I dare you to dream as we navigate these challenging times! For so many, with the holidays quickly approaching and the economy seemingly spiraling out of control. I dare you to dream!

“Many people dream of success. To me, success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection.  In fact, success represents the 1 percent of your work that results from the 99 percent that is called failure.”
  - Soichiro Honda

One of my students asked me about my blog today. The student wanted to know what I talk about on my blog with all of the turmoil going on with employment. I want you to know, I am not interested in writing about how bad things are. I am not interested in shouting as loud as the traditional media is shouting about the economy. I want you to come here to Interview Chatter and read that there is hope in the midst of hopelessness. There are jobs in the midst of a tight economy and there is success in the midst of failure. Whatever you are going through in the madness of your world, you can still be successful in America and even beyond our shores.

Jim Rohn, author and professional speaker, said “If you’re not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”

Make it a great day!

Happy November!! Things are changing at Interview Chatter once again! I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to Gina G. She has been helping me here for the last 4 months keep Interview Chatter thriving! Thank you for all of your help Gina!! Gina has decided to move on. She will be writing her personal blogs, and continuing her job search! Please make sure you leave her a comment and tell her how much you appreciate her insights over the last few months. Her email is still in the side panel.

As Gina transitions, we are also transitioning here at b5media. The Business Channel is a thing of the past. b5media has launched our new Business Portal called bizzia.com. Interview Chatter is now apart of bizzia.com. You have to go and see the new portal. It looks great and it will help us continue to grow here at b5media. Share the link with your friends and families.

Bizzia covers themes such as finance, leadership, e-commerce, small business, sales and marketing. Bringing together the latest news coverage on breaking topics and popular business discussions, Bizzia makes it easy to access the specific themes a reader is interested in, as well as discover unique business perspectives around other topics.

“Bizzia.com not only serves as a destination for users to get their fill of business news and advice, but provides a forum for intelligent discussion and reader engagement as well,” said Jeremy Wright, president and chief executive officer of b5media. “It will also continue to enhance the profile of b5media as a growing media company, and will allow b5media to compete with the mainstream media by offering authentic advice from a staff of knowledgeable writers and editors.”

With Bizzia.com, b5media is proud to offer a new way to explore high quality business content from one website - while still maintaining a connection with the individual blogs for readers who want to dig deeper and learn more. In this way, frequent blog readers can digest content easily while business enthusiasts who are less familiar with blogs have a way of giving them a try.

I am not going any where! I will continue to write Interview Chatter. I will continue to respond to your questions and comments. If you need a coach, look no further, I am happy to assist you in your job search! Please feel free to drop me an email and I will do what I can to help you get that next job opportunity you are looking for. Enjoy your day, your weekend!

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Have you ever gotten an invitation for a second interview after you’d already decided this was not the right job for you? How’d you handle it?

That’s the situation I’m in right now. After my job interview the other day I had made up my mind that this was not the place for me at this point in my career. Why? Well, I’d be taking about a 10 grand per year cut in pay to go to work for an organization that really needs some TLC. (That’s code for I’d need to put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears.) Don’t get me wrong, the opportunity sounds sexy and I’m just the kind of person they need - I’d totally nail it. It’s just that I’m not willing to invest that much of me for less money.

So, they’ve invited me back to meet with the physician leadership, and a bunch of other people. I agonized over this for a few days but in the end, I accepted the interview. Here’s why.

1. I called the HR recruiter prior to accepting to tell her that, after the interviews I’m pretty sure that I’m not willing to accept the position for less money but they still want me to come back.
2. I’ve worked in management long enough to know that if a physician leader really wants to hire a particular candidate, money won’t stop them.
3. I need the experience. This is only the second organization that I’ve interviewed with for a leadership position and quite frankly, I need the practice.
4. Even though this is probably not the right job for me, it may open doors to ones that are.
5. This one is pretty darn selfish but after hearing how these physician leaders were described (micro-managers, yelling in meetings, etc…), I’m just dying to meet them to see if they’re really that bad.

So, what do you think? Am I doing the wrong thing by going to this interview even though I’m pretty sure I’m not taking the job, if offered?

Today will be my last post here at Interview Chatter. It’s been an awesome 4 months and I have certainly learned a lot while writing here. After today, you can still find me at my personal blogs la Matriarch and My Skinny Garden or at Prevention.com.

I’m wishing you all long, happy careers in your dream jobs. Farewell, friends.

THIS IS A REPRINT FROM LAST HALLOWEEN! Enjoy your night!
I have no understanding about why we celebrate Halloween in this country. I have to believe that people don’t know what they are celebrating. So, I thought I would share a little of the history of Halloween. We say Happy Halloween”. What is that? Happy Halloween? Not! I don’t celebrate this holiday and my children have never been trick or treating. Any way.. rather than getting on my soapbox.. Here is some information for you to consider as you celebrate this “holiday.”
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Halloween has never been a Christian holiday and it has no place in the life of a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. In fact, it is an abomination in God and we should take our stand firmly against it. We consider ourselves, America a Christian nation. As we look at this history we find that its roots go deep into heathenism, paganism, Satanisn, and the occult; and its modern day expression is no better.

Halloween (It’s History and Origin)

Three hundred years before Jesus was born a civilization of people called the Celtic lived throughout the British Isles, Scandinavia and Western Europe. They were a common group, much like many segments of society of priests and pagans called the Druids.

The Druids were Satanists who worshiped and served the demonic god of death - Samhain (pronounced Saman). These satanic priests literally controlled people’s lives through the mechanism of fear, and much death, disease and destruction came upon the Celtics as a result of the Druids and their practices.

Each year on October 31, the Druids celebrated the eve of the Celtic New Year in honor of their pagan god, Samhain. The “Festival of Samhain,” more accurately called “The Festival of Death,” was officially known, and is still recognized today by all Satanists, occultists and devil worshippers and the eve of the New Year for witchcraft.

The late Anton Lavey, author of “The Satanic Bible” and the once high priest of the Church of Satan, said there are three important days of Satanists:

1. Their birthday
2. April 30
3. The most important day - HALLOWEEN

Lavey says it is on this night that satanic, occult and witchcraft powers are at their highest potency level, and any witch or occultist who has been having difficulty with a spell or curse can usually achieve success on October 31, because Satan and his powers are at their best that night.

October 31, Halloween, is the eve of the New Year for witchcraft. The World Book Encyclopedia says it is the beginning of all that is “cold, dark and dead!” When you send your little children out to go trick-or-treating you’re actually telling them to celebrate all that is cold, dark, and dead!

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Whether you choose to celebrate this “holiday” or not, I encourage all of you to be safe. What out for the children who are out and about! I don’t celebrate this holiday, and my children have never been out trick or treating. That is what we decision made many years ago for my family. Enjoy your evening tonight. Be safe! Tomorrow is November 1st! Yippee!

President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday night at a Florida rally “this is the most important job interview you’ll ever see.  It’s the most important hire you’ll ever make”, or something like that.  He couldnt be righter.

Presidential election after presidential election we cast our vote based on where the candidates stand on the same tired old issues when in reality, none of the candidates are likely to come into office making swift changes taking away our rights.  Thankfully, we have enough checks and balances in place in this country to prevent that kind of sweeping law passing.  I’m not saying that where the candidate stands on these issues is unimportant, I’m just saying that at this time in the world we’ve got to look at bigger issues. 

I want to live in a country that I’m proud of, not one that has been labeled a big bully by most of the world.  I’m tired of all the declarations of our freedoms and our greatness while at the same time hearing about the restricting of more and more rights.  We’re not walking the walk!

All week I’ve been thinking about how all great nations eventually fall and wondering if this economic crisis we’re in is the beginning our our fall.  We’re at a very critical time in the world and this election is just one piece of the puzzle.  We’ve got economic problems, climate problems, defense problems and on and on and on. 

In Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth he says it’s time to “evolve, or die”.  That’s where we’re at.  Next Tuesday’s election might be the most important one we’ll ever vote in.  We need to get this one right, people! 

So, yes, President Clinton, I wholeheartedly agree with you.  It’s the most important job interview we’ll ever participate in.

Choose wisely.

Here are a few blogs I enjoyed reading this week.

Ask A Manager on “Stupid candidate behavior: Not checking email.”

Evil HR Lady gives advice to some poor dude who was fired while waiting for an offer for a new job.

Punk Rock HR answers a reader question on “Corporate Manscaping.”

Manpower Blog talks about The Death of the Performance Review. this is a great blog for free legal advice on employement law

Great Leadership by Dan offers an Eight Step Guide To Developing Your Leadership Skills.

On Monday I turned 41. Besides feeling pretty darn old, I realized that my job hunt at 41 is totally different from what was 10 years ago. Here’s how…

1. I’m more concerned about the stability of the company. Before I assumed that most all companies were stable and successful. Boy, was I wrong.
2. I place importance on the “culture” of the organization being in line with my personal values. Working for an organization where most people are polar opposite from me on just about every religious and personal belief has really scarred me.
3. I’m concerned about making sure that my personality is a “good fit” for the company, and theirs with mine.
4. These days I’m more interested in investing more of my after 9-5 hours into the stuff that I place importance on like friends and family.
5. I’m more concerned with making sure that I’ll be working with like-minded people. Sometimes even the most simple conversations turn to social issues and feeling like the odd-man-out can really bring you down.

I can assure you, I did not have the maturity 10 years ago to think of any of these things. But, now that I’m in my 40’s and starting the second half of my professional career, I have different goals that are mostly around how I can find a job where my personal goals are in-line with my professional goals. And although I have no doubt that this is the right path for me, it sure does mean slim pickins on the job front.

Being fully prepared for an interview is one of the easiest, yet most overlooked aspects of the job hunt, even for yours truly.

Earlier this week I found myself sitting in the Human Resources department trying to complete an application without the data I needed at my fingertips. It made me unnecessarily anxious and I ultimately had to leave a couple of fields blank on my application - that can’t be good!

Here’s a list of things you’ll always want to bring along to the interview so that you don’t get yourself all stressed out over trying to find the phone number of a place you worked at over a decade ago - I’m just sayin!

1. 5 copies of your current resume.
2. Complete address and phone number of all previous employers.
3. Dates and physical addresses of schools you’ve attended.
4. Name, address, phone and email contact information for at least 4-5 professional references.
5. Name address, phone and email contact information for at least 3-4 personal references.
6. List of all the computer programs you know how to use and lists of any other machines or things you know how to use which are applicable to the job you are applying for.
7. Something to write with (you’d be surprised how many people forget this!)
8. Cash for parking.
9. Driver’s license.
10. Proof of any relevant certifications (nursing license, etc…)

These things may seem like no-brainers, but forget them and you’ll find yourself a nervous wreck.

Anybody have anything else to add to the list of things you should always bring to the interview?

As I’ve said before, the questions you ask the interviewer are just as important as the answers you give to the questions they ask you.  Asking great questions is just another way that you can set yourself apart from other candidates who may exactly equal on skills and education required for the job.

Here are 5 examples of good questions to ask on your next job interview.

1. How has the troubled economy effected your business?
2. What kind of challenges is the organization facing right now (particularly important if you are interviewing for a management position)?
3. What do you think it takes for a person to be very successful in this role?
4. Who is the longest tenured employee in the organization and how long have they been here?
5. How would you describe the culture of the organization?

Got any great question we can add to the list?

I had my long-anticipated job interview this morning and although I feel very confident in my “performance”,  some of the comments from the interviewers were quite troubling.

Sometimes we go into interviews so eager for an offer that we don’t pay close attention to the clues that the interviewers give about the kind of job we might be getting ourselves into. 

Here are 4 statements that you never want to hear in a job interview.  Unfortunately, I heard all 4 of them today…

1. We’ve really had trouble keeping this position filled over the past 5 years.
2. This department has one of the highest turnover rates in the organization.
3. The physicians in this department are extremely involved in the day-to-day operations of the clinic.
4. To be successful in this organization, you really need to be thick-skinned.

If you market yourself as a change-agent and you are looking for your next big challange, these kinds of statments may sound very sexy.  But, if you are looking to get out of a bad situation and into a good one, it’s extremely important that you listen to the cues from the interviewers since it is the only window into this potential new job you’ll have.  In my case, today, my interviewers were so caught up warning me about the scary doctors I’d be working for that they hardly spent any time telling me about the actual functions of the job.  This left me with a feeling that the most important function of the job is managing the tyrant physicians, not the day to day operations of their busy clinic.  Through their explanations of what their struggles with keeping this position filled, I was able to glean that the physician leadership micro-manages the organization (almost always bad because physicians are good being physicians and really bad at managing) and that their frustration level at times reaches a point of actually yelling at the staff.  And although I’m sure it is possible to be successful in this role (these physicians probably just need to have their expectations managed and be able to trust that the job will get done), it will certainly require a person who is extremely patient and willing to brave the turbulence until trust is established. 

Have you had a job interview where the interviewer made some “red-flag” comments that you overlooked?  How did that translate when you took the job?  I’d love to hear about it - maybe your comment will help me reconsider their offer for a second interview.