Category: Budgeting

When a family or business creates a written plan outlining amounts of available cash resources to be spent for a specific – usually in a calendar month for a family and a fiscal year for a business. A business budget is thought of as a financial blueprint of the business, while a family budget helps to control overspending.

Importance of Skills Emphasis for Job Interviews


Skills Emphasis?

Skill emphasis during the interview is important to show the employer what makes you different from all the other job candidates. In this competitive world, companies search for the most qualified employees by weighing skills of the candidates and determining how they would benefit the company.

A majority of the top companies search for employees who stand out based on their expertise and ability to initiate and work with new developments. Many of these companies also acknowledge that pleasing personalities would enhance the organization.

Skills are grouped into three kinds: knowledge-based, transferable, and personal traits.

Knowledge-based skills

Knowledge-based skills are those learned from experiences – These may include educational attainment, additional training, seminars attended, and other subjects that you have studied to enhance your expertise.

Knowledge-based skills might also include computer and communication skills, marketing or managerial abilities, product development, and other such acquired capabilities. These skills vary depending on the field or industry of each job candidate.

Transferable/portable skills

Transferable or portable skills are those you bring to a specific job – This is the reason why interviewers ask, “What could you offer the company?” Transferable skills are important because companies strive to look for quality employees that would improve the development of the workforce.

Portable skills include problem solving, team leader potential, organizational, writing and communication skills, customer service oriented skills, time and project management, as well as numbers and budgetary expertise. These kinds of skills vary depending on the experience and versatility of each job candidate.

Personal traits

Personal traits determine who you are – In a job interview, one of the most common things an employer might say is “Tell me something about yourself.” Your response is vital because it would set the tone for the rest of the interview.

Personal traits include good judgment, good organizational tendencies, analytical, goal oriented, flexible, creative and many more. Try to sell yourself in as modest a manner as possible within a limited time frame.

Self-assessment

Self-assessment – In order to provide an impressive presentation, examine your resume and list all the skills you have used for each past job experience. Make a comprehensive list of your skills and strengths including personal traits, knowledge-based and transferable skills. This would be the basis for your personal commercial.

Once you have completed your script, you are now ready to face the interviewer. Remember that employers are interested in your accomplishments, so use words that are concise, direct and clear.

Although many companies require a unique set of skills, you should still highlight your technical skills in the interview. These skills, which top companies usually seek, include leadership, communication skills, confidence, flexibility, problem solving abilities and energy. Emphasizing all of your strengths and skills on job interviews would increase your chances of landing the desired job.

Can't go wrong when the science is right

Making the Best Out of Job Fairs

Finding a job is no doubt a daunting task; so much so that job seekers tend to look far and wide in order to find the best methods they believe will lead to the best jobs. And even after investing so much time and energy they often discover that all strategies have not been utilized.

One example of such under utilized methods is the use of job fairs which are often overlooked. This is because many job seekers get annoyed with the full capacity, hectic activity, and baffling series of events associated with job fairs. Such crowded spaces and the annoyance which they invoke do not reduce the effectiveness of job fairs as the best places to land a job.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall employment is likely to be boosted by 15%, a subsequence of which would be an enhanced capacity of job fairs as the best places to find a job since many companies will be participating in these events.

There is also the possibility of a misperception about how crowded job fairs are, because when you really think about it, they are not really that bustling. The important thing is to provide the necessary information, documents (where applicable) and desire needed for a job application and the rest, as they say, is history.

Here are a few things a job seeker must have by the time s/he is at the job fair in order to make the most out of it:

1. Advance research can be very helpful.

Most job seekers aim to find the best employment possible. Hence, it is important to do some advance research before going to a job fair. Usually, the organizers of this event will post information about companies that will participate in the job fair. Obtaining some information about the companies and the position being offered would be an edge over the others.

2. Job seekers should have enough resumes.

It would be a good idea for job seekers to have enough copies of their resumes, at least 25, before going to the job fair. This way, the applicant will be able to provide resumes to all the potential employers in a job fair. Your chances of securing employment increases with the number of applications (and resumes) you submit.

3. Job seekers should know how important it is to dress for the occasion.

According to the old adage, the first impression is a lasting impression. Therefore, in order to be cut above the rest of job seekers, an individual should learn how to impress his or her future employer by dressing to impress. The attire should project a professional outlook, enthusiasm, and determination to get the job that s/he really wants.

4. Job seekers should be prepared for some on-the-spot interviews.

5. An applicant should have a list of the companies where he or she had given his or her resume.

Knowing these things can be very helpful, especially if it is the applicant’s first time at a job fair. Hence, people should be more aware of the benefits they can derive simply by participating in job fairs.