Career Cube Blog

So you just found out that you have a job interview tomorrow and unfortunately procrastination is a weaknesses you haven’t yet conquered.  Here are the down and dirty tips to pull it together at the last minute.

1.  Look at the job posting you are applying for, and develop sound bites that address the needs of the employer.  Think of examples where you demonstrated the skills that appear in the job posting and develop answers that clearly show an employer that you are the perfect candidate for this position.   All sound bites should be 2-3 minutes in length.

2.  Use the TODAY acronym to develop additional sound bites of your experiences.  TODAY stands for Teamwork, Overcoming     Obstacles, Duties of your past positions, Achievements, Your strengths and weaknesses.  Remember to clearly describe exactly what you did in each situation. The employer is hiring you, not the other people in your story.

3.  Research the company.  Search the internet for any recent press releases and check out the company’s website.   Know what they do, and develop some idea as to how the position you are hiring for fits within the company.

4.  Think of questions to ask an interviewer.  Look at the job posting and your research about the company and think of 3-5 questions you can ask during the interview.  What are you curious about?  Do they manufacture a product you are familiar with, or never even knew existed before you started to research the company?  Where does this department fit in the grand scheme of the company? What projects is the department currently working on?

5.  Lastly, prepare answers to the following questions: Tell me about yourself, Why did you leave your last position, or why are you looking for a new job, Why should I hire you, and The Salary Question.  You know that these questions will be asked in one form or another, so there is no excuse to not have prepared an answer.

And that’s it.  Interviewing is just that simple when it’s broken into it’s simplest components.  Focus on preparing answers to all of the scenarios above, and you will be ahead of the game.  Remember to clearly articulate in each and every sound bite exactly what you did.  Practice with a tape recorder to critique yourself, or with a friend to repeat back to you exactly what you did in a situation to make sure you’re preparing correctly.

Popularity: 10% [?]

No comments

Typically the topic of verbal crutches is something that people are coached on when they are improving their group presentation skills.  Verbal crutches are those little “connector” words that all of us use from time to time.  These are the ums, ahs, and even in the case of one candidate I interviewed-fabulous, that we unconsciously toss in while we’re thinking about the next sentence.

Let me tell you-this will KILL and I mean-RUIN your chances for a follow up interview, especially if your first interview is a phone interview.

As the interviewer on a phone interview, I have nothing else to focus on other than the sound of your voice.  If that sound is constantly interrupted by an umm, or a ya know, I’m really going to notice it.  If the job I’m considering hiring you for has a lot of phone work involved, I’m not going to subject the person on the other end of the phone to your poor verbal abilities.  At this point, I don’t care if you are the most qualified person on paper-you’re out of the running because your message is being lost in a sea of these verbal crutches.  It’s a very silly way to get eliminated.

Here’s how you clean up your act.  First, you need to either ask your friends very seriously and honestly if you are a verbal crutch offender.  Explain to them how important this is in your job search, and unless they want to hear you whine for an additional six months about not finding a new job-they should help you.  Verbal crutches are bad habits that can become more apparent when you’re in stressful situations like job interviews, but are probably apparent when your guard is down like when you’re hanging out with friends.  They don’t just appear when you pick up the phone for an interview.

Your other option is to record yourself while you practice for the interview.  This can be trickier because you will of course know that you’re taping and will make more of an effort to clean up your act, but it could work.

Another option is to just make a conscious effort throughout the day to listen to what you are really saying.  Too many times I find that if I’m not completely engaged in what I’m saying and am not truly “in the moment” that I will start umming and ahhing as my brain searches for the next coherent thought.  When I focus on the message I’m trying to convey, my speech patterns clean up immediately and I’m back on track.  I sound more professional and people have a tendency to not tune me out because they’re tired of trying to sort out the wheat from the umm and ahh chaff.

So bottom line, if this could be a problem for you-fix it NOW!  Make an effort everytime you say something during the day to really listen to what you are saying-don’t tune out!  If you want the interviewer to pay attention to you-you need to pay attention to you. For some people, this will be a hard habit to break, but it is well worth the effort, I guarantee it.

Popularity: 65% [?]

No comments

When I was a kid I took piano lessons which resulted in the yearly piano recital.  Many, many times I wished that I didn’t have to rely on my finger-memory to get through a piece of music, but instead could rely on my vocal-memory to sing the music.

Then you become an adult and realize that your vocal-memory is just as unreliable.

So what do you do when you’re in a job interview and your head becomes as empty as a church on a Monday morning.

Relax.  It happens to everyone. Even the interviewer.  Many interviewers (with the exception of the really difficult ones) will understand if you stammer through a few questions.  They know that you are nervous.  Keep that in mind.  It will help you relax.

Take a deep breath, and you can do one of the following things:

1.  Ask the interviewer to repeat the question. Say that you were still thinking about your last answer and your mind wandered for a minute.
2. Rephrase the question.  This is a classic way to stall for a little time, but if it helps you think of a better way to answer the question than blurting out the first thing that pops into your head-then it’s a successful strategy.
3. Ask if you can take a minute to think about it.  When your only other immediate option is to open your mouth and say something stupid, the better option is to ask for some time to compose your answer.

You can’t use these techniques too often during the interview, but for most people just knowing that there are ways to handle these situations is like money in the bank.

Remember, the interview is a conversation, not an interrogation.  It’s normal for your mind to go blank during a conversation, and you recover quickly enough because you don’t stress about the situation.  The same thing will happen in your job interview. Stay calm, have these techniq

Popularity: 6% [?]

No comments