When you are finished with your interview, it is not uncommon for the interviewer to ask you one final question, “Do you have any questions for me?”This is one of the most dreaded questions an applicant may be asked. There is a war that goes on inside most peoples’ heads when this question is asked: “If I don’t ask any questions, will they be offended because I don’t want more information?” or “If I ask too many questions, will it seem like I wasn’t paying enough attention?”
These are not uncommon thoughts that may be running through an applicant’s mind. Hopefully, by the end of this post you will have a better idea of how to handle when this question is thrown to you, and you will be able to answer it like a pro.
Be Honest: If you truly do have questions, then go ahead and ask. If your interviewer didn’t want to know your questions, then they wouldn’t honestly ask. Employers expect that you will have questions. Do your homework before your interview and have a few questions prepared.
Be Appropriate: Don’t ask inappropriate questions or questions that are silly or funny. It will annoy your interviewer and can make them feel like you are wasting their time.
Don’t Repeat: Pay attention and don’t ask questions that have already been answered. It will only make you seem incompetent and like you don’t pay attention. If the only questions you’ve prepared have already been addressed, you can go into more detail, or just let the interviewer know that any questions you had coming in to the interview have been addressed.
These are some good guidelines for answering questions. However, if you don’t have any honest and relevant questions, then you can always simply tell them that you have no further questions and look forward to hearing from them. This is a perfectly acceptable way to end the interview and leave the interviewer with a impressive picture of the value you would offer as an employee.
Job interviews are a tricky thing to master, if you don’t know what you are doing. You want to show off your skills and accomplishments as well as showing your personality, however, that can work against you if you don’t go about it the right way. You need to make sure that you don’t come off as entitled. Even if you feel that way. If you put off the attitude that you expect the job to be handed to you, you are not going to get the job and you will make a fool out of yourself. So how do you do it? How do you show off your accomplishments and skills without coming off that you feel entitled to the job? That is what I hope to help you with.
Be polite: The best thing you can do is use proper manners. Don’t interrupt and be polite and respectful. This will go a long way in your interview.
Make it about the employer: Don’t praise yourself. Instead praise the company and your potential employer and emphasize (don’t praise) your skills that could help you work well in the company.
Look like you care: It is simple enough, but people often forget this. You need to look like you care about the company, the job, and most importantly, the interviewer and their time. Dress professionally, sit up straight, and give eye contact. This will all show that you care more about them than yourself. Which is always a desirable trait employers will look for.
If you follow these simple guidelines you will avoid coming off as entitled. Have the right attitude and you will succeed in your interview.
Your professional portfolio is a collection of physical evidence that documents, describes, and emphasizes your professional accomplishments. A professional portfolio can be very useful in encouraging potential employers to offer you that coveted job. Many job seekers know they need these documents during their job search, but aren’t always sure of what needs to be included and how they should be presented. Here are some simple answers to help get you get started. Why use a professional portfolio?
Effectivelyexpress your professional and career goals
Articulatethe work you have been doing to achieve your goals
Record accomplishments
What goes into a professional portfolio?
Introduction:Statement of your professional goals and your professional philosophy.
Career History: Resume or Curriculum Vitae.
Narrative description of experiences you want to highlight such as: Academic Work, Research, Teaching, Leadership, Service, Publications, Conference Participation, Lectures/Speaking Engagments, Performance Reviews, Recognition, and Awards.
Appendices: Annotated materials and examples to illustrate or elaborate on the previous portions of your portfolio.
Professional References: Not all employers ask for these during an interview, but if they do, show them you’re prepared by having your list ready.
How to get started with your professional portfolio?
Develop the practice of collecting materials that represent your skills, achievements and accomplishments.
Study job postings and learn what potential employers value when they are hiring.
Determine what materials and examples provide the best representation of your goals and philosophy.
Select an organizing principle that best reflects your work: chronological, functional, thematic.
A portfolio will help you stand out amongst the scores of job applicants. It will look very different from all the other candidates because your experiences will be unique. This makes it easy for you to stand out and impress those potential employers.
While the job interview can be scary, it doesn’t have to be hard to make a good impression. In fact, if you follow these 8 simple tips you will be able to make it through the interview without freaking out, impress the employer, and be able to move forward with your job search process.
Eye Contact: This is one of the most important things you can do in an interview. Making eye contact with your interviewer shows that you are confident in your expertise and interested in what your interviewer is saying. However, be careful that you are not staring your interviewer down. Be confident, not creepy.
Smile: This will also show confidence as well as put your interviewer at ease. A smile makes people feel like you are an enjoyable person and they will mirror the smile back. When you see your interviewer smiling, it will help you feel at ease and the cycle will continue throughout the interview.
Speak Clearly and With Purpose: If you need to, take a small moment and think about what you want to say (not too long or it will become awkward) in order to avoid using fillers such as “mm” “um” or “hmm.” This will make your answers precise, purposeful, and clear.
Be On Time: There is nothing that will put your interviewer off more than tardiness. Their time is valuable and if you are wasting it, even for a moment, you are giving the impression that you don’t care about them or their time. Be early if you can, but do not be late.
Be Honest: Lying is not appropriate or acceptable in the real world, so why would it be okay in a job interview? It isn’t. Be honest and it will make your life and your interview easier, as well as will prevent a termination down the road, if your lie is discovered.
Dress Professionally: It is an easy thing to overlook, but if you go into the interview looking dingy or unkempt, then you will put off an image that you don’t care about yourself or the interviewers. Dress like you care about yourself, the job, and the interviewer, and you will be on the right path to getting the job.
Don’t Interrupt: It seems simple enough, but it is important to remember. While you want to make sure that you express who you are and why you would be good for the job, you do not ever want to interrupt the interviewer. No matter how good you think your comment is, it is not good enough to interrupt your interviewer.
Be Friendly: Don’t be sarcastic or rude. Even if you are having a bad day or you just want to be done with the interview, make it seem like there is nowhere else you would rather be.
Follow these tips and you will be in good standing for your interview and you will be on your way to getting the job.
It is inevitable that your experience, skills, and achievements will change and increase.That is just a part of working and progressing in your career. With career progression comes the need to update your resume to reflect your career highlights and history. Since most people don’t really think about updating their resume until they are looking for a new job, job seekers today need to make sure that resume updates are made only after careful thought and time have been put forth. Quick updates could mean making critical errors, and we all know that errors on a resume don’t lead to an interview-errors lead to the trash pile. Here is some food for thought to ponder before you start making revisions to your resume:
If you are rushing to put something onto your resume last minute, chances are it will not look as good as the rest of your resume. You will not take the time necessary to edit and make sure that the piece of information you have just put in matches the flow of the rest of your resume. If one part of your resume looks different from the rest of the document, employers may take this as a sign that you do not give attention to detail, or that you are disorganized.
If you put something on last minute, more likely than not you will forget what it is that you have just put on. This means that in an interview, if you are asked about the addition, you may need to scramble to figure out what exactly it is and why you put it on your resume in the first place. That scrambling looks, to your interviewer, like you don’t know what they are talking about (which could make it seem like you never did it in the first place), and it will make you look inadequate and incompetent. Not a good first impression!
Quick fixes lead to quick errors. Job seekers are more likely to have spelling, spacing and grammar errors when making quick edits. Read your changes over several times and ensure you don’t have typos. Better yet-try a second set of eyes. Ask a friend or colleague to review your changes just to be sure you didn’t miss anything. If you have errors on your resume, the employer will expect that you will make errors in your daily work, and may not see you as a strong candidate for the position, regardless of your skills and expertise.
All in all, it is just better to add additions right when they happen. Make your resume a living document. Receive an award? Add it to your resume. Complete a professional development class? Add it to your resume. Keeping your revisions current will give you time to know exactly what is on your resume and why you included certain information. Doing so will save you from bumbling and looking unprofessional in an interview, as well as will make your resume look more impressive overall.
Job interviews are unlike any other social interaction.An interview is one of the few places where you go into it knowing that you are going to be judged and that how you perform in front of those judging you will have a direct impact on your professional future. Job interviews will also have their own expected manners and behaviors that you should follow in order to make the best impression you can. If you do that, then you can relax after your interview knowing that you did the best you could and no matter what happens, you can move on without too much disappointment.
Dress Your Best:Wear an outfit appropriate for the interview. Make sure it is not too tight or revealing. While you need to be comfortable during the interview, you also want the interviewer to be comfortable, and not distracted by your attire.
Smile: This is imperative. It seems simple, but a smile will put your interviewer at ease and will help you appear more confident.
Do not interrupt: This also seems simple and obvious, but you would be amazed at how many people do not understand or follow this rule of etiquette. In other social interactions you may be able to get away with interrupting someone, but you can’t get away with it in an interview and also get the job. Wait until you are sure your interviewer has finished speaking before answering questions or giving your input.
Look interested: Even if you are not interested, make the effort to look like you are. Make eye contact with the interviewer and others in the room who may be speaking to you regarding the job. If your interviewer feels you are not interested in them and what they are saying, they will be turned off and will return the favor by not being interested in what you have to say.
Following these common sense tips will help to ensure you are putting your best foot forward during your interview. They don’t take extra effort, you just have to think about what is happening and what you are doing in order to make sure you are following good interview etiquette and ultimately leaving the interviewer with a great impression of what you can offer in the workplace.
Job interviews can be terrifying.It is one of the few times when you know without a doubt that you are being judged. Without judging you, how can potential employers know if you are a good fit or not? They can’t. They will go over everything in your resume and your work history with a fine tooth comb. They will call your references and they will make sure that you are worth their time and effort. Because of this, you need to be careful. You need to make sure that you don’t have anything in your past that could come back to haunt you and cause you to lose future job opportunities. This means that no matter what stage of life you are in or where you are in your career you need to be thinking ahead. Think about what effect the things you are doing today might have on your future. Here are some things that are obvious to avoid: bad talking your boss or superiors, being late, being unprofessional, etc. Those are things almost everyone knows to avoid, but there are some things people might not know, such as: talking about coworkers or superiors on Facebook or other social networking sites, posting vulgar or obscene things on your profile(s), or lying on your resume. All these things can be found out by future employers and harm your ability to keep your job and get a new job in the future. If you simply think ahead before you do anything, then you should be able to avoid doing something that could harm you later in the road and you won’t have to live up to it in an interview. Remember, you are being judged. Don’t give your potential employers anything they can judge badly.
Written In Stone? Can Job Posting Requirements be Flexible?
Searching for a job can be a daunting task.You scan through dozens of job postings without any of them fitting your idea of the job you want. But then there will be times that you will find it – a posting that describes a job that is everything you’ve been looking for.
The problem? You don’t have all of the qualifications required in the job description. You don’t have any of the education, work experience, or skill requirements specifically listed in the posting. What do you do? Do you give up now and keep searching? Or do you pursue the job and see what happens? It is a different decision for every person and every job. Not all requirements are written in stone, and employers may wave some requirements, if they think you have other attributes that would make you an ideal candidate for the position. Here are a few things to consider before making a decision whether or not to apply for a job you’re not completely qualified for.
Ask yourself some tough questions: Before pursuing a job you need to ask yourself if you feel you are really qualified for even some of the position requirements. Could you do well at this job even without having all the requirements mandated in the posting? If the answer is yes then proceed with the application/resume submission process.
Do you have different skills, education, or experience: If you have skills, education, or experience that differ from the requirements in the posting but would apply to the job, you may be able to get the job anyway. For example: The requirements say you need at least a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, but you have a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting with a minor in Psychology. You earned a degree, and have learned other skills during your education that are marketable and could still get you the job.
If you don’t have any of the above: The fact of the matter is, if you don’t have something to give the company in exchange for what they have posted, then you shouldn’t pursue the job. The company put those requirements down for a reason, so if you want to change those requirements, then you need to give them something worthwhile in return.
While it will be different for every job, if you have something to give a potential employer, for the most part, you may be able to get around specific job requirements and land the job.
