Interview Etiquette During the Interview
1. Make a positive and professional first impression by being assertive and giving a firm handshake to each interviewer and addressing each interviewer by name as he or she is introduced.
2. Reinforce your professionalism and your ability to communicate effectively by speaking clearly and avoiding “uhs”, “you knows”, and slang.
3. Use appropriate working terms. You won’t receive extra points for each word that has more than 10 letters. Use technical terms only when appropriate to the question.

Interview Etiquette After the Interview
1. Shake each interviewer’s hand and thank each interviewer by name. Be sure and ask for a business card.
2. Send a thank you note/email as soon after the interview as possible.
3. Call your recruiter to give them feedback.
• Do you want to continue the interviewing process for this position?
• Why do you feel you want this position?
• Why do you feel you can do this job?
• What red flags came up as a result of your interview?
• What questions do you still need answered?

Here are some common interview questions and how to deal with them:

• Tell me about yourself. (Whenever asked it is usually just to hear the candidate talk, see what their personality is like, and just get to know them a little more. Keep it short, 1 to 2 minutes. Don’t divulge any personal information that could be used to exclude you.)

• What are your strengths? Why should we hire you? (This is an opportunity for you to mention a strength that may not be reflected on your resume. Be sure to give examples.)

• What are your weaknesses? (A good approach is to find a weakness you have and show how you’ve taken steps to try to overcome it)

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What are your long term goals? What is important to you in your next position? (This question is usually designed to figure out two things: 1) have you given much thought to your career and how this job fits in that plan; 2) does that career match the needs of the company.)

• Why are you willing to look at other opportunities? What do you dislike about your current position? Why are you unemployed? (Avoid negative comments about past employers or managers.)

• Tell me about the position you enjoyed the most? (The interviewer is trying to see if the position is a good fit for you.)

• What interests you about this job? (With this question the interviewee wants to understand your motivations more. This also helps them understand how much you understand about the job.)

• What are your salary expectations? (“That I don’t know, I’ve been focusing on learning more about the position and whether it’s a good fit for the both of us.”)

• Do you have any questions for me? (Now is a time to ask what the next step is in the process and more pointed questions about the culture of the company, what it is like to work there and what the interviewer likes about the company)

Ok So here’s your situation. You’ve been with the same company for years. You are growing tired of it so you start looking at different opportunities. Time for the interview. Panic sets in. You haven’t interviewed with anyone in YEARS! What do you need to do to prepare?

Here are a few interview tips:
Interview Tip 1: Plan ahead – Do a little homework! Research the company and the position if possible, as well, the people you will meet with at the interview. Review your work experiences. Be ready to support past career accomplishments with specific information targeted toward the company’s needs. Have your facts ready!
Interview Tip 2: Role Play – Once you have finished studying, begin role playing (rehearsing). Use the general questions provided below in the Interview Preparation Area. Write down answers if it helps to make your presentation more concise. Try to keep your answers to the information your new employer will want to know.
Interview Tip 3: Eye Contact – Maintain eye contact with your interviewer. Show you want the job with your interest.
Interview Tip 4: Be Positive – In particular, avoid negative comments about past employers.
Interview Tip 5: Adapt – Listen and adapt. Be sensitive to the style of the interviewer. Pay attention to those details of dress, office furniture, and general decor which will afford helpful clues to assist you in tailoring your presentation.
Interview Tip 6: Relate – Try to relate your answers to the interviewer and his or her company. Focus on achievements relevant to the position.
Interview Tip 7: Encourage – Encourage the interviewer to share information about his or her company. Demonstrate your interest by having 3-5 prepared questions regarding the company, manager and/or position.
Interview Tip 8: Don’t give personal examples (remember it is a job interview) always refer to professional examples unless the interviewer states otherwise!

Stay tuned. Next time I will go over several COMMON interview questions.

It is a simple question. Everyone should have a resume, right? Yes. BUT does everyone keep their resume up to date? Of course not. It’s my job to remind people that they should have their resume ready at any moment, but the reality of it is that not everyone does. We live in a fast-paced world. It is so easy to forget to add new job duties, career changes, promotions, etc., to your resume. So I suggest updating it while these changes occur, and if that doesn’t happen try to do it at least once a year. If you keep it as up to date as possible, the less work you have to do when you are ready to make a change.

The most important thing to remember is that the purpose of a resume is to HIGHLIGHT your skills, not to yammer on about things irrelevant to your job search. There is no need for you to have a photo of yourself on your resume. A hobby section is not necessary either. If someone wants to know those things, they will ask. There is a statistic flying around that the average time spent reading a resume is 6 minutes. If that were true, recruiters would only read 10 resumes per hour. This is not realistic. Most HR professionals scan resumes looking for key facts. What are these key facts? RESULTS! Hiring managers are more concerned about WHAT you can do than anything else. For example, if I am looking at a geologist’s resume, I look for specifics—drilled X number of wells producing X barrels of oil. These results show what you have done and what you can do. The most important thing to do is be honest.

An easy way to make these results stand out is to have a “skills summary” section at the beginning of your resume. Most recruiters and HR professionals look at this first and foremost before reading any further. It is important to make yourself and your experiences stand out so you grab the hiring manager’s attention, making them want to read on. This part of your resume should be a few sentences drawing attention to your experiences. If you need help creating this, ask!

So here’s your helpful hint of the week: only send your resume to recruiters if they are recruiting for your field. I would love to say that I can help everyone that sends me their resume, but the reality is that I have certain clients that look for certain attributes in candidates. If you have a completely different background from what I’m working on it won’t be a fit. Recruiters are here to make client company’s jobs easier—to send them candidates that would be a fit for the company, that’s why good recruiters screen candidates first.