34 Crucial Tips You Must Remember for Your Next Job Interview

34 Crucial Tips You Must Remember for Your Next Job Interview So youve applied for a job and landed yourself an interview congratulations!  Now is where you really need to think about your interview technique to ensure you  bag yourself the job. CollegeAtlas.org  have compiled 34 of the most important interview tips in the infographic below, to help you in your preparations. Takeaways: 38% of people dont smile during a job interview this  can cost you the job! First impressions are 55% decided by the way you dress, act and walk through the door. Dont try to be all things needed no-ones perfect! Failing to prepare is a big mistake! Stay away from bright or garish clothing! RELATED:  The Secret To A Successful  Interview

The Best Place to Network Local Coffee Shops - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Best Place to Network Local Coffee Shops - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Over the last several years, Ive drunk enough coffee to float a battleship, all in the name of building my personal brand, and networking with the people I needed to spend time with. The place I did it? Independent coffee shops nearly all of the time. Ive spent so much time in indie coffee shops â€" especially one in particular â€" that I am not only the mayor of it on Foursquare, but when we were between offices, my business partner and I worked out of there for four months before reluctantly returning to a real office. I even created a website for independent coffee shops around Indianapolis, called IndyIndieCoffee.com. The perfect meeting spot While having a meeting in someones office is okay, and meeting for lunch regularly is both expensive and fattening, theres something about meeting over coffee that lets you get in, talk about important stuff, and get out again. But it has to be in an independent coffee shop, not one of the Big Chain Coffee stores that litter our landscape like so many discarded paper cups. I like hanging out in independent coffee shops for three reasons: I can support local businesses If you visit Big Chain Coffee, or any other national chain, of every dollar you spend, 13 cents stays in your local economy. But if you visit an independent coffee shop, 40 cents of every dollar stays. And since I run a small local business, I need to support other small local businesses. By making sure Im known in some of the indie coffee shops in my city, Im also earning the reputation as someone who supports local business. So when the time comes, theyll be more interested in supporting me. All the entre-commuters hang out in the indie shops An entre-commuter â€" an entrepreneur who telecommutes (my partner and I made that up a couple years ago) â€" needs a place to sit and work for a few hours without a lot of blasting music and hard walls that echo sound. They want a place where the noise level is manageable, and can be blocked out with a set of earbuds. The Big Chain Coffee places blast you with giant walls of sound, CDs of which you can then buy at the cash register. Also, entre-commuters will form little networks of their own. David over there is a new graphic designer. Shelley is a budding WordPress programmer. As the two meet and get to know each other, they can start passing business back and forth to each other. But, David and Shelley wont meet if they dont have a regular place to hang out. And they wont have a regular place as long as they keep visiting Big Chain Coffee, whose ambient noise is so loud that people can barely have a normal conversation, let alone discuss important business details. Indie shops love their regulars Ive been lucky in that the few coffee shops I frequent all know me. Im like Norm in some of these places. Some of the baristas even know my drink, and have it ready for me as soon as I walk in the door. If I dont show up for a couple of days, they know it, and ask me about it when I return. Once, when I left my cell phone in the shop, one of the baristas messaged me on Facebook and told me about it. (Bonus: we were already Facebook friends to begin with). I just dont get that kind of treatment at Big Chain Coffee. Oh sure, theyre nice people, theyre very friendly, and theyre kind to their mothers. But when they have hundreds of people streaming through their doors every day â€" another reason why its hard for entre-commuters to get any work done â€" they dont remember everyones name, let alone their coffee order. If youre looking for a place to meet with customers and potential business partners, or just a place to check in for a few hours and do some work, find an independent coffee shop where you feel comfortable, and the noise, music, lighting and wifi speed are to your liking. Make it your own by spending a few hours in there at a time, talking with the baristas and becoming friends with them, and getting to know several of the regulars as well. You never know what opportunities will be found across the table from a fellow entre-commuter. Just make sure you buy some coffee every time you visit. No one likes a freeloader. Author: Erik Deckers is the co-owner and VP of Creative Services for Professional Blog Service in Indianapolis. He has been blogging since 1997, has been a published writer for more than 24 years, and a newspaper humor columnist for 17 years. Erik co-authored Branding Yourself: Using Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself (Pearson, 2010) and also helped write Twitter Marketing for Dummies.

You cant manage your work life if you cant talk about it

You cant manage your work life if you cant talk about it Recently I ran the following twitter: Im in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because theres a fucked-up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin. Why the uproar over this twitter? Not only have bloggers written whole posts about the disgustingness of it, but 70 people unfollowed me, and people actually came to my blog and wrote complaints about the twitter on random, unrelated posts. So, to all of you who think the twitter was outrageous, think about this: Most miscarriages happen at work. Twenty-five percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage. Seventy-five percent of women who are of child-bearing age are working. Most miscarriages run their course over weeks. Even if you are someone who wanted the baby and are devastated by the loss, youre not going to sit in bed for weeks. You are going to pick up your life and get back to it, which includes going back to work. This means that there are thousands of miscarriages in progress, at work, on any given day. That we dont acknowledge this is absurd. That it is such a common occurrence and no one thinks its okay to talk about is terrible for women. Throughout history, the way women have gained control of the female experience is to talk about what is happening, and what its like. We see that womens lives are more enjoyable, more full, and women are more able to summon resilience when women talk openly about their lives. To all of you who said a miscarriage is gross: Are you unaware that the same blood you expel from a miscarriage is what you expel during menstruation? Are you aware that many people are having sex during menstruation and getting it on the sheets? Are you aware that many women actually like period sex? Wait. Here is a link I love, at askmen.com, telling men that women like it so much that men need to be aware of this preference. To all of you who are aghast that I let myself get pregnant: having sex is playing with odds. There are no 100% sure methods of birth control. I am 42 years old. The likelihood of someone my age getting pregnant even with fertility treatment is less than 5%. The likelihood that a pregnancy in someone my age ends in a miscarriage is almost 75%. This means that even if I had done nothing for birth control it would have been as effective as a 25-year-old using a condom. So everyone who is complaining that Im an idiot for getting pregnant should go buy a calculator. To all of you who said I should not be happy about having a miscarriage: You are the ones short on empathy. Any woman who is pregnant but wishes she werent would of course be grateful when she has a miscarriage. Yes, there are many women who want the baby and have a miscarriage. I was one of them. I cried for days. I get it. But if you have ever had an abortion, which I have, you would know that a miscarriage is preferable to an abortion. Even the Pope would agree with that. And what is up with the fact that just one, single person commented about how Wisconsin has a three-week waiting period for abortions? It is absolutely outrageous how difficult it was going to be for me to get an abortion, and its outrageous that no one is outraged. Wisconsin is one of twelve states that have 24-hour waiting periods. This puts a huge burden on an overworked system. These are also the states where there are few ways to get an abortion. For example, in Wisconsin, the only place to get abortion that is covered by insurance is at a Planned Parenthood clinic. There are 3 of them in all of Wisconsin. In Chicago, you can get an abortion at Planned Parenthood with less than 24 hours notice. In Wisconsin, there is a week and a half wait to get the first meeting and a week and half wait to get the abortion. A digression: Im linking to Planned Parenthood so everyone can make a donation. This organization is enabling women to have the right to abortion. Planned Parenthood seems to be the only effective, community-level force against states that are attempting to legislate the choice into oblivion. To all of you who think this has nothing to do with work: I think what really upsets people is the topic. We are not used to talking about the female experience, and especially not in the context of work. But so what? We can start now. The female experience is part of work. What we talk about when we talk about work defines how we integrate work into our lives. If work is going to support our lives, then we need to talk about how our lives interact with work. We need to be honest about the interaction if we hope to be honest about our work.

How I improved my morning routine

How I improved my morning routine When I was a single parent, I would get up at 6am to get ready before my kids woke up â€" all advice for how to get ready in the morning recommends this. But then the kids realized that if they woke up early they could watch videos, because what else is there to give the kids to keep them from fighting? So then Id get up at 5:30, to get ready for work in peace, and then the kids got up at 5:30 with me. They won the alarm-clock arms race. So I had to make another plan. I read reams of rants and rational advice about getting out of the house in the morning. Heres what is working so far: 1. Get a schedule and stick to it. I made a visual schedule for each of us, which I learned about from my sons occupational therapist because people with Aspergers often forget what they are doing next, or get anxious if they dont have a clear list of tasks. It helped a lot, but it didnt overcome having two boys doing the tasks at the same time. Can someone tell me when brothers stop fighting with each other over everything? And are we the only family that has a violent wedgie problem after reading Captain Underpants? 2. Forget the Norman Rockwell vision of breakfast. I almost never listen to advice about what to feed kids because when my first son was sixteen months old, he was failure to thrive. He basically stopped eating, due to sensory integration issues, and his energy got so low that he stopped being able to pull himself up to standing. He was just days from being admitted to the hospital when a doctor told me I had to get fat into him. I said, What about vitamins? And the doctor said that before a child is three, fat is what really matters. I was shocked. I followed my son around all day with spoonfuls of butter, and I kept him out of the hospital until a feeding therapist could force-feed him other high-fat content foods, like, ice cream and French fries. So look, after living through that, I am not susceptible to articles about parents stressing that their kids dont eat enough vegetables. Whatever. I mean, theyre eating. Just be grateful. 3. Skip sugar in the morning. Its like crack. But I do think that if my kids eat sugar for breakfast, they will have a sugar crash before lunch, at school, and sneaking a sugar-laden pick-me-up is not going to fly with the teachers. So I make them eat stuff without extra sugar. The farmer eats hamburger for breakfast. No kidding. He thinks a meal is not a meal without meat, and he used to eat pork for breakfast, but if you want to know what it looks like to have Jews on a pig farm, picture an Egg McMuffin with a hamburger in it. The kids arent going for that. They want to know why they cant have Sugar Pops. Theres a free Nintendo in each box! they tell me. I tell them its only the potential to win one in each box. But that they will not win one. They think Im a pessimist and they continue to clamor. This makes me think I should market the farmers beef as hotdogs with the potential to win a dream team to kill the Pokemon Elite Four. My fine print will say, One winner every ten years. And offer applies only to people who have all their Pokemon at level 80 or higher. 4. Reward good behavior. The kids get a star each morning they successfully follow the plan, and they can use twenty stars to get a new Pokemon cartridge. Wait. Are there any Pokemon geniuses here? Because I am convinced that video games are educational, Ive been letting my kids become completely obsessed over Pokemon Platinum. But I started reading about it, because honestly I had no idea if its a cult or what, but it turns out that the game is actually very collaborative. People always ask me what Generation Z will be like. First of all, I think they will all be great at getting ready for work in the morning because their moms were so structured in the morning so they werent late for work. But also, generation Z will be exceptionally collaborative because they are playing games like Pokemon that you cant win unless you collaborate, via electronics. For example, my son somehow figured out how to trade Pokemon on his DSi without me ever telling him it was possible. And then he started begging me to go to Madison, which he normally hates driving to because it always means he has a violin lesson. I thought it meant that all the structure I am providing with violin has finally made him love the idea of schedules leading to achievement. But he wants to go to Madison really only so he can find other kids, via some DSi built-in tool, to trade with. So the Gen Z workforce will expect to work in teams constantly, from their remote locations. This is a good time to link to the location independent site that blows me away with the communitys assumption that working remotely is a God-given right. Because I think, in ten years, it will be. What will people with Aspergers do? Collaboration is not our strength, after all. And if you talk about Gen Z, you have to also talk about Aspergers because no generation will have more kids diagnosed with this. Ever. My son decided that he needed a second DSi and a second cartridge (Pokemon Perl) so that he could be both himself and the friend he needs to trade with. 5. Try breaking some rules. I think a lot about how a generation of Asperger-diagnosed workers will change corporate America. Maybe the people with Aspergers will be the innovators. This is what I was thinking when: I tried making waffles for my kids every morning. All advice says do not make fancy breakfasts on school days, but I thought this would shake things up. It did. But in a bad way. I tried drinking. The house manager arrived at the house shortly after I got the kids to school and recommended some wine as a way to cope. At first I thought she was crazy, but then I thought: This is thinking out of the box. I tried having my house manager come early, to help me. I did not actually think of this. I like to think of it as crowdsourcing my morning routine. Commenters told me to hire someone. And it worked. But now that Im married, it seems to me that I should be able to get the kids out of the house by following the mainstream advice in magazines. The farmer helps me as I move the kids through getting dressed, doing farm chores, practicing their instruments, and eating breakfast. By the time we get to breakfast, I am so in love with the kids for getting through everything else, that I become a short-order cook. Today I made quesadillas for my five-year-old and oatmeal for my seven-year-old. The older one announced that the light in the house was too bright and he needed to eat his oatmeal with sunglasses. Fine, I said. Get yourself a spoon. Then he announced that the smell of quesadillas was making him sick. I dont believe it, I said. Youve been eating quesadillas since you were three. You love them. No, he said. They are disgusting. Im going to throw up they smell so bad. And then he did. Clean it up before you eat your oatmeal, I said. I have to be very casual about his throwing up. He can do it on demand and I cant let him control me by grossing me out. If nothing else, he could threaten my stream of family productivity with the threat of throwing up, and this would make morning routines impossible. Such clear thinking makes me feel like a smart mom when I say clean it up, but only at home. Saying the same thing in public sounds heartless and does not go over well with bystanders. While my older son is earnestly cleaning up vomit by using a dry paper towel to spread it around so the whole house will smell like vomit in an hour, my youngest sees an opportunity to improvise our morning script and he turns the quesadilla into a space ship. I am about to remind the kids where we are in our visual schedule when my older son goes outside on the porch to eat. I tell him, Good job finding a solution to your problem. And I pat myself on the back that Ive made it through another morning without tearing my heart out.

Forging a Career in the Police Force Where You Live

Forging a Career in the Police Force Where You Live No matter where you live in the world there is going to be a call for people to join the police force. And, you can answer that call by, well, forging yourself a long and successful career as a policeman or policewoman!Photo Credit â€" Pixabay.comFor specific advice on how to do so if you live in the UK, the U.S. or Canada, make sure to read on.UKevalIn the UK it is widely recognised that extensive amounts of education and training must take place in order to join the police force â€" that’s just the way it is.evalNow, this training could come in the form of heading to university and taking a degree in policing for three to four years. Or, this could come in the form of taking anapprenticeshipin the field.By taking the latter option, you would be able to earn while your learn and obtain for yourself a policing qualification that is recognised nationally. More importantly, however, you will learn skills that will stand you in good stead in your future policing career.U.S.A.In order to join the U.S. police force you won’t have to go through as much formal education, but you will have to take extensive and specialized training instead.If you were to attempt to become a policeman or policewoman in the U.S., a high school diploma is the minimum formal education required. But, this doesn’t mean that this is an easy task, because after high school you would have to head to a police academy in either local, regional or state level in order to take your policing training.And,this academyis not going to be a walk in the park, not by a long shot. Here you will take part in everything from going out and being in the car on a real life day of policing First of all, you have to be proficient in English and/or French â€" that much is a must.Second, of all, you’re going to have to have obtained a degree in public safety from an institute of higher education, such as the Combined Honours BA inCriminology and Policing degreeoffered by Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario. Once you can prove you have these things, only then can you even think about getting trained specifically in the Canadian police force.So, whether you live in the UK, the U.S., Canada or absolutely anywhere else in the world, just know that you will always be able to become a policeman or a policewoman and put on that famousuniform.And, if this is your dream, then make sure you chase it!

Top ratings for our conference - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Top ratings for our conference - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog The participant feedback from our 1st International Conference on Happiness at Work is and it looks like we hit that one out of the park. Here are some of the participants comments: The fact that we had concrete examples and take aways of each speech, that all the people talking were super inspiring and had so many things to teach each and everyone of us! thank you so much for organizing, keep up the happy work! The whole event worked very well all seems to have been thought about. Excellent speakers and a very well prepared conference with a fantastic positive atmosphere. Awesome! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

How To Avoid Getting Fired

How To Avoid Getting Fired Being terminated from a job is scary. Reality is, it’s not always your fault, but in some cases, there may have been steps you could have taken to prevent it from happening. There are usually three reasons why you could get fired, says Debra Benton, co-author with Kylie Wright-Ford of the new book, The Leadership Mind Switch.?Debra shared with me the ways you can do something about two out of those three reasons. These are three reasons you could be fired and what you can do about it: You lie, steal, or cheat. Clearly this one is totally under your control. The simple resolution â€" don’t do it! The company is doing poorly. Weak sales or bad management could cause the necessary cutbacks. You likely have little control over either, unless you are the head of sales or the lousy boss in question. You require more managing than your boss is able to give you. This one is your own doing and you can do something about it. If you create more problems than your boss can handle, or if you make her job more difficult because you require excessive handholding or coddling, you are likely to get fired. Let’s look at this from your boss’s perspective. You are hired for one reason: to solve problems. Your function might be as an accountant, machine operator, or a technical advisor; your job is to get done what needs to get done. A good boss makes your job objective clear, provides tools to meet the objective, and is there to answer questions and guide you as needed. When you don’t listen to your boss, use the tools that are available to you, understand the objective, meet the objective, or abdicate your responsibility for understanding the boss’s needs, she can choose to give you the additional time and attention that others don’t need, or not. Occasionally that is expected and accepted. But if you continue to require too much of her time and attention to get your job done, she is going to make the decision to find someone who doesn’t. It’s that simple. So what can you do to make sure you don’t require more managing than your boss is able or willing to provide??Understand that your boss has bigger responsibilities over and above just managing you. Find out her own job objective and where you can help her. Do the best job you are capable of and check in to see if it met her objectives. Don’t whine, complain, be late on deadlines, spread gossip, or get involved in any activity that causes your boss to stop doing what she needs to do in order to deal with you. Yes, there are usually three reasons why you could get fired, and you control two of them. Two out of three isn’t bad! Join Dana Manciagli’s Job Search Master Class now and get the most comprehensive job search system available!