How to Successfully Close Your Interview

How to Successfully Close Your Interview This post is sponsored by FGS Recruitment,  a boutique recruitment agency within Digital Media, Learning Development and Business Information. How many times have you left an interview wondering where you stand with the hiring manager or what the next steps were? If the answer is many then you probably haven’t been asking one very clear question. Think of this scenario; you’ve spent a good amount of time preparing for the interview, researching the company, working out the best route to get you there, ensuring you arrive on time and answering the questions put to you in the interview to your best potential, and then at the end of the interview you are asked if you have any questions and you say… NO! No matter how impressive your CV is and how well you have done in the interview, saying no to this question could automatically put you out of the running. First vs. final impressions You’ve heard of making a good first impression, well it’s also important to make a good final impression too. Closing an interview is arguably the most important stage, especially for a sales role. After all, would you get to the end of a sales pitch and not ask for the business? So whilst you’re preparing for your interview and the questions to ask during an interview, also think about how you are going to close your interview and the questions to ask. We give some of our tips below… Summarise your interest Towards the end of the interview you may ask questions such as “What is the key to success in this role?”, “How would you describe the workplace culture here?” or “What are you looking for in the ideal candidate”. These are great questions but they are NOT closing questions so at the end of the interview, don’t be shy about expressing your enthusiasm for the role and use this to lead into the close. For example, start by saying, “Thank you for taking the time to meet with me today. I am convinced that this position would be a great match for my skills and I am interested in moving forward in the process”. Follow up with a closing question Examples of these would be,  â€œBased on my previous experience and the skills we have discussed during this interview, how well do I fit the profile of the type of candidate you are looking for?” or “What type of concerns do you have about me that would prevent you from moving me forward in this process?”. This is a soft but very effective close and does not make it possible for the interviewer to give a simple yes / no answer. Go hard or go home Another type of close would be to follow up your interest in the position with “Do you have any reservations about me?”. This is one for the brave and is essentially a closed question with a yes / no answer which we would not usually recommend unless this is followed up with a very hard close. For example, if the interviewer answers no, depending on what stage of the interview process you were at, a hard close would be “Great, can we go ahead and schedule a time for the next stage” or “Great, when can I start?”. Of course if the interviewer answers yes, then this gives you the opportunity to ask about those concerns and address each one individually with the aim to put any worries to bed. Dare to be different A very strong (and brave close) that candidate of ours recently gave after being asked the standard “Do you have any questions for me or about the role?” by a HR Manager at their interview was “Yes, I have lots but not many that can be answered quickly. Shall we book in a 2nd meeting now?”. This obviously only works if you can back this up with having done your research about the role and company and feel confident that you have questions that only your new potential Boss could answer. By closing your interview as above, you will leave the interview knowing exactly where you stand and you will also show the interviewer that you are interested in the position. A solid close as you round up the interview along with full preparation and a great first impression will result in you making the most of your interview opportunity and hopefully get you hired. About the author: Billy smith is Managing Director  at FGS Recruitment. Check out their website for more job-seeking advice.

What Can I Write On My Resume?

What Can I Write On My Resume?'What can I write on my resume?' This is a question that many people ask and the answer is: Anything you can think of.Now I can hear you ask, 'That is not what I am looking for when I am filling out a resume!' There are some resume writing guidelines that I would like to offer you and these are things that should be included in your resume for every occupation that you can think of.The first thing that you should have on your resume is an Education and a job experience; your educational background will show which specific courses you have taken and how long you took those courses. Experience should be listed in as much detail as possible, this is because employers are interested in the work experience that you have done in your particular field. I would also suggest that you have a work sample of your current job for reference.Next I would suggest that you get all of your experience as you can, it is going to be important in your ability to search for a job when you apply for one. Having an idea of the types of jobs you have done is beneficial in the sense that you will be able to search for a job better than if you don't have any experience. In fact, you may have to search harder than you would if you had no experience at all. There are some businesses that require that their new employees have some sort of prior work experience before they hire them.The last part of your resume should be your education and your educational background, this is a very important part of your resume because it shows your growth over the years that you have been working. Remember that the employer is getting his or her impression of you from the educational background that you have listed.Then you need to go into the area that you plan to apply for and write a list of your accomplishments in that area, a recommendation is also a good idea. You can go through each job and see if there is anything in your resume that would indicate that you were qualifi ed for the position. There are also other things that employers look for and this includes but is not limited to whether or not you can perform the job, whether or not you will enjoy working for them, how much effort you put into your job, and a personal favorite question that you can ask.So now that you know what you can write on your resume you will want to find a great resume writing service that can help you write your resume in just the way that you want it to be written. Make sure that they have many of the above tips on their resume writing tools and that they have been doing this for a while, they are willing to do everything that you want and will not be afraid to charge you a little bit of money to make sure that you get the results that you want.If you have never written a resume before then you might be scared to try and include everything that you want on your resume because you do not know how to start, just remember that there are many great resume writing services ou t there that can help you with the resume that you need. When it comes to your job, you have to know what you can write on your resume, so what can I write on my resume.

New Person, New Project Introducing The Daily Runner

New Person, New Project Introducing The Daily Runner I am nothing like the girl I was 3 years ago.   As I reflect back on my life (so far), I noticed that my biggest accomplishments and happiest moments were from 2011 onward. Well, that’s odd.   Why 2011? After much reflection, there was only ONE thing that separated my old self to my new self: My mental attitude. Somewhere along the way, I realized that if I really wanted to be successful in anything, I needed to change my very core: what I was thinking.   I’ve always heard of those cliché sayings like “You need to believe in yourself!”   or “You have to think like a winner!” and brushed them off as being dumb, but they have a lot of truth in them. Why do you expect to be successful in anything if you constantly think you’re going to fail?   I purged myself from all negativity and surrounded myself with nothing but people and things that would help me become a better person.   A new Vivian was reborn. Of course, I had my critics.   Many people (especially those older than me) told me I was foolish to flush my mind of all negativity.   They said I was naïve.   They told me I didn’t know anything about the real world.   “Life isn’t always roses,” they would tell me, “You’re going to be in for a rude awakening when you get older.” But I didn’t listen (I was never the type of person to listen to those I disagreed with anyways. Just ask my parents). Sure, I knew that life isn’t always going to be happy and fun all the time.   I’ve had my share of upsetting, sad, and stressful experiences too.   But I believe that life is what you make of it.   You can either let the negativity control you or you can be in control of it.   It’s not what happens to you that mattersâ€"it’s how you react to it that counts. Since my life revamp in 2011, I’ve won   Miss Texas United America after people told me I would never win, graduated with top honors from college when people accused me of being a dumb sorority girl, completed a half marathon when people said I was fat and out of shape, and much more.   If I had listened to my critics throughout my entire life, would I been able to achieve those things? Absolutely not. Completing a half marathon was something that tremendously changed my life (if you haven’t read it, read my previous post about running here:  http://mscareergirl.com/2013/03/06/my-journey-to-the-impossible/)  Because I had lived my entire life thinking that completing a half marathon was comparable to  being able to grow wings and fly, once I crossed the finish line, nothing was ever the same to me again.   It really reinforced the notion that success originates in the mind. I started to run a lot more and really enjoyed it.   What happened next is similar to a domino effect: my friends and family noticed, they started running too, they began to sign up for races, they began to love running, they began to push their running limits, and then that “push” spilled over to the other areas of their life. The cherry on top?   At one point in their lives, they, too, thought running a certain distance (5k, 15k, half marathon, etc.) was impossible, just like me.   One of the greatest things I’ve been able to witness is seeing the people who have always doubted themselves cross the finish line.   It’s like watching that person setting themselves free after spending years in their own personal imprisonment. I didn’t realize how much my actions would impact those around me.   The positive outcomes prompted me to think on a larger scale and perhaps reach out to even more people.   I wanted people to experience what   I was able to experience with running.   After much thought and deliberation, I decided to jump into the world of blogging/social media and created The Daily Runner to help motivate and inspire new and seasoned runners all around the world to push their limits, focus on positivity, ignore the critics, and reach their goals. From now on, my columns at Ms. Career Girl will be geared towards Fitness and Wellness.  Because of my fitness background (Im a certified fitness instructor) Nicole and I have decided to add this into the mix.  Get ready to be happier and healthier, gals! With the help of social media master-mind and Ms. Career Girl’s own, Nicole, I have high hopes that The Daily Runner will turn into something big and inspire people daily to become better, physically and mentally.   That’s The Daily Runner’s purpose and tagline, after all: We’re here to help you push your limits.   We’re here to help you awaken the runner within.   Visit The Daily Runner’s website at www.thedailyrunnerpage.com Connect with us on Twitter: @dailyrunnerpage Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/thedailyrunnerpage

How to Financially Prepare Yourself so You Wont be Living on Instant Noodles During College

How to Financially Prepare Yourself so You Won’t be Living on Instant Noodles During College How to Deal with College Tuition They say that information is the most valued commodity in the world. Having access to information can sharpen a person’s skills and, ultimately, increase their value. The most popular medium of passing information is education. However, information gained through earning a Bachelor’s degree is no easy financial task to shoulder. With the rising costs of education, it pays to be prepared. By developing financial tactics early on during high school, you are increasing your chances of being forgiven from debt. How to Deal with College Tuition The annual cost of attending college for a year can range from $12,000 to $30,000 depending on which college you will be enrolling to. If you were a straight A student from Junior to Senior high school, you are increasing your chances in obtaining scholarships and financial aid granted by the government to hard-working students.Otherwise, your financial management skills better be up to par. Unless, of course, you plan on succumbing to debt.For the rest, there are three kinds of loans in the United States which you can apply for: Federally Guaranteed Loans These loans are decided and planned by banks and lenders with an imposed fixed rate by the government. Federal Direct Loans These loans come directly from the government. One has to get in touch with a government agency to apply for this kind of loan. Private Loans As the name implies, private loans are given by private companies and banks. One thing to be wary about with loans is the interest rate applicable to the loan. If you are attending college as a part-time working student, financially planning for your stability can bring you a long way. Research on loan rates so you can pay these loans come graduation time. The interest rates can either be a cushion or a burden. Stafford loans, for example, are great student loans. Although it is expensive to pay back, it offers a flexible schedule for deferred payments. It literally says; “Take your time”. How to earn extra money before college Preparing for your pocket money in college assures you that you will be able to afford necessities and occasional leisure. Before embarking for college, you could be saving up for your pocket money with these tactics: Summer Jobs â€" These short careers can give you a taste of reality. A summer job can hone your skills and earn you much needed money. Take your time to build a network and establish connections at work, so by the time you are heading for college, you can have connections to rely on. Garage Sales Surely, college is a milestone in one’s life. It symbolizes the coming of age, and as you grow out of your youthful tastes, you can opt to sell stuff you don’t need. Make good money out of garage or online sales and bargains on sites like eBay. Earning a college degree can make a huge difference in your future financial stability. Sacrificing your material possessions can aid you in your journey. College living necessities For most people, attending college leads to moving out from home. Being away from your security blanket and comfort zone exposes you to scarcity. Scarcity is life’s enlightening factor. Scarcity teaches you to become more responsible with your money and purchases. By knowing your necessities, you can save more money to pay off your student loan. Here are a few necessities on which you should consider your monthly budget. Dorm rent The question is where you will have to reside during your stay in college. You will have to book a dorm reservation in advance, usually in months. Dormitories can be expensive, especially those within the campus. To solve this financial burden, you may opt to look for apartments near the campus. List down their terms and rates to find out what best suits your capabilities. Food For food allowance, it is always cheaper to shop for fresh foods at farmer’s markets. If you know how to prepare and cook your own food, you’re saving yourself from the more expensive restaurant and fast food price tags. Text books It always pays off to ask higher batch students to buy their used textbooks. You can bargain for the price and end up with more savings than having to buy a brand new one. Content is the most important in textbooks. Don’t mind the scribbles and doodles of its past owners and focus on the lessons. Knowing how to commute Commuting will always be cheaper than having to drive your own car. With soaring gasoline prices plus car maintenance expenses, you will be better off financially in knowing your commuting routes to get you from one point to another.

Resume Writing For Highschool Students

Resume Writing For Highschool StudentsIt's very easy to understand why some people have a problem with resume writing for high school students. The first rule of resume writing for teenagers is to avoid using the words 'manager'supervisor' in the resume. You may find this hard to believe but there are many high school students who think that if they are going to become a manager, or a supervisor, they should be like the people they work with.Adults need managers and supervisors. What you want your teenagers to aspire to, and what you're trying to do, is to develop self-discipline, and to develop their own sense of leadership. This doesn't mean that they need to replace their parents, but it does mean that they need to hold themselves accountable to making decisions.The second rule of resume writing for high school students is to have a cover letter attached to the resume, too. Your teenagers may be looking for positions in businesses, universities, government agencies, health care pr ofessions, or even religion, and in order to make them notice you, you need to do something to give them a reason to read your resume.Recruiters will look through resumes sent to them by high school students, as well as by adults. You want to make sure that your teen will be included on the resume. Make sure to include a cover letter that will help them stand out from the rest of the resumes in their category.You don't want the resume to turn them away; instead, you want it to entice them to apply for the job. If you send a resume that has a lot of fancy formatting and doesn't reflect your experience at all, they won't hire you. Send them something that will show them you've worked hard, and that you have experience, which are qualities that employers are looking for in a manager or supervisor.Once you have the resume, it's time to start building the resume. Most resume writing for high school students focuses on the strengths and qualifications of the candidate. If your teen has a knack for mathematics, for example, a writing resume focused on his or her experience in high school math classes would be a good first step.By highlighting the strengths and experience, you are making it easier for a recruiter to see that the resume is worth their time. If your teenager wants to focus on the skills they have now, then they can take the extra time to write about their abilities, and not about their future aspirations. This is important, because it allows the recruiter to see that you are serious about getting the job, and that you will put in the work necessary to get it.Taking a career education class, or taking part in one of the workshops offered by recruitment companies will give you more specific knowledge and will give you more insight into how to write a successful resume. As long as you follow these steps, and always be professional, you will do just fine!

11 money mistakes freshers make and how to avoid them - Debut

11 money mistakes freshers make and how to avoid them - Debut When your student loan arrives it feels like manna from heaven all that dolla and SO  many things to spend it on. Careful. That sweet, sweet cash can disappear in a flash, especially if youve never needed to think about money management before. These money mistakes freshers make may seem obvious, but they happen more often thank you think. Use this guide, and you and your bank account will thank us at the end of the academic year. 1. Live off takeaways and ready meals We get it. If youve never cooked a meal in your life, the prospect of cooking in a tiny uni kitchen can be quite daunting. Its easy to slip into a Chicken Cottage habit, but for the sake of your bank account and health, try making meals in bulk for the week in order to save money. 2. Subscribe to services and then dont use them Yeah. You know that 3-month free trial of Tidal you signed up for to get Beyoncés  Lemonade? Its great if you actually use it, not so great when you forget about signing up and get charged for a service you dont even use. Subscriptions to services like Spotify, Netflix and Amazon Prime do add up, so think about the ones you really need and get rid of everything else. 3. Bring a debit card on a night out Oh man, thats a rookie error weve all made. Keep aside some cash to get home safely, and a finite amount of money for drinks. The later it gets in the night, the  more tempting just one more Vodbull becomes, after all. 4. Not putting aside a certain part of the student loan in an untouchable account Out of sight, out of mind. Set up a savings account and make sure you put aside a little bit of money every month to put in it. Treat it like your very own secret vault of treasure a la Scrooge McDuck. 5. Scoffing at the basics supermarket range We promise, the supermarket value range bits and bobs are just as good as the branded ones. A little birdy once told us that the Sainsburys Basics range is particularly good if anyone can verify this, let us know! 6. Buy textbooks that are not touched for the rest of the year Secondhand = the best hand. Textbooks come at nearly the equivalent cost of an arm and a leg, so definitely wait a bit to get them at your unis secondhand book sale. 7. Not keeping track of weekly expenditure If you dont know what youre spending on, you wont really know which what you should really be cutting down on. Services like Monzo or Cleo help you track your spending by type like Eating Out and Transport, which will help you form better spending habits. 8. Not getting a railcard because the initial cost is too expensive We get it, the initial investment into a railcard is a little steep. But you really cant argue with a third off train tickets, especially when you connect your rail card to your Oyster card.   9.  Not getting a part-time job/side hustle Bar work, becoming a teaching assistant, starting a Depop or Etsy business, writing some freelance articles the list of things you can do to supplement your maintenance loan is endless. As a bonus, this teaches you transferrable skills you can totally talk about in a job interview. 10. Ignoring your bank balance and going deep into your overdraft Weve all winced looking at our bank balance after a night out. The worst thing you can do is to actually ignore it, as you could spiral into debt if you dont keep an eye out. It may be  painful, but force yourself to check your bank balance at least once a week. 11.  Agreeing to the first second-year house they see This may seem premature, but the second-year house hunt commences sooner than you think. Dont reach the OMG, we dont have a house panic stage in third term and start your house hunt early so you get a better, cheaper deal for next years accommodation. Feature Image ©  Fox Searchlight Pictures Download the Debut app and you could totally grab yourself a summer internship  way before anyone else. Follow Brenda on Twitter @brendaisarebel Connect with Debut on Facebook and Twitter

How to Use a Personal Website When Searching for a New Job - CareerAlley

How to Use a Personal Website When Searching for a New Job - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. If you dont like who you are and where you are, dont worry about it because youre not stuck either with who you are or where you are. you can grow. You can change .You can be more than you are. Zig Ziglar By Mona Abdel-Halim As a job seeker, you must be willing to do whatever it takes to separate yourself from the fierce competition. Creating a personal website is one guaranteed way to set yourself apart. Your personal website can be whatever you want it to be. For job seekers, personal websites should showcase personal brands and provide useful information for prospective employers. If you decide to create your own site, you should mold that site so that every aspect reflects your personal brand. Your personal brand defines who you are as a professional. Because this is your personal site, you have control over the content, format, and design. A personal website will help prospective employers fully form their understanding of you as a whole person. Creating a website doesnt have to be difficult. There are many online tools available that can help you create your own website in minutes, such as About.me, Carbonmade, Wix or Weebly. On your own personal website, you are allowed to shamelessly self-promote. One way of doing this is to place links to all of your social networking sites on the page. You can also post your resume on your site. In doing so, your employer has access to everything they could ever hope to learn from you in one place. Personal websites are not limiting like many networking sites. Not only should you be linking your resume on your site, but you can also provide the document in several formats. If you really want to get your personal brand out there, tag your personal website with keywords. These keywords will help others find your site on the Internet. Search engine optimization (SEO) for your personal website is important if you want to expand your sites audience. Zerply is one Internet tool that you can use to help showcase tags on your site. You can put a lot more information about yourself on a website than you could ever fit in a networking profile or resume. However, you must be careful what you post. While the site is personal, everything must remain professional. Personal websites arent the only tool that you can use to set yourself apart, but they are definitely the most informative, user-friendly, and non-restrictive option. What other kinds of information would you include on your personal website? Do you have an online portfolio youd like to share? Mona Abdel-Halim is the co-founder of Resunate.com, the worlds only search engine optimizing resume builder. You can find Mona and Resunate on Facebook and Twitter. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in your search.

The Next Survivor - Hallie Crawford

The Next Survivor I got this forward from a friend and this was so fun! Enjoy. Six married men will be dropped on an island with one carand 3 kids each for six weeks. Each kid will play two sports and take either music or dance classes. There is no fast food. Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of pretend bills with not enough money. In addition, each man will have to budget enough money for groceries each week. Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on timeno emailing. Each man must also take each child to a doctors appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment. He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Emergency Room. He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a school function. Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside, and keeping it presentable at all times. The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done. The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn themselves with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails polished, and eyebrowsgroomed During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, backaches, headaches, have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties. They must attend weekly school meetings and church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting. They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:30 am. A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each childs birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size, doctors name, the childs weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each childs favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear, and what they want to be when they grow up. The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only ifhe still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moments notice. If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years, eventually earning the right to be called Mother! After you get done laughing, send this to as many females as you think will get a kick out of it and as many men as you think can handle it. Just dont send it back to meIm going to bed. Career Coach