When college graduates receive their diploma and start their job hunt, they typically assume that the “education” phase of their life is over, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Your first job out of college will teach you innumerable, valuable lessons that you will carry with you through the rest of your career. Find out exactly how important your first “real” job is by reading on below:
Continue reading “Why Your First Post-Graduate Job is Important”
Bragging or boasting about yourself is generally unacceptable, especially in the workplace. You never want to be perceived as arrogant or egotistical, so you avoid patting yourself on the back in public. As a job seeker, it is essential to brag or boast a bit, especially regarding how to sell yourself in an interview. You don’t want to be arrogant about it, though; there’s a proper technique for bragging about yourself in an interview. Learn how to brag acceptably in our advice below.
If you are going to be boasting about yourself in an interview, you have to be honest about your abilities and strengths. Focus on things that former supervisors or coworkers have applauded you for. For instance, if a supervisor frequently compliments your writing abilities, you should highlight that in an interview.
Using characteristics and strengths that others have previously celebrated you for helps maintain honesty and encourages you to root your bragging in facts and examples. You may want to emphasize your organizational abilities during an interview for an administrative role. Don’t just say that you are organized. Instead, when boasting about yourself, tell your interviewer that your coworkers applauded your organizational skills when you created and implemented an improved system for project documentation in your previous role.
Using evidence of your strengths is critical when getting the hang of selling yourself in an interview to avoid seeming arrogant.
If you helped your former employer meet their sales figures or exceeded your quarterly goals, mention that in an interview. When figuring out how to brag about yourself in an interview, it’s helpful to provide quantifiable data to demonstrate your success. Potential employers want to know what value you can bring to their company, and boasting about yourself by listing specific metrics you met or increased in a former position is a great way to illustrate your value.
You should also mention any instance from your past positions where you went above and beyond the call of duty. Some examples of this include working extra hours without being asked, taking on additional responsibilities to help a colleague or support your team, or stepping up to the plate to solve an unexpected problem or error. The key to selling yourself in an interview is to emphasize why you chose to go above and beyond while sharing your story. When boasting about yourself, your interviewer will be interested in knowing your motivation and the outcome.
While highlighting all the great qualities that will make you a fit for a position, be sure you don’t let things get out of hand. The trick to bragging about yourself in an interview is to keep everything honest. Exaggerating your abilities is the same as lying to a potential employer. For example, if you are proficient with Microsoft Office Suite, that doesn’t make you an “expert” or mean that you can use Excel to do anything an employer might need.
When boasting about yourself, be honest and let a potential employer know you are confident and comfortable handling a task without leading them to believe you have qualifications that you do not have. On the other hand, if you are an expert at a task, be sure to tell them. Any certifications or training courses you have taken are worth mentioning.
While getting the hang of how to sell yourself in an interview, practicing with a friend or mentor is beneficial to ensure you don’t come across as arrogant. If you can learn how to brag tastefully without exaggerating your abilities or being overly arrogant, you will be more successful in your future interviews. You’ll be elevated above your competition by boasting about yourself through honest examples of your work ethic and accomplishments.
Every job is different, and so is the application/interview process for each job. While it’s difficult to create rules that will apply for job seekers everywhere, we have done our best below. Check out the rules we believe are applicable for any professional looking for work:
It’s easy to get down on yourself or feel defeated after a long job search with little progress, but don’t let your lack of success affect your motivation! Confidence is key for a successful job search, so make sure you keep a positive attitude.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of myths and antiquated ideas about job searching that job seekers acknowledge as hard fast rules. We have chosen to highlight a few of these myths that we find particularly irksome below:
If you feel like your job search has been dragging, we’ve provided eight easy ways to speed things up and improve your chances of landing that ever-elusive job offer!
Say you have been in the job market for a while. You’ve been spending all your free time applying for open positions, polishing your resume, and going on job interviews. Now, you have finally received that coveted job offer after several rounds of interviews with an organization. After all the hard work you have put into getting that offer, you’re ready to accept it and finally end your job hunt. While a lot of job seekers today are anxious to accept the first job offer they receive, it’s important to consider certain aspects of the position before making a commitment. You don’t want to end up wasting your time on a position that isn’t a great fit, nor do you want to waste any more of the company’s time. To help you make sure you are making the right decision when accepting a job offer, we’ve provided a few key factors to consider before saying yes.
Continue reading “What to Consider Before Accepting a Job Offer”
The Importance of Building Relationships with Networking Contacts
As we have said time and time again, networking can be the key to you finding (and landing) your dream job! The problem is that many professionals get lazy after making a connection with a new networking contact and fail to follow up afterwards. For example, you meet someone who works in your desired industry, or works for a staffing agency that specializes in placements in that industry. You discuss your job search and exchange business cards with a promise to keep in touch, but you never hear from them again, nor do you reach out to them on your own. Failing to follow-up with a networking contact could potentially result in you missing out on a great opportunity, so read our advice below and learn how to properly follow-up in a way that can benefit your career.
Continue reading “The Importance of Building Relationships with Networking Contacts”
While you can’t predict exactly what questions you will be asked in a job interview, you can prepare yourself to answer almost any question by organizing your thoughts ahead of time. Prior to your next interview, create a list of several real-life scenarios you have experienced where you had to deal with the following:
Whether you are a job seeker applying for positions and corresponding with hiring managers, or a working professional writing to coworkers, superiors and clients, being able to write a professional email is a critical skill. Learn how to avoid making simple mistakes and seeming unprofessional by following our tips below:
