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Browse published articles attributed to Peggy McKee, with full-archive search.
Alumni Organizations Alumni organizations are great networking resources for you, which means they are also great resources to help you find a job.
Freelancing / Consulting / Temping
What do you know about this company? This is a very typical job interview question. Hiring managers want to know if you’ve done your homework. Have you done any company research? You would be surprised at how many job candidates can’t answer this question. Other candidates get a basic working knowledge of what the company does from reading through the corporate website and think that’s enough.
What makes you unique? What are hiring managers really asking in the job interview when they ask about what makes you unique? Well, they don’t want to know about what makes you special on a personal level. They want to know what makes you unique in relation to the job you’re interviewing for. Essentially, they’re asking, “Why should we hire you?” “Why should we choose you over everyone else?” “What makes you different from the other candidates?”
How do you evaluate success? I think the answer to this question has to be related directly to your work. Don’t wax philosophical about what success really is, or what a successful life is all about. If you go into a philosophical explanation, you’ll knock yourself out of a job. They don’t care that you’ll consider yourself truly successful if you have great relationships, or if you are able to retire to the beach at 60, or anything else relating to your personal life.
What motivates you? What’s the one big elephant in the room that MUST be ignored with the motivation question? All together now: “Money.” As much as the money question is a big part of why you work, employers want to think that you’re also doing this because you love it. And you should love it. You can make money doing a lot of different things, so you should enjoy the job you choose to do.
Friends / Family / Church It is so important to talk to your friends, family, and church about your job search situation if for no other reason than they are your support system. The job search is too stressful to carry it on your shoulders alone.
What do you expect from a supervisor? Be careful when answering this job interview question. There’s a line to walk. They’re looking to see (1) do you understand the general supervisor/employee relationship, (2) will your style match with your potential new boss, and (3) will you take this opportunity to badmouth your previous boss? Don’t be too specific, don’t be negative, and never, ever badmouth your previous boss. You probably don’t know too much yet about your potential supervisor’s management style. If you get too specific, you might step on some toes.
Previous Co-Workers People you have worked with in the past are a big networking opportunity for you in your quest to find a new job. (1) They can pass on job leads to you. People in your career space will naturally hear about job openings and happenings in other companies. If it’s not something that interests them for whatever reason (wrong skill set, wrong location, happy where they are, etc.), they can tell you about it.
Social / Civic Events Not all social or civic events are hotbeds of job search networking…I’ll give you that one. Networking events are better suited for that. However, I believe that any gathering where someone might ask you, “So what do you do for a living?” is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to say, “I am a ____ who’s in between jobs and looking for a new opportunity.”
Phone interviews are often the very first step of the interview and hiring process. You’re not likely to get a call to come in and interview without some kind of conversation on the phone first. How Important Phone Interviews Really Arer Your resume got you the phone call. Now this one 10-minute conversation is the deciding factor as to whether or not you’ll get the interview. That’s how important it is.
Recruiters Recruiters can be extremely valuable to your job search. Why? First, they very often have an “in” at some great companies that you don’t…if there’s an opening and the recruiter says, “Hey, this is someone you should look at,” that’s going to carry more weight than if you show up and say, “Here’s my resume.” Second, many companies prefer to hire only through recruiters…so for those particular jobs, the recruiter is the ONLY way to get to it.
Internships / Volunteering Internships are fantastic. There are more paid internships than ever before, but even unpaid internships can be extremely valuable to you—if you can snag one at a company within your career area.
Networking Events Do you have a love/hate relationship with networking events? You know how important networking is for your job search and career success. Networking events are specifically set up so you can network and meet new people. That’s a very good thing. Yet, the thought of “working the room” and walking up to total strangers to introduce yourself makes you feel a little sick, at worst, or insincerely schmoozy, at best.
Industry Organizations Industry organizations are some of the best job search resources anywhere. These can be fantastic because they are a direct connection for you to people in your field—including potential hiring managers, but that’s not your only benefit here. You can expand your network, you can learn a lot about your field, and you can often find out about jobs that aren’t necessarily listed on national job boards. For instance, I was a part of several organizations when I was in clinical diagnostics sales: The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC)r
What can you do to make this company better?
What do you wish you’d done better? When you are asked this question in job interview, please be aware that they are referring to your career, not your life. You could say that you wish you’d hired someone to tile your floor instead of doing it yourself, or that you wish you’d planned your vacation better, or you wish you’d studied more before your SATs, but those answers won’t satisfy your interviewer. This is a tough job interview question.
Career Counseling Centers There are two types of career counseling centers: college counseling offices and post-graduate work centers. If you’ve gone to college you’re familiar at least with the first kind of career counseling office, but I’d be willing to be that you didn’t especially think your college career office was that helpful. Career counseling centers geared toward working (or previously working) adults are a different breed of cat and can run the gamut from very helpful to a waste of time.
What would your friends tell me about you? This question could also easily be “What would your friends or co-workers tell me about you?” They just want to know what you would say about how other people would describe you.
Does your mind ever wander, even slightly, when you’re on the phone? I think we’re all a little guilty of that…I mean, it’s not like they can see you, so we very often feel a little more freedom to look around the room or even complete another task while we’re on the phone. We’re not as visually tied to the person we’re talking to. In other words, we don’t have to concentrate on looking them in the face while we talk to them…so we mentally wander.