Friday, December 27, 2019

Interview Attire for Disadvantaged Job Seekers

Interview Attire for Disadvantaged Job SeekersInterview Attire for Disadvantaged Job SeekersDressing professionally for an bewerbungsgesprch is really important. How you dress can make, or break, your chances of getting a job offer. What do you do when you cant afford interview attire? Therbeie are organizations that can help disadvantaged job seekers dress appropriately for an interview and prepare them to interview effectively. For Men Career Gear Career Gear is dedicated to helping men get their lives back on track by providing them with new business suits. Participants can choose from a variety of suits, most of which have been donated by Career Gears corporate sponsors, including Brooks Brothers and the Mens Wearhouse. How Men Can Participate in Programs Like Career GearThe first step disadvantaged job seekers can take is to truly believe in themselves and take the personal initiative to begin a job search. Career Gear invests in men who have begun to turn their lives around and are taking a proactive role in seeking employment. Career Gears philosophy is simple but powerful successful employment is a catalyst towards men emerging as better fathers and leaders within their communities. Who Is Eligible to Participate?To qualify for assistance, each participant must have completed a job-training program, have an interview scheduled, and have been referred to Career Gear by one of its partner programs located throughout New York City and its surrounding boroughs. These organizations include homeless shelters, welfare-to-work job training centers, and job training programs for ex-offenders, disabled individuals, and recovering substance abusers. The men Career Gear serve come from all walks of life, but are disconnected for one reason or another. This includes all ages and ethnic backgrounds, recipients of public assistance, disabled individuals, recovering addicts, Iraqi war veterans, former foster care children, recent immigrants, and the formerly incarc erated. How Do They Go About Participating?When a participant arrives for his scheduled appointment, trained volunteers review his resume, identify kompetenz barriers to the upcoming interview, review the work environment/culture in which the interview will take place, and offer specific and concrete tools to overcome potential obstacles in securing gainful employment. The Career Gear team will then work one-on-one with the men to help select an appropriate outfit for the upcoming job interview. Professional clothing provided includes a suit, dress shirt, tie, belt, shoes, and overcoat (when available). Professional Development SeriesOnce a participant is employed, he is recruited to become a member of the Professional Development Series (PDS). Launched in 2005, the PDS is a retention program that offers a unique series of workshops aimed at helping men retain their job and advance in the workplace. Workshops focus on skills that impact an individuals ability to remain employed, suc h as budgeting and financial management, emotional coping skills, family and child support, and communication skills. The program also offers added value by utilizing Career Gears greatest resource clothing. During each session, participants receive ongoing donations of clothing so they have an entire working wardrobe upon completion of the program. It enables them to focus on saving their money and spending it on other necessities rather than on clothing. For Women Dress for Success Dress for Successis a similar program for women. Established in 1997, it is an international non-profit program that has helped almost one million women in 150 cities in 28 countries to gain professional attire and the tools they need to become self-sufficient. Dress for Success operates through a network of affiliate locations that accept donations of gently used womens professional attire and accessories. They also organize suit drives and provide career counseling. How Can Women Participate in T his Program?Once a woman has a job interview, she can ask for a referral to her local Dress for Success boutique from local community partner agencies such as homeless shelters, immigration services, domestic violence shelters, job training programs, and educational institutions. If she is not currently working with such an agency, she can also contact her local Dress for Success and ask to speak with its Program Coordinator. To find a Dress for Success affiliate near you, check the list of locations throughout the United States and abroad. Make a Donation Donations are appreciated by non-profit organizations that seek to help disadvantaged job seekers. Heres how todonate to Dress for Successandhow to donate to Career Gear.

Sunday, December 22, 2019

How to Handle Requests for Favors or Your Time - The Muse

How to Handle Requests for Favors or Your Time - The MuseHow to Handle Requests for Favors or Your Time If you have a good job and have recently spent time with family or old friends, youre probably familiar with the situation You share a big accomplishment or project youve been working on and a relative says, You should talk to insert distant cousin or friend of a friend zu siche about what you do. He needs to work this summer. You can get him an internshipOf course, its good to be helpful, and you dont want to be rude. On the otzu sich hand, youre cringing inside because you also know that networking, while important, can take up lots of your time.I experienced these awkward moments regularly during my days working at MTV and VH1. Despite telling people that I worked on the corporate side and was not involved in production, I was pitched so many new artists and demo tracks that I could have started my own record label. Putting in a good word for an internship or position was anothe r common request that, as a juniorchefin manager at a company of 10,000 people, I never had enough influence to honor.Through trial and error, I learned a few tips for handling the request and keeping my time and energy in check. If youre in a similar boat, consider the followingAsk Questions to Qualify ReadinessSome requests can be handled on the spot before you expend too much effort. Treat your conversation like a screening before a job interview, and focus on SPF skill, potential, fit. (And yes, even in situations when parents are asking favors for their college-aged kids, you can assume that they have some basic knowledge about their childs career pursuits.)SkillWhat to Ask What are your strongest skills?What to Listen For While a resume should spell this out pretty clearly, everyone should be able to speak confidently about what theyre good at when asked. PotentialWhat to Ask What are your career goals?What to Listen For If her goals clearly align with what your company is loo king for, consider what kind of arc she could have within your team in the short and long term. You definitely dont want to bend over backward to help someone who seems unfocused or will jump ship at the sight of the next hot trend (R.I.P. Bitcoin).FitWhat to Ask Its awkward to ask Why would anyone want to sit next to you eight hours a day? but you can get an answer by being perceptive. What to Listen For You know what it takes to fit into your company and team, so read the persons character in your conversation. If you feel shes arrogant or unmotivated now, shes probably not going to change any time soon. SPF will help you know how ready someone is for an opportunity. If you find the person hasnt put much thought into his search, try referring him to resources that will help him learn more, such as your company website or industry blogs. If he or she passes your SPF screen, you can consider helping out- think mentioning your experience to the hiring manager, writing a LinkedIn reco mmendation as an advisor or mentor, or setting up some time to talk more. On that note Understand the Time InvestmentYou should never feel forced into networking or doing a favor for someone (especially for someone you dont know well), so its important for you to set the rules for how you spend time on requests to pick your brain, sit down for informational interviews, or answer questions about your career. Know that you have several options available, includingAnswering Questions by Email One option is to ask the person to send you his or her top three questions over email. This approach is mutually beneficial because you can respond when you have the time and your recipient gets thoughtful answers instead of rushed ones. Just try not to let a week pass without a response unless you give specific, advance notice of how long it will take. Taking a Phone Call Even if someone wants to chat with you, you dont have to meet in person A 15-minute (or less) call is often the most efficient use of your time. Video chats are also good when phone isnt the best option (such as between countries), but do plan extra time for unexpected technical difficulties.Coffee Meetings While sometimes it sounds nice to be treated to an afternoon latte, coffee meetings are time burglars. Think of all the steps involved commuting to and from, ordering, finding seats, and then finally talking. Quick can turn into an hour of lost time before you know it, so be careful with whom you agree to sit down.Onsite Office Visits Especially if you work for a big-name company, people may be clamoring to stop by and see where you work. But these should be reserved for those who will see the most value from it. For example, if you work at a tech startup, hosting your adolescent cousin who is taking her first coding class could help her see web development as a future career option.Put Them to Work, or PuntLets say that your relative or acquaintance has done all his homework and you decide to offer a p hone call. As a next step, ask him to do a follow-up task based on what you discussed and get back to you within 30 days about its results.For example, if you gave suggestions for resume improvements, ask to see it again when they are complete (rather than editing it yourself). If he follows directions and does it well- congrats He has earned your referral or introduction.In he has more work to do, or if you just dont have the time, you can punt the request a future date. Be firm, but fair, with this script Id love to find the best way to be helpful, but Im booked solid. Reach out to me in a few weeks and Ill be happy to connect. If he truly needs your advice, he will be in touch.Your time and reputation are two of your most important assets. Use them wisely

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

The ultimate guide to crafting your elevator pitch

The ultimate guide to crafting your elevator pitchThe ultimate guide to crafting your elevator pitchYou just arrived at the office of your dream job for an interview. The elevator dings and you get in, only to landsee the CEO of said company is already in the elevator. You only have a few floors to go. Youve got 30 seconds to tell him who you are, what your experience is and why you deserve the job youre interviewing for.Sounds tough, right? While you probably wont be in this exact situation, (although you never know) its important to craft a personal elevator pitch so you can prove yourself while you have someones full attention in that tiny metal box.An elevator pitch is a 30- to 60-second statement composed of your job experience, aspirations and what you can do for a company. Its not easy to distill both your best traits and how you can help a future workplace into a short pitch, which is why its important to work on.No, its not always done in an elevator You could meet someone o f importance at a cocktail bar, conference or job fair and need to pitch them. The whole point of crafting this little speech is that, if you found yourself on a short elevator ride with an important employer, you could easily tell them why youre right for a job.Not sure where to start? Heres how to craft a compelling elevator pitch.Nail the basicsYour elevator pitch needs to answer three basic questionsWho are you?What do you do?What are you looking for?At a bare minimum, these questions should be answered. Depending on your situation and the amount of time you have to pitch yourself, you could elaborate on other things, such as what your best accomplishment was at your last workplace or an interesting, attention-grabbing fact about yourself.Its also helpful to address what problem you solve. Is there a need you see in the company that your acquired skills can help? What can you do for the team you would be working with? Depending on the position and amount of time you have, the mo re questions youre able to answer the betterKnow your audienceYou have to know who youre talking to, which is also why its important to have multiple pitches (see below). Youd probably have different things to say to the CEO in an elevator versus running into the hiring manager at a networking happy hour event.Knowing the audience also helps you use the right language. In general, your pitch should be understandable by the average person. Dont use technical terms or industry jargon, unless youre talking to someone you know will understand it.Craft multiple pitchesJust like its important to tailor your resume to the job youre applying for, you need to prepare different elevator pitches. The difference could be based on industry, who your audience is or what the setting is.Its helpful to have both short and long versions of your elevator pitch - sometimes you only have a brief 30 seconds, while other times youll have a few minutes. Be prepared to elaborate on your elevator pitch if a sked follow-up questions.Practice, practice, practiceI cant stress this one enough - you have to practice your pitch(es) You dont want to sound like a monotone robot, or come off as impersonal. You also dont want to be stumbling over words because, lets face it, youll probably be a little nervous in the first place.Practicing should help you build the necessary confidence to appear cool and collected even if youre freaking out on the inside.Always leave them with a geschftliches miteinander cardThis step is small, but important. Whether you have a business card with your current company, or make your own personal ones between jobs, you have to give the other party your card. If you run into them in public, or at some type of event, they need a way to contact you if they want to follow up. You could have had the best elevator pitch in the world, but if you didnt leave them with a form of contact, they wont be able to reach out.4 things NOT to doNow that weve covered what you need to know for an elevator pitch, heres what you should avoid.DontRamble or talk too fastForget to say your nameUse the same elevator pitch for every company, job or person you come acrossSound like an infomercialIts not always easy to talk about yourself, especially when face-to-face with a fhigkeit employer. Writing a solid elevator pitch can help you to overcome that obstacle, and be able to talk about yourself and career skills with ease. For even more guidance, take a look at these elevator pitch examples. (Note elevator pitches can also be a helpful tool for entrepreneurs looking to pitch their product or service).If youre between jobs and looking to use your elevator pitch as a way to get your foot in the door, take your best elements from it and use it for your cover letter. You could also pick up a few work-at-home side jobs to supplement your income - bonus, youll have more time to job search and practice those elevator pitchesJacquelyn Pica is a writer at The Penny Hoarder, a personal finance website that helps you make smart money decisions. Find her on Twitter JacquelynTPH.

Friday, December 13, 2019

Do you want to be right more often Then try this

Do you want to be right mora often Then try thisDo you want to be right mora often Then try thisAn experimenter walks into a room and gives you these three numbers.2, 4, 6.She tells you that the numbers follow a simple rule, and your job is to discover the rule by proposing different strings of three numbers. The experimenter will then tell you whether the strings you propose conform to the rule. You get as many tries as you want, and theres no time limit.Give it a shot What do you think the rule is?For most participants, the experiment went in one of two ways.Participant A said 4, 6, 8. The experimenter replied, Follows the rule. The participant then said, 6, 8, 10. Also follows the rule, said the experimenter. After several more strings of numbers were met with nods of approval, Participant A declared that the rule is increasing intervals of two.Participant B opened with 3, 6, 9. The experimenter replied, Follows the rule. The participant then said, 4, 8, 12. Also follows the rule, said the experimenter. After Participant B produced several more strings of numbers that conformed to the rule, he declared that the rule is multiples of the first number.Much to their astonishment, both participants had it wrong.The rule, it turns out, was numbers in increasing order. The strings of numbers that both Participant A and B provided conformed to the rule, but the rule was different than the one they had in mind.If you didnt get the rule right, youre in good company Only about one in five people in the study could identify the rule on their first attempt. (Heresa videoof an informal version of the experiment).Whats the secret to solving the puzzle?What set exotisch the successful participants from the unsuccessful ones?The unsuccessful participants believed they found the rule early on and proposed strings of numbers that confirmed their belief. If they thought the rule was increasing intervals of two, they generated strings like 8-10-12 or 20-22-24. As the experimente r validated each new string, the participants grew increasingly more confident in their initial brilliant hunch and assumed that they were on the right track. They were too busy trying to find numbers that conformed to what they thought was the right rule, rather than discovering the rule itself.The successful participants took the exact opposite tack. Instead of trying to prove themselves right by generating strings that confirmed their hypothesis, they tried to falsify it. For example, if they thought the rule was increasing intervals of two, they would say 3, 2, 1. That string doesnt follow the rule. They might then say, 2, 4, 10. That string follows the experimenters rule, but doesnt follow what most participants assumed was the right rule.The numbers game, as you may have guessed, is a microcosm for life. Our instinct in our personal and professional lives is to prove ourselves right. Every yes makes us feel good. Every yes makes us stick to what we think we know. Every yes get s us a gold star and a hit of dopamine.But every no brings us one step closer to the truth.The point of proving ourselves wrong isnt to feel good. Its to make sure that your business doesnt fall apart or that your health doesnt break down. Each time we validate what we think we know, we narrow our vision and ignore alternative possibilities- in the same way that each nod of approval from the experimenter led participants to fixate on the wrong hypothesis.The numbers study is froma real experimentconducted by the cognitive psychologist Peter Cathcart Wason, who coined the term confirmation bias. The bias refers to the human tendency to undervalue evidence that contradicts our beliefs and overvalue evidence that confirms them.Ideological lock-in happens without our awareness. As a result, we must move beyond mere platitudes likeIm open to proving myself wrong. We must deliberately expose ourselves to this discomfort and actively work to prove ourselves wrong. When our focus shifts fro m proving ourselves right to proving ourselves wrong, we seek different inputs, we combat deeply-entrenched biases, and we open ourselves up to competing facts and arguments.I dont like that man, Abraham Lincoln once said, I must get to know him better. The same approach should apply to opposing ideas.Years after he published his numbers study, Wason was stopped on the street by Imre Lakatos, a philosopher of science at the London School of Economics. Weve read everything you have written, LakatostoldWason, and we disagree with all of it.He added, Do come and give us a seminar.Ozan Varol is a rocket scientist turned law professor and bestselling author.Click hereto download a free copy of his e-book, The Contrarian Handbook 8 Principles for Innovating Your Thinking. Along with your free e-book, youll get the Weekly Contrarian - a newsletter that challenges conventional wisdom and changes the way we look at the world (plus access to exclusive content for subscribers only).Thisarticl efirst appeared onOzanVarol.com.

Sunday, December 8, 2019

The True Meaning of Creating a Resume

The True Meaning of Creating a Resume How to Get Started with Creating a Resume? A simple resume template is going to be your very best bet. A resume, in reality, is your own bonafide advertising document. The content below this section is dependent upon where youre at in your career. When there are several proofreading programs and tools youll be able to use, its also useful to ask trusted friends or colleagues to reassess your resume. Since you might not have lots of experience, its important to include information thats pertinent to your intended job like coursework, projects, extracurricular activities, or volunteer work. There are scores and scores of possible skills to look at using. So once youre contemplating how to compose a resume, dont forget that you need to be selling your abilities and accomplishments, not simply listing your work history and your old responsibilities. If you take a look at resume building as a step-by-step procedure, it is going to be much easi er to do and not as overwhelming. Another benefit of our website is the quickness. Choosing which to use depends upon the sort of job which you are applying for and your degree of experience. Whether youre looking for your very first job or attempting to earn a career change, the procedure starts with your resume. 1 page to two pages max, based on your field, level of knowledge and skill collection. Ideas, Formulas and Shortcuts for Creating a Resume You might do it by creating stationery or a letterhead for the two documents. If you are in need of a quick kick-start on developing a template first, have a look at a resume builder before selecting a professional. You may even ask your family and friends members what their resumes look like and make them send above their format to you. In the usa, the primary difference between a CV and a resume is the intention behind the documents. In different parts of the Earth, the expression CV keeps its American meaning. You must i nvest time into each application and make sure that your resume is tailored to every employer and the job which youre applying to. Creating a Resume - Dead or Alive? Youre able to verify this information on the web. Take a look at our article on the way to use your job references strategically in the event that you need more info. Our website is just one of the most appropriate for essay help. You might receive a really valuable feedback The Chronicles of Creating a Resume In the USA and Canada, theres a huge difference between a CV and a resume. So, when applying for work in Greece, the united kingdom, or Denmark, your possible employer will ask you for a CV. It isnt fatal to have just one employer listed on your resume in a lengthy career. For instance, an Indian employer might ask you for a CV or a resume. If you graduated more than 10 years back, only note considerable scholarships or honors. If youre asking for a job which has unique requirements, you might need anot her edition of your resume to totally demonstrate your qualifications. You may also have to include specific details. Your contact information is only going to be shared when you opt to respond to an employer. The Fight Against Creating a Resume When you have prepared and submitted your resume to an employer the hope is you will be requested to attend work bewerbungsinterview to talk about further whether youll be suitable. If youve got extensive experience, longer may be critical. The one exception would be if youre changing careers and dont have work experience in the new field.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Female Engineers at Bloomberg Share Words of Wisdom

Female Engineers at Bloomberg Share Words of Wisdom Below is an article originally written by PowerToFly Partner Bloomberg, and published on September 25, 2018. Go to Bloombergs page on PowerToFly to see their open positions and learn more.For anyone at the beginning of their career, sound advice from someone more experienced can be invaluable. This is especially true in the ever-evolving (and majority male) world of technology. Being a woman in tech presents both opportunities and challenges, making guidance from others in the industry all the more important.Here, with that in mind, female engineers at Bloomberg share the bits of wisdom theyve learned in creating and growing their own dynamic, challenging, and rewarding careers in technology. Aki Merced