About Erika Cox

Erika is a freelance writer and writes several articles for an online publisher. She loves writing about health, employment, music, and crime issues. She is also a graduate student studying criminal justice. Visit some of her published articles http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/2624/midwestgirl.html

Tips to become a Life Coach

What is a life coach? A life coach is someone who works with another person coaching, encouraging, motivating, and inspiring him or her to do what it is they seek to accomplish or to meet the goal the person is trying to reach. Life coach home based businesses have become pretty popular in recent years. The title of life coach includes a number of different types of areas or type of coaching that include relationship, business, personal, Christian, career, and weight loss to name a few specific areas. A brief explanation of what each type of coach does is listed: … Continue reading

Work from Home as a Virtual Assistant

What is a virtual assistant? A virtual assistant is basically an assistant who works from their home or virtually. The virtual assistant business is not widely known but it is a growing field. A virtual assistant uses the administrative skills they have obtained to assist with busy small business owners who may need assistance. The different types of administrative skills include typing, data entry, word processing, PowerPoint, website design, taking calls and orders, spreadsheets, and managing databases just to name a few. You don’t need experience or knowledge in all the areas to be a virtual assistant, but you need … Continue reading

Questions to ask the prospective employer

The interview is almost over and the prospective employer asks you if you have any questions you want to ask him or her. This is where your research comes into effect, you should ask a couple of questions to show you are very interested in the position and the company. There are some employers that go over everything so you may not have any questions, but many don’t. So, let’s take a look at some questions you can ask the prospective employer. There are a few things to remember when asking questions to the employer. Make sure the employer can … Continue reading

A Career as a Scopist

What is a Scopist? A scopist is the person who edits and proofreads steno court reporters’ transcripts. A court reporter who types on a small steno machine types in shorthand that produces a ticket tape paper filled with letters and abbreviations instead of complete words and sentences. To the untrained eye the letters look like someone typed on a typewriter (remember those) full of broken keys. However, a scopist is trained to be able to read the steno language and translate the letters into real words with real meaning. The scopist uses a software program and a computer to translate … Continue reading

The purpose of an Informational Interview

An informational interview is for those who are just entering in the workforce, those who have been absent from the workforce for a long period of time or even those who are seeking a career change. Although some people will see this as a waste of time, it can be very beneficial in providing someone knowledge about certain careers and companies that they may be interested in. An informational interview consists of having a meeting with someone in a particular field, industry, or company that you are interested in. An informational interview will help you prepare for a real interview … Continue reading

Research prospective employers

Many people don’t do this or don’t think to do but researching a prospective employer is a very important step in not only getting an interview but also having a successful interview. Because it is time consuming many people may ask someone do they know anything about a particular company, which works if that person has accurate information. To use your time effectively, divide your research into two different stages. The first stage should include getting all the basic information about different companies. That includes the company’s name, address, phone numbers, names and job titles of key contacts, if the … Continue reading

Follow up procedures to get an interview

Another good way to prepare yourself for having a successful interview is to practice a one-minute sales pitch. Practice what kind of work you do or you want to do, what your strongest skills and accomplishments, and what kind of position you are seeking. Go over this a few times until you feel comfortable and confident. Then one week after you have sent your resume to a prospective employer, give that employer a call. Go further than just asking if they have received your resume. Give them your sixty-second sales pitch on why they should hire you and why you … Continue reading

The last six steps to a successful interview

In my last article we learned what the first six steps were to a successful interview. Now, let’s look at the remaining six steps. 7. Personality and Cultural Compatibility – Fitting into an organization is an important factor to your success in that company. Make sure your personality fits with others that work there. You can find this out by asking the potential employer what type of environment does the company project. You can ask what type of customers or clients the company encounters. 8. Management Style and Interpersonal Skills – Focus on how well your skills are in this … Continue reading

The first six steps to a successful interview

As mentioned in my previous article, there are twelve important steps to follow in preparing for an interview and having a successful interview that can make you stand out from the crowd and get the position you want. Let’s look at the first six steps you need to follow. 1. Passion for Business – Haven’t you heard people say “Get a job doing something you love”, that is definitely true. If you have no real desire or interest in the position but are just looking to find work, it will show during the interview when the prospective employer ask why … Continue reading

12 steps to prepare you for the Interview

Too many job seekers don’t prepare themselves properly for the most important part of their job search, the interview process. Although your impressive resume may get you an interview, you must prepare yourself for the interview. To distinguish yourself from the many other job applicants who have also received an interview there are a number of things you should to do adequately prepare yourself for the interview. First, you need to develop your personal themes for the interview. Knowing what an employer will discuss during an interview gets you a leg up on your competition and impresses the employer. You … Continue reading