Forensic Science as Part Time Job?

Shows about forensic science are at the top of thee television ratings, whether the science is assisting in unsolved mysteries, solving current cases, or merely a fictional representation on one of the many CSI spin-offs.

With the increased visibility of forensic science, it is no wonder that people are gaining more interest in the process as a career and as a subject of interest.

If you are considering a career in forensic science, there are many areas for you to settle on a niche. Not only is there the police detective work that is currently so in favor on the small screen, there are many other opportunities as well.

Forensic science also applies across a wide range of situations. Unlike on television, forensic scientists are highly specialized, and you might be surprised in the areas to which they apply the skill.

Handwriting and documentation experts are considered forensic scientists. The professionals examine pieces of documentation to determine who wrote them, as well as other paper evidence such as lottery tickets or the print styles of fax machines. Again, the potential for misinformation is vast- the forensic document examiners do not analyze personalities from handwriting samples.

Forensic botanists specialize in the plant life, including pollen, that is found at a scene and can give clues as to the time and location of the death. Likewise, forensic entomologists also help determine time and cause of death through their knowledge of insect and other small life that can be found at the scene.

Other areas of forensic science include experts in firearms or tools, forensic anthropologists, and forensic orthodontics.

All of these areas are highly specialized, and it is simply not possible for one person to have all of these areas within their realm of expertise. All take extensive training in their chosen fields, yet all work together to help solve crimes.

Above all, the person interested in forensic science should remember the context of prime-time television. Cases are never solved in the hour it takes the show to run or even the days that the show represents. Forensic science is a much slower paced, highly detailed process, and if you are considering the field it is important to keep that in mind.

Professional resumes and job interviews are connected. One leads to the other, if everyone is following best practices.

Once you have a solid resume, you will begin to get interviews. If you’re working with an interview coach or any kind of job interview expert, you’ll learn that there are several kinds of job interviews. It’s not a question of good or bad in this case. But you need to understand the details in order to succeed.

Interviews can come in three varieties-behavior-based, conversational, and stress-and it can help you to spot the one you’re in as soon as possible. Of course, they can overlap, or an interview may have segments of one and then another.

Behavior-based interview: Also called competency-based interviews, these feature questions in a pre-ordained order with little opportunity for you to ask questions in return. Usually, the interviewer will let you know in advance that she is using this format. Be sure to provide examples as often as possible when responding here. These interviews focus mainly on eliciting information, and they may test your skill at negotiating clever questions.

Conversational interview: These more resemble the experience of actually working in a firm, and give the employer a greater sense of how you might fit in. They seem relatively free-form and suggest ordinary conversations-but they’re not. They give you and interviewer an opportunity to interact better and establish rapport, but they also let the interviewer circle back and ask the same questions from a different angle, to see if you are consistent or dig up more information on an important topic. Here, as with the first, the interviewer definitely has key questions he or she wants answered. Be careful of the wide-open “bio” question, where the interviewer asks you to describe your life or career. Don’t discourse at length about your early life. Instead, sum it up briefly and move on to the more important recent achievements. Studies suggest that 50 percent of interviews may be of this type.

Stress interview: In this version, the interviewer is curt and asks rapid-fire questions, an approach meant to raise your anxiety and test your ability to handle stress. It isn’t personal, so don’t swallow the bait and respond with annoyance. Instead, relax. You’re seeing through the game.

If you handle your answers well, you’ll be ready to ask your own questions. I’ve always felt that if you remember the interviewer doing a lot of the talking during an interview that the meeting was probably a good one. No one ever listened himself out of a job, as one former president said.

So if you have a chance, ask good questions of your interviewer. Then sit back and listen. It’s your turn and you’ve earned it. In my next article, I’ll focus on the kinds of questions you should ask during a job interview. This is important stuff. Said Thurber: “It’s better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” See you next time.

A career starts from resume. When one goes for an interview, the potential employer has no idea of who the applicant is. In some cases, the person applied to the ad while others used a headhunter or job site on the internet and matched their credentials for the position.

The first impression employers always look at is one’s resume. Given the many that apply, this usually takes about 30 seconds and so with the limited words, one must be sure that the resume is well written and grammatically correct.

The resume must say almost everything about the person. This should always start with pertinent information such as the person’s name, age, address, contact number and social security number. The details here are needed so if one is considered to be a potential employer, it will be easy for the company to get in touch with the applicant and be scheduled for an interview.

Next is the career objective which is the reason why the applicant wants to apply for the position. By putting a strong goal in mind and not a general one, the employer will see that this person has a direction which is why that person wants to work for the company.

The next section should include the relevant skills and knowledge one has had in the current and previous jobs as well as highlighting one’s major accomplishments. By putting in detail the things one has done in that position and experiences learned from it, that information is already basis for the employer to see the potential the applicant has for that position. It shows the qualities one possesses and the benefits one can contribute to the further growth of the company.

After that, the resume should show one’s educational background. Some companies prefer someone with a degree in a certain field, a licensed professional to do the job or one who possesses a master’s degree. By showing one’s credentials, it is a good indicator of the type of training one has possessed in school and the accomplishments one has achieved in the course of one’s career.

The latter section should provide details such as hobbies, interests and character references. Employers look at potential applicants who not only have the qualifications for the job but also those who also those who are well rounded. Being active in a certain organization and be seen as a leader in a group shows one’s social skills with others. Character references do the same and give people an idea how one performed working with that person.

There is no ideal resume. It depends on the job. It is an important step one must pass before being called for that first interview.

A resume is a self-promotional document that presents you in the best possible light, for the purpose of being invited to a job interview.

A resume is a path that sets people on the roads of success in their career. In today’s competitive world, only a few resumes get to the top table for a brief glance. A resume should be written in a manner such that the reader is enticed to peruse it. A well-written resume stimulates interest in meeting the candidate and learning more about him. It inspires the prospective employer to pick up the phone and ask the candidate to come for an interview.

Every resume has its own way of communicating and creating an impression, but there are certain things that a candidate should be careful while writing a resume. There should be no constraint on its size. A resume can be of one or more pages depending on the experience of the person. However, the number of pages does not necessarily increase with experience, and an employer may feel reluctant in picking and reading long resumes. Thus a good resume should bring out a clear and concise piece of required information.

Writing a resume is an art in itself. It is a means to create a communication between the candidate and the employer. The resume is a tool with one specific purpose, which is to win an interview. It should be able to convince the employer that the candidate is a worthy one.

The candidate should try and project the resume according to the specific job requirements. However, one shouldn’t just simply copy the job description jargon from the company’s HR manual or the job advertisement. Personal information has nothing to do with the professional status. Hence, in most cases, there is little need to include information on marital status, age, race, family or hobbies.

In today’s challenging job market, resume is the only weapon of a job seeker. This makes resume writing an indispensable resource. Whether writing a resume by oneself or employing external help, the candidate should make sure the document projects his image in the best possible manner.

Why choose a professional resume writer?

Your resume has only 10 to 15 seconds on average to impress an employer.

Hiring Managers receive hundreds of resumes every day. In just a few seconds (a mere glance) they will decide whether or not to call a candidate for an interview. If your resume is not conveying the right message, it will land-up where most do – the garbage can. Hiring a professional resume writer will secure more interviews for you.

Many companies currently utilize an automated resume database. These databases are basically resume mines. When a vacancy arises, keywords are used to find the right resumes from among the thousands stored in these systems. If your resume does not contain the right keywords, it will never be found during such searches.

A resume is not a just typed sheet. It is a strategic tool used to enhance your chances of getting a job. Are you reaching your target audience? How is your advertising working out for you?

A professionally written resume shortens the overall job search time.

A well-written, keyword-rich, resume not only impresses employers, but it also reduces the overall time it takes to find a job. Good resumes get the interviews, and the more interviews you get, the higher your chances are to become employed.

Job Search Tips For Sales Career

Each specific industry has a variety of requirements that an employee has to meet. In searching for jobs as sales professionals, how do you prepare for a competitive environment?

Here are useful tips you could perform in searching the appropriate job and acing the interview.

1) Research: In order to be prepared on your interview, you should learn important facts about the company beforehand.

* The internet is one of the best ways to search for information and most companies provide their own websites. Study the content of the company’s website; know their background, goals, and information about the top executives.

* By using search engines on the Internet, you could also obtain news and additional information about the progress of the company, past projects and issues, and organizations where the company belongs.

* Review the stock market chart of the company. Since majority of shares are publicly traded, you could examine the recent stock price and learn the difficulties of its market over the past years. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the company will help you in the interview.

* Learn as many information as possible about its competitors. When you read articles about the market space, you will find out who leads the market and you can find out the company’s competitors. Having this knowledge could help you during the interview since you could be able to justify how the company is better than its present competitors are.

2) Attitude: Having the right attitude towards the interview and the job itself would ensure the position is yours.

* Majority of successful sales professionals have a unique energy that you can feel. They command a presence and hold the attention of everyone. Be energetic about the job and interview.

* Be enthusiastic. Since you have done your research about the company and its competitors, the interviewers will appreciate your enthusiasm and interest about the position.

3) Preparation: The position you desire could be yours as long as you show up prepared.

* Create a presentation by researching the products and services of the company. Be prepared to speak directly and intelligently about the company’s field.

* Provide statistics and industry related facts in your presentation. This goes to show that not only are you enthusiastic about the job, you are also aware of the condition of the industry.

* The fact about sales is its all about numbers. If you are asked about your numbers, simply provide them with production reports, past employment lists or a W-2 form of your yearly earnings.

By successfully performing these basic steps, your sales job could be yours in just a handshake away.

How Emotional Intelligence Impacts Sales Career

One of the mysteries of the auto dealership world is why general managers and general sales managers assume that low productivity and the resulting high turnover are inevitable with their sales teams. Research has shown it is appropriate to apply the Pareto principle to salespeople whereby 20 percent of all salespeople now make 80 percent of all sales. That means 80 percent of the sales force fights over the remaining 20 percent of the business not produced by the top sales pros.

With so many salespeople competing for shares of such a small pie, the turnover rate in sales is obviously very high. But many auto dealer executives are willing to accept, as a cost of doing business, the unending expenses of recruiting, selecting, and training the continuing flow of newcomers into the sales rank. They should, instead, recognize that the poor sales productivity and high turnover rampant in the industry are the result of faulty hiring practices.

Research has shown that 80 percent of the essential competencies required for success in the workplace are emotional intelligence, which is far greater than IQ or personality traits. Emotional intelligence (EI) has been a “buzzword” in the business world for the last several years. By definition, EI is an individual’s ability to recognize and regulate emotions in themselves and others. In practical application it is one’s ability to understand how our emotions and the emotions of others impact action and performance.

EI has no greater application than in a sales position. A recent study by the Hay/McBer firm in Boston of Fortune 500 companies including AT&T, IBM, and PepsiCo found that the top 10 percent of the sales forces in the companies surveyed totaled nearly $6.7 million in sales while the norm was only $3 million—more than 2 times the average or additional sales totaling 88 times the average salary of $42,000. The top 10 percent of those sales forces were very strong in EI competencies while the average salesperson was not.

In an objective study of more than 2,000 auto dealer salespeople designed to measure the EI competencies among those salespeople that were successful vs. those that were unsuccessful, the following five competencies were the most critical to predicting sales success and retention in the industry.

Intuition & Empathy. This is the salesperson’s awareness of the prospect’s feelings, needs, and concerns. This competency is important in a sales role for the following reasons.

Attitude toward others: one’s ability to look positively and objectively upon others

Understanding others: an intuitive sense of a prospect’s and/or customer’s feelings and perspectives and showing an active interest in their needs

Customer service orientation: the ability to anticipate, recognize, and meet customers’ needs

Results Orientation & Decisiveness. This is the salesperson’s adeptness at inducing desirable responses from the customer or prospect. This competency is important in a sales role for the following reasons.

Communication: sending clear and convincing messages that are understood by the customer or prospect

Influencing: using effective tactics and techniques for persuasion and desired results

Gaining commitment: one’s ability to develop a motivation act

Self View. This is the salesperson’s level of courage and self-esteem that provides thick enough skin to persevere through various obstacles they encounter throughout the sales cycle. This competency is important in a sales role for the following reasons.

Handling rejection: one’s ability to handle a no or a nonsale and to not take it personally and be able to recover and restart quickly to try again

Self-esteem: the higher the self-esteem the more passion and courage the salesperson will have in the social arena

Self Awareness. This is knowing one’s internal states, preferences, resources, strengths, and limitations. This competency is important in a sales role for the following reasons.

Self-confidence: one’s ability to believe in their own abilities and strengths to personally take charge in achieving and exceeding their goals

Persuasiveness: one’s ability to stand their ground in negotiations and in handling sales objections to exude to the customer or prospect that their product or service meets their needs

Competitiveness: one’s desire to win and be perceived as competent in the eyes of others, as well as desire to be personally recognized for their accomplishments

Self Expectations. This is the salesperson’s emotional tendencies that guide or facilitate reaching goals and their sense of personal commitment to responsibilities. This competency is important in a sales role for the following reasons.

Achievement drive: striving to improve or meet a standard of excellence we impose on ourselves

Initiative: readiness to act on opportunities without having to be told

Optimism: persistence in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks

These are all essential competencies in selling in the auto dealership industry. The salesperson who knows the product or service inside out will not succeed in the long term without possessing these essential competencies.

“Since we implemented an emotional intelligence pre-employment profile to help in our sales selection process, our retention has jumped from 10 percent to 77 percent. And not only do the employees stay longer, but they are more productive, catch on more quickly, and require less time in training,” says Regina Roat, HR Director of Sterling-McCall Auto Group in Houston, Texas, which is part of Group 1 Automotive.

Auto dealers who are forward thinking and realize they are competing for top talent with other companies in their market are now implementing emotional intelligence into their selection process. Additionally, they are also providing emotional intelligence management development programs to assist their managers in leadership development, which has a major impact on improving the manager/employee relationship and is a critical piece to improving employee retention.

Administrator Resume For A New Position

Being an administrator, you may have to interact with the CEO one minute and the next minute a floor cleaner. What is expected from an Admin, varies from organization to organization.

But overall, an admins role is to be very flexible and friendly, approachable with good inter personnel skills. Also, as an admin you are expected to learn quickly. Having said that, make sure your resume conveys this message if you posses these skills.

Apart from the basic resume contents like contact information, employment history, qualification etc, following additional tailored information could be helpful to you.

- Mention How flexible you are. This is a plus for any role. But, for an admin, it is a required soft-skill.

- How good you are as a people friendly person?

- How do you handle others’ egos? If you can speak CEO language as well as layman’s office language, do mention it.

- As an admin, you might have to learn new processes and undergo new training programmes. Mention your quick learning skills.

- Mention how you have reduced costs and saved money in your department or the organization in general by any means.

- Narrate in brief why you should be called for the interview. For example Oracle certified database administrator with 5 years of experience, experienced hospital administrator with relevant skills etc.

- Mention any technical or computer qualifications and personality development, diploma in office administration or hospital administration etc done as a course with its content in brief, the duration, institute and also its results.

- Mention how you improved the efficiency and productivity within your department or the organization in general.

- Highlight any other achievements that have benefited your department and obviously your organization in general.

Company Wants to Check Your Background

Over 90% of companies run some type of background check on their job applicants. Pre-employment screening can be expensive and time-consuming, but most companies feel it is an essential part of the hiring process.

Here are the top five reasons why a company will take a good look at you before making a hiring decision:

1. Fraud – It’s estimated that over half of all job applicants lie on their resumes and job applications each year. Education leads the list, with over half a million people in the U.S. falsely claiming to have college degrees. Many people enhance their job titles, stretch dates to cover employment gaps and even invent employers. By running a complete background check, a company can quickly verify if an applicant is telling the truth.

Veritas asked CFO Kenneth Lonchar to resign following the discovery that his claim to an MBA from Stanford University was phony. George O’Leary, hired as Notre Dame’s head football coach, lost his job when it was revealed that his resume contained falsehoods.

2. Criminal Activity – No company wants to hire an individual who will bring crime into the workplace. Some two million Americans are victims of workplace violence every year. Many companies face theft, embezzlement and drug use by employees on a regular basis.

A complete background check will usually let a company know if an applicant has a criminal record. Not all people with criminal records are hiring risks, but pre-employment screening allows the employer to make an informed hiring decision.

3. Negligent Hiring Lawsuits – A company can be held responsible for the actions of it’s employees if it fails to conduct a background check prior to hiring someone. Lawsuits for negligent hiring are one of the fastest growing areas of litigation. Industry experts say that employers lose almost 80% of these cases.

Seeking to protect themselves from multimillion dollar jury verdicts and enormous legal fees, companies are now very cautious about who them hire. They know that one bad hiring decision can dramatically hurt a company’s finances and reputation.

4. Recruitment Expense – Finding qualified applicants for a job costs time and money. Managers who are looking for new employees must spend their valuable time developing and placing ads, sorting through resumes and interviewing applicants. After a long recruiting process, a company wants to be sure that they have selected the right applicant. They don’t want to repeat the process all over again.

5. Federal & State Laws – Background checks are required for many state and federal jobs. For example, most states must run a criminal background check on anyone who works with the elderly, the disabled or with children. Many federal jobs require an extensive investigation for those trying to get a security clearance.

Whatever the reason, the chances are excellent that a hiring company will want to look into your past. The best thing you can do is to be prepared when it happens.

Job Search at the Internet Age

Internet is rapidly growing as a popular career source. Job seekers are finding that well-planned and systematically laid out career sites prevail over the traditional newspaper classifieds. The days are gone when job seekers had to browse through cluttered newsprint to find out a suitable job options them. Not only finding a suitable job, posting CVs through traditional mails and getting interview calls used to be too cumbersome till the internet came to the rescue. Searching jobs on Internet has dual benefits for you – it saves your valuable time and it cut shorts your expenses on searching and sending CVs to your potential employers.

There are several web portals offering job surfing and CV posting services to the job seekers. Their systematically categorized job listings minimize your time to zero in on your potential employers. Furthermore, they offer you an opportunity of sending your CV to the potential employers in bulk at very nominal charges. If you send your CV through traditional mails to these many employers, you may need your whole month’s pocket expense. One such site is www.resume-xpress.com that offers quality resume sending services. However, it is necessary that the websites where you intend to put your CV specialize in your industry sector. In your industry specific websites vacancies will be more targeted. These websites may also contain useful career advice and information specific to your area of expertise.

Another important aspect for advantageous use of Internet in job searching is preparation of your CV that is searchable and e-friendly. List out all the details that can be helpful in making your CV prominent in all categories and sub-categories that the employers browse through. Your CV should contain details like preferred industry, preferred location, educational qualification, skill sets etc. under sub-headlines. For example, if you are looking for a job in Orlando region, do mention Orlando as preferred location in your CV so that an employer searching CVs under Location-Orlando can find your CV listed there.

Finally, remember that the Internet is a tool, not a stick of a magician. It does require good skill and diligence of the user to get favorable results. So get organized, and start surfing for a job with a pre-planned strategy.

Listing A Hobby On Your CV Or Resume

It is becoming more common for people to be asked what their favourite hobby or pastime is on a job application form. It is therefore advisable to include a section on your interests and any hobby that you are actively engaged in on your CV or Resume too. This helps to differentiate your application from all others that have similar experience and qualifications as you do. A hobby can be used as a great ice-breaker at interviews too and you may find yourself discussing your skydiving exploits more than your previous job. Obviously the more unusual the hobby the better as it is likely to make an impact on anyone reading your CV and be a point of interest that helps the reader remember your application over another.

It is important, wherever possible, to list hobbies or interests that clearly demonstrate relevant skills and accomplishments that are appropriate for the job your resume is being considered for. Obviously, if you are applying to be a cook for a company you would want to list cooking as one of your hobbies. This may seem an obvious point but you could also highlight other areas of the same hobby such as researching recipes or jam making for example.

It is advisable to be selective about the number of hobbies you list. If it seems that your time is taken up with a myriad of different activities a potential employer may reject your application for fear that you may never be available for overtime work if necessary.

Another possible impact of your choice of hobby may be if it involves a lot of travel or long hours. The potential employer may feel that your hobby would have an adverse effect on your ability to hold down a long term position and may think you are just trying to fit in work around your hobby and not the other way round.

Whatever you do, don’t make up a hobby purely to get a job. If you say you are a chess player, to indicate that you are a logical thinker and forward planner that is great if it’s true but beware, you may find that you are challenged to a game by your boss and be rumbled on the first day!