How To Get Your Interviewer Off The Script – Liz Ryan

Jul 052016
 

Off the ScriptGetting your interviewer off the job interview script is essential in the Pain Interviewing process I teach. If you allow the interview to be governed by the goofy script the interviewer holds in his or her hands, you won’t have the opportunity you need to get past the standard interview questions and talk about what’s really at stake.

Your goal is to get your interviewer off the script and into a human conversation with you — not asking you dumb questions like “What’s your greatest weakness?” but rather talking about the real issues in his or her department, and your success slaying similar dragons in the past.

Of course, you must be polite as you gently guide your interviewer out of Zombie Interview Script Land and into Human Conversation Land. You can’t be pushy.

Anybody who begins your interview by asking you standard interview questions is someone who is comfortable with the scripted approach. To get your interviewer off the script, you have to use a little tact and finesse.

You can’t use this approach with an HR screener or a recruiter. It doesn’t work with those guys, because they are not in pain. They have a list of things they want to know about you, and they want to use their time with you to get answers to their questions – period.

You’ll use the Pain Interviewing approach with your hiring manager — the person who will be your boss if you end up accepting his or her job offer. This person has pain. If they didn’t have any pain, the finance person who approves every job opening would not have given permission for your hiring manager to hire anyone new.

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Tips For Getting A Job At Facebook, Google, Snapchat, And More – Lydia Dishman

Jun 132016
 
Tips for GettingWorld-changing companies are looking for very specific individuals as they grow their ranks. Here’s the scoop. 

We’ve reported that it’s a great time to be looking for a job. Unemployment is low, many companies anticipate adding more staff this year, and over 100 occupations have more openings than actual hires month-over-month.

For those looking to switch jobs, it’s hard to deny the lure of a big name company. This is especially true in the tech sector, where company names can be synonymous with big innovation: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google, and the like. But it’s also the case at other businesses where the focus on developing world-changing products and services can be just as laser-like.

With that in mind, we scoured Fast Company‘s current list of 2016‘s Most Innovative Companies to bring you the inside scoop on what it takes to snag a job at five of the top employers.

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These 3 Career Skills Will Make You Invaluable to Your Employer – Hannah Morgan

Jun 062016
 
Companies want workers with collaborating, decision-making and mentoring skills, according to one study.

3 Career Skills

Employers have raised the bar on what they expect from new employees. It may be due to the increasing number of college graduates. Or it may have something to do with the overqualified candidates who filled lower-level jobs after the recession. As long as companies can find candidates with the mix of hybrid skills they are looking for, you’ll continue to see these demanding job requirements.

The hybrid skills companies are requesting were once isolated to a specific department or role, such as social media skills as part of the responsibilities of human resources and marketing. But in fact, 71 percent of in-demand skills are required across two or more job categories, according to analysis by Bentley University and labor market analytics firm Burning Glass, which identified skills with the highest demand. This reinforces the cross-functional need and that employees “must demonstrate deeper and broader competencies to be marketable” said Susan Brennan, associate vice president of university career services at Bentley University, in an interview with Fast Company.

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No Correct Answers – Stephanie K. Eberle

May 232016
 
The best tool you bring into a job interview is comfort with yourself, not a set of practiced responses.

Experienced interviewers can tell within a few minutes of knowing you if you are delivering, verbatim, pre-prepared answers to their questions. It’s not just that memorization often results in a monotone, rushed answer. It’s that thinking about your fit ahead of time, instead of rehearsing answers, allows a more genuine, passionate answer in the moment.

The equation for getting your career of choice is simple: your interests, skills and values, plus the alignment of an employer’s desired skill set and cultural values and interests, equals fit. Communicating this fit begins early in the cover letter and CV/résumé portion of the job search process. Early on, employers want to know if you can do the job — that is, are your skills and experiences close enough to those they seek. The interview, then, may delve more deeply into your skills, but it primarily assesses whether or not they want you to use said skills at their organization. In short, do they want to work with you?

The best way to get to know your future supervisor and colleagues is to have an honest conversation with them to assess fit on both sides. Yes, you are assessing fit, too. Most people do not approach interviews with such openness. As interviewees, we are constantly trying to guess which questions will be asked, aiming to come up with the “correct” answer. But, as with any new connection, there is no correct answer, only fit.

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How To Get Your Application Noticed Every Time – Raghav Haran

May 162016
 

I love reading relationship advice on Reddit. Users on there ask some pretty interesting questions, and are very honest in their answers. They’re also mostly delusional. Check out this really interesting post I came across a little while ago:

Noticed 1

Tons of guys say things like “I’m smart, nice, I make good money, etc. but I still can’t get dates!!” Notice the subtext here.

In other words, they’re saying that all the FACTS are on their side! On paper, these guys are awesome. They did everything they were “supposed” to do. They’ve got everything going for them. How could anyone turn them down?

When we apply for jobs, most of us obsess over our resume, cover letter or online portfolio. We think that if we just use the right words, if we just emphasize the right skills in the right way, then we’ll get noticed.

We focus on the facts. We try to highlight our skills and positive qualities about ourselves. This is why so many of us end up not knowing where we went wrong if we get rejected. We thought we did everything we were “supposed” to do. We had all the skills.

We knew we could do a good job. Maybe we even hired a “resume writer” to format the whole thing perfectly. We had all the facts on our side.

But if that’s the game you’re playing, you’ve already lost.

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4 Misconceptions About Getting a Job After College – Arnie Fertig

Apr 182016
 
4 Mis-ConsCollege students shouldn’t wait until senior year to meet with a career counselor.

Make sure that your LinkedIn profile is complete, including full descriptions of what you’ve done, skills, volunteer activities and languages you speak.

Dialogues with college seniors in the midst of trying to figure out “what comes next” often reveal a disconnect between student life and launching a successful career. It’s easy to empathize with the cry, “I can get an A in my senior seminar but I don’t have a clue about how to get a job.”

Ideally, colleges and universities would fund career services departments with a full complement of savvy professionals. However, more often than not, budgets are cramped and the staff doesn’t have time to do as much as one would hope and expect from them.

To get the most out of this practical college offering, students shouldn’t wait until senior year to build a relationship with a counselor. Even when they’re freshmen or sophomores, students can take aptitude and other diagnostic tests to identify important traits and preferences to keep in mind when figuring out what career path to pursue. Still, sometimes professors and career services aren’t up with the latest in the realm of workforce development and staffing best practices.

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Career Coach: Want To Stand Out At Work? Take Some Initiative! – Joyce E.A. Russell

Apr 042016
 

Ask any boss which employee in their firm really stands out as a star, and they will most certainly bring up the person who shows initiative. Everyone wants a hardworking employee who does a good job, but the person who goes beyond that and shows initiative is rare indeed (and seems to be harder and harder to find, as I often hear from leaders).

Initiative is the power, ability or instinct to take action (to begin a task and follow through on it) without waiting for someone to tell you what to do. It means going beyond simply the “9 to 5” aspect of your job. It means taking the “next step” before being asked to take it. Getting in early, staying late, or looking for things to do when your own work is slow.

Whether you are a new employee at the firm or starting a new job in another part of your company, initiative is key. Most firms are explicitly looking for go-getters who can independently take action to get things done. And yet, few applicants talk about their strengths in this domain or realize how important it is in the workplace. Employers, on the other hand, are eager to hire individuals who want to keep learning and growing in their knowledge or skills. Think about the employee who takes additional courses or workshops in order to learn how to do their job better. This makes a positive impression on employers. Or those who volunteer to give back to the community. Those who do these things really stand out.

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These Are The Biggest Mistakes People Make During Interviews – Lydia Dishman

Mar 082016
 
Biggest MistatkesBody Language Faux Pas Derailed Candidates’ Chances Of Getting The Job As Much As What The Person Said.

According to a new poll, half of employers say they can size up a candidate within the first five minutes of an interview and determine whether they’d be a good fit for the job.

What happens during those first five minutes doesn’t have much to do with what the job seeker says. Indeed, as many interviews start with pleasantries or small talk, it’s often something the candidate does rather than says that’s a deal breaker. That said, there are plenty of ways for a job seeker to stick his foot in his mouth during the interview.

What to watch out for if you’re among the thousands of workers looking to change jobs in 2016? A brand new Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder surveyed 2,595 hiring and human resource managers, the majority of whom work in the private sector, reveal the biggest job interview faux pas candidates have made, and how their body language blew any chance they had to move forward in the interview process.

Let’s start with the overt mistakes. Survey respondents listed five factors that immediately nixed the candidate from their talent pool.

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Don’t Use This Word In Your Resume – Diane Stafford

Feb 222016
 
MultitaskingBaylor University research says “multitasking” isn’t an asset
You can’t do multiple things well all at once
We’re not as capable at multitasking as we think. Bigstock

 

Have you talked on your cellphone as you drove to work and later realized you had no clear memory of the traffic, of stoplights — which, of course, you stopped at — or other features of the drive?

Of course you have. We’ve all been in situations where autopilot takes over when we’re absorbed in something else.

There’s been a lot of research about how we’re not as capable at multitasking as we think. Sure, we might do two or more things at once, but the real thinking is applied to only one of the tasks.

That’s why a Baylor University professor deserves attention for new advice about how this applies to your professional resumes. Anne Grinols, an assistant dean in Baylor’s master of business administration program, says prospective employers may not look kindly on your claims of multitasking.

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The Skills Employers Are Looking For – Stacy Rapacon

Feb 152016
 

Looking forIf you’ve heard talk about a “skills gap” in the labor force lately, it was likely in reference to the short supply of potential employees with the right technical skills. But another kind of skill is in even greater demand.

Employers are increasingly seeking employees with so-called soft skills, or baseline skills, such as writing, communication and organization.

A recent study from job market research firm Burning Glass Technologies analyzed 25 million online job postings from more than 40,000 sources over the past year and identified the most sought-after skills.

“We tend to focus on technical skill requirements, but the reality is employers are very vocal about the need for people to have foundational or baseline skills,” said Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass. “Even in jobs that are really denominated in technical terms, it’s still very important to employers that people have the right soft skills.”

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