Career Cube Blog

This past week I was working with a company that was hiring a new employee. They had successfully navigated the resume, phone interview and most of the in-person interview. But there was one question that gave a manager pause. She was asked what she was making now and what she was looking for in a salary.

Yes, it’s the icky salary question.

This person was currently working in a position that was a “filler job.” The hiring company recognized that, and we all know that there are times when you just need a steady paycheck coming in. The candidate had several other years of relevant experience, so the company wasn’t too concerned.

But when it came to the salary question, this candidate was thrown. She didn’t have a prepared, smooth answer, and clearly evaded the question. She was asked this question by the hiring manager and her boss, and gave the same semi-evasive answer both times.

I’m guessing that the candidate wanted to avoid the salary question because what she was making now was so much less than what she had earned in prior professional jobs (and deserved), that she didn’t want to get lowballed.

Read more

Popularity: 7% [?]

It can be hard to know what to say in an interview and how to effectively get your point across. Nobody wants to be too pushy, virtually everyone is uncomfortable to some degree with selling themselves outright, but everyone wants to get the point across that they’re interested in the position. So I thought compiling this list of helpful catchphrases to pepper throughout the interview would help you to get yourself in the right frame of mind.

“I’ve read the job description, and it looks like this job relates to what I used to do in this way. In my old job I (fill in the blank)…and in this job I would be (fill in the blank)…. Am I on the right track?” This candidate has basically done the interviewer’s job for them. The interviewer is trying to figure out if they like you, and trying to figure out if what you’ve done has any relevance to what they’re going to ask you to do. If I had a candidate say this to me, I would be hard pressed NOT to hire them, all other things being equal. This simple phrase shows that not only have you read and comprehended the job description, but you took the extra step of relating it to what responsibilities you’ve had in the past and were able to relate the two. Perfect. Employers want to hire people who can think, and you’re definitely demonstrating that here. You want to include this phrase early on in the interview, perhaps after they’ve asked and you’ve answered the “Tell me about yourself” question.

“Let me talk you through some of the typical duties of my job.” I was recently working with a candidate who, when asked “Tell me what responsibilities you liked most about your past positions,” responded that she loved working with people, got very excited about working with people with different backgrounds, and was just thrilled about working with people. Ummm…good…but doesn’t tell me anything, really, about anything. AVOID these “smooshy” blanket statements. They do nothing to help you. Take the initiative to tell the employer about what you have actually done at prior jobs. In some cases, it may not be apparent to you—as it was in the first example—that there’s a direct correlation between your past jobs and the one you’re interviewing for, but you should still be able to give a specific anecdote that outlines your responsibilities. This is typically early- to mid-way through the interview.

Read more

Popularity: 4% [?]

I went to college in Dallas, Texas, and after I graduated, I stayed there as a recruiter for about 15 years. Then I got tired of recruiting, tired of Dallas, tired of the ugly development, tired of the traffic. And I moved. To Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I’ve always had this funny habit when I go grocery shopping. I don’t actually add up the items as I shop, but I always know within $5.00 what the total grocery bill will be. Until I went from Dallas to Santa Fe and continually fell short by about 1/3 to 1/2 of whatever the total bill was.

It always had a funny way of driving the point home that I was living off my savings and had moved to a really expensive area! In fact, everything was more expensive. I’d moved a lot in Dallas so I lived in apartments. Huge complexes are all over the place - you want to move? You go to the area you want to live, walk into an apartment complex office, choose a floor plan, sign a lease.

Not in Santa Fe. Rents were astronomical. Apartments were few and far between. I knew my stay was temporary so a house was out of the question, before you even considered the cost. Plus if the apartment/garage/casita/spare room wasn’t rented after 3 days, either the owner wasn’t home to answer the phone for the ad responses or you didn’t want to live there. The few good places rented quickly over there, and every landlord required first month’s rent, last month’s rent, AND a deposit.

Then I took a job as the Office Manager of Santa Fe Services, a permanent and temporary placement service, and cut my income by about 4/5!! But I was tired of recruiting and there was no way I was going to find something comparable.

From there I moved to Atlanta, GA, and it was just the reverse. It was like moving back to Dallas - I had my choice of places to live and gas was only .85/gallon (this was 1998)! But I’d gone back to recruiting so salary was a moot point because I was self employed, but I still could see the effects.

Then it was off to Fairfield County, CT - where I currently am - and where I bought a house. Back to high grocery costs; gas was something like $1.50/gallon when I first got here (it’s now about $3.50), and additionally there were outrageous property taxes to contend with as well. Since I’d first considered buying in Atlanta, realtor postcards were being forwarded to me. For the price of my house here, I could have had 6 bedrooms and a pool in Atlanta - on a golf course, I think!

Read more

Popularity: 4% [?]