It is a fact that we are living a time when “lay offs” are becoming more frequent.  Companies have to make money in order to stay in business.  Some companies are going to lay off the last hired people first, no matter what, and there isn’t anything you can do about that.  For some jobs, however, it may be more subjective; in other words, they will lay off the people they can best do without, first.  You want to be one of those people they can’t do without.  The biblical mandate is to “work as unto the Lord.” 

Common sense will tell you what you need to do.  If an employer has two employees, one who is always on time, the other who is late half the time, one who he never has to wonder if he is going to be there, the other he just has to wait and see if he’s going to be able to work that day, who do you think he would let go first?  It’s a no brainer.  If he has two employees, one who does his job well, works well with others, and is an asset to the business, but the other one doesn’t have the best job performance, keeps things stirred up among the other workers, and just isn’t that great of an asset to the business, you can guess who is going to go first, when somebody has to go.  You want to be that person that he doesn’t want to get rid of.

It may be, that if you are that person that the employer doesn’t want to get rid of, but he has to get rid of you, he might take an active role in helping you relocate to another job.

It’s exciting when you get called in for an interview for a new job.  Getting an interview doesn’t mean you are getting the job, it means you are getting one step closer to getting the job.  Remember, it is common practice for employers to weed out undesirable resumes, then interview several people, who he thinks might be possibilities.

People are emotional creatures, and this is true of the employer who seems very objective in his approach.  He’s looking at the objective facts about those whom he interviews, but in the end, he is going to hire the person he wants for the job; therefore, you want him to have a favorable impression of you, right from the start.

Don’t be late, but don’t get there thirty minutes early, either.  An appointment means that particular time, except when you go to the doctor’s office, then it doesn’t mean much of anything!  I would suggest that you arrive about five minutes before the appointed time.

Dress appropriately for the interview.  If it is a blue collar job, a suit would be too much, but you should look neat, making sure your clothing is clean and pressed.  Never go for an interview dressed too casually.  If you wear a T-shirt with messages written on it and a pair of sandals, it’s like saying, “I’m so laid back, I’m not going to take anything seriously, including this job.”  Don’t go for an interview showing off your body piercings.  Those things may be your business, but you don’t want to purposefully do anything that is going to leave a negative impression on the interviewer.

Be ready to answer questions and give explanations about anything that might raise a questions in the interviewer’s mind.  If you have had five jobs in the past two years, be ready to explain why.  If you have had a period of time where you were not employed, be prepared to explain why.

Speak intelligently, avoiding slang expressions and poor grammar.  Below is an excerpt I have taken from www.christianjobs.com :

• Slow down. Many of us tend to speak too fast when we’re in a stressful situation like an interview. Fast-talkers risk leaving the interviewer in the dark about what you said, because they simply couldn’t hear it well enough to understand it. To help you slow down, practice counting to two and taking a breath before responding to a question and between each sentence. It may seem awkwardly slow to you, but to the interviewer you will seem thoughtful and deliberate in your answers.
• Be confident. Interviewers want to believe that you believe you can excel in the job they are seeking to fill. Using words like “perhaps,” “kind of,” and “hopefully” conveys a lack of confidence. Instead, speak confidently and with conviction, using words such as “I’m certain that,” “I am confident of,” and “My goal is.”
• Avoid verbal static. Sometimes we use meaningless words or sounds to fill time while we’re trying to formulate an answer. An occasional “um” or “you know” is to be expected, but use them sparingly. Speaking slower helps you avoid using this kind of “negative impression” language.
• Shun poor pronunciation and grammar. Mispronouncing words and using bad grammar may lead an interviewer to question your level of education. Practice saying words you commonly mispronounce before the interview. Ask someone you trust to point these out for you if your aren’t aware of them already. Also, be careful to use correct verb tenses and speak in complete sentences.

The key is to slow down when speaking. This gives you time to think before you speak and helps you better compose each sentence, leaving the best possible impression.

The economic situation has forced some people to look for jobs, who had no idea they would be doing so.  Not only that, many of these people don’t have much experience in the world of “job hunting.”

First, you need to realize that there are others who are seeking the job that you are after.  You have to present yourself in such a way that you will look like the better applicant to the employer.  Humility is a great virtue, but your resume is not the place to show off your humility.  Don’t be afraid to list your accomplishments, and don’t be afraid to be bold in the listing of your goals.

While it’s fine to look at the resume template on your word processor, it’s a good idea to avoid using it verbatim.  You want to think about what the employer of that particular job is likely to be looking for on an applicant’s resume and make sure you have it on there.  He will want to know biographical information about you, such as your name, address, age, family, and state of health.  Certain laws may prohibit him from asking some of things he would like know, such as your health status, but if you are in good health, it doesn’t hurt to put it on the resume.  He will want to know your work history.  If he likes what he sees, you will have an opportunity, later, to fill out an application, where you will give more detail about your work history, but your resume should show him if you have a good work history.  It is also important to list three to five references, complete with their phone numbers and their vocation.

Have somebody look at your resume for grammar and sentence structure, etc, and make sure it has a neat look about it.  Print it on good paper.  You can get a small packet of good paper for a small amount of money, but it is money well spent.  If an employer has five resumes on his desk, and four of them are on copy machine paper, and one is on a nice tan or grey rag-weed paper, which one is most likely to catch his eye?  Small things add up to big things!

I think it’s a good idea to attach your picture to it, unless you’re ugly as a mud fence.  If you are applying for a job as a plumber’s assistant, don’t use a picture in your Sunday suit; but, if you are applying for an executive job, don’t use a picture of yourself that was taken at the beach.  You get the idea.

President Barak Obama has been elected on the basis of “change.”  People readily admitted that they knew very little about him, but they believed that he would bring change.  I would be the first to say that everything that is alive is undergoing change.

Even churches have to change.  An old pastor and I were in the sanctuary of a church, where I was pastor at the time.  He told me about a time when he was a boy, attending that very church, though it was a different building.  He told me about a “nudging pole” that used to run perpendicular across the top of the center row of pews.  When he saw that I didn’t understand, he told me that the nudging pole was the dividing line between the male and female side of the church, and the couples who were courting would “nudge” up against each other on either side of the rail.  The nudging poles are pretty much gone from churches these days.  Church buildings used to never be locked, when not in use, but now they are.  It was not so much because people were so much more honest in bygone days, as it was that there was nothing in there that anybody would want to steal.  There used to be saying, “poor as a church mouse,” the implication being that there was nothing in the church for a mouse to eat.  Well, the old mouse could do quite well in churches today!  I don’t even want to get into the subject of music, because that has certainly evolved over the years, and I think necessarily so.

There are some things that should never change among God’s people.  One is the understanding that God is a holy God, and His way is always right.  Another is that He is the Lord, and what He says is what we are to do.  Finally, it should never change that God’s people understand that souls are precious, and it is our business to pursue them for God’s kingdom.

One of the things you can be sure of, when you begin an online dialogue about spiritual things with people you don’t know, or that don’t know you, is that people will tell you what they think, and they will not be shy about their disagreements.

In one such recent dialogue, someone told me that it was quite obvious that I was “just a religious freak.”  I don’t think I’m a freak, but I can see how someone whose eyes are blinded to the truth, that only the Holy Spirit can reveal, could think I am.

What’s more important than what the unsaved of the world thinks about us, is what the Almighty God knows about us.  When you think about it, it is really complimentary for those who have never known the Living God to think us strange.  They thought Jesus so strange, that they crucified Him.  So, I pray that I will never be seen as a compromising, back-slidden, and worldly Christian, and I count it joy to be considered among the freaks, as I take my stand on the word of God and live daily for the God of the word.