Tag: interviewing

I’ve been on the oth­er side of the table for job inter­views the last few months. One thing that I’ve noticed is lack of can­di­date prepa­ra­tion in the inter­view process. I want to hire peo­ple who work hard to get the job they’ve applied for. Here’s what I like to see from a can­di­date:

• Clar­i­ty, hon­esty, pre­ci­sion, con­ci­sion. Your cov­er let­ter, resumé, and inter­ac­tions with the staff inter­view­ing you should demon­strate forth­right­ness. If you don’t know some­thing, admit it. That will get you more points than try­ing to weasel your way around the answer. Don’t ram­ble.
• Demon­strat­ed knowl­edge of the busi­ness and posi­tion. If you know jack about the orga­ni­za­tion or the posi­tion’s require­ments, you appear ill-pre­pared.
• Ask­ing ques­tions about the busi­ness and how the posi­tion fits with­in it. If you do not show a desire to under­stand how a job fits with­in an orga­ni­za­tion, you prob­a­bly do not care about the orga­ni­za­tion’s mis­sion or val­ues.
• Show respect for the process by dress­ing up. You don’t have to be rich to look nice, and peo­ple notice. I wore a tie to my inter­view at Burg­er King when I was 15½. I wore a tie to my inter­view as a sea­son­al teamster/warehouseman when I was 18.
• Be ready to answer tough ques­tions. Even a menial job will require the abil­i­ty to deal with the unex­pect­ed. We’ll want to know that you know how to han­dle those unex­pect­ed sit­u­a­tions.

It boils down to one rule: Work as hard to get the job as you’ll work if you get it.

We’ll notice.