Golden Job

It's all about Job and Career!

Several years ago, while volunteering in my children’s school, I had one such people-watching occasion that continues to haunt me more than five years later. A class of grade 4 students was selecting purchases from the annual book fair. At the centre of one boisterous group, a good looking boy, who I will call Ian, was using verbal teasing that verged on bullying to exercise control and power over those under his thrall. Of course, I am probably reading more into the situation than was really there, but the thought that came into my mind as I watched him was “snake oil salesman.” Under Ian’s direction, the boys eschewed books of any kind, and invested their funds in novelty pens, fancy erasers and instantly forgettable knick knacks.

Over in the senior-level book section, a young girl, who I will call Laurie, carefully reviewed the jacket covers of  novels targeted to teens. After thoughtful consideration, she chose a book by one of my favourite authors. We spent a few minutes discussing other books the author had written, and I assured her she would find the latest novel a thoroughly enjoyable read. Laurie struck me as bright, articulate, and very insightful for a nine year old, and I was confident that this was a girl who would be going places in her life.

With the completion of her transaction, Laurie joined the line of students who were waiting to return to their classroom. But before she did so, she handed all of her change over to Ian, and I overheard her say, “here, I don’t need this.” She was blushing as she said it, and it was evident that Laurie was in the throes of a crush. Ian, on the other hand, behaved as if having money freely given was the natural order of things. He immediately bounded over to the novelty table, “some girl gave me money”, and bought another junk trinket.

I was sorely tempted to tell him that this “some girl” had a level of intelligence that he could only dream of. More to the point, I wanted to grab Laurie by the shoulders and give her a shake, warn her not to undersell herself like that, and tell her that the “Ian’s” of the world are a dime a dozen, but the “Laurie’s” are a rare and precious commodity. I didn’t of course. Some lessons can only be learned by living.

Why was this incident so memorable? Because it represents in microcosm what so many of my clients – particularly professional women – do to themselves during their careers. They undersell their strengths and abilities, and fail to recognize their personal worth.

All too often, clients – both women and men – come to me with original résumés that are merely a laundry list of job duties. They are reluctant to toot their own horn, and don’t have a measure of what they have accomplished. It is only after we start an intensive interview process, and I begin to dig beneath the surface, that these clients get a hint of their true value proposition.

The Office Administration case study (anonymized to protect client confidentiality)  in my web portfolio is an example of one such client. Hannah arrived in my office looking defeated. She had been laid off four months before, and was struggling to even get an interview. I looked over her original résumé and wasn’t surprised. While she had dutifully chronicled each position she held over the past ten years, there was no “meat” attached to any of them.

As we began the process of exploring her accomplishments, I was amazed at the wealth of untold story in her career path. There were administrative systems that were set up from scratch, complex client and supplier relationships skilfully managed, a backlog of accounts receivable issues resolved, and innumerable process improvements that greatly increased operational efficiency. With each new accomplishment uncovered, Hannah sat up a little straighter, and her eyes began to brighten. When she left my office, she had a renewed energy and confidence in her job search, and that was even before she had a copy of her new résumé.

I am pleased to say that, within two weeks of distributing her new value-focused résumé, Hannah was invited to three interviews, and has accepted a position as Office Manager with a mid-sized marketing company.

And Ian and Laurie? The last I heard, Laurie was an honours-level student who, thankfully, had outgrown her earlier self-consciousness and was an active leader in her high school. Ian, on the other hand, had a difficult transition from his small-pond big-fish grade school environment, and was struggling to find a place for himself in the “new normal” of high school life. Restorative justice? Not really. Ian just needs to re-invent his own value proposition.

Here’s how to make your interview top notch:

1. Be on time.
Apart from force majeure being late is quite simply unforgivable. You can guarantee it will not be forgotten and can only be detrimental. The night before your interview look up the address of where the interview is (especially if the company has multiple offices) and prepare all the documents you need to take with you. Plan your route and know what time you need to leave. Now add half an hour minimum. Travel problems and bad weather can affect your journey so be prepared. If you are early, scout out where the building is, check the time and go for a coffee making a note of how long it took to get to the coffee shop and therefore how long it will take to get back. It may seem like you are planning a SAS mission, but it will be preparation worthwhile.

2. Firm handshake
A firm handshake gives a good impression. It states that you are confident and that you are serious about the interview. Even if you have to wipe your hand because you are a sweating wreck, get it right.

3. Interview them
The most impressive candidates are the ones who not only ask questions but are the ones who are keen to make sure the company is the right move for their career. Don’t be aggressive or pedantic but make the interviewer sell to you. This presents a good impression of you and provides you with valuable information for later interviews.

4. Give them everything they need
When your interviewer walks out the door they need to have pretty much made up their mind that you are progressing to the next stage. To help them, make sure your answers are full explanations and not one word answers.

Ask at the end of the interview if they need any other information to help in their decision. This is a nice way of suggesting that they voice any concerns they may have or alternatively if you feel you have built a rapport, ask them straight out if they have concerns. This is a personal decision as you may feel it too bold or that the interviewer will react negatively, either way, when the interviewer leaves the room they need to have all the information you can give them to make their decision.

5. Hunt down your interviewer
This will not always work, however, the internet gives you a massive advantage and may well pay dividends. More often than not the HR department will forward you the name of the interviewer. Use this information! Google, facebook, linkedin are all libraries of personal information. Finding out before you walk through the door that your interviewer has the same interests as you or that they studied the same course at the same university can be a massive advantage. However, this works both ways and it may be worth looking to see what your name brings up – is it the image you want to portray?

6. Dress code
On many occasions I have heard that wearing a suit and tie is the safest bet for an interview. As a rule yes, however, dress code in a company is usually a reflection of the culture there and many now operate casual dress codes. If a company specifically says that you can wear whatever you want, then smart casual may well be the way to go. To be safe, wear the full works for an initial interview and take it from there. Be aware – I know personally of companies that have frowned on candidates walking in to latter stage interviews after already seeing the dress code and being told they can wear whatever they like. If you are not sure, ask in the first interview and gauge the reaction from there.

7. Build Rapport
How you do this is up to you but I would advise against cracking jokes. Be friendly, smile and be open.
Psychological barriers can have an impact – try to have as few obstacles as possible between you and your interviewer such as don’t fold your arms and if possible sit on the corner of a table next to an interviewer. This is better than across a boardroom, however, it cannot always be helped.

It is common practise to create an interview panel from different departments in a company and levels of seniority.  Regardless of whether they are going to be your peers, your new boss or will never even be on the same project as you, every interviewer has to answer one simple question – Would I want to work with this person? Make the answer a simple one…

8. Documents.
I have never heard of a hiring manager or interviewer refuse an applicant to have their CV in front of them. You should know your CV off by heart, but they may select a particular phrase or section of information, which without context you might struggle to answer. Check at the start of the interview if they mind.

Have a pen and pad to hand. At the start of the interview ask if the interviewer minds you jotting notes down. Every interview is a chance to learn more and taking notes can only highlight your interest.

9. Ask for a glass of water.
Asking for a cup of tea or coffee may result at best in a burnt tongue or at worst turning up in a cup and saucer. Nerves and chinaware do not mix. Having a dry mouth may inhibit your performance and a glass of water can be a great technique in an interview to buy extra time. If you are asked a tough question, a few sips of water and returning the glass to the table looks far more presentable than umming and erring your way through.

10. Be positive.
This includes your aspirations, reasons for leaving jobs, past employers and answers to questions. Interviewers and companies will be reluctant to hire someone that they think will be hard to work with or may be negative. If you have to answer a potentially negative question then at least tag positives on to it. Being able to draw positives from a damaging scenario can make all the difference.

1. Get a domain. A top level domain, preferably a dot com domain, is a must for your personal brand. It can be a your name, your business name or some other assumed name that you want to associate yourself with. If you already own an offline business you can start with your business name.

Finding a short domain name is almost impossible these days. In most cases, you will be able to find a three words domain name easily. If your own name is somewhat unique, you can be that lucky one whose name is not already taken by domain squatters.

Use DomainBot to do your domain research. When you enter one or more keywords in the DomainBot search box, the website will suggest a large number of available domains that are different variations of your keywords. If you like a domain, you can directly register the domain with one of the domain registrars like godaddy or 1and1.

2. Get a website. After you register a domain, you need to get a web host to host your website. If you are absolutely not going to spend any money for web hosting, sign up for Google’s Blogger platform to start a blog. It is free. Use your own registered domain, instead of the default sub domain that Google offers for Blogger platform.

If you are ready to spend $25 a month, you can sign up for a reseller account at Hostgator. With a reseller account, you can create unlimited websites. Hostgator offers a commercial script library called Fantastico that automates installation of web applications in your sites. Start with installing a Word Press blog.

3. Get your globally recognized avatars. A globally recognized avatars or gravatar is a picture that follows you from site to site appearing next to your name when you do things like commenting in a blog, posting in web forums.

You can use your own picture or a professionally designed graphic image for your gravatar. If you are using a graphic picture, make it unique and get it done professionally. If it is your own picture, take the picture in a lighted area showing your face clearly.

4. Start a blog. Pick a few topics that you are interested in. One of them should be your chosen profession or business niche. Also pick topics related to your hobby or something that you want to learn more about.

Create an about page in your blog, put your avatars and tell your story in short 300-600 words. Make it interesting, intriguing, or humorous.

Go to Technorati, a blog directory, and search your topics to find blogs related to your interests. Subscribe to a dozen high quality, popular blogs using Google reader. Make a habit of reading a few interesting articles in your niche every day.

Now start writing your own articles for your blog regularly. If you like writing, you can write couple of times a week. If you have hard time coming up with topics to write about, start with a few articles a month and slowly work towards one article per week.

5. Visit blogs and forums related to your topic of interest. Leave insight full comments in other blogs and create interesting posts in forums. Create a forum signature with your gravatar in every forum you join.

Use a back link to your blog in your signature. When you create a post in a forum, your signature will be appended to your post. When you post a comment in a blog, use the URL of your blog and your gravatar name. You will be instantly recognized.

6. Create Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin Profiles. Facebook and twitter are two popular social media sites with millions of users. Facebook is mainly used for networking with like minded persons and Twitter is for sharing short timely messages about news, industry trends, interesting articles, and if you are doing any interesting thing. Linkedin is for exchanging information, ideas, and opportunities with professionals in your field.

Update Facebook status and post twitter messages every day. You can start with sharing interesting articles that you have read, productivity tips, interesting pictures, etc. You will soon find people start following you in Twitter if you are posting interesting things every day. Using Facebook’s friend suggestion tool, you can request friendship with others in the Facebook network.

7. Learn and use search engine optimization. It is a very valuable instrument at your disposal to propel you websites and social media profile pages for higher search engine rankings. You don’t have to be a professional in search optimization, just learn the basics and apply them whenever you create contents.

You don’t need to buy any expensive books or sign up for extensive training program. Use free information available online. You can start with SEOBook site and download some free ebooks on search engine optimization.

Need proof? Read Seth Godin’s post, “Personal branding in the age of Google.” He sums it up nicely by saying, “Everything you do now ends up in your permanent record. The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good stuff and to always act as if you’re on Candid Camera, because you are.”

Just like any major business brand, personal branding is not a one-time process. Instead, think of it as a “work in progress.” It is something you need to work on and build over time.

To be truly successful, your personal brand must be a true reflection of you and your business. It must become the core philosophy or the foundation on which you build your entire business.

Your vision is the framework of a good, hard-working personal branding system. This vision gets translated into a brand and is then used in different forms of communication with your customers and the market.

Referrals work very well in building your personal brand. Customer testimonials build credibility and trust with your prospects. They increase your name recognition and awareness about your business. This form of word of mouth publicity is invaluable.

Building a personal brand sounds simple in theory but it is much more difficult to pull it off in the real world. That’s because a unique personal brand is much more than an elegant logo or a catchy tagline. It involves paying attention to many details of various different parts that together create a powerful personal brand.

Once you have put in the hard work and built a strong personal brand, it makes sense to do all you can to protect and preserve its integrity. You constantly have to evaluate your  branding system to ensure that you are communicating your brand’s message effectively.

Investing the time and effort in your personal brand will ultimately payoff in the long-term success of your business.

Today Interview is an exhibition of candidate’s talent. It’s a process through an employer gets to know, how to bridge a gap between employment: Demand and Supply.

Modern interviews are not only stress to the candidates, but also equal stress to the employers. For the candidate the stress is to get the right job, and on the other the stress is to get the right candidate.

What is an interview?

“Interview is an art of expressing self, where an interviewee is a seller and an interviewer is a buyer”. An interview is nothing but bringing our internal knowledge outside and make other feel comfortable listening to it. It is nothing but an interaction between the sender (interviewee) and the receiver (interviewer). In the simplest word interview can be compared with the theory of the guest and the host relationship.

Man being supreme creation of god tends to learn by experience; the same is with the interview, we should never take interview as a negative note rather it’s a positive gesture to conquer next step with more perfection and maturity; where there are less chances of failure than the first. Our practice can provide us a mature platform from where we can make difference in the qualitative approach of getting selected or rejected.

This art of learning could be beautified through preparation and practice, as it is well said, “Practice makes man perfect”. To compete an interview with the flying colors the candidate need to learn with the same theory as he used to learn in his kindergarten stage, trail and error technique. As when we learn bicycle: The more we fall the better we grip, and one day we paddle it with even leaving both the hands.

Major interviews speak the success story of the deserving candidate in just five minutes. As the hiring managers don’t want to hire the most qualified person they also want to hire the person whom they like most to work with. It’s very easy to get to an interview but it is harder to turn an interview to a job. Interview can be successfully beaten by the magical charm of communication skills, where verbal and non-verbal communication plays a vital role. Articulation, phonetics and soft skills also multiply candidate’s success change during the interview process.

Interview Selling Skills

“Selling is an art and for that we need to be an artist.” The most important aspect to master in selling skills is to master on two major aspects; first is the product and the second is service. In order to bridge the gap between product and service we need to believe in self, as it is well said, “Self Confidence is the key of all locks.” Confident person can chase his hardship much smoothly than the one who is crippled with diffidence.

Six Sigma’s for Interview Success:

As it is said that interview is an interaction, but this interaction can easily be converted to triumphal victory by the magical spell of the interviewee, where he mingles his interaction with the six sigma effects by using his interpersonal skills, team spirit, social grace, business etiquettes, negotiation skills and behavioral trades.

Interview process is the sum totals of six most important skills that makes correlated bond between Interviewee and Interviewer.

Six- sigma’s between Interviewee & Interviewer

ü      Interpersonal Skills

ü      Social Grace

ü      Behavioral Traits

ü      Negotiation Skills

ü      Business Etiquettes

ü      Team Spirit

Among many job aspirants the most crucial and stressful zone is the interview hall. Although they may have all required qualifications, experience and well framed records, yet they may lose the battle to conquer to the other, who are well versed and confident at the time of interaction and can answer the questions in the most acceptable way keeping the track of their interpersonal, social, as well as their behavioral skills. He needs to also sell his business acumen, team spirit and attitude at the time of interaction. These are really the basic component that makes a candidate perfect. No matter what your industry or the role is; effective selling skills are integral to your success.

As it is well said by James Allen: “For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now”?

Interview & Three major Elements

The most important fact about the interview process is the first impression that a candidate scripts in the mind of the employer in just initial five minutes.

Research shows that initial first impressions are made up of the following Three Elements:

55% visual impact, i.e. dress, ****** expressions and body language;

38% tone of voice; communication skills: verbal and nonverbal

7% from what you actually say. All is not lost if you are very nervous at the outset but try to create the best first impression you can – a warm smile and firm handshake will help.

When you are being interviewed it is very important that you give out the right body signals as body speaks more than words. During interviews one should always look attentive; a bad body language can disqualify the image of an employee in the very primary rounds of interaction. As it is well said, “face is the index of mind.” We should never forget that, one of the most burning questions in the mind of the interviewer will almost certainly be ‘Will this person fit in?’ Therefore, if you are perceived as being a good fit with the prevailing corporate style and culture you will be strengthening your case and it wouldn’t be wrong to state, that knowledge of Kinesics will add to the overall persona of your personality. The success graph of the deserving candidate is been sketched at the moment he enters the interview venue or the interview room, his body language clearly depicts his mental attitude. The positive body language can even be judged by a novice interviewer not very familiar with the kinetic traits.

The initial five minutes can make or break the connection between two people when they meet for the first time. The starting point for any interview preparation is to try and understand oneself. First impressions are crucial! The employer obviously believes you are qualified to do the job, which is why they have asked you to an interview. But still many interviewees fail because of poor communication skills, which is not only the content of your speech, but includes other non-verbal behavior such as eye contact, posture, ****** expression, tone of voice, and gestures.

Get all of your preparation out of the way well in advance, and allow plenty of time to get to the interview so that you arrive in a cool calm state. Arriving 15-20 minutes early is appropriate. One should be well prepared about the location and required time in order to deliver the best results. The interviewer is looking for a candidate who is interested, enthusiastic, and confident. Professional appearance is extremely important, when you first meet the interviewer, give a firm handshake with greet and smile and let the interviewer take the lead when directing you towards their office and once you are in their office by waiting for them to offer you a seat.

Confidence is the magical word, if you are confident then you will be relaxed, calm and organized and able to talk lucidly about yourself, you will be able to look the interviewer in the eyes, you will not slouch or fidget – you will have the potential to clinch the job. Along with the confidence one need to be very particular about dressing sense. Try and understand all aspects, be it your appearance, personality, likes, dislikes, strengths or weaknesses. Many people think that, interview is a place where one should always speak of positives, but speaking about weaknesses is not negative as it enables us to reason for self improvement.

Interview & 3 C’s Principle:

IP= C³

IP stands for Interview Principle

C³ stands for Credibility, Capability & Compatibility

All three are correlated to each other and hence work as a bond.

Interview Categories:

Screening Interviews

Telephonic Interviews

Face To Face Interviews

Panel Interviews

Group Interviews

Structured Interviews

Campus Interview

Performance /Situation Interviews/ Stress Interviews

Online interviews

Presentation Interviews

Video Conferencing

Dinner Interviews

Screening Interviews

This is the most primary type of interview. In this category the candidate is categorized by different set criteria’s like: subjective, departmental, academic, profession & experience.

Note: Most people loose their hold in interview at the screening rounds, wherein this round is very crucial.

Why is the screening Crucial?

Through this process only the candidate is invited for interview.

One must be very particular, while filling his forms or forwarding his CV/Resume.

Where the hand written details are to be forwarded we need to be very cautious about spellings, vocabulary, and grammar as well as writing skills.

People are using internet as the main source of communication but they are least tentative in making the ID’s matching with their profile, here also most of the candidate loose points. We should always go for decent Email: ID’s

We also need to keep in mind that the photographs that we affix in our CV / Resume need to be updated and need to also match with the desired profile.

Telephonic Interviews

Seeing the time frame many of the organization are focusing on the telephonic rounds. The basic criteria of the telephonic interview session are to judge employment objective, education, or required skills.

Note: Responding to the telephone/mobiles is much tougher than carrying it. Since these interviews can often occur unexpectedly, it is important for a candidate to know the best practice of using it.

How to handle telephonic interviews?

1)      Telephonic interviews basically checks the communication skills and interpersonal etiquettes of a candidate; hence it becomes important for us to talk confidently and maturely at the time of interaction.

2)      When we receive any such call, we should always greet the person and should talk clearly

3)      Avoid or reduce distractions. Always search a quite place for interaction.

4)      You need to have enthusiasm and self confidence while answering the questions.

5)      Keep small note of your academic/ professional details and highlight your strengths.

6)      Avoid caller tones and absurd openings at telephonic rounds.

7)      In your absence groom your acquaintance  to receive telephonic calls properly

8)      Make it more professional by your voice, mannerism and always pay thanks back at the end of the call.

Face To Face Interview

As it is well said,” First impression is the last impression”. Face to face interview works like a mirror for the interviewee and interviewer. It can be explained as a direct answer to a demanded question so we need be well prepared for the face to face interaction.

Note: words play a powerful role in this kind of interactions so, when you come to face such interactions you need to be well advance prepared about yourself, your profile, subjective contents, company profile, work experience as well as the current industrial demand.

Handling Face To Face Interactions:

1.      Face to face interview can make or mar the prospects of a candidate for his further rounds. The impression you make will be a lasting one. It is vital to look your best. Dress conservatively and in good taste and be confident and calm.

2.      Always focus on your SWOT analysis. You can win your interview by your strength and opportunities but on the other hand you should also highlight your weaknesses in such a positive manner that it leads you to a door of self evaluation and opens a way of self improvement.

3.      To master face to face interactions a candidate need to impose five listed elements within self.

ü      Punctuality

ü      Politeness

ü      Professionalism

ü      Positive Attitude

ü      Pro-activeness

Panel Interview

Panel interviews are also titled as committee interviews. These interviews are basically conducted with several individuals at one time, typically sitting around a conference table to evaluate the multiple skills of the candidate. The main purpose of such interactions is to provide a unanimous decision for the acceptance of the candidate.

Best deed to face Panel Interview:

Commonly great everybody: But face to the more mature person and if a lady is also a part of panel rounds than never forget to honor her. Be confident and sit smartly while facing panel interview

Keep eye contact with each person, with special attention to the individual who asked the question.

Remember that you can’t suffice each panelist satisfaction but your maturity, handling stress and positive interaction can win many success chances as many HR experts believe that the real check of a candidate is panel rounds so one needs to be prepared with all dimensional skills.

Group Interviews

As per the limitations of time the group interviews are becoming popular day by day. Basically group interviews are conducted to see the participation, communication and leadership skills of a candidate.

Note: As it is a team work where the main purpose is Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM), but we should never forget the main theme behind this round is to lead within the group. A candidate need to be smart enough to show his strengths living within the group and ultimately shine at the end to achieve results favoring him because the whole group will not get the job, it will come to that candidate who is the STAR(Situation, Task , Achievement, Result) performer.

How to Conquer Group Interviews?

1.      To conquer group interview a candidate need to first win his group, by his magical communication, content, knowledge and command on the topic in which the interaction is proceeding.

2.      He should show his STAR performance at the different stages of interaction

3.      Should also steal the dialogues of the team players and lead them by his interpersonal skills and would show brilliant task for the demanded situation and at end can achieve the targeted results.

Structured Interview

Structured interviews are commonly used for research departments are basically pre structured on a set pattern. They are also known as a standardized interview or a researcher-administered survey.

Note: The designed questionnaire need to also include all necessary details in-order to reach to the maximum possible results.

As these interviews are more statistical so the interviewing body need to plan systematically and must focus on the reliability and validity of results.

Campus Interviews

Campus interviews are becoming popular day by day. Corporate visiting campuses for recruitment and test candidates on their technical expertise, aptitude, and personality. These rounds are based to check the academic & industrial knowledge of the candidate.

Criteria of Campus Interviews:

The candidate’s communication skills and aptitude is judged through group discussions and written tests. His personality is evaluated trough presentation skills. Some companies also conduct online test at the preliminary rounds. Keeping in mind the corporate stress some companies also focus on psychometric test to know candidates maturity and his ability the handle stress.

Advantage to the candidate:

The best advantage for a candidate to win the campus interview is that he is well advance familiar about his interview destination and can perform better as it is the most comfortable environment for him.

Performance/ Situation/Stress Interview

In this category candidates are given certain task related to their workforce to perform. These situations can be categories in different areas as Academic, Social, Hr., Marketing, Finance, IT, IB Etc.

The motive of such interviews is to get the best results on spot. These rounds can also be categorized under audition interviews: like singing, dancing, acting etc. Candidates are asked to deliver presentation or demo in their respective area and even could be asked to solve certain stressful situations.

The most important thing to remember during the situational rounds is you show your competency.

Online Interviews

Internet is the best way of communication today. It is also the fastest and the cheapest medium of interaction.

Tips for online interviews:

Candidate need to write precise and to the demand of the questions.

Candidate need to have good command on his writing skills.

Spellings, formation and editing need to be checked before sending the mails.

One must be aware of formal writing.

Presentation Interview

With the emerging change interviews have also taken up electronic impacts within. It is becoming increasingly common for presentations to be delivered as part of the recruitment process. It enable employer to assess individual’s talent for effective organization growth. Communication skills, Confidence, presentation, body language, concepts are certain parameters to collate and analyze information. Now the usage of projectors, laptops has also added professionalism in the delivery of the candidates and hence the corporate is focusing more on the presentation skills.

Tips for better Presentation Interviews:

Dress professionally: Matching Profile.

Rehearsal the topic as much as possible.

Know your target audience.

Command on topic as well as with the time frame.

Good body language

Pleasing personality/Smiling attitude

Audience friendly attitude.

Complete homework including entire aspects.

Good blend of knowledge and humor.

Voice modulation.

Video Conferencing

The widest form of interaction is video conferencing. This form of interaction is very common in most of the international brands. It is more conventional and time saving. The basic requirement to conduct such type of interview is camera, microphone and software.

Dinner Interview

These interviews are becoming popular day by day but the most important aspect to remember about such type of interaction is that we needn’t to forget that we are not going for party or dine out where the most hidden aspect is the interview. Remember that the purpose of the dinner interview is to get to know you. Eating should always be secondary to conversation.

Think to Remember:

Most of the companies ask employee for a dinner interview to check confidence and acumen of handling stress and also social grace.

Tips to follow:

Know all dinning and business etiquettes in advance. These etiquettes will always give you the edge over another candidate.

Dress smartly.

Less interest on food and again more on communication skills.

Emphasis more on non-verbal skills.

Be confident and where you feel nervous wait for others to proceed first.

Avoid taking that food for which you are not at all familiar.

Take water before the core meal.

Be polite. Remember to say “please” and “thank you” to your host and well as with the server.

Interview and Dressing:

Dressing plays a vital role in the interview success. Clothes reveal half of the story about the success chance of the candidate. Today most of the youngsters are running far away from the true discipline of formal dressing and hence when they try these outfits at the time of interaction they are totally uncomfortable. Sometimes it is noticed that during campus interviews student borrow the formals from their peer group and thus are confused not only at the part of dressing but also at the conceptual delivery. This is the main reason to give uniformity at all working levels not only schools but corporate and business schools are also tying up with the concept of formal dressing sense to bring more corporate looks at both personal and professional sense.

As such there is no hard and fast rule for interview dressing but yes one should always dress formal with smart appearance and the most crucial point is we need to dress according to our professional demand. Interview dressing should match as per job profile of the company and suiting country norms.

Men and Women common Dressing:

ü       Conservative two-piece business suit (solid dark blue or grey is best)

ü       Conservative long-sleeved shirt/blouse (white is best, pastel is next best)

ü       Clean, trimmed fingernails

ü       Minimal cologne or perfume/deodorant

ü       Empty pockets—only mobile( silent mode) and handkerchief

ü       Dark shoes (black lace-ups are best)

ü       Dark socks (black is best)

ü       Clean shaven face

ü       No gum, candy, or cigarettes

ü       Light briefcase or portfolio case

ü       No visible body piercing (nose rings, chains, bracelets &  eyebrow rings, etc.) or tattoos/ mehandies

ü       Wear a suit with a jacket and skirt or slacks.

ü       Shoes with conservative heels

ü       Clean, polished conservative shoes

ü       Minimum use of ornaments

ü       Avoid large purses but can carry laptop briefcase.

ü       Enamels need to be conservative in color

ü       Well-groomed hairstyle -Keep your hair shot and if long avoid open.

ü       Keep your makeup simple and natural

Conclusion

We can win the interview with our selling skills that we can master from our academic and professional career as well as with our maturity to understand current affairs like economic, social behavioral, science and political issues. We need to be confident but overconfidence can ruin our possibilities for interview success. The most important aspect to remember is that we should start preparing for our interview since the moment we choose our career. Never enter an interview hall without prior homework as it also increases the failure and disappointment chances of a candidate. Study the company profile and the vision as well as the mission of the responding company because most of the interview questions revolve around the above concepts. Speak clearly and enthusiastically about your experiences and skills. Try to be honest but optimistic and speak as you are sharing your ideas and thoughts. Don’t forget that greeting is the magical mantra and smile is the tantra for your success chance during interview. Prepare a solid self introduction as it is the most demanded question to enter the chakraview of interview. My purpose of sharing this article with you is to make you that Abhimanyu which not only knows how to enter the Chakraview but after negotiating all rounds successfully knows how to smoothly sail out victoriously with flying colors.

Coaching is no longer reserved to sports teams. It is now one of the key concepts in leadership and career management. Why is coaching popular?

Coaching is a solution-focused approach and recognized discipline used in people development to help clients articulate their dreams, desires and aspirations, clarify their mission, purpose and goals. It is a unique form of helping people to build self confidence realise your true potential through a process of uncovering and eliminating limiting thinking patterns and behaviours in your life. This is achieved by empowering individuals with specific tools and scientifically tested techniques that work.

Coaching is one of the six emotional leadership styles proposed by Daniel Goleman. Moreover, it is a behaviour or role that leaders enforce in the context of situational leadership.

Coaching builds up confidence and competence.

Individual career coaching is an example of situational leadership. It aims to mentor one-on-one building up the your confidence by affirming good performance and increase competence by helping the individual assess his/her strengths and weaknesses towards career planning and professional development.

Coaching promotes individual and team excellence.

Excellence is a product of habitual good practice. The regularity of meetings and constructive feedback is important in establishing habits. Coaching sessions constantly highlight and expose individuals’ strengths and direct focus on actions linked directly with developing his/her excellence.

Coaching develops high commitment to goals.

Coaching helps you to balance the attainment of immediate targets with long-term goals towards the vision of an organization you work for or you own. As mentioned earlier, with the alignment of personal goals with organizational or team goals, personal interests are kept in check. By constantly communicating the vision through formal and informal conversations, the individual is inspired and motivated. Setting short-term team career goals aligned and making an action plan to attain these goals helps sustain the increased motivation and commitment to the long-term broad goal.

Coaching produces valuable leaders.

Leadership by example is important in coaching. A coaching leader loses credibility when he/she cannot practice what he/she preaches. This means that a coaching leader should be well organized, highly competent is his/her field, communicates openly and encourages feedback.  By vicarious and purposive learning, coached individuals catch the same good practices and attitudes from the coaching leader, turning them into coaching leaders themselves. If the individual experiences good coaching, he/she is most likely to do the same things when entrusted with formal leadership roles.

I believe therefore that personal branding is the relationships an individual has with its public essentially personal public relations.

Effective relationships are built by communication. Personal branding is communicating the inner essence of you – your uniqueness, qualities, strengths, skills and passions. It is also about your visual communication. Not only your business communication collateral such as stationery and websites but how you appear through dress, style, and personal presence.

As we all need to make a positive impression in today’s competitive work place, here’s:

A Dozen Ways to Develop your Personal Brand

Personality * Work out your personality characteristics and your passions. Discover what sets you apart. Develop a personal brand statement that is just for you – your internal dialogue – then use that as a basis for external communication

Promote * Develop your PB statement into a short ad or commercial about you. When you meet people you should be able to say clearly what you do, how you do it differently, and the benefit it provides.

Package * Develop a unique style suitable to your personality and work. Dress for the role you want, not necessarily the one you have. Balance your individual style with clothing that will appeal to those you are trying to impress.

Presence * Become a class act. Learn good business manners and social etiquette. Send hand-written notes, return phone calls – it’s the ‘little things’ that count

Publicise * Become an expert source for the media. Get known in your niche. Write articles for magazines and online newsletters. Speak for Rotary clubs and other organizations. Send out interesting media releases on your topic to journalists to help create word of mouth buzz.

People * Build your network. Make new business contacts and stay in touch with them. Choose those appropriate to you and your personal brand; those you can help and those who can help you. Help others become as successful as you. Be selective with which networking groups you belong to.

Positioning * What position do you already own with your audience and what do you want to own? Is there a unique concept or idea you can hang your hat on? Where’s the creative element? Build your brand by being first with a new idea or by recognizing a major trend in your field and moving to the head of it.

Presentations * Learn to be a confident communicator. Join Toastmasters or hire a communications coach to ensure that your written and verbal skills are at their best. Strong communication skills and presentation skills are a must and being a proficient public speaker will help reinforce your personal brand.

Perfection * Well there’s no such thing. We all make mistakes. You may have to try many ways to discover and reinforce your personal brand. If something is not working try something else.

Profit * We all want to be profitable but remember to give something back. Giving your time, talent, or money to charitable causes or industry associations can help build your brand. And of course it will be more enjoyable if you find something you are passionate about or complements what you like to do.

Partners * Work with the best whether employees, contractors, consultants or partners. They will help build your brand reputation. Leverage your time and find someone else to do the job for you so you can concentrate on what you do best.

Personal Branding can be the most powerful tool for success in your self-marketing toolkit. It involves identifying your key strengths and expertise, identifying the real needs that you can meet for your ideal clients, and then communicating your message consistently in many different ways.

You can identify, package and market who you are to build a personal brand that leads to business growth, influence, and income.

Here are three key things you need to develop a strong personal brand:

1. A clear, unique strength, talent, or expertise.
Get clear on your personal strengths, talents, values, and core area of expertise. Understand how you connect best with people. Consider what your target audience needs and wants, and then identify the value and the experience that you can deliver to meet those needs and wants. Communicate in ways that reach into the hearts and minds of your target audience and connect with their core values and deepest desires.

2. An ability to clearly articulate that uniqueness.
The personal branding process is about having self-awareness of your strengths and talents, and then letting everyone know about your gifts, talents, and experience. It’s about giving a clear impression of who you are, what you value, what you’re committed to, and how you can be counted upon to act. It’s about having clear, key marketing messages to convey in all of your communications with prospects and clients.

Your branding statement must provide a clear, concise view of your unique set of strengths and tell why you can do it better than anyone else. You need to be able to state clearly and unequivocally why you are different than everyone else, and what services you offer that make you unique and set you ahead of your competition.

3. The persistence to communicate your brand consistently through many channels.
Consistency is one of the keys to building a strong personal brand. Be aware of being consistent in every interaction you have, both in what you say and how you respond.

Your brand is developed over time by all the associations made, the expectations met, the messages communicated, and the services delivered. A great way to deliver a consistent message is through an email newsletter that you send on a regular basis to clients and prospects. You can write articles in your area of expertise so that over time people come to know and trust you. They’ll know what you stand for, how knowledgeable you are, and how you work with clients.

Establishing a Professional Brand is absolutely critical to long term, sustainable business growth. In an overcrowded marketplace, if you’re not standing out, then you’re invisible. Branding your products and services will give you an edge over your competition and enhance your value to your target market.

Personal Branding will differentiate you, your business, and your products and services so that you stand out from the crowd, get noticed – and get hired.

The marketplace is waiting for you to make your mark on it. What are you waiting for?

Personal Branding is all about knowing what you have to offer to your marketplace and what makes you different from everyone else so that you can stand out and be recognized and remembered. It is having a reputation for delivering a product, program, or service that delivers extreme value to your target market.

Fill in your answers to the following to gain clarity on the unique aspects of your Professional Brand:

1. My top three personal strengths:

2. My top three talents:

3. My core area of expertise:

4. What my target audience needs and wants:

5. The value and the experience I can deliver to meet those needs and wants:

6. What I can do better than anyone else:

7. What services I offer that differentiate me and set me ahead of my competition:

Developing a brand identity is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. With some thought and creativity, all the pieces will eventually fit.

It is so easy to learn this process, that within an hour of starting you will be earning money. The requirements for this type of work, is that you need to have some basic computer knowledge and the ability to access the internet.

A work at home data entry job, is easy to obtain and allows you to work to your own time frame or shedule. All you need to do is, complete your work as instructed by the company that hires you.

The data entry forms that are filled out by you, benefit these companies by keeping there overheads down. This is why there are so many companies willing to employ you. This is not like a regular 9 to 5 job, as you are able to work to your own shedule and all this work is a carried out in your own home. The more of this work at home you do, then the more you will be paid.

Normally companies that hire people for data entry pay twice a month, they usually pay buy cheque or direct bank deposit. There is no previous experience required to start this type of work. However it is essential the you have good command of English and are able to spell well. Normally some training is given by the company hiring you and online training is the most commonly used by the companies.

You will find there is a tremendous need by companies for data processing assistance. By gaining this type of employment you help them display their products to more customers. You will also find there is a never ending supply of data entry work. Thus, a work at home data entry job will be able to generate you a long term income.

There are a large amount of companies available to you offering data entry jobs. However you need to take care that it is not a bogus company that offers you employment. If any company asks you pay a registration fee in order to get a job, then my advice would be to look further a field to find employment. Use the internet to research any previous complaints about your potential employer

You can check out which are legitimate companies by using the Business Bureau search box. An absolute must is to be beware of companies that promise you to be rich overnight, without any or little effort from you. It just does not happen with hard work! From you.

Free work at home data entry jobs are available in online. Some sites even allow you post your resume for free. But you still need to take care to prepare your resume properly, just like you would do for a regular job.

If you’ve been working for any length of time in any capacity or industry, you have likely faced stressful points that make you want to scream. But as you’ve been working for any length of time, you know that a “pillow” is the only one who can take those screams, in a calm and supportive way.

What we get from these experiences is a chance to step back and reflect on what’s happening and how much we really control what’s happening. No, I’m not speaking in riddles; but I am making a point.

It’s unlikely that this is the first or last time that we will experience challenges in our workday, workplace or work life. It’s how we rise to the occasion and use those challenges, which enable us to grow and do more. You’ve heard the saying, “the best revenge is living well?” Well the best response to the challenge is “using it to make you stronger, more agile and successful.” How can you get to this point without investing a small fortune in pillows?

Take the time to look at the challenge, outside of its occurrence and when you’ve had a glass of wine, cup of tea, playtime with your children or pet. You’ll know when you’ve released the resistance and emotion attached to the challenge. Then you can apply some personal reflection to it.

Look back at the other times when you’ve experienced this kind of stress or challenge. What was happening? How did you feel through it? What did you learn from it? How are you different as a result? Let me give you a personal example to clarify how this can work.

I worked for a tough, tough manager. She was someone no one wanted to deal with. She has a very sharp mind and if you don’t keep up with her, she eats you for lunch. I finally (through lots of tears and headaches) learned to go with her flow. I learned it wasn’t going to get me anywhere otherwise. When I moved to a new job, she fully supported my promotion. Later, she asked me to come back to work for her again. Well, this is something no one had ever done! Now she was an executive and even tougher! I liked her and I KNEW her so I decided, “heck yeah I’ll work for you again.” I had many, new, challenging moments with her. But she pointed out that I was now a different person than in the past and had grown to “manage” her well. What was it?

I reflected on previous challenges with her and how I got through it; and who I was as a result. I also realized it was the meaning that I was attaching to her challenges. When I realized it had nothing to do with who I was or how talented I was, it no longer bothered me, personally. That was the growth she saw in me. It turned out to be the best manager-employee relationship I’ve had. (And yes, I would work for her, now a Vice President, again!)

So don’t discount the challenges that you face. Use them! Here are some tips to help!

Tip #1 – Nothing has meaning, save the meaning you give it. We always want the best for ourselves; however in our minds we make things worse than they really are. How? We give it a negative meaning vs. trying to create something positive instead. We do this, mostly, so that we’re not disappointed. So why not try a different approach and by giving it a positive meaning. Decide your own meaning and you’ll be more than surprised with the result! What do you have to lose since you’re thinking anyway? smile

Tip #2 – What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger. This is a mantra for a lot of people today. But we don’t have to be this dramatic to realize that we are much stronger than we think. Using just a tiny bit of reflection, you’ll see you’ve been down this road before and it’s always worked out for you! (or you wouldn’t be reading these words…you’d be…well, you know…)

Tip #3 – Declare, this will be for my benefit! What if we just made the declaration, right here, right now, that no matter what, I will take more from this event than it could possibly take from me! This stirs your energy and gets you focused in a powerful new direction.

Using these three tips will help you return to basics when you’re in the throes of a challenge, in your career and life. But let’s not kid ourselves; you can’t do this while you’re screaming into that pillow! After, while you’re re-fluffing it!