The Career Salon

Friday Feature: Waiting to ‘Excel’

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We are absolutely thrilled to have a special guest in The Career Salon today! Dr. Kisha is here to  share awesome insight on how the use of Microsoft Excel can improve your career. Dr. Kisha is obsessed with helping individuals grow their small business and professional careers. Her mission at She Knows Tech.io is to equip and empower individuals, especially women, with the skills to excel in business through software and technology training. She Knows Tech.io is a training company focusing on Excel data analysis, predictive analytics courses using IBM SPSS Modeler, mobile and website building courses, reviews and tutorials (Wix.com website builder). Dr. Kisha is an expert in business intelligence and analytics. She’s also an app developer (Homework Suite), 6 Sigma Black Belt (Caterpillar, Inc), and professor of information systems with 19 peer reviewed quality research publications.

Resume Not Getting Noticed Enough? You’re Probably Missing This

by Dr. Kisha

MS Excel might just be one of the most important software programs that is used in every industry today. This may be why so many employers are looking for employees who are highly skilled in using Excel. You can give your job prospects a boost by becoming an Excel Power User.

Whether you are looking for a brand-new job, or you want to work your way up the ladder- becoming proficient in MS Excel can boost your job prospects. From an employer’s viewpoint, especially in business, Excel is an essential computing tool and they want employees who are advanced in this tool.

>> Take this fun Excel Quiz to see where your Excel skills rank <<

You Can Do Just About Anything in Microsoft Excel

Excel has virtually no limits. Just consider some of the tasks it can do for you:

  • Excel can create an editorial calendar, with a full list of topics and dates.
  • When planning on office outing, you can use an Excel document to track the costs and the RSVP list automatically.
  • You can use an Excel to determine exactly how much you should charge for your product.
  • An excel document can summarize revenue by product which can find areas of strength and weakness, where stronger relationships can be built with customers.
  • Excel is perfect for creating budgets, including expenses and more.
  • Customer discounts can be calculated based on the volume of purchases, monthly, and by product. Watch how here.

Resume Building

At the top of your resume, you want to highlight skillsets that will catch a recruiter’s eye. So instead of listing “Microsoft Office” You’d want to instead list specific functions such as “Microsoft Excel Pivot Tables” and “Microsoft Excel Solver”. Doing so will set you apart from other candidates and recruiters quickly recognize you know what you are talking about!

Excel is a diverse program, and more businesses are turning to use it as a primary tool for a variety of applications and functions. It’s vital for every professional to learn how to use Excel, and strong Excel skills can lead to greater job opportunities and promotions.

>> So start by Watching these 4 quick Excel tutorials and see how easy it is to learn Excel <<

To learn more, contact Dr. Kisha here.

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If you asked me to…

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I just love having my own website to express myself the way I want. You’ll notice that my blog titles often relate to music, movies, or pop culture and this week is no different.  I’ve had conversations over the years and just this week, which have prompted me to talk to you all about asking for what you want in your career transactions. Patti LaBelle said it best, “If you asked me to, I just might change my mind and let you in my heart forever!”  Sometimes all it takes is an ASK, to a future employer or a client even. A question that is posed to me more often than not is, “They offered me this amount, can I ask for more?” Are you  kidding me!? Why yes you can ask for more. At the table with a client and prefer something in the contract that they haven’t offered? Just ask!

When you’ve taken steps to build your education, experience, and a track record of amazing work, you can literally ask for what you want. I’ve experienced so many times in my career, extending an offer to a candidate and they come back to negotiate (money, vacation, relocation, etc). Sometimes companies may not have the resources to accommodate, but in a lot of cases employers will exceed their initial offer to acquire a candidate with a ‘hot’ skill set or knowledge to get them to the next level. Now this is definitely not to say this happens for everyone, you need have something going for you that employers can’t live without. Whatever that is in your specific field, figure it out. If you’re stuck in the same technology and haven’t gone to get training or gain experience in the new stuff, do that now!  Make yourself irresistible so that when you put the ASK on the table the employer just might consider. Here are some tips to prepare for the ASK:

  1. Educate yourself
    1. Research the market and gather facts
    2. Make sure you’ve prepared yourself throughout your career to build a case for attaining the things you want
  2. Have confidence
    1. Know your worth in the marketplace
    2. Build your confidence by improving and gaining new skills that separate you from others
  3. Be tactful
    1. Chose a proper time to ask for what you want
    2. Be courteous
  4. Possess finesse
    1. Have some subtly about yourself
    2. Be strategic

I’ll leave you with a little Patti to end your day!

 

 

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The Interview that Ended Before it Started

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As a point of intro, this website will sometimes discuss simple topics that everyone should know and sometimes not. As an HR/Recruiting professional there are just conversations that I need to facilitate, especially if you’d like to take your career a little higher.  I find that after years of recruiting there are some things candidates should be reminded of, to prevent inadvertently ending the interview before it even starts. One of those things is definitely, not doing research on the company.

It happens numerous times per week to myself and colleagues, that phone screen/interview we’re excited about and then we are quickly let down at the onset of the phone conversation by simply inquiring, “Do you know much about the company?” While this seems simple to some I’ve lost count on a weekly basis of how many candidates haven’t done research on the company they are interviewing with and are totally clueless.  I’ve even interviewed graduates of Ivy League schools that give answers of dumfounded silence. Some candidates have even asked me to tell them about the company…the nerve! We all know that construction companies build buildings and toy companies make toys DUH!  Hence the GIF above from one of my favorite movies. When you get that question we’re looking for more, what you know about the company and where your interests lie. Your answer is a key indicator of things like attention to detail, preparedness, and generally caring about things that are important.

There are so many places you can research a company and I’ve listed just four below:

  1. Company Website
  2. Google
  3. LinkedIn
  4. Glassdoor

These sources are helpful to prepare you for the interview process whether it’s a phone interview with HR or you’re speaking with a hiring manager or team. There are too many resources to be ill-prepared and while conducting researching make sure to get information on the person you are going to be speaking with. I’m always impressed when candidates do their homework and can find commonalities between us, it shows a finesse that I don’t come across often.  I’ve just barely scratched the surface of preparing for an interview and we’ll dive into it a little more soon, but what are some ways you prepare for an interview? Feel free to post in the comments section below.

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