This week I received a great question.

“Taylor, my friend is about to interview for a new job, how should she answer the question about her strengths and her weaknesses?”

I decided to turn her question (and my answer) into another blog post to help you job seekers out there! Every interview that has ever been conducted, by a Manager reading off of the question sheet corporate gave him/her, includes the dreaded question:

“What do you think are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?”

Yeesh, that’s pretty much what you were hoping to avoid in this job search. If you LIKED your weaknesses, they wouldn’t BE weaknesses. Well here are three tips for providing a killer answer:

1. Be Honest. Your biggest weakness is not “caring too much”.
2. Frame Your Weaknesses Positively. If your weakness is “I’m not a team player” instead phrase it positively. “I am an independent and self motivated person, I’m working on my ability to work more effectively in a group setting.” Always say you are working on whatever the weakness is. They want to know you are able to take responsibility and are striving toward self development.
3. Base Your Strengths Answer Off Of The Job Posting. If they asked for someone with customer service skills, say your strength is your customer service experience and abilities. They WILL ask you to talk more about these so make sure you are honest and able to give examples.

Don’t be ashamed of weaknesses, everyone has them. I personally know that I put too much on my plate, I am terrible at saying no and I love to load up on a busy schedule. This is my weakness because other projects or responsibilities may suffer if I am spread too thin. However, I also know that this makes me a go-getter, and a motivated team player, able to take on multiple projects at one time.

If you are honest and keep a positive spin on your answer, you will do just fine!

What are your strengths and weaknesses? Comment below!

Wishing you Sugar and Savings,

Taylor

Congratulations! After who knows how many applications and cover letters, you my friend, have a real life interview. This probably isn’t your first interview, or maybe it is, regardless you want to nail it. You want to leave the meeting walking tall and thinking “Oh yeah, I got this.”. Here are my top 5 ways to kill it in any interview.

1. Re-read the Job Description.
   Re-read the job description you’ve applied for, not only do you want to use this to prepare for tip number two, but you may have applied for a million jobs and you want to be sure you remember exactly which one this is.
   While you are reading, make a note of all of the qualifications they’ve asked for and that you meet. Be prepared to talk about those as you’ll want to highlight them! They wanted someone with a four year degree? You went to the University of Blank and Such and NOT ONLY that, you ran the student organization responsible for implementing new water bottle filling drinking fountains. Take what they’ve asked for and add some personal flair, emphasizing how it makes you suitable for their position.
2. Research the Position.
   You’ve read the job description, looked up a bit more about the company (or at least you should have), now you have a vague idea about what the job would be like. Research it further, what is the job like at OTHER companies? How does the description you’ve read line up? Write down any questions that come up as you are looking around and comparing,and note the salary differences, you’ll want to have these ready later.
3. But WHAT do you WEAR?!
   I struggled with this for so long. At 16 I even went to an interview wearing my mom’s work clothes from the nineties (it was not the nineties when I had said interview).
   I was 16 years old, wearing a dated striped turtleneck and dress pants that didn’t fit me, to a pizza place. I almost wore jeans to an audition for college until a teacher said “Oh girl, no.” and then I wore my hostess outfit from work instead. I was clearly in need of help.
   Well, you’ve probably hear the phrase “dress for the job you want” -do this. This is smart. You already did the research, is this company a casual work environment? Then go for business casual. Are they a Fortune 500 Company? Then dress like you are the lead role in a movie about a multimillionaire CEO.
   If you are ever not sure, dress to impress, it is better to be overdressed than underdressed. Be comfortable, feel confident, and for the love of all that is good in this world- iron your damn shirt.
4. Be Early.
   Fifteen to ten minutes is best. Too early and you look crazy and desperate, not early enough and you risk getting lost in the parking ramp and being late. Not cool. Go early, sit in your car if you must until the 15 minute mark and make your way in.
5. Ask Questions.
   At the end of EVERY interview they ask “Do you have any questions for me?”. Do not ask “When can I start?” It’s not funny, and they HAVE heard it before, and you will not start.
   DO ask those questions you came up with in your research, and once all of those have been addressed hit them with the real deal sealer– “Is there anything about my application that concerns you? Is there anything missing that I can address?”
   BAM.
   This gives them one of two options. They can either say “No, everything looks great!” thus having them say it aloud that you’ve done well and reminding themselves of what an exceptional candidate you are. OR they can say “Well, we’re worried you don’t have much experience with blah dah blah.” and now you are free to talk about what you DO know about it and what a fast learner you are.

Ta Da! You did it! Now, bonus tip, don’t rush out of there! Take your time, be gracious and shake hands. How you leave says just as much as how you came in. Stay confident, stay pleasant, and then cry in the car if you have to. But you probably won’t, because you just nailed it!

Send a little thank you email later, thanking them for the interview and letting them know you’ll look forward to hearing from them soon.

I hope you all love these tips, and don’t forget to share them with your friends!

Sugar and Savings,

Taylor

January, the time of resolutions gone by the wayside, and binge watching Netflix in your Pjs on the couch. (And if that was your New Years Resolution, you do you- that sounds awesome.)

But a lot of us had more grandiose ideas about what 2018 could bring us. Whether it was a goal to lose weight, save more money, spend more time with family; any goal you may have set can still be a reality for you!

Here’s how:

You may have heard of SMART goals. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Meaning your goal must be more specific than “eat healthier”, instead try “eat veggies with two meals each day”. Then they must be measurable, you have to be able to see your results or progress! Even if your progress is just a little check mark off of your to-do list for the day, seeing your results propels you forward and motivates you to keep going.

Then there is attainable and realistic, and I’ll suggest you take these steps lightly. Fearing your goals are unattainable, or unrealistic, will stop you from trying! Now I’m not saying your goals should be “Gain 1,000 new blog followers by tomorrow” because while it is specific, it’s not something you can control. It’s not impossible, but it is unlikely and if you don’t set yourself up with easier goals to meet you’ll be disappointed and quit. Don’t let fear get in your way of dreaming big, but go easy on yourself, great stuff takes time!

And that time is very important. You also don’t want to let “someday” get in your way. If you want something tell yourself when you’ll have it by. Maybe you won’t have 1,000 new followers tomorrow, but maybe by three months from now you could!

Now that you have a goal that is SMART, here is how we’ll achieve it.

I’ll use a money saving goal as an example.

The Goal: I want to save $1,000.00 in the next 60 days.

It is Specific, save $1,000.00, it is measurable, $1,000.00. It is achievable and realistic, and timely, 60 days. So now we’ll break it down into To-Do’s.

The Goal: I want to save $1,000.00 in the next 60 days. To do this I need to _______.

When making your to-do list, don’t worry about a specific order of things yet, we’ll get to that next. Just list everything you can think of that you need to do in order to meet your goal.

• Save all change
• Set up automatic transfers to Savings Account
• Cut coupons to save at the store
• Look online for rebates
• Cash the check from Mom
• Cancel the Hulu subscription
• Clean the car for change
• Look in-between the couch cushions
• Sign up to be an uber driver, etc.

Great list! Now let’s put them in an order. None of the to-do’s above really NEED to be done in a specific order whereas other goals and to-do lists may require one item be done before you can start another. But for our example it still might help you hit those goals! For instance, maybe you cash the check first to use cash when you take your coupons to the store. Then you save the change from your shopping visit. Or maybe you want to cancel Hulu before the 5th when the next automatic payment comes out. You probably want to clean your car before you sign up to start driving for Lyft or Uber. Put your to-do’s in an order that makes sense and jump on it!

It’s very important to do a brain dump of all of the to-do’s BEFORE you try to put them in order, trust me. When you concentrate only on what needs to be done instead of WHEN it needs to be done, you’ll come up with so much more to help you. You’d hate to miss something!

Finally, don’t forget to keep yourself posted on your progress! Celebrate your victories and you’ll have more to celebrate!

Until next time, wishing you all positive motivation to meet those goals, sugar, and savings,

Taylor

xoxo