What NOT to Wear to Your Next Job Interview

What NOT to Wear to Your Next Job Interview Interviews are all about first impressions and what you wear can go a long way in telling people who you are before you’ve even started speaking. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on your outfit, but putting in a little extra effort to choose the right attire can help you in the long run. It takes interviewers less than 2.2 seconds to judge you by what you wear. 55% of your initial impression comes from the way you dress. Your decision about what to wear can tell a story about who you are at work. Here are a few tips about what you should avoid wearing at your next job interview: Say NO to flashy colors: Though bright colors get you noticed quicker, it’s not a good idea to choose a bright color for your interview day.  Steer clear of red, which can make you seem heavier and yellow, which is the most difficult color for the eye to perceive. Choose neutrals like gray, black, brown or white to portray a simple and clean look. Less is more: Tone down on jewelry which could be distracting instead of enhancing your look. Keep it simple. A dazzling piece of heavy necklace or earrings are sure to betray a professional look. For men, the betrayer can be your funky piece of tie you choose to wear to make a difference. It indeed does make a difference but not a positive one for sure. Make sure your handbag/sling bag (a backpack or a fannypack is definitely a faux pas.) is well-organized. This says a lot about how efficient you are. If you are carrying a portfolio, consider carrying it on an iPad. This shows that you are tech-savvy and well-prepared. At the same time, make sure you do not take out the portfolio until asked for. Put your best foot forward: They say you can tell a lot about a person by just looking at his shoes. Sneakers and sandals are a big no-no when it comes to a formal interview setting. Even if you know the office environment is going to be casual, be cautious of looking too casual as this reflects on your attitude towards work as well. A pair of basic peep-toes with medium heels or ballet flats would work just right with any outfit. Men can go for basic formal shoes letting the slip ons stay on the shelves. Do not wear a pair of shoes that is an antipode to your belt. Make sure they complement/match. Denim spells disaster: Though it’s an easy choice, it’s always better to leave out denim (in any form) when choosing what to wear for an interview. You’d rather be overdressed, than sloppy. Anything baggy and loose should be avoided as well. Ill-fitted clothes give you an air of negligence. Revealing clothes: The last thing you want to be worrying about at an interview is someone focusing too much on what you look like instead of what you are saying. If you’re wearing a blazer, make sure your top is not V-necked. Be watchful of your hemlines and necklines. Revealing more than what is conventionally appropriate projects you as careless and rebellious which is not going to favor you in an interview. This applies to guys as well. Ditch your graphic tee and choose a button-down to wear under your blazer or formal jacket. Your outfit must be comfortable for you as well as your interviewer. Too much cologne: Body odor plays an important factor when it comes to first impressions. Wear a good deodorant or perfume. But do not overdo it. Some may even be allergic to strong smells and this could be a big turn-off. At the same time, it’s important to note that turning up sweaty is not an option. If this is an issue, make sure you’re early and have time to cool down before hand. Also ensure you wear fabrics that do not make it too obvious. Make up makes you look made-up: Dark eye shadows, bright glossy lipsticks or heavy foundation deserve a strict NO for interviews. Looking your best is important but losing your originality in the efforts is useless. For men, gelled Mohawk like hairstyles are equivalent to women’s overdone make-up. Your unnatural efforts to look good will only make you look false and unreliable. Nude makeup and a basic neat hairstyle is your best bet for an interview. Shuffle off any facial/mouth piercings or visible tattoos. Over the top outfits: Healthy experimenting is not prohibited for interviews but being too innovative with your outfit might drag you down on the scale of first impression. Avoid too bright and large-patterned clothes (especially pants). Animal prints are just not made for interviews. Where subtle monochrome patterns might spice up your outfit to the apt levels, loud patterns will do the exact opposite. Women must skip the fishnets or patterned hosiery stockings and men must ward off the temptation to wear a formal wool blazer in a summer interview. Though your attire cannot give an interviewer reason enough to reject you, it can play an important part in getting to know who you are and how seriously you take the job opportunity. Confidence and body language go hand-in-hand in completing the picture. So smile, be confident and you’re sure to come out a winner. RELATED: The 5 WORST Things to Wear in a Job Interview Author: Aditya Singhal is the co-founder of  transtutors.com, a leading online QA database company providing help for college students. Outside of  work, Aditya has a personal interest in helping students with their career aspirations and skill development.

Recruiter and Candidate Tech Mismatch

Recruiter and Candidate Tech Mismatch There can sometimes be a mismatch in recruiter expectations when it comes to early career candidates and the use of technology professionally. Technology is being used more and more in the recruitment process, particularly for roles that attract high numbers of applications or by employers who recruit high numbers of professional roles on a regular basis. Technology such as automated video interviews is becoming more and more common with recruiters, particularly large organizations. This type of technology can streamline recruitment for employers being more time and cost-effective. On the flip side, it can prove harder and more uncomfortable for some candidates. I have experienced this mismatch of expectations first hand. Having spoken to many employers who believe that whilst the use of technology in the recruitment process is more efficient and time effective for them, they also believe that it is easier for younger candidates and more what they would expect given they use. With the high use of technology in day to day life for young people such as face time and social media, recruiters can often believe this type of technology is comfortable for early career candidates. On the other side of the coin, I have also spoken to many early career candidates who are comfortable with the social use of technology but are terrified when it comes to the professional use of technology. They can often be oblivious to the link of skills that come from the social use of technology which they can utilize in the professional use of technology. Here are your tips for using technology to effectively engage early career candidates. Don’t assume they are comfortable with technology Provide resources or tips for them to practice before the recruitment process interview or pitch. Recognise, especially for younger candidates, this environment and situation could be brand new to them and actually scary. Provide perspective and support to the candidates to get the best out of them. Recognise the block between the social and professional use of technology   From your viewpoint, an early career candidate’s natural and adaptable approach and skills to everyday technology in the world of work may be obvious. However, recognize that to the candidate this may not necessarily be obvious at all. There can be a barrier to understanding technology in a professional setting which can be much more unfamiliar to a younger candidate than it is to you with your experience. That’s not to say they dont have those skills but they may need support understanding how they are transferable and where they might use them in a work environment. You may need to break down the role more than you would expect and think about how you can talk about how technology is a key part of what you do in a way that is understandable, comfortable and related to early career candidates. Believe it or not, some young people are not comfortable with technology. Which leads to my final point… Understand some young people are terrified of technology For some early career candidates, while they can be much more technology savvy than they realize, there can be a perception that technology is purely coding, programming and anything that fits into that hardcore techy bubble. They don’t always see the skills and knowledge they naturally have from the social and educational use of technology. They don’t always see this as clearly as recruiters do, reinforce why you believe they are already tech savvy and help them bridge the gap in their own minds that a proportion of what they have learned socially and through study can be transferable to their professional careers. The initial premise is true; early career candidates are naturally more tech-savvy than the generations before them because they have been raised in an age of fast technological advancements. However, don’t assume they are comfortable with technology in a professional setting or have either the self-awareness or world of work awareness of how to transfer those skills from social life to a work environment. There are some great candidates out there that can be lost due to wrong assumptions. I encourage you to provide more information, resources, and a different conversation to candidates to help bring the best out of them to truly get the best candidates in your organization. About the author: Nicola Clemmit runs the Nicola Clemmit Consultancy: supporting candidates towards successful CVs, covering letters, applications, and interviews.

5 New SEO Strategies You Should Be Aware Of From Rich Gorman - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

5 New SEO Strategies You Should Be Aware Of From Rich Gorman - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career [Sponsored Post: This post is brought to you by Rich Gorman  and you can follow him on Twitter @RichAGorman] Here are a few new SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies that Rich Gorman sent me that  you should use to build your online presence and optimize it for Google: 1. Co-Citation Co-citation, as Rich Gorman explained to me, refers to virtual link building without actual links. Co-citation does not require an actual link to the website.  For example, suppose there are three websites, A, B and C. If a page on Website A links to Website B and to Website C in correlation to each other, Google will look for similarities between B and C. If these are found, Google will now link Website B with Website C, even though there is no direct link between the two. So Website C benefits from an enhanced ranking, due to the respect it gets from both Website A and Website B, even though the only link is to Website A, and the same is true for Website B. 2. Outreach Link Earning Outreach link building  is where you analyze your target audience, along with industry leaders, and search to determine where these groups are. Then you find applicable and related content. Once that source has been identified, reach out to that website and initiate a request to link the pages together. 3. Content Marketing Rich Gorman says that the  best way to attract links and page popularity is to create extremely useful and interesting content on your site that people will want to share. You should make your posts easy to share by having social media sharing buttons so readers can share on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. 4. Optimize Images Rich Gorman also says to add alt tags and a title to all of the images on your site so they start to come up in Google image search. This can bring you a significant amount of traffic and its usually overlooked. By optimizing your images, it can improve your sites speed and versatility too. 5. Post Authorship Google allows you to claim your content by adding a rel=author tag to your posts. In order to begin the process of adding the tags, you need a Google+ account. When someone conducts a search, they will not only see your post, but that you wrote it and your avatar next to it. Its a great way to brand yourself in Google. Author: Dan Schawbel is the founder of the Personal Branding Blog and author of the upcoming book, Promote Yourself: The New Rules For Career Success.

How to Prevent Identity Theft During Hotel Stays

How to Prevent Identity Theft During Hotel Stays When guests check into a hotel, the first thing the front desk requests is a credit card for the room for any incidentals. Guests hand over their precious plastic without thinking twice. After all, they need to check in and a card is required to do so. But before just grabbing any card out of their wallets, hotel guests might want to think twice. Hotel chains like Trump, Mandarin Oriental and White Lodging have all recently been hacked and lost massive amounts of financial and personal data on guests. Credit card numbers are not the only valuable data that was stolen. Hotel Stays Increase  Hacking and Identity Theft Risks Hotels keep records of phone calls guests make, movie watching habits, room service orders and any other data for additional charges they might need make a stay more convenient. This information is valuable to criminals as well. Known as a Fullz record of an individual, thieves buy and sell this information because it can serve to assist in identity theft or answer online authentication questions for hacking into someone’s accounts. Take Proper Precautions The best way to prevent identity theft is to be proactive. It is considered best practice to take the proper precautions, but it is also a good idea to start monitoring your identity through reputable websites such as MyLife.com. This can help you find out which websites are displaying your personal information and public records, so that you can take the appropriate action. While most of your information can become accessible to identity thieves through other means, you can at least make it harder for them by removing or hiding your information online. With that said, before paying for another hotel reservation, SNDR recommends considering the following safeguards to keep financial and personal information safe. Get a  separate credit card. One that is only used to pay for travel including airfare and hotel reservations. Skip out on some of the conveniences offered by hotels. Including room service, free Internet access, long-distance calls and other fee-based services that are tied to the card used to pay for the room. If booking a hotel stay online, do not use a regular credit card. Go to a local supermarket and purchase a reloadable card instead. Use the throwaway card to pay for the booking. Make sure you are using a secured connection to websites when available. A simple “s” (https:// instead of http:// in your web browsers URL bar) will protect you from most threats local and remote. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has created a utility that will automatically use a secure connection for you. Learn more about it at https://www.eff.org/Https-everywhere. Create temporary passwords for sites you plan on accessing while travelling. It is estimated that 60% of people use the same password, or a variation of one, for every account. If you get hacked while traveling, have a temporary “throwaway” password for email or social media.  It will prevent a headache of worry over if your home accounts were compromised. Bring your own computer. Do not use the shared terminal in a hotel business center. You never know what the person who used the computer five minutes before you might have loaded onto it. It could be running programs watching your every move. Dont lose that room card. Sometimes your credit card information is stored on the magnetic strip and is easily decoded if the room card is lost. Ask at the front desk if you can get a child-safe keycard without any purchasing power and carry that around instead. About SNDR SNDRâ„¢ is a new app that combines all the ways you already communicate into a single platform. You can text, email, share files and use social media all from one app. And, every message is encrypted and completely secure. Images: Main  Lionel Martinez  Credit cards  frankieleon

How to Write a Sales Rep Resume

How to Write a Sales Rep ResumeSales Rep resume formats vary from one company to another. This is because not all companies are similar. Some are small and have fewer employees, some are large and employ a lot of people. When you read a sales rep resume, it can give you an idea of what to expect.Most companies will ask for an outline when applying for a sales rep resume format. This outline will outline exactly what the resume should contain and not include.The outline should cover what the resume will cover as well as the essential information about the individual. These sections include: educational information, work experience, skills, education, etc.The outline will give you an idea of what the company will be looking for when they are reviewing the individual's credentials. As much as possible, take time to write your own. The outline should be used as a guideline and does not dictate what should be included on the resume.It is important to include the name of the company if you want to receive an interview. It is imperative that you list the name of the company, not your title or company. Doing this will ensure that you do not miss out on getting the opportunity to interview. In addition, listing the title of the company should not be the name of the individual.When writing a sales rep resume format, you should make sure to put in plenty of contact information. A good rule of thumb is to put in as much contact information as possible. Include phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses, and addresses of employers. You should also list on the resume the name of the person you wish to interview.The format should be as specific as possible in explaining an individual's skill set. If an individual is well organized, they should highlight that. It is important to list the skills that you have or what you have the ability to offer the company.Not only should you focus on your abilities, but also on what is most important to the sales rep resume. The sales rep r esume should not only be a listing of abilities. It should also be the selling point for the individual.

New website - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

New website - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog We took a look at our current website for the Happiness at Work Project, and found it to be horribly crowded! Theres information about us, our products and our results. And theres articles, news, resources, downloads and lots of other stuff. Too confusing! So we split out all the resources stuff to a new website which you can find at www.spredarbejdsglaede.dk or at www.happyatworknow.com. So far most of the pages are in danish only, BUT soon we will translate most of the site to english, and thus have our first international website (YAAAAY). The site is (of course) a 100% open source solution. Its running on a linux server hosted by Logical and the site itself is running on an excellent, free, open source solution called eGroupWare. Open Source Software ROCKS! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

Motivation Monday Switch It Up

Motivation Monday Switch It Up Here we are again at the start of another week! Will you drag yourself into work at a job you despise (or dislike immensely)   or maybe you are waking up dreading another week of networking and chasing after posted jobs? Wishing it all away wont work. Ignoring it wont make it better. Dont you owe it to yourself to enjoy life? Here are some suggestions for how you can turn your outlook around! Get Out of Your Rut! Change your routine, mix it up by driving a new way to work or wake up early and take a walk. Bring your favorite food for lunch or eat outside. Watch a different news station or dont bother getting the news today at all.   Whatever pattern of habit you are in, switch it up. Do everything differently. Put Others First Focus on the needs, wants or desires of someone else.   This might mean helping a co-worker with a deadline, letting a car cut in front of you in traffic (without wanting to flip them off), bring a treat to a meeting, find an organization where you can volunteer your time. Reach Out to an Old Friend Pick up the phone or email a friend you havent talked with in a while. Recall happy memories and shared experiences just because! Laugh a Little Rent a comedy or watch a funny sitcom. Be sure it makes you laugh! Do What You Love Doing Whatever it is you love to do, create time in your day or week to do it at least once! It could be gardening, taking in a baseball game, yoga or an infinite number of other things. Go do it! Try Something New Eat a new type of food, read a new genre of book, take up a new sport to watch or play, listen to new music, find a new coffee shop or restaurant. Move forward out of your slump by adding and subtracting things so you can find the right mix and feel rejuvenated, refreshed and have a new outlook! I would love to hear what you plan on doing this week, leave a comment! FYI: Journaling is a great way to reprogram your brain! Ive just launched Blue Sky Day, a journal with 52 photos of blue skies, inspirational quotes and prompts to help you write about what really matters to you!   You can learn more about it here or order your copy here.