Are you dialoguing?

"Two monologues do not make a dialogue." - Jeff Daly

This quote was in one of my emails recently.  It reminded me of a program I saw on television where two people were talking out loud to each other, but were carrying on their own conversation.  They each solved their own problem, but never acknowledged each others thoughts.  (The New Adventures of Old Christine)

Both the quote and program struck me as important when it comes to adapting your interview skills.  

You may be called for an interview and you have several points you want to share about your work history or experiences you have had, but what is the interviewer asking you.

When you are networking, are you so intent on sharing your projects that you are not listening to the person with whom you are networking?  Perhaps listening to what they are saying you might find a way that you can help them or "pay it forward" by connecting them with someone you know within your network. 

Do you want your boss's job?

So you want a promotion?  Being next in line doesn't mean that you will get the job.  You need to be pro-active in your reach for that next step up the ladder.  How do you do that?

• Develop the hard skills required to be a leader.
• Find out what your strengths and weaknesses are so that you may obtain professional development to overcome the weaknesses and enhance your strengths.
• Ask for work that will help build your experience level.  To be a leader you will need to manage projects from beginning to end.
• Shadow your boss and observe the interactions between subordinates and superiors.
• Ask someone in a position of authority to mentor you.
• Investigate and learn corporate and industry trends to be able to contribute in meetings.
• Be visible by participating in activities where senior management or board members may be active like charities that the company supports.
• Support your boss and do your job well even if you don't agree with the way he/she does things.

Let your boss know that you are interested in advancing - gaining the support of your superior is the best way to land the promotion.

What other things would you do?

Are you prepared? Tough Interview Questions

Like every good girl scout or boy scout you need to be prepared for your interview.  The typical questions that you are asked about your previous employment are a cinch. But some of the following may take some thought and preparation.

• Tell me about yourself - prepare a few sentences that gives employers a rounded look at you and your personality.  Don't get too personal or talk on and on.
• Companies want to know if you have done your research about them, so you may end up with questions like: Why do you want to work here; how can you help our company; or why do want to work in _____ field?
• Questions often come up about your weaknesses or your strengths, achievements or disappointments, biggest mistake - prepare one or two for each and how you are coping or overcoming them.
• Often interviewers will ask about previous positions, bosses or co-workers, what you liked or disliked, pet peeves - be very careful to be as positive as possible.  Do not bash, but if there were challenges between you and something at a previous job, make a simple statement and move on.
• What will your references, co-workers, subordinates, or supervisors say about you? With social media, the "checking references" and only getting dates of employment is now secondary.  The savvy employer will know how to search you on the internet and find out what they want to know about you.
• Knowing about your goals and plans are important to employers so asking about where you see yourself in x years or will you be pursuing further education or what do you really want to do in life? How have you improved yourself over the last year? What has kept you from progressing as fast as you would like?
• Then may come the thought process development questions - how would you handle x? What does success mean to you? What motivates you? How do you motivate others? Your philosophy of life, work or your field?
• Knowing how you work is important to employers - whether you are a team player or work alone, help others succeed, offer suggestions to management, lead or motivate others, or how you deal with stressful situations.
• Why did you leave your last position? This isn't a big deal if it was to take an advancement or because the company closed, but if you were fired, you need a diplomatic, yet truthful response.
• How long have you been out of work?  What have you been doing since? Are two questions that a few years ago would not have come into play.  If you have been volunteering, working with a temporary agency, or taken on more domestic engineer responsibilities yet kept active with industry organizations, this will be a bit easier to offer a response. Employers want to know that your skills are still current.
• How do you spend your spare time? They can't ask if you smoke or drink or are involved in illegal activities, but they can  often deduce from your answers whether you might fit within their corporate culture.
• Additional questions may include whether you are willing to relocate or travel, work extra hours, or considering other positions and if your employer knows you are planning to leave.
• Employers cannot ask you:
  

1. Marital status
2. Sexual orientation
3. If you belong to a union
4. If you are on public assistance
5. When did you graduate from (high school or college)
6. Do you have a heart condition? Do you have asthma or any other difficulties breathing?
7. Do you have a disability which would interfere with your ability to perform the job?
8. How many days were you sick last year?
9. Have you ever filed for workers' compensation? Have you ever been injured on the job?
10. Have you ever been treated for mental health problems?
11. What prescription drugs are you currently taking?

If you are prepared, you can answer any question and hopefully, find your way into a new position.

Best Places to work in Illinois

The Business Ledger published a list of 35 of the Best Places to Work in Illinois 2010 edition.  Congratulations to the winners!  If you own a business, you may want to look into these companies corporate culture to find out why they are award winners. If you are looking for a job, you may want to investigate some of these companies to find out why they are the Best Places to work:

• Assurance located in Schaumburg IL http://www.assuranceagency.com/ is an insurance brokerage company.
• Skender Construction in Chicago, IL http://www.skender.com/
• Radio Flyer, Inc. in Chicago, IL http://www.radioflyer.com/
• Geneca in Oakbrook Terrace http://www.geneca.com/ is a custom software development firm.
• Tasty Catering in Elk Grove Village http://www.tastycatering.com/
• Emkay Inc., in Itasca http://www.emkay.com/ is a fleet management company.
• Laurus Strategies in Chicago http://www.laurusstrategies.com/ provides human resource, financial and communications services.
• The Comprehensive Group in Glenview http://www.comprehensiveonline.com/ rehabilitation related services
• The Effner Financial Group, Inc. in Downers Grove http://www.effnerfinancialgroup.com/ benefits and investment services company
• Upshot in Chicago http://www.upshot.net/ advertising agency
• Marquette Group in Peoria  yellow page advertising
• Groupon in Chicago http://www.groupon.com/ internet based daily deals
• Alpine Consulting in Schaumburg http://www.alpineinc.com/ information management
• Perspectives, Ltd. in Chicago http://www.perspectivesltd.com/ Human resources
• Rippinger Financial Group in Schaumburg http://www.rfginc.com/ insurance and financial services
• Association Management Center in Glenview http://www.connect2amc.com/ management company
• R.H. Wine in St. Charles (Wine Sergi) http://www.winesergi.com/ insurance
• Corbett Duncan & Hubly in Itasca http://www.chdcpa.com/ accounting
• Vela Insurance Services LLC in Chicago http://www.vela-ins.com/
• Instant Technology in Chicago http://www.instanttechnology.com/ provide IT staffing
• Digitas in Chicago http://www.digitas.com/ marketing and media agency
• Draftfcb in Chicago http://www.draftfcb.com/ advertising
• Shared Technologies Inc. based in Texas http://www.sharedtechnologies.com/ sells and maintains telephone and data systems
• Edward Jones based in St. Louis http://www.edwardjones.com/ financial services
• Hitachi Consulting in Chicago http://www.hitachiconsulting.com/ IT strategies and solutions
• National Insurance Crime Bureau in Des Plaines http://www.nicb.org/ fights insurance fraud
• Lockton Companies LLC in Chicago http://www.lockton.com/ commercial insurance
• Ice Miller LLC based in Indianapolis http://www.icemiller.com/ law firm
• Sundance Vacations based in Wilkes Barr PA http://www.sundancevacations.com/ wholesale travel
• National Futures Association in Chicago http://www.nfa.futures.org/ safeguards the futures market
• Administaff based in Kingwood Texas http://www.administaff.com/staffing agency
• Burns & McDonnell in Downers Grove http://www.burnsmcd.com/ engineering, architecture, construction
• Quest Diagnostics in Wood Dale http://www.questdiagnostics.com/ medical diagnostic testing
• Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora http://www.rushcopley.com/
• ATI Physical Therapy in Bolingbrook http://www.atipt.com/

Is your job search a noun or a verb?

Recently, the word career popped up as the Merriam-Webster’s word of the day in my email. I thought I knew what the word career meant, but I was surprised when I read that it was referring to the verb Career – meaning to go at top speed especially in a headlong manner. This made me think that one could “career toward a new career”.

If your job search is not actively moving forward in a headlong manner, maybe it is because you aren’t using some of the best action verbs to describe your skills. Following are some action verbs adapted from The Damn Good Resume Guide by Yana Parker. They are great for resumes. Even better, incorporate them into your cover letters and during the interview as you speak about your previous work duties.

achieve, act, adapt, address, administer, advise, allocate, analyze, appraise, approve, arbitrate, arrange, assemble, assess, assign, assist, attain, audit, author, balance, budget, build, calculate, catalogue, chair, clarify, classify, coach, collaborate, collect, communicate, compile, compute, conceptualize, consolidate, contract, convince, coordinate, correspond, counsel, create, critique, customize, delegate, demonstrate, demystify, design, develop, devise, diagnose, direct, dispatch, draft, edit, educate, enable, encourage, engineer, enlist, establish, evaluate, examine, execute, expand, expedite, explain, extract, fabricate, facilitate, familiarize, fashion, forecast, formulate, found, generate, guide, identify, illustrate, implement, improve, increase, influence, inform, initiate, inspect, institute, instruct, integrate, interpret, interview, introduce, invent, investigate, lecture, maintain, manage, market, mediate, moderate, monitor, motivate, negotiate, operate, organize, originate, overhaul, oversee, perform, persuade, pioneer, plan, prepare, prioritize, process, produce, program, project, promote, publicize, purchase, recommend, reconcile, record, recruit, reduce,refer, rehabilitate, remodel, repair, represent, research, resolve, restore, retrieve, review, revitalize, schedule, screen, set, shape, solve, speak, spearhead, specify, stimulate, strengthen, ,summarize, supervise, survey, systematize, tabulate, train, transform, translate, upgrade, validate, write

When you describe your skills and accomplishments with action verbs potential employers will take notice. Which example has more punch?

1. I had 7 people that reported to me while we put merchandise back on the floor that sold the day before. We would scan the shelf labels to see other merchandise that needed to be filled that didn’t arrive in the truck. We would also help store the merchandise in the stock room with a computer system.

2. Supervised 7 employees; Responsible for merchandise replenishment; Generated lists of merchandise for replenishment; Processed merchandise for storage.

Not only will the action verbs help your resume sound snappier, it will help keep it to the recommended one-page length that hiring managers like to review.

How we can help – We offer many resources to help you gain a new position on your way to a career. The Employment and Training Representatives at Kane County Department of Employment and Education can help you find all the information you need to make your resume get noticed. Visit www.illinoisworknet.com and click on the JOBS link, you can find additional tips to help you in your job search.

Four Offices to serve you:

Elgin – 30 DuPage Court 847-888-7900 x 230

N. Aurora – 2 Smoketree Plaza 630-844-6640 x 203

DeKalb – 1701 E. Lincoln Hwy. 815-756-4893 x 240

Yorkville – 811 W. John St. 630-553-8303

www.kcdee.org