In Support of Conformity on Social Media | Employment Edification (wordpress.com)

I had an interesting exchange with an acquaintance on LinkedIn. Basically, I asked him why he acted one way on LinkedIn and differently on Facebook. He explained that his persona, and these are my words, not his, consists of his professional self and his personal self. He also stated that he follows the rules of the various social media sites. I assume this means that what he does on one site may not be acceptable on another. He also mentioned that he has a significantly larger number of followers on LinkedIn than first-degree connections, stating that his followers like to read his posts, etc. (He did not mention the number of “friends” and followers he has on Facebook.)

I do not subscribe to the school of thought that you should act one way on one social media site and differently on another. All are public and everything you do on them is in the public domain. My rule is simple: If you wouldn’t do it on Main Street, don’t do it on the Internet.

Our personas have many components. There are things we do in public and things we do in private. Some we would do in both. Discussing a book. Watching a movie. Eating. But there are things we do not share in public which are best kept private. Political views immediately come to mind, not to mention family issues. True, millions of people post their political thoughts (it’s their right) proving them to be liberal loons or crazy conservatives. But why be like them?

If you act like a consummate professional on, let’s say, LinkedIn, and go nuts on, let’s say, Twitter, what does that tell an employer or potential collaborator about you?

I’ll use myself as an example. My articles on LinkedIn have been read, as of the beginning of this year, over 425,000 times. I must be doing something right! They are all, basically, business related. Or, just something I wrote for fun. (Silly has always been part of my persona.) I have never written anything purely political. The one possible exception resulted in only praise, public and private, mostly private. And all of my articles/updates are identical on all my social media platforms. The only time there is a difference is when I am responding to someone else’s posts which, obviously, cannot be shared on other platforms. But the style is the same. I have the nasty habit of asking people to share the sources on which they have based their views! I’m a “Prove it!” of “Show me the beef!” type of guy. And I am also known for providing links to facts disproving claims, which result, more often than not, in the original post, to which I was responding, disappearing.

Look at it this way: The way you act on LinkedIn is likely the way you will act at work. That’s what most employers will think! The way you act on Facebook, Twitter, and the rest, will be the way you act outside of work. Again, that’s how most employers will think! But there is no “outside of work.” A woman was fired, for example, because of the way she acted at a bar. She was seen by a client. The client called her boss, reported the behavior, and said that she did not want to work with her any longer. She was fired. How do I know? She called me for career counseling. Sure enough, her LinkedIn profile was professional; not so much her pages on Facebook and Twitter. And this was far from the only time I saw this. It’s more common than you may think.

For sake of argument, let’s say that LinkedIn, and I believe this to be so, is the gold standard for behavior on social media. (We have all seen the “LinkedIn is not Facebook” posts!) Well, what does it say about you if you lower your standards on your other social media platforms? And why would an employer want to take a risk and hire you. Who are they going to get, the professional on LinkedIn or the raving lunatic on Facebook? Why take the risk? And it’s not just employers. The same thing is true for someone trying to sell you their products, good or services. No one wants to work with someone who reflects poorly on them. “I know he’s an idiot, but he pays his bills on time,” is not the reputation you want to have.

Social media platforms should not set the standards for your behavior. You should! On-line and off-line. That’s what I do and maybe that’s why I have over 46,000 followers across all of my social media networks – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Parler and my blogs.

Speak to the Gap

Congratulations! Your cover letter and resume were effective. They did their job. The cover letter got them to look at your resume. Your resume got them to pick up the phone, confirm your interest and qualifications, and you got the interview – the Number Two Holy Grail of the job search process.

And then, there you were, seated (virtually) across from the interviewers and you blew it. Sure, you did your homework. You knew the job description inside out and backwards. You memorized their website. You knew the professional, and some personal, details about the interviewers. You even knew about the person you would be replacing. You had a list of really good questions to ask, not the normal nonsense. And you knew exactly what you needed to tell them to convince them that you were the candidate for the job. And then you blew it.

You forgot one little thing. Well, not so little a thing. You forgot the most important thing of all. You forgot to listen.

Most – no, that may not be fair. Allow me to start again.

Far too many employers talk to much. They are so desperate, literally and figuratively, to fill that empty chair, that they talk too much. They are so frustrated that they have to get the proverbial off their chests. So they talk too much. They tell the candidate, the interviewee, you, what they want to hear. What they need to hear. What they are longing to hear. What they want you (Stop eating!) to regurgitate back to them. And then…you blew it.

What did you do wrong? You were so focused on sharing with them everything that you had learned about them as individuals, and about the company, to prove to them what a great researcher you are and how well you prepare for meetings, that you did not bother to listen. You were waiting for your chance to tell them what you wanted them to hear that you totally missed out on what they wanted to hear.

It happens more often than you think.

I had a career counseling client who came to me, totally frustrated. He was in real estate business development. Sales. And he was good. He was averaging an interview every couple of days. But no offers.

His first mistake was that he was applying for the wrong type of jobs. He was the king of residential sales, but he was only applying for commercial real estate sales positions. Why? Because he wanted new experiences. He wanted new challenges. All very noble, but not what the interviewers, the employers, wanted. They wanted commercial and he only had a little commercial experience.

After they lectured him for five or 10 minutes on their commercial real estate problems, they simply asked, “How can you help us?” And what did he do?

At that point he took a deep breath, smiled, and lectured them for five or 10 minutes on his residential sales experience. They were not interested. Interview over.

What should he have done?

He should have spoken about the commercial real estate experience he had. Even though it was slight, he had some. And here’s another mistake he made: He forgot that they knew that. After all, he had not lied on his resume. They knew he was heavy on residential and light on commercial sales. Yet, there he was, virtually sitting across from them on the Zoom call.

He should have talked commercial and then added, “This is analogous, of course, to my residential sales experience. We had the same problems that you described. This is how I overcame them.”

By presenting, if you will, the painting of his residential sales career in a commercial sales frame, they would have listened. And, after a few mock sessions with me, that’s what he did, with positive results.

Put differently, he spoke to the gap, in fact the gaps (plural): The gap between what the interviewers needed and what he had to offer, and the gap between what he had to offer (great residential sales experience) and what they wanted to hear (commercial).

Just as in the London Tube the signs read, “Mind the Gap,” in an interview you should “Speak to the Gap,” the difference between the interviewers’ needs and what they have, and what you have to offer. Otherwise, you’ll fall in the crack! Granted, it’s a less deadly gap, but still, you don’t want to trap yourself.

Conducting an Agile Job Search

First, I must give credit where credit is due: I am stealing from Mark Shead’s excellent (Well, let’s be honest. I’m not an IT guy so I really don’t know if it’s “excellent,” but it was great for my purposes!) video, What is Agile?.

Agile, if I understand it correctly, is a framework for software development. Anyone who would be interested in hiring me to develop software for them, to oversee the development of software for them, or to test software that has been developed for them, should seek psychiatric attention. I make that clear from the beginning so that you will understand that what I write about Agile is as basic, fundamental and simple as possible.

When I was first introduced to Agile, I thought the person was talking about flexibility. Given that one component of the approach is the willingness to change, I may not have been entirely wrong. After all, they must have called it “Agile” and not “Inflexible” for a reason.

There are similarities between Agile software development and a job search:

• There are some things you have to do quickly. In our case, the cover letter and resume. Get them out of the way. They are tools, albeit important tools, but only tools. The real work should be in networking, securing informational meetings, and honing interviewing skills.
• You have to revisit what you have done to make sure it is working properly. If you are not getting networking and informational meetings, and if they are not productive, something has to change. If you are not getting interviews, redo your cover letter and/or resume. If you are not getting job offers, your interview skills need work.
• And you have to keep focused on the end result. In our case, getting the interview and, ultimately, the job offer. That’s the test, the only test, of success. Yes, securing networking and informational meetings are important, but they are small successes on the road to the main success.

Consider this article the presentation of another way to look at conducting a job search, this time with somewhat of a scientific basis, but really a moralistic one.

Agile tells software developers to focus on, or stay true to, a set of values and principles, if you will, beliefs, they have decided upon at the outset of their work that they must follow. It also means that they have to be flexible, and change their plan if circumstances change. In a sentence, it’s not about what they are doing, but why they are doing it. (Perhaps some nice IT guys and gals would be so kind as to explain, in the Comments section, what values, principles and beliefs are when it comes to software development. A few examples would help. Thank you and have a nice day.)

No, I do not mean why you are applying for a job. It could be for any number of reasons. I mean why you are applying for a particular job. And that brings us back to values, principles and beliefs. They should inform your decision not just about where you want to work but, more importantly, for whom you want to work.

At the beginning of your job search you should decide on the type of boss you want to have. Most people search for the company. I have come to believe that that may be a mistake. After all, the Number One reason people quit their job is because of their boss, not their company. Look for the right boss, the person for whom you would want to work. The person from whom you believe you can learn. The person who you believe shares your values, principles and beliefs. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they’ll be working for a company where you would want to work.

So how do you find your next boss? Look around on LinkedIn, reading articles and posts written on topics of importance to you. See whose writing resonates with you. For that matter, see whose “likes” resonate with you and their comments on articles and updates. Read articles from professional journals and on websites. But don’t just concentrate on the authors. Pay close attention to whom they quote; those may be the people for whom you really want to work.

After all, if you are interested in software development, would you rather work for me or Mark Shead?

Conducting an Agile Job Search | Employment Edification (wordpress.com)

Let's look at the job search in a totally different way. Instead of being nice, and convincing the prospective employer that you are the person with whom they would most like to spend eight hours a day, convince them that you are someone with whom they cannot afford not to spend eight hours a day (despite the double negative).

Now, just because there may be some fool out there in Readerland who does not understand sarcasm, exaggeration, or being figurative, I neither endorse blackmailing prospective employers, threatening them, nor being anything other than nice. Now that we have gotten the foolishness out of the way, let's get back to our subject.

Every day I receive a resume that begins, front and center, with a paragraph fool (Sorry. Freudian slip) full of adjectives and self-praise. The individual is a "consummate professional." They are "well-respected." And, of course, they are "accomplished." But nowhere in the paragraph do they actually enumerate any of their accomplishments. A candidate can claim to have worked on a multi-million dollar project, but it could have been a complete and total disaster - because of them! So it is a misleading statement. Being misleading on your resume, will paint you in a corner, when you are interviewing, from which you will never to able to escape. Don't mislead! Don't misrepresent! Don't Mississippi! (I needed three "mis"es for the alliteration but could not think of a third one. Sorry.)

Problem is, and please remember this, there is not an employer in the world who cares what you think of yourself; they only care about what you can do for them. Take a few minutes and reread the part in italics a few times until it sinks in. Excuse me while I go get something to drink.

That was refreshing!

So now that we have eliminated the paragraph that your mother wrote for you, or you a paid a "professional" resume writer to write for you (and, yes, I have received resumes with exactly the same adjectives and in the exact same format, from different candidates, all of whom paid a fortune for that nonsense!), let's get to the fun part: threatening and blackmailing.

If you begin your resume with a bullet point list of your quantifiable, objective accomplishments, the employer (or their representative) will say, "I have to meet this person." Remember, the purpose of a resume is to get an interview, not to get the job. So you need to be nice in the interview, not in the resume. In the resume, you have to brag and get to the point. You don't have time to charm. The resume reader is tired. They will make mistakes. They will miss things. (Yes, me too!) So don't make them work. As journalists say, "Don't bury the lead." Get to the point!

Front and center announce, without shame, what you have done for others. By so doing, you lower the employer's level of concern. You appear to be someone who can do the job because you have shown that you have done it for others. And therein lies the subliminal blackmail and threat.

When the employer is finished reading your resume you want them to think, "If they don't work for me, they'll work for my competitor, and, unless they turn out to be a jerk, I don't want that. So let's bring them in QUICKLY!"

And there's the blackmail. There's the threat. If I don't work for you, I'll work for your competitor. Or, if you prefer,if I don't work for you, I'll work against you! Or, if you don't hire me, your competitor will!

The only way to achieve that result is by focusing on objective, quantifiable accomplishments, not adjectives and self-praise.

Oh, and remember, be nice in the interview. No one hires someone with whom they would not want to spend eight hours a day.

Ms.Maria Friedman  ,the President of NYC-PA,helped me in 2016 with my resume in very,very great detail to secure an interview ,breakfast interview,with a HR Director from Louis Vitton Legal.

My Paralegal Dean at Queens Plaza College- originally from New York Career Institute- Dean Lazarus recommended me to NYC-PA.

I am interested in securing P/T volunteer work to retrain my skills to a professional level.For example,Disability Rights Advocacy, DRA or such.

After studying the LSAT and visiting law schools for 6 years via LSAC.org and obtaining almost 8 recommendations letters for law school-I wanted to be a Public Defender Disabiity Attorney for children and youth and young adults-I can adamantly admit proudly I am a Paralegal by trade. That is satisfying enough.

Sincerely,

Garth Harding 

hartinggarth@gmail.com

347-876-9181 

We can all agree that the year 2020 has changed our lives and one of the reasons is because of COVID-19. I know it did for me. In March, I got laid off from my very first paralegal job at a tax and foreclosure law firm in New York City. I was devastated not only because it was my first job working as a paralegal, but because I was only working there for about three months. During that time, many Americans like myself was feeling hopeless to finding a new job after getting laid off. Even today, many people are still looking for a job.

At the end of June, I was fortunate enough to be hired as a Paralegal/Administrative Assistant at a trusts and estates law firm called Avelino Law, LLP located in Summit, New Jersey and New York.

I did not know what to expect when starting the new job. What I first noticed was how busy everyone was with the back-to-back phone calls and the consistent e-mails flowing from clients. It then hit me as to why the firm was busy. COVID-19 is a huge threat to the lives and health of countless people. The virus has more people preparing for the worst. What I also witnessed at my job is those who almost died because of having COVID, called to do their estate planning documents.

According to CNBC.com, the pandemic has produced a rise in estate planning however, majority of Americans still do not have a Will. The LegalZoom.com survey found that 62% of Americans do not have a will and, of those who do, 12% created them in the past 12 months — and 44%, in the last five years. The more I work at the law firm, the more I realize how important it is to having your own trusts and estates documents such as a Will, a Living Will, a Power of Attorney and other documents.

I know it is scary to think about our own death but I do believe it is crucial to plan to protecting yourself as well as loved ones. Having proper estate planning documents will help control the disposition of assets at death and to enable other people to make our financial and medical decisions if we are unable to. Below are terms and definitions for basic estate planning documents in the state of New Jersey that can help you have a better understanding of what each term means.

Last Will and Testament– a document that defines the distribution of the assets of a testator (a person who has made a will or given a legacy) will be distributed upon their death.

Trust – a document that explains your assts are transferred to a trustee or trustees that you selected either while you are living or upon your death.

Living Will – is a document that provides “instructions to the Declarant’s Medical team with regard to how they would like to have their end of life options honored when there are no medical options to extend a quality of life.”

Power of Attorney– it is a document that allows you to appoint a person or organization to manager your financial, property or medical affairs if you become unable to do so.

It is never too early or too late to plan for your future at any age. Consider hiring a trusts and estates attorney to assist your estate planning needs because he or she can help you save a lot of time, energy, and effort in building out your estate plan. If you have any questions or want to start your estate planning documents, please feel free to reach out to me or Avelino Law, LLP.

Samantha is currently a paralegal and an administrative assistant at Avelino Law, LLP. Every day at her job, she is learning something new especially trusts and estates planning law. She is involved in the paralegal world by being member of a few Associations and she is the Social Media Coordinator of the New York City Paralegal Association, Inc. On her free time, she enjoys working out, walking outside, and spending time with family and friends.

Work Cited

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/creating-a-last-will-pros-and-cons#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20greatest%20advantages,receive%20what%20from%20your%20estate.&text=You%20can%20create%20a%20testamentary%20trust%20within%20a%20last%20will,You%20choose%20your%20executor.

http://avelinolaw.com/

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/05/op-ed-more-people-are-creating-wills-amid-the-pandemic.html

https://eforms.com/living-will/new-jersey-instruction-directive-living-will/#:~:text=The%20New%20Jersey%20instruction%20directive,extend%20a%20quality%20of%20life.

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/what-is-a-power-of-attorney#:~:text=A%20power%20of%20attorney%20(POA)%20is%20a%20document%20that%20allows,become%20unable%20to%20do%20so.&text=Each%20type%20gives%20your%20attorney,a%20different%20level%20of%20control.

https://www.nolo.com/technical-support-main/nolo-living-trust-how-a-living-trust-works.html

Proof Not Praise | Employment Edification (wordpress.com)

It seems that at the dawn of a new year someone always announces that for the coming 365-and-a-quarter-day cycle, there should be a new resume, and not just a new year.

The worst example, which I must admit even I fell for (for a while), was the ridiculous video resume. When first approached to be an (unpaid – that should have been my first clue) advisor to a company whose name I forget, by people whose names I forget, they had a great reply to my comment, “It’s hard enough to get employers to read resumes; do you really think they’ll watch a video?” I forget their reply, but I remember attending a few meetings before regaining my senses. It can happen to anyone. It’s nothing of which to be ashamed, as long as you learn from the experience.

I was recently reading a book that referenced the presidential election of Dwight Eisenhower. His presidential campaign was the first to utilize the services of an ad agency. He apparently did not like the idea, but he gave his approval. He was literally sold to the American people like a box of cereal. And, of course, it worked. General Eisenhower became President Eisenhower.

If you want to get your dream job in the New Year, you need to do the same. Sell yourself like a box of cereal.

When you purchase something, anything, the manufacturer’s marketing department makes certain to let you know about the product’s benefits. They make promises. And the smart ones provide proof. They back up their claims. In clinical studies it was shown that our soap does not dry your skin. Nine out of 10 dentists… You get the idea. And I would hazard to guess that those are the products you buy.

And this brings me to the first paragraph – the so-called “Professional Summary” – of far too many resumes. They begin with adjectives. “Outstanding” is my favorite. It is amazing how many outstanding professionals can’t find a job.

The most valuable “piece of real estate” on a resume is the top of the first page. Resume recipients are usually very tired from reading resumes. They (I admit it, we) are fed up with looking at resumes. We miss things. So for 2021 the new resume should be one which does not require the recipient to work.

In journalism it is called “burying the lead.” It was a cool September night. The wind was blowing gently from the southwest. The moonlight offered a romantic glow to the pedestrians walking on Main Street. It also provided ample light for murder!

That may be how a novel is written, but not a newspaper article. Murder comes first. It also, figuratively speaking, needs to come first on a resume.

Have you ever gone to a networking event and introduced yourself thusly? (Now that is a good word with which to end a year!) Hi. I’m Jane. I’m an outstanding… Of course not. You’d sound like a total fool. So why do it on your resume? It doesn’t read any better than it sounds.

No employer cares what you think about yourself. They want to know what you can do for them. The only way to convince them is by telling them what you have done for your current and past employers. So start your resume with a half dozen bullet points highlighting your accomplishments. Numbers are important. Quantification is important. Reduced employee turnover to record numbers doesn’t mean a thing. Reduced employee turnover to 3% from 12% in one year means a great deal. So don’t bury the lead with nonsense about how great you think you are. Show the resume recipient why others think you are great. Show them why they should interview you. Show them why they can’t afford to let you go and work for their competitor. Don’t praise yourself; prove your worth. That’s the 2021 resume. Everything else stays the same.

Good luck and may 2021 be a year of Good Health, Happiness and Prosperity.

Published on December 30, 2020 Proof Not Praise | Employment Edification (wordpress.com)

Employment Edification.
A Service of Hurwitz Strategic Staffing - www.hsstaffing.com

Employee Evaluations

(The following is based on a presentation made to the Park Avenue Connections networking group.)

            Dick Cavett once asked Jerry Lewis about critics.  Not including his shtick, he basically said, and this is not an exact quote, but it’s close enough, “People who do, do; people who can’t, teach; people who can’t do either become critics.”  Then he was asked about his reaction to the critiques of the critics.
READ MORE HERE

The change affects any company that has borrowed money through rate-referenced debt or has an agreement that references the London Interbank Offered Rate.

A lot of contract/legal agreement reviews to check out related clauses that need to be updated and amended. There are going to be a lot of LIBOR transition projects. Loads of paralegal work!!!  

End of LIBOR: How all industries, not just banks, can prepare

August 1, 2020 

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I once had a boss who called me into his office. He wasn’t upset; he was jealous. One of our competitors had a full page article in the local paper. He asked, “Why aren’t we getting that type of coverage?”

I smiled. I picked up the paper. I walked around his desk. I opened it and said, “Because we are getting this type of coverage…here…and here…and here…and here!”

While our competitor got one page, we had four photos, with stories (captions), on four different pages. In fact, we were averaging 12 media citations a month in the local press, not including television coverage.

The next day, the chairman of the Board was visiting. He called me into the president’s office. The president had just showed him the previous day’s paper. He asked me, “How do you do this?”

Well, the chairman and I got along very well. I said, “In addition to my many positive qualities…” (He interrupted to invoke the Deity.) “…charm, chiseled features, rugged good looks, superior intellect, superlative education, modesty and humility…” (I paused while they discussed the termination of my services…) “I know my audience.”

I then continued in a more serious vein…

“Our competitor wants to please his Board members and wants to attract clients. So he no doubt badgers his contacts at the paper and finally gets them to send a reporter to write a story and take a photo. Who knows if the story is accurate? On the other hand, while I also want to please our Board members and attract clients, my primary audience, the person I care most about, are the editors of the various papers. If I give them what they need, “fillers,” they’ll publish my photos with the captions. I know the stories (captions) are accurate and that people are actually more likely to read captions than long articles. So I focus on the editors. I give them what they want. And we get what we want.”

And, no, I was not fired!

So what is the mistake that job seekers make? They focus on the wrong person. It’s human nature but it’s still a mistake. In other words, instead of focusing on the editors, they focus on the chairman of the Board and clients. They should be focused on the employer not themselves.

First, candidates apply for jobs they want, not jobs for which they are wanted. There’s a huge difference. You see your dream job. You know you can do it. You really, really, really want it! And you apply. And you don’t even get an automated response for their computer system rejecting you. Why? Because they don’t want you. And if you had read the qualifications listed on the job description, through the employer’s eyes and not yours, you would have known you were not going to be considered because they don’t want you. And if they don’t want you, you are wasting your time.

Now, that said, there is nothing wrong with introducing yourself to an employer. Maybe that are thinking about hiring someone for a position that is not yet advertised. And maybe you get lucky. So by all means, send your resume to employers who are hiring, just don’t apply for jobs for which you are unqualified. HR people don’t like that. Some even ask the questions, “Can’t this person read?” “Don’t they know what ‘Required’ means?”

So Rule Number One is, Only apply for jobs for which you are qualified. You will save a lot of frustration.

Now, to continue with our all too real hypothetical scenario, a candidate finds a job for which they are qualified. Now that have to open their tool box. Just as a carpenter, plumber, or electrician needs the right tool for the right job, so does the job seeker.

The first tool in the job seeker’s tool box is the cover letter. The beauty of the cover letter is that, sadly, today, no one knows how to write. So if you write a well-written cover letter, that is short, sweet and to the point, you have already differentiated yourself from your competition in the best possible way.

Now your cover letter needs to answer two questions: What do you want and why should they (the employer) want you? So you clearly state the job for which you are applying and then, in the second paragraph, in one or two sentences, you tell the employer what you have done for your current or previous employer that shows that you can not only fulfill the responsibilities of the job but exceed them. In other words, you don’t tell them why you want the job, you tell them why they should want you. That’s Rule Number Two.

Then you go back to your tool box and remove the other tool you have: Your resume. Rule Number Three is that the resume has to be focused on the employer and not on the candidate. No employer cares what you think about yourself. So a “Personal Statement” or “Personal Philosophy” is simply silly and a waste of valuable real estate. And having an “Objective” is just plain stupid. Your objective should be to get the job for which you are applying. If it is something else, you should not be applying for the job.

So how do you focus your resume on the employer and not on yourself. It’s really quite simple:

Begin with a section titled “Selected Accomplishments.” These are bullet points that, like the second paragraph of the cover letter, tell the employer why they should hire you. It makes you a “safe” hire because they know, or at least they figure, if you did this for others you can do it for them. But it also makes them think: Do we want him/her working for the competition or us?

Also, a good interviewer asks, “Tell me about a failure you had?” It’s a great question. So answer it on the resume. Following “Selected Accomplishments” have a second titled, “Selected Failure.” That’s “failure” singular not plural. Again, as a bullet point, briefly state what the failure was. Then write, in bold What I learned: And then, no surprise, tell them what you learned. This shows that you are self-aware and learn from your failures. Everyone has failed at something. The only time you should be ashamed is if you repeat your failures.

And then there is a third section, “What I want to learn.” This will tell the employer something about you as a professional. It reinforces the fact that you are self-aware and indicates where you want to go with your career. So, for example, if you are in IT, you might include getting certifications. If you are a fundraiser you might want to mention learning planned giving. If you are a teacher, you could mention educational administration. Now with COVID the question will come up, if you have been unemployed for the past three-four months, how have you been spending your time? What have you been doing to achieve these educational goals? If you have not been doing anything to improve professionally, well you have made a very big mistake. I strongly advice that you start correcting it NOW.

So when looking for a job, and applying for a job, keep focused on the employer. Before they will meet your needs, you have to meet theirs. That’s life. That is how the game is played.

Oh, and it’s the same for the interviews. As far as I am concerned, the questions you ask are far more important than the answers you give. But this article is long enough and that’s a topic for another day.

https://hsstaffing.wordpress.com/2020/07/23/the-biggest-mistake-job-seekers-make/