Group Interviews

One type of initial group interview can be used to thin the crowd if a company is looking for a specific type of personality. When a local college was in start-up mode, they had group interviews complete with role play against the other candidates for the positions of admissions counselor.

Talk about stress. Just meeting one-on-one in an interview is enough to make many people lose sleep but imagine facing a room of candidates where you know the positions are limited and you are asked to work with the others in order to pass the interview! Yikes! If you press too hard, you may be seen as someone too competitive to work on a team but if you don’t showcase your  skill sets, you may be eliminated as someone who doesn’t bring value.

Top Tips for Group Interviews with Multiple Candidates

1. Don’t monopolize the conversation. As much as you want to be heard, if you are the only one talking, you probably will be cut. Make sure you follow directions, play the roles, or answer the questions while also using your listening skills to hear both the interviewer and the other candidates.
2. Don’t be TOO quiet. The wallflower in the corner is not going to be one hired either because the interviewer can’t figure out if you really do know how to do the job.
3. Stay on topic. As easy as it is to go off on tangents, keep to the point and listen closely to the interviewer to make sure you are providing value.
4. Be creative. The adage of “think outside the box” is over-used but you do need to be the one who thinks beyond the easy answer.

The strategy changes a bit when the interview is conducted with multiple interviewers.Very common these days, the panel can consist of anyone from the hiring manager in the department, co-managers, employees in the department, human resources, and other company officials. Looking for employees to fit the team is part of the panel philosophy and the other focus is to involve the people who will actually be impacted by the hire. Human resources personnel can’t possibly know the intricacies of each department in a company or organization so involving those in the department only makes sense.

Top Tips for Group Interviews with a Panel of Interviewers

1. Since you don’t know who the decision-maker is, spend some time making sure you make eye contact and respond to everyone in the room. In some companies, the receptionist is the eyes and ears for the company so don’t dismiss anyone.
2. Making sure you have checked your appearance is a smart tip for any interview but with more eyes on you, you need to make sure you have checked out the company dress code in advance and dress for the interview.
3. Practice for the interview in advance, role playing potential questions with a friend or family member or employ a professional to help you work through interview question jitters.
4. Don’t look bored or annoyed. With attitude being a top decision maker for many companies, you need to drop any feelings you have about the process so that you can focus on your answers and making the best presentation.

Tips for follow-up

What happens after the interview can be as critical as what happens in the interview.

1. Even if you think you blew the interview, send a follow-up or thank you letter. The word follow-up is critical because often we think only short thank you. This is the time you need to detail the value you bring to the position. Point out what you learned in the interview and point out what you bring to help reach the company goals or solve the current problem. Put this in writing. E-mail if you think the decision will be made quickly but don’t discount the value of a hand-written note in this busy world of ours.
2. Call to follow up. But don’t do it too quickly. This is why your first contact should be in writing. When a company is interviewing multiple candidates, they don’t want to be buried in phone calls. At the same time, being quiet and not contacting could show lack of interest.
3. Use the 7-10 day rule. If you space your contacts to the company to show interest, you let them know you are interested without annoying them.

Stuck in your job search or just ready to move on or up from your existing position? Julie Walraven, a Wausau, Wisconsin-based professional resume writer and career marketing strategist, can help you get ready for your next role! To find out how, Click here!

Photo Credit

Never in the history of job search have individual job seekers been so visible. AND never in the history of job search could you blow a job search so easily!

During a rousing discussion between my husband and a group of young men (my two sons and two of their friends) I learned again how easily words can get out of control. My husband, often overly passionate about his political views, reacted to something his sister said on the phone. She told him DISH network dropped FOX.

My husband assumed DISH dropped FOX because of the FOX’s political programming and voiced his displeasure loudly. The discussion ensued about political talk shows and my husband got angry at one of the young men for disagreeing with him. He made a not-so-nice remark targeted at the young man. His words were continuously repeated on Sunday – almost always totally out of context. It became a joke to the young men but  there could have been worse consequences.

Upon checking, the information from my husband’s sister was incorrect. I Googled and learned the dispute has nothing to do with political slants or programming issues, it has to do with rates:

As AustinBusinessJournal explained:

Over the weekend, a fee stalemate between the television service provider and Fox came to a head with Dish deciding to let its contract expire. Nineteen Fox regional sports channels, FX and National Geographic Channel went dark in 18 cities, including Austin.

Dish (Nasdaq: DISH) refused what it said was a more than 50 percent price increase Fox demanded to carry the sports programming.

But the cutting remarks echoed even after my husband told the young men the hard words: “I’m sorry, I was wrong.” The argument began with misinformation (read Rumor or gossip) but, it could have been avoided.

In a job search, networking, or interviewing, you don’t know what anyone thinks about politics, religion, or other volatile subjects. This extends to voicing your angst about former bosses or companies, rants  on political policies, or whines about how life isn’t fair on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or your job search blog. Obviously, your resume or cover letter also need to be free of references to political or religious opinions.

Your best option is to steer clear of those topics completely. The risk of insulting someone who could move your job search forward is too great. Use your energy to show your value, showcase your accomplishments, and define your match to the market place keywords. Leave the debates to the commercials.

Do you know of anyone who blew their chances by voicing their opinion with scorching remarks?

Photo by cambodiaforkids.org

Career professionals, like myself, who have been part of the career world for years take things for granted. We tell people to fill their resumes with key words or we do it for them. But we don’t often take the time to say why.

In Key Words to Nail Your Job Interview, Wendy Enelow of Resume Writing Academy writes:

KeyWord: “The “hot” words associated with a specific industry, profession, or job function… generally a noun, short phrase, abbreviation, or acronym. When used effectively, a KeyWord or KeyWord phrase can communicate an entire message with just a simple word or two.

Keywords in Online Applications

Today many positions rely on online applications at least to start out filling a position. Those applications scan for the keywords to determine if you should move forward in the selection process. If you have carefully selected keywords that first of all fit your particular field, your particular talents, and most importantly, the job description or job posting, you will be more likely to move to the YES group for an interview.

Eliminating Candidates

With the economy as it is, employers are spending more time eliminating candidates than actually interviewing them. Talking with a college Campus Director recently, she said that their human resources department is receiving more than 1,000 applications or resumes weekly.

Becoming the Candidate of Choice

Here’s a smattering of keywords I used in a Sales Manager’s resume:

Sales Forecasting | Territory Management | Cross-Selling | New Product Launches | Pricing & Sales Analysis

You then weave the keywords into the resume accomplishment statements:

Directed an aggressive reorganization and profit performance program for the region. Successfully re-engineered sales and operations, resulting in increased revenue of 55%.

Do you see how keywords play into a successful job search and make you the candidate of choice?

Talk to me, I talk back!