Archive for October 25, 2014

How To Act After Getting A Rejection Letter

We all hate rejection. It makes us feel bad that someone doesn’t really like or want us. When you see you’ve been rejected in black and white it’s can take the wind out of our sail as a job seeker.

Related: How To Turn Job Rejection Into An Advantage

After we get a rejection letter and recover our balance the tendency is to shy away from that company, those people and maybe even that type of job. It can and often does, change our behavior and often not in a way that serves us well. Don’t let that be you.

Let’s look at a rejection letter first and then what your actions and behavior should be following a rejection letter.

What Does A Rejection Letter Really Mean?

If you made it through all of the screening process as a candidate, you are obviously well qualified for the position you pursued. It also means you’re doing a lot of things right in your job search to get this far. Keep doing the right things.

A rejection doesn’t mean you were a poor candidate, it means they felt more aligned with someone else. You never know how difficult the decision may have been between you and someone else. They had to make a decision and it could have come to something like a coin toss simply so they could move forward. They had to pick someone.

It means they thought well of you and despite any negative thoughts you might have about them, they’re feeling just fine about you.

The door on future opportunities is not closed. In fact, now that they know you so well, you could be considered for other openings. It’s more productive to utilize the applicant flow you have rather than dumping all the resumes and interview information than to start over again the next time.

The fact that the company went so far as to send you a rejection letter is a sign of a well run company.

So, often these days, the job search is a black hole of communications. If they thought enough of their candidates to do this level of follow up, you want to keep them on your radar.

What Should Your Behavior Be?

If you loved the position, hiring manager, and company then keep working at getting hired for a position. Just because they rejected you for this position doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be perfect for the next one. It’s not a door closer. You now have a list of “insider” contacts that you can use to your advantage.

After you let the dust settle for a while, circle back around with your contacts and let them know you want to be considered for other positions now or in the future. Showing some spunk and confidence is alluring and memorable. Keep your perspective about what this means.

A rejection letter shouldn’t cause you to change what you are doing unless this letter makes it a cool dozen you’ve received. If you have repeatedly got to the final round of interviews and not chosen, then rethink how you might be presenting yourself.

Sure, you’re going to feel rejected for a while after you get a rejection letter. Go indulge and yourself today then get over it and keep doing all the right things that got you this far.

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

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Top 5 Proactive Job Interview Strategies

These days, it can be overwhelming to think about how much work goes into finding a job. If you are very serious about it, you have likely educated yourself in all the various facets of a job search and become well-equipped to go out and tackle the task. But, so have many others.

Related: How To Work Your Portfolio Into The Interview

Once a company narrows down the candidate pool to a group of people they want to meet, and you are one of them, it’s time to start thinking about your next steps. Only one person can be chosen in the end. When all things are equal, what makes you stand out?

Finding strategic and creative ways to land job interviews is half the battle. Once you are chosen for an interview, it’s not always going to be enough to arrive early, smile at the right times, answer the questions properly, ask the right questions, and then conduct all the proper follow-up tasks. Chances are you are going up against other candidates who will also be doing those same things. Now is the time to go that extra mile.

Top Job Interview Strategies

The best proactive job interview strategies are somewhat subtle in nature and just flow with the rest of the process. The following are the top five strategies 80% of candidates do not utilize:

1. Confirm your interview.

If you have at least a few days between when you set up your interview and when it actually takes place, use the extra time to your advantage. Call or e-mail to confirm the interview, and let them know you are really looking forward to it. Not very many candidates do this, yet it’s these little acts of professionalism that matter.

2. Develop a rapport with the people who interview you.

Typically interviews (including phone interviews), start out with some small talk. Don’t just answer questions asked of you, ask them questions too and get a lighthearted conversation going! Ask them how they are doing and maybe share a lighthearted story. Try to help take the rigid formality of a job interview down a notch so that the conversation can flow easier.

If any of the interviewers share something of some level of significance, be creative and use that information in further communications. Your thank-you letter to that person could briefly mention something that had come up.

For example, if an interviewer mentioned that his or her child was sick, why not briefly mention in your thank-you letter you hope his or her child is feeling better? Who wouldn’t appreciate that?

3. Ask if you can have a tour of the office/building/plant, and so on.

This is especially effective if the company has a manufacturing facility and you can ask a lot of questions about their products and how they are made. Regardless, this is a great way to show that you have strong interest in the company. While on the tour, bring up several things that you know about the company (you have done your homework, right?) and ask questions about them. Take notice of things you see and either compliment them or ask questions about them.

4. Make it clear you are interested in the job and the company and not “what’s in it for me?”

Try not to ask questions or makes statements that make it clear that you are only interested in how this job will affect you. Employers want individuals who care about the company. If it doesn’t come up in the interview, ask if you can learn about the company’s values and mission statement and talk about how it aligns with yours.

The values and mission statement are (or should be!) a very important part of a company’s culture. So few people ask about this stuff! Ask about how your job fits into the department and in the company as a whole. Show interest in what the company actually does. If you spend most of your time talking and asking about all the things that pertain to you, you will not be impressing anyone even if you provide otherwise good answers to the questions.

5. Send personalized thank-you letters to every person who was in the interview.

Personalized means personal and unique to each person who was in the interview. Make it different than the others–reference communication items that are specific to that person if you can. This is a great approach, different from just sending a standard copy/paste thank-you letter to them all.

Many candidates do send separate e-mails to each interviewer but the content is the same. Thank-you e-mails can and will get forwarded to others at times and when some were forwarded to me, I found it to be very impressive if the content was different from the one I received.

Handwritten ones are a great idea as well. It’s more personal which is a nice touch. If you can spare the time to go all out, hand write them and drop them off the same day or the next day, you should go for it!

It’s little things like this that break you apart from the masses and help you really stand out. Sure, some of these are a little extra work. But if it helps you get the job, isn’t it worth it?

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

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About the author

Jessica Simko is a personal/career branding strategist, job search expert, and senior level human resources professional with over 15 years of experience in recruiting, hiring, staffing, and career management. Please feel free to download her FREE report on “The Job Interview Game.”

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by a CAREEREALISM-approved expert. You can learn more about expert posts here.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

The post Top 5 Proactive Job Interview Strategies appeared first on CAREEREALISM.

5 Easy Tips To Get Noticed By Prospective Employers

With the high rate of unemployment and so many people clamoring after the same jobs, it pays to stay ahead of the employment game. The trick is discovering and perfecting ways and means of doing so. If you are performing a sales vacancy search, there are many other job seekers doing the same thing. One of the best ways to stand out is to boost your job profile to get noticed by prospective employers. Here are five easy tips that will help:

1. Improve Job-Hiring Techniques

When it comes to areas like submitting a cover letter and resume, it is important to know what to say and how to say it. If you highlight the wrong points, in spite of your qualifications, you will be by-passed. Therefore, search out information that focuses on how to effectively compile a CV to impress employers.

2. Strengthen Communications

Taking courses to strengthen your speech can have a lasting effect on your verbal presentations. It will advance you in smooth and fluent responses during an interview. It is especially an asset if you are seeking a job that involves dealing with and talking to people.

3. Increase Linguistic Ability

Due to travel, technology and other modern inventions, the world has become a small place. Because of this, there is no telling who may cross your path. Adding another language to your speech can increase your chances of being hired. The more people with whom you can communicate, the better you can conduct and advance a business.

4. Enhance Technological Skills

Proficiency in the use of the computer and other technical devices will empower you to keep pace in an ever-changing workplace. By sharpening your skills in this area, the more proficient you will appear to a future employer. It will demonstrate your competency to get things done and to do them in an up-to-date fashion.

5. Sharpen Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are vital to any potential employees skill set. This qualification says to employers that you have the ability to interact with individuals effectively and efficiently. Sharpening these skills enables you to handle conflict resolutions and problem solving.

Whether you are seeking employment in the business of sales or similar category, you need an impressive job profile. It should be in place before your search begins. Without having to spend any money, you can work on the above-mentioned tips through self-help efforts.

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

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The post 5 Easy Tips To Get Noticed By Prospective Employers appeared first on CAREEREALISM.

7 Tips For Writing A Great LinkedIn Invitation

Whether you’re new to LinkedIn or you’re a seasoned user, connecting with new people can be a challenge, especially when you’re not sure what to write in your LinkedIn invitation.

Related: How To Get A Recruiter’s Attention On LinkedIn

You might be tempted to use the generic “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” template, but beware! By not personalizing your message, you could lose a precious opportunity to network.

How To Write A LinkedIn Invitation

Here are seven great tips on writing LinkedIn invitations from our approved career experts:

1. Be Honest

“Explain why you want to connect with the person,” says Amanda Haddaway, author of Destination Real World: Success After Graduation For New And Soon-To-Be College Graduates. “Just say something. There’s nothing worse than receiving a LinkedIn request with the standard, generic format and not having any earthly idea who the person is or why he/she wants to connect with you.”

Dorothy Tannahill-Moran of Next Chapter New Life says honesty is the best policy when trying to connect with someone, especially if you’re looking to do some serious networking.

“If you want to work for their company,” Tannahill-Moran says, “don’t be shy about admitting that they are working for your targeted company and are looking for insights about that company. Open communication is always best.”

2. Tell Them How You Know Them

“I get a lot of requests and I always appreciate a brief mention of why the person wants to connect,” says Jenny Yerrick Martin of Your Industry Insider. “Whether they saw my post on a LinkedIn group, found me through my website, or know someone who knows me in real life, that extra step usually gets me to accept the invitation.”

3. Find Something In Common

When trying to to find something in common with your potential connection, Haddaway suggests asking yourself these questions:

• Is it a mutual career field or interest?
• Do you have connections in common?
• Are you connected through LinkedIn Groups?

Here’s a request example offered by Debra Wheatman of Careers Done Write:

Example: Dear Jane: I see that you are a member of xxx group. I am also engaged with this group and would like to share some ideas with you. Please accept my invitation to connect.

This example is short and sweet, but it gets the point across effectively.

4. Make It Personal

“One-size-fits-all invitations are a waste of time,” says Cheryl Simpson of Executive Resume Rescue.

Always personalize your invitation to connect in some way, she advises. Mention a shared group membership, note a common contact, or point out similar backgrounds, education, or experience. If all else fails, tell the prospective contact what you hope you both will gain from the connection.

5. Be Enthusiastic

“If you’re approaching the CEO/founder of startup on LinkedIn, as part of a job search, you want to start and end by showing your enthusiasm for their business,” says Kathy Ver Eecke of Working For Wonka. “Your expertise, background, and skill set should take a backseat to your enthusiasm and passion for their business. You want to get their attention and break the ice? Lead with that and you’re in.”

6. Reference Their Profile

Ben Eubanks of Upstart HR suggests taking a moment to check out your potential connection’s profile and referencing something in it.

Example: “Hey, Mike! I saw on your profile that you attended XYZ University. I have a great friend who went there and have heard great things about it. I’d love the opportunity to connect with you. Thanks! Have a great day.”

“Reaching out without offering some reason is a quick way to get your message relegated to the ‘spam’ folder, and LinkedIn will eventually suspend your account if you hit the limit of those responses,” he says.

7. Thank Them

Arnie Fertig of Job Hunter Coach says it’s important to thank the person in advance for agreeing to connect.

Not only that, but you also want to offer to help him/her in any way possible and encourage them to call on you. That way, your potential contact feels like they can benefit from the connection. Remember, you get what you give!

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

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The post 7 Tips For Writing A Great LinkedIn Invitation appeared first on CAREEREALISM.

3 Ways To Advance Your Skills

These days, it’s all too common for job seekers to take a job that isn’t in their industry. The lack of jobs and ever increasing competitive job market certainly don’t help, and you’ve got bills to pay, food to eat, and possibly a family to care for.

Related: 5 Great Tools That Showcase Your Skills To Recruiters

Although it’s tough to stay happy at a job you don’t necessarily want, you know the position is taking care of your financial needs at the moment. But how can you advance your skills for a future job?

How To Advance Your Skills

If you’re worried that you might not be getting the experience you need, here are three ways to keep fortifying your professional talents:

1. Actively Seek Ways To Use Your Skills At Work

Whether you’re a writer working in sales or a business major working at a bank, there’s always some way of using the skills you’ve studied and practiced - wherever you go. You just have to actively seek it out.

For instance, I’m looking to be a reporter someday, but my current job involves office administration. I didn’t want my writing skills to suffer, so I decided to make up writing projects any way that I could to continue to strengthen my craft.

I wrote a summary of the company on the company website, I blog about the company whenever I get a chance, and even try to connect with other vendors via social media. All of these things were not in my job description, but as time progressed, I knew I had to use my skills somehow.

2. Ask Your Boss To Give You More Responsibilities

Taking on tougher tasks will help challenge you in the work field, and asking your employer for more responsibilities shows that you’re not afraid of a challenge. It also helps you stand out from the other employees in all of the right ways. It’s a win-win, you get to put your skills into practice and your employer has less work to think about.

Besides, even if your current job isn’t in your professional industry, not excelling at a job doesn’t exactly make you look like a professional.

3. Start A Blog And Utilize Social Media

Even if you’re not into blogging, tweeting, or posting on other people’s walls, learning how to market your company will help you learn more about who you’re working for.

The more you know about your employer’s business, the easier it will be for you to figure out how you can continue to be a valuable asset to that company.

Since it’s more common for employees to job hop these days, the last thing you want is to become expendable.

So, if you’re currently working at a job that isn’t in your professional field, remember, making your job work for your skills can help advance them and even make the job more enjoyable.

This post was originally published at an earlier date.

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The post 3 Ways To Advance Your Skills appeared first on CAREEREALISM.

Padang Gourmet @ HillV2

How One Woman Built A Multimillion-Dollar Cupcake Business With Just $33 To Her Name

Courtesy of Gigi Butler

Gigi Butler, founder of Gigi’s Cupcakes.

Gigi Butler was a cleaning lady with just $33 to her name when she opened her first cupcake shop in Nashville, Tennessee, almost seven years ago.

“People thought I was crazy, and they laughed at the idea,” she told Business Insider. “But I just had this feeling that I had to do it.”

After securing a location, whipping up a few recipes, and hiring two employees off the street, Butler opened the doors of Gigi’s Cupcakes on February 21, 2008.

“I had no investors and literally not a cent to spend on advertising,” she says. “So I just hoped and prayed people would come.”

And they did.

Today there are 92 Gigi’s Cupcakes locations in 23 states, and this year she expects $35 million in annual sales across all stores. It’s safe to say Butler’s bank account balance is no longer in the double-digits.

“I’m so happy with how things have turned out, but I never thought my success would stem from cupcakes,” she tells us. “I always thought it would be music.”

Courtesy of Gigi Butler

Gigi’s cupcakes.

Butler was born in Oklahoma and grew up on a farm in a small desert town in California, about an hour outside of Los Angeles. Since age 7, she dreamed of becoming a country singer. “Nothing else was even an option. I was going to be a country star, end of story,” she says.

But at 15 she needed a job, and she really wasn’t interested in working for anyone else. “I decided to buy some mops and buckets, and I went from door to door, ringing doorbells, offering to clean people’s homes.”

That’s how Gigi’s Cleaning Company was born.

She cleaned homes, offices, and construction sites (and sang in a band on the side) in California for five years before deciding she was ready to take the next step in her music career.

Courtesy of Gigi Butler

Butler singing in a Nashville bar.

So, in 1994, she dropped out of college and moved to Nashville with $500, no job, no friends, and no place to live.

“When I got there, I continued cleaning. So I’d do that all day, then come home and nap, then I’d go sing at bars at night until 3 a.m. — and do it all over again the next day,” she says. “But when I turned 31, I got tired of getting my butt pinched and passing the tip jar around. I felt like I was failing since my dream was to sing. But I knew it just wasn’t working anymore.”

After giving up her dream of becoming a country star in 2005, Butler focused on building her cleaning business in Nashville.

“I was making pretty good money and learning how to be a boss, manage a team, and run a business, all without having to be in the corporate world, which was great since my form of hell is sitting in front of a computer screen in high heels, pantyhose, and a skirt,” she says.

Though content, Butler said she knew she wasn’t being challenged enough, “and something was still missing.”

Courtesy of Gigi Butler

“Something was still missing.”

In 2007, while cleaning a bathroom in a client’s home, Butler got a call from her brother.

“He was in New York for Labor Day Weekend and said, ‘You won’t believe this, but people are waiting in line for hours for cupcakes! And they’re not even as good as yours.”

Butler grew up surrounded by bakers. Her aunts, grandmothers, and mother were all talented in the kitchen — and she “inherited the gene.”

“It’s in my blood, but I never thought about pursuing it as a career or a business.”

Courtesy of Gigi Butler

Butler with her great aunt Bennie.

She hung up the phone and looked at herself in the mirror and thought, I’m not afraid to fail, so I’m going to do this. I am going to open a cupcake shop.

A month later she was in Texas visiting her great aunt Bennie who owned a bakery. “I had no idea what I was doing, so I went there to learn.”

When she got back to Tennessee, she went to the bank to ask for a loan. “I had great credit and no debt, but they literally laughed in my face and said, ‘Seriously? A cupcake shop?’”

So, instead, she took $100,000 in cash advance loans from her credit cards. 

After finding a location for the store — which she refers to as “the sweet spot,” since it’s near three universities, six hospitals, and right off Music Row — Butler’s parents came out to help her launch her new business. “My mom helped me develop recipes, and my dad did the store design. They also gave me some money, which I really needed.”

Before opening the shop, Butler used up all of the $100,000 in loans, plus the money her parents gifted her, and all of her savings — and she still had $6,500 in bills to pay ($4,500 in rent; $1,000 for ingredients; and $1,000 for her first two employees). She had just $33 in her bank account.

Courtesy of Gigi Butler

Butler with a customer.

“I literally cleaned three houses the day before we opened the store to pay the plumber,” she says. “And then that same day, my contractor came in with a $15,000 dry wall bill he ‘forgot’ to give me. I literally fell to the floor and had a melt down.”

Butler had exactly one week to pay the $6,500 to her landlord, food supplier, and two employees — and told the contractor she’d need some time to pay off his bill.

“I didn’t know how I was going to do it,” she tells Business Insider. “I remember looking up, saying, ‘Please, just let the people come. Make them like my cupcakes. They have to like my cupcakes.’”

They didn’t like them; they loved them, she says.

Within a few hours of opening, a line formed outside Gigi’s Cupcakes shop.

Courtesy of Gigi Butler

Gigi’s cupcakes.

Butler recalls an encounter with one customer that first week. “I was walking around greeting people, and one woman said, ‘I’m going to order a Scarlett’s Red Velvet flavor cupcake.’ So I told her we didn’t have that particular flavor that day, and she started screaming at me, ‘I’ve been waiting in line for that cupcake! You’re telling me you don’t have it?! Are you some kind of idiot?’ And you’d think I’d be offended, but I walked away and thought to myself, ‘Oh my god, people are yelling over my cupcakes because they want them! Cha-ching!’” 

By March 1, 2008, a week after opening, Butler was able to pay off the $6,500 in bills. “And I still had $300 left,” she says proudly.

A few months later, Butler’s landlord, Alan Thompson, suggested she franchise her concept. “I said, ‘What’s franchising?’” 

So together with Thompson, her parents, and her brother Randall, who was eventually appointed as chief operating officer of the company, Butler began franchising the Gigi’s Cupcakes brand in November 2008.

Courtesy of Gigi Butler

Butler and her 3-year-old daughter, Kendel.

“I thought I’d open one shop and make $50,000 a year, and that’s it,” she says. “In fact, I didn’t even stop cleaning until I had 15 franchises.”

Today, 90 of the 92 Gigi’s Cupcakes stores are owned by franchisees.

She believes her brand has had so much success because the products — cupcakes, cookies, muffins, cakes, pies, and other baked goods — are “delicious and unique. Each flavor has a story,” she explains.

The other reason: “I was never afraid to fail, so I gave it my all.”

Butler, a single mom to her 3-year-old daughter, says her biggest challenge has been accepting the fact that she “no longer wears all the hats.”

“At the beginning, I did a little bit of everything. I’d be whipping up a batch of frosting, then have to run to a meeting, and then do paperwork. Now we have a great team to do all of those jobs, and my role is to be the face of the brand. But I still want to be everywhere, all at once, making sure everything is perfect, because this business is my baby — it has my name one it.” 

Butler says she plans to grow the business to 250 stores by 2019.

“But no matter how big we get, I’ll always make time to put on my apron and whip up a batch of frosting, because that’s what I love to do.” 

The post How One Woman Built A Multimillion-Dollar Cupcake Business With Just $33 To Her Name appeared first on Business Insider.

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Here’s How To Land A Meeting With Anyone

University of Exeter/Flickr

Scoring a meeting with an important person is no small feat.

Whether you want to pitch an idea, score a high-profile interview, or pick someone’s brain for advice, meetings with successful, powerful people offer tons of benefits. Unfortunately, though, these people are usually the hardest to get a hold of. 

“Time is the new money — no one can afford to give it away carelessly these days,” writes Dorie Clark, a marketing strategist who teaches at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, in a blog post for the Harvard Business Review. Even asking for a mere 10 minutes needs to be planned and calculated, she says.

In the post, Clark shares her tried-and-true strategies for landing meetings with important people. Here are her top three:

Give them a reason.

Everyone’s insanely busy, especially important, powerful people. While some may wish they could meet with everyone who contacts them, it’s just not possible, so you need to show why you’d be worth their time. “Make clear the value proposition of getting to know you,” Clark says. “Otherwise, it’s far too easy for them to underestimate you and assume you don’t have anything to offer.” 

Whether you can offer “good press” or teach them how to optimize their business, you need to show them exactly why they can’t miss an opportunity to meet with you in your initial contact. 

Start small.

It’s not enough to simply pique someone’s interest — you need to pitch a meeting that’s easy to fit into their schedule. While it might not seem like much to ask for one lunch or an hour out of someone’s day, those seemingly small chunks of time can quickly add up, especially for professionals who receive 20 to 50 similar requests each week, Clark warns.

Instead of lunch, ask to grab coffee. Or, rather than asking to meet up in person, promise to fit everything into a 10-minute phone call. If they like you or your idea, they’ll be more likely to offer more of their time, Clark says. 

Find a connection. 

Once you’ve made contact with an important person, get on their level. “The challenge is to break through and ensure they view you as a colleague — someone ‘like them’ — rather than a stranger impinging on their time,” Clark says. Scour Facebook and LinkedIn for mutual friends and connections, anything to give you a starting point to build your relationship. Powerful people are much more likely to want to meet if they know someone who can vouch for you. 

Click here to read the full HBR post.

Want your business advice featured in Instant MBA? Submit your tips to tipoftheday@businessinsider.com. Be sure to include your name, your job title, and a photo of yourself in your email.

The post Here’s How To Land A Meeting With Anyone appeared first on Business Insider.

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from Business Insider » Careers https://www.businessinsider.sg/heres-how-to-land-a-meeting-with-anyone-2014-10/
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