Improve your life

I pick up self-help and management books all the time. And I've been skimming my way through one - it wasn't very good. I don't want to embarrass the author by naming the book! Because in just over 200 pages, I think I learned approximately, er, nothing.

Except for this one gem:

Once a week, ask for a suggestion from somebody and do what he or she says, even if you find it difficult. See what happens.

I like that. I might try it.

If you try it, let me know how you get on.

Job hunting: Dealing with a prison record

As I just mentioned, I only set up my Squidoo page on job hunting a few days ago, but the emails are already coming in from other members of that website.

An American reader posted an interesting question:

What I would request of you is to prepare a presentation for men and women coming out of prison, given that they have no education nor marketable skills. It's a tough assignment to be sure. But its what 600,000 people a year face when they come out of prison.

Wow, that's a toughie. And I have to admit that I've never coached anyone who has had a prison record.

However, I think that there are some guidelines that someone who has served out their sentence could follow to maximise their chances of finding a job:

1. Realise that it's going to take a while to get the right kind of job. Sometimes you may need to get any job to begin with and work your way back into the system before you can start to pursue the kind of jobs you really want.
2. Communicate your humility and integrity with your body language as well as words. Interviewers may be worried about your honesty and integrity - they're probably going to question your motives. And research shows that only a small proportion of your impact is determined by your words; your tone of voice, body language, and eye contact often are much more influential. So try to communicate your humility not only in what you say but also how you say it. Use very open body language. Keep your hands open and move them only slowly - try to avoid balling them up into fists as this could be read subconsciously as a sign of aggression.
3. Convey your regret for the mistakes you've made. Interviewers are much more likely to consider you if you can convince them that you have reflected upon the reasons and choices you made that led to you ending up in prison.
   
4. Boost your credibility in the eyes of interviewers by getting testimonials written about you. It will likely take a number of months to find a good job. So in those months don't waste your time by sitting by the telephone waiting for it to ring or just watching TV. Offer your services for free to local residents - even if it's just doing some gardening or picking up groceries for an elderly neighbour. Once you have done some good deeds, ask them to write you a testimonial. Even better, ask if you can use their name and telephone number to provide a post-prison character reference for you.

Good luck!

Wow - Squidoo 'lens of the day'

I only set up my Squidoo page on job hunting a few days ago. But I got a half-dozen messages straight away.

Turns out I was nominated for 'lens of the day'!

Seems job hunting is an incredibly popular topic. So I think I'll blog more frequently about job hunting and interviews here too...

Job hunting and Squidoo

There are so many different web opportunities out there!

I discovered a website called Squidoo and thought I'd set up a page there - you can find it at www.squidoo/getyourdreamjob/ and it has a slightly different focus from my blog. This blog covers all manner of work-related topics from setting up your own business to climbing the greasy pole. But on my Squidoo page, I'm going to collect together all in one place stuff mainly about jobs and job hunting. At the moment there's only half a dozen articles on there. But I shall add to it over time to make it an indispensable resource for job hunters of all persuasions.

Watch this space!

Job interviews: 'What do you dislike about your job?'

Thought I'd blog about job interviews today. It's been ages since I've done so, despite the fact my biggest selling book of the moment is on interviews!

Going for a job, an interviewer might well ask you: 'What do you dislike about your current job?'

You might be tempted to say: 'Nothing'. But an interviewer might find it hard to swallow if you claim you enjoy every single aspect of your work. Everyone has minor dislikes or frustrations about their work and, to be a compelling candidate, you need to be ready to talk about some of them.

Your tactic in answering this question might be to talk about factors outside of your control such as inefficient computer systems or company policies that you simply have to put up with.

Or you could try responding by talking about some necessary evil in your work, such as the need to complete lots of paperwork or having to work on your own for long periods of time. Just be certain that paperwork or working on your own (or whatever else you chose to tell the interviewers you dislike) isn't going to be a key part of the job before talking about how much you dislike it!

Is anyone out there? (A rejoinder)

A couple of weeks ago, I asked: Is anyone out there?

Well, the answer seems to be yes. So the winner of the competition is Boso.

Step forward Boso - drop me an email with your name and address (my email's to the bottom right of the blog if you scroll down) and I'll send you a couple of books when I get the chance - probably next week. Although I can't guarantee that it'll be prettily wrapped up with string like the little picture here!