Ask Dana In the interview - How to have the dreaded salary conversation

Ask Dana In the interview - How to have the dreaded salary conversation Job Salary Conversation Question: In an interview, how do I handle questions related to salary? I’m afraid of sharing information that may knock me out of the running. Answer from Dana: There are two types of salary questions the interviewer could ask: What is your current (or most recent) salary? Answer this question honestly â€" the hiring company will be able to validate later. However, make sure to break your prior compensation into base salary and bonus. If they want you, they want to know how they can construct a competitive compensation package. What is your desired salary? Whatever you do, avoid answering with a number. Why? Too low, and they’ll offer you a salary that’s lower than market value. Too high and they’ll think you’re over-qualified or that you won’t be happy in the position after six months. Bottom line, the hiring company will say “we can’t afford him/her.” Here are some answers to always have in your hip pocket for this question: I am confident that will offer a competitive compensation package, so I don’t have one number in mind. I don’t have a specific goal in mind, as I understand compensation packages come in all shapes and sizes. If they push you and say, “we really want a target from you,” I still recommend repeating, “I wish I could give you one, but my goal is a combination of the right company with a market-competitive compensation package, and I’m very excited about his opportunity.” Now, for the salary question you want to ask them: “What is the salary for this position?” DON’T. I Repeat: DON’T DO IT! It doesn’t matter how far along you are in the interview process, who you are interviewing with (including HR), or how badly you think you need to know. Never, ever, ever ask anything related to your finances. This includes: “Is there a stock plan?” “Is there a bonus?” “What is the commission structure (sales)?” “What is the salary range?” Why? Because you will receive their salary proposal when you get job offer â€" and then its time to negotiate. If you do ask, you can appear cocky and presumptuous, and it raises suspicious about your priorities (even though they know money is important to everyone). I look at an interview like real estate: There’s only a fixed amount of property (or time with the interviewer) and you want to maximize that real estate by ensuring every move is helping rather than hurting your chances. So make sure that you ask questions, too. Here are some of my favorite questions to ask in an interview. I’m very self-motivated. How will you measure my success in this position after one full year? It’s very important for me to meet as many team members as possible in the first 30 days. How will you recommend I do that? What are the top three skills or experiences you are looking for that may not be mentioned in the job description? Which characteristics stand out in your top performers? I’m a perfectionist in some areas. What are the aspects of this position that absolutely require precision? What do you find most creative about what you do? (Replace “creative” with another positive skill of the position.) Now, ask yourself: Do you want to “waste” a question on your compensation? Or do you want to ask several of the above questions?

Productive Things to do When Bored at Work

Productive Things to do When Bored at Work Jump To: Organize the Aftermath Prepare for the Next Onslaught Improve Something Spend Time Networking Build Your Company Culture Get to Know Your Boss Expand Your Knowledge Base Start a Work-Book Club Exercise Your Brain by Writing Build Your Brand Be an Understudy Build a How-To Guide for Your Job Teach Volunteer Take a Walk Desk Yoga and Meditation Take Off Not every moment of work is full of productivity. Regardless of the industry, there are always upswings and down-cycles during office time. There’s more to do, however, than scroll through Facebook or Snapchat a friend when looking for things to do when bored at work. When your work is hitting a down-cycle â€" and all your other duties have been done â€" consider these things to do when bored at work to keep you busy. Some of them may even help your career. Stay Sane by Finding Things to Do When Bored at Work The truth is, slow time is great for office morale, especially if you and your team use it wisely. Here are 17 productive things to do when bored at work, which will help you engage with peers and create a better work place. 1. Organize the Aftermath Busy time usually means papers flying everywhere with the whole team trying to keep up with the work in front of them. Keeping things in proper place and order is likely impossible when you’re extremely busy. Slow times, though, are perfect opportunities to reorganize after the rush. Declutter your workspace and organize the files on your desktop â€" both actual and virtual. An uncluttered space means an uncluttered head. 2. Prepare for the Next Onslaught You may be experiencing downtime, but it won’t last. Take the quiet time ahead to prepare for your next peak of activity. Preparations can include making sure the copier is stocked with ink and paper and that your software has been updated across all devices. It can also mean planning for the upcoming days and projects. If there’s something up ahead that you can get started on now, jump right in. 3. Improve Something There’s always a process you wish would be improved. Now’s the time to stop grumbling and do something about it! Sit down and explore the process or procedure and find a few ways to improve upon it. Create a plan and take it to your boss. This not only is something productive to do when bored at work, but maybe you can be the one to put it into action. 4. Spend Time Networking It’s easy to spend time on social media hanging out with your friends. It’s a little more challenging to start making connections outside of your social media sites. Instead of posting another pic on Instagram, treat your Linkedin profile like Twitter and really engage with your connections. Or, try attending a few events or joining local groups. The groups don’t have to be professional in nature for you to benefit. Pursuing hobbies also helps boost your career in many ways, so take up what interests you and develop your skills. It won’t take long before you start making new friends and new connections, which could lead to new opportunities. 5. Build Your Company Culture Looking for something useful to do when bored at work? How about building relationships with coworkers? This is a great way to improve culture and even reduce stress. Take your downtime as an opportunity to get to know your coworkers. Go out to lunch with an officemate and spend some time discussing life outside of work. If you’re heading up a team, take them out to lunch or consider having small conferences to learn new skills over lunch. It will help during periods of collaboration as well. 6. Get to Know Your Boss Don’t stop at your colleagues. Get to know your boss as well. If both you and your higher ups are experiencing a slower-than-usual work period, offer to take your boss out to lunch or just include them in a morning coffee run. You don’t have to be best friends, but building relationships with your superiors helps you see them as people instead of rule-makers. It also helps them see you more clearly and fully and understand what your goals are and how they can help you achieve them. 7. Expand Your Knowledge Base No one is ever finished learning. Look for ways to expand industry knowledge â€" read articles in your field or look for webinars that relate to what’s hot and how it relates to your job. Encourage a colleague to join in and see how you can take your new knowledge and apply it to your job. 8. Start a Work-Book Club Book clubs sound like great ideas, but when it gets down to actually reading and then talking about a book, it’s hard to make time for it. If you start a book club at work that involves books in your field, the dynamics change. It’s no longer leisure time, but time spent with co-workers becoming better in your industry. Stay up-to-date on current industry work and engage with coworkers by taking time to read books together. You will not only learn a lot, but you will also improve your relationships with your coworkers when looking for things to do when bored at work. 9. Exercise Your Brain by Writing You don’t have to be Hemingway to get started, but writing when you have spare time is a great way to accomplish many things. Free-write to clear your mind and start the day with a fresh slate, or start a blog that engages those in your company and your field. Consider writing your company’s social media messages for upcoming days or weeks when you know things will get busier. 10. Build Your Brand Take your down time and put it to good use building your personal brand. Add the course you took to improve industry skills to your resume or update your job titles and dates. Integrate those changes into your LinkedIn resume and update your profile while you’re at it. Give it a total overhaul with a new headshot, updated sections and added links to your work. If you’re still bored after that, consider building a personal website to show off your work and accomplishments. If/when the time comes to find a new job, you’ll be ready. In the meantime, you’ll have a professional brand to help grow your name and network. 11. Be an Understudy It never hurts to know how to do the job of more than one person, and down-time is the perfect time to learn from colleagues. Ask if anyone else is having a lull in their work and wants to do some cross-training or mentoring. You can offer to be their point of contact when they’re away as an added incentive. When you help out when another is sick or overloaded, you help your co-worker and your company, but it also may be a help to you down the road by increasing your skillset in the event of a takeover or layoffs. 12. Build a How-To Guide for Your Job Whether it’s for someone to step in when you move up the ladder or just the basics for how to fill your shoes while you are on vacation or recovering at home on a sick day, a how-to guide is a smart thing to have around. It will mean you won’t get panicked phone calls when you’re trying to finally take a break, and it can make for a smoother transition when you are ready to hand over the reins. 13. Teach One of the best ways to grow your knowledge, and your brand, is to share what you know and develop others. Whether you become a mentor, start a course, workshop or seminar, or just share your tips in an article for your team, teaching is a great use of your down-time. If there are no new team members to take under your wing, consider asking for an intern or new employee. You can train them in your work, freeing up your time to work on bigger and more inspiring projects. 14. Volunteer You may not have much to do, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done. Volunteer to spearhead a new project or to help an overloaded coworker. They’ll appreciate your initiative and you’ll gain some experience in another department. 15. Take a Walk Moving your body is crucial to keeping your mind active. If you know there will be a free few minutes, grab a buddy and walk around the building or around the block. Getting your blood flowing will ensure your mind is prepared when the day does start to pick up. Listening to music during the walk can be a pick-me-up as well. If it’s not nice out, try one of these 10 ways to stay active at work or 25 deskercise ideas to get you moving at your desk. Or, take it down a notch with yoga and meditation. 16. Desk Yoga and Meditation Quieting your mind is good for your soul, as the nearly 10 percent of Americans who practice yoga can attest. If you can incorporate some physicality into your breathing, it may ease physical tensions from sitting at a desk for hours at a time. Learn some desk yoga for your mind, body and to prepare for busier days. 17. Take Off If there’s really nothing for you to do, and you just aren’t feeling it, take a day off. Give yourself the day to relax or get things done at home and come back to work feeling refreshed and ready to take on new challenges. Be on the Boredom Offensive Time â€" whether it’s at home or at your desk at work â€" is a gift. Treat it like the offering it is and use it wisely. You’ll never have that time back, so appreciate it when it’s available. What are your most efficient uses of time when looking for productive things to do when bored at work? Tell us in the comments, and keep up with other ways to stay sane at work by subscribing to the Punched Clocks newsletter. Let’s make workplace boredom fun â€" and, more importantly, useful. #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; width:100%;} /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Join over 625 readers! Get expert career advice sent straight to your inbox!

Motivate Your Friends With Classifieds Tips

Motivate Your Friends With Classifieds TipsIn order to motivate your people in the workplace, you need to write very detailed and specific goal statements. The goals are something that everyone wants, and very few can achieve. If you can figure out a way to get them into their heads by using goal statements that they can understand and follow, you will have a much easier time motivating your people.Using specific goals in your job search can be difficult for some people to do. For example, if you are trying to get your friends to take you on a vacation, how are you going to encourage them to do this? You may say, 'If you get invited to go out with me, please tell all your friends!' There is a way to motivate people using specific goals.With specific goal statements you can make it clear to your people what they are expected to do and what they are not expected to do. You can say something like, 'If you want to get invited to a vacation, you have to write an essay about why you are ex cited about taking the vacation.'This simple goal statement has the effect of asking your friends to produce something that they will be excited about writing for a specific reason. Of course you can also use a different goal statement for each friend so that the expectation level does not get too high or too low.In your resume goal statements you can also make it clear to your people that they should work hard to complete these goals. There are many ways to motivate your people through these goal statements.One way to make sure that they don't shoot themselves in the foot is to actually pay them for writing essays. You can go online and buy a hard copy book that has essays that you can either ask for or you can order from an organization. You can actually get paid to write papers.These are two simple goal statements that you can use to help you motivate your friends and get them moving towards their goal of getting you fired. These simple steps are great ways to motivate and direct your people to meet the expectations you have for them.

How to Be a Star at Work

How to Be a Star at Work The recent passage of Labor Day is a good reminder to think about your career. After a slower summer, it’s back-to-work season. This is also the perfect time to plan out your career activity for the upcoming year. Here is a month-by-month guide that can help make sure you shine at the office, and set you up for future raises, promotions and job changes: September: Coordinate your calendars With school and after-school activities back on, parents again have to worry about double booking. Even if you don’t have kids, the fall season is when many professional associations turn up the programming. Block out professional and personal commitments that you know of now so that you don’t overschedule. October: Plan your end-of-year push It’s the last quarter of the year. Check your year-end goals to see what the priorities are for these last three months. Also, check deadlines for submitting year-end reviews and/ or budget requests for next year. November: Pick your benefits At many companies, November is the month when employees need to elect their health coverage and other benefits options for the year. Don’t assume your current selections will just carry overâ€"with rising costs, your company very likely has changed the choices. Benefits are a career perk, but they are also a career tool: Taking care of yourself means you have more to give on the job. December: Reconnect with your contacts. The holiday season means more professional and social get-togethers. Take advantage of this time to catch up with people you don’t regularly see, in a relaxed and festive environment. Even if you don’t talk about work (and you probably shouldn’t!) you rekindle the connection and open the door to schedule a later meeting where you can put work on the agenda. January: Pick your career resolutions As you select your New Year’s resolutions, think about some related to your career to include. Is this the year you increase your management responsibility? Is this the year you pick up a new skill? Is this the year you change industries? If you’re happily employed, look at your company’s goals for the year and plan out how you are going to orient your work toward these specific goals. February: Take a cue from Valentine’s Day No, I don’t mean start dating someone at work! I simply mean focus on bringing loveâ€"or enjoyment or passionâ€"back into your work. Make a list of your favorite clients, colleagues, projects, and day-to-day responsibilities. How can you plan your day to include more interaction with these people or projects? March: Get your financial house in order Ideally, tax planning is a year-round event. But the typical working professional files only once in April. So start getting your paperwork together in early March and use this as a chance to review the rest of your finances. A solid financial foundation supports your career by giving you confidence (e.g., to ask for more management responsibility), allowing you to make investments in yourself (e.g., to pay for classes to pick up a new skill) and enabling you to take risks (e.g., to allow you a cushion as you change industries). April: Spring clean your workspace Don’t just spring clean your house. Organize your desk and your work files. Finally read (or discard) those company memos and newsletters. Renew or remove subscriptions to trade publications and memberships to trade groups. While you’re combing through key documents, look out for testimonials and other evidence of work results and happy clients and colleagues. May: Catch up on relationships Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are just around the corner. As you tend to your personal relationships, remember to take some time out to nurture your professional ones. Block out time to see professional contactsâ€"friends and mentors, from inside and outside your company and industry. It’s been several months since the holiday networking season, so now is a good time to get in touch. If you don’t proactively schedule catch-up time during the year, you’ll forget. June: Do a mid-year review Even if your company does not have an official review process, give yourself one. Revisit the goals you set in January: Are you on track? Gather evidence of wins you can share with your bossâ€"use the testimonials you found from your April spring cleaning! Make a plan for how you will use the remaining months of the year to build on what’s working and to refine what is not. July: Do a mid-year review, part 2 Now look out longer-termâ€"past this year, past this job. Do you know what’s next for you in two, five, or 10 years? By asking yourself this question at least once a year, you give space for bigger ideas to pop up. At the very least, update your resume and online profile as a way of auditing your career to dateâ€"a good annual habit to get into. August: Take a vacation Americans tend to forego their vacationsâ€"to the detriment of their productivity and work-life balance. If you haven’t already, take a break before the calendar resets again in September. Caroline Ceniza-Levine is co-founder of SixFigureStart ®career coaching. She has worked with professionals from American Express, Condé Nast, Gilt, Goldman Sachs, Google, McKinsey, and other leading firms. She’s also a stand-up comic. This column will appear weekly. Read more from Caroline Ceniza-Levine: 5 Ways You’re Sabotaging Yourself in Job Interviews How to Cold Call Your Way to a New Job Three Easy Résumé Fixes to Help You Make a Career Change Make Sure Your Next Raise is Bigger than 3% How to Network in Just 5 Minutes a Day How Making a Friend in HR Can Help Your Career 10 Easy Ways to Make Yourself More Hireable Your Career is Your Biggest Asset. 5 Ways to Protect It

Three reasons why personal training is the best job for college students

Three reasons why personal training is the best job for college studentsIf youre a college student, youll probably agree when I say that finding a job that lets you balance your schedule around your classes and makes a decent income is really challenging. But what if there was a job that allowed you to work around your own schedule, could bring in upwards of $50 an hour, and could be turned into an actual full-time career? I have good news there is a career just like this a certified personal coach.Here are some of the benefits of becoming a certified personal coach while youre in college. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) 1. Certifications can be earned in a few monthsI know what youre thinking more classes and coursework while Im in college? Ugh. While this is true, think more about the investment you are making in yourself, as well as the flexibility the future will hold, than the prerequisites for getting certified. You also must consi der the potential pay of this part-time gig, but well get more into that below.Getting a nationally accredited personal training certification from a major company like NASM, ACE, or Fitness Mentors can be accomplished in a few short months. You can register for an exam before you go into college (i.e., your summer after high school), while in college, or during summer break and knock out your studies, so they dont overlap with your regular semesters.Certification will allow you to get a variety of different personal training jobs such as within gyms, as a self-employed trainer, or even on your college campus. Even more beneficial, the skills youll learn in exercise science and nutrition will be valuable for your entire life.2. Flexible job marketThere are several places of employment for the certified personal trainer. The fruchtwein popular of these is obvious at the gym.But outside of the gym, there are a lot of different places to get a job as a personal trainer. Your college ca mpus may have athlete training programs that you can apply to, but you can also find jobs at retirement communities, local country clubs, condo associations, major hotels, and resorts, at athletic performance centers (outside the college), via online training, and of course, the entrepreneurial route as a self-employed trainer. The list goes onDepending on your place of employment you may very well be able to train on the days that you have availability. For example, in college, I trained on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as on the weekends and scheduled my classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I also mixed in a job as a personal trainer at a local gym alongside some private personal training clients.While flexibility is one of the best aspects of a personal training job for a college student, the pay is what is really appealing.3. Personal trainers can work less, and make moreWhen you think of typical college jobs working at the local juice bar or coffee shop, youre probably lucky if you make $8 an hour. While this may work for some, whats even more appealing about a job as a personal trainer is that you can make considerably more without having to clock in as many hours.The tradeoff is the initial expenses and investment of time in getting certified, but when you read about the potential income, youll understand. Take a job at Equinox for example. The personal trainer salary for their lowest tier trainers is $26 an hour. Thats more than ersatzdarsteller the hourly rate youd get at a decent entry-level college job and likely to be more than three times what the minimum wage is in your state. At the YMCA, trainers make $15 to $28 per session.It can get even better if you do private personal training. If you run your own personal training business and build your clientele, its not uncommon to charge upwards of $50 an hour as an entry-level trainer and more than $100 an hour for a more experienced trainer.You could theoretically make $200 a week and only work four hours. Compare this to working 20 hours at some part-time job and making the sameWork smarter, not harder in collegeAs your parents have probably told you 100 times, college is supposed to be one of the best times of your life. Nobody ever said, working in college is the best time of your life, so why not consider a college job that allows you to make a decent income but also allows you more time for your social life?Consider a job in personal training and how helping people meet their health and wellness goals can also help you reach your personal goals. Learn more about other part-time jobs or search jobs in your area today.About the AuthorEddie Lester is a personal trainer from Los Angeles and the Founder and CEO of Fitness Mentors. With over 10 years of experience and eight different certifications and specializations, as well as multiple years of teaching training at a vocational college, Lester loves sharing his knowledge of practical training experience as well as h ow to study for PT exams. Lester is the author of Business and Sales The Guide to Success as a Personal Trainer.

How to Ask for Help in a Way That Elevates Your Professional Image, According to Psychologists

How to Ask for Help in a Way That Elevates Your Professional Image, According to Psychologists Asking for help isnt easy. Often, we refuse to do it because we want to prove to ourselves that we can do everything ourselves, because were too ashamed to ask for help or because we dont want to burden others. But asking for help is, of course, sometimes necessary in bestellung to get the job done and avoid burnout.Thats why weve reached out to psychologists about how to overcome our discomfort with asking for help and how to ask in a way that actually boosts your professional image.1. Keep confident.Asking for help is rarely seen as a weakness by other people by asking for help, you are proving your commitment to the task and desire to achieve well, says Sarah Morris, founder and director of Brain Happy. Showing confidence and being organized about approaching a request for help will make you look in-control and professionally competent. Good preparation and careful use of posture and la nguage will enable you to breeze through any difficult conversation.In order to approach a conversation with confidence and control, you have to be sure of the situation and rule out all possible ways to deal with yourself without help first, Morris says. Then its best to plan out the conversation with concrete facts to support your points. When it comes time to finally ask for help, you want to be clear about what you want or need out of the conversation. You also want to keep your posture and your language confident.Keep the atmosphere positivethis means using only positive language, thinking of possible solutions ahead of time and focusing on what you can do, not what you cant, Morris says. Approach your babo at a moment when they are in a good mood. This will be even better if an important project has just been completed, or you have just gone the extra mile and your boss knows it.2. Frame your ask wisely.A woman asking for help can be difficult, especially in the workplace beca use it requires us to be vulnerable, which is often associated as a sign of weakness and women run the risk of being perceived as not capable enough or being unfairly compared to others when it comes to productivity or other tasks, says Dr. Siobhan D. Flowers, a Dallas-based licensed psychotherapist in private practice. However, there is a way you can ask for help from a place of empowerment that can actually enhance your professional image. When you ask for help, you can frame it in a way where you are focused on the quality of the end goal whether that is seeking help for a product or service-related task. Asking for help in a way that is in alignment with the mission, vision or goals for the company keeps the focus off of you as an individual and redirects the attention in a more productive way.This approach will highlight your desire to uphold the professional reputation of the company for which you work, Dr. Flowers says.When you ask for help from the standpoint of maintainin g quality, you are emphasizing that you place a priority on excellence and performing at an above average level and ultimately care about the work that you are doing, she adds. This will most assuredly have you stand out as someone who truly supports reinforcing the core values that drive your workplace.3. Make the helper feel appreciated.Human beings are highly social and collaborative, so most of us like feeling helpful, says Anna Yam, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and founder of --AnnaMarie Houlis is a feminist, a freelance journalist and an adventure aficionado with an affinity for impulsive solo travel. She spends her days writing about womens empowerment from around the world. You can follow her work on her blog, HerReport.org, and follow her journeys on Instagram her_report,Twitterherreport and Facebook.

Key Pieces of Resume Writing Services Alaska

Key Pieces of Resume Writing Services Alaska The Bizarre Secret of Resume Writing Services Alaska If you opt to work with ResumeStrong well go above and beyond to make certain you get an exceptionally well prepared resume and your experience is positive and productive. For over ten years, the procedure to write and produce a resume has been accomplished mora efficiently and affordably because of technology. Our expertise in this respect is unparalleled. Amazing staff writing excellent support. English Literacy could be provided in line with the requirements of the neighborhood community. This is able to help you remember and articulate your abilities and experiences. You must devote plenty of time interacting with students and other adults, therefore it is important that you enjoy such pursuits. There are lots of different communication styles your students will display. A resume is still the very first thing that employers look at when deciding whether to seek the services of a candidate, or so the market for a resume writing service is quite stable. Youre a personal services business. We know precisely what employers are seeking and how to make this document effective. We interact daily with a few of the most famous and respected employers in the market. Here are five promising sectors to look at. Only consist of information on your resume and cover letter that is related to the work description Well understand your work search goals before writing your resume. There are a number of different countries offering great teacher exchange programs that you are able to benefit from. Its consequently important that you maintain a musiknote of the topics that shouldnt be broached. Search results are sorted by means of a mixture of alaska to supply you with a set of options in response to your search criteria.