There’s no “I” in Teamwork: How to be a Great Team Player

These days, the corporate team is a popular approach in working on projects or preparing for business events. In order to succeed in this environment, you need to be a good team player. Otherwise, you might find yourself on the bench or fouled out. Here are some do’s and don’t on playing for the team, and winning.

Do:

Be friendly

• Oscar the Grouch may have friends on Sesame Street, but let’s be serious, no one wants the Office Grouch on their team.
• Build good relationships with your teammates.

Communicate

• Without effective communication, even the most brilliant team will fail. Listen to your teammates and contribute when appropriate.
• Never become the Loneranger; always get the “go-ahead” before moving forward on crucial tasks.
• Be ready to accept and give feedback.
• Read and respond to all team correspondence.

Be open

• Sometimes ideas don’t sound plausible simply because you didn’t think of them first. Listen to your teammates, and don’t be quick to criticize. Give everyone a chance to contribute.
• When testing out a teammate’s plan, be supportive, only giving constructive criticism when appropriate.
• Encourage brainstorming and free-thinking. And don’t shoot down ideas simply because they’re unusual or unconventional.
• Learn from past mistakes, and listen to teammates’ concerns. One concern may represent a larger flaw that could be avoided with a little foresight.

Contribute

• Volunteer, especially when your skills and experience match the task.
• Attend all meetings (try not to be late) and respond to team correspondence when appropriate.
• Work towards not only your success, but the success of your teammates.
• Give compliments when deserved.

Be responsible

• Fulfill all your obligations.
• Go above and beyond what is required of you. This sets you apart as a dependable teammate who can be trusted with any task.

Don’t:

Watch theaction

• No one enjoys working with someone who sits back to watch the team work tirelessly, rarely contributing except to criticize.

Be a know-it-all

• No one likes a smarty-pants. It’s good to contribute your thoughts and ideas, but your teammates will roll their eyes once you begin to have all the answers. Be willing to sit back and give others the chance to shine.
• Don’t say “I told ya so…” Even if you voiced concerns over a teammate’s ideas, never come back to say you thought a plan would fail once it actually does.

Whine or complain

• Whining and complaining only generates negative energy. You also create a reputation as a wet blanket, and colleagues won’t want to work with you again.
• Never complain about others. And gossip about teammates will always come back to haunt you.

Steal thunder

• Never take responsibility for a teammate’s work. That does no one any good, especially you.

Working as a team is often the best way to generate great ideas and have access to the necessary skill-set to carry them out. Sometimes being a team player means you have to put yourself second in order to earn more points in the end. Whatever the effort it requires, you will be a better employer in the end if you learn how to work well with others.

How UAC Can Help You Contribute More to a Team
In the Universal Business Model, accounting, marketing, and production are the three functions that must work well together to ensure success. Without teamwork among these functions, businesses fail.

Accountants and bookkeepers are invaluable players on any business team; they have access to financial data that can inform crucial decisions and make the entire company more profitable.

If you’re interested in becoming an accountant or bookkeeper, but don’t want to spend years studying at a university, come visit Universal Accounting Center, where you can be trained in accounting for the small business in as little as 16 days. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2008 accounting jobs will increase by 20%! With more and more accounting positions available each day, you’ll be working towards not only a valuable job, but job security as well.

Universal Accounting Center’s Professional Bookkeeper Program trains students on accounting for the small business. With over 25 years of experience training students in small business accounting, UAC has a solid track record. Our graduates have a lot to say about how UAC’s Professional Bookkeeper Program has helped them succeed. Come visit Universal today, and see what the Professional Bookkeeper Program could do for you.

How to answer ‘Tell me about yourself’

By Carol Kleiman — Chicago Tribune

A highly popular job interview question that really stumps job seekers - and it’s second only to being asked why you left your last job - sounds quite innocuous and even user-friendly on the surface.

It’s: “Tell me about yourself.”

And if you’re not prepared to answer it clearly and briefly, it may be the end of your chance to get the job.

“The question is very common and employers can ask it in various different ways, but it’s still the same question,” said John Karras, director of career services for Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University, headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.

“They might ask, why should I hire you rather than the next candidate I talk to? And what they’re really saying is, I’m going to give you a little bit of time to tell me anything you want.”

Karras, who has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in organizational communication and has been at DeVry since 1989, acknowledges that most job candidates hate this question, but it’s really a friendly one: “They’re allowing you to say anything you want - and I would love that opportunity in a job interview.”

The career counselor, who previously was director of a state-funded dislocated worker program and also was an executive recruiter, emphasizes that you should be able to answer the question in “30 to 60 seconds.”

In that time frame, he adds, you have to “concisely convey your interests, abilities, character, personality and what you’re looking for.”

When Karras coaches job applicants to prepare for that moment, he encourages them to use that short time to emphasize their “soft skills” in their brief opening statement. “List your personal points of marketability, your organizational and leadership skills, your dependability and flexibility — you as a person, rather than your job experience,” he said.

But what will separate you from the others, the director adds, is “proofthat you indeed have the skills. The proof will get you the job.

“If you say you have excellent time management skills, your next words should be: For example, I held a part-time job while taking college courses.”

Ascertaining your soft skills is a necessary step to take so that you can use the time you have to your advantage. “Think back on your life experiences,” advised Karras. “Do a brainstorming exercise and pinpoint your personal points of marketability.”

If you’re applying for a sales position, the director suggests the one soft skill you most likely would want to emphasize is your communication skill; an accounting job, that you are analytical and detail-oriented; and for most entry-level jobs, that you are absolutely dependable.

“Just give the top one or two skills in your reply - you can get to the others in the rest of the job interview,” he said. “Know going in which they are.”

When Karras was interviewed for his job at DeVry, the first question he was asked was, ‘What’s your story?’ “I said I have excellent time management skills and gave examples,” he said. “And then I was given time to talk about the other soft skills I had listed. By the time I was done, I was sent to the next level. And got the job.”

Here are some suggestions I have about what to say in that less than one-minute window of opportunity:

“I am kind to my parents.”

“My dog loves me.”

“I donate blood.”

“I help people across the street.”

And most important of all: “I’m someone who really needs a job!”

Carol Kleiman is the author of “Winning the Job Game: The New Rules for Finding and Keeping the Job You Want”

Additional Interviewing Resources

Wouldn’t it be great to have someone to help you navigate the maze that is the interviewing process. Career Coaching is a very hot field right now, and for good reason: it works!

As part of the follow-up support for the Professional Bookkeeper program, you will be assigned a career coach to help you to put into place a strategy for finding a job. From creating the resume that gets noticed and avoids the “round file” to a step-by-step process for finding employers that are looking for your skills, your career coach will give you the resources and tools you need to get the job you want.

Learn More About the Follow-Up Support Included in the Professional Bookkeeper Program

We have been in the Accounting and Bookkeeping business since 1979 and have seen, and been a part of many successful businesses that provide write-up and daily bookkeeping services for small businesses. We have seen and put into practice the highly effective strategies, tactics and methods of Accounting and business and experienced many times over the exhilaration of dreams realized and company goals met by following what is taught in our courses.

One constant that has run over the course of the last 25+ years in the role of the accounting employee, and the inability to be paid equal to who they work for. The constraints that naturally come with such a position do not allow, in our day and age of business, to remain an accounting underling, and pay for the best in life.

Perhaps you’ve experienced these limitations yourself. The following are just some of the things we have observed about that type of a position.

• Strapped down by what someone else thinks you need to be paid – Entry level pay aside, for those who have been conducting accounting duties for years have found that their pay is determined by what someone else (usually their boss) thinks they need to be paid. Sometimes the driving factor is what the company can afford, regardless of that someone else is making the decision what your time is worth.
• Kept to the 3% cost-of-living pay increase – Pay increases are limited to usually the 3% cost-of living increase that companies dole out each year. This is designed only to keep the employee on pace with inflation. Not a way to increase their bottom line and take home pay. It’s been said that when you’re just treading water you’re only one arm stroke from drowning.
• Control of your position out of your hands – How much you are paid is completely dependant on the fancy, whim or circumstance of the:
  • Economy – Businesses are smart to expand and shrink as the market demands, but most times this tactic leaves their employees high and dry. Accounting and Bookkeeping services are as recession-proof as you can get.
  • Bosses – We’ve all experienced that type of boss that doesn’t have our best interest in mind. Whether conflicts of personality, or purpose or even professional knowledge come into play, who usually wins… The boss.
  • Corporate Culture – Corporate culture with some companies can be cutthroat and demeaning. Even if it makes no difference either way it isn’t set up with your welfare in mind, but the welfare of the company. Many employees can get lost in the welfare of the Corporation.
• No matter how well you do, usually pay remains the same until your yearly review – All of us like to be rewarded in a position in what we do and when we do exceptionally well we would like that reflected in our take home pay. Most of the time this is not possible to do until HR schedules out your yearly reviews. By the time that can roll around, the momentum of that wonderful result would have lost its luster and the realized impact on the company would have waned.

So How Can All This Benefit Me?

You may be thinking, “I’m looking for work, not to go out on my own, why am I still reading this?” Frankly, for some people to be their own bosses is not in their make-up. It’s just not something that they do not have the discipline to do. However for those types of people like you and me, it’s time to consider and weigh the immediate pain and work for the overall results and rewards. First let me ask you this question, can you afford NOT to go out on your own with the help of the Professional Bookkeeping Course? Let’s run some numbers.

Let’s take the entry level pay for an average accountant and boost it a bit. Let’s say you are making around $20 an hour currently and you are a healthy 30-35 year old person working the normal 40 hours a week, 50 weeks out of the year. (2 weeks off for vacation of course, don’t want to work you into the ground do we?) Before taxes that’s $3200 a month or $38,400 a year, not too shabby. Not taking into consideration the taxes, health benefits and 401K situations most companies have, over the course of the next fifteen years ( and taking into the equation of the 3% yearly living expense increase each year) your earning potential only reaches $59,826 a year for a 15-year gross total of $774,025.

You’re probably thinking, “Ok, what’s wrong with making $59K by the time I’m 45 years old, three-fourth of a million dollars is a lot of money”… Yeah, look where you can be if instead of $20 an hour you were making $45 an hour on your own (taking the same formula above).

• Your starting gross yearly pay would be $86,400 (a $48,000 difference to START).
• Adjusting the 3% increase of living each year by the end of that 15 years your yearly gross income would come to a mere $134,608.
• A whopping difference of $74,782 a year between the two!
• Over the course of those 15 years you loose out on potential earning of nearly $970,000 dollars.

And this is not considering if you grow your Accounting practice to require employees and dozens of clients. This is only taking into account what you can do! So I ask again, can you afford NOT to get this program?

Nut and Bolts of the Universal Offer

All that aside and based on the program’s merits this is the best decision, and the easiest decision you can make. While developing the most comprehensive training course found in the market - chock full of 25-years worth of experience and up-to-date proven strategies, methodologies, and tactics. Crafted to the student, and taught in such a way to have everything for the beginners to the most advanced in the profession - we have given to those who have come before you this Iron-Clad Guarantee.

That is, once you have completed the course, and found that it did not help you, we guarantee a full refund of the cost of the Professional Bookkeeper’s Training Course. Just send us all the materials back, and we’ll get your money back to you, it’s that simple. Getting the program is as Risk-Free and “Benefit-Full” as we could make it. A better offer is hard to find.

And we extend this Universal Iron-Clad Guarantee to you! Purchase your copy of the course today and you will have not only the Knowledge-packed course, the Iron-Clad Money-Back Guarantee but we’ll give you an additional two practice sets ($198 value). Business types that you can practice doing books on, so you can completely familiar with all the methods of the accounting process.

Practice Makes Perfect.

The three modules already contain practice sets for nine different types of businesses. Purchase the Professional Bookkeeper today and you’ll receive two more practice sets, giving you eleven in all. This will give you even more confidence and experience in various industries and the opportunity to work with additional types of clients.

In addition to the practice sets we recognize that you will need the support from Universal to help you through your coursework and answer questions that arise from all that is involved in the program. We won’t just leave you high and dry! We’ll add into this offer 6 months of Universal Coaching Support, a $585 value for FREE. You’ll have access to our Academic Coaches to be able to get your questions about the course work, but you’ll also have 6 months access to our CPA Coach to be able to answer the questions that arise when you are applying what you learn to your position. By phone or email both of these coaches are here to answer what questions may come along. This also includes the cost of $485 for the final exam for the Professional Bookkeeper’s designation. Certification to your employers that you have gone through the best possible training and have mastered everything there is to know in the program.

The Universal List of what you’ll get in the Professional Bookkeeper’s Program:

Universal Accounting Center’s Ironclad Guarantee
Oh, and one more thing a university wouldn’t offer: an ironclad money-back guarantee.

There you have it. If in the end you feel this course wasn’t worth its cost, you can get your money back! Very few opportunities like this come with a risk-free guarantee.

For just hundreds off the retail price, you can enroll in the Professional Bookkeeper Program right now pay in full and be on the path to guaranteed success. If you order now you can get 2 free gifts worth nearly $2000! Visit Universal Accounting Center today and discover what’s included in this amazing program. Don’t wait to get that edge on success. Order the Professional Bookkeeper Program today! It’s a “no-brainer.”

Hiring By Committee

Many of us have gone through those type of interviews that have not been our best, as well as our fair share that we knocked their socks off. The reasons that we have received about getting the job or not getting the job can be as long as Shaquille O’Neal’s arm. However that happens, the hardest type of interview to “hit it out of the ballpark” is what is called Hiring By Committee. Those companies that operate under the idiom of - it takes a company to hire one employee - ask those who come in for interviews to be interviewed by several of their trusted employees all at the same time.

Early in my career I had one such instance where, without any foreknowledge I was interviewed by a committee set up by the president of the company for the position being hired for. Although I felt that I did a good job, I also felt that if I had been able to prepare beforehand for answering these, “Tell me about yourself..” questions in front of 7 or more people I could have done better.

There is a certain strategy you would take when you are interviewed by one person verses when you are being interviews by a committee, and the following tips are things you can use if you run up against a company that has this Committee-Hire philosophy:

• Do our homework beforehand - Research the company you will be interviewing with to the fullest extent possible. You will be able to find a lot through their web site, any trade periodicals, press releases, and perhaps even “googling” their name online. Try to get the department heads, their mission statement, and if they have it somewhere, their philosophy of doing business. These will help you to be able to stay clear and even in some instances go towards their company’s hot buttons and would give you the edge in the interviewing process.

• Get the gauge of the participants - When involved in a group interview process you need to be able to size up each participant in the committee. Never assume anything, it just might turn out the most quiet one in the room is the ultimate decision maker. You can get a sense of the authority by observing whom your interviewers make eye contact with as they speak. Show equal respect to each participant and let your professionalism shine through. One tactic that has been found successful is to have a question for each as they are introducing themselves to you. Make it specific as possible to what they oversee, and make the question a genuine search to understand their position better.

• Can’t be shy, toot your own horn - have prepared and at the ready three or four characteristics of the position and what you possess, have had experience with or want to concentrate some of your efforts on. Be prepared to demonstrate examples from your experience during the session. That question of, “What do you feel is your strength…” and “What do you feel is your weakness…” is almost assuredly going to come up. Be ready for it.

• Expect the unexpected - Sometimes in a group setting someone will say something that supports or takes away from the point you want to bring across to the committee, be ready to clarify your position and to bring that someone and supporting their position. Add to their comments, but be aware that you do not deride or belittle the person for their opinion, remember equal respect for all.

• Show patience and grace in the pressure cooker - You need to be collected and quick to the response because usually there are more being interviewed for the position in the process. Just keep in mind a poorly phrased answer can do more damage than saying nothing at all. Try to anticipate the questions and have your answers for those at-the-ready.

• Assert yourself - If you have something meaningful to say and someone else is speaking, wait your turn. Make sure your voice is heard, but avoid dominating the conversation, it could be a turn off to those in the process.

• Play up your people skills - During a group interview, the decision maker may split the group into small teams and assign a hypothetical problem or case for each to ask those being interviewed about. In these situations, the groups asking those being interviewed are likely looking to see how the questions are answered and the approaches to clarify the circumstance of the question used by the interview-ee. How you tailor your answer to the right type of department head asking the question can be the determining factor on if you get the job or not. Be ready to have answers for those in IT and in Fulfillment, and Marketing Departments as well.

• Play up your professional experience - Especially if it’s extensive. Interviewers enjoy hearing examples of different aspects faced by a professional and how you tackled the problem, or resolved the concern, or saved money for the company you had worked for previously. Letting them know how expert you are in working with the day to day, as well with interacting with other staffers, managers, and employees gives them the glimpse you need to give for them to see you are the best person for the position they want to fill.

Preparing for a group interview is very similar to getting ready for a traditional one-on-one interview. The keys to succeeding is acknowledging there may be other applicants, but distinguishing yourself to the Hiring Committee as the candidate of choice. If you can do this in a professional and polished way, you may be chosen for a follow-up interview or the job itself.

Give yourself the edge in the interviewing process! Your formal training will give you the advantage that is needed to give you the step up among the others who are seeking the same position you are. Get the Universal Training as a Professional Bookkeeper so that you can go in with confidence to those you want to work for and further your career with without any reservations.

Click Here to get yourself started in the Training Program that will change the course of your career for the better.

The Accounting Profession: Guaranteed Success

My kids have one of those miniature basketball hopes we keep in the house. They don’t like to play with me because making baskets is a “no brainer” when you tower above the hoop. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a “no brainer” career, where you tower over success?

Every business, whether it be an auto shop, a high-level marketing firm, or an art gallery, must perform accounting functions. Not only is it required by law, but good accounting helps a business assess its progress and take steps to become even more profitable. Because of this, good accountants are a priceless commodity, and when they do their job well they become invaluable to the company they work for. The accounting profession can be your “no brainer” career, with guaranteed success just as close as a miniature basketball hoop.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2008 accounting jobs will increase by 20%! That’s just two years from now. “In addition to openings resulting from growth, the need to replace accountants and auditors who retire, or transfer to other occupations, will produce numerous openings in this large occupation,” the bureau said in a recent report. Imagine how many jobs that represents. And imagine how many of them you could choose from.

Catapult Yourself to a Lucrative Career
The amazing thing is that you could learn accounting by the end of the year; your New Year’s resolution could be to get one of those prime accounting jobs. Finally, a resolution you could fulfill by the end of January! But how? It takes four years to get an accounting degree at a standard university. And they only train you in corporate accounting, which represents 2% of accounting opportunities out there. What makes up the 98%? Small business, and Universal Accounting Center knows small business accounting!

The Professional Bookkeeper Program
The Universal Accounting Professional Bookkeeper course was originally created by Alf Bostrom when he became frustrated that no course existed to teach a hands-on process of small business accounting.

The course has evolved over the last 25 years into a comprehensive program in the day-to-day bookkeeping of a small business. And our graduates have found that the principles also apply exceptionally well to larger companies. You not only get the theory taught in college, but you are taught by practical examples of real-world companies. From a bakery to a car lot, you will do books for 9 businesses and see how they are similar and how they differ.

And the best part, you can complete the course in 60 hours; if you start today you could finish the program by the holidays and relax for a month before starting on that New Years resolution! Or take your time and work slowly through the holidays. The nice thing about this program is that you can study on your own time and at your own pace.

Universal Accounting Center’s Ironclad Guarantee
Oh, and one more thing a university wouldn’t offer: an ironclad money-back guarantee.

There you have it. If in the end you feel this course wasn’t worth its cost, you can get your money back! Very few opportunities like this come with a risk-free guarantee.

For just $1485, $510 off the retail price, you can enroll in the Professional Bookkeeper Program right now pay in full and be on the path to guaranteed success. If you order now you can get 2 free gifts worth nearly $2000! Visit Universal Accounting Center today and discover what’s included in this amazing program. Don’t wait to get that edge on success. Order the Professional Bookkeeper Program today! It’s a “no-brainer.”

Do You Enjoy What You Do?

For way too many of us, the answer is no. Work can be hectic and stressful. Often, our careers just are not going anywhere. We need something to get them going again. The Professional Bookkeeper program gives you hands-on training in the full range of Accounting and Bookkeeping skills needed to succeed.

Learn How the Professional Bookkeeper Program Can Get Your Career Back On Track

The Headline to Your Resume

A cover letter is an attempt to sell yourself and your abilities, demonstrating how you are best suited for an employer’s opening. A good cover letter will capture an employer’s attention, sometimes securing an interview where a resume alone can’t. Each position you apply for should come with a unique letter; never send the same cover letter to multiple employers. This is your chance to stand out from the competition. Your cover letter should be the “hook” to your resume, headlining the skills and experience that make you perfect for the job.

Greeting
Address your cover letter to the person who is hiring for the position. Generally that is the person who would supervise you, should you get the job. If you don’t know who that person is, call the company so you can get it (and be sure to spell it correctly).

Introduction
State the opening you’re applying for and how you found it (newspaper listing, internet posting, friend, etc.). If someone within the company encouraged you to apply, ask for permission to include his/her name. Also express your interest in the job and the organization; enthusiasm for a position and the company is appealing to a potential employer.

Body
The purpose of the letter is to sell yourself, but it shouldn’t read like an ego trip. After the introduction you need to explain why you’re perfect for the job; this will require an understanding of what the position requires. Include education, experiences, and skills that align with the job requirements. And it’s important that you measure your achievements. “I manage a $400,000 budget, half of which I’ve secured through various educational grants” is much better than “I’ve managed large budgets and written successful grants.”

Don’t include irrelevant information. If they’re looking for a sales manager, they don’t want to hear about the sports column you wrote for the college paper. While it’s important to sell yourself, listing achievements that don’t apply to the job won’t get you an interview.

Closing
End the letter with confidence. “I hope you find my resume satisfactory…” sounds like you’re begging for approval. A firm handshake is better than a limp handshake, and a confident cover letter inspires confidence in a potential employer. “I’m confident that I would be a positive contribution to your company” is a great way to wrap up a letter. Suggest some sort of future contact: request an interview or tell them you will call in a week or so to follow-up.

Your cover letter’s tone should be enthusiastic, positive, and a good representation of your personality, and you letter should not be more than a page long. If you do these things, potential employers will be certain to read your resume. And if you’re a good match for the job, the cover letter and resume combined will be certain to get you an interview.

How Universal Accounting Can Bolster Your Cover Letter
A professional designation can enhance any resume and coverletter. If you’re interested in preparing taxes, Universal Accounting Center offers a Professional Tax Preparer Certification that will enhance your skills and give you the designation of Professional Tax Preparer (PTP).

Becoming a Professional Tax Preparer is a lucrative business with many benefits, including:

• Earn $100/hour
• Work when and how you want
• Reduce your own tax liability
• Be in demand for your skills
• Work from Home

Many Tax Preparers make more money in the months leading up to the April 15 tax deadline than many make all year long! Since all individuals and businesses, small or large, are required to file taxes, Tax Preparation is a respected skill that will always be in demand.

You can use the Professional Tax Preparer desingation to start your own business, or you can use it to supplement your current salary. Either way, PTP looks good on a resume and cover letter, especially if you’re already in the accounting field. Come visit Universal Accounting today and see what programs could benefit you.

Career Tip: How Grads Get Jobs

By Teya Vitu — Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen

Getting a job can require more than walking up to a business and getting hired.

Employers are looking for young workers, but often high school- and college-age youths aren’t prepared or don’t understand what employers expect in applicants.

“You have to show why you want the job and why you’re the best for the job,” says President Gary Williams of Southwest Truck Driver Training in Tucson, Ariz.

If you’ve just graduated high school, chances are good that you’re qualified for a job with less of a skill level than a recent college graduate. Jobs in retail, hospitality and tourism — cashier at a clothing store at the mall, concessions worker at a movie theater, ride operator at an amusement park — are often within reach of those with little work experience.

“You can always get a job if you really want. It may not be the job you really like,” says Raul Marquez who worked two years in a Salinas, Calif., coffee shop while hoping for an internship more in line with his college coursework. “Some people are just too picky.”

But whether you’re looking for a job serving up lattes at Starbucks or conducting audits at Ernst & Young, some of the same rules apply.

In a study from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 44 percent of employers say the first thing that gets their attention is a job candidate’s general demeanor and confidence.

Business attire and a one-page, typo-free resume, even for an entry-level job where employees work in casual clothes, can tell an interviewer that you’re competent, responsible and well mannered.

“If you have two people with the same GPA (school grade-point average), the one that comes across more professional will get the job,” says Bob Piwowar, manager at Lowe’s Home Improvement Center in Marana, Ariz. “When you apply for a job, you have to show me that you’re different than other applicants.”

Young people need to be like chameleons in the pursuit and acquisition of employment, says Lee Swanson, co-owner of Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop in Fort Collins, Colo.

“It’s OK to wear pierced jewelry and big tattoos, but when you go into a place, you need to adapt to your environment,” he says. Cover up to blend in.

Creating a resume is an important exercise even if you’ve never received a paycheck with taxes taken out. You should list your contact information, three references who aren’t relatives, and the jobs you’ve had, starting with the most recent and including babysitting and yard work. You also can point out any volunteer work that you’ve done, projects you’ve accomplished in your school, church or community, and subjects in school in which you excelled. You’re selling yourself and helping organize your thoughts for any interview.

Piwowar says resumes are essential because they include a career summary and list of managers who know you and your work.

“I was interviewing 20 college kids who didn’t think it’s important to bring a resume,” he says.

You shouldn’t pop in to pick up an application as a side trip just because you’re in the neighborhood, says Colleen Wisnicky, who used to work as an employment and training specialist with the Manitowoc County Job Center in Wisconsin. Instead, the trip should be intentional, and you should be prepared to fill out an application and even have an interview on the spot.

That means coming with a pen — Wisnicky suggests an erasable pen — and with all of the information needed to fill out an application completely, including the dates of previous jobs, your supervisors’ names, business addresses and phone numbers. Also have with you names and contact information for references, easy to do if you have a resume in hand. Turn it in with the completed application.

Job seekers should realize the person with authority to hire them might be working when they stop by. It’s always wise to ask for the manager and meet that person face to face when you submit your application.

“You better be ready to be interviewed. You better look like you’re ready to be interviewed,” Wisnicky says.

And don’t forget to follow up, including sending a thank-you note after an interview, something few people do that will help you stand out.

“When you look for a job, you have to keep going,” says Director David Mathis of Oneida County Workforce Development in New York. “Get your name out now. Get your applications out. Get your resume out. Follow up in a few weeks. And follow up again.

“If you sit back and do nothing, you can pretty much be guaranteed you won’t get a job,” he says.

Contributing: Larry Parsons, The (Salinas) Californian; Jenny Munro, The Greenville (S.C.) News; Bob Mook, Fort Collins Coloradoan; Oseye T. Boyd, The (Muncie, Ind.) Star Press; Cindy Hodgson, (Manitowoc, Wis.) Herald Times Reporter; Stephen Clark, (Utica, N.Y.) Observer-Dispatch.

Focused Education Is Key to Getting Noticed

In the accounting and bookkeeping fields, you need a way to stand out from the crowd to move up to a better job. The training that is taught in the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) program gives you that edge over other applicants. The PB designation proves to employers that you have the real-world skills needed to get right to work with minimal training.

Learn More About the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program

Achieving That Graceful Exit

It’s time. It’s been time for a long time now and you are finally ready to make the move. What am I talking about? Moving on to your next position from your old one! Perhaps you’ve been unhappy in your job for years and are finally ready to make some changes. Or maybe you love your job but want more opportunities to advance and grow. Or it may even be possible you’re anticipating layoffs and want to quit while the quittin’s good.

Regardless of your reasons for leaving, it’s important that you stage a graceful exit. You’ve heard what they say about burning bridges, you never know that one supervisor or team lead from a prior workplace will be at the next company you want to work for. It is always good policy to get a warm reference than a stone-cold denial. Regardless of the direction you expect your career to take, you don’t want to leave any smoldering rubble behind you. Here are 5 tips that will help you walk out that door with poise.

1. Time your resignation well.
When deciding when to resign, you have to pick a good time for yourself, but you also have to consider whether or not you’ve picked a good time for your current employer. Unless it can’t be helped, leaving at the busiest time of year would be in bad taste. Your resignation should not be used as an attempt to get revenge. And be sure to give sufficient notice.

2. Submit a thoughtful resignation.
This is not the time to tell your boss what you really think of him/her (unless, of course, it’s positive and upbeat). It’s also not the time to catalogue all the injustices you’ve experienced. If you can, note things you’ve learned and ways your employment has been beneficial. Clarify how much longer you’ll be working there and the projects you plan to complete and those you expect to pass on to someone else.

3. Offer your help.
Now that your boss will be looking to replace you, offer to help with the hiring process. And while two-weeks’ notice is standard, it’s helpful to give a full-month so you can train a replacement if possible. Also consider leaving notes of instruction the replacement might find useful once they begin working on your projects. And leave your contact information so that your current employer could contact you later if necessary.

4. Work until the end.
Sometimes it can be tempting to take it easy the last few days, weeks, months of your job. But you’ll leave a lasting impression if you work until the end, exerting your best effort and getting as much done as possible. Don’t spend your final work days playing games on the internet or making long, personal phone calls. And don’t get offended when new projects aren’t extended and you don’t get invited to crucial meetings. That’s the nature of a job transition; you’re looking to the future as is your soon-to-be former employer.

5. Say goodbye.
My best friend in high school quit her job at a fast food restaurant by simply placing her old uniform on the counter in the women’s bathroom. She was too afraid to tell her boss she was quitting, so she abandoned her job like the scene of a hit-and-run. As long as you’ve done the four things above, there’s no shame in leaving with your head held high. And you don’t want to sour a good thing by skipping the last day of work or turning down your colleagues’ attempts to send you off with a company lunch or a piece of cake. Say goodbye and leave in good spirits. Leave your contact information and take the time, after you’ve left, to drop a note and say “hello.”

Moving on to your next position can be a difficult thing not only for you but for the friendships and working relationships you have established in your old job, but as long as you’ve made an effort to leave gracefully, you’ll have no regrets. And while you think you may never want to cross that bridge again, you never know; it would good to not only leave the bridge intact, but to have the genuine statement, “You’re welcome back anytime,” echo if you ever cross that threshold again.

UAC Can Help Find Something More Suitable

If you’ve been avoiding the opportunity to expand your horizons, here’s one simple thing you can do to stop sabotaging your career success and move forward in your resolve to fulfill your dreams. Learn more about earning additional income as a tax preparer, adding Professional Bookkeeper certification to your resume, starting your own accounting practice, and marketing your services by ordering our special 4-DVD. It includes the following:

Introduction to the Professional Bookkeeper Program. Learn how becoming a Professional Bookkeeper will improve your accounting skills and help you in your accounting career.

Yes Sample Marketing CD. Learn how to introduce your services to a potential client. Use this either for role playing, watching it while meeting with your client or passing them out.

Start Today and Have Your Own Bookkeeping Service. Learn how to make over $80,000 per year working from home while getting more clients than you can handle.

The Art and Science of Getting Clients. Learn how to get more clients by using our proven methods.

You can learn more about the countless opportunities that await you as a financial professional. Don’t delay your grand future. Order now!

Have you been looking for ways to impress your current employer while investing in your career, long-term? Increasing your skills and expertise is a great way to show your boss that you’re serious about a promotion; it’s also a good way to increase your job marketability. One question remains: Which program will get you the greatest return on your investment? Since you probably spend most of your time working, it’s important to find a training opportunity that won’t eat up too much of your time. What are your options?

College Degree
A college degree, either undergraduate or advanced, provides employers and potential employers with proof of your success in a specific field of study. Earning a traditional college degree could, depending on your current status, require lots of seat time and years to complete. Tuition costs can also be excessive. Online degrees are another option, but tuition costs are comparable and employers sometimes question the legitimacy of electronic education.

Conferences and Workshops
There are many specialty conferences and workshops offering a wealth of information that can make you a better account manager, freelance bookkeeper, hairstylist, Harley mechanic…you get the picture. These can be valuable, and you can list them on your resume, but they’re not quite as valuable as certification programs that verify mastery of specific skills.

Federal Training Programs
The US Department of Labor has Comprehensive Adult Programs which offer training to dislocated individuals who have been terminated, notified of termination, or unable to find work for an extended period of time. If accepted to one of these programs, you won’t have to pay any costs and the US Department of Labor will help with job placement.

Other Training Programs
It’s difficult to compare the host of specialty training programs available. Depending on the program you choose, you can earn certification that will attest to your mastery of a skill set. You need to do your homework first; not all programs are created equal. Some may have bad reputations and will work against rather than for you.

Universal Accounting Center’s Programs

We couldn’t end this article without telling you how our programs add up.