Job Club Journal

Day 9 –  It’s all in the perspective

More about interviewing-  Remember, this is a skill – PRACTICE!

·         When making your 30-second commercial, remember to include SAR (Situation, Action, Results).

 [What was the situation, what action did you take, and how great were the results [Check notebook page – put in a couple.]

·         If you are asked, What is your worst trait?  Be prepared to answer and say what you are doing to correct it.  Example:  I’m a perfectionist, but I am learning to set priorities; so that I can ”lose the  battle to win the war.”

·         Look around the interviewer’s office, see what’s on the walls.  If you comment on something, be sure you aren’t insulting the interviewer.  Example:  Job seeker comes in, sees a baseball picture on the back of the office door, and makes a negative comment because that player doesn’t belong to the team he supports.  Hey!  THINK!  The picture is on the door in the interviewer’s office so he probably supports the player’s team.  LOOK AT SITUATION FROM THE OTHER PERSON’S POINT-OF-VIEW.  HE’S THE ONE WHO’S HIRING YOU.

·         Interview needs to be a two-way street in order to be successful – don’t try to cover everything with your answers to questions, leave some room for additional questions, comments.

[look at page 128 in notebook]

        Percentage of jobs and how obtained:

        26% personal referrals and networking

        23% through websites

        13% through job boards

Follow up:

At the end of an interview, if you have decided you don’t want the job, say so, nicely; or ask for 24 hours to reply.

The last part of this day’s session is devoted to SCAM ALERT (see pp 77-82 in Notebook –these websites have been checked out).

·         Do not give personal information over the phone unless you make the call.

·         Read carefully, often language will give away scam – poor English, or English by a non-Native speaker of English.  They often tell you that you have won a cash prize and that you need to send a few hundreds or thousands of dollars so that you can receive the prize.  If you contact them you become part of the fraud, so BEWARE!

·         DON’T GO ON A SITE THAT MAKES YOU REGISTER BEFORE YOU GET JOB INFORMATION!

·         In any email, hover mouse over sender’s email address and it will show where the address is actually located – if it’s outside the US and you don’t know who it is, don’t reply.

HOMEWORK:  Research three companies that you are interested in on RefUSA (pp. 84-96 in Notebook).

pp. 73-76 in Notebook contain Computer Assignments I and II

Each Job Club Member is instructed to email Don or Chris once a week about job search activities.