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Do you want to know the secret to finding the job of your dreams? Like most things in life, it is simple and yet so many people have a hard time doing it. You just have to make up your mind that you are going to do it. Too many times we enter a process thinking about what we want the end result to be but never following it through. We get side tracked by competing interest or others who place doubt in our mind. This would not be possible if we had made up our mind about the goal we were striving for.

Maybe the problem is that we did not believe it ourselves and this is the heart of the matter. If you do not believe in your heart what you want to achieve then you will never achieve it. Several months ago the world was all a buzz with two words The Secret. There is a book and a DVD about the secret and you can check it out on my resource page. This principle is what the author calls The Law of Attraction and is discussed in the video of this post. In its most basic elements it is having faith, believing that something unforeseen will happen to you at some point in time in the future. The main ingredients are that your mind is made up and you believe it in your heart.

Do you want to get that dream job? You have to make your mind up, believe in it and do not let anyone plant a seed of doubt in your mind. Your mind is fertile ground and will be willing to grow what ever you allow to be planted there. The choice is yours. I recommend getting the secret and developing a deeper understanding of the principle. Your dream job awaits you, remember it is your choice, so do not be afraid to make it.

Job seekers in today’s market believe that personality and management style of their supervisor is more important than money. Don’t get me wrong. Money is important, it pays the bills and feeds the children but today’s job seeker is interested in the quality of their work life. Think about it, you spend a least one third of your weekday life at work. The relationship that you have with your supervisor is one of the keys to your success at work.

Establishing a good work relationship with your supervisor is very important. How can you do this by finding out their top 5 strengths? The Gallup Management Group has a book they recommend called “Now Discover Your Strengths”. I friend of mine who is a world traveler and international speaker give me this book as a gift and it helped change my life. By reading it I gained insight into who I was and how I thought. More importantly I learned how to play to the strengths of people around me. I recommend that you read this book.

When you go on an interview mention the book in conversation and see if your potential boss is aware of it. If they are not you they may realize the value that you would be bringing to their organization and if they are ask them to share their top 5 strengths with you. This will provide you with insight to how your potential boss looks at solving problems. Sharing your top 5 will do the same for them. At the heart of this encounter is establishing a relationship during the interview.

You can read more about what current job seekers prefer in this article from the Gallup Management Journal by clicking here. You can also order your copy of “Now Discover Your Strengths” and have it delivered directly to your home. Discover your strengths and become a better interviewer. It is more important than money.

Everyone who plans to be successful in doing anything establishes a system to make it happen. You need to do the same for your job search. One of the first things you need will be an agent. Yes, you can have your own personal job search agent that will work for you when you are sleeping identifying potential positions of interest to you. All you have to do is go to a job board, like Monster.com and set up your agent. You tell the agent what you are specifically looking for in a position, location, title, type of job, then how often you would like to receive notices of the vacant positions. When you get up the following day and check your computer you will find that the agent has delivered to your e mail a number of potential job offers. Depending on the response you receive you can make adjustments to your agent to provide you with a broader or more tailored response. The choice is yours.

Getting an agent and setting it up is absolutely free and is one of the best ways of reducing your time hunting on job boards for positions that appeal to you. You can learn more about this and other tips to help you establish a job search system by clicking this link. Remember, you are hunting for your dream job, and it is smart to maximize your time developing and working a productive job search system.

Have you been on your job for 10 years or more? Have you received regular increases in salary annually? You know what you are currently getting paid but is you salary keeping pace with other available jobs in the market? These are three important questions that you need to know the answer to, especially if you are job hunting. The best way to get the answer is to click this link. It will take you to an article on Salary.com that will help walk you through the process. It will take a little time to complete but the reward will be well worth it. The goal is to get your dream job at the best salary possible. We can do it, just take the time.

At some point in time when you are applying to a job vacancy there may be such a large number of applicants for the position that the hiring organization may decide to give you an aptitude test. You may not have been notified in advance about this, but you are interested in the job and there are a number of other applicants there willing to take the test as well. What should you do?

Let’s start in the beginning. You have to be prepared for anything when you go to a job interview, pop quizzes and behavioral questions are tools that are used to weed people out of the hiring process. You should realize this and prepare yourself both mentally and physically for what most people would consider a surprise.

Carry you resume in a leather folder with a calculator enclosed. Having a calculator will make it easier to calculate simple problems and help reduce the anxiety of the surprise test. Get a high school math workbook from you local library if you do not have a child who has one, and review the problems. Most math test questions are geared to the high school level requiring the use of algebra, percentage, and ratio math skills. We both know it has been years since you have had to use any of these skills and this is why you need to practice.

Being prepared is half the battle. Practicing will make you more confident and keep you in the right frame of mind during the test. You do not want you feel like Rowan Atkins in the above video trying to figure out the answers to the test without a clue. You can do it. Have confidence in your abilities, practice and make sure you bring a calculator and any additional tools that you may need to be prepared and successful.

Are you in a job that is not fulfilling to you? Do you hate going to work and dread Monday mornings? Are you tired of the weekly routine and looking for a change? Well if you have answered yes to any of these questions then you need to start looking for a new job. Your job should be rewarding and something that brings you a sense of satisfaction daily. Well at least most days (smile). So how do you find out what type of job you should be doing? You can discover your perfect career by taking this short quiz. This quiz is quick, easy and best of all free. It is based on the Myers Briggs personality Type indicators which are used world wide to help individuals focus their career energies in a direction that is self fulfilling. Do you want a self fulfilling career? Then I recommend that you take this short quiz and open the doors of enlightenment for yourself.

How aware are you about yourself? Are you comfortable speaking to others about your likes and dislikes in a professional manner? If your answer is not comfortable or you are not really sure then you may be interested in taking this self awareness test that I found. It is free and I believe you with find it informative and insightful. Remember, you are pursuing the job of your dreams and every tip and advantage that you can use will help. Just click here to take the quiz; you will be glad that you did.

Too many times we get caught up in our daily lives and do not take a moment to stop and be thankful. Thankful for what you might ask. The answer is, thankful for everything. Too many times we over look the little things like, I woke up this morning. The sun was shinning, or it is raining and I will not have to water the lawn. It might be a windy day and you are thankful that your leaves are being blown into you neighbors yard so you will not have to rake them. Or the leaves from your neighbor’s yard are being blown into your yard, but you can walk and have the strength to rake them. Besides, if you spend as much time at the computer as I do you could probably benefit from the exercise.

Why do I mention these things to you? Well if you have just lost your job you may not be in a thankful mood. There is a passage in the bible that says, “In all things give thanks.” This means that even in your darkest times there is an opportunity for gratitude. What it takes is a change in your prospective and your outlook on things.

Having a positive attitude will benefit you in the long run. No one wants to hire Mr. or Ms. Grumpy; they want to hire Mr. or Ms. Happy. This means you have to smile and practice doing it. This can be an impossible task if you are not thankful. My recommendation is to be thankful, smile, and in time you will see everything around you change in your favor. As the singer Bobby McFerrin said “Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Don’t Worry Be Happy Now!”

Did you know that it was possible to enjoy your lunch and learn at the same time? Well it is true, easy to do, and best of all free to you. A colleague of mine has been helping current and aspiring small business owners, entrepreneurs’ world wide with a weekly teleconference interview show that he calls the Lunch and Learn Teleseminar Show. His name is Greg Williams and if you go to his website www.YourEmergingSmallBusiness.com you will be able sign up for the free teleseminar scheduled at noon eastern standard time in the United States this week and every Monday.

An accomplished business owner in his own right Greg was selected as businessman of the year by the U.S. Congress, and sits on numerous committees and advisory boards. Focused on ensuring the success of others Greg is uniquely positioned in a network of subject mater experts who are willing to provide you with free information on current market issues. The cost to you is just a phone call and your time.

The teleseminar lasts for 30 minutes, so if you have an hour for lunch you can listen and learn then eat. If you only have a half hour lunch I recommend that you munch and learn at the same time. Don’t be afraid of someone hearing you eat; the call is muted on your end to provide clarity for everyone to hear on the call. Click the link and sign up for the Lunch and Learn Show; make the call and on Monday at noon eastern you will have the opportunity to not only feed your body, but your mind as well.

Many people over look the importance of the format of the resume. Next to including key words in a resume the format is the second most important aspect of your resume. In a previous post (Resume Format – What’s The Objective) I described the need for you to use a professional profile and the title of the position that you are applying to, as opposed to an objective for the job you are seeking. Remember your resume is prime real estate and you want to capture the reader’s attention and encourage them to read more.

Starting at the top of the page you should place your name, e mail and telephone number centered with a line for each item so that is looks like a block. Under this block place the name of the position you are applying for. Skip a line and place your professional profile under the job title. Next center the heading “Professional Experience”, all of your work experience will fall under this heading. Each position that you have held should appear on your resume in reverse chronological order, starting with your current or most recent job.

Each job that you have held should include the name of the employer, the city and state of the employer all on the same line. On the following line place the job title that you held and your years of service, if you currently hold this position then include the month and year you started followed by a dash and the word “Present”. This will inform the reader that you currently hold this position. Give a brief description of this position, followed by Result Oriented Communication (ROC). I will discuss the importance of ROC in a future post.

If you have to use additional pages for your resume include just your name, phone number and the page number of total pages as a heading at the top of any additional pages. This will allow the reader to know how many pages to look for, identify the page as yours and allow the reader to contact you if the first page is misplaced. Any additional on the job education will fall under the heading of “Training”.

You also should include a heading for education. Your education should be in reverse chronological order with the month and year of graduation. If you are currently in school you can enter the degree you expect to achieve, the school you currently are attending followed by the word “candidate” and the year you anticipate graduating.

Leave a 1 to 2 inch border on the sides of the resume. This will allow the interviewer to write notes on your resume when they interview you. Notice I said when, not if they interview you. Using this format will get your resume noticed and increase your chances of being interviewed for that dream job.

If you would like a free copy of a resume using this format written with result oriented communications to use as a guide in developing your resume then click the “Join Us!” tab at the top of this blog located between the “About The Interview Teacher” and the “Suggested Reading” tabs. You can also contact me at Info@InterviewTeacher.com if you have any questions or are interested in obtaining more information.

When you are applying for a specific job you need to identify the key words that the employer is looking for. What are key words? They are the specific qualities or attributes that an employer desires from a prospective applicant. Finding key words is easy, you can identify key words by obtaining 5 or 6 job postings for the same position and underline the similar words in each of the job postings. The words that you underlined are the key words for that specific job.

You may ask why key words are so important. The best way for me to describe it to you is by asking you a question. What type of pizza do you like? Let’s say that you only like pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni. I have the greatest pizza in the world for you; it has pepperoni, anchovies, pineapple, jalapeños, and onions on it. I am offering it at the same price as the pizza with extra cheese and pepperoni, do you want it? No. Why not, it is the same price. You do not want it because that is not what appeals to you. The employer feels the same way, so to satisfy the employer you have to use the key words that the employer is looking for. Key words are the pizza toppings.

When you write your resume, focus it to a specific job posting and make sure you use the keywords that the employer is looking for. Now that you know what to look for, it will be easy to do and be of benefit to you. Resume key words are an essential ingredient in developing a resume to help you get your next dream job.

I had the opportunity to review a product that will beneficial to you when you start to write your resume, “How To Make A Great Resume”. Richard Adams has developed a book that uses a number of the same tips and tools that I used in teaching resume skills to scores of professionals. You will find his book, straight forward and easy to understand and follow.

One note of caution, if you think you are going to write a good resume in an hour then do not even bother buying his book. This process takes time and like everything else I have shared with you it is well worth the investment especially when you start to receive call backs for face to face interviews. After all the goal of writing the resume is to obtain an invitation to interview for the job of your dreams.

A number of people ask me why they need to have a business card outside of their normal work business card. Well your work business card is great for business transactions but if you are testing the waters for a new opportunity you may not want a prospective employer calling you on the job. If someone else answers the phone the word might get out that you are looking before you want it to.

I recommend that you have your own personnel business cards made with an e mail and phone number that your prospective employer can contact you. I number of people use their cell phone as their main number of contact. This can be a good and bad idea at the same time. If you decide to use your cell phone as a business contact then you are also making a conscious decision to answer all calls on that phone in a professional manner. More about this subject will be discussed in future posts.

Vista Print is the site that I use for my personnel business cards. You can select to purchase free business cards or premium business cards. If you choose the free cards there are a number of cards themes that you can select from. Remember to select a theme that looks professional, because you will be planning to use this card when networking and on your interview. I normally purchase the premium business card. They sell for $19.99 on sale 50% OFF Premium Business Cards & FREE Return Address Labels
and provide a broader range of themes to select from. You can also select to have the cards printed on a thicker card stock and have it laminated in a glossy finish for an additional charge.

I recommend upgrading to the premium card with a thicker card stock and having them laminated as well. Your business card says something about who you are and it might be the only thing that a person has to remember you by. Having a card that is unique (laminated) and feels good in the person’s hand (thicker card stock) says that you are a person of quality and pay attention to detail. It is a little more expensive to upgrade your business cards but you are well worth the investment.

Many people play off a telephone interview as something minor expecting it to be the appetizer to the main course, the face to face interview. Too often when you do not take the telephone interview as serious as you would have taken the face to face interview, you are never called in for the face to face interview.

Let me tell you if you do not already know, the telephone interview is more difficult to maneuver than the face to face interview for the simple reason that you can not see facial expressions. More than 60% of our face to face communication is non verbal. On the telephone the communication is 100% verbal. This disparity results in a higher percentage of misinterpreted communication. When you are on the telephone the only thing that you have to help you interpret the meaning of the statement being said is the tone of voice of the person saying it.

There are 2 things you must do if you are going to be successful in a telephone interview, stand up when talking and smile. By standing up when you talk you sound more energetic and that will come across in your tone of voice. Remember the telephone interview is another attempt to weed you out of the competition. You want to sound lively on the phone; the goal is to connect with the person who is interviewing you. The smile can also be heard in the tone of voice. The lyrics of the song, “When your smiling, when your smiling, the whole world smiles with you” is true when you smile during your telephone conversation. If you do not believe me call up a relative or friend and try it. Smile during your entire conversation with them and at the end of it ask them if they could hear your smile. More importantly, ask them if they noticed that the smiled too. Smiling is contagious. It is a force that no mortal can resist.

If you do nothing else during your telephone interview remember to stand and smile, these two 2 do’s will serve you well in your next telephone interview.

There are many ways for employers to determine your age when you are applying for a job. They may ask you to complete a job application. This can be a sticky situation, on one hand you can refuse to answer sections that ask for your years graduated from high school or college. You might not want to share this information since it is a back door way of determining your age. Not completing the application may bring attention to the fact that you do not want to answer the questions because you are hiding your age. The hiring manager might also think that you can not follow instructions. What should you do?

A number of people suggest that you do not put your date of birth or year that you graduated from college on the job application. For a long time I was in agreement with this philosophy, after all my age does not determine my ability to do the job. Why were so many people preoccupied with it?

The reality was I was preoccupied with it. I knew that I would not be selected for some positions because of age discrimination. So I tried my best to hide my age and not post my complete work history on paper. Then recruiters who contacted me told me that I needed to place my entire work history and graduating dates on my resume if I was going to demand the salary that I was looking for. The employers want someone with my experience, all of it, not just the most recent 15 years. I had a wealth of knowledge and if I wanted to have the opportunity to share it with a new employer I needed to share it on paper so they could see it. Demonstrating accomplishments in past positions and showing increasing levels of responsibility with each new position allowed the prospective employer to see me as a whole person as opposed to the holes in my work experience that I had intentionally left out in the past.

I rewrote my resume to include my full work experience, dates of graduation and a funny thing happened, I started to get more job offers. I became less preoccupied with my age and so did my prospective employers. Ask yourself this question, which employer would you rather work for, one that knows your experience and age and values the knowledge and experience you bring to the position or the employer who was more concerned about your age then you ability? My choice would be to disclose my age and the invaluable experience that those years of working has taught me. It is better to work for an employer who values you and what you have to offer their organization.