Companies use testing to objectify the hiring process. No one has to put their butt on the line and risk being the only person who wants to hire you if they rely on the test. That’s reality and it isn’t going to change.

You may be fortunate if you’ve just come from an environment, i.e. school, where testing is routine. Whatever you do, don’t say something stupid like, “Oh, my God, I’m absolutely awful when it comes to tests.” This may be true, but don’t tell a prospective employer.

Before you take the test, get lots of rest, eat a good meal, and relax. Do the very best you can. Look at it as a challenge. Take it in stride. Trying to prepare for it is useless. Do not be overly analytical or agonize over each answer, nor should you be flippant about the answers you give. Do not try to outguess the test! If your answers are based on what you think they are trying to find, you are finished. You can’t outguess them.

The post Tip #41 Testing – What Kind of Animal Are You? appeared first on Interview and Job Search Tips - Tonybeshara.com.

Over the years, I’ve seen candidates in difficult situations. Some were fired or laid off; others suffered a bankruptcy, battled illness, or many other drastic circumstances. Some of these people dealt with their situation positively, in ways that actually led them to a better job. Others, who possessed experiences, backgrounds, and resumes that were just as good, struggled to find a job. I saw that the successful job seekers shared common characteristics, and that they were taking certain actions that made the job search easier for them.

I must admit that I’m not really sure why these actions, which I call practical spirituality, work. I cannot provide any scientific explanation or proof, but I will absolutely stake my reputation on the fact that practical spirituality works. When faced with the stress and strain of physical or emotional challenges, like finding a job, our dark side can override our normal nature. For most of us, that dark side causes us to become self-centered and fearful. We develop a tendency to be negative and express our unhappiness to anyone who will listen. If fear completely overcomes us, we can become hostile – if not overtly, then in a subtle, passive-aggressive manner. This is definitely not the state of mind for a job seeker.

Be aware that in order to:

• Get people to give you the benefit of the doubt, you must give them the benefit of the doubt

• Get people to listen to you, you must listen to them

• Get people to understand you, you must understand them

• Get people to appreciate you, you must appreciate them

• Get people to have empathy for you, you must have empathy for them

• Get people to give you a chance, you must give them a chance

• Get people to give you a job, you must convince them you can do the job

In other words, you have to escape your self-centered focus and pained emotions and concentrate on what you can do for others.

Here are some of the very positive actions I have seen successful people do, however don’t limit yourself to these:

Be grateful for the opportunities that are available to you.

Be nice – even when you were hurting emotionally. Go out of your way to be really nice to people when you don’t necessarily feel nice.

“Create flow” by getting rid of the clutter in your car, your room, in any space that you occupy. Give away what you’re not using.

Practice forgiveness. There are a few things that are as spiritually uplifting as forgiveness. First, forgive yourself for all the stupid things you’ve done to yourself and others. Then make a list of all the people that suffered your transgressions. Call, write, or email these people and ask them for forgiveness. At the same time, make a list of all those people who may have committed transgressions against you. Call, write or email these people and forgive them. Don’t expect a return call, letter, or email. That’s not the point. Your spiritual growth depends on your ability to forgive others, not theirs.

Start a prayer or intentions list – even if you may not believe in prayer. You don’t have to believe in it to make it work. The purpose is for you to pass along positive intentions to specific people. It’s a form of giving. After all, you are a person who wants to receive; so, in order to receive, you’re going have to give and this is one of the ways of doing it.

Volunteer, if you haven’t already. There are hundreds of volunteer organizations that help people who really need to be helped. This is a form of giving while asking nothing in return. For example, serve food at a soup kitchen, build homes with Habitat for Humanity, and so forth. A secondary, possibly primary, benefit to volunteering is that you not only make contacts with all levels of people, you could also get a job or interview. I have known a number of people over the years that have either been hired or referred to their next job by someone they met as a volunteer.

Seek peace, as in solitude and serenity, especially in the morning. Finding moments of peace throughout the day, however brief they may be, doesn’t hurt either. Stay away from negative people, violent movies or television, and other emotionally draining activities.

Let go of the stuff you really don’t need. Learning to give anonymously is truly a great experience. For example, I keep $5 gift certificates from one of the fast-food chains in the console of my car. When a street person asks me for a handout, I give them a gift certificate. It’s a great feeling, and it only costs $5.

Releasing resistance is another form of letting go. Emotionally, when we resist any particular feeling that feeling remains. What we resist persists. The sooner you can release your resistance to any negative feelings, the better off you are.

Practice acceptance of things just the way they are. Develop the ability to accept even what we don’t like just for what it is. It is like being stuck in terrible traffic and saying to yourself, “How wonderful it is to be there. What great traffic this is. I haven’t seen a wonderful traffic jam like this in years.” You will absolutely be amazed at how effective it is.

Laugh a lot. Read jokes. Watch funny movies. Listen to a child’s laughter – it is one of the most infectious feelings there is. Studies show that laughter decreases the chemicals produced by the body when stressed.

Practice empathy by asking yourself, “How does that person see or feel about the world?”

Sacrifice comes from the Latin word that means, “to make holy.” Pass up the ice cream cones or the desert you love for a week or so. Make a visit to your church, synagogue, or mosque when you don’t really “have to.” Fast one day a week (but not before an interview).

Other ways. Donate blood. Let someone cut ahead of you in line. Don’t criticize anyone for 24 hours. Write or call a friend whom you haven’t talked to in a long time. Watch the children play and try to remember what it felt like. Write three sentences that you would like people to say about you at your funeral. Be quiet for three hours at a time. Rediscover rituals and the family. Slow down and rest. Learn a form of meditation.

Finally, there are thousands of books, articles, CD’s, audiotapes, and videos that can help you become more spiritual. It can make all the difference in the world. In spite of the fact that looking for a job is an emotionally stressful thing to do, feeding the spiritual side of your being, in the process, can make it a truly positive experience.

The post Tip #28 Karma Will Help You Get a Job appeared first on Interview and Job Search Tips - Tonybeshara.com.

The employers you interview with have no more emotional and psychological people skills than does the average shift manger at a fast food restaurant. A Harvard MBA doesn’t teach a person much about hiring and managing people. Don’t expect that because you have a new degree everyone else will suddenly become more intelligent, or have common sense. People won’t be more courteous, prompt, reliable, or responsive. In short, they won’t make good business decisions, or make them quickly. Did you know:

• 69% of US companies have fewer than one hundred employees

• 98% of US companies have fewer than one hundred people in each location.

Thus, the vast majority of the businesses in this country operate like small businesses. Brian Tracy, one of the most popular business consultants in the country, describes most of the businesses as “greedy, selfish, lazy, impatient, vain, and ignorant.” They are just like the managers running them.

Don’t expect that high intelligence or business acumen are a given in business managers. These managers will interview you and promise that you’ll hear from them soon … and you’ll never hear from them again. They will tell you that you are an excellent candidate and then you’ll find out that they hired someone else. They will interview you three or four times – even tell you that they would like to hire you – but it doesn’t happen.

Most candidates, especially those without a lot of business experience, don’t realize all of the peripheral issues that go into a hiring a candidate. You might be surprised to learn that 30 percent of the times when a company claims that they need to hire somebody … they don’t. They change their minds for a myriad of reasons, but the result is the same – no one is hired.

Hiring people is an emotionally charged issue; most hiring authorities fear making a mistake. No mistake is good, but a hiring mistake is one of the worst a manager can make. You need to be aware that the fear of making a mistake can drive the decision-making process for a hiring authority. A major goal for your job interview is to assure the hiring manager that he would not be making a mistake by hiring you.

Here are some things you need to remember:

• The only thing that employers care about is getting their job done … they don’t care about you!
• You should expect lies and confusion.
• You don’t have anything to consider until you have an offer!

While I don’t want to discourage you by suggesting that you will not be treated well in the interview process, the truth is grim. You’re going to be lied to, led astray, and unfairly encouraged, discouraged, ignored, and/or made to feel insignificant in about every possible way.

However, keep in mind that:

You can control the number of interviews you create for yourself and you can control your attitude.

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The post Tip #21 Employers – Alpha Dog or Runt on ‘Roids appeared first on Interview and Job Search Tips - Tonybeshara.com.

“Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals, and I’ll give you a stock clerk.”

Goal setting is critical to having a positive attitude. I recently heard an author on Oprah talk about “The Law of Attraction.” I heard the same theory years ago phrased as “where the mind goes, energy flows.” When you focus on your job search, you feel energized and positive results will happen. In fact, your job search can become an obsession. Some people will spend every waking moment focused on finding a new job. Do you doubt they will be successful?

Your mind’s “interest” wants to give you what you want, but you need to make every effort possible to ask. Written goals are a very clear-cut way of “asking” the universe.

Goals need to be S.M.A.R.T.

S – Specific and simple. Stated in the present with sensory-based language.
M – Manageable, measurable, and motivational. I can, I do, and I feel.
A – Attainable and achievable. They should be a stretch, but very possible.
R – Relevant, risk oriented, challenge/skill based.
T – Track-able and timed. Measure the process and set dates of accomplishment.

The post Tip #10 Bend it Like Beckham – Make Goals appeared first on Interview and Job Search Tips - Tonybeshara.com.

Through the Tips on this site, you will learn how to take “Massive Action” with your job search campaign. By executing that action plan, your focus is not on problems or frustrations. Every day you work the plan and every day you see results. Focus on taking positive steps and all your steps will be positive.

The final step to dealing with negativity can be the most effective. I recommend that you read or listen to inspirational and motivational books, tapes, and CDs. Watching television, playing video games, going to the movies, or even listening to music can help your attitude by letting you forget your problems for a few moments, however as soon as you stop those activities the feelings return and you’ve made no progress. Motivational messages stay with you after you have stopped reading or listening. They go with you into the interview room.

Here is a partial list of books and tapes I’ve reviewed and can recommend as you look for a job. They will get you through the difficult times – and there will be difficult times.

Books:

• Acres of Diamonds, Russell Conwell
• The Richest Man in Babylon, G. Clason
• Man’s Search for Meaning, V. Frankl
• As a Man Thinketh, James Allen
• Psychocybernetics, M. Maltz
• Taming Your Gremlins, Richard Carson
• The Job Search Solution, Tony Beshara(OK, so that last one is my book. It has a lot of positive information that relates to finding a job and life in general)

I can recommend spiritual books, like the Bible, Torah, Koran, etc., and prayer as well.

Motivational tapes by:

• Brian Tracy
• Anthony Robbins
• Phil McGraw (Dr. Phil)
• Dennis Waitle
• Zig Ziglar
• Wayne Dyer
• Steven Covey
• Dan Millman

The post Tip #9 Psyche Out the Negativity appeared first on Interview and Job Search Tips - Tonybeshara.com.

The job of finding a job is not easy. It requires hard work and results in a lot of disappointment and frustration. Unfortunately, you cannot cope with its stress by taking a few days to mope around – if you expect a job any time soon. Your attitude needs to be positive, expectant, and grateful almost every day. You must be prepared for refusals, rejections, and blatant rudeness. I know that these are not natural character traits; they must be learned.

There daily exercises required to maintain the positive attitude you need to come across in the phone calls you make, the e-mails you write, and the interviews you have. Importantly, your family and loved ones should also see this attitude – remember that your job search is stressful on them as well.

Even if you have a positive attitude, as many of us think we do, you need to work on it all the time. Although this is a beautiful, wondrous, and mystical world, many negative things are going to happen to you, if they haven’t already. You cannot prevent every one of these negatives from happening, but you can control how you respond to them.

The first step in dealing with negatives is to understand and expect them. In your job search, expect to work hard, expect to be rejected many times, and expect to become frustrated. Understand what effect each will have on your psyche and prepare yourself for those feelings by having a plan to combat them.

The post Tip #8 Finding a Job is a JOB! appeared first on Interview and Job Search Tips - Tonybeshara.com.

I find testing from organizations like The Johnson O’Connor Foundation and Aims Testing very valuable. They will, for a fee, evaluate your mental and emotional aptitude for success in many different categories. Say you might want to teach, for example, but testing reveals that you don’t have patience with people – teaching may not be the career for you. Similarly, if you love music, but learn that you are tone deaf after aptitude testing, you might forget singing and seek opportunities on the business side of the industry.

Understand that aptitude tests do not measure passion or commitment; they only measure your natural abilities. Obviously, we all know of people who overcame a lack of natural ability for their profession (ex. a short basketball player) because they were committed to their dream. Still, it is good to know what your natural talents are before you enter the job market so you can sell around them.

Other kinds of tests are:

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – assesses your personality type and evaluates its suitability for specific careers and work environments.

Strong Interest Inventory – compares your interests to those of professionals in various fields and suggests academic majors, courses, activities, and internships.

Self-Directed Search – do-it-yourself aptitude testing that recommends careers.

College Major Finder – a supplement to the Self-Directed Search that matches your interests with academic majors.

The Birkman Method – evaluates your personality’s suitability for the exact career you have in mind. You move forward with an added element of self-awareness.

The post Tip #7 Play to Your Own Strengths appeared first on Interview and Job Search Tips - Tonybeshara.com.