Moral of the story – Always stay present during in your interview – regardless of the circumstances around you or “upon” you. Thank the people who help you in awkward times, mostly for averting you from facing even greater mortification than them having to point out the embarrassing spinach in your teeth, spot on your ass, sliding tupe, or exposed breast beneath an unbuttoned blouse. Avoiding sun dried tomatoes in general might also be good too.

She gave a lot of advice to the job seeker (you!), so I’d like to highlight them here:

1.       LinkedIn is your Friend

A large part of a recruiters job is to connect with as many as people as possible. They do this through emailing past clients and their connections on LinkedIn. Key thing to remember:

• Keep your profile up to date
• If a recruiter contacts you for referrals, don’t just delete the email. Think about who you know that is unhappy with their job and let them know. Your friend will remember the gesture next time you are unhappy in your job and will do the same.  

2.       Format and Spelling

Why people think that formatting and spelling mistakes are fine on a resume but not in an English class just fascinates me! Did you know that these are still the most common problems with resumes today?

• Spell check is there for a reason.
• Google “resume templates” to find ways to make yours easier to read
• Ask your friends to look at your resume!
• Keep your resume 1 page!

3.       Be Picky

There are a lot of recruiters out there, so it’s important that you find one that you can really connect with and who has your best interests in mind. If you feel pressured to interview for a job you aren’t interested in, then you have the wrong recruiter!

• Ask friends who they’ve used before and meet 3-4 recruiters before you make a decision. 
• Ask your recruiter how many successful candidates they have in your industry, title, location, etc.

For those in the bay area, I would definitely recommend Danielle at agency360. If you are interested in finding a new passion or know someone who is looking, send them to Danielle’s LinkedIn profile!

Jobs initially co-founded Apple in the late 1970s and created one of the first successful commercial computers. Jobs is widely credited with conceiving the mouse-driven graphical user interface. He also expressed the belief that one day, computers would be common place in homes all over the United States, and the world. Unfortunately, Jobs was not able to fully commercialize his innovative ideas after being dismissed by the Apple Board in 1985 over a difference of opinions.

Human nature might suggest that Jobs would feel vengeful and angry and perhaps dwell on his misfortune. Instead, Jobs remained convicted about his ideas and started a new computer platform company, NeXT. Ironically, NeXT was bought by Apple Computers Inc. in 1997. Jobs was reinstated as Chairman and CEO. He has persevered and helped drive the company to new heights as a major player in technology and entertainment. Jobs helped hone his entertainment prowess after becoming CEO of the 1986 Lucasfilm spin-off, Pixar Animation. Walt Disney acquired Pixar and 2006 and Jobs is the largest individual stockholder in Disney, and a member of its Board.

Steve Jobs has proven that innovative ideas and a forward-looking mind will always have a place in the forefront of companies looking to stay ahead of the competition. In industries like technology, entertainment, and business, ideas and concepts and successful commercialization of them, are what creates success. Jobs stayed the course with his ideas even when others could not picture the opportunities. He demonstrates that the best form of revenge in business is to prove your worth and to work through obstacles.

As the theme song to Smith’s TV breakthrough suggests, Smith was born in West Philadelphia. His mother was a school administrator and his father a refrigeration engineer. They separated when he was 13. The popular television show “The Fresh Prince” portrayed Smith as a high-schooler dropped off at his aunt and uncle’s ritzy Bel Air home when his mother couldn’t take care of him.

Smith had bigger goals. The Fresh Prince had come at a good time for Smith, in 1990. After some trouble with back taxes with the IRS, the NBC show was a success and helped him get back on his fight. However, his next ambitious goal, as he states, was to become “the biggest movie star in the world”. Smith’s movie career jump started in the 1995 hit Bad Boys, a cop show in which Smith starred with Martin Lawrence. The film marked his third successful entertainment profession (music, TV, film).

Smith overcame the mistakes of his youth through ambition, specific goals, and intelligence (he was admitted into pre-engineering at MIT, though never attended college). If not the “biggest” movie star, Smith is certainly near the top. Remarkably, he managed to make the transition from his persona as the sly, hip-hopper known as the Fresh Prince, to a serious actor. His roles include many powerful films, such as: Independence Day (1996), Men in Black I & II, Bad Boys II, I Robot, and more recently, The Pursuit of Happyness and Seven Pounds.

Cruise is not only a celebrated actor but he is also a well-established film producer and is recognized by leading Hollywood types as one of the most powerful names in the movie-making business. His name alone can help make a movie money. In 2006, Forbes ranked Cruise as the most powerful celebrity.

Life did not always come so easy to Cruise. He moved 15 times in 12 years as a kid. His parents divorced after years of discontent. Cruise maintains that he suffered from child abuse as a child and merciless ridicule from his father. Still, he learned the value of work ethic as he worked a newspaper delivery route to help is mom put food on the table. Acting became a part of his life when an injury left him unable to play sports in high school, so he turned to school plays.

Cruise’s relentless dedication to his craft as an actor helped net him several $20 million-plus acting gigs. His prowess as a producer and his determination to help make great pictures shows his business savvy and understanding of his industry. The drive to always learn more and to continue to grow is what has made Cruise a big target, not only as an actor, but by other big name actors who want to be a part of Tom Cruise film productions.

As many other stars of SNL have done, Ferrell took his newfound success and recognition and moved into film making. His first major film role was in A Night at the Roxbury (1997). He has since appeared in such films as: Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Kicking & Screaming, Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, and Step Brothers.

Ferrell grew up in a nice part of Irvine, California and says his background is the opposite of many other modern-day comedians who talk about tough upbringings. He says he used humor to break the boredom of a routine and convenient lifestyle. Ferrell majored in Sports Information at USC and often combines his passion for sports with his acting. He is a regular in skit appearances on the ESPY’s, the ESPN sports awards show. He also makes occasional visits to the USC football team, and appears in spoof sports-themed commercials.

Ferrell helps teach people in any career path that having fun at what you do is a major part of success. He truly enjoys his “job” and has found continues to do things that he enjoys. His routines and bits are often off-color and shocking. In fact, he regularly manages to be shirtless in skits, movies, or other appearances, despite his less than impressive physique. Ferrell is serious about his work and is committed to being great at his job. Fortunately for him, being great at his job means being himself, and doing what he loves.

The first step in preparing for an effective evaluation is for an employee to approach the meeting with the employee in a positive frame of mind. He or she should view it as a chance to discuss ways to grow or fine tune skills. It is also important to take the time to write down important questions or concerns that you want to address. One thing to keep in mind is that in effective organizations, the employee evaluation meeting is not the time to discuss issues or grievances that had up until then been ignored or avoided. Some managers and employees mistakenly use it as a time to address key topics of communication. Communication should be an ongoing process in organizations.

Obviously, as the employee, you have less control over the nature of the employee appraisal process. Ideally, as an employee, you should not be surprised by things mentioned during the appraisal. It should be a reinforcement of strengths and concerns that have been previously addressed. The supervisor hopefully will offer praise of your strengths as well as discussion of areas of weakness. The best case scenario for the appraisal includes a comparison of your performance to established goals that you and your employer have for you in your position. This should be the assessment component of the evaluation. The motivating part should be raising or reshaping future goals to provide a measure of effectiveness for future evaluation.

From an employee’s standpoint, evaluations should not be viewed as an opportunity to air grievances. Questions or concerns should be addressed in a similar ongoing and less formal process. The best work environments include open communication and a clear and consistent understanding of work requirements. The performance appraisal should only reinforce what has been going on and help provide direction and vision for what is to come.

One of the biggest mistakes many people make in their work is to believe that organizing and planning take too much time. Instead, a modest investment in time upfront in these areas, can be huge timesavers, and stress savers, as work progresses. The ability to know where things are, know always what needs to be done, and know where resources are to do work, are all keys to success.

Fortunately, there are many excellent tools available for today’s worker to help with time management, organization, and efficient work. Some of the best strategies and tactics to use when working smarter include:

• Creating templates for most common tasks – An excellent way to efficiently complete a frequently occurring task such as a document or other paperwork is to create a template that allows for a consistent setup and use. Learn more

• Configuring outlook folders and contact lists – Outlook is one of the best organizing tools available. Folders are an easy way to organize emails and contact lists make tracking down contacts hassle-free. Learn more

• Keeping your bookmarks up to date – If there are sites that you visit regularly or the are important to find quickly, bookmarking them, or adding them to Favorites, makes it much easier and quicker to access them.

• Keeping a clean desk area and computer desktop – Though some people argue that they prefer to operate in “organized chaos”, the reality is that a clean work space, and an uncluttered computer desktop makes tracking and finding important items much simpler. Learn more

There is no questioning that Madonna made the right choice from a professional and financial standpoint. The “Queen of Pop” is the second best selling female rock artist of the 20^th century and the top selling female artist in the US. With over 200 million record sales worldwide, Madonna’s net worth is estimated at around $490 million.

Madonna has proven to be a woman willing to take risks from her early beginnings in entertainment. According to her, she had never been on a plane before she left home for New York, with just $35 in her pocket. She has taken plenty of risks in her career as well. Her pokes at religion and sexual themes have been part of her staple as an artist, which has sometimes drawn the ire of leading political authorities, including the Vatican. She has also acted in 22 films, though most have been critical and commercial failures. Her most successful film work was most certainly the 1996 musical Evita, which earned her a Golden Globe.

Risk taking is a character trait of virtually everyone who has reached the pinnacle in any career or profession. Entrepreneurs, business people, and entertainers must be willing to take chances to earn the greatest rewards. As Madonna has shown, there are failures that come with risk, but her biggest accomplishments would never have happened if she had not been willing to step out and go after what she wanted.