BADM-236: Ch. 14

Questions to Get Acquainted

- After opening introductions, recruiters generally try to start the interview with personal questions designed to put you at ease. - They strive to gain an overview to see whether you will fit into the organization's culture. - When answering these questions, keep the employer's needs in mind and try to incorporate your success stories. 1. Tell me about yourself. 2. What are your greatest strengths? 3. Do you prefer to work by yourself or with others? Why? 4. What was your major in college, and why did you choose it? 5. What are some things you do in your spare time?

Application Form

- Carry a card summarizing your vital data. - Look over all questions before starting. - Answer all questions honestly. - Give a specific job title if requested. - Expect a salary question. - Be ready to explain reasons for leaving previous positions.

Challenging Questions

- Convert any negative response into a discussion of your strengths. 1. What's your greatest weakness? 2. How would your former supervisor describe you as an employee?

Rejection Follow-Up Letter

- Do not give up if you didn't get the job. - Its okay to show disappointment, but do so politely. - Emphasize your continuing interest. - Express confidence in meeting the job requirements. - Refer to specifics of your interview. - Close by taking initiative; tell when you will call for an update. - Be persistent but not a pest.

Questions About the Future

- Employers ask these questions to to see whether you're goal oriented and to determine whether your goals are realistic. 1. Where do you expect to be five or ten years from now? 2. What do you predict for the future of this industry?

Analyzing the Company's Advertising

- Examine the company's ads and promotional materials, including sales and marketing brochures. - Be knowledgeable of the company.

Illegal and Inappropriate Questions

- Federal laws prohibit employment discrimination based on gender, age, religion, color, race, national origin, and disability. 1. What is your marital status? 2. Do you have any disabilities? 3. How old are you? 4. Where are you from? What is the origin of your last name? What is your native language?

Avoid Being Rushed

- Give yourself plenty of time to groom and dress. - Make sure you can arrive at the employer's office without being rushed. - If something unexpected caused you to be late, call the interviewer right away to explain what is happening. - On the way to the interview don't smoke, eat anything messy or smelly, and don't load up on perfume or cologne. - Arrive at the interview 5 to 10 minutes early, but not earlier.

Greeting The Interviewer and Making a Positive First Impression

- Greet the interviewer confidently, and don't be afraid to initiate a handshake. - Wait for the interviewer to offer you a seat after the introduction. - Make small talk with upbeat comments.

Resignation Letter

- If you must leave a position, depart gracefully and tactfully with a resignation letter. - Many resignation letters are placed in personnel files. Be careful and formal. - Confirm the exact date of your resignation. - Remind your employer of your contributions. - Offer assistance to prepare for your resignation. - Offer thanks and end with a forward-looking statement.

Questions to Gauge Your Interest

- Interviewers want to understand your motivation for applying for a position. 1. Why do you want to work for [name of company]? 2. Why are you interested in this position? 3. What do you know about your company? 4. Why do you want to work in this industry? 5. What interests you about our products (or services)?

After the Interview

- Make notes on the interview as soon as you leave: - Key points discussed - Names of people you spoke with - Strengths and weaknesses during the interview - Follow-up plans - Write a thank-you letter to the interviewer: - Remind the interviewer of your visit. - Show that you really want the job. - Prove that you're qualified for it. - Alert your references that they might be called. - If you don't hear from the interviewer within a specified time, call or send and interview follow-up message.

Online, Video, and Virtual Interviews

- Many companies today use technology to interview job candidates for a distance. - Virtual interviews save job applicants and companies time and money, especially when applicants are not in the same location as the company.

Stress Interviews

- Meant to test your reactions during nerve-racking situations and are common for jobs in which you will face significant stress. - You may wait a long time before being greeted by the interviewer. - You may be given a test with an impossible time limit, or one or more of the interviewers may treat you rudely. - Another technique is to have interviewers ask questions at a rapid rate. - Silence is another stress technique. - You should remain calm, keep a sense of humor, and avoid getting angry or defensive.

One-on-One Interviews

- Most common type, talk about the job and your qualifications.

Hiring/Placement Interviews

- Most promising candidates selected from screening interviews are invited to hiring/placement interviews. - Their goal is to learn how the candidate would fit into their organization. - Many forms of hiring/placement interviews: - One-on-One Interviews - Panel Interviews - Group Interviews - Sequential Interviews - Stress Interviews - Online, Video, and Virtual Interviews

Cleaning Up Digital Art

- Potential employers definitely screen a candidate's online presence using Google and social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. - The top reasons for not considering an applicant after an online search were that the candidate posted provocative or inappropriate photos or information; posted content about drinking or doing drugs; talked negatively about current or previous employers, colleagues, or clients; exhibited poor communication skills; made discriminatory comments; lied about qualifications; or revealed a current or previous employer's confidential information.

Situational Questions

- Questions related to situations help employers test your thought process and logical thinking. 1. If you were aware that a coworker was falsifying data, what would you do? 2. If you had to handle an irate customer, what would you do?

Scouring the Web for important Company Data

- Search the potential employer's website, news sources, trade journals, and industry directories. - Learn all you can about the company's history, mission and goals, size, location, and number of employees. - Check out its customers, competitors, financial condition, strengths and weaknesses, future plans, and names of its leaders.

Application or Resume Follow-Up Letter

- Send a short follow-up message if your application or resume generates no response. - Open by reminding the reader your interest. - In the body, review your strengths or add new qualifications. - Close by looking forward positively - Avoid accusations that make the reader defensive.

Screening Interviews

- Serves to eliminate applicants who fail to meet minimum requirements. - Used to save time and money by weeding out lesser-qualified candidates before scheduling face-to-face interviews. - Many take place on the phone.

S.T.A.R.

- Situation: Briefly explain the background and context of a situation. What happened? When? Where? - Task: Describe the problem. What needed to be done? Why? - Action: What did you do? How? What skills or tools did you use? - Results: Explain the results (savings, great efficiency). Try to quantify.

Group Interviews

- Sometimes called cattle-call interviews. - Occurs when a company interviews several candidates for the same position at the same time. - Some employers use this technique to measure leadership skills and communication styles. - The key is to make yourself standout from the other candidates in a positive way.

Questions About Your Experience and Accomplishments

- The interview becomes more specific with questions about your accomplishments. - Remember to show confidence. 1. Why should we hire you when we have applicants with more experience or better credentials? 2. Describe the most rewarding experience of your career so far? 3. How have your education and professional experiences prepared you for this position? 4. What were you major accomplishments in each of your past jobs? 5. What was a typical workday like?

Behavioral Questions

- The interviewer may say, describe a time when... or tell me about a time when...To answer effectively, learn to use S.T.A.R. 1. Tell me about a time when you solved a difficult problem. 2. Describe a time that you worked successfully as part of a team.

Rehearsing Success Stories

- To feel confident and be able to sell your qualifications, prepare and practice success stories. - Stories would be examples of your educational and work-related experience that demonstrate your qualifications and achievements. - Look over the job description and your resume to determine what skills, training, personal characteristics, and experience you want to emphasize during the interview. Prepare a success story for each one. - Incorporate numbers, such as dollars saved or percentage of sales increase, whenever possible. - Make success stories detailed but brief. - Tell stories about dealing with a crisis, handling a tough interpersonal situation, successfully juggling may priorities, changing course to deal with changed circumstances, learning from a mistake, working on a team, and going above and beyond expectations.

Panel Interviews

- Typically conducted by people who will be your supervisors and colleagues. - Seated around a table, interviewers take turns asking questions. - Save the company money and time, and they show you how the staff works together

Locating Inside Information

- Use social media networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter. - Comment on the organization's status updates and other posts. - Check out employee review websites. - Try to connect with someone who is currently employed, but not working in the immediate area where you wish to be hired. Seek someone discreet. - Blogs are excellent sources. - Take interest in employers.

Being Polite and Pleasant

- When you enter the office, be courteous and congenial to everyone. - Introduce yourself to the receptionist and present yourself well to everyone.

Sequential Interviews

- You meet individually with two or more interviewers one-on-one over the course of several hours or days. - They dig deeper into your technical skills, an make connections about how you'd add value and solve issues in the department.

Other Employment Letters and Documents

1. Application Form 2. Application or Resume Follow-Up Letter 3. Rejection Follow-Up Letter 4. Job Acceptance and Rejection Letters 5. Resignation Letter

Purposes of Job Interviews

1. Asses your abilities in relation to the requirements of the position. 2. Discuss your training, experience, knowledge and abilities in more detail. 3. See what drives and motivates you. 4. Decide whether you would fit into the organization.

Traveling To and Arriving At Your Interview

1. Avoid Being Rushed 2. Being Polite and Pleasant 3. Greeting The Interviewer and Making a Positive First Impression

Five Important Areas Employers Will Probe

1. Communication Skills - How well do you present yourself and your ideas? 2. Attitude - Do you have a positive attitude about yourself and your career? 3. Aptitude - Do your educational training and general life experiences qualify you for this position? 4. Potential - How do your attitude and aptitude combine to contribute to this company? 5. Motivation - What are your short-term and long-term career goals? Why do you want this job with this company?

Opportunities that comes with Job Interviews

1. Convince the employer of your potential. 2. Learn more about the job and the company. 3. Expand on the information in your resume.

Anticipating Typical Interview Questions

1. Questions to Get Acquainted 2. Questions to Gauge Your Interest 3. Questions About Your Experience and Accomplishments 4. Questions About the Future 5. Challenging Questions 6. Situational Questions 7. Behavioral Questions 8. Illegal and Inappropriate Questions

Preparing and Practicing

1. Rehearsing Success Stories 2. Cleaning Up Digital Art

Researching the Target Company

1. Scouring the Web for important Company Data 2. Analyzing the Company's Advertising 3. Locating Inside Information

Types of Job Interviews

1. Screening Interviews 2. Hiring/Placement Interviews 3. One-on-One Interviews 4. Panel Interviews 5. Group Interviews 6. Sequential Interviews 7. Stress Interviews 8. Online, Video, and Virtual Interviews

Interviewee Questions

1. What will my duties be? 2. What is it like working here, in terms of the people, management practices, work loads, expected performance, and rewards? 3. What training programs does this organization offer? 4. How is my performance evaluated? 5. Who would be my immediate supervisor?

Job Acceptance and Rejection Letters

Acceptance - After being offered a job, follow up with a letter confirming the details and formalizing your acceptance. - Open by expressing pleasure; confirm your acceptance of the position with enthusiasm. - Review salary and benefits in the body. - Include the specific starting date. - Close with thanks. Rejection - If you turn down a job, show professionalism by writing a sincere letter. - Thank the employer. - Briefly describe the reason for turning down the job offer.