I came across this on a newsletter I subscribe to weekly – TheLadders.com. Though Marc Cenedella compiles an intriguing read each time, I have to say that this was his best till date – he circulated the resume of none other than Leonardo DaVinci. How cool is that?

I thought I knew a few things about keeping my credit score and building a fantastic history – I have been misled and here is how as I discovered from a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article. I would strongly recommend that everyone read this and keep a handy note of how your respective scores are affected. As a current TV advertisement says “there is NO credit fairy” !!

I love TED and what they have been doing. Don’t get me wrong a lot of other approaches have been trying to achieve the same, but the quality of stuff that makes it to the TED website is simply jaw-dropping (to me atleast!). Hats off to all technocrats that have showcased ideas and prototypes on the TED forums.

As a follow up to my (surprisingly!) popular post earlier “Questions to ask your interviewer!“, I trolled a bit more and came across some more pertinent and sharp questions, which should help you assess the current state of the position you are in talks for. Not to forget this will definitely help you “Negotiate your salary with an upper hand“. All thanks to the folks at TechLadder.

As part of my ongoing compilation on salary negotiation for my blog posts, I came across an article mentioning a book Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1,000 a Minute by Jack Chapman. The article was concise and I believe that it will add on to my previous post on salary negotiations. The original article can be found at this link.

[Ed: Video Alert for Low-bandwidth readers, Dial-up readers, Data-size restricted readers. The full-length blog post has 5 embedded videos, which I have re-posted for the benefit of my blog readers. Please be advised.]

Excerpted from the online article from the Get Rich Slowly website.

Salary negotiations are an inevitable piece of any job interview. There are possibilities and the hard truth in an “truly open negotiation” is this – its a give and take without getting into a stand-off situation. Multiple factors will influence this little game, namely:

Employer side

• How urgently does the position need to be filled?
• How critical is this position to the organization – are they seeking a worker bee or a queen bee?
• Where in the organizational hierarchy does this position fit (how high / low)?
• What fit is there between the candidate and the position’s requirements?
• What is the allocated budget for the position in question?

Candidate side

• How desperate is the candidate?
• What fit is there between the candidate and the position’s requirements?
• Is this position going to add resume-value?
• Is the organization going to add resume-value?

OK – the hard work of researching the great job, the company and the harder work of getting your resume in to the right people has FINALLY culminated in a job interview. The interview is going on and your take is that you have a very strong fighting chance at being the in the final considerations … Great going! Then the interviewer(s) throw an opportunity at you – “Do you have any questions”. Here is an opportunity for you to showcase your thinking and how much of the position have you understood and potentially how you can garner more information about the position to make an informed decision whether or not to accept the position when the offer is dropped.

Also, don’t forget that having a good handle on some (or all) of these will also give you leverage on how you can negotiate your salary (or at least have a idea what to pitch for without pricing yourself out!). I will be posting on salary negotiation tips in a later post.

Excerpted from David Silverman’s Harvard Business Blog for the benefit of the WordPress community who read my blog posts. As David aptly puts it across

“… you need to listen and react to the person in the room with you, not slavishly follow any list of rules — I present to you my list of rules for interviewing:”

(From the book “The Accelerated Job Search” by Wayne D. Ford, Ph.D, published by The Management Advantage Inc.)

1. Tell me about yourself:
The most often asked question in interviews. You need to have a short statement prepared in your mind. Be careful that it does not sound rehearsed. Limit it to work-related items unless instructed otherwise. Talk about things you have done and jobs you have held that relate to
the position you are interviewing for. Start with the item farthest back and work up to the present.

2. Why did you leave your last job?
Stay positive regardless of the circumstances. Never refer to a major problem with management and never speak ill of supervisors, co-workers
or the organization. If you do, you will be the one looking bad. Keep smiling and talk about leaving for a positive reason such as an opportunity, a chance to do something special or other forward-looking reasons.

3. What experience do you have in this field?
Speak about specifics that relate to the position you are applying for. If you do not have specific experience, get as close as you can.

As a recent car buyer, I am (as of this writing) fairly armed with a wealth of information and new tricks that would make for a PhD thesis in itself!

Confessions of a car salesman – http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html

If you have not read the above mentioned article, then STOP EVERYTHING IMMEDIATELY! Its a lengthy article, but TRUST ME – its like going to be very very very rewarding if you read this and EDUCATE yourself. Its written in a storyboard narrative and I kid you not – you will see the narratives from this exhaustive article being played out in front of your eyes when you are sitting at the dealer. For me this article is the bible unless car dealers start changing their sales ops (which has NOT happened in the last 25+ years!).