The Best Way to Ace an Interview and Wreck Your Career
Posted on 31. Mar, 2010 posted by Bill in Employment News, Interviewing
In this time of high unemployment and economic unease, job seekers are more than ever desperate to land a paycheck-any paycheck.
While certainly understandable-after all, providing for the rent and food bills is critical-job seekers are frequently so eager to be hired that they often over look indicators that the job won’t be a good fit.
When a position is a poor fit, there are negative repercussions for both the company and the employee.
From an employer’s point of view, an employee who is a poor fit is unlikely (and probably unable) to bring their best work-their natural instincts for problem solving-to the job each day. Morale in the department inevitably goes down, absenteeism goes up, and (generally sooner rather than later) the employee becomes a ROAD (Retired On Active Duty) employee, spending company time plotting an escape, and eventually leaving. Result: more turnover, more wasted time and attention, and the need to begin the hiring process over again.
What about from the employee’s point of view?
Certainly for a few weeks or months, the employee is bringing home a paycheck, but at what cost? Employees who are in a job that is a poor fit suffer high levels of frustration, dissatisfaction, and often depression. As one such person put it, “It’s like moving through sludge to get going each day. I dread Monday morning and having to go to work.”
These feelings generally also bleed over into the individual’s family life. Not only is the job causing high levels of tension, but trying to find a better position while keeping up with job and personal responsibilities can raise stress levels to almost unendurable levels. If the employee is forced out prior to finding a new position, feelings of distress and worthlessness generally intensify. And-it goes without saying-the employer is not likely to provide a glowing reference.
Ways to stay sane and focused on a job search
Employers write a formal job description. Job seekers should do the same. Write out what’s important to you in terms of job responsibilities, specific tasks, culture and management style. Review it before every interview and ask questions that will help you determine whether this company and this position meet your requirements.
Ask how much freedom you will have to accomplish the job goals in a manner that suits you. If there is very little flexibility, fully understand those limits so you know if you will be comfortable with the prescribed approach. Think hard about how you like to operate. If you are most comfortable with a highly structured, regimented environment, this could be your perfect position. If you do your best work when you have more flexibility and autonomy, you should probably wait for a better match.
Ask enough questions to understand the management style and decision making process of your direct manager. If you and your potential manager are too far apart in these areas, and the manager does not have the training or skills to benefit from these differences, problems are certain to develop. We’ve all been in the situation (or known someone who has been in the situation) where we think “if only my boss would move to Timbuktu and leave me alone-this is the perfect job, with perfect customers, and perfect colleagues. But my boss-lovely person, not such a perfect manager.” If you and your potential boss work in styles that are radically different, you need to have an agreed upon plan as to how you will be able to work together in a way that will allow you both to thrive.
Finally, listen and evaluate honestly. For almost every poor fit situation I’ve observed, both the employer and employee can point either to signals in the interview/pre-employment process that raised red flags that were ignored, or to times when they smoothed over the reality to appear more attractive to the other. In every instance, both employer and employee have reported wishing they had been less good at selling themselves (or the position) and better at honestly evaluating the match.
Having a paycheck is important. But having a job where you are eager to go to work and do your best each day is priceless.
Judi Cogen is a Principal with J Grace Consulting and an expert in reducing unwanted organizational turnover. Her Selection Strategist Program helps companies reduce turnover and take the guesswork out of hiring by using proven conative testing and company specific analytics to select the right person for the right position. J Grace Consulting also offers Youth Strategist, a program to help 10 to 17 year old kids understand their conative attributes for more success in life and school. Learn more about Selection Strategist and Youth Strategist at http://JGraceConsulting.net. You can read Judi’s blog at http://JudiCogen.wordpress.com or follow her on Twitter @JudiCogen.
The Best Way to Ace an Interview and Wreck Your Career
Know How to Answer Job Interview Questions Regarding Your Weaknesses
Know How to Answer Job Interview Questions Regarding Your Weaknesses
Posted on 31. Mar, 2010 posted by Bill in Employment News, Interviewing
Are you familiar with the job weakness interview question? How many times have you had to answer it in your lifetime? If you are like most people, you have had to answer a question about your personal and professional weaknesses at least a few times. If you feel your answer was less than satisfactory or painted you in a negative light, it’s time to do some preparing for this question before you put on the suit and tie and shine up those shoes for your next interview.
Are You Awake?
Some interviewers enjoy throwing out a question about your weaknesses when you are least expecting it. They want to see how you respond, if you can think quickly on your feet, as well as how compelling your answer turns out to be. This is why they will often throw it in there with questions that most job seekers answer on autopilot, such as your previous job experiences. You will be answering easy questions and chit-chatting along when suddenly you are thrown for a loop with this dreaded question.
You can show your interviewer that you are very aware of your surroundings and are able to think fast and give appealing replies on the spot if you answer the job interview weakness question without stalling and in an effective manner. You could actually bypass other candidates who may have more experience or who have a better educational background than you, just by impressing the interviewer with your answer to this one question!
The Worst Approaches
You may assume that the outdated advice of twisting a good personality feature into a minor weakness is the best approach to this dreaded question, but this could actually backfire in your face and give the opposite impression than what you want to give. For instance, saying that you are a perfectionist as if it is a negative thing could send a message to your interviewer that you will try not to be a perfectionist and might turn in sloppy work.
A weakness is a weakness is a weakness. Your interviewer has heard all types of spins when it come to this question, and they will notice anything that lacks substance and honestly.
You also want to avoid giving weaknesses that are irrelevant to the position you are applying for. If you want to fill a position as a computer engineer, you shouldn’t state that your biggest weakness is not knowing how to use most copy machines. Copy machine knowledge may be essential to secretary position, but has little to do with the job of computer engineer.
Also, don’t go into the interview trying to paint yourself as a perfect person. There isn’t a perfect person walking the earth, and your interviewer will be instantly turned off if you try to convince them otherwise. Never state that you have no flaws, especially if you are applying for a lower level position!
The Best Approach
So, if nothing that you have heard before works, what will work? The best strategies for mastering the job weakness interview question apply equally to all positions, in all industries, and with all types of interviewers.
You want to slant your answer according to specific information that you find out about the company in question through research ahead of time. You should be researching every company that invites you in for an interview anyway, so this is just something that can be looked for along the way. You are looking for specific information about how the company works that will enable you to answer this question to their liking.
For example, a company that tends to be extremely democratic in policy and operation might like the fact that you had a difficult time adjusting to the lack of structure in a previous job opportunity.
Notice how in that example the weakness given could actually be understood as a positive for the particular company you now want to work for. This is your ultimate goal! You want to note a real weakness in another area or your life or in a previous position which could be taken as a positive in this new company’s environment. If you can let this new employer get the impression that you have dealt with this weakness and have take action to improve yourself in that area, they will see that you are an honest person who is serious about their reputation and life. That is quite impressive compared to the answers most others give!
Another way to approach this is to tell a story about your weakness in a funny way. You want to get them smiling and laughing, but remember it must be directly related to the position you want to fill. The interviewer is human and will respond to a joke favorably as long as it is delivered in the proper tone.
In some cases you may be asked to elaborate about your answer, so it helps to be sincere and give an honest answer. Many interviewers can detect when you are lying or making something up off the top of your head. If they get the sense you are being direct and honest they will have great respect for you.
Keep your answers as brief as possible. When you start going into more elaborate details you open the door to some awkward questions that may not present you in a favorable light. Just keep it short and simple and try to move the interview forward from there as quickly as possible.
Finally, just sit back and try to relax. Take a deep breath if you have to, but make sure to appear calm and collected when the question is asked. Remember, you are dealing with a human who has nothing against you. They will notice that you are calm and not panicked.
This is one of the most stressful questions of an interview and everyone dreads having to answer it, but if you are prepared ahead of time with proper research and rehearsal at home, you will get through it with flying colors!
Johnny Berg is the editor of Prepareforjobinterview.com that provides valuable tips about preparing for job interview. Read more advice about Job Weaknesses Interview or sign up for a Free 10 Day Mini Course at http://prepareforjobinterview.com.
5 Things That Don’t Work on Facebook Pages (and 5 That Do)
Should you have a Facebook Page? Before integrating Facebook Pages (sometimes called “Facebook Fan Pages”) into your social media marketing mix, you need to think strategically. Georgina provided a basic overview of the need for strategy in “Businesses and the Social Media Trap,” and I ranted about the problem of not understanding strategy in the first place in “It’s the Social Media Strategy Struggle.”
This week, I want to discuss why people become fans of Facebook Pages in the first place. I’ll follow that with some thoughts on what doesn’t really work on Pages. After that, I’ll list some things that I believe do work, based on personal and professional experience, industry news and anecdotal information.
I am surprised by the number of Facebook Pages that are popping up marketing what I would consider to be pretty “unmarketable” things for a Facebook audience. Let’s face it: Not everything should be marketed using every new cool tool on the block. Facebook Pages have specific features and functionality that may not always suit all the things you’d like to market. Facebook fans also have certain expectations in terms of how, when and why they interact on a Facebook Page.
Some Reasons People Become Fans of Facebook Pages
Reason Interactions on Page Benefits to You 1. They genuinely like or are interested in the object of the Page (company, nonprofit, cause, campaign, product, brand, etc.) High Many, including branding, customer service, relationship building, attracting attention, growing customer base. 2. They are doing it because someone they know did it. Moderate to Low Not much, unless the person they are following to your Page is engaged – they may “jump on the bandwagon” and become a truly engaged fan. 3. They are doing it because someone they know asked them to do it as a favor. Moderate to Low Not much, unless they are engaging at the behest of the person they know as a favor to the person they know and this mostly will just create some activity on your Page that others can see when they arrive. 4. Because it is easy to do (just click to become a fan) and then ignore. Low to None Very little benefit after the initial automatic broadcast to the person’s friends on Facebook that they’ve become a fan of your page. 5. They are using the action of becoming a fan more like a “bookmark” for possible future reference. Low to None Very little benefit after the initial automatic broadcast to the person’s friends on Facebook that they’ve become a fan of your page. 6. They want to keep up with a competitor or have a business reason to pay attention. Low to None Very little benefit after the initial automatic broadcast to the person’s friends on Facebook that they’ve become a fan of your page. I would venture to guess that many people are probably “fanning” your Page for the wrong reasons.
What Doesn’t Work on Facebook Fan Pages
Here are some thoughts on what falls short for Facebook Pages.
More on Social media
- “Non-Fannable” Stuff. I know this is a vague statement, but I’m not sure how else to label the stuff that you might want to market but people wouldn’t want to be a “fan” of. A nonprofit or an important social cause is “fannable.” A television ad campaign for a cause (as opposed to the cause itself) is less fannable. Something boring? Less fannable. Something overtly commercial without value to the community? Less fannable still.
- Automating. Facebook isn’t like Twitter where the rhythm and flow is such that you can get away with a more automated presence. Facebook is more about conversation, whereas Twitter can skip along with automated and scheduled posts in between actual interactions. People expect you to be there on your Facebook Page — maybe not all the time, but in an attentive manner.
- Applications. Facebook Applications that integrate into Fan Pages or that you program yourself using FBML don’t always work and set your page up for failure. Don’t push the tech envelope unless you are ready to lick the tech envelope.
- Formulaic responses. You need to loosen up and “get real.” If you are working off a script, you will fail. Facebook Pages may be a useful tool in your customer service and customer relationship toolkit, but they are about as intimate as you can get with a customer/potential customer without sitting in their living room.
- Trying to control. Let’s face it. Social media is not about you being in control anymore. The customer is in the driver’s seat. You are along for the ride, but fortunately can give some directions or guidance in appropriate ways. Sure you can delete things from your Facebook Page, but in the world of social media, that is an attack on transparency (not to mention freedom of expression and spirit of online community). Someone says something negative about you on your Page? Look at it as an opportunity to right a wrong or to give your side of the story with unrestrained candor. Learn from the Nestle fiasco.
What Works on Facebook Fan Pages
On the flip side, here are five things that do work on Facebook Pages:
- Proper usage. When you use Facebook Pages for what they were intended to be used for, they work well. At the top level, they were created for entities or individuals with a commercial or non-personal communications “agenda.”
- Being present. Automation may feed content and may trigger brief bursts of interaction, but really having humans there checking in on your Page on a regular basis and being empowered to respond in a timely and transparent manner is priceless.
- Tech support. If you build it, you better support it. If you add applications to it, you sure as heck better support it, because adding things to Facebook Pages to enhance them is a great idea on so many levels, except when those enhancements prove to be unstable. Things might break. You must be on call to address the issues.
- Being real. It isn’t necessarily about “you” being real, as in the person behind the Page — although that doesn’t hurt. It could be “you” as in the “voice of the brand.” But whoever it is, be human, have good manners, smile.
- Leading or guiding. Think of yourself as a party host, versus being the dictator of a small country. You can lead by example, suggest, cajole, provide resources and support, redirect, but you should not be heavy-handed in your approach on Facebook. At best, people will leave. At worst, they will make your Facebook Page hellish and unmanageable. In a way, the looser your grip on control, the more fluid, flowing and effective your interactions will be on your Facebook Page.
Facebook is a powerful communications and marketing tool when used well. Use it badly, and it will kick you in the teeth.
How are you using Facebook Pages and what good — and bad — practices are you seeing on the Pages you’ve encountered?
Photo by stock.xchng image by dafeba
Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Social Media in the Enterprise
How to Turn Twitter Into a Dashboard-Style Web App
This is a screenshot of Twitter. No gimmicks, no PhotoShop.
(Click to enlarge.)
I’ll show you a simple way to turn your experience on Twitter.com into one very similar to most Twitter web applications out there, such as Tweetdeck, Seesmic or Hootsuite.
Some may prefer this solution since you will have access to all of your Twitter data – your profile, your followers, your settings, your lists and searches – all in one place.
Firefox and Chrome users can turn the native Twitter website into a customizable Twitter web application that can do the following:
- Add list columns
- Add mentions column
- Collapse and expand number of columns with a single click
- Collapse right rail column
- Add search columns
- Share photos directly
- Shorten urls
- Save draft tweets to send later
- and much more…
There is only one requirement – you have to be using Firefox or Chrome. If you’re in one of those browsers, follow the following steps:
Firefox users:
1. Go to the add-on library and install monkeyfly.
2. Restart browser, go to Tools – Add-ons and enable monkeyfly if it’s not enabled already
3. Go to Twitter and use the plus sign to customize your page
or
4. Watch the 3 minute tutorial and then go to Twitter to customize your pageChrome users:
1. Go to Google Chrome extensions and install monkeyfly
2. Go to Windows – Extensions and check that monkeyfly is enabled
3. Go to Twitter and use the plus sign to customize your page
or
4. Watch the 3 minute tutorial and then go to Twitter to customize your pageIf you’re not using one of these browsers, give one a try so you can use monkeyfly.
Enjoy!
Are you willing to step off the beaten path?
A job search, in itself, is an uncomfortable activity for many people. They may have been in their last position for 5, 10, 20, or more years and the skills used in an effective job search have simply been something they haven’t had a need to develop. So being thrown into the ‘deep end’ as a result of a lay-off or other circumstance creates an immediate ‘fish out of water’ feeling.
Most people quickly fall into a routine of doing their job search the same way most everyone else does theirs… search for online job postings, apply, wait for a call, do some networking, apply, wait, repeat. The problem is, when you only do the same things everyone else is doing, it’s very difficult to distinguish yourself from the dozens, or hundreds of others pursuing the same jobs.
Those activities can become a comfortable groove to get into. At the very least, you can look around and feel like you have plenty of company because it’s the same thing everyone else seems to be doing for their job search as well. If those activities aren’t producing results for you though, you have to consider changing something in order to reach your objective.
It may feel uncomfortable to try something different… it’s outside of your comfort zone. However, you have to decide if you are going to operate only within your comfort zone, or if you are going to do what it takes to get a job! If you decide that getting a job is more important, the rest becomes easier.
An excellent book: Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0: 1,001 Unconventional Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Landing Your Dream Job can give you several great ideas on how to do things differently than everyone else in order to get noticed.
When companies receive dozens, or hundreds of resumes for each job posting, each one is nothing more than a piece of data. When they see so many of them that can clearly do the job, they become indistinguishable from each other. The candidate that gets noticed and considered is the one that professionally does something different from crowd.
This book gives you excellent ideas, tactics, and strategies to set yourself apart. Things that will get you noticed, and things that will attract them to you to find out more.
Sometimes it’s something simple like mailing your resume in a Thank You card… a Thank You card is much more likely to get opened and looked at than a standard business envelope. Other tactics are more involved. Are there risks? Yes. Do these ideas take extra effort? Of course. Are they unconventional? Yes… and that’s the point. In this job market, only executing a conventional approach will rarely produce effective results.
Are you willing to step off the beaten path? Are you willing to try new things in your job search in order to make progress that has eluded you so far? Check out this book and take a walk outside of your comfort zone!
Are you willing to step off the beaten path?
Most people quickly fall into a routine of doing their job search the same way most everyone else does theirs… search for online job postings, apply, wait for a call, do some networking, apply, wait, repeat. The problem is, when you only do the same things everyone else is doing, it’s very difficult to distinguish yourself from the dozens, or hundreds of others pursuing the same jobs.
Those activities can become a comfortable groove to get into. At the very least, you can look around and feel like you have plenty of company because it’s the same thing everyone else seems to be doing for their job search as well. If those activities aren’t producing results for you though, you have to consider changing something in order to reach your objective.
It may feel uncomfortable to try something different… it’s outside of your comfort zone. However, you have to decide if you are going to operate only within your comfort zone, or if you are going to do what it takes to get a job! If you decide that getting a job is more important, the rest becomes easier.
An excellent book: Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 2.0: 1,001 Unconventional Tips, Tricks and Tactics for Landing Your Dream Job can give you several great ideas on how to do things differently than everyone else in order to get noticed.
When companies receive dozens, or hundreds of resumes for each job posting, each one is nothing more than a piece of data. When they see so many of them that can clearly do the job, they become indistinguishable from each other. The candidate that gets noticed and considered is the one that professionally does something different from crowd.
This book gives you excellent ideas, tactics, and strategies to set yourself apart. Things that will get you noticed, and things that will attract them to you to find out more.
Sometimes it’s something simple like mailing your resume in a Thank You card… a Thank You card is much more likely to get opened and looked at than a standard business envelope. Other tactics are more involved. Are there risks? Yes. Do these ideas take extra effort? Of course. Are they unconventional? Yes… and that’s the point. In this job market, only executing a conventional approach will rarely produce effective results.
Are you willing to step off the beaten path? Are you willing to try new things in your job search in order to make progress that has eluded you so far? Check out this book and take a walk outside of your comfort zone!
Write a prospecting letter.
Harness the power of direct mail. The first thing you need to do for a prospecting letter is compile your list. Find 5-10 companies you want to work for based on your research. Compose a letter to your network of contacts asking them if they know of anyone who works at any of the companies on your enclosed list. When a contact does know someone at one of the companies ask him or her to forward your resume to them and let you know how to follow up on the referral. Enclose an extreme makeover resume or a functional one with 3-5 bulleted accomplishments that would be of interest to hiring managers at the companies you target.
Send the letter to all your direct contacts first: lawyer, accountant, friends, colleagues, former employers.
Send the list to your closest neighbors next and then people that you don’t necessarily know but you’ve always meant to stop by and introduce yourself to.
Attach a hand written note to your list and sign your name
If you hit a dead-end find out who supplies the company with computer products, stationery or any other service and approach them the same way.
Don’t be surprised if someone calls one or two of the companies and tells them you are doing research on them… that’s not a bad thing to have happen.
Compliments of David Perry and Kevin Donlin
Grab your Free Guerrilla Job Search Audio here.
