Sabotaging Your Job Prospects

If your job interview is going well, keep it to yourself. It’s probably best not to phone your parents half way through the interview to tell them how it’s going. Strange as it may seem, that’s juyst one of the crazy things that have happened in recent interviews.

British Recruitment Specialist company, Robert Half, recently released some fascinating research regarding job seekers. They named the top seven blunders from job interviews they’d researched. I wonder if you can top any of these.

1. One person brought his mother to the job interview and let her do all the talking.

2. A job applicant went to an interview with a cockatoo on his shoulder.

3. The candidate sent his sister to interview in his place.

4. After answering the first few questions, the candidate picked up his mobile and called his parents to let them know the interview was going well.

5. One candidate sang all of her responses to interview questions.

6. When asked by the hiring manager if he had any questions, the candidate replied by telling a knock-knock joke.

7. One candidate handcuffed himself to the desk during the interview.

It’s always helpful to be honest during your interview but can you be a little too honest? A few responses in interviews would suggest that sometimes it’s best to remain silent.

When asked by the hiring manager why she was leaving her current job, the applicant said, ‘My manager is a jerk. All managers are jerks.’

In response to the hiring manager’s offer to answer questions about the position, the job seeker replied, ‘What happens if I wake up in the morning and don’t feel like going to work?’

When asked what motivated him, the job seeker replied, ‘I’ve got a big house and a big car and a big credit card balance. Pay me, and I’ll be happy.’

The applicant told me he really was not interested in the position, but he liked that we allowed for a lot of time off.

Have you ever had a weird job interview? Has it ever gone horribly wrong for you or have you been interviewed by someone that has just left you scratching your head? have you ever heard of strange things happening in interviews?

On the other hand, what are your top tips for people going for a job interview? Have you found anything really helpful when searching for a job? I’d love you to share your comments.



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Find Me On Facebook

Today I’m revisiting a post I wrote some months ago. The following is the post I published to explain why I created a ‘Facebook Fan Page’.I thought I’d throw it out there again for anyone who missed it the first time around.

How do I explain this without sounding arrogant. Well maybe I don’t. Not that I want to sound arrogant but when you set up your own Facebook ‘fan page’ it does seem somewhat cheesey and self serving. I get that, but that’s not what it’s about. I’m not looking for fans. I’m simply wanting to stay connected with a wider group of friends.

So why would an ordinary bloke ask people to click the link that says they ‘like’ him? Over inflated ego? Umm … no. A deep cry for acceptance? No again.

The truth is that I jumped on board with Facebook some time ago and have built up quite a number of Facebook friends. Some are family, some are close friends, some acquaintances, some are old school friends, while others are those I’ve ‘met’ online.

I’ve been torn between wanting to accept every friend request I receive and keeping Facebook for those I know personally. Having a wider group of friends means I sometimes can’t share as much as I like, while keeping a very closed Facebook page means I can’t share stuff with as many people as I’d like.

While it’s not a perfect solution I’ve decided to set up a new Facebook page that’s completely open to everyone. You don’t even have to make a friendship request, just click the button and add yourself as a friend.

I don’t really know how this will all work. I may only end up with a handful of friends at the new page but I’m hoping that it’ll get a little busier than that.

If you’re already a Facebook friend and you feel you’d fit better with the new page, feel free to ‘unfriend’ me and join the new page. You’re also welcome to stay connected through both pages.

I’ll still be posting a lot of the same content on both pages but the ability to share things a little differently will allow me to protect my privacy and especially my family’s privacy a little better.

Thanks for your understanding. I hope to see you at my new Facebook page soon.



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A Wicked Night Out

The latest big Broadway musical to hit Perth opened last night. I took my beautiful daughter, Emily, off to Perth’s opening night of the Australian production of Wicked at the Burswood Entertainment Complex. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening with a magnificent show and wonderful company.

If you haven’t heard much about it the show gives a bit of the back story to the Wizard of Oz. It’s promoted as the untold story of the witches of Oz.

Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. The story is based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum’s classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is told from the perspective of the witches of the Land of Oz. – Wiki

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I’m now a bit of a fan. The sets and lighting are incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show with such elaborate and interesting sets. The live musicians, big voices and Stephen Schwartz’s music make it wonderful as a pure musical but the acting of the excellent cast just keeps drawing you in to the story.

I really didn’t expect it would be so funny. If you’re not into musicals, you’ll love it just for the comedy. Perth performer Lucy Durack played the ditzy Glinda to perfection and her comic timing was brilliant.

I’ve been to a few shows that I’ve absolutely loved but have still appreciated intermission for a bit of a break. I must say that when intermission arrived last night I would have been quite happy for the show to just roll on. I wanted to know what would happen next. It’s no wonder that Wicked has broken box office records around the world.

Wicked provided a wonderful evening out and a great excuse for a magnificent dad and daughter date.



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Red Nose Day 2011

Red Nose Day has been a recognised fixture on the Australian fund raising calendar for so long it almost feels as if it’s always been around. The Red Nose Day concept was adopted by SIDS and Kids organisation in Australia back in 1988 and in that first year around a thousand red noses were sold.

We’re being encouraged to wear our red noses or buy other Red Nose Day products tomorrow for Red Nose Day 2011.

SIDS and Kids is dedicated to saving the lives of babies and children during pregnancy, birth, infancy and childhood and supporting bereaved families. We deliver on our vision through world class research; evidence based education and bereavement support; and advocacy.

In Australia each year over 3,500 families experience the sudden and unexpected death of a baby or child, either through stillbirth or during the first month of life, from sudden unexpected death in infancy (SIDS or fatal sleeping accidents), SUDC (sudden unexpected death in childhood) or accident.

Dee Taseff from SIDS and Kids joined me during my radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM this morning to talk about the advances that have been made in research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, stillbirth and neonatal deaths as well as what remains to be done. You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

SIDS and Kids is selling a big range of products to aid research and help towards the other services they offer this year so there’s sure to be something for everyone. SIDS and Kids relies almost totally on the support of the community so if you see any Red Nose Day products at the checkout please consider purchasing something to help others. Alternitavely you can shop at the SIDS and Kids Online Shop. There are some wonderful products available online.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR230611_1115.mp3]

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Does Mathematics Multiply Your Stress Levels?

It’s well known that children do better with their education when their parents are supportive of their school and teachers. That’s why we do our best to help with homework. We help our kids with spelling, reading and lots of other homework but being asked to help with mathematics has many parents running from the room screaming or suddenly finding something else very important to do elsewhere.

“They didn’t do it that way in my day.”

We might be able to come up with the same answers as our kids but trying to follow the techniques they use seems almost impossible. On top of that, our children are likely to be using calculators or computers where all we had was a pencil, paper and a somewhat confused brain. So how do we help our children when we have no idea what they’re meant to be doing?

Dr Paul Swan began his career as a primary school teacher, then taught secondary mathematics and eventually ended up teaching at Edith Cowan University. He is the author and co-author of many books including the best selling Teaching Primary Mathematics. I was very pleased to have him as my guest this morning on 98.5 Sonshine FM.

We talked about why there seems to be so much difference in the way we learn about mathematics to the way we learn about other course areas. We also discussed simple ideas to help parents incorporate maths learning into everyday life. A major emphasis for Paul is making sure that our already stressed lives aren’t further complicated by mathematics. His approach is simple, down to earth and effective. You can listen to our discussion by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

The WA Primary Principal’s Association is presenting Dr Paul Swan speaking about Supporting Your Children in Learning Mathematics this Wednesday night at the Burswood entertainment Complex. It’s a paid event with all profits supporting the Smart Future Foundation, a fully registered charitable entity that was established to give all children a fair go.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR200611_1034.mp3]

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