Essay Guideline

What are good questions to ask during an interview is a good question in itself, and one that always comes up when a conscientious person is preparing for a big job interview. The fact that a person even wonders that sets them apart from the crowd of applicants and means that he or she is a proactive individual, intent on making a good impression and proper presentation of skills and experience.

The best question to ask, according to many human resource management professionals, is “what can I do to benefit the company?” This question shows a good, positive attitude and will lead the HR manager to think of you as a go getter and team player and the type of individual the company needs.

The worst question to ask would be anything that makes you, as an applicant, appear to be selfish or self centered. A bad interview question would be a question related to vacation, pay or raises too early in the interview. It is best to first establish that there could be a good ongoing professional relationship between you as an employee and the company as an employer before getting into the details. Of course vacation, raises and starting pay are important to you, and the answers will come in good time, but it is best to show the interviewer that you will be a team player who thinks of the good of the company and the team.

When interviewing remember that the HR manager or other decision maker you are interviewing with has been through the process dozens of times, if not hundreds. The decision maker may be a little bored, and is looking for a way to liven up the conversation and get some information on your personality. In that case a good question to ask the decision maker would be anything that relieves their boredom and allows them to talk. It is an accepted fact of making friends and influencing people that people love to talk, love the sound of their own voice, and love to hear their own name. The sweetest sound anyone can ever hear is the sound of his or her own name, so be sure to call the interviewer by name. That is just basic human nature. With that in mind, pay attention to the office surroundings. Does the decision maker have a hobby, like golf or fishing? Does the decision maker have sports trophies on display or a family photograph? If so, ask anything related to what is important to the decision maker.

Disguised as small talk, this is a strategic question that will bond you with the decision maker interviewer. If you allow the interviewer to talk about something he or she cares about, they will have positive feeling about you and about the interview. Give it a try, it could be the best question that you’ve ever asked a potential employer, and may lead to a great job.

Are you guilty of sabotaging your own job search along with the
opportunity to earn more money? Heather Eagar, a former professional resume writer and creator of ResumeLines.com, provides reviews of the top resume writing services that put you in charge of your career so you can get the job you deserve. Sign-up for your free Job Search Tips E-Course.

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Employers have fears, uncertainty and DOUBT (the FUD factor) over your ability to actually do what you claim you can do in your resume and cover letter.

Combine this with the fact that EVERY candidate looks good on paper, no-one leaves their previous job because they were paid too much, the work was too interesting and all the people were fantastic, and you can see the challenge you’re facing. (I’m yet to see a resume or cover letter that says the candidate is just average…)
Specifically, here’s what they fear about YOU:

They fear:

* Your resume is too good to be true and you won’t be able to do the job.
* You won’t stick around.
* You don’t play well with others.

So with all that in mind, over the next week or so we thought we’d share some thoughts, ideas and tips that help remove some of the FUD factor surrounding YOU (and our business too).

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How to make an employer WANT to read your application

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Employers don’t really care about YOU, they only care about what you can do for THEM.

I’ve lost count of the cases I’ve seen where applicants with the best education, training or experience lose the job to someone with less education, skills and experience. The reason for this is that the applicant with the better skills or experience simply didn’t sell themselves to the employer as well as the less skilled applicant. This leads us to a really important question: how do you know if your application is selling you as well as it could be?

Well for starters, cover letters are valuable in helping sell you to an employer because they’re like mini-ads for your resume. Interest them with a brief summary, and you’ll get your resume read and not thrown into the trash.

Secondly, you need to make sure that your cover letter doesn’t say the same things as everyone else’s! The problem is that we all learned to write our job applications the same way. Following the rules you were taught is the best way to ensure that not only will you not get noticed, but you’ll stay unemployed for a long time.

Almost every application uses phrases like: “here is my resume for your position“, “I have been seeking an opportunity such as this”, “I can contribute to your company.”

It’s the same as a business saying they have good quality and after-sales service. Every business says it, and these days it’s just not a good enough reason to want to do business with them. Apply this logic to your application letter. If it only talks about YOU, how good YOU are and how many years experience YOU’VE had, then you’re missing the point!

The real purpose of your application should be to show the employer how your skills and experiences will benefit THEM. If your application doesn’t do this, you’re making it too hard for them to give you the job.

Here’s an actual before and after example from my files:

“Senior NT and UNIX Systems Administrator position utilizing web development, network support and multimedia experience.”

Notice how it says nothing of the company being applied to or what the applicant is intending to do for THEM. Off the top of my head, I suggested to the applicant that they could turn it around quite easily like this:

“To break all records for network stability in your company, thereby creating a productive and skilled workforce that can generate even MORE customers, support them better and make more money for you.”

It’s just a very quick example of turning your skills into results that an employer would be interested in. This may look relatively simple, but it can be tricky to get right. But I assure you, once you master the trick of powerfully restating your skills and experience in a way that will mean something to an employer, then you’ll never be out of work again!
The one simple mistake you may be making which immediately kills your chances

Here’s the one thing that immediately stops most people from getting the jobs they’re applying for: they keep sending the SAME application letter (that doesn’t produce results) to every job they apply for.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that if you keep doing something that doesn’t work while expecting a different result you really must be a masochist! The problem with sending the same “loser” application to employers is that it raises doubts about your employability. This example below will show you what I mean.

Let me introduce David the Masochist… David has been applying for positions with us for over a year. He was also applying to other companies using the same cover letter. How do we know this?

1. He never used our name in his application letter, and
2. We asked him.

Also - because he keeps applying to us we can assume he hasn’t been offered a job from anyone else. This also raises serious doubts in our mind as to David’s employability. If he was any good he should have a job by now.

Can you relate to David’s situation? If so, then let me show you the simple strategy that turned David’s life around. I rang him and asked him why he kept sending the same unsuccessful application to us and everyone else when it obviously wasn’t doing the job. He was dumbfounded. It never occurred to him that his APPLICATION was a failure. He was taking it personally - he thought HE was a failure.

He had been on unemployment for a whole year simply because his application letter and resume wasn’t performing. I suggested he try a new application to see whether I was right. He invested in a new resume and cover letter from us, and the result: he had three interviews within the first week of trying the new approach.

In summary: If you are sending the same sort of application letter to each job and you’re not getting interviewed then CHANGE YOUR APPLICATION!!!

It’s not YOU that an employer rejects, it’s simply your application that’s being rejected. You know you can do the job, you wouldn’t be applying if you couldn’t do it. So don’t take this rejection personally.

We see hundreds of applications and resumes each week and I can tell you now, more than 90% of them are letting the applicant down. Most of those that make it to interview will make the same simple yet easily avoidable mistakes and miss out on a job that should be theirs.

Hi - I’m a marketing junkie who gets off on helping job seekers find their talent at my site http://www.job-secrets-revealed.com. I’m also a paraglider pilot to which people suggest I have a death wish but to me it’s more of a life wish.

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How to write a thank you letter to use after an interview, a phone interview, or even to someone who passed your name on to a hiring manager is an art that is not taught as often as it should be by placement services and others who help job seekers with finding jobs. They always cover the basics of resume writing, interview preparation, cover letter writing, how to create a reference sheet, and even how to prepare a salary history, which isn’t even required that often, but how to write a thank you letter is a subject that should be covered. It is a necessary skill that puts the capstone on the interview or other contact you had, makes you appear to be thoughtful and intelligent, and puts you above the crowd.

Some hiring managers are so swamped with resumes and cover letters when they post a listing on an online job bank or run a newspaper classified ad that they look for reasons to discard resumes. Having five hundred resumes in your email in box can be quite intimidating. Some hiring managers have been known to send out an automated response to all applicants letting them know that the resume was received. They will then sit back and wait for further communication. If an applicant knows how to write a thank you letter they have a jump on the competition immediately.

How to do it? As in all formal correspondence it should be block formatted with proper spelling, addresses and salutations. Keep it shorttwo or three paragraphs. In the first paragraph express your primary purpose by thanking the person you are writing to for their time and consideration. Business people are busy and time is a valuable commodity. In the second paragraph restate one or two key job skills you can bring to the position. Remind the reader as to why you are a good candidate for the job. In the third paragraph, thank the reader again, and reiterate that you are available by phone, email or in person should they have further questions. End with the traditional business ending “sincerely yours”.

An example of how knowing how to write it occurred with one job seeker a few years ago at a business brokerage in the Midwest. This job seeker was already working as a part-time telemarketer. She was competing for a full-time office manager position against two other. One of the men had a bachelors degree and the other was about to receive her bachelors. Both had several more years experience in office administration Obviously the other candidates were more qualified than the first applicant, but she knew how to write a thank you letter, and proved it. After her interview with the company owner, the managing broker and the old office manager (who was retiring and helping choose her own replacement) the fist candidate composed a thank you letter. She then printed out individualized copies for each person she interviewed with mailed them that evening. When the interviewers received them the next day they were impressed with her thoughtfulness and adherence to protocol. Despite the fact that the other two applicants were more qualified, she was hired. The fact that she knew how to write one probably got her the job she was seeking.

Many hiring managers will interview multiple candidates and only hire from those who send thank you letters. Some studies have shown that only one in ten applicants see the importance of thank you letters, so it should be obvious that if you know how to write a thank you letter you have a very important job skill.

Are you guilty of sabotaging your own job search along with the
opportunity to earn more money? Heather Eagar, a former professional resume writer and creator of ResumeLines.com, provides reviews of the top resume writing services that put you in charge of your career so you can get the job you deserve. Sign-up for your free Job Search Tips E-Course.

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