8 Tips to Giving an Interview Presentation

8 Tips to Giving an Interview Presentation In my time as a senior recruiter I have sat through no small number of presentations. Many of them left me cold. I wondered if the people giving them really understood the purpose of the exercise i.e. to test in this way is the candidate’s ability to represent and sell an organisation, (and in the process themselves). To test their ability to inspire an audience with confidence. To test an ability to persuade and to demonstrate the ability to marshal thoughts and structure something that sounds really impressive. Showcasing. Convincing. Persuading. Getting the message across. So sitting, as some candidates I have listened to do, in front of a flip chart with some very small handwriting, wiggling across a single piece paper does not really do a deal to impress. Mumbling in a down beat fashion or shuffling pages of A4 on the desk really does not cut it. I also wonder if few people attend any training on presentations or public speaking. Speaking to an audience is one of the most common phobias there is. Why would you volunteer to go on a course to do something that literally frightens you? Suffers feel that all eyes are upon them the spotlight effect their acute self-awareness makes it very difficult for them to focus on what is going on around them, to remember their speech, or to read from notes. Their mind goes blank or foggy. Their distress is further fuelled by their efforts to hide or mask their discomfort which may become apparent through blushing, facial immobility, sweating, shaking, twitching, or an inability to speak normally or coherently. And in an interview situation where getting the job depends on success it is all much worse. So what should the candidates have do when faced with the task…. ‘you have ten minutes to give us a presentation on…’? An understanding of the audience, what they already know, what language they speak and what they want to hear about. I guess the man from the World Bank had never met a social housing tenant, I think he was an academic. His presentation, although very important, did not set the room alight. Effective presenters know who their audience are and how the message needs to be delivered. Effective presenters stand and command the room. Presenting is a display activity. Standing indicates confidence and control. It enables a small amount of movement, a little pacing, wider hand gestures; a greater ability to get up close to the audience. Standing enables you to inject more energy into your presentation. If you think of some of the great orators that you have heard, they did not sit behind a desk and mutter. Clear diction and adequate volume. One of the great bonuses of standing is the way that it will enable you to breath deeply and speak on the  out-breath. This will give your voice depth and volume. (But if you have a microphone you need to be careful not to over project.) Measured delivery, presenters need to relax, speak slowly and use all the techniques of pace and rhythm to ensure that there is clarity and emphasis. Presenters need to recognise the ability of the audience to absorb and give them appropriate time to do so. Good visual aids, if you have to make your presentation ‘on the day’, and are given flip chart, tuck a ruler and pencil in your pocket. Make your visual aids, helpful, clean and neat. Use them for the emphasis, they should give not for the narrative. If you are given a topic in advance and are using powerpoint, use it sensibly, again it is not the narrative it is the emphasis. Structure, a presentation needs a clear beginning, middle and end. It needs an overview and a conclusion. And keep to time, nothing annoys a panel more and tells them that you have not planned and rehearsed. Message, if a presentation is testing oral persuasiveness then there needs to be a very clear message or argument with facts and evidence to support it. Ask yourself, what is the the thing that I want my audience to walk away remembering? you also need great content. You need content tailored to the audience and answering the questions they want answering. Speak with conviction, if you don’t believe your message who else will? A smile, a sign that you are pleased to be there. Sometimes a touch of humour can help you build rapport with the audience, but how much you can use this will depend on the situation. But your smile needs to be on the mouth and in your eyes and your eyes need to meet theirs. Yes, I have sat through many hours of very poor presentations and many other hours of very good ones. To be memorable you need, great, relevant content delivered with conviction and style. Related: 8 Essential Interview Tips by a Recruiter. Image: Shutterstock

How Recruiters Can Get Started with Social Media

How Recruiters Can Get Started with Social Media As part of the Ask the Expert panel over at the Institute of Recruiters, I got a question about social media and recruitment agencies which I thought Id share here on the blog. Question: I am trying to introduce the features and benefits of various Social Networks to our Consultants. The two biggest areas for us are resourcing and branding. My biggest challenge to date is educating the more old fashioned phone and email recruiters on the benefits of Social Media. I understand that it will never replace the phone, but how best do you think I can overcome the objections of those that have never used Social Media and create an excitement around the new possibilities it creates? Answer (rest of this post): Some recruiters have taken to social media from day one, others are a little skeptical and then there is the old school brigade who think its all just a waste of time. This sometimes depends on which industry you are operating in; if you recruit PR professionals you would use Twitter as a primary tool. If you recruit nuclear engineers, you may not have much use of social media at this stage. The key here is to know your target audience. Social media impact on UK companies How much of an impact has social media really made for companies?  Some very fresh stats about large UK companies from  The Group  show that: 1.9m people connect with companies on LinkedIn Over 1.7m people follow FTSE100 corporate Twitter accounts There are 19m fans of FTSE100 corporate Facebook Pages January to June 2012 there were 62.1m views of corporate YouTube videos. This confirms that there is a sizeable following of large companies on social media, and it is growing by the day according to The Group. As a rule of thumb, people dont go on social media to look for jobs but they are happy to consider them when prompted. LinkedIn say that 20% of their users are actively looking for jobs at any given time, meaning 80% are passive candidates. Let me elaborate on the two main areas you have highlighted; sourcing and branding and take a closer look at each social network. LinkedIn Most recruitment professionals use LinkedIn nowadays, at least as a people directory as it has 10 million users in the UK (and 2 out of 3 professionals have a profile). It is a social network focussing on professionals and can be a goldmine if you know how to use it properly. There are several ways to source active and passive candidates on LinkedIn, both inside LinkedIn and using 3rd party tools. If your team arent using the big L as a primary recruitment tool you are missing out. As for branding on LinkedIn, there are endless opportunities. You can of course do updates on individual profiles, you can also run relevant polls and ask/answer questions (in the Answers section). You can get active in industry groups, or better yet you can run your own group and get peers to exchange useful information in your forum. You can also use your company page to do targeted updates to followers based on location, language, seniority and more. More ideas: How LinkedIn is Transforming the World of Recruitment [INFOGRAPHIC] Twitter Twitter is another social network that can be used effectively for sourcing, its relatively easy to use tools to locate the right conversations happening. Once you find users talking about your niche, you know these people are either good for your positions or they can refer others. You can also search through every users bio on Twitter, as its really short it tends to cover the most important keywords that you need for sourcing. Branding on Twitter is extremely useful, by having an account that puts out information about your industry and occasionally spits out a job or two, you let users sum up what your company is all about very quickly. If a social media savvy candidate gets two emails, both from similar agencies but one has an active and interesting Twitter feed which one will instill more trust? Related reading:  The Top 5 Twitter Apps for Recruitment. Google Plus Google Plus is the newest of the big 4 social networks and since its inception last year its been the fastest growing site in the history of the web. This site has attracted a great deal of early adopters, especially technology and IT professionals. The good news is that its wide open for searches, you can use 3rd party search tools or good old fashioned Google magic to bring out the best profiles for your vacancy. The jury is still out on whether Google Plus is that useful for branding, there are definitely SEO benefits for your company but as the user base is still made up of techies and pioneers you wont get a good cross section for an audience. Further reading at  How Recruiters Can Use Google Plus Like Guy Kawasaki. Viadeo Xing If you happen to recruit in Europe as well, you may want to check out continental sites like  Viadeo  (France) and  Xing  (Germany) which have a better reach of professionals in those countries. The only snag with these is that you almost have to pay to get decent access to other users, unlike most other networks. Facebook I thought Id mention Facebook last as the mere mention of the name scares off the money is on the phone type of recruiters. At the moment youll find that Facebook is pretty much useless for sourcing, its not even indexed by Google. The worlds largest social network have deliberately made it difficult to find people through searches, perhaps because they expect that candidates dont want to be contacted here for jobs. You can however still use Facebook to cross reference candidates and it is useful for branding, especially if you represent a well known brand. You can get users to like your Facebook Page and thereby agreeing to get regular updates from your company this basically adds them to your talent network. Once they see something of interest (be that a vacancy, an event or a free download), they will take action and get one step closer to talking abou their career with you. More on this at How to Recruit with Facebook [Slide Deck]. Conclusion Those are some benefits of social media in recruitment that would apply to most companies. Again, some industries will be better suited to some social networks and some may not be right for social media at all. It comes down to knowing your target audience; knowing where they hang out online and making sure you have a presence they already expect you to.

Business Systems Analyst Job Description Sample - Algrim.co

Business Systems Analyst Job Description Sample - Algrim.co Business Systems Analyst Job Description Template Download our job description template in Word or PDF format. Instant download. No email required. Download Template Using Your Template Follow these instructions to use your new job description template Step one: Fill out all details in your job description template using the provided sample on this page. Step two: Customize your requirements or duties to anything special to your workplace. Be sure to speak with team members and managers to gauge what's required of the position. Step three: When the census of the team has agreed on the description of the work, add in a Equal Employment Opportunity statement to the bottom of your job description. Step four: Check with your legal department, management team, and other team members to ensure the job description looks correct before creating a job advertisement. Choose a job board that's specific to your needs.

Managing your time effectively at university

Managing your time effectively at university One of the significant skills you may have to develop as you make the transition to university and living independently   is the ability to manage your time effectively. Chemistry student and guest blogger Manpreet shares her experience and offers advice to help you succeed in your studies. Typical student life at Warwick consists of academic, social and society commitments. In addition, you might have a job or other roles within your department or with external organisations/ departments. In other words, you’ll be balancing a lot of different commitments at the same time. You are not, however, expected to join university as a time management expert. Instead, this is a skill you’ll find you develop at university as you study for your course, commit to societies, and do other activities alongside. Here are some tips from me to help you have a productive time at Warwick. Keep an academic planner. Buy a decent size so you can fit all events in. This will help you to keep track of meetings, tutorial due dates, and other events. Although it is all down to you, I would discourage you from using your phone/ laptop. Last year I missed two events because I added them on my laptop and trusted it to sync it all in my phone which it didn’t. There are so many calendars that I personally get confused and planners enable you to have everything in one place. A task-based approach to revision is effective. Instead of aiming to spend three hours in the library every day, plan to finish your notes, or do a maths exercise or read a set number of chapters from a book. This will give you a real sense of achievement and in this way, you’ll be able to measure you progress. With allocating time to revision, you can never really be sure if you used all the time to do productive work. Work to your own body’s clock. Some are early morning birds whilst others are night owls. However, neither waking up early nor going to bed late works for me. I am a 9-5 sort of person. With all-nighters, I feel like I have trained my body to do one every week but this is of course different for everybody. I would encourage you to try different approaches within the first term to establish how your body does it best. Add weekly society events to your planner. In this way, they’ll become a part of your timetable and you’ll be able to commit better especially if it is a society where you develop a skill, like a sport or dance. This will, in addition, help you to keep track of how much time you spend with societies so you’re more aware of how much time your extra-curricular activities will take. With regards to social events, there isn’t a specific number that can be allocated. Besides getting your academic work done, there is really no other requirement. Having fun and forming friendships is a key part of university life so definitely get involved! Allocate a day for shopping! I personally prefer to do my shopping on Wednesday afternoons. Coincidentally, none of the societies I joined in my first year had any events on Wednesdays. I prefer weekday evenings because then I can head to the library at the weekends and spend the most of my day there. I cannot study effectively in my room and feel I must go to the library to get my work done, the reverse may be true for other students depending on their learning style and study environment that they feel suits them establish where you work best i.e. where you are least likely to get distracted but also where you’re able to focus. Use vacations to catch-up on your work if you fall behind. In my degree, Chemistry, the course was taught up until early-term 3. This highlights the importance of learning content as it is taught because there is often not enough time to teach everything to yourself later since you are constantly learning new topics. Lecture capture comes to the rescue of most when it comes to revising over vacations. As a chemistry student, I benefited from lecture capture, but if you don’t have it, you might be able to request the academics to provide you the slides or request a friend for notes to supplement your learning. Finally, don’t try to plan every minute of your time. This might sound like going against the laws of time management but planning everything can make your life feel quite robotic. Besides, when do plans ever perfectly work out in this world? Have back-ups for those days when you don’t feel like studying or you’re not feeling well, or your laptop breaks down! Just keep on top of things. Reflect upon your progress every night before going to bed and aim to fix things, if needed, the next day. I recently watched a  TED Talk which highlighted the elastic nature of time. The speaker said that you can fit in as many tasks as you want in the 24 hours that you have in a day. Therefore, don’t worry too much about committing to lots of activities â€" if they matter to you, you will automatically find the time to do them.

Studying an unrelated Masters degree to your Bachelors - Debut

Studying an unrelated Masters degree to your Bachelors - Debut This post was written by an external contributor.  Zahra Clembintson has spoken to several people who have studied a Masters thats unrelated to their undegrad, and has collated  their advice for anyone considering the same.   We all know people who have had life-long passions since they were a little kid. Those who seamlessly transition into studying related university degrees, and later related careers. However, by graduation, many of us realise our undergraduate degrees no longer reflect our interests or career ambitions, or that we’re now interested in a different field entirely. A Masters degree in an unrelated subject may then suddenly become an attractive idea. But the thought of starting all over again and entering a new field of study can be daunting. Fortunately, weve collated some advice from people who have pursued Masters degrees unrelated to their undergraduate degrees. Hopefully, this will put some worries to rest if you’re thinking about doing it yourself (spoiler you should!). Do your research before applying It’s always super important to do your research before applying for a Masters, but if you’re considering one in a new subject, it’s even more vital. Daniela is studying MSc Criminology and Criminal Justice at Solent University, having completed a BA in Journalism at Solent. She advises checking your eligibility for entry in the first place. Before applying, she contacted the Head of her course to confirm she could study there, despite her unrelated undergraduate degree. “I wanted to know if joining the course was a realistic option and he confirmed that it was due to my background. I studied Media Law during my undergraduate and a lot of my articles and broadcast work (from my degree) were related.  Get in touch with the department of the course you want to apply for ideally the course leader.” Mairéad studied BA Broadcast Journalism at the University of Leeds and has remained there, studying an MA in Security, Terrorism and Insurgency. She researched Masters courses extensively to determine the right one for her. She advises, “to dedicate time to reading through course details” to decide on the best Masters for you. “For almost all courses, there is a vast amount of detailed information available on university websites. I looked in detail at a lot of MA courses and decided on MA Security, Terrorism and Insurgency after aligning my interests and areas of desired improvement with the modules available.” Read around your Masters subject before you start If you’re wanting to study a Masters unrelated to your undergraduate degree, wider reading will make progressing into studying an unfamiliar subject easier. Seán is studying MSc Spatial Planning and Development at the University of Reading after studying BA Geography and International Development at the University of East Anglia. He reccomends doing wider reading before starting a Masters in a new subject. “I read some introductory academic texts about the discipline which were recommended by the university before the course started. I also tried to familiarise myself with some of the terminology in the field.” “I would advise reading up on the subject beforehand to familiarise yourself with basic principles, but don’t do too much as most of it will probably be covered in the first weeks” You may find transitioning into a new subject hard The increase in workload and difficulty between undergraduate and Masters level study is significant. Its even greater if you’re studying a Masters unrelated to your undergraduate degree. Shaherazad studied MSc Cognitive Science at the University of Birmingham, having previously studied BA English Language Literature at the University of Central England (now Birmingham City University). She initially found going from a language-based degree to one requiring numerical and logic skills challenging. “It was difficult because everyone else on the course had either a Mathematics degree or a Psychology degree which was much more relevant. I had to upskill myself on numeracy, logical reasoning and computing.“ Oscar studied BA English Literature at the University of Leeds and has returned to study an MA in International Journalism. He also found adapting to a new subject tricky at times. “In English Literature, when it came to writing essays you had the core text and then the secondary reading. In Journalism essays its sort of similar, but knowing how to balance theory and the realities of a particular case study is hard.” Don’t be afraid to do it Whilst studying a Masters in a new discipline can be difficult, it can also be incredibly rewarding. Seán has enjoyed studying a new subject and thinks anyone interested in studying an unrelated Masters should do it. “If you’re sure you want to do a Masters then go for it. In my experience the change in subject was refreshing and has exposed me to new experiences.” Shaherazad thinks gaining a broader knowledge base is a major bonus of studying a Masters in a new subject. “Its well worth doing and will stand you in good stead for the rest of your life. Youll have a much broader understanding of life than someone who studies the same subject for both degrees.” The idea of studying a Masters unrelated to your undergraduate degree may seem scary at first. But it’s clear that if you’re prepared to be challenged and to work hard its very possible (and perfectly okay!) to change direction. Download Debut  and  connect with us on  Facebook,  Twitter  and  LinkedIn  for more careers insights.

Why Being With Like-Minded People Is Dangerous

Why Being With Like-Minded People Is Dangerous I was recently reminded of a dangerous trap that’s easy to fall into, and that trap is hanging around with like-minded people. This came up when I joined a mastermind recently with other entrepreneurs. On our introductory call, one of the members said, “I am so glad to be with other like-minded people”. Well, my brain just went, “WHAT?!” I think she meant people with shared goals, which is great. But ‘like-minded’, do you know what it actually means? It means people that have similar opinions and interests to your own. Learning And Growing Is The Name Of The Game I’ve been around the block enough to know that it does not serve me well to hang around with people that are like-minded all the time. In fact, it serves me well to hang out with people with great minds, with open minds â€" who have different views, opinions, interests, experiences to my own â€" because that is how I’m going to learn and grow. And learning and growing is the name of the game. I’m going to give you five reasons why it’s dangerous, particularly for a leader and the organization, to hang around with like-minded people. But first, I’d like to acknowledge that there are lots of positive things about hanging out with like-minded people. You get to be right more of the time, and we all like to be right. Our egos love being right. There is less conflict so you’re not having to manage difficult conversations, difficult people. It’s fun! You can riff off each other’s comments, talk in shorthand. It’s like my daughter and her friends who like film so much â€" they just chat away; it’s really fun. It’s safe and secure. You don’t have to worry that people are going to misunderstand what you’ve said because everybody is coming from the same place. These are a recipe for choosing people to go on vacation with and people to have a fun dinner with. But when it comes to being a leader in an organization, like-mindedness is really dangerous. Here are five reasons why that’s the case. 5 Reasons Why Like-Mindedness Is Dangerous 1. Creativity To really be creative, you need to have what they call ‘creative abrasion’. This is where people with different perspectives, interests and backgrounds are all rubbing to get to the better, more innovative, more creative ideas and actions. 2. Decision-making We’ve all heard about ‘group-think’. When everybody has similar opinions, interests and backgrounds, we’re going to get group-think. Now, that will make it easier to make fast decisions, because everybody agrees, but are they going to be the right decisions? 3. Resilience To have resilience, both for yourself and your organization, you need to be pressure-tested. It requires that there are people challenging each other’s ideas, and that won’t happen if you’re all like-minded. 4. Out of touch It means that you’re more likely to be out of touch, as an individual and as an organization. You start all thinking alike. You become distant and removed, and that’s not a good thing when you’re a leader. 5. Stunts your growth You might even become dull and, Heaven forbid, small-minded. You know what small-minded means? It means people who have a narrow outlook and rigid opinions. That can happen when you’re regularly grooving those same opinions and everybody is agreeing and reinforcing each other. What A Great Leader Does A great leader is someone who: Can take people from different interest groups, with different opinions, and have them see a common goal and then get them to collaborate toward achieving that common goal. Connects with all the people across the organization, not just the ones that they agree with, or who agree with them. Builds relationships with all stakeholders. Is secure enough to be open to being challenged on their ideas and even to be wrong some of the time. Is confident enough to get out of that like-minded comfort zone and into a zone where they’re going to be able to learn, grow and make a bigger difference. So, when it comes to your career and your business, I want you to stop hanging out with just those like-minded people. Start giving yourself a chance to get out there, be a better leader and live a richer, more meaningful life. I’d love to hear what you think, so scroll on down and leave a comment below.

5 Steps to Setting up Your Informational Interviews - Hallie Crawford

5 Steps to Setting up Your Informational Interviews Informational interviews are easy to set up and will give you an instant advantage over other entry-level job seekers. Plus, they are well worth doing. Identify contacts to reach out to-But where and how can you find them? Go through warm leads first-friends, family, former co-workers. Ask them to connect you with people they know. Send an email to those people to ask for introductions. Ask them at an event if you see them in person. Look on linkedin to see who they are connected to, and ask them for introductions to specific people you think you’d like to talk to. Think about other existing networking connections you have. Peers at other companies. People you have met at conferences or association meetings. Scan your contacts list in your phone just in case. Check with your alumni association and search their directory online to find people with the job titles you want to learn more about, or at the companies you want to target. Look for companies you want to apply to and consider contacting someone cold if you have to. Email the person who has the type of job you want. Follow up with a phone call. You never know who will say yes to you and if you don’t try, you’ll never know. Reach out and request the time We suggest sending them an email first, then follow up with phone call a few days later if no word back. This doesn’t put them on the spot over the phone right away. But the personal phone call shows you are serious and professional. Make sure the subject line says referred by X person, fellow X alumnus, something to get them to open the email in the first place. Craft the email saying: I am a marketing associate, with a background in graphic arts and social media, looking to conduct an informational interview for 15-20 minutes with you to learn more about your position as a marketing director. I’d like to learn (how to put my best foot forward in my search, learn more about X company, learn more about what it’s like to work in X role…..) I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to meet with you in person or over the phone. I’m available in the next week at XX times. Confirm the meeting and prepare Craft your questions. Decide what you want to ask them (what is a typical day like, what do you like best and least about your job, who best succeeds in this type of role, etc.) Always end with: Is there anyone else you think it would be helpful for me to talk to? And, how can I help you? Send them your questions. This shows you are prepared and are not going to take too much of their time. Look thru their linkedin profile to see if they have any connections you would like to be introduced to. Give them your cell phone and get theirs in case of a last minute issue the day of the meeting. Conduct the meeting Dress professionally. Bring your business cards and resume. Imagine you’re on an interview, act professionally at all times. Be mindful of their time-don’t go overboard. Be ok with guiding the conversation. You may have to do that in order to get the information you need and stay on time. Follow up At the end of the meeting ask them, can we stay in touch? If so what is the best way to do that? Connect with them on linkedin and write a handwritten note not an email! HallieCrawford.com was founded by certified career coach, speaker and author . Since 2002, the company’s team of certified career coaches have helped thousands of job seekers worldwide identify their ideal career path, navigate their career transition and achieve their career goals. Schedule a free consult with https://halliecrawford.com today to learn more about our services. Schedule a free consult with HallieCrawford.com today