Are You Overqualified?

Even though it is easier than ever to find open jobs around the world, it still remains difficult to find one for your next career move. Today’s unemployment rate is hovering around 3.7 percent, which means more people are currently employed than ever before. That said, new jobs are created every month thanks to the need for top talent and even technological advancements. Last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 164,000 jobs were created in various industries.

While it is great for our country that unemployment is so low, it may not be so great for your career trajectory. Finding your next career opportunity may be more difficult and you might find yourself underqualified for some opportunities, but overqualified for others. Being underqualified is one thing; the answer to meeting qualifications is more experience or education. When you’re overqualified, you might find yourself in a difficult situation.

You would think that the more experience you have, the better chance you have at getting a job, especially one with high pay. However, having too much experience may actually hinder your job search. On the employer side, potential employers might hesitate to extend an offer because they worry you will demand a higher salary or even be bored in the role and move on quickly.

Have you found yourself in this situation? If so, there are some things you can do to show an employer that you are still the ideal candidate, even if you have more experience than the rest of the competition.

Do A Self-Assessment Before Applying

If you’re considering applying to a role, you must ask yourself if the position is one that you would really want. Are you applying for the sake of doing so, or are would you actually accept the position if offered? If you can answer “yes” to the latter, you should apply.

Pitch Yourself

Most job applications still require both a resume and cover letter for consideration. While it is usually optional, you should use the cover letter as the opportunity to pitch yourself as the best candidate for the job. If the position you’re applying to has a lesser title than your previous role, your cover letter should explain why you want the role. According to Kelly Donovan of Kelly Donovan & Associates, you could say “Although I’m proud of my work managing a marketing department, I’d like to be able to focus once again on my favorite aspect of this field – executing digital marketing campaigns.”

Don’t Oversell Your Resume

This may be counterintuitive to all other career advice you have heard, but if you’re overqualified for a job, you have to tailor your resume accordingly. To do this, highlight the roles you have done that align the best with the new opportunity. Your resume must absolutely be an accurate representation of your career, but you can sort of pick and choose what to emphasize.

“Why Do You Want This Job?”

An interviewer will most likely ask you why you are applying to the role, especially if it is lesser in title than your lost job. If you know that you are overqualified for the role, you can expect to be asked this question at some point in the interview process. According to Laura MacLeod, HR expert and consultant:

“This is the first question the employer will ask…[the] worker needs to be prepared with a strong and credible answer. Consider the employer’s concerns: You are only taking the job until you find something better; you’ll be difficult to manage because you’ll feel superior to team members and maybe even your supervisor; your attitude will be poor…and you’ll eventually become lazy – dragging others down with you.”

Once you address the fact that you know you are overqualified, you can then show why hiring you will benefit the company.

Before You Go

View Current Job Openings
Follow NexGoal on Twitter
“Like” NexGoal on Facebook
Connect with NexGoal on LinkedIn

Read More

Elements of a Thank You Letter

There is a reason you have heard about the importance of sending a timely follow-up; it can make or break your chances at getting hired. In today’s digital age, there is really no excuse to not send a timely thank you note after an interview.

A follow up is your last chance to sell yourself to the employer. In order to best do so, there are some things you should include in your thank you letter to stand out among the crowd. Or, at least among those who decided to take this step. The first thing you need to do is determine whether or not you want to send a paper version, email or both.

Given today’s digital job search, turning towards email may be the easiest route to take. However, to really stand out you can utilize the lost art of the handwritten letter. The best way to determine whether you’ll opt for an email or handwritten thank you letter is to base the decision on the company you’re interviewing at. For example, if you’re applying to tech-savvy, digitally oriented company, chances are an email will be better. If the company is more old-fashioned and traditional, opting for a handwritten note is a better route.

Now that you’ve decided how to send a thank you, there are some things you should make sure to do or include in the note.

Send One to Each Person You Spoke To

These days, most interviews include conversations with many different people within the organization. You will usually speak with a HR representative, your potential supervisor and maybe someone else in the department. More often than not, these people will provide their business card at some point. This provides the opportunity to reach out after the interview as you now have their information.

Each letter you write should be specific to the conversation you had. If you spoke to everybody at the same time, take a component from each and include it in your note for a personal touch. According to a Yale career expert, “Putting the time and effort into personalizing your notes shows that you were paying close attention to the information conveyed by each interviewer. This will benefit you when the interviewers compare notes – which they will do.”

Include the Basics

If you’re struggling to figure out what to include in your thank you letter, start with the basics: reiterate your interest, express your appreciation for the interviewer’s time, emphasize what makes you the ideal candidate, highlight a previous experience that prepared you for the role and mention something specific from the interview that you found particularly appealing about the role.

Be Concise

You do not need to write a novel in your thank you; a few sentences will be more than enough, if you include the right things. If you opt for the email thank you, you can go a little longer, but try to keep the copy within one scroll of the mouse. For the handwritten route, invest in some card stock that you can use after each interview instead of plain white paper. Not only will this show you are serious, but it shows professionalism.

Proofread

Your thank you note is the last impression you will make on the company before moving forward in the interview process. While you usually want it to help plead your case as the best candidate for the job, one riddled with errors may do the exact opposite. Having spelling and grammatical errors is one thing, but you need to check the names of the individuals and have the right company and position title. These simple things seem like no brainers, but far too often it is the simple things that we forget about.

Wrap Up

A well-crafted, timely follow up note or email is your last chance at making a good impression on the company you interviewed with. If you’re struggling with  writing your thank you, the aforementioned elements are important to remember.

Before You Go

View Current Job Openings
Follow NexGoal on Twitter
“Like” NexGoal on Facebook
Connect with NexGoal on LinkedIn

Read More

What Makes Employees Happy?

A recent article in The Economist analyzes the link between employee happiness and business success; something that has long been considered in evaluating your current work situation. It got me thinking, “what makes employees happy?”

While the saying, “Money can’t buy happiness,” is true, having a high paying job can certainly help, it isn’t the only factor influencing happiness at work. As a matter of fact, according to Glassdoor, compensation is one of the least important factors in regards to workplace happiness.

If you are evaluating your happiness at work and trying to determine whether or not you need to make a career move, consider these factors from our friends at TopResume that can keep you satisfied at work, but may be taking for granted.

Company Culture

An underappreciated factor that has a huge influence on potential workplace satisfaction is the company culture. A positive work environment is one that supports and empowers you to perform at your best, but may also be one of the most overlooked components of your job satisfaction. We all need the occasional change of scenery, but it is important to remember that the grass is not always greener on the other side, especially when it comes to company culture.

You need to figure out what you value in company culture and pursue opportunities that align with these values. If you have experienced a few different cultures, you can probably determine what work environment you prefer and work best in. However, if you’re an early career professional and unsure of what environment you would thrive in, you can take a personality assessment such as the DiSC Profile.

Making an Impact

Millennials get a lot of flack for wanting to do impactful work, but why is that a bad thing? We all have slow days at work, regardless of your job, but if you are bored day in and day out you likely aren’t satisfied at work and will become unhappy. Being engaged at work will lead to job satisfaction and if that engagement is meaningful, that is the ideal situation.

When you have opportunities to make meaningful contributions to the company, regardless of company size, you will be motivated and thrive in the role.

Relationship with your Manager

Different people operate best under different management styles, so similar to company culture, figuring out how you work best is important. Since you will be working with your manager on a daily basis, having a good relationship with him or her is very important, not only for workplace happiness but your career development.

A manager that cares about your career development is something that is not replicated at every job opportunity. If you have a good relationship with your manager, it will be easier to achieve workplace happiness. If your relationship isn’t the best, but cordial enough for the workplace, chances are your growth opportunities will be limited and so too will your happiness.

Relationship with Coworkers

It is no secret that we spend the majority of our lives at work, so enjoying the people around you is important. Similar to life outside of the office, you aren’t going to get along with everyone, but maintaining a professional relationship with them will make coming to the office each day a little easier.

The best-case scenario is obviously if you at least enjoy and have a good relationship with the people around you at the office. Your work friends don’t need to be your best friends, but having a sense of camaraderie at the office will do wonders for your psyche.

Learning and Development

Albert Einstein said, “Once you stop learning, you start dying,” and the same holds true for your happiness at work. When you’re bored and unfulfilled at your job you may fall into a funk, which will lead to unhappiness both at work and in your personal life. As Melanie Haniph states, “one of the keys to long-term career success is continuous learning and development.” When you’re constantly learning new things at work, you become more marketable to your supervisors which could lead to advanced career opportunities. Being able to continuously learn and develop will greatly impact your job satisfaction.

Wrap Up

If you’re starting to feel unhappy at work, it may be time to take a step back and try to find the source of your unhappiness. Is it with your pay or another factor? Once you identify what is causing these feelings you can change your approach in order to regain that happiness at work.

Before You Go

View Current Job Openings
Follow NexGoal on Twitter
“Like” NexGoal on Facebook
Connect with NexGoal on LinkedIn

Read More

Staying Positive When You Don’t Hear Back From a Company

With today’s job search being primarily Internet-based, it can be hard to not feel like “just a number.” Since job seekers from all over can apply to a job, a specific job can get upwards of hundreds, even thousands of job applicants. As a result, it becomes increasingly difficult for job seekers to stand out on a hiring manager’s computer screen.

Since so many job seekers can apply to jobs, hiring managers likely don’t even have the chance to go through the amount of job applications they receive on a daily basis. As a result, hiring managers need to be selective as to who they want to advance to the interview stage. This means that many job seekers won’t even make it past the application stage. However, given the influx of applications, it becomes difficult for companies to provide personal messages to each applicant who did not advance in the hiring process. Unfortunately, this means that not every job seeker will hear back regarding the status of his or her application.

If you’ve found yourself in this scenario, or are tired of the standard automated denial emails, here are some things you can do to stay positive during the job search.

Take Initiative and Make a Plan

Waiting around to hear from the job isn’t going to make you hear any faster. Similar to “watching paint dry,” this can be a long, drawn out process. Instead of waiting for something to happen, take action. While you can’t make the hiring manager reach out to you any faster, you can take some control of this seemingly out-of-your-hands process. Some ways to do this are creating a list of companies where you’d like to work, conducting informational interviews, following up after job interviews, etc.

If you got through to the interview phase and didn’t hear back within the time frame provided, wait a few days for the deadline to pass, before tailoring your follow up message. If you still don’t hear back, start acting on your plan to get hired elsewhere.

React and Respond Accordingly

If you hear back from your follow up, you can gauge your next step according to that response. If the hiring manager says to check back in in a few days, do so, etc. If the response seems a bit more terse, you should probably back off a bit, as there is a fine line between persistence and annoyance. If you want the job, you don’t want to cross that line.

Don’t Take it Personally

Just because you did not get the job, or haven’t heard back, it is important for you to not take it personally. While this is definitely easier said than done, remember that the application process is not a perfect one. For all you know, the job may have been eliminated or filled internally as a cost-cutting measure. There is usually more behind the story than you realize. If you don’t hear back from the company, or don’t get the job, it may have not been in the cards for you. After all, it may not even be the right job for you and the right one will come around before you know it. Not getting a job might be a silver lining and open the door to your dream opportunity.

Before You Go

View Current Job Openings
Follow NexGoal on Twitter
“Like” NexGoal on Facebook
Connect with NexGoal on LinkedIn

Read More

5 Tips to Landing Your Dream Job

The old saying “if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life” is something that we all strive to achieve someday. The unfortunate reality of the matter is that this isn’t always the case.

It is highly unlikely that each job you have will be your dream job. After all, if you have your dream job, why would you ever leave? It is important to keep an open mind at each opportunity you have, as you will learn skills and build a network that can ultimately lead to your dream position one day, whatever that may be.

When first embarking upon a career, it is likely that your dream job was something completely different than what it was a few years into your career. The fact that your dream position has changed is not a bad thing; in fact, quite the opposite. It shows that you have continued to develop and based your hopefully future career potential on things you have learned along the way.

Once you identify what you think your dream job is, there are some things you can do in order to land it.

Know What It Means For Your Lifestyle

If you are currently making a high salary with a competitive compensation package but realized that you want to pursue a career as a teacher, or start your own business, you need to evaluate your goals. You may not be able to afford your current lifestyle if you deviate careers. However, if you decide that this temporary financial setback is worth pursuing for the other things you want out of life, you need to be aware of that.

Network

You have heard it before, but here it is again: you must always be networking. You can conduct informational interviews with people in what you’ve designated as your dream job, attend industry events to meet others in that field, or even strike up a conversation with someone new. Networking takes many forms.

Be Willing To Start Anywhere

If your dream career is in a different field, you may not have the exact experience to work in said field. That said, the experience you do have is likely transferable to various industries.

Depending on how serious you are about working in your dream industry, you may have to be willing to start at the bottom of the totem pole. That is not to say you should work for free, but you might have to take a pay cut. Regardless of what you do, it is important to be humble, work hard and willing to learn.

Take Every Opportunity

Early in your career, it will be hard to say no to every opportunity presented to you. You want to make an impression on your company, so you try to be the go-to person to get tasks done. This may lead to burnout, so a crucial skill to develop is being selective.

However, when pursuing your dream career, you should try to take every opportunity offered. For example, if you are asked to interview for a position even if you don’t want the job, you should still take it to gain experience interviewing. Besides, you never know what doors that interviewer could open for you down the line.

Be Willing To Prove Yourself

Sometimes the easiest way to prove you can do something is by showing you can do it instead of telling. This is often done in the form of an internship, but when changing careers or chasing your dream job, an unpaid (or even paid) internship may not be the most realistic option. There are many ways to prove you can do a job, including freelance, but being open to these opportunities and capitalizing on them is what will set you apart.

Wrap Up

Do you have a dream job? Even if you don’t have an exact title or role in mind, figuring out what your ultimate career goal is can help set your path for the rest of your career. The next step is figuring out how to get there. If you consider these tips, you can get closer to landing your dream job, whatever that may be.

Before You Go

View Current Job Openings
Follow NexGoal on Twitter
“Like” NexGoal on Facebook
Connect with NexGoal on LinkedIn

Read More