I’ve written an article about what to ask potential candidates when you’re hiring. That article has some basic questions that can be tailored and added to in order to create a (hopefully) comprehensive set of questions that the hiring manager can use to help them choose the best job candidate.

It’s hard to be a hiring manager. The pressure and burden of making the call and hiring the best fit for your organization falls on your shoulders.

However, on the other side of the fence, lies the job candidate. It is equally hard to apply for a job. You know you have to put your best foot forward and be able to articulate how you are the best fit for the job post.

For candidates who are fresh out of school or have no previous job experience, their resumes won’t be able to speak for themselves. They would have to do a lot of convincing for them to be able to get the position. In this tough job market, even those who have prior experience would have a hard time securing a job. We need all the help we can get.

Here are 5 important things to consider when you have an interview lined up.

Don’t be late!
If you’re late, that won’t help much with first impressions. Punctuality is respect for other people’s time, so don’t keep your interviewer waiting. BUT…don’t come in too early either. Your interviewer might have plans and you coming in too early might distract them and make them anxious or even annoyed. 10 to 15 minutes should be the sweet spot.

Dress appropriately
Don’t spend a lot of money on a new wardrobe. Be creative and mix and match existing pieces. If you’re going to buy something, it might as well be a blazer. It’s an investment piece. Choose one in “power” colours such as navy blue or black. Those colours always go well with anything anyway. Speaking of colours, stay away from bold ones or shirts with loud distracting prints. And ladies, please be careful about the neckline of your clothes. Gentlemen, a v-neck sweater works as well if you don’t have a suit jacket or blazer yet. But don’t wear an ugly Christmas sweater.

Be sure you’re qualified for the job
You should hit at least 85% of the qualifications. Otherwise, you will be wasting yours and other people’s time.

Do some research
Don’t just do research on the job post you’re applying for, actually do a bit of research on the industry. This will signal to the hiring manager that you are serious about getting the post and building a career instead of just looking for a job. Some research pointers: get to know how the company started, what’s happening with the company and its industry now, and what’s in the pipeline. If answers aren’t available, those could be good questions to ask your interviewer. Most of the information would be available through the company website.

Don’t lie
Most people pad their resumes, but don’t lie. Especially not about your academic background. It only takes one call to confirm the validity of that information. Save yourself from embarrassment.

We’d love to hear your stories about your job interviews. Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard!

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

Did you know that sitting for long periods of time is a risk factor for early death? But you already knew that, didn’t you? Not to scare you or anything, but new studies show that no matter how much you exercise, staying sedentary for too long can be a huge health risk [1]. According to this article from CNN “There’s a direct relationship between time spent sitting and your risk of early mortality of any cause, researchers said, based on a study of nearly 8,000 adults. As your total sitting time increases, so does your risk of an early death” [2].

Sitting for too long can cause a multitude of problems [3].

 

Here are some examples:

● Organ damage to your heart, pancreas, and colon.
● Digestive problems
● Decrease in brain function
● Posture problems like a strained neck or tight shoulders, not to mention back problems.
● Increased rate of muscle degeneration
● Leg disorders such as the appearance of varicose veins and weak bones.

So how do you reduce your mortality risk if you are an office worker who sits at a desk for eight hours a day, 5 days a week? The trick is to get out of that chair every 30 consecutive minutes of sitting.

Stand up! Move around! Set your timer and take a movement break every 30 minutes. Use an online timer like Toggl. There are nice and easy to use online timers that can help you with this. Check out this list here [4].

Here are other ways to get some movement into your day:
● Instead of sending an email, walk to your co-worker’s cubicle and tell them instead what you would have written.
● Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
● Ride a bike to work.
● If riding a bike is not feasible, park your car further away from the entrance to get in a couple more steps.
● Try using a standing desk (my favorite).

What is a standing desk?
A standing desk is basically a desk that allows you to work while standing up. You can create your own standing desk setup by placing elevators, such as boxes or a laptop stand on your desk to elevate your laptop or keyboard and monitor/s.

I’m lucky to have a desk that has an elevated shelf attached to the side, which is just the perfect height for creating my own standing desk set-up. I alternate between using my usual desk setup and then using my standing desk. I started using it when my back was beginning to give me problems. Too much sitting had me hunched over with really bad posture. The standing desk improved my posture and reduced the pain in my lower back. It also reduced my neck pain since we tend to slide our heads forward when we hunch.

Some studies also show that aside from reducing health risk like the ones I previously mentioned, standing desks can also boost productivity and improve your mood and energy levels. So, go ahead and try it! See for yourself if it really does work wonders. If you have any experience using a standing desk, we’d love to hear about them in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard.

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

References:
1. http://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2653704/patterns-sedentary-behavior-mortality-u-s-middle-aged-older-adults
2. https://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/11/health/sitting-increases-risk-of-death-study/index.html
3. https://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2015/05/08/sitting-too-long.aspx
4. https://blog.toggl.com/top-5-best-free-online-work-timers/

If you have an independent or family run business, you probably have around two up to five people running it with you. And you might be comfortable with that. After all, these are the people you trust. But what happens when the business starts to grow, as any healthy business should?

A growing business is going to need a more hands-on-deck. You are eventually going to need more people in order for you serve that ever-growing client base. You are going to have to start hiring.

I read an article from The Muse about “3 Questions Amazon’s CEO Asks Before Hiring Anyone”[1]. You should read it to get more insight about the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos’, hiring goals and see if they fit your company culture.

In the meantime, here are 5 questions that might help you get started in drafting your own interview questions. Keep them in mind and tailor them to fit your company’s needs.

How did you learn about us?
Aside from the obvious thing that this question will tell you about how the potential candidate learned about the job opening, this questions also tells you how much they know about the industry and the position they are applying for. It is a gateway question that can seriously weed out those who are just looking for a job and those who want to build a career.

Can you tell me about a situation where you were particularly challenged and how did you resolve it?
This question tells you what potential candidates consider an obstacle or challenges and what their strategy is at resolving them. This allows the candidate to show off their problem-solving skills. It simultaneously showcases their strengths and weaknesses.

To get a more comprehensive picture of how the potential candidate behaves, ask them these follow up questions:
● How did that work out for you?
● If you could do it all again, would you do anything differently?

Can you tell me about a time when you were called upon to take a leadership role?
This question will tell you if the potential candidate can take on leadership roles and how they work with teams. It can tell you if they are independent workers, team players, or if they can delegate tasks effectively. It also shows you their communication style.

How do you get over a tough day?
This may sound like a question to ask on dates or when chatting with friends, but if you throw this question into the mix, you might get to learn about the potential candidates’ strategy for work-life balance and their level of motivation and resilience.

Can you tell me about a situation when you had to adjust to the way someone else works?
This question will show you the potential candidate’s adaptability and willingness to move within roles.

These questions aren’t the end all and be all of the interview questions. You can add or tweak them to fit your hiring goals.

What are your go-to interview questions? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard.

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

References:
1. https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-questions-amazons-ceo-asks-before-hiring-anyone

On a quest to adapt the most efficient productivity and time management tools, I came across a dozen examples. Some I’ve already written about in a series of articles on productivity. There are a few more that I tried. It is an adaptation of an agile project management tool that is used in the software development industry. It is a practical way to track the progress of a project. It is called a scrum board.

What is a scrum board?
A scrum board is used to track the progress of a sprint. A sprint is just a single work cycle inside of a larger project. It’s important for breaking down any project into more manageable parts, but those parts also need to be tracked and managed. We call these parts “stories.” Each story may be broken down further into different tasks. With scrum project management, it is vital that each of these tasks get addressed. This is where a scrum board comes in [1].

I wanted to reduce the stress of coming into work with a full inbox and a million things on my to-do list. While all the productivity techniques work well for me (Eat the Frog is my favorite productivity boosting technique), I find that I had to implement a visual organizing method for all the running tasks I have. That way, I can SEE progress.

How to Scrum?
First of all, get a huge board. I have a 2m x 1m whiteboard that I used from my teaching days. I used to use it for bills and important numbers. That has since been wiped clean and is now being used as a scrum board.

So, first off, start with a clean board. You can get a blackboard or a whiteboard, it’s up to you. Divide the board into 4 columns. I use washi tape but you can always just use markers or chalk. Make the 3rd column larger than the others, I’ll tell you why later.

Column 1 has descriptions of all my running tasks, neatly categorized and color-coded into 4 categories pink = bills, green = work, blue = errands, and yellow = ad hoc tasks. Simply put, it is a legend.

Column 2 is where you put your to-do lists. For example, in a pink post it, I wrote “pay utility bills (water, elec, ISP)”

Column 3 shows tasks in progress. For example, in a green post it, I wrote: “write February articles”. That is posted under the “in progress” column as I still haven’t completed all the articles. Leave space for this as you might want to write notes or reminders in this area, while tasks are in progress. I wrote ¼ beside the green post it since I have only completed 1 out of 4 articles.

Column 4 is where you post all your done or completed tasks. I will be moving the green “write February articles” to this column once I have completed and delivered all articles for February.

This is basically how the scrum board works. It’s usually more complex for industries and large companies but could be scaled for personal use, like how I do it. How about you? Do you have any personal experience with using the scrum board method? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard!

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help

References;
http://www.techno-pm.com/2017/05/scrum-board-example.html?m=1

I’m very organized. Before the holidays even rolled in, I have already drafted a gift budget with a list of suggested gifts for friends and family. Neatly wrapped and handsomely ribboned boxes were already laid perfectly underneath the tree well before Christmas day. Whenever I am invited over for an occasion, I see to it that I get the host a gift – a bottle of wine, a box of cookies, a jar of gourmet preserves. Otherwise, I send a digital gift.

My brother is a terrible gift giver. He sometimes ends up paying more for last minute gifts (more on that later) or not giving anything at all. No, he’s not stingy, he’s the most generous person I know, he just sucks at gift ideas. His gift inspirations are anything but inspired. He got my mom a nebulizer for Christmas. Practical right? Also, why though? We all thought it was funny.

I’m not sure what thought process goes into your gift-giving habits. Maybe you’re a researcher who puts too much thought into what to get for your friend who is celebrating a birthday. Maybe you’re a last-minute purchaser who swings by the store to buy wine for your aunt’s housewarming party. Maybe you’re a wishlister who saves items online and buys them in time for special gift giving occasions. However which way you want to do it, here are some digital gift ideas to make your gift giving easier.

Subscriptions
Dropbox – While already awesome, Dropbox basic just gives you enough data storage for @GB of space. However, if you take a lot of work home or work from home an upgrade to 1TB of storage is a really big convenience. This is a great gift for college students or for people who are mobile, telecommute, or work with huge files daily. It’s great and it gets them optimized for working and accessing working documents and other files on the go.
CrashPlan – This is a great gift to give small business owners or your loved ones who work from home. CrashPlan makes sure that their data is safe and always backed up. It’s like giving the gift of peace of mind. How amazing is that?
Spotify – I love the idea of creating your own playlist. I have one for every activity; exercise, work, sleep, even for waiting at the dentist’s office. A Spotify Premium subscription is one of my go-to gifts. They recently ran a promo where you can get the 1st three months on a huge discount and then it reverts to the usual price after the 3-month period. I got that for my family and friends. It’s cool because with a premium subscription, you can use the app uninterrupted with ads. You can even listen to audiobooks and standup comedy playlist (what I listen to during a long commute or while stuck in a waiting room somewhere).

Gift Cards
Gift Cards have always been the go-to or emergency gifts we always have at the ready. They’re convenient, fun, and readily available at retail stores. There is a multitude of gift cards to choose from. You can give your friends store cards to their favorite retail shops like Target or Starbucks, online gift cards to online shopping sites like Amazon or Sephora. You can also give them subscription cards like Netflix or Hulu Gift Cards. You can give them gift cards to buy apps like iTunes or Google Play gift cards.

eBooks
You can send your friends and family eBooks for their tablet and mobile devices. Most eBooks have an option to be given as gifts when you purchase them online.

Games and Apps
Or you can gift them an app or a game directly via the App Store

How about you, what is your last minute or go-to gift idea? Share them with us in the comments! Stay humble and hustle hard.

 

Written by Jaie O. The Help