Helping Job Seekers & Business Owners Navigate to Success!
I cannot stress the necessity of adequately preparing for a job interview enough. A candidate who knows little to nothing about the company or the position they have applied for can be identified in a heartbeat, and the interviewers often feel that they are wasting their time.
Do your research and focus on the following:
Ask yourself, “Can I identify with this? Is there anything that I can add that will be of benefit?”
Do a LinkedIn search on the company, articles it has written, and the interviewer whom you will meet. This way, you may be better prepared for the questions, “Why do you want to work for us, and what do you know about our company?”
Be prepared with an answer to the question, “Tell me a bit about yourself.” This is where you use character words such as ‘committed, loyal, and experienced.’ (Remember to use these only if they are true.) Also, keep as close as possible to the wording you have used in your ‘Personal Profile’ box in your resume.
When asked what your core skill is, keep it to the first listed skill on your resume. It is important to remember that your resume should be job-specific and that you should at least read the resume through before you attend the interview,
What are the typical interview questions you must have answers to?
Strange how expected questions often catch us off guard. However, expecting a question and not preparing for it can lead to making or breaking your interview.
Here are the five questions regularly asked (expect variations of these questions):
1. Why are you here?
2. What can you bring to the company?
3. What kind of person are you?
4. Why are you different from all the other candidates – your point of difference?
5. Can I afford you? (It is not often spoken in such a direct manner, but could be hidden behind the question of what value you bring to the team.)
Go and think about your achievements (job-specific), challenges you have faced in your career and how you have overcome it. Have you applied problem resolution skills, where you added value to situations – saving time and money?
Consider the following questions when you draft your answers:
Write down the answers to these questions if you do not know google possible answers and make it relevant to your situation.
Once you have written the answers down, ask someone to help you in roleplaying it. This way, the situation will feel more familiar once you are there.
A company website could give you apparent indications of their dress code. If you still cannot gauge the dress code from the website, call their reception and ask if they have a specific dress code. If you cannot get a clear answer, smart casual is a good option. If you are a man, then keep a tie in your briefcase (already tied) that you can slip on if needed.
I have found that it will always be smart for finance/banking/professional roles – suit and tie.
Other roles would require dress pants, dress shoes and a collar white or blue shirt. Fine stripes would be in order. For more creative types of jobs, a more bold collar shirt would be in order.
Remember, rather be overdressed than underdressed. (You can always dress down, but cannot necessarily dress up)
Clean your shoes, have a subtle underarm fragrance applied, no perfume, stick to dark clothing, and keep jewellery and makeup to a minimum.
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Should you need assistance during the process of landing a job, please contact me. I also welcome you to connect with me on LinkedIn. Follow my regular updates here on LinkedIn and Facebook. Send me a LinkedIn message or find my contact details here.