Six Figure Success Coach
Should I mention past medical issues in an interview?
One thing I have noticed that a lot of job seekers are unclear on is whether or not they should mention that they were out on disability or had to take time off for a medical issue. My recommendation is that you stay away from any conversations about medical leave, medical procedures or disability. You are better off to say you had a personal matter to attend to or something similar as the term "personal matter" does not typically have the same negative connotation as medical matter or issue.
The reason you would want to stay clear of these topics in an interview is that an employer could potentially use that information to discriminate against you. Legally, they are not supposed to discriminate, but that doesn't mean that they won't.
An employer is not allowed to legally ask you any questions about your medical history so there is no reason you should go out of your way to disclose that information unnecessarily.
So how should you handle it if you have taken some time off for a medical leave or medical procedure?
I would recommend saying something to the effect of "I really enjoyed working for my last employer (start with what you liked about your last position), however, I had some personal matters that I had to attend to that required me to take time off for an extended period."
Most employers will be OK with this type of an answer. Some might push you further asking "what personal issues?," but most will not because of the legalities around pushing for more information.
How do you avoid getting a job offer rescinded?
1) Always advise your recruiter or potential employer if you may have any misdemeanors or other potential issues with your background check in ADVANCE
2) Always cross check your employment dates and only list months if required on your resume. If your months are off even slightly this can have your offer rescinded
3) If you started a job "temp" but it went perm, you would want to be sure to clarify what dates were temp and what dates were perm
4) Make sure any education listed on your resume is verifiable and/or that you can provide an authentic copy of your Degree or certificate that you have listed
5) DON'T LIE. This is a good catch all to avoid getting your offer rescinded and covers all of the above topics.
If you lie about anything, no matter how insignificant or small it may seem, an employer has every right to rescind your job offer.
To list your degree or not list your degree...
In today's market, it is more important than ever to be careful what you put on your resume and how you word what you are putting your resume. One of the biggest errors I see on resumes time and time again is when people list a college degree on their resume or a certificate, but they have not completed the classes necessary to possess that degree or certificate. Additionally, I see people who call themselves 'certified,' but do not understand what that term means as it relates to the paralegal profession. Neither of these is acceptable and can be grounds for a rescinded job offer and/or termination. This is not always done intentionally, however, sometimes it is done as a way to defraud a potential employer.
Below are a few rules to follow when it comes to listing/not listing degrees and/or certificates and/or college units on your resume.
1) Unless you have completed all of the courses necessary for a particular degree or certificate, do not list it on your resume. Listing units that you have completed on your resume can just complicate things and can lead to confusion. Example: "Attended XYZ University"This is not clear if you received a degree or not and can complicate things.
2) Do not list a degree or certificate on your resume if it is NOT required for that job. For the most part, when you add a degree or certificate to your resume that is not a requirement for the position, you are making the employer's life harder by giving them one more thing to verify and/or giving them one more reason not to hire you if everything does not check out perfectly.*
3) It is critical that you NEVER list a degree or certificate on your resume unless you can provide an authentic copy of that degree or certificate.
4) Do not call yourself a "certified" paralegal unless you have passed the CLA (Certified Legal Assistant) exam. The term "certified paralegal" is actually trademarked by NALA (National Association of Legal Assistants) and can only be used once you have successfully passed your CLA exam. If you do possess an ABA approved paralegal certificate from an accredited school or University, please DO list that on your resume if you intend to be a paralegal as that does qualify you under the CA Paralegal law BP 6450 to practice as a paralegal in the state of CA, however, make sure you do not call yourself a"certified paralegal."
5) Do not list dates of your degree or certificate on your resume as this can cause people to guess your age and discriminate against you, and/or if you are off by a month or a year and the degree or certificate gets verified for a different time period then what you have listed, it can also cause an offer to be rescinded.
*The only time you should list a degree, even if it is not required for the job, is if you have a JD. You have to be careful about not listing a JD on your resume as there can be certain legalities a company has to comply with if you have passed the bar or possess a JD and are employed with that company.
Top 5 Do's & Don'ts on your Resume
DO:
- Add your Linkedin URL to your resume if you have a well put together Linkedin profile and recommendations on your profile
- Have a summary of what makes you qualified (objectives are obsolete for the most part in today's market) listed at the top of your resume
- Have a well formatted resume with: Position Title and Company listed on the left, dates aligned on the right and experience bulleted out
- List strong adverbs, such as facilitated, managed, organized etc... followed by your accomplishments, including where you have increased PEP (Productivity, Efficiency & Performance) of your past organizations
- Spell check your resume and have someone else look it over for grammatical, punctuation and/or formatting errors
DO NOT:
- List your reference contact information on your resume
- Include a picture or any bizarre graphics (unless you are in graphic design or related field)
- Use ALL CAPS or all italics to write your resume
- Lie about ANYTHING on your resume because it can all be verified
- Use different fonts and/or different sizes in the same sections. For example, if your sections titles such as "Experience" or "Skills" are in size 18 Ariel and bold, then that should be the same for every section head. The same goes for the font and size used for your bullet points.
Social Media and your Job Search
Be careful what you post! Whether or not you know it, employers are Googling you. You need to be aware of who you are connected with on various social media sites and what others can or cannot see on your profile.
Whether you are employed or unemployed, it is important to be cognizant of what your social media profiles can say about you. If you are employed, you have to be careful about what you say about your work place, colleagues or business related to the company or it's clients. If you are complaining about your business or posting that you are looking for a job or out partying, an employer can have cause to fire you.
The same goes for if you are unemployed and looking for a job. Employers take into consideration your pictures, your wall posts and much more when evaluating whether or not they should want to hire you or even interview you. The best course of action is to make your profile confidential on Facebook while you are looking for a job so that something you said or posted doesn't come back to haunt you.
On the flip side, it helps to have a COMPLETED Linkedin profile while job hunting. If you have a well thought out, well written profile on Linkedin, that might give an employer the extra push they need to consider interviewing you or hiring you for a job. This is especially true if you have good recommendations on your profile. Be careful though, because if you misspell things on your profile, have an incomplete profile, have inaccurate information on your profile or grammatical errors, that can hinder an employer from hiring you.
Bottom line, think before you post and if you do post, ask yourself if that post is something that would make a potential employer want to hire you.
Breaking down your salary
A lot of job seekers do not realize the importance of knowing their salary and how to break it down to a potential employer in an interview. Whether you are working with a recruiter or applying directly with a company, it is your responsibility to clearly communicate your current salary. If this is not clearly communicated to the employer or recruiter during the interview process and/or on the application, you can easily have your offer rescinded if the numbers don't match up.
Example: If you tell a potential employer that you make $65,000 a year, when in reality, you have a base of $60,000, a bonus of $3,000, and $2,000 worth of overtime, you can have your offer rescinded when the employer or recruiter goes to verify this information.
The way to avoid this is to clearly breakdown your salary on the application into: Base + Bonus + OT + any additional benefits that might be monetary in nature such as 401k or profit sharing contribution.
Not every application gives room to break this all down, so in a worse case scenario, only list your base salary and then clearly explain if/when asked the breakdown of your salary in more detail, but DO NOT just lump everything together on an application without a clear breakdown.
By doing this you will avoid any confusion regarding your compensation and will ensure your offer is secure once it is made to you.
10 ways to make yourself indispensable in the Workplace
1) Whoever you work for, make their life easier2) Conduct yourself with impeccable integrity which includes to do what is asked of you, but more importantly, do all of the things you know you should do, but were not asked to do additionally3) Listen to what is being asked of you/Answer the question that is being asked of you4) ALWAYS be reliable and on time5) Be the type of person who your boss could trust to run things while they are out of the office6) ALWAYS be the one that others go to for help and be helpful at all times7) Anticipate the needs of your boss/Take initiative8) Know your product, know your client, and know your services better then everyone else in your office9) Always be learning-this includes taking continuing education classes and keeping up with the latest trends by reading articles, journals and books in your industry10) ALWAYS display a pleasant attitude and be the type of person that others want to be around
Should I be using indeed.com?
Yes! If you are looking for a job, http://www.indeed.com is an excellent tool for passively hunting for a job. There is a feature that allows you to post your resume on indeed.com, however, be cautious because as of right now, anyone can find your resume on indeed.com. You don't want your potential employer to see you on there if you are still working. If you are unemployed, though it could be beneficial to post your resume there.
How does indeed work? Indeed is powered by Google and searches every website listed anywhere on the web (though I find it does NOT search Craigslist.org) just like a search engine would. Therefor, if you type in "legal secretary" and "Los Angeles," all of the open positions posted on ANY website become visible to you*.
The other great thing about indeed is that you can set yourself up with job search lists, which will cause indeed to email you a list of EVERY open job that meets your search criteria each morning. I recommend doing several versions of your job title. For example, if you were a legal secretary you might want to search "legal secretary," "legal assistant," "legal administrative professional" etc... so that you do not miss the perfect opportunity.
*Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com may no longer get picked up by indeed because they feel threatened that indeed may be there new competition with the resume search tool they now offer. I have yet to officially verify this information.
The Key is Confidence
There is a fine line that you must walk in an interview between being cocky and confident. No one wants to hire someone who is so full of themselves that they are self-absorbed. At the same time, the employer needs to know what skills you bring to the table that will make you an asset to their company. So what can you do to exude confidence in your next interview? Below are five easy tricks that will help you come across as more confident in your next interview.
1) A firm handshake-this simple trick is the oldest in the book, but often times a handshake is your first chance to exude confidence.
2) Good eye contact-this can be the trickiest one for a lot of people. Most people look away when answering a question. This is why preparation is key. Always practice answering interview questions in advance by looking at yourself in the mirror while answering or working with a partner to help you keep your eye contact focused while answering tricky questions.
3) Speak slowly and clearly-being articulate does not have to be hard. You can come across as articulate and confident by taking time to think through your answer and speaking slowly and intentionally so that the other person will get the impact of what you are saying.
4) Good posture-body language can often convey more then words. From the moment you walk into an interview you want to make sure that you are standing up straight, and when seated, always sit up straight and lean in towards the interviewer rather then sitting back casually.
5) Prepare-nothing with give you more confidence in an interview then proper preparation. Always research a firm and come up with a MINIMUM of 5 reasons why they should want to hire you, 5 reasons why you want to work for them and 5 questions regarding the position.
The better prepared you are the more confident you will come across and the more likely you will be to ACE your next interview!
Helping recent graduates get hired...
If you are a recent college graduate, chances are that you might be struggling finding a job in this market. Even though we have seen an increase over the last two years of recent college graduates being hired, the numbers are still drastically lower then they were five years ago. So how can you can put everything you learned to use and find yourself a position in this market?
Social Media. Social Media is the answer to many things in today's market. It can be a wonderful tool that can give you access to employers and jobs that you might not otherwise attain. Of the top three social media sites, Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin, I find Linkedin to be the most valuable resource in helping recent graduates get hired (or anyone for that matter).
What steps can you take using Linkedin to get yourself hired?
- Research potential companies you would like to work at using Linkedin and see if you have any connections or contacts there. If so, reach out to those contacts to ask for an introduction. If you do not have any connections at a particular company, you can use Linkedin to research the names of hiring managers or people in the department you want to get in to. From there you can reach out to those individuals directly to ask for a job.
- Another possible way to utilize Linkedin contacts is to call those individuals at companies who are in the industry you want to get into and request to interview them for an e-book or blog you could write about the industry. This can be a very innovative way to get your foot in the door and make connections with key people in your industry. By working on a blog or book it will open doors for you to find people to speak with in your industry. This will also help to automatically set you up as an expert in your field of choice and will help you to learn more about your chosen industry.
- Research your competition on Linkedin and look up the job you want. Research a person's background who has the job you want and take note of their skills and background for ideas of other companies you may want to look at applying at. Additionally, notice the skills they list and be sure to incorporate any of those skills that you posses already into your resume or if you don't already have those skills, ask yourself how you can go about getting those skills to make yourself more credible and employable.
These few ideas can greatly increase your effectiveness in finding your next position whether you a recent graduate or looking to jump start your career in a new field.
