Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
Here’s a brief list:
1. How would you describe yourself?
2. To be successful in this career, what do you think it takes?
3. Do you have the qualifications and personal characteristics necessary for success in your chosen career?
4. Why should we hire you?
5. What are your long-range goals and objectives?
6. What major problem have you handled recently? Did you resolve it? How?
7. What characteristics do you think make a manager successful?
8. Why did you apply to our company?
9. What do you look for in a successful candidate?
10. How do you approach critical assignments?
11. If you had to think on your feet to solve a difficult situation, what would you do?
12. Why were you fired?
13. What are the steps you take before making an important decision?
14. Name the most difficult assignment you had and how did you finish it?
15. What kind of supervisor do you prefer?
As you can see, the questions are open-ended, not allowing for a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. The more you talk, the more the hiring authority learns about you. That’s why you need to be prepared before you utter one word. Each answer must be crafted carefully to maximize your chances of being hired.
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Too many candidates mistakenly believe that being called in for an interview is being guaranteed a position. Nothing could be further from the truth. You might be the last person on a short list of candidates. Your skills, knowledge, and abilities are good – but not a perfect match for the company. However, the hiring manager is interested enough to meet with you and allow you to sell yourself to the company.
How do you do that? Preparation, preparation, preparation.
1. Know how to dress. If you’re not familiar with the company culture, visit their website or their offices during work hours to see how staff dress. No matter how casual they may be, the key is for you to look professional – you’re not on staff yet.
2. Do extensive research about the company. Know what they’re about. Nothing’s worse for a hiring manager than to interview someone who hasn’t a clue what their company produces.
3. Compose a list of questions about the company that indicates your interest in what is produced and how things work.
4. Prepare a list of answers to the most frequently asked interview questions. For example: Where do you see yourself five years from now?
5. Practice, practice, practice. Make certain your voice and body language don’t give away your anxiety.
6. Know how long it will take to get to your interview so you arrive on time.
To assist you in interview prepartion, consider the ResumeEdge.com JobInterviewEdge service. Details at this link: http://www.resumeedge.com/services/jie-home.html
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Interview Dos
- Be prepared. Know about the organization and the job to which you’re applying. And practice for the interview before you get there.
- Be well groomed. Even if the company employees dress in business casual, err on the conservative side. For men: A jacket and tie. For women: A business suit. Keep the jewelry, makeup, perfume and cologne to a minimum.
- Arrive early for the interview. Fifteen minutes is about right.
- Be respectful of everyone you meet, including secretaries and other office personnel.
- Listen carefully to the interviewer’s name and remember it. Repeat it periodically during the interview when addressing the individual.
- After a question is asked, allow a moment for it to sink in and to phrase your response.
- Pay attention to non-verbal cues. If the interviewer appears particularly interested in what you’re saying, expand upon it.
- Ask how your role in the company can positively influence their bottom line.
- Be friendly, interested, engaged and confident – but not arrogant.
- At the end of the interview thank the interviewer and ask when you might expect an answer as to your candidacy.
Interview Don’ts
- Don’t behave as if the job is already yours or beneath you. Be confident, not arrogant.
- Never interrupt the interviewer.
- Don’t ask about salary or benefits unless the matter is brought up by the interviewer.
- Don’t trash your current or former employers.
- Don’t mistake an interviewer’s politeness for more than it is. You are not friends. Don’t be too familiar or chummy. Remain professional.
- Don’t bring up anything negative about the company you’re targeting, even if they’ve gotten bad press.
- Use appropriate English and business language. Avoid slang.
- Don’t let your body language (squirming in your seat) give away the fact that you’re nervous. Try to calm down and focus on your attributes.
- No matter how desperate you are for the position, don’t make it obvious to the interviewer.
- Don’t dwell on your deficiencies – we all have them – concentrate on your strengths and convey them to the interviewer.
Our JobInterviewEdge service offers one-on-one mock interview training with our certified editors. For more information, please click this link
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
by Jeri Hurd Dutcher, ResumeEdge.com Editor, CPRW, CEIP, CPCC
My client has been invited to interview for a network technician job. He’s not quite done with his CCNA, so that’s a wonderful thing. The catch is it’s about 70 minutes from his home where his wife owns a business. He lives in a place where winters mean blizzards and bad roads. Can he afford to commute or rent a studio apartment to reduce driving time and in case of storms?
He needs to find three pieces of information to be prepared to negotiate:
1. His personal wants and requirements.
2. The range the company will pay.
3. The average salary paid in the geographical area where he plans to work.
First, he gets out the household budget and figures out the minimum he will accept. This process should also define and prioritize the benefits he needs and wants and what he is willing to negotiate away.
Second, if there is no salary range listed on the job posting, he calls the company’s HR Department and asks what the salary range is for the job. If they say there is none, or it depends on experience, he asks what the current employee in that position earns. If that is not forthcoming, as well, he networks his way to someone else in the company who may know or can find out.
Third, he determines what the average salary is in the company’s geographic area. The best place to look for that is www.Indeed.com. On the main page, he clicks the salaries link in the upper left corner of the screen. He fills in the search fields and scrolls down to see the average salary, national salary trend, and average salaries of jobs with related titles (with links back to those jobs).
Other places to search include:
• http://online.onetcenter.org/
• Compensation.BLR.com (offers free trial)
• Salary.com
• www.payscale.com
• Library Resources
Research companies and job search specialists are also available to complete research. They often require completion of a form or a phone interview to define the desired position.
