How to Improve Your Skype Job Interview

Leave a reply

3imagesAn additional burden has been imposed lately on job candidates because more and more companies are trying to save money by resorting to Skype or video interviewing. As if it’s not already difficult to prepare for and undergo an interview, nowadays one has to be an actor on camera on top of that. So, what are the tricks of the trade to generate a more favorable result than others who are competing on camera for the same job?

Practice dry runs

By far the best way to improve performance is to practice with someone who can guide you to look your best. Test your camera equipment, and if you need to, purchase an external video camera. There are excellent-quality external video cameras for relatively little money. A good-quality video camera can improve not only the image part but also the audio part, which carries your voice.

Consider the technical details

Technical details represent a very important part of the setup: The camera should be at a distance that shows you from the chest up, so that it captures body movement in a natural way. If the camera is too close, it picks up facial details, which might not be advantageous. If it’s too distant, it impairs not only the general quality of the video but the audio part as well. The camera should be positioned vertically at about the level of your mouth, which means a little below your eyes. If it’s too low—by being, say, on your desk—and you have to look down, it could expose a double chin, if such is the case. If it’s too high, it could distort the picture. If you’re wearing eyeglasses, make sure no light is reflected in the lenses, because such reflection is distracting to viewers. Look at the screen showing the interviewer and not at the camera. Because you don’t control the camera’s adjustment to light, it’s best to check that out prior to the interview.

Is a video interview different from an in-person interview? Yes, a video interview is significantly different. From the interviewer’s point of view, he does not see you walk in, the two of you don’t shake hands, and you have no natural opportunity to make a first impression with a bit of casual conversation. The interviewer’s first impression occurs at the instant he sees you on his screen, which displays your looks, your colors that at times are not your natural colors, and your presence—meaning, how large or small you appear on his screen. From the candidate’s perspective, a video interview seems less than comfortable. Most people are not trained to be on camera the way, say, newscasters are. It feels uncomfortable—even scary—and it poses yet another dimension to worry about in the job search in addition to controlling the interview.

But don’t worry too much. All of these technical issues can be optimized via several dry runs. Your job at this point is to master the content and be fully prepared. How many times did you take a college test unprepared? A job interview is usually more crucial than a single college test.

 

 

Social Networking Is Often Not Understood

Leave a reply

4355757753_70f08de04aDisclaimer: Social networking is not a substitute for attending social events, talking with others on the phone, or having lunch with someone.

To me there is no question of the growing importance of social networking for people in transition who are looking for their next career stop. However, for many middle-aged people, social networking may be something new and not something they’re right now ready to jump into with both feet in their current predicament. And that’s a shame, because employers and recruiters use it as a selection and validation tool for their prospects.

So, let’s review some of the advantages job seekers can gain by using the phenomenon of social media.

  • It is a screening tool. You can learn about others before you decide to invest your time and energy in the development of a relationship. You can find out if the other person is compatible with you or has the right connections, experience, and knowledge in your industry.
  • Using social media is less frightening. Some people have problems in cold calling someone and asking for a favor, especially when unemployed. Initiating a dialogue with someone you’ve lost contact with for years can be intimidating, but taking that first step via social media makes the reconnection more palatable.
  • It is efficient and convenient. You can conduct a large number of dialogues with many people from your kitchen table without having to waste time driving somewhere.
  • You can network 24 hours a day worldwide, because the Internet never closes and because your online profile can be viewed by anyone anywhere in the world.
  • It is a great opportunity to exhibit your skills and talent. Using social media shows potential employers that you are up to speed and up-to-date and know how to use social media effectively. That serves to differentiate you from others.
  • It is a tool for setting up an in-person meeting. Many people connect initially via the Internet, and once both parties are ready, they meet in person.
  • It shows off your brand. Again, this is another differentiator that highlights your selling points, expertises, and talents.
  • It provides a vehicle whereby to participate even if you have physical challenges such as mobility issues or you are not local.

Learning about social media is a challenge by itself, and the navigation changes frequently. Those in transition who are not ready to meet the challenge by learning how to use social media and then updating themselves on the changing features put themselves at great disadvantage.

Inefficiency Hinders Your Job Search

Leave a reply

Getty photo 23Most if not all job seekers reach at some point a heightened level of frustration with their job search process. It’s easy to understand, and it might be justifiable to blame the complex and convoluted job search process. It’s difficult to improve efficient and speed up the process. Loosely explained, efficiency is output over input and is expressed in percentages. The question before job seekers is whether they’re getting the expected results based on the amount of time and effort they’re putting into their job searches. In most cases, the answer is disappointing. So, what to do to increase efficiency?

In the world of investments, the most important factor for success is to know the right asset class allocation. Translated into the domain of job search, it means knowing how to determine the amounts of time and energy to devote to various job search activities.

Networking

Networking with people is by far the most effective job search activity. Sixty to 80 percent of people land their jobs through networking, and therefore, that’s what job seekers should spend their time on. For many, Networking is difficult and uncomfortable. And for those who don’t know how to be effective at it, networking represents a frustrating task with little results. For others, networking is second nature, and getting leads and referrals is merely a continuation of what they’ve been practicing their entire life—and not only when they need a job.

Applying for Jobs Online

Online job application is also an important aspect of the job search. Certainly, one cannot expect to win the lottery without buying a ticket. In the same way, one needs to apply for a job in order to be considered for it. On one hand, online job boards such as Monster and CareerBuilder sound appealing. On the other hand, sending off endless numbers of résumés into the black hole of applications can be a great way to boost your frustration level and waste your time. A better way is to search within SimplyHired or Indeed by using specific keywords you’re interested in and job locations you’re open to. The best tool is LinkedIn, where you can see exactly who posted a job and whom you might know at that company. Thus you can be much more strategic about your application.

Additional Advice for Increasing Your Efficiency and Your Success Rate

  • Be specific in your résumé. Applicant tracking software is looking for specific keywords.
  • Customize your résumé to the specific job you’re applying for. Recast your résumé to specifically show how your subject matter expertise solves the hiring manager’s problems.
  • Use as much as possible the target company’s own language. In other words, your actual words must match a lot of the words in the employer’s job description. Cut and paste the employer’s language from the job description to use in your résumé.
  • Make your résumé faultless. Reviewers have no patience for less-than-perfect résumés because there are thousands of other applicants they can look at who submit perfect résumés. Grammar and spelling count. Fonts, formatting, and lined-up tabs and columns count. Regarding that formatting issue, better practice is to unformat the résumé, reset everything flush left, and use no special symbols or software-specific indentions (such as in the bulleted items you’re reading here!)—instead opting for simple hyphens and word spaces to set off your displayed lists of accomplishments in your job history.

Cultural Fit: What Is It All About?

Leave a reply

What's YOUR brand?Many articles point to the fact that the job interview is really all about the so-called cultural fit of the candidate, provided the skill and experience requirements are met as well of course. The thing is that in addition to the hiring manager, several other company members, too, are interviewing candidates to add their own assessments.

For practical purposes, what’s called company culture can be separated into two distinct areas. One is influenced by the top leader of the organization, and the other is influenced by the departmental leader or the hired employee’s immediate supervisor.

Years ago, I worked at a Fortune 100 company that had a history of buying many other companies whose individual and distinct cultures had been kept intact and independent of each other all along. At one point, though, a new CEO took over and decided to instill one single culture throughout the hundreds of subsidiaries and affiliated companies under his jurisdiction. That action caused an amazing transformation. I compared the new CEO’s influence to a magnet approaching a bunch of nails: all of a sudden, all of the nails aligned and connected to the magnet.

Certainly, a departmental boss has impact on departmental culture. Often, when you ask someone a question like, What’s it like to work at that company? the reply reflects the person’s pleasure or displeasure with his boss and, at times, his colleagues.

So, how—during the interview—can a candidate seem to fit into the company’s culture?

Similar to the cliché that says, “A leopard can’t change its spots,” a person can’t radically change personality. But because the outcome of the interview is highly influenced by a candidate’s cultural fit, the candidate can at least attempt to make the right impression, which amounts to simply the same thing as adjusting the words in the résumé to match the job requirements stipulated in the job ad.

People may have different understandings of what lies behind the proverbial cultural fit. The most accepted notion suggests that cultural fit includes the display of characteristics related to organizational culture, such as values, language, and outlook. Culture is the behavior that results when the members of a group arrive at a set of rules for working together. The rules may include elements of decision making, daily work practices, and even such things as the office setup. For instance, some organizations are hierarchical—with office spaces and sizes linearly matching employees’ functions in the organization. At the other end of that spectrum are organizations that are very egalitarian—with open-architecture office space, in which all employees having equally open and equally sized spaces.

Before the interview, the candidate should explore with as many people as possible inside the company certain issues, such as:

* Whether the work environment is highly stressful or rather relaxed

* Whether promotion is from within or fresh experts are hired from outside

* Frequency of meetings

* Volume and tone of internal e-mails (formal or informal, friendly or abrasive?)

* Whether teamwork or individual effort is the typical means of problem resolution

* Whether employees’ opinions are solicited or not

* How well poor behavior and under-performance are tolerated

* Whether successes are celebrated and in what ways

The list is endless, but those are a few examples of issues pertinent to company culture.

 

Contingency, Retained, or Project Partnering?

Leave a reply

Why would anyone spend upwards of 40 percent more for talent using a contingency firm or 80 percent more using a retained firm?  Project Partnering with JTL Services, Inc. will save you more money and guarantee results unlike the traditional methods of sourcing top talent.

With Project Partnering you get one of our project managers like Tara LeFevre, but also a team of people from recruiters to researchers and  a very large talent pool network.

To see how Project Partnering will benefit you simply send us a job spec and we will do our due-diligence on our end.  We will email you back a quote and all the details you need to know to determine if this can work for you.

Send specs to