It made me feel an incredible wave of sadness for this woman who was clearly missing her family, which led me to think my own situation. They say the hardest part about living abroad is the holiday periods. I guess because the majority of people you meet have their families either local, close by or a short plane ride away – in comparison to a steep 16,000kms for us Aussie-New Yorkers! Expatriates don’t always have the luxury of planning that short trip to be in the comfort and company of our family and closest friends and let’s be honest, homesickness is a creeper! I thought as Clarity’s resident Aussie in the city, I would focus this month’s blog on 5 tips to survive the holiday periods when you’re oh-so-far from home!

1 TRAVEL- You moved abroad for a reason, home just wasn’t cutting it! Plan that short trip away, add another pin to the cities of the world you’ve seen! There’s nothing more distracting and self- satisfying than losing yourself in the unknown of a foreign city. An upside of traveling during the major holiday periods is if you plan ahead, you usually get to sneak in an extra day or two away without dipping into your leave allowances

2. SKYPE- Its free, its instantaneous and lets face it, we’re all on the internet, so there’s no excuse for not connecting with those familiar faces you love and miss! A pal of mine likes to do Sunday dinner with her family, even though their dinner time is her breakfast. It’s exactly what you’re thinking, the laptop is set up as a place at the dinner table, she eats her brekkie, they eat their dinner.. Et voila! Family dinner!

3. VOLUNTEER- Whether it is a local or an international cause, the world is so caught up in disaster that I guarantee, if you thought about the issues close to your heart, you would find a relevant group who would be happy to have you help! Volunteering is great for your mind, heart, body & soul. The side perks are pretty fruitful, when you think about the networking and social aspect involved while doing good for the world!

4. REACH OUT TO YOUR SUPPORT NETWORK – Its tough moving abroad, especially on your lonesome, but the key to survival is creating that support network… From the get-go don’t shell yourself away, meet people, be open to conversation.. You never know whom you’re going to meet or whom they’re going to introduce you to!  Amongst the friends I have in the city, I recently made a couple of close gal-pals who I know I can reach out to during the tough times, especially during the holiday periods!

5. INDULGE YOURSELF! – Treat yourself to an amazingly delicious meal, get a small group of fellow expats together and book a table at your favorite party brunch/ dinner venue, an afternoon pamper package at a spa, soak in the amazing views the city has to offer by taking a walk/ run by the west or east rivers, give the credit card a good workout and go shopping.. I could go on and on..  This city is kind of amazing and the options are endless!
 
What are your tips for surviving the holiday periods??

Jess

One of the most important parts of the job search process is the interview. It can ultimately determine whether or not you will be offered a job. Many qualified candidates with pristine resumes are passed over simply because their interview didn’t measure up to other candidates.

Mock interviews are an excellent opportunity to practice interview skills, receive feedback, and improve performance in order to help you land that dream job! You will have an opportunity to mix and mingle with the Clarity team while not interviewing.

Space is limited. Slots will be given on a first come, first served basis. Please bring a clean copy of your resume and dress professionally.

Date: April 16, 2013
Time: 5:00PM – 6:30PM
Where: Clarity, 8 W. 38^th St., Suite 502

Please click the link to sign up: http://claritymockinterview.eventbrite.com

TEMPORARY PLACEMENT TEAM

Erica is our newest Account Executive serving on the temporary placement team. She attended Syracuse University and studied Marketing and Entrepreneurship. After a couple of years working at world-renowned media and branding agencies, Erica is thrilled to be able to use her professional experience and passion for human development to seek outstanding talent to fill exciting opportunities at Clarity!

Julie may look familiar…she was Clarity’s Front Office Coordinator. She is now sitting with the Temp team and our newest recruiting superstar. Julie graduated from Fairfield University and worked briefly in Finance before moving on to join Clarity…and we are never letting her go!

PERMANENT PLACEMENT TEAM

Richard is the newest member of the Clarity team and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have him join us. Before coming to Clarity, Richard worked at a Technical Recruiting agency in New Jersey and as an internal recruiter at ZocDoc. Richard transitioned seamlessly to working at Clarity because of his long-term relationship building skills and his desire to match top talent with great positions.

OPERATIONS

Samyah has taken over where Julie left off and is running the show as Clarity’s new Front Office Coordinator. A Brooklyn native, Samyah returned to NYC after graduated from Smith College to work at Bloomberg before landing at Clarity. Her friendly demeanor and quick wit make her a great addition to the team!

Following up from our post on stress free interview tips, there is an important exercise that all of us must do before we even begin the interview process and market ourselves to others.

It’s called personal brand engagement, which requires us to take a step back to truly understand who we are so we are prepared to effectively communicate it to others.

“Brand You” has become a buzz concept referring to how one markets themselves externally across every touch point online and offline. With the overwhelming amount of platforms today such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. there are so many outlets in which we need to ensure that we are maintaining a good yet clear image of ourselves and every interaction at each touch point is an opportunity to further solidify what our personal brands stand for.

However, before one can begin to market “Brand You” one must truly get to know oneself. Similar to how top brands go through an internal branding process and carefully define who they are and how they want to communicate it to effectively market and position themselves in our minds, we need to do the same for ourselves. Before you can decide who you want to market yourself to, it is imperative that you take time to get to know yourself, understand what it is that you want in your career, and what you want to be known for.

Richard Bolles, career expert and author of What Color Is Your Parachute? provides good perspective when he explains,“A career choice is essentially the choice of what medium you prefer, to express who you are.” We all have unique skills and interests; it comes down to how we translate them into a satisfying and successful career. There are many tools out there that can aid in the process such as Richard Bolles’s Flower Exercise or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test, but it can be also be as simple as answering the following 5 questions:

1. If money weren’t an object, how would you want to spend your time?

2. What types of activities make you feel most satisfied?

3. What skills do you enjoy using?

4. What type of work environment do you thrive in or want to be in?

5. What do you want to be known for? What do you want your legacy to be?

Granted, some of your favorite activities may not lend themselves to careers and may need to remain as hobbies or side jobs, but everything you enjoy doing requires certain underlying skills. For example, if you love meeting new people and forging new relationships then you are probably one who enjoys using your interpersonal and relationship building skills. A career as an Account Executive or as a Human Resources professional may be a good match for you since you get to meet new people and interact with people all day every day. Or if you are super competitive, love the thrill of the chase and the high of closing a deal then a sales focused career may be a great match for you.

Once you are confident in how you want to represent yourself to others you are ready to hit the market!

Mireille Guiliano former CEO of Clicquot Inc. (LVMH) and author of Women, Work, & The Art of Savoir Faire said it best when she said, “If you are not a brand you are a commodity.”

Mireille was relating champagne branding to personal branding, but the bottom line is that in order for you to get chosen out of a myriad of candidates you need to have a likeable yet clear brand that can fulfill an employer’s needs as well as yours.

So tell me, where do you see yourself in 5 years?

We all go through this, so you’re not alone… but fewer people have figured out ways to put the games to rest and really be comfortable and confident in the interview setting. We’ve come up with some tips that may help you get into a calm state of mind, where you feel relaxed and able to perform your best.  We won’t guarantee that each one of these will work for every person, but if you see one that you think fits your personality, give it a try and see if it helps!

1. Know when you feel your best.  If you love mornings and feel at your best before the day is too far gone, try to steer your interview time towards the morning hours.  If you’re miserable in the morning and you only really get going in the afternoon, try to guide your interview times to later in the day. Don’t risk seeming flexible and amenable in order to have your preferred interview time, but if you’re given a wide range of options or you are asked your preference, there’s nothing stopping you from picking a time when you know you’ll feel energized, confident, and happy.

2. Have everything ready the night before.  This one is widely known and kind of a no-brainer, but really try to have everything in “grab and go” order the night prior to your interview.  Your suit should be pressed, hanging up right next to the ironed shirt you’ll be wearing underneath.  Hose or socks (if applicable) should be placed near the suit. Appropriately simple jewelry should be laid out on your counter.  Your “interview” shoes should be tucked into a shoe bag so you can carry those with you while you commute in your more comfortable or weather-appropriate shoes.  Corral all of the things you’ll need the next day – handbag, shoe bag, briefcase, keys, metro cards, small umbrella, reading glasses, resumes, pens, etc.  Put them all in one place (ideally in a professional, spacious bag that holds all of these items) so you have less frantic searching happening in the morning.  If you have a car, put everything into your car the night before, so all you have to do is grab your cell phone and your keys, and you’re out the door in the morning. If you commute by foot or train, make sure all of your items are gathered into the same space. That means everything for getting ready should be together, and everything you have to grab in the morning should be packed and in a place by the door.  You’ll feel calm and in control the morning of your interview.

3. Don’t change your routine the night unnecessarily.  Don’t run yourself an aromatherapy bath if that’s a foreign concept to you.  Don’t fix yourself a huge breakfast if you usually just have cereal.  Don’t go to sleep at 9pm if you usually go to bed at 10:30pm. Engaging in tasks that are outside of the norm will keep sending signals to your brain that something different is about to happen, which can send you into panic mode. Going about your normal routine can make you less anxious and keep you calm.

4. Plan something fun for after your interview.  It’s such an easy trap to prepare for an interview so much that you forget it’s only one interview for one job in one company.  In other words, it’s easy to lose perspective and make this one interview a life-or-death situation. It’s not. I’ve found that it works well to plan something fun after my interview will be complete. Whether it’s dinner with friends, a trip to your favorite bookstore, a phone chat with a relative, curling up with a glass of wine and reality TV, or taking a shopping trip, arrange something fun for the afternoon/evening of your interview. You’ll have something to look forward to, which puts you in a good mood and leads to an upbeat vibe, and it also puts things back in perspective. You’ll be out of the interview in the matter of a couple hours, and you’ll be off to do something fun!

5. Know that your interviewers WANT to like you.  Interviewers meet so many people throughout their days, and they genuinely hope each person they meet will be friendly, engaging, and easy to talk to. Be that person – Smile, be warm and open while still remaining professional, and rest assured that if you’re nice to them, they’re going to be nice back to you.  They are already on your side before you go into this meeting, so don’t worry that they won’t “like” you – they genuinely want to enjoy your company, so you’re already off to a great start.

6. Keep in mind that it’s just a conversation. During the interview, it’s easy to fall back into the “psyche out” mode by frantically formulating responses while questions are being asked.  We all want to be prepared and run through our answers in our heads prior to opening our mouths, but it often leads to us being too distracted to really focus on the questions and give valid responses. This frantic formulation of responses, combined with a fear that they “may not like me,” is what makes an interview so much more stressful than meeting someone new at a dinner or a bar or at a party. Think about it… Anytime you meet someone new, you are peppered with questions: “What do you do for work? How did you get into that? What do you do with your time all day?”  It’s really not much different from meeting someone in an interview, it’s just that your mind isn’t racing and reeling with how to make them like you, so you focus on the questions, answer calmly, and a conversation ensues. Relax in the interview, really pay attention to each question fully, and the responses will naturally come to you in the right moment. It will seem more natural, and before you know it, your nerves will have calmed and you feel like you’re having a normal conversation with someone you just met.

We hope that one or two of these tips will help you stress less for upcoming interviews, and we wish you the very best of luck in your upcoming meetings!

In response to overwhelming demand, Clarity has built upon its strong foundation in Human Resources to create a division exclusively dedicated to mid and high-level HR recruitment and placement. Clarity’s extensive network of HR Professionals and Senior HR Business Partners have made our company a leading resource for all industries since 2000. We believe that HR professionals play a key role in the success of every business, one that is vital to efficiency, profitability, and progress.

For 2013, economists widely agree the outlook for jobs will continue improving marginally. The economy is expected to create 2.36 million jobs, slightly more than the estimated 1.9 million that’s estimated for 2012, according to IHS Global Insight.

Reuter’s reports that the ADP National Employment Report showed the private sector added 215,000 jobs last month, comfortably above economists’ expectation of a 133,000 gain. The report is jointly developed with Moody’s Analytics.

Planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell in December for the first time in four months, while the overall job-cut total in 2012 was the lowest since 1997.

Employers announced 32,556 job cuts last month, the second lowest monthly total of 2012 and down 43 percent from 57,081 in November, according to the report from consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

New York’s private sector job count increased by 123,200 from December 2011 to December 2012. As reported last week, the state’s unemployment rate was 8.2% in December 2012. New York State’s rate has plummeted since August 2012, dropping by 0.9 percentage points. This represents the state’s largest four-month rate drop since February 1984.

Staffing Jobs are on the Rise

According to a recent survey conducted by The American Staffing Association, from July through September of 2012, the number of temporary and contract workers employed by U.S. staffing firms on an average business day was 4.3% higher compared with the third quarter of 2011. This is the 11th consecutive quarter of year-to-year staffing industry job growth since the recession ended mid-2009.

On the first interview:

• Don’t ask about salary or benefits.
• Stay away from questions concerning time off, vacation days, holidays, etc.
• Don’t ask too much about growth. Show interest in growing with the company but you want to make sure you’re interviewing for the role at hand.
• Do not ask when you will be up for a raise or promotion. Concentrate on getting the job first and then prove yourself before you broach this topic.
• Avoid the topic of compensation in the first interview. If asked, make it about the opportunity.
• Don’t ask if you can work remotely (unless is it specifically stated in the job description).

In general:

• Be tactful about how you ask questions. Tone, phrasing and body language can all communicate a question effectively or it could come across completely different than you intended.
• Don’t ask about office attire. Start out more formal and take cues from your coworkers once you are onboard.
• Never ask about how much time people take for lunch.
• Don’t ask inappropriate personal questions.

Steering clear of these questions will get you one step closer to getting an offer!