How to Answer the Job Interview Question, ‘What’s your favorite website?’ – Courtney Connley

Jan 162018
 

Hiring managers don’t just want to know if you’ve got the skills for a specific position. They also want to know if you’ll fit into the company’s culture, and an easy way to do that is trying to understand who you are outside of the office.

While some employers may inquire about your hobbies and side hustles, one common question candidates can expect to be asked in an interview is, “What is your favorite website?”

According to career strategist Mary Grace Gardner from The Young Professionista, this question allows interviewers to gain insight into how you utilize your down time.

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3 Underrated Soft Skills That’ll Get You Ahead (No Matter Where You’re Going) – Jeremey Duvall

Jan 092018
 

Cultivating the right skills in your career will make the difference between getting a promotion and getting passed over for one, landing your dream job and settling for a role you don’t love, and being given that big new account or watching your not-so-favorite co-worker get the opportunity.

The question is, which soft skills are the right ones?

Whether you’re a career veteran or just entering the workforce, here are three highly-underrated soft skills that’ll help you no matter where you go in your career:

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  •  January 9, 2018
  •  Posted by at 10:18 am
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  •   Career Success, Social Skills

8 Hot IT Hiring Trends – and 8 Going Cold – Paul Heltzel

Jan 032018
 
Recruiting and retaining tech talent remains IT’s biggest challenge today. Here’s how companies are coping — and what’s cooling off when it comes to IT staffing.

We’re seeing a number of shifts this year in hiring as technologies mature, new ones emerge and companies work to cut costs by blending full-time IT staff with contract work.

While some see the gig economy as a flexible new way to work, one that appeals to solo entrepreneurs, others see a general consequence of the Great Recession. Either way, the gig economy is experiencing growing pains. And growing it is: 40 percent of the workforce is expected to be part of it by 2020, according to a report by Intuit.

One thing hasn’t changed this year: Recruiting top talent is still difficult for most firms, and demand greatly outstrips supply. That’s influencing many of the areas we looked at, including compensation and retention.

Whether you’re looking to expand your team or job searching yourself, read on to see which IT hiring practices are trending and which ones are falling out of favor.

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The Job Search Strategy That’ll Make You 15 Times More Likely to Be Hired – Stacey Lastoe

Dec 182017
 

If you’ve been applying to opening after opening and not getting any bites (read: interviews or offers), it could be because referred candidates are snagging the roles first.

While you’ve no doubt heard that it’s all about who you know when you’re looking for a job, that’s more true than ever. A recent Jobvite article shared data showing that referred applicants are 15 times more likely to be hired than applicants who apply via a job board.

Crazy, right? Well here’s another fun fact from their 2015 Recruiter Nation survey : Nearly 80% of recruiters noted referrals as the best way to find quality hires, and this figure has remained consistent.

What does this mean for you? Well, for one thing, it cements the importance of networking , but it also makes it abundantly clear where you should be putting your efforts (hint: into meeting people who work at your dream companies). You can pull this off more easily than you think.

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How To Build A Career, Not Just Find A Job – Lisa Haugh

Dec 122017
 
Developing your professional network will be far more valuable than uploading your resume to every listing site on the internet.

Headlines abound whenever Facebook or Google introduce a new feature or product. Recently, both rolled out similar services for job seekers, but don’t expect these tools to take all the work out of landing your dream job.

Here’s what the two Silicon Valley giants are offering. Google will aggregate listings from five major job sites to display in search results. On Facebook, companies can post jobs and contact and track applicants. The social media site will also push relevant jobs into users’ news feeds.

Related: To Succeed You Must Make Yourself Indispensable

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7 Things You Should Do To Demonstrate A Strong Work Ethic To Your Employer – Martin

Dec 042017
 

You’ve often heard the words “work ethic” being bandied around. In fact, it has become one of the many phrases often included in many want ads and job descriptions, as a trait that you must possess so you can be considered for an open position. Something about how you must have a “strong work ethic”, or something along those lines.

And then, once you are already part of the company or organization, they’d go on and on about how all employees must have a good work ethic so they can contribute to the achievement of the organization’s goals.

But what is work ethic, really? Is it a personal trait that must be possessed by individuals? Or is it a standard of behavior that everyone should follow so they can actually be of use to the organization?

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  •  December 4, 2017
  •  Posted by at 10:32 am
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  •   Career Success, Social Skills

Five Body Language Mistakes You’re Making In Interviews – Stephanie Vozza

Nov 272017
 

You may have researched common interview questions and rehearsed answers, but could your body be undermining your confidence–and your chance at getting a job offer? Body language can have more of an impact on your success than anything you say. A classic study from UCLA says up to 55% of our communication is nonverbal, and that’s especially challenging when you’re in a situation where you’re likely nervous.

“When we feel threatened, our natural instinct is to cover up and protect ourselves,” says Andy Mangum, speech communications faculty member at Brookhaven College in Dallas. “These nonverbal defenses suggest that we lack confidence. What a person conveys is not always what a person feels. Defensiveness is in the eye of the beholder. So, the key is to look natural and confident.”

CareerBuilder surveyed hiring managers to identify the biggest body language mistakes they see in job seekers during an interview. Here’s a list of five to watch:

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A Mid-Year Checklist for How to Always Be Ready for a Great New Job – Ray Bixler

Oct 302017
 
Constantly try to expand your list of professional contacts.

It’s June, the halfway point of the year. Whether your job is going great or going nowhere, right now is an ideal time to think about your career prospects, where you are and where you want to go. As Alec Baldwin’s character in the movie “Glengarry Glen Ross” said, “ABC – Always Be Closing” – except in this case, ABC stands for “Always Be Candidating.”

The workplace version of ABC means you should consistently think about yourself as a potential job candidate, even if you’re not actively looking at all. Situations can change quickly. There’s a good chance you might even become an independent contractor at some point in your career. In fact, it’s increasingly likely you’ll be a member of the growing gig economy. A survey by Intuit found that 43 percent of American workers are forecast to be gig economy participants by 2020.

[See: 25 Best Business Jobs for 2017.]

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How These Recent Grads Landed Jobs at YouTube, Giphy, and SoundCloud – Rich Bellis

Oct 232017
 
What it takes to avoid a crappy first job in a competitive job market.

The class of 2017 is joining the workforce with some tough challenges but, according to researchers, with plenty of optimism. But no matter how lofty the speeches on this year’s commencement circuit may be, the reality is that lots of new grads will land in crappy entry-level jobs–if they’re lucky to find jobs at all.

That means competition for the good ones is going to be steep. So to find out what it takes to get a leg up, Fast Company asked a few recent grads at YouTube, Giphy, and SoundCloud for their advice.

Related: What It Takes To Start Your Career At Facebook, Nike, Refinery29, And BuzzFeed

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The Pursuit of Happiness in the Workplace – Sharissa Sebastian

Oct 092017
 


 

The pursuit of happiness is defined as a fundamental right in the Declaration of Independence to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes us happy.

I love that. But as great as it is to have the right to do this, how many of us are actually intentional about pursuing our own happiness? Yes, everyone would love to be happier, but have you ever taken a moment to determine what that means for you?

This first came to me while I was on a flight from Dubai to Dallas about two weeks ago. I was listening to an interview with the UAE’s minister of happiness, Ohood Al Roumi. I had no idea that happiness even had a place in government, and I was intrigued by what this meant. Al Roumi’s role is to drive government policy to create social good and satisfaction by understanding what makes citizens happy and making changes at a government level to increase their nation’s happiness. Only time will tell what effect her role will have on the people.

But as exciting as these changes are, the point of this article is not to examine happiness initiatives in the public or private sector. Instead, it’s to encourage us to take personal responsibility for our happiness, especially in the workplace.

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