Job Interview Tips

After a disastrous first interview of my daughter, I found myself remiss to not have coached her on what to expect.  Since I don't want to just babble on in what first comes to mind, I decided to just sit down and write  my own take on how to go about a successful job interview, not just for my daughter, but for the other job seekers out there.

Job screening does not start on the interview itself.  It actually starts the very instant that you hand carry your resume or send that unsolicited email application.  So my very first tip is:  Make a good first impression.  In each of the interaction you have with any employee of the company you are applying in, you are judged.  This is what you call as Moments of Truths.  

All companies takes stock in a good customer relation; hence, an applicant should exhibit traits that would show just that.  Having good communication skills is definitely a plus.  If you wrote "FLUENT in both English and Tagalog" under special skills of your resume---you should have the actual skills to back it up.  Now, if you just typed that in to make your resume look good, then you are in big trouble!  

Relationships are cultivated through communication.  But to establish an excellent customer rapport requires a touch or two of a positively engaging personality or as what you put in your resume as "a pleasing personality".  This is especially true for service oriented companies.

My second advise would be:  Put yourself in the zone.  In other words---always be ready.  A job interview can happen any time.  So whenever you go company to company to submit your resume, make sure that you are fully made up and  in your business attire so in case an interview is in progress, you're good to go.

You should also be ready with the correct mindset.  Companies look for long term employees---somebody they can nurture into the corporate mold.  So it is important to think yourself already a part of the company you're applying in at the get go.  If you're just going through the JobStreet page and looking for ANY job available, NEVER hint on the possibility of leaving for better opportunity.  No company would not want to invest on training you to just see you off and go to another firm.

My very first job interview was a similar bust.  At the onset, everything was very casual.  Truth be told, I was confident and at ease as I re-lived my previous job experience as a service crew and the lessons I learned in the process to become an ideal manager.  Then out of the blue I was asked, "How do you see yourself 5 years from now?"  This would have been an easy question to answer if I had been in the correct mindset; however, I was not in the proper mindset that time and was entertaining thoughts about going abroad and it slipped.  So my answer hinted on this possibility and that was the end of my interview.  

When I conduct my interviews I focus on what is written on the resume.  So it would be helpful to review what you've written and anticipate potential questions.  Mind you, the questions will not be answerable by a simple YES and NO.  They will be open ended questions that you may need to expound on. (Anticipate situational questions pertaining to attitude, leadership, initiative, and morality.  As a giveaway, try answering this question:  If you witness a co-worker or superior doing something immoral, what would you do?)   

I was trained to use the S.T.A.R. format in conducting applicant interviews.  S.T.A.R. stands for Situation-Task-Action-Result.  This is a job interview technique to gather relevant information to assess the applicant's job fit based on the job requirements and corporate values.  The questions will be based on the most recent events.

In order for you to prepare your answers, let me elaborate on what the S.T.A.R. format requires:

     Situation   Site a recent challenge and situation where you found yourself in.

     Task           What did you have to achieve?

     Action     What did you do to achieve the task at hand?

     Result       What was the outcome of your action?

At this point I must say that you're almost ready to hit the job streets but there one more thing that cannot be taught that you should have.  A good positive attitude.  With unemployment still one of our country's challenges, there is a chance that you will not immediately get a job.  However, it is important that your mind is made up to think that you will not be part of the unemployment statistics.  Needless to say, persistence is a key trait that you will also need.  As Winston Churchill said, "Success is going from failure to  failure without losing your enthusiasm."

So to all you job hunters out there---GOOD LUCK and may the Force be with you!