3 ways to stay competitive in todays workforce

3 ways to stay competitive in todays workforce3 ways to stay competitive in todays workforceBy just about any measurement, todays workforce is more educated and competitive than ever before.Many of us know the stats- the percentage ofcollege graduateshas been on the rise for decades. The number of people withgraduate degreeshas ersatzdarstellerd since 2000. And the requirements on every job description seem to include a four-year degree.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreBut its important to recognize that the ultra-competitiveness of the job market isnt only due to an increase in diplomas. Its also the result of a boom in self-learning. Thats because its easier than ever to share knowledge, so people have access to entirely new forms of education. From YouTube videos and webinars to six-week boot camps, people have a variety of options for building knowledge and skills.As a result , educated is no longer determined by possessing a degree from a brand name college- and companies expectations for candidates in this increasingly educated workforce are evolving.In order to compete, candidates need to understand how much relevant education they actually have. And, crucially, they have to be constantly upskilling- educating themselves in order to stand out.The good nachrichten is, technology and online resources make it easier than ever to upskill. The bad news is that with so much information out there, it can be difficult to answer the most important questionHow do you knowwhatto educate yourself in?After working in therecruitment industryfor almost a decade, Ive learned the answer depends on the career you want. But Ive also found a few simple steps you can take to educate yourself and, ultimately, stand out from the crowd.1 Identify how much education you have- and how much more you needSome people get complacent about improving their skills because they believ e their current company or theeducational systemwill provide them with what they need to know.Unfortunately, thats not true.Upskilling isnt passive- its self-motivated. It doesnt mean going back for a masters degree. It means learning on your own, reaching out for feedback, and constantly looking for ways to improve your skills.To see where you need to upskill, start reading as much as you can about industry trends. Look for terms and language that you dont understand because that could point to a skill gap. If you have a mentor, ask them for honest feedback on where you can improve. Talk to people in similar careers and ask them where they think the market is today and where its headed. Ask them about which tools, technologies, and skills are becoming obsolete, as well as which ones will soon be in high demand. You can even use a product likeEdvothat collects data on what skills and behaviors are most relevant for roles to understand how your skills compare to other candidates.Once you understand how much education you really have, and how much more you need, its time to identify the role you want and learn as much about it as possible.2 Learn the lingo so you can effectively upskill and showcase your relevancePart of your self-education is often learning a new language- the language of the job you want.Every industry and company has its own internal language for talking about responsibilities, outcomes, and even titles. If you dont understand the language, it will be difficult to understandexactlywhat will help you land the job and thrive in the role.To start learning the lingo, contact people within the industry.Reaching out can be as simple as messaging them on LinkedIn to say youre exploring an opportunity in a similar role and would love to hear about their experience. Ask for a 15-minute phone call, or buy them coffee if youre in the same area. Give them a chance to talk about themselves and their role. Learn how theyre evaluated and what tools and tech nologies they use. While they talk, pay attention to the terms they use and jot down any you dont recognize so you can look them up later. Or simply be transparent with the person youre talking to and ask them to clarify the unfamiliar terms.Once you have a better grasp on the general industry lingo, then its time to begin researching the language of the specific companies where you want to work.For each company, search for the current employees on LinkedIn and pay close attention to how they describe their roles and articulate their results and experiences on their profiles. That way, when you talk to a hiring manager or internal recruiter, youll be able to speak the language of the role and understand the metrics theyre using to evaluate you as a candidate.3 Once you can talk the talk, learn to articulate your value to get the jobA lot of people have trouble expressing their past success and future potential, which is why they struggle to be competitive candidates.If you find it d ifficult to explain the value you added to a company or project, try breaking it down to three main questionsDuty What did you do?Skill What skills did you use?Accomplishment How well did you perform?So if youre a sales development rep, dont justtell an intervieweryou made cold calls.Tell them about your dutyI made 50 cold-calls per day by leveraging X and Y tools to create a strong prospecting strategy.Highlight your skillsI honed in on my communication and time-management skills to understand my prospect better, and learned crucial insights like when theyre more likely to pick up the phone versus respond to an email.Prove your value by stating your accomplishmentsEvery month, I exceeded my quota by 110%.When explaining your skills and experiences, realize that youre answering the same questions as hundreds of other applicants. So you need to articulate why you can do the job- and do it better than anyone else. If youve already worked to improve your skills and learn the language o f the role, then this is just a matter of speaking to your strengths.Remember, the amount of education you have isnt limited to the letters behind your name anymore or the university you graduated from. If youre self-motivated and determined to constantly learn and upskill, theres no reason why you cant compete- and win- in todays workforce.This article first appeared on Minutes.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

How to Negotiate a Job Offer from Amazon

How to Negotiate a Job Offer from AmazonHow to Negotiate a Job Offer from Amazon Amazon salary negotiation is unique because they use a one-of-a-kind structure for their compensation packages, and they are very focused on both attracting and retaining top talent for a long time.The key question to ask about an Amazon job offer is How much can this offer be improved through negotiation? In my experience coaching software developers through Amazon salary negotiations , the answer varies from somewhat to a whole lot.The trick is that you have to be willing to consider non-salary options and think deeply about how long you actually want to work at Amazon because their job offers are structured to increase in value over time, specifically after your second year as an employee.The bottom line is that if you have a job offer from Amazon in a technical role, you likely have room to negotiate, and may have significant opportunities to increase your pay over the next sev eral years if youre willing to be a little creative.Once you actually get through the Amazon interview gauntlet, you may receive a job offer. Lets look at an example to see what you can expect.Amazons offers are unique, but have three standard componentsThey will often roll all these numbers together to describe the offer in terms of Total Compensation by year, but that can be tricky to understand thanks to some quirks Ill describe below.Heres an example taken from a modified version of a real Amazon job offer from one of my clients* Equity (RSUs) Value is computed using a round number of $2,000 per share to make things easyNotice that the Total is pretty consistent through the first four years, but the sign-on bonbon and equity components vary pretty dramatically from year to year.This is what I was referring to above when I mentioned they incentivize you to stay for a few years. The vast majority of the equity is paid out in years three and four, so theres a pretty big incentive to stick around.Lets look a little closer at the main components of an Amazon job offer.As with fruchtwein job offers, this is the stable, predictable component that you can use to pay your mortgage or car payment. You cant know what company performance might look like in the future, so its hard to estimate how much of a bonus youll get or what your RSUs will be worth when they vest.Amazon tends to pay competitive cousine salaries up to a point (see below). If youre wondering whether the salary youre offered is competitive, paysa.com is a good place to abflug.The most unique thing about Amazon job offers is that they typically cap kusine salary at somewhere around $165175k depending on division and geographic location.If you run into the kusine salary cap, theyll start adding equity and sign-on bonuses to improve the offer. More senior roles can command very large sign-on bonuses and RSU grants while offering a relatively modest base salary (when compared to some other big tech f irms).How flexible is Amazon on Base Salary?As long as youre under the base salary cap, they can be pretty flexible. They dont typically make large moves on base salary, but they will improve the base salary up to a point.Sign-on bonuses, like equity, can range from a nice little amount into six figures.I like to think of the Sign-on bonus as a way to help bridge the gap between your first paycheck and your first RSU vesting date, and Amazon does this more or less explicitly to help compensate for the steep vesting schedule they use for equity (RSUs) (see below).The Year 1 sign-on bonus is typically larger than Year 2s, partially as an incentive for you to join, and partially because their steep new-hire equity vesting schedule means your total pay in Year 1 would be pretty low without some sort of sign-on bonus.In Year 2, the sign-on bonus is smaller, but more of your equity will vest.How flexible is Amazon on Sign-on Bonus?Pretty flexible And thats especially true once you cross t he base salary cap since they will begin adding a lot more equity. More equity means a bigger shortfall in Years 1 and 2, which means they offer larger sign-on bonuses to help bridge that gap.Do you have to pay back your sign-on bonus if you leave before the end of Year 2?Sometimes, Amazon will pay your Year 1 sign-on bonus out with your first paycheck in a lump sum. In that case, youll almost certainly have to pay back some or all of it if you leave before the end of your first year.Sometimes, Amazon will pay out your sign-on bonus monthly, and you may not need to pay it back if you leave early (since you were only paid a prorated amount based on how long you were there).It seems like the Year 2 sign-on bonus is often paid out monthly.As far as I can tell, theres not a lot of consistency here and it seems like Amazon may pay sign-on bonuses out differently for more-tenured positions than for less-tenured positions.Bottom line Ask your recruiter what strings are attached to your sig n-on bonus so you dont encounter any nasty surprises if you leave before the end of Year 2.The Equity component of an Amazon job offer can range from not very much (as with the example above) to wowzers, thats a lot of equity depending on the role and whether you bump into the base salary cap.Amazon is unique because they almost have to offer significant equity grants to compensate for the base salary cap, and your negotiation may end up focused entirely on equity and sign-on bonus.Amazons unique equity vesting scheduleLets pause for a moment to talk about Amazons unique equity vesting schedule. Its easiest if we start by looking at a typical equity vesting schedule, then well loop back to Amazon.How most companies handle equity vestingEquity is often paid out in equal installments over four years, beginning at the beginning of the second year. So if you got 100 shares of company stock (RSUs, typically) as your equity component at a typical public company, heres what their vesting s chedule might look likeTheres typically a one-year cliff, which means nothing is paid out until youve been there for a year, then there are regular payouts after that.In our example above, that might look like thisSometimes those payments will be quarterly or semi-annually. But the basic idea is that once youve been there for a year, you start getting equity payouts at regular intervals. Pretty straightforwardAnd Years 1 and 2 are each a cliff, followed by semi-annual payouts in Years 3 and 4. So the same 100 shares at Amazon would be paid out like thisThe optimistic reading on this is that its a way to incentivize good employees to stick around longer so they get the bulk of their equity payouts.The cynical reading of this is that it gives Amazon time to churn poorly-performing employees out of the company before they vest the bulk of their equity.If you want a better look at what its like negotiating an Amazon job offer, including how they use sign-on bonuses to take the sting out of that steep vesting schedule, take a look at my new guideNumber of shares versus current value of sharesOne interesting thing about Amazons offers is they typically include a number of shares (like 50 in the example above) as opposed to a computed current value (like $100k in the example above).This is the more accurate way to talk about RSUs, but its not what most of the other big tech firms do. This way, you have to do more math to figure out the current value of the shares, and youll end up discussing a number of shares rather than a dollar amount most of the time.How flexible is Amazon on Equity (RSUs)?Moderately flexible to extremely flexible depending on how close you are to the base salary cap.Like the other big tech firms, Amazon sees equity as a very big carrot to intice top talent to join their team and stick around, so they tend to be pretty flexible on equity.The salary negotiation with Amazon will begin earlier than you might expect.Your Amazon recruiter will often ask for your salary history, or at least your current salary if its legal where they are. Do not tell them your current salary.They will also usually ask for your salary expectations. That request will sound something like thisSo what were you hoping for in terms of compensation if you come aboard here at Amazon?Do not tell them your salary expectations because you will essentially be guessing what they might pay someone with your skillset and experience to do the job they need done.While they might have a good idea of the value of that job to Amazons business, you would only be guessing. You will practically always guess wrong and cost yourself money later on. So just dont guess.Also, because Amazons equity vesting schedule is so unusual, and because they include different-sized Year 1 and Year 2 sign-on bonuses, it can be very difficult to even describe a salary number in those terms.Youre much better off seeing what they offer, spending some time with it to understand what your actual pay will look like over the next few years, and negotiating from there.Once you receive your job offer from AmazonThe first thing you should do is look to see if youre at or near the base salary cap. Its important to know up front if you can expect a move on base salary or if youre really just going to negotiate equity and sign-on bonus.That doesnt mean you wont counter on base salary, but it helps to know whether you can expect any movement there so youre not disappointed if they arent flexible on base salary.Once you counter on base salary, they will often adjust the job offer in multiple dimensions, so its important to do the math to figure out what your annual compensation will be if they adjust base salary, sign-on bonus and/or equity.Be sure that if you ask for and receive more equity that you also try to improve your sign-on bonus to bridge the Year 1 and Year 2 gaps while you wait on the heavy vesting in Years 3 and 4.This article was originally published on Fearle ss Salary Negotiation . Reprinted with permission.

Learn to Answer Interview Questions About Abilities

Learn to Answer Interview Questions About AbilitiesLearn to Answer Interview Questions About AbilitiesJob interviewquestions tend to fall into three categories knowledge,skills, and abilities. The best way to prepare yourself is to anticipate the questions that will be lobbed at you and practice ahead of time. Some may seem simple on the surface but look a little deeper, and youll discover the employers intent. For example, a question about explaining a complex subject to a non-expert audience may be both about your subject-matter expertise and your ability to communicate with people who have a different background. Sample Interview Questions and Answers Review a few sample job interview questions and prepare replies that answer the interviewers likely intent, as well as what theyre saying on the surface level, and youll make the best possible impression Question Tell me about a time when you had to convey technical information to a non-technical audience.IntentThe interviewer wa nts to know how you relate to people outside your area of expertise.Sample answerWhile I worked for Mr. Smith in the accounting department, I welches selected to explain the financial section of the employees paycheck to all new hires. After my first two sessions, I realized I needed to reframe my information so that the new hires would have an accurate understanding of the impact of their decisions as it related to their pay. I worked with colleagues in human resources and marketing and developed a training outline that was implemented at the other locations throughout the company. Question Tell me about a time when you worked with interpreting and presenting data.IntentIf you are in a non-technical profession, this question is designed to see if you are comfortable with information not directly related to your position.Sample answerWhile at the GHI Corporation, one of my job assignments was to work with the IT department to prepare the annual meeting brochure complete with financi al data, graphs, and related SEC requirements. I became proficient at designing graphs that gave an accurate picture of the financial data, as well as editing the legal information into a more readable format. Question Why do you think that you will be successful in this job?IntentThe interviewer is concerned as to whether you see this as a career move or stop-gap employment.Sample answerAs my resume reflects, I have been successful at each of my previous places of employment. Given my research about your company, the job description outlined, and the information weve exchanged today, l believe I have the skills and experience to fulfill what youre looking for and Im eager to contribute as an employee. Question Tell me about a time when you participated in a kollektiv. What was your role?IntentCompanies, for the most part, do not want Lone Rangers they are looking for employees who will adapt to the company culture and get along with others.Sample answerIn high school, I enjoyed pl aying soccer and performing with the marching band. Each required being a different kind of team player, but the overall goal of learning to be a member of a group was invaluable. I continued to grow as team member while on my sororitys debate team and through my advanced marketing class where we had numerous team assignments. Tips for Preparing to Answer Questions About Your Abilities Review the job description, matching your abilities to their requirements. Make a list ofkeywordsfrom the description that match your qualifications. Reviewskills listsfor your field, job title, and experience so that you can include any related abilities that arent mentioned outright in the ad.Prepare a few stories to share.You cant know which questions youll be asked, of course, so it pays to come to the interview with a few relevant stories to share. Choose examples that demonstrate abilities that seem most important to the company. Practice but dont memorize.Goodstorytelling skillswill take y ou far, both in job interviews and in your career once youre hired, but you dont want to seem like youve committed specific stories to memory, only to shoehorn them into the conversation wherever possible. Focus yourpractice interviewson developing a high comfort level around the topics that are likely to come up. Youre aiming for a productive conversation, not a monologue.

The Benefits and Advantages of Server Virtualization

The Benefits and Advantages of Server VirtualizationThe Benefits and Advantages of Server VirtualizationIf youre the administrator of a system where users need to be separate from one another and from the original server, a cheap and efficient way to do this is by creating private servers through a process called server virtualization. Server virtualization is the idea of taking a physical server and, with the help of virtualization software, partitioning the server, or dividing it up, so that it appears as several virtual servers, each of which can run their copy of an operating system. In this way, rather than the entire server dedicated to one thing, it can be used in several different ways. Advantages of Server Virtualization Saves money on IT costs. When you partition one physical server into several virtual machines, you can deploy, operate and manage multiple operating system instances at once on that single physical server. Fewer physical servers mean less money spent on those servers.Reduces the number of physical servers a company must have on its premises. Regardless of company size, its always a good idea to save space.Cuts down on energy consumption since there are fewer physical servers consuming power. Thats especially important, given the trend toward green IT planning and implementation. Creates independent user environments. Keeping everything separate is especially useful for purposes such as software testing (so programmers can run applications in one virtual server without affecting others).Provide affordable web hosting. When dozens of servers can fit on the same computer, the supply of servers is increased for virtually no additional cost. Types of Server Virtualization There are three different kinds of server virtualization Virtual machine model (or full virtualization) Based on the host/guest paradigm, use a special kind of software called a hypervisor. Administrators can create guests with different operating systems.Paravirtu al machine (PVM) similar to full virtualization, also based on a host/guest paradigm. Can also run multiple OSes.OS-level not based on the host/guest paradigm. Guests must use the same OS as the administrator/host, and partitions are completely separated from one another (so problems in one cannot affect any others). Careers in Virtualization Some of the server-virtualization-related positions you may come across on employment websites may include virtualization engineervirtualization architectserver virtualization systems administratorcloud virtualization engineer Major Players in the Server Virtualization Arena VMWareMicrosoftCitrixRed Hat. The Future of Server Virtualization Understand that virtualization itself is not a novel concept. (Computer scientists have been making supercomputers for decades.) However, virtualization for servers was only invented in the late 90s. It took a while to catch on, but in past years especially, the growth of server virtualization ha s been explosive. Companies realized they were wasting resources, and virtualization technology was adopted by fruchtwein as a way to consolidate their business technical operations. These days, server virtualization is more of a basic requirement than an advanced concept. With that in mind, specializing in server virtualization as a career move may not put you in high demand on its own (although it is continuing to evolve). However, being familiar with implementing virtualization can set you up for whatevers coming next. Note updates have since been made to this article by Laurence Bradford.

Learning to Think Like a Lawyer

Learning to Think Like a LawyerLearning to Think Like a LawyerGuest writer Henry Dahut, Esq., author of Marketing The Legal Mind and founder of GotTrouble.com, provides insights into learning to think like a lawyer. Careful. A Career In Law Could Change The Way You Think. When asked why I became a lawyer, I usually say that it landseemed like a smart thing to do. Unlike some of my law school classmates, I had no illusions of becoming either a great advocate or a legal scholar. All I wanted was a comfortable income and a respectable station in life. For me, law was a safe career choice, not a passion. My only concern was that as a creative, emotive, right-brain type, I would not be able to think like a lawyer, examining a situation from all angles in a logical way, for example. Then, an old and slightly intoxicated lawyer I met at a brewery told me that the real danger was that once you start thinking like a lawyer it becomes difficult to think any other way. That process began on the first day of law school when the dean told ur petrified first-year class that before we could become lawyers we had to learn how to think differently. One student had the nerve to ask the dean how we would know when he had learned to think like lawyers. The Dean shot backwith, When you get paid to think I soon saw how thinking like lawyers actually meant altering our reasoning structures. For example, memory, while important to success in law school, stood a distant second to learning how to reason like a lawyer. Law professors liked nothing more than weeding out students who might memorize well but could not think through issues on their feet. Thinking Like A Lawyer Thinking like a lawyer demands thinking within the confines of inductive and deductive forms of reasoning. As law students, we entered a world of rigorous dialogue in which abstractions are formulated and then described- usually leading to the discovery of a general principle or rule, which is then distinguishe d from another general rule. We learned how to narrow and intensify our focus. And in the Pavlovian spirit, we were rewarded when we performed these tasks well and ridiculed when we performed them poorly. The process taught us how to think defensively We learned how to protect our clients (and ourselves) and why we needed to proceed slowly, find the traps, measure, and calculate the risk. And, above all, we learned to never, ever let the opposition see you sweat We soon discovered that, as lawyers in training, there was more work than we could realistically accomplish- unless, of course, we spent almost every waking hour in pursuit of legal knowledge. The competitive nature of the learning process drove us even harder, reinforcing some views and perceptions while diminishing others- all of which would eventually alter the very nature of how we thought. The goal, of course, was for us to become rational, logical, categorical, linear thinkers- trained to separate what is reasonable f rom what is not and what is true from what is false. Having learned to think in a new way, we had less tolerance for ambiguity. A new mental structure was forming- a new set of lenses through which to view the structure of human affairs. It was everything we had hoped for- a quantum leap forward a kind of intellectual transcendence. We had every reason to believe that soon we would be paid to think. A New Perspective of the World I had just enough left-brain skills to get me through law school and the bar. The sheer mental gymnastics necessary are a tribute to the plasticity of the human mind. Yet it is worth pondering both what we gained from the process and what we may have lost. The values we learned in law school began to spill over into our personal lives. Unconsciously, we begin to relate to and observe others within the context of our new way of thinking. It began to color our views, opinions, and judgments. In the process, we lost some friends and acquired new ones who w ere more likely to see and understand the world as we did. The old lawyer I met in the brewery was right Learning to think like lawyers made us less capable of the kind of emotive thinking necessary to make creative choices, manage, and inspire people, and respond quickly to change. Fortunately, however, in learning how to think like lawyers, we learned how to learn we became autodidactic. And, for this reason alone, it was worth the price of admission. Today, thousands of lawyers who want to get back in touch with their right-brain selves are finding new careers in many different professions. Myself included. I practiced law for thirteen years and built a small and successful litigation firm. Ten years later, I transitioned out of full-time law and found my professional calling in marketing and branding a creative leap for a lawyer indeed.

The Battle Over Should You Put Your Gpa on Your Resume and How to Win It

The Battle Over Should You Put Your Gpa on Your Resume and How to Win It The Pain of Should You Put Your Gpa on Your Resume Needless to say, when it comes time to complete the job program, list all your employers, even the short ones. Infographic resumes are just a supplement. Graphic-based resumes permit you to lay out complex data in a simplistic way. Use the space on your resume to go over job specific info. The proportional length of each work description is critical. In an internet review process, the exact same recruiter might be sifting through hundreds of resumes attempting to locate a best applicant. Remember that you may change and eliminate any of this information to fit your own conditions and the job for which youre applying. Definitely your contact info, relevant work experience, and a few skills. Should You Put Your Gpa on Your Resume Explained Dont forget, education does bedrngnis need to be limited to formal education. Also consider the colleges youd lov e to attend. Some jobs and a few employers may take a greater baseline minimum. If youve held any preceding jobs (like internships)GPAs in non-technical fields arent as scrutinized, though naturally, it can be contingent on the individual employer. If you currently have work experience it will matter considerably more than your grades. So you may include classes that you intend to take, but havent yet completed. If youre an undergrad, you might still have enough time to compensate for your earlier carelessness in not keeping up your grades. Work or internship experience in your area and solid resume references carry plenty of weight and can ensure employers that youre able to manage the job. Add key skills throughout your experience section and be certain you include experience that matches whats needed by the work offer. Also, you ought to make certain you list because many skills from the work description as possible. The interview may give you a chance to speak about you r hobbies, as it supplies you with a chance to reveal how well rounded you are. Your resume is your very first face forward to the employer, therefore its essential that you take the opportunity to to make certain it looks great and is an accurate and strong representation of your qualifications. When employers review your resume, they ought to be in a position to work out quickly what you did at a specific job. You are able to permit the prospective employer know there are employment records in your former name. Again, this is just for recent graduates. Scenario 2 If they opt to promote you to a greater level status in the future, they may look to confirm your education and GPA. For instance, if youre unhappy with your GPA, leave it out, but dont make this up. Think about placing your GPA only as long as you have under 3 decades of experience. Also make sure to leave out your high school GPA after you have been in college for a couple of years. A great deal of employers dont actually care about your GPA, even though there are some people who will only consider you when you exceeded a particular level. Its correct that most employers set a premium on your important GPA on your cumulative GPA, however many may still need you to provide your cumulative. What You Dont Know About Should You Put Your Gpa on Your Resume If youre confused regarding what things you should include and emphasize in your resume, and what things to avoid at all price, there are lots of websites you can locate on the Internet that offer tutorials about how to compose a resume, together with free resume examples. Also, bear in mind that theres a good opportunity you resume will be scanned electronically as a growing number of companies utilize special software to index resumes. Its also a great idea to add many of the skills verbatim. Even in case youve been working for many decades, you should attempt to continue to keep your resume to 2 pages if at all possible. You are abl e to take two distinct approaches. You most likely have a vague idea on what to include on a resume. This form of experience can complete an otherwise brief resume. 1 method is to not include it whatsoever. Also note which you do not need to use the formal class title. The experience section will constitute the body of your resume. Your education section can either come following your experience section, or youre able to add it before in the event youve recently graduated.

What Happens When You Mix Social Recruiting With Video Interviewing - Spark Hire

What Happens When You Mix Social Recruiting With Video bewerberinterviewing - Spark HireTheres no denying the firm hold social media has on the HR and recruiting world. As we outlined in our recent infographic, Why HR Should Bet on Tech, social recruiting is an easy bet when it comes to connecting with quality candidates. Heres a great stat from the infographic 94 percent of recruiters used or planned to use social media in their recruitment efforts in 2013. Today, social recruiting is delivered with a twist with the launch of Spark Hires new social media integration feature on our popular video interviewing platformIt made perfect sense to develop a feature which helped our video interviewing customers tap into their social networks to easily promote job opportunities all within Spark Hire, said Josh Tolan, CEO of Spark Hire.Employers can now connect social accounts to Spark Hire, pull in a social avatar to be used on the platform, and post short URLs to these accounts along with a custom message to advertise job opportunities. Employers can expand their reach to potential candidates exponentially with this powerful social recruiting toolSpark Hire is the first video interviewing provider to bring built-in social media integration to its platform. A huge advantage of the feature comes with its use of Spark Hires Open Interview Invitation, which was launched in May of last year. The Open Interview Invitation allows employers to create a series of questions and then invite candidates to record video answers via short URL. When candidates follow the URL, they are presented with the employers job opportunity and are able to navigate through the interview. Social media integration makes it simple and easy to promote Open Interview links to the masses on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.The new feature also increases the likelihood of candidate referrals. A simple retweet could land employers a qualified passive candidate Even if someone in your immediate network isn t job searching, a friend of a friend might know someone.What happens when you mix social recruiting with video interviewing? A whole lot of convenience Contact our Customer Success Team for any assistance with implementing social media integration.

How To Decide When To Take a Lower Level Job When Youre Unemployed

How To Decide When To Take a Lower Level Job When Youre UnemployedHow To Decide When To Take a Lower Level Job When Youre UnemployedWhen youve been unemployed for a long time, there are times when you just have to give in to taking a lower level job you never would have considered before. Maybe it pays less. Or its got a much lower title. Or no title. This can even happen when you quit a job you hate, and just need to have some money coming in.But have you hurt yourself forever by making this downward career move? Not necessarily. Although that is the reason many people decide not to go the lower Help a Potential Employer See the Match? Resume Sample Business Analyst Resume Targeted to the Job

4 Myths Were Taught About Success

4 Myths Were Taught About Success4 Myths Were Taught About Success There are myriad paths you can follow to success - but if you believe in some career myths, youll end up at the opposite end of successful overworked , underpaid and unhappy. What are these myths, and what should you believe instead? For the answers, we turned to two career experts who will blow the lid off what success really looks like in todays workplace.You work hard, and you deserve a versetzung . But unfortunately, thats not how the work world works, says Lori Scherwin, career coach and founder of Strategize That . You need to promote yourself in order to stand out amongst a sea of talent and colleagues at your firm, Scherwin says. Being good at your job doesnt mean youre good at managing your career.To promote yourself - and therefore, snag a promotion - you must actively manage your career and put as much effort behind building relationships and focusing on the next step as you do on executing your day-to-day tasks, Scherwin explains. One easy way to focus on the next step is showing you can do the next job. It is your responsibility to understand what you need to be capable of to execute in your next role, and demonstrate that ability, says Scherwin. Just because youre a strong producer doesnt mean youll be a successful manager. So, make sure youre rounding your skill set to be functional at the next level.If youve been working for years and still havent reached your career goal , dont think for a second that its too late. According to executive coach Shefali Raina , the idea that you must start young to succeed is a myth. And its a dangerous myth to buy into. Believing in this myth leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy in which people choose not to pursue their big ideas because its too late now, she says. The reality is that success comes at any age and there are many examples of success at later ages out there, from Martha Stewart to Vera Wang.It may be coun ter-intuitive at first, but start believing this, Raina encourages Success is age agnostic, and one can be successful at any age - that all your knowledge, experience, relationships and resilience helps you build the success you want to create no matter age.All too often successful professionals romanticize stress because they think thats how a full life is supposed to feel, Scherwin says. But the presence of stress doesnt automatically mean youre also successful, she warns. People tolerate long cumbersome hours and last-minute requests as if its mandatory, Scherwin says. But it doesnt have to be. Long hours and face-time dont ensure you are doing anything constructive or delivering results.Whats more, when you over-extend yourself, you risk achieving less, Scherwin warns, as well as the propensity to take it out on others and ruining relationships in the process.Instead of gauging your success on how much you work, Scherwin recommends defining what success means to you - then finding balance at work based on that definition. That way, you are more likely to be productive and less resentful, Scherwin points out. Whats more, Scherwin encourages you to prioritize yourself. Tactically, cut out the clutter, learn how to say no and push back appropriately, and make time for me-time, she suggests.You hate office politics , but you play the game anyway because you think you must. But you dont, assures Raina. There is a misconception that in order to be successful in your career you have to play politics and that all politics is dirty, she says. When people believe this myth, they tend to avoid self-promotion or relationship-building because it might appear political. But, in reality, and in most organizations, career decisions are made by decisionmakers based on what they see, believe and perceive to be your value, Raina points out.So, instead of playing office politics, Raina suggests you take time to amplify your personal brand, build relationships, and netw ork. If you do that, Raina promises, you will make it easier for decision makers to see your value and you will be able to advance your career.

How the ASVAB Score Is Computed

How the ASVAB Score Is ComputedHow the ASVAB Score Is ComputedThe ArmedServices Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) examis used to determineenlistment eligibilityfor potential recruits, assign recruits to military jobs, and aid students in career exploration. It consists of 10 subtests, and the scores on those subtests are used to determine the best jobs for those entering a branch of the military. Scores from four of the subtests are used to determine an Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) score, which determines eligibility for enlistment. Each branch of the military has different standards.The SubtestsThe 10 subtests are each parte of one of four domains math, science/technical, spatial, and verbal.The math domainincludesArithmetic Reasoning (AR) Word problems using arithmetic.Mathematics Knowledge (MK) High school-level math.The science/technical domain includesGeneral Science (GS) Physical and biological sciences.Electronics Information (EI) Electricity and electronics.Auto I nformation (AI) Automobile technology one part of the AS* score.Shop Information (SI)* Tools and shop terminology and practices one part of the AS* score.Mechanical Comprehension (MC) Mechanical and physical principles.The verbal domain includesWord Knowledge (WK) Definitions and synonyms in a given context.Paragraph Comprehension (PC) Reading for comprehension.The spatial domain includesAssembling Objects (AO)Seeing how objects will look when assembled. *Note AI and SI are separate tests, but they are combined into one score labeled AS.Two Types of TestsA computerized version of the test (CAT-ASVAB) is available at all testing locations. Some locations also offer a paper and pencil (PP-ASVAB). The tests are similar and designed to result in similar scores for tests takers, regardless of which version they choose. The key difference is that the CAT-ASVAB is adaptive, which means the software chooses questions based on previous responses. On the PP-ASVAB version, AI and SI are combin ed into a single AS section.AFQTTheAFQTis a combination of the four scores from the math and verbal domains, which consists of AR, MK, WK, and PC.AFQT scores are reported as percentiles between 1-99. An AFQT percentile score indicates the percentage of examinees in a reference group that scored at or below that particular score. Thus, an AFQT score of 95 indicates that the examinee scored as well as or better than 95% of a nationally representative sample of 18- to 23-year-olds. An AFQT score of 60 indicates that the examinee scored as well as or better than 60% of the nationally representative sample.AFQT scores are divided into separate categories, based on percentile rankAFQT CategoryScore RangeI93-99II65-92IIIA50-64IIIB31-49IVA21-30IVB16-20IVC10-15V1-9The percentile score is based on a raw score calculated using the formula AFQT2VEARMK. The first step is to determine the Verbal Expression (VE) score by adding together the WK and PC scores and using the chart belowWKPCVE Score0-3 204-5216-9228-92210-112512-132714-152916-173118-193220-213422-233624-253826-274028-294230-314432-334534-354736-374938-395040-415242-435444-455646-475848-49605062After determining the VE score, multiply it by two, then add the AR and MK scores. The raw score is then compared to the reference group to determine the percentile rank. ASVAB uses the results of a 1997 study of examinees aged 18-23 as its reference group. Match a raw score to the percentile rank below to determine the overall AFQT scoreStandard ScorePercentile (AFQT)80-1201121-1242125-1273128-1314132-1345135-1376138-1397140-1428143-1449145-14610147-14811149-15012151-1531315414155-15615157-15816159-16017161-16218163-1641916520166-16721168-16922170-1712317224173-1742517526176-1772717828179-180291813018231183-184321853318634187-18835189361903719138192391934019441195-1964219743198441994520046201472024820349204502055120652207-2085320954210552115621257213582145921561216622176321864219652206622167222682236922470225712267222773228 74229752307623177232782337923480235812368223783238-239842408524186242872438824489245902469124792248932499425095251962529725398254-32099Minimum AFQT Scores for EnlistmentThe minimum scores each branch of the military requires depends on whether a potential recruit has a high school diploma or a GED. Those with GEDs need higher AFQT scores.For high school graduates, the requirements areBranchDiplomaGEDAir Force3665Army3150Coast Guard4050Marines3250National Guard3150Navy3550