Interviewing Skills Articles

Majority Of High School Students Don’t Go To College!nnnFor the past ten years I have been donating my time to local high schools teaching students how to conduct job searches as well as interview techniques. Over the years I began to notice about 8 out of 10 students could not get through a mock interview, let alone know how to even start looking for a job. As I started to research nation wide statistics regarding interview abilities I was amazed to find that nation wi

Rest in peace Joseph Juran, inventor of the 80/20 rule. Your 80/20 rule saved many careers. How can that be? If you managed for any period of time and were an effective manager, you have used the 80/20 rule. Simply stated, the 80/20 rule says that 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts. If you have 10 people on your team, 80% of your results or production will come from your top 2 reps (20%). If you own a restaurant, 80% of your revenue will most likely come from 20% of the time you are open. If you have 10 accounts 80% of your revenue will come from the top

If you are searching for a job in any kind of sales and you want an edge in your job interview, here it is: know how to close the interview. Closing the interview requires that you stop focusing so completely on your own performance and ask questions that help you discover the needs of your customer/hiring manager. Develop the skills to know when to close, what to say, and how to deal with objections or non-answers. The most important thing to remember about closing is to do it. No sales manager is going to hire someone who can't navigate a closing process.

You lost your job in 2010 and now its a new year with no prospects in sight. Pretty depressing that you're now going through your savings and have to decide if you can afford to go to McDonald's for lunch or need to head home where you can eat for less. Friends want to get together for drinks, but you can't afford it. Using the line of credit on your house is keeping you afloat; but selling parts of your house off to get new shoes eats at you.

Brag books are a fantastic way for you to showcase the best you have to offer as an employee. It’s a historical look at what you’ve done over your career, and it’s made up of your performance statistics, project results, product brochures you’ve created, awards, rewards letters, and even complimentary notes you might have gotten from supervisors or even high-level clients. Anything positive that demonstrates in a concrete way what a valuable part of the team you have been goes in the book.

What does your interviewer really think about what you wear to the interview? Not dressing appropriately for your interview is high on the list of top 10 interview mistakes.

Many people have heard that they should send a thank-you email to an interviewer, but a surprisingly large number of job seekers don’t bother. And they’re wasting the perfect opportunity to show that they respect the interviewer’s time, that they’re enthusiastic about and highly interested in the job, and that their skills are a perfect match. You stand out with your good manners AND you get one more shot at selling yourself for the job. What could be better?

Many of us have the wrong idea about the job search. We believe that our skills, the industry requirement for skills, and our dedication to hard work is enough. This is never the case and in today's environment this is even less so as you may be competing against dozens and sometimes hundreds of candidates for the same position. For those with some knowledge of statistics makes the process into something of a numbers game. The number 1 step you must take is to get on the numbers treadmill and start collecting interviews.

Don’t be fooled by people who tell you that resume objective statements are optional, or that you shouldn’t have one at all. Their reasoning is usually that objective statements fence you in and limit your job-seeking focus. I’m here to tell you that you need an objective statement on your resume. Why? * An objective statement tells me why I should keep reading the rest of your resume. It’s advertising, basically. It’s the teaser that will draw me in to reading the rest of your resume. (The cover letter won’t do it.

If you’re unemployed and over 40, it can feel like a “double whammy” of trouble for you in the job search, but it doesn’t have to be a negative. First of all, unemployment is a temporary status that you are going to change. Don’t be ashamed of that. Many people (especially right now) face some period of unemployment in their careers, and it’s not a big deal. It only takes one phone call, one interview, or one job offer to make the difference.

As a recruiter, I’ve always recommended to my candidates that they bring a 30/60/90-day sales plan to the job interview and it never fails to impress hiring managers. Although most candidates who use this plan are in sales, job seekers who are not in sales roles often ask if they should use it, too. The answer is “Absolutely yes.” In fact, I wouldn’t go into any job interview without a 90-day plan for how I was going to attack that job. And you might say, “Why is it a good idea for someone who isn’t in sales?” It’s because of what the plan demonstrates.

A 30/60/90-day sales plan is a written outline for exactly what you’ll do in the first 3 months on a new job. It’s the goals you’ve set for yourself as a new employee for the first 30 days, the first 60 days, and the first 90 days. A30/60/90-day sales plan is tremendously impressive to a hiring manager because it takes a lot of effort to write one, and requires that you research the company and the job very well in order to be specific in your goals.

How would you go about establishing your credibility quickly with the team? The best way to go about establishing credibility with anybody in any situation is to ask really great questions and try to understand the situation before trying to do any kind of magic trick. (Incidentally, this is another benefit of asking questions in the interview…you show what you know by what you ask. If you ask great questions, it helps establish your own credibility as a strong candidate with the interviewer.)

Do you have a good work ethic? Do you have good communication skills? Are you a team player/a strong leader/an enthusiastic, innovative, driven job candidate? Well, so is everyone else. In job interviews, candidates tend to speak in generalities. It’s one of the most common flaws. Everyone says that they are persuasive, or that they have great communication skills, or that they are strong in some way—you get the idea. And those are all great things, but even the candidates who aren’t really telling the truth say those things, too.

Preparing for a job interview is just like when you’re going to your own ball: you have to look ready, well dresseds and groomed, and more than eager to begin the challenge. nnHowever, the feeling of going through a very rigorous process of the construction recruitment department can sometimes be overwhelming that, in the end, you end up not fit for what could have been the ultimate job for you. nnHere are 5 techniques on how to come prepared during your construction jo

Did you just flub your job interview? Were you awkward? Did you forget some critical piece of information that will make them want to hire you? Or did you make some other kind of job interview mistake? Whatever it was–it just didn’t go well, and you know it. But you still want the job. What do you do? You send a thank you note.

Describe how you would handle a situation if you were required to finish multiple tasks by the end of the day, and there was no conceivable way that you could finish them. Job interviews are like very intense speed dating. They’ve got to get to know you well in a very short time. For many companies, talking about your resume and what you’ve done is just not enough. They need to know how you’ll behave on the job, how you’ll react to situations. To get to the meat of those issues, they use behavioral interviewing.

If you want your resume to actually be a marketing document for you, and get a recruiter's or a hiring manager's attention, you must pack that resume with the keywords that are relevant to the career area you want. Recruiters, hiring managers, and Human Resource departments use computer searches and applicant tracking systems to flag resumes worth looking at, and that means they use keywords to search for the ones they'll be interested in looking at further. But what if you're new to the area and don't have much experience?

Many job candidates prepare well for the interview, connect well with the hiring manager, and then stumble at the end of the interview session because they’re not comfortable asking for the next step. It feels awkward, or too bold, or even weak (as in, “if they want to hire me, they’ll have to ask me—I’m not begging for the job”). That’s not the way to look at it. Hiring managers will tell you that candidates who don’t ask something about what the next steps are usually feel that the candidate is really not all that interested, after all. You have to ask for the job.

Personality assessments are sometimes used by companies to evaluate potential employees. Often, it’s because they’ve benchmarked their current top performers and pinned down what makes an employee in a given position successful, and are looking for someone similar to place in an open spot. It takes a lot of the risk of hiring out of the equation for hiring managers and makes them more comfortable. (Popular assessments include DISC, Caliper, Gallup, and Myers-Briggs.)

You may be wondering what LinkedIn is. Or you may be a user of LinkedIn and wondering what is the big deal? Or you may be thinking to yourself, I think everyone is wasting their time investing in LinkedIn. Well, read on... LinkedIn may be the positively greatest tool ever created to help you find exactly the hiring manager or referral you are looking for. You see, LinkedIn is an unparalleled tool for identifying specific job holders in specific companies. This fact makes the service the probable best possible source to reach the exact hiring manager you are seeking.

Several interview experts, in their unique styles, have repeatedly advised job aspirants to prepare well for the interviews, if they really wish to crack it with aplomb. By preparing, experts emphatically mean, to research well, and understand the job requirements unambiguously so that the organizational and individual goals coincide. This concurrence will generate mutual benefits to the organization as well as candidate. However, candidates usually misinterpret the message a

In our currently sketchy economy, many job seekers have given up on the idea of asking for more money during their salary negotiations. But it is possible to negotiate a great salary for yourself, even during a recession. What I have seen in my interviewing (as a recruiter) and in my coaching with my clients (as a personal career coach) is that they are able to consistently negotiate great salary and overall compensation packages when they excel in the interview process. Over-Prepare

A Job Candidate’s Situation: A recuiter called a medical sales candidate about a job, gave him the name of the company and the manager, said that he had submitted his resume for consideration, and had the phone interview set up. Then, the recruiter called back to tell him that the phone interview wasn’t going to happen, that the interview was on hold, and that he’d be in touch. After more than a week with no phone call, the candidate called me for help. A Medical Sales Recruiter’s Advice: This candidate should contact the hiring manager directly.

Job advertisements don’t always ask for a cover letter along with your resumé, but you should know you are always expected to send one. Some companies won’t even look at your resumé if it’s not accompanied by such a letter. After all, resumés and cover letters represent your first encounter with prospective employers and furnish the criteria based on which you may be selected for a job interview. Consequently, you should not write a in haste, but pay attention to eve

I believe the minimum requirements for any job interview are to be well-dressed (appropriate to your industry) with shined shoes, conservative accessories, and a recent haircut; and carry some kind of portfolio that holds additional copies of your resume and a notepad and pen so you can take notes. You have to get there early, have thought-out answers to typical interview questions, and have looked through the job description and researched the company. These are the minimum things that have to happen before you will get a job offer.

A 90-Day Business Plan for your job interview is an outstanding tool to show the interviewer why you're the one they should hire--whether you're very experienced or just starting out in your field. If you really want the job and you're facing some stiff competition, a 90-day business plan is what you need to get the offer. Your next step is to find out what a 90-Day Business Plan is, what it does for you, and how to create one for your next job interview.

There are two basic types of information on the internet, not only in terms of job interview preparation. We can speak about free information and paid information. In this niche, luckily for us, there is free information available. Websites with job interview tips for job applicants are typically general, speaking about interview questions, attire, preparation and similar things. One can learn a lot. rnOn the other hand, we live in an information era. Everyone has access to t

It’s a little rough-and-tumble right now in the job search, and it’s not uncommon for a candidate to receive a job offer that’s not quite the one they wanted. Often, the candidate then feels like there’s a decision to be made, but it’s not the decision they think. Candidates weighing a job offer aren’t weighing it against the offer from the company they really want to work for—because it’s not there. Even if you think it’s a done deal because of your verbal discussions with the hiring manager, it’s never over till the written offer is extended.

I recently posted this question on LinkedIn: Sales Managers: What do you do when your HR group isn't able to identify the hunters you need? With the incredible costs due to unfilled positions (customers going with the competition, RFPs not completed and generally missed sales opportunities), what do you (the sales manager) do to help HR see the need to use an outside source?

The term "medical sales" covers a lot of area: medical device sales, laboratory sales, clinical diagnostics sales, biotechnology sales, imaging sales, pathology sales, pharmaceutical sales, and tons of other niche areas of health care sales. Even though there are strong differences in style (capital vs. consumable sales, for instance), there are several basic, bedrock things you need to know if you're going to land a job in one of these areas.

Hiring managers love behavioral interview questions, because these kinds of questions dig deeper into what kind of employee you really are. Answers to behavioral interview questions must be in the form of stories, or examples of things you've done in your career. They are projections from you about how you would handle everyday or stressful situations in this new job, based on how you've handled similar situations before.

Candidates often ask me, “Post-interview, how long should I wait AFTER I send the thank you note to contact the hiring manager again? What should I say? Should I call or email again?“ The post-interview follow up period can feel like the trickiest of situations for candidates. Push too hard, and you’ll annoy them. Don’t push, and you risk not looking like a go-getter. If you’re working with a recruiter, the recruiter will do the calling to see what’s up. But if you’re going after this job on your own, then it’s all up to you.

The number of job seekers sending out resumes is growing exponentially with each passing day. It's unfortunate that the vast majority of these job seekers will end up sitting at home wondering why the phone doesn't ring with a call for an interview. Some will simply not be qualified, but just as many will have submitted a resume that let them down. Don't be part of that majority. Stand out in the crowd by avoiding these fatal resume flaws. 1. Too General This is the number one reason resumes fail.

Do you feel like you're sending your resume down endless black holes? Not getting interviews? They might be getting hung up in HR-which means you need to go to the source: the hiring manager. Contacting the hiring manager directly sets you apart as a go-getter. It's a concrete demonstration that you can do what it takes to overcome an obstacle and get something done. It gives you a chance to present your case (helpful if you're transitioning into the field) that you might not get if you're weeded out by HR. How do you do that?

If the only thing your job interview thank you note says is "Thanks for the interview. I'm looking forward to working with you!", you have already stood out from the crowd, but you have still wasted a prime opportunity to boost your chance to get the job by nudging that hiring manager farther along toward making you the offer. How do you do that? By writing a thank you note that looks like this: Dear Mr. Manager,

If you haven't joined LinkedIn by now, you should. There are over 65 million professionals involved in LinkedIn, making it the most significant online business network around. Don't make the mistake of thinking of it in the same terms as Facebook or Twitter (although they have their place). And don't make the mistake of thinking it's only for job searchers (but it's fantastic for that).

Your job search is one of the most significant tasks you’ll ever have. What job you end up with determines how you’ll spend the majority of hours in your day, how much money you’ll have, and how satisfied you are with your life. It’s worth making the effort to end up where you’ll be happy. Whether you’re currently employed or not, here’s how to put everything you’ve got into your job search–and it will bring you great results, whether you’re in laboratory sales, medical device sales, pharmaceutical sales, or any other health care sales arena:

What is a ride-along? Why is it important? A ride-along is just what it sounds like: You spend a day with a medical sales rep who’s in the field you’re thinking you’d like to sell into, and see how a typical day goes. A ride-along can be one of your greatest opportunities to differentiate yourself from another candidate. It sets you apart as a go-getter. It gives you critical on-the-job information that helps you in your job search. Among other things, it helps you answer the question, “How do you see yourself in this job?” How do you get one? Step 1: Ask for contacts.

The job market for pharmaceutical sales reps has gotten more and more precarious during the last few years. We regularly see headlines about big pharmaceutical companies cutting jobs, and the general consensus seems to be that there are more to come. The result is that thousands of pharma sales reps have flooded the job market, many hoping to land another position in medical sales. As a career coach, I am often asked to help ex-pharmaceutical reps transition into these new careers, particularly into medical sales or medical device sales.

Recruiting staff when you are a sole trader can be a real challenge. I have written this article to give some back ground and some practical help for sole traders (small business). It may also help people looking for work in small companies.rnBefore I get into the central theme of this article, recruitment, I feel that it worth briefly looking at the sole trader as a concept. rnAs a sole trader you are the owner of your business, you may have employees but usually you have ve

To get the job you want you need to do more than sit in the interview answering questions fired at you by the hiring manager. In order to be more effective in selling yourself for the job, don’t be afraid to ask questions yourself. Why? Because the job search is a sales process in which you are the product and that hiring manager is the buyer. And you’ll never make a sale without understanding the wants and needs of your customer. And you can’t understand unless you ask.

Are you an active participant in the labor market looking for a job or career? Do you dread or endure negative experiences with job interviews? It is not fun to go through the process of looking for a job and being hit with objections from a potential employer in a job interview; yet, you just might become hired for a position you interview thoroughly for. You will become acquainted with how to possibly overcome particular job interview objections. We will cover role-playing

My most popular ebook, How to Answer Interview Questions, is now available as an Amazon Audible Audiobook! (It's also available as an audiobook on <a href="https://play.google.com

You know what I've noticed lately? Most of my career-coaching clients are men. Out of the last 26 career coaching/interview coaching/job search advice sessions I've conducted, 19 clients were male, and 7 were female. I know that doesn't represent the gender ratio within the medical sales field, so what gives? Do females invest in their careers less than males? Do females prefer to seek help from male advisors rather than female ones? Do men have less of an issue than most people would believe about accepting career help from a female advisor?

Employers want to know about more than just your skills and experience–they want to know how you’ll get along day-to-day. How will you react in stressful situations? What will you do when a customer gets cranky, or there’s some issue with the product? One way for hiring managers to get to that information is to use behavioral interview questions, sometimes known as the STAR technique. STAR stands for: Situation or Task Describe the situation that you were in or the task that you needed to accomplish.

Do you prefer working in a team or alone?

It's a tough job market out there right now, but what if you can’t even get an interview? What if you're resume or your network is good enough to get you to the interview, but you can’t get past that point? Are you demonstrating the levels of commitment, drive, tenacity, skills and organization employers want? Here are 6 tried and true ways to separate you from other candidates and be the candidate everyone wants to hire: 1. Preparation = SWOT Analysis: SWOT is a strategic planning tool.

"If I had a million dollars put into my savings account and I didn't have to work anymore, what incentive would I have to work for your company?" Wow. What a bold interview question; I agree! I honestly believe that only someone who is practically guaranteed to get the job should ask a question like that or unless you won the lottery the night before. :-) This got me thinking however, are you asking the right interview questions to your interviewer?

Some questions will get asked in every job interview. But just because they're standard questions doesn't mean you have to give a standard answer. You can give a standout response with just a little coaching. I'm going to tell you how to answer 3 typical job interview questions: Why do you want to work here? Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years? Are you willing to relocate? (If you're not sure yet) Your answer should sound like, “I want to join this company because…” and then you need to list at least 3 reasons why.