If you are in the job market, "Honesty is the best policy" holds true as an adage for you to follow. However, it is important to be discerning and thoughtful about what and how much to reveal to a prospective employer.
Here are a few examples of questions that could come up during any job search and real-life responses that might cost you the job of your dreams:
1. Why did you apply for this particular job?
Honest, but not the best reply: I love Maine and have always wanted to get back to sailing.
While this may be true, your personal motivation should not be stated as the first and primary reason for applying. Be prepared for this commonly asked question by indicating a strong match between your skills and experience and the qualifications required.
2. Why did you leave your last job?
Honest, but not the best reply: Well…Let's just say that my boss and I did not get along.
Whenever possible, keep your comments positive, particularly when it comes to past employment experiences. Even if you did not see eye to eye with your supervisor, stating this might cause the interviewer to question your ability to get along with authority figures. Instead, say that it was time to find a job that offered different working relationships where you had more autonomy (or whatever else might be pertinent to you).
3. What are your salary requirements?
Honest, but not the best reply: I'm flexible.
Employers want a ballpark figure of an applicant's compensation expectations. While you may indeed be flexible as to what you might accept, you need to do your homework around compensation. Research what this type of position pays in the marketplace and indicate a salary range that is consistent with your experience and expertise. When it comes time to negotiate a specific salary, consider your knowledge of the specific job and what value you will add.
4. What are your weaknesses?
Honest, but not the best reply: You respond with a list of shortcomings only your mother would know!
A brief answer is key to this question. If you are confident that you have what it takes to do the job, focus on that, rather than any weakness that is not relevant to your getting the job done.
5. What do you want to do? (Asked during an informational interview or by a friend or colleague who wants to help you with your job search.)
Honest, but not the best reply: I really don't know.
When someone offers to help you with your job search, they need to have some clues about your goals. It is not necessary to name a specific job title when asked this question. Instead, be prepared to state a few key skills you want to use along with some thoughts about the type of work environment in which you'd like to work. Let them tell you what comes to mind as possible matches for you.
In order to put your best foot forward during your job search, try to anticipate these types of questions. During conversations or job interviews, breathe, and even pause a few seconds before answering difficult questions. Being reflective might allow you to discern between a naďve and honest response and a frank, but wise one.
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This year's Women's Retreat in Provence is full! Email me if you'd like to be notified about the 2008 trip.
If you could know what would happen if you took a leap of faith, life's choices would seem much easier. But, inconveniently, the outcome of a leap of faith cannot be determined in advance. Whenever you trust, or cast fate to the wind, you do so without any empirical evidence that you will ultimately get what you desire. In so doing, you rely on a power beyond yourself, whether or not you align with any particular religious tradition.
In my career counseling practice, I often hear stories of people who have an idea, a longing, a whisper of a plan about their next career move. When these scenarios require a deep breath of letting go because they have no clear outcome, they cross over into the category of "leaps of faith". At that point, I know that the decision-making process will encompass more than the obvious career or job change they desire. I have identified ten characteristics that seem to indicate when work presents this type of a "spiritual challenge" illustrated by the example below.
By the time Tom was 45, he had built a successful small business—a practical choice he made in his thirties based on opportunities and a need to "make a name for himself" in the marketplace. While these reasons were good enough motivators at the time, they began to lose their significance as Tom approached midlife.
In spite of well-intentioned advice to the contrary from family and friends, Tom knew in his heart of hearts that he should close his business. Not only was it creating physical problems for him, but his work's lack of meaning threatened his emotional health as well. The decision to close his business was hard enough without the added stress of not knowing what else he would do for work.
Nonetheless, Tom courageously made the decision to leave the work that had defined his identity and provided a reasonable income for over a decade. Not knowing what path would replace the one he was giving up, Tom took a leap of faith to explore new possibilities.
As he considered his options from many angles, Tom began to identify what really mattered most to him at this phase of his life. This knowledge, coupled with the skills and talents that he wanted to emphasize, focused him in a new direction that fit his criteria.
While many of his friends remarked that he was brave to give up his business, Tom knew that he was compelled to make a change and that his life depended on it.
Tom's scenario reminds me of The Journey, a poem by Mary Oliver:
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting their bad advice –
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do –
determined to save
the only life you could save.
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This year's Women's Retreat in Provence is full! Email me if you'd like to be notified about the next trip in September 2008.
Have you imagined things you would like to do in your life only to talk yourself out of them because you belive it's too late or you're too old? Then you have company.
It’s common for people to dismiss satisfying ideas and interesting options because of inaccurate assumptions. When my clients express resignation about something they cannot do because of their age, I challenge their thinking by asking: What if your age was not a negative factor? How would you feel about the idea then? Eliminating what appears to be the obvious hurdle can allow someone to zero in on the real issue, which might be fear of failure or fear of the unknown.
Whether you are a 30 year-old contemplating graduate school or a 58 year-old fantasizing a totally new career, it is important to get close enough to the idea to figure out whether or not it reflects what you truly desire. Considering the fact that the oldest person to receive her college degree was 95 and that the second half of life is an increasingly popular life stage in which to change careers, age does not need to be the reason to forego a path toward education or a career change.
Blocks often occur when a person is not clear about what they want and are then distracted by an array of reasons not to change the status quo. One’s age is often a handy excuse not to take the risk. But, the “safe” path can come with a sense of regret.
“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, it’s the life in your years.” - Abraham Lincoln
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This year's Women's Retreat in Provence is full! Email me if you'd like to be notified about the 2008 trip.
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