Many people go through an interview and don’t ask a single question. They are scared or assume that the hiring manager is the only one allowed to lead the conversation. In reality, interviewers appreciate job seekers who know what they are looking for and demonstrate their interest in the position. When you ask great questions you’ll also uncover the priorities and responsibilities of the job so you can effectively sell your experiences and accomplishments back to the employer.
Three key questions you should consider asking in an interview are:
Company Challenges – Ask: “What are some of the key challenges the company is facing right now?” You’ll demonstrate that you’re thinking not only about your own position, but also the well-being of the company. Employers love team players who think about the bigger picture.
Keys to Success – Ask: “What abilities are the most important for success in this position?” This question will show that you are focused on succeeding and you’ll be able prioritize your answers based on what the interviewer tell you is important.
Personal Approach – Ask: “What do you most enjoy about your work here?” You’ll show that you have a genuine interest in your interviewer as well as an interest in enjoying your work. This will demonstrate that the job is not just a paycheck for you.
Asking the right questions gives the interviewer a chance to talk while educating you on what you need to know about the job.
Helping you land your next great job...faster.
Employers can subscribe to our Reemployment Industry Insights mailing list and job seekers can subscribe to our Job Search News & Tips mailing list.
Networking can be hard, but one great trick you can use is the "informational interview." Simply find someone who works in a company or a job you're targeting and ask for a conversation to learn more. To save them time and make it casual, ask them to meet for coffee or lunch. You'll normally learn more about a target company or occupation over lunch than you might in months of researching, and you'll often discover job openings and gain connections you'd otherwise miss.
Use these three tips to start tapping the power of an informational interview:
Use your employer target list – Look for hiring managers or people in your network who work at a target employer by searching for the company on LinkedIn or Google. Narrow your search to your local area, so you can meet in person. If you don't find anyone that way, ask the receptionist to connect you to someone from the department you're targeting.
Make contact – Be personal and sincere -- do not use the default generic messaging options if you are using LinkedIn. Simply ask this question: "I'm really interested in your work and your company. Would you be willing to have a conversation with me over lunch or coffee about your job and how you started in your career?"
Ask great questions – Most people are flattered that you would want to know about their life and even more flattered that you might want to be like them. When you meet, ask personal questions such as, why they chose their job, what they like about their current company, and recommendations they have for you to gain experience in their field. Always close by asking if they are aware of any opportunities in their current company or anyone else they'd recommend you talk with next.
Use these tips and you may just find that you’ve taken a big step toward finding your next job.
Employers can subscribe to our Reemployment Industry Insights mailing list and job seekers can subscribe to our Job Search News & Tips mailing list.
Over half of college graduates are unemployed six months after graduation and 39% of Unemployment Insurance claimants are considered long-term unemployed having been out of work for more than six months.
Research shows that job seekers receiving the right kind of help can increase their chances of landing a job by six times. What is the right kind of help? Broadly, the right help—according to the research—is teaching a variety of job search skills, providing motivation and encouraging proactivity. In the outplacement world, this can be provided using the right combination of the latest technology and a job coach.
I use the word coach, because a good coach helps people strengthen and sharpen their skills, in this case, job search skills. They fill the job search tool box with important stuff: advice, instructions, motivation, inspiration and direction.
A job coach can be many things to many people, but a good job coach will play the following key roles as part of the team that will help a job seeker land their next job.
Mentor
A good job coach won’t just tell a job seeker how to do something. Instead, they explain why certain processes and actions in their profession are necessary and beneficial to the job seeker’s success. The coach will help identify and provide advice and direction on how best to target professional opportunities. They will also help develop strategies for improving performance in particular areas. This approach helps the job seeker understand not just how to do something, but why they need to do it.
Motivator
For a job seeker to be successful in their job search they need to be motivated about their work history, career direction, skills and ability to move forward. A good job coach will help them identify what they are doing well and assist them in capitalizing on their strengths. At the same time, the coach will point out their weaknesses, or areas in which they need improvement, and help them develop an approach to bettering themselves. The coach needs to build an honest, trusting relationship with each and every job seeker they serve in order to help each job seeker achieve their goals.
Goal-Setter
A good job coach helps chart the course of the job search through goal setting. They help set agendas, develop timetables, plan for the job search, and help the job seeker stay focused and on-track. In addition to meeting with the job seeker on a regular basis to assess progress, the coach will be available on an “as-needed” basis to help evaluate opportunities, plan for interviews and develop networking strategies.
Confidence Builder
A good job coach will recognize and celebrate positive strides and remind the job seeker of the progress they’re making. They will help identify and highlight a job seeker’s strengths in a way that builds confidence.
Everyone has had a great coach in their past. It may have been a parent at home, a sports coach in school, a manager at a summer job who pushed them a bit or a mentor who took them under their wing. These were all coaches in their lives.
A good job coach can help each job seeker learn a critical life skill – job search.
Half of all job openings are “hidden”; that is, they’re not listed anywhere. Instead, they’re filled through networking, word-of-mouth and direct contact with job seekers. This is why building your brand online and putting it to work for you can mean the difference between finding a job and finding your “dream” job.
You’ve heard it said, “It’s not always what you know, it’s who you know.” It’s also who you can get to know. There is truth in these statements, especially in finding your next job, and there are some good reasons for it.
It’s the same reason employers ask for professional references. Hiring managers want to know who you are, who you know, and that you share their core values.
If you know someone in their network, it's as if you have already had an initial interview. The hiring manager can rely on your network contact's recommendation to go to the next step.
Fortunately, your network may be even bigger than you think and it’s important to connect with the right people, in the right way, so they can connect you with the right jobs.
Here are the 5 critical truths to networking your way to your next job:
Don’t be antisocial: Use all of your networks, both personal and online social networks whenever possible. LinkedIn is especially important for establishing and nurturing business relationships.
Be a job-stalker: Evaluate what you want in an employer, what you value, and the best cultural fit for you and follow companies that interest you. Connect with their recruiters, key players, associates and company websites.
Rub some elbows: Seek out professional opportunities to meet these key players in person whether through mutual connections or local industry events.
It’s who you know: Don’t be afraid to ask existing contacts for introductions to make new contacts. You never know where a new connection will lead. Try out asking insiders for time to share their experiences in an informational interview but don’t be pushy – keep it informational.
This past month, the Department of Education proposed expanded eligibility rules for its Pay As You Earn (PAYE) program which is designed to help relieve the debt burden for close to six million students.
The program basically does two things. First, it gives some students the opportunity to have their remaining student debt forgiven after 20 years. Second, it allows student loan payments to be adjusted to better match a borrower’s discretionary income.
The proposed changes are getting mixed reviews with lots of analysis. What’s mostly missing though is a more rigorous focus on the “real” discretionary income issue.
While overall unemployment rates have come down to a seven year low of 5.3% at the end of June 2015 most know that there is much more to the story. Among the most alarming is that for recent college graduates, the statistics have been pretty bleak, with only 52% employed full time 6 months after graduation.[1] Compounding the problem is the fact that 49% of 2013 and 2014 graduates consider themselves underemployed or in a job that does not require a college degree.[2] These are the real income issues in our student debt problem.
At a time when graduates are struggling to find meaningful and lucrative work using their hard earned education, they are also struggling with large student loan balances hanging over their heads. When a student stays unemployed for their first 9 months after graduating, their lost wage opportunity is an average of $33,000,[3] equal to an average graduate’s entire college debt.[4] But what students appear to be more immediately worried about is will they find work that matches their schooling or their passions.
This really hit home for me when, five days before her graduation, I received a frantic call from my niece. Instead of relishing the joy and excitement of finally achieving her goal of graduating from college, she was in tears. She had worked so hard, but was without a job - at least not one that counted. Continuing to work at the local sub shop did not count for her.
Final exams were behind her and the uncertainty of what came next was overwhelming - where she was going to live, how she would learn to effectively look for a job and whether she would be able to land work in her chosen field. Not once did she mention her student loans, which are significant. She did mention that there were no classes on campus on job search and she and most of her classmates had little understanding of what a career center could or would be able to do to help.
Job search is hard - a job all on its own. The job market is tough, but, with more than 50 million hires a year and employers talking talent shortage, jobs are out there. The key is to equip our students with what should be considered a basic life skill – job search readiness. Researching the job market, networking appropriately with confidence, building a personal brand, crafting an accomplishments-based resume, developing the poise and clarity of thought to handle tough interview questions – these are critical skills that will shape a student’s path through an average of 13 jobs in a career and determine the fit and fruitfulness of the bulk of their weekday activities the rest of their working lives.
Adjusting student loan payments may help alleviate some pain, – let’s face it, a lot of pain – but the root cause of the problem and moment of truth for our students as they embark on this next phase of their lives is how they will learn to choose a career path and gain the skills it takes to land a job that’s right for them.
My niece was one of the lucky ones. This fall, she’ll be a music teacher in a school she loves and has signed the lease on her first apartment as a college graduate. She worked hard at her job search and she had job search help. In the process, she developed a critical life skill. Her question to me: “Why don’t they teach this stuff in school???”
* To learn more, employers are invited to subscribe to our Reemployment Industry Insights mailing list and job seekers are welcome to subscribe to our Job Search News & Tips mailing list.
A friend told me about driving a long open stretch of highway in Idaho and seeing a sign along the roadside: “You Sure Are Lost, But You’re Making Great Time!”
Are you making great time, but wondering if you’re headed in the right direction? It may help you to figure out where you are and where you want to go by stepping back and asking yourself a few questions.
Generally, taking this step back is the first forward step toward building a solid list of jobs that you’ll love and where you’ll thrive.
So what are the 4 steps to finding direction? You may notice that the title of this post did not say 4 “easy” steps. That’s not to say that the work involved is hard, but it does require work and some concentrated thought.
First, you need to study how you’re built. We’re all built uniquely with different combinations of passions, personality, talents, experiences and values. Take some time to dig deep into yours. As you do, you’ll broaden your view beyond simply choosing a career that matches what you’ve done and where you’ve done it. And you also narrow your view to those companies and jobs that truly fit who you are and let thrive by being yourself. Along your path consider some of the free personality assessments available on the internet. Google the topic or visit the for example, the Job Hunter’s Bible site.
Once you have studied how you’re built, build your job criteria. Take what you have learned about yourself and prioritize it to match up with job opportunities. Pick the most important traits how you’re built, put them together and rank them.
Next, identify your options. Explore occupations and Labor Market Information to choose job types that will fit who you are. Try the My Skills My Future (myskillsmyfuture.org) site, a free tool, from the US Department of Labor, to match your skills and prior jobs to other jobs that will likely fit you well. Also use this tool to develop key words employer use to match your resume to open jobs.
Your last step to finding direction is looking for ways to fill in any skills gaps by gaining knowledge and experience. Job shadowing, volunteering, internships, freelancing or taking temporary jobs may all be a great fit for you. Be creative and have fun.
Once you’ve done the work, don’t forget to create your action plan and follow it. It’s not enough to know the path you also need to map it out and walk it.
Stay strong, stay focused and you will increase your chance of landing that dream job that fits how you’ve been uniquely built.
Tara Orchard, MA., is a Career Transition and Performance and Social Networking Coach. For over 20 years she has provided tangible and actionable insights and perspective to individuals and organizations seeking to develop strategies to adapt and grow.
Tara was advising on Social Networking and personal branding a long time before it was in vogue. She is a freelance writer featured in two business magazines and a member of the Advisory Board for the Career Professionals of Canada. She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Psychology and is certified in numerous career, personality and psychology assessment tools.
As a career coach Tara brings over 20 years of experience working with thousands of individuals in different industries and careers, from around the world, at different stages of their career. She challenges people to ask themselves questions about who they are and what they want and need. Tara believes in Career Agility and finding an intersection between what is possible and what is realistic today as a part of the process for navigating an ongoing Career Journey. Tara has developed a 4 step career navigation process, "Discover, Prepare, Build, Actualize' and a 5 step psychologically infused social networking strategy for career and business success 'Ready, Set, Go, Focus and Flow" and is always looking for new ways to help people build and actualize their personal career journey.
What one piece of core advice would Tara share with job seekers in today’s market?“
Always remain aware and open. A successful career is not built in a day but over time through a series of events, opportunities and decisions requiring smart and proactive navigation. By constantly staying aware, which includes self-awareness, industry, career and economy awareness people can position themselves to be ready when an opportunity presents itself or are capable of creating an opportunity when needed or desired.
Part of the awareness process for career building includes understanding your career brand, a tool useful for both career direction and career marketing. An effective brand is built on awareness and then showcased through your words, content and materials (resumes, social profiles) and actions. All the pieces of the career building and navigation puzzle are more likely to come together when awareness remains on your radar.”
As a career coach Tara helps facilitate the process of gathering information and gaining insight to build awareness, identify new opportunities and help develop tangible and actionable strategies that can help someone move along the next phase of their career journey.
For more career coaching advice from Tara, follow her on twitter at @CareerChatter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
There’s a lot of talk these days about skill gaps – a need for software programmers, engineers, etc. but not enough trained to fill the jobs US employers have open. Less is said about another skill gap – job search skills – the skill it takes for a software programmer to find the right employer, present themselves well and land the job in which they will thrive.
In a study of job seekers in two states, we’ve found that job seekers rate their job search readiness at a C-/D+. This is disturbing. In the average American’s working years, we’ll spend the bulk of our waking hours working in our jobs. But to land those jobs, we spend less time learning job search than we spend learning our smart phones.
I’ve been asking why and how this could be. How could we be so undereducated and unprepared to affect our career outcomes - the number one source of our income and financial well-being over the course of our lives. Ask any recent high school or college grad you know, for example, and the odds are you’ll hear them say – “No, I never really learned much about landing a job.”
Certainly since evolution of public education in the 1800s job search has become vastly more complicated.
Are our schools giving enough support and focus on what their career counselors are teaching - a life skill on par with personal finance?
So where do we learn job search? Where did you learn it? Chances are that you didn’t learn it well. For example, you may have landed your first job or and about half of your jobs, through someone you know. You may have essentially fallen into the job. After all, about half of all jobs are filled through networking. The chances are also great that you have not practiced job search even if you’ve learned it at some point. Americans change jobs, on average, every 3.5 years, which gives us little opportunity to stay sharp.
In the high school biology classes many states mandate, many of us learned how to dissect a frog, which was not only cool, but now part of the great movement in STEM. Perhaps a few weeks of learning the science of job search and dissecting its various parts would be a worthwhile addition for all of our students planning to look for a job?
Dixie is a Coach Team Manager at NextJob where she manages a team of job coaches and is also the Quality Survey Manager. Dixie joined NextJob in 2010, as a Certified Homeownership Counselor (through NCHEC). Her non-profit work includes housing counseling, delinquency and foreclosure prevention and financial education.
Dixie’s coaching and employment-related services experience include over 15 years in staffing, recruiting, training, and job-matching while delivering exceptional service and solutions to a large client-base in a variety of industries and skill levels. With an aptitude for decision-making and problem solving, she has been consistently successful in gathering information and providing guidance while helping others feel empowered about next steps, possible outcomes and options.
Dixie was recently a featured job coach in the BrandOfYouJobTwitterViews event held on May 19, 2015 offering coaching advice to contestants vying for one of the 1,000 available coaching scholarships being offered through @FifthThird bank.
What one piece of advice would Dixie give to job seekers out there?
"Develop a concise, descriptive, accomplishment-based branding statement/60-second commercial. You'll get a lot of mileage out of that content. It can be used in cover letters, resume career profile and online applications in the "comments box," and of course in interviews when asked to "tell a little about yourself."
For more career coaching advice from Dixie, follow her on twitter at @DixiebDixie or connect with her on LinkedIn.
