Zygaverse Blogs Helping you understand the power of your personal brandhttps://app.zygaverse.com/BlogHow to End a Cover Letter – 11 Brilliant Ways (With Examples)https://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/54/how-to-end-cover-letter-with-examplesBlog &amp; Latest NewsWed, 26 Jun 2019 22:34:00 GMT<p><strong>Cover letters are an important piece of the hiring puzzle. They help potential employers grasp why you want to work for them, in what context you view your qualifications, and give a little taste of your personality.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>Perhaps it&rsquo;s not the meat of the cover letter that&rsquo;s giving you problems, but figuring out how to end it. Trying to decide how to finish a cover letter can get stressful, so here are 11 ways of ending a cover letter, complete with specific examples.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>How to End a Cover Letter</h2> <p>Use any one of these awesome ways to end a cover letter to leave a positive lasting impression.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>1. Have a positive outlook</h4> <p>After you&rsquo;ve done the work of expressing your interest in the position, don&rsquo;t let your energy wane. Instead, keep a high spirit straight through the closing. For example, your last sentence could read something like, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited about the prospect of working together in the near future.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>2. Restate your enthusiasm</h4> <p>Make sure that your cover letter reads as genuinely engaged and interested in the position for the entire document, but particularly at the end. You may want to express this with a cover letter closing like, &ldquo;This position could not be better aligned with my professional goals, and I am eager to discuss it further.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>3. State that you&rsquo;re grateful</h4> <p>Hiring managers spend a great deal of time sifting through resumes and cover letters, so be sure to express the fact that you&rsquo;re thankful to them for reading your entire application. This can be as simple as, &ldquo;I greatly appreciate your time and consideration.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>4. Appear confident</h4> <p>If you&rsquo;re a relative novice in the professional world, it may feel cocky to express confidence. However, employers are drawn to candidates who are self-assured as it indicates they will perform their jobs incisively. Consider ending your cover letter with a simple note of aplomb, like &ldquo;I look forward to discussing the next steps with you.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>5. Assume you&rsquo;ll get the interview</h4> <p>Another shade beyond simply appearing confident that you are qualified for a position is operating under the assumption that you&rsquo;ll be granted an interview, and conveying that at the end of your cover letter. For example, you might express this with a sentence like, &ldquo;I will be in touch early next week to arrange an interview.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>6. Show how your skills connect</h4> <p>Don&rsquo;t leave it up to the hiring manager to connect the dots between your resume, cover letter, and the position for which you&rsquo;re applying. Spell it out for them in your closing with something like, &ldquo;I believe that my experience in (your skill field) makes me an ideal candidate for (position).&rdquo;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>7. Demonstrate the value of your experience</h4> <p>Simply listing your past jobs won&rsquo;t do much in the way of convincing someone you&rsquo;re qualified for a position. Instead, discuss specifically what you learned in that experience, like &ldquo;My time working in sales made me excellent at communicating, even with strangers.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>8. Promise specific results</h4> <p>Your cover letter is an opportunity for you to sell yourself, and the best way to do that is by promising a return on investment. For example, you might say, &ldquo;If offered this position, I am certain I can bring in 3 new accounts within my first month.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>9. Guarantee additional information</h4> <p>Since a cover letter should not even reach a full page in length, there&rsquo;s no way you can fit every bit of relevant information in it. Instead, give a highlights version and promise additional details by saying something like, &ldquo;I will be happy to expand upon the ways my experience with (past job) can help your company (employer goal) when we discuss the position further.&rdquo;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>10. Use a professional sign-off</h4> <p>Don&rsquo;t worry about being quirky or infusing your sign-off with personality. The standard &ldquo;sincerely,&rdquo; or &ldquo;thank you,&rdquo; indicate that you know what you&rsquo;re doing, and take the opportunity seriously.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>11. Add a postscript message&nbsp;</h4> <p>Adding a P.S. message below the rest of your cover letter ensures that the hiring managers&rsquo; eyes will automatically dart there. Because of this, try to make your postscript message something that specifically highlights one of your greatest accomplishments, like &ldquo;P.S. &mdash; I would be thrilled to have an opportunity to discuss the ways I exceeded my sales quota at my last position.&rdquo;<br /> &nbsp;</p> <p>None of these tips are mutually exclusive. In fact, you can layer almost all of them on top of one another to create a truly show-stopping cover letter ending.&nbsp;</p> <p>Some of the common missteps to avoid when completing a cover letter are rushing to sign off because you&rsquo;ve used too much space already, coming off as desperate for an interview, or expressing unrealistic expectations (like a call back the following day).&nbsp;</p> <p>If you&rsquo;re struggling with more than just how to end a cover letter, and aren&rsquo;t sure how to write one at all, check out our complete guide to writing a killer cover letter.</p> <p>Ending a cover letter well can be a difficult skill to master, but if you follow these tips, you&rsquo;ll have a fantastic one written in no time!</p> 54“What Are Your Weaknesses?” – How to Answer This Interview Questionhttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/53/how-to-answer-what-are-your-weaknesses-interview-questionBlog &amp; Latest NewsSun, 23 Jun 2019 22:31:00 GMT<p><strong>If any interview question has ever tempted you to fib, or felt like a trick, it was probably the reviled &ldquo;What is your greatest weakness?&rdquo; question.</strong></p> <p>In order to prepare for this question, you should first ask yourself, what are your weaknesses? Be candid in this consideration, and that way you can figure out how to best answer before the question inevitably arises during an interview.</p> <h4>What are employers really looking for when they ask about weaknesses?</h4> <p>This question may make you feel a little squirmy, and that&rsquo;s normal. In fact, that&rsquo;s exactly why so many hiring managers ask it: they&rsquo;re looking for candidates who exhibit honesty, self-awareness, and a penchant for self-improvement even when they&rsquo;re feeling uncomfortable.</p> <p>The worst thing you can do in that critical moment is reach into your brain for an answer you think is clever. Don&rsquo;t lament the fact that you&rsquo;re too focused on perfection, or that you&rsquo;re simply too efficient&mdash;hiring managers aren&rsquo;t asking &ldquo;what is your biggest weakness?&rdquo; when they actually want to hear about your strengths.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>How to Answer &ldquo;What Is Your Greatest Weakness?&rdquo;</h4> <p>Before you flesh out your answer to this question, be sure you&rsquo;re clear on what it&rsquo;s asking.</p> <p>Your personal weaknesses aren&rsquo;t especially relevant in this context, so perhaps you feel that your overall greatest weakness is the fact that you let dishes sit in the sink for too long, but that&rsquo;s not going to offer a hiring manager much insight.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s okay to have a set of weaknesses for interviews that is separate from the weaknesses you view as most dominant. With this understanding in mind, there are several steps you can take to formulate an answer.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>1. Name a skill that&rsquo;s not necessary for the position</h4> <p>It&rsquo;s a good idea to choose a weakness that doesn&rsquo;t directly apply to the job for which you&rsquo;re interviewing. For example, if you&rsquo;re interviewing for a remote job that requires very little interaction with your peers, you might say that you have trouble working in groups as your biggest weakness.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>2. Focus on behavioral weaknesses</h4> <p>Do not choose to answer with a weakness that would make you ineffective at your job. Instead, choose something that is an overarching tendency that can be overcome with concerted effort, like the habit of focusing so much on details you fail to see the bigger picture until a project is already finished.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>3. Discuss the ways you&rsquo;ve worked to improve upon this weakness</h4> <p>Perhaps the most important component of answering the &ldquo;what is your biggest weakness?&rdquo; question is discussing the ways in which you&rsquo;ve tried to overcome the weakness. This means you could choose to discuss the fact that you naturally have quite poor time management skills, but that you&rsquo;ve begun using a daily planner with a set schedule to ensure you accomplish all of your tasks in a timely manner.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Do&#39;s and don&rsquo;ts for your weaknesses answer</h4> <p>There are a lot of wrong ways to answer this question. The most common mistake, as mentioned above, is that interviewees will try to get out of answering the question at all. Do not try to wriggle out of the situation with an &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know&rdquo; or a strength disguised as a weakness. Instead, be honest about an area in which you do have room for improvement.</p> <p>Some easy tips for crushing the &ldquo;what are your weaknesses?&rdquo; question are to make sure you&rsquo;re prepared, to choose a weakness you&rsquo;ve been working to overcome, and to be candid with the hiring manager. If you take heed of these tips, you&rsquo;ll seem authentic and self-aware.</p> <p>If you&rsquo;re still not sure which weaknesses you should discuss in interviews, ask yourself where you feel you&rsquo;ve lacked in previous professional experiences. List those shortcomings out, and choose one or two that you think you&rsquo;ve improved upon since first grappling with them. Some common weaknesses with which you may be able to answer are time management, working independently, and speaking in front of groups.</p> <p>Have a few weaknesses in mind, as some interviewers will ask &ldquo;what are your weaknesses?&rdquo; rather than the more singular &ldquo;what is your biggest weakness?&rdquo;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Prepare your weaknesses sooner rather than later</h4> <p>There&rsquo;s no way around it: some interview questions are downright uncomfortable. Instead of simply dreading them, get prepared. A good site will be able to show you resume and cover letter templates, in addition to common interview questions.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Utilize these online resources so you&rsquo;re ready for every version of the weaknesses question, then think hard about how you&rsquo;ll answer, and how you&rsquo;ve worked to improve upon that weakness. Be open and honest, and you&rsquo;re sure to turn one of the most dreaded parts of the interview into a shining moment!</p> 53How Long Should a Cover Letter Be & How Many Words?https://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/51/how-long-should-cover-letter-beBlog &amp; Latest NewsThu, 20 Jun 2019 22:29:00 GMT<p><strong>Along with its partner,&nbsp;the resume, a cover letter is one of the only chances you have of being noticed by a hiring manager.</strong></p> <p>A cover letter gives you the opportunity to express your interest in a position and then enumerate the ways that your specific experiences and education have equipped you for it. This breathes some life into your application, especially compared to the stoicism of a resume.</p> <p>The problem is that it&rsquo;s easy to miss the mark with a cover letter. One of the most common mistakes is with cover letter length&mdash;too long and you appear disorganized and rambling; too short and you seem disinterested or ill-prepared. The length of a cover letter indicates your level of interest and professionalism to potential employers.</p> <p>So, just how long should a cover letter be in terms of pages, how many words should a cover letter be, and what are some tips meet that length? Read on to find out!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>How long should a cover letter be?</h4> <p>Your cover letter should fall somewhere between half a page and one page. To be clear, this means that half a page is too short, and a full-page is too long. The proper balance hangs between these two points.</p> <p>What does this mean in terms of how many words a cover letter should be? The magic number is somewhere between 250-300. That word count should be broken up into 3-4 paragraphs so it&rsquo;s easy for a hiring manager to read quickly. This will result in your cover letter length falling within that one half to one-page range.</p> <p>Some cover letters must be sent as an email rather than attached with an application. This doesn&rsquo;t have much bearing on how long a cover letter should be, but pay extra attention to concise wording. You can still use the same parameters as with other cover letter lengths (250-300 words broken up into 3-4 paragraphs) but work extra hard to front-load the cover letter in case the hiring manager simply skims the rest.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>How can cover letter length be reduced?</h4> <p>More often than not, you&rsquo;ll find yourself with more to say than space allows, particularly if you&rsquo;re excited about a prospective position.</p> <p>Beyond combing out irrelevant information, there are a few tricks you can use to ensure your cover letter length does not exceed a page.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong>Watch your spacing</strong> &mdash; double spacing is a hard habit to break, but it&rsquo;s unnecessary for cover letters. Since these letters are relatively short (and should be broken up into several paragraphs anyway), you don&rsquo;t need to worry about them looking crowded.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong>Choose a different font</strong> &mdash; most college graduates are very familiar with the fact that some fonts take up more space than others. For your cover letter, play around with some of the standard fonts to find one that fits your spacing needs.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong>Rework wording</strong> &mdash; cover letters are not the time to display your creative writing prowess. Be expressive, but watch out for wordiness. It&rsquo;s a good idea to seek out some cover letter examples you can follow.</p> <p>If none of these tips help to get you to the optimum length, it&rsquo;s time to do some self-editing. Think hard about which sentences truly exemplify you as a candidate, and eliminate any that fall short.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s possible you&rsquo;ll feel a little stuck when trying to craft a winning cover letter within these length parameters; if that&rsquo;s the case, seek out an online resource to help walk you through the process.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4>Write a killer cover letter</h4> <p>Now that you&rsquo;re past the point of asking, &ldquo;how long is a cover letter?&rdquo; you can get down to business. Every cover letter is different, but the process of writing them is largely the same.</p> <p>Start by listing all of the reasons that you&rsquo;re excited about a position, and why you think you&rsquo;re qualified to fill it. From there, consolidate as many points as you can, and write a rough draft. If it reaches beyond a full-page, work on editing it down, or use some of the previously mentioned formatting tips. Make sure you take a break then return to re-read the letter at least once before submitting.</p> <p>After you&rsquo;ve double-checked the quality of your cover letter, make sure the length falls between half a page and a full-page, which translates to 250-300 words broken into several paragraphs.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>If all of this sounds a little tedious and you&rsquo;d rather feel certain you&rsquo;re creating a winning cover letter from the start, consider reading our <em><strong>&quot;How to Write A Killer Cover Letter&quot;</strong></em> eBook to take the guesswork out of the process!</p> 51How to Find a Part-Time Jobhttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/52/how-to-find-part-time-jobBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 18 Jun 2019 22:30:00 GMT<p>Whether you&rsquo;re a student who wants some extra money on hand, a parent who needs flexibility, someone who prefers the variety of multiple part-time jobs over one full-time position, or something else, there are lots of reasons people seek out part-time work.</p> <p>If part-time employment is something you&rsquo;re interested in pursuing, your next step involves figuring out exactly how to find a part-time job that&rsquo;s right for you.</p> <h2>How to look for a part-time job</h2> <p>If you know you&rsquo;re going to be in the market for a part-time job in the near future, start looking for one as soon as possible. Though these jobs often fill quickly, an early search will help give you an idea of what&rsquo;s out there. Plus, you may just find the right one sooner than expected.</p> <p>Maybe you&rsquo;re ready to begin the hunt, but you&rsquo;re not sure how to find a part-time job in terms of where to search for one.</p> <p>Utilizing online job boards is one of the best ways to find a part-time job, as more and more employers have turned to these resources over old-school, conventional methods. More often than not, these boards will also give you insight into what you can expect to be paid at these positions.</p> <p>Consider the industries that usually offer part-time employment, like hospitality, healthcare, retail, delivery, and customer service. Think about whether any of these industries particularly resonate with you, and whether any of them sound like they&rsquo;re absolutely out of your realm of interest. This will help you narrow down your search.</p> <p>There are some things to consider when looking for a part-time job. Ask yourself how much availability you currently have, what kind of schedule you&rsquo;re willing to take on, and how committed you&rsquo;re prepared to become to a new part-time position. Make sure you&rsquo;re honest with potential employers about the answers to each of those questions before they offer you employment.</p> <h2>How to get a part-time job</h2> <p>Once you&rsquo;ve found a crop of part-time positions you&rsquo;re interested in, you&rsquo;ll need to create a resume for a part-time job. It&rsquo;s a good idea to craft this resume specifically for the industries in which you&rsquo;re applying, so consider <a href="https://zygauni.com/">using a resume builder</a> for this process.</p> <p>The part-time hiring process is often much quicker than that for full-time positions. If you&rsquo;re fairly confident that you&rsquo;re qualified for the positions to which you&rsquo;ve applied, don&rsquo;t waste any time preparing for the interview.</p> <p>You can find common interview questions online, often accompanied by resources that will help prepare you for how to answer them.</p> <p>The final step in how to get a part time job deals less with how to land the job, and more with protecting yourself once you do. Educate yourself on your rights as a part-time employee; this will vary depending on your location, but it&rsquo;s important to know what sorts of breaks, benefits, and pay you&rsquo;re legally guaranteed.</p> <h2>Find yourself that perfect part-time job</h2> <p>There are few things in life more frustrating than a fruitless job search. That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s important to know how to find a part-time job (and equally as important, how to land one) before setting out on your hunt.</p> <p>Make sure you&rsquo;re prepared for finding part-time employment by first considering what sort of schedule you&rsquo;re interested in working, and within what industry. From there, the best way to find a part-time job is via online job boards. Once you&rsquo;re ready to apply, make sure your resume is in great shape, and prepare yourself for the interview.</p> <p>If you take care to find the right job and put your best foot forward with your resume and interview, you&rsquo;ll find a part-time position more quickly than you might imagine.</p> <p>Part-time employment can be freeing and flexible when you find the right job, so make sure you utilize every possible resource when searching for positions!</p> 52How Long Should a Resume Be & How Many Pages?https://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/50/how-long-should-resume-beBlog &amp; Latest NewsSun, 16 Jun 2019 23:28:21 GMT<p>The reality of job hunting is that potential employers judge you largely by the first impression they receive: your resume.</p> <p>Don&rsquo;t mar this initial snapshot of yourself by writing a resume that&rsquo;s too long, too short, or that doesn&rsquo;t contain the right information.</p> <h2>Why does resume length matter?</h2> <p>Most employers receive hundreds (or more) resumes for a single opening. If you are a candidate with less than 10 years of experience, but you submit a resume that&rsquo;s 3 pages long, the hiring manager may feel frustrated and less likely to pursue your application.</p> <p>Back when most resumes were submitted via some physical delivery system like fax or mail, it was easier for pages to get lost in translation. Now, these documents are usually submitted via email or web portal, but this digital era holds brevity next to godliness&mdash;a more concise resume is a more desirable resume.</p> <p>With all of this in mind, you&rsquo;re inevitably left with a few logistical questions: how long should a resume be? How many pages should a resume be? How can I conserve space without losing value? There are right and wrong ways to tackle each of these questions.</p> <h2>How long should a resume be?</h2> <p>Conventional wisdom dictates that you should try to keep your resume to one page. The only exception to this rule is if you have extensive experience in the field to which you&rsquo;re applying (which is only likely if you&rsquo;ve worked in it for around a decade).</p> <p>This means that you can go longer than a page if necessary, but it&rsquo;s unlikely that you&rsquo;ll need to.</p> <p>Resume length is variable depending on the individual, so how many pages a resume should be depends somewhat on how many pages you absolutely need to convey an accurate picture of yourself as a candidate. If you are just starting out professionally, a one page resume should be plenty.</p> <p>Young professionals often grapple with the length of resumes more than any other aspect of the document, so if you still find yourself asking, &ldquo;how long should my resume be?&rdquo; or you can&rsquo;t seem to pare down the length, consider using a free resume builder.</p> <h2>How can resume length be reduced?</h2> <p>If the length of your resume extends just slightly beyond that ideal one page mark, there are a few simple tips you can employ to cut the length down.</p> <p><strong>Play with fonts</strong> &mdash; some fonts are smaller than others, so which one you use can help you cut down on your resume length. Try out a few different ones, but don&rsquo;t veer into the territory of overly-stylized or difficult to read.</p> <p><strong>Condense your wording</strong> &mdash; there&rsquo;s no need to write flourishing descriptions of your work experience for your resume. Get to the meat of the information as quickly as you can.</p> <p><strong>Decrease margins</strong> &mdash; standard margins can cut several inches of usable space out of your document. You can reduce them (to a reasonable degree) for some extra room on the page.</p> <p><strong>Reduce spacing</strong> &mdash; norms like double spacing shouldn&rsquo;t be used in a resume. Try to strike a happy balance between a spaced out, aesthetically pleasing page and one that crowds too much information.</p> <p><strong>Get creative</strong> &mdash; the design of your resume can be both visually dynamic and professional. Oftentimes, an unusual design will allow you to fit more information on one page; our&nbsp;<a href="https://zygauni.com/">free resume builder</a> can help you with this.</p> <p>Beyond these quick fixes, consider what sort of content you&rsquo;re including and stack that up against how long a resume should be.</p> <p>When you&rsquo;re aiming to keep your resume at about one page, you probably don&rsquo;t want to include civic activities from high school or part-time jobs (unless, of course, they relate directly to the position for which you&rsquo;re applying).</p> <h2>How to get write a resume of the ideal length</h2> <p>As confusing as it may feel at first, figuring out how many pages a resume should be isn&rsquo;t all that complicated. Aim for a one page resume that concisely details relevant education, work history, and skills. If you&rsquo;re precocious and simply have too much relevant experience to fit on that first page, then it&rsquo;s okay to expand into the two page range.</p> <p>Don&rsquo;t leave any part of the job hunt up to chance. Consider what&rsquo;s worth including on your resume, write out a rough draft, and then utilize a resume template to create a visually appealing, organized resume that&rsquo;s exactly the right length!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> 50How to Start a Cover Letter to Get Noticed (With Examples)https://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/49/how-to-start-a-cover-letter-with-examplesBlog &amp; Latest NewsMon, 27 May 2019 23:00:00 GMT<p>A cover letter is at the forefront of your entire application for a job. It serves as the preface for what your resume will say and encourages the employer to read more about you.</p> <p>Your cover letter should put your best foot forward and immediately show the hiring manager why you are a candidate they simply can&rsquo;t pass up the opportunity to learn more about.</p> <p>But, how do you start a cover letter so that you immediately get noticed and pegged as someone who would excel in the position without overwhelming them with information or adding too much fluff?</p> <p>So, let us answer the question: how do you start a cover letter to get noticed?</p> <h2>1. Personalise It</h2> <p>How would it make you feel if you received an email about interviewing with a company that addressed several people or just had a general &ldquo;hello&rdquo; rather than your name?</p> <p>It would feel insincere. And this works both ways.</p> <p>While it is okay to have a generic template that you use for your cover letters, we always recommend personalising each cover letter to the job you are applying for.</p> <p>Use the hiring manager&#39;s name, include the job you are applying for, and note why you can offer that specific company value.</p> <h2>2. Mention recent news about the company</h2> <p>While you might be applying to several companies and have a general idea of what they all do, you should still appear more invested than that in the eyes of the potential employer.</p> <p>Make them feel unique. They want to see that you have put time and effort into considering their company and that you know more about them than just where to send your resume.</p> <p>Of course, it would be unnecessary and actually damaging to go over-the-top and include every recent fact you can find, but you should include one key piece of recent news that demonstrates a genuine interest in them.</p> <h2>3. Mention a contact</h2> <p>This is a tip that you will only use if applicable. While it is useful to have a contact where you are applying, we understand that this will not always be the case, nor is it necessary to secure the job you are applying for.</p> <p>However, if you do have a contact, especially one that is well-respected within the company, mentioning their name in the cover letter will typically give you brownie points.</p> <h2>4. Share an achievement</h2> <p>As mentioned in the beginning, your cover letter is your chance to put your best foot forward. Use this opportunity to share a relevant achievement that your peers might not be able to include in their cover letter.&nbsp;</p> <p>This is one of the best ways to stand out without being too boastful or trying to polish up your skill set more than is accurate.</p> <h2>5. Provide value</h2> <p>During the hiring process, the potential employer is looking for what you can do for them.&nbsp;</p> <p>They are going to spend the money on your salary and benefits, so they want to know what value you can provide them in return.</p> <h2>6. Tell a story</h2> <p>Keep in mind that your cover letter should only be one page, structure it as a narrative &ndash; but take this term lightly.&nbsp;</p> <p>By structuring it as a narrative, we mean that it should flow like a story.</p> <p>Make it easy for the employer to read and entice them to learn more, almost like a cliffhanger at the end of a book.</p> <h2>7. Use humour or surprise</h2> <p>The element of surprise is an attention-getter. The hiring manager likely does not yet have a preconceived notion of who you are, as your cover letter is one of the first things they will look at.</p> <p>However, they might have already read through the cover letters of a few other applicants at this point, so using humour or surprise to switch things up is a great way to grab their attention and show that you are personable.</p> <p>Tip: Be cautious when using humour. You do not want an attempt to lighten the mood to come through as an irresponsible or immature mishap.</p> <h2>Examples of how to start a cover letter</h2> <p>Here are a few examples of how to apply the above to the start of your cover letter:</p> <h3>Example 1</h3> <p><em>Smith and Company were recently voted one of the top five employers in our area; and I would be honoured to show just as much dedication and devotion to your company as an employee.</em></p> <h3>Example 2</h3> <p><em>As a former colleague of Jane Doe, I know that you will appreciate the high standards that applied to the projects we completed in our time together.</em></p> <h3>Example 3</h3> <p><em>I have been a long-time client of Smith and Associates and after seeing the great work you have done for me and my team over the years, I would now like to join your team and help further that reach.</em></p> <p>For more help with writing your cover letter, be sure to download our <a href="https://content.zygauni.com/killer-cover-letters-guide/">guide to writing killer cover letters</a>.</p> <h2>Get started on writing your cover letter</h2> <p>At ZygaUni, we understand that your dream job can seem like just that, a dream. However, we are confident that we can provide you with the tools to prepare you to snag that dream job right off the market.</p> <p>Writing a cover letter that will get you noticed requires some thought and finesse, and our <a href="https://content.zygauni.com/killer-cover-letters-guide/">guide</a> will help you write a cover letter that you&rsquo;ll love.&nbsp;</p> <p>And make sure to use our <a href="https://zygauni.com/">innovative online resume builder</a> to create an eye-catching resume to go with your cover letter.</p> 49The Most Important Skills To Put On Your Resumehttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/48/most-important-skills-to-put-on-resumeBlog &amp; Latest NewsThu, 23 May 2019 23:00:00 GMT<p>The job market that most people enter into today is very different from the ones our parents encountered.&nbsp;</p> <p>The idea that you&rsquo;d train for a particular career, enter into it, work your way up and eventually retire at a senior level is a path that very few people will end up taking.&nbsp;</p> <p>According to <a href="https://mccrindle.com.au/insights/blog/job-mobility-australia/">research</a>, the average time spent in a single job is just over three years, and today&rsquo;s school leaver can expect to have five separate careers in their lifetime. What does this mean for the average Australian job seeker?&nbsp;</p> <p>It means that you&rsquo;ll probably be updating your resume more often and that you&rsquo;ll have to be more critical about what appears in it as you pursue different positions requiring different skill sets.&nbsp;</p> <p>Here&rsquo;s how to decide what goes on your resume and what you should leave out &ndash; and why your soft skills should always feature.</p> <h2>Adding Soft Skills to Your Resume</h2> <p>There are still a handful of jobs that require set-in-stone qualifications and requirements.&nbsp;</p> <p>If you&rsquo;re planning on entering a profession such as law and medicine or working as a tradie electrician or builder, your technical skills are critical to your ability to get the job done.&nbsp;</p> <p>However, for the vast majority of corporate and office-based jobs, things aren&rsquo;t so cut and dry.&nbsp;</p> <p>Dozens of job titles and job roles exist in the working world, and there aren&rsquo;t dedicated and accredited university degrees for each individual role.&nbsp;</p> <p>For this reason, you need to identify the intangible skills you possess that you could apply in a variety of roles.&nbsp;</p> <p>According to a recent survey undertaken by LinkedIn, almost <a href="https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/trends-and-research/2018/the-most-in-demand-hard-and-soft-skills-of-2018">60% of leaders</a> say that a person&rsquo;s soft skills will help them stand out above other applicants for a job, so it&rsquo;s worth paying attention to this.</p> <h2>Hard Skills vs Soft Skills</h2> <p>If you don&rsquo;t have the faintest idea what soft skills you have, sit down and make a list of the duties you perform (or performed at your last job) regularly.&nbsp;</p> <p>Think about the tasks you excel at or a moment where you received praise and recognition in the workplace. What personal strengths enabled this?&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>Catching a significant coding error before the client saw it could indicate attention to detail.&nbsp;</li> <li>Being able to find a last minute speaker for a conference after the promised guest speaker pulled out can mean you&rsquo;re skilled at perseverance.&nbsp;</li> <li>Keeping irate clients calm during an unforeseen project delay due to bad weather can demonstrate crisis management skills.</li> </ul> <p>If you&rsquo;re still stuck, don&rsquo;t be afraid to contact old co-workers or references and ask them what their impression of you is. Often our soft skills are best identified from an outside perspective.</p> <h2>Matching Your Skills To The Right Job</h2> <p>You might have a specific type of job title in mind when seeking a new role, or you might be wanting a different job in a different environment that you could confidently apply for based on your current skill set.&nbsp;</p> <p>To be able to build your resume with the appropriate soft skills, you&rsquo;ll need to group them by type and category so that you can see where your strengths lie.</p> <h2>Types of Soft Skills</h2> <p>There&rsquo;s no universally acknowledged classification system used with soft skills.</p> <p>However, the <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/02/emotional-intelligence-has-12-elements-which-do-you-need-to-work-on">Harvard Business Review</a> believes that you can divide most soft skills into four categories:</p> <ul> <li>Self Management &ndash; adaptability, optimism &amp; having a strong work ethic/moral compass</li> <li>Self Awareness &ndash; being self-aware, observant, communicative &amp; open to criticism</li> <li>Social Awareness &ndash; empathy, flexibility &amp; attention to detail</li> <li>Relationship Management &ndash; leadership, patience, conflict resolution</li> </ul> <p>To work out which skills you possess, you need to carefully go through the job posting in question or look at several postings of the kind of jobs you&rsquo;re seeking out.&nbsp;</p> <p>What common traits do they call for? They might mention the very soft skills you possess, by a different name.&nbsp;</p> <h2>Which Skills to Put on Your Resume</h2> <p>When putting your resume together, put yourself in the position of the person looking at it and remember that it will be the first of many communications you&rsquo;ll have with them if you&rsquo;re successful.&nbsp;</p> <p>To grab their attention, you need to lead with the skills you possess that enable you to fill the position. Here&rsquo;s a guide on what to include and what to leave out.</p> <h3>Things to leave off your resume</h3> <ul> <li>Historical details like your hometown or school grades (unless you&rsquo;re a school leaver)</li> <li>Personal details such as hobbies and pastimes, unless directly linked to your role.&nbsp;</li> <li>Lies or anything that stretches the truth. This will always reflect badly on you.</li> </ul> <h3>Skills to list on your resume</h3> <ul> <li>Your contact details (including an up to date contact number and email address)</li> <li>Relevant experience (if you feel it taught you valuable skills, include it)</li> <li>Soft skills related tasks (listing your tasks and which soft skills they exercise).</li> </ul> <h2>Ready to Update Your Resume?</h2> <p>Putting together a resume (and figuring out exactly what skills to put on your resume) isn&rsquo;t always easy, which is why sometimes working with resume templates and our <a href="https://zygauni.com/">interactive resume builder</a> could help you finetune yours.&nbsp;</p> <p>It&#39;s something that ZygaUni can assist you with, and we&rsquo;re experts at helping you to prepare for an interview too. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help you create the perfect resume.<br /> &nbsp;</p> 48The Ten Best Ways to Find a Jobhttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/47/ten-best-ways-to-find-a-jobBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 21 May 2019 23:00:00 GMT<p>The hunt for a job that ticks all of your boxes can sometimes seem harrowing.</p> <p>Even if you have a multitude of qualifications, you may be at a loss as to where exactly you can find your dream job.</p> <p>Traditional methods for finding jobs obviously still exist, but your best chances for finding a good one will come when you think outside the box.</p> <p>Here are 10 of the best ways to find a job.</p> <h2>1. Word of mouth</h2> <p>Who could be a more reliable referral source than your friends and family?</p> <p>Ask the people you trust if they know of any positions for which you might be well suited.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s a particularly good idea to reach out to people you may know in your preferred industry.</p> <p>Don&rsquo;t be afraid to utilise contacts as resources&mdash;sometimes it&rsquo;s who you know more than what you know that proves crucial in finding a job.</p> <h2>2. Networking events</h2> <p>You&rsquo;ve no doubt had the chance to attend events like job fairs and business networking groups in the past.</p> <p>These may not be your favorite type of event, but they are undoubtedly one of the best ways to get a job.<br /> <br /> Often, employers attend job fairs ready to hire the right candidate, making these networking events a truly great way to find a job.</p> <p>Take the leap, put yourself out there and you may just leave with a job, or at the very least, some connections with great potential.</p> <h2>3. Online job sites</h2> <p>In this increasingly modern world, it comes as no surprise that online job sites are one of the best ways to get a job.</p> <p>There are plenty of job boards, and you will maximise your chances of finding a job by utilising as many of them as possible.</p> <p>Some sites will actually send your resume to prospective employers once you sign up, so it&rsquo;s a good idea to <a href="https://zygauni.com/Reg">use a resume builder</a> to ensure that yours stands apart from the masses.</p> <h2>4. Look beyond obvious job search sites</h2> <p>Traditional job search sites are great resources, but sometimes it takes a little digging in order to find the best way to search for jobs.<br /> <br /> Social media sites like Linkedin and Facebook have jumped into the job search world by including postings, and even allowing you to apply directly from their site.</p> <h2>5. Reach out to preferred companies</h2> <p>Some companies receive so much interest that they don&rsquo;t even bother to post their jobs anywhere, instead drawing from their existing pool of highly qualified job seekers.</p> <p>If there&rsquo;s a company with whom you really resonate, reaching out to them directly may actually be the best way to find a job with them.</p> <p>And even if there&rsquo;s not a current opening available with them, you never know what opportunities it might lead to down the track.</p> <p>6. Check ads in newspapers and trade journals</p> <p>Despite the digital age, some great jobs are still posted in print.</p> <p>What&rsquo;s more, since so many people are conditioned to job search online, applying to a print ad could mean you are part of a smaller than average applicant pool.</p> <h2>7. Work with recruiters</h2> <p>Especially if you are a highly specialised candidate, reaching out to headhunters is one of the best ways to look for a job.</p> <p>Organise your qualifications and give your information to someone who has partnered with companies in your field.</p> <h2>8. Consider unusual roles</h2> <p>It&rsquo;s easy to fall into a rut with the way you imagine yourself.</p> <p>Once you decide on a certain path, it&rsquo;s hard to rewire your brain to consider different careers.</p> <p>If you take a step back and look at your abilities through a different lens, a change in perspective may be one of the best ways to find a job.</p> <h2>9. Take an internship</h2> <p>Although it may not feel as triumphant as a full-time job, landing an internship in your dream field helps you forge valuable connections that can lead to a job after your internship.</p> <p>Throw some energy into finding an internship that you truly enjoy, and it may just turn out to be the best way to look for a job.</p> <h2>10. Start a business or try pickup work</h2> <p>If you just can&rsquo;t bring yourself to work for someone else, or if you could use a little breathing room while you decide exactly what you want to do, consider finding a job on your own terms.</p> <p>Start your own business on the side, or take some pickup work with a service like Uber or Airtasker, and learn some new skills, make new connections and keep busy while you look for work.</p> <p>You might just discover a whole new career path!</p> <h2>Ready to get a job?</h2> <p>There are plenty of great ways to search for jobs, but regardless of which way you choose to find a job, make sure that you create an eye-catching resume to best convey your skills and abilities.</p> <p>Maximise your chances of finding a job by utilising as many resources as possible, and keep an open mind about where you may land.</p> 47The Right Way to Follow Up After an Interviewhttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/46/how-to-follow-up-after-an-interviewBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 21 May 2019 04:35:52 GMT<p>There&rsquo;s no doubt about it that the anticipation leading up to an interview is anxiety-inducing.</p> <p>But perhaps even more nerve-wracking is what comes after the interview when you&rsquo;re waiting to hear back.</p> <p>This is true even if you&rsquo;ve nailed the interview, and especially if the job aligns well with your goals.</p> <p>Once you get home from the interview, the inevitable question that arises is how to follow up after that all-important interview.</p> <p>Here are some quick tips on the right way to do just that.</p> <h2>When to follow up after an interview</h2> <p>Choosing the right time to pull the trigger on an interview follow up is a delicate balance between seeming excited and seeming desperate, and it comes in several phases, the first of which actually begins before the meeting even ends.</p> <h3>Confirm the next steps</h3> <p>Make sure to ask the interviewer if they have a timeline in mind, and what the next steps will be before you leave the interview.</p> <p>Having a schedule stowed away will give you a better idea of how to follow up on a job interview, and it may also help ease some of the anxiety.</p> <h3>Send a thank you straight away</h3> <p>The first point of follow up can come almost directly after the interview in the form of a thank you email.</p> <p>Oftentimes, employers will reply directly to this thank you with additional information or a decision.</p> <h3>Keep following up</h3> <p>After that, if you haven&rsquo;t heard from the employer, wait several days to a week before following up again. You can send an additional email at this point.</p> <h2>How to follow up after an interview</h2> <p>The timing of how to follow up on an interview is important, but the way you reach out to a potential employer is just as critical.</p> <p>If you don&rsquo;t handle this in the right way, your follow up can feel more aggressive than enthusiastic, which is the opposite of what you&rsquo;re aiming for.</p> <p>Although it may be difficult, try to stay relaxed in the days following your interview and avoid seeming overly eager.</p> <p>Stay professional and interested, and trust that your capabilities shone through in the interview.</p> <h3>Write a thank you note or email</h3> <p>As mentioned above, a thank you note directly following the interview is not too pushy. In fact, it is almost customary.</p> <p>Reply to the most recent correspondence you and the interviewer shared simply thanking them for taking the time to meet with you.</p> <p>If you want, you can make it even more personalised and post them a handwritten thank you note.</p> <h3>Connect on LinkedIn</h3> <p>Next you can connect with your potential employer on LinkedIn in order to help demonstrate your professional qualifications.</p> <p>This also signals to the employer that you are serious and interested in pursuing an ongoing professional relationship.</p> <h3>Send a check in email</h3> <p>If you haven&rsquo;t heard from the employer in a week, now&rsquo;s the time to send an additional check in email to reiterate your interest in and excitement about the position.</p> <p>This timeline may be a little different depending on what the interviewer told you when you met, so be sure to take that into account when sending your next communication.</p> <h3>Stay in touch</h3> <p>The final step on how to follow up on a job interview is to simply stay in touch.</p> <p>It sometimes can take employers a while to decide on a candidate, so stay in touch with them at regular intervals to show your ongoing interest in the role and to keep yourself at the forefront of their minds.</p> <p>And mix it up a little with your communications - send them interesting articles, pick up the phone, or comment on their posts on social media - to keep the tone of your follow ups light but engaged.</p> <p>This demonstrates your professionalism and your commitment to the role, and increases the chances that you&rsquo;ll land the job.</p> <h2>Ready to follow up on that job interview?</h2> <p>Following up on an interview the right way is second in importance only to the interview itself. It lets the employer know that you are interested and communicative.</p> <p>The timing and the way you follow up with an employer are reflections on who you are as both a potential employee and a person.</p> <p>Now you know what to do after an interview, but don&rsquo;t forget to do the legwork to get to the interview in the first place.</p> <p>Use every resource available to you: take a look at resume templates and rehearse interview questions so you&rsquo;re prepared.</p> <p>Enjoy this process, and remember that with hard work you&rsquo;ll find the right position for you.</p> 46How Long Does it Take to Find a Job?https://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/45/how-long-does-it-take-to-find-a-jobBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 21 May 2019 04:25:51 GMT<p>Are you unemployed or looking for a better paying, more prestigious job than you have now?</p> <p>Unfortunately, there&#39;s no straightforward answer to the question of how long it will take to find a job.</p> <p>However, this doesn&#39;t mean you should throw your hands up and let fate make all your career decisions for you.</p> <p>Here&#39;s how the average person is faring on the job market, what the usual path to employment looks like and how to manage your job search so that it&#39;s as short and successful as possible.</p> <h2>How Long Are People Taking To Find The Perfect Role?</h2> <p>The average person will take 82 days to find a job. It&#39;s vital to familiarise yourself with the process, as it isn&#39;t a matter of replying to a job posting and then starting work the next day.</p> <p>The typical process and timing of securing a job can take hours for some roles, and months for others.</p> <p>There are also personal factors that will impact your search, such as how long you&#39;ve been unemployed, if you want to change industries or if you&#39;re looking for a location-specific job.</p> <p>While you&#39;ll never be able to peer into a Magic Eight Ball and get the exact date you&#39;ll get your dream job, there are a few things within your control that can make the process as fast and straightforward as possible.</p> <h2>The Job Search Timeline &ndash; And How You Can Improve Your Odds</h2> <p>While no two companies are the same, the general process of applying for (and getting) a job goes as follows:</p> <h3>1. You See An Advert And Reply To It</h3> <p>Improve your odds by reading the advert carefully and making sure you&#39;re qualified for the job.</p> <p>If not, be prepared to motivate for why you&#39;d suit the role despite not having the necessary training.</p> <p>Make sure you adhere to the closing dates provided and provide what&#39;s requested (a portfolio or cover letter) as requested (in PDF format or via a link to a cloud folder).</p> <h3>2. The Company Reviews CVs and Shortlists Candidates</h3> <p>Improve your odds by doing research.</p> <p>If you get a callback and need to come in for an interview, research the company and your potential role in it.</p> <p>Visit LinkedIn to see who you&#39;ll work with and visit their social media platforms to get an idea of their dress code.</p> <h3>3. The Company Reviews Shortlisted Candidates &amp; Requests An Interview Follow Up</h3> <p>Improve your odds by giving your references a heads up.</p> <p>At this stage of the interview process, the company will know the facts about you such as your age, where you studied and where you live.</p> <p>Their next step will be to evaluate your intangible qualities, and this starts with calling your references.</p> <p>We don&#39;t recommend coaching your references as employers will be able to discern what&#39;s an accurate statement from what isn&#39;t, and you don&#39;t know what they&#39;ll ask anyway.</p> <p>Instead, let them know to expect a call, and who it will be from so they answer it.</p> <h3>4. The Final Checks Take Place, And If You&#39;re Lucky, You Get The Job</h3> <p>Improve your odds by waiting.</p> <p>It might seem counterintuitive, but not all offers are created equal.</p> <p>Never commit to a job or sign a contract until you&#39;ve thoroughly looked it over.</p> <p>Taking up a job that doesn&#39;t meet your needs only to end up leaving will reflect poorly on you to future employers.</p> <h2>How To Make Your Job Search As Quick And Easy As Possible</h2> <p>Searching for a job can make you feel like you&#39;re at the mercy of employers, and it&#39;s true that sometimes they&#39;ll waste your time or fail to let you know your search has been unsuccessful.</p> <p>Thankfully there are ways you can protect yourself and make your search more fruitful:</p> <h3>Know Your Basic Needs</h3> <p>Calculate your expenses to determine your desired take-home pay.</p> <p>Many jobs will offer what seems to be an impressive package, only for you to find out that much of it is tied up in benefits, you don&#39;t want or need, such as shares.</p> <p>You need to pay your bills, so knowing this figure will steer you away from applying for jobs that will waste your time.</p> <h3>Know What You&#39;re Willing To Compromise On</h3> <p>Depending on your circumstances, lifestyle and personality, you&#39;ll have certain non-negotiables and things you don&#39;t mind changing.</p> <p>Knowing this puts you in the best position to negotiate for the perfect role.</p> <p>For example, as a parent, you might want your weekends free, but as a young single person, you might not mind working overtime for the extra cash.</p> <h3>Know When To Ask For What You Want</h3> <p>While some roles have requirements that can&#39;t be negotiated (for example, a doctor must have a medical degree), others are surprisingly flexible.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>If you&#39;ve found the perfect job that&#39;s lacking in one way, it doesn&#39;t hurt to ask for what you want.</p> <p>The worst they can do is say no, and you might find an alternative arrangement that works for everyone.</p> <p>An example would be finding a dream job out of state. The company might request someone based in-house, but if you can convince them of your reliability you could work from home and only visit the office for important meetings. You wouldn&#39;t need to relocate and save on precious office space and costs.</p> <h2>It All Starts With One Thing</h2> <p>No matter whether you&#39;re an academic, artist or artisan, your job search will begin with one crucial thing &ndash; a resume.</p> <p>This document will make or break your job options, so you need to put as much effort into it as possible.</p> <p>ZygaUni offers an innovative, interactive <a href="https://zygauni.com/Reg">online resume builder</a> that can help you stand out from the rest, and we can help you with everything from cover letter templates to interview tips.</p> <p>Contact us today to kickstart your job search on the best possible foot.</p> 45What to Wear to an Interview to Get the Jobhttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/44/what-to-wear-to-an-interviewBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 30 Apr 2019 05:30:21 GMT<p>So you&rsquo;ve written your <a href="http://content.zygauni.com/killer-cover-letters-guide/">cover letter</a> and polished up your resume (maybe you even took the initiative to use a <a href="http://zygauni.com/">free resume builder</a>), and it impressed a potential employer enough that they want to interview you.&nbsp;</p> <p>This is great and exciting news, but now you may be wondering: what should I wear to an interview?&nbsp;</p> <p>You don&rsquo;t get a second chance for a first impression, so while you should avoid stressing more than you already are, don&rsquo;t downplay the importance of a stellar interview outfit.&nbsp;</p> <p>Here are some tips to consider when you are choosing what to wear to a job interview that will increase your chances of getting the job.&nbsp;</p> <h2>Tell a story with your interview outfit</h2> <p>Take choosing what to wear to an interview as an opportunity for personal expression. What do you want to say about yourself? How do you want your potential employer to view you?&nbsp;</p> <p>It may seem like you can&rsquo;t answer these questions with what you wear, but you have control over how others perceive you with the way that you dress. Indeed, you can convey a lot about yourself simply based on what you wear.&nbsp;</p> <p>If you&rsquo;re interested in moving up within the company, dress for an executive position; if you want to convey your creativity, choose a more interesting color and pattern combination.&nbsp;</p> <p>The options are virtually endless and highly individualized when choosing how to dress for an interview.&nbsp;</p> <h2>Do your homework on the company</h2> <p>If you are genuinely interested in becoming part of a company, do your due diligence and research them before the interview.&nbsp;</p> <p>This seems like a no-brainer in the world of what to wear to an interview, but take care that you don&rsquo;t wear something too casual to a formal interview or vice versa.&nbsp;</p> <p>A casual start up may feel you are out of touch with their culture if you arrive in a suit, and a more formal environment will question your qualifications if you arrive in jeans.&nbsp;</p> <p>Make sure you have researched the company culture and standards when selecting your interview outfit.&nbsp;</p> <p>This research will also benefit you in the interview itself, keeping you from stumbling or going blank with your answers.&nbsp;</p> <h2>Sweat the small stuff</h2> <p>This tip may seem like it bucks conventional wisdom of day to day life, but in terms of choosing an interview outfit, it is crucial.&nbsp;</p> <p>Don&rsquo;t underestimate the importance of a clean, wrinkle-free, and well-fitting outfit. Something that looks fine to you may look disheveled to a potential employer.&nbsp;</p> <p>Avoid selecting something that&rsquo;s been living in a pile on your floor to wear to an interview unless you take the time to wash and press it.&nbsp;</p> <p>Make no allowances in an interview outfit for things you would ordinarily let slide. These small details can make or break the overall aesthetics of your interview outfit.</p> <h2>Do a dry run the day before</h2> <p>Once you&rsquo;ve decided what to wear to an interview, give yourself time to reassess and make adjustments to the plan.&nbsp;</p> <p>This will allow you to make sure that your interview outfit aligns with company standards, accurately reflects who you are as a person and potential employee, and does not have any obvious issues like cleanliness or fit.&nbsp;</p> <p>It&rsquo;s a good idea to ask someone you trust to take a look at your outfit, and offer any suggestions for improvement that they might notice.&nbsp;</p> <h2>Things to avoid</h2> <p>Just like you can use what you wear to a job interview to tell a story about who you are, you can use it to ruin your chances of receiving a job as well.&nbsp;</p> <p>Don&rsquo;t wear excessive perfume or cologne that will overpower and distract from your qualifications.&nbsp;</p> <p>Likewise, don&rsquo;t dress in anything too revealing that will paint you as less than serious about the job.</p> <p>This goes for things like makeup and clashing colors as well.&nbsp;</p> <p>You want your interview outfit to complement your other accomplishments rather than overshadow them, especially in a negative way.&nbsp;</p> <h2>You&rsquo;re ready to choose your interview clothing</h2> <p>There are plenty of considerations when preparing for an interview&mdash;everything from interview questions to how early to arrive may be weighing heavily on your mind.&nbsp;</p> <p>In all of the activity, don&rsquo;t forget to set aside some time to plan what to wear to your job interview.&nbsp;</p> <p>Your clothing says more about you than you may realize, make sure you&rsquo;re sending potential employers the right message.&nbsp;</p> <p>Once you have done all of your preparation, simply take a breath and accurately represent your many abilities to the employer.<br /> &nbsp;</p> 44What is a Cover Letter and Do I Need One?https://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/43/what-is-a-cover-letterBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 30 Apr 2019 05:17:11 GMT<h1>What is a Cover Letter and Do I Need One?</h1> <p>People find themselves on the hunt for a new job for many reasons.</p> <p>Perhaps&nbsp;you&rsquo;ve reached a glass ceiling, have a newfound skill or interest, are moving, or have found another key reason for&nbsp;a career change.</p> <p>Whatever your motivation, you now need a solid application that will help you make the right move.</p> <p>As you begin putting in application after application, you stumble upon an opportunity that requires a cover letter. Naturally, a few questions arise.</p> <p>What is a cover letter? You know vaguely what a cover letter is, but what exactly should you be putting on there?&nbsp;</p> <p>Is a cover letter necessary? Not all jobs require cover letters, so is it worth taking the time to write one?</p> <p>A cover letter is like the abstract of a research paper; it serves as the front page, or preview, of your resume.</p> <p>This document allows you to highlight certain abilities and traits, showcase your communication skills, and entice the employer to continue on to read your resume.</p> <h2>Who needs a cover letter?</h2> <p>Everyone.</p> <p>While not every job will require one or even request one, under no circumstances should you consider submitting your resume without one.&nbsp;</p> <p>In fact, you should especially include a cover letter in the event that a job application does not require or request one. This is because it is more likely that&nbsp;other candidates will not submit one.</p> <p>By submitting one, you are giving yourself an automatic head start, and standing out to the employer before anyone else has the chance to.&nbsp;</p> <p>A cover letter is your opportunity to show your seriousness about applying for and getting the job, and it is your chance to tailor your application specifically to that job.</p> <h2>What to include in a cover letter</h2> <p>Each job application you submit should have a specific cover letter.</p> <p>While some information will remain the same, you should adjust each letter to address the specific&nbsp;employer, the position you are applying for, and to highlight the skills and experience you have specific to this role.</p> <p>Like you would for an interview, you should start by doing a little research for your cover letter.</p> <p>You do not want to include an array of statistics in this document, however, if there is something that you can relate strongly to, it can give you a good lede.&nbsp;</p> <p>A basic cover letter should always include:</p> <ul> <li>Your personal details (name, address, contact information)</li> <li>The hiring manager&#39;s name addressed in a professional salutation</li> <li>Why you feel you are the best fit for this position</li> <li>What you bring to the table</li> <li>A&nbsp;proper closer</li> </ul> <p>Our free guide to <a href="https://content.zygauni.com/killer-cover-letters-guide/">Writing Killer Cover Letters</a> shows you step by step what to include in your cover letter to make sure you catch the hiring manager&rsquo;s attention.</p> <h2>What to leave out of a cover letter</h2> <p>There are always do&#39;s and don&#39;ts with job hunting, resumes and yes, even cover letters.</p> <p>Because this is the preview or cover page of your resume, you want to be sure to leave out any unwanted or unnecessary information that could distract from the important stuff.</p> <p>A few things you should not include in your cover letter are:&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>Too much information about your work history. You should only include information about jobs you have held that apply directly to the skills needed for this position.&nbsp;</li> <li>Personal information, such as family, hobbies, and religious and political views</li> <li>Generic information. This will make you sound insincere, which can quickly lead to you being skipped over.&nbsp; </li> </ul> <h2>How to lay out a cover letter&nbsp;</h2> <p>A cover letter should be concise. Bear in mind, this is just a preview of your resume.</p> <p>Think of it almost like the table of contents in a book - it is simply meant to get someone to read more, not to give them every single detail.&nbsp;</p> <p>Keep your cover letter to one page, use a professional font and always check your spelling and grammar.</p> <p>Start by addressing the employer. Then, in your first sentence note which job you are applying for.</p> <p>Keep the body paragraphs short and direct. Lastly, be sure to end with a professional, yet warm closer.&nbsp;</p> <p>To help you write a cover letter that gets you noticed every single time, make sure to grab your free copy of our guide to <a href="https://content.zygauni.com/killer-cover-letters-guide/">Writing Killer Cover Letters</a>.</p> <h2>Get started writing your cover letter</h2> <p>A cover letter is a preview of your resume. It serves to give your audience a brief overview of what you offer as a candidate and to encourage them to keep reading.</p> <p>Think of it as a cliffhanger at the end of a book. When it comes to a large pool of applicants, it could be just what you need to stand out in the crowd and get your resume forward to the next step.&nbsp;</p> <p>Now that you know what a cover letter is, it&rsquo;s time to check out a few cover letter examples and start building your own.</p> <p>As you prepare for your next interview, think carefully about your cover letter and how you want to use it to represent yourself as the best possible candidate for the position.&nbsp;</p> <p>And make sure to download our guide to <a href="https://content.zygauni.com/killer-cover-letters-guide/">Writing Killer Cover Letters</a>, and you&rsquo;ll be on your way to landing an interview for your dream job in no time! </p> 43How To Find A Job You Love In 7 Easy Stepshttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/42/how-to-find-a-job-you-loveBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 30 Apr 2019 05:08:54 GMT<p>We all need to earn a living so that we can pay for our necessary expenses.</p> <p>However, our job fulfilment is just as important. Unfortunately, many of us people end up doing something we tolerate to get by &ndash; instead of doing what we&rsquo;d love to do.</p> <p>If you&rsquo;re in this position, it&rsquo;s never too late to make a change, and you only have one life to live, so why not?</p> <p>If you&rsquo;d like to do something related to what you&rsquo;re passionate about, the good news is that you can. It takes a bit of reflection, research, and bravery, but it&rsquo;s possible to find a job that you&rsquo;ll love and will earn you an income.</p> <p>Here are seven steps to help you get there.</p> <h2>1. Find Out What Your Passions Are</h2> <p>This sounds like a strange question, right?</p> <p>You&rsquo;d think that most people would already know what their passions are, but the truth is that most people know what they like &ndash; but not what they love, and how this translates into a job.</p> <p>It&#39;s worth it to take some time out of your day to reflect on what you find interesting and then to attend to those things that energize you and give you a purpose.&nbsp;</p> <p>Look at what you do for fun and see if you can find patterns in the things you enjoy that you could translate into a new career.</p> <p>Friends, family and life coaches can also give you an external perspective on what motivates you so that you narrow down the position where you belong.</p> <h2>2. Evaluate Your Previous Jobs</h2> <p>Take a look at your previous jobs.</p> <p>If you&rsquo;ve had many different jobs over the years for only a few months at a time, that should already tell you that you&rsquo;ve known on some level that you needed to find &lsquo;the one&rsquo;.</p> <p>However, even if you&rsquo;ve had the same job for years, it doesn&rsquo;t mean that evaluating it won&rsquo;t tell you anything.</p> <p>Think about what you do every day. What do you like about it, and what don&rsquo;t you like? What motivates and inspires you?</p> <p>Write it down, so that you can begin formally linking what you enjoy to specific job roles.</p> <h2>3. Start Saving</h2> <p>It&rsquo;s vital that when you begin the process of finding a new job, that you start putting money away temporarily.</p> <p>When the time comes for you to resign from your current position you might end up taking a role that involves a pay cut, so you&rsquo;ll need to have a nest egg to fall back on to pay your bills.</p> <p>If you don&rsquo;t have enough money saved up, you&rsquo;ll feel obligated to take any well-paying job you can find (even if it isn&rsquo;t suitable) which defeats the purpose of this exercise.</p> <h2>4. Do Your Research</h2> <p>The time has now come to see what&rsquo;s out there.</p> <p>Start by narrowing down the specific job roles you&rsquo;d like to pursue.</p> <p>What are the requirements? What do these job descriptions involve, and would you enjoy every aspect of the position?</p> <p>Are there any qualifications/skills you need to have before beginning? Start preparing yourself for interviews and look up industry related questions that you&rsquo;ll be faced with.<br /> Make sure that your resume is up to date, or start one from scratch.</p> <p>There are countless resume builders and templates online that help you.</p> <h2>5. Find Out What You Want In An Employer</h2> <p>The right kind of leadership can make or break a good job.</p> <p>As someone who&rsquo;s looking to enter a new field, you&rsquo;ll need to think about the support you&rsquo;d like from the person leading you.</p> <p>Start thinking about what you want in the perfect employer. What did you like &ndash; and not like &ndash; about your previous employers?</p> <p>Remember, you have to be a good fit for a position, but they have to be a good fit for you too.</p> <p>Make a list of companies whom you think you&rsquo;d enjoy working with and think about where you might fit within their team.</p> <h2>6. Take Advantage Of Your Connections</h2> <p>When searching for a specific job, there&rsquo;s nothing wrong with taking advantage of your connections.</p> <p>Call up old friends and colleagues, and ask them to write you references or to put you in contact with someone who can provide you with a potential interview.</p> <p>You can also work with a recruiter. Recruiters have access to hundreds and thousands of companies with available job listings. They could point you in the right direction, and assist you with upcoming interviews.</p> <h2>7. Take The Plunge</h2> <p>The last thing holding you back is fear.</p> <p>Don&rsquo;t allow your doubts get in the way of finding a job where you&rsquo;ll be happy and fulfilled. If you plan for it, what&rsquo;s the worst that could happen?</p> <p>You deserve to have a job you&rsquo;ll love, so don&rsquo;t become the only thing holding you back.<br /> When you start working at a job you love, your life will change. Waking up won&rsquo;t be a tiresome chore anymore. You&rsquo;ll be continuously motivated and inspired to succeed.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s a frightening prospect to leave a secure income and your comfort zone, but if you&rsquo;re unhappy, discontented or continually wishing for more meaning in your life, you aren&rsquo;t living.</p> <p>Follow the seven steps and see where it takes you. It might just change your life forever.</p> 42What is a Resume? Everything You Need to Knowhttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/41/what-is-a-resumeBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 30 Apr 2019 04:55:33 GMT<p>You&rsquo;ve done the hard work: chosen a major, studied endlessly, and survived the trials and tribulations of your college years; now it&rsquo;s time to begin your job hunt.&nbsp;</p> <p>Finding a job straight out of college might feel like a daunting task, but it doesn&rsquo;t have to be a stressful process if you take it one step at a time.&nbsp;<br /> The first item on your agenda when beginning a job search has to be creating a stellar resume, and here&rsquo;s an overview of how to make it happen.&nbsp;</p> <h2>What is a resume, and what is its purpose?&nbsp;</h2> <p>It&rsquo;s important to first define resume before taking the initial steps to create one. Simply put, a resume for a job is a short document that provides an overview of your education, work experience, and accomplishments as well as your contact information and professional objectives.&nbsp;</p> <p>This allows potential employers to assess your qualifications for a job before offering you an interview; it helps them weed out candidates who it&rsquo;s immediately evident wouldn&rsquo;t be a good fit.&nbsp;</p> <p>It goes without saying that an impressive resume is more likely to land you an interview, where you&rsquo;ll have the opportunity to wow employers.&nbsp;</p> <h2>Everyone should have a resume</h2> <p>Even if you&rsquo;re applying for a job that requires you to fill out an application which lists your experience, it&rsquo;s always a good idea to submit a resume as well.&nbsp;</p> <p>Submitting a resume conveys to employers that you understand the resume definition (an important standard in the professional world), that you&rsquo;re well-organized, and that you are an effective communicator.&nbsp;</p> <p>Not to mention, submitting a resume allows you to control the narrative of your life; it gives you the opportunity to send a more holistic view of yourself as a candidate than an application alone would.&nbsp;</p> <h2>Do&rsquo;s and don&rsquo;ts of resume content&nbsp;</h2> <p>There are quite a few details you&rsquo;ll want to make sure you include in your resume: full name and contact information, education (particularly as a college graduate), relevant work history, and references.&nbsp;</p> <p>You can also include additional sections like skills, civic activity, or strengths.&nbsp;</p> <p>You don&rsquo;t, however, want to mention extraneous personal information that isn&rsquo;t relevant to the job or work history that hasn&rsquo;t prepared you for the job (like your part time fast food job as a teen).&nbsp;</p> <p>You should also consider leaving out awards and accomplishments that you received prior to college, unless they&rsquo;re especially impressive or relevant to the job for which you&rsquo;re applying.&nbsp;</p> <h2>Types of resumes&nbsp;</h2> <p>There are <a href="https://kimmel.com/candidates/four-basic-resume-types.html">four common types</a> of resumes. These types are: chronological, functional, combination, and targeted.&nbsp;</p> <p>The type you should choose depends on whether you have consistent work history (chronological is smart here), are just graduating college without much employment history but have some great abilities to emphasize (functional works here), or if you fall somewhere between these two, where combination will work best.&nbsp;</p> <p>If you&rsquo;re interested in crafting your resume for a specific position rather than casting a wide net, a targeted resume is a smart choice.&nbsp;</p> <h2>How to layout a resume</h2> <p>Now you know what a resume is, but how do you create one? The surest way is to <a href="https://zygauni.com/">use a resume builder</a> that will truly work to make your resume reflect who you are as a candidate.</p> <p>When you enlist the help of a resource like this, you automatically give yourself an upperhand in the job market.&nbsp;</p> <p>The layout of your resume is variable depending on which type of resume is most appropriate for you, but there are some consistent standards: 10-12 point font, 1&rdquo; margins, and a 1-2 page document.&nbsp;</p> <h2>It&#39;s time to create a resume</h2> <p>Breaking into the job market and embarking on your career journey is an exciting time of your life.&nbsp;</p> <p>With a million possibilities ahead of you, maximize your chances of landing an interview for your dream job with a well-developed resume.&nbsp;</p> <p>Now that you know what a resume is and how to go about creating one, you can turn your attention toward brushing up your interview skills , after just a few quick steps: take stock of your work history and abilities, organize your thoughts on your most impressive skills, reach out to possible references, and use our <a href="https://zygauni.com/">free resume builder</a> to take care of the rest!&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;</p> 41How to Answer the "Tell me about yourself" Interview Questionhttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/39/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourselfBlog &amp; Latest NewsMon, 29 Apr 2019 23:43:19 GMT<p>The most terrifying question you are likely to be asked in an interview is the deeply personal, open-ended &quot;tell me about yourself&quot;.&nbsp;</p> <p>This is where you put everything on the line and you share who you believe yourself to be and literally be judged for it. At least that&#39;s what our mind starts screaming in that moment.&nbsp;</p> <p>Let&#39;s take a moment to prepare, then.&nbsp;</p> <p>How do you answer the question &quot;tell me about yourself&quot;?&nbsp;</p> <p>Is there a right answer? More importantly, is there a wrong answer? Let&rsquo;s explore how to answer &quot;tell me about yourself&quot; in an interview.</p> <p><img alt="How to answer the &quot;tell me about yourself&quot; interview question" src="/Portals/InternMe/Uploads/how-to-answer-tell-me-about-yourself-840.jpg" style="width: 840px; height: 560px;" title="How to answer the &quot;tell me about yourself&quot; interview question" /></p> <h2>Why do people ask the &ldquo;tell us about yourself&rdquo; question?</h2> <p>This is often the question we are asking ourselves in response. Why does the interviewer need to ask me this?&nbsp;</p> <p>It&#39;s really simple and all we have to do is put ourselves in the interviewer&#39;s shoes. By asking an open-ended question, the interviewer is able to gain an understanding of who you are as a person, which is important when deciding if you are the right candidate for the job.&nbsp;</p> <p>Ideally, they want to gain insight into how you see yourself and the value you place on your own experiences.&nbsp;</p> <p>This is the first step in deciding whether you are fit for the position and whether they feel comfortable with putting you up to the task.</p> <h2>How to answer &ldquo;tell me about yourself&rdquo;</h2> <p>The next question that goes through our head, what does the interviewer want to hear?&nbsp;</p> <p>Let&#39;s look on through the perspective of the interviewer - they need to make a decision and they want to make it fast and easy.&nbsp;</p> <p>They want to hear how your experiences fit with the role and how confident you are in talking about those experiences.&nbsp;</p> <p>Furthermore, they want to understand why you decided to apply and show up for the interview in the first place.&nbsp;</p> <p>You need to give good reasons as to why you reached out to them and what they mean for your career just as you are selling yourself on what you will mean to them once hired.&nbsp;</p> <h2>Avoid doing this at all costs</h2> <p>The worst mistake you can make when deciding how to answer &quot;tell me about yourself&quot;, is to over inflate your abilities, knowledge or skill.&nbsp;</p> <p>Bragging or coming off as cocky can be just as damaging as falling short and understating your own self-worth.&nbsp;</p> <p>Act natural, be yourself and feel as though you have just met a new friend and you are excited to share the best parts of your life experiences, schooling and career with.&nbsp;</p> <p>Don&#39;t try and impress the interviewer, by being yourself and oozing with an inner sense of confidence and calm, the interviewer will feel much more comfortable listening to you.&nbsp;</p> <h2>What to say in response to &ldquo;tell us something about you&rdquo;</h2> <p>Now that we understand why this happens, what the interviewer is looking for and what not to do, let&#39;s take a look at how to ace this question.&nbsp;</p> <p>First, you need to do a little preparation. Take a notebook and write down all your strengths and skills learnt in school and at work.&nbsp;</p> <p>Now connect these strengths and skills with actual experiences where you have demonstrated them.&nbsp;</p> <p>From there, take down several responsibilities you will have in the future role. Connect those experiences and strengths with the responsibilities required by the company and explain how these connections will benefit the employer.&nbsp;</p> <h2>An example answer to &ldquo;tell me about yourself&rdquo;</h2> <p>When the interview question &ldquo;tell us about yourself&rdquo; comes up, consider the position you are interviewing for and the roles and responsibilities that will be involved.&nbsp;</p> <p>Let&#39;s say you are interviewing for a job as a property manager.&nbsp;</p> <p>For this kind of position, you would need to be good with people, have great time management skills, be comfortable with admin work and proactive when seeking new tenants for your clients.&nbsp;</p> <p>Now think back to where these skills might have developed in your school life, at home and especially in the workplace.&nbsp;</p> <p>You could say &quot;I went to school at ______ and living half an hour from my university, I developed well rounded time management skills to ensure I was never late to class or an exam.&nbsp;</p> <p>I also share a house with 3 other students and I am tasked with managing the cleaning schedule and rent payments for my housemates and I strengthened my people management skills when diffusing any conflicts that came up.&quot;</p> <h2>Nail this question every single time</h2> <p>The best way to overcome your fear of the question tell me about yourself is to face it head-on.&nbsp;</p> <p>Practice by writing a script and understand why this question is asked.&nbsp;</p> <p>Work on how you can use something about you and your personal life experiences and skills to relate back to the position with the company and always deliver your answer calmly, confidently and truthfully.</p> <p>For more help with landing your dream job, sign-up for our free <a href="https://zygauni.com/What-is-a-Zygadoc">next-generation resume builder</a> and create an interactive personal footprint that&rsquo;s sure to impress.<br /> &nbsp;</p> 39University Freelancers and the Gig Economyhttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/24/freelancersBlog &amp; Latest NewsWed, 23 Aug 2017 04:53:30 GMT<p id="e05f" name="e05f"><strong>Why you should consider becoming a University Freelancer</strong></p> <p id="56fd" name="56fd">Most of us have experienced or are experiencing what it&rsquo;s like to be an undergraduate or fresh graduate. It&rsquo;s hard. You are time poor as a result of university requirements and have to work part-time to support yourself. Usually, your job is in a completely unrelated industry to the one you&rsquo;re studying because it&rsquo;s hard enough to find employers that work with your university schedule, let alone finding ones that align with your studies.</p> <p id="a3dd" name="a3dd">If you&rsquo;ve graduated you realize the difficulty associated with getting a job. Majority of employers advertise for people that have previous experience. This leaves you on the daunting hunt for a job, a qualified graduate working part-time at a supermarket, wondering when your golden opportunity will come. In a recent survey by Graduate Careers Australia, 50% of graduates were still looking for a full-time job 12 months after graduation.</p> <p id="1809" name="1809">The Gig Economy refers to the transition from formal employment modes such as part-time or full-time work, to engaging people on a freelance or service basis. This means that companies and businesses are starting to look for freelancers that they can outsource to. It&rsquo;s estimated that in 2020 40% of the US workforce will become freelancers.</p> <p id="3b94" name="3b94">Freelancing, or working independently while you study gives you real-world experience in your industry that is synergistic to the theoretical knowledge you learn at university. This actually reinforces what you are learning. Freelancing also allows you to learn many other business skills and gives you the opportunity to build a portfolio which can make you more employable. Other freelance benefits include:</p> <p id="505c" name="505c">&middot; Generating real-world client networks;</p> <p id="ce48" name="ce48">&middot; Developing your knowledge of real-world business practices and;</p> <p id="f3c3" name="f3c3">&middot; Providing services that you can charge for.</p> <p id="6e0d" name="6e0d">Certain undergraduates can set up as a freelancer depending on the degree they are studying. Graphic design, social media management, web development, and content creation are some examples of services that can be provided by undergraduate freelancers. Services that require formal qualifications including medicine, law, and engineering would require a freelancer (or independent contractor) at a graduate level.</p> <p id="9950" name="9950"><strong>Setting up as a University Freelancer:</strong><br /> To set up as a university freelancer there are a few things you need to know. Essentially you are an independent contractor working for yourself which means that you have to set up as your own business. This is easily done and ABN registrations cost no more than $40 a year. You will need to complete your ABN registration online and then you can link a business name to your ABN.</p> <p id="0a6e" name="0a6e">Working for yourself gives you freedom, independence and can become a very good source of income. This can become your full-time income or some after-hours work that you can it into your spare time.</p> <p id="1714" name="1714">By doing this you will effectively be creating your own personal brand, generating real-world experience and charging your own price for services that you are a specialist at.</p> <p id="92fc" name="92fc">We are promoting university freelancers on our website&nbsp;<a data-href="http://www.internme.com.au" href="https://zygauni.com/Contact-Us1" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">contact us</a>&nbsp;to generate opportunities for people that want to capitalize on the Gig Economy movement.</p> <p id="6bc9" name="6bc9">Jayden Kafanelis,&nbsp;<br /> ZygaUni Australia</p> 2410 Peer Reviewed Benefits of Internships for Host Organisationshttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/21/10-peer-reviewed-benefits-of-internships-for-host-organisationsBlog &amp; Latest NewsWed, 16 Aug 2017 01:35:31 GMT<p id="fc60" name="fc60">Internships are important. Without one a student or graduate will struggle to get relevant work experience, build networks, learn practical knowledge and therefore will face difficulty finding full time employment.</p> <p id="5757" name="5757">It&rsquo;s no secret that internships are beneficial to students, graduates and universities but exactly how are they beneficial to host organisations?</p> <p id="cef5" name="cef5">The feedback I have received after talking to various company and business representatives about internships for the last two years is mixed. However, there are some notable negative connotations associated with the word &ldquo;internship&rdquo; which are listed below.</p> <p id="31db" name="31db">&ldquo;A waste of time and resources&rdquo;</p> <p id="fd14" name="fd14">&ldquo;Inexperienced and under qualified individuals&rdquo;</p> <p id="1ba0" name="1ba0">&ldquo;No value to my organisation&rdquo;</p> <p id="be35" name="be35">&ldquo;Slave labour and free workers&rdquo;</p> <p id="a290" name="a290">The lack of knowledge and ill informed assumptions surrounding internships is a common theme which is detrimental to the community as a whole. As such this article is here to educate host organisations about the value of internships and to put to rest the negative connotations surrounding them.</p> <p id="68df" name="68df"><strong>1)</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Valuable Recruitment Processes:</strong></p> <p id="4335" name="4335">Internship programs have been identified as a very valuable recruitment tool for organisations (Beard, 2007). Many businesses that were interviewed have utilised these internship programs as method of recruitment. Internships are a cost effective, low-risk means of sourcing future employees that can add value to the business (Mgaya, 2014). Mohaidan et al. (2016) also highlighted that interns were able to contribute as soon as they were hired resulting from learning organisation processes previously.</p> <p id="0d24" name="0d24">2)&nbsp;<strong>Integration of Research and Innovation:</strong><br /> &nbsp;Another benefit that internships offer is in the form of new industry knowledge which is taught by universities and transferred to businesses through students (Schambach, 2002). Interns are typically undergraduates and as such are currently completing their degree, a degree that is relevant to this age, not the world as it was 15 years ago. Many degrees have also evolved over time to cater for new research that has been added into the field which provides you with an intern equipped with the latest research and solutions to current problems.</p> <p id="5d0e" name="5d0e">3.&nbsp;<strong>Development of IP, products and content</strong></p> <p id="2a9b" name="2a9b">Interns can provide host organisations with products and content that the organisation will retain after the internship is completed (Mgaya, 2014). Savvy web designers, content marketers and software developers are among some examples which can lead to valuable content for your organisation.</p> <p id="d57b" name="d57b">4.&nbsp;<strong>Low Cost Alternative to help Clear Work Backlogs<br /> &nbsp;</strong>Interns have also been cited by some journals as a low-cost alternative to help clear work backlogs. Unpaid internships are illegal for employment based relationships in Australia however junior professionals and intern salaries are less costly than experienced employees.</p> <p id="7237" name="7237">5.&nbsp;<strong>Securing Graduates Early:</strong><br /> &nbsp;Taking on interns allows you to secure graduates early on in their career path (Schamback and Dirks, 2002). This is especially important in tight labour markets where foregoing these opportunities may leave you with a limited applicant pool. It also gives smaller to medium sized organisations an ability to acquire top talent before prestigious and lucrative multinational companies swoop in and take the top 10% of the graduate cohort.</p> <p id="3aa1" name="3aa1">6.&nbsp;<strong>Fulfilment of CSR:</strong><br /> &nbsp;Corporate Social responsibility has been identified by Caroll (1999) as having four major areas including legal, ethical, economic and discretionary/philanthropic responsibilities. Internships are considered to fulfil this corporate social responsibility (Mgaya, 2014).</p> <p id="c2ba" name="c2ba">7.&nbsp;<strong>Enhancement of corporate image (Mgaya, 2014):</strong><br /> &nbsp;Internships are one way that through branding; advertising; PR efforts; and the generation of brand advocates in the form of interns- that an organisation may improve its corporate image.</p> <p id="05cf" name="05cf">8.&nbsp;<strong>Ability to host Virtual Internships:</strong></p> <p id="dd6b" name="dd6b">Given the evolution of technology and the gig economy there has been a rapid rise in the number of virtual internships being offered, which presents an entirely new internship experience for all involved. Managing a virtual internship may be less resource intensive for mangers and negates geographical limitations on talent engagement.</p> <p id="e434" name="e434">9.&nbsp;<strong>Positivity:</strong><br /> &nbsp;A survey by internships.com showed that 87% of employers said that internships were a positive experience.</p> <p id="85d3" name="85d3">10.&nbsp;<strong>Culture and diversity:</strong><br /> &nbsp;By bringing interns into organisations you are integrating a new demographic with specialised generational knowledge which is highly evident in fields such as social media marketing. Interns contribute to diversifying the workplace. Internships also allow you to bring in highly enthusiastic individuals (Swanson &amp; Tomkovick, 2011) which can affect the dynamic of the team positively.</p> <p id="74ca" name="74ca">Does your company offer internships and if so what was that experience like? I would love to hear from more employers about this topic. Please comment below.</p> <p id="1b7f" name="1b7f">Jayden Kafanelis,&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;CEO&nbsp;<br /> &nbsp;InternMe Australia</p> <p id="fa6f" name="fa6f">1. Beard, D. (1998). The status of internships/cooperative experiences in accounting education. Journal of Accounting Education, 16(3), 507&ndash;516.rnships</p> <p id="ac4c" name="ac4c">2. Mgaya K, Mbekomize C (2014) Benefits to host organizations from participating in internship programs in Botswana, Journal of Co-operative education.</p> <p id="c712" name="c712">3. Schambach, T., &amp; Dirks, J. (2002). Students perceptions of internship experiences. In International Academy for Information Management (IAIM) 2002 conference (pp. 13&ndash;15). Barcelona, Spain: International Conference on Informatics Education.</p> <p id="0a5a" name="0a5a">4. Carroll, B.A (1999). Corporate Social Responsibility: Evolution of a Definitional Construct. Business and Society, 38(3) pp.268&ndash;295.</p> <p id="0844" name="0844">5. Mohaidin N,J., Supar M., Ibrahim, M, A., Sidik M,J (2016).Employers Perceptions of the Benefits of College Internship Programs (2004). Journal of Cooperative Education &amp; Internships, 38(1) 45&ndash;52.</p> <p id="0383" name="0383">6. Swanson S, Tomkovick C. (2011). Perspectives from Marketing Internship Providers. Marketing Education Review 21(2): 163&ndash;176.</p> 21Emotional Intelligence: Don’t Concentrate on IQ, Focus on EQ.https://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/20/emotional-intelligence-dont-concentrate-on-iq-focus-on-eqBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 25 Apr 2017 11:07:43 GMT<p><em>&ldquo;Your EQ is a bigger predictor of your success than your IQ&rdquo;</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Empathy Quotient (EQ) is distinct and unrelated to your Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and relates to an individual&rsquo;s emotional intelligence (EI). The term emotional intelligence was first coined by Michael Beldoch in a 1961 paper submitted to a Psychotherapeutic Journal. Since then many psychologists have published research adding to this body of work in an effort to ascertain the importance of EQ, quantify it and develop it, and it turns out that EQ is kind of important.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>EQ and Financial Success</strong></p> <p>Studies by the Carnegie Institute of Technology revealed that 85% of your financial success is related to your skills in &ldquo;human engineering&rdquo; which includes your personality and your communication, negotiation and leadership abilities. 15% of this financial success was attributed to technical knowledge. Interestingly the former qualities in relation to earning potential are heavily associated with a person&rsquo;s EQ.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>EQ and Business </strong></p> <p>Daniel Kahneman, an American Psychologist found that people would rather do business with someone that they like and trust over someone they don&rsquo;t, even if the likeable person is offering a lower quality product at a higher price. This finding demonstrates the impact of emotional intelligence in the form of relationship management throughout the business setting and proves that high EQ interpersonal skills are essential if not necessary for successful business.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>EQ and Negotiation</strong><br /> Research done by Shapiro &amp; Fisher (2005) demonstrated that negative emotions can impede the negotiation process whereas positive emotions can enhance it. Negotiations without emotion are empty transactions and can be unfulfilling. In legal dispute settings (Kelly and Kaminskiene, 2016) highlighted the use of positive emotions with regard to negotiation outcomes stating that emotions such as happiness, joy and acceptance enhanced decision making, stimulated creative problem solving and increased joint gains. High EQ individuals naturally engage in the use of their &ldquo;emotional tools&rdquo; and as such are universally effective negotiators.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>EQ and Leadership</strong></p> <p>High degrees of emotional intelligence have been associated with effective leadership. A study conducted by Mittal and Sindu (2012) explored the extent to which emotion is involved with leadership qualities. Their findings highlighted the integration of emotion with leadership which involved qualities such as empathy, communication, decision making, self-awareness and the ability of a leader to relate with people. All of these are traits of emotional intelligence.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>EQ and Performance</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Academic</em></strong><br /> In a study done by Parker et al. (2004) the relationship between student&rsquo;s academic achievements and their emotional intelligence was explored. No significant relationship between the two was observed however subscales of emotional intelligence including intrapersonal, adaptability and stress management were moderate predictors of success. &ldquo;These variables were better predictors of first-year university GPA than high school GPA&rdquo;.</p> <p><strong><em>Work:</em></strong></p> <p>Emotional intelligence has been positively correlated with job performance in research conducted by Shahhosseini et al. (2012). Increases in job performance were attributed to an individual&rsquo;s emotional intelligence which contributed to innovational creativity and the facilitation of communication within the organisation. TalentSmart also conducted a similar study and found that EQ accounted for 58% of job success.</p> <p>EQ&rsquo;s significance becomes apparent through its implications in all forms of success including financial, job-related, business development, negotiating power, leadership and interpersonal relationship satisfaction- it even promotes healthier marriages (Schutte et al., 2001).</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>So&hellip; What is Emotional Intelligence?</strong></p> <p>Emotional intelligence refers to a person&rsquo;s ability to manage, control and understand their own emotions as well as being aware of the emotions of the people around them. In doing so this allows individuals to adapt and change their behaviour to suit the environment they are in and to guide their thinking toward a more beneficial outcome. This outcome may relate to a difficult decision, job performance, interpersonal relationships or even better self-management (etc.). Another point to note is that EI is a branch of social intelligence which refers to the ability of getting along well with others and promoting co-operation.</p> <p>Daniel Goleman, a leading psychologist developed a model that broke EQ down into 4 quadrants in an effort to quantify EQ and allow individuals to self -assess.<br /> &nbsp;</p> <p><strong><img alt="" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.psychometric-success.com/images/EI0201.gif" style="width: 520px; height: 404px;" title="" /></strong></p> <p><em><strong>Source: Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence)</strong></em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>The Significance of Emotion</strong></p> <p>In my previous article &ldquo;You Don&rsquo;t Always Say What You Say and Here&rsquo;s Why&rdquo; I highlighted the phenomena of facial mimicry and emotional contagion which alluded to the fact that you can change someone&rsquo;s physiology through emotional expressions. To add to this, Frijda &amp; Mesquita (1994) demonstrated that emotions may join people together, repel people from each other, promote strong interpersonal bonds and are important to maintain co-operative relationships.&nbsp; Further research by Clark et al. (1996) implies that emotional expressions influence individual&rsquo;s character judgements about a person. Van Kleef et al. (2004) even demonstrated that emotional expressions evoke complementary and reciprocal attitudes and cognitions in others.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s undeniable that emotions play a significant role in interpersonal interactions which are a fundamental and unavoidable part of life. As such developing your emotional intelligence is a necessity. Understanding emotion is of paramount significance if you wish to maximise the positive relationships or encounters that you engage in. Professional opportunities and business prospects arise within personal networks and chance encounters. As mentioned earlier people have a higher affinity to do business with someone they like.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Developing your Emotional Intelligence</strong></p> <p>Luckily, due to neural plasticity EQ is something that can be developed. An article published in &ldquo;Mindful&rdquo; cites neurobiologist Richard Davidson&rsquo;s work which demonstrates the relationship of the Left Prefrontal Cortex (LPC) and the amygdala (integrative centre for emotions). As such emotions are linked in with consciousness giving them the capacity to be somewhat &ldquo;managed&rdquo;. &nbsp;</p> <p>There are many positive traits associated with emotional intelligence including but not limited to extraversion, confidence and conscientiousness as determined by studies. However to increase EQ universally we will look at Salovey and Mayer&rsquo;s four proposed branches of emotional intelligence: Perceiving Emotions, Reasoning with Emotions, Understanding Emotions and Managing Emotions.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol> <li><strong>Perceiving Emotions:</strong><br /> To understand emotions you first to have to perceive them. Since majority of communication is non-verbal (See &ldquo;You Don&rsquo;t Always Say what You Say and Here&rsquo;s Why), this can be improved by becoming aware body language cues and emotional expressions. Next time you are with someone practise observing how they are carrying themselves and what they are doing with their body. Also pay close attention to their facial expressions as this is a by-product of emotion. Becoming conscious of these non-verbal cues will help to bring awareness to people&rsquo;s underlying emotional states.</li> </ol> <p><br /> Other emotions that need to be perceived are of course your own as they can significantly affect how you interact with other people and how you navigate your own life. Practise introspection and take time to become aware of your own emotional states as they are happening. The more you know about yourself and your habits the easier it is to improve in this area.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol> <li value="2"><strong>Reasoning with Emotions:</strong></li> </ol> <p>The perceptions of emotions allow us to determine best how to deal with them or use them in a positive way. Emotional responses occur to things that we give attention to, but more importantly can be mediated by conscious thought. Knowing this it&rsquo;s important to promote logical thinking and cognitive activity which shifts the emotional cascade down a different path. For the emotions that may not easily be overcome it is important to accept them for what they are and acknowledge the reason for them existing. Emotions are temporary and the bad will inevitably pass, this is where patience does prove to be a virtue. Interestingly, a book called &ldquo;The Power of Now&rdquo; attributes many negative emotions to irrational thoughts relating to the past or future. Becoming aware of how emotions are affecting you in the present moment allows you to better reason with yourself and the circumstances you are in.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol> <li value="3"><strong>Understanding Emotions:</strong></li> </ol> <p>Emotions that we perceive can be due to many different underlying reasons. Being able to detect what emotion someone is expressing, or even emotions that you are experiencing is one thing. Understanding them is another.</p> <p>Self-Analysis will help to give meaning to your own emotional states and this is something only you have the power to do. Taking the time to focus on yourself and understanding what brings about the emotions you experience is invaluable if you are to ever change the emotional loops you experience. &ldquo;Know thyself&rdquo; was a common aphorism amongst Greek philosophers. If, however you feel that you need a bit of help understanding them don&rsquo;t hesitate to call on professionals. Objective feedback in the realm of subjectivity may prove to be the most valuable insights that you come across.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Understanding the emotions of others is just as important. This is where building empathy is a must. Putting yourself in their shoes is the simplest way to understand another. If you are unsure of why a person is experiencing certain emotions take the time to engage with them in a conversation and listen to what they have to say. Becoming sensitive and understanding to them and their feelings will not only develop rapport but will also allow you to effectively navigate this interaction.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <ol> <li value="4"><strong>Managing Emotions:</strong></li> </ol> <p>Being able to manage your emotions and the people around you effectively is arguably one of the most valuable abilities someone can have and is a hallmark of emotional intelligence.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Emotional regulation refers to the capacity to regulate your own emotions and the people&rsquo;s emotions around you. Examples of this include making yourself happy by thinking of a pleasurable experience or causing someone to become angry by criticising them. Common strategies used to shift or negate personal emotional states include changing your perception of the current situation or engaging in pleasurable behaviours to occupy yourself. A good way to &ldquo;reset&rdquo; is to completely focus your attention onto your senses (ie. touch, vision or hearing) which forms the basis of the well-known emotional regulatory tool- meditation. Other strategies include varying your posture and facial expressions. In fact, research demonstrates that different facial expressions cause physiological changes in your body, meaning that you can theoretically influence your emotional state by changing the expressions on your face.<br /> <br /> Managing the people&rsquo;s emotions around you has a lot to do with empathising and understanding them as a person. By knowing this you are able to work with them toward a more positive outcome.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Emotions contribute immensely to our behaviours, mentality and the interactions we engage in. By understanding and acknowledging them you are able to dramatically benefit many aspects of your life.</p> <p>&ldquo;Rule your mind or it will rule you&rdquo; &ndash;Buddha</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Jayden Kafanelis</p> <p>Jayden@internme.com.au</p> 20Why First Impressions are More Important Than You Thoughthttps://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/19/why-first-impressions-are-more-important-than-you-thoughtBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 25 Apr 2017 11:01:36 GMT<p><strong>&ldquo;First impressions only happen once and you don&rsquo;t get a second chance&rdquo;</strong></p> <p>We meet people every day and are constantly crossing paths with strangers. The initial observation of someone, even if only made briefly can have long lasting effects. The science behind first impressions proved to be significant when research presented at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) annual conference demonstrated that someone&rsquo;s appearance when you meet them can potentially alter the subsequent relationship you develop with them. Interestingly, the extent to which you end up liking someone and even how trustworthy we perceive them to be were all linked back to the all-important first impression.</p> <p>Research conducted by Rule and Colleague also implied that our gut instinct of someone, that we base off their appearance, initially over-rules what we already know about the person. Even though your resume may compare your intelligence with Einstein and liken your motivation and organisation to Elon Musk, if you arrive to the interview looking shabby with messy hair, ill-fitted pants and worn out shoes be prepared to sway someone&rsquo;s judgement of you. Recent findings in psychology just highlighted that what you know about someone doesn&rsquo;t matter when you first observe them and are forced to make a quick judgement based on their appearance.</p> <p><strong>Perfecting your appearance:</strong></p> <p>Knowing the importance of this, we can and should capitalise on our first encounters by assessing and improving on our physical appearance (Also see &ldquo;You Don&rsquo;t Always Say What You Say and Here&rsquo;s Why&rdquo; to understand what your body language conveys).</p> <p>Obvious targets of these improvements are fresh haircuts, cleaning up facial hair, dressing formally with well-fitted ironed clothes, polishing up your shoes and even add-ons such as jewellery and wristwatches can help to portray some potentially beneficial information about the type of individual you are to the employer (maybe that&rsquo;s why they call it&nbsp;<em>smart</em>&nbsp;casual).</p> <p>Another thing that females can manipulate concerning their physical appearance is their make-up. It&rsquo;s no secret that pretty girls get what they want, but it may come as a surprise to you that science also backs this up. Social psychology experiments on attractiveness were carried out in court-rooms where a jury rated the physical attractiveness of a person on trial and then went on to note down the results of the hearing. It was found that there was a correlation between the degree of someones physical attractiveness and favourable outcomes that went their way in court hearings. This wasn&rsquo;t due to chance.</p> <p>Your physical appearance combined with how attractive you can make yourself has the ability to completely sway another person&rsquo;s view of you while simultaneously giving you more influence over decisions involving you.</p> <p><strong>Colours</strong></p> <p>Colours are also interesting in that they have their own associated psychology surrounding them. Within 90 seconds, people usually make up their mind about a product or a person and 62&ndash;92% of their assessment relates to colours alone. The importance of colours stems from their ability to influence feelings and moods, both positively and negatively.</p> <p>Have you ever realised that fast food chains like McDonalds, KFC and Hungry Jacks all contain red and yellow in their logo and plastered around their buildings? This is because marketers have studied the impact of colour when branding companies and products. Red is used because it stimulates appetite, hunger and attracts attention. Yellow is used because it elicits feelings of happiness and friendliness.</p> <p>Colours are another thing that can be altered concerning your physical appearance when taking into account the importance of first impressions.</p> <p>Black is associated with authority, strength and power which in turn when worn as clothing may give off the impression that you are unapproachable and can be intimidating. It can however be seen as sophisticated and convey to people that you have leadership qualities which is necessary for some industries.</p> <p>The colour blue is associated with calmness, stability and reliability, is seen as non-threatening and has even been demonstrated in experiments to elicit the most pleasurable emotional reaction when compared with other primary colours. Knowing how different colours are perceived by people is important and can ultimately affect the dynamic of an interview or encounter.</p> <p>Navy blue is thought to be the best option for the majority of interviews as it also conveys confidence, trust and still maintains a degree of authority. It makes sense. Have you ever walked past someone in a black suit and felt like they wanted to be left alone, are unapproachable and potentially intimidating? Whereas walking past someone in a navy blue or blue suit gives off a friendlier vibe and it feels like they are more approachable and likeable? Take note of how the physical appearance of individuals you walk passed affects your perception of them and use this introspection to guide the way you would like to present yourself to interviewers, colleagues, strangers or even friends.</p> <p><strong>Broader Implications</strong></p> <p>Be aware that wearing black suits with $10,000 wristwatches along with an overly forceful handshake and a 10 second unflinching stare may give off the impression to your employer that you&rsquo;re gang banging with Al Pacino and can potentially intimidate them. Don&rsquo;t intimidate your employer, befriend them. Navy Blue suits, perfect handshakes, nonchalant jewellery, appropriate eye contact and open body language makes you a lot more approachable and likeable to an employer, and if they like you they are going to want to keep you around.</p> <p>There&rsquo;s more to meeting someone than a simple hello, keep this in mind.</p> <p>Jayden Kafanelis</p> <p>Executive Director of InternMe Australia</p> <p>E: info@internme.com.au</p> 19What University Doesn’t Teach You https://app.zygaverse.com/Blog/PostId/18/what-university-doesnt-teach-youBlog &amp; Latest NewsTue, 25 Apr 2017 11:00:22 GMT<p align="center">&ldquo;The best University is the University of Life&rdquo;</p> <p>University is the globally recognized body for higher education with infinite amounts of knowledge in the form of books, libraries, coursework and access to some of the smartest people you will ever cross paths with. But there&rsquo;s a few lessons it doesn&rsquo;t provide and that is real world experience and exposure to the practical aspects of what you learn. Also, it&rsquo;s important to note that university doesn&rsquo;t teach you what it doesn&rsquo;t teach you. Fundamentals of life from communication skills, networking, the development of interpersonal relationships, autonomy and even understanding emotional intelligence arguably contribute much more to a person&rsquo;s success than that HD you received for Advanced Nerve and Muscle Physiology.</p> <p>In the educational realm high course marks and academic awards are of paramount significance and prove that you are in fact a distinguished individual with the capacity to learn and understand any theory you come across. As a result these marks may give rise to some potential real world opportunities and will give you a chance or a foot in the door so that you can prove yourself to an interviewer, prospective employer or business partner.</p> <p>However this is as far as these marks will probably take you. The next steps after this are completely dissociated from anything that university ever taught you. In the real world academic achievements and high distinction averages are silenced. It may come as a surprise to realise that George Bush, the former president of the United States of America was a C student in college.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s important to recognise that university is not the be all and end all with regards to the ultimate amount of success you end up achieving in life. If anything though, high marks and awards are a testament to some positive attributes that you have already developed. These include persistence, a willingness to learn, passion, motivation, discipline and a degree of baseline intelligence which are definitely a value add to any other journey you pursue in life. The person that can utilise these skills in every other aspect of life is a person that will do remarkable things.</p> <p>Self-directed learning on topics that you may not get formally taught (eg. How to successfully network) and doing something you are passionate about are the foundations required to achieve anything extraordinary. Initiative and creativity can be developed if someone is willing and these are among some of the things that will separate you out from the conforming masses.<br /> <br /> Interestingly the most valuable lessons in life are taught by yourself, to yourself. You are surrounded by knowledge, novel events and diverse life experiences every day and what you get out of this is ultimately what you want to get out of this. Be curious, be passionate and always challenge yourself. Always take note of the real world lessons that life bestows upon you and never be scared to try something new. To fail in anything is a gift, because under that failure is a lesson that can only be taught in that way.</p> <p>If people studied life like they studied their degree their ultimate success would far exceed the paper certificate awarded upon degree completions.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Jayden Kafanelis</p> <p><a href="mailto:Jayden@internme.com.au">Jayden@internme.com.au</a><br /> &nbsp;</p> 18