Week 8 - What Color Is Your Parachute: Chapter 7 (Review)

Chapter 7 talks about 6 different ways that you can learn to describe yourself. The purpose of the chapter is to make the person who seeks for jobs to understand more fully who he is, therefore he can approach multiple job-markets. You must understand that you are a person who has different set of skills besides the one you use to find jobs. Understanding this can help you be open for other job positions that you never thought would be profitable; plus, you would perfomr your job with more energy because you are doing something that you really enjoy. 

The chapter goes down by describing yourself with a self-made question "I Am a Person Who..."

- Has had these experiences.
- Is skilled at doing this or that.
- Knows a lot about this or that.
- Is unusual in this way or that.

A different set of exercises inside the chapter will help you go through this questions easily and efficiently, so that by the end of your reading you would have found the truth of your prefered type of job, work environment, and co-workers.

Week 7 - What Color Is Your Parachute: Chapter 6 (Review)

"It's common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something new." - Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

I start this blog with former president of the U.S. quote telling us to not give up, but to find some new way to reach your goals. It is perfect for this chapter that is titled "What to Do When Your Job-Hunt Just isn't Working" and a few little rules that I found here are:

- Never Give Up
- Never Give Up
- Never Give Up

In this chapter, the author explains that there are two ways to hunt for a job: The "Traditional Way" in which the job seeker behaves like a "job-beggar", thinking only what to do to impress them and only worry about their satisfaction in order to get the job. Then, there is the "Parachute Way", a method where your mind is more

selfish but for the good of your future. This method wants you to "figure out what kind of job you would die to do, before you go out hunting", and after getting a second or third interview, it wants you to be honest to yourself instead of desperate and answer the question, "do I like them? Do I enjoy this work environment?". And of course, end the interviews with a thank-you note.

According to the book, the "Traditional Way" fails between 50-86% of the times, while the "Parachute Way" has a success probability of 86% of the time. 

Apparently, this book has a secret recipe to find yourself a job... your dream job.

Week 7 - Weebly Experience

If you've ever thought on creating a website but don't know how to start or design it, then you must try weebly.com. Very user-friendly plus it gives you a wide variety of themes and background pictures for the type of environment you want to give to your website.

Last week I began creating my own website. The first step was to create a domain, or in other words create a name or URL. Then, you begin to choose the layout you want with the different options weebly has for you. Mine ended up something like this:

After you have done these two steps, the next one is to construct what goes in it. You notice that in the picture above I added a big "Welcome" and a quote from Lauren Fishburn about marketing. I did all these things by using the Build section. 

Beneath the Basic panel you will also find a Structure panel, which allows you to move things around your page, a Media panel that allows you to add HD videos, audio files, documents, etc. If your page is for business you also have a panel called Commerce. This gives you the option to tag things a product or Google Adsense.

Weebly's main page has a section calles 'Inspiration Center' where it gives you different articles on how to improve your website so you can experiment all of its features as full percent.

Although I am still trying to figure out what is the real purpose of my website, I don't feel in a rush to do so, therefore in the meantime I will keep experimenting with it. Once Im finished, I will connect it with my Google Analytics page so I can track it's movement. 

Week 6 - What Color Is Your Parachute: Chapter 5 (Review)

This chapter talks about how to negotiate a salary during an interview. It is an interesting chapter because, as a freshly graduated student from college, I didn't think I was in a position to negotiate salary (maybe I am not), but it is always important to acknowledge the fact that it is very possible to negotiate a higher salary than the one the employer thought you would take. The book shares 6 secrets which I have chosen a few to explain and make a short summary.

Secret #1.- NEVER DISCUSS SALARY UNTIL THE END OF THE WHOLE INTERVIEWING PROCESS... That means that when they have decided you that they need you and they are going to make an offer, then it is the time to discuss figures. Before, it would just give them the wrong idea that you are just here for the money and don't really care about the organization's mission and goals.

Secret #3.- DURING A SALARY DISCUSSION, NEVER BE THE FIRST ONE TO MENTION A SALARY FIGURE: Similar to secret number one, always wait for the interviewer to initiate the recompensation talk.If they ask you first "what kind of salary are you looking for?" try to get away from the question by responding with something like "well, you created this position, so you must have some figure in mind, and I'd be interested in first hearing what that figure is". This strategy is for you to know from where to start going up.

Secret #4.- BEFORE YOU GO TO THE INTERVIEW, DO SOME CAREFUL RESEARCH ON TYPICAL SALARIES FOR YOUR FIELD... So, let's say you got a call to interview for the position of "XYZ", and after a few interviews the employer offers you a certain amount of salary for the job- let's say $30,000 a year. Now, you remembered that you searched online, e.g. "average salary for the position XYZ in (your city, or state)", and the results showed you that the average ranges between $35,000 to $45,000. Now that you know this, you are in a total position to negotiate your salary with the interviewer. Why is it worth it? Because by the end of the year you will be making $15,000 more than you would have if you hadn't done some research online.

Of course, all of this negotiating would be useless if by the end of the interview, once both parties had made a deal, you didn't suggested to sign a "letter of agreement". Why? because this document is a promise that all your effort and achievement in negotiating a salary won't be changed. You usually do this because the employer can forget, regret, or simply back off from what was agreed. And that is Secret #6.

Week 6 - What Color Is Your Parachute: Chapter 4 (Review)

Before the day of a big job interview everybody wonders what can they do to nail it, and with chapter 4 "Sixteen Tips About Interviewing for a Job" there is a good chance that you can walk in to the employers office feeling confident. After reading the chapter, I came up with a few short tips that I found to be the most relevant from my standard point of view:

Tip #2.- AN INTERVIEW SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR, BEFORE YOU EVER GO: This means that your first step after being invited to a job interview is to google the company and find out what they do in the "About Us" page. After you know what they do, prepare yourself by analyzing your strongest skills that you believe the employer is looking for on the person who can fill the job position.

Tip #4.- AN INTERVIEW FOR A JOB IS A LOT LIKE DATING: It all comes down to "do I like you?".Do not think for a minute that the only person allowed to ask that question is the employer, because after all, you are looking for a job that you will feel comfortable in years to come. Exactly like dating...

Tip #5.- QUESTIONS TO EXPECT FROM THEM, THEN QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK: This one caught my mind, mainly because I have experienced it and can put you through HELL if you don't know how to answer it. Most of the times, the first question they ask is "Tell me about yourself"... and God as my witness, I hate that question. The only thing to do here is to take 15 minutes of your time before attending to the interview, sit down with a pencil and paper, and write down what you think about yourself, professionaly-speaking. After you have come up with a short but clear answer, now it is time to memorize it. This is the only perfect way to nail that question. But, what can I ask? Something that it can catch the employer's attention that demonstrate your involvement for the job position: "What do you seek in a person who holds the postion?" or something similar to that. That way, you are letting them know that you are very interested in them.

Tip #7.- THE TWENTY-SECOND TO TWO-MINUTE RULE: Even if you are an introvert or a never-in-silence extrovert, it is highly recomended that the answer to their question stay in between 20 seconds and two minutes.

Tip #16.- THANK YOU NOTES MUST BE SENT AFTER EVERY INTERVIEW: It is as simple as it sounds like, ignored by most of job-hunters out there, and as succesfull as ever. It shows courtesy and respect, and it will be a plus that can help you get a second interview. You don't believe it? Last month, my girlfriend was about to head for a job interview when I came up with the last tip before she left. I mentioned it to her and she was skeptical. After the interview, she decided to send a thank you note, and wished for the best outcome of a situation that she felt there was a low chance on getting a second interview. Long story short, after 3 weeks of suspense, she recieved another call from the employer saying that they had received the thank you note and that they wanted her to come back for a second interview. It is like you'd have never thought it could work, but it does.

Going to job interviews can be very stressful, therefore you want to be ready for the best. Chapter 4 of the book is a set of rules on how to make you confident in front of any employer from any company. Best of luck!