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!

How to Become Resilient

Motivation – How to Become Resilient

Motivation, Nnamtique / By

INTRODUCTION: Visit https://nnamtique.com. Welcome to today’s motivational moment entitled, “How to Become Resilient,” with Cynthia O. MOTIVATION: Obstacles in life are inevitable.  Some of them, like losing a child; losing other loved ones; facing health challenges, losing a job, losing your home; your relationship going bad, can be really hard to bounce back from. They …

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Mental Illness

Questions Employers Can Ask About Mental Illness During an Interview

Interview Prep, Nnamtique / By

INTRODUCTION: A job seeker asked, “What questions can employers ask about mental illness during a job interview?” QUESTIONS ALLOWED: “This is a great question because many job seekers don’t know their rights when it comes to health-related interview questions. The short answer to this is, “None. I get it. We’ve lived the past two-plus years …

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Telephone Interview

Three Tips for Answering Behavioral Questions in a Phone Interview

Interview Prep, Nnamtique / By

INTRODUCTION: A job seeker asked, “What are some tips for answering behavioral questions in a phone interview?” TIPS: Answer the questions the same way you would if you were the interviewee in an in-person interview;  Always be honest – If you have never faced an experience like the one that the interviewer is asking you …

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Employment Reference

Types of References Employers Seek for Potential Employees

HR in Action, Nnamtique / By

INTRODUCTION: A job seeker asked, “Why won’t Human Resources not let my former manager give an employment reference for me to my potential new employer?” TYPES OF REFERENCES: Before we get into why many employers allow only HR to provide professional references, let’s look at the different types of references. Though you may not realize …

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