Thursday, May 28, 2020

Likability How Much Youre Liked Will Impact Your Career

Likability How Much You're Liked Will Impact Your Career 76 How much people like you will have a direct impact on your career and almost everything you do, but being liked is a relative thing. A 2006 study discovered that “a candidate's skills mattered slightly less than likability.” True story At a former company of mine, there was an engineer who was overwhelmed with work. We'll call him Tom. This 8-year veteran of the IT department â€" his first job, still a young guy â€" clearly had too much on his plate and it resulted in delayed projects and even undelivered projects. Finally, Tom's boss convinced company management to grant them a headcount so that a 2nd engineer could be hired to help the first one.eval To their good luck, they quickly found a very smart, talented engineer who was immediately available for a full-time role and Steve was quickly brought on board. During his first year on the job, the new engineer blazed a trail. Steve…eval completed many projects, including new ones that he'd suggested, and which created new potential streams of revenue documented internal procedures for the first time, which led to careful analysis and efficiency improvements wrote software that made other team members' jobs easier gave an internal class on new, business-critical technology and even participated in the recruiting of engineers in other parts of the company. And all this while Tom continued to struggle with his workload, resulting in delayed projects and even undelivered projects. Unfortunately, times were tough for the company and as part of their cutbacks, they decided to lay off one of these engineers. Which one do you think was laid off â€" Tom the straggler or Steve the star? You guessed it right- Steve's first year on the job was his only year on that job. Why the layoff choice Like the stereotypical nerd, Steve had some social skills issues. He was very sharp at understanding the root of a problem quickly and at a proposing a good solution just as quickly. However, his matter-of-fact manner irritated team members who felt that he made them look bad as a result of not having seen the solution themselves. Also, Steve's analyses led to much constructive criticism. Even though Steve was a target as much as anyone else for his own criticism, the pre-existing team culture had none of that and the team â€" including the manager! â€" didn't want it. Contrast this with Tom, who'd been in his job for years with the same people, who were by now all comfortable with each other and who'd built their team culture together. Conclusion Tom was liked, so he kept a job that he struggled at. Steve wasn't liked, so he lost a job that he excelled at. However, he then moved on to another company that had a more success-oriented culture. He excelled there too, and was liked. Just because you're not liked doesn't mean you're not likable. More reading Fool vs. Jerk: Whom Would You Hire? I originally published a version of this article on the terrific Personal Branding Blog.

Monday, May 25, 2020

Podcast 19 Straight Talk Interview With Classy Career Girl

Podcast 19 Straight Talk Interview With Classy Career Girl Listen to the Podcast Click play above or right click here and save link as to download or subscribe on iTunes here on this link.  Remember to leave a review if you love the podcast! Thank you! SHOW TOPICS: For this week’s podcast, I was interviewed by Linda Abraham, Founder of the Accepted Admissions Straight Talk at Accepted.com. Listen to the podcast  to hear our great conversation about networking, student debt, classy career guys, and more. Introducing Anna Runyan, founder of Classy Career Girl. The origins of Classy Career Girl. What blogging and baby clothes have in common.  Find out what puts the “classy” in Classy Career Girl. Was an MBA worthwhile for Anna? The 4X4 Networking Challenge:  What is it and why network? And what if they say… no? Advice for men: where the other 50% of the population fits it. Any Classy Career Guys out there? National student debt is up to a trillion. Anna has just paid off her debt and she wants you to know that you can too. Freedom! What the future holds for Classy Career Girl. Writing the goals essay when you don’t really have goals.

Friday, May 22, 2020

Welcome London Guardian Readers!

Welcome London Guardian Readers! Welcome London Guardian readers, and thank you for visiting my blog. I write about careers, and often the advice I give includes stories from my own life. Here are some places to start reading that will give you a taste of this intersection of work and life. Three columns leading up to the article you read about my divorce: My First Day of Marriage Counseling Five Communications Lessons Learned in Marriage Counseling A Case Study in Staying Resilient: My Divorce Five popular career advice columns from the past: Five Steps to Taming Materialism from an Accidental Expert What Generation are You Part of, Really? Take this Test. Bad Career Advice: Do What You Love The End of Work as We Know It Five Situations when You Shouldnt Go to Graduate School You can scroll down this page to see the most recent columns Ive written. And you can find popular ones on the sidebar to the right. If youd like me to send columns to your in box, please send an email to penelope@penelopetrunk.com with subscribe in the subject line. Thank you, Penelope

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Sorry, Youre Overqualified!

“Sorry, You’re Overqualified!” Did you catch “The Intern” with Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway? Without giving away too much, it’s about a retired guy named Ben (De Niro) who, bored of being bored, is hired as an intern by a fast-growing Internet-based fashion sensation run by Gen-Xer Jules (Hathaway) and almost exclusively staffed by millennials. Seems they needed a couple of older employees on staff so DeNiro gets the gig, yay! But it turns out this septuagenarian, with decades of experience under his belt, surprises everyone, especially Jules, by… Oops, that was close! No, we won’t spoil it for you in case you haven’t seen it yet. But the story brought out some truths near and dear to our hearts. In fact, maybe you’ve been there. You may be an “older” person who’s out there competing with far younger job seekers. And, routinely, you’ve been turned down right out of the gate. “You’re overqualified,” they say. Being told that a business needs someone less experienced or less talented can be hard to take. After all, you’ve done everything they require and have been doing it for quite some time. You offer everything they’ve listed in the job description and more! If you’ve found a position that really appeals to you but believe your resume may trigger the “overqualified” response â€" particularly if you are an experienced candidate and/or coming from a different field â€" it may be best to anticipate rejection and dispel concerns before the recruiter or hiring manager has an opportunity to reflexively disqualify you. A carefully-written cover letter or having talking points on hand for an initial interview can help to nip rejection in the bud. What do employers really mean when they say youre overqualified? Here are a few things employers may really be thinking when they say “Sorry, but you’re overqualified” â€" and some thoughts as to how you may avoid or counter those dreaded words. What they’re really thinking: You’ll get bored and quit not long after you’re hired. How to handle: Consider emphasizing your true enthusiasm for the position; Itemize the qualifications required and how your experience would enable to take them on while hitting the ground, running, rather than requiring lengthy â€" and costly â€" training. If appropriate, spotlight longevity in positions you’ve previously held so they know you’re not a job-hopper. If push comes to shove, ask them if they’d prefer to have an average performer for three years or an overqualified superstar for one. What they’re really thinking: You’ll try to advance to a higher position too soon. You’re going to be a know-it-all and undermine the hiring manager’s authority. How to handle:   Be candid and emphasize how the job closely matches your present professional goal; you have no interest in climbing the corporate ladder, but rather want to apply your skills and experience doing what you do best and enjoy most. The fact that you know more may enable the hiring manager to use you to cover vacationing employees in the department without losing productivity â€" quite a wise ROI. What they’re really thinking:  You’ll be stuck in your ways and hard to train. How to handle:   Mention achievements in new positions in your career, your flexibility and thrill of keeping up with a rapidly-changing workplace which keeps you motivated and keen to learn. What they’re really thinking:  Other employees will feel belittled. How to handle:   Include your skill and experience mentoring previous staff and/or successes collaborating. What they’re really thinking:  You’re simply overqualified. How to handle:   Emphasize how much you’ll bring to the table: Experience so you can hit the ground running; Experience working or managing others â€" proof you know how to fit it; The hiring company will get far more skill from you than from a less-qualified candidate   all for the same amount of money! “Despite  (their) efforts, Biringer again faced a worker shortage and typically drew fewer than 60 of the roughly 100 employees it needed on harvest days.” Much of their produce rotted, which may result in higher prices eventually being passed along to the consumer. What can be learnt? Are there parallels between delicious fruit withering on the vine and older job candidates being neglected for being overqualified? No, although such a metaphor may be tempting. But recruiters and hiring managers know that the job market today has changed dramatically during the past few years, and candidates can afford to be choosy. Finding a qualified candidate is tougher than ever. So perhaps they just need a little help recognizing that hiring an overqualified candidate may prove to be a really smart decision. Don’t let the fear that you’re “overqualified” keep you from going after that job. Even if it means sending a couple of tickets to “The Intern” to the hiring manager, carpe diem! Author: Lewis Lustman; I’m a recovering UCLA English major who loves communicating using today’s variety of media. As Content Marketing Manager for HireRight, I have the privilege and opportunity to discover and share new perspectives on the background check process. [Image Credit: Shutterstock]

Thursday, May 14, 2020

3 Things You Can Do To Become The Best Version of Yourself

3 Things You Can Do To Become The Best Version of Yourself “You don’t need to be better than anyone else; you just need to be better than you used to be.” â€" Wayne DyerWhen we were children we believed that we could do anything. We would tell everyone that when we grew up that we wanted be a fantastic fireman, nurse, doctor, explorer, a singer, professional skier, teacher, acrobat or Olympic gold medallist. evalAs young children we believed that we would live our lives being the best version of ourselves. There was no self-doubt or limiting beliefs hindering our thoughts about how great we believed we would be. Our dreams were very much our reality â€" we could do anything and we would be great at it!Then we grew up and our dreams overnight were deemed to be childish and a waste of time. We also started to accumulate from our negative life experiences so many self-limiting beliefs that many of us lost sight of our true potential.We stopped dreaming and we stopped believing in ourselves. Instead we started to worry about what we didn†™t have and what we were missing out on in our lives.Our success and belief in ourselves was measured on the accumulation of other people’s wealth and success. Over time these feelings of stress, frustration, regret and fear started to dominate our lives and our thoughts.I believe that we are bought into this world to contribute and to make a difference in our family and communities in what ever way that maybe. Some of us become famous and make a significant contribution to the hundreds or even millions of people.Some of us volunteer, some of us teach, some of us save peoples lives and some of us raise children to be great future leaders. Whatever role we play in the world it is our responsibility to live our lives being the best version of ourselves that we can be. That is our legacy.If you are not living your life being the best person you want to be and you have stopped dreaming don’t give up â€" there is hope.evalIf you do these 3 things right now then you will be well on yo ur way to achieving your dreams and living your life to the fullest.1. Start Using Your Power Of ChoiceThe saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.~ Louis E. BooneThe journey to living life being the best person you can be starts with you. It starts with you using a wonderful gift called the Power of Choice, which we all have and yet some of us are afraid to use.Using your power of choice means that you have to step out of your comfort zone. If you choose to do nothing and keep the status quo you will keep getting the same results.evalYour self-limiting beliefs will eventually prevent you from living your life to your fullest potential. Overtime you will find that you will become more frustrated, angrier and stressed about your life.Use your power of choice to empower you to start living life the way you want live it. Your Power of Choice is the one thing you have that you control and using it wisely will enable you to live your life being the best version of yourself.2. Prepare For And Embrace ChangeTwenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did.~ Mark TwainLiving in a world of constant change is our reality today. In fact the one thing that is constant in our lives is change.In my work as a coach I often hear the phrase “I didn’t see it coming or I didn’t think that it would happen to me” These statements are from people who live in denial and are refusing to recognise the numerous signs that change is in the air.Preparing for and embracing change is also closely connected to you using your power of choice. You can’t do one with out the other.To want to make any change in life I believe one has to be at a certain point of pain to actually start considering the possibility of choosing to do something about changing the situation.The intensity of this point of pain can differ for people but for most of us we are usually at our rock bot tom before we even start to consider that the life we are currently living is not the life we want to live.Being at rock bottom can be a powerful motivator for those of us who want more in our lives. We only have two options to consider. We can stay where we are and do nothing or we can choose to make the changes we need to move forward in our lives.evalWe all want to live happy lives and we all want to live our lives being the best version of ourselves. However, when it comes to us, making that choice to start and stay on the journey of self-discovery is not easy. Losing weight in some ways is a lot easier because you can choose to follow a programme and you get to measure your success â€" when you weigh in! This is a very tangible way to measure success whereas the journey of self-discovery the measurement of success is not so tangible.To stay on track on your journey of self-discovery you do need to be more vigilant. Consistently planning for and embracing change builds your resi lience to staying on the your journey to living your life to your fullest potential. When you are living your life to the fullest you will discover that you start to dream again and your dreams over time become your reality.3. Build Your Resilience So You Can Bounce Back Faster Stronger“It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.” Dieter F. UchtdorfLife throws us curveballs all the time and how we handle the curveballs in our life determines the success and quality of our life. It is very hard to live life to the fullest when you don’t have the ability to bounce back from hardship, pain and adversity.evalFor me personally I believe the two key ingredients that build resilience are your power of choice and your ability to embrace change. Without these two ingredients in your life, your resilience levels are going to be very low.Being physically active is also important to building resilience. I don’t know how I would have survived all the curveballs that were thrown at me if I hadn’t started running.Physical activity breaks down the painful emotional blocks that we hold within our bodies. When dealing with painful events in my life I hold my emotional block in my stomach â€" some people hold them in their chest or even in their heads. These emotional blocks are the painful feelings we have and these blocks feel like concrete.The only way I could break this heavy feeling in my stomach was to run. In the morning I would wake up feeling nauseous. I would drag myself out of bed and get dressed into my running gear.At the same time I would be forcing myself not to listen to my negative self-talk â€" which was very powerful and was telling me to go straight back to bed and hide away. For months this battle with my negative self-talk would happen even when I knew that running made me feel better. What helped me win my battle with my negative self-talk was that I used my power of choice. I cho ose to keep running. I knew that if I stopped running I would not heal and that was not an option for me.Choose a physical activity that works for you and stick to it. Get out and about and allow your body to feel positive energy flowing with in it. Keep doing this along with you using your power of choice and embracing change and the result without a doubt will be a stronger, more resilient and lot more happier you.At this point you will also find that living your life to your full potential will be your reality and not just a wishful dream.“You create your thoughts, your thoughts create your intentions, and your intentions create your reality.” Wayne Dyer

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Are You Prepared To Answer the Most Common Interview Questions

Are You Prepared To Answer the Most Common Interview Questions Are You Prepared To Answer the Most Common Interview Questions Congratulations, you got an interview! Whether it’s a phone or a face-to-face interview, you’re going to be nervous, fearful of the tough questions, and eager to tell them the “winning” answers. You obviously did something right to get this far. Did you do research prior to applying? Did you research prior to the interview? Good for you! Have you forgotten to do the one thing that most candidates forget? Have you prepared your answers to the most common interview questions? After 30 years of hiring, including interviewing hundreds of candidates, I am still amazed at how the best candidates blow the most common questions. Why? Do they think they can wing it? Can they make it up as they go, ensuring they customize the answer to the listener? Whatever the excuse is, even the best candidates are wrong on so many levels on this one. Here are some of the most common questions and some recommended answers: 1. What are your greatest strengths? OR What would your co-workers say your strengths are? This is one of the easier interview questions youll be asked. But most candidates miss the opportunity. When you are asked questions about your strengths, its important to discuss attributes that will qualify you for the specific job you are interviewing for. The best way to respond is to describe the skills and experience that directly correlate with the job you are applying for. I complete projects well ahead of schedule. I have exceeded my sales goals every quarter. My customer service skills and resolving challenging customer problems. 2. What are your greatest weaknesses? OR What would your co-workers say your weaknesses are? Try to turn a negative into a positive. For example: My sense of urgency to get projects completed. I want to triple-check every item in a spreadsheet. Being organized wasnt my strongest point, but I implemented a time management system that really helped my organization skills. I used to wait until the last minute to set appointments for the coming week, but I realized that scheduling in advance makes more sense. 3. Tell me about yourself. Because its such a common interview question, its strange that more candidates dont spend the time to prepare for exactly how to answer it. Script it! Prepare three concise, short sentences that deliver: One sentence about your education. One sentence about your work experience. One sentence about your work style/ethic. Offer three sentences that set the stage for further discussion and sets you apart from your competitors. 4. Describe a difficult work situation/project and how you overcame it. These are behavioral or situational interview questions designed to discover how you handled certain situations. The logic behind these types of questions is that the way you behaved in the past is a predictor of what you will do in the future. Well in advance of any interview, prepare three concrete examples of difficult situations that actually happened at work. Then be prepared to discuss what you did to solve the problem. Keep your answers positive. Script each of the three examples that illustrate times when you have successfully solved a difficult situation. During the interview, offer only one story with three sentences then stop! They will probe for more, if needed. Don’t let the most basic questions cost you the interview! You are there to show your confidence, self-awareness, preparedness, and passion for the position you are interviewing for. Spend hours well in advance of any interview because there are no short cuts. There is a complete Interview Guide under the “Resources” tab on my website but you get it as a free download along with 8 other downloads when you buy my book, Cut the Crap, Get a Job! Please ask your questions and leave your comments below; I’d like to hear from you!

Friday, May 8, 2020

Guide to Resume Writing - Tips to Improve Your Resume

Guide to Resume Writing - Tips to Improve Your ResumeYou will find a lot of resources on the Internet regarding resume writing. Most of them are useless, but there are some that actually contain useful information. Unfortunately, not all of them will help you write a good resume. You have to decide which one would be the best for you.Resume writing is all about making your resume an accurate representation of your abilities and skills. To make it perfect, you will need to focus on how to improve it.One of the most important guidelines is the use of a key phrase. You should think of a key phrase that summarizes your experience and educational qualifications.Many times, it is more beneficial to be focused on your college-level achievements rather than at the professional level. You may be tempted to describe your achievements from high school and your summer job in your application. However, it is often helpful to describe your job experiences, not your school experiences. It is also i mportant to state what your average income was when you left school.When preparing your resume, look for job descriptions and information about positions available. When using the contact information provided, try to concentrate on jobs that are relevant to your qualifications. Remember that the more relevant a position is, the easier it will be to find.Look for job listings that are related to your desired job. If a particular position seems to be completely out of your field, you may want to consider getting information from other people who have already worked in the job.Use the basic outline of a resume. This should include key career objectives, the qualifications you have acquired, a list of qualifications, salary range, education and experience, and the date when you left school, among others.While it is great to know all the information about a job, using a resume is simply the first step. Once you have written a good resume, you will be able to get the job.