January 2016 – Accelerated, Collaborative Technology Training Services

The mix of hard and soft skills it takes to get hired change as quickly as business does. Here’s what it will take this year.

Good help is hard to find. At least that’s what one-third of hiring managers say, and the talent shortage isn’t just in technical fields. Good sales reps, managers, executives, and financial professionals are among the most difficult to find, according to a 2015 survey by Manpower Group.

Sought-after people have a good mix of hard and soft skills, and those skills are always changing because today’s business climate is in constant flux. If you’re looking to get hired, hire someone new, or grow your company, here are eight skills that will help you do it in 2016:

January 25, 2016
Posted by dherrig1 at 4:13 pm
Comments Off on Eight Career Skills You Need To Be Competitive in 2016 – Stephanie Vozza
Career Success, Interviewing, Resume Tips, Social Skills

A new job hunter is born every second, so it doesn’t hurt occasionally to review the most basic guidelines for starring in a job interview – such as don’t bring your pet bird in your shirt or sing your answers to questions.

Yes, these have happened in real life.

But before we even get to face-to-face interviews, a reminder: Many screening interviews are conducted on the telephone. Be prepared. Treat it as if you were sitting in the same room. Do not under any circumstance chew gum, eat, blow your nose or flush the toilet while you’re on the phone. Now on to in-person interviews. I’m compelled to review because surveys of human resources professionals repeatedly reveal candidates behaving badly. A new Harris Poll for CareerBuilder unearthed some truly weird encounters, such as the job hunter who felt the interviewer’s chest to “connect heart to heart.” Ew.

January 21, 2016
Posted by dherrig1 at 1:29 pm
Comments Off on Interviewing? Don’t Bring Along Your Pet Bird – Diane Stafford
Interviewing, Social Skills

Engaging with the interviewer and demonstrating knowledge of the company’s goals will earn you points.

After researching your interviewer’s hobbies, interests and alma mater on LinkedIn or the company’s website, you’ll be able to start the interview with some friendly chitchat.

Today’s workforce is constantly multitasking and overwhelmed by information. Your future interviewer has a thousand things running through his mind as he conducts the interview with you. These circumstances may seem beyond your control, but there are surefire ways to win the interviewer’s attention.

Rather than plop yourself in the chair and prepare for the barrage of interview questions, have some of these tricks up your sleeve to entice and engage your next interviewer.

January 12, 2016
Posted by dherrig1 at 2:07 pm
Comments Off on 4 Surefire Ways to Win Over the Interviewer – Hannah Morgan
Career Success, Interviewing, Social Skills

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review cited a National Bureau of Economic Research study that argues that “high-skilled, hard-to-automate jobs will increasingly demand social adeptness.” Bigstock

Automation and self-service have replaced a lot of jobs. Computer programming and technology skills are requirements for others. But the ability to interact well, person to person, remains vital for career success.

In other words, you can’t hide behind a keyboard and expect to prosper.

The experts in no way downgrade the importance of technology skills. You must have command of your field — cutting-edge command is even better — but you also need to get along with others. David Deming, an associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said it this way in the Harvard Business Review:

“If it’s true that work is becoming more team-based, and there’s a lot of evidence that it is, then it ought to be true that people who are more able to work with others will be more valuable. Because the thing about computers, technology and machines is that they’re very good at the specific things they’re programmed to be good at, but they’re not flexible.”