Tag Archives: Job Advice

The Art and Science of the Face-to-Face Interview

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A face-to-face interviewConsider yourself very lucky for being considered for a face-to-face interview. It just means that you survived the first phase of the competition; your résumé projected you as someone deserving of further exploration; and you outshone the vast majority of your competition. The most critical test, however, is still ahead of you. You are at this point electrified, thrilled, and exuberant, but if you don’t convince the interviewer(s) that you’re the ideal candidate, then the offer goes to someone else and you’ll feel defeated, deflated, and depressed. That’s why an understanding of the dynamics that get played out during the interview could potentially tilt the decision in your favor.

So, what is it that drives the interview—from the interviewer’s perspective? A large survey that was conducted among hiring managers, human resources people, and recruiters shockingly revealed that 100 percent of interviewers are looking for “fit with their culture,” and about 82 percent are looking for “passion and excitement.” All the rest of the questions scored below the 40th percentile. So, from that survey, we’ve learned decisively how interview decisions are being made. And now you can prepare because no longer is the interview a pure guessing game.

Of course, it’s impossible to predict the interviewer’s questions, but it’s reasonable to expect that the conversation will focus on job duties and responsibilities as well as the pertinent skills, experience level, and personality traits preferred for the job. So, then, how do we correlate that focus on “fit with their culture”? The answer comes from (1) the candidate’s ability to sleuth into the company via internal connections, which can be acquired via LinkedIn connections, and (2) by thoroughly researching the company not only for hard facts but also for information in articles about the company or communications written by insiders.

Another subjective side of the “fit” factor involves things you’ll never find in print. For example, does this company embrace diversity? Is age discrimination evident? For example, many start-ups hire primarily young people, expecting to pay them less than they’d have to pay very experienced people. Is gender discrimination evident? Certain industries hire primarily women, and others, primarily men—for example, firefighters and airline pilots.

As mentioned earlier, “passion and excitement” are critical. The interviewee must see himself as an actor onstage. I know this is difficult for some, especially when they’re tense and under pressure. A good way to show the passion and excitement interviewers seek is in your answer to the question, Why do you want to work for us? If your body language does not show the appropriate level of excitement, then your words by themselves will not be convincing.

In this particular case, as well as in the general preparation for an interview, practice is a must: that is, lots of practice, and preferably with someone who can critique you honestly and guide you toward excellence in interview skills.

How to Ensure That Your Resume-Writing Guarantees You a Job

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It is a mad rat race for landing the handful of the most coveted jobs available in the market and you will need to ensure that your resume does half the hard work when it comes to job hunting. For this, your resume should be so good that you land interview calls in multiple places by just sending it in.

Once there, you will need to make sure that your resume has all the right qualities in order to set you apart from the other applicants. This will give you an edge in the interview. Although it seems quite a formidable task, follow the 2 tips given below so that you write the most perfect and formidable resume -

1.    Your Objective Section Must Be Precise Yet Explanatory

Yes, the terms ‘precise’ and ‘explanatory’ seem contradictory to each other. But that is the trick that you will need to master when you are out there to become one of the most prolific resume writers in town. You job resume’s objective section should not be too vague, neither too long when you are writing it down and nor too short that it does not cover everything. Here are a few tips to go about doing it:

a.    Explain clearly what is the job role that you aim to fill in and why do you think you are tailor made to fit the same.

b.    Don’t be modest and bring out the flamboyance in you when you write this part in explaining why you and not another person can be the best choice for the position.

As a rule of thumb, keep it within 100 words and 2 of 3 lines, whichever one is shorter. The objective section must be right after your name and contact details on top of the resume.

2.    Catch The Attention Of The Interviewer With Your Resume

In an average scenario, an interviewer will not spend more than 20 or 30 seconds going through your resume before he sets it aside and concentrates on you. This is why your resume should have all the right points to catch the attention of the interviewer within that short period of time. Here are a few tips to go about doing the same:

a.    Use bullet points for dividing anything that you are writing in your resume. Interviewers hate to go through long paragraphs and bulleting your points will make your resume more readable. This will also ensure that they do not miss anything important.

b.    Highlight your special and biggest achievements to make them more noticeable. Use the ‘bold’ fonts for them or underline them. This will make them take notice of the same so that they remember it when they are interviewing you.

Follow these 2 simple tips and incorporate them when you are writing your resume. Resume writing is not a very difficult, but you have to approach it as methodically as you approach other work. If you’re not too confident about your writing skills or language skills, or what skills needs to be highlighted better in your resume, you can hire a resume writer online to write one compelling resume for you. You can compare resume writers on the basis of their skills according to the points that are written above.

An impressive resume should list all the important aspects of your career, your life, your interests and anything that may prove to be of value to you in your line of work.  Follow these tips and you will see that you are way ahead of the other applicants.

 

How to Sell Yourself in a Job Interview

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So, finally the phone rings and the caller ID displays the name of a company you sent your résumé to. The caller is from the company’s human resources department and wants to schedule you for an in-person interview. Fantastic, this is music to your ears, but what now? Are you prepared? Do you have time to get ready? More important, do you understand the interview process and in what context the company wants to explore your candidacy? Plus, also remember that such interviews are competitive. In other words, your résumé provided some clues about you that may fit the company’s need, the company’s culture, the skills sought, and so on, but in addition to exploring hiring possibilities with you, the company does so with several additional candidates as well. So now the question is, What can you do to maximize your chances?

Know your relationship with the interviewer

From the moment you hung up the phone with the person arranging the interview, this upcoming face-to-face meeting becomes the focal point of your next few days. Such is not the case, however, with the person who’s going to conduct the interview. For that person, the excitement about meeting with you is minimal—sometimes even to the point that the interviewer might not be prepared to conduct the interview. Sometimes the interviewer does not have with him a copy of your résumé—or even the job description!—and will just wing it, as they say. On top of that, you think that well-rehearsed answers to common interview questions are very convincing. Well, think again. The interviewer knows you came in to sell yourself and knows to expect from you many self-proclaimed adjectives about how great you are. But do you really think the interviewer believes everything you say? Well, maybe some of it—and probably more of it if you have factual examples and you describe them as viewed by others.

What’s actually important to the interviewer?

This is where the candidate is at a disadvantage. Don’t forget that the hiring manager initiated the quest for the “ideal candidate” because there’s a problem to solve. It’s most likely the hiring manager (or interviewer) did not agree to meet with you because of your beautiful hands—well, unless you’re a professional model and the company is selling, say, wristwatches.

Seriously, your focus should be on identifying what the hiring manager needs done. And most likely, that information does not get revealed even via a candid dialogue. The thing is that job descriptions are typically rather general by not highlighting the specifics that are in fact the driving forces behind the hiring process for the positions advertised. Additionally, a large survey conducted among human resources personnel and hiring managers exposed the fact that 100 percent of them were looking for candidate fit into their companies’ cultures. And 82 percent of interviewers said they look for passion and excitement in candidates. So, based on this information, you may think your past speaks very well and you’d therefore be a shoo-in for the position. Not so, says the survey, unless you fit into the culture and you exhibit passion and excitement while interviewing.

As a reader, you may have your own opinion. I’d welcome your comment.

In Transition: So What’s Your Brand?

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More than ever, when you are in transition you should have a brand. Why? you ask. Because that is how you differentiate yourself and stand out from the proverbial crowd.

Branding is not about what you like but about what employers like. Your branding statement—whether in writing, on the Internet, or spoken via your elevator pitch should have the triple purposes of gaining credibility, arousing curiosity, and increasing your likability factor. And your work toward those goals will not be in vain, because 90 percent of employers check out candidates prior to making initial searches via, say, LinkedIn, Spokeo, or ZoomInfo.

Nowadays, employers use Google when searching for prospects. Research shows that

29% of people use two words when searching, 28% use three words, 17% use four words, and only 11% use one word. This means that your résumé or any other information about you should be rich with nouns and phrases. This advice is different from what we were told in the past: that résumés should have lots of action verbs. In fact, a combination of both is best. Yes, certainly computers are looking for keywords, but when people actually read about you, they want to see both action and accomplishments.

A recent study found that 90% of people search on the first three pages of search engine results and that 62% search only on the first page. Good branding work rewards candidates by resulting in a high ranking on Google searches. To find out what’s out there in cyberspace, here are the most common social media search engines:

Setting it up is a bit time-consuming, but you might be surprised at the information available about you and that you didn’t have a clue about. One of the best ways to find out what people are saying about you is to monitor your reputation via www.google.com/alerts.

It’s very important to communicate properly, for this is how people judge you. And there are certain words and phrases you should avoid because they’re overused and most often meaningless. Here are a few examples:

  • Motivated
  • Dynamic
  • Team player
  • Problem solver
  • Innovative
  • Results oriented
  • Proven track record
  • Fast paced
  • Entrepreneurial
  • Extensive experience

These days 90% of recruiters check LinkedIn. Therefore it makes good sense for you to improve as best as possible the information on your LinkedIn page. Here are a few simple ideas:

  • Increase the number of recommendations.
  • Ask questions and provide answers.
  • Update your status periodically.
  • Inform your connections about projects you’re working on.
  • Connect with your Twitter account.
  • Share links to articles of interest.
  • Import e-mail addresses from Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, and Outlook.
  • Connect with ex-colleagues: people on LinkedIn from companies you worked with before.
  • Connect with people you met in person via networking events and whose business cards you collected.

As you can see, branding yourself is of utmost importance. Otherwise, you stay hidden from those you really want to see you.

How Hiring Decisions Are Made

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AP Photo - Adrian Dennis

Years ago, I had a large office in the Wall Street area with a personal secretary screening my phone calls, opening mail, taking dictation, and managing my calendar. Since then of course, the business world has changed. The next phase had executives sharing a pool of secretaries using floppy discs working on word processors. That was followed by an administrative assistant supporting at times an entire group.

Whereas years ago the hiring process and the hiring decision were the exclusive domain of the executive, nowadays—since so-called teamwork has become a major part of the work environment—hiring decisions are often shared and thus made by several team members. That process supports the concept that a group decision is better than an individual decision. As a result, the process has become convoluted, protracted, and not necessarily better—in my opinion.

Today’s job market is flooded with lots of very qualified candidates chasing very few openings. The way hiring happens has also changed. Technology has infiltrated the process, and today’s submission of one’s candidacy is purely mechanical. Nobody sees the candidate’s skills and qualifications unless the hiring manager’s keywords match those on the résumé, and only then is the original résumé reproduced for reading. Once that happens, several candidates get reviewed via a selection process.

To save time and money, a phone interview, or screen, is the next hurdle candidates face. It’s usually accomplished by someone junior in the human resources department who does not fully understand the hiring department’s particular needs. If an external recruiter is the intermediary between the candidate and the hiring company, then the recruiter’s financial motivation is playing a key role. That’s because recruiters work for the company paying their commissions.

Decision Making

Decision making is a complex process because several parties have a say and a stake in it. For example, sometimes the human resources department representative’s opinion carries significant weight, and other times the rep is merely a paper trail processor. Sometimes a candidate is interviewed by several people in addition to the final decision maker. Those others, too, have a say—because hiring managers want to show their support of their teams by demonstrating their collegiality—but to what extent those other opinions matter is probably variable. And what happens when a hiring manager favors a particular candidate but several others who’d be future peers of the candidate show resistance? In addition, in most cases hiring managers know the thinking and mentality of the person they report into, so what happens if their own opinion is opposed regarding the type of person who should be hired?

A recent large survey was conducted among human resources professionals and hiring managers. The survey clearly found that by far, the number one factor in the hiring decision is the fit factor—meaning, the determination about whether a candidate will fit into the culture of the company. Fully 100 percent of the respondents said so! But what is this culture that’s referred to? Who defines it? Who interprets it?

Some companies use exclusively behavior-based or situation-based interview questions. The tenet here is that past performance is a good indicator or predictor of similar such performance. I wonder if those companies can decisively demonstrate that by practicing this theory, they become able to hire and retain a higher-caliber labor force.

Ultimately, of course, it is people who make the final decision about which candidate to offer the job to. The interview process is certainly not a science but an art. Can that art be learned in order to improve one’s chances of being hired? Well, I’m sure you know the answer to the old riddle that asks, Do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?