Research Sites and Additional Tips

This section provides general information which may prove beneficial to those “Looking for Work” and should give some direction to your research and provoke thought in your preparation in your search for work.

Personality and Psychometric Testing – Research Sites!
Career Assessment tests have come a long way since your guidance counsellor gave you the "fill-in-the-dot" model. Today's crop includes versions that are interactive and - sometime - even fun.
My Queendom for a Career Test
When it comes to career tests, Queendom.com has the mother lode, with 35 tests measuring everything from "Coping Skills" to "Power Profile." http://www.queendom.com/tests/career/index.html

What Colour Is Your Work Style?
Based on the popular "Birkman Method," this 24-question, colour-coded test can help you zero in on your ideal career. http://www.review.com/career/careerquizhome.cfm

Ye Olde Jobbe Test
This humorous quiz reveals the medieval occupation that suits you best.
http://www.cmi-lmi.com/enterppp.html

Business Etiquette
Who foots the bill for a business lunch? Who initiates a handshake? Etiquette Ladiesto the rescue.
http://www.canoe.ca/LifewiseWorkEtiquette/eti_quiz.html

The 'Stressometer'
How stressful is your job? Take a breather - and this quiz - to find out.
http://www.pbs.org/weblab/workingstiff/stressometer/

Job Satisfaction
This calculator computes how close your current job is to your ideal job.
http://ka-ching.oxygen.com/tools/calcs/career_calc.html

Childish Career Quizzes
The companion site for "Bob's Job," a children's TV show focused on careers, features some quizzes for the kids.
http://www.bobsjob.com/

The Three Rs
Are you ready to retire? Find out with your Retirement Readiness Rating.
http://www.asec.org/rrr.htm

Resume and Interview Quizzes
Put your resume and interview skills to the test ... specifically these five tests. Humpty Dumpty Was, Are You? A resume egghead that is. Find out in 10 questions.
http://www.nextsteps.org/net/resume/resquiz.htm

What's Your Type?
Vexed by job applications that ask how many words you type per minute? Use this test to find out.
http://universityoflife.com/typingtest.htm

Milk, No Sugar
Is the receptionist who greets you at an interview expected to fetch you a cup of coffee? Find out here.
http://www.thomasmore.edu/career/jobs1/test.html

Trick Questions
Smoking during the interview? Bringing a friend along? This interview quiz throws a couple of curve balls.
http://www.chesgroup.com/dynamic/quiz.htm

Tests With Personality
Around 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies require job candidates to take personality tests - that's nearly double the 1999 rate, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
You can find thousands of these tests online. Some of them are serious psychological profiles, others are just plain fun.

The Keirsey Temperament Sorter II
Hailed as the "Internet's Number One Personality Test," the KTSII ranks test takers as Artisans, Guardians, Rationals or Idealists.
http://www.advisorteam.com/user/ktsintro.asp

The Jung-Myers-Briggs
A mother-daughter team developed this popular test using the teachings of psychoanalyst Carl Jung. It pinpoints personality using four scales: Extraversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling and
Judging/Perceiving.
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

International Personality Item Pool
Choose the 300-item version for the most accurate result.
http://cac.psu.edu/~j5j/test/ipipneo1.htm

The One-Question Personality Profile
I didn't think one question could possibly determine my personality, but this test did almost as well as the more complicated Jung-Meyers-Briggs.
http://soli.inav.net/~catalyst/Type/mbtione1.htm

Find Your 'Star Wars' Twin
Think this test is all fun and games? Think again. The site reminds visitors that the test is "well-accepted and widely used in the personality field of psychology." Sure, and Darth Vader is Luke's father.
http://www.outofservice.com/starwars/

Things to avoid in interview
The successful candidate should know what signs to avoid displaying during any business encounter. These include:
• Hand behind the head: This is a universal sign that people are uncertain or annoyed, according to Givens.
• Palm-down gestures: Avoid these signs as they are generally reserved for authority figures. Flashing power signs in an interview might hint at a power struggle.
• Tilting heads: While Givens acknowledges that this is a "great courtship signal," he advises against it for the job interview.
• Laughter: Feel free to laugh along with the interviewer, but don't erupt into laughter on your own.

The Handshake
No wonder some people have trouble getting a handle on handshaking. It's probably the only time during a job interview that you're going to touch the interviewer - that stranger who will help decide whether or not you get the job. Shaking hands can also be, well, a little yucky. Take the infamous meeting of famed author James Joyce and one of his fans. The fan asked to kiss the hand of the man who wrote "Ulysses." Joyce declined, saying the hand "did lots of other things, too."
Awkward elements aside, the handshake is an invaluable part of a job interview, networking social or company event. Here's are some tips for mastering your shake.
Don't Sweat It
It may seem simple, but shaking a stranger's hand triggers a complex series of biological events. The heart beat increases, blood pressure rises, muscles tense, pupils dilate, acid floods the stomach and - perhaps most seriously for the job candidate - the skin breaks out in sweat.
"That old problem of sweaty palms is going to be a given," says David Givens, Director of the Centre for Nonverbal Studies in Spokane, Washington. His advice? Don't worry. "If you worry, it might get worse," Givens says.
Susan Bixler, President of Professional Image, Inc., a corporate image consulting group based in Atlanta, suggests washing hands with cool water directly before the interview.

Other suggestions:
• Keep palms open - not wadded into fists - prior to the interview.
• Keep a tissue or handkerchief in your pocket to wipe off excess sweat.

The Eyes Have It
Shaking hands involves two parts of your body: Your hand and your eyes. "I meet so many people who shake hands and do not make eye contact," says Bixler. "Make eye contact until you notice the colour of someone's eyes," she says.
Get a Grip
When it comes to handshaking, the mantra is: "Not too long, not too short, not too hard," according to Givens. "The handshake should be a quick, businesslike shake of the hand, where you engage the entire palm of the person and where you use a moderate grip - not super strong, but not weak," says Givens. "If you do those things you'll be fine."
"Assume [the handshake] is going to be firm and match pressure," says Bixler. Handshake or Personality Test?
What's the big deal about handshakes?
Aside from your appearance, the handshake helps determine the first impression you make when meeting a stranger. Furthermore, researchers have proven that a person's handshake can reflect his or
her personality. A University of Alabama study found that a person's handshake reflects certain key personality traits, including confidence, degree of shyness and neuroticism. (Not surprisingly, folks with firmer handshakes were found to be more confident, less shy and less neurotic.)

A guide to lying on your cv.
It is widely considered amongst recruiters that the phrase “Curriculum Vitae” is Latin for “Lie Sheet” and in the mid 1990’s the C.I.A. in America investigated and established that in over 90% of the resumes that they reviewed, there were significant errors, omissions or dishonest claims, some 30% of which could be
considered fraudulent.
Everybody massages their attributes to suit the job to which they are applying, but there is a fine line between manipulating facts and creating fiction. If you fabricate qualifications and employment history on your CV then you not only run the risk of being discovered, but also risk leaving your career in tatters and your reputation in ruins. However, in the unlikely event that an employer doesn't check your references
and qualifications, then you may get away with your deception. You will have secured yourself a job which would usually have been outside of your grasp. The decision is yours, bear in mind that lying on your CV is a not something to be undertaken lightly, and is certainly not something to be recommended.

Massaging the truth
Your CV should be individually tailored to each job you apply for. You should push to the fore the skills and desirable features of your background that are most relevant to the job to which you are applying. The need to show the employer what they want to see, in doing so securing an interview, can lead to applicants falsifying the facts. For example a common deception is to exaggerate the time that you have worked in a
previous position - writing 6 months instead of 4, or writing that you earned a 2:1 at degree level instead of a 2:2.
Applicants make all sorts of extravagant claims on their CVs. Some have been know to write a different degree qualification on each application they send out.

Top five CV fibs:
1. Saying you worked for a company longer than you did
2. Making up qualifications
3. Manufacturing work experience
4. Making up hobbies and interests
5. Making up attributes - for example that you are organised

Can you get away with it?
The interview
No matter what you write on your CV you should be prepared to justify its contents in an interview. If you cannot talk lucidly about your education, previous work experience and every other detail you have transcribed then the interviewer will see through your deception far quicker than you expect.
Hesitation and a lack of confidence expressed in your body language and tone can indicate to an interviewer that you are being less than honest. It will be here where you are undone.
To reach the interview stage you will have shown that you have the qualifications for the job. At interview you have to reinforce your work and academic experience with your personality. A question that often arises is "tell me about yourself", if you have written a pack of lies on your CV you have to hope that your acting skills are good enough, more often than not they will be well below par.
References
To substantiate work experience details employers ask for references from your previous employers. Often they will request that you bring your references with you to an interview or that you send them in afterwards, possibly after you have been offered the job. It has been known for HR managers to offer a job to a candidate, ask for references and then never hear from that person again. Not only will this 'burn your bridges' with that particular company you are also running the risk of burning your bridges with a number of other companies should you build up a reputation of acting in this way.
Psychometric testing
Psychometric testing is increasingly used in the recruitment process. Employers us testing to assess a candidates attributes and their suitability for the job. A skill-based psychometric test and a personality test should be able to see through candidates CV deceptions. Those that think that they can cheat on a psychometric test may be surprised at how difficult it is. Good psychometric tests take into account that
applicants may refine their responses to what they think the employer wants to see.
For example tests subtly repeat questions phrased differently to see if the response is the same. In many cases this can be a clear indication of the candidate's inconsistency. In the case of personality tests, there is no right or wrong answer so it may be tricky to gauge what attributes an employer is looking for. Either way, if you pretend to be something that you are not then this will be clearly seen by the assessor.
Working on the job
If you do get a job based upon manufactured qualifications you must hope that you have the skills to do the job competently. If you are unable to do the work you will not retain the post for very long. Convincing an interviewer is one thing, but if you get the job you will then be required to convince your colleagues and clients that you are good enough to have been selected. They will be able to see through your inconsistencies very quickly and a damaged reputation can be very difficult to repair.
Cheating on your CV is easier (or harder) to get away with depending on what industry you work in. It would be very difficult to bluff your way into IT, engineering or chemistry without a solid education and background in those disciplines. We cannot understand why a candidate would pretend to be something that they are not in order to obtain employment in a role for which they are either unsuited or ill equipped to satisfy. This is a significant waste of everyone’s time, effort and in the case of the recruiter, significant amounts of money also.
Rely upon conscience and better judgement
Blatantly lying on your CV is a risky business and not at all recommended. It is a shortsighted solution to a larger problem - that of not having the skills you require to progress along the career path you want. If you are serious about entering a profession you are not currently qualified for, instead of manufacturing qualifications on your CV, go back to college and earn them. Instead of making up experience, go out and find a company that will provide you with the experience that you strive for.
More advice for CV’s
The least creative people I know for some reason love to muck up their resumes. You could put a jumbo box of crayons and a table-size drawing pad in front of these folks and they'd write their name. But, get them anywhere near a resume and stand back! They use childish fonts, like Comic Sans; print their resumes on pastel yellow or pink paper; even add graphics.
In a good resume, skills and experience speak for themselves. If recruiters want to see jazzy fonts and patterned paper, they'll dig through all those resumes in their trashcan!
A final tip for your cv would be what to name it! In the event that your cv is to be emailed on to a recruiter, give some consideration for the number of simple MS Word documents that will arrive that are entitles “my cv” or “cv.doc” Now imagine that yours is the one that they really want to revisit but unfortunately it has been lost amongst 200 others that are equally imaginative in their title. How much more memorable is “Andrea Swain, Senior Manager, 07909 123456.doc” as a title? Now consider what yours is called!
Emphasize behavioural competencies (Soft Skills)
As a scholar, you have many valuable skills: Researching, writing, management, team building, multitasking and public speaking. Dr. Robin Wagner, Associate Director for Graduate Services, Career and Placement Services at the University of Chicago, emphasizes that even teaching experience has tremendous value.
"Listening, sympathizing, summarizing important things, presentation style ...
Teachers speak in front of large groups every day. That's a fantastic skill," says Wagner.
Other behavioural competencies that many Ph.D. students and recipients can showcase:
• Mathematics: Especially advanced mathematics, statistics and high-level analysis
• Research skills: Fieldwork, surveys, library and Internet research
• Comprehension: Reading complex materials and translating them into understandable segments
• Computer skills: Microsoft Word and Excel are commonly used on campuses. Any Internet skills should be emphasized as well.
Get to the point.
CVs often overflow with embedded facts and descriptions. Resumes, however, are meant to transfer as much information as possible in a short amount of space. Your resume should never spend more than a line or two on any particular fact. Use sentence fragments with as few words as possible to make your point. Use action verbs. Eliminate articles and pronouns. Do whatever you can to stuff as much information on that one page without making it look busy or sloppy.
"I got a fantastic response to my resume when I used bullet points, verbs and fragments and took out the adjectives and adverbs," says NYU graduate Shore. Your resume is already jam-packed with facts about your skills, experiences and achievements. What more does an employer need to know? A lot. For instance: Are
you team-oriented? Can you solve problems creatively? Can you communicate ideas effectively? These are generally referred to as "soft skills," qualities that employers always seek. And the perfect place to display your numerous soft skills is in an interview.
Be a Problem Solver
Remember those awful word problems you had to solve in fourth-grade math class? Good news: It wasn't a waste of time. Problem-solving skills are widely valued in the business world and companies are on the lookout for candidates who can solve problems quickly, creatively and cheaply. From cutting budgets, to handling crises, to meeting seemingly impossible deadlines, just about every job will eventually ask you to play Sherlock Holmes. Some interviewers may ask tricky questions directed at gauging your problem-solving skills.
For instance, "How many blue cars are there in the United States?" The interviewer will then want to hear how you'd go about reaching an answer. You might say, "Well, there are about 270 million people in the United States. Perhaps 40 million of them are under 16, and perhaps another 40 million don't have driver's licenses. So there are 190 million people who are eligible to own cars ... " And you continue until you reach a final answer. The accuracy of the number is as not important as demonstrating to the interviewer how you'd go about tackling a tough question. Most interviewers, thankfully, do not play these Jedi mind games with candidates. Rather, they will likely ask you some direct, open-ended questions. For example, "Tell me about a time when you faced a tough problem. How did you solve it?"
The way to ace these questions is simple: Preparation. Before you go into any interview, you should have a list of at least 10 examples of how you solved a problem effectively. Recall the main goal of each task, how you solved it, why you chose to solve it that way and what it reveals about you. Having this list handy will allow you to respond to any question quickly and confidently.
Be a Communicator
No matter how big your brain is, it'll likely go unnoticed unless you are able to communicate your thoughts to others. This is why so many job postings ask for candidates with strong communication skills -- especially public speaking skills.
Are you beginning to sweat already? You're not alone. Glossophobia -- the fear of public speaking -- is the most common phobia in the U.S. That's why employers are always on the lookout for candidates who don't curl into the foetal position every time they must speak out loud.
To emphasize your communication skills during an interview, try some of these tips:
• Practice describing your last job in under two minutes. Practice in front of a mirror.
• Have a friend ask you questions that you expect to encounter in an interview. Remember to answer clearly and slowly.
• If you do not understand a question, instead of panicking, just ask the interviewer to elaborate.
• If you find yourself getting nervous, just take a deep breath and relax your shoulders.
• Remember to look directly at the interviewer as you speak.
• Try to stay away from lazy language (e.g., "gonna," "wanna").
• Last, but not least, remember the breath mint!
Be a Groupie
In his book Working With Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman posits that it is not your intellect, experience or skills that make you successful; rather, it is your emotional intelligence -- how well you can "read" other people's emotions and feelings in the workplace.
One of the best indicators of strong emotional intelligence is the ability to work well with others on a team. And because most companies have more than one person working there, being a strong group worker can be an invaluable selling point during your job search.
Being a good group worker involves more than putting in your required share of the work; it also involves being a leader when necessary, knowing when to make your opinions known, knowing when to defer to others and moving the group towards the optimal result with minimal conflict.
To emphasize your group skills in an interview, make a list of projects that you have worked on with past co-workers. Consider the unique additions you brought to the group, and be prepared to discuss those special talents. And if you have ever solved a group conflict at a past job, be sure to note that as well -- that's interviewing gold!
It also couldn't hurt to mention if you previously coordinated with other departments, sat on a committee, or hold any memberships in professional associations -- they signal your interest in getting information from others.
Be a Multi-Tasker
In an ant colony, each ant performs one, and only one, task for the majority of its life. A soldier, a forager, a queen, a digger -- each ant only has one job on its tiny insect mind.
Human workplaces, however, are more complex. Businesses want to save money, and one way to do this is to hire employees who are able to simultaneously perform a variety of separate tasks at the same time. This highly desirable trait is commonly known as "multi-tasking."
To display your ability to multi-task:
• Make a list of complex projects you handled in past jobs and write down the various tasks that it involved.
• If asked to discuss a past project, give specific examples of how you were able to balance several crucial tasks.
• During the interview, show a willingness to handle all kinds of responsibilities, not just a select one or two. Not only will this display your enthusiasm, but it will also suggest that you are interested in taking an active role at the company -- and workers who show a desire to branch out of their pigeonholed roles are the kind that get promoted.
Words to Avoid in Your Resume
Most resume-writing guides focus on "power words" - words that promise to grab the attention of recruiters as they scan hundreds of resumes - but few tell you what words to avoid in your resume.
Below is a list of words and word types that you resume would be better without.
Abbreviations and Acronyms
AFPCA, CHIGFET, FIPL, MRSRM, ZWE: Looks like a fresh game of Scrabble, doesn't it?
Too many abbreviations and acronyms in a resume make it unreadable. As a rule, avoid using abbreviations and acronyms unless they are commonly recognized. If you work in an acronym-heavy industry, such as technology, use acronyms sparingly.
Personal Pronouns
It seems odd to avoid personal pronouns (I, me, my) in your resume - a document that is all about you. But, it actually does make sense. Since your resume is all about you, the addition of "I" or "me" is redundant. Since a resume should contain no unnecessary words, there is no place for the personal pronoun. Your resume, after all, is not a memoir but a concise summary of your skills and experience.
Negative Words
These words spell death for a resume. Words like "arrested," "boring," "fired," "hate" and "sexist" catch a recruiter's eye like to a two-ton magnet catches a paper clip.
If there are difficult issues you want to raise, save them for the interview. Keep These Words to a Minimum
There are other words that are sometimes necessary in a resume, but that should nevertheless be kept to a minimum.
Among these:
• Abused words: a, also, an, because, the, very
• Any word you can't define: You may think using these words make you sound smart, but if you use them incorrectly they could kill your chances of landing the job.
• Words that can be embarrassing if spelled wrong: assess, skills.


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