How Social Media Affects Your Chances at Getting Hired

There’s so much to consider when hiring a potential candidate at any company. Reviewing resumes and checking references have always been the norm but when and where does social media come into play?

There are some fine lines that both HR professionals and candidates alike need to be mindful of when it comes to social media posts and the conclusions that can be drawn from them. An example would be making a hiring decision upon discovering personal information such as a pregnancy or if the candidate is getting married and likely requiring time off in the not-too-distant future.  Making hiring decisions based on this information would be legally problematic under these circumstances and others similar.
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What “YOU” Need to Say In a Job Interview

Job seekers place too much focus on answering the hard interview questions that they forget something very important: They need to ask questions, too.  Asking the right questions at an interview is important for many reasons. But here’s 2 important ones!

First, the questions you ask confirm your qualifications as a candidate for the role you’re interviewing for.

Second, you are interviewing the employer just as much as they are interviewing you. This is your chance to find out if this is an organization where you want to work.
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Oral Proficiency Levels in the Workplace

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) developed a scale to demonstrate the main language functions that a learner can perform with full control at each of the major levels. The chart shows the connection of the levels of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines with the rating system used by the federal government, agencies, and armed services. Important messages reinforced by this chart includes:

1. Two years of studying a language is NOT sufficient (no jobs have the Novice level as the minimum entry requirement).

2. The professions or positions that correspond to each proficiency level are based on analysis of the minimal language requirements for each job, determined by experts from companies and agencies who use ACTFL proficiency tests. Factors include how controlled or unpredictable are the situations one encounters in that job and also how repetitive, creative, or abstract is the language needed. Educators can help learners by designing learning activities that are less teacher-controlled and that encourage less predictable responses.

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Brain Processes Sign Language Similar to Spoken Language

American Sign Language, or even simple gestures are processed by deaf people in the part of the brain that is used for spoken language, according to a recent international research study headed up by a neuroscientist from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Aaron Newman, Associate Professor with the university’s Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, and collaborators Ted Supalla and Elissa Newport from Georgetown University, student Nina Fernandez, and Daphne Bavelier from the Universities of Geneva and Rochester, were able to show those who are congenitally deaf process signs and gestures in the left hemisphere of the brain. Those test subjects who were not deaf and not users of sign language processed the information in the portion of the brain used to process human movement. “It is a basic science study, with no immediate implications for people in the area of health,” Newman said in an interview.

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