How to – Paul's Tech Talk

The Surprising Advantage of Being Talkative in Job Interviews!

PaulJuly 2, 2024

Photo by kaushik26795 from PxHere

Be Yourself in an Interview!

Understanding is the best solution to being good talker in the interview. There are many who are saying you shouldn’t talk that much in an interview. I tend to think this isn’t really a good approach unless you want to come off as one who doesn’t want to be engage with the interviewer(s). Some would say, that you should just be yourself and I think that is good because if you are comfortable with the interviewers than it comes off as good fit for the job. If you come off as nervous or uncomfortable then you may come off as not the right fit. You might not know it or not but having the secret to keep quite maybe is the one thing that didn’t get you that one job. You should be actively listening but you should also be engaging and be ready to show them that you are the right fit for the job.

Showcase your Knowledge, Passion and Expertise

One of the biggest advantages of being talkative is that you show your passion and experience in during the interview. Some manager’s will like it and others will not, It just varies from one person to another. Some managers will want you to be concise and to the point because they are way busier and maybe don’t have the time to do the interviews. Read the room and understand when they are ready to go. Showing you have a passion will in one way or another provide them the assurance that are the right fit for the job because they don’t want to hire someone who will hate their job and just do the bare minium. Building Rapport is also good because they will want to know that you can do the job and put the customer first. Also let’s not forget that if you have the ability to build a connection with the interviewers because they will get to know you even more and They may see that you have a lot to bring to the company, which could lead you to having a job offer come your way.

Authenticity and Positivity

Both words are nouns but they have some great advantages as you are interviewing. You being authentic can help them see your personality and even see your values while at the same time measuring if you will be someone that people will come to acknowledge and being personable with. It’s only human nature to want to create connections and be social, so there isn’t anything wrong with being authentic and personable towards the interviewer(s). The real aim is that you shouldn’t talk way to long and you should keep your answers short as possible but you should also actively listen and respond to questions or show them you are the right candidate in one way or another. Just remember to address the potential concerns that the interviewers might have and by doing that you are also showing that you are concerned with their feelings.

Stories help make it memorable

Remember to be authentic but also come up with stories that will showcase why you are a good fit for the job. Understanding the job description and knowing what they are looking for can go a long way into being memorable. They created the job description for a reason and we should be mindful of that while interviewing with them. It’s definitely a two way street when it comes to job interviews, You get to know the people and make a connection with them and also learn more about them and see if the boss is someone you would like to work with in projects and other ways. Ultimately you will be working with this manager and you’d have to decide if they will be a good influence on you and vice versa. No manager is the same and as such you can tell from the interview if the manager does a lot of micromanagement or if they are more free spirited which can be a great plus in any work environment.

Have you had experiences where being talkative helped you in an interview? Share your stories in the comments below! And don’t forget to subscribe to my blog for more career tips and advice.

Navigating the Job Market Maze: How Pathrise Can Guide you to your next Career!

PaulApril 15, 20241 Reply

Pathrise is an online program for tech professionals that provides 1-on-1 mentorship, training and advice to help you land your next job. On top of that, Pathrise is built around aligned incentives – you only pay if you succeed in getting hired.

Understanding the Mentorship at Pathrise

In today Job market, the amount of people who are applying is more than you will ever realize. You need to get ahead and through Pathrise, you will do just that. I’ve become a paying member with Pathrise because I think they are very valuable to finding that next career move. What exactly is Pathrise and how will they help me to get my next job? is the biggest question you might be asking. Pathrise is a great resource for those who might be looking to find a new job or move up in your career by taking advantage of having people mentor you and help you develop your skills in interviewing, job searching, and even the stress of finding a job. They have many different levels of programs to help you get that job you are either looking to get into or just to help you get ahead of those who might also be applying for the same type of Jobs.

Program overview of Pathrise

Pathrise has several different programs to help you land that next job. I’m going to talk in general about all the programs you can use when you sign up with Pathrise. You’ll have so many resources for you that this seems almost a way to help you with your job searches.

Interviewing workshops – If you are about to interview with a company you could have a mentor or someone in the hiring industry to talk you through what you might go through with the interview process.

Company Guides – This is good for those who might want to research companies and find out which companies are your best choices for the tough times we are having. They will give you information that you probably would have to find somewhere else but they seem to cultivate the information into one place.

Coaches – You have a multitude of Coaches to use when you are trying to find a job from Mindset Coaching, IT & Cybersecurity, Engineering (non-software), Sales, Design, Marketing, and Data couches that you can reach out to find out even more information that you might need to know before you start applying for those types of jobs.

Pipeline – The pipeline for people who might need help reaching out to perspective recruiters and help you stand out with them and make connections to them to help you find a job that might work better for you than ever before.

Knowledge Base – The knowledge base helps you to learn ways to be effective and even has a some good decision trees concepts that you can use. This will allow you to reach out to the right people and make connection so there is a chance that you get that job that you might otherwise not get if you didn’t do it. Preparing for interviews and even salary negotiations, so you can you get the most of the job offer.

You will pay after your trial, however the payment is something that you can talk about to your intake mentor and it can help you get that dream job. We become recruiters of ourselves and use Pathrise to so get that interview. You have a Basic, Essential and Pro. Each one of these is starting off at 7%, 11%, and 14% of your next job annual amount. You can sign up and make even more choices and allows you to get help where you are lacking. I personally love the career coaches and mindset coaches because they are a great asset to making the job search even easier because you can talk to them about what is going on and they will listen and encourage you to keep searching for that job your having trouble finding.

My thoughts on Pathrise

There’s so much more to Pathrise but I do think they have some great resources for those who are looking for a job and can even help you get a job at Microsoft, or even Meta, to say a few that are partnered with them. Each one of these companies is always looking to hire new help or more help from time to time. They will be a great resource for those who might be struggling with the Job market and wanting to advance in the career path. I have seen this to be a great help with me even today and I am supporting them through any way I can. They seem to have a solid understanding of the job market and how to find a job. So why not give them a try yourself. You can try for the free trial and check out all they have and also all they can do for you too.

The Economic Quagmire: Understanding the Factors Behind the Downturn

PaulMarch 8, 2024

New Data Warns Major Layoffs Coming!

More Data Showing the Downturn of the Economy and I’ll be talking about it even more. I’ve been looking at the data and it doesn’t look good even if the Biden said we have all these jobs for people. Yet, I am seeing more and more in the the Warn Reports of the coming tsunami of job layoffs. It looks to be from 4/26/24 to 5/1/24 but I am also seeing some layoffs beginning in June also. Companies have 30 days to send out the warn reports to the US Government and that could be coming very shortly for some of the companies as soon as the end of this month if they have a deadline to lay people off by the of March or early April. I’ve already talked about why companies would do this but this just shows more and more that they are going to do this.

Google is even showing this

I hate to bring Google Trends into this but it looks like Google is showing even more signs of people ask questions like Jobs Near Me, Why can’t I get a job, or even Is the Job market bad right now? It seems to be be fluctuating and making me think there is more to this than Google isn’t being honest about. I suspect the US government is interfering with the data because they want us to not know the real truth. I’ve read and saw how they like to not talk the truth in the past and they seem to be doing that again. Last night it was looking totally different but today this looks like it isn’t even popular. Looking into this even more, I found one that looks interesting and showing that people are saying the same thing to Google: “I can’t find a job”

Job Market isn’t look good. Even I can see that but I also know it because I’ve had yet to find a job since I was let go in the last few weeks. In Depth Investigation of the Job Market and How it looks was something that I did to tell people that it is showing you that something is happening in the government and there isn’t the real problem that you are real. Understanding that you aren’t alone is the first way we can make it through these hard times. However this isn’t the only way you can do it, if you really are looking for a job. Should check out my Job Hunting Series to better help you get some more information on how to get a job.

There will be no soft landing

I know that I am seeing more and more that this will most likely be a Crash landing in economics or at the very least a really Hard landing that we will have to get through before everything get’s better. I don’t believe Biden is in his right mind to think that we don’t see him not being truthful. I also know that we should be expecting something to happen rather sooner than you might want to consider. I think we will se this before the Primaries coming up in the US and it will be a signal that you should vote the right way and tell the government that you want it to change. I don’t think we will get out this very easily and it might even be worse the the 2010 recession but that is just me.

Strategic Job Applications: How AI Can Be Your Secret Weapon

PaulMarch 4, 2024

How AI can build your resume

That’s something I’ve been exploring lately due to the fact that I’ve been having a really hard time finding a jobs of late and it looks to be almost a full time job. You have to apply to every job possible but you shouldn’t just apply and go to the next. It’s almost a competition to get the recruiter or Hiring manager to see your resume due to the fact that is large number of people applying for the same job and don’t get me started on the remote positions that are either already filled or people Applying to jobs that are just looking for the right person to join their cliche of people. The real question is How can AI help me in the job market? The simple answer is that it can help you build your resume and I’ll provide a few good ones to use to help you build or modify your resume to help get jobs online.

Jobscan.co — Will help you optimize your resume to make it easier for the online applications to get to the recruiter instead of being sent to the trash by the automatic job filtering system called the ATS(Applicant Tracking System) and that could cause you to not be seen by the employers.
wonsulting.ai — Is good at helping you build a new resume when the need arises. Some people say this is necessary for each and every applications. I am not certain that is needed because if you are applying to jobs that you have done in the past then you should be able to stand out anyways.
Rezi.ai — Is another good one that will do everything Wonsulting does but may be a better match to your needs. Each one has their own unique way to creating the resume but it is sure better to explore all available alternatives that may be available.
Resume.io — Will help with creating an eye catching resume for to get those recruiters that may see this. It however is just like every other one but may have some good free resume building templates that might be something you are looking for.

Can AI build a good Cover Letter?

Even when you are looking to apply for jobs, a good cover letter can help you in landing that interview the rest is up to you and I’ve been trying new ones recently due to need to be competition for finding that one job. I’d thought I would at least provide some good ones that I’ve tried recently that are free and can be used to impress that one hiring manager to giving your a chance.

Grammarly.com — is the one that I’ve tried recently and has been somewhat successful in helping me at least get noticed whether it is the best is the still up for debate by everyone. It however has been something I have been using on occasion to create good cover letters.
Coverletter-ai.com — Is good at using multiple ways to customize the cover letter and tweak it even more and change the writing styles which may help you to stand out. I’ve only used this once but someone might like to try it out due to what their needs are. It looks interesting and that much is something that might get those hiring managers to give your a chance.

For most of these are just the ones I have used. I however suggest you try the ones that you can use with the Resume builders part. Some or most of them will also create good cover letters to help you with creating a good cover letter also. I however haven’t really used them for that but it might be something to consider.

Can AI help me find Jobs?

That is the next question that I would like to address. It actually looks like it can and that can help you find jobs that you might not know about. Here are a few that might interests you in the future or now. Some of these are in beta and may not be something that you can use right now but something to consider in the future.

Sonara.ai (Beta) — is an AI-powered tool designed to streamline your job search process and automatically apply for jobs that match your resume and preferences. I’m in the waiting list for this one and have yet to try it out.
Careerflow.ai — Accelerate your job search with a personalized CRM! Keep track of all your jobs opportunities, applications, notes, contacts, in one single dashboard. They also have a good Chrome extension that might be useful for those who are looking for a job and keep track of all the ones you have applied for so you don’t apply to the same one twice.

As you can see there are several different options for you to use to help you find a job but it still takes effort to find that job and you will need to keep applying to jobs until you land that one job that you are looking for. However these AI tools will help you with your job searches and job applications to make it easier and faster to apply for jobs that you might be interested in. If you like this blog post don’t forget to sign up for more like this and other blog posts.

Job Hunting 103 : Navigating pre-employment assessments and tests

PaulFebruary 26, 2024

Photo by mohamed_hassan from PxHere

Submitting Online Applications: Dos and Don’ts

How do I submits Job applications online? Is always the first question I usually get when I am trying to find a job. I want to make sure I apply in the right to get some kind of response and maybe a good interview possibilities. This will be me telling you how I apply and making sure I get the right response and possibly invitations to apply type of jobs. Each person will have different results depending on how they complete the process.

Do find the jobs that you want to do.
Do follow up with recruiters or HR after the interview.
Do write the applications as if you are the best fit.
Do create a resume that fits that job.

And

Don’t Just apply to any job you can.
Don’t be in a hurry to fill out the application
Don’t send a generic Resume.

Each employer will vary depending on what they may require you to do to get an interview, so you must read the job description and try to figure what they may need. You can also start filling out certain job assessments online by using the Indeed assessment portal. Like everything else this helps the employer know if you have the right qualifications and skills that they might be looking for. You can also do some more self assessments are something that you can do to prepare for some of this and this could ultimately help you identify what you might be good at if you haven’t already done that. Knowing what you are good at will help you get the job, Even though I said that in the other blog posts. This is how you can get a job that you might be good at.

Following the Job applications requirements will be something that no one can truly master because the employers sometimes makes it harder than it typically needs to be. They want to make sure you want the job and that can make it even harder to get the job. However once you have the job the satisfaction of saying you’ve got a job far out ways the hardship of getting the job.

Customizing Applications for Various Job Types

Why would you need to customize an applications? That is the first questions you might have, when you think about the whole purpose of the application. Some more interesting aspects of customizing the application is that makes it harder to any employer to track from employer to employer. Most of the time, they aren’t tracking people but if you have already applied to that company before it makes it a bit harder to look back at the other applications and associate it with the same person. After you decide which job you want to apply to, customize the applications or resume to make them see your the best possible fit for the job. If you do this right, you might get an interview with company and be offered a job.

Understanding Pre-employment Assessments

Knowing what the employer might want you to do like an assessments from your local state unemployment office or some other places. Knowing that you may need to be able to type a certain amount of speed or that you know how to handle customers. This tells the employer that your skills match what they might be looking for so this can be great way to show off your skills in the application process. You should do a background check on yourself, and even tell your references you are using them to apply for the job, that way they know to expect a possible phone call. Sometimes employers will call or just they asks for the references for one reason or another. I will say there is an good blog post from Indeed of what you might need to do for the pre-employment checks that you might need to do. Some other good places to look:

As you can see, there is so many things that must be done before you get hired that it is almost impossible to go through the whole process of talking about the pre-employment tests and assessments but this is generally just to help you understand what you might need to do to get that job offer either before the interview process or after the interview process and they want you to do the pre employment testing to make sure you are the right candidate for the job. So i can’t possibly talk about all the process. You’re going to have to do the research before you get through the whole process. However this is just a small bit of what you might need to do accomplish getting a job.

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