Like many people before me, I went to college, graduated and found myself looking for a much needed career. I submitted literally hundreds of resumes to various companies. To my own astonishment you could imagine how I felt when I either did not get called for an interview or received the company standard “don't call us we'll call you” form letter.

So I did some research and changed my approach by customizing my resumes and cover letters for the companies that I was applying to. This seemed to work for me as I started getting some interviews. However, what I learned quickly is that my interview skills flat out sucked.

I was very soft in my speaking, my handshake was terrible, and I paused and stuttered too much as if I were looking for the answers somewhere in the room. That was just interview number one. Interviews were a lot more different than the fast food job I had in high school. I needed to fine tune my skills so that the interviewer did not think I was a bumbling idiot.

In the town where I lived the local government had free workshops of which one was for interviewing. I immediately signed up. It was a one on one session with a volunteer who worked full time as an HR person for a local company. They treated it as if it were a real interview. I made it about 30 seconds before she stopped me and in not so many words said, “My God you are terrible at this.” Continuing she said, “Have you ever interacted with people before?”

At first I was offended, but she was right I was bad. She gave me some pointers on how to be better at the interview and believe it or not they weren't life changing alterations. For example, sit up straight. Sitting up straight gives the look of confidence. Slouching is sloppy looking and looks lazy. Look the interviewer in the eye. The person doing the interview does not have laser beams shooting out of their eyes so don't be afraid to look at the person. They aren't Medusa and you won't turn to stone. Give a firm handshake but not too firm. A good handshake also gives off confidence.

I worked on each and every one of those skills with this person. Over and over we went through each step until it was nearly perfect. By the time I left that session which was about an hour and a half to two hours long (if I remember correctly), I believe I had perfected the interview process.

I wasn't done yet. I signed up for the interview session again this time getting someone different. I wanted to see what a new pair of eyes and ears on my interviewing skills, that I had now learned, looked like to someone who never met me.

This time it was a person who did interviews for the City Government. I sat down and he proceeded to interview me as if I were applying for a job. He commented at how well I did, that I made good eye contact; my answers were good but could be more thorough. He made some minor adjustments on some things, mostly in how I answered questions, but other than that, he said I was ready.

It took me five interviews before I landed a position. What I found during this entire job interviewing process was that with each interview I went on I became better and better at it until I finally landed the job.

A few years ago I found myself being the one doing the interviewing. Talk about coming full circle. I saw in a lot of candidates the mistakes that I myself had made. So being able to see both sides of the interview process has been very rewarding to me on a personal and professional level.

If you are looking for your first job or tense up when it comes to interviewing for a new position check into some local training sessions. Most local colleges offer them free or very low cost. These trainings sessions could do for you, what they did for me.

• Have a good plan.

  Gather all the necessary information of the company or organization and the post also. Research your past experiences very well so that you can convincingly express these in front of the interviewer. Have a crystal clear concept about the job you are offered.

• Have a mock interview to experience the real life situation

  Visualize all the most possible questions and find the appropriate answer for these questions. Also visualize how to present such types of questions in front of the interviewer. Practice how to be more communicative. Such practice can relieve you of the tension. Try to enjoy the interview .

• Maintain eye-contact.

  It shows how much you are interested in him and the post you are applying for. Remember a proper eye contact shows how much attentive and interested you are in the questions. This mirrors the good listening power of the candidate at the time of interview.

• Be positive.

  Positive attitude reflects your personality and Positive attitude always helps.

• Try to adapt to circumstances .

  Try to master the art of presenting your self in relation to the circumstance of the interview and interviewer. Listen !

• Try to encourage the interviewer to share the information about his or her company.

  Do not forget to demonstrate your interest in the interviewer's company. You are also supposed to ask the interviewer politely some information-seeking questions so that it can reflect that you are showing lot of interests in his or her company.

• Confess if you have no knowledge about something that is asked.

  Be aware of the language to be used in the interview. Thank the Interviewer while leaving.

Well, if you need to know, in my future hypothetical company people won't be hired that way. Why? Let's see.

What do academic qualifications mean? A lot of textbooks read and a lot of assignments written. Sure that's good stuff but consider this: do the right academic qualifications mean that the prospective employee or manager would “do” the job?

I've seen so many times a disparity between qualifications and ability, unfortunately.

Now for the work experience: if it's relevant it's great but I consider that someone without any relevant work experience could do excellently if given the opportunity. Sometimes ability is disguised behind a poor work history. So, work history is not all.

Next, the long imaginative questionnaires. They're interesting, but hiring someone on that basis is ludicrous because, if you're smart, and I mean this, you could answer all questions right without being the right person for the job.

So, what would you do?

It's simple. You should look for two crucial qualities: ability and compatibility.

Ability means that you can do the job and you're probably the best at that. You may have all the right qualifications and experience and imaginative questionnaire answers, and this is the easy situation, or you may or may not have some of the above at all or to some degree.

You might then ask: “so, how can I know that someone is right for the job?”

My answer is: by feeling. You must talk a lot to the candidates, not only about work but about anything you fancy and then sense their style. You could interview him, not in an office, but in a garden if there's one. Or you could take him to the pub. You could try to know about his life, his plans, his achievements and his failures, his passions, if any. Then judge by feeling.

Usually, capable people feel capable and others don't, if you know what I mean, and you should look for such signs. Cumulatively, you could put him through some test job just to sense his style.

On the other hand, ability is not everything. There's also compatibility.

The candidate must feel compatible with the boss and this with him, and at least also with some other critical co-workers. Compatibility is crucial because without it the mechanisms of work dynamics just don't function. A new worker must be able to communicate with people easily and meaningfully. So, these people should also meet the candidate and talk freely to him to find out about compatibility with them and decide by feeling alone.

Such is hiring on the basis of ability and compatibility.

 

Tell us about yourself. This is not the time to recount your weekend hunting and fishing activities, or to go on about your cute kids and how much you love them. What the interviewer wants to know includes your educational background and your professional experience. They are trying to figure out if you're a good fit for the company and how you can help the company remain profitable. What do you have to offer that others don't? A job interview is like a first date. You are trying to get to know each other, to see if this is going to be a long-term relationship and to see if the chemistry is there between you and the company. Make sure you tailor your answer so that the interviewer will get a sense of your professional self and background, not your personal life.

What are your strengths? No one likes to come across as a boastful know-it-all, but this is your opportunity to outline your best professional skills and abilities. Make sure all that you list can be backed up with your education or references or portfolio. Look at the job announcement you responded to. What are the absolute musts the job requires? If the ad mentions the preferred candidate is organized and pays attention to detail, you should definitely highlight this area if it adequately describes you. Be prepared to give examples of how you organize large projects or the types of details you are skilled at dealing with. Don't just say you are good at x, y and z...be prepared with examples or anecdotes.

What are your weaknesses? No one likes answering this question because here you are trying to impress someone with your credentials and they want you to start listing your flaws. The trick here is to give them a flaw, but one that you've turned into a positive. Here's an example: My biggest weakness is that I always like to be busy and productive. In the past, I've had jobs where there hasn't been enough work to keep me busy the entire day. So what I did was to talk to my boss about taking on some added projects from other departments. This solved my problem and it was good for the company.

Another weakness turned into a positive could be: I used to be very disorganized and unfocussed. What I did was to take a course on project management and productivity and I learned how to really get more out of each day, how to tackle big projects and complete all the tasks on deadline and the manage time more effectively.

Again, put a lot of thought into this question beforehand and make sure you have examples to back up your claims. Make sure the interviewer knows which reference they can speak to about each skill or weakness you've changed.

What was your favorite job and why? First, you want to make it clear that you've enjoyed all of your jobs. This is no time to bad-mouth any previous or current employer regardless of what they've done to you. However, you can always pick a standout job; maybe you had a mentor or someone within a former company who taught you useful skills that you can use for this company. Make sure your reasons for telling them about a particular job relates to this specific position you are interviewing for.

What was your worst job and why? Again, this is not the time to speak ill of past employers. You can, however, in the same way you took a weakness and turned it into a positive, take a job you didn't care for and explain the situation in a way that makes you shine. For instance, if your worst job was one that required a lot of travel that you tired of, you can say that it was not your favorite because you found that being away from the team at headquarters made you a less-effective sales person. You can explain that you get an energy boost from working in the same environment as other sales people and enjoy that synergy among the team.

Why do you want to work here? Before you show up for the interview, you have to have done your research on the company. You need to know what they do, who its customers are and some basics about the corporate culture. Peruse the company Web site and get to know enough about the company that you can list three reasons why you'd like to work there. Keep your reasons mostly geared toward the actual work and the clients rather than the perks and benefits.

Do you have any questions for us? Since you've done your research on the company, you should have several questions formed before the interview. You can ask about the company's long range plan for growth, which areas it expects to expand current business and current research and development areas. You can follow up on a story you read in the newspaper about the corporation, ask about employee stock purchase plans or how the company is involved in the community. Don't ask questions about what the company can do for you; gear your questions with a healthy dose of curiosity and genuine interest in the business of the company and its future profitability.

Master these questions by doing your research and planning your answers in advance and you will be well on your way to getting the job you want.

Not because you're already hired it means you can just relax. Instead, this is the beginning of the most difficult but the most important part of having a new job. It is because you need to prove to your boss and your self whether you are capable to do the job right.

Most of the time before you land the job you have to undergo on training. The length of the training depends on the company's policy. So, here are the things you should remember.

Before The Training

Sleep early and be sure that before you go to bed all your things are ready for tomorrow.

Important things to bring

• A pen (bring an extra pen too)
• Note pads
• Extra money (for emergency purposes)

Eat properly before you leave

It's like you're going to school, right? But it is important for us to go to work full and lively.

Leave early from your house

To avoid traffic and some unwanted situations along the way. If you live far from the office, you have to allot at least one or two hours or more.

During the training

Be on time

Don't ever, ever be late on your first day. You are rated from the first day you came until the last hour of your training period. Also, you can still have time to look for the training room or even relax and meet new people that you are going to be with.

Be alert and listen carefully to your trainer.

Make sure that you absorbed all the things that your trainer is saying in your mind.

If there are things that you don't understand don't be shy to ask

In this way you can easily familiar with the job you are supposed to do.

Think, behave and talk professionally

 Be it a degree holder, college level, or a high school graduate. You need to behave yourself professionally with civilized attitude. The trainer is not just entitled to train you on your job but he is also the one who's going to asses you as a person so it is very important that you know how to respect a superior or co-workers. He has your ticket to your deployment.

Follow the company's rule

If there are old employees who don't follow just even one rule, don't do the same thing.

How to make an excuse?

There are some situations that you can't control such as emergencies. If you are going to be late call or send a message to your trainer or your superior right away so that he would give you some consideration depending on your reason. If they think it is valid enough to consider, then you might as well be given another chance but, next time, give more extra effort.

If you really need to be absent the next day, inform the management before hand or few hours before the time. And make sure you relayed the message carefully and the message has been received by your superiors.

Never send a message to a friend or co-workers

 You can be sure enough that you're message will be passed on to the right authority. Be sure to have a copy of your superior's mobile number or the office number.

It is necessary for a new trainee to impress their boss. It goes with the saying 'first impression last'. But don't make that impression fade away once you are officially hired as an employee in the company. You have to prove to them that you are a good catch!

If your answer to all these questions is yes, then you are not alone. There are millions of people like you. Many are confused, annoyed or even dejected. Fear not. Countless people before you have been in your situation and like them, you too can overcome this challenge. What you need is a direction, trust in your ability and hard work.

Let us look at some Do's and Don'ts that should help you land a good job.

First the Dos

• Communication

  Like it or not, English is the medium of communication at an increasingly diverse work place. Until Indian languages attain a status on par with European ones, we have to live with this reality. The most important thing to learn is how to communicate your thoughts effectively.

• Confidence

  With communication and subject knowledge comes confidence. It is not how much you know that matters, but how confident you are that does.

• Know Yourself

  What do you really want to do? What are the things that most interest you? Do you like being with friends or would you rather do things on your own? Do you like technology and gadgets or do you stay away from them? Answers to these questions will reveal the kind of person you are.

• Effective Resume

  A good resume is the key to the countless opportunities that are available around you. So, take the time to draft and revise your resume until you have one that is cleanly formatted, readable and high on content.

• Research

  Once you know more about yourself, you should be able to identify careers that match your personality. Use this to research companies that offer such kinds of jobs. Thanks to the internet, there is plenty of information about various companies or organizations that exist in your sphere of interest.

• Network

  The good news is that the days of recommendations are declining, so you don't need a big shot politician uncle to get a job. Who you know however is still going to carry weight over what you know most of the times. So, make sure that you maintain good relationships with your classmates, seniors, juniors, lecturers, etc. People in your network can be valuable sources of leads for you. Many companies prefer to hire through internal references, so knowing someone in a company that you are interested in working for would be very helpful.

• HR Consultants

  There are many professional HR companies that will not charge you any fees for dropping off your resume or even after finding you a job. So you have nothing to lose and everything to gain in making HR consultants your friends. Identify at least one or two good HR consulting companies that are professional and courteous. Visit them and drop off your resume so that they can call you in case of a vacancy that matches your education and skills. Since the HR consultants are working with many clients day in and day out, staying in their good books will certainly help at least in the long run.

• Interview Preparation

  Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying “If I had to chop a tree in 8 hours, I would spend 6 hours grinding my axe.” Once you have identified a company, sent in your resume and got an interview call, it is time for you to prepare for the interview. The more extensive the preparation, the better your chances of getting a job. Learn about the company through their website, through your network, through HR consultants, trade magazines and whatever other means that you can think of. It is also the time for you to learn about the job itself - what are the requirements, what will be your job responsibilities, what are the skills needed, etc. The more you know about the company and the job, the more confidence you will have during the interview. Use the data collected to prepare possible questions and practice how you will answer them.

• Act

  Mahatma Gandhi said “Actions express priorities.” If you are not going to prepare a good resume, not going to improve your communication skills and not going to research about companies and job opportunities, do not expect to get a job. It is true that there are hundreds of thousands of jobs available, but it is even more true that rarely will jobs come searching for you.

Now the Don'ts

• Do not lie

  There are many people who will wrongly advise you to lie on your resume. In your desperation to land that first job, you may be tempted. Do not succumb to that temptation because it is bad advice. It is your career and your life that can be scarred forever. We increasingly come across candidates who have been fired by their employers because of lies in their resume. These are not entry-level employees. People with many years of experience and proven performance have been sent home because companies are developing a zero tolerance policy.

• Do not bribe

  It is surprising that there are so many people who are willing to pay a bribe to get a job. Do not pay a bribe. It may work in the short term but in the long term, you will realize that the bribe wasn't really worth it. As mentioned earlier, since companies are doing strict background checks on employees, you might be one of those whose job is eliminated because the person who took the bribe got you the job by putting in false information in your job application.

• Do not take irrelevant training

  There are countless training institutes, especially IT institutes, that are promising the world but deliver very little. It is troubling to see engineering graduates incorrectly believing more in a month or two of IT training than their four years of engineering education. If you do want to take training, it should be in subjects that will enhance your skills and not in subjects that are vastly different from your education.

Our experience in the HR area working with various companies and counseling many students has given us some insights that we have shared with you. These should help you in making your job search a fruitful one. We wish you the best and if you have any questions, feel free to contact us at vizagATadecco.co.in.

You may have the skills and qualifications to succeed in the job position, but if you don't present yourself correctly, you could lose the opportunity to prove it.

When the recruitment process has advanced to the interview stage, the recruiter, typically from the human resource department, needs to decide what kind of interview would be used. Some of the criteria affecting this choice of interview type is the nature of the job, industry, or field, age of applicant, corporate culture etc.

• Unstructured Interview - The interviewer has a list of points that needs to be covered though the interview flows naturally like a chat. This method is very useful for relaxing the interviewee. The interviewer, however, should go through every point and must carefully note down all the answers and evaluate them systematically.
• Critical Incident Interview - Candidates are given some job-related critical incidents. They are then interviewed about what actions they would take in these particular situations. The interviews are then scored using a scoring system.
• Behavior Description Interviews - Candidates are asked what actions they have taken in prior job situations that are similar to situations they may encounter on the job. The interviewees also may need to give justifications for their actions. The interviews are then scored using a scoring system.
• Structured Behavioral Interview - This technique involves asking interviewees, standardized questions about how they handled past situations that were similar to situations they might encounter on their job. The interviewer may also ask probing questions for details of the situations, the interviewee's behavior in the situation, rational for particular decisions and the outcome. The interviewee's responses can then be scored with behaviorally anchored rating scales.
• Comprehensive Structured Interviews - This technique is wider in scope than the previous technique. In addition to the former, interviewees are asked about job knowledge, worker requirements, and how the candidate would perform various job simulations. This method of interviews is a way to assess a candidate's current level of knowledge about different dimensions of job performance, which are difficult to quantify (i.e., "tacit knowledge," "emotional intelligence," or "practical intelligence" related to a specific job).
• Oral Interview Boards - The main difference here is that instead of one or two interviewers, there is a panel of interviewers firing questions in rapid sequence. Each member of the panel then rates the interviewee on such dimensions as work history, creative thinking, motivation, and presentation. The scoring procedure for oral interview boards is typically subjective. This technique is very time-consuming and expensive and may not be feasible when a large number of applicants must be interviewed.

The main purpose of the recruitment interview is to get information on certain pre-defined issues. In addition the recruitment interview also should give an in-depth impression of the interviewee. Whatever technique the interviewer chooses, the overall impression the interviewer gets should also be noted down and should be considered when making the final decision. A hunch ignored at the interview could have in many cases helped avoid an expensive wrong recruitment.

Employers often use salary requests to weed out the unsuitable job hunters from the candidate pool. If you put in too high a request, the employer naturally thinks you are too expensive for them. On the other hand, if your salary expectation is too low, the prospective employer might think that you don't value yourself and thus many not be a valuable employee for them.

There are three kinds of advice experts give on how to tackle the issue of mentioning salary expectations. These advices may seem contradictory, but each advice has sound logic. Read them carefully and decide what is suitable for your particular case.

Three strategies for replying to salary requests:

1. Ignore salary request
2. Get around the salary request
3. Meet salary request with a range

Some experts will tell you to ignore the salary request. Now, what are the repercussions? If you totally ignore the salary request, the employer might think that you overlooked it because you are unsure of what you deserve, you are careless in filling forms or you are desperate and want to negotiate about salary but would accept whatever you got. If the employer specifically mentions a salary request, they have reasons for doing so. Usually, the salary request is a method for making sure that the candidate knows her/his market value.

The second advice you'd get is “Don't think that employers are so easily fooled if you omit your salary expectations! They will wonder why you didn't mention it.” So, try to get around this dilemma by using phrases like “Each position in my career has brought fresh challenges. I've been promoted regularly with suitable benefit packages. I'd rather discuss this issue of salary and benefits face to face during the interview.”

The third advice from the experts is “Meet the salary request directly with a range.” One good way is to put a little more than the minimum you can accept as the lower figure on the range and the higher figure a reasonable notch higher. A typical example would be “Depending on the nature and scope of my responsibilities, I could negotiate for $35,000 - 45,000.”

Overall, if the job ad doesn't mention a salary request, it is better that you don't either. There is a possibility that you are screened out if you give the wrong salary expectation. You have better leverage in negotiating a better salary package during the interview process itself.

The humble cover letter is often overlooked, however the benefits of taking the time to write one far outweigh the time that you invest in doing so. After all, if you are too lazy to explain why you would be the best candidate for the position, it is unlikely that your future employer will take the time to meet with you to find out more.

When writing your cover letter, the best start is to look at the advertisement for the position, and be sure to understand exactly what they are after. Many ads list requirements for the position, such as:

• Strong listening and communication skills
• A desire and ability to learn and share your own knowledge
• You must be used to being responsible and being accountable for your actions and results

When writing your letter, it pays to reiterate what they are saying in the ad, whilst putting it into your own words. For example, using the first requirement, you could say “I possess excellent verbal and written communication skills”.

Obviously, the characteristics that the company is seeking varies between industries and roles, however most companies are seeking someone who is a fast learner and who is reliable as the costs of replacing employees are high.

Secondly, be sure to state why you feel that you would be suitable for the role. For example, including a brief summary of relevant work experience is very useful, so that by the time they look at your resume they already believe that you are a suitable candidate.

Potential employers receive a large number of applications for advertised roles, so it is important to stand out from the other candidates. A well written cover letter is a great opportunity to showcase your written communication skills, and enables you to provide additional information that may not be included in your resume. Be sure to thank them for considering you for the role, and include contact information should they require further information. Always address the letter, and write in a professional, polite tone.

Above all, always ensure that any claims you make are true (for example, if you tend to leave everything to the last minute, it is best not to claim that you are highly efficient). If you have to lie on your application, chances are the role is not the one for you.

A little time taken could land you the job of a lifetime.

Happy hunting!