Archive for June, 2007
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
Age Discrimination and the Over-50 Job Seeker
It violates a host of local, state, and federal laws, but age discrimination in hiring happens all the time. Employers are concerned that older candidates are out of touch with recent technological and business changes, will be resistant to change, and will have difficulty working for younger managers. There’s also a concern that older candidates […]
No Comments » - Posted in Discrimination & the Job Search by admin
Thursday, June 14th, 2007
The Elements of Style & The Secret to Writing Well
The cardinal rule of good writing is to keep it simple, direct, and concise. In what have been called the “63 words that could change the world,” the late great William Strunk, professor of English at Cornell University, said it all:
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary […]
No Comments » - Posted in On Writing Well, Resume Writing by admin
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007
How to Answer the Question “Tell Me About Your Weaknesses”
A question I am frequently asked is how to respond to the interview question, “Tell me about your weaknesses.” The traditional (and very canned) response is to take a strength and disguise it as a weakness. For example, you may say, “I’m a perfectionist, or “I’m a work-a-holic” or “I’m always early and most days […]
No Comments » - Posted in Interviewing by admin
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
Sample Interview Questions
When I was teaching and coaching speech communication, I would constantly say to my students, “Practice, practice, practice. ”
Of course, whether giving a speech or an interview, you don’t want to sound too rehearsed (like you’re quoting a memorized script), but you don’t want to respond to critical questions with a blank stare, either - […]
No Comments » - Posted in Interviewing by admin
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
Eight Questions to Ask Before Selecting a Professional Resume Writing Service
When you’re looking for a job, you’re in sales, and the marketing brochure you use to sell yourself is your resume. A good resume won’t get you a job, but it can get you interviews. If you’ve read the books about how to write a resume and you’ve made the effort but aren’t happy with […]
No Comments » - Posted in How to Select a Resume Writing Service, Resume Writing by admin
Friday, June 8th, 2007
How to Prepare for Performance Based Interviews
The traditional interview format is sometimes called a “beauty contest,” and it’s very subjective: The employer asks general questions and forms a judgment about the candidate. Today the trend is toward performance based (sometimes called “behavior based”) interviews: asking a barrage of very specific questions about the candidate’s performance in response to various situations, with […]
No Comments » - Posted in Interviewing by admin
Thursday, June 7th, 2007
First vs. Third Person Resumes
“I swear, English teachers are the most annoying people on the planet!” proclaimed my college-bound son.
“Don’t swear,” I admonished. “You must learn to eliminate unnecessary verbiage and make clean, declarative statements.” He rolled his eyes, muttered something unintelligible, and walked away.
The English teacher he was talking about was, of course, his mother. Having taught English […]
No Comments » - Posted in Resume Writing by admin
Friday, June 1st, 2007
Resume Writing Do’s & Don’t’s
If you haven’t had to send out a resume in some years, you need to know that the rules have changed. A lot. Some things that used to be a must for every resume are today a huge no-no, and some things you wouldn’t have thought of putting on a resume in the past you […]
