http://blogs.skype.com/enterprise/2011/04/using_skype_for_your_job_inter.html

Focus On Their Objectives: Make note of specific job requirements both before and during the interview.  Then use story telling to relate specific accomplishments, including results, that testify to the fact that you have the skill, knowledge, experience, and character needed.  You can also use demonstrated behaviors, such as going the extra mile, change agent, etc. based on performance and results from past assignments.

Also, early in the interview, especially if the type of person they are looking for is not clear, ask what kind of an individual they desire for the job.  Now you are armed with specifics about the candidate they are looking for and should take every advantage of emphasizing your proven qualities against those requirements using examples from your past career.  Remember, sometimes it’s easy to forget the purpose of the interview given the dynamics of the interaction.   Stick with their objectives and your achievements and communicate that you are the most qualified candidate for the job.

This tip was provided by James Simak, a coach here at 360JobInterview.com with over 20 years experience as a recruiter and hiring manager.  Find out more about James and schedule an appointment with him on his 360JobInterview.com Coach’s Profile.

We wrote last time about the need to use your nervous energy before a job interview in preparation, studying the company and yourself (view that post here).  In this second part, we’ll focus more on tips for the interview itself.

During the Interview

Listen for hints – The questions and comments from the interviewer will likely give you clues about their preferred traits. Without resorting to flattery, target your answers and questions to these highlighted areas. You may want to have a way to take notes during the interview to help.

Give examples – After giving a stellar answer to an interviewer’s question, there is nothing quite so powerful as giving a past example of how you followed your own advice/value/prioritization/approach. Be sure and have several examples in mind so you can easily pick the best few.

Ask questions – When I hired in the past, the most impressive candidates were those who asked intelligent, open-ended questions about my organization. This showed an interest as well as preparation. It also showed someone who was willing to think (a great addition to any team). I was never attracted to a passive interviewee who simply waited for the interview time to expire.

Ask for a tour of your potential work area if appropriate – This is a simple request but can yield several positive things. First, you get more first-hand, personal education about the company. Second, you can ask more questions to build trust with someone already employed by the company. Third, you show a genuine interest in the organization and how it runs. Fourth, you will pick up valuable culture clues to either encourage your job quest with the company or alternatively scare you away.

At the end of the interview, ask a clean-up question – Here are two examples to get you started.

• “Do you have any other questions about my background?”
• “Do you have any concerns about my background that I could address now?”

Say “thank you” – It amazes me how little this two-word phrase is heard. Use good manners before, during and after the interview. Assume EVERYBODY you meet in or near the company setting has a say in the hiring decision and treat them accordingly. It is impossible to always predict pockets of informal power.

There you have it, 6 tips to utilize during the job interview.  Would you have any others to add?  Please take a minute and share your thoughts in the comments below.

This post was written by Michael Friesen, a coach at 360JobInterview.com. He is the author of Expected End: What Culture Is, Why It Matters and How to Improve It. He is leadership coach and a former CFO and Budget Director for the U.S. government. You can schedule an interview with Michael on his 360JobInterview.com coach page.

Photo iStockPhoto © James Tutor

There’s an interesting post over at USA Today Workforce titled Offbeat Interview Questions Asked to Make You Think. The article gives several examples of questions that are designed to see how you think. Many of the examples are pretty extreme. If you have a moment, click over to the post and check it out.

Have you ever been asked any questions like these? Share some of the questions and your job interview experiences below and help others on the job search. And Thanks!

Interviewing with any company can be intimidating but preparation will help chase away some of the butterflies. Remember it is unusual for a company to hire a candidate who fits the job description 100%. View the position advertisement as a dream sheet. You should have a majority of the traits but just because you’re missing a few parts of the experience does not necessarily knock you out of contention.

Without trying to be too traditional, here are some interview thoughts gleaned from hands-on experience.

Before the Interview

Learn all you can about the company – This is much easier in our era of mega-search engines. Look for names, facts, figures, news, anything, etc.

• What are the recent big news items?
• What are the company’s major services or products?
• What are their guarantees?
• What are the approximate revenues?
• What are the customer service trends?
• Who are the big names?
• How do competitor companies look at your interviewing company?
• If you know somebody at the company, quiz them about the organization.
• If appropriate, see if you can make an appointment with someone at the company for your educational purposes (be careful with this one).

Play stump the dummy – Nothing personal … but prepare a list of the toughest questions you can create based on your intimate knowledge of your own profile. The idea is to train hard to make the actual interview seem easier. Be as tough as you can on yourself during the preparation and you will find yourself more confident at the real event. Here are a few starter questions and you can think of more.

• What is your core message related to the position?
• What are your top 3-5 strengths?
• What are your weaknesses? How do you manage around or offset them?
• What will be the most difficult areas of the new job for you?
• Why are you unique?
• How would you interview yourself if you wanted to paint the most complete picture?
• How will you make up any shortfalls in your experience as it relates to the ideal job description?
• What will you do if you are not selected for the position?
• Do you like the company enough to apply for more positions?
• How will you respond if salary comes up early?

In a future post, we’ll talk more about how to maximize your time during the interview.  To summarize, focus any nervous energy you have on preparation. Write it, say it, and think it (or any combination thereof). This will help with the actual interview and keep anxiety in check. Remember too that a little nervousness will help you be sharper in the interview as well. All the best!

And if you have any thoughts or ideas, take a minute and share your best ideas or experiences in the comments below.

This post was written by Michael Friesen, a coach at 360JobInterview.com.  He is the author of Expected End: What Culture Is, Why It Matters and How to Improve It.  He is a leadership coach and a former CFO and Budget Director for the U.S. government.  You can schedule an interview with Michael on his 360JobInterview.com coach page.

Photo iStockPhoto © Ken Kan

Half Off! That’s Right, 50% off!

Job Interview Coaching, Career Coaching and Resume Building services are all 50% off from March 13 – April 30, 2011.  We want to help job seekers get noticed and get hired.  What better time than now to get a job!  Sign up now and pay for any of the discounted services before the end of April to receive this FANTASTIC sale.

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To take advantage of this offer, click Job Interview Coaching, Career Coaching or Resume Building and get going!

Interviews today are focused on behavioral-based questions. A behavioral-based question is based on a dimension which is a required competency for the position.  In order to answer this question you will need to relate a previous experience to the interviewer’s question.

An example question might be, “Tell me about a time you had to resolve a customer’s problem? “

In this example the dimension is customer service.  Your response must be focused and to the point. A good way to do this is to practice your answer using these 4 elements to guide you in your response:

• Situation -What occurred that created the problem?
• Task- How did you plan do to resolve the issue?
• Action- What did you actually do, what resources did you need to resolve the issue
• Result- What was the outcome as a result of your action?

In your response cover each element in order.  In the Action step, focus on the actions you took, or “what did you do?”Often the interviewee will answer with what a group did as opposed to their role in a task or project. It takes practice to learn how to accentuate your accomplishments without sounding arrogant.

Companies put more emphasis on multiple interviews and the dimensions required to perform the job. Dimensions are not only on-the-job skill; they are also about job fit. T he interviewer scores the applicant responses which are later discussed by the hiring team to make a final determination to select the best candidate. This is done by scoring the interview with a (+,-) or a numerical value. If you do not answer the question you may receive no value which does not help with your score or getting the job. Usually the interview may ask 10 questions and possibly that could in turn be 30 questions by 3 interviewers.

The bottom line: Be a job interview star! Stick with the Situation – Task – Action – Result (STAR) methodology and focus on your personal accomplishments. Future posts will cover other dimensions and specific approaches for specific types of questions.

Need help now? Make an appointment with your own personal coach@360jobinterview where you can choose from over 300 experienced Human Resource professionals. Choose a pro in your field as they can coach you in developing your action plan.

Being unemployed might not make you think of the housing market, but maybe it should. After all, there are  plenty more connections between the two than just the payments. In fact, the modern history of the housing market can tell us a lot about getting a job and dealing with unemployment.

Determining an Asking Price

When selling a home, we examine the surrounding market, determine what other similar houses are selling for, and examine the one we’re selling. Then, we set the asking price as high as we think we can in the hopes of turning a decent profit.

Job hunting works much the same way. We assess and tally up our skills. Then, we look around to see what kind of salary others in our respective industries are getting before comparing our skills to theirs. This gives us the chance to set an expected salary that we’ll give to prospective employers. The idea of this is that we’ll make the most money per year possible. It’s not just our per hour rates either. Benefits, holidays, bonuses, commission — they all come into play here.

Dealing With Multiple Offers

Ideally, homeowners looking to sell their home want to bring in multiple offers fairly soon after putting it on the market. This could set off a bidding war and drive up the price until it climbs higher than the asking price. The sellers can then look at all the variables for each contract and choose the one that best suits their needs.

In a perfect world, we like our quest for a new job to end much the same way. We receive multiple job offers with various set salaries, holidays, and other stipulations. Then, we can play one against the other to get the best deal or simply leave it before choosing the deal that suits us best. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. Not even frequently, and particularly not in today’s market.

What Happens When We Don’t ‘Sell’

It’s no secret that the housing market has staled. Homes that would have sold in a matter of a couple months are now sitting for a year or more, and some aren’t even getting any interest. This has caused sellers to drop their asking prices in an effort to target a larger market and generate the increased attention necessary to sell.

The job market has experienced a similar problem. Millions of people have been forced out of work, lost hours, or taken pay cuts in the last few years. Follow that up by the fact that there are very few good paying jobs available, and you have the kind of job market employers salivate over.

When a position opens, particularly a good paying one, employers receive hundreds of applications. They can afford to be extremely picky about who they hire and they can take their time doing it. And, if you don’t take the job or try fighting for a better deal, chances are pretty good the employer isn’t going to be worried. After all, there is an entire stack of applicants willing to take your place.

While this has done away with job security in many instances, it’s also done something to salaries.

You see, when a home doesn’t sell after a certain period of time, the seller will bring down the price in order to get new interest and hopefully sell it. Otherwise, the length of time a house has been on the market becomes a negative selling point. In fact, buyers will often skip these homes altogether, often with the thought that there are reasons the home has been on the market for such a long time.

Job seekers who have been out of work for a significant amount of time experience the same thing. Employers don’t like to see large gaps in employment history, nor does the thought of someone being unemployed for a long period of time seem appealing.

It’s sort of like a tray of desserts. If everyone leaves one certain kind of treat in favor of the others, eventually you’ll ask yourself what’s wrong with that one dessert that would cause everyone to avoid it. This doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with it. Not in the least. It could just be that the other kinds appear more appetizing at first.

So, if you’ve been unemployed for a long time and want to get back to work, you’ll want to consider accepting a smaller salary. Of course, you’d be making less than you want, but something is better than nothing. And, after you get the chance to prove yourself, you can use the opportunity to show your true worth and become an indispensable member of the team. You’ll see your salary increase and you might even be making more than you asked for initially.

Image Credits: 1, 2, 3

Being unemployed can seem downright hopeless at times, but it isn’t the end of the world. Donald Trump, Larry King, and even Jerry Seinfeld have all been unemployed, but they all managed to go on to new things, land new jobs, and achieve success. They’ve also learned a few secrets to success the hard way, so you don’t have to.

Larry King

Most of us know Larry King for his interviews with the rich and famous, but he was also a columnist for the Miami Herald. As part of his job, he would go to lunch with friends and collect information for his column. The paper was not happy about this. They complained he wrote about his friends too frequently and fired him.

It was a devastating blow, but Larry didn’t let it beat him. His friends and contacts played a huge role in his ability to overcome his job loss and the personal bankruptcy that followed. Today, he’s one of the most famous people in television. The lesson? Don’t be afraid to rely on your network of friends, colleagues, and professional connections.

King says that being fired was a tragedy, but it was also an opportunity to make positive changes in his life. He truly believes how you look at a situation and the choices you make after a bad experience make all the difference.

Sounds like a lot of new-age hogwash, but it makes sense when you think about it. Sitting on the couch, eating Cheetos, and watching Jerry Springer isn’t going to help you land your dream job. You have plenty of time, so use it to create a plan and execute it. Put yourself in a situation that will help you reach your goals and get the job you’ve always wanted. After all, if you don’t do it, someone else will.

50-Cent

Rapper 50-Cent makes approximately $41 million dollars a year with his music, clothing, special appearances, and promotions, but it wasn’t always that way. Before he became a huge rap star, he worked as a drug dealer in Queens, NY, resulting in three arrests and a near fatal shooting.

This couldn’t have been an easy way to make a living, but 50 Cent says it was worth it because it taught him the skills necessary to run a successful business, including money management, launching new campaigns, marketing, and how to deal with customers, distributors, and others. The lesson here? Use your past experiences to your advantage. Analyze each of your previous jobs, make a list of skills, and use it to sweeten your resume. Prove to the company that they’ll be missing out on something great if they don’t hire you!

It also helps to consider the moments you were particularly proud of yourself as well as the mistakes you made while working at previous jobs. Then, you can use them during the interview process to demonstrate the skills and abilities you’ve gained.

Chef Robert Irvine

You may not have heard of Chef Robert Irvine, but that doesn’t make his success or the lessons he learned any less fascinating. Irvine was the star of Dinner: Impossible on The Food Network. Not long after it started airing, however, he was fired for embellishing on the experience section of his resume.

But, instead of denying it, Irvine admitted to lying, apologized, and accepted the cancellation of his position with the show. A year later, the Food Network hired him back to do an additional six episodes. The lesson? Never slam doors shut because opportunities can come from anywhere, and one of them just may be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.

The stories of these three stars proves that success is possible regardless of where you came from, or what path you’re on. All it takes is some help, support, and a little bit of persistence!

Image Sources: 1, 2, 3

In 2008, unemployment rates for IT managers and other professionals sat at only 2.5%. But in 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this number jumped to a staggering 5.2%. This is the highest the industry’s seen since 2003.

However, David Foote–of Foote Research Group–says the situation is starting to improve, with computer system designers and other similar professions leading the way. In his December report (PDF), he noted these jobs accounted for 6,900 new employment positions in November alone.

Back in 2003, the burst of the dot-com bubble caused massive layoffs, leaving a large number of professionals out of work. In 2009, the culprit was the recession and tighter budgets. To save money, employers are hiring individuals with specific skill sets rather than increasing the number of employees.

This means those seeking a new job will need to focus on their specific skill sets rather than just demonstrating the general skills needed to land the job. Stand out and be prepared to back up those skills. Also, take time to research the companies out there and target the ones most likely looking for your specific skills.

Look at it like the difference between general and niche medicine. If you have a serious earache and only have one chance to treat it, you’re more likely to pay an ear specialist than a general physician. The same is true of employers. Learn how to be the ‘ear specialist.’

On the bright side, specialists make more income and are in higher demand, and that’s never a bad thing!

(Image Source: superpuppy)