Does he or she oppressively restrict your activity?  If so, you should seriously consider getting out of that relationship, and it may take a great deal of courage and support from your friends as well as domestic violence agencies in your area to help.

On the other hand, the insecurity-driven jealousy does not need to cause the end of a relationship; in fact, addressing it properly can lead to a period of intimacy and deep trust between the two of you.

First, recognize that when your partner is jealous of the attention that you lavish on your friends, he or she is wishing and hoping to be equally important to you.  You may think that you show your partner a lot of affection, but perhaps he or she needs just a bit more than you naturally give.  Intentionally show him or her your affection in meaningful ways.  For example, if your partner feels the most love through spending time together, schedule a date night once a week for just the two of you to hang out together.

Second, whenever possible, invite your partner to spend time with you and your friends.  Plan a dinner party, a game night, or an evening at the comedy club, in which your partner can develop his or her own friendships with your friends.  Similarly, if offered, agree to spend time with his or her friends as well.  In doing so, the two of you will begin to understand and feel comfortable with the other’s friendships.

Third, when you do want to spend time alone with your friends, make sure to communicate two things to your partner:  your love and your concrete plans for your time apart.  For example, text your partner once or twice during the evening, such as, “Movie was great—laughed my head off.  Having a cup of coffee now.  Love you tons.  See you around midnight.”  Although you may feel that your partner should not make you check in, if you do so voluntarily, it will ease his or her mind and cause less insecurity.  Then, when you come home, you find someone who has been confidently waiting for you rather than someone who has been worrying intently that you may have found someone more interesting or attractive to spend time with.

However, if you are in love with more than one person and in a relationship with them at the same time, it is very unlikely that you will be able to be devoted to either person to the extent that he or she deserves.  Although it may be fun and exciting for a while, you probably won’t be able to be entirely present to each person all the time.  Therefore, when the situation becomes sufficiently uncomfortable, you will need to make some choices.

First, are you married to one of the people?  If so, is that concept significant to you?  For example, you may consider yourself to be committed to whomever you’re committed to, regardless of social institutions, but you may consider that your vows meant something serious and binding.  If so, you may wish to keep your relationship with your spouse and to end the other relationship.

Second, is one significantly better/healthier/more full of life than the other?  Is one simply a guilty pleasure, while the other makes you a better person?  If so, you may have to muster all the courage you have in order to be able to cut off the unhealthy relationship, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Finally, do you think either person would still love you if you told them that you have been cheating?  When you have a relationship with two people simultaneously, you run the risk that neither of them will want to be with you anymore after they find out.  Keeping quiet forever usually isn’t a viable option, because things like affairs have a way of getting through the grapevine.  Therefore, you may have to prepare yourself that you will need to do some intense work on the relationship you keep, or that you may lose both relationships.

No matter what the job market conditions are, first impressions on paper still count.

If the gap is short – a couple of months – or occurred several years ago, you probably won’t need to bring it up unless they do. Generally, a gap is considered to be a period of time longer than three to six months. If you are dealing with substantial gaps extending for several months or even years, you’ll need to tactfully and accurately address the gaps in employment on your resume.

If you have a lengthy gap in your employment history, here are some strategies for dealing with it:

The Chrono-functional Résumé: A functional résumé provides the platform for you to focus on your achievements, skills and competencies, and de-emphasize your dates of employment. E.g. if you are a software tester and have worked with several software test tools, you can tactfully divide up the résumé by the technologies worked with instead of time periods. This allows you to focus on what makes you the best candidate.

Send a Detailed Cover Letter: If you can legitimately explain the time away from employment, reintroduce yourself with a strong, well-crafted cover letter. E.g. if you have taken time off work for higher education or technical training, enrollment in the military, recovering from a traumatic accident or illness, caring for an elderly parent or sick child for an extended period of time, address the gaps in a succinct, appealing format. Be brief, honest, and positive. Never include negative information in your cover letter such as sarcastic remarks about low pay or personality conflicts with previous employers. State that you were out of the workforce for “x reason” and are eager to return.

Your cover letter should sound confident and upbeat, leaving out any negative information. Indicate that you have been actively searching for a suitable new role and see this as a position in which you will thrive. You’ll also need to demonstrate how you’ve kept your skills sharp and up-to-date with changes in your industry. For example, you could say:

“I have kept my skills sharp by following industry trade journals, volunteering with non-profit organizations in my community and networking with former colleagues.”

If the gap in your employment occurred a long time ago and your more recent work history has been steady, don’t bother mentioning it in your cover letter. Employers are often more interested in what you’ve been doing recently.

End the letter on a positive note: That you’re ready – and excited to get back to work.

Address it Directly on the Resume:

Although cover letters are extremely helpful in providing more relevant information about what is on the résumé, they can get lost in the online résumé submission process. Sometimes, hiring managers don’t even bother reading them. For this reason, it is sometimes a good idea to address the gap directly. So, on your resume, place an asterisk (*) next to the year or month in which the gap occurred and explain it at the bottom. E.g. if you took time off to care for an elderly parent, you can state:

“From 2000 – 2001, I took time off to care for my elderly mother.”

If you believe more explanation is necessary and want to ensure that your cover letter is read, attach it to the résumé so that it becomes page 1, and then PDF it so that it’s all in one document. Doing that increases the chances that a recruitment manager will read it.

Use “year to year” versus “month to month” dates: If you have been in your current position for over a year, you don’t need to list the month/year when listing dates on your resume. For example, if you’ve had a nine month gap from 1/2003 to 10/2003, you could say 2003 – Present. As you can see, the “year to year” format can be used to effectively conceal significant employment gaps.

Month to Month Year to Year

Oct 2003 – Present, System Tester, Nationwide, London                                2003 – Present, System Tester, Nationwide, London

Jan 2002 – Jan 2003, Integration Tester, Oxford                                              2002 – 2003, Integration Tester, Oxford

Mar 1999 – Jan 2002, Manual Tester, London                                                1999 – 2002, Manual Tester, London

As you can see, using the “month to month” format in the above example reveals the gap in employment between January 03 and Oct 03. However, without the months, there is no apparent gap as the “year to year” format takes care of this problem. This technique is widely used by experts in resume writing. Remember, the aim of your resume is to win as many interviews as possible and to use whatever legitimate marketing techniques that help you get them.

Other Experience: List everything you did while you weren’t employed. Volunteer activities, travel, community involvement, special projects, consulting engagements and continuing education all count and can be included on your resume. List them as you would list your other jobs – with job title, company name, job description, and dates of employment. If you took a class, you can list that in the Education section. If you did something really interesting such as travel, add that. A recruiting manager can use that information as an “ice breaker” in an interview.

Tell the Truth:

It is always important is to tell the truth on your resume. If you lie, it will probably come back to haunt you because employers verify work history no matter how long it takes. If you’ve included incorrect information on your resume, chances are they’ll find out. It’s perfectly OK to fine-tune an individual resume for a specific company or job. But a lie is a lie, and there are NO excuses for that. It is much better to learn how to talk about that gap in your employment, rather than lie about it.

How often have we listened to someone’s words and then watched their eyes roll or detected intonation signaling a contradiction?  Often this discrepancy between what is said and what the body communicates can cause us to miss out on an opportunity.  For this reason it is imperative to remember that we can’t just say we are confident, it must also come across in what we don’t say as well.

Below are some ways to project an image of confidence with your body language:

ü      Speak in a “natural” voice – this just means use your own tone instead of squealing or speaking in a whisper.

ü      Eye Contact – when someone is speaking to you (or you to them), look them in the eye directly rather than at the floor or off to the side somewhere.

ü      Relaxed Posture – not too relaxed, just don’t sit stiff with arms folded in front of you

So if you want to display confidence, plan on using more than just your words.  Let your body language confirm the message of confidence you want to send.  This is sound advice that can help you avoid sending any mixed messages when communicating.

First, make sure that you only ask your child’s opinions in situations where you will honestly consider her thoughts.  For example, asking your child what you should make for dinner is a very low-risk situation in which you could potentially agree with and act upon any idea she has.  On the other hand, asking her which job you should take out of the three that are offered to you is a situation in which you may not feel comfortable taking her opinion seriously.  If you ask for your child’s input and then ignore it, it shows her that you didn’t really value it anyway and were only asking as a formality.

Second, once you have asked for your child’s opinions, ask for her help in implementing it.  For example, if your child has said, “Let’s have baked potatoes for dinner,” ask for her help in picking out toppings that all the family members will like.  Not only does this strategy help her feel valued, but it also enhances her problem-solving skills and resourcefulness.

Finally, once you and your child have worked through a certain decision-making task enough times, give her the freedom to make that decision without your consultation.  This step towards independence may take a long time to develop, so be patient while the skills develop.  To return to the dinner example, after consulting her many times on what to make for dinner, how to make it, and what to buy for it, you may ask her to cook one meal a week of her choosing and to add whatever ingredients she needs to the family grocery list.  In this way, she will develop a sphere of independence in a safe, confidence-building way, which will help her feel prepared to face the world as she reaches young adulthood.

The key thing to get across is that you can accept constructive criticism without becoming upset by it or otherwise acting negatively. Firstly, try to portray an attitude that all criticism is of benefit, and provides a chance for improvement. For example, you could say that “I am open to critique of my performance because I personally view constructive criticism as a vital or necessary learning process so that I can grow professionally, and improve any areas which my manager or supervisor highlights.” You could also add “Ultimately, it helps a team operate better together or produce better results.”

Secondly, try and elaborate on this question by saying that “I feel that the capacity to handle criticism and grow from it is a very important aspect of success, and I want to be successful. Further, I believe that it is dangerous for anyone to dismiss criticism just because he doesn’t like it particularly when the person criticizing you is trying to help you become a better person.” To illustrate your answer, give an example of a poor idea that was criticized by your boss, or something fairly trivial that in no way was essential to your successful performance, rather than substandard work which you had produced. Then talk about the important and valuable knowledge that you gained from the entire experience. In all your answer should be positive, and show how if you have received criticism in the past, you have used that as a spur to greater achievements.

I think we all can agree with the notion that having confidence helps you be able to stand up for yourself; it can help you think for yourself and not be held down by the pressure to conform.  Who can deny the benefit of belief and of boldness? But the question remains: Can we go too far with this thing called confidence?

I think the answer is a resounding YES.  We start to use words like aggressive and arrogant when we think of a person who just may be a little too excited about their presence on earth.  And it’s not about caring what other people think, but it is about caring about other people.  There’s something about people who seems to have gone off the charts with their self-esteem; it’s almost like these people fancy themselves the perfect human prototype leaving the rest of us as simple rejects in their eyes.

In the end too much of anything can be a detriment.  I guess the same applies when we speak about confidence.  Your confidence in yourself shouldn’t cause you to be abrasive when dealing with others.  Instead use confidence to make you feel better about you, don’t end up going overboard by being so confident that you isolate others with your air of superiority.

First, help your child identify things in life that he would like to do.  Let him brainstorm, and don’t assume immediately that any of his ideas are invalid.  Help him choose one thing to work on, no matter how farfetched it might seem to you.  For example, if he decides he wants to devote himself to becoming an astronaut, don’t inform him that only an infinitesimal percentage of the population ever experiences outer space.

Second, help your child list some steps that lead in the direction of achieving that goal, and make each step a goal unto itself.  For example, in order to become an astronaut, your child will benefit from getting into great physical shape, studying engineering and/or physics, getting a pilot’s license, and making some contacts at NASA.  While your child may not be nearly old enough to get a pilot’s license, you can help him learn everything possible about the various types of airplanes, rockets, space shuttles, etc.  Each of these steps can be worked on to some degree as your child grows.

Third, as your child passes milestones for attaining his goals—such as running his first 5k or touring the Air and Space Museum—congratulate him and encourage him to continue his pursuit of that overarching goal.

Finally, help your child learn to redirect what he has learned as his goals change.  Your child may reach high school and realize that he no longer wants to be an astronaut, but you could point out that his previous work in staying in shape and learning about aerospace technology has prepared him to follow a career in the Air Force.  Assure him that even if he changes his goals significantly, it is unlikely that the time and energy he invested previously will go entirely to waste.

In asking this question, the interviewer is trying to evaluate your thinking, your future aspirations and level of ambition. First, are you the type of person who plans ahead and sets goals? Second, do your goals match those of the company and the position? Your goals should be in conformity with the company’s growth and goals. They don’t want you gone within a year or two. The interviewer also wants to see if you’re simply settling for this position, using it merely as a stepping stone or stopover until something better comes along.

If you aim too high and say something like, “I just want to get started and get promoted as soon as possible.” You may come across as being too ambitious and probably won’t be around long enough to cover the cost of training. ”On the other hand if you say something like “I’m looking for a job that I can stay at for the next 10 years”, you’ll actually seem lacking in ambition or direction. That would also imply that you lack initiative and won’t work hard to own or master whatever task you’re employed to do.

Recruiting managers prefer employees who are going to first take ownership of their job and learn it well, then achieve mastery of the job, then actively improve how the company performs the job, and then finally seek advancement to repeat the process in an area of greater scope and influence. And any answer that you give has to tie into this process somehow.

Begin your answer by letting the interviewer know that five years seems a long time and that you haven’t considered a specific plan. However you feel that it would depend on your individual performance and on the opportunities you are presented with, but you hope to build a good knowledge of the company and your job. Emphasize that the position entails exactly what you’re looking to do and that you will endeavor to do it to the best of your ability. Say that you will keep your eyes open for opportunities to advance within the organization. Use timelines effectively in your answer. For example, “I want to first of all master my job and then hopefully, begin taking on additional responsibilities that are related to my job – that might take a year or two.” Add that you’d want to apply what you’ve learned to improve the way the job is performed at the company, hopefully in the capacity of manager in order to deliver better and more value to the company’s objective and future goals, which might take another two or three years. Such an answer will reassure the interviewer that you’re in for the long haul, and project you as a focused individual who has vision and good planning skills.

Each and every person is good at something. There is lifetime experience which adds significant value to life. Your professional skills include the knowledge you have to do work and the education level achieved.

All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.

Aristotle

It is therefore important for you to have an idea of the skills you have that will sell you. The first thing to take into consideration is the accomplishments you hold to your name and what you still intend to achieve in future. Your level of creativity also adds up to your skills, take to consideration what you have done that can be called creative and what you are doing to fulfill that creativity as well.

It is important to know whether you want to continue with your education and what more you desire to acquire in the remainder of your life. Communication skills are ideal for any working environment. If you are good at communicating you should know how to channel that to the benefit of your employer. As an effective employer, have some inventive and initiating skills and know the results this can have on an organization.

Any employer will be attracted to an employee who is willing to take risks and chances to be able to achieve something. You should find out if you possess this skill. Organizational skills are very important in any work environment. You should portray yourself as being organized and at the same time be a systematic thinker. In addition to these skills, you should possess some other less tangible skills such as being reliable, an effective team player and have the energy to ensure things are done .You should also be helpful, patient, competent, flexible dedicated and accountable. Knowing your skills will in turn make you understand your weaknesses and strengths.

For more career solutions, visit jobbanksusa.com