Career Boosting Tips

The Toughest Question in the Interview

When you, as a job seeker, are asked the most common, and toughest, interview question, “Tell me about yourself,” your answer can make or break you as a candidate. Usually job seekers will respond with their “30 second commercial,” and then elaborate on their background. While almost every career book and career counselor will tell you that is the appropriate response, I totally disagree.

When a company starts to consider you seriously, you should begin to think about the negotiation. What do you want? What are you prepared to accept? How badly do you want the job?
Negotiations can conclude in one of four ways:
1. You can negotiate and get everything you want.
2. You can negotiate and get half of what you want.
3. The company can stand firm with its offer and make no effort to negotiate.
4. The company can withdraw its original offer.
Think about which outcomes you are or are not comfortable with. That way when you sit down to talk compensation, you’ll know what you will and will not accept.
What else can you do to ensure the best results? Here are some additional tips:
Choose Your Top Offers
If you have more than one or two offers, you may have a few lower-choice offers to turn down. It’s not a good idea to test your negotiating skills with a company you don’t plan to work for, because word could get back to the companies you do want to work for. Instead, practice negotiating with a friend or a colleague. If you need more time to make a decision on an offer, call your prospective employer sooner rather than later and arrange for another week or two to decide.
Establish Your Priorities and Walk Away
With the offer letter in hand, you need to evaluate the salary and benefits (plus intangibles) in light of your own needs and market value. What are your fixed expenses? Keep in mind that a job in Portland, Ore. might pay less than one in New York, but you’ll make more once you factor in cost of living.
Do Your Research
The more information you have about compensation scales for the job and industry you’re looking into, and the more you know about negotiation, the better off you’ll be in the negotiation. Get your hands on whatever comparative salary data you can find to reinforce your position. Business publications, trade associations and professional organizations publish annual pay surveys and a good college or public librarian should be able to help you find this data.
Understand Your Negotiating Position
One headhunter compares the job hunt with dating: “In the course of your interviews, it will become apparent how much they want you. If they are very prompt with the offer letter, call to see whether you received it, offer to fly you out again, offer a high signing bonus and generally lavish attention on you, it means that they want you and your negotiating position is strong. Conversely, you may be a second or third choice if you get the offer letter some time after your interview, it’s obviously a form letter, the signing bonus is low or you have trouble making a follow-up appointment with the hiring manager.” The message: Know whether it’s an employers’ or a candidates’ market.
Meet Your Hiring Manager in Person
It’s easier to influence the job description and find creative solutions on how to meet your specific needs when you deal with the hiring manager in person. He or she will have more room for flexibility (particularly if the firm really wants you). Besides, this is a person you will be working with later. In the salary negotiation meeting, express your enthusiasm for the job. Then lay out your points (not more than three, unless you have a darned good reason), starting with the most important. Your goal is to present your case for a better package in a rational, non-confrontational way, basing your arguments on industry standards, rather than on your personal needs. If you’re serious about going to work for them, tell them that you’ll sign on if they can clear up this, this and this point — and stand by what you say.

You talk too fast. You avoid eye contact. You ask too many questions. You wear too much perfume. You lie about your work history. You show up late to interviews. You don’t do your research.

And you wonder why you haven’t gotten a job yet?
There’s no such thing as an error-free job search, says Eli Davidson, business coach and author of “Funky to Fabulous.” Most mistakes can be avoided with a little attentiveness.
“The best way to get a great job is to have a laser beam focus,” Davidson says. “The more targeted and specific you are, the more powerful your job search will be.”

After sending a resume to a prospective employer, you may be called for your first of probably two or three interviews. The initial interview is critical because that is when the employer will likely decide whether to hire you and how you might fit with the company. This step is crucial, and you need to be prepared to enhance your likelihood of a successful interview and eventual job offer.

There you sit, waiting to be ushered into your interview. Your suit is pressed, your shoes are shined and your resume is top notch. But, as the minutes tick past, you feel a mounting sense of doom as you anticipate the questions that will cause a deafening silence during the interview.

Want to avoid an interview disaster? Check out these tough interview questions and their suggested responses:

Q: “What are your weaknesses?”
“Don’t take this literally and go into a detailed explanation of your weaknesses,” says John Challenger, CEO of global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. He advises taking a potential weakness and putting a positive spin on it.

Fabulous news: You have a job interview!

Not so fab news: Saying the wrong thing could cost you the job.

What you should say during an interview depends on the position you’re applying for as well as your personal preferences, skills and experience. But some answers are definitely better than others!

Here are some traditional interview questions followed by some bad answers and better alternatives from Jennifer James, an editor for more than 30 FabJob guides.

Why are you looking for a new job?

Bad Answer: My boss is a jerk and the customers are hard to deal with.

Do you want to extend your time looking for a job? Of course not. Candidates are always on the lookout for the most efficient, effective way to find new work. The following tips — when heeded during the job search and interview processes — can make job hunting go by faster:

1. Customize your résumé and cover letter.
It might seem faster to blast off generic materials to dozens of employers, but this will cost you time in the long run. Tailor your résumé and cover letter to each open position to clearly demonstrate how your experience fills the employers’ requirements. For example, if you’re applying for a public relations role, give your PR experience a prime spot on your résumé.

An interview gives you the opportunity to showcase your qualifications to an employer, so it pays to be well prepared. The following information provides some helpful hints.

Preparation:

* Learn about the organization.
* Have a specific job or jobs in mind.
* Review your qualifications for the job.
* Prepare answers to broad questions about yourself.
* Review your résumé.
* Practice an interview with a friend or relative.
* Arrive before the scheduled time of your interview.

Personal appearance:

* Be well groomed.
* Dress appropriately.
* Do not chew gum or smoke.

All jobs solve problems. That’s the secret to landing a new job. Identify the employer’s problem and show the hiring manager how you’ll solve it.

Most job seekers don’t follow this approach. They concentrate on their own skills, experiences and past job duties. They never really connect with the employer’s needs.

“So many of the resumes that I see offer just a traditional listing of past titles, employers and work duties,” says Sharon Willen, a career counselor at Growth Connections Inc., a career counseling and training firm in Huntington, N.Y. “That’s a job history. It really doesn’t speak to the next employer’s needs.”

Just embarking on a job search, a graduating M.B.A. in management at Hong Kong University hoped to land a position at a consulting firm. With his undergraduate B.S. degree in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloane School and his new M.B.A. degree, he was confident of receiving several offers.

But job hunting was a new skill. To make sure he’d do well in interviews, he needed to develop an effective strategy. He decided to call his uncle, a businessman, for advice. His uncle coached him on a strategy that not only got him the job but also helped him to negotiate a salary that was 25% more than he expected.