Hard Business and Interview questions with Image in mind

Continuing the Image is everything series today we talk about your career and answering tough questions.

We all know what it is like to sit down in front of someone throwing out questions that seem to be a trap knowing that there is a right answer and a not so right answer.

There is no reason why these questions should be frowned upon though because if you know what the person wants and you know what you want, then you just have to bring those two ideas together in your answer.  It is a combination of conforming your answer to the ideal answer and how you present yourself.

The most important thing is to stay confident with who you are.  Confidence and Attitude is the key to creating a good image and every question answered with confidence is that much stronger.

Now to answer the actual question, several things have to be considered.  First, how is my answer going to relate to the subject matter(getting hired, getting raise, etc.).  Second, always answer without judging yourself/others or limiting yourself.

SOME EXAMPLES:

What are your salary expectations?

Answer:  Salary is not my primary consideration.  Of course, there is an acceptable standard for (position) in this industry.  I’d be open to any reasonable offer.    OR  According to (National Salary Publications) my job is valued at (such and such Range) and considering my experience I feel I fall into the upper half of that range.

-NOTE:  These answers were straight forward and were not limiting.  It leaves the questioner with the choice of what is reasonable.

What are your weaknesses?

This is a tricky question, because you never should mention a true weakness.  It is more about turning a slight weakness into a positive.

Answer: “I am a perfectionist to the point where I spend time perfecting projects which aren’t always in line with what makes the company the most money at any given time.”  OR “I plan to improve my public speaking by taking a course this next year.”

What conflicts have you encountered and how have you handled them?

Remember to never judge yourself or limit yourself.  Also remember to focus on the subject matter which is getting hired.  Don’t be afraid to state an actual conflict, but show that you handled it in an appropriate manner.  Don’t ever be negative about the situation. Focus on how you positively handled the conflict.

Answer:  “I suggested that we work together to sort out our issues.  We listened to each others issues and decided together which ones were most important and which ones we can compromise on.  We looked for similarities in your goals and placed them first.  We collectively decided what to give up and what to keep, so that both of us felt like part of the solution.  We were both satisfied in the end.”

MORE QUESTIONS(External Links)

How to Ask for a Raise.

Tough Interview Questions and the Answers

How to sell Yourself

Answering Tough Questions about Loans and Banking

career, confidence, image, Interview, interviewing, questions, success, tough questions

TheAdamBox.com: PageRank of 4 and Goals for May

It looks like after all I will only be getting a PageRank of 4. Earlier last month, I saw how I was projected to get a page rank of 5 compared to everyone else that was going to get a 4, but with the inaccuracies of the prediction program it looks like I am in the same boat as every other blogger who started around February/March.  I think at one point Johnchow dot com was suppose to get a 7, but in the end he ended with a 6.  So when in doubt with PageRank, round down.
Getting up to a 6 level would be quite the feat, so I am not going to leave that as one of my goals in the near future, but I would love to increase my daily visitors and feed readers.  So I am going to set a few goals for myself this month.

1. Double my feed readers to 50
2. Increase my average unique visitors to 150.
3. At least two posts per day.

These are good for now as I need to learn to grow in strides.  Blogging is not always a success overnight more like success over years.  I am slowing down on monetizing my blog, because there is no point in monetizing a slow blog.  I need to focus on traffic before focusing on money.

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Dressing for Success (for men)

As mentioned in an earlier post, Image is Everything, today starts the first part of the series dealing with personal image in your career.

There are many books about creating first impressions and most of them will tell you that someone decides whether or not they like you within the first 2 minutes of meeting you.  So the key to success is to create an image that will impress within 2 minutes.  A huge part of this is physical appearance.  So how do you want to appear? Successful, playful, Joker, etc.

Think about the last time you saw someone wearing something kind of strange.  How fast did you think about what they were wearing from the time you first saw them?  Probably within seconds.  This is why dressing to a certain standard is an absolute must for success.  Thus the phrase, “Dressing for Success”.

Since how you dress is so important to creating success, it is often questioned what is appropriate dress for success.  The appropriate dress is what is the accepted in the business environment like it or not.

Every part of what you wear is crucial, so take each of these tips seriously or else it defeats the purpose of dressing for success.

BUSINESS DRESS

1. Shirts
1. With your arm fully extended, the cuff of your shirt should be right at the wrist.  A little longer is acceptable, but never shorter.
2. Iron out all wrinkles and iron existing creases (collar, back crease, arm crease) folds to enhance there intended affect.
3. Always wear an undershirt to prevent sweat mark on the dress shirt.
2. Tie
1. The imaginary line on the tie at which the tie starts to come to a point needs to be even with the top of your pants.  This needs to be perfect, because too short or too long looks awful.
2. The top of the tie should cover the neck button of your shirt or else the tie is not tight enough.
3. Use a tie which contrasts the shirts as a whole.  It is acceptable and sometimes preferred to have a tie with some of the same colors as the shirts to create a blending effect, but make sure the tie still contrasts the shirt.
3. Pants
1. Pants should always contrast the shirt (or tie if the shirt is white).  Never where the same color shirt and pants, it looks tacky.
2. Pant length should go just to the top of the shoe while standing.  No longer and definitely not shorter.
3. Iron all creases to enhance there intended affect.
4. Socks
1. Socks should match the color of the pants.  Never wear athletic socks with dress pants! 
5. Belt/Shoes
1. The belt should always match the color of the shoe.
2. A belt should have no more length than that which reaches to the first pant loop when belt is buckled.

 

How you dress has an everlasting affect on your pears and will in turn increase your credibility.  Just think about the nightly news, would the news anchors seem less credible if they wore a T-shirt and jeans?

So next time you have an interview or even a meeting with upper management remember these tips and know how much it makes a difference to look appropriate for the situation.

business dress, dress, dressing for success, image, success

Image is Everything Series

Today starts a series that is so important in terms of success.  Almost everything we decide on is based on some reasoning taken from our ideal image or feeling about a topic.  That is why when people say “Image is everything” they are so right.  Take for example politians who will regularly shift their views slightly one way or the other to match the ideal image of their audience.  This is why the term “Flip-Flop” was developed and to be fair to John Kerry, everyone does it.  He just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  So no matter what we do in life, we have to look at how others feel and how best to present ourselves to increase our success.  This concept is true even down to being a good parent.  Suppose as a parent you swear and yell at your wife, but treat your kids like gold.  Do you think their image of you if great, assuming that they truly love their mother? 

 In this series, I am going to dive into various examples of how image is so important and how to improve your image which eventually will lead to who you are as a person rather than just temporarily changing your image for a single event.  Here are the topics I will be diving into.

• Introduction
• Career – Week 1 – April 30th
  • Dressing for Success
  • Hard Business and Interview Questions with Image in Mind
  • Improve your image by improving your resume
• Life -Week 2 – May 7th
  • Creating a good image with you Body Language and Vocal Tone
  • Living Environment
  • Having a Positive Attitude
• Relationships -Week 3 – May 14th
  • Confidence
  • Attitude

Look for the first section about Image in your Career on Monday April 30th.

attitude, confidence, image, image is everything, Interview, jobs, resume, series, success

Blogger of the month!

Can you believe it?  I can’t.  I was chosen as the blogger of the second half of the month at OurBlogReview.com.  Though it is directed at BlogBait.net, I feel that I had to comment here because I get more traffic here and BlogBait.net is like the left arm of my group of websites.  I feel like I have been under performing compared to several of my blog friends like Bloggerlounge.net, Harpzon.com, BrianBaker.com, and Notsoboringlife.com. who all started around the same time that I started.

But hey this blogger of the month thing has really got me motivated again! I mean look at OurBlogReview.com, it has never looked so good.  That is a big picture of me on someone else’s site and I love it!

Take a look and tell me what you think!

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