Be Prepared!

1. Have all information about the contact and position in front of you, water in case you have a dry throat, your calendar, questions you’d like to ask the company, and answers to questions you may be asked.

2. Pause when necessary between questions to give yourself time to prepare an answer. Rephrase the question if you need to.

3. Walk around, smile, use hand gestures, or whatever you can do to make you feel you are in the same room with the interviewer.

4. Study the position description carefully and have answers to all the requirements listed and prepare answers to potential questions related to your qualifications.

5. Ask for the interviewer’s name (ask for the correct spelling) and contact information so you can send a thank you note.

If you are unprepared when they call:

Let them know how glad you are they called, but let them know you are (in the middle of an appointment, driving in a car, at work, or otherwise unavailable at the moment). Ask for a specific time/day when you can call them back.

What they are looking for:

1. Do you meet the basic qualifications for the job?
2. Are you answers consistent with the information on your resume?
3. Do you thoroughly understand the position?
4. Are you excited, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable about the position and the company?
5. Do you ask relevant questions?

Immediately after the call:

Write a thank you letter to the person with whom you spoke and mention high points of the interview, as well as supplemental information you thought of after the conclusion of the interview.

Here’s an excerpt from that letter: “Please do not discount my résumé because I am overqualified. I am NOT looking for a supervisory or management position. I want to get back to the basic grunt work of payables, researching invoices, matching them to purchase orders, and preparing the check run. If you hire me you will get experience, maturity, dependability, and a team player with no personal drama ready to hit the ground running.”

The employer heard all that she needed to hear. This person pointed out exactly how she could meet the employer’s needs with enthusiasm. Needless to say, the employer called her immediately, interviewed her, and hired her on the spot. Her new employee even offered to come in and work a few hours for FREE before her official start date just to convince the employer of her skills and determination. The employer was delighted and couldn’t wait to share the news with me.

What are you doing to capture the interest of your next employer? Find out exactly what they are looking for, and let them know how you can fulfill their needs.

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• Prop 100: Be informed!

You delete one email after another, and if you miss a day, an important email may have gotten buried under the junk and could get deleted by accident.

If you are in a job search, missing an important email could be missing out on an opportunity.

The solution—it’s easier than you think. Create a new email exclusively for job search activities. Make it simple for an employer to remember, perhaps your name such as ginger.korljan@gmail.com. (No this is not my email address, so don’t try it to send me anything!). Save this email address for your résumé, for online job applications, when joining professional groups, or if posting a résumé to a job board. Check that email address once a day, making sure you that you reserve it exclusively for job search and professional industry activities.

Another tool to help you remember where you have sent résumés and when is at www.JibberJobber.com. Not only can you track your job search activities, but you can also store exact copies of each résumé and cover letter you tweak for each employer. Created by @Jason Alba, JibberJobber is a spreadsheet tailored to the needs of the job seeker. The best news is that the basic version of JibberJobber is entirely free.

As for the other emails you have to wade through every day, consider unsubscribing from most of them. Do you really need to know the latest sale from some retailer or that a friend has updated his Facebook page?

Take control of your email, and you will have time for more important things in your life!

Recently I reconnected with a dance teacher I had not seen in 30 years; I found her daughter though a social networking site and she told me that her mother was still working in her dance studio in New Jersey at the age of 80! When I reached her by phone, she immediately asked “So tell me about yourself, how are you doing?”

I first felt at a loss for words; where should I begin?

Should I tell her about my life since I was a teenager, that I had  earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in career counseling, married, raised three children, lost my husband to a fatal heart attack, remarried, moved across the country, reinvigorated my new career, and work with an urban ministry with my church?

OR

Should I tell her that I had never forgotten my experience taking dance lessons from her for 10 years, how I later taught dance part-time at a YMCA for 9 years, and that my daughters now dance competitively? Should I discuss with her how much dancing has changed since the early 1970s when I was her student? Should I explain how her creative dancing instruction techniques highly influenced my methods and philosophy of teaching?

Obviously, the second answer is correct. When asked this question during an interview, “So tell me about yourself,” think about what an employer wants to hear. “Tell me about yourself… as it relates to this specific position for which I am interviewing.” My dance teacher might have fallen asleep if I had shared with her my whole life story, so wasn‘t it better to relate details that dealt with how she had impacted my life personally in the field of dance after she had shared her wisdom and knowledge with me?

When interviewing for a position, always keep in mind the employer’s needs. He or she wants to know if you are a match for the job. So whatever question an employer asks during an interview, add on this ending in your mind: “…as it relates to this position.” Employers spend time interviewing you for one reason, to see if you are a right fit for the job. They don’t care where you grew up, what your favorite hobbies are, or what you had for breakfast. Always keep that perspective in mind, keep your eyes on the goal, and aim for it!

P.S. By the way, in the picture above, it’s me in the lower left corner…

First, many employers don’t even bother to read cover letters. They know from experience that most cover letters are glorified form letters that simply state the job seekers qualifications without referring to specific company needs. I wouldn’t want to read one of those letters myself.

However, if someone has taken the time to find out exactly what would help a potential employer’s business grow, expand, or save money, that letter will get attention.

Here are some tips to make sure that your cover letter will get noticed.

1. Address the letter by name to someone who has the power to hire you, avoiding the HR department if at all possible. Research the person’s background on LinkedIn and/or Google to see if he or she has been quoted, has contributed to any publications, or has participated in some noteworthy event. Look for something in common that you share. The person will be impressed that you took the time to find out more.

2. Find out specific company needs and how you can meet them. You may have to dig deeply by talking to someone who actually works there or by reading recent news stories. Don’t limit yourself to the company website, as you will get a one-sided impression from the company’s point of view. Try www.glassdoor.com and www.linkedin.com as good resources to find out from insiders what it is like to work at that company.

3. Make your letter short and to the point. No cover letter should be more than one page or one screen long.

4. Say how you plan to follow up, then do it. Never end a cover letter with “I hope to hear from you soon.” Politely take the initiative, mark a date in your calendar to follow up, and keep your commitment.

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Another time while attending a seminar presented by a woman who specialized in writing executive resume portfolios, I was intrigued when she mentioned that many CIOs began their careers as accountants. My son is in college studying accounting and hopes to obtain a summer internship with a major accounting firm. After the seminar I approached her, complimented her on her superb presentation, and told her a little about my son. She related that another conference attendee’s husband works for a top accounting firm, and recommended that I talk to him. Both he and his wife were delightful and went out of their way to help. She told me a year ago a resume she had written for a college student seeking an accounting internship had been featured during the conference, and had resulted in an interview and a job offer for the student. She graciously emailed that sample resume to me on the spot. Her husband shared some informative inside information on his employer, and offered to give my son tips on securing an internship in his company as well as advice on the accounting profession in general. I immediately called my son so he could follow up.

Are you embarrassed to talk to strangers? People love talking about their jobs, and rarely do people in our me-centered society think to leave their comfort zone and make the first move. Not only can you learn details about about a profession, a company, and pros and cons of working there, but you also will be fostering and nurturing networking relationships that can last a lifetime.

During these informal conversations, don’t forget to offer help to others as well. Find out how your expertise may benefit them or someone they know. Nothing beats investing time in personal relationships, even if you do embarrass your kids in the process!