Forget the presents More than half of us cant wait to open emails on Christmas Day

Forget the presents More than half of us cant wait to open emails on Christmas Day by Tom Bunkham Christmas could be the perfect time for clued-up jobseekers.Whether its on our smartphones, tablets or laptops, the pressure to keep up to date with whats happening in our own little worlds can be almost overwhelming. From what our friends are saying on Facebook, to breaking international news on Twitter, we have the power to connect like never before.And this ease of staying in the loop means we could be increasingly giving in to the temptation to check our work emails when were not supposed to be working. According to our latest poll of UK workers, 56 per cent of us expect to be looking at our work email on Christmas Day this year.Also, emphasising a real can-do attitude to Christmas toil, more than three-quarters (77 per cent) of us you would be prepared to work on Christmas Day if the outcome was a new job.Overall, a third of us will be at our workplaces during the Christmas period, with a further 10 per cent working from home.Christmas can be a great chanc e to get ahead of the pack before the January rush, by focusing on your job search and brushing up your CV and interview skills.Most of us would probably rather switch off and enjoy some well-earned rest at Christmas, but our survey highlights the extent to which technology enables us and even obliges us to keep in touch with our work.Here we look at the issue of working and looking for work at Christmas, and the role that technology can play.The specialist recruiterRecruiter, CJ Walker, who runsboutiquedigital communications consultancy Firehead, says shes not surprised that jobseekers are staying switched on and checking emails at Christmas, as they gear up for New Years Syndrome.The New Year is a natural break, the holidays give candidates time off to prepare their CVs and search their options. Everyone is looking forward, she added.Of course, as were all doing such a large amount of digital communication, it makes sense to give some serious thought to how we may be coming acro ss online. CJ says she Googles every single person she is interested in interviewing and then cuts her shortlist down from this.The always-on nature of digital communications provides a lot of information for recruiters to use: good, bad, and ugly, she says.Although it is very possible to represent yourself inaccurately online, gaps of poor judgment say a lot. Recruiters can build a rounded picture of a person if they research so much available information online. What you see and what you dont says a lot.The active jobseekerFrom a jobseekers perspective, adopting a proactive approach over the festive period could be a potential gamechanger.One person who will be keeping her eyes open this Christmas is recent graduate, Harriet McWilliams. Shes looking for a job in marketing, but also worked her way through university with a job in a restaurant and can sympathise with the 77 per cent of us who said we would work on Christmas Day if it secured a new job.Whatever industry youre int erested in, Harriet advises jobseekers to take the opportunity to get a foot in the door at Christmas, gaining experience and making yourself indispensable at a potentially busy time.Potentially, if you can impress them enough maybe they will extend your contract, she adds.Through her job search so far and through experience of internships along the way Harriet has devised her own strategy. And its all about making the most of your contacts.Harriet explains: Gaining a large network, consisting of a variety of people, is important, as even if some of these people may not be specifically relevant to you, they may have knowledge or contacts that are.The headhunterCorporate Handyman,Martin Ellis, offers some advice and encouragement for anyone who is looking for a new job. He recommends striking while the irons hot whether youre one of the 33 per cent of you who will be in work, the 10 per cent who will be putting in the hours from home, or part of the majority who should be sitting back and relaxing.Martin says that it doesnt matter where potential jobseekers are at any one moment; they are more active than theyve ever been and are able to pounce at anything that moves even when they are, in theory, relaxing at home.I can remember a time when the Christmas holiday was just that a holiday but the internet doesnt sleep, and people were never more attached to their technology than today, he adds.The technology specialists According to recruitment software company Arithon, the technology aspect can make the hiring process at Christmas that bit more manageable.Writing on the companys blog, Manuela suggests using Cloud software to stay in touch accessing with any device, wherever you are in the world and keeping your eyes open on social channels for the latest positions.So whether you expect to be putting in the proverbial shift this Christmas, or sitting back with the turkey and sherry, remember that you could be just a few clicks away from your new job provi ded you are ready to move before that New Year rushFind a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. 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How to Answer THAT Weaknesses Question

How to Answer THAT Weaknesses Question What are  your biggest weaknesses?  When you hear this question,  it makes you shudder.  If there is one reason alone to dislike job interviews, this could be  it. The conundrum here is that an interview is a place where you know you have to talk positively about yourself, however this question forces  you to talk about yourself in a negatively. Help! A popular way around this question is to state a strength as a weakness instead. You know, “I work too hard” or, “I’m sometimes too passionate”. While these  might seem like the perfect option, these types of responses tend to fall in to the realm of interview clichés. Believe me despite the interviewer being all smiles when listening to such a response, inside they’re desperately trying not to roll their eyes.     Before we go into how to build a strong answer, it’s important to ask, “well, why are they asking it?” From my experience, it’s firstly to see how you manage to navigate such a tricky question and think critically about yourself. Secondly, its to see your reaction. The interviewer wants to see if you panic, become nervous or get flustered. Regardless of how  your answer,  it’s paramount that you maintain the same level of confidence, poise and positivity  as you would for any other question. With that in mind, let’s move onto how to successfully answer the question in a genuine, thoughtful and sincere way without the clichés! 1. Make a list of all your weaknesses.  Get specific. Instead of  writing “lazy” write “slow to respond to emails”. Once you have your list, it’s now time to think which weaknesses will have the least negative impact for the particular job you’re interviewing for. 2. Think about  utilising empathy. Example: If you’re a software developer, a weakness you could talk about is the fact that you’re can  little shy when it comes to speaking large meetings. This weakness of yours has very little impact on the core skills that are required to do the job. At the same time, offers  a genuine weakness. In this instance, you make yourself  relatable, so they can actually empathise with you in a positive way. Example: For a sales role, think about which one of your weaknesses will have the least negative impact. To use myself as an example (having worked in sales), what I found difficult was filling in KPIs and basic administrative tasks. Again, the weakness that I mentioned here isn’t something that’s going to reduce my ability to do my job well, because my core job is to sell products and services, and not take care of the administration side of things. No company is going to hire a sales person who  is  fantastic at administrative tasks, but terrible at selling, in the same way  a software developer who is a terrible programmer, but fantastic at participating in meetings,  is never going to  get the role.   3. Explain how youve identified your weakness  and how  you’re working on it. For  a sales role,  you could say the following: “I’ve been working on it and I realise the value of getting it right. I’ve learnt that if I stay on top of it, it will free up more of my time to focus on sales”. For a software developer you could say the following: “It’s something I’m aware of and I’ve been practicing a range of visualisation techniques prior to going into meetings. This has given me a lot of confidence and I’ve actually improved significantly over the last year. To recap: Ensure you speak with the same level of confidence you’ve  shown  with the other questions Make a list of weaknesses and focus on specifics rather than general  things Use the weakness in your list which has the least negative impact for the role that you’re interviewing for Mentioned that is something you’re aware of, followed by what you’re doing to improve on that weakness. About the author: Farhan Raja is a career coach, former recruiter and founder of Jobinterviewology.com.

Dont let your resume be a roadblock to your career

Dont let your resume be a roadblock to your career I am writing this post at the hairdresser. Its my sons second haircut this month. He loves the process of reinvention. While the haircuts feel extravagant, I like that he knows what he wants. Maybe I overvalue this trait in a person because the most frequent issue  I deal with on coaching calls is helping people figure out what they want. Its a very difficult thing to do, at any stage of life.  But then, when theyve figured out what they want, they almost never have a resume that is ready to get them what they want. Rewriting your resume is what you do at the very end of the process of figuring out the best job for yourself. Once you know the answer to that question, it should be no problem to rewrite your resume to get that job. For those of you who dont want to pay me to rewrite your resume, Im giving you tips here so you can do it yourself. 1. It doesnt matter if you are good at your job if you dont know how to translate that to a resume. I can say I was a clerk at a grocery store. Or I can say I took responsibility for end-caps and increase targeted product sales by 15%. In both cases the bullet describes a low-level job at a grocery store. The first  bullet is written by someone who thought their job  was stupid. The second bullet is written by someone who is a self-starter, who understands the big-picture of how grocery store goals are met, and who knows how to talk like they are in the business of groceries instead of a slave to groceries. Both bullets are true, but one is more likely to get someone a job in management. Thinking and writing about the goals of the job you want is  a really important skill to learn. Most coaching calls I do are with people who can talk like the second bullet but have written resumes that sound like the first bullet. 2. You dont need to have had good jobs in order to  have a good resume. When I was younger I was in charge of online marketing for a software company. I could tell you that I managed the web site. But that wont make you think Im a rock star. I could also say I managed three online product launches. But thats so broad that it tells you nothing. This is a bullet that will get me my next job: Managed an online product launch with ad agencies in seven countries and delivered marketing materials under budget and ahead of schedule. Heres the simple truth: The product was really small. The ad agencies were one-person shops and they didnt speak English so I could barely manage them. And the reason everything went so fast and cheap is because we realized the company was going to be sold so we decided we could skimp on the launch. See how you can write a good bullet and a bad bullet and both can be true? Whats more, you can write a good bullet about a failed project and you can write a bad bullet about a great project. But what you cant do is just wing it. Winging it will leave you underselling yourself. And you end up writing yourself into a corner where its impossible to tell a coherent story about why you have made the choices youve made in your career and where you are headed. 3. The best career changes are when your resume doesnt show youre making a career change. People dont want to hire you to do something youve never done before. Thats too much trouble. Employers are looking for someone who can hit the ground running, knock the ball out of the park, and all the other idioms that describe the process of trying to hire someone who is really excited about doing the job even though theyve already been doing it for the past five years. The reason changing careers is so common is because its not fun to be so great at something that your learning curve flattens. A steep learning curve is fun, but knowing all the bad things about the industry youre in is not fun. You cant change spouses all the time, so change jobs instead. But do it in a way that doesnt put a huge dent in your finances; rewrite your resume to show you have already been doing that career change. Difficult, yes, but the trick is really to figure out what career is already open to you, based on the experience you have. Which career change can look like a natural progression rather than jumping ship completely? To do this you need to read between the lines of your resume to remember whats missing. What did you leave out that you might put in now? What morsels add up to a whole new story? We all have a second, third, or fourth career story in our history. 4. A resume is whats left when you throw everything away. I have memorized the Microsoft Style Guide and you will never see me write click onthe real way is just click. On is implied. But I didnt write that. I wrote, Oversaw content development system and streamlined copyediting to cut costs 50%. What does that mean? I memorized the Style Guide so we didnt have to hire a copyeditor. So I deleted the bullet on my resume that said I wrote a business plan for an online product that became the companys biggest seller. Thats a huge achievement but it had nothing to do with the career I was after. Which is pretty much why its so hard to write your own resume. Its difficult to leave off the things that felt so grand and important and significant in our lives as we did them. Its so hard to admit that a resume is not a record of what weve done. Filmmakers always say the film is made by cutting away the parts you dont need. And a sculptor  finds the magic of the material by cutting away at it, the same way a good hairdresser shapes a haircut, really. And the same is true of a career. No matter where you are in your career, what you remove from your work history determines if you reveal a strong, focused, over-performer, or a mediocre, largely lost, middle  manager. My son watches his results  studiously. Always planning his next move. Sometimes he looks like a  nut. Sometimes he looks like a model. His bravery comes from thinking he always has another chance. He always has one more story, one more style to give a try. We all need that bravery with our resumes the ability to see ourselves different ways,  with  the remnants of the last resume cut into pieces on the floor. The  good news is that you control how willing you are to rewrite your resume. You can get help, you can do it yourself, you can get another try and another try. Its never over. Not everyone has the guts and gumption of a ten-year-old in exploratory mode. But  you have more ability than you realize to get what you want. If you can market yourself on your resume, and you can control your life. This is because changing careers is nearly impossible without losing tons of money and traction and self-esteem. But if you know how to write a resume, you can change careers whenever you want.

Deduct Your Job Search Expenses

Deduct Your Job Search Expenses Its the end of December, and next month, well all be organizing receipts and getting ready to file income tax forms.You should know that your unemployment compensation, severance and distributions you took from 401 K or pension accounts are taxable income. If youve moved this year, youll want to make sure you get your 1099 form in order to report your unemployment income. The Form 1099-G is mailed to you by January 31st  following the end of the previous calendar year.   The form is mailed to your last official address of record on your claim.   If you change your address and there is an active forwarding address on file with the post office, the form will be forwarded to your new address. If you did not receive your Form 1099-G due to an address change, you must mail or FAX a change of address containing your name, old and new address, county of residence, only the last four numbers of your social security number and signature to: Department of Economic Opportunity Special Payments Unit P.O. Drawer 5350 Tallahassee, FL   32314-5350. FAX # (850) 9213938 Your letter must also include the calendar year requested. You can find information on the form 1099-G here. If you had costs related to your job search this year, you can deduct some of the expenses. Here are seven things the IRS wants you to know about deducting these costs: (from www.irs.gov) Your expenses must be for a job search in your current occupation. You may not deduct expenses related to a search for a job in a new occupation. If your employer or another party reimburses you for an expense, you may not deduct it. You can deduct employment and job placement agency fees you pay while looking for a job. You can deduct the cost of preparing and mailing copies of your resume to prospective employers. If you travel to look for a new job, you may be able to deduct your travel expenses. However, you can only deduct them if the trip is primarily to look for a new job. You can’t deduct job search expenses if there was a substantial break between the end of your last job and the time you began looking for a new one. You can’t deduct job search expenses if you’re looking for a job for the first time. You usually will claim job search expenses as a miscellaneous itemized deduction. You can deduct only the amount of your total miscellaneous deductions that exceed two percent of your adjusted gross income. For more information, see Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions. This booklet is available on IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Why You Should Learn To Use Resume Writing Test Procedures

Why You Should Learn To Use Resume Writing Test ProceduresEmployers and other individuals will need to hire people to be their virtual secretaries for their businesses. However, most people who are going to be hired for this job will have their own portfolios of resumes. This means that they will need to prepare these portfolios before they are supposed to be given a job. Doing so, they will be able to provide their best resume writing service.One way that people can prepare these portfolios is by taking an English writing test, using resume writing test procedures. This is a good method as the writing test will be given without the need to wait for a person to be able to get to the interview stage. There are many schools in many cities that offer this type of English test, allowing applicants to take this as soon as possible. This is a very fast method for preparing your resume.It doesn't matter if you're going to do this at the office or you're going to use it online. You still nee d to prepare your resume writing service by writing test samples, and then use them on the real test. The best part about doing this is that there will be no waiting period.When you have a portfolio of resumes, employers will be able to see how each one will perform in the position that you want for yourself. This is a must for job seekers, and a big reason why people should learn to use these documents before they get hired. So what makes these resume writing services different from the ones you can buy in books or on the internet? Here are some of the tips for you to think about.- Resume writing services that are done online will not let you make changes to the portfolio. This means that you won't be able to add or remove any information for it to appear at its best. This is something that you will have to do for yourself by writing a test that will include all of the information you want included.- Writing tests that are for you to take online are often much more demanding than w riting tests that are given to employees. These tests are always written with a particular format guidelines, which means that you will not be able to change them. There is no point in doing so, when it's not required. So this is also a good thing to think about, in that you will be able to get the most out of the entire writing test.- If you're going to use a resume writing service, then you're probably also going to be allowed to practice what you learned in the writing test. Since they are working with you, they will want to ensure that you will be able to do this without any problems. This is to avoid the chance of you having to submit your resume and seeing it thrown away.- This is something that you will never see in books or any sort of resume writing service online. They will give you one writing test and then make you write another one, which could be for another position. This is done because they want to make sure that you'll be able to write the best resume.

How To Help Your Ideas Grow To Make An Impact

How To Help Your Ideas Grow To Make An Impact Sometimes, the best achievements come from modest beginnings and the germ of an idea. Actually, from combining various “idea germs” and playing around with them until they click into place. The key is that you start germinating. I recently read about an example of this in The Sunday Times Magazine. The gist of the story is about how Bart Weetjens founded and now runs a charity that has cleared more than 10 million acres of land of explosive devices by using rats. Yes, rats. What struck me in reading his story was that: It combined various “idea germs”: his childhood hobby of raising rodents, his adult interest in helping clear landmines (inspired by a film on Princess Diana’s work in this area), and the insight later on that existing methods were too costly to implement in poverty-stricken regions where the need is also highest. It required his leadership in taking that idea forward, spreading the word broadly (which I think of as “germination”), and persisting despite people thinking he was crazy about using rats rather than the latest technology. His “germination” activity created pivotal moments that played a role in making things happen: his former professor mentioned the “rat project” to a development minister in Belgium who chose to back the idea. Bart Weetjens started his charity Apopo in 1995 from humble beginnings as a 20-something with an idea, and now runs this 600 person (and 324 rat) organization based in six countries that is making a big impact. Pretty cool. So, never underestimate the great achievements you can make by nurturing your idea, spreading your word widely, and persisting. Whether it’s an idea for improving the way things get done at work or one that could save the world (or parts of it), these “idea germs” need to have some fresh air â€" to be taken around the block for a walk and to get some exposure.  So, don’t be shy. And unless we’re talking about the formula for Coca-Cola or the equivalent, the days of keeping an idea completely under wraps until it’s time to launch it are history. You’re better off testing it out and refining it rather than springing it on people fully formed (in fact, remember how New Coke didn’t quite work out). So, do you have germs of an idea that you’ve put aside? Or maybe your children or friends or colleagues do? Whether you’re the originator or an encourager, what’s a step you can take to help those germs of ideas see the light of day where they can grow to make a difference?

Elect to Not Discuss Politics in the Office - Pathfinder Careers

Elect to Not Discuss Politics in the Office - Pathfinder Careers Elect to Not Discuss Politics in the Office Elect this candidate Elect that candidate! Vote here! Go out and vote! Welcome to Election Year Politics, Version 2016, which is a hot topic these days. The contest for electing the new president is heating up, with a lot of questions up in the air. No doubt, many people are getting drawn into the November election whether they like it or not because there has been so much controversy and passion surrounding the potential candidates. And everyone seems to have an opinion. In fact, people are becoming so polarized and emotional about their candidate that sometimes, it is spilling over into the office. Enter in one of the biggest workplace taboos and how you should handle it: Elect to not discuss politics in the office. Note: We should not deny ourselves the enthusiasm and energy we devote to our candidate, but when it comes to the workplace, its important to remember one thing: Politics are temporary, and the office is forever. Or at least until you get the next job. So after the election year ends and emotions start to wane, whats left is the office and how previous political discussions left people feeling. If you were so vehement in your views that you isolated or alienated your co-workers, this can make a rocky road ahead in getting projects completed for each of you. Remember first that you are hired to do a job, and thats the implicit agreement that brought you into the workplace in the first place. But if you elect to not discuss politics in the office, you have a better chance of continuing good working relationships with your peers and even your supervisor. It is our national right to believe what we want to, but truly, it is important to remember that the office should not be politicized because thats not the mission nor goal of the companys business (unless you are actually working for a candidate or an issue). Keeping your own counsel no matter how passionately you believe in something is best for your career. The election will be over, but your career could be too if you dont elect to not discuss politics in the office. Some people, however, end up feeling that the employer or company mission is not embodying their views. Thats fine! This means it is a great opportunity to evaluate career choices and find another job which is more closely aligned to your value system. But your best bet is to elect to not discuss politics in the office because your career depends on it.