September 2010

CareerTips

Age Is an Issue
By Myles Golden

With the average age of my clients at 51, age is often a subject we discuss. I’m asked, “Do you think my age will be a negative factor?” Let me answer it this way:  To be honest, age is an issue in the job market, and to ignore the subject is to deny yourself a potent advantage. Yes, I said advantage. However, on the flip side, if you think age is a negative factor, most likely it is. Does that sound like I’m speaking out of both sides of my mouth? Let me explain it this way:

“I would love to have a labor force of people 50 and over,” once said David Birch, president of Cognetics, a corporate research firm in Cambridge, MA. “Older workers are mature, they’re responsible, they have most of their family problems behind them, they aren’t hung up on day care, they’ve been around and appreciate what it takes to run a company, they have a tremendously good attitude and don’t think the world owes them a living.”

Click here to read the rest of the article and find out what the advantages and perceived disadvantages of age really are.

The Hidden Agenda
In
Interview Questions
by Myles Golden

Rest assured top talent is abundant these days and you had better bring your “A” game if you want to win a job in The Great Recession.  One tactic you might use is to consider how to answer questions that have a hidden agenda. Yes, a hidden agenda. What are these questions and what is the interviewer trying to accomplish?  With the competition at an all time high for jobs the interviewer is most likely having a tough time deciding between candidates A, B and C.  Discussing this subject recently with one of our senior consultants, Jim O’Connor, he offered up an article from his files. It is titled Find the Hidden Agenda in Interview Questions with a subtitle that reads Don’t Let Some New Ploys Eliminate You. The article was written by John Artise who claims to have researched this subject having had over 300 interviews and over 200 job offers.
So I thought I would share with our readers a few of the “hidden agenda” questions that John Artise discovered in his study:

Question  1. Why are you leaving your present job?

Purpose: The interviewer is looking for valid reasons for your departure. They don’t want to hear I didn’t get along with my boss, the company policies are unfair,  the commute is too long.

Click here to read the full article and learn more about the "hidden agenda" behind those tricky interview questions.

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success

when they gave up." --Thomas A. Edison

Golden Career Strategies Speaks:
Recent & Upcoming Speaking Engagements & Sponsorships

Myles Golden will be the speaker at The Commerce Club Young Professionals monthly meeting Wednesday September 9th at noon. Myles will discuss the Power of Networking and Your Personal Image. Those interested in attending should contact The Commerce Club at
(864) 232-5600. Ask for Paul Rutherford.

Golden Career Strategies exhibited at the 12th Annual GSHRM Tri-State HR and Management Conference last week. Human Resource professionals attended the conference where they were able to attend seminars and hear noted speakers on topics pertinent to their profession. They were able to earn professional certification hours through their participation in the Conference. GCS provides Outplacement Services and Organizational Development programs to companies in and beyond South Carolina.

Pam Wessel was quoted by Anastasia Howard in her article "Time to gear up for life planning"

GCS ~ Silver Sponsor for GSATC (Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson Technology Council)