(Analytics) Tests

"Tests" are one of the ways to help you possibly choose or change careers. The real name for this is instruments or assessments. You can use these tests to possibly help, direct, guide, or even redirect you to a new career. There are six learning tips about testing that you should consider when using this as a career decider:

1. You are absolutely unique. There is no person in the world like you. It follows from this that no test can measure YOU; it can only describe the family to which you belong. Don't take it personal if you don't get the results you wanted from the tests. It is simply an easier help you choose the career that could possibly best fit you...if not then keep searching.
2. Don't try to figure out ahead of time how you want the test to come out. Stay loose and open to new ideas. The point of this test is for you to experiment and find yourself. If you go in with a predetermined notion that you only want a certain career, then doing a test will be a waste of your time. Be open to new ideas and you will be surprised at the possible careers that you can pursue.
3. In taking a test, you should just be looking for clues, hunches, or suggestions, rather than for a definitive answer that says "this is what you must choose to do with your life." As I stated before, this is simply a tool to help you decide what career you want to pursue...key word is "help". This does not mean that you have to choose the career that it highlights, it only gives you clues or hunches towards the right career.
4. Take several tests and not just one. One can easily send you down the wrong path. We've all dreaded that one class that has the one exam and your whole class grade depends on it. Well this is somewhat like that class. You don't want you final decision to depend on just one test...so take as many as you need to in order to find the career path that best fits you.
5. In good career planning, you're trying, in the first instance, to broaden you horizons, and only later narrow your options down; you are not trying to narrow them down from the outset. This is a process. Its somewhat of a marathon...not a sprint. So make sure once you take these test, you go through all your options to make sure this is the path you want to take. You will be surprised that once you take one of these tests, it will open your eyes to other possible careers. 
6. Testing will always have "mixed reviews." Some people will say that these tests help them choose the career of their dreams and that they are lucky to have ever found such a test. Others will tell you that these tests were a complete waste of time and they wish they would've never did them. Just know that doing tests doesn't work for everyone and there will always be a positive and negative review.

(Analytics) How to Deal With Handicaps

The Key Employer Prejudices

The word "handicap" is a general and broad term, which could refer to either the job-hunter's disabilities or the employers prejudices. If you are deaf in one ear and you apply for a job that requires you to hear, then that is a disability. This means that there are certain skills that you don't have that are detrimental to the job you are pursuing. Notice the difference: a disability is something within you and a prejudice is something within the employer. Here are some of the Key Employer Prejudices:

1. OUT OF WORK TOO LONG. This is a prejudice that relates simply to how long you've been out of work. This is a situation where either the employer cares about it or he/she doesn't....so don't worry if you've been out of work for a while. You have to be persistent and move on to the next employer and hope that they don't value previous work experience as much.
2. AGE. One of the reasons that this is a huge prejudice is because there are a lot of baby boomers reaching there retirement years. You must realize that this is a "prejudice" not a "handicap". Therefore, if you can show that employer that you still have that fire, then by all means the job can still be yours. 
3. RETURNING VETERANS. Here's a crazy statistic for you, 44% of returning vets do not feel their military skills and training are respected by employers. To be honestly, we can only assume that "some" employers are prejudice towards hiring vets. Some employers rely to much on the assumption that vets come back with PTSD (which is real by the way). However, we can also assume that some employers are prejudice in favor of hiring returning vets as well.
4. FORMER PATIENTS. This prejudice is based on the hiring of ex-mental patients. Not necessarily somebody that was hospitalized, but someone who did have a serious problem and probably overcame it. The main concern that the employer has is, "What skills are needed to do this job, and does this man or woman have them?" and "Does this person get along well with other people?" Once again this is not a handicap, but an employer prejudice that they have. 

(Analytics) Where do you work? Its your choice....

Before You Formally Approach Companies

So your searching for a career and you've finally found the career that you've been dying to do. Well, what;s next? Don't just rush over there clueless. Now is your chance to really impress the company you're going for because we all know that companies love to be loved. Do a little research, matter of fact do a lot of research on the company in question. You want to know something about the company from the inside. Secondly, you want to find out if you would enjoy working there. These are the minor precautions that you want to take in order to not have to do your career search over again. There are three ways to do some research before you walk to that dreadful interview:

• Friends and Neighbors. You need to go through your whole contact list of people you know to help you with this process. Once this happens, you will be able to find someone that knows someone who works at the company you are pursuing. Grab a coffee or arrange a meeting with this person to ask them anything you want to know about the company. This will be your most beneficial way of gaining information since it is first hand from someone who works there. 
• People at the Organization in Question, or Similar. This helps if you are not able to meet with someone face-to-face. LinkedIn is a great way to achieve this objective as well as emailing. If an email doesn't work, try going to the company in person and possibly ask them questions that you have. Now you want to preferably ask them questions that are in print somewhere so that it doesn't seem as if you are bothering them. I may also caution you to not try this with a large company; however, a smaller company that is easier to access may give you more success. Make sure that you approach the desk when you walk in as well because you don't want to offend the higher ups by walking straight to them with questions.
• What's on the Internet. In this day in age almost any information that you need on a company is on the internet. Therefore, using the internet will be very beneficial to your success of finding information the company that you want. You can simply go to the companies website and look for any information that you want and possibly contact employers through this process as well. So what if the company doesn't have a website? Well you can still type in the companies name and there will be information readily available for you. There will be people that have information on the company through blogs and other informative sites.

(Analytics) What people-environment does your career have?

The Party Game Exercise

One of the biggest keys of deciding a career, that so many people miss is the fact that people help identify careers. This is because every career has a characteristic people-environment. There are six factors that help you identify what people environment you are interested in and this will help you choose your career. This theory was created by (the late) Dr. John L. Holland which helps career pursuers find the path best for them. According to Dr. Holland, every one of us has 3 preferred among the six factors. See where you stand among the six factors:

1. Realistic People-Environment: this group consists of those who prefer nature, or plants, or animals, or athletics, or tools and machinery, or being outdoors.
2. Investigative People-Environment: filled with those who are very curious, liking to investigate or analyze things, or people, or data.
3. Artistic People-Environment: filled with those are very artistic, imaginative, and innovative, and don't like time clocks.
4. Social People-Environment: filled with people who are bent on trying help, teach, or serve people.
5. Enterprising People-Environment: filled with people who prefer to start up projects or organizations, or sell things, or influence and persuade people 
6. Conventional People-Environment: filled with those who like detailed work, and like to complete tasks or projects.

(Analytics) Do you really know job searching?

Six of the Best and Worst Ways to Look for a Job

1. Looking for employers' job-postings on the Internet. On average, this method apparently only works 4% of the time. Almost everyone you ask while you're out of work will tell you to search for job postings on the internet. You can use sites such as CareerBuilder, LinkedIn, and US.jobs or even job search engines like Indeed to help this pursuit. But, is this really the best place to look? It may prove successful for some; however, it levels off to just a 4% success rate for most.
2. Posting or mailing out your resume to employers. From experience I can say that this helps you to get an interview and on average this can help you get a job 7% of the time, which is a generous estimate by the way. There is study that shows that only 1 out of 1,470 resumes actually resulted in a job. This is an astounding finding seeing that fact that there are so many resumes floating around. This may come as a shock to most job-hunters, but it is true.
3. Answering local newspaper ads. This job searching method fluctuates from working 5% of the time, up to 24% at best (shocking right!). This fluctuation is due the level of salary that is being pursued. Most of the time you are answering "help wanted ads" in a local newspaper. Those of you who are looking for lower level salaries may find that it works 24% of the time; those of you looking for high salaries...well I think you know what percentage you get. 
4. Going to private employment agencies or search firms for help. Much like the previous method, this method fluctuates as, but somewhere between 5% and 28% of the time at best. This day in age we're lucky because these agencies used to place just office workers; now they place in almost any category of jobs. You may ask, "Why the wide variation of success rate?," well because these agencies vary greatly in their staffing. However, at their best they are way more effective than depending on just your resume. 
5. Answering ads in professional or trade journals, appropriate to your field. This method consists in looking at professional journals in your profession or field, and answering any ads there that intrigue you. This method works only 7% of the time however. 
6. Using the Yellow Pages. This involves you going through the Yellow Pages of your local phone book so that you can identify subjects of interest to you. This method works a whopping 65%. Now of course the traditional method makes it lot harder to get employers to consent to see you. However, you will have a nine times better chance of finding a job with this method, than if you had just depended on your resume.