Career Cube Blog

Most job seekers think the interview begins the moment they stand up to greet the person interviewing them. This is false. An interview is a two-way street, so your interview should begin the moment you walk through the company’s door. In your haste to make a good impression, don’t forget to keep your eyes open and your senses tuned to what’s taking place around you.

Is there a receptionist? How is the phone answered? Do any employees wander out to ask the receptionist a question? Are they terse or chatty? Do they scuttle away quickly when your interviewer appears? How are you announced to your interviewer? And do you find yourself smiling at what’s going on around you, or becoming even more nervous than you were when arrived?

Jump in and ask a question or two while you’re waiting. Is there ease and friendliness in the answers or does the person dodge the question, smile politely, and disappear?

On your way to the interviewer’s office, odds are you’ll be walking through part of the company. Notice what’s going on around you. Are people jovially discussing different projects? Or intently bent over their computers, silently at work? Do you hear laughter? How are the employees moving from one place to another, and what is their body language saying? If your interview includes a tour of the office, you’ve been given an exceptional opportunity to pay attention to the interaction – or lack of it.

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Popularity: 7% [?]

A warm Hello! To my new friends at Hofstra University who learned all about Social Networking last week and are ready to take on their upcoming Job Fair!

I momentarily thought about titling this email “Constructing Your Elevator Speech”, but I’ve heard that term so many times I could just scream. What everyone really wants to know is what to say to people at parties when they’re asked what kinds of positions they’re looking for.

First and foremost, you want it to always be casual. It should never feel too rehearsed, and the person you’re talking to should never get that frightened look in their eye that you’re trying to sell them a used car. You want to have an idea of how to talk about your experience in an interesting, and honestly, an entertaining way that will make you memorable to the listener and make them more open to helping you. This should NEVER feel like a hard-sell-begging-for-a-lead situation.

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Last week I talked about resumes that were too “busy,” where people felt the need to put everything including the kitchen sink in there in the hopes that that one magic bullet-point would entice the employer to schedule an interview. This week let’s talk about minimalist resumes.

The best example I have is a client who worked at a small high-end manufacturing company. From reading the resume she sent me, it seemed like she put together sales reports, reported to the CEO of the company, and sent out a few marketing pieces. She listed her college education at the top, but it had nothing to do with what she was doing now, or what she wanted her next job to be. It was pretty ho-hum.

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Popularity: 7% [?]