So You’ve Gotten the Coveted Interview
What now?
The rule of thumb is preparation, preparation, preparation.
How do you do that? By rehearsing your answers to some of the most common questions asked during an interview.
Here are just a few:
• What specific goals, including those related to your occupation, have you established for your life?
• How has your college experience prepared you for a business career?
• Please describe the ideal job for you following graduation.
• What influenced you to choose this career?
• At what point did you choose this career?
• What specific goals have you established for your career?
• What will it take to attain your goals, and what steps have you taken toward attaining them?
• What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?
• How do you determine or evaluate success? Give me an example of one of your successful accomplishments.
• Do you have the qualifications and personal characteristics necessary for success in your chosen career?
• What has been your most rewarding accomplishment?
• If you could do so, how would you plan your college career differently?
• Are you more energized by working with data or by collaborating with other individuals?
• How would you describe yourself in terms of your ability to work as a member of a team?
• What motivates you to put forth your greatest effort?
• Given the investment our company will make in hiring and training you, can you give us a reason to hire you?
There are obviously hundreds of possible questions you may be asked. However, by practicing on key questions as to what you can bring to the company and what you want from it, you’ll go a long way toward acing your interview.
Do You Feel Entitled?
We all like to think that we’re good at our job; that we not only deserve what we’re being paid but should possibly be earning far more.
However, it’s one thing to consider yourself the best at what you do, and quite another to present that attitude at a job or when you’re seeking employment.
In this economy, it’s a hiring manager’s market. They have dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of equally-qualified individuals all wanting to be hired – or to take your place.
If you arrive for your interview with the attitude that the employer is lucky to be interviewing you, don’t expect to be called back. In today’s workplace, a sense of entitlement is a job killer. If you’re continually whining at work about how you’re not appreciated or you’re misunderstood, don’t expect to be there long.
What companies are looking for are individuals with a collaborative spirit, the proverbial team players. Those who accept responsibility easily and own up to any mistakes.
Is that you? Or do you duck projects whenever you can and make excuse after excuse as to why your work product wasn’t up to par?
If you’re finding it hard to get a job, or to keep one, it’s time to look at what you’re doing wrong. Could be your sense of entitlement is the 500 pound gorilla in the room. One you refuse to recognize.
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How Long Should Your Resume Be?
Often, I hear individuals state that a resume should be no more than one page in length. Beyond that limit, the hiring manager will either be overwhelmed or bored.
In one way that’s true – if the resume has extraneous data unrelated to the job search and is filled with fluff, the above reasoning makes sense.
However, if pertinent data is excluded from a resume in order to reach an arbitrary page length, that can be as disastrous.
Too often I’ve seen clients sell themselves short by asking for a one page resume when their background clearly calls for two pages. In order to reach their desired page length, margins have to cut to the point where text appears to be running off the page. And the text must be reduced to a size that’s unreadable to most.
Certainly, the page length is where the client wants it, but is it wise?
I know it’s not. No hiring manager will look at a stellar, superbly organized resume filled with pertinent data on the candidate’s knowledge/skills/abilities and dismiss the individual because of the resume’s length. That simply doesn’t make sense.
If you’re an executive with many years of experience, submitting a one page resume will surely reduce your chances of an interview, especially if you’re excluding vital data in order to meet page length.
Remember, content – not length – is what’s important. A modern, effective resume is as long as it needs to be, provided it contains relevant information about you in relation to the targeted job.
