Job Skills That Are in Demand
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Job Skills That Make You Marketable
You go to a job interview, and the interviewer asks, “What sets you apart from the other people we have applying for this job?” You should never be without an answer to this question, since it’s so popular amongst interviewers. The question is trying to decide what qualifies as a skill that is highly attractive to employers. You should try to develop a skill that will answer the question, while still being applicable to the position. Typically, the skills that you cite are ones that are “soft” – things that fall into communication and personality.
For example, you may have “good computer skills”, but what does that mean? Perhaps you can create dynamite presentations. Or, maybe you use Photoshop on your off time, but are really excellent at it. Or, maybe you are a whiz at Excel due to the summer you spent working as a bookkeeper. Regardless of what it is that you can do, if you’re good at it, highlight it. Other software packages that are not as heavily used, such as Visio, may prompt an interviewer to ask what it is. This is a perfect opportunity to showcase that not only are you computer literate, but you are well rounded as well.
Computer Certification Program Helps
Computer certifications are one way that an IT professional can make themselves stand out. While a degree is sometimes required for an IT position, much of the emerging technology hasn’t filtered down into the college curriculum yet. Also, some certifications are very in depth and require real dedication over years of work to master what’s going to be on the exam. Everything from an A+ Certification to the CCIE looks great. If you’re going for positions in IT, pick your niche, and go for it. You won’t be sad that you did.
Useful Second Language
Learning a second language is pretty tough, especially if you didn’t grow up speaking multiple languages. Showcasing this on your resume will often pique an employer’s interest because it shows a high level of dedication to claim fluency in both English and Japanese. Being bilingual or even trilingual opens an array of jobs in the international sector, as well as opening new avenues.
Effective Communication Work
While many people don’t think of it, being an effective communicator is a learned skill. We are not innately born with the ability to communicate well, and learning these skills takes time and practice. There are a number of ways for you to learn how. Taking a class in communications can be a huge benefit to you, and give you a concrete example of how you have bettered yourself.
Measuring Soft Skills
One of the catches of soft skills is that it is often difficult to demonstrate that you have them, even after having taken a class. Be sure that if you take the time and money to put it on paper, you also practice it in your everyday life. Employers love to see their instincts about an interviewee be correct, so don’t give them a reason to regret hiring you.
For more information about job interviews and career development please check out our careers advice section on GKBusiness.
Read More»Writing a Resume for Reentering the Workforce
Writing a Resume for Reentering the Workforce.
Unemployment is running rampant throughout the country. Between that and the economy, many older people are seeking to reenter the workforce. Whether you are a former stay-at-home mother looking to add income to your family or are simply looking for a new position due to layoffs and cutbacks, finding a new job as a ‘grown-up’ poses it own unique set of challenges.
The old adage ‘you never get a second chance at a first impression’ holds true for all interviews, but even more so for the older worker. In many cases decades may have past since your last interview, so it’s important to take a close look at your appearance before you begin interviewing. Everything from shoes to hair should be examined. Is your hairstyle up to date? Is your
Suit Appropriate for your age? Keeping your look fresh and appropriate is the first step toward scoring big with your interviewer and avoiding a check mark in the ‘old guy’ box by interviewers who will typically be years younger than you.
Chances are the last time you interviewed, you used the classifieds or a headhunter – things will be different this time around. Social networking sites, job boards, email and more have brought the process of finding a job into the future. Learning how to use all of these technologies and sites is crucial if you hope to land a great new job. Don’t stop after checking out sites like Monster.com and Career Bank; make sure you utilize everything the Internet has to offer. Resume building sites can help you build the perfect resume and then customize it to fit different job postings. Social networking sites can group you with professionals in your area of expertise. Blogs can help you gain insight into new interviewing tactics. The Internet holds a wealth of information if you are willing to sit down and delve into it.
Spruce up your interview skills. Gone are the days of simple questions about your skill sets. Today’s interviews are designed to put you in the ‘what if position’ so it’s a great idea to practice answers to several likely questions. Also, because multiple people are interviewing for just one or two open positions, learn to use your ‘hellos’ as a way to advertise yourself. Instead of a simple ‘hello, my name is…,’ use that time to get into your interviewers mind. You want to stick out right from the beginning. Make sure when the interviewer is reviewing your resume later he or she thinks ‘Oh yeah, this is the one that….’
Finally, learn to blend the wisdom your experience has gained you with an understanding of the culture of GenX. Emphasize your belief in GenX concepts like teamwork, equal standing and a fluid workplace. Spend some time learning the buzzwords of the workplace today. Consider preparing a statement about the strength of multigenerational teams. This isn’t the same workplace anymore Dorothy!
As an older person seeking to reenter the workplace, it is easy to get overwhelmed by the process and the pressure. Spend your time researching jobs and lingo, update your look and be prepared for the long haul. Remember, finding a job is work too, so get up each and everyday as if you were heading off for a real job – it will pay off!
Read More»How to Get a Job Promotion
Asking for a Promotion
I know you’re thinking now is not the best time to ask for a promotion. Waiting out the recession can set your career back several years. If you ask at the wrong time and the wrong way, you’re worried you may never get a promotion. It’s as if you’ve been dating the same girl for about a year and you want to take it to next level. However, you’re scared that asking to move in will scare her away or you’ll get rejected.
It’s the same feeling many people get when asking for a pay raise or a promotion during a recession.
Pay raise or promotion?
Do you want a pay raise or a promotion? A pay raise is less likely than a promotion because companies are less likely to pay a person more for doing essentially the same job. Companies don’t like to give one person a pay raise because that creates jealousy among employees who do not receive raises because of straight finances. Your best shot at a raise is to work for a promotion. A promotion justifies a pay raise for you without having to explain why others don’t receive one.
Are you worth it?
Companies aren’t likely to give promotions to a person who is not worth it. Not when they’ve slashed jobs. Even if you’ve survived the cuts, make sure you have a realistic understanding of your worth.
Help me help you
Getting a promotion is first and foremost about what you can do for them in a new role. You must make sure your recent achievements and skills match their desires in a new person at that position. It helps to feel out with questions what you can do better and do those things before you seek a promotion. Before you ask for a promotion, consider taking an Online Course or finding a way to expand your value to the company. If you want them to make a commitment to you, you must do the same.
Know your limits
Jumping up two levels may not be likely in this climate. Companies are less apt to add supervisors than they are to simply demand more of their current ones. aim for what you know is a reasonable expectation for promotion.
In the same vein, a $10,000 or even 10 percent raise may be asking too much. Companies are faced with greater expenses, increased healthcare costs and decreased revenue. In this climate, don’t think about what’s the raise you want, so much as what’s fair for them to give you.
However, if you’re an irreplaceable part of the group, then expect the full raise you deserve. Still, don’t shoot it down if it’s not as high as you imagined.
Ask at the right time
The best time to ask for a raise is at the end of a successful project or outstanding sales period. When you’ve done your best work is the time to ask for it. If you’re coming off a slump or an even average period, it’s best to hold off.
Avoid the personal
Don’t talk about personal financial troubles or how much it’d help improve your finances. Employers want to know what you can do for them. Stay focused on your success and don’t distract them from what you can do to benefit the company.
If they reject you, ask to negotiate a few extra benefits. If they give you the promotion, bring your A game to work every day. Don’t ever make them second guess the investment they made in you.
Read More»Top 10 Mistakes Your Boss Doesn’t Want to Admit To
The top ten mistakes made by bosses
In today’s business world, common misconceptions and poor business decisions can lead to an unstable and unprofessional working relationship between an employer and those he employs. Whether you are starting your own businessa new or are a veteran of the business world, here is a list of the top ten mistakes made by bosses with some tips at how to avoid making these same mistakes in your business.
1. Failure to foster a professional working environment
As an employer, one should set the tone of the workplace and strive to insure that it continues to be a place where common courtesy, manners and respect are commanded. Maintaining professionalism in the workplace is paramount to the smooth-running of a business. Seeing to it that employees adhere to proper code of conduct, safety precautions and the general working order of the company should be a top priority for every employer.
2. Blurring the line between employer-employee relationships and friendship.It can be difficult to separate a working relationship from an existing or developing friendship with an employee(s) when times call for more of a professional approach. Employers can and should be on friendly and amicable terms with employees both in and out of the office while at the same time understanding that maintaining a professional working relationship inside the office is key.
3. Not putting enough trust in employees.
Exercising too much caution in duties assigned or roles given can signal to an employee that he may or may not be wasting his time working for a company who is reserved in its acceptance and trust of him. The flip side to this point leads us to the next point:
4. Putting too much trust in employees.
While it can be detrimental to the productivity and general good faith of one’s employees to hold back in the trust department, it is also not a good idea to have a sort of blind faith in one’s employees. Placing too much faith or trust in an employee you may not know well enough to do so can be a bad business move.
5. Unwillingness to listen to the team you employ.
Putting a team in place to carry out a company’s daily operations, brainstorm new ideas, and oversee the success of a business means a great deal. Employers should listen to concerns, ideas and suggestions with an open mind, and not shoot down an earnest attempt to better the business.
6. Managing by proxy.
Do not let someone else do your job as an employer. You are the boss, and it is your responsibility to lead. Make decisions and stand by to enforce them.
7. Discussing matters of one employee with other employees.
It can be tempting to vent to one employee about another, but this is highly unprofessional and detrimental to the integrity of a business. Employers should refrain from badmouthing employees to others, or discussing private, confidential details in a non-business related manner.
8. Failure to provide regular and consistent employee reviews.
It is important to let employees know where their job performance rates as a means of setting a goal to which they can excel. Regular employee or peer reviews can provide a road map for advancement opportunities to employees.
9. Lack of compensation or advancement opportunities.
Rewarding an employee for exemplary performance and improvement to the business is not necessarily calculated monetarily, but can be any number of things. Provide employees with encouragement and positive reinforcement for the tasks they complete and the goals they meet professionally. This will insure a continued betterment of not only themselves, but of the business.
10. Slow adaptation of new technologies.
In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing world of technology, it is vital to the stability
Read More»What the Smart Phone Can do For Business People
Can a Smart Phone Help You Advance Your Career?
If jealousy is what you feel when you see all your colleagues with a smart phone, then it’s time you step your game up. They are in the know. They know that smart phones help you manage your business. More than that, smart phones help you manage your personal life. A quick look at the ways smart phones can help better your business and personal life should make you even more jealous.
Look the part
A smart phone is just as much about substance as it is style. The sleek, glossy designs of smart phones make them catch anyone’s eye, even if that eye is sitting at the end of a board room table. Smart phones are a status symbol of success. They put you in the "in" crowd. They tell others you’re committed to your career not just in what you do but how you look. For example, an iPhone says I’m serious about staying in touch, but I also like to have a lot of fun listening to my tunes and movies. A Blackberry tells your colleagues I like to stay connected with my work 24/7 and make sure I never miss a meeting. When you choose your smart phone, think of the message you want to send to move up the business ladder.
Access anywhere
Smart phones like those made by Apple and Blackberry aren’t just about style. Like a car, what’s under the hood matters. A smart phone gives you access to email, the web and telephone anywhere. Using a smart phone for business tells your boss you’re committed to being available. A person no longer needs a computer to do work, send emails or take calls. Your boss will remember the time you emailed him important information while on vacation.
Not to mention, your friends will be impressed with your ability to update your Facebook on the go.
Organization
A smart phone does the organizing and sorting for you. A calendar tells you what to do, and when. That calendars syncs with web-based calendars so you always know where you need to be. There’s no reason to miss a meeting.
A smart phone allows you to keep track of your great ideas for later. If you’re sitting on a subway car and you come up with a great business idea. You just type it on your smart phone and then bam, recall it later. The worst nuisance to creativity is memory.
Smart phones like the iPhone have applications to manage budgets, calculate tips, record diet progress and compare prices. With those you never fall behind on your priorities, so you can focus on moving up in your career.
Downtime anytime
Some people will say that a smart phone just means you can work unnecessarily during free time. The time you once enjoyed to yourself or with your kids is gone. Those people don’t know how to say "no." Just turn off the phone or refuse to answer a call. A smart phone actually gives you more downtime than you’d think. Many have downloadable games to entertain you on the go or while you wait for meetings to start. In the car, you can listen to your music or downloadable radio shows without having to listen to radio commercials.
Now you can even keep up with your fantasy football teams on a smart phone.
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Which New Businesses Are Most Likely To Fail?
Who doesn’t want to start their own business, with no boss and your own hours? The problem is that people can be awful at choosing their new venture. Attracted to those businesses they like themselves, people often mistake hard work for fun.
Based on interviews with small business owners, here are seven enterprises that might seem attractive, but are (mostly) doomed to failure:
1. RESTAURANTS: Lots of people think that because they’re great cooks at home, it’d be terrific to start a restaurant and share those skills with the world. But fully 60% of all of them crash within the first three years.
The big problem with restaurants is that they run on such small profit margins that even a few mistakes can snowball into you hemorrhaging money. Not many people have the iron will required to micro-manage staff and keep a firm hand on the wheel.
2. DIRECT SALES: Work from your home and get commissions from cosmetics, kitchen gadgets, vitamins! But: What they don’t tell you right off is that getting MORE recruits under you is key to making money. It’s the only way your profit margin increases, by getting an additional percentage of the products your recruits sell, or from signing bonuses from the company. Plus, with others selling the same products, it’s harder to sell your own.
3. WEB-BASED RETAIL: It’s super-simple to start selling goods with online marketplaces like eBay. But as the internet gets older and more and more people are online doing the exact same thing as you, it’s hard to compete with the hordes and especially already-established retailers. To make any money, you have to score LOW prices on stock and be able to deliver cheap prices to the customer. You must have a huge online presence to stand out from the herd and that’s a costly proposition.
4. SPECIALTY RETAIL: It’s exciting to envision yourself owning one of the places you would most desire to frequent: a luxury spa, a high-end jewelry store, a designer clothes Shoppe. However, the simple downside is that these shops fail nowadays, because people don’t have the disposable income these days that they once did. They’re spending their money on rent and groceries and giving up the luxuries they were once able to afford.
5. INDEPENDENT CONSULTING: You might hear it around: stay with what you know. Go ahead! Start your own consulting business because you’re so knowledgeable about your field! But the pitfalls are numerous, including the time you’ll need to spend simply finding outsourced work and clients, and keeping enough work going out to keep the money coming in. You have to be your own marketing agent, worker, bill collector and time manager. It’s a task not many people are built for.
6. FRANCHISE OWNERSHIP: This idea can sound very promising because of the idea of owning a tried and true business with a proven record of success. But many people don’t read the fine print on their restrictive contracts, which oftentimes have new franchisees paying so much in operating costs, franchising fees and royalties that the new he can’t keep his head above water. Add to that the risk of the exact same company opening right down the street, and you’re hit with an over saturation of the market that makes competition impossible.
7. TRAFFIC-BASED WEBSITE: With the obvious popularity of huge sites like MySpace and Facebook, it might seem like the natural thing to do: open up your own website and watch the masses pour in and see your ads. Downside: You’ll need about $50 million in advertising and marketing capital and around a million page hits a day just to be a big enough presence to be noticed in the sea of web sites. And there’s very little chance of you recouping that kind of outlay.
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