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What am I doing wrong?

August 4, 2011 in Interviewing, Job Search with 12 Comments

“Dan, I’m 42 years old and in a place of extreme aggravation and frustration. I’ve been trying to get into the healthcare field for years, I received a graduate certificate in managed care in 2006, and I’m currently working on another certificate in health information management. Even with the certification, no doors are opening. I’ve applied for receptionist, administrative assistant, and customer service positions to get my foot in the door, and nothing. I’ve had my resume done over and over because the bulk of my experience is in telecommunications. What am I doing wrong?”

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Stop It!

June 23, 2011 in Interviewing, Job Search, Personal Development, Uncategorized, Workplace Humor with 5 Comments

As a life coach I have heard lots of reasons people give for continuing self-defeating behavior. Having been trained in clinical psychologist I try to listen with compassion – but sometimes I have this urge to just cut to the chase.

This video with Bob Newhart as the psychologist is extremely funny – and helpful. If you are a counselor, social
 worker, pastor or coach you may find his technique helpful for you as well.

It’s 6 minutes that can transform your practice of getting people to move to higher levels of success.

The next time someone complains about hating their job I suspect this method will be on the tip of my tongue.

Do you know someone you’d like to try this out on?

 

Can you tell me the "right" answer?

May 17, 2011 in Interviewing with 15 Comments

In a workshop break on Saturday a lady approached me with a quandary.  She’s interviewing as a teacher for a
 prestigious school and has a written application to complete.  One of the questions was “When did Columbus discover America?”  Like you, she’s heard the little ditty – “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue” but her fear was that this was a trick question.  What about the Native Americans? What about Leif Ericson? Or what about Americus Vespucius?

I suggested that the school was probably more interested in her thought process than in providing a “correct” answer.

This conversation reminded me of the turn toward “behavioral interviewing” that we are seeing in this knowledge based workplace.  No longer is it enough to have a degree or to be able to calculate 2+2=4.

According to researchers at Glassdoor.com here are some actual questions posed by interviewers in the last 15 months.  How would you respond?  Read more »

Will an MBA open all the doors?

May 3, 2011 in Finding Passion, Interviewing, Just a Job with 7 Comments

Dan, I am 32 years old and I have just started an MBA program at Auburn University because I have spent the past 5 years in a very technical/engineering position at the bottom of the corporate ladder. I picked the MBA route because with each company I have evaluated a lot of the upper management had their MBAs. Since my desire has always been to be a market leader, I just assumed that an MBA would be a requirement.

What really separates a resume/person from a CEO position in a fortune 500 company?  Hopeful Trish

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Trish, I commend you on moving forward and not being content with the status quo.  You are right to question what is it that separates a “resume person” from a CEO.  And it’s never just a matter of having the right degrees.  Actually, it’s less that now than ever before.  In the last year at 48 Days LLC we have engaged a social media director, product fulfillment manager, webmaster, graphic designers, blog coach, podcast consultant, speech coach, marketing director and several other positions.  In not one case did I ask for a resume or even inquire about degrees or certifications.  Read more »

What would you do?

March 31, 2011 in Interviewing, Workplace Humor with 5 Comments

Yes, interviewing questions are getting more and more interesting as employers want to know — How do you think?  Here’s one:

You are driving along on a wild, cold, stormy night in your Mercedes 500SL. You pass by a deserted bus stop,and you see three people waiting for the bus:

1. An old lady who desperately needs to get to a hospital.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect man (or) woman you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you choose, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car?

This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was actually used as part of a job application.

You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first; or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back.  Read more »

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