Category Archives: Career

By Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter

It may seem obvious. You were invited to an interview with the hiring manager or recruiter. They beckoned you because they like your resume and believe you are qualified for the job. At this point, it’s all about the dialogue, and you are a fantastic interviewer, so what else do you need but yourself and your confidence – right?

Wrong. Sometimes less is not more. And, interviews offer an opportunity to strategically slide in a value-add here and there, depending upon the course the conversation takes.

Following are five ideas of value-add items to bring to the interview to help enhance your personal marketing message, compelling your interview forward:

1. Tweaked Resume: Even if you recently updated your resume, assess if a tweaked headline or modified achievement would more perfectly align your message with this specific interview. 

Then, print off five to 10 copies of your resume from a quality printer using good, 24 lb. paper. Use a neutral, earthy tone: off-white, tan, light brown, gray or something similar. Show attention to detail, ensuring the watermark prints in an upright position. With a stack of freshly printed resumes in hand, you are equipped to distribute them to additional hiring decision makers who may unexpectedly arrive, empty-handed, at your meeting.

2. Toot-Your-Own-Horn Book: If you are in sales, this is an especially valuable tool. However, brag books needn’t be limited to sales-oriented interviews. Consider what visual representations of your value you could provide. Buy about a dozen 3-hole-punched sheet protectors in which to display your horn-tooting items. Examples include a thank-you note, a printout of a sales graph, an email from a happy client and a project milestone chart showcasing results of a mammoth project. What this book may consist of is only limited by your imagination and creativity. Think colorful and glimpse-able.

3. Testimonials Page. While you may not be ready to hand off contact information of your valuable references during the initial interview, you could create a ‘testimonials’ page with a list of three to five key people (names only, without phone numbers and email addresses), who are wowed by the value you provide.

Diversify the references to include a client, a vendor, a senior executive, a colleague, a direct report and so forth. Then, organize the page to include three columns: 1. Name of person and their company affiliation; 2. Your relationship to that person; e.g., you and s/he collaborated on a specific project; you provided sales consultation to that person; or, you trained them in their new role, for example; and, 3. What they have said in the past about you or would say if approached today about your contribution to individual or team goals in relationship to saving time, trimming costs or adding to profits.

4. ROI Action Plan. Whether it’s your first interview or your third with the company, come prepared to articulate how you will hit the ground running to make an impact when hired – how you will return the company’s investment. You do this by communicating your action plan for solving their problems.

Naysayers will quip, “I have NO idea what the real problems my target company is facing until I am hired.”

The optimist will take initiative.

Vigorously search the Web using Boolean searches to unearth universal industry and sector issues. Determinedly search the Web for target company tidbits. Research using Glassdoor, LinkedIn or Facebook company pages, and scour online business journals, websites and other resources that drill down to potential challenges.  Then, when building your strategy, speak to specific action plan steps you are prepared to take to resolve those issues during the first 30, 60, 90 days.

5. Marketing (Business) Card: Offered up as a mini-resume of sorts, your business card should include critical contact information such as your name, email, voicemail and your LinkedIn profile. It also should include your tagline, further underscoring your value, as well as a metric-based achievement result to add concreteness. Remember, there are two sides to a business card – use both.

While it is true that in some interviews you may simply be whisked in and out of a rigidly orchestrated meeting with no opportunity for additional information sharing, that is just one scenario.

In others, the conversation is more flexible and fluid. You must be proactive presenting your value through a variety of visually appealing and content-rich items. By preparing the above five weapons for your career interview arsenal, you will walk into the interview office more confident and empowered.

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Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter is a Glassdoor career and workplace expert, chief career writer and partner with CareerTrend, and is one of only 28 Master Resume Writers (MRW) globally. An intuitive researcher, she helps professionals unearth compelling career story details to help best present their unique experience, skillset and interests in resumes and other career positioning documents as well as through social media profiles. In addition to being interviewed for television and radio stories, Jacqui has written for the Career Management Alliance Connection monthly newsletter and blog, ExecuNet’s Career Smart Advisor, The Kansas City Star, The Business Journal and The Wall Street Journal. In addition, she and her husband, “Sailor Rob,” host a lively careers-focused blog over at http://careertrend.net/blog. Jacqui also is a power Twitter user listed on several “Best People to Follow” lists for job seekers.

By Donna Fuscaldo

When it comes to interviews, most people think their job is to answer questions not ask them. But an interview is a two-way street, and the more questions you ask the better your chances are of making a lasting impression.

“It’s always smart to ask questions in an interview,” says Joel Garfinkle, author of Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level. “Most people are afraid to ask questions. They don’t realize it’s something they are supposed to do.”

By asking questions you can not only determine if the company and culture is the right fit for you, but also impress the interviewer with your preparation and knowledge of the firm. “The more the interview feels conversational the better the chance you both have of learning about each other and the company,” says Garfinkle.

But not all questions are created equal. Some will illicit better responses then others. With that in mind, here’s a look at four interview questions you should always ask.

1. What are the top priorities of the job? 

Often, when we interview for a potential new job, we don’t have a complete understanding of what the role will entail outside of what was in the job advertisement. Because of that, career experts say it’s a good idea to ask what the top priorities are of the job and how to be successful in the position. If you ask that early on in the interview, the conversation will focus on what the job entails and how you’ll meet the objectives as opposed to talking about your past performance or going over your resume.  It eliminates all the guesswork and enables you to spend the interview time telling the hiring manager how you can do what they want, says Garfinkle.

In addition to learning more about what you’ll actually be doing, you also want to ask the interviewer about the history of the role. According to Mark Jaffe, president of Wyatt & Jaffe, the executive search firm, you want to know if it’s a newly created job or if you are replacing someone. If it’s a new position, he says to find out why it was created, and if it’s an existing position, you’ll want to know what happened to the last the person in the job.

2. What are the biggest problems right now?

Ask the hiring manager what problems the company or department is facing, and there’s a high likelihood that you’ll get an honest answer. “You’ll get a pretty good idea of the type of company you are joining,” says Garfinkle. “If it’s a problem directly related to your position, you may be able to offer a solution on the spot and show your value.” According to Garfinkle it’s fair game to ask that question because it’s not any different than the interviewer asking you what your greatest challenge was at your previous job or what was your biggest failure.

3. How will you measure a good performance and an outstanding one?

It may seem like you are sucking up by asking this question, but what you are really doing is finding out what qualities you need aside from the technical qualifications to be successful in the job, says Jaffe. “A role is not just about a laundry list of qualifications that some HR person put on a piece of paper, it’s about meeting the business objectives,” says Jaffe.  Having the knowledge of what you need to do to exceed expectations gives you the opportunity to weave in examples of how you met similar goals.

4. Can you tell me how you came to the company and why you stayed?

Not only will you get insight into what’s good about the company, but you’ll also build a relationship with the person doing the interview if you ask this question. “It gives them an opportunity to tell you about their own value system and the culture of the company,” says Jaffe. Not to mention that most people love to talk about themselves and will remember that job candidate that hung on every word.  “Showing interest in that person raises your stock immeasurably and gives them a chance to tell you truthfully why they accepted the job,” he says.

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Donna Fuscaldo is a freelance journalist hailing out of Long Island, New York. Donna writes for numerous online publications including FoxBusiness.com, Bankrate.com, AARP.com, Insurance.com and Houselogic.com. As a personal finance reporter for years, Donna provides invaluable advice on everything from saving money to landing that dream job. She also writes a weekly column for FoxBusiness.com focused on technology for small businesses. Previously, Donna was an equities reporter for Dow Jones Newswires and a special contributor to the Wall Street Journal. Through the Glassdoor Blog, Donna will provide tips on how to find a job and more importantly keep it.

By Heather R. Huhman

Many job seekers can agree it’s easy to get burned out from their job search. Although job sites are powerful tools for finding jobs and shouldn’t be ignored, job seekers need to be looking beyond the Internet for employment opportunities.

If you’re a job seeker who is discouraged about finding employment, here are four ways to tell you’re spending too much time on job sites and what you can do to improve your job search:

1. You Haven’t Had an Interview. Have you been applying to jobs for months and still haven’t landed an interview? During the job search, it can be easy to get caught up in applying to every posting. Job seekers may think their resume is applicable for the position; however, it may not meet the employer’s requirements.

Job seekers who use job sites to apply to every available position should think about a new strategy. Make sure you are applying to jobs you are qualified for, using the employer’s application guidelines, and following up with each application. Once you do this, you will be able to narrow down your search and focus on the positions you want.

2. You Haven’t Made Time to Network. Job seekers don’t realize how many jobs are available offline when they’re only searching job sites. Many people discover job openings because they have a connection with a company or organization. Whether it’s a friend or relative, many people find jobs because of the people they know. 

Job seekers should also be involved with professional organizations. These are especially useful for people new to their industry. Instead of spending five hours each day searching the Internet for job postings, join a professional organization, build relationships, and ask professionals to meet for coffee. Networking opens the door to many opportunities and is the best way to connect with people in your field.

Keep in mind that although networking may not land you interviews with employers right away, it’s important to build these relationships in order to get your foot in the door. The biggest advantage of networking is being able to know people who can provide advice about finding a job that wasn’t posted online.

3. You’re Only Applying Online. If you’re only considering openings posted on job boards, then you’re holding yourself back from finding more opportunities. Instead of searching board after board, make a list of companies you would like to work for and start researching them. Once you have your list, contact the employer to see if you can send them your resume.

Most employers, even if they aren’t hiring, will hold your resume on file for six months to a year. If you decide to send your resume to different companies, be sure to inform the recruiter or hiring manager about your resume submission. By doing this, the next time you follow up with the company, your name will be fresh in their mind.

4. You Haven’t Built a Personal Brand. This is huge when it comes to the online job search. If you want to be discovered online, you must make a presence for yourself. Every job seeker needs to be on LinkedIn regardless of their field. If you you’re searching for jobs in public relations, marketing, or graphic design, you should also have an online portfolio.

Job seekers whose expertise is in fields such as engineering or accounting can still create an online portfolio. Many employers expect to receive a digital version of your resume and won’t accept hard copies. There are many platforms that allow job seekers to create a simple website where they can display a resume and samples of work. Job seekers who have an online presence will build their name in the virtual job search world and can be discovered by more employers.

No matter how frustrating the job search can be, there are many tools aside from job sites for job seekers to explore. If you’re still unsuccessful with finding employment, try to be creative. Start by thinking of different ways you can connect with professionals in your field, create your online portfolio, and how you can send your resume to companies who you’d like to work for. Remember: it’s not about how many hours you spend looking for jobs that counts; it’s about being proactive during your search.

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Heather R. Huhman is a Glassdoor career and workplace expert, experienced hiring manager, and founder & president of Come Recommended, a content marketing and digital PR consultancy for job search and human resources technologies. She is also the instructor of Find Me A Job: How To Score A Job Before Your Friends, author of Lies, Damned Lies & Internships (2011) and#ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), and writes career and recruiting advice for numerous outlets.