Author name: FirstWeb

Who Is Cynthia B. Okonkwo? I am a wife and a mom who is a people person by heart. I live in metro-Atlanta and work as a Human Resources professional and have over twenty-four years experience in the field. My experience includes Compensation, Training, Recruiting, Employee Relations, Benefits, and Selection Procedure Development; however, Employee Relations is my passion because I enjoy interacting with others and helping them to solve problems. I became interested in Human Resources while on a work-study assignment during my sophomore year in undergraduate school. I chose management as my major because I was not quite certain what I wanted to do after college and I knew that an off-shoot of Business Administration was a safe, general choice that could help me get into a number of career fields. My work-study assignment was as an assistant to the campus Director of Career Services. There, I learned to make cold calls to area businesses to seek out employment opportunities for students and alumni. I also learned how to format vacancy announcements and resumes. Since writing had always been one of my strengths, I enjoyed my assignment so much that I requested to be reassigned to that department for most of the remainder of my undergraduate career. My Director also provided resources on job interview preparation and she allowed me to type resumes for students who did not have one and charge $1 per page to make a few extra bucks. I got a full-time job immediately after graduation, but it wasn’t in Human Resources; however, I had a Vice President who took me under his wings and allowed me to review employment applications for job openings at the Distribution Center where I worked, so this helped to strengthen my resume. It took me about two and a half years to secure my first full-time job in the field of human resources where I became a trained test developer for the State’s Government Merit System. From there my career has continued to grow. My blog was born out of my desire to write a book that provides practical job search tips and advice, from a spiritual, holistic perspective. After having drafted about three chapters, I got busy with grad school and obtained my MBA; got married and started a family. In 2013, I became SPHR (Sr. Professional in Human Resources) certified. I started seeing other people’s blogs, became interested and thought that blogging might be a great alternative, or spring board to completing my book, so here we are today. My sincere hope is that what I write will help someone. Enjoy!

Three Points to Make When You Answer, “Why Do You Want to Leave Your Current Position?”

Job Search Tips / By

Responding to the interview question, “Why do you want to leave your current position” is a delicate balance of honesty about your career aspirations and respecting your current employer. Take a listen to this recorded guidance on how to respond to this question. In order to answer this question effectively, I suggest that you focus …

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Three Ways that Body Language can Impact Your Interview Success

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Each of us has our own communication style and our own body language, but our body language could arguably be our loudest and most-impactful form of communication. Think about it, we can say anything, but if our body language conveys something different, we risk losing credibility with our audience. One setting in which appropriate body …

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9 Ways to Have a Successful Job Search In Spite of a Criminal Record

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If you have been arrested and/or convicted of a crime, I think you’ll agree that having a criminal record is quite possibly the most challenging career scenario of all; however, take heart…all hope is not lost. With a realistic outlook and a sound strategy, sprinkled with a generous side of patience and determination, you can …

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Seven Steps Vital to Being Fully-Prepared for Your In-person Interview

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You submitted your resume to several vacancy announcements.  For the last three months, you have been moonlighting as a new job seeker. Finally, though, all of your late nights and other sacrifices have paid off.  You just received a call from one of the top employers on your wish list.  You killed it during your …

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