How To Be More Confident At Work

How To Be More Confident At Work

You might not even think that you’re not a confident person when it comes to your job. However, it’s important to have a little assertiveness where you work.

For instance, some of us have been in awkward situations with our bosses and/or co-workers. Someone might’ve taken full credit for your work, a co-worker has not been using appropriate language in the workplace, or your boss ignores all of your efforts to make the company more successful.

Whatever the case may be, situations like these could use some good old fashioned assertiveness. An article by the Houston Chronicle states, that “assertiveness is [a] behavior that communicates leadership,” and leadership is a great quality that can get any professional the level of recognition and professional success they’ve always wanted. But how does one become more confident in the workplace?

How To Be More Confident At Work

Here are some tips:

Stop Doubting Yourself

In order to express the right level of assertiveness where you work, you won’t gain confidence if you continuously doubt yourself.

In an article written for Forbes, Steven Berglas – former psychiatrist and executive coach and management consultant – describes building self-confidence as a two phase process. “The first phase involves purging yourself of self-doubt; in the second, you build up your confidence,” wrote Berglas.

He goes on to describe a ten-step process that can help boost the confidence levels of an unsure employee, among them are: understanding where your self-doubt comes from, admitting that you have a problem, and conducting confidence trial runs with friends or family for feedback. All of these steps as well as the others Berglas discusses are great starters for becoming more confident.

Be Confident Outside Of Work

If you’re employed full-time, like several of us, you spend either half or more than half of your day in the workplace. If you lack a confidence boost, practicing how to be more confident outside of work could be great practice for you.

In an article by Jobacle.com, the article states that “Finding joy and confidence in other areas, such as hobbies or passions, can take some of the pressure off of you… Although it is difficult to separate your professional self-image from your personal self-image, doing so can help you feel more comfortable at work.” This will make you less anxious when it comes to expressing some of your dislikes or even challenging ideas in the workplace.

Get In The Right Mindset, Have A Plan

Just as it is important to have the right mindset when looking for a job, having the right mindset to gain confidence is also important if you want to accomplish any of your professional goals.

According to Ute Wieczorek-King and Gerry Hyde, working on to-do lists on a regular basis keeps people on track, but also, “feeling in control,” which is exactly how you want to feel when you’re trying to build confidence. If you don’t feel like you’re in control of a situation, you’ll be less apt to make any changes, and that only leads to a road of unhappiness.

If confidence is something you lack in the workplace, remember that for some it just takes some practice. Try to recognize you need to build more of it and work towards getting rid of your self doubt. If you can’t start building confidence where you work, try doing it outside of work to get you started, and have a plan to keep you on track and in control.

6 Steps To Asking For A Reference

6 Steps To Asking For A Reference

The references you provide to the employer for the job you REALLY WANT are more important than you imagine. A missing in action reference can really kill your chances of a job offer, especially if the choice between you and another candidate is a close one.

Before we get to the nuts and bolts of how to ask for a reference, it is important to understand that you should NOT:

• Use the same references for every job. Some of your references may have more knowledge about the specific skills you would like to highlight than others.
• Include your references with your resume without being asked. You want to know if and when the employer will be calling your reference so you can give him/her a heads up (many people don’t answer their phones if they don’t recognize the number and many employers won’t leave a message).
• Assume your references will know what to say. They WANT to help, but make sure they really do – give them an idea of what they should say.

Now the nuts and bolts.

1. Think about the job you are applying for. What skills and abilities will the employer be likely to ask about? What is the employer contact’s communication style or company culture like? Consider whether it will likely be a call, email or a formal mailed request to your reference and determine who would be the best match.

2. Who would be the best person to speak to your skills that are desired by the employer? Not all of your references know about all of your great skills and abilities. Likely, one or two have a more intimate or direct knowledge and could more convincingly speak to them. Consider their overall communication skills.

3. Write a letter of reference for them to refer to. I know. I hear the same response from everyone I say this to. Later, I get thank you notes, flowers, and money – well, at least a mea culpa or two! This works. It also helps to prepare YOU for upcoming interviews if you do this while you are in job search mode (which I recommend).

4. Contact your references by phone or in person. Don’t just email them and wait for a response. You are asking this person for a favor. Show the respect they deserve and take a more personal approach to the request. Make sure you have all of their correct contact information and titles while you are at it!

5. Provide your references with a copy of your resume, the job announcement, and your written letter of reference. If you provide them with this information they will be better prepared to provide all of the appropriate information and give more thought to how they can best help you. Your references might even come up with more pertinent information than you gave them.

6. Ask if the people you contact would be willing to provide a reference for this job AND to write a letter of reference for you. Why not? You are already asking for them to serve as a reference and giving them all the info they need. Ask them to take an extra step and provide you with a letter of reference you can use for other positions. Of course, you would be happy to provide an electronic version of the one you wrote for them in case any of that information would help!

3 Reasons Why Someone Less Qualified Got The Job

3 Reasons Why Someone Less Qualified Got The Job

It’s a soul-crushing feeling. I know, because I’ve felt it. You probably have, too. You’re legitimately talented, knowledgeable, and hard-working— but you’re not getting called back. Meanwhile, your loudmouth Facebook friend who still manages to party Thursday-Sunday just nabbed a great position in your same field. What gives, universe?

The unfortunate truth is that talent, even when backed by experience, does not always win. There are three main reasons someone less qualified got the job.

1. Your resume doesn’t do you justice.

A recruiter has a limited amount of information to go on. (That is, they can’t just lounge around your house and get to know “the real you” the way a new friend or romantic interest might.) So it’s up to you to communicate exactly what you want them to know through your cover letter, resume, and/or online presence.

You have to show them that you’re great, in the most obvious way. And to do this, I recommend focusing on “punching up” and “paring down.”

“Punching up” is about starkly highlighting your strengths— really selling them with concrete language. For instance, you may currently be saying:

“During my time at Company, Inc., I managed five accounts, doing my best to ensure that the projects moved forward in a timely manner and that the clients were satisified with the result.”

But what you should be saying is:

“While with Company, Inc., I juggled five accounts, blasting through any administrative obstacles that threatened progress, facilitating clear conversation between the client and web development team, and maintaining highly cordial client relationships that ensured everyone always felt heard and taken care of.”

The second part, “paring down” is about cutting the fat; getting rid of anything that dilutes or distracts from your most impressive points.

Since it can be difficult to judge your own resume, you’d be well-advised to get outside help with this revision process— asking others to pick out the parts they find most impressive, so you can punch them up and pare down the parts that aren’t as electric.

2. You’re too forgettable.

Recruiters are gathering information on many people at a time. Likely, they’ve already read several resumes immediately before yours, and they’ll read more immediately after.

A job posting could easily gather a dozen people who meet its exact qualifications. And I’ll bet you your competitors all claim to be “detail-oriented” and a “team player,” too.

All else being equal, memorability can be enough to climb to the top of the stack.

How you stand out will depend on your industry. For instance, if you’re in PR, in place of a bland mission statement at the top of your resume, you could list some fun headlines a reporter could theoretically use to write about you for different audiences. If you’re an engineer, you could describe (and include a link to) a fantastical 3D model you created for fun.

3. A Google search raises red flags.

Finally, it very well could be that the recruiter just had a bad feeling about you. (Harsh, I know, but let me explain.)

It’s common practice to Google candidates, and quite frankly, the main reason is to sniff out bad vibes. Recruiters want to put a face to a name, see what you’re talking about, and filter out those people who strike them as irresponsible, incompetent, or unfriendly.

Even a bad profile photo can be a red flag. And while a recruiter is unlikely to admit something like this has colored their opinion of you for the negative, it’s your responsibility to ensure that it doesn’t.

As a preventative solution, I recommend testing your profile photos using a free online tool like PhotoFeeler, to be certain you’re being shown in your best light online.

By now, with all this talk of punching up resumes and optimizing online image, I hope you understand that landing a killer job is about crafting the most desirable image that you can.

It may not be the definition of fair, but unfortunately recruiters are not mindreaders and can only see as much “awesome” as you put in front of them.

How To Stop Being Random With Your Networking Efforts

How To Stop Being Random With Your Networking Efforts

Ever find yourself going scrolling through your LinkedIn connections and saying, “Why am I connected with this person? We have nothing in common!”

Sick of accumulating worthless contacts? Find out how to stop being random with your networking efforts:

Start A Bucket List

What companies do you see yourself working for? What problems do you want to solve? Make a list of companies that you admire. What companies have you always wanted to work for? What are your dream companies? Figure them out and make a Bucket List. This is the first step in building an efficient network.

Set Up Informational Interviews

Once you’ve determined what companies you want in your Bucket List, you need to set up some interviews – Not with the hiring team, but with the employees.

When you’re conducting an informational interview, the focus is always on the person you’re interviewing and their work.

Areas to focus on when conducting an informational interview:

• Their work
• Their experience
• How they got the job

Your goal during an informational interview is to build a meaningful connection with this person. This establishes a relationship that you can continue by e-mail. You do this by:

• Making meaningful conversation
• Becoming memorable
• Building trust and respect

“When we meet with people, we should always be thinking about the network, not the companies that they work for [necessarily],” says J.T. O’Donnell, LinkedIn Influencer and founder of CAREEREALISM.com.

Find Your Commonalities

A person who works for a company on your Bucket List most likely shares some commonalities with you. Your goal in networking with them is to learn what those commonalities are. This will help you get a better understanding of why you’re a good fit for that company.

Remember, finding these commonalities is why you’re networking with these people, not just because you want to work at their company.

Talk About Your Process

When the conversation turns toward you, this is when you talk about your process. Emphasize what kinds of problems you want to solve and why this company is on your Bucket List. Then, tell them why you admire their company.

It’s important to emphasize that you’re not just meeting with them in hopes of getting a job at their company. Tell them you’re interested in learning more about what you both have in common as professionals, and that you’re looking to network and share ideas in the future. That way, you’re being transparent about your goals, but they won’t feel used.

Take Home Tips

• Don’t be random with your networking efforts
• Determine what companies you’d like to work for
• Set up informational interviews with people from those companies
• Focus on their work, experience, and how they got the job
• Figure out what you have in common with them

Happy networking!

How To Turn Your Internship Into Full-Time Employment

How To Turn Your Internship Into Full-Time Employment

Your internship can be a great way to gain experience, meet networking contacts, and prove your worth to an employer. It can also be the necessary foot in the door to land a full-time position at the organization.

Ask For Feedback On A Regular Basis

Although you don’t want to cross the line into being annoying, it’s important to have a grasp on your strengths and weaknesses by getting feedback from your boss.

Go Above And Beyond Your Job Description

Show that you’re always thinking ahead by anticipating others’ questions and needs. Do more than is expected of you to stand out among other intern candidates. Volunteer for additional projects when you can, and be flexible with your schedule for a chance to impress the team by staying late or coming in early.

Taking on additional tasks, being flexible, and thinking ahead shows your dedication to your role and helps your supervisor and co-workers view you as an integral part of the team.

Be Consistent

Always maintain focus and discipline while at work – and avoid distractions such as text messaging or checking social networks.

Record Your Accomplishments

After you’ve finished a task or a project, write down any accomplishments you’ve had. Showing that you can produce results is a great way to move up at the company.

Act Like You’re A Full-Timer

Show up with an eager, positive attitude each day. Come in early and be the last intern to leave. Dress at least one step above your current position. Take pride in each project you are assigned and ensure it’s your best work before handing it in.

Secure A Mentor Within The Organization

Moving up is much easier if you have someone to lean on for advice and insight.

Have A Solid Grasp On The Company

Know what the organization needs and how you can fill those needs. Understand each product or service. Get to know the clients and customers the best you can. Learning this vital information will not only make you do your job better – you’ll have a clear understanding of how you can move up in the organization, too.

How To Write Your Resume Like An Online Dating Profile

How To Write Your Resume Like An Online Dating Profile

Do you like someone tall with a good sense of humor? Or perhaps you are more focused on finding a good dancer with curly hair? I know, it’s not deep, but just like people have certain preferences when it comes to the type of romantic partner they are looking for (and admit it, we all do), the same holds true for your job search.

Do you like an energetic start-up where everyone dresses casually and works in an open space? Or do you prefer a more buttoned-up environment with a deeply-ingrained reporting structure and big offices for the executives?

Think about the past jobs you’ve had and identify the ones where you felt most at home. And if you haven’t had many jobs – or haven’t had any jobs where you felt all that comfortable in the environment – think about other types of places you have visited- homes, stores, and restaurants. When you walk into some of them, you want to stay. What are those like?

If nothing comes to mind, consider the work environments you have seen depicted on TV or in the movies. Just like identifying an actor or actress you are attracted to in determining your “type” in the dating world, you can get clues as to your perfect work environment by recalling your favorite work spaces on the small or big screen. You may have to adjust your expectations to fit into the “real world,” but you can still get some valuable clues.

How do you translate this into resume content? In the profile at the top of your resume, and wherever possible throughout the resume, you use the language of the type of place you want to work. An energetic start up? Describe yourself as “entrepreneurial” or say you are passionate about “growing innovative new organizations.” (And yes, using the word “energetic” would also be a good idea.)

Prefer the buttoned-up place? Maybe mention “hierarchy” in some way and being an “executive.” You might even be able to work in the word “traditional.” The bottom line is there are ways to subtly clue the reader into your ideal work environment, thus establishing yourself as a match for positions at those type of places.

What Do You Like To Do?

Long walks on the beach? A stroll through a museum? Round-the-clock beer pong tournaments? When creating an online profile, it’s important to accurately represent your favorite activities in order to find someone who is a match. If you like nothing more than spending all day Sunday camped out in front of NFL games on TV, you don’t want to be dragged to flea markets from dawn until dusk. Right?

Same holds true for your work environment. You have certain things you like to do and certain things that drive you crazy or (yawn) bore you to tears. Solving complex problems? “IN!” Attending meetings all day? “OUT!” Working on teams? “IN!” Managing support staff? “OUT!” Creating awesome spreadsheets? “IN!” You get the idea…

These items are easier to plant in a resume. “Adept at solving complex problems and working in teams. Creates awesome spreadsheets.” (Yup, if that’s the wording you use in life, that might be the wording I would recommend you use on your resume, depending on the type of place where you want to work. The energetic start up would probably connect to that tone. The buttoned up place? Not so much.)

What Do You Hope To Get Out Of The Relationship?

Do you want to get married, have kids, and celebrate your golden anniversary with the person who responds to your online dating profile? Or are you coming out of a relationship and simply looking for casual good times?

The same type of goal-setting can be applied to a job search. You want to find a place you can work your way up in and then get a gold watch at the end of 30 years. Or maybe you want to find a troubled company to fix for a couple of years and then move on to the next challenge. Maybe you just want to consult.

In the first case, you would work in “stable and growth-oriented” and in the second you would emphasize that “working with companies in transition” is where you shine.

If you write it correctly, you don’t have to use a lot of words to say a lot. You can cover the type of environment, what you like to do, and the length of your desired stay with a few choice phrases and some carefully-selected adjectives and verbs.

Are you limiting yourself by tailoring the language this way? Yes, you are. But the idea is to find a position in a place where you are comfortable and doing things that you are really good at and enjoy, thus setting yourself up for personal satisfaction and professional success. And like those online looking for love, wouldn’t you rather end up with a good match than trying to make a bad match work?

What Happens If You Lie On Your Job Application?

What Happens If You Lie On Your Job Application?

When preparing your resume, you might find yourself coming face-to-face with some issues from your past. Perhaps you will then find yourself trying to figure out how to fix those issues so your resume looks cleaner and more professional. I mean, it’s just a resume to help you get a job interview… It’s not a legal document of any sort, right?

Maybe you are eight credits short of graduating from college, but you dropped out for some reason. What are eight little credits? It probably would just look better if you go ahead and say you have a degree. Or, what if you have an associates degree, but the job requires a bachelors degree? A degree is a degree, it doesn’t really matter what kind of a degree, does it?

Maybe you have a big gap in your work history or maybe you don’t want to include a job where you were fired. Well, you are trying to make your resume look as good as possible, so why not just fudge the dates a bit and make all your past work experience run back to back from each other. Good idea?

Think again!

When you are in a job search, you will almost always have to complete a job application as the process moves along and you are officially considered a “candidate.” What you write on your job application will make or break your chances of getting the job.

What’s So Important About A Job Application?

Most employers want candidates to complete a job application because, yes, your resume is not any sort of legal document where you have sworn on your life that everything you wrote is true. A job application is and companies run background checks off them.

In reality, you can fudge your resume all you like, but what happens when you have to complete a job application? At the end of your job application, you sign away your life attesting to the truth of everything you have written on that document.

Quite honestly, you can’t write different things on the application than you wrote on your resume. That creates a serious integrity issue that will quickly bounce you out of the job candidate pool. What you write on your job application is going to have to exactly match what you write on your resume.

The background check employers run will likely verify your education, your past work experience, and your criminal background. Companies might run credit reports on you if you work in the financial field or motor vehicle record checks if you will be required to drive for your job. Many companies run those on everyone regardless of the position for which you have applied.

Being Honest And Direct

When you are filling out your job application, you need to be 100% truthful. You will need to be very specific about the details as they will be verified. You can’t win if you lie. And although it doesn’t happen often, you can even be prosecuted for misrepresenting yourself. This would typically happen if it wasn’t discovered until after you started the job and it caused harm to the company.

If you have a job gap, explain it. If you want to leave a job off your resume and application, you can. Just don’t extend the dates of other jobs to cover that time period.

So many candidates, when completing job applications, will come to me and say, “I wasn’t sure of some of those dates of my past jobs so I looked them up and the ones on here are more accurate than the ones on my resume.”

Maybe that is true, but it raises a red flag to me. At best, it indicates that you didn’t take great care when you put your resume together. At worst, it means you fudged the dates on your resume and you fixed them on your application because you knew you had to tell the truth.

It would be much easier if you just did it right the first time, on your resume.

Do You Have Any Skeletons In Your Closet?

On the job application you will likely be asked if you have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony. This includes DUIs which, in my experience, is the most common charge that shows up on background checks.

It is my guesstimate that 75% of people who have a criminal record or a DUI do not disclose it on the job application. They answer the question, “No.” This is a lie and you’ll unlikely get the job if a company learns your falsified your job application.

The truth is: if you have a criminal record or a DUI, you could very well get hired anyway, if you disclose it. If you don’t disclose it, it doesn’t matter what it is, you will not likely get hired just based on the fact that you lied on your application.

Whether or not a criminal record is overlooked depends entirely on what it is that you did, how long ago it happened, and your explanation of the incident. I have overlooked many types of convictions, especially DUIs. Recent convictions and felony convictions are not easy to overlook, but it’s possible if you are honest and forthright about the details.

Finally, I would advise anyone with a charge on his or her record to try to get it expunged. I have seen many very dated charges come up on candidate’s background checks that caused them to lose the job when it could have been avoided altogether if the candidate would just have had it expunged off his/her record.

What you write on your job application is critical to your success in getting a job. Hiring managers know people are human. Things happen. People make mistakes. Don’t make another mistake by misrepresenting yourself on your application!