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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1997)
8 August 7, 1997 SMOKE SIGNALS The Tribe's Employment Services Program would like to assist you with your employment needs. To schedule an appointment for any Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday please contact Sheila Elliott at 879-2031 or Connie Holmes at 879-2267. Most of the following information on this page was taken from the Oregon Careers 1997-98 paper published by the Oregon Employment Department. To obtain a copy of the Oregon Careers 1997-98 paper, which is full of information regarding employment, write to: Workforce Analysis Section, Oregon Employment Department, 875 Union St. NE, Salem, OR 9731 1; call the Oregon Employment Department at (503) 378-6059 or 1-800-237-3710, ext. 8-6059; or stop by the Em ployment Department nearest to you. Do you have the skills employers value? Asking yourself the following questions will help in deter mining whether you have the key personal self-management skills and key work-activity skills employers usually value most. Answer the following questions with "most of the time," "sometimes," or "not yet." 1 . Do you get to work daily on time? 2. Do you follow your supervisor's instructions? 3. Do you get along well with co-workers? 4. Do you work hard and get things done? 5. Are you flexible? 6. Are you honest? 7. Are you dependable? 8. Are you willing to learn new things? 9. Are you friendly and courteous? 1 0. Do you show interest in your work and company? 11. Do you meet deadlines? 1 2. Do you accept responsibility? 1 3. Do you coordinate projects and people? 14. Do you plan, organize? 1 5. Do you solve problems, think creatively? 1 6. Do you coach or mentor co-workers? 1 7. Do you improve or increase products or services? 18. Do you speak in public? 19. Do you manage money, budget? 20. Do you practice the principles of conflict resolution? If you answered "most of the time" to the majority of these questions, you will likely be on your way to having the skills employers want most. If the majority of your an swers were "sometimes," then you need to focus on im proving your skills to help you advance in your career field. If you answered "not yet" to many of the questions, you may have a lot of work to do in readying yourself to work in the "real world" today. Source: Oregon Careers 1 997-98 RESUME DON'TS B Don't use a "fill-in-the-blank" format resume. Originality is important. Don't present a resume that is more than two pages maximum. One page is preferred. B Don't include irrelevant personal information like your age, height, weight, etc. B Don't include salary and wage information. B Don't use abbreviations. B Don't be the only person to proof your resume. Have someone else read it for clarity. B Don't leave out essential information, like where you can be reached. B Don't send out a resume that has an error in it. If it's misspelled, you need to redo it. Source: Oregon Careers J 997-98 Questions to ask a potential employer People conducting the interviews expect you to ask ques tions. Here are a few sample questions you could ask a po tential employer after they have finished interviewing you. 1 . If hired, would I be filling a newly created position, or replacing someone? 2. Would you describe a typical work day and the things I'd be doing? 3. Which duties are most important for this job? Least important? 4. How would I be trained or introduced to the job? 5. How would I get feedback on my job performance, if hired? 6. If hired, would I report directly to you, or someone else? Are there any questions I should NOT ask? Never ask any questions about salary, vacations, holidays with pay or sick days. You're looking for a job not a vacation. These are questions you could ask if offered the position or maybe the interviewers will men tion their benefits during the interview. INTERVIEWING TIPS One of the best ways to get prepared for an interview is to practice. The following is a list of questions that are often asked in interviews. Write a sentence or two to answer the questions and then practice an swering them out loud. Keep in mind that you should keep your answers under two minutes, unless the inter viewer asks you to go into further detail. 1 . What jobs have interested you the most that you have held, including summer and part-time jobs? 2. Why were these jobs the most interesting to you? 3. What are your career goals? 4. Where do you see yourself in five years? In ten years? 5. Tell me about yourself and your work background? 6. What do you consider to be your strengths? 7. What do you consider to be your weaknesses? 8. Why are you interested in this job? 9. Why do you want to work for this company? 1 0. What did you like most about your last job? 1 1 . What did you dislike most abut your last job? 12. Which classes did you like best in school? Why? 13. Why should I hire you for this job? Source: Oregon Careers J 997-98 If you would like further assistance with inter viewing techniques, contact Connie Holmes or Sheila Elliott at Employment Services to sched ule a "mock" interview. o If you are currently unemployed or under-employed then this fair is for you. Meet and talk with repre sentatives of some of the area's best known and most respected employers who are looking forward to meeting you and are serious about filling their open positions. BE PREPARED TO INTERVIEW AND BRING YOUR RESUME. Source: Oregon Empoymenf Department's Internet home page. Employer Expectations APPEARANCE Do you look like the right person for the job? Dress Grooming Hygiene Behavior Writing Speaking DEPENDABILITY Can you be counted on to do the job? Attendance Punctuality Reliability SKILLS What can you do? Job-related skills Self-management skills Transferrable skills - for example, if you were a girl scout leader, just one example of a transferrable skill would be organization. NOTE: Drug testing is often a condition of employment. Self defeating behaviors Below is a list of self defeating behaviors that can keep you from either getting or keeping a job. If you have identified any of the following as one of your behaviors, then this can become a barrier to employment that you can get help in overcoming. Sleeping until noon Beating self up mentally Staying up late No schedule or timeline Bad relationships No goals for life Heated temper Not dependable, don't show up on time Keep hanging around with "losers" Relying on others to take care of you Jump to conclusions Money matters out of control Emotional or reactive Dwelling on problems from the past Not improving education or learning new things Physical abuse, either to you or to others Messy environment Low self esteem Drug, alcohol or food obsession Not planning ahead Gambling Any others you identified?
