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Posts Tagged ‘People’

1. You may not like most of the career tests.

To begin with, some people hate all tests. End of story. Forcing a career tests on your best friend could lead to your premature demise.

Other people like tests, but hate particular kinds of questions. For example, some people dislike “forced-choice questions,” where they must pick between two choices that are equally bad, in their view.

Other people dislike “ranking yourself against others” questions, because, with their low self-esteem, they rank themselves poorly in comparison with “others” in almost everything.

Other people do not like “pick occupations you like” questions, because they’ve learned by experience that all occupations, as commonly practiced, are a mixture of good and bad, and they keep thinking of the bad stuff, when each occupation is mentioned.

Other people do not like questions about how they would behave in certain situations, because they tend to pick how they wish they would behave, rather than how in fact they actually do.

The career test has to feel right to the individual who is taking it.

2. There is no career test that gives better results than others.

You may take a test that gives wonderful suggestions for future careers, but when your best friend takes the same test, their results may be way off the mark. How did that happen?

Tests have personality. With respect to a given test, one person will love its look, feel, taste, and touch, while another person will hate it on sight. Unfortunately, how one feels about a test will definitely twist your results.

3. No career test should be considered to be accurate.

We turn to tests with the hope that someone can definitely tell you who you are and what you should do. A definite no no.

Test results are sometimes way off the mark. On many online tests, if you answer even two questions inaccurately, you will get completely wrong results and recommendations.

There are countless sad stories about people whose lives were sent down a completely wrong path by test ‘results’ that they believed when they should not have. You should take all test results with not just a grain of salt, but with a barrel.

Tests have one great mission and purpose: To give you ideas you have not thought of and suggestions worth following up. But if you ask them to do more than that, you are dreaming. Also do not forget to take several career tests, rather than just one. You will get a much better picture of your preferences, profile, and good career suggestions from three or more tests, rather than just one.

4. Always trust your intuition to be your guide.

You know more about yourself than any career test does. Treat no test outcome as ‘gospel’. Reject the summary the test gives you, if it just seems dead wrong to you.

Trust your intuition. On the other hand, if you really like the suggestions the career test gave you, do not agonize about whether those suggestions are worth tracking down. Just do it and listen to your heart.

Career tests are fun, but reading the results is not enough. You are not done until you have thought hard about what distinguishes you from every other member of the human race.

Nothing wrong with taking all the career tests you can handle until you finally realize that you are a unique individual.

How can one person “think out of the box?” This should be done independently, but how?  Here’s an example: Cut a cake into eight slices but you have to make no more than three cuts.  Most people will have trouble coming up with a way to cut the cake.  But to solve this, you have to change the way you look at the cake and how to cut it.  One perfect solution is to cut the cake into two equal sizes and put the other half on top of the other.  Cut it again in half then stack the other half pieces on top of one another and cut them again.  There you go, that’s thinking out of the box.

Another example of thinking out of a box is this:  Here are four words…  subtract, multiply, add, decrease…  Now which one does not belong to the group?  Mostly people would right away say that the word “decrease” does not belong.  Why?  Because all the other three words are mathematical jargons and the latter is not.  Well, that’s not thinking out of the box, if you think out of the box, the answer would be the word “add” since it only has three letters while all the other have six and more.  You could give a lot of right answers but the one that shows more creativity stands out.

The prevailing component in the way our minds work is inserting some changes from past experiences and processes.  Another good sample is when you are asked two days that starts with the letter “T”.  Your answer would probably be Tuesday and Thursday.  Hey, how about Tomorrow and Today?  Well, that is out of the box all right.  Companies try to test a new product and are sure they are getting a design at a reasonable cost.  They look at things in the business and think that objectives will work just as planned.  But these things sound monotonous already, for they only think using the past as patterns.  Patterns are helpful since they help finish tasks such as driving, eating or drinking.  However, these are the same patterns that make it hard for people to think out of the box and create alternative solutions to a dilemma especially when challenged with unwanted data.

One important move to break the pattern is trying to reverse patterns, designs or solutions and arouse new interest.  Take thing as they are and turn them inside out, upside down, or simply turn them around and you’ll be surprised with the result.  This was Henry Ford’s personal experience.  His conventional plan was to just “bring people to work.”  He tried to change all this into: “bring work to the people.”  This plan generated more revenues.

Another way to bring out other solutions to simple problems and situations is to not think about the subject.  If you want to bring about something more creative, think not of the part of the problem itself, rather, think of people or subjects in motion and then use the abstract formation or design as a stimulus for a new design.

But to think out of the box, never shy away from the fact that some of your ideas could really be crazy enough.  This could break rigidity of thinking and present a way to sift the harebrained and irrational.  This gives the thinker more freedom to think out of the box and reinvent things in way they have never been arranged before.  What you could do is list several odd or absurd ideas about a certain problem.

Letting go of the question will release the stress you are undergoing by trying to “squeeze” the creativity. Once you let it go, all the power of the universe is free to find a solution and the solution will come to you when you least expect it.

In much more real life scenarios, you could think out of the box for fun.  You can practice fun trouble-making stuff without hurting anyone by saying or doing the unexpected.  But make sure that you do this first to persons you already know to avoid conflicts and negative confrontations.  Say, a buddy asks for the time, automatically you would look at your wrist watch which is a result of the stimulus-response theory.  Thinking out of the box, why not say something crazy like, “Oh it’s time for a vengeance,” then head toward the door.  Watch their reaction as they go into total confusion and trance as you have totally mixed things up in their heads and interrupted their thinking pattern.  (Don’t forget to apologize afterwards)

Thinking out of the Box or usually known as creative thinking seeks to design new and really creative arrangement of elements to produce a work of art.  Being an out of the box thinker can be a rewarding profession.  This is dangerous, but it could be one of your strengths in no time.  If the herd is going to the right, you go the other way.

Remember that you could be genius in your own way.  Your thoughts come from deep reaches and these totally different ideas are clever enough to make a difference in the end.  Being creative and out of the box is wild sometimes, but could move you through growth and self-development.  You’ll be surprised at how easy and differently it will be for you to fix and try to solve things away from the tried-and-true habits.  Let your thinking out of the old box be your guide to a new and better, wonderful approach to life.

A lot of places around the world call it A Curriculum Vitae, in North America, it’s a Résumé. This is definitely one of the most important tools that any jobseeker has at their disposal. You may be THE best candidate for a particular job by a long way, however, if you don’t make it to the interview stages the company will never know.

Many companies (especially the larger corporations) will use computer software to “read” all the résumé’s and reject any that don’t fit a particular template. This may seem unfair, but it’s cost effective.

So, for some jobs you have to beat the computer and still read well enough for someone who may not have any knowledge of the position you are applying for. It is definitely worthwhile to adapt your resume for the position that is advertised. There may well be some of the “buzz” words the “filter” is looking for mentioned in the job description.

It is very important that you can substantiate all the claims you make, preferably with physical examples or letters. This will be essential in any in interview situation.

There is now a wealth of information available online, from books, local employment offices and with professional writing agencies. You can also access other people’s résumé’s that are posted online which will give some great ideas for style and content.

Professional writers may seem the answer, but, all the research I have done seems to lean away from them. I have never used one and feel that it will give a good impression if you have written it yourself (this will display literacy). Apparently, if they are professionally written, they are easy to spot; however, they may be worth the expense if you are stuck. You can always “customise” what has been written to make it your own work.

In my case, I had been in the military since I left school and had never written a resume or had an interview. I spent a lot of time writing, copying other people’s styles and changing things. I didn’t realise how difficult it is to catch up on 16 years - I’ll never allow mine to go out of date again! I found the hardest part was to actually start writing. The best advice I was given was to just write anything that you can think of and it will soon start to flow. With modern word processors it’s relatively quick and easy to cut and paste so you can keep on changing it until you are happy. More detailed information can be found at http://www.onestopimmigration-canada.com/resume.html

Good Luck!

Creating a résumé or CV is central to the search for a job, but is something most of us hate doing.  Unfortunately, very few people are adept at presenting themselves in the best possible light and this can mean their application is rejected at the first hurdle.

One of the biggest mistakes most people make is sending out the same résumé for every application. It’s a big temptation – you’ve spent hours getting the details and layout just right, or perhaps you’ve paid a considerable amount of money to have someone write it professionally. The trouble is, each résumé needs to be tailored to the job in question, and it’s vital that you do this if you want to stand out from the crowd.

What does tailoring a résumé mean? It simply means writing it specifically for the post you are targeting. To do this you must recognise the keywords the employer will be looking for and relate them to your own experience. Keywords will be found in the job description and person specification, or in the job advertisement and on the company website. They describe the skills, qualifications and experience needed for the post. Keywords should stand out on your résumé – don’t forget that in the first round of the selection process, résumé s are usually only given a 20 second glance. So if the interviewer doesn’t see what he’s looking for, your résumé is destined for the shredder.

Here’s an example of targeting: let’s say you are a secretary who speaks several languages and can take shorthand in all of them, but are applying for a job in an office where only English and audio are used. Languages and shorthand, impressive as they are, would not be the most prominent skills on your résumé. Instead, you would focus on the skills required, which might be fast typing, advanced Excel or Powerpoint. Languages and shorthand would be mentioned briefly, perhaps under the heading “Additional Skills.”

Another common mistake, usually made by older applicants, is including their entire work and educational history. It’s usual (in the UK) for CVs to go back only 10 years in terms of work and if you have a degree, school qualifications can be omitted, unless specifically requested or relevant. Employers occasionally ask for a full CV, in which case you do have to include everything.

Choosing the wrong format can also condemn your résumé to the bin - different styles work best in specific situations. Many people stick to the chronological résumé, but this is not always the most appropriate. It works well if you have been steadily progressing up the ladder in a particular career, or if your most recent jobs are likely to impress the company you hope to work for.

A skills-based or functional résumé is great if you have gaps in your work history, as you can use it to highlight the fact that you have exactly the skills the employer is looking for. It’s also useful if you are moving to a new career or area of work and your work experience isn’t completely relevant.

A targeted résumé is aimed at a precise job or career, for example if you retrained as a teacher in your 30s or 40s and were applying for a teaching post, your work-related heading might be “Teaching Experience” and your main skills would all be relevant to teaching, for example using IT in the classroom and curriculum development. For soft skills, such as communication skills and team work, you would use examples from your teaching career.

You may need to have different styles of résumé for different applications. If we use the previous example of the secretary, she might have had a series of language related jobs and is now applying for linguist and non linguist posts. She could choose a chronological résumé for the language jobs and a functional résumé for the others.

To sum up, individualise every résumé for the job concerned, choose the most suitable format for the situation and remember: keywords must jump out at the reader in the first 20 seconds.

© Waller Jamison 2005

The teaching industry is filled with competition for just a few jobs available in certain areas, so knowing how to write a resume for teachers is a very important part of getting in front of the school board and getting your own classroom.  I know this from experience as I am currently looking for my first teaching position having just graduated from college.  There really is an art to knowing how to write a resume for teachers.  Here are a few things I have learned.

What administrators care about on your resume is your teaching experience.  They also like to see any brief outlines of unique lesson plans or advancements that you have made in the classroom.  If you belong to any organizations, you should always include that on your resume as well as any achievements and awards you have been given as a result of your teaching career or your teacher education.

Always list what type of certification you have along with what grades you are available to teach and any endorsements you have gotten in your education.  If you have attended classes other than those required by your educational program, you should also include this information.

Some people, when learning how to write a resume for teachers want to show their creativity in the classroom on their resumes.  As long as it does not get out of hand, we think this could be a great way to set you apart from the hundreds of other applicants.  Maybe you will want to include a picture of yourself in the classroom or some pictures of you with your children.  Perhaps you want to include a border around the outside of your resume with apples or chalkboards.  If you are going to take a step like this, however, please be cautious and know where you are applying.  Often, small, rural schools prefer this type of resume rather than the larger ones, so keep that in mind!

Make sure that you also include any organizations you belong to and any offices you have held or are holding within these organizations.  For teachers, membership in the National Education Association, The International Association of Reading, and such can be very important.

Knowing how to write a resume for teachers is not much different than writing a resume for any other job.  However, you will want to include information on the resume that shows what you can do as a teacher and how you will approach the classroom environment.  Then you will know how to write a resume for teachers that can get you into the school and on to a great job!