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Want The Job? Bring A 100-Day Action Plan To The Interview

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George Bradt , Contributor

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More and more final candidates for senior roles are being asked to present their 100-day action plans as part of the interview process. The question is an obvious test that has a hidden trick in it. Shame on you if you walk into a late round interview without a plan for what you are going to do leading up to and through your first 100 days. And shame on you if your plan is all about you.

In a world in which 40% of new leaders fail in their first 18 months, hiring organizations are realizing that it’s no longer good enough to hire the right leader. They have to help with executive onboarding. This is all about helping new leaders prepare in advance, manage their message and build their teams. It all starts with a plan.

Lincoln knew it wasn’t enough to win the war. We had to “finish the work” and secure “a just, and a lasting peace.” Read more…

These 5 Power Words Can Land You Your Dream Job

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Job interviews aren’t about your opinion of your own character; they’re about whether you can get the job done.

By Geoffrey James
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CREDIT: Getty Images

When my editor suggested I write a column about powerful words for job interviews, I started by researching what other people had written about the subject.

To my surprise, most articles about interview “power words” were full of puffy, self-descriptive adjectives, like ambitious, confident, diligent, honest, etc. That is just SO wrong.

Why in heaven’s name would ANYBODY care about how your see yourself? Or what happy-sappy words you use to describe yourself? Especially since you’re unlikely to express any opinion that’s not positive!  It’s like the A.A. Milne poem:

I went to the Zoo, and they waited to say:
” Have you been a good girl? ”
” Have you been a good girl? ”
Well, what did they think that I went there to do?
And why should I want to be bad at the Zoo?
And should I be likely to say if I had? 

Look, I’ve gotten a job offer every time I’ve interviewed and I’m 100% certain I never used any of those words because–shock!–I would never waste an interviewer’s time expressing my personal opinion of my own character.  Why would they care?

Spouting self-praise is especially silly when you’re in a conversation because the interviewer(s) can see and hear for themselves whether you actually possess the traits you’re claiming to possess.

For example, if you repeatedly insist you’re “self-confident” but are sweating bullets during the interview, the interviewer will immediately know you’re either fooling yourself or lying to them.

So, no, words like “ambitious” and “loyal” aren’t going to land you your dream job. What you really need are these five honest-to-goodness job interview “power words”:…Read more

5 Hard Lessons I’ve Learned As A Career Coach

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J.T. O’Donnell
June 14, 2016

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I’ve been a professional career coach since 2002. Over the last 10+ years, I have learned a lot about the industry and what it takes to be an effective career coach. [Click here to learn more about becoming a career coach.]

Back when I became a coach, the concept wasn’t as widely accepted as it is today. In fact, my clients were afraid to admit they were working with a career coach because they felt like it indicated there was something wrong with them. Today, we now understand career coaching isn’t a sign of weakness, but a path to greatness. It’s why all the top pro athletes and business executives use them. If you want to optimize your performance and achieve new levels of success and satisfaction in your career, it’s more than likely you’ll work with a coach at some point. Why? If you could do it on your own, you would have by now.

I Learned These Lessons The Hard Way

Having worked with literally thousands of people on their careers, I have learned some valuable professional lessons. In the beginning of my coaching career, I thought I could help everyone. I was wrong. You can only help people who are ready to be helped. I wasted hundreds of hours on people who just weren’t ready to succeed. I learned the hard way the following five things:

People only turn to career coaching when they are in pain.

School teaches us everything except how to manage our careers. As a result, nobody enters the professional world with the right set of skills and abilities to successfully manage their careers. Unfortunately, it isn’t until a person makes a major mistake or has a career setback that they seek coaching. Only then do they have the Ah-ha Moment that they need to close the gap in their knowledge and abilities so they can get back on track. Read more…

How To List Online Courses On Your Resume The Right Way (Because Yes, There Is A Wrong Way)

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The Muse ,  

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So you’ve been taking some online courses. You’ve learned a ton, and you’ve even been using your new skills at work or to develop a side project.

But now you’re contemplating a career move and wondering how (and even whether) to include your continuing education on your resume. You’re right to approach this task thoughtfully. Online courses are still relatively new, recruiters can be skeptical and in certain cases, listing your online education can actually make your resume worse.

I spoke to several recruiters and hiring managers to gather insight on what they think when they see online courses listed on candidates’ resumes. So, whether you aced your marketing MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), killed it in coding bootcamp, or taught yourself graphic design, here are some of their tips on how to tell that story in your application:

1. Put Them In Their Proper Place

Across the board, the hiring managers and recruiters I spoke with agreed that MOOCs and other online courses can help make the case that you can do the job. However, they also think these classes shouldn’t be the star of the show. As Anne Lewis, the Director of Sales and Recruitment for Betts Recruiting, a firm specializing in recruitment for technology companies, told me, “In general, MOOCs can help to make candidate profiles stronger, especially junior candidates who don’t have as much experience.” Read more…

Powerful Ways To Get People To Take You More Seriously

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Dr. Travis Bradberry May 18, 2016

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Do you ever feel like nobody takes you seriously at work? If so, you’re not alone. More than 50% of people don’t feel respected at work, according to a global survey of more than 20,000 employees by the Harvard Business Review.

Maybe colleagues ignore your input in meetings. Perhaps they interrupt you or don’t include you in important decisions. It’s easy to blame that on a bad boss or a toxic work environment. In some cases, that’s even true. But if you really want to be taken more seriously at work, you should start by looking in the mirror and doing what you can to increase your influence.

There are eight things you can do right now to increase your credibility, get people to take you more seriously, and ensure you get treated with the respect you deserve.

Don’t let your statements sound like questions. One of the most common things people do to undermine their credibility is end their sentences on a higher inflection than where they started. It’s called “upspeak,” and our brains are trained to interpret that pattern as a question. So instead of delivering information, you end up sounding like you’re asking if your own input is correct. And people notice. In a survey of 700 managers by Pearson, 85% considered upspeak to be a sign of insecurity and emotional weakness, and 44% said they mark job candidates down by as much as a third for using upspeak. That’s one habit you should break right now to give yourself an instant credibility boost. Read more…