Cv for Interviews

Posts Tagged ‘Odds’

Correct these 3 fatal flaws to dramatically improve your chances of winning job interviews…and getting job offers:

1. An ordinary resume without a good Look and Feel.
2. Weak communication skills.
3. A below average personal appearance.

If anything I say rubs you the wrong way…this might be a good thing. Pain often awakens something deep inside us, making it easier for us to see true reality instead of our limited perception of it.

Your shortcoming could be something simple to overcome…or a little more complex to solve. Either way, any problem can be solved if you simply park your ego, open your mind, and learn to see yourself in a new way.

Ok…ready? Let’s go over each of these areas. Examples and detailed instruction is provided via the link at the end of this article:

An ordinary resume:

More than ever, companies today are making the decision to interview you not only from the content of your resume, but its overall Look and Feel. It is one of the most important things you can do to improve your odds of getting an interview.

Yet, most people let their egos take over and create a resume that basically screens them out. And, by the way, it doesn’t make any difference if your resume was done by a professional resume writer. Some of those resumes don’t work very well either.

How do I know this?

Because for years I made my living by placing people with companies who gladly paid me a hefty fee to find qualified people for them. I grew sick and tired of seeing outstanding people rejected all because someone at the company didn’t like their resume.

So, if I didn’t fix this problem, I didn’t eat. Simple as that.

Special Tip: Your resume is a work in progress. It can be updated and tailored frequently. But, the do’s and don’ts of creating content and developing a good Look and Feel do not change.

Weak Communication skills:

Ok…once your resume is up to snuff and starting to turn a few heads, you can expect a couple of calls to set up a phone interview. This is the next critical hurdle you need to get over to be invited in for a face-to-face interview.

No face-to-face interview…no chance of an offer.

The only purpose of your resume and phone interview is to win an on-site interview. Period.

The telephone is a cold instrument and it is difficult to get a warm and fuzzy feeling for someone over the phone. So, you need to communicate well over the phone in order to make a positive impression.

Below Average Personal Appearance:

Ok…your resume is starting to work for you. And, you nailed your phone interview. Your greatest challenge now lies ahead…making a good first impression at your on-site interview.

Fact: People will judge you by your appearance. This is unfair, but it’s an unavoidable reality. Human beings are visual creatures.

During your job search, your appearance needs to be on the conservative side and your body language positive. I’ve seen a lot of bright, talented people rejected because of a poor personal appearance.

On the other hand, I’ve seen some pretty average folks hired because they looked sharp and interviewed well. More often than not, the best prepared candidate is hired over the best qualified candidate.

You may not have the money right now, but if your clothing is old and out of style, you might want to consider it. Also, work with a good clothing consultant at the store. Tell him/her that you are looking for a job and want to look your best.

My April newsletter, Job Brick Wall, contains detailed examples of what works best to overcome these 3 fatal flaws.

All the best to you with your job search.

Mike

Michael Petras is a veteran Executive Recruiter of 14 years and also spent 20 years in the Recreational Vehicle Industry as a Regional Sales Director. He hired and trained over 50 sales professionals. Many have since gone on to become Directors, Executives, and Presidents of companies both inside and outside the RV Industry. Mike conducts community workshops for job seekers and career changers on a volunteer basis. He also publishes a daily blog and a monthly newsletter available through his website: http://www.job-interview-wisdom.com.

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.

What are you passionate about? We didnt ask if you are passionate. But what are you passionate about? What stirs your emotions? What is it you cant stop talking about whenever someone asks: What are you passionate about? Whats the fire in your belly? What really turns you on? What do you love doing most?

What is it that you love doing so much that you forget time? You forget others. You are so focussed that you dont hear anything. What is it that gets your creative juices going? What is it that you love more than anything else?

Graham is passionate about books. He loves them. He just loves books. They are all placed in their respective homes on the shelves. Each has a neighbour. He fondles them. Cares for them. Places book marks in them, never folds the corner of their page.

A bookshop is like a magnet to him. He will spend hours with his head tilted to one side as he scours the shelves for works that interest him. He loves books that have a different angle on coaching and developing people. He loves reading unusual biographies. He loves books where people have beaten the odds to survive. It doesnt matter whether they are fiction or non fiction. They have to be about improving self.

At least thats what it appears to the outsider. But, you see, books arent really his passion. It just looks like it. He loves books yes of course he does. But really the books are a vehicle. A method of giving him what he truly craves for..

And that is learning. Graham has a passion for learning about the human spirit. How to get the most out of it. How to tap into it. How to push it to new heights. How to get to its potential. How to climb out of the feelings of mediocrity. How to, excel at what ever he does.

His Passion is for the human spirit.

Often, that which appears as a passion, at first, is just the vehicle for the real deep down passion that lights you up.

Florence Nightingale is known for her nursing in the Crimean War. And most people know that Nursing was her passion. But it wasnt.

Believe it or not Florence Nightingales passion wasstatistics. Yes good old fashioned Statistics. She was so good at it, in1858 she was the first female elected member of the Statistical Society of the UK and an honorary member of the American Statistical Association.

When you think about it you can see the connection. Because she was passionate about Statistics she was able to see and prove that disease was killing more troops than battle and then do something about it.

What about you? What is the deep down passion that lights your life up. What is it that you love doing and being beyond all else.

Michael Jordans passion is basketball. But most are unaware that his passion was such that he had written into his contract that he could play pickup games whenever he wanted. (For us non Americans this is playing with whoever is available on public sites) He just wanted to play basketball whenever he felt like it. There is no doubt that it was his passion that made him so brilliant, so extraordinary.

Go on.. you can tell yourself. There is no need to tell others. Just have a go and tell yourself.

What is that love that stirs you up – that love that others may not be interested in but is so important to you. What is it that makes you forget time? What is it that you love doing?

We all have it. We all have at least one thing that we are passionate about.

Whats yours?

The bottom line is; passion is motivating. Passion is more motivating that money.
Passion energises and transforms you. When you are passionate about something then you enter that flow state where time stands still. You are so focussed. You are really in tune with yourself.

Go on try it.

Good Luck

Graham and Julie
www.desktop-meditation.com