Displaying All Posts from February, 2011

Get That Job! 5 Great Tips to Ace the Interview

With all of the challenges the current economy is throwing at us, more and more people find themselves looking for new jobs. Many people perform great in the initial screening process only to find themselves being passed over after the in-person interview. Here are five job interview tips that you can use to increase the chances that you’ll ace your next job interview.

1. Be On Time

This seems very simple. However, you would be amazed at how many candidates who look great on paper wind up not getting the job because they were late for the interview. This is a common “kiss of death” among corporate interviewers everywhere. There had better be some serious extenuating circumstances. Otherwise, your interview was probably over before you got there.

In today’s world of cell phones and PDAs, being late without notification is pretty much inexcusable. If anything, you should try to arrive at the interview 10 to 15 minutes early. This will not only ensure that you make it on time (leaving earlier to arrive earlier will help you offset any delays you might encounter on the way), but give you enough time to center yourself. You can go over any questions you may have for the interviewer. This will help you feel ready, confident and not rushed.

2. Dress the Part

As a bank manager, you have to maintain the right “look” for your branch. Many candidates who have great experience and interview are ultimately passed over because they do not look the part. Nose rings and blue hair may be “edgy”, but a bank is not an “edgy” environment. At the same time, showing up for an interview at the local record shop in a three-piece suit may not be right, either. So do your research — get an idea of what the dress standards are for the business with which you are applying. Then dress slightly above them. This will show the employer that you understand their business and that you take it seriously. This does not mean you always have to wear a suit; it means you have to know what is “professional” for the position you are applying for.
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Awesome Links #36: Mac Apps, Fitness, Getting More Freelance Work

How I Train: Fitness for the Everyperson
If you read Zen Habits regularly, you would know that its creator Leo Babauta likes to talk about his fitness and exercise routine. IAnd to think that just 5 years ago he was in terrible shape. In this post, he talks about his past and then about how he made himself fitter and healthier. Inspiring to say the least.

Fifteen Ways to Enjoy Your Work More—Whatever You Do
The FeelGooder blog has a great post which has some useful advice on how to really enjoy the daily grind at office — or wherever you work. Some of the tips are common sense while some — like doing your toughest work first — are something that not everyone knows about (or, more likely, implements).

My Essential Mac Applications
Boing Boing’s Mark Frauenfelder lists his essential Mac apps in this series of posts (Note: The above link lands on part 5 of the series; he links to the previous posts in this article, too). That means there’s a list of 25 useful Mac apps that the author felt he had to install on his new Mac shortly after purchasing it in order to be more productive. If you own a Mac (or are planning to buy one), I suggest you bookmark the post for quick access.
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The Netsetter: Web Pages vs. Web Sites

A couple of weeks ago, I was trying to explain to a friend why links from high PageRank sites is often overrated. When he then insisted that I was contradicting advice I had given him earlier, I was confused for a moment, until he gave me a concrete example.

“Didn’t you say that a link from a high PageRank site like HubPages or Squidoo was better than a link from a low PR site?”

I finally understood his confusion. It wasn’t what I said, but what he heard. Whenever I talk about “web pages”, people hear “web sites” and assume the two are synonymous. You might think that going over this distinction (which I’ve alluded to in earlier posts) is splitting hairs, but it actually does matter for link building and content development.

Pages Matter More Than Sites

Links point to individual web pages, not sites. Google results list individual web pages, not sites. Occasionally, Google will list a site’s home page as a search result, but the result itself is for that page specifically, not a referral to the site as a whole. These facts are pretty obvious when stated plainly, but they’re easy to lose site of when listening to some SEO theorists.
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Why I Love My Dumbphone

When I was recently checking out the top five mobile phones in America (according to the Nielsen Company), all but the Samsung Intensity were smartphones.

  1. Apple iPod 3GS
  2. Samsung Intensity
  3. Motorola Droid
  4. RIM Blackberry 8500 series
  5. Apple iPhone 4

And just to make a case for Apple, the iPhone 3G was 6th on that list. Now it’s possible some of the rankings on this list has changed since then, but the fact remains that smartphones dominate the mobile marketplace.

Why are they so popular? Well, on smartphones you can do things like check your email, update your Facebook and Twitter statuses, get turn-by-turn driving directions, play games, watch videos, read a newspaper and listen to music. All that and you can make a phone call.

When my boyfriend and I snuggle up  under the covers at night, the very last thing he does is check the news headlines on his iPhone. This is not romantic. Besides doing that, his new obsession is Words With Friends; he plays it constantly. If he can’t sleep, he’ll play Ragdoll Blaster while holding his iPhone so close to his eyes that it’s practically resting on his nose. He loves his iPhone with a passion that I can’t quite understand.

As for me, I do not own a smartphone…and I don’t even want one.
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Goal Setting: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

This year is still relatively “new”, so you’ll find that people have not yet stopped talking about goals and resolutions. However, we’re also at the time of year when the enthusiasm about all that stuff starts to wane.

So, to get you back into the goal setting (and executing) mode, I thought I’d point your attention towards an interesting article by Web Worker Daily that discusses 3 goal setting tips that don’t work — and then offers 3 that do.

It’s an interesting post because it dares to contradict some very common goal setting tips, while  presenting a counter-argument as to why each of the common tips aren’t really all that useful. Furthermore, it tells you what you should do instead.
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WorkAwesome Podcast: Episode 12 – Patrick Rhone

This week’s episode of the WorkAwesome podcast features a “less than minimal” interview with renowned minimalist and talented writer Patrick Rhone. Patrick’s writing covers the landscape of productivity, technology analysis and practical tips, all with a tremendous amount of articulation, thoughtfulness and flair.

Patrick is the writer and curator at Minimal Mac, a website that promotes subjective simplicity to Mac users everywhere. However, Patrick’s philosophy goes beyond the Mac platform alone (although admittedly, it is his platform of choice) and he has taken it to the next level with his new podcast, entitled Enough – The Minimal Mac Podcast.

Patrick and WorkAwesome editor Mike Vardy discuss the nature of minimalism (what it is and, more importantly, what it really is), workflow and the crux of the term “enough” as he sees it. Since Patrick is a busy guy, we delve into how he achieves balance in all that he does — both in work and life — and the shift that has been happening for him with the rising success of his writing career. He also mentions some of those that he thinks are doing awesome work with their writing these days. We even talk about email strategies.
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Beating Up Workplace Bullying: A Pacifist’s Guide

Did you have a bully in your school? Every school has at least one. Maybe you were the kid that wore a “Kick Me” sign on your back and wondered why other kids seemed to always gang up on you. I was that kid (the “Kick Me” sign kid, not the bully). I didn’t wear pocket protectors or tape on my glasses. But I was desperate to be liked, and I often felt like I failed. I had a hard time standing up for myself and I was targeted by bullies a lot as a result.

In my last post, How to Support Coworkers When Tragedy Strikes, I saw an unexpected but somewhat common thread in readers’ comments. People had experienced tragedies and returned to work environments that were –- for lack of a better word –- hostile.

Workplace bullies aren’t typically the focus of this blog, but they are a common issue that thousands of workers across this world deal with.

A workplace bully is someone who mistreats another employee or a group of employees for the sake of appearing superior or for a higher salary. According to studies like this one, there is an 80% likelihood that this bully is a manager or supervisor.
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Teamly: A Project Management App that Focuses on Priorities

If you’re anything like me, a good chunk of your day is spent staring at your to-do list, trying to figure out what is of highest priority and what to do next. After 20 minutes, you then end up just picking something random and hoping for the best.

Enter Teamly– a project management tool based on priorities. Teamly allows you to set 5 priorities on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.

Priorities

Teamly takes priorities VERY seriously. In fact, the entire Dashboard revolves around them. When you log-in, you’re priorities are broken down by day, week, and month — and everything is color-coded. Red is new tasks, Yellow is started, and Green is completed. This allows you to easily know what the status of each priority is at a glance.

You can easily go forward or back in time to see what you’ve accomplished and what’s coming up. You can also easily re-order your priorities and attach priorities to a specific date.
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