Changing careers could be one of the best decisions you make in your life. It may also be one of the more difficult things you will do. Creating a self-inventory and doing some basic preparation can make a big difference in the way you view yourself and as a result how others see you. Here are five tips to help you weave your way through your transition.
1. Focus on your "transferable skills."
When you change careers the focus will be on the "soft" skills - referred to as "transferable" or "portable" skills. These are skills you have used at any and every job or situation you have been in, including volunteer work and school.
Examples of transferable skills are: communication skills, ability to work with a diversity of people, ability to plan and organize, time management, analytical problem solving, customer service skills, etc.
Make a list of your transferable skills, keeping in mind that these are the skills you could use regardless of what company you worked at, or what position you are applying for. A good source of desirable transferable skills can be found in job postings. Print out several postings and highlight words that reoccur. These are "key traits" that the employer is seeking ? don't underestimate them.
2. Find your uniqueness.
Each candidate is unique. What makes you unique? Think about your personality and your personal traits. One of the things that the interviewer is looking for is "someone to fit in" - who is likeable with the ability to work well with other team members. Your personal traits could be the tie-breaker between you and an equally qualified candidate. Think of at least five personal traits that make you unique. Some examples are: friendly, flexible, quick learner, reliable, responsible, easy to get along with, detail-oriented, loyal, etc.
3. Believe in yourself.
Once you have established what you have to offer, you will begin to see the value you can bring to the job. When you believe in yourself and the fact that you have something of value to offer, it will be easier to show confidence and to convince the employer that you can do the job. Any sales person will tell you that when you believe in your product and its reliability it is far easier to sell and influence someone to buy.
4. Listen and read between the lines.
Prepare five to ten questions to ask about the company. The best questions will come from your ears. It is also important to listen to what is said as a way of formulating questions. For example, if several of the questions they asked you centered around a certain topic, for instance "databases," be sure to ask questions about the database and the challenges and the problems with the database. Showing an interest by asking questions demonstrates your interest in the company.
5. Prepare stories about your past experiences.
When you can show examples of past successes, you will have a better chance of showing the interviewer that you have used similar skills in past jobs, even if the job duties are different.
Changing careers is not easy to do in any market, but in a tight job market it will take that extra step to differentiate yourself from the next candidate. Remember, the employer has a problem ? there is work to be done. It is your job to listen to what the interviewer is looking for and then to sell yourself as the solution to the problem. Letting the interviewer know you heard and understand the job will make you appear more interested in what is going on at the company, and in turn will make you appear to be a more viable choice as the best person for the job.
Copyright (c) 2007 Carole Martin, The Interview Coach
Did you know that you can become a master affiliate marketer with little experience online? All you need to do is get the right information and act on it. Right now the only difference with you and other affiliate marketers is that you are now reading this article and others are still looking for information on how to make serious money as affiliates. When i started online it took me a long time to start making sells with affiliate programs, not because I couldn't, but because i did not know the right ways of doing it, and it took me a long time to get the right information on how it's really done.
The information supplied in this article will save you lots of time trying to figure out what works, and save you lots of money buying empty affiliate marketing promises.
First thing you should keep in mind when becoming an affiliate, is that you are now marketing to a worldwide audience. You are not marketing to your local customer base. Online marketing is different then offline marketing. In offline you turn master a certain type of people based on the location you live in, but online you are gaining access to customers all over the world with different mind sets and backgrounds. But with time you will get the hang of how online customers behave.
Before you pick on a particular affiliate program or service, do some analysis by researching the market you want to sell your affiliate product. How are your competitors doing? What are their strengths and weakness? Then use those analysis to figure out the opportunities and threats on the marketing campaign, are you going to reap income, or be a desert campaign. Most affiliates don't even know what they are going, so try to avoid hanging around with the wrong crowd.
When you are selecting an affiliate program, look at the basic yet effective requirements like how much commissions are you going to get paid per sell. Don't market affiliate programs that will pay you less than $10 per sell, you won't make that much money. The affiliate program should have wide options of payments, because not all customers use the same form of payment. And the affiliate program should only have external links that you will be credited for. You don't want your visitors to get referred somewhere else.
You should cloak your affiliate URL by creating an affiliate cloaker webpage and using it to promote the affiliate program. Some potential buyers remove affiliate ID's before buying the product, or some just replace it with theirs. When you cloak your affiliate ID the prospect can't remove it and you will get commissions from your sell.
It is wise to capture your visitors contact information especially when using paid advertising. Because once you have the contact details, you can contact them again if they did not buy from you the first time. And another advantage of capturing the email address, is you can resale other products to them in future with out wasting advertising money and time.
Be a product of your own product. By this i mean be informative about the products you are promoting. Write articles and reviews of your own experience with the product. Or try to get other people to submit testimonials about how the product has worked for them. People turn to trust other peoples reviews which secures trust about buying the product. I also do some research on what other people say if I'm interested in buying a product.
Create an internet course or ezine, and then give it away for free. Your internet course can be a 5 day email course where by in every email sent out will have a different affiliate program marketed by the email. Note that don't just sell the product in the email, but provide helpful information in the category as your recommended product. Then in your ezine you can also have your different articles with links to various affiliate programs flowing with your article.
To be a successful affiliate marketer is testing what doesn't work until you find what works or getting the right information on time and putting it to action. Successful marketers have years of failing trying to make money through affiliate programs until they find what works then they become master affiliates. You can and will become master affiliate as well when to put what you have read into action.
Both Carole Martin & Surjeetkumar4 are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Carole Martin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Interview Questions, Interview Questions and Marketing and Communications. Carole Martin, America’s #1 Interview Expert and Coach, can give you interviewing tips like no one else can. Get a copy of her FREE 9-part "Interview Success Tips" report by visiting Carole on the web at. Carole Martin's top article generates over 165000 views. to your Favourites.
Surjeetkumar4 has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Adsense and E Books. . Surjeetkumar4's top article generates over 27100 views. to your Favourites.