How to Prepare for a Job Interview

How to Prepare for a Job Interview In todays competitive job market, you have to prepare well for facing the interview. This infographic, by  Karl Hunt (a writer at  CouponAudit) gives ideas on how to prepare in the right way. Takeaways Before attending the interview, collect as much information as possible about the employer, from the company website (for example). Follow the companys Twitter account to get an idea of their company life. Make sure you know exactly where your interview is taking place you dont want to be late! Practise and rehearse your answers before you go. Make sure you thank the interviewer afterwards. RELATED: How to Succeed in any Job Interview

What Successful People Hate About Feedback - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

What Successful People Hate About Feedback - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career A horror story played out at a board of directors meeting this last week. A venture capital firm called Deep Knowledge appointed an algorithm to its board. The algorithm is engaged in picking the firm’s investments, which are largely in emerging drug companies that develop medicine for aging related diseases. This sorry reliance on data gathered about past success and patterns of behavior (AKA feedback) to predict the future, was portrayed as “futuristic.”  Of course, the algorithms appointment was largely a stunt to get our attention. Not positive attention, but attention nonetheless. It is a cautionary tale. Consider this in your business or career. If all past events could be used to predict future ones, then the world would be a boring place. It would be ridiculously predictable, which of course the world is not. Not at all. For example, at some point in primary school, you spelled some words wrong that you probably could get right today. In fact, you’ve likely come a long way from spelling even being an issue in your life. As I recall, in third grade I spelled “stagecoach” wrong, because I was absent the day Mrs. Cooper assigned it among that week’s vocabulary words. No one thought to catch me up; in fact, in fifth grade the school district offered to take me off my parents’ hands and put me in college. So, there were no worries about my academic prowess from early on. But, of course, being smart doesn’t have a whole lot to do with predictable success. Smart and lucky are a famously excellent set of conditions for success. Here is a nod to whomever defined luck as “opportunity meeting preparation.” Successful people know that looking back to predict what will happen going forward is a fool’s game. It’s why by law, financial companies selling investments while touting a stellar record from a past time period must announce some version of: “past performance is not an indicator of future performance.” Simply put: feedback does not equal feed-forward. It is not just accidents, flukes, “100 year floods” that come twice over two years in a row, or a cleaning lady who is secretly a millionaire leaving her estate to you that stops the world and your life from being some version of Groundhog Day (the movie). Successful people know that past data does not predict behavior. “Just as looks can be deceiving, data can also be deceiving because they’re not the whole picture,” Tony Haile, the chief executive of Chartbeat, which provides real-time analytics for ESPN, CNN and The New York Times Company, opined in the New York Times on Sunday. For every thousand data slaves armpit deep in analytics, there must be one futurist who is in charge of leading an organization, at various levels. You might be that individual. I hope so. To rise above the past, means you have the career-enlivening characteristic of good decision-making now. It means you can ignite conversations about the nuances and the easy to believe but wrong-headed correlations that data would otherwise represent about you, or the industry and world around you. If your personal brand includes problem solving and the ability to sift through data to find what is relevant and not relevant: we really need you in our organizations so you can lead them. Match these qualities with perseverance, resilience, humor, and compassion, and you are unstoppable. Stay skeptical about your past, my friend. Search for bigger, deeper connections than those that come from simple, mechanical calculation. Make sure you are living with ideas about yourself that might be nonsense today, but could be the truth going forward. Don’t let an algorithm or anything else steal your seat at the conference table. Mean more. And tell us exactly what your brand promise will mean to us.

Why You Should Consider Enrolling in an IT-related Course

Why You Should Consider Enrolling in an IT-related Course More women than ever are completing IT-related courses and are going on to pursue extremely successful careers in a wide range of technical disciplines. This trend looks set to continue and its an educational choice you should seriously think about. Below are some of the main reasons why you should consider enrolling in an IT-related course. Improved Career Opportunities IT systems affect almost every aspect of our lives and this means there are countless job opportunities available in this industry. The type of jobs available varies greatly too, with programming, project management, testing, software development, localization and technical support roles amongst the most popular career opportunities available in IT. Once you have obtained a recognized IT qualification like a Data Science Certificate, you will have the opportunity to apply for many high-quality positions. In many instances, once you have overcome this initial hurdle and you have landed one of these jobs, career progression can be fast and you could be making a substantial income in a short period of time. Leads to a Better Lifestyle The career opportunities available in the IT sector mean you have the potential to benefit in many personal and professional ways. The conditions and benefits provided are much better than they are in other industries, which means you and your family will have a much better lifestyle than you would have had if you had not completed an IT-related course. IT Professionals Are in High Demand For the foreseeable future, IT professionals and the skills they offer employers will be in high demand. The technical skills and knowledge you obtain along the way can be utilized by a wide range of organizations. This means you will have more stability in your life, because you know that you will be less likely to get laid off in the future and its also easy to move to another company or role if you wish to do so. Its also reassuring for those with a more adventurous spirit who may decide to travel or relocate and want to work in the host country they will be going to. Its Much Easier and Affordable to Complete this Type of Course In the past, it was not always easy for women to complete an IT-related course. You had to attend lectures and classes in person and the costs associated with studying could be substantial. However, in recent years all of this has changed. The internet and the latest mobile technologies have made it much easier to study online, at any time of the day and from any location in the world. This is the perfect solution for those who may also have to look after a family or those who work at certain times of the day or night. You Get More Respect in the Work Place Unfortunately, if you work and dont have an accredited qualification, you and your work may be taken for granted and may not be respected by employers and fellow employees. However, if you have this type of qualification you will be treated differently and with much more respect. This simple change has the potential to reduce the stress you experience when you work and make your working life a much more bearable and enjoyable existence. Career Change is Easier In some roles, you may have to do the same tasks for your whole career. Having an IT qualification and working in IT is different. Most of todays IT courses cover a wide range of technical topics, which means you could start off on one type of IT career path, but eventually move into another area altogether. This variety and ability to change careers in the IT sector is an attractive proposition for people who are eager to progress and dont want to get stuck in a rut. You Will Build Up a Valuable Network Starting an IT course is one of the most effective ways to get introduced to other IT professionals. These professionals include lecturers, administration staff, IT professionals who contribute to certain courses and other students. Over time, you can build up a network of these IT professionals who may be able to give you valuable tips and advice, let you know about career opportunities and much more. There are many good reasons why you should enroll in an IT-related course. At first, it may seem like a giant leap of faith, but youll soon find out that you will get many career and life opportunities that you may not have believed existed. The points mentioned above are just some of the main reasons why you should consider this type of course and there are many others too.