Career Information Online

There are a few questions that are standard in any interview, no matter the position.  One of these questions is the classic “tell me about your greatest accomplishments.” I’m sure there are many areas in your life where you are proud of what you’ve done – family, school, church – but keep your answers confined to your professional life. I know that when I interviewed someone I was happy to hear about their personal accomplishments.  It portrays the person as being well rounded.  However, I was more interested in what a person has accomplished professionally that can be of benefit for my company.

So how should you answer this question?  Mentally prepare two or three anecdotes that demonstrate your professional abilities.  These examples should be significant and explain what you did, your role and responsibilities, and why you consider this outcome a great accomplishment.  What if you’re a new graduate and really don’t have any professional accomplishments?  If you worked full time while attending school, or paid for college yourself then this is an accomplishment worth mentioning.

Remember to make your accomplishment stories ones that show why you’re the best person for the job.

Your resume gets you in the door to an interview.  At that point it’s up to you to sell yourself to get the job.  Many people feel uncomfortable talking about themselves and their accomplishments and hesitate to do so in an interview.  They think that their resume can do the talking.  Just remember that companies hire people, not resumes.  It’s critical that you clearly state your skills and accomplishments while in the interview.

In an interview it’s just you and the interviewer (or interviewers, whatever the case might be).  There’s no one sitting next to you to speak out about your background and achievements.  You need to do it!

Don’t ever lie or embellish about your background.  That’s easy enough to find out.  But don’t be afraid to speak up about yourself.  Would you consider yourself an expert in a software program?  Have you successfully managed multiple projects?  Have you been given a special award or recognition?  Don’t assume the interviewer can figure it out from your resume – come right out and tell them.

When you get past the interview the potential employer will go ahead and check your references who will verify what you’ve said.  But if you can’t get past the interview the hiring manager will never get the chance to speak with these people who will tell the interviewer how great you are.  It’s up to you to tell the interviewer why you are the person to hire.  Don’t be passive in the interview – tell that person why you are the person that should be hired.

In the course of any interview for any position you’ll be given the opportunity to ask questions of the interviewer.  The first mistake you can make is not having any questions prepared.  The second mistake you can make is asking the wrong questions of the interviewer.

So what are the wrong questions?  Questions about salary, vacation, personal time and benefits are not appropriate.  It’s too soon in the early stages of the interview process to ask these questions.  This information is important to have in order to make an informed decision of whether or not to accept a position.  You need to first evaluate if this is a job you’d like to have.  You also need to sell yourself to the interviewer as the best candidate for the position.  If the only questions you ask are about salary and benefits the interviewer will think they are the only reasons you’ll take a job and when a better paying job comes along you’ll be gone.

Wait until you’ve sold yourself to the interviewer and have received a job offer to ask questions about benefits.  Chances are good those questions will be answered for you before you even have to ask them.

Whether you are unemployed and need to find a job or you have a job but are looking for something better it’s critical to prepare for the interview.  Interview preparation is more than getting your good suit or dress dry cleaned.  Here are a few things you might want to go over before you go out on your next interview.

• Attire.  Make sure your outfit is appropriate for a job interview, and that it is clean and free of holes or tears.
• Research the company.  Use the Internet to find out information about the company’s products, clients, services, revenue, sales, etc.
• Rehearse interview questions.  Go over the questions that might be asked of you and mentally prepare answers for them.
• Prepare questions to ask.  Formulate a list of questions you want to ask the interviewer.

Until you actually meet with the interviewer and learn about the requirements of the position, you won’t know if this is the position for you.  Go into each and every interview with the attitude that this position will be the ultimate career making position for you.  Have yourself prepared so you’ll make a positive impression each and every interview.  Wouldn’t you hate to go into an interview unprepared to discover this is the job you’ve been waiting your whole career to get?

When you’re given an opportunity to interview with a company you’re probably thinking about yourself.  How much money will it pay?  What will be my responsibilities?  Will I get a chance to be promoted?  While it is important to determine if this opportunity is right for you , it’s just as important to tell the hiring manager what’s in it for them if they hire you for the position.

One of your goals in an interview should be to determine what the needs of the company and the hiring manager are and then clearly tell them why you meet their needs.

How can you do this?  First, listen carefully to what the interviewer is saying and asking.  He/she will probably give you a list of the requirements, responsibilities, and goals associated with the position.  Take this information and formulate some statements about your background, skills and experience that demonstrate how you can meet the interviewer’s needs.

Second, ask pointed questions to uncover this information.  Ask the interviewer specific questions about the role this person will play in the company and the goals and objectives of the position.  Ask him/her what the top three priorities will be for the person hired.

Next, don’t make the interviewer guess that you can fill the role he/she needs filled – come right out and tell them!  You can do this if asked the question “why should I hire you” or as a summary at the end of the interview.  Go back to the top three goals and objectives of the position and clearly state how your background makes you the right person for this position.

One final way you can tell the hiring manager what’s in it for them is in your thank you letter.  This is a great opportunity to emphasize your strengths and how they can work for the benefit of the company in general and the hiring manager specifically.

If you’ve done any reading at all about the interview process – either online or in a book – you’ll always see the suggestion to send a thank you note the the people that interviewed you.  This article is no different.  No matter what the position, always be sure to send a thank you note to the interviewer.

Some sources will tell you to send a handwritten thank you note, or at the very least to send it via snail mail.  I’d say that an email note is sufficient, because it serves the purpose.  As someone who has interviewed many people in my career you would be surprised how few actually send out the thank you note.  When you take the extra few minutes to send a thank you note you are going to stand out from the other people who have interviewed for that position.

Why is it important to send a thank you note?

• It keeps your name in front of the hiring manager.
• It shows your interest in the job.
• It gives you the opportunity to emphasize you have the necessary skills to do the job.

A thank you note can be as brief or as detailed as you want to make it.  Here is a basic framework that you can use to build your own post interview thank you note.

I enjoyed meeting with you Thursday and learning more about the position and your company.  I believe my skills and experience would be a nice fit for your organization.  I look forward to taking the next step in your hiring process.  If you would like to discuss my qualifications or have any additional questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

This is a basic outline – you can add any information you think could be helpful.  For example, if the position is for a computer programmer you might state something like “my experience in unit testing would be a nice addition to your team”.  Or if the manager is looking for experience with a certain software program you could emphasize this as well. 

You can make the note as detailed or as brief as you like – just be sure to send one.

If you need to see more examples of follow up thank you letters, go to your favorite search engine and type in “interview thank you letters”.  You’ll find many samples to use.

The salary a person makes is important.  It’s how you pay your bills and support your family.  When looking into a new employment opportunity the salary offered is going to play a role in your decision to accept or reject an offer.  However, your first interview with a company is not the time to ask about salary.

You’ll probably find many web sites and experts who will disagree with me and tell you that it’s fine to talk salary during an interview.  Of course it’s your decision to make.  I’d just like to present a few reasons why you might not want to bring up salary during an interview.

• You will seem to be motivated by money only.  The hiring manager is trying to sell you on an opportunity.  He/she might think the only reason you’d take a job is because it paid more than your previous position.
• You might price yourself out of the position.  Many companies have strict salary ranges for positions.  No matter what, they can’t go over the top figure in the range for any candidate.  You might exclude yourself from a position based on a few dollars.
• You might “lowball” yourself.  What I mean is this – the hiring manager might be planning to pay you more than the salary you stated in the interview.  You could deprive yourself from money in your pocket.
• You don’t know how much it costs to work for the new company.  Hiring managers don’t usually bring up specific information on the cost of benefits until the offer stage.  The cost of benefits for the new company might be higher or lower than the cost at your current company (maybe their health insurance is a lot more expensive than what you pay now).  A lateral salary move would actually end up costing you money out of pocket.

Given this, what do you say in an interview when someone asks “what do you want to make”?  I would suggest you say something along these lines:

I currently make $47,500 a year.  I would want to look at the entire package before making a decision.

If pressed you can mention that you’d like to compare the cost of benefits and that the opportunity is what is most important, not salary.

Of course it’s up to you whether or not you bring up salary in an interview.  I merely wanted to present a few arguments why you might not want to do this.

A few weeks ago I was watching a story on “Good Morning America” about Congressional Interns and the way they dress.  I guess some interns are going for the very flashy, casual look that is in contrast with the very conservative image you usually see portrayed by Congress.  It made me start to think about the way the everyday person dresses for an interview.  Let’s face it, most people don’t interview all that often so you might forget some of the do’s and don’ts of interviewing.  One major important thing to consider is to make sure you dress to impress.  I’m not telling you to go out and buy a new suit or dress for the interview (especially if you are tight on money).  What I am advocating is that you dress in a clean, conservative way that exudes professionalism.  For a man that might mean pressed clean Dockers pants, a white shirt and a nice tie; for a woman perhaps a nice skirt and top or a nice pair of dress pants with a blouse.  Unless you are going for a position in an accounting or law firm (for example) and then you would want to dress even more conservatively.

People often get annoyed at the idea of having to dress nicely for work.  There’s an attitude that many have that goes something like this:  it doesn’t matter how I look as long as I do my job well.  That’s partially true, I’ll concede.  But often the way you dress can change your attitude.  If you’re in your old jeans and sweat shirt you’re going to have a more casual attitude than if you’re wearing a shirt and tie.  And don’t forget the fact that customers expect employees to be dressed a certain way.  You wouldn’t go into The Gap and expect to see someone in a three piece suit – you want to see the sales associate dressed in stylish fashions from that store.  On the other hand when you go into a bank you don’t want to see someone in a pair of jeans and a cut off shirt. 

There’s a certain image that needs to be portrayed by the employees of a business.  The owners/managers of the business want to portray that image to their customers and clients.  If you want to work for that company you’re going to need to buy into the fact that how you dress matters.  Make your best impression in the interview.  You don’t want to be turned down for a job because of your clothes.  If you look professional then your appearance won’t even be an issue.  The manager will be too busy talking about your skills and background to worry about the way you’ll dress when you come to work.

If you’ve ever been on a job interview for any position (whether it was your part time job during high school or your last career move) you’ve probably been asked this question by an interviewer.  You know you’re going to be asked this question or a similar one so have a really good answer prepared.  Your potential new employer probably doesn’t care about your personal life or your hobbies when asking that questions (although you might be able to include this type of information in your answer).  What the interviewer wants to find out is who you are as a potential employee.  This is the goal you should have in mind when you answer their question.  Keep your answer on the short side (maybe 2 minutes) but try to convey some good points about your professional experience.

Here’s a brief example of how you might answer that question.

“Well, I graduated from the University of Wherever in XXXX.  From there I took a job with ABC company as a (fill in the blank).  I was promoted to (blank) where I supervised X number of people on X project. I was with ABC Company for four years and then I went to XYZ Corporation as a (blank)” and so on, following along the history listed on your resume. 

Keep your answer confined to your professional life, if possible.  One example where you might bring in your personal life could be if you were looking to relocate to another city for your job.  You could say something like “because of family reasons I am looking to get a position in this town and that’s why I’m leaving my former city.”

Since you know you’re going to be asked this question, be ready for it.  You don’t have to have an answer memorized, just have in mind the important points you want to convey.

I’m not kidding.  Have you ever considered that an interview is just like a first date?  You get dressed up in your nicest clothes and groom yourself until you look your very best.  You are on your best behavior – you’re going to say please and thank you and there will be no casual behavior that you might exhibit with your family or friends.  There’s a great deal of anticipation – you wonder what the other person is going to be like and you hope that the person will like you in return.  You make your very best impression on the person and hope that the interviewer will call you back for another meeting.

But what if you don’t make it clear to the interviewer that you like the career opportunity, the company and even the person interviewing you?  Perhaps you went into the interview with a casual, kick the tires, let’s go in there and see what happens kind of attitude instead of being in a true interview frame of mind.  What do I mean when I say interview frame of mind?  You spend some time in preparation for the interview, researching the company and formulating a list of questions you have.  You go into the meeting with the attitude that this could be the best career opportunity for you in the world and want to do whatever you need to do to win the position.  Before you finish the interview you clearly communicate an interest in moving forward.

What happens if you go into an interview with a casual attitude?  Maybe after speaking with the interviewer for a few minutes you realize this is a great opportunity for you and your career.  You suddenly get excited and interested but it is too late – you’ve already made a somewhat poor showing with your lack of enthusiasm. You may have killed your chances of getting the job.

Let’s go back to the first date metaphor.  Wouldn’t you rather have the other person wanting a second date while you aren’t so sure about it, instead of you sitting at home hoping and praying the other person will call you for another date?  It’s the same with an interview.  It’s much nicer to make the good impression and have the interviewer like you and want to bring you back instead of having them be lukewarm about you.  It’s so much nicer for you to be the one turning down the second interview instead of being turned down by the company.