Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Why Financial Consultant Jobs Are So Rewarding

Why Financial Consultant Jobs Are So RewardingWhy Financial Consultant Jobs Are So RewardingPart of what makes financial consultant jobs so appealing to professionals looking for diverse work opportunities is that the particulars - the client, project scope, objectives and deadlines - are constantly changing with each new assignment. Without question, the life of a project consultant can be fast-paced and dynamic. Heres some insight into what you can expect when working in financial consultant jobsThe responsibilitiesRegardless of the specifics of your assignment, your primary task as a consultant will be to facilitate the completion of periodic project goals and ensure overall objectives are met. This means managing or working with kollektiv members (often both full-time and interim) and communicating deadlines to ensure work is completed on time. You also may be tasked with maintaining budgets and interacting directly with a clientsvendors. Projects can run the gamut from facilit ating audits to assisting senior management.The challengesFinancial consultants face challenges such asHigh pressure situations- Frequently, consultants are brought in when time is of the essence and in-house teams are working at or beyond capacity. You should be prepared to encounter frazzled nerves and an atmosphere of urgency. Some consulting jobs come with steep learning curves, so it helps to be a quick study when it comes to absorbing guidelines and best practices.Fluctuating guidelines and expectations- Duringthe course of a project, key objectives, including deadlines, can change at a moments notice. Be ready to pivot and ensure that things stay on course.Fostering team spirit- Effective collaboration is essential to a successful project. As a consultant, even though you may be working in an unfamiliar environment, part of your responsibilities will include team building and motivating colleagues.The benefitsDespite the challenges, consultant jobs can also be rewarding. Suc cessfully overseeing projects from beginning to end allows you to see the fruits of your labor, and that can make all the effort worthwhile. Benefits includeFlexibility- Thisis perhaps the most alluring perk of financial consultant jobs. You can choose when you take on a new project, allowing yourself time for other pursuits.Diverse projects- Becauseconsultants work on a variety of assignments, they escape the fatigue that sometimes accompanies traditional, full-time jobs. You have the freedom to take on consulting jobs that interest and challenge you.Learning in the field- Byworking under pressure in ever-changing roles, project consultants get the opportunity to cultivate new skills and gain valuable experience.Working with a staffing agencySearching for consultant jobs can be time-consuming - and stressful. A reputable staffing firm that specializes in placing senior-level finance, accounting and business systems professionals can make things easier by identifying projects most closely aligned with your skills and keeping subsequent projects lined up for you. As an added benefit, consultants working with these firms enjoy perks such as free skills training and other consultant benefits.If the flexible, fast-paced world of consultant jobs sounds like a good fit for you, start searching for available project opportunities that match your skills today

Friday, November 22, 2019

How to Explain Resume Gaps

How to Explain Resume GapsHow to Explain Resume GapsWhen or if you are laid off from a job or need to take time off for family and health reasons, many of the same concerns come up. You start to wonder how bills will be paid and how long it will take to find a new job. You simply do not know at first.There is also the concern that employers might think one is simply taking breaks for the sake of not wanting to work. Worse, the fear that skills and experience may become outdated.So with all these concerns in mind, what do you do during an interview to downplay the possible negative perceptions and make the interviewer see the positive side of your skills and experience?Be honestHonesty is always the best policy. Just remember that your version of honesty must sound positive. Your version of brutal honesty may leave the hiring manager thinking you have emotional issues or that you still have conflicts to deal with before accepting a job.You do not have to hide the truth. You can explai n it with a positive attitude, showing how what you dealt with is in the past and how it has made you wiser and stronger. Being known for having integrity and being able to demonstrate it are character traits that will serve your career in the long run. You may be tempted throughout your career to be deceitful and in the short term, it may seem like a good idea. But in the long term, lies always lead to problems in a career.Honesty exampleA job candidate interviews knowing that the employment eu-agrarpolitik is quite large. The candidate took time off after a layoff to deal with family health issues. When the job candidate welches asked about the employment gap, he explains that he was laid off around the time his mom was diagnosed with cancer.He then explains that time has passed, it was an education in lifeand it has made him a better leader and mora emotionally mature. The interviewers were not sure how to reply and finally, one person spoke up to say, I understand what you went through and thank you for your honesty.The candidate gave a polished, positive answer and it led to more interviews in the company. Although he was not hired, the employer stayed in touch with the job candidate for future job openings. The reasonfor doing so We need employees with integrity, character, and honesty.Be preparedWhen you are uncomfortable with the topic, the wrong way to answer is by stuttering and blushing your way through an interview. The lack of preparation will make you appear as if you are still grappling with the reasons for the employment gap or you are not being truthful.Lots of people will practice rehearsed answers, but the overall problem with doing that is the answer is not prepared with the intention of being honest. Therefore, if your hiring manager starts asking more questions than you expected, you will start to have problems answering. Your story to explain your resume gap will look like one big effort to deceive.The best way to prepareto be honestis t o practice explaining your resume gaps until you are sick of talking about them. The minute you get over your fears, the better you will be able to explain the gaps.Be confidentConfidence is a byproduct of preparation and being honest. You get over your fears of discussing how you became unemployed the more you commit to preparing and being honest.If you were let go or fired, do not panic. Resume gaps are pretty common, especially given the length of time it takes to find work and the unstable economy that has been in place since 2008. If you interview at a company that does not understand why you were laid off or fired, be confident that you should not be working there.Explaining resume gaps is an uncomfortable situation, so be prepared for whatever comes your way and have confidence in your skills.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

How to Make a Career Change With No Experience

How to Make a Career Change With No Experience How to Make a Career Change With No Experience So youve decided that you want to change careers, but you have no experience in your chosen field. If this is you, you may find yourself getting discouraged. But you mustnt let your current lack of experience stop you from following your dreams. Instead, youre going to need to get some but how do you do that when no-one will give you a job?Here are 5 time-tested ways to gain the experience you need and ensure that you can make that leap to a new career.Work for free One simple way to do this is to offer to work for free in your target industry or profession. After all, your best career, the true career of your dreams, is one that youd just keep doing again and again even if nobody paid you for it. So where can you work for free? Its actually pretty easy to find opportunities. Do projects for your friends or for your family. Join an organization and volunteer as weve already discussed. Look for contests and enter them. You could ask companies if theyd let you intern for free so that you can gain experience. Larger companies will probably say no, given the legal pitfalls of having unpaid employees, but smaller companies will be much more willing to listen and it never hurts to ask.There may even be opportunities to gain unpaid experience in your current company. For example, lets say that you want to work in marketing. Instead of taking lunch, how about offering to help out the marketing department? If you work in a very small company you might not even have a marketing department. Be the person who volunteers to step in and handle marketing projects. Who is doing them now? Is it your boss? Perhaps he or she would actually like the opportunity to take some work off of his own hands. Youll never know until you ask.Make a partial move Another technique for bridging a large experience gap is to make a partial move towards what you want to do next. For example, lets say t hat youve been working in food tafelgeschirr for a couple of years after college. However, you know that youd like to get into accounting because you have an accounting degree. Working for a storefront tax preparation service might offer the partial move that you need to brush up your skills even more. Youll then have some related job experience to offer to employers. If youre ultimately targeting a large corporate accounting firm then your next step might be to take an accounts payable or accounts receivable job with a very small local company. If its a food service company, the transition becomes even easier because now you have something extra to offer (your knowledge of the industry).Each step helps to close the gap between where you are and where you need to be.Add to your education Sometimes you will need more of an education. If this is the case, identify useful classes or certifications. You might need a new degree, or an extra qualification. You may well get more of an oppo rtunity to get to the experience you need after youve completed this education.Even if you dont require additional education, it might help. Taking classes in your new field will show your commitment and passion for your target career. It will also develop your skills. Finally, it can help you make some new connections that might be very helpful in landing your next job.Set up your own business on the side Sometimes you cant wait for a full-time employer to give you the shot. You have to reach out and take it by setting up your own business on the side. This strategy depends upon what you want to do for a living. Copywriting, graphic design, web design, accounting, event planning, social media, recruiting, administration, software development and video production all lend themselves well to freelance work. You can go out and get clients who do not have the budget to hire a full-time, in-house employee, and earn all the experience you could possibly want while getting paid to do so.T aking this path isnt easy. Like Sarah, you might have to work the job at night and on weekends, around your regular job. Thats hard work to be sure, but how much do you want this new career? And who knows, your new business may become so successful that you stick at it and dont even look for a new jobQuack like a duck Finally, you can find other ways to demonstrate your skills. I sometimes call this the quack like a duck strategy. Allow me to explain.I once had the opportunity to interview Nicholas Lore, the career change pioneer behind The Rockport Institute. During the interview he said, If you want to be a duck, you need to walk, talk, and fly like a duck, a wonderful metaphor that I have shortened to quack like a duck.These days you can demonstrate your expert status by starting a blog or podcast and promoting it on appropriate social media marketing channels, like Twitter and LinkedIn. If you stick at it, and work hard, before long you can become a known name in your field, qua cking like a duck along with the best of themIn summary Being constantly told that you wont be hired because you lack experience can be a demoralizing experience, but I hope you can see that there are lots of ways to gain that experience when trying to make a career change. For more tips and strategies to help you achieve your career dreams, sign up now for our free course The 5 Secrets of a Successful Career Change. Each of the 5 secrets arrives in your inbox and we never spam or share your details.