In his book, “Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut,” author David Shenk argues (cogently) that whereas information was once something we just couldn’t get enough of, now we are all drowning in too much information.
Of course, David isn’t the first to make this point. That honor belongs to Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament: “Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.”
The job market has tightened, the economy is down, and you’ve got to find a job, now. You have a job interview coming up and you need every possible advantage to win that job. What do you do?
Recent studies have shown that employers will form an opinion of you within the first 10 minutes of the interview. But here’s the kicker, it’s not always based on what you actually say, but it’s on something we term “body language”. For instance, 85% of what you communicate is not with words. It’s through the tone of your voice, the way you sit and a wealth of other messages that your body involuntarily sends. This is according to Greg Hartley, a body language expert who earned his chops with 20 years as an interrogator in the US Army.
Sandy thought she had the job in the bag. Her background was a perfect match for the job. She had an insider pulling for her and she had a pretty good interview. A week later when she got the “Thanks, but we found someone else” letter she was devastated.
Jason is a whiz kid. He has more intellectual capital than most people twice his age. Jason’s problem is that interviews cause him to shut down. He gets so nervous that he can’t think of anything to say. He’s lost out on three jobs that were perfect for him and he knows it was the interview process that did him in.
In the landmark Elks movie theater in Rapid City, S.D., a town rattled by a turbulent economy, 200 people have turned out for a job-strategies workshop. The speaker asks the participants to pair off and alternate role-playing employer and job seeker. The employer has one question: “Why should I hire you?” Nervous laughter breaks out as the job seekers fumble for the right words. More than one blurts out, “I need a job!” Ginny, a laid off researcher, can manage only: “I’m good at what I do.”
With the U.S. economy apparently getting ready to take one of its cyclical snoozes, employers are more hesitant to take on new hires than they were even just three or four months ago – and the recent uptick in unemployment means more competition for each opening. That doesn’t mean you need to give up on the idea of looking for a new job. In fact, if your company is going through a merger or seems likely to announce layoffs, your best bet may be to start your job search right away.