Cv for Interviews

Archive for June, 2009

Before you can begin to seek the perfect job, you have to be able to define what it
means to you. There is no generic meaning nor will you have the same definition as
someone else, even your spouse or significant other. Everyone looks for something
different and thus the meaning of the perfect job will differ even among family
members. It may even have a different meaning for you now than it will ten years
from now. In short, the perfect job is the one that offers what you want and gives
you the satisfaction of feeling you accomplished something when you go home at
the end of your shift.

The first thing you want to do is make a list of what you expect from a new position
whether its with your current employer or whether you are planning to go to a new
company. Unless you are able to identify what you seek it will be very difficult to
find the perfect job. You would be going into it blindly much like looking for a house
without having any idea where you wanted to live or what amenities you wanted in
it. You always want to have a plan, some idea of where to begin. The more details
you list, the easier it will be for you to find what you want from the beginning
instead of continually changing jobs while you look for the perfect one.
Dont expect to find one generic definition for the perfect job because you are not
going to find it. You will view it differently than anyone else you know because at
least one thing is going to be different. For some people the perfect job may be
something that allows them to work a set work schedule very day while others may
be looking for the convenience to telecommute one or more days a week. You want
to identify what it means for you regardless of what it may mean to anyone else.
Make a list of all of the things that are important to you in a job or career and then
work from your list to find that perfect job. Take the time to look for what you
really want rather than taking the first thing that comes alongit doesnt look good
on your resume if you continue to job hop instead of attempting to find the position
you want from the start.

How to Use a Resume Objective to Help Your Job Application

A resume objective statement, while an optional section of your resume, can be a powerful tool for job seekers if it used to its full potential. Strong objectives indicate how you will be of value to the company in one clear and concise statement. It tells potential employers your purpose or goal by applying to their company, and indicates the direction you want your career to go.

The decision to include an objective is not one to be taken lightly, since a weak or ineffectual objective will detract from the entire resume. In fact, many recruiters feel it is better to exclude an objective entirely than to include a weak statement or one that is too generalized. As a rule, individuals who are applying for non-traditional positions such as internships or co-ops, those with limited professional work experience, and those who are seeking to break into a new career or field stand to benefit the most from the inclusion of an objective statement on their resumes. In these instances, the objective will allow employers to immediately identify the type of position you are seeking and clarify your intent and interest in the organization. However, if you are using your resume for a more general purpose such as a job fair, employment agency submission, or website job board posting, it does not make sense to include an objective that will limit your options. Other individuals will need to make a personal decision as to the value an objective statement will add to their resume.

If included, the objective appears at the top of your resume, right beneath your contact information. An objective will typically address one or more of the following areas:

1. The type of position desired – Are you seeking an internship, a part-time, or a full-time position? Is your goal an entry-level, experienced, or supervisory position?
2. The actual name or title of the position you desire – Are you applying for the Administrative Assistant or the Technical Services Manager opening?
3. Is there a specific environment, industry, or field that you are targeting?
4. Any skills you hope to utilize in a new position

Since the purpose of an objective is to direct employees as to your specific goals within their organization and indicate how you will add value, it may be necessary to tailor your objective to each individual position. Objectives that are vague and non-specific are useless, so if you are not able to identify a specific goal or value in your objective, do not include it on the resume.

After listing all your skills and all the things that you do well, you may
now decide what field or career you want to take a crack at. Select the
skills contained from your list and partner it with the employment you
are seeking. Always take time to consider if your skills are relevant to
the job that you are aspiring for. Don’t be bothered if you have to cut
out some of the skills from your list. It is also important to include in
the list your skills that the prospective employer will probably value.

Stand by what you write
You should be realistic about your skills and the level of expertise that
you have with it. For example, if you indicate that you are a very
organized person, then you should be able to show this to the
interviewer by being able to organize your thoughts and effectively use
the time that was given for your interview.
It is important to know your skills every time you are job hunting.
Always put your best foot forward and good luck!

How To Survive A Bad Performance Review (And Move To Your Dream Career)

Q. I wasnt happy with my last performance review. Should I dispute the review? Write a letter for my file? Talk to a lawyer? Or just let it go?

A. Most professionals feel you should offer some kind of response. But whether to respond, and the way to respond, will depend on your companys culture, the unwritten message and your own career goals.

1. Assess your report in light of the companys culture.

In some cultures, anything but glowing praise will be viewed as negative. In others, tough reviews are the norm.

Often your boss will be expected to come up with at least one point of constructive criticism. After all, nobody walks on water. But if youre being attacked or unfairly criticized, you must explore further.

Sometimes youll win more points by taking the review in stride than by fighting. But in some cultures, a single negative review means you need to start job-hunting right away.

2. Calculate your bosss strategy.

Sometimes your performance report has nothing to do with you or your performance. Your boss might honestly want to see you leave the company or make sure the next promotion goes to someone else.

Your boss may be a new hire who is still learning your companys culture. She may combine good intentions with weak implementation.

Or maybe your boss wants to get your attention: hes dropped hints and youve ignored them. Or he wants to help you progress but doesnt know how to communicate tactfully.

3. Listen for unwritten messages.

Does your company have a category where a low score means youre headed for disaster? Does your boss try to tell you, Its a great review! when you know otherwise?

Suppose youve been getting terrific reviews and now you get slammed with a truckload of criticism. Maybe you really did have a bad year. Or maybe theres an agenda you need to understand.

4. Get the facts without getting defensive.

Ask your boss to explain each criticism.

For example, if your boss said your project was delivered late, get dates and times. If youre criticized for interpersonal skills, ask for specific instances.

But give your boss a chance to save face.

Anyone can make mistakes. An overworked, harried boss can skimp on her own data collection. You can say, without confrontation, My records show I managed six projects, not four. Can we go over this point?

5. Delay your response.

Ask for a second meeting, explaining calmly that you need time to think. Use the time to collect your backup file. Consider a consultation with an outsider: career coach, consultant, human resources professor even a lawyer if the situation warrants.

Do not discuss your report or your decision to seek help with your peers. Ever.

6. Back up a rebuttal with facts, not emotion.

Assemble your own evidence of performance. Collect letters of appreciation, dates and times of project completion, statistics showing how you helped the company.

Often simply placing a rebuttal letter in your own file will defuse the impact of a negative evaluation. When youve had a strong track record, your company will ignore an occasional negative, unless someone has introduced a new agenda.

Your boss may be ordered to grade on the curve, i.e., assign some employees the low category even if everyones doing great. And, being human, he may assign those ratings to those who are least likely to speak up. A strong, carefully written rebuttal will clarify your strength of purpose.

7. Avoid jumping to conclusions or to a new job.

When clients ask, Should I look for a new job? my answer will be, When you work for any organization, keep yourself marketable. Maintain your network. Identify reputable recruiters and build ties with them.

Its rarely a good idea to share your career change plans with your colleagues or boss until you have a written offer in hand. And its rarely a good idea to accept a counter-offer from your present company. (Over half of all workers who accept a counter-offer are gone within six months, one way or another.)

But if your company wants to send a Go Away! message, they may be happy to give you a good reference that reflects your real contribution.

You have all the qualifications and you have great references, so why dont you get
the perfect job you so desire? It may be the way you conducted the interview that
has prevented you from getting the job. Certainly many people become nervous at
an interview but failing at the interview goes beyond just being nervous. In fact,
there are things that some interviewees do that go beyond the scope of acceptable.

Do not smoke during or before the interview
Although in todays world, smoking during the interview is likely to be impossible
unless you are outside, you also want to avoid smoking right before the interview
and bringing the strong odor of smoke into the room. If you do smoke, have the
courtesy to use breath spray or mints afterward. Nothing detracts from a
conversation quicker than the smell of cigarette smoke.

Turn off your cell phone
Under no conditions should you have your cell phone on during a job interview.
Unless the interview process is extremely long, there is nothing that cannot wait
until you are finished and then only an emergency might be acceptable such as an
extremely sick child or a potential life and death situation with a family member.
Cell phones should only be in the silent mode and used as stated above for extreme
emergencies. If possible, arrange with a family member or friend to take
emergency calls and handle them while you are at a job interview.
Stay focused

Another mistake people make at interviews is failing to remain focused on the
interview. Instead of maintaining eye contact with the interviewer they look around
the room, look out the window, daydream or any other number of things including
looking in a purse, making notes unrelated to the interview, playing with a cell
phone and twiddling of thumbs. All of these show signs of boredom and will put you
in a negative light when it comes to getting the perfect jobor any job as far as
that goes.

Choose appropriate discussions
The interviewer may ask a few things about your personal life such as whether
family issues will affect your job and the like but dont discuss your husband or
boyfriend beyond those issues that directly relate to the job. The interviewer does
not want to know that youre getting ready to buy a new house or that your church
is having a bazaar.

If you have ever been told that you have a great voice, then you may have thought of making use of that great voice in a professional way, as a singer, announcer or as a voice over talent. Voice over, or adding your voice to advertisements and recorded messages, can be a very lucrative field for a trained talent. If you would like to get the training necessary to succeed as a voice over talent then here are a few steps to take.

But first before I give the step-by-step guide to a career in voice over, remember one thing: in the commercial world all kinds of voices are needed: low voices, whiny voices, gravelly voices, flat voices and even average voices. So, even if you dont have a classic good voice you can enter the field if you have determination. Here is what you should do.

1. Take Acting Classes:

Yes, take acting classes if you are in a major city. Find a course and enroll in it. Why acting classes? You need to know how to create the characters who speak in a commercial. Just taking an animation class won’t do it. You need to start the process organically. It’s not about the voice, yet, it’s about the intent beneath the voice that shapes the voice.

2. Take a Voice Over Class

After you’ve opened yourself up for three months in an acting class, time to move into specifics with a voice over class. In L.A., the best resource is http:www.voiceoverresourceguide.com. It lists all the studios as well as all the classes in L.A. At the top are http:www.voicecaster.com and http:www.kalmenson.com.

3. Start Practicing at Home

In addition to class, listen to any and every commercial on the TV and radio. Mimic them. Pick up magazines and read aloud the ad copy as though it were a commercial. Get so used to your voice that silence sounds wrong.

4. Find Your Niche

Once you’ve gotten a handle on your instrument – your voice – you need to know what your range is and, by association, what your market is. Are you the classy BMW voice, the GenX hamburger guy, the Don Pardo game show host? You could be all three and more. Knowing all that you can do will help you with confidence and direction when promoting yourself.

So, start studying, keep practicing and try to determine where your voice would fit in best.

In the next article, I will discuss how to get your demo reel ready and made, how to find an agent, and how to book the job.

There is no one method of conducting a job search that will provide better results
than another. However, it is important to keep in mind that the job market today is
different than it was even ten years ago and many employers refuse to see
applicants until they have seen a resume first. At the same time, very few
employers will accept resumes unless they have a job opening available. The other
problem is that employers are also no longer accepting resumes without knowing
specifically what a job applicant is seeking. It makes it easier for the employer but
more difficult for the job applicant who is seeking to work his or her way into the
perfect job.

Where is the best place to start? Since many employers today are utilizing online
resources this may be your best bet. With so many job posting sites, its a good
idea to look at several job posting boards rather than just one or two. Although
some may be more popular than others, they are not the only ones employers
utilize. You want to exercise all of your options and you can only do that if you take
the time to look at all of the job boards that her available online. Never assume
that all employers use what you perceive to be the most popular site. That is the
same as thinking that all employment agencies will have the same job listingsa
serious mistake in judgment.

Since only 20% of available jobs are posted in the local newspaper, does that mean
you should not use that as a source? Of course you should not eliminate using your
local newspaper advertisements but you should not limit yourself to that source. If
you are a serious job seeker, you want to make use of any and all resources that
are available. The more potential resources you utilize, the better your chances are
of finding the job that is perfect for you. In addition, the more sources of job
advertisements you search, the quicker you will be able to find a job. When you
limit yourself to only a few resources you will not have access to everything that is
available and will limit your search. The more resources you have available, the
more options you open and the quicker you will be able to find the job that appeals
to you the most.

Many newcomers to Information Technology get an overly-optimistic picture of the field from tech school ads that continually make note that “an average MCSE salary is 80.000 a year!”.

And if someone’s thinking of getting into IT and goes on the internet to do some research, they’re met with the opposite end of the spectrum – complaint after complaint about how much IT is a terrible field, you can’t break in, there’s no room for newcomers, etc.

As usual, the truth lies in the middle. As much as I love the IT field, I’ll be the first to say that it’s often hard to get that first job. Many tech schools have a job placement department, and that can be one big plus in their favor.

What if you don’t have that resource working for you? When you’re breaking into any field, IT or not, you must not make the classic mistake of sending a ton of resumes and waiting for the phone to ring. The odds are that it won’t.

You must get out and talk to people. The term “networking” doesn’t just refer to allowing computers to talk to each other; it also refers to people talking to each other. In your case, you’ve got to get out and meet people. Check the business section of your local newspaper. There will be dozens of networking meetings listed in there. It doesn’t matter that you aren’t in the field yet; go to these meetings and meet people. Initiative is never a bad thing.

And once you get that first job, make it count. Show up on time and do what you say you’ll do. If you don’t know something, dig into Google and find the answer or ask a more knowledgeable colleague. (Just doing these few basic things will put you way ahead of the pack.)

Getting started in IT is as tough as breaking into any other field. Having worked in a few different jobs in my life, though, I can tell you this: No other field in the world rewards individual drive, initiative, and achievement like Information Technology. The fact that you have to work so hard to get in will make your eventual and unstoppable success just that much sweeter.