skills.  Consider getting an interview coach.  An expert can guide you in the right direct and teach you how to properly package your life experiences in a way that communicates value and use that to improve your interviewing skills.

7. The Ungrateful Bastard

Without exception, every time after you finish an interview, you should show the company your appreciation for investing the time to evaluate your worth.  So many applicants miss this imperative part of interviewing skills, but it solidifies your personality and dedication in their mind.  It re-establishes yourself as a presence.

Write a letter—consider making it handwritten (not in crayon, please), and summarize the selling points you presented in the interview to remind them of your strengths.  Make it genuine.  Don’t say things you don’ mean or just tell them what they want to hear.  If you cannot get more excited about the job than that there is no sense in working there anyhow.

8. Unable to Negotiate

Some applicants hit a homer when pitching themselves with their interviewing skills, but when it comes time to decide the salary they are out with just one strike.  It’s important to know your worth and what can be expected when walking into an interview.

Back to that research—you’ve got the interviewing skills; now use them.  What is the starting salary for this position?  What are the high-end starting salaries?  What does that usually require from you as far as history and expectations?  How does that differ from this specific position?  Never settle for the lowest salary and don’t ask for the highest unless you are extremely high-demand and you have a lot power players backing you up.

Negotiation skills are  important to your interviewing skills  for many reasons.  For one, you want the best pay possible.  Hey, everyone’s a little money hungry, and we’re not against working, we just want to be rewarded for it…how else do you expect to support your drinking skills.

Negotiation also reveals those research capabilities while displaying your sense of self worth.  But last of all, negotiation reveals your selling skills, and let’s face it, no matter what your position, selling is involved in some form or another.  Practice the art of persuasion for your interviewing skills and put it to use.

Psychological tactics provide the edge you need to be the super employee—the Navy Seal of the workforce. 

Sign up for my in depth newsletter to get more information on how to be the most impressive applicant who ever walked through their doors.  This isn’t magic, folks, but its about as close as it gets.  Subliminal messages are a powerful force in our lives and useful interviewing skills.

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One thing I’ve found working with my clients is that we all tend to make the same mistakes when using our interviewing skills and sabotaging ourselves, and we tend to make these same mistakes over and over again, especially if we have no clue why we didn’t get hired. 

While that’s pretty frustrating from a kicking yourself in the ass point of view, you need to leverage your mistakes. An analytical perspective offers a clear way to identify what is going wrong, why its going wrong, and most importantly, how we can prevent it next time by brushing up on our interviewing skills.

Here are 8 ways applicants all over the world are crashing and burning before they even get off the runway.  Make sure that these are NOT a part of your interviewing skills if you want to have a smooth take off:

1. Getting Tongue Tied

Stumbling over your lips and having your eyes roll into the back of your head because a question throws you off course is a great way to look incompetent.  Hey, for the right job, this is likely one of the most important days of your life—so I know you’re excited.

But for a day this big, you damn well better be prepared with some top notch interviewing skills.  If you’ve already signed up for my newsletter, read my article on the 13 most common interview questions[I1] .  Prepare by practicing these in front of at least 3 friends that like to laugh at you, and practice different variations of answers to different variations of the questions until its second nature.

2. Just Another Applicant

If you want to make a good impression, don’t forget you’re not the only thing they’ve got going.  It takes a certain kind of candidate to stand out, and special interviewing skills to make you truly one of a kind.  There are certain qualities employers look for, and the reality is that most of these qualities are conveyed with subliminal messages and subconscious influences, so yo should hone in on learning more about these types of interviewing skills.  This is great news for people like us who like to hack social interactions to get results.

Once you know how hiring psychology works, you can create a dominating representation of your worth that not only strikes all the right chords with their subconscious minds but blows the conscious mind away as well.  The point is not to outdo other applicants, the point is to walk onto a completely different playing field. They have a problem, and they are looking for a tool to fix it.  You need to walk in their and show them you are THE hands off solution.

3.  The Applicant That Just Wandered In There

Don’t give the impression that you accidentally wandered in off the street and have no idea what position your even applying for.  “What’s up guys—I heard you might be hiring.”  If there is one thing you developed while cramming all those useless facts into your brain for exams, it is how to conduct research.

Mastering the art of interviewing skills works the same way.  Find out as much as you can about the job, the employer, and especially the interviewing managers.  Talk to other workers if you need to, and find out about the individual personalities involved.

Most importantly, what does your future boss need right at this very minute?  What would make their today better than the last 30 days that came before it?  Be the factor that would provide that by wowing with your unique interviewing skills, and you just may have a job on the spot.

4.  The Dysfunctional Employee

We all have skeletons in our closets—some more than others.  Years of time wasted wandering from meaningless job to meaningless job.  All those jobs you bailed on without notice so you could go “live your life to the fullest.”  That year you spent selling eights of weed to college freshmen.

Those gaps can be bridged by changing the way you think about them and using them to your advantage with your fabulous interviewing skills.

Don’t just sugar-coat them though.  Sit down and re-evaluate what they mean to you.  What did you learn?  How did you improve, and how is that improvement a godsend for your next boss?

It’s okay to have screw-ups in your past.  Here’s a quick hint—we’ve all made asses out of ourselves.  And employers know that no one is the shining example of everything an employee should be.

If they are, there are two explanations—1. They are hiding something huge, or  2.  They always settle for middle ground and never push for the kinds of changes that spark controversy.  A dynamic employee is more valuable than the paper pusher who ducks their head behind the cubicle and avoids the radar.  By reframing your mistakes and admitting them, you show you are capable of individual evolution.

Be sure to Read Part 2 of this Article to find out more ways we often sabotage ourselves so you can avoid these blunders in your own interviews!  Being prepared and having your own unique interviewing skills  is your ticket to success!

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Not all interview skills are fair when you go on an interview.  We are such superficial little creatures. A business suit and tie doesn’t take the twisted, irrational human out of us, and many of the decisions we make in a corporate environment are ruled more by our animalistic side than we ever want to admit. There are some dirty little interview skills, that we’re betting you want to know…

Believe it or not, it’s not just your standard interview skills that leave an impression on your interviewer.

Far from it.

There are plenty of “under the radar” interview skills that are just waiting to be used on your next interview.

For example:

Letting your future employer undress you with their eyes is one of the greatest interview skills!

Okay, so we’re half-kidding here, in case you are already changing into something more encouraging of probing pupils. What we really mean is that the human tendency to check each other out is natural, even if we are more often than not under the social pressure to refrain from this normal behavior.  You might think your standard interview skills are what count when you walk into that office, but that’s not the only thing that employers are noticing.

And even if getting too liberal with your eyes in a job setting can get you into some trouble, or spark some backroom fun in some situations, completely trying to stop it can create an unnatural feel in any situation.

Common interview advice says maintaining consistent eye contact is one of the most important interview skills to remember when being interviewed, but think about the last time someone did this to you. We’ve all got a creepy friend who likes to make full eye contact throughout the whole conversations, and chances are we don’t like talking with this guy all that much.

In his mind, he’s just being “real”—you can see his eyes going dreamy when he says this even. This guy also usually did too much acid his freshman year. He thinks he’s got it all figured out but all his intense eye contact isn’t getting him anywhere but alone on Saturday nights. So, what makes you think this will get you any further in an interview?  Although eye contact is one of those crucial interview skills, you don’t want it to be creepy and overkill.

How about those conversations with a man and woman who are obviously attracted to each other and both know it but are trying to avoid it? He’s trying hard not to look down at her cleavage because he knows he’s not supposed to, but every once in a while his eyes flick down involuntarily. She’s trying really hard not to notice his effort because he’s supposed to be taking her serious and doesn’t seem to be. She might be too busy trying to get over the ugly hat he’s wearing to even notice.

How fricking awkward is this for everyone? Wouldn’t it be easier if they could just step back, take a good gander at each other, and get on with the conversation?  You didn’t brush up on those interview skills just to be oggled.

Well, our society probably isn’t going to take that kind of leap forward (or backward) anytime soon, but nonetheless, it is clear our natural hormonal curiosity plays a big role in the way we meet and greet members of the opposite sex. While we typically don’t start sniffing each other’s asses immediately unless we belong to one of those cool clubs from Eyes Wide Shut that we can’t tell our parents about, we still have our biologically-ingrained ways of checking each other out, regardless of how the sexual harassment disclaimer in the employee handbook reads.

Men, especially, will always take in a woman’s physical appearance rather than her interview skills.

He’ll soak it up if he can and possibly take another look later on to make sure he got it right. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything—it’s the nature of a man and something he’s just got to get out of the way before all the other important things he has to do, like chewing on tennis balls and howling at the moon.

If she locks that all-important eye contact with him the whole time and never gives his eyes the chance for an innocent wander, he will feel frustrated and not know why. He’ll try and squeeze quick sneak peeks in between questions and keep reminding himself not to be a perv. On some level, both know what is going on but neither really knows why, and the whole interview becomes a damned mess.  Who really cares about honing in on your interview skills when you don’t even know how to pry his attention away from the physical without going overboard with your tried and true interview skills?

Before women start screaming sexist pig and throwing out accusations, it just is not something that can be avoided, and this is a phenomenon that has been caught again and again on hidden camera. We all try to be civil, but in a lot of ways, we just are what we are.

And women are not saints either. They get away with their body checks more than men because they have better peripheral vision, but they are especially guilty of being judgmental about appearance when it comes to interviewing the opposite sex. With the invasion of the metrosexual male into modern society, more often a great sense of style is associated with a man who is able and competent.  Someone can have the best interview skills ever, but if they don’t dress the part, it means nada.

Yep, these office fashion judges are taking it all in to be sure a style-criminal doesn’t infiltrate their domain. When did he get his last haircut? My God—he shops at Ross—I just know it. That crease is crooked. That shirt could have used a little more ironing. And what in the Hades is up with the shine on those shoes? He completely missed the backs!  Who cares about his awesome interview skills when he’s such a hot mess?  Ew.

While to men this might all sound a little far-fetched, it is the truth about what you’re up against if a member of the opposite sex sits in that interview room, so pay attention to the details. Women will be sizing your appearance up from the moment you walk in until you turn around and leave, whereupon she will be judging your BACK!!! This has been caught on camera and documented in studies—psychologists are proving more and more often just how silly we creatures are—the backs of the shoes! Who would have known that in addition to brushing up on your interview skills you have to pay attention to your rear view?

So how can you hone these dirty little interview skills to your advantage—besides shining the backs of your shoes, of course?

Simple.

In addition to showing off the fabulousness of your standard interview skills, let them drink it up. They want a nice long look at you, and who can blame ‘em. After all, you’re hot stuff (keep telling yourself that), and they are only human. Distract yourself with something after your first handshake. Rummage through a briefcase, go through paperwork, or move your seat while looking away. This is a powerful gesture and it gets our biological impulses out of the way without having to throw open an over-sized trenchcoat with nothing underneath and screaming, “Happy Birthday!”

In fact, when this technique was tried out in a series of sales interviews for filming projects, it was proved that the salesperson felt better throughout the interview and their new interview skills ended up getting them better sales—all because they let nature run its course. Everybody loves a little eye-candy from time to time—who are we kidding?

But that doesn’t mean that you should rely on your appearance alone, no matter how good you look.  Brush up on those interview skills, but don’t forget to smile and look pretty!

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Why should I worry about interview training when I am paying thousands of dollars to get me a degree so that I can get a great job?  I understand your mindset.  I’ve been there.  Our education system has taught you to regurgitate information, stuff it down before a test and throw it up in the morning so you can forget about it, but unfortunately, this process you’ve been conditioned for has little to do with lasting success in the real world.  It might be enough to get you through university, but out here it’s barely enough to get you a minimum wage job.  You may have all the credentials in the world, but if you want to score a great job, you’re going to need some intense interview training.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers recently found that only a fifth of 2009 graduates had careers waiting for them upon graduation, while only two years ago the number was over half.  What the hell?  80% of college grads just spent a fortune getting a degree only to walk out empty-handed?  Something is wrong with this picture—being unemployable with that kind of debt is a recipe for complete failure. 

Maybe if they had some interview training rather than useless information stuffed into their measly  brains they would actually have jobs.

But I don’t care about that 80%.  Well, I care that they are destroying their lives and I want to help them, but what really concerns me is defining how the other 20% got such different results than the majority.

The science of nuero-linguistic programming maintains that success can be found by studying the habits and behavior of successful people, so this is what you should be doing as you enter your senior year.  You don’t need to set up a lab and do that kind of studying, but some interview training is definitely in order so you don’t graduate completely clueless.

The great thing for you, however, is that I have been doing this interview training preparation for you already.  This exploration of early career success is exactly what I’ve been doing since I graduated college, and I’ve acquired the knowledge of interview training to help those who want to change—to help those who want something more of their lives than average.

What sets them apart?  How can you become a part of the 20% that has their interview training down pat?  Even better, how can you be a part of the 5% who can walk into any interview and walk out with the opportunity of a lifetime in their pocket?

There was a story a lot of us learned when we were kids, about a beaver and a rabbit.  While the rabbit screwed around all summer getting wasted with his friends and enjoying BBQs by the lake, the beaver was working like a slave, gnawing through logs and sweating bullets in the summer sun.

The rabbit heckled him, but the beaver kept at it.  For those of you who know the story, you know when the winter came the rabbit was cringing in back allies, eating out of trashcans, drinking forty ounce bottles of Olde English, and sleeping in a cardboard box.  The beaver, meanwhile, was kicking back in his nice warm house.

Lucky for the rabbit, the Beaver was a pretty cool guy.  He forgave the heckling and gave the rabbit a place to crash while he waited for another summer of partying.  And the rabbit it saw his Beaver buddy had been on to something all along.  Okay, that’s not exactly how the story went, but you get the point.

Much like the Beaver skipped the party to get important things done, you have to use this year to prepare for the next stage of your life. 

As a future intrapreneur, you need to start thinking of a career as a business, which means relating business concepts to your career planning and getting the interview training you need to succeed.

For instance, if you were about to launch a new business, would you wait until the day before launch, type up a quick business plan, and jump right into operations.  Hell no, you wouldn’t, and if you did you would be sure to fail.

Preparation, like with interview training, is key to any business endeavor, whether the assets will be yours or your sheer dedication to your company’s success will ensure you a solid future.

This is how you should think about your senior year.  It is the time to begin putting your “business plan” together.  Start researching your industry, learning everything you can, checking out prospective employers.  Don’t you remember doing this when you were excited about college?  Boy were you naïve…Well, time to get naïve again.

Start reading books that highlight the key principles of subconscious interview dynamics, like The Unspoken Rules of Getting Hired, or subscribe to my newsletter to continue learning how subliminal messaging and psychological techniques can be used to ace your interviews.  This is just the beginning of your interview training process.

Let’s face it—your school isn’t going to teach you any of this shit.  If you get your gear ready, you are going to come out of the gates without a job like the other 80% unless you get some interview training and get your ass in gear.  That’s no place to be in a down recession.

All the other seniors might be having a blast acting like idiots and getting trashed through to the spring and possibly into summer, and by the time they start thinking of work it will be too late.  Make no mistake, senioritis is capable of much more than an occasional bad grade on a test.  It can be detrimental to your future if you lack interview training.  It’s not just the degree that gets you a job, smarty pants.

I would even venture that excelling in your career search is more important than excelling in your classes at this point in college. There is an essential truth many over achievers fail to acknowledge—most employers don’t give a shit about your grades as long as you have over a 3.2, and they know how you sacrificed everything else important about life to get that 4.0, which could quite possibly make you a social idiot and little more than another sheepwalker.

So instead of spending all that time trying to squeeze an A out of every class, focus on your career search, learning the information you need, thinking about what kind of future you want, and focusing on interview training so you can go out there and nail those job interviews.

This isn’t to say slack on your school work.  The last thing you want to do is fail your classes and never make it to the gate.  But a realistic perspective is healthy if you can manage it, and by searching for a job in the beginning of your senior year while everyone is screwing around, you will have way more leverage than you would in the Spring quarter when every other slacker is out there scrambling for work.  You can even go on some interviews to really master interview training.  And if you’re lucky, you might graduate with a job already in the bag.

It’s just like buying clothes during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. All the good shit gets picked up as soon as the doors open, and by the time you get to the end of  the sale, the only thing left is a pile of crap no one wanted to buy in the first place.

Waiting until spring or summer to start selling yourself to employers is going to designate you as the shit at the bottom of the barrel that no one wanted.  You are the leftovers, and that’s not a great place to be, on a subconscious or conscious level.

End of story.  Interview training will make it a happy one.

Tags: interview training

Tags: interview training
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Just the other day, I was coaching a client of mine and we started discussing his future.  He was a new college senior with a long-term goal to make it in the marketing world, and his grand master plan was take an internship with an insurance company without a marketing department simply because his cousin worked there and he had an in–nothing like some good networking…

Hmmmm…that sounds reasonable, or does it?

Convenience, a steady paycheck, and a simple solution doesn’t equal a wise career move.  It all goes back to hiring psychology, which is basically the basis of our newsletter and my upcoming book.  The world as we know it is based on social interaction, therefore, everything goes back to psychology.

Here’s hiring psychology in a nutshell.  Most managers out there are going to look at “your story” as the main consideration when hiring you.  This is whey we worry so much when we have gaps and inconsistencies in our resume, because on a basic level we realize the person reviewing the resume is imagining us living in a trailer somewhere in Oklahoma with an overage prostitute and a mangy chihuahua.  Best years of my life, by the way.

I pointed out to my client the story he was currently writing:

“The applicant was gaining fantastic marketing experience from a rising start-up company, but then he suddenly changed course, opting to go work for a larger corporate force that had nothing to do with his marketing aspirations whatsoever.  Why?  For completely irrelevant experience.”  Yeah, that makes sense.

“So basically, the applicant jumped from marketing over to insurance and now wants to go to marketing again.  The applicant cannot make up his damned mind and is probably going to ditch out on us after he gets bored again, so we’ll have the pleasure of going through this whole lovely process in a couple months.  You’re the weakest link… goodbye.”

Sure, going in there and telling them how marketing is the breading that stuffs your turkey sounds great and all, and they see you’ve got your persuasion down, but the paper record in their hand might as well be an engraving on a marble tablet.  Your word is better than nothing, but then nothing isn’t a whole lot, is it?

Look at the alternative story:

“The applicant worked hard for a rising startup, gaining valuable marketing experience and then used that experience as leverage to transition to a position with a larger corporate force.  While the change took away some responsibility, this is often the case with large corporations, and he continued to expand his marketing experience in a new environment.

Whoa! Now we’re talking.  A Generation Me’er who can keep his story straight!  Compared to all those other guys who came in here begin for a job the last week, those typical applicants who jumped around from five different industries before making a choice, this guy is looking pretty damn good.  Break out the beer bong, Danny, we just might have a newbie on our hands.”

What you have done is separated yourself as an obvious choice, and isn’t that a sound way to get a job?

But we didn’t stop there.  My client was starting to pick up on the psychology of hiring.  It wasn’t really something he had put a whole lot of thought into before, but now it was sinking in that an internship of convenience was possibly not the best way to write his career story.

That’s when he dropped the clincher: he was thinking about heading overseas to spend a year in Paris teaching English, which makes sense because just out of College is a sweet time to go “sow your royal oats” around the world.

Hey, I’m a big believer in living your dreams, and I think every person, especially Americans, could do with an international perspective (and some French women, to boot).  “So why not do it?” I asked.

His answer: He didn’t want to come back to unemployment.

Hold that thought.  While that seems reasonable, there’s more to this problem than meets the eye.  “Why teaching English?”

Because it’s easy.

Yeah, sure teaching English is easy compared to a lot of things, but when it comes down to it, the decision to teach English was the number one reason he had this fear of coming back to nothing.  And he was right.  Unless he had some rich uncle sitting there holding out a golden ticket when he stepped off the plane, his traveling dream was going to be a huge sidestep for his career.

Fortunately it didn’t have to be.  Here’s a concept most wannabe world travelers just don’t get “international experience doesn’t have to mean being a bum.  There are other ways to taste the worlds flavors.  That’s when I suggested the idea of using a trip to Paris to expand his marketing experience” on an international playing field.  Now we’re talking credentials.

Long story short, the insurance company idea was flushed down the drain along with the shit it would have taken on his resume.  My client had seen the light.

So what can all you other college seniors get from this anecdote?

Number one, before you start walking, figure out where the hell you want to go.  You could tread pavement all day and walk laps around the country, but will you ever get anywhere?  Number two, in this guy’s case, leaving the country for a year was no longer that irresponsible decision parents love to give flak for.  Rather, it was a potential to add value to his resume without deviating much from the plan if he were to simply stay in Chicago and work the corporate basements.

That convenient internship was nothing but a point of possible resume friction standing between him and a great job.  By keeping his “story” on track, he was more likely to keep the reader interested and get that happy ending after all.

Fortunately, this talk occurred early on in his senior year, and unlike most college seniors, my client can  start planning for success early, using a newfound awareness to set out a life path that makes sense to any hiring manager.  With the solid credentials he is currently building, this guy will have a pretty good shot at finding a place in just about any marketing firm. This is the difference between good planning and convenience internships.

What we really need to take from the situation is this: interviews begin long, long before you sit down in that chair and start trying not to look at your future boss’s cleavage.  It begins long before you even start typing up a resume.  Your drawing the outline for your resume right now, with every decision you make.

Start thinking about this and making the choices that look good on paper, it doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your other dreams.  This is imperative if you want good money, a fulfilling life, and a career you can fell passionate about.

The alternative is going with the other 80% of college grads this year: move back in with mommy and daddy and say goodbye to free sex.

To learn more about positive career planning and psychological interviewing techniques, sing up for my newsletter or order my book, “The Unspoken Rules of Getting Hired: Recession-Proof Secrets That Employers DO NOT Want You to Know.“

An understanding of psychology is the missing link in traditional career development, and inadvertently to making your dreams come true.

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Procrastination has likely ruled a large part of your college career, and yet somehow you made it to your senior year.  Not only that, but you see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and you’re switching gears, coasting on through to the other side.  Before you get too comfy with the idea of all that school work being over and done with, take a second look beyond the light.  You’re walking into the world of work, and if you keep procrastinating the way you have been, you are going to have a poor wake up call in an evolving job market.

I understand your mindset.  I’ve been there.  Our education system has taught you to regurgitate information, stuff it down before a test and throw it up in the morning so you can forget about it, but unfortunately, this process you’ve been conditioned for has little to do with lasting success in the real world.  It might be enough to get you through university, but out here it’s barely enough to get you a minimum wage job.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers recently found that only a fifth of 2009 graduates had careers waiting for them upon graduation, while only two years ago the number was over half.  What the hell?  80% of college grads just spent a fortune getting a degree only to walk out empty-handed?  Something is wrong with this picture—being unemployable with that kind of debt is a recipe for complete failure.

But I don’t care about that 80%.  Well, I care that they are destroying their lives and I want to help them, but what really concerns me is defining how the other 20% got such different results than the majority.

The science of nuero-linguistic programming maintains that success can be found by studying the habits and behavior of successful people, so this is what you should be doing as you enter your senior year.

The great thing for you, however, is that I have been doing this already.  This exploration of early career success is exactly what I’ve been doing since I graduated college, and I’ve acquired the knowledge to help those who want to change—to help those who want something more of their lives than average.

What sets them apart?  How can you become a part of the 20%?  Even better, how can you be a part of the 5% who can walk into any interview and walk out with the opportunity of a lifetime in their pocket?

There was a story a lot of us learned when we were kids, about a beaver and a rabbit.  While the rabbit screwed around all summer getting wasted with his friends and enjoying BBQs by the lake, the beaver was working like a slave, gnawing through logs and sweating bullets in the summer sun.

The rabbit heckled him, but the beaver kept at it.  For those of you who know the story, you know when the winter came the rabbit was cringing in back allies, eating out of trashcans, drinking forty ounce bottles of Olde English, and sleeping in a cardboard box.  The beaver, meanwhile, was kicking back in his nice warm house.

Lucky for the rabbit, the Beaver was a pretty cool guy.  He forgave the heckling and gave the rabbit a place to crash while he waited for another summer of partying.  And the rabbit it saw his Beaver buddy had been on to something all along.  Okay, that’s not exactly how the story went, but you get the point.

Much like the Beaver skipped the party to get important things done, you have to use this year to prepare for the next stage of your life.  As a future intrapreneur, you need to start thinking of a career as a business, which means relating business concepts to your career planning.

For instance, if you were about to launch a new business, would you wait until the day before launch, type up a quick business plan, and jump right into operations.  Hell no, you wouldn’t, and if you did you would be sure to fail.

Preparation is key to any business endeavor, whether the assets will be yours or your sheer dedication to your company’s success will ensure you a solid future.

This is how you should think about your senior year.  It is the time to begin putting your “business plan” together.  Start researching your industry, learning everything you can, checking out prospective employers.  Don’t you remember doing this when you were excited about college?  Boy were you naïve…Well, time to get naïve again.

Start reading books that highlight the key principles of subconscious interview dynamics, like The Unspoken Rules of Getting Hired, or subscribe to my newsletter to continue learning how subliminal messaging and psychological techniques can be used to ace your interviews.

Let’s face it—your school isn’t going to teach you any of this shit.  If you get your gear ready, you are going to come out of the gates without a job like the other 80%.  That’s no place to be in a down recession.

All the other seniors might be having a blast acting like idiots and getting trashed through to the spring and possibly into summer, and by the time they start thinking of work it will be too late.  Make no mistake, senioritis is capable of much more than an occasional bad grade on a test.  It can be detrimental to your future.

I would even venture that excelling in your career search is more important than excelling in your classes at this point in college.  There is an essential truth many over achievers fail to acknowledge—most employers don’t give a shit about your grades as long as you have over a 3.2, and they know how you sacrificed everything else important about life to get that 4.0, which could quite possibly make you a social idiot and little more than another sheepwalker.

So instead of spending all that time trying to squeeze an A out of every class, focus on your career search, learning the information you need, and thinking about what kind of future you want.

This isn’t to say slack on your school work.  The last thing you want to do is fail your classes and never make it to the gate.  But a realistic perspective is healthy if you can manage it, and by searching for a job in the beginning of your senior year while everyone is screwing around, you will have way more leverage than you would in the Spring quarter when every other slacker is out there scrambling for work.

It’s just like buying clothes during the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. All the good shit gets picked up as soon as the doors open, and by the time you get to the end of  the sale, the only thing left is a pile of crap no one wanted to buy in the first place.

Waiting until spring or summer to start selling yourself to employers is going to designate you as the shit at the bottom of the barrel that no one wanted.  You are the leftovers, and that’s not a great place to be, on a subconscious or conscious level.

End of story.

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If you want to stop feeling powerless during your interviews, and start having more control over the outcomes of your job search, one of the most important things you can do is start learning powerful, tested, GUARANTEED methods to influencing your prospective employers.

And I’m going to give you a simple, 3-step formula for learning how to do this. If you do these three things, you WILL get more job offers, period.

Use these steps to get more interviews and land the kind of job offers you want.

1) Start with the inner game FIRST

In this new economy, experience and technical skills alone will not get you hired. Success with getting hired starts with what’s inside of YOU… and the single most important thing you will ever do is to learn how to build a “rock-solid” foundation of confidence and power inside of you.

When you develop this unshakable feeling of self-confidence you’ll notice some very interesting things happen in your job search…

Hiring managers that you meet will all of a sudden become VERY interested in getting to know you… even to the point of pursuing you… just to find out what you’re all about.

Unfortunately, this isn’t something you can just “decide” to have.

It takes a lot of hard work…

Fortunately through my own struggles I’ve developed some almost “magical” techniques for overcoming fear and boosting your self-confidence FAST, but I won’t have time to go over all of them with you right now. Just trust me, when you get your inner game handled, you’ll be AMAZED at how everything else just seems to fall into place.

And best of all, you’ll never have to worry about not having income or being unemployed ever again.

2) Learn lots of tested techniques that WORK

Ever get frustrated with not knowing who to address your cover letter to because almost every job posting you come across wont include a contact name?

Or have you ever been confused with not knowing which way is the best way to format your resume… but you didn’t have any CREDIBLE professionals to ask for advice?

These situations happen all the time… and all too often college grads end up missing out on opportunities because they don’t know “what to do”.

I’ve found that the key to avoiding missed opportunities is to have at least one “default” thing to do in every situation… whether it is finding the contact info for who you should be addressing your cover letter to, how to format your resume, or knowing what to say on your first phone interview… and everything else up to “negotiating salaries” and beyond…

Do you see where I’m going here?

When you have an arsenal of powerful, tested techniques that work, you can take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself… and never worry about things not ending up “your way”.

And after you spend a day or two learning them, you’ll spend the rest of your life using them to get any job that you want.

3) Build and participate in a “MasterMind”

Possibly the most important action you can take right now to create success in your job search is to build and participate in a “MasterMind”.

What is a MasterMind, you ask?

A MasterMind is a group of people who have common interests and goals, who get together on a regular basis to support each other in growth and development toward actualizing those interests and goals. Traditionally, masterminds were used by high-level business owners and wealthy people to get support and feedback in their ventures. It was and still is used by people who understand that the power of the “group mind” is exponentially more powerful than the sum of the individual minds from which the group is composed.

For the sake of your job search, lets just say your MasterMind should be a dedicated group of people who are actively searching for jobs in the same industry if possible.

If you want to learn more about this, I’d recommend Napolean Hill’s book “Think And Grow Rich”.

Hill said that no individual can achieve great power with out a MasterMind. My experience (and the experience of every powerful person I’ve ever researched) confirms this idea.

Now do me a favor and tell me what you’ve learned in the comment area below. Enjoy!

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I am going to give you one of the BEST Resume strategies that I have ever learned… and I actually picked it up from a book written by a psychologist by the name of Robert Cialdini called Influence which is a NY Times, USA Today, & Wall Street Journal Best Seller.

And what I am going to deliver to you is what I believe to be the STRONGEST resume strategy that I’ve ever used…

Now before I do, I’d like to talk about how I came across this little secret of mine…

The resume actually has multiple purposes but for this training video, we’ll talk about its primary purpose aside from making YOU stand out… and that is to convert JOB POSTINGS into INTERVIEWS.

I used to have friends and teachers who would tell me getting hired is just a numbers game… just keep on going on interviews and eventually someone will hire you…

So for about a month, I went home, sat down in front of my computer and applied to probably 50-60 jobs and I would maybe get 1 or 2 call backs at best. Which really frustrated the hell out of me! I always said to myself, “There’s gotta be a better way to do this! How can I go on more interviews if no one ever calls me back??”

So I made it my goal to get really good at using my resume as a vehicle to convert job postings into interviews by using a whole new approach that I learned from Robert Cialdini’s book Influence…

In his book, he talks about a concept called Social proof.

If you’ve never heard of this concept before, Social Proof is basically the idea that whenever we’re in situations where we don’t know what to do, our brains will default to relying on the behaviors of others to determine what course of action to take…

In our everyday life, we see this in the form of word of mouth and friend referrals.

I mean think about it… When you want to buy a book on Amazon or rent a DVD on Netflix what is one of the biggest factors that would influence your decision on which book or dvd you want to take home?

It’s the feedback or testimonials that were written based on the experience of real people.

If you see a book or dvd that has zero ratings on it, you’re less likely to take the leap and get it when compared to a book or dvd that has 5 stars or even 1 star on it.

Now then, how can we use social proof on our resumes and get more job interviews faster?

Include testimonials on your resume!

You see we can use the same strategy on our own resumes. After all if it works for multi-multi-million dollar companies like Amazon and Netflix, then it can work for us as well.

Most employers, when they look at your resume they see only what YOU say about yourself, so its hard for them to trust you since most of the time people embellish what they have on their resumes anyway.

This isn’t new for most Employers… (and is also the reason why all the GOOD companies make you go through the really intense interviews to see if your for real or not)

And another thing: There’s allot of psychology that goes on behind the scenes as well. Thanks to businesses like Amazon and Netflix who’ve already trained their customers to respond positively to testimonials, people AUTOMATICALLY feel more trust when they see it. Sure there might be some skeptics out there who say testimonials are fake or they never trust testimonials or whatever, but if you’re really in the market to make a big purchase… choosing a product that has already been proven to work by others could only to be your advantage when compared to the alternative of taking a gamble on something that no one has ever heard about.

Are you starting to see how powerful it can be to have social proof in the form of testimonials on your resume?

OK, good…

So piggyback off of people’s pre-programmed behavior and use this technique to your advantage. Click here to learn more resume secrets like this one!

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So how do employers go about selecting who they want to interview?

I want to introduce you to a concept I’ve learned from a BRILLIANT entrepreneur by the name of Eben Pagan. And that is the idea that most people can be categorized as Givers and Takers.

In life, the "Givers" tend to give more than they "Take" and the "Takers" tend to take more than they "Give"… now this is obviously a gross generalization but there is some truth to this concept.

One of the biggest challenges employers face when they get hundreds of resumes and applications is that it’s hard to decipher the "givers" from the "takers". Let me give you some examples.

Givers

• Give as much value as possible no matter where they go.

• They put in extra hours to get the job done or meet a deadline

• They don’t have "expectations" or feel entitled in anyway

• They’re aware of the needs of employers and their supervisors and they do everything in their power to find a way to have those needs met

• They motivate team members and are optimistic and they help others create as much value as possible as well

• Basically they are value producers instead of value consumers.

Takers

• Take as much value as possible wherever they go

• They clock in at exactly 8 and clock out at exactly 5…they’re just "there" to collect a paycheck

• They feel entitled to get paid allot of money with all the benefits while putting in as little effort as possible

• They don’t care about the needs of employers and their supervisors and they don’t take responsibility for driving the project to completion

• In team environments, they act as an emotional drain by being cynical or pessimistic. They find more joy in gossiping and playing office politics than they do in looking out for what’s best for the team.

• Essentially they are always consuming value and looking out for #1 instead of contributing value and making life easier for others.

So what’s the lesson here? Be a Giver not a Taker when you sell yourself in your next job interview.

Now do me a favor and leave a comment below to let me know your thoughts…

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I’ve been getting allot of e-mails from frustrated college students who don’t know what went wrong during their job interviews and would like to know why. So, I thought I’d share with you one of my best techniques for doing this.

But first, I’d like to talk a little about WHY figuring out what went wrong or well during your job interview should be considered a high priority…

And it can really be summed up into one sentence: Getting feedback from your interviews is very important because it allows you to actually learn from your mistakes. PERIOD.

Think about it…

What if you went to school every quarter (or semester) and you didn’t have to do any of the homework assignments…

Wouldn’t that be awesome?

But here’s the catch- In order to pass the class, you’re required to pass an incredibly difficult final at the end of the quarter… What do you think would happen if this were reality?

Now, unless your one of those brainiac geniuses who are capable of acing tests without studying for them… I’m pretty sure you’d do pretty poorly on it. Either that or you’d have to get pretty good at not procrastinating, right?

It’s not a very hard concept to understand-If you don’t get any feedback from your professors on whether or not you’ve learned the material correctly throughout the quarter… you will fail the final. Game over.

The same thing is true with our job search and job interviews. If you are able to figure out what you’re doing wrong in your interviews, you will become more confident as a result of the success you’ll be able to achieve from the feedback you gather.

You’ll feel empowered because your answers will be so impactful that employers will begin to sell their companies to you since they won’t want to lose you to another competitor… not to mention it could very well tip the scale in your favor when it comes time to making the final decision for who the employer would like to hire.

On the other hand…

If you are NOT able to learn from your initial mistakes and you continue to make them over and over again, you will continue to have no impact on employers.

Just like passing your class at the end of the quarter would be left purely up to chance, achieving success in getting a job would be left to chance as well and soon you’ll find yourself living back home with your parents wondering why no companies want to hire you…

…and you’ll slowly creep into a feeling of hopelessness and into a "feel sorry for yourself" kind of depression, while all your other friends are out pursuing their dreams…

So if you want to avoid this kind of future, listen up because I’m about to share with you a VERY powerful technique for figuring out what went wrong during your interview…

I call it "Self-Injected Feedback"

It involves taking responsibility for capturing the interview and taking the initiative yourself in getting someone who’s CREDIBLE to give you feedback.

And here are the action steps for you:

1. Pick up or borrow some sort of voice recorder or Tunetalk & iPod (many cell phones have a recorder function that could work as well…)

2. Bring it with you to your next job interview and secretly hide it inside one of your suit jacket pockets before you enter into the office building where the interview is going to take place.

3. Right before you’re about to be called in for your interview, secretly go to the bathroom or covertly turn on your voice recorder to START recording…

4. During your interview, act normal and try to focus on the needs of the employer instead of focusing on the microphone that’s in your pocket. (Be careful not to obstruct the microphone piece or to move around too much while you’re answering questions because you will get allot of static noise when you play it back).

5. After the interview, STOP the recording and save the audio file in a safe place. (Tip: Other than checking to make sure it recorded, do not listen to your recording right away. Go home and take a load off)

6. The next day, listen to your interview and make some notes on your performance.

7. Take your recording to a CREDIBLE professional who you trust (preferably someone who is pretty high up in the corporate ladder or even better is a CREDIBLE interview expert/guru) and get feedback from them on how you could’ve done better and TAKE NOTES! (Tip: Make sure you create a list of things TO DO and things TO AVOID)

8. Lastly-Before your next job interview, review your notes carefully and focus on incorporating what you’ve learned proactively putting into ACTION the recommendations that were given to you. (Note: The amount of success you get from using this technique will be directly proportional to the QUALITY of feedback you get from the professional you asked)

In the long run, you will end up with more awareness regarding the mistakes that you’re currently making, and it will significantly increase your chances of being able to consistently get a job offer with every interview that you go on.

This is just the beginning.

If you want more techniques like this, subscribe to my "Interview Tips" newsletter by visiting http://www.interviewmastermind.com/ or download a FREE trial of my new compelling eBook called The Unspoken Rules of Getting Hired: Recession-Proof Secrets That Employers DO NOT Want You To Know…

Go wild in the comments – I appreciate it!

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I used to have no idea if I was doing well in a job interview as a college student.

I could be sitting there while the hiring manager was wrapping up the interview and I’d be thinking to myself "Hmm-I wonder if I did well during this interview or not…" but I didn’t know what signs to look for. This would often leave me worried and anxious for DAYS, and many times WEEKS, as I didn’t want to over step my boundaries and flat out ask them what they thought of me.

Here’s what I recommend for my clients to do now:

When the hiring manager asks if I have any questions at the end of the interview, I’ll go through my normal routine of questions while saving the best for last…

"So what steps should we take to continue this conversation?"

(Tip: Don’t worry so much about WHAT the interviewer says as much as HOW they say it…)

So, after I ask them this question I’ll make sure to laser in on their eyes and lips for any signs of interest or disinterest. If a person’s eyes dart from side to side, it might appear as though they’re looking to see what else is going on in the room. (PAY ATTENTION HERE…because this is where you can use a "Cool Psychology Trick" to tell if the hiring manager likes you…)

…But if you do some research behind what’s really driving this kind of behavior, you’ll discover the reality is that the human brain is actually searching for an escape route.

Think about it…

When you’re with someone who can literally bore you to tears, your natural urge is to look away for an escape route. But because most of us have learned by now that looking away while another person is talking is rude, what we end up doing instead is looking even more at the boring individual and we unconsciously use a tight-lipped smile (as opposed to a sincere smile) to pretend that we’re interested.

So, the first place to check to see if the hiring manager is interested in you is the area around the eyes. Natural, sincere smiles are generated automatically by a person’s unconscious brain and as a result, they produce wrinkle lines beside the eyes that reveal the true feelings of a person, whereas, insincere people smile only with their mouths.

By using "The Wrinkle Test," I now have a SUBTLE way of knowing if the hiring manager is interested in me that NEVER puts me at risk of over-stepping my boundaries-and I know within 5 seconds what it used to take me days or weeks to figure out… (That is, only if the employer decides to contact me… which as we all know, rarely ever happens)

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I’m sure you’ve heard the same tired-old "cover letter tips" as I have…

"Send a customized cover letter, Target your cover letter, Write simply and clearly,

Personalize your letter, etc."

And if you’re like me, you’ve already tried all of these "tips" and they really didn’t help you all that much in landing that interview you really wanted. Well what I’m about to share with you is probably one of the MOST important lessons I’ve learned when writing a cover letter to prospective employers.

This lesson has taken me several YEARS to figure out, and I want you to have it because I know what it’s like to put yourself in the line of fire-feeling incredibly depressed, completely demoralized, and de-motivated because no employers will call you back for an interview.

So, do me a favor…

I want you to imagine for a moment that you’re looking to buy a flat screen TV. You see a good-looking 52″ TV ad in the store window and you walk in to check it out. The most important questions in your mind are:

• Will the picture hurt your eyes?

• Can you mount it yourself?

• And of course, How much does it cost?

Now lets say a sales clerk approaches you and says, "The TV was designed by John Baird…Its DT Certified…I feel like it would look real nice in your living room…Would you like to buy it?" Wouldn’t you think there was something wrong with this dude?

After all, you want to know what the quality of the picture is, if it’s easy to mount on a wall, and how much it costs. Why would you care to learn about the history of the Television? And don’t you think it would be a little presumptuous for the clerk to assume it would look nice in your living room? Shouldn’t this guy at least acknowledge what YOUR interests are before making all these claims?

Yet this is the same approach we take when we write our cover letters. And it happens-ALL THE TIME.

And what happens as a result of this?

We create BORING cover letters.

We talk about how, "During my college career, I attained a strong academic background in ." We say things like, "I feel that I could apply my education and experience to your company." And finally, we finish our letter with something like, "I look forward to your reply to this application."

…And we wonder why employers barely skim over our "masterpieces" before they toss them aside. I swear I’ve seen hundreds of cover letters that literally was a variation of what you just read. Hell, when I was in college, my cover letter read the same way so I’m right there with you.

So How Do We Fix This So You can Start Landing More Interviews?

Glad you asked…

(To be continued…)

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I used to have no idea if I was asking the right questions after a job interview.

I could be sitting there while the interviewer asked me if I had any questions, and I’d be thinking to myself "What should I ask, that’ll really make me look smart and prepared?" But I didn’t know what to do, so I’d always depend on my Google supplied ‘interview questions to ask employers’ list as a crutch. This would often leave me sounding stilted-like every other college student, and many times I’d be at home wondering why I didn’t get the job, as I didn’t get a second chance.

Here’s what I do now:

When the interviewer asks if I have any questions at the end of the interview, I’ll ask…

"Who would you point to as a top performer in this position?"

(After they’ve given me the person’s name, I’d hit them with my next question…)

"What traits make him or her stand out?"

(I’d make sure to listen very carefully and take detailed notes on the specific traits that this interviewer values. Lastly, I’d ask my final question…)

"What specific actions or behaviors make him or her so successful?

(This one is CRITICAL. I’d be sure to capture ALL of the interviewer’s thoughts on what THEY think makes this top performer so successful in my notes…)

When the interview is over, I would go home IMMEDIATELY and write a killer follow up letter to each of the interviewers I met with. But not just any "generic" follow up letter that anyone could find online… Instead, I’d come up with a personal or professional success story that displayed the same attributes as the top performer based on the notes I had taken during the interview. Then I’d simply weave it into my follow up letter and send it out.

By using "The Maverick Follow Up Technique" I sound genuinely curious about the interviewer’s top performers, but by being very SUBTLE about it, I haven’t given them any hint at what I’m really after. I now have a way of knowing what the interviewer is really looking for in a candidate without asking them directly-and I know within 5 minutes what used to take me hours or days to try to figure out…

So what is YOUR dirty little secret question you like to ask employers?

Leave your best question ideas in the comments below, and let’s create a great collection to share!

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Lets face it. Its pretty much common knowledge that if you screw up your first impression before the interview, it’ll be an uphill battle for you in closing any position. That’s why many so called "interview experts" hammer in the importance of putting your best foot forward and making a fantastic first impression. Well in my opinion, aside from getting dressed and looking all fancy for your interviews, the hands down best way to make an unforgettable first impression is knowing more about the company and its VALUES than your competition does. Knowledge is power after all.

So what’s the best way to increase your knowledge about the company you’re about to go on an interview with? Why not get it straight from the source? …by calling the employees of the company and ASKING.

"But what if I mess up?" "What if I make a bad first impression?" "I dont want to RISK screwing up my chances with them."

These are all valid questions and worries that most college students have. Which is all the more reason why you’ll be able to stand out… because you’ll know something that they don’t. Most college students don’t get the juicy information that they need to succeed because the majority of the population prefers to follow the same antiquated strategies that our parents used when they were our age. Think about it, if you use the same strategies as everyone else? How is it possible to even have a chance at standing out and getting the job that you want? I say we need a different approach. One that has never been used by anyone in the past and is fit for the high demands of today’s high paced society.

If you follow my "Secret", Jedi Mind Trick technique I can promise you that you will feel like you’re in more control during your interviews instead of the other way around when you’re asked a tough question. Instead of tongue-tied or regretting that you should’ve spent more time researching the company, you’ll be confident, collected, and in control of your thoughts and emotions.

You’ll be able to walk away from the interview knowing that you gave one of the best responses out of all your competition because of the information you collected and organized from this technique. But if you choose to ignore this technique and fail to implement it, you’ll lose your one shot at making a good impression.

So how do we get around looking stupid?

Good question.

I’d like to introduce you to a concept I like to call Suicide Calling. Suicide Calling is where you partner up with one of your friends, preferably someone you know and trust who is known for being very charming over the phone, and you have them 3-way call (with you on the other line) one of your prospective employers as a potential candidate expressing interest in the position that you’re applying for.

Give your friend a list of questions to probe for in which you can use for your interview (company health in current economy, names of hiring managers, dept. heads, associations or charities that the company supports, etc.). There will need to be some preparation and coordinating done on the front end before making the call, and you success will be directly correlated with the quality of your questions.

What I love about this technique is that your friend (the suicide caller) does not have to lie about his name or where he goes to school or any of his background. In other words, he doesn’t have to get into "character" or be deceiving or any of that junk. Your friend can totally be the charismatic person he/she naturally is (which is what you want them to be because the technique works better that way).

The biggest benefit to this technique is that your friend literally has the license to crash and burn and everything would be cool because its not you that’s making the call. No risk. Plenty of reward.

Often times I’ll encounter a friend who is skeptical and hesitant about volunteering their services for this tactic. What I recommend you do is be the suicide caller for them FIRST and let them see for themselves how the process works. Sometimes people just need to understand the process before they’ll want to commit to it… and that’s O.K. Once you’ve succeeded in finding some valuable information for your friend to use in their job search, you’ll be surprised at how willing they’ll be in returning the favor to you.

Once you are able to retrieve the juicy information that you need, you’ll be able to connect with your interviewers at an entirely new level. You’ll start noticing everyone from across the table all of a sudden hanging onto your every word. The hiring managers will be eager to hire you because you’ll be able to demonstrate that you already know more about their company than any other candidate whose sat across from them, which means less training time in getting you familiar with the company and more time and money saved. On the other hand if you dont get the inside information you need, your interviewers will be bored with you because you won’t be any different from any of your competitors. They will end the interview earlier and send you on your way so they can go back to interviewing REAL prospects, and stop wasting their time with you.

Its important to remember that not all suicide callers are going to be as charming as you’d like them to be and not all "gate keepers" will be willing to spoon feed you valuable information. Persistence is key. If you can get just one gold nugget of a piece of information to use in your resume or interview, it’ll be well worth the effort.

So there you have it. Now do everyone a favor, and leave your best ideas for getting a leg up on the competition in the comments below. Please don’t just write "good post" or "I like that"… instead, add some value and contribute to this conversation with an insight, a practice, or a resource that we can all use to have a better shot at getting hired in this economy. Thank you!

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Take a minute and explain your biggest challenge when it comes to interviewing as a college student. I want to make sure I’ve covered every question and every aspect of getting a job in my new program.

Use the form below to submit your comment, and thank you for your help!

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