What Are the Skills and Traits You Look for in Job Applicants

What Are the Skills and Traits You Look for in Job Applicants This week, we asked you What are the skills and traits you look for in job applicants?  You got back to us saying that conveying a confident personality is a great asset for job applicants to possess. Showing a genuine drive and a passion for the industry, plus an enthusiasm for the vacancy in question is also vital. Experience is important, including extra curricular activities, but being excited for the open vacancy is continually mentioned as the most important skill applicants should possess. You can join our #UROpinion chat every Monday on LinkedIn.  Be sure to join our community now for the latest and greatest recruitment and career discussions. Question: What are the skills and traits you look for in job applicants? Reply now! #UROpinion http://t.co/LGAmcfLn8d pic.twitter.com/23q1JNZ8KC â€" Undercover Recruiter (@UndercoverRec) February 16, 2015 On LinkedIn: Jake Willis said that communication is essential for job applicants. Projecting a confident image is a great way for candidates to stand out. Its important that job seekers are proud of who they are, their experiences and especially what they can offer! Being concise with interview answers is a great way of demonstrating your efficiency as a communicator: Jake Willis Increasing productivity and profitability through cutting-edge technology Communicators. We need people that can communicate. Don’t tell me you are a good communicator show me by answering my questions in two minutes without a lot of palaver. Answer with an experience you had, not with what you think I want to hear. On Twitter: The three replies we received on Twitter all spoke of passion, communication and the ability to collaborate as the most desirable traits in job applicants: @UndercoverRec Passion, curiosity, problem-solving ability, collaboration and humility. â€" MT Career Coaches (@MTCareerCoaches) February 16, 2015 @UndercoverRec solid job growth (no job hopping), technical skills, and interpersonal abilities are key! â€" Belcan Pittsburgh (@BelcanPITT) February 16, 2015 @UndercoverRec stellar track record (experience), ability to do more with less, and drive. â€" Kasey Smith (@Kasey_M_Smith) February 16, 2015 What are the skills and traits you look for in job applicants? Let us know in the comments, or reply  in our discussion on LinkedIn! To conclude, employers dont only look at applicant experience but search for candidates that demonstrate a genuine drive for the vacancy. Being able to effectively communicate and work as a team is a massive bonus.

Personal Brand Super Geeked Up - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Brand Super Geeked Up - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Jeff Burns is a man that seemingly arose out of nowhere. Look around anywhere on the internet, and you’ll be met with his most popular works, Super Knocked Up and Super Geeked Up. Try to go any further back, and you’re met with relative silence. However, fame doesn’t come cheap. While it might be great to imagine that one day, you too could suddenly be discovered, Burns’ sudden burst into the spotlight shows just how crucial years of hard work are in order to finally reap the benefits of what the general population sees as success. Born in 1975, Jeff Burns spent his days growing up in Albany, New York. From the beginning he found a passion in comic books unlike any other topic he came across, firmly cementing him in the geek culture that is now taking the world by storm. This love, however, wouldn’t come back into play until years. At the age of 26, Burns directed and produced his first short film, Everything About Her, a comedy about a Britney Spears-obsessed young man.    His second short film was More Than Friends? In 2002 This would prove to be the start of the path that has inevitably led him to his current position. Following his two short films, Burns waited another four years before releasing Chasing Fate in 2005, Breaking Up in 2007 and producing 20’s A Rose in the City. These shorts broke away from his comedic first film as he tackled the more serious drama and romance genres. While each proved to be popular, it wasn’t until 2012 that Burns finally emerged into the limelight. After taking a screenwriting course, Burns was struck with the idea of a super hero and super villain having a one night stand and then being forced to raise the child together. Unique in its own right and chock full of conflict that makes for a good comedy, Burns knew he had struck on a story that had to be told. Instead of trying to pitch his script to big media companies, Burns took to the web, seeing it has a space with total creational freedom that reached a far larger audience than any other medium could have. With that figured out, Super Knocked Up took to filming. After two successful seasons under its belt, the episode series proved to be a critical success in the nerd community, garnering it 8 out of stars on IMDb and over a million views.   It was this success that really brought Burns into his own as an online figurehead. Propelled by the first season’s success, Burns expanded his web presence further with the development and launch of his live video show and podcast, Super Geeked Up, in late 2012. This first episode featured Super Knocked Up’s leads as they waxed nerdy for all to enjoy. Since then, he has continued to grow his podcast’s audience with weekly shows and appearances at comic conventions. Most notably, however, Burns has now taken on the role as Chairman of the Board of the International Academy of Web Television, an organization built around promoting and supporting the great talent emerging from the various internet media outlets. He is also currently the Director of Content Acquisition and Marketing and Promotion for New Media at Frostbite Pictures, a team of professionals seeking to raise the bar for online content, making him a key player in the world of web television. I’ve had the pleasure of attending a panel that Jeff was on for New Media Expo about starting a web television series and then again to see him awarded at the International Academy of Web Television Awards.   And, I’ve also had the opportunity to interview him about developing his personal brand. Tell me what do you consider to be your personal brand? Jeff Burns:   My personal brand is being a geek!   Geeky things like sci-fi, fantasy, superheroes, and video games are what I love and permeate everything I do.   The word “geek” itself we work into almost everything we do for our Super Geeked Up show.   We do the “Geek Tweet of the Week” question.   We play games like Geeky Accents and Geeky Movie Mashup.   We really celebrate how awesome it is to love geeky things and encourage people to embrace their geekiness, no matter what form it might take. I even establish my brand in the clothes I wear.   Every time I go to a Comic Con or festival I wear a different geeky T-shirt every day.   So maybe Star Wars one day, Batman another, Harry Potter after that.   And especially my Superman T-shirt.   Theres a picture of me pretending to be Clark Kent ripping off my shirt revealing my Superman shirt underneath.   I use that as my social media profile pic.   And people got so used to seeing it that they would recognize me in person at events because I was wearing that shirt.   So thats become a branding thing for me.   Plus, it gives me an excuse to buy more awesome, geeky shirts. What made you originally get involved with film and web series? Jeff Burns:    I got involved with film because I love telling stories especially visually.   Theres nothing like being in a theater seeing and hearing an audience react to your work.   I got involved with web series because I truly believe its the future of telling stories in the entertainment world.   Its not even really the future anymore.   Its the here and now.   I think everythings shifting to people watching things online, whether thats via their TV, their laptop, or their smartphone.   So when I got into making web series a few years ago, it just felt like the right time.   And Im so glad I did.   I love the web series format.   I love being able to make the episodes whatever length they need to be and being able to follow characters journeys through multiple seasons.   Thats incredibly freeing and awesome! What lessons have you learned from  hosting Super Geeked Up that can be applied to other areas of your life? Jeff Burns:    Ive definitely learned to not be afraid to put myself out there and embarrass myself.   Thats something I and my co-hosts Nicole and Tonya do regularly every week on the show.   Whether its making a terrible attempt at a Scottish accent or trying to rap about superheroes, weve learned we just have to go for it and not worry about how silly we may look.   In fact, the sillier we are and more we take chances, the more the audience seems to love it and really respect that were willing to do all that zany stuff live on-air.   It really goes back to what Ive always believed in terms of doing the show: if people see us having fun, theyll relate to us more and want to watch us every week.    Id say Ive learned to try to have fun in everything I do in life and not be afraid to take chances. How did it all start? How did you get to know your Super Geeked Up co-hosts? Jeff Burns:      I originally created Super Geeked Up as supplemental content to my web series Super Knocked Up, an action comedy about a female super-villain who gets knocked up by a superhero and has to raise the baby with her nemesis.   Between Seasons 1 and 2, we had to recast our lead actress.   And thats always a tricky thing to do: how do you get your existing fans to come onboard with this new person playing the role?   So one idea I had was to start a weekly live show where our fans could meet get to know our new lead actress as a person before they saw her in the role.   If they related to her as who she really is, I hoped thatd get onboard with seeing her play the role.   I wanted to make a real connection with our fans.   I and my two lead actors were the original co-hosts of Super Geeked Up.   That seemed to have worked very well as people loved our new actress and really enjoyed Season 2 of Super Knocked Up. After Super Knocked Up ended, my two lead actors moved on to other things.   But I still wanted to keep doing Super Geeked Up.   I felt at that point it had really become its own show.   It wasnt just extra content to Super Knocked Up anymore.   It was a show where we were having a great time talking geeky topics and playing geeky games with awesome guests.   We had established some really loyal fans of just Super Geeked Up who didnt even know about Super Knocked Up.   I   wanted to find permanent co-hosts who loved geeky things as much as I did, were really fun, and would work super-hard every week with me to make an awesome show.   I found that in Nicole Wright and Tonya Dodds. I met Nicole at the 2014 IAWTV Awards (International Academy of Web Television Awards).   She and her cast and crew from web series Progress came to the Awards Show all dressed in steampunk costumes, which was amazing!   I struck up a conversation with them, and Nicole and I stayed in touch after the show.   I thought she had amazing energy so I asked her to guest co-host some Super Geeked Up episodes and then shortly after that invited her to be a permanent co-host. I met Tonya a few months later when we and a bunch of other web series creators were out in LA for the Indie Series Awards and two web series festivals all happening around the same time.   Tonya was good friends with several creators I was also amazing friends with so we wound up hanging out a lot (we even went to Disneyland together!) and, like with Nicole, hit it off with our love of geeky things.   Tonya also came on to guest co-host and then became a permanent co-host a little after Nicole joined.   The three of us have been doing the show together for a over a year now and I feel its never been better.   Theyre the perfect co-hosts and have become two of my closest friends.   We just started a Patreon for Super Geeked Up to bring and introduce more people to be a part of the the series! Who are your influences? Jeff Burns:    In terms of being a host, Chris Hardwick is definitely an influence.   Hes really funny, always has a positive attitude, and just makes anything he does so entertaining and fun to watch.   Ive been to the last three San Diego Comic-Cons (best thing ever!), so Ive gotten to see him moderate a ton of panels there and he really is just the best at it.   When I moderate panels, I try to do it in a similar style to him, putting my own take on it of course. In terms of filmmaking and storytelling, Christopher Nolan and Joss Whedon are two big influences.   Ive thought for quite a while now that Nolan is the best filmmaker working right now.   No one can tell a story quite the way he can.   Whedon has been an influence ever since Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  I usually write kick-ass, female protagonists in my stories and Whedon is one of the absolute best at creating real, well-developed female characters.   Ive always been in awe of the way he blends comedy, drama, and action together so seamlessly. What advice do you have for those who are thinking about creating a web series? Jeff Burns:    Do it!   Web series are where its at!   More seriously one of the best pieces of advice I can give is to surround yourself with amazing, hard-working people who will have your back no matter what.   Creating a film, TV series, or web series is incredibly hard work.   The hours are crazy.   There are a million things that can go wrong and probably will.   You need people who can have a super-positive attitude no matter how bad things are going.   People who will do whatever it takes to help you get the series made and be with you every step of the way.   When you have people who bring negativity, you can feel that bad energy and it will bring you and everyone else down.   It will make creating the series not very fun.   And it should be fun.   Its hard work for sure.   But it should always be fun.   I and every creator I know does it because we love it.   Find people who have that same passion and positive energy.   Youll discover this the more you make series or work on other projects.   Youll find the people you love working with and know who to ask to be on your next project. How do you stay motivated and bring that energy to hosting Super Geeked Up or going to Comic Con  (or several Cons and Festivals)? Jeff Burns:    For me its actually not that hard to stay motivated because I love doing Super Geeked Up and going to Comic Cons and Festivals.   Traveling around to cons and other events are usually the highlights of my year.   Its amazing to get to do the show in front of a live audience and feed off the crowds energy and get to play the games with audience volunteers.   That always energizes me!   Even if Im sick or feeling rundown, I feel I have to turn it up and bring a lot of energy.  Because if I as a host dont bring that, how can I expect the audience to get excited about what were doing? I also look forward to doing the show online every week.   I mean I get to talk about geeky stuff I love with people I love so how can that not be awesome?   I think its easy because I love what I do and I get to do it with two of my best friends. What has been the geekiest moment of your career? Jeff Burns:    The geekiest moment of my career is probably getting to be on and then moderate panels at San Diego Comic-Con.   SDCC is really the mecca of everything geek.   The first time I went, which was two years ago, was because I was invited to be on a Web Series panel.   That had always been a goal of mine: to be on a panel at SDCC.   But it actually happened much sooner than I expected it would.   Then this year, they accepted a Web Series panel I submitted so I got to host the panel and bring on super-awesome web series creators and actors to be on it.   It was awesome!   Just attending SDCC is amazing.   But being on panels there has been an amazing geeky experience! Who is your role model and how have they inspired you? Jeff Burns:    My role model would be a film producer friend of mine named Terry Field who also has been my film mentor.   I met Terry at a local film organization meeting when I first got involved in filmmaking.   I had absolutely no idea what I was doing back then, but when I approached Terry, he was friendly and kind and gave me great advice.   And since then, hes always made time out of his insanely busy schedule to read my scripts or watch my films and web series and give me feedback.   And I mean always.   Not once has he not been there when I needed him.   Thats an incredibly rare thing to find.   Hes also always super-positive and shows such extreme kindness to everyone he meets.   And thats what I always try to do in my own life so Terry has been a great friend and a great role model. It’s safe to say that Burns’ journey from comic book kid to making a living off of hosting and producing web television content has not been fast, nor has it been easy. However, his hard work and persistence in not only creating content but regularly producing new stuff has led to his well-earned position. There’s no secret formula he followed, no single path he took to get where he is except following his passions. After all, if he hadn’t been extremely excited to produce and direct a series about comic book-inspired characters, the product that finally earned him the recognition he deserved would have never come about, and it’s this drive that has truly allowed him to make a living doing what he loves to do. He honed his art over a period of years until it was great enough to capture the imagination of the internet. In the end, it’s a lesson we should all take to heart. As Martian Manhunter once said, “The future is worth it. All the pain. All the tears. The future i s worth the fight.”

5 Ways to Beat Imposter Syndrome at Work

5 Ways to Beat Imposter Syndrome at Work If you’re part of the estimated global  70%  who experience imposter syndrome at some point in life, the persistent feeling that you’re not as good in your career as other people think you are has nothing to do with skill level or competence, but the impossibly high standards you’ve set for yourself. Professionals dealing with these feelings tend to already be top achievers who set the bar impossibly high. With a strong lean towards being perfectionists and over workers, those suffering from imposter syndrome are likely to self-criticize, find asking for help extremely difficult and often overanalyze their competence, believing they are inexperienced or lack knowledge in their field. With the help of several data streams, Lucinda Pullinger, Global Head of HR at Instant Offices delves into why many people especially women experience this adverse phenomenon and how business owners and employees can beat imposter syndrome at work. Research by Access Commercial Finance revealed a whopping 62% of people at work are inflicted with overwhelming feelings of crippling self-doubt and dread. The survey of over 3000 adults in the UK shows over two-thirds of women (66%) have suffered from imposter syndrome compared to over half of men (56%) within the last 12 months. This raises a significant question: are women more likely to experience feeling inadequate in the workplace? Over the last 20 years, the number of women-owned firms has increased, yet despite the growing number of female entrepreneurs and major global progress towards gender equality in the workplace, more and more successful women are speaking out about the burden of imposter syndrome. Despite evidence of success, women experiencing this paralyzing self-doubt are more likely to believe they are intellectual frauds. This level of stress â€" waiting to be found out by peers â€" can lead to anxiety, burnout and increased unhappiness among everyone from entrepreneurs to employees moving up the ladder. As research suggests, men suffer 10% less than women, and when considering why women sometimes experience imposter syndrome at a higher rate than men, factors like workplace inequality and the pay gap may come into play. Statistics from YouGov reveal that, when asked whether they have had the opportunity to lead on a project at work, only 44% of women said yes, compared to 59% of men. Women are also less likely to have experienced a pay rise or a bonus not connected to the promotion, at only 40% compared to 53% of men. Conditions like these are major contributors to feelings of imposter syndrome and one of the reasons why women in all roles can be vulnerable to it in the workplace. What Causes Imposter Syndrome at Work? Imposter syndrome can severely impact career progression and cause negativity at work. When surveyed on the reasons for experiencing crippling self-doubt in the workplace, these were the top four causes: 38% Self-generated self-doubt 23% Being criticized 20% Having to ask for help 16% Self-comparisons to high achieving colleagues It’s not just employees who are impacted, a study by AXA PPP Healthcare shows one in five small business owners admitted to suffering from imposter syndrome and being convinced someone else could do a better job of running their business. How to Turn Imposter Syndrome Around: Even though so many people have experienced imposter syndrome, the good news is that it’s not a permanent condition but rather a reaction to a set of circumstances, unrealistic self-expectation and stress. Some of the most popular suggestions on ways to turn it around include the following: Accept Praise And Know Your Worth Don’t shy away from praise and compliments. Accept your achievements and if need be, write them down. When you try to talk yourself out of feeling confident in your role, all the proof is on paper. Knowing your worth means allowing your work to speak for itself and letting others see it too. Stop Thinking Like an Imposter Learn to recognize self-defeating thought patterns and replace them with more positive affirmations. The only way to stop feeling like an imposter is to stop thinking of yourself as one. Don’t Seek Perfection Stop believing that if you don’t excel at every facet of your job that you’re a failure at all of it. Facing challenges and losses is a key part of growth, so recognize that you don’t have to be good at everything. Know You Are Not Alone Imposter syndrome tends to be the domain of overachievers, while underachievers tend to internalize less when faced with failure. If you’re constantly worried about not being good enough, chances are you’re in good company â€" most successful people constantly overanalyze themselves! About the author:  Established in 1999,  The Instant Group  is a global flexible workspace specialist. Underpinned by unrivaled expertise, Instant tailors unique solutions to help businesses of all sizes to grow, drive savings or gain invaluable insight.   With offices in London, Berlin, Dallas, New York, Hong Kong,  and  Sydney, The Instant Group employs more than 100 experts and has clients in 113 countries.

The Three Components of Successfully Using Humor in the Workplace -

The Three Components of Successfully Using Humor in the Workplace - I’ve enjoyed every job I’ve ever had. That’s not to say I’ve had inherently fun jobscart-pusher at a grocery store, order fullfiller in a factory, resident advisor, project manager, speakerbut I have found ways to enjoy all of them. That’s not the case for many people. Fifty-two percent of Americans are unsatisfied with their jobs and more than three-quarters say they would relocate if it meant better vibes at work. What most people don’t realize is that using humor in workplace is an individual choice you make every single day. You are responsible for your own job satisfaction. And if you choose humor, you will be more productive, less stressed, and happier. To effectively use humor in the workplace, follow these three components of the Humor MAP: MEDIUM The medium of humor is all about the how. How is the humor going to be received by the audience? Will it be in a live presentation, pre-recorded on video, or written on a sheet of paper? Depending on the medium, different types of humor are more effective. One type of humor (e.g. music) may be perfect for one medium (aural) but terrible for others (visual). And some of you may be confused by my classification of music as humor. But humor is anything that is comic, absurd, or incongruous that causes amusement. Music can be all three. Take the chorus from this song by Rihanna: Work, work, work, work, work, work You see me I be work, work, work, work, work, work This song was number one in America for nine weeks; it was nominated for two Grammy Awards. It was not because of how the lyrics read on the page. But when you hear Rihanna sing it, that’s a different story. When thinking about your medium, think about how the humor will be experienced. In real-time conversation, you can use jokes or sarcasm because it’s easy to gauge a reaction and your delivery can help show that you’re being facetious. Emails and texts are more easily misconstrued. “I hate you” seems pretty bad. “I hate you!” seems even worse. “I hate you :)” seems flirty. Choose a type of humor that works best for the medium you will use. AUDIENCE The next component of the Humor MAP is the audience, which is all about the who. Who will be the recipient of your humor? What do they know? What do they expect? And what do they need? Understanding this is vital for all communication, not only humor. Had the kidnappers in the movie Taken known what Liam Neeson’s character knew, the movie would have been called Not Taken. You also want to be clear about what your relationship is to the audience. A joke that you make with a coworker you’ve known for fifteen years may be very different than what you might say to a client you’re meeting for the first time. Sometimes the only difference between humor that is successful versus humor that seems aggressive is your relationship with a person. In general, it’s safest to use humor that is positive and inclusive (think fun activity rather than biting sarcasm). If you want to use humor effectively, you have to know your audience. That is the only way you can choose the right type of humor to fulfill your purpose. Otherwise, you run the risk of boring, confusing, alienating, or upsetting them. PURPOSE The final component of the Humor MAP is also the most important because it’s all about the why. Why are you using humor? Is it to increase productivity, expand learning, or develop creativity? Like a five-year-old, you want to understand why, why, why, why, why. Without knowing why you’re using humor, you’re likely to miss the mark and turn people off in the process. If you want to use humor to help people better understand a concept, including an analogy they don’t get won’t help. The humor you decide to use should be aligned with the outcome you hope to achieve. This is also how you avoid being seen as a jester or clown at work. When people see that your humor is directly connected to getting better results, they see its value. It’s not that so-and-so is always cracking jokes, it’s that so-and-so is great at getting people to pay attention or leads these really great meetings or really likes Star Wars. By understanding your Humor MAP, you’ll have a clear idea of what kind of humor to use. And when you’re intentional about the humor you use, you increase the chance that you’ll not only delight your audience but also achieve your goals. This guest post was authored by Andrew Tarvin Andrew Tarvin is the worlds first humor engineer, teaching people how to get better results while having more fun. He is the author of Humor That Works: The Missing Skill for Success and Happiness at Work and CEO of Humor That Works, a consultancy for human effectiveness. For more information, please visit, www.drewtarvin.com and connect with him on Twitter, @drewtarvin.

Marc Announces the New Edition of Repurpose Your Career [Podcast] - Career Pivot

Marc Announces the New Edition of Repurpose Your Career [Podcast] - Career Pivot Episode #104 â€" Marc Miller Announces the 2018 RYC Survey and the new Book Release Team and reads from the new edition of Repurpose Your Career. Description In this episode, Marc invites listeners to take the 2018 Repurpose Your Career Survey, to help him make this podcast better with your feedback. He invites you to join pre-release readers of the new edition of Repurpose Your Career to read chapters of the book, give feedback, and review the book on Amazon when it is released. Marc reads Chapter 1 of the new edition. Key Takeaways: [1:12] Marc welcomes you to Episode 104 of the Repurpose Your Career podcast. [1:25] CareerPivot.com brings you this podcast. CareerPivot.com is one of the very few websites dedicated to those of us in the second half of life in our careers. Take a moment to check out the blog and other resources that are delivered to you, free of charge. [1:43] If you are enjoying this podcast, Marc asks you to share it with like-minded souls. Please subscribe on CareerPivot.com, iTunes, Google Play and the Google Podcasts app, Podbean, Overcast app, TuneIn, Spotify app, or Stitcher. Share it on social media, or just tell your neighbors and colleagues. [2:05] Marc has released the 2018 Repurpose Your Career Podcast Survey. Marc thanks listeners who have already taken the survey. Last year, there were about 30 responses. Marc is hoping for 60 to 100 responses this year, with his larger audience. [2:22] To improve the show, Marc needs to know something about you â€" how you listen to the show; if you read the show notes; what kinds of episodes are your favorites. [2:34] Marc asks if you would kindly go to CareerPivot.com/podcast-survey (where you will be redirected to SurveyMonkey) to take the survey. Marc will publish the results in a couple of months. Marc thanks you in advance for doing this survey for the podcast. Now on to the podcast… Download Link | iTunes|Stitcher Radio|Google Podcast| Podbean | TuneIn | Overcast [2:57] The Repurpose Your Career podcast will skip a week for Thanksgiving. There will be no podcast next week, to give some folks â€" including Marc â€" a break. The following week, Marc will be interviewing Susan Joyce of Job-Hunt.org fame. [3:20] Job-Hunt.org and Susan have been helping people find jobs since 1998. Marc and Susan will discuss the differences between a reactive and a proactive job search. [3:36] This week, Marc starts the promotion of the next edition of Repurpose Your Career, with a planned release date in the first half of 2019. Marc has been working on the next edition with Susan Lahey, and he will be looking for your help. Marc is forming a release team of readers to read pre-release chapters of the book to provide feedback. [4:00] You can be part of this pre-release team by going to CareerPivot.com/RYCTeam, where you can sign up. When you sign up, you’ll receive pre-release versions of the chapter Marc is reading today, and additional chapters when they become available. [4:22] Marc asks in return that you provide feedback and be prepared to write an Amazon.com book review when the book is released. Marc is not asking you to write a five-star review but your honest review. [4:40] Marc begins reading the opening chapter of the next edition of Repurpose Your Career. [4:48] Finally, we’re at full employment. Unemployment rates are below 4%. Everybody who wants a job, has one, right? Not exactly! That’s what most of the data says, but the data seems to be leaving something out. [5:10] According to the AARP Public Policies Employment Data Digest, most people over 55 who want to be employed are. In fact, the unemployment rate for this age group was only 3% as of April 2018. [5:25] Unemployment numbers are based on how many civilians not employed by an institution, are either working or looking for work. Marc goes to a fair number of jobs clubs for job seekers. The faces he sees there tend to be â€" well, old. Some of that is because these people are part of the long-term unemployed. [5:49] Being unemployed for more than 26 weeks is a real drag on your health and can make you look old. And 22% of unemployed people have been unemployed that long, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). But more than a third of long-term unemployed are over 55. [6:09] In Austin (where I live part of the time), the unemployment rate is under 3% â€" unless you happen to be over 50. If you’re over 50, it’s higher than 12%. [6:21] In 2015, The Atlantic published the article “Where not to be Old and Jobless,” which listed Austin as the number four worst place to be old and unemployed, behind San Jose, Cal., El Paso, Tex., and New Haven, Conn. [6:39] Research by AARP shows that there’s a real danger that unemployed people over 50 â€" especially women â€" could become impoverished. So the organization has funded a program at Austin Community College, called Back to Work 50+. It’s a great thing that AARP has funded this program; if we’re at full employment, why is it needed? [7:04] Why are so many people in this age group unsuccessfully looking for work? The statistics they collected don’t include retired people, by the way. While I do know some people who have successfully retired before age 65, most of them are government employees or they retired because either their health or their spouse’s health was poor. [7:30] I know people who gave up looking and just started taking Social Security early. 40% of the people who initiate Social Security do so at age 62. Only 7% wait to take Social Security until the maximum age of 70. This is a real problem. If you take Social Security before your full retirement, you lose a lot. [8:02] If you were born in 1960 and take retirement at 62, you lose 30%. If you were born in 1960 and wait and take your full benefit until 70, you gain 24%. Some people take benefits early and work, too. If you’re doing that and you are under full retirement age for the full year, you lose $1 in benefits for every $2 you earn over the annual limit. [8:33] In 2018, the limit is $17,040. So if you earn $40,000, They’ll take $11,480 out of your retirement benefits. Things have to be pretty rough if you’re willing to lose that much money for the rest of your life. [8:51] Why are so many people over 55 unemployed and looking, compared to the rest of the population? Is it ageism? Is it they don’t have skills for today’s workplace? Or something else? The answer is: Yes. [9:09] Ageism is thriving in places like Austin, where the economy revolves around tech startups. If your skills are up-to-date, you have a solid work history, you’re physically fit, you dress like you know what year it is, you’re not looking or acting old, except for some wrinkles and gray hair, and they don’t hire you, that’s age discrimination. [9:42] I have lots of examples from the CareerPivot Online Community where the members have acquired skills in the latest programming technologies and data science, and still can’t get hiring managers to speak to them. [9:55] Hiring managers don’t want to invest in the careers of people in the second half of life. The reasoning is, they don’t have enough career runway. Considering that most people change jobs every four-and-a-half years, should they be worried about career runway? [10:13] When we are at full employment, should we be worried about having enough career runway? That is an example of ageism. [10:23] However, ageism isn’t always the culprit. If you let yourself and your skills go, it’s something different. A lot of older people try to get by without learning new skills, hoping to coast toward retirement. But in this rapidly-changing environment of creative destruction, their career track may evaporate long before they’re ready to retire. [10:46] In such cases, your experience may not help you get the next job. Think of it like trading in a car. When I traded in my 2003 Honda Element, it didn’t have GPS or Bluetooth. It didn’t have heated seats or any kind of hybrid engine. Plus, it had some wear and tear. It looked like a car that had been on some road trips. [11:10] The dealership offered me a lower price than they charged me for my new car. They discriminated against my Honda Element! If you’re acting like an old curmudgeon, if you’re griping about learning new-fangled technologies, or about the behavior of Millennials, you’re keeping yourself out of the workforce. [11:31] There is no question that we have a skills mismatch in the market. We are seeing creative destruction accelerate through so many industries, eliminating positions of people who’ve honed their skills over decades. I’ve had clients whose whole career worlds disappear in under five years. [11:52] Keeping your skills up is crucial but it’s not enough to keep you employed. You need to be creative. You need to be agile. You need to be ready to reinvent yourself after a few years to match what the market needs. Forget about cruise control It’s time to get a manual transmission and learn how to use it. [12:16] Marti Konstant, author of Activate Your Agile Career: How Responding to Change Will Inspire Your Life’s Work, said it best. “Adapt or be left behind.” You can plan for a future that will be significantly different from today or be left behind. It’s your choice. [12:39] Many of us want or need to work into our 70s. Working in our 70s will not look like working in our 50s. It will, most likely, be a combination of different types of jobs. You’re looking at multiple part-time jobs; starting a side gig; finding different ways to make money. Many of us don’t think like that. We were raised to be employees. [13:04] We believed that finding a job was the quickest, surest way to security. We’d get in there and stay until we got our gold watch. Today, that ain’t happening! For one thing, it’s tough to get anyone to hire someone in their 60s. Beyond that, these days, even companies can’t promise they’ll be around in five years! Your employer won’t save you. [13:29] You have to get creative. More and more people prefer the self-service options to dealing with a human. And more and more jobs can be done by technology. Among the professions the BLS predicts are on the way out are respiratory therapy techs, computer operators, legal secretaries, and everybody at the Post Office. [13:55] Consider how Uber transformed the taxi industry. How Airbnb transformed the hotel industry. And, how the iPhone has transformed everything since it was invented in 2007. [14:11] Among the things we can now do on our smartphones: banking, sending messages, watching videos, making videos, learning languages, listening to music, scheduling, budgeting, shopping, booking a hotel, booking a flight, finding a date, joining a meeting, getting directions, paying for things â€" and that’s just for starters. [14:35] Because many of these menial tasks have been taken off the table, what remains is often more meaningful. ‘Meaning’ is a key guide to finding your happy place when it comes to ‘work.’ Whatever path you take might disappear in the future, so don’t get hung up on the path. You have to think in terms of constant evolution. [14:59] Several members of the CareerPivot Online Community have taken bold actions to get ready for ‘change.’ One is Mike Martin, a drone pilot instructor, whose story you will learn about later in this book. When Mike started his journey, there was no such thing as drone pilot instructor. [15:18] Camille Knight is a logical creative. She grew up as a dancer and singer. Her first degree was in music and then she went back and got a degree in business. She worked in HR; got spit out of Whole Foods; and reinvented herself as a business analyst. [15:35] She discovered Tableau software that lets her build beautiful dashboards that tell stories. For the first time in her life, she gets to marry both sides of her brain. [15:47] I had a client who said he wanted to be a data scientist and I said, “No, you want to go into a manufacturing site and do scrap analysis.” It’s not enough, just to have a skill; you have to find a company’s pain point; you have to solve a problem. [16:04] We are at an inflection point. You can no longer acquire a skill and be fitted into a job. Things change too fast. If you want to keep on being relevant, you must adapt to the speed of change. You have to find tasks and skills that are meaningful to you and adaptable to new technologies and cultural paradigms â€" or be left behind. [16:30] Be the mentor you want to see in the world. Betty White said Facebook wouldn’t do her any good in terms of helping her to reconnect with old friends; “At my age, if I want to reconnect with old friends, I need a Ouija board.” [16:47] We used to have mentors who could tell us what to do. Chances are, those mentors are retired. There are no coattails for us to ride anymore at this stage. We are the coattails. Much of our network may be gone. We have to forge the path, ourselves. Part of that is taking up the mantle and becoming mentors to younger people. [17:09] Millennials and the generation behind them want mentors. They want help to know how they’re doing. As one Millennial wrote in The Muse, they’ve been conditioned to seek feedback and advice. So, yeah, they want that in their careers, preferably from someone who won’t tell them that they’re entitled, lazy snowflakes. [17:35] In turn, they can help you tap into areas of the work world that might seem foreign to you. In fact, like the fact that there’s a publication called The Muse or, about how to use Instagram to grow your business. [17:52] I know one freelance writer who meets with her mentees frequently for happy hour. Her mentees have introduced her to new markets and gotten her work in places where she would never have thought to have looked. [18:06] In turn, she helps them with strategies for dealing with difficult clients, insights, networking, tactics for time management, and reassurance that being an adult isn’t so scary. [18:17] We’ve entered a new dimension when it comes to ‘work.’ It’s more focused on developing yourself, ongoing, than on sliding into the position as a cog. The idea of getting old, tired, and set in your ways is a recipe for obsolescence. And that’s a good thing. [18:36] Scientists have found if we treat our brain right, our brains can learn and adapt, right up to death. Now, we just have to rethink the second half of life to stay vibrant, connected, and contributing. This should be fun! [18:53] Marc hopes you enjoyed this episode. The world is changing and it’s your responsibility to change with it if you want to stay relevant. [19:04] To get a PDF version of this chapter and to be on the review team, to help Marc with this book, please go to CareerPivot.com/RYCteam to sign up. Marc and Susan will be adding about eight chapters to the book and rewriting several others. [19:25] Marc will release a new chapter on the podcast and to the review team every four to six weeks in the coming months. Marc is considering starting a private Facebook group to discuss this effort. [19:46] Please go to CareerPivot.com/podcast-survey and take the 2018 Repurpose Your Career podcast survey on SurveyMonkey.com. (Marc thanks the listeners who have already taken the survey.) Marc needs to know something about you so he can improve this podcast for you. [20:01] How do you listen to the show? The big question is if you read the Show Notes! (Marc is finding that more than half the listeners taking the survey read the Show Notes.) What kinds of episodes are your favorite? Marc will publish the results of the survey in several months. [20:29] Marc invites you to pick up a copy of Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for the 2nd half of Life, and when you complete reading the book, Marc would appreciate your writing an honest review on Amazon.com. The audio version is available on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon. [20:52] Marc’s plan for the next edition of the book is to release the print, ebook and Audible versions of it at the same time. [21:03] The CareerPivot.com/Community website has become a valuable resource for almost 50 members who are participating in the Beta phase of this project. Marc hopes to exit the Beta phase in the middle of 2019. It is growing slowly. Remember, you are not alone. [21:17] Marc is soliciting members for the next cohort of the CareerPivot.com Online Community. For information, please go to CareerPivot.com/Community. Those in the initial cohorts in the Beta phase get to set the direction for this endeavor. Every two to three months, Marc holds a mastermind group that discusses what to do next. [30:16] Check back in two weeks (after the Thanksgiving break), when Marc will interview Susan Joyce of Job-Hunt.org fame to discuss the difference between a reactive and a proactive job search. Marc Miller Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights! Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

Dont be late for your interview - Wolfgang Career Executive Coaching

Dont be late for your interview - Wolfgang Career Executive Coaching Just a funny interviewing story from a client. We all have to laugh at ourselves sometimes. Thought youd like it. Have a great day! Coach Wolfgang I had plenty of time to get to my interview or so I thought. The office was downtown that shouldnt have been a problem! The traffic was terrible. The highway was stop and go. I got off the highway early trying to save time on the feeder roads bad idea! Finally got through it. But then the parking! All the construction took out my usual parking spots. So I had to circle and circle and circle.  Finally, I parked but a number of blocks away. At this point, I was on foot.  And late! I knew the cross streets, but when it came time to actually find the front door of the office, it wasnt so easy.  My interview is only 30 minutes so showing up even a few minutes late is going to look bad. I decide that its appropriate to jog.  The entrance to the office isnt apparent, and Im wondering if the address on Google Maps is not the same location as the front door. Im still jogging up and down the block looking for the door. Finally, I make it to the front door and enter my name on their iPad in the lobby.  Moments later, the Vice President pops out and invites me in. I get a quick tour of the place and see a large break room where almost everyone in the company is gathered.  All the developers, executives and other employees are jammed into this room to see the extra-curricular coding projects that people had worked on.  It was a big event with prizes for best project. Presenters got on stage in front of this large window that faced the street the very same window I had just been jogging back and forth in front of! Aagghhhh! was my first thought.  How many people are now recognizing me from my light jog? Was the Vice President Im interviewing with also watching?  Oh dear. It was hard to concentrate during this interview. I think I learned my lesson about preparing my trip and leaving plenty of time. Learn from my experience, and dont be late!

Writing a Resume and Personal Statement For Law School With a Yeshiva Backgound

Writing a Resume and Personal Statement For Law School With a Yeshiva BackgoundWriting a resume and personal statement for law school with a yeshiva background is an interesting concept. This can also help you get scholarships to your chosen field of study.The fact is that, most students go for a career that they are passionate about. Now if you are into law, you must have been exposed to the medical fraternity by reading the newspaper and news channels and have at least had one or two job interviews, before deciding on your profession.If you are not such a physical type, you may want to go for some other option when it comes to writing a resume and personal statement for law school with a yeshiva background. But that is not all. You need to write a resume and personal statement for law school with a yeshiva background in order to prepare yourself for getting scholarships that may enable you to continue in your chosen profession.It is just right to include a personal statement in you r resume. A personal statement is where you describe how you plan to integrate your learning and your knowledge in the current job market. It will help the hiring manager to understand whether you are able to give the services that the organization requires.When writing a resume and personal statement for law school with a yeshiva background, you should be prepared with some notes to list the main things about you. Your first and foremost priority in any job interview or work application is to show your familiarity with the work you have done, or are interested in doing. Also, show a great interest in the organization, its aim and values.Don't forget that you must have taken a course at the institute to achieve your degree. Do a head count of all the courses you have taken. Then, try to find out what courses are still being offered by the organization.References from former students, former faculty members, professors or former employers will also be useful. Writing a resume and per sonal statement for law school with a yeshiva background is also useful for application of recommendations from fellow students. They are more likely to remember you more if you show that you know them personally.Therefore, do not feel that you are following a different direction to achieve your education. Just stay focused on your goals and enjoy the process. After all, you cannot obtain anything without hard work and perseverance.