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eTreat™ is a weekly digital newsletter provided to you by JobDig. Our goal is to deliver you helpful tips and advice on how to find a job and improve or advance your career.
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Family Maps
By Maureen Anderson
You may think you know how your family's values have influenced your career choices. But career consultant Julie Brown wonders if you realize the full extent of that influence. She thinks committing a family career history to paper is enlightening. She suggests you draw circles for females, squares for males, and write their job titles inside.
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The Words You Use Send a Strong Message
By Carole Martin
The words you use to express yourself say more about you than you think. In fact, your vocabulary and the use of appropriate words say more about you than the message you are trying communicate. You are judged by the words you use. When you are looking for a job it is not only important to use the "right" words and language - it is essential.
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Family Maps
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By Maureen Anderson
You may think you know how your family's values have influenced your career choices. But career consultant Julie Brown wonders if you realize the full extent of that influence. She thinks committing a family career history to paper is enlightening. She suggests you draw circles for females, squares for males, and write their job titles inside. What do your parents do? Your grandparents? Siblings? And so on. Family members give messages, Brown says, about acceptable career choices--and some of those are subtle. "My father would express a lot of enthusiasm when I brought home a finance book from school," she says. "'Oh come sit down here,' he'd say. 'Bring that book over and let's look at it together.' But my love was dramatic literature classes and they never inspired his enthusiasm. He never asked to see those textbooks."
Brown knows a physician with an artistic bent who used a family map to discover why he believed creative equals crazy. His uncle, an artist, was "the crazy uncle" because he didn't follow the rest of the family into a profession like medicine, law or business. The physician didn't realize until he drew a family map just how many of his relatives had stuck with that tradition. No wonder he waited so long to indulge his creative side, Brown adds. He was afraid of losing the respect of people he loved.
Mapping your family's career choices won't take much time, Brown says, and it can be a valuable tool can help you look at your own choices more objectively.
Maureen Anderson is host of the syndicated radio program, The Career Clinic(R). She is the author, with Dick Beardsley, of Staying the Course: A Runner's Toughest Race (University of Minnesota Press, 2002). She is also the author, with Jon Hovde, of Left for Dead: A Second Life after Vietnam (Minnesota, 2005). Her articles and essays have appeared in publications ranging from Radio World to Spirituality & Health. You can learn more at www.thecareerclinic.com
The Words You Use Send a Strong Message
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By Carole Martin
The words you use to express yourself say more about you than you think. In fact, your vocabulary and the use of appropriate words say more about you than the message you are trying communicate. You are judged by the words you use. When you are looking for a job it is not only important to use the "right" words and language - it is essential.
It begins with the writing of your resume and continues in the way that you answer the questions asked in an interview. Each industry uses "key words" or "lingo" for each position. In order to be prepared it will be important for you to research these words and to use them appropriately. If you do you will sound more knowledgeable and "in-the-know."
How will I know which words are "key"?
Key words are found in job postings/ads. For each position there are common words that describe what is required for a job. Job postings are a list of qualities and skills employers are looking for in a candidate - their "wish list."
Here is an example of common words used in postings for an Executive Secretary position: (Six postings were used).
- Confidential (used in all six postings)
- Ability to proofread and edit (used in all six postings)
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills (used in four of six postings)
- Organized, Attention to detail (used in all six postings)
- Other words used included, Discretion, Judgment, Self-starter, Scheduling, Prioritize, and Multi-tasking.
If you are applying for an Executive secretary position these are the key words to include in your cover letter and resume. Electronic resume scanners will seek out these words to select your resume as qualified for the position. If these words are missing your resume may not be selected. These are also the words to use in the interview that will make you sound like someone who is a good fit for the position.
Finding the Key Words for Your Position
A good place to start is with job postings. Common words are used to describe the requirements needed for each job. By printing out several posting you will begin to see the "key" words repeated over and over. The only criteria for finding these words should be that you are interested in the job and not limiting your search by location. Make a list of the words that are used repeatedly and note how often they are used.
Another source of words is The Occupational Information Network http://online.onetcenter.org/. You will find a complete list of occupation keywords, SOC codes, Job Families. This site also lists skills required - basic skills, social skills, experience and tasks required. Check these words against the list from the job postings you used to build a stronger list.
When you begin to write your resume or prepare your interview script you will find these words invaluable. Of course, you would never use a word just to impress your interviewer. Knowing the definition behind the word is what will convince the interviewer that you know what you are talking about.
The right words can make a big difference in a single statement - more concise and to the point - more powerful and impressive. Finding the "key" words will make your statements more powerful. Speaking the industry lingo will help you be taken more seriously as a candidate worthy of a job offer.
Carole Martin is a thoroughbred interview coach. Celebrated author, trainer, and mentor, Carole can give you interviewing tips like no one else can. Subscribe to her free email
e-course, "Knock'em Dead - Get the Job!" at www.interviewcoach.com. Her workbook, "Interview Fitness Training - A Workout With the Interview Coach," has sold thousands of copies world-wide. Other books are, "Boost Your Interview IQ," and "Perfect Phrases for the Perfect Interview," both available on Amazon.com.
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