Career Talk: Learn - Grow - Thrive

Today we are talking about 3 days to get a raise.  This is really important because I talk to a lot people that need to make more money, they need to better support their families or career growth from a compensation perspective.  Before I get into the 3 ways to get a raise, I want to de-myth, if that’s the right phrase, the idea that needing or wanting more money is a bad thing.  Because here’s the deal, when we can make a better income we can better support our families, we have more opportunity to serve people in other ways, maybe we can make donations, maybe we can create a better life for the people we care about whether that is a spouse, your parents or kids.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting to better your financial situation. However, I would be very cautious that doesn’t become consuming for you but out of the gate, I just want to have that conversation. A lot of people seem to think if someone wants to make more money they are just selfish and money hungry crazy people and that’s just not true. I mean for some people, sure it’s true. But of the majority of us we want a bigger income for something more, maybe we need to save or some of the things we talked about earlier.  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Have you ever been curious if there are different rules or different tips we should be considering when we have a phone interview?  Yes!  It’s important to dig in deeper to specifically phone interview tips.  As a recruiter I am doing a phone interview before I send candidates to hiring managers and I want to help people get better at winning their phone interview.  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Do you have a mentor? Do you want a mentor? Maybe you want another mentor?  If you are able to find a really solid, amazing mentor, it can literally change your life.    --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Have you ever wondered how to write a resume?  Today we are going to be talking about how to write a resume in 6 easy steps.  This episode is making the assumption you are starting from scratch so if you already have a resume written, use this as a guide to ensure you have everything you need.   --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Episode Summary:  Have you ever wanted or needed to make a career change but you didn’t want to have to start all over?  This can be tricky out of the gate. What do I mean by start over?  Does this mean not having to go back to school and get another degree? Does this mean not having to lose my seniority? Does it mean not having to take an entry level salary if I have a tenure salary right now? There are a lot of different things this could mean. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Episode Summary:   Has anyone else ever noticed how interviewing is kind of like dating?  When we really think about it, interviewing is very similar to dating.  Pre Meeting Communication  Maybe someone has reached out to set up an interview.  Could be phone call, email, text, etc. but the interview 'starts' with that communication.  Just because the interview hasn’t officially started yet, doesn’t mean as a recruiter, I’m not already evaluating you as a candidate.  How you communicate before you meet can help or hurt you.  First Meeting Show up prepared and on time. You also need to be dressed well.  Unless noted otherwise, business professional.  First Impressions  Eye contact, smile, firm handshake - regardless of if you are a man or woman!  Conversations  During your interview, make sure you are listening to what the person is saying during your interview.  Don’t be asking questions about what the person has already shared with you!  Ask questions and truly have a conversation during your interview, this shows interest.  Make sure it’s a two way conversation.  Next Steps  Ask about the next steps to show interest  Follow Up Have appropriate level of follow up!  Now don’t be a psycho stalker, no need to end this relationship with a restraining order y’all!  Thank you so much for listening. I would love to connect and learn how I can help you! Connect with me below!!! To connect -  Facebook:  www.Facebook.com/StephDennis13 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Episode Summary:   Ever been curious just how many types of resumes there are out there? And which one should you use? What is best to highlight your experience?    One of the questions you want to ask yourself when you are trying to figure out which type of resume you want to use, is what do I want to highlight and what do I want to stand out the most? What I mean by that is when someone takes that first glance at your resume, they look at it, what do you want their eyes to go to? Do you want your skills to be displayed first? Do you want your experience to pop out? This isn’t necessarily what’s the first line at the tope of the page.    There are 4 main types of resumes out there. 1) The chronological resume 2) The functional resume  3) The combination resume  4) Job specific of targeted resume  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Episode Summary:  Have you ever wondered when it’s too soon to leave your job? Or what is really considered job hopping?  Is this really job hopping? The answer is complicated. And here’s why. It depends. It depends on what your goals are, what your dreams are, what career you’re in, what’s your happiness level, what’s your current job history look like now. This can be tricky. There are two big sides to this. The first side being your happiness.  The second side to this is your job history. If your last 2 positions you have had, if you were in your job for a year or less, I would try a few other options before you quit.  1) See if you can move internal 2) You can explore contracting  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Episode Summary:  Are you feeling unhappy in your job or career and not sure what to do about it?  Today we are talking about 3 things you can do if you are not happy with your job or your career.  I’m sure we’ve all had that job or career that we are just not happy with.  Maybe you’re in that job or on that career path right now. I can tell you from my background, it can be super discouraging.  Our jobs and our careers can make such a positive impact on our lives, so this is really important.  If you’re in that same place and you’re not happy in your current job or on your current career path, there are 3 things you can do.   1) Get a new job  2) Have a conversation or talk it out  3) Look within the company for other jobs  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Have you ever been confused about what behavioral based interview questions are?  Stay tuned!    Today we are talking about prepping for an interview and specifically behavioral based interview questions.  When we are looking at preparing for an interview there is really no way to know the exact questions we are going to be asked. But we can make sure we understand what a lot of the common behavioral based interview questions are so we can prepare.    Most of these types of questions start off the same for example, ‘talk to me about a time when...’.    When you answer these kinds of questions use the STAR method.  S - Situation  T - Task A - Action  R - Result    Common behavioral based interview questions:    Teamwork Talk to me about a time when you had to complete a team project  Tell me about a failed team project and why it failed  Tell me about a time you disagreed with a colleague and how you handled it    Communication  Talk to me about a time you had to communicate a new project, process or initiative  Talk to me about a time you had to gain buy in on a new idea, innovation, concept or something that wasn’t popular Tell me about a communication break down and how you overcame that    Organization / Time Management  Talk to me about how you structure your day and your week Tell me about a time where you missed a deadline  Tell me about how you go about prioritizing your tasks    Failures  Tell me about a time you failed to complete a task or project  Tell me about a time you worked on something and you realized you would not be able to complete it  Tell me about a time when you made a mistake and what happened    Goals  Tell me about a goal you achieved and how you accomplished it  Talk to me about how you set goals and how you plan to achieve them  Talk to me about how you attach deadlines or timelines to you goals    I hope that gives you an idea as to what behavioral based interview questions look like. If you need more practice use these questions as a template to create your own questions based on the information you have on your resume.  Thank you so much for listening. I would love to connect and learn how I can help you! Connect with me below!!! To connect -  Facebook:  www.Facebook.com/StephDennis13 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Today we are going over the 12 common mistakes recruiters make!  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Have you ever wondered how your self awareness impacts your work?  Or how personal development impacts your work? Today we are talking about self awareness, this is really important both at work and at home.   Today we are talking about 7 things you need to be self aware of:  1) Strengths  What do you do well? What are the things you totally awesome at  2) Weaknesses  Where are your areas of opportunity? What are the things you can still grow in? What do you need improvement on? A couple tools you can use to help better understand yourself are:  1) Myers Briggs personality test  Check out:  16personalities.com 2) Strengths Finder (book) Here is a link to the book on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/StrengthsFinder-2-0-Tom-Rath/dp/159562015X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484006734&sr=8-1&keywords=strengths+finder  When I first got into personal development and looked at these two tools, I was literally blown away by all the information I learned. It’s not that we don’t know ourselves, its really putting that information into words and turning that into actionable items.  3) Triggers  When you are stressed what triggers you to get upset, frustrated, disengaged, distracted, etc?  Once you understand your triggers, you need to put systems in place to help avoid or overcome those triggers.  4) Asking yourself why you feel a certain way about certain situations  When you think about how you feel, think about why you are feeling that way   5) Asking yourself if you ever get irrationally angry at work  We all get upset, frustrated, angry, etc at work. But ask yourself if you get irrationally angry, then ask yourself why. Then take that answer and ask yourself why, and repeat this process a couple more times. This will help you understand the entire situation  6) Ask yourself if any of your ‘weaknesses’ can be considered strengths?  7) Ask yourself if you plan to work on your strengths? Or work on your weaknesses?  Do you want to make a few weaknesses a little bit better or do you want to take your strengths and make them excellent?  Know yourself and understand yourself so we can do better!    If you are looking for a similar episode check out:  #21: Feedback   Next week:  #26: 12 Common Mistakes Recruiters Make    Thank you so much for listening. I would love to connect and learn how I can help you! Connect with me below!!! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Today we are talking about dealing with disrespect at work, this can be a really challenging thing to deal with.  As humans we tend to react to disrespect faster than our brains can catch up if that makes sense.  If someone is being mean and disrespectful to me,  typically I react with emotion, which there is nothing wrong with emotion, don’t get me wrong.  But, I don’t always slow down and think about what the situation is and what’s happening.    This is really, really important at work.  Most of us see our colleagues on a daily basis and we really want to make sure we are building and maintaining those relationships.    Two things to keep in mind:   1) Be very approachable and consciously be thinking about this. 2) Be available so you can have the conversation and move on.   During the conversation do these 7 things:  1) Assume there was positive intent behind whatever happened, assume they are coming from a good place until you know otherwise. 2) Ask questions to understand the situation.  3) Truly assess the situation, put yourself in the other persons shoes. 4) Listen to understand, do not listen just to simply reply. 5) Focus on the facts, this is really important, especially at work. We all know the game of telephone!   6) Talk it out. I have never seen conflicts that have been truly resolved without a conversation.  7) Use ‘me' and ‘I' statements, avoid ‘you' statements.   During the conversation think about these 4 things:  1) Are you being disrespected or are you having a disagreement?  2) How is your day going?  3) Boundaries - what boundaries are going to be setting moving forward?  4) How well you know the person you are in conflict with?   When it comes to being disrespected at work, it is not okay and it is not acceptable.  Try to talk it out first and if it continues to happen you need to get someone else involved.    Come back next week when we are going to be talking about self awareness in episode #25!  Thank you so much for listening. I would love to connect and learn how I can help you! Connect with me below!!!   To connect -  Facebook:  www.Facebook.com/StephDennis13 Have an amazing, awesome, rockin day!!!  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Is your career part of your 2017 goals? It definitely should be! We are going to walk through a series of questions to help you figure out your career goals for 2017.  Our goal here is to learn, grow and thrive in our careers.  Happy New Year!!!! It is the time of the year where everyone starts to look at how last year went and what we want to accomplish next year.  I am a MAJOR nerd, I love setting goals, I love making lists, accomplishing my goals and checking things off my list. One person I look to for goal setting advice is Chalene Johnson, check her out on social!  When we look at our 2017 goals we need to make sure our careers and jobs are part of those goals. Our career is something we want to make sure we are evaluating each year, I would even encourage you to do this monthly or at a minimum quarterly.  Get out a piece of paper and pen because I want you to make sure your goals are written down on paper. They need to be specific. A lot of people follow the SMART goals process:  S - Specific M - Measurable  A - Attainable  R - Realistic  T - Timeline   We are going to cover 3 sets of questions, how to evaluate your career, evaluating your current job and questions that will help you set your 2017 career goals.  Evaluating your current career:  1) Think about how your career went in 2017, write down some thoughts  Think about what went well  Think about what did not go well Think about some of your biggest accomplishments Think about some of your biggest areas of opportunity  Journal that out for a few minutes   2) Are you where you want to be in your career?  When you look at your ultimate goal, where you are looking to be in your career, are you where you want to be?  If the answer is no, what are you going to do to change that?  If the answer is yes, how are you going to grow?  Evaluating your current job: 1) Do you enjoy what you do on a day to day basis? When you list out your typical day, week or month, do you enjoy those tasks?  Why or why?  This is everything, this will help you determine if you need to make a change and if so, what change you need to make 2) Do you enjoy the type of work you do or the type of projects you work on?  Why or why not? 3) How do you feel on Monday mornings or Sunday nights?  Ask yourself why you are feeling this way?   Questions that will help you set your 2017 career goals: 1) What is your specific career goal you are going to accomplish in 2017? Be specific Specific enough if I asked you how you would know if you accomplished your goals, you would know the answer.  What projects do you want to be involved in? What momentum do you want to get? What skills do you want to learn in 2017?  I hope you take the time to write out the information we covered today!  If you want to dig in deeper, check out these episodes:  #3 - How Do You Feel On Sunday Nights? #5 - Dating Story Turned Career Coaching #20 - Evaluating Your Career   --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message

Have you ever wondered what questions are going to be asked in your interview? Keep listening!  Popular Interview Questions  If you’re heading into an interview for your dream job you want to make sure you are prepared as much as possible so you are confident going into your interview. I would recommend practicing some of these popular interview questions.  1 - Tell me what had originally caught your attention about ABC Inc and why you’re interested in 123 position. Recruiters and hiring managers really want to know why you want to work for the company and why you want this particular role. 2 - Talk to me about a typical day or typical week and your responsibilities. We are looking to understand how you spend your time and what you are responsible for. 3 - Talk to me about your goals and how you performed to that goal. Recruiters / hiring managers are looking to see if you are hitting your goals. 4 - Why are you looking at news job / What is currently motivating you to want to explore new opportunities? We want to know why are you looking for a new job but be careful, don’t be negative here. 5 - Where are looking to take your career / what are your career goals / Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years? Just be honest  6 - Money. You need to be prepared to talk about compensation Be confident and be prepared for this question 7 - What questions do you have for me? Be sure your questions haven’t already been answered  If you feel you need more preparation, google interview questions, there are hundreds out there!  Check out episode #12 for additional interview tips!  Thank you so much for listening. I would love to connect and learn how I can help you! Connect with me below!!! To connect -  Facebook:  www.Facebook.com/StephDennis13  Have an amazing, awesome, rockin day!!!  --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/careertalk/message