Job searching tips

Work for Free – Who Should do it and Why?

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I came across this question on Quora – Should anyone work for free for good exposure and at what stage do you stop doing free, but awesome work?

1. Should anyone work for free? Yes, everyone should at least consider to work for free as an option.  I think it’s important to realize that wasting time also costs money in the long run.  As you alluded to, you could be paid doing mediocre stuff and not learning.  In this case, you are losing time building experience and therefore you may not get promoted fast or get a better job with higher pay easily.  On the other hand, you can work for free and in exchange get great experience on your resume, new skills, or even a chance to turn it into a good paid job.  I think the right free work could very well be a great investment of your time.  It’s like getting free education without paying for tuition. ...  read more

How to Answer – What is Your Salary Requirement?

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The “what is your salary requirement” question is always a tricky and awkward one to answer.  The best way is to avoid answering it tactfully for as long as possible.   I recommend the following strategies in address the salary requirement question.

  1. Try your best to not provide any numbers – because you want to avoid either being too high or underselling yourself. Most recruiter friends always tell me “don’t be the first to draw blood”
  2. Re-focus the discussion on how the company reward above average performers, whether this company is the best fit, etc…This signals to the company that you believe you will be a top performer and that you can more about this role than just compensation
  3. Re-direct the question back to find out what the salary range is for this position? Therefore, making them show their cards first.   This is always a great way to deflect this question as well as find out if what they had in mind fits within what you expected.  If it does, you can respond vaguely and say “let’s focus on whether I am a good fit first and then hopefully we can talk about the right compensation based on my experience and skillsets”
  4. Tell them you are excited about the company – this subtly negotiates on your behalf, and if the company likes you and they don’t know your salary requirement, they may make you a salary offer on the higher end to make sure they can secure a positive response from you.

Here are some examples of salary requirement answers that have worked for me or my clients. ...  read more

Career Lessons from Gen Y

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Gen Y is definitely a generation to be reckoned with.  We are told their generation will fundamental change the way the work world operates.  I believe it.

I came across this article in the New York Times in Dec 2010 called “No Jobs – Young Graduates Make Their Own” – which talks about how young graduates (Gen Y) who couldn’t find work after they graduated started their own companies on shoestring start-up capital.  Some succeeded and some failed but all learned important lessons about how to drive their own destiny and careers. ...  read more

What Not to Do with Resumes

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A friend sent me two articles last week that I wanted to share.  After reading them, I want to share some advice for what NOT to do with resumes.

First article is called “Linkedin – Top 10 resume words to avoid”. According to Linked-in, the following are the top-10 most overused terms.   I did a quick check of my resume and found that I am using 3 of the 10 terms listed. ...  read more

Don’t Make this Fatal Mistake in Interviews

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I had lunch with a Deloitte alumni friend recently.  He is now a VP of Retail Sales at a major financial institution.  Since he knew I had a passion for career coaching, he told me the following recruiting story.  In the last few weeks, he has interviewed over 20 candidates for several sales openings, Manager or Director level roles.  He told me over 50% of candidates made the same fatal mistake in the interview.  Can you guess what it is? ...  read more