Here are some helpful tips for answering interview questions that can be tricky.
“7 Common Job Interview Questions That Can Trick You.”
Inspiration to Follow Your Blueprint
A Perfect Partner, A Perfect Career – How lessons in love help our search for meaning
By Jill Berquist, Now What? A-Team
Recently Ginny Kravitz joined me on a community call to discuss tips for the pursuit of meaning and happiness in work, life and love. We came up with some interesting ideas about the quest for meaning in relationships and in work. And for our purposes, this quest need not only be in a new relationship or new career, you might be seeking this where you already are. In other words, you can want more in your exiting partnership or current role as well. Here are some of the parallels we saw:
- Begin with awareness, desire, and a mindset of optimism. In either quest, whether in love or work, start by making room for the journey. Acknowledge to yourself that you have a desire for something more. It’s important to believe, with a positive view, that something worth pursuing exists. Without this, and with human nature’s way to resist change, you’ll likely never seek more at all. And wanting more doesn’t mean that you aren’t grateful for what you have. Years ago someone told me to do a dialogue with my husband each night for a week, with this model: “What three things I love about you are: fill in the blank. The three things I am still learning to love about you are: fill in the blank. It was a way to state what I was grateful for while still expressing my needs. That balance worked well. In your existing career role, acknowledge what works well, that is, the aspects you would want, even if elsewhere, and also note how it can be better. If you are wanting more, assume better is something you can achieve, and it’s worth the pursuit.
- Check if you are too picky vs. picky enough. What might surprise you is that Ginny and I agreed that many people we coach on career transition are not picky enough. We help them make lists and prioritize their wants and needs, and yet sometimes they don’t believe it’s okay to want all that they do. It’s not about helping them expect perfection, (see next bullet!), it is about designing the ideal, believing you deserve it, and then staying open to the way in which it shows up. Like anything you want to attain, in love or in relationships you do best when you do have the design. Once you do that, you’ll be able to know you have found it when you see it.
- Nothing is perfect. Perfection is a myth and I’m not sure I’d want it. The truth is, life is not one flat line of emotional experience anyway. If it were, you’d never really truly be happy. To experience happiness and meaning you must have a relative point of comparison. To experience high, you must know low. Relationships and careers are full of a wide range of emotional states – from interest and allure, to boredom and frustration, and back to happiness or excitement again. Personally, I don’t believe there is only one career that will provide meaning, nor only one person who can make you happy. That said, if you are lucky to find either of these, I would suggest holding on for a while.
- Love at first sight is a snap judgment. In career searching and dating, we put so much pressure on ourselves that things be as we hope. And what if the situation does not map right up to our lists, ideal profile, or priorities? We want answers. In the Harvard Business Review article, Finding the Job of Your Life by Gianpiero Petriglieri, (the article that got Ginny and I talking about this topic to begin with), Petriglieri references a first date. He notes that at that moment we rarely ask ourselves “is he or she the one?” He says we are more likely to ask “is this going any further?” As you explore options for work, whether interviews or projects, with each step, check your lists (and your intuition!) and you’ll know if it’s worth going to the next. In relationships or work, each step reveals more about what you want, and helps you make a bigger decision, when it’s time.
Whether you’re in the quest for meaning in work or in love, the bottom line is that the journey is a daily one. More realistically, a moment to moment one. And when we finally realize the journey for meaning is just that, a journey, not a result, filled with a broad range of emotions and experiences, we free ourselves up to an even greater level of happiness. This Valentine’s Day, I toast to meaning in all areas of your life. At least for the moment. And may that moment also be filled with a scrumptious bite of chocolate.
Roadmap to Self Employment – Are You Cut Out for It?
By Paula Gregorowicz, Now What?® Facilitator
Do you have what it takes to be self-employed? It can look so easy from the outside looking in, but that is a total mirage 
because it barely provides a peek into what it really takes to run a successful business.
In Part 1 of this series, I talked about “How Do I Get There?” and the path I took from corporate employee to solopreneur. Mine was truly an accidental entrepreneur journey. Because of that I never gave a ton of thought to whether it was a fit for me or not (at least not proactively). What I did do, however, was employ my secret weapon of conducting informational interviews with people I knew who were self-employed. This gave me a great baseline of what to expect, expanded my network, and allowed me to get a peek behind the veil before taking the leap.
That said, there is nothing quite like being IN it to truly get what’s required of the job. When a mentor told me that self-employment would be the deepest, most transformational personal growth journey I could undertake, I thought she was exaggerating. She was not kidding! And the journey continues because as your business grows, you must continue to grow yourself over and over to that next level. So, plan on it being a lifelong journey of personal growth and be willing to get the support you need to do so. If you try to be a lone ranger you will suffer along the way and likely fail.
When I wrote about the 10 red flags that signal you are not cut out to be your own boss, I focused on personality traits and habits that would likely set you up for failure. Today, let’s look at who you need to be if you wish to be a success over the long haul.
Be Willing to Take and Tolerate Risks
Nothing spells risk like ditching a paycheck to blaze a new trail. When you are self-employed the risks never end: hiring team members, making investments, launching new products/services, becoming more visible, and the list goes on and on. It is never-ending. That’s OK. It’s part of the variety, excitement, and potential of taking the entrepreneurial journey. The key is to take calculated risks and to be fully conscious of what you are doing, why you are doing it, and possible outcomes (from the greatest successes to the biggest flops).
Believe in Yourself
Without belief, nothing is possible. I’m not talking about airy-fairy wishful thinking here. I’m talking about a to-the-core confidence and belief in yourself and your ability to handle whatever comes your way. Whether you work alone in your home office in a strictly virtual business or grace large stages your belief and personal presence will be felt by everyone. People make choices based on what they feel from you. You will need to be able to maintain this confidence in the face of adversity and during the shittiest days in your business (and don’t fool yourself, you will have some of those).
Practice Excellent Self-Care
You are at the hub of your business. Without you, there is no business (or at the very least the business becomes a lot less important). While you may burn the candle at both ends at times, it cannot be your mode of operation. You will burn yourself out, potentially get ill, and most certainly decimate the personal relationships that matter to you. Remember, this is a distance run. Treat it as one.
Persevere
Speaking of distance runs, you need to be willing to persevere. That looks like continuing to walk the path even when it is difficult and following-up far more than you might think necessary. Plan on having a stash of cash to keep you going as you build. One of the reasons I see so many solo businesses fail is simply because they ran out of cash and had to close their doors. It takes time to get established, so plan for the worst case scenario and then add more working capital.
Create a Structure
One of the biggest joys about being your own boss is that you have total freedom over your schedule. Hurrah! Without disciple, though, this freedom becomes your downfall. I see one of two things happen – the highly structured, came from corporate, high achievers (like me) tend to initially over structure themselves to the point that they hate their boss. As I said when I hit this point – if you’re self-employed and working for an ass, you have only one place to look (hint: in the mirror). Or alternatively, the idea of freedom leads people to no structure at all resulting in a lack of focus and thus a lack of results. Think of growing your business like you would a plant. It needs a container in which to grow, but too tight of a container will kill it.
Seek to Learn
There is so much you can and need to learn about running a business. If you don’t love learning new things, you will not thrive as your own boss. As the Chief Everything Officer, there is never a dull moment. Always be willing to learn and budget time in your schedule to learn new things consistently. That said; avoid the drinking from a fire hose phenomenon of trying to learn everything all at once (or trying to learn the things that you’d be better off delegating). Focused learning and application.
Love What You Do
It takes a lot of time and effort to build a business. If you don’t love what you do, you should really just get a job. Being clear about what you offer, why it serves other people, and feeling passionate about it is very important. It is pretty hard to persevere if you don’t have any oomph behind it. Passion and loving what you do provides the oomph.
Relax and Take it in Stride
Yes owning your own business is a choice not to be taken lightly. That said I was so terminally serious about what I was doing and the money part of the business when I first started that every day was a form of self-torture. In today’s business climate being self-employed is not necessarily more risky than having a job (we’ve seen a lot of those vanish at the drop of a pin – so much for “security”, right?). It is very different, though, so you have to be willing to roll with the punches and enjoy the journey. If you can’t enjoy the journey, what is the point?
Get Support
You are not meant to do this in isolation. This is no time to try and figure it all out by yourself. You have to be willing to invest in yourself and open to receive support. Tap into resources and people that can help you shorten the learning curve and increase your chances for success. You can find resources through local business organizations (for example: SBA, SCORE, small business divisions of your county, and local colleges); professional networking groups (women’s groups, chamber of commerce, etc.); mastermind groups; private, custom, individual support through coaches and mentors.
What do you think? Are you cut out to be your own boss? If you’re already your own boss, what other traits have you found crucial to success over the long haul? I’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences, and questions in the comments…
Know Your Tradeoffs
Whether or not you happen to be over 50, the stories in this article highlight an important point: over time your priorities change. That’s why it’s important to understand the tradeoffs involved with any career decision. For example, depending on your circumstances and personality, you might view having to relocate for a job as a positive tradeoff or a negative. The woman in today’s article is wiling to live in a foreign country because she values the upside: adventure plus more money. In another example a salesman turned inventor comments, “I used to drive a Lexus… I let that go. I don’t need it anymore.”
At any age and at every stage of your career, you’ll need to ask yourself: Who am I now? What do I want? What am I willing to do in order to have it?
Go, Go, Go!
by Ginny Kravitz, Deputy Editor
Everybody Needs It
It was a few days before my birthday in early December 2009, and a card from my parents had just arrived in the mail. Mom’s Alzheimer’s symptoms were still subtle at that time. Previously she would have written “Dear Ginny” and “Love Mom and Dad.” In this card, however, there were only three words: Shine, Ginny, Shine. I was immediately struck by the coincidence in that I had just selected my theme for the upcoming year: Shine. Though I hadn’t shared that with her, somehow my mother had known what to affirm. It wasn’t the first time.
Years prior, when I was 30 years old and about to get divorced, many people asked me how my parents would react. I can still picture standing by the kitchen sink with my mother, breaking the news to her. Her immediate reaction was one of understanding, along with a go-for-it type of encouragement that affirmed I was on the right path. Eight years later, when I was in the early stages of my coaching venture, my mother was always interested in learning what coaching was all about and would often show her enthusiasm for what I was doing by ending our conversations with: Go, Go, Go!
I’m not embarrassed to say that I loved hearing those words. Just as children do and even as adults, we need encouragement. Since it doesn’t always come from the people we’d like to hear it from (whether that’s a parent, spouse, or friend), it’s a smart idea to cover our bases.
full article here
As the Career Turns
Some of the turns your career takes may not make sense at the time, but at Now What?® we believe that nothing you do is a waste. Today’s article highlights someone who accepted a job with one company thinking he was accepting a job in a completely different industry. He says, “That misunderstanding changed my life.” It resulted in his acquiring knowledge that he would not have had otherwise.
Take a look at the various jobs you’ve held in your career thus far and note what you’ve gained from each. Wherever you’re headed next, ask yourself: What am I taking with me?