5 Steps Guide To Turn Your Job Interview Call Into A Job Offer

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You made it! Now, the only thing standing between you and your dream job is the job interview round. And, to reach your end goal, you need to show the recruiter that you are the ideal candidate for the job and that you are ready to face the challenges that might come with it.

Although your work experience and educational qualification played a vital role in getting you the interview call, now you need to show the recruiter what kind of employee you will be. So, to help you turn your job interview call into a job offer, here are 5 steps that you should consider doing to get closer to your dream job.

2) Give Mock Job Interview

Before going for the actual job interview, try to give some mock interviews at home. You can ask your friends or a family member to take your job interview under closer circumstances. Take their feedback into consideration and work upon the areas you lack. Doing this will take your interview preparation by a notch.

However, just depending on your friends and family to see you through the interview preparation might not always be the best idea. With so much (your whole future) riding on the interview, it would be advisable to seek the help, expertise and advice of a professional. Mock-AI can really help you here as it conducts interviews in a simulated environment and gives you detailed feedback on your performance.

4) Ask The Right Questions

There is a high chance that the recruiter will ask you whether you have any questions for them, use this as an opportunity to show the recruiter that you are the right candidate. And, to do that you should ask the interviewer at least one interview question. This will show the recruiter that you are a good listener and serious about the job role.

However, when asking the interviewer question, make sure that the question shows that you have done your homework, and it is not a question whose answer you can get by googling.

 

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6 Ways To Sell Yourself In A Job Interview

Daniel Bortz

Unless you’re actually in sales, the very concept of selling yourself during a job interview can be daunting. You don’t want to sound arrogant or corny, or worse, desperate. But learning how to self-promote in a convincing manner is what the job interview is all about.

The good news is you can learn how to confidently talk about yourself—specifically your skills, knowledge, and career achievements—with a little effort. These tips can help you close the sale on a job offer.

2) Tailor your elevator pitch

Ganesh says you should have a 30- to 60-second self-introduction prepared in advance, but this elevator pitch has to be customized to the job you’re interviewing for.
“You can’t create a single elevator pitch that will work for every audience,” says Stamford, Connecticut–based executive coach Anne Marie Segal. “You have to be speaking to the pain points of the company.” After all, your goal is to present yourself as the solution to their problems.

Look closely at the job posting to assess the company’s needs and the job responsibilities, and then tweak your pitch accordingly. Do your research and find what matters most to the company—go to their website and social media pages and read their mission statement, recent press releases, and any initiatives they’re undertaking—and then tailor your pitch.  

3) Prepare meaningful anecdotes

No matter what industry you’re in, you can expect to be asked behavioral job interview questions. Essentially, these questions require you to come up with examples from your past work experiences—for example, “Tell me about a time when you suffered a setback,” or, “Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a difficult co-worker.” Unfortunately, this is where a lot of job seekers stumble.

“Many people can tell a decent story, but almost everyone leaves off the impact the story had on you, the participants, and the business,” says executive coach Bill Cole, author of The Interview Success Guide. In other words, don’t forget to talk about the results of your actions.

To craft a compelling anecdote, Cole recommends using real feedback to highlight your contributions: “Use actual dialogue of how people raved about your solutions and how it affected the business. Describe any awards or visibility you received. Talk about how your former boss still raves about you on that project to his colleagues and how your project is still in place, years later.”

4) Ask unique questions

The secret to distinguishing yourself from other job candidates is simple: Ask good questions that offer value. “These pointed, yet uncommon questions mark you as an in-depth, curious, persistent researcher,” says Cole.

Make sure at least one of your questions expresses interest in what the company is currently working on and then tactfully weigh in. For example, you might ask, “Will your new product have x, y, or z features and capabilities?” Then, after the interviewer answers, you’d follow up by offering your creative thinking on the subject, says Cole.

See all 6 ways and the complete Monster article

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10 Ways to Land an Internship During COVID-19 (It’s Not Too Late!)

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The 8 most annoying things you can do during your job search

Lindsay Tigar

Job searching can make even the most confident of professionals lose their cool. After all, going in for yet another interview can often feel like a first date. You worry about impressing the hiring manager or recruiter with not only your skillset but your personality, too. This can cause many otherwise competent leaders to make unnecessary mistakes or exercise habits that well, don’t send the right message. As difficult as it may be when you’re unemployed or unhappy in your current gig, career experts recommend avoiding these annoying practices when you’re job searching:

1) Following up too often

There’s nothing worse than having what you thought was a stellar job interview only to be ghosted for a week—or two or three. To understand where you stand in the application process or to receive critical feedback to improve your future performance, follow-up kindly. But how much is too much? And how often is too often? There is no specific formula that works across the board, but career coach and keynote speaker Carla Isabel Carstens suggests waiting a week to inquire. And another before touching base again. After that, call a spade a spade and consider it a loss. “Sadly, given the sheer amount of candidates applying for any given role, it is difficult for a recruiter to address every email they receive,” she continues. “Take the hint if HR doesn’t get back to you after a follow-up or two. Move on, and open yourself up to other opportunities.” And hey, if they decide to get in touch down the road, it’ll be a happy, welcomed surprise.

4) Applying for jobs you aren’t qualified for (yet)

Especially when you’ve been going through the seemingly endless cycle of applying, interview, and being rejected, you may feel propelled to throw your hat in on any and every opening. This impatience, while expected, can cause a recruiter or interviewer to become frustrated, Carstens reminds. Going through one resume after another that is far-fetched from the opportunity at hand waste their time and doesn’t put you on their glowing list of considerations.
Though it’s okay to dream big and apply for the gigs you’ve always wanted, make sure you’re at least 80 percent qualified before applying. “Take the time to read the job description, thoughtfully consider each position, and if you’re truly a candidate,” she adds.

7) Writing how much you’ve always wanted to work at Hulu … in your cover letter for Netflix

This rookie mistake drives employers mad because it sends the message that you’re carelessly submitting the same cover letter template with all of your applications, rather than customizing the note to each job listing, explains career expert for TopResume, Amanda Augustine. You never know who is on the other side of your email, and while a cover letter might not matter to some, for most, it’s the first chance they have to see your writing ability. And perhaps, more importantly, your attention to detail. “Luckily, you can easily avoid this problem by carefully reviewing the job description and then tailoring your cover letter to highlight your relevant qualifications,” she shares.   ***  I see this one all of the time....


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5 Ways To Job Hunt During A Recession

Nicole Lapin

Let’s face it. Nobody likes to job hunt. It’s time-consuming, filled with rejection, and quite frankly, sucks. These feelings are exacerbated by the fact that chances are you aren’t going down a LinkedIn rabbit hole because you want to. Maybe you were laid off or furloughed or realized six months into the job that your boss was a little too Devil Wears Prada (or worse, Office Space). 

Even worse there’s an economic downturn, which is why so many people have lost work recently and job prospects are scarce. It seems inevitable that we’re headed towards a deep recession, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t jobs out there to be had. Here are 3 ways to job hunt now:

1) Look For Growth Industries
Not every industry is tanking. Netflix has seen a recent surge in subscriptions, and even old-school puzzles are having a moment. Do some research into the industries that are on an upward trajectory and are likely to stay that way post-pandemic. Right now, that’s probably going to be the tech sector. The pandemic has forced many of us to embrace new (and old) technologies, such as Zoom and Amazon. Is social distancing going to mean manufacturing workers will be replaced by robots sooner? That might be a good reason to look into AI. We’re living online a lot these days and tech companies will need workers. As with any recession, there are pockets of growth to be found. And if anyone can find them, it’s you.

2) Finding Companies That ARE Hiring
Yes, duh, there are companies not hiring/on a hiring freeze. But there ARE companies hiring like Rosetta Stone, Amazon, CVS, Walgreens, FedEx, UPS, food delivery services, grocery stores, Walmart, and GoJo, the company that makes Purell (!). Candor.co created a database where users can also contribute information that allows you to see companies who are on a hiring freeze and those that are not, in real-time.

See all 5 ways and the complete Forbes article
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3 things job seekers need to know about hiring technology (and 3 ways to make it work for you)

By Ron Mitchell

Searching for a job in the age of AI résumé reviewers, online assessments, and automatic “no” piles is excruciating. And we haven’t even scratched the surface of anxiety around the pandemic.

Technology has drastically changed the job search process, even in just the last five years, and job seekers now find themselves questioning how to adapt to a tech-driven recruiting environment. What makes adapting so hard? In large part, it’s because so much of what happens, happens behind closed doors. We know that AI is helping with hiring decisions, but what does that actually mean, and how does it change your job search?

1. Companies are building profiles on you

You probably know about software that can scan your résumé for keywords. But when recruiters are considering you for a job, they aren’t just looking at your résumé. They’re now relying on tools that build full profiles on job seekers just by scraping publicly available information such as social profiles, old blogs, awards, academic histories, old résumés on LinkedIn, etc. These tools allow employers to build a profile about you without ever meeting you, and that profile could be drastically different than the one you’re hoping to convey with your résumé. The kicker? Employers believe that those sources can be even more informative about who you are and what you do than an actual conversation.

2. Skill assessments are digging deeper

Traditional strength and personality assessments aren’t going anywhere, but they are becoming more sophisticated. To better understand whether or not a candidate is the right fit, employers are using assessments with more intelligent algorithms that can determine how you’ll perform in a specific job environment. Some address cultural fit, and some are built to measure technical skills.

3. Employers want you to show, not tell

Chances are, you’re familiar with the “scenario” type of questions in an interview that asks how you would react in certain situations. Pretty soon, you may have to show, not just describe, how you’ll handle on-the-job-scenarios. Companies that have substantial resources and that are hiring en masse are taking it a step further by using VR to build workplace scenarios. This technology is helping employers get a more concrete picture of how you’ll react to customers, the fast pace, technology requirements, etc.

The missing human connection

What place does human interaction have in recruiting? With AI screenings and other tech-based decision making, the human connection is becoming harder to establish, and companies are making judgments without ever having met the candidates.
This concern doesn’t stop after the hiring process is done. Companies everywhere are adapting to accommodate remote work, meaning technology is replacing face time in the office too. Slack, videoconferencing, and email help close the human connection gap, but employees must create new intentional habits when using these tools to support collaboration. Combine these changes with the rise of the gig economy—another game changer in the workplace—and workplace culture becomes even more fluid. With these new elements, employers, employees, and job seekers must actively work to establish a human connection.

Making it work... Read the full Fast Company article to see how to make it work for you!

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4 Tips To Help You Send More Effective Networking Emails

Kourtney Whitehead

Whether you’re launching a virtual job search or hoping to deepen your professional relationships while working from home, using email to network brings with it several unique challenges and opportunities.

Email is a productivity tool that is primarily used to quickly exchange information. It lacks many of the essential elements that help you make a stronger connection in person (or on video), such as allowing eye contact, body language or the ability to share a laugh together. Unlike a live conversation, you can’t predict when you will receive a response from your emails which further stifles the potential for the kind of back and forth exchange that leads to an authentic dialogue.

Despite these challenges, neglecting to network through email would be a big mistake. When skillfully crafted, emails can be just as effective of a networking tool as in-person meetings, if not more, because the disadvantages of email can be overcome or outweighed by the efficiency of the process. With email, you don’t have to find a compatible time slot for both parties to connect. Even when you invest the effort into writing your very best message, email still takes a lot less time than an in-person meeting that you would have traveled to. 

If you want to quickly grow and deepen your network while social distancing, learning how to write interesting and thoughtful emails is an essential skill. These four tips will help you make a memorable impression.


1. Set the tone early

In email, you can’t rely on your or another person’s interpersonal cues to drive the emotional tone of your interaction. Instead, you’ll have to create the feeling you want to convey using words alone, which is why the first few sentences of your email are so important. The opening lines of your email will disproportionally impact the tone of the entire exchange. 

Often, the best way to begin a networking email is with a reference to your last meeting, a shared memory or a comment about the reason they came to your mind today. However you choose to start, make sure it reinforces the feeling you want to express. If you select a funny story, it will establish a light and humorous tone. If you select wording that is heartwarming, you will likely have a deeper, more sentimental dialogue. Either way, decide what feeling you’re going for at the very beginning and continue to weave it throughout. 

This point about tone is more important than ever to consider, since today’s news headlines might seem like the most appropriate place to begin. But remember that if you start out by talking about how bad things are in the world it will add a heaviness to the exchange that you may not have intended. In some cases, the news may still be the most fitting place to start but make sure you are making a conscious decision about how you want the rest of your message to land.


2. Keep it short and personal

If there is only one thing you take away from these tips, let it be this: never (ever) copy and paste in a networking email. 

No matter how much you think it will go unnoticed if you add one unique line in at the beginning or the end of the email, this simply isn’t true. Rarely can you send the same message to multiple people without assuming a more general tone that is detectable. Copy and paste emails must be generic to appeal to a broad audience, but that is the opposite of what you want your networking emails to be. Email networking only works when the exchange is authentic and affirms the relationship.

Instead, focus on making your emails short, warm and ultra-specific. Before pressing send, read your message one final time and consider if it would still be appropriate if you sent it to someone else. If so, it’s not as strong as it could be. Try to make multiple references to things that only apply to your recipient—comments about their family, pets, hobbies, and personal and professional aspirations are always great touch points to bring up. 

This tip is still relevant to messages to recruiters and those connections you don’t know very well yet. It is certainly harder to personalize your emails when you know little about someone, but there is often enough on LinkedIn or the company website to help you get started. You may know less about them, but that should help you keep your messages sharp and concise. Don’t write long emails filled with details about you to fill the space. Keep the focus on your recipient, especially in the first exchange, and let the connection build naturally.

See all 4 tips and the complete Forbes article

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