Saving Money on Groceries

While I'm all for a bargain, I mostly look for sales or coupons for things I know I want. Sometimes I'll take a chance on a new product but as I primarily use fresh food, rather than canned or packages of pre-made food, I rarely do so. For me, it's a false savings to buy a brand I don't like as well because it's on sale or to buy something I don't like because there's a good deal. If I don't like it, what kind of deal is that?

I have a friend who swears by Aldi and Wal-Mart groceries, two places I don't shop at very frequently; I don't like Wal-Mart so rarely give them the business and while I go to Aldi once in awhile, it hasn't gotten into my regular rotation. Partly because I never know what they have.

I had an acquaintance who was super-cheap, shopped thrift stores and garage sales for everything and bought food at a store that sold food past its expiration date. I'm neither that cheap nor that adventurous.

The new thing I read about recently? Grocery auctions. To me, that's mind-boggling; keeping in mind that I don't want to stockpile food and their goods may be scratch and dent or oversupplied goods. Then again, it's a social outlet as well as a way to buy food. You'd have to be up on the prices in your area for it to be helpful.

Broader Power

A week or so ago, Timothy Geithner decided it would be good for government to have broader power with which to regulate the financial industry.

This is the same government that has brought us excess charges for things like toilet seats and hammers and can't manage its own spending properly. Never mind sex, drug use and graft at the Department of the Interior. Or credit card fraud, generally.

I'm worried about our country.

Oversaving

I somehow don't think oversaving is a real issue in the US right now. While I should have enough money, right now it doesn't feel that way.

I want to save more money but each paycheck it seems harder to keep my savings balance. I'm not going out and living the high life; last week I had food, $30 and half a tank of gas so knew I'd be fine until payday, so no extra spending for me! I needed to make sure I had money to fill my gas tank being that I needed to go to work every day and all.

While I agree, I like to look back on my life and be happy, I don't think that happiness is necessarily caused by material possessions. In fact, the quest for that may be what brought down our economy; between the bankers looting the companies and buying crazy expensive things, and those who overextended themselves, either on credit cards or with HELOCs, it was people wanting stuff who created a lot of problems, both for themselves and others.

Me? I just want a nice, stable job so I can pay off my loans and buy a condo.

Stimulus Package Payday

Yesterday I got my tiny reward from the stimulus package; we were notified earlier this week that perhaps our take home pay would be increased a bit this time. In my case, it is. I'm up a whopping $20.50, which is almost real money.

I still think that anyone trying to be responsible is getting screwed; while they have recalculated the tax due per person, this is really the only benefit I get from the stimulus.

I haven't yet decided what to do with my incredible bonus, perhaps save it for a rainy day? That rainy day is going to be here soon.

Cell Phone Contracts

It seems that I'm not the only one thinking about letting my cellphone contract go. I'm actually out of contract and have been for over a year. My phone still works and I have a backup phone donated to me by someone who frequently gets new phones, so I'm good to go as long as I want to keep my current carrier.

The problem is, while I haven't analyzed my use, I haven't been using very many minutes; less than 10% of my anytime allotment. Keep in mind that doesn't count evening and weekend use or in-network calling, both of which I use. I have to look at my last several bills to see if the switch is viable or whether it would cost me more in the long run.

The benefit is that I'd free up a bit of cash, always a good thing, and have less incentive to add bells and whistles. I just need a basic phone as I don't use it for anything but talking. I'm usually by a landline and a computer, so communication really isn't an issue, generally.

Because contracts are required and it gets expensive, I don't see the need to have a ton of minutes; this, despite the trend toward losing landlines and using cell phones exclusively. One of my friends is just about to cut off the landline and get a cell instead; however, said friend takes about six calls per month at home so it really would make more sense that way.

I'm a chatter sometimes and worry that if I had nothing but a cell, I'd eat up all the minutes talking to family members who have trouble getting off the phone.

Your Medicine Cabinet

In keeping with Spring and the rising emergencies to my North, where the Red River is rising and Fargo is expecting floods, Medicine Cabinets also need to be maintained to ensure you have proper supplies that are up-to-date.

Soon the weather will be warmer and it'll be nice to know that appropriate supplies are on hand

Juror Tweets

Tweets from jurors on jury duty are going to be a big deal. I can't imagine what's wrong with people who publish more information than allowed; while the fact that one has gotten jury duty is one thing, tweeting while actually on jury duty seems a bit ridiculous. Yet people do it.

I would expect that, with such communications prohibited, those who ignore the ban and are caught would open themselves up to punishment from the court. I don't know if it matters whether or not they're discussing the case; perhaps electronic communication devices should be confiscated at the beginning of the day, to be returned at the end. After all, if there's an emergency, it should be possible, if old-fashioned, to contact the courthouse and leave a message for someone.

While people are accustomed to communicating in any fashion that they choose at any time they choose, there really should be limits. It's disrespectful at the least to be tweeting or texting while sitting on a jury. I mean, during court time.

Otherwise, I thought it was common practice to prohibit discussion of an active case with those outside the jury. How is it that people don't think electronic communication counts?

We'll see more of this issue.

Walking away from your Home Loan

People are starting to talk as though walking away from your home loan isn't a bad thing. I have mixed feelings about this; if you're overextended because you're greedy, it's totally different than if someone was a fraud victim or has lost their job.

At the same time, I can see that there will be a different result if you walked away or were foreclosed upon these last few years rather than at a better time for the economy. I don't know what the answer is, but am not certain that FICO scores taking into account the fact that the housing bubble burst and the banking system imploded is the right answer.

Again, people who are responsible are being screwed.

Medical Expenses

One way to cut medical expenses is to cut pills in half, if you can get double the needed dose, and if the pill has the cut line on it. My dad had to do that with one of his prescriptions, not to save money, but because the dose the doctor thought he should take a smaller dose than what was available.

I'm just leery of the idea that the insurance company might try to advocate it at times it isn't an appropriate fix. It is a way to save money, but it doesn't seem appropriate for the insurance companies to drive it.

Expense Reports

For anyone who owns a small business, does direct contracting or works for a fairly small business (not a corproate behemoth), Expensify seems like a good option to organize your expense items and turn in your expense report.

I work for government, so this would never be an option for me, nor is it an option for corporate American. There are a lot of people for whom this would still be an option; anyone doing direct contracting, such as a woman who is working on a project at my agency. She owns her own business and directly contracts for this work so might benefit from this sort of thing.

I know a lot of people who have a full-time job and then have a small business on the side who might benefit from this.

RFID Tags

Everyone knows what those are, right? The labels that can be read and tracked; rumor had it that Wal-Mart started using them, the better to see who in the community shopped at their store? It seems odd to me to think the'd track people out in the community, but I don't shop there often enough to worry about it.

These are also in the non-hackable new passports and are a great inventory device. So great that Wired Magazine came up with a list of the top ten uses for them, including tagging Saguaro Cacti, which are frequently stolen.

Some of the other items on the list are incomprehensible to me; Japanese aren't worried about privacy and have chips everywhere. They use far more technology than I ever will, even on my best technology days. At first glance, the entry for Mexicans seems racist; however, there are a lot of kidnappings in Mexico so it would be a way of finding people and likely the wealthy would buy into it. Imagine if anyone here suggested that?

Cell Phone Providers

Because I haven't been using my phone too much lately, I think I'm paying too much for the service that I have. Verizon doesn't appear to have any lower-priced options for me so I'm looking in to other possibilities. While there is nothing inherently wrong with Verizon, except their upcoming sale of private information unless you opt out, I'm not getting good value for my money as I don't come anywhere near using all my minutes. With tax, I pay slightly more than $45/mo; over $500 mo, which is a lot, considering I haven't used 20 of my 450 anytime minutes this month.

I checked PhoneDog and MyRatePlan and determined that I can get a pay as you go plan from Virgin Mobile; 200 minutes for $24.95. 500 evening and weekend minutes are included. So long as you purchase another card each month, any remaining minutes are rolled over, maximum 5,000. It seems like it might be a good option for me; there would be an immediate investment in the phone and possibly a car charger to use with it.

I did look at Verizon's prepaid plan, but it seems that paying $0.99/day of use plus a fee per minute or $1.99 with a lower fee/minute would cost more than they seem to; if I pay the lower rate and have a call every day, that's $30/mo + minutes used. Virgin's plan is more straightforward in charging a set fee for a set number of minutes and appears to be a better deal. Not only that, Virgin has more options in their pre-pay phone set and more price points.

Has anyone used either of these pre-pays? If so, what did you think?

Recessions Effect on Lawyers

Who are they trying to kid? There has been a glut of lawyers on the market for a generation; I'm working on a project with an attorney who graduated from Law School in 1976 and says the market was bad then and has never improved. They keep churning out lawyers.

In my state, there are four law schools and there were too many attorneys graduating before the 4th school opened. In fact, the university started its own law school only after having been rejected in its bid to buy the stand-alone law school.

While I saw an ad today, many of the 25 or so attorneys with whom I last worked on a project are currently out in the cold, collecting unemployment. I met up with four experienced attorneys for cocktails a couple of weeks ago, only two of whom were working at the time. A corporation that was a steady workhorse for one of the agencies outsourced its document review to its location in India a year ago. At first, they had a higher level review done in-house, but I think they've even stopped that; they're just not using contractors in their US facility.

The last review on which I worked was quite complicated; it was a techno-IP project and I don't believe the associates at the firm really understood everything. We muddled through it, with protocols determined, some of which were later changed, and learned to notice the keywords we needed. We worked closely with the associates, unlike on most reviews so came through it pretty well. I'm skeptical that it would be done as well in a foreign country; while I know some companies in India have their outsourcers work the afternoon shift, so they're in the office during US office hours, not all of them do so.

There will be more and more innovations and fewer and fewer traditional law practices but I doubt it will stop anyone from applying to law school. I have a neighbor who wants to go to law school. She's planning on going in 2010. I think she's nuts and so do her parents; she thinks she'll be the exception and be the one to get the high grades and get the job that she wants. Because I know her education history, I'm a bit skeptical that she'll get the grades and the job.

She wants to work in the non-profit world, which is great if the economy is doing well; it sounds easy to get into an entry-level position, but one of the things you don't necessarily see coming is someone from a big law firm or the AG's office downsizing their life once loans are paid off. No matter what experience you or I have, those people trump it.

Case in point? I worked with an attorney who saw a posting for the perfect non-profit job for her. She procrastinated a bit and wasn't one of the first people to respond. Even worse for her? An attorney who had experience with the AG's office applied and, of course, got it based on his experience with the AG. Another case? One of my networking contacts worked for BIG law for a few years, paid off her loans and downsized to the AG's office. After several years there she moved to an environmental non-profit.

I hope my neighbor realizes that with the economy in shambles, borrowing for an expensive private law school isn't going to be the best bet for her future. I wish I had had someone to un-recommend law school for me when I applied.

Carbon Neutrality

I don't worry so much about being carbon neutral; I have to drive to get to work or my only option is to go straight home after work, as my bus schedule is limited. Therefore, I have the option to go somewhere straight from work, rather than taking the bus home and driving to where I'm going.

I have always had old things; most of my furniture is vintage, as are many of my household goods, accessories and some of my clothing. I like old, so am unlikely to build a new house, which would be difficult to do on a carbon neutral basis. I focus on doing my best not to do egregiously wasteful things; if I was working in a place with better public transit, or lived somewhere that had better access to the transit available, I'd take the bus more. As it is, it doesn't make sense for me to do so right now. One of the benefits of my current employment is low-cost transit; I can either buy a bus pass at a reduced rate or pay for low-cost parking and have opted for the parking.

I have analyzed carbon footprint information on more than one occasion and have concluded that I'm doing better than I was a year ago; at that time, I was traveling on a project and was flying out to another city every few weeks. I enjoyed it while it lasted but my carbon footprint is reduced based on lack of flight alone. Once we were in the city we were all in one car, in hotels that were fairly close to the offices in which we worked.

While I didn't go ahead with the farm shares, due to the uncertainty of what vegetables, volume of produce and other expenses that would've rendered the upfront fee onerus, I plan to make an effort to shop more frequently at the farmer's market. It should be possible as there will be a market near where I'm working and there is a Saturday market near where I live. I'm also making an effort to use fewer plastic bottles and am trying to remember to take a reusable bag with me, at least to the farmer's market so I don't end up with 8,000 plastic bags. As it is, if I buy one or two things I don't take a bag.

It isn't a perfect system, but my theory is that I have had a smaller carbon footprint my whole life, simply because I have always had old things and when I was a child wore hand-me-downs.

Keep a Log of Expenditures for 30 Days

Another tip from Google Tip Jar is to write down every bit of money you spend for 30 days, so you really know where your money is going. It's easy to get into the habit of silly expenditures; for awhile I was buying iced tea, then I decided only to buy it on sale. Now I have decided not to spend that money and instead am drinking more water.

While I have never logged my spending for 30 days, I know a financial advisor who provides new clients or potential clients with a small notebook in which to record their spending. People are probably surprised at the results because it is so easy to get into bad habits and not recognize it. It's easy to do what is convenient, which is most often more expensive.

I've been bringing my lunch to work because I perceive buying food during the day as an out-of-control expense. I occasionally go out to lunch and, because I am Catholic, and don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent, I made a conscious choice to buy my lunch at the cafeteria on those Fridays, simply because I most often eat meat as part of my lunch. In keeping with the Lenten theme, my lunch isn't anything exotic, a grilled cheese sandwich and fries; however, I prefer my cheese sandwiches to be hot and melted, so I indulge that choice. Because I plan ahead, it won't affect my bottom line significantly; my lunch is less than $5 and I rarely eat out these days.

Keeping track for 30 days is great for someone who doesn't pay attention and needs to figure out if excess expenditures are being made. It's a great way to begin a budget. If I hadn't made the effort, bit by bit, to cut out the unnecessary, I'd do it myself. Unfortunately, I don't think I have any excess right now and refuse to give up chocolate.

Money Saving Advice from Google Tip Jar

I just learned about Google Tip Jar a few days ago and am excited about the prospect of finding money-saving tips. They're from many sources, most of which are unfamiliar to me, and there are several categories.

Much of the information is common-sense, but nobody uses that anymore. One of the tips I read is to drink water, to avoid wasting calories on beverages. Another, complementary tip, was to buy a water filtration system and bring filtered water with you. I have a glass at work and fill it from the tap on the drinking fountain. I also try to bring a water bottle with me and re-fill it when I'm out, rather than to buy water.

Another tip was to bring a flask of coffee or tea with you to work and avoid paying a lot of money. On document reviews, this wasn't really a consideration as beverages were provided. Most reviews provide coffee and filtered water; on some we had cocoa, hot tea, soda and carbonated water available. A couple of times there was also lemonade and iced tea mix. Now that I live in the land of government, water is available.

There are coffee clubs, which rent coffee makers and provide various types of coffee for a price. They seem pretty expensive to me as well; prices vary by breakroom and can be $1 or $2 a day. The more expensive option provides more types of coffee. They must have more expenses as they have several thermal pots into which the coffee is brewed. All I need is hot water, which I can make myself, in the microwave, or pay for. I tend to put some change in the kitty and use the hot water from the coffee maker just because it's faster. It isn't hotter, just faster.

Even Death Doesn't Stop Debt Collectors

I used to work with a woman whose first job out of law school was with a debt-collection outfit; you call the bank holding the deceased's credit card to let them know? Next thing you know, someone is calling you, asking for payment. Legally, the person's estate is responsible for payment, not any other individual who would not otherwise be liable. I know from experience, having been interrupted in the middle of the shower when an attorney/collector called my mom's house a few days after my dad died, that people can get scared when attorneys call.

Not all posthumous-debt collectors are attorneys, but a bank in my area has hired a law firm, which has a collections branch. My sister freaked out, thus the interrupted shower. Her take on the situation is that a phone call from an attorney is an emergency. Mine? Unless the house is burning down, don't bother me in the shower. An attorney is not an emergency.

While I believe in paying debt, many people are without insurance or any other asset, so the debt collector is taking advantage of the fact that people just don't know they're not responsible for another person's debt when that person dies. You also don't know that person's situation and it's entirely possible that they're committing to payments but can't really afford it. I'd have trouble making those calls because it's just unseemly.

I'm glad that my federally backed loans die with me; as it is, every month, the debt that doesn't die with me is reduced a little. Right now I'm insured for enough money that my co-signer will not be left holding the bag if anything happens to me.

E-mail Organization

I have multiple e-mail accounts, and am not always good about clearing them out. In my personal life, I have an account related to this blog and a couple of accounts related to myself, one of which is a hotmail account that I rarely open. At work, I have one account.

My primary personal e-mail account is through g-mail and I had over 1500 messages in it. I'm subscribed to e-mail from various places; among other things, I never de-activated my job searches because you never know what's going to come up. I have some subscriptions that are daily, some weekly, others monthly and some that are random. In addition to those, I get e-mails from comments here and on another blog to which I sometimes contribute. And I have personal messages, along with messages from social networking mechanisms.

As a result, I have quite a bit of e-mail some days, which is fine if I'm diligent and decide the outcome when I see the e-mail. Because of the masses of storage, it's easy to scan, read and not hit the delete button; I might want to see this again. In most cases, I really don't want to see it again, and its continuing presence, further and further away from the first page of messages, shows that.

I spent quite a bit of time the other day, deleting job postings to which I never replied; my current theory is that, unless I'm absolutely not going to be home that evening to apply for the job, if I'm interested, I'll reply the same day, otherwise I should just delete the next day. Of course, since I've been in my year-long position for four months, I haven't yet updated my resume, and need to do so this month. As much as I'd like for this project to be extended, I can't count on it. Because government moves slowly, it took several months for my current position to be posted and several more to make it through the hiring process; therefore, I have to update soon as it takes awhile for an appropriate job to come through.

Meanwhile, my e-mail is cleared out, at least for awhile.

Medical Insurance

Medical insurance is very expensive these days. Everyone knows that policies available from ggencies aren't comparable to those provided from employers; and this, when employers don't provide insurance that's as good as it used to be. It's great that COBRA coverage is a possibility, but for many of us, when healthcare, rent and student loans have the same dollar obligations, healthcare is the one to go. My friend just went to the doctor before paying her COBRA and, rather than paying the premium, opted not to have insurance and just pay massive amounts out of pocket. In her case, the premiums in total were about the same as the payments and she has now gone to her husband's insurance.

If you have a job that provides benefits, be thankful; I'm still paying on a medical bill incurred when I had crappy insurance that paid, in total, $300 for emergency visits. That paid for the doctor, in one capacity; however, he was wearing a couple of hats that evening and ordered a couple of tests. I'm on a payment plan, since the bill was large enough that there was no way I could pay it off immediately. Fortunately, the provider is reasonable and makes payment plans for those in my position. If I earned less, there was a possibility of a reduction in the bill, which is great to know for the future.

Meanwhile, I have insurance now. The problem I recently had was that I had a choice of plans and when I reviewed them, it appeared that I would be able to use the clinic I had most recently gone to and, much more important to me, keep my opthamologist. Because there was nothing indicating I needed a referral for such visit, I made an appointment and went.

Imagine my horror when claim was rejected on the grounds that it was out of network. The bill isn't tiny. Prior to choosing a plan, I had reviewed the webpage and it showed my opthamologist. It turns out that the plan is organized in such a way that I must first choose a clinic and only use the opthamologist linked to that clinic. But you don't know that until you're on the inside. When I called, much to my surprise, after explaining the situation and telling the rep. that I had no way of knowing my opthamologist wasn't an option and, furthermore, I would never have chosen their insurance if I had known, she said they'd pay for it; it turns out that there was no way for me to know my opthamologist wasn't an option.

I have changed clinics to the lone option linked to my opthamologist, which is a bit frustrating, though I was told that I can change clinics once a month and that I could wait until it's time to go to the opthamologist again, switch for a month and then switch back. I opted not to do so as that seems like something that would trigger a change in policy. I have been going to the same opthamologist, who is also an eye surgeon, and would prefer to continue to do so, so I am happy with the new clinic. It's as convenient as the old one.

If my primary care physician hadn't retired a few years ago, I might feel differently, though as it is, it should be fine.

Even the Wealthy are Underfunded

Even the wealthy don't have the cash flow that they need right now. While I don't have any small, portable assets worth taking to a pawn shop, others take theirs to, umm, a pawnshop with a fancy name. While I don't wish trouble on anyone, it's difficult for me to have sympathy for people who have random objects of the sort that could pay my debt as well as buy me a house, furnish it, and buy a car with the leftovers. I'm just not in their league.

I have far more in common with those who are rediscovering cube steak; my mom has recently taken to making Swiss steak, which is more-or-less that which is described. It's a nostalgia trip for her. Me? I'm not a big meat eater, so I don't have to downgrade from steak as it isn't typically on my menu. No worries that I have to cut back on groceries, my grocery store has two for one deals on chicken and pork fairly regularly. That's huge!

A much bigger problem for some is the potential beer shortages due to labor disputes in Bavaria. While I'm not a beer drinker, these people have a serious issue!

To Spend or Not to Spend, That is the Question

Since 9/11, we've been counseled that spending money is taking back our lifestyle from terrorism, but now things have changed. People are more mindful of spending money, both in how to spend it and if to spend.

Because I had started cutting back before 9/11, I wasn't sucked back into spending mode; not that I'd have had any money to spend, what with all the consumer debt and student loans I had at the time. Thrift hasn't been a consideration in this country in years. We can learn a lot from Japan, which, not too long ago, lost a decade due to financial implosion.

I doubt we'll have the same problem; people here just don't seem to learn. Right now, despite all the information out there on credit cards, people don't pay close attention to the terms of their account. Meaning that they're more likely to lose track of their interest rate, balance, due date, adherence to payment schedule and spending. Never good things to lose track of.

It's so easy to get sucked back in. Yesterday I received my credit card bill, and opened it, despite knowing I haven't used it since making my most recent payment; as a born-again transactor, I need to pay the bill in full, no matter how tempting it is to pay only a portion of it. I was happy to see a zero balance and find, under payment due, the word NONE.

While I still spend money, sometimes frivolously, I try to be more careful about how I spend and my method of payment; so far it has worked well for me. I'm also more aware of due dates for my bills than I have been at times in the past; late payments on credit cards do not bode well for interest rates. As we're so accustomed to spending, I believe that cutbacks in doing so will only last as long as the recession; once people are working again and the economy isn't as bad, spending will once again seem normal.

Every month during which I a) pay off my credit card balance, if any, in its entirety, and b) make payments on my student loans, is a month which reduces my debt.

Networking for Introverts

Following you will find a helpful article on networking. I'm an introvert, so need all the help I can get for this sort of thing

Subject: "Networking for the Introvert"

Being an introvert myself, it's especially gratifying when I can help my introverted clients gain an edge wherever possible. We live in a world that favors extroversion, and when it comes to networking, many introverts feel at a disadvantage. But there are strategies and approaches that we can use to be on a more level playing field with our extroverted counterparts.

Before getting into these strategies, I wanted to point out some common misconceptions about introverts. One of the most common is that we are by definition shy and unsociable wallflowers. But these traits are really unrelated to introversion. The true definition has to do with where we derive our energy. Introverts tend to feel anxious if faced with a string of social or professional events in a short amount of time. So to address this anxiety, we need to "recharge" our batteries more often by having more "alone" time. We derive our energy from within ourselves vs. from other people (as is the case with extroverts.)

Another myth is that we comprise only a tiny percentage of the world, but in fact approximately 25% of the population falls into the introvert category. Finally, many people believe that it is a learned behavior, but actually there is much evidence suggesting a biological basis for introversion. In other words, people are more or less "hard-wired" to be introverts or extroverts. But that's not to say that even strong introverts aren't able to exhibit extrovert-like behavior on occasion, and vice-versa.

In addition to taking time to recharge, there are numerous strategies to make networking a more positive, productive and enjoyable experience. For example:

• Bring a friend to an event, but agree to separate for at least part of the time. This forces you to interact with others, but it can help reduce your anxiety level.
• Commit to a certain number of networking activities each day (or each week.) Reward yourself for meeting or exceeding whatever goal you set for yourself.
• Consider letter writing as an alternative to phone calls. And don't underestimate the power of virtual networking on such sites as linkedin and Facebook, for example, is designed to do much of the legwork that you would normally do in a more traditional networking situation. But don't rely solely on virtual networking. A combination is ideal.
• Pace yourself. Don't try to schedule a full day of networking activities if you're attending an event that evening.
• If breaking the ice is a challenge for you, just remember to keep it simple: for example, talking about the weather or offering a compliment can be effective ways to get a conversation going.
• And most importantly, RELAX! If you're fearful of approaching others at a networking event, keep in mind that chances are everyone there has some degree of fear (even extroverts!), as well as a desire to approach you.

Joe Rosenlicht is a certified leadership coach and founder of InMotion Career & Wellness, a coaching practice specializing in career, small business and wellness issues. Through a structured and proven approach, Joe is able to help clients achieve their goals and live happier and healthier lives.

Visit Joe at http://www.inmotioncoach.com to get his free monthly newsletter containing valuable insights, tips and resources for your career and health, and to arrange a complimentary consultation.

Do you have "career know-how?" Take Joe's free career self-assessment at http://inmotioncoach.com/forms.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joe_Rosenlicht

Behavioral Interviews

Part 1


Whether it is called the behavioral interview, the
behavior-based interview, or the personal experience
interview, the behavioral interview is being used by more
and more employers to assess candidates. Let us help you to
gain the skills you will need to beat your competitors at
this type of interview!


In Part 1 of this series of two articles, we'll cover the
reasons you need to practice the behavioral interview, and
also what the interviewer is looking for.


In Part 2, we'll cover some behavioral interview questions
and how best to prepare for them. By the way, the
Careerfriend website
http://www.careerfriend.com/articles/behavioral-interview-qs.html
holds a full list of questions on its behavioral interview
questions page! What is the behavioral interview anyway?


Perhaps it is better to answer this question by thinking
about what the �traditional� interview might entail.


Traditional interview questions might include �Why are you
applying for this position?� or �What do you know about our
company?�


In fact, I�m sure that you have a whole list of these types
of interview questions against each of which you have
written, rehearsed and memorized your answer. If you
haven�t, then you should!


It is reasonably easy though for you to know (or at least
take an educated guess at) what the interviewer wants to
hear when they ask each of these questions. Therefore it is
also reasonably easy to come up with the �right� interview
answer. And because of this, interviewers find it very
difficult to differentiate candidates based on their
responses to this type of interview question alone.


This is where the behavioral interview comes in!


The behavioral interview is based on the premise that the
best guide to your future performance is your past
performance. Each interview will draw upon one or a small
number of �experiences� � times in your life when you found
yourself in a situation or problem where you needed to take
a set of actions to resolve the situation or problem. The
behavioral interview is designed to allow you to tell the
interviewer about what actions you took.


This certainly appears to make sense. If, for example, I was
interviewing you for a role which required well-developed
negotiation skills, I would much rather hear about a time
when you used your skills in a tough negotiation than hear
about what you know about my company! Therefore, behavioral
interviews are a much better predictor of future
performance.


Another key attribute about good behavior-based interviews,
in my view, is that they should be more �input-based� than
�output-based�. What do I mean by that? I mean that I want
to know what you did, what you said, how you felt, and what
you thought (in other words, your �behaviors�) during your
tough negotiation more than whether it was successful or
not. The reason for this is that even if you had achieved
your desired outcome in the negotiation, I have no idea in
the confines of our interview room whether the person you
were negotiating with was a push-over, or the hardest
negotiator that walked the earth! I will be able to get a
much better view of that by finding out how you ran the
negotiation process, what you did and said at each stage,
and how you planned for the next stage of negotiation �
this is what I mean by the �input�.


So who uses behavioral interviewing techniques?


The truth is that most top-grade employers use behavioral
interviews. They have found it to be a much better way of
assessing whether a candidate is suitable for the job than
other �traditional� methods of interviewing.


It is also true that some less-trained interviewers may ask
behavioral interview questions, without realizing that they
are doing so! You can use this to your advantage, since if
you use the techniques in this report your answer will be
far more compelling than those from unprepared candidates.
Let me illustrate with an example:


A less-trained interviewer may ask, �What positions of
responsibility have you held?�


This information should be on your resume, so the
interviewer is asking the question either because they
haven�t seen or read your resume (which is possible) or
because they are hinting that they would like some more
detail behind the facts on your resume.


Either way, here is your chance to shine. Keep reading, and
I�ll show you how you can really impress your interviewer
by providing a behavioral interview styled answer!


What is the interviewer looking for at the behavioral
interview?


As mentioned above, the interviewer is looking for a set of
behaviors which the employer has decided are key for
success in the position. They could include taking
initiative, taking risks, persuading, manipulating complex
data, making decisions under pressure, facilitating
meetings, working within teams, leading teams etc.


It is important for you to have a clear idea of what
behaviors the interviewer will be looking for.


Sometimes you will find this on the company website under
their �careers� section. Sometimes you will find hints
towards what they think are important traits in their
people in the �about our people� or �about us� sections.
Remember to check the websites of other companies who
operate in the same sector � they are likely to want the
same things as your prospective employer!


Alternatively, use your network to reach out to people who
work at the company, used to work at the company, or are
otherwise involved with the company to find out what kind
of behaviors they value in their people. And again, don�t
just stop at your prospective employer, but also other
companies in the sector.


So that's it for this week - come back next week to learn
more about preparing for the behavioral interview!


- Jonathan Lewis


Jonathan Lewis is the founder and CEO of the Careerfriend
website (http://www.careerfriend.com), committed to helping
people succeed in their dream careers. The site provides a
wealth of free articles and resources covering career and
employer selection, through resume and cover letter
writing, to interviewing, salary negotiation and ongoing
career development. Jonathan's extensive experience of
attracting, recruiting, retaining and developing
exceptional people in management consulting and investment
banking allows him to offer clear, actionable advice which
has a great impact on people either looking for new jobs or
looking to succeed further in their existing jobs.




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Speaking of Chocolate and Morality

In India as well as other asian countries, Valentine's Day is banned or at least highly discouraged. The objection, of course, is that dating is not allowed; traditionally in India, marriages are arranged. This is true of Saudi Arabia, which is also against Valentine's Day.

Part of the objection seems to be Christianity's involvement. They must not have heard of Hallmark. In any case, let's drink to the women who are fighting back by going to the pub and having a drink.

Recession-Proof Industries

Include movies, online dating and chocolate.

Superficial is out, finding someone whose personality you like is in.

Historically, movies have done well during bad economic times. Everyone needs a diversion. Chocolate is also recession-proof; I'm thinking Hersheys and Nestle, not necessarily Godiva and the high end brands. People still need treats and likely downgrade from other sorts of treats to chocolate, or from higher priced brands to lower. Since I'm not a chocolate snob, I'm no judge and am perfectly happy with ordinary brands.

Health Insurance

CNN has some ideas on what to do if you have no health insurance and end up sick or injured.

I no longer remember which health care provider was charging people 16% interest if they had to carry a bill for lack of insurance. I'm currently making payments on a bill incurred when I had crappy insurance and am not paying any interest whatsoever. Which is huge.

The Fair Isaac Company wants to have a health care scoring system, similar to the credit report; supposedly providers wouldn't be able to check results before treatment, but it seems like a bad idea. I'm not sure if they're moving forward on it, as it seems designed to eliminate or greatly reduce treatment for the poor or unemployed.

Cocoa

The Ivory Coast's cocoa industry is moving along, unlike so many other industries. About now a tropical area sounds good, though I don't know if I'm well-suited to extreme manual labor as described here.