The Flocksy Blog

A job interview, no matter how many times we’ve been in one, always makes us a little nervous. Do you get that little stomach drop when your name is called to come in? It’s perfectly natural to feel nervous, even when you’ve prepped yourself for days.

What many professionals won’t tell you is the myths that are out there about job interviews. There are plenty of antiquated or just plain fake tips out there ready to sabotage your efforts, and they are important to know before the hiring manager calls your name next.

Dressing To Impress Is Old School

Even though attitudes toward workplace attire have evolved from years past, it’s important to dress appropriately for an interview. On the flip side, an interviewer who forms their opinion about candidates purely from the label of a suit might give you an indication of the work environment you should avoid. Ensure your hygiene is good and take hints about what people are wearing from photos of the workplace online.

Don’t Say ‘I Don’t Know’

It’s a given that in an interview you should answer questions with confidence and candor, especially if they are questions specifically about your work history and personal background.

But if a question is posed to you that you don’t immediately know how to answer, you are not being vulnerable nor clueless by not answering with a similar confidence and candor.

Be honest and say you don’t have an immediate answer, but also stress that you want to know the answer.

Body Language Is Telling

The truth is, an interviewer’s body language or facial responses to you or the way you answer questions is not an indicator of how well your interview is going.

There’s a myriad of reasons why someone sits the way they do, or how their face looks for that very small portion of their day. Maybe the interviewer is stressed about something totally unrelated to you?

Body language is not a good indicator of how the interview is going and definitely not an indicator of whether they like a candidate or not.

Short Resumes Work Best

In years past there was a tip that the shorter your resume, the better. In fact, many people swore by having one page only. The reason for this was that supposedly the interviewer’s time was so important and short, you had to advertise yourself the best way possible and in the shortest time possible.

This attitude has totally changed in the modern workforce; in fact many companies have dedicated Human Resources departments or Hiring Managers who spend most of their day looking solely at resumes and candidates.

Always Accept A Beverage

Accepting a beverage prior to your interview would seem like a very innocuous thing, and that would be correct. However, another old interview tip was to always accept what was offered to you, as it would indicate your politeness.

In reality, most companies don’t have a dedicated staff for catering so you might be making your interviewer accommodate you by accepting. It’s actually an inconvenience to them.

Also, why risk needing the bathroom if the interview is a long one or you are already nervous?

Qualifications Will Always Get You The Position

Listing your qualifications on your resume is important, and many job openings require a minimum set of qualifications. But just because you have the highest qualifications won’t mean you will get the position, or even be put into the final group.

Cultural fit, years of experience and how you interview are actually far more important in the eyes of interviewers and hiring managers.

Unfortunately nepotism can trump all these too.

Keep Your Responses Short

This one is easy to disprove, especially if workplace culture is important where you are applying.

How do you feel when you go to a store and ask a question of an employee and they answer with a one word response or blunt, “I don’t know.”

Speaking with a warm and polite tone is far more beneficial than being robotic and sharp.

An interviewer will appreciate your openness and ability to engage with them far more than being a human Siri or Alexa.

The Questions Are Always The Same

A job interview will have some common questions across all interviews with candidates for a position. This is to measure and compare the candidates, obviously. But the assumption that every interview will follow a script is just not true.

Interviewers will go down different paths of questioning so they get to know you better, as no candidate is the same.

If every question was going to be the same, the interviewer could just ask you to fill out a form and not bother meeting you in person, right?

The Interviewer Does The Hiring

This is a natural misconception to make, especially for inexperienced job seekers. Assuming whom you are talking to will do the selecting is a natural, albeit incorrect, assumption to make.

It is more than likely the interviewer will be one of a group who will select a new hire or may only be asked to provide some simple feedback to another panel. Your resume and feedback has a long journey to go on yet.

‘Winging It’ Works

And finally there is something to be said about natural charisma and sounding like you know what you are talking about, but the truth is “winging” the interview will likely not work out in the end.

It’s important to come into the interview with some prior knowledge about what a company does, their philosophy and their reputation. You also want to know what you will say to common questions in interviews and hopefully anticipate what they may ask you at random.

In recent times, working for yourself has caught a lot of steam. More and more people are taking the leap to work for themselves and create content and services that speak to their own interest.

Although being your own boss and setting your own hours sound sweet, launching your own freelance career can be overwhelming if you don’t know what to expect.

Before you leave your corporate job and transition to the life of a small business owner, read on to find out about the 10 ways to launch a startup freelance career.

1. Pinpoint Your Endgame

Before you jump into freelancing, you need to know what it is that you want out of the experience of working for yourself. Without a clear plan that defines your goals, the transition to entrepreneurship will be difficult. 

Prior to making a decision, sit down, make a list on a notebook pad or a computer, and answer the following questions:

• Is freelancing a means to just earn extra income on the side while you continue to work your full-time job? 
• Is freelancing full time a means to become your own boss and work within your own schedule?
• Is freelancing a stepping stone to eventually achieving a different goal all together?

Once you pinpoint this goal and determine what you want out of this freelancing, then you can start planning on how to operate moving forward.

2. Determine What Your Niche Is

So, you’ve decided that you want to be a freelancer. Where does your services fall within the chasm of other small businesses?

For example, if you are a blogger who likes to write about stocks, focus on how you can become a great asset to that space. Take the time to research what other freelancers within this realm are doing and build your service off what the current market is looking for, or what it’s missing that you can add to the space.

Create a YouTube channel talking about the daily movement of the stock prices. Create an eBook or course about a niche stock play that the interested audience can learn from.

 Once you determine what your niche is, you are able to create content that speaks to what this space offers.

3. Identify Your Audience

After you’ve found out what your niche is, attracting the right clients is what naturally follows. 

To determine the best type of target clients for your freelance business, ask yourself these three questions:

• What type of customer will find my services useful?
• Which customer can afford to pay the prices I’ll need to charge in order to get to my income goal?
• Can I find a way to connect with my clients on a personal level?

By appealing to a specific, well-selected niche, your services or products will fair better than if you were to just go in blind and not have a specified voice or tone for your target clients. 

4. Figure Out Your Finances

Although not the most glamorous part of your startup experience, accounting, or keeping track of your financials, is perhaps the most important.

Keep in mind that when run your own business, you are the one who’s in charge of the money you receive, or give, and where it goes. Research or take courses about how to handle taxes and financial statements for small businesses.

If you need additional help, which you most likely will, hire a part time or freelance accountant to manage your finances. Be sure to always ask questions to make sure that you understand where your money is being allocated.

Accounting will be the crux of your business, so be sure to invest a lot of time and help with this one.

5. Set Your Prices

The previous step was about handling your accounting business before your business gets off the ground. Once you’ve established who will help you with handling invoicing, taxes and the like, you can now set prices for your services.

Search the market and watch your peers to see what the typical prices are for the services for your work.

Never lowball yourself! Even if you are just starting out with freelancing, your cost of services should be competitive with the current market for your niche.

6. Develop Your Own Design

If you are crafting your own business, then people need to know how to identify your service in a sea of others like yours. This is where developing your own design comes in.

In addition, developing a website for your company is essential for people to buy your product and connect with you. It is your “Home Base” so to speak

Since this is such an important step, invest your money to hire a professional freelance designer to make your website pop. Ask the designer to also create a logo, flyers and banners that you can use on YouTube, at events, and on other social media channels.

7. Market Your Business

In order for your company to grow, you will need to market your product and services to gain an audience. 

You can hire experts or freelance marketers to help you with this step, but the truth is, you can do what they do for free. Instagram is a great app to use to show off how your designs and products look and function in real time. Twitter and Facebook are avenues to create hashtags and connect with other people in your niche. 

So, you can grow and market your small business organically on social media by using hashtags and following others who have your same interest.

If you’re marketing on social media, one of the key things to remember is to be yourself and be relatable to your audience. They will appreciate that more than any theatrical facade. 

If you need help on where to start with marketing on social media, watch other vloggers in your niche to see what works in your market and what doesn’t. There are also many YouTube videos that touch on how to market your business organically online and by using SEO tactics.

8. Start Monthly Newsletters

One of the best ways to keep your customers engaged and up to date on the latest news with your business is to send out free monthly newsletters. 

When you send out newsletters, you are informing your potential clients that you are committed to keeping communication open, as well as showing that you appreciate their interest in your products.

Free newsletters will get sent directly to your customer’s inbox to provide them with an update on your business and anything new that you have coming up.

There are freelancers who can help you out with doing newsletters, or you can do it yourself by using an automatic email service.

9. Maintain Good Customer Service

So now that you’ve created a sizeable audience after you’ve spent time cultivating relationships online, you want to make sure that you always keep an aura of professionalism and open communication with them. 

Great customer service skills will reflect positively on your new business. A satisfied customer is likely to tell at least three friends about a positive experience and is even more likely to keep coming back to buy more of your product.

As a freelancer with a small business, you will need to guarantee great customer service as it leads to increased sales, thus growing your company.

10. Keep Your Day Job Separate

If you are starting out with freelancing on the side and you currently have a full-time job, don’t jeopardize your employment.

Yes, it may be tantalizing to just jump headfirst into freelancing and let your full-time employment fall to the wayside, but as of now, your day job is a steady source of guaranteed money and in some cases, it’s probably funding your side business.

In addition to that, there are a few lists of things that you want to consider with your full-time job:

• Do NOT breach any contracts or agreements you’ve signed with your employer.
• Do NOT work on your freelance business during company time.
• Do NOT use company resources, computers, or paid for blogging tools within your freelance projects.

The job industry is always changing in 2021. Every other week, there are new services, new products and a wheel of ever-evolving skills that are sought after from global companies. 

Businesses may find it difficult to keep up with finding qualified candidates in their industry, simply due to not knowing where to look or not being confident that they can find the appropriate talent within a sea of new industry developments and expectations.  

Has your company, though, thought to investigate one of the most untapped, but perhaps the most skilled, resource? The best talent that you can possibly employ is…our Military Veterans.

That’s right! as employees, veterans bring incomparable skill set and expertise that will add value to your company in ways that you might not have even thought possible.

Please read on and see the 6 reasons below as to why your business should hire military veterans.

1. They Are Quick Learners

Your dream employee may be someone who you don’t have to spend a lot of time training from scratch or walking them through repetitive processes. Well, Veterans are trained to make snap of the finger decisions in order to keep safe or when working with new skills or ideas.

So, if you need someone who is comfortable performing under pressure, veterans may be the candidate for you. For example, if you have a customer service or project management team who are always working on high stakes projects for customers, a veteran will be able to effectively blend in, transferring their knowledge of how to stay focused and organized within a busy environment.

Also, if you’re looking for help in your warehouse or shipping dock, veterans are able to learn the ropes quickly.  People who have operated tanks, troop transports, cranes and other heavy equipment in combat situations is most likely going to do an awesome job within your physical labor or transportation operation.

2. They Value Teamwork More Than Anyone

When it comes to teamwork, veterans probably know more than anybody the importance of comradery between groups in order to be effective. Vets work within a structured unity daily and understand that a well-rounded team is most important with successfully reaching goals.

3. They Respect Company Safety Protocols 

Health and Safety protocols are a daily part of everyone’s job, especially in 2021. With the help of thorough physical training that veterans are required to go through throughout the year, veterans are respectful of company’s protocols put in place to protect the staff. Due to this, Veterans are also equipped to recognize or point out any security threat, whether that is intrinsic or extrinsic, within the company’s parameters.

4. They Value Inclusion.

When veterans are in the field working side by side with their comrades, race, gender or ethnic background is an afterthought.

Veterans can be Great influences on how companies should respect coworkers and employees as people first, regardless of factors such as religion, origin or background. Their presence can promote inclusivity and diversity amongst the company and a reminder to treat people kindly no matter their varying economic statuses for political views. That can bring a calming and open aura to the office. 

5. They Are Tough. 

For a vet, being in the middle of a combat zone, or going through a rigorous training course, requires endurance, stamina and immense critical thinking skills. In order to have gotten through the day, veterans knew that slacking was not an option. In the work environment, veterans will navigate the day with that same thought process.

To them, every task has a purpose, and they want to see a goal through to its completion. Those in the military are hardwired to be mental tough, thorough and accurate, no matter if the task seems too difficult. Why wouldn’t you want someone like that on your team?

6. They Are Ahead Of The Curve With Technology 

Veterans are exposed to varying types of cutting-edge technology while in the military, which is one of the reasons why they thrive in this sector.

Since the military invests millions into technology each year, many veterans gain valuable experience in this industry. Every day, some military members are involved with learning and working with state-of-the-art technology, which will serve them well once they integrate into the civilian world.

So, not only will veterans have highly-sought-after skills that your engineering company needs, but you will have a brand-new team member that is detail-oriented and self-disciplined because of their uncanny ability to problem-solve and work under pressure.

Workplaces are officially starting back up again after their prolonged downtime due to the Covid-19 pandemic. If you’re going back to work and find yourself stressed out and don’t know what to do, there are a few simple strategies and tips you can participate in to reduce your stress.

Stress is natural and happens to most everyone, especially at work, but that doesn’t mean you just have to live with it without doing something. Follow these tips and strategies to effectively reduce the stress you feel at your workplace.

Keep Perspective

One of the worst parts about stress is the hopelessness it may make you feel. People usually feel much smaller and completely insignificant when they’re feeling stressed, which can lead to a spiraling effect of more stress and greater isolation.

It’s important to keep yourself and your life in perspective when you’re feeling stressed. You can go over what the best- and worst-case scenarios are for any given situation and find the sliver lining in the emotions you’re currently feeling. You can also look back to find other situations which felt worst than what you’re currently experiencing to cheer yourself up.

Maintain Control

Another common response to stress is to completely let go of the things you can control and start to feel bad for yourself all the time. It’s important to avoid this pitfall and remember that you still have some control of the situation you’re experiencing. Don’t tell yourself that everything is hopeless and that you must have others to help you out of the spot you’re in.

This can lead to spiraling and discourages you from taking account of the situation. While you can absolutely call on friends and families for help (more on that later) don’t feel like they’re obligated to solve all of your problems for you. It’s important to find yourself in the midst of your stress and relax yourself.

Just Breathe

On a more micro level, there are a few things you can do which will be immediately rewarding. The first thing you should do is take a deep breath and simply breathe in and out. This will help calm your nerves and make your body more relaxed.

Relaxation is a great way to counter stress because the two are essentially diametrically opposed. It’s incredibly difficult to feel panicked when you’re calm and breathing in and out in a measured and conscious manner. Take a few minutes to empty your mind and remind yourself that it’s not as bad as you think while you’re breathing.

Ask For Help

Once you’re sufficiently relaxed for the time being, you can take it upon yourself to ask for help. There are plenty of people in your life who are willing to help you through tough times, such as your friends and family members.

You should have a closely knit network of friends and colleagues so that you can turn to them whenever you’re feeling stressed or insignificant. There’s nothing like the comfort and touch of a good friend to keep you sane and move you through your day in a measured and calm manner. Never be afraid to ask your friends or family for help.

Develop A Course Of Action

In addition to calming yourself and asking for help, it’s important to understand that your stress will be mitigated if you have a plan of action for your day and life. Making plans greatly reduces stress because it helps you calm down further and signals to your body that the situation is in your control.

Plans and schedules also help keep your mind off of what you don’t know or may be stressed about during the day. You can make a plan during your breaks or throughout the day and stick to it to keep yourself calmed and stress free.

Develop Your Own Strategies

In addition to these strategies, you can make your own plan about the best course of action to take for yourself. You can devote yourself to a project that you’ve needed to do or meditate at your desk. Exercise is also a great way to relieve stress because it gets your endorphins running and helps adrenaline escape in a healthy, measured, and controlled way.

Whatever you choose to do, there are several ways to help yourself relax and keep calm. You should stick to the activities that help you and discard those that may not be doing anything that you can see or feel.

Make Positive Relationships

While you can always go to people you know and trust when you’re feeling stressed, you can also make new relationships at work or at other locations throughout your day. Keeping your heart and mind open to other people will help you destress and combat any feelings of inadequacy.

You should try to stay off your phone during the day and pay attention to what others are doing around you. In addition, you can start a mentorship program or become a protégé. Being molded by someone else’s hands is a great way to feel in control of your life and help you destress.

Workplaces are returning to normal, and managers are reconnecting with employees in real time and in person again. Colleagues are also coming back together and relearning how to work together again for the betterment of the team and the company.

This process can take some getting used to but there are many tips and techniques for speeding up the awkward return to work that can help your workplace become more productive and efficient than it was even before the pandemic ran across the nation. If you’re looking for a happy and collaborative workplace, try these seven tips and techniques.

Have A Common Purpose

Nothing rallies troops together like a shared goal or purpose, and it’s no different for workplace employees. You should bring your employees in on the first day and remind them about your company’s values and vision for the future.

You can inspire them to work productively by giving them a goal to strive for and a hypothetical future to look forward to. Employees are much more likely to make a meaningful contribution if they believe in the vision of your workplace and can see their hard work doing great things in real time.

Make Friendships

Another technique that inspires employees in the workplace is the belief that they’re working with people they can trust and rely on. In order for this idea to take shape, you need to foster friendships within the workplace and attempt to have your employees see eye to eye with each other on a number of topics.

Of course, you can’t force people to be friends, but you can instill a culture of friendliness and dependence for multiple people working on the same team. Your employees will be more engaged when you use this method, and they’ll work harder and faster knowing their friends are depending on their efforts.

Use A Corporate Social Network

Social networking is not just for your customers. Your employees like to social network to and you can take advantage of this love by allowing them to hop on a corporate social media page and engage with their colleagues and supervisors.

Many companies have found that social media networks boost the productivity and engagement of their employees and lead to better and more consistent work across the board. This works because social networking will make your employees feel like a part of the team and like they’re contributing to something meaningful.

Make Reflection Key

Just like in an individual’s life, reflection is often the first step to improvement and the cement used as the foundation to a better and more productive life. You should hold retrospectives for your employees and allow them to voice their complaints and positive messages about the work the office has been doing over the last few weeks.

You should record these sessions and take notes about the things that are on your employees’ minds. This recording and the notes you take will help you give direction to their frustrations and positive feedback and allow you to show them what they could be doing differently from week to week. Introspection and retrospection are two key ingredients for collaboration and engagement.

Establish A Culture

This is a fundamental idea that many businesses today struggle with. Corporate identity is often put first, and employees struggle to find themselves with the confines of the business mentality on a daily basis.

You can nip this fear and frustration in the bud quickly by giving your employees a culture to rally around and engage in without feeling self-conscious or fearful. Once you establish a culture of high-quality work and confidence, your employees will follow suit, and they’ll collaborate in an easier and more relaxed manner.

Be A Top-Down Leader

One frequent mistakes many managers make is to lock themselves in their office and focus on tasks that may not be as important to their direct employees. While you obviously have to keep an eye on your outside responsibilities and make sure your bosses are happy, your employees should also feel like they can talk to you at any time of the day.

If they’re feeling swamped or beaten down, they should be able to enter your office and talk to you about it. Managers are with their employees in a personal way, walking among them and making sure everything is going smoothly. Taking just a half-hour out of your day will go a long way in helping your employees with the task at hand.

Highlight Strengths

Finally, one of the best ways you can manage and make sure your employees are collaborating together well and frequently is to highlight the strengths of each person in your office and delegate in turn. No one person is good at everything, but everyone is good at something. If you can find and accentuate the strengths of your employees, you’ll be one step closer to bringing the office together and making sure everyone is doing their best work at all times.

The Covid-19 pandemic may finally be winding down in most areas of the country (and hopefully it will stay wound down) but people all over the nation are still working from home. The new normal is apparently here to stay as many individuals as possible across the nation have been working from home for over a year and there appears to be no signs that they’ll stop anytime soon.

Indeed, the time is still right to learn all about your new digital workspace and take advice on the best tips and tricks to successfully work every day. If you’re still working from home, here are the seven best tips for staying connected and focused with technology.

Keep Your Data Secure

It’s incredibly important to have a secure Wi-Fi connection from your house. If your workplace didn’t provide you with a Wi-Fi connection, you need to stay on top of your own, ensuring you have a password put in place to stop others from stealing your information.

There have been many attempts at theft by neighbors and others who know people who work from home and have easy access to their work secrets thanks to unsecured Wi-Fi. Your work should provide you with a way to stay safe and secure if you have to work from home and handle confidential and classified information at the same time. Don’t trust public Wi-Fi and always keep your passwords a secret from those around you.

Use Technology For Idea Storage

If you’re working in an office that has recently moved online or are managing that same office, there are a number of problems that can arise in the span of a few days. Workflows will be disrupted, and new routines will have to be thought of and implemented as employees become accustomed to their new working environment.

The workload and workflow can be streamlined, however, by using the technology available at everyone’s disposal to make changes and keep track of notes and differences in the two workplaces. You can use your laptop and other technology to capture and organize ideas and processes which may still be new to your workplace easily.

Utilize Video Messaging

One of the largest changes that’s been made in the recent year is the idea of using video conferencing to work through problems and connect with teams in a more consistent and unified manner. Platforms such as Zoom and Loom have been made the norm and have allowed employees to share and discuss ideas in an easy and time-sensitive way, without wasting many resources or disrupting their daily routine.

You should always be recording your screen when hosting a video conference because this is the easiest way to remember what was said and when. Video conferencing technology also allows you to go back and replay what you may have missed in the meeting easily.

Videos Are A Must

If you’re having trouble adjusting to your new workspace and flow of progress from your home, Loom can help you in another way as well. There are dozens of how-to videos and training sessions on the platform, as well as FAQ videos about a number of subjects, mostly pertaining to working from home. You can use this technology to help guide yourself through your new circumstances and connect with your colleagues or employees more easily and fruitfully.

The best part is the affordability, as there is a multifeatured free version of Loom available to employees and employers. Use this technology to become accustomed to working from home and giving yourself an easier time with the work you have to do on a daily basis.

Don’t Fall Prey To Phishing

Phishing and phishing attempts are almost as old as the internet itself. When someone tries to phish you, they’re usually trying to get you to click on a link and provide them with personal and extremely sensitive information. They then use this information to access personal resources such as your bank account and other private entities you use. Your workplace can be the victim of phishing attacks to if employees and colleagues are not careful.

You should know the signs of phishing: the e-mail you receive will come from an unofficial from address, it may seem urgent or dire, and it will almost definitely include a link to an obscure website. The text may also be poorly written to weed out those who won’t fall for the attempt from those who will. Make sure you’re wary of these attempts and don’t yourself or your company fall prey.

Back Up Your Data

Finally, you should regularly back up your data to ensure no progress is lost on your work. Computers and laptops can malfunction and shut down at a moment’s notice, and you may end up losing dozens of hours and hundreds of files’ worth of information from your laptop if this happens to you.

Your files can also become corrupted, and hackers can gain access to your software if you don’t back it up often. You should keep additional copies of your work in a secure location and make sure your work computer is frequently updated to make sure none of these negative outcomes are met.