Failing to plan is planning to fail

~Unknown

• Stop treating job as permanent, you can be replaced at anytime
• Job security is how quickly you can the next offer

Companies care about one thing: results. Anything not producing results is irrelevant

~Unknown

Know your strength and weaknesses

Who knows you better than you do, right? Get ready to answer this kind of questions properly. Write them down, along with examples and review them quarterly so you are ready for the hot seat.

The company don’t care about your strength and weaknesses that are irrelevant. They want to see that you are aware of something you are weak at related with job, how you recognized the weakness, what you are doing about it and how its going.

Stay current on desirable hard and soft skills

checking from jobs ads and make note of the desired hard and soft skills required. Identify teh ones you have, and those you dont, and need to upskill.

Some skills employers want in staff regardless of profession or industry. Good communication skills, for example. Learn what these are and upskill if necessary, so that you are ready. Keep track of all this in blog post.

Upskilling

If you find you are short a skill or two, this is great time to bring them up to speed. Its best to getting some certificates to show your efforts to include on your LinkedIn profile as well as blog post.

Webinars, seminars, a college course are other way to upskill. Make use of all the resources you can whike you may have a few “extra” dollars, and when you are unstressed and not desperate to find a job. There is no time like the present, as they say.

Coming unprepared

There are different degress of being unprepared and disorganized. If the likeability factor is present, some mistakes may be overlooked. Other not so tolerable areas of failing to prepare include:

• Not having an actual answer on why you want the job. Unless you are a candidate who’s rare find, don’t expect the hiring manager to sell you the position. You need to articulate why you want to work with them.
• Not being able to show you understand what the company is about, what they stand for (history, mission, values), what they do (business model, goals), and who the people that run the company.
• Not being able to offer straightforward answers to behavioral questions, or talk about your accomplishment in the previous jobs.
• Not asking thoughtful questions following the interview are signs of disinterest in the position itself and show more og an interest in just getting hired.
• Not knowing your desired salary, or how to negotiate a salary and benefits show inexperience or lack of confidence.

Being likeable

have mock interview in front of mirror or record session. then review it. While far from replicating an actual interview, you can still learn a few telling things.

How is your body language? What expression are you using? What is your overall impression of yourself? Would you find yourself someone you’d want to spend more time based on just a few brief minutes? Document all of this in the personal blog. Note improvements needed.

Practice interviews help you to develop appropriate strategies for live interviews by refining your communication skills (especially for non-native English speakers), and reducing your stress by practicing all of the possible scenarios that could come up.

Keep practicing (and learning) until you become skilled at making a likeable, great first impression. And do it now.

Get comfortable talking online

Online interviewing, client meetings and other business functions are here to stay and we had no choice but to adapt. If you are someone who still hasn’t needed to converse online in front of camera, its time.

Your next job could be remote. That means most of your meeting will be online. Company social gathering will be online. But even if there are not, more and more companies are switching their interviewing online, rather than in person. You may never meet them until you make it to final round of interviews, or you are hired!

You aren’t paid what you are worth; you are paid what you can negotiate!

Randstad