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Starting Your New Job – The First Week

You have applied for work, passed the interview and gained an offer of employment – congratulations! So, the first week of your new job is approaching, many start to get a mixture of feelings; nervousness and excitement.

Starting a new role is never easy even for a professional “career job hopper”, as we don’t know our team members and their personalities; you have probably already questioned yourself “will I fit in?”

How do you work best? Do you prefer a manger who lets you get on with it your way or do you need constant direction?  Whatever fears or worries we have about our new job role, we will never truly know what to expect until we actually start. Remember life is full of opportunities and experiences, if your new position is not for you, look for something else – what do you have to lose?

There is so much to take in when starting a new career, where do you start? With your job interview you prepared and practiced, you can now prepare for the start of your new career with a free guide to your first week and beyond a new career.

DOWN LOAD TODAY – The First Week and beyond – a New Career

To help you in the first week of your new job and beyond, Employment King is offering a FREE E-Book to all our blog followers only, if you feel You Want this e-book, designed to help you plan for your first week in your new career, to understand how your new manager manages staff and to prepare you for the next step up the career ladder – your next promotion.

The First Week and Beyond – A New Career; Free E-Book, (limited offer)

As you are sat down, reading this article getting excited about downloading your free e-book, you first need know what to expect, so here’s a quick list of everything you get in the e-book…for FREE.

  • How to become an Industry Expert
  • How to Plan for your First Day at Work 10 Quick Tip’s
  • Why You Need a Positive Job Identity?
  • Management Styles
  • How to Enjoy Your Job
  • How to Gain a Job Promotion
  • Extract from “The Secrets of Employment” e-book

Finally, employment king would like to wish you all the best with your new job role and future career, we hope this free e-book that you will download today will help prepare you for your first week (and beyond) in a new job, starting by giving a first good impression, knowing how to answer the ‘new person’ questions and by being an industry expert you will quickly gain to respect of your new colleagues.

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How to Write a Powerful CV – Don’t Tell Anyone Else!

Google “how to write a CV” or “what is a targeted CV” and you will find thousands of links, information and advice to help you write your own CV.  It’s not about how many articles you can find, but which articles offer you the best information; today you will learn how to write a powerful CV, how to word your CV to emotionally excite the employer and how certain CV words make a big difference.

The Internet is a great tool for finding advice on CV writing and CV writing services which means all your job hunting competitors have access to the same resources, it doesn’t matter what resources people find but what you do with this information, what action will you take today to improve your CV?

Why does your CV not gain you interviews? It’s too standard; we have already read articles on targeting a CV now you will learn how to “word” your CV and words make a big difference.  First start by using some excellent CV Templates, your CV has to sound positive and needs to be good visually.

Positive Word’s                                                                 

Let’s look at these examples, which examples impresses you the most?

“I am a good team player” or “I am an excellent team Player”

You can see how a little word makes you feel different; these two statements say the same thing, but one sound’s much better then the other.

“I try my best” or “I put a 100% into everything I do”

“I can meet targets” or “Increasedcompany profits” Now these two sentences sound completely different, but mean the same thing (achieving targets increases profits) all you have to do is re-frame the first line into a new frame, making your CV even more powerful

“I can come up with good ideas” or “highly creative and innovative”

After reading these few examples above you will notice how to quickly improve your CV, in a minute a will share an even bigger secret that will double your chances of gaining an interview offer from your CV application.

First, we have a little exercise for you, in the table below you will see a list of common CV words, all you need to do is re-write the word in a more positive way.

Common Word or Phrase

Positive Replacement

  • I work well with others
  
  • I am reliable
  
  • Enthusiastic
  
  • I have experience of
  
  • Knowledgeable with IT
  

As you are sat down, reading this article on improving your CV you can start to think about all the ways this article can help you improve your CV. For some you will feel so excited about writing your CV you will want to start right away, before you start to write your improved CV, I will share one last secret:

Increase your Interview Offers

Everyone knows that a CV is designed to gain you job interviews, as the employer reads your CV they will create an image of you in their mind if they like this image you will receive an offer for an interview. In a forth coming article I will explain in more detail how this happens, for now just think about when you read about a new character in a book, after a brief description you have a visual image of the person in your mind –it happens the same way when an employer reads your CV, they make an image of you in their mind.

To double your chances of gaining a job interview use examples instead of words; an example or real life experience will evidence that you have the skills and qualities needed for the job role.

Let’s get you started with an example “I am an excellent communicator” A well used statement in a CV; you can easily add a little meat to the bone and increase your positive image in the employers mind:

“As a mentor in a local high school, I am able to change my language when working with teachers or pupils to gain instant rapport, I build on this rapport my listening and showing empathy while at the same time giving my professional opinion, leading to positive outcomes” 

This small statement highlights your communication skills and much more without mentioning the word “communication” by reading this statement the employers is given a fuller picture of your experience, skills and qualities creating a fuller positive picture in their mind.

General CV’s have already stopped people getting interview offers, you now need to target your CV and add detailed information about your skills and qualities – you need to keep the employer interested! “Leading to positive outcomes” the employer will ask themselves “how many outcomes, what type of outcomes, outcomes with the pupil or teachers?” to find out they need to invite you for an interview.

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Embedded Commands – Influencing your Colleagues and Managers

Imagine that you can master the art of using embedded commands to persuade others to follow your lead? Persuasion techniques are highly powerful, the issue isn’t how powerful these techniques are but how you can use them to improve your career prospects, if you could persuade others, how would this benefit your career?

As you are sat down at your laptop/computer reading this article, you are already becoming more aware of when you can use embedded commands in your every day life. Others who have successfully used embedded commands, after reading this article, now know how plant an idea into a colleagues head during a staff meeting, you can already imagine the power of influencing a whole team meeting?

You can already see the power of embedded commands, visualise yourself at a promotional interview, as you see yourself answering the interviewers questions, imagine slipping in an embedded command without the interviewers knowledge, how would it feel to know how embedded commands can influence your job interviews?

I agree, you want to learn this pattern now and I would add, once you notice the many ways you can use embedded commands in your work and personal life you will start to feel excited about learning this new technique, imagine that little buzz in your stomach as you become more and more excited, like a tight excited bomb bouncing around, until the excited bomb explodes, sending excited feeling around your whole body! Feel that excited feeling now, as you get ready to learn these highly powerful techniques.

It’s not about how powerful embedded commands are, it’s about how naturally you can use embedded commands to influence others, how many days are you willing to practice this technique to become an expert?

OK, on with the technique. You have read this far, you are interested in learning about embedded commands and you already know the importance of practicing these techniques so you can use it to naturally persuade others.

  • First you need to set up the embedded command; the set up is sometimes referred to as weasel phrases: Example:

“When you..”

“You can…”

“The more you…”

“You want to..”

“If you were to…”

There are hundreds to choose from, when you can come up with other ideas, write them down.

  • Second, you need to add the “Command.” Example:

“Feel….”

“Think about…”

“Imagine…”

“Notice…”

“Remember..”

Remember you can think of many more command words, as the command word pop’s into your head, write it down and try it out.

  • To finish of the embedded command, you need to end the sentence with a State, Process or Experience (SPE’s): Example:

“A change of mind”

“Excitement”

“That I am right”

“You agree”

“Joy”

As you are already aware there are many SPE’s you can use, imagine you can come up with 3 new SPE’s, what would they be?

I agree, as you read the breakdown of the technique not all of it will make sense, but it’s not about if the breakdown makes sense yet, it’s about how you can learn to put it all together. As you read these next examples you will start to understand embedded commands better then before.

“When you feel excited” –  Feel excited is the command

“How does it feel to know that I am the right person for the job?”  – I am the right person for the job is the embedded command

“The more you think about how you can offer me the job the more you will notice what added value I can offer” – Offer me the job and notice what added value I can offer are both embedded commands.

For embedded commands to be effective you first need to gain excellent rapport and the embedded command has to go unnoticed by others, for maximum effectiveness change your tone of voice when giving the command and leave a small gap before and after the command. For embedded commands to work talk slow, a good embedded command will by pass the conscious mind and head straight for the unconscious mind.

  • When using embedded commands during job interviews, the interviewer, once you have used embedded commands will feel it was there idea to offer you the position.

Finally re-read this article and see how many embedded commands you can find? the person who e-mails in with the highest number of embedded commands will win a free copy of the secrets of employment e-book.

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Interview Questions and Answers

Interview Questions and Answers

Imagine being at an interview and as you sit there, listening to the interview questions, you realise you know all the answers!

How does that make you feel?

When this happened to me, I felt excited knowing I was going to enjoy this interview and you can feel this excitement to, starting with the excited feeling in your stomach, like a hot buzz and it quickly rushing through your whole body, as you know you will pass this interview with the interview answers you are going to learn.

Job hunters who fail interviews are nervous.

If you don’t prepare, you prepare to fail, if you’re not serious about passing your next interview don’t read any further. You will want to learn how to predict interview questions and how to word your reply in such away the interviewer is blown away by your answer – these powerful answers can soon be yours.

Below you find an extract from Employment King’s New Interview Question’s E-book; Tricky Questions, Killer Answers. With over 60 interview questions and answers, and techniques to help you predict and understand your industries interview questions, the issue isn’t about having all the answers to your interview questions, but how natural you will be when giving these killer answers to the interviewer, how much time are you willing to spend preparing for the interview?

The e-book is so much more then just a list of interview questions and answers, of course knowing the tricky questions and how to answer them is important and I would add knowing how to predict the question and answer it using examples from your own experiences is just as important. Today we will share with you 5 interview questions and answers, once you realise how useful these are, you will then feel compelled to click the buy now button below to download the full e-book.

Tell me about yourself

 

One of the most common asked questions at interviews, normally asked at the beginning of an interview, this question gives you the opportunity to deliver a short statement about your experiences and skills relevant to the job position you are applying for.

  • Start with a “selling” line that will highlight your main strength and/or achievement
  • Keep each point brief as you can explain each point again in more detail throughout the interview
  • You want to interest the interviewer and get them to want to know more about you
  • End this answer with a reason why you’re looking for a new job

“I’ve been working in Sales for 8 years; I have a great understanding of selling insurance to the public and businesses. My innovative sale techniques have increased profits by 25% year on year for the past 3 years. I am now ready for a new challenge and with your company having a great reputation, I believe this is the opportunity I have been waiting to apply for”

Why did you leave your last job?

 

Be positive with this answer and smile – employers like to hear that you left for a good opportunity or reason, a chance to do something special or for a good career move.

  • Start the answer with a look back
  • Explain what you enjoyed about your previous role
  • Give a Positive reason for leaving

“I enjoyed working at Company Name and really enjoyed the interaction of working with a wide range of individuals-I feel I have gained a lot of transferable skills from this experience, which I can use in this role. It was a hard choice to leave but I felt that this great opportunity is the next obvious step for me”

What have you done to improve yourself over the last 12 months?

 

The world is now moving at a fast pace and employers and business keep up by evolving just as quick. Employers are looking for people who like to self improve. Discuss courses you have been on, new systems you have learnt, skills you have picked up and end with how you enjoy learning and easily pick up new things quickly.

“As the industry and technology we use is changing at a rapid pace, I constantly keep myself updated. Since graduating at university I have undertaken several short courses on new ICT systems to help improve my knowledge”

Have you ever had a problem with a supervisor?

 

This could be a trap-they want to see if you will speak ill of a pass employer.  Start by explaining that “you have always worked well with your supervisors”, if they push this question, continue by giving an answer along the lines of this:

“The only thing I can think of is when I was asked by a supervisor to complete a task, and I already had a task that needed completing by a certain deadline. My supervisor was a little stressed but we prioritised the work and got both jobs done on time”

Can you tell me about your Gap Year, recorded on your CV?

 

Many of us take a gap year after university, when asked this question the employer is looking if you “bummed” around or did something “interesting” explain how your gap year gave you new skills you can use in your job.

“After completing my accountancy degree I took a gap year and I travelled and worked in Asia, it was a  great personal experience and I gain a lot of “life lessons” from the experience.  It was also beneficial in my last role, as we had several clients in Asia, I was able to use my experience to build up company relationships”

I know you found this extract useful, and the techniques in the e-book will help with your next interview and future job and promotional interviews. You can buy this e-book today andand have access to over 60 Tricky Interview Questions and Killer Answers, plus much, much more.

Massive Discount When You Buy Today

 

  • Was £9.99 Now Only £2.99 For a Limited Time Only
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If you dont like the product, let us know within 60 days and we’ll refund your money in full – no questions asked

 

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How to Use Body Langugae to Pass Interviews

Recently a lot of you e-mailed us, about our recent “handshake at interview article”, enquiring more about body language and interviews. We have responded to this and will, over the next coming months write more about body language and using body language to persuade others including interviewers, managers and colleagues.

Today’s article is about helping you gain rapport with the interviewer, once you know how to gain instant rapport through body language, you will notice a change in how your interviews end. How would you like to know how to gain instant rapport with the interviewer? Would gaining instant rapport with the interview increase your confidence? You already know these techniques are powerful, but the issue isn’t how powerful body language techniques can be but how much time you will put into practicing these techniques?

Once you learn how to find instant rapport with an interviewer you will start to notice that they will respond to your interview answers in a more positive way. There are several ways to help improve your rapport with interviewers, with the first being show the interviewer your confidence and the second smiling (not a fake smile but a real smile, you need to show you are happy to be at the interview) many other rapport building techniques can be found in the secrets of employment e-book, today we will learn:

How to use body language to gain rapport with the interviewer.                                                

Entering the Interview Room.

After a 5 minute wait, the receptionist will ask you to enter the interview room; pick up your documents and take a deep breath (remember the confidence techniques from the secrets of employment) as you enter the interview room, walk straight in, the interviewer is expecting you (if the door is closed, knock first and then enter) don’t just stand in the doorway. As you walk in, continue walking at the same speed towards the interviewer, an interviewee who is nervous will change their walking speed or will try to hind behind the door.

Meeting the Interviewer.

As you walk up to the interviewer, keep your eyes in the interviewer’s direction, don’t stare and as you near the interviewer’s desk, hold out your hand for the all important handshake. The interviewer, like most people will start to make an immediate impression about you, for this to be positive, smile as you shake hands (everyone likes a happy person and smiling has been proven to increase rapport) and introduce yourself. In most cases the interviewer will ask for you to be seated, if they don’t, sit down, a confident person will be use to taking control.

The Chair.

When seated, if you feel relaxed and calm, sit however you feel comfortable if you feel comfortable you will come across well and you won’t need to read this article. Generally, sit forward a little and as the interviewer is talking nod your head, this shows agreement and builds rapport.

In most cases you will be sat opposite the interviewer, to show confidence turn your body 45degrees so you are on an angle.

Feeling Nervous?

When you’re nervous, your hands will tend to find a mind of their own and start pulling invisible loose cotton and/or start fidgeting. To stop this, link your fingers together as it will take a conscious effort to pull them apart and fidget. If you’re nervous at all your interviews, you already know the secrets of employment e-book is full of confidence building techniques.  

Eye Contact.

You don’t have to stare at the interviewer throughout the interview, actually don’t stare at the interviewer throughout the interview-it would really put them off. As we think and remember past events the interviewer is questioning you on your eyes will flicker all over the place, generally when giving your answer look at the interviewer, like you would when talking to a friend or family member. When in a panel interviewer, look from one interviewer to another when giving your answer.  

To look confident, raise your chin (practice this at home – it needs to look natural) people feeling nervous will keep their head down (“feeling down”)

Preparing to Leave.

Be clam when preparing to leave, if you’re brought any documents, take your time retrieving them making small talk with the employer. Thank the interviewer for their time and shake the interviewer’s hand. Like your entrance, walk out in calm and confident manner; keep your head up and don’t put your hands in your pocket.

 

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I Can’t Pass Interviews

This article is all about “limiting beliefs” and how you can quickly change them. A limiting belief is a belief you have that is holding you back or “limiting” you. If you truly believe you can’t pass interviews (maybe this belief is due to you not succeeding in your last two interviews), you never will. But the issue is not about your limiting belief it’s about how you can change this belief, would you be more likely to pass job interviews if you believed in yourself?

Once you believe you can’t do something, you mind will act like to you can’t; have you ever said to yourself “I can’t find my car keys” and no matter where you look you just can’t find them, you know you left them near by –but where? Then your partner comes over and say’s “there right in front of you, on the table” and you think, “But I checked the table 3 times”.

Your mind is a powerful tool and as you say to (or command) your mind “I can’t find my car keys” your mind wont let you find them, the same go’s when you say “I can’t pass interviews” your subconscious mind won’t let you pass the interview.

I agree, you also need to know how to answer interview questions and you need to learn how to sell yourself, and I would add if you believe in yourself you will be able to sell your strengths to the interviewer easily.

So, what is the limiting belief you want to change? Some examples my previous clients have given me include:

  • “I can’t pass interviews”
  • “No-one will ever employee me”  
  • “I’m rubbish when it comes to interviews”

 

Write down the belief you believe is limiting you.

Now if you can re-word this belief into a positive outcome, what would your new belief say?

Example:

  • “I can pass interviews if I practice answering interview questions”
  • “Employers will employee me once I tell them what I can offer their company”
  • “Each interview I attended has been better then the last”

 

Write down your new belief, I agree this can seem hard in the first few seconds, which means your new belief will be strong, once it pop’s into your head.

OK re-read both your first limiting belief and your new stronger belief, as you say the words in your head or even as you say them out loud, notice the different feelings and emotions running through your body.

You will agree that the new belief feels better, most will go as far as saying it feels great having this positive feeling running through there body starting in your stomach with a nice warm buzz that spreads all around your whole being.

For this new belief to replace the old unwanted belief, automatically, you first need to find a mirror. While looking at your reflection read your new strong belief to yourself out loud at least 3 times, whilst nodding your head (in a yes motion)

As you do this everyday for the next 3 days, you new positive belief will be anchored, giving you a new positive resource and belief.

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How to Answer Tricky Interview Questions

Over the past several months I have been told that you would like to improve your interview techniques to be better at answering interview questions.

The problem you face is, to be really good at passing job interviews you need to be able to predict the interview questions; this is often never discussed in other employment books and articles.

Act on my advice, to pass interviews you need to practice answering tricky interview questions, it’s not just about knowing the answers to interview questions, it’s about understanding why the question was asked.

The successful secrets of employment e-book went above and beyond other employment and job hunting guides, and there is still much more to learn about answering tricky interview questions, using killer answers. This new e-book will teach you how to predict and answer tricky interview questions?

Tricky Questions, Killer Answers

  • Predicting Interview Questions; by planning your interview, predicting the questions in advance you are now in a powerful position, much more powerful than the interviewer yet alone the other interviewees.

 

  • Understanding the Interviewers Question; if you knew what answer the interviewer was expecting and the information they are trying to unpick from you, you could offer this in such a way that it will blow their mind.

 

  • Answering Tricky Questions; once you know how powerful a book like this can be, you can use the example job interview question answers and tailor them to your needs ensuring each and every answer you gave makes the employer want you more.

 

As you read this you can already imagine all the different ways this e-book can help you succeed with your career and future promotions. As you already know from the brief points above this e-book is highly powerful, meaning you will increase your job opportunities and salary.

There are many other e-books and articles on interview questions, read them first once you realise it takes much more than just knowing common interviewer questions, come back and buy this e-book with interview questions, answers and many more secrets. I myself have already read many of these other e-books, some ok, some bad and I have developed their material to increase your chances of job and promotion offers.

 

  • Over 60 of the most common asked interview questions and the powerful answers designed to secure you job offers
  • Discover how to prepare for interview questions
  • Learn how to highlight your strengths and how to sell these to the interviewer
  • How to influence the interviewer from the opening question

 

The Number One reason why job hunters fail interviews – not knowing how to answer interview questions! You get a job interview, you turn up, you’re asked a question and you have no idea how to answer it. Quickly say goodbye to this job offer.

You already know, the more you learn about interview questions the better prepared you will be and the more job offers you will receive, By Now, you have probably realize how hard an interview can be, this e-book will change that belief

You already know this e-book can help you, each question comes with an explanation of what the interviewer “is looking for” and an example answer to the difficult interview questions.  Knowing Interview Questions and Answers can HELP YOU WIN Job Offers.

 

With so many people applying for so little jobs, the interview has become A Big Barrier between you and employment, we Can HELP YOU Knock This Barrier Down.

How much would you pay to pass your first interview? Hundreds? Thousands? Well you don’t need to spend thousands of pounds; BUY TODAY and you will see the difference this e-book can make, for less than a round of drinks.

Warning; Don’t BUY NOW First let me tell you how you will find employment before others; imagine you’re the interviewer, you ask the same question to 3 interviewees, one answers with a “yes” or “no” answer, the second mumbles something their unsure about and the third one – you, answers with a confident answer using an example from their own experience, all learned from this e-book – Who would you offer the position to? You can use the same techniques to gain future promotions, this is not a one-off book, once you own this book, you can use it to further your career throughout your working life.

Click Today: Add to Cart button to Access Employment King’s – Tricky Questions and Killer Answers E-Book




 

Make Room – Job Offers on the way

 

Interviewer “Tell me about yourself?” what does the employer want to hear, what should you talk about, which piece of information is more important? You will learn all this and more. Knowing How to Answer Interview Questions will help you gain the job you deserve.

This is why you will want to buy this book, each question has been broken down to explain what information the interviewer is trying to gain from each question, in addition, I have added an answer to each interview question that you can use during your interviews.

  • We have also explained how you can target your answers to your industry and job position.

This e-book will help you master answering any interview question to BEAT the competition and gain the career you have always wanted.

“After years of interviewing I have seen the difference knowing the interview questions and answers can make”

All question and answers have been research and written by qualified and experienced Careers Advisors

How can we help you gain the job you deserve?

  • Pass Your Next Job Interview with Ease
  • Gain new confidence by knowing how to predict interview questions for any job
  • Learn the answers to over 60 of the most common asked interview questions
  • Pass promotion interviews
  • Gain Instant confidence at interviews and learn how to keep that motivation

SAVE OVER £££!!!

Research has shown that unprepared job hunters spend over 6 MONTHS looking for work, would you agree that is a long time?

  • If you gain a promotion today, what would your pay rise be? (average  £1000 a month)
  • 6 months (unemployment) x £1000 (Pay Rise)
  •  = £6000 – WOW a massive saving and a Great Return on Your Investment

– BUY NOW!!!

If you want to PASS YOUR FIRST INTERVIEW you need to know how to answer tricky interview questions

This is a no brainer; don’t miss out while others take your job. They have brought this book, why don’t you gain the upper hand today? You are going to buy this e-book today and realise how valuable this book is.

Over 60 Answers to over 60 Difficult Interview Questions

So here is everything you get….

  • A breakdown of how to Answer Interview Questions
  • Learn how to predict Interview Questions
  • How to match your skills to the Job Specification
  • The Answers to Over 60 Tricky Interview Questions
  • A preview of The Secrets of Employment E-book

More importantly….

GAIN MORE JOB OFFERS THEN EVER BEFORE

For a limited time only, Discounted Price of only £2.99

 

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CLICK HERE to BUY NOW

Or FREE when you buy THE 73 RULES for INFLUENCING the INTERVIEW

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Remember this offer won’t last, buy today before you miss out!

 




 

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Shaking Hands with Interviewers – The Secrets

We all know that first impressions count during your interview, this short article will help you realise what your handshake reveals to the employer.

When being introduced to the interviewer, you will more often then not be committed to a handshake; a handshake is a quick gesture to say “Hello I’m here, I’m professional and I’m ready for the interview” this two second introduction will give the employer their first impression about you and set’s the tone for the rest of the interview.

If you believe in the power of handshakes or not, your handshake is expected and often unconsciously tells the employer a little about your character, employers will often be prejudice and make an opinion about you from your initial handshake.

Research has shown that a handshake like other body language signals gives interviewers an unconscious idea about a person’s personality and a firm handshake is more likely to help gain you a job offer, then a limp handshake.

By now, you have started to read this article on handshaking, you are starting to become more aware of how the unconscious mind picks up on non verbal language and how this can affect your interview, you can learn more about non verbal language and interviews in our secrets of employment e-book, down load it today and increase your chances of gaining job offers.  

 

  • What the Handshake means?  

    If your Palm is facing up this can be taken as a sign of submission

    A palm facing down can be taken as aggressive

    While a palm facing sideways is taken as an equal

    If someone uses the Palm Facing down handshake (aggressive) You can counter this by putting your second hand on top of their hand and slowly turning there Palm up (this needs lots of practicing for it to look natural)

 

Employers will probably not remember the handshake itself, they remember the unconscious image they create of you from the handshake, just like our body language gives non verbal clues, and so does our handshake.

What makes a good handshake? A firm grip, eye contact and an up-and-down movement.

Common Handshake Mistakes

The Bone Crusher – don’t turn a handshake into a competition to see who is the strongest  

The Long Handshake – often a nervous interviewee will be pre-occupied with making a good impression and overcoming their nervous they forget to let go of the interviewer’s hand.


Sweaty Palm – again this one can often happen to nervous interviewees, the more nervous we become the more we sweat, remember to sneakily wipe your hands before the handshake.  

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Improving Your Communication Skills at work

Good communication is the essential to:

  • Increasing your chances of gaining a promotion.
  • Helping you effectively get your point across at meetings
  • Influencing your mangers decision makings
  • Getting on with colleagues and managers

 

Good communication is essential in all areas of your life, especially at work. If you fail to communicate well, you can often be left behind while others move up the career ladder.

Use Good Communication Skills to Pass Interviews

Effective communicators have the power to influence meetings and conversations, without others realising. Confidence and self belief grows as you learn to communicate to others with greater levels of success.

One of the first lessons to improve your communication skills is to listen to other peoples language, we generally converse using one of the following language patterns:

  • Visual,
  • Auditory
  • Kinaesthetic

 

Once you can recognise a person’s VAK language pattern, you can use their language to communicate more effectively with them.

Learn which VAK learning style you have?                                                                    

How does this work?

As we hear words, our brain quickly  uses these words to  create images in our mind and the image creates emotions in our body.

If I tell you to think of a dog, you may picture an old pet and this may bring about happy childhood memories that make you feel happy as you begin to reminisce whereas the same instruction for another person may provoke more negative feelings as a memory of a dog attack is recalled.

Depending on our own individual persuasion Visual, Auditory or Kinaesthetic verbal patterns can be used in order to influence and alter the strength of these emotions.

# We all use all 3 types of language (V, A and K) but most people have a persuasion towards one most strongly.

  • If you’re Auditory, words such as Sound, Noise, Volume, Tune, Pitch, & phrases such as “..Will help to get your bell ringing.”

 

  • For Visual people words such as Image, Overview, Sketch, Fade, Haze, & phrases such as “..Will help you create better picture.”  

 

  • and for Kinaesthetic words such as Touch, Feeling, Temperature, Cold, Gut Feeling, Weight & phrases such as “..help you have a feel for the situation.”

 

As an example, if you were to asked someone about a recent holiday they may respond with:

V “It was a Bright idea to get away, the views from the hotel were so picturesque!”

A “I was in tune with the relaxing sound of the sea, it left me absolutely speechless.”

K “It felt good to get away from work and recharge my batteries“ 

Once you have diagnosed a person’s language pattern you can used their VAK language pattern to improve the power of your conversation, by communicating using their language.

Think back to a time when a conversation or meeting did not go well no matter what you said. When it just seemed that no matter how much you explained things the other person just couldn’t seem to understand your point. This can happen when one person communicates using a language pattern with someone, who has a difference preference. By changing your language to match the other persons, you will quickly see better results as the other person quickly grasp what it is you are trying to get across.

Practice makes perfect with this one, first spend time listening to peoples language and then change your language to match theirs and notice the difference it makes with rapport building, influencing and communication. This works well during job interviews, for hints and tips on improving your interview technique, VAK in Interviews and how Your Personality Type can influence your career choice, follow this link: Secrets of Employment.

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How to Write a Personal Statement for a Job Application Form

job application form

How to Write a Personal Statement 

This article will quickly explain how to complete the Personal Statement section in a job application form, for more tips on completing job application forms click the link.

Many companies use a PDF down-loadable job application form on their website or more commonly an online application form. Large organisations have ‘career accounts’ allowing an applicant to save application forms to be used for other job vacancies.

interview prediction grid

What to add to the personal statement?

Throughout the job application form, you will be able to add your contact details, past employment history, and your qualifications, so they do not need to be added (and repeated) within the personal statement.

Most job specifications that accompany the job application form tell you in detail, what requirements the employer is looking to be evidenced on the job application form and the importance the employer places on each job criteria.

Example Job Specification:

Factor Essential Desirable Measured
Experience
  • Experience of leading a team
  • Understanding every child matters regulations
  • Experience of writing management reports
 Application Form/Interview
Qualification
  • NVQ level 3 or equivalent  in Child Care
  • NVQ Level 4 or equivalent in Management
 Application Form

As you can see some job requirements are essential and MUST BE EVIDENCED in your personal statement, while other job requirements are desirable – if you possess them add them to the application form as the additional reference to the ‘desirable’ criteria can increase the possibility of a job interview. 

With most job specifications the employer will tell you when they will assess each job criteria; during the job interview or within the job application form.

Application Form Layout

The whole of the application should be easy to read, if you need to add additional pages to the paper-based application form, add them and make a note (and give a reference number to each individual page)  in the application form so an employer does not miss this vital information.

For online job application forms, the text box should be formatted to allow additional text. If not check if there is a maximum word count on the job specification document.

Always complete a spell and grammar check, if possible ask someone else to check your application form for you.

Use headings to split up your text; the essential criteria requirements make the best headings. If you do not like to use headings follow a format so information is not missed or duplicated throughout the job application form.

train to be a life coach

How to Sell Yourself in the Personal Statement. 

Start with an opening paragraph; a mini summary that can highlight your best strengths and skills in 4-5 lines. For ideas ask yourself these 3 questions:

  • What is your key message you want to convey to the employer?
  • What are your 3 main strengths relevant to the job role?
  • How would the company benefit from hiring you?

The opening paragraph must intrigue the employer, encouraging them to read your personal statement in more detail.

Avoid writing general information such as “I’m a good team player” write how your experience has made you a good team player, stories work well in personal statements.

Ensure every paragraph you write is relevant to at least one of the essential criteria from the job specification.

Remember, you have to prove to the employer that you understand the job role, duties and industry. The best way to prove you possess this knowledge is to record that you have completed the essential criteria in a past role.

Feeling tired? Take a break and grab a bite to eat, don’t make mistakes due to tiredness; in most cases, you will have several weeks to complete the application form.

Make your statement interesting; if you were reading the statement would you want to carry on?

  • Keep the statement positive – use examples 
  • Use enthusiastic and assertive language – replace ‘tried’ to ‘succeed’ 
  • Highlight your strengths and key skills – think about your unique selling point 

At the end of the personal statement, write a brief summary of why you have applied for this role, what has made you pick this particular role and/or organisation?

job interview coaching

Once you have completed your application form.

Re-write your application 2 more times, each time edit your statement, deleting negative language and adding more positive stories; you want this statement to be the best it can be, ensuring you get a guaranteed interview.

Imagine you’re the interviewer, really visualize yourself as the person who is going to read your job application form, get into their mind and even sit how you think the interviewer would sit.

Read the application form, from the interviewer’s eyes, remember the interviewer has never met you and only knows what you have recorded about yourself.

As the interviewer, did the “you” on the application form come across well? Do you feel the application form has mentioned all your strengths’? Will the interviewer want to interview you, now they have read the application form?

Ask Yourself:

  • What have you missed from the application form, which needs to be added?
  • Double-check the job specification, have you highlighted all the essential criteria in your personal statement?
  • Is there anything else you can do to improve the application form?

Now you have a completed application form, an application form that really highlights your strengths and skills, you are probably really proud of this application form, especially after all the hard work you have put into it.

Keep a copy of this completed application form as you can use this draft copy as a basis for all your future job application forms.

When writing a new application form, copy and paste the statement from your original application into your new one, edit each new application/profile to make it relevant to this new position and company, this will save you a large amount of time.

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