Interview Tip: Ask for the Job

One of the mistakes a lot of job seekers make towards the end of a job interview is that they don't ask for the job.  Many employers - precise numbers unknown - like candidates asking if they have got the job - it shows a level of keenness that other candidates who don't pose the question demonstrate.

The worst thing an employer will say to a candidate brave enough to ask directly is 'no' (which they would have done anyway), or 'we need time to think about it''... but not asking to be considered as the interview winds up can lead an employer to mistakenly think you no longer want it. So, before you leave your next job interview, make sure you  let the employer know you still want it - perhaps even want it even more so than before - now that you've learned more about the employer and the position, and ask if you can have the job!

Ask for it in any way which seems appropriate, and for which you are totally comfortable asking, especially if you really do want the job! Direct (though I personally would find that off-putting), thinly concealed as a joke (but could also be perceived that you aren't that serious too), as an innocent little statement that plants the seed in the employers mind - something along the lines of, "I really hope I'll receive a phone call from you offering me the job".

What's the worst that can happen if you do?  What's probably going to happen if you don't?

Just know that employer feedback has found that Hiring Managers are more likely to offer the job to someone who has asked than one that hasn't.

Interview nerves

Did you know? 

Fact: Some employers get nervous about interviewing you!

Answering Interview Questions: Tell Me About Yourself

Tell Me About Yourself

A couple of months ago now, I ran jobseeker Interview Question training for a group of my clients, which left me on a natural high.

I started the training by requiring my fifteen member strong group to first answer the question, "Tell me about yourself". As suspected, these unemployed individual's almost all answered the question by mentioning their own interests, and making 'challenge-able' claims (such as I am honest and reliable).

Employers often ask this question first up when meeting a candidate (once everyone is settled into their seats) to initiate open communication and to get the interview under way.

Employers are professional entities and they are seeking to gain perspective about the candidate's professional background, not their personal one. But for many job seekers, upon hearing the above words, they tend to answer on a personal level with something like "Well, I'm [X] years old, and have three kids..."

You need to be mindful that every word you say can leave a positive, negative or neutral impression on the employer.  You don't want to accidentally give an employer any reason to discriminate against you; you want (and need) the employer to judge you completely on your ability to do the job, and have the interviewer come to the conclusion that you would be a good fit with the business.

So how should candidates be answering the question, 'Tell Me About Yourself?"

They should answer from a professional perspective, with something like, "I have 5 years experience as a [type of work]..." and the rest of the two to three sentences that the candidate says should include information such as duties performed which are related to the job on offer - to encourage the employer to want to know more about them and their suitability to the role.

Remember, every job seeker thinks they are able to do the job they are interviewing for; but employers need them to prove this to them -- not with claims but -- with examples of skills, knowledge and experience that leads the employer to believe the candidate is capable of doing the job for them.

After a half hour discussion on what the group thought was the right way to answer that questions, they went from "I'm [X] years old, have three kids and live in [name of suburb]..." to "I have 5 years experience as a [type of work]..." and mentioned the related skills and qualifications they gained or are the holder of that would be of interest to the employer. And they could hear how different it made them sound - that they were talking on a professional level, that they were talking about what they could do, that the other group members were interested. A few piped up, "I know an employer that is looking for someone to do that" - because they had voiced details that enabled others to help them.

And this is how you should answer the question too.

I was  so proud of that group of long term unemployed jobseekers; especially seeing as we had no computers for the entire day due to a system meltdown, and were given permission by management to leave early but instead chose to participate in this impromptu training session, and because they each all gained work within the next three months because they were finally learning to reduce the mistakes that had kept them from getting success.

It was so pleasing to witness the boost in their confidence, and motivation, that those job seekers gained just from understanding things from an employers perspective which allowed them to improve their tell me about yourself 'pitch'.

Stay motivated!

Char Mesan

Answering Interview Questions: What Did You Dislike About Your Last Job?

"What did you dislike about your last job?"

Many Human Resources Managers use set questions during their hiring process to work out the most suitable candidate for their skilled or semi-skilled vacancies.  One question job seekers report back that they have been asked is the question "What did you dislike about your last job?"

This is a trick question that leads the candidate to start talking negatively, which in turn will cause  a negative impression about the candidate to be left in the mind(s) of the employer. And the trouble is most job seekers do not think about the answers they are giving and or the impact their answer is having upon the employer - and later wonder why they missed out on the job.

In an employers mind they are immediately asking themselves one question the moment the person starts rattling off their list of complaints: if the person is happy to trash their previous employer in such a mindlessly loose-lipped fashion, then that person certainly won't have the discretion or decency to not trash our business - after we have spent years carefully building up our business brand, do we want this person potentially doing untold damage to our good reputation that we have worked so hard to build? Ah, no. The employer might still continue with the interview, but there mind is already made up.

As a job seeker, you can't avoid being asked this question if the employer has this question on their list of questions to ask, so before you attend your next job interview you instead need to develop a strategy on how you can answer the question without making yourself look bad - in case you are asked this question!

Some tips to help you with that strategy:

Firstly, you are not being honest with yourself, and therefore cannot be honest with the potential employer, if you simply answer the question "There isn't anything I disliked about my last job" for the simple reason "well why aren't you still there then?" if the job was that perfect.  As a hiring manager, if a candidate stated this to me, I would immediately assume that the person just lied to me; and if the person is this dishonest in the interview, I could reasonably have doubts about your level of honesty if I were to employ you.  In my mind: you either are a blatant liar - who cannot be trusted; or, you don't know your own self very well - and if you don't know your own strengths and weaknesses, then you aren't instilling me with any confidence in your abilities to do the job.

See, told you it was a trick question!

Every person has something that they disliked about their last job; not all of those 'dislikes' are major complaints, some are just 'small things' like too far to travel, or I would have liked higher pay. So to say, "There isn't anything I disliked" is a lie.

One small technique that has good effect in an employers mind is when candidates pause after being asked that question so they can stop to think.  And the longer you need to search for an answer to that lingering, unanswered question, the more an employer can interpreted (albeit correctly or incorrectly) that you are struggling to come up with any negative aspects about your last job - and this is a good thing. Who cares if the employer makes a positive assumption about yourself?

I'm not encouraging you to lie or manipulate the employer, but pausing from immediate answering the question to give yourself time to come up with a way to turn the question around and to remove yourself from demonstrating your negative qualities is a good line of defense in working around the question so that you remain showcasing your positive attributes.

Another small technique is to be consciously mindful at all times throughout the interview about how you answer the questions asked.  So you've paused, but are now ready to provide them answer.  Your goal is to remain presenting yourself in a positive way:

* pick a neutral aspect (beyond yours and the former companies control) that the employer in front of you would fall into agreement with or relate to. For example, "I disliked that our suppliers were always late with their deliveries because it caused us lost productivity. As they were the only local suppliers, we were unable to get our supplies elsewhere, and unfortunately overseas suppliers were not a viable option for the company."

In the above example, you have shown that you value being productive - without you having to claim that you are productive.  You also have shown that you kept abreast of trying to resolve the issue of lost productivity even if you weren't instrumental in trying to find alternative suppliers so productivity could be boosted - demonstrating that you valued contributing to the best interests of the business, again without you having to make sure claims about yourself.

(Some employers might assume a level of the frustration you felt, but unless they ask you about it, they are more inclined to see that although frustrating you tried to do something positive about it - so no points lost here.)

Never answer the question by telling the employer that you didn't get on with the previous manager or other staff members (this just tells the employer that YOU don't know how to get along with people) or that you didn't like how the business did things (this just tells them that YOU don't know how to take direction or fit in with the culture of the business or work within a businesses policies and procedures). It doesn't matter if your previous manager was a complete jerk or the management stubbornly refused to streamline processes so that staff could work smarter not harder; as soon as you state those issues to the potential employer you make yourself look like you were the problem not the other party (and, who is to say that you simply don't realise that you were in fact the problem not the manager or process you complain about!)

If you do start answering the question, and then realise too late that you are showing yourself in a negative light, ensure you rescue the situation by stating you gained something valuable from the experience, for example, if you revealed you had a problem with a manager but you have worked to overcome this weakness, telling the potential employer that you learned that you needed to work on your people skills, so you undertook Conflict Resolution training so you are better equipped to handle a similar situation the next time you face it - if you undertook a conflict resolution training course - demonstrates that you value self-development and gaining new skills.

If you do answer the question, then whatever you do, don't let your tone sound whinging or you won't be able to rescue your answer no matter how hard you try.

Char Mesan