You would think that candidates have their answers to the most common interview questions nailed down, right? I have found the opposite to be true. Most people do not even know the proper way to handle this simple statement: “Tell me about yourself…”
The truth is all of us can have a tendency to be a little lazy when in comes to interview preparation. We would rather just take the questions as they come and hope we can think of some good examples of the top of our heads. My goal today is to give you a few simple answers to the most common job interview questions.
I was contacted this past week by a reporter from HotJobs.com who want to interview me for an up-coming story they are writing. They are running a story on how the candidate can empower themselves in an interview. I don’t think that anyone would argue that companies have the ball in their court when it come to hiring. They call the shots. With all of the available talent that is out there, how do you stand out from among the crowd?
Making a good impression in the job interview is one of the most underrated skill sets for career professionals. Statistics bear that the average professional is spending 3.2 years before making an employment change. Some of this frequency of change is due to mergers, reorganizations, and down-sizing.
You must remember that you are self-employed. Whether you think so or not, you are. You have to manage your career like an entrepreneur manages his business. One skill is understanding how to handle competency based interview questions. This interview type is much more structured then the traditional method of asking questions.
Being involved in a mock interview is a very helpful tool in preparing you to land that dream job. Many of us have all the answers in our head but sometimes they do not sound as good once you speak them into existence in an interview. Going through a mock job interview will help you to nail down your story, your strengths, and better state your weaknesses.
Mock interviews can be performed with a friend, family member, or even a career agency for a minor fee. Meeting with employment rescruiters is a great way to go through mock job interviews. Recruiters want you to represent them well in an interview so if you demonstrate to them that you are coachable, they will be glad to give you both positive and negative feedback.
Today we will conclude our series on the top 10 worst mistakes that lead to a bad interview. If you take time to review all of the mistakes, then you will notice that some are not as obvious as it might seem. What candidates get frustrated with most is when they are failing at interviews but have no idea as to what they are doing wrong.
The goal of this latest series has been to help you in avoiding simple interview mistakes. In today’s economy, every single face to face interview is valuable. You need to give each one your best effort. Even if you are going into the interview thinking that you probably will not take the position if it was offered, you still need to go. Confidence, wisdom, and know-how builds with every single interview process that you go through.
We have been doing a countdown to the worst interview mistakes and we are down to the final two. Today’s interview mistake that I want to discuss is one that seems so simple yet is violated more then any other interview mistake (in my opinion).
In this article, I want to talk about the importance of presentation. By presentation I am not necessarily referring to your communication skills although that is a important aspect of the interview process. I want to specific refer to your physical presentation. If you have been following along on the blog we have been doing a countdown to what I believe are the top 10 fatal mistakes that candidates do that cause bad job interviews .
This list of top 10 items would be good for you to review the day before you are to go in for a job interview. Let’s dive in and take a look at #3 on our top 10 list.
First impressions really are everything. In fact, it is absolutely critical that you nail today’s topic if you are going to avoid a bad interview . I would even venture to say that 80% of a hiring manager’s mind is made up in the first 5 minutes of a interview.
Sure there have been times when I was not initially impressed with a candidate and they persuaded me to the good side by the time it was over. However, I would still say that you need to nail the first few moments in a interview if you are going to succeed.
The longer I am in the recruiting business the more I am convinced that the most important thing in a job search is a face to face interview. Some may argue that it is about who you know or the experience you have gained, but I have seen plenty of examples of people less-qualified getting the job over the better candidate on paper.
That is why in your job search you need to really understand the art of interviewing and avoid bad job interviews altogether. Today’s topic may seem a bit silly to discuss, but I have a few important angles to bring up that I believe are relevant.
Interviews can be a tricky thing. It is like showing up to a party where you know no one. You are not sure what to expect. You are wondering if you are going to be able to fit in or not.
We have been doing a rundown on the top 10 fatal mistakes that cause bad job interviews.
I hope that through these recent posts you are beginning to see and understand some of the more common interview mistakes that can lead to bad interviews . Many of these mistakes fly under the radar of the average job seeker as they do not even realize that what they are doing is actually hurting their chances and not helping.
If you have missed the first few fatal mistakes that lead to bad interviews then go here for a recap:
We are currently doing a countdown on the Top 10 Fatal Mistakes in a Job Interview. All of these are simple mistakes that lead to a bad interview . Over my years of Executive Recruiting I have worked with both entry level and executive level candidates and have been a part of some bad interviews. Just by being educating on these simple topics you can start to get the momentum to lean in your direction.
The goal of every job search has one major objective: get interviews . It really is all about the interviews. Never forget that. Some people enjoy networking, going to lunch and getting to know new people or doing detailed analysis on the health of a company or industry. However, nothing really matters until you are sitting face to face with someone in an interview.
Today I want to give you a job interview follow up activity that most people will never do. It is important that you do not skip this step that I am about to give you because it will significantly improve your chance of landing an offer in the days ahead.
As an Executive Recruiter, I talk with my candidates 5 minutes after the interview to get there thoughts, impressions, questions, and insights. Most of the candidates I speak with right after the interview are on brain overload. They are trying to digest all of what just happened and they are trying to remember the questions that were asked and their own responses to those questions. It really is a lot to take in especially if you met numerous people in the interview process. So, here is what you must do:
Ah, the old job interview thank youletter . Most people do not realize how important the thank you letter actually is. some even have the firm belief that the job interview thank you letter is a sign of desperation and that by not sending one you keep the ball in your court.
My answer? Looks like you will playing ball alone for quite some time. The thank you letter is a crucial element to the hiring process. Here are my top 5 must items that need to be included into a job interview thank you letter .
Alright, the interview went well but it has been two weeks and you have heard nothing. Scratching your head right? How could everything be so positive and then just silence. Have you been there before? You are not really sure what to do but you are still definitely interested. So, you think: “What do I have to lose?”
Well, before bugging the heck out of them with daily phone calls, I want to offer you 4 different killer follow-up letters that you can use to gauge if there is still a pulse. Now, I highly recommend that you use these letters as an email. The reason why I suggest the email follow-up is because it makes it easier for the Hiring Manager to reply (either good or bad). In other words, if you are out of the mix, he can easily take you off the hook if he wanted to. No response could still mean there is a pulse and a positive response allows you to reply back and reinforce an interest. Also, it opens a dialog and as long as there is 2 way communication there is a pulse.
Yesterday, I gave you a step by step plan of what you should do after the interview in order to land the job. If you missed it you can find it here: Top 5 Things To Do After the Interview
Today, I am going to tackle the negative side. There are things that you should NOT do after an interview. In fact, some people think that they are helping their cause by doing these things and in actuality it is to their demise. You see many people feel like they have some leverage becuase after all things seem to go well and be so positive from the interview. What they forget is that a hiring manager is still evaluating you and you don’t want him questioning his good first impression of you. So, without further ado…here is the list:
TOP 5 THINGS THAT YOU MUST NOT DO AFTER AN INTERVIEW
Okay, so the interview went well (or so you think) and you want to know what you should do, right. Well, there are certain things you want to do and there are certain things that you don’t want to do. I can count on both hands (and maybe even toes) the number of times that candidates of mine were on the verge of getting offers and blew it in the follow-up process. Make sure you know the right thing to do after the interview.
Today, I am going to share with you my top 5 things you need to make sure you do after an interview to get the job (the top 5 things not to do or coming in a future post).
Now I know none of you would be this ignorant, but it continues to amaze me when I hear what people actually do in interview situations:OfficeTeam (www.officeteam.com), a worldwide staffing company, recently hired an independent research firm to survey hiring executives at the 1,000 largest U.S. companies. The question: What are the strangest things that job candidates have said or done in interviews? Here are some of their more memorable answers:
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