Working The Right Body Language For Your Six Figure Job Interview

We have all no doubt been taught not to fidget and to sit up, but your body language is a flexible tactic that can be used to take your six figure job interview in the direction you want. Hiring managers and executive recruiters for six figure jobs are likely to have read up on body language and will be judging yours. Knowing the psychology behind body language yourself can also help you gauge your six figure job interviewer´s reactions and help you control the interview or at least give you an idea of what you will really be up against when it comes to starting work.

Wild gestures may show passion, however they can also be considered a sign that you are out of control and are unpredictable. Are these qualities this employer is looking for this six figure job? Hand gestures are OK, just try to keep them within the frame of your body. In the reverse if you are interviewing with an up level executive or CEO and they are getting pretty wild with their hand gestures does this mean they are big risk takers? What does that mean for the longevity of this six figure job?

Folding your hands or just keeping them in your lap can be seen as the opposite – too reserved. Regardless of the six figure job you are applying for, confidence is a good thing. However, do not be too timid.

One of the most common job career advice lines must be to sit up straight. Yes, this does show interest in the position and professionalism. However, it can also be read as being too rigid and timid as well. Think about the six figure job you are applying for and the qualities this employer is looking for. If you are applying to be a secretary, appearing to be a meek and following the rules rigidly is commendable. However if you are applying to become director of operations or for sales executive jobs or marketing executive positions, employers are probably looking for someone with a little more confidence and creativity. Again in the reverse, if your interviewer for this six figure job is sitting upright or forward they are probably interested in you and what you are saying.

In contrast, leaning back is said to signify disinterested. Watch out for your six figure job interviewer showing any signs like this and tweak your answers or questions appropriately. However you can use this to your advantage, especially when it comes to salary negotiations. If they initial numbers are too low, make it look like you have lost interest, sit up when they fumble to add on more to the benefits they offer.

The Career Advisor

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Director Of Operations Interview? How to Blow Away The Competition

If you are hunting for a new 100k plus job as a director of operations or other senior management executive, you will be held to a much higher level of critic than most other positions that you are being hired for. You will be expected to have detailed and specific answers on the spot for a range of statistics, ideas and strategies especially, as you must have done a great job of impressing the executive recruiter or hiring manager in order to get into and interview in the first place. Your resume talked a good game, now interview time means you have to back it up.

So how are you going to blow away the competition for director of operation jobs? On paper, you can be sure that your competing candidates have seriously inflated their abilities, so you must prove you know what you are talking about and lay out exactly how you can add value to the company. This will help justify your salary request, and demonstrate when the company can expect to see your amazing talents affecting the bottom line in a big way.

Use your time ahead of the interview to do thorough research on the company, including any phone conversations or email correspondence to gain as many answers as possible. Try to find out where the issues lay with the company, where you can help and what deliverables are most important. Obviously this sounds time consuming, especially if you are applying and interviewing for several director of operations positions; however if you really want to shine it is absolutely necessary. You know the questions to ask and what to look for but are no doubt limited on valuable time, so why not outsource the actual research work as possible (just as if you were already the director of operations)? You can easily hire several freelance researchers to find out all the data you want and even format it into a polished report ahead of your interview. As just one angle, what if you ran research and comparisons between them and the competition on a number of factors to see where opportunities lay to beat out competitors? How about where the breakdowns are at the company you are interviewing with? Of course besides the data you will walk in with, solid answers and solutions, complete with a timetable and financial projections and a plan for improving segments of the company’s operation will help sell you as the new as the director of operations.

The Career Advisor

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Sales Pitches That Can Close The Deal On Your Next Sales Executive Job

The whole process of applying for 6 figure jobs for sales executives should be treated as one of the most important sales pitches of your career. If you can’t sell the interviewer or an executive recruiter on hiring you, then you are never going to get a shot at making the really big time money that comes along with the position. Everything from your cover letter to resume and interview should be used as a sales presentation for yourself. You may have been smart enough to detail your sales records and achievements in the past, which will help. However, when it comes time for your sales executive job interview, the game is really on and you need to be prepared.

The best way to do this is to have several sales routines and pitches practiced and down perfectly. These should be able to be adapted to any product or service, since your skills are likely to be tested before being offered any 6 figure sales executive jobs. This is even more crucial for those who have been unemployed and out of practice for a while. The most important of these, that you can count on every time is a test of your knowledge and skills to sell the product and service the company offers right on the spot without any background information provided. So make sure you know the interviewing company’s product and service as best you can ahead of time by asking questions over the phone and research everything you can including what type of software and/or leads are used if you really want a shot at this sales executive job.

Often, you will also be asked to sell something totally random on the spur of the moment as a test of your sales talents and to see how creative you can be when put on the spot and under pressure. This could be anything from the most simple pen to a piece of plain paper to a filing cabinet or vacations in Afghanistan. Have it down solid and make sure your sales flow/ questions can be adapted to anything under the sun.

Of course the one question that is typically asked in any interview is ‘why should we choose you?’. You answer is even more critical when applying for sales executive jobs and is your test of selling yourself. It is also usually asked in tandem with ‘what makes you a great sales person?’. Be honest. Are you just a great natural born sales person that can sell anything to anyone? Or do you have some natural talents but have just gone over and above to develop your sales techniques through training and put in the extra hours to excel? What is your sales style and does it match the company’s?

Preparation and preparedness will go a long way. Good luck.

The Career Advisor

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Focus & Boost Your $100k Plus Job Search ROI

Businesses are getting smarter about their marketing and realizing that it pays to focus their campaigns and strategies on smaller, more targeted groups in order to maximize their ROI. After all, it is much better to get 200 calls and close 100 deals than to have to handle 1,000 calls and maybe close 50 deals. The broader, less targeted campaigns just waste extra resources.

Smarter executives are also using this same strategy and applying it to their $100k plus job searches to improve their ROI. Gone are the days when the popular wisdom said the thing to do was send out as many applications as possible and basically ‘hit and hope’ for the right $100k plus job to come in. Part of this need for change in strategy stems from the change in the economy and job market. This is because it is now definitely an ‘employer’s market’ and employers for $100k plus jobs are being tougher than ever on who they hire. Specifically, this means that employers are looking harder at cover letters and resumes meaning that they need to be highly targeted and customized for each employer. This requires that resumes and cover letters for 6 figure jobs are becoming more time consuming; also forcing the need to be more selective about which jobs you apply for and restricts the number you are able to complete in the same amount of time.

Certainly with the extra care and research needed for each application these days, job seekers are expending more resources in terms of time and money. Therefore, to maximize the ROI of your $100k plus job search it is essential to hone in on fewer jobs; those that you are extremely interested in and those that are specifically looking for your talents and skill set. Be wary of spending too much time on applying for jobs out of your field in this market unless you have to or you just really need the change as it will be much harder to pick up an interview and will require a higher ratio of applications to land a position. Ideally, it is best to apply for jobs in your specific field and to postings that give enough information that you can be sure your skills and experience are a match or that at least you can show them in the right light and create a demand for them.

The Career Advisor

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Could Not Keeping Fit Keep You From That Six-Figure Job?

In the current employment environment, employers are becoming even more picky about things that you would never expect when it comes to hiring for six-figure jobs. On top of this, employers are also spending more time and research and analysing what makes top performing employees and are weeding out the rest.

Besides the cosmetic benefits of regular exercise that can definitely play a role in getting hired for six-figure jobs (as much as it is denied), your workout habits may soon be as equally as important as any other part of your resume. Why? Recent studies by researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK have shown that on workdays that employees exercised 72% said they had better time management, 79% realised increased communication and mental performance, 33% felt more motivated to work and 28% were able to work without unscheduled breaks.

With these kinds of performance enhancements, what employer wouldn’t only want applicants that worked out daily for their six-figure jobs? Who would you hire if you were an executive recruiter or hiring manager for $100k plus jobs? This isn’t the only area that employers are tightening up on, but it is one that you need to be aware of and prepare for. So next time you are preparing your resume and getting ready for six-figure job interviews, don’t skip over your exercise routines. The studies were not on any specific type of exercise, so do not be too concerned with getting that right, just use common sense.

On top of the direct performance increases related to working out, the other benefits include health and longevity as well as trending towards other healthy choices like giving up smoking. Obviously these have many intrinsic benefits for six-figure job employers that can mean thousands of dollars in difference from not having to replace or re-train employees early or cover sick days out.

So can employers really discriminate against those who do not workout? While they will not come out and directly tell you that you have been turned down because you do not work out, it will be a factor that is given even weight (sorry for the pun). Those who do get hired, or are already employed in six-figure jobs can also find themselves being penalized for not practising a regular exercise routine. This can be as little as increased insurance premiums to being held back from promotions. So the next time you have trouble motivating yourself to get to the gym, just remember how much could be relying on it!

The Career Advisor

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Exercise Yourself To A Better 6 Figure Job

There are numerous ways that exercising can help you land your next 6 figure job. Things are definitely tougher when looking for any new job these days, so any extra leverage or advantages you can add to your arsenal will definitely help.

One of the most basic and obvious benefits of a regular fitness program that any successful professional can recognize is just looking better. While it may not seem fair, the bottom line is that perception and looks do play a huge role in getting jobs (whether you are male or female) and it is well worth the investment.

So what type of exercise or fitness routine should you be using and how much time and how often should you be working out to improve your career and chances at a new 6 figure job? Generally three to five times per week is considered a good routine at between 30-60 minutes each session. However, the studies show increased benefits specifically for those working out on workdays. So getting in the habit of exercising or hitting the gym for at least an hour Monday through Friday would be ideal. Think this is too much time? With the facts showing that this type of fitness program can actually help you work more efficiently and harder it could actually be the most well spent hour of your entire day. You should choose a form of exercise that you really enjoy and can stick to or constantly change it up. It could be as simple as playing tennis or running, to taking a yoga class, to taking up an extreme martial art. Certainly, different sports and forms of exercise have their advantages in different industries, while different levels of levels of seniority such as golf for example, which can also offer big networking opportunities for 6 figure jobs.

In addition to the cosmetic, health, performance and networking benefits of regular exercise it also makes for much more powerful resumes and interviews when it comes to 6 figure jobs. Why? Use statistics. Being able to state on your resume that official statistics show that your fitness routine makes you a 70%+ better performer and dedicated worker has to look great and at least pique a hiring manager’s interest when reviewing applicants for 6 figure jobs. Plus, it also opens doors at firms who are specifically looking for candidates that take their health seriously, which is likely a much higher percentage than you imagine.

The Career Advisor

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Idiotic $100k Interview Mistakes

Most job career advice professionals concentrate on coaching you on what you should be doing to guarantee your success during interviews for $100k jobs. However, the below are a few blunders that you really need to avoid when interviewing for any $100k jobs. Most of them should be obvious, however interviewers never cease to be amazed at some of the things they are asked or see.

1 Never, ever, ever answer your cell phone during interviews for $100k jobs. It doesn’t matter if your wife is in labor or your kids have just been kidnapped or you are losing a multi-billion dollar deal. There is just no excuse – the phone should be off anyway. If you do answer it, don’t be surprised if the interviewer goes into another room, calls your cell and tells you to leave!
2. Your first questions at any interview for $100k jobs or any jobs for that matter should not be ‘how soon can I take a vacation?’, ‘do you hire people who smoke?’, ‘how much is the pay?’. They may be legitimate questions and you may need answers to them but if you really have to ask them in the interview, make sure they are at the end of your list.

3. Never park in any of the specially reserved parking spaces when attending interviews for $100k jobs. Parking in the president’s spot will get you banned from the office before you even get your foot in the door.

4. While you may think it slick to compliment your interviewer on their appearance as a way to sweeten them up or even if you just think they are really smoking hot it is definitely a bad move. It just breathes lawsuit and sexual harassment issues from the get go.

5. Telling prospective employers for $100k jobs that you are searching for a new position because you just couldn’t get along with other employees or are escaping from a psychotic lover at your old job probably isn’t going to swing things in your favor. It’s about as attractive as saying that getting a job is a requirement of your parole for embezzling your previous employer.

6.  Do not answer questions about how you handle certain issues at work with tales of drama at home or what a soap opera your life really is. Surely your interviewer has day time TV and would rather be at home than listening to your sob story.

7. If you have to run to an interview for any $100k jobs at another business during your normal lunch hour DO NOT take lunch with you and try to eat during the interview. It’s definitely not professional and not a way to appear really interested in the position.

The Career Advisor

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Passion Persuades & Gets Hired

There is a lot more to getting hired for any six figure job than just how great or long your list of education and previous employers is. Your attitude and the way to carry yourself is just as important if not more so. Passion persuades! The passion you have for your career, or lack of it is easily picked up by any executive recruiter or hiring manager at all stages of the application process. From an employer’s point of view, it is much better to hire a less qualified yet capable candidate that is passionate and highly motivated than someone with experience that has lost the joy, interest and excitement for their career.
Even from the beginning with your cover letter your passion can shine through and help give you a better shot at that six figure job. Employers and executive recruiters can sense how enthusiastic you are about the position and your career from your writing even if you do not see a big difference. However, you will definitely feel the difference when you are writing it.

If your six figure job cover letter is convincing enough to get your resume read, then employers should find that same passion carried through to your resume both in the form of the opening paragraph and in your job descriptions and any additional information. One big part of the six figure job hunt that far too many applicants overlook is their voicemail messages. If hiring managers or recruiters do not like the message either because of the content, dull tone of your voice or because you have a ring back tone they will likely just hang up and toss your application in the shredder. It may seem harsh, but that is how it really works. Make sure your voice mail message is up beat and positive. Record it with a smile on your face and leave out anything that could be considered negative in any way. While joking is sometimes OK, saying ‘I am currently away from my desk, or hiding underneath it’ just says that you cannot handle pressure and will duck responsibilities.

Of course, the in person interview for your six figure job is perhaps the most important moment to turn on the passion for your career and the hopes for landing the job in question. Be upbeat, alert and let the excitement for your job show through in your voice. If you are not at your best first thing in the mornings then make sure you schedule your interview for the time of the day you feel most energized. Pump yourself up before the interview by blasting your favorite music in the car on the way there and drink a can of Redbull if you have too!

The Career Advisor



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Developing Your Personal Brand For Your 100k Job Search

Personal branding is becoming more important than ever, especially when it comes to your next 100k job search. Your personal brand is how you are defined and seen in the market place for employers. Compared to a few years ago your current 100k job search will put you up against a lot more competition, which means you must work extra hard to differentiate yourself. Today personal branding means much more than a well thought out resume and dressing up for the interview. Be creative and find ways to make yourself stick out from the crowd.

Personal brochures are a personal branding and marketing tool that have been around for years in the real estate industry. Consider instead of just a plain old resume for your 100k job search a glossy color brochure with photos. Items you will want incorporate include a personal bio and highlights of your career.

Careful thought should be put into every word you use from your verbal introduction to the words in your resume and how you answer questions in the interview. Verbal branding can also be incorporated into your email address, phone number and anything you create. Obtaining a vanity phone number and creating a new email address can go a long way when it comes to your 100k job search. Expand your vocabulary of successful words, avoid negative ones and become aware of how much they can affect the outcomes of your 100k job search.

Consider writing several articles on your industry or starting your own blog to show off your expertise in your field. Being able to show off your articles that you were able to get printed in the paper or got published on reputable websites can showcase you as a professional that is in demand and whose opinion matters. It is really not that difficult and will be something that you can use for 100k job searches for years to come. Other options may include speaking engagements or being featured on the news if there is something relevant to your industry going on or a new development that you can comment on.

If you are currently ‘pursuing new opportunities’ (aka unemployed) this is the perfect time to also indulge in unpaid work that can boost your personal brand as well. This does not have to be limited to volunteering and charities but can also be consulting for big name companies or new cutting edge ventures which will look great on your resume.

The Career Advisor

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6 Figure Job Resumes & Your Education

Education is playing a larger and larger role in qualifications for 6 figure jobs. When the economy was hot it wasn’t so important. Everyone was making money hand over fist easily and it was a job seekers market. Now since the global credit crunch and housing meltdown 6 figure jobs are harder to come by and it is definitely an employers market. Employers are now able to be extremely picky about who they are hiring and are demanding higher qualified candidates and working them harder for less pay. Many 100k plus jobs that never required a college degree before are now listing it as a qualification for applying to their firm.

If the education section on your 6 figure job resume is a little light then there are still a couple ways you can beef it up quickly. Firstly make sure you have included all education and certifications that you have gained. Even if you do not consider it totally relevant to the 6 figure jobs that you are looking you may be surprised to find an employer looking for a candidate that has studied on a certain subject. List every course you have taken as well as certifications and training programs you have attended. If you still feel it is not substantial enough, think about taking up a short course related to your industry. Employers like to see candidates that are committed to constantly improving themselves.

If you did not go to college or did not finish for any reason, all hope is not lost. Certainly it has been proven statistically that there are many successful millionaires out there without a college education and you may be more than qualified. Before beginning your 6 figure job search consider enrolling in some more college classes so that at least you can show on your resume that you are in the process of finishing up your degree. There are now many online universities that offer part-time classes that can be taken on the Internet from the comfort of your own home. These include Kaplan University, University of Phoenix and Devry. This is a great low cost way to finish off your degree in order to set yourself up for the perfect 6 figure job. You will also find that you should get credit for your work experience that you have already clocked up which can add up to a significant amount of credit.

The Career Advisor

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