Your Interview Questions Are a Serious Matter
Of course interviews are mainly about you answering the questions they put to you, but at the end of your allotted interview time, the questions that really matter most are yours. You should hope to hear the interviewer ask you: "Have you any questions?" But even if they don't ask, you should grasp the opportunity and say: "Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions?" However you must be careful when planning what questions you're going to ask, and make sure that they are not ones that you should already know the answer to because it's been covered in the interview. Try to make sure that you ask questions that are relevant to the job. You could ask things like: ? Is this a new position? ? Who would I be responsible to? ? How many other people do a similar job? ? When did the last person leave this job? (And why?) ? When will I know the result of this interview? ? What opportunities are there for progression or further training? ? Do you have time to show me around the area where I will be working? ? Is there anything else that I can tell you about my experience or background? And the most important if you can ask it is: "Did I answer all your questions fully?" If they do have any reservations, this just might bring them out and let you have another shot at giving a better answer. You probably also want to know about pay, benefits and holidays too, but now is not the right time to ask - and it's important not to ask too early. You'll get a chance when they show they're interested in you for the job. If they covered all the points you were going to ask : Try paying the interviewer a compliment: "I think you've covered all the points I was going to ask you about." "I wanted to know about the department structure and the systems that you use, but you have covered all those areas, thank you." Show that you have taken an interest in the company: "I read that you have ten outlets in Yorkshire. Are you intending to expand any more during the next year?" Try for the opportunity to summarise for one last time why the interviewer should offer you the job. This means that you will leave on an upbeat note with your skills and experience the final things that they remember about you: "Could I summarise why you should seriously consider me for this position?" Interview questions are not only your best leads because they let you know what is important to the interviewer, but your interview questions let them know you are interested. It also means that the interview doesn't just fizzle out but ends positively. With over 25 years running businesses, and as a Career Coach and Consultant in many sectors, Peter Fisher is well placed to guide job seekers through the steps needed in order to achieve that all important new position. He has personally coached thousands of individuals to career success. His distillation of these years of experience includes all the essential facts and actions you must complete in order to achieve your own success. He is very clear that you shouldn't be misled by others into thinking of "acing interviews" or "finessing" your way into a business; the most sustainable and fulfilling roles are gained through understanding your own specific needs and creating your strategy accordingly. For specific guidance on how you might best prepare for your interview go to http://www.your-career-change.com/interview-preparation.html To learn more about his dynamic and comprehensive approach to career change, with every page dedicated to helping serious career changers go to http://www.your-career-change.com/index.html | | | | RELATED ARTICLES Job! Money! Career! Feel somehow your life is stuck in MS-OFFICE ? The reality of life for MBAs is Excel or PowerPoint , I heard Google is catching up at campus. Having gone through this myself, (I am still not out of it!), having had the nightmare of freshly minted MBAs reporting to me every year ( 90% of MBAs in their first job believe that their first Boss in Incompetent) and struggling to manage their transition to reality, guess I am now in a position to give some Gyan on assessing your job and career moves. I crystallized these thoughts while discussing these situations with a friend of mine, her issues with the first job where similar to what most of you would be facing. Job!! Money !! or Career !! What Recruiters Hate About Resumes And Cover Letters Today, I'm going to share with you the awful truth about resumes and cover letters. Business & Career: Know Your Ruling Star! "Know your Ruling Star. One man is better received by one nation than another, or is one welcome by one city than another. He finds more luck in one office or position than in another, and all though his qualifications are equal or even identical. Let each man know his luck as well as his talents. Follow your guiding star and help it without mistaking any other for it. Know how to transplant yourself. There are nations with whom one must cross their borders to make one's value felt."- Balthasar Gracian, (Spain, 1600's) How to Pick the Best Career For You , Part 2: From Exposure-to-Opportunity Gain an audience by recognizing opportunityThere's a sexier method to salsa into a great career with less tripping and more flair. Look for problems to solve and create a personalized solution. Find those challenges by spotting company movement of any kind, whether the change is good, bad or ugly. If you do this, you'll capitalize on an opportunity to be heard and get that coveted invitation to dance in the king's court. Job Search Tip for College Students Today everyone is looking for that special job that will suit their exact needs. In this day and age we all have circumstances, situations, obligations, etc. that make demands on our time and energy. In most cases students will get a job that will give them enough money to pay for the fuel for their car and a few nights out, assuming they even have a night off. Resume Writing Service Website Promote Your Resume Business Website! Turning Their Loss Into Your Job Gain It isn't the end of the world, even if it seems like it. Losing your job can be a heart-breaking experience. After all, your security in life and your abilities is now in question. You can feel disillusioned and there is the ever-nagging question of: What do I do now? Career Success: Get Ahead of the Crowd Regardless of where you open your briefcase or palm pilot each day - at a large corporation, a small business or the end of your dining room table ? the key to staying employable the rest of your life is your own creative action. The person who is going to be successful is not going to succeed just because of good work. That is a given. It is expected. Crafting your competitive advantage is what is going to get you ahead in these crazy, changing times. Pat attention to and practice the following three tactics to not only stay in the game but to get ahead of the crowd. Where Will Your IT Staff Come From NOW? The labor recession is over. During the course of the recession, almost 500,000 IT positions were lost according to publicly collected data and anecdotal information suggests even more. According top a recent poll, American business will add over 200000 new IT jobs in 2005. Your staff will probably be scanning job boards to see their value and blocking access is useless; they'll only do it at home. Resume Writing Dos and Donts Do these thingsInclude your full name - don't use nicknames or abbreviationsUse a telephone number that you can always answer - use a cell phone if possible or make sure there is an answering machine at the listed phone numberUse bullet points to highlight information - it is much easier for an employer to absorb relevant information while scanning your résuméPrint your résumé and cover letter on high quality paper - when printing your résumé you should use paper with at least 50% cotton contentBe concise and get to the point - say what you need to say and nothing moreUse action words and descriptive phrases - be creative when trying to get your point across using as few words as possibleTarget your résumé - address your résumé to the position you are applying for to show that you are really interested in working for that companyFocus on relevant facts only - list skills, accomplishments and personality traits you know the employer is looking forList quantitative support for statements made - back up your skills and experiences with real scenarios, facts and figuresBegin statements with action verbs - action verbs demonstrate your importance to the achievement or experience being describedDon't do these thingsHave any grammatical errors - always have someone else proofread your résumé for errors and flowHave any spelling mistakes - always spell check your résumé, your contact's name, and the company's nameMisrepresent your background or experience - employers oftentimes verify this information and can fire you if it is discovered that you were dishonestFill in employment gaps with unrelated information - wait to discuss this information in person to put a positive spin on itUse lengthy paragraphs - employers notoriously skip over paragraphs in résumésUse long sentences - just like paragraphs, the reader easily skips over long sentencesUse personal pronouns - keep your résumé impersonal for a more professional imageForget to list basic skills - all employers want to see that you are a team player, take charge of situations and are reliable Seven Steps to Better Networking If published statistics are accurate, employment agencies and search firms fill about 20% of all jobs in the US. Job boards fill anywhere between 2% and 8%. So how do the others get filled? How Hedgehogs Hire In my last column, I explored Jim Collins' "hedgehog" principle, and how powerfully this can be used to attract great employees. After many dozens of CEO interviews, I'm convinced that leaders with well-defined hedgehogs deploy the most successful hiring models. Reinvent Yourself in a New Career Some people reserve the word "vocation" for religious calling. Contemporary career guides encourage us to think of a "life purpose" that guides and gives meaning to a life, regardless of career. See, for example, Mark Albion's book, Making a Life, Making a Living. Telecommuting Resumes Your resume needs to outline your skills and experience, as most know. What some may not know is that employers want to know what you'll bring to the table. They don't want to know what your daily duties were. They want to know what you did for the companies you worked for that makes you extraordinary. Did you save them money, did you make them money, how were you the best at what you did, etc. Yes, employers want to know what your experience is, so duties are good to add. Again, the name of the game is SELL YOURSELF! This does not lose its importance in a resume. Seeking Knowledge Will Give You Power What are you interested in? We all have a passion for something. So, what is your passion? The Top Ten Ways to Jump Start Your Career 1. Do What You Love. What to Ask During the Interview Don't just sit there and bob your head, waiting to answer the next question - be prepared to ask your own questions and make the interviewer know that you care! How to Use Flow In The Job Search What is "flow"? Flow as described by thepsychology professor and educator,Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is a state of being andbehavior. The behavior is one of complete absorption in a task. It is a transcendent state of being. Medical Billing And Coding Profession Medical billers and coders are in high demand among the allied health occupations. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), health information technicians are one of the 10 fastest-growing allied health occupations. It is a challenging, interesting career where you are compensated according to your level of skills and how effectively you use them. How to Become a Successful Freelance Translator After completing their translation training programmes at higher professional education or university level, many students can't wait to set up as a freelance translator. However, gaining a foothold as a freelancer in a very competitive translation market may turn out to be a pretty complicated business. Translation agencies are not usually keen on contracting inexperienced translators, business clients are difficult to find without commercial tools, and the tax authorities won't just accept anyone as a self-employed person. So what do you need to do to set up shop as a successful freelance translator?
|