Career Guidance

Went to Career Guidance testing and Career Occupational Preference testing and after a LONG period of different testing- (months) the results showed that my education and experience are in line with my skills,passions,values. Service Professioal,Business Professioanl, Consumenr Economics, Clerical - Adminsitration where the highest levels

so now that I know that - on to the prayers

Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.

Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.

The Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets.
So love the people who treat you right, forget the ones who don't.
Believe that everything happens for a reason.
If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life let it.
Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.
Chin up and knees down ( keep smiling and praying) and with music,
positive attitude and God you will make it through everything.

Its not what you achieve its what you OVERCOME

Its not what you achieve its what you OVERCOME


This saying really hit home

How to Provide Exceptional Customer Satisfaction at Work and Home

Nancy Stampahar of Silver Lining Solutions

Wrote this


Hello Patty, With the abundance of choices in today's environment, providing exceptional customer service is a must if an organization wants to gain the competitive advantage and increase sales or if a person wants to maintain their job and healthy relationships with co-workers, significant others, families and friends. Every organization needs increased sales and loyal customers. Every person needs people in their lives. Customer service skills are very much like interpersonal, life skills where each person at work and home needs to be treated like a customer. While it is possible to have businesses and relationships exist without providing exceptional customer service, it is not possible to have truly satisfied customers and relationships without the extra effort. The interactions become transactions and situations that are needed for survival but they may not be gratifying. Wouldn't your workplace and personal worlds be more productive, positively responsive, healthier and happier with greater customer and personal satisfaction? Individually and organizationally you can bring greater satisfaction.

Customers and People Are Satisfied When:

You are respectful of their time, circumstances and feelings.
You are knowledgeable, dependable and trustworthy.
You are thoughtful, kind, engaging and friendly.
You are honest, authentic and open minded.
You are flexible, resilient and make an effort to remove obstacles and resolve problems.
You listen, demonstrate empathy and compassion. You communicate expectations, boundaries and needs.
You are professional, mature and positive.
You genuinely show you care about them.
You admit your mistakes and take responsibility for them.


Ask your customers, employees, friends, significant others and family members if you do or do not consistently demonstrate these customer satisfaction best practices. Their answers will let you know where you are now. Then, it will be up to you make the appropriate changes within your organization and yourself to reach the goals you want to achieve. You cannot expect or wait for others to change if they do not want to. You can only change yourself and your responses to people or situations. It's up to you, and you can do it! To you and your feeling exceptionally satisfied, Nancy Stampahar

Interview Myths That Keep You From Landing the Job

Interview Myths That Keep You From Landing the Job

article on Yahoo that my brother found- worth reading

With so few jobs currently available and so many people currently hoping to fill those jobs, standing out in an interview is of utmost importance. While jobs themselves are scarce, job advice is overly abundant. And with an influx of information comes an influx of confusion. What career counsel do you take, and what do you ignore?
There are a number of common misconceptions related to interview best practices, experts say. Kera Greene of the Career Counselors Consortium and executive coach Barbara Frankel offer tips below that can help you stand out from other interview subjects, avoid frequent pitfalls, and secure the job.

Myth #1: Be prepared with a list of questions to ask at the close of the interview.
There is some truth in this common piece of advice: You should always be prepared, and that usually includes developing questions related to the job. The myth here is that you must wait until it is "your turn" to speak.
By waiting until the interviewer asks you if you have any questions, "it becomes an interrogation instead of a conversation," says Greene.
Greene recommends that you think of an interview as a sales call. You are the product and you are selling yourself to the employer. "You can't be passive in a sales call or you aren't going to sell your product."
Frankel mimics Greene's comments. "It's a two-way street," she says. "I recommend asking a follow-up question at the tail end of your responses."
For example, Frankel says, if the interviewer says, "Tell me about yourself," you first respond to that question and complete your response with a question like, "Can you tell me more about the position?" The interview should be a dialogue.


Myth #2: Do not show weakness in an interview.
The reality is that it is OK to have flaws. In fact, almost every interviewer will ask you to name one. Typically job seekers are told to either avoid this question by providing a "good flaw." One such "good flaw" which is often recommends is: "I am too committed to my work." But, these kinds of responses will only hurt you.
"Every recruiter can see through that," Greene says of faux flaws.
Recruiters conduct interviews all day, every day. They've seen it all and can see through candidates who dodge questions. "They prefer to hire someone who is honest than someone who is obviously lying," Greene says.
And for those of you who claim to be flaw-free, think again. "Everybody has weaknesses," Frankel states. But one is enough. According to Frankel, supply your interviewer with one genuine flaw, explain how you are working to correct it, and then move on to a new question.


Myth #3: Be sure to point out all of your strengths and skills to the employer.
Of course, you want the interviewer to know why you are a valuable candidate, but a laundry list of your skills isn't going to win you any points. Inevitably, in an interview, you will be asked about your skills. What can go wrong in this scenario?
"You don't want to list a litany of strengths," Frankel says.
"What is typical is that they will say: 'I'm a good communicator,' 'I have excellent interpersonal skills,' 'I am responsible,'" Greene explains. "You have to give accomplishments. I need to know what did you accomplish when using these skills."
Frankel recommends doing a little groundwork before your interview so that you are best equipped to answer this question. She tells her clients to find out what the prospective job role consists of. "What makes an interview powerful is to give an example related to their particular needs or challenges that you have demonstrated in the past."
Provide three strengths, with examples. You will get much further with a handful of real strengths than with an unconvincing list of traits.


Myth #4: Let the employer know your salary expectations.
One of the trickiest questions to answer in an interview relates to salary. Money talk can be uncomfortable, but it doesn't have to be. The fact is you don't even have to answer when asked about desired salary.
According to the book "Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions That Will Get You The Job!" a perfect response would be: "I want to earn a salary that is commensurate with the contributions I can make. I am confident I can make a substantial contribution at your firm. What does your firm plan to pay for this position?"
Greene suggests a similar response: "I prefer to discuss the compensation package after you've decided that I'm the best candidate and we can sit down and negotiate the package."


Myth #5: The employer determines whether or not you get the job.
While yes, the employer must be the one to offer you the position, interviewees have more control than they often realize. According to both Greene and Frankel, candidates have a larger say in the final hiring decision than they think.
"They should call the interviewer or hiring manager and say: 'I'd really like to be part of the company,'" says Greene. "It can't hurt you. It can only help."
"Acing the Interview" encourages all candidates to conclude their interviews with one question: "'Based on our interview, do you have any concerns about my ability to do the job?' -- If the answer is yes, ask the interviewer to be explicit. Deal forthrightly with each concern."
For more interview tips and myths, download a free book summary of "Acing the Interview: How to Ask and Answer the Questions That Will Get You The Job!" here.
Also on Yahoo! HotJobs:
'Accomplishments' to leave off your resume6 reasons they didn't call you backShould you keep your salary a secret?Find a new job near you

Goal Setting Worksheets

Goal Setting Worksheets from my friend Patty

scroll all the way down



Patty Kreamer, CPO ®
2429 Silver Oak Place
Pittsburgh, Pa 15220
(412) 344-3252
(412) 344-3253 FAX
patty@ByeByeClutter.com
www.ByeByeClutter.com
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p552.pdf




©2008 Patty Kreamer, CPO® ~ Kreamer Connect, Inc. ~ 412-344-3252 ~ www.ByeByeClutter.com


GOAL SETTING INSTRUCTIONS:

Here's how the goal setting handouts work. On page 1 where you have the grid of 12 different areas, write goals in each area...just dream and write down anything that you want always being sure that the goals are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time related). I put an example in there so you can see how a goal follows through all the way to page 3.

When you are done with page 1, decide on each goal if it is a 1, 3, 5, or 10 year or Lifetime goal and write the appropriate number or letter L beside each goal.

Go to page 2 and transfer your top 1, 3, 5,and 10 year and Lifetime goals to that page in the corresponding section. Then on page 3 and 4 (they are the same with 2 sections per page), transfer some of your more lofty goals and dissect them into the form given. See the example for how to do this. It's pretty self explanatory, but feel free to email or call me if something is not clear.

Take care and happy goal setting!

















©2008 Patty Kreamer, CPO® ~ Kreamer Connect, Inc. ~ 412-344-3252 ~ www.ByeByeClutter.com

My Goals
©2008 Patty Kreamer, CPP® ~ Kreamer Connect, Inc. ~ 412-344-3252 ~ www.ByeByeClutter.com
Business/Career
Things I want

Hobbies
Personal Development

Organize my office by end of month
Mental
Physical
Spiritual
Family
Leisure
Financial
Social
Community
1
MY MOST IMPORTANT GOALS


1-year goals

1 Organize my office by end of month_______



2___________________________________



3___________________________________



4___________________________________


3-year goals

1___________________________________



2___________________________________



3___________________________________



4___________________________________


5-year goals

1___________________________________



2___________________________________



3___________________________________



4___________________________________


10-year goals

1___________________________________



2___________________________________



3___________________________________



4___________________________________


Lifetime Goals
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
©2008 Patty Kreamer, CPO® ~ Kreamer Connect, Inc. ~ 412-344-3252 ~ www.ByeByeClutter.com
2

My Goal is…
Organize my office by end of month _____________________________________________________
Benefits from achieving this goal are…
I will be able to find things when I need them and not waste time searching! _____________________________________________________
TASKS TO ACHIEVE GOAL: (Schedule in day planner!)

Sort through stacks starting on Monday
Schedule an hour in day planner each day.
Come to work prepared to do this.
I’ll make files instead of piles by first of month
Use a tickler file starting tomorrow and check it every day.

Target
Date


Complete Date

EOM



Possible Obstacles
Solutions to Obstacles
I will put it off
Schedule time in day planner
I don’t like to organize
Hire a professional organizer to help


Affirmations to support Goal…
I am able to find things when I need them
I am organized

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Goal is… __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Benefits from achieving this goal are…
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TASKS TO ACHIEVE GOAL: (Schedule in day planner!)

1.____________________________________________________
2.____________________________________________________
3.____________________________________________________
4.____________________________________________________
5.____________________________________________________


Target
Date


Complete Date



Possible Obstacles
Solutions to Obstacles






Affirmations to support Goal…




3
My Goal is… __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Benefits from achieving this goal are…
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TASKS TO ACHIEVE GOAL: (Schedule in day planner!)

1.____________________________________________________
2.____________________________________________________
3.____________________________________________________
4.____________________________________________________
5.____________________________________________________


Target
Date


Complete Date



Possible Obstacles
Solutions to Obstacles






Affirmations to support Goal…



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Goal is… __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Benefits from achieving this goal are…
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
TASKS TO ACHIEVE GOAL: (Schedule in day planner!)

1.____________________________________________________
2.____________________________________________________
3.____________________________________________________
4.____________________________________________________
5.____________________________________________________

Target
Date


Complete Date



Possible Obstacles
Solutions to Obstacles






Affirmations to support Goal…




4
NOTES




























©2008 Patty Kreamer, CPO® ~ Kreamer Connect, Inc. ~ 412-344-3252 ~ www.ByeByeClutter.com

Describe a problem situation and how you solved it.

Interview Questions:
Describe a problem situation
and how you solved it.

This classic interview question may be difficult for you to answer. As you think back through your work history, though, keep in mind that the situation you describe does not need to be one that had a major impact. Just think of a situation that allows you to demonstrate your ability to think critically and develop solutions. For instance, think of a time that a client was in a bind and describe the steps you took to get meet their deadline. Use this as an opportunity to show the interviewer that you are capable of performing responsibly and efficiently on your own.