Posts tagged interview

Making your CV work for you

Your CV is the key that unlocks the door to an interview. It should contain the information required to achieve that goal, and no more! It is not an autobiography.

Employers will make snap judgements as to whether to interview you or not, based on the appearance of the CV as well as the content.

Whilst in rare circumstances it may be appropriate to express your amazing personality by producing a very different-looking CV that makes you stand out from the crowd, the vast majority of employers are looking for a concise, clear record of your skills and experience.

Layout

1. Always print the CV on good quality paper, standard A4 size, if your emailing it use a standard font.

2. Never use more than two pages: employers are easily bored!

3. Don’t write the words Curriculum Vitae at the top: it’s perfectly obvious what it is.

4. Don’t preface the CV with a descriptive statement (’A well-educated enthusiast who will undoubtedly make his mark in international commerce’). Let the facts speak for themselves, and the employer be the judge of your capabilities.

5. Use this Format:

o Name (bold type)

o Personal details including date of birth, address and telephone number, marital status, nationality

o Qualifications

o Career history (in reverse order, most recent position first)

o Leisure interests

o Referees

6. Ensure all dates link up; leave no suspicious gaps. If you were out of work for a period, or travelling, include it as a stage in your history.

7. Write employer’s name and location in bold type. Employers often select for interview by identifying with companies that are known to them.

8. Use your last title in each position, also in bold type.

9. Briefly describe the company’s business and size, in italics.

10. Write no more than a few lines about the job content and responsibilities. If appropriate, show how you progressed from one position to the next. Mention specific numbers if possible (’In charge of 3 staff, ’sold 30 machines, worth x amount each’). Highlight one or two achievements after every job.

11. Under leisure interests, demonstrate breadth of character by mentioning varied interests, energy with sporting interests. Don’t fabricate interests as you may well be quizzed on them, particularly if the interviewer shares those interests. Don’t worry the employer by listing contentious interests (shooting, foxhunting). Keep the list short: one artistic, one sporting and one unusual interest. Don’t put ’socialising’ which is taken as drinking!

12. Only list referees if they have said they would speak for you. With their permission, give their telephone numbers so that employers feel encouraged to make contact with them.

13. Ensure all spelling is correct. Don’t trust computer spell-checkers.

General Advice

· Be honest and truthful about your career experience and achievements.

· Customise your CV for each prospective employer.

· Remember to give your referees a phone call to remind them that they may receive a call and email them a copy of your CV.

· Use key words in the job advert or description in your CV that relate to the job description.

· Re-read your CV before any interview and know it like the back of your hand.

· Keep an on-going file of your achievements, no matter how insignificant they may appear, they’ll make for a good CV.

Interviews

It’s fact that the best person for the job doesn’t always get it, the candidate who performs really well in the interview is the person who has the odds stacked in their favour, the person who sells their skills best. To come first in the interview game you must sell your skills, build rapport with the interviewer, reveal positive attitudes and opinions and speak with confidence. Above all you must demonstrate the relevance of your skills and the benefit of your experiences to the prospective employer.

Reasons for not succeeding in an interview

1. Insufficient Preparation

Essentially the interview process is a selling activity and you are the product, know your CV inside out, your interviewer will have gone through it with a fine tooth comb and any contradictions will make the relevant information look unreliable.

Not being able to answer the question “What do you know about this company?” might just end your quest for employment, at least with this employer. Background information including company history, locations, divisions, and a mission statement are available in an “About Us” section on most company web sites. Review it ahead of time, then print it out and read it over just before your interview to refresh your memory.

2. Dressing Inappropriately
Dressing inappropriately can work both ways. You will certainly want to wear a suit if you are interviewing for professional position. When interviewing for a summer job at your local theme park or as a lifeguard, for example, dress accordingly in neat and casual attire. If you aren’t sure what to wear, visit the organization and watch employees coming in and out of the office to see what they are wearing.

3. Poor Communication Skills
It’s important to communicate well with everyone you meet in your search for employment. It is, however, most important to positively connect with the person who might hire you. Shake hands, make eye contact, exude confidence, engage the person you are speaking with, and you will let the interviewer know that you are an excellent candidate for this position – before you even answer an interview question. Interviewers are human and they will only recruit people that they like and with whom they can get on.

4. Talk Too Much
There is nothing much worse than interviewing someone who goes on and on and on… The interviewer really doesn’t need to know your whole life story. Keep your answers to-the-point and focused and don’t ramble – simply answer the question. Ramblers tend to “White Elephant” themselves, this means you volunteer negative information about yourself and say something like “although I don’t have an MBA….” In this case you have just gift wrapped and delivered your white elephant.

5. Don’t Talk Enough
It’s really hard to communicate with someone who answers a question with a word or two.You don’t want the interviewer to feel like they are pulling teeth to get any answers from you. Be fluent in your answers, extroverts usually get a good deal in interviews because they “talk-think-talk” whereas introverts “think-talk-think’ and although introverts give more considered answers, the extrovert may be perceived as having better interpersonal skills, this is clearly non-sense but remembering that we are all guilty of making perceptions and the interviewer is only human.

6. Focusing on what the job can do for you, instead of what you have to offer the organisation

Off course you want the job for the money, the status and what it is going to do for you and your future career but if you approach the interview from this perspective you will surely fail. This relates to knowing yourself as a product, even if the job titles happen to be identical no two jobs are identical, positions are always organization specific with their own special needs. What are your Trump Cards? In other words, what makes you special, these are known as your USP’S – YOUR UNIQUE SELLING POINTS.

7. Badmouthing Past Employers

Your last boss was an idiot? Everyone in the company was a jerk? You hated your job and couldn’t wait to leave? Even if it’s true don’t say so. It’s sometimes a smaller world than you think and you don’t know who your interviewer might know, including that boss who is an idiot… You also don’t want the interviewer to think that you might speak that way about his or her company if you leave on terms that aren’t the best.

8. Anxiety

Unfortunately interviews are like exams and as unfair as it is, it is how you perform on the day that counts. Replays and second takes don’t exist in interviews. If you suffer from nervers that interfere with your memory, your thinking ability, your ability to speak fluently then you must do something about this in order to secure the position you want.

A lot of the time the anxiety is caused by lack of confidence in your abilities. This is obvious when the candidate uses phrases such as; I think, I feel, I believe, I hope, this is called Tentative Language and all these dilute the impact of what you say. For example;

I feel confident that I would reach and exceed sales targets or I think that I would enjoy that aspect of the job

Contrasted with

I am Confident that I will reach and exceed sales targets or I’m confident that I wil enjoy that aspect of the job

So perhaps you can try and leave your tentative language outside the interviewer’s door by practicing at home, using the words I’m Confident, over and over, by saying sentences like this out loud and you’ll find they’ll roll of your tongue in an interview more easily.

9. Forget to Follow Up
Afraid you didn’t make the best impression? Are you sure that you aced the interviewed? Either way, be sure to follow up with a thank you note reiterating your interest in the position and the company.

Finally, even if you do not get the job, don’t take it to heart. I don’t think there is anyone who hasn’t blown an interview or two. If it happens, look at it like it just wasn’t meant to be, learn from your mistakes and focus on to the next opportunity, of which there will be many.

Good Communication skills are key

It is important to develop good rapport with your interviewer, it’s important that the interviewer feels comfortable with you, being over confident and too shy won’t go down well and will not make a good impression on your potential employer. Be aware of the following:

· Have a firm handshake

· Maintain plenty of eye contact

· Do not fidget

· Avoid Jargon

· Don’t slouch

Interview Questions

Questions are like people – they come in all shaped and sizes, some are easy to get on with and others need caution and should be approached carefully. Here are some of the “families” of questions that you are likely to be asked.

Closed Questions

These are questions that can be answered with a straightforward answer “yes” or “no”. These are known as gift questions because they provide unique opportunity for you to expand your answer in any way you wish with a simple “yes and ……” or “no and….” After which you can take the interviewer into the territory of your experiences and achievements that promote your skills from the position you want.

Example: Do you enjoy working as part of a team?

You could just say yes I do, but you will be selling yourself short, so harvest the opportunity you have been given.

Yes I do, especially when I can make a specific contribution from my skills. When I worked for X, my contribution was X, and it was very satisfying when we achieved X .

Hypothetical Questions

These type of questions are another bonus to you, there is a huge difference in what you have done and what you would do. This is an ideal opportunity for you to give a perfect answer.

Example: What would you do to increase sales?

Who really knows what you would do but you can give a really impressive because it’s hypothetical.

Rhetorical Questions

Again this is a gift question from the interviewer and you should answer exactly how the interviewer expects you too.

Example: Are you flexible? Yes, Off Course, I’ve worked shifts when I was working with X and…..

Open Questions

Open questions are just that, they begin with how, what, why and tell me…. These can be dangerous because what you choose to talk about and the way you order the topics tells the interviewer so much about you.

Example: Tell me about a time when you had to work with someone you found difficult?

The importance here is to put anything negative as far back in your career as possible and always finish off on a positive note, like how this experience has taught you too…. And what you took away from the whole experience.

Competency Questions

Trained interviewers use these questions a lot because they are very effective. Competency interviewing places a heavy weight on your experiences and what you have specifically achieved in your working life.

Example: Outline your experiences in….?

The advantage for you is that interviewers have to ask a targeted question and consequently it is very difficult for them to disguise what they are looking for. Should you get several questions around team work, then you know that thses areas are essential to the position on offer and you can tailor your answers accordingly.

Sample Questions

· Tell me about yourself?

· Do you prefer to work alone or in a group?

· What do you feel you have done particularly well in your job?

· In what areas have you achieved the greatest success? Why do you think this is?

· What kind of people do you most find difficult to work with? Why?

· Have you ever had to manage or supervise others? Give Examples?

· What kind of pressures did you encounter in your previous job?

· What did you find most difficult about your last job?

· What are you looking for in a company?

· What do you see as your best qualities?

· What are your weaknesses?

· What was the toughest decision you had to make in your previous position? What alternatives did you consider?

· How do you work under pressure?

· What is your greatest success to date?

Helpfull Links

http://www.myjob.ie/interviewtips.php

http://www.manpower.ie/jobseekers/careers/main_interview.asp

http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/interviews/a/jobinterviewtip.htm

http://gradireland.com/careers-advice/articleview-6a_200.aspx

http://www.cvtips.com/

http://www.cvsolutions.ie/cv-tips-advice/