Show Confidence with Body Language

How do you look? What message do you communicate the moment you walk into a room? What are your eyes, hands and shoulders saying? What information can people gather about you before you ever say a word?

People read your body language, often via instinct and without thinking. It’s because our poses and postures are a great source of information. They reflect our mood and our confidence level. With a little practice, we can learn the tips to show confidence through body language so that we always appear confident, capable and ready.

If this sounds interesting or you are just curious, find 10 tips for body language here.

How to stay optimistic

The holiday season is not noted for much hiring. The corporate focus is preparing for the next year in many ways, but not necessarily with interviews. Building a Support System Being in a job search for long period of time can be mentally draining and physically taxing.  Seeking support from friends, family or professional help may also may not generate much response for your search efforts. Regardless, you need to remain optimistic.  Consider the following suggestions:

1. Build a Support System
2. Volunteer – Do Something you Like/Love
3. Be Inspired, Remain Motivated
4. Define Goals – Be Practical
5. Meet Friends – Network
6. Practice Positive Affirmations

For more info about how to achieve this optimism, click here.

Ask Better Interview Questions

So, the resume you slaved over for weeks and the expertly tailored cover letter landed this interview.  You have answered all their questions in confident detail, you feel great. Their next question: ‘Do you have any questions for us?’  It has all gone so well, and you say…‘No’. BAD MOVE!

This was your chance to take control, to direct part of the conversation to your benefit. Your prior research on the company should give you some good discussion points. Ask short but thoughtful questions; let the interviewer participate. If you would like to learn 5 techniques for this part of the interview, click here.

Habits That Will Make You Happier

The stress of looking for a new job or the necessity of getting one has a negative effect on your attitude and relationships with others.  Taking some time to review and modify your mental and emotional state is worth the time.  These are stressful times; acknowledge that fact and recognize its effect on you and those around you.

Minor changes in your daily routine will make a major difference in your life and career. Happiness is the only true measure of personal success. Making other people happy is the highest expression of success, but it's almost impossible to make others happy if you're not happy yourself. So if you are open to 9 suggestions that might counter the job search stress, click here.

9 Words to Dump from Your Resume

Think of the hundreds of resumes that cross an HR manager’s desk; a mountain of paperwork they’d rather bypass. But there are subtle ways to make your resume stand out from the rest.
 
One way is to be word wise. But first, the words that need dumping. These are self-aggrandizing words that your references may use to describe you. But if you use them, it sounds like you’re patting yourself on the back. They simply lack objectivity. They’re qualitative and can’t easily be linked to quantitative appraisals of your accomplishments. So, if you are curious about 9 words to dump and 9 to include, see the article here.

Part Time, the new normal?

With effective unemployment at 14.6 % (BLS U-6 statistic for October) due to the lack of an expanding economy, part time employment represents a practical solution.  While the thought is not pleasant, part time may become the new normal.  Lack of expansion, increased regulation and additional health benefits mandated for full time positions likely will cause an increase in part time offerings. 

Those with extended lack of employment may consider part time as a stop gap measure; the sluggish economy may translate into it being a permanent reality. More detail from an economic point of view available here.

Will your skill set last 10 years?

It has been well acknowledged that for today's workplace one should expect to encounter five to seven distinctly different job descriptions over your forty years. The dynamics of the job place and the pace of technology will present you with the 'ride of your life'.

If you are a new graduate or if you have more than 10 years 

before retirement, think about this. One job for life hasn’t been true for a while, but in the tech space even expecting to have one skill-set for life may be asking too much. Jobs may last less than a decade before becoming obsolete. So how do we cope? Since this roller coaster ride probably applies to you, read more here.