Job Interview Hints
Tips on How to Succeed at Your Job Interview
Job Vacancies: Skills Employers Look For
0751 days
The nature of business in this day and age means that employers are looking for staff who will help the company to develop as well as just bring in profits. To make sure that only people with the skills they are looking for apply for jobs, many employers will design structured jobs vacancies adverts.
For a company to develop and last longer than its competitors, employees must have all of the best job skills.
If you are on the hunt for a career at a high profile business, then you need to know the skills that they want employees to have.
This list is of skills that a job seeker has to have in order to make it in big business:
1. Research Skills
Research is used by companies in a number of ways to help with marketing, sales and product development. Every staff member needs to be able to do his/her own research tasks.
2. Logical Thinking
Coming up with solutions to the problems a company faces will help you to progress in terms of your career and make you a sought after employee, especially if your solutions are successful.
3. More Than Just Typing
With the advent of information technology, most job openings require people who are computer literate or know how to operate different machines and office equipment. Skills in using Microsoft Office are essential. Being able to use the internet is also important.
4. Communication Skills
Speaking and writing are the fundamental skills needed to land most jobs, not only high profile positions. If you find it difficult to verbally communicate, or your grammar is poor, this will be an obstacle. Being able to clearly express yourself in writing is essential in many jobs.
5. Are You Organized?
If you cannot organize your work and schedule, then no employer will want to hire you. Organization is extremely important to maintain a harmonious working relationship in the company and to get the job done. Good time managements skills are essential.
6. Friendliness
You have to be able to conceal any anger or dislike you feel towards colleagues and get on with people from all walks of life. Being friendly will help you relate well to coworkers, managers, customers, and clients.
These are just some of the job skills most wanted by most employers. Hence, it is important for the job seekers to take note of these, work on developing them, and get help, education, or coaching if needed.
Listen to this video of employers telling about the job skills they are looking for.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Resume Writing That Gets Results
0755 days
by admin
in Resumes & Cover Letters
Recently, a twelve page resume crossed my desk. Busy human resources executives, recruiters and hiring managers don’t have time to read twelve page resumes. These busy professionals don’t have time to read four or five page resumes.
A resume intended to be sent to someone in a corporate audience should generally fall in the two to three page range. There is not a hard rule regarding the length of a technology resume, but as a security recruiter, one who reviews one hundred or more resumes every week, there clearly are not enough hours in a day to actually read long resumes.
Busy recruiters, human resource representatives, and hiring executives tend to scan more than they read. This is particularly true when reviewing resumes. Write your resume in bullets versus long paragraphs. Executives prefer bullets that look like executive summaries.
Bullets don’t need to be an incomplete sentence or even a short sentence. Consider building bullets in a two or three sentence format – a mini paragraph.
• The first sentence should describe what you were hired to do.
• The second sentence should describe what you actually did relative to what you were expected to do.
• The third sentence should always describe what you accomplished. If you can quantify the value of your work, this is the part of the bullet that should contain numbers or percentages of growth or increase.
As you build content bullets for your resume, you’ll need to strike a balance between using industry and technical buzz words and telling a story of accomplishment. Since your resume will be absorbed into some kind of automated applicant tracking system, make sure it contains enough keywords or buzz words to enable it to float to the top of the stack so it actually gets human attention.
- If you have formal education and have completed a degree, place this information near the top of your resume.
- If you have completed certifications, more often than not, this information should be placed near the top of your resume. If the list of certifications is long, place the most recognizable certifications at the top of your resume, and place the less recognizable certifications at the bottom.
- Employers are often sensitive to career progression and length of employment. . Resumes that are not built showing chronological job progression often times will not be read.
- If an employer is is working with a search firm and paying a search fee to acquire your talents, they are making a significant investment. They will look at the length of time you’ve invested with previous employers to gauge how long they think you’ll work for them.
- Build plenty of meat into the description of your work over the past five years. Generally, work that is older than five years needs to be described, but in less detail. Assume that your next employer will hire you based on what you’ve accomplished lately, not based on what you accomplished a decade or two ago.
When you think you’re done building your resume, let it sit for a day or two before evaluating your work again. When you are happy with your resume, have your resume reviewed by another person or two who is familiar with your work and the specific keywords you’ve chosen.
As unique job opportunities come to the surface, don’t rush to immediately send your resume. Take the time to slant the resume in a direction that speaks to the job that caught your attention. A few minutes of extra work could mean the difference between being granted an interview and being passed over.
As you build up new accomplishments, invest the time periodically to update your resume before you need to. Be proactive! Then when your phone rings, and the person on the other end has a stellar career opportunity to share with you, you’ll be able to respond with an updated resume that doesn’t need to be rewritten.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Are You Career Building or Job Changing?
0Are You Changing Jobs or Building a Career?
The last time you left one employer to join another, how much thought did you give to the long-term implications of the change you were about to make?
For the past decade, it has been relatively easy for professionals to move from one employer to another on a regular basis. Some people have made carefully planned career moves. while others have simply made a series of job changes. You may be thinking, “What difference does it make? Isn’t it enough to simply have a job and a paycheck in the middle of a recession?”
Choosing between having a job and sitting on the sidelines is a simple choice. It is better to be employed than to not employed, regardless of the job market’s conditions.
When companies hire an executive recruiter to fill a strategically important job in their company, many factors are discussed between the employer and the recruiter.
For example, employers frequently bring up the topic of job changes. There is a very fine line between one professional having too many jobs over a period of time and another professional having just enough change in their career to show depth and breadth of skill, diversity in employment experiences, and variety and growth in responsibilities.
The next time you’re thinking about moving from one employer to another, ask yourself the following questions.
- If I make this change, how will my responsibilities and skills change over the next 2-3 years?
- What will my resume likely look like in 2-3 years if I make this change?
- Is the change I’m pondering putting me closer to my long term career goals?
- Will I have an opportunity to build a program or a series of programs in the new organization?
- Will my level of responsibility increase, stay the same, or decrease if I take the new job?
- Will I be managing people in the new job? If so, how many people and how soon?
- Is the prospective new employer serious enough about the job I’m considering to give me enough resources to be successful?
- Will I have budgetary responsibility in the new job? Will the next budget be bigger or smaller than my current budget?
- Will my job skills broaden, stay the same, or decrease if I take the new job?
- Is there a clear path for personal growth in the new job?
- Are there clear objectives to be met that will enable others to measure my accomplishments and clearly see my contribution to the company in the new job?
- Who will see my work in the new company?
- Is the reporting structure connected to the new job clear?
- Is this job and department high enough in the new company for me to be successful?
- Will I work for someone in the new job who can mentor me?
Hopefully these questions will give you a basis from which to add even more questions. If you measure the new job opportunity against questions like these, and if the answers you come up with are positive, you may be making a well-thought-out career move rather than a short-term job change.
If after measuring a new job opportunity against these questions, you’re not sure of the answers, you either have more work to do before making a decision, or you may have enough uncertainty staring you in the face to make a decision to walk away.
If you struggle with the questions shown above, and the core reason you find yourself attracted to a new job is primarily money, more often than not you’re contemplating a job change. A job change will lead to another job change sooner than later, because most job changes are not made based on sound business logic. You’ll get used to the new level of income sooner than you think. It won’t be long before the new level of income isn’t enough. You’ll start looking for the next financial bump.
To make well-planned career moves versus job changes, a bit of mental exercise is necessary. Professionals who have made carefully planned-out and carefully measured career moves are the candidates who are most likely to fit into the requirements that land on the desk of a highly specialized recruiter.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Security Jobs Can Be Hard To Fill
0Is It Possible To Create A Security Job That Can’t Be Filled?
You bet there is! Over the past couple of years and more specifically since the first bank failure in 2008, many security jobs have surfaced that can’t realistically be filled.
When was the last time you ran into an information security professional who had expertise in Identity Management and SAP? Sure, there is someone out there who has this unique mix of difficult to find skill sets, but can you imagine filling such a job for $75,000 in Los Angeles, California? Seriously, I received a call and a job description like this from a company in Southern California within the past 12 months.
Information Security Threats are not diminishing. However, companies are doing what they can to hire fewer people to protect their intellectual and digital property. When you see a job description that asks for so many skills that you find yourself thinking you’ve just read 3-5 job requirements, there is nothing wrong with your eyes. Employers are frequently trying to get more for less.
Recently, a Security Architect professional called me and shared a story of his face-to-face visit to an employer to discuss a Security Architect position. On the East Coast,in a high cost of living location, this Security Architect is earning in the $150,000 range. In the city where he invested his time to fly to for an interview, the employer wanted him but wanted him for a salary of $85,000. This company didn’t ask for my help in this recruiting process. This hire didn’t happen.
I’ve researched this employer and the position the security job candidate interviewed for. The security job is designed to consolidate the work of several security skilled professionals into one role and it is severely under-priced for the market where the company does business. Unless something changes, the job will go unfilled or the employer will have to compromise significantly to get someone on board.
Sometimes, employers simply don’t know how to build job descriptions. Sometimes they build a strong description, but then they hang the wrong price tag on the description. I’m convinced that there are many times when a job description is created out of the ashes of 3+ older descriptions connected to 3+ people who are no longer with the company. What the employer is trying to do in this case is to get the job done through one person without paying for the skills of three people. This type of hiring looks like a roll of the dice to me.
Whether current hiring trends are right or wrong isn’t my argument. What I’m sure of is that information security professionals today have to become well-rounded and deeply skilled if they’re going to have a chance of matching up to the expectations many employers are placing on the cyber security job candidates and technology risk management job candidates they choose to interview.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Interviewing Strategies for Security Jobs
0773 days
Winning a Global Director of Security, Policies, Procedures and Compliance requires a well-executed interview strategy from start-to-finish.
A Chief Compliance officer whom the job reports to explained what separated the chosen candidate from the rest of the candidate pool. Here were the keys that enabled the chosen security job candidate to win the job.
Nailing an Interview…. what the winning security job candidate did well:
Asked great questions! Interviewers judge the interviewee by the quality of their questions during the interview I’ve been suggesting this to candidates for years as I prepare them for interviews. My Chief Compliance Officer client pointed out that the candidate who stood out from the rest of the interview group asked the most compelling, business focused questions.
Approached the interview discussion as if he were a member of the team. This interview process was defined by a group interview. One candidate speaking to a group of six interviewers made for an uncomfortable situation for all candidates. The chosen candidate did a great job of capturing the group’s attention by engaging everyone in the group and asking questions of the team so they felt as if he were already collaborating with them just like he would be if he were on the job. In other words, he projected himself into the job and immediately treated those on the interview team as his teammates .
Knew when to say….”I don’t know but I’m willing to learn”. The chosen candidate knew his weaknesses and strengths and wasn’t afraid to admit when a topic wasn’t his area of expertise. Other candidates attempted to tackle issues that were not in their areas of expertise. More often than not, you’ll gain more respect from the interview team when you freely admit what you don’t know as much as you talk about what you do know.
Answered questions directly. The chosen candidate did a great job of answering direct questions with direct answers. Other candidates were vague when they answered questions according to the Chief Compliance Officer. Every interview process you’ll encounter will be different from the last one in some way. The best you can do to prepare for an interview is to know yourself, know how to articulate your accomplishments, know what isn’t your expertise, ask great questions and be honest. The chosen candidate did all of these things well. So well in fact that he was the only candidate of interest when all interviews had completed. Hopefully this real feedback that came to me directly from a hiring official can be helpful to you the next time you have the opportunity to interview for a new security job.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Build Relationships With Specialized Recruiters Before You Need Them Specialized Recruiters Hold Keys To Great Careers
0Why Work With Specialized Recruiters?
You buy insurance before you have an accident. You choose a primary doctor when you initiate new health insurance coverage. You visit a dentist before you have a cavity. Isn’t your career important enough to you to proactively identify and promote yourself to recruiters who specialize in recruiting in your discipline of skill?
Do your research to find highly specialized recruiters who specialize in recruiting your skill set before your boat is taking on water and sinking. Build relationships with these recruiters proactively so you’re already know to them when you need them or when they have opportunity for you.
Learn to identify specialized recruiters
“Headhunters” who specialize in recruiting skills such as Information Security, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity are not difficult to find. These recruiters are specialized because they are focused in their respective disciplines and don’t generally stretch outside of their areas of expertise. Many different ways exist to identify these recruiting specialists. For example, you’ll find specialized recruiters through business and social networks. LinkedIn is a gret place to search for a security recruiter for example. Recruiting specialists are found in directories of specialized recruiters on-line and through search engines. Don’t forget to ask your peers who they know of who is specialized in recruiting your particular set of skills. Once you have found one, which is again the easy part, here are some ways to manage your relationship with them.
- Corporate clients set expectations for specialized recruiters to deliver to
Specialized recruiters are hired by companies that want the industry’s top talent. When a specialized recruiter takes on a search, the parameters of the search are generally very tight and the bar of expectation on the hiring manager’s side of the desk sits very high. Empoyers who are committing a search fee to a specialized recruiter set higher expectations than employers who fill their own jobs without the help of specialized outside recruiters. You have to make yourself stand out from the crowd and, you have to be at the top of your profession for a highly specialized recruiter to be able to place you with one of their clients.
- Create a plan for introducing yourself to a specialized recruiter
Before you reach out to a specialized recruiter to make yourself known, think through your objectives. If you intend to use email to register your first impression , take the time to write a carefully developed cover letter. Your cover letter should be written in executive summary format. It should be spell and grammar checked. A well-written cover letter will provide compelling enough information in bite-sized portions to make the recipient of the cover letter want to read your attached resume. If you choose to use the phone to make your first introduction , speak clearly, make the purpose of your call easy to understand, spell your name and repeat your phone number slowly and more than one time. Make your first impression one that will cause the specialized recruiter to want to call you back.
- Get to know specialized recruiters before you need them
Companies that have highly strategic and extremely challenging positions to fill frequently call on specialized recruiters. One could say that specialized recruiters frequently sit on some of the most lucrative, challenging, sought-after and compelling positions in industry. Think of these positions as career advancing positions that aren’t always advertised and frequently fly below the radar screen. Who lands in these great jobs? The first professionals to receive calls from specialized recruiters are professionals who have proactively built relationships with highly specialized recruiters at times when the professional isn’t in need of a new job.
- Strong career moves require careful planning
Build relationships with recruiters who specialize in recruiting your skill set and your phone could ring unexpectedly to discuss just the right career move that you weren’t looking for but you might be ready to pursue. Highly specialized recruiters can frequently be your bridge to greater opportunity.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Four Amazing Job Interview Techniques
0I’m always on the look-out for fresh job interviewing techniques that will help my readers get hired! The following interview tips by Peggy McKee will give you some new ways to set yourself above the crowd when you go to your job interview!
4 Impressive Job Interview Techniques to Get the Offer!
There are 4 job interview techniques that I talk about all the time (and encourage my candidates to use in their job interviews):
Compile a brag book
Have great references
Prepare well for the interview (research/do your homework)
Create a 30-60-90-day plan
Here are 4 examples of how some of my candidates used these techniques in their job interviews with their own personal spin and got fantastic job offers as a result. These were some truly great ideas, and I know they will help you.
1. Brag book – One candidate compiled a brag book that was enormous. It was overwhelming with evidence of her successes. She took the whole thing with her to her interview, but instead of trying to show the hiring manager all of it, she took a yellow highlighter and highlighted about 10 specific pages, and that’s what she pointed to and talked about. All that hiring manager could think about was how she would do that with his products, and his clients, and how that would ring the cash register for his company. And she got the offer.
2. References – After the face-to-face interview, the hiring manager received an email within 30 minutes of the interview from the candidate’s former manager saying that this candidate was “all that” and more. It was great. It was written very well, and the timing was amazing. And he got the offer.
3. Interview Preparation – On her first interview for a sales rep position calling on a certain kind of physician, this candidate brought a list of those kinds of physicians in her state with a check mark beside those that she knew. That was impressive. But then, on the second interview, she brought in that same list and she had highlighted 25 of those physicians that she had actually spoken with personally in the last week to find out who they were using for this specific product, what they liked about it, what they didn’t like about it, and what they think are issues for the future. When she presented that to the hiring manager, he took her in to see the CEO. The CEO was blown away, and she had the offer before she got off the plane.
4. 30-60-90-day Plan – A candidate prepared a 30-60-90-day plan for a company notorious for its stringent hiring processes and demands of its candidates within the interview process. This candidate prepared a written plan that outlined what he would do to be successful in the first 90 days of employment with this company. This company was impressed, gave him high marks, and he’s off to the second interview with a significantly higher chance of receiving a job offer.
You can use these tips in job interviews to differentiate yourself. To be successful, you’ve got to set yourself apart.
Peggy McKee is the owner and chief recruiter for PHC Consulting, a recruiting firm providing top sales talent, sales management, marketing and service / support personnel to some of the most prominent high growth companies in the medical and laboratory products industry for over 10 years!
Check out her blog with advice and tips for candidates in medical sales at http://www.phcconsulting.com/WordPress
Peggy also has a website dedicated to providing job candidates in any area with practical and very effective tools, products, tips and tricks to be successful in this job market http://www.career-confidential.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peggy_McKee
Popularity: 12% [?]
Your Appearance at Your Job Interview
0863 days
Dressing professionally is very important when you go to a job interview. Even if the job you are applying for involves casual dress, you should dress a step above what is required on the job. The impression you make on the interviewer includes what you look like. If you appear to be unprofessional because of your choice of clothing, you could lose your chance at the job due to the interviewer’s first impression of you.
An article at Associated Content, entitled “How To Dress For a Job Interview,” makes an important point: Pay attention to your hair and facial hair! Make sure your hair is cut and styled attractively and conservatively, and make sure facial hair is trimmed. This is not the time to experiment with wild hair colors and hairdos! Another tip in the same article is to avoid wearing perfume or cologne. If your scent is overpowering or causes an allergic reaction, you’ve lost your chance for a successful job interview!
Click Here For Information on Finding Flexible Jobs.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Crackdown on Hiring Illegal Workers
0Martjobs.com reports in an article about how the Government is Cracking Down on Hiring Illegal Workers. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has caused consternation among many U.S. employers by issuing Notices of Inspection (NOIs) to 652 businesses nationwide to determine whether or not they were complying with Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9) Form regulations.
Employers are required to complete and retain an Employment Eligibility Verification Form – also known as an “I-9 Form” – for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This form requires employers to review and record the individual’s identity document or documents and determine whether the documents reasonably appear to be genuine and related to the individual.
This is good news for American citizens who are looking for work and have missed out on job opportunitiEmployment Eligibility Verification Formes due to the hiring of illegal aliens. There is so much competition already for most jobs that this move by the government may help the unemployed get a job more easily.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Job Interview Weakness
0by Michael Petras
We all have shortcomings. Your job interview weakness could be the way you lost your last job, your age, a long period of unemployment, health issues, no college degree, anxiety, physical or emotional handicaps, a lack of self confidence, over explaining things, being too honest, being overqualified, not enough experience, or…simply an acute dislike for the whole stinking job interview process.
Perhaps you struggle with a personal appearance issue like weight, height, gray hair, no hair, too much hair in the wrong places…whatever.
Regardless of your fears or job interview weakness, they all fall within 2 broad categories:
Let’s address your specific job interview weakness within the 2nd category. But, before we go there, I want you to clearly see that a job interview rejection is a blessing and not a curse.
No one wants to be turned down for a job…especially one you are excited about. In fact, you may be experiencing a lot of turn downs lately, and your self confidence is just about totally shot.
Tip: Look at each job interview rejection as feedback. Try not to take it personally. The company is not rejecting you as a person. After all, you are not your job. Always try and get as much feedback as possible from those who interviewed you. Feedback is a gift.
True Story: Jon was a Product Engineer with a leading Automotive Tier 1 supplier. He lost his job in the wake of the recession. Jobs in his field were scarce. Despite a well written resume and countless hours of interview counseling and preparation, Jon always seemed to get the thumbs down after each and every job interview.
If you prepared a checklist of Jon’s strengths, the list would be long and distinguished. His resume was well written and he had no problems getting interviews. But, he wasn’t getting offers.
Jon decided to take action to figure out once and for all what job interview weakness was holding him back. So, he called his close friend, Matt, who just happened to be a Corporate HR Manager. Matt had interviewed, rejected, hired, and fired a lot of people over the years.
Jon asked Matt if he would meet with in person and do a mock interview. Most importantly, he asked Matt to please give him brutally honest feedback, no holds barred.
They met at Matt’s office instead of a restaurant or someone’s living room to make this mock interview more real. Jon asked Matt to ask him tough interview questions and then to please give him candid feedback.
Matt was happy to oblige.
Jon’s worst job interview weakness quickly became apparent. He talked too much…or as Matt put it, “You over explain things, Jon.”
Special Tip: One of the secrets to answering interview questions is keep your responses short and sweet…60 to 90 seconds max. If your interviewer needs or wants more information, they’ll ask you. Providing too much information, or talking in circles, puts you at risk of being rejected. The 2 reasons candidates tend to talk too much are nervousness and lack of preparation.
So, you’re probably asking yourself, how did Jon take this feedback? And, did it help?
Yes…most definitely.
Soon thereafter, Jon got an interview with a very stable, profitable company located near his extended family. Jon called his manager friend, Matt, and told him the good news. Matt suggested they meet again and do another mock interview. This time Jon nailed the interview.
And..he nailed the real job interview.
Despite being unemployed for several months, Jon was offered a position as a Product Engineer for 10% more than what he was earning at his last job. Six months later he got a raise. More importantly, he loves his job.
If your job interviews are resulting in no offers, or you feel like your job search has hit a brick wall, follow Jon’s example. Ask a trusted associate or friend to do a mock interview with you. You can provide the job interview questions. Ask your friend not to pull any punches. Simply tell it like it is. Then, work hard to turn this job interview weakness into a strength.
Tip: It’s not a good idea to ask your spouse or best friend to go through this with you. People who are too emotionally invested in you will either tell you how wonderful you are, or they will hand you your head by revealing to you your every flaw.
Not good.
Neither of these viewpoints will help you. Find someone who will be objective, open, and honest with you.
Professional Bio: Michael Petras is a veteran Executive Recruiter of 14 years and also spent 20 years in the Recreational Vehicle Industry as a Sales Director. He hired and trained over 50 sales professionals. Many of these individuals have since gone on to become Directors, Executives, and Presidents of companies both inside and outside the RV Industry. Mike conducts community workshops for job seekers and career changers on a volunteer basis. Visit his free website for more job interview tips and advice at: http://www.job-interview-wisdom.com.
Copyright 2009. Job-interview-wisdom.com. All rights reserved.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Petras
Popularity: 29% [?]
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