Archive for Hints and tips

Phone Interviews

by Admin / August 23rd 2011 / No Comment

These are by far the easiest of interviews I feel simply because you can relax in your office or home. Others don’t find it as comfortable as a face to face interview as you can’t see the body language of those who are doing the interview.

To make the process less confusing try the following tips:

Research

Use your research to your advantage by making notes and pinning them around the room you will be using for the interview. They can be simple dot points highlighting your skills, key words that you want to use or that will trigger more information for your responses.

Speech

Make sure you speak slowly and concisely. Of course don’t go overboard and say one word a second but speak at a normal rate and try not to rush. Don’t use long or complicated words that may not be easy to understand. Also, definitely do not eat or drink while you are on the phone. You would be surprised by the number of people who do this as they think that the person on the other end won’t know.

Clarification

As per a normal interview, if there is something you are unsure of do not hesitate to ask for them to repeat it or rephrase it. You need to know what they are asking and they need to know that you are hearing the question accurately. Another idea is to paraphrase their question just to ensure that you know what they are asking of you.

Smile

This may sound strange but you can hear a smile over the phone. If you are grumpy or in a bad mood this will be picked up by the interviewers, however, if you are smiling you sound cheerful and positive which makes you look good. Furthermore, a smile makes you feel happier and more confident even if you are feeling nervous.

So in short a phone interview is like a normal interview, but over the phone. It can be made easier by having research notes located everywhere. Most companies will fax through a list of questions prior to the interview so you know what they are asking. This will assist in tailoring your responses to their questions. If they don’t offer, don’t be too shy to ask if they will fax through the questions as there is nothing gained if you don’t ask, they might not have thought to offer that service to interviewees. This will show initiative at the very least.

in Hints and tips tags: Hints, Interviews, Tips

Your Blog or Website on Your Resume

by Admin / August 18th 2011 / No Comment

Websites and blogs can be powerful tools. Just like they can make or break a company, they can help or damage your potential for obtaining a job. Thus, do you include your website or blog on your resume?

It depends – There’s the short answer. Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear answer for this question that applies in every case. Fortunately for you, there are some guidelines, and this article will help shed light on them.

Type of career – First, think about the type of career field in which you are seeking a job. Are websites and blogs in common usage by companies and freelancers? More importantly, does the job require knowledge of websites and blogs?

One easy example where you would list your blog on your resume is if you are applying for an internet-based job. Perhaps you are applying to be a blogger, maybe an internet programmer. Clearly, your personal website could be a great example of your work. On the other hand, if you are applying for an associate position at a law firm, they will likely see your website as irrelevant.

Content – Second, consider the type of content you present on your website. Do you blog about your cat? Does your website focus on the latest gossip around your school? Alternatively, do you write tips or ideas for people to be more productive? Does your website showcase your art projects? If your content focuses on professional (or at least neutral items), lean towards listing your URL on your resume; otherwise, you might want to leave it off.

A great website to list on your resume would be your online artwork portfolio. This is definitely professional content (even if you’re not apply for a strictly art position), and it can highlight your creative side. Quite to the contrary, your blog where you rant about local politics and bash your current employer does not provide important employment content. In fact, you should strongly consider deleting this type of content altogether (see below).

Be professional – Regardless of the content of your site or nature of the career, be sure to maintain a professional website. This should apply even if you don’t list your URL. Especially if you direct employers to your website, make sure there is nothing degrading, inappropriate, etc. Also, make your content as free from typos and errors as possible.

In the end, the decision to list your blog or website on your resume will be up to your professional judgment. Think about these factors, talk to people in your career field, and run the thought by trusted friends and colleagues. Do what you think is best. For a list of great tips on this subject, check out Virginia Tech Career Services.

in Hints and tips, Job tags: Job

How to find a slope of the line

by Admin / July 20th 2011 / No Comment

Mathematics is phobia of some students. Even brilliant minds believe that mathematics is difficult subject that the others. There are lots of mathematical equations which trouble students. All you need to have better determination and understanding to learn these equations. If still you are facing problem then you don’t need to worry. We tried here to give simple tips and tricks on how to find slope. The slope is the relationship between the gap to be overcome and the horizontal distance we must travel, which is equivalent to the tangent of the angle between the lines to measure the x-axis, which would be flat. The horizontal distance measured on the map. The slope is expressed in percent or degrees.

To understand how the slope is used and why it is important to calculate it. As I mentioned, it tells you if a line is moved up or down and pitch it has.

Looking at the value of the slope, you can immediately tell if the line goes up or down. How to find a slope?

If the slope is a positive number, then the line moves up.
If the slope is a negative number, then the line moves down.
And the greater the number, the steeper the line.

So a slope of 4 means that the line goes up. But a slope of -4 means that the line goes down. And a line with a slope of 3 is steeper than the line with a slope of 2.

So we get that number for the slope is very important.

in Education, Hints and tips tags: Education, Hints, Tips

How To: Write A Thank You Note

by Admin / April 24th 2011 / No Comment

During the course of your life, many thank you notes will need to be written. Whether you are searching for a job, interviewing with employers, building your personal network, or just being nice to Aunt Polly, thank you notes are key. This article will give you the essential tools you need to write a professional thank you note.
Get your supplies

Cards – You can’t write a good thank you note without good cards on which to write. Thus, you should go to your local office supply store and start shopping. For your career needs, be sure to pick out a professional-looking card. Feel free to express a little personality, but be cautious. You might want to save the dancing monkey cards for your personal thank you notes.

Pen – You don’t need a special pen for writing thank you notes. However, do make sure your pen writes well. And make sure to use a pen. Don’t use marker, crayon, or map pencil. Even though it may be tempting, steer away from pink glitter pens. Stick with blue or black ink.

Stamps – What good is a thank you note, if you can’t mail it? Unless you get odd-sized thank you notes (which you shouldn’t), a regular, first-class postage stamp will do fine. Työpaikat ja avoimia työpaikkoja Helsinki ja Vantaa.

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Be ready – If you have these supplies on hand at all times, you can dash off a quick thank you note when needed. One idea would be to have a little box near your desk where you store these things. You also should take a few cards and stamps when you go on a business trip; you never know who you might want to follow-up with before you return home.

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in Hints and tips tags: Hints

Use Personal Business Cards to Build Connections

by Admin / January 31st 2011 / No Comment

Do you always carry business cards with you? Are you prepared to give out your personal contact information, if you meet someone who might want to contact you?

To build the strongest connections and broadest network base, you should answer “yes” to both of those questions. Here’s why:

Reach out for contact

We meet lots of people in our everyday lives. However, how many of these people do you ever contact again? How many of them contact you again? If you don’t give out your contact information, nobody can contact you.

If you’re currently employed, you can easily hand out your professional business cards. This will give new people a hook into your life, so they can contact you when the need arises.

However, some people may not get business cards from their employer. Or you may be planning to change jobs in the near future. What then?

Develop personal business cards

With so many printing options these days, both in stores and online, there is no excuse for a professional to be without business cards. If your employer does not provide them, you can easily print your own. In fact, even if you have work business cards, you might still print up a “personal” version.

So what’s the difference between personal and professional cards? They should both still look professional. However, your personal card should be broader than just your current job. These cards should be tailored to you as a professional, not just your employer.

Be yourself

The best thing about printing your own cards is that you can actually express yourself a little in their design. You should give yourself a little free reign in designing these cards. After all, they might be the only link a new contact has with which to remember you.

With that said, you should still maintain a consistent, professional image. But if you’re a trendy person, marketing yourself toward like-minded people, feel free to choose a trendy design and color scheme.

Include the details

Once you have a design in mind, it will be time to decide what to include on the cards. Obviously, you’ll want to put your name. But beyond that, the sky really is the limit. These are your cards, and you should decide what information is best to include.

Since these are your personal cards, I would refrain from printing your current employer’s name, info, etc. Unless you really see that as important (and plan to be in this job a while), it might be best to put a general career description such as “marketing communications” or “family lawyer.”

Also, you probably shouldn’t go to the extreme of including your home address on the cards. You want to be free to hand these cards out to anyone, and you may not want to give out sensitive info like this.

At a minimum, you should include your name, non-work email address, and some type of phone number. Hopefully you should use an email address that you will keep for a long time, as well as a phone number that will be around. This minimizes the risk of changing email providers (or jobs) and having to re-print your cards.

Distribute them!

Now that you see the benefits of having personal business cards, you can go print up your own. Don’t forget to carry them around with you. Distribute them freely to friends, coworkers, associates, etc. You’ll be glad you printed them.

in Hints and tips, Social networking tags: Business, Social Networking

How to Communicate With Your Boss

by Admin / September 1st 2010 / No Comment

An important part of any job is being able to communicate with your boss. Talking efficiently with your boss can make or break your job. With that in mind, here are some things to consider.

Listen first

Good communication always begins with listening. If you don’t listen to your boss, it will be hard to perform your job. Actually, make that impossible.

Without listening to your boss, you can’t know what you need to do. Your projects will be a muddled mess.

On the other hand, if you listen attentively, you will catch most of what your boss tells you. Careful listening will tell you exactly what you need to do.

Ask questions

After you’ve listened carefully, it’s time to clarify your assignment. You’ll undoubtedly have questions about the task. Fortunately, you can easily ask your boss for clarification.

Here’s a few things that might be unclear:

When is the deadline?
What final product is expected?
Are periodic status reports needed?

It’s important not to be shy about asking questions like this. Your boss won’t think your ignorant. In reality, he’ll appreciate your foresight and eagerly provide answers.

Send updates

Keep your boss in the loop. Just because she assigned a project to you does not mean that she knows what’s going on. It’s up to you to fill her in.

A good way to do this is with periodic status reports. Consider sending an email to your boss once a week, simply listing the status of your projects. This doesn’t have to be detailed. In fact, it should be a broad snapshot that your boss can quickly skim to see your progress and availability.

If you work remotely, status reports are even more important. It’s difficult for a supervisor to know what employees in other locations are doing. Remove the guesswork by periodically (and reliably) telling your boss what’s on your plate.

Get approval

My final thought on supervisor communication pertains to new projects. Always clear them with your supervisor.

In many jobs, other people in the company will come to you with tasks and things they need. But your supervisor may not want to devote time to these things. Thus, it’s crucial to be sure you are doing things that are important to your boss.

The rule of thumb: ask, if you’re not sure.

in Hints and tips tags: Hints, Tips

How to Gracefully Quit a Job

by Admin / June 1st 2010 / No Comment

Most of our articles here at Job Tuition deal with getting a job. But what do you do if you need to leave a job? Fortunately, there are ways to be diplomatic and help ensure a graceful exit.

Give advance notice

This is one of the most important things to remember: give your employer notice. By giving notice to your employer, you’ll enable her to find a replacement and keep the company moving along. It also helps your chances of a strong reference in the future.

So it’s clear that you should give notice, but what does that entail? Consider these points:

At least 2 weeks – You should at least notify your employer 2 weeks before you will be leaving. If your job is particularly specialized, you might even give more time.
Be polite – Don’t tell your boss to “take this job and shove it.” Even if you’re not leaving on positive terms, be diplomatic and polite.
Clarity helps – You don’t need to spell out everything behind your departure. But explain briefly why you’re leaving and when your final day will be. Of course, you can also negotiate that with your employer.

Help prepare your replacement

Even if you have a routine position, your employer might want you to help train your replacement. Be courteous and do your best here, if asked.

You likely have specialized knowledge of your company’s internal workings and what your job requires. You’re the best person to pass this info on to others.

Don’t burn bridges

You never know when you might need a reference from this employer. Or you might find yourself wanting another job at this company. Whatever the reason, don’t burn the bridge.

Do everything in your power to leave in a graceful way. Even if you are being forced out, leaving gracefully shows that you are a strong person.

If you have a polite exit, everyone will be better off.

in Hints and tips tags: Tips

Enhance Your Career This Summer

by Admin / May 17th 2010 / No Comment

While summer gets into full swing in the Northern hemisphere, most people are thinking about vacations. I implore you to consider your career. Whether you’re a university student or a veteran in the workforce, you can do something to enhance your career this summer.

Read some books

We’ll start off with an easy idea. While you’re relaxing poolside on a lazy Saturday afternoon, read a career book. There are lots of good ones you could grab at the local bookstore, or you could check one out from the library.

You could also consider reading something to enhance your specific knowledge base, like a book about a new technology in your industry. The different possibilities here are quite endless.

The coolest thing about this idea is that you can still enjoy a beautiful summer afternoon. A lounge chair, iced tea, and a good book. I wish I was there right now.

Take a class

This tip gets a bit more ambitious. Universities and community colleges usually offer a number of courses during the summer. Perhaps one of these would help your career. At the community college level, you can probably just enroll and take a single course of interest.

Summer classes are a bit different than regular university courses. You focus on a single subject for several hours per day, for only a couple weeks. If you’re working full-time, this would be a drain on your schedule. But it’s only a short time. The benefits to your career will last a lifetime.

Get a job

If you’re already working, this tip might seem crazy. In fact, it’s oriented toward students or people who might have the summer off (like teachers). But even full-time employees could take on a part-time job for a couple months.

Employers love having help. Even if you only work for someone for the summer, you can learn a lot and make a little money in the process.

The idea is to find a job that would enhance your resume. You don’t have to work just for the sake of working. But if you can land a job (even volunteering) that gives you important skills or networking connections, you’ll be better off in the end.

Your ideas?

There are probably many other things you could do for your career this summer. What would you add here? Let us know in the comments.

in Career, Hints and tips tags: Career, Tips

Etiquette for a Work or Interview Meal

by Admin / March 31st 2010 / No Comment

Your career will likely include lunches and dinners with coworkers, clients, or as a part of interviews. Thus, it is crucial that you understand basic etiquette. How can you impress people with your career skills and personality, if you make a fool of yourself over dinner?

There are entire books and courses on etiquette, so this post barely scratches the surface. However, this should provide good basic guidance.

Place settings

If you are at a more formal meal, there will be fair number of plates, glasses, and utensils on the table. It’s always a little nerve-racking to decide which things to use and when. Here are a couple quick rules of thumb:

Utensils are used starting from the outside of your place setting. For example, your salad fork is usually on the far left.
Your dessert utensil will be at the top of your place setting.
Your bread plate is on the left, and your glasses are on the right. Remember that your left hand makes a “b” for “bread” (index finger and thumb together), while your right hand makes a “d” for “drink.”

Wine selection

Once you are oriented at the table, wine might be an option. A good general rule of thumb is not to consume alcohol at lunch and only to drink a moderate amount with dinner if others are also partaking in alcohol.

If you are having wine and aren’t sure what to order, ask your waiter if he has a suggestion. Most will be able to recommend a couple moderately priced selections from the menu. You can also ask others in your party what they might suggest.

A final thing to remember about wine is that some choices can be very expensive. Pay attention to prices and do not order an extravagant wine, unless the occasion truly warrants it.

Meal timing

Even at a casual dining restaurant, timing is important for etiquette. You should consider others when you pick up your fork and begin to eat. A few tips:

Do not begin eating until everyone has their food.
The eldest female (or host) should be first to pick up her fork and begin eating.
The waiter should not remove plates for a course until everyone has finished that course. This ensures that people are not rushed. If the waiter asks to remove your plate early, kindly ask that he wait until everyone is finished.

Further guidance

Remember that these are only a few general etiquette guidelines. Like every rule of thumb, these all have exceptions.

For great etiquette tips by podcast, check out Mr. Manners. For more career-oriented tips, be sure to check back here.

in Hints and tips tags: Hints, Tips

Take a New Angle for the New Year

by Admin / November 18th 2009 / No Comment

The blogosphere has been humming with reviews, predictions, awards, and resolutions for the coming year. With only a few days before January 1st, now is the time to come up with your plans for the new year.

Fortunately, this is a great time for job searchers to make some tweaks and refocus the plan. Here are just a few ideas to think about.
Repeat the most successful step

First, you should think back over the last year. Try to remember the step you took that was most productive in your job search. If you can’t narrow it down to one, come up with a few.

Did you make a great networking contact? Did you change your method of organizing job search materials? Perhaps you read a great book or blog on career advice.

Once you have a handle on this step, think about ways to use it again. Can you find other networking contacts that will produce great leads? What qualities should you look for? Can you find other really helpful books or blogs out there to read?

You get the idea. Try to figure out the best thing you did this year and do it again. Apply it to a new situation or person. Leverage what you have learned.
Run from the biggest mistake

The precise opposite of the previous tip is simple. Think about the biggest mistake you made in 2006 and don’t repeat it in 2007.

Hopefully, you will be able to extrapolate from your biggest mistake and learn some lessons that you can apply to lots of different situations. This may be an area in which you need to educate yourself better. If that is the case, go to the library, read more blogs, talk to your friends, and learn what went wrong. If at all possible, don’t make the same mistake twice.
Review your resume

We all know that your resume is key to your job search. January is a great time to make sure it is up-to-date.

Think about your target job, employer, and overall market. Make sure your resume is tailored to the outcome you want. Include industry key words and format your resume according to any industry standards.

This is also a great opportunity to have someone (other than a potential employer) read over your resume. Maybe a networking contact would be willing to look it over and provide some feedback. That would be a great way to help tailor it toward professionals in the field you desire.

There are obviously plenty more things you can do to prepare for an even better year in the job market. Maybe your network could use an overview, to identify areas in which you should expand it. Perhaps you need a wardrobe revamp to look more professional at interviews and networking events.

Do yourself a favor and think over these ideas. Spend a little time with improvement in mind. Talk with friends and family over the holidays, and ask for their feedback. Make 2007 a great year!

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