Should I ask about salary at my interview

Should I ask about salary at my interview by Amber Rolfe Nothing divides interview opinion quite as much as salary…But aside from being a great way to ensure a role is right for you, finding out how much is on offer could actually help save everyone’s time in the long run â€" especially if it turns out it’s not in line with your expectations.To make sure you know exactly when (and how) to ask about salary at your interview, here are a few of our top tips:Use the interview as a guideFirst thing’s first: there are no set rules on talking about salary within an interview.It’s all about gauging the situation, and approaching the subject with caution.To make sure you don’t bring it up at a time when it won’t be well-received, use aspects like the interviewer’s approach, and the intensity of the questions you’re being asked, to figure out whether money is a good topic of conversation.For example, if there is a second interview as part of the hiring process, bringing up salary might be a better fit at this stage. But if proceedings have been particularly informal, or if it’s clear there aren’t any other interviews to attend, discussing money is perfectly acceptable.Similarly, using your questions at the end of an interview to bring up salary isn’t uncommon, and is the most effective way to introduce the subject politely â€" providing it’s not the only thing you ask about…Interview questions for employers: What you should be asking  Pick the right momentIt probably goes without saying that asking how much money you could get is off limits within the first few minutes (see also: seconds) of your interview.Not only could it indicate you’re more interested in the money than you are in the actual job, it could also imply that you don’t have much to offer in terms of skills and experience.So, before you start to think about how much you’re making, make sure you cover all the other interview bases first. Whether it’s selling your skills, demonstrating your experience, or j ust concentrating on each individual question that comes up, make sure you get the basics sorted before thinking about figures.After all, nobody likes a gold digger (thanks Kanye).Get your expectations sortedBefore you bring up the M word, it’s important that you have salary expectations in mind â€" ones that represent the company and role accurately.To make sure you go into the interview armed with as much knowledge as possible, it’s absolutely vital to research potential salary brackets beforehand, with the role and organisation in mind. Salary checkers are a great place to start, but you could also try checking similar positions in your area, which should give you a good idea.Once you’re in the know about what they’re likely to offer, you’ll be able to come up with realistic salary expectations.Not only does this ensure you’re both on the same page in the interview, it also safely avoids any awkward silences…Be prepared for them to make the first moveSometimes, an e mployer might come out and ask for your expectations before you bring it up yourself.Although being asked obviously allows you the opportunity to discuss money more freely, it’s always best to maintain a sense of diplomacy with your answer.Slightly overstating the amount you’re looking for, drawing attention to your interest in the position itself, or explaining that you need to know more before answering, are all good strategies here. Especially as they’ll help you from falling into the ‘I’m flexible’ trap, which could mean you end up receiving a lower offer than you’re looking for.However, it’s also the perfect opportunity to politely ask the employer about the range they have in mind.N.B. lying about your current earnings is never a good idea.Concentrate on showing your own value   Finally, succeeding in an interview often comes down to knowing your worth.So before anything money related comes up, you should’ve taken the time to explain your suitability and pass ion for the role you’re interviewing for. That way, salary will be representative of your skills and experience, and the employer will be able to accurately assess if the amount they have in mind matches up.If you’re not sure their offer is enough for you, present your reasoning assertively, and don’t be afraid to negotiate â€" as long as you have the grounds to back it.Remember: confidence is key.  Still searching for your perfect position? View all available jobs nowFind a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with our privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. Questions to ask at a job interview Salaries

Resume Writing Trends That Can Harm Your Career

Resume Writing Trends That Can Harm Your CareerMany professionals have developed their own resume writing trends that they use to succeed in creating impressive resumes. While these may be the best career development advice out there, it is also the most confusing. The truth is, there are plenty of mistakes and misunderstandings when it comes to writing a resume, and some of them simply do not apply to everyone. We will be going over some of the most common mistakes and then we will get into the best practices for creating resumes that stand out.Before we get started on this, you should know that this does not apply to every single resume. However, many of these trends can be applied to the majority of resumes out there. Let's start off with some general errors in resume writing.A common error with resumes is obvious spelling mistakes. Any mistakes in spelling, grammar, or punctuation are bound to leave people thinking that the resume is not professionally done. While the resume shou ld be error free, a mistake in one area can severely ruin the rest of the resume. Always be sure to check and double check your work before submitting it to a company.Another mistake that professional resume writers make is to under-estimate their abilities. While you may think that you are capable of doing a particular task, you may not be at all. That said, you can still deliver a strong resume using this same idea. If you overestimate your abilities, you will end up not getting hired as a result.As we mentioned above, you can get two completely different results if you submit a unique resume to two different companies. It could either result in you getting hired instantly or getting fired from the first company. The best thing to do is to submit a generic resume to each company. This will ensure that your resume is exactly the same regardless of how it is worded.Resume writing trends also tend to focus on presenting yourself as the best applicant for the job. While this might see m like a good idea in theory, it can backfire if you fail to take action. In order to show the hiring manager that you are ready to take the position and have proven yourself to be the best candidate for the job, you should focus on a specific goal for the job and then achieve it in the next six months.Another common error with different resumes is under-relying on your educational background. In addition to being wrong in theory, it can be impossible to document correctly. Therefore, the best thing to do is to come up with an objective statement for each job. Use this statement to justify why you want the job and what you can bring to the job that other candidates cannot.Finally, remember that not all resumes are created equal. These resume writing trends were set up for different careers, but some things may be applicable to every resume. Most importantly, make sure that your resume is perfect before sending it out.

The 4 Building Blocks to Drive Real Change in Gender Balance

The 4 Building Blocks to Drive Real Change in Gender Balance I’ve just read an article (well worth a read) which had me saying “yes!” out loud. It was great to see someone I admire in this space pushing the message of the importance of engaging leadership to drive real change in gender balance. Engaging leadership is a critical element to driving real change in gender balance or more broadly, any diversity and inclusion initiative but it’s not the only element. Having spent a lot of the first 12 months of setting up talking to businesses about their challenges I think there are 4 key elements you need before you can start building a successful gender balance (or wider inclusion) strategy. I often use this as a basis for my first conversation with new clients. It’s a really helpful framework to get an understanding of where they are on their journey and where they need to focus first. Of the four elements, two focus on data and two on engagement. They are: 1. Understanding your As Is Benchmarking where you are today. Arguably, aside from getting clarity on your vision, this is your first step. How many women do you have by level and team/directorate? You shouldn’t need anyone external to tell you this and in fact, for companies with over 250 employees, the gender pay gap reporting will mean that even if you didn’t have it before you now have a mechanism for pulling this data. But it’s crucial to review this and use it to provide context and measure progress. 2. Understanding the drivers Why you are where you are. This one’s trickier. You’ll often find the Leadership Team and passionate champions will have strong views on this. However, despite common themes, every organization is different and it’s very easy to make assumptions. By digging deeper, you may be surprised at what the biggest issues (real and perceived) actually are. And how these vary between the genders.  For this I would recommend using someone external â€" it’s not an area people often find it easy to open up about to their Line Managers or HR. 3. Engaging Leadership As I said already, this is critical. When I talk to businesses, a common challenge they’re facing is getting their Leadership Team on board. Obviously, there are many business priorities competing for their attention and whilst the gender pay gap reporting requirement has helped push this onto the urgent list as well as the important list, there are still hearts and minds to be won over. Carving out time for proper facilitated discussion to tackle this, like any other business priority, is very effective. This is also where you really start to see overlap with the other elements â€" data always helps, as does the engagement of employees. 4. Engaging Employees You need to take employees with you on the journey too. Another concern often shared is a very well-intentioned desire to get this right from the start. But this often seems to be at the expense of involving more than a handful of employees. Personally, I think is a mistake. And a missed opportunity.   Why not kill two birds with one stone? Consult your employees on why the business doesn’t have more women reaching senior roles and you not only gather crucial intelligence but begin the engagement process. And better still it can really help with positioning this as a journey you’re all making together to make your work that much better. About the author:  Catherine Oliver  is the founder of Parents@Sky and co-founder of Sky’s Women in Leadership initiative. She has recently founded the Bluebell Partnership, a consultancy to help guide businesses through the challenges of setting up their own working parent and women in leadership programmes.

Speaking the Same Language, but Not Communicating

Speaking the Same Language, but Not Communicating The terms “high” or “low context” in reference to culture first appeared the  anthropologist  Edward T. Hall’s  1976 book  Beyond Culture. In low context cultures, (The U.S. being one of the best examples), people say what they mean directly and with little embellishment. In high context cultures, people communicate more obliquely, letting the shared cultural experience, tone of voice and body language fill in the gaps. Arab and Asian cultures are often cited as a great examples of how subtle and complex communication can be. Rather than disagree openly with you, a high-context communicator may say, “perhaps” or Im not sure. If you go away happy, thinking you have won your point, you may be dismayed later to find that you’ve not won your point â€" or your deal. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'uJqbQjavSCNIlcnZxtqNJw',sig:'MoessaJwZQQhqGY5dZHOkwB46ow9t8tIK0mKKemlOQI=',w:'478px',h:'359px',items:'160002665',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Americans, British, Germans, Israelis, and people from colder weather places like Scandinavia and Russia tend to be low context communicators. They also tend to value being on time and efficiency in meetings and business communications. High context cultures include Asian countries, Middle Eastern cultures, African, Polynesian and warmer countries anywhere. In these cultures, people understand much more than they say; body language, gestures and the speakers rank in relation to one another all provide a hidden context that may be a complete mystery to a foreigner. Even within a culture, communication can vary widely. We Americans are generally direct communicators, with very low context. But within a family, or even a close-knit team in an office, the communication will often be very high context. Look for the number of in-jokes, unfinished sentences and knowing glances that help group or family members understand much more than they say. Ah yes, Uncle Jim is of course, an exception Oh, you want to do it the Cleveland way Every group has its own language and culture, and it can take months for a new member (or son-in-law) to learn to fit in and speak the language. Italy is a high context culture, and I had to learn to adjust when my husband and I were stationed in Sicily for a tour of duty. Italians famously speak with numerous and colorful hand gestures, and they are an affable and helpful people. It took me months to understand that being helpful did not mean that they considered efficiency a priority (at least in our small village.) Whenever we needed a household or car repair, the estimate of when the work would be started or completed never varied: “Domani.” Technically, that word translates into English as “tomorrow.” Tomorrow, for an American, means “the next day.” Wednesday inevitably follows Tuesday, but domani could mean anything from three days to three weeks. It drove me crazy, until another Italian translated for me. “You Americani are always in a hurry,” he said. “Always want it done tomorrow; so we tell you what you want to hear. It makes you happy, and you go away with a smile.” “How can we ever know what domani means, then?” I asked. “Ah, that’s easy; you watch his hand. When he says domani, he will move his hand to describe it.” (Hold your right hand waist high and rotate the wrist in a circular fashion away from you several times, as if you’re wafting a scent into the air.) “Watch the number of times he waves his hand. That will be the number of days he estimates. Domani with three wrist rolls means three days (give or take.)” Thank goodness he helped me crack the code; I was able to hold my temper and keep my sanity for two and a half glorious years in Italy.

Tips on Writing Words For Fashion Designers

Tips on Writing Words For Fashion DesignersThere are some words for fashion designers that should be included in the resume. But most fashion companies do not expect fashion resumes to reflect their own creativity or even reflect fashion design very well. Thus, unless your resume is specifically designed with this as a focus, you may want to include the following words when you begin writing.These words should be part of your first paragraph, and they should not be all the way in the beginning. The best words for fashion designers are not in the resume as such but are sprinkled throughout the resume in various locations. For example, instead of writing 'taught fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology,' you could write 'helped with teaching and research in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at the University of the Arts.' This is a little bit more subtle, but it is still language that will be appreciated by some fashion directors.Of course, even if your resume does not exp ressly mention the words 'words for fashion designers,' a few other words will be appropriate. The first among these words are the obvious ones. Fashion designers need to demonstrate their ability to design and make clothing and accessories. The second is 'original' and the third one is 'fashionable.'Fashion designers often benefit from showing other people what their fashion sense is like. After all, if they were not able to design themselves, they might be hard pressed to explain how their fashion sense fits their personalities and how the particular products are supposed to look. So, include a section on which other people have seen your fashion sense, either in an illustration or simply in a short description of the clothing or accessories you have designed.Word for word, you could describe your fashion design as being influenced by Elvis Presley, Ronald Reagan, Jim Morrison, Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Joan Crawford, or Marilyn Monroe. By doing this, you will show others your great f ashion sense. You will also be able to explain why these icons should be included on your resume.A word for the wise, though, in resume writing and how to word for fashion designers is that you need to make sure that your resume includes a great many words for fashion designers. You also need to emphasize each word carefully. You do not want to use too many words that do not mean much. A word for the wise: unless you do something really unique and original, you may want to limit yourself to around three to four words per paragraph, and even less for the introduction paragraph.Finally, the words for fashion designers you must include in your resume to include your professional experience in creative marketing, whether you have designed clothing or accessories. In fact, you should emphasize your marketing skills. In addition, you will want to include your specialization, such as costume, gowns, hats, jewelry, handbags, or accessories.Once you know how to word for fashion designers in a fashion resume, you can start getting the attention you deserve from prospective employers. The next time you are trying to impress a prospective employer, they will see your resume in a whole new light.

Pay Attention to These 3 Areas When Creating Your Professional Website - Sterling Career Concepts

Pay Attention to These 3 Areas When Creating Your Professional Website Pay Attention to These 3 Areas When Creating Your Professional Website Having a quality website that can serve as an asset to you in your employment search takes a combination of many different elements. It can be hard to make your website stand out in the endless sea of the Internet. After all, there are more than 800 million registered host names across the Internet as of January 2014, according toTechMadeEasy. If you want to make your website pop against the backdrop of forgettable sites that are all the same, heres a look at some tips and tricks that are sure to help you rise above the rest and create something that catches an employers eye. website development wireframe Choose Color Carefully Choosing the right color palette for your site can make the difference between visitors who bounce immediately and visitors who connect to your ideas, products, or brand instantly. When choosing a palette, its much easier to predict what wont work over what will. For example, if you have a motorcycle lifestyle site, chances are your visitors arent going to associate pink or pastel green with ruggedness. Theres no quick and fast guide to which colors you should use to create emotional impact in your visitors â€" after all, while the color green is associated with nature and frequently used to represent it, it is also associated with finances and money. Take some time to look over the colors used by websites within the industry that you are interested in and think about what their choice of colors says about their brand. Once you have a dominant color chosen consider building your sites palette with analogous or triadic colors. Kissmetrics offers a thorough explanation of this aspect o f color theory as it applies to website design. Skip Bitmaps for Vector Art The difference between a site that uses grainy bitmaps and one that uses high-quality vector drawings is almost immediately apparent to a visitor. Vector graphics scale without a loss of resolution, and in an era where your personal site may be viewed on everything from a monitor to a phone, that means a lot. Building your own buttons, themes, and even logos from a blend of hi-res photos and vector graphics is a great way give your website a professional, clean appearance, and it isnt hard to do with the right resources. For example, Butterfly Creatives logo is built with vector images and can be scaled to any size without a problem. If you were attempting to build this logo, it would be a snap to search through Shutterstocks archive of photos and vector drawings of butterflies to find something that can be assembled in a unique way to give your website a personal identity. If you want to look professional, vector graphics can go a long way towards legitimizing your site. Typography Matters You wouldnt hand an employer a resume in Comic Sans, and your website is no different. Choosing the right typography can go a long way in making your website communicate who you are as a employee to potential employers. Most fonts are broken into two huge groups â€" serif fonts and sans serif fonts. Serif fonts have small accents and give off a warm, traditional feeling reminiscent of a typewriter, whereas sans serif fonts have a crisp, modern feeling. Once youve chosen two or three fonts from the same general pool, use them sparingly. A font for headlines, a font for copy and third font for additional features should be your limit.

The First 100 Days in (the) Office

The First 100 Days in (the) Office Once Barack Obama is sworn in, the world will closely watch what occurs during his first 100 days in office. Even if you are not the next President of the United States, your performance will also be watched more closely during your first 100 days in (the) office. If you have recently accepted a new position or if you are planning to make a move soon, here are some tips for managing those first critical 100 days.Study Up. You prepared for your interviews by researching the company and understanding their strengths and challenges. Now that you are in the job, use the first 100 days to dig deeper into the companys mission, brand proposition, and reputation in the market. Read everything you can get your hands on that references the company.Crack the Company Code. When you begin a job at a new company, it can sometimes feel like youve just moved to a foreign country. Many companies have their own acronyms, lingo, inside jokes, etc. Try to buddy up with someone who can act as a translato r to get you up to speed quickly.Showcase Your Strengths. You talked about your strengths during the interview process and leveraged past stories of success to prove your value add. Take charge of a project you know you can deliver on and then make sure that you do.Document Your Accomplishments. Its never too early to start documenting job successes. One year from now, when it is time for your performance review, you want to be able to site your accomplishments throughout the year, including those achieved within those first critical 100 days.Break Bread With Colleagues. A lot of critical information about the company will not be found in annual reports or monthly newsletters. In order to understand the unofficial rules, company politics, and corporate culture, you need to have ongoing conversations with both management and people in the trenches.Find a Mentor. Connect with someone who is more senior than you and has significantly longer company tenure than you. A mentor can help yo u manage your career by putting you in front of the right people and exposing you to the right resources.Dress the Part. Dont put away your interview suit just yet. Observe the dress code around you, but remember, you may still be scrutinized more closely than your colleagues. Play it safe and always choose an appropriate,   but possibly more conservative style.