Welcome to “Sunday Inspiration,” a bi-weekly devotional for those seeking spiritual encouragement in the pursuit of their passions. I hope these posts from various resources will inspire and motivate you in your life and career in addition to paNASH’s weekly original career posts. Enjoy!

No doubt 2020 has been a tough year. So much has been lost, including life and livelihoods. If you feel beaten down by the past year, there is hope. You can start again despite what’s been lost.

Below is a reminder of what starting again can look like. I hope you find it encouraging as we close out one of the worst years in our lifetimes, and start a new and hopefully better one.

You can start again

“Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again.”  Pr 24:16 NIV

On the night of December 9, 1914, Edison Industries was destroyed by fire. The loss exceeded two million dollars, along with the majority of Thomas Edison’s work. He was insured only for $238 because the buildings were constructed of concrete, which was thought to make a building fireproof.

At sixty-seven years of age, the great inventor watched his life’s work go up in flames. The next morning after firefighters had finally brought the inferno under control, he surveyed his charred dreams and crushed hopes.

As he looked at the scene, he said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.”

Three weeks after the fire, Edison produced one of his greatest inventions: the first phonograph. Try to imagine the world of music and entertainment without it!

The Bible says, “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”

With God on your side you can begin again because the power to do it resides within you. It’s the same power that raised Christ from the dead (See Ro 8:11).

Paul prayed for believers at Ephesus: “That out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (Eph 3:16 NIV).

Where is your strength? “In your inner being.”

He continues: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Eph 3:20 NIV).

So the word for you today is—you can start again.

I’m starting again

In August I took a break from posting these bi-weekly Sunday Inspirations. But now I’m starting again! I hope you’ll check in every couple of weeks for a word of encouragement.

Here’s wishing you a happier new year!

Source: https://jentezenfranklin.org/daily-devotions/you-can-start-again-3

Most people need help improving their interview skills. Even those who think they do well in interviews.

We all have blind spots when it comes to interviewing. And even if you’re naturally good at interviews, there are some novel things you can do in your next interview to increase your chances of landing an offer.

How to improve your interview skills

1. Go in with a solution in hand

Most job seekers don’t think far enough into the future when going into an interview. They’re only preparation involves trying to answer commonly-asked interview questions, and considering what salary they want.

But your goal isn’t to be like most job seekers. Your goal is to stand out above the competition.

You do this by thinking beyond the offer and anticipating the problem the company needs the employee to solve. Then, you prepare a possible solution to present, one you might can implement once hired.

To learn how to uncover the problem and prepare your solution, check out my post, “Modern Interview Advice to Make You Stand Out From the Competition.”

Modern Interview Advice to Make You Stand Out From The Competition (Re-Post)

2. Give unique and honest answers to common questions

Old habits die hard, so a lot of employers ask the same old pointless interview questions they’ve always asked. This doesn’t mean you should keep giving the same old answers you’ve always given to these questions.

There are ways to give more unique yet honest answers to these questions. This keeps you from sounding like all the other candidates.

To freshen up your answers to stale interview questions, check out my post, “How to Handle the Most Pointless Interview Questions.”

How to Handle the Most Pointless Interview Questions

3. Prepare for exercise-based interviews

Some employers have wised up and stopped asking pointless interview questions. Instead, they’ve started conducting exercise-based interviews.

This interview method requires you to perform various skills, instead of just having you verbally describe your abilities.

Although this method has been around for a long time, it’s become more popular among employers in the past few years.

Do you know how to prepare for such an interview? Find out in my post, “What You Need to Know About Job Interviews of the Modern Era.”

What You Need to Know About Job Interviews of The Modern Era

4. Save time when preparing for behavioral interview questions

In addition to exercise-based interviews, behavioral interview questions remain a good predictor of your skills and work ethic. This is why they’re always so popular among hiring managers.

But there’s no way you can prepare for every possible behavioral interview question. Instead, you can be ready for just about any of these questions when you follow my preparation method described in my post, “The Secret to Answering Behavioral Interview Questions.”

The Secret to Answering Behavioral Interview Questions (Re-Post)

5. Be ready to answer the question, “Can you teach me something complex in 5 minutes?”

If you’re interviewing for jobs with highly popular companies, you need to be ready for less common interview questions such as this one.

To learn how to answer such questions, check out my post, “A Google Insider Shares His Interview Advice.”

A Google Insider Shares His Interview Advice

6. Know how to handle interview ghosting, before it happens!

As you may unfortunately know, interview ghosting happens all the time these days. But, you can reduce your chances of getting ghosted after your next interview.

Find out how in my post, “Did You Get Ghosted After Your Interview? What to Do Now.”

Did You Get Ghosted After Your Interview? What to Do Now

More resources

Videos

• The Most Common Job Interview Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• Steps to Acing the Interview and Reducing Your Interview Anxiety
• The 3 Super Powers of Successful Job Seekers

Blog posts

• How to Make Phone and Video Interviews Run More Smoothly
• How to Answer These Important Pandemic Interview Questions
• Are Your Job Search Strategies Not Working for You?
• Is Your Resume Not Working?
• How to Avoid an Epic Fail When Networking

Networking often feels awkward, and can sometimes backfire, even with the best of intentions. Add to it the awkwardness and limitations of a pandemic, and you’ve got yourself a potential epic fail.

We’ve all failed at least once in our networking strategies. This week, I want to provide some tips to help you try some new and different approaches to avoid an epic fail.

Stay tuned for next week when I share some out-of-the-box interview tips!

Successful networking strategies

One of the most successful strategies is to spend more time doing it! Job seekers should spend 80% of their job search networking and only 20% actually applying to job ads. However, most job seekers have this reversed.

But to be successful, you also have to understand the etiquette involved in networking. Check out these previous posts for five tips most people fail to implement.

1. Avoid appearing desperate on LinkedIn

Every job seeker knows it’s important to be on LinkedIn, but they don’t know how to keep from looking desperate. Recruiters can detect desperation just from a job seeker’s profile, and will steer clear.

Click here to learn how to avoid looking desperate on LinkedIn.

How to Stop Looking Desperate on LinkedIn

2. Create a more inviting elevator pitch

An elevator pitch, created from the same old cookie-cutter approach, will make your listener want to pitch themselves down an elevator shaft!

Instead, click here to try a more inviting and less annoying approach.

The Best Way to Write a Successful Elevator Speech

3. Don’t ask, “Can I pick your brain?”

Leading your networking conversation with this common question can quickly result in an epic fail.

For a lot of professionals, this question is a trigger. To them, it’s code for, “I want to take from you your years of knowledge, advice, or contacts, without giving anything in return.”

This is not a good way to start off on the right foot.

But good news! There are appropriate ways to start a conversation with a potential new contact. Click here to learn how to do so using proper etiquette.

Why “Can I Pick Your Brain?” Is the Wrong Approach

4. Become a good networking contact yourself

Instead of just trying to find good networking contacts, you might also have better luck by serving as a good contact yourself.

To learn five ways you can give back and contribute more to your networking relationships, click here.

How to Stop Networking for Good Contacts and How to Be One!

5. Protect yourself from toxic professional relationships

You’ve probably heard the popular networking advice, “Never burn a bridge.” But I also say, “Never stay standing on a bridge someone else has lit a match to.”

While it’s important to maintain good networking relationships, you should also protect yourself from the toxic ones. Especially if they could hurt your other professional relationships.

Click here to learn how to recognize toxic relationships in your professional circles.

Never Say Never: How to Know When You Should Let a Bridge Burn

Related resources

• Blog post: “Are Your Job Search Strategies Not Working for You?“
• Blog post: “Is Your Resume Not Working?“
• Blog post: “Do You Need to Improve Your Interview Skills?“
• Book: Secrets to Networking With Ease
• Video course: The Secret to Successful Networking: How to Do It Naturally and Effectively

Maybe it’s time to approach résumé writing from a different angle

If you’ve sent out hundreds of résumés and still aren’t getting interviews, maybe it’s time to re-think your resume.

Most job seekers approach résumé writing from the wrong perspective. They think their résumé is about them, when in actuality, it’s not.

To learn some fresh ways to write your résumé so you can grab the reader’s attention and land more interviews, check out the following out-of-the-box strategies. They’ll work well with the unique job search strategies I shared last week.

Stay tuned for more out-of-the-box strategies for networking and interviewing! 

Out-of-the-box résumé writing strategies

1. Show how you can meet the employer’s needs

Your résumé should be more about speaking to the employer’s needs than your own. A lot of people’s professional summary only lists what they want from the job. Instead, job seekers should talk more about what they have to offer the company.

Showing how you can help meet the employer’s needs will grab the reader’s attention. To find out how to do this, check out my post, “How to Write a Résumé: Make It About THEM, Not You.”

How to Write a Resume: Make it About THEM, Not You

2. Know what you need to delete from your résumé

You only have so much space to work with on a résumé. Therefore, it’s just as important to know what to take off your résumé as it is to know what to add to it.

For instance, if there’s something you’ve done in past jobs you know you never want to do again in future jobs, delete that particular duty from your résumé.

For 12 more items you should remove from your résumé, check out this free video, “What NOT to Share On Your Résumé“.

Resume Help

3. Don’t forget to include your side hustle

If you have a side hustle, either in addition to your current job or as your current means of income, include it on your résumé! Doing so will tell employers a lot about you.

For instance, it will show them how you possess many of the skills they’re looking for, like creativity, adaptability, and more.

Click here to learn how to best market your side hustle on your résumé.

Should You Share Your Side Hustle on Your Resume?

4. Protect your résumé from ageism

Unfortunately and sadly, ageism still exists in the workforce. If you’re running into road blocks with your résumé because of your age, click here for tips to keep you from giving away your age on your résumé.

These tips do not encourage you to lie about your age. Instead, they’re about helping you get your foot in the door for an interview, so you can show employers the benefits your skill level would bring them.

How to Gain a Little Protection From Ageism (Part 1)

5. Feel more confident about your résumé

As you apply the tips from the previous suggestions, you’ll feel more confident about your résumé and your skills.

But, there are probably some more things you still don’t know about how to write an attention-grabbing résumé. Click here to find out what they are so your résumé will stand out above the competition and land you more interviews!

Think You Know How to Write a Resume? Think Again!

Want someone to write your résumé for you?

Now, paNASH has a certified professional résumé writer on staff to write your résumé for you. Dr. Denisha Bonds can provide you a properly-worded and uniquely-designed résumé to help you succeed in your job search!

Click here to request a quote.

paNASH Adds New Career Coach and More Services

Stay tuned for next week when I share several out-of-the-box networking strategies!

Related resources

• Blog post: “Are Your Job Search Strategies Not Working for You?“
• Blog post: “How to Avoid an Epic Fail When Networking“
• Blog post: “Do You Need to Improve Your Interview Skills?“
• Book: Get Your Résumé Read!
• Video Course: Résumés That Get You the Interview: Surprising Secrets to Getting Your Résumé Noticed

Maybe it’s time to try something different.

If you’ve been at your job search for a while now and still aren’t seeing results, maybe it’s time for some new or different job search strategies.

You’re probably familiar with the Albert Einstein quote,

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

So why keep doing the same thing in your job search if you’re seeing the same poor results?

I always try to provide new and different job search strategies for my clients. Something other than just the typical and often outdated advice found on the Internet. This helps them stand out above their competition and see improved results in their job search.

Now don’t get me wrong, consistency is important in your job search. But you don’t want to waste your time being consistent with job search strategies that don’t work.

Instead, be consistent with what’s working for you. Then, get rid of the strategies that don’t work, and replace them with the following out-of-the-box strategies. Test which ones work best for you, and then tweak them for your unique situation. You’ll likely see more positive results in your job search!

Stay tuned for more out-of-the-box strategies for résumé writing, networking, and interviewing!

Out-of-the box job search strategies

1. It all starts with your personal brand

You may wonder what your personal brand has to do with your job search. Well, the answer is, a lot! Understanding your personal brand, and how to articulate it properly, can result in new career options, a more focused job search, a marketable résumé, authentic networking relationships, and more solid answers to interview questions.

On the other hand, not understanding your personal brand can land you in a job you never wanted, or keep you in a career path you’re trying to escape from. You’re especially at risk of this during a vulnerable point in your career, like many people are right now due to COVID layoffs.

To learn more about better understanding and marketing your personal brand, check out my post, “How to Make Career Choices That Won’t Destroy Your Personal Brand.”

How to Make Career Choices That Won’t Destroy Your Personal Brand

2. Know what recruiters are thinking

Since part of the personal branding process involves knowing who your audience is, it’s important for you to put yourself in their shoes.

For most job seekers, one of their audience segments is recruiters. Do you know how recruiters think? Do you know how to respond appropriately to the ways they think?

In my post, “7 Things You Need to Know About Recruiters,” you’ll learn how to anticipate what recruiters are thinking and how to be proactive in marketing yourself to them.

7 Things You Need to Know About Recruiters

3. Don’t go where everyone else is going

When most people first come to me, they’re frustrated because they’ve spent so much time applying to jobs on all the popular job boards, but with no luck.

This is because those job boards are saturated with other job seekers. They’re also saturated with a lot of old job postings, and even postings by scammers and spammers. In fact, I recently heard from someone who became a victim of identity theft after he responded to a fake online job ad.

Therefore, you shouldn’t spend nearly as much time applying to jobs online as you should networking. In fact, you should only allot about 20% of your job search efforts to applying to jobs. So what are some better and safer alternatives to the popular online job boards? Click here to find out.

What Are the Best Alternatives to Online Job Boards?

4. Gain more experience in new and different ways

If you’re currently unemployed and don’t have the experience needed for the jobs you’re applying for, use your time to gain the experience and skills to make you more employable.

How do you gain this experience when you can’t get hired without it? While this often seems like a catch-22, there are several ways to build your résumé while you’re unemployed. Click here to find out how.

How to Get Experience When You Can’t Get Hired Without It

5. Develop the most in-demand skills

While gaining more experience, you’ll also want to develop the skills employers want most in an employee. Many of these skills are the same skills which also make entrepreneurs successful.

You’ll find a list of those skills in my post, “Why You Need to Think Like an Entrepreneur (Even When You’re Not One)“.

I published this post a little over a year ago, before we’d even heard of COVID-19 or could imagine the impact it would have on the current job market. I wrote it during a very good market, but the advice still applies today. Especially for those who’ve suddenly found themselves out of work due to the pandemic.

And my guess is, due to the coronavirus, the statistic in the post for the number of independent workers in 2020 is much higher than originally predicted.

Whether you’re forced into working for yourself, or you’re searching for a job, you need to develop these in-demand skills to be successful.

Why You Need to Think Like an Entrepreneur (Even When You’re Not One)

More out-of-the-box job search strategies

Stay tuned as I share more out-of-the-box job search strategies in the coming weeks. This will include unique résumé writing, networking, and interviewing advice.

And don’t forget! You can get 20% off paNASH’s career coaching video resources starting on Cyber Monday. Discount is good through Friday, December 4th. Use the discount code CYMON20.

Related posts

• Is Your Resume Not Working?
• How to Avoid an Epic Fail When Networking
• Do You Need to Improve Your Interview Skills?