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#JobSearch : What To Watch Out For When Interviewing In 2023. Interviewing is Not Easy. A MUst REad!

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Interviewing is not easy. You must remain vigilant as the hiring process is not always honest and transparent. You must be aware of misleading job advertisements, overpromises and questionable tactics used by companies to entice applicants to join their firm. Some businesses will purposely try to game the new salary disclosure laws or ghost you after 10 rounds of interviews over the course of three to six months. It wouldn’t be shocking if you receive a lowball offer and are pressured by a pushy recruiter to accept it, by being made to feel that you are lucky an offer was even extended.

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to find a new job. Many people who lost their positions last year are highly motivated to start interviewing now that the wheels of commerce are starting up again. However, be prepared. Due to the current economic situation and the likelihood of an upcoming recession, finding a new role may not be as easy as it used to be.

Companies have held off hiring during the holiday season, as both potential candidates and internal corporate professionals, including human resources, talent acquisition, hiring managers and executives, have been out of the office on vacation. Now that both the candidates and businesses are ready to hunt for new opportunities and fill open headcount respectively, the 2023 interview cycle begins in earnest.

Here Is What You Need To Keep An Eye Out For When Interviewing

It Starts With The Job Description

Pay close attention to the job description, as it will tell you a lot about the company and its culture. If the job ad demands too many unrealistic requirements, lacks reasons why the job is open, why you should be interested in the opportunity and circumvents the new salary transparency rule in your state by giving a vast range, it’s a red flag.

It’s rational that a job seeker will naturally anchor their expectations to the higher end of the salary band. They don’t know that the company purposely placed the lofty range to entice more candidates to apply for the role to add to its pipeline of candidates.

After going through about three to six rounds of interviewing, the internal recruiter tells you, “We’d love to offer you the role at $100K.” Believing that you’d get at least $200k, you now feel like you’ve been played. Companies hope to hook you and get away with a lowball offer, as you’ve invested a reasonable amount of time and energy into the interview process. They feel that since it’s a more challenging job market, you may jump at the opportunity, even though it is far lower than you had hoped. This works effectively when a person is in between jobs and desperately wants to return to work.

 

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Best Daily Choice: Follow the Best of FSC Career Articles/Blogs @

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Question: Want the ‘the best/current articles/blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & Type(#Jobsearch, #Resume, or #Networking) in Blog Search:  https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 30 years in the delivery of corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 of our corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!  

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity in serving & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

An Annoying Application Process

When the application submission process is archaic, as it requires you to submit the résumé and also complete a glitchy, lengthy application that mirrors everything in your résumé, this is indicative that the company doesn’t care about your time. If there is no response within a few days or longer, it confirms that the company is not employee-centric.

Beware Of Sweet-Talking Headhunters

Your recruiter may be a great person, but remember that they get paid a hefty commission when the headhunter places you in a role at the company. Like a stockbroker, attorney, real estate agent or plumber, you need to be careful of their ulterior motives.

They may be more concerned about lining their own pockets than doing right by you. You want to ensure that the executive search professional is not steering you to a company that pays a higher commission than another company that offers a better opportunity but won’t compensate the recruiter at the same high level.

At the end of the interview process, you want to make sure the headhunter doesn’t pressure you into the job or is reluctant to fight hard in salary negotiations, out of fear that the firm will push back and they’ll lose their lofty placement fee.

Unprepared Interviewers

Pay attention to when interviews are scheduled. If the HR person or managers involved with the hiring process schedule times without first asking if you’re available or push you into accepting days and times that are inconvenient, it’s a red flag about how much they value your candidacy. If the scheduled meeting is canceled at the last minute or the contact person ghosts you for long periods and returns without apologizing for their absence, it’s a tell that they won’t treat you well if you decide to join the firm. Similarly, when interviewers show up late and unprepared for the interview, clearly didn’t read your résumé or check out your LinkedIn profile and then proceeded to mispronounce or call you by the wrong name, it’s a problem.

Be Prepared For Condescending And Rude Treatment

When you are hunting for a new job, it’s a stressful undertaking. It’s both daunting and pressure-filled when you’ve lost your position and are concerned about your financial situation. All it takes is dealing with someone who isn’t empathetic, polite or helpful to make your job search even more painful.

The process of selling yourself to strangers, being made to jump through hoops and contending with the rollercoaster of emotions of highs and lows can cause even the most mentally strong person to become anxiety-ridden. Condescending, rude and abusive words and actions lead to frustration and anger over the entire job-search process.

Bosses Who Don’t Really Know What’s Going On

Some managers are out of touch with the job market and reality. They lack up-to-date metrics about compensation and are not intellectually curious to perform due diligence to see if the job market and pay have changed over the years. They are blissfully unaware of how hot a sector is. Bad bosses don’t bother to gauge how many people may be in the job search that actually possess the requisite requirements and experiences needed for the job. Instead, they’ll just assume that there is a never-ending abundance of candidates waiting in line to take the position for low pay. Rather than making inquiries into competitive compensation, the boss thinks they know it all and dismisses anyone who tries to enlighten the supervisor, leading to no one getting hired and causing the existing workers to contemplate leaving.

The Long, Drawn-Out Process

Lately, the interview process has become a three-to-six-month ordeal. You’re ordered to meet with up to 10 people. Many of those involved are tangentially related to what you would be doing at the company, but are pulled into the process anyway. This happens because the hiring manager lacks confidence in their own decision-making process and needs others to validate their choice of a candidate.

The challenge is that it’s hard to get five to 10 people to agree on a candidate. If one or two people have reservations about the candidate, it’s easy for a less-than-confident manager to accept their feedback and start the search all over again—wasting the time of the person who almost got the job.

 

Forbes.com | January 4, 2023 | Jack Kelly 

#BestJobSearchTips : Collection of Favorite Job Search Tips From 2022, that Will Help you in 2023. MUst REad!

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With 2022 winding down, a lot of us are thinking about our goals for the new year. But if those goals include landing a new job, you might have a lot of work to do. From polishing your résumé and writing cover letters to interview prep and company research, looking for a new job is basically another job in itself.

“Before accepting a job, there is usually a time to negotiate salary, and this is a good opportunity to negotiate your job title as well. The same goes for any promotion. Pick a job title that has the highest earning potential.”

To help you get started, we’ve rounded up the best job searching tips of 2022 from the always-helpful r/LifeProTips subreddit. Here are the tips people loved in 2022 to help you start your 2023 job search right:

1. “When applying for a job, keep in mind that you are being interviewed long before your interview begins.”

“When communicating back and forth for a potential job, any and all correspondence that you have with the person hiring is being taken into consideration.”

I am currently hiring for a Front Desk position that would require the future employee to interact with customers (both in-person and via email) and be professional and timely at all times. I have been emailing with a number of applicants to organize interviews, and I am blown away by the number of people who have not been professional throughout the process. I have already written off the applicants who have been short and unprofessional in their emails, shown up late for their interview, or been poor communicators throughout the process.

Extra Pro Tip: Research the company you are applying for! My first interview question is ‘What do you know about our company and what made you want to apply for this job?’ And more often than not, applicants have responded with, ‘I don’t know anything about your company.’ Any and all information they would need is on our website under the ‘About Us’ section, and would show me that they have the forethought to prepare ahead of time!”

You might find social media accounts and can see how they present themselves and if you will get along with them. Maybe you find out that you share hobbies, maybe they share extremist political content. You will know more after Googling, which might help your decision if you want to work with them.”

“They likely did the same to you, might as well look them up too.

Because a job interview isn’t just them interviewing you, you are interviewing them (more so when you are competitive for your field/industry). Realizing this helped my mindset in interviews. I don’t need to be nervous. I need to show them what I can offer to the job and decide if I want to work in the work environment they are offering.”

 

Like this Article?  Share It!    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award-Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-g-laughter-b46389198/

Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

Best Daily Choice: Follow the Best of FSC Career Articles/Blogs @

https://twitter.com/search?q=bestoffscblog&src=typeahead_click

Question: Want the ‘the best/current articles/blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & Type(#Jobsearch, #Resume, or #Networking) in Blog Search:  https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, Llc (FSC) is celebrating over 30 years in the delivery of corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 of our corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, the UK, & Mexico!  

We here at FSC want to thank each of our corporate partners for the opportunity in serving & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment!

 

Article continued …

2. “Use AI to generate cover letters to save time applying to different jobs.”

“Recently my wife has been applying for jobs on the market. She’s tired of writing cover letters for different companies, so I helped her generate them using AI instead. ChatGPT blew up recently and everyone’s been using it.

Put things that contain the company information and your background like ‘A cover letter for applying to an accounting company as a bachelor of finance,’ the more specific the better.”

“I just tested this, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t work. It didn’t seem perfect. There were lots of things that could be improved, but you go from authoring to proofreading and editing instead, and that’s a big benefit.”

3. “When changing your status on LinkedIn to be ‘open for work,’ make sure it’s set to be visible to recruiters only.”

“I’ve made this mistake before. My current boss sent me a LinkedIn message and it was pretty awkward.”

 

4. “When filling out a job application that requires you to answer long questions online, write them out in a Word document first.”

“I learned this lesson many years ago, applying to a job with long essay questions, and of course the application glitched and didn’t save. My spouse just learned this lesson last night, and I feel horrible for forgetting to tell him my painful experience, so here we are.

Therefore, whenever you are filling out long answer questions online, write them out in Word (or whatever you use), or at the very very least, copy and paste your answers into Word. Trust me! Plus that way you can save them should you need those brilliant answers in the future.

And don’t trust that ‘save application’ button. Don’t click it until you’ve copied and pasted your answers somewhere else first. Websites time out and don’t tell you sometimes.”

5. “If you barely don’t meet the job requirements, apply anyway. You may be able to land the interview and progress from there. Let them decide if you’re good enough, don’t do their job for them.”

“It’s incredibly common for hiring managers to ‘shoot for the moon’ on the job description, listing the skills of their ideal candidate, but not necessarily a realistic one. Always apply if you truly believe you can do the job. I have seen countless times where candidates who were under-qualified on paper were hired over more-qualified candidates thanks for their interview, attitude, etc.”

6. “If you can, don’t apply for a job that is complaining about ‘severe employee shortages’ or the like. There’s a reason they can’t retain employees, and you don’t want to have to find out what that reason is.”

“One of the questions I always ask in an interview is, ‘What is the average tenure of the team I’ll be working with?’ Some are quite caught off guard by the question, and I’ve even seen the life drain out of some of them when they realize exactly what it is that I’m asking. It’s a perfectly legitimate question and can give you a mountain of information from the actual tenure, which is nice to know, to how they answer (or dance around) the question.”

7. “When job searching on LinkedIn, filter for ‘in my network,’ then reach out and ask your connection for a referral.”

“I know many of us are unwilling to give up remote work, and many companies are forcing people back. That puts a lot of us in the job market. There are over 550,000 remote jobs on LinkedIn right now. LinkedIn is really great for job searches because it’s shows you your connections at a given company. You can even filter for ‘in my network’ to see companies you know people at. Reach out to those people and ask for a referral. A referral can be the difference between getting an interview or not.”

8. “If you are looking for a new job and reading reviews of a company always look at the date reviews are posted. If all the five-star reviews are posted on the same day, avoid it.”

“My current employer took their rating from 1.7 on Indeed to 4.6 in three weeks by incentivizing reviews.”

9. “If your home doesn’t have a space suitable for having a virtual interview, check with your public library to see if they have a meeting room you can use.”

“Or your local employment or unemployment office — they have rooms just for that reason.”

10. “Copy/paste all job descriptions you’re interested in into a notes app, with the job title, company name, and how you applied.”

“Job applications don’t last forever on the respective sites/boards. Job titles can easily blur; you do not want to think you’re interviewing for Software Analyst I and it’s really Systems Analyst I at a completely different company.

Jot down the info in the title so you can easily keep up with what you’re doing AND be able to mentally compare the job description to what the recruiter entails it to be. If you’re good at multi-tasking without looking distracted, you could even have it (or a brief description) pulled up on your device/monitor while looking into the camera, verbally checking off the items during the discussions.”

11. “If you are in the process of applying for a job, please make sure you have set up the voicemail on your cell phone.”

“My job responsibilities include setting up interviews for open positions that we have. We get flooded with applications. I call those who are deemed most qualified. Most people do not answer the phone and that’s fine. But too many candidates have not set up voicemail on their cell phones, and I can’t leave a message. I hate for that to be the reason they don’t get an interview.”

12. “It’s better to negotiate a good starting salary rather than relying on raises to hit your target.”

“If you accepted a low-ball starting salary, it’s unlikely that you can rely on a raise to get you to where you want to be.

It’s best to negotiate a starting salary to start off where you want to be. Remember, once an offer has been made, the ball is in your court and you have negotiating power.”

13. “Keep a CV or master résumé for when you are applying for jobs. You can make custom résumés quickly by pulling necessary info out while also keeping all of your résumé information in one place.”+

“By making a master document, you have everything you have ever done already formatted and summarized in a résumé format such that you can copy and paste from it to generate custom résumés for each application.

Likewise, you have all of your information in one place so you don’t have to look across multiple versions of your old résumés to remember what you have done.”

“As soon as you start a new job, add its job description to your ‘master résumé’, even as just a place-holder that you’ll edit later. In six months or a year, come back to it and update that portion based on what you’ve learned.”

14. “When submitting a résumé online, make sure you use a filename with your first and last name.”

“Oftentimes people don’t realize the filename you use to submit your résumé is seen by the recruiter. If you name it something like ‘new revision for accounting firms,’ they will see this. What’s more, if they are downloading them they have to go out and rename the files, which takes time. Best approach is to just name your PDF with your first and last name.”

15. “Keep a running list of career accomplishments and things you’re proud of.”

“Not only can you use this list for building future résumés or negotiating your salary, but it’s also great to look at when imposter syndrome comes creeping in.”

16. “If you have a job interview coming up, practice describing your job to someone who isn’t familiar with your industry. Include descriptions of what you do and what tools you use.”

“This can be especially good so that you can practice keeping a straight face if the question sounds silly. Remember the first person you meet in a job interview may be HR and may not know anything about the details of the actual job you are being hired for.”

17. “When you have an interview at a company, Google the people you have the interview with.”

You might find social media accounts and can see how they present themselves and if you will get along with them. Maybe you find out that you share hobbies, maybe they share extremist political content. You will know more after Googling, which might help your decision if you want to work with them.”

“They likely did the same to you, might as well look them up too.

Because a job interview isn’t just them interviewing you, you are interviewing them (more so when you are competitive for your field/industry). Realizing this helped my mindset in interviews. I don’t need to be nervous. I need to show them what I can offer to the job and decide if I want to work in the work environment they are offering.”

18. “When interviewing for a new role, ask the hiring manager to clearly define what success looks like in the role.”

“If they can’t paint a vivid picture of what it takes to thrive, run.

A company that can’t define how you will win with them is destined to lose.”

19. “In interview situations, practice avoiding filler words such as ‘like’ or ‘umm’, and don’t be afraid to briefly pause to collect your words. This will help you seem more assured in your responses, and shows you’re thinking carefully about your statements.”

“I train technical trainers and this is sound advice. That being said, filler, especially in English is natural and fairly unavoidable 100 percent of the time for most folks. You just want to be conscious of it and make sure it isn’t a distraction. Most people don’t notice it if it is intermittent. People will notice if you use ‘ummm, uhhhhh, ok, right?’ as punctuation on every sentence or in-between every few words.”

20. “If a prospective employer asks why you’re leaving your current employer, give a reason that involves something the new employer has that the old employer doesn’t.”

“If this new job is a smaller company, ‘I’m looking to work for a smaller company.’ If the new job is more hands on, ‘I’m looking for a job where I can be more hands on.’ Etc.

That way you are already complimenting something this prospective employer has while refraining from negativity regarding your current employer.”

21.“When interviewing for a job, ask what day-to-day work would be in detail.”

“There is a wild amount of hiring going on right now and copy/paste errors and omissions (both intentional and non intentional) on job descriptions mean red flags or mismatched responsibilities to your talent stack may not be caught in the application process. Also hiring managers will only ask what you know/did. It’s on you to ask what tasks you will be doing on a day to day basis.

A friend who applied for ‘Business Analyst’ roles found out during the interview process that one role was for a monotonous data entry process while the second one was a technical writing role.”

22. “If you interview for a job you don’t get, send a gracious response email.”

“Nobody likes to give bad news, and people will remember you as a class act who handled a disappointing situation with professionalism.

My go to is something like: ‘Thank you for the prompt response. While I am obviously disappointed, I understand there were many qualified applicants to choose from and I very much enjoyed meeting you and your team. Thanks again, and best, (name).'”

23. “When you get a job offer and you’d like a higher salary, ask. The worst thing they will say is no.”

“I was chatting with a friend who got a job offer and wanted $10k more annually but was nervous about asking.

When I asked what he was nervous about, he explained that he was concerned that they would revoke the offer.

I reminded him that if you get to the stage in the interview process where you are receiving an offer, they WANT you to work there. Asking for more money will result in one of two things:

• Getting more $$ than they initially offered

(or)

• They do not have additional budget to increase your salary and they tell you they cannot go higher.

It would be incredibly bizarre for a company to revoke an offer completely after spending time putting you through the interview prices and deciding they’d like to hire you all because you asked for a higher salary.”

24. “Job titles can often be negotiated. Before accepting a job, there is usually a time to negotiate salary, and this is a good opportunity to negotiate your job title as well. The same goes for any promotion. Pick a job title that has the highest earning potential.”

“Look around at that next level job you want and advocate for a job title that would give you an edge on your application. For example, you may have a current job title of ‘office assistant’; but if you are the assistant to one of the executives and have been there longer than another assistant, you might able to push for a job title change to ‘Senior Executive Assistant’. These may seem like small changes but can mean thousands of dollars a year when you try to find another job.”

25. And finally, “Do not resign your current job until your next job’s background check is completed.”

“I just watched this scenario unfold: Employee gets a new job — hurrah! Employee resigns from current job sure that their background check is clean. Background check comes back and there are red flags. Red flags cause the employer to revoke the job offer. Person has now resigned their current position (no takebacks) and hasn’t truly secured their current position.

Don’t do that. Just wait until your background check is completed before quitting.”

 

BuzzFeed.com | December 29, 2022 | Megan Liscomb

 

#BestofFSCBlog : The Summertime Vibe Shift In The Job Market. Corporate Leadership Abhors Uncertainty. Must REAd!

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There is a vibe shift that takes place during Memorial Day weekend. It signifies the unofficial start of summer. The local town pools open and so do public beaches. You can feel the change in weather. The sun is shining and winter clothes are stored away. The kids are happily counting down the days until school is over. Parents start planning family vacations. The collective mood positively changes, especially for those who live in cold climates for most of the year.

What To Expect When Job Hunting In The Warm Weather

Vacation schedules wreak havoc on the hiring process. If you are seeking a new job, be mentally prepared, as there is a downside to this period. Historically, from around now to the middle of September, there is a steady slowdown in hiring. Since people generally plan vacations for the summertime, the folks involved with the hiring process may not be around.

Every year we see the same scenarios play out over and over again. The human resources professional quarterbacking the interview process places an out-of-the-office notice on her email and phone message. By the time she returns, the hiring manager is in Disneyland. Then, the candidate is on a beach somewhere.

Since interviews now require three to around 10 rounds with personnel from the group, along with other divisions, it becomes nearly impossible to get everyone aboard with the interviews in an orderly fashion. Due to the fractured schedules, it’s difficult to schedule interviews, momentum is lost and the applicant is left out in the dark.

There’s A New Challenge For Interviewees

You’ll likely run into resistance when applying for a job and getting called for an interview. Inflation, supply chain disruptions, rising costs, the war in Eastern Europe, overinflated valuations of startups and a plunging stock market are taking their toll. There have been a number of tech companies that have enacted hiring freezes and started conducting some downsizing.

Corporate leadership abhors uncertainty. With all of the issues swirling around, it’s easier for hiring managers to slow-walk the process or simply put it on hold. They’d rather take a wait-and-see approach. As we get deeper into the summer, it’s a convenient excuse to say, “We might as well wait until September, when everyone is back from vacation, and can then start looking at candidates once again.”

This doesn’t mean you should give up looking for a new job. It’s meant to manage your expectations. If you interview and don’t hear back, you’ll know that it’s not just you. This is a systemic matter for the time of year.

 

Like this Article?  Share It!    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award-Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-g-laughter-b46389198/

Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

Best Daily Choice: Follow the Best of FSC Career Articles/Blogs @

https://twitter.com/search?q=bestoffscblog&src=typeahead_click

Question: Want the ‘the best/current articles/blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & Type(#Jobsearch, #Resume, or #Networking) in Blog Search:  https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, LLc (FSC) is celebrating over 30 years in the delivery of corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 of our corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, UK, & Mexico!  

We here at FSC want to thank each of corporate partners in the opportunity in serving & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment !

 

Article continued …

On The Positive Side

There is a wild card. Even with all the geopolitical drama over the last month or so, America still has around 11 million jobs available.

If the Federal Reserve doesn’t raise interest rates too quickly, the stock market stabilizes, inflation calms down and China starts reopening and shipping goods to the United States, as Covid-19 cases subside, America may see renewed optimism.

Many people pull themselves out of the job market, since they have trips planned, just want to destress, enjoy the peaceful time away from the office and don’t look forward to enduring an interview process in 90-degree weather.

Both hiring personnel and prospective job hunters will tell themselves, “I’ll enjoy the summertime and get back to the search in the fall.” They’ll add, “After two years of being in a lockdown and worried about catching or spreading Covid-19, I just want to enjoy life for a while and not have to deal with any additional pressure.”

There is a contrarian game plan. You may want to put some travel plans aside for a while. With fewer job hunters around, there is less competition and you’ll stand out. If a company desperately needs to quickly hire and there are not too many other candidates, you have a better chance of succeeding and winning the offer.

For those who get out of their search mode, they’ll be met with tough competition once everyone gets back into interviewing when the summer ends.

Easy-To-Do, Career-Enhancing Tips

If you aren’t thinking about a job switch this summer, consider how you can advance your career over the summer lull. Usually, companies offer Fridays off or at least a half day. There is an unwritten rule that there’s more leeway during the summer months. Work and the pace of things appreciably slow down.

You can use this extra time to get ahead. Sign up for some online classes. Get a needed license or certification that you’ve been putting off. Now that the pandemic has largely ebbed, cultivate a mutually beneficial network of like-minded professionals. Ask for career advice. Invite a person who is in the role you’d love to have for a cup of coffee. Inquire about how they got to where they are and see if they’d offer some tips and suggestions.

Reach out to recruiters to get on their radar. Request an online or in-person meeting to discuss your short and long-term career goals. Now that they know you, the recruiter can keep her eyes open for when the perfect job opens up. If you are unsure of what to do next, enlist the help of a career coach. The same holds true for your résumé and LinkedIn. There are professionals who can write or enhance your résumé and beef up the LinkedIn profile.

Since business generally slows down, schedule a meeting with your boss to go over expectations and see if there is anything you could do to improve, add on new challenging tasks or feel out if there are any internal lateral moves you could make. By the time September rolls around, you’ll be prepared and ready to take your career to the next level.

Jack Kelly  Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
Forbes.com | May 30, 2022

#JobSearch :Why You Should Start Preparing For Rejection When Interviewing. With Both Stock Market Drop & Higher Inflation, the Job Market will Tighten Soon.

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The United States has been accustomed to a hot job market with plentiful jobs and an abundance of interviewing opportunities. Over the last year, the job market offered so many opportunities that there were months when 4 million Americans quit their jobs, feeling confident that they’d find a better opportunity.

Economic and geopolitical events will most likely change the job market landscape. Record-high levels of inflation, the Federal Reserve Bank stopping its policies that pushed vast sums of money into the economy, the Biden administration curtailing financial stimulus packages to families and other events will have a deleterious impact on both the consumer and companies.

As costs significantly increase, businesses need to pass it on to the customer. Tech companies have already initiated hiring freezes and job cuts to save money, hunker down and get through this new, more austere period. The spigot of venture capital funding will be tightened.

Fortunately, there are still more than 10 million jobs available. We need to keep a watchful eye out for the JOLTS report that provides the data on the number of roles available, as it may soon show fewer jobs open.

The result of all of this is that when you are interviewing, it’s likely to be harder, with more meetings that lead to nowhere. Since the future is cloudy, executives are not sure what to do, so they’ll slow-walk the process. It will be easy for businesses to dump the extra work on the current employees and wait to find the perfect candidate who will accept a lower compensation package.

 

Here is what you need to know while you are interviewing to keep your sanity.

Mentally Managing Rejection

No matter how successful a person is, there is always rejection in their journey. If you are once again turned down for a job, take some time to accept, process and grieve. After a short while, dust yourself off and start again.

There is nothing to be ashamed about. People get rejected all the time. An all-star athlete is traded to another team. A popular politician is voted out of office. Famous actors get rejected for roles all the time.

Try to learn how to be resilient. After feeling bad, you need to focus on bouncing back. To do this, avoid fixating on the loss. Be honest with yourself. Think of anything you did or didn’t do, which could later serve to improve your next interview performance.

The good news is that interviewing is a numbers game. The more interviews you go on, the higher the chances you have of finding a new job. This is why you need to brush yourself off and get started right away. As you attend more interviews, you’ll improve your performance. You’ll start anticipating commonly asked questions and be armed with great answers.

It’s helpful to cultivate a supportive network to share your feelings. You’ll likely hear the same stories from them too, as it’s not unique to get rejected. Try to keep a sense of humor and perspective. There will be other jobs. You may end up finding a job that is far superior to the one you lost out on. In hindsight, the rejection was the best thing that ever happened to you.

 

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Did you know?  First Sun Consulting, LLc (FSC) is celebrating over 30 years in the delivery of corporate & individual outplacement services & programs to over 1200 of our corporate clients in the U.S., Canada, UK, & Mexico!  

We here at FSC want to thank each of corporate partners in the opportunity in serving & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment !

 

Article continued …

Adjust Your Expectation

If a colleague interviewed and found a job three or six months ago, their experience will not be similar to what you will be going through. It will take longer, you’ll lack feedback and get ghosted. There is a good chance you won’t receive an offer. If you do, it may be substantially lower compared to what your coworker received.

On the positive side, you can take solace in the fact that it’s not just you that is experiencing this new change. Nearly everyone else will be in the same position. This may not make you happy, but at least you’ll know that it’s not your fault.

You Need To Remain Confident

When the job market swings dramatically from buoyant to somewhat challenging, it can be jarring. It’s easy to start feeling dejected after not obtaining invitations to interview or constantly coming in second or third place. After a while, it’s easy to start losing confidence. After taking so much time and energy to interview, not receiving offers can damage your self-esteem.

You need to practice positive self-talk. This entails continually reminding yourself of all of your great qualities. Keep in mind all of the times you triumphed over adversities. Think of your reasons for going after this new role. It could be because you’re trying to earn more money to provide a better life for your family. This powerful reason will help you power through the difficulties of interviewing and getting rejected.

Accept The Change

If you’ve been accustomed to easily finding jobs, it’s natural to become complacent. In a blazing hot job market, you don’t haveto try as hard, since hiring managers desperately need the help. Their standards will be lowered and expectations not too high. This is changing due to the new reality. You now must bring your A-game to the interview.

You need to study the job description and prepare an elevator pitch that shows you possess all of the requisite requirements. Search LinkedIn to learn all about the people who will be interviewing you. Use the profiles to consider mutual commonalities that will enable you to quickly bond with them. Ask your recruiter for all the insider information about the company, the hiring personnel, corporate culture, compensation ranges and what they are looking for in a candidate. See if you know anyone at the organization and ask them to put in a good word and recommend you.

Role-play interviewing with trusted friends and peers. Ask for constructive criticism. You may have been too casual, as the job market was hot. That attitude won’t work in a cost-cutting environment.

Think Of Interviewing Like A Marathon

Interviewing during tough times is hard. Getting rejected hurts your ego. It is easy to give up. Instead, frame the process as a marathon. It’s actually, at times, more akin to a Tough Mudder competition, along with a decathlon.

Just as top athletes need to be in peak condition to perform, you need to view interviewing similarly. Prepare and perfect your presentation. Make sure that you take care of yourself. Try meditation, affirmations, manifestations, yoga or whatever you like to do to get psyched up.

Rejection Stokes Passion And Great Achievements

Overcoming adversity can empower you to achieve great things. It is easy to let rejection get the best of you. The harder part is to learn from the experience.

The key is leveraging rejection in your favor. It could serve as the motivating factor to try again with greater vigor and passion. A Jedi-type mind trick is to feel that if you can rebound from a setback, still feel fine and have the people you love still care for you. You’ll be empowered and unafraid to take on new challenges. The lesson learned from rejection is that with the right mindset, it’s only temporary, but can build your inner strength, which can help lead you to achieve great things in the future.

Forbes.com Author:   Jack Kelly

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
Forbes.com | May 25, 2022

 

#JobSearch : How to Show Your Soft Skills During an Interview. What can Distinguish you More than Anything are the Soft Skills you Possess.

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Many professionals get caught up in trying to make their hard skills and expertise sound good, and forget to highlight the soft skills they have. When you’re talking about high-level executive positions, every candidate will have similar hard skills on their resumes and cover letters. What can distinguish you more than anything are the soft skills you possess, since those are unique to every individual.

Here are some tips for demonstrating these soft skills in an interview, even when you aren’t specifically asked about them. 

Important Soft Skills That Translate To Any Job

According to a recent Forbes article, the most sought after soft skills as a result of the global pandemic include:

  • Communication
  • Adaptability
  • Intrapreneurship
  • Leadership
  • Teamwork
  • Organization
  • Creativity

Of course, there are plenty other skills you could have, but these are some of the main ones that translate to any given job. Some of these skills may not fit naturally into your resume, but you can include them in your LinkedIn profile and you definitely need to mention them in your interview. 

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Article continued …

Demonstrate How Your Soft Skills Have Worked Previously

You’re going to be asked mostly about your knowledge and expertise in an interview. But if you really think about it, you likely used a mix of your soft skills in order to earn the knowledge you have today. Consider a particular aspect of a previous job you were an expert at. You may have become an expert at it because of repetition, but you also likely had to use critical thinking, innovative thinking, problem solving and more to achieve the result. Demonstrating these soft skills allows an interviewer to really see how your mind works, which is extremely beneficial when the outcome of the project you’re describing was successful. 

Relate Soft Skills to the Job Description

Every good executive resume service will tell you to tie your soft skills in with the job description when writing a resume. It’s also important to remember the aspects of the job description when talking about your soft skills in the interview as well. You can talk specifically about a project at your previous job, but be clear about how your skills can translate to the job you’re interviewing for. Don’t make the interviewer try to piece this together themselves, since they could miss out on a key point you’re trying to make.

Your job at the interview is show why you are the best candidate for the position. Don’t make the hiring manager connect the dots between your achievements and your skills. Talk about the openly and clearly, showing yourself as the ideal fit.

 

FSC Career Blog Author:  Ms. Erin Kennedy, MCD, CMRW, CPRW, CERW, CEMC, is a Certified Professional Resume Writer/Career Consultant, and the President of Professional Resume Services, named one of Forbes “Top 100 Career Websites”. Considered an influencer, she is consistently listed as a “Top Career Expert to Follow” on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

FSC Career Blog |  June 4, 2020

#JobSearch : Best Practices for a Job Seeker’s Cover Letter. Great Eight(8) Points Checklist.

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In this technology-based age, many companies are foregoing cover letters in the electronic uploads for digital resume storage, but some systems allow cover letters to be added separately.

Recruiters may review the cover letter for various reasons, but here are a few discriminators used to consider or to reject a candidate. 

1- What positive things do recruiters want to see in cover letters?  The ability to write an idea concisely, proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation demonstrate a well-rounded education.  Aesthetic placement of type font, white space, centering (vertical and horizontal) demonstrates a technical skill to use word processing software and awareness of creating a professional look and feel.

It’s hard to address a ‘real human being’ in any HR department. A Boolean search might bring up a point of contact in the company on social sites (company website, LinkedIn, or Facebook).  If your query and find an employee’s name, they may be willing to share an HR rep’s name and contact info.  ‘Dear sir or madam,’ is the professional alternative, if you can’t find any names.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Continue of the article:

2- Cover letters should be one page – no more – with one-inch margins and 11 or 12-point type font (Arial or Times New Roman).  If you can’t get the message across in three paragraphs, it’s too wordy.   The contents of a cover letter should be concise and within those three paragraphs. A well-written paragraph has at least three sentences.  Don’t start sentences or paragraphs with prepositions (e.g., and, but, because, etc.).

Recruiters prefer resumes and cover letters uploaded into Automated Tracking Systems (ATS) resume databases or may ask for an e-mailed resume.  Copy and paste it within the body of the email, but place it after your signature line.  You should have a very short notification, e.g., “Per request, please find my cover letter and resume after my signature for your consideration.”  Computer viruses make recruiters nervous about attachments.  Recruiters would rather have an opportunity to scroll down for information versus opening documents to save time and effort.

3- The first paragraph emphasizes the applicant’s interest in the company.  Explain why you are targeting the employer and the job title.  ‘Name drop’ a mutual contact if you have that advantage.  “I am applying for the Whiffle Ball hole-driller position because your company’s reputation is stellar in the junior-league baseball industry for making the highest quality play equipment.  Your emphasis on quality makes my skills as a driller a good match for (name of company)’s strategic objectives noted on your website.”  This shows the applicant has performed research and shows the ability to communicate a point effectively.

4- Name-dropping might be impolite in some circles, but for job shopping, it might get your foot in the door.  Mention a common contact to attract the attention of the recruiter.  “Joe Bob, Pellet Supervisor in your molding plant, suggested my candidacy for this position.”  Additionally, some companies provide incentives such as cash bonuses for employees, so this gives the recruiter documentation of the referral.

The cover letter is not your resume – provide a few salient points of interest in the second paragraph not already explained in the resume.  “A recent trip to the Congo provided valuable experience in creating Whiffle Ball leagues for schools in a district with three different languages.  This experience has enriched my capability to use diverse communications skills to ensure your company has effective methods of obtaining customer suggestions for where Whiffle holes are drilled in the balls.  This explains the gap in employment for the summer of YYY and the change in my career from nursing hamster pups to drilling Whiffle balls.”

5- The third paragraph should emphasize availability and refer to attached (or uploaded) resume and availability for interviewing (either telephonically or in person), accompanied by phone and e-mail information.  The applicant’s return address is already in the resume – don’t waste precious text or white space on repeat information.

6- The cover letter is not a place to try sarcastic or witty humor.  With no context or visible body language, the attempt at humor may backfire.  Write professionally.  Emphasize what you can do for the employer versus asking them to do you a favor.  Try to avoid using the word ‘I’ in the cover letter – it is, but it is not about you – it is about the company’s need to find a qualified candidate for a position.

7- Even English professors can misspell words or get a comma in the wrong place.  Send the cover letter through the grammar and spell check several times and then read the letter out loud to a peer to ensure it makes sense.  Just because a word is spelled correctly, doesn’t mean it’s correctly used (e.g., granite = granted, fast paste = fast-paced).  Get an unbiased outsider to proof the letter, a teacher, mentor, or a student in AP courses to check the spelling.  Look for sample letters on the Internet to compare.

8- The final piece of your cover letter is your signature.  If you have your address on the resume and telephone number and/or email address in the third paragraph, all that is needed is a full name under a ‘wet’ signature.  Applicants can scan a copy of their signature and insert the graphic to look like a real signature, which enables them to send the letter digitally without further scanning.

 

FSC Career Blog Author: Ms. Dawn Boyer, Ph.D., owner of D. Boyer Consulting – provides resume writing, social media management, and print-on-demand author coaching and consulting. Reach her at: Dawn.Boyer@DBoyerConsulting.com or http://dboyerconsulting.com.

 

FSC Career Blog |  April 12, 2020

#CareerAdvice :How To Close A #JobInterview To Land The Job. A #MustRead !

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“How do you end an interview?” asked Ken, a Baby Boomer in my Ace the Interview class. “Should I be bold and just say hire me, no one is better? Will I sound too cocky or demanding and lose the job?”

Good questions. I have never been a fan of the sales strong-arm approach where you push for the job and blatantly ask for it at the end. I haven’t seen it work, and it can turn off employers. There is a much more effective way to end the interview and leave the employer with a strong impression of you.

The 60 Second Sell is your tool to spark an employer’s interest to close out your interview. This 60-second verbal business card will summarize your skills, abilities and previous experience in a well-thought-out fashion that will immediately make the employer know why they should hire you.

The 60 Second Sell is a proven shortcut to your success. Many career counseling clients have reported it was the best job-search technique they’d ever used. It’s easy to create and easy to implement. Once you’ve learned this technique, your interviews will be significantly improved because you will be able to do the most important thing necessary to land a job—get the employer to recall you and your abilities.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Continue of article:

How do you close the employer? 

When the interview is at its end, and you’ve asked your questions, and they have explained what will be next, most people say goodbye. You are not going to do that. Instead, you are going to say, “Thank you for the opportunity to learn about your position. I’m very interested in this job. In closing, let me summarize for you what I bring to the position.” Then you conclude with your verbal business card, what I call the 60 Second Sell. It is most effective because once you are done saying it, you leave and the employer takes notes and evaluates you as an applicant. The 60 Second Sell offers your top 5 selling points for performing the job. Here’s how it works.

Begin with a 5 Point Agenda

The 5 Point Agenda is a hiring strategy created to focus on the needs of the employer and the job to be done. The 5 Point Agenda is a predetermined analysis in which you select your five most marketable points and repeatedly illustrate these points throughout the interview process.

It is this repetition and reiteration of exactly how you’ll meet her needs that allows the employer to remember something about you. My clients have tested this interview approach with the following results:

• It made interview preparation easier.

• They were highly rated by everyone who interviewed them.

• The five points seemed to be all that was remembered.

• They credited the 5 Point Agenda and the 60 Second Sell as being the two techniques that secured the job offer.

Job hunters are often amazed to learn that an interviewer can ask you questions for an entire hour and not hear one word you’ve said. He may be bored, frustrated or unimpressed with your image or the first few answers. After interviewing several people, all the candidates begin to blend together. I experienced this when I hire people, and countless other employers continuously confirm this fact. The 5 Point Agenda quickly captures an employer’s interest because you are continually emphasizing exactly how you can do the job right from the start.

The Formula: Creating Your Strategy

Examine your previous experience. Write out the key responsibilities for each job you’ve held. Note any special accomplishments. Zero in on your essential work strengths—those abilities where you excel and are most productive.

Check with your contacts and use your network to get as much background as possible about the employer, the company, and the position’s needs. Many times, your contacts will point out the very aspects that must make up your 5 Point Agenda. Other times, there will be little information available, and you will need to guess based on your general knowledge about performing the job.

After reviewing the employer’s and position’s needs, determine which of your abilities and which aspects of your experience will be most relevant to the employer. Then create your 5 Point Agenda, selecting each point to build a robust picture emphasizing how you can do the best job.

For example,

Engineer

This major automotive manufacturer required experience in both quality assurance and new product design. The candidate’s 5 Point Agenda was:

• Point 1: Implemented new four-year quality-assurance program that received a national Quality 1 Award.

• Point 2: Effectively dealt with employee resistance to quality improvements.

• Point 3: Conducted on-site inspections of 37 suppliers to improve the quality of parts received.

• Point 4: Five years’ design engineering experience.

• Point 5: Excellent communication skills when working with both technical and nontechnical staff.

Create Your 60 Second Sell

The 60 Second Sell allows you to summarize your most marketable strengths briefly and concisely. Successful job hunters have found the 60 Second Sell:

• Was effective in capturing the employer’s attention.

• Provided excellent, concise answers to tricky questions.

• Was very easy to use.

• It was a memorable way to end an interview.

The 60 Second Sell is a 60-second statement that you customize for each interview, and that summarizes and links together with your 5 Point Agenda. You will want to put the points of your 5 Point Agenda into an order that allows you to present them in the most logical and effective manner. When you link the ideas into sentences, they should be said in 60 seconds or less. Once memorized, this statement will be easy for you to recall and use to close the interview.

To continue with our example:  

Engineer

Using his 60 Second Sell, this applicant was able to get the job offer. His 60 Second Sell went something like this:

“For my last employer, I implemented a new quality-assurance program for seven plants over four years. We received the Q 1 Award for our efforts. Along the way, I’ve learned to effectively deal with employee resistance to quality improvements through training, selling teamwork concepts,and utilizing a personal empowerment approach. I have evaluated 37 suppliers during on-site inspections to improve the quality of their product—parts that will ultimately become pieces of my company’s final product. My five years in design engineering and my strong communication skills have aided me in my ability to work with a diverse population and solve technical problems. These are the reasons I feel I would make a valuable contribution to your company.”

Summary

Both the 60 Second Sell and the 5 Point Agenda must be customized and created for each interview. They may vary slightly or greatly based on what you determine to be that employer’s most essential needs and your most marketable abilities to meet those needs. These tools allow you to take control of the interview and get the employer to recognize the kind of skills and contributions you will bring to the job and the organization. As you are leaving, you offer the very best reasons why they should hire you when concluding with your 60 Second Sell.

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here.

Author: Robin Ryan

I am a career counselor that helps clients land jobs. I offer Resume Writing, LinkedIn Profile Writing, and Interview Coaching services. I’ve appeared on Oprah,DrPh…

Forbes.com | August 27, 2019

#CareerAdvice : #JobInterviewing – Here’s Your #JobInterview Preparation Checklist.

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So you applied for a job online, and just got a call from the recruiter asking if you can interview with the hiring manager. You are super excited until you hear that the interview is happening in 48 hours. 2 days. OMG!

Don’t panic; just prepare! Glassdoor has got you covered. Complete with timing and strategy, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of essential ways to gear up for your interview and knock it out of the park. Ready, set, prep!

As soon as you hang up with the recruiter:

1. Study for your interview like it’s a final exam.

  • Find as much information as you can on the company or organization, and commit as much of it to memory as possible.
  • If the job you’re interviewing for requires knowledge in a certain field, do all of the learning and brushing up you can on information that will be relevant to your interview.

2. Generate a list of potential interview questions (and their answers!) beforehand.

  • Base your list of questions on both what you expect them to ask and the real life experience of others
  • Reach out to people who worked in similar companies and positions as you are interviewing for and ask them about their interview experience
  • Use tools like Glassdoor’s interview question database to look up real interview questions and their answers.
The 45 Questions You Should Ask In Every Job Interview

36 hours before the interview:

3. Write out answers to every question you anticipate, and practice delivering them out loud.

  • Even if you don’t remember your responses word for word, you can fall back on certain key points and phrases.
  • Write your own list of questions for the interviewer, and be prepared to ask them when the time arises.
  • Make sure your questions are nuanced and well-researched. Never ask for any information that can be simply found online.

4. Compare your skills and experience to the job description.

  • For each component of the job description, brainstorm your relevant skills and experiences, and think critically about how you want to present them.
  • If there’s a preferred skill or experience you do not have, be able to demonstrate you’ll be competent without it.
How to Read a Job Description

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Continue of article:

12-24 hours before the interview:

5. Be rested and healthy for the big day.

  • Before getting good night’s sleep, try to imagine yourself acing the interview.
  • Eat wholesome, healthy meals for the days preceding the interview.
  • If you are prone to anxiety, try breathing techniques or meditation the morning of the interview, and even directly before.

3-6 hours before the interview:

6. Dress for success

  • Keep your fashion choices subdued and classic – don’t wear clothes that will distract the interviewer.
  • If you’re unclear on what type of clothes to wear, don’t be afraid to reach out to your interviewer and ask.
  • Wear clothes you feel confident in. Don’t be afraid to invest in an “interview outfit” or two that you feel your best in.

7. Empower yourself

  • Practice a firm handshake, strong posture, and attentive body language in advance.
  • Think of a mantra you can call upon for self-confidence, like, “no matter what, I will do my best.”
  • Try to imagine yourself not getting the job. While it might be painful to think about, what can you see yourself having learned from the interview experience?

8. Don’t leave any unnecessary unknowns.

  • Plan what to bring (extra copies of your resume!) and even what transportation you are taking to the interview way in advance, so there’s no added uncertainty the day of.
How to Interview for Your First Management Role

During the interview:

9. Keep an interview journal

  • During or even after your interview is over, take a few minutes to jot down what parts you felt you aced, and where you could have shone brighter. These notes can serve as a valuable guide for your future interviews.

6-12 hours after the interview:

10. Follow up.

  • Extending the conversation shows that you’re passionate about the job. Don’t call every day asking if you got the job, but a simple thank you note can speak volumes about your commitment to the position.
  • And if you didn’t get the job? Let them know if you’re still interested, and ask what you can do to be a more attractive candidate in the future.

 

 

GlassDoor.com | | Posted by 

#BestofFSCBlog : #InterviewingQuestions -How to Answer: What Are Your Strengths and Weaknesses? Bonus: Complete List of Other Questions Asked! A Must Read!

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Job interviews can get surprisingly intimate. You’ve only met the interviewer 10 minutes ago, and all of a sudden they’re hitting you with a very deep set of questions: What are your greatest strengths? What are your weaknesses? These questions can take enormous powers of self-reflection to give an honest answer to. Rather than making your interviewer sit silently while you parse out what your greatest weakness is and how it’s impacted your career, it’s better to think of answers to these types of questions beforehand.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to identify your strengths and weaknesses, how to frame them in a clear, compelling narrative and what common pitfalls to avoid. You may even learn some new things about yourself along the way!

GUIDE OVERVIEW

  1. What Is the “Strengths and Weaknesses” Question?
  2. Determining Your Strengths
  3. Determining Your Weaknesses
  4. How to Weave a Story
  5. What to Avoid
  6. Learn More!

What Is the “Strengths and Weaknesses” Question?

You’ll almost always hear these questions in one form or another during a job interview.

Employers want to hear in your own words why you’re a good fit for the job and for the company. They might want to assess what potential issues there could be, too. It’s a chance for them to assess your capacity to be self-reflective.

Whether the question you’re asked is “what attributes will make you shine in this role?” or “what areas of your approach to work are you looking to improve?”, taking a hard look at your strengths and weaknesses — and learning how to communicate them effectively in a professional setting — will be invaluable for your next interview.

 

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Determining Your Strengths

Generally, you’ll focus on your soft skills as strengths — there are other ways for interviewers and recruiters to glean hard skills, whether it’s through take-home assignments, a coding interview or examples of your past work. But with soft skills, you have to tell them the story.

“Don’t feel that your response needs to match what you said your manager and colleagues think of you,” said Sharlyn Lauby, president of consulting firm ITM Group Inc and founder of HR Bartender, to Glassdoor. “It’s perfectly natural to say, ‘One skill I haven’t been able to use much in my current role is [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][insert skill]. I hope to use it more in the role we’re discussing.’”

Here are some examples of strengths. Which ones do you identify with? Can you think of more that have helped you shine in your career?

  • Good communicator
  • Team player
  • Time management abilities
  • Conflict resolution
  • Ability to perform under pressure

Depending on the job, you might also choose to include hard skills in your strengths, citing your ability to code in a variety of languages, your knowledge of a foreign language or your experience as a copy editor as examples of why you would be a strong candidate for the job.

Determining Your Weaknesses

Determining our strengths is generally easier; it’s fun to reflect on and celebrate our successes. But what about the areas where we struggle? Do you ever set aside the time to take a look in the mirror to see where you are letting others — and yourself — down, and how you can improve?

“Employers expect candidates to have weaknesses… so you are better served by answering the question frankly.  A candid answer will show your prospective employer your growth-mindset and will demonstrate a sense of self-awareness and honesty,” writes Jeevan Balani, Founder and CEO of Rocket Interview and frequent Glassdoor contributor.

Here are some examples of common career weaknesses. Can you identify with any of them? If so, what have you done to improve these weaknesses?

  • Wanting to control too many aspects of a situation
  • Procrastination
  • Inability to self-regulate, leading to burnout
  • Disorganized
  • Impatient

Again, you might choose to highlight some hard skills that are a weakness for you too, for example not being good with math, not being versed in a particular type of software or having trouble spelling — but only if it’s non-essential to the role.

How to Weave a Story

Now that you’ve got a solid list of your strengths and weaknesses, is it enough just to list them out when you’re asked during a job interview? Absolutely not! Backing up each strength or weakness with a relevant anecdote is critical to giving the interviewer the full picture of why you excel in one area, or what areas you’re working to get better in.

As an exercise to prepare, for every strength on your list, write down a story that showcases how you effectively used that strength to accomplish something in your career. For every weakness, write down a story about how that weakness had (or could have had) a negative repercussion in your career — then write what you learned from it, and what you’re actively doing to improve it.

Especially when answering about your weaknesses, framing is critical. You don’t want to make it seem like your flaws are immutable, or worse, incriminate yourself. You also don’t want to turn your weakness into a humblebrag, like “it’s hard for others to keep up with me because I think so fast.” So striking a reflective tone is key, which you can do by highlighting what you have learned about your weakness, and what you are doing to improve it.

On a more general note, try to match your strengths to the job description. It’s great if you’re a pro at skill X, but the job requires skills A, B and C, then your expertise in skill X might not be relevant. Similarly, keep the job description in mind when you share your weaknesses. If you’re applying for a job in copy editing, it’s probably not a good idea to say that your weakness is spelling.

Also, research on the company’s culture can help you decide which strengths and weaknesses to highlight, and how. If the company is known to be fast-paced and dynamic, you might want to highlight your strength in juggling many projects at once or your ability to pivot quickly to new tasks. But also be honest — if you find during your research that the company culture doesn’t seem like a good fit for you, then you might want to take a step back and reconsider, rather than trying to squeeze yourself into a mold that doesn’t quite fit.

Here are some example anecdotes for the strengths and weakness we defined above:

Strengths

  • I work well in teams. When my division reorganized and I was put on a team with people from different backgrounds and experience levels without a clear hierarchy, there was a lot of friction. I organized regular bonding sessions for our team that helped break down some boundaries in the office. I also took it upon myself to take some of the more cumbersome tasks that others didn’t want to do. When I left, a number of people on the team thanked me for the diplomacy and harmony I fostered in our work environment.
  • I’m good at time management. When I worked as a marketing manager, I had to schedule the release of promotional materials, get materials ready for a launch date and time when to stoke interest in my company’s products before their release. I would make detailed calendars with every step of a campaign before embarking, which included estimating time and making due dates for even the smallest of tasks. It was this ability that led to the success of the XYZ product launch, the most intensive project I worked on while at the company.
  • I perform well under pressure. When I worked as a consultant, I often had to give presentations to high-level executives at the company we were consulting at a day’s notice or less. I had to quickly learn how to speak confidently and fluently about material I had only drawn up the day before. Sometimes I would be interrupted and challenged, and I had to stand my ground, explain myself clearly and keep my cool. I believe that skill will make me a good fit in this role as a spokesperson.

Weaknesses

  • I have a tendency to procrastinate. This really came to a head when I was working on a big project, and overestimated the amount of work I could do at the last second. I ended up narrowly making the deadline, but it caused my team and my manager a lot of stress. After that, I started learning more about time management from my mentors at work, and I’ve started making detailed schedules weeks — and even months — ahead. I’m still working to create accurate timelines that I can easily follow, but I am heartened because I’ve found that it actually puts me at ease to work with a schedule.
  • I can be impatient, and this has caused me to sometimes micromanage my employees. I used to hound employees in advances of deadlines, because I was afraid if I didn’t, they wouldn’t turn in the work on time. I now see it cause a lot of stress for my employees, and I’m working to trust that they will get things in on time. So far, not a single deadline has been missed!
  • I have had a tendency to work until I reach burnout. After a while, I started noticing a pattern in my career that I would work very hard on projects, staying up all night to finish them in advance of deadlines, and making it a goal for myself to be the first one in the office every morning and the last one to leave. Ultimately, this was unsustainable, and after a big project I would often crash, and either become sick and have to miss work, or be lethargic while I was there. I’m now learning how to impose healthy limits on myself and to stick to a doable schedule so that I don’t risk burning out like that again.

What to Avoid

Told right, your answer to this question can inspire the interviewer and give them an intimate picture into how you work. It can help them assess whether your strengths and weakness will make you the right fit for your job, if your disposition will be a good fit with the team you’re working on and if you’ll fit into the company culture as a whole. But there’s a few things you need to keep in mind when delivering your answer, so that it doesn’t come off as bragging, overly humble or other common pitfalls.

  • Don’t brag.
  • Don’t minimize yourself by dwelling on your weaknesses
  • Don’t give examples that are too unrelated to work
  • Don’t ramble
  • Don’t give an example that will set off a red flag in the interviewer’s mind

“HR pros see through the, ‘I’m a perfectionist,’ response,” Lauby says. It’s still possible to keep it positive, though. For example, an answer Lauby gave: “I recently attended a customer service training program and I was reminded of some problem-solving skills that I need to start using again,” will certainly get the job done.

This interview question can be tricky, but don’t stress too much — with proper preparation, you’ve got it in the bag!

Learn More

How to Master the Art of Bragging Like a Pro

How to Answer “What Is Your Greatest Weakness?”

8 Words or Phrases to Avoid When You’re Trying to Project Confidence

How to Answer “Tell Me About Yourself”

The Dos and Don’ts of Showing Passion in an Interview

The Surprising Reason You’re Not Hearing Back After Job Interview

How to Answer the 50 Most Common Interview Questions

Learn More!

 

GlassDoor.com | May 21, 2019 

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#CareerAdvice : #JobSearch – 8 Secrets #Recruiters Won’t Tell You (But Really Want To)…There is Confidential Information that, Unfortunately, Recruiters Cannot Divulge.

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Recruiters may seem intimidating, but they genuinely want the best for both candidates and the company. Good recruiters want you to have the best experience possible during the application and interview process — but even though they want the best for you, there are some things that they just can’t share.

Salary bands, candidate competition, internal HR tactics — let’s just call them trade secrets. They are the confidential information that, unfortunately, recruiters cannot divulge.

To get to the truth, we reached out to Omer Molad, CEO/Founder of Vervoe, a recruiting company that replaces face-to-face interviews with online simulations for small and medium-sized businesses. Molad built his business on the premise that hiring is painful, and he has unique insight into the frustrations and insights of recruiters.

Here are a few of the secrets that Molad says recruiters won’t tell you, but really want to.

1. “We could have gone higher if you had negotiated.”

Salary negotiations are like a game of poker — both job seekers and recruiters are trying to maintain control and win the hand. “Very few (if any) recruiters will be so bold as to say ‘we took advantage of you and we don’t value you highly,’” says Molad. In fact, there is often a salary band or range that recruiters have for each role. Their initial salary offer is very rarely at the top of their salary band, so base pay — as well as benefits like vacation days, work hours, etc. — can usually be negotiated.

The Secret to Negotiating $5,000 – $15,000 More in Pay

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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2. “Don’t go overboard with buzzwords — we can tell.”

It’s smart to include keywords in your resume and to come off as knowledgeable about your particular industry. However, “don’t try to look smarter than you really are,” says Molad unabashedly. Authenticity is key. Recruiters and employers want your personality to shine — not your ability to throw out words and phrases like “synergy,” “move the needle,” “ROI,”feed the funnel,” etc.

“It’s not about specific questions or answers that stand out, but rather the candidates who display a great deal of passion about what they do that really stand above the rest,” says employer Academy Sports + Outdoors.

3. “You never had a chance after that bad first impression.”

Your mother was right: first impressions are everything. And according to Molad, few recruiters can get past a bad first impression. Unreturned phone calls, poor manners and clumsy interviews will all hurt your chances of moving on to the next round. Hiring managers and recruiters will bite their tongues, fighting back the desire to say, “We just don’t like you,” says Molad. However, take it from us: You must really dazzle if you’d like to make up for a rocky first impression.

“Interviewers often care more about the likability of entry-level candidates than whether or not they’re actually qualified for the job,” says career coach Peter Yang. “This is because the person interviewing you will often also be your future boss and mentor, so it makes perfect sense that they would want to hire someone whom they personally like and want to work with. A strong interview performance means establishing a strong connection with your interviewer. Try to show off your personality instead of just answering questions robotically. You can even get a bit personal if you’d like to.”

4. “Your references weren’t very flattering.”

If a recruiter or hiring manager had doubts about you, they won’t let you know if unflattering references just confirmed their doubts, Molad says. “Your references should talk about your strengths in specific situations — not just basic information,” adds HR expert Jordan Perez. “[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][References] should be ready to provide examples of actual projects where you exceeded expectations. Your reference should easily cite one or two situations that highlight your strengths.”

“Bad references can ruin your candidacy as much as good ones can strengthen it,” says Sam Keefe, Digital Marketing Manager at AVID Technical Resources. Her advice to ensure that only the good shines through? “Give only references who will say positive things about you. Work hard to build good working relationships with coworkers and bosses.”

5. “I back-channeled you, and found out the truth.”

Backdoor references, or back-channeling, is one of the sneaky ways hiring managers and recruiters gather more information about you — it refers to when employers reach out to mutual connections in order to get their honest opinion of you. “This phenomenon is even more prevalent in the last five years or so because of LinkedIn’s growing popularity,” says Keefe. “Even if you choose not to give anybody there as a reference, backdoor references can reveal the skeletons in your closet. Backdoor references can be especially common when you’re looking for a job in sectors like tech.”

5 References That Should Be On Your List To Land The Job

6. “We already gave the job to an in-house employee.”

Unfortunately, it’s perfectly legal to advertise a job that is almost certain to be filled by an insider. In fact, some research has shown that internal hires generally perform better than external ones. However, “phantom jobs” can be downright annoying when you’re looking for a new position. Even though federal labor rules don’t require employers to post openings, many HR departments require roles to be listed on a job board for some period of time to ensure a fair hiring process. Therefore, Molad says, don’t expect recruiters to come right out and say, “It was a beauty parade to show management we ran a process, but it was a sham and you were never really considered.”

Instead, shake it off and get back on the horse — there are plenty of opportunities out there, and the job that fits your life is just a few clicks away.

7. “Your last few social media posts were deal-breakers.”

Roughly 80 percent of recruiters and hiring managers use social media to look for and vet job candidates, making it extremely important to have a professional presence on the Internet.

“Hiring managers are reviewing social media pages to become educated about the background and brand the person is articulating and to look for red flags,” says Alan Weatherbee, senior vice president of talent search for Allison+Partners. “They aren’t using it to find ways not to hire someone who is qualified, but to make sure they present themselves in an accurate way.”

According to employment experts, you should make sure that your social media pages, whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, mesh with what you’re saying on your resume, cover letter and other application materials. After all, no one is going to hire someone who claims to be a head of marketing in their resume while their Facebook page is full of complaints about their job answering phones at an advertising company.

Janet Elkin, Chief Executive of workplace staffing company Supplemental Healthcare, says you want to make sure your social media pages are void of any political comments, inflammatory messages or anything else that might offend the person who might just hold your future in their hands.

What Recruiters Look at When Stalking Your Social Media

8. “The team is dragging its feet waiting for another candidate’s response.”

Even the most direct recruiters and hiring managers will hesitate to tell you that you’re “Plan B,” says Molad. So if an employer seems to be dragging its feet or delaying in giving you the green light to proceed — or the red light that you’re not right for the role — chances are they have another candidate in the pipeline.

Don’t take it too personally — being a runner-up isn’t a horrible thing. Often times, other candidates fall out of the running because of personal circumstances or other job offers. Being number two still means you are in contention. If you feel like a recruiter is slowing your process down in order to accommodate a preferred candidate, use it as a challenge to convince the recruiter of your awesomeness and your true fit for the role.

No matter what, remember that the secrets recruiters keep are withheld with the business in mind, not because they are trying to be malicious. If you are faced with any of these, the right opportunity probably just hasn’t come your way yet. Don’t be afraid to be upfront with a recruiter and communicate both your concerns and your goals.

 

GlassDoor.com |   | Posted by 

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