How to Match Your Qualifications to a Job

How to Match Your Qualifications to a JobHow to Match Your Qualifications to a JobEmployers will usually only spend a few seconds deciding if you are a good enough fit for a job to warrant a more thorough review of your resume and cover letter, so you need to make aya that it is immediately obvious that you havemany of the skills, experiences,and qualities that they value most highly. Its also important to focus on your most relevant skills andstrengthswhen writing resumes and cover letters, and when interviewing. The closer your match to the position and show the employer how you would add value to the organization, the better your chances of job search success. Analyze the Job Listing Job postings are typically broken out into several sections. Expect to binnensee information about the company, details on the desired qualifications of applicants, and a description of the responsibilities involved in the role. Some are brief, while others include more details about the job and t he company. Take the time to review the job posting, so you are familiar with what the employer wants. Heres how todecode a job advertisement, so you can decide whether to apply and start work on your resume and cover letter. Make a List If the job is a good match, the next step is to make a connection between your skills and the employers requirements by creating a list of the preferred qualifications for the ideal candidate for your target job. If a job advertisement is well-written and detailed, you might be able to assemble much of your list right from the ad. Extract any of thekeywordsdescribing skills, qualities, or experiences which the employer has listed as required or preferred. Also, review the job duties and make some assumptions about the qualifications needed to carry out those duties. For example, if the ad mentions that you would organize fundraising events for potential donors, you can assume that event planning skills would be highly valued and should be added to your list. Get More Information Sometimes ads for jobs are very short and dont reveal much about the employers expectations. Try looking on the companys website, since there might be a longer description in the human resources section of their site than in the ad you saw. Another strategy is to search job sites like Indeed.com by the same job title to get a sense of what other employers are looking for in candidates.Also, search Google to see descriptions of similar jobs. For example, if you are applying for a credit analyst position, try searching by using the phrase credit analyst job description. Heres how to useadvanced search optionsto find job information. Need Skills to Include? When youre not sure about what skills or qualities to include, check thislist of skills for resumes, cover letters, and interviews. It includes lists of general skills most wanted by employers, plus skills for a variety of occupations. Include the most relevant skills in your resume and cov er letter. Ask for Advice If you are really motivated to land a particular job, interview professionals in the field and ask them what it takes to excel in their job. Reach out tocollege alumnithrough your colleges career and/or alumni office, LinkedIn contacts, and family friends to generate a list of contacts for these consultations. Make a Match Once you have assembled a detailed list of the qualifications for your target job, review each item on the list and try to think of how you might prove that you possess that asset. Write a sentence about as many of the qualifications as possible, detailing how you used that skill or exhibited that quality in a work, volunteer, academic, or co-curricular role. Whenever possible, point to any positive results or recognition you received while applying the skill.For example, if a job requires strong writing skills, you might say, While working as a campaign intern, I wrote press releases about the candidates platform which resulted i n two articles in the local media. Prioritize Your Qualifications in Your Cover Letter Prioritize the sentences about your qualifications and incorporate the hardest-hitting statements into yourcover letter. Compose athesis statementfor the beginning of yourcover letterwhich references 2-4 assets which make you an excellent fit for the job. For example, for a bank teller job you might say, My strong mathematics skills, customer service orientation, attentiveness to detail, and ability to work with precision make this job an excellent fit for me. In subsequent paragraphs, you should provide examples of how and where you applied those skills. Review Your Resume Review your existingresumeand make sure that you have incorporated as many statements about the preferred qualifications for the job as possible. List the highest priority phrases at the beginning of your descriptions to get the most attention. If you have a couple of jobs which are more qualifying than others, you migh t develop a lead category towards the top of your resume like Related Experience (if they are not your most recent jobs). Take a few minutes to update the descriptions of the jobs youve held.Jazzing up your resume job descriptionscan make your resume much more impressive. Include Headlines Some candidates will have clusters of experiences which correspond to key qualifications. Take, for instance, the example where writing and event planning are highly qualifying for a particular job. If a candidate has experiences which fit those categories, then they might create headings like Writing Experience and Event Planning Experience and place the related experiences in those sections of the resume. Relevant headings will draw the employers attention to key qualifications at a glance. During Job Interviews Prior to interviewing, review the list of qualifications you created when working on your job application. Be prepared to discuss the specific skills and assets you have during j ob interviews. You can also reiterate what qualifies you to be selected in your job interviewthank-you notes.

How to share a story that wont make a listeners eyes glaze over

How to share a story that wont make a listeners eyes glaze overHow to share a story that wont make a listeners eyes glaze overDo you ramble, ramble and ramble on until you get to the point? How many times have you started telling a story, only to watch a listener or crowd lose interest and start checking their phone intermittently?Heres how to get better at storytelling.Draw on your own life experiencesThis could come in handy.Jonah Sachs,author of Winning the Story Wars andCEO of Free Range Studios, told the Harvard Business Reviewabout how this can be of use.Think of a moment in which your own failures led to success in your career or a lesson that a parent or mentor imparted. Any of these things can be interesting emotional entry points to a story.Beware of your surroundingsYoull be glad you did.Daniel McDermon, a writer and former editor at The New York Times, writes about this in the publication.Think about the context in which youre telling your story. Are you standing onstage in front of unfamiliar people? Or are you at your cousins wedding? The last thing you want is to make your audience uncomfortable, so you need to read the room. If youre unsure whether your story is right for the audience, ask someone who might be there - an organizer or another speaker would do.Remember, theres beauty in the stakesThe Moth, which hosts live storytelling events, features guidelines on its website. One of the tips is to have some stakes.Stakes are essential in live storytelling. What do you stand to gain or lose? Why is what happens in the story important to you? If you cant answer this, then think of a different story. A story without stakes is an essay and is best experienced on the page, not the stage. Start in the action, the website reads.If youre a leader, be sure to choose your stories wiselyDont just jump right in.Brett Bourbon, Ph.D., a consultant, associate professor of English and co-director of the Master of Leadership program at the University of Dalla s, writes on the schools website about why leaders should keep this in mind.Leaders establish what they stand for and who they are through the stories they tell and through the stories told about them. These stories create a community around the leader, who in turn uses additional stories to guide this community. Leaders can also alienate the community they lead by the stories they tell and the stories they come to symbolize. In leadership, stories always matter. (Be careful how you tweet), he writes.Tie up loose ends the right wayJenn Tardif, a joga teacher and a Product Marketing Manager at Adobe, writes about storytelling on the website for Adobe 99U. She outlines an approach called the Five Beats of Storytelling by storytelling expert, performer, comedian and host of The MothDavid Crabb.The last beat is about the resolution.In the fifth beat, you have an opportunity to highlight what makes the story unique. If youve just described a failure or challenge, this would be the time to reflect on what you learned. This is also where you could try to sell something - if youre using storytelling as part of a pitch - or recap your competency if applying for a job,Tardif writes.

How Leaders Can Make or Break Employee Engagement

How Leaders Can Make or Break Employee EngagementHow Leaders Can Make or Break Employee EngagementHow Leaders Can Make or Break Employee Engagement Kiel, author of Return on Character The Real Reason Leaders and Their Companies Win (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015)An organization with a clear vision, a strategic focus, and a culture of accountability will go nowhere unless the workforce is organized to work well together and is eager to perform.Every individual has a good deal of discretionary personal energy he or she can devote to his or her work life or spend in other ways. Employees who feel little connection to the organizations goals and missions, who see little correlation between their performance and their compensation, or who have been alienated from the organizations leadership through false promises, disinformation, or outright neglect are likely to be disengaged.Disengaged employees are much more likely to spend their discretionary time planning their next vacation, surfing the Internet, texting endlessly to friends, or simply daydreaming, rather than doing the work they were hired to do.On the other hand, when workers know that their success is directly tied to that of their organization or unit, and when they embrace their leaderships vision, they have a natural incentive to work diligently toward achieving the organizations goals.Workforce Engagement KillersSo what do we know about the conditions that create an engaged workforce? Organizations that engage their workforces have fur features in common1.They treat their employees with respect. Employees experience the culture as one that cares for them as people where they are notlage treated as human capital.2.Employees view policies and practices regarding hiring, compensation, promotions, and recognition as fair and impartial.3.The organizational culture provides care and support.4. Employees have a high level of confidence in the executive team.One could assume that the conditions that con tribute or detract from workforce engagement are painfully obvious. But our research and much casual observation points to real disconnects in the way some companies treat their workers and the level of engagement they expect those employees to demonstrate in their performance.To be fully engaged, for example, people need to feel that management respects them. Most people begin to feel extremely disrespected when their leaders assign them unreasonable workloads for weeks ormonths on end.Individuals who work for high-energy start-ups might have signed on to that kind of marathon stretch, but fruchtwein workers want to feel that the organizational leadership acknowledges and supports their need for a manageable workload.Another workforce engagement killer comes in the form of unfair hiring, promotion, and compensationpolicies. A workforce that believes that the best way to get ahead is to curry favor with one or more members of the management team has no incentive to fully embrace t he companys vision and strategic goals.Unfortunately, most of us are all too familiar with these and many other examples of the lack of workforce engagement in some organizations. As a result, the differences between the virtuoso CEOs and leadership teams and their self-focused counterparts in this critical area of organizational success should come as no surprise.How Employees View their Company CultureHere are some of the ways employees of the self-focused leaders describe the level of workforce engagement that dominates their organizationsThe company does not stay true to its own stated goals and ethics sometimes. Certain people are favored, and once you have a bad year, it is hard to get your good name back.It is difficult to feel satisfied at this job when you are just a number.Recent policy changes clearly show the lack of concern for employees personal lives. All of senior management needs to get real about the high turnover and start asking the hard questions.Contrast those disheartening statements with these much more vibrant and positive comments from the employees of the virtuoso CEOs and their teamsThe work environment is always motivating. Most of the people I work with are great to work with and are very values oriented.The collective employee population seems to share a passion for this industry and the products and services we offer. The community giving and spirit of this company is also a shared passion. The company is often gathered for recognition and fun events, which generates our competitive spirit and will to win in the marketplace I strive to be better every day and help lead with the values, integrity and acumen consistently demonstrated by our CEO.During a time when things were really tough for our company, our CEO demonstrated confidence in his team that we could find a way out that he believed we could do it and that he was there to lead us through it. It motivated everyone to come together and get the job done. And in two years, we hit it out of the parkIn numerous ways, our research underscored the connection between the level of workforce engagement in an organization and the executive teams strength of character.When an executive team displays strong character habits, it naturally tends to create a positive, caring, supportive, fair, and respectful work environment the kind of work environments most people are drawn to.Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Excerpted from Return on Character The Real Reason Leaders and Their Companies Win . Copyright 2015 Fred Kiel. All rights reserved.Author BioFred Kiel, PhD, co-founder of KRW International, is the author of Return on Character (Harvard Business Review Press) and the co-author of stimmungslage Intelligence. For more than thirty years, he has helped Fortune 500 CEOs and senior executives build organizational effectiveness through leadership excellence and mission alignment. His rigorous data gathering and customized development proce ss provide executives with transformative feedback. He lives in Minnesota.

Do you have emotional intelligence, or do you just think you do

Do you have emotional intelligence, or do you just think you do Do you have emotional intelligence, or do you just think you do Emotional intelligence â€" the ability to identify, manage and express your own emotions and the emotions of others â€" is becoming more and more important in hiring because it predicts performance. The World Economic Forum rated EQ as one of the top 10 skills workers would need most by 2020.Paychex did a survey of 1,017 individuals, “Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace,” and found that people are also likely to overestimate their level of emotional intelligence. Men were more likely to  overestimate  their own EQ (20.6%, versus 17.1% for women), while women were more likely to  underestimate  it (13.7%, versus 10.7% for men). The study also assessed the styles of working and management of employees with high EQ.Hard to tell if you’ve “got it”The surveys chart the “estimated” vs. “actual” EQs of both generations and industries, which reveals that it’s exceedingly difficult to predict one’s own EQ â€" people rate themselves all over the place. However, some g et closer than others.An inordinate amount of the finance and insurance industry and medical/healthcare workers rated themselves highly in EQ â€" and proved themselves right, with high EQ scores. The same was true, to a lesser extent, in education. Another group that followed the same pattern of high-high confirmation was Baby Boomers.Who has it, and where do they work?Baby boomers  Emotional intelligence seems to get keener as you get older. 39% of Baby Boomers have high EQ, followed by 31.2% of Millennials and 29% of Gen Xers. And indeed, research shows that emotional intelligence develops throughout your life, reaching its height when you’re about 60.These industries are full of high-EQ people:   Arts and entertainment Marketing and advertising Medical and Healthcare Manufacturing Wholesale and Retail How do people with high EQ work?Emotionally intelligent people, unsurprisingly, have different work styles. People with above-average EQ prefer their direct feedback straight-up, in a 1:1 meeting with their manager. People with lower EQ prefer indirect, written communication, like email or a note.Emotionally intelligent employees like autonomy at work, but they understand they need supervision, as well. Those with lower EQ like to be more closely managed.Check your headStop guesstimating your emotional intelligence â€" if you’re interested in taking a test of your own EQ, start here.

Women at Work since 1970

Women at Work since 1970 Women at Work since 1970 What does this stagnation in women’s labor mean for recruiters?   What role does each of us play in encouraging or discouraging women’s work?   Furthermore, these statistics include all working women- even those receiving payment for a mere ten hours of work per week. The past decade’s dip in progress serves as a cautionary reminder not to take progress for granted.   Women’s right to work must be continually revisited and reasserted.     Note that though sheer numbers of employed women increased since 1999, but the percentage of women in the labor force has shrunk.

How to Find (and Benefit From) a Retirement-Friendly Employer

How to Find (and Benefit From) a Retirement-Friendly Employer How to Find (and Benefit From) a Retirement-Friendly Employer Retirement might not be on your radar right now, especially if you’re still getting established in your career. During these early years, you’re probably focused on salary, work environment, location and so on. And of course, you may have to take the job offers you can get. On average, only about half the employees in a company sign up for offered retirement benefits.  This is a shame for those employees because- as this article will explain- it means they’re leaving thousands of dollars in free money on the table. The good news is that you can take active steps to research retirement plans, make sure you’re getting a reasonably good deal and take full advantage of the free money and tax protection that a solid retirement plan provides. Recognize your reasons It’s easier to commit to saving for retirement and keep an eye out for the juiciest retirement plans if you realize just how much you stand to earn by taking advantage of certain programs. You might be surprised to learn how much your savings can multiply if you stash away now. So let’s start with a quick and painless calculation. Let’s say, for instance, that you’re 25 years old, making $20,000 per year, putting just 10 percent of your salary each month into an interest-earning account. Keep that up, and you could have saved $1.8 million by retirement age. Plug your own figures into a retirement calculator, and you’ll see how little effort it takes to build sizable wealth over the course of your career as long as you start early, contribute consistently and keep your savings in an account that earns interest. “You just cant beat compound interest,” said John Oldham of Retirement Income Designs. “As Einstein himself once said, “He who understands it, earns it, and he who doesn’t, pays it.” The simple rule of compound interest shows the true value of having time on your side.” Take note of some tools Your savings will grow even more quickly if you opt in to the matching retirement contribution plans offered by many employers (you’ll find out how to investigate this in the next two sections) and max out your own portion of the contributions. In a typical matching contribution plan, an employer will put 50 cents into your retirement fund for every dollar you contribute out of your paycheck for, up to six percent of your total salary. That means if you’re making $50,000 a year and putting away six percent of it ($3,000 per year), the employer will contribute an additional $1,500 per year out of its own pocket- not out of your paycheck- if you’re signed up for this plan. So why not max out your contribution percentage and get as much free money as you can? Many employers put these retirement contributions into an interest-earning account known as a 401(k). You can supplement this by putting your own money into an Individual Retirement Account or IRA. Money in an IRA cannot be taxed while it’s in the account and will not be taxed when you withdraw it at retirement age. What’s more, money in an IRA earns interest, which piles up over the years. As you can see from a IRA calculator, an IRA that you start from scratch at age 25 that receives $5,000 per year will be worth more than a tax-free $1.2 million by the time you’re 67. “You cant get any better than knowing ahead of time what your worst possible tax-paying situation is,” says Peter DArruda, CEO of Capital Financial Advisory Group. “So the sooner you can start ‘locking in’ your tax-free savings, the better.” Compare across companies A little legwork can give you a general idea of what kinds of retirement benefits you can expect from employers in various fields as well as from specific employers. This article, for example, lists Chesapeake Energy, Devon Energy and Qualcomm (among others) as employers with excellent retirement benefits. This article, meanwhile, explains that employees in the public sector, as well as those who work for very large companies, tend to get some of the best retirement packages. “As a general rule, many companies have been cutting retirement benefits,” Oldham says. Many of these cuts were cost-saving moves during the 2008 recession, but quite a few employers have been reluctant to bring them back even after the economy stabilized. “When so many people are looking for any work that’ll pay the rent,” Oldham said, “companies don’t have as much incentive to lure new employees with enticing retirement plans. A job with no retirement benefits is better than no job at all.” During your job search, use Google to research companies for which you’d like to work. Try searching for terms like “[name of company] + retirement plan” or “[name of company] + retirement benefits,” and you might find that your prospective employer shares its retirement offerings online. If you’re able to dig up this info, it can help you make a decision between two or more appealing employers. If your search doesn’t turn up anything, you’ll have some important questions to ask once you score an interview. Ask in interviews Determining what types of retirement packages are offered by various employers can take some maneuvering during the interview process. For one thing, many career coaches will tell you to avoid delving into the topic of benefits too deeply during interviews, since a long list of benefits-related questions can make you appear more interested in your own future than in the value you bring to the employer. Even so, asking a few strategic questions in each interview can net you a general outline of a company’s benefits. An ideal time to ask these questions is toward the end of the interview, when the interviewer asks, “So, do you have any questions for us?” Keep your questions brief and specific, emphasizing that you’re interested because you can envision a long future with the company. Do they offer a 401(k) or other retirement plan at all? In the current economic climate, some employers have quit offering retirement plans altogether, and a complete lack of one can be a red flag. If the company does offer a retirement plan, do they offer matching contributions? Other positive signs are offers of profit-sharing (additional contributions based on company profits) or pension plans (lifelong retirement benefits after a certain number of years with the company). You don’t need to delve into all of these topics during an interview. One or two well-worded questions can usually distinguish a retirement-conscious employer from a stingy one. If the company’s employees are proud of the retirement benefits their employer offers, you can bet they’ll brag about those benefits when asked. Whether you’re rapidly rising in the ranks or just starting to build up your resume, an early start on retirement planning will pay off exponentially down the road. Accumulating a million bucks or more doesn’t take much on your part, just a little research and a long-term commitment to saving. If your employer doesn’t offer retirement benefits, or even if you’re between jobs right now, stashing just 10 percent of your monthly budget in an IRA will create a financial cushion for tougher times. So take a few minutes to check out your options and start taking advantage of the ones available to you. Your future self will thank you. Ben Thomas, a member of the Riley Guide writing team, is an expert on many topics related to the job hunt. You can follow Ben on Google+.

The Innovators Scholarship Program Offered by Honeywell

The Innovators Scholarship Program Offered by Honeywell The Innovators Scholarship Program Offered by Honeywell The name Honeywell immediately brings to mind a wall thermostat that governs the air temperature and keeps your home comfortably warm or cool. In addition to Honeywell’s programmable thermostats, the company offers additional products that make our homes and offices more comfortable and safe for our families and employees. About Honeywell Honeywell Thermostatic Mixing Valves provide anti-scalding protection to ensure that our water stays at a reasonable temperature. Honeywell’s Whole House Ventilation System and Cleaner makes our air healthier and safer to breathe, while Honeywell’s Security Products and fire alarms keep our homes and offices safe. History shows that Honeywell can be traced back to 1885. The company currently employs more than 132,000 people, including about 21,000 scientists and engineers,  in 100 countries around the globe. Honeywell prides itself and its products on environmental sustainability. Conserving energy and providing products that protect air quality is a big part of their ongoing research and development. Honeywell also prides itself on being a corporate and community leader by helping others meet challenges posed by climate change and being a leader in finding more ways to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. The Innovators Scholarship Internship Program Honeywell International seeks new talent with strong engineering and technology backgrounds, people who will dedicate themselves to meeting the company’s mission. Honeywell offers The Innovators Scholarship Program to 18 target universities in China, the Czech Republic, India, Mexico, and the United States as part of its talent-acquisition strategy. The company offers opportunities in various locations around the globe. Honeywell offers paid internships and scholarship money that students can use to apply toward their last year in school. The amount of each scholarship varies based on the country in which the student works. The company seeks students who are pursuing degrees in aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, computer engineering, electronics and communications, electrical engineering, instrumentation, and mechanical engineering. You should be able to demonstrate a strong academic performance. The exact criteria will vary by country. You should possess strong verbal and written communication skills. The program is open to bachelors, masters, or select Ph.D. students who are entering their final academic year of study at one of the target universities. You must also be able to secure legal authorization to perform labor in the following countries if you choose to work there: China, the Czech Republic, India, Mexico, and the U.S. How to Apply Each applicant must complete an online application that includes his profile and a copy of his resume or CV. You should also include your university transcript, and you must submit two essays of 500 words or less written in English. The essays respond to questions posed during the application process. Only students only from target universities are eligible to apply, and they must do so by the end of November for China, the Czech Republic, Mexico and the U.S. The deadline for India is the end of April. Careers at Honeywell Various career paths  are available for those interested in seeking a job at Honeywell. Interested applicants can check out Honeywells website to conduct a thorough job search for currently available positions.