Sell Yourself During An Interview

Millions of people have interviews each year. Some people are getting interviewed for a new career, some are being interviewed for a promotion, and some are being interviewed for advertising reasons. When you are being interviewed for a new job, the whole point of an interview is to sell yourself.

You want to answer the questions asked of you truthfully, but in a way that will make you sound spectacular. Remember, you are trying to land a job. You are trying to prove that you are the best person for the position and that you will be an asset to the company if they hire you. It is all in your wording.

One way to make yourself sound really great is to use numbers. For example, if you tell your interviewer that you were able to save your previous company some money, which sounds good. But if you tell your interviewer that you saved $20,000 that sounds really great!

Even when you are asked the dreaded question about your weakness, you need to talk about a weakness that can be improved, but is not something that is drastic and will keep your from your job. Career experts advise job searchers to think of a past weakness that you’ve already corrected and talk about it in the form of a story. State that you had a specific issue at work, explain the steps you did to improve the problem, and indicate that the issue is no longer a problem. A great way to conclude your story is to say something like, “in fact, I am always on the lookout for was that I can improve myself and my work.”

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Use Numbers to Highlight Your Achievements on a Resume

A resume is the first chance you get to showcase your talents to a potential employer. You want to make an outstanding first impression, but often wonder what you can do to really set your resume apart from all the others. There are many websites online that provide lots of great tips on how to format your resume, how to list your skills and provide information on your education. But, one tip is often forgotten on these articles, and that is using numbers to highlight your achievements.

Numbers are very powerful. If you read the phrase “create and developed websites”, you’d know what the person can do. But, if you read “created and developed 25 websites”, you can see how powerful adding a number can be. Adding a specific number to your accomplishments gives it more weight and provides a tangible indication of your work abilities.

Amounts
Using a specific number will put the accomplishment into more prospective for a potential employer. It doesn’t leave room for guessing or assuming. For example, your resume should say something like:
•    Trained 25 new employees.
•    Recruited 50 volunteers.
•    Increased production by 30 percent.

Time
Businesses are always looking for ways to use time efficiently. Grab a potential employer’s attention by pointing out ways that you have managed time well, or were efficient in a task or project you worked on. An example would be to say something like:
•    Created procedures that decreased order processing time from 12 minutes to six minutes.
•    Assisted with twice-monthly root cause reporting initiatives.

Money
Everyone is concerned about money. When talking about achievements you made, state exactly how much money you saved.
•    Created a marketing campaign that brought in $100,000 worth of new orders to the company.
•    Managed the IT budget of more than $20,000.
•    Recommended new telephone service that cut costs by 8 percent.

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Using the Internet to Search for Jobs

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 03: Bill Harris of Brook...

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We all know that the current rate of unemployment is very high across the nation. Many people are out of work and collecting unemployment benefits. But, even with unemployment checks, it’s hard to make ends meet. If you read the statistics, there a lot of people that have been unemployed for the long-term, many have lost or about to lose their unemployment benefits. It is imperative that these people find a new job, often having to change careers. The best way to search for jobs is to use the Internet.

There are many benefits to using the internet to search for jobs. First, a person has access to thousands of job postings all while sitting comfortably at home, in the library, or at a café. Instead of being limited to your local newspaper, you can check out the many online job posting sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com. A simple search will provide you with even more job listings.

It is also easier to apply for jobs online rather than answering newspaper job ads. Set up an account at the job posting websites that you frequent most often. When you set up an account, load your resume right into the system so not only can you search for jobs and easily provide your resume, but jobs might find you! Employers often browse the resumes will contact you about a position if they feel you may be a good fit.

When you have an account at a job posting website, you can easily track the positions you applied for. This is especially helpful if you apply to many places in a short amount of time. It also makes it easier for the unemployed who have to submit work search logs to receive unemployment benefits.

There are many other benefits to using the internet to search for jobs. Go ahead and start using the internet for job searching and you’ll see why it’s so fantastic!

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Do you want to be a substance abuse counselor?

Substance abuse counseling is a very demanding job. Yet it is very rewarding at the same time. The job of a substance abuse counselor will want this person to work with drug addicts and help them recover. It is a noble profession of sorts since it is helping people help themselves.

To become a substance abuse counselor there are some educational as well personality requirements. You also have the opportunity to branch out into different other areas like criminal justice, family counseling, and so on.

Personality Requirements

• Substance abuse counseling involves working with dangerous drug addicts. You will initially do well to work with a senior person as an assistant. As a person you should genuinely feel convinced on the idea of helping drug addicts out of trouble. You should strongly feel convinced about your counseling and mentoring skills. If you feel you have the power to change the line of thought of a person, then this is for you.
• Substance abuse counselor might be asked to go on field trips, like going to places like drug jaunts, and addiction places. These areas have dangerous youth. As a person you should be calm and communicative. Aggression will only draw bloodshed.

Educational requirements

• You will ideally need a psychology degree since this is a counseling position. Although there is no specific education for this job, you can also do your own studies on addiction and get yourself well versed with the subject.
• A medical degree in psychiatry will also be great. But you might want to do counseling mostly on a part-time or add-on basis, because psychiatry can help you get into the medical part of addiction recovery studies.

Job Prospects

• There are more than four hundred jobs generated in this area alone according to a 2008 statistic. This is expected to grow. There is a shortage of such people, so you could get the early bird advantage.

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