When you are interviewing for a job, it is important to remember that this is your one and perhaps only opportunity to represent yourself in the hopes of landing the job. Therefore, treat such opportunities with due respect.
Do not be late! If from the very beginning you are unable to make an appointment on time, imagine what the employer will think. Be 15 minutes early. Often the employer will have you fill out a job application during this time so that you are ready when the interviewer is ready to see you.
Do not be unprepared! I take a folder with me that contains all of the information regarding my employment history, such as references and their contact information, former employers, addresses phone numbers, responsibilities, salary history, etc. If you have not interviewed for a while, I highly recommend finding someone willing to do a mock job interview with you. If you know someone who is a hiring manager, they could really help you when it comes to knowing what to say and do verses what not to say or do. Also, make sure your resume is perfect, without any errors of any kind.
If during the interview you are asked an open question such as, “Tell me about yourself”, do not answer by talking about your personal life, hobbies or interests. Use the question as an opportunity to explain why you are right for the job rather than talking about your hobbies and personal interests.
A good interviewer will open up the interview at some point to allow you to ask questions. It’s best to wait until then to ask your questions. Until then, allow the interview to set the direction. Don’t ask about salary or hourly wage or benefits until it is appropriate. Generally questions of this nature should be asked later, rather than sooner during the interview. Ask if there will be a second or third interview. If so, it’s best to wait until the later interviews to ask about benefits and compensation.
And finally, make sure to follow up quickly with a phone call or a brief written thank you letter or note.
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Changing Careers
I’ve done it twice now. It’s not easy. If you are looking to make a career change, I can offer some advice.
1. It’s a profound, life-changing event, so really think it through and decide what you want to do before doing it.
2. Be realistic. Expect it to be difficult, not impossible, but difficult. Save money and plan ahead. Expect that you will have to start at the bottom and work your way up. Even if you are advanced in your current career, do not expect that to give you much of a head start in your new career – even though you might think or know it should. It’s currently an employer’s market. You will likely have to start at a low wage. You may have to take an internship.
3. If you are serious about making the change, do anything and everything you can to show prospective employers that you are serious. Research, read, network, volunteer, join professional groups, and/or consider going to school. Anything you can do to bolster your vocational knowledge or experience will likely make you more attractive as a job candidate.
4. Write your new resume for your new career. Your new resume should be fashioned for your new career, not your old one.
5. Talk to people. Talk to people who have made career changes. They may have very valuable thoughts about it. Talk to people who work in the career you want. They may offer valuable insights as well.
6. When you finally get a job related to your new career, respect it and work smartly and show your employer they made a good decision to hire you. That way you will advance and grow and increase your income.
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
1. It’s a profound, life-changing event, so really think it through and decide what you want to do before doing it.
2. Be realistic. Expect it to be difficult, not impossible, but difficult. Save money and plan ahead. Expect that you will have to start at the bottom and work your way up. Even if you are advanced in your current career, do not expect that to give you much of a head start in your new career – even though you might think or know it should. It’s currently an employer’s market. You will likely have to start at a low wage. You may have to take an internship.
3. If you are serious about making the change, do anything and everything you can to show prospective employers that you are serious. Research, read, network, volunteer, join professional groups, and/or consider going to school. Anything you can do to bolster your vocational knowledge or experience will likely make you more attractive as a job candidate.
4. Write your new resume for your new career. Your new resume should be fashioned for your new career, not your old one.
5. Talk to people. Talk to people who have made career changes. They may have very valuable thoughts about it. Talk to people who work in the career you want. They may offer valuable insights as well.
6. When you finally get a job related to your new career, respect it and work smartly and show your employer they made a good decision to hire you. That way you will advance and grow and increase your income.
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Technology Today
I believe the job market has changed perhaps more in the last twenty years than during any other time in history. More recently, the slow economy has contributed to a fair share of change. But it seems major changes in the workplace have been due to ever-changing technology.
In order to function well in the job market today, it is almost an absolute requirement to have strong technology skills. At the very least, you most likely need good computer skills. But in addition to computer skills, you should have good technology skills in general. In other words, you should be able to compute, process, print, copy, scan, fax, e-mail, text message and archive.
Not every job requires a high degree of technology skills, but overall, most jobs nowadays require a fair amount of computer or technology skills. If you find yourself behind in these skills, you’ll likely also fall behind in the job market. So what are you waiting for? Don’t let time slip away. There’s no time like the present. If you want the dream job of tomorrow, you had better get up to speed with your technology skills today.
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
In order to function well in the job market today, it is almost an absolute requirement to have strong technology skills. At the very least, you most likely need good computer skills. But in addition to computer skills, you should have good technology skills in general. In other words, you should be able to compute, process, print, copy, scan, fax, e-mail, text message and archive.
Not every job requires a high degree of technology skills, but overall, most jobs nowadays require a fair amount of computer or technology skills. If you find yourself behind in these skills, you’ll likely also fall behind in the job market. So what are you waiting for? Don’t let time slip away. There’s no time like the present. If you want the dream job of tomorrow, you had better get up to speed with your technology skills today.
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Stay up on your Math!
Math is an incredible tool. We use it in so many aspects of our lives, often taking for granted the regularity with which we use math in our daily strife. Math is needed to balance our checkbooks. It is used in the culinary arts, engineering, computer science, medicine and the insurance industry. It is used on Wall Street and to predict the weather. Math is in music and the stars. Math is a language that speaks of the universe. It describes energy, trajectories, orbits, and the structural integrity of buildings and bridges. Math is literally everywhere at all times.
I honestly cannot think of a single profession or art where math isn’t needed one way or the other. Even if you don’t think you need or use math, I bet you do. But math serves not only as an excellent tool, but also as a means to get some exercise. I’m not talking about a physical workout! I’m talking about a mental workout. Your brain is like a muscle. Exercise does a muscle good. And being practiced in the art of the logic of math will help you to respond more quickly and accurately to any kind of problem that requires logic solve. Math – it does a brain good.
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
I honestly cannot think of a single profession or art where math isn’t needed one way or the other. Even if you don’t think you need or use math, I bet you do. But math serves not only as an excellent tool, but also as a means to get some exercise. I’m not talking about a physical workout! I’m talking about a mental workout. Your brain is like a muscle. Exercise does a muscle good. And being practiced in the art of the logic of math will help you to respond more quickly and accurately to any kind of problem that requires logic solve. Math – it does a brain good.
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Education is Freedom
Education lifts you and propels you. Knowledge is power. Education is a freeing force. In previous blogs I’ve discussed constant improvement and talked about stepping out of your comfort zones. Continually improve yourself. Get out of your comfort zones. Expand your horizons and keep learning and growing.
I know someone whose parents it seems seldom encouraged her to try or do things herself. It seems they did most everything for her. Now, as an adult, she struggles. My point is that learning should be a habit. Make it a habit to try and do things yourself. The more you do, the more you’ll learn.
Last winter my truck would sometimes not start in the cold. I didn’t want to have to spend a lot of money to fix the problem. I was pretty confident my starter was going bad. I had never replaced a starter before. After a quick Internet search, I found a video showing how to replace a starter. After a trip to the auto parts store, I had the starter replaced all by myself. It feels good to be able to learn and do things yourself.
Education comes in many shapes, sizes and flavors. We go to schools and get diplomas, degrees and certificates. But we all attend the school of life, or the school of hard knocks as well. And what’s on the curriculum is anything and everything. Life is an ongoing semester.
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
I know someone whose parents it seems seldom encouraged her to try or do things herself. It seems they did most everything for her. Now, as an adult, she struggles. My point is that learning should be a habit. Make it a habit to try and do things yourself. The more you do, the more you’ll learn.
Last winter my truck would sometimes not start in the cold. I didn’t want to have to spend a lot of money to fix the problem. I was pretty confident my starter was going bad. I had never replaced a starter before. After a quick Internet search, I found a video showing how to replace a starter. After a trip to the auto parts store, I had the starter replaced all by myself. It feels good to be able to learn and do things yourself.
Education comes in many shapes, sizes and flavors. We go to schools and get diplomas, degrees and certificates. But we all attend the school of life, or the school of hard knocks as well. And what’s on the curriculum is anything and everything. Life is an ongoing semester.
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Constant Improvement
Constant improvement is a topic one of my supervisors brought up in a staff meeting many years ago. It’s a philosophy. It’s about making things better. It’s a good idea. I’ve tried to make it a habit in my life because it works.
For example, years ago I started a contracting business and needed a way to provide prospective clients with a written quotation and contract when they accepted my bid. A number of my customers complained that other contractors gave them hand-written estimates. I agreed. This is not very professional.
Some contractors would mail their bids or revisit their customers to deliver bids. I did not want to spend my valuable time driving to a customer’s site a second time just to deliver a bid after having met with them a day or two before. Nor did I want to hand my customers a handwritten bid. My customers liked the fact that I handed them a professional bid the same day. It worked well for them and me as well.
I started off with a laptop and wrote a simple program to crunch a few estimate numbers and print out a professional looking estimate that also served as a contract when both I and my customers signed it. It worked great! But on many occasions, it would occur to me that my program would better if I did this or that. So, I would often improve my estimating program.
After just a year, my simple estimating program had turned into a rather elaborate, but very functional system that made my life much easier, saved me time, and made a good impression on my clients.
So the next time you think about something you could do to make something better, don’t just think about it! Do it, and then watch what happens over time. You may learn to enjoy the philosophy of constant improvement!
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
For example, years ago I started a contracting business and needed a way to provide prospective clients with a written quotation and contract when they accepted my bid. A number of my customers complained that other contractors gave them hand-written estimates. I agreed. This is not very professional.
Some contractors would mail their bids or revisit their customers to deliver bids. I did not want to spend my valuable time driving to a customer’s site a second time just to deliver a bid after having met with them a day or two before. Nor did I want to hand my customers a handwritten bid. My customers liked the fact that I handed them a professional bid the same day. It worked well for them and me as well.
I started off with a laptop and wrote a simple program to crunch a few estimate numbers and print out a professional looking estimate that also served as a contract when both I and my customers signed it. It worked great! But on many occasions, it would occur to me that my program would better if I did this or that. So, I would often improve my estimating program.
After just a year, my simple estimating program had turned into a rather elaborate, but very functional system that made my life much easier, saved me time, and made a good impression on my clients.
So the next time you think about something you could do to make something better, don’t just think about it! Do it, and then watch what happens over time. You may learn to enjoy the philosophy of constant improvement!
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Overcoming Road Blocks to Employment
Overcoming Road Blocks to Employment
In this economy, it’s an employer’s market. And, unfortunately, this means it can be much harder to land an interview. There are any number of reasons a person may be told they have been turned down and often those reasons seem unfair. It seems unfair that employers can check your credit rating and use it against you. There are a lot of people who, for no fault of their own, have lost their house, their business or their job. And now their credit rating isn’t what it used to be. To then be turned down because of this can be extremely frustrating and vexing.
Realize that it isn’t a company or corporation that turned you down. Instead, it was a human. And as long as there are human beings, there will be unfairness and differences of opinion. It’s unfortunate, but true. So what can we do about it?
First of all, I find that kicking and screaming, while serving to vent, doesn’t fix the problem and can often make things worse. Following the advice of others, I have discovered that it helps to actually embrace and accept it. Learn from it. That’s the first thing you can do. Just accept that the world can be unfair and move on. If someone rudely cut you off on the freeway, will you think about that person tomorrow or a week from now? And will that person even bother think about you? Probably not! They may already be down the road cutting someone else off!
What you can do is to make it a goal to become a hiring manager one day – one who makes fair hiring decisions. Or remind yourself that if the hiring manager unfairly turned you down (this can be a matter of opinion), you probably wouldn’t want to work for them anyways, right? Keep looking for work. The process is about finding a good match between the company and who gets hired. Part of that responsibility rests with employers. The other part is on you. If you were turned down for an unfair reason, it’s on YOU to move on by realizing this would not have been a good match.
Perhaps it will help to look at it as interview practice, which is a good thing. Even if you were turned down, the practice will make you better for your next interview. Never give up, and I mean NEVER!
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
In this economy, it’s an employer’s market. And, unfortunately, this means it can be much harder to land an interview. There are any number of reasons a person may be told they have been turned down and often those reasons seem unfair. It seems unfair that employers can check your credit rating and use it against you. There are a lot of people who, for no fault of their own, have lost their house, their business or their job. And now their credit rating isn’t what it used to be. To then be turned down because of this can be extremely frustrating and vexing.
Realize that it isn’t a company or corporation that turned you down. Instead, it was a human. And as long as there are human beings, there will be unfairness and differences of opinion. It’s unfortunate, but true. So what can we do about it?
First of all, I find that kicking and screaming, while serving to vent, doesn’t fix the problem and can often make things worse. Following the advice of others, I have discovered that it helps to actually embrace and accept it. Learn from it. That’s the first thing you can do. Just accept that the world can be unfair and move on. If someone rudely cut you off on the freeway, will you think about that person tomorrow or a week from now? And will that person even bother think about you? Probably not! They may already be down the road cutting someone else off!
What you can do is to make it a goal to become a hiring manager one day – one who makes fair hiring decisions. Or remind yourself that if the hiring manager unfairly turned you down (this can be a matter of opinion), you probably wouldn’t want to work for them anyways, right? Keep looking for work. The process is about finding a good match between the company and who gets hired. Part of that responsibility rests with employers. The other part is on you. If you were turned down for an unfair reason, it’s on YOU to move on by realizing this would not have been a good match.
Perhaps it will help to look at it as interview practice, which is a good thing. Even if you were turned down, the practice will make you better for your next interview. Never give up, and I mean NEVER!
We offer short-term Certificate programs for Professional Bookkeeping, Administrative Assistant, Office Management, Office Skills, Call Center/Customer Service, Microsoft Power User and Project Management bootcamp. We also offer Securities training for those interested in passing the Series 6 or Series 7 licensing tests. Please call us today at 303-755-6885 to learn more about exciting opportunities to make your future reality a good one!
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