The Job Search Rules

The Job Search Rules

I have covered a great deal of material related to getting hired or promoted on this blog. One thing I feel I must share is an article I wrote for ezinearticles about 16 months ago called Cover Letter - Volunteer Magic.

It talks to the importance of bringing your volunteer work to the forefront in your cover letter and thus your resume. The article has been read almost 2,000 times or about 4 times a day, everyday.

It obviously is resonating with people and when time permits I would encourage you to read it if you haven't already seen it. It would appear to be one of the more important job search rules to keep in mind.

Cover Letter - Volunteer Magic

A Few New Articles You Might Enjoy

Hey there ..

Frosty here in Northern Ontario .. Holy Smokes !! Try minus 35 degrees Celsius! That`s like 35 degrees below zero Fahrenheit ... Cold In Any Language!

I added a few new articles to the collection and mixed them in with a few older ones as well. Thought they might interest you on a frosty winter night.

Stay Warm,

http://www.mikeperras.com/articles.htm

Emotional Intelligence 2.0

Emotional Intelligence (EI or EQ) is defined has a person who has control of their emotions. It is certainly more involved than that, but at it’s core, it’s “understanding and controlling one’s emotions”.

When your EI is in check, you feel like you are in a good place. Ask yourself, even right now, how do I feel. Unsettled, upset, on edge, anxious, guilty, angry, if any of these come to mind for you, then your EI level is very low.

On the other side, if you feel peaceful, in love, happy or inspired, your EI is peeking at a very high level. So it’s easy to see who’s in the better place.

People with high emotional intelligence are all around us and conversely so are the very low EI people. Just like the Law of Attraction says that “like attracts like”, people with low level EI seem to attract other toxic personalities all the time. Which camp would you prefer to be in?

More advanced companies are taking a Holistic Recruiting stance these days. Meaning they are looking at the complete employee and not just the typical education and work experience. If your emotional intelligence level is low, they will know it, and not likely hire you. They know from experience that high EI people tend to make the best team players, simply because they are able to control their emotions in the workplace.

Other than having advanced communication skills, promising young executives are developing their emotional intelligence¸ as it’s the sure fire skill set to move them up the ladder quickly. Look around and you’ll notice the most successful people all have higher than average emotional intelligence leadership skills.

Of course having high emotional intelligence isn’t reserved for just the workplace. The best personal relationships are those that have great EI between the partners. Not one, but both people. They keep their emotions in check at all times, an inner peace and harmony always maintained. We tend to say these couples just have great chemistry, that chemistry is called emotional intelligence.

Consider this, if you are very anxious about your financial situation, or frustrated with your weight loss program not working or unhappy about your personal relationship, chances are your emotional intelligence test level is very low. When your emotions are getting the best of you, it just makes sense that you can’t focus and essentially, just stay stuck right where you are.

Scientists tell us it takes 30 days to reprogram old habitual thinking. If you started today, making emotional harmony your number one goal, you’ll come away with fresh new thinking, and a much higher emotional intelligence level in a few short weeks. It will change the way you see yourself and everything else around you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mike Perras is a registered Professional Manager (P.Mgr) through the Canadian Institute of Management. He has 30 years tenure in the communications sector.

As a communications specialist he consults individuals and companies on Emotional Intelligence in the workplace, the art of Extreme Listening and Holistic Recruiting. He also mentors clients privately at $85.00 per hour. He can be reached at mikeperras@hotmail.com

Twitter Rules

If there's one thing you should do going into 2009 I hope it's to start really exploring Social Media. To that end I hope you'll start with a site called Twitter if you aren't already. Go there & explore, it's a wealth of networking with terrific people. And really very different from Facebook.

I can't sell you on all the benefits, that's something we all experience in our own way. Anyway I do hope to see you there and hey, don't forget to say hello.

Mike Perras, P.Mgr
twitter.com/mikeperras

Does Your Cover Letter Sell You!

As a former college teacher and recruiter I can tell you I always looked for the better cover letter. Most resumes would be similar in qualifications, It is the cover letter that draws me to you because you seem like a real person worth interviewing.

Sell yourself in your cover letter, be a real person. Get rid of any template approach. If you do volunteer work, tell me right up front. Selfless volunteers make top notch team players. Team players are what everyone wants.

To Your Job Search Success!

Mike Perras, P.Mgr

Holistic Recruiting - A New Age For Executives

Gone are the days of simply getting hired because you have the proper job qualifications and experience. The new HR specialist is looking at a holistic recruiting approach.

In simple terms “Emphasizing the importance of the whole person, and the interdependence of its parts”, as defined in the dictionary. Meaning simply, recruiters are looking at the complete you, and not just the standard qualifications and experience you bring to the table.

Through holistic recruiting, the HR specialist now looks at the complete you. And it’s your emotional intelligence that defines the best part of the holistic approach to hiring. Your core values as a person drive your EQ or emotional intelligence. As such, the better you score at the EQ level, the better equipped you are for fast track hiring and thus, promotion. If you already communicate well, and understand all that’s involved in being an active listener, then your EQ is already on solid ground.

Example: In the past, we’ve all seen employees promoted well beyond their capabilities. Yes, they were very good at their job, and as such worthy of being promoted to supervisor level. Their EQ, or emotional intelligence, was never a factor, and thus we have all kinds of great workers promoted into positions they are totally unable to manage. Having the skill to do a certain job does not equate to supervisor material, and there is plenty of proof of that fact. What we are only now learning is that holistic hiring, or career promotion, can best determine whether that hiring or promotion will in fact be successful.

With all the downsizing of late, there has been a huge emphasis on the so called team player. If there was a working team of 12 and now the head count of that team is only 6 and the work load is the same or likely even greater, that team had better really get along and work well together. As importantly, their supervisor better have the proper tools to manage that smaller team or the work never gets done, done badly or worse, the stress of it all just produces a great degree of sick time. Stress has become the leading cause of employee sick time. That stress is much less attributable to the work itself, but more to the personality conflicts and internal political strife that result from bad team management. By it’s very design, the initial holistic recruitment approach would never let that happen.

The holistic approach I have mentioned is very new and very few HR specialists are well versed on the subject. As an executive, you can make a huge difference in your career and to your company, if you fast track a complete understanding of this approach. This understanding works at every level of the company, and the sooner most employees are exposed to it, the sooner stress is removed and more productivity will result.