1. Could you tell me about yourself and describe your background in brief?
2. How did you hear about this position?
3. What type of work environment do you prefer?
4. How do you deal with pressure or stressful situations?
5. Do you prefer working independently or on a team?
6. When you are balancing multiple projects, how do you keep yourself organized?
7. What did you do last year to improve your knowledge?
8. What are your salary expectations?
9. Are you applying for other jobs?
10. What would you like to tell us about your work experience?

Know yourself. Take an assessment to help you understand what your strengths are and what you like to do. Align these qualities to help you decide which jobs you want to pursue. Remember, applying for a job is “A job”.  Think in terms of reaching out to 50 employers for interviews to get the job of your choice. Watch Career Day’s resume writing and interview coaching videos.

So you say to yourself, self, what’s the most important part of my job once I get one.

At this point I am willing to give you the answer. The most important part of your job is to take care of yourself financially. How do you do that you may ask? By incorporating two things into your life that you probably haven’t accomplished yet. One is goal setting and the second Is goal setting. Well that’s kind of stupid, why goal setting twice? It’s because you will need it to create a timeline for your future success in the workforce, and know what to do with your money when you earn it.

Wow. I just got hired at $15.00 and hour and I’m going to work 40 hours a week for 52 weeks. I’m going to make a whopping $31,000 a year. Sound like a lot, right? What will your take home pay really be? Certainly not $31,000. (Go online and research the taxes that will be deducted in your area.)

OK so I have a little less, no big deal. So I’ll have to figure out:

• How much is a car payment
• How much is car insurance
• How much is Health insurance
• How much will my cell phone cost
• How much will my rent be
• How much will taxes be?
• How much should I save
• How much will…get my drift.

You need a Financial goal setting plan. Go to the career day app and watch our financial literacy course. Trust me you will be better prepared for life after watching it. Unfortunately with out money you won’t be able to accomplish anything as an adult.

So, what are executive function skills and why do you need to refine them?

As it turns out you already have some of these skills and now you need to work on them

They include, adaptable thinking, planning, self-monitoring, self-control, working memory,

Time management, and organizational skills.

1. Adaptable thinking:

Adaptable thinking helps you overcome immediate challenges and gives you the ability to see things from someone else’s perspective. Which helps you to relate to people

2. Planning:

Planning is designed to help you a accomplish a specific task starting with the most important task first. Some examples are creating a shopping list, planning what you will wear tomorrow,

Creating a study plan.

3. Self-monitoring

This skill gives you the ability to evaluate how you are doing. It gives you the ability to check your progress and adjust your thinking if you are not on the right track.

4. Self-control:

Self-control helps with accepting mistakes you make and correcting them opposed to acting out emotionally with anger of frustration.

5. Working memory:

Working memory gives you the ability to retain and store learned information. Whether you are in school following instructions by the teacher or in the workforce, following instructions to accomplish your job.

6. Time management:

This skill helps with organizing your schedule, completing your task on time, and creating patience throughout assignments. An example of good time management is the completion of a multi-step process before the deadline without rushing or compromising on quality.

7. Organizational skills:

It allows you to tell a succinct story. It helps keep track of all phases of your life. A perfect example of an organizational tool is a workbook or journal for each subject or each important task you want to accomplish.

Goal Setting:

There are twelve goals that people set depending on what they want to accomplish. They are: 

• Personal goals 
• Leadership
• Learning
• Career
• Team management 
• Strategy 
• Problem solving
• Decision making
• Project management
• Stress management 
• Communication
• Creativity, 

I will write about each of them in the next twelve weeks. 

Let’s start by talking about “Personal Goals”

First consider what you want to achieve in the next 5 years. This is your big picture goal. Once you have identified it, start breaking it down into smaller and smaller tasks. Then commit to it by writing it down in a spiral notebook. Write the words “My Goal Setting Plan” on the first page. Start by writing down your SMART goals. Create a timeline. As you achieve them, cross them off.

SMART goals are: 

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

Example: I want to become a teacher in the next five years.

1. Identify what age group you would like to work with.
   1. If you want to work with middle school or high school students, what subject interests you the most? Learn as much as you can about that subject.
   2. If you like to work with younger children, involve yourself in activities that allow you to familiarize yourself with younger children’s needs, interests, and thinking.
2. Graduate from High School 
3. Attend college
   1. You can take general requirement courses in a community college and then transfer to a four-year college.
   2. Take college classes that will earn you a teaching certificate.
      1. If you are planning to teach a subject matter course, consider taking a minor in this subject area. 
      2. If you are planning to teach younger children, consider taking a minor in child development. 
      3. Take foreign classes that will allow you some fluency in a language other than English. 
   3. As part of your requirements for obtaining a teaching certificate you will be required to Student Teach. Take this time to evaluate your decision to teach. Is this the right age group for you? Is this the right setting for you? Is this the right subject area for you? 
4. Take the state exams, if required in your state, to attain your teaching license. 
5. Apply for a teaching position.
   1. Practice your interview skills prior to going on your first interview. 

Each one of these steps has a specific course of action and is definitely Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant to your goal and is Time-bound.

More tips from Marty one of the cofounders of Career Day.

First the most important part of the process. YOU MUST thoroughly read the job description you are applying for. Make sure you look for key words that can be incorporated into your resume. Key words like responsible leadership qualities or detail oriented. 

Next research the company to understand what their initiatives are so you can incorporate it into your resume. Remember, you are trying to help them solved a problem, which is hiring someone that has the skill set they are looking for, and someone who will be a good fit for their organization.

Also realize that the hiring process is on average a 42-day process. Your resume will be reviewed by the recruiter first, then passed along to the hiring manager if it matched the criteria they are looking for. If you submit your resume in the middle or and the end of the time frame you probably won’t to considered since they have already eliminated most of the resumes and are now considering the top 10 or twenty applications. Remember that most job listing get about 250 resumes.

Next step. What should your resume look like. Here are seven categories you must have. This list is in the order of importance

1. Your contact information- You don’t need your local address, just the city. Make sure the city aligns with their requirements 
2. Skills/Technology/ Language-All of this is probably in the job description
3. Key accomplishments. Use key words in this category 
4. Education- Include your GPA if it’s higher than 3.2, otherwise don’t use it
5. Work experience- this should align with the job you are applying for. If you don’t have any work experience, use your school experience 
6. Additional experience- Volunteering, school clubs or outside experience that can contribute to your value.
7. Hobbies- this could be an important piece of information for a recruiter, because it shows that you are engaged 

 

I’d like to share an experience I had with a student I helped create a resume and look for a job.

I reviewed the resume he had and gave him some helpful hints. Here they are

1. Make sure your read the job description in its entirety.

2. Research the company by going to the company’s website

3. Search for key words Example: detailed person, reliable, team player, etc.

4. Make sure you use the seven categories we showed you.

1. 1. Name and city only

   2. Technical skills

   3. Key accomplishments

   4. Experience

   5. Education

   6. Other unique experiences

   7. Hobbies

6. Go to my favorite job board. Google

   5. Why? Because Google is an aggregator. It scrapes jobs from all the other job boards and company websites.

7. Submit your resume as soon as possible

He did all that. When I checked back with him, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the process.

He didn’t get a response back

I realized I missed a step in our conversation. Here is the major key to getting a job

Think about your job search process as your job. You must work on getting a job every day. Don’t be disappointed when employers don’t respond. This process is a numbers game. Think in terms of sending out hundreds of resumes. Continue to research potential companies you are interested in. Check to see if any of your connections know of anyone at the companies you are interested in.

DO NOT GIVE UP! New jobs open every day. You have got this. He got a job on his 73^rd resume submission. It’s a journey