Thursday 30 March 2017

πŸ““ 25 Free Cheat Sheets On Every Job Search Topic

Keep these handy to save time when you're actively job hunting.

25 free cheat sheets on every job search topic

Photo credit: Sean McGrath

I love cheat sheets… when they're well done πŸ˜‰.

I like to print them out and post them right beside my desk, or keep them in a pinned browser tab, so I can quickly glance over whenever I need to.

Depending on which aspect of your job search you need help with, there's something in this long list of cheat sheets and “cheat infographics” that you'll like.

The list is divided into the following categories for quicker browsing. Click a link to jump to a category:

  1. Career Success
  2. Social Media & Personal Branding
  3. Job Fairs & Networking
  4. Cover Letters
  5. Resumes
  6. Job Interviews
  7. Salary Negotiation

petty-betty-job-cheat-sheet-tweet

Career Success

1) The One-Page Career Cheat Sheet

the one page career cheat sheet

2) The Best Careers For Your Personality Type Cheat Sheet

the best careers for your personality type cheat sheet

3) Your 90-Day Game Plan For Career Success Cheat Sheet

your 90 day game plan for career success cheat sheet

Social Media & Personal Branding

4) How To Design Your Personal Brand Image In 10 Steps Cheat Sheet

how to design your personal brand image in 10 steps cheat sheet

5) Social Platform Cheat Sheet

360i social platform cheat sheet

6) The Ultimate LinkedIn Cheat Sheet

the ultimate linkedin cheat sheet

the ultimate linkedin cheat sheet 5

the ultimate linkedin cheat sheet 6

7) The Complete Guide to Twitter Lingo Cheat Sheet

the complete guide to twitter lingo cheat sheet

Job Fairs & Networking

8) Mastering the Art of a Career Fair Cheat Sheet

mastering the art of a career fair cheat sheet

9) Your Elevator Pitch Cheat Sheet

your elevator pitch cheat sheet

Cover Letters

10) City of Parkland Job Seekers Cheat Sheet

cityofparkland job seekers cheat sheet

11) Lisa-Marie's Resume and Cover Letter Cheat Sheet

lisa maries resume and cover letter cheat sheet

12) The Only Cover Letter Cheat Sheet You'll Ever Need

the only cover letter cheat sheet youll ever need

13) Tips to Write an Exceptional Cover Letter Cheat Sheet

tips to write an exceptional cover letter cheat sheet

Resumes

14) Transferable Skills Checklist

transferable skills checklist

15) SnagaJob Resume Cheat Sheet

snagajob resume cheat sheet

16) Business News Daily Resume Cheat Sheet

businessnewsdaily resume cheat sheet

17) Resume Cheat Sheet: 222 Action Verbs To Use In Your New Resume

resume cheat sheet 222 action verbs to use in your new resume

Job Interviews

18) GiveAGradAGo Interview Tips and Advice Prep Pack

giveagadago interview prep pack

19) Your All-in-One Interview Prep Guide

dailymuse interview cheat sheet

20) Your Pre-Interview Guide

your pre-interview guide cheat sheet

21) Interviewing Etiquette

interviewing etiquette cheat sheet

22) 10 Good Body Language Examples to Use in Presentations

10 good body language examples to use in presentations

23) Job Interview Cheat Sheet: Master Your First Impression

job interview cheat sheet master your first impression

Salary Negotiation

24) Salary Tutor Negotiation Cheat Sheet

salary tutor negotiation cheat sheet

25) Job Negotiation Cheat Sheet

job negotiation cheat sheet

Bonus: Freelancer cheat sheet

26) How to Calculate Your Freelance Hourly Rate

How to Calculate Your Freelance Hourly Rate

More job search and human resources cheat sheets

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Sunday 26 March 2017

✒ Why Job Seekers Need To Carefully Handwrite Thank You Letters

A heartfelt thank you on paper shows how much you care.

kers Need To Carefully Handwrite Thank You Letters


The article is brought to you by Zazzle. Use code ZAZZLESPROUT to get 20% off all thank you cards before March 27th, 2017


The Jewish holiday of Purim has a fun commandment: the mishloach manot obligation to send a meal to someone else to help them enjoy the holiday too.

While you're only required to send one meal to one other person, you'll usually send to more. For example, this year we sent out wrapped plates of food and drink to 5 friends and neighbors.

In a class at my synagogue, the rabbi told how his family take it much further: they draw up a list of people to thank for something over the past year and then send them all care packages on Purim, turning it into a general People Appreciation Day.

Where they really take it to the next level is that they include a handwritten thank you letter with each package. The rabbi remembered that one person was so touched by this, the thank you note they received was still sitting out on a table at their home months after the holiday.

Handwritten thank you notes go a long way.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

(If you voted No, why didn't you send thank you letters? Tell us in the comments)

In a followup book based on his famous Last (college) Lecture before dying from pancreatic cancer, Professor Randy Pausch explained that:

Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things human beings can do for each other. And despite my love of efficiency, I think that thank-you notes are best done the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper.

Job interviewers and admissions officers see lots of applicants. They read tons of resumes from “A” students with many accomplishments. But they do not see many handwritten thank-you notes. If you are a B+ student, your handwritten thank-you note will raise you at least a half-grade in the eyes of a future boss or admissions officer. You will become an “A” to them. And because handwritten notes have gotten so rare, they will remember you.

This student took that advice seriously:

Saw this on my student's Final Exam. This makes it worth every last drop of effort

A recruiter's take on thank you letters

It's a job search clichΓ© that you should send thank you cards or notes, if even just a short email after job interviews.

But as a job seeker, it's so easy to feel that it's all a waste of time and effort.

Why thank someone who's just going to reject you? Besides, they're going to see many other candidates either way, right?

Is a small note really going to make a difference?

recruiter tweet handwritten thank you letter


The article is brought to you by Zazzle. Use code ZAZZLESPROUT to get 20% off all thank you cards before March 27th, 2017


More on thank you letters

Bonus: Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Subscribe to JobMob via email and follow me on Twitter to learn about showing appreciation on your job search.


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Thursday 16 March 2017

🎩 7 Common Job Interview Questions That Can Trick You

Sometimes the question to answer isn’t the one that was asked.

7 Common Job Interview Questions That Can Trick You

Photo credit: JD Hancock

This is a guest post by Amy Chambers.

The prospect of a job interview is enough to make anyone nervous.

However, no matter how much you prepare there’s often the possibility that your interviewer may have one or two questions up their sleeve designed to catch you out. What may seem like an unremarkable question may actually be a window for you to slip up.

Here are some of the questions that will usually come your way and how to prepare for them:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Free bonus: The One Job Interview Resource You’ll Ever Need is a handy reference to help you prepare for any kind of job interview. Download it free now

1) “What are your weaknesses?”

Key: be honest, but don’t volunteer information

You don’t want to say something that is obviously a strength in disguise, such as ‘I’m a perfectionist’ or ‘I’m a workaholic’.

This is too transparent and suggests that you aren’t aware of any flaws that you do have, or aren’t willing to admit them. You’ll probably benefit from being honest here, but not too honest. Offering a minor flaw, something that won’t affect your work or suggest you have any major issues, will demonstrate your honesty.

This is an opportunity to turn an answer into something positive. For instance, you could say that you are aware that you need to work on your team building skills, your confidence with public speaking or that you need to remember to take more notes. Suggest something that isn’t too bad, and word it in a positive way to show that you are self-aware and willing to improve.

Also, if you have been specifically asked about your ‘weaknesses’, say that you don’t perceive yourself to have any weaknesses, just parts of yourself that need to be worked on.

Cath Newbould, a Resourcing Consultant for RBS Insurance, advises choosing something that you have made positive steps to overcome. She says: “Your initiative could then be considered a strength rather than a weakness. Under no circumstances should you say ‘I don’t have any weaknesses’ as nobody is perfect and it’s unlikely that the interviewer will believe you.

zombie job interviewers

2) “Why should we hire you?”

Key: do your homework

This may not sound like a trick question, but the interviewer could be asking you in order to test your preparation skills. If you have done your research on the company, you will answer this in relation to what they’re looking for, as opposed to a generalised answer of why you’re a desirable candidate.

3) “Why did you leave your last job?”

Key: be truthful and positive

Again, use this as an opportunity to be positive. Never be defamatory towards your ex-colleagues, no matter how difficult they were to work with. Say that you wanted to push yourself out of your comfort zone, seek new opportunities and learn new things. This is a chance to be positive and show your determination.

Equally, you don’t want to appear negative. If the role genuinely wasn’t challenging enough, say so in a positive way. This is not an opportunity for you to rant about your last employer, how the office was too cold or your computer mouse too sensitive. This is asked so the interviewer can test your maturity.

Laura Kilduff, Assessment & Selection Manager with Direct Line Group’s insurance job recruitment portal, advises: “Be honest about why you left your last job, as companies are likely to check this through the reference contacts you provide. Whether you left on good or bad terms, try to be positive about your previous employer and your reasons for leaving, rather than focusing on the negatives. For instance, talk about what you learnt in your previous role and how it helped to develop your skills in a certain area, or reference the opportunities to develop your career and expand your experience by leaving.”

4) “Give me an example of when you have become angry at a colleague.”

Key: don’t make yourself look bad

Don’t fall for these types of questions. Avoid answering a question where you have to offer an example of something that could show you in a bad light. Reply by saying that you have never become angry at a colleague.

The clever thing done by interviewers here is, by asking questions like this, you think it must be an acceptable behaviour. Just because you’re being asked to give an example – doesn’t mean it is expected of people. Don’t give any examples of being angry, lazy or unreasonable.

5) “Give an example of a time when you under-performed and how you overcame this.”

Key: sidestep the trap by going hypothetical

Similar to the above, if this question is asked, it is so you will admit that you have, in fact, under-performed at work. Modestly reply by saying that it has never happened and then offer a for instance as to what you would do if it were to happen.

6) “What would be your ideal job?”

Key: be realistic, but passionate

“This one” is an answer that should be avoided as you may come across as too willing to please. Even if it is your ideal job, it’s always good to demonstrate to the employer that you have constantly evolving aspirations and something to work hard for.

Your first response should be to ask if the question is intended for now, in five years’ time or longer, as this will assure the interviewer that your thoughts are organised and you are focused. The best way to impress would be to answer the question from a realistic point of view, and answer passionately.

7) “What would your references say about you?”

Key: be positive, but modest

Don’t fall for this trap and say something negative, as any references you are relying on will most likely be completely positive. However, don’t give a great list of your strengths, either, be modest and keep it precise.

Free bonus

If you want a handy job interview resource that you can keep on your smartphone or print out for easy reference, I’ve got a special bonus for you.

This free download contains:
  • 130 positive personality adjectives to describe yourself
  • 444 of the most popular job interviewer questions to prepare yourself with
  • 175 questions that you can ask in job interviews to make a good impression and learn about your future employer
Click the image below to get access to The One Job Interview Resource You’ll Ever Need: The One Job Interview Resource You'll Ever Need download button

JobMob Insiders can get this free bonus and other exclusive content in the JobMob Insider Bonuses area. Join now, it's free!

Bonus: 3 Tough Job Interview Questions and Answers

About the Author

Amy Chambers was unemployed for six months after graduating, but found her perfect job after maximising her CV using the tips and tricks she discovered online. She’s an HR geek and lives in the sunny South West of the UK.

READ NEXT: 10 Tricky Job Interview Questions and How to Answer Them

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Thursday 9 March 2017

πŸ“§ How To: The Job Seeker’s Attention-Getting Email Signature

Get the most of that often-seen personal branding space: your email signature.

How To: The Job Seeker’s Attention-Getting Email Signature

Photo credit: Camilo Rueda LΓ³pez

You’ve got your job search email address, but do you have a memorable email signature for it?

Create one quickly with this template:

Required elements are bolded, the rest are recommended where relevant:


Salutation,

Name
Tagline
Title(s), Organization
Association Membership
Phone numbers (mobile/land/fax)
Website/Social media profiles
Image


Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Free bonus: Download a PDF version of this article to use as a handy reference.

Where:

Salutation – using your email signoff to only say goodbye is a wasted opportunity. Either use an expression that’s relevant to your personal brand or wish the person something positive. The best result is a combination of both that doesn’t sound too cheesy. In my email signature, I usually say “To your job search success”.

Name – your full name.

Tagline – your personal branding tagline

Title(s) – if employed, use your current job title. If you’re currently unemployed, list your profession and add “available for full-time employment”.

Organization – the organization you most associate yourself with, typically your employer, a professional association you’re prominent in, or your own company.

Association Membership – any professional or industry-related association that you are a member of, worth mentioning especially to people who are likely to recognize it.

Phone numbers (mobile/land/fax) – just put the one number you want to be reached at; some people include both their landline and mobile/cellphone numbers, but that’s overkill. If you have a compelling reason to include more than one number, put each on its own line with a label to indicate which it is such as “Tel: 555-1234” and “Cell: 555-5678”. If most people who contact you are on Skype and you prefer it, use the Skype callto: syntax so that calling you is just one click away.

Funny email signature

Website/Social media profiles – use the one url (at least) that most builds your personal brand i.e. is most likely to impress viewers. This might be your blog, your organization or association membership profile (see above), social media resume or one of your social media profiles. At minimum, list your LinkedIn vanity url.

If you’re not sure which urls to use, list 2 or 3 but use a url shortener such as bit.ly that lets you customize the shortened url while also counting the clicks so you can measure which url people clicked more. Check the click statistics after a month of usage and then decide which urls to leave in your signature. Like with LinkedIn, use your Facebook vanity url if you decide to include your Facebook profile in your email signature.

Important: include ‘http://’?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss in each url in your email signature so that the recipient’s email software will automatically make the url clickable.

Image – of all the items on this list, an image is the riskiest thing to include in your email signature because it will increase the download size of every email you send (and many of the replies you receive) and will often get flagged by email software as a potential security issue, increasing the chance that your email won’t even be seen by the recipient.

However, if you are willing to take the risk, it will be because you have a memorable image to show, a brand-relevant image that best represents you, such as your personal logo, a picture of your latest book or other product if you have one, or even your avatar.

I originally published a version of this article on the terrific Personal Branding Blog.

Subscribe to JobMob via email and follow me on Twitter for more ideas on how to get contacted on your job search.


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Thursday 2 March 2017

↘️️ Stop Falling into Resume Gaps

You can’t fill in employment gaps on your resume without lying, so do this instead.

Stop Falling into Resume Gaps

Photo credit: Pawel Loj

Need a better way to explain what you did between jobs?

Trying to re-enter the job market after a long time?

Here’s how to explain your resume gaps.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

(If your gap(s) is longer than a year, how have you been explaining it until now? Tell us in the comments.)

Free bonus: The One Resume Resource You’ll Ever Need is a handy reference to make your resume get you more job interviews. Download it free now

How I explained my gaping resume gap

starvingphd resume gaps tweet

Not all resume gaps are signs of poor job searching, sometimes there are good reasons for gaps in employment.

During my job search in 2006, the question was often phrased like this:

“I see that you worked at Amazon.com in France until August 2001, but that your next job only began over a year later in October 2002. What happened there?”

I would usually grin out of familiarity with the question and then reply with something like this:

“In August 2001, I resigned from my managerial position at Amazon.com in France because I wanted to move back to Israel.

My plan was to take some time off to get settled in Jerusalem properly, without rushing, and then relax because I was exhausted from working at Amazon.

Once I was feeling energized and ready to go back to work, I began evaluating what my best career options would be locally. Unfortunately, by the time I began looking for work in December 2001, the Dot-com Bust (or ‘Internet Crash’, as they said here in Israel) was in full swing, companies were closing, hitech (tech industry) people were being laid off left and right, and almost none of them were going to be replaced.

Resume gap

(At this point in the story, the Human Resources rep. or hiring manager is usually nodding because they too remember what it was like during that tough time.)

I spent the next 8 months looking for work like so many other people, receiving only a few offers that I had to refuse because they didn’t make sense financially.

One company offered to pay LESS than minimum wage to hire me as a Senior Project Manager (a position that normally earns 8-10 times that amount). I would have had to take a second job to pay all my bills. Good thing I didn’t join them, they went bankrupt 3 months later.

In the summer of 2002, one of my former bosses from Amazon said that if I came back to France he would give me a terrific job with his new company. With my savings dwindling and an appealing offer in hand, I couldn’t refuse.

However, it still took a few more months before I could start my new job because now I needed to move from Jerusalem back to Paris and get settled in there. In parallel, my new company wasn’t even ready for me yet so the timing worked out well for both sides, and I finally began working in October 2002.”

Why this resume gap story works

Let’s analyze that answer to the resume gap question:

  • “In August 2001, I resigned from my managerial position at Amazon.com in France because I wanted to move back to Israel.”

I wasn’t laid off or fired, I resigned. It was my choice to become unemployed.

  • “My plan was to take some time off to get settled in properly, without rushing, and then relax because I was exhausted from working at Amazon. Once I was feeling energized and ready to go back to work, I began evaluating what my best career options would be locally.”

Needing time after a transcontinental move is very understandable to get settled in, and it takes more than a week.

Saying that “I was exhausted from work” is a mistake unless you can convince the interviewer that it won’t happen again at their company. That said, everyone knows that hard work is tiring and this “slip” of truth can actually work in your favor by showing your honesty.

  • “Unfortunately, by the time I began looking for work in December 2001, the Dot-com Bust was in full swing, companies were closing, hitech people were being laid off left and right, and almost none of them were going to be replaced.”

Anyone who’s been through the ordeal will remember what it’s like to be in industry- or economy-wide recessions, and how difficult the job market is during those moments in time. No one will fault you for getting caught up in such events that were clearly out of your control.

  • “I spent the next 8 months looking for work like so many other people, receiving only a few offers that I had to refuse because they didn’t make sense financially. One company offered to pay LESS than minimum wage to hire me as a Senior Project Manager. I would have had to take a second job to pay all my bills. Good thing I didn’t join them, they went bankrupt 3 months later.”

(The same goes when explaining resume gaps due to illnesses, and that includes mental illnesses and depression. If it was out of your control, say so and people will usually understand.)

Not only was it my choice to become unemployed, it was my choice to stay unemployed. Also, it was worth pointing out that although there weren’t many, I was still getting offers during a tough time.

  • “In the summer of 2002, one of my former bosses from Amazon said that if I came back to France he would give me a terrific job with his new company. With my savings dwindling and an appealing offer in hand, I couldn’t refuse. However, it still took a few more months before I could start my new job because now I needed to move from Jerusalem back to Paris and get settled in there. In parallel, my new company wasn’t even ready for me yet so the timing worked out well for both sides, and I finally began working in October 2002.”

Any HR rep. or recruiter knows that a hiring process can take a few months before the candidate actually becomes an employee.

Finally, it’s important to emphasize that when telling this story to recruiters during my 2006 job hunt, I wasn’t an expert on job search. My above reply was a result of simply trying to tell the truth in a positive light and seeing how people reacted, including their followup questions or remarks.

7 tips for explaining your own resume gaps

erinkennedycprw career gap tweet

1) Be honest

Don’t try to hide the gap. Many people have prolonged periods between jobs, at least once in their career. Think of how many stay at home moms try to re-enter the job market once their kids get older!

Having a resume gap is not so unusual, so don’t make it seem to be unusual.

2) Show it off, even

If you took advantage by using the time between jobs to improve your skills or otherwise make yourself into a more valuable candidate.

3) Emphasize it was by choice (if true)

Put a positive spin by explaining how you were selective when targeting companies or contemplating job offers.

4) Use history

If your resume gap overlaps a period of difficulty in your entire industry or your country’s economy, mention it. Or- perhaps you weren’t job searching the whole time but there was a major event in your personal life that required extraordinary attention. ‘Going historical’ works especially well if the job interviewer can empathize because they may have experienced the same event.

5) Make your resume gap a non-issue

How? By listing directly on your resume what you did during the time between jobs, especially if the time was regularly spent in a framework such as a school or volunteering program.

6) De-emphasize resume gaps with a functional resume

Resume gaps stand out in a chronological resume, the classic resume type that details your work history over time and, by literally reading between the lines, your non-work history. Using a functional resume emphasizes your skills and achievements over the aspect of time.

7) Just avoid resume gaps outright…

By job searching intelligently so that you don’t need to search longer than necessary. Improve your job search skills before you need them, at the very least by following blogs like JobMob even while you’re still employed.

youranmoron resume gap tweet

Read more

Question of the article

Should resume gaps matter? Aren’t your work accomplishments more important than what happened when you were off work?

Tell us in the comments.

Free bonus

If you want a handy resume and CV resource that you can keep on your smartphone or print out for easy reference, this special bonus is for you.

This free download contains:
  • 111 Smart Resume Section Headings and Titles
  • 60 Resume Achievement Writing Ideas and Expressions
  • 500 Positive Resume Action Verbs That Get Job Interviews
  • 35 Resume Filenames Recruiters Won’t Respond To
Click the image below to get access to The One Resume Resource You’ll Ever Need: The One Resume Resource You'll Ever Need download button

JobMob Insiders can get this free bonus and other exclusive content in the JobMob Insider Bonuses area. Join now, it's free!

Subscribe to JobMob via email and follow me on Twitter for more useful resume gap insight.


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